Greetings! Right, I know this is becoming SUPER LONG. So, - I will put a summery of all you need to know from this chapter at the end, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. (HAHA not very promoting of my work, am I?)


Once the three of them were alone again, Dick let out the laugh that he had been holding in.

"How do you always manage to make such a mess?"

"I took classes; it's part of my studies, now."

"Hum, OK, just don't get any of that on my work." Dick wafted his hand at Gar, pretending to shoo him away. "We've found out some interesting things."

He looked back at Gar, who already had more pancake in his mouth that he was chewing enthusiastically. They locked eyes and Gar motioned for Dick to continue.

"Well, from what we gather- our consciousness' seemed to have cross into each other's bodies. There's 5 people in the dreams. Me, you, Vic, the girl in the chains and someone with red hair. What I don't get is why this is all happening...or how... The girl in chains told me that we'll meet soon enough, all of us; and she told Vic that she's always been in that white room, and he thinks she somehow healed him."

"Yeah, I was thinking about... well... I was in pain and she said, like, 'let me ease your suffering.' and I didn't hurt any more. Tell Dick what you said to me, about the plaice."

Oh, no. Did she talk to Garfield? I do not know any of this. Just shake your head. God, I could do with Gar right now... OH! "Hay, do you mind if I, um, put some music on?"

Dick raised his brow. "I guess... But, you're sure you can't remember anything?"

"I- I might do... It was like a dream, though, so perhaps I will recall something...Just let me be for a bit and I- I will have a think. I will use the headphone, if you prefer..."

Vic shrugged. "Depends what you wonna put on." When we talked about this last time he did kinda freak out on me...Vic recalled.

It was rather quiet in the basement. Sometimes people walked by and stopped as they read the note on the door, but so far no one had tried to come in. Abruptly, The Rembrandts interrupted the silence.

'So no one told you life was gonna be this way...' Gar hastily turned the volume down as Dick donned a look of concern.

"Are you alright? I guess thinking about this would make you... spacey..." The last word was chosen with care. It wasn't Dick's place to disclose anything he knew about his friend.

Nothing gets past him. "I... um. Kinda... " Come on, Gar. Positive trigger. Come to the front...

It wasn't working. Things had obviously been quite overwhelming for Gar, and he was deep in the head space.

'...You've burned your breakfast
So far, things are going great
Your mother warned you there'd be days like these...'

The two friends carried on with what they were doing, and Vic felt like a third wheel. They have a connection, and I'm just stood here messing with their inside jokes. He thought, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Too much had happened today. Nothing made sense and his mind kept wandering back to one significant thought. It was like Gar had said. When your area of thought is small and focused, it's easier for the ball to land on the sad button. He brought his hands over his face as he sunk into to the floor and processed the daunting truth.

He heard a clink as a glass of water was placed beside him, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a roll of tissue. Occasionally, Vic could see and hear what Gar and Dick were doing. They did a small work out. Dick left to pick up Gar's things from the hotel. When he got back, Gar took his towel and went for a shower as Dick obsessed over something with his post-it notes. Soon, Gar was back and ended up deep in quite conversation with Dick for some time.

A phone alarm went off.

"9 already?"

"Yeah. I, um, I think I'm, um, going to need to come off the anti depressants soon."

"So, the mood journal's working?"

"Apparemment, yeah. If this morning happened last month, I, um, I would, um, I would been in a very bad place..."

"Would have been."

"Um-hum. All things considered I am only... ashamed, I suppose. And sorry. Scared...Sad... But not., um..." He paused, and made a tutting sound, like he was trying to find the right word. "...Désespérée... despaired... um... faithless?"

"Hopeless."

"Um-hum. Sorry, I'm, um, getting spacey. But, yeah, I, um, I'm not feeling hopeless..."

"Hum. So, should I start planning your bail money now, or do I still have time?"

"Well, hopefully they kinda maybe got my medication dosage better and I can, um, I can have some... normal time..."

"You're never normal."

"Yeah, well, that's why you love me."

They stared at a laptop for a while with headphones in; writ out more post-it notes, and then Gar sat with his laptop and a school book. The keys on his pad clicked enthusiastically, with the occasional, unmistakable sound of the backspace erasing an error, or the touch pad clicking on a misspelt word. Sometimes he stopped and muttered out what he had written, before editing and continuing. After a particularly long pause from writing, Gar struck up a conversation.

"Where have you applied for going to university?"

"Do you mean- Which universities have I applied for?" There was a silence. "OK, fine, I know. 'English isn't my first language.'"

"Um-hum."

"So, there's Hudson, Gotham State, Burnside, Midwest and Stanhope." Dick said.

"Oh! Go for Hudson; then we can hang out when I go to campus for lectures."

"Hum. Tempting. Speaking of, how goes the dissertation?"

"Do you mean, how is the dissertation going? Mr English is my first language." There was another silence. "It is going fine. I went for, 'Pressure vs Persuasion. How does the increasing demand for scientific knowledge effect metahumans?' I have topics like- whether, in the case of a minor, the parents should make the decision regarding scientific research; what the benefits are vs how it can mentally and physically effect the patient; illegal scientific studies; voluntary vs paid studied. That kind of thing."

"Pretty personal stuff, then?"

"Yeah, I, um, I just think I have a lot of experience in the area and it, it isn't talked about a lot, so, like..."

"I get ya."

The typing continued. Vic thought about his own university scholarship and how he wouldn't get to go. Would he be a metahuman case study, now? Time ticked by slowly. Unimaginable possibilities that didn't exist this time yesterday were suddenly reality. How do you continue? He looked the boys he was with. They had both been through so much but were here, now, living their lives. He drank the water and cleared his throat.

"What's going to happen to me?" Vic asked, clearly.

