I don't own Hellboy, Nuada or Wink. Alex I do. Please don't use Alex.
Alex was the first to wake up. She only needed about four hours of sleep. It was better to get up before the sun, anyway. She limped out of the hay bale that she and Nuada had slept in. She turned at looked at him. His hair was full of straw, he was sleeping upside down, and one of his arms was thrown out an awkward angel, but he was still so handsome it wasn't even funny. Why is he here? What is he looking for? She almost fell when she climbed down the latter. Slowly she walked to the house. When she got there she didn't knock. She didn't have to. Ivy and Lia were already standing there.
"Alex, good, you're here. Ivy will take you up to her room and see if we can find anything in your size," she said as she fixed some breakfast. Alex followed the daughter up the stairs, almost tripping. When she got to the bed room she found Ivy already going through her closet humming three short, strong, beautiful notes.
"I think that I only have two things in your size, you're so much taller than me," she said as she pulled out a light blue sweater and a long white skirt. Slowly Alex pulled off her shirt, tank top and pants. She carefully shimmied on the white skirt. It constantly moved and for some strange reason it made her look more graceful. Ivy bit her lip when she saw her bra.
"Do you have a strapless bra?" she asked. When Alex shook her head Ivy sighed. When Ivy went over to the closet Alex shook her head.
"No. There is no way I'm wearing a strapless bra," she said as she backed up. Landing weird on her ankle she winced and landed on the bed.
Ivy crossed her arms. "Okay, do you have an idea?"
Alex thought for a minute. Then she grabbed her left strap and pulled it off. Next she grabbed the sweeter and pulled that on so that it hung loss on the left side. Ivy shrugged and grabbed to lace up boots.
Alex groaned. "High heels," she said as Ivy laced the higher that ankle boots.
"They could have been a lot higher," Ivy commented as she pulled the other one on her foot. Alex gave a small whimper when Ivy started to lace it. Ignoring the whimper Ivy continued.
"I found its body," Ivy said softly. Alex nodded. "I'm going to hid it," the half human said again. Alex nodded again. Together they exited the room, and again Alex almost fell down the stairs. This time it was because of the high heels, which truth be told weren't that high. She walked out of the house and went back to the barn. Laying on one of the many pieces of random wood was her cloak. She put it on along with her gloves. But unlike the other time she buttoned it. The buttons started at her neck and ended at her hips, so that all of her white skirt and the end of the sweater. She pulled up her hood and waited for the boys to get up.
Nuada woke early in the morning. He looked over to discover that Alex wasn't there. He climbed down from the hay loft to find Wink eating a piece of bread and a figure in a black cloak with red and gold lining eating a fruit. Along with the buttoned up cloak was a long white skirt that billowed everywhere. Nuada approached the figure.
"Alexandria?" he asked cautiously. The figure looked at him.
"Please don't laugh," she said as she pulled down her hood.
The two stared at each other until Wink spoke.
"When are we going?" Wink asked.
Nuada stared for a little more before answering. "Right now," and with that he marched out of the barn. Wink followed and Alex limped behind both of them. After waving good bye to her friends Alex went and walked by Nuada, with Wink behind them. She limped for about an hour, and Nuada noticed that she was trying to mask it with her skirt.
Nuada grabbed her and turned her around. "Why are you limping?"
Alex took a step back, only to wince when her right foot came in contact with the ground. "Do you want the truth or the lie that I have prepared beforehand?"
"I want to hear the lie," Wink said from behind them. Nuada looked at him. "What, I want to hear what she came up with."
Alex looked at Wink. "Wait. Can he understand what I'm saying? He can understand me but I can't understand him? That's so not fare."
Nuada looked at her next. "He wants to hear the lie."
Alex shrugged. "I fell."
Wink and Nuada looked at each other. "What really happened?"
Alex bit her lip and looked around. She started to walk forward again. "Remember when I said about them not like being talked about?"
Nuada looked at Alex and started to walk after her. "They attacked you?"
Alex took of her back pack and stopped. Nuada and Wink stopped with her. Out of her bag she pulled a head. The face looked malnourished and a little skeletal, but he was human.
"He looks human to me," Wink said looking at the head.
"What did he say?"
After Nuada translated Alex shook her head. "That's because of their glamor. Close your eyes and smell it." The men looked at her like she was crazy. "Smell it," she said louder.
Nuada took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Nuada nearly gagged when he smelled it. It smelled like rotting flesh, blood, and maggots. It was impossible for it to smell this bad when it was only killed last night. When he opened his eyes he jumped back in shock. Instead of the thin face the head looked like a skeleton's head with hair. He watched as Wink smelled it and jumped back when he saw it too. After they were done smelling it she shoved it back into her bag. After that she continued to walk. The men looked at each other then walked after her.
"What was that?" Nuada asked.
"Their called changelings. Some of them are the haunts that I told you about last night."
