Brooklyn kept doing his best to rest as what Hudson and the rest of the clan required, but sometimes, he felt jealous of his clan going out to protect the city while he lay here, bedridden and useless.

Elisa's visits sometimes cheered him up, even though he still didn't want any humans near him for a while, her books though were rather enjoyable.

The one thing too that was able to cheer him up was to be able to sometimes walk around. Hudson kept an eye on him of course to make sure he didn't over exhaust himself.

One night, he was walking when Brooklyn noticed the balcony. Goliath, Broadway, and Angela were on patrol, leaving Hudson and Lexington to watch their sick clanmate.

Brooklyn felt a rush of energy and longing within his veins, wings ruffling. He wanted to glide again so badly. Tears fell down his face, feeling his feet walking towards the outside. The red gargoyle jumped every now and then from outside city noises, but didn't want to let that stop him.

He managed to reach the balcony ledge, leaning over, closing his eyes from the wind blowing in his face. It just felt wonderful. And the night was especially nice. Brooklyn's wings opened a little more. The temptation threatened to consume him.

"Gotta fly..." Brook whispered softly. He climbed onto his old perch, just sitting there for a while. He now didn't want to return to his room, but to fly far away, to not burden his clan anymore.

"Yes... fly away. And if you die out there, you come home to me..." Thailog taunted him. Brook winced, suddenly feeling his footing slip.

...

Lexington went to check on Brooklyn in his room, still wondering when his red brother would eventually talk to them. But when he opened the door, no one was there.

"Brook? Where are you?" Lex asked in worry, pulling up bed sheets and looking under the bed. Then Bronx came, whining, looking at the door. Lex then knew, his face paling. He wasn't ready yet!

He ran as fast as he could, then suddenly, with round eyes, saw Brooklyn sitting on his old perch, wings open a little, until he staggered.

"Brooklyn!" The olive gargoyle cried out in horror, rushing in to save him.

Brooklyn fell off the perch and started falling downward. He gave a shriek of surprise when he first fell off. Lex jumped off the ledge after him.

Brooklyn had fallen off backwards, but he knew what danger he was in if he didn't turn around. He had felt the updrafts on the wind tonight. He quickly righted himself and even though his wings hadn't been really ready for gliding again yet, in reaction to his situation, he quickly spread them out. The wind caught his wings and he stopped falling instantly.

Spreading his once broken wing, it didn't hurt when he did it. Brook breathed a sigh of relief, as did Lexington.

A bad thought still ran through his head though. "Good save, my Plaything... but you are still mine. You always will be mine." Thailog taunted. "Your clan doesn't want you. You are useless to them now."

"Brooklyn!" Lex called out.

Brooklyn looked up and instantly had a panic attack and ended up gliding away from the castle. "No! I won't go back to him!" Brooklyn yelled out.

"Brooklyn, wait up! Who?! No one is after you!" Lex called out to him. He followed his brother.

The red male was considered the fastest glider in the clan. He was the most acrobatic in the air, not to say that the others couldn't match his skills, but right now, Brooklyn was running in fear from something that just couldn't be seen physically.

Lex tried to keep up with his brother. What was he so scared of that he flew off in a panic away from him? He wasn't ready for gliding yet.

Brooklyn flew a ways, just until his newly healed wing started to cramp up. Then he had to land somewhere. He saw a big rooftop and came to land on it. Tears started falling from his eyes. It wasn't true. His clan wanted him around.

He went over to the ledge and leaned on it, crying. Then, he heard someone come in for a landing, stepping toward him. "Brooklyn?" Lex said.

Brooklyn looked behind himself for a moment, then turned around again in his despair.

"Brooklyn? Are you alright? Why did you fly away from me like that? You aren't ready for long distance gliding yet." Lex explained.

"Lex... do you... think I'm... useless?" Brooklyn asked sadly.

"What? No. We were trying to find you for a long time. We would never give up on you, bro." Lex replied. Lex came up beside him. "What's wrong? Why would you think that?"

Brook sniffled. "Because I... can't be of any use right now."

