The two siblings were hunched over the book that their father has been looking at when he had died. In the middle of the page was a drawing of a man with a large beard and his left arm across his stomach. Above the picture, in large letters was the name 'Rasputin'. The man had changed considerably since the drawing, although dying over and over probably does that to someone. Ara's new tail was swishing around without her realizing, it was a new habit that would happen when she was concentrating, daydreaming or annoyed, almost like a cat's tail would. It wasn't known yet but instead of floater, she would now be nicknamed Kat due to her tail and how she would hiss if threatened. Of course both of these were new and she was not yet accustomed to them.
"Hi" A small, almost timid voice called out to the siblings. Both of which looked up at the sudden voice. Liz was walking towards the two, noticing Ara's drastic change of appearance. Hellboy stood up straight and replied to the greeting.
"Hi" He spoke simply. Liz started walking closer as she begun to speak again.
"I'll..." She dragged the word out "...come to Moscow...if you're still going" Aravind's eyes lit up slightly as she realized that one of her closest friends would be joining them on the trip, that for her was now mainly for revenge.
"I am." Hellboy spoke surely.
"We are." Ara corrected, emphasizing the 'we'.
Red glanced at his sister slightly before continuing. "But I have something to say." Ara's heart jumped. 'Is he finally admitting his feelings?' She thought excitedly. He put both of his hands on his hips, their father's rosary hung slightly from his wrist. "I understand what you don't like about me." He continued. 'What?!' Ara stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to get out of the position that she was stuck in. Liz shook her head at Red's comment. "I do..." Liz sighed. "What I am..." He placed his right hand on his chest before using a finger on his stone hand to point from Ara to himself. "What we are...makes you feel a little out of place...out there" Confusion soaked Ara's features, not understanding why Red was saying this.
Liz started shaking her head. "No, I don't--" Hellboy cut her off.
"Listen." He stepped down a few steps to stand in front of Liz. 'She was listening. You stopped talking, she spoke up, you interrupted her!' Ara shouted in her head, becoming frustrated with the conversation that she wasn't even apart of. "I'm not like Myers." Ara's heart sank at her brother's words. "He make you feel like you belong...which is good, really." He looked up dramatically. Before glancing at Liz, then back down. "I wish I could do something about this." Almost angrily, he gestured to his face. Ara quickly cupped her mouth with her hand, tears yet again springing to her eyes. "I can't. I can promise you two things: One, I'll always look this good." Ara tried to stop her laugh breaking through her mouth as her eyes dried of tears. Liz's mouth twitched into a smile as she chuckled slightly, she shook her head and looked down. Hellboy gently gripped her chin and raised her head to face him. "And two...I'll never give up on you." He pulled his hand away. "Ever." They looked at each others eyes. Liz nodded slightly in shock, not knowing what to say.
"I like that." She smiled up at him, before looking down again. When it was clear that nothing else was going to happen, Aravind suddenly spoke up.
"Awe!" She squealed. Her whole posture showed how excited she was as she watched her brother and sister figure almost become an unofficial couple. The two jumped, clearly forgetting that Ara was even there during their moment. The two smirked at the young adult's behaviour, the intimate feeling in the air had now disappeared and was then replaced with Ara's contagious, ecstatic aura. She smiled fondly at the two. She chuckled before speaking again. "I'm gonna go...make some hot chocolate...and...uh leave you guys to talk about...stuff." She smiled at them before jokingly saluting on her way out. Hellboy watched her go, love shining in his eyes. Liz noticed.
"You really love her, don't you?" She asked him, although she already knew that he did. He looked at her smiling, he nodded once, confirming Liz's statement.
After making her hot chocolate, Ara decided that she ought to pay a visit to Abe before they went to Moscow. Abe wouldn't be joining because he was still recovering from the Sammael attacks. She sat outside his tank, noticing that he was seemingly sleeping. She sat in silence, sipping on her hot drink and sighing happily, thinking about the previous conversation that she had witnessed. She closed her eyes in contempt, not realizing that Abe had his full attention on her relaxed form. She glanced up, seeing Abe's eyes open, she jumped then squeaked in shock.
"Abe." She sighed in relief to see her friend relatively okay. "I'm sorry I didn't see you sooner, I just couldn't leave Red." She looked down guiltily.
"Don't worry. I could never blame you, I can sense how distraught you were. You've changed." The last comment he said bluntly, surprising Ara.
"I-I don't understand what you mean..." She said, genuinely confused.
"You're appearance has changed." Abe explained. Ara sighed in relief, she had thought that he meant that she had changed personalty wise.
"Oh, right, of course. I just suddenly changed, but I did search a few books and one mentioned that...there is a special chemical inside of me that burst when I had an incredibly emotional, traumatic experience. It reacted with the chemical that is naturally in my body and changed a few features and skill sets." She recited roughly what the book had said. "Although I suppose in my case it changed quite a lot. But I quite like my new look."
