The Usual Author's Note - A couple of things in these flashes might be quoted out of "Once Upon A Time." Not all of these flashes may end up being part of the canon/fanon continuity, so keep an open mind, they're just ideas answering prompts. LA Knight can pick and choose whatever elements she likes. German translations at the bottom in the end-notes.

Update Mar 11: All flashes here except for Cruelty = canon. Cruelty's non-canon status may change, though, since LA Knight really liked it.

DONUT

(Before Special Agent John Myers gets transferred to Antarctica prior to the events of the second Hellboy movie)

"Thanks for the ride," said the tall, exotic beauty with the fairest complexion and most luscious-looking long dark hair that John Myers had ever seen, as she unclasped her hands from around his waist and dismounted from her seat behind him on his blue motorcycle.

"No problem," he said, as he watched her walk into the alley. She stopped about half-way to the other end of the building and turned around. The smile on her deep red mouth made his insides feel light. From over the side of the roof of the building, something that looked like a huge mechanical metal fist on the end of an industrial-strength chain lowered down to about waist-level near the woman and spread its wide metal fingers. She looked upwards, and her smile was all aglow as she grabbed hold of the chain, and allowed the mechanical hand to gently wrap its metal grip about her slender waist as much as it could. The hand-on-a-chain pulled her up to the top of the roof, carefully, and right into the arms of a hulking silver-gray behemoth that John thought looked quite scary but apparently she did not, as she was hugging the creature happily and raining kisses all over its tusked face.

John Myers sighed somewhat ruefully - now as then - as he sat on the couch with some of his best pals, all sharing some boxes of donuts and watching a movie. Liz had turned her face to softly run her lips along Red's jaw-line, and the big red demon turned his face to kiss her full on the mouth, properly. It wasn't that John was not happy for his friends, he just wondered if there would ever be a time in his life that he would meet a beautiful woman with sleek dark hair that he could actually talk to that wasn't already taken by some freaky guy out of a story book that could tear him into little pieces without even breaking a sweat.

John took another bite of his donut, recalling something his Uncle Thaddeus had said, once upon a time. "Once is a mistake, or an accident. Twice is an emerging pattern." John didn't think that he liked the looks of this pattern.

HEAVEN

He had a prince to serve. She had a bar to run. But there were some nights that they had together.

In those nights, Lorelei would revel in his warmth, his strength, as he held her close. He would run his fingers through her hair, and she would melt under his affectionate attentions. His deep-chested rumbling vibrated all through her, and made her heart dance away from her. His touch was gentle, skillful, perfect; he was never clumsy or careless with her. She always found herself instinctively leaning in, seeking more of that feeling, of his rough leathery skin moving against hers - whether his touch was solid, or soft and light.

Lorelei would fall asleep to the sound and feel of his great heart beating beside her, strong and steady, while the warm smell of old leather, deep places under the earth, and troll male all wove around her and carried her into dreams.

The nights that she stayed with him, or that he stayed with her - those nights that they were together - those nights were heavenly.

HELL

He had a prince to serve. She had a bar to run. So, naturally, there were some nights that they had to spend apart.

In those nights, Wink would stir in his sleep and reach for her, but only cool, empty space would fill his grasp. He would imagine her voice near him, her breathing, but only the silence of the room and the distant sounds of the city would press on his ears. It was almost painful to recall her soft velvet touch, her warmth, the silky feel of her hair, while nothing but the strength of the recalled memory whispered over him like a ghost in a mirror, taunting him, making his senses ache for something beyond his reach in those hours.

Wink would fall asleep into dreams of eyes like dragon's treasure, a fox's smile on blood-red lips, and the sound and smell of deep water washing over him and carrying him away.

The nights that they were apart... those were the nights that were the hardest to get any rest.

POISON

1940s

Prince Nuada burst through the door of the New York home, his man-at-arms, Wink, following close behind him. The first person to approach him upon his entrance was a very beautiful, young-looking woman with softly waved, golden-brown hair and ultra-gold eyes. "Where is she, Sunna?" Nuada asked her, concern evident in his voice and his dark-rimmed eyes of amber-gold, as he abandoned his typical manner of formality with this woman and addressed her by her first name.

