A/N: Hello! Greetings!

:waves:

How are you all? Enjoying life? Hope so!

:grin:

Well, anyway, I'm sorry for taking so long to update again...I SWEAR I haven't gone all AWOL and hiatus-like...it's just that life's been a bit hectic with this being my senior year of high school and all PLUS the fact that I'm doing the IB and KICKING myself for doing it.

I mean, when you take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon then sleep before 10pm and then perceive that day to be the best day of your life, then it must mean there's something wrong with the IB right?

Right...

I've also, though I have no idea why anyone would want to know, have been rediscovering old, cheesy music. Anyone heard of "Eye to Eye" by Tevin Campbell? A Goofy Movie ring any bells?

Exactly. Cheesy jammin', y'all!

So, anyway, enjoy it OK?

Don't forget to review!

Chapter 9

"Dude, what are we gonna do?" Gar turned to his best friend as they watched over Kori.

Vic shook his head slowly, "Dunno man. Dick and Kori have never had a fight since, like, forever."

After what seemed to be an hour of endless crying and sobbing, Gar had taken the liberty of carrying her back to her room—man, she was heavy!—and throughout the tiring, albeit short, journey Kori had been in some kind of—he frowned as a word tried to intrude into his mind—catatonic state and it was as if someone had pushed the shutdown button on her and she had barely moved except to help him slide her down onto her bed. After that she had closed her eyes straightaway, probably exhausted after all the heated arguments and the heartbreak.

Poor kid, he had thought to himself as he first watched her steady breathing and her flickering eyelids, I hope that never happens to me.

After making sure that Kori wasn't going to wake up anytime soon and would stay in her—hopefully—sweet slumber, he hopped out of her room and went down to find Raven. He really hadn't known what to expect but he had steeled himself for the worst because he knew that she would smell of Dick for quite a bit, at least until the idiot had decided to calm himself down.

He snarled briefly at the thought of Dick fuckin' Grayson.

When he had finally found her—glaring at nothing in particular—she was actually in a way better mood than he thought she'd be in, and she smelt a whole lot better too. There was that distinct scent that belonged to Dick but it was muted somehow, as if she was refusing to let his emotions into her. She was still in the kitchen with Vic and—Gar sniggered briefly at this thought—Vic was panicking ever so slightly, pointing at her while silently screaming for help to Garfield, probably freaking out and thinking that he had done something to Raven and made her all extra-pissy and immobile-like.

It would've so totally been funny if he wasn't so pissed off then.

He had then shooed Vic away to tend to Kori while he tried—tried being the imperative word here—to sort out Raven but found that talking to her in this state was like talking to himself…except weirder. She just sat there, glaring pointedly at nothing with her dark brows furrowed together furiously; she seemed to be having a battle of wills with someone and he could only clearly guess who that was. He had sat down there with her for a while, not speaking, just inhaling her scent and occasionally pressing down at her wrist to check that her heart rate wasn't going a little crazy with all the stress Dick must've put on her. After a while, he did speak to her though; he had asked her whether or not she would be staying in his room tonight—because…well…coz…it didn't really seem right to leave her alone at such a time and he didn't really feel like being alone tonight either—and in that swift second, she had broken out of her trance-like state and had given him a funny look before quickly telling him that she'd prefer to be alone tonight so that she could sort a few things out, and with that she had just upped and left.

He frowned.

And that was how he found himself in Kori's room with Vic instead of in Raven's room…which kinda sucked. Being Raven's boyfriend seemed to be such a useless job sometimes, she didn't like anybody doing anything for her and so whenever he tried to help, she had always rebuffed him.

"He's bein' such a fuckin' brat." Garfield seethed, "He's bein' pretty stupid for someone who everyone says is so smart." He mocked through gritted teeth.

"Man, you gotta chill. He's under a lotta pressure, that's all." Vic frowned, "He'll be back in like two secs, you'll see."

