Brooklyn awoke in his bed close to sunrise. He groaned. "Where… where am I?" he asked.

The clan perked up. Bronx licked his good hand.

"Brooklyn?" Angela asked.

He looked to his left and saw the purple female. His vision focused on her. "An… gel… la..."

"Yes, I'm here." she replied. "You're home."

"What happened?" he asked as his voice started to focus more.

"You fainted after we rescued you from my mother and her henchmen." Angela explained.

"Oh… it wasn't a dream." He held his head in shame.

"What?"

Brooklyn let loose a sob. "I can't! I can't talk about it!"

"I'm the only one in here right now, Brooklyn. What happened?" she asked.

"Her, and Sevarius… hurt me!" Brooklyn exclaimed. His eyes were wide open in fear.

"Your arm? Or more?" she asked.

"My arm is nothing compared to what they did to me!" he exclaimed as he pushed himself up.

"Just take it slow. Maybe you should wait until tomorrow night to tell us." Angela insisted. "It's nearly time to sleep now."

"Good." he replied.

Not long after, they were stone. The clan had called the Mutates and told them that Brooklyn had been found.

…

The next night, the clan was glad Brooklyn was finally awake.

He was reluctant to reveal what Demona had done to him on that part.

"You look so thin, more than before you were kidnapped. Did they feed you?" Goliath asked.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't eat for them. I would die before I ate their cursed food. I did it to myself. But they forced a tube down my throat and forced fed me many times." Brooklyn explained.

"Would you be willing to eat if I made something for you?" Broadway asked. "You need to get your strength back after all."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks." Brooklyn replied.

At his words, his stomach rumbled loudly. Everyone had a laugh. Brooklyn blushed, rubbing it. Now that he was home, he was willing to eat again.

He really didn't want the others to know about the rapes. He could go to his grave about that without his clan finding out about it.

When Broadway made dinner later, they all watched to see how the red one ate, to make sure he ate. Brooklyn was glad to finally eat voluntarily. He ate most of the food on the table, he was so famished. He ate slowly too of course, to not get sick.

After that, he went on a walk around the castle. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to try to make sense of what had happened to him. Why did Demona have to rape him? He hadn't deserved that. But a part of his innocence was gone now that he would never be able to get back.

Bronx soon caught up with him. He was seated at the table outside.

"Hi, boy." Brooklyn greeted.

Bronx whined to get his attention.

"I'm just thinking, boy, about what happened to me. I'm glad I'm home now, but the damage has been done to me. I don't know if I'll ever be the… same again..." he trailed off as he began to cry. He tried to wipe the tears away, but they kept on coming. He had to let the grief go before it really damaged him. He would feel even more humiliated if he broke down in front of the clan, other than Bronx. The gar-dog could keep secrets.

…

After his rescue, Brooklyn was just really standoffish and startled easily whenever his clan got near him. He didn't want to patrol for fear that Demona would get back at him. He had a declined appetite, but ate smaller meals.

Goliath didn't like to see his second so skittish. He had never been that way before.

"Brooklyn, what is going on with you?" the leader asked.

"Nothing, Goliath. I just, can't patrol. I… don't feel good." Brooklyn declared before running off.

The Xanatos' noticed his behavior too.

Elisa was talking to Goliath and he was awfully baffled at his second's behavior. They all were.

"I could try to talk to him." Elisa offered.

"Please do. Try to get through to him that we need him with us." Goliath declared.

…

Elisa waited a few more nights, but at one point, she got Brooklyn in the library, sitting on the couch, staring into the fire.

"Brooklyn." she said.

He jumped at his name. He turned, and it was just Elisa. "Oh, hi." he replied.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just doing some thinking." he said.

"What about?"

"Things." he said. He pulled his legs closer to his body, and his arms wrapped around them. He didn't want to be touched.

"Brooklyn, everyone is worried about you. You can tell me anything. I'm here for you. I've encountered pretty horrific things too in my life." Elisa explained.

Brooklyn closed his eyes tightly. Tears were threatening to fall. He clenched his hands into fists.

She put her hand on his shoulder. He shuddered.

"Please, I can help."

