"Speech"

'Thought'

(Language the current character does not know or is not fluent in)

X x x x x x

November 9th

"Thank you for attending this lecture with our special presenter, Mr. Macduff. He's taken an hour out of his busy schedule to come here today. So without further ado- Mr. Macduff."

Ranma watched as a fit older man with gray hair and beard, stepped up on stage. Stories from medieval Europe had become something of a fascination for him the past couple days. Actually traveling back and being there first hand, had sparked his interest like a new martial arts technique. Demona had something planned for later tonight, but he would worry about that later.

The people he had met, had spent time around, and knew of gargoyles. When he had first looked up the subject, he had started off looking for just that, since he knew absolutely nothing of European history. What he had found was not encouraging. There were a lot of books on the permanently stone type adorning buildings, a smaller number of fictional horror stories, and some small references to them as mythological monsters.

So here he sat, thumbing through a book on castles, and only vaguely paying attention to the proceedings. The book store was having this man Macduff in to promote his book, and being in the large room where it was being held, he couldn't help but listen in.

"Thank you." Macduff said to the woman who had introduced him, speaking with a Scottish accent. "Good afternoon, I am Lennox Macduff, and if you're here that means you're interested in Medieval history. My latest book, titled Gargoyles in Celtic Legend, is my subject today. Now before I get in on my lecture, do any of you have any questions?" In response a man in a front seat raised his hand. "Yes?"

"What do you have to say about all the rumors about gargoyles infesting the city? I read in your last book that you claim there once was some species that live along side humans."

"Aye I did say that, but it's no claim, gargoyles are as real as any other of God's creatures. In fact that is the very subject my new book is about." There were a few amused scoffs and even some disparaging comments to Macduff's answer. Ranma wasn't concerned with that though, sitting up a little straighter, he put his book down. "There's an old sayin, all things are true."

"So you're sayin large bat creatures are living in the city?" The original man asked snidely.

"O'course not, gargoyles aren't bats." Macduff smiled roguishly and laughed to himself.

"Are they intelligent though?" Someone else asked.

"Of course not." Another person butted in before Macduff could reply. "Even if these- gargoyle creatures exist, the idea that they'd be intelligent is just preposterous." Ranma bristled slightly and glared at the back of the man's balding head.

"Preposterous?" Macduff asked. "My good sir, I don't believe you know the meaning of the word. Since when has man written the book on what can and cannot be? I suppose this leads me into my first story, which incidentally is one of the oldest stories I know. Now I'm sure you've all heard about the story Macbeth by Shakespeare, well this is the true story, or as much as anything can be true."

"This begins back shortly after mankind entered into the eleventh century, at a castle called Moray. Our hero Macbeth was born under his father the High Steward of Moray, a just and honorable man named Findlaech. As the young Macbeth grew, so did their popularity, attracting very unwanted attention."

"Their cousin Duncan, who was the heir to the Scottish throne, feared Findlaech and Macbeth's popularity, and saw fit to have Findlaech removed from his stewardship. He hired an assassin known only as the Hunter to accomplish the task. This Hunter was at the time, known throughout the land as a peerless warrior."

"One night, this Hunter came upon Findlaech in the early evening, and the two fought. Findlaech who had been ambushed, fought valiantly with the tools he had at hand. Macbeth came upon the two and joined to save his dear father. It was all for not, and the good Steward was thrown over a terrace to fall to his death. Macbeth, distraught and defenseless, was at the Hunter's mercy."

"When he was saved by the unlikeliness of saviors, an unnamed gargoyle, who had been the Hunter's prey for long before Macbeth had been alive. You see, this gargoyle had slashed the Hunter's face years before, leaving four long scars."

"Well there ya go, just an animal." The bald man interrupted.

"If you would allow me to continue?" Macduff asked the man, who being uncomfortable over being called out, nodded.

"She may have slashed the boys face, but she spared his life. It was not in her nature to be wicked, and the act of scarring his face was not done without some provocation. Back in the present, two warriors faced off, the gargoyles great strength and speed allowing her to make the Hunter the prey, the only thing that stopped her from finishing off the man who had hunted gargoyles and humans alike, was that young Macbeth was thrown over the edge in the battle. In an act of mercy, she forgot about the Hunter long enough, to save him."

"This act allowed the Hunter time to flee back to Duncan, who in gratitude gave the Hunter, who's real name was Gillecomgain, the Stewardship of Moray. Twelve years passed, and as many a story goes, a woman was the object being quarreled over. Macbeth had always loved Gruoch, and he was nearly driven to betray Duncan when he learned that it was he that commanded Gillecomgain and Gruoch to be wed. In the end he gave her up to Gillecomgain, choosing to remain loyal to Duncan."

"Duncan however did not see that the matter as over, and ordered Gillecomgain to kill Macbeth. The Hunter realized that for Macbeth to be removed, would raise too many questions, and refused. Prince Duncan, incensed by the refusal, turned against his assassin, and told Macbeth the Hunter's identity, hoping that one would slay the other."

"Macbeth that night attacked Gillecomgain in Castle Moray. Just when victory was in sight, Gillecomgain used Gruoch, as a shield. Helpless, defeat now seeming certain, when again the nameless gargoyle came to his rescue. This time, there would be no escape for the Hunter, who was thrown to his doom. In his end, Gillecomgain met the same fate as his victim, Findlaech twelve years before. Once again, the nameless gargoyle left, wanting no thanks and desiring no reward."

"With Gillecomgain dead, and the truth of how Findlaech met his end twelve years before revealed in part. Macbeth was bestowed the Stewardship of Moray that had been denied to him by his cousin and the Hunter. Free of Gillecomgain, Gruoch and Macbeth were married within the year, their son, Luach, born shortly there after."

"Duncan however was not done with his scheming, even after becoming the King of Scotland, he viewed Macbeth as a threat. Knowing that should he learn of who ordered Gillecomgain to kill Findlaech ever came to light, it may give Macbeth enough pull to overthrow him. Even though he was suspicious of his cousin, Duncan had no plans to act upon them until one day while visiting Macbeth, and walking through a moor, they came upon a group of sleeping gargoyles."

"Gargoyles are nocturnal creatures, but they do not choose to live at night, no, they are forced to by a quirk of their own bodies. Be it sorcery or some strange twist of nature, gargoyles become stone during the day."

"Wait wait wait, stone during the day?" Someone asked in the middle of the group.

"Aye, stone, and I do not know the reason or the why, only that they do. It is the reason that gargoyle clans at one time would form pacts with humans, offering protection at night, should they be protected during the day. I see that some of you are- disbelieving of this little tidbit. But is it no more strange than a bear hibernating for the winter? Small insects going dormant for decades at a time, then when conditions are right they simply pop up, appearing like magic."

"The point is, many creatures on this planet do strange, unknown things, that we as humans have no way of describing at first. It is only much later through careful study and open minds that the answers are found. Gargoyles as rule, have been feared, and hunted by humans. Viewed as creatures of the night, evil demons, and animals without the right to live. In that way it is understandable that gargoyles hide themselves while helpless during the day. Which strangely enough inspired the stone gargoyles adorning buildings today. While knowledge of living gargoyles has been forgotten, their protective nature has remained entrenched in the human psyche."

"For Macbeth, Duncan, and their two young boys to wander across them, and for one of them to be the gargoyle who had saved Macbeth's life twice. Was more than mere coincidence to Duncan, who when he returned to his home, declared war upon Macbeth."

