A special thanks goes to Margaret Demona May Stephens and Philip D.
Jacobs. To Margaret for getting me to
do this thing in the first place almost two years ago, and to Philip
for all the proofreading and editing he’s done.
This story wouldn’t be quite as good as it is if not for his contributions.
Thanks!
***************************************************************
Previously on Gargoyles...
“You’re insane!”
“I was a fool to trust you!” -Brooklyn
-directed towards Demona in “Temptation”
* * *
“She’s mine!” -Brooklyn
-reffering to Angela in “Turf”
* * *
“Parting IS such sweet sorrow.” -Brooklyn
-to himself, upon seeing Angela and Broadway kiss in “The Journey”
* * *
A loud yell cried out into the night.
It sounded like a yawn mixed with the wail of a cat. Six other such
yells
followed. This was a normal sound to Brooklyn, he heard it every
night of his life. It was the sound of a Gargoyle
awaking from its sleep. Gargoyles turned to stone during the
day, and slept. During this time, a gargoyle is
completely helpless. But when night falls, a gargoyle awakes
to life for a night, and then returns to stone when the
sun rises. Brooklyn was a gargoyle, and he would soon learn to
hate the sleeping traits of Gargoyles. Either the
trait of turning to stone, or the trait of waking afterward.
Brooklyn himself was a red gargoyle with an
odd beak, swept back horns, and a white mane of hair that went
well below his shoulders. No attention was paid to his own appearance
though, as his attention was caught by the
thing that had been catching it every night for months. Her name
was Angela. Then his attention moved to the other
thing he noticed every night immediatley afterwards. Angela’s
boyfriend, Broadway. In his mind Brooklyn grew a
little angry, and then let it fade. He and Angela would never
be together, and that was that. He should just let her
go, but he could not. He would hope for Angela to be his for
a long time to come, and he knew it. He turned his
attention away.
He looked at the other Gargoyles in his clan.
Goliath. Large and stoic, Angela’s father, he was the leader of the
clan, everyone looked up to him. Brooklyn position of second in command
would one day have him take Goliath’s
place as leader. Brooklyn was in no hurry to see that day, he
did not care for anything to happen to Goliath.
Lexington. He was probably Brooklyn’s
best friend out of everyone present, but Lexington had more mechanical
know-how than Brooklyn could ever understand. He was the smallest
gargoyle of the group, with odd looking
wings, but smart. Brooklyn saw a friend in Lexington, but not a kindred
spirit.
Hudson. Older than Brooklyn could fathom
at his young age, and wiser than Brooklyn would ever guess. He was
a little stubborn too. Brooklyn hardly noticed the scar over
Hudson’s eye, it was always there, and at that point,
mattered little to Brooklyn. But he would soon appreciate that
scar, and the handicap that went with it.
Bronx. He was funny in a way. Brooklyn
had named him, and the oversized dog was like a puppy. Brooklyn
didn’t think about him at all, Bronx was flightless, and never anything
serious, although he had been useful on several
occasions as a pet.
Again his attention turned to Angela.
She was perfect. Beautiful, witty, nice... She held his attention
most of the
time, even when she was not there. Brooklyn hated himself for loving
her. Then his attention turned to her boyfriend
again .
Broadway. His name suited him well, he
had an incurable appetite, and his belly showed it. Brooklyn had
never
thought of hurting him in his life, until Angela complicated everything.
Broadway was just as close to him as Lexington
was. And though it pained him to think about it, Brooklyn knew
he hated Broadway a little, and why? Because
Angela chose to be with him? Brooklyn’s heart sunk a bit as he
thought about it. Then he noticed the human guest.
Elisa. She was nice, and was with Goliath.
How their relationship actually was, Brooklyn couldn’t be sure, he
wasn’t one to judge. She was a friend, but like almost everything
else in his life, didn’t matter much.
Not present were the owners of the building,
the Xanatos family. The most important member of that particular
group to Brooklyn was the billionaire David. The snow haired
gargoyle would never trust this man, and always think
of him in only his last name. Xanatos. Brooklyn felt the
name was appropriate, since it meant death. Xanatos had
freed the Gargoyles from their sleep spell a little over three years
ago. After that, he lied to the Gargoyles and put
them in danger many times. Supposedly his son had turned him
around, and he was now offering the gargoyles
safety in a home he stole from them in the first place. Above
all else, Brooklyn just didn’t like him.