"Why did we have to smell them to truly see them?"
Alex bit her lip. "You could tell the difference between the changeling and the way it appeared. When you knew that it was different it didn't need to hide. That's how I tell them apart, through smell."
Nuada looked at her bag. What else was in that thing? "So you see them how they always are?"
Alex nodded. Nuada shook his head. "Now that we can tell the difference can we see all of them?"
Alex shook her head. "No. Like people each changeling is different from the next. Most of the time the only way you could tell the difference with smell is if you stuck your nose in someone's armpit. The only reason you could smell this one is because its smell is very strong. It's a blessing not being able to see them. They play less attention to you."
"How could you smell them apart?" Wink asked.
Alex only looked at Nuada with a raised eyebrow. When he got done translating she answered the question. "I have a strong nose. Stronger than most." After she got done she started to walk again, limping all the way.
Nuada looked at his friend. "If you want one of us to carry you I think that we would be most obliged. We don't want to see a hurt lady walk the rest of the way."
Alex turned and gave Nuada a look that was so full of rage that he would have burned to a crisp if looks could kill. "I might just have to kill you," she said. Wink jumped in front of Nuada.
Nuada scrunched his eyebrows. "I was just being a gentleman. How could that have cost me my life?"
The vampire continued to glare at him. "I don't need your help. I have walked farther distances and on greater injuries. And I'm not a lady," and with that she turned and walked forward. Almost after three steps she tripped and fell face first in the dirt. She got up and looked back at the men. "Okay, I have never walked those great distances in high heels before. Sue me." And she went back to walking.
The men stared after her for a while. "And those heels aren't very high," Wink commented. They walked for hours afterward, Alex in the front and Nuada and Wink staying as far away from her as possible. After a few hours she stopped and looked at Nuada.
"You might want to put on your glamor," she said as she pointed to the town. She turned back and continued to walk. Nuada shook his head, but put on his glamor none the less. Wink followed both of them shaking his head.
"How on earth did I miss seeing that?" the troll thought out loud.
The men continued to walk when Alex stopped suddenly and turned to them. When they were with her she went into her bag. Out she pulled a cloak, brown and dirty. She tossed it to Wink, who put it on.
"People are allowed to have fey servants, but they have to be covered in public, so they don't scare the children, not that there's any there," she handed her bag to Wink and looked at Nuada with a raised eye brow.
"Yes?" he said with irritation. What does she want?
Alex licked her lips, and then bit them. She reached out and took Nuada's hand and placed it on her hip, so that his arm was around her. The men looked at her with surprise. She just looked back at them.
"What? I'm posing as his wife, remember? This is an extremely sexist town, that's why I stay in the border towns."
"How sexist is it?" Nuada asked quietly.
Alex snorted. "So sexist that if a woman gets raped it isn't a crime if she isn't married."
Nuada looked at the vampire. She's very tall, almost as tall as my sister. Maybe a few centimeters shorter at most. "Is that why you put my arm around you? Are you afraid of getting raped?"
Alex rolled her eyes and looked at the man, their faces only an inch and a half away from each other. "No. I just really don't feel like killing someone today. Then they would try to kill me, then when they find out that I'm not human they would call the Freak Patrol, then they would try to kill me, then I'll have to kill them, and that would just be a mess."
Nuada looked at the woman, and then started forward pulling the vampire along with him. When they got to the town Alex could already feel some of the men's hungry glances at her. She moved closer to the elf.
Folding her hand together and putting her head down like she's seen a "good" wife do she spoke to him. "Please keep me close." Nuada looked down at the vampire. She looked mad. She didn't like to controlled like this. She wasn't like the other women that he seen walking past them, the ones with the blank looks in their eyes. But for some reason she was letting herself be pulled through the street like a cow.
"Try to find a inn," she said, breathing on his ear. Nuada bit his lip. Elven ears were very sensitive. He pulled her along until he saw a sign. He started to walk towards the inn. When they were inside Nuada looked through the poor lighting to see the desk.
When they approached the front desk the man looked at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Alex. After a few seconds he turned back to Nuada.
"Welcome to the inn. How many nights will you be staying?" the front desk man said.
"One."
The man wrote this down. "And how many?"
"Thr-" Nuada started when Alex stepped on his foot. "Two and a fey," she said.
The man smiled at Alex. "Ah, you can talk. And what is your name?"
"Victorsin," she said a little too sternly.
The man scratched his head. "That is an unusual name for a woman."
"Family name," she said as she moved closer to Nuada, placing her hand on his.
"Oh," the man said a little too disappointed. "The troll will have to sleep in the stable, you and wife will have room 13," he said to Nuada. "Oh, and I never asked your name."
Before Nuada could answer him Alex did. "Nickolas and Amanda Victorsin."
