Gargoyles- The Heart of Everything

by Sunmoonlight

Brooklyn has been living in a very lonely world and yearns to find love of his own. However, his life gets turned upside down when he meets the beautiful, young Human woman named Rose. Rose lives in a very similar world; one full of darkness, loneliness, and is haunted by one dark secret. Will they find the love and strength in each other to rise above the darkness?

26. Chapter 26- Failure

**Hey all! I'm so sorry about last chapter's cliffhanger, well not too sorry. ;) Here's the tail end of it! I hope you all enjoy it and please review, and tell me what you think! This chapter is a bit more divided up, into different points of view, but all in all, I hope it's a good one for you all! We've still got a ton of story to go! Enjoy!**

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~Chapter Twenty-Six~

Failure

Brooklyn was flying as fast as he could, with Goliath close behind him, to the Queensboro Bridge over the East River, where Rose was running for her life from Kevin. They were just descending towards the scene, when he saw her suddenly sprinting over to a spire to climb and escape from Kevin. Brooklyn knew and lamented that she had been running from him for quite some time, and now, she had nowhere to run. He watched her scale up the bridge quickly, and was incredibly worried for her; but the panic worsened when he suddenly saw Kevin raise the gun up and was pointing it at her.

"NOOOO!" Brooklyn roared; fear overcoming his heart, still too far away to stop the madness from happening. "ROSE!"

BANG!

With a horrible sensation he felt the pain on his left arm, as the bullet grazed Rose's; their connections allowing them to be one with each other. Brooklyn's eyes lit up brightly in rage and horror, as Rose fell roughly to the ground, banging into a few metal pieces of the bridge, before slamming down to the ground. Brooklyn gasped and cried out in pain, holding his own side, as he felt her pain, but continued to fly at a ferocious speed towards them. She was lying on the ground, not moving, as Kevin stalked towards her with his gun raised.

He and Goliath roared out their battlecries, piercing through the once peaceful night air around them. Brooklyn's eyes lit up brightly with his teeth bared, rage pulsing through him, as he watched Kevin approach his love. Descending as quickly as he could, all he could think of was getting down to the ground to save Rose and rip Kevin in half. As he fell closer to the scene, relief coursed through him as he suddenly felt and watched Rose stir from the ground when he roared out.

Their bodies and minds were connected, and he could feel her immense relief that he now was there to protect her. The fear that had been engulfing her, was almost too much for him to bear. He folded his wings flat against his back and took a head first; free-falling dive towards Kevin, reached his claws out, and was preparing to grab, kill, and maim him. Suddenly; as Brooklyn was about one hundred feet away, Kevin raised his gun to shoot her in the head, and terror shot through Brooklyn.

"Nooooo! No, no, noooo… Come on, come onnnn…. Faster…. Faster!" He urged himself, free-falling towards Kevin. He roared out in fury and fear, hoping to alert Kevin and scare him away from shooting Rose. However; when Kevin didn't even flinch at Brooklyn's incoming battle-cry, it made him even more afraid for Rose's safety. Then he heard her voice, in his head, sweet and beautiful, and it made his desire to protect her even more powerful.

I won't give up… her voice whispered in his head, fulfilling her promise to him. I won't give up, Brooklyn.

Still watching as he dove, Rose suddenly kicked Kevin in the face, making him to double over in pain, stood up, and ran over to the side of the bridge to escape Kevin's wrath. When she reached the edge and whipped around in fear to face Kevin, she realized that she had nowhere to go, except to jump. Brooklyn took his gaze off Kevin and met hers as an electricity pulsed through him harder than he'd ever felt before, and gasped out. She was in true mortal danger; and she knew it too. He turned his gaze back to Kevin; and as he did, it felt as though his world was going to turn black. Kevin had his gun raised up at Rose; and with nowhere for her to go, she was stuck, and Brooklyn was still too far away.

Brooklyn gasped, his claws still outstretched towards Kevin, and knew in his heart that he was too late. He roared out again in panic and fury, and only had a few more feet to go before stopping Kevin. His eyes locked onto hers once again; and she was gazing longingly at him, as though she was silently apologizing to him and mentally telling him that she loved him.

As if he was the last thing she desired to see before her death.

BANG!

Another gunshot shot out in the quiet night; and Brooklyn watched, in horror and terror, as a violent explosion of blood erupted from Rose's chest. Roaring out, he clenched his chest feeling her pain, and watched helplessly as her eyes widened in shock, before they slowly rolled up into her head, and she fell backwards off the bridge like like a limp rag doll towards the waters below.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Brooklyn bellowed out in panic and horror, but was already on Kevin, and couldn't change his course of direction, until he hit the ground. So, with that as much strength he could afford, he slammed into Kevin with a roar of rage, grabbing onto his neck, used his feet to skid him to a stop, all while throwing Kevin as far away from him as he could.

"MURDERING BASTARD!" He roared, as he threw Kevin across the bridge, and he was still skidding to a stop; hoping that the impact would hurt and stun Kevin until Goliath got to him to kill him.

Once he retrieved traction from the ground, from sliding from his great speed, he immediately tore after Rose; and catapulted himself off the bridge as fast as he could go, free-falling after her. He reached his arms out; desperately trying to grab her arms, but she was still too far below him. Her eyes were closed and her body was limp; which made her descent even faster than his, her feet and head doing back flips in the air.

However, as she fell, he could hear her parting words in his mind, through their connection, and to his further heartbreak, she said, I love you, Brooklyn. I tried to fight him, but failed. I'm sorry. I love you… forever.

Tears filled his eyes and he cried out to the connections inside him, begging and pleading to them. PLEASE! Let her live! Don't take her from me… please, let her live!

A strength and power pulsed through him suddenly; and he felt himself falling even faster towards her. He was just a few inches from reaching her, but then realized that it was too late. She was going to fall through the ice, and would crash through the thick ice, head first.

Gasping out in horror, he grit his teeth, reached even harder out to her, straining his arm past capacity, and finally got a hold on her foot. With a whip-like pull, he quickly pulled her up to his body, caged her in his arms; and rotated his body so that he took the brunt of the impact, instead of her. The moment he turned himself to protect her, they both crashed through the thick icy layer of black frigid water with a huge CRACK and explosion of ice and water.

The pain was horrendous as he slammed roughly into the thick, frozen layer of ice; cutting up his back instantly. The impact was so rough and painful, it almost knocked him out. He had to force himself to not gasp out, and keep air in his lungs, but it was very difficult.

The water was freezing cold and felt like sharp knives were piercing through his thick skin, threatening to his breath away, and take that fight away from him. However, as he sank lower into the water, completely dazed and in unbelievable amounts of pain, he saw Rose's limp body hovering and floating above his. Slowly, they sank lower and lower into the icy blackness abyss, but Brooklyn couldn't seem to move for a moment, as his brain reconnected with his body, fighting past the shock of the impact and temperature change.

Above them, a circle of moonlight was showing from the surface above, and was the only source of light in the heavy darkness around them. More than anything, he wanted to close his eyes and drift away, to not feel the pain anymore, but seeing Rose's limp body above his brought a new sense of urgency and duty. Gritting his teeth again, he ignored his own pain and swam upwards towards his betrothed mate and love.

He reached his claw upwards, took hold of her hand, and then pulled her body down to his; wrapped her protectively in his arms; all while gazing into her face. Her eyes were closed, and with the blood washed away, her skin showed signs of many cuts, bruises and bumps, but regardless of all that, she was beautiful and looked peaceful.

He weightlessly adjusted her body to sit in his bridal style, and her head fell back limply, her arm dropping to her side, and long hair floated weightlessly all around her. Brooklyn's heart broke as he stared at her, and couldn't help but marvel at her beauty. More than ever he longed for her to wake up, so they could live out the rest of their lives together; but as grim as the night looked, he just hoped that she could feel him there next to her.

When she was secured in his arm, against his chest; he used his other arm and legs to swim and kick upwards towards the surface with as much strength as he could muster. With every movement in the water, Brooklyn felt like his body was now on fire, because of how cold the water was. His skin and body was a lot stronger and more able to handle extreme temperatures, but a Human's wasn't. As he thought about Rose, he prayed to the Heaven's above that she would live and be all right.

Halfway up towards the surface, he could feel himself begin to tire and weaken against the icy, frigid temperature, and his lungs were screaming at him, needing fresh air. Still fighting for her life, he looked down once more at her face, and was shocked and relieved to see that her eyes had just fluttered open.

She's alive! Brooklyn thought to himself, feeling his heart fill warmth and joy. She survived!

Once Rose came to, there was a moment between them that was blissful, beautiful. Her eyes were softly gazing into his, her face was calm, and she slowly raised her hands to touch his face lovingly. The way she was staring at him as if he were her Heaven, and the most beautiful sight. He kept swimming up, and longed to get them both to safety, so that they could both relish in more of those moments. But, then as she came to more, everything went to hell.

Rose realized she was still underwater, and instantly began to panic. Without thinking, she opened her mouth and inhaled water, trying to breathe; but began to drown instead. Brooklyn's eyes widened in shock and horror, as she was drowning right in front of his eyes.

Gritting his teeth in panic, Brooklyn lifted flailing body her up above his head and pushed her as hard as he could to the surface, letting her go, hoping that it was enough push that she could break through the surface , and receive the air she needed; even if that meant he stayed under longer. Just as he promised her that he would try to live for her; but he would still die, if that's what it came down to. After he pushed her towards the surface, she flailed and kicked herself in panic up to the surface, while he slowly sunk deeper away from her.

More than anything, he wanted to reach the surface with her, but suddenly, his own strength and oxygen ran out, his mind and body felt disconnected, and he sank deeper down in the icy abyss.

---

Goliath touched down right as Brooklyn threw himself off the bridge to retrieve Rose, who had just been shot by Kevin and fell off the bridge. Goliath watched in worry as he watched his Second-in-Command jump after her, and knew that he would not make it to her, but hoped with all his heart that he would and that Rose would survive. However, he had a duty to attend to first. He trusted Brooklyn to take care of himself and Rose, and his responsibility right now, was to kill Kevin.

When he touched down on the ground, Kevin was groaning and stirring from being thrown a good two hundred feet by Brooklyn; and crashing hard upon the icy asphalt. Goliath's eyes lit up brightly, bore his fangs out and was growling ferociously; and slowly stalked towards him, preparing to finish him and end his life. Kevin was slowly rising from the snowy ground, spitting out blood from his mouth, and when he glanced up and saw Goliath approaching him, and then grinned evilly at him.

Standing up slowly, never taking his eyes off Goliath, he sneered, "Come to kill me, beast?"

"For harming my mate, injuring one of my own, and shooting Rose?" Goliath answered him, whispering furiously. "Yes, I am. But first, I'm going to make you pay for what you've done. When I'm finished with you, you're going to wish you were dead, and will beg for mercy."

