Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I really hope I managed to break the writer's block that was holding me by finishing this chapter and that the next ones will follow soon.
12. You Just Have to Let Go
The wound in his groin did not hurt any more, but the loss of blood made him weak and his head spun. He felt himself being lifted first then lowered gently back on the ground, small, soft, delicate but strong hands over him, touching him and releasing warmth and healing into him. His vision swam, unfocused, the image from each one of his eyes arriving separately into a brain that was too exhausted to compare them and resolve them into a single picture, too busy miserly conserving its strength and staying conscious to bother with minor details like clear vision.
A pair of deep, luminous, violet eyes came into his view and his mind saw fit to expend some of its precious energy focusing on the affection and concern that were shining in them.
"Rae…?" he said soundlessly, the word so heavy on his tongue that it could not pass his barely moving lips. It just fell back into his throat, choking him, making him cough weakly.
Another pair of amethyst orbs appeared. He was seeing double, obviously… Was he? No, these were the same eyes, but they had a different expression. They glowed with love and anxiety, too, but there was also a hard, almost merciless determination deep inside, softened only by the feelings coming out as they gazed upon him.
"We need to get his bone marrow to start working overtime," a voice droned in his ears. He struggled to keep his eyes opened.
A third pair of eyes joined the first two, making his tenuous grasp on reality finally slip. The three sets of eyes split double as his mind gave up on trying to focus. He found himself surrounded by them, floating in a sea of dark lavender.
"Relax, Gar. Don't fight it. Let yourself go. We'll take care of it."
He sighed happily, smiled and slipped into oblivion.
He woke up feeling disoriented, but full of energy. "What happened?" he asked Green.
"Rock-brain there tried to turn you into a canapé," Green chuckled. "Purple sister healed the wound, but the blood you lost would've kept Dracula partying for a few months, at least."
"But I feel fine…"
"That's because smartypants made your bone marrow earn its living!" she grinned at him. He tried to sit up on the ground but the sudden move caused him to sway and his vision to darken, almost making him lose consciousness.
"Just because you have been healed it doesn't mean that you should start jumping around right away!" a cool voice sounded from behind him. The dizziness passed and his vision cleared; he turned his head and looked at Yellow.
"You sound just like her, y'know?"
Yellow frowned and glared at Green and Purple. "Good. Someone has to keep your feet on the ground."
He took her offered hand and gingerly got up to his feet. Again he felt a slight dizziness, but it was a lot milder and he recovered almost immediately. Yellow studied him critically. "You'll be fine," she observed dryly.
He chuckled. As his relationship with Raven grew, the usually cold, sarcastic way she had of addressing him had slowly faded and both her tone and her words warmed up and became much more affectionate. But Yellow made him feel almost nostalgic for the times when he did all sorts of crazy stunts just to force Raven out of her shell, to make her smile, to have her enjoy life. He grinned at the composed, rational aspect impishly and on impulse bent his head and kissed her lips lightly.
Yellow squealed and pushed him away, blushing fiercely, pulling the hood over her head and turning her back on him. His grin widened and he glanced at the other two aspects. Green was laughing her head off while Purple stood there, fists on her hips, foot tapping on the ground with much annoyance. He sent her a wink while still grinning, which made her snort with derision. But her scowl softened into a hurt pout that he knew she wouldn't be able to maintain for long.
He felt a touch on his shoulder. Turning back, he saw a still-slightly-rosy-cheeked Yellow. She avoided his gaze as she spoke.
"We should go."
They followed the path to the next archway. Purple managed to keep pouting for a full ten steps before she wrapped her arm around his and leaned on him as they walked. From the corner of his eye he saw the other two roll their eyes at each other meaningfully. He chuckled softly to himself.
They approached their goal. He felt a twinge of apprehension and halted to speak with the aspects.
"OK, if the pattern holds true like before, we'll be attacked as soon as we approach the arch. Hang back and let me do the work."
"In your dreams!" Green growled. "I'm not letting the opportunity pass!"
He frowned at her. "This is not open to discussion. You'll – ULP!" he gasped as he felt her hand closing on his collar, choking him. Her face leaned closer, her eyes angry, cold and hard.
