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Seeking a Path	By : mancer Category: +G through L > Gargoyles Views: 4039 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gargoyles, I make no money from this story. My own characters are my own creations, with no intended resemblance to another.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
The night wind felt good. Cool on his aching skin.

Everything felt better than the night before, but that didn't take much. Tonight it felt like he had tight bands of rope holding his ribcage from expanding quite completely. Breath a tad shallow but otherwise much better. He felt optimistic at the difference, at least. A couple more days under sunlight, or something almost like sunlight, and he was sure he'd feel better.

His eyes scanned this foreign skyline. Everything so strange, so wondrous. Never ending lights.

Cailean wished he had someone to show him the lay of the land.

He blushed without realizing it.

Thoughts returned to when he'd woken up, next to his new friend. How good it felt to wake up next to a gargoyle again. It'd been ages since he'd gone to sleep next to the others, felt close enough to them to want to. He didn't feel out of place or uncomfortable with Lex. Had felt bereft when Lex said he needed ot get home; no way would Cailean want to get Goliath angry. Angrier, since Lex hadn't met their leader before sunrise.

They'd walked to the surface together. Side by side in the larger tunnels.

The first time their hands'd touched it'd been just a random little bump. A gentle knock of knuckles against knuckles as they moved.

Cailean liked the feel of it. Touching another gargoyle.

Under the shadow of the pipes, just before the reflected lights of the city above would illuminate them, possibly breaking whatever possibilities lay ahead, Cailean pushed himself. He took Lexington's hand in his, just stood there, not able to look up at the smaller gargoyle.

Cailean caught a new updraft, concentrated on the wind for a little bit. In the distance he could see familiar looking glowing signs. He wondered if he could find Times Square without help.

He looked down at his talons, holding one in the other for a moment.

Lexington's hand had felt so warm in his. Small and sharp too. Cailean smiled at the memory. A warm little spot glowed somewhere behind the swiftly healing scars.

Before they'd separated, Lexington promised to come by again, soon. His small talons had reached up. Cailean closed his eyes, unsure of everything. Nothing happened. When he'd opened his eyes again Lexington had turned his back. They found a place to take off in silence.

Lex's lion cub roar of farewell echoed in Cailean's ears.

Cailean had to pull a flip to avoid the spire of a mid-sized building. The winds in this city couldn't be more traitorous. In a storm he expected turbulent winds; here, everything could be smooth one moment, then some stray gremlin would set one of his wings against another and send him in a roll.

Some muscle deep in his chest protested. He landed soon afterward, finding a quiet rooftop over a busy street.

Never had he seen so many humans before. How could so many people live together in such a place?

The night wore on. Cailean sagged a little bit. He couldn't follow individuals in the ebb and flow. Occasionally a mass of people would roll out of a building. Men and women clinging drunkenly to each other. Men laughing, loud and jubilant. Women singing. Clothing falling off of shoulders, shoes slipping off, people stumbling.

“What are you watching, young gargoyle?”

Cailean froze. The voice had a mature, sultry quality. Sent shivers up his spine.

He turned slowly.

It took a moment to recognize Angela's mother. He consciously relaxed his muscles. Too late to hide now.

“You're one of the rookery children, from Avalon, aren't you?”

She moved to the ledge, leaning on it in a mirror of his earlier position, looking down to the humans below.

Had Angela spent time with her mother? Told her about all of her brothers and sisters back on Avalon? Cailean doubted it. Angela had been popular, everyone leaned on her somewhat at one point or another, but she didn't spend time with everyone. Cailean himself had certainly done quite a job of sequestering himself with the Magus from an early age. Angela was always with Tom and the other hunters, learning all those wonderful survival techniques that he could use right now.

Cailean stepped back to his spot on the ledge. Well, not all survival skills involved hunting and trapping. Some survival skills were those of the mind, and that he did have experience in.

“Yes, I am from Avalon,” Cailean said easily.

“I don't think I can put a name to your face.”

“I'm Cailean.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. Eyes dark, a little tension around her well formed mouth. “Angela hasn't mentioned you.”

Cailean chuckled, feeling the conversation turning to what he fretted most. Of course. “You are her mother?”

A small nod and a smile. “Yes. My name is Demona.”

She looked back down to the humans below, rather than dwell on the tougher topics.

“So many people.” Her thoughts mirrored his own.

“Aye. A never ending sea.”

“So very like us, in many respects.”

He looked down, trying to see who she pointed to. Mostly couples came from another door now. Some stumbling into one another. Kissing, fondling openly. A completely different thrill went up Cailean's spine.

“Young men, young women. Different mating rituals, perhaps, but still so young, and so in love.”

