In preparation for their little get together with Dick and Starfire, Vic had suggested Raven allow herself to be driven into work by him. Rather than taking the bus. On the one hand there were only two people in Vic's car, one of which was herself, so as far as empathic noise went it was much quieter. The feeling of unease in her stomach wasn't so bad. But the other person in the car was Vic and he was a talker. He seemed under the impression that they were friends now. Raven liked him well enough, respected his technical skill rather a lot, and was not in principle opposed to the idea of friendship. It was just that everything was moving so fast. She still hadn't sorted out her feelings for Gar (even that, using the term "feelings," made her uncomfortable, true as it may be), nor was she sure she'd forgiven Starfire for inserting herself into her life. Now she'd met Dick- Nightwing, and he commanded a level of respect. And his idea of forming a team was certainly rosy, the kind of fairytale Gar had been gushing about. Just break Gar out and live happily ever after. It sounded too perfect. She was destined to destroy the world; was she even allowed happily ever after? She wanted it, now that she'd met Gar, now that she'd made a friend and might've made another, but was it allowed? Possible?

Vic had learned that she was a skilled multitasker on the second day, perfectly capable of listening to him and reading at the same time, so when she sat in his passenger seat with an indulgent copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein he took no offence. He just kept telling her about the stress test data on the polymers and how well the biomimetic suit he'd made for Garfield was preforming. Of course she knew quite well; he'd insisted on showing her his pants and how they remained intact when he shifted. A part of her she was pretending didn't exist missed the sight of his fit green flesh, but mostly she was pleased as well. It was a remarkable feat of chemistry. So it wasn't the fact that Raven was reading that struck Vic as odd. He only took notice when she put the book down. A frown creased her features and she looked straight forward.

"What's really remarkable is that the polymer's not breaking- what is it?"

Vic stopped mid-sentence, noticing Raven's change in demeanor. As he watched a darkness came into her face and she tucked her chin.

"You're sure no one followed us," she said in a low growl. She was controlling it, but her heart rate had gone up; Vic's cybernetic eye picked up on her pulse. "The car's not bugged."

"Of course I'm sure," he insisted, turning into the parking lot at work. "I check twice a day. No way we were followed."

"And at the bar, there was no one who could've recognized us?"

"It was in the middle of downtown, in some back corner slum- no one from here would've gone there. Besides, I checked before I suggested the place."

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. What's this about?"

"Something's wrong," Raven said in an undertone, conspiratorially, as if she still didn't believe him and was sure someone was listening. "There's demonic energy, a lot of it. It's concentrated inside the facility. The day after our meeting? It can't be a coincidence."

"Impossible. We were careful, we would've noticed."

"Nevertheless there is something wrong. I need to go see Gar. Pull the security footage from last night, while we were out. I'll need to see it."

"You don't think-"

"Just do it Vic," she snapped. Then, closing her eyes and swallowing, she pinched the bridge of her nose and rephrased. "I don't know. But if it has happened, we will need to act. What I'm sensing… someone did this on purpose. To enable a demon's transition into our world. I don't know how it happened overnight but- you need to be ready."

"I understand," answered Vic with a nod. "I'll go straight to my office, pull up the footage. It will be in my system for your review later."

"Thank you."

Raven hadn't meant to sound as curt as she was, though frankly, with the amount of adrenaline pumping through her system, it was a miracle she was polite at all. She'd never felt something like this before, something so intentional. All the demons she'd encountered had slipped through the veil between worlds and into a vessel, someone in pain, someone vulnerable. That vulnerability had enabled the possession, but now, in this field of demonic energy that had to be artificially constructed, she sensed a different kind of possession had occurred. Something deliberate, something she'd never seen before. Raven moved quickly into the body of the facility and to the secretary who served to gate-keep Gar's cell. She left her bags in Vic's car; something told her that she wouldn't need them.

"Well look who it is," came a voice she did not want to hear. "Dr. Roth. Isn't it a little early for your visit?"

"Mr. Stephens," she said, casting a disdainful look over her shoulder as she waited for the secretary to input her credentials. "I didn't realize you kept such a close eye on my visits."

"I keep a close eye on everything, Dr. Roth. Head of security, you know. I'm sure you can imagine all the things I've seen."

"Indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"What's the rush? Surely you don't think something's wrong. Because how could you know that, being only human."

"I'm anxious to get my work done."

"Sure thing. Another long session with the shapeshifter. That's a neat trick you do with the security cameras. I'd love to know how you do that."

"Is there a point to all this, Mr. Stephens? Do you need something?"

