Disclaimer: Hellboy doesn't belong to us and neither does Full Metal Alchemist and Edward Scissorshands *^_^*

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', *This the infamous narrator talking* and this is talking in foreign language. Have a pleasant read.

Hellboy – A place to belong

Chapter 12

A proverb:

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.

Terry Prattchet, A Hat Full of Sky

A bedroom.

At some point this room could have been described as Spartan. Rather small, a single bed with a bedpost that doubled as a shelf, a small desk with a computer on it, another shelf above, a chair and a small closet. Now it could be described as an arts & crafts store met a stampede of rainbow unicorn. Every surface was covered under various layers of paintings, photos, newspaper clips, small MLP figurines and sculptures. Pastel and more vivid color battled it out for dominance giving the atmosphere a bright and LSD feeling that Lisa Frank would give a thumb up.

It was the room of a brilliant soul that needed to express itself OR that of an artist desperately in need his own studio.

But at the moment the room was plunged into the darkness, the only light coming from the computer screen.

"… then I said: But, Hellboy you're not supposed to put the fax machine in the pool. And then everyone started laughing and I nobody would explain why." Explained a confused Edward.

The end of his story sent his interlocutor on the other side of the screen laughing really hard, twisting in her chair in her mirth. He was using Skype to video-chat with Rose, the granddaughter of his dear friend Kim. He befriends her after the debacle at his old home with Caliban. It had been an interesting meeting and he saw much of Kim in her. For the few hours they met that first time they talked a lot about Kim and the impact her knowing him had on her family and the strain it put on her couple. He knew, of course, because Kim would sometime slip away from her family and come to talk with him. He became her confident and for a while it was enough. But one day she stopped coming, her health restricting her. Shortly after, the Fae came and the rest was history.

He and Rose became friend incredibly easily and she became concerned that he would disappear once he would go with the strange government agency but Hellboy easily alleviated their fear. He assured them he would make sure they could stay in contact. And one week after he moved to this new place, he saw Rose face on the other side of a screen and since then, they ended talking multiple times a week.

This time the role were inversed and he was the one who became the confider and she became the confident, helping him understand this large new world. It has been months now and he still found things that eluded him.

"Oh Edward, you crack me up sometime." Rose managed to say, out of breath from all the laughter.

"Are you all right?! I am sorry, I didn't mean to! Do you need to see a doctor?! Where is the crack I don't see… Rose stop laughing it could be serious! You could make the crack larger! Whoa, Rose, you have fallen from your chair now. And you're still laughing. There is no crack isn't it?"

That something he still had problem with and the cause of many puzzling moments in his new life. The strangest expressions and terms combined with the shortening made him feels like he sometime wasn't speaking the same language with the others. It's like nobody was using phrasing anymore. Edward sometime wondered what his father would say about this, him who insisted upon correct language, good pronunciation and politeness.

But he was learning. That was something he was doing a lot lately, learning and studying. He now had a slew of various teacher trying to explain… well, everything, or so it seemed to Edward. It was fine, he liked to learn and his teachers liked his dedication to his studies He particularly liked those with mister Sapien the most.

Mister Sapien had a calm presence and was always willing to share past experience and his extensive knowledge. He was in charge of teaching him ancient languages and about the occult aspect of the life at the BPRD. He often told him he appreciated his curiosity, his memory for details that competed with his own and the ability to read some of the text in the restricted library without batting an eye. Mr Sapien explained that some of those could send grown man on the floor crying or spouting gibberish caused by mental breakdown.

Edward could not see what all the fuss was all about.

Rose, out of breath and clutching her side, 'rose'(haha) to her chair once again. "Oh boy, I did not laugh like that in a long time. You're worth months of therapy my friend. Talking about therapy, how is it going?"

Ah. Rose was good to quickly slip in some subjects in their conversations that he did not like to approach. It was one of the few bad spot of this new life he could do without. The therapy sessions with Miss Melendiev were… he could not say unpleasant but maybe invasive and abrasive at the same time. The feeling of being out of place was even the more present after each of them.

Mister Hellboy told him to not put too much stuck in what the woman says, and that she was a self-important crackpot who didn't know what she was talking about. Well… he did not say that in those terms, his exact wording were a tad more… impolite.

