Brother Blood

Brother Blood places his hand on the clear, hard plastic of the oxygen chamber. Inside the child of their god hovers above the floor of the chamber and a blue glow emanates off her. Proof that the powers of Trigon run strong through her veins.

Her own self-defense mechanisms had kicked in after they placed her into the trunk, beginning to repair the extensive damage of being hit by the oncoming truck. Alone, she may still have died, but with this treatment, their doctors are certain she will make a full recovery within the coming months.

Some of the members are getting antsy and impatient. They now hold the winning ticket to reshaping the world in their hands. They've worked hard to bring their god to earth, yet they have not started the ritual.

Brother Blood can be patient. Blood has been searching for a decade for this treasure. A few months is nothing to that decade. Those who cannot wait can meet their god early. They will need more blood for the days to come.

"Sleep, rest, because you will need it. When you awaken, we will purify this planet with hellfire." He traces his fingers across the plastic. Soon...

Garfield

Garfield sits at the dining room table. The Daytons, whom he's stopped calling his parents since last weekend at Richard's are sitting in from of him. They look at each other and then the table. They'd asked him to come talk a few minutes ago, but neither has actually said anything.

"We have some bad news." Mr. Dayton sighs.

"That doesn't really do it justice." Mrs. Dayton adds in a soft tone.

"What?" So, they're finally going to tell him. Weeks after it happened...

"There was a fire at Sunny Oaks." Mr. Dayton puts his hands on the table and looks at Garfield.

"Richard may have already mentioned it..." Mrs. Dayton adds. That surprises him. He didn't think they knew; he'd thought he'd done a good job of hiding it. There's no point in lying now though, so he nods. Richard must have gotten caught, even though he warned Garfield not to say anything.

They sink into their chairs like a heavy weight is on them, instead of lifting off them the way he imagines it should. Richard did the hard part. They don't have to tell him that she's gone.

"Why didn't you talk to us?" Mr. Dayton asks. "You must have been so upset."

"Why didn't you tell me yourselves?" He counters. They look at each other and the weight over them gets heavier. Their heads lower to the table and Mrs. Dayton rubs the side of her head and sighs.

"Because we were hoping to have better news." She looks up at him and tears brim on her eyes. Why would she cry? She didn't even know Raven. "We've been talking to the police to try and figure out what happened to her, but we haven't been able to find out much. We wanted to be able to tell you everything, because not knowing is the worst thing..."

"..." Garfield can feel his strength fading with every word that comes out of her mouth. His own tears threaten to spill, but he's tired of crying. He's cried every day since Richard told him, in secret, at night, because he still can't believe another person, he cared about is gone. It shouldn't hurt this much since he's been through it before, but if anything, it hurts worse. It's like the pain of losing his parents and the pain of losing his friend have both bubbled up in his heart at the same time, consuming him with sadness. People leave, but the sadness stays forever.

Mrs. Dayton gets up and goes around to his chair. She wraps her arms around him and he tries not to relax into the warmth, because he's still mad at them. He still can't believe they kept this information for so long. He told them how much Richard and Raven meant to him.

"I'm so sorry." She brushes her hand over his hair and speaks the words in a soft tone, the same way his mom used to. He has to let the tears fall then, and he hugs her back. When he calms down, she goes back to her chair.

They tell him what they know, which isn't a lot, but more than Richard. They know that she knew the fire would happen, that she warned Mr. West. Mr. West warned Mr. Wayne, who talked to his contacts at the police department, who contacted the Justice League. They were fending off an alien invasion and unable to spare anyone except the Flash, who did show up at the right time and saved everyone except Raven.

According to the other kids, she told the cult's leader not to hurt anyone and that she would leave with them, but as soon as they exited the house, they started the fire. That's when she tried to get away and when the Flash showed up. They also think she jumped in front of the truck on purpose. They just don't know why. Garfield doesn't know why either... When his parents first died, there was a time when someone tried to kidnap him for their private zoo. He fought for his life to get free, but her... She just stepped into the road. He doesn't understand. Did she even think about the people she was leaving behind? Did she think about them...?

"Did she ever mention anything about those people?" Mr. Dayton asks. Garfield shakes his head. He's already told them a few times that there were things they didn't talk about. Apparently, she had more things she didn't talk about than he and Richard did... He tells them about how she was hiding from someone, but she didn't tell them who or why. He tells them about the nightmares, about the morning when she almost died.

That night he stares at his ceiling. He's supposed to be asleep, it had already been hours since everyone went to bed, but certain thoughts circle round and round in his mind. Questions he's too afraid to ask. Why didn't they let him say goodbye? Every time he had asked to go back, they had some excuse. Richard had faced the same obstacles. The way they talked about her bothers him too. They were upset because he was upset, but they didn't seem sad that she was gone... They didn't talk about her the way the staff at Sunny Oaks talked about the kids. It felt weird and wrong...

Even when he mentioned how she saved everyone at the charity ball, they didn't praise her for putting herself at risk to save everyone, they just asked questions about her powers.

He'd tried calling Richard after everyone was asleep, but he didn't answer. He's probably in trouble for finding that video and sharing it with Garfield. The Daytons weren't happy about that. Garfield isn't sure how to feel. If he hadn't seen it for himself, he wouldn't believe it, but the images are something he will never unsee.