"Macbeth, realizing his inability to protect his people, sought out and allied himself with the nameless gargoyles clan. With their combined strength, they defeated and slew Duncan. As an unpopular King, Duncan's supporters saw opportunity, backing Macbeth to become the new King of Scotland. Which he accepted upon the stone of destiny, making the nameless gargoyle his primary advisor, as a show of good faith to seal the pact between the human clans of Scotland and the gargoyles."

"So impressed was Macbeth at the nameless gargoyles ability to change the course of battles single handedly, to be a force so striking that knights would flee at her sight, that he named her Demona."

"Did you say Demona?" Ranma asked immediately, causing several heads to turn back to him.

"Aye lad, Demona, but this is not to be confused with say how someone names their pet dog. Macbeth suggested the name in passing, and she accepted it. Gargoyles, for all their similar levels of intelligence to humans, are not. Names are a foreign concept, to them the world and everything in it, should be appreciated for what it is."

"Mr. Macduff, you seem to have a very romanticized view of these creatures." A woman to the side asked.

"I suppose it might seem that way, however I am skimming through a large amount of information, most of which is covered in far more depth in my book. If I come across as romanticized, I apologize, one of the main things that I have always tried to do in my studies is to view events and interactions without expectations."

"So often today, people become obsessed with what happened, rather than the why it happened. When I said that Macbeth made Demona his primary advisor, you as the listener, should be wondering why did he do such a thing? What did he have to gain by alienating a portion of his kingdom who would not accept her in that role? Why? Why? Why? Why did these people do what they did? It's so much more important than saying, King Duncon was killed the fourteenth of August in ten forty A.D. Because without something to relate to, that's just a name, a date, and those do not have the ability to effect us."

"Actually." Macduff looked behind him to where a clock was mounted on the wall. "It appears that I need to be finishing up. I do have some time to stay and sign some copies. The life of a scholar is fraught with public appearances and endless self promotion."

Ranma waited semi patiently for the people seeking an autograph to clear, when Macduff attempted to leave, that's when he stopped him. "So where did you hear about all this stuff?" He asked, falling into step with the man.

"Many places, some personal digging, the usual." The gray haired man answered. "You're the lad who spoke up when I mentioned Demona right?"

"Yea."

"Any specific reason?" Macduff stopped to speak directly to him.

"It's just a weird name that's all. I bet you don't meet many gargoyles named Demona."

"You don't meet many gargoyles with names as it is. I cover it in my detail in my book if that's what you wanted to ask."

"Well what I really wanted to ask was, what was Demona like?"

"That's covered in the book too. Why so much interest?"

"Uh." Chewing on his lip he debated with himself, this guy seemed alright, and he wasn't really doing anything wrong. "I just ask cause I know." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "A gargoyle named Demona."

"Right." Macduff laughed clearly not believing him. "And I'm the King of Scotland. If you really knew her, you could tell me what color her skin is."

"Sort of a light blue." He answered and Macduff instantly became serious.

"I didn't mention that in my lecture, have you already read my book."

"Nope, hadn't even heard of it." Shrugging, the seriousness drained out of Macduff, replaced by his earlier good natured attitude.

"What's your name lad?" The elder man slapped him on the back.

"Ranma."

"Well Ranma, do you have a phone number where I could call you at? I'm always interested in learning from a first hand source."

Opening his mouth to answer, he realized that he hadn't gotten Demona's phone number before. "I don't have one at the moment."

"Then you'll just have to call me, here's my personal cell number." Macduff dug into his pocket and handed him a business card. "I would be very appreciative if I could meet Demona in the flesh."

"I'll have to ask her."

"Of course- maybe we could setup a place to meet for tomorrow night. Give her some time to think it over."

"Sounds pretty good, but I want to hear more about Macbeth."

"I can do that, just a moment." Macduff went over and talked to the clerk minding the cash register, and returned with a copy of his book in hand. "Here you go, on the house."

"Wow thanks." He was just going to steal a copy.

"My pleasure, it's rare to find young people interested in history now a days. I must reluctantly head off to another appointment. You'll be sure to ask her to meet with me won't you?"

"Yea."

"Good lad, have a good day now."

X x x x x x

Closing the car door behind him, and dropping the pleasant facade of Macduff, Macbeth mac Findlaech reached into his pocket. Pulling out a small GPS that was keyed to locater device he had just placed on the young boy. A small dot indicated the boys position still inside the store on the overhead map of the city. Position data would be taken every ten minutes, allowing him to map out Demona's location if the boy was being truthful. Satisfied that he would be able to find him again, he set the GPS down on the passenger seat and started the vehicle.

X x x x x x

"Hey."

Demona rolled her eyes and remained where she was making herself food. "What?"

"Did you know a Macbeth?" The boy asked innocently.

"Where did you hear that name?" She demanded, slamming the knife she was using down to embed into the cutting board.

"The guy who wrote this." Ranma held up a large dark black hard cover book, with a Celtic knot on the front forming a pair of wings.

Calming down, she had thought he had actually brought the former Scottish King to her home. Thankfully Ranma had shown himself capable of keeping the location from becoming public knowledge. "Explain." She took the book from him and read the front cover. "Gargoyles in Celtic Legend, by Lennox Macduff. What did this Macduff look like?" She asked, reading the table of contents.

"Well he was an old guy, with white hair and beard, but still fit, like he worked out a lot."

"He's found me again." She hissed. "And he's writing books about me." She snarled, noticing her name, the one given to her by Macbeth, was a chapter title. "I wonder what lies he's written." Flipping through some pages, she purposely avoided the one titled 'Betrayal' already knowing what it would contain.

"You know him?" Ranma asked, drawing her attention, the boy having stolen some of the food she was preparing for herself.

"Macbeth is an old enemy." She answered. "He's personally responsible for the deaths of my clan."

"I thought that was Vikings."

"Not that clan, the one I created afterwards. Him and his cousin destroyed them." Handing the book back to him, another thought entered her head. "How did you get this?"

"I was going to read it there or steal it but he gave me a copy."

"What do you mean he gave you it?"

"He mentioned you during this talk, and I sort of said I might have known you." Ranma explained, Demona on the other hand grew progressively more angry with each word.

"Why would you do that?"

"I thought he was nice." He answered with a shrug. "And he said he wanted to meet you."

"I've spent hundreds of years avoiding him, I'll not break that record now." Putting a delicate human finger to her chin she realized that this might work to her advantage. If she could get Macbeth to view the spell she would be casting tonight, then she could make sure he was never a threat to her again. Lock him away in some dungeon, someplace no one would ever find him. No, Macbeth wasn't stupid, he would never watch the broadcast or her personally casting the spell.

As Ranma ducked into her fridge to grab something, she noticed a small, almost unnoticeable black dot on the back of Ranma's shirt."What's that?" She asked, picking it off of his clothing, and examining it. "Some sort of tracking device?" Her eyes widened and she immediately started dragging Ranma out of the mansion. "Have you been anywhere else besides here since you met Macbeth?"

"I hung out at a couple places why?"

"For how long at each? Five? Ten minutes?"

"Yea about, why?"

"You need to go to more places, stay about the same, and then drop this off at someplace that has gargoyles on the roof."

"What? Why?" Ranma protested.

