The next night, Brooklyn awoke feeling fully refreshed, as what he used to after a long day's sleep. It was great to feel this way.

"How're ye feeling tonight, lad?" Hudson asked.

"I feel refreshed." Brooklyn replied. He had even stretched his limbs a lot more. When he went to take a step on the injured leg, he still felt a jolt of pain in it. "My leg still hurts."

"Your leg was badly broken. It'll likely still need another day or two to be healed completely." Lex figured.

Right now, complete recovery felt like a long way off. Brooklyn just wanted limited interactions from his clan and humans because of how he had been treated for so long. He still also remembered how he felt ignored too from before his capture. He wondered how he even still fit in here in the clan other than as second in command. He felt he didn't deserve the title anymore.

The clan were all worried for Brooklyn's wellbeing. They knew he wasn't like his old self anymore. In their minds, Demona would pay for this atrocity! No matter what Brooklyn had done to her, he hadn't deserved what she or anyone else had done to harm his mind and body to make him so traumatized.

Brooklyn wanted his stone sleep outside to get extra strength back, but he didn't want to leave the castle anytime soon. He couldn't handle patrols right now. Likely, he would try to run away too. They had to keep an eye on him until he was mentally stable again.

….

Angela felt so hurt that her mother had done such terrible things to the red male. He needed love now more than ever. She wished there was another girl for Brooklyn here in the clan. She wanted to try to talk to him to try to get him to see her as herself and not her mother.

"Broadway, I really need to talk to Brooklyn, so he doesn't see me as my mother." Angela said to her mate.

"That's fine. We all need him to see us as his clan and not enemies." Broadway agreed.

"He needs some kindness given to him to just make him feel more at ease. I promise I would never do anything to betray our relationship, but I need to try to repair my friendship with him." Angela explained.

"I understand." Broadway smiled at her, kissing her hand. She blushed.

"I knew you would understand. You are absolutely sweet." She replied. She gave him a hug and went to Brooklyn's room to try to talk to him and spend some time with him.

Lexington, Bronx, and Hudson were in Brook's room keeping him company at the moment when she knocked. "Come in." Hudson relied. Angela came in. "Oh, it is you, Lass."

"Yeah. I thought I would give you guys a break. How's he doing?" Angela asked.

"He's asleep right now. He keeps on having nightmares." Lex replied. "Wish we could take his pain away."

"I want to talk to him when he wakes up." Angela said.

"I'll leave Bronx in here with ye, Lass. Stay here, boy. Take care of him and if ye need us, just give a holler." Hudson advised. Bronx gave a responding whimper.

"It's okay, Bronx. You and I will take care of Brooklyn." Angela petted the gar dog. He licked her hand in reply. Hudson and Lexington went to go get something to eat and go talk to the others. Angela now sat down on one of the chairs in the room to await Brook's awakening.

As she watched him sleeping, he mumbled words in his sleep. His talons were clenching from remembering being tied down and helpless to defend himself. "No… please don't hurt me… let me go…" He was saying in his sleep.

Angela felt so sad for him. She finally couldn't take it anymore and she had to get Brook out of his bad dream. She nudged him awake. "Brooklyn, wake up. You're just having a bad dream." She said gently.

Brooklyn felt someone nudging him. "Hm." He mumbled. He opened his eyes and he saw a female figure leaning over him. The shadow from the light also showed who it was but, in his vision, Brooklyn saw the opposite. He panicked.

"Get away from me!" He yelled in desperation and used his right hand to end up giving Angela some scratches from his talons on her left arm.

Angela cried out in pain and held her arm. She backed away from the red male. He was so scared of her. Bronx barked at Brooklyn in alarm and went over to the female to comfort her. He stood in front of her.

Then, Goliath came into the room. He had heard his daughter's cry of pain and Brooklyn's shout out. "What happened?" He asked. He saw Angela holding her bleeding arm.

"Brooklyn struck out at me in fear, Goliath. I woke him up from a bad dream. He saw me as Demona." Angela just clarified what happened, that she wasn't mad at Brooklyn.

Brooklyn then came to his senses, seeing it wasn't Demona. He was still breathing hard. "Angela? I'm sorry." He apologized.

"It's okay, Brooklyn. I know you're still troubled. You were still in the state of that dream, being hurt by my mother." Angela wasn't angry with him. She kept a distance from him but came back over.

"I'll get the first-aid kit." Goliath stated and left the room. There was one nearby. He came back with it and he bandaged Angela's arm. "Are you truly alright?"

"Yes. I'll be fine, Father. Don't blame Brooklyn." Angela declared.

"Alright. Be careful. He's not himself around you yet." Goliath warned her.

"I know. I just didn't want to see him hurting in his sleep." She replied.

Goliath looked at his scared second. He saw that Brooklyn was scared and dreaded a punishment. He had his arms and wings wrapped around himself, trembling, ears flattened.

"I am sorry you still feel this way, Brooklyn, but try to be more careful with who is trying to save you from your bad dreams." Goliath instructed gently. He wasn't going to punish Brooklyn at all for this. It was an accident.

"I just… saw Demona in her place…" Brook said sadly. "Again, I'm sorry, Angela."

"It's alright. I should have known not to wake you up, or to stand so close." Angela replied. "I know you're going through a hard time right now. Those terrible memories are hard to get over. And you never forget what happened."

