Timedancer: Homeward Skipping by kiatrix [Reviews - 0] 
Disclaimer: I do not own Timedancer/Brooklyn, nor the Gargoyles Universe. Disney does. I just write fanfiction. All original character concepts are mine. Timedancer: Homeward Skipping by: J.Daniels email: jdanielsdvm@hotmail.com Previously on Timedancer... They glided in silence, and before too long the lights of Kansas City rose in the distance. The rose gargoyle said softly, "It's so large." ... "Yeah, you're not in Kansas anymore." Brooklyn said, also leaning over to look down. "But.. yes we are. We're in its city." Brooklyn glanced over at his companion who was frowning at him. He grinned and said, "It's a movie quote." ~ The Naming of Things Kansas City, Missouri December 1992 The Plaza "It's so beautiful," Toto remarked as the two gargoyles watched the carriage rides through the snow, "Look there," she pointed as an especially decked out carriage trolled past, "Like a nobleman's carriage, only so exposed." Brooklyn hunched his shoulders, absently rubbing at his chest and arms. He hated snow. "Yeah, only lucky them, they get to go inside when they're done trotting around the city." They had been in Kansas City for four months, the young gargoyle adapting as adroitly as Brooklyn and his brothers would later do in 1994. The two found a suitable building, one with many statues on the roof to spend their days, hiding in plain sight. During the nights, Brooklyn initiated his young companion in the fine art of burglary deterrence procedures, as well as movies, concerts and hot dogs. Suddenly Toto touched Brooklyn's arm and said, "Look, there is that woman." pointing with her other hand. Brooklyn leaned over to look down. The same delicate woman that almost shot him was indeed walking down the street, a taller muscular man by her side and holding a young boy in his arms. Their red headed daughter skipped ahead, laughing with glee and pointing at the carriages with their caparisoned horses. "Cute kid," Brooklyn noted, leaning his chin on his hands as he watched the family. He fell into a morose silence, his mind drifting back to cool green skin and black hair... Toto, oblivious to Brooklyn's internal meanderings, paced the rooftop along with the family. At the other end of the building she called out, "They're going into one of the theater houses. Something called 'The Phantom of the Opera'." When her companion did not answer her, Toto spun swiftly, fearing him gone. Seeing him with his chin propped in his hands and his gaze staring out into the thin air, she walked over to him and knocked him gently on the head with her knuckles, "Anyone home?" she queried. "Huh?" Brooklyn looked up with a start, then gave the younger gargoyle a sheepish grin, "Yeah, what's up?" Toto pointed again, "That family, they went into the theater house." "And?" Brooklyn prodded. Toto paused, then asked, "Can we see it too?" Brooklyn stood and stretched his wings out, walking across the roof as he said, "If they've got roof access, we probably can." **** Several hours later, Toto was sniffling suspiciously as the house lights came on. Brooklyn looked over questioningly, "What's with the water works?" "He was so sad... so misunderstood. And his music was so beautiful." Brooklyn raised his brows as he unfolded his wings, walking to the roof access, "He was also a murderer." he pointed out as he pushed the door open. Toto dropped her wings as she stepped past Brooklyn and retorted, "But he did it because he was persecuted. If they had let him alone..." "It doesn't excuse what he did. There's no excuse for killing innocent people." "But they were so mean to him..." "Yeah, what's your point? If someone is mean to you, calls you names and laughs at you, it's okay to kill them?" "Well, what if they shot a bullet at me?" Brooklyn walked to the edge of the building, Toto walking besides him. Brooklyn carefully considered his answer, studying his humanophobic companion. Finally he said, "With great power comes great responsibility." Toto gave him a searching look and asked, "What does that mean?" "Well, we're faster, we're stronger. Once you get the hang of being shot at, it's actually not that difficult to dodge bullets. They're so frail and soft, Toto. A lot of them don't have anyone to look after them, to take care of them..." Brooklyn paused and added, "Even if they don't want us to." Toto looked down, her gaze spotting the young family again as she then asked, "So, why do we have to do it for them?" Brooklyn joined her and put a hand on her shoulder, "We're gargoyles. We protect." She gave him a dubious glance and with a small grin she said, "If you're about to say, 'We can no more stop protecting the castle than we can stop breathing', I'm going to belt you." "So, your Teacher said the same thing? I thought it was just Hudson." Brooklyn said, pretending to protect himself from an imaginary punch. "But it's true. It's what we are. If we don't protect those who are weaker than we are... then who do we protect?" "What about ourselves?" Toto asked darkly. Brooklyn sighed and patted her shoulder, "I..." he broke off as the quiescent Phoenix Gate started to flare to life. He opened his arm and Toto stepped in against his side, "Here we go again." ***** The gate skipped them through the Australian outback, a Mayan temple in it's full glory, and then into a tree. Brooklyn grabbed a hold of the tree he slammed into, curling his tail around the trunk and gripping it with his free arm. His other arm wrenched painfully as he jerked the tumbling Toto to a stop and pulled her back up to him. A semi-squashed bird's nest was in his lap, two small birds trapped in the ruins of the nest. "You okay?" he asked, looking down as Toto dug her feet