All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I disregard The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.
Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.
Many thanks to Hardwing and Storyseeker for their advice and suggestions.
Four
Kidnapper
Author: NotreDame ()
Previously, on Gargoyles:
Lexington looked away. "Do… you mind (me being gay)?" he finally said. "I won't make advances to you, you're my brother", he hurriedly added. "But…"
Brooklyn: "I'm a bit surprised, brother. But it's a good thing for me. It means there will be more girls for me."
"The longest night"
Elisa: "I'm pregnant with your child, big guy! In the lab, they said it has fifty per cent of non-human chromosomes. I didn't know that it was possible…"
Goliath: "Elisa, every child born is a miracle."
"Only a crush"
Destine Manor, Saturday, 28 July 1997
Demona was getting tired of Archangel. The kid had been fun at the beginning but now he was getting more and more stubborn, learning only the half of his lessons (which was not that bad, maybe), refusing to tell her anything about the clan and letting her touch his back only every other time she asked him. He just said he was not in the mood for being massaged. In fact, he was uneasy about the way he felt and the way she behaved in those moments. It was as if she was about to tell him to take off his loincloth and mate, and he wasn't even sure to know the meaning of this word. It was an unknown, uncanny territory that was both attractive and frightening.
"You're afraid of her being jealous?" finally asked the immortal gargoyle.
"Who? Angela?" he retorted. "Well, according to gargoyle ways, I am your descendant as well as she is and I have the right to have a little time with you."
"I'm not talking about Angela but about the other one" she said matter-of-factly. "The skinny red girl."
"There is no skinny red girl." Arch enjoyed his magic lessons at Destine Manor and loved the feeling he was doing something forbidden and possibly dangerous but on the other hand, telling Demona about things she was not supposed to know was a bit too much.
"There is a red girl" Demona answered stubbornly. If she came from a foreign clan, it was possible that there were other gargoyles that could be of use. "I saw her. Where is she from?"
"No idea." Demona sighed and decided to try something else. "It's hot, here, don't you think?" And before he had time to worry about what she was going to do to him, she got up and left the room. One minute later, she came back with a tray and two glasses of ice-tea. "Drink" she said, giving him a glass.
Arch should have been more careful. He could have guessed that accepting a drink from a sorceress can lead to anything, all the more so since she had lectured him on potions a few nights before. But he just took the glass and drank. Next second, he was lying on the floor.
She knelt at his side. "What's my name?" she asked.
"Demona." She smiled. Apparently the truth potion was efficient. "Who is the red gargess in your clan?"
"Maya."
"Where does she come from?"
"Guatemala." Demona frowned. She didn't know that there were gargoyles in Guatemala. "Are there other gargoyles from her clan in New York City?" Arch didn't answer. The truth potion made its victims answer any question but he wasn't sure if eggs counted as gargoyles. Demona wondered if the effects of the potion were not fading away and asked another question. She needed to know if she could corrupt this Maya too. "What kind of person is she?"
"Shy. Never talks very much. Spends a lot of time in the rookery."
A rookery? This was getting interesting. "Where is this rookery, are there eggs inside and where do they come from?"
"It is inside the castle, between the kitchen and the library. There are eggs inside, they came with Maya."
"How many? When will they hatch?"
"Four. They will hatch in a few months."
Demona stepped back. Her breath was taken away. So gargoyle eggs were about to hatch in Manhattan? How astonishing! But they were going to hatch in a place Xanatos could reach them? Demona thought hard. "How well-guarded is the rookery?" she asked.
"There is an alarm system. And two cameras. And there is often someone inside."
Demona sighed. "How comes the gargoyles who enter the rookery don't set the alarm on?"
"There is a special system with digital prints. To enter the rookery, you have to be clan."
"Good." The effects of the truth potion were starting to wear off: the young gargoyle was blinking. "Arch, you're going to bring me one of those eggs."
"What?" The stone-colored gargoyle tried to think normally. "What… happened?"
"You're going to bring me one of those eggs" she repeated. "Didn't anybody in the clan tell you what kind of person Xanatos really is?"
"Yes, but…"
"What do you think he will do with the eggs?" she added maddeningly. "He may steal them away when the clan is in stone sleep, enslave them, genetically modify them… Do you want to take this risk?"
Arch cringed. Treating hatchlings this way was unacceptable, indeed! But on the other hand… "Goliath trusts Xanatos, now."
"He's fooled. He only wants to believe what is most comfortable for him. Please…" her face took a supplicating expression. "Save the eggs. Bring one of them to me."
"Why only one?" he asked, still a bit suspicious.
"Retrieving more than one at a time would be too dangerous. But I swear you, we will be able to save them all, sooner or later."