"He's using you to track me down you idiot! That bug is as good as you showing him right to my front door." Pushing him out said door, she handed him the small tracking device. "And go as far away from here as you can when you do it."

"Alright alright." Ranma hopped over the fence and was out of sight without further fuss.

"Damn, how did he find me? And that stupid-." Slamming the door behind her, she resolved to just be extra secretive about looking for tails when going and returning from her home.

She had nearly worn a path in her carpet by the time Ranma returned. The red haired teen looked decidedly worse for wear. "What happened to you?" She asked, amused by his haggard appearance.

"I went all the way to the North side of Central Park. Some idiots in a gang decided to pick a fight, so I had to beat em up."

"Oh, well that's good." Showing humans there place in the world was always a good thing. "If Macbeth shows up at all, it'll be tonight, so we'll need to leave as soon as the sun sets."

"What are you doing tonight anyways?"

"I'm going to make humans understand what it means to be helpless, by turning them to stone at night."

Ranma stared at her for a full minuted before asking one thing. "Why?"

"Humans cannot understand by reason alone, they must be made to, and the best way I can think, is that they'll become the opposite of gargoyles. Fitting don't you think? Similar to yourself."

"I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Did you like turning to stone when you had never before?"

"Well no."

"So I'll cast the spell by using equipment from Xanatos to override the broadcast stations from the city. More and more stations around the world will display the incantation before tomorrow night when the spell will take effect."

"This sounds like a bad idea."

"It's only going to be temporary." She lied. "All it should take is a few nights, and then I'll go on tv and explain our demands."

"Demands?"

"Of course, they claim to have laws, I will make it so we are just as protected by it. As it stands now, gargoyles barely have the standing of an insect. Do you understand what that means? Someone could kill you in the night and they would face no consequences, and with their current attitude, many would cheer."

"You're very- pessimistic." He dead panned.

"And you are young, but perhaps that is a good thing." Demona glanced at the human teen, he was certainly atypical for a human these days. She even found him tolerable when he wasn't in a playful mood. "There is of course, another incentive."

"What's that? I can kind of understand the whole stone thing if it's just for a couple nights."

"I know where Puck is."

"Puck? Where?" He demanded, slipping in front of her.

"Patience." She put a hand on his shoulder. "He'll be affected by the spell too, and then you can do whatever you want to him. Anything- that you want."

Ranma's eyes bore into her own, the seriousness contained within, nearly made her smile. "Alright I'll wait."

"You're learning, revenge is a dish best served cold, but what exactly do you want it for?"

"Huh? For tricking me of course, I can't just let him get away with that."

"That's what I thought." Smiling, she patted his shoulder before stepping around him. "You should go get cleaned up, you stink." Her smiled grew now that he couldn't see her face. His reason for wanting to get revenge on Puck wasn't that the trickster had made him half gargoyle. No, that didn't even figure in Ranma's mind.

"Do I?" He asked from behind her.

X x x x x x

Weaving through building with Ranma in tow, Demona took time away from practicing the complicated spell she would be weaving in mere minutes, to reminisce over the event that had given her the idea. It was back in Scotland at Castle Wyvern, 994, and the night after the Vikings had first been repelled. Her plan with the Captain of the Guard was about to come to fruition.

"Those Vikings may return at daybreak Goliath. I say take all your gargoyles and make sure they're gone." Robert, the elderly human explained. While she may not have trusted humans, he was the one with which she put some faith in.

"I agree." She agreed. "Let's go out in force and put an end to these pigs once and for all."

"It's too dangerous, I don't want to leave the castle unprotected."

"Their leader swore he'd be back, it's best to hurry them far away now, and not take that chance." Robert continued.

Goliath let out a deep breath and turned away from them. "Very well, but I shall do it. I can scare those cowards away without any help."

"That's too dangerous for you." She pleaded, coming up next to him. "Allow me to come along at least."

"You and the others will stay with the castle." Goliath answered and gripped her shoulders. "You are my best warrior, I leave you in command."

"No! I cannot let you." She tried to explain without telling him.

"I won't go alone." He conceded. "Remember- you and I are one, now and forever."

Gazing into and pleaded with him through her eyes, she watched him turn, and took a single step forward after him. Why couldn't Goliath understand that she knew what was best? Her future self, no matter how terrible, had given her a gift of knowledge. If they didn't all leave, the humans would leave them to their fates at the hands of the Vikings. All her brothers, sisters, parents, and children would be killed.

Seeing Robert step up next to her she stormed off away from where Goliath was heading. "This ruins everything! The plan was to have all the gargoyles away during the attack, so we could return to claim an empty castle." Reaching the other side of the castle she turned back to Robert.

"The plan can still work." The Captain of the Guard said. "I'll signal Hakon, tell him to attack during the day, the humans will still be taken."

Roughly grabbing the front of his clothes she brandished her talons in his face. "Fool! Have you forgotten? Gargoyles are stone by day, we'll be helpless!" Pushing him away, she caped her wings and crossed her arms.

"Not while I'm about, I swear to keep your clan safe."

Looking away, she gazed out at the courtyard filled with human refugees. She would not let her clan die for them, so she nodded, barely watching the Captain of the Guard head off to signal the Viking leader. All night her choice weighed heavily on her. She may have trusted Robert enough to plan this coup d'etat with him, but she did not trust one human to keep her entire clan safe.

It was too late now to call them off. The Captain had long since returned from their encampment. Just before dawn, she could stand it no longer and went to go tell as many of her clan that they needed to come with her to the cliff side to be safe. But when she reached a pair, she froze, seeing vikings lining the tree line. How could she tell them? They wouldn't abandon their place at the castle unless she told them that the humans inside were being setup to fall. The explanation would require that she admit her guilt in betraying their pact.

"Nevermind, it's nothing." She waved off her intrusion, and ran off to the back of the castle. With the sun soon to rise, she glided down to a place that the water would not reach. Watching the sun rise, she felt herself start to turn to stone, and she shed a single tear, hoping that everything would turn out right.

During the day, she dreamed, dreamed of what life would be like without having to bow and scrape to the humans. How they wouldn't have to hide in the dark all the time. How they would be the rulers of the castle. No longer the despised protectors to an inferior race. No longer treated with contempt.

Waking, she looked up the sheer cliff face to where large plumes of smoke rose into the sky. "It worked!" She cried out happily and started the climb up to the castle. "Finally my clan is free of human rule."

Flipping over the side of a battlement, she slowed her pace, sensing how still the castle was. "Where are they?" Heading up some steps she went to find out.

"Brothers? Sisters?" Why wasn't anyone else here? Had they left already to find the Vikings? Nearly stepping on a piece of stone, she reached down hesitantly and picked it up. Flipping it over, revealed that it was the partial face of a gargoyle, the brother she had nearly warned last night. Gasping, she dropped the stone.

"No." Looking around, she realized that the Captain of the Guard had not kept them safe. "NO!" She screamed, falling to her knees, her cry of anguish turning into sobs.

"Hey!" Ranma's voice broke her reverie and she was suddenly pulled to the side before she could impact the side of a building. "You spaced out there."

Fully coming back to the present, she noticed Ranma's concerned face. "I'm fine- just remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"That you still haven't learn how not to be annoying." She snapped with more force than she wanted.

"In that case I'll just let you fly face first into a building, that'll teach you." Ranma huffed.

