Grail
Chapter the Final in the In Darkness Cometh Saga
by Amy K. Cyrway
concept co-authored by David "Blitz" Bumford
blkblade@mailexcite.com
rayapam@mint.net

DISCLAIMER: GARGOYLES ARE NOT MINE!!!  IF THEY WERE, I 
WOULDN'T WRITE FANFIC!!!  *Heaves.*  Getting that out of my 
system...Gargoyles is owned by Disney and Buena Vista...though Nate 
Lovecraft, Kade Saeri and Christopher Highblood, and the Sssarikkr-I 
dragons are legally mine.  Arin, Luc, Caligo, Sierra, and the Devourer, I 
created out of the top of my mind to fully interact with the Gargoyle 
universes and those only.  David Hunter is property of Dave Bumford, the 
psychopath of campus.  There are a lot of Monty Python jokes in here too, 
so you'd probably should watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to 
appreciate fully the humour.  Nee!  Also, I've done some research behind 
the Grail, and would like to make a point that I only use the Roslyn 
Chapel because of its ideal location.  Mr. Ravenscroft has no part in this 
fic, thank you very much.  Thanx to my rookery bro and sis, Sombrero and 
Mercedes who were always there for me, and Blitz, my campus editor 
who would race to my room when I needed a resource for any fic while I 
was working, no matter what, and everyone else who has given their 
support to me.  Oh, yeah.  MATURE CONTENT WARNING!!!

TIME NOTE:  This fic has a lot of references to the "Gliding on the 
Winds of Time" Series.

***

ARIN: 'Scriptae Caligorum,' Writings of Darkness.
BROOKLYN: Or 'Caligo.'  This could be his lair, for all we know. 
(Martian Sunrise)

LUACH: Previously, on Gargoyles.

NATE: What is it, Luc?
LUACH: Hunter.
NATE: Why would a Hunter be here, of all places? (Show Canmore and 
the stand-off with Sierra, same ep.)

NATE: I was only told to bring the Four of you together, and I did.  Not 
only that, we've got the schizophrenic clone-
MALIBU: 'One in every crowd, a crowd in every one.'
NATE: -and no way to get home, unless the Devourer decides to be nice 
to us. (Same ep.)

SELENE: The artifact you now seek has been called many names over the 
ages.  It has been a symbol of purity in all cultures.
ARIN: The Holy Grail. (Show the Weird Sisters confronting the Four, 
Nate, and Arin, same ep.)

KADE: Just what the hell are you doing here? (same ep.)

***
Waterville, Maine
"Magic" Dimension

     "Okay, let me see if I got this straight," Kade closed her eyes, her 
hand to her forehead.  She was sitting cross-legged on the hood of her 
Trans-Am, her long brown hair whipping in the wind.  "You've been 
following this 'Devourer' dude throughout time, and now the guy who is 
possessed by Mr. Devourer sent you here."  She tapped her forehead.  
"Chris, I think I lost them."
     "What's there to lose?" Arin questioned.  "We've been following 
our friend Malibu, who was possessed by the Devourer, first to 22nd 
century Mars, then to 15th century Milan, then Mal momentarily gets 
control of his senses and sends us here."
     "Arin," Luc's weaken voice beckoned as he leaned up against the 
car.  He was bare-chested, but donned his jacket, underneath it was a thick 
layer of bandages circling his chest, left shoulder, and arm, covering the 
arrow wound inflicted by the Hunter during their last time slip.  "You 
forgot that Nate and I started this adventure.  We were sent you your late 
20th century from our late 21st."
     "Go back to bed," she ordered.  "You're not in the condition to be 
walking about."
     "Who do you think you are?  My moth-never mind," he shook his 
head, climbing back into the GTO.
     Chris chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
     "I understood them, Kade," he shrugged.  "The question would 
now be, why would you-" he flipped his thumb at Brooklyn exclusively, 
"-be here?"
     "As clich‚d as this sounds," The copper gargoyle chuckled, "The 
Holy Grail."
     The half-dragon's normally stoic expression suddenly quirked.
     "The Grail," he smirked.  "And how did this task fall on your 
heads, pray tell?"
     "The Weird Sisters assigned it to us," Caligo interjected.
     "Ahhh."Chris nodded, giving Kade a look  clearly stating, "your 
turn to watch the mental patients."
     "Okay," the humanoid dragon took a breath.  "Well, there is the 
possibility that Fate has dumped you guys in our laps, mainly because 
Chris and I have worked rather reluctantly, may I add for the record, with 
Arin and Brook.  What of this Devourer?  Did he follow you here?"
     "No." Nate stated bluntly.
     "How would you know?" Sierra snapped.
     "Because even if I can't truly sense it, I can still feel it affecting
 the world around it."
     "In other words, Mal stranded us," Luc muttered from inside the 
car.
     "What did I tell you, young man?" Arin demanded.
     "I'm getting better," he retorted in a fake British accent.
     "Okay, Mal sent us here for a reason," Brooklyn remarked.  "He 
knows more about the Devourer than any one of us."
     "Maybe he was hiding us from the Devourer?" Nate suggested.  "It 
would make sense.  For the past jumps, we were forced to follow it, but 
now, we have the upper hand!"
     "Hey, Einstein," Luc called out.  "You can't create the wormholes.  
You can only hold them."
     "Shut your yap, wise ass." Nate grumbled intangibly.  "It was only 
a theory."
     "Maybe not," Arin snapped her fingers.  "He sent us here because 
we could find a way to locate the Grail!  Chris, do you still have the 
Phoenix Gate?"
     Caligo's head snapped up.
     "He got rid of it right after we returned here," Kade retorted.
     "Um, Kade," Chris scratched his neck again.
     "So unless we can get to the Mage's Guild-"
     "Kade."
     "-you guys are up Shit Creek without a paddle."
     "KADE!" Chris roared. She clapped her hand over her ear and 
yelped.
     "I have a confession to make," the half-dragon then muttered.
     "You didn't," the dragon woman groaned.
     "I love watching these two," Arin leaned over to Caligo.  "They're 
so silly!"  Realising suddenly what Chris was driving at, she was about to 
say something when Brooklyn beat her to the draw.
     "You still have the Gate," he remarked, deadpan.
     "What the hell is this 'Phoenix Gate?'" Nate and Sierra demanded 
simultaneously.
     "A magical talisman that allows the user to travel through space 
and time that Chris supposably got rid off in July!" Kade hissed through 
her teeth.  "Where is it?"
     "I teleported it to my room," he whined, hiding his face.  "I 
couldn't resist!  I have too much of my father in me!"
     Kade slapped her face and growled.
     "Chris," she whispered.  "We really have to break you of this 'shiny 
object' collecting.."
     "You probably also have the Grail in your room, right?" Arin 
snarked.
     "No," Chris interjected.  "I only have a Grail-shaped beacon on the 
roof."
     "Shaddup," Kade growled a warning.  "Damn Sssarikkr-I are all 
alike."
     "Leave my dad out of this," Chris snapped.
     "Then may we have the Gate to continue on this quest?" Caligo 
questioned, a little irritated.
     "What is your name?" Chris demanded.
     "Caligo."  The grey male crossed his arms over his chest, 
narrowing his eyes.
     "What is your mission?"
     This time, everyone but Caligo and Sierra groaned.
     "To seek the Holy Grail to destroy the Devourer," Caligo was 
getting more irritated.
     "What is your favourite colour?"
     "CHRISTOPHER!" Kade bellowed.  "Listen, he'll give you the 
goddamned amulet.  We sure as hell don't want it-"
     "Kade!" the half-dragon whined again. 
     "Christopher, a word," She beckoned him back into the Trans-Am.
     "Someone's going to get an ear-full," Artemis hissed.  Nate kicked 
her fender.
     "You've met these..." Sierra waved her hand at the two arguing 
within the confines of the newer car, "...these..."
     "Dragons," Arin muttered.
     "And yes, we have," Brooklyn nodded, smirking.  "This is how 
they usually act, too."
     "Dragons," The skeptical gargoyle snorted, watching Kade throw 
her hands up, shouting something, while Chris folded his arms over his 
chest.  "She's human, and he's a deformed gargoyle of some sorts."
     "Trust us, they're dragons," the copper male snorted, noticing that 
the two looked like to have come to an agreement as they shook hands and 
got out of the car.
     "Okay, here's the plan," Kade replied.  "We give you the Phoenix 
Gate-"
     "-If we can come with you," Chris concluded.
     "What the hell do I look like?  A school bus?!" Artemis protested.  
"I seat five-count it-one-two-three-four-five-and I'm pushing it with six!"
     Kade blinked at the site of the GTO talking.
     "Your car-" she started to say, completely deadpan.
     "-just talked, I know," Nate rolled his eyes.  To Artemis, he hissed, 
"Mute switch, Arty.  Remember it."  He sighed, then glanced over to 
Brooklyn.  "Your call, bro."
     "I was afraid you were going to say that," Brooklyn shrugged.  "I 
don't know if we can...the Phoenix Gate has to have some limitations...and 
teleporting eight people and two cars might be pushing that limit."
     "I've tested it," Chris revealed.  "Its power is fueled by an 
other-worldly source...it was forged by the Sidhe, but its power doesn't 
come from Avalon."
     "You what?" Kade blinked.
     "I tested it...to find its power source.  The thing is, I can't locate
 it.  Theoretically, it channels energy through a cosmic level."
     Luc got out of the Goat and leaned against the door, interests 
piqued.
     "But why does it require a human spell to activate it?" Caligo 
questioned, more of testing Chris than for his own knowledge.
     "Another theory, but whoever created the Gate didn't want the 
Sidhe to use it.  They aren't multi-temporal beings.  It wasn't originally 
crafted for humans, either.  Instead..." Chris' voice took a dive in tone.  
"...I managed to find an encrypted spell within it.  Similar to the Latin 
incantation, in fact, the same meaning, only in and archaic form of 
Sssarikkr-I Dracon."  He took a breath.  "The Latin was programmed in at 
a later time for human use."
     "I am unfamiliar with the Sssarikkr-I," Caligo nodded.  "But at one 
time, the dragons of our world used the Gate to escape the coming of 
Man.  Those few who remained were enslaved by the human wizards and 
mages, forced into changing the incantation for their uses.  However, one 
dragon escaped with it, and it was lost.  Until the wedding of Prince 
Malcolm, around 960 CE, that is, when his bride-to-be brought it as a 
present.  However, it was stolen before that night, and no one heard of it 
again."
     "I'll be damned." Kade smiled.  "Malcolm got himself a little wife. 
Well, through different passage of hands, it came to Chris, after a long and 
tedious romp through time, at least on Arin's and my parts.  So is it a 
deal?"
     Brooklyn groaned.
     "The more, the merrier," he finally answered.  They had the 
Phoenix Gate, and Brooklyn wasn't keen of making enemies of the two 
dragons.
     "Far-freakin'-out!" Kade whooped, leaping back into her driver's 
seat.  "Hey, we could take a couple of you guys, and you could follow us 
back to our place.  Arin, Brook?"
     "I don't see a problem," Arin shrugged, claiming shotgun before 
Chris could even get his hand on the door.  "Do you see a problem?"
     "You're in my seat," Chris grumbled, throwing back the seat so he 
could get into the back, smooshing Arin into the dashboard.  Brooklyn 
smirked, following suit, finding himself sitting amongst a swarm of stale 
Dorritos and half-empty Moxie bottles, along with other various 
textbooks, firecrackers, and other junk.
     "Live in your car, Kade?" he questioned rather sarcastically.
     "For the most part," she answered cheerfully as a disgruntled Arin 
pushed her seat back, slamming into Chris's knees.  "ahh...it's great to be 
with good friends again, isn't it?"
     "Yeah, sure," the half-dragon groaned in pain.  "'Bout as great as a 
root canal.."
     "You guys are going to introduce us to your friends, aren't you?" 
Kade continued.  "Even though I have a feeling I've seen the big guy and 
the lizard dude before."
     "Ahh, yeah," Arin nodded with a sigh.  "The big guy's Brooklyn's 
da, Caligo, and the mutate's Nate Lovecraft, though he's an earlier version 
than the one we met in the Court of the Ever-Vigilant King."
     "I remember," Chris grumbled.  "The dude who supposably 
blocked Brook's head."
     "He did." Brooklyn scoffed.  "The thing was, the Eye of Odin 
blasted it open again."
     "Anywho," Kade waved over to Nate in the GTO to follow her, 
then grabbed a CD from the pile next to the floor shift (automatic, Nate 
would be disappointed, Arin thought) and inserted one into the stereo 
system. "Tell me more about this Devourer dude."
     Suddenly, loud hard rock music blared through the speakers, 
vibrating the entire car as they pulled into traffic.
     "'Too small, too small don't compromise, so have fast, too fast 
don't realise.  Have hand on wheel, set the sights, drive with me!'"
     "Kade!" Brooklyn shouted, covering his ears.  "Turn it down!"
     "What?" She yelled back.
     "Turn down the damn noise!"
     "I still can't hear you!"
     There was a growl as he stared at the back of her head.
     (TURN DOWN THAT GODDAMNED NOISE!!!)
     "Fuck!" the dark haired woman swore, snapping off the radio.  
"What, you don't like Coal Chamber?  Friggin' A, man, all you had to do 
was say something."
     "He did," Chris muttered, glancing back at the GTO tailing them.  
     "Well, he didn't have to yell in my head!" she protested.  "Geez, if 
you don't like that-hold on."  She snapped on her directional signal three 
milliseconds before swinging into a turn on two wheels.  "-how about 
some Nine Inch Nails-hold on."  She repeated her procedure again, 
checking her rear view mirror to make sure Nate and the others were still 
behind her.  Deftly, she ripped Coal Chamber from the player and 
replaced it with another disk.
     Same volume.
     "'God money, I'll do anything for you.  God money, just tell me 
what you want me to-'"

