#hal aragon

Hal and everyone else thought he would become a gargoyle like his Mother, sister and Aunts, he winds up resembling his old man much more than he’d like.

One of the worst things about becoming an ogre is that ogres are unintelligent creatures with limited brain capacity. So now he’s a few brain-cells shorter, he un-learns what his Mother taught him about being his own person and has a panic attack, because he thinks he’s become his father. And he lacks the ability to articulate his thoughts and feelings.

Fortunately Hal is consoled and helped by his Uncle Arthur and His Aunty Kath! who teach him how to be an ogre and that being an ogre isn’t just about being aggressive, violent and stupid. They teach him this by taking him to their favourite pond and introducing him to their duck friends

(Note: Not only are the ducks used to ogres, but ogre’s form symbiotic relationships with them, ogre’s will protect their nests and the ducks will eat the algae and grime of their bodies)

As Hal gets older he makes peace with his ogre form, it helps that he still looks a lot like his Mother as unlike most ogres who have green skin, Hal has gargoyle-esque grey skin and yellow eyes like his mother.

He grows into quite a handsome ogre! with a majestic, thick mane and strong, pearly-white tusks

(Note: Male ogres are like lions, as in a darker mane is indicative of health and virility and is considered manly)

Hal - @blackdiamondwrites127​

Arthur - @djts-arts​

Juana belongs to @ellielovesdrawing​

Isabella belongs to @lexartsstuff​itMaria and Hal belong to @blackdiamondwrites127​

Late in the day as the sun was just beginning to creep towards the horizon, colouring the sky pink and orange, Hal made his way up to the attic. It had been two days since Hal had reconciled with his newly transformed mother. And although Lina still preferred the solitude of the roof and attic she was more than happy to see her son on the regular again.

Hal opened the attic door and raced into the attic, the warm evening light shining through the window making orange squares on the wooden floor. Hanging from one of the wooden ceiling beams was Lina, cocooned in her wings as she slept through the day. Hal ran up to the cocoon and gave it a gentle prod.

“Mamá?” he asked before giving a second prod.

A second passed, then suddenly the cocoon opened with a flash and Lina encased Hal in her wings. Hal shrieked and laughed as his mother began applying a dog's idea of ‘kisses’ all over his face.

“MA! Stop it!” Hal laughed as Lina lapped at his cheek, making ‘chuffing’ noises like a tiger, reminiscent of purring.

Finally, Lina relented and opened her wings letting Hal free. As the young boy giggled and stumbled around wiping the saliva off his face Lina slowly got down from the beam. Hal, now finally free from gargoyle slobber and no longer giggling, looked at his mother and smiled. “Mamá, was that so necessary?” he asked, walking towards Lina. Lina gave a big smile

“Sorry Hal, I’m still your mother and I still love you, but I am still a gargoyle and I’m inclined to express said love in a gargoyle way.”

Hal found it funny how perspective can change so much about how he saw things, his mother and her gargoyle form especially. It was dark when Hal saw his mother newly transformed and having a fit of rage and despair. He could only see her blackened silhouette occasionally lit by the flickering of smashed lights.

For days afterwards the vision of his mother in his nightmares was an exaggeration of this image, shrouded in darkness with the more frightening features highlighted. Clearly outlined, pointing horns, talons that shone like sharpened knives, pale dripping fangs that stood out against a dark stoney skin. And her eyes, those amber eyes that glowed like smouldering embers.

But when he saw her again on the rooftop, she wasn’t the dark visage of horror that haunted his nightmares. Not only was she sullen and subdued unlike the raging beast he had seen before, but she didn’t look the same. She was still a gargoyle, but her gargoyle features were more ‘animal’ than demonic.

A soft feline reminiscent nose, ears that moved and twitched expressively, even her taloned hands and feet had rounded pads like a cat or dog.

Hal realised that his mind could make things much worse than they really were. Making a monster out of his Mother. Now he could clearly see the way she gently wagged her tail when content, or would even purr and would lick his hair like a mother housecat attending to her kittens.

His mother was definitely a beast, but not a monster, and certainly not a demon.

And it didn’t stop her from loving him or being his mother, in fact, it felt like she was being more motherly than ever.

“Ma are you going to go out on the roof again tonight?” Hal asked,

“Yes...I find it’s just something I have to do, a gargoyle thing” Lina answered.

“Can I go too? I’m wearing my winter jacket so I won’t get cold” Hal buzzed, eager to spend as much time as possible with his mother to make up for the time they’d lost over the past few days.

Lina nodded, she didn’t normally like the idea of Hal going up onto the roof, but knowing she’d be there to keep him safe made her accept Hal’s request.