"You should call me Cash. It's easier. And no, just making small talk. Two colleagues around the water cooler."

"Then if you'll excuse me," Raven said. This time she did mean to be curt. She took the flash drive from the secretary and proceeded down the stupidly long hall.

"It's an animal Rachel," Cash called at her back. "Maybe today's the day you see that."

When the final door opened, grinding and whining and lethargic, Raven knew instantly what had happened. Not how, but what. The scent of rotten eggs was thick, like a smog that washed over her. Sulfur. Fear overlayed on top of the general sense of discomfort she'd had since arriving at the facility, cold in her stomach but hot in her blood. Red eyes in a green, square face, a cry for help. It had happened. The thing she'd been so afraid of had happened, right in front of her, right under her nose. She'd been negligent and let it happen.

"Gar," she called softly, stepping into the cell and letting the door close behind her.

He was directly across from her, on the complete opposite side, facing the wall. Between them the central pedestal sloped upward and on its flat peak there was a spray of crimson. Blood that looked fresh, old blood kept wet by the demonic field. It fanned outward and dripped down the side of the pedestal, flickering as if caught in some breeze. Brilliantly red, ruby red, always so much brighter than she expected. It was Gar's; there was more on his left side, just under the ribs, making the purple ribbing of his biomimetic suit appear black. It ran down his leg, down his outer thigh, but terminated around his knee. He'd bled, but was no longer bleeding. Even from here she could tell he was shaking.

"Garfield?"

Raven approached him, his quiet form, cautiously. Her breaths were controlled, but shallow, the fluorescent light flooding in through her dilated pupils. Still he didn't answer, didn't move. She came up beside him, placed a hand on his shoulder. Feverish heat was coming off his trembling body and the whites of his eyes were red with enflamed capillaries, yet that wasn't what worried her. His irises were also red, ruby, like the blood, and when she touched him nothing happened. He just stared, down and forward, to the place where the wall met the floor. His face was blank, unsmiling and all wrong, and on his skin was the stink of sulfur. It was coming from him, strong, more concentrated than she'd ever seen, and the possession had to have happened recently because he'd been fine the day before. Jovial, promising to make her something that would minimally lead to an appreciation of tofu's versatility. Planning one of the many dates they were going to have. Tentatively, she brushed the back of her hand over his hot cheek, then ran her fingers through his oily hair. He shivered under her fingers.

"Garfield, I need you to look at me."

It wasn't a request. Her voice left no room for argument and he responded to her sternness. Shuddering, his limp hands curled into fists and he closed his eyes. Frowned, rolled his lips, breathing a deep, shaky breath. When he opened his eyes again they were still red, but the rim around his pupils had turned a malachite green. He turned his head just a little towards her, his nostrils flaring.

"Rae," he asked, as if he didn't trust what he saw. He closed his eyes again and swallowed. "I don't feel so good."

"I'm here now," she soothed, pressing her palm into the back of his head. "Garfield, listen to me, can you tell me what happened?"

"A woman came… I don't know how long it's been," his voice was sluggish and as he spoke he closed his eyes, as if speech was coming at a great cost. "I tried to fight her but my body… She put something inside me. I can feel it… crawling around…"

Suddenly he gasped, tugging free of Raven and raising his hands. Grunting, he made fists and slammed them into the wall, arching his spine. She flinched internally, but kept her body still.

"It wants me to hurt you but I don't want to. What is this, Rae? What's happening to me?"

"It's a demon," Raven answered simply, placing a hand on Garfield's forearm. With a little pressure, he dropped his arms back to his sides, letting his head roll back and his eyes close.

"This is it, huh? What you said was going to happen. This is why you stayed, because you knew this was coming."

"I had hoped…" she trailed off, tensing her lips over the fear and guilt that threatened to pour out. This was neither the time nor place for it; she had to stay focused. "Garfield, I will fix this, but to do that I need more information. I'm going to go inside your mind, if you'll allow it, and try to find this demon's name. Will you let me?"

Gar blinked at her, then turned, facing her. Wordlessly, he reached for her hand, curling his fingers around it. They were hot but not sweating; an intense fever was burning in his flesh. She'd never seen anything like it, never seen this kind of physical response to possession. Then again, Garfield was a unique individual. Perhaps his physiology was just that different.

"Yeah," he said with a single nod, looking at their entwined hands rather than into her face. "I trust you Raven. Do what you have to do."