Kevin grinned even brighter at him and then breathed, "A monster who likes to play with his food before the kill…I like it. You're just like me."

"Myself and my kind will never become like you!" Goliath snarled, baring his sharp teeth and flexed his large muscular body, readying himself for the battle. Kevin grinned at him, his black eyes meeting Goliath's enraged brightly lit ones, and slowly began to stalk around, speaking quietly to him.

"I'll be honest with you, monster." Kevin whispered. "I never anticipated to be meeting Gargoyles tonight, nor did I plan on hurting so many innocent lives to get to this point. If only you and your kind would have let me take my wife back, without interfering, things wouldn't have needed to get so messy, or… complicated."

Goliath kept his teeth bared at him, and was growling ferociously.

"Gargoyles protect." He told Kevin furiously. "That is what we do, every night. We protect both Humans and our kind alike from evil criminals such as yourself."

"How heroic…I'm touched by your goodness. So, uh… what do I call you? Since we are being so civil right now?" Kevin sneered, still pacing back and forth, testing his will power and hatching a plan as he did so.

"I will only tell you my name, so that you know exactly who will kill you, and end your miserable life." Goliath growled at him and then answered, "I am… Goliath."

Kevin grinned maliciously at Goliath, and then chuckled slightly.

"Hello, Goliath. I would introduce myself, but it appears that you already know exactly who I am."

"Oh yes," Goliath snarled. "We know everything we need to know about you, and the evil you've done. I'm here to put an end to it all."

"Oh, really!?" Kevin laughed, truly amused. "So, let me get this straight. You and your kind are a bunch of wannabe batman's in this insane, dark, chaotic, and cold 'Gotham-like' world? Saving innocent lives day in and day out? Hmm? Well, let me tell you something. The world needs chaos in order to learn stillness. Opposition, to know peace; and darkness to know and appreciate the light. Sorrows… in order to know true joy and happiness…"

Goliath growled deeply at him and Kevin kept pacing slowly across the snow.

"That may be true." He answered in a dark voice, but then pointed a talon at him. "But you are not living that law, but are merely addicted to the control, darkness, chaos, and power this world brings. As long as it goes your way, you will always know a fake reality of happiness."

"Very astute, Goliath." Kevin snarled back. "Man… I'm so glad we are taking this time to get to know each other. It's amazing how you've unmasked my entire corrupted, evil soul in a mere two minutes. So, let me take a whack at yours…" He paused, and began to creep towards his semi-automatic gun to his left, while not leaving Goliath's eyes. "You are poor, misunderstood creatures; who have been rejected by the world, and are striving to protect and find your place among us Humans, striving for our approval and submission to your existence. Am I right?"

Goliath's eyes widened at him and felt unnerved by how cunning Kevin was. His words were slimy and covered in deceits and lies, while all snaked around some truth.

Kevin grinned nastily at him and then whispered, "I thought so… see? We aren't so different from each other in that aspect. We only want our Human targets to be submissive and accepting of who we truly are."

"The Humans we protect are not our targets, nor do we see ourselves as bigger or more important than the Humans. All lives are precious..." Goliath snarled, clenching his fists, and stepping towards him. "But enough of this!… ENOUGH of your games and lies! You will pay for your actions towards my Clan, my mate, and Rose… for all the terror, evil, and pain you've inflicted upon us all."

"I am sorry for the pain I've caused… but… you really only have yourselves to blame. If you would have handed me Rose, things didn't have to get so messy." Kevin grinned darkly. "And, damn… you're already over our conversation? Here I was thinking we were really becoming close buddies, but no matter… I haven't survived this far, by taking foolish chances. So, let's finish this, Goliath. Give me your best… and I'll watch you fail, as all your other monster kin have failed. Rose is mine… and I won't give up until I have ripped her into a thousand pieces."

Goliath growled out, and stalked towards Kevin with his sharp claws raised, cornering him. Kevin grinned, and then looked down at the gun next to his leg now.

"No, it is you who has failed." Goliath growled dangerously. "You're not going free to harm anymore people. You're going to die for the crimes you've committed… and even then, death is too good for you.

"Oh, Goliath. I haven't failed." Kevin laughed. "You're just feeling uncomfortable because you know I'm right; and in all this time of getting to know me, you still don't know what I am truly capable of, and that terrifies you."

"NOTHING about YOU terrifies me! You only ENRAGE ME! Your evil is everything I need to know about you!" Goliath roared out, growling ferociously.

"Is it?" Kevin breathed, bracing himself as Goliath was stalking closer to him, and gazed deeply into his enraged white eyes, with his black ones and seemed to pierce Goliath's soul. "Ah, it is. Rose has no doubt told you all the stories about myself and about how horrible I was to her… when really, what she didn't tell you was that she deserved it. You see, I had to beat her, Goliath. It was the only way she would listen to me, and do what I wished. So, if you think about it… it was my legal duty as her husband to do so..."

"If you think harming your wife is the honorable and right thing to do, then you have another thing coming." Goliath snarled, advancing on Kevin now, growling furiously. "You think you are a powerful 'man' by towering over your mate? But you are nothing more than a coward, and a SICK excuse for a husband! Abuse is not the duty of any man or male, nor should it EVER arise in a marriage. We are to protect and lovingly support our other halves, and treat them with the utmost level of love and respect. We are to live and love our females with equality and respect… never to lay a hand or claw upon them to harm or demean them." Goliath paused form speaking and felt himself shaking with anger, rage and vengeance. "Now… don't tell me that a monster such as myself… lives by that honorable code, more than you do?"

"Oh, don't get all righteous on me, Goliath…" Kevin spat with gritted teeth. "How I treat my wife is none of your concern."

"She is a member of our Clan now." Goliath seethed, cornering Kevin now, and seeing his eagerness to get to the large gun by the wall. They were in a draw, and it was about to go down. "She's family… and with you wanting to harm and kill her… that very much becomes my concern."

"How can she be a part of your Clan?" Kevin whispered. "She's my wife…"

"Not for long she won't be…" Goliath grinned darkly back, knowing he was hitting a nerve with Kevin.

"Oh, right." Kevin seethed. "She's chosen to be with your… Brooklyn… I believe is his name. He's the red freak who came with you, right? The one who dove after her, and attacked me in my car…? Yeah… he's going to pay dearly as well. He can't fuck my wife and get away with it. He, too, will be severely punished."

At that, Goliath roared and leapt forward, grabbed Kevin by his neck and held him above his arm, cutting off his air.
"How DARE YOU speak about my kin and HIS mate like that! Watch your disgusting language around me, Human!" Goliath roared. "I should rip your tongue out!"

Kevin was kicking and flailing in Goliath's grip and suddenly began to laugh through his gasping, as Goliath's grip tightened over his neck.

"Well… w-what are y-you waiting for, then?" Kevin gasped, through Goliath's iron-tight grip.. "Do it! Kill me… I'm unarmed. Go on. Teach me a lesson… show me… y-your non-monster, righteous ways… and the p-proper way to kill someone. Show me the hero you are posing to be, under that monster mask!"

Goliath grit his teeth and brought him to his enraged face.

"Gargoyle justice is not Human justice, and do not kill outside of the heat of a battle." Goliath answered him. "But with what you've pulled tonight, the evil you are spreading, has me willing to bend our rules slightly. You've declared war upon us all, and therefore; you will die by my hand tonight."

"Sugar coat it all you want, Goliath." Kevin snarled. "Killing someone is still murder, whether it be justified or not! Now, another lesson to you, that you should have known about a battle. Never underestimate your opponent, and if you want to kill them, then DO IT! Don't just TALK ABOUT IT!"

Kevin reached inside his jacket, pulled out a laser gun and pointed it at Goliath's chest, all while pulling the trigger. When the electricity hit Goliath in his large chest, he roared out in pain, and dropped Kevin to the ground. As Goliath backed away slightly, Kevin body-rolled to the ground, and grabbed the semi-automatic weapon and pointed it at Goliath.

"Well, I've had a nice chat, Goliath." Kevin grinned. "You seem like a nice guy… but I have a wife to kill. I know she survived that fall… thanks to her new lover. But don't you worry… I've got bigger plans for her and you all."

"If you want her, then you'll have to first go through me first." Goliath snarled, advancing on Kevin now. Kevin's eyes widened in amusement and grinned even more nastily.

"Oh-ho… don't threaten me with a good time, Goliath." Kevin answered him, pointing his gun at him. "If it's a war you want… then it's war you're gonna get… and it'll be the one that you'll lose. Rose is mine. And I've come too far to let her slip past my fingers… "

Goliath roared out his battle cry, as Kevin cocked the gun, and then the battle began. Kevin roared out and fired the gun at Goliath, as the large Gargoyle jumped up in the air and began to throw out punches, and easily clocked Kevin in the face, without being touched by a single bullet.

Kevin rolled away from Goliath and ran. Goliath screamed out, and tore after him on all fours, getting to him in an instant.

"You're strong!" Kevin yelled out. "I'll give you that! But I doubt your bullet or grenade proof!"

He slipped his hand into his bullet-proof vest, pulled out a hand grenade, pulled the link, and then chucked it as hard as he could over to Goliath. The moment it hit the concrete, Goliath was blasted away with an explosion of fire. He slid across the bridge and smacked his head upon one of the walls, and seemed dazed, but was still trying to rise and come after Kevin.

Kevin gritted his teeth and then ran over towards the ledge of the bridge and saw, to his further rage, that Rose was bobbing helplessly in the icy water; still alive. Gasping out, he didn't know how she survived that fall, or his gunshot for that matter. Yes, it wasn't through her heart, but he for sure knew he got her in the chest. As he looked down at the water, the red-skinned monster was nowhere to be found, but with her there alone, it was perfect for him. If he didn't kill her, the icy water would surely do that soon.

Yelling out in rage, he grabbed his gun and pointed it down at her, aiming for carefully this time with the use of his scope. As his finger touched the trigger, he saw her turn towards him from his scope, and as he shot the gun, she screamed out and dove under the water. Gritting his teeth, he re-aimed the gun, and held the trigger down, blasting the area around her with as many bullets as he could; hoping that one of them would hit her.

As the bullets smacked and exploded into the ice and water below, he roared out again, willing his hatred to kill her, and didn't see Goliath coming for him, until he was slammed down to the ground. Kevin hit the ground hard, his gun knocked away, and Goliath punched Kevin in the face as hard and as fast as he could. Kevin cried out and was sure Goliath's monstrously large form and strength had cracked his skull, but he still fought back.

With Rose still alive; he wouldn't give up.

Both of them roared at each other, and Kevin used all his demonic energy to punch, and kick the monster off him. He clocked Goliath hard in the chin, shedding some blood from his large, fanged mouth.

