Together Chapter 3: Avalon Journey

The boat drifted through the fog silently for a while as they finally had a chance to relax now that they we not being followed by rabid faes.

"Hey, Angela," Brooklyn said calmly as he worked his way to the front of the boat, "What's up? What did the Wyrd Sisters say to you guys that put you in such shock?"

Angela turned around, sighed, and finally met his eye. "Apparently the children of Elisa, Goliath and your children where the work sorcery." Brooklyn now shared the shock.

After a pause, Brooklyn said "Children?"

MacBeth, crouched on the bottom of the boat, threw a dirt clog into the water, "It really disturbs me how they do this to us...make us think they're doing us a favor just to find out 'tis all a plot to us and to bring us down to destruction." Brooklyn's expression changed to that of fear.

"I don't think so, MacBeth," Angela tried to be optimistic, "I really think the Sisters are on our side this time. I believe that they are doing us more favors than granting some of us compatibility." There was silence for a while. Xanatos and the new comers didn't really have any connections to the situation and were only slightly more confused than the other three.

Brooklyn asked, "I don't understand, what did they do to them?"

"Why dohn ye ask –them- laddie?"

"How long is she going to be out?" Enoch interrupted, looking down at Demona.

"Yeah" Brooklyn went along with the change in subject, "What are we going to do with her when she wakes up?"

"Why don't you tie her up and drag her behind the boat?" Xanatos said sarcastically bored.

Brooklyn took him seriously, "Well, at least tie her up?"

"No!" Angela said mad.

"Aye," Enoch put a hand on Brooklyn's shoulder, "We just rescued her from captivity, wouldn't make sense to bind her again."

"Please Brooklyn, give her a chance?" Angela begged.

"A chance?" Brooklyn asked skeptical, "How many times have you said that and we all ended up in a lot of trouble?"

Angela looked hurt, "Not in the last few years!"

"Yeah? What about that time about a year ago we caught her breaking into a museum?"

Angela sighed, "She's still an ally…"

A collective gasp cut her off. The attention of the whole boat was turned to the clearing fog. They seemed to be anywhere BUT New York.

"Oh yeah," Angela said sheepishly, "I forgot to mention...we were awful busy tonight and last night. Avalon won't send us home right away."

"Ye mean ye dohn know how to get us back?" MacBeth questioned the girl.

"That is how we get back, we go where Avalon wants us to go until it is time for us to go home."

"You mention this now?" Xanatos raised an eyebrow.

"And time passes differently on Avalon, every hour spent there, a day goes by in the real world."

"What!" Brooklyn blew up, "that means over a month has gone by! Patch would have had to lay her egg...eggs...she's only gargoyles at night, what will the eggs do to her? Not to mention more than one! Oh, she better be ok...I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't!" Brooklyn started to fret. Angela calmly parked the boat in a deserted shack next to a crumbling dock and sunrise fell upon them...a stone day will probably help Brooklyn's ulcer, not to mention Enoch's hand. MacBeth was happy to share Demona's pain of transformation again. So David and MacBeth were left with four stone gargoyles and an unconscious human.

"Well," David let out a sigh, "This certainly isn't how I expected to spend my week…"

"You mean month?"

Xanatos quickly pulled out his cell phone, "Ah, no reception."

"I'm not surprised, we seem to be in the middle of nowhere." The two humans got out of the boat and took a look around the ghost town. The village seemed to have been abandoned over a half century ago and the country appeared to be a desert.

"Well," MacBeth exhaled, "I could sure use some sleep"

David laughed, "how many days have you gone without sleep?" MacBeth tiredly rose three fingers. "Well, I'm going to see if there's a town up that road."

"Aye," MacBeth climbed into the boat and laid back against unconscious Demona. "I'll stay here and make sure Demona doesn't smash anyone we like."

David hesistated, "No offense or anything… but what does she see in you?"

MacBeth laughed, "She loves guys who try to kill her, of course."

David rolled his eyes, "I still can't believe you trust her."

"'Tis been over a year and she hasna betrayed me yet."

"Wow, that's longer than I lasted." Xanatos was looking away and didn't see MacBeth's suspicious look. "We were allies for a couple of years, and even I, who is suspicious of everyone, was fooled by her."

MacBeth laughed, "We were allies for -decades- before –I- ever wanted to kill her." MacBeth's tone turned serious, "Well, you know Fox," MacBeth used David's wife as an example, "many consider her dishonest and untrustworthy, how do you trust her? How do you know she didn't marry for your money?" David didn't need to answer that.

