FicWad

Lift your eyes and see the glory.
Where the circle of life is drawn;
See the never-ending story,
Come with me to the Gates of Dawn.

Secret Garden

"Make a snow angel." The small girl demanded at the larger figure beside her. Arms wrapped up in woollen mittens, hat on head and coat drawn tightly up around her to make sure the cold didn't get it.

"A snow angel." The larger man looked down at her as he got her from the car and sighed. She was a happy little child but he wasn't a very playful friend so she often ended up sticking her tongue out or stomping her feet at him. He simply didn't understand that a snow angel was very important. "Charlie this is very important we need to go now."

"I want to make a snow angel." She said poking her tongue out.

He leant down with a sigh and nodded that she could go to the bank of snow and make a snow angel. She ran off eagerly to find the deepest bit of snow on the side that she possibly could. He followed her slowly watching the area. It had been only six months since the death of her mother and Tru was struggling to understand how happily the young girl had adjusted.

Charlie sat on the snow and wondered if everything in the world was cold now. She definitely wished she could be with her mum but Tru seemed quite nice and he hadn't really let her be on her own too much. She blew a lock of the blond hair from her face and lay down on the ground. What was a snow angel anyway? Was it like a Tru? He was an angel so maybe more Tru's would come along if she made a big effort to make a good snow angel. It seemed logical to her anyway. She moved her arms and legs out and began to play in the snow.

Tru watched her and the heavy booted footsteps came to stand by her. He didn't say much because he didn't really know what he could say to a five-year-old with no mother and a strange mutant for a father figure.

They were outside the Frankfurt cemetery. The huge gates imposing over them as she rolled on the bank near the main offices. He didn't speak much of the language but he'd been told that if he wanted answers about Charlie there would be a man in the cemetery that could. Tru wanted answers. Who would wipe out a young mother and her child over money? The world seemed darker nowadays and he didn't understand why it was he was frowned upon for looking differently.

"See!" She jumped up and looked at him like one word would explain the whole thing.

He nodded and she moved her arms out to be picked up. Charlie was half-buried by the large trench coat and hid next to him before poking the hat he wore with her fingers. She loved the blue eyes that were hidden under there and she cuddled up close as the Stetson wearing guardian headed into the main area.

Heading in to the area where he was told he had to work carefully through the signs and areas of the cemetery. It was cold in the winter but he had wrapped her up warm and didn't really feel it himself all that much. The armoured vest and leathers kept most of the problems at bay and though he had a gun he had sworn to avoid harming anyone at any cost. Since that day he had picked her up he had managed six months without doing so and felt it was a small achievement.

He looked at the signs until he found what he was looking for. Mausoleum von Reichenbach was the place he had been told. It was starting to snow again and he spotted the long halls of family vaults on the eastern side. He took Charlie over there, leant down and handed her the teddy she loved so much and some orange juice.

"You know what I said right?" He asked her checking again. "You hide here. Don't let anyone see you. If anyone but me comes along you run to the office over there." He pointed back towards the gates. "Understand?"
"Only daddy Tru." She nodded. "Hide and seek and run if anyone else." She nodded and he smiled warmly at her.

"You're a good girl." He nodded to her and set her behind an angel. He looked at her sadly, as she had no head. Probably taken at some point by vandals or maybe she had finally given up her stone like will and fallen to the ground. The dusty corridor settled and there was no sign of him as he used the shadows to disappear and move silently to the Mausoleum.

He moved to the large red stone building and looked up. It looked like a church and could well be named such with the impressive windows and carved pillars. The heavy booted footsteps sounded again as he appeared on the steps and looked to the open doorway. He wasn't sure what to expect past the heavy blue metal doors. He sighed deeply and made a prayer for Charlie then moved in to the building.

"Guten Tag herr Hellion." The voice resounded around the large chamber.

Tru looked around and up at the domed roof with bright windows to light the chambers during the day. It was a beautiful sight and the snow was settling on the bottom making some areas more shadowed than others. He looked for the voice and spotted a man, well built, in a deep green suit. The man cast an eye over the mutant as if searching for some outward sign that he was as the rumours dictated. He couldn't see anything and Tru wondered if he was disappointed.

"English please." He told him as he stepped next to an old coffin. The old black tomb encased a body that was probably nothing more than rotten clothes and bones now but he had a healthy respect for the dead and living. "You said that you had information for me?"

