and Dreamscapes
I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background, and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas and for the characters of his ficverse.
"Bored about not able to vote?"
Delilah turned around, noticing to her surprise a female hatchling with pink skin, black hair and strong eyes-ridges... Victoria, as she remembered her name, looked at her.
"I'm not clan," she noted, still surprised by the topic. "I'm not allowed to."
"I'm clan, so I should be allowed to," the hatchling replied. "But the elders don't want us to be around when they discuss..."
"Daughter!"
A red-skinned male, who stood amongst his rookery siblings, looked hard and somewhat alarmed at the scene.
"Oh yeah, we're not supposed to go near you." Victoria remembered, noting more to herself. "Sorry."
With this she left, leaving Delilah to notice that there were now a lot of eyes looking at her in open mistrust, and some more than willing to step in should she make a suspicious move.
Feeling she could not take the looks and whispers anymore, she fled outside.
Demona fails cleaning Lucifia of the evil with a magic scroll.
Lucifia had taken up the angel-sword, and was about to attack her mother, when she stumbled forward, collapsing on her knees, revealing a sword stuck between her wings. Instantly, Roland landed beside his sister.
"Let's finish her!"
"No."
Roland stared at her.
"Look."
Unbelieving, the former bandit lord looked at Lucifia, who in return looked at him with black eyes, watching how she grabbed the handle of the sword from behind, pulling it out of her body, all the time smiling.
"Run!" Demona ordered, jumping on the edge.
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20.09.98; 20:23; Castle Wyvern:
Darlene looked out over the city while absent-mindedly touching her swollen belly. Gem was playing at her side by climbing alongside the various battlements.
"Why did you tell him?"
Surprised, the pregnant gargess turned around and saw Deborah standing behind her, looking quite irritated.
"Pardon?"
"Why did you tell Jarred of the training session, right after the awakening?"
"He was depressed about his grandmother not visiting." Darlene explained truthfully, grabbing Gem who had stood up on one battlement and had begun to flex her wings. "This should distract him... Is there a problem?"
"It was supposed to be a surprise training session!" the older gargess said angrily. "He told the others, so it was no more!"
"Oh."
Deborah studied her for a moment longer.
"I have nothing against you being close to him," she noted icily. "But this won't interfere in his or the others' training, clear?"
Darlene nodded, noticing by the look in the other Gargess's eyes that she probably would have said more if not for her state.
Angrily, the teacher walked away, leaving Darlene to thoughtfully stroke Gem's hair.
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20.09.98; 20:23; Destine Mansion:
Delilah watched anxiously through the window into the night.
Demona hadn't been happy when she had told her about her flight, and wouldn't speak to her the whole of last night, and now she couldn't but think of how many she must have disappointed.
"You don't run!" she had said. "Not from such!"
"Says who?" Roland had asked cynically,
His sister glared at him and gave Delilah one last angry look before storming out.
When a claw lay on her shoulder from behind, she practically leaped in surprise.
"You don't have to go back there you know," Roland said calmly, as she turned around.
"I must." Delilah whispered unhappily.
"Because of what my sister said?" Roland asked, devaluing. "I'll tell you..."
Delilah shook her head. "I don't wanna run."
"No one can force you to go back to them after how they treated you!" Roland replied. "Believe me, it is better without them."
Delilah looked at him with worried, painful eyes.
"At one point you are right, brother," a female voice said. "She should never have been treated this way."
Both young gargoyles turned around to find Desdemona entering, with Othello following her.
"I'm very ashamed with my clan for that, and hope that you accept my apologies."
"Hmpf!"
Ignoring Roland's comment, Delilah nodded.
"Where is Deborah?" she asked, remembering the teacher's promise to work with her on her gliding skills every night.
Desdemona looked unhappy for a moment before laying a claw on the younger Gargoyle's shoulder.
"I think she will be waiting for you at the castle."
"You don't know?" Roland threw in, irritated. "You want her to return and don't even know if our dear rookery-mother is merciful enough to train her?"
Desdemona sighed. "Why don't you go with her then?"
Roland practically spat. "As if you would allow that!"
"I will see to it," his sister promised.
Roland looked at Delilah, noticing her still hurt eyes and then nodded.
Desdemona looked around the house. "Our sister?"
"We woke up, she wasn't here." Delilah explained, silently feeling sure it was because of her having disappointed her.
"Do you want to wait for her?" Othello asked, laying a claw on his mate's shoulder.
Desdemona looked around in the cold dark room, and shook her head before leading the others outside.
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20.09.98; 20:42; Castle Wyvern;
Alexander's Room:
"I don't understand why I have to go to bed now!"
"We've been over this," Fox told her son, as she tucked him into bed. "You need to be ready for the gala tomorrow."
"Galas are boring..." Alexander complained, his face scowling. "Why can't I take fighting lessons?"
"Alex, we have been over this, too. You need to get out more..."
The boy was visibly unhappy, but nodded.
"Besides, they are boring, and we want you to be around to have at least a little bit of fun!" Xanatos noticed with a smile, ruffling his son's hair.
"Okay, dad!" Alex said, happier.
"Goodnight," Fox whispered.
"Night." Alex replied, as the door closed
"That went well," Fox told her husband, as they walked along the floor.
"You will agree with me that there are more fun places to be." Xanatos said. "What about promising him a short time with my father if he behaves?"
Fox looked at her husband, knowing how much he hated the place of his youth.
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20.09.98; 20:42; Castle Wyvern,
Courtyard:
Desdemona and her mate landed together with the guests, as the others on the patrol had already landed on one of the battlements.
"Let me show you the way," Desdemona offered to Delilah.
"She knows the way!" Roland growled.
His sister sighed and stepped back, trying to give her brother room when Ajax landed besides her.
"What is he doing here?"
"He's accompanying Delilah." Desdemona explained.
"He isn't welcome here!"
"I don't want to be here!" Roland said, tensing his muscles.
