All
the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are
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All original characters are the property of Odyssey34.
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Somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea:
"So, Cassy?" the pilot asked cheerfully. "How are you enjoying the ride?"
Twelve-year-old Cassandra Williams looked up from the book she was reading and smiled. "It's very nice," she replied quietly. In truth, she was having a very hard time flying; she could never get used to being miles above the ground. It had always made her nervous.
The pilot laughed and went back to concentrating on his flying. 'Thank God,' she thought.
She had no idea why they were out flying in the middle of nowhere. Her parents loved to fly, and jumped at the opportunity whenever they could, which was why they were here now, but she had no idea why they continuously brought her along on all their flights. She hated flying.
She drew her attention back to her book and tried to read, to keep her mind off the flying.
"Hello," the pilot suddenly said, "What's this then?"
Cassy looked up again and watched as the pilot began fumbling around with his controls.
"What is it?" her mother asked.
"Dunno Ma'am. It seems to be some sort of fog down on the sea, but I can't get a clear reading of it."
He continued to fumble away at his controls until there was a loud bang coming from their right hand side.
Cassy dropped her book in surprise and stared at the black smoke coming from one of the plane's wings.
"Good God!" her father cried out. "What's happening?"
"Damn it! One of the engines has blown. I'm gonna have to make an emergency landing. Everyone, hold onto your seats!"
Cassy gripped the edge of her seat in fear and held her breath. She felt the nose of the plane dip forward, and the plane begin to plummet to the sea below. She fought back a scream as the plane fell faster and faster, the whooshing of the air around the plane growing louder as it neared its collision with the ocean, and then… there was nothing.
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Some Time Later:
Cassy woke up to a splitting headache, and raised her hand to her head. She was soaking wet, and when she pulled her hand back; it was covered in blood.
She moaned, as she sat up and looked around. She was on a beach somewhere, but didn't recognise it. She slowly got up to her feet, but immediately fell back down again, as a wave of dizziness and nausea overcame her.
She took another look round, but saw no sign of her parents or the pilot. 'Maybe they got washed up somewhere else down the beach,' she thought.
Then she heard a small ringing sound coming from up above. She looked up and saw three huge crafts, floating down towards her. She didn't have the strength to get up and shout for help, so she just stayed where she was and watched them curiously as they descended upon her.
As they neared the ground, she finally got a look at her would-be saviours and got the biggest surprise of her life. One of them was a large bull, wearing some sort of helmet, and who appeared to be part man. Another one looked like an ordinary man except his hair was made up of fire and his eyes shone bright red, and the look he gave her was one of complete and total surprise. The last one, she thought was an ordinary man until she got a better look at him, and saw that he had the body of a horse.
Cassy stared at them in shock while they did the same to her.
"Can it be?" the horseman said. "It looks like…?"
The fireman pulled up a little closer to get a better look at her, and answered the horseman's question for him. "A human!"
The bull man shook his head. "Not again," he muttered.
Cassy continued to stare at them, but eventually the dizziness proved too much for her and she passed out.
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A Few Hours Later; Somewhere:
She felt something cool and damp being pressed against her forehead. She tried to flick it away, but when she tried to move her arms, she felt something holding them down.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. After a while, her version came back into focus… and she found a huge red lion with a man's face, and dozens of fangs pointing out of his mouth, staring right back at her.
Cassy just stared at him, her mouth opening and shutting like a goldfish. Then she finally found her breath, and started screaming.
The lion man backed off with a confused expression on his face, and then started to walk back toward her.
Cassy twisted and squirmed to get off the bed she was on, but found she was bound by some kind of force field, just like the ones in Star Trek.
The lion man walked up to her cautiously, and raised his right front-paw, laying it down on her arm.
"It's all right, little one," he said.
'Yikes! He can talk,' she thought frantically.
The creature continued, "It's all right. See? I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Mantius, but everyone calls me Manty. What's your name?"
Cassy looked up at him.
For someone whom had more than one set of teeth; he had a surprisingly sweet and gentle smile.
"M-my… my name's Cassy," she stuttered out. Despite his sweet smile, she was still scared out of her mind.
Manty, as he called himself, noticed this and a look of sorrow came over him. "Awww… it's all right, kid. I don't bite."
Somehow, that didn't bring her much comfort.
"I want my mom," she sobbed.
Manty looked down at her, and she noticed a tear starting to form in his eye.
"Err… look, kid. If I remove the force fields, do you promise you won't scream and try to escape?"
She nodded.
"Okay," he said, and placed his paw over a control panel and tapped a few buttons. All at once, the force field surrounding her arms and legs were gone, and she could move freely again.
Cassy sat up, expecting to feel dizzy again, but she was fine. She touched her head, expecting to feel a bandage or something, but there was nothing. Her wounds appeared to be completely healed.
Manty coughed and looked rather uncomfortable. "Okay, kid. Look, this isn't easy, but you're gonna have to hear this from someone, so it might as well be me." He took a deep breath. "After we found you, we searched around till we found your plane, we found your parents and the pilot with it."
Cassy smiled, expecting him to tell her that her parents would be coming for her shortly.
Manty, however, did not. "Unfortunately, kid, we were too late. By the time we got there, your folks and the pilot had gone down with the plane." He paused and then said. "I'm sorry."
