Nuala, Abe, Liz, Hellboy, and Dr. Krauss watched Nuada pace the length of Abe's room. He would never admit it, but he was slightly nervous about this meeting. He had to choose the woman he would be spending the rest of his life with tonight. It didn't matter at the moment that she would be human, this was still a big deal. She would bear him heirs that he would possibly see grow up and have lives of their own. If he didn't choose right, he might very well be in Hell for the rest of his very long life. He had to question them and smoke out anything that would make them bad candidates. After tonight, a date would be set for the wedding and the truce between the humans and fae would be official.

Manning opened both of the doors, wiping at the sweat on his forehead. "They're arriving. They'll come in one at a time and you can have them stand or sit wherever you like."

Crystal arrived first and nervously bowed to Nuada and Nuala.

"Hello Miss Achmen." Nuala said.

Crystal played with the hem of her shirt nervously, waiting for the others to show up. It was Jeanette that showed up next, her eyes widened as she saw Crystal.

"Crystal?" She said.

Crystal turned her head and saw one of her best friends.

"Jeanette? What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing! I'm in this contest too!"

"Oh my God! No way! And where'd you get those flowers?"

Nuada grimaced at their conversation. They had always known that there was a chance that the three candidates would know each other, but he never knew how annoying they would talk to each other. Everyone else smiled slightly at the friends.

"That's so sweet!" Crystal said about where Jeanette got her flowers. "They're beautiful!"

Then Lily entered the room, also shocked to see them.

"I thought I heard you guys!" Lily said.

"No way! You too?" Jeanette said.

They talked for another minute before Nuada shut them up.

"That is enough!" His voice boomed around the room.

All three girls went silent.

"It is unfortunate that you three are friends, but there is nothing to be done about it now. You will have to go against your friends for the right to the title of queen." He said, walking around the three girls.

"I don't see what Lily's doing here though. You're with Rocco, aren't you?" Crystal asked.

"No. I am not in a relationship with him." Lily said.

"They're friends with benefits." Jeanette said with a wink. They laughed.

"What is friends with benefits?" Abe asked innocently.

They burst into a fit of giggles as Liz whispered the meaning into his ear.

"Oh. Oh my." Abe said, now blushing.

"What about Carl, Crystal? Isn't he still trying to get you back?" Lily brought up.

"Yes he is. But I'll never take him back. I've moved past him." Crystal told her. "What about you, Jeanette? Harold still chasing after you? He bought you flowers!"

Jeanette smelled the flowers before answering. "Yes he is. But I don't want him at the moment." She kept an eye on the prince as she said this.

"Abraham." Nuada suddenly said. "Explain to me this friends with benefits."

Abe blushed as he struggled to explain it.

"It means we have sex, but we're not in a relationship." Lily explained. "I don't love him."

Nuada stared at her for an uncomfortably long time before he addressed her. "If you wish to be my bride, that has to stop."

"It will." Lily told him. "I'm not a cheater."

Nuada continued to stare at her as he walked away.

"Now then, to make this interesting, I want each of you to give me a reason why the other two should not be Queen." Nuada addressed them.

They all stood there in silence. None of them wanted to make the first remark.

"Very well then." Nuada said, an evil smile on his face. He went to a table and picked up one of the three files there. He started reading. "Lillian Golden. You don't seem to care that much about other's feelings. That isn't a good quality for a queen."

Lily bit her lip as he insulted her.

"Crystal Achmen," Nuada picked up the next file and read, "You look too much like an Elf and people will question your heritage."

Crystal clenched her fists.

"Jeanette Carter," He picked up the last file. "Your body structure is not one befitting a queen."

Jeanette looked hurt at his statement.

"It now only matters whose flaws are the most tolerable. She will be the next queen." Nuada finished.

Suddenly all the girls started talking about how the others shouldn't be queen.

"Crystal's still in love with Carl! We all know it! It's only a matter of time before she runs back to him!"

"Lily's addicted to having sex with Rocco! She can't stop and she probably won't!"

"Jeanette's going to be with Harold! We all know it! He's in love with her and she likes him back!"

Nuada smiled evilly as they continued to insult one another.