Then there were the other two members of the
Xanatos family. Fox and Alexander. His feelings for Xanatos’
wife mirrored those he bore towards him. Brooklyn didn’t trust her.
But he held no grudge against their baby son
Alexander, for he had never done anything to Brooklyn. In fact,
Lexington liked the kid, so Brooklyn had a very
difficult time disliking the child.
As Brooklyn surveyed all those around him,
Brooklyn’s attention turned in on himself. He knew he was the most
alone of everyone present. A tall, long-beaked red wing, with
a wild streak of white hair, Brooklyn didn’t look much
like the others. He thought to himself silently that no two Gargoyles
looked alike, but Angela’s presence made him
upset about his appearance. Brooklyn was generally quiet, and
he rarely trusted anyone since his encounter with a
female gargoyle named Demona. Demona had tricked him and pretended
to be his friend, and then turned on him.
He had fallen for temptation once, he never would trust any one entirely
again, of that he was sure. He watched as
all the others fell into their regular activities. Brooklyn let
them go about their business, none of them were all that
important to him. They were family and he cared about them deeply,
but they had no agendas that matched
Brooklyn’s own. Brooklyn jumped onto a jutting portion of stone,
and looked down. He saw the ground hundreds
of feet below.
The long beaked gargoyle unfolded his wings,
and jumped off the castle the gargoyles lived at. As he flew off,
he
looked back. He looked a little longingly at the castle, perched
above the Erie building, owned by Xanatos. The
castle once claimed the name Wyvern, but it was bought by Xanatos and
placed atop of the Erie building. Castle
Wyvern added a nice touch to the Erie building, and made it the tallest
building in the city, if not the world. And as
Brooklyn had started to do as of late, he flew around the tower a few
times, admiring it. Then he thought outloud.
“This is an amazing sight, I have to admit.
It’s a shame nobody pays attention to it. I could probably just look
at this thing for hours. Yeah, I’ll have to do that sometime.
But right now, I think I’ll just fly around. I NEED to
get my mind off Angela. But how?” Brooklyn then flew off,
and about half an hour passed. From the corner of his
eye, the red wing noticed a flash of flying color in the distance.
It was blue, and had red hair. While there were
several things it could be, the lonely gargoyle assumed it was his
enemy. Demona. He flew off in pursuit.
Brooklyn had learned from his past experiences.
Previously, he always attacked Demona on sight, but that had
almost gotten him killed more than once. And this time he didn’t
have friends to back up. So he kept silent. And he followed.
He could have just left Demona to her buisness, but her buisness usually
involved trouble for Brooklyn’s
clan. After several hours of silent flight, Demona came to a
stop on a building. Why, Brooklyn couldn’t guess.
There was no one there. Demona turned into a human when
the sun rose, due to a magical spell, but the sun
wouldn’t rise for some time yet. Then he heard her say something.
“Hello Brooklyn. Don’t bother hiding,
I know you’ve been following me for hours. I had hoped you would
leave for backup by now, and bring Goliath.” Her back was turned, and
for a change, she did not bear a laser gun.
Brooklyn could escape now and Demona wouldn’t have a chance to catch
up. Or he could attack while her back
was turned. He chose the later option, and dove at the witch,
with his arms thrust forward. He was hoping to throw
her off, and knock her out immediately. To his dismay, she grabbed
both of his arms and threw him. He sped off the building at amazing
speed, and slammed into a brick chimney on the neighboring roof top.
His back hurt incredibly
at the wing joints. He had a chance of winning a moment ago,
but in this much pain, he was in trouble. He would
have to shrug it off immediately, or else. But before he could get
his bearings, Demona was upon him.
Demona wrapped her hand around his neck, and
lifted him into the air. “Well, Brooklyn, it seems that since you
do not trust me, you finally get to pay for it. I just wish it
had been a REAL fight.”
“I still have plenty of time to fight before
the sun rises Demona!”
“I know that Brooklyn. Nearly an hour.
But the way I see it, slamming into a pile of bricks isn’t great for your
health.
In fact, it stunned you enough for me to get this close. Now,
what are you going to do?”