Arch agreed reluctantly and left Destine Manor.
23dr Precinct, Friday, 17th August 1997
A drink party was held for Elisa Maza. She had finally told Captain Chavez that she was going to have a baby, and she had reacted very well. Unfortunately, a rookie had been standing by the door and had heard everything. He hadn't told anybody about it, no. Well, only his best friend. And his friend was not the kind of spreading the news to the whole precinct, no, only to three trustworthy people. And so on.
So one hour after, everybody knew that Detective Maza, who was known to be single and have no boyfriend at all, was going to be a mother. Some people suspected Detective Bluestone until he was asked about the affair and explained he didn't even know that Elisa was pregnant. Two opportunists went to the nearest grocery and came back with a few packs of soft drinks (no alcohol for cops on duty or mothers-to-be). And the future birth of the baby Maza was discreetly celebrated.
"I bet it will be a beautiful baby, eh?" asked the rookie who had heard the news first. "With a mother like you…" Elisa didn't answer. "Boy or girl?"
"I don't know, it will be a surprise." In fact the amniocentesis was undecipherable and Elisa really wondered how the kid would look like. The clan had been really surprised but everyone had congratulated her, saying a birth was always a good thing.
On the other hand, her parents had had the shock of their lives. She had announced them the news during a family meal, taking so many oral precautions that they had wondered if she was going to tell them about the end of the world. Derek and Beth had helped her as well as they could but Elisa knew they were still a bit uncomfortable about it. However, she had gotten closer to her mother, who now regularly told her about her past pregnancies and bullied her into stopping eating junk food and getting more sleep. Did she want to have a healthy baby or not?
She left the precinct at the end of the unofficial party and saw that Bluestone had been waiting for her outside. "A baby, eh?" he asked. "Do I know the father?"
She didn't answer immediately but it was not difficult to guess. They exchanged a few words. Matt was as surprised as everyone but ready to support her if anything happened, as a good friend. When she went back home hours later, Elisa had the feeling everything was going to get much smoother than she expected.
She was awakened by stomach pains late on the following morning. First, she thought about a diarrhea or something similar. And she had been eating only 'dietetically correct' food for months! How unfair, she never got stomach pains before she got pregnant!
Feverishly, Elisa grabbed one of the many pregnancy books she had been offered lately. They said nothing about one's stomach getting more sensitive but a word attracted her attention: 'miscarriage'. It was getting worrying. The raven-haired detective considered visiting her gynaecologist after breakfast but after a few steps in her bedroom, she felt so nauseous that she renounced to her meal. The doctor would be her priority.
Castle Wyvern, sunset
The nine gargoyles awakened, sending bits of stone skin in all directions. After the usual greetings, they all went to attend their affairs before breakfast. Arch tried to slip into the rookery before everyone but Maya had already preceded him. So he waited, hidden somewhere in the corridor. Then Lexington entered it, too. He waited again. They left the room together, silent. Lex saw him and told him to come with them: they were about to have breakfast. Cursing inwardly, Arch followed them, wondering when he would finally be able to have a hand on an egg.
Nobody seemed to have guessed what he was up to. The Trio was talking about what they were going to wear on Halloween. It was more than a month too early but they didn't mind: they hadn't been able to celebrate it the previous year and were looking forward to be able to walk freely in the street like two years before. It had been cool, except for Fox turning unexpectedly into a wild monster and threatening the passer-bys.
A few moments later, the schedule of the patrols being decided, Goliath and Hudson left with Bronx, Broadway and Angela went to the library and Brooklyn started explaining a puzzled Maya the principles of Halloween. Talking with each other had become amazingly easy for them since he had renounced to the hope of having her as a mate. Arch found himself alone with Lexington, who quickly went to switch on his computer.
The stone-colored gargoyle followed him. He needed to know a few things that only the web-winged gargoyle could tell him. "Err, Lex?" he asked. "I was wondering about one thing."
"Yes?"
"What would happen if there was a blackout or an electricity problem? The rookery wouldn't be safe any more?"
"Please!" Lex moaned. "You are the fourth person who asks me this question! The alarm system of the rookery works on an independent battery! The only way to steal the eggs would be entering the control room and switching off the system and the cameras. And even if someone would do that, how would he know about the eggs?"
"You're right" Arch said with a grin. "Something new on the net?"
"Maybe." Arch pretended to leave while Lex was entering a chat room. Then he stepped back curiously. What was Lex doing so often on the chat rooms? Silently, he stood behind the green gargoyle and read.
LONELYSOUL: want to see u 1 day
LEX: or 1 night
LONELYSOUL: free on haloween?
