34 - "Breakdown Part 3: Window Into The Soul"
Originally Written: January 4th, 2001
January 25th, 2000
"...i didn't mean to...i didn't mean to...i loved you all...you were my clan...my
family...i'm sorry..." As if a child's voice had replaced his own, Goliath rambled on,
huddled within the mass of his wings, and the destructive haze of his declining health.
He was curled into a fetal position on the hospital bed, eyes refusing to blink, unable to
close and hide from view, his former Scottish clan come back to life to haunt his every
waking thought in streaks of horrifying memory flashes.
"Goliath..." a tone of peace and serenity called out behind him. "Goliath? Please answer
me..." It was Elisa, gingerly and quite timidly placing both hands upon his massive
backside, yet receiving no response from her husband. "Please," she begged him, "I'm
here, I'll help you, but you have to talk with me. You have to stay with me."
"...i'm sorry...i'm sorry..." Goliath whispered continuously, unable to perceive Elisa's
hands roaming the breadth of his spine and kneading his knotted neck muscles.
"We'll find a way, Big Guy," she leaned against him and pressed her uninjured cheek to
his trembling skin, "I promise." She reluctantly left his side and with a weighted stride,
approached the far edge of the hospital room, where doctors Pierce and Weathers were
examining what samples they had taken from the lavender giant.
Barely an hour had passed since Goliath was brought home, and his mental state had
immediately taken a turn for the worse. Elisa could only stand by and bare witness to the
most powerful being she had ever met, collapse into a heap of anguished cries and
unintelligible ranting. The doctors had taken numerous blood samples, tissue samples,
brainwave readings, anything modern science could tell them of his condition.
"So," Elisa started, hovering over Dr. Alan Pierce's backside as he stared into a small,
glass vial of blood, "anything yet?"
"We've been able to identify a toxin in Goliath's bloodstream, but as to what it is,
and...how to cure it...well..." he stopped, unable to continue any further, and knowing
Elisa had picked up on his sorrow for her husband's condition.
"Whatever it is, has spread throughout his entire bloodstream," Dr. Trishia Weathers
picked up the conversation, "his spinal fluid, his nervous system, and his brain. His
immune system, though extremely powerful, is losing the battle quickly."
"Oh god," Elisa's head fell into her awaiting hand, "what is it doing to him?"
"It's affected almost every major part of his brain," Dr. Pierce continued, "his cerebral
cortex, his parietal and occipital lobes, causing him to experience very powerful
hallucinations, even his temporal lobes, which might explain the voices he keeps hearing.
It's conceivably digging into his suppressed memories and forcing them to the surface in
split second barrages."
"This isn't an ordinary toxin, Elisa," Dr. Weathers turned to her, relieving the burden of
her glasses from her face and tenderly rubbing the bridge of her nose, "you said this
Sobek was a powerful...uh, magic user. Perhaps there's some magic inherent in this
toxin as well. As it stands now, I don't think science will be able to cure your husband."
"Then what will?!" Elisa angrily demanded.
"I...we...well..." Trishia Weathers stuttered for a proper response.
"We will keep looking Elisa," Dr. Pierce cut in, alleviating a growing fear in the slender
woman standing behind him, "but perhaps right now, what Goliath needs, is someone to
talk to. Someone who may be able to help fight the war going on in his head."
"I've tried!" Elisa screeched. "He'll barely communicate with me as it is."
"I know, that's why I'm suggesting getting a psychiatrist."
Elisa sighed heavily and shook her head. "And where the hell are we going to get a
shrink that will talk to a gargoyle?! Besides, we can't risk someone else becoming aware
of the clan. I can take care of him, I can help him..."
"Look at him!!" Dr. Pierce yelled back, immediately rising from his chair, and placing
his pointed finger directly in her field of vision towards Goliath's bed. "He is slowly
being consumed by a poison that as of right now, we can't even identify, let alone
attempt to treat. He is being eaten alive by his own troubled past. He needs someone
who can sort out these problems and perhaps ease his conscience, without being
emotionally attached." He sighed, running a hand through his graying hair. "You are too
involved right now, Elisa, you can't help him objectively."
Elisa turned back to her husband, and slowly moved into the center of the room, eyeing
his form, still shuddering violently within the embrace of the ivory sheets. She had
stopped herself from trying to comfort him, knowing she was powerless to help him, and
maybe, afraid he would once more lash out again. She stroked her bandage, her
fingertips dragging over the course fabric, and reliving the absolute shock of her husband
tearing her skin open in a terrifying instant. She shivered, knowing her doctor was right.
"Who...who did you have in mind?"
"I know a...friend. She's had many great successes with patients like Goliath, some even
worse off. She's been in the business along time, and is very good at what she does."
"Can she be trusted?"
"I give you my word, Elisa. Besides," Dr. Pierce drawled, "I heard from Xanatos that
you said the exact same thing about me. And look how our relationship turned out."
"Thanks, Alan." said Elisa quietly, her eyes filled wide with Goliath's limp form, and
desperately searching for any strength still remaining in her form. "I hope she can help."
****************************************
"I sure hope you know what time it is, Alan..."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but this qualifies as an emergency, and I don't want to waste
anymore time we have to."
"You have a patient who needs me, I take it?"
