It's been a bit since I uploaded, sorry! Reviews, favs and follows are doing great and are ALWAYS appreciated. Still don't own I, Frankenstein. Enjoy! ^_^
Also! To the person who commented that you hated Gideon in the movie and don't know why I would write a fanfic about him: I don't care what you like.
"Leo! Stop goofing around and focus!" Ophir hissed from behind the woman, unseen by mortal eyes.
The beautiful, tan gargoyle grinned and walked happily down the small, city street. "Leo, we're serious. You need to go and find the nest! Ask someone if they've seen anything suspicious." Keziah urged.
Leo rolled her eyes and stepped up to a vendor on the side of the street. "Excuse me, have you seen any people acting strange lately? Maybe they were...killing people, chanting, hissing-"
"Je suis désolé, Je ne parle anglais." the aging man apologized, holding up his hands.
"Oh, um.." Leo was taken aback, not knowing what to do until she heard a soothing voice in her head, "Say this; Excusez-moi, avez-vous vu des personnes agissant étrange ces derniers temps? Peut-être qu'ils tuaient les gens, chantant, sifflant."
The woman snapped her head around to find the voice, but saw no one. Only the gargoyles and a few passers by. "Uh...excusez-moi, avez-vous vu des personnes agissant étrange ces derniers temps? Peut-être qu'ils tuaient les gens, chantant, sifflant-"
"Ah!" the man brightened, nodding and pointing down the street. "Oui! Ils se rassemblent dans ce marché abandonné sur la route. Ils ont pris beaucoup de nos citadins, se il vous plaît aider."
Leo glanced down the street and shook her head, not understanding. "He says that they congregate in an abandoned market down the street and they've taken many of the townspeople. He asks for your help."
"Oookay.." she mumbled, turning from the man and walking down the road uncomfortably.
"Is everything alright?" Ophir asked, falling into step with her. "You seem freaked out."
Leo nodded jerkily and continued down the cobble street. "Um...you wouldn't happen to occasionally, I don't know...hear voices?"
Ophir grabbed her arm and forced her to stop. Gideon and Keziah had already stopped and stared at the young gargoyle. "Are you hearing voices, Leo?"
"Just one...he told me what to say to the man and what the man said back...I didn't understand his language." Leo bit her lip anxiously. "Is it bad?"
"Well, hearing voices generally isn't a good thing." Keziah grumbled, still cross from finding out about Leo and Gideon.
Gideon held his hands out, "Look, we'll worry about that when we get home. The Queen will know what to do. For now, just focus on the problem at hand."
"Ugh," Leo groaned, getting to her feet and stumbling towards the fresh air and moonlight. "Ow, ow, ow, ow.." she mumbled, clutching her ribs and pretending not to notice the blood dripping down her stomach and thigh and the light shining from the wounds.
Two figures dropped down beside her as she walked...well, shuffled down the nearly empty street. "Leo! We told you to be careful!" Keziah scolded, pulling Leo's free arm around her neck and holding on tightly.
"Yeah, sorry...um, what do you say we don't tell Gideon about this little accident." the young gargoyle suggested sheepishly.
Ophir shook his head angrily, "You are lucky that Levi called for him to aid in his battle or Gideon would have done more damage than the demons."
"I get it, for god's sake. I'm an idiot, okay? You happy?" Leo rolled her eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlit night.
Keziah pushed the door of the inn open and practically pulled Leo up the stairs. "No, we are not happy! You could have died!" she let go of Leo when they reached the bed. "And all because you acted like a prideful child and ignored our warnings."
"I got them all, didn't I?!" Leo snapped, growing tired of constantly being called a child by the gargoyles.
"You use your lucky success to justify being a fool!" Ophir rounded on the woman.
Keziah slammed down first aid supplies on the table beside the bed, "You cannot continue on like this! We will not always be around to tell you what is right and wrong!"
Ophir got a bowl of clean water and rags, "We've been teaching you since you could hold a weapon, and all these years later, you still cannot handle yourself in a battle!"
"I-" Leo started but Keziah held up her hand, cutting the woman off.
"Killing demons does not mean that you have won! What use is killing a few demons if you die in the process?!" the tan, older gargoyle shouted firmly. "There is more to battle than the death of the enemy!"
Ophir wrung out a towel and flung it about wildly as he scolded Leo, "You are seventy years old, Leo! The Queen expects much of you and you are constantly acting childishly and getting yourself and others hurt! This is why Gideon was so against taking you on a scouting trip!"
"ENOUGH!" Leo roared, jumping to her feet and ignoring her body's painful protests. Keziah and Ophir looked shocked, each taking a step back. "I WILL NOT BE TREATED LIKE A CHILD. GET. OUT."
Leo's eyes had lit up in furious, glowing gold and unbeknownst to her, white marble wings had sprung from her back with lighting speed. "Leo.."
The door to the room slammed open along with the window and door to the small balcony. "I said, get out."
The two gargoyles backed out of the room, hearts beating wildly at the new found power of the woman. "What should we do?" Keziah asked quietly after shutting the door behind them.
"We have to find Gideon."
Leo sat on the lone bed in the room as tears rolled down her tan cheeks. She clutched her aching ribs and sniffled loudly noticing the light that still shone from her two deepest wounds.
"What is the matter, my child?" the calming voice echoed in Leo's throbbing head.
