Hey everyone. I hope you're all okay, and that schools not been to tedious for those who are back (like myself)...oh well, three more weeks then it's half term! I'm sorry about the delay...been so busy, been out a lot, 6th form is demanding my time, which I hate...cannot wait to leave. But anyway the new chapter is here now :)

Anyway summers coming which is a brightening thought, especially as my birthdays coming up in the next 4-5 weeks :)

I hope you enjoy the new chapter and all it has to bring...

Review please!

Music of Inspiration...Ludovico Einaudi – Rose & Someday from the "Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 – sung by Eternal"

It had been late that afternoon before Belle had finally gotten up, and changed into a more relaxed choice of outfit which consisted simply of lightly coloured jeans with a white halter-neck top that had pink stargazer lilies carefully placed to give it a subtle but complementing colour contrast. Though as she walked up to the living room, Belle found that Abe was close beside her, ensuring that she was alright, not that he said it...he didn't need to. Belle knew he was there, and that meant more to her than anything at that moment...

'Well look who's finally managed to get up today,' Hellboy grinned, Belle smiling weakly at him,

'How are you feeling?' Liz asked,

'I'm fine, honestly, you shouldn't worry about me,' she responded feeling herself being watched by the three of them as she was directed into the living room where she sat down quietly.

'We probably should when you didn't stay in the van last night. Ya do know you're supposed to be in danger right?' Hellboy remarked,

'I know, I'm sorry I-'

'I never said what ya did was wrong. You did what you thought was right, and it's a lot more than what the FBI would've done for us. You got courage...'

'I don't know really,' Belle responded shaking her head slightly. 'Can I really have courage when I can't even bring myself to explain to my family that I've lived with a secret they've never known about? And it makes it all the more worse that I didn't even tell any of you...you must think badly of me.'

With Hellboy watching Belle evenly he looked at Abe who evidently read his thoughts and seemed to denote agreement in his expression as he sat near to Belle offering her some reassurance when Hellboy spoke up. 'I'd think badly of ya, yeah, if you treated us like Manning does. But we haven't got any reason to think badly of you. It ain't easy trying to be who you are when you think something will push others away.'

'HB is right, you can't blame yourself. You saved us last night...'

'Yeah and it's supposed to be the other way round...God my reputations gonna look bad,' Hellboy remarked with a smirk. Though as Belle looked at Abe who seemed to be watching her intently...thoughtfully, Belle smiled softly in return as he asked her,

'Did you know?'

'Of your clairvoyance? Not to begin with...I've never met anyone who could do what I can, so to feel such a unique aura from you...I wasn't sure what to think. But gradually, I noticed how observant you are, and I finally pieced together the ways you and I act the same...' she remarked, Abe looking at her curiously. There was so much he wanted to ask her...so much he wanted to know. But in truth he didn't know where to start.

'So when did you find out what you can do?' Liz asked,

'I really don't remember how old I was,' Belle said admittedly, 'the first memory I have that's really prominent was one of my Father's dinner parties. Usually I was put to bed before they started, but for some reason they decided I may stay up a little while longer. Though from the guests arriving that night; something didn't seem quite right...I knew it was going to be loud and it was very overwhelming to be amongst so many people. But as I noticed, I could hear some voices more clearly than others, though they seemed to be in my mind...I don't quite know how to explain it. I suppose it's like...when you think things through in your mind and you can hear your own voice; it's that...but other people talking. Some we're quiet...some were louder. I found it so hard to make sense of it all...even as I was spoken to, I found myself having to really focus on them in order to hear them properly.'

'It certainly isn't uncommon...' Abe said, drawing the others attention, 'when one first starts to hear another's thoughts...it's all of those thoughts, which can be very difficult to try and suppress in the start,' he explained, giving Hellboy and Liz an insight into his and Belle's experiences in the beginning.

'I was eight at that party...over the next couple of years I learnt it was their thoughts I was able to hear...I've always kept it a secret though. Everything I know about my clairvoyance has been through my experiences and all I've been able to find out through books and the internet. I haven't been able to tell anyone until now...because I was afraid of how they would look at me,' she remarked, dropping her gaze.