He couldn't take it anymore. "I was raped!" Brooklyn burst out.

Elisa was taken aback.

"There's nothing anyone can say or do that would take away the damage that was done to me!" Brooklyn snapped. He got up and left before he did anything damaging.

Elisa was left on the couch, shocked.

…

Brooklyn ran out to the courtyard. He was so hurt and angry. Using his talons, he raked them across the trees and the ground. He roared his anguish. Tears fell from his eyes.

….

Elisa went to Goliath. She knew that was something that would hurt anyone.

When she found him in his own room, he asked, "Did you talk to him?"

"Yes. The answer to why he's so upset and skittish is really hard to take in, but I think it fits because as a cop, I've seen lots of traumatized victims. They aren't in their right minds." she explained.

"What happened?" Goliath demanded.

"Demona…" she was hesitant. "She raped him."

"What?!" This ticked the leader off. How could she do that?!

Brooklyn had been through a lot in the last few years. Demona had been one of the clan once, but how could she have gone and done something so horrible like that to him?

"She will pay for that if she is ever found." Goliath growled.

"Yes, she will. But for right now, Big Guy, Brooklyn needs some time for himself. He needs time to heal. He'll never get past it fully, but he'll get into a new normal, but try not to treat him like a child or a victim. Walking on eggshells around him is not going to do him any favors. You need to treat him as normal as possible." Elisa explained.

"I'll try, Elisa. I'll let Brooklyn off of patrol for a little while. We'll see how he is in a month. He might not be past it or anything by then, but he might be a lot better by then." he hoped.

"Hopefully, but don't give up hope." she said.

He hugged her. She was his biggest light in the dark. She was almost like a mother figure for the younger generation of gargoyles, even though she wasn't a gargoyle.

…..

Out in the courtyard, Brooklyn had created quite a racket and it had alerted the others. Broadway and Hudson had come out and took a hold of Brooklyn's arms.

"NO! LET ME GO! AAAAGH!" he screamed in panic.

"Brooklyn, calm down!" Broadway shouted.

"Calm down, lad. We're here for ya." Hudson tried to calm him down.

With his arms restrained, Brooklyn calmed down finally when he couldn't get away. He broke down. He couldn't help it.

"What happened, lad?" Hudson asked. He took the frightened red one into his arms like he was a scared hatchling.

"Demona... raped me!" he confessed as he cried into Hudson's shirt.

That made their eyes widen. How could she do that?!

This angered them both.

…...

Later, after Brooklyn had cried himself to sleep, the others met in the library and talked about what happened. It was understandable now as to why Brooklyn wasn't the same as before. He had gone through a very severe trauma. It would take a lot of time to get past the worst effects of it.

They all agreed on one thing, that Demona would pay if she was ever caught up to again. Sevarius too.

….

The next night, when he was freshly awake, the clan talked to Brooklyn. Maybe he should get away from the city for a while. See the countryside.

"You remember Xanadu? My upstate retreat?" David asked.

"Yes." Brooklyn replied.

"I could take you up there to get away from the city for a while. A week or two."

"I think that's exactly what you need, Brooklyn." Goliath said in agreement.

"My family is going up there for a little getaway anyway. You could come too." David said.

"Very well." Brooklyn stated grumpily. A little getaway might do him some good.

…

A few days later, with the help of the Xanatos chopper, the family and Brooklyn were all going up to Xanadu. The gargoyles and Owen would watch over the castle.

Brooklyn kept to himself most of the flight.

When they got to the retreat, once outside, Brooklyn was allowed to explore around the place. He needed some fresh air. He was glad to get away from the clan. All they were going to do was treat him like a victim, and he hadn't wanted that. That was why he hadn't wanted to tell them in the first place.

"I hope he'll get past this." Fox said as she watched the red male wander into the woods. She had Alex in her hands.

"It's not easy what he went through." David stated.

"I know. What that bitch did was unforgivable." Fox admitted.

"I couldn't agree more." David said.

…..

Brooklyn climbed a tree and took to the air to explore the surrounding area from above.

It was beautiful country up here all right. But, it would take a miracle for him to see such beauty again.