Gar growled, "I don't care if he comes back." He shook his head fervently, "I just want him to make things right and then he can fuckin' go to wherever he wants to." To emphasise his point, he pointed at Kori, "Just look at her, she's a frickin' mess and it's all his frickin' fault."

There was a moment of silence between the two as Kori exhaled heavily in her sleep. It was a relief, to be completely honest, he was so tense that his body hurt and the sound of her exhalation just brought him back to the real world, calming him, if only momentarily.

"Raven'll be alright."

Garfield glared at his best friend, unconsciously feeling how strongly his brows pressed against each other, "She better be or I swear I'm goin' down to fuckin' Gotham to fuckin' eat his face." A disturbing image of himself as a T-rex eating Dick's head suddenly popped up in his mind and so he quickly turned to Vic, "Do you really think he has a girl back in Gotham?"

Vic remained silent for a while before slowly shaking his head doubtfully, "Nah, don't think so, man. This is Dick Grayson we're talkin' about." Vic awkwardly patted his left shoulder, "He was trained by Batman, yea, his loyalties are always in the right place."

"Yea, right." He snorted dubiously, "Loyalties." He shook his head, not bothering to hide the tone of disgust in his words from Vic, "He left the Teen Titans for a week before and now he's doin' it again. Loyalties, my ass." Another snort, "And he's got some other girl."

"Dude, we don't know that."

"Yea we do, or at least Kori does and that should be enough for the rest of us."

Vic protested, "But Kori believes anything if you tell her it's true."

"Oh, yea," Gar rolled his eyes, tasting the bitter sarcasm in his mouth, "coz it totally sounded like he was tryin' to convince her that he was cheatin' on her."

"Man, ease up on the sarcasm, why don't you? I mean I'm happy for you and Raven an' all but maybe you shouldn't be spendin' so much time with her." Vic half-heartedly joked in reply, "But, seriously, we gotta give Dick the benefit of the doubt. I mean, it's not like him to go all nuts about somethin' so little."

Gar raised a brow, "It's totally like him. Dude, do you not remember the whole Slade episode? I mean can we say loco?"

"Slade was different. The guy was a bit of a nutcase."

"If you say so." Gar replied shortly, not buying a word Vic said.

Gar stopped it at that, just in case that the tender situation that enveloped Kori and Dick would touch upon him and his best friend as well. The atmosphere in itself smelled rotten and he couldn't get rid of the stench even though no one else seemed to notice, it was as if he was living in a world of his own and he was the only one feeling some kind of impending doom to it. Well, OK, it probably wasn't that bad but, seriously, if you were to judge the situation just by Kori's reaction, you'd think that the apocalypse was coming or something. Well…

He shook his head, dispelling all the negative thoughts in his head, though it took a lot of effort.

A lot.

As he gathered back all the positive energy he could, his gaze promptly stayed on Kori's sleeping figure; she was curled up in a ball and she looked so tender and vulnerable that it was like looking at a complete stranger…no, he facial features hadn't changed but it was just that Kori was always so strong and so sure of herself—though admittedly she did have her moments—and now she was just like…blah.

Ok, so blah technically isn't a word but no one was really checking up on his word choice right now…were they?

He slapped himself mentally; of course not, Raven wasn't anywhere in sight.

Hmmm…

For a second, he wondered if he should go pop back to Raven's room to check up on her but he felt that he wouldn't be that much use anyway. She was probably meditating, or in Nevermore, or whatever she did when Dick's brooding became too much for her. It sucked though, he wanted to be there for her…it wasn't like she was gonna be that great of a company…but he still figured that he wanted to make her better in any way that he could and he also—admittedly—wanted her company. She had been staying in his room for a couple of nights now and he was just getting used to the feel of her small body tucked in his arms so closely; she was so warm and cuddly that it wasn't even funny.

Sigh.