into the tree to give her some leverage. She looked up and opened her mouth to speak, when the gate flared again. ***** Galapagos Islands Unknown Time This time, it dumped them onto a warm beach. The tang of salt was heavy in the air. Given their relative positions, Brooklyn landed on top of Toto. "Ouch!" she protested, spitting out sand and pushing at the heavier male, "That wasn't fun." Brooklyn pushed himself off of the rose colored female, the birds nest falling to the ground and the two small birds flitting away into the trees, chirping to one another. "That's nothing. You should have seen some of the things the Gate has thrown me at. The volcano was the worst." Brooklyn reached down and pulled Toto to her feet. A short laugh came from Toto as she said, "I have to hear that story!" Brooklyn looked around at the island they were on and started to speak when the gate flared again. Left behind, the two finches hunkered down next to one another. ***** Somewhere in Europe This time, the gate dropped them five feet from the ground. Both gargoyles landed heavily, and Toto said in exasperation, "Is it done yet?" Brooklyn kept Toto close to his side as he brought out the Phoenix Gate, "Dunno. It's still buzzing though, so stay close." He dropped the talisman back into the pouch and started to walk around. The air was cool. It was springtime. They were at the base of the moss covered remains of a large cathedral. Brooklyn reached a hand up and rubbed at the stones, "I've been here before," he murmured. Suddenly he heard his own voice in the air overhead. With a stifled oath, he pulled Toto into the minor shelter of the cathedral, glancing out and up at the sky. Overhead, a red gargoyle with white hair was gliding in step with a jade green gargoyle with black hair. Brooklyn felt his heart stop and he almost stepped out of the doorway. A strong jerk on his arm pulled him back around to face Toto. Unthinkingly, he snarled at her. She looked at him steadily and said, "Brooklyn, think." He turned away and pressed his head against the wall, wings bunching up behind him and his tail curling in protectively as his talons crumbled the stone. Toto was right. The other gargoyle had caught on quickly to the potential pitfalls of time traveling. Brooklyn didn't remember seeing himself or Toto in the past, though he remembered clearly this night. It was in one of those idyllic periods where the Gate had let them relax. He felt Toto's hand touch his shoulder, "Brooklyn?" she queried. Brooklyn's breath caught for a moment and then he straightened up, "We need to stay hidden. We'll... they come in here. We need to move." he growled out, turning and stalking out of the shelter of the cathedral, his wings caping with sharp jerking motions. The two flying figures were out of sight. Toto hesitated, then followed after Brooklyn. **** Mercifully, the erratic gate skipped them out of that place shortly before dawn and dropped them gently into a quiet wooded lot. Toto sighed and glanced at her brooding companion. He seemed disinterested in his surroundings, so Toto said brightly, "Well, we're in a wooded glade, and ... well I guess it could be close to dawn here too? What do you think, Brooklyn?" The red male looked at her quietly and Toto suggested, "We should find shelter?" Brooklyn grunted and glanced around, "Yeah, sure." Toto walked a few steps away from Brooklyn, looking up at the sky and at the trees, "Beneath that oak?" she asked, turning back to her companion. Brooklyn shrugged, still crouched where he had landed. Toto felt her shoulders slump as she studied Brooklyn. He looked back over at her with a quiet pained gaze. Toto turned again and said over her shoulder, "Come on, Brooklyn." in a quiet sympathetic tone. She heard him sigh, but he did not follow her just yet. She continued a few more paces away from him when suddenly he shouted, "Toto!" She twisted about, the alarm in his features mirrored in her own. She lunged towards Brooklyn, talons leaving deep scores in the earth. The two met nearly in midair as Brooklyn grabbed her forearm, pulling her in tight as the gate flared open again. **** London, England The open tundra, a herd of mammoth and a close encounter with a 747 later, the duo landed awkwardly, belly flopping onto the hard cobbled stones of a smoky torch lit London. Brooklyn got to his feet, growling at Toto as she stood, "Don't get that far away again so soon after we arrive. We don't know if the gate is stable or if it's going to skip us." The young gargoyle ducked her head, her forelock of purple hair falling into her eyes as she mumbled, "I'm sorry Brooklyn." her wings drawing in around her. Brooklyn studied his subdued traveling companion, then pulled her in for a hug, "Hey, it's okay," her wrapped his wings around the younger gargoyle, "Let's just be more careful." he grumbled, his heart finally leaving his throat at the near loss of his young friend. Toto peeked up at Brooklyn from under her forelock, then gave him a small smile, returning his hug. She stepped away as Brooklyn pulled his wings back and looked around her quietly. Brooklyn also glanced around and said, "Back to good ol' torches and pitchforks." as he moved off of the street. Toto followed discreetly after, sighing in relief as Brooklyn seemed to snap out of his brooding mood. "If it's the right time period," Brooklyn began, "I may know some gargoyles here." Toto looked up at the back of the red gargoyle, asking hesitantly, "A clan?" "Yeah," Brooklyn began, "the London clan. They look a little funny, but they're good gargoyles all the same. You could make a good home here with them..." "No." Toto said simply. Brooklyn stopped and looked at Toto with a frown, "You don't want ...?" "No." was