=Content Warning=
=Nudity, Sexual References=
"Meaning you'll be able to make very little rhyme or reason of it all. You'll both be dreaming together, so logic and understanding will be out the window. All things considered, with how low quality this spell is going to have to be , Brooklyn may not even recognize you as the REAL you projecting into his dreams. He'll think you're just another figment of his imagination."
"So… You're saying that I'm not even going to be fully conscious? Neither of us are? I just have to HOPE something in his brain will be of use?"
"Heyyyyyyyy! Now you're catching on!" Puck beamed "And it only gets better! Remember, you're not linking just your minds. You're linking your consciousnesses. Meaning NO filter or self control! What's in your mind is what's gonna come out! No chance at hiding all the juicy details!"
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Brooklyn gripped Lexington's little shoulders with every intention of welding his hands into place. All his life, he had never spent more than a few hours away from him - the moment they hatched had not even been a full day apart. From the moment they could open their eyes, one could not be found far from the other. For one thousand years, they never strayed far from each other's side. They were inseparable.
But it had been an eternity if it had been a day.
"Lex…. Lexington…" his voice echoed out, almost to check if the word was real.
Brooklyn felt weak, defenseless - so utterly helpless. But something about it was entirely different. He could finally accept it… allow it… welcome it. The crimson beast sunk the bottom of his jaw onto the meat of Lexington's little trap. He didn't know why… but something inside himself had become so calloused, so empty without the other's presence. He felt something bright inside him begin to warm, he had not realized just how cold he had become. He clutched Lexington with all his might and will, he didn't even allow the other to pull away to speak, he would not allow their forms to be separated. Nothing would part them.
He had missed him so much.
It was something so far beyond relief or joy. It was more than an emotion as weak as euphoria. He felt as if only now he had realized something crucial to his survival had been ripped out of him - only able to recognize it once it was back with him…
His arm coiled around the back of the smaller… his shoulders began to shake and the tears began to stream.
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Lexington held, or more so WAS held by, him in mute shock. His frozen eyes stared in disbelief to the stars above. Brooklyn… it was really him.
His hands ran over the large of his back to try and hug him back with what LITTLE arm mobility the bearhugging gargoyle had left him. His smell, his touch, his voice… he had almost forgotten them. But what was almost foreign to him, was the quaking of his torso.
Brooklyn began to cry.
And so Lex began to cry.
"Brooklyn…" Lex breathed with a shaky whisper. His hands came desperately close to combing through the other's hair as he came up to clutch his trap. His body committed every tiny perfection and imperfection to memory. He let Brooklyn's wings envelop the two of them as the larger sank to his knees. Lexington could have died right now and not given a damn.
They sat there in unvocal companionship for what seemed like an eternity… and even that was far too short for the two of them.
"I… I missed you…" Lexington said with his soul.
"I'm sorry…" Brooklyn croaked. He buried the side of his falcon-beak into the other's neck "I-I'm so sorry…"
"Brooklyn-" Lexington's words clashed and failed as they all tried to fight each other to be vocalized. One thought wanted to absolve Brooklyn of all sorrow and responsibility. Another thought wanted to rip and beat the red one for having abandoned him. One thought demanded himself to spill all the affection and comfort he could possibly provide to his once-missing friend. One thought only begged to let himself fall apart so Brooklyn could see just how much Lexington needed him all this time.
Instead, Lexington's clawing embrace of bliss, anguish, relief, and pain would have to deliver what message it could.
More silence.
More than just silence, really. Words weren't necessary anymore. Something about their presences were merged. Lexington could not describe it, but something about this now felt… fanciful. The senses of his sight, sound, but ESPECIALLY his smell and touch all felt so illusory. But his feelings? The overwhelming sense of calloused emotions returning? Those were very real.
His mind could not focus on the immaterial realization - because Brooklyn's crying resumed.
Then it got worse, and then worse again. Then his grip loosened. His torso quivered as his cries of overwhelming elation corrupted into sorrowful weeping. Lexington pulled away, alert.
He could finally see Brooklyn's face; a face in the process of morphing?! His handsome face was beginning to stream blood from the cheek, a welt materializing around the wound that now had his sweaty hair falling in clumps over it - a welt in the shape of a massive fist. The very same welt that also appeared on his chest.
Goliath's fist.
"I… I'm sorry." Brooklyn rasped "I'm so sorry…"
As if recovering from Amnesia, Lexington's mind was flashbanged with memories. Brooklyn and Goliath had been fighting in Castle Bailey. The hundreds of clan members and peasants had stared in horror (why could Lexington not make out their faces?) as Brooklyn screamed at Goliath for having abandoned him in favor of Angela. Despite the fact they were back home here in Scotland, Elisa was there in 20th century attire, desperately trying to break the two apart.
The hundreds of gargoyles and Elisa vaporized "YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF MY LOVE! YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF ANYONE'S LOVE!" was shouted while two fists cast Brooklyn away - the microsecond-long vision was done.
The red one's strength was drained from him, falling to his knees and clutching his hair, he gulped in sucks of air in a fruitless attempt to keep the sobs at bay. The sounds didn't come from Brooklyn's mouth - they came from inside Lexington's own ears in Brooklyn's voice.
Lexington's arms finally obeyed his commands, they snapped around his brother's large head and tugged him into his chest "It's okay… It's okay…" It wasn't okay.
"I-I… I-I just wanted him to… to…" Brooklyn's croaking voice babbled as he rocked back and forth "I wanted him to SEE me. I… I…"
Lexington clutched him. His mind gave Brooklyn's ego the permission it wanted: 'Let it out.'
"I-I did EVERYTHING he wanted!" Brooklyn burst "W-W-What else was I supposed to do? You were there! You saw me! T-The others saw it right? I-I tried my best! You KNOW I at least tried, right?"
"Brooklyn this isn't your faul-"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I know I wasn't the leader you deserved! I know I wasn't good enough, b-but I didn't mean to - t-to…" he struggled "-You KNOW I didn't order you two away, right?"
Lexington's words did not become audible, but almost telepathically, his brain signaled its confusion.
"I know I was a bad friend! It was sick! It was WRONG! I know I never should have ordered you two away! B-But, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He rambled for pardon as if a sinner begging for mercy on judgement day "It wasn't going t-to- but I never would have actually done anything that… t-that… I'm sorry!"
Lexington's bewildered mind did not need to rake itself for an answer; just as the same before, his mind flooded with more thoughts.