"Yes, very much. He's been a victim of a powerful psychotropic agent that has spread
throughout his entire brain, and is bringing up extremely painful memories of the past."
"And you're hoping I can soothe him in some way."
"He's dangerous in his present condition. And it may provide us some time to least try to
find a cure."
"All right, I'll come."
"Thanks, but...there's something I should tell you first. This man is...very unique."
"How so?"
"Let's just say...he's not exactly human."
"If this is a joke..."
"It's not, oh god it's not. Okay, I guess the best thing to do when talking to a shrink is to
tell the truth. Well, here goes...this patient...has lavender skin, is seven and a half feet
tall, has wings and a tail and can benchpress a city bus."
"I beg your pardon?"
****************************************
"It's good to meet you, Mr. Xanatos."
"Likewise, Dr. Blackwell." answered the billionaire, as he greeted the psychiatrist after
stepping from the elevator. A lithe woman, appearing to be at least over forty years of
age, with shoulder length black hair, and barely a hint of silver strands intermixed within
the glossy raven tress. A simple gray sportcoat and skirt, with a white blouse concealed
beneath, and her briefcase finished the display, as Xanatos examined the handsome
woman.
"Anne-Marie, please. Now, where is my patient?" the elder doctor asked almost
hesitantly, after her phone conversation with Dr. Pierce, and his description of Goliath.
"I suppose you have heard that Goliath is not your everyday patient." Xanatos almost
formed a sly grin, always loving the expression when those who believed they were the
dominant species on their planet, were given quite a rude awakening.
"I've never treated a...gargoyle before," Dr. Blackwell replied, "I usually dismissed the
tabloid pictures of winged creatures as just another way to sell magazines and perhaps
elicit more tourism."
"They are most definitely real, as I found out one stormy evening." Xanatos quipped,
leading the doctor to the castle's library. He opened the doors before him and showed
her through, where Dr. Pierce and Dr. Weathers were waiting.
"Hello, Alan." she stood defiantly and thinned her eyes teasingly towards the long haired
doctor.
"Anne-Marie," he answered back, in a tone that almost belied both a delight in seeing her
again, and an indecisiveness for accepting her help, "thanks for coming on such short
notice."
"Could I ever say no to you? Now where is my patient?"
"Before you meet him, I'd like to introduce someone else, a close family member who
can fill you in on his past."
"And just who would that be?"
"Me, lassie."
Dr. Blackwell whirled around to the section of the library left intentionally dark, and a
shadowed tan hide appeared into full view. With a hand placed to her chest to calm a
rapidly beating heart, she spied upon a very large, bulky figure, wearing a leathery cape
of folded wings, and a honorable visage hidden behind a thick, platinum beard, it's color
lost to the ravages of time. "Well," she gasped, "you must be a gargoyle."
"Aye. Did th' wings give me away, lassie? Or perhaps th' tail?"
She snapped her eyes to Dr. Pierce, who answered her glare with a shrug of his shoulders,
and a hand gesture to indicate she should perchance welcome the arrival. "I take it you
are playing the role of history teacher tonight?" she questioned the older gargoyle,
noticing his rather sharp talons enveloping her slender hand in a friendly greeting.
"Aye. My name be Hudson, like th' river. I have known Goliath since he be hatched
from an egg ov'r a thousand years ago."
"An egg? A thousand years ago?" Dr. Blackwell widened her stare, her thoughts
flooding with possibly a sudden compunction in coming to this ancient castle, but her
duty was to help those in need, and so she quickly solidified her resolve. "Maybe you
should start at the beginning..."
"Aye."
As Hudson led the psychiatrist to the couch, and started once more his familiar and
detailed retelling of the gargoyle's history, Dr. Weathers leaned in to her medical
companion and noticed his mixed expression. "Something tells me you know her better
than you let on, Alan dear."
"You could say that." he replied almost solemnly.
"Old girlfriend?"
"Ex-wife."
Trishia's features hardened in mock pain. "Ooooh."
"Tell me about it, but if there's anyone who can reach Goliath, it's either going to be
Elisa, or her."
****************************************
"Come on, Big Guy, this way. It's going to be all right." Elisa whispered gently to her
husband, leading him down the hall, towards the library.
Goliath staggered slowly, as if trying to maintain a broken sense of balance, and a
tenuous grip on his surroundings. She had finally been able to rouse her mate from his
hospital bed, and tenderly guide him to his intended appointment with the doctor. He
dragged his hand along the stone walls, languidly traversing the hallways with every step
a challenge to be undertaken, and Elisa clenched tightly to his other arm. He was deathly
silent, his eyes drooping, threatening to fall closed and send him hurtling back to the
battle of voices in his mind.
"C'mon...that's it...nice and slowly..." Elisa urged him on, and soon seeing Angela and a
few others of the clan waiting before them at the library doors. "It's okay, everything
will be all right." They stopped at the doors, with Goliath hardly aware of his daughter
staring into a barren landscape of charcoal, as his once gleaming eyes had become
tarnished and faded.
"Father?" she called to him, and he never answered her plea. She turned away and buried
herself in Broadway's shoulder.
"Goliath." Elisa demanded his attention in a severely exacting voice, and finally he
looked down to his mate. "We need to go into the library. There's a doctor, Dr.
Anne-Marie Blackwell, who will talk with you. Anything you wish to speak
about...anything."