Brooklyn was silent, and then suddenly, he
thrust his feet into Demona’s stomach, and knocked her away.
“I don’t have to do anything Demona.
I can take you.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.”
Brooklyn’s eyes lit up, and glowed.
He charged at Demona full speed, wings pulled out to make himself look
bigger.
The move was so unexpected on his part, that he actually knocked Demona
to the ground.
“Funny how our roles just switched isn’t it?”
“And what do you intend to do? You can’t
kill me. Even if I weren’t immortal, you don’t have the stomach for
it.
We discovered that long ago when you were unwilling to show Goliath
the truth!”
“You turned him into a zombie!”
“It was only a spell of truth Brooklyn!”
Demona rose with amazing speed and punched Brooklyn in the beak, which
made him stagger backwards. Demona came towards him. Brooklyn crouched
and spun, hoping to use his tail to
throw the she-witch off again. She jumped his tail with ease.
“Is that the best you can do? Or do you not have enough reason to
fight?” Demona was only a level or two below yelling now, she was getting
into the fight.
“What better reason do I need? You’re
standing here!” Brooklyn lunged to hit Demona with his fist, and
follow
through with the rest of his body. But Demona grabbed his wrist
and stopped him in his tracks. The held gargoyle
tried the tail maneuver again, and this time, it worked. Demona
was caught by surprise. She fell for the second time.
“You know Brooklyn, we could keep this up
forever! But you don’t have that long! The sun will be rising
in barely
half an hour. I can keep fighting until then. Can you defeat
me, AND get far away by then?”
Demona was right. Brooklyn backed off,
and ran away from Demona. He jumped off the building, and flew.
Demona was quick to follow. “Nice Brooklyn.
Too bad I can keep up with you this way too! What will you
do? Head to Xanatos in time for me to smash ALL of you?”
Brooklyn didn’t have any idea what to do.
He couldn’t outfight Demona before sunrise, and he couldn’t out fly
her either. He needed a solution, fast. In the back of
Brooklyn’s mind, he knew this would probably be the last night
of his life.
Below, in the streets, there was a small panic
as people saw two Gargoyles fly above them. While it had been
proven that gargoyles were generally good, most of the public still
had its doubts. One person’s curiosity in particular
was raised. He had a long history shared with Demona, and he
would stop at nothing to try and destroy her. His white
hair blew in the wind, and MacBeth knew something was up.
Brooklyn was starting to become afraid.
Already, the first traces of dawn could be seen on the horizon. He
had
no time left. He flew onto a roof top, and stared in utter
horror as Demona landed right behind him. “Well Brooklyn,
it looks like your time has run out. The sun will be high enough
to turn you to stone in about a minute. It is a shame
really, it was so fun to attack you all the time. Oh well.
All good things come to an end.”
“No way Demona.” With a sudden lunge,
Brooklyn jumped at Demona. He wrapped his hands around her wrists,
and threw his legs around her waist. They were both knocked to
the ground. “When I turn to stone Demona, I’ll
weigh early half a ton. I doubt you’ll be able to move at all
pinned underneath a thousand pounds, especially as a
human. Then we’ll have an entire night to continue.” If
Brooklyn had wanted his plan to work, he should have done
something to REALLY throw Demona off, like kiss her, but the thought
never came anywhere near entering his mind.
“A good plan, a shame it won’t work.”
And with a final surge of energy, Demona threw the doomed one off, and
he fell to the ground, just as the sun came up.
“Nooo!” was the last thing Brooklyn
shouted before he froze in place on the ground, and turned a gray color.
And beside him, Demona screamed as she turned human. Her wings
retracted into her back, as did her tail. Her feet
shrank to the size of a human’s, and her pointed knee and elbow joints
vanished. At the same time, her skin went from
a dark blue to a human flesh color. Demona looked around for
a weapon, and pulled a loose brick out from the wall,
and headed towards the statue.
“So old enemy, it ends between us at last.
Almost a shame it was this easy.” Demona raised the brick into the air,
and brought it crashing down on Brooklyn’s left wing. The stone
cracked. Demona brought down another blow,
and then another. With the fourth blow, a large portion of the
wing chipped off. “Not as fulfilling as I thought it would
be, but still...” Demona raised the brick into the air again,
and was about to smash the rest of Brooklyn’s wing, when a
laser knocked her back.