"We're here." She ignored his mock indignation, instead focusing on the task at hand. Landing next to the Pack Media Studios building, with it's brick sides and half circle roof, she didn't wait for Ranma before entering.

"Everything is ready." Owen was telling Xanatos when she came in through the door. The pair standing on either side of a large console.

The room filled with lights and television cameras, formerly used to record programs for The Pack's television show. She had seen the group of five humans in action against Goliath and Lexington, they were humans to be cautious of.

"It had better be." She stepped into the bright lights from the shadow of the doorway.

"Relax, this is state of the art equipment, we can override every broadcast station in Manhattan." Xanatos said from his place leaning on the control console.

"Cable as well." Owen added.

"I trust you've kept your end of the bargain?" Xanatos asked.

Moving close to the human, she unfurled the rolled parchment to hold in front of her. "This is how I've lived all these years, a spell stolen from the Grimorum Arcanorum." Turning the ancient paper towards her, she moved on to the stage. "With it we can steal one minute of life from everyone who sees and hears the spell."

Getting into position, she caped her wings, and closed her eyes when Owen turned on a light to illuminate her. "Add it up and it equals centuries of time, even when shared among us. We'll broadcast throughout the night and day, ending at sundown tomorrow. You should return then Xanatos."

X x x x x x

Ranma watched from the side with mild curiosity, as Xanatos whispered something to Owen and then went to leave through the door next to him. The pony tailed man stopped and gave him a big smile.

"Hello again Ranma, I never got the chance to ask if you had a good time at the wedding?"

"Not really." He answered.

"That's too bad, well how about I make it up to you somehow. How does dinner tomorrow night with Fox and I after our business here is concluded? Demona is of course more than welcome to come as well."

"Um sure, that sounds good."

"Wonderful, well until then." Xanatos clapped him on the back once before exited through the door. When it slammed shut, Ranma turned back just in time to see Demona start with the spell, with Owen using a television camera to film it. Averting his eyes so that he didn't get affected by the spell, he could only listen.

"Omnes conspecti, omnes auditi." A strange visible wind started to pick up throughout the room. Raising her left hand into the air, around her fingers a bright white ball of light formed. "In nocte usque ad saxum commutate."

"Stop! This is not the spell you." Owen was able to speak out before he was shot backwards from an invisible force to slam into the control console.

"Dum caelum ardeat!" Demona finished and pointed her glowing hand towards Owen. Lightning bolts shot from each finger, wrapping around Owen and shoving him into a sitting position on a nearby wooden chair. When the lightning died off, the blond man remained staring forward unblinking.

"Why did you do that?" He asked worriedly, that hadn't been part of the plan. Demona ignored him, instead she pulled some cables from a wall, and started to tie Owen to the chair, making a big show to not touch the man directly.

"I told you I knew where Puck was hiding, here he is." She explained, tying the rope tightly.

"Puck? This isn't Puck." He wondered what was up with Demona to think Owen was Puck.

"Here I thought you didn't judge by appearance, look at him like you were looking for a magical artifact."

It took him a moment to throw the mental switch. "Whatever that will do." He trailed off, noticing immediately that Owen did appear to be magical, far more than the page from the Grimorum. In fact, Owen had so much magic in and around him, that he made everything around him dull in comparison. "You!" He growled and was about to grab the man, when Demona stopped him.

"Don't touch him, you'll break the spell holding him in place." She explained, moving the large camera over to show the video of the spell looping in the large viewfinder at the back. "Let's make sure he won't be able to bother us at night from now on."

He didn't really hear what Demona had to say, instead he remained in place, growling at Owen, his eyes glowing a bright white. Owen was Puck, Puck was Owen, and they had both screwed up his life completely. He couldn't even think he was so angry. Slowly he pulled back a fist, he would just hit Puck once, then he would feel better. Well no that wasn't right, he needed to hit him once for the first offense, then again for tricking him, and then he would have to do it again for tricking everyone as Owen. 'Ya know what, I think I'll just keep hitting him until I feel better'

"Don't." Demona commanded, grabbing his wrist, before he could follow through.

"Why not?" He slowly turned towards her.

"I told you if you touched him, the spell would be broken, and then he could stop the broadcast."

"I don't want to touch him, I just want to hit him till I feel better." He whined.

"Another time." She pushed a large red button on the control console. "There, let's leave." She grabbed him by the upper arm, pulling him away from Owen.

"But." He pleaded, resisting her pull. "Can't I just hit him a few times? Ya know, till I feel better?"

X x x x x x

Pulling on her dark red leather jacket, Elisa Maza reached for her television remote to turn off the movie that was playing. "Okay Cagney, I'm out of here." In response her little gray cat made a soft meowing noise. On the television, Casablanca suddenly switched to an all too familiar blue gargoyle.

"Demona?" She asked, flipping the channel and finding no escape from the evil gargoyle speaking in Latin. "It's on every channel." Flipping off the television she had to get to the clock tower and tell Goliath what was going on as soon as he woke up. No doubt some kind of ill intentioned spell from the red haired menace.

X x x x x x

Scotland 1020

Handing a loaf of bread to her second in command, the gargoyle that would become Demona, watched the dark gray gargoyle with two swept back horns coming out from behind his ears, sit down to eat. He wasn't what she would call an ideal replacement for the day when she would die, but out of the rest of her clan, he was the only one capable of the job at the moment.

"I'm tired of starving and acting like a common thief, I don't see why we can't just make peace with the humans?" Her second asked with his heavily accented Scottish, indicating just how much the humans had corrupted him.

She didn't make a noise, but was over to him in a flash, grabbing the metal plate strapped to his chest and throwing him over her shoulder to land heavily in the center of their cave. "Do you think the humans want peace?" She asked him. "We are all that are left of our kind in this world! And the Hunter begrudges each of us our lives." Her eyes glowed scarlet. "I will not let him win!"

"We bring word of the Hunter."

Startled, she turned quickly towards the entrance to the cave. Standing in a row were three dark green gargoyles, each with a different color to their long hair. One black, one blonde, and one pure white. All three were elderly, hunched over in almost identical poses. The most disturbing thing besides their sudden appearance, was that they were all identical, as if they had hatched from the same egg.

"I do not know you." She said slowly, feeling uneasy with their presence. "But you are welcome among us. Give me your news."

"He stalks a new human target at Castle Moray." The black haired one spoke.

"If you and clan Moray ally against a common enemy, you can defeat the Hunter." The white haired one spoke.

"I need no human allies!" She spat. "Let the Hunter strike at his target, for as he does, he becomes the prey." A malicious smile spread across her face. "My prey."

Close to an hour later, she circled Castle Moray, until she heard the metallic clang of a sword coming from a balcony. Swinging around she saw the object of her hate. Roaring, she folded her wings close in next to her body, and slammed into the human. The Hunter rolled once before he was back up to his feet. "Now I have you."

"Now I'll finally have my revenge." He answered and charged forward with his sword held over his head. Using her superior speed, she swept out his legs, sending him flying over her head to crash face first into the stone balcony.

She would savor this, she would make him suffer, and in the end she would kill him slowly, pulling him apart piece by piece. Unfortunately a young human male tried to attack the Hunter, who threw the boy at her. Swatting him from the air, she jumped and landed in front of the Hunter, who had turned to flee. "Know what it feels like to be hunted human!" She stalked slowly forward towards the unarmed human. "And know that it is the last thing- you'll ever feel."