Her breath hitched and she wiped angrily at her sticky cheeks. "I'm tired of being in the order. I can't have the man I love...not publicly anyway, I'm constantly called a child by everyone, half of the order doesn't even want me, whenever something goes wrong, I seem to get blamed. I'm just...I wish they'd never taken me in."
The voice tsked and responded softly, "Do not be sad for this, my daughter. You are as respected and loved as any other gargoyle in the order. You are special, chosen, there is a reason Queen Leonore took you in."
"Why?" Leo hiccuped, using the wet rag to wipe the sticky trails off her face.
"We spoke to her. Told her to take you in. Told her that you are special. The child of a gargoyle and human is rare. You are only the second to ever exist."
"Who is we?" she asked quietly, still holding her burning ribs.
The voice sighed in her head, "There is no more point in hiding. My name is Michael. Usually, I would only speak directly with the Queen, but I have made an exception this once, for you."
Leo thought for a moment, she didn't know anyone named Michael...unless... "You...you don't mean to say you're the archangel Michael, do you?"
"I am, admittedly, pleased that you know who I am. You must also know, however, that we cannot speak again. This is forbidden usually and rare for an archangel to be able to speak with any gargoyle but the ruler. Remember, Leo, you are special."
And then the voice was gone.
But another one took its place. This time outside of her head. "Leo!" Gideon slammed the door open, making the woman flinch and then hiss, grabbing her ribs.
"Ophir and Keziah told me what you did and- Leo..." he trailed off, noticing the severity of her wounds. "God." he muttered, easing onto the bed beside her.
Leo refused to meet his eye. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted so foolishly and childishly. I understand if you will no longer take me on scouting missions."
Gideon felt his heart clench at how sadly she whispered the last bit, and even though it was true, he couldn't bare keeping her in the Cathedral where he knew she felt trapped. "Silly little angel." he soothed, taking her cheek in his warm, calloused hand. "I forgive you for behaving the way you did...I admit, I acted foolishly on my first scouting mission as well..."
She looked up with a small smile. "You? Acted foolishly?"
"Just because I'm not half human, doesn't mean I'm not alive. Gargoyles are far from perfect, you know." he teased gently.
Leo looked him up and down before nodding condescendingly, "I know."
30 years later
"Leo?!" Gideon yelled down the main hall before stopping a random gargoyle, "Have you seen her?"
"Sorry, no." he shrugged, wincing as Gideon threw him away angrily.
The large gargoyle ran down the hall and up several flights of stairs, panting as he finally stopped on the third floor in front of the platform and looked out over the city. "LEO!" he roared.
"Yes?" came the impishly calm reply.
Gideon spun around with a startled yelp, nearly falling off the platform. Leo collapsed onto her back in a fit of laughter, rolling about on the stone floor.
"Leo, I swear I'll-"
"Ahem." someone cleared their throat from a few feet away. "I assume you are the half gargoyle child that Leonore deemed worthy of the cathedral."
Leo got up quickly, suddenly serious and mature. Gideon nearly toppled right off the platform again at the sudden change. He'd never seen her this somber in her entire life.
"Yes, sir." she nodded.
"Follow me. You will be tested down the hall." the neatly robed gargoyle sighed, and gestured for Leo to follow him. "You may come as well, Gideon."
Said gargoyle furrowed his brow in confusion, "What's going on?" he demanded an explanation.
"I see you were not told," the new gargoyle gave off an air of both wisdom and extreme pretentiousness. "Well, there has been some debate over the past eighty-three years as to whether or not this child is truly a gargoyle."
Gideon glanced over at Leo and saw her fists and jaw tighten when the gargoyle used the term, child. "Today, her one-hundredth birthday was chosen to be her final test. Time to see if you're really gargoyle material."
The gargoyle practically sneered at Leo as he held the great, wooden door open for both her and Gideon.
Leo swallowed roughly and stepped into the room, looking around at all of the, seemingly, regal gargoyles sitting in a circle around a wide space.
"Majesty," Gideon started, walking towards her.
She held up her hand and shook her head firmly, pointing for him to sit down. "Leo, step forward."
The young gargoyle obeyed.
"Present your weapon."
Again, she obeyed and slid two large knives from her back, showing all of the gargoyles that they were, indeed, branded with the order's symbol.
"Show your wings."
A whoosh filled the nearly silent room as Leo unfurled her white, marble wings.
"S..." the queen faltered for a moment before regaining her composure. "Prove your gargoyle lineage."
Leo clenched her teeth and put one knife away before sliding the other across her upper arm slowly. Instantly, bright light shot from the wound, along with crimson blood.
"There!" a large, male gargoyle should, leaping up from his seat. "She bleeds mortal blood!"
Mutters went through the crowd and more shouts and accusations sprouted up from angry, unbelieving gargoyles.
"Silence!" an old gargoyle commanded. "Our Queen is leading this test."
Leonore nodded gratefully at the older gargoyle and turned to face the gargoyle who had shouted first. "Of course she bleeds mortal blood. She is half mortal!"
The half gargoyle ran a hand through her short locks and swallowed past the ever-growing lump stuck in her throat. "Leo, we will discuss and come to a decision. You will be called back in when we are finished."
Leo nodded to the queen and walked as calmly as she could from the room. "No, Gideon." Leonore's voice rang out. "You will stay."