"Then go!" Ajax replied.
"He can stay with Delilah." Desdemona insisted in firm voice, looking at her guests. "And you had better not be late."
Delilah nodded, visibly intimidated, and walked into the castle with Roland following her, looking around angrily.
"Has our brother allowed this?" Ajax asked, still angry as the two vanished.
"No, but I don't think this will be a..."
The crested Gargoyle didn't wait for his sister to finish the sentence, and walked into the castle.
"...problem."
Desdemona finished the sentence with a sigh, as she watched her brother vanish.
"We'd better follow him," her mate suggested, and the caramel skinned Gargess nodded.
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20.09.98; 20:42; Castle Wyvern,
Outside The Training room:
"You're sure?"
Delilah nodded, remembering Demona's words from the night before.
"So they gave you the cold shoulder and you ran?" Demona asked. "Weak! Defend yourself!"
"How?" she had almost wailed. "If they are right..."
"Stop being afraid!" Demona had nearly spat. "I could place a spell on you, making you obey me every time I wish and…"
Delilah had said nothing, stunned for a second by these words. "You would…?"
The older Gargess had waved her claw. "Not worth the effort. Tell me, has running made it better?"
Delilah thought for a second, and then shook her head, realizing she still felt the same pain.
"Then, little hybrid, the next time someone is rough on you, raise your head and meet their eyes, because running means showing weakness."
"The teacher won't allow me back anyhow," the hybrid had objected, sounding defeated.
"Do you know that?" the immortal had asked cynically. "Or are you still running?"
Delilah thought. "I will ask her."
"How will you ask her?"
Delilah needed a second to understand, and then she straightened her spine, firmed her jaw, and though it seemed nearly impossible to meet Demona's eyes, she forced herself to.
"I will ask her if she will train me again," she said firmly, trying to pretend she had a strength she didn't feel. "Like a warrior."
"Good. Then there might be hope for you, yet."
"Thank you."
Demona eyed her for a moment with glaring eyes.
"Pah, I only helped you since you and me share some genes, and every one of your failures might cast a bad light on me. And I do not need that."
With that she had left, ignoring her the rest of the night.
Delilah remembered and nodded, straightening her spine and trying to look brave.
Slowly she entered the training room, hearing the doors close heavily behind her, and seeing no one in front of her but Deborah who had turned her back on her.
"Teacher?"
No response.
"I've come to continue training."
"Why?"
The voice was cold, but Delilah knew she couldn't give in on that...and she didn't want to.
"Why did you kill me?"
Delilah was shocked by these words, but even more when Deborah turned around and it turned out that it wasn't her teacher at all, but Maggie. Her throat was slit open, and the blood covered all her upper body, turning the natural yellow fur nearly black.
"Why did you kill me?" The words came out strangely monotone, lifeless as her eyes were, but still accusing as she slowly raised her arm to point on her.
"Murderer!"
Delilah raised her arms in terror, finding her claws covered in blood. As the cadaver moved closer, the hybrid turned to run, only to bump into the massive body resembling Broadway, except it wasn't the clan's cook, but Hollywood. His peachy-orange skin had turned grey, and his eyes lifeless and accusing like that of the Mutate.
"You killed us..."
"NO!" Delilah wailed. "Master, he..."
"You could have tried to help us..." Brentwood said, stepping out of the shadows beside his brother. "You ran."
"Please..."
But Delilah found to her horror that they didn't seem to listen, and instead she found to her horror the whole of the Labyrinth Clan now seemed to surround her, all dead and moving in.
"Murderer!" Talon bellowed at her side.
"NO!"
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Outside:
Roland heard the hybrid's scream and cursed, as he began to move from his guard-position.
He should have never let Delilah go in there alone. His teacher had never protected him, so why should she do any good for his friend?
As the former bandit lord opened the door, he at once stormed in.
"Get away from her, you..."
He stopped in mid sentence and looked around in total surprise, finding himself not in the training room but in the courtyard of the castle.
"What?!"
"Well, well, who do we have here?"
Surprised, Roland looked up, discovering his siblings...all his siblings standing on the battlements, looking at him with a mix of loathing, hate and amusement.
"Where is Delilah?" he asked. "What have you d..."
"We finally drove her away," Ajax said.
"About time," Desdemona added. "The little canal-rat began annoying me."
Roland growled, but before he could respond, he noticed how the night sky showed more stars than the lights of New York normally revealed, even more.
"We don't welcome such like her in our home," Goliath concluded,
Roland suddenly heard someone landing behind himself, and found Iago nearing him.
"We never welcomed you!"
With this, his slim brother began an attack, which Roland barely managed to evade with a jump, hitting him with his spiked tail by the left leg.
"Ahhh!"
"Why did you hurt him?" Asrial asked mockingly from her position beside Goliath, grinning in a mock-innocence. "He just wanted to play!"
"He never could play nice," Emilia said haughtily, leaning against her mate and grinning cruelly. "So we never played with him."
"You liar, I..." Roland began.
"We thought you learned we didn't want you, but still you came back," Demona noted from beside Desdemona.
"Let's make sure he doesn't come back," Othello concluded. "Ever!"
"Oh, it has been too long since we hunted together," his mate purred.
The intention in this word was clear, and in groups Roland's siblings began jumping down the battlements, moving to him.
"You should never have come, brother!" Iago gloated.
Roland felt adrenalin rise in him, as he turned and ran through the gate, into the open plain dividing the castle from the forest. It would have made him wonder that the castle was again where it had been the largest part of its existence, but the panic simply overrode his thoughts, as he ran on all fours to the wood, with his siblings chasing him from behind.
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The Training Room:
The teacher was trying a katana, the sort Delilah had talked about the night before, testing its weight and hoping to get a feeling for how to use such a weapon. Still, mentally she wasn't with it, trying instead to prepare for the meeting with her newest pupil.
