Disclaimer: Hellboy doesn't belong to us *^_^*
Rating: M just to be safe because eventually we'll have some scene of violence and because eventually we'll be dealing with mature subject matter.
Oh! And before I forget, this is "talking", this is 'thinking' and this is talking in foreign language. Have a pleasant read.
Hellboy – A place to belong
Chapter 8
"Havoc!" Hellboy could only call out as his mission partner fell down to the level below. The hollow sound of Havoc impacting with the ground accompanied with the staccato of debris falling down echoed into the cavernous mansion.
Panic gripped him only for a second but the fear of another colleague dying on his watch clinched to him like someone drowning cling to the life boat. His mind step into third gear, he needed to ascertain the situation because he couldn't allow himself to make a mistake here.
He wasn't able to see Havoc from where he was standing because the collapse caused decades of dust to fly off in the air. Also he had to back away from the hole in fear that the weakened floor to break further making him fall too or having pieces falling on Havoc. Even given the general sturdiness of the place, a sudden fall of the rest of the floor could cause entire collapse of the place. This left him with a bad view of what lies below and he needed to vacate the premise. Then there was the other occupant of the room, Edward.
Maybe because he was naturally suspicious of everybody; or maybe because he had a flash of anger at himself for letting something happen to a colleague on a mission, Hellboy threw Edward an accusatory look. Only to meet the panicked eye of a completely innocent bystander who seemed truly worried by what just happened. Hellboy had a small pang of regret in his chest to have hastily thought like that. It was like having kicked a puppy without intending to. But still, Edward paid no mind to this as he was approaching the hole to look down.
"Stay back! It could collapse further!" cried Hellboy to the dark haired man who promptly backed off at Hellboy warning. Turning back to the hole Hellboy called out for his fellow agent. "Havoc can you hear me !? Havoc please respond !"
A fall from this height could surely damage a normal human like Havoc so he would need treatment as soon as possible depending on the wounds. As far as he knew they were in the middle of enemy territory which made the situation even more precarious. Plus with the radio still down and he didn't have the option to call backup. He needed to get to Havoc right away. With his capacities, he could easily jump down from here without harming himself, but it would leave his prime suspect alone to wander off. He would have to come with him. And it would mean that he would lose direct sight with the wounded for the time it would take them to go around. If he could ascertain that Havoc was alive and awake first, he would make him talk non-stop so he could verify his wellbeing.
Hellboy decided to call out to him one more time before going down in hope of a response. "Havoc! Don't move! I am coming down…!" Hellboy interrupted his speech when he heard the sound of many pairs of feet running down below toward the general position of Havoc.
The slightly high voice of Alfons Heiderich came through the dust cloud : "There he is!" Multiple beam of light coming from flashlights danced below. Followed by a : "Sir! I heard Red up there!"
The grainy authoritarian voice of the second in command Scott Clark boomed in the open room like thunder over a drought plagued plain filling the air with the hope of rain. Well, more like spit in this case, but they're still spits of hope.
"What in the fucking Hell! Hellboy! You up here?! What's the situation!" bellowed special agent Clark. Well at least now they didn't have to worry about surprising anybody on this mission. Everybody has to be awake after 'that'.
"Yes, I am up here! The floor gave out under Havoc. Secure the room we're coming down."
Clark turned toward Mustang and asked: "We?"
Hellboy turned toward Edward who seemed out of his element even in his own house and told him. "Follow me, we are going down there." The thin metal man not knowing what else to do did as he was told.
If frustration, exasperation, stress and anger were money, Calliban would presently be in the top ten of the richest person in the world. Right above the cashiers and store clerks during Christmas sales but under the mine sweepers. But such scale is mostly circumstantial like stock exchange, but some cases are constantly present in the countdown. Like Manning who is always a solid contender for the top three.
'OHFORTHELOVEOF…! MORE?!'