He cocked his head, striving to understand. "...all right..."
"Good. Now come on." She flung the doors open and pulled the lavender giant into the
room, towards the couch. Across from him, sat Dr. Blackwell, watching with great
concern as Elisa showed Goliath where to sit.
"Hello, Goliath." she said, greeting him in a pleasant voice.
He looked up to see her observing his every sluggish move and body movement.
"...hello...you...are the doctor...the one who will talk to me..."
"Yes. I want to help you. We all do." Dr. Blackwell looked up to Elisa, signaling with
nothing but a simple click of her eyes to the doors, that she now needed to leave.
Elisa swallowed her reluctance of leaving her husband, and drifted upon his shoulder, a
swath of her copper hand, her warm touch connecting with his own inviting skin. "I have
to go now, Goliath," she leaned in and whispered into his ear, seeing him turn with a rare
look of fear to her, "but I'll be right outside. The doctor will help you. I promise."
"All right." he returned, his voice growing in strength. Elisa departed from the room, and
left the gargoyle to meet the doctor's eyes. They were sitting directly apart from each
other, Goliath on the couch, Dr. Blackwell in the opposing recliner, a relaxed position of
a crossed leg and holding a notepad in her lap. The room had been emptied of all light,
save for one small lamp to the side, and the bay window, creating a stark contrast of
muted color and devouring shadow. Goliath continued to study his observer, as she had
not taken her eyes off him the entire time. "Anne-Marie," he started, "is a very beautiful
name."
She smiled. "Ah, so the Goliath I've heard so much about is still in there somewhere."
"Somewhere..." he agreed. "So...you wish for me to speak?"
"I am here to listen, Goliath. I want to know what's happening. I was brought here to
help you. Your clan is very worried."
Goliath rubbed a taloned hand upon his face, easing tired eyes and stressed muscles. "I
hear...voices...I see my dead brothers and sisters..."
"What do they say?"
"They wish for me to...destroy my clan...my family..."
"Why?"
Goliath struggled for his answer. "I...don't know. They blame me for leaving them."
"Did you?"
Goliath immediately lifted his head. "No! Yes...but..."
"But what?"
"I told them to stay at the castle, so they would be safe...I only wanted to keep them
safe."
"And then what happened?" The question she knew, but wanted the answer in Goliath's
own words.
"I...I arrived back to find their shattered forms, scattered about the place I had come to
call home. My brothers...my sisters...destroyed...I could have done something..."
"It seems if you had stayed at the castle, you would been been destroyed as well." she
replied, her voice never wavering, never showing a trace of emotion.
"I should have taken them with me."
"You had no idea they would be betrayed from within. It wasn't your fault."
"Yes," he rasped, fighting back the tears, "it was. I was their leader. They trusted me to
keep them safe. I should have moved our clan from the castle...found a new
home...somewhere safe...away...away from...from..."
"From the humans?"
"They never wanted us there, none of them. My only human friend betrayed us...and my
angel love...betrayed us all..."
"So you blame them now."
"No. It was me. My failure resulted in Demona's hatred consuming her. I could have
reached her, made her see what goodness can exist in humans. I could have reached
them both, before..." Goliath drew back into himself, his wings plunging down around
him, and his clenched fists raising to his furrowed brow. "I failed them..."
"It seems, Goliath, that you had no part in Wyvern's downfall. From what I heard from
Hudson, it seems you served as leader with distinction, courage, honor, compassion, and
an unending quest to unite your race with humankind."
"A quest which cost me my mate, and my clan."
"She made her choice, as did the captain of the guard, and they paid for their mistakes.
Your want for peace between the races was a noble and just pursuit."
"It was utterly futile..."
"Perhaps then, when fear and superstition filled the hearts of man, but now, well, your
newest daughter is half human. A very big step in a very right direction, wouldn't you
say?" She lowered her eyes and head to meet his, like an adult addressing a child, and
found the giant peering from his hands, between the assemblage of lavender fingers.
"I've met your baby girl, she's very beautiful."
"She is one of the greatest things to ever have happened to me in this new world."
"This new world..." Anne-Marie repeated his words wistfully, never having fully
understood how this clan of tenth century gargoyles viewed her modern world until now.
"You seemed to have made your place. Found a home. Created a new family."
"...family...my family..."
****************************************
"I don't think we should be watching this," remarked Todd, shifting relentlessly in his
chair, "it's kind of personal, isn't it?"
"We all have to be here." answered Elisa, as she glued her pensive gaze to the television
screen. "Dr. Blackwell wanted all of us to see this, to see what pain Goliath carries
around with him. To understand him better."
The entire clan had been gathered in a room on the opposite side of the hallway leading
to the library, placed in chairs and standing alongside, watching with fascination the
conversation taking place just down the corridor. The whole of the clan, the Xanatos
family, the mutates, and even Demona had gathered around the image of their friend,
recorded on a security camera and pouring his tortured soul out for all to hear, at the
doctor's insistence.
"I never knew," Annika whispered, "I never knew he had so much buried within him."
"None of us knew," Elisa said with an air of sadness, holding a sleeping Trinity close to
her chest, "none of us could ever imagine living a life such as his. Such a burden to
carry, such a weight, tearing at him night after night. But he never showed it, not to me,
not to anyone."