The man nodded and handed them the key. "My wife will show your troll to the stable, and my daughter will show you to your room." Out of the door behind the man came a stout woman with brown hair and a girl about Ivy's age. The woman bit her lip then went over to Wink. The girl put her hands in front of her, asking them if they wanted to go first. When Nuada shook his head the girl shrugged and started up the stairs.
As Nuada and Alex followed the girl she ran her hand through her lemon hair. When they got to a room with a large number 13 on the front of it she opened the door. It wasn't the best room, with only a bed and a bed side table. Nuada and Alex walked in and looked around. On the wall opposite the bed was a wooden door. Behind them they heard the scratching of a quill on a piece of parchment. When they turned around the girl was holing out the parchment to them. Alex took it and read it. On it it said:
Sorry about the room. Best we got this time of year. I'll bring your dinner up later and with that I'll bring your bath.
Alex handed the note to Nuada, who looked like he was about to complain. He read it and nodded, but still looked angered. Alex rolled her eyes at him and reached into her boot. Wincing she pulled out a gold coin and tossed it to the girl. The girl's eyes went wide and bowed her head a little. Slowly she backed out of the room, holding the gold like it was something sacred and like Alex was about to suddenly about to take it back.
When she had left Nuada glared at Alex. "Why did you do that?"
Alex sat down on the bed and removed her left shoe. "It was the fastest way to get her to leave."
Nuada looked at the one bed. "They should have given us a room with two beds."
Alex tried to pull of her right shoe, but she couldn't without feeling pounding pain. "They thought that we're married. Why would they give us a room with two beds?" She gritted her teeth and pulled again. It was no use, it hurt too much. She looked at Nuada and rolled her eyes.
"Hey! Nuada, I need your help," she said sticking out her foot.
Nuada gave her a sinister half smile. "Now you want my help?"
"Yeah. I need a heartless someone without any empathy or feelings toward another person. Now can you help me?"
Nuada scowled at the vampire, but none the less he reached to take off her boot. Trying to do it carefully didn't seem to work, every time her ankle moved she gritted her teeth in pain. Nuada suddenly pulled, and off came the boot with a sickening crack. He looked down at her to see that he had broken her ankle. He held out his arms as an offer to help her up, but she glared at the hand and stood up herself.
"Hmmm. Well I'm out of the boot," she said happily. She laid down on the bed and propped her foot on the pillows. Nuada curled his lip when he saw something move under her skin. It almost looked like tentacles. She saw him staring.
"Super-fast healing factor. It's so cool," she said as she watched her foot for a few moments. After the thing in her ankle stopped moving she stood up, and to Nuada's amazement started to walk around. After testing out her healing job she sat back on the bed. "The things you saw moving were my bones, they liquefy, move back into the spot where their spose to be, then harden again."
Nuada looked at her and shook his head. "What is wrong with you?" he asked. Alex said nothing and looked down. Nuada didn't see that her smile had vanished or that her eyes were full of hurt. But he did see her smile again. And that made him shake his head even more. "Why are you smiling?"
"Eating time," she half lied. That wasn't the reason she was smiling, but she could smell the girl bringing her food up the stairs, along with the bath water. It seemed like a good idea to lie, he would never understand.
The girl came in caring a food platter in one hand and a boiling bucket of water in the next. Alex took a large smell of the air and launched herself through the air to the girl.
"Chicken!" she yelled as she took a bit of the dead bird and took a huge bit of it. Moaning, she laid back on the bed. The girl's shoulders shook with silent laughter when she handed Nuada the plate. He scowled at the plate, but before he could complain she went into the wooden door. She emptied the bucket the tub.
"You're going to need more water," Nuada said from behind her.
She nodded, completely unfazed. She left the room, going to get some more water.
Nuada growled at the girl, even though she wasn't there. "Why does she not talk?"
"She's mute. But she seems too happy for someone who almost died," Alex said quickly, and then slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she said. She looked away from his, almost with panic.
"What do you mean?" he asked sternly. She just shook her head. He was about ask again when the girl came back carrying two buckets. She dumped them in the tub she stopped and bit her lip. She taped her hand on the wall three times. Then Alex pulled out her flute and played three notes. The same short, strong, beautiful notes he had heard her play before. He looked at the two girls, wishing he could see the connection.
But those two weren't the only ones who were connected.
A man suddenly beet on the table with his fork three times when he and his wife were having dinner, she didn't even glace up.
A boy who was a violin prodigy when he was younger could only play three notes now, the same short, strong, beautiful notes.
A girl who could have been married by now was still in her parents' home when she clicked her tongue three times, looking out at the moon.
A blue man with no hair and webbed hand stopped reading and whistled three times. His wolf friend looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
All of the children born three years before or during the Great War, except for three, made three sounds whatever way they could. And that's not the scary part.
The scary part is that there is only fifteen remained. Of all the hundreds of children born 3 years before or during the war, any race, whether it is human or fay or any in the middle, only fifteen lived in this world.
And twelve of them made three short, strong, beautiful notes at the same time.