The Dark Warden: Really? (Gives The Dark Warden a dry look,) and didn't the 100 choose to follow Bellamy? Wasn't that sort of their choice? That was their choice. So, they did it to themselves.
Major spoiler warnings for a good portion of Gargoyles. Seriously, you shouldn't even be reading this if you don't want multiple big spoilers for Gargoyles and the extended universe that never got into the cancelled series.
Also, this chapter might as well be called, "info-dump chapter." So, there's a lot of information in this. It's going to be an info-dumping chapter. Sorry, about that.
Trigger warnings for murder, genocide, betrayal, PTSD, invasion, cynicism, misanthropy, sexual slavery through clone programming, violence-so much violence and genocide mentioned. Warnings for mentions of historical racism, slavery, genocide and the Holocaust. And mentions of racism and disrespecting a culture.
Warriors of the valley
Chapter 33
Just a pair of mass murderers
Clarke watched Demona, sitting down on a chair and listening to the woman as she told Clarke a condensed version of what Demona had experienced and how she got here.
Clarke remembered the short version Niylah had told her about Demona. The version Demona was giving her now, was a longer, but still condensed version of that very story.
Her clan had been shattered by Vikings centuries ago-an incident that had occurred, because Demona had helped a human captain of the guard betray their clan and the ungrateful humans they had been protecting. Demona hadn't trusted the captain, so had hidden away, that was how she had survived. When she had discovered what had been done to the rest of the clan, Demona had understandably been both enraged and grief stricken. And she had left when her mate at the time, Goliath, and the rest of the small group of gargoyles that had survived, came back to the castle, Demona had fled, unable to face her mate, deciding to come back later and come up with an explanation of how she had been searching for them and that was how she had survived.
Demona said that she had come back and had discovered her mate and the other gargoyles trapped in stone. At night.
Clarke had found this troubling. Just when she had thought she understood how gargoyles and their stone sleep worked.
At Clarke's confused look, Demona smiled and continued, "Confused? Well, there's a reason why Goliath and the others were trapped in stone at night. One of the humans they rescued, a magic user, the "Magus," he used a spell. Trapping them in stone. Until the castle we guarded rose above the clouds. So, they would remain that way. Until the castle was constructed to go above the clouds. And those same humans," Demona's gaze darkened as she continued, "Those same humans, took the eggs from the rookery. The nest where our children-who were inside eggs, was emptied by the humans, put in a cart and taken away." Demona shook her head, "I thought about killing the humans and taking our children back, but I knew I couldn't raise them. One gargoyle alone couldn't raise an entire rookery of gargoyle children."
Clarke nodded. That sounded like it made sense.
Demona went on, "So, I survived for another near century. And I mauled a young boy in my anger." Demona looked disgusted with herself for a moment, "Given who the boy grew up to be, I think he got off easy, however, I certainly didn't help him be a better person, and attacking a boy of that young age certainly wasn't my best moment."
Clarke frowned. This was going somewhere, she was sure of that.
Demona went on, "That boy grew to be a man who called himself, 'The Hunter.'" At the tone in Demona's voice, Clarke shivered. Obviously, they had reached an important part of the story.
Demona then said, "Through a complicated magical pact, made by three sisters, I was bound to a human man who I allied with eventually against the Hunter. The Hunter, who we killed together. This human man's father had been killed by the Hunter, so, he and I had a common enemy. After the death of the first Hunter, the human man and I allied, so that the clan of gargoyles I found, to lead, and the man's own people were protected. The three sisters were also fairies. And they bound us together, making us both immortal, and renewing my strength. We couldn't be killed. Do you know who that human man was?"
Clarke frowned, then shook her head. She had a feeling Demona was going to tell her. Especially as Demona seemed to be implying that Clarke should have heard of him.
Demona said, smirking, "A man, who killed a king. A king named king Duncan. And the man in question, was told that his father was murdered by king Duncan, told to him by three sisters."
Clarke's eyes widened again.
"Macbeth?" Clarke asked, "You serious? He's real too?!"
Demona chuckled, "Well he was. He's dead now. Can't say I'm too torn up about it." Demona frowned. She didn't know why Macbeth had been so calm about his death. He had simply said his goodbye to Demona, and oddly had wished her well-that part, she certainly hadn't been expecting, and he hadn't even sounded mocking when he had said it, no, he had sounded genuine, before his death.
Demona added, "The spell that the Weird Sisters used on us, made it so that neither of us could die. The only way we could die, is if one of us killed the other-and if that was the case, both of us would die. But we…had a falling out. Macbeth's people spoke against him allying with creatures like gargoyles. And I listened in on Macbeth's discussion with his father-in-law and his son. He seemed to be entertaining the notion of listening to the rumors about those that were disgusted with him allying with us gargoyles, and I? I took it to mean that he was going to inevitably betray me. So, I left, with my warriors. Our clan left and allied with Duncan's vengeful son, Malcolm. That was a mistake. Because Malcolm-at the time, the new Hunter, had shattered the rest of my kind in their sleep."
Clarke's eyes widened, heart hurting. Demona had fled someone she had been sure would betray her, only for her warriors to be killed in their sleep by someone else.
Clarke fought a shudder. Well, Demona had seemed to act like she and Clarke had a lot in common.
Clarke tried to ignore the lingering thought that Demona was right.
"What happened after that?" Clarke asked.
"Well, what else?" Demona asked, "My kind shattered-again, caused by my foolishness, my betrayal, and I left. And Macbeth, he had been stabbed by Malcolm and his guards-temporarily killing both him and me. And so, Macbeth's wife and son, believed Macbeth to be dead and Macbeth's son was made the new king. Macbeth's son left. And so, everyone believed Macbeth was dead. So, he had to flee, allowing his son to rule, until his son was killed by Malcolm's men and Malcolm was anointed king afterwards. And Macbeth hunted me, hoping to kill me both to free himself and to gain revenge, for centuries."
