A Turn for the Worse and the Better?

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company.
No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder.
All original characters are the property of Bonnie_S. (a.k.a. Shona of Wyvern).

It was after sunset and the Clan had change back to their gargoyle forms when Melody (as Dr. Hindmin asked everyone to call her) fully explained what cancer was, and the fact that Elisa's was a strange new hybrid of the type called Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Everyone went to the kitchen, Broadway cooked, and they tried to eat – though no one really had an appetite.

Owen heard the others commenting about their transformation.

"So that's what it's like to watch a sunset. I never knew what we miss." Angela off-handedly started the conversation. She wanted to think about anything other than the fact that Elisa seemed to be dieing.

Broadway sighed, "yeah. The last time we were human it was night, so we didn't get to see that. It was nice."

Angela was shocked at the admission. "All of you have been human before?"

They all chuckled – they had forgotten that Angela hadn't been one of them when they first met Puck. Each took a turn telling her the events of that night. The fact that Elisa had been one of them again brought tears to Angela's eyes, because she wished that she could've seen that. Especially after the way her father described how Elisa looked.

Elisa thought to herself, "It never fails – the good is always great, and the bad is always the worse and is sinking fast. I always seem to get life's blows that way."

Then Elisa and Goliath went over all they had done before Elisa fainted. Shortly the stuffed animals were passed out (excluding the Xanatoses and Owen's), the pictures that Peter had taken to get developed were passed around and explained, as well as dozens of questions were answered.

Owen decided to deliver his bad news with a tinge of good. Later everyone will remember that they knew it had to be bad, because none of them had ever remembered Xanatos' assistant calling their friend by her given name.  "Elisa, an email was sent to the building for you. Mr. Xanatos and I recognized the sender and checked it for you. It holds the answers about your condition – from the creature who gave it to you."

"Elisa was given this illness!" Goliath roared. He wasn't the only one seething by the time the Xanatoses joined the group a moment later.

Xanatos sat in a chair while Fox and Alexander sat in his lap; she was visibly worried, while the head of the company was just barely controlling his anger. Every one of them could hear that in his voice as he spoke. "It was a video email from Thailog. It seems to have been preprogrammed to be sent today – the day he expected you to be told after your yearly physical. He genetically altered a virus to warp your own genes to create this new form of leukemia."

Elisa could barely contain her anger as she fought the first urges to vomit at the news. She grabbed a strong hold on Goliath's arm as she fought off every longing to scream and cuss. "When?"

"When he stole the sample of you that was used to create Delilah. He also sent it on to the Clan as well, but their stone sleep metabolizes it every thirty days. Though he had this all planned out, he knew there was a chance that the virus would have no effect on the Clan. So what other, and in some ways better, way could he hurt Goliath? Kill off Elisa, slowly and painfully." Xanatos pulled his own wife and son closer to him in his pain. He couldn't imagine being put in the Clan leader's shoes, watching his love die and not being able to do a thing to help.

Fox rubbed her husband's neck tenderly as she continued on. "I saw the message as well. The virus causes the cancer to move at twice the speed of a normal leukemia. And any attempts to bring Elisa into remission, through drugs or magic, will speed that process to one hundred times more rapidly. If Elisa goes through the chemotherapy or has a spell place on her that is created to remove the illness rather that healing the symptoms of the underlying disease, she will be dead in a little more than a month – if not sooner."

Brooklyn's eyes grew wide, and a grin of hope grew on his lips, as he snapped his fingers. "Stone sleep! Why didn't we think of it before? Elisa can be pulled into stone sleep and that should metabolize the virus just like it does for us! Then she'll be okay."

The group saw that as a glimmer of hope that made them all smile, but Elisa saw the downtrodden looks on the faces of those who saw the message. "It isn't as easy as that, is it?"

"To put you into stone sleep by magic would constitute trying to heal you, making the virus speed up in its destruction. And any of the Clan who tries to pull you into stone sleep with them would not only speed up your illness, but cancel out his or her own thirty day immunity factor – in essence killing you both. Thailog knew what he was doing when he mapped out this plan. He has seemingly set us up in a checkmate." Xanatos explained. He couldn't even look them in the eye any more. For once David Xanatos didn't have a contingency plan that could bail them all out of this.