She strolled over the window and pushed it open with little to no effort despite the window being prone to jamming.

One thing that Lina had grown to enjoy about her new body was her considerable strength. She demonstrated this new strength by picking Hal up under one arm and using her other arm alongside her legs and wings to climb out of the window and up onto the roof.

The sun was just beginning to set, the orange of the sky was fading in dark blues and purples, the stars were just starting to show. Lina sat on the rooftop and held Hal close to her, in both arm and wing. It was much like the first time they had found each other again after Lina had become a gargoyle. Hal snuggled into his mother’s side, looking up at the twilight sky as more stars appeared. He looked at his mothers face, to his surprise she was no longer smiling. She looked very serious all of a sudden, staring with a focused glare out onto the horizon, scanning the landscape. Hal already had a good idea as to why this was, but he didn’t feel like voicing it just yet.

“Ma...is it different to be a gargoyle? I mean I know it must feel different with wings and a tail but...is it like...different? Hal asked.

Lina looked at Hal for a few seconds then she nodded contemplatively, “Yes mi Hijo, yes it is” she said gently “As much as my body has changed my mind has changed too...it’s important to remember Hal, that as a different species our brains are wired differently. We have instincts, hormones and other things that drive us towards behaviour more in line with our species.”

Hal nodded, still curious he asked “How is it different Ma?”

Lina thought for a moment “I am more inclined to eat meat now, I’m active mostly at night and I feel more protective, or at least I feel the need to protect my family and territory, that’s why I come up here to keep watch...It’s vitally important for me to keep my home safe now.”

“Do you think Mary feels that way?” Hal asked.

Lina didn’t respond, she just looked back out at the horizon and gave a deep sigh.

“I wish I knew Hal, I’d hope so…”

Hal hugged his Mother a little closer feeling a pang of sadness

“I miss Mary,” he said sullenly.

Lina could only stroke his hair gently with the underside of her talons.

“I miss her too mijo...that’s why I’ve been searching so hard but...I can’t find any sign of her.”

The night Lina had first transformed, Mary had transformed as well. But unlike his mother, Hal didn’t get front row seats to watch his sister gruesomely transform and go completely berserk. No one had seen Mary at all. All that was heard was a bloodcurdling fusion of a scream and roar that came from Mary’s room, and upon investigation, her window had shattered and she was gone. After Lina had gotten over her post-transformation despair she had committed herself to searching the entire area for her daughter, but to no avail. It was assumed that Mary had become a gargoyle just like her mother, as Lizzie and Edward had become the same species as their respective mothers. If this was the case then Mary had accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of taking her transformation worse than Lina.

Mary's absence upset Hal, knowing what he now knew about his mother, he was certain that Mary could be another affectionate, protective and noble gargoyle. But Mary was not the type to take something like this so easy.

Just as Hal was about to say something else, a distant call sang through the evening air. Both Hal and Lina perked up at the sound, as it was very familiar to them. It sounded just like the Erie call that Lina would howl into the night when she and Hal were still separate to vocalise her despair. They now knew it as a gargoyles long-distance call. Only this call had a different sound to it, making it distinct from Lina’s call.

Lina was especially caught by this call, her large bat-like ears twitching and swivelling to pick up the sound.

“Ma! Is that?...” Hal asked his mother who was rising to her feet, still keeping a wing by her son. “Yes...I think it’s her”

After all these nights, Mary might finally be found.

“Can you find her?” Hal asked, getting up on his feet alongside his mother.

“Shhh, Hal!” Lina said getting frustrated before quickly calming down “I need to call back first”

Lina took a deep breath and let out a call of her own. The sound was all too familiar to Hal, having heard it countless times when they were still avoiding each other. It was a very mournful and beautiful sound like a whale call mixed with the howl of a wolf. The call echoed throughout the surrounding area before dissipating into silence, a few minutes passed where nothing was heard but the sound of the whispering wind.

Then the distant call was heard again.

Lina’s ears swivelled and then her eyes widened “I think I can follow the call! I think I know where she is!” Lina exclaimed.

Hal grabbed his mother’s hand “I wanna come too! “I wanna help Mary! I can help her just like I helped you!”

“No,” Lina said in a firm voice.

Hal backed away, confused and a little upset.

“But...why?” he asked in a tiny voice. Lina knelt back down to his level

“Hal I know you always want to help, and that’s one of the things I like most about you, but I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But...I helped you?” Hal said meekly,

“I know Hal, but you still put yourself in danger, you almost fell off the roof! And the truth is...you shouldn’t have had to do that in the first place. It shouldn’t have been the responsibility of a young boy to help his mother in a crisis like this! I was wrong to not be there for you, and to not help you because I was so lost in my pity party! But this time I won’t let that happen, I’m not letting another one of my children suffer alone and I’m not going to put you in danger again, okay?”