the firm reply again, as Toto stepped up next to Brooklyn, "You saved me, Brooklyn. Even if I had lived, what would I have become?" she glanced down at her hand, claws clenching into fists before she glanced back at the older gargoyle, "If I leave you before you return to Sata..." she trailed off, then finished brightly, "You probably wouldn't be able to find your way out of a... a..." she faltered, a look of consternation appearing on her face as she struggled to remember the newly learned slang phrase. "Paper bag?" Brooklyn asked in amusement. Toto gave him a solemn nod and said serenely, "Exactly. Besides... you've told me so much of your clan..." she paused, her pale pink skin turning a darker hue, "I was .. hoping that when we found them again.. that I could stay with you and your Bronx and Hudson and ..." Brooklyn laughed, pulling his friend in for another one armed hug, "Yeah, kid. I don't think anyone would exactly say no." Toto gave a happy sigh and then pointed ahead, "There's a church, should we climb up out of the streets?" ducking out from Brooklyn's arm to move a pace ahead of him, turning back around as she asked, "And then maybe find food?" The pair didn't get much further up the street when the gate flared again and swept them out of London. **** Brooklyn and Toto exited into a maelstrom of vicious air. Brooklyn briefly had a flashback of the sandstorm he and Sata had been in, except that this was different. The air was wet and moist instead of hot and dry, and they were not on the ground. The air picked them up, ignoring their straining wings and flung them around in the air. Brooklyn grabbed Toto's arm firmly, muscles straining as he tried to keep his wings from collapsing in the storm winds. He couldn't see anything in the wind whipped air, his mane alternatively being blown viciously away from his eyes and then back into it. His eyes flared brightly as he tried to pull his struggling companion in closer. Something dark rose from the ground in the winds and slammed into the two gargoyles. Brooklyn felt the jolt along his arm, and Toto's talons tightened convulsively as their grip started to slip, piercing his skin as the ... was that a car? ... flew away into the wind. Struggle as he might, he felt her talons slice through his skin. His own talons dug into her wrist, and he could barely hear her scream over the roar of the wind. The dark form of the back half of a dark blue Ford Escort came swirling back around, this time slamming into Toto just as the gate flared open again. **** They were flung into a dark city, lights flashing below. Brooklyn felt his grip slipping, the direction he was currently going completely opposite to the direction that Toto was now falling. The sick feeling of flesh tearing beneath his talons and the pain as Toto's fingers tore through his flesh, along with the sudden lack of drag, told him that he had lost contact with Toto. He was going way too fast to stop abruptly, but he banked his wings with a groan as his muscles strained to change his forward momentum. The dark red gargoyle managed to turn around, casting about anxiously for the pale form of Toto. He saw her, well below him as she got her own tail spin under control, though she then slammed heavily into a building, her talons clawing at it as she kept herself from falling. Brooklyn curled his wings around him, starting to drop to her location when the gate flared again. **** Toto caught her breath, her wing muscles aching and her wrist pulsing with pain. She hooked a trembling hand into the fire escape of the building she landed on and pulled herself weakly to the landing, collapsing on the landing. She glanced up at the sky, looking for Brooklyn and caught the tail end of a circle of fire disappearing. **** Brooklyn finished his dive into the ocean and came up spluttering. He cast around incredulously, but by no stretch of the imagination could he figure out any way Toto would have made it through the gate with him. He tread water slowly, wings aching, scratches burning in the salt. Brooklyn focused simply on catching his breath and doing his best to ignore the pain of his heart. **** New York, Long Island 1999 Central Islip Toto shivered to herself as she rested on the fire escape, her breath coming in strangled sobs as she stared at the spot where Brooklyn had disappeared. She rested there in numb disbelief for several hours before she said to herself quietly, "Buck up, get up, and do something. Brooklyn wouldn't just sit here." Toto pulled herself to her feet and looked up at the sky, the faint hazing of the horizon telling her that dawn was not far away. She used the fire escape to vault to the next ledge of the building, and pulled herself wearily to the roof top. There, the young gargoyle pulled herself into a corner of the roof and curled up as small as she could. New York, Manhattan 1999 The Eyrie Building Graeme and Ariana raced through the hallways, the green and red beaked young gargoyles just two steps ahead of a small gargbeast. They burst out onto the walls of Castle Wyvern and raced to their roosts. Graeme leapt up on his, catching Nudnik and settling the beast between his legs. Brooklyn laughed at his son and said, "What kept you two?" as he crouched, waiting for the sunlight in his position below Goliath's own resting place. Overhead, Eliza spent the last few minutes of the night talking to Goliath. "Alex." Graeme said, answer and explanation all in one name. The red gargoyle shook his head and exchanged an amused look with his mate, Sata. She shrugged gracefully and looked fondly at Brooklyn as he turned to face outwards, wings mantling as he assumed his typical day-time posture, while around him his clan did the same. |