A/N: So, here's my first attempt at a HELLBOY one shot. Hopefully you like it enough to stick around for the whole of it, but…I'll let you decide.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A train screeched on by, lights flashing in the small alcove that Nuada was meditating in. Wink was out for the night, doing things that Nuada didn't feel like wasting his thoughts on. Soon, he would make his move and the two of them would be one step closer to being through with the humans, taking the world back into the old ways.
A noise, soft and almost undetectable, met his ears. His eyes snapped open and he was on his feet in a second, weapon in hand. "Show yourself," he ordered of the darkness.
"Peace be with you, your majesty," a soft voice said from the shadows.
"Show yourself," Nuada repeated, pointing the bladed end of his spear at the source of the voice. "Friend or foe, show yourself or die."
A woman stepped out of the shadows, her golden eyes locked on his. Her hair was a pure platinum blonde and her skin bore the hint of black designs just as his did. He recognized her, but it had been many years since he had last seen her.
"Peace Nuada, peace," she said, speaking in their shared language. "I come not to fight, but to speak with you."
Nuada pointed at her once more with the weapon in his hand. "You should not be here. I am in exile."
"I know of your self-caused exile," the woman said, taking a step further into the dim light of the alcove. "Here, so close to the human world that you can practically reach out and touch them." She smiled slightly. "But you would never willingly touch a human unless it was to kill them."
"Alana, you should not be here. Your father will be looking for you and he will be displeased to find you with me."
"Father was sick the last time I saw him," Alana commented, walking further into the alcove and looking around at the meager belongings he had in it. "That was over twenty years ago…"
"Do not tell me that you have gone into exile…"
"No. No, I would not follow in your footsteps and make the same choice." She turned to look at him, her mere glance touching him in ways that he had long forgotten. "I left in search of you."
Nuada rolled his eyes and walked over to an overturned crate that he used as a seat these days, taking his place on it. "Surely, your father wouldn't allow you to do such a thing."
"Father didn't know. He didn't realize anything until it was too late and your sister…"
There was a dim spark of interest at the mention of his sister. "What of my sister?"
"She knew and told me of where I should begin looking, but I've lost contact with her."
Nuada concentrated for a moment. "She is well."
A soft smile crossed Alana's pale face. "I see…"
"You have seen that I am well, so you may go now," Nuada told her, gesturing towards the shadows from whence she came. "Return to your father and our people."
Alana didn't move. "Nuada, I came to speak with you."
"I do not have the time to listen to your words. I have plans to set into action to restore the world to the old ways."
Alana sighed. "You are still determined to be the end of the humans then?"
"Yes."
"Nuada…the humans are not as bad as you believe them to be."
Nuada's eyes narrowed. "Not as bad…Alana, I thought you of al l people would understand. Your mother was killed by a human. Greedy, hollow things that they are, they saw the gold on your mother's bosom and killed her to get it."
Sadness clouded over Alana's eyes for a moment before her calm returned. "I remember the truce…I remember the end of the bloodshed, all the blood on our hands removed with a simple truce that any honorable warrior would honor even if the humans will not."
Nuada rolled his eyes and rested his weapon across his lap. He looked away from her, unable to keep his eyes on her for there were feelings that he had long suppressed coming to the surface the longer he looked at her.
"The truce…It was a joke. The humans broke it once their greedy hearts told them that what they had was never enough. Alana, an honorable warrior of our people would have done away with the humans."
"Our people were dying."
"They die still. Mother Earth dies a little more each day because of the hollow humans' greed."
Alana closed her eyes for a moment. "I…I have spent time with a human family."
Nuada was on his feet in an instant. "What?"
"When I left our people in search of you, I was attacked by a group of trolls," Alana explained, taking a step back as he approached, but she gave him no more ground. "They left me broken on the ground, taking what possessions I had on me, except for my clothes. An elderly human couple found me and…I wanted so badly to hurt them, but I was broken. My limbs would not work and…" She hesitated for a moment. "They took me to the hospital where their healers fixed my broken body."
"Their healers with their foreign medicines…" Nuada's eyes narrowed even more as he looked at her with disgust clear in his eyes. "You let them put their poison in you?"
"Nuada, I had no choice! I would have died if they had not helped me!"
Nuada pointed his weapon at her throat, the cold, unforgiving metal touching her pale skin. She didn't flinch. "It would have been an honorable death," he stated. "Alana, you have betrayed me."
Alana knocked aside the weapon with a hand, keeping it away from her throat. "No Nuada, you have betrayed me."
Nuada stepped back and looked at her with cold eyes. "How?"
"You made a promise to me over a hundred years ago," Alana said with a frown as she touched the silver necklace around her throat. "That you would never leave or forget me."