Brooklyn was airborne in New York with the Trio and Angela, The Second In Command smugly ordered the other two males away for him to be alone with her. Brooklyn then was down in the slums of Manhattan with Goliath snarling in disgust at him. Brooklyn was then in the castle, staring at Broadway and Angela's locking lips in the kitchen.
The foggy, almost false, image of the entire clan glaring in disappointed revulsion at Brooklyn materialized.
"Oh my God, Brooklyn no!" Lexington exclaimed, holding him tighter to cease his shakings "No no! That wasn't… we would never… NO!"
Lexington's form faded entirely from the conjured up image; the entire image itself even seemed to dull slightly.
"Y-You were right to be mad at m-"
"NO." Lexington almost growled his absolution of Brooklyn's guilt.
The image finally dissipated away
"Brooklyn we… none of us would ever hate you for something like that! None of us would!"
"...G-Goliath would."
"FORGET HIM!" Lexington barked "Forget him! No… SCREW him! Screw him entirely! EVERYONE tore into him after he got back! He tried to apologize, tail-in-hand and we told him where he could shove it!"
How could such a thing be possible?
Lexington's brain hurt again. Part of him remembered being in the castle over the clouds of Manhattan, but they were here in Scotland. How did EITHER of them have names for that matter? They had not picked them out while the rest of the clan was still 'around'.
"Y-You… You did?" Brooklyn's voice was less of a staticy noise produced in his brain - now the words were audible and coming from his beak "I… When? What happened?"
Something about the hope in Brooklyn's voice flooded Lexington's brain with positive feedback. He chased the reinforcement "Goliath was literally on his hands and knees BEGGING for forgiveness." Lexington boomed with confidence, pulling Brooklyn away to stare him dead in the face "LITERALLY, BEGGING. He wanted to take it all back, he said he was wrong to cast us out. He desperately wanted YOU back. Elisa said Goliath was howling your name the second you ran!"
0000oooo0000oooo0000
That rusty part of Brooklyn's brain that produced dopamine finally kicked on - it hadn't been touched in months. Now it was firing on all cylinders. It was wrong… but he wanted to feel it more.
"He… He was?" he chased the pleasure, no, the RELIEF. He craved it to the point it became reckless gluttony.
"Elisa made Goliath spill everything to us! Hudson was ready to hang him from the rafters! Broadway and I didn't care when he tried to take us back! Even ANGELA was upset!"
Brooklyn's mind winced. He had not been there to see it, but somehow… The image started to stream into his thoughts as clear as night: Goliath was tearfully hugging Broadway and Lexington in the castle bailey (Again, in Manhattan? That was not possible!), Lexington wormed out of the hug and slapped Goliath's hand away with his claws! It was so clear! HOW was it so clear?
Brooklyn's ears seemed to stop working as Lexington continued to recount the tale - Brooklyn only stared greedily at Goliath's weary expression. The darkest and most selfish part of his soul indulged in the catharsis by proxy. But as his lips almost cracked into a snarling grin, his attention was drawn to something more important. Something FAR more important in his book.
Lexington. He could see - no - he could FEEL the betrayal and loss. Where Brooklyn would have desperately leapt at the chance to settle for what apology he could get from Goliath; there stood Lexington, someone who was so soft and gentle with HIM… rejecting it. A simple apology would not be a satisfactory penance to the younger one… even though Lexington so badly wanted the rewards of Parental Love that he could obtain beyond the atonement.
"Take…. US back?" Brooklyn parroted Lexington's words.
Lexington's form ceased speaking, it looked up at him perplexed.
Lexington was not able to hide behind lies or a strong face. Brooklyn, somehow instantly, could feel how desperately Lexington wanted the very thing that neither could have. The only difference was, when Goliath had BEGGED to offer it to him, Lex had refused it.
Their two roles swapped instantly.
Brooklyn felt bigger. Lexington felt smaller. The grander of the two snapped his arms around his little brother, hugging him tight to his bare chest "L-Lex… I'm… I'm so sorry." he consoled with an empathy no other duo in the living world could match.
Lexington's words of comfort ceased, the strength he had mustered to be the other's rock was spent. The wound on Brooklyn's face had now disappeared, as had all the blood and bruises. Brooklyn somehow could feel Lexington's sorrow coursing into him - Brooklyn was not the only one who had been denied love and affection.
"I'm sorry man… I didn't even think - this whole time you wanted the exact same thing I wanted and I didn't even…." A thousand minds richotched in Brooklyn's mind "I didn't even stand up for you, I only cared about myself when I was losin' it… But ya stood up for me. Ya stood up for all of us."
He cradled the tired imp in his arms as he cocooned his wings around his little body. His large talons cupped the back of his head, he had missed his touch so much and never known it - now he craved it after being starved from contact for so long. Brooklyn could only find "Thank you…" in his brain to say.
Brooklyn could not explain his next sensation. For a brief moment, he felt his body drop - the same dropping of the gut Elisa described when humans would sometimes feel their bodies freefall when teetering on the edge of sleep. His consciousness left his own mind… And into Lexington's it went.
One thought was said in his little brother's voice - it was so clear that Lexington could have spoke into his ear:
"Why can't he love me back…?"
Brooklyn physically recoiled.
The agony in his heart ripped open once again - doubling in strength as it shared the burden of Lexington's mirrored longing. The thoughts were foggy, but Brooklyn's mind took what it could as the tether between them quickly severed.
"I was always there for him…" came Lexington's thoughts "...He only wants Angela…Why won't he see me? Am I not good enough?"
"You are good enough, Lex…" Brooklyn affirmed
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Lexington's heart skipped a beat "Wh…. What?"
"I never told ya that enough, dude. NO ONE told ya that, really." Brooklyn pulled him away "Honestly… you're more than enough, more than I could ever even ask for."
Lexington's face burned "You… how do you-?"
Brooklyn's hesitating words continued while Lexington's were wedged stuck in his throat "I mean… you've always had my back more than anyone. Ever since… since… Well, ever since it came down to just the five of us, you're always the one I relied on."
The images were less memories and more physical manifestations: Brooklyn wept into Lex's shoulder the night he had been scorned by Maggie. Brooklyn stayed with Lexington and tempered his anger when The Pack resurfaced. Lexington threw aside the gun and his only chance at revenge, dashing forward to frantically grab his brother's tail before he fell into burning oil. Brooklyn shielded Lexington's little body right as The Hunter's bomb went off. Brooklyn refused to let his wounded friend out of his arms as he flew off with him.