Sunna indicated a hall off to her right and answered, "My daughter and your sister are both in the parlor-room, Eure Hoheit. Wink, if you will come with me to the kitchen?" Nuada followed the path down the hall that Sunna had indicated, while troll and Rhine daughter hied themselves to the kitchen.

In the parlor-room, lain on a lounge, was another young-looking woman who appeared to be about Sunna's age, but a bit taller, and with sleek, black hair. Lorelei. Her eyes were closed, her breathing was erratic, she sweated and shivered, and every now and again a delirious whimper of pain would escape her. Princess Nuala sat beside her, stroking her hair back from her face, worry and care written all over her fine elvish features. The princess looked up at her twin's approach. "It is good that you came," she told him softly.

Nuada took up a seat opposite her, his eyes on the suffering rhinemaiden. "I came as soon as I knew," he said. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Nuala took a deep breath, "We did not expect that the day would turn out so hot when she took me to see a glade in the park. She began to get dizzy from the dry heat taxing her need for water, and so we looked for someplace that she could get a drink." Nuala closed her eyes, her twinge of regret stinging in Nuada's own heart as well. "The nearest thing was a human-constructed drinking-fountain... We had no idea that it would be along another one of those water-lines that the human government has recently ordered to be 'treated' with chemical additives."

When Nuala opened her eyes again, they were wet and bright, and Nuada sat with a grim, stony expression, his gloved fists clenched tightly in silently burning rage. Another transgression, another atrocity to make him hate humanity all the more. The humans somehow lived, even as they poisoned their own water, while his people, his friends, suffered for it. "We will make it right, Nuala," he said, reaching for his sister's hand. "One way or another, we will set this right."

"'Right' in the sense that our friend will recover and live, brother?" Nuala questioned. "Or by 'right' do you mean that you will seek to set your wrath on more than only those who are accountable, for standing in such positions of power to have brought this about, by making them and all who are ruled by them suffer in her stead?"

The prince did not answer his twin, but carefully stroked his outstretched gloved hand over the side of the ashen-white face of a shuddering Lorelei, anticipating when Wink would come from the kitchen with one of his troll brews for her.

STAR

(Near the Upstate house where Sunna currently lives, mentioned/alluded to in Chapter 1 of this fic.)

Wink and Lorelei sat gazing up at the starry expanse over their heads. The river siren was sitting in the troll's lap, with his huge, strong arms wrapped around her, for closeness as much as for warmth.

"Follow the path that I trace," said Lorelei, her breath and her voice as soft as the night that caught them, and she lifted her long, elegant arm, and with one finger, traced something in the stars for her burly companion to decipher. Wink smiled as he discerned what it was. She had written in runic script, words which translated as "my hero."

"Now my turn," he rumbled low in her ear, his warm breath curling around the delicate point and making her bite her lip, briefly. Now the silver warrior lifted his great arm and traced something in the stars for his comparatively diminutive sweetheart to see. Lorelei's mouth came open, just slightly, as she saw what he wrote.

With invisible lines of pure thought he had carved into the heavens, in troll script, words which meant "my valkyrie."

Valkyrie. A valkyrie was one of the maidens in service to the gods, who chose and subsequently took worthy heroes that fell in battle to live on in Valhalla. Christian conquerors of the Germanic and Norse lands had equated them to angels of the battlefield, who carried the souls of the valorous to Heaven once they were slain.

But that which Wink had intended in those words was the only meaning that mattered to Lorelei, here and now, in his arms under the stars. To her, he was a hero. To him, she was the celestial creature that bore him body and soul to paradise.

The rhinemaiden lifted her moon-pale face, and pressed her dark rosepetal lips to the line of Wink's jaw, just behind one of his tusks, under the chin, sending a shimmering bolt of warmth all the way down to the base of his spine. "Ich liebe dich, mein Held," she whispered, soft against his skin. I love you, my hero.

CRUELTY

(Not intended as canon, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. Ultimately it's still LA Knight's decision, though.)

"So... This is the creature that the prince's 'valet' is so besotted with, then, hmm?" Dierdre said with no small amount of contempt in her tone, as she sharply held Lorelei's chin and turned her head this way and that, as if inspecting the Rhine daughter. Lorelei's golden eyes smoldered with loathing like seething dragon's fire at the gancanaugh that had her here with chains wrapped about her legs and her hands bound over her head with leather ties, enchanted silken gag over her mouth.

