Part IV: Streamline

Chapter: Comfort Blanket

"And once again, the world is saved." Myers said.

"No thanks to us, though."

"Yeah... " Myers nodded. "No thanks to us. It's a good thing that we have the next generation growing up."

They were sitting at the top of the pyramid of the Moon, just him and Hellboy - Jay had taken off with Daimio (after bamfing to a nearby store for a six pack of beer). The avenue of the Dead spread out in front of them, a mile long complex leading to the Pyramid of the Sun, an eerie, dark mountain like figure that stood on their right. The night was cool and surprisingly silent, only the wind moving in the dry grass.

Of all the times Myers had been in this cursed place, he had never climbed up to the top of the pyramid of the Moon.

"You know." he stated after a short silence. "This is the exact place where they used to perform human sacrifice for the Goddess."

"Huh. You mean back when-"

"-when the Teotihuacans lived here. 2000 years ago."

Another short silence. Myers took a sip of his beer, and in his exhausted and drawn state, it went straight to his bloodstream. He was happy he didn't have to climb back down - Jay had promised to pick them up in about an hour - before the archaeological zone would open for tourists.

"That Goddess…. Maggie still has that bitch in her head." Hellboy muttered. "Better do something about that soon."

"True. But not tonight. I haven't fucking slept in like 36 hours and I'm not immortal or super powered like you guys. If Maggie can't wait with the puking, we'll just have to let Kat and Jay take care of that."

"And Abe."

"Yeah, Abe too." Myers nodded. "Man, It was good to see him."

Hellboy made a chuckle.

"It's good to see you, boy scout. The place wasn't same without you."

But instead of cheering him up, Hellboy's remark only made Myers feel gloomy again. Yes, he had found the Goddess with help of Alice Monaghan, and yes he had figured out how to destroy the source of the Goddess' immortality - but otherwise, he had been useless again.

What is your area of expertise? Hellboy had asked him once. Was it your punctuality? The way you part your hair? What was it, that lead you into this job, pushing pamcakes?

At least life had taught Myers, what his area of expertise was. It was being useless, roaming the halls weeping, and being tied down to a stone pillar by bitch goddesses.

"Come on, Red. You're better off without me."

"Nope."

"You are, and that's a fact. I shouldn't have come back."

But maybe that was just the beer speaking. For Myers had to admit, it had felt good to see them all again. It felt good to just sit here with Hellboy and have a beer. Like they had done a thousand times before.

"Hey, I get it that you left." Hellboy noted. "Hell, I left for ten years after Paps died! But man, you left your kids. You can't do that shit to them again."

"Red, seriously. Look at me. Do you really think it would have been good for Amy and Sean to be around me? They comfort each other better than I ever could."

"Well… You know, Sean hasn't been the only one comforting Amy lately."

Myers looked up from his beer.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My son and your daughter. Apparently."

"Shit! Amy and Eru? You serious?"

"What? You don't think he's good enough for her?"

Myers laughed, a genuine laugh - a first one since forever.

"No, on the contrary. I think that even if Amy lived a hundred lifetimes, she couldn't find a finer man than your son."

"Yeah… Eru is a good kid."

"He is." Myers agreed. "Which reminds me… that so is Jacob."

Hellboy made a low grumble, and shook his head, took a sip of his beer.

"That scumbag-"

"Come on, Red." Myers pleaded. "You know as well as I do, that it was Maggie who swept Jacob off his feet - not the other way around."

"Maggie's a child! She's barely 15-"

"And she's been full grown for seven years. Red, let it go. She's not a baby anymore."

Hellboy muttered something inaudible.

"Besides - Jacob was willing to give his life for Maggie today."

Hellboy made a face. Gulped down the rest of his beer. "Yeah… well, he's a Myers anyways."

"So, you admit that he's a good kid?" Myers chuckled. "Or that he's just stupid."

"Both. Must run in the family."

"Yeah…" Myers replied, and suddenly the smile was off his lips again. "A lot of good it did to Margot."

"Come on, Myers." Hellboy said. "You know better. It wasn't your fault what happened to her."