Invisible, he was spying from a corner of the room where the human fell. It was a stroke of genius in his humble opinion that stopped that walking abomination to spoil his plan. All he had to do was get rid of the human accompanying the demon, then, in the confusion Hellboy would try to rescue his pathetic companion, then he Calliban, would stage another collapse on top of them.
He knew that it would probably not be enough to stop the demon, but he would just need to restrain that wretched freak, hide it, then take its appearance, make things looks like everything was 'its' fault, and when Hellboy was persuaded that it was that metal riddled junk that's trying to kill them, before disappearing and let the original free to take the blame.
Upon that point, let everything take its course. Brilliant, is it not? Original even. Sometime he was amazed by his own intelligence. And it was just something he thought on the fly. That was the proof that he, himself, Calliban was such a great strategist.
But Calliban forgot that one very important titbit, is that no battle plan ever survive the first encounter with the enemy.
As he was watching for a chance to get the blasted automaton alone, reinforcement arrived. Six more humans, in the same garb than the one who was accompanying Hellboy, barged into the building as soon as the victim hit the ground. And now the devil was joining up with them and the error of nature sticking to his shadow like a cat on a sun-baked sidewalk.
Cursing his luck, he could only hide himself and watch thing as they develop.
But something was troubling him. How on Earth did they manage to come up here?
Hawkeye was examining the unconscious agent Havoc with Clark hovering around waiting for the diagnostic. Everyone else was spread out around the spacious room trying to make sure that nothing was out to get them, while keeping an eye on the ceiling.
The sound of steps echoing around the house made Clark turn toward the stair where Hellboy was hurriedly descending them, leaving a cloud of kicked up dust in his wake. Without stopping for anything, he made a beeline toward the crash site of poor Havoc without saying anything.
Havoc had fallen backward in total surprise without any chance to recover his position and land on his feet. Instead, it looked like he had landed on his back on what looked like the remains of a frail table that broke his fall. Lucky in his plight, if he had landed two foot to the left he would probably have been impaled on some kind of strange pillar-ish looking metal contraption, that they ignored the purpose.
Once there, he knelt down beside the immobile body of his mission partner who rested among the debris, franticly looking for any obvious wounds or clue on his current state. On her part agent Hawkeye was trying to wake Havoc. The fall obviously made his body go into chock.
And after a frantic minute of uncertainty, Jean Havoc woke with a gasp for air and a jolt of surprise. Which he immediately regretted. A pain, like he didn't know could exist, passed through him hitting the boundary of his body bouncing back for another pass through him and so on until it gradually receded, like a mad rubber ball in a 'fine glass' shop.
It pushed him to describe what he was feeling at the moment with all the eloquence he could muster: "GAAaaaaaaacckkktt!"
Hawkeye promptly stopped Havoc from squirming any further. "Don't move", she said, "You have just fallen from a considerable height, so I need you to stay as immobile as possible. Breathe slowly… yes that's it… Ok, now I am going to ask you some question, can you answer me?"
"…Yes…" replied a panting Havoc, between the throbs of pain.
"Good, now I want you to describe the pain, where are you hurting?"
Havoc took the time to take some more breath and swallow his saliva before being able to answer. "My…*humf**glup*… everywhere. Oh god *humf*."
"Ok, I want to know if you're feeling your arms and legs?"
"Yes. I can." as he groan in pain.
"Good. Can you slowly try to wiggle your fingers and your toes?"
"Ack!". The pain was obvious on Havoc face and the sweat was pearling on it. "I can move my fingers but *humf* it *humf* hurts *humf* to move my toes*humf*. Damn this hurts!"
Turning toward Hellboy and Clark, she gave her verdict. "It looks like there's some nerves damage and his spine might be injured. He needs to be immobilised and have medical attention ASAP. The pain medication we have in our kit will help for now but it won't last long, sir."
Clark added his own observation to the situation. "And we need to move him away from under here, there might be another collapse. Heiderich, Mustang you help her strapping him down. Bradley, anything on the radio yet ? We need an evac helicopter."