Goliath recovered from the punch, slowly turned his enraged gaze back over towards him. His eyes were glowing bright white and his fangs were shackled as wide as they could; true rage flowing through him. Kevin watched in horror, as Goliath's sharp claw raised above his head, ready to come down to slice open his neck, ready to kill him…

---

Rose didn't understand how she survived the fall, or how she was still alive for that matter. Her subconscious was still alive and screaming at her, willing her to open her eyes, and to fight. The pain in her body was still so severe that she didn't want to face it. As she felt the icy fire around her, it was not the peaceful state in which she imagined death would be. Her body was being tortured by the frigid iciness, so much so, it shocked her awake.

Blinking her eyes, painfully at the frigid water, she realized that she was still in the frozen East River, and was surrounded by blackness. Terrified, she looked around in the black, icy water, but then stopped, when felt strong arms around her body. Raising her head up, she was amazed and relieved when the person holding her, was none other than her Gargoyle lover and protector; Brooklyn, and was frantically swimming them up to the surface. She was still in a daze, but it was clear to her that he had either fallen with her and protected her body from the impact with the ice, or this was painful, twisted form of Heaven, and he was an angel. Her angel, protecting her from the pain and darkness.

She slowly raised her hands and touched his face, wanted to feel him, to touch him… to love him. As she did, she felt his skin against hers, and instantly their connection flowed through both of them, telling her this was real.

At her touch, Brooklyn looked down upon her and their eyes met, and for one brief moment in time, they could feel nothing but each other. His eyes were worried, panicked, but at her calm nature, they calmed down slightly, and they both gave into this moment, relishing in it. Now, more than ever, she longed to stay in his arms forever and lose herself in his love, but with the icy-fire around her, she realized that this couldn't be Heaven, as this was more like Hell, and was getting even more painful with every passing second. It was too cold, too painful, too dark- which meant she hadn't died. Which meant this nightmare was real...

As she slowly came to, and realized her reality all around her and the predicament they were in, her body immediately needed to breathe. Unable to stop herself, she opened her mouth to breathe, but instead of air, icy water, colder than anything she had ever experienced entered her esophagus and flooded into her lungs; drowning her.

Flailing and panicking, the water entered her body, freezing her from the inside, and choked her; increasing her pain ten-fold, so much so, she just wanted to die. Brooklyn looked down at her, as he felt her flail in his arm, and to his horror; saw her begin to drown.

Within an instant, Brooklyn push her body even harder up to the surface, with him sinking underneath her. She didn't have time to think about it, as her body was fighting to survive. Naturally, she reached her hand up above her head as she kicked her feet frantically, and felt for the surface, until finally her hand found the icy-cold air. Moments later, her head emerged from the water, and she inhaled as much air as she could, all while forcing that water into her lungs. When she gasped in, she inhaled as much air as she could; and violently coughed, gagged, and sputtered water out from her mouth and lungs.

The air was freezing around her head, and seemed to be colder than the water, which didn't feel possible. Her breath was coming out in bright white puffy clouds of air, as she coughed and breathed raggedly and painfully. She flailed out, about to pass out from the pain and began turning around in the water.

Get to shore! Her mind was screaming at her. SWIM!

However, as she flailed in the icy water, her body wasn't responding to her mind. Her chest and lungs were on fire, and she felt as though she was truly going to die. Looking around, she noticed that there were thick layers of ice around her; making it impossible for her to get out of the icy water to head to shore. Her mind and body was screaming at her, making it impossible to think straight. As her mind was trying to reconnect with her body; she remembered that Brooklyn was still in the water, and then she stopped flailing around and forced herself to calm down enough to focus on one thing… finding Brooklyn. Looking around in panic, she kept trying to tread water, as the icy frigid temperature was threatening to stop her heart, and searched for any sign of her love.

"Brooklyn?" Rose cried out, with a puff of white air following out her mouth. "Brooklyn!?"

When he didn't answer, and no one was near her; fear clung to her chest, and she suddenly wanted more than anything to die. If he died, she wanted to join him in their Heaven and leave this cruel world behind, to live together forever, or so she hoped. As she continued to flail and tread water, her entire body was in a terrible amount of pain; from her head all the way down to her feet, and began to panic.

"BROOKLYN!" She screamed out, crying. The water was still all around her and the ice was placid; her section the only broken section, which meant that he was still under water; most likely drowned. Rose took a deep gasp, and screamed at the top of her lungs out, "BROOKLYN! MY LOVE! PLEASE, ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

After a few seconds of looking around, she took a few shallow breaths, and forced herself back under under the freezing cold water; swimming around and looking for any sign of her love. With the blackness all around her, she could only see a few feet in front of her, thanks to the moonlight, but nothing after that.

Fear, panic, and grief tore through her and she suddenly didn't want to live anymore, not without him. Rose closed her eyes, raised her hands to her face and grasped on; not knowing if she could willingly open her mouth again to finish out her near-drowning incident. Then, as she hovered in the water; wanting to give up, she felt tingling in her hands, the familiar connection to him. Her eyes snapped open and could instantly feel him near her. Somehow, and somewhere, he wasn't dead and wasn't giving up! Relieved beyond words, not wanting to give up anymore, she kicked herself up out of the water and broke through the surface, gasping in air, and again being shocked by the cold air. Rose coughed out and looked around once again, feeling so cold it was unbelievable. However, to her shock, Brooklyn still hadn't surfaced. Before she could react, or search some more for him, above her on the large Queensboro Bridge, she heard roaring and what sounded like a battle.

She quickly turned around, gazing up at the top of the bridge, where gunshots were being fired, and roars, which sounded like Goliath, were heard. After a few seconds of looking up, Rose saw Kevin's figure looking down at her, followed by an enraged roar from him, as he realized that she had somehow survived the fall and gunshot wound.

To her horror, he swung his semi-automatic rifle from his back, gazed into the scope, and then began opening fire towards her. Screaming out, she took a deep inhale and then forced herself back under water as bullets streaked past her, all around her. Rose knew she couldn't stay underwater for too long, but while she was under; she looked around again, but still could not see Brooklyn in the black iciness. When the bullets stopped streaking past her, she kicked herself back up to the surface, and began to panic again.

"BROOKLYN! BROOKLYN!"

Rose looked around, once again she saw that Kevin had been attacked again, giving her the chance to escape from his gunshots. But with Brooklyn still under, and ice all around her, she had no way out, and didn't want to leave him.

"BROOKLYN!" Rose shrieked out in panic, crying earnestly, needing him to answer her, as grief began to cling to her chest. Suddenly, she heard a loud CRACK of ice behind her, followed by a great gasp of a breath. Turning around in the water, Brooklyn had broken through some ice, and was grasping onto a thick top layer with his claws, coughing and breathing in great gulps of air, resting his head upon the ice, inhaling as much air as he could.

"Oh, thank GOD!" Rose cried out, shaking and breathing erratically. "Brooklyn!"

At her voice, Brooklyn blinked, all while panting in and out, and whipped his head up to look at her, and once he saw her alive and still trying to fight, his own predicament was pushed to the side. The moment he saw her trapped by ice, still stuck in the frozen water, screaming and crying out for him, re energized him.

"ROSE!" He yelled back, with wide eyes, his voice panicked. Looking around, he saw that he had to punch their way out of the icy river, and fight the strong current that he was suddenly feeling. "HANG ON! I'm coming, babe! I'm COMING!"

Brooklyn made a fist and then began to violently punch a path through the ice to get to her. He couldn't believe that both of them had survived the fall, or their near-drowning for that matter, and that she survived the gunshot to the chest; but he wasn't going to question it.

He wasn't sure how he survived, as he pushed her to the surface, and he sank lower; as if the river current was his death chains, but the connection flowed through him and seemed to give him the strength and clarity of mind to swim to the surface, without the use of oxygen. He wasn't going to question any of this madness, as they were both alive. And more important to him, Rose was alive, and he was going to keep it that way.

With each punch, he fought his way frantically over to her, to grab onto her and to never let go. Once he punched the last bit of ice out of the way, Rose was crying, trying to keep her head above water, and her skin was blue; making him terrified for her, and he swam as fast as he could over to her.

"Brooklyn!" She cried out shakily, and bobbed over to him, weakly kicking her legs. "Oh, Brooklyn ... !"

The moment he grabbed onto her body; she wrapped her arms around his neck, and began to kiss him, all while crying hysterically. At the same moment, he wrapped his arms around her also crying, and kissed her face, head, lips, ears, everywhere he could touch and felt like his heart could easily explode by how relieved he was that she was alive.

"Rose…!" He exclaimed, through his kisses to her. "My love!… my mate!… oh, my sweet love."

Rose clung to him, with all the strength she had left and kept crying hysterically, shaking at an incredible rate, and that kicked started his survival instincts.

"I thought you were dead!" Rose shrieked out, while clinging to him tighter, as if she wasn't hold him tight enough. "Brooklyn, I wanted to die… God, the fear of losing you… oh, Brooklyn…"

He closed his eyes and was holding and kissing every inch of her, grasping her hair and was unable to speak. Her fears were his as well, and it scared him more than anything. As good as she felt against him, he could barely feel her against his body, as he was so cold; and could only imagine how cold she was. No matter how much he longed to keep her in his arms; he knew she was going to die if he didn't get her some medical help and warmth; because if he was beginning to freeze, then her body would be close to shutting down all together.

Opening his eyes, he forced himself away from her and looked into her face, with his eyes wide with fear. Her skin was now very blue and almost too pale, as if she were an inch away from death, and that terrified him even more.

"I wanted to die too, but knowing you're alive, I'm going to fight. WE are going to fight. So, come on, love." He urged, taking her hand. "Swim to the shore! Fight! Swim!"

Rose nodded her head, all while shaking violently and could no longer feel her body. Brooklyn pulled on her hand and was leading them through the icy water, both gasping with shuddering breath at how cold it was. Brooklyn punched through the ice, his fists bloody with each blow, but he didn't care. He was giving them a path to swim through, a chance to survive. He pulled Rose with him, as she was gasping out weakly and choppily, trying to kick and keep her body moving

"That's it, baby," Brooklyn gasped out, encouraging her. "Keep fighting, come on. We're almost there."

Above them, the fight still continuing from the bridge, and once again; Kevin had gotten away from Goliath, who had been fighting him, and pointed his gun down at the water, towards Rose. Hearing the battle above, Brooklyn gazed up at the bridge for a moment, and then saw Kevin pointing the gun down at them.

"GET DOWN!" Brooklyn roared suddenly, pulling her under water again, and guarded her with his body as bullets streaked past them and hit into ice piles all around them. Under water again, Brooklyn kept hold of Rose, and once the bullets stopped from above, he pulled Rose up with him, and both of them gasped in air again. Instantly he grabbed onto her arms, as she was gasping and struggling to breathe. They both had been in the water way too long for survival; and he suddenly began to panic, as Rose's breathing slowed and body grew limp and stiff.