Nuada touched his neck, where he wore the same necklace. The design of the pendant was a small bouquet of forget-me-nots. He remembered giving her the one that resided around her neck when they were younger, years before the truce came into existence. A simple promise made to echo a childhood promise to his childhood sweetheart.
"I have remembered you," Nuada stated, letting his hand drop away from the cold necklace. "You are not easily forgotten, Alana."
Alana let her hand drop from her necklace as well. "But you have forgotten the promise. The oath that you made once as a child in front of Mother and the same oath you made when we were betrothed."
Nuada looked away from her for a moment. "I do not have time to listen your childish fantasies of love. I have kept my promise to never forget you. One day, we may have the love that you so desire…once our people are rid of the hollow humans."
Alana made to take the weapon that was pointed at her again, but he moved it away from her too fast. She winced and hid her arm away from him, but Nuada saw something red glinting on the edge of his spear.
"You have not kept your promise," Alana told him. "You left me because of your unnatural hate of humans. I too have hated the humans, but I have seen the kindness in their hearts. A kindness that you have not sought out and have ignored. All you want is to kill them all, but there are many who are trying to return to the old ways. They want to save Earth."
"They will never save Earth," Nuada muttered, wiping the red off of his spear. "Their greed will never allow them to."
Alana fell silent, tracing something on her arm that he could not see. Nuada heard a droplet of something hit the floor of the alcove and then another. He drew in a breath and his lungs were filled with the smell of rust. Nuada stepped closer to Alana and saw the red designs that she was tracing on her arm, the red coming from a large cut on her arm. Her eyes lifted to his and she turned away from him.
"Alana?" Nuada took a step closer to her, throwing his weapon aside. "You bleed."
"Yes." Alana shrugged. "You have cut me."
He reached out and took her hand gently, pulling her over to the overturned crates. "You should not have reached for my spear."
"You should not have had your weapon drawn on me," Alana shot back, sitting down as he silently instructed her to do. "Now my blood is on the ground, soon to be mixed with the innocent blood of the humans that you would kill with your indestructible army."
Nuada rifled through a bag and pulled out a vial of glowing liquid. "You speak with too much kindness about humans. They were the cause of the deaths of many of our people."
"We were the cause of the deaths of many of their people." Alana flinched under the cool liquid as he poured it over her wound. "You should not waste that on me…My wounds will heal naturally."
Nuada ignored her as he next grabbed a piece of cloth, pressing it against the wound. A dark stain quickly formed on the cloth, but it did not grow very much as the potion worked its magic. "You were always one to receive cuts from me," he commented quietly. "When we sparred as children…you never landed a hard blow on me, even when I didn't share the same courtesy to you."
"I could not bring myself to the point where I wanted to hurt you," Alana said, watching him work on her arm. "To hurt you would be to hurt Nuala and I could not hurt the people that I loved." She sighed and looked away. "Mother was correct when she said that my heart was yours from the very first time that we met, but to you, I must have seemed a brat."
"You were never a brat to me, little Lani," Nuada said, using the old pet name he had given her as a youth. "You were a constant companion from the moment you could walk on your own." He smiled slightly. "Your mother laughed when she saw some of the predicaments that I got you into."
"Mother had the most musical laugh," Alana whispered, playing with the skirt of her dress. "She loved you dearly, you know."
"Yes." Nuada remembered the good woman who had been like a mother to him since his own mother had died in childbirth. "And I loved her."
The two fell silent for a moment, lost in their own minds. Through the temporary bond that he had with her as he fixed her arm, Nuada could feel her thoughts racing like a storm. He could feel her desire for him and felt it echoed in his heart. He had long thought of her and what he had missed in the years that they had been apart. He had missed so many years, so many opportunities to be with her just because of his desire to take back the world from the control of humans. He had missed her fully mature and the love that they could have shared had he not left her.
"Nuada, I have missed you," Alana whispered as if she was afraid to say the words.
"And I have missed you," Nuada told her just as quietly. "You have changed since I last saw you. You look like your mother now, but…" He leaned forward and tilted his head to the side, looking at her face closely. "You have your father's eyes."
Alana looked away sadly. "I must confess something to you, my prince."
"Confess it then."
"Father, he would have me marry someone else in your place," Alana told him quietly. "Your exile has made it hard for him to keep the promise to your father and to you. Many warriors have tried to court me…"
Nuada felt a flash of anger and possessiveness clench over his heart and saw it echoed in her eyes through their bond. "Others have courted you?"
"They have tried…but I remembered our promise. The promise to never love another, to never leave nor forget the other." She reached out and put a hand over the hand that pressed the cloth to her arm, warming his skin with the contact. "Even though I felt that you had forgotten our promise, I remembered our vow, our love and I couldn't find comfort in another man, but that doesn't mean that I have not felt the need for a mate."
