Gargoyles are the property of Disney. No copyright infringement is 
intended.


Lest We Forget


Elisa could hear the shouting from a floor down. Every step closer to 
the gargoyles’ rooms brought the shouting into clearer focus. By the 
time she reached the door to the main room she could make out 
Brooklyn and Broadway’s voices and some of what they were shouting. 
Mainly insults from what she could tell.

She opened the door and frowned. Brooklyn and Broadway were faced 
off in the middle of the room, and from their postures, it wasn’t one of 
their usual, pointless arguements. She was about to interrupt when 
Lexington pushed past her into the room.

“Let me make this clear. If you don’t shut up in the next two seconds, I 
am going to push you over the side of the castle!”

Brooklyn and Broadway broke off their arguement and looked at their 
brother sheepishly. Lexington was glaring at both of them. “You do 
realize,” he asked acidicly, “that it is almost two o’clock in the morning 
and that the other inhabitants of this place are trying to sleep? You do 
realize, that I have spent the last hour trying to get Alexander to go to 
sleep after your last arguement woke him up? You do realize that you 
are extremely lucky that I convinced Fox to let me come up and yell at 
you instead of her doing it?”

“Sorry, Lex,” Brooklyn said. “We didn’t realize we were being so 
loud.” Broadway nodded.

Lexington snorted. “I’m surprised the dead haven’t marched up from the 
cemetary to complain. Just keep it down, and stay out of Fox’s way for 
the rest of the night,” he added. “She’s not happy.”

“Is Goliath here, guys?” Elisa broke in.

“He’s not back yet,” Broadway told her. “He should be back soon.”

“Oh. I kinda wanted to talk to him,” Elisa said. “Lex, why don’t I help 
you and Fox with the baby. Guys, would you tell Goliath I’m here if he 
gets back before me?”

“Sure, Elisa,” Brooklyn said. 

“What is going on with those two?” Elisa asked when they were safely 
out of ear shot. “That wasn’t a ‘you’re annoying me’ arguement. That 
was a ‘get out of my face or I kill you’ arguement. I have two siblings, I 
know the difference.”

Lexington sighed. “We’re all just getting a little sick of each other,” he 
admitted. “If you’d gotten here earlier you could’ve broken up an 
arguement between me and Brooklyn over something neither of us even 
remembers. And Broadway and Brooklyn were at it earlier over the 
TV.” He shrugged. “Seems we’re arguing a lot lately.”

“Over what?”

“Everything. Nothing. Anything. Pick a topic and I’m sure one of us 
will come up with a way to get into a fight over it.” He opened the door 
to the nursery and let Elisa go ahead of him. “Too much time stuck with 
each other,” he continued softly. “You ever get into a fight with Beth or 
Derek just because there was nothing else to do?”

“Yeah,” Elisa said. “Many times.” She smiled a greeting to Fox, 
rocking Alexander in her arms.

Lexington noticed with relief that Alexander had finally stopped crying. 
Fox nodded her head toward the ceiling and gave him a questioning 
look. “They’re going to keep it down,” Lexington said softly. “Is Alex 
asleep?”

“Almost,” Fox replied quietly. “He started drifting off once the shouting 
stopped.”

“The boys are sorry about that,” Elisa offered. “They promised it 
wouldn’t happen again.”

Fox pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Alexander’s head as she carefully 
set him down in his crib. The three of them quietly left the nursery. “I’m 
sure they didn’t mean to disturn anyone,” Fox said as she shut the 
nursery doors. “And I’m sorry that I said what I did, even if they didn’t 
hear me,” she added giving Lexington a rueful look. “I know how kids 
can be. It’s just been a long day.”

Lexington sighed. “It’s gonna be a longer night, I’m afraid. Goliath is 
*not* happy about all the yelling.”
	
*That* was an understatement, Elisa decided. Goliath was a great deal 
more than upset. He was furious.

“Those three are supposed to be warriors! They are nearly adults! And 
how do they spend their time? Bickering like hatchlings!” Goliath was 
pacing, his wings spread wide, a sign of his frustration. Elisa was glad 
she’d convinced him to cool off a little before talking to the Trio. He 
would have taken off someone’s head by now.