     "Lessee," Nate muttered.  "Reckless driving, failure to signal a turn 
one-hundred feet before making a turn, driving fifteen miles over the 
posted speed limit, music can be heard outside the car."  He looked over 
to Luc, who had, in spite of his weakened health, managed to claim 
shotgun once more.  "Do you think I should tell her I'm a cop?"
     I'd like to see her face when you do," Sierra grumbled.  "It's a 
wonder she's driving legally."
     "Oh!  Ran a red light!" Luc pointed out as the Trans Am sped 
through the intersection.   Nate slowed the Goat down, shaking his head as 
he waited for the light to change.
     Caligo, still in wonder about the world around him, stared out the 
window, watching in curious interest as a family of drow elves walked on 
the sidewalk next to them.
     "Sidhe," he whispered.  "In the Real World?  Walking without 
disguise?"
     The light turned green once more, and Nate turned onto a four-lane 
bridge.  The Trans-Am was already across on the other side, parked on the 
side of the street, the driver clearly tapping her finger against the steering 
wheel, Brooklyn with a pleading "Help me!" look to his face in the back 
seat.
     "Parked in front of a fire hydrant," Nate added under his breath.  
"Not using the directional signal when going into traffic."
     Sierra chortled, the first time during this entire ordeal she had 
actually seemed to have fun.
     
