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Chapter 1

"Alright, so what do you feel like for dinner tonight, Lizard?" Elisa Maza asked her daughter as she drove down the street.

Lizzie Maza was a five foot two inch tall girl with light tan skin, and chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was short and choppy (A/N: Picture Haruhi's hair from Ouran Highschool Host Club), the same indigo/black color of her mother's. She was dressed in a navy blue tank top, black zip up jacket, black jeans, and blue converse sneakers.

She kept her eyes straight on the road in front of her as she answered, "Julio's." she said simply, smiling a little bit at her mother's slight groan.

"Why am I not surprised?" Elisa chuckled lightly, glancing at her daughter out of the corner of her eye, searching for the smile that had been gone from Lizzie's face for so long; frowning sadly when it disappeared again.

The teenage girl had been like this since she was ten. Quiet, shy, barely responsive. And every time someone looked at her, they were reminded of the reason she was like this. It broke their hearts every time.

For the first five years of her life, Liz hadn't been like this. She had been the average little girl; playing with dollhouses and having tea parties with Grandma and Aunt Beth; playing dress up with Uncle Derek, or talking her Grandpa's ear off. The only thing different was that, Lizzie never knew who her father was. Almost every day, she'd walk up to her mother and ask her the same question, "Who's my daddy, momma?" and every time, Elisa would reply with the usual, "No one special, baby." and it had been left at that.

When Lizzie was five years old, Elisa had met a man named Mark. He had been a charming man, instantly making the ever tough and independent woman feel as feminine as humanly possible given the fact that she had never really been given that luxury since her first day of high school.

When he learned about her daughter, he had been eager to meet her, "I love kids!" he had said as an explanation. She had declined the chance to introduce him to Lizzie.

"No offense, but I just don't know how Lizzie would react to a man like you, for all I know, she could probably mistake you for her real dad." she had explained to him one day as they snuggled up on her couch, her mother had offered to babysit Lizzie for the day just so the couple could have a day of privacy.

Even after her explanation, he had insisted upon meeting the little girl. Almost to the point of begging the Detective to allow him to see her at least once. Elisa finally complied with a shrug of her shoulders and a small smile, "Alright, I guess. What could possibly go wrong?" she had laughed.

It was the worst mistake she could ever hope to make.

She started noticing the personality change in her daughter after another five dates with Mark; Lizzie had started withdrawing from her family.

When her grandparents would come to visit, or she would go to their house, she wouldn't greet them with the bright smile they had grown accustomed to shortly after she was born, her uncle would joke about her coming out with a smile on her face; instead, she would sit quietly in one of her little chairs next to her tea party table, wouldn't look up at the sound of the door opening and closing, only acknowledging their presence with a slight shift in her seat.

Lizzie wouldn't even touch any of her old toys, leaving them to gather dust where they had been since the last time they had been played with. When her aunt and uncle would come over to see her, she'd acknowledge them in the same way she would her grandparents, that same shift in her seat. Of course, everyone tried to get her talk to them, telling her about different things they wanted to take her out to do at one point in the next month or so, showing her all of her favorite stuffed animals she had collected over the years; that had actually gotten something out of her when Derek showed her the little beagle stuffed animal she had deemed Scott. It was the very first toy her uncle had ever given her, and it had always been her favorite. When Derek showed her the beagle, she had looked up and stared at it for the longest time, allowing her uncle the chance to see the unusually dark circles that had taken place underneath the child's eyes; then she reached forward and grabbed it from his hand, bringing the toy to her chest and hugging it tightly, as if she were afraid it would disappear if she didn't.

"What do you think is wrong with her, sis?" Derek had asked his older sister worriedly after that whole ordeal; he had relayed the entire moment to her mother after leaving Lizzie's bedroom.

Elisa had looked at her little brother, then her eyes slowly trailed to her daughter's door, "I don't know, Derek. And it scares me." she confessed.

Lizzie's withdrawal from her family continued for five years, each day seemed to get progressively worse in the girl's case. Even going so far as to locking her room whenever she was at home. And it wasn't just her personality that changed, every day Elisa would see her limping slightly, holding onto something, or grimacing as if in pain.