"Macbeth!" A young female human cried out, rushing past her towards the railing. Her eyes flickered over to where both of the children were going to fall over to their deaths. Glancing between them and the Hunter, her objective so close, the human who had hunted her and her kind for so long as right there, an arms reach away.

Seeing that the female was about to be pulled over, she turned away from the Hunter, rushing over to the young humans side to stop her fall and grab the males wrist. With a mighty heave, she pulled them both back over the ledge. Taking a single deep breath, she turned to find the Hunter gone, having fled while her attention had been elsewhere. Growling, she shook with rage.

"Thank you." The young female spoke and she turned to snarl at the girl. Seeing their young faces, she gave off a disgusted sigh, and took off to return to her clan.

X x x x x x

"You're sure this will work?" Ranma asked Demona, both of them were standing aside from the other people in St. Gabriel's park. Glancing down at Demona's legs, he wondered why she had brought the large hard plastic suitcase, and what was in it.

"Of course it will. I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble and broken my alliance with Xanatos for nothing." She explained.

"Why did you lie to him anyways? You got the money, you could have just done it yourself." That whole thing was grating on his sensibility. Xanatos was a nice guy, even though he worked with Puck.

"Xanatos is motivated only by money and how he can manipulate others. He would never have allowed me to use his studio, which is what I really needed in order to patch into the network."

"I don't know anything about that electronics stuff." He broke in before she could get into some strange details on the process.

"Knowledge is power." She answered. "I should have picked an area on the other side of the city, I wanted to watch the sun go down."

Rolling his eyes, he wondered why that was such an important detail, especially since he could feel the sun setting just as she spoke it. Before either of them could start changing, around them the world stopped, the people around them freezing in place as stone. For a moment it was perfectly quiet, only to be shattered by all the movie vehicles around them slamming into each other or buildings.

Cringing from the sight of all the unintentional destruction, as well as the change itself, his wings and tail grew easily through his modified clothing. Demona, lacking the modifications, simply tore through what she currently wore, openly roaring when she was done.

"Do you like ruining your clothes?" He asked while adjusting his belt.

"For your information, it feels simply wonderful to tear free of these trappings of humanity and letting my real self be free." Gazing around, Demona laughed to herself. "This is even better than I hoped."

"This is spooky." He said nervously, inspecting a couple who were now locked in place, holding each other on a bench. "I don't like it."

"What's not to like?" Demona sat down casually next to the pair, running a talon down the face of the woman. "It suits the humans perfectly I think. Now they truly have a reason to fear the dark."

"Can we do the counterspell now?" He asked, his eyes darting nervously to all the people around him.

"Why would I do that?" Demona rose from the bench, accidentally breaking off the forearm of the woman.

"AHH! What did you do!" He was over in a flash, trying in vain to put the piece back in place.

"Butter fingers." She replied without any concern in her voice.

Carefully trying to figure out how to put it back in place, hoping that when she returned to flesh it would be able to heal along with it. Finally he got it into a place where it sort of looked like it was right, he stepped back carefully so that it didn't shift, and a bright red light shot past him to impact the stone body, showering him in razor sharp fragments. Falling backwards to stare horrified at the rubble, another shot impacted the man, and he too exploded in shrapnel.

Looking down in horror at his dust covered arms, he hastily tried to brush it all off, and scrambled backwards away from the scene. Impacting a pair of legs, he stared at the now empty park bench, slowly bringing his eyes up to see Demona standing over him with a laser rifle in her hands.

"Why?" He asked, getting to his feet. "WHY!" He roared, grabbing her by the front of her destroyed shirt, and raising her up off the ground. "HOW COULD YOU JUST DO THAT? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?"

Demona stared back at him without any emotion. "I did only what they would have done to me." She answered coldly.

"What?" He let her down, confused over the answer, and sadness overcoming his anger.

"I will make humans grow to fear the night. I will have blood for blood." She answered hatefully.

"You can't do that!" He yelled and turned his back on Demona to walk a short distance away. "You can't just kill people!"

"And why can't I?" Demona asked, running her hand along the material of his wing. "Why should I limit myself to their morality, when I am not one of them- when you are not one of them."

"Who is what doesn't matter." Spinning he turned to face her. "You just killed two people! Two innocent people!" He added emphasis by pointing at the empty park bench.

"What's two humans? They breed like a plague, hundreds are born every minute." Brushing away Demona's hands as she attempted to run her hand through his hair. "Ranma, I want you to help me, I want you to trust me, trust that I know what is right."

"No! What you just did is not in anyway right! Killing is what you do when there are no other options left."

Demona took a step back from him, her eyes starting to take on a red hue. "Think carefully about what it is you want." She warned, slowly bring a hand down to grip the trigger. "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy."

Ranma stared into Demona's eyes, finding that she was completely serious, even though she looked at him with sadness. "You keep going on how bad humans are- but you just murdered them like how your clan was killed at Castle Wyvern." His eyes started to glow white. "You're no different."

Demona raised her rifle and he was already moving to dodge out of the way of the barrel, allowing the thin red beam to pass him by. Reversing his direction, a second beam of light shot by him. Before a third could be fired, he grabbed the top of the barrel to point it away from his body, and slammed his shoulder into Demona.

She released the gun and rolled backwards once, stopping on all fours. Snarling, she charged forward with her hands prepared to strike claws first. Catching her wrists, he fell to his back and planted both feet in her stomach, kicking her up into the air. Demona flared her wings and righted herself to land in a crouch next to her suitcase, while he got to his feet, preparing for another attack.

Instead of attacking, she opened up the suitcase, and Ranma's eyes widened when she pulled out a large spiked mace. "I guess I'll have to beat the lesson into your head." Hopping backwards, he avoided a horizontal slash. Demona followed up her attack with a downward strike before he had even landed. Getting in close, he grabbed the handle of the mace before she could bring it down.

Briefly they struggled for possession of the weapon, and just when he pulled it free from her grasp, she punched him in the stomach knocking the wind out of him. Coughing repeatedly, he staggered away, dropping the mace to slam heavily into the ground. Demona ignored the mace, choosing to pick up the laser rifle, and swing the barrel back towards him.

Taking off in the opposite direction as fast as he could, seeing Demona pull the trigger, he dove behind a car that had drive up and through the fence that surrounded the park. Trying to catch his breath, he slowly peeked his head up to look through the car's interior. Demona had just finished fixing the large mace to her side, and was turning back to him.

Needing a way to get back in close, that didn't involve getting shot at repeatedly, he plunged his talons into the metal and and tore the front and back door off. Stepping out from behind the car, he reared back and hurled one of the doors like a frisbee towards Demona. The hunk of metal flipped and spun through the air, diving down to impact the ground before bouncing up to go whizzing by Demona's head.

Bounding over the hood of the car, he threw the second one, which flew in a straight line directly at Demona. She deflected the projectile by swinging her mace upwards, sending the door flying straight up into the sky. Taking a less direct route, he came in from the side, stopping at the last moment, finding the laser rifle pointed directly at his forehead.

Snapping his arms out, he twisted the rifle, wrenching Demona's arm into a painful position. Kicking out a leg, he swept her feet out from under her, and catching the handle of the mace as she flailed her arms wildly. Now with both weapons in hand, he stomped a foot down on her rib cage just under her breasts, pinning her to the ground.

