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Beauty and the Beast Within	By : TheShadowCat Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 15623 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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*sneaks in, leaves update and then runs away, dodging various flying objects from angry readers*

The world seems to be several times too big as a flash of lightening causes them to jump in fright and knock over a small stone gargoyle.

Fascinating, Abe whispers.

Voices that had been talking quietly a little ways off become louder as they come closer, a beam of bright light sweeping the area where they used to be.

What the hell is this? Hellboy demands.

Soon the bright light moves away and curiosity gets the better of them so they climb up the big stone box to get a better look at the strange creatures.

I believe we’re witnessing Professor Broom’s discovery of you, Abe answers as their hand slips and more stone chips clatter to the floor.

The uninjured man swings his light around and catches them in the eyes, temporarily blinding them.

I don’t remember the day Pop found me, Hellboy states, more than a bit unsettled by this.

A loud crack followed by something hitting the stone next to them, causing the stone to shatter, quickly sends them to flight and they swiftly find safety on a shelf above the men’s reach.

I hate to disagree with you, Red, but obviously you do, Abe responds. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.

There’s a lot of yelling and soon more men are filling up the small area, pointing strange things at them.

Why’s everything so big? Hellboy asks as they try to hide on the shelf that’s barely big enough to hold them.

A single man not dressed like the others limps towards the front of the crowd, saying something to them and they slowly lower their arms as the bright light goes away.

We’re seeing this memory through your eyes, Abe tells him. You were just brought to this world and were quite small at the time.

The limping man moves towards them, talking soothingly and holding something up to them.

Why can’t I understand him? Hellboy questions worriedly.

The smell of chocolate reaches their nose and their stomach grumbles in hunger.

Because you didn’t speak English yet, Abe explains.

They grab the candy bar and quickly eat it, not caring about the chocolate they smear everywhere.

Damn, Abe, look how young Pop is, Red says quietly. Why couldn’t he have stayed young?

The young Professor Broom holds out another chocolate bar out to them, just out of reach, enticing them to jump into the blanket he’s holding.

He was a human being, Red, Abe gently replies. They grow old and die. That is the way of things.

They leap into the waiting man’s arms and are quickly wrapped in the warm blanket.

Just like Liz will, Hellboy whispers.

The man with the light shines it on them and starts yelling something to the others while they try to grab the candy still being held just out of reach.

We don’t know that, Hellboy, Abe tries to assure him. She’s not a normal human. Her life could be just as long as a normal human’s or even longer.

Or she could live an even shorter life, Hellboy miserably grumbles.

Everything around them starts to blend and swirl and a moment later they find themselves on the ground with all of the strange men standing behind them, though all they can really see are legs. They look up and see the kind man who fed them the chocolate earlier smiling down at them. They smile back and a strange feeling starts in their chest.

“Hellboy,” Broom quietly says and the strange feeling floods their entire being.

Why are we here? Hellboy grumbles as things start to fade to darkness.

I believe we just witnessed when you became Hellboy, Abe answers and continues on before his friend can start to grill him. When you were created, you were an unformed person like all babies. But the moment Prof. Broom named you, you became 'Hellboy'. Didn't you feel it when he smiled at you and called you by name?

Feel what? Red asks.

Love, Abe answers as another scene starts to come into focus before them.

They find themselves at some military instillation playing with a mutt of a dog that's almost as big as them. They can see that the outpost is out in the desert with the morning sun just starting to bake the land, though the heat feels good to them.

We're in New Mexico, Hellboy announces. That's my dog, Mac. He was the best damn dog a kid could have.

“Hellboy! Breakfast!” a man's voice hollers from one of the buildings.

“I want hot noodles!” they yell back in a young voice as they get up and head inside.

They climb up into a chair at a table that seems to be several sizes too big for them and immediately pick up the fork waiting there for them.

“You can't have noodles for breakfast,” a man in a three star general's uniform states as he puts a plate in front of them. “You're gonna have pancakes.”

“What?” they ask and Abe can feel Hellboy cringing next to him.

