Chapter 3: Experience...
-Story-
As they got back to the castle after an awkwardly quiet flight, Goliath demanded to talk with Broadway and Lexington. Brooklyn knew whatever would happen next wasn't going to end well for him.

Goliath: Lexington, Broadway, follow me, I need to talk with you, and Brooklyn, I will deal with you afterwards, wait here.

Goliath wasn't in a good mood. He didn't have problems with letting them explore, but with how dangerous this new world seemed, he didn't want them to be getting in such close proximity to the humans. They already had one they could trust, but other than her, there was still a fearful risk, especially since they were aware there were people who already didn't like them very much. After the 3 left the room, Brooklyn just sat and waited, clearly feeling regret, but also frustration.

After what felt like forever, Lex and Broadway both re-entered the room, they seemed down. Clearly Goliath was not feeling very cheery tonight.

Brooklyn: Hey, what's up? What did he say?

Lexington: He said he wants to speak to you now... He's not happy.

Brooklyn just gulped and headed up the stairwell to where Goliath was while the other two left. Brooklyn prepared himself for the interrogation he was most-likely going to get once he reached Goliath. As he reached the summit of the castle where Goliath was standing, he saw the tall gargoyle watching over the city skyline.

Brooklyn: Uh... Goliath, you needed to talk to me..?

Goliath: Sit down.

Brooklyn sat down on the wall, not wanting to cause more trouble than he apparently already had.

Brooklyn: Listen, Goliath, I'm sor-

Goliath: Silence, Let me speak.

Brooklyn goes silent.

Goliath: Do you understand why I don't want you interacting with the humans like that?

Brooklyn: Well, I know they did betray us in the past and...well.. recently too...

Goliath: We can't trust them like that, I am not saying all humans are bad, but you need to understand, we have been absent for 1000 years, we are not fully aware of everything that has occurred in this world in our absence. The world out there is dangerous, Brooklyn, you may have the one human friend, but it doesn't make them all like that, you still need to be cautious. What you did this night was reckless, dragging Lexington and Broadway along to a place packed with potential danger. You not only put yourself at risk, but you put the whole clan at risk if something goes wrong.

Brooklyn: What am I supposed to do in this world then?

Goliath: We need to stay out of sight of the humans as much as we can, I don't want to take another risk of the past repeating itself.

Brooklyn didn't want to hear that, the idea of having to live in fear of the world didn't sound like a life at all. He knew he had duties to the clan, but he didn't want to be held back.

Brooklyn: So what? You expect me to stay here and rot away in the shadows to hide from the world? I wouldn't want to live that way.

Goliath: Brooklyn. Stop. You don't understand.

Brooklyn: No! you keep saying we need to remain hidden, we need to avoid the humans, but guess what, truth is, this wasn't even the first time I interacted with humans other than Elisa, and yeah, They weren't good interactions, but I can still understand that not all of them are bad. I got shot at, tackled and beaten on my little "Joyride" by a whole gang of those humans, and even after Demona had me under her manipulation, I still remembered they weren't all bad. But hey, I know you think that, but that still doesn't explain why we can't just live, if something happens, we can defend ourselves, we're gargoyles for crying out loud. How do you expect us to be accepted by humans if we are hiding all the time!? An-

Goliath: ENOUGH!

Brooklyn goes silent and flies down to his post, leaving Goliath alone. Goliath grunts angrily and heads inside. Brooklyn was annoyed, muttering to himself as he landed and sat at his usual post.

Brooklyn: Stupid fool doesn't know what he wants...

He felt frustrated that he couldn't just live and fit in, he knew that not all humans were bad, but it didn't stop him from remembering the bad luck with that he had so far. He remembered the final moments of that fateful night 1000 years ago where he and the others were turned to stone, even remembering back to when he went on that joyride, he remembered having fun, until the humans he ran into ruined it and blew up his bike. But he knew, even if he had only one example so far of a good-hearted human, he still knew she wasn't the only one, and maybe one day he would find more too. He looked down at his clawed hands, he wondered if he would ever get to experience that at all.

It was hard for him, he had been ridiculed and misunderstood by humans for as long as he's known them, and being transported 1000 years in the future was hard to comprehend for him at first. He was always a bit of a free-spirit, he never really wanted to be held down, if he wanted to explore, he was going to find a way to do it. The red gargoyle had been so excited to experience this world, everything seemed so new and cool to him, but the sad reality was still dwelling in the back of his mind, that at the end of it all, it was still a place made for humans, something he himself was not. Before he could continue to think, A worried looking Bronx came and sat beside him. Brooklyn turns to him.

Brooklyn: Oh, hey there Bronx, didn't notice you there.