Cassy just looked at him, her eyes growing wider by the second. 'No,' she thought. "It can't be true. I'm only twelve years old, I can't lose my parents, they have to be alive…"
She didn't realise that she said those words out loud until she felt Manty reach out and hug her with his right front-leg, and rocked her back and forth.
"It's all right, kid," he said. "Everything's gonna be okay now, you'll see."
A loud chirping sound suddenly came from behind them, and a door panel opened, revealing a large and stiff-looking bull-man standing in the doorway, together with the man with the head of flames.
The bull-man snorted and asked the Manticore, "Is the Human well?"
Manty released Cassy and looked at him, answering. "Yes, Taurus. She responded well to the treatment, though she may still need a little time to rest."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible," Taurus said.
Manty looked at him curiously. "Why not?"
The man with the head of flames suddenly interrupted. "Because Boreas has decreed that the Human is to be taken to the Senate house to be put on trial," he glared at the young Human, his fiery eyes burning with hostility at her.
Cassy shivered with fear, pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged herself.
The bull man, who Manty had called Taurus, walked up to her and looked down at her from his great height.
Cassy did her best not to panic, but what can you do when in less than a few hours you find out that your parents are dead, and you're a prisoner in a place where there are talking bulls, lions, horses, and man with fire for hair?
Cassy screamed, jumped off the bed and ran through the door, which Taurus and the flame man had come through.
Taurus and Manty yelled at her. "HEY!"
She didn't listen however. She kept running and running, as fast as she could, her thoughts on only one thing, 'Gotta get out!'
"Shit!" Helios swore under his breath and took out his communicator. "Chiron? This is Helios! The human has escaped. Send a squadron of soldiers to look for her at… "
Taurus snatched the communicator away from Helios. "Belay that order, Chiron. We'll find her ourselves."
Taurus handed the device back to Helios and glared at him "She's only a child, Helios, not some assassin or a Human spy. She's just a kid, a scared kid who is alone in a strange city with beings she's never seen before. We can catch her ourselves."
With that, he turned and ran out the door, with Helios and Manty right behind him.
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'Gotta get out,' Cassy thought frantically. 'There's got to be a way out of here!'
She ran down the corridor until she came to an elevator, and banged on its doors until it opened, revealing the horseman that she had encountered earlier.
She gulped, as he leaned over and made to grab her. "Okay, Human, come here!"
She jumped back and started to run, but ran right smack into Taurus's stomach instead.
Taurus wrapped his arms around her and held her, as she struggled to get away. She screamed and dug her nails into his thick pelt, and kicked his shin, but Taurus's hide was too thick to penetrate, and if he minded his shin getting kicked, then he didn't show it.
Eventually she stopped kicking and screaming, but then started crying as Taurus held onto her.
Taurus looked to his associates for help, as he wasn't good at dealing with other people in their times of grief, and he certainly wasn't good with children.
Just then, Manty ran up to them and noticed Cassy's tears and heart wrenching sobs.
She took one look at him and broke free of Taurus's arms, throwing her arms around Manty's neck and crying her eyes out.
Manty did his best to comfort her. "It's all right, little one. You're safe now. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise."
He said the last part with a cold, stern voice, as he looked across at Helios, Chiron, and Taurus.
Taurus just gave him a cold look of his own, then marched up to the Human and knelt down beside her. "Hello," he said.
Cassy looked up from Manty's chest, and whimpered at the huge bull staring right at her. "Please leave me alone," she begged.
Taurus's eyes were filled with pity. It was true he had no great love for humans, as after all, his ancestor the Minotaur had been locked in a labyrinth and starved by humans, and later killed by a human hero. When he had first heard that story, he had been disgusted and prayed that he would never meet a human. It seemed though that fate was against him and had brought this human child to his island. However, a child, like all children, was innocent.
Taurus tried to put on his most kind-looking face, and smile… but unfortunately; it didn't seem to go right with him, as he looked more like he had a cactus stuck up his backside.
"Child? Can you tell me if there was anyone else on your… plane, with you, besides your parents and the pilot?"
Cassy shook her head, and buried her face back in Manty's chest.
Manty continued to rock her back and forth. In truth, Taurus believed she should be left alone for now, but Boreas had already called the Senate together, so they had no choice but to bring her.
"Err? Child… "
"Cassy."
Taurus blinked at her in surprise. "What?"
She wiped her eyes and said, "My name is Cassy. Well, it's Cassandra actually, Cassandra Williams, but everyone just calls me Cassy."
Taurus smiled a little. "Okay, Cassy. Listen, I have to take you somewhere now to a place where there are a lot of my people waiting to see you. Our leader wishes to meet you and speak to you, okay?"
Cassy didn't look like she wanted to go anywhere, but a warm look from Manty gave her courage. "All right," she said. "I'll go."
Taurus heaved a sigh of relief because he wouldn't have to drag her there by the arm. Instead, he calmly took her hand and led the way to the elevator. He managed to win her trust, but… what about the Senate?
Taurus felt a small shiver of fear, for the child walking beside him, crawl up his spine.
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The Senate:
Cassy griped Taurus's hand tightly, as he walked her down the long dark corridor. She heard people shouting and an assortment of growls, snarls, and other sounds from behind the big door up ahead, and tried to put on a brave face.
