Garfield saw a rather damp essence in Rachel. She was a spirit that laid palms out and fingers loose, reaching out to touch whatever Garfield fed her; it was insatiable yet ever so mysterious. She would slither around his voice, easing it with simple questions until his responses grew longer and more questioning because he, himself, had no answers. He found the shadows that lurked around her peculiar and was eager to explore further into the abyss. As he reached a coaxing hand out, it met with a blunt blade of gusted air.

This afternoon walk down the stark park had been during an especially dreary day, when the wind plundered his rosy cheeks and the air had all the moisture sucked out of it, leaving his lips pursed and chapped. Trees of autumn were skeletons, the lucky of the bunch with chunks of life still grasping onto their bony joints. They swayed violently, blowing bitter wind through their twigs that whistled the familiar tune of winter.

Perhaps he would've recognized that tune if he didn't wimp out and leave his hoodie at home! The chill stung the tips of his ears, pinching and prodding them until they could've snapped off and he wouldn't have even noticed. He barely had the hearing of a human when his ears numbed down from loss of blood circulation. Only wefts of sound passed into his mind, but none could overpower the pulse in his heart that felt icy and bitter. The essence of winter was true in the air but the leaves below his feet still crunched into fine dust, not yet soiled by the heavy, cold rains.

Rachel's breathing dramatically paused, then she exhaled a warm breath that misted, deeming it too cold to be standard Californian weather. Garfield wondered if she liked the cold as much as he did. It was the only suitable time in the hot year when he could become a polar bear without worrying about sweating his fur off.

Her padded footsteps stuttered as their shoes crumpled fallen leaves, crinkling them into small shards. They were only walking across a grassy valley yet she looked as if they were stepping a foot off a cliff.

Her chest lifted with gasps of cold air underneath the sweater clinging off her shoulders. Rachel's cheeks stained a blatant rose that melded into her jaw and down her neck, scoping out the silhouette of someone who wasn't used to the cold either. "I've never experienced weather like this here."

"Yeah, it's unusually chilly. If it had been a few degrees colder, I would'a thought a baddie struck again." He chuckled into the opening of his shirt, desperately hoping that the mist would bubble into something more so it could sooth his frigid form. "Not that it would matter, since I can obviously pro-pro-protect you." The chilly weather was starting to get to his voice.

"Of course." She barely reacted, staring into the afternoon around them. "I have full faith that you are capable. But who will protect you when someone dangles a carrot over your face?"

"You don't actually believe that would work, do you?" Garfield gasped at her nod, shaking his own head furiously in denial. "Nuh-uh, no way! I mean, I'm vegetarian and all but I won't fall for some stupid trick. This might be the body of an animal, but this muscle right here," he said as he clunked his skull, giving Rachel his cockiest grin, "this is a work of human innovation."

She seemed rather unimpressed, tapping a close finger to his nose before pushing him away. "I've seen you before."

"Huh?"

"Your battles. I've seen you fight and go down in the dumbest ways."

"Oh really?" He rapped his elbow into her arm, shoving her towards a potential leafy mess. "I don't believe I've ever gone down without a few knuckle cracks here and there."

"Well," she pondered with a tap of her chin, "a favourite battle of mine was when you shrunk into the size of an ant and got captured by that squid hybrid."

"First of all," he claimed defensively, "I let myself get captured by Teuthidas! I was the brawn in the mission and without me, we'd all be screwed! Not even Aqualad had a solution, but Beast Boy, shapeshifter extraordinaire, saved the day!"

"So you were eaten and then shifted into something larger?"

"Exactly! Except because we didn't wanna blow this dude up, I had to be extra careful. On the plus side, I think the skunk was a great choice! The stink let everyone know that I was alive and I'm sure the fur tasted like dog shit."

"Do you remember all your fights like this?" She sounded invested, which made Garfield's ego stretch. Was he impressive enough? He sure hoped so. Perhaps Rachel liked a guy who could throw a few punches or maybe hurl a building into an ocean.

"Only the good ones."

"Are they really that exciting?" Her voice wavered, weakening down to a flimsy whisper. "They seem quite brutal on television. Whether you're taking down a flesh eating alien or an army of mind controlled minions, there's always blood drenched in someone's uniform."

"Nah, not even the littlest bit true. That's like saying every Lescon kid is shit at algebra."

"You're right. It's just you."

"Listen here, missy." Garfield wrapped his arm around Rachel's shoulder, causing her to stumble into him. He slid a lock of black hair behind her ear and whispered, "Just because I'm a little clueless around the numbers doesn't mean you get to make fun of me. You think I need to think about the frickin order of pandas, or whatever it's called, to play comedy relief on the battlefields. No-siree, only Dick and Vic gotta know that."

"Whatever." She gave him a charitable shrug and ruffled some of the hair on top of his head. "You need better comedic timing anyways."

"Haha." Garfield gave her a mean eye roll, even going as far to flick her in the forehead. His face soured as the nail on his forefinger stung. Bringing the nail to his face, he felt the tip of his claws through the invisible facade, terrified at the thought of touching something in seemingly nothingness. He reminded himself to check to see if his claw had broke after he took off his holo ring, noting the fact that wounds and any infliction on his body would be masked by the advanced, yet dull invention.

His ears shifted as he heard the raspy whimper of Rachel. Garfield's hands swatted her hands and blew on the sore spot, shaming himself for not being more cautious. "Shit, I'm sorry Rachel. I almost forgot I got these mean claws." When his thumb brushed over her forehead, it revealed unmarred, cold and pale skin. The spot felt hard as a knot, and his curiosity got the best of him, making him press his thumb.

"Please stop." She frowned at him. "It's not a big deal."

"I need to find the cut. If you get infected, you'll look like an idiot with a bandaid in between your brows." He imagined his claw gently dragging along the bridge of her nose, creating small indents that wouldn't dare leave marks. The flush in her cheeks felt warm and bloomed over the mass of her face. He admired her uncharacteristic state until his eyes wandered towards hers that were slanted, doe and brown. "Nice pair of eyes you got there."

"I'd appreciate it if you took your filthy hands off my face."

"What happened to your blue eyes?"

"Hands off."

He abided by her orders, mustering up an apologetic smile. "What about your blue eyes?"

"I don't have blue eyes."

"No, you had them before. They were most definitely blue."

"You must be mistaken then." She sighed, blowing out hot air into the chilly atmosphere. "The cold must be getting to you again. We should probably head back for the rest of the day."

"What about your blue eyes?" He huffed, allowing himself to be dragged back to the school. "Are you saying my memory is bad? Because I swear, I saw you with blue eyes before!"

"Then the cold must be getting to your eyes too."

"Then you better get me home, m-mama. And ya' better give me a warm k-kiss goodnight." A fuzzy, warm feeling swallowed his chest as he saw her give him a small smile.

I've been writing this chapter for legit the past month. I finished reading the Teen Titans comics and and its variations. Nothing disgusted me more than Brother Blood JR biting off Raven's chakra. But now, with all this new information about their powers I withhold, I think I understand everyone's fighting styles a bit more. I will absolutely post another chapter before Christmas.

-Catisa~Orsilla