Demona groaned in her unconscious state. MacBeth reached to stroke her hair. He placed his hand on her belly, hoping to be able to prove if what the Wyrd Sisters had suggested, she was going to have a son, was true. David figured out what he was thinking.

"So, Patch and Brooklyn, Goliath and Elisa...One gargoyle, one human, both going to have children through the help of magic...I agree with you, they have plans for the kids." David hesitated, "Demona's pregnant too, isn't she? Another half-and-half child?"

MacBeth's lack of response was answer enough for David. "Well, I'll let you sleep," David started to head off, "you crazy old man."

When MacBeth woke, the sun was much higher in the sky. He was woken by the stirring of his pillow.

"MacBeth?" She groaned as he sat up, "wha- wher-?"

"'Tis ok, yer safe"

Demona blinked up at the stones she was leaning against. She felt so safe with a stone Brooklyn looming over her and a chubbier Brooklyn duplicate as well. See looked back at MacBeth, "What happened? I was in my office and then there was this really feminine male fae, and then I was in a prison cell, then in front of a group of faes, and then another, much larger group of faes and then the cell again..." She felt like she was telling a dream.

"Come on, let's take a walk," MacBeth said as he helped her up.

The two discussed events as they strolled through the streets of the deserted town, Demona wearing MacBeth's trenchcoat. MacBeth told her about the different sides of the fae's 'political debate'. "So there are many who do not think they should interfere. The ones that kidnapped you claimed that since you did a lot of terrible things, all gargoyles are causing the destruction of humans and must be eliminated. Then there are the ones that want to encourage gargoyle and human acceptance. I think the Wyrd Sisters are part of that group and in fact and trying, I believe…." He hesitated, "to create a half human/half gargoyle race to help encourage peace." Demona gave MacBeth an astonished looked when he told her that. "Apparently, Goliath and Elisa, Brooklyn and Patch, and..." he took a deep breath, "you and I are all going to have children through their help." Demona's expression morphed from surprise to realization. "You knew?" MacBeth stopped strolling through the streets and looked at her.

"I--I wasn't sure, I mean, until now I didn't think it was possible. But now it makes sense..." Demona's thoughts wandered. "What do they want with our child!" Demona said suddenly. "They must have a plan for them, just like they did with us!"

Demona looked up to see MacBeth smiling and growled at him for not caring. "I missed your yelling." She rolled her eyes are him. "No really! Come now, how could ye do that to me? Going and getting kidnapped like that! Do you realize all the work and torture you put me through?"

"Ha! The torture I put YOU through? How about when you landed yourself in the hospital for nearly a week! That's torture." As Demona said that, MacBeth smiled. So she responded, "Well… I didn't miss YOU. I was just terribly uncomfortable with the fact that you nearly dieing meant I could die." MacBeth laughed and she kissed him.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of a blast and running footsteps. Xanatos soon came running around a bend, followed by the squat witch that Demona and MacBeth had run into before.

MacBeth immediately pulled out an iron bullet gun and threw it at Xanatos, who caught it, rolled around, took cover and started firing back. MacBeth threw another gun to Demona, who started firing, while MacBeth pulled out this ray gun and an iron chain out of the pockets of his trenchcoat.

"My gosh, what all do you keep in there?" Demona asked between shots, MacBeth just smirked and handed her one end of the chain.

Demona immediately threw her gun to Xanatos, who caught it with his free hand and began firing both guns. Demona yelled to him over the fire as she started to climb the nearby building, "Draw her attention!"

"How! She seems more interested in the two of you!" Xanatos shouted, but Demona just climbed until she was high enough to take flight.

At the other end of the chain, MacBeth acted like an anchor for the chain on the ground, while firing his laser with the other hand. Demona flew around the witch until she had the witch bound, which took a few tries because the witch kept trying to escape.

The trio composed themselves as they surveyed their prisoner. David decided to note, "Wow, you two really do make a good team!"

Demona gave MacBeth a look. He shrugged, "He knows." In the process of rolling her eyes, she noticed a few humans come running up to them.

Most of them had dark hair and olive skin. They came running up and asked them about their magical captive in a language the traveling group did not understand. MacBeth was about to start going through the different languages he knew to see if he could find some way to communicate when one of the humans stepped forward. Each of the traveling group a double take when they first saw the woman. At first she looked like an old witch to MacBeth, an old green gargoyle to Demona and a young school girl to Xanatos. Finally they all realized that she looked exactly like a Wyrd Sister, but she had red hair.

"Thank you for capturing her." The sister said, "She's been a menace to us since before sunrise. I take it you know about faes since you were about to capture her?" She wasn't able to get a response out of the group, since they were all still jaw-dropped. So she put her hand forward, "The name's Artemis."