Bronx looked up at him and inched closer to him. Brooklyn began patting Bronx as they sat there, looking over the city lights.

Brooklyn: You ever just wanna get out there and explore?

Bronx grunts out a reply, almost in agreeance.

Brooklyn: I just wanna escape and live, I don't wanna be trapped in the shadows for the rest of my life, I want us all to be free. How do we expect the humans to accept us if we just hide from the world? Everything I've seen so far has been so amazing, the technology, the buildings, the food, the...Everything. And I'm supposed to just hide from it all because some big gentle giant wants to "stay safe". We can't just spend our lives hiding, Yeah humans did betray us, but we learned it was mainly Demona's fault anyway. If it wasn't for her, the humans would have never betrayed at all. Goliath had proven he knew that when we all found that out. But something is still holding him back, and as a result, he's holding the rest of us back too... Tonight up until Goliath showed up was actually pretty fun, yeah...it sucks that we still have a bit of a PR problem, but, I still met people, albeit, briefly. A bunch of them just thought the 3 of us were in costumes, they knew no better, one of them even paid for my stuff. I still dread the moments of humans being freaked out simply by our appearance, but I don't want to let that stop me. I just want to live my life, and not just for me, but I want that for all of the others too, even Goliath, I just wish he'd open up to the idea more...

They continued to sit there as Brooklyn continued to vent his frustrations.

Brooklyn: I worry that...just because I'm a Gargoyle, the others and even the humans will never let me do that, never let me fit in. I just know there has to be other good humans too, I mean, Elisa exists, that should be evidence...but, maybe I'll never know...

Brooklyn began to try and fight against tears, stoically holding them back, but it became too much for the poor Gargoyle as he hid his face in his wings and cried, with Bronx there comforting him.

As they sat there, Goliath was sitting and talking with Elisa who had just shown up, she saw something was bothering him. When she asked him, he explained what had happened with the trio and how Brooklyn had taken them on a dangerous mission to the Mall. Elisa almost snickered by the wording but caught herself before she could let it out, remembering she was interacting with a group of beings that a simple trip to the mall could prove harmful to with all the humans running around.

Goliath: I just want them safe. This world is not made for our kind. What he did could've endangered every one of us. It was reckless.

Elisa: Well, he seems like he just wanted to explore, if you have all been asleep for the last thousand years, it would make sense that a seemingly new environment like this would get anyone curious, ya know, to explore.

Goliath: I don't want to hold him back, but as the leader of the clan, it is my duty to keep them all safe. No exceptions.

Elisa looks through a window of the castle to see a saddened looking Brooklyn being comforted by Bronx, she felt kind of bad for him, as she knew he didn't want to be trapped in the shadows forever.

Elisa: Well, he seems like a bit on the younger-side, its kind of something you just do around that time, you wanna explore and see the world. Would you say Brooklyn is more of a "Free-Spirit"?

Goliath: What's that?

Elisa: A free-spirit is usually used to describe someone that doesn't want to stay in the same place and wants to go and well, be free, it doesn't inherently mean they want nothing to do with you, they just value their sense of exploration allot more than the average person.

Goliath: Well when you put it like that, that could apply to most of us. As I stated, I don't want to hold him back from exploring, and that goes for all of them, but I don't want them recklessly interacting with humans as if they are all just going to be their friends.

Elisa: They seem to be adjusting to this world quite quickly huh.

Goliath: A little too quickly I would say. Not only Brooklyn, but Broadway and Lexington too, they have been talking a lot about this new world since I let them explore that night. They seem to want to experience it as much as they can, I just do not know how I can let them experience it safely.

Elisa heard that and had an idea, she didn't tell what came to mind however as she planned for it to be a surprise. The two noticed the sun was going to rise soon and decided it would be best to start heading back, Elisa said good morning and left the castle as the gargoyles went to their posts to prepare for stone sleep. Lex and Broadway looked at each other and then at Brooklyn who was just looking down at the city below before they went to sleep.

-TO BE CONTINUED IN BROOKLYN MALL PART 4-

Part 1
Part 2
Part 4

-Description-
I knew I said I didn't wanna make too many parts of this, but dang, I originally planned on just merging this part with what will be part 4 to make the final part, but ended up deciding against it as 1, I felt personally this should be its own part, and 2, the accompanying image would make no sense if I did it that way, not spoiling. But part 4 is the final part, I'm guaranteeing it this time. I already have it written out, I just need to get the image done first. This part kinda got fueled by personal frustrations that I don't wanna get into. So if it seems a little grim in comparison, that's kinda why, DO NOT WORRY, the next part will be better. :3

-DISCLAIMER-
This is strictly fanart! Not official stuff, rights belong to Disney and original character designers. I do not own the character.