That shattered all hopes to save their friend. Angela's soft weeping was the only sound in the room. There was no forcing a cure out of Thailog's hide, as he and the other clones were in eternal stone sleep due to a flaw in the process that created them all.

Lexington sighed in defeat, "then what can we do?"

"We make memories that are the best. We celebrate every night that we have left together, since the nights are all that we have." Elisa proclaimed with the tenacious and stubborn streak Goliath had brought up in his conversation with Peter.

Owen cleared his throat to gain the room's attention. "That is not quite true, Elisa. I rather forgot to explain a little something this morning and again this afternoon. The Clan will return to their true form at night, however by day they will become human unless they feel the need to go into stone sleep – as an example for the thirty-day cleansing.  Unless you all would like Alexander and I to change that."

Goliath whispered in his shock at the news, "then this can be permanent?"

"If that is what all of you wish. I am sorry however that Alexander and I are unable to save your life, Elisa." Owen looked at the floor in a vain attempt to hide his tears.

Elisa wasn't able to say anything. It was Angela who spoke up with a resolute tone in her voice. "I say we keep things as they are now. After all, mother has been awake during the days for a long time now. Call it due justice."

That broke everyone's bad moods.

"A shopping spree always lightens my mood. What do you think David – another day of splurging?" Fox smiled with a teasing look in her eyes.

"Since Goliath and Elisa took it so easy on the old bank account today …"

Elisa gawked in shock, "what do you mean we took it easy? We spent more than I ever imagined spending just by myself!"

"Like I said since the two of you went so easy on the company's bank account, I decided to have company credit cards issued for all of you – with one rule that is." The almighty Xanatos smirk had by now fully reemerged as the group groaned. "The only rule is to not bankrupt the company. After all there are a lot of people who work here who have families to support."

Brooklyn joked, "so we can't buy North Korea or sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. It's not like we need another bedroom, and I don't know how to speak Korean."

"The Lincoln bedroom is interesting, but I prefer the Castle bedrooms myself." Fox mentioned. That stopped everyone dead in his or her tracks. "What? Can't I have an opinion?"

"Well speaking of bedrooms, there are patrols that need done and I need to get some sleep – along with the rest of you – if we are going to have some fun tomorrow. Right love?" Elisa finally began flaunting her engagement ring that no one had seemed to notice.

Finally came the gasps and congratulations. Angela hugged Elisa tight. Hudson insisted on going out on patrol, as Goliath had not yet slept. Even Elisa could see that her dear love was fighting to stay awake. After a few minutes the rest went off on patrol, Xanatos and Fox insisted on guarding the castle in the meantime, and Elisa talked Goliath into helping her find some sleep. On the way to what was to become their bedroom, Elisa smiled up at Goliath with an odd look on her face.

"What are you thinking my, Elisa?"

"I think that we are going to beat Thailog, Goliath. He's in permanent stone sleep and can't affect our lives beyond this cancer virus. Mom always taught me that the almighty never shuts a door without leaving an open window." Seeing her fiancé's confused expression, Elisa clarified, "there is no problem that he doesn't leave us a way out of. The trick is to find and reach it. And I'm sure that you can get me through any window – no matter how high it is out of my reach."

Goliath kissed her lips, and wrapped his wings around her, before whispering, "I will always be there to catch or carry you my Elisa."

That night Elisa snuggled next to her love with his wings as her blanket. This was always how she dreamed her life would be – at least in a way it was. Resting next to the man she loved, a family that loved her, and the best of friends. She never dreamed that her love would be a handsome gargoyle Clan leader, that he and his Clan were hatched long before she herself was born, and their friends were at one time their enemies. Yet, she wouldn't change a single moment of the years they had lived through together. This was her family, this was her Clan – and Elisa Maza (soon to be Elisa Wyvern at Goliath's insistence) just wasn't anywhere near ready to leave them, she wanted to live.

David and Fox Xanatos, as well as Puck and Alexander, still had surprises that needed a little time to coordinate. First, all of Elisa's things were pack and stored inside of the Castle. As she was their family, they wanted her in the Castle to make things easier on everyone, but they couldn't set it all up with her and Goliath sleeping in their room. Melody and her eight year old daughter, Ann, were also moved into the building – though not into the Castle, as no one knew how Ann would take to the Clan.