“Calm down, Goliath,” Elisa soothed. “They’re teenagers. Of course 
they’re going to get on each others nerves every now and then. It doesn’t 
mean anything.”

“It is innapropriate!” Goliath growled slightly. “Rookery siblings 
should support each other, work together. Not spend every waking 
moment at each others’ throats!”

“That’s an exagerration and you know it,” Elisa said. “Nine times out of 
ten those three are the best of friends.”

“It should not be nine times out of ten! It should be constant support. 
What if they were called upon to fight abattle this night?”

“Goliath,” Elisa scolded. “You don’t honestly believe that they’d turn 
their backs on each other because of a little argument, do you? It would 
never happen. I don’t care if they spent all *year* yelling at each other, 
if one was in danger, the other two would come running to help and you 
know it.”

“You are correct. Of course,” Goliath smiled at her slightly. “But this is 
so… *frustrating,” he admitted. “Things like this almost never 
happened before. Granted, there were arguments and disagreements, but 
they were substantive. Not this meaningless, mindless, constant 
bickering!”

“How many members were there of your Clan before the massacre, 
Goliath?”

Goliath paused and regarded her curiously. More than a hundred. 
Perhaps a hundred and thirty. Why?”

“And how many of them were about the boys’ age?”

“That hatching numbered about forty. Why?”

Elisa shook her head. “How many were in your generation when you 
were the Trio’s age?”

“About the same. Perhaps a little more. Why?”

“Goliath!” Elisa laughed. “When you take children from an environment 
where they have many friends - or siblings in this case - and put them in 
a place where there are only three of them, of course they’re going to get 
on each other’s nerves. Sometimes you just get sick of each other. It’s 
not a big deal.”

“You may be correct,” Gliath admitted. “But still, it should not be so. 
Their lives depend on each other every day, especially now with the 
threat of the Quarrymen. In the old times this would not be tolerated.”

“These aren’t the old times,” Elisa said softly. “The old times are just 
that, Goliath. Old. And past. You’re here now. Twentieth century New 
York City and here, brothers sometimes fight. I used to fight with Beth 
and Derek on a daily basis but it didn’t make us any less brother and 
sisters.”

“We are leaving behind so much,” Goliath said. “So many of the old 
ways have been forgotten or deliberately cast aside. I hate to see even 
more forgotten. Especially something as dear to our people as the bond 
between rookery siblings.”

“By acknowledging Angela as your daughter you cast aside some of the 
old ways, didn’t you? Do you regret that decision?”

“Of course not!”

“And the fact that there’s blood between you doesn’t change anything, 
did it? You care for her the same as you did any of your other children, 
right?”

“Of course I do. But Elisa-“

“You are not loosing the old ways. You’re gaining new ones. But that’s 
not necessarily a bad thing. Look at it this way: Things are different. 
But have they truly changed? You admit Angela is yours by blood, yet 
Brooklyn and Lexington and Broadway are still your children, right?”

“Correct.”

“So that hasn’t changed. For all their arguing, do you honestly believe 
the boys don’t care for each other?”

“No,” Goliath sighed. “I know that that is not true. But at times, it 
seems so.”

“You’ll all be fine,” Elisa said confidently. “I know you and I know 
them.” She rested a hand on his arm and met his gaze. “The old ways, 
for better or worse, are changing. And perhaps the ways themselves will 
be forgotten. But I promise, you will not forget the morals and 
principles, the *truths* behind them. Your Clan will always be a family, 
Goliath, old ways or new.”

Goliath sighed and embraced her, folding his wings around her, 
shgeltering them both from the cold wind that blew about the castle. 
“We will,” he said firmly. “And you will always be a part of our family, 
Beloved.”

Elisa smiled against his chest, held tight and warm in his arms. “A 
human in the Clan? How’s that for new ways?”

“There’s definitely something to be said for the new ways,” Goliath 
agreed.
________


End