Clarke's mouth dropped.
Wow. And she thought SHE had a grim story, didn't she?
Clarke asked slowly, "You said Macbeth died-is dead now, for real? So, how are you still alive?"
Demona nodded, "I'm getting there. Eventually, we reached the end of the twentieth century and the beginning the twenty-first century. And Goliath and the gargoyles with him awoke, because a human, named Xanatos, built the castle up to be above the clouds. I approached Xanatos, and because Xanatos was ambitious and very greedy for power, and for immortality, he listened to me."
Demona offered a dark smile, "By that point, I felt a great deal of distrust and hatred for humanity. I was obsessed with destroying humanity, wiping it out." Demona observed Clarke's features, wishing to see Clarke's reaction to all this.
To Demona's surprise, and delight, Clarke didn't seem disturbed by this. Her right eyebrow had lifted, but that was about it.
Clarke, seeing Demona's intrigue, said, shrugging, "Sorry, but I can't expect anything else. I mean, I'm pretty sure anyone with those same experiences would probably hate humanity too. If only to try to get closure over whatever hand they had in the destruction of their own clan too."
Demona nodded. So, Clarke understood her. A good deal of Demona's hatred had come from grief. And had blamed humans mostly to try to deflect her own guilt-her own hand in the destruction of her two different clans.
Did she still distrust a good portion of humans? Of course, she did. Did she still regard them as ridiculous and mostly untrustworthy? Yes. She had been witness to many, many of humanity's self-made horrors. Slavery. Genocide. The Holocaust. She had even tried to interfere in many of these events, but still humans had persisted in their cruelty. But she understood her place in her own history's events as well.
And she could certainly appreciate actual strong, and admirable humans. Like her mates and wives, like this young woman, who Demona hoped to make into her heir, her daughter.
"What happened after that?" Clarke asked, curious.
Demona nodded. "This was when I met Elisa," she said, "Elisa was friends to Goliath and his clan first, before anything else. She and I didn't have any kind of relationship, save for an antagonistic relationship for a long time. I even tried to kill her multiple times."
Clarke snorted. That actually seemed to be requirement for potential love interests, given her own experiences and the experiences Demona was describing to her.
Demona smiled at Clarke's amused expression and continued, "I'm afraid I did some very unforgivable things. To others. To Elisa. During one of these crimes, I used Puck. And he seemed to have so much fun, as is to be expected of a trickster. So, he wanted to give me…I suppose a gift for the fun he had had. And he gave me the ability to not turn into stone during the day. The price? Humanity during the day, and great pain during the transformation. Eventually Goliath, Elisa and the gargoyle dog in Goliath's clan, Bronx, left for somewhere, because one of the protectors of the eggs, the children of the destroyed clan of Wyvern, asked them for help."
Clarke absorbed that, and found something immediately odd.
"How?" She asked, confused, "The Magus and the princess, didn't they live over centuries ago? How did they ask you for help in the twenty-first century?"
Demona nodded. "Avalon," she said, as if that one word explained everything.
Clarke frowned. "Avalon?" She echoed, "What-that magical island in Arthurian legend? What's that got to do with anything?"
Demona answered, finding the question amusing, "It's real as well. It's a magical island where a good deal of Puck's kind are from. And where King Arthur was taken to sleep. But, for anyone who was mortal and went to Avalon, they would be granted longevity. They'd die, eventually, but they will live much longer than they would have if they lived in the real world, outside of Avalon. So, the protectors of the eggs were still alive. One of them approached Goliath and Elisa, requesting help. They went with him to Avalon. I wasn't aware of this at the time, but I was part of the threat to Avalon, and to the gargoyle children."
At Clarke's confused look, Demona elaborated, "The three Weird Sisters," Demona growled their title out this time, "They manipulated Macbeth and I to become immortal, so that we would be soldiers, fighting in an army against the gargoyle children on Avalon. Macbeth and I? We were what you might consider, brainwashed. Magically. We had no will in the matter. No choice. But they used us to attack the gargoyle children-now full-grown. We were defeated, luckily, and Goliath had the Weird Sisters release Macbeth and myself from their spell and release us into the world."
Clarke's eyebrows raised up.
"Why would they do that?" She asked, "You and Macbeth, you both sounded like you were dangerous. Really dangerous. You attacked them multiple times even before the whole brainwashed with magic incident. Did Macbeth have any previous incidents of attacking Goliath and his clan in Manhattan?"
Demona nodded. "Yes," she said, "He did. At least one incident that I know of."
Clarke scoffed, "Then why let the two of you go?! I'm sorry, but it sounds like the two of you were much too dangerous to let go. To not lock up in some prison. Didn't Avalon have a dungeon or something?"
"Yes," Demona said, "Given it had an ancient castle? I imagine it did. However, keeping us locked up, was not in Goliath's nature. Or in the interest of the Avalon clan of gargoyles. So, they just released us. Was it a good idea? Probably not. But they did it. And Macbeth and myself ended up in Paris."
Clarke tried not to snort out in laughter again. Paris? She wasn't sure why she found that funny, but she did.
Demona spoke again, "I woke up first, and found Macbeth sleeping in the boat that Goliath, Elisa and the others sent me and him out in. I could have killed him, but at the time, I didn't want to die. I wanted to hurt him and humiliate him. But if I killed him, I would die too. So, I left and because I could turn into a human by that point, because of what Puck did, I masqueraded as a human being in Paris. It was when I was in Paris that I discovered another gargoyle had gotten to the city first. A gargoyle who was a clone of Goliath. Named Thailog."
