"Sure." He'd never forget that. How could he? That was over thirty years ago, but he remembers it like it was yesterday. She was just a poor little kid, holed up like some science project in that fireproof room. All she really needed was a friend. All she really needed was someone who wasn't afraid, and Hellboy had seen a lot of things far more terrible than a firestarting little girl.

The memory feels like yesterday, but somehow it's also like looking back on another life. So much has changed since then, and it hurts to think about the changes that have happened within himself.

It's easier to remember the old days than think of the future, get lost in the way things used to be. That's why he was staying with Harry. That's why it's both helping and killing him to have Liz here with him. She haunts him like a ghost out of old memories that never stops reminding him of how different things have become.