Taurus looked down at her and had to smile at her bravery. Then his face took on a more serious look, as he pressed a button on his remote, opening the doors. The huge door quickly opened and the sounds of the people, or whatever they were, got louder.
He gently pushed Cassy onward, as she walked into the Senate.
The instant she walked in, she was immediately bombarded with shouts and insults. A pale man with what looked like a unicorn's horn sticking out of his head called her a monster.
'I'M a monster??' she thought unbelievably. 'Has this guy looked in the mirror recently?' She stared at the strange creatures surrounding her, and shivered in fear. Never had she seen so many unusual and terrifying creatures. She recognised some of them from old myths and legends that she had read about in school… a Manticore, a Centaur, a Harpy, and a million more things that she had never seen or heard of before in her life.
Then she looked forward and did a double take. There in front of her was without a doubt the biggest, most gigantic man she had ever seen. The man, or whatever he was, must have been about 20ft tall, with a long blue robe, and huge white wings hanging from his back. When she looked up, and up, and up into his eyes, she found out that they were perfectly plain blue eyes… plain being the operative word because he had no irises, pupils, or anything.
Behind him, there was a big man dressed in gold armour, but as she looked closer, she realised that he didn't have a face, just two red eyes that were watching her, totally emotionless.
The giant stared at her, whether it was out of curiosity or if he was planning to serve her up for dinner, she didn't know. All she knew was that since coming here she had been shouted at, and been given hard and hateful looks, apparently all just because she was a human.
Somehow, Cassy wasn't feeling quite safe.
The winged giant suddenly beckoned her to step forward. Taurus gave her another gentle push, and she walked cautiously toward the giant. Every instinct in her was telling her to scream and run away, yet she found that she couldn't help but look into his pale blue eyes. Somehow, looking into them helped her to forget all her fears.
Taurus stood behind her and spoke to the giant. "Boreas, this is the human whom we found down on the beach. She says her name is Cassandra Williams. She was washed up on shore when her aircraft crashed. There were no other survivors."
Boreas didn't bother to look at him. He just continued to stare at her with those big blue eyes of his. He then knelt down in front of her, probably so that he wouldn't seem as intimidating, but he was still about ten feet high.
"Are you well?"
Cassy just nodded at him, unable to say anything.
Boreas tilted his head to one side. "Do you have any other family besides your parents?"
At the mention of her parents, Cassy's eyes began to water, but she refused to cry, not in front of all these strange creatures.
Boreas noticed this, and moved a huge finger to gently wipe one of her eyes. "It's all right, child," he said. "You don't have to be afraid, you've got nothing to fear from us."
'Yeah, except perhaps an angry mob of human haters,' Manty thought to himself, as he watched and listened from the Senate's seats.
Cassy raised her head to look Boreas directly in the eye. One look from him was all it took, and she quickly forgot all her fears for now, and concentrated on answering any and all of his questions.
"No," she said. "Aside from a few relatives that I haven't seen in years. I have no other family."
Boreas actually sighed with relief at this. 'Perhaps,' he thought, 'she will consider living with us, instead of me having to condemn her to remain here permanently?'
He was soon to be disappointed though as Cassy said, "But I would like to go home as soon as possible, if that's all right."
Boreas sighed. This was NOT going to be easy. He was beginning to realise that he should have spoken with the girl before she came to the Senate, as he had no idea how she was going to take what he was about to say. "Err… Cassandra? I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't let you go home. The temptation to reveal our secret would be too great... "
Cassy looked up at him for about a minute before what he said finally registered through. She was doomed to spend the rest of her life here on this island, with all these monsters that hated her, just because she was a human.
She started yelling, "NONONONONONO, I WON'T STAY, I WON'T!" She continued to scream as she twisted from Taurus's arm, trying to get away. Taurus tried to hold onto her, but Cassy landed him a good hard kick in the groin and managed to get away.
She slipped out of Taurus's grip and started running towards the doors, which she had come through, but Helios and Chiron were waiting for her. Helios, in the heat of the moment, forged a ball of fire in his right hand and launched it right at her. Cassy was fortunate and managed to duck in time, but the flames caught her hair and singed it.
Suddenly there was a loud roar from the seats up above. Cassy was too scared to look, but she heard a loud thud as something landed on the ground near her, and the sound of quick footsteps as they rushed over to her. Finally, she looked up and saw Manty looking down at her, his face filled with concern.
Forgetting about her singed hair, she jumped up to him and buried her face once more into his chest, crying. Manty didn't say anything as he just sat there on the ground, letting Cassy cry into his chest. That and his paw gently stroking her now ruined hair.
Taurus, having finally recovered from the blow that Cassy had landed on him, came running up to them, glaring at Helios, and together he and Manty roared at him. "What the hell did you think you were doing?!"
Helios backed up a few paces. Manty was a friendly fellow and a good Olympian, but he could be pretty mean when he wanted to be, and Taurus was definitely not one to be rifled with.
Helios stammered, as Manty continued to glare at him with those dark eyes of his. "I... I was only doing my duty. I thought she would try something, and she did assault Taurus."
Manty never lowered his gaze or his temper. "She's a child for Zeus' sake!"
"ENOUGH!" a voice boomed from behind them. Boreas had obviously seen enough.