"It's just… I'm not good at talking about these things." And yet Brooklyn was spilling his thoughts without filter "But I mean… Whenever I got in a tough spot or bind, dude. I just… I dunno, I always found myself thinking: 'I wish Lexington was here'."
Lex swallowed hard, his chest struggling to hide its quickening breaths "...What are you saying?"
Brooklyn looked away. They were back at the clocktower, instead of sitting on the grassy cliff sides of Scotland, they were now sitting on the balcony of stone with the yellow light of the clock bathing them in amber "I'm just… When I was thinkin' the other night about Goliath… wondering where him, Elisa, and Bronx disappeared off to I just… Didn't really get that bothered."
Lexington's head hurt again - he felt that 'Recovering Amnesia' feeling again. Oh… That was right. Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx were missing. Brooklyn was clan leader until they reappeared - IF they ever reappeared.
"I guess what I'm sayin' is… I'd go crazy if I lost you, dude. Just… I can handle losin' a lot. Heck, we've lost pretty much everythin' we could possibly lose. Our parents, our friends, our family, our home, our TIME. But…" Brookly shuffled slightly "...Look, just don't YOU disappear on me-" his words became muddled, sounding like he was speaking underwater, almost like there was something PHYSICALLY trying to stop his words from being heard "I can't live without you."
Lexington flinched, his eyes widening as far as they could go when Brooklyn turned to face him. The crimson avian's eyes weren't trying to dart away in awkward discomfort, like usual. Brooklyn's gentle eyes were fixed squarely on him.
"B-Brooklyn?" Lex breathed. Brooklyn never talked like this, not ever! He kept all his thoughts under lock and key, opening up like this just had to be a dream or something!
"I… You mean the world to me, Lex…" Brooklyn's deep voice rumbled
*BA-THUMP*
Lex could actually feel his heart leap.
Was this happening? Was this actually happening?
"B-Brooklyn…" Lexington's thoughts were firing on all cylinders. Were they doing this? Right here? Right now? "You're… You mean the world to me too! But I don't… I don't think you know what you're saying."
"I know exactly what I'm saying." Brooklyn said flatly. "I… *ngh*" His words were cut short by a sudden grunt of discomfort.
Lexington's brain seemed to slow down.
Okay. This was it. It was happening.
Lexington was too stunned to notice Brooklyn starting to grunt in discomfort and hold his own cranium with both hands.
Lexington was at a crossroads. Two choices - two options… to tell the truth and risk scaring him off forever. Or play off the moment and wait for a better time once he was sure. Lexington swallowed hard…
…and ordered years of caution to finally release him.
"B-Brooklyn…" he stuttered over that name. He summoned every ounce of will to maintain eye contact "You're the kindest, craziest, most passionate, wild gargoyle I've ever known. I've admired you for as long as I can remember - but after watching you become a leader… It's something more now… Brooklyn… I…." He closed his eyes and swallowed "I love y-"
Brooklyn doubled over, he barked out a sharp cry of pain
Lexington's vision instantly fuzzed as if irradiated.
The flash of grotesque imagery consumed reality. Blood. Operating Tables. Cages. Surgical equipment.
Lexington's little body was thrown backwards, clattering to the masonry of the clocktower's balcony with a hand clutched to his temple
Both the gargoyles convulsed on the stonework - Lexington's ceased after but a moment, Brooklyn's thrashing intensified for a second more before he finally came to a rest.
Lexington shook his head, his skull rang as if it had been fried by a recent electrocution.
Wait, It HAD recently been electrocuted. They had just finished breaking up Fang's attempted takeover of the Labyrinth Clan. Both of them were nursing some pretty hefty headaches from the Mutates' constant spamming of electric attacks.
Brooklyn grunted as he undid the last of his bandages around his own arm "Oh shoot, sorry man. I didn't catch that. What was that?"
Lexington blinked. What WERE they talking about just now? "Uhhh…"
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Brooklyn only grumbled. Damn you… everyone. Screw Maggie for playing with his heart for what would be the last time ever, consider HIS ship sailed! Screw Fang for being a pain in his tail and nearly shooting his head off. Screw Talon for tossing oil onto what HAD been a quiet, simmering fire with Xanatos. And most importantly: Screw GOLIATH for having left him to hold everything together!
Is this why that stoic, distant, unavailable bastard turned them into child soldiers at the ripe-old age of 28? So he could disappear whenever he wanted to and let the kids do the work for him until he got back? IF he got back?
Brooklyn didn't know where all of this was coming from all of a sudden. But something detonated in him completely out of the blue.
Goliath had the Phoenix Gate, right? He knew the incantation, right? All he had to do was utter one sentence, one FUCKING SENTENCE, and come back! But no! He was probably having the time of his life on vacation! Or his permanent exit!
Goliath was probably just living it up in Avalon right now! Or maybe he just went back to their original time back in Scotland and left the rest of them here to rot! Probably enjoying all the attention and power that came with being 'the man in charge', it was EASY when you had an entire ARMY of trained Gargoyles backing you up for every fight against humans wielding only swords and spears! Try to keep your family alive when all you had was two other teenagers and an old has-been fossil as your clan!
Goliath had abandoned them - he'd abandoned HIM! Left him to die in this underground cage!
*Wait, cage? Die?* Brooklyn's mind hiccuped again - it was like when Broadway had poorly rewound a VHS tape on movie night and caused the movie to skip ahead or glitch entirely. What cage? There had been no cage. Where was that thought coming from?
Brooklyn's thought's steadied again, but not so much his simmering rage. Goliath was probably in Scotland right now, enjoying the clan he had led to destruction. Enjoying the quiet of the countryside, the beauty of a bay that wasn't polluted by ferry gasoline, the sound of wind sweeping through the trees….
Brooklyn grimaced - Dragon above, what he would give to see Home again.
He stood up with a grunt and glowered at the lights of New York.
There were just too many sour memories right now. The concrete towers were like a cage, the spires of skyscrapers like barbed wire topping their fence. Part of the joy of flying was just the feeling of being 'above' everyone else - Manhattan took a lot of the fun out of it.
…But flying over a forest though?
"Hey Lex, I don't think I'm in the mood to deal with the clocktower tonight." Brooklyn stated simply, jabbing a thumb into the fuzzy black that was dotted with the glow of yellow lights "How 'bout it? How about you n I… get out of here?"
Lexington flinched slightly, eyes wide again "G-Get out of here?" he repeated with a slight yelp.
"Come on, Goliath ain't around to stick us with a curfew - I'm in charge now." He jabbed a thumb to himself and opened his wings "And 'sides, Hudson n Broadway can hold down the fort."
