In the morning, Diablo still felt sore after his fight with the cougar. He hoped he wouldn't have to face any more big cats like those for a while. The stitches in his arms and chest would need to stay in at least a week. He was able to get up slowly from his bed to not hurt himself more.

He went out with his master to inspect the chicken coop, nervous about how many that cat had killed.

The men had found at least five dead. Shadow Man frowned but shrugged. "A passable loss, we still have plenty to spare, thanks to our special friend," he said with a smile. Diablo could just barely see it under his hood. Diablo smiled from the praise again, but his insides felt a little off from how his master claimed it as a passable loss. He didn't like that any innocent chickens were harmed at all.

"What will happen now, Master?" asked Diablo, talons scratching the dirt.

Shadow Man looked at him. "We will have a little test about your eyes, of course. In the afternoon, Thomas will have your appointment. And maybe a couple other tests to study you."

Diablo gulped a little but he knew it was a risk worth taking to learn more about himself. He nodded. "And Master, that night I could see quite fine in the dark. Is it possible I'm nocturnal?"

Shadow Man shrugged. "Possibly. But that doesn't change your schedule routine. You'll still patrol during the day unless I change my mind," he said. The beaked male frowned slightly. He wanted to practice seeing in the dark more.

"Try to understand, Pet, that I only do what is best for you," Shadow Man then said, a hand under Diablo's beak. Diablo nodded. "Ok, Master," he mumbled softly.

Shadow Man smiled again. "Good boy. Now you can patrol until lunch. Don't leave the property. And be careful of your wounds." He said, repeating the same warning too. Diablo nodded again, going over to his patrolling position, making sure to not aggravate his injuries.

....

During the course of his patrolling while taking care not to do so many crazy stunts, Diablo felt lost in strange memories. Most of them were fuzzy, making him grunt a little and shake his head to focus and not upset his master. But still... did his master really think about what's best for him?

He saved my life. I have to follow his orders and respect him. And besides, I have nowhere else to go, Diablo thought, heart feeling heavy from his conflicted emotions. If he did travel far, what would he do by himself without support? It scared Diablo to think about it.

So far; most of the animals seemed fine, no intruders, which relieved Diablo. He then saw the sun in the afternoon sky, signaling that his duties were over. Diablo returned to the front door where his master waited, looking approved at him.

"Another peaceful day on the ranch. With hopefully no more night intruders. That beast cat won't be bothering my animals anymore after I killed it last night," he said with a chuckle. Diablo grinned, following his master inside.

"Is it time for my eye exam?" Diablo asked. Shadow Man nodded. "Yes, little one. Come along, Thomas is waiting for you." Diablo's heart beat nervously but he quickly followed in his master's wake to the infirmary.

Thomas greeted the two with a smile. "Ah, welcome. This shall be an exciting exam indeed; learning why a gargoyle's eyes glow. Please sit Diablo."

The red gargoyle took a seat in the exam chair. He was nervous about this but wanted to know more about himself.

"I have some tasks to complete but give me the results when you are done." Shadow Man ordered before leaving.

"Yes, Boss." Dr. Thomas replied.

Diablo watched as the doctor pulled down an eye telescope exam device.

"Now I want you to look into this device, Diablo. I will examine one eye at a time. Just relax your face. I will have to take pictures behind the eye. You may see some flashing and seeing the veins, but I assure you'll be fine." Thomas explained.

Diablo swallowed nervously. He nodded. He let the doc do what he had to do. Seeing veins behind his eyes was not something he expected and it had shocked him and blinding him momentarily with each eye because the lights were very bright to see with them.

"Did you see anything?" Diablo asked curiously.

"I will let you know in a little while. I don't have all the answers yet." Thomas said.

"Okay. What do I do until then?"

"Just go do your normal tasks. Or rather, go relax so you can let the wounds rest too. You should have results at dinner along with the boss."

"Ok." Diablo replied. He left to go to his room to relax. He felt he needed a nap anyway.

...

At dinner that evening, Dr. Thomas had by now told Shadow Man the results.

Diablo was all too curious to know what the results were too.

"Well, Diablo, the results are back as to why your eyes glowed in the dark last night in the fight." Shadow Man began.

The gargoyle gave him his attention. "It turns out that you have a special retina in your eyes that allows your eyes to glow from obviously adrenaline in your system. If you get mad, your eyes will glow." The boss explained the doc's results. "And you have a different type of rods and cones in your eyes that allows you to see in the dark."

"So, am I nocturnal?" Diablo asked.

"Maybe but like I said, your schedule is not changing." Shadow Man exclaimed. "And don't patrol for a while now. Not until your stitches and wounds can feel better." Diablo understood, nodding, though he desperately still wanted to glide outside at night even more than ever.

....

Later that night Diablo slept, but still felt restless mostly from his stitches which he was often tempted to itch, and even more so from his desire to be in the night sky which still called to him.

Diablo rubbed his eyes, mumbling in frustration again, settling on his back. That anklet he had was a bit of a pain to sleep with, too. But he still couldn't remove it. After a while Diablo decided to try and steady his breathing, doing his best to keep calm, to help fall asleep.

His eyes began to drift shut finally, until he slipped into his dream world.

....

"Brooklyn..." whispered a strange voice. Diablo trembled while wandering around the streets, wondering what Brooklyn was. The voices kept it up, each one of them different. He couldn't recognize them.

"Who are you?" Diablo called, before suddenly the scene switched and he found himself being tackled by bad humans. Only they weren't hurting another innocent being; they were only attacking him. Diablo cried out when one hit him in the belly.

"Ah! Stop!" Diablo sobbed. What wrong had he done to these humans? And where was this city? It reminded him of when he dreamed of those other two gargoyle creatures. His anger flowed, eyes glowing again, suddenly taking a stand and throwing the humans off him, hissing.

Two tried to take him down but he jumped out of their way, swiping his tail at them. One held out his gun at Diablo. Diablo saw fire behind him but didn't know what had happened to cause it.

"Let's see if yer bullet proof, freak!" Sneered the man cruelly. Diablo backed away, eyes round, until a shadowy figure suddenly flew down, screeching like the cougar that attacked Diablo that time ago. Diablo blinked in surprise, as the figure landed next to him, ready to fight.

The two fought off the thugs, some getting away on their motorbikes. Diablo got pulled into an alleyway to safety by his rescuer. They took to the air, landing on another rooftop.

Diablo looked around, wondering who was there, until red eyes flashed in the shadows, making him jump back in terror, crying out, the vision fading...

....

"Gaaah!" Diablo cried, jerking up in fear, sweating, seeing the covers on his bed having been pushed off from his jerking under them. These memories were really hurting his head. Diablo covered his head with his wings, slightly cringing from the pain of his wounds but didn't care, wondering how he was gonna resolve his identity crisis.

Am I really who my Master says I am? Is my name really Diablo? Diablo questioned silently, tears falling and sniffling when his emotions suddenly burst open, feeling lonely for the warm hug of a nice family, wishing ones that looked like him could welcome him openly. These men seemed like good friends sure but didn't feel like family, loneliness threatening to shatter his heart.