He soon returned to the house and went inside to see the house, what it looked like on the inside, and to pick a room that he could stay in. He chose one upstairs. It was a good sized room. But he would still prefer to sleep in stone outside the house.

Fox made them a meal to celebrate their arrival up there. Alex was more than willing to eat his mom's cooking. Brooklyn had a forlorn look on his face.

When dinner was ready, he ate, but ever so slowly. But he couldn't finish. His stomach started acting up on him.

"Excuse me. I'm not feeling too well." Brooklyn said and got up from the table.

"It's worse than we thought." David muttered. Fox nodded.

Brooklyn went to his temporary room. He had a hand on his belly. He had been feeling some nausea lately, but he attributed his problems from what Demona had done to him a couple of weeks ago.

He was trying hard to keep his dinner down. He laid down to try get some relief from the nausea. What was causing this terrible nausea? First, it was the pain of the rape, and now this. He didn't need this. There was a trash can he could use if he didn't plan on using the bathroom.

He tried to stay calm as he felt his guts rolling inside him. He really didn't feel good. Eventually, it became too much and he ended up running to the bathroom, throwing up his dinner.

It took many heaves and dry heaves for his stomach to stop make him lean over the toilet. When he finally flushed away the evidence, he was panting hard, and he leaned against the shower, holding his aching belly.

Was this part of Demona and Severius' plan? He still remembered the injection in his lower stomach. Had they implanted something inside him that would make him reject his food? If he had something inside him, he needed to get it out. That vet could maybe be able remove it.

…..

Despite a great getaway spot that Xanadu was for the Xanatos family, and Brooklyn thought it was a beautiful spot now that he had time to enjoy it, but the nausea was keeping him from enjoying the whole scenery.

Brooklyn preferred sleeping as stone outside the house. First thing in the evening when he woke up, he would stretch and start walking around to loosen up his limbs. Sometime along the trail though, his stomach would act up and he ended up throwing up. It was happening every night.

There were times when he didn't feel like eating, knowing he would get sick again, and other times he wanted to eat so badly. He tried not to let on that he was sick to his human friends. He tried to put on an act that he was mentally getting better from the change in scenery.

Brooklyn didn't want to seem rude to his friends. He tried to be an honorable guest. He would eat dinner with them, but right after he would go for a walk, knowing he wouldn't keep his dinner down for long. He might need to see that vet again when he got back. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

He just wasn't staying much time inside. Brooklyn would also go for glides around the woods to make sure everything was alright. Whether he was on foot or on the wing, he did see animals too, such as deer and rabbits. They were such peaceful animals.

Sure, he was missing his clan too, but he had needed to get away. He was trying to clear his mind of horrendous thoughts, but with the constant nausea not letting him keep his food down anymore, he was worried about something being inside him that shouldn't be there.

If there was one thing he enjoyed while being there, was having his own bathroom so he could take a relaxing, hot bath. The warm water and soap suds helped him to really relax. This was one area where he would tie his hair up. He would almost go to sleep. But, sooner or later, he had to get out and dry off before doing another patrol before sunrise.

…..

The time of the vacation finally came to an end. The Xanatos' had packed up their stuff during the day to head back to New York. Brooklyn hadn't brought anything besides himself, so he had nothing to pack.

The humans were still worried about the red male. He still seemed melancholy, but he wasn't having such raging tantrums anymore.

Just as everyone was getting into the copter, Brooklyn felt the all too familiar urge. "Hold on, Fox. I have to go use the bathroom right quick." he said, then he got off the copter and went running a short distance into the woods.

"What was that about?" Fox asked. "We know that gargoyles don't use the bathroom."

"Yeah, it's very strange." David added.

When Brooklyn came back to the copter, he had made sure that he had wiped his mouth good before they saw him.

"Feel better?" David asked him.

"Yeah, I feel fine. We can go now." Brooklyn replied.

Fox fired up the copter and it rose into the air. They would be home in a real short while.

Brooklyn had his arms crossed over his middle. He looked out the window. He would try hard to keep any food down until he got home. But, maybe there was something in the medicine cabinet at home that might help too. Bottom line: he knew his clan was worried about him after what had happened, and he wanted this to remain hidden from them for as long as possible.