"You're a..." David stuttered, "a Wyrd Sister?"

The red-head gave out a laugh, "I haven't been called that in a long time!"

"I'm David Xanatos," He introduced, "This is Demona and MacBeth."

"Ah, the infamous duo!" Artemis shook their hands. She was much friendlier than they thought possible for a Wyrd Sister. It was also a nice touch that she didn't speak in riddles.

"Is not Artemis a Greek goddess?" MacBeth changed the subject.

"Oh, we all did our bit of being goddess back in the day. Back when we still hung out together, we all kinda fought over the moon...Luna much preferred hanging out in Rome..."

"Why did you leave the sisters?"

"Because Luna, Phoebe and Selene turned into thugs for hire." Her voice held centuries of disgust. "They did the bidding of whoever they felt like pleasing at the moment. It was when they joined up the Archmage that we went our separate ways."

"That was when I'd had enough, I refused to participate in the scheme to get you two," she motioned at Demona and MacBeth, "condemned for the rest of your life." Demona and MacBeth gave each other a look that suggested disagreement with the word 'condemned'. Artemis must have known what they were thinking, because she added, "don't tell me you now think it was worth it?" Demona and MacBeth's expression fell in agreement. "Anyway, after we split, I came back to my people, because I love working with them," her face lit up as she talked.

"So we're in Greece?" Demona asked.

"West Turkey, actually."

"Do ye know what the Wyrd Sister's plans are now?" MacBeth asked.

"Yes, actually, because I'm working with them again."

"You are!" Demona growled.

"Hey, we're on the same side, believe me!" Artemis could tell by their expressions that they did not. "Ever since the Archmage was killed. Now we've been working together against those other faes that are trying to commit genocide."

"What of these children?" MacBeth interrupted, "What are your plans for them?"

"Oh nothing like their plans for you, I assure you." Artemis thought for a moment. "And they have nothing like that further planned for you, by the way." She tried to reassure them.

"What are your plans? Why did you grant us, and two other couples we know compatibility?"

"Oh, you aren't the only ones. We've got allies all over." Artemis turned to the small group of humans with her, "These humans actually consider themselves part of a mixed clan. Chloe here has just become pregnant with a half-breed." The young mother blushed, apparently understanding what Artemis was saying.

"But what gives you the right!" Demona asked.

"Hey! We only granted compatibility to cross species couples that already wanted kids!"

Xanatos blinked, "These two wanted kids!"

Demona and MacBeth exchanged an awkward glance before MacBeth returned to the subject, "But why?"

"To help unite the species!" Artemis didn't seem to appreciate her motives being questioned. "I'm sorry about the conflicts, it's not like I want this! There's another mix couple in this clan, her human husband was killed last week by this…" she motioned at the chained witch angrily, but the subject also seemed to hurt. "Look, I need to take care of her, thanks for your help. And here…" she waved her hand and an orb few into Xanatos' hands, "…so you can understand my friends here. They can help you get any supplies you need." In a huff and a flash of light, Artemis and the squat witch disappeared.

The Turkish humans led the traveling humans to their home, perched on top were their stone friends. The Turks were very friendly and helped them find some food. They also traded battle strategies before sunset began to fall and the group decided to head back to their gargoyles friends.

On the way back to the boat, Xanatos sneered, "I don't see how a few half-breed babies are supposed to be of help to us."

MacBeth sighed, "Ye forget that the faes are immortal. They are planning for the long run here. They may expect this war to last for a long time."

"I don't like the sound of this," grunted Demona. "I wouldn't trust a Wyrd Sister if she had bubble-gum pink hair... even if they did help you 'rescue' me."

The human trio was just starting on the food when the gargoyles awoke and Demona transformed.

"Demona!" Brooklyn growled when he saw her awake. He seemed to have forgotten that they had just saved her and remembered only his grudge.

"Calm Down!" Demona stared the other gargoyle down. "I'm not going to hurt you, if I wanted to I would have done that at day!"

"Why didn't you? Xanatos and MacBeth stop you?"

"Because you're not my enemy Brooklyn! My enemy's enemy is my friend."

"Hmph, and next time, what will it be, you'll help up right up 'til we help you defeat your enemies and then drop us like a rock...literally?"

"I would but I love my daughter too much." She sneered.

"Brooklyn," Angela said calmly, "believe her. I do. I believe she has no reason to betray us when the battle is won."

"You make it sound like it's going to go quickly." Enoch interrupted, "These are immortals we're fighting, it may never end."