She reached up with her free hand and undid the clasp on her amulet. Flesh faded to grey, blue eyes became indigo, and dark hair brightened to violet. Levitating herself, Raven folded her legs into a lotus position, settled one hand, fingers entwined in obsidian beads, into her lap while the other clung tightly to Garfield's. Her eyes sought Gar's but he avoided them, still looking at their hands, so instead she just closed them and focused. Get in, get out, get it done. Black energy in the form of a raven exited her body and, silently, entered Garfield's.

It was dark, pitch black, and in the darkness there were screams. Sounded like hundreds of screams, overlaying, human and animal and something else entirely. Water crashing and gun shots snapping and sirens blaring. Absolute, painful, chaos. Raven covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it out, trying to find her footing, but the screams were there too. Inside her head. It took her a moment to realize her own voice had joined them, shouting into the black:

"Stop it!"

They didn't stop- wouldn't stop. Nothing would ever make them stop. Nothing could ever make them stop. It was his fault, all of it, he deserved this. The reminder of all he'd done and hadn't done. This admonishment- She caught herself thinking Garfield's thoughts. Or rather, the thoughts the demon had put into his head, secrets it was dredging to the surface. The worst moments of his life on repeat; that she had seen before. It was a dirty but predictable trick. Underneath them, oppressed by them, she'd find Garfield. This was the first time she'd been so embedded in it. Usually she could remain aloof, observing the darkness without touching it. Maybe it was the intimacy already between them, maybe it was the physical nature of this possession, but regardless, Raven was going to need to pass through these memories. She had to find Garfield and when she did, she'd find the demon. She couldn't allow any of this to distract her.

"It's not mine," she reminded herself in an undertone that echoed through the black. "None of this is mine. I'm in control."

The screaming quieted, faded into the sound of rushing water. Rapids. There were voices here, shouting, but it wasn't the disorder from before. Raven could understand, these jumbled points in time, recorded over the water by Gar's excellent pointed ears.

You have to go Gar. Please, we'll be fine… Dad!... I love you son… Mom? Mom!

"Can you help me find my parents?"

Raven started and blinked. There was a fog in the darkness that, as she looked, coalesced into a person. Young and small, he looked twelve but could've been older, with a sweat stained shirt and brown shorts. His hands were caked in mud and his square face was imploring. His eyes were huge in his face and as she watched they leaked crystalline tears. And he himself was an emerald shade of green.

"Garfield," she asked, taking a step towards him. He was so little and in so much pain. "Gar?"

"I can't find my parents," he repeated, his voice even higher than what she was used to. "Can you help me?"

"I'm looking for someone too," she answered, kneeling down and grabbing his shoulders. "Maybe we can help each other? Where did you last see them?"

Gar looked her in the face and pointed behind him, into the sounds of water. A woman's scream pitched above the roar then terminated quickly. The sounds of wood smashing, splintering on rocks, and always the water's drone. Raven looked into the blackness and sighed.

"What happened? How did you get separated?"

"I took the wheel," he explained in a timid voice, his ribs straining as he breathed in shallow pants. Trying to control the panic. "It was just for a second, but… we hit something and my mother… she pushed me out of the boat. It was just for a second!"

Again she heard the scream that cut off and the sound of wood smashing, and she knew what it meant. Why in all their time Gar had mentioned his parents but never spoke of where they were. But the Gar in front of her didn't understand. He sniveled, blinked those big, shining eyes, and another wave of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"It's okay," she said soothingly, standing and offering her hand. "We'll go look for them."

He took her hand, wiping his nose with the other, and they moved towards the sound of water. The blackness was unyielding, she couldn't see anything except the little Gar at her side, but after a few minutes of walking it sounded like they'd moved past the river without ever getting close to it. Crashing water gave way to something more urban. Sirens, dogs barking, cars passing by. Then there was the sharp sound of a gunshot and little Gar froze. Raven looked down in time to watch him dissolve back into a fog, pale green against the blackness. It swirled at her side, then rushed forward as if caught in a current. Reformed into another body, older this time, a lot like the Gar she knew but a little more lanky. On the cusp of adulthood.

We should put him down and cut our losses.

The bang repeated, Gar flinched violently, and blood sprayed his right side from head to hip.

Promise you'll do good things… Make the world better…

"I didn't mean for this to happen," this new Garfield said, his hands making fists at his sides and his voice wavering. "I just didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted it to stop."

"Garfield listen," she pressed, moving in close to him. She reached up to wipe the blood from his face and it came away in a whisp of red smoke. "I know you didn't mean it, whatever it is. I don't blame you."

"They're dead," he snapped, closing his eyes and tucking his chin as if he expected her to hit him. "Because of me! Because I couldn't just do what I was told! Now they're dead and I'm alone."