The distinguish voice of Bradley add a certain gritty quality to it echoed from the other side of the room: "Nothing since we got on the hill, I am afraid. We are completely cut off from the others."
Somewhere in the room, came an outburst from Elric: "Oh, that's just great. No helicopter, no more back up and there's no way an ambulance can make it up here. Does this means we'll have to carry him down ourselves."
Getting up from beside Havoc, Hellboy smugly retort: "You got it Elric and that means you and the rest of the team will have to get him to a hospital while I finish up here."
Obviously disagreeing with his superior officer, Clark gave his input: "You shouldn't do this alone. Beside, your wife would burn my ass if we let anything happens to you." He could almost smell the bacon in his mind.
"Look, you will need four people to stabilize the stretcher and at least two to keep watch."
"We only one to keep watch and you need someone to watch your back." answered Clark knowing of Hellboy 'lonely hero thing'.
"Oh, I won't be alone, I got Edward." pointing his thumbs over his shoulder. Edward Elric who was in fact situated in front of Hellboy exclaimed dubiously. "Euh, I'm right here boss."
"I was talking about the tall one. Come here would you."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIP SO SMALL THAT A FISHERMAN WOULD NO EVEN USE AS BAIT!" a typical disproportionate answer from a very pissed Ed Elric, who is shall we say, vertically challenged and rather touchy about it. In fact, his outburst about his height are rather legendary (and common) amongst the Bureau.
But nobody was paying him any attention for they were watching the lengthy figure slowly descending the stairs in a silence sometime cut by the sound of blades grinding against each other. Because with the near absence of light, the dark suit he was wearing melted with the shadow giving the illusion of an ethereal white marble face coming down the stairs, crowned with a mane of black hair that blended in the darkness.
The flashlights didn't make things any better.
The glow provided by the devices was already sifted from all the dust, the beams were more dispersed around Edward than on him, giving his whole body an unnatural halo. The black of his suit sucked all light that grazed it. He was a dark shadow descending the stairs with an otherworldly grace.
His wide open eyes, encompassed the room before him and never even blinked, staring at his audience in rapture. His arms were posed at his side, blades down, sometime twitching like the claw of predator ready to strike. What looked like simple knives were now gladius in the minds of the observers.
His posture was poise and dignified. It spoke of nobility, like a tall dark gothic lord of some Netherworld who was in HIS house, descending HIS stairs and was armed to the teeth to meet the invader that dared to trespass upon HIS land.
Put together it made him… captivating. An almost silent scene where your own mind provided the music of the last boss, chorus and orchestra included. The svelte figure made its way to the outer circle of the room where they could finally get a good look on him… and the music stopped with a scratch.
Moment passed taking with him Illusion, who was embarrassed to have been caught doing this, leaving only the master of Awkward, the unimpressive Edward, in the center of attention.
While Edward face was devoid of ticks and movements save for a sleigh pinching of his lips, his eyes darting left and right trying to see every one of those curious visitors, not really knowing what to do in this situation.
Hellboy was the first to break the ice: "Everyone, this is Edward. He apparently owns the place and has agreed to help us." Turning toward the new arrival, "Say 'hello', Edward."
"Hello Edward…" said Edward in a very meek voice.
"… '' Edward… Ed… Elric. Was wondering if he was talking to him
"…" The rest of the group were pondering whether they should answer or not.
"…" Havoc was in too much pain think about anything else.
"… Oh that is right." add Hellboy who just remembered that peculiar little quirk about their host. "Edward, why don't you introduce yourself?" he said hoping to get the conversation going.
Like an old tractor, Edward started: "Greeting, my name is Edward Farnsworth. How do you do ?" he said like he rehearsed it a hundred times before.
Still unsure about the newcomer, scant 'Hellos' and 'His' were given around the room. Not waiting for the tractor to stall, Hellboy jumped in and took control over the conversation.