     "Finally!" Brooklyn leapt out of the car once she parked it, 
slamming Kade into the steering column.  "We have arrived!  Alive!"
     "You're overreacting, love," Arin giggled, then hoomphed when 
Chris did the same to her.  She pushed the seat back once more, took a 
deep breath, then got out.  "You haven't seen me drive yet."
     The GTO pulled into the driveway, Nate storming out first.
     "Do you know how reckless you were driving?" He demanded to 
Kade.
     She stared, unblinking at him.
     "Who are you to tell me how to-"
     She found herself staring at Nate's badge.
     "-drive-shit." She turned on her heel and thunked her head on the 
roof.  "Chris, go get the damned Gate and let's get out of here."
     "Boy, did I wish I had a camera for that!" Luc cracked up as Chris 
ran into the old grey millhouse.
     "Shaddup," she flipped the tan male the bird without looking up.
     "We need a plan, Brook," Arin suggested, hopping onto the hood 
of the Trans Am.
     "Here's what I'm thinking," The copper red gargoyle took a breath, 
then turned to his lover.  "Arin, have you ever met Griff and Pendragon?"
     "Of course I have!" Arin snapped.   "What are you driving at?"
     "Who would know more about the Grail?"
     "King Arthur...I see where you're going, love.  Get him, and we 
might find the Grail."
     "You're serious," Kade smirked.  "You really think we're going to 
find the Grail."
     "And I bet the Devourer knows that, too," Nate retorted, ignoring 
the dragon woman.
     "We need to have constants," Arin remarked, counting off her 
talons.  "First off, King Arthur.  Second, the Devourer and Mal in the 
same time frame.  Third..." she paused.  "Third...dammit, we need more 
constants!"  She sighed.  "But, if anywhere, the safest be would probably 
check in with Una and Leo.  They would know where they went."
     "So London it is," Brooklyn nodded.
     "London it is," Arin repeated.  Adding with a smirk, she offered, 
"and if you need a guide through Soho, I'm you're woman."
     Chris bursted out the front door, a towel draped over an object.
     "Gram wants to talk to you," Chris relayed to Kade.  "She's kind of 
pissed about you driving in the way you did.  You woke up San, who, by 
the way, go into my room and decided to use the Gate as a teething ring."  
He handed the covered Gate over to Arin, who unwrapped it.  She could 
not help but smirk at the tiny teeth marks around on edge.
     "Tough kid," she giggled, tracing her talon over the dancing bird 
design.
     "I'll have to talk to Gram later," Kade muttered.  "Arin, work your 
magic!"
     "I'm not going to take the chance with taking two vehicles," she 
stated flatly.  "We'll have to leave Artemis when we get there-if we get 
there." Arin seemed a little doubtful.  
     "Thanks," the car muttered.  
     "Sorry, girl, but at least we aren't leaving you here-familiar with 
the Outklaws?"
     "In that case, beam away, Scotty!"
     Arin hopped off the Trans Am and onto Artemis' hood.
     "Who're the Outklaws?" Chris whispered to her.
     "I'll tell you afterwards," she winked.  "Sierra, if this doesn't make 
you a believer, I don't know what will," Arin flashed a brilliant smile to 
the lavender woman still in the car.  She lifted the amulet over her head, 
took a deep breath, and cleared her thoughts save for their goal.
     "'Deflagrate muri tempi et intervalia!'"
     "And a-wwwwway we go!" Chris exclaimed as the spheroid flames 
engulfed them.  
     "Fuck!"  Kade shouted.  "My sword!"
     "Too late!" Brooklyn barked, as the flames dispersed, revealing a 
dark alleyway.
     Arin quickly stuffed the Gate in Brooklyn's belt pouch as she 
peeked out from the corner.   "Exactly to the street!" she grinned, pulling 
back.  "Okay, the shop's rear entrance is just beyond there." She pointed 
behind them, to a wooden wall.  "Brooklyn and I will go in.  The rest of 
you stay put until we give the okay."
     "Who died and made you leader?" Sierra snarled.
     "She knows the turf here," Luc snapped back.
     "We'll be right back," Brooklyn reassured as he followed Arin over 
the half-rotting fence.  Abruptly, the fence was slid away, and Arin waved 
her hands in a forward motion.
     "Bring her in here," she ordered Nate, pointing to Artemis.  "Just 
so vandals would have a harder time getting to her."
     "Vandals?" Artemis questioned.  If she had eyebrows, they would 
have surely rose in fright.
     "Yeah, a few punks, the usual," the tan female shrugged as Nate 
took off the brake and put her into neutral.  
     "Caligo, Sierra, I'm going to need you to push," Nate ordered 
before the two rather clueless gargoyles finally exited the car.  Getting 
behind, they pushed while Nate steered, Artemis finally coming to rest 
inside a small lot behind the shop.  Arin quickly replaced the fence, bolted 
it, then ran up to the back door and knocked.
     "Una!  Leo!  It's Arin!  Arin MacDuff!" She called out, draping her 
wings over her shoulders-
     Then realisation struck her.
     She had told them of her "incident" with Oberon, but they hadn't 
seen her since she left London last May.
     When she was human.
     Too late, she groaned inwardly as the back door to the Into The 
Mystic Magic Shop flew open, a tall cloaked woman staring down at the 
tan female standing on the lower stoop.  The new woman had on what 
appeared to be a mask of some sort, that of the head of a unicorn.
     "Arin!  What a surprise!" She exclaimed, suddenly excited, as the 
two embraced.  Sierra noticed with an arch to her eye ridge there was no 
way that could have been a mask, especially in the eye and mouth 
movements.  The unicorn then held Arin at arm's length, studying her 
features.  "Well, it isn't much of a change...you still look like your old 
self..."
     "It's good to see you too, Una," Arin smiled warmly.  "Is Griff 
around?  We really need to talk to him and King Arthur."
     "Why don't you come in--" Una finally noted Brooklyn and the 
rest of the group behind Arin.  "--and introduce us to your friends?"
     "Mommy, can I come out and play now?" Luc whined.  Brooklyn 
lost it, leaning against the building for support.
     "Ask your father!" Arin snapped, sobering the red gargoyle fast.
     "Daaaaaaaaaaad!"
     "Look what you started now," Brooklyn grumbled, throwing open 
the GTO's door and helping the wounded comrade out, suddenly speaking 
with a heavy Scot accent.  "Th' children are t' look at the entire clan as 
their parents, nae a single set."
     "Thank you, Hudson, for that riveting history lesson," Arin 
exaggerated a yawn as she and the others trooped into the living area of 
the shop.
     "What the hell was that all about?" Nate muttered to no one in 
particular.
     However, Caligo answered his query nevertheless.
     "The Wyvern Clan raised their children as though they did not 
have biological parents.  It is the gargoyle way, as well as we are not 
named, we just are."  Caligo smirked.  "Mainly because the first mortal 
gargoyles technically did not have parents, nor were they named.  
Tradition." He snorted the last word with a bit of amusement.
     They were led to a cozy living room, where Una told them to make 
themselves at home.
     "I'll go get Leo and Griff," She stated.  "Anyone care for a spot of 
tea?"
     "Yes, please.  That would be marvelous," Arin agreed,  "In fact, let 
me help you."  Mouthing to everyone, almost exclusively to Chris, she 
added, "Don't move, don't touch anything!"
     "And what would give you that idea--oh!  Alistair Crowley!" the 
half-dragon made a bee-line to the far shelf, lined to the ceiling with 
books.  Kade groaned, slapping her forehead.
     Brooklyn too skimmed the various titles on the shelves 
surrounding the room, as did Caligo and Luc.  Nate and Kade sat 
patiently, and Sierra, typical Sierra, muttered to herself the pointlessness 
of "dead tree editions."  Once in a while, one of the bibliophiles would 
oh! and blurt a title or author out, but otherwise, it was pretty quiet.  Kade 
was getting fidgety, and Nate began playing with one of his knives, 
twirling it on his nimble fingers.  Sierra pulled out both her service pistol 
and her nine-mm, and, after checking bullet inventory and replacing her 
nine-mm, she began taking it apart and assembling it again.
     Between the clock ticking and the parts of the gun clicking and the 
knife whirling, it was beginning to get someone's nerves.
     Kade's jade-green eyes darted around the room, her eyes dilated 
like a cat's.
     Was it her, or was it too...uniformal...too...the noise...the terrible, 
silent noise...a drone of bees...that's what it was....
     "Stop it!" She roared, causing the knife to spin out of control and 
land in Nate's knee.  His curse startled Sierra, who dropped her firearm 
pieces onto the floor.  The only one not startled by Kade's sudden outburst 
was Christopher.
     Nate cursed again as he yanked the blade from his knee as he took 
hold of Luc and, with the knife, swiped a trailing end of bandage and tied 
it around his wound.
     Sierra dropped to the floor in search of the missing pieces.
     "Much better," Kade grinned, leaning back in her chair.
     Brooklyn only smirked as he returned to his perusing.
     "I hate uniformality," she stated nonchalantly to a growling Nate.
     "Apparently," he hissed as Una and Arin returned with a large pot 
of tea and a mismatched assortment of teacups and mugs, followed by two 
other gargoyles, both male, one with a leonine face, the other, much 
younger than the others, with the appearance of an eagle, or more 
mythical, a gryphon.
     "Brooklyn!" Griff grinned broadly.  "How're you've been, chap!"
     "Not bad, until he showed up," Brooklyn nodded over to Nate, 
though it was more of a jest than true feelings about the entire incident.  
"Has Arin told you of our predicament."
     "She said there was one," Leo rumbled.
     "Let's do introductions as the story is told," Arin suggested, 
assisting with passing around the hot Earl Grey tea.  "As for our hosts, this 
is Una, Leo, and Griff, the proprietors of this fine establishment."
     "You were always one to flatter, young lady," Leo waved his 
finger at her, though it was obvious he was still a little surprised at her 
new form.
     Nate suddenly got the feeling he should start with the tale, and 
though his knee was still aching, he sat up and introduced himself, then 
told of how the Weird Sisters encountered him and revealed his mission 
and position.  Next was Luc, telling of how he caught the attention of 
Zanth‚ and the Caligo of his time, and when he and Nate first met up with 
the Devourer and followed it to 20th century Manhattan.  Brooklyn picked 
up the story, adding the incident at the Labrinyth where the Devourer had 
possessed his and Arin's friend, Malibu.  Sierra reluctantly told her side of 
the story with as few words as possible, throwing in "reluctantly" and 
"insanity" into almost everyone of her sentences.  And, as she was brief, 
Caligo went into great detail of the destruction of his home and the 
encounter with the Hunter at the time, including Luc's injury and Arin's 
spell.  Finally, Chris beat Kade to the draw and revealed their reason for 
being there, though Kade with a smirk added "comic relief" to the lengthy 
title of Those Who Travelled With The Phoenix Gate Only To Get Their 
Butts Whupped Before Finally Winning Against The Runestone OverLord 
With The Help Of The Almighty Brooklyn And Finally Returned Home 
Though Being The Dragon That I Am Kept The Gate For Premeditated 
Future Use That We Were Unsure Of Until Tonight. (There were many 
nearly-audible blinks on this one.)
     Finally, Arin got to the point of their visit.
     "We were told by the Weird Sisters to seek out the Holy Grail, the 
one artifact that could rid the Devourer from our plane," she disclosed.  
"The only one we could think of who would know of such matters was 
King Arthur."
     "So bring forth your so-called Arthur King!" Chris ordered in a 
fake French accent just before Kade whacked him.
     "Arthur had to meet a chap at the Silent Lady pub down the 
street," Griff retorted.  "He said he'll be back shortly."
     "Am I the only one not believing this happy horseshit?" Sierra 
whispered.
     "And this is from someone who watched a gargoyle turn into a 
demon, get sucked into another time, then another dimension, and seen 
the beloved freak that I am get miraculously cured by the lovely Arin 
MacDuff through fae magic?" Luc snorted.  "You really are hard to prove 
anything to."
     "Louis Carroll had a saying," Una remarked, sipping her tea 
patiently,  "when Alice met the unicorn in 'Through the Looking Glass'.  
She admitted she thought unicorns were of the imagination.  'Well,' the 
unicorn retorts, 'I will believe in you if you believe in me.'"
     "I detect a lesson here," Sierra muttered.
     "Merely a proverb I hold most dear," Una smiled.  "Most of this 
century humans had regarded gargoyles to be of myths and legends.  We 
were as mythical as the dragons of old."
     Chris and Kade stiffed back a laugh.
     "What I'm trying to tell you, child, is to open your heart to more 
than what your senses perceive."
     "Yeah, and not be so much a stick in the mud for the rest of us 
having fun," Luc mumbled, finding a seat and crossing his arms over his 
chest, wincing a bit when his wound began complaining.
     The corner of Caligo's mouth quirked upward, amused.
     They all jumped when a knock on the door alerted the group of 
another presence.  A mousy brown human woman, very tall and lank, 
pushed her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose.
     "Una," she beckoned.  " Mr. Pendragon has returned...with 
company."
     "Thank you, Daria, my dear," Una nodded, standing up.  "Griff, let 
us meet this new acquaintance of Arthur's, shall we?"
     "Right-o, mum," he extending his hand to her with a slight bow.  
They exeunted the room, though the woman, Daria, slipped in.
     "Hullo, there, Daria!" Arin grinned broadly, walking up to meet 
her old friend.
     "Arin?" Daria gasped.  "Arin MacDuff?  My gods and goddesses, 
chum, what did you do, piss Lord Oberon off?"
     Brooklyn burst out laughing as Arin rolled her eyes.
     "That, Daria, was the understatement of the century." She shot a 
warning glance at her beau.  "You're still working here?"
     "Takes more than a bunch of closed-minded holy rollers of St. 
Aggie's to convert me," she winked.  "And you?  How are you enjoying 
the States?"
     Arin shrugged.  "Besides the fact that I can get away with being 
stoned during the day and my da can't do a damn thing about it, I'm doing 
pretty damn well."
     "Daria," Leo smirked, "Don't you have a counter to watch?"
     "Right you are, sir!" Daria smiled, giving her old friend a hug.  
"It's jolly good to see you again, Arin.  We'll have to get together again 
and talk."
     "Same here, chum." Arin returned the hug, and Daria saluted 
somewhat as she escaped to the shop front.
     "Old friend?" Brooklyn grinned, pulling her down to the chair he 
was sitting.  She joined him on the arm.
     "We went to St. Aggie's together," Arin shrugged.
     "And both of them managed to sneak off to here after dark," Leo 
chortled.  "After they got caught, Una talked to the school--on the horn, of 
course--about the possibility of employment for the two.  First time, might 
I add, we ever took on apprentices."
     "We were instantly likable," Arin shrugged.
     "Instantly persistent is more like it," the loin-faced gargoyle 
grumbled good-humourly.  "You two wouldn't leave us in peace if we 
didn't."
     "Sounds like Arin," Brooklyn smirked, taking her hand.
     "I've noticed your some of your books," Luc then pointed out.  
"You have some fascinating topics."
     "I've also noticed 'Lovecraft' in your volumes," Caligo added.  To 
Nate, he raised an eyebrow.
     "No relation to the psychopath," Nate grimaced somewhat.
     "Oh, come on!" Leo retorted.  "Ol' Howard Phillip wasn't a 
psychopath!  He was a genius, a talented author."  He reached up and 
eased a book from the shelf.  "And, some say, a prophet of a greater evil."
     "He did die of mysterious causes," Luc remarked.
     "Little green Cthulhoids stole him in the night." Brooklyn 
shrugged.  "And I'm the One Who Cannot Be Named."
     "What, Hast--irk!" Luc made a gagging noise, falling to his right.
     Leo only rolled his eyes as the living room door creaked open 
again, and Una led two men in, the first one being of average height and 
powerful build, his long brown hair with a few streaks of grey tied back, 
his piercing blue eyes scanning the room.  He had on black pants and a 
black turtleneck.  The other, slightly taller and a lot more lank, donning a 
pair of khaki pants, white dress shirt with tortoise-shell buttons under a 
light leather jacket, and a pair of Dock Martens.  A clean, rather preppy 
cut to his blond hair, also blue-eyed, but not as prominent as the first 
one's, his being that of a relaxed vacationer.
     "Ess this the so-called, Arthur King?" Chris jested as Kade forced 
her elbow into his gut.
     "Ignore him," she then remarked.
     "Please," Arin grumbled.
     "Arin MacDuff?" The brown-haired man blinked.  "I heard of--"
     "I got Oberon mad, he cursed me," she retorted.  "Sir, I hate to be 
a nag, but we haven't much time.  Everyone, this is Arthur Pendragon."
     "And this is David Hunter, expert on and collector of rare and 
valuable items." Arthur introduced.  Hunter bowed slightly, taking Arin's 
hand and kissing the knuckles.
     "Enchant‚," he greeted.  "And, what I hear, you are in search of 
the Holy Grail?"
     "Very much, sir," Nate remarked, standing, limping a bit.
     "Call me Blitz.  If you don't mind, er--"
     "Nate.  Nate Lovecraft."
     "Any relation to--"
     "None."
     "A shame Howie was called back to Rl'yeh.  Nate, then.  What is 
the purpose of this mission that you so need the Grail?"
     Again, the story was told of their adventure up till that point.  
Surprisingly, Blitz did not appear to be as closed-minded as Sierra.  Far 
from it.
     Arthur listened to the story as well, nodding his head slightly.
     "My Knights and I searched for it for rumour of it being in 
England or Scotland," He finally stated.  "We never found it, and by the 
time I 'died', Gallahan had claimed he had saw it, but died before 
revealing where it lay hidden."
     "Gallahan was the Pure or the Just?" Chris whispered to Kade.
     "The Pure, I think--Chris, no!"
     "He probably died from all those Castle Anthrax virgins.  Over 
sexual stimulation, you know."
     "You ass," Kade groaned as Brooklyn, Arin, and Luc cracked up.
     "Word of the Nazis with possession of the Grail were not 
unknown," Griff added.  "Though I truly doubt they actually possessed the 
Grail, they did have the Spear of Longinus."
     "The what?" Brooklyn whispered.
     "The spear that supposably hit Christ's side when he was 
crucified," Arin hissed back.
     "But why would the Weird Sisters tell us to use a Christian 
artifact?" Luc questioned.  "Wouldn't that contradict?"
     "The Celts had a similar artifact," Una retorted, pulling a book 
from the shelf over Sierra's head.  "Even before the legend of the Grail."
     "The Cauldron of Annwn?" Kade asked.  "The Cauldron of Life?"
     The equine head of the gargoyle nodded.
     "And the Cauldron of Awen, of Knowledge," she added, opening 
the book, passing it to the dragon as she returned to the tea tray.  "They 
were sometimes believed to be one and the same.  There were countless 
other chalices and cauldrons and other artifacts associated with the Grail."
     "But Elisa and Goliath told the clan the Cauldron of Life was 
melted down and used in Coyote 4.0," Brooklyn retorted.
     Blitz smirked.  "It's only a part of the Legend of the Grail.  There 
are many aspects of it."
     "Though many of them had similar properties," Leo continued.  "It 
could heal, satisfy hunger and thirst, grant omniscience, and grant 
immortality."
     "The Grail has purifying properties as well," the blond man 
nodded, accepting with a nod the cup of tea handed to him by Una.  "And 
it would most probably drive the Devourer out if Malibu drank the 
waters."
     "Um, not speaking for myself," Nate shrugged.  "But think about 
the impact this could lead to.  Christ drank from it at the Last Supper, and 
it caught his blood at his Crucification.  It could be considered a sacrilege 
for a clone--an unnatural creature--to drink from it."
     "And what are you?" Luc smirked.
     "Poll: Any Catholics in the room?" Arin questioned.
     Luc pointed at Nate.
     "And you devotedly go to church every Sunday, Mister Marilyn-
Manson-Is-God?"
     "She's got a point," Luc raised an eye ridge.
     "I wasn't going on at my point of view!  What the hell." Nate 
groaned.
     "Like we're going to get a call from the Pope excommunicating us 
any time soon," Arin snapped back with a grin.
     "Enough, the two of you," Brooklyn ordered to both Arin and 
Nate.  "Blitz, do you know where the Grail is?"
     "Of course I do!  Have you ever heard of the Roslyn Chapel in 
Lothian, Scotland?  It was brought there from where Joseph of Arimathea 
had originally hid the Grail, in Glastonbury Tor, the first church in 
England.  Inside the Roslyn Chapel is a pillar called Prentice Pillar.  It was 
said the Grail was inside that."
     "Inside the pillar?" Caligo raised an eye ridge.
     Blitz nodded.
     "However, the owner of the Chapel, a gentleman by the name of...I 
believe Ravenscroft...would not allow x-rays of the pillar.  He would 
allow metal detectors, however."
     "Then how are we going to get it?" Luc asked.
     "We don't," Sierra grumbled.  "It's private property."
     "I said 'was', young lady," Blitz waved a finger at the lavender 
gargoyle.  "It 'was' in the pillar."  He retorted.  "The Nazis had 'removed' 
it through 'black' sorcery, claiming it for their own.  It was brought back 
to the Chapel after the war, where is was locked in a safe deep in the 
vault.  However, I managed to acquire it in the '50s."
     "Isn't that sacrilegious?" Nate demanded.
     "Not quite, at least in my mind. I won it fair and square, using a 
technology similar to the transporters used on 'Star Trek'."
     "Um..."Brooklyn ran his hand through his thick hair.  "'Star Trek' 
is not real."
     "But some of the concepts are." Blitz sipped his tea.  "There are 
people who would say the same thing about the Bible.  Who would 
believe that two-thirds of the Jews would die?  Case in point, World War 
II.  Who would believe they would get their country back?  Case in point, 
Israel, 1948.  The Psalms, in chronological order, predict each year from 
1900 to 2050 or so...." Blitz shrugged again.  "The Illuminati is real, as 
well as the Black Sword still roam the earth."
     "So you do have the Grail," Chris asked.
     The blond man nodded again.
     "The problem is, it had lost some power when it was possessed by 
the Third Reich," he added.  "Hitler corrupted it, then when it was 
returned to a hallow place, it regained its holiness, but not as strong."
     "So it is a Christian artifact," Arthur interjected.
     "Not exactly," Blitz pointed out.  "It is a hallowed artifact.  It 
would have been purified like any tool-cleansing ceremony in the Wiccan 
religion, on an altar of a mosque, in the Temple Beth Israel Synagogue.  It 
wouldn't matter, just as long as it was on hallowed ground."
     "Neat..." Arin smiled, leaning forward to listen to the man intently.
     He only grinned at the tan female.
     "It is," he finally answered, "to learn of the secrets of the world 
and beyond."
     "What of the Grail?" Nate asked.  "We need it to continue on our 
journey."
     "Oh, of course!" Blitz snapped his fingers.  "Your quest!  Well, I 
will need something to cover the cost of the Grail, being that of a priceless 
artifact..." the pale blue eyes fell to the pouch at Brooklyn's side.  "...an 
equal trade, say, with the Phoenix Gate?"
     Everyone exchanged looks, worried.
     Finally, Brooklyn spoke.
     "I think I speak for all of us when I say we need to see the Grail 
before actually committing to a trade," he exclaimed.  Many nods agreed 
with him.
     "I think that can be arranged," the tall man smiled.

