Welcome back, Readers!

So apparently people, including the creator of Gargoyles, Greg Weisman, are taking to Twitter to get Disney to either reboot or make a movie of the original series. I'm all for it, though the original will always have a special place in my heart. I wonder what would happen if Greg Weisman actually read this... if he even reads fanfiction, that is. If he is reading this, I hope he doesn't think I've done a bad job! And hi!

Also, re-watched some Gargoyles, remembered a few characters that inspired me for future chapters, so look out for some familiar faces in the chapters to come!

Enjoy!

Monday of Miseries and Maniacalness

Elijah POV:

"Are you kidding me," Elijah asked.

"I rarely kid," the student counselor replied, giving him a steely look. "The Psychology class is filled up; another transfer student took the last spot."

The deaf teen leaned back in his chair, wondering why he seemed to have the worst luck in the world. It could only happen to him that he would go to the counselor's office and that she would tell him his choice of class was now filled. While he hated all three of his elective credit choices, at least Psychology was the best of the three. But now he only had two choices left-

"Floral Arrangements or Choir." The counselor looked up from her computer. "I assume you'll take Choir?"

He sighed. "I guess so."

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Elijah hesitated outside of the Choir Room door, even though he had about a minute until the bell rang for the final period. He knew that he had to go in there, eventually and that the sooner he did it, the sooner he could get the worst over with. So, taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door.

The room was large, probably for the acoustics, and several hand-made posters, all about music notes and such, covered parts of the wall around the room, and he saw that everyone left their backpacks by the walls, which he did as well. In the middle of the room, was a set of risers set up in a half-circle, facing a single podium. Off to the side, the teen noticed a grand piano, way nicer than the one he had played back in Galveston.

At the moment, about sixteen students sat on the risers, talking and laughing and being regular teens as they waited for class to start. A few looked up at his entrance, whispering to their friends, but the deaf boy ignored them, going over to the nearest available section of riser and sitting down, refusing to look at anyone. He still heard whispering, so he switched off his hearing aids, bringing him into the familiar world of silence. Though he did not want to be here, he could not help but look at the piano off to the side, wondering what it would be like to play something as grand as that.

Sensing everyone climbing to their feet, Elijah quickly stood up as well, turning his hearing aids back on. He noticed a woman had entered the room, presumably the Choir teacher, and she took her spot at the podium. With the glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, she gave off a, "Do not test me," feeling; her brown and slightly-graying hair was tied in a ponytail behind her, and she wore a practically hideous sweater. This was confirmed when she started speaking.

"Settle down, everyone," she said in a loud, clear voice, causing all conversation to fall silent. Then, as if she had magnets in her eyes, she swiveled to face him. "You."

Elijah started at the sudden statement. "Uh… me?"

"No, the wall behind you. Yes, you! Who are you?"

"I… I'm new-"

"Obviously!" A few snickers followed this statement, and flushed with embarrassment, the teen found the courage to continue.

"I'm Elijah Robbins," he said. "I'm a new student in this class."

"Can you sing?"

"No."

"Then why the heck are you here," she asked, earning a few more laughs from the other students. It was obvious this teacher was one of those that liked to humiliate her pupils in front of their peers, and didn't hold back when she did.

"Because… Because…" Why was he here? Because some stupid school wouldn't let him take two Study Halls so he had to take stupid Choir, that's why. That, combined with the giggles from the other classmates, made him snap, "Well, if you can't teach me to sing, then what kind of a choir teacher are you?"

That shut everyone up, including the teen himself, who froze where he stood, wondering why he had just said what he said. He could feel everyone's gaze on him, but he only focused on the one coming from the choir teacher; steely, cold, and devoid of mercy.

Looks like I'm going to Floral Arrangements, he thought to himself.

Just then, there was a commotion at the front door, and everyone turned to find a girl rushing in, tossing her backpack towards the wall.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Mrs. Flemming," the girl said, walking briskly towards the stands. "I had to stay late for my last class, and-" The girl's excuse cut off as she gaped at the newest member of the Choir, and he at her.

Blockbuster. Just his luck. Especially when Mrs. Flemming realized that they knew each other.

"You know this boy, Ms. Ross?"

The stunned girl turned away from him to face the choir teacher. "I… I just… yeah?"

"Oh, why must everyone answer my question with a question? This isn't Jeopardy!" She sighed, turning back to her podium. "I will say this for you, Mr. Robbins: you've got something pretty interesting if you can stand there and insult me on your first day here. Most teachers would kick you from their class." She turned to face him, giving him a small smile. "But I think you'll find I'm not like most teachers. Stay after class and we will find out your vocal range; for now, stand there while the rest of us go through our first exercise." Pulling out one of those pitch harmonica things, she added, "Ms. Ross, I would suggest you find your proper place before you become glued to that one!" Amanda, blushing a bit and giving Elijah one last look, ran to the risers, standing about eight people away from Elijah.