"Hm," the vile thing scoffed, before she began to laugh, with a smile that spoke of a cruel heart and eyes full of malice. "And you actually bed the brute! Ha! I would wonder for your sanity, child, but I am curious..." she brought her face closer to the rhinemaiden, who flinched away from her in disgust. "You already have the favor of the Silver Lance, and his precious twin, so what is it that you gain from rutting so eagerly with that thing?"

For a moment something changed in Lorelei's eyes, and her look seemed far away, towards another place and time, towards other company. There was joy, sadness, and... what? Diedre ripped the gag off of Lorelei's face and gripped her chin harder, forcing her to look the gancanaugh in the eyes. "Tell me," she snapped sharply, "and do not presume that your siren voice will better your chances here."

The burning loathing had returned to the river maid's eyes, and she said coolly, "It's something called 'love'..." Dragon's gold blazed against icy crimson-slitted black as stare met stare evenly. "And it's a thing that you would not recognize if it looked you right in the face and shot you."

Shock registered for all of two seconds on Dierdre's face, before she backhand-slapped the rhinemaiden with a snarl, only to feel the hard sting of it echo through every piece of her own body with the magic in the cry that tore from Lorelei's lips.

CHESS

(In one of Wink & Nuada's various lairs throughout the city)

"Checkmate," grunted Wink. "Out of curiosity, can you recall any instance where we have ever played this game and you've won?" The troll looked at his chess partner with a bright twinkle in his one eye and a smile on his mouth. "Because I know I cannot." Wink and Lorelei both chortled good-naturedly, their contrasting voices filling the room where they sat across from each other, her golden king surrounded on all fronts by his silver knights and rooks.

"Nein," she said, shaking her head. "Niemals." Her eyes gleamed as she folded her arms to rest on the table and laid her head upon them, looking at him. "You are a veteran warrior of many years, so you are not at all out of your element with this game; and truthfully, I hate the rigidity of what chess demands in play," she confessed with no hesitation and no shame. Lorelei lifted her head up, but kept her arms resting on the table. "But I enjoy the company that makes it a worthwhile pastime." Her smile was every bit as warm as the firelight that played like living gold over her fair features, setting the illusory effect of sparkling miniature stars along the chains of her jewelry that hung delicately at her ears and her throat. Lorelei took a breath, and spoke in a light tone of voice, "Na gut, as we agreed, victory entitles the winner to a forfeit, so..." She spoke plainly, neither attempting to hide nor to reveal anything that could have been in her mind right at the moment, "Was willst du von mir?"

The troll did not even have to think before he gave his answer. "Stay," was all that he said.

"Stay?" Lorelei echoed, unsure of what he was asking.

Wink got up from where he sat, and stood beside the rhinemaiden, his shadow against the firelight towering above her like he was all the power of a mountain given living form. He held out his hand for her, and as softly and lightly as a cat's paw, she placed her fair hand in his, his fingers curling around it as she rose from her seat. "Stay here tonight," he rumbled, his deep voice was low. He gently pulled her closer, his mechanical right hand at the small of her back, his left hand bringing hers to rest on his muscled chest, smoothing her palm over his beating heart. His one eye locked with hers. Lorelei's whole hand vibrated with his heartbeat and his deep voice, and her pulse quickened a little, though her outward composure remained intact, as he rumbled, "Stay with me."

Lorelei forgot that she was barely breathing.

When words decided not to fail her, she said softly, quietly, "What about the prince?"

Wink snorted and rolled his eye. "It is unlikely that tonight will be among the nights that His Highness will repair here, but if he does..." Wink gave a light shrug, mirth in his eye and a smirk on his face, "Who knows? The boy might learn something."

Lorelei laughed at that, and with a smile Wink picked her up effortlessly and twirled her around the way that princes and princesses or knights and ladies do in mortal fairy-stories. "And," he growled, "the bieresal have proven full-well in the past to be very capable of seeing to Fafner's Cave during a brief absence from you, so let them see to it tonight." He set her down so that she stood atop the place that she had occupied whilst they played their game of chess, almost eye-level with him, maybe yet two inches below. He let his eye brush over her features like a caress - the arch of her brow, the graceful line of her neck, nothing was left untouched by his gaze.