"Stop!" Crystal shouted. The other two shut up. "We're friends! We shouldn't be doing this over a boy!"

"Boy?" Nuada sneered. Nuala chuckled.

"We're supposed to be in each other's weddings! We can't do that if we sell each other out! We'll hate each other!" Crystal continued. Lily and Jeanette nodded their heads in agreement.

Nuada got irritated as she stopped their fighting. Then he got an idea and smiled evilly. In the next second, his hand was around Crystal's throat and he was holding her over the ground.

"Hey!" Hellboy and Dr. Krauss both objected.

"Stop!" Jeanette shouted at him and tried to release his grip.

"Foolish human!" Nuada said and backhanded her. She fell to the floor.

"Stop it!" Lily yelled and sunk her nails into his arm. Crystal was turning purple.

Lily then took her nails and dragged them across his arm, drawing blood. Nuada let go immediately and clenched his arm around the new wounds. Nuala looked down at her arm and attempted to stop the bleeding.

"Your highness!" Abe said and went to help Nuala.

"You pathetic human! Look what you've done!" Nuada yelled at Lily, showing her his arm and gesturing to Nuala.

"This human just saved her friend's life. If you hadn't started choking her, you and your sister wouldn't have gotten hurt." Lily said matter-of-factly.

Nuada glared at her before running to also help Nuala. Lily smirked and helped Crystal up. Crystal was coughing before after being released, but was starting to stop now. Jeanette also got up, gently touching her cheek.

"You don't deserve a human queen," Lily said to Nuada. "if all you're going to do is hurt her. Look what you've done to my friends and you've only met them what? Twice? You need to stop this if you ever hope for peace with the humans."

Crystal and Jeanette nodded in agreement with their friend.

"We should leave before he tries to kill us again." Crystal said and started walking out of Abe's room. The other two followed her.

"But what about the contest?" Dr. Krauss said.

"If he still wants to choose one of us, he can. But he won't always be hurting us this easily." Jeanette said, rubbing her cheek.

Then all three of them left the room and the BPRD together. Jeanette's flowers lay destroyed on the floor.

HBHBHBHBHB

"Finally!" Rocco said as Lily walked back into her apartment. He noticed the blood on her nails. "Whoa! Who'd you kill?"

Lily looked at her nails before answering him. "An asshole. And he's still alive."

She attempted to walk into her bathroom to wash her hands, but Rocco stood in front of her to stop her.

"Did you almost get raped?" He asked bluntly.

She chuckled at this.

"No. He was just an asshole to my friends. So I kinda stabbed him." She explained.

She moved to try to get into her bathroom again, but he stopped her again.

"Why clean them up when they're just gonna get bloody again?" He said seductively.

"So you don't get AIDS?" She said.

"Oh yeah." He said and let her wash her hands.

He stood in front of the open bathroom door as she washed them and the second she was done, he kissed her lustfully.

HBHBHBHBHB

"Will you be choosing from the three?" Dr. Krauss asked Nuada. They were all in a conference room deciding who would be the next queen.

"Yes. They are strong. They can deal with the hard times that will be ahead of them as my queen." Nuada answered.

"That is why you attacked them." Nuala stated. "You wanted to see if they could protect people close to them no matter the opponent."

"So then you let that one girl kick your ass?" Hellboy asked. Nuada's glare told him everything. "Hahaha! She did that all by herself?"

Nuada looked at his bandages around his arm. "She was possibly the strongest." He paused, thinking. "But I cannot chose. I do not know that much about them. If I choose wrong, I will have to live with my choice forever."

"But you must!" Dr. Krauss said.

"Do not worry, brother. I have read Lillian's books, read the plays Crystal chooses to be in, and seen dances created by Jeanette. All so I can figure out the inner workings of their minds and see which one will be best for you. I have an idea of who it will be." Nuala said, smiling at her brother.

"Well, who is it?" Hellboy said as the room lapsed into silence.

Uh oh. Cliffhanger! And let's just pretend that Nuada was wearing something that didn't cover his arms just for the sake of that one scene. There's a poll on my profile so you can vote on who you want to be queen. I might take your votes into consideration ;)