Afterward, Puck and Alexander made a special trip to visit the Labyrinth and the Mutates. They explained what was happening with Elisa and the Clan. Nonetheless, Talon did not take the news very well, as he came close to shattering Thailog's stone carcass. He was grateful that the Xanatoses had changed and were doing so much to help his big sister. But, really there was little that could be done. Then Puck gave the trio a proposition none of them were willing to ignore.

What no one knew was Angela had visited with someone that night. A someone who then made an urgent call to a former fiancé for a lunch meeting the next day.

The early part of the morning found everyone standing together looking for the sun. Elisa was still on gargoyle time when it came to sunrise and sunset, in fact she had to wake Goliath for their first sunrise together in so long. They were in each other's embrace, Brooklyn and Lexington were each sitting on a parapet, Hudson just stood there waiting in silence, and the other lovebirds were happily nestled in each other's embrace.

First the sky began to lighten. The colors were more beautiful then Elisa could ever remember. Dark of night gave way to lighter blues. The clouds were highlighted with rose, pink, red, orange, gold and white. And then they saw the sun itself. This would be one day none of them would ever forget.

"Wow." Lexington sighed in awe.

Brooklyn exhaled before slowly saying, "now that was cool!"

"I have never seen anything so beautiful! Not even last night's sunset can compare to it!" Angela muttered out in surprise.

"Goliath, Lexington and I have been thinking." Brooklyn hesitantly spoke up.

"What about?"

Brooklyn looked over at Lexington. Finally the teen understood. "We know that humans have names that are different than ours. We chose ours because we only use them among our Clan and friends, but out in the city looking like humans – wouldn't that put us in a little bit of danger?"

Goliath was silent as they spoke thinking hard about what they were saying. Elisa could see that this was a change that would be hard on her future mate. "Goliath, the guys are right in a way. The Quarrymen know all of your names by now. We could fool them a few days, but no more than that. That's the reason Derek goes by the name Talon now. So if things do change for him and the mutates someday, their futures won't be in danger."

"I know that Elisa. It will just take time to get used to new names."

"Whatever you decide we'll go with on this one." Elisa whispered as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

Goliath sighed as he gave in to Elisa's logic – the Clan's safety was more important than the idea of how deceitful it seemed. "Do you have any ideas on what your day names will be?"

The trio high fived each other before getting serious again. Brooklyn cleared his throat, "I was thinking about being called Andrew. It's far enough from my own name that there would be no way that anyone would suspect the truth."

"And I thought that I'd be called Ryan." Lexington added excitedly as he had years before when they chose their true names.

Broadway looked a little uncomfortable as he tried out his new name. "I picked out Jeff."

Angela smiled proudly, because she knew that this was a hard act for her father. Still this was how things had to be. "I chose Serena."

"I suppose that Hudson, Bronx, and I will all need names as well." Goliath moaned.

Owen came out onto the battlement. "As will Elisa. I changed her appearance to those outside of family, Clan, and those she chooses to inform."

"Ouch we don't have one for Elisa." Ryan/Lex admitted.

Elisa just smiled, "that's alright. I can come up with a name. Amy. It's the name of an old friend of mine."

"Aye, I think that I can think of my own name lads.  I've heard a great many more than any of yea." Hudson spoke up. After thinking for a moment, he looked as if he had come up with one he agreed with. "Tyler."

"Very well, and what of Bronx? I think that he will feel left out." Goliath saw that it might not be as hard as he thought it was going to be.

Serena/Angela smiled, "I chose his name 'dad'. It's Bay. It means brown."

Goliath obviously disliked Serena/Angela calling him 'dad'. Amy/Elisa whispered low, "she knows that human children do not call their parents mother and father – they call them mom and dad most of the time. So don't hold it against her, she's trying to get used to doing it."

"And what about ya lad? Yer name be a bit uncommon among humans these days, and all of our enemies know ya well." Tyler/Hudson pushed.

"Eli … Amy, do you know any names?" Goliath asked.

Amy/Elisa smiled at how hard he was trying. "Yeah. I had a friend when I was a kid in Arizona who saved my life more than a few times. His name was Keith. Since you have saved me more times than I have fingers and toes, I'd like you to have it as your name."

Goliath smiled down on his love. No matter the name she went by, this female stole his heart. It meant that much to her, so how could he say no? "Keith I shall be then."