Gently, he sat down on the edge of Kori's bed, hoping that she wasn't sensitive to the bed's movement. He wondered what she was dreaming about, or if she was even dreaming; he sometimes found his own mind to be blank when he was in a lot of stress, though Raven had even more dreams when she was getting stressed, it was funny how that worked out—well, not funny funny—but he thought that her dreams must be really colourful with all the emotions she receives unconsciously in her sleep and all, it must look kinda cool.

He shook his head once again, he was getting distracted again.

Well, there really wasn't any harm in getting carried away with his random thoughts, there really wasn't anything to do anyway; Kori was safe in her room, Raven was doing God knows what in her room and Vic was just helping him watch over Kori but even Vic seemed to be getting a bit bored. He was yawning quite frequently and if you watched him really closely, you could see his red eye fizz shakily occasionally. Boredom was never something that Garfield Logan liked experiencing and he liked it even less now, he disliked it more because it meant that he'd just get all stroppy all over again and though it would be more of an improvement to the deadpan air that shrouded them, he didn't think it would be helping anyone if he suddenly went all Beast in such a time.

"Dude, do you know what time it is?" He suddenly piped up, trying to strike some type of conversation.

Vic took a quick look at his arm and sighed, "Almost six. Why?"

"Just askin'" Garfield replied nonchalantly, "Feels later than that, y'know?"

"Yea, I know. Maybe it's coz for the past two hours we've just been watchin' her sleep." Vic grimaced and then pressed a few buttons on his arm, "I don't think she's gonna be havin' some panic attack or nothin', Gar, I've checked her and she seems to be just sleeping normally. She's dreamin' though." Gar gave him a confused look and Vic gave a rumble of a chuckle, "Means that she's not gonna be wakin' up anytime soon…I think she may be in the second phase of her dream already."

Gar raised an eyebrow and looked at the Tamaranian closer, to see the signs that indicated to Vic that she was, in fact, doing all these things. He couldn't find them though…well, he didn't really know what he was looking for, but she seemed normal to him; like she was sleeping, deeply…but dreaming?

He looked at her again and found her sleeping soundly, her breathing steady and with no expression on her pretty face.

He wasn't so sure.

"I don't see it." He replied, the end of the sentence lilting in a curious manner.

"That's coz you don't know what the hell you're supposed to see." Vic grumbled, "See how her eyelids are slightly parted?"

Gar nodded, noting that her eyelashes were the exact same colour as her flaming red hair.

Vic nodded slowly, as if a thought had just entered his mind, "You can see her eyes moving really quickly from side to side right?"

"Yea…"

"Means she's dreamin'."

Garfield looked closer at her and was quite fascinated by this fact. He wondered if she was dreaming about anything, and if she was, he hoped that it was of something pleasant; he didn't want her to have bad dreams, coz frankly, her current situation must already seem like such a nightmare to her.

He whistled softly, not really knowing what he was whistling, and stood up, away from Kori. Garfield didn't know what else he could do but he didn't know where else to go apart from here and though he prided himself for spontaneity and aimlessness, but right now a nice time table would probably make him the happiest person in the world. It was like they were in a state of limbo when just hours ago—literally!—everything was all cheery and they were arguing about the cuteness factor of the pictures of him and Raven that appeared in the JumpGirl issue, teasing Vic about Jinx relentlessly and just plain having fun.

Serious arguments and absences were such mood spoilers.

Vic was standing by his side, his mechanical arms firmly crossed and his facial expression was that of a brotherly—or even fatherly, if you pushed it—figure being worried about a member of their family; his red eye flashed occasionally and his human brow was pushed near to the centre so it almost touched his mechanical—what was that for anyway?—brow. That was actually the only indication of emotion that Gar was getting from his best friend, he wasn't capable of guessing what Vic felt like because, though he was still—theoretically—human, most of Vic was made from machine and so everything was always the same; his heartbeat was always steady—due to the artificial heart the doctors at S.T.A.R Labs put in—he never sweated and his breathing—did Vic really need to breathe?—had the same rhythm over and over again. It was one of the reasons he liked Vic; Vic made him feel refreshingly human and though even with his 'powers' he was still human—well technically, he was human but with a teeny tiny bit of green monkey in him. Hey, if it cured him of Sakutia who cared that he had some monkey's DNA in his own?—the fact that he could use his animalistic features to try to figure out how people were feeling made him feel…weird sometimes and though Vic didn't really appreciate his machinery, Gar loved him all the same.