"Now," the choir director said, playing a middle C. "Let us begin!"

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Amanda POV:

After Choir ended, Amanda stood outside of the classroom, waiting. She wasn't sure why she did it; Elijah didn't seem to particularly like her [which she could kind of understand], but the girl felt that she needed to, for some bizarre reason. Maybe it was because he seemed so clueless about Choir, or because he needed someone to talk to after his first encounter with the Flaming Flemming. Either way, she felt that he needed someone to show him the ropes; at least it was better than whatever Art would have done to him.

A few of the other Choir kids had told what Elijah had said to Mrs. Flemming before she had walked in, and the girl had to admit that he had to either be incredibly brave, stupid, or both to stand up to her. As for why he was in the class… Amanda had no idea; if he sang, he didn't sing today, and didn' even seem interested in ever doing so. The only part of the class she noticed him pay attention to was when Mrs. Flemning sat at the piano to play scales. It was now ten minutes after school, and she needed to get home soon. Preparing to leave, the girl straightened up when she heard the Choir Room door open.

"Ms. Ross, you're still here," Mrs. Felmming asked, walking out with her bag and followed by Elijah, who looked at Amanda with surprise. "Don't tell me you two are dating!"

"WHAT," the teens said at the same time, their shocked expressions only receiving a nod in return.

"I thought not," the choir director said, turning back to Elijah. "You do have some skill on a piano, I'll give you that, but if you want to play for us, you'll need extra practice. Do you have a piano or, dare I ask, a keyboard at your house?" Everyone knew she hated those electronic devices, saying that they could never replace an authentic instrument.

"Uh… n-no ma'am," he replied, looking anywhere but her or at the girl. However, Amanda recognized the look in the teacher's eyes; the old lady was up to something, and it probably didn't mean anything good for them.

"Fine, then; you may practice on ours after school on Wednesdays." She turned to the girl. "I will supervise those sessions. Ms. Ross here will help you get adjusted to our class and catch you up on proper classroom behavior. Understood?"

"I… I… Yes ma'am." The deaf teenager glared at the girl, as if it were her fault that she was stuck helping him.

"You will show him not only how to behave," the teacher continued, now turning back to Amanda. "You will have the task of helping him adjust to our group and help him strengthen his voice." Mrs. Flemming turned back to Elijah. "Just because you get to play the piano doesn't mean you are exempt from sing; you have one of the best Tenors I've ever heard, so I'd be an idiot to not use you!"

"Yes, ma'am," the teens chorused, refusing to make eye contact with her or each other

"Excellent!" The teacher started to make her way down the hall, but turned to give Elijah one last look. "And Elijah, if you think of trying to transfer to Floral Arrangements, know that I teach that class too! Have a nice day!" The woman, now content with the destruction she had caused, turned and disappeared down the hallway.

For a few moments, Elijah and Amanda stood in silence, staring after where she had disappeared. It was almost comical watching how quickly she had come up with the plan; no doubt she had been thinking of it during class today. Now was the aftermath; the girl know Elijah was not happy, and she wasn't exactly comfortable, either. Eventually, she turned to him, feeling that she should say something.

"So…" the girl started, shifting her feet a little. "Um… are you okay?"

The boy turned to her, giving her a look that was both shocked and almost disgusted, before starting down the hall. Figuring she should follow him, Amanda raced to catch up with his quick strides.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she started to say.

"That's all you have to say," he asked, stopping and turning back to her, clearly angry. "Because of you, I'm stuck singing in public and in front of people, AND I have to spend time with the girl who thought hearing aids kept me deaf!"

Amanda could take him being mad at her for being the person Flemming caught at the wrong time, but when he brought up the Blockbuster Incident, she got upset.

"Don't get mad at me," she retorted. "I was just waiting to see how you were! It's not my fault you joined the stupid class! Sorry for waiting out here to see if you were doing okay! I was going to offer to help you learn how to deal with Flemming, but it looks like my advice would've fallen on deaf ears!"

It was a little satisfying for the girl to see the expression on his face his face, looking like he had just been slapped, but he quickly turned it back into an angry expression. "So you're gonna sink that low now?"

"If you're not gonna respect me," she informed him. "Right now, whether we like it or not, we're stuck together, so the sooner I show you how to survive the class, the sooner we can be on our merry ways! So can we just agree to help one another out so we don't fail?" She glared back at him, almost daring him to say no and let them both flunk the class; because Flemming would fail them, if given the chance.