And it was always worse after another date with Mark.

Yes, for five years, Elisa had dated Mark. For five years, he had been a part of the family. For five years, he had acted as the father Lizzie never had.

At least, when he was in the Maza family's eyesight.

Elisa had found out about what was going on one day when she had come home from work earlier than she expected, she was originally going to go out and get Lizzie from school for her tenth birthday, but Mark had insisted upon picking her up and spending the day with the her himself, he had claimed he wanted to do something special for the girl.

The Detective had been a little suspicious when she had parked in the parking garage and spotted Mark's car close to the exit, but she just smiled and figured that he had brought Lizzie home to get started on her birthday dinner, her grandparents and her aunt and uncle were already on the way to join them.

As she neared her apartment door however, she was surprised to hear swearing and shouting coming from inside. Swiftly, she opened the door just as another kick from his heavy work boot was delivered to her daughter's abdomen, followed by a blood curdling cry of pure agony as the birthday girl rolled up into a ball and turned away from the now open door that was occupied by her mother.

Elisa had screamed obscenities as she rounded on him, drawing her gun out of her holster and pointing it at him with tears in her eyes, how could she not have noticed this sooner?

Mark was lucky her father had shown up when he did, otherwise, he probably wouldn't be in prison right now; of course, after they had found out what was going on, Lizzie actually showed a little more emotion, not so much to say she was back to her old self from five years earlier, but enough to say that she would heal over time.

Her family had taken her to the hospital to learn that she mainly had terrible internal damage to her organs, a few cracked ribs, some healed in a weird way from the lack of medical help. It was there that she told them all about how he had been abusing her since the first time they had met; threatening to kill her if she told anyone about what was going on.

After the first night she had been home, Elisa couldn't help but blame herself, Lizzie was showing obvious signs of abuse. It was just a matter of whether or not anyone would bother to take notice.

She felt like the worst mother in the world.

In the dead of night, during the heat of her self hatred, Elisa found herself going into her daughter's room and watching her sleep.

Lizzie had been in a deep sleep, something she desperately needed after all the abuse. Her hair, back then at the length of her shoulders, was all over the place, hiding her face from view. Her hands were held up close to her face, the left one tucked under her chin while the right one fisted next to her nose, her arms pulled in tight to her chest. Even though she couldn't see her legs, Elisa could tell they were pulled up slightly and bent at the knees.

Elisa had knelt down and brushed the little girl's hair away; Lizzie had a small smile gracing her lips. A smile that no one had seen in a long time.

It was then, at the sight of the smile, that the Detective had gently picked up her child and cradled her in her arms, silently crying as she slept on; making promises that she was determined to keep. Promises to always keep her little girl safe, and help her heal. Promises to put her daughter before herself at all times.

"Mom, your making that face again." Elisa was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of her daughter's voice. Shaking her head, she looked at Lizzie for a second, she was actually looking at her with a slightly worried expression on her face, "What's wrong?" the girl asked.

Elisa shook her head again and offered a smile to her daughter, "Nothing, Lizzie," she replied, "just thinking." she turned her attention back to the road, "So, Julio's, huh? Alright, just hold on tight because we're a little farther away than I expected." she explained as she started switching lanes, just as the voice of her boss came in through the speakers of her police scanner.

"All units, requesting back up in the front of Eyrie Building; all units requesting back up." it rang out clear as day in the car. Lizzie looked at her mother as the woman sighed, "Detour?" she asked.

"Detour." Elisa replied as Lizzie reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the little flashing light, placing it on the dash board. As her mother turned on the siren to get people to move out of the way, Lizzie leaned back in her seat and watched the cars that seemed to race by the windows, "Lizard," she turned back to look at her mother when the woman addressed her, "when we get there, I want you to stay in the car until I tell you it's safe, got it?" Elisa asked.

Lizzie nodded as they made it to the front of Eyrie Building, the area was surrounded by police cars and civilians, each one trying to get out of the way of falling rocks that seemed to be coming from the top of the incredibly tall building, "What's going on?" she asked the other tan skinned woman, her mother was a darker tan than she was, a trait she must have gotten from her father, whoever he was.

