It was worse than she feared. This was the first time Raven ever entered Garfield's mind, and to be honest she had no idea of what sort of landscape she would find in there. Would it be a lush green forest? Or perhaps a joke shop?

What she found upon arrival was a jungle … a dying jungle. The leaves on the plants were mottled and shriveled up. The place had the stench of death. It reeked of it.

"Garfield!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, but he did not respond.

Slade was right, time was running out. She had to find him, and fast.

Think, Raven, think.

She fought back the urge to panic, and focused on the task at hand. She had told him to think of his parents.

The house!

Raven took to the virtual sky above Gar's "Nevermore". The landscape below was surreal; it looked like something out of a Lewis Carroll story, with impossible topography. She really couldn't complain, her mental landscape was no less bizarre, if anything hers was worse. She rotated around as she levitated; straining her eyes as she scanned the topsy turvy horizon, until finally she saw it. She zoomed towards it like a cruise missile, and within moments she was there.

What she found was a decrepit house, not all that different from what the house looked like in the real world. Sitting on the porch, staring at the ground … was Garfield.

She immediately noticed that this Garfield, while "normal" was wearing a charcoal grey outfit.

It was an emoticlone.

She landed in front of him. He looked up at her with a sad look on his face.

"Hey, Rave." He greeted her in a flat monotone.

She kneeled before him and took his hands.

"Do you know the password?"

He looked away.

"My parents were bad guys."

"Yes, Garfield; they were. But that doesn't mean they didn't love you. Do you know the password?"

"Their research … it was going to be used to hurt people … lots of people." He replied in a dejected voice. "How could my parents do that?"

"I'm sure they had their reasons … Gar, time is running out. Do you know the password?" Her voice became tense.

"What password?"

"For the lab."

"My parents were doing evil in there."

"Gar, please …"

"They were evil, I must be evil too … I should die."

"I don't want you to die! Tell me the password, dammit!"

He curled up into a ball. "I don't know it."

Raven turned around and lifted off. Panic was now setting in. She needed to find Garfield, the real Garfield; but she had no idea where to look for him. From her perch in the sky she looked, she looked hard; but she didn't see anything. Using all her willpower she reigned in her fear and did what she did so well. She used logic.

"I need to find a happy Garfield, one who is happy to be with his parents." She talked to herself. "But where?"

It was then that it hit her. Gar often spoke about how happy he was the day he parents took him out in the canoe, of course; that outing ended in disaster with his parents falling to their deaths over a waterfall.

That's where he would be.

Raven scanned the horizon, looking for the river, but she couldn't see it as it was hidden below the jungle's canopy. There had to be a way to find it.

Think, Raven, think.

Nothing came to her mind beyond combing the jungle, and she had no time for that. She felt hot tears drip down her cheeks.

No! It's not over! There has to be a way to find the river.

The tears continued to cascade down her face. And then it hit her: the waterfall! The waterfall would make noise, she would be able to hear it if she got close.

She took off, flying a circular pattern, listening as carefully as she could. After what felt like a brief eternity she heard it: the sound of thundering water. She followed the sound and found a small clearing in the canopy and with it the waterfall. She made a beeline to it and flew upstream. Now she understood how his parents were caught by surprise and perished. The canopy absorbed the thundering sound, you could be just yards away and not hear it. She flew like a rocket and didn't have to fly far to find them.

She stared mesmerized at the scene before her. An adult Beast Boy, yes; he was green, sat in the canoe with his parents. His mother was unbelievably beautiful and his father looked exceedingly masculine and fatherly. Raven quickly realized that these were idealized versions of his parents, idols if you will. Beast Boy looked ecstatic to be with them. While he looked adult in his appearance, they interacted with him like he was a small boy. His mother smiled at him and would periodically kiss her son, while his father grinned approvingly. The canoe was flowing lazily down the small river and its occupants were unaware of the doom that was waiting ahead. His parents were oblivious to Raven's presence, and the sorceress hovered over the canoe. Finally, Beast Boy noticed her.

"Rave, come down and join us!"

She complied and landed next to him, sitting down.

"Gar, we need the password."

He ignored her request. "Mom, Dad, this is Raven. She's my wife."

Marie Logan smiled sweetly at Raven. She knew that this was Gar's fantasy: he was Beast Boy again and was introducing his new wife to his parents, who clearly approved.

"We've been dying to meet you, dear. Our Garfield found himself a nice girl."

Raven ignored the complement. "Do either of you know the password?"

"What password, dear?"

It had been worth a try. She turned to her husband.

"Gar, remember; you're sick with Sakutia. We need the password to get into the lab to get the serum for you."

"We already gave him the serum." Mark Logan interjected.

Raven could hear the waterfall approaching. Time was running out.

"He got bitten again."

"Doesn't matter, he's still protected … wait a minute … what's that?"