Throwing away the rifle and spinning the mace like a baton, he brought it down to stop centimeters from her face. "Will you stop?" He asked.

CLANG!

"Gah!" Reflexively he dropped the mace, the car door from earlier having landed on his head, and Demona snatched the weapon from the air before spinning herself on the ground and kicking out his feet. Falling face first to the ground, he was hit once again by the door, as it completed its fall back to Earth. Brushing aside the door, he shook his head to clear the stars, and found Demona running to a nearby building on all fours.

Hurrying to catch up, he crashed through some trees, and cleared a fence to jump three stories in pursuit of Demona who had nearly scaled the five story building. Nearing the top, Demona pushed off and glided away, and he did the same a moment later. Normally he couldn't keep up with Demona in the air, her millennia of experience gave her too much of an edge, but now she was weighed down by the heavy mace and laser rifle.

Even with her disadvantage, Demona was still able to keep herself out of reach. Ranma's options were limited, he could try and close the distance, which would tire him out. Or he could wait for Demona to grow impatient and land somewhere. Either way he couldn't sit back and do nothing, since neither of them would need to stop gliding till morning. The longer this went on, the more time Demona had to hurt more people.

"Damn it!" he shouted, Demona must have sensed he was thinking about something, because she had flipped back on him, mace out in front. Spinning out of the way, floundering, he veered into the side of a building. Landing in a crouch, with his back pointing towards the ground a dozen stories below, he pushed off and rolled before resuming his flight. Seeing Demona enter a parking garage far below, he dove down, and flew in the open side. Flaring his wings to stop his forward momentum, he landed in crouch, eyes alert for the blue gargoyle.

"I'm surprised at how far you've come in such a short time." Demona's voice echoed to him. "But why do you contest me? Why do you care about them?"

"I don't." He shot back. "But it's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak."

"So then you don't care about them? How interesting, foolish- but interesting."

"What now? We keep fighting?" He asked, slowly moving towards where he thought the voice was coming from. "I might have found it fun, if you weren't a murderer."

"Murder is such a modern term. Back when I was hatched, it was a daily part of life. Before I was your age I had killed dozens of humans who had tried to attack the castle. Did they call it murder then? No, they treated me like a pet deserving of a treat!"

"That was then, this is now." Stepping around the car he thought Demona was behind, he found nothing.

"HA! You still haven't learned how little humans have changed!" Demona explained from behind him.

Spinning, he found her crouched next to the corner of the concrete wall dividing the center of the garage, laser rifle pressed into her shoulder, the barrel pointing at him. No, not at him, right at the car next to him.

"But you'll learn." She said cruelly and fired. The laser burning a neat hole through the body of the car near the bottom of the side.

"Damn!" Diving through the open side of the garage, into the night air, the car exploded behind him sending a shower of shrapnel out through the opening. Falling to the ground, he looked up to see metal chunks coming down towards him. Bringing up his wings to act as a buffer, he ran into the street as more and more cars inside started to explode.

His jaw dropped, staring at the blaze now engulfing an entire floor of the garage. He nearly missed Demona appearing the story above, where she used it as a base to start flying away. "Oh no you don't!" Ranma yelled, grabbing a large piece of metal debris and crumpling it into a tight ball the size of his head. Rearing back his arm, he threw it like a baseball at Demona's retreating form.

The metal ball traveled like it was shot from a cannon, impacting Demona in the side of her ribs, and causing her to spiral downwards to cave in the roof of a car. When Ranma got to her location, she had rolled herself off of the automobile and lay gasping on the ground for air.

"You alright?" He asked, having likely caused more damage than he had wanted. Stopping Demona was his priority, crippling her was not.

"Catch!" Demona suddenly yelled, throwing her laser rifle at him, and dove behind a large van.

Ranma instinctively caught the laser rifle Demona had thrown at him. The high pitched and rapid beeping it was emitting made him pause and he looked down to see a bright flashing red light on the side. 'Huh? Why would she give up her weapon?' Before he could even throw it away, his world exploded in pain.

Dazed and feeling more pain than he had felt in his life, Ranma laid supine against the wall of a building. His vision blurred and a loud ringing blocking out all sounds. Trying to shift himself, a horrific wrenching sensation form his back stopped any movement immediately. Groaning, he could see an indistinct blue blur kneel next to him.

"You won't die." Demona said over the ringing. "I'm disappointed that you chose to side with the humans. You had so much potential." A hand came to touch his cheek. "Someday, you'll realize just how right I am, and I'll forgive you. Rest, it's still a long time till morning, and I still have work to do." The blur known as Demona stood up and moved away.

"No." He shifted painfully, attempting to get to his hands and knees, and with a few deep heavy and painful breaths, rose to a standing position. "I can't let you kill people."

"Your determination and drive to protect show what you really are, but what do you think you can do?"

"Anything." Taking a step forward, he wavered unsteadily before collapsing to his knees. "Anything." He repeated and dropped to lay face down on the ground, his wings laying broken and torn around him.

"Such a waste." Demona said disdainfully and he listened to her footsteps fade away. Occasionally the sound of breaking stone reaching him. Each one making him jerk as if struck himself.

X x x x x x

"We're too late." Goliath remarked sadly, coming to rest on the street, small piles of stone leading down the street. They had spotted a large explosion in a parking garage while looking for Demona, and had come to investigate.

"This is just like the massacre at Castle Wyvern." Brooklyn added and gasped. "Goliath over here." Leaping over a car, the red gargoyle next to a prone blue form. Joining his clan mate, who gently reached a hand down to check and see if he was alive. "He's sleeping, looks like laser burns."

"He and Demona must have parted ways." Scanning the boys form, he wasn't happy with what he found. Ranma's wings were shredded and the bones broken. What he could see of his front was blackened with burns. As gently as he could, he picked the young gargoyle up. "Find the others and regroup at the clock tower. We need to change our tactic and stop this at its source."

"Right." Brooklyn took off to climb the side of a building and Goliath joined him far more slowly.

The trip back to the clock tower was a long one, he kept having to slow down whenever Ranma stirred. Even though blackened with burns, Goliath noticed just how young the azure gargoyle was, barely over thirty years old if he had to guess. While Demona hadn't killed the boy when she had the opportunity, for her to take advantage of a child in this way, was beyond forgivable. "Had Demona really fallen so far?

When he arrived, he instantly placed Ranma inside on the floor, trying to arrange the boy's body so that he would hopefully heal properly during the day, even still there was a high chance that he would be crippled If the bones didn't set right. Stepping away, he paced worriedly, angry over his inability to fix the boy. He couldn't help but think that this was his fault, he should have done more to convince Ranma about Demona. "I shouldn't have taken no for an answer."

"Be careful Goliath." A young female voice said from behind him.

"What?" He demanded and found the three mysterious girls who had been at the bank the night before. "You, but how?"

"Everyone has a choice." The silver haired one spoke.

"To think you have the right to decide for others, is the start of a dangerous path." The golden haired one continued.

"One which She has walked." The black haired one finished.

"Who's she? Who are you?" He took a step forward, but in the blink of an eye, they had vanished. Shaking his head, he tried to find any trace that they had ever existed. Scratching the side of his head, he wished someone would tell him what was going on. (1)

X x x x x x

Pain, the two added appendages on his back were crying out a symphony for him. Squirming in a vain attempt to find a comfortable position, a hand was placed on his shoulder, making him hiss loudly at the contact to his burned flesh.