"Oh yes, Mother," Angela changed the subject, "These two gargoyles joined us at Avalon to help us out in New York. This is Tessa."

Angela moved on in her introductions. "And Brooklyn's cousin..." She moved the dark teal gargoyle, "is Enoch. He helped MacBeth get you out of prison."

"He's not your cousin." Demona said bluntly. "He's your brother." The two long faced boys looked at each other, amazed and doubtful. After no words were exchanged, Demona added, "He really is, your mother and I were friends."

"Really" Enoch asked, not knowing Demona well enough to hate her, "Tell us about her?"

As story time started, Xanatos and MacBeth told Angela and Tessa about their fae encounters during the day, about the granting of compatibility to gargoyle-human couples world-wide and they discussed how they doubted it was for the greater good.

"Half-breeds all over the world?" Angela asked, "Why?"

"I don't know," said MacBeth "but fae gifts always come with a painful price." He said as he looked at story telling Demona.

Later, as story time ended, Brooklyn joined the fae conversation. "I as much I would love to have kids," Brooklyn looked out over the water, "I think I'd rather they didn't 'grant us compatibility' than have my kids ripped away from me as part of their plan." Brooklyn gazed sadly into the water and Tessa put a hand on her future brother-in-law's shoulder.

"So if Avalon sends us these places, where do we go from here?" Tessa asked.

"Well, each time there was a reason we were sent, some evil we had to stop or some good we had to do." Angela said.

"So we have to do some good before we leave?" MacBeth grumbled.

"Well, we did help out that clan" Demona said with disgust, "I can't believe that, humans and gargoyles living together, having kids together, what's next?"

To Brooklyn, this seemed like something perfectly normal for Demona to say. Angela, Xanatos and especially MacBeth threw her a look. She just responded by giving MacBeth a dirty look, to which MacBeth had to hide a smirk.

When they finished eating, they decided to head out, figuring if there was still something Avalon wanted them to do there, she could sent them right back.

As the fog cleared, Enoch interrupted the silence, "Where do you suppose we are now?"

They all looked up, no one had ever seen a place like that. Half of the group had all been all over the world but never had they seen a city like this, even if a cold soft rain was falling to blur the view. There were buildings of a style they had never seen, and the cars looked sleeker and faster then they had seen before. There we also hover crafts all over with traffics control on the ground and above as well.

Since they were all gargoyles except Xanatos and MacBeth, they took flight at the first opportunity they had, Brooklyn carrying Xanatos and Enoch carrying MacBeth. One thing the group found curious was that on the elevated subway had what looked like handles on the roof of some of the cars. From a distance they realized why, they saw a couple of gargoyles, who were hanging on the handles let go and catch the wind in their wings as they took flight. Curious to learn more about how these gargoyles lived in cooperation with this strange, unfamiliar community, they followed the gargoyles.

They followed them to a tall silver building with a large scrolling marque below a digital clock. The travelers thought it odd that the gargoyles didn't seem to notice that they were being followed. As they landed on a landing of the tall building the other gargoyles turned around and gasped, as if expecting them to be someone they weren't.

"Who are you?" Asked a short green bald female gargoyle.

"We're travelers." Xanatos said bluntly.

"We were wondering about how you get along so well with your community?" Angela tried to start friendly conversation before someone else messed it up.

"We have for probably a hundred years or so now" said the green gargoyle shyly.

"Who is it Danielle?" asked a purple male gargoyle as he came out onto the landing.

"Um, uh, travelers." said Danielle.

"Well, don't be rude then," he said, "invite them in, we're just starting lunch break."

The group followed the purple and green gargoyles into a room where two other gargoyles were sitting. They were all wearing some type of uniform.

"I'm Jared," introduced the purple gargoyle who had black hair, a long face and underarm wings, "this is Jessilyn" he pointed to a yellow female with white hair and a cat-like face, "you met Danielle," he motioned to the short green bald gargoyle, "and this," he pointed to a pale red-orange with a prominent jaw "is Brooklyn." The travelers all simultaneously raised exactly one eyebrow.

"Hey, so am I," Brooklyn extended a hand in his extra cheerful way. The rest of the 'travelers' introduced themselves as well.

"So we're in America?" Tessa asked in her Welsh accent, "ye all have, sorta, America accents?"

"But where in America looks like this place?" Xanatos asked.

"You mean you travelers don't know where you've traveled to?" Asked Jessilyn.

"Eh, we were sent here by Avalon, a magical island."

"Avalon, sounds familiar," said Danielle.