LEX: will be with my bros but will find a way to meet u
LONELYSOUL: already chosen ur costum?
LEX: yes gargoyle
LONELYSOUL: u too? every1 will be a gargoye.
Arch laughed inwardly. So Lex was chatting with friends who didn't even know who (or what) he was? Well, he was probably going to have a funny Halloween night. But the next sentences attracted his attention.
LONELYSOUL: how many bros do u have?
LEX: 2 bros and adopted siblings.
LONELYSOUL: I only have 1 sis. Do they now ur gay?
LEX: one bro knows and doesn't mind.
Gay? Lexington was gay? One of those guys who stooped so low as to do dirty things with other guys? It was completely impossible! He did NOT look like a fag! And anyway, someone has told him that he had wooed Angela when she had arrived in Manhattan so he couldn't possibly be gay. Why was he lying to this guy? To make him go back to the right ways?
Suddenly, Lexington noticed that he was being watched. He quickly typed "must go now, bye" and turned to the grey gargoyle. They looked at each other in silence for a while.
"You have weird hobbies" Arch said finally.
"What, chatting on the internet?"
"Chatting with that kind of people. There's a child in this castle, you're giving him a fine example!"
Lex's eyes nearly glowed. "Alex can't read yet!" he retorted. "And even if he could, we were only talking. I can't see what wrong with it!"
"Oh, don't pretend to be stupid. What were the two of you talking about?"
"None of your business."
At that point, Broadway and Angela entered the room, intrigued by the noise. Arch went to them. "What do you think about inverts?" he asked sharply.
"You probably mean gay people" suggested his rookery sister. "Well, I don't mind them."
"Neither do I" added her mate.
Lexington felt suddenly better. Stunned, the stone-colored gargoyle tried to find his words. "What? Well, Angela, remember what the Magus used to say to us. This kind of behaviour is against nature, it's dirty, completely abnormal! We are supposed to mate to make children!"
"Arch" Angela answered, embarrassed, "the Magus was a great person but he couldn't be always right, everyone makes mistakes. He also told us that the Earth was as flat as a DVD, remember. And, well, he himself never made children."
"Don't tell me you're a dyke!"
"Don't tell me you're a homophobe!" hurled Brooklyn who had just entered the room, followed by Maya. "If we were supposed to breed and nothing else, nobody would mate outside the breeding periods!"
Boiling inwardly, Arch glanced at Brooklyn, Angela, Broadway and Lex successively, and finally walked to Maya. "You say nothing!" he nearly shouted. "What do you think?"
The Mayan gargoyle stepped back, intimidated, and looked at the floor. "Well… it was very well-accepted in my former clan" she said hesitantly.
"What do YOU think?"
"I think they're… normal, like us" she finished, nearly crying. The beaked gargoyle stepped in front of her. "So you're going to calm down now, boy" he told Arch.
"No way! You're just a bunch of…"
"Arch, please!" interrupted Angela, taking him by the arms and trying to make him sit down. "The Magus had his opinion about homosexual people. It happens that…"
"How dare you say his name?" he shouted. "You didn't care for him! Nobody cared for him!"
"How can you say such a thing?" she asked, hurt. "Of course I cared…"
"What was his name?"
Angela stood speechless. She had never asked the Magus what his real name was, like a child who believes his parents were christened 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Arch looked down at her scornfully. "What a great daughter you've been…" he whispered, just before leaving the room.
The lavender gargess realized that she was crying silently. How could her brother say such things? She had felt destroyed when she had seen her foster father die! Her mate embraced her and Maya silently handed her a box of tissues. "How can this jerk be so attached to a male and despise everyone who's not completely straight?" Brooklyn wondered aloud angrily.
"He's like that" Angela explained. "He has always been a bit… special. But I didn't believe…"
"He has no excuse for speaking this way!"
Broadway nodded at him approvingly. Suddenly, Lexington realized that everyone was looking at him. The truth dawned upon the green gargoyle. "You know?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, you are not very good at hiding it" Angela said apologetically. "This TV show you want to watch whatever happens, your reaction when we saved those two men attacked by homophobes…"
"Why didn't you tell us, by the way?" Broadway asked. "It's completely OK for us!"
"As long as you're happy, bro…" Brooklyn added, patting him on the back. Maya just smiled shyly. Lex beamed at them all. Everything was turning out to be perfect!
Had Lexington known what was going on at the same moment, he wouldn't have been that optimistic. At the same moment, Arch was deactivating the alarm system of the rookery. One moment later, he was gliding to Destine Manor, a gargoyle egg clutched in his arms, decided never to step into Castle Wyvern again.