That was why Mister Hellboy took upon himself to teach him the more… heteroclite subjects of his environment, and he quoted: "So you know what's what, plus some of the most important lessons in life and its mysteries."

And even after many lesson Edward wasn't sure what was what was supposed to be but it involved some things like explaining why Hawaiian pizza where underrated despite what anything Miss Sherman could say about it, the important lessons apparently all involved brewage that tasted like that lemonade mister Boggs made him taste that one time, so he never clearly remember what mister Hellboy was telling him when they drank and the mysteries remained mysterious but doing pranks on Director Manning was part of it somehow.

He rather liked the lessons with Mister Hellboy too. They were more fun than the session with Miss Melendiev. And after he visited him room and saw how I decorated it, Mister Hellboy asked if I could paint the bedroom of his daughter if he ended up having one.

Edward though it was Miss Sherman who was supposed to have children but M. Hellboy was different than the other so maybe he was expecting too? In any case he had happily agreed to the project.

"It is going… onward."

"That bad, huh?"

"Miss Melendiev always ask question that are not clear and that I have no answers too. It's… Frustrating." From the usually unflappable Edward, this said a lot about what he thought of her.

"Hang in there Edward, you know she only want your well being. She did get you that project with the front lawn didn't she? How is it going?"

Edward had to begrudgingly agree that it was nice to work his scissors on shrubbery again. Director Manning was grumbling about it, saying that an ex-secret agency had no place of having such an elaborate landscaping upfront. It was a waste of tax money and couldn't believe the council agreed to the expanse.

'The Project' as Hellboy dubbed, it involved a lot of hedging, flower beds and trees he personally shaped. Some were even from his old garden, the investigation team brought some back on one of their trips. It was nice to have some more things from home.

He and Director Manning were often in disagreement on what shape those should have. Edward worked with the vegetation and used the natural shape of the branches and let his imagination run its course. Manning argued that having a dinosaur on the front of a government building was not serious.

The Director requested some more simple shape and Hellboy who heard the conversation brought him a physical anatomy book for suggestion. Afterward, people had to explain to his what was an aneurysm and why the Director was on the verge of having one after seeing his rendition of the human genitalia.

He did not see what he did wrong; those were simple enough shape…

"I will have to redo some the work, the comity did not agree to some of the choices I made."

"Keep me informed and send me photos of the end result, okay?"

"I will." He promised, smiling.

"Oh! How is that nice lady going? The babies are dues soon isn't it? "

Edward had met Miss Sherman as soon as he put foot in the base. She was here to greet Mister Hellboy and Mister Sapien. She… was wary of him at first with his appearance but with the help of both men beside him, she opened up and they now talked often around a cup of something warm. She also told him to drop the 'Miss' and to call her Liz. After talking about Rose, Edward invited Liz to meet her over a 'Skype' video.

And with Hellboy sent on many mission lately she expressed the relief of talking with a new face. Miss Sher… Liz was a very interesting person and it wasn't because she could generate fire, which he found the ability absolutely beautiful in a powerful and phenomenal way. But rather because he genuinely liked her personality even if she said her emotions were all over the place lately because of her pregnancy.

It is also why he was extra careful around her with his hands. Babies… He was still mystified by the idea that little people will come from the belli of this young woman. Oh, he understood the mechanic behind it but it was still so magical in his opinion. After a lot of question to his teachers who were all seemingly unsure to how answer the questions and blushed a lot, finally gave him a lot of books with diagram and long definitions. Edward could honestly say it's now one of the subjects he was the most knowledgeable of now. It was a lot of books… When he asked Hellboy about babies, he said the fun was in making them. Edward easily understood this.

After all, his own father often said to him that he was the invention he was the most proud of and that building him was an interesting experience. Edward came to the conclusion that making offspring must be a very rewarding endeavour. Perhaps he could ask to have the supplies to make one too? The nice lady at the depot is always happy to find him what he asks for. Apparently crayons are not even the strangest thing she had been asked for at the BPRD.