“I don’t think so Demona.”
“MacBeth!”
“Glad you remember me. Why don’t you
finish off THIS old foe Demona? I want to end it all!”
“I can’t. I’m busy right now and besides...
I’m human...”
“So am I. I think that makes it a fair
match. How about you?
“Not NOW! I am not in the mood to fight
you MacBeth!” With that, Demona turned and ran. With unnatural
skill, she jumped to a far off ledge on another building and
ran.
MacBeth thought to follow, then noted the stone
gargoyle’s condition. “I could chase after her. But were I to lose
her, you would be far too easy prey. I don’t think I can let that happen.”
MacBeth spoke to himself in his heavy accent,
and assured the gargoyle of his protection.
The day passed, and the sun set. At the
Erie building the Gargoyles awoke and Elisa greeted them.
“Hi guys. Where’s Brooklyn?”
Goliath answered. “I do not know.
He did not return last night. I am not worried yet... “
“Yeah, just because he didn’t come home doesn’t
mean anything. He probably just lost track of time watching
a movie or something. “ Broadway hoped aloud.
Goliath looked at the gargoyle, and his daughter
who was hovering around him.“I hope you are right Broadway,
I hope you are right.” Everyone knew they were all lying.
They were worried whenever anyone did not come home
before sunrise. It was usually a sign of being distracted, and
distractions serious enough to not notice the time usually
meant danger. But everyone pretended they were not worried all
the same.
Brooklyn awoke with a howl of pain. He
was still alive, so he was amazed, but he was in so much PAIN. It
didn’t take Brooklyn long to figure out why it felt as if his wing
was on fire. He knew Demona had crippled him
without killing him. But why? Then he saw MacBeth.
“You!”
“Hello Brooklyn. You’re welcome for
your life. If I hadn’t shown up, Demona would have smashed you for
sure.”
“Uh... Thanks.” Brooklyn groaned
aloud, and glanced at his wing. It hurt.
“Can you glide it that condition?”
“Don’t know, my wing has never been this damaged
before.” Brooklyn put a look of determination on his face,
took a running leap, and jumped off the building he was on, hoping
to fly, and immediately spiraled downwards. Oh
his wing hurt! But how was he going to get home if he could not
fly? He clawed into the side of the building, climbed
up, and tried again. Once more he fell. It looked like
he was walking.
“It looks like that hurt.” MacBeth commented,
now reaching the ground via fire escape.
“You should see how it feels!” Brokklyn
lamented.
Nearly three hours had passed since sunset,
and the clan was getting worried.
Where was Brooklyn? Goliath stated what they
must do.
“If Brooklyn is not back in one hour, we will
go look for him. He should have been back by now.” From the
back of the roof top, at the elevator, he heard doors opening.
“Don’t worry Goliath, I’m back.” Brooklyn
said this with a smile, and an edge to his voice.
His best friend was excited at his return,
and the sound of his voice made it clear as Lexington cried out.
“Brooklyn!” And then more questioningly, “Why did you take the elevator?
Why were you... Your wing! What
happened?”
“In a word? Demona.”
Angela piped up at this. “My mother?
Why did she do this?”
“Old grudge. I turned to stone right
in front of her. If it weren’t for MacBeth, she would have destroyed
me.
He walked me here. But... I can’t fly.”
“Are you sure?” the small green gargoyle asked,
frightened by the prospect of his buddy not flying.
“Yes Lex, by the fifth crash landing, I was
sure. I can’t get enough wind under this wing. I lose my balance
immediately and... Fall. I never fall...” Brooklyn
stopped talking, and everyone was silent. There was nothing to
say. In their own turns, everyone told Brooklyn how sorry they
were for him, but as the days passed, Brooklyn
didn’t fly, and everyone’s pity turned into nothing, as the others
avoided mentioning his handicap, in fear of upsetting
him. Hudson understood, and gave him a speech about the loss
of his eye, but it was not comforting. Before long,
Brooklyn was frustrated. He tried every night to fly, and failed.
Eight nights after his wing was smashed, Angela
tried to talk to him.
Brooklyn was just sitting on the edge of Castle
Wyvern, on a block that before would have provided a jump off
point. From that spot, Brooklyn could look straight down and
see the street. Brooklyn was depressed, and talking
was the last thing on his mind. He just wanted to brood.