"Fine," the deaf teen replied testily, probably realizing the same thing. "But for the record, I'm not a fan of this."

"That makes two of us! And to think, I thought that you were actually a nice person when you apologized to me for flipping me off!"

"Sorry to disappoint," Elijah replied, turning away and briskly walking down the hall before disappearing around the corner; at least he didn't flip her off or say anything bad in sign language this time. Amanda stared after him, thinking about how she now had to help the new kid [who was deaf, no less, meaning that he drew attention to himself whether he wanted it or not] deal with a psychopath for a teacher, and help him sing in front of people, which he apparently doesn't want to do.

And he hates me, she thought, shouldering her backpack and starting down the hall. I hate Mondays.

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Jeffrey POV:

Jeffrey finally found the perfect place to hide the stone. It took a lot of thought, as well as feeling around for the proper place, but he did it; he hid the stone, so all he had to do was hope that one came knocking, looking for it.

When Hudson and Goliath had asked him if he'd hidden the magic stone that could drive a man mad, he'd almost said no. It wasn't that he was scared of people breaking into his home looking for it, but he was scared that he would be too tempted to use it for himself. His eyesight. His brother. Worldwide acceptance of the gargoyles. Even Elijah's deafness, which he could tell was still something of a sore subject for him. But, he said yes. Why?

Because, while he would like to have the power to make things right, he knew that based on what he'd heard about the stone, as well as magical items in books, he knew that when someone said a magical item would leave him off worse than he is now, then he shouldn't mess with it. Besides, it would probably give him what he wanted, but at some terrible price. Sure, was it dumb to rely on that mentality to protect him from temptation? Well, where he hid it would definitely prevent him from trying to reach it again; he nearly broke his leg from falling off the table (which reminded him why you shouldn't stand on furniture). But, he knew that it would only bring trouble to his friends if they kept it, and since he was known to sacrifice his own good for that of others, he said yes.

Was it a misjudgment on his part?

One could only wait and see.

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That night, in a warehouse in Manhattan…

"It has to be in the Eyrie Building," one of the men said. "It's the most protected building of his, so it makes sense that he would keep it there."

"But he's still a business," another member spoke up from the other end of the table. "And even his defenses have limits; he could not take on multiple attacks and risk his livelihood at the same time. Plus he has his son to think of."

"Aren't we forgetting that Xanatos is a member of this society like the rest of us," a third member spoke up. "If necessary, we could bring him before the Council and force him to give it up!" Everyone started talking at once, opinions flying across the room.

"Brothers," the leader said from the head of the table, silencing them. "You both make excellent points, but until we learn more information, we will not attack. However, I wanted to hear from Brother Steward about our little… problem." The brother stood up, careful not to trip over the hem of his robes as he addressed the group.

"They've been spotted flying around the city almost every night," he told the group. "Never alone, and always a different route. They only stop to rest occasionally and to stop a petty mugging, but other than that, they keep to themselves." Abrupt discussions started from all sides of the table, but their leader called them to silence. "But in other news, we learned that two of them occasionally go somewhere north of the city; we can never follow them efficiently because of the quick wind currents."

"Macbeth," a brother suggested. "He lives in that general area; do you think the stone is with him?"

The leader looked thoughtful at this, tapping a finger on the table. "Perhaps… it would make the most sense, but we will not attack without certainty; he could still be visiting someone else. What we need is someone we can use as leverage; someone not protected by them that they care about.." He stood up. "Everyone continue your lives; you will be informed of the next meeting. And we need someone to travel up to the towns north of the city to try and track them."

"Wait," the treasurer asked. "What about the current fund report?"

"Unless you spent 2.7 billion in the past six days, we should be fine," their leader said. "But, if you do find someone to use as leverage, then I suggest you make sure they have someone who would pay to get them back in either cash or a gargoyle." He held up his hand, displaying the small Illuminati ring on his finger. "One way or another."

Yes! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Illuminati has arrived! Of course, being a secret organization, it's gonna be in the background here and there, but just knowing that it's there is half the fun! Also, I hope you enjoyed Amanda's POV; I thought it'd be interesting to occasionally switch to her view of things, so stay tuned for more to come!

Of course, I hope you enjoyed this installment of the story. Feel free to follow and favorite the story if you don't already, and feel free to leave a review on this chapter or others in the story. And, as always, have a happy and safe week/weekend!

-aggiefrogger

Note: I do NOT own Greg Weisman, Disney, Disney Plus, The Illuminati, Twitter or #KeepBingingGargoyles in ANY way, shape or form!