Brooklyn's talons scraped off the balcony, his leathery wings pushed back by the catching wind "W-Whoa…" he stuttered out. He blinked slightly at his suddenly weak wings - what was that all about? His wings almost shook as they struggled to scoop the weight of the wind, his sore back muscles felt as if they hadn't been used for months. Cocksure demeanor assumed its role as his mask again "Or what, you gonna just park yer butt up there all night?"
Lexington leapt up after him, the two of them free in the night sky while Brooklyn completely missed Lexington's flustered eyes. Brooklyn spread his hands and arms before him, sucking in the feeling of air rushing past his body.
"Hey! Slow it d-down a bit!" Lexington called over the wind.
But something was different to Brooklyn - flying to a gargoyle was as natural as walking to all other bipeds, but not tonight. The reawakening excitement of flight flowed through him like it was his very first time! The red baron rolled in the air, grinning with shrugging shoulders "Come on, Lex. I thought ya LIKED how I pushed you and Broadway outta the comfort zone!"
The red one fancified his airborne grace, needlessly performing flip after somersault to just cram as much sensation as he could. He had been moving so fast that he hadn't even noticed Lex was almost a block behind. He just wanted to fly, to truly FLY; to fly away from everything.
He wanted to just leave everything behind, even if for a moment. Leave behind Xanatos, Demona, The Pack, the gangs, the guns, the loneliness. Just find a way to muster the strength to fly clear across the Atlantic and across time to finally go home. To no longer hide and explore the green of the forest and the coolness of the loch.
All he could think about was that.
He pitched his wings and looped a flip to egress back to Lexington - his white mane flapped in the wind, eyes closed with a contented smile. When he finished his loop and came back beside his friend, gone were the skyscrapers of Manhattan… they were back over the trees of the Scottish wilderness.
"Heh, Sorry friend." The red one chuckled with a scratch to the back of his neck - his hair slightly shorter and features now slightly softer "It just feels… like it's been a while since I've been back in the air. I've just missed it."
0000oooo0000oooo0000
"Well…." I can imagine, said the green gargoyle "Goliath grounding you for a month must have really made ya glide-sick."
Red had just finished his sentence for breaking curfew and killing the wolf, after all. A vastly younger pair of teen gargoyles flew side by side.
"Oh you got NO idea, friend." he snickered "I got to get these wings back in knighthood shape if I'm going to pick up practice again!"
Green grimaced a little more than just a pout "Oh…. So THAT'S why you brought me along? Need me to critique your Mating Flight again?"
"WHAT-? I-" A guilty Red yelped "No! I always like spendin' time with you! I just… I… I missed you too. Ever since Goliath's daughter showed up, I haven't really gotten a lot of time to spend with you.
"Hmphf…" Green grunted flatly.
But much to his surprise, Red actually backpedaled "I'm serious, friend!" he bleated, banking to come side by side with him "Look, I know I've been chasing her around a lot. But I swear that's not why I asked you out! I'm not even going to TRY to perform the mating flight for Goliath and Clan Mother's daughter!"
Green cocked a brow in apprehension "...You sure?"
"On my warrior's honor!"
"You're STILL not old enough to attempt the Warrior's Trial, friend." Green huffed in relieved amusement "You still got six more years before you even meet the minimum age requirement."
"Bahhhhhhhhhhh!" Red waved a hand down in dismissal "Wise Elder did his Trial early, so can I! And since Clan Mother will have to name a new second at the next mating cycle, she'll OBVIOUSLY pick me when she sees how incredible I am!"
"Oh, of course, after all, your accomplishments and feats are sooooo becoming of the next second~" Green snickered as the two of them dropped their gliding height to maneuver through the trees for a bit of fun "Like the time you lit the stables on fire."
"That raider had a torch and it was the dry season!" Red's high pitched voice yelped.
They split as they dodged a large tree. Coming back together.
"Well what about that time you tried magic for the first time and accidentally made the entire guard bald?" Green laughed at his friend's expense
"That spell had been tampered with BEFORE I cast it! DOESN'T COUNT!" Red cried again.
They parted through the brush and came back together
"Oh of course, it wasn't your fault, right." Green said in a now deeper voice "Just like how it wasn't your fault when you were trying to woo one of the girls with fire twirling…. And ya spooked a dozen of the knight's horses into fleeing the castles. How long did it take ya to get them all back? Five? Six Hours?"
Red, now with longer hair, blushed and shouted "I TOLD YA NOT TO TALK ABOUT THAT AGAIN!"
The thick lumber of trees made them both lose vision of each other. Coming back again.
"Ye-huh, ya did. But I never agreed, did I~?" a late-in-teenage years Green hummed.
Red folded his progressively more muscular arms with a huff "Oh yeah~? Well, since we're on the topic: how about the time ya ended up giving yourself a wedgie when leaping off the castle parapets into a fight~?"
Green's face turned a mortified pale "THAT'S CAUSE YOU NAILED THE BACK OF MY LOINCLOTH TO THE STONE BEFORE I JUMPED OFF!"
"And my timin' wasssssssssssss perfect~"
A near-adult Green swiped a fist at him "And yet ya had the gall to act embarrassed when I paid one of the guards to use charcoal to sketch a mustache on you during stone sleep?"
Red grappled with him "HE DID IT DURING STONE SLEEP! It took a week for my beak to go back to normal, ya jerk! THAT'S why put ink in your breakfast ale to turn your teeth black."
"THAT WAS YOU?" a flabbergasted Green realized
The two spun out of control in a spiral to the ground
"I'm gonna tell the human priests you wanna rededicate your life to Christ!" Red barked
"I'm gonna tell everyone that you wanna put your hair in braids to look pretty!" Green shot
"Everytime the female gargoyles go knitting, I'm gonna tell them ya secretly wanna join!"
"Everytime Wise Elder wants a singing partner when he gets drunk, I'm gonna volunteer you!"
The two, now young adult, gargoyles were now careening down to the lakebed of a grotto. Both were too busy pulling at each other's faces and tossing out threats of pranks to even notice they were descending into the thick of the branches… that was until Green's smaller body snagged on a thick piece of horizontal lumber.
Green's high-velocity was halted rather gently. But Red's?
"WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA!" Red took out a dozen trees' worth of branches as he careened into the brush, nearly busting clear through a tree trunk altogether before he skidded a long rut into the dirt - slowing to the halt at the grotto's lakeside.