Demona sat silently near the back, watching her former lover burrow deeper into the
embrace of the couch, blaming himself for what she knew he could ever claim to be his
fault. It was she, and the captain of the guard, who destroyed their lives a millennium
ago. And yet, he had accepted her back into the fold, welcomed her presence in his
home, even going as far to allow his newborn daughter to be cared for by someone who
had dirtied her hands with innocent blood.
She looked upon her only child, clinging to Broadway's frame, forced to have observed
her father break down to a withered shell of his former self. The rest around her, the
survivors of the massacre, the new additions to the clan, the mutates, the Xanatoses,
filled their eyes with Goliath's butchered soul, torn open by the hands of a toxin running
rampant through his body. Yet none of them looked to her, to condemn her for what he
felt, he experienced, all those years ago. A welling of utter consuming remorse built up
in the pit of her stomach, and she felt the urge to retch, yet when feeling the mild touch
of her daughter's hand make contact with her arm, she forced a smile at the love shown
to her by the one who brought her back from the brink.
****************************************
"Goliath, I want to talk about your clan."
"My...clan?" he mumbled the words through his lips.
"Yes. They are very important to you, aren't they?"
"They are my family, my closest friends, my children...they are one of the few remaining
clans in this world. They...are a part of me. To lose them would be to lose myself."
Dr. Blackwell looked to her notepad, scrawled with unintelligible writing, a language
known only to her, and looked to her list of names provided by Hudson. "I'll give you a
name, and I want you to tell me about that person. How you really feel about them."
"I...don't know..."
"Please. I need your truthful insight on the people who share your life."
Goliath looked up to her, and his dark eyes glistened with an intellect and grace she
hoped she would be fortunate enough to see. "Yes..." was his only reply.
"Good. Let's begin. Hudson..."
"...My oldest friend. I based my life upon his teachings of peace and tolerance. He
trusted me enough to make me his second in command, and guided me when I became
the leader. He's always been there for me, with advice and experience of a thousand
years."
"Brooklyn."
"The perfect choice for my second. Though headstrong, he is extremely clever, and
quick to take charge in battle. Adapts to every situation, and will one day make a fine
leader. He has matured somewhat due to his journey through time, and like always, only
met the new challenge with determination and a fierce will."
"Sata."
"I am glad Brooklyn has finally found someone to call love. She counters his wild nature
with elegance and dignity, and possesses a quiet strength that never ceases to amaze me.
She has come to call this time and this castle home, and is a very welcome addition to the
clan."
"Graeme and Arianna."
"A younger generation, so full of life and wondrous spirit. They look at their world
through innocent eyes, and see only what pleasures and festivities can be reaped and
indulged in. Their laughter fills the halls of the castle with pleasant sounds I have truly
missed. They are our future, and through them, will we live on."
"Angela."
"My firstborn daughter. I once thought I had lost her, and the rest of her siblings to the
unforgiving clutch of time. But with the help of humans who once thought of my race as
abominations or monsters, she was raised to be a self-reliant, strong, and courageous
woman, who opened my stubborn eyes to a child's love. I would be lost without her."
"Broadway."
"A fine choice for Angela, and I know he will always be there for her. Caring,
understanding, gentle. His culinary skills are unmatched, as is his ability to forgive. He
will one day take his place among our kind to lead them to a brighter future."
"Lexington."
"Perhaps the smartest man I have ever met. He confronted this modern world with a
curiosity to rival that of the great inventors I have read about. He is always dissecting a
new machine or reading about what mankind has created in their quest to conquer the
natural world. He is my guide for this era of technology, and helps me to understand
what can sometimes elude me. I hope one day he will find a way to deal with the pain he
has inside of him, and will find someone to share his life with."
"Desdemona and Othello."
"My brother and sister, a fierce hunter and a gentle care-taker. Brought back from the
dead to rejoin our clan. They were one of the first of my generation to be mated, and I
often take solace in seeing them together. To see how love can survive even death and
oblivion, and create a path to guide one home, is truly reassuring indeed."
"Shadow."
"A man of honor, and a warrior born. He was raised by a human, and because of that
unique relationship, sees humans as gentle creatures and knows there is always a chance
for peace. A grim demeanor belies his kind-hearted soul, and he is always there to care
for Delilah. They are maybe the perfect choice for one another, and I hope to see their
relationship blossom even further."
"Annika."
"It has been my pleasure to watch her grow from a shy, fearful girl to fierce, beautiful
woman, who cares more for others than herself. She is intelligent, considerate and
patient, though sometimes extremely jealous of others crowding upon her boyfriend. The
man who gave her a life to be lived with all the rewards it can bring."
"Todd."
"Annoying, to a point where I sometimes want to...punch him...very hard, but he is
always there to help lift your spirits. He risked his life for the woman he loved, and
allowed her to share his world. I hope he and Annika are very happy together, and seeing
them gives me great hope for the rest of his race. It is refreshing to have another
interspecies pairing around, it doesn't feel as if I am alone in the fact that I fell in love
with a human."
"Demona."
****************************************
Upon the mention of her name, the immortal ducked her head, noticing the stray glares
collecting on her seated locale. She compulsively rubbed her hands together and closed
her eyes, waiting for what Goliath would say about her. A hatred swelling for a
millennium perchance now to be released in a torrential wave of emotion. She
shuddered at the thought. Goliath had been the last hurdle to be encountered, as he had
been the most affected, the most injured, by her betrayal.