"Don't move." A voice told him and he slowly opened his eyes to see a grizzled old tan gargoyle. "You'll just make it hurt more."

"You- you're alive." He said sloppily through the haze clouding his brain. Barely registering the vertical slash that went through the gargoyles left eye and how the eye itself was clouded over and yellow.

"Aye, that I am, and that you are." The bearded gargoyle pulled away. "Strange how things turn out."

"That's good." Letting his head fall back to the ground, he closed his eyes once again.

"Ranma, can you help us." Goliath's voice butted into his attempt to return to blissful slumber.

"Not at the moment, if you haven't noticed." He replied sarcastically, peaking open one eye. "Gimme five minutes."

"No not physically, do you know where Demona is broadcasting her spell from?" Goliath said after grumbling about ungrateful children. "We need to stop more people from seeing it."

"Some studio." He groaned. "Pack or something like that."

"Pack media studios." Lexington finished for him.

"That's it." He affirmed.

"That means Xanatos is involved." Goliath growled angrily. "Hudson stay here and guard Ranma and Elisa. Broadway and Lexington, take Bronx and search for Demona, we found Ranma to the South East at Kips Bay, start there. Brooklyn you're with me, we're going to pay Xanatos a visit."

"Have fun." He waved a hand in the air, not really caring about what was going on, all the pain flooding his system was playing havoc with his head.

"Here lad, some water." The old gargoyle said, putting a glass to Ranma's lips. "Try to relax and not move if you can, get some sleep too."

"The last thing I want to do his move." He swallowed some of the water painfully and closed his eyes. Morning couldn't come fast enough.

X x x x x x

Ranma's eyes fluttered open to come face to face with a wall of stone. Weakly sitting up, he found that it was actually a statue of a dog like creature laying next to him, something like huge bulldog but with a small streamlined head. Other features like fin like ears, toes with talons, and the fact that it was currently stone, made him think that it was some kind of gargoyle.

Checking his hands and the rest of his body, he was completely healed, except for the wings which had retracted into his back. Thankfully he hadn't been awake to go through the process. Stretching slowly, he got to his feet, and looked around. The night before, he had been too out of it to take note of his surrounding.

In the center of the room sat a maze of gears and pulleys, some four times his height. On all four sides were large clock faces, with flights of stairs zig zagging to get up to the base of each. On the floor he currently stood on, there was a small kitchen area with a large store of food.

"Freeze!"

Drowsily he turned to see Elisa pointing a pistol at him. "What did I do?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, right." Smacking his lips together several times, he really didn't feel like getting shot at the moment. "I'm Ranma."

"Ranma?" Elisa asked, pointing her gun away, and looking him up and down.

"Yes you've met me as a gargoyle, but listen, I'm really hungry so can I grab some food from over there?" He waved a hand over at the kitchen area.

"If you give me an explanation on how, and why I can't remember anything from last night, I'll make something for you." She slipped her pistol inside of her jacket.

"Works for me."

Elisa he soon found out, made a decent breakfast, even though it was closer to lunch. Sitting on a beat up old reclining chair, he shoveled the food into his mouth at a decent pace, hampered only by his current weakness. The extent of his healing ability wasn't something he wanted to test. Not only was it incredibly painful if he was awake for it, but it would mean purposely injuring, and possibly crippling himself, just to see if it would heal.

"So-." Elisa started, standing in front of him with her arms crossed. "How bout the obvious? How are you human?"

"I was born a human." He answered through a mouthful of food. All the energy required to heal had to come from somewhere.

"So what, you think you're human during the day but you think you're a gargoyle at night?"

"What? No, that's stupid. Why would you think that?"

"Then- if you're really human, how do you turn into a gargoyle?"

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, realizing that he really needed a bath. "Magic martial arts training ground, Puck, Demona, some strange mix-up, and suddenly I got wings, a tail, and if I'm in that form during the day I turned to stone."

"You mind going into a little more detail?"

"Not really."

"I insist, or I'll be taking you into the police station down stairs and we can play good cop bad cop."

"Eh? You're a cop?"

"Detective." Reaching into her jacket, Elisa pulled out a badge, and show it to him. "So if you're human, you're subject to human laws, now spill."

"You won't tell nobody?"

"I'll decide once I hear it."

"I don't know." He looked suspiciously at her. The police were supposed to help people, Elisa also knew, and seemed to be very involved with Goliath and his clan.

"Let me put it this way, it's my job to help, and if I think it will help you, I will tell someone. You have my word as a civil servant."

Trying to judge if she was lying or not, he took several more bites of food. "Me and my Pop were training at this place with a bunch of springs. You fall in one, you turn into whatever drowned there before you. Puck sent Demona there at the same time I was falling in one. I woke up that night at a gargoyle and found out I could change back and forth."

"Okay, I'm with you so far- I think."

"After she talked me into coming with her, thinking that we kind of exchanged half of ourselves to the other. Like I took half of her as a gargoyle, and she took half of my human."

"Wait, wait, wait, you mean Demona can turn into a human?"

"Yes, can I finish?"

"Oh sorry, go ahead."

"So anyway, we make our way back here, and she summons Puck. He then tricks us- uh- I take it you've met him?" He paused, noticing her dark look.

"I've met him."

"Ah, well he got us to agree to this stupid deal where we changed at night instead of the way the springs did it. That's basically it, do you happen to have anymore food?" He shrugged and finished off the last pieces of food, contemplating on licking the plate clean.

"I guess that answers my question." Elisa took the plate and headed off to the kitchen area to his right, returning with more food. "My next is what was that incantation Demona's been playing on the tv." Ranma's eyes widened when she reached to turn on the television.

"NO!" He shouted, diving forward to knock her hand away. Elisa took several steps back, reaching a hand towards her pistol, before realizing that he wasn't trying to attack her. "Have you seen it?" He asked just before she took the plate of food away.

"Explain what you know or no more food."

Looking at the plate of food dangling just within reach, he could easily take it from her, but he was too tired to expend the energy to do it. "Fine." He bowed his head. "It's a spell that will turn anyone who sees and hears it into stone at night."

"And Demona simply told you this?"

"Yea."

"So you're an accomplice?"

"I thought it would help people to get along with gargoyles." He admitted, knowing that the reason was stupid. Seeing that Elisa continued to glare at him, he decided to say more. "Hey you don't know what it's like to turn to stone. I gave up a cure just to avoid it. And I just thought that maybe if humans had to do it for a while, they wouldn't treat gargoyles like monsters. But I never wanted anyone to get hurt."

"Hurt? Who was hurt?"

"Demona smashed some people last night." He fell back into the old chair, slumping into himself. "I couldn't stop her."

"You should have said something sooner." Elisa sat down on the arm of the chair and started to rub his back, to which he jerked away. "Here, eat up. I need to go do my job, and pay a certain someone a visit." Elisa handed him the plate of food before leaving by way of a set of steps off to his right.

He waited till the blue haired woman had left before finishing the food and taking some small pastries from the pantry. Wandering, he entered a back room he found three wooden pedestals, the closest one had a glass case over top the Eye of Odin. On the next was a large dirty brown leather book with a gold clasp and two winged serpents circling a sword on the front cover.