While feeling irritated with Delilah's flight, she felt even more irritated on her clan's treatment of this seemingly still unstable youngster. So she tried to get a tone that the lass would need to recognise her failure, while not losing even more self-conscious.
She stopped, as her keen eyes registered the sound of battle instead of steps coming from afar.
Quickly, Deborah left the room, running through the long corridors toward the Great Hall of the castle, but not as it was now, but as it was then.
She saw the castle, as it had been...the straw spread across the stone and earth floors, the fiery torches displayed on the walls, and the sound of medieval music echoing in the air.
Deborah took a moment to breathe in the memories, when...
"AAAAARRRGGHHHHH!" a loud bloodcurdling scream cut through the night.
Her Gargoyle instincts kicking in, Deborah raced on all fours toward the source of the scream, which seemed to come from the Hall.
She burst through the large doors, and stopped...
All across the room, the floor was littered with the now blood-pouring corpses of the castle guards, their lifeless eyes staring out at her from their crushed skulls, and their swords plunged into their chests.
Before Deborah could take a moment to observe the horror of the carnage before her, she saw the body of another fallen warrior near her...one with wings.
"My love!" she cried, dropping the katana, as she recognised the identifiable wingspan of her mate, and rushed towards him.
She turned him over, but before she had even gotten to him, she knew he was beyond help. He had been stabbed through the heart, with his own sword no less, his leg cut off, and his one remaining good eye gorged out.
"My mate," he managed to croak out, blood spurting from his throat.
"Don't talk," she told him. "Save your strength..."
"Why...?" Hudson tried to say.
"Why?" she asked him. "Why what?"
Although Hudson no longer had any eyes, he seemed to be staring right at her. "Why...did you...kill me?" he choked.
Deborah looked shocked. "Kill you? I didn't kill you," she tried to assure him.
"Oh, didn't you?" a familiar voice asked her.
Deborah looked up, recognising the voice of her former pupil. Her eyes flared red, as Demona walked into the hall, but not the Demona of the present.
Deborah looked to see the Demona of the past, a young teenager, but one who still walked with the same arrogance as the one of the present.
"You did this!" Deborah accused her.
"We all did this," another familiar voice called out, and Deborah looked around to where she had come in from, to see...Coldsteel?
Like Demona, this Coldsteel was in the form of a young teenager, and fully flesh and blood. He stared accusingly at her. "You were our teacher," he told her. "You were supposed to teach us the rights of honour and duty! Tell us, do you think you did a good job?!"
"I am not responsible for your own misdeeds!" she cried.
"Like you weren't for mine?!" a younger voice yelled shrilly, causing Deborah to hold her breath.
It had been many years, centuries even, when she had last heard that small young voice, but she knew it instantly. She turned around, back to Demona, and saw at her side...Roland.
It was Roland as a hatchling, the way he had been before he had run away from the castle, so many centuries ago, to join the bandits that had once terrorised Wyvern.
"You knew how the others were always treating me!" he shouted at her. "Why didn't you stop them?! Why didn't you help me?!"
"I...I..." Deborah stuttered, but found that she didn't have an answer for what he was saying. It was true, as she had known what was happening, but Roland had always been a difficult child, so it really wasn't surprising the way the others had been bullying him. "You were tormenting them yourself, many a time."
"Because of the way they tormented me because of my looks!" Roland shouted back. "You should have found a way to help me!"
"And you knew I was up to something, even when I was young," Demona said coldly. "You knew I wasn't always at the places where I said I was. You should have known something was wrong when I didn't join my siblings anymore. If you had got up off your tail and found out what was up, you could have stopped all this... You could have stopped us from becoming...this!"
As she spoke the last word, Deborah saw before her eyes as Demona, Coldsteel and Roland changed...
She saw Coldsteel change into the metal machine that she had seen in the pictures that the clan had shown her, his red eyes glaring at her. Roland matured into a young gargoyle, wearing the dark cloak and mask that he had used to hide his appearance. And Demona, she simply reverted into her true age, but with a murderous look of power and rage.
Deborah roared her inner pain, as she embraced their words. "No," she half-cried, half-roared. "No, it's not true... I did my best. I tried to teach you... I did…I..."
She didn't get to finish, as the trio suddenly charged at her, grabbing her from all sides. Coldsteel slammed his metal fists into her, shattering her ribcage, while Demona and Roland rained their claws down on her face, ribbing it into shreds.
The Great Hall:
Ajax stormed into the hall, looking around for his leader, and found him near the centre speaking with Broadway.
"Leader, a word!"
Goliath and the clan's cook turned to look at him, as did his siblings who had followed them.
"Roland has arrived with the hybrid."
"I see no problem with this."
"You see no..." Ajax felt unable to say more.
"See, I told you," Desdemona added.
"He is dangerous!" the crested warrior shouted. "Letting a blackguard like him in the castle endangers us all!"
"No one seems to be seeing it like you, brother," Goliath noticed.
As his brother said this, Ajax noticed that indeed no one seemed to be taking heed of his warnings, and were all looking rather amazed on him.
"Are you all blind? Have you forgotten how dangerous he is? How long we had to fight against him?"
"Live and let live," Broadway replied with a shrug. "Even Demona could join us."
"Good idea." Desdemona took it up. "I'll call her."
"You..."
Ajax' words were stopped by a scream, and to his shock he recognised the voice as being that of his mate.
He quickly raced through the strangely dark floors, only to find Emilia lying in a pool of her own blood, her throat slit open, but still alive.
As if someone had kicked his legs from under him, Ajax fell to his knees, unable to do anything more than look. And in his terror he saw the shade of his rogue brother, standing further down with blood still fresh on his claws.
"I still have an account to settle with my siblings..." he growled. "And this was just the beginning."
With these words, Roland moved completely into the shadows, for sure to hunt down more of his rookery siblings. Ajax didn't care. He didn't care that he had warned them, he didn't care whom his misbegotten brother would kill.
His mate was dying before his eyes, and he was powerless.
