Hellboy Ficlet: Paradise Lost

Sep 20, 2018 18:19

Title: Paradise Lost
Fandom: Hellboy
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Liz Sherman
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Small for the first movie.
Summary: Liz walked away from all that was good in her life, for the sake of her friends.
Word Count: 308
Written For: muccamukk’s prompt ‘Hellboy (Films), Liz, Paradise Lost (Milton),’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Hellboy, or the characters. They belong to the brilliant Mike Mignola.

The BPRD became Liz Sherman’s home when she had nowhere else to belong, and even now, looking back, that was where she was the happiest. She had Professor Bruttenholm as a surrogate father figure, with his kindness and wisdom and compassion, Abe as her friend and confidante, always willing to lend an ear, and then there was Red, the most important person in her life. She’d felt like she had it all.

It wasn’t an idyllic existence even so, nothing is perfect and deep down inside she knows that, but looking back on her time there, it was as close to paradise as she ever thought she’d get, and now it’s lost to her.

She wasn’t kicked out or anything, she walked away of her own free will, and she knows they’d all welcome her back with open arms if she returned, but what good would it do? Her situation hasn’t changed; she still faces a constant battle to keep her unwanted power in check. She’s already lost one family because she lacked the ability to keep her inner fire from bursting loose, incinerating everything in its path. She can’t bear the thought of losing another at her own hands, knows she’d never survive such loss and grief a second time. She wonders sometimes, if the worst happened, would her own flames burn her up from the inside out? It would be a fitting way to go, an apt punishment for a firestarter.

Walking away from the BPRD, from Red, was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but it had been necessary. Now she’s locked away in this cold, bleak mental institution where she hopes she can be prevented from causing more harm. She hates the place, and misses her friends, Red most of all, but it’s for the best. She was never meant for paradise.

The End

fic, fic: one-shot, liz sherman, fic_promptly, ficlet, hellboy, fic: pg

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