"Did you say something? Are we going to have an argument about this?"
"We won't!" he croaked, still half-strangled. Her hand released him and her face broke into a malicious grin.
"Good idea. Especially considering that you couldn't force yourself to hit me!"
He suddenly crouched and his leg swept out, undercutting her. She fell on the ground, surprised, as he dropped on top of her, pinning both her wrists in his right hand and immobilizing her. His left fist hovered just above her face.
"You wanna test that theory?" he asked icily, his eyes glowing dangerously.
She squirmed, trying to release herself from his grip, but her wrists felt like they were encased in a cement block. She snarled at him.
He grinned back. "I always wondered where Rae's stubborn streak came from. Now I know!"
"It's called 'strength of will', smartass!"
He smirked. "Whatever you say. I know better than to argue with Raven's ornery side!"
"All right, let me go already!" she grumbled and stopped trying to fight out of his lock. He released her carefully and rose up, mindful of any sneak strikes. Somehow he felt that Green wouldn't shy away from cheating, if that's what it took to win.
He offered her his hand, wary of the possibility that she could pull or twist it to get back at him. But she just slapped it away and jumped up in a quick, fluid movement. His eyes widened in appreciation and she rewarded him for his admiration with a raised eyebrow and a crooked smile.
Straightening up, he looked at the arch and turned to her. "As a matter of fact, you are right. I'll probably need help."
She stopped the dusting off of her cloak and looked at him sharply. "You're not teasing me?"
"No. Things are only going to get worse, and you're the only fighter among your sisters… beside Red."
"Pah! That bitch imp would be a pushover if she didn't use magic! I'll take her on myself!"
"You would, at that!" he burst out laughing, then his face got serious. "You know you'll have to leave her to me." He stared at her intensely; he was not goofing around any more. Her lips curled back into a snarl, but then Yellow's hand fell on her arm. She glanced at the rational aspect and something passed between them without the need for words. She glanced back at Garfield and nodded a reluctant agreement, then her expression quickly changed into a wide grin. "Let's go!" she growled happily as she cracked her knuckles. "We shouldn't keep Father's creations waiting!"
There were at least two dozen of the large demons waiting for them. But that was not what worried him. It was the two huge ones, easily fifteen feet tall each. They were wingless, with powerful arms and legs, crocodile snouts full of sharp teeth and claws ending in deadly, curved talons.
"I'll go for the big ones!" Changeling said as he prepared to move.
Green scowled. "Oh, yeah? And who died and made you Commander-in-Chief?"
He whirled to face her. "Do you have to argue everything I say?"
She grinned at him. "Rings a bell?"
He rolled his eyes, then laughed. She slapped his shoulder, hard. "Just teasin' ya. Quantity has a quality of its own!"
He morphed into a green rhino and charged the huge demons, scattering several small ones that stupidly tried to stand in his way. His target roared and bent down to sink its claws and teeth into the charging animal. Its four eyes flared with red hellfire as its head bent lower…
… and was engulfed in the wide-open jaws of a green T-Rex that grew unexpectedly from the charging rhino. The jaws clamped down, the demon's crocodile-like skull imploded and the creature dissolved into soot and ash.
The T-Rex promptly shrunk into a sparrow, flitting away from the enraged attack of the second monster. It circled around its head a couple of times, then streaked into its ear. The demon clamped a paw over it and bellowed, first in fury and then in pain as the side of its head swelled out and finally burst open, revealing a forty-inch, four hundred pound giant green clam inside. Dead on its feet, the demon disintegrated into fetid smoke and stinking ash while collapsing to the ground, the clam sprouting arms, legs and a head and landing on catlike feet on the rocky ground.
Garfield sneezed away some of the filthy ash and looked around to see if Green needed help. His jaw hit the floor.
She was a whirlwind of destruction, dancing a blindingly fast ballet of death, her lightning speed and unpredictable movements keeping her safe from the grasping claws and slavering jaws, her body twisting and bending and twirling and lunging, every movement finished by a blurring swift yet almost delicate jab of clenched knuckles or stiffened fingers into a weak spot – the throat, the ear, the eyes – or the lethal kick of a devastating heel to the temple or the back of the neck, smashing skulls, cracking spines, crushing windpipes, bursting arteries or driving jagged remains of broken bones and ribs tearing through brains, lungs and hearts.