But the bitter taste of regret and loss was already on Myers' lips, and he couldn't wash it off. He knew there wasn't enough beer in the whole world to make him forget about Margot, Margot who had loved him like no other woman, who had given him his children, who had been the other half of his heart, of his soul, who had laid in a pool of blood on the cold, tiled floor, her eyes lifelessly staring at the ceiling.

Still, Myers took a long gulp of his beverage, emptying his bottle, if for nothing else, then to numb the pain a little.

"You know…" he finally said. "I can't get over her death."

"Hey, it's only been six months."

Myers shook his head, fought back tears. "I don't know if time will help. You know that her death killed me too."

There was a long silence, that didn't need filling. It was the kind of a silence that can only exist between people who've known each other for a lifetime. The silent understanding, acceptance.

And maybe that was all that Myers needed.

For such a long time he had been thinking about killing himself. It had been his only objective - to find the ones responsible for Margot's death, kill them, and then kill himself. For more days than he cared to count for, he had seriously thought about skipping the phases one and two, and moving straight into the phase three. A gun in his hand had felt like a security blanket: comforting, peaceful, a promise of a sleep without nightmares. The only thing that had kept him from shooting his brain to the wall, had been the need to avenge Margot's death. He wouldn't allow him the luxury of ending his life, before that was done.

But now.

The Goddess was destroyed. Diminished into a nagging voice in Maggie's head, and soon even less than that.

Amy was back on her feet - her best friend returned, and a boyfriend by her side. The thought of Amy and Eru together made Myers happy, a small flame of light in his ocean of darkness.

And Sean… Myers had always thought that Sean resembled more Margot than him, but now he wasn't so sure. Sean was right about the fact that Margot's death was on Myers' conscious, her blood in his hands. Had he not left his place by her side, she would be alive today. Maybe it was Myers' death, that Sean needed to put this all behind him and move on. A closure.

The night was so cool, the wind cold in Myers' hair. The shadows of the clouds over the full moon moved on the Avenue of the Dead. A shiver went through Myers' spine, like his jacket just couldn't keep the cold off.

Slowly he pulled the gun from his belt, balancing it on his palm, like so many times before. He was tired, so very tired, aching till the marrow of his bones. The smooth, cold metal against his palm brought him peace, and he wanted it.

"Myers." Hellboy's voice was stern and dark. "What'ya doing with the gun?"

Myers didn't reply, shook his head. He turned the gun around in his hand, gripping the handle. His fingers found their familiar place around it, as it was meant to be.

"Myers?"

"Yeah?" he didn't look up to his friend. The night was silent, the gun cold in his hand.

"Put the gun away."

"You know…." he said, silently. "For such a long time I waited for this night. I waited, so that I could-"

"Put it away, or I'll take it from you."

Myers made a small sound, half a sob, half a laugh.

"I am still your boss, technically." he said. "You can't order me to do something."

"But I can kick your ass if you don't do as I say."

"True."

They were both silent for a short while. Myers still holding the gun, his fingers as cold as the metal now. He hardly felt it in his grasp.

Finally, after an eternity, he handed the gun to Red, not turning to look at him.

"Maybe you take this for tonight."

"Yeah. Maybe I will." Red replied, taking the gun and all of Myers' hope with it. "And you're not getting it back 'til I say so."

"You know, I have others."

"Shit, kid. Do I have to lock you up?"

Myers shook his head, made a forced laugh.

"Nah. Just give me another beer." he said. "Jay won't be here for another 30 minutes."

And Hellboy did, tossed Myers another bottle from the six pack.

In silence they drank, and watched as the horizon turned from black to deep blue, the first trace of light washing off the shadows of the night.

It feels like all I'm capable of writing, is suicidal thoughts. Can't blame me, though - as they say, you should write about stuff you know. Sorry... I promise, there are more cheerful stuff to come.

Anyways, this chapter is all thanks to Anicaios. Thanks for your constant support! It means the world to me, to know you're reading this and that there's someone out there who cares about this fic.