Like a brother, mind you.

Totally.

"Man, just go if you want. I'll look after Kori for a while." Vic said out of the blue.

Garfield took his time in digesting this statement, "Eh?" His ears perked up slightly, "Go? Where?"

"You look like you're frickin' dyin' to get out of this room."

"Not dyin'." He grinned back, "Just wantin' to get out of this room really badly."

Vic laughed, "That was horrible. I would've thought datin' Raven would make you stop makin' such bad jokes."

"Good habits die hard, man." He chuckled in return, "Plus it wasn't that bad."

"Mmmhmmm."

He poked his tongue out cheekily, "You are the worst best friend ever."

"I do try, BB." His grin grew largeras he stated that, it was good to see a few smiles right now.

He sniffed the air but then stopped himself as he realised that the only scent he would be able to smell was his own and Kori's and neither would smell too nice by the way they were currently feeling. He was getting used to the smell though and he realised that it had mellowed down a little. That was good, then, his nose was so goddamn sensitive that it was annoying sometimes.

"Dude, get yo ass outta here. I can handle it."

Garfield wrinkled his nose and shrugged, "Dunno." His ears twitched, "There's like nothin' to do anyway so I might as well be here."

"You could go check Raven out."

He sighed and made an exaggerated face, "She's bein' moody. She'll probably chuck me out of the window with her black energy thingies."

"She's moody all the time." Vic said in a matter-of-factly tone, "Doesn't mean she doesn't want your 'lovin'," he performed finger speech marks to emphasise his point, "as disgusting as that may sound."

"Nah." He smiled weakly, "She can handle it. If she can handle her loon of a dad then she can totally handle Dick bein' in her head."

The subject of Dick loomed over their heads but instead of ranting in anger about him, Garfield decided to stay quiet and try to calm his hot-headedness. Breathing exercises should do the trick, right?

One…two…three…

Breathe.

"You like her a lot, don'cha?"

Garfield automatically grinned but then his face fell again, "Yea." His fingers itched to scratch his ears but he stopped himself.

"I'm guessin' you love her."

"I…" he paused for a while, thinking and re-thinking his thoughts, calculating how he would reply to Vic's blunt statement, "Yea." He decided finally, his tone soft and he avoided meeting his best friend's eyes, "She's kinda awesome."

"You're such a chick, Gar." Vic teased, emphasising this by poking him on the shoulder, "So? If she's so awesome, man, you should go to her." Surprisingly, the conversation had taken a serious turn, "Doesn't matter that she'll kick you outta her room, as long as she knows you're there for her, y'know?"

A small chuckle escaped Garfield's lips, "Now who's bein' such a chick?"

Vic slapped Garfield's back roughly though there was a definite lightness to his face that made Garfield laugh along with him. Their friendship had started roughly, Garfield mused briefly as they joked around for a bit, Vic had kept trying to push him away but—obviously—Garfield being Garfield, he had used his brilliant charm—he glanced around warily, if Raven had been here and she had even a little insight into what he was thinking, she would've coughed quite heavily and quite deliberately—to convince Vic that he wasn't gonna make fun of him, he had, after all, lived with Robotman for quite a while.

He grinned at the memory; he had called Vic 'Robotman 2.0' when they had first met.

Garfield felt his tight shoulders relax a bit as he gave a pointless shrug to Vic, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He suddenly realised that he hadn't been spending as much time with Vic as he used to—with him dating Raven, fighting crime and all the drama—and he was starting to regret it; Vic was the one person—apart from Raven, but this was way different—that he could rely on to have his head and shoulders in the right place when everything went wrong, the one person that could always make him—said the overly enthusiastic and idiot of the bunch—laugh.