'When I first came to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence, I was in exactly the same position. The thoughts I could hear were so unclear, so muddled, it took me a long time to figure out how to black out the thoughts I didn't want to hear, and how to be able to listen to them at will. It gets easier though,' he remarked,

'Really...? Does telling the people you care about get easier?' Belle responded, Abe looking at her with some sympathy,

'I assure you...it will.'

Smiling slightly, Belle then cast a glance out of the window, sighing slightly at the rain. 'I'm just disappointed it's raining now...I would have enjoyed shopping today...'

'We can go tomorrow, I just wasn't sure if you'd be feeling up to it...'

'I'm fine, really,' she said in assurance, 'I just-' she began when the doorbell sounded, followed by a loud hammering.

'I'll get it,' Hellboy remarked standing up, 'been needing a good argument, and I got a feeling I'm gonna get one.'

'You don't think it's...'

'Agent Manning,' Abe and Belle remarked in unison before glancing to each other in slight surprise.

'Two mind readers now? Great...that's gonna be fun having two of them reading my mind...' Hellboy remarked shaking his head...

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

As the FBI came in, Abe, Hellboy and Liz awaited them in the main hall, exchanging glances as the agent closest to them requested to know what had happened. 'Why are you asking us? You were supposed to be watching her, she got in and distracted the entity we were fighting.'

'So what happened?' Manning demanded coming forward, a stern expression across his face mixed with slight worry, Hellboy about to retort when Abe spoke up. 'She found information regarding the particular entity we were facing and merely came in to try and tell us, as I believe the FBI on the door wouldn't hear of what she had found. She was able to return the entity to a solid form and I stepped in to ensure she was safe whilst Hellboy took care of the entity...'

'Please don't blame them,' Belle added coming into the hallway with them, her expression tired though she appeared fine to the Agents present. 'It was my fault, I read a way of stopping the entity and when I knew they were in danger I slipped past the FBI to help them...' Belle admitted, the others turning to her, with a mixture of gratitude in their expressions, Manning looking relieved to see her alright. 'I don't know what I would have done without them,' she remarked honestly, smiling at them. Abe turning back and beginning to talk about the unanticipated mission,

'I will finish all the paperwork for you Agent Manning, Belle is perfectly alright though I can assure you,'

'Well...erm, yes...though I don't think there would be any need to bring this up with your parents Belle, as I'm sure you understand...' Manning encouraged, Belle's expression faltering slightly and becoming simply composed as she nodded her head slightly.

'Yes sir...' she responded nonchalantly,

'Come on Manning, be fair, the kid's not had one chance to talk to people she knows...I mean really knows,' Hellboy remarked before correcting himself, 'she's not even a kid...she's an adult, you gotta let the lady have some freedom.'

'It's none of your concern Hellboy; your only concern is to do your job.'

'Is that all you think she is? A job?' Hellboy said indignantly, Liz taking Belle into the living room away from the quickly growing argument.

'Look,' Manning said in a considerably lower voice. 'We get this wrong, and it all falls back on me. Just watch her. Is that clear?'

'Crystal,' Hellboy said with heavy sarcasm,

'We won't fail in watching her, though I do agree with Red,' Abe remarked, his expression denoting disapproval over Manning's instructions. 'It isn't fair you insist in treating her like she is a prisoner.'

'What do you want me to do Abe? The girl needs protection, and you can hardly walk the streets with her. It is better for her to be watched here, and for the details to be kept strictly amongst those involved.'

'Doesn't that include her parents, after all they were the ones who sought her protection weren't they?' Abe responded calmly, Manning watching him

'...and Belle will not be out by herself, because I'll be going with her,' Liz said quite plainly, coming in between Abe and Hellboy.

'What?'

'We are going shopping tomorrow,' she responded in the same tone,

'But in your condi-'

'I wouldn't say it Agent Manning, because while I can control my anger, I can also choose not to. So don't insult me by making me sound incapable...' Liz remarked with a glare in her eyes.

'You don't scare me,' Manning challenged, though it was evident he had some fear in his eyes, flames threatening to take form around Liz's hands though she contained it.