"Swim Rose!" Brooklyn yelled out in fear, pulling on her body to his and kept breaking ice as they went, him swimming as fast as he could. "Kick your feet! Come on! I need you to swim!"

"I-I'm tr-trying." Rose responded, feeling her body begin to shut down. "I- I'm sorry… -it's s-s-so c-cold."

"I know… I know it i- is, but you c-can't give up! Don't g-give up! I need you!" Brooklyn urged her, shuddering as well. He pulled her body to his, holding onto her waist, and kicked his own feet as fast as he could, while still breaking the ice all around them. "Stay with me, w-we are a-almost to the shore."

With his claw around her waist, she tried to force herself to keep kicking her feet; though very weakly, but that's all she could think of, as she was losing energy and strength. The icy water was still piercing through her, and now; instead of being unbearably cold, her body suddenly was set on fire. Rose closed in eyes tightly and began to scream and cry out in pain; still gasping and panting. Brooklyn looked back at her with wide eyes, and gritted his teeth, pulling on her as fast as he could swim.

"Almost there, Rose." He said breathlessly "Hang on."

"B-brooklyn. I… I l-love y-you." She mumbled, shaking so bad that she could barely speak anymore. Brooklyn grit his teeth and was about to tell her to not say 'good-bye', but when he turned back to look at her, he gasped. Her eyes rolled up in her head and her body went limp, all while her head sank under the water, her strength giving out.

"NO!" Brooklyn roared out. "Rose!"

---

Goliath was about to slaughter Kevin, with a quick slice of his claw to Kevin's fleshy neck, when suddenly a car pulled up, skidding to a stop; stopping him. Goliath looked up in shock, while Kevin craned his head back to also look at their visitor. Kevin immediately noticed that it was an NYPD cop car; with lights on, and out from the driver side slid out the pretty female cop, the same one who had aided Rose, and the same one, who's car he blew up. Kevin didn't know her name, but the Goliath seemed to know her instantly. His eyes stopped glowing, widened in shock, and he gasped out her name.

"Elisa! What are you-?"

"Goliath!" Elisa yelled out, running towards them. "Don't do it! Don't kill him!"

As Kevin watched her run over, she had her glock gun out in one hand, while her other arm was wrapped up in a sling.

"No, Elisa." Goliath growled, his eyes lit up brightly. "He's too dangerous to be kept alive."

"That may be so…" Elisa said softly, reaching him. "However, you aren't his judge and jury… let the courts decide his fate. With his acts of abuse, violence and terrorism; he'll either spend his entire life in prison, or will have the death chair."

Goliath stared at Elisa, and then growled quietly, "He shot Rose, Elisa, and she fell off the bridge. Brooklyn went in after her, but I haven't seen them emerge yet… ."

She gasped out and her eyes widened in horror and panic.

"Is… she… are they?!"

"Dead?" Kevin interjected, before Goliath could speak. "No, but let me go and I'll be sure to finish the job. Then you can take me wherever you wish… detective…"

Elisa had been staring at Goliath for a few seconds, both worrying greatly about Rose and Brooklyn; but once Kevin, spoke out, Elisa gritted her teeth in rage and pointed her glock at his head.

"If you know what's good for you…" She seethed, shaking, and trying hard to control herself. "Then you'll stop talking, right this instant."

"If you were going to kill me… you would have done so already." Kevin gasped out, still under Goliath's grasp, his one claw crushing his chest to the icy concrete. "Which means, you won't kill me… nor will you let your monster take my head off."

"Don't tempt me." Elisa answered coldly.

Kevin chuckled at her dark humor and licked his lips; wanting to have more fun with her.

"What happened to your arm?" He asked her lightly.

"None of your business." Elisa responded, glowering at him. "So I suggest you SHUT UP."

"You were shot," Kevin continued to say, as if he didn't hear her. "I can tell from the way it's patched and splinted."

"Very smart, you ass hole." Elisa snarled, hating him with every moment of interaction. "If you must know, your college stooge found a spine and shot me in the shoulder, while I was trying to protect Rose…"

She stared down at Kevin with great loathing; and as Kevin stared up at her for a few seconds, his face froze, stuck in disbelief.

"You're shitting me…!" Kevin replied, truly shocked and floored. "Adam, shot you? The punk actually used the gun I gave him?!"

"Yes," Elisa snarled, thinking deeply about what she should do, cuff him right then and there, or let Goliath continue to do what he was about to do, by killing him.

"Well, well, well…" Kevin chuckled, grinning. "Someone's balls dropped, and the boy turned into a man, after all. Daddy's so proud. Well… I guess that's what you get for getting involved and protecting Rose from me, you bitch!"

Elisa stared at him hard, and gritted her teeth in true rage; all while, Goliath roared out in full rage, grabbed his chin, and was forcing his mouth open; to grab his tongue out; but Elisa beat him to it.

With a cry of rage, she slapped her gun against his face as hard as she could. Kevin cried out, as blood exploded out his nose and mouth, and was surprised by how much that hurt. After she hurt him, he rolled around under Goliath's grasp, and began laughing hysterically. At his laughing, she quickly cocked her gun, pointed it at his head, and gazed down at him with great hatred etched upon her face. Kevin grinned up at her and started to laugh mechanically, so much so, it actually sent a shiver down Goliath's spine, and his instincts were shouting at him to kill Kevin immediately.

"Are you sure I can't kill him?" He asked his mate darkly. "Give me the word, Elisa… and I'll make it too quick, clean, and easy. No one will suspect a thing…"

Elisa knew that he was too evil to stay alive, but for all the years she knew Goliath, she wouldn't let him give into that darkness, not when there were other options to consider and pick. And for them, since she was a Police Officer, she had to uphold the law.

"I'm sure." Elisa said, pulling out her handcuffs and readying them for Kevin. "With prison as an option, I have to uphold the law. No matter how much I personally want him gone… and dead."

Goliath stared at his wife for a few seconds, understanding her views completely, and slowly eased his grip on Kevin, giving into the Human laws.

"Aw… you're not gonna give into Police brutality and kill me?" Kevin asked her lightly. "I thought I was too dangerous to live?"

"I'll let a judge and jury decide your fate." Elisa snapped, putting her gun back inside her holster. "I have enough evidence against you that'll send you down to your death, soon enough."

"What evidence?" Kevin asked, laughing. "I'm innocent, Officer. You can't prove that I shot anyone. You didn't see it, and Rose isn't even here to prove anything."

" I do have evidence… evidence that you have bombed my car, and have plotted with Adam to kidnap Rose. So, all in all, terrorism and attacking a Police Officer won't go down too well in court. But keep it up, and I'm really considering letting Goliath run his claws into you."

"Well… what are you waiting for?" Kevin asked her, laughing. "I've been waiting all night for your empty threats of killing me to have a backbone attached. And, by the way, I'm truly sorry about your car, detective... I heard about the bomb, and it's really too bad. It was a beautiful car. A classic. Honestly… it was such a damn crying shame… ."

"I bet you are…" Elisa growled sarcastically, fury pulsing through him. "Kevin Morrison, you're under arrest… "

"Oh…?" He mused again, looking from her to Goliath with a widening smile. "Am I? Well, we'll see about that. You forget… I'm a lawyer, and have a lot of higher up and powerful friends in the law. I also know that you don't have that much evidence against me. Scott Yale is who bombed your car, not me. I'm innocent."

"We've got just enough evidence against you, you piece of shit." Elisa suddenly yelled, grabbing him by his jaw, as Goliath growled at him even more intensely. "I have video evidence of you leaving Larry Stevenson's office, moments after his murder… and a testament of Rose's abuse cases against you."

Kevin grinned and then began laughing again.

"Alright…" he said amusingly. "I'll give you that one. That murder was me… and God, it felt so good to let some of that rage out. But, I'll deny it in court; and all my lawyers will back me… you'll see. I'm invincible."

"How about I let Goliath tear into you right now, and we'll see just how invincible you truly are." Elisa threatened, snarling at him. Slowly, he gazed up into her eyes with his glittering black eyes and suddenly looked very calm.

"Then, do it." He whispered, convincing her and pushing for it. "Go on… nothing is stopping you. You know you want to… "

Elisa stared down at him, and was unnerved greatly; as she was lost of anymore words. Over her years of being in the Police Service, she had come across a lot of scary villians, but there was something about Kevin was unsettling and terrifying to her. He was like a devil, whispering haunted whispering s into her mind, dragging her down into the darkest part of her soul.

As she stared at him, she thought about how Rose had to endure his hell and torture; his black gaze piercing through her kind soul with his evil; and it suddenly made her sick. He was one of the scariest criminals she'd ever come across; and she had come across a lot of scumbags in her career; and had to remind herself to stay calm as she continued to do her job. She closed her eyes, breaking eye contact with him, and uttered out her next words, shaking slightly.

"You have the right to remain silent, the right…"

"... to not go to jail." He interjected suddenly, his voice full of power and determination.

Without warning, he kicked his legs up, under Goliath's abdomen and launched him, with a great effort, off of him. He rolled away, towards the opposite edge of the bridge, all while Elisa was still stunned by his strength in launching Goliath off him.

Elisa blinked for a moment, and then whipped her arm out with her uninjured arm, and followed him with her gun to shoot him, but he rolled up from the ground, running towards her and back handed Elisa across the face as hard as he could, smacking her to the ground. The moment she hit the ground, stars formed all around, and then Kevin's face was next to hers.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, detective."

With that, she closed her eyes and passed out. Grinning at her, Kevin picked up his taser, which was closest for him to grab, and tased Goliath, electrocuting him, and not letting go until he was screaming out, roaring in pain, and then finally; collapsed on the ground. Kevin grabbed his gun again from the ground again, and ran back towards the water, and what he saw made him want to explode. Not only was Rose still alive, but Brooklyn, her lover, was alive too; and was pulling her to the shore.

"NOOOO!" He screamed out, cocking his gun and pointed it down at the icy waters below and opened fired upon them. Brooklyn quickly looked up, as Kevin attacked them with bullets, and protected Rose, pushing them both under water once again. But, Kevin kept coming, and kept shooting bullets at them- gritting his teeth and screaming out in rage with every quick kick of the automatic rifle.

Then, without warning, Goliath's roar was heard once again, and Kevin was smacked into. He rolled away from Goliath and was about to shoot him dead with the automatic rifle, but Goliath leapt forward, grabbed the automatic gun from his hands, and crushed it in his giant claws with great ease. Once his gun fell to the ground in pieces, Goliath grabbed Kevin and threw him as hard as he could away from him, into a metal bridge spire.
Painfully, Kevin crashed to the ground after hitting into the spire, and was struggling to will his weaker body to keep fighting with his vodka high wearing off. He hadn't eaten much food, and wasn't as strong as he once was, and after tonight; that was all going to chance.