At Clarke's startled look, Demona supplied, smirking, "Xanatos had some various experiments, hoping to get the power of a gargoyle clan at his side, after he betrayed them and he was left without having any gargoyles at his beck and call, so, he arranged a way he could get Goliath's blood, and cloned him. Creating Thailog. That was a mistake, as Thailog betrayed Xanatos and tried to kill him, Elisa, Goliath and the scientist that created him. And Thailog ended up in Paris. Meeting me." Demona's expression turned into one of grim amusement, "It's funny. I actually believed he loved me. We became mates. It went about as well as you can imagine."
From the way Demona described Thailog and from the look on the gargoyle's face, she could imagine just how badly it had gone.
"What happened?" Clarke asked, seeing that this was going somewhere.
"Goliath, Elisa, Bronx," Demona's face softened then, "And one of the Avalon clan, Angela, who had come with them to explore the world, went to Paris. Thailog and I came up with a way of swindling Macbeth out of his fortune. And because Macbeth didn't know that I could turn into a human during the day, he was easily fooled by me. Into being in a relationship with me, and into marrying me."
Clarke let out a small, short laugh. Shit. That was an unexpected twist.
"You married him?" Clarke asked, still laughing quietly, stunned.
"I did," Demona said, "How else was I going to get my hands on his fortune?"
"But if he died, then-?" Clarke's voice trailed off.
Demona nodded. "That's right," she said, "So, actually killing him wasn't an option. But we could lock him up in a dungeon he had in his personal mansion."
Clarke eyed Demona. "He had a dungeon?" She asked, "That sounds like a kink that probably should be looked into with great suspicion."
Demona chuckled, "Perhaps. But it only ended up hurting him and no one else. We locked him up there. But what I didn't know, was that Thailog was hoping to have all the money, not to share it with me-not to share it with anyone. So, he gave Macbeth a weapon that he could use to break out of the prison we had put him into, and Macbeth intended to end it all, by killing me and himself.
"Thailog fought Goliath, Angela and Bronx on the roof," Demona continued, "And Macbeth and myself fought in his flat. We would have killed each other, had Elisa not gone into the flat, grabbed a taser weapon and blasted me, which meant that she killed the two of us, we would only die temporarily."
Clarke nodded. Okay, that she understood. Demona and Macbeth could die permanently if only one of them killed the other and that would lead to them both dying permanently.
But if someone outside of the two of them killed one of them and so, killed them both, it would only be temporary.
Demona added, "We both gradually woke up. I woke up and the first thing I saw, was Angela," Demona chuckled, "Elisa, Goliath and Angela didn't think that I knew who Angela was. But I did. It wasn't that hard to figure out. She looked like me. But with her father's coloration. Lavender skin and black hair. But she looked like me." Demona smirked and Clarke got the vague sense of possessiveness coming off the gargoyle.
Demona chuckled, "I knew she was mine. Even if Goliath wanted to keep her from me. I knew. But Thailog showed up-and though I had my suspicions, I didn't want to believe that he had betrayed me. I left with him. I didn't see my daughter again until Thailog and I returned to Manhattan. They came back to Manhattan soon afterwards. I came up with a plan to try and get Angela to see humans the way I saw them. To hate them as I did. So, I came up with a plan to get myself captured, and in a position to speak with Angela alone, and begin to try to persuade her to my side."
Demona watched Clarke's expression. Clarke felt like she was supposed to be disgusted by Demona's manipulations of her daughter. But she wasn't, much to her own surprise.
Clarke was very familiar with being manipulated. And it sounded like Demona was just trying to protect Angela from being hurt worse by human beings.
And Clarke understood that.
Who the hell in their right mind would trust a human being?
Clarke sure as hell wouldn't.
And SHE was a human being.
"Tell me what happened," Clarke urged gently.
Demona nodded, continuing, "Half of the plan worked. I was captured and put in a prison. Run by the human experiments that Xanatos did-the experiments he did to get the strength of a gargoyle clan on his side. They were betrayed by him and created a home under the streets of Manhattan. That was where I was held. And when Angela and I first officially met and were able to talk. I tried to get her to see things my way. See humans the way I saw them. But I was unable to turn her," Demona smiled sadly, obviously proud of her gentle, kind and good daughter.
Clarke fought the urge to pretend to snore.
It sounded like Demona's daughter, Angela had been the poster girl for the Pollyanna archetype. Seriously, Clarke didn't seem to understand why Demona's manipulations weren't appreciated, which was where the gargoyle was obviously going with this. Clarke would have loved to have someone protect her from the treachery and abuse of human beings.
Demona continued, "The short version is, I was using a mechanical bug to acquire DNA from the rest of the clan, save for Angela. The blood was sent to the same scientist who created Thailog, and he created multiple clones of the clan, so that we would have a clan of our own. What I didn't know, was that Thailog had created another clone. One made up of a combination of my blood and Elisa Maza's blood. The purpose was to replace me, should I interfere in his plans to kill my daughter for not siding with us."
Clarke's eyes widened. Oh, shit. Well, that took a turn. But then, one could hardly say that no one saw that one coming, after the Paris incident.
"How did you find out?" Clarke asked.
"How else," Demona chuckled morosely, "Thailog, the rest of our clan and myself, fought Goliath and his clan at a theme park, which was where we held our operation and captured Goliath and his clan, Angela included. Thailog tried to kill Angela," Demona's eyes flashed red a moment as she remembered the attempted murder on her daughter, "I interfered twice. Thailog knocked the wind out of me. And that was when Thailog revealed Delilah to me. The clone of myself and Elisa."
Clarke actually snorted, not able to believe the gall of this Thailog.
"Seriously?" Clarke said, "I mean, it hardly seems a surprise after Paris, but did he really go, 'okay, you won't let me murder your daughter, so, here's the younger woman who's going to be my new wife?'"