Her thoughts flowed tumultuously through her subconscious, piercing the back of her
skull, a flood of memories of her conflict with her ex-mate. She held her breath and
waited for his response. He had stalled, as if trying to find the correct words to describe
her baneful actions, the intentions of destruction and death she once had. She found it
hard to believe, that she wanted Goliath's praise once again, his approval, his friendship.
She desired what she had when but a young innocent gargess living in the hills of
Scotland, before the centuries long metamorphosis into the azure-skinned angel of death.
****************************************
"Goliath?" Dr. Blackwell asked again, knowing she had touched on a precarious subject.
"Demona. Once that name...had only brought me pain. Memories of her betrayal, and
her actions when we first awakened. But now...I find...I just want my friend back. I
could talk to her about anything. I miss what we had. I know we cannot go back to what
once was, nor do I wish to, I have gained too much. Yet, this castle lost apart of itself
when she left, and now with her back...home, it feels...right."
"David Xanatos."
"At times I feel as if I want to rip his throat out, and then, give him my most profound
gratitude for offering us so much. He gave us back our home, he helped defend against
the Unseelie, he found a doctor for Trinity, to ensure a safe birth, and now guarantees her
an even safer future. He has succeeded in atoning for his actions of the past, with maybe
one last hurdle to be jumped before total redemption."
"Elisa..."
A smile graced Goliath's lips for the first time tonight, and grew in size and strength as
the lavender giant filled his eyes with images of her beauty and elegance. "My beautiful
Elisa. My very essence taken exquisite form in lush ebony hair, glorious bronze skin,
chocolate brown eyes and a courage and determination that cannot be rivaled by anyone.
She has fought against all odds to love me, and through it all, the fights, the battles, the
near death experiences, still manages to put a smile on my face. She is my mate, my best
friend, and the mother of my children. She is my very reason for being, the soulmate
perhaps I have been searching for my entire existence."
"It seems you have found so much more here in the new world." Dr. Blackwell idly
commented, clicking her pen in a rhythmic tapping upon her notepad.
"Things have a way of balancing out, I suppose." Goliath spat out, his mood immediately
foundering and seizing his forehead in a grasp of violet talons. Fanged teeth clenched
tight enough to crush a steel pipe, as Goliath fought against an unseen pain.
"A headache?"
Goliath violently shivered, and did his best to maintain what he now had to fight for, his
own mental state. "Yes," he wheezed, "a side effect of the...toxin."
"I want to hear more about your old clan, Goliath, from Scotland."
"I have told you already."
"I want to know about them. All of them. What they were like, what they did. I know
it's a sensitive issue but..."
"You have no idea how sensitive it is, doctor." Goliath menaced unintentionally, his eyes
altering from his usual softened intentions, and becoming as hard as steel.
"I don't mean to make you angry. Far from it." Dr. Blackwell quickly calmed Goliath's
frayed nerves, noticing a sudden shift in body language, as even the smallest of muscles
beneath his leathery hide rippled with bonecrushing power. His mood had abruptly
switched again, from the whimpering child to the abrasive beast. "All I want is for you to
relieve the burden. Talk to me."
Goliath relented and quelled his growing anger. "It was a happy time. Even the battles
with Viking hordes and meeting with discrimination and prejudice, we lived a good life,
together. We were a clan of over one hundred gargoyles, who wanted nothing more from
life than to exist peacefully with the humans living there."
"Did you have any special relationships with anyone else? Besides Demona, Hudson or
the trio?"
Goliath still fought against the questioning thrown to him. Almost as if he had to seal his
lips to prevent any words from escaping, from opening a chapter in his life he had closed
and tried to forget.
Dr. Blackwell especially noticed this, knowing he desperately needed to speak his mind,
to set free what he had tightly bound within the deepest confines of his troubled soul. "I
know you want to talk about this, Goliath. Don't fight it."
"My clever sister." His swift answer almost caught the doctor off guard. "My joke
telling brother. There were others..."
"Who?"
"Another. She...was of the generation before me. She was a watcher of the eggs, my
first memory is of her, caring for me in the rookery. She paid special attention to me,
even though..."
"Even though it wasn't the gargoyle way for the elders to look upon the hatchlings any
differently from anyone else." she answered for him, this time surprising her patient at
her own knowledge of gargoyle custom.
"I...don't know why she looked upon me differently than the others of my generation."
"I think you do."
Goliath leaned into the couch, crossing his arms and presenting forth a scowl that would
scare off any attacker, yet Anne-Marie remained firm, mimicking Goliath's own stance.
Her pen commenced to tap again, a shrill rapping of plastic upon wood fiber, purposely
incensing Goliath's great hearing and his irritable disposition. "She...we were..."
...goliath...
Goliath froze in place. The voices had returned, bringing with them an unrelenting pain.
"No..." Goliath fumbled in torment to the floor, grasping his hands to his head.
...goliath...betrayer...murderer...
"No!! Please!! STOP!!!" Goliath howled his suffering, encompassing the entire room in
a gargoyle's earsplitting rage, his wings flared out to their furhtest reach. "Leave me
alone!!"