Kevin slowly raised his enraged, black eyes, facing the large lavender Gargoyle. Goliath was there once again, grabbed Kevin by the head and began to slam his head down upon the ground, over and over again. Kevin's eyesight was beginning to fail him, and he was running out of ammunition to use against Goliath. Kevin gritted his teeth, clocked Goliath in the face, as hard as he could, and then pulled out a knife from his pants and stabbed it into his arm. Goliath roared out, but it didn't slow him down. He immediately grabbed the blade out of his arm, and with brightly lit white eyes, raised it above his own head to stab it through Kevin's face.

"Tonight… it ends!" Goliath roared out, raising the knife. "MONSTER!"

Kevin's eyes widened in fear, and for the first time he felt like he was truly going to lose, but then a sudden sound of squealing tires filled the air; and a bright light filled the darkness around them. Goliath looked up in shock, and gasped

A large van was speeding towards them, but wasn't going to hit them. Elisa was stirring from the ground, not far away from them, and the van was speeding right for her, mere feet away from running her over. Forgetting Kevin, Goliath roared out in panic, jumped up from the ground and dove for his mate; wrapped his strong arms around her small frame; and body-rolled himself and Elisa from getting hit from the oncoming car. Seconds after he did, the van sped past them, and did a side sweep on the snowy ground, turning a full three-sixty degrees towards Kevin. His eyes widened and didn't know who they were, but didn't question it. They knew him; and were here to help him. When the van's sliding door opened, six men in masks, yelled "GET IN!"

Kevin grinned, stood up, and then ran to the side door of the van, climbed inside, and laughed hysterically.

"TILL WE MEET AGAIN, GOLIATH!" He yelled out, before slamming the door shut, and the van sped off. When Goliath raised his head, and looked around; the black van was speeding away from them into the City, and just like that, Kevin was gone; along with the hope of getting rid of his evil from their lives forever.

Goliath closed his eyes and let out very low and heavy sigh, but then looked down at his beautiful mate, who was still in his arms. He was hovering above her body; holding her; as Elisa still had her gun in her hand and was looking over at the escaping van as well, as it quickly disappeared from their view. Once it was gone, she looked back up into his deep and beautiful eyes, with great worry.

"Did you by chance see where they were heading, and who they were?" Elisa whispered.

Goliath shook his head, sighing out a growl again.

"No. I only saw that it was a black van… but I did not see who was inside, nor where they went..."

Elisa closed her eyes, and let her head fall onto the snowy ground in total defeat, sighing out heavily. Goliath watched his mate with great worry, as she had been injured, and was completely exhausted and spent. Over the past few months, she had been working tirelessly with her partner, Matt Bluestone and the other Officers in finding Kevin, and securing evidence against him. All while feeling helpless the entire maddening time, as dead ends would come up with every angel. Like his own frustrations, Kevin seemed to be untouchable; as he was easily escaping the law, and the Gargoyles', despite all their efforts to catch him. Goliath suddenly felt extremely responsible for his escape, and should have killed him when he had the chance, instead of talking and letting him get into his head.

Elisa turned the safety back on her gun; and placed it back in her jacket, sat up, and with Goliath's help; was helped to her feet. She glanced over the now empty street with sadness, and great frustration, ran her fingers through her long dark hair, and stared at all the different tire marks on the bridge from past travelers. She did not know which tire marks belonged to the van, and they were too far gone to be tracked now..

"I've failed." She sighed out in defeat, hanging her head low as hot tears fell down her face. Goliath gently wrapped her in his arms and felt that same weight of failure in his heart.

"No, my love." He whispered heavily. "We've failed. All of us."

He did not know what he would do anymore; nor where to start searching. Nor did he know how to tell Brooklyn that Kevin was gone, and there was no able way of tracking him. After all the insanity tonight, they had lost Kevin, and had failed in protecting Rose from his evil, as well as everyone else in his destructive path.

---

When Rose's head slid under the icy water, Brooklyn felt like he was going to die from the fear; he could not lose her. He wouldn't. His eyes lit up brightly in protection for her, and with a roar, he punched through the last of the ice; and pulled her to the shore.

With one arm around her now limp body, he reached out with his sharp claws and anchored them to the wall that was holding up a sidewalk. One he secured himself, he pulled her up from the water over his shoulder, and began to climb the wall. Every part of his body was screaming out in pain, and the sensitive spot in between his wings, was cut up and seemed to make his pain even greater.

Closing his eyes, and gritting his teeth against the pain, he finally got both of them out of the water, and once on the safety of the sidewalk, he lowered her body off his shoulder and hovered inches above her.

"Rose…" he breathed, losing his strength. He braced his arms around her face, and lowered his body to hers, and his forehead against hers, shaking uncontrollably, dripping water everywhere. He closed his eyes, gasped in and out; and tried to ignore his own pain and exhaustion. After a few seconds, he came to, opened his eyes, forced himself off her and laid down next to her, all while collecting her in his arms, and forcing her face to face his. He looked down upon her face, as she laid limply in his arms again, and shook her slightly.

"My love? Wake up… we're out of the water," he said gently, hoping she was just sleeping. "You're safe now."

However, when she didn't respond; immediate panic filled his heart, his eyes widened, and he shook her again in his arms.

"Rose?" He asked her, all while grabbing her jawline with his claws. "ROSE?!"

When she still didn't respond, he quickly glanced over her body, and could see her wounds better; and he wished he could unseen what he saw.

"No, no, no… NO!" Brooklyn cried out. Blood was pouring out from her eyebrow, dripping slowly down her face, upper arm from the first gunshot, chest from the last, and her beautiful face was covered in black and blue with bruises and cuts; all from Kevin beating her up. Her jeans were cut up and blood was flowing out of her skin; from what looked like a stab wound in her right leg, during her attempt to flee Kevin.

Her skin was so white, and had a blue hue, that told him that she was beyond freezing. Brooklyn cried out in anguish at how badly injured she appeared, and needed her to wake up. When she still wouldn't respond, he placed her gently back on the ground and lowered his ear to her chest.

"Come on, please… Rose, don't do this to me." He begged her, all while listening to her heart and lungs. To his terror, her heart was beating weakly, but she wasn't breathing. Crying out, Brooklyn brought her face up to his, crying earnestly.

"Ahhh, no. NO! Please, no! My love…!" He begged and cried; lifting his head up from her chest and didn't know what to do. He wasn't good with medical emergencies; but as he looked down at her, he suddenly remembered Elisa doing CPR on Angela a few years back, when she joined the Clan and was injured by the original Gargoyle Hunters.

Rose's heart was beating still, but he needed to breathe for her. As he stared into her face, an energy flowed through him and he exhaled in relief by their connection, which meant that she was still alive, and he still had a chance to save her. The connection flowed through him like a hot liquid, warming and calming him, and warned him that her life was fading, but more than that, he suddenly had a clear mind, and knew exactly what he needed to do in order to save her. He needed to breathe for her, and keep breathing for her until she lungs worked again.

"Stay with me, Rose…" He urged her, lifting her chin up, opened her mouth and then crushed his lips down upon hers and blew air into her lungs, giving her the oxygen she needed. Being careful to not overwhelm her smaller body, he lifted up, inhaled more air into his lungs and did it again. After a few rounds of rescue breathing, he lowered his ear to her chest again and listened, while feeling her pulse on her wrist. Her heart was still beating, but she was still not breathing. Lifting his head back up, he growled and whispered, "Don't give up, Rose! Come on, baby. Breathe!"

Lowering his mouth to hers again, he braced his arms on either side of her, and breathed into her, willing for her to live; fighting for her life since she couldn't. He didn't know how long he kept breathing for her, but when he lifted his lips up from her, water suddenly began to drizzle out of her mouth. His heart leapt hopefully, and knew he was getting somewhere with her, but it wasn't enough. He needed to force the water out of her body, and fast.

Gritting his teeth, he placed his claws in the center of her chest and pressed down hard a few times, coming up enough to let her rib cage recoil. With his strength; the connection flowed through his claws and into her rib cage; pulsing into her body all while healing and fueling her internal organs to work properly. Brooklyn could feel all this and gritted his teeth even harder, willing his efforts to work, willing for her to survive. After doing some chest compression's, he lowered his lips to hers and breathed again for her; but as he did all that, he could still feel her life fading faster away.

"Nooooo. Please…" He pleaded with her in a broken voice, as he lifted his lips from hers after giving her breaths. "Rose… my love… please, don't leave me! I… I can't live without you. I love you… if you die… I will surely die too."

Tears were pouring down his face as he gazed into her face, and suddenly felt a rage pulse through him. He wasn't going to give up, and this wasn't going to be her end, and refused to give Kevin the pleasure of knowing he killed her after all. He lifted his face up, pressed his claws back down in the middle of her chest, and pressed down hard and fast.

"Please… baby… please!" Brooklyn was begging, pleading, pushing down even harder and faster, his pleas becoming more intense and desperate. "Don't leave me… ! Come on, breathe! BREATHE! COME ON!"

Just then, large amounts of water exploded out of her mouth, and her body instantly began to shutter violently. Then, before he could react, her eyes opened and Rose began to gag and cough out the water. Brooklyn grabbed her shoulders and turned her quickly to her side, so that she could vomit and cough out the water from her stomach and lungs without anymore issues. Brooklyn closed his eyes, and cried out in relief, and pounded his fist gently on her back, to help her cough the water out of her lungs.
As she vomited and coughed out the water, she finally was able to breathe again; taking deep breaths in between her violent coughs. Rose was still out of it, as her lungs fought with the vomiting, coughing, to breathe in the air. But, finally, after the final coughing fit, Rose's head fell to the ground limply, and she began breathing in great gasps with her eyes closed again.

Unable to stifle his sobs, he cried out in relief, inhaled a deep but shaky breath in, and then lowered his body next to hers, taking her in his arms, and forced his dead wings around her for warmth, and curled her body, needing her against him, as he cried earnestly into her hair, kissing her head with every breath..

As he held her and felt her heartbeat against his chest, his connection to her naturally pulsed through his body and was offering her warmth, and strength. After a few minutes of crying, Brooklyn calmed down, and then opened his eyes warily, his entire body sore, and beyond exhausted. He couldn't believe tonight's events, and how quickly it all fell apart.

Earlier, he and Rose had gone out on his motorcycle around midnight, and here they were, almost five AM, exhausted, having beaten death more than once; lying under the starry, icy skies, drenched, and turning into ice. As he breathed out white puffs of air, he looked down at Rose's face, which was cradled against his body, to offer warmth, and saw gentle puffs leave her nose and mouth, telling him that she was breathing. Slowly, he looked back up into the night sky, and let his mind wonder about the world he once knew. If there was a higher power out there, it seemed that he owed a great deal to it for allowing Rose to still live.