Still holding her steady about the waist in his arms, he brought his mouth to the crook of that swan-like neck, and was gratified to hear her breath catch. As he trailed his mouth over her skin slowly upwards, breathing her in hungrily like he would never breathe anything else, his deep, rumbling voice filled her whole world and sent waves of vibrations down to the end of her spine as he made his request once again, in low tones, "Stay with me tonight."

Lorelei could barely consciously remember how to stand. Words almost failed to find her once again, but it almost seemed as if they moved her mouth for her, in the end. "Wie du willst," she answered breathlessly yet smoothly, dissolving into the troll warrior's embrace. "I will stay with you tonight."

Somewhere in the cosmos, she could have sworn that on some plane of existence someone must have been whispering, Silver knight takes golden queen... checkmate, I win again.

A/N - In the first Hellboy movie, John Myers actually does have a blue motorcycle or mo-ped (kinda hard to tell, for whatever reason), which is how he gets to the BPRD building on his first day and how he takes Liz out to the park for coffee (I think she even snaps a picture of it). I went with motorcycle here. John's gotta have something that makes him cool, aside from being the adorable pure-at-heart guy that somehow brings out the better stuff in people even as he inadvertently discovers more in himself as well.

- Sunna is Lorelei's mom. Her name is the same as the Old High German name for the goddess of the sun - similar to the word "Sonne," which means "sun" in contemporary German. Her proper full name would be "Sunna von der Strom," which is literally "Sunna from/of the river." She'll be popping up every now and again, IF her presence is relevant enough for whatever scene is written, otherwise, don't hold your breath.

- "Treating" municipal water really did begin in the 1940s in America, though not all at once, there was a lot of political process involved, and I can speak from personal experience the havoc that these additives sometimes wreak on people who are more or less sensitive to them. :( Thank heavens for springs and wells.

- It's been mentioned before that Lorelei is a friend of both of the royal elf twins, but never touched on with Nuala in the picture, which is something that I wanted to rectify with Poison. Obviously, the Nuada&Wink/Lorelei bond is longer-lived and stronger than the Nuala/Lorelei friendship, since the guys were the first to meet her and they see more of her since they're the ones out in the world more, but Lorelei is still dear to Nuala - psychic she-elf & empathic rhinemaiden, both have a deep respect for life in all its "freaky-funky" to "fuzzy-fluffy" forms, yep, they get along great. In the interests of a mutual friend, I think that Nuala would be glad of Nuada being there for Lorelei, no matter what she thinks of him.

- There really is a Troll Alphabet that was developed for the Hellboy II movie (another thing I learned in the DVD special features). You see it used in several places throughout the Troll Market, and it's carved all over parts of the Golden Army's chamber. The director, Guillermo del Toro, swears that he personally checked to make sure that nobody did anything lame with it, like carving dirty jokes into the set, gotta love him for that. :)

- "You wouldn't know what love is if it looked you right in the face and shot you" is something that I seriously felt the impulse to say to somebody once, but I held my tongue. Every now and again, people or characters that I see remind me of it. Lorelei gets her chance to say it here in Cruelty.

- The theme song for Chess is "Dream Here," by Oomph! featuring Marta Jandová, and its German-language equivalent, "Träumst Du?" also by Oomph!, obviously. Same song, sung in different languages, basically, and both versions are a very good fit. Some folks *cough*like Americans*cough, cough* might not understand the part in the German version that sings "springst du mit mir" because the verb "springen" means "to jump." Well, in that context it's actually a euphemism for making love. So, make sense now?... Yeah, close your mouth and put your eyes back in your head.

Dearest LA Knight: Sorry, love, no Geri flashes this time around, but if I ever get "Silver and Gold" finished it might make up for it.

TRANSLATIONS

Eure Hoheit = Your Highness

Nein = No

Niemals = Never

Was willst du von mir? = In the context of Chess: "What would you have of me?" Literally: "What do you want of me?"

Wie du willst = As you will/As you want/ *imitating Wesley from the Princess Bride* "As you wish"