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Owen's Office:
Owen was checking all the financial data of Xanacorp's branch in Europe when his boss stepped in.
"How is everything?"
"The reports are positive, though Nightstone's shares are still higher."
"As expected," Xanatos said, taking a look at the sheet Owen handed to him. "As I have a gala to attend tomorrow, I need you to go over the data again."
"I already did," Owen replied, surprised.
"Take the raw data of every business, including pay-cheques. I also need it combined with our forecast to the economic, social and demographic development."
Despite his usual stoic, and what some employees even said lifeless, appearance, the major-domo looked stunned.
"May I remind you that this may take weeks, sir!"
"I know," Xanatos replied, looking unimpressed, as he turned to him. "And then do the same for all regions world-wide."
Owen lacked any words.
"Oh, and don't forget to check all the bills of the castle over the last year," Xanatos added before he left the room.
"Which bi..."
Owen had just begun to ask the question when a sheer mountain of bills fell through the door that his boss had just left through. Before he could start to wonder about that, the telephone rang.
"Xanatos Enterprises, Mr Burnett here. What..."
"Nanotech Inc here. We have lost the data of the New London deal, and need you to get us copies."
"There are no copies," he said with a scowl, as he noticed how more and more bills came through the door, reaching his desk.
"Then you'll have to make them anew from your memories, as we need it tomorrow by 6 o'clock or the work of two years is lost."
"I'll see to it," Owen promised, watching the mountain of bills growing even bigger "Goodnight."
"We have..."
Owen had already hung up and was facing the mass of bills, catching one.
'Renovation for claw-marks at the Statue of Liberty'
He lay back, as his legs sunk in bills, and the telephone rang again.
"Xanat..."
"Japan branch here. We are now sending you our files of the deal in Tokyo. Subscribe them and send them back before midnight or it is worthless."
He watched in horror as the fax came to life, not just emitting sheets of paper, but also spilling a true flood on the already enlarging mountain around him.
"I can't..."
"Midnight."
[Click]
Owen felt the, before totally unknown, emotion of desperation rise in him, as he watched the ever increasing lake of bills and contracts. Suddenly, the windows burst open, and another wave of papers filled the room, now beginning to bury him alive.
All the human could see was darkness when his face was covered, but he heard something in the distance, the scream of a child.
Alexander!
For a moment, there was nothing but the even surface of paper, and then it exploded. In the middle of the paper slowly falling down, an elf glided over the mess.
"What a mess!" Puck noticed with a wide grin.
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Some Floor:
Lana sighed, as she carried the now well-known bucket and mop, having been assigned to clean the female' shower-room.
Entering the shower-room, without really taking notice of her surroundings, the half-gargoyle noticed something strange about the room.
"How did I...?" she started, but didn't finish.
A loud shrill whistle suddenly came up from behind her. She turned around, startled, and found nearly all the teenage males of the clan standing right behind her at the entrance to the showers, completely naked and dripping wet.
She instantly recognised the black-skinned male, Smokey, and his three other brothers who were standing right behind him. And behind them were the rest of the clan's young warriors, all looking at her with blaring white eyes and wide grins.
Lana staggered back, realising that she was once again back in the male's shower-room. She felt like hyperventilating, as she tried to retreat to the door behind her. But while she was moving, she noticed the cold air breathing on her skin, and as she looked down, she noticed something else... she was also completely naked.
The males grinned, laughed and whistled at her, as her wings instantly wrapped themselves around her, trying to cover herself up.
Lana squeaked in fear, and turned to run. But when she got to the door, the door slammed open, and she found Brooklyn standing before her...
"Brooklyn!" she squealed, terrified. "Please help me!"
Brooklyn, however, didn't have on his face that usual friendly look of authority and instinct to protect. Instead, all she saw was a wild look of lust, as he stared right at her.
"Help you?" he said. "Yeah, I'll definitely help... " With that, he raised his claws and pushed her straight into the waiting arms of his brothers behind her.
Lana screamed, as Brooklyn's beak broke out into a large grin.
"I got dibs on being the first!" he yelled out, unbuckling his loincloth and hurrying after the crowd, as all the laughing males dragged a screaming Lana into the showers.
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Other Shower-Room:
The grey hairless female found herself at the door to one of the shower-rooms, but she could see no sign to indicate which one it was. She couldn't even remember why she had gone there in the first place.
Still, feeling a need to bathe anyway, she walked in. As she did, she noticed that the shower-room didn't look like the one belonging to the females, and started to wonder if someone had deliberately removed the bathroom signs, to copy the prank that she had done with the hybrid Lana, by locking her in with the males. Maybe Lana had even been the one who had done it, as some sort of revenge.
Well, as far as she was concerned, she wasn't bothered by whichever shower she went into. Gargoyles were not bothered by the sight of naked flesh, even if that half-breed was. If she ended up going into the male's room, then who cared? She might even get some of the males to finally look at her, instead of Lana, and make her mate a little jealous.
As she walked further in, the room was filled with steam from the showers, making it hard to see anything, but she could hear the distinct mutterings of what could only be the male members of her clan.
The second she realised this, she heard the door shut and lock behind her, which was curious since there was no locks on the doors into the shower-rooms. She turned around to try and open it, but found that it was indeed locked.
"Fine," she muttered, uncaring, and certain now that Lana could only be behind this. "If that's the way she wants to play it..." Without waiting another moment, she made her way over to the showers. "We'll see who has the last laugh," she smirked. "Next time, I'll throw her in with... " She stopped.
The steam had cleared, revealing all of the shower-room's occupants, who were...Hudson, Agamemnon and all of the males of their generation.
"Lass, what are ye doing here?" Hudson asked, noticing her, as he shook himself under the hot spray, his belly looking as though it were shaking in an earthquake.
"Aye, lass, this be the men's room, as the humans call it," Agamemnon added, rubbing some soap down his legs, causing them to jiggle.
Around the room, the other elders were all standing, soaking up the water and shaking their wrinkled, flabby and naked skin.