For early morning, the sky was still dark, and the snow clouds had broken; just enough for him to see the moon and the stars above, which amazed him that he could even see any, with all the light from the City. As he gazed up into the Heavens, and thought about all that had happened, it was too much for him. But Rose was alive, and for that he would be immensely grateful.

Suddenly; Rose moved and moaned slightly, breaking him out of his spiritual trance. Brooklyn gasped and raised his head off hers, to face her. She was breathing and seemed to be in a great deal of pain, her breathing still had signs of water in her lungs. Her body shuddered again, and she began to cough violently. Brooklyn eased her face away from his body, as she coughed more water out, and threw up; the water mixing with blood. Her cough sounded hoarse and painful, but it was doing it's job.

However, if he didn't get her out of the cold and to the hospital, her condition would worsen, as her body had no doubt had pneumonia once again. Rose kept coughing and more water came out. Brooklyn held her, closing his eyes, until she stopped and collapsed again; crying out in pain; tears falling down her face earnestly.

"Rose…" He croaked out, crying as well, and gently caressing her face his. "I've got you, honey, I'm sorry…. "

She cried out painfully for a few seconds, before she suddenly opened her eyes and was gazing into his eyes with a tearfully, dazed expression.

"Brooklyn…?" she breathed weakly. "What…?"

"Shh… my love." He whispered, tears falling down his face, faster now. "Don't speak. Save your strength."

"You're here…!" She breathed out painfully, but sounded relieved. More tears streamed down his face, as she continued to breathe shallowly, and was shaking in his arms. As he looked her over, he held her hand in his claw, and pressed his lips to her cold skin.

"Of course, I'm here. I would never have let you go under that water. I'm sorry I didn't reach you in time… I can't believe I nearly lost you, both times." He whispered, crying still. Looking up at him, her breathing was staggered, but she refused to take her eyes off his; and offered his a small smile.

"I l-l-lo-ve you-you." She whispered weakly, through her chattering teeth and shaking body. His tear-filled eyes found hers, and melted at her words. Her small smile broke his heart, and made things worse for him, as a dam of emotions poured out of his heart.

"I'm so sorry…" He cried, angry with himself, as he held her tightly in his arms. "Rose, I'm so sorry! I have failed you in every way tonight, and… I'm never going to forgive myself for- for what he's done to you."

"Shhh." Rose whispered, still shaking violently and reached a finger, weakly up to his beak. "D-don't… y-you s-s-save-d m-me. Y-you can't c-control wha-at Ke-evin does, j-just like I-I c-can't."

Brooklyn cupped her face, and cried earnestly, shaking his head; hating Kevin more than anything he ever thought possible. Rose slowly raised her hand up and touched his tears and slowly began to close her eyes, her arm losing strength.

He watched her slowly losing weaken and knew they needed to get moving. Sniffing, he exhaled sharply and then looked down over her wounds, to see how he could stop her bleeding, but was relieved to see that the gunshot hadn't actually punctured vital organs in her chest; and only stayed in her shoulder, and the bleeding had significantly slowed. Rose watched him glance over her body and wounds, blinked a few times and then adjusted her body in his arms, trying to sit up, but gasped at how much it hurt. Instantly; she cried out in pain, shutting her eyes, as more blood exited her shoulder and chest.

"No, baby, no." Brooklyn urged, holding onto her tighter now. "Don't move. I've got you, and am never going to let you go again. I promise you that… but for now, I'm going to get you to the hospital."

"No…" she moaned weakly. "Don't… want… hospital…"

"Sorry." He said, shaking still from adrenaline and fear."You don't have a choice. I… I can't lose you, Rose; and there's nothing more I can do for you out here, so you're going. End of discussion."

Rose didn't argue with him, and only nestled herself closer into his bare chest, shaking uncontrollably. Taking a deep breath, he adjusted her in his arms, and then stood; gasping out in pain.

Rose's eyes widened at his painful cry, and grasped onto his face.

"My love?!"

"I'm fine." He gasped through gritted teeth. "Don't worry about me."

"You're injured!" She gasped out.

"Yes," He answered, holding her closer to him and taking a deep breath. "But, I'll survive. What matters the most here, is getting you to safety. Everything else is secondary to your survival and safety."

"Even Kevin?" She asked him softly.

He gritted his teeth in anger, as he slowly walked and carried her back towards the bridge, where he had left Goliath to finish him off. Growling at her question, he refused to answer it, as he didn't yet know. As they walked, and Rose was out of immediate danger, he suddenly realized something that made his blood turn cold; and Rose picked up on it as well.

"It's so quiet." She whispered, resting against his chest.

Brooklyn stopped walking and stared up at the bridge, his eyes going wide. There was no sign of Goliath anywhere, and all sounds of gunshots and battle was no longer raging above them.

"Yes," Brooklyn replied, still keeping his wings around her. "It's almost too quiet."

He took a deep breath and then began to walk towards the bridge, quicker this time. Since they were on the street, under the bridge, he would try to scale it up to the street above. As he walked, with her in his arms, she gazed blankly up into his face and then lightly rubbed her hand across his chest.

"It's getting warmer." She whispered. "I can… I can feel your connection flowing through my body, it's like a giant blanket."

"I know." He replied, holding her tighter in his arms. "I need you to survive this damned night… and I will give it all to you, if need be."

Rose continued to stare up into his face, and though the connection power was flowing through her, masking her pain and calming her, she could not deny what she was seeing in his face.

"Brooklyn?" She asked him gently. "Are you all right?"

He stopped walking and looked down at her in disbelief, tears still in his eyes and closed his mouth. Very stiffly, he shook his head and breathed, "No. I'm not, and won't be until I know for a fact that you will survive this night; and that all my Clan are safe; and that Kevin's head is cut off from his body and delivered to me as proof."

Rose stared up at him with an inscrutable expression and didn't know what to say. She didn't disagree with him, and only prayed and hoped that the silence uptop meant peace and freedom from Kevin's terror, forever. She hated seeing Brooklyn in this state, and couldn't imagine how much he had endured. She was sure that she passed out numerous times, but the severity of her injuries, she didn't know yet, and only wanted Brooklyn to be stress-free.

She closed her eyes and kept her hand on his chest, while her other hand rested under his arm and held onto his back. As he kept walking, she rubbed her hand in comfort up his back, near the base of his wing, and he winced in pain, gasping out.

Rose's eyes opened, and then slowly moved her hand off his back as she felt moisture. Looking at her hand, she saw it was covered in blood, and with wide eyes she gasped, "Brooklyn! You're bleeding…!"

"Don't worry about me." He grimaced. "Just keep your strength, my love, and relax please."

"Were you shot?!" She squealed out, breathing faster now, getting worked up. The connection warming and calming her, was fading and she was becoming more aware of her own pain.

"No, I don't think so." He answered her gently. "I'm pretty sure it was from my body impacting against the ice. I had gotten to you just in time, and forced my body to break the ice for you."

"But… you're injured." Rose whimpered, tears coming to her eyes.

"I'm okay." He sighed, smiling gently down at her. "Better me breaking that ice than you. It would have killed you for sure, especially the speed we were both falling."

Rose took a shaky breath, trying to ignore how tired and in pain she was, as every injury was slowly creeping back towards her nerves, making her wince and gasp out. Tears filled her eyes and slowly the hot tears fell out of her eyes, and down her cheek.

"Brooklyn…" she whispered. "I'm so… so sorry. For everything… this is… all my fault."

They had reached the base of the bridge, and Brooklyn stopped and cupped her face in his claw and gazed down into her face. His eyes were piercing hers with such intensity and love, and both of them wanted more than to be free of their pain, and get lost in each other's love.

As if he was thinking the same thing she was, he exhaled out, and pressed his lips to hers; kissing her fiercely. Rose brought a hand up to his beak and held onto his jawline, while her other arm wrapped tightly around his neck, and lifted herself more tightly to his lips. His tongue entered her mouth and both kissed and made out passionately, before she grimaced and the pain in her face was being triggered by his weight on her face.

He opened his eyes, hovered his face just above hers, and bared his teeth in anger.

"I- I'm sorry… it's just my face… hurts. As does my entire body… " She apologized again, thinking the anger was towards her, but he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm not angry at you, my love." He breathed, and then looked up at the brick in front of him. "I'm beyond furious at the pain Kevin has inflicted upon you… he… he better be dead. And even if he is, I want a few minutes with him, to beat the rest of any remaining life out of him."

As Rose stared at him, he cleared his throat, and then continued, "I gotta climb this wall and check on Goliath. Do you think you can hold onto me? Or do we have to go the long way?"

"I… I think I can hold onto you." Rose said quietly, as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Brooklyn opened his wings, making her shake against the cold, since she was still wearing soaking wet clothes, and jumped up on the wall, puncturing his sharp talons into the brick. He started climbing a few feet, before Rose's strength gave out.

"Oh… OH NO! No, I don't have you!" She cried out.

With wide eyes, he felt her slip, and he immediately let go of the wall, grabbed Rose again, and fell to the ground; his feet catching the brunt of them both. Her body slipped slightly from his grasp, and her legs slipped out of his arms, and hit the ground. When her injured leg hit the ground, and she had weight upon it, she screamed out in pain; as Brooklyn quickly grabbed her grabbed her backside and tried to help her keep weight off it.

"Are you okay?" He asked anxiously.

"Ouch! Ow.. oh, I'm sorry… I tried… I couldn't hold on… " She gasped out, her face screwed up in pain. "Kevin… stabbed me in the leg, and I- ow- everywhere just hurts… My chest… my shoulders… "

Brooklyn scooped her back up into his arms easily, wrapped his wings around her body and gazed down into her face with a painful expression; as if he was torn in between crying or wanting to explode out in rage. He began to walk the long way, towards the side street and the beginning of the bridge; and shook his head with tears in his eyes.

"No, I'm sorry." He said softly, holding her close to him, rubbing his cheek to hers. "I shouldn't have even offered you that choice. You nearly died, for hell's sake, and here I am trying to make you use up even more energy. It was stupid to even ask that of you. I'm sorry- I've got you, babe. Just rest; we'll be up at the top of the bridge in just a little bit. Once I see that Goliath is okay, and Kevin dead, then I will take you to the hospital. This shouldn't take very long at all."

"As long as I'm with you, I'm good." Rose breathed, closing her eyes and rested her head against his neck, kissing his skin gently. "I'm sorry for all I've put you through… truly. I hope you know that I am thankful for you, and am unbelievably and irrevocably in love with you. I can't imagine the hell you've been put through, and more than anything, I long to take all that pain away from you. Take the burden from your shoulders..."