"Well, looks like we'll be getting new names too then, since we're under the same spell as sis is." Came the voice of Talon, but it was the human face of Derek Maza!

"Derek! Are you Maggie and Claw?" Amy/Elisa gasped as a female and male closely followed her brother.

"Yeah, I forgot that none of you have seen me as a human before." Maggie seemed so shy and nervous.

Serena/Angela smiled and hugged the other female while whispering, "remember, you are among friends here."

By the time the Clan went to get dressed for their day out, the Mutates too had new names. Derek/Talon was called Nick (for his middle name of Nicholas), Maggie became known as Christy (for her middle name Christina), and Claw chose Steven (no one knew why).

An hour later all of them (including the Xanatoses and Owen) were in the elevator, ready for a day of fun. Amy/Elisa and Keith/Goliath took them all to the different place they had gone to the day before. And then they took a special trip to the New York Hall of Science for Ryan/Lexington. And then they all visited every mall and shop that grabbed their interest.

Jeff/Broadway had followed in their leader's example. Only Serena/Angela was now sporting a wedding ring of an unusual design. He explained to the Clan that it was called a Claddaugh ring, and then he explained all about its tradition and the meanings behind the three proper ways to wear it. Serena/Angela had it on for engagement or marriage – left ring finger with the heart in.

Keith/Goliath gave Amy/Elisa a necklace that had a medium sized silver pendent that most call a triple goddess knot on a silver chain. As they rested on a bench near the lake in Central Park they had always walked near, he explained what the symbol meant to gargoyles. His tale went something like this.

Long before, in a place none knew the name of, the last two male dragons went to live out their final days – one a deep red and the other was a dark night blue. Years before, humans had slaughtered their mates when the females had went in search of herbs and roots.

When the males attacked the evil crowd, a sorcerer among them had cursed both male dragons to become half of their true power and girth. In moments both were reduced to just twice Goliath's size. Both took to the winds to return to the safety of their home.

That had left them angry, bitter, and alone in the world. And so would have ended the tale, had it not been for one movement of the gods.

A human maiden and her father were traveling to seek a husband for her. The girl's mother had died the year before, and her father was not in the best of health. He was determined that his daughter would not be left in the world alone. The dragons had been foraging near the pass the humans were on when thieves attacked the father and daughter.

At first the dragons were simply going to leave the humans to their petty lives, but inside they knew that the old man and maiden could not defend themselves. The blue dragon stopped and remembered how it had been so for himself and his lost mate. Finally his rage turned into determination and a vow to guard all that were near his hidden home.

It didn't take much talk to convince his Clan brother dragon to join him in that pledge. Both rushed towards the cries for help.

Once they got into a better vantage point, both dragons could see that the father was beyond his better fighting years and the girl was being dragged off to an area the dragons knew was very secluded. If they were going to do anything, they had to then.

The blue dragon climbed up the sheer cliff that had helped to keep their home guarded. The red dragon readied himself against the bottom of that cliff. In moments, they sprung on the thieves in unison. The blue dragon tossed the crooks off of the maiden, but when the red dragon attacked the other two bandits the father was mortally wounded.

The dragons felt as if they had failed, and both stood near to be blamed and screeched at by the maiden. The daughter crumbled over the gasping father. She begged him to not leave her alone.

It turned out that they were very poor, and the maiden had few prospect for a husband. The dying man begged the two dragons to care for his daughter, as he knew she would be safe with them.

Both dragons swore to take care of the female, and the father died in peace. They had a dragon's funeral for the human – the first that had ever been done so.

The old man's body was burned to release his soul and give up his flesh to the fire elementings. Then the dragons gathered the remaining ashes (leaving a handful on the ground where the father died for the earth elementings) and took to the air, the blue one carrying their female charge.

They released the ashes to the wind elementings, and then flew through the rain of ash to keep the maiden's father with them forever. Once that was through, the three of them landed near the waterfall in the center of their garden home. All of them rinsed away the ashes to release the human father's remains to the water elementings.

As time went on the maiden grew and became desirable to the blue dragon. At first he doubted that she would feel the same towards him, but the red dragon persisted in his encouraging his Clan brother to just ask.