"And Edward this is Clark, Bradley, Mustang, Hawkeye, Elric (Is name is also Edward by the way), Heidrich and you already met Havoc." said Hellboy pointing around the room. "Clark can you come with me for a sec and someone keep Edward company… the tall one."
And Elric accusingly cried from the top his lungs: "You're doing this on purpose! I'm not so tiny that I can only buy children clothes!"
Trying to be encouraging, Edward innocently commented: "But you are tall for a child."
'That's it' … Elric blew his top off. The steam was literally coming out of his ears and his face was turning as red as his vision. Very aware of the danger, Heidrich barely manage to stop him before his friends could add one more assault charge to his record.
Hellboy tuning out the racquet behind him needed to have a word with his second in command but apparently his second in command had more pressing words for him.
"What the fuck is that?!" exclaimed Clark once out of relative earshot.
Hellboy, having fun at of the expense of Clark's growing irritation, was the perfect image of nonchalance. "It as I told you, his name his Edward and he live here. And apparently he's being doing so for a pretty long time too." he said on a somber tone.
By judging Clark's accusing stare, he wasn't satisfied by Red's explanation about Edward.
"Listen, I know what you are thinking, but he had nothing to do with Havoc falling. In fact, just before it we were talking about the case and he seems willing to help."
And by the look on Clark's face, it was clear that he wasn't buying it.
"Trust me on this." confidently affirmed the seasoned detective. "All seem to indicate that the kids are somewhere around here and this guy knows the place better than anybody. And beside this guy's been living in the middle of Fae territory for years, he may give us an edge … no pun intended."
"And what makes you think IT's trustworthy?"
"My guts." and pointing toward both Edwards, he added: "And beside, this guy doesn't know how to lie."
Back with Edward 'Scissorhand' Farnworth continued his ,unknown to him, risky conversation with Edward 'shorty' Elric. "… but you are not the shortest around here…"
Only to have the height complex ridden mind of the blond man edit the 'not the' out of the phrase,
It managed to only aggravate him more to say the least. Alfons Heidrich for his part was holding on his fellow agent with desperation to stop him from pouncing. Like a toreador holding a kicking bull by the horns, he wasn't going to keep this up for long. All the while wondering how could someone be so oblivious about the situation.
Having no clue about the effects his conversation was having on the other party, the metal handed man continued his complimenting way:"… they are." pointing a sharp finger toward what Clark was holding.
The Pixie and the Greenman who gave humans so much troubles coming up the hill were hanging from a metal wire, captured earlier without a resistance. It was Hellboy turn to be dubious.
"That's why it took you so long?" asked a disbelieved Hellboy.
"Believe me, you have no idea how much troubles they were. If it wasn't for the cold iron wire, we would probably still up our ears in begonias." a still pissed Clark, his calf still itch from the poison Ivy. "If those pins gave us that much trouble what do you expect from Sewing Kit over there?"
"Don't worry, trouble and I are good friends, beside it'll be harder to lose track of that one."
Tick off by Hellboy barb on their inaptitude to handle such small creature, he retorted: "It's not the size that matter but what they got under their sleeves."
And Hellboy giving a brief glance toward an Edward who looked at loss with his conversation with his name sake responded to Clark affirmation: "I'd say about twelve inches of prosthesis each." he half joked, then he added on a more commending tone, "Right now, the priority is to evacuate Havoc, so you guys go down while I find the kids."
And Clark was getting frustrated from Hellboy stubbornness and unwillingness to keep serious in this situation, put his foot down. "We don't do the solo thing around the BPRD anymore Hellboy. The first rule of paranormal cracking is that you never go alone."
Manning had put Clark on the team roaster because he was one of the most competent agents they had but also because he was one of the rare normal persons able to stand his ground in front of Hellboy.
"But I …." interjected Hellboy
"Take both Edwards, they seem to get along so well," and Clark added with a mean smirk, "And that way, at least one of you won't scare the kids once you find them."
'And also Elric trust Scissorguy even less that I do.' thought Clark observing the Edwards antics from the corner of his eye.
