Notes: This chapter was posted this morning AO3, apologies for the delay in posting it here. Make sure you read chapter 36 before you start this one (also posted tonight on FFNET)

Garfield

Garfield watches the minute hand tick around the clock. A minute never feels long enough when he's playing a video game, but in math class, it feels too long. Once math is over school will be out. He's going to Richard's house today. It'll be the first time since Richard left, that they'll really get to hangout. They've seen each other at school, but Richard has a different lunch period and they never seem to have free time after school. Mr. Wayne has Richard doing all kinds of activities and Garfield's parents are also eating up all his free time. Between homework and family outings to bond, he's behind on all his favorite comic series and hasn't been able to play too many of his games, let alone hangout with Richard or visit Raven. He's asked to go visit her at least a hundred times or even call, but every single time his parents have some kind of excuse. He's hoping Richard might be up for a trip on their own.

When the bell finally rings, Garfield stuffs his blank notebook into his backpack and runs to the school gate. Alfred is already there with Richard's car, but Garfield waits for Richard. He's one of the first kids out too. He's walking now, but Garfield would bet, that he also ran down the hall to meet up, even if he'll never admit it.
"Nice to see you again Mr. Logan, or is it Dayon now?" Alfred asks.
"Logan," Richard answers for him. His tone surprises Garfield. It's been a while since Richard started living with Mr. Wayne and Alfred was really nice to them after the charity ball, why is there still so much hostility?
Alfred doesn't seem bothered by it though. He opens the back door for them and they slide in the back seat. Alfred puts on some nice classical music and asks Garfield some questions about school and how he likes living with the Daytons. Garfield is polite and answers, but every time he does, the frown on Richard's face seems to grow deeper. When they get the mansion, Garfield follows him to his room.

"Dude, what's going on? Do you really hate it here that much?" Garfield asks.

"I have to show you something." Richard says. Garfield looks around his friend's room and marvels at all the stuff. His new room is really nice, but Richard's room is amazing. He's got race car bunk beds, basketball hoop on the back of the door. Dance, Dance Revolution arcade game in the corner and a huge bookshelf that reminds him of Raven. Richard follows his gaze to the bookshelf. "You haven't been able to go back and visit, right?" Garfield nods.

"Every time I ask, they make up some excuse... They won't let me call either." Garfield frowns.

"I thought so. I got told I'm not allowed to go back and visit and so I tried to call, but the phone number didn't work anymore. The cell phone goes straight to voicemail." Richard says. What? Garfield doesn't like the sound of that. They can't call?

"Did you hear about the fire?" Richard asks.

"What fire?" Garfield tries not to panic. Fires come in all sizes, big and small. People get hurt sometimes and other times not. Raven has powers, she wouldn't get hurt even if everyone else did.

"A couple weeks ago, there was a fire. The house burned to the ground." Richard shows him the news article full of photos. He reads it, but he can't believe what he's reading or seeing. Some sort of devil worshipping cult had burst onto the premises and poured gasoline everywhere. They tried to burn the building down with everyone inside, but the Flash showed up at the last second and managed to get everyone out except the people who started the fire. Several of them killed themselves. The article mentions that one child did die after running from the building and getting hit by a car. The car owner was murdered by cult members.

"It gets worse..." Richard takes his computer back and pulls up a video before turning it back to Garfield. "I couldn't find her in any of the media photos and I wanted to know who died." Garfield has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Richard hits play. The CC footage isn't great, but it's good enough to catch Raven running onto the screen. She pauses and he can see her head turned to see the oncoming car, but she still runs in front of it. It smashes into her small frame before stopping. Her torso and head peek out from under the hood. Blood starts pooling beneath her, he catches the dark liquid's glimmer under the streetlight. Red explodes from her mouth, drenching her chin. Her muscles are still. She doesn't move.

The people who set the house on fire catch up to her. They drag her out from under the car by her arms until they're off camera. The driver gets out of the car, he's panicking. Two of them stab him in the chest and slice up his stomach, so fast he can't even scream. They pull his organs out with their hands and leave him to die in the road. Garfield is horrified and glad at the same time. He knows it's not really the driver's fault that she got hit by his car, but it still hurts so much.