Destine Manor, Thursday, 30 August 1997
The stolen egg had been put into a room where there were even more alarm systems than in Castle Wyvern. Demona kept making projects about what she was going to make with him/her. She seemed perfectly happy. Arch was much less cheerful. Somehow, he had the feeling that he may have done something wrong by giving Demona the egg but he didn't want to admit it. And he missed the life in the castle. Demona was less cool than Brooklyn, less good-natured than Broadway, less funny than Lexington… well, Lex was an invert but perhaps he could be cured, after all. It was not completely his fault if he was like that.
He was 'in charge' this night. Demona had "something important to do" and she hadn't told him what. This was going to be another boring night.
The rooftop of Elisa's apartment
Demona was waiting. The Maza human was about to go out and take her cat back into the apartment, like every night. The immortal gargoyle saw the human stepping onto the balcony. A few moments later, Goliath landed in front of her and they embraced, his wings wrapped around her. He had had the same gestures for her hundreds of times, one thousand years before, but she couldn't feel anything any more when she thought of it. Goliath had been meddling with humans, even taking a human mate. She couldn't have any esteem for someone who did such repulsive things.
She took the bag of powder at her belt and suddenly hesitated. What if Angela learnt about what she was about to do? Her daughter had that unexplainable liking for that Maza human. She didn't want to hurt Angela. But, well, her daughter would never know what she was about to do. Everyone would probably conclude to a biological problem. And perhaps one day, she would manage to show Angela how evil humans are.
Demona threw a handful of powder on Elisa and whispered a few words in Latin. Neither the human, nor her mate noticed anything but the blue gargoyle knew it would work. Smiling evilly, she watched the two of them entering the apartment.
"No trace of the egg?" the raven-haired detective asked. The lavender gargoyle shook his head. "Nothing." Everyone had been distraught by the unexpected disappearance of the egg and their relationships with the Xanatoses had become more tensed. The clan had been looking for Arch throughout New York City but there was no trace of him. Goliath had been suspecting many people, including Demona, Thailog and Sevarius, and they had tried an attack on Destine Manor (when Angela was busy somewhere else) and Sevarius's place but the security systems and the knowledge that the police would come and get them if they stayed for too long had prevented them from finding anything. Angela had also tried to convince her mother to tell her whatever she knew, in vain. In fact, Goliath secretly hoped it was Demona who had the egg. Arch was an irresponsible kid who would probably become a bad father and Sevarius and Thailog could not possibly treat the to-be hatchling well but Demona had at least a motherly instinct.
"Nothing about us. And you?" he asked, putting a hand on her stomach. "How is our fifth egg doing?"
Elisa laughed. "It's not an egg, it's a baby! Well, it turns to stone by day but never minds."
"Never mind?" Goliath put his enormous hands on Elisa's shoulders. "Elisa, a stone hatchling is way too heavy to be possibly carried by a human. You can't keep this child!"
"This is our child, Goliath. And it's in my body, not in yours. And I intent to carry it whatever happens, even if I have to spend the last months in a wheelchair or something like that." She smiled at him, knowing he wouldn't love her if she was not that stubborn. He had to give up. "Please, my Elisa, be careful…"
"You know what I'd love to do, just now?"
On the rooftop, Demona could hear unarticulated sounds. They had probably begun doing their dirty affair. For the umpteenth time, the immortal gargoyle wondered how a sane gargoyle could be physically attracted by something as ugly as a human at the point of mating. No wings, no tail, those ridiculously small hands… Laughing inwardly, she left the rooftop and glided away into the night.
Elisa's apartment, the day after
When Elisa awakened, the room was empty. Goliath was gone. She smiled, remembering the great night they had, and got up, yawning. Her clothes were getting a bit tight and she thought she was going to buy some new ones, just after going to the doctor's. She didn't pay attention to a stomach pain that had become familiar lately.
Unfortunately, her doctor had bad news for her. "I have your X-ray" she said. "I'm afraid the case is even more complicated than I expected."
"Complicated?" Elisa asked, puzzled. What could be more complicated that a foetus with stone-sleep? The doctor sighed. "It appears that your uterus seems to be partly turned into a solid matter. We can't see the foetus through it. It's the first time I see something like this."
Her uterus turned into something solid?! Elisa remembered how the gargoyles' clothes froze into stone with them. Apparently, the same thing was happening to her own body. "It may be mild" she said hesitantly.
"You never noticed anything else?"
"Well, I feel sometimes nauseous and I have stomach pains but it can't be serious, can it?"
"I'm afraid it can." The doctor sighed. "I want you to take an appointment at the hospital as soon as possible." She handed her a piece of paper. "Ask for this doctor and tell him I sent you to him."