"So, does your society and the human society mingle?" Enoch asked.

"Yeah." Jared answered as if it was a dumb question.

"Well, we do still have prejudice against us," Jessilyn pointed out to Jared as she offered some donuts to the new comers. "I think it was a century ago or so that we couldn't walk out on to the street without people thinking we were some kind of monsters or something."

"How did they start to finally accept you?" Angela asked excited.

"Why would you want to work with them?" Grunted Demona.

Brooklyn the non-traveler suddenly looked offended. Jessilyn added, "why wouldn't we? I mean, we live with them...if we didn't want to work with them we'd probably have to go live by ourselves, if you know what I mean."

"But if they treat you like a ravage animal!" Demona growled.

"No they don't" Brooklyn the other defended, "we have rights too."

"You do in this society?" MacBeth asked, "Where we come from they havena even decided whether to give gargoyles citizenship or not."

"Human government, always thinking the world belongs to them," Demona grumbled.

"Well," said shy Danielle, "We all in here have a little human in ourselves though."

The group turned and stared at her. There was a pause and each stranger tried to interpret the other. "So...faes have given ye compatibility too?" MacBeth broke the silence.

"Uh, we've always been able to have children between our species." replied Jared.

"No we haven't" interrupted a new voice. A Caucasian human female with long black hair came in with a couple of grocery bags containing milk and plastic cups. She had a long coat on and obviously just came in from the spring rain. She sat the milk down on the table and grabbed a donut as she sat down.

"This is Xelda Wan," said Jared, "she works part-time here at the police station as well as teaches history, so she knows more than we do."

"Is that what this place is, a police station?" Brooklyn interrupted, looking around the cozy break room and the uniforms.

"Our species didn't start interbreeding until about a hundred and fifty years ago," said Xelda continued with a mouthful of donut, "It wasn't until after they realized that we were compatible that the government was forced to give gargoyles citizenship."

"So now gargoyles live like humans?" Demona sneered at the human.

Xelda glared back, "and what is gargoyles life like? If you don't mind my asking."

"We're free and not restricted by human laws."

"And what is so different about human laws than gargoyle laws?"

"Well, for one thing we wouldn't be discriminated against."

"Well, why do you think the president wanted a couple of part gargoyles to be apart of congress?"

The travelers jaws dropped with confusion.

"We better get back to work guys." Jared broke the silence.

"Well, why don't I show these guys to my grandmother's place and then meet you guys down on Broadway?" Xelda said. Angela perked. They all stood up to leave and the travelers followed Xelda who followed the other gargoyles out onto the landing. Xelda then took off the coat to reveal wings and a thin tail. She leaped to the edge of the landing and took flight, the travelers followed.

They flew through the cold misty rain for a while when Brooklyn suddenly caught a draft upwards.

"What is it?" Angela yelled after him.

"I'm seeing something."

It was hard for the others to hear what they were saying but it was something like, "it can't be, can it?"

As they flew through the extremely tall, strange buildings they came to a building that was a bit taller than the others and defiantly the most elaborate. Xelda glided to the top where they all settle onto an ancient-looking building that rested on top of the elaborate one.

"What!" Demona half yelled, "Castle Wyvern?"

"Yes, Castle Wyvern" Xelda said firmly.

"I don't understand..." said Enoch.

"This is New York, isn't it?" Angela said.

"Like..." Brooklyn didn't really want to be the one to suggest it but did anyway, "is this the future?"

"Yes," Xelda said smartly, "around 150 by my guess."

"You knew?" asked MacBeth.

"I am a history teacher, I'm not stupid, I know that there is nowhere in America that has gargoyles that didn't know about the gargoyle laws. In 150 years you're not even going to have pockets of ignorant people like you in West Virginia!" (author's note, I'm from WV, so no offense intended )

"But..." said Demona.

"And I know my genealogy, I know two of my own close ancestors when I see them." She looked directly at Brooklyn, "and" then she looked directly at Xanatos. A little white haired kid with underarm wings came wadling out.

"Mummba" he mumbled.

Xelda picked him up and said, "Xack, I want you to meet your great great grandfathers."

The sun started to come up so a few other gargoyles came out.

"Do you all live here?" Asked Tessa.

Xelda laughed, "oh no. There's a good sized clan that's related to us out in Chicago. Brooklyn and Jessilyn live several miles north and so on."

Brooklyn said, "How did you get to be so many out of so few? Wouldn't you have to...inbreed?"

Xelda laughed again. "Well, I can't say none of us have the same ancestor twice but somewhere down the line a rule came about that we were not allowed to date our first cousin."