Brooklyn closed his eyes for an instant, but then moaned out. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently.

"You said, everything that I am feeling. Rose…" He breathed against her lips. " I want to take all your pain away, and I can't imagine how terrified you were as you were being faced with Kevin and his insanity, and I was not there to protect you. That is what I feel the most terrible for… for failing you and breaking my promise to you."

"You haven't broken any promises to me." Rose said firmly. "Babe, you have done everything…"

"Don't." He interrupted, closing his eyes. "Please, don't say it, Rose. Don't tell me I have everything right, when I haven't. I promised you, when we first met, that I would not let him hurt or find you, and here we are… having gone through both states of hell and broken promises. Rose… God, I'm just… I'm so sorry. I wish I… I wish I had never left you behind at the Castle. If only I had been there with you, I could have killed Kevin and we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Don't blame yourself, Brooklyn." She whispered, caressing his face. "You have done everything that you can, with what we've been faced with! You were trying to protect me, by hunting him; which was something that needed to happen. You can't stand over me, night and day, as we are all vulnerable. Tonight was more than I ever thought was possible as well, and I would have been safe, if that damn college kid, security guard, didn't shoot me with a taser in my head. I was beating his ass with my magic, and could have done the same thing with Kevin! But, Adam knocked me out and injured me. After that, I couldn't will my magic to even respond. That's why I ran from Kevin instead. At first, I was going to fight him and give him a piece of my mind… but ya know… that didn't work out so great."

"I'm sorry, Rose." Brooklyn said quietly, resting his head upon her gently, and tightened his grasp on her body. "That security guard is also on my hit list…"

"Kevin tricked him, as he tricked all of us." Rose said quietly. "He was only doing it to protect his family. Kevin was threatening to kill his wife and kids; he was acting out of desperation and fear…"

"I don't care!!" Brooklyn snarled. "It's because of him, that Kevin was even able to get his hands upon you tonight."

"Oh, Brooklyn…" Rose whispered, resting her head against his chest, with tears coming to her eyes. "We both knew this was going to happen; ever since I had that nightmare all those weeks ago... It was just a matter of when and how. That nightmare had warned me of tonight, and because we underestimated Kevin, it was bound to happen no matter what we try."

Brooklyn gritted his teeth, as his eyes lit up brightly and began snarling, not looking at her. Rose signed out, grabbed his face and forced him to look into her face.

"But, now we know better…" She whispered, caressing his face. "So, please… let's not argue. Not after almost losing each other… I desire to feel nothing except your love; and have you feel mine for you."

Instantly, his eyes stopped glowing, and his gaze softened at her words. Sighing, he closed his eyes and gently kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry, you're right, my love." He whispered. "I'm not angry with you, and don't mean to be so brash. Tonight was… just…"

"A nightmare coming true." Rose breathed out, closing her eyes.

"Yes," he breathed back. "One that I fear I'll keep re-living and being haunted by until I know for a fact that Kevin is gone and dead."

"I know…" Rose whispered, kissing his chest, tears falling down her face. "It's going to haunt me too…"

"Then we will fight those demons together." He said firmly. "I will stay with you every night, holding you while you sleep, so that we both will be protected by those demons."

"Sounds like a date." Rose breathed, exhaustion taking over her. It was still so cold outside, but she was numb to it all. His connections were the only thing that relatively felt warm and real to her. As they walked up onto the bridge, he held her closer to him and kissed her head.

"Yes, it is. You can count on that." Brooklyn replied, smiling.

As they walked over the bridge, he immediately noticed that there had been a great battle. Signs of battle were all over the bridge, from bullets, explosions, and to his further shock, an NYPD cop car was in the middle of the road, with it's blue and red lights on, and saw it was Elisa. She was standing in Goliath's arms, and both looked distraught.

For a small moment, Brooklyn's relief was instant, as he saw that both Elisa and Goliath were alive, but then something else snuck into his heart, making it want to quit beating. As Brooklyn gazed around the area, he was thrown into another stage of panic and rage when Kevin was nowhere to be found. Goliath looked up when he saw Brooklyn walking towards them, with Rose in his arms; and instantly both him and Elisa ran towards him and Rose; their faces full of worry and concern. Elisa reached him first and gasped when she saw how badly Rose was bleeding and was injured.

"Rose!" Elisa cried out, tears coming to her eyes. "You're alive!"

Goliath looked from Brooklyn to Rose, with eyes filled with tears and gasped.

"She's alive…" He paused and then placed a strong claw on his shoulder. "Get her to the hospital, Brooklyn."

Brooklyn, however, continued to look around the bridge and didn't see any sign of Kevin, anywhere. His eyes widened; and completely ignored Goliath's orders. Goliath seemed to see where his mind was, as he was holding his critically injured love.

"Brooklyn…" Goliath warned, but Brooklyn interrupted him.

"Where did he go? Where is he?!" Brooklyn snarled angrily, at the pair, holding Rose tightly in his arms. As he looked around some more, he noticed tire tracks on the ground. The tire tracks made a half-circle in the snowy street, and took off back towards the west side; heading back into held onto Rose strongly; and each movement he made, made her gasp out in pain. Elisa looked from her, to Brooklyn's rage-filled face, to Goliath and sighed.

"He had help." Elisa explained to him shortly, hanging her head down.

"What do you mean, he had help!?" Brooklyn howled out, looking from Elisa to Goliath, with wide-eyes.

"A black van, nearly ran over Elisa and I… it would have killed us, had I not seen it last second." Goliath explained, trying to remain calm. "I tackled Elisa and myself away from the car, and it picked Kevin up. It took off, back into the City."

"What happened after I jumped after Rose, Goliath?!" Brooklyn continued to berate them with questions. "You are the strongest of us all! Why isn't KEVIN DEAD!?"

Goliath took a deep breath, and hung his head as well, hating himself.

"Because he wanted me to kill him." Goliath explained. "He wanted to prove that we are unfeeling monsters… and with that, I wanted to give him Gargoyle justice than what he was thinking we were capable of. I'm sorry Brooklyn. As I battled him, he also put up an amazing fight. He is a lot stronger than I gave him credit for… and underestimated him. I was about to kill him, when the van came and picked him up."

Brooklyn felt more rage pulse through him, as Goliath explained what had happened. Kevin had nearly destroyed everything that he loved and held dearly… and now he was gone, once again. Brooklyn's breathing quickened and he tightened his grip on Rose.

"Why are we just STANDING here? Let's follow it before we lose him completely!"

"It's already too late." Goliath said quietly. "There are too many tracks on the ground, and we didn't see who picked him up. We are without any leads."

Rose watched this exchange with wide-eyes. She didn't know what was happening; all she knew was that she was bleeding, in excruciating pain, exhausted, sore, and absolutely in shock over what happened again. Kevin had gotten away, yet again. He was still out there, alive, and hunting her… desiring her death. To make matters even worse; he knew where she and the other Gargoyles lived.

"We can't just give up!" Brooklyn whispered, his strength unable to sustain it anymore.

"We won't," Elisa said quietly, touching his shoulder while taking Rose's hand in hers. Tears fell down her face and she sobbed, "I swear it. We won't give up… I'm so sorry. You're right, Rose. The Police has failed you, I've failed you…"

Brooklyn stared down at Elisa, with tears in his own eyes, and slowly he closed them and shakily asked, "We… we don't know anything about the men who took him?"

"No, other than they were masked and seemed to have it all planned." Goliath explained. "They were in a black van; one I've never seen before…"

As Rose listened to Goliath describe the van and masked men, she suddenly realized something that Kevin had told her, back in the open meadow. His grand finale or so he said.

"The Quarrymen…" Rose muttered suddenly, as Brooklyn, Elisa and Goliath all stared down at her with wide eyes.

"What did you just say?" Goliath asked her quietly, his eyes widening in horror. Rose closed her eyes and rested her head and hands against Brooklyn's chest, and repeated what she said, numbly.

"Kevin told me tonight that he has found the Quarrymen, after he found out about all of you, and have rallied their help in destroying the Clan. That's probably who is helping him now. That's his final play… to destroy you all… and then destroy me."

Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes, processing what she had said. Tears filled her eyes, and she buried herself into Brooklyn, unable to look at their horrified faces.

"The Quarrymen…?" Elisa gasped, and looked up from her to Brooklyn and Goliath.

"Which means…?" Brooklyn interjected with wide eyes.

As Goliath growled, clenching his fists, "They now know where we sleep and live."

A horrific silence passed between the three of them, as they realized how horrible tonight really was. Brooklyn kept his mouth open and was staring at Goliath in horror; as Goliath seemed numb with his own woe. Suddenly, Elisa jumped into action, pulled out her cell phone and started talking with her partner Matt Bluestone, relaying everything she knew, to get officers to follow the car.

Rose overheard her talking quickly, about the color of the vehicle and the general direction in which the car was going, but felt herself fade away slightly. Brooklyn watched Elisa talk with her partner with wide-eyes and then took a deep breath, shaking his head, and then looked down at Rose's beaten face, and felt horrible. She needed to get the hospital… and he wanted nothing more than to be with her… but he had to stop Kevin once and for all; before the Quarrymen found them.

Brooklyn walked over and gently held Rose out to Goliath.

"Please, take her to the hospital… I need… I need to find him, Goliath." Brooklyn said, his heart breaking into a million pieces. He wanted to stay with Rose, but couldn't allow Kevin to get far away. However; Goliath's eyes hardened and pushed her back into his arms.

"No, Brooklyn." He ordered firmly. "She is your betrothed… and I know how much you want revenge against Kevin, right now… but Rose needs you and medical attention more. Try to place your vengeance into the back of your mind for right now and take care of your love."

Brooklyn closed his eyes, sighing, and then brought Rose's body closer to his. She had been awake and alert the whole time, listening to them and felt tears come to her eyes. She could feel every emotion that Brooklyn was feeling; as their electric current was still connecting them. It pulsed through their veins and limbs, as though fueling them.

Elisa got off the phone, walked towards them and said, " I've phone for an ambulance. They are on their way right now. I'll go with her to the hospital."

Elisa walked over to the driver's seat, turned off her blinding scene lights and then opened the back door and sat down, with a heavy sigh; pulling an emergency blanket out. She then held her arms out to Brooklyn, motioning him to hand her over.

"I've got her, Brooklyn." Elisa said softly. "I'll keep her warm until the ambulance gets here. Go with Goliath, rally the Clan and find Kevin. Put a stop to this madness… once and for all."

Goliath and Brooklyn looked at each other, as Goliath reluctantly nodded; before Brooklyn looked down upon Rose's face and whispered, "Are you alright with this? I… I can't bear to leave you again."

