A/N: This is the new Hellboy fanfic! Don't worry if you're following my other one, I am not abandoning Earth, but this popped into my head and wouldn't go away. Enjoy!
Goldshield Chapter One - Rumour
Goldshield.
It's always whispered. Always in fear, lest speaking her name too loud bring the demon bitch herself down upon you.
Some say she towered over everything she saw, terrifyingly huge, ugly and scarred and brutal. Others claim she was beautiful, but with the venom of a spider in her kiss, a seductress, cold and deadly.
She has become a tool, now, the ogre to keep wayward fay younglings from mischief. "Don't wander, or Goldshield will get you!" their mothers hiss. It is enough to bring a frisson of fear to any child, no matter how old, and the name stops them in their tracks.
This is why no one trusts completely the Diamond Princess, despite her noble paternity. It is not her fault – yet anyone with that monster for a mother is tainted by her. The princess tries, and among some she is succeeding. But still they wait. They wait for the moment when Goldshield's blood rears in the Diamond Princess, for the day that dawns red once more.
Goldshield. Always in fear.
Goldshield.
It's always whispered. Always with reverence, because no one has the right to recall an angel from Heaven. Not least an angel who had worked so hard to earn her place there.
Some say she was a small, slight woman, too frail to be a soldier – in the old days she'd have been a dancer. Others claim that tragedy burnt a scorch-mark across her soul, but that she had the spirit of Churchill in her. Never surrender.
She is a deity in her own right now, the goddess of war and diplomacy together. A paradox, but what else is to be expected of a combination of a woman and the divine? She has become a symbol, of hope against impossible odds. "If you are ever stranded, alone and in the dark, give your prayers to Goldshield." It is a mantra that is instilled into every human child. When all hope is lost, Goldshield will never fail you.
This is why the Diamond Princess is trusted, despite her dubious paternity. She is, by virtue of her mother, divine – anyone with an angel as a mother could never be anything less than the saviour of mankind. Some do not trust her, that much is true – though she is trying. The Diamond Princess will inherit Goldshield's strength, and for that they wait, for the day that dawns bright once more.
Goldshield. Always with reverence.
Of course, none of these things are true. Here is what is true:
She was born Genevieve Harrison, to Steven and Louise Harrison.
She has three clear memories before she was five – and then the war came.
She is one of the Fifteen.
She was six years old when she killed for the first time.
She is the mother of the Diamond Princess.
She was the nemesis of Silverlance.
She was the lover of Silverlance.
A/N: Review please!