To the blue dragon's amazement, she did love him. The maiden had been afraid to say anything because he had always been a dear friend to her, and she did not want to lose him as her friend.

Because there were no priests near-by, and none would have accepted such a coupling, they were mated by neither culture's traditions. The unusual Clan began a tradition that was to be its own.

The night dragons called the Coupling Moon, dragon and human came to their brother. The blue dragon told her his feelings, and then handed the red dragon a sign of his claim to the maiden – a carving of a symbol he had seen his love drawing in the ground once when she was lost in thought, on a silver chain he had made. He had carved it out of the heart of one of his old scales from before the curse was set upon him. The maiden accepted the gift with tears of joy in her eyes.

The female explained that she had been begging her goddess for the courage to tell her dragon love how she felt. However, the goddess had turned around and gave the strength to the maiden's love – through their Clan brother.

Out of her pouch she produced a moonstone copy of the same pendent on a gold chain! Her dragon love accepted it, humbled that such an unusual shape could change their world so much.

Their Clan brother proclaimed that so long as they had given and accepted a symbol of the other's pledge of their free-will, then they would be mates for as long as their love for the other did last. Only when one no longer showed love for the other would the bonds be severed until the wrong that had ripped the ties was righted or they both decide to seek out new mates. Then the symbols would be given back to the other if possible, as a matter of honor. So long as they held true to the other's symbol, they would be mates from that time until they went on to the eternal gardens of peace.

The mates took to the air and consummated their vows. In due time the maiden birth two eggs. It was seen as a blessing by the small Clan, but it made their lives harder. As the female was still recovering from the birthing and the eggs could not be disturbed without risking the hatchling within, the dragons could not leave them alone. One brother had to remain to guard them, while the other went out to patrol the area surrounding their hidden home.

Some of the humans who lived near came to accept and even appreciated the nightly guardians. Some would leave gifts of food or water. Now and again, the dragons were called to the ground by a pleading voice. Always they were given respect and gratitude. The children even pleaded for a flight or a story at night before they went to sleep.

One night the red dragon arrived too late to save an old woman, but she gasped a single name. It had been forgotten over the years, but all knew that the woman had been pleading for the dragon to save her daughter. Then the woman died in his arms.

Knowing how his Clan sister felt towards the eggs she had recently birthed, the red dragon was enraged beyond any other time in his life – including the lost of his beloved mate years before.

He took to the air with a loud roar that seeming shook the countryside. All of the humans knew that something was not right, and they began to pray fiercely that their night protector would right whatever evil was outside of their homes.

After what seem to be forever, the red dragon finally came upon the slave traders that had bought the shattered female from the thieves who had killed her mother and then raped her.

The dragon swooped down growling so loudly that the traders fled for their lives. He freed the others along with the female he had searched for. She however, didn't have anyone to return to.

The dragon took her back to the body of her mother, so that she could begin to morn. A kindly old woman offered a grave in her family's grounds for the dead woman, the young female like the idea of having a place she could go to when she wished visit her mother and so agreed.

The red dragon helped dig the pit, and carefully rested the dead woman in it before filling the hole back with earth. He didn't pretend to understand the human's funeral customs, but he didn't say anything against them either.

Since she had no one to stay with, the red dragon offered to take her back to his Clan. She didn't feel safe in the human world on her own, and so went with him. His Clan sister and brother were upset that he didn't check with them first – but understood that he had no choice. They all agreed that in one moon cycle it would be decided as to the new female's fitness to be part of their Clan.

As the moon moved within it's cycle, the new female quickly became highly regarded by each of them – but not as deeply as within the heart of the red dragon. He had seen that she was becoming strong and was whole not long after she took up living with their Clan. She had begun going out searching for herbs, roots, and other plants and food for the Clan on her own. Three times she had aided the dragons in safe guarding the lives of humans that had been attacked near the Clan's home.

At the end of the moon cycle, she was formally made a part of their Clan. That same ceremony is one of the few rituals that gargoyles still use to the modern day.

A year passed, and the first eggs hatched. The hatchlings looked similar to both of their parents. From their father they had wings and a tail. Their hands were claw like – with four talons rather than fingers. Their feet had high arches and three sharp toes that were shorter versions of their talons. The female had horn-like growths that grew back (much like Desdemona's), while the male had larger wings than his rook sister and only small points that resembled his father's brow spikes. Both had their mother's human body shape, hair like manes, eye color, and faces. Even their cries were something resembling both human and dragon.