The video switches to another camera. They drag her broken body to a black car with no license plate and stuff it in the trunk, before driving off.

Garfield feels sick. He holds his hand over his mouth and goes over to the waste basket by Richard's desk. It feels like everything he's ever eaten in his entire life is coming out of him. His throat burns and the acid bubbles up into his nose. She can't be... Richard pats him on the back and then takes the bag when he's done, tying it into a knot and putting it outside his door. Garfield leans against the wall and wraps his arms around himself, as if it could contain all his grief.

"It's not true." Even as the words leave his lips, he knows the video is real.

"..." Richard doesn't say anything.

"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Anger bubbles up, boiling out all of his despair and sadness. All the adults around them knew that she's their closest friend. They must have known about what happened, that's why they wouldn't let him visit... Why did they lie?

"I don't know." Richard says. "But if you want to help me find those people, you won't ask." Garfield takes a slow breath. He wants to ask. He wants to go home right now and scream and yell, how could they keep this from him? If they care about him as much as they tell him they do every day, how could they keep this from him?

"..." Now it's his turn to be quiet, because he's not sure how he can be in a room with his "parents" again without asking them how they could lie to him about something like this.

"I promise, we'll find them." Richard looks so sure and Garfield doesn't doubt him. He found the man who killed his parents. He found the video footage of what happened. Richard is unstoppable when he wants something. But what does it matter if they find them? She's gone... Just like his parents and Richard's parents. Just like all the other kids who died at the charity ball. People are always just gone...

"We can't fight those people." Garfield lowers himself on the floor, because his legs are getting weak and shaky. If he doesn't sit, he might fall. "Didn't you see what they did to that driver. Without a second thought, they sliced him up... and we're just kids."

"Don't underestimate us," Richard starts typing on his computer.

"If she couldn't fight them, why do you think we can?" Richard stops typing, but doesn't say anything. They both saw what she did at the charity ball and what she did to help Richard. Why didn't she protect herself?

"I don't know." Richard admits. "...There was no footage of the house. Maybe she tried. Maybe she was scared because she was alone. I don't know..." Would she have been scared if they'd been there?

"...She saw the truck." Richard nods. Of course, he noticed too. She saw the truck coming and walked right into the road, like she wanted to die. How could she do that? How could she not fight until her last breath? Tears start to pool in his eyes. Would things have been different if they had been there? Could he have turned into a T-Rex and stopped them? He pulls his knees to his chest and covers his head with his arms, because he can't hold the tears back anymore. Richard sits next to him and puts an arm over his shoulder.

"We don't know that she's dead." Garfield sniffs and shakes his head, because no one could survive that. "She should have died that night too, but she lived. Maybe she's tougher than we gave her credit for. Maybe that's why she jumped in front of the truck, because she didn't think it could kill her." Garfield wants to believe that, but the blood... He can still see the blood pooling under her in his mind and the red pixelated blocks flowing down her chin under the white street light.

They should have kept their word. They promised to stay together forever, but first Richard left and then Garfield... He should have thrown a tantrum; he should have run away... He should have done whatever he could to stay there... They should have run away again. Then she wouldn't have been there alone when those people came.

There's a knock on the door. Richard gets up and opens it a crack.

"I brought you snacks." It's Alfred.

"Garfield has an upset stomach; we'll just wait for dinner." He hears Richard says.

"Oh, should I call his parents? Is there anything I can get him?" Alfred asks.

"No. He just ate too much candy." Richard closes the door and locks it before going to sit back down next to Garfield.

"...You lied." He wipes his face with his sleeve.

"They lied too." Richard shrugs.

"Let's not lie to each other though." Garfield says. He puts his hand out and spits. "Promise?" Richard spits into his own hand and grabs onto Garfield's.

"Promise." He agrees.

Notes: This chapter was posted this morning AO3, apologies for the delay in posting it here. I had some tech issues last week and so I had a delay in updating both places. Apologies!