They all turned to look at Boreas, except for Cassy who still had her head hidden in Manty's chest.
Boreas gave them all a cold hard look. "Helios, if you ever do anything like that again, then what the humans did to our ancestors will seem like nothing compared to what I will do to you. Understand?!"
Helios gulped and nodded.
Boreas stared at the human child, and at once his face softened. "Cassandra. I'm truly sorry, but I can't let you go home. If any of your fellow humans should ever find out about our island, then our people would be put at risk. I have no choice, but to have you remain here with us, permanently."
Cassy sobbed harder, but not because she was never going home again. Her parents were everything she had, and now they were gone and she was all alone. As far as she was concerned, she had no home. The tears were because she was doomed to spend the rest of her life on an island where there were no other humans, just monsters like Helios who hated and despised her.
Manty was still stroking her hair, and then gently pushed her away from him to look at her. He lifted a curtain of her singed hair and smiled. "Let's go and see what we can do about this then, shall we?"
Cassy sniffed back a few more tears that were threatening to spill, but nodded. They were just about to walk away when an angry voice came from behind them.
"BOREAS! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY BE SUGGESTING OF LETTING THAT… THAT HUMAN LIVE WITH US!"
Cassy turned back to see what she could only describe as some sort of green slug-lady. She was all green, with a snakelike tail instead of legs. Her hair also looked like it was made up of snakes, and when she looked at her, her eyes were glowing blood-red. She slithered across the floor towards them, glaring at her with those burning red eyes.
Boreas looked down at the little slug woman. "Echidna, what would you have me do? She is merely a child, and an orphan, too, which is partly our fault. Our force field is what caused her aircraft to crash. What should I do, kill her?"
The slug woman looked at Cassy, and just for a moment, Cassy swore she saw the ends of her mouth twist into a smile, almost as if to say 'I've heard worse ideas.'
Boreas didn't seem to notice and thus continued speaking to the rest of the Senate. "It would be wrong of us to turn away this child in her time of need. Imagine if it was your child, lost and alone with no family and trapped in a strange land… Would you want them to be treated in the same way that we're treating this girl here?"
There was a silence over the crowd as they thought about that, and some of them who had brought their children with them hugged them close.
"I agree with Boreas," a voice came from the shadows that sounded like an echo. It was the man in gold armour. "As we learned from our experience with Miss Maza, not all humans are evil. So how can we condemn a child? Besides, having a human live with us might start teaching our own young ones how to live with humans. I have observed the human race through their satellite signals, and their technology has progressed even further than before. The time for hiding will soon come to an end, so we must start learning on how to co-operate and co-exist with one another, otherwise what hope is there for our future?"
Boreas smiled at Talos's words, and then turned back to the slug woman he had called Echidna, who still wore the same expression she had on before, only darker.
"I have made my decision, Echidna," Boreas said, unfazed by her look. "The human can not mean us any harm, as she is only a child. Therefore it is my decision that she should remain permanently here, as our guest."
With that, Boreas turned to walk out of the Senate, but paused a bit to spare the young girl a glance. 'Poor girl,' he thought. 'It won't be easy for her trying to fit into our society, no mistake about that.' Boreas turned his back on her and walked out of the Senate, with Talos close behind him.
Cassy watched as Boreas left, but turned her head to look at Echidna who was still glaring at her, when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She looked around and saw Taurus looking down at her sternly. "Follow the rules," he said, "and you won't have any trouble." He was about to leave when Manty spoke up. "Taurus, what's going to happen to the girl?"
Taurus turned back and regarded him. "I suppose the Senate will find her a home and a family to take her in. Why?"
Manty stared at him, then rushed forward to his side and whispered in his ear. "Taurus, how many Olympians do you think are going to want to look after a Human child???"
Taurus paused. He had not thought of this. Considering how the girl had been shouted at during the trial, it was unlikely that she would be welcomed with open arms.
"Sir?" Manty spoke. "If it would please you? I would like to take the child in."
Taurus stared at his friend. "You, Manty? What experience do you have at raising children?"
Manty shrugged. "None at all I'm afraid, but I can't very well leave this child all alone in a place where her kind is despised and she is unwelcome, can I? I don't know if I'll make a good parent, but I'll certainly try, and I am an experienced and fully qualified doctor, so if she ever gets into a scrap then I won't be far away to treat her."
Taurus nodded. In truth, he wasn't all that surprised by Manty's request. He expected that the reason why his friend wanted to take the girl in, was because he had lost his mate last year. Since then he had spent his days doing his job as one of the cities finest doctors, and his nights alone by the fire. Still, he was a good doctor and a fine citizen, plus there was the fact that he was most likely correct about there not being that many Olympians who would want to adopt or even look at a human child.
Taurus sighed. "Very well, Manty. The child is your responsibility from now on." With that, he walked off.
Manty smiled and looked back to where he saw Cassy waiting for him, nervously fidgeting her blue dress. "How about we go and get that hair of yours seen to, and then go and get something to eat? Sound good?"
Cassy gave a small smile, nodded her head eagerly, and hurried to catch up with him.
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After a quick visit to the medical clinic, to make sure that she had no serious burns or other injuries, Manty took Cassy to a nearby hairdresser to get her hair tended to.