     They left Una and Leo back at the shop, though Griff and Arthur 
tagged along with the rest of the crew, bringing the total up to ten, eleven 
including Blitz, as they exited out the back once more, gathering in the 
yard.
     "Arin, wasn't it?" He queried.  "Would you do the honours?  It 
would be much faster than to walk all the way to my house if we used the 
Gate."
     Brooklyn gave her a sideways look when she asked for the artifact, 
but gave it to her reluctantly.  Blitz told her the address, and she spoke the 
incantation with her musical twist.  Nanoseconds later, they stood on the 
steps of a large mansion.
     "Welcome to my home!" Blitz greeted.  "Well, at least the one 
here in Europe.  I actually have a joint home in New York, though I 
haven't been there for about five years.  Come in!"  Racing up the stairs 
ahead of the group, he placed his hand on a panel next to the door.
     "State name," a digital voice sounding like Majel Barrett 
demanded.
     "David Blitz Hunter."
     "Password for David Blitz Hunter for voice recognition."
     "Sex on the Beach."
     "Welcome home, Blitz!" The tone turned cheerful as the door 
swung open.  With an "after you" gesture, he beckoned the gargoyles, 
dragons, and mutate into his home, though Kade, Brooklyn, Nate, and 
especially Sierra seemed apprehensive and on the ready just in case of an 
ambush as they entered into the wide hall full of wall hangings, mostly 
pictures of famous paintings.  Some were large photographs, with Blitz in 
them with various planes and other aircraft.  After walking fifty meters 
down the corridor, he opened a door.
     "My prized mementoes," he bowed, then scratched his head, 
staring into the highly cluttered room, the most prominent feature was a 
large circular stone sculpture, about twelve feet tall, on the far wall, 
covered in runic symbols.  "Um...where did I put it?"  Kicking away a 
menagerie of mediaeval helms from his feet, he began rummaging 
through the assemblage of junk on his desk...a leather-bound notebook 
with the words, "d'Vinci Kodiak" scrawled on the cover, part of what 
looked like the Battle of Hastings tapestry, various talismans, a torn 
Hunter's mask, ("damn Canmores think they own the place...") and other 
things...finally, he picked up a tarnished and beat-up goblet loaded with 
jelly beans.
     "Now there's an interesting development," he scratched his head, 
studying the goblet.  "Jelly beans in the Grail...wonder how long those 
things have been in there..." he offered one to each of the gang, all 
refusing politely, then taking one himself.  Popping it into his mouth, he 
muttered, "Not bad--" Suddenly, he gagged.  "Dammit!  I was wrong!  
Man, I'd think those were there since the Spanish Inquisition!"  Spitting 
the chewed-up jelly bean, he dumped the rest into the wastebasket.  He 
then offered the goblet to Brooklyn.  "My I present to you the Grail, as 
promised."
     Brooklyn raised an eye ridge, fighting a humourous smirk.
     "Go ahead," he smiled.  "You can touch it."
     The red gargoyle carefully took it, jumping back as the shock of 
static electricity jumped from the Grail to Brooklyn.  Blitz snorted.
     "Damn rugs," he nodded to the hardwood floor.
     "Luc, take it," Brooklyn ordered.  
     "Hell no!" The smallest gargoyle shook his head.
     Arin slapped him upside the head.
     "What have I told you about swearing?" she demanded.
     "Fine," he shrugged and grabbed hold of the so-called Grail.
     He was expecting the same shock Brooklyn received, but 
surprisingly, it did nothing but sit in his hands.
     "It's just a beat-up old goblet," Luc grumbled.  "There isn't 
anything special to it."
     "Looks are deceiving, Luach," Caligo muttered, taking a hold of 
the artifact.  "True, it might not be much to look at, but you never know 
what its history truly is."
     Abruptly, the giant stone ring on the wall began spinning violently, 
resonating the room.
     "What the hell?" Sierra shouted over the noise.
     "Something's coming through!" Blitz yelled back, throwing 
everything off the desk.  "Where the hell's my remote?"
     CLANK!  It halted, one of the clamps suddenly locked, then spun 
again.
     Blitz watched it, muttering something under his breath.
     CLANK!  The second clamp locked.
     Another mutter.
     CLANK!
     CLANK!
     CLANK!
     "And an origin..." Blitz whispered as it spun a sixth time, locking 
on a rune with two spheres linked with a line.  "Earth?"
     A blast not unlike a nuclear explosion rang in the visitors' ears as a 
vortex of time and space stretched out between the stone.
     "What the hell!" Sierra repeated angrily.
     Their hosts said nothing, only pulled a nasty-looking laser from 
one of the desk drawers.  Holding it at the ready, he whispered, "If you 
have weapons, I'd recommend you draw them know."
     Surprisingly, only Luc and Brooklyn were unarmed as guns were 
unholstered and swords slid out of their scabbards.  Nate tossed his gun to 
Brooklyn as he took two of his throwing knives from the pockets of his 
jacket.  Luc only stood his ground, drawing the excess energy radiating 
from the portal to fuel his Word.
     "Take too much, lad, and you'll get sick," Caligo hissed.  "Get in 
mind of the Word you will use, then draw just enough to use it!"
     "Something's coming through!" Sierra shouted.
     "It's the Devourer!" Nate growled as that something emerged--or 
rather, was flung--from the vortex.
     "Wait!" Brooklyn snarled, tossing the piece back at the cop.  The 
creature hit the far wall with a dull smack, landing in a boneless heap.
     Everyone stayed back as Brooklyn advanced the fallen creature 
cautiously.  The armour was the Devourer's, yes, but--
     --but something wasn't right.
     "Mal?" he whispered, debating whether or not to touch his 
shoulder.  Deciding against it, he instead poked mentally at him.
     The Devourer groaned, rising to his hands and knees.
     "Now I know what Bruce Campbell feels," he groaned in a very 
Malibu-esque manner.  "Anyone see 'Army of Darkness'?"
     "Mal?" Arin whispered.
     Malibu nodded, groaning as he rose to his feet.  He regarded the 
crew with his inverted eyes.
     "What the hell is that thing?" Sierra demanded to Blitz, pointing at 
the portal but keeping her gun tracked on the latecomer.
     "That, my dear, is a Stargate, from Egypt," the tall man grinned as 
the vortex dispersed.  "As for our visitor...the Devourer, I presume?"
     Mal chose to ignore Blitz as he excitedly grabbed Brooklyn by the 
shoulders.
     "It's getting weaker, Brook!" He exclaimed.  "My mind feels like 
it went through a cheese grater, but I'm still fighting it!  I can manipulate 
it like it did me!"
     "And this is the bloke possessed, I presume," Griff muttered.
     "Is it that obvious?" Caligo grumbled.
     "Excuse us if we remain on guard, chum," Arin remarked, her 
talons still wrapped around the taze gun.
     "Understood," Mal nodded, his eyes finally resting on what laid in 
Caligo's hand.  "Is that--"
     "I'm not sure," Brooklyn retorted truthfully.
     "Of course it's the real thing!" Blitz protested.
     Mal's eyes abruptly filled with despair.
     "It's gotta be the real Grail..." he whispered.  "Or else I'm 
damned."
     "I have an idea how we can find out..." Luc took the Grail from 
Caligo.  Placing both his hands around the cup, he closed his eyes, using 
the stored energy.  Opening them slowly, he whispered, "Reveal."
     The eerie silver light flared from his eyes as the chalice took on a 
glow.  As if scrying, he stared down in the empty bowl.
     All eyes were on the smallest gargoyle as he stood, grail in hand, a 
statue, the only sign of life being the glow of his eyes.
     Ten minutes passed, and when he still did not move, Brooklyn 
carefully placed a hand on Luc's shoulder.
     "Luc?" he whispered, suddenly felling himself drawn mentally into 
the spell.  He tried to cry out, to pull himself and Luc out of the vision, but 
failed miserably as he found himself in the Wastelands once more.
     But it wasn't the Wastelands.
     It didn't sense the same.
     It had the same sense as the Real world, and instead of the dab and 
usually achromatic hues of the Wastelands, it was vivid with colour.
     He found Luc on the crest of a hill overlooking a crowd of humans 
in some sort of robes.  The smaller gargoyle stood erect, a sentinel, as he 
watched what the crowd was doing.
     "Luc?" Brooklyn repeated, touching his ethereal arm.
     "If this isn't tangible proof of the Grail, Father," Luc hissed, his 
voice not quite his own.  "I don't know what would be.  We are on 
Calvary, roughly 33 CE."
     "Christ's Crucification," Brooklyn answered.
     The young man who in forty years' time would be his son nodded 
slowly.
     The two gargoyles stood silently on the hill of the past, witnessing 
the turning point in Christianity.
     Brooklyn turned away from the scene.
     "I can't watch this, Luach," he whispered.
     Luc did not move, only gaped with a transfixed stare.
     "Luc..." Brooklyn beckoned again, his mind throbbing.
     "Father," the tan male licked his lips.  "Father...I can't break 
away...."
     "Shit..." Brooklyn reached out beyond to the Real world and took 
hold of the anchors.  Then, wrapping the psionic energy tendrils around 
both him and Luc's astral forms, he took one glance back at the 
Crucification, wondering how humans could be so cruel to their own kind, 
he pulled them out of the quasi-Calvary/Wastelands just as the phantasm 
of Longinus threw his spear and the ghost of Joseph of Arimathea caught 
the blood with the same Grail Luc's physical body held in the Real world.