They had created a new race – one that still survives. Then the children were known as Dramens, a coupling of the race names that their parents both belonged to.

It was a moon turn later that the red dragon and the human female he once rescued too were mated. They too went on their consummating flight and created life, yet the young mother was weak from the hard life she had endured before becoming a member of that Clan. She had triplets – dying after the third egg's birth. That third one was to never hatch, it had gone on to the beyond with its mother.

Years later the red dragon mated with another human female – one who was flung from her home for not bedding with her step-father. The female's mother still loved the girl dearly, and begged the Clan to take her in as one of their own. A moon turn later she was accepted as Clan and days later mated to the red dragon. She lived to birth several eggs, out living her mate.

Religious zealots – claiming that he and his Clan brother were of Satan, killed the red dragon. His beloved mate died after birthing a single egg a few weeks later.

By the time the blue dragon and his mate passed on, the Dramens numbered fifteen. Their children learned the story of the Clan founders, and passed it on to their young. That old vow made by the last two male dragons has been kept alive and fulfilled by every gargoyle since.

"It has been a tradition for a male to give the female he wishes to take as his mate a gift to show her that he wishes her to be his. Most do so with flowers or something personal. I wanted to do so as your people do, and as mine have. Yet, a simple flower could never show you how large a part of my life you have become, my Amy/Elisa. I have prayed that the old ones would show me what I could give you that would say such.

"When I saw that necklace in the jewelers, I knew that they were telling me that our relationship is like that of the founders. We are so very different Amy/Elisa, and yet look at all that we have overcome thus far." Goliath sighed as he finished his tale.

Elisa smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder. 'How much more romantic could this male get?' she wondered to herself a moment. "That was an amazing story Keith/Goliath. I'm glad that you told it to me. See, when you and Serena/Angela were looking at things on the other side of the jewelry store I was drawn to this and thought that it was a perfect gift for you – to tell you how important you are to me Big Guy."

From one of the many bags they had gained on their trip, Elisa pulled out a long box. Inside was the same symbol in moonstone on a heavy gold chain. Goliath smiled as she put it on him herself. The founders had obviously smiled on this couple's unusual relationship.

Just before dinner, the weary group trudged back into the Castle and their true names – loaded down with bags. It had been a memorable day for them all, but it had taken its toll on Elisa's frail health. Goliath was barely able to catch his fiancée as she collapsed from exhaustion. This shocked everyone, since they had all been careful to have her rest as much as they could that entire day and had even insisted on her taking breaks when she claimed to be fine.

By Goliath's insistence, Elisa was confined to their bed for the rest of the day and all of the night. Before long she fell into a deep sleep, with her love or one of the Clan always seated close by – just in case she needed help. Yet, there was little that could be done for their dear friend. That was when her health began to deteriorate.

The Clan explained to Chavez what had happened. By the end of the night, all of the day shift was there at the Castle socializing with the Clan! The next night all of the night shift was brought up for their turn to meet the Clan – though it was a considerably shorter visit, as they had to get to their duties. Poor Matt was hazed for not letting his friends in on his secret, as he was the Police's Gargoyles Taskforce Coordinator. Elisa was just glad that the Clan was now safe from groups like the Quarrymen – as everyone in the station had formed their own private PIT association (Chavez was the president, naturally).

As the days and nights passed Elisa became weaker. Soon she was unable to freely walk the Castle halls, so Goliath would carry her about. After only two weeks Elisa was incapable of sitting up without support. At that point she began to stay in her and Goliath's bed – she had little energy to visit with her loved ones, and all of it Elisa wanted to use for just that.

Elisa got to meet and begin to adore little Ann Hindmin, Melody's daughter. A child as brilliant as her mother – at the age of eight, Ann was in an accelerated dual grade class (4th and 5th). They instantly began to connect, as Ann had many interests that Elisa had in her own childhood. They read and played simple board or card games, sometimes they would color pictures, while many times they would just talk. Ann quickly took Elisa as her best adult friend in the whole world.

It was Elisa's idea that helped Ann win an award and scholarship for the girl's English Literature report. Through Elisa Ann was introduced to the Clan, and then to MacBeth and Demona – who told her their story. Both enjoyed reading it, and were happy for the girl when she received a perfect grade and acclaim.