Elisa agreed reluctantly. A few minutes later, she was back into her car, completely puzzled. How could this happen? She hoped something normal could happen to her, for a change.
Suddenly, the pain became unbearable. Her vision became troubled and she lost the control of her vehicle. The Fairlane hit a wall and everything became dark.
Peter Maza got the news of the accident at his precinct one hour later. He dashed to the hospital where Diane and Beth were already waiting. Both hugged him and Diane told him about the situation: Elisa had two broken ribs and a concussion but the worst worrying thing was the internal bleeding in the stomach area. Her life was in danger and she would be most probably unable to keep her baby.
The family carried on waiting. Beth, who had gotten back to her late teens, tried several times to join Derek on the phone and finally decided to go and tell him the news by herself. A few hours earlier, she was happily making projects about going back to the college; now she was worried sick about her sister. Captain Chavez dropped in at the hospital later. She too was worried. Elisa was one of her best cops, she also had a lot of esteem for her father and, being herself a mother, she knew how a parent could feel in those circumstances. Diane and Peter thanked her for being so kind but the waiting was still unbearable.
Hours passed. Finally, a man in a white coat came out and tried to explain the situation. The woman apparently suffered from a mysterious disease that had turned her uterus and its contain into a rigid matter. The collision had crushed it against other organs, causing an internal bleeding, and they had had to remove it to have a chance to save her life. The bleeding had been contained. But she was still in a coma and nobody could tell what was going to happen next.
The family sat and waited.
Castle Wyvern, sunset
It was Elisa's mother who told the news to the gargoyles when they awakened. It was a shock for Goliath, and he was not the only one to be shocked. Angela started crying and Broadway asked angrily if someone was responsible for the accident. Xanatos, who had been listening nearby, promised to hire the best doctors in the world to heal the poor Elisa (he didn't care for her but he knew it was a good way to stay on good terms with the gargoyles and to have his son perfectly safe).
The clan went down to the battlements. Then Goliath had an unexpected reaction. "Brooklyn", he said, "you're in charge tonight. Don't try to look for me until sunrise." And he glided away into the night before anyone had time to protest. Angela tried to follow him but Hudson held her back. "Aye, lass, yer father will come back. He just needs to be alone now."
The world was crumbling around Goliath. He couldn't see where he was going as if he had gone suddenly blind. Elisa is dying. Just now… he thought.
My love is dying. Who did that to her? Well, I did. It's me who made her pregnant, no one else. She partly turned into stone and her body couldn't cope with it. I should have known that a human can't give birth to a gargoyle hatchling. I should at least have convinced her to interrupt her pregnancy. She would be safe now. Oh, she wouldn't have listened to me. I should have never touched her!
The lavender giant landed on a rooftop and roared in despair. He hadn't felt this way since the massacre of Castle Wyvern, ten centuries before. Life seemed to have no sense at all. He looked down at the street, twenty stories below, and thought about falling deliberately.
No. He couldn't commit suicide now. Elisa may still have a chance. And even if she wasn't to survive (his heart broke at that thought), his clan needed him. The three eggs were to hatch in a few months. Ten centuries before, he had deliberately left the eggs of his clan behind him to follow the adult survivors, wherever they were to wake up. He didn't regret his decision: it had allowed him to stay with his clan. But on the other hand, he hadn't seen Angela grow up.
The eggs and the clan were going to need him. Life was unfair but he had to undergo it. Sad but determined, Goliath decided to glide to the hospital.
The hospital, Monday, 04 September 1997
The first thing Elisa saw when she opened her eyes was her mother, half-asleep on her chair. She tried to remember how she had ended up in that room. Had Broadway shot her again? "Mommy" she called softly. Diane Maza got up and walked to her daughter, her eyes full of tears. "My little Elisa, we were so afraid!"
"What happened to me?" Diane took her hands in hers. "You had a car accident. We've been waiting at your bedside for days and nights." 'We' meant the Maza family, the gargoyles and the mutates. Her room had practically never been empty. Elisa smiled at her mother and then remembered that she was pregnant. "And my baby?"
"Beloved" whispered Diane, "you'll need to be brave. They couldn't save your child. They saved you, that's all that matters for me, and your father, and your sister, your brother, and all the ones who care for you. The doctors told me you'll have no physical after-effects, except…"
"Except?"
"They had to practice a hysterectomy. I'm sorry, dear."
Slowly, Elisa put a hand at her bandaged stomach. She realised that her child was gone forever. And that she would never be able to have another child, whatever could happen. She had wanted this baby so badly…
Tears started running down her face.
To be continued…