Without leaving Hellboy the time to answer, he started to walk toward the team: "How's that stretcher coming?"
Left hanging, the demon realized that Laurel and Hardy just got dumped in his arms.
A mildly sedated Havoc was perfectly strapped to the rest of a metal shelf turned into an improvised stretcher could only stare at the night sky as he was carried away by Clark, Heidrich, Roy and Bradley, while Hawkeye was opening the march.
Back inside, the demon with the right hand of doom, the automaton with an entire knives set and a dwarf with a P90 were left in a Mexican standoff.
"I do hope that Mister Havoc will make a quick recovery."
Faking surprise, Hellboy exclaimed: "Wow, you can speak without being spoken too?"
"Yes." he answered, totally ignoring the concept of sarcasm.
"Oh boy" he silently said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Edward?"
In discordant duo, the aforementioned simultaneously answered : "Yes?"
"The ta… Farnsworth." stopping himself before rekindling the fire. "Where could you hide about a dozen children in the estate?"
Looking in the vaguely into space with only a scissor twitching, Edward was in deep thoughts. And sounding unsure of himself: "…I would say … the greenhouse behind the house … the west wing … and the cellar." The idea of wanting to hide someone against their will was completely alien to him.
Hellboy took a second to analyse the choices. "We start with the greenhouse."
Elric wanting to understand the logic behind the choice of his boss asked why.
"Usually most fae prefer staying outside than in a human habitat. And the type of fae that swap human children for their own kind generally prefer the outdoor. So, the green house is the next best thing around." Turning toward the other Edward he ordered: "Lead the way."
"Well, that was disappointing." said a deadpanned/wary Elric. The travel up there earlier was still fresh is his mind and he was eying the luxurious vegetation around him like were going to bite anytime now.
The greenhouse was like the rest of the house, a barely standing wreck with most of its windows broken. But the plants around seemed to be thriving, unnaturally so. But no kids in sight.
To Hellboy experienced eyes, he could see the work of fae magic around the place. But unlike the front garden who gave an impression of majestic tidiness, this place was like an ageless jungle. Two different artists with the same medium. Hellboy was expecting something like the front yard but apparently this was out of his territory. Looking at a colorful orchid, Hellboy mused out loud: "I see a lot Fae work around but no Fae at all. I'm surprised that we could get in here without trouble, we're obviously deep in their sanctum and they don't let anyone enter like that." Turning around to ask Edward about it, "Edward… the one in black, where are all the Fae?" But before he even got an answer, he almost died of an heart attack. Edward was casually cutting off branch and leaves of a bush.
"What are you doing?!" ask Hellboy with a hint of panic in his voice? The last guy he rescued from pissed off Fae passed the last twenty year of his life in a mental institute trying to catch fly with his tongue. Fearing for the future of his taste buds, Hellboy pressed the issue. "Stop that right now or we are never getting out of here alive."
"Don't worry; they just make the plants grow too big. And I always have to trim them down."
"They let you ?... Why ?!" It was like watching Steve Irwin covered in steak rolling in the 'Crocs' pen. It a professional, but he can't be sane.
For the first time tonight, the conversation had fallen into known territory for Edward, making him more talkative.
"They kept making the yard grow too much and I couldn't keep up with the grooming, so I asked them to stop and they said I could do whatever I want for I was the landlord. But if they couldn't have a green place to stay they would leave. So I let them have the back yard that I trim from time to time and they keep the front yard healthy."
Dumbstruck by the amount of words he got from the usually quiet as a tomb guy, Hellboy didn't quite pick up on the details. Elric on the other hand: "The place is yours?"
"Yes."
"… And… ? " asked Elric in wait of details.
"… And what ? not getting what the other Edward wanted.
Hellboy to the rescue, seeing the growing frustration of Elric: "He wants to know how you got the place."
"I don't know, my residents said that the House recognised me as the proprietor, but it's the house of my father."