Abe smiled at her, and took notice of what had changed in his family member. Her hair, although tied up, had changed in length and colour. Her facial features hadn't really changed except her eyebrows had gone red and freckles now adorned her face. She was certainly now more curvaceous and had a long slim tail, with the bladed spade at the end. Her skin was now a lot more warmer looking and Abe was surprised to notice that her blood was still purple.
The two spoke for a while. Ara was really grateful to talk to Abe again, she knew that she could always let things out around him and he would never judge her and it would take a large weight off of her shoulders, which Abe knew and he liked seeing her happy and carefree after her mini rants. Aravind started letting out her thoughts and feelings about the past week. Although she had tried saying all of this to Red, she didn't feel as though it had helped because she felt better when she realized that the person she had been ranting to had been listening to her and provided verbal feedback, but due to her brother not talking, he couldn't provide the verbal comfort that she sought out. Although Abe wasn't a good problem solver, his rubix cube was proof of that, he knew how how to comfort the young adult in front of him, and he reassured her that the deaths and awful occurrences were not her fault.
After their talk the two started talking about nothing and everything but soon that also came to an end. Aravind had decided to go fill up her hot chocolate, having finished it several minutes prior. She stood up, said goodbye to her friend and made her way to the kitchen. When she had gotten there, she decided that she really couldn't be bothered making a new hot chocolate, so she cleaned he cup and put it away. Desperate to find some chocolate, Ara scoured through the cupboards even opening some with her tail. She made a mental note to ask Red later on, he still hadn't told where the chocolate was being hidden. Yet again settling for an apple, she wondered around the halls until she came across the conference room. Inside was sat Tom Manning, she hadn't seen him since they were at Machen Library, he had a load of paperwork that he was filing through, adding a few words here and there. Ara decided to leave him be for the time being and she went to go mess with some computers.
She had been searching through the computer files, until she came across the security footage of the conference room. The had been a meeting held in there shortly before Liz had gone to the Library. Being her nosey self, Ara decided to see what was going on. Shifting to a comfier position on the spinning chair, she absentmindedly let her tail swing around behind her. She rewound the footage to the start of the meeting, knowing that the agent who worked at this desk was at his lunch break and wouldn't show up for a short while.
Security footage
On the screen next to Manning there was the paper that Kroenen had. It was searching for the location. "Volokolamsk Fields, 50 mils from Moscow, that's where we're going. Sebastian Plackba, number 16. That's the only clue we have." Manning was stood facing the screen, his back to the table. He turned around, taking his glasses off as he continued. "We've collected and destroyed thousands of eggs...but we have no trace of Sam-a-el..." The man stumbled over the pronunciation. "...or this Rasputin character. We leave as soon as we get clearance and equipment." John was fidgeting. "Hellboy's coming and so is Aravind. I'm not pleased about that but I'll be in charge this time." Liz walked past after listening. "We either wrap this up or I'm closing this freak show for good."
End of footage
Aravind's eyes literally went Red as her blood boiled in anger. He eyes shot next to her, spotting the terrified agent who's desk she was standing at. Confused as to why the agent was so scared, she followed his gaze to her left hand, which she had unknowingly raised and lit on fire.
"Huh, well that's new." She spoke to herself before putting the fire out. She spun to face the man, her eyes filled with fury. "Where. The hell. Is Manning?" She slowly growled at the agent.
"Um...That-that way..." He pointed down the hallway. "In the conference room." Ara nodded and charged to Manning. She burst through the door, her fire surrounding her hands, up to her elbows. Manning looked up in fright and confusion as the girl walking around the table, behind his chair.
"What the hell, Manning!?" She shouted in his face as he stood up to face her.
"Who-who are you?" He questioned. She reached behind her. Manning panicked because that usually meant that she was about to pull out a gun. Instead she pulled out her knives that he had had made for her. "A-Ara?" He stuttered.
"I have a few bones to pick with you, Tom." She spat out his name with venom lacing her voice. "Not happy with me and Red going to Moscow!? Closing this 'Freak show' down!?" Her anger boiled through her veins and bubbled into her words.
"Now, A-Ara cal-calm down. I only said that because Hellboy isn't a good leader, I mean with what happened with Sammael, and we lost three agents, you were badly injured!" He tried to stress his point.
"I was fine! Those 'agents' had names and they ARE my friends. You have no right to blame Red for what happened. How could he have known if you yourself didn't know about the multiple Sammaels!?" She was still incredibly angry as Manning was looking at her fiery arms in fear. "And what about closing us down? Hmm? And that we're freaks? Only we can say that, even then its not good." Her fire died down as sadness almost overtook her.
Tom pitted her as he saw the tears in her eyes. He knew that even though she had changed physically and visibly, personality wise, she was still the young girl that he cared about and she could still be fragile. "Look...I'm sorry, kid. I know that you hate me right now. I'd have to close this down because if we can't keep all those monsters at bay, my superiors wouldn't see any reason to keep it running." He explained, his hands on her shoulders as her head was hung low. She looked up, tears gently running down her cheeks.
"I just miss him." She sniffled. Manning's face instantly softened as he pulled her into a comforting hug.
"I know." Was all he said as she leaned into the embrace.