Unfortunately, Angela did not know this.
“Brooklyn!”
“Hi Angela,” Brooklyn said without even looking
up.
“How are you feeling?”
“About as bad as it gets. Shouldn’t
you be flying around with Broadway?”
“No, I don’t feel like flying tonight.”
“Why, because you have a choice? You
can still take off whenever you want, go wherever you please. I’ve
been stuck on the Erie building for the last week.”
“Brooklyn, why are you so upset? Couldn’t
Xanatos have something made that would let you fly?”
“No.”
“Why not? He has a suit that lets him
fly, and he doesn’t even have wings.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“How do you know? Have you even ASKED
Xanatos about the possibility?”
“No.”
“Why? Have you been too busy moping
about feeling sorry for yourself?”
“NO!” Brooklyn was starting to get mad.
“Then what?”
Brooklyn’s eyes lit up, and he yelled, “Leave
me alone! Just leave me alone!”
“Fine. Be that way. I was just
trying to be nice...”
Brooklyn’s eyes lit up again, and now he stood.
“That is exactly why I’ll never be better! You’re just talking to
me out of sympathy Angela! Even if Xanatos could make something
for me, you would still feel sorry for me! ‘Oh
look, there goes Brooklyn, the gargoyle who can’t fly! Let’s
talk to him and make him feel better!’ It’s not going
to work! Don’t feel sorry for me!”
“Brooklyn!”
“I am not some helpless hatchling who needs
a shoulder to lean on! And I’ll prove it!” And with that, Brooklyn
jumped right off the building. And fell.
It took a few seconds for Angela to realize
what had just happened, and another few seconds to realize Brooklyn
couldn’t fly. After that, it didn’t take any more time for instinct
to kick in, and she dived off the building to catch him.
And after a few seconds of flying fast and furious, she caught up to
Brooklyn, and grabbed him.
“What do you think you are doing?”
Brooklyn didn’t give a response, didn’t say
a word as Angela slowly glided to the side of the Erie building.
They
both knew Angela couldn’t fly them both up, and they both knew that
Brooklyn didn’t want her help. So Angela turned
around, and as she prepared to take to the air, she took one backward
glance at Brooklyn, frowned, and with a
“Hmmph.” took off.
Brooklyn didn’t immediately climb back up,
he didn’t even think about climbing. He just sat on the ledge Angela
had left him on, and thought. He sat there for several hours,
thinking about what a jerk he had just been, and what he
was going to do. As time cooled his anger off, he realized.
He would never be a warrior with the others again, but he
was not shunned either.
Perhaps he could learn to just stay behind and take
care of Bronx. But even as he thought about it, he knew he
wouldn’t. He could not fly, and that upset him more than anything
else.
Suddenly, a strong rush of wind interrupted his thoughts.
A loud noise came with it. Brooklyn looked up, and
saw the Xanatos helicopter in front of him. The door slid open,
and there Xanatos stood.
“Brooklyn, get in. I have a surprise
for you.” Naturally, Brooklyn jumped right through the door, and
it closed
behind him.
“What is this about Xanatos?”
“That conversation you had with Angela earlier?”
“Yes...”
“You didn’t have to ask.”
“What are you talking about?” Xanatos
pointed towards the rear of the helicopter, and Brooklyn followed the
pointing finger. There he saw a suit of armor with a gargoyle
shape to it. “It’s your flight suit Xanatos. What about
it?”
“Look closer.”
Upon closer examination, Brooklyn discovered
the proportions were off, the suit would not fit Xanatos properly.
It
was useless to him. “Why did you change your suit Xanatos?
It won’t fit you anymore.”
“Exactly the point.”
Suddenly, it dawned on Brooklyn. The suit
had been modified for him. “Why? How did you know?”
“Brooklyn, we may have been enemies for a
while, but now I am your friend. As soon as I learned you couldn’t
fly I put Owen to work on it. Now, try it on.”
As the armor slipped on, Brooklyn realized
it fit perfectly. Xanatos had gone to some trouble to do this.
And
after about ten minutes of assembling, it was on. He looked at
Xanatos questioningly.
“How’d you do this so fast?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, Angela just brought it up a few hours
ago...”
“Angela had nothing to do with this.