"You wanted to know who had caused the death of the girls' mother. It was her father in a round about way." The green suited man slid forwards and stood in the centre facing him. Tru tensed for a moment and the green suited man pushed a set of sunglasses up on his head to look into the blue eyes through his dark brown ones. "You won't trust me. I understand that and am glad to hear it. I will however tell you that you had best leave the investigations alone. Her father was in an organised crime society. He took one too many liberties. Her mother knew too much. The girl is an unfortunate problem now as she is still alive."

"She's staying that way." Tru growled at him, a hint of teeth showing as his lips curled. "She's got me now. I don't die that easily."

"A good thing too. As you leave here ten men are going to attack. They are heavily armed. They think the girl is down here. They also think that you are alone here. They don't know I met with you first. They call me Shanemah and I bid you good luck." He turned and Tru noted that as he did so this new man's brown hair was tied into a ponytail and clasped with a small silver band. He couldn't make out the symbol and then he went out through a smaller door.

For a moment Tru thought of going that way but these men would follow at any rate and Charlie would be more at risk. His jaw clenched and he took a deep breath. What would these men do to take a child that would know nothing except the death of her loved ones? He looked up at the window again and then called on his own innate abilities.

Stepping through the blue doors the Hellion emerged.

What emerged from the shadows of the Mausoleum was the true essence of why he had been named Hellion. The Stetson hat was dropped idly by the doorway and trench coat was lost under a myriad of shadows. His steel blue eyes scanned the area waiting for the first person foolish enough to make the move towards him. Ten men and one perceived demon...

"Where are you?" He demanded the voice carrying on the air like a low thundering rumble.

A gun clicked. A man nodded from behind a headstone. Someone who had held their breath all too long let it out. It carried on the air from behind the cremation wall over in the distance. He moved into the open the shadows making it hard to get a good clean shot at him. He knew it. They knew it.

A crescendo of bullets hit the area. The opera of gunpowder ignited and the shrill wail of piercing projectiles filled the cemetery singing their deathly tune. The Hellion was struck several times. The bullets ripping into the clothing through the leather into flesh. Biting and ripping through him as they turned and moved. Striations caused on the bullets from their ejection out of the barrel putting further pressure on muscles and sinew.

Silence.

Hellion waited for the bullets to end. The rain of shells and smoke cleared. On the perfectly white snow blood dripped gently to the floor. The stark contrast of the colours was not lost on anyone. Hellion's shadows pulled in closer around him. Protecting the life force as best as it could.

Drip.

What manner of creature he was not even he could answer. The men ran across the cemetery. A flash of a silver-banded ponytail was spotted by Hellion as the man in the dark black suit moved away. So there were more of them? Had Shanemah come to warn him or set him up?

"Tru..." The child ran around the corner as he dropped to his knees once they were out of sight. "Tru what wrong?"

"Why aren't you hiding?" He gasped as the injuries took their hold and skin began to knit together. "You should be hiding Charlie."

"I heard the noise. I want to help." She said to him and fell in front of him, tripping over a loose stone. A bullet case landed near her and she picked it up. "Did you get the bad guys?"

"No baby." Tru weakly stood up and gathered his hat from the entrance. Charlie followed looking at the patches of blood, the smudged boot marks in the snow. She shivered.

"I don't like snow." She said looking at the dirty ground. "It makes things dirty more."

"Charlie." Tru didn't pick her up this time. He didn't want her to get covered in blood. "Snow is very clean. The snow will also fall on the dirt and cover it up. I like snow and rain. Rain washes away your problems and snow makes things seem brighter when it settles." She nodded like she understood but Tru felt he might be talking to himself.

"Does mummy have one of the angels like that?" She pointed to one of the angels carrying a harp. Her weathered mossy stones and her half-written eulogy, short, sweet and marking the loss of a soul.

"She's got a pretty angel I am sure. Shall we go back to the car and take a drive? In the hills the snow is prettier." He offered as he limped back to an old Ford T.

"Okay. I like snow if you like snow." She nodded and skipped off ahead. She dropped the teddy in the snow. Tru leant down to pick it up. The tail caught in the icy cover on the ground giving him reason to suck air through his teeth. He spotted Shanemah. "I like rain daddy Tru." She told him standing by the door and watching him.

Tru lifted the bear up and looked back. Already the snow was beginning to hide the bloody patch. The bullets would be hidden too for a time. Everything apart from the injuries he bore would be covered eventually. A shame it couldn't snow on the inside for once.