Running a hand over the cover and feeling the soft leather, he realized what it was, the Grimorum Arcanorum. Inside of this book might be the counter spell to Demona's curse. He paused before opening it, his eye catching the gold and turquoise shield of the Phoenix Gate on the final pedestal. Although his eyes lingered on the time travel device, he opened the Grimorum.

Immediately he cursed, the majority of it was in Latin, and the only portion he found readable were some notes put in by someone on the sides. The notes were descriptions of effects and times to use. Unfortunately when he looked around the area where pages were ripped out, there were no notes, as if the person creating them hadn't had time to finish the entire book. In the back, he did find something of interest.

'I am the former Magus of Castle Wyvern, this is my account of how my gravest error was committed.

As the traitorous Captain of the Guard and the leader of the Viking horde Hakon discussed how they would ransom off the Princess Katharine and I. The illiterate brute Hakon, started to burn pages from the Grimorum. In the time since then, I have only been able to learn of a handful of spells that have been lost forever through this act. One of which I needed scant minutes later.

For outside of the cave our captors had quartered us in, came a great roar, as the remaining gargoyles from the castle descended upon the Vikings. The cowards who held us captive, planned to kill the Princess, who was able to free herself for a moment, allowing her to run off through the cave. Hakon pursued, intent upon killing the woman I secretly loved, and I believing that he would succeed, took the Grimorum and went to start my misguided revenge upon the gargoyles who had cost Katherine her life.

At first I cursed only four of them and their beast, they being the only ones within sight. The spell I used, "Dormiatis dum castellum super nubes ascendat", would keep them encased in stone until Castle Wyvern rose above the clouds. Knowing this to be an impossible task, I was satisfied that they were suitably punished, their one hope to be freed forever denied.

My satisfaction was short lived, for when the giant leader Goliath returned, and I prepared to cast the spell one more time. Princess Katherine appeared before me, unhurt, saved by the gargoyle I had believed the cause of her death. Goliath demanded that I revert the spell, but Hakon had but a short time before burnt the page with the counterspell.

Watching Goliath gaze with an unfathomable sadness upon his kin, I was overcome with grief, for now I realized just how wrong I had been. To me gargoyles had always been unnatural beasts, creatures of the night, created as frightful beings long ago, and I had always treated them as monsters to be scorned and despised. But watching him, I realized my expectations were the very opposite of the truth.

Along with an old beggar woman and her young boy, a lad named Tom, we assisted Goliath in bringing his stone clan members back to the castle, where they were placed upon the battlements of the highest tower. Goliath once again surprised me, asking that the Princess take care of the eggs that remained in the hatchery, and that I cast the spell once again.

And so I did.'

The story went on, talking about how the group traveled, and Ranma decided that the text was for the moment a waste of time. 'Time.' He thought, closing the book and picking up the Phoenix Gate. "I may not be able to change the past, but I should be able to travel through the present."

Shoving the Gate into his pocket, he turned to leave the room and spotted a gargoyle standing in the corner. Eeping, he jumped back, expecting an angry demanding of what he was doing, except it didn't happen. The gargoyle remained standing motionless, both of his eyes staring forward unblinking. Cocking his head to the side, he approached slowly, and then reached out to poke it's chest.

Instead of flesh, he was stone, and Ranma realized that since it was daytime, any normal gargoyle would be stone right now. But why was this one in this back room? Taking a closer look he noticed that pieces of the gargoyle were replaced with robotic parts. The entire right arm, right thigh, lower left leg, both wings, and even half of his face. Getting a feeling of unease from being nearby the gargoyle, he clicked off the light, and shut the door behind him.

Opening the door of a clock face, he stepped out into the sunlight, to see where he had been brought. Leaning over the railing, he looked down from the high building to see the road far below completely blocked by traffic and people trying to get in. Some of their panicked voices even able to reach up to his position. "Guess I really am on top of a police station."

Around him were the stone bodies of Goliath and his clan, sleeping in aggressive poses. "Glad I don't have to do that." Pulling out the Phoenix Gate, he clutched it in both hands, visualizing himself in front of Demona's mansion. "Deflagrate muri tempi et intervallia." He spoke and was instantly surrounded by a sphere of fire.

With a bright flash and a crackle of fire, Ranma appeared on the small driveway in front of Demona's home. Safely depositing the Phoenix Gate in his pant pocket, he looked for any sign of the owner. The metal shutters over the windows were closed, and with no sign of life outside. Before he hadn't thought anything of the two crouched over gargoyle statues on both sides of the main doors, but now they, and other additions made the house seem very imposing. As if the whole building was leaning forward to fall on top of him.

About to push open the door and enter, he paused, noticing the small envelope sitting in the mouth of the gargoyle face leering out from the front door. On the front his name was written out in Demona's perfect hand writing.

'Take your things and go, should you remain to contest me, I will no longer show you mercy.'

He stared at the words on the paper for close to five minutes before tearing it to pieces and shoving open the door. Listening, the entire building was deathly quiet. Floor by floor he checked for Demona, finding no sign of her. Where she could be hiding the during day was anyones guess, and the thought that she was out there enjoying the panic of everyone in the city wasn't one that he wanted to have.

Ranma took his time packing his belongings, occasionally stopping to wonder how he could be so wrong about someone? Not only that, but he defended her, and even helped her. Nothing he could say or do would change the fact that people were dead because of him. Wiping some wetness from his eyes, he grabbed the Phoenix Gate from his pocket, repeating the incantation, and vanishing in a ball of flame.

X x x x x x

Author Notes:

(1) – The three young girls are the same people as the three old gargoyles who told Demona where to find the Hunter. They are in fact a set of triplets who are part of Oberon's Children. Their importance will become obvious later.

"Omnes conspecti, omnes auditi,
in nocte usque ad saxum commutate,
dum caelum ardeat"

All who see, all who hear,
change to stone even at night,
until the sky burns

"Dormiatis dum castellum super nubes ascendat!"

May you sleep until the castle rises above the clouds!

Timeline

Nov. 9th – During the day, Ranma meets Macbeth and learns of an edited history between him and Demona. Early in the night the Manhattan clan foil a group of terrorists. Demona and Ranma at the same time are tricking Xanatos and Owen into casting a spell through every station broadcasting out of New York City, turning everyone who sees it into stone the next night.

Nov 10th – Demona takes Ranma to St. Gabriel's Park where she begins to put her real plan into action, to exact vengeance on mankind by destroying them in a fake stone sleep at night. Ranma is unwilling to go along that part of her plans, and attempts to stop her. He is defeated and she leaves him, never having wanted to actually hurt him. Taken back to the Manhattan clans clock tower by Goliath, Ranma informs them of where the signal is being broadcasted from. Along with Xanatos, Goliath and Brooklyn stop the broadcast. Demona spends the night killing people around the city, returning to her home in the morning, before leaving to enjoy the panic that she had created.

Nov 11th – Ranma awakes after regenerating from his wounds, to find a confused Elisa demanding to know who he is. She learns of his and Demona's duel nature, although she promised not to tell anyone about him unless she thought it was needed. Having read a note from Goliath earlier, Elisa heads off to report in and then demand answers from Xanatos. Ranma finds the three magical items and Coldstone in a store room and after learning from the Grimorum how the Manhattan clan was frozen in stone, takes the Phoenix Gate and uses it to travel to Demona's mansion. Finding her gone, he gathers his things, and uses the gate to leave.