"You're not alone; I'm here with you. Can you hear me? I came in after you. But I need you to help me. There's a demon inside you; I need you to help me find it."

"I'm the demon," he said morosely. "The monster. I kill everything I care about."

"He's right you know," a new voice said from behind Raven, high and feminine.

The Garfield in front of her dissolved into a cloud of green fog and dissipated. Raven turned to face the newcomer, scowling outright at the accusation. She was moderately tall, about Raven's height, slightly built with yellow-blond hair that fell to her waist and eyes the color of the sky. Her face was oval with a sharp chin and her smile was wicked.

"That's why I got rid of him. He's an animal too weak to be useful. He's where he belongs."

"Who are you," Raven asked in her lowest voice. She sensed a malicious intent from this new form, something not-Garfield.

"My name is Terra," she answered. "I'm Garfield's girlfriend. Well, was. It didn't work out."

"And what are you doing here? Where is Garfield?"

"You don't need to see him. You don't need to do anything. Gar's a monster, always was. He stood there and let me kill a man, you know. He wanted me to do it. And before, with Quinn and Dave, he wanted that too. He wanted them to pay for what they were doing. He's glad they're dead, all of them."

"I don't believe that," said Raven, folding her arms. "I wouldn't believe that for a second."

"That's because you've only scratched the surface," Terra laughed, flipping her hair and grinning. "And of course, that's what he wants to think too. He has delusions of humanity but I saw the real him. You can sense it too, down here, in the darkness. The animal."

"You're not Terra, are you."

"No," Terra admitted with another laugh. "But I like her. She was a survivor. She sold him out, you know. She killed a man in cold blood then gave Garfield to these people- to me, in order to clean the slate."

"Where is Garfield?"

"He's busy," she answered flippantly. "He needs to understand what he is for this to work. As do you."

"I don't think so," Raven spat. "I think you're done. I'm ending you now."

There was a gust and Terra came apart into a peachy fog. The particulates churned for a minute, curling back in on themselves in a swirling pattern. Then they pulled backwards, merging with the green that had been Garfield and reforming into something new. Something grotesque. There was Gar, looking the way she expected, with his square face, lean muscles, and green skin. His head was lulled forward onto his chest and his large eyes were closed. His face was tensed as if he was asleep and dreaming of something awful. His hands were held out above his head and off to the side by chains that extended into the black. Locked up and helpless. There was a hand on his shoulder, but not a human hand. The flesh was ash black and the fingers were long, webbed, like a bat's. An arm linked the hand to a body that was vaguely human but also ash black and hairy. To a face that was pressed into his left side, below the ribs. As she watched the face pulled away, looked over its shoulder at her. Human, but again, just barely. They eyes burned red like embers and the tongue was impossibly long, exiting its mouth and burrowing into Gar's side. Feeding off him. She could see that tongue underneath Gar's skin as a bulge, writhing as the demon withdrew it. Blood flicked through the air and evaporated into a red fog as the demon pulled its forked tongue back into its mouth. Garfield groaned and winced.

"End me," asked the demon, smiling a cruel smile in its androgenous, human face. It stood, covering Gar's face with its webbed hand, the fingers so long it could take his entire head in its fist. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"Get away from him. We can do this one of two ways, but at the end, you will be gone."

Raven raised her hands and ignited them with black energy. The demon scoffed.

"Oh no. Not this time, Raven. You were warned about this but you didn't listen. Now it's happening and you cannot stop it."

"Fight me," Raven taunted. "And we'll see what I can and cannot stop."

"Here and now? But we've only just met!" The demon let his hand slide over Garfield's unconscious face and advanced on her. "You don't even know my name."

"There are other ways. I won't let you have him."

"Are you getting emotional? Raven, the monks warned you about that. Or did you forget what's coming?"

Behind the demon Garfield stirred. At first it was just a tensing in his face, then his malachite green eyes cracked. The demon had his back turned, it didn't see, but Gar's chin lifted and he looked up through his eyelashes into Raven's face. His chest heaved as the pain of consciousness registered. Blood dripped down his side, wetting his leg beneath where the demon had been feeding. They made eye contact and he understood. Grasping at the chains, he picked up his feet and delivered a hard kick into the demon's spine. The demon stumbled and Raven took her chance.

"Azrath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted, sending blades of black energy from her hands. They contacted the demon, slicing it into ribbons from shoulder to hip.

This was the part where it crumpled, kneeled before her and spilled its secrets. Anything to prevent her from demolishing it from existence entirely. That wasn't what happened. The demon smiled with its horrible, human face, its body fading into black fog.