"Are you alright?" Green cried as he leapt to the ground, his green talons skittering to the ground far more gracefully.
"Yeah yeah!" Red immediately popped up with a slight hop - surprisingly not feeling anything - dusting himself off and pulling out three separate twigs velcroed into his massive mane of white - well, brown was more like it.
Green's concern immediately vanished, his cheeks puffed out a millisecond before he burst out laughing. He pointed a jestering finger at the larger of the two. A bog monster looked more refined than Red, his full body faceplant into the muddy shoreline had soaked him in sludge from literal horn to talon.
"QUIET!" Red barked, scooping a fistful of mud off himself and flinging it at Green.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Green laughed, closing the distance as the larger stormed off "Friend, come back! I didn't mean any of it!"
Red muttered furiously as his gait became awkward, stepping his stride out with bowlegs "In the name of- I didn't even know you COULD get mud down there." as he stormed to the waterside, eager to scrub off the mud that was chafing in the WORST place possible. His hands went to the belt of his loincloth.
Green's laughter died down, a spark shooting up his spine as he heard a foreign sound: Red's belt buckle being undone.
With Red's back turned to him, all he could see was his rippling back muscles flexing as his hands fiddled with the front of his groin. Then came the sound of the thick leather belt sliding out of the metal buckle; The fabric and belt went slack and Red's loincloth came off. He stripped off his only article of clothing and tossed it onto a nearby rock.
Green yanked his eyes away from his nude companion… his ass looked a little TOO good "F-FRIEND!"
"What? Nothin' you haven't seen before." Red grumbled in annoyance, but quickly paused. He turned around; a smug grin creeped up his lips "...Ooooooooh~"
Green's hands both swiped up to shield his lower line of sight - he only got a look at his crimson, taut glutes before he could turn around completely with his… 'lance of longness'. Red planted his hands on his hips, pushing his pelvis forward proudly "Yuuuuuuup, pretty impressive, right?" Red boasted with a shit-eating grin "I mean sure, even by Beaked Gargoyle standards it's big, but compared to a regular gargoyle? *WOOOO!*" He whistled smugly.
"QUIET."
"Even the horse-faces in our clan can't match up to all this!" Red laughed as if Green's fluster gave him strength "If we didn't have that stupid 'Spell of Humility' Roman Magnus casted on all of us, this thing would just be swinging out for all to appreciate!"
Gargoyles were naturally nudist when they didn't have the humans dictating dress codes, but now Green was GLAD there was that rule in place "P-Put your loincloth back on!"
"What? And cover up ALL. THIS?" he laughed, his hands showcasing his crotch paired with a toothy grin "And I thought Goliath was a prude! You're literally GREEN with envy!"
What was Green doing? Sure, the context wasn't inherently sexual or anything, but… He had feelings for Red, yet now he was actually seeing him like this, he was clamming up! He was BLOWING THIS! He barely even g-
He opened his eyes to see Red sprinting towards him.
Green couldn't even flail backwards before both of Red's hands snapped around his little waist, yanking him into the air and throwing him over his shoulder. He didn't even have time to scream before Red did a heel turn and sprinted for the water; unfortunately, Green finally found his voice the second before Red bounded into the bank and dunked them both into the frigid temps.
A few bubbles rose to the surface of the distilled water.
"GAAAAHHHHH!" Lexington burst from the water - followed promptly by a laughing Brooklyn whom Lexington instantly assaulted. "ASSHOLE!" he bellowed as he pounded his fists against his, now larger and rugged, friend's shoulders.
Brooklyn's roaring laughter was paired by him lazily blocking Lexington's punches with a turned shoulder "What? What!? Am I makin' you mad dude!?" a mastered technique of arm and wing splashing waves of water at Lexington in retaliatory strikes "Am I makin' ya mad~!?"
"YON SON OF A RAVEN, SCUM SUCKIN'-" the soaked gargoyle bellowed as he stormed away by wading through the water, then froze.
…Brooklyn was LAUGHING.
Not the forced, hollow laughs he had faked in the past (Lexington didn't even KNOW how many) months… but a HOLLERING belly laugh. His head was thrown back in a joyous howl to the moon, his large chest quaking with a finally realized happiness. "Lex! Lex! I didn't mean it!" he chortled, slowly following after him. "Lex, Come back!"
Lex jerked his hips and scooped his chiroptera wing through the water to send a tsunami back at 'em "Scrub yer mug first!"
"BAH! You're no fun!" Brooklyn snickered, scooping up an arm full of water and dousing himself as Lex hopped up on a boulder just at the shore. Brooklyn dunked back under the surface, Lexington used the moment to sneak in a stifled giggle.
He skipped a rock across the water "Missed a spot!" he called just as Brooklyn strafed away from it.
"Missed? Nuh-uh, NAILED a spot." Brooklyn snickered back "In case you haven't noticed, before I had to slow down for ya, I was nailing that flight better than ever before."
Lexington's mind wanted to rebuttal his brother again out of 40 years of sibling reflex, but hearing Brooklyn so joyously laugh before? He couldn't do it. Brooklyn was still in there, somewhere, the REAL Brooklyn. He only huffed in amusement, crossing his legs upon the slick boulder "Finnnnneeeee, I'll admit…. It's REALLY looking good… But I thought ya just said ya weren't gonna use the Mating Flight for Angela?.: he muttered with sourness.
Brooklyn splashed water over his naked chest and scrubbed out the musculature of his lats "Yeah, It's not for Angela, duh." he hummed "But don't worry, Lex. In a few more runs, I'll have it perfect for you~"
Lex flinched and nearly fell off his rock "What?"
Brooklyn wadded away from the pooling bit of dirt in the water, turning his back to splash water in his face and get the last of it off - his strong, detailed canyon of back muscles flexed with the slightest movement "Whadaya think I'm practicin' it for, dude?" he looked over his shoulder with a smile "It's all for you, ya know."
Lexington's spine ricocheted with a sudden warmth "...W-WHAT?"
Brooklyn dunked himself under the water one last time, swimming over to close the distance before he rose like a leviathan. Lexington's claws dug into the rockwork with a sharp gasp.
He was a warrior. Water trickled in streams over his pecs and shoulders. His washboard abs and quads dripped what little liquid that could cling to his rock-hard body. He scooped the hair off his face and raked his hands through his soaked mane that was white as snow.. His Falcon's beak huffed out a smile as he tucked the last of that mane back over his fiery red horns "...what I said back there at the Clocktower wasn't just talk."
"Brooklyn?" Lexington's cheeks turned as red as Brooklyn's entire body.
