Author's Notes: For those of you who have read the first draft of this fanfic, Welcome back! I'm glad that you liked the first one well enough try to read this one. To new readers, don't read the first draft. It was pretty bad.

There are a lot of reasons I'm rewriting. But there are a couple of big ones.
I didn't like how I was approaching the story and also I've been reading a lot about the canon of Gargoyles and it came to my attention that I've been completely disregarding a lot of stuff that I just didn't have to. I have a lot of respect for Greg Weisman and for how complex the canon world of Gargoyles is. So even though I've altered a few key points of it for my own whimsy, I see no reason to screw around with stuff that I don't have to.
Also, I've been rewatching the series and that's made me want to give the story a different feel. I don't think where I was going with the first draft had the right atmosphere.

Disclaimer: Gargoyles was created by Greg Weisman and is owned in part by Disney and SLG comics. I am in no way affiliated with any of these people and am not gaining anything by writing this story except for some personal satisfaction. The Character of Emily/Amelia was created by me for the purpose of putting her into the Gargoyles universe. Take her for your own use if you'd like.

Prologue

Owen had been uneasy since the moment he woke up that day. Something had him on edge. There was something... peculiar in the air, like an electric current. It was a strange sort of magic that seemed so familiar. It could only be Avalonian in nature, but everyone was supposed to be back in Avalon for the Gathering. Except, perhaps if...

Owen coughed as he choked a little on his coffee. He gathered himself and cleared his throat. After a moment he looked around surreptitiously to make sure he hadn't called much attention to himself. Xanatos was giving him an incredulous look.

"Alright, Owen?" He asked.

"Quite." Owen replied.

"I've noticed you're not quite... on your game. As it were." Xanatos thought to mention. Owen thought carefully about how to address this.

"It's nothing... pressing, as of yet." Owen replied.

Owen's personality had changed ever since the incident with Oberon a year ago, Xanatos noted. Admittedly it was hard to tell with someone as 'naturally' stiff as Owen, but the changes were there. It seemed as though there was just... less to him. He was notably less sardonic, whenever plans got a bit... convoluted he never called Xanatos on it anymore, and he was much less conversational. He took much less enjoyment out of life.

The only time when this bizarre type of depression let up was after Owen had spent some significant time with Alex. If Xanatos had been any other parent and Owen had been any other man, this would have been cause for great concern. But it wasn't as if Xanatos didn't know exactly what was going on.

'Being trapped in the body of a man so unlike yourself. It must be maddening.' Xanatos mused.

Puck had never been an area of discussion between the two of them. It was part of the agreement made when Puck first revealed himself that Xanatos must never act as if he knew Puck was inside the stiff man. So the subject was a taboo.

Of course the agreement didn't quite stand anymore. Now that Owen had revealed himself to everyone else the casual mention of the trickster within was tolerated. But not enjoyed. He got a small sense of satisfaction from being able to make Owen's eyebrow twitch in annoyance whenever his true name was mentioned.

Xanatos hadn't been able to bring himself to question Owen directly though. Even though he was full of questions. But oddly enough, now seemed like a perfectly good opportunity. He didn't get the chance.

"I'd like to request a day off." Owen said suddenly. Xanatos' eyebrows went up.

"Very well." He answered. "You look like you could use one."

Owen only ever requested days off when he expected conflict in his... schedules. Xanatos couldn't fathom what might come up given that Puck's powered were restricted as they were. But perhaps the chance to... stretch would cheer his friend up a bit.

Author's Note: Nyaahhhhh! Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite! I'm so excited. I'm sorry for anyone who wanted the other one to press forward, but take heart that I just hadn't gotten all that far in that one before I realized the necessity to change the whole thing. And really, the writing in that one is terrible and Emily was just stupid. It had so many elements of my juvenile writing style still attached to it when I know I've gotten better.

Here's hoping you guys will like this one much better.