“Pancakes,” the man answers as the sweet smell of syrup reaches their nose.

“Oooh no,” they respond in genuine fear, their hands are up to try and fend the flapjacks away. “No way! I don't like pamcakes!”

“You've never had them before,” the general grumbles. “Just try them.”

“They're yucky,” they pout, their hands still up, but not as high now.

“One bite,” the general orders as he cuts off a piece and then stabs it with the fork. “Open.”

“Aaaaahhh...,” they say with their mouth open and eyes closed.

They feel the pancake piece placed in their mouth and they eat it as quickly as possible.

“Hey!” they exclaim in surprise. “I love it!”

Do you feel that? Abe asks.

Feel what? Hellboy counter questions.

I'm not entirely sure, Abe responds. It feels as if someone is greatly...upset.

Huh, Hellboy grunts as they finish the last of the pancakes. I didn't feel anything.

Now it feels like...despair, Abe continues as the fork clatters onto the plate. How very odd.

So why were we here this time? Hellboy asks, not very happy to have Abe witness a rather embarrassing part of his youth.

I don't know, Abe answers, obviously perplexed as the two of them are pulled into darkness once more. But I believe that this moment in your life was important some how.

They quietly hover in darkness for a time, each lost in his own thoughts until a pinprick of light starts to draw them near. Neither speaks as the light gets brighter and eventually they can see it is the flame of a candle that has drawn them to this memory. Abe can feel Hellboy become tense as the light becomes bright enough to see an old woman lying on her deathbed with a rosary in one hand, laid across her breast and the candle that drew them here in the other.

Mother, Hellboy whispers.

“Thus I renounce the Devil and all of his works and pray God forgive me all the sins of my former life,” the old woman says in a quavering voice. “How I consorted with the demons of the earth and air and one who was shaped like a black goat and carried me to the sabbat. How I worked magic to raise storms so that ships at sea might become wrecked and their crews all drowned. How I have changed myself into the likeness of animals and other forms that I dare not think of, far less name. Lord God, forgive me these transgressions and receive me into thy kingdom at the final hour, Judgment Day.”

She pauses to catch her breath and turns to look at the two other people in the room, a priest and a nun.

“You, my children, I beg that you save my soul that when I am dead you lay me in my coffin and secure me with chains and keep vigil over me,” the woman begs.

“Mother...,” the nun starts, the pain evident in her voice.

“My devil will come for me,” the woman warns, her voice growing weak. “But bar his way, and after three nights his claim to me will be broken. Save me...please...”

The old woman pleads once more as the scene blurs and shifts only to clear up once more in the ruins of an old familiar looking abbey. The priest and nun are there standing over a simple wood coffin wrapped in chains, holding vigil as they promised they would. The two humans do not look at the two beings standing in the shadows, either unaware of their existence or simply ignoring them.

I thought this was just a dream, Hellboy mutters.

Dreams don't tend to be this clear or coherent, Abe points out as they continue to watch the nun and priest. There's something strange about this memory.

What's that? Hellboy asks.

Well, in the past two memories, we saw everything through your younger selves eyes, Abe answers. This time, we are both here.

Before Hellboy can comment on this, suddenly the place is full of noise: every window smashing at once and then something real big kicking a wooden door to pieces. They look around, but there hasn't been glass or wood in this place for hundreds of years. Then they get to see the one single incident that poisoned the abbey forever.

A creature of immense proportions that looks like a bigger, meaner version of Anung un Rama with a normal right hand, a head that looks like a goat's and who stands at least fifteen feet tall, not including the massive horns that curve over his head, steps out of the shadows. Magic and power of the darkest sort surround this creature bathing him in an eerie light as he walks towards the coffin and the two people who stand guard over it. The creature's glowing red eyes stare at the wooden box, ignoring the insignificant humans that are there.

“Woman, it is I, the true spirit of your greener days,” the creature's voice booms through the ruins. “The heart of your darkness. WOMAN, COME FORTH!”