"Aye, but since you're here," said Hudson, throwing her the sponge. "Be a good lass and do our backs for us," he added, as he and the others turned around, bending over.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the female's scream tore through the stone-walls and up to the heavens above.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Puck floated in. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
The nameless female didn't respond. All she wanted to do was run, which she would have done so already, but the rest of the elders had moved about the room, surrounding her and blocking the exit, thus preventing her escape.
"I think my left butt-cheek needs it most," Agamemnon said. "I really should watch less TV and..."
"You don't have to do this, you know?" Puck said, floating beside the Gargess. "The door is open now, and it is all just a dream anyway."
She didn't look at him. She didn't even notice the levitating elf, her terror having consumed her. All she could do was whimper fearfully, as the elders from behind urged her forward with the sponge, towards a bent over Agamemnon.
Puck sighed. "Well, this is something I really don't need to see."
With that, the Elf floated back into the floor, the scared and disgusted moans of the Gargess echoing behind him.
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Infirmary:
Hudson moaned, as he slowly awoke to the harsh bright lights of the Infirmary.
"Hello, Hudson?" came a voice.
Hudson looked up to see one of the Wyvern Gargoyles from Goliath's generation. A thick and sturdy Gargoyle with enormous biceps, dark blue skin and large bull-like horns on his head, with short thick brown hair. He was a nice enough fellow, but had a bit of an over-caring nature when it came to the elders of the clan. There had been many a time when at least one of the elders had had to tell him to leave, for he was always asking them if they needed anything.
Hudson groaned. "What's going on?" he asked, trying to raise his claw to shield his eyes from the bright light, but for some reason he couldn't feel his arm.
"Just here to give you your bath, elder," the younger Gargoyle said, as he prepared to take off the bedsheets from Hudson.
"My bath?!" Hudson said indignantly. "What do ye take me for, a hatchling?! I can do my own baths!"
The Gargoyle looked at him strangely. "Well, I'm sure we would all like that, elder," he told him. "But...after Lucifia's poison did its full damage on you, how do you propose you do that?"
"What full damage?" Hudson asked, not liking the look that the young warrior was giving him. It looked too full of sympathy for some reason. "Lucifia poisoned me, that's true. I lost me leg, but Xanatos got me a new one..."
"Oh, elder," the Gargoyle shook his head sadly. "I see you've fallen into your delusional state again."
"What delusional state?!" Hudson demanded, wondering what this young upstart was talking about...and why the hell couldn't he feel his blasted arms and legs?!
The Gargoyle touched Hudson's head softly, as though trying to calm him. "Lucifia did poison you, but by the time we managed to get it all out of your system, the damage had been done."
"Aye, and me leg was lost..." Hudson began, but was stopped.
"Your leg was lost, true, but that was only the beginning," the Gargoyle looked at him, as though he was a hatchling needed to be comforted. "When that happened, that was bad enough, but after what happened next, you fell into a delusional state, believing yourself to have regained your lost limbs. But everything you think has happened, the operation restoring your lost limbs...that's all been false."
"What do ye mean false?!" Hudson was slowly starting to panic. "I haven't lost me mind! I remember that blasted doctor going through the whole procedure with me, word by word! And...what do you mean 'what happened next'?"
The Gargoyle sighed. "Poor, poor elder," he said simply, and then threw back the bed-covers.
Hudson looked down on himself, and screamed.
Not only was his leg completely gone again, but so had his other one...along with both his arms.
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Alex's Room:
Alex felt unhappy, as he dressed himself in the fine English school uniform. Even more, he felt desperate as he looked at himself in the mirror. He wore a white shirt, with long grey trousers, and a grey jacket on which the only colourful thing was the school emblem.
~ Boring, ~ the boy thought. ~ Boring, boring, boring. ~
[Knock]
"Ready?" his father asked, standing at the door with a big smile.
Alex gave him a smile he hoped showed courage.
"Yes."
"Good," Xanatos said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "The helicopter is waiting."
The boy grabbed the bag lying in the corner, and followed his father out, all the time looking at the Gargoyles walking around in the castle.
"Nervous?"
"Yeah...I mean..." Alex gulped. "England?"
"Me and your mother have searched long for the perfect school for you," Xanatos replied. "You'll see; the six months will pass like nothing."
Alex didn't respond, as they walked to the helicopter pad. Still, he continued to look around almost fanatically, and even then he found only his mother and Owen waiting beside the helicopter. He even looked at the night sky.
In no time, Fox embraced him, and for a moment he enjoyed the smell of her hair, so soft and well known.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, her eyes worried.
"My friends wanted to say goodbye after the training."
"Oh, they had to make a longer lesson."
"But..."
On Alex' desperate tone, his parents gave Owen a look the boy couldn't really identify.
"It is time," Owen said, laying his one flesh hand on the boy's shoulder, which instantly felt strange.
"What did you do?"
"On your parent's request, I removed your power for the time being."
"What?! How could you...?"
"We just want the best for you," his mother tried to calm him down. "And letting you run around with these powers is not."
"You will have to go through life without this, like I did," his father added.
"No, please, I told you I would not use..." Alex began, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
"I fear it is permanent, master Alexander," Owen added.
"NOOOO!" Alexander shouted, feeling anger, along with a feeling of total betrayal rise in him, as he had never known it before.
"It would just be better if you stop this," an amused voice said close to his left ear.
Shrieking, Alexander stopped shouting, and looked shocked into Puck's amused face.
"Seems you didn't like the door, kid!"
Automatically turning his head to the where the door had been, he noticed that it was no longer there, but instead there was a rather large hole. What was even stranger was that he was not at the helicopter pad but on his bed in his blue pyjamas, his hands feeling slightly burned.
"A nightmare?" the boy asked, counting one and one together, feeling sweat from the terror of the dream.
~ If mom and dad don't bust me for this, nothing will. ~
"Almost, but not quite," Puck informed him. "Get your slippers, we have a long way to go."