Even in her sickness, Elisa did what she could to take care of her Clan and friends. No one knew, but she pushed for the Clan to be asked to help with the overnight security and setting up for the Macy Thanksgiving Day parade that was six weeks away. The group was ecstatic when a letter of thanks and assignments came in from the Police Commissioner (who too had known and accepted the presence of the gargoyles long before they made themselves so available). Macy's too sent a letter of thanks and welcome to the Clan, as well as a promised night of shopping for them after regular store hours two nights after the parade!

At the end of the month, it looked as if all was nearing its end. Elisa and Goliath were simply proclaimed mates by Hudson – instead of the new tradition they had planned on giving their Clan (one that was not of either of their own original traditions, but seemed to fit the couple's personalities perfectly – as the founders had so long before).

Goliath was aching inside as he watched Elisa slowly slipping away from him. As the second month ended, Elisa's beautiful honey cinnamon completion was reduced to the color of light beach sand. What she ate often refused to stay in her stomach long enough to be of any use to her, so her body quickly became painfully thin. Her joints would ache and cause her so much pain that she would lay in bed weeping – bring tears to his mighty eyes as well.

Demona came to Goliath and the Clan to finally face all that she had done in the past – admitting not only to herself, but to them as well that she had no reason for all she had done and that it was not only the humans that were to blame for the massacre and all that had happened since (that she had just as much – if not more – blame in the events). Most of the reason she gave for her change of heart was all of the time she was spending with Angela's day persona of Serena Wyvern. But it shocked everyone (especially Goliath) when their former enemy told them that she had been working for good with MacBeth.

Demona showed them all that her words were true when she offered all she had to the Clan as part of her debt to them. She gave them paperwork that showed she had turned her company, Night Stone Unlimited, over to Goliath (using his day name of Keith Wyvern). And she told them of how she and MacBeth had pulled their resources together to find a way to help Elisa – and that the two of them were going to get re-married sometime in the coming spring.

Goliath asked Demona to change the terms of the deal so that one day – when she tired of running Night Stone Unlimited – it would go to their daughter Angela (by way of her day name of Serena). When Demona agreed, she asked for the Clan to give her whatever punishment they willed. After talking the matter over with Elisa, the Clan's chief female, they all agreed that the thousand years of pain and isolation that Goliath's former mate had suffered was payment enough – especially since Demona would have to live with her past for as long as she and MacBeth exists.

Elisa then begged the others to allow Demona to have a conditional attachment to the Manhattan Clan. That she would be given access to the Clan and full rights and responsibilities for ten years of proper gargoyle behavior (a year for every century since the massacre), after that her past would be completely forgiven. Demona wept openly as she was told Elisa's terms. The startled female gargoyle agreed without argument.

Then she had a long heart-to-heart talk with the Clan's chief female. They both cried and laughed through a good portion of the night. And in the end, Demona found her heart lightened by the choice she had made.

Several nights later, Elisa had busied her self with marking off the days that had passed since the last time she had the strength to look at her personal calendar. After a few minutes of this, Elisa burst into tears and couldn't be consoled by her mate or Clan. Angela rushed to bring Elisa's mother, Diane, to the Castle.

It took a few hours to calm the sick woman down. Shortly after Elisa fell into a deep sleep Diane told the others that Elisa considered herself now barren, as her monthly cycle had not come on time – she had never skipped a month since a year after she had begun having her courses. It tore at all of them – another symptom of the disease that was robbing them all of their mated Clan sister had come.

Soon Elisa found it hard to breath without the aid of an oxygen tank, and she was rarely found with out tears coming from her eyes. None of them could remember her crying so much – not even Talon. Elisa's condition was steadily becoming worse, and there seemed to be nothing that could be done to save her.

One night, she woke out of a heavy sleep. "Goliath, where are you?"

"I am here my mate and dear love. What is it you need my Elisa?" Goliath's face showed that he had found very little sleep since Elisa was confined to their bed.

The little time he did find rest, one of the others would stand watch over the couple – in case Elisa would wake needing anything, or Goliath needed someone to talk to. The Clan leader had been relieved of nightly patrol duties until Elisa was better – though none doubted that she would ever get better.