***

     Luc gasped, his eyes returning to green, as he collapsed.  Brooklyn 
caught him and uprighted him, keeping a hand on his shoulder to steady 
the shaking male.
     "It's the Grail, isn't it?" Mal whimpered.
     "It's history is imprinted into it..." Luc retorted with a deep breath. 
"I would have been forced into reliving its entire history."
     Brooklyn only nodded, looking over at Arin, then Malibu.
     "We have all the components," He whispered.  "But this isn't the 
place."
     "Nor the time," Caligo rumbled.
     "Then what?" Arin held out the Phoenix Gate, unsure of what to 
do.
     "Blitz," Brooklyn turned to the blond man.  "May we use the 
Phoenix Gate--"
     "Trade the Grail for the Gate, that was the deal," Blitz shook his 
head.  "I must keep a balance in this house.  However, I will be happy to 
allow you to used my stargate, which I can control from here."
     "We haven't much of a choice, do we?" the leader sighed, taking 
the Gate from Arin and handing it to Blitz.  He placed it on the desk, then 
walked over to what seemed to be a control panel of some sort next to the 
portal.
     "Just turn on the power," Malibu muttered.  "I can control the 
jump."
     "Are you sure?" Arin whispered.  The altered clone nodded 
somewhat.
     Blitz only shrugged, flipping a switch on the side.
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK!
     The vortex emerged from the darkness as Brooklyn shouted over 
the rush, "Only Nate, Mal, and the Four of us need to go.  The rest of you 
stay here!"
     Kade, Chris, Griff, and rather reluctantly Arthur agreed as Malibu 
ventured forth, followed with weapons ready the Four, Nate  and Arin.
     The vortex then collapsed as Arin completely cleared the portal.
     "I feel terrible leaving them to their fate," Pendragon whispered.
     "It's there fate, not your's," Blitz retorted, picking up the Phoenix 
Gate once more.  "Kade, Chris, you can leave now."  Without waiting for 
an answer, he spoke the incantation and directed the flame orb toward the 
two dragons.  They disappeared with curses and protests.
     Afterwards, Griff and Arthur watched with open mouths as the 
Phoenix Gate shrunk in Blitz's hands.  The strange man then adhered the 
artifact onto his belt buckle.
     "Finally!  I can escape the pesky in-laws!" Blitz winked, speaking 
the cantrip again, sending Arthur and Griff back to Into the Mystic Magic 
Shop.