"With Kevin and the Quarrymen aligning against us all… do we have any other choice?" Rose begged him, crying silently. "Kevin must be stopped…"

"Rose…" Brooklyn gasped, tears falling down his face and sighed heavily. "I don't think I can leave you, or your safety to chance again!"

"I know… but I'll be fine. I promise." Rose whispered, smiling gently and placing her hands upon his face. "Let the others know what's going on, try to find Kevin, and then meet me at the hospital."

"I don't know if I'll be able to make all that happen before sunrise." Brooklyn argued back desperately.

"Then we'll see each other tomorrow night." She said softly. "Trust yourself, trust in me. Like you trust the sun to rise and fall; for the stars to appear in the night sky... for air to be present in our lungs."

Brooklyn gazed down upon her face, with his mouth open and could tell he was extremely torn between his duty and his commitment to her.

"Rose…" He whispered.

"Go," Rose breathed, smiling at him. "I'll be okay…"

"Yeah," He replied dryly. "That's what I thought earlier when I left you at the Castle…"

"Brooklyn," Elisa said, looking positively drained. "I know you don't trust me to protect her, but I promise you, we'll be alright. Kevin is gone, and most likely will need to regroup as well."

"What if I let you guys go, and he bombs the hospital?" Brooklyn argued, holding Rose rightly to him. "We've just been taught, that we can't underestimate him, so we have to think about all the horrible things that can go wrong!"

"True, but Kevin also wants you to live in that fear and be in his control." Rose said, taking his face in her hands. "Baby... it's that exact fear that held me bound for so long. I was so afraid to make that jump and leap of faith to leave him. The same thing applies right now. We must take a leap of faith somewhere, somehow, while keeping in mind that he is capable of anything."

"Rose is right," Goliath said, stepping forward. "While I may not have killed him tonight, I do know for a fact that I severely injured him. I would be completely stupefied if Kevin was able to attack an entire hospital tonight as well. His whole objective was to kill Rose; and while we may have failed to catch him, he has failed as well; as Rose lives. I think she'll be safe to go to the hospital for the time being."

Brooklyn stared at his leader for a few seconds, debating what to do, but then as he looked into his betrothed's sweet face. She looked so weak, tired and injured; and knew she needed the hospital. Taking a deep breath, he nodded and whispered, "Okay…"

He walked Rose over to Elisa and gently eased her into the warm car, as Elisa took over holding onto her, and warming her with the blanket. Rose smiled gently at him, and breathed, "It's gonna be okay…"

Brooklyn, however, knelt down didn't care that Elisa's face was right next to his, or that Goliath was watching the pair of them, he was going to tell Rose how much she meant to him. But Goliath's eyes widened upon seeing Brooklyn's back and gasped.

"Brooklyn, your back… your injured!"

"It's just a scratch." He replied, almost immediately. "Nothing our stone nap can't cure."

With that, he turned back to face Rose, and took her face into his claws.

"Brooklyn…" Rose began to say, worried for his injuries, but Brooklyn shushed her gently.

"Shh, babe. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. But… I'm sorry that he's done this to you, Rose. We are going to put an end to his terror; once and for all. I'm sorry that I have to leave you, but I must go. After what he's done tonight… after finding, hurting you and nearly killing you..." He broke off; as tears streamed down his face, and couldn't seem to talk anymore; as his emotions got the best of him. "I'm so sorry… I broke my promise to you, and have failed you... but I won't fail you this time."

Rose was trying to focus on her breathing; to keep the pain at bay, but a new wave of emotions slamming into her heart. Her lips trembled as a sob broke through her throat, more hot tears falling down her face.

"You didn't fail me." She gasped. "I love you, Brooklyn. I'm the one who is sorry, this is... all too much."

Elisa offered Rose back over to Brooklyn; where he lovingly took her into his arms, and lowered her face against his chest and let the sobs roll out of her; desperately, painfully and fearfully. He couldn't seem to stop his own tears, either. He held his left claw and arm on her back, and kissed her on the head.

"I need to go. I'm sorry, I cannot just let him get away."

Slowly; she nodded, and let him go. He gently brought a talon under her chin and looked deeply and lovingly into her eyes. It was different than the terrifying looks Kevin gave her, moments ago; and she forever wanted to forget those eyes.

"Are you going to be alright?" He asked her, holding her tenderly.

"Yes, as long as you return to me. Alive." Rose croaked out. "Please, be safe. Kevin is ruthless, and absolutely terrifying… don't underestimate him. He's with the Quarrymen now. We are all in danger now."

Brooklyn would have laughed at her in the past, and taken her words as a hit to his pride; however, now he took her words to heart. Kevin had suddenly become a force to be reckoned with, as he was surprisingly swift, cunning and strong. They were having a hell of a time trying to just play 'catch up' with him.

Brooklyn nodded and then whispered, "I promise…"

He stopped talking and suddenly heard sirens coming closer and closer to them. The ambulance was on its way towards them to take Rose to the hospital. Brooklyn looked back down at his love and then whispered urgently, "I love you so much. I'll meet you at the hospital later. Please, fight and continue fighting, Rose. I can't live in this world without you."

Rose felt tears falling down her face, as tears streamed down his.

"I love you, too. I will… I promise." Rose whispered, lifting her good shoulder up to gently caress his beak.

He closed her eyes at her touch; and then opened his eyes to gaze into hers. Sirens were coming louder and louder, suddenly, and Goliath's claw came down on his shoulder, gently. "We've got to go now, Brooklyn."

He nodded his head, and gently placed Rose back into Elisa's grasp.

"I'll find him." Brooklyn said in a deep and powerful voice, holding her hands in his claws. "You have my oath… I'll find him, and will destroy him. Then I will return back to you. We will then get married, and live our life together… the way we've planned it."

Rose offered him a small smile as he gave his promise to her.

"Give him hell." She whispered. "Come back to me…"

Brooklyn lowered his face to hers and gently touched her lips with his and kissed her. Rose flinched slightly, as her face and lips hurt a great deal; and Brooklyn instantly pulled away. He inhaled deeply; calming himself, as a new level of rage pulsed through him. Rose couldn't even give him a small kiss, without being in pain. His eyes glowed bright white; and his claws instantly balled up into fists.

She looked ashamed and muttered, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head and growled in a deep and malicious voice, through gritted teeth, "Don't be, I'm going to make him pay for everything he's ever done to you… I swear that to you, my love."

With that, Brooklyn released Rose and ran over to the bridge bars, climbed them so he was high enough to catch the wind currents and took off. Goliath looked from Elisa to Rose, and then growled in anger.

"Elisa, I'll meet you back at the castle, later."

Elisa nodded. "Okay, Matt knows about the vehicle, and is sending a bunch of squads out to hopefully intercept. Keep me posted on what you find."

"I'm sorry to leave you all the way out here," Goliath started to say, but Elisa gently put a finger up to his lips. "While you're at the hospital, please get yourself checked out and get some rest.

"I will. After we are done, we'll come home to the castle to rendezvous with you guys. We'll, no doubt, need to all come up with a plan to prepare for this type of thing again, and hopefully be more prepared for it."

Goliath nodded grimly and then ran a strong talon down her face tenderly and said, in his deep voice, "I agree." He then paused, as he caressed her face and looked endearingly at her, as though he was reveling in her being alive and well as well. "I love you, Elisa."

Elisa smiled lovingly up at him and whispered, "I love you too, big guy."

With that, Rose lowered her gaze from looking at them; as Goliath leaned over and pressed his lips into Elisa's; taking a sweet and loving kiss from him. After a few moments of kissing, he pulled away from Elisa, and then looked at Rose.

"Return back to us, Rose… healthy and strong. You must be better in order for us to throw together another mating ceremony." Goliath told her, giving her a smile.

Rose's heart started to pound excitedly; which gave more pain to her gunshot wound. She grimaced in pain and smiled back at him, unable to say anything more. Then, without another word, both Goliath and Brooklyn ran towards the ledge of the bridge, jumping off it without another word. Though Brooklyn was injured, his wings were still able to catch the wind currents, and after a few seconds, they both disappeared into the night.

Elisa sighed again, and looked down at Rose, slowly; checked her over and gently touched the side of her face. Rose flinched; but didn't pull away, as she stayed in her arms. Now that Rose was in the warm squad car, she could finally feel herself thawing out and warming up, ever so slightly. Elisa was looking at her with great sadness, at all of the bruises, beating marks, and the gunshot wound on her arm. Though it only grazed her skin; it still looked deep and would need some descent first-aid to take care of it. However; the worst wound was now the gunshot in her left shoulder, through her chest. Suddenly; the night was filled with lights and sirens, and Rose knew that Police had shown up as well as her ambulance.

"Come on." Elisa said softly. "They're here. Let's go."

Elisa placed a hand on Rose's good arm, the other arm around her waist; and lifted her up to her feet. Two paramedics, jumped out of their van and took Rose from Elisa; helping her up to the back of the paramedic box; and were instantly asking her questions for their assessment.

Elisa called out to her and said, "I'll meet you at the hospital."

Rose nodded her head and then laid back on the stretcher; allowing the medics to look her over and her wounds. Elisa backed out of the ambulance, and watched as they rushed away, going lights and sirens towards the hospital. Elisa closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply, and was trying to process what had happened tonight; when suddenly a squad car came rolling up to them. A middle-aged, African American officer with a bushy black mustache; rolled down his window and looked at Elisa with concern and compassion.

"Hey Maza, I heard about your vehicle. Sounds like you've had a hell of a night. Need a ride?" He asked kindly.

"Hey Morgan, um… sure. I need to follow the ambulance to the hospital, please." Elisa said kindly, opening the car door and sat in the passenger seat. She shut the door behind them as he took off.

"No problem, detective." Morgan replied.

They drove in silence for a few minutes; allowing Elisa to close her eyes, until Morgan spoke up. "Man, You look exhausted. From the attacks, assaults, and to the bombing… is this all from the same guy?"

Elisa, was half-asleep already as well, and weakly said, "Unfortunately."

Morgan blew out a low whistle and said, "Damn… well our department has him now on our most wanted list. He sounds like a piece of work; from all that he's been able to accomplish tonight. I'm sorry that your Christmas turned out this way… "

Elisa sighed, closed her weary eyes, as she remembered that it was, in fact, Christmas morning. For most people, they would wake up to warm homes, in peaceful, loving settings, and open their gifts, surrounded by family and friends. All while her family's Christmas was being spent hunting down a bloodthirsty murderer.

She closed her eyes and breathed out, with tears falling down her face; "Thanks, Morgan…"

"Anything I can do to help?" He asked her gently, looking over at her with worry.

"Yes." Elisa answered, looking up into his eyes, her face full of resolve. "Help me, and the department, to find Kevin Morrison and give him the ending he deserves. Only then, can myself and my family be able to wake up from this nightmare and be free."