Still feeling uneasy, Alex followed his teacher's instructions.
"Not quite?" he asked, putting on the slippers.
"The whole castle are trapped in their worst nightmares," the elf explained. "Even the entire city might be, for all I know."
"Lucifia?"
"Seems she was a busy evil girl."
Alexander nodded, noticing by the hint of seriousness in the elf's voice how tensed he really was. This was when another thought crossed his mind.
"Mom! Dad!"
"Well, if we..." Puck began, but didn't get any further, as the boy was already racing through the door. He jumped over a sleeping Gargoyle on the floor, and ran straight to his parent's bedroom, but before he could get there, the door blasted out in a beam of energy.
"Mom?" Alex called into the room.
"Alex?" her somewhat breathless voiced called out of it.
Within seconds Fox had raced out, embracing him tightly.
"I hate to break this up, you two," Puck said, making a flow around mother and son. "But there is a lot of business for us."
It seemed to be the first time when Fox noticed something other than her son, most notably the two sleeping Gargoyles on the floor.
"What is going on?" she asked in a serious voice. "I dreamed of Oberon trying to take Alex, I..."
Alex glanced at his mother worriedly.
"Someone has tempered with everyone's dreams," Puck explained.
"Lucifia," Fox said grimly.
"Most likely."
"Are we under attack? Where is David?"
"Big boss is most likely sleeping uneasily," Puck noted while floating with crossed legs. "Only our magic made us wake up. I would rather ask what is causing this."
"What is causing this?"
"No idea!"
Pucks seeming cheeriness caused the ex-mercenary to scowl.
"Wait here," she ordered her son, vanishing into her room.
Seconds later she came out again, carrying one large laser canon and a smaller gun, which she handed to her son.
"Alexander, I want you to listen carefully," she said, looking deep into his eye. "Aim the gun only on someone if you want to hurt it. Clear?"
"I don't want it," her son said, as she handed him the weapon.
"And I don't want you to have it, but you might need it," his mother explained. "It should not be able to kill anyone though. It's only a stun gun."
Alex nodded, feeling better.
"If we find David, can you bring him and Alex out ?" she then asked the Fey.
Puck sighed. "As quick as you can say beam me up." He scowled. "Still, I feel..."
"But…" Alex interrupted. "What about the clan? Connor and..."
"We will take care of them, I promise." Fox swore, but the look she gave Puck left no doubt that for now her son would have the uttermost priority.
"Alex, you will go in the middle. Puck, take the back."
Such it was done, and they walked on, mindful of any invader, while passing various sleeping Gargoyles, and even two of Xanatos's security staff. It wasn't until they had to walk over a big yellow gargbeast, who was lying unhappily, howling, in the middle of the floor when something happened.
"Bad beast!"
Surprised, the trio blinked as they found themselves in the Great Hall, with seemingly half the clan gathered around the unhappy gargbeast, who had an empty plate before him.
"Where do you come by, just taking a plate from the kitchen?" Agamemnon's mate asked. "And you made the floor dirty!"
The beast whined, further, lying flat on the floor to make himself as small as possible.
"Look at his paws," Brooklyn commented. "He needs a bath!"
"WHOOO!" the beast howled miserably.
Some metres away, the trio watched the scene.
"A dream?" Fox asked.
"I got into one myself on the way to Alex," Puck explained. "We should get out once we leave the scene."
"Then let's..."
"Mum!" Alex stopped her, pointing to a place between the gathered Gargoyles.
At first, Fox couldn't see anything, but then it moved, and when what at first seemed to be another gargbeast started moving toward the yellow gargbeast, it turned out to be a different beast altogether. While having at large the same shape as the first, it was grey with parts of its skin seemingly faded out, like an old pair of jeans worn too long.
It had six legs, with three talons on its claws. The back ended with a simple long tail, like that of a lizard. But the most bizarre thing about it was its head, which seemed to have no eyes, but with six fleshy tentacles twisting around in every direction, and which were all now aimed straight on the yellow gargbeast.
As it came closer, unnoticed by the dreaming gargbeast and his dream-clan, its tentacles touched his head. Instantly, the faded parts on the monster's skin seemed to shrink. At the same time, the gargbeast's image seemed to flicker a little.
"Mum!" Alex whispered frantically, clearly wanting to help the beast.
"Alex, no!" his mother hushed him, the very words causing the monster's head to rise. "Get out of here now."
"There might be a tiny problem."
Puck's voice made Fox turn around sharply, and notice another one of the monsters, though with different spots of faded skin, coming from one of the floors. It shoved its tentacles in their direction in a way, which strangely almost expressed curiosity.
Fox was taking no risk.
"I shoot, and you follow me on the heel!" she ordered. "Understand?"
Alex nodded fearfully, as the monster came even nearer. A blink of an eye later, a high particle beam hit it in the chest, making it fly at the wall.
"Puck likes to be a guest, but now," the elf intoned, "let me say ciao!"
With this rhyme, the plates, chandeliers and every part being able to get loose, gathered under a typhoon-like wind in the middle of the room, forming Puck's smiling face.
The two monsters, now the only beings in the room even registering this, emitted something near a growl, and jumped at the twister while the trio fled.
Some Floor:
Brooklyn walked through the hallways of the castle, and as he neared one of the doors, he heard the recognisable voice of Demona's eldest granddaughter...and someone else.
"Please leave me alone," Lana's voice pleaded.
"Aww, come on," came the voice of one of his brothers. "I saw the way you looked at me when you were in the showers. Don't tell me you didn't like what you saw..."
Brooklyn had heard enough, and went charging in, his eyes blazing.
"What the...?!" the voice of his brother, who turned out to be the light brown-skinned one, said, startled. Lana was behind him, looking frightened.
"What did I tell you about being rude to our guests?!" Brooklyn growled, making his brother inch backward.
"I was just..." his brother started, but didn't get to finish.
