Broken

Garfield reacted as expected to her command; he whined in fatigued frustration, "Why now? Can't I have one hour to watch T.V?" He was even desperate enough to try his puppy dog eye look, but she remained neutral in action and angry in stare and Garfield soon realised that he could not and would not win. "Okay, where?" at least he knew when he stood no chance.

"My room," she replied instinctively, this was part of her plan to make the 'talk' fair and was a more than necessary sacrifice or her privacy, 'That's not it. You want to let him in, you want him to see us and like it,' she heard Affection whisper in accusation. 'If that's true then it's your doing!' she yelled in thought, silencing Nevermore for now.

Garfield only raised his eyebrows in surprise to the fact she was allowing into her room, even inviting him and she could sense that he was happy for it. Hope began to build in her alongside a silent confidence; Bravery was exercising some muscle and wearing a grin under that dark green cloak, she was sure of it. However, the rest of her family emitted a severe spike in the emotions of confusion and surprise, she turned to see masks of shock written across the three faces of Victor, Richard and Starfire, "What?" she asked, seeing Garfield's smirk in the corner of her eye, "Since when do I allow your opinions to influence my actions?"

The threes reactions then took on separate natures. Richard became even more surprised, possibly at the realisation that she had closed her mental link with him and was preventing him access to her thoughts and motivations; she didn't need him interfering. Starfire was happy, more than happy; the princess was ecstatic but was exercising uncharacteristic control by only smiling widely and not jumping around giggling and squealing, she'd have to thank Starfire later for such restraint. Victor's attention had obviously turned to thinking of how best to use to new event to extort something from Garfield, not surprising really as the pair seemed to have some kind of contest of espionage over who had the most 'dirt' on the other.

She dismissed the others' reactions for now, subconsciously planning on how to deal with their confusion and inevitable questions later. She turned to the exit from the common room that would eventually lead her and Garfield to the bedrooms… her bedroom, which was an idea she was still resisting the idea of internally. 'He'll hate us, he already hates us, leave him alone and he might not hate us more. We shouldn't let him in; he'll laugh and joke about us…reject us,' Timid's whimpering in Nevermore didn't help. As Garfield followed her she felt a resentment rise within him, it wasn't personal to her though, it was more toward his actions; he clearly hated what was happening.

"If you really don't want to do this you don't have to," she said, offering him a way out, in cold monotone; this process had to be made of his own free will to be successful, and that was the only path she would allow herself to take. Garfield's regret was instant; he hadn't wanted her to sense his discomfort for the situation, she concluded that this meant he had made his choice already and she was happy for that. 'You're more than happy for it, admit it,' Affection whispered playfully, the sensation was as if the emotion's mouth was next to her ear.

"We both know I don't wanna do this, Rae," Garfield replied, 'Hearing him call you that name makes you even happier, doesn't it? Or is that not the right word? Nervous, maybe? Excited?' she wasn't even able to think of a retort, all she could manage was an unsuccessfully suppressed blush, "but I agreed to tell you what you wanna know, so it doesn't matter how I feel about it." The pause that followed the end of Garfield's answer was so embarrassing, since she knew he had caught the scent of her blush that it was almost impossible for her to focus on the importance of his words, "By the way, Rae, are you blushing?"

"No." Her volume was too loud, 'You're lying. You know it, I know and so do the rest of us, and so does he,' she cursed herself for letting her pink cloaked emotion foil her bluff and even more for letting the same emotion affect her so much in the first place. Mercifully, thank Azar, Garfield remained silent until the rest of the walk; although the silence was tense she was glad of it. It allowed her to mentally lock Affection's lips shut and with that annoyance solved she focused on the task now in front of her: her room. "This will be a fair trade of information," she stated, firmly back in monotone, keeping her face hidden behind the shadow of her cloak, "Letting you into my room is my first trade." This was her plan, she would sacrifice her own privacy in exchange for him doing the same, it was fair and Garfield's stubborn pride would be able to accept the situation as at least a draw rather than a defeat.