But after she came back pouting about insensitive beasts, I figured I should
bring this out before it was done.”
A look of wonderment crossed Brooklyn’s face.
“How long have you been working on this?”
“Actually, Owen has been doing most of it,
but...”
In a tone much quieter than his usual, Brooklyn
clarified. “Xanatos, this takes time. You must have started
the
night I came back with my wing broken.”
“And if I did?” Not a word was spoken,
the look on the gargoyle’s face said volumes. They were volumes neither
Xanatos or Brooklyn thought would ever be seen. Xanatos broke
what could have been a touching moment, somewhat awkward in the moment
of silence.
“I realize it is not quite tailored for a
gargoyle, it still needs some modifying. After all, you don’t really
need
everything I did. Just the wings. But I figured you wanted
to fly again as soon as possible.”
“How does it work?”
“Squeeze your wings together at the joints,
that will activate the jet.”
“Jet?”
“Face it Brooklyn, you can’t glide anymore,
and even if you could, this armor is too heavy for gliding. You are
going
to fly.”
Brooklyn passed another quizzical look at Xanatos.
“Go ahead, just jump out of the helicopter and activate
it. If for some reason it doesn’t work, I have safety nets
ready to deploy.”
The helicopter door opened. A little
suspicious of the billionaire, the gargoyle wasn’t sure he just wanted
to jump
out of a helicopter several hundred feet in the air on this man’s word
of trust. And yet, Brooklyn stepped to the edge,
ready to jump. Then he turned and looked at Xanatos. Then the
beaked gargoyle said one word to Xanatos he never
had before.
“Thanks.”
And he jumped.
It was after Brooklyn would not be able to hear
him that Xanatos aknowledged that. “You’re welcome.”
The rocket activated perfectly, and while the
armor was cumbersome, Brooklyn was flying! It felt great to be in
the
open air again! And it was actually flying, not just going on
wind currents. Brooklyn could do anything he wanted! He performed
stunt after stunt, things he had never be capable of doing before.
It was the most exhilarating thing he had
ever experienced.
From Castle Wyvern, all the gargoyles could
see the rocket blast. None of them could figure out why Xanatos was
doing so many tricks in his armor, it was not like him at all.
Angela was confused. “What is he doing?
He doesn’t strike me as the type to go stunt flying.”
Broadway answered his love. “I don’t
know. But I haven’t seen that stupid armor on Xanatos in a while.
He’s
up to something.”
Lexington corrected him. “I don’t think so
Broadway. Xanatos never showed off like that before. I wonder
what’s up?”
A voice came from behind them. “Simple.
I am not doing anything.” The gargoyles turned to see the suave human
step out of the elevator.
Now Lexington was as confused as Angela. “Wait a
minute. If you’re right there, then who...”
“Me.” Everyone turned again, to see
Brooklyn flying above them. Everyone gasped at the pleasant surprise.
The night passed quickly for Brooklyn.
Having been pent up for more than a week with nothing to do but brood
can do something to one’s soul. When the brooding ends, and the
soul is freed, nothing but joy can be found. When
this happens, time seems to disappear. So Brooklyn figured.
Before he knew it, sunrise was only about fifteen
minutes away. Everyone was preparing for sunrise. Brooklyn
sought out Xanatos.
“Uh, Xanatos, I think you had better take
this back so you can work on it during the day...”
“Good idea.”
“But Xanatos... You know we’ve never
quite gotten along and well... I’m convinced.”
“Of what?”
“That you aren’t my enemy.”
Another three nights passed, and the suit had
been simplified greatly. It now consisted only of what Brooklyn
wanted to keep. The gloves, boots, and naturally, the wing area.
And while certain areas were cut back, others were
enhanced the way Brooklyn wanted them. And when Brooklyn put
the suit on, it felt great to fly. At first.
Brooklyn loved flying, but it just didn’t feel right.
The others were happy for him, and Brooklyn could do more in
the air than he ever could before, but it was unnatural. The
more Brooklyn wore the suit, the more he felt like he
was worthless. As it began to sink in, Brooklyn understood why
everything felt so wrong. Underneath the suit, his
wing was still shattered, and he was still flightless when he was not
wearing the suit. What Brooklyn sought was a
way to fix his wing, and his spirit, not just a way to get around the
problem.