***

     The first place Brooklyn thought of was the Wastelands.
     However, the psionic energy tendrils native to the astral plane 
were nowhere to be felt.
     "Where are we?" Sierra whispered, staring at the bleak landscape, 
the darkened mountains in the distance looming menacingly.  The ground 
was rocky and barren, unable to support life.  The air quality wasn't the 
finest either; the smell of decay was prominent everywhere.
     Arin shivered, taking Brooklyn's hand.
     "I take it this is the Beginning of Time," she muttered, her voice 
quivering in a tone he had not known her to ever express openly.
     Fear.
     "This is all wrong," Luc whimpered.  "All wrong.  If this is the 
Beginning, why does it feel so...spent?"
     "Luach's right," Caligo rumbled, his stormy eyes becoming 
cloudier.  "But to Begin, something must Die.  A never-ending loop."
     "Yin and yang," Mal whispered.
     "Life must die to begin anew," Nate added.  "Disturbing.  Brings a 
new meaning to the word reincarnation."
     "Not new," Mal shook his head.  "That's what reincarnation is.  
Life after death."
     "An infinite loop?" Brooklyn hissed, the eerie silence surrounding 
him and the others almost pushing him off the cliff of sanity.  "This is the 
earth's past...and future?"
     The grey gargoyle nodded slowly.
     "This is after the world died.  It is beginning anew," he retorted.  
"This is during the Battle!"
     "The Battle?" Arin questioned.
     "The Battle of Law and Chaos," Caligo nodded again.  "One of the 
first on Earth."
     "But that does that have to do with the Devourer and me?" Mal 
whimpered.
     "I am a historian," he shook his head, his jet black hair fluttering 
with his movement.  "I am not omniscient."
     "Then what the hell do we do now?" Sierra demanded, zipping up 
her jacket, not because she was cold, because of the fact the deadness of 
the world was chilling her soul.
     "Luc," Caligo placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.  "You must 
cast one more Reveal on the Grail.  It is the only thing that would know 
what comes next."
     "No."
     The largest gargoyle turned sharply and faced his son, his eyes 
taking on an angered glow.
     "I will not allow it," Brooklyn snarled.  "He could loose himself in 
the vision again, like he did last time."
     "You can pull him out again once he knows what steps we must 
take--"
     He was interrupted by the crimson gargoyle wiping his hand under 
his nose and flicking his arm, spraying some sort of thick liquid into 
Caligo's face, a liquid which shone bright red on his charcoal 
complection.
     "My 'abilities' are limited," the leader growled.  "I am not 
omnipotent, like you are not omniscient.  I strain myself each time I enter 
the Wastelands."
     Arin stepped away, sensing a confrontation.
     Caligo rather pompously wiped off the insulting blood from his 
beak, his eyes taking a brighter light.
     Luc, more afraid than angered, wedged himself between Caligo 
and Brooklyn.
     "Can't we discuss this like civilised people?" He questioned, just 
as Caligo pushed him gently from the unofficial combatant circle.
     "We are gargoyles, boy, not humans," he rumbled.  "This is how 
we discuss matters."
     And, with that, he drew his sword.
     A high pitched whine suddenly squealed as Arin tracked her taze 
gun on the two.
     "And this is how we Scots discuss matters," she growled, her eyes 
red.  "I'm not afraid to stun either one of you two...both if I must.  We 
have too much at stake to be fighting amongst ourselves.  Luc is an 
adult...he can make his own decisions without Brooklyn or Caligo 
influencing him."
     Luc, meanwhile, stared down at the Grail still in his hands.
     The energy from the earth was foul, with an rusty taint to it, as he 
forced it through his Will and out to his Word.
     "Reveal."
     It was like he was turning to stone; though no sun rose in the 
desolate sky; he remained flesh and blood.  His body became rigid mortis, 
his right hand clutching the stem of the Grail, his left hanging limply at 
his side.  His eyes were no longer green nor angered white nor the blazing 
silver when his Word was activated; instead, they took a gold hue to them, 
intensifying the eeriness to the situation.
     Caligo and Brooklyn abruptly halted their argument to gape at the 
smallest gargoyle, frozen by his own spell.
     "Wonderful," Sierra grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, 
though her eyes almost shone with a light of...remorse?
     With everyone's attention on Luc, no one noticed Malibu's 
equally-frozen expression, his more out of pain than vacancy.
     He was fighting his own battle.

     The vision was different, Luc told himself, as everyone faded from 
his sight.  The landscape, however, remained the same.  
     The others became nothing more that blackened figures, only 
recognisable by their shape.
     The Grail glowed gold in his hand, and he could still see the power 
from his Word course down his arm and to the stem.
     This wasn't right.  This wasn't right at all.
     And yet, somehow, he knew it was.

     Arin chewed on her lip, cautiously walking up to the catatonic 
gargoyle.
     "Why don't we try taking the damned thing away from him?" she 
suggested with a hushed tone.
     "Now there's an idea," Sierra mumbled, grabbing hold of the 
stem 
     --and stiffened, her eyes flaring red, then the dull gold of Luc's.
     "That's it.  I'm shutting up now--" the tan female grumbled, 
throwing her hands up.  She was going to say something else, but a blood-
curdling scream from the clone alerted the other three of a connection 
between the two incidents.
     "It's...in pain..." Mal hissed, sinking to his knees and doubling 
over.  "It's trying...to escape...and it can't..."
     "That's it..." Nate snapped his fingers.  "The Four of you must 
hold the Grail at the same time!"
     "Why couldn't we do that before?" Brooklyn demanded.  "We had 
everything in place at Blitz's."
     "Not everything," Caligo retorted.  "Four points, a central axis, and 
an origin. When we left Milan, we had the Four points.  When we were at 
that strange human's home, we acquired the Axis, the Grail.  We needed 
to come here as the origin!"
     "But why here?" Arin questioned.
     "Origin, as the origin of the world?" Nate asked. 
     "That, I do not know," the grey male shook his head.

     Someone to join me? Luach grinned somewhat sardonically as 
Sierra materialised from the Real world.
     What the hell happened? She demanded, trying to pull away.
     It's no use fighting it.  This is what we are suppose to do.
     It's pointless!
     We are Four, Sierra.  We cannot fight destiny.  Just concentrate on 
our goal: to rid the multiverse of the Devourer.
     She suddenly became aware that she was no longer seeing out of 
her own eyes, nor was she hearing anything.  She was only aware of the 
smaller gargoyle and the Grail, and even then, her vision was too twisted 
to be of her own sight.  She was seeing in a concave view, as through she 
could see where Luc was standing, but also she could see herself from 
where he was standing.  It was giving her a migraine trying to figure out 
how that could be possible.
     We are linked, Luc explained.  We are becoming One.
     What the hell are you babbling about?
     Open your mind, he ordered.  You'll understand.
     Reluctantly, she relaxed, finding her awareness becoming more 
acute as her mind melded with his, though retaining her individuality, she 
could now sense what he was thinking.
     Amazing, she hissed, actually for once meaning it. 
     Isn't it? Luc smiled, though he dropped it soon after.  Why did you 
lie to the others?
     What do you mean?
     You lied...about the Hunter and the candle....
     Her flare of anger ripped through him like a knife.  He cried out as 
if physically struck.
     She tried to break away from the mental bond, from the Grail, but 
her body would not respond.
     That is none of your concern!  My only goal was to get you out of 
there!  Canmore was--
     --Expendable? Like the cathedral?  Caligo's home?
     Another flare of anger jolted through the link, causing him to cry 
out again.

     Brooklyn stared, concerned, at the two other gargoyles holding the 
Grail, oblivious to anything around them save themselves.  He could sense 
some sort of...conflict...within the other ethereal World.
     And suddenly, there was a psionic strike, a mental cry of pain....
     "Luc!" Brooklyn growled, taking hold of the Grail's stem, 
allowing the gold light to engulf him.
     It took away his bodily movement, freezing his corporal form, but 
what he lost physically, he gained psionically as he hit Sierra full force, an 
impact that would have sent her reeling back if it wasn't for the Grail 
holding them.
     If you EVER strike him again-- He snarled a threat toward her.
     And what are you going to do about it? Sierra retorted.  None of 
this is real.
     Then why did my strike hurt you?  If it wasn't real, would it have 
hurt you?
     Only psychologically...it's all psychological....
     Is it?
     Both of you! Luc snarled.  We cannot fight like this.  The Devourer 
will succeed if we do.
     Brooklyn felt a surge well up from the smallest gargoyle.  A sense 
of confusion.
     Why? Luc whispered.  You said you were ashamed of me--
     The copper gargoyle's heart sank in realisation of what he had 
yelled at Luc earlier.
     (--I'm ashamed I would ever father a creature who would kill 
without thinking of the consequences!)
     I spoke without thinking, he remarked finally.  Mal is my friend.
     And you were defending your friend, Luc remarked, nodding 
solemnly.  I understand.  It should be me apologising to you.
     Sierra, still sore about Brooklyn's warning slap, grumbled, but said 
nothing else.

     Arin groaned, noting that Brooklyn too joined the "Out To Lunch" 
crew.  Adding a curse as she heard Mal's bloodcurdling screech, she bore 
deep into Nate's eyes.
     "What now?" She snarled.
     "What can we do?" He retorted back.  "My mission was to bring 
the Four together.  You tagged along.  My work is finished here."
     She turned abruptly to Caligo.
     "Finish this," she ordered.  "You're the Last.  You've got to finish 
the Circle."
     Caligo raised an eyebrow, understanding what she had said, though 
believed she didn't know the significance of her speech.
     Surrounding his pet shadows around his hand, he took hold of the 
Grail's stem, his eyes flaring from stormy grey to blazing white to glowing 
gold.
     Arin jumped again as Malibu's scream ripped through her ears to 
her soul, his eyes also taking on the gold cast of the Four's.
     "What the hell's happening?" she demanded, her green eyes 
widening in fear as the glow of the Grail began pulsating, becoming larger 
with each throb, engulfing the Four gargoyles born of Darkness.
     "I have no friggin' clue," Nate shook his head.  "I wouldn't go 
near him if I were you..."
     Arin paused, her hand hovering over Brooklyn's shoulder.  The 
Four of them were motionless; however, there was something within the 
golden glow that radiated life, contradicting the deadness of the planet.
     "But what about Mal?" she whispered more to herself as she 
moved quietly to the now-silent clone kneeling, his mouth wide open, his 
beaked face staring off into space, his eyes still glowing gold.  Somehow, 
the shadowy armour was constantly shifting, though the helm was gone 
completely.  His green-black hair whipped in the dead air, the only 
movement besides the unholy armour on the clone.
     She yelped as Nate pulled his nine-mm.
     "Arin," He shushed.  "We have company.  Ready yourself to 
fight."
     "Damn!" She hissed, flipping the safety off her taze gun.

     The gang's all here, Sierra grumbled sardonically.
     Brooklyn shot her a wordless warning that basically told her to 
keep her sarcasm to herself.
     What now? Luc questioned innocently.
     Caligo's psyche redirected the inquiry to his son.
     If Brooklyn was capable at the moment, he would have sighed.
     Destroy the Devourer, he finally replied.  Get the bastard out of 
Malibu's head.
     And how do you expect to do that?
     Brooklyn emitted another psionic warning for her to shut up.
     Haven't the foggiest, he muttered.
     We have to do something, Brooklyn, Caligo remarked.  Or else....
     I get the idea, Brooklyn nodded.
     Luc said nothing, only stared deep into in Grail.
     "Summon."