Demona chuckled, "Aptly put, Clarke. That is essentially, what he did. It's worse than that, too. All of the clones were programmed when they came into creation, to obey only Thailog. And that included Delilah. In other words, she was incapable of saying 'no' to him."
Clarke froze and the implications of that sank in.
For someone to be completely subservient to someone like Thailog? Someone who Thailog very obviously took a sexual interest in?
The implications of that, were horrifying.
Clarke was unable to hold back a shudder.
"That's so fucked up," Clarke whispered.
Demona nodded. "Yes, it was," she agreed, "Thailog had Delilah grab a gun, and ordered her to kill Angela. I was able to interfere again, because there was a switch that would release all the prisoners. I hit the switch and released Goliath and the others, telling Goliath to save our daughter. The clones fought the gargoyles and beat them. I went up against Thailog. A fire broke out around the carnival where we were gathered, and consumed the entire carnival ground. I of course, wouldn't die, because of my pact with Macbeth. Thailog unfortunately, also survived. The clones, including Delilah, were taken in by mutates in the underground labyrinth of New York City. Given safety there. And knowing that Delilah technically was my daughter as well? If only because she was cloned from me, I wanted to be a part of her life. So, I would go into the labyrinth over the months, visiting her-without any of the other clones, mutates or other residents there knowing. She became my second daughter."
Clarke was a little startled by that. It seemed like a surprise to see someone who would have been your replacement and decide, "okay, you're my kid now, because you were cloned from my DNA."
Seeing Clarke's expression, Demona said, "You seem surprised by this."
"Should I not be?" Clarke asked, "That clone tried to kill your real daughter."
Demona said, voice firm, "Both of them were my real daughters, Clarke. Just because I didn't give birth to one of them doesn't mean anything."
"Oh, please," Clarke said, snickering, feeling some of her cynicism, which she gripped onto like a shield, "You might not be human, but you're still a person. You're really going to tell me that you loved Delilah as much as the daughter you carried for months, then gave birth to as an egg? I don't think so. That's not how people are. They don't love equally."
"I did," Demona answered, her voice never wavering, her eyes full of conviction, "They might be dead, but I still love them. Equally. And they knew that."
"Right," Clarke said, still smirking, "Fine, then try this one out. You said you tried to kill Elisa before? Multiple times? How?"
Demona took on a cautious look, but answered, "The first time was soon after I betrayed Goliath and the rest of the clan, and after they realized they couldn't trust me. I broke into Elisa's apartment-it had a glass casing as its ceiling. I broke through the glass, hit her with a poisonous dart. It hit her badge under her jacket, so obviously the poison didn't get into her blood. The second, third and fourth time, was when I was stealing a magical item. A mirror. It was how I got ahold of Puck and ended up being able to turn into a human during the day. I threw a heavy artifact at Elisa. Goliath was there, thankfully and stopped it. And any artifact I threw afterwards. After Puck came through the mirror, the next murder attempt was done when I told him I wanted him to get rid of the human, Elisa Maza."
Clarke frowned. "Wait," she said, "But she's still alive. Did I miss something? You didn't end up cloning Elisa yourself, did you?"
Demona smirked. "No," she said, "Nothing like that. Haven't you been paying attention? Puck grants gifts, but it's never how you think it's going to be. Yes, Puck erased the human Elisa that night, by turning her into a gargoyle, temporarily."
Clarke took a moment to think about that, then she groaned, "Dammit, that's really clever, and also, really annoying."
"I certainly found it annoying," Demona said, "I tried to kill her afterwards, after Puck toyed with the city, turning almost all of its inhabitants into gargoyles-save for Goliath's clan, whom Puck turned into humans. I tried to kill her, she beat me, Goliath had everything Puck caused reverse and everything was as it was before. After that, Puck allowed me to become human during the day."
"And were there other times when you tried to kill Elisa?" She asked.
She watched Demona's face well when she asked that.
When Demona's eyes hardened, Clarke knew she was approaching a subject Demona didn't want to discuss.
Clarke smiled coldly, "Come on," she mocked, "You're bearing your soul to me right now. Why stop? I mean, you already confessed to multiple genocides. What could be so bad that I'd be disturbed?"
Demona's eyes flashed red a moment and Clarke felt her heart leap for a second, half expecting the gargoyle to jump at her.
Then Demona growled quietly, "You know by now that magic exists. Well, I decided that that would be the answer to the humans that I considered vermin. I used magic to turn them to stone during the night. And when they were turned into stone during the night?"
Clarke realized quickly what Demona was saying she had done. "Oh," she said, and snicker crossed her features, "Now, if that's not irony, I don't know what is. You shattered them in their sleep?"
Demona sighed, "I did. Or used a blaster. Xanatos came up with an answer after I betrayed him, because of course, I was killing the people in the city he saw as his," she added, "An irony, in that the previous spell he thought I was using, was used to steal a minute of life from anyone who watched."
Clarke blanched. "The fuck would he want to do that for?" She asked.
Demona looked even more amused now. "Xanatos was terrified of death," she said, "He sought to be immortal. That was why he was trying to steal life. The way I saw it, he was proof of everything I hated about humans. Selfish. Manipulative. And believed that he was protecting a city, when he would have stolen life from them for his own benefit. For me, it was a simple decision to betray him. While I was smashing those that turned to stone, Xanatos came up with an answer and he and Goliath and his clan went through with the plan. I hid in the castle. I intended to blow the packets that Goliath and the others had on them, which would help reverse the spell. I intended to blow the packets up, but there was one thing I wanted done first. Elisa was there, in the castle. She had been exposed to the spell, and was stone. So, I took advantage."
Demona's amusement was gone. All that was present now was anger. A type of anger Clarke recognized. It was a self-loathing type of anger.
"You tried to shatter her, didn't you?" Clarke said, no mocking in her voice now.
