Coming Undone - Chapter One

By

Disclaimer: I don't own Gargoyles or Ozzy Osborne... Unfortunately.

Be gentle, it's my first time.

June 1st, 2010 - Manhattan

Elisa sat in her dark apartment staring at the TV. She was in a trance, her eyes swolen from the tears and lack of sleep.

A home video of new years eve 2003 played on the television, she must have watched it a thousand times already but it was the only thing that gave her comfort. It brought her back to some of the happiest times of her and her friends lives, before everything went to hell, before he disappeared... before they lost him forever.

Another tear rolled down her cheek as she saw Brooklyn with his arm wrapped around Hudson, laughing, holding up their drinks and signing... or rather, attempting to sing ཁFree Birdཁ. Drunk as they were, it's surprising that the song was even recognizable. Even Goliath had laughed hysterically at their performance that night.

There was a lot of great and funny memories on that home made DVD. Videos from new years eve, Halloween, birthdays and general silly moments. Lex loved that video camera and turned it on at every opportunity. Even though it had sometimes annoyed her when she didn't feel like being filmed, she was now very great full for Lex's obsession otherwise she would never be able to hear his voice or see him alive and well again.

It was hard to believe it had been 4 years since Brooklyn went missing. She remembered the night it happened like it was only an hour ago. Everything was completely normal, or as normal as it could be. Everyone was happy in their own world. No one saw it coming and that in itself ripped at Goliath's mind on a daily basis.

2 weeks ago was the first time they received any evidence that their 4 year long search was at an end. An unmarked package arrived at the eerie building, no return address, no recipients name, not even a postmark. David Xanitos ordered the package be inspected before opening it fearing it was a letter bomb meant for the gargoyles, perhaps from some extremist puritan. It was cleared and opened but the contents of the package were much more disturbing then a bomb.

May 14th, 2010

ཁDear godཀཁ Xanitos' cool demeanor was lost. His face paled and his hands trembled. Even Owen couldn't contain his horror at the sight of the bits of flesh, hair, blood and body parts found in the unmarked package. There was also an envelope containing pictures of a mutilated Brooklyn. He was covered in blood, slouched on a concrete floor, his arms lay limp at his sides making the chains around his rists, essentially pointless. A chain also rapped around his neck, which was the only thing holding his head up. His face slashed to the point of almost being unrecognizable, his chest sunken in and missing skin, his head looked like it had been scalped, his eyes lifeless. He was dead.

ཁOwen, tell Goliath I need to see him immediately ཁ Xanitos ordered after several moments of silent terror. Owen complied as always and slowly made his way out of the office.

Goliath's howls of anguish and anger could be heard for miles upon seeing Brooklyn's remains. The rest of the clan soon joined him in his grief.

3 days later it was decided that they would lay Brooklyn to rest in the garden beside the courtyard. Xanitos speared no expense on the tombstone. The clan, Elisa, Matt, the mutates and even MacBeth all wept at his loss and paid their respects at his grave. No one tried to put on a brave front or said anything stupid like ཁtry to remember the good timesཁ. The point of the funeral was to say goodbye but there was no closure and there wouldn't be until they found out what happened and who to take their revenge on. Everyone knew that this was not one of those times where the law should handle it or where killing them wouldn't bring him back or any of that bullshit. The battle was lost but the war was far from over.

April 19th, 2006

ཁLex, are you seriously telling me that you would rather stay here and sit on your ass playing that stupid online game then go see the prince of darkness himself, Ozzy fucking Osborne?ཁ Brooklyn asked in disbelief.

ཁWe're going on a questཀཁ Lexington whined defensively.

ཁYou need professional help, you know that right?ཁ Brooklyn quipped. Lexington silently retorted by flipping him off.

Brooklyn threw up his hands in defeat. ཁThe hell with you then.ཁ He said smiling and shaking his head as he walked away. He loved his brother but his taste in activities baffled and worried him a bit.

He walked into the library where Broadway, Angela and Goliath were quietly reading. He anounced that he intended to go to the concert tonight and planned on having the time of his life and anyone with any musical taste had better come with him now or forever hold their piece. Goliath smirked but said nothing

ཁThat sounds like a good time to meཀཁ Broadway exclaimed excitedly and got up to join his brother. Angela smiled but declined. She wasn't much for all the loud noise.

Lexington then stomped up to Brooklyn and explained that he blew off his game quest for the concert as he had already promised to go with him.