She looked over at Cailean side-long again, something in her eyes kept him silent. Like she knew some secret he didn't.

He stared down at his talons, digging into the stone of the ledge. He made a conscious effort to release the chunks of rock. He wiped the dust off on his borrowed pants.

“I hear you've been talking with Lexington.”

Cailean felt his cheeks heat up.

“He has been quite nice.”

“I think he's fond of you.”

“...has he been talking about me?”

“I was in the tunnels earlier. I saw.”

“You saw?”

“Mmm.”

They lapsed into silence. She watched the humans below, so his eyes returned to them.

“What do you feel for our Lexington?”

Cailean suddenly wanted to hide again. “I don't know. We've just met.”

Another moment of silence, long and painful.

“Look down below us, young Cailean. What do you see?”

“Humans, young, and in love, as you said earlier.”

“Look closer. Tell me specifically.”

“Human men, human women, together.”

“Yes, you're closer.”

Cailean's brows furrowed. “Couples? Inebriated enough that its a wonder they're not coupling with the light post instead. What is it you want me to see?”

She sighed, soft and sad. “Men and women, Cailean, that's what's below us. Tell me it is not the same on Avalon? A young male and a young female court one another.”

Cailean's eyes prickled. He wanted to lash out in anger then roar in rage and scream until he cried. Demona's eyes flashed red a moment, warning that she could see all these in the split second since her words left her lips.

“There is a natural order to things, Cailean. Earth and sky, male and female. You should destroy any feelings you have for him now, before that fire consumes you. It will doom you.”

“Doom me.” I am doomed, but not the way you think. “I will think on your words, Demona, thank you.”

The wind picked up, whipping Cailean's hair about. He tucked a stray piece behind his ear. Time to redo the que.

“There are other options, youngling. You have many years, decades, ahead of you. Don't dedicate yourself to love yet.”

The world blurred. He shook his head and leapt onto the ledge. With one large spring he shoved himself into the air.

Love? Could it be?

Demona shouted at his retreating back. He spread his doublewings to grab a gust and gained loft as quickly as he could.

Love.

Cailean stared at his hands, one clutching the other.

The sheer glass wall of another of the damned buildings caught him unaware. It reflected the dark sky behind. He didn't have enough time to stop or change direction, had to simply catch himself by his talons and hold to a seam between the windows. His wings snapped with the sudden loss of air. He held on, forced to stare at his reflection.

Vulnerable. He looked vulnerable. Eyes wide, lost. Skin a bit pale. He pushed off the glass wall and back into the air before he had to admit to the damp trails down his cheeks.

Love.

He roared into the sky. Dove down, caught a draft at the last moment before he hit a low rooftop and gained altitude again. Again and again he dove and sored Pushed his body until his wings ached more than his chest did.

Love?

Years of feeling alone. Certainly having someone intelligent, someone he finally could speak with as an equal, for the first time in his life, was a truly wondrous experience. Did that equal love? Friendship. It had to be only friendship.

Perhaps those folks who went out on hunting trips felt this way, felt this instant closeness.

Love.

No. They never talked about any feelings like that. Even the female hunters had no connection like this.

Male and female. Had he made the wrong decision?

No. He finally felt real, finally felt like himself. He hurt now, true, but that would pass.

But if it were love, really love, then he'd shut that door forever. In an instant of magic he's successfully torn apart the part of him that wouldmake him attractive to a male. Until now, he had never even considered that he could find love. His life had been dedicated to studies, to magic.

Could Lex be feeling anything for him? What if he told Lex the truth?

Male and female. No, no chance Lex would have any feelings for him. Demona made that clear. She was trying to be gentle, let him know what to expect.

A few dark silhouettes in the distance filled him with elation quickly sucked into a dark pit of dispair.

Can't run away. At least, he knew he and Lex had a chance at friendship. The rest... the rest he could give time to figure out.

He let the wind dry his face as he moved toward the silhouettes. He kept high in the air, watching quietly. He could see Lex's in the distance. Others as well. They broke off, going in separate directions.

Lex and another took to the quieter sections. Cailean followed, his heart and mind in turmoil. He did his best to put any words to what his mind shifted through, over and over.

He sank closer and closer. The other had a shock of white hair flowing behind him. Tall and thin. Hard to tell height from this angle.

Cailean sank down, finally landing behind them in a narrow, dark ally.

The other spun to face him, falling into a crouch, eyes glowing. Lex paused for a second then leapt up to him.

“Cailean!”

The smaller gargoyle knocked the wind out of his lungs. Cailean's arms wrapped around the smaller frame automatically.

“I thought you weren't ready to meet everyone?” he whispered quietly, for Cailean's ears alone.
- 13
- 14
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Seeking a Path