"She likes you a lot too. Maybe she even loves ya."

That caught his attention, "Eh? How'd you know?"

Vic grinned his brotherly grin, "Jus' a few things she said to me before when you went off to find her book."

"What? No way!" Garfield enthused, "What did she say 'bout me?" Vic kept on grinning like an idiot, not saying a word, causing Garfield to pout, "Dude, what did she say, man?"

"Ha ha." The grin was still there, "Not tellin'. You better go ask her yourself."

He groaned, "No fair. I wanna know what she said." He whined.

"I promised her I wouldn't tell. I don't really wanna talk about it anyway." Vic poked his tongue out teasingly, "Kinda gross."

"Gross?" Garfield pondered on that word, not really understanding what Vic was getting at, though by the expression on his face, Vic probably didn't think that he'd get it, "I'm not gross!" He guessed.

There was a second in where Vic just stared at him, his jaw dropping and his eye—singular here, obviously—bugging out like crazy and then…and then…he just cracked up and let out this huge bellow of a laugh. Garfield had no idea why Vic was laughing this much but it was so loud that he heard the slightest stirring from Kori, a low murmur and the covers rustling. It probably wasn't loud enough for Vic to pick up, but it made Garfield more alert for any other movements.

"Dude calm it down a bit, man." Garfield warned, "Kori might wake up." The rustling had stopped and the breathing had settled again, but his ears still perked up in case of any other sounds.

Vic's mouth formed an 'O' on its own accord, "Sorry, man…it was just that…" he chuckled, "you're so dumb."

"I am not." Garfield pouted once more, "FYI, I am, like, the fifth smartest in my zoology class." He pointed out, referring to his university major.

"There are probably five students in your class, righ'?"

"Vic!"

He grinned in reply, "I'm kiddin', BB, I'm kiddin'." He glanced at Kori for a moment, his red eye looking at her intensely, causing Garfield to follow in suit, "So, anyways, guess we should jet. I think she'll be good for now. She's not goin' anywhere, anyway."

"True." Garfield thought about this statement for a moment, "But what are we gonna do then? It's not like there's anythin' else to do around here."

"Well then BB," a sly smile spread itself on Vic's lips, "have you forgotten about our good old friend…namely; the GameStation?"

A sudden giddiness filled Garfield's chest as he heard the magical word that would always, always, have a spot in his heart. If Raven and Dick were here to witness him, they would immediately shake their heads and mutter about how immature and time wasting he was. If Kori was awake, she would probably clap her hands giddily but then seek to watch instead of actually joining in. However, he knew Vic would have the exact same reaction as he would at just the thought of the GameStation; his eyes –or eye in his case—would sparkle longingly, his heart would start thudding and his hand would shudder—metaphorically, of course—so much that it was a joy just to hold the console.

He grinned.

"So, are we going to do this or what?"

--

Raven stalked her bedroom floor, walking in circles, muttering to herself softly, not even knowing what she was saying. Her footsteps sounded heavy and hollow on the cold floor, her fingers clammy against the swell of her palm and her thoughts were all over the place; some were hers and yet some were Dicks. It was the same with her emotions…with his emotions…with…with…

There was a loud whooshing sound in the background and when she turned to see what it was, she witnessed one of her books bursting into a billion black pieces.

Not good.

She walked calmly towards the remains of the book on the table and tidied it up as best as she could, before placing the ashes into the bin. The mess wasn't as bad as the bedside lamp that she blew up or the desk that she accidentally removed the legs from and it was easier to clean. Control or no control, clearly she was destined for a place where there were no furniture in the room.

Sigh.

What she would give for her mind to just shut down right now, to let her think of things that were completely nonsensical and childish, for her maturity level to drop, for her emotions to let go, for her body to just react according to the situation but…but she couldn't. Her mind was flooded with thoughts and feelings that were discernable to her—Ha! Ironic that she called herself an empath—and she was cold, so cold.