Elisa had to fight the hurt in her body to speak, staggering and cutting quick her words as she spoke. "I'm worse tonight than I have ever been, my love. Can I ask a favor of you before I get much sicker?"

"Ask anything of me, my Elisa. I will do whatever I can for you." Goliath could feel that Elisa was beginning to fade much faster now. It would not be much longer before she would leave him. What hurt the worse was that there was nothing that he could do to rescue his mate.

Goliath didn't know that Elisa saw all of his guilt and pain in his weary eyes. She wanted to give back to him a sense of being able to help her one last time. She wanted one more time of complete privacy with the male she wished to be her mate from the time before she knew what that was on.

"Please, take me on a flight. I need to feel the wind hitting my body, and your warmth pressed against me. I want to remember that magic night that I was finally free – when Puck turned me into a gargoyle female. I miss the feeling of that form so badly! Please, my love. Just this one more time." She wouldn't say last in front of Goliath, even if they both knew that it was true.

But the fact that she was asking this of him showed that their time together was nearing its end. Goliath nodded without a word. Demona helped him wrap Elisa in blankets to guard her from bruising and the cold. She couldn't hold in her tears as Goliath lifted Elisa into his arms.

The entire Clan filled the hall as their leader carried his love and their chief female for her final glide. Each member of this mismatched family of sorts stood in full attention against either wall. Angela was only able to keep her sobbing silent; like with her mother, the teen's tears refuse to wait for her to release them from her dark aching eyes. Talon only made sure his sister was well covered against the cold before giving her a kiss on her cheek. Peter and Diane both kissed Elisa's cheek too. Peter gave his son-in-law's shoulder a firm squeeze before he gave Goliath leave to take Elisa for her last glide.

"We will return shortly, once Elisa finds some rest. The rest of the evening is yours my …," looking down at his mate, Goliath smiled as he amended his first order, " … OUR Clan."

The sense of the wind blowing against the blanket, with her mate's body heat warming her weak body, was calming and relaxing to the dying woman. It was as close as she could get to her other daydream – to be a gargoyle again.

Puck's spell had created a hunger within the former detective. She loved the freedom that form had given her. And she loved how it changed Goliath's feelings towards her. She had loved him for so long, but he never seemed to think of her past being his friend. Elisa was at peace, with her life and with how she was to leave it. At least, when she made it wherever she was to end up, she could say loud and proud – "I am Elisa Maza of Wyvern. Mate of Goliath, leader of the Wyvern Clan – who loved me fiercely and well."

Soon Elisa was sleepy, the glide had taken away enough of the pain to help her get ready to rest for a time. "I'm finally happy, Goliath. I missed the feeling of being in the air with you – whether it was on my own wings or in your arms. Thank you for this priceless gift, my love and my mate."

"I will love you forever, my Elisa. I shall not take another mate when we part. I will live to make you proud of me – so that when we meet again, you can hold you head high with pride as I come into view. We will meet again my mate for we are one, now and forever." Goliath hoarsely whispered as his tears fell onto the blanket cocooning his beloved.

They flew for over an hour. He wanted her to slip into dreams before returning to her sick bed. This was the last night he would be holding her in his arms in flight, and he was burning every moment of it into his memory. Once she drifted off into sleep, he returned to the Castle.

Goliath rested a sleeping Elisa on her sickbed, doing all he could to not wake her. It was rare for her to find rest, so whenever she did they all worked hard to keep her asleep for as long as possible. All signs said that this could very well be her last night among them as a living being.

Quickly all who had ever felt the touch of her life were gathered in the Castle. All of the different Clans, many of the fey who had come to respect her judgment (even Oberon and Tatiana) left the Gathering to be on hand. Oberon had never seemed so frustrated to any who knew the Lord of Avalon. He had all the powers of Avalon at his hand, yet could not aide in the rescue of a single life who had become a beacon of hope to him – what mankind could become given time and education.

All any of those gathered could do was wait for the time to come to say their farewells.

That's the funny thing about the universe, not even Lord Oberon can predict it. As all we do return to us times three, Elisa had much good coming back her way. Time had come for it to arrive at last.

So, Thailog caused all this! That sick jerk!!!! But, I think we can twist this tale so that he doesn't win. And How was that explanation of why gargoyles protect and where they come from sound?