There was silence for a little while as the sun rose. Brooklyn, Enoch, Tessa and Angela turned to stone while Demona turned human. When she was done transforming, Demona and MacBeth turned to look at what Xanatos was staring at. Several of the gargoyles were walking back indoors, leaving some stone friends behind. Xelda, who still had wings and a small tail, put her son down to let him follow the others.

"Well, I need to catch up with the others." Xelda said.

"Wait, the other's didn't turn to stone either?" Demona asked amazed.

"They're part human, why would they?" And Xelda took off.

The human trio blinked for a several minutes as they watched Xelda disappear into the low rising sun.

"Right..." Xanatos interrupted the silence, "I'm going to see what they've done with the place." As he walked toward the castle, Demona and MacBeth continued to blink as they thought about what they were going to until the gargoyles woke up. Suddenly their attention was drawn when Xanatos exclaimed, "Owen!"

Demona and MacBeth turned around to see Owen Burnett exactly how they remembered him, stone fist, red tie and all, coming out of the doorway Xanatos was just going to go into.

"Mr. Xanatos!" He replied just as astonished. "Oh yes, Avalon journey, right? You told me about this." He stuck out his hand, "give me the oldest penny you can find, for your grandaughter."

David laughed and started going through his wallet.

"So how many part gargoyles are there living here?" MacBeth asked the fae.

"Here?" He asked, "well, in New York there's probably a good thirty or forty. A group moved out to Chicago some years back. There's a good sized group that is part of the U.S. special forces in the war."

"War?" Asked Demona.

"It's a human war for the most part, don't worry about it." Was all Owen said.

"What can you tell us about these half humans/half gargoyles?" MacBeth asked.

"Well, your children..." Owen motioned toward Demona and MacBeth.

"How did you..." Demona interrupted.

"Pardon me, ma'am but you can't keep a second gargoyle clan in New York secret for 150 years." Demona acknowledged that he had a point.

"We can move away from New York?" Demona suggested to MacBeth.

"And have our son grow up as the only gargoyle his age in town?" MacBeth rebutted. "We'll discuss this later."

Owen moved on, "The more gargoyle they have in their blood the more gargoyle strength they have and the longer they live and the opposite is true. The more human they are, the more humanlike hours of sleep are needed but if they are very gargoyle they need a lot of sleep to keep up energy for that strength." he explained, "So energy and strength are inversely related."

"Hmm," Demona said after Owen was done with his explanation. "Maybe I'll give myself a call..."

"Don't call yourself." Owen told her.

"Why not?" based on a scene in Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

"Nothing ever gets accomplished when one calls oneself." Owen picked up an invisible phone and dialed on an invisible keypad.

"Hello, Demona? This is Demona, please don't hang up." Owen looked at his invisible phone and put it back on it's invisible hook. "She hung up."

So Demona and MacBeth decided not to look themselves up and decided to hang out in the mansion the rest of the time because they had lived enough 150 years that another one did not mean a whole lot to them.

Their new destination was not only familiar to Angela, but also to Demona and MacBeth.

Angela stepped out onto the sandy shore and breathed in the desert air. "Ah, Egypt."

As the group followed Demona to the colony of Egyptian gargoyles she and MacBeth had met before (but she tried not to mention that they were together at the time), they came across a tent of, apparently, archeological work.

"Hello!" Xanatos greeted the humans, joined by MacBeth. The Gargoyles stayed out of sight.

"Ah, jolly good evenin' to ya!" Called the elderly man. With him was an older woman and a younger woman.

"I'm kind of lost," David said, "I don't suppose you have any way for me to charge my cellphone?"

The elderly woman laughed, "no, sorry, and the nearest town is not for miles. You're welcome to spend the day with us, but we won't be going to town until the day after tomorrow."

"Thank you," David smiled, "David Xanatos." He offered his hand, "And my colleague is MacBeth."

"Dr. Norman Shepherd," the old man accepted handshakes from both men. "This is my wife Delores, and my daughter Anna."

"If you dohn mind my asking, why are ye working at night?" MacBeth asked after Delores offered them some water.

"For one thing it's cooler!" Anna said.

"So we can meet the gargoyles!" Norman said. Xanatos and MacBeth exchanged looks.

"Can't you study gargoyles just the same during the day?" Xanatos asked.

"No, live ones!" Anna said excited.

"And we don't study them," Delores said, "we study with them."

"You work with real gargoyles?" David questioned.

"Here comes Reh'Teh now!" Anna pointed at the sky.

As the green jackal-headed gargoyle landed, the archeologists greeted him in ancient Egyptian. They spoke some before Norman turned to David.