"You will be, when you get more better. You went through traumatic events. We all want you to be there in the clan and out on patrol again soon." Lex explained. "We all love you. What's been bothering you? You can tell me."

Brooklyn really wanted to tell someone his secret. "I... I don't know if it first came about from being drugged again by those men... but, somehow, Thailog found his way into my head again." he explained.

"Thailog is dead. But even if he could, all he would do is try to torture you like he did to all of us. He was evil." Lex replied. "That was just something the men wanted to do to hurt you. He's not here now, Brooklyn."

"I would really like to believe you, Lex. It just still doesn't seem that way." Brook sobbed.

"Trust me, Brooklyn. It's all a lie to get you to put yourself down and not get better. I'm telling you right now that we all want you to get strong and be with us out there again. You're a part of our clan and always will be. We would look for you no matter how long it took. The same goes for any of us. You would look for us too if one of us was taken." Lex declared.

"Of course. I just... can't help that those evil men wanted to do so much to ruin my life." Brooklyn said sadly.

"They're back in jail or some died in the fight. We won't ever let them take you again." Lex said gently. "But if you would, we need to back to the castle. Your wing didn't bother you, did it?"

"It started cramping up after a while, why I stopped here." Brooklyn replied. "I just want Thailog to stop haunting me."

Lex didn't know how he could help his brother because he didn't see what he saw in his dreams or thoughts. He wanted to help him if he could. "We'll help you get stronger. Thanks for telling me what was on your mind. I don't know how to stop the bad thoughts because it was horrible for you to be there, all alone and them tormenting you. You didn't deserve any of it." The green one tried to comfort his brother.

"I know I didn't. They just wanted to hurt me just because of how I looked. They called me Demon and Devil so much, it seemed like I would forget my real name." Brooklyn declared.

"You are none of those things. They were more of that than you ever would be."

Lex got a reluctant Brooklyn to follow him off that roof right after and they went back to the castle. Hudson and Bronx were waiting out on the battlement for them.

"And where did you lads go? Bronx came in wanting me to follow him." Hudson said.

"Brooklyn fell off his perch and he started gliding again." Lex started, but was stopped by Brooklyn.

"I was having bad thoughts and fell. I caught myself and just didn't want to be thought of as useless and broken anymore. I had to start gliding again, Hudson." Brook explained.

"You need to get your wing strong enough again before you are ready for patrols. But what sort of bad thoughts?" Hudson asked in concern.

"It's been on my mind awhile. I feel like Thailog's spirit is around me... watching me... wanting to torment me some more." Brook explained.

"The evil clone is nowhere around, Lad. It's just a lie the evil ones fed you to hurt yourself more. What does he say to you?" the elder inquired.

"That... I'm not useful to you and don't want me around. That I belong to him. That if I died, I would be picked up by him and tormented more." Brooklyn explained with flattened ears.

The elder put a gentle hand on Brooklyn's shoulder. "No, it is a lie, Brooklyn. You are strong, young warrior. You will rise above this wretched past incident. We will all help you the best we can. Do not listen to what this Dream Thailog tells you. None of it be true." Hudson decreed.

"I'll try, but I can't help it, Hudson. I also wanted to glide again. Just lost my footing was all."

"There will be time for getting to glide again later. Come, Lad. Let's get you back inside." Hudson said.

"Can we do something besides just go to my room?" Brooklyn asked.

"Sure. We could watch a movie." Lex offered.

"Yeah, that would be great. I haven't watched a movie in a long time." Brooklyn replied.

"I agree." Hudson said.

The four of them went into the living room where Brooklyn was allowed to pick a movie to watch while the others were awaited to come back from patrol soon. This was the first time he was willing to do something besides sit in his bed in his room.

Dr. Sato needed to examine his wing before he was set to glide again.

Later, the others came back and Brooklyn was coaxed into telling them too, what had been on his mind lately. What was causing him so much distress.

"Maybe there's a way to face this fear, Brooklyn. Maybe Puck and Alex could help." Goliath suggested.

Brooklyn stiffened up. Could they? It would be a miracle if Puck could make Thailog go away for good.