The last hints of light-hearted fun in his eyes made way for something far more deliberate and personal "I meant it, Lex…. every last word."
"I trust you more than anyone else in the world…" Brooklyn rumbled, coming ashore. He scratched the back of his neck, glancing away "...I know I don't tell you that enough but… I'd be lost without you. Sure, I want Goliath back home… and Hudson's a great teacher, ya got no clue, but… I can… I can make peace without them. But if I had to be away from YOU?"
Brooklyn swallowed "I miss Scotland… and I know we might never see it again." He said as his vision took in the very Scottish Wilderness that was around them "I miss everyone…and… I know this is gonna sound selfish: but I can make peace with that too… as long as I have you…"
"H-Have…. H-Have me?" Lexington's toes clenched, the wary mix of euphoria and terrified nerves now compounding at the chemical level "Brooklyn…I… I don't…. Are… Are you saying-"
Brooklyn looked at him as if it was the first time he'd ever seen him "You're the smartest guy I know, Lex… The most passionate, the most selfless, and the most loving… Whenever I got scared or nervous, I knew I'd make it through if I had you by my side."
That didn't even attempt to answer Lexington's answer! Lexington was trying to rationalize this away, maybe it was leading to something platonic in nature! But this was something entirely different! Lexington stuttered "But…. What about Angela?"
"Dude, will you forget about her!? I don't CARE about Angela anymore!" Brooklyn shot back, only for the doubt to follow to be palpable "Okay, fine, maybe I DO still care about Angela! I can't help it! I can't help that I've just wanted to have someone to love and to hold for so long! Someone to protect and care for!" he threw his hands up. "But I was in love with the IDEA of her, not the real her! I want someone I ACTUALLY know, someone I admire already! Someone I'd already love, I dunno, PLATONICALLY before it became romantic, ya know? A 'Friends first then lovers after' deal!"
Lexington's heart skipped a beat as Brooklyn so nonchalantly proclaimed his truth. A lump formed in his throat.
"Forget about Angela!" Brooklyn barked, almost as if casting her out with his words. Brooklyn stood at full height, eye to eye with Lexington who quaked upon his perch "She's not the one I want anymore. I want someone REAL!"
Lexington's sight became foggy, his eyes welling up.
Brooklyn swallowed hard "...Lex… Listen… I want you-"
Lexington didn't wait. His green missile of a body shot into Brooklyn's sternum, snapping his arms around him to clutch him with all his might. The immediate reciprocation nearly broke him - Brooklyn wrapped those strong arms around him.
"B-B-Brooklyn…" Lexington whimpered out - relief seeping through him.
He was his. He was finally his.
"Lexington…." Brooklyn rumbled back in a hushed tone "...Thank you, man. I knew you'd understand…."
Lexington could only nod into his chest, gripping him tightly. Of course he understood!
"I knew I could count on you. You've always been there for me, so I'll always be there for you." Brooklyn rumbled "And when I've got the mating flight perfected, you'll be the first to see it. Your opinion means more to me than anything."
Lexington laughed into Brooklyn's chest; that was a bit of an awkward way for him to word it. Of course he'd be the first to see it if it was made for him, duh!
"I want you, Lex…. I want you to be with me when we go to Avalon. I mean, I don't know if we'll go to the females there, or if they'll come to us like Angela did. But when we go to find mates, I'll be sure to be YOUR wingman too!"
Lexington flinched.
He felt a dagger of ice stab into him.
"...W-What…?" Lexington's voice felt a thousand miles away.
"Yeah! I've ditched wanting to use the Mating Flight on Angela! I wanna use it to impress that 'right girl'! And I want your opinion on how it looks before I show it off for real!" Brooklyn said with oblivious cheer "But I don't wanna rush in like I've done with everything in the past, I've learned from my mistakes and I want to create a REAL connection with a female gargoyle before I even try to put romantic moves on them!" he proclaimed proudly "And you, dude, once they get a look at how smart and kind you are - all the girls are gonna be CRAZY for you! You'll have to beat them back with a stick! Any of them would be lucky to have a guy like you!"
Lexington felt ill. His stomach churned. His heart that had just been aglow with warmth a moment before, now shattered in a way he never knew possible. He shakily backed away, breaking the hug.
Brooklyn's face suddenly shifted to concern "Lex?" he reached a hand out "H-Hey! If you're worried about us going at each other like we did with Anglea, I promise that won't happen again! No girl is gonna come between us!"
Tears that were once spawned from relief now corrupted into devastation… they streamed from Lexington's horrified face "...You…"
"Lex?" Brooklyn closed the gap with worry.
"You…" Lexington's eyes slammed shut, his teeth grit together, his frozen fingers surged with blood as they snapped into a fist "...Y-You BASTARD!"
*WHAM!*
Lexington cratered a fist into Brooklyn's face, an anguished roar coming between the heaving of tears.
Brooklyn was too off guard to even flinch a hand to block, he was sent flying backwards and into the water. Shaking his head awake as he sat up in the rippling liquid "LEX, What the hell?" he roared, less with anger and more with utter bafflement.
Lexington's heaving shoulders and anguish stricken face immediately vaporized all anger in Brooklyn's expression "W-What? What is it?" he frantically questioned the smaller one
Lexington slapped his palms over his eyes, trying to contain his sobs.
He blew it.
No. He didn't blow it, it was worse than that. There had been zero chance in the first place. Brooklyn would never be his, now or ever. It had never even been a possibility.
"You idiot…" Lexington shot weeping dagger-eyes at the down gargoyle male "You fucking IDIOT! Are you REALLY this stupid!?" he screamed.
"LEX!" Brooklyn scrambled to his feet "W-What did I- LEX!"
Lexington scrambled to his feet. The green gargoyle had skittered to his claws and sprinted into the forest on all fours. Not a word, not even a look back. Where he had fallen, his claws had sliced into the rock like it was Styrofoam... multiple, small puddles of tears staining the granite.
Brooklyn snapped his wings out, howling a plea "LEXINGTON!"
0000oooo0000oooo0000
"LEXINGTON, WAIT!" Brooklyn begged as he bounded after him "PLEASE!"
WHAT HAD HE DONE WRONG!?
He had chosen every word with as much care and painstaking caution as he could! He had told Lexington how much he adored him above all else! He had told him that no girl would ever come in between them again! He had vowed to be there for Lexington no matter what! What did he do wrong?