"He says the others can come out of hiding." Norman translated. With that, the others revealed themselves.

"So ye study gargoyles, or gargoyle history?" MacBeth asked with eager interest. As the group moved toward the homes the gargoyles have made.

"And Egyptian history," Delores said perkily. "Come, meet the clan."

The group of humans and gargoyles moved to the cave network that housed the Egyptian clan. Inside, Demona greeted Nebulan, and the other gargoyles she had met before. MacBeth was surprised to see another familiar face.

"Arthur!" The former English king turned and shook hands with the former Scottish king. MacBeth asked, "What are ye doing here?"

"Well, Griff and I stopped by and helped them with a fairy that was giving them trouble." Arthur told the Scot who nodded in understanding. "We were going to head out when, well, Griff didn't really want to leave." Arthur motion MacBeth to where Griff was. The green English gargoyle was very nervously talking to a cute, blue, hawk-headed, Egyptian gargoyle.

"Her name is Qebeh'hiel," Arthur responded, half rolling his eyes, and MacBeth laughed.

As the two men caught up, the young human woman, Anna, greeted one of the gargoyles, a golden bald gargoyle, with a kiss. Xanatos approached the couple with a question, "You two aren't… by chance, trying to have children?"

The gargoyle and human blushed, "Not yet," said Anna, "But Nebulan said she could help Her'rur and me if we wanted to."

"Nebulan?" Xanatos asked. The couple motioned to the Arabic looking gargoyle. He asked her, "You're a fae?"

"I was once, but most of my powers have been stripped." She responded.

"But are you working with the Wyrd Sisters?" She nodded in response to his question.

While the traveling group mingled, they noticed that the Egyptians seemed to be loading up on iron weapons and iron armor.

"What's going on?" Angela asked.

"A battle is coming," Nebulan answered mystically.

The traveling group followed suit. They began putting on armor as well. Some of the weaker, older or younger gargoyles stayed behind with human scientists to defend their home. The traveling group moved out with the bulk of the Egyptian gargoyles to the open desert in preparation for battle.

Demona turned to Nebulan, "How do you know there's going to be an attack?"

"We have spies among the anti-gargoyle group." Nebulan responded, "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that they are ready to move from trying to scare the gargoyle away to actually eliminating them."

"Why the drastic move?" MacBeth asked, "I thought that they weren't allowed…"

"It's…" Nebulan hesitated, looking guilty, "It's partially our fault. At first they bent the rules and attacked the gargoyles. We responded with bending the rules and allowing compatibility. So they are moving to the next step." She hung her head.

Demona gave out an angry grunt, to which the fae-gargoyle defended, "That's why we're trying to help. But our sources say this is the first group they are going to try to eliminate."

"Well, we're not going to let that happen," Demona said in defense of her fellow gargoyles.

There was a calm before the storm. The gargoyles waited on the top of a desert dune, ready to take flight with their iron weapons. Nebulan waited with the humans, Xanatos, MacBeth and Arthur with spells ready to be cast.

The first move was made. The sand below them reached up and started to surround MacBeth, Demona, Brooklyn, and the golden gargoyle, Her'rur, who was Anna's husband. Demona was able to leap up and blast the base of the sand formation before it was able to over take her. She then flew down and blasted the base of the formation engulfing Brooklyn, trying to help free him. As the other gargoyles freed their fellow Egyptian, and Arthur and David helped to free MacBeth, the wave of faes moved in. There were a lot of them. There was the Egyptian and Hindu fae that MacBeth had seen at the debates, there was also the skinny feminine fae and many others, of all shapes and sizes. They fired blasts at the Egyptian clan, who responded with their iron weapons and spells. Griff flew down and picked up Arthur, who used the magic of Excalibur to attack the faes. Once Demona had Brooklyn free of the sand, she threw him the end of an iron chain, and like other gargoyles, tried to capture as many of the magical entities as possible.

As the number of enemy faes started to dwindle, so did the gargoyle group's iron chain count. Enoch, Angela and Tessa threw iron weapons at the fairies, weakening them, while, from the ground, MacBeth and Xanatos tried to only hit Faes with their energy weapons and not their gargoyle allies.

Just when the battle looked to be going their way, the allies discovered that their attack was only just the first wave. Out of the desert sand, a second wave of glowing faes lit up the night sky with their magical blasts. They started knocking gargoyles out of the sky. Magical spells successfully captured MacBeth, Demona, Brooklyn and Her'rur. Arthur and Nebulan were unable to free them with the spells they could conjure.