It was then Brooklyn thought back to Owen Burnett,
the guy who had worked on the suit. It finally occurred to
Brooklyn. “Puck!”
Puck was a magical being made entirely of magic.
He was a trickster, and a few years back, he had hooked up
with Xanatos as Owen Burnett. With all the magic Puck had,
surely he could help! It did not take Brooklyn long to
find him.
“Owen!”
“Yes?”
“Owen, I have a favor to ask!”
“Do tell.” The butler answered in his
usual monotone. The gargoyle could not tell if there was sarcasm
in the
voice, nor did he care.
“Could you turn into Puck and fix my wing?”
“Brooklyn, you know as well as I do, I am
not allowed to turn into Puck unless I am teaching or protecting
Alexander.”
“I know, but...”
“I can not do it. Just pretend Puck
never existed, and you will be well off. Puck can not do anything unless
Alexander is involved, and that is final.”
“Then, what if you fix my wing on the call
that I’m protecting Alex?”
“I am sorry, but I can not change into Puck
for your problems. Good day.” And Owen walked off.
“FINE! Be that way!” And with
a sigh, Brooklyn, armor and all, stomped off in the other direction.
Two weeks passed, and no one could understand
why Brooklyn seemed so upset again. After all, he had what he
wanted, and he should have been happy.
Lexington decided to find out. He walked over
to Brooklyn, who was not flying.
“Brooklyn!”
“Oh, hi Lex.” He said with a bit of
a scowl.
“What’s wrong Brooklyn? You seem...
Upset about something.”
“Gee, didn’t I have this conversation with
Angela before I jumped off the building?”
“Maybe, but if you did that this time, it
wouldn’t matter. You can fly without someone grabbing you.”
The
gargoyle with the webbed wings smiled at this. Brooklyn looked
at him with a frown. His friend then understood.
“That’s what it is, isn’t it? You feel like someone is still
grabbing you. Namely, your suit.”
“You guessed it Lex. Right on. Good
job. Whatever. Now leave me alone.”
“I don’t understand Brooklyn. First
you act upset because you can’t fly, and now you’re upset because you can?
I’m confused.”
“It’s not that simple Lex. It’s just that...
I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. It’s not flying naturally,
and that’s
what I miss. I thought it was just flight, but it’s not.
I just... I can’t explain it.”
“Well, okay Brooklyn. Whatever.
The way I see it, you should be happy. You can do stuff we could
only hope
to do. If you figure out what you don’t like, feel free to tell
me.”
Was there a hint of anger is Lexington’s voice?
Or perhaps disappointment? Brooklyn let it slide.
The lonely one actually knew why he did not like
the suit, but there was no way he could tell anyone, not even Lex.
The reason being he knew how stupid he must look to everyone.
If Brooklyn had understood the others did not care
about how he was getting about, he would have realized they were all
his friends, and more to the point, his family. But
his mood would not let him see this. As Brooklyn’s more stubborn
side crept through, one idea came to him, and the
more he thought about it, the more he realized what he had to do.
It was then he went to Angela.
“Angela, I need your help.” She turned
around to look at him.
“With what?”
“I need the spell to Avalon.”
“What? Why?” Angela seemed shocked
to hear Brooklyn mention her original home.
“Simple. From what I understand, when
you leave Avalon, Avalon sends you to where you need to be. And right
now, I don’t think that’s here in Manhattan.”
“So you plan to go to Avalon, and then take
off, just to land wherever you need to go, on the hope you end up
where YOU get the help you need, and not some place where someone else
needs you?”
“Either way, it works just fine for me.
Either something happens to me where I end up, or I help someone.
Both
options are better than staying here where I feel useless and I get
nothing accomplished. So, will you give me the
spell?”
The lavender female paused for a moment.
A look into Brooklyn’s eyes told her something... He needed the spell,
she was sure of it. “Yes.”
That night, Brooklyn departed, without his
suit, and without saying goodbye to anyone, except Angela who clearly
knew what was going on. He would let her explain what happened,
and be where he needed to be that much sooner.
He reached Avalon almost immediately after entering
the Hudson river. But rather than stop on Avalon and meet all of
Angela’s rookery brothers and sisters, Brooklyn merely cast off, and was
sent to a place where his life would change
drastically.
To be continued... Click here for Part Two