"This isn't the end," it warned as it dissolved into the darkness of Garfield's mind. "This is just the beginning. You've only delayed the inevitable. In the end, both you and the changeling will understand. You can't stop what is destined. You know the end has been predetermined."

Raven waited until every speck of the demon's form had disappeared before she let her guard down. Relaxing and letting the black energy fade from around her hands, she approached Garfield. He'd gotten his feet back under him, but was leaning heavily on the chains, his finger still curled into fists around their links. His eyes were cracked and as she approached he sighed heavily, trying and failing to look up at her. She felt a wonder for him, this being that was in so much pain and yet remained undefeated, but there were matters more pressing. Her hands went to the manacles around his left wrist, fussing with it until, through sheer will power and the fact that this was a mind where such things held sway, she released it. He stumbled and she caught him, wedging herself under his arm for support and reaching across his chest to do the other one. Once finished, the two collapsed onto the black ground.

Raven looked at him, his emerald green skin, his square face, his forest hair, and realized she wasn't in his mind anymore. The red had faded from his eyes and his chin was tucked tiredly to his chest. He wasn't smiling and it looked strange to see that expression on his face, so fatigued and hurting. She knew now there was a lot of hurt, that, like her, much of his life was cause for hurt. His existence, freakish as it was, had been the cause of pain the extent of which he hadn't hinted to. It took a special kind of strength, to feel so terribly alone and yet seek to make others smile. There was a nobleness to him that she hadn't appreciated until just now and, looking at him, she felt that appreciation, that admiration, solidify into an emotion inside her. One hand still grasped his and the other dropped her amulet and reached out, pressing into his cheek as she unfolded her legs and took her own weight back. Wordlessly brought her face to his.

Something in her head told her she needed to be afraid, of herself, of her emotions, but she wasn't. Not in this moment, anyway, not doing what she felt so compelled to do. Tilting her head and closing her eyes, she pressed her lips, very lightly, to his. The sensation was like a puff of air that set her entire nervous system on fire. Heat came from his flesh, feverish, and ignited hers in a way she'd never experienced. It was as if she hadn't been alive before, not really, not completely. Hadn't been whole. But now, in contact with Garfield like she was, it was like waking up from a terrible nightmare. She knew what waited for them, how hard it was going to be, and yet in this moment, she felt hope.

At first he did nothing, as if in his feverish state he hadn't registered that she was kissing him. Or maybe it was just shock. Then the hand she held in hers tightened and his other came up, his fingers entwining in her hair. Suddenly her premonitions were coming to fruition, the feeling of his fingers in her hair, his pointed nails pressing into her skull. He pulled her towards him and pressed his lips to hers, not forcefully, but passionately. Not too much, not so much that she was overwhelmed. Perfectly, the perfect amount of pressure, the perfect amount of force as he clung to her. When they broke apart he leaned his forehead against hers. In just those few moments his fever broke and he began to perspire, his hair sticking to his face.

"That bad huh," he joked, grinning weakly.

She pulled her hand free from his and pressed it to his other cheek, grasping his face and holding him close to her. Her eyes couldn't meet his and she spoke to his heaving chest.

"I can't get rid of this demon," she answered, her eyes downcast. "I pushed it back, but I need to learn more about it. This isn't like anything I've seen before."

"Figures," Gar sighed, running his fingers through her hair and down the back of her neck. "Hey, does this mean you'll go out with me?"

"Be serious," she admonished. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, lots better. And it's a fair question: does this mean you'll go out with me?"

He was sweating under her touch, but the shivering had stopped and the heat was dissipating from his body. She believed him, believed that he was better. Yet it wouldn't stay that way for long; someone had transformed the entire facility into one big demonic-energy concentrator. Raven had sensed it when they'd first arrived and now, without her amulet, she could feel it crawling across her own skin. Reluctantly, she pulled away from him, stooping to pick up her amulet again. The sodalite and obsidian glinted in the sterile light and she fastened it around his neck.

"First I'm getting you out of here. You can't stay, whoever did this to you is still nearby and they've set up a demonic field. I can't risk exposing you to any more demonic energy, not even my own. Stay here and keep that on," she gestured to the amulet and he went momentarily cross-eyed looking down at it. "I'll be back."

"Sure thing Rae," he said with a weak smile and a mock salute.

She gave him a small smile in return, trying the be reassuring, still, he could see the worry in her eyes. The sorrow. Then they glowed a blinding white, the floor beneath her turned black with energy, and she sank with an ethereal slowness into the portal.