“Please,” a feeble woman's voice begs from the coffin as the box stands up on end.

“Begone, unclean spirit, enemy of the Faith!” the priest demands. “This poor wretch belongs to God!”

“She belongs to me!” the creature growls.

“SHE BELONGS TO GOD!” the priest yells back. “It is He who commands thee! He who commands the sea, the winds and the tempest!”

“Woman, you are mine,” the creature snarls. “COME FORTH! You struck your own name out of the Book of Life. You turned your back on the light of day to walk in shadows with me.”

“Please, mercy,” the voice of the old woman comes from the coffin again, pleading. “If He will forgive me, let me go to God.”

“GOD!?” the creature bellows like an angry bull. “Was I not God in old Babylon? Was I not God to the women of East Bromwich, Lancashire and Faversham?”

“LIAR!” the priest screams as he holds up a cross in both hands. “Tremble and flee at the invocation of His name, the Immaculate Lamb, who trod upon the asp and basilisk, who trampled the lion and the dragon...”

“God set a nail into thy skull and pound it with a hammer as Jael did unto Sisera...,” the nun adds.

“Enough!” the creature snarls.

“The Word made flesh commands thee...GUAAA....,” the priest starts, trying to banish the demon before him.

In a flash of flame, the two humans are burned to death in a matter of seconds, leaving only their bones and crosses behind.

“Come forth, woman,” the creature orders in a gentler voice, but no less commanding while the coffin floats into the air, the chains falling away as it does.. “It isn't for you, this cold, narrow bed. I remember a girl of sixteen years who as wild and alive, who kissed me and hung about my neck. I carried her on my back and would have hung the stars in her hair...”

“My lord...,” the old woman's spirit moans as the coffin shatters into thousands of splinters.

“Say you believe in me,” he softly commands.

“Can you make me that girl again?” she begs

“You are always that girl to me,” he assures her.

“Then I believe in you...only...,” she replies and then hesitates. “You've slaughtered my children.”

“Forget them,” he orders. “They're nothing. Ashes. Dust. Who cares?”

Abe can feel Hellboy stir next to him uneasily and he puts a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

“Your real child is within you still, waiting to be born,” he tells her.

“How is that possible?” she asks as her spirit floats up to hover between his hands.

“That child conceived on Walpurgis-Nacht all those years ago when you first asked for my power,” he answers as a giant black horse covered in chains ending in hooks emerges from the shadows. “My power is still inside of you. It has become a living thing. A son.”

Hellboy tenses as the demon turns and looks straight at him with those burning red eyes.

“My favorite son,” he states and then turns to mount his steed before taking one of the dangling chains into his hand. “Now, woman, you are truly mine!”

No! No! Hellboy yells as he darts forward. STOP!

“Bound to me forever!” he continues, ignoring Hellboy completely as he impales the woman's spirit upon the hook.

STOP! Hellboy screams again as he reaches for the woman's spirit, but she is out of reach.

Just as suddenly as he appeared, the demon is gone, taking the woman's spirit and the chain covered horse with him. Hellboy stands alone in the moonlight in the abbey ruins, his head and shoulders slumped in defeat.

Stop, he whispers once more as Abe walks up to him.

There was nothing you could do, Abe assures him. It was a memory. You can't change that.

If it's just a memory, then how come you're here? Hellboy demands irritably.

I'm not entirely sure, Abe replies calmly. I think it might be due to the fact that this is more than a memory, but a dream or vision. It's rather fascinating really.

Yeah, really neat and groovy, Hellboy grumbles as once more darkness surrounds them.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the stories Pancakes or The Chained Coffin. These are both stories by Mike Mignola and I bow down to the absolute genius that he is. To see the Pancakes story, go here: http://goofybeast(dot)wordpress(dot)com/2007/11/21/hellboy-is-other-people/

Author's Notes: A million apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I have no excuse other than my muse is completely insane and very random. I will do my best not to take so long with the next chapter. As always, please review.
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Beauty and the Beast Within