In barely a minute the two dozen or more demons were turned into ash and foul smoke. She dusted off her cloak, sauntered over to Changeling and lifted his drooping jaw closed with a smug finger. Returning his amazed gaze with a smirk, she stretched and cracked her back and neck as if she just finished a pleasant but not too demanding bout of exercise.
"That. Was. Awesome!" he managed to gasp. "Where the Hell did you learn that?"
Green's smirk turned into a sneer. "Elder Sister's right. You are an idiot. We used to train those moves every day!"
He shook his head, still finding it difficult to believe what he'd just seen. "I suppose Robin's lessons didn't go to waste," he muttered.
"They didn't," Green smirked again, then became serious. "Elder Sister relies too much on magic, but she's perfectly capable of going up close and personal." The smirk returned to his face, this time with a positively mischievous note to it. "You should do well to remember that fact."
She turned around and walked to the archway, leaving him to recover slowly from his astonishment.
The place used to stink of garbage before, but now it was complemented by a putrid stench of rot and decay that made them gag. The mounds of refuse that were piled up haphazardly all around were still there, also, but this time they were all sodden and drenched in the same black, non-reflective slime that oozed and dripped and flowed slowly down and around and then up to join its own source, confusing the mind and bending the law of Gravity to its own needs.
"Dis is Oradge's dobaid," Purple stated unnecessarily while she held her nose pinched between desperate fingers, trying to breathe through her mouth.
Garfield glanced back at her in sympathy, then his eyes went to the other two aspects. Green was scowling and her jaw muscles were bulging, but she looked capable of going on. Yellow seemed to be the least affected, though she was also breathing through her mouth.
"I hope we find her quickly," Gar said while he tried to take as small breaths as possible. His inhumanly sharp sense of smell was a major liability right now. "The sooner we can get out of here, the better!"
"Why do we have to deal with that loser anyway?" Green growled. "She's useless!"
Gar glared at her, scowling, then turned and continued his search. Green almost sighed, but remembered how unpleasant that would be right now and thought better of it.
He caught the sound of soft whimpering coming from ahead and hurried, his ears perking. Soon he was able to discern the words.
"Were is it? I can't find it!"
They rounded a few mounds of garbage drenched in coal-black slime, the words coming in clearer as they approached.
"I can't find it… Where is it? I lost it!"
He knew Orange was always filthy and her cloak always torn and stained, but nothing could've prepared him for what he saw. She was digging deeply and anxiously with both hands into a mound of refuse and trash coated in the sooty black secretion, her cloak almost completely smeared with it, her face covered in black streaks and her eyes and nose bleeding the tarry pus that flowed back into her mouth and ears. She removed a hand from the mound and used it to wipe her brow, trying to get rid of the burning slime, but it just added more of the stinking ooze to her hair and face. There was not a single patch of pale, delicate skin that was left unsullied. Her movements were jerky, frenzied, almost hysterical; she dug into the mound with frantic determination.
Garfield's chest ached and his throat tightened. Orange was probably the least understood of Raven's aspects, the one she most carefully hid and controlled and the one she least – if ever – showed to the world. But Gar knew it, and he also knew Orange was just as important as all her other emoticlones. After all, he carried something very similar in his own self.
"Hey," he called out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The black goo slid away almost fearfully from his touch, leaving behind a cloak stained with normal, wholesome dirt.
She shook his hand off, ignoring him. "No, I have to find it… I misplaced it!" she whimpered and continued her feverish searching.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the mound. "You haven't lost anything! You need to relax!" he said earnestly, but she fought him, trying to get back to her search, her eyes avoiding him and focusing on the slime-drenched mound of garbage. "I must find it…"
"Let go!" Garfield snarled at her, trying to get her to understand. He had to make her revert to her own lazy and uncaring self, but he didn't have any clue how to do it. He took her face into his hands and forced her to look at him. "It's not important. Nothing's important!"