Arthur found himself left on the ground again as Griff fell out of the battle to try to catch his injured would-be girlfriend. Other gargoyles were falling back or making heroic attempts to take the faes down with them. As their numbers dwindled, suddenly Nebulan yelled, "Forget the rules! We need help! We can't let this go on!"

David, who was on the ground with her and King Arthur, looked to find who she was yelling at. Out of the sand on their side of the battle, rose several magical creatures whose goal was to blast the other faes, not the gargoyles. Among these faes could be seen all four of the Wyrd Sisters, as well as the teenage and wizard looking faes they had seen at the debates.

While faes like the Sisters moved to the front of the battle, a few faes flew down to help some of the fallen gargoyles, and to free the captured mix-breeders.

As the enemy fairies saw that they were being beaten back, another wave of enemy faes appeared. The humans on the ground just watched and wondered where so many magical creatures could have come from. What was probably the last waves of both sides emerged into the battle, probably recruiting anyone from Avalon that could no longer just sit back and watch bursted into the battle. The light show was incredible. Now all of the gargoyles were on the ground, helpless against a battle of such scale, and watched the magic above them like the 4th of July.

Finally, a flash of light, brighter than all of the other, shot up in the middle of the battle like a fountain, clear up into the sky. Out of the light stepped Titania and several assisting faes, like the more neutral of the debaters, and stopped both sides of the battle. At the wave of Titania's hand, all the magic stopped. Then with another wave of her hand, without saying a word, she motioned to both sides like a mother telling children to go to their rooms.

Another wave of her hand and the spells binding Demona, MacBeth, Brooklyn and Her'rur were released and she said to the travelers, "It's time for you to go home."

After saying their farewells to Arthur, Griff and the Egyptians, the Avalon group returned to their boat. It was fairly quiet among the bunch. Brooklyn eventually said softly to Demona, "Thanks." She turned to him with her usual evil glare, "thanks for helping free me and for helping in the battle." Her expression didn't change, but she did give a nod.

As the fog cleared and New York appeared, the group returned to the Eyrie Building (appearing more like how they left it), with Demona and MacBeth agreeing to go with them to explain the events to the others. As the group landed on at the Castle Wyvern, they were quickly greeted by loved ones. Xanatos immediately ran to see his family, Angela greeted her daughter and husband, and Brooklyn found Patch. The two months that they were gone showed as Patch was still carrying Brooklyn's twins. She explained to him that they figured she was never actually going to lay eggs since she was naturally human, she was as pregnant as you will ever see a gargoyle.

Angela rushed to go find Goliath and tell him everything, so Lexington and Liberty left to go find Elisa. Meanwhile Hudson and Broadway met Enoch and Tessa. Demona and MacBeth were starting to wonder why they were still there when Owen came out and started asking about the events that his magical brothers and sisters were involved in.

Angela had finally drug out her stubborn father, his attention was immediately drawn to his ex.

"Demona!" Golaith said. Demona just rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Brooklyn stopped him, "She's on our side here." Everyone halted in their steps and stared at Brooklyn for a beat with this declaration.

"Yes, father," Angela said soothingly, "remember she's the reason we went to Avalon in the first place."

"I still don't understand why you two are working together," Goliath referred to Demona and MacBeth.

"Aye, as much as I hate to admit it," MacBeth said, "we need to work together here. I'm sure yer daughter here has mentioned some of the things we're up against."

Goliath nodded. They began to explain past events as Liberty and Lexington returned with Elisa. The poor woman looked like she was on the verge of tears, and her pregnancy was starting to show.

"Goliath… I-" she said softly. The others just waited quietly.

"Elisa…" The large purple gargoyle approached her, he touched his claw to her face, and then softly touched his hand to her belly. Elisa began to cry and Goliath smiled as he gently hugged her. He kissed her on the forehead before the two left to somewhere not public to talk.

"Wow." Demona broke the silence. The entire group turned to her in amazement, but she seemed to be the one that was the most amazed. The pointed to where Elisa and Goliath's reunion had taken place and said, looking at MacBeth, "That didn't bother me!"

MacBeth laughed out, "Are you saying that yer finally over him? It only took ye a millennia!" She rolled her eyes at him. Broadway looked at Brooklyn for an explanation, but he only shrugged.

The discussion lasted for a long time, with the traveling group explaining to Hudson, Broadway, Lexington, Liberty, Patch and Owen about the fae civil war. Demona eventually took off, leaving with the understanding of a truce. MacBeth left a little while later (so as to not arise suspicion), but he stopped to look at cribs before returning home.