"GET OUT!" Brooklyn ordered, and his brother scampered out the room.
"Are you all right?" Brooklyn asked Lana urgently, to which she smiled.
"I am...now that you're here," she said seductively, and walked closer toward him.
Brooklyn gulped, as he got a good look at her. She was once again naked, as she had been that night in the males' shower-room. He had desperately tried to hide it that night, but seeing her that way had deeply aroused him...the same as it was doing to him right now.
"I know the way you feel about me, Brooklyn," Lana said, as she came closer. "I've known it for some time. You can hide the expressions on your face, but..." she grinned. "You can't hide the bulge in your loincloth."
Brooklyn blushed.
Lana came all the way up to him, placing her claws on his beak, pulling it down to her lips. "Shall we see if that beak of yours can pucker as well as lips can?" she asked.
Brooklyn needed no further convincing, and embraced her firmly in a kiss.
As he kissed her deeply, he enjoyed closeness of her body, its warmth and sweet scent...
Suddenly, Brooklyn gagged, as something that he could only describe as acid seeped into his beak, burning his throat.
Lana laughed, and continued holding him in the embrace, which now seemed to be cutting off his oxygen, tightening her hold on him.
"You really don't have a lot of luck with girls, do you?" she sniggered.
Only then did Brooklyn get a good look at her face...and saw her dark, black eyes.
"No..." Brooklyn breathed heavily.
Lana's smile broke into a large grin that inhumanely stretched all across her face. "Aunt Lucy gave me more than just a simple spell, Brooky. She also gave me a little taste of her power, and more. But enough about me, let's talk about you..."
She lifted him up into the air, and threw him across the room. He hit the wall with a thud, his bones cracking against the hard stone, and his ribs already broken from Lana's hug.
"First there was dear old Grandma, then Auntie Angela, then Aunt Lucifia..." she continued taunting him. "You just don't have a prayer, do you? All these girls, all those betrayals, and you still keep asking for more... Face it, buddy! You have about as much chance at finding a girl as you do at winning a beauty contest!" She kicked his face in.
Brooklyn's face twisted in rage, but his eyes filled with grief.
"What girl in her right mind would ever go out with you? I mean, really...?" She giggled.
Brooklyn roared, racing to get up despite the constant pain his body was in, and tackled her.
"Ohhh, big nose has got some spunk," she laughed, and rushed him.
He reached behind him and grabbed a sword that was hanging on the wall, as she came at him.
He didn't have a chance to turn or swing the blade, as she came right up to him, the sword burying itself right into her heart.
"Lana!" he cried, and pulled the blade from her, grabbing and holding her in his arms.
Her face was once more the lovely vision of beauty he so adored, and her eyes that lovely shade of dark brown.
"Brooklyn..." she managed to breathe out, her voice choking. "Help...me..."
"Hold on, Lana," he pleaded. "The sun will heal you, you'll be... SOMEONE HELP ME!" he cried out into the darkness, but no one came.
"Brooklyn, I... " Lana stuttered, but then fell still.
"Nooo..." Brooklyn whimpered, as he felt the life in her drain away, and sat rocking her cold body back and forth in his arms.
"Quickly!" Puck's voice came from somewhere in the background.
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The Elevators:
Elisa rode up in the elevator to the Eyrie Building. eager to see her newly wedded husband.
The doors chimed, and she got out to see some of the clan elders talking in the Great Hall, taking no notice of Fox, Alex and Puck running quickly away.
"Hello?" she said warmly, but all she got was a cold look. "Something wrong?"
The elders didn't reply, and just turned away to continue talking amongst themselves.
She shrugged, and started heading towards her and Goliath's private quarters. It was no secret that a large majority of the clan had been against her marrying Goliath, and not only them, but also her own people had been against it, too. Her family and colleagues had disowned her when she admitted she was marrying Goliath, and she had even lost her job because of it. But neither Goliath nor she had paid any heed, as all that mattered was that they were in love, and now they were together forever.
As she made her way to her room, some grey monsters passed her, which she again didn't notice, but she could hear more voices...which seemed to be coming from her room?
Curious, she walked over, and could hear something that sounded like giggling. She knew right then that it couldn't be Goliath, as he didn't even know how to giggle.
She pushed her ear to the door, listening for more. The giggling was definitely that of a female, but she couldn't tell whom.
She quietly unlatched the lock to her door, and gently pushed it open...
The second she looked in, she wished she hadn't. Inside were Goliath and one of his rookery sisters. She didn't know which one it was, nor did she care at that moment. What she did care now was that her husband, the one that she had practically sacrificed her life for, including her job, was now happily embraced in the arms of another.
All Elisa could do was stand there, staring at them, the female in the place that should be hers. She was so focused on the pair that she didn't notice the claw-steps coming towards her.
"Lass?" a Scottish accent spoke to her.
Elisa snapped her head around to find Hudson looking solemnly at her. "How...?" she stuttered out. "How could he...?"
Hudson just looked at her. "You and he were never meant to be, lass," he told her as a matter of fact.
"No!" Elisa shook her head in denial. "You spoke for us! You told us we shouldn't let anyone get in the way of our love..."
"Aye, but that was before the clan all returned," Hudson said, sighing. "Look, lass. If this were a year ago, I would still all be for you and Goliath to mate, but... Lass, there are so few of us left in the world, and Goliath was certain that with so few a number, he didn't think he would ever find another mate after Demona."
"Are you saying I was a consolation prize or something?!" Elisa glared at him.
Hudson looked pitying at her, something that hurt her even more.
"Lass, he is the leader. It is his responsibility to set an example for the clan, and to provide new hatchlings for the future of our kind. If he didn't, he would be spitting in the faces of our own laws and traditions. His destiny is with his own people...just as yours is with your own people."
"I don't have a people anymore!" Elisa cried. "Everyone I know has turned on me ever since I married Goliath!"
All Hudson did was give her one more pitying look, and said, "I'm sorry," and walked away.
