CHAPTER FINALE: DEATH IS THE ONLY WAY?
She felt a sudden blast on her chest. It felt like being hit by a huge boulder. She couldn’t feel anything at first but when she saw herself beginning to drench in blood the pain was immediately searing through her bones.
She knew that this was the end. The end of her life and the end of her existence. She will never see Broadway and his obsession with food. She will never see Angela and her lovely smile. She will never see Lexington and play with his videogames. She will never see Goliath and Hudson, the elders of the clan who had been so kind and patient towards her. She will never see Bronx and pet him ever again.
The more terrible thought was…that she’ll never see Brooklyn again. She will never be with him ever again. Everything that is him would be gone before her eyes: his smile, his eyes, his arms giving her those warm and reassuring embraces, his protective wings that shielded her from any harm, his handsome face and his long billowing hair, everything. They’ll disappear out of her sight forever.
She fell towards the ground below, her wings failing her. Everything was as if in slow motion. She continued to fall and fall like it would never end.
Deep down inside, she knew that perhaps, just perhaps, her death was for the best.
“Suki!! NO~!!!”
Brooklyn, with all his strength, pushed away the black-robed man off him and pushed through the fighting crowd towards the falling Suki. He held out his hands and caught her just in time. He looked in horror at all the blood seeping out of her chest and her face going pale. She was beginning to falter—and fast. Brooklyn’s eyes glowed in anger as he turned to Xanatos who, in turn, had caught the falling Owen, and snarled.
“What have you done to her?! Why did you do this?!”
“There’s no time for pep talk, Brooklyn,” Xanatos replied briefly before turning towards Goliath, “Goliath! You have to get out of here. I had Owen set up a bomb in this place and it’ll blow within the next 15 seconds!”
Goliath’s growl rumbled in his throat as he broke out of the heap he had fallen on when he tried to grab Xanatos and went off to alert Matt. Demona staggered to stand upright as she glared at Xanatos with her glowing red eyes with a vengeance.
“You have destroyed my most potential weapon to destroy mankind, and I thought you were my ally! Don’t think you have won the war yet!”
Within a thrice, Demona raced towards the edge of the building and jumped off, following behind Thailog. The building was beginning to rumble as the bomb slowly activated itself. Soon a loud explosion was heard and the building began to crumble bit by bit. It was going down quite fast that the gargoyles didn’t think that they will have enough time to save all of the humans. Suki and Elisa were in Brooklyn and Goliath’s arms respectively and the rest just grabbed whatever human they could manage and jumped off the building. Owen quickly jumped up onto Xanatos’ back before Xanatos activated his rocket boots he wore on his way to Milestone Mines and flew off with the clan.
As soon as they were on the ground at a safe distance from the crumbling building, the clan and the humans gathered around Brooklyn who was kneeling on the ground with the blood-drenched Suki in his arms. She still had breath left in her but everyone looked with a heavy heart as they knew she could never survive, the shot Xanatos fired was fatal.
“You shot her,” Brooklyn hissed, holding Suki close.
“I had to do something. She was trying to make a dinner out of Owen. I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to lose a potential personal secretary,” Xanatos replied, setting Owen down on the ground. “Besides, I was doing you a favour. You know perfectly well that you cannot risk her going out on a blood-feeding frenzy again.”
“But you didn’t have to shoot her. She’s a living being,” Goliath growled as his glowing eyes glared at Xanatos, his words speaking for all the gargoyles that were glaring grudgingly at him. Xanatos accepted those looks nonchalantly—he had worse remarks.
“Suki…Suki, please…” Brooklyn whispered as he shook Suki lightly, trying to wake her up. after much shaking and calling, she finally did. Quite slow though, but still she was awake.
“Brooklyn…” Suki breathed her lover’s name.
“Suki, hang in there. You’re gonna be OK. You’re gonna be alright. I’m just right here,” Brooklyn encouraged, although deep down inside he knew, she wasn’t going to pull through.
“Brooklyn…Suki sorry…Suki make trouble…” Suki said but Brooklyn hushed her.
“Shh…It’s not your fault. This has all been nature’s big mistake. You’re gonna be alright.”
“Suki…cannot be with Brooklyn…Suki die…”
“Don’t say that!” Brooklyn exclaimed desperately, laying his hand on her cheek which was slowly going cold. “Don’t you ever say that! You’ll be alright! We’re together now, and we’ll always be together. We’ll be going home together and you will be my mate, always and forever more.”
Suki shook her head slightly and breathed, “Suki…not want…hurt Brooklyn…”
“There will be a cure,” Brooklyn replied indignantly. “There has to be a cure to stop you from blood-sucking. We will find a cure…”
“No cure…Suki no cure…Suki know…”
Brooklyn’s heart ached. Why did everyone that he cared or loved never stay by his side? Maggie Reed refused to follow him because she thought of him as a monster and refused to be one herself. Angela didn’t return his love, but loved his brother Broadway instead. And now Suki was slowly slipping away from his hands and closer to the brink of death. This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t fair at all!