She pressed the door release and drew in long deep breathes in order to help suppress both feelings and instincts that caused her to protect the sanctum of her room. She remained still as Garfield stood next to her observing the room, observing her. It had changed along with her, but only three of the changes mattered to her. One, her bed linen; it was no longer grey and toneless has many used to judged her. Two, the painting of the on the wall of an Earth autumn night in a fully leafed forest; it was no longer the burned grey trees depicted in Azarath lore. Three, the window on the right that now spanned the entire wall; she could now see the world and allow it to see her when she chose. These three things epitomised the affect the Titans, her family, had had on her; she was able to feel and show emotion, this was her home now not Azarath and she no longer needed to hide herself from those around her. Even with that truth, however, she became more than scared of how Garfield was judging; he'd been silent in shock for two whole minutes but now it changed to confused curiosity. "Where's the huge trunk that was next to your closet where it used to be?"

"In the closet that is now in the far left corner adjacent to my bed" she replied, deciding to walk into the room to at least be in familiar surroundings when he rejected her, her fears continued to grow a Garfield stayed outside taking in the whole room. "Is it really that bad?" she asked, not turning back to meet his eyes she refused to see his disgusted fear, which was all she could foresee from the shock she sensed within him.

His reaction was unexpected to say the least, "Nope, it's really that good," she spun on the spot to try and confirm what she felt coming from him; his smile and his emerald eyes did just that. He was happy, "It's you, Rae, how could I not be amazed?"

'Did you need to ask?' she thought, despairingly, as she replied, "You've always said I am 'creepy'," unable to maintain eye contact with green gems and hiding in the shadow of her hood. Garfield then walked toward her and into her room, the door hissing shut, he truly wasn't afraid? He pulled back her hood and lifted her chin gently so that their faces were only inches apart; forcing her to look back into the unbelievable wild green orbs, there was no fear in them.

"Now who's the hypocrite? You kept telling me not to see myself as 'ugly', but here you are doing the exact same thing," his voice was soothing to her ears but this did not blind her to how serious he was,. "Every time I said you were 'creepy' I meant that you scare me and you are mysterious," Timid whaled within Nevermore, and the seal on Affection's mouth broke, but all her manifested love could do was join in the cries, "but, who said that's a bad thing," the crying stopped "I'm sorry that I hurt you with that word; I know what it's like to be feared and hated as a monster, and to fear those you love see you as that as well. That's part of why we are here isn't it? Just know this, Rae. We're family; you may scare me but only when I have done something that you would hate me for, or when you do something I can't understand. Which lets face it, is completely unavoidable, huh? And you are mysterious since you hide yourself from me and the world." These words were all that mattered to her, they filled her with hope, a hope that maybe she could be loved by the one she had now given her heart too, all be it silently. She smiled genuinely as he finished and when he smiled back it only let hers grow wider, not to mention Happy and Affection were squealing like giddy children in Nevermore.

"Then, you are 'creepy', Garfield," she joked, it almost felt natural for her with Garfield standing so close to her, it worked surprisingly well he laughed and laughed strongly. "So, now we have my first secret revealed, shall we move on to yours?" she asked, returning completely to monotone, to which he nodded and sat at the foot of the bed as she gestured for him to do so, ever the gentleman Garfield removed his shoes before sitting crossed legged on the deep purple duvet. She took her seat at the head of the bed and sat in her meditation lotus position and reconnected her eyes to his, this time neither of them was willing to be the one to break the stare. "Let's start with the obvious," she said, earning a groan in response, "Please, take your gloves off, Garfield."

"Can we reach a truce on the name before we move on?" he whined, not trying to stall, evidently the boy's pride still couldn't take that name easily; she raised her eyebrow at the childish complaint.

"If you call me 'Rae', then I can call you whatever I want," she quipped; her demonic side enjoying the power in the statement, even Affection chuckled at it. Garfield, realising his defeat in this little game, hung his head and lost the staring contest with the same action, "Now, please…"

"I know, I know," the changeling whined as he finally removed the synthetic gloves and revealed his real hands to her for the first time. It was instantaneous; Garfield's mind reacted with extreme sorrow and fear at what he saw on his hands as he eyes fixed upon his palms, however, to her the source of these emotions were lost to her. His hands looked as she would have expected upon first meeting him; green in colour and generally human in shape, the only serious deviation being that the tips of his fingers were in fact claws and razor sharp to the point. However, there was only one mark on each hand that visibly caught her attention so that was where she decided to investigate first.