Nuada lifted the piece of cloth and saw that the cut he had inflicted upon his betrothed had healed. He wiped away the designs she had painted on her pale skin, removing the stains of blood from her person. His fingers traced over lean muscles, soft skin and he felt a spike of desire hit him.
"You must go now, return to your father," Nuada said, tossing the cloth aside. "They will be looking for you…"
"I will not leave you," Alana stated firmly. "You will have to wound me deeply to make me leave you."
Nuada stared into her golden eyes and saw a fellow warrior in those golden pools. He saw someone who had been denied true happiness, someone who had been on their own for years. Nuada felt pulled towards his old love, his childhood sweetheart, connected to her in ways he never thought possible.
"Lani…" He stood up and walked away from her. "You do not know what you're getting yourself into."
"I can learn."
"You could, but I don't have the time to teach you."
Alana climbed to her feet, moving to stand beside him. Nuada looked at her as she raised her hand, presenting it to him.
"Give me your hand," she whispered. "I wish to show you what I know."
Nuada raised his hand and hesitantly grasped hers. He closed his eyes as he went through the memories that she presented him with. Her weeks of being weak from her attack, spending time with the elderly human couple. The church where so many kind humans welcomed her into their fold with smiles and love. Of her feeling desperately alone amongst so much love, clutching her necklace and whispering his name in a desperate attempt to find strength and comfort. His heart ached at the sadness that he felt from her, the desire, and the happiness that came with finding him once more. The fear of losing him again…
She pulled her hand away slowly, breaking the connection gently. Nuada stared at her, so many thoughts rushing through his mind. His, Nuala's, and Alana's all mixed in his mind. Seemingly on its own accord, Nuada's hand reached out and caressed Alana's face, tracing the contours of her cheek. Her eyes closed under such tender caresses and Nuada felt her shiver under his hand as he reached around her with the other and pulled her close to him.
"Lani," he whispered, causing her eyes to open once more. "You should go…"
"Give me a reason to stay," she breathed, tipping her face back so that her lips were presented to him in full. "My prince."
Nuada claimed her lips with his, fitting them against hers. He pressed her back against the dirty wall of the alcove, pressing his body tightly against hers. She moaned against his lips and he moved his lips down her throat, pressing her hands against the wall, high over her head. He could feel her heart beating against him and her chest rising and falling in rapid bursts. Nuada released her hands, tangling his fingers in her hair and brought his lips to hers once more.
He could feel her fingers touching his bare back as one of his hands reached around her and found the laces of her dress. It warmed him and drove him mad. He shielded his heart from his sister lest she experience this as well. Alana's lips moved against his gently and she pressed herself tightly against him.
The laces were easily dealt with, coming undone easily in his hand. He quickly forced the dress down away from her shoulders, kissing the warm, bare flesh that had been covered by the thin material. He ripped the rest of her dress off of her, leaving her fully unclothed. Nuada looked down at her in wonder for a moment before claiming his lips once more.
He felt her hands trailing over the hard muscles of his chest and abdomen on their descent down to the waistband of his pants. Her fingers freed the button easily and she slid down against him as she forced the pants down, freeing his hardened member from the cloth barrier. Nuada gripped her by her hair and pulled her back up, her body dragging against his tense body. He groaned at the contact and pressed her once more against the wall, lifting her up so that her legs could fit around his lean waist. He would lay claim to her so that no other man would attempt to take her from him again…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Alana's heart beat in time with his as they lay on the dirty floor of the alcove. Nuada felt her chest rise and fall against his side as he lay with her. They had fallen asleep after their hours of passionate love making, their bodies covered in the grime and dirt of the alcove. He was awake now, waiting for her to wake as well.
She stirred against him and opened her eyes slowly. A soft smile graced her lips as she looked at him. Nuada felt love radiating from her and wondered if his sister felt it as well. But he couldn't spare a thought for her. No, he had a matter to attend to first.
"Alana, there is something that I must tell you," he said quietly.
"Tell me anything," she said, sitting up slightly so she could look him in the eyes.
Nuada sat up fully and pulled the thin blanket off of himself, climbing to his feet. "You must leave for home, return to your family."
Alana held the blanket to her chest and shook her head. "I'm not leaving you. Not again."
"You do not understand," Nuada said, turning to face her. "I'm…I will go with you."
Her eyes lit up and she climbed to her feet, letting the blanket fall to the ground as she approached him. "You will return to our home?"
"For you, yes."
She smiled and kissed him. Nuada pulled her close, feeling happiness that was his, hers, and his sister's swell in his chest. He was going home after years of exile…for the girl who had stolen his heart all those centuries ago.
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A/N: So? What did you think? Leave a little comment in the review box and I'll get back to you with more HELLBOY stories. Thanks! ~ Scarlet