'Oh I really think you should be scared Manning, because even if you're not scared of her, you will be of me,' Hellboy said in a dark tone.

'Really? And what about Miss. Lucivia...surely all this yelling will look worse on your part, than it will mine,' Manning retorted, hitting a spot which left Hellboy feeling irritably uncertain on how to react, Agent Manning taking his leave whilst he still had what he thought was the upper hand. 'Ensure Belle is taken care of, or it will be on the three of you. Good day,' he said briskly, walking out of the doors and closing them sharply behind, leaving Hellboy, Abe and Liz silent.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Sitting in her room later that evening, Belle had been in deep thought over what she'd heard from the living room. She had no idea that Agent Manning – a man who had always been so pleasant whenever she had seen him with her father – was in actual fact bitter. She felt an uncomfortable worry coursing through her at the idea that it was her fault, for the way they had been treated. But as it were, she did not know that it was a still common occurrence. Hearing a delicate purring, Belle reached down beside her from the windowsill, her fingertips barely touching the cat beside her. It wasn't willow, but a pure white cat that she recognised from Hellboy's vast amount of pets. 'When did you come then?' she smiled, stroking the somewhat older cat. 'I'm sure you could tell some stories if you could speak...maybe you could even tell me whether they do like me...or like Manning said...am I just a job...?' she suggested, more to herself as she thought of it with some sadness...

Though in that moment, Belle became aware she wasn't alone as a knock came slowly to the door...looking up she uttered permission for whomever it was to come in, Abe glancing in and coming only a couple of steps into the room. 'Hello,' he greeted his smile somewhat comforting to Belle the mere fact he had made the effort to come and see her making her feel somewhat comforted.

'I hope your new room had been to your liking,' Abe began, looking around it once again, Belle nodding politely,

'Thank you, you can come in I don't mind' she responded, unsure of what exactly to say to him, when the remark she wished to make passed her lips, 'I wanted to thank you...you helped me again last night...'

'Only thanks to you...what you did was quite unbelievable...'

'I was just so worried...because I knew what it was like to be alone with a creature like that...' Belle said admittedly, the atmosphere going silent for a moment when Belle thought of something that had been playing on her mind.

'Can I ask you something?' she said quietly,

'Yes?' Abe responded, unable to decipher her expression, as she glanced down at her hands before meeting his gaze.

'Have you ever had a dream or...a nightmare...where it feels almost too...real?' she questioned, Abe watching her carefully as he thought about her question.

'Yes...these are worrying you though?' Abe offered,

'I suppose the nightmares have...scared me at times...but like dreams, I find I can only remember pieces of them now. I just don't understand whether they may be trying to tell me something, or if it's just things that are simply bothering me and I haven't realised it,' she said running a hand through her silky blonde hair, Abe offering her a reassuring expression as he offered another theory.

'Sometimes dreams can tell us things about our futures. Other times they are created simply from our thoughts which are in our minds as we go to sleep at night. A man once said "What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story, And the greatest good is little enough: for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams."'

'I've heard that quote before... Pedro Calderon de la Barca...maybe in an English lesson...'

'...and what does that quote mean to you?' Abe continued calmly, Belle thinking carefully before she answered,

'That life is a dream, so our dreams at night can be reality or an illusion. It is something we can never be completely sure of however...'

'Perhaps so,' Abe agreed with a slight smile, Belle still thinking about this when she yawned a little, still feeling tired from the day that had just passed. 'I'll leave you to sleep, it is better that you rest,' Abe then said decidedly, Belle sitting back more comfortably on the windowsill as Abe moved to the door, when he turned back to her.

'Belle?'

'Yes...?' she responded, looking up to him,

'You're not another job to us...I promise you that.'

As Belle settled down that night, Abe's statement had left a considerable impression on her as he bade her goodnight. Though she couldn't help but feel curious about when else Abe might know of her...

Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter :) I apologise again for the delay and I promise the next chapter won't take this long to update with. I really hate 6th form...lol but I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and have a good weekend :)

Thankyou to all my patient reviewers and readers, please review!

Goodnight!

~x-xMasqueradeAngelx-x