Demona nodded, pain in her eyes. "I did," she confessed, "Thankfully, Bronx, the gargoyle dog was there, and stopped me, kept me from shattering her. The spell was reversed, and Macbeth and I were taken by the Weird Sisters. The last time that I tried to kill her knowingly, was when Macbeth and I were used by the Weird Sisters to steal three magical items from Goliath's clan. We did it and by abducting another member of the clan, Coldstone, leading the rest of Goliath's clan into a trap. We caught them, I went to the gargoyles' hideaway, where Elisa was and told her that she had a choice. She could stay away and therefore, betray Goliath-or, as I saw it, betrayal. Or she could come to where we were holding the gargoyles, at Belvedere Castle, in Central Park, and I intended to kill her. By that point it was day, so Elisa witnessed me turn into a human."
Clarke nodded and waited.
Demona said, "Elisa arrived, I attacked her, and she held her own easily against me," Demona smiled fondly, "I was unused to fighting as a human. But Elisa? It was natural for her. I didn't stand a chance. The other gargoyle we had abducted, Coldstone, who was magically affected, so he didn't turn into stone during the day, attacked Macbeth, and he and I had to flee. We had the three magical items, so we did as the Weird Sisters wanted. That was when they took us to Avalon, magically controlled Macbeth and I and had us attack the castle of Avalon and the gargoyles and humans within."
Clarke asked, "And you didn't try to kill her any other time after that?"
"No," Demona said, "Well, at Avalon, under the spell of the Weird Sisters, I tried. But let's be honest, I didn't need any spell back then to try to do that. However, that was the last time. Well, second to last."
At Clarke's confused frown, Demona explained, "Months after Avalon, when Angela was in New York City, had been there for months and months, and almost two months after Thailog and I had our falling out and Delilah was taken in by the mutates, I went for one last bid for the destruction of all human beings."
Clarke paid close attention.
Demona continued, "I had been stealing magical items over the centuries. A praying gargoyle statue, which had protective, magical properties for the gargoyle species. A magic tablet. I then, in New York City, stole some chemicals. All to create a virus. A virus to wipe out human beings. The tablets would make it worldwide. The praying gargoyle would protect the entirety of the gargoyle species."
Clarke's eyes widened. Well, shit.
"Obviously, you failed again," she established.
"I did," Demona said, and a smile crossed her lips, "and I realize now that I really sabotaged myself."
Clarke asked, "How?"
Demona answered, "When Goliath's clan and I faced each other, I knew that Goliath and his clan didn't know about the praying gargoyle. But I told them about it. And I knew Goliath. And Angela. I knew what they would do, as soon as they knew what the praying gargoyle would do, and I knew that they'd do it to save the human race. I knew it. I knew them. And yet, I told them that the praying gargoyle would protect our kind. And Goliath did what I think some part of me knew he would. He shattered the praying gargoyle. And so, I had to give up the vial. I threw it, Goliath caught it, and the virus was averted."
Clarke snorted, shaking her head, "That idiot. He could have killed everyone. Gargoyles and humans alike. If the gargoyles got wiped out too, then there would be nothing to inherit the earth, except the regular animals. Wow," Clarke looked at Demona, "And you actually were mates one time with that idiot?"
Demona sighed, "He was a good mate and leader-but he had his flaws. And yes, that would have happened, had Goliath not caught the vial. But I suspect that I'm partially to blame, because again, I told them about the praying gargoyle. I believe I sabotaged myself. Because…," Demona shook her head, "My daughter, Angela, she was looking at me, watching. I was going to wipe out the human race, and the last memory Angela would have of me would be me doing the deed."
Clarke heard that and her next question immediately came out, "Why would that have been the last memory she would have had of you?"
Demona said, "Well, think about it. Macbeth was human. The virus I created was designed to wipe out all of humanity. And the spell I used was going to be enacted by me. Which meant, I would have dealt Macbeth the killing blow."
Clarke's jaw dropped slightly in realization. Oh.
Demona had been so willing to keep her species safe, that she was willing to permanently kill herself to do it, and to keep her daughter safe.
"But you sabotaged that?" Clarke clarified.
"I did," Demona confirmed.
Clarke shrugged. "Well," she said, "Then the explanation for that is obvious. You just didn't want to die. And you know what? That's understandable. I get that. That's why you sabotaged yourself. You realized you'd really die that time, so you stopped yourself. Don't make up some sob story about how you loved your daughter so much that you stopped your plans for her," Clarke snickered, "You sabotaged yourself, because you were just trying to save yourself. And you know what? That's fine. But at least own it."
Demona sighed, "That's what you think happened?"
"Well, why not?" Clarke asked, "People only care about themselves. And as I said, you might not be human, but you're still a person."
Demona said darkly, "How did someone so young become so cynical?"
"Hey, just because you told me your life story," Clarke said, "Doesn't mean that I need to tell you my life story, got it?"
Demona smirked. "No," She said, "I suppose you don't need to. But that wasn't all of it. Don't forget, there's a century and a half missing."
Clarke huffed, "Fine. Go on."
Demona continued, "I caused problems for Goliath's clan continually, but eventually I learned an important piece of information. The descendants of the Hunters, whom was a line that King Duncan and later his son, King Malcolm continued after Macbeth and I killed the original hunter, were in New York City during the time I stole the cannisters of chemicals to create the virus. There were three of them at the time. Two brothers and a sister. During one altercation with Goliath's clan, one of the brothers almost killed Angela," again, Demona's eyes flashed red, her fangs baring for a moment as she continued, "because they thought that she was me. They were after me because I was the enemy of the Hunter. They almost killed Angela, but Elisa revived her. Using CPR."
Clarke raised her head, startled.
Demona said, "I learned that months after the virus fiasco. I learned that the human, who I had been trying to kill all that time, saved my daughter's life. I think you can imagine how that changed things for me."