"Oh, well, um, what do you, um, want to happen?"

"... I want to go to collage. I was accepted at Gotham with a sports scholarship... but I don't think I can do that now... and I don't know what else I want to do..."

"Oh. I, um, I, um, recommend, ... start with the smallest task. Like, If the big task is too scary, do not think about it, yet... I don't know if, um, if this makes sense. Um... basically, start with learning who you are, now. If you need to, shower with the light off... don't make the sandwich, just, like, eat the parts separate. Do not be scared to ask for help."

Shower with the light off? As he saw his new body, and then looked back at Gar's green skin, and then back down to his own body, he realised what it mean. I guess you never think about how people learn to cope with change when you haven't had to, before.

"I guess, I need to do it. Garfield. I need your help... I want your help. I want you to tell me everything will be OK and that I can be normal, and that it gets better, and that I have a new purpose and this is all gods plan and... I don't know how to plan a funeral... And..."

There was something by his legs. A patchy green dog was looking up at him with large, yellow eyes, the garish paisley blue shirt awkwardly on its small, fluffy body.

"Oops. Well, I guess I'm going to have to tell you that this sometimes happens to Garfield..."

"This isn't the same dog as earlier... can he not control it?"

The Welsh Corgi, that was once Garfield, was still looking up at him.

"... No... it isn't really something he wants people to know, but some of his animal forms just take over..."

"You're making some sense... But why is he a small dog?"

"The Welsh Corgi is known to be a good therapy dog. He mostly turns into it when people are sad, or if there's a child."

"Does he remember things when he's like this? 'Cause he didn't seem to with that other dog. Can't you do that thing you did where you made him turn back? "

"I don't really want to talk about him, if that's alright; he will more then likely explain it all to you later. He wont listen to me when he's like this, so just make yourself comfortable and stroke the dog."

Dick crouched down and fussed the animal.

What the hell is happening? "How am I supposed to treat him like a dog when he's a teenage boy?!"

"You get used to it. And if you think it's crazy that he's a dog, then how do you think he feels?... "

"Oh... right... scared and ashamed and sad... I feel like that too."

Vic gave in and let the dog sit in his lap. If he didn't think to much about it, it was nice.

Nothing was right. The Chinese Dick picked up for dinner didn't have the right taste; he had spent the whole day in a hospital break room with waves of emptiness followed by pools of drowning emotions; there was a metahuman boy-dog still in his lap; and a mysterious, creepy girl in his dreams.

It was draining. Exhaustion consumed him, but he didn't want to leave the small room, unless he was going to the loo, and risk facing anyone who might be on the outside. Fortunately, Dick came up with a simple solution. Three, thin mattresses from hospital trolley beds were laid out on the floor with blankets and pillows. They weren't comfortable, but Vic was so tired it didn't matter. When 9pm rolled round another alarm went off, and Dick groaned.

"Garfield. Please, snap out of it."

The room smelt like jasmine and 'I'll be there for you.' had repeated countless times. Out of curiosity, Vic opened his eyes. He was just in time to see Dick holding onto Gar, who was still a small dog, making him take tablets stuffed inside of Scooby Snacks.

Well. That's something you don't see every day. "Can't you just wait for him to turn back?" Stupid question. He wouldn't be doin' that if he didn't have to.

"Alas, no. Come on, Gar. One more. There we go." The dog was let loose and shook himself. "He can't miss his medication, even if he's an animal."

"... You're a good friend..."

"Thanks...I try..."


SUMMERY OF IMPORTANT THINGS for those who did not want to read more of the blerg from these three boys.

Vic is still sad.

Dick gets Gar's clothes from the hotel.

Gar is writing a dissertation for his university law class, about "Pressure vs Persuasion. How does the increasing demand for scientific knowledge effect metahumans?' I have topics like- whether, in the case of a minor, the parents should make the decision regarding scientific research; what the benefits are vs how it can mentally and physically effect the patient; illegal scientific studies; voluntary vs paid studied. That kind of thing."

Gar has been keeping a mood journal and thinks he will need to come of his medication soon. Dick responds with "Hum. So, should I start planning your bail money now, or do I still have time?"

Gar turns into a Welsh Corgi. Dick explains to Vic

"This isn't the same dog as earlier... can he not control it?"- Vic

"... No... it isn't really something he wants people to know, but some of his animal forms just take over..." - Dick

Gar is still a Corgi. It is now night time. They are sleeping in the break room on hotel trolley bed mattresses. Dick has made Gar take his meds by hiding them in Scooby Snacks.

OK! So that's that the summery of this chapter. Would you like a recap of all the things you have payed attention to in the story so far?

Also, before of you asks. Me picking law for Gar's subject wasn't random.

In one of those 80's comics (there are so many!) Whilst all the other Titans go off to do something (IDK save the world or smt) Gar is forced to stay behind because he's the only one who knows about laws, and the city is like suing them about damage and they don't want Titans tower up and it gets ripped down and stuff. And if you've ever watched the Incredibles movie, I'm pretty sure they got the basic plot from the teen titans comics. The teen titans get their funds form selling merch, too. and pay insurance and tax and stuff.

So that's my basis behind that decision.

AAANNDDD in the dreaded earth one comics *shudder* Gar is like advanced a few grades in school.

Gar's intellect is really underrated.

Even if you just watched the TV show. You'll remember that part where BB gets the advanced copy of mega monkeys, and the other person who managed that was Gizmo. And the whole- finding out Raven's birthday... Cyborg makes security, and fire walls and codes and stuff. and along comes beast boy ripping them down. If the hero biz doesn't work out, BB is well equipped to go into Cyber crime. or regular crime...

ok! that's me done. thank you for being here, I love reading your comments! Raven will be in it soon! SO SOON. So hold on!