“Suki…why? Why, Suki…?” Brooklyn couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. They fell freely like rain out of his eyes as he hugged Suki closer to him, not wanting to let her go. “Why does it have to end this way…?”
He felt Suki’s lips on his beak-like mouth. He opened his eyes and saw Suki’s hand gripping tightly on his wing, just like the first time she did it when she came into the clan. He turned to Suki and saw her smiling weakly at him. Her dark pruple eyes were filled with bliss and content, like she had finally achieved what she had wanted and had no more regrets.
“Ai…Aishiteru…Brooklyn…”
Her grip on Brooklyn’s wing slowly weakened. It slid off his wing and fell onto her side. Her eyes closed, covering those beautiful dark purple eyes forever. Brooklyn’s heart sank and his eyes went blank. He could feel his heart breaking as the life of the hybrid gargoyle he had come to love finally slipped out of his grasp and disappeared out of his life. The other gargoyles looked on in sorrow and downcast. Angela sobbed silently on Broadway’s shoulder and Goliath laid his hand on Elisa’s shoulder who looked like she was also going to cry. Bronx whined sadly.
Xanatos, though not obvious, was also feeling a little sorry for Brooklyn. He turned to Owen and asked, “Owen, what does she mean by…?”
“It’s Japanese,” Owen replied quietly. “It means ‘I love you’.”
With trembling hands, Brooklyn held Suki tighter, trying to suppress the aching feeling in his heart. He tried to be strong like Suki had known him to be. He tried to hold on to the happiness and let go of the sadness just like he tried to when Maggie Reed and Angela broke his heart. But try as he might, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t suppress the pain. He couldn’t take it all in. it was too much for him to bear.
It has come to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore.
“SUKI~~~~!!!!”
The gargoyles were back at the clock tower. The whole tower abnormally quiet as the sad mourning atmosphere hung about. They were evidently devastated about Suki’s death. They found it hard to believe that the Suki who took them quite a long while to tame and who had brought joy to the clan—although for a short period of time—was now no more. She was truly gone.
Perhaps the gargoyle who felt the loss the most would be Brooklyn. He was outside the tower sitting on the edge of the tower musing and grieving over Suki. Broadway and Lexington did think about comforting Brooklyn but Goliath fobade them to do so.
“Words are not enough to heal his broken heart. Only time can heal his wounds.”
Elisa saw the other gargoyles gathering at their places, not wanting to bother Brooklyn’s musing. She sighed and went up to the face of the clock and out into the open.
“Brooklyn, are you alright now?” Elisa asked, although she knew it was a stupid question.
“How can I be?” Brooklyn replied quietly.
“She’s gone, Brooklyn. None of your grief could ever bring her back. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Brooklyn whispered. “But…It’s just that…It’s just that no one has ever done something like this for me. No one has ever tried to make themselves into something they’re not just to be with me. No one would ever go through all the trouble and all the pain…and risk their lives just to be with someone like me.”
“Except Suki,” Elisa pointed out.
“I feel…like as if I am responsible for her monstrosity and her death. If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t have to go through all this. She would’ve just led her life as a scientist and remained alive, just like she was supposed to be. If it weren’t for me…” Brooklyn put his hands over his head in remorse. Elisa laid her hand on his shoulder to stop him short.
“Don’t blame yourself, Brooklyn. It was no one’s fault. She did this by her own accord, and you’ve given her the best days in her entire life. For years she has been living a monotonous life of a child prodigy. It’s not easy being a genius, Brooklyn. No true friends, no rest, forever having to come up with new solutions, no time for love, nothing. You have made her the happiest person in the world.”
Brooklyn didn’t reply. Elisa could see that he wasn’t thoroughly convinced. She dug her pocket and took a golden locket. She tapped Brooklyn on the shoulder and handed the locket to him.
“What is this?” Brooklyn asked, taking the locket.
“I found this among the pictures inside the case at Suki’s home,” Elisa replied. “Open it and take a look.”
Brooklyn did as he was requested. Inside the locket he was quite surprised to see that in one side of the locket was his picture and in the other side was Suki’s picture as a human, smiling at the camera just like she smiled when she was beside him. It was Suki—his Suki—immortalized in this picture where he and her would be together. Forever.
As Brooklyn put on the locket around his neck, he made a vow, “Suki shall be my mate, and will always be my mate forever. I shall have no other.”
Elisa sighed. Inside, she felt that such vow would only hurt himself, but she knew she had no place to question Brooklyn’s decision. The only thing she could do before leaving him alone was pat his arm and say, “Just…take care of yourself.”
Under the creeping rising sun, Brooklyn cried…
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