The Best of Intentions
"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" ~ An Old English Proverb
Brooklyn sat on top of one of the raised stone blocks decorating the edge of the castle's highest tower. This was normally Goliath's perch, as his position as leader, but it was also the farthest place away from everyone else. He loved being part of the clan, his family, but this was not something he necessarily wanted to share with everyone right now.
He had wanted just a little time to himself. To think, plan, and try to come up with the right words.
It was one of those rare nights, when Skyler had the night off. He had sent her a message yesterday evening, asking her to join him here. Now, he just had to wait for her.
A few minutes later, he heard the door behind him, and he knew that all his preparation time was over.
"Oh my God," Skyler gasped, as she joined him. "I've never been up here before. The view is amazing!" She crossed her arms at one of the low spots in the wall, and leaned out to take it in. The city skyline of Manhattan stretched out before her, with only a few low hanging clouds to break up the view. Beneath them, the city was lit up and alive.
"It's no wonder that Elisa likes it up here so much," Skyler breathed, her face alight in wonder.
"Yeah," Brooklyn said taking in the sight himself. "I guess when you see it, night after night, you don't notice it as much." He did now, though, taking in the view with fresh eyes, and marveling again at the difference between now and his original time. Taking a deep breath, he straightened to his full height. "Skyler, I wanted to talk to you about…"
Skyler raised her eyes to meet his, and for a moment he lost the ability to speak. Abruptly, he looked away.
"Brooklyn?" Skyler said, nervous now. Why wasn't he looking at her?
Gently, Brooklyn reached down and took her hands in his.
He had to get it out before he lost his nerve…
-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-
Elisa and Goliath were out for the evening, spending some time in Central Park with Liam.
Liam loved it, and had come to think of Belvedere Castle as "his" castle. They would pack some food, and go picnic on the grounds after they had closed for the night, and Liam would come home with stories of Lords and Ladies, Knights and Kings.
Thank the gods they weren't home right now, she thought.
Numbly, Skyler made her way to her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
Had that really happened?
They had been friends before officially starting to date, and they had been dating for a little over a year now.
After the events that had happened a few weeks ago, when she had helped… or tried to, at least… go through a mountain of old Latin books and pages to help break a spell on Elisa, she had known something had changed. Brooklyn had been reluctant to let her out of his sight, and seemed more over protective than normal, but she chalked it up to a reaction from the fact that there was a human hating Gargoyle on the loose.
Demona, a Gargoyle that she hadn't even seen, had cast a spell on Elisa that had sent her back in time… sort of. The best explanation that anyone had been able to come up with came from Angela after she'd studied the spell a bit. It seems that by changing one word in the original spell, Demona had sent Elisa's consciousness into the past.
Possibly into a past life, where she'd been at the Original Castle Wyvern in early AD Scotland.
Due to some truly insane sounding events, Elisa had convinced a young Demona to cast a spell in that time to undo the spell that Older Demona had cast in the present.
Long story short, they all had Elisa back now, but the one responsible was once again on the loose and had even more of a reason to hate humans interacting with the Gargoyles.
Especially in a romantic sense.
Initially, she'd felt special and cared for, something that had been missing from her life since her mother had vanished and left her to be raised in the foster care system just before she'd turned 13. She hadn't truly felt like part of a family until she'd come to Manhattan and met Elisa and Goliath.
And, through them, the rest of the Gargoyles.
She hadn't known what to expect tonight, when she'd gone to the castle to meet Brooklyn…
But getting dumped certainly hadn't even crossed her mind