He tore through the thick brush desperately, shouting Lexington's name over and over again in a voice that felt weaker and weaker. Despite how frantically he pursued, his legs grew painfully slow beneath him. He slowed to a pace so hobbled that he was now scrambling in place, frozen still as if in a nightmare.
The forest was consuming him. The brush became thicker around his ankles, the timber grew, the canopy blocked out what little remaining moonlight was left.
"Lexington! LEX! Come back!" he pleaded with hoarse screeches. He couldn't go through this! Not a second time! The familiar roars, the punch to the face, the getting thrown to the ground and cast out! Not again! Not him! Not LEXINGTON! "I'm sorry! Whatever it is, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
It was getting dark. The whole world was turning black. The ominous shadows devoured the light, coming closer.
Brooklyn weakly cried for his friend as the sudden exhaustion dragged him down. He yearned for the warmth of him, a mere few moments without him was hell - his soul had forgotten what it felt like to not be alone. The reminder of its taste only made the following starvation all the more agonizing.
Gone was the fiery passion for life he felt burning again. In its place was only the cold hollowness he had only felt that night with Goliath…
He covered his ears. The blackness was coming.
He couldn't do this alone. Without Lexington, he couldn't be himself. He couldn't be that cocky, proud warrior. Without his friend, he couldn't roar that fearless roar.
Without his friend, Brooklyn couldn't be brave.
Brooklyn grit his teeth, his wings covering himself as he sunk down "Please….. D-Don't leave me…" he whimpered.
The cool grass beneath his feet became oblivion, as did the once comforting chirping of insects and owls. His mind unsuccessfully scrambled for enlightenment on what he could have said to hurt his friend so mortally, what could he possibly have done? Brooklyn had listened to every word and pitied every one of them with open empathy!
Lexington's voice repeated in his head.
"Why can't he love me back…?"
"I was always there for him… He only wants Angela…Why won't he see me? Am I not good enough?"
Of course he knew Lexington was jealous and denied Goliath's love! It was a pain they both shared! They were right to be upset! Hadn't he shown that he understood Lex?
How could Goliath be so dense? How could he not see that someone he knew for forty years wanted to be loved? How could he instead focus all his love and care onto a female who came into his life only a few months ago? How could he so selfishly ignore a guy who had been there the entire time?
How could he not see someone else loved him, all because he was so fixated on Angela?
….
Brooklyn's mind pulsed.
…
Then it ached as if split in two.
He saw himself, clear as could be. He saw himself on the Pack's ship about to fall to his death into burning oil. He saw himself flying away from the Clocktower's ruins. He saw himself in a dozen different memories. But he SAW himself. Was this an out of body experience? Was this what it felt like?
Then he heard Lexington.
His heart quaked and flinched at the sound of his voice, desperately wanting to scream his name out again so he could come back to him and take all the pain he might have caused back.
Brooklyn could see a pair of olive drab arms wrap around him when his heart was broken.
Brooklyn could see those same hands dive for his tail and save his life.
He watched those hands lovingly build a motorcycle for him.
They came to his shoulder whenever he was scared. They snapped around his neck and noogied him whenever he was down. They offered support whenever he needed strength. When he needed love, they were there. When he needed care, they were there. And most importantly, when he needed some sense knocked into him, they were there.
Lexington was there…. Lexington was always there.
Brooklyn's heart clenched in a pain that was foreign. He didn't know what it was - but it hurt in an all new different way. It wasn't loss, nor rejection, nor emptiness: those were agonies he had become fast friends with….. This pain was new…
What was it?
Brooklyn's brain flashed with a memory. It was clear as day:
"I, Lexington of Clan Manhattan, pledge myself to my Clan Leader, Brooklyn of Clan Manhattan. Before the ancestors, I swear to forever honor his command and no other's. I would raise my claws in his honor and raise a mug in his name."
His spine bristled, his hair stood on end.
"...Lexington…"
He said that name like it was the first time he ever truly said it.
"...A-Are you….?"
Brooklyn's mind replayed Lexington's voice a million times:
"Why can't he love me back…?"
"I was always there for him… He only wants Angela…Why won't he see me? Am I not good enough?"
Brooklyn's eyes widened in a way he never knew possible.
…..
"... After all this time?"
Lexington was actually…
-CLICK-
All this time Brooklyn had despised Goliath for all the ignorance.
And all this time - Brooklyn had been the biggest hypocrite alive.
Brooklyn grit his teeth. He didn't move his leg - he COMMANDED it to move. His body's attempts at rejecting him were overwhelmed by an exploding will. His foot cracked through the void and sunk into cool soil again - rooting himself, he stomped a creaking step forward. He screamed his name out, his words strong again. He had to see him again! He had to… he had to tell him that- "Nggghhhhh:
Dawn was coming
It happened so suddenly, it might as well have been a hallucination:
As quickly as Brooklyn had forced himself out of the suffocating darkness, it sucked him back in. Brooklyn's foot cratered through the cool soil…. And stepped onto hard metal. He stumbled forward, he caught himself on a tree - the tree instantly became a steel bar… a bloody steel bar.
0000oooo0000ooo0000
Lexington screeched to a halt, tears still staining his face: Brooklyn's ear splitting scream sliced through the night
"Brook? BROOKLYN!?" he yelled, turning a 180 in a microsecond.
Lexington tore through the brush like a mad-man, Brooklyn's blood curdling screams got so high pitched, he thought his brother was being torn in half!
Brooklyn's screams battered against him like a tidal wave. Instead of driving him back, it pulled him forward. He sailed through a hundred paces in seconds and stood at the mouth of the forest clearing with his heart lodged in his throat.
For a moment, Lexington's brain forgot not just how to breathe, but why breathing was even important, because the sight before him was something beyond hell.
Brooklyn spasmed on the floor with shrieks of excruciating agony. He clawed at his own flesh as if trying to rip out a demon that was trying to burrow into his skin. The entire forest disintegrated into darkness. Brooklyn's back was so arched and his head so pushed back on the floor that he practically pressed the crown of his head into it. The tiny pits of his pupils shrank and rolled further into the back of his head until they disappeared completely.
"BROOKLYN!?"
Lexington's thoughts were silenced. HE was silenced. His being was overpowered, conquered. He felt a horrible hellfire grasp at him with talons that dragged him deeper - they dragged him into Brooklyn's mind.
Blood. Operating Tables. Cages. Surgical equipment. Brooklyn's bloody face streaming tears down his beak and down into the viscera of body parts. The terminal thrashing of his body like an animal being torn apart by wolves. The screaming. The horror. The madness.