"It is… I must… I can't…" she whined, trying to free herself. He studied the revolting slime writhing over her face, matting her hair and squirming over her body and he suddenly knew what he had to do.
His hands pulled her face closer and he kissed her.
The black, sooty goop fled as if in panic, splashing away from her, falling off her cloak and her arms and her face. It retreated, forming a circle a few feet wide around them, slowly expanding as she melted into his kiss and relaxed in his embrace. She returned the kiss slowly and lazily, making him smile inwardly. Her muscles unclenched, her mind drifted away, her body snuggled closer to him and the demonic liquid began smoking and bubbling as it was cleansed away from her and from her domain. The noisome vapor choked and seared the lungs, making the other aspects cough and wheeze, but the horrible stench was soon gone, unable to take hold of them any more. They finally broke the kiss and she lowered her head on his chest, purring happily, her eyes closed. He kissed her hair. It was matted and dirty, but he didn't care. The filth was natural and normal.
She was back.
"Let's go," he whispered into her ear and pulled her gently to the exit.
"Tired," she grumbled half-heartedly. "Wanna sleep."
"I know," he chuckled. "Just a little longer, then I'll let you sleep as long as you want."
"Praaaah… omise?" she asked through a massive yawn.
"I promise."
They walked on, searching for the next archway while Orange complained in an unceasing, unending drone. Purple tried to stop her ears, Yellow kept rolling her eyes and Green began growling softly.
"Let's take five, OK?" Garfield said and sat down on a rock. The slothful aspect immediately dropped down beside him, pillowed her head on that same rock and began snoring. He chuckled and ran his fingers though her greasy hair.
"Ugh! She could take a bath once a year!" Purple complained. "Useless bitch!" Green growled. Even Yellow was unhappy. "It is unsafe to drag her with us. We should leave her somewhere – "
Garfield had enough. He whirled on Yellow, his face twisted in anger.
"I could expect such nonsense from Purple and Green, but not from you!" he snarled at her. "You're supposed to be the smart one, and you're behaving like a clueless idiot!"
Yellow lifted both eyebrows in a gesture of annoyed surprise, but that heated Garfield's anger even more.
"You don't get it, do ya?" he shouted. "Without her, Trigon would rule. Without her, we wouldn't be together!"
"I fail to see how –"
He ground his teeth in irritation. "Remind me, what aspect is she?" he asked, fighting his anger down. He just couldn't understand how Yellow didn't see it.
She scowled and looked at the snoring Orange disapprovingly. "She's lazy, rude, filthy, hates any kind of effort, just wants to let go and drift –"
"Exactly!" Gar interrupted her. "She's the embodiment of lack of will, of lack of control. What does that tell you?"
Yellow watched him without any comprehension in her eyes. He sighed.
"She breaks that iron grip Raven's got on herself. She's the one that tells Raven to let go and do what she feels is right, not what anyone else – including you and the others – tells her to. Do you understand now?"
Yellow's eyes widened in understanding. Garfield nodded.
"If it wasn't for her, Raven would possibly never admit that she loved me, because you six were pulling each her own way, confusing and locking her into an emotional paralysis," he said, his voice soft but intense. "She needed to turn her back to all of you, to release the control, to let go and do what she wanted, what she felt was right."
"I understand," Yellow admitted. "And when Trigon almost won…"
"She didn't succumb to rage, or to fear, or to the logical certainty that we were all doomed. She let go again, found the hope and the strength that were always in her, and used them to win."
The three aspects watched their snoring sister now with different expressions.
"I suppose we should apologize to her," Green said firmly.
Gar chuckled. "No. Don't worry about it. If you tried, she'd just tell you to fuck off and let her sleep."
"I suppose she would!" Green laughed and leaned back, relaxing.
"So what do we do?" Purple asked, clasping her hands in affectionate concern.
"Nothing," Gar chuckled. "Nothing at all. Just behave the same as you did before. But now that you know, never forget."
"I don't think we ever will," Yellow assured him.
He grinned at her, then picked up the slovenly aspect in his arms while she still slept, snoring loudly.
"Let's go," he told the other three. "We still have a lot to do."
They all nodded, smiled and rose to follow him.