"Goliath!" Dr. Blackwell called to him, sliding from her chair in an effort to catch him.
She tried her best to steady his shaking form, yet compared to her patient, her human
body could never draw enough strength to help effectively. "Goliath, block them out!
It's the toxin! Nothing more!"
...she lies...she wants to betray you like all humans...
"No!!" Goliath huddled in a quivering mass on the floor, every muscle in his body
contracting beyond what their limit would allow. He choked on his tongue and saliva
and tore into his own facial skin with his talons, as spastic contortions surged through
him. "Aaaacckkgh..."
"Goliath..." The witness to a debilitating disease, Dr. Blackwell opened her brown eyes
wide to the gargoyle before her, sensing through her fingertips, the pure adrenaline
coursing within his arteries and muscles, sinew and flesh, feeding his system and
blocking all conscious thought. "...oh my god."
...she is a betrayer...she must die...they all must die... The voices swelled in his head,
echoing painfully within the walls of his skull, and Goliath's agony brought tears to his
eyes.
"...no..."
...destroy her...DESTROY HER...
"RRRRAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGHH!!!!" In a mere second, Goliath's blood-soaked
talons were around Dr. Blackwell's neck, and he lifted her from the floor. He stood to
his full height, and outstretched his arm, with the human's delicate body hanging limp
within his grip.
"...goliath..." she let out a muffled lament, as her neck was swallowed in the void of his
hand. "...don't...do this...don't let the...voices win..." An amazing feat she
accomplished, even as her life perhaps drew to a close, she continued her efforts to help
her patient, knowing from their earlier conversation and Hudson's kind words, he was
not this man, this monster she saw before her.
"BETRAYER!!!" Goliath bellowed, slowly increasing the pressure on her neck. His
judgment destroyed, his compassion fissured and broken, his rage was all that was left
and his one devouring thought was now to kill the traitorous creature completely at his
mercy. "DIE!!!"
(((NO))) The soothing voice had returned. (((if you kill her Goliath, you shall regret it for
the rest of your life)))
"...what?" Goliath took heed of this command, this calming influence upon him.
"...I...do not wish to...who are you?..."
(((a friend...like the woman you hold in your hand)))
Goliath's eyes returned with the luster and sheen of intelligence and reason, and met the
fearful eyes of Dr. Blackwell, still struggling to release herself. "...d-doctor..."
(((she is here to help you)))
...she's a betrayer...kill her... The war ensued in his mind, for control of his body.
(((no...listen to me...you are not this man...you are gentle and caring and you care deeply
for the humans...and this doctor)))
"Who are you?" Goliath implored to the soothing voice. "Why are you trying to help
me?"
(((because I love you, Goliath...you know who I am...you remember me, even when you
were just a hatchling in the rookery of Wyvern)))
"You..." Goliath now had identified the voice, a link to his early past and a recollection
of his most cherished family members. "It is you, isn't it?"
"...who...who is it, Goliath?" Dr. Blackwell asked, attempting to forge the connection she
once had with him.
"She...was..."
...NO...YOU WILL OBEY ONLY US...KILL HER...KILL THEM ALL... A frenzy of
fractured souls growled within his subconscious, with the terrifying gravel and scraping
of a nightmare given the breath of life.
(((no...please...my son)))
...KILL HER...KILL THEM ALL...
Goliath's brow moved down, and his eyes completely clouded over, leaving a milky
white, before being absorbed by his angered bleached glow. He coupled his glare with
the doctor's and without uttering a single word, informed her through the pressure of his
grip, that she would forever cease her breathing by his hand. Then finally, the threat
would erupt from his frothing mouth. "...die..."
"Not tonight!" A blur of crimson sliced through the air, as Brooklyn lept towards his
leader, and using both fists, slammed down on Goliath's arm. The force of the blow
loosened his grip and Dr. Blackwell fell free, landing in a heap on the library floor.
Brooklyn immediately landed, swiveled around and met the lavender giant head on.
"This ends now, Goliath. You're a danger to yourself and anyone else who crosses your
path."
...your own clan now attacks you...they are betrayers...just like your angel love...kill
them...
"BETRAYERS!!!" Goliath lunged for the smaller gargoyle, with his claws raised for a
killing blow.
Brooklyn stood defiantly, and placed his arms to his side, as if expecting salvation to
come and save him from the wrath of the most powerful gargoyle alive. And indeed it
did, as Shadow emerged from the deepest recesses of the library, and toppled the
lavender leader with a massive strike. They careened into the furniture, bringing a spray
of wood splinters into the air, as the mahogany coffee table shattered beneath their great
weight. Hand to hand they wrestled, bared teeth and flaring eyes, and steel rending
power.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!" Goliath cried, as he fought against Shadow in a deadly
clash.
The others of the clan flooded into the library, and Elisa fought her way through to the
forefront, only to fill her frightful gaze with her husband combating against her family
friend. His eyes had emptied from their normal loving radiance, and what had been left
behind in the absence, pierced to her soul. "Goliath?"
Angela checked on the doctor, sprawled on the floor, and clasping a hand about her
bruised throat, clearing her passageway with heavy coughing. "Are you all right?"
"I-I'm fine...fine...it's your father who needs help." she answered in a grated breath.