Clarke nodded. As much as she doubted the whole "redeeming" bullshit, she had no doubt that hearing that someone saved another person's daughter's life, might alter that other person's perspective somewhat.
Demona went on, "I eventually formed a type of alliance with Goliath's clan. Time passed. Angela met a male gargoyle named Vincent from one of the other clans, and they had children. Now, this is the part that's rather important, Clarke. Elisa and I eventually fell in love, and Fox, who was married to Xanatos, eventually drifted away from him and she fell in love with Elisa and myself and we fell in love with her."
"I bet Xanatos just loved that," Clarke sneered, smirking.
Demona smirked. "No," she confessed, "No, he was not pleased. But there was little he could do. As you now know, fairies exist. And some of them have mated with humans and have brought half human, half fairy children into the world. Fox is one of those children. Her mother is Titania, queen of Avalon."
Clarke fought the urge to roll her eyes. Because of course, both Oberon and Titania existed too. Because why the fuck not?
Demona continued, "And Titania? She much preferred Elisa and me as her daughter's mates, than Xanatos. So, there was nothing that Xanatos could do. Eventually Xanatos died alone. Never attained that immortality he yearned for," Demona smirked, as if finding Xanatos a complete waste of space, "And I kept visiting Angela and her children, and looked after Delilah as well. The bombs fell and the radiation came, and that was when we had to go into refuge. Goliath and his clan, of course, tried to save as many humans as they could. And as you know, there are several tribes here."
Clarke nodded. She knew that bullshit already.
Hell, she had fucking lived that bullshit already.
Demona then said, "After we were able to save several groups of people, and the spaceships your ancestors were in lifted off and left the Earth behind, and the radiation slowly cleared away, a good portion I was able to use magic shields against, that was when a new threat emerged."
Clarke narrowed her eyes. "What threat?" She asked.
Demona said, again, seeming to look as if she knew she had no other choice but to answer, "I believe there may be a reason why our people are cautious of your people, Clarke. Before the tribes were formed, when there were still masses of frightened refugees just trying to live in barely formed settlements, a threat came. From the sky. The Space-Spawn."
Clarke knew immediately that the conversation had just gotten darker. She could tell from the tone in Demona's voice.
"Space-Spawn?" Clarke echoed, "The hell are they?"
Demona nodded, "This is the part that might be hard to believe."
Clarke chuckled, "I think we're there already. So, just tell me."
Demona nodded, and began to tell Clarke the next part, watching Clarke's reactions.
Outside, when Monroe and the others kept waiting for Clarke, they were at attention when they saw Clarke come out of the building, looking disturbed.
Clarke reached Monroe, and Monroe tensed up, seeing how disturbed Clarke was.
"Clarke," Monroe asked, "What happened? You okay?"
Clarke nodded. "Yeah," She said, "Holy shit. I just found out a lot. I mean, technically most of it doesn't matter, but the last part?" She shook her head. "Shit," she said.
Monroe was worried. What the hell had Demona said to Clarke?
"Clarke," Monroe said softly, "What happened?"
Clarke turned to Monroe. She glanced at the others and said, "You, me, Niylah, Wells, Pascal and Trina need to talk right now. Away from the others."
Monroe nodded.
Clarke said, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice, The rest of you stay here. Monroe, Niylah, Wells, Pascal, Trina and I need to talk."
Finn and the others, who had been hanging out around the front of the building seemed to more or less grumble and stayed away.
Clarke led Monroe, Niylah, Wells, Pascal and Trina away from the building. The six of them were a good several feet away, she checked the sky as well, because again, gargoyles, she then looked to the others and told them the last part that Demona had told her.
The other five people with Clarke absorbed this and four of them were shocked. Clarke was in no way surprised that Niylah didn't look shocked.
Niylah probably had suspected something like this, even if hadn't been born yet around time that Demona had told Clarke about, when the tribes had just begun to develop.
Apparently, when the tribes had just begun to develop, a race of beings from space, known as Space-Spawn, came down to Earth. They had tried to wipe out the remainder of humanity and the gargoyles, but the resistance, Demona, Delilah, Elisa, Fox, Vincent, one of the Space-Spawn, who had been living on Earth for years and years, Nokkar, allied with them against his own kind. He was killed in the war. But he gave a great deal of help before his death.
Eventually, the Space-Spawn were wiped out because of a bomb Lexington had rigged throughout all the Space-Spawn's computers, their ships, on the ground, blowing up.
The debris, the more dangerous pieces of the ship, Demona got rid of, using magic. And those that were traumatized and wary of any future visitors, had their memories erased, also by Demona.
Only the Luwoda remembered.
That part caught Wells's attention as Clarke thought it might.
"Whoa, wait," Wells said, "Hold up, Demona basically erased the memories of an entire civilization, except for her own tribe? And that's why none of the other tribes ever mentioned to you guys about an invasion from years and years back? But do you think that memory erasing thing might have something to do with you three remembering?" He gestured to Clarke, then to Monroe and Niylah.
"Why would it?" Pascal asked, "I mean," he looked at Clarke, the spell was cast, what, over a century ago?"
Clarke nodded. "About that time," she said, "Just when the tribes were beginning to form. So, yeah, around that time."
"Right," Pascal said, "So, how could it have anything to do with the three of you or anyone remembering?"
"I don't know," Wells said, looking concerned, "But I feel like it's related."
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Clarke said, "But now we know. That's why none of the other tribes know nothing about spaceships, space or anything like that."
"We actually believe this ludicrous story?" Pascal asked, looked stunned.
