"ELISA!" Goliath cried out in agony and rage.
He ran to her, to where she lay crumpled on the ground, but it was like he was running through water, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get closer, and the world dissolved into an unrecognizable landscape of mist and fog, and he couldn't see Elisa anymore.
And then the mist coalesced into a shape, and the Queen of Avalon and the Third Race appeared before him.
"Titania…" he muttered, still reeling from his sudden change of scenery. "What is happening? WHERE IS ELISA?!" he raged.
"She is fine, Goliath. You have nothing to fear."
"She killed her! Oh, damn her!" he wailed as he doubled over in grief and clutched at his head.
"It was all just a cleverly crafted dream, Goliath," Titania said calmly.
"What?" Goliath said a little cravenly. "I was right? It wasn't real?"
Logically, it made sense to him that it wasn't real. Everything that had occurred recently seemed to fly against everything he knew in his heart to be true...but it had felt so real.
He was a gargoyle.
He was not married to Elisa.
She could not be pregnant with their child.
"No, it was not real," Titania confirmed.
He was hit with a wave of both relief that Elisa was not dead and horrible grief at the loss of the things his heart so longed for, and he fell to his knees as he wept brokenly.
Titania waited patiently as he composed himself, but she offered no comfort or succor.
"Why would you do this to me?!" he shouted angrily, once he had recovered enough to speak again.
"Do not be ungrateful; I just gave you a gift."
"A gift?!" Goliath seethed. "You call that a gift?! Why torture me with that—that fantasy?!"
"To teach you a lesson. You were on the verge of drastically altering who you are."
"So, you made me choose between saving the city over Elisa and our unborn child?!" he roared.
"It wasn't real, Goliath. Just a skillfully crafted illusion."
"It was real to me. I felt that baby kick," Goliath said, his voice cracking.
He could still feel the way it felt against his palm. The way it felt to bond with Elisa over their child...to grow attached to the life growing within his beloved. The idea of a family, of having it all.
"Ah," Titania said ruefully. "Perhaps Morpheus went a tad overboard."
"A tad ?" he snarled as he balled his hands into fists.
"You needed to understand just how great your role is in the lives of those around you. You have a side of you that is dark just like everyone, you can be vindictive and obsessive, but you also have the ability to bring out the better natures of everyone around you. Without you, the real you, even someone as moral as Elisa could be tipped towards vengeance, and because of you, even Xanatos reformed...a little. Fox, my daughter would have perished, and my grandson would never have been born, a child who changed them both tremendously...who could change the world tremendously, but there is something far more important you need to understand."
"And what is that?" Goliath asked scornfully.
"You not only need to fulfill your role as the leader of your clan, but it is imperative that you fulfill your role as Alex's guardian. He must live to see his potential fully realized, and he will need you in his life to ensure that. You are the tipping point, Goliath, the one thing that will push him towards the better side of his nature."
"You expect too much of me," Goliath said as he pressed his face into his hands. "I am but one gargoyle, and you speak as if the fate of the world rests on my shoulders."
"It is a burden, and it is unfair to put it upon you, I know...but you have those in your life who you can rely on, who will help bolster you in difficult times."
"Elisa," Goliath whispered her name. He ached to hold her in his arms.
"Yes," Titania said, "among others, but her primarily. Do you understand now the important role you play in the lives of those around you? The influence you have?"
"I understand perfectly well how cruel you and your kind can be," Goliath snarled. "Get out of my head."
Titania narrowed her eyes.
"As you wish," she said coldly. "But I shall leave you with a parting gift."
"I don't need any more of your gifts, Titania," Goliath growled.
But Titania ignored his protests.
"There is an item in Shambahla that you will need. Something of great importance for the future if victory is to be achieved in the final battle yet to come. Your memories are concealed to you of that place, and you will have need of them."
She snapped her fingers.
Goliath felt as if a veil had been removed from his eyes.
And he remembered.
He remembered everything.
Tenzin, Pema, Tsering...Elisa.
He staggered as it all came back to him.
Proclamations of love. Elisa's acceptance. Making love to her for the very first time.
"Titania...this is too much, I cannot…" he clutched his head.
But she was gone, the mist swirled around him, it surrounded him, its thickness nearly suffocating him, and then everything went dark.
...
...
Elisa sat up in her chair at her desk so quickly, she nearly toppled over.
"Oh my god!" she shouted.
Several curious faces turned or looked up in her direction.
"Elisa?" Matt asked, concerned by her reaction.
"Holy shit!" Elisa hissed under her breath.
"Elisa? You're freaking me out. What's going on?" Matt pressed.
"I have to go, I have to go right now!" she said as she slipped into her jacket. "Can you cover for me?"
"Yeah, but, Elisa, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you later, Matt, but I just remembered something really important, and...I have to go."
She bolted out of the bullpen without another word.
Matt was left sitting at his desk in bewilderment at his partner's weird behavior, though honestly, he should be used to it by now. He shrugged and got back to work.
And then it dawned on him. Elisa was his ride home tonight.
"Damn it," he muttered.
Looked like he was taking a cab.