Unfortunately, the hairdresser, a large Centaur woman wasn't exactly happy to see them, or more precisely her, but a quiet word from Manty who asked her how her mother was doing after he had treated her last week for her bad heart, soon cleared things up.
He then took her to a fancy looking restaurant and bought her some exotic food; some dishes she recognised from her holiday in Greece, but a lot were unfamiliar. She ate the food eagerly though, because she was hungry, and because she was aware of all the attention she was getting from the other Olympians and wanted to leave as soon as possible. There were probably many Olympians who wanted to shout at her or worse, but thankfully, their experience with Elisa Maza had taught them not to judge a book by its cover.
After she had eaten, Manty took her to a clothes store to get her some new ones, as the dress she was wearing was in tatters. Manty wasn't sure if they would have anything for a human, but he happened to know the finest tailor in the city, and knew that she could do anything with a needle and thread.
They soon came to small modest shop; passing through the automatic doors and going inside. Instantly there was another Manticore, a huge female one, who came bounding up towards them. Cassy stood back in fear, but relaxed when she saw the other Manticore throw her front paw up around Manty's neck. "Hey, bro!" the other Manticore boomed. "How's it going? Haven't seen you in ages!"
Manty grinned. "Hey, Mantaura! I've been great, how you been?"
The one he called Mantaura smiled broadly, and playfully punched her brother on the jaw. "You know me! Nothing ever keeps these paws down!"
Manty smiled, and stepped to the side to let her see Cassy. "I've been a little busy."
"Whoa! What you got there?"
Manty rolled his eyes. "It's a hairless monkey, Manta. What do you think it is? She's a human."
Manta walked up to Cassy and looked down at her. Cassy gulped and tried to keep her knees from knocking. Mantaura looked a lot like Manty except she was bigger, waaaaay bigger.
Manta lifted her paw to Cassy's chin, causing her to jump back in alarm. She grinned and looked back at her brother. "Fidgety, isn't she?" then she looked back at her. "Is she ticklish, too?" She then suddenly stuck out her paw again and tickled Cassy's belly. Cassy immediately flew into hysterics and laughed uncontrollably.
Mantaura grinned again. "Yup, I think she is," and let out a loud booming laugh, which Cassy wouldn't have been surprised if the whole island had heard.
Manty laughed, too; though not as loudly as his sister. "Her name's Cassy. She's going to be staying with me for a while, and as you can see, oh famous tailor sister of mine, she is in desperate need of some new clothes."
Mantaura stopped tickling Cassy, much to her relief, and took a step back to look at her, or more accurately her clothes. "Yep," she said. "Definitely need some new threads. Hold on and let me see what I can rustle up." Mantaura immediately flew into action and began picking up bits and pieces of material and other items.
Manty smiled and thought how amazing it was that a Manticore could be such a great tailor, considering that they didn't have any fingers, only paws. Fortunately for his sister, New Olympus had long since developed new technology for all types of jobs, for every species of Olympian, even tailor equipment.
"Okay, honey," Mantaura said, speaking to Cassy. "Step up here on the measurer."
Cassy walked up to the machine; Mantaura had gestured to, which was basically just a big square on the floor with two poles on either side. Cassy stepped up, and two green lights instantly shone out of the poles. One of them started at the top and descended down to the floor, while the other one started at the right and then to the left. After the lights were gone, there was a short beeping sound, and Mantaura checked the small screen at the side, went to the back room and immediately came back out again with a big dress. "Okay, honey, what do you think of this dress?"
Cassy stared at the dress in amazement. It was without a doubt the biggest dress she had ever seen before in her life, big enough for even Taurus to wear. "Umm… it's very pretty, but I think it's a little big for me, don't you think?"
Mantaura laughed loudly. "Zeus child, of course it's too big, but that doesn't matter. What do you think of the dress? If it was your size, would you wear it?"
Cassy looked at the dress again. It certainly was a very pretty dress. It was pale yellow silk one with a bow on the waist belt. "Yes, I like it."
"All right then!" Mantaura went into the back room again.
After a few minutes of waiting, Mantaura came back out with the dress, only it appeared to have been shrunk. Cassy gazed at it in amazement and stared at Mantaura, who gave Cassy one of her grins. "Didn't you hear me tell my brother that nothing could keep these paws down?"
Cassy smiled a big genuine smile, the first time since she had woken up in this strange land. She asked, "Can I try it on please?"
"Of course," Mantaura replied and turned her head to the right. "Fitting rooms are just back there. Knock yourself out."
Cassy took the dress and hurried along.
"Thank you, sister," Manty said. "I owe you one."
"You owe me two. I don't come cheap, you know." Mantaura laughed. Then she took on a serious tone. "Manty, I don't want to stick my nose into your business, but… "
"But you're going to anyway, right?" Manty butted in.
Mantaura rolled her eyes and continued. "But do you know exactly what you're letting yourself in for? Raising a human is going to be no easy task, bro."
"How did you know?"
"I was at the Senate of course. Everyone else was, so why shouldn't I have been? Look, the point is… do you know how tough this is going to be? I mean we're hardly the capital of human co-existence here, you know. Remember when that human… err, Mason?"
"Maza."