However cold it was, she couldn't decipher it; she didn't know whether she was physically cold or she was feeling emotionally cold, it could've easily have been a combination of both. She didn't even know if this cold was caused by Dick or by her own wrongdoings and for some reason she really didn't want to know, not being able to differentiate such a thing made it easier on her, made her feel less guilty.

And yet…what was she supposed to be feeling guilty for? She didn't do anything, right?

She moved from the spot where she was standing and threw herself on her bed; it was warm and cosy, with pillows the size of baby elephants and a blanket that you could drown in. It made her feel a bit better, this superficial act of getting under the covers of her bed, but her mind still liked to sneak up on her with his thoughts, making her even more involved in whatever Kori and Dick had gotten into, more than she wanted anyway. Well, she figured that the rest of the team would have been involved in it sooner or later but by Azar it would've been more convenient if it was later.

Suddenly her senses started to tingle as she rolled over on her bed uncomfortably and she felt the familiar aura that belonged to Garfield; all warmth and excitement, comfort and joy but at the same time there was something of worry all mixed into his aura footprint. So, he had been on her bed, had he? She shook her head dismissively to herself as she realised that she didn't really care that he had been lounging about on her bed instead of trying to find her—well, pretend—book. She was actually quite grateful that he had left an imprint of himself—albeit accidentally—on her bed, it made the thoughts slip away faster than they were flowing out before and though it was still a slow process, she was just glad that it was actually proceeding.

As she fluttered her eyes closed, she felt her thoughts drift towards Gar; she was regretting the fact that she let her emotions get the better of her and had rejected his offer for her to stay in his room for the night. It would've been nice to have him by her side, it would've been less lonely—ironic, since she knew she was feeling not only her own emotions and thoughts right now, but Dick's too—and he would've been oh so human. He was hurt, she remembered vaguely—though she realised that it was all a blur what had actually happened—when she had said no but he had just smiled at her and told her that he'd take care of it, whatever it was and he had been so…nice and he didn't push her to make a decision that she didn't want to.

Damn him for getting more mature! If she had said no a year and a half ago he probably would've annoyed her in any and every way he had until either she agreed or she had blasted him as far away from her as her powers allowed her.

The blasting actually didn't sound like too bad of an idea.

Hmmm…

Her thoughts kept drifting around, but they were slowly dissipating as the darkness clouded her vision. She knew it was no ordinary sleep—no way—especially by the way she could feel her consciousness, well, feel conscious. If she were actually dreaming right now she wouldn't have any idea what was happening, but it was different; it was like she was being picked apart piece by piece, not in an unpleasant way, but in a way that felt extraordinarily detaching to her. It was hard to explain, but then, humans didn't usual travel to Nevermore like she did once in a while.

Her eyes snapped opened and she could finally see her surroundings with her mind's eye; it was always different—Nevermore, that is—it shifted and shaped on its own accord and by the need of the Emotions, but usually it liked to stick to the theme of doom and gloom with romanticised rock sculptures, stalactites and stalagmites and with a starless night sky looming above her. There was almost always no wind, and there was almost always crows accompanied by strange, almost chilling images embedded in the rocks. There were always a lot of almosts and today was no different to the other times, today Nevermore decided to stick to the theme.

For once—well there was that one time where she became the portal—she actually knew why her Emotions had called her in here, had pulled her into her own subconscious. There was no doubt about it really, she thought plainly to herself as each Emotion started to manifest in front of her, no doubt about it at all.

"So…" Raven started, not really knowing how to start; they were after all a part of her and should know every thought and feeling she currently had, it was not like she actually needed to say anything, actually.

There they stood in their colourful cloaks; from pink until brown, they were all like her, physically at least. Mentally, they were only one emotion each, they could not feel anything else and their thoughts were driven only by that very emotion. Their movements, their advice and their speech were all driven by a single emotion; it must be quite a tiring existence, Raven thought to herself, only being able to feel and think in one way though for some reason, it was appealing at the same time.