"Ludicrous?" Clarke said, gesturing around them, "Have you looked around us? We're surrounded by gargoyles. Magic is real. Monroe, Niylah, Anya and I mentally remember things that haven't even happened yet. This whole situation is ludicrous, okay? Space-Spawn that our people weren't able to see because the Space-Spawn used their shields to turn invisible, try to invade Earth, got destroyed and all memory of them being erased magically, is honestly the least weird part of all this for me."
Monroe nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I mean, we're technically aliens. Technically. And we know that gargoyles and magic exist. Why not non-human aliens?"
Pascal groaned, left hand going to his face and closing his eyes in frustration. "I'm getting a headache," he grumbled.
"Alright," Clarke said, "So, if this is all true, there was some alien invasion that was stopped, and only the Luwoda remember, what does that mean?"
Niylah shook her head. "I don't believe it means much, Klark," she said, "It just means that Demona didn't feel anyone would be safe if the other tribes remembered."
Clarke couldn't help the dark laugh that came out of her, "Shit, how disloyal are the Luwoda to the rest of the tribes? And to the Commander?"
She grinned darkly at the thought. She liked that the Luwoda were disloyal to Lexa and to the rest of the tribes. And it wasn't just a safety thing. She liked that this tribe was hurting the people that hurt her.
Knowing that there was a tribe that held so little loyalty for their supposed Commander was…delightful to hear.
Niylah nodded to Clarke as she told Clarke, not surprising the younger fighter, "Very disloyal, Klark. You don't need to worry about them. What else did queen Demona tell you?"
Clarke said, smirking, "Just the usual. That after all that, they were good at keeping secrets. And that if we and the rest of the Ark joined the Luwoda, we would be safe. She and her tribe would make sure of it." She shook her head, "She's still trying to get me to buy into this bullshit about how their tribe is a family and blah, blah, blah," Clarke snickered, "I think that will make it even better when we leave and disappoint her."
"Clarke," Monroe said sadly, "The queens have been nothing but kind. I mean, I don't entirely trust them," Clarke nodded, she had seen how cautiously Monroe had looked at Demona before, "But if they're offering us a sanctuary-"
"Oh, don't make Demona into some saint," Clarke spat, "You have no idea what she confessed to me. Do you know she used to hate humanity? All of it? I mean, I don't blame her, but if that's the case, how long do you think it'll be till she shifts back into old habits?"
"Old habits?" Wells asked, "What old habits?"
Clarke looked back at the building where she and Demona had talked and turned back to the others, snickering. "You have no idea what she's capable of," Clarke said, "If she was telling me the truth. And I can't think of a reason why she would lie. She's capable of maybe even worse than me," Clarke grinned in amusement, "Seriously, and she thinks I'd feel sympathetic? Hah! I mean, sure, we have a lot in common now, but she's a little too much of a bleeding heart for me. Too fucking bad."
Monroe eyed Clarke. What exactly was Clarke talking about?
"Clarke," Monroe said hesitantly, "Just what did she tell you she did?"
Clarke chuckled, "Nothing that I can't use against her at some point if she tries to hold us here against our will."
She added, her grin widening, "All I gotta do is tell the rest of the tribes what she did. Tried to wipe humanity out multiple times, and when she helped save the rest of the world from the Space-Spawn, she erased everyone's memories of the incident outside of her own tribe. That's really all I have to do," she snickered, "Helps that Demona told me where the discarded technology of the Space-Spawn was sent. I know the exact city. Limerick. In Ireland. I'm guessing that's where the tribes' fabled 'City of Lights,' came from."
Niylah's eyes widened in realization. "You may be right," she said, startled, "That may very well be exactly where our stories of the City of Lights come from."
"'City of Lights?'" Wells echoed.
Monroe nodded. "Yeah," she said, "It's a story that the Grounders have a lot. They believe that there's some city across the sea, where there is much more advanced technology. I heard Lincoln talk about it a few times while he was with us. But I always just thought it was a myth."
Clarke answered, "Most Grounders do. I thought so too. But it looks like there were reasons for those supposed stories. Anyway, all I gotta do is spill some of those secrets to the other tribes," Clarke grinned again, "And then….,"
Monroe tried not to wince at what Clarke was saying.
To spurn someone who very apparently was trying to help them? It didn't just feel cruel, it felt dangerous.
But she knew how Clarke would react to that.
She would feel distrusting. Like her girlfriend couldn't be trusted. And that wouldn't help them right now. So, Monroe supposed she should go with it until they figured a way around it.
"Okay," Monroe said, wanting to distract Clarke's thoughts on blackmail, "So, Demona used to be a misanthropic gargoyle. And she helped save humanity from a Space-Spawn invasion. Alright. What did she tell you about this Space-Spawn species?"
"Eh," Clarke said, seeming uncertain, "Not much. Just that they came here, almost a hundred years ago, not long after the spaceships carrying our ancestors left. They didn't come after us, because even though we'd be easy enough to wipe out or enslave, they decided to get rid of what they thought of as the easier targets first, then move onto us. They tried to get rid of the tribes first, thinking that the tribes had no way of defending themselves."
"Well, that was a dumb mistake," Pascal snorted, "They should have gone after us first."
"No shit," Clarke said, "We'd be easy enough to get rid of. I mean, it probably wouldn't have saved them from what Demona and the rest of the Resistance did, but still, it would have gotten rid of one possible problem. But they didn't. And Demona and rest of the Resistance got rid of them."
Clarke then added, "The Space-Spawn, Demona said, had what we might consider 'weird' shaped heads. You see the heads on Easter Island? Their heads look like those. Demona said that that was why the one alien that helped the Resistance landed there."
"Wait," Trina said, surprised, "Is that why the people of Easter Island made those heads? Because of that one alien's head?"
Clarke snorted, shaking her head. Because of course, humans thought that just because white people didn't build something-automatically, it was aliens.
