Thank you all again... And now for the next chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Not All Things Go Well for Good People

Chapter 6

~From that moment on, I realized that if I harmed myself anymore that I could no longer confide in the boy. The sudden revelation of facts brought me to understand that he would get in my way. He would never understand the addictive pain inflicted and the thrill of doing so... As far as I knew, there was no kindred spirit for me, for I was nearly positive that no one else was half demon with anger issues and a 'cutting problem.'

~So there I sat with Gar in who knows where and a broken home back at the Tower.

~Another moment of silence passed before Gar spoke again. "Last night... You sounded really... angry..." He looked at me a moment before continuing. "Is there something wrong back home?"

~I gave an unexpected, dark chuckle. "What isn't wrong? Star won't eat, Dick can't figure out if he's a girl or boy, Bee tried to kill herself, you're over here pickling your liver, and I'm slicing my veins open... You tell me if something's wrong or not."

~His jaw fell wide open. "And they've all come to you for it..."

~"Hell yeah!" I crossed my arms in an effort to cover my exposed skin. "I cut the day you guys left and haven't been able to stop since."

~"Damnit, Rae!" Gar simply shook his blond mane.

~I took notice he wasn't vomiting or throwing anything and made comment. "You're beginning to hold your drinks better..."

~He glanced at the empty bottle and dropped it with a sharp thunk. "You drank half of it..." Now, he scowled bitterly.

~Guilt swept over me and made my skin ache again causing me to drop back on the tough bed and groan. "Talk to me... Just distract me. Talk about anything..."

~He looked thoughtful a moment before continuing. "Have I ever told you the story about my dad?"

~I grunted as a no. His parents had always been a touchy subject with him, and when family was ever brought up he would involuntarily wince.

~"Well... Not too terribly long ago did this all happen... It was before I joined the Doom Patrol and the Titans... He'd been having so much trouble with his back, and with our vast amount of money, he got the surgery he needed. You know... Biologists... Scientists... Soon, however, he started acting just plain weird... Then, one day, he gathered us in the living room, gave us a hug, and left. He had the balls to come back after a year of running around with women, and my mom took him back in. He said something to me about her, and it just set me off." He clenched his fists and growled. "I beat the ever living hell out of the bastard right then with my bare hands. My mom just thought we got in a fight, but that summer, we went back to my village in Africa... That's when they drowned. I had become a man at a very early age... That would explain why I'm so... Childish at times..."

~My heart ached for him as I felt his pain and emotional agony but distracted me from my urge. "Oh, Gar... I'm so sorry..."

~"It's fine now... I don't even have to deal with him anymore, but what gets me is that he thought we actually loved him after all he did to us," He just took a deep breath and shrugged.

~The pain soon subsided and let me move freely yet again.

~"Gar, that's... That's awful..."

~"Yeah, but it's cool now... I have a million girls at my disposal and super powers... What else do I need? I mean sure it would be great to have that one girl... The one who makes my life whole and complete... Ya know?"

~Do I ever, I mused inwardly.

~"I know you understand, Rae... I mean, why else would you hurt yourself like that?"

~"Because it feels good... And you need some stress relief when you have a cross dressing leader with an anorexic girlfriend and a psychotically depressed girlfriend of a half machine... It starts to make sense when I put it in that context, doesn't it?"

~He nodded slowly and looked away. "Will the others be mad at me for this?"

~"What they don't know won't kill them, Gar..."

~He gave a curt nod and leaped off of the bed stretching out his strong limbs. "So what do you say to some breakfast, Rae?"

~I wanted my usual herbal tea but knew that wouldn't happen, so I complied with a nod and rolled off of the bed smiling. He was taking me out to breakfast...


~We exited the hotel and strolled down the cobblestone boulevard that was shaded by huge trees covered in Spanish moss. We walked a few blocks in comfotable silence before I attempted conversation.

~"So, where are we?" I voice had an unusual tone of avid curiosity.

~He stood tall over me and looked down smiling. "Saint Augustine..."

~My eyes widened. "I'm in Florida...?"

~"Not a beach person I take it..." He chuckled and the tone was sweet in my ears.

~"Never have been in my short life."

~At this point, we had walked a couple of blocks to a dark cafe, and a notion crept into my thread of thoughts. He's taking me to a place where I would usually like to go. But why aren't there any people around?

~Gar pulled the door out and inclined his head, "Ladies first."

~"Who knew you were a gentleman?" My voice was sharp and sarcastic.

~I felt the air become heavy as I entered the little bistro and noted how it was nearly empty but for a few workers darting busily in and out of the kitchen. I felt Gar tense up beside me and my skin stretched back over my bones aching yet again.

~"Something isn't right here... I can feel it..." His usually carefree or drunken voice was now cautious and warning. "Let's... RAVEN, GET DOWN!"

~One second I was standing in the doorway of the little cafe; the next, I was on the floor with Gar on top of me. A once unnoticable ticking grew louder, and I instinctively threw a protective shield around the two of us; not a second later, the whole building was incinerated and nothing but ash. It was most disturbing because there was only a brief fire before everything was grey and desolate. There were no flames. There were no people. There was even an absence of people on the street.

~"What the FUCK?" I blurted out in rage.

~"Damnit! I should have known we were being followed! Shit, Raven... This is bad," He was still laying on top of me.

~My anger grew and grew until I could hardly contain it anymore. "Garfield. Get. Off. Of. Me."

~He rolled off and looked around frantically. "We've got to get home."

~"What is it? Who did this?" My skin prickled and began throbbing.

~He started off down the road muttering and shaking his head. "GARFIELD!" I sent forth a wall of black energy and stopped him.

~He pulled out a flask from his jeans pocket and unscrewed the lid shakily before taking a long drought and licking his lips. I ran over, not levitated but ran, to the boy and snatched the dark canteen out of his hand before he could take another drink. I reared back to bitch slap the hell out of him, but my senses were dulled as I noticed... He was crying...

~"Rae... We've got to leave. Forget everything in the hotel room. We need to leave now."

~A moment of panic rushed in my mind. But I need something in there, you psychotic idiot!

~He seemed to hear what I was mentally screaming and said, "Leave the blade, Raven. If bad goes to worse, I'll buy you a new one myself and shoot myself later."

~I opened my mouth to say something before my head connected with the concrete and an explosion errupted behind us.

~"Deal."

~With that, I teleported the semi-sober changeling and myself back to the Tower.