Hal was still confused “But… it’s just Mary?”

“ I know Hal, but remember what I said about our minds and how they are different now? We still don’t know for certain how Mary will react to us! And wherever she is she’s probably scared and alone and stressed and that makes her even more unpredictable! If I go alone I can handle whatever she throws at me! But I don’t want to run the risk of you getting hurt again!”

Lina sighed and stood up once more, “I’ll help you back into the attic...then you’re going to go to bed, and I’ll go look for Mary, understand?”

“But Ma…”

“No more but's Hal,” Lina commanded, before scooping Hal up in her arm and clambering back into the attic.

After placing Hal back in the attic Lina looked at him and placed her hands on his shoulders, “I must leave now, if I don’t find Mary I’ll be back before sunset, stay safe Hal” then Lina planted a kiss on Hal’s forehead and quick as a flash she leapt out of the open window and took off into the night sky.

Hal groaned but accepted defeat, making his way downstairs. Hal knew what his mother meant but he still wanted to help. He was technically Mary’s older brother, and he always felt some responsibility when it came to making his sister happy and picking her up when she was down. Now he had a chance to be there for Mary when she needed him most, and he couldn’t be there. Hal didn’t even know what the danger was, his fears of his mother wanting to kill him in her monstrous form were nothing but nightmares that held no truth. So surely Mary couldn’t be that different?

Then Hal had a realisation, he may not have had his mothers pinpoint accurate hearing but he did know the direction Mary’s call came from. And it just so happened to be in the same direction as a location he and Mary were very familiar with.

Without a moment to waste, Hal raced down the stairs, grabbed his bike helmet off the hatstand and ran out the front door. He ran to the garage and found his bike, after unlocking the chain and putting on his helmet he peddled off into the night.

The ride through the woods was not a relaxing one, unlike similar rides he’d take during the day. The trees surrounded him in dark shadows and the icy wind of the late evening nipped and stung at his face and hands as he rode down the rural road. If it weren’t for the light on his bike he’d be in complete darkness.

Nevertheless, Hal peddled as fast as his little legs could muster through the night until finally, his destination came into view.

Near the edge of the woods, just over a kilometre from the house, was an old churchyard. The church had been abandoned for some time but was still intact and stood tall and dark amongst the jagged tombstones that cast eerie silhouettes of crucifixes and stone angels. Hal didn’t know why the church had been abandoned, left to slowly decay in the lonely woods. But he and Mary would often come to this place for walks, it felt secret and peaceful during the day.

The same could not be said at night.

Hal parked his bike against the stone wall surrounding the churchyard and pulled out his phone, using the light as a torch to guide the way. Hal made his way across a thin concrete path overgrown with weeds and grass that lead straight towards the church.

Hal hurried to get to the church’s front door. The door was usually held shut with a chain and padlock, that very same padlock was lying on the grass a meter away in two pieces.

Upon closer inspection, Hal could see claw marks etched into the wooden door.

At this point, Hal was tempted to take his mothers advice and go home, go to bed and pretend this never happened. But he had already come so far, and he couldn’t let Mary down now.

So gathering all the courage he could muster, Hal pushed open the church doors.

Hal had never been inside the church, as it had been locked for years. Scanning the empty church with the light of his phone he saw that there were still pews and an altar. But the pews were littered with rubble and stray fallen beams from the ceiling.

The decrepit, decaying interior of the church was not doing anything to help Hal’s nerves. The scattered and dark building could be hiding anything, anyone could be lurking in the shadows.

Then just as Hal was reaching the altar, a loud thump echoed through the empty church. Hal spun around searching for the source of the sound. Hal’s heart was beating out of his chest as his eyes scanned the dimly lit church for any signs of movement.

Then Hal saw it.

Two shining red eyes, looking straight at him from within the shadows of one of the pews.

Hal felt his heart lodge itself in his throat, the eyes had caught him off guard and he didn’t know what to do.

Should he run? Should he stand his ground?

He wasn’t even sure he could move his muscles as his whole body had gone stiff with fear.

Hal regained control of his right hand, managing to lift the light of his phone towards the red eyes and the light unveiled what was staring at him from the darkness.

It was his sister…

Mary slowly crept towards the young prince, never once taking her eyes off him. What everyone had guessed was right, Mary had become a gargoyle like her mother.

But Mary didn’t look like Lina.