     Arin heard or rather felt Luc's voice resonate the air.  Nate too 
noticed it and glanced curiously back at the Four and Grail.
     Shrugging, they both began to circle with their backs to the Four, 
weapons drawn.
     There were creatures cresting the mountains, beings with 
nightmarishly huge wingspans that flew instead of glided.
     Suddenly, a shaft of golden light shot from the Grail up to the 
desolate sky above, penetrating the dark clouds above.
     Nate and Arin cringed back, shielding their eyes from the light.
     The golden light dispersed throughout the heavens, scaring away 
the potential hostilities.
     Then there was a drop of water.
     Then another.
     And another.
     At first, the sprinkles were soaked into the parched earth greedily.
     The sprinkles then became harder, a drizzle.
     Finally, the heavens opened fully, allowing a terenchal downpour 
remorselessly upon the land.
     Nate stared upwards, blinking, his unruly hair hanging in short 
strands on his forehead and neck.  Arin swung her wet hair over her 
shoulder, shooting another look at Four, who were oblivious to the rain.
     "This sucks!" She growled.  "This fuckin' sucks!"
     "Does it?"
     The two took a deep breath and retorted, "Oh, shit!" 
simultaneously.
     The red orbs of the Devourer in Malibu's face peered out at them, 
the wide, malicious grin leering.
     Arin looked away, trying to use her peripheral vision to keep her 
sights on him.
     He leapt at her 
       And was pulled back by long, strong tendrils of shadow, 
slamming the creature's body back on the muddy ground with a 
combination of a thud and a splosh.
     Arin stared at the struggling clone/demon wide-eyed fighting the 
shadows that pulled his arms and legs into the ground through the 
shadows.
     Nate whirled around, facing Caligo, now free of the Grail's hold.
     Brooklyn wrapped his arms around Arin.
     "Any calls while we were out?" he quipped.
     "Yeah, Denis Leary on Line Two," she joked.  "What now?"
     Luc strode over to Caligo, his hand holding the Grail full of rain 
water.
     "Brooklyn," the tan male beckoned.
     Brooklyn nodded, kissing Arin lightly as he joined the rest of 
them.
     Sierra, though, sat rather undignified in a puddle of mud, her rich 
brown hair hanging limply in her face, staring at her hands.
     Arin shrugged, taking more notice of the three males than the lone 
female.
     Personally, she never liked her anyway.
     The Devourer screamed, his eyes focusing on the tarnished cup.
     This was where Brooklyn struck, entering the Wastelands once 
more, taking hold of the Devourer with the energy supplied by the Grail.
     (malibu...) He whispered, soothing.  (malibu, take control...)
     (i'm sorry, brook,) Mal's hissed hollowly.
     (TAKE CONTROL, DAMMIT!)  Brooklyn's own will was 
weakening from struggling with the evil entity.  (TAKE CONTROL, 
WHILE I HOLD THE BASTARD!)
     Luc waited as the red eyes faded, replaced by the familiar inverted 
blue.
     "Now what?" Mal coughed, fighting for control.
     Luc shrugged.
     "I suppose you drink the brew," Luc muttered in a very Brooklyn-
esque manner.
     Mal's eyes widened, then nodded.
     "If it doesn't kill me, it'll only make me stronger," Mal agreed 
with a sardonic smile, taking the Grail from the tan male.  The shadowy 
armour shrank away from the cup as if wounded.
     (NO!!!) The Devourer screamed, fighting Brooklyn's hold, but the 
copper gargoyle refused to let go.
     Mal raised the Grail to his face, took a breath 
     (NO!!!)
     (fuck you!) Brooklyn squeezed tighter his psionic bonds.
       and cheered Arin, tipping back his head and drinking deeply.
     The connection was severed, throwing Brooklyn back, 
unconscious.
     Arin ran to her lover, skidding to a stop, and kneeling in the mud.  
She lifted his head out of the mud, pushing his muddy hair out of his face.
     Malibu dropped the Grail, gurgled, dropping to his knees.  The 
eyes fluctuated between red and inverted blue.
     There was a deafening scream from the clone as the shadows 
around him dispersed, dissolving into nothingness.
     Finally, the creature fell to his side, unmoving. 
     Arin picked up Brooklyn gently, her face demanding the obvious 
question.
     "I don't know," Caligo whispered, drawing his sword and poking 
the seemingly dead clone.  "Without Malibu, we won't be able to return 
home."
     "Do not speak  too hastily, Caligo."
     "Your mission is over, true."
     "But there is more than one way home."
     "Collective groan," Arin muttered, recognising the three-as-one 
voice of the Weird Sisters.
     "You have finished your quest, Four," Selene retorted.
     "You will be returned home to your respected times," Luna 
continued.
     "'Bout friggin' time," Luc grumbled.
     "And you will not remember anything, save the Historian and the 
Host," Phoebe concluded, the three fading as suddenly as they appeared.
     "Oh, that was helpful," Sierra snarled.  Arin shot her a look that 
clearly stated, "Shut the hell up!"
     "What about Malibu?" Arin directed to Nate.  The cop knelt by the 
still clone and checked for a pulse in his neck.
     "He's got a heartbeat, and he's breathing, rather shallowly, but 
breathing," Nate shook his head out pushed the nettlesome lock from his 
forehead.
     "What about mentally?" Luc whispered.
     "Mentally?" Nate hissed.  "Mentally, he's going to be scarred, his 
sanity is probably going to be strained, and his perception may be off.  
However..." he shrugged.  "...I can't sense any sign of the Devourer."
     "So it is gone?" Sierra demanded.  "About friggin' time."
     "Yes and no," Brooklyn groaned, opening his eyes slowly.  
Glancing up at Arin, he added, "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
     "And who says chivalry is dead?" Arin quipped, Uprighting him, 
but remaining at his side for a support.
     "What do you mean?" Sierra asked to Brooklyn's statement.
     "Well, since Arin was carrying me oh, you mean about Mal," His 
mouth quirked upward somewhat.  "The Devourer had to be torn from 
him, so the actual essence of it has been destroyed or banished."
     "You mean it could still be alive?" Luc whispered.
     "Was it alive to begin with?" Brooklyn questioned.  "I'm not 
sure."
     "So the Devourer is gone for good," Sierra sighed in relief.
     "At least in this timeline," Brooklyn's ridges furrowed.  "We don't 
have to deal with him."  He shivered.  "Is there a place where we can get 
out of this rain?"
     "Unless you want to go looking for it, no," Nate retorted, shaking 
his head again.
     Luc dared to kneel closer to Malibu, studying the seemingly 
peaceful gargoyle.
     "He hasn't returned to his normal size," he observed.  "Wasn't he 
the same size as Brooklyn?"
     "He said the essence of the Devourer," Caligo answered truthfully. 
"It does not necessarily mean the influence has left as well."
     "Damn," Brooklyn swore, throwing his drenched hair over his 
shoulder and out of his face.  "I'm going to have one hell of a time 
explaining this to Talon."
     "If we get home," Arin grumbled.
     A beam of light quickly tracked onto them from the skies, as bright 
as the one from the Grail earlier.
     The group shielded their eyes as the light dimmed.  Soon, a 
rumbling noise vibrated the very air, becoming progressively louder and 
louder, until ultimately a large, silver starship of some sort hovered 
menacing directly above them at an altitude of fifty feet.  Hands clapped 
over their ears, the group watched helplessly as a large, bombay door 
creaked open, releasing more light out into the bleak world.  A ramp was 
lowered methodically as the engines were off-lined.
     They watched in silence as a tall figure walked down the ramp, 
raising its hand in salute.
     "So," it smirked in a strangely familiar tone of voice.  "There is 
life on this lump of rock."
     "Not for long," Arin muttered. 
     "Ah, fellow travellers!" It's grin was audible, though they could 
not make out its face.  "But where is your vehicle?"
     "We're stranded by a stargate," Sierra blurted.  "We are from 
different places in time and space."
     "By a stargate, eh?" The creature's hand stroked its chin.  "Well, 
then, maybe I can be of some assistance...." He beckoned them to come 
aboard.  Sierra was the first on her feet and into the ship, with the others, 
Nate and Brooklyn carrying the unconscious Mal between them, trailing 
behind somewhat reluctantly.
     The sterile environment of the hall gave way to a chamber not 
unlike what reminded Arin of the Outklaws' barn.  Magazines and food 
containers littered the place.  In the center of the room was a large 
armchair with a keyboard on the right side and a joystick on the left.  The 
wall in front of that was one large wide-screen.
     "Sorry about the mess," it chortled, its body becoming more and 
more human-appearing, taking the appearance of a human male.  "Party 
last night."
     "Who are you?" Caligo demanded.
     "Oh, where are my manners!  I'm " a series of clicks and grunts 
"   of the  " a lengthy belch "   from the galaxy in you would know 
Orion's Belt.  And you...?"
     "I'm Arin, and this is Brooklyn, Nate, Luc, Caligo, the bitch is 
Sierra "
     "Hey!"
     "  and Sleeping Beauty is Malibu," Arin retorted, pointing to 
each gargoyle and mutate.  "We are from Earth...and Mars, in Sierra's 
case.  From different times.  And we really need to get home."
     The "man" stroked his chin again in thought.
     "Tell you what," he grinned.  "I'll pass you through my stargate, if 
you let me have the beer mug Shorty's holding."
     Everyone shot a glance at Luc, who was guarding the Grail rather 
protectively.
     With a groan, Brooklyn grumbled, "Give him the Grail, Luc."
     Reluctantly, the tan male forked over the chalice to the alien.  He 
clapped his hands excitedly as he placed the Grail between a Budweiser 
stein and a strange contraption that looks suspiciously like a bong.
     "Thanks.  I was missing that.  Come this way!" He led them 
through to another chamber, this one barren save for the large stone circle 
covered in runes, identical to the one in Blitz's collection.
     "All righty then," the alien cracked his knuckles as he sat at the 
control panel.  "First victim I meant, first contestant.  You." He pointed 
to Sierra.  "You want to get out of this mess the most.  Hell, you don't 
even believe in most the stuff you've witnessed.  Give me exact date, 
time, and place you left."
     "September 23rd, 2143, 14:30 GST, 14a Mercedes Court, Los 
Animus, New Olympus, Sol IV."
     "Could you get a little more specific?" the alien questioned as he 
punched a series of buttons on a keyboard in the wall.  There was a buzz, 
and a hologram of six different runes shimmered in front of them.  He 
tapped in the corresponding runes Brooklyn recognised the last rune, the 
origin, Blitz had called it, as the two circles connected by one line and 
the gate began spinning.
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK
     CLANK!
     The rush of the temporal wave washed over them as the vortex 
spanned between the stone circle.
     "After you, sweetheart!" the alien shouted, gesturing toward the 
vortex.  Sierra gave him a weird look, then, taking a deep breath and 
closing her eyes, she stepped through.
     "One down!  Next!  Tiny!" He made a shooting gun sign with his 
hand toward Caligo.  "Where do you hail from?"
     Caligo growled, giving his date and place where he last 
remembered, quickly correcting his place of residence with a heavy sigh.
     The alien did the same procedure, though this time the first three 
runes were different.  The origin was the same, of course.
     "Who's next?" He scratched his chin, glancing at Luc and Nate.  
"You too.  Get ready to jump.  Time and destination, please."
     As Nate gave the strange alien the information, Luc about-faced 
Brooklyn and Arin.
     "I wish I could get to know you two better," he whispered.  "Truth 
is, I've never really knew my parents.  Sure, names and all, but to know 
them...you know what I mean?"
     Arin smiled, her eyes welling as she pulled the young man into a 
great bear hug.  Brooklyn joined the embrace willingly and openly.
     Finally, Luc pulled away, wiping tears from his cheek.
     "Good-bye," he whispered, his emerald eyes pained as he pivoted 
to join Nate through the whirling vortex.  As an afterthought, he paused in 
front of the gate and turned to the red gargoyle, tears still flowing.
      "I probably never get this chance again," he whimpered.  "I love 
you, Father."
     And, in a heartbeat, he was gone.
     Brooklyn felt dampness on his cheek, but dismissed it quickly.  It 
was raining outside, after all.  His hair was still wet.
     Though the pang deep in his heart told him otherwise as the alien 
smiled at the remaining three.
     "Who's turn is it next?" He cheerfully questioned.
     Suddenly, Malibu sat straight up, his inverted blue eyes wide.
     "I was NOT abducted by aliens," he shouted in a raspy voice, not 
much unlike Cartman from South Park, "I did NOT get an anal probe, I 
did NOT have a eighty-foot satellite dish sticking out of my ass, and I did 
NOT get pink-eye from Scott Baio!"
     "No comment," Arin retorted.
     Malibu's gaze went from Arin to Brooklyn to the nameless alien 
back to Brooklyn
     "What the hell happened, bro?" he demanded.  "And why are you 
all of a sudden shorter than me?"
     "Let's not talk about it," Arin grumbled, her hand to her head.
     "So, time, place, date?" The alien rushed.
     "December 17th, 1997, 104 4th Ave, Eyrie Building, Castle 
Wyvern--" Brooklyn remarked.
     "Mrs. Scarlet, in the library, with the candlestick," Arin and 
Malibu finished simultaneously.
     "Oh, quiet, you too," Brooklyn smirked, draping an arm around 
Arin's shoulders.  "It's been a long night, and I really have things to 
accomplish at home."
     "Things to see, stuff to destroy, people to do," Mal quipped, 
wedging himself between the two lovers.  "Y'know, now I know you're 
shorter than me."
     "Bugger off, bloke," Arin shoved him away, returning to her 
beau's side.
     Mal trailed behind somewhat as they entered the temporal rift.
     His goofy smile dropped, replaced by a brooding look.
     You guys are the lucky ones, he thought.  I do remember.  You 
guys will forget this all when we return.
     He glanced down at his older form and heaved another sigh.
     "How the hell am I going to explain this to Talon?
     "Or, for that matter, Del?"
     He slapped his forehead and continued into the vortex, singing 
softly.
     "'I've got friends in low places, where the whiskey drowns and the 
beer chases my blues away.  I'll be okay.  I'm not big on social graces, 
gonna slip on down to the oasis, well I've got friends, in low places!'"