Her entire thought process was rushed as a result of Garfield's reaction and the need within her to help lessen the pain of his memories, and it was within a few seconds that she had clutched each of his hands in one of her own. "Why do you have these symbols on the back your hands? I know the mark on the right means male and the left symbol is the Greek letter alpha, but I don't know what circumstances surround them?" she asked, very carefully as she gently moved her thumbs across the scars, which appeared to be scars created with excess heat.

"They mean that I was the primary male specimen that was studied in the S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Mossaka. They're branding marks to signify my importance to the lab," Garfield replied, raising his head to lock stares with her again an uncharacteristic seriousness to his green eyes. She did not allow herself to react, not yet, despite the questions escaping Nevermore, "I was captured as an animal, or demon beast as the locals saw it, in a section of jungle in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but I was taken to Mossaka after being bought by the head scientist of the facility." Garfield's anger began to build as he envisioned the memories, proving that the branding marks were not the answers she wanted. Yet, she let her gaze soften as he revealed his past, she knew exactly how it felt to be treated as a demon; she was literal demon spawn.

"These marks bring you anger?" she asked, continuing her scanning of his hands not just limiting herself to the scars, he nodded in assurance, "But why could I sense fear and sorrow in you? You have no other significant marks on your hands that are not from your genetic differences to normal humans, I was expecting signs of torture." She admitted as she failed to see anything significant on his palms.

"If you're looking for that you just have to look past the fur on my back, Rae," Garfield's tone had become slightly mocking, which made her, 'How can he joke about something like that?' but he his voice lost that mocking tone as he pressed on, "like I said before: I know how to read my hands you don't." The widening of her eyes was reflex and she had no chance of preventing it, Garfield returned to his nightmares as he once again stared at his hands never flinching, 'MAKE HIM SHOW US! MAKE HIM TELL US!' cried Nevermore in a tearful yell, only Wisdom's voice remaining silent.

"Garfield," she pleaded, letting her monotone shatter at last, "Please, tell me everything. I want to know, I want to understand why they pain you so," but she didn't think he could even answer her now, the situation was breaking him, she was already moving across the bed as he tried to answer.

"I ran…" he started but then he began to cry, he defences were now broken and he was exhausted, and Garfield lost his balance began to fall of the bed. She caught and wrapped her arms around him as he cried; she pulled him up the bed and rested his head in her lap.

"Shhh…"she whispered as she began to stroke his hair, "It's okay, Garfield, just continue when you are ready to." She said as comforting as she was able, it was effective enough, it was needed as much for herself as him. As she now looked down at the crying man, it was the first time she had ever looked at him as more than a childish teenager, yes she loved him but in her thoughts he'd stayed as the goofy little boy he portrayed himself as even though she had already seen beyond that part of him. Not now, during this 'talk' she had seen what he truly was; a grown and troubled young man letting her see his nightmares and he deserved that recognition. She had broken his defences but she could not and would not allow him to break, she wanted to protect him, to help him and for him to trust her to do so, it was how she felt for him.

"On my fifth birthday…" Garfield started before, 'WAAAAH!' the alarm sounded, cutting him off and ruining the moment.

"Titans, jewellery theft by a gang of around 20 armed male and female suspects. They have several hostages an-" Nightwing started to instruct from both of their communicators

"Richard!" she yelled into the pocket device in anger, it was the best response available to her as the main option was allowing Rage to rip out his throat and she had to admit she was more than tempted. "I will say this once: Garfield and I are not coming! Find the help you need from someone else and do not question me!" She did not even allow her brother like leader a chance to argue, though she knew he wasn't enough of a fool to even think of trying. She turned both communicators off with her powers and placed a barrier around the bed, halting any sound, or force, from interrupting them again. She moved her face back to Garfield's and returned her voice to what had been before the alarm, "Continue, Garfield," she said earning a genuine smile from the green man still with tears in his eyes.

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A/N: Well what do you think? Good, terrible, too much OOC? Any complaints will be noted, as well as any praise, I mean it was a little fluffy compared to Control version of the chapter wasn't it? Affection's words are really there to reflect what Affection encarnates: love, care and lust. BB's words are a litte edited to try and make it seem a little more like what he'd say.