ཁI hope you're happyཀཁ Lex snapped, trying his best to pretend to be upset.

ཁTrust me, you've made the right choice. While all your geeky online friends are staring at their computers like zombies, you'll be swinging from the rafters at a once in a lifetime show truly livingཀཁ Brooklyn responded with a big, genuine smile on his face.

The trio turned to exit the library and nearly ran Elisa down in their excitement.

ཁWhere are you all off to in such a hurry?ཁ Elisa asked

Brooklyn simply yelled ཁOZZYཀཀཁ, flashed the horns and ran off with Broadway and Lex close behind laughing.

They never made it to the concert. All Lex and Broadway could remember was a bright flash, unknown voices from unseen faces grunting and yelling, inexplicable noises, a loud boom and that was it. Broadway regained consciousness in an upside down dumpster, he found Lex almost a block away hidden in the basement of a building that was still under construction. Brooklyn was nowhere to be found.

June 1st, 2010

Elisa took another sip of her stiff drink. She felt almost numb now. She hadn't gone to the eerie building to see her friends since the funeral, she had to grieve in her own way and right now she preferred that way to be alone.

Goliath watched from the balcony as Lex and Broadway sat silently by Brooklyn's grave. He seldom spoke since the funeral, just wondered around the castle in a quiet rage. It was easier for him to be angry rather then sad. ཁWe will have our revenge.ཁ he thought over and over again. ཁBrooklyn will have his revenge.ཁ

Lexington sat motionless beside Broadway staring at the tombstone. ཁBrooklyn, earthbound angelཁ it read. Simple, to the point and the perfect description. Lex read the words over and over, he was still in shock and unable to accept his brother's death, it just wasn't possible. Like Goliath, he rarely said anything anymore. He even completely abandoned his computer games. But he wasn't angry or depressed, as a matter of fact he didn't feel anything at the moment. Just tired and a little confused, everyone else had given up but he had somehow convinced himself that Brooklyn would eventually come home. He didn't cry at the funeral.

Broadway, however, openly wept. Lex had refused to look at the pictures that came with the package 2 weeks ago but he saw them. He knew.

Every night since the funeral, Broadway brought a boom box out to the grave and played ཁNo More Tearsཁ, Brooklyn's favorite song. But on this night when he came out for his visit he found Lex already there. Lex didn't say anything or move or even acknowledge his presence. Broadway thought maybe Lex was finally coming to terms with things so he sat down beside him and waited. He wanted to be there for his brother when he broke down. But he didn't, so they just sat in silent contemplation.

Hudson and Angela spent their time talking and sharing memories of Brooklyn. It didn't ease the pain or dull the anger but it was a good way to honor their fallen friend.

Xanitos, Fox and Matt weren't that close with Brooklyn but they still felt his loss and offered support where ever they could. Same for the mutates except Maggie who was almost surprisingly emotional at the funeral. She remembered how he was always trying to help her from the moment they met and she usually repaid him with contempt. It really sickened her to think that she never took the time to simply thank him for his sweetness.

May 2nd, 2010 - Alcatraz Island

A tall, silver haired man in a lab coat finished taking pictures of his project. He casually re-checked all the pictures he had shot on his digital camera before exiting the room. The door slammed behind him and the seemingly lifeless form on the floor twitched slightly and moaned as the sedatives started to wear off. He shook his head and spat until the bloody mask that at one point was his real face slid off. Brooklyn slowly opened his eyes and winced at the pain in his head.

"What the hell was that all about?ཁ He slurred

ཁYour friends were getting a little too close for comfort...ཁ A voice replied through a speaker in the corner of the wall. ཁand we're not finished with you yet.ཁ

ཁWhat the fuck more can you possibly do to meཀ?ཁ Brooklyn asked more forcefully as the sedatives were almost out of his system now. He built up quite a tolerance to them over the years.

ཁWhat, you want me to tell you and ruin the surprise?ཁ The speaker buzzed back.

Brooklyn took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. 4 years he'd been at these sadists mercy. He was their science experiment, their plaything. He never would have thought that he would still be alive now when he first awoke in that torture chamber, but somehow he was despite his silent prayers for death. Many times he'd sworn he couldn't take anymore but kept taking it.

Then it hit him. ཁYour friends were getting a little too close for comfort.ཁ It echoed in his mind and he realized, one way or another, this hell was finally coming to an end.

TBC...