"I know, we heard. The voices have returned."
"Yes, but there's something else. Another voice is trying to break through, to help him.
Someone from his past." She was helped to her feet and looked upon Goliath, now being
held in both Shadow's and Othello's arms.
"Who?"
"I don't know. It was a female...perhaps someone very special to him."
"That doesn't matter right now," commented Brooklyn from their side, "he's going to kill
someone. We have to get him locked up. Xanatos has a special cell in the Eyrie, where
Dr. Pierce can monitor him."
"He shouldn't be slammed in a cage right now," Dr. Blackwell argued, "he needs help.
We can still reach him."
"Goliath has the power to destroy everything he comes across. He almost killed you. If
we don't get him under control, he may hurt someone in this clan, and I'm not going to
let that happen." Brooklyn quickly approached the lavender giant, barely contained by
Shadow, Othello, Broadway and Hudson. The scarlet gargoyle looked down upon
Goliath, as he was forced to his knees.
He was still foaming at the mouth, and breathing like a wounded animal. With every
gulp of air, he let loose the rasp of death, and clicked his clouded eyes to his second.
"...you will die..."
"So I've heard." Brooklyn answered the threat with a surprising aspect of calm. "You
need help, Goliath, and I'm sorry we have to do this but..." He stepped back and allowed
Dr. Pierce to slip by, with a syringe in hand. Goliath's head was wrenched back and his
neck exposed by Othello, and the doctor jammed the needle into his jugular. Goliath
screamed, sending a shiver down Elisa's spine, having to watch as her husband grew
drowsy and became limp in his family's arms.
"Bring him." Dr. Pierce whispered. "With all the adrenaline coursing through him, that
sedative won't hold for long." Othello and Shadow hoisted Goliath upon their shoulders
and dragged him behind the quickly retreating doctor.
They passed by Elisa, who reached out with her trembling hand, but stopped just before
contacting with his skin. As they pulled him from the room, she had managed to keep
her tears at bay, and fought against the demons who had so plagued her the last couple of
months. Fear, doubt, pain, threatening to overwhelm her, vowing to destroy what
happiness she had finally found after so long.
****************************************
"Goliath?" Elisa called to him. "Goliath...wake up." Her voice became blurred through
almost a foot thick of titanium shielding and Plexiglas windows that was her husband's
cell. She peered with chocolate eyes through the portal, at the limp form of Goliath, left
in the middle of the cold, metal floor. He had been placed in this specially designed cell,
located on a lower floor of the Eyrie building. "Goliath?" she called again, and breathed
a small sigh of relief when he at last began to stir.
Goliath crawled from his entanglement of wings and wavered to his feet, involuntary
muscle twitches signaling his impressive immune system sloughing off the remainder of
the sedative from his body. He stared at the farthest wall with clouded vision, and even
through the solid walls, detected a presence just beyond.
"Goliath...it's me," Elisa spoke even louder into the speaker feeding the cell, "are
you...you?"
He never answered, instead electing to wander from the windows and towards the wall,
resting upon the slick steel surface.
"It's his guilt..."
Elisa picked up bits of conversation resounding behind her, and she reluctantly left the
windows to join the rest of the clan and the doctors. The voice belonged to Dr.
Blackwell, involved in a serious dialogue of her husband's condition with Dr. Pierce.
"...his guilt is the driving force behind this toxin's power." she continued. "He hears the
voices of those he believes he failed a thousand years ago, and then further compounded
with his self imposed blame of recent events." She noticed Elisa's approach and turned
to her. "Elisa's assault and near-rape, the death of the clones, the attack on the castle,
Sobek's attempt on your life and Trinity's. It has all been piling up for months, years,
and Goliath's carefully guarded emotional reserve has been practically destroyed."
"And then he tries to kill us." Brooklyn snapped back, crossing his arms and scowling
towards her.
"It's the toxin," Demona cut in from the side, "whatever Sobek slipped him, is practically
brimming over with magic. Very powerful magic. It twists his memories and cognitive
thoughts into vengeful, hateful feelings."
"No shit," Brooklyn drawled, "what can we do to cure him?"
"As you know, it is extremely dangerous to mix magics. Drastic measures may need to
be taken." Demona turned to Dr. Blackwell, and caught her attention with an arm to her
shoulder. "You almost reached him, when he attacked you. Just what exactly did you
do?"
"Nothing." she answered. "I did nothing. It seems Goliath has an ally inside his head.
There is someone fighting with him, calming him enough to bring him back...if just for a
moment."
"Who?" Elisa inquired.
"I don't know, yet she seems to have quite an effect on him. He mentioned someone
from his past, a female gargoyle, of the generation before his, who would often take care
of him when he was young."
Hudson, far from the group, perked up, stroking his beard and lost in his recollection of
his younger days. When Goliath was but a child, barely above his knee, Hudson would
watch as his lavender rookery sister would favor the hatchling in a way unlike that of
gargoyle tradition.
"But I don't know how long she can last. She seems to be fighting a losing battle."
"Obviously." Brooklyn whispered, pacing the length of the area outside the cell, and
glancing through the windows to his leader, still motionless at the far end of the jail.
"I've never, ever seen him like this. He was nothing but a mindless animal, ready to kill
anyone he set his sights on."
"No..." Elisa cursed beneath her breath, "he would never kill the people he loves."