"Right, her, too. She came here, and everyone went completely berserk. There was a mob, too, remember? It was lucky Taurus was there to stop it before it got too out of hand, and Miss Maza was able to defend herself, but what about this girl?" Mantaura's eyes took on more sorrow as she spoke. "She's only a child. No, not even a child, she's practically a baby. Suppose an angry mob came after her and Taurus was nowhere in sight, how would she be able to defend herself? She'd be massacred." She looked at him, straight into his eyes. "And how would that affect you if that happened? Or maybe you could get caught in the riot and I can tell you, I'm not too fond of the chance that I might loose a brother."
Manty shuddered at the thought, but got what Mantaura was trying to say. "I know, sister. I've considered all that, but I've also considered what the alternative might be. She would have no home, no family. There isn't a single Olympian on this entire island who would even look at her, let alone take her in and raise her as their own. So what would you have me do? Turn my tail on her and forget she ever existed while she tries to get by in a city where everyone hates her for what she is and no one cares about her? No, Mantaura, no matter what the cost, I won't do that to an innocent child, whether it is a Human, Olympian or a Gargoyle. I won't!"
Mantaura sighed, as she knew better than to argue with her brother when he was this determined. "Fine, but I'm not going to take my eyes off you for a second when you're with me, understand? When you're not with me, I expect a COM call every hour on the hour, okay?"
Manty groaned, but nodded. "Okay, anything for a quiet life."
Mantaura stared at him. "Bro, after what I just said and everything, you expect to be living the quiet life?"
Manta snorted at his sister, but then grew quiet as Cassy re-entered the room in her new dress.
She nervously played with the frills and buttons of her dress, as she waited for them to say something. "Well?" she asked. "How do I look?"
Manty and Mantaura stepped back to get a better look at her. They looked at each other, then back at her, and chorused together, "You look absolutely beautiful!"
Cassy giggled and did a little twirl for them.
"Another masterpiece," Manty praised his sister. "Truly a work of art. I don't know how you do it."
His sister shrugged. "All it takes is practise… and what about you, Mister one of the city's best doctors?"
Manty laughed, and beckoned to Cassy. "Put it on my tab would you, Sis, thanks! Come on, Cassy, I think it's time I showed you your new home."
The instant he said these words, Cassy's expression sobered. She still smiled, but it was a forced smile. She couldn't stop thinking about her parents and their old home, and how she would never be able to go back there and see her family and friends again.
Cassy however put on a bright smile for her new guardian, and skipped out the shop with him.
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Mantius' Apartment
From Mantaura's shop, they walked until they reached a tall apartment building. Manty guided her inside, ignoring yet more disapproving looks from the other residents, to the elevator. Once inside he spoke out loud, "Level 50," and the lift instantly shot upward, making Cassy gasp and nearly taking her breath away.
When it stopped, she actually stumbled out of the lift when the doors opened. Manty laughed. "Not used to taking the lift?"
Cassy gasped. "No, I used the lift all the time back home, but none of them were as fast as that one."
Manty chuckled and lead Cassy down the corridor to the last apartment. "I think you'll like it here. It may take some time getting used to, but once you do, I think you'll find it comfortable."
He placed his huge paw over a panel to the right side of the door. There was a clicking sound, and the door opened. Manty moved aside to let Cassy go in first. Cassy stepped inside, not knowing what to expect, and was met with wonder.
The apartment was, without a doubt, luxurious. It had many fine features and fully automatic systems. The one thing that Cassy liked most about it was the flowers, as there were all sorts of blooming buds all over the place that gave off a sweet scent.
Manty noticed her looking at the flowers, and a sad smile crossed his face. "My mate loved flowers. She always had them in every room, in every nook and cranny. Nothing was complete without a flower or two, she used to say."
Cassy looked over to him in surprise. She didn't know he had a mate. "I didn't realise you were married?"
Manty lost his smile and raised his paw to wipe away a few tears that were threatening to spill. "Correction," he said. "I WAS married… She died about a year ago."
Cassy dropped her head in sorrow. "I'm sorry."
Manty shrugged. "It's all right, it's not your fault. These things just happen, we can't stop them or control them. We can only deal with what life dishes out and hope for the best."
Cassy knew he wasn't just talking about him and his mate, but about her and her parents as well. They were dead, plain and simple. There was nothing she could do about it now, so all she could do was deal with it as best as she could.
"How about we get some sleep now? You've had a hard day, and you need to up bright and early tomorrow for school."
"SCHOOL?!" She exclaimed.
"Well, of course," he smirked. "You didn't think you were going to get out of school work so easily, did you?"
Cassy smiled nervously, but inside she was out of her mind with fear. 'School,' she thought. 'With all the New Olympians children?'
The adults here were a little mean, but they kept their distance from her. At school she would be forced to interact with their kids, and some of them would no doubt hate her like their parents did. She remembered a kid from her old school that got beat up by the others just because he was black.
"Well, come on," Manty urged her. "Get in there and brush your teeth, and I'll show you to your bedroom."
Cassy did as she was told, and walked over to the bathroom. She had never seen so many buttons and switches. Everything was fully automatic, even the toothbrush, which was a little weirdly shaped, probably because the owner had more than one row of teeth… Well, fangs to be precise. She had to press nearly every button and switch there before she finally figured out how to work the stupid thing.