Elisa looked out at the falling rocks in awe, "I dunno, Lizzie, but I'm gonna find out." she said as she unbuckled her seat belt and opened her door. When she was standing outside the car, she turned back to her daughter, "Stay here." she repeated before she slammed the door and ran over to her fellow police officers.

Lizzie sat quietly in the car and watched as her mother waved her arms at the people behind her, shouting at them to get back when more of the large stones fell. It surprised her with how commanding her mother was at her job, at home Elisa was generally loving and kind yet stern, around her at least. Then, when their family would come over and visit, or the two would take the journey and visit them, Elisa would become that joking, teasing, and playful woman her siblings and parents remembered from before Lizzie came along. Although she had never seen her mother at work besides this one time, she had spoken to Captain Chavez about her multiple times when Liz would go out to meet Elisa after school.

"Your mother is one of the hardest working cops I've seen in all of my years of being on the force." The Captain had complimented on one of her many trips to wait in her office. At this, the teenager couldn't help but swell with pride, mindful of showing it on her face; she had never seen her mother in action, but from Chavez's compliment, she could tell that Elisa was not only the best mother and family member to have, but the best employee she had heard of.

Now, watching as she crouched down behind one of the fallen stones and shouting behind her at the people trying to see what was going on, the girl could tell Captain Chavez's comment was definitely right in this sense.

She gasped and jumped out of the car when a rock landed far too close to her mother's body, "Mom!" she cried out in a louder voice than she was used to.

Elisa turned her attention back to look at where she parked, holding her hand out to metaphorically push her daughter back inside, "Elizabeth, get back in that car, right now!" she shouted frantically; ducking her head behind her arms when multiple medium sized rocks crashed around her and shattered into a billion pieces, all of those pieces shooting at her when they broke.

Lizzie, choosing to ignore her command, ran forward to meet her at her position. When she reached Elisa, she immediately grabbed the gun that had originally been in her mother's hand, looked up, aimed, and fired.

Thank God her grandfather, uncle, and mother were all cops. And equal thanks that they had each taken the time to teach her how to shoot when she was seven years old, she told herself as she fired at all the falling rocks, hitting each one with a single bullet and shattering them into multiple pieces until they reached the ground around them.

The older woman looked up and watched in wonder as the rocks shattered in the air at the touch of the bullet, 'How did she get this good?' she asked herself in shock, marveling at the concentration on Lizzie's face.

After another few rounds were fired, the girl finally stopped and kept her dark eyes drawn to the sky, the rocks had stopped falling, "I think it's over." she said quietly, then looked down at her mother, "You okay, mom?" she asked her.

The woman nodded as she stood up, "I told you to get back in the car." she said sternly, holding her hand out to take her gun back.

Lizzie handed her the weapon, "That was before you nearly got cut by shards of stone." she replied as Officer Morgan came toward them, "And I feel like you're probably going to ground me for disobeying you later, but right now you've got something else to deal with." she managed to get in before the other officer was standing in front of them.

Morgan looked at the teen, "Nice shootin', Tex." he laughed, all he got was silence and a shy head bob in response, he was used to her personality by now to know that was all he would get out of her, she was, for some reason, afraid of any males that came near her, save the males in her family; then he looked at Detective Maza, "You wanna go in and see what just happened, Detective? Or do you want me to send someone else inside instead?" he asked her.

Elisa shook her head, "I'll do it." she replied. Morgan nodded once at her as he turned away to walk in another direction; the woman looked at her daughter, "I'm not going to ground you for disobeying me, just, tell me you'll be more careful with stuff like this and I'll be okay." Lizzie nodded, "Okay, now as you just heard, I'm going inside to see what just happened, and I'm giving you a choice: come in with me and stick by my side, or, you can march back to the car and wait for me." she offered.

"I'm coming in with you." Lizzie answered.

GARGOYLES

When the two females were inside the large lobby of the Eyrie Building, a man walked up to them swiftly. The man had short, honey blonde hair, chilling blue eyes, and a sort of efficient air about him.

He straightened out his glasses when he reached them, "May I help you ladies?" he asked politely.