Electrocution. Flames. Amputation. Sleep Deprivation. Mutilation. Freezing. Confinement. Torture. Pain. Agony.
Lex was frozen in place - frozen like the time he first faced death when a pillager broke into the rookery when he was 4. The darkness billowed away to reveal the dark concrete and red lights of a bunker - a bunker that he had never seen, yet simultaneously felt like he knew every intimate detail of.
His eyes snapped back down to Brooklyn, and he leapt away with a mortified shriek. Brooklyn's corpse was defiled before him. His chest had been torn open, every bit inside of it was removed to leave a cavernous torso and stomach - eyes, tongue, tail, wings, everything: it was all gone.
Then came the snap of reality that blasted him backwards.
They were back in the forest, despite the suffocating blackness, they knew dawn was upon them. Cracks formed over their very skin as if waking from stone sleep in reverse.
But not Brooklyn, Brooklyn was being dragged down below the surface by the ankles.
"NO! NO!" his terror-stricken voice shrieked with a wail "I WON'T GO BACK!" thrashing his arms wildly for anything they could possibly grab to slow his descent. That anything happened to be Lexington grabbing onto his arms.
Lexington's desperate roars, promising to never let go, were drowned out by Brooklyn's tearful screams. Lexington somehow didn't even feel pain when Brooklyn's talons pierced his skin to try and hook himself in while dragged down to his waist.
Brooklyn's white mane fizzled away, a barcode tattooed itself on his forehead. His healthy body shriveled and shrunk until it was nothing but a skeleton wrapped in loose, red skin. His fingers fell off in bloody chunks. Stitches appeared over every inch of his body, his torso became a disgusting amalgamation of bloat and staples.
Light lasered out from the cracks in both their skins, Brooklyn screamed maddeningly "HELP ME! HELP MEEE!"
0000oooo0000oooo0000
*crackle* *SMASH*
"BROOKLYN!"
Lexington awoke from stone sleep with a horrified roar. His bellow was so guttural that Hudson, Broadway, Bronx, and now Elisa, leapt back. He tried to grasp at air below him, almost trying to will Brooklyn's spectral into existence!
"...Lexington, son?" Hudson's shock made him do away with the usual 'lad' entirely.
Lexington's hand slapped over his mouth and stifled a retch from the dawning horror. Only know was he able to grasp reality - things like his sense of touch, smell, and balance were instantly recognized by his conscious. His shaking breaths signaled that he needed a moment to compose himself, a request the others graciously abided.
Immediately he wanted to scream and beat himself in frustration. He had failed. Brooklyn had been RIGHT. THERE. All he had to do was ask him where he was! The spell had been a success; he had linked dreams with Brooklyn! They had been together! All he had to do was get a stupid address! And his stupid conscience couldn't even do THAT right!
Brooklyn was alive, but not for much longer.
Heavy thuds of racing footsteps came racing down from the interior's corridor, the colossal form of Goliath snapped into the moonlight. The urgency of his expression softened to immediate concern upon seeing the little imp "...Are you alright?" he asked, hushed.
"...It was pointless…" Lexington morbidly shook his head with eyes drilling into the floor "None of it… None of it was helpful… It was a STUPID spell!"
"Huh?" was the only sound Broadway could rasp out.
"It was a spell I got out of Puck." he grimly waved a hand off "It was supposed to link Brooklyn's and my mind… but… I could barely get anything."
"What did you get?" Broadway instantly pursued "NOTHING! Just…. Just…"
He covered his eyes with one palm "...Underground. He's in a bunker. Whoever has him is… they're slicing him apart."
"WHO!?" Goliath demanded.
"I. don't. KNOW!" Lexington snapped back; all he wanted to do was hit something as hard as he could.
"Hey! Hey! Cool it!" Broadway instantly intervened and quickly put himself between the two. He urgently snapped his head to Elisa "Elisa! What did you find? Was any of it good?"
The human responded by raising a manilla folder and shaking it like a Maraca "A gold mine." the first hint of hope ANY of them had had in months was on her face.
"Guys! Bronx and I found something last night!" Broadway announced with raised hands "We were scoping out some warehouses up north, came across an abandoned one - Bronx found a drop of Brooklyn's blood."
The breath was taken out of everyone "So I radioed Elisa and came back flyin' here as fast as I could!" Broadway's eyes went back to Elisa, almost begging her to manifest good news out of thin air.
She opened up the Manilla folder "I skipped a sleep. I haven't slept in 30 hours cause of that, but it was worth it."
She pulled out document after document "Called in every favor I had and had to hand out an I.O.U for everyone I DIDN'T have - interrogated a lot of guys from investigations I wasn't a part of and got slipped a few documents I didn't rate clearance for." she waved a paper "That empty warehouse Broadway found? Looked to be picked clean when I went to check it out a few hours ago. Yeah, well get this: turns out it was used as a smuggling cache a few months ago, place had been packed for YEARS."
She turned over another page "A couple o' months ago, they left in a hurry. REAL sudden move, no real clear reason given… Wanna guess the specific time frame?" Almost pausing for effect "The same week Brooklyn disappeared."
Wary elation billowed over all present. Goliath immediately dashed forward and grabbed Broadway by the shoulders "Y-You're POSITIVE it was Brooklyn's blood!?"
"Bronx's nose is never wrong."
Goliath's face nearly showed something akin to joy. He hadn't attempted that in months.
Elisa folded the manilla shut "And that's not all… Around the same time, someone checked into the nearby hospital for a shattered collarbone under a fake name and identity. Turns out he was wanted for six counts of drug trafficking and was taken into custody the same night. On a hunch, I spent a few hours talking with him today…"
She popped her tongue in smug satisfaction, pulling out the last sheet "Sworn Testimony… He was attacked by a Red Gargoyle with long white hair on the night of November 2nd at the very warehouse Broadway and Bronx found that bloodstain in. They tranq'd him, boxed him up, and sold him" she swung the page back and forth "With a little parole bargaining… we got the name of the son of a bitch who sold him…. And an exact address for where he's gonna be… this friday night."
Lexington's knees nearly buckled out from under him "What? WHO?!"
"Only goes by a first name." Elisa said deadpan "Radar"
Author Notes:
Well... Brooklyn was always a bit of a dense one. Sometimes we're so concerned with what's hurting us, we fail to see we're hurting others the same exact way.
But the cat's finally out of the bag! Lexington's subconscious was left entirely unguarded and Brooklyn has FINALLY figured it out!
(Also. Naked Brooklyn just lettin' it hang! 0w0 )