Once she was finished, she went back into the main room and found Manty waiting for her with a night-gown draped over his back. "Here, I bought this along with your dress back at Mantaura's."
Cassy took the gown and quietly said "Thank you," her mind still on what her new school was going to be like tomorrow.
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The Next Day:
After a long and stressful sleep, Cassy finally got up and dressed herself.
'School,' she thought to herself, 'in a place where the entire inhabitants fear and despise me. This is not going to be a good day.'
She groaned, made her way to the main living room, and saw Manty sitting on his hind legs with breakfast on the table, waiting for her.
Manty looked up and grinned at her. "Morning, sunshine. Sleep well?"
Cassy gave him a half-hearted smile. "Yes, thank you." Though inside she was still nervous about today.
Manty guessed what was wrong, but didn't know how to approach the problem.
'How,' he thought, 'do you get a young girl ready for her first day at school in a world where everyone hates her kind?'
"Look, sweetheart. There's nothing I can really say that's going to make this day get any better, but if you're strong and make it through today, then tomorrow will be a whole lot easier. All right?"
Cassy sighed and nodded. It wasn't exactly the best advice that she had ever got, but it would have to do.
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The school was a weird; circular shaped building with dozens of kids, from a different species. There were Centaurs, Manticores, Gorgons, Minotaurs and nameless others. Each of them gave her a long hard look, some of them were filled with contempt and hatred, no doubt thanks to their parents, and others were just plain curious.
Cassy stepped a little closer to Manty, as they walked into the building and up to the reception.
The woman at the reception desk was a tall, blue-skinned woman who was wearing a long dark-blue cloak. She eyed Cassy coldly, but remained polite and asked them what they needed.
"This is the human girl who will be joining your school," Manty said.
The woman blinked a couple of times, and then started. "Are you crazy?! We can't have a human here with the other children. "Imagine what an uproar it would cause with the parents. Not to mention the children!"
Manty stared back at her, without ever looking away. "She needs to have an education like any other child. Plus, what better way for us to get used to humanity than by sending her to school with our children? That way, our children will grow up with her and in time make friends with her, and when they've matured, they won't have the same bitterness and anger that their ancestors did!"
The blue woman sighed, and looked at Cassy.
Cassy couldn't help, but notice how blue her eyes were. True, everything about her was blue, from her hair and skin to her clothes, but her eyes were bluer than anything she had ever seen before in her entire life. They were like the kind of blue that you see in the deepest ocean, the sky, or on a clear summer's day.
The woman sighed again. "Very well. I'll take her to class now!"
Manty smiled, and then looked back at Cassy. "Okay, looks like your all set! Be good, okay?"
Cassy slowly nodded, and stuck out her lower lip, like she always did when trying to be brave, and followed the blue woman down the corridor.
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'Another day, another bad grade,' thought Cyan, as she swished her horses tail across the floor. Like all the Centaur children, she was seated on the floor with a notepad and writing material in front of her.
The classroom was like one of those Ancient Greek theatres, only not as big, but big enough. The reason for its huge size was because some of the New Olympian children, mainly the Cyclops, were up to about 10-15 feet tall.
Some of the other children like her who had more than one pair of feet had to sit on the ground in front of the others. The Cyclops, or other tall Olympians, had to sit at the back-rows, so as not to block any of the other children's view.
She was just getting herself comfortable when the voice of Mrs. Calisto, their teacher, came booming out of the loudspeaker. "Class, today we have a new student. I assume that you've all heard about the human child that joined our island yesterday? Well, she is our new student."
There was an instant uproar and murmuring across the classroom from the students. Most of them were deadly curious because they had never seen a human before. Cyan included.
"All right, that's enough!" Mrs. Calisto bellowed. "I want all of you to make sure she is welcome, and that you treat her with the utmost respect and courtesy, as I'm sure she'll give you."
Cyan lifted her head a little higher, waiting to see when the human would enter the room. Finally, after a few moments, she came.
It was a young girl, about her age, but she looked so seemingly frail and fragile.
'Not surprisingly that humans turned against our ancestors,' Cyan thought. 'Such a weak species. They were probably too scared to even come out of their homes, let along share their world with them."
Mrs. Calisto spoke to the human and then pointed towards the seats. The girl walked over, unsure as to where she should seat, as all of the students were giving her long looks, filled with curiosity and possibly hatred. Like their parents had.
Cyan gave the girl a pitying look and shuffled a little to her left to make room for her. "Hey! You wanna sit beside me?"
The human looked at her, surprised, smiled a little, and then sat down beside her. "Thank you," she said.
Cyan grinned. It seemed that she had just got another friend, and a human at that. What was everyone going to say?
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After a shaky start to the morning (New Olympus classes were a lot harder than human ones, probably because they were more advanced than them), Cyan showed her new friend, Cassy, around the school and introduced her to a few of her own friends.
She knew that a lot of the kids were curious about her and her race, and what the outside world looked like.
By recess, Cassy had five new friends who included another Centaur, a Gorgon, two Minotaurs, and a Cyclops.
The Cyclops' name was Hercules, which was an unusual name for an Olympian, because it was a Human name, but everyone called him Cyc. He was the one who had showed the most interest in her, and had spent hours observing her with that one big eye of his. When they first met, he had picked her up and handled her like she was no more than a doll, just so that he could get a good look at her. Fortunately, Cyan had been there and shouted at him to put her down.