Lina’s gargoyle form was refined and sleek. She had her horns, fangs and talons and to a lesser extent her bladed tail. But that’s all she needed, Mary was no such gargoyle.

Almost every part of Mary’s body was covered in bony spikes, reminiscent of thorns.

Her elbows had spikes jutting out of them. And alongside two curved horns, her brow had rows of small spikes, even her tail was lined with a row of curved spikes running along the top. Hal winced at the imagery the spikes conjured, of them working their way through Mary’s skin and flesh and the incredible pain that followed.

It was no wonder Mary was still as furious as his mother had been.

But what frightened Hal the most was her eyes, they were blood red, glowing hellishly.

Mary prowled on all fours, tail swishing like a cat about to pounce, wings flashing in agitation. Her lips were curled back exposing her sharp white fangs, saliva dripping from them. A sinister growl was rumbling in her throat.

Hal had found comfort that the terrifying image of his mother had mostly been a construct of his imagination. His fear warping an intimidating but still grounded creature into a demon. But Mary felt like a real-life version of that warped image. And the worst part was that she was in the clear light of his phone. There was nothing hidden or left up to his imagination, this was real.

Hal tried to be brave, he didn’t run away despite every survival instinct screaming at him to flee for his life. But it was like his nightmare had come true, instead of his mother, his sister looked like she was about to kill him.

Hal trembled like a leaf, sweat and tears dripping onto his shirt.

If his greatest fears were true and his beloved older sister had been replaced with a feral, vicious monster on the hunt.

He was in a world of trouble.

“M-Mary?” he managed to sputter out, his phone barely staying in his hand with how much it was shaking.

Mary didn’t respond, she instead got up off her hands and stood up straight, splaying her wings. She did this so fast Hal found himself stumbling backwards and tripping on a piece of rubble. He fell onto his backside dropping his phone in the process. Now unable to see clearly Hal began to panic, hyperventilating as the tears really began to fall.

No longer illuminated by Hal’s phone, Mary stood as a dark silhouette with her shining red eyes still staring daggers at Hal.

If this really was one of his nightmares Hal knew he stood no chance against the gargoyle.

“M-Mary…no…it’s me…Hal…” he pleaded, his voice quiet and trembling.

Mary stood for a few minutes, her tail swishing, light shimmering off her tail spines. She continued growling, flexing her fingers as if she were preparing them to sink into Hal’s flesh.

Then she let out a sudden loud snarl and lunged at him.

Hal blocked his eyes with his arms, not wanting to look into his sister’s blood-red eyes as she mauled him. Wishing for nothing more than to say sorry to his mother for not listening to her and going off on his own. Like an idiot, he had walked into a situation he was not in any way prepared to deal with. And now he would pay the ultimate price.

But instead of feeling the unfathomable pain of his flesh being torn into by serrated talons, he felt a rush of air blow into him as he heard wings flap, followed by another thud behind him. Looking up he saw that Mary had jumped over him instead of at him, and she had landed on the elevated stage of the altar. Before he knew it she had scampered up the wall and with a flap of her wings she leapt up into the belfry.

Hal just sat there, processing what had just happened. Mary looked like she was about to kill him, and she definitely could have, he was at her mercy.

But she just...didn’t?

It made no sense.

Suddenly another thump came from behind him, Hal scrambled to his feet in fear that sister had returned. But It was just his mother standing amongst the pews.

Uh oh…

“Henry…” Lina said sternly, her brow ridge furrowed.

All Hal could do was sit there and stare at her, there was nothing he could say to get out of this. He really was in trouble now.

“Ma...I…” Hal started to say, but any excuses or reasons died on his tongue before it could even leave his mouth.

“Hal I told you to stay home, and you came out here all alone in the dark of night!?” Lina scolded, it was a harsh tone Hal was very familiar with, and couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it right at this moment.

“What on Earth were you thinking!? What were you expecting to do? You could’ve gotten hurt or...worse…”

Lina choked up at the last part, not wanting to vocalize her deepest fear. That she might lose her son again.

Hal got choked up as well, knowing full well what his mother meant. And the worst part was that she was right, he really did have no idea what he was doing and he could have died for it.

“I-I just...I thought...I thought I could talk to her...like I did with you…” Hal sniffed. “I just want my sister back”

“ I know you do Hal, but like I said this shouldn’t be your burden to bear. You aren’t doing Mary any favours by putting yourself in danger”

Lina said, still stern but more understanding this time.

“Do you understand me?” Lina asked.

Hal just nodded, slowly getting to his feet.

“Good...now please, go home Hal” Lina instructed.

“Yes Mamá,” Hal said dejectedly and walked in shame out of the church.