***
1493 CE
Milan

     My son survived...
     Caligo wrote feverishly in the light of the full moon.
     My son is alive...
     The quill danced gracefully across the paper.
     My son...
     He stared at the words on the parchment and smiled.
     My son will be a great Leader.

***
2078 CE
Stewart Street Apartments
The Bronx

     Nate yawned, checked his watch, and swore.
     He should have been at work two hours ago.
     Grabbing his jacket from the rack, he raced down to the garage, 
flipping on the overhead lights.
     There, amongst the modern hovers and electric cars, sat the 
sleekest, strongest car of them all.
     But, for some reason, Artemis seemed to...sparkle...more than 
usual.
     "Nate," she murmured, uncharacteristically.  "I could have sworn I 
had the weirdest dream...I got all smashed up...and this nice human fixed 
me all up...."
     "Arty, you're incapable of dreaming," he smirked as he opened the 
door and sat in the passenger seat 
      And found it too close to the steering column.
     Adjusting it back, he raised an eye ridge.
     "Artemis," he beckoned, "Has anyone been driving you? Maybe 
Zo‰?"
     "Nope, can't say she did," Artemis answered.
     Nate shrugged it off and headed back to the 14th for a typical day at 
work.

***
Eyrie Building
Manhattan

     Tom and Lex were somewhat surprised to find Luc in the 
courtyard, staring out at the stars.
     "Did it work out with Caligo?" Lexington asked, concerned.
     "Oh!" Luc started, pivoting to face his uncle.  "Yeah, it did.  I just 
wanted to come home for a little while."
     Tom suddenly grabbed the smaller gargoyle up into a bear hug.
     "Well, li'l bro!" He smiled broadly exactly like the one his father 
was famous for.  "You are now an honest-to-goodness uncle!"
     "It hatched?" Luc gasped, his eyes wide, grinning.
     "'She' hatched.  A beautiful baby girl," Lex retorted proudly.
     "C'mon!" Tom led him down to the nursery.  "Kat's dying to 
introduce the two of you!"

***
December 20th, 1997 CE
Labrinyth
Manhattan

     "BRENTWOOD!!!"
     The small purple gargoyle cringed and hid as his much larger 
brother stormed out of the clone's room, eyes blazing.
     "BRENTWOOD!!!  WHERE THE HELL ARE MY BOOKS?!"
     Brent sheepishly poked his head from beneath the couch, huge red 
eyes pleading.
     Mal caught the movement, and, in one fluid motion, picked up the 
end of the couch, pulling his brother out from underneath.
     "Where is all my stuff, Brent?" Mal demanded.
     The poor clone began shaking somewhat, muttering intangible 
phrases.
     Mal rolled his eyes somewhat.
     "Am I asking the wrong guy," he grumbled, setting Brentwood 
down.
     "You have a touch with your brothers," RC smirked sardonically 
as she entered the living room.
     "Well, I'd like to know what happened to all my stuff."
     "If you must know," Delilah came up behind the human woman, 
her hands on her hips, "I cleaned out that pig sty of yours and put all your 
belongings in my room."
     "Why'd you do that, Del?" he questioned, suddenly feeling guilty 
for yelling at Brent.
     "I'll let you too alone," RC smiled, going back into the common 
room to help out with the squatters.
     "I'm worried about you, Mal," Delilah shrugged, sitting on the 
couch.
     He blinked.  She was the only one besides Tristan he had told 
about he incident with the Devourer.  Everyone else seemed to have 
forgotten all about the Devourer...he had fabricated a yawn about Sevarius 
managing to nab him and doing further experiments on him, accelerating 
his growth more.  He even laid low for almost a week, not returning until 
last night.
     "I thought that maybe you need to be a little 
more...separated...from the others," Del shrugged again.  "You're different 
than them.  And so am I."  She glanced down in realisation.
     "It's because of our human genes."
     "What?"
     "Sevarius cross-bred three of us you, Thailog, and me with 
human DNA.  The others..." he nodded toward the other room.  "The 
others have gaps in their genetic makeup, mainly in intelligence."
     Delilah just gave him a funny look.  She didn't understand.
     "It doesn't matter," he sat next to her.  "It doesn't matter.  I'm just 
glad to be home."
     They both hugged each other close.
     Though what will happen next? He asked himself.

***
1997 CE
London, England

     Blitz grinned, leaning back in his arm chair.  A rugby game was 
on, but he wasn't really watching it.
     "Good deeds for the day," he muttered.  "Fixed that car of Nate's, 
sent it back."
     Scratched his head.
     "What else did I do?"
     Scratched his head.
     "Hmmph.  Couldn't have been all that important."
     Picking up his beer glass, he turned his head back to the game.

***
Christmas Eve 1997 CE
Eyrie Building

	The light snow fell lazily all around them.
	Arin sighed, snuggling next to Brooklyn.
	"Merry Christmas, love," she whispered.
	He wrapped his arms around her, staring at nothing but her.
	"I have something for you," she grinned evilly as she pulled
out a package from the bag next to her.  Brooklyn took it, his eyes
demanding the usual questions.
	"Open it!"
	"All right," he shrugged, carefully undoing the colourful 
wrappings.
	Within a mass of tissue paper lay a custom leather jacket with
a Harley Davidson emblem on the breast pocket.  Along with it was a 
pair of Levi's and a Smashing Pumpkins tee-shirt.
	"Arin--" he gasped.  "I--thank you!"
	"No problem," she kissed him lightly.  "Put it on!"
	Excitedly, he shrugged into the stiff leather.  She had even 
thought of the wing holes.  Zipping it up, he kissed her.
	"Thank you," he whispered.  "I love it."
	"Glad you do."
	There was some more silence.
	"I didn't get you anything special," he finally sighed, reaching
into his belt pouch and handed her a small box.  "It was almost a last
minute thing.  To tell you the truth, I didn't know what you would 
like."
	She opened the box and gasped, pulling out a sterling silver 
necklace with the Hawkwind "Dorami Fasol Latido" design in a delicate
silver lace work.
	"Fox helped me out with it," he smiled shyly, as she tackled him
for a hug.
	"Thank you!" she giggled.  "Will you put it on for me?"  She
handed him the necklace and pushed her hair out of the way.
	Carefully, he latched the clasp around her slender neck, then
pulled her close, hugging her close.
	And they sat in the parapets, the snow falling lazily around them.

***
1998 CE
Magic Dimension
Winslow, Maine

     Kade grumbled as she drove.
     Of course, she was doing that lately.
     "At least we got rid of the damn Gate," she muttered, screeching 
down I-95 at about eighty, eight-five miles per hour.
     "I miss it," Chris groaned.
     "Well I don't," she snapped, swearing again.
     Suddenly, the familiar blue-white-blue-white-blue-white flash 
caught her attention in the rear view mirror.
     "Fuck," she swore.  "Maybe we should have kept the Gate."

***THUS ENDS THE "IN DARKNESS COMETH SERIES" Hope you 
enjoyed.  Didn't like Sierra that much...I'll welcome your 
opinion...Next...I have a great little fic coming up: "Memory", my first 
"G" rated fic.  Also, (working title) "Masquerade", my "Equality"-wanna-
be story with a twist, as in, Brooklyn gets a heart-to-heart talk from 
Macbeth...you know what that means....  And, coming soon, THE CLONE 
WARS!!!

SOUNDTRACK

"Big Truck" by Coal Chamber, from self-titled album.
"Head like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails, from Pretty Hate Machine
"Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks

--Black Blade "My Cosmic Song Goes On For Eternity"