All in all, it was turning out to be a rather fun day... almost.
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"So the Minotaur says to the Centaur, why the long face?"
Cassy burst into a fit of giggles along with her friend Cyan. Cyan as it turned out was a friendly and very cheerful young Centaur girl, and Cassy had grown to like her very much.
"HEY," a loud voice boomed from behind them "WHAT IN TARTARUS IS A HUMAN DOING HERE?!"
Cassy and Cyan turned around to see a large yellow-skinned boy with black hair and red eyes glaring down at her.
"Humans aren't supposed to be here in our school. Any who are on our island are supposed to be run out of our city and thrown into the sea. My dad says so!" He then bent over and grabbed Cassy by the front of her dress, and hoisted her up to him until they stared each other in the face.
"We don't like your kind around here, freak," he hissed at her and pulled back his fist, getting ready to throw a mean punch.
Cassy glanced desperately to her left to see where her friend had got to, but was soon dismayed when she saw Cyan being held back by two other boys. One, who was a pale blue-skinned lad with a Unicorn's horn growing out of his head and talons on his feet. The other had flames for hair like that other man had had when she first arrived on New Olympus.
She whimpered and braced herself for the punch, but before the bully could hit her. A long, loud and very angry sounding roar interrupted him to his left. Cassy looked and saw Manty bounding over towards them, his face bearing a look of complete rage.
Seeing the angry Manticore soon changed the bully's mind about beating up the defenceless Human. He dropped her and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, along with his two buddies who had long since released Cyan and fled without him. It was then that Cassy learnt her first two lessons about Manticores…
1. When they were sweet and kind, they were very sweet and kind.
2. When they were mad, they were terrifying!
She lay on the ground with her arms wrapped around herself and whimpered, she had never been bullied before in her life, everyone had always liked her and never picked on her. She hated it here on this island where everyone was so mean and cruel to her, just because she was a Human.
Manty soon came up to her and lifted her head up to him. Cassy just cried.
She so wanted to go back home with her parents and the other humans, but she knew that was impossible. No one could bring the dead back to life, no matter how hard she wished or how many times she prayed.
Cyan trotted up to her side, placed a warm hand on her shoulder and spoke "I'm sorry, Cassy. I'm soooo sorry."
Cassy looked up at her and asked. "For what? It wasn't your fault those bullies attacked us, and they were holding you back so you couldn't have done anything."
Manty looked up at Cyan. "Thank you for at least trying to help Cassy. It's a lot more than what most folks around here would have done!" He glared at one of the teachers who had been watching the whole incident from across the playground. She had only started to move towards them when Manty had seen them.
Cassy looked up at him. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was worried and decided to come and see if you were alright. I'm glad now that I did! Maybe it would be best if I enrolled you in some private tutoring lessons instead of school. It would be a lot safer."
Cassy then made a fierce look at her guardian and practically yelled, "NO!"
Manty gazed at her in shock. "But… Cassy… "
"NO, I mean it, Manty! Mom and Dad used to tell me stories about how Jews were taken prisoner and left to die in concentration camps because of their religion. How it was against the law for black children to play in the same parks as white children, and use the same hospitals and everything."
Cassy quickly got up to her feet. "Millions of innocent people were discriminated, tortured and sometimes killed, just because they weren't the same colour as other people were, but they never gave up! No matter what their enemies threw at them, or how much they suffered. They never gave up, and now all people have equal rights! If I were to turn back and just let those bullies win, then I would be no better than a quitter would, and your people would never accept me and my race!"
Manty gave Cassy a look of admiration and praise. He didn't know what a Jew was, but he had a feeling that they must have suffered something similar to what his kind had endured thousands of years ago. He never imagined that he would hear such words come from such a young child. "You're right, Cassy, but it's not going to be easy. I've already told you that. What you just experienced today was merely a sample of what's yet to come. It won't just be from the kids either, some of the parents will be just as bad."
"I know, but I can't just give up, can I? It hasn't been a completely bad day today. I've made some new friends as well as some rivals. All in all, I would say that it's been about half good and half bad today."
Manty smiled. "Well, that's something. Would you like to come home now and come back tomorrow?"
Cassy shook her head. "No, that's all right. I would prefer to stay and finish the day off."
Cassy looked over at Cyan and said. "We better get going or else we'll be late for class. You coming?"
Cyan grinned. "What's say we take a shortcut?" She knelt down on her front legs. "Hop on!"
Cassy didn't waste any time, as she had always loved horse riding. Before long, Cyan was galloping down the field to the school with a giggling Human on her back.
Manty waved his front paw at them, but he didn't smile. He hadn't been joking when he said it would be a very long time before his people would ever truly accept Cassy as a person, but she didn't have any choice. None of them did.
Manty sighed. How in the world did he get himself into this mess? Just yesterday, he was single and alone and his only biggest problem was getting to work on time. Now he was left with a little Human girl to take care of and raise.
Manty gave another big sigh. "Oh well, at least my life isn't so dull anymore."
He got up and decided to pay Taurus a visit. After what had happened today, someone needed to inform Taurus about the lack of interest that the teachers were showing in their student's activities.
To Be Continued…