Very appealing actually.

Raven tut-ed despite herself, "Well then, out with it."

"We have called you here, well, because we need to discuss a few things." Wisdom finally spoke up, fixing her glasses simultaneously, "It seems that you are having a few problems." She paused for a while then spoke up again, "Well, and yes, we also have a few personal complications."

Raven blinked twice then tried to see if there were any differences with the Emotions before pausing to think; there was none that she could see. They seemed pretty normal enough, all of them seemed to be in their area of feeling and no one was acting out of tune.

"Look closer." Wisdom said knowingly, her tongue momentarily licking her dry lips.

She did this time, with all her might, at the sky, at the ground, at the Emotions themselves. Everything looked normal, well…as normal as Nevermore was but she still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, anything that would cause the Emotions to panic and pull her in.

"Great." Rage roared, her lips twisting into a malicious grin, "The bitch still doesn't get the fucking picture."

Courage puffed her chest up indignantly, "Rage! Don't speak like that to yourself!"

"Yes…Rage." Kindness spoke slowly, flinching as Rage glared at her, "Raven is doing her very best."

"Bite me." Rage's grin grew wider, almost Cheshire-like, her eyes turning into slits of red.

With that Raven saw Fear scramble around to hide behind Courage's cloak, her whole body shuddering violently, her pale pallor even paler and her eyes cast down. At the same time she saw Happy skip towards Timid and pat her lovingly on the head, like someone who was patting the head of the most adorable being in the world.

"Aww…" Happy cooed, smiling prettily with her skin flushed with excitement and glee, "Fear is so cute when she's like this. I wanna hug her." She squeezed Fear's cheeks together.

While all the racket was happening, she filtered out the sounds and kept concentrating on finding some sort of disorder or distortion. There was a flicker of movement behind a couple of the Emotions and she moved closer towards Laziness and Timid, her footsteps wary of anything dangerous. Suddenly, finally, she saw it and she knew that it was what they were referring to because of a satisfied 'ah' that was heard in the background, elicited by none other than Wisdom.

"Finally." Raven heard Rage, almost able to picture her rolling her eyes.

It was strange, that was the feeling she got from it, it wasn't…it wasn't her. It was the shadows that bothered her, the shadows attached to their feet, so dark and inky that she wouldn't have noticed it against the backdrop of equally dark and ragged rocks. It wasn't that there were shadows—there were plenty of those here in Nevermore, sometimes appearing when there was nothing to create the shadows with—but these were different and too unfamiliar; the shape was all wrong.

It wasn't her shape.

It was Dick's.

Yes, you heard her right; the shadow—shadows, if she was being grammatically correct—belonged to Dick Grayson, the one and only.

"Well…um…" Raven started, completely flabbergasted at this revelation, "I see…" She decided to settle on that answer, "We do seem to have a problem."

A murmur of agreement spread around her, all different in tone according to their state of emotion. She walked a little closer, squatting down to trace the shape of the shadow once more to make sure. She was sure now; the shadows attached to each Emotion was not hers, they were his.

Now, that was not what she expected to come out of this situation; random mood swings, yes, telepathic communication, sure, certain awkwardness, definitely. But Dick's essence slipping into her own? Into Nevermore? Into her subconscious? Her identity?

She wasn't so sure.

"How long has this been going on for?" Raven enquired, partially curious, partially scared.

"Approximately a year." Wisdom must've seen the shock on Raven's face when she suddenly shook her head slowly, "It's only been fully formed for a month or so but I've noticed that it's been growing."

Raven felt the corner of her lips twitch, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Couldn't be bothered." Laziness yawned, her eyes all droopy.

"We…" Timid looked down at her shoes, twisted her foot carefully on one spot, "We didn't know if it was important or not but…but now that…this…has happened…" Her words trailed off silently.