Hellboy finally getting what going on filled the blank. "Faes are bound by rules, and they need to ask the owner of the land if they can live there. It's often asked indirectly but… Edward why do you let them stay here ?"
"Because they need a place to live." said Edward.
Elric, not satisfied with the answer argued: "But they are not like you, you don't know them, you don't know what they can do." That comment could be seen as 'speciesism' coming from a guy who works on a regular basis with a demon, a fishguy, a smokeguy, a firegirl, ESPs and Armstrong. But in reality it came from years of experience in a field, where the good guy who want to help, end up getting hurt. He would kill himself before admitting it, but Elric was in this job because he cared for others.
But Edward answered without a shadow of malice or sarcasm (he still doesn't get it) in soft voice : "But I am not like you, I do not know you and I do not know what you can do, but I am helping you."
Hellboy put his hand on Ed shoulder to diffuse anything and suggested that they kept on moving.
Calliban who was still hiding, was dry heaving after hearing that. How such a lowly creature could take pity on us, it was unconceivable. We are the top of creation, the summit of existence and that pathetic excuse for a life form took them in as charity cases? The very thought made him boil in a rage unreached so far by Calliban toward the automaton. The insult was too much and he swears here and there that he will see those interloper dead by sunrise.
Back inside, Edward Scissorhands showed them the main stair case leading to the first floor of the west wing had collapsed years ago. They would need to get a ladder later. So they decided to leave that for last and as made their way to the cellar, they passed the desolated kitchen located at the back of the mansion. Hellboy could have sworn he saw something within the old wood stove closing the door as they passed. A Domovoi probably took residence there. They're generally from Russia and some followed the family they were protecting when they immigrated. That's how New-York ended up with a Leprechaun infestation in 1847. This whole house showed sign of occupation from supernatural creatures.
Still they passed through the kitchen without a hitch and made it to the heavy door of the cellar. It was shut tight but a 'gentle' shove from Hellboy made them realize that it might have been easier to pull on the door instead. The darkness was thick and swallowed the light. Without missing a beat they began their descent.
The cellar was cold, humid and dark as ink. The air smelt of moss and old wine. At the bottom of the stair they saw an empty cold room, a few crates and an enormous oil furnace. In the shadow they navigate their way around piles of various debris such as broken furniture and weird gizmos of unknown purposes. Exploring the numerous nooks and cranny of spacious room they follow their mysterious soft-spoken guide between the columns and the suspended spider-megalopolis. But with each empty space they pass, the narrower their chances of finding the children and Hellboy wasn't too keen to go on the upper floors with somebody else with what happened to Havoc earlier. He had no doubt that the children are somewhere safe, but the way there might not be. Or the way back for that matter.
There were at least a dozen missing children and with just him, Elric, a still unknown individual and most of the team was away, it's going to be… tricky.
After much zigzagging between debris and dodging columns, they must have passed more than half the length of the building before they noticed a door on one of the wall. "What's there?" asked Hellboy.
"The wine cellar." answered Edward.
"Ok, let's check this out. It's not as if they're anything interesting here."
It was a wine cellar all right. Hellboy could begin to smell wines relent emanating from the closed door. And once they opened the door, their noses were submerged with the smell of wine imbibed wood, soft mossy air and… sceptic tank? The house so far bared no sign of anyone living there so far beside the room where they found Edward. Everything was dusty, stalled or smelled like the outdoor. But after over fifty years of investigation around the world in the most unholy and disgusting place on earth, nothing scream 'life' like a big pile of fresh poop.
Redoubling attention, he wandered his eyes on the room and something was amiss. He stayed in the doorway, waiting to understand the layout of the room before continuing. It was Elric erratic scanning of the room with his flashlight that struck Hellboy with inspiration. Hellboy quickly closed his own flashlight and put his giant right hand over Elric's light to cut the beam. Elric was left, perplex, mostly understood the message and stayed silent with all his senses on alert, trying to spot what his boss did.