"No, Trina," Clarke said, voice soft, like she was speaking to a child, "The people of Easter Island didn't make those big heads because they met an alien with one. It's the opposite. The alien landed there specifically, because he saw those stone heads on his cameras. He thought others like him had landed there-even though they hadn't. Demona even pointed it out to me. That the alien that had helped the Resistance, Nokkar, had stayed in Easter Island, until he allied with the Resistance. But he was NOT the inspiration for the Easter Island heads. Those were built by the people of the island, the statues were called 'Maoi,' built by Polynesian settlers, called the 'Rapa Nui,' to symbolize different families or religious figures." At Trina, Wells, Monroe and Pascal's startled looks, Clarke sighed, "No, I didn't already know that, Demona told me all that, but it's not hard to figure out that it's ridiculous to think that just because a society of humans met an alien, that that would be the basis of building something that was innately part of their culture."
Trina started looking a little guilty, obviously worried about what people might think that she had jumped to a conclusion like that, that easily could be called "racist," or actually was a racist assumption about why the giant heads on Easter Island had come into existence, however, Clarke knew it was a mistake and said softly, "I'm not gonna say that you're a horrible person or anything. Just think about how it might look if you assumed things like that. And don't forget, we're guests in a tribe where a good portion of the people here know well about Nokkar, and that he had only come to Easter Island, because he thought some of his race had landed there, because the heads had already been there, before he had landed-not the other way around. If we're going to be careful of how we act around here, we might want to add that to our list."
Trina nodded, still looking worried as Pascal patted her back.
Monroe half thought about grumbling, 'But you're fine with fucking with Demona's head and potentially blackmailing her, got it.' But she held her tongue. They needed to be very careful about what they did next.
"And Lexington was the one that finally ended the Space-Spawn permanently?" Wells asked.
Clarke nodded. "That's what Demona told me," she said, "Of course, if the math's right and gargoyles age slower than we do, and Lexington was fully grown by the time he got trapped in stone-and was heading to old age by the time he got rid of the Space-Spawn, so, I'm guessing he was almost, by human age standards, in his late fifties or sixties."
"Wow," Monroe said, "This is-just wow. I'm guessing Lexington's dead by now?"
Clarke nodded. "Yeah," she said, "He died of old age. That was what Demona said. He died a few years after his own mate, a male gargoyle from another clan, named Staghart died of old age. They died happy. Well, Staghart did. And Lexington, even though he lost his mate, he was surrounded by friends and family before his death. So, I presume he did too."
Monroe nodded.
"Demona told you a lot," Niylah said, seeming pleased.
Clarke had no idea why Niylah was so pleased. And hell, she didn't even know half of what Demona had told Clarke.
All the other things. Like how Demona had first attained her immortality. All the things Demona had done over the centuries, the good and the bad. More bad than good, admittedly, but still, a lot of good too.
Or that both Demona and Macbeth had fought in the war against the Space-Spawn, putting their differences aside, if only temporarily, to stop the Space-Spawn from enslaving humans and gargoyles alike.
Or that Macbeth had asked the Weird Sisters to remove his bond with Demona and place it on someone else in Demona's life, and had accepted to die eventually of old age, three decades after the war with the Space-Spawn.
Or that the bond that Demona had now, was with her two mates and wives, Fox and Elisa. Which was why all three of them couldn't die. Unless one of them killed the other.
Very few people knew that. Demona had said she made very sure few people knew that.
There were rumors, obviously. Because people always came up with strange ideas. And some of those ideas were on the mark.
But just because some people came up with accurate ideas, didn't mean that those ideas would be experimented.
Besides, from what Clarke had seen, there were a lot of reasons why people didn't want to fuck with the Luwoda.
"Well, whatever," Clarke said, "It doesn't mean anything to me, as far as I can tell," but it did bother her that Demona had trusted her with all this information-because why would she? "All that matters? Is we find a safe land mass to get to and not have to deal with any other group of humans. I don't care if even a bunch of Teletubbies come popping up in those stories. All that matters to me, is that we get our own land, don't have to deal with other humans, and we're safe. That's fucking it. So, let's prepare for takeoff, whenever we have the information we need about the rest of the world from Callie."
Monroe snorted, as Pascal, Trina and Wells actually almost choked on air at what Clarke had said about the Teletubbies.
Niylah eyed Clarke, not understanding that part, but she said, "Understood. What should we do now?"
Clarke said, "I'm not sure there's anything we can do right now. Right now, all we can do is wait for Callie to tell us if she's found any land without other human groups. That's really all we can do right now."
"So, the same as always," Monroe said.
Clarke nodded. Same as always. She'd talk to Callie soon. But that was all they could do, for now.
Having heard about what Demona had done? It made Clarke almost laugh again. Because the two of them? They were the saddest case of misanthropy in the world. Just a pair of mass murderers.
Author's note
So, there was a lot to unpack in this chapter.
This was an "info-dump," chapter, sorry about that.
I warned all of you about Gargoyles spoilers, so if you've been spoiled? Not my problem.
And Lexington's mate, Staghart, is from the extended canon, in the comics.
And yeah, I changed the whole the Space-Spawn, Nokkar and the heads of Easter Island. But as I said, I love Gargoyles, but there are definitely some flaws. Like what the writers claim the heads of Easter Island are supposed to symbolize. That's definitely offensive. So, I changed it to be that Nokkar landed in Easter Island only because he saw the heads on the island and thought that one of his species was down there-which they weren't, and crash landed there.
The third part is that the Space-Spawn invading it is based on what would have happened in the series, had it not been cancelled. A good show, so, obviously-cancel it. The Space-Spawn, Nokkar's species, were to invade Earth, and Demona would be part of the Resistance against them. So, that was what I put in there. There's no need to worry about the Space-Spawn. They're over and done with. There IS, however, a threat coming. And I'll get into that later. In other words, the plot is going to arrive soon.