The waterfall was just yards away. Its thunder became louder and louder.

"A waterfall!" Marie shrieked. "Mark, do something!"

Raven saw Beast Boy turn pale. She could only guess how many times he had relived this nightmare. If she couldn't find the password, this would be the last time he would experience it.

"Garfield, Raven! Save yourselves!" Mark Logan shouted over the cataract's roar.

"No! I won't leave you behind!" Beast Boy shouted.

"You can't save us! Go to the safe house!" He shouted.

It was now or never. Raven grabbed Mark Logan by his shirt.

"We need the password to get in!"

Beast Boy snapped out of his terror. "I remember it now! It's my name, my full name!"

Raven closed her eyes. When she reopened them she was in front of the bunker. She ran to the door and keyed in "Garfield Mark Logan". Before pressing "enter" she looked to sky with pleading eyes.

"Azar, please let this be the password."

She pressed "enter" and her immense relief the door unlocked with a dull clunk and swung open. Using her powers she grabbed Garfield's still unconscious form and led him into the bunker, closing the door behind them.

-( - )-

They were in, but the battle was far from over. The lab was huge; there were tables and equipment in spades. She had no idea of where to begin. Finally, she saw a med station and placed Garfield on it. She connected a digital thermometer to him and saw that he was burning in fever. The basic training that she received at the Tower years before kicked in. There was a freezer with ice cubes in it and she poured a bucket of ice over him. The temperature reading dropped a couple of degrees, and he was temporarily out of danger.

Raven turned her attention back to the lab. She wasn't a biologist and she cursed her lack of knowledge.

Think, Raven, think.

Scientists kept lab notebooks, that much she knew. She looked around and found a bookcase. There was a table next to it, with an open lab notebook on it. She ran to the table, the notebook was almost full, with hundreds of pages of notes. She knew that his parents had to have made some note of what they did to him after the monkey bite; she just had to find it.

All those years of reading huge books were now an asset. Raven could speed read and actually retain what she read. She opened the note book on page one. She was flipping two pages a second, sweat forming on her brow as this was exceedingly fast even for her. She did not relent, even as mental fatigue began to set in. The adrenaline was pumping in her body and hard. Just as she felt she was near collapse she hit pay dirt and found the page. Pausing for a few seconds to recover she reread the page.

The serum they used was sample 134b in the refrigerator #4B. She looked and saw a bank of medical coolers, all humming. They were clearly labeled and she opened 4B. She quickly found the vial on the third shelf. As she held the vial in her hand it dawned on her that it was over 15 years old. She had no way of knowing if it was still good, and if it wasn't there wouldn't be time to prepare a new batch, not that she even knew how to do that. Swallowing hard she went to a glass cabinet and retrieved a hypo spray unit. She inserted the vial into it and it made a soft click and a green light on it indicated that it was ready to use.

Raven ran to Gar's side. His temperature, despite his being buried in ice, was rising again. She gulped. This was it, the end of the road. If it didn't work she would get to watch him die. She whispered a quick prayer and pressed the hypospray to his neck.

"I love you." She murmured.

She pressed the trigger and a hissing sound was heard as the serum was injected into his body. She dropped the hypospray and stepped back. In what Raven would later describe as the longest 5 minutes in her life, absolutely nothing happened. Garfield was still unconscious, burning in fever. Raven kept a stiff upper lip, and prayed for something, anything to happen.

And then, something did happen.

Garfield's temperature slowly began to drop. Raven quickly responded and placed an IV catheter in his arm, and promptly connected a saline solution bag to it. His temperature continued dropping and as it approached a normal temperature she saw what she later described as the most beautiful thing she ever saw:

He began to turn green.

Unable to contain herself any longer she leaned over him and began to weep. Beakers and other glassware in the lab shattered but she paid no mind as she continued to sob. Suddenly, he moved.

"Hi Rave." His voice rasped. "I'm really thirsty."

"Hi Gar." She smiled back at him before handing him a glass of water, which he gulped down.

"Did it work?"

"You be the judge." She replied as she handed him a small mirror.

He looked into the mirror and saw a green face staring back at him. Tears began to well in his eyes.

"I'm Beast Boy again!" He wailed as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You're my husband; you aren't a 'boy' anymore. You need a new hero name."

He gave her a warm smile. "How about Beast Man?"

"Let's think of a better name … on our honeymoon."

His smile widened. "Hey Rave."

"Yes?"

"I read somewhere that until a newlywed couple consummates that their marriage isn't valid."

She nodded. "That is correct."

"Well?"

"Well, what?" She asked innocently.

He grabbed her and pulled her onto the med station.

"Here?" She shrieked. "Are you serious? You want us to make love here, in a laboratory?"

"You'd better believe it, mama."

-( - )-

Next chapter: The epilogue.