"Yeah." Elisa answered, digging around her jacket and coming out with her badge to show him, "I've got a few questions for Xanatos, Mr. Burnett." she said as she put her badge away.

Burnett smiled bemusedly, "If you only wanted to ask Mr. Xanatos a few questions, you didn't need to show me your badge, Ms. Maza. I would be more than happy to take you to him." he looked at the teenager with her, "You must be Elizabeth." he stated. Lizzie said nothing, as usual, only nodding to indicate he was correct, how did he know her? "I am Owen Burnett, Mr. Xanatos' assistant." he introduced himself as he looked to Elisa and pointed at the elevator on the other side of the lobby, "If you would both follow me, please." he said as they started walking to it.

Once inside, Owen pressed the button on the very top of the panel, "Lizzie, may I call you that? If you would like, I could give you a tour around the newest edition to the building. It would give your mother a chance to ask the questions she needs to without worrying about you. Would you like that?" he asked the girl with a kind smile, a rare feat on the man.

Lizzie stared down at her feet and said nothing.

Owen raised an eyebrow, the smile falling from his face as he moved closer to the Detective, "Mr. Xanatos said she was afraid of men now, but we had no idea it was this bad." he whispered.

Elisa nodded, "She's been like this ever since he first met her." she whispered back, glancing sadly at her daughter; Liz was still staring down at the ground, her gaze emotionless, and her face giving off nothing but blankness, "Lizard." she looked up at her mother, "Mr. Burnett asked you if you wanted him to take you on a tour around the new edition, what do you say?" the woman asked her.

Lizzie finally looked at Owen, "I'd like to explore on my own, sir, sorry. I promise I won't break anything, I just find it easier to be on my own." she said as the elevator stopped and the door opened up into a large, castle courtyard.

As they stepped out and into the large area, Owen was about to deny her request when, "If she promises something, she makes it a point to keep it." her mother piped up beside him.

The man pursed his lips, then nodded hesitatingly, "But, you should come with your mother and I to meet Mr. Xanatos, just so that he knows you are here." at this, the girl nodded and they continued on their way across the courtyard.

As they were at the halfway point, Elisa stopped and looked up at a small bridge that connected two towers, something had moved..

Lizzie stopped and looked at the woman, "Mom?" she called, "What's wrong?"

The woman blinked and kept her eyes on the gargoyle up there, "I swear, that stone gargoyle just moved." she breathed out as her companion's eyes turned to look at where she was staring.

Owen chuckled lightly, "You've eaten one too many donuts, Detective. That gargoyle hasn't moved since the day it was chiseled." he cleared his throat and moved his hand to show the way to where Xanatos was located, "If you please." he said.

Lizzie waited behind for her mother, who cast one last look at the gargoyle as if daring it to move again, then gave up and walked with her to catch up with Owen.

The room they entered was large and looked like it might have been the dining hall at one point; there was a man standing over at the large table on the platform, he had tan skin like Lizzie's, dark brown hair that was pulled back in a pony tail at the base of his neck, a goatee, and a sort of Tony Stark look and feel to him.

He looked up at the sound of footsteps, smiling at the sight of the three people, "Elisa, always a pleasure." he greeted.

Elisa crossed her arms over her chest, "Xanatos. I've got a few questions to ask you." she noticed he was looking at Lizzie, who had chosen to stare at the floor again, "Lizzie, you can go ahead and look around the place, this won't take long." she said.

Lizzie nodded once, turned, and walked out of the room.

"So, that's Elizabeth, huh?" Xanatos asked as soon as she was out of earshot, he had watched her go out the door; he hadn't seen her since she was a baby.

Elisa walked over to stand in his view of the way she had gone, "Yeah, that's my daughter." she emphasized the word with an annoyed look on her face.

Xanatos hummed to himself once, his eyes locked on the woman, his gaze calculating, "Owen," he started, "if you don't mind, please leave the Detective and I alone for the time being, we have much to discuss." when he was gone, Xanatos stepped down from the platform, "You say your daughter as if you didn't need a man to help create her." he said.

The woman scowled and turned away from him, "There never was a man." she responded.