"Elisa..."
"NO!!!" she screamed, whirling around to face the clan, tears flooding her face and her
fists squeezed so tight, her nails almost drew blood from the palm. "He is the most
caring, tender, peaceful man on this planet!! He would never do anything to hurt us. He
will fight this...shit floating through his body. He'll come back to us...to me."
"Elisa, we have to be reasonable..." Dr. Blackwell sighed her disbelief.
"You have no idea what we went through!! You can't even imagine what forces we have
fought against, what things we have seen, what we have done...to finally be united
together in love! You have no idea the power our devotion brings to us. Reasonable? I
was reasonable six years ago. I never believed in magical creatures or mythical beings,
until he came into my life. I never believed I could experience a love like what Goliath
gives to me, and I'll be damned if I lose him to some bastard psychotic and his little
poisons!!"
Dr. Blackwell widened her stare and backed off, abruptly closing her mouth and averting
another outburst of pent-up rage this slender woman before her eyes could summon.
"We are going to find a cure, I promise you that." Her tone demanded a finality to any
doubt still lingering and she turned to the immortal behind her, who was carefully
examining the computer readout. "Demona, what can we do?"
"I believe I may know, but it will require a spell to be cast. We cannot fight this toxin
the conventional way. To waste any time trying to find a cure will only succeed in the
toxin's intended effects, Goliath's total submission to his guilt and anger. It may result in
permanent brain damage."
"What kind of spell?"
"I have one in mind, that involves fighting your husband's feelings head on. To cure
what he feels as his own fault, will make it easier for him to fight back himself. But...I
need Goliath's help as well. He needs to be conscious, aware of our plan, to allow us
access to his most intimate thoughts."
"We need to pull him back as it were," Elisa echoed Demona's thought, "if just for a
second."
"And the second we step into that cage, he'll most likely rip us in two." Dr. Pierce added.
"Demona, what do you need?"
"A book with the proper spell, that is all."
"Go get it."
"I'll be back soon." Demona slipped from the room, intent on heading for her manor.
"And I'll get Goliath ready." Elisa headed for the armored door, leading into the cell, but
found her way blocked by Dr. Pierce.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go in there."
"He won't hurt me." said Elisa, eyeing the arm bracing her from moving any farther.
"He almost killed Anne-Marie. He may kill you."
"No he won't."
Dr. Pierce sucked in his anger and what swear words he could free upon this woman's
incessant stubbornness, all the while shaking his head. "As a doctor...and as your friend,
I can't let you go in there. I can't let any of my patients become hurt because of my
actions...or inaction."
Elisa and Dr. Pierce squared off, in a war of rigid stares, until a crimson hand came upon
the doctor's shoulder and forcefully pulled him from Elisa's path.
"Let her go." Brooklyn told the doctor.
"What?! Are you nuts? You saw what Goliath did earlier...if he gets his hands on
Elisa..."
"There is a bond between Goliath and Elisa that nothing can bend, break, or destroy,"
Brooklyn started, staring into the cell, "he would rather die himself than hurt the woman
he loves. If there is anyone on this planet that can bring Goliath back, it's Elisa." He
reached for the keypad, punched in the electronic code, and upon hearing the hydraulic
hiss of the locks releasing, pulled open the outer door. "Bring him home, Elisa."
She smiled to her old friend, and stepped into the small chamber, a staging area just
before the jail cell containing her husband. The door slammed shut behind her and
locked into place, a suffocating atmosphere within the steel enclosure. A soft emerald
glow above the next door, announcing to her in the ice cold beckoning of technology,
that she may proceed. Taking one last deep breath to steady her nerves, she slowly
pushed the barrier from her way.
She moved into the cell, and locked the door immediately upon seeing Goliath's wings
twitch at the change in his environment. Barely fifty feet from fifty feet, a perfect cube,
with nothing to mark the extent of the walls or ceiling. A glistening of titanium alloy, a
stark comparison from the wondrous shade of lavender from her husband's skin.
"Goliath." she whispered to him, standing a mere ten feet away from the seven foot,
seven inch, giant gargoyle. "It's me, Elisa."
He barely turned his head, only to catch her from the corner of his dark eyes. His
breathing was deafening, she could hear every powerful animal snort released into the
cell's stale, re-circulated air. His self inflicted injuries traveled the length of his face,
lacerations colored a deep vermilion, down his forehead, cheeks and chin. "You
shouldn't have come..."
"Why not?" she replied, hearing the traces of malevolence carried in every word.
"I must obey the voices."
"You don't have to...you can fight them."
"No. I can't."
"Yes," she hesitantly moved closer, her steps practiced and cautious, "you are stronger
than they are. You can win."
A high-pitched screeching erupted into the cell, causing all of Elisa's skin to goosebump.
Goliath scraped his talons down the steel surface, and the corner he had chosen to linger
within, lit up with the platinum glare of his eyes. "You shouldn't have come." The same
words uttered as before, yet a tone of terminality which Elisa was beginning to fear.
"Why not?" she repeated her words as well, trying to find what remained of her husband.
But tonight, at this moment, she was about to find that he had been suppressed, and
replaced by the sum of his fury and madness magnified many times.
"Because," he turned his gaze to her, "I am going to kill you."
To be continued...