The third member of their party, not privy to their silent communication exclaimed himself: "What happened to… ?" Just before being cut short by Hellboy harsh whisper: "There!" before the two agents exploded into a sprint, each going on one side of the room, leaving a baffled Edward behind.
The lack of light had expose what was bugging Hellboy. Behind several rows of mostly empty bottle shelves that went from floor to ceiling. A faint light, more like a pale shimmer was filtering through. The artificial light prevented them to spot the unusual illumination, but in the dark, it was plain to see that there was something over there.
Hellboy ran past the row shelves giving a quick glance between them to check on the progress of his partner. But even this small moment of inattention was enough to for him to miss the trap.
Under normal circumstances Hellboy would have realized that he should have reached the other side of the room by now, it was a small room after all. On that matter, how many rows of empty shelves could be fit in this rather small place and yet he passed another and another and one more was added and another …
The shelves began to get passed him faster and faster until they began to blur all together. But he didn't care for he was getting closer to his destination. The pale shimmer had become a warm glow that kept expanding and getting brighter until encompass everything in a bright white light.
But he wasn't worried, he actually felt at ease, like something was telling him that everything was going to be alright. His many concerns were fading way in the light like a stain of tomato sauce in a vat of bleach. It was difficult to mull over his apprehensions about Havoc and his injuries, his precarious situation with the BPRD and Liz … LIZ! He had to focus! Something wasn't right. He had to think about Liz and the kids … The kids … The ones that are missing … the children … he had to …
To … what ? Oh, yes, find them … no, he didn't, they are right there and they were fiiiine.
Look at them playing around. There one sweet little girl munching on a lollipop and one cute little boy napping on a balloonicorn. The others were waist deep in the giant marshmallow ball pit. A flock of flying trumpets were soaring through the cotton candy clouds playing a merry tune. A pride pop tart felines were prancing across a green meadow leaving behind them a trail of rainbows meowing their annoying song. Hanging in the blue sky, the Sun was smiling warmly at the beautiful landscape that stretch endlessly bellow him.
Hellboy could go anywhere he wished, he only had to follow that yellow brick road that was boarded with gingerbread cottages. As he made his way further into the extravagant countryside, he came across a toyshop directed … by Santa. The rascal! They didn't see each other since Christmas '72 … but it wasn't important, he just spotted chubby little Elric in a diaper with the cutest fluffiest of angelic wings who was chatting lively with Toucan Sam.
Elric noticing his great buddy Hellboy and upon seeing him began laughing out loud. Hellboy looked down at himself and only to find out that he too was a chubby little "angel" and join his bestest friend in the merriment.
Both continued laughing, for everyone were fine … and perfectly safe.
Author Note :
Shiroyuki : … and welcome to Pyroland *^_^*
Sorry about the cliff-hanger but we both felt it was time to give you all a little something, you've all been so patient you deserved it *^_^*
While we originally plan for this to be the last chapter of this arc, real life issue got in the way and took a lot of our time, so we felt we had to cut things short … and we had SO MUCH MORE TO SAY …
So, this is why we only deliver a small chapter this time and will come up with a real way to rescue the children, kill the bad guy and save the world…
And hopefully we'll be able to put ALL of that in one chapter … if not, we'll put it in two *^_^*
… And now, I have Bookeater how reminding me that I should be making such promises.
… here have the keyboard and say a word to your fans *^_^*
Bookeater: "Word"
No seriously, thank you for reading and always waiting for the next chapter. You have shone great patience there. I had to move two times in 6 month and for a new job then I lost that job… It consumed at least three month of time where we couldn't really put any real work on the fic.
But the adventure of Hellboy, Liz and Abe will continue. This time we experimented with the sensory perceptions of the characters for the narration. Give us your thought about it.
And do you think that Edward (Scissorhand) was in character?
And did you get the other reference at the end other than Team Fortress 2 (Shiroyuki's new obsession… I never should have introduced her to the game…)
See ya.