"What am I?" he glared at her as he asked this, "I know I wasn't there after the birth, but do you not remember the before part? I was always there to help you, you just never wanted my help." he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Elisa shook her head, "I never needed it. I had my family to help with Lizzie, you forget, my mother had given birth to three children in her life. What made you think I needed you, I'm not sure. But, she's fine, everything turned out okay." she was agitated that he had brought this up.

"Your mother gave birth to three children, yes, but she had your father to help her with the entire thing. And you say she's fine, yet I know for a fact that she suffered five years of abuse from a man you had been dating at the time." he walked closer to her, "Look, as much as this argument is fun, I want to say something." he said.

The dark haired woman looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "What would that be? That you want to be in her life? That you want to be her father all of a sudden after sixteen years of nothing?" she retorted as she turned to look at him.

Xanatos blinked, "When we were dating, that used to scare me." he stated.

"What did?" she asked.

"Your uncanny ability to automatically know what I was going to say." he shook his head and cleared his throat, "Look, Elisa, I'm sorry I was never there for you or Lizzie; and as much as you want to say there was never a man, Lizzie is as much my daughter as she is yours. And on that note, I truly do want to be a part of her life." he said.

The only thing Elisa could do as a response, was stare at him with the dirtiest look she could muster.

GARGOYLES

Lizzie stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she walked down one hallway in the impressive castle. So far, she had seen the battlements, a TV room with a lounge couch and recliner facing a flatscreen TV, and stopped to look at multiple tapestries that caught her eye with the dazzling colors and stories they told.

As she stopped to look at another one of the works of art, she couldn't help but wonder how exactly those two men knew her and her mother? As far as she remembered, she had never met either one of them in her life. She couldn't exactly say the same for Elisa, the woman had probably met them at some point in her life, possibly before Lizzie was even alive.

And the way that Xanatos character was staring at her, something about his gaze was almost...fatherly feeling. But how would she know? She had never known a man to act fatherly at all with her.

She was brought out of her thoughts at the loud crash that sounded from a room that was a little ways down the hallway. Looking up, she abandoned the tapestry and started to cautiously walk towards the sound, "You okay?" she heard a male's voice resounding from the kitchen, making her stop in her tracks. She should just head back and pretend she hadn't heard anything.

Instead of doing what her subconscious was telling her, Lizzie stuck close to the wall and stood outside the the doorway, looking in and surveying the scene before her; her eyes growing wide at the three beings in the room.

There was a rusty red colored being that was sort of tall and lanky, yet his knees were bent slightly, that suggested he might have trouble with balancing. He had a bird like beak on his face, as well as long, snow white hair, pointy ears, and two horns atop his brow. His lower half was covered by a navy blue loin cloth held together by a black belt. He also had a tail, wings that were caped on his shoulders, and feet with three toes.

There was also a light blue, almost light green being that was.. plumper than his companions. He had a really bad underbite, three spikes going from the top of his head to the back of it, and fin like ears. His lower half was covered by a dark blue loin cloth and brown belt. He also held the same features the red one had, feet and all.

The third being was smaller than the other two, with khaki green skin, and huge eyes. He had little horns over his brows, an underbite that was just as bad as the blue skinned one, and a tail as well. His lower half was also covered by a navy blue loin cloth and a brown belt. Instead of wings like the other two, his were more like webs, attached to both his arms and legs.

Lizzie's eyes widened at the sight of them, "What the hell?" she whispered as she slowly started to back up and get out of there, when she accidentally ran into someone.

"Hello, Elizabeth." she turned around swiftly and stared, wide eyed, at Owen Burnett, "I trust you must have seen some of our.. guests, hm?" he was looking at her with a calm face, although she could tell he hadn't expected this to happen.

Lizzie took in a deep breath, and turned to look over her shoulder at the scene in the kitchen, the three beings were laughing about something, "What are they?" she asked quietly.

And, this is where I stop for the first chapter.

PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS AND THE OTHER STORY ARE WORTH CONTINUING. I SERIOUSLY NEED TO KNOW.

Please review.

Don't flame me.

-Zabby