"They say it's coming along well and Miss Sherman tells everyone she is really impatient of getting the two bowling balls off her bladder. Mister Hellboy his getting really antsy though. I think this is why the Director is sending him on so many missions lately."

'So he would stop driving everyone up the walls.' Liz explained. Edward did not understand what sort's vehicle Hellboy was driving that was capable of such vertical mobility but it was rather true that the usually boisterous man was becoming increasingly fretting as the due date approached.

Edward continued: "Miss Sherman told me that she wished you lived around here because it's going to be hard to find competent baby sitters."

"Aww that sweet of her", Rose laughed, "and I would too. I sure they will be adorable."

"I am certain of it too. Maybe if she***!" whatever Edward was going to say was drowned in the klaxon of an alarm resonating everywhere in the base, red light flashing in the room. Despite the, err, 'alarming' nature of what was happening, Edward gave no additional reaction to what was happening than the initial surprise. Unfazed he turned his attention back toward Rose. "Sorry, I have to go", he told her keeping his normal volume of voice despite the noise; "I will call you back this weekend. Take care." He ended the call despite not knowing if his friend heard and got up from his desk, calmly walking to the door.

The door handle was different from most of the others around the base, since upon his arrival at the BPRD, they realized his bladed hands made it hard to use most of the common doorknobs. They changed some of them around the base to help with his quality of life, a small gesture but greatly appreciated. Opening the door and peeking down the corridor, he saw the usual bustle of BPRD armoured troopers and personnel's hurrying around, doing what they were supposed to do in case of such alarm.

He began to follow some of them toward his designated meeting point as per the protocol that was drilled to him.

Like him, most those around barely reacted to the alarm, some even grumbling at the interruption of their day. They treated the situation like it was Wednesday. Well, it was, but you get what was meant. Most would think this was a drill, with the absence of panic and their absolute 'blasé' expression.

In a sense it was.

Edward arrived at an intersection and was about to turn left toward the area meeting point but was cut by a strange sight. Well, a lot of things seemed strange to Edward so maybe he wasn't a good reference point on such thing. And this IS the BPRD, some of the people here describing it as 'Strange "R"Us USA'.

Hellboy ran past him urgently with a screaming man wearing a white coat on his shoulder.

Ah. The usual then. Liz probably said something; Hellboy jumped to conclusion, hit the panic alarm and went to get the doctor. Fifth times this week only.

And here come mister Sapien with Director Manning in tow. He looked cross in Edward opinion. The alarm was soon cut and everyone was getting back to their job. He chose to follow the path they took, promises of something interesting happening over there…

'At least life is never dull anymore.'

Authors note:

Bookeater: I reached the end of my first ever fanfiction I have written and I don't know how to feel about it. This story started as a random idea that poped in my mind after I saw the second Hellboy movie. I just came back from an Anime convention and discussed Hellboy with the person who would become my co-author and made the comparison between Del Toro style and Tim Burton. From there I advanced the idea that it could be fun to see Hellboy meet Edward Scissorhand and the rest is history.

We worked hard on this project even if along the year multiple things got in the way. Change job multiple, was away from my co-author from long stretch of time which I was dependent to motivate myself into sitting down to write. Then I moved away two times ending quite far. Life got in the way even more and with all of this our interest for Hellboy became lacklustre… but I wanted to finish this project and I am glad I did. I am really a writer with some of the worst work ethic ever…

We had a lot of prospect for this little universe we carved along Hellboy existence but it's time to pass onto other things. I want to thank everybody who read our story and commented on it and I hope you liked what we did. It's not a master piece but to me it represents something important that I am glad I managed to do.

Thank you and see you on another story.

Shiroyuki : This story was 10 year in the making … ok, 9 and a half years … and I'm glad that we saw it through.

It was, for me at least, a monumental project. Writhing as always been a arduous process for me and while ideas are never in short supplies, putting them to paper is an another story all together. But getting to the end of this one … how should I put it, well it fills me with pride in the knowledge that I(we) can get things done. So I'm hopeful for future stories, even if the writhing process doesn't get easier.

While writhing this piece, there were many other ideas that we played with … will they ever get exploited? Who knows … maybe one of these days, I'm not making any promises otherwise it might take another 10 years to finish ^^;

See you in the future