"I feel like… I never should have been hatched…" Brooklyn sobbed.

"Brooklyn, never talk like that." Goliath said. "You are a member of our clan, family. We love you. We looked for you. We just didn't know where you were for so long. We will do everything in our power to help you get better and to overcome what you're feeling." The leader finished. He kept his distance, still looking at Angela's hurt arm.

"Can I take over and spend some time with him, Father?" Angela asked. "He needs to see me as his ally again."

"Alright." Goliath replied and left the room.

Angela came slowly towards the bed with the chair. Bronx was beside her. She saw that Brooklyn was trembling violently. He didn't want to look at her. He kept himself tucked in as much as possible, making himself smaller.

"I know I don't even want to imagine what those people did to you, but I do want to be your friend and help you get better, Brooklyn." Angela declared gently. "You're safe here with us." She felt her arm throbbing. She was forgiving him for his outburst.

"Sorry. It's just… I was always restrained… too many times. Not able to defend myself when I was in pain and being tortured in some way. Sevarius and his men did more bad things to me than Demona, but she raped me multiple times." Brooklyn explained sadly.

"They had no right to treat you the way they did, Brooklyn. You are a better person that they ever will be. I can't believe I even wanted to try to see my mother again after what she did." Angela felt sad for him. It was almost making her cry too.

Brooklyn was usually strong mentally, but it had taken much to bring him to the point of what he was now. Then, he had to ask her something. "Angela."

"Yes?"

"Why? Why didn't you choose me?" He gave her a sad look in his eyes.

Angela felt sad that he even had to ask. "Brooklyn, there was just a more mature and understanding I found in Broadway. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings on that, but I still care for you as a friend, brother, and clan member. I do want to be here for you as you heal from your ordeal. Broadway wants to be able to be there for you too. He understands of me being here with you right now. But I do know that you are deserving of a mate. When the right time comes, you'll find your mate, even if it means going outside the clan to find her. I know I'll gladly welcome her like a new sister."

"Thanks, but I just think I'm doomed to spend my life alone." Brook looked down.

"Don't say that. Until you find the female of your dreams, we'll do our best to try to help you be a valued member of our clan, as you always have been." Angela stated.

"What would any female find attractive about me? You, Maggie, and Delilah have all rejected me." Brook declared.

"Brooklyn, there might just be some things that you need to learn for yourself yet. But what I see in you that are attractive are your ability to be a leader, your sense of humor, your handsome looks, strategic thinking, how you care for others, just being who you are." She explained. "Some female will find all those qualities attractive one day and before you know it, you'll have found your mate. But right now, you need to heal from the ordeal."

Brooklyn wanted to be healed and he didn't know how long it would take to recover completely. Then Angela asked, "Do you want a hug?"

He nodded. He felt he was about to break down. She went over to him and sat on the bed, slowly wrapping her arms around him. Brooklyn couldn't help it that he broke down in her arms. Angela gladly just held him to comfort him as best she could. He finally had a female to just hold him to help him let go of some of his pain. He was also careful to not touch the wounds that he had given her accidentally.

After a while, when he seemed to be calming down, Angela asked, "So, are we friends again?"

Brook sniffled. "Yeah. I just need time to be here at home and not do anything stressful. What Demona and Sevarius did to me took its toll on me. I want to see you all as my support. But I still have nightmares about what they did to me."

"I know. I just hope that you'll come out of this stronger than before when you've conquered your fears." Angela put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I'll let Hudson come back in with you if it makes you feel better. Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

At the thought, his stomach growled for food. "Yeah. Just some cereal will do." He replied.

"I'll be happy to get it for you." She got up and left the room.

When she saw Broadway again, he saw the bandages on her arm. "What happened, Angela?" he asked in alarm.

"Brooklyn accidentally struck out at me when I was waking him up from a bad dream. He saw me as Demona. He didn't mean to and has apologized." Angela explained. "He's just really scared right now. We talked and got him to let go of some of his pain. But he told me how he was always tied down and not allowed to defend himself. Right now, I'm out here for cereal for him."

If Brooklyn hadn't been so scared and defensive, Broadway would have wanted to punish his brother for hurting his love. But Angela made him see what happened. Broadway forgave Brooklyn for what happened. He went back with her to see his brother as she carried a tray of cereal in a bowl with milk on it. It was just some Honey Nut Cheerios.

When they got in the room, Hudson was now in there again. "Thank you, Lass." He took it from her.

Brooklyn looked up at Broadway, hoping he wouldn't be mad at him for hurting his mate. "Broadway, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scratch her!" He cried out desperately to his brother to not hurt him.

"I know, Brooklyn. It was an accident. She told me what happened." Broadway replied gently.

"It's alright, lad. Just calm down. Do you want this food?" Hudson asked.

"Yes. Thanks, Angela, for helping me." Brook said.

"You're welcome. We all just want you to feel better." Angela declared.

Brooklyn began to eat his cereal. The choice of cereal was fine with him. He hadn't had cereal for a while. It was something simple for him to eat. He was just happy he could eat food without pain again. This had been another milestone to help his recovery.

Hudson stayed with Brooklyn while Broadway and Angela left to go spend time together for the rest of tonight, talking more about spending time with him more often. Maybe more one on one time, like eventually being able to go on patrol or go to concerts or movies together when he was well again.