On the next night of the final week, Brooklyn woke up from stone sleep feeling more refreshed than he had ever been before. He only had one nightmare while sleeping, which didn't bother him too much.
A little smile graced his beak when remembering all of that love his family had given him yesterday when Brooklyn revealed about wishing he'd never hatched.
Suddenly, light robot feet came from the doorway and Brooklyn turned, seeing his 'mom' there, looking happy to see him like she usually did. "Hello, love. How do you feel this evening?"
Brooklyn shrugged with his own smile. "A little better, Mom. I don't feel as troubled anymore, but still wish to feel normal in my body again," he said, rubbing his belly.
Coldfire held out her hand. "Why don't we see how your weight has been getting along then?" She suggested.
Brooklyn nodded, taking her hand and stepping up, legs just a little stronger now as he walked with her to the bathroom in his room.
She next had Brooklyn step on the scale, and it read 220 pounds instead of 225 like it did the week before. Brooklyn's heart lifted from the numbers and that soon he may feel like 210 pounds again! Coldfire hugged him. "You're doing so well, Brooklyn! I'm glad your weight is still receding and hoping you won't go through anything like that again."
It made Brooklyn shudder a little when remembering all that horrible food with no water. "Same here. Getting hungry now though."
Coldfire nodded. "Alright, we can go get something to eat."
Brooklyn followed his surrogate mother to the dining room where he was greeted warmly by Elisa, Lexington, and Hudson. Bronx woofed, walking up to Brooklyn and nuzzling his leg, making the red gargoyle chuckle and pet his head.
"I really am starting to feel better, boy, though I'm nervous about telling Goliath what I told the others." Brooklyn said, shaking a little but taking breaths to control himself since he had already let all his emotions out.
Soon, he sat down with the others, taking only what he needed since he was still losing weight, as he tried again to eat with the others. Surprisingly, Brooklyn's stomach didn't churn as much as it used to, which made him feel a little bit happier inside, downing his whole drink after that. Coldfire smiled too, watching from the sides at her hatchling's progress at feeling better. He would probably be pretty happy when getting home again, and to be able to patrol once more.
But she knew inside that if her brother was still at large with his promise of possessing Brooklyn and was worried for the red male in being out on his own, thinking at some point, they would have to do away with Coldsteel for good. They just needed to figure out what.
After breakfast was finished, Elisa suddenly had an idea. "Hey, Brooklyn, to celebrate your mind feeling better, how about we watch a movie before we go home tomorrow?"
Brooklyn's ears perked at that, not having seen a movie in months prior to his capture, nodding. "I would like to." He said with a grin while they cleared the dishes. Lexington suddenly tugged on his arm.
"I have something else for us too, maybe we can also go out for our glide?" Lex asked with a grin.
Brooklyn nodded, following his little brother out onto the balcony, taking to the skies with Coldfire watching after them.
The two brothers soared through the air, even racing each other sometimes through the trees, Brooklyn turning back, laughing again. "Try to keep up!" He called teasingly, glad he could feel like this again, Coldsteel completely gone from his brain, even forgetting the promise he made back before they left for Xanadu. Lexington knew that this trip really did cure his brother from a lot of his PTSD and helped him lose weight.
"No fair! You fly faster than me and Broadway!" Lex called out, hating that his wings were stuck to his arms whereas Brooklyn's wings were on his back.
Over for half of the evening, Lexington and Brooklyn kept up with their racing game, eventually stopping over at the river where the two had the finish line, both sitting down to catch their breath. Lexington had allowed Brooklyn to win since he knew his brother deserved it the most.
Lexington and Brooklyn splashed each other with the river, taking advantage of being able to play like hatchlings again before going back to the dreary stone city of New York. Brooklyn himself almost really didn't want to go back now. His pressure of being second in command was pretty much gone at this point, smiling bigger than his usual one.
It was now past midnight since the race and the two gargoyles eventually returned back to the cabin so they could watch their movie. Brooklyn knew himself that he would never forget this fresh air up here and would miss it greatly.
He and Lexington wound up giving each other brotherly hugs after going in. "Thanks for the great time bro. I really need it." The red male said in his grateful voice, Lex grinning back at him. "No problem. And we're going to let you choose the movie too."
That perked up Brooklyn, who liked the idea when they went into the living room where Elisa, Coldfire, Bronx, Hudson, and Fox were waiting for them. Fox had pulled out their collection of video tapes they stored up at their summer home. The tv up there was rather big as well.
Brooklyn went up to the box and looked among the choices, which were mostly Disney movies or some classic live action films like Star Wars. He decided then on picking Star Wars, wanting something action packed he could enjoy with his family after being so bored in a cell underground for so long.
Fox set up the movie for them and the clan all sat down together to enjoy this final evening here at the cabin, Brooklyn feeling his cheeks hurting from smiling the whole time while sitting comfortably with them all. Star Wars had been one franchise Brooklyn got into quite a bit for all the action and mostly for how he related with Luke Skywalker.
After the movie ended, Coldfire took Brooklyn back to his room while Lexington followed them, hoping to talk to his brother one more time before sunrise.
Brooklyn smiled shyly up at his 'mom'. "Thanks for the movie. I really needed it," he said when the two hugged each other.
Coldfire stroked his cheek. "We'll do whatever we have to to help you feel happy, you know that?"
It made the red gargoyle nod though he glanced at Lexington and recalled the time when Coldsteel made him throw his little brother against the wall, flinching inside. "Yeah. Uh, can Lex and I have a moment, Mom before we turn to stone?"
Coldfire agreed, and she left the room to talk to Fox and Elisa about their preparations for the trip home in the next couple days. Lexington and Brooklyn stood there awkwardly staring at each other.
Brooklyn gulped again before speaking. "Lex, er, I'm sorry again for nearly hitting you, twice."
Lexington put a hand on his. "Don't worry so much about it. I already knew it wasn't you that first time but I couldn't really quite believe it after waking up. You really walloped me hard; well, Coldsteel did."
That stunned Brooklyn quite a bit. "But aren't you still angry I nearly hurt you badly that night?" He asked, still remembering that vision of Lex yelling harshly at him about it. Lexington's eyes widened. "No. Why?"
Brooklyn shifted a little, not sure if he'd dare reveal what he heard while being poisoned but suddenly, it burst from his mouth full force. "I wound up getting poisoned during my capture and saw visions of you guys calling… calling me a traitor, especially you and Angela," he admitted in a sad voice, hoping soon for all these not-so-great feelings to go away.
Lexington's heart felt for Brooklyn, upset for his brother to see false visions that hurt him. "I would never call you a traitor, bro, never. Those stupid versions of us you saw weren't real. Don't keep thinking that the fake us was telling the truth." The green gargoyle claimed, a grin on his features while Brooklyn wiped his tears away, feeling more of the unneeded guilt lifting away from his body finally.
"P-Promise? As my brother?" Brooklyn asked, happy about is brother coming along, who soon hugged him again.
"I do." Lexington said. "Let's make our final days here the best ones ever."
The two brothers agreed to that right as the sun arose, turning the two of them to stone together. Coldfire had come in to witness it, smiling at the sight for normally, gargoyles wouldn't be this close together in a hug when sunrise came.
Sorry if this chapter seemed boring but hoping the later ones will get better.