Elisa stood where she was, staring at Goliath as he and the female began to get more intimate. Whether they hadn't seen her yet, or just didn't care, was anyone's guess.
Within a few moments, she slid to the floor, breaking into tears.
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Floor Near The Courtyard:
The screams of the clan echoed throughout the castle, as Goliath practically broke through each door to get to the outside.
"Brooklyn! Hudson!" he called, but no one answered his pleas.
Finally, he reached the Great Hall and the main door to the courtyard. Breaking through, he heard the scream of his clever rookery sister, as he raced through.
The second he entered the courtyard, he knew he was too late... All around him, he saw the remains of his clan littered across the ground. Around them, he saw the policemen with their weapons raised high.
His clever sister made one last plea of mercy, as the officer holding her struck her in the face.
Goliath roared, racing at the hooded madman, but they were all too ready for him.
From both sides, several other officers fired their weapons, sending three nets soaring through the air, landing upon him.
Goliath roared again, as the nets wrapped themselves around him, securing him with no escape.
As he lay struggling, a woman's voice sounded from above him...
"Goliath, you and your clan have been charged with multiple manslaughter, hiding and helping a fugitive..."
He looked up, and saw Captain Chavez looking down disdainfully at him. "Captain?" he said, shocked. "Why...why are you doing this? Where's Elisa?!"
Chavez just gave him a cold look. "Why are we doing this is simple, Goliath... Since you Gargoyles arrived, we've had nothing but chaos, death and destruction here in our city. First there was Xanatos, the Pack, Demona, Macbeth, and then came along Lucifia, the daughter of evil itself! You and your clan bring more problems than they do solutions, and frankly we've had enough of it!"
"My clan aren't responsible for all that!" Goliath said defensively.
"Of course you are!" Chavez countered. "If it hadn't been for you, they would never be here. We tried to learn to co-exist with you and your kind, but it hasn't worked. So we're cutting our ties with you...permanently!"
"Elisa..."
"Has also been charged with aiding and abetting you," Chavez told him. "She decided to stand with you till the end, so she is also sharing your charges. She has been stripped of her rank and discharged from the Police Force. What happens to her now will depend on what your sentence will be."
Chavez looked to the other officers. "Take him away!" she ordered.
As the officers came toward him, Goliath saw behind them more men...but they were no police officers. Instead, all he saw were...Quarrymen, posed with their sledgehammers ready for smashing.
"NOOO!" Goliath screamed, as the men closed in on him.
Just as his screams echoed over the courtyard, Fox entered it, followed by her son and Puck.
"Out of the way!" she ordered the elf.
He complied at once, and the former mercenary gave a couple of shots into the shadows of the floor. Still, a look at the shadows that showed the form of five grey monsters hardly flickered.
"Puck, get Alex out!"
"No!" Alex shouted, his eyes widening in shock.
"Do what I say!" his mother said in a voice allowing no objection, while firing two more shots. "You get David and take him to a save place... Avalon if it has to be!"
Alex felt his nightmare come true, and desperately thought.
"Come, let your mother handle these..."
"NO!" the boy shouted angrily, shooting a bolt of energy in the direction of the monsters. "Mom, I have a plan, but you must run when I say."
Fox took a look at her son, and then she looked back at the castle where one monster had just jumped out of a window. Finally, she nodded.
"Hurry!" she said, shooting the monster that little effect but a shivering in its frame.
Alexander glided up besides Puck, the way he had never managed to do so before.
"Can you make a gate out of here? To allow us all to pass through?"
The child of Oberon shook his head, grinning as he recognized what his pupil was planning.
"No, but we can!"
"There!" Alex said, gliding to a wall.
Together they began to weave a net of magical energy between them, filling the space first with white glimmer, and then with an image of the courtyard.
"Mom, now!"
Fox turned, barely able to hold back the now six monsters any longer. With a look at the portal, she realized what her son was planning, and dropped her gun and ran, feeling the monsters close on her heels.
The moment she saw Puck and her son vanish into the portal, she jumped in, too, head first. She landed on her hands, making a quick turn and drawing a long knife from her back, which she had taken from hers and David's secret room.
Instantly, one of the monsters came jumping out of the still open portal, and within half a second Fox felt the knife connecting with it. Yet, instead of feeling the weight of over 200 pounds falling on her, the former mercenary felt only a slight breeze, as the monster just evaporated into thin air.
As she looked at the portal, she noticed that the other five monsters were in a similar state, each wavering and thinning out, their existence becoming less and less, despite their obvious struggle, before vanishing into nothing.
"It worked!" Alex cheered, flying down to embrace his mother who returned the hug, still watching as the portal closed.
"This was a fantastic idea, Alex," she whispered into his ear, making his smile even wider.
"And it seems to have helped the Cinderellas and Cinderellos of the castle," Puck noticed, floating down and smiling at the mother and son.
The three watched how the Gargoyles in the courtyard, who had still been sleeping, moved, as they slowly awoke. The first among them to regain consciousness was Goliath, as he lay closest to them.
"What happened?" he asked. "I remember dreaming..."
"Lucifia tried to attack us through our dreams," Fox explained, letting loose of her son. "But it is over now. I suggest you have a good look over the castle, in case she tried anything else."
"What?!" Arnadela asked, walking to the scene.
"I must look for David. We can talk later," Fox simply replied, dragging her son with her while entering the castle, watched by some still confused Gargoyles.
"Goliath?"
The leader of his clan looked up, seeing Puck floating over the battlements, looking north.
"You might want to see this!"
Alarmed by the unusually serious tone in the Elf's voice, Goliath climbed up the stairs and took a look over the city, gasping at the sight.
The sky over the Bronx had turned slightly red, and where the Gargoyle guessed the Yankee Stadium was, Goliath noticed a blood red dome, shielding any view.
To Be Continued...
Note: Most of the nightmares have been written by Storyseeker whom I hereby deeply thank!