This wasn't a good sign at all, she shook her head as she paced the gravelly grounds, she knew the risks of the bonds but there was no indication of this happening in any of her books. Was this even possible? A bond was supposed to push the limits of the word 'empathy' but this was not what she expected; she did not need this right now! She did not need the risk of becoming one with Dick, being completely in sync with him.

She sighed.

"This is not my day." Raven grimly muttered to herself, "Not my day at all."

"Don't worry Raven; we'll be with you all the way!" Courage pompously claimed, causing Raven to mentally slap herself on the head.

There must be a way to end this, there just must be! A way to mask the bond somehow, to slow down its process of—she gritted her teeth in frustration—identity consumption, to completely block out each other. There was always the option of severing it, but Raven did not know how that was to be done and even if she did, she wasn't sure she would want to; she didn't know the risks for that either. She felt irritation grow off the annoyance she originally felt for Dick and though she wanted to get angry, she knew that she was in no shape and in the wrong place to be angry; she couldn't risk Rage grow right now, she didn't feel like she had the strength to fight her off.

"What do you think of it?" Raven finally asked to no one in particular, her question hanging in the dank air.

Wisdom made a face before adjusting her glasses once more, "If this continues, it seems that it will consume you and thus consume us." A pause was felt between them, "We wouldn't want that."

"No, of course we'd want that." Raven rolled her eyes, trying to swallow back down the sarcasm she felt rise in her throat.

"Well, no need to be so snappish about it." Wisdom snapped back, "You know what to do."

Raven sighed, "I need to sever it…"pause, "but I have no idea how." Another pause, "And in addition to that, it might be dangerous."

"It might be more dangerous when…if…we are completely taken over." The Emotion spoke slowly, "And that particular consequence is unclear even to me."

"I'll…I'll look into it." Raven sighed dejectedly, "But what if it kills him? I mean, as much as he's being a complete bastard about everything right now, he's still my friend and in essence he's the only one who truly understands me…understands you all."

"It's a loss we've…I've taken into account for."

"That doesn't seem too positive." Raven stated shortly.

This time it was Rage's time to answer, accompanied by an almost excited grin, "It isn't."

Raven shuddered physically as those words tumbled out of Rage's lips and her eyes swept over the Emotions swiftly, though with some care. There was no use in denying it, Wisdom was right; if she were to fix this particular problem, she would have to sever it and though there would be certain risks to it, she knew that she would have to go through it if she were to regain some sort of normalcy—she scoffed silently at the idea—and some sort of privacy. It was all well and good to have Dick in her mind sometimes but she realised that if she wasn't able to handle her own emotions, what good was it that she had to handle someone else's too?

Suddenly, as she scrutinised each and everyone one of them, she realised that something—no—someone was missing and as she mulled over this, it suddenly clicked; where the hell was Affection? There was no periwinkle blue cloak in sight, no knowing smirk that made Raven want to punch her face in, no hint of pretty flush at the cheeks and no cooing over Garfield this and Garfield that. She felt her brows press together as she made sure that Affection really wasn't here, and to her surprise, she wasn't.

Was there some significance in her absence? Or was it just a coincidence? Was Raven just over thinking it all or was the fact that she wasn't here when she should be concern her?

Her head started to hurt.

"She's not here." Happy giggled prettily, twirling around to create a variety of wave-like ripples with her pink cloak, "She's in her element. Such a pretty, pretty element." She cooed, fluttering her lashes like crazy, "We like singing when I visit. We sing so many songs." The tone of her voice seemed to go up and down haphazardly, changing with every word she spoke, "I really, really like her."

Her thoughts began to meander once more but this time they were clearer, more coherent than the ones that were in there previously. Yet they were all directed at Affection, she knew, and she didn't really know why. It was like Affection was that tiny eyelash that fell on your skin and you didn't notice it until it was gone and that was what it felt like now.

Suddenly, as her thoughts became more and more Affection-oriented, she felt something stirring in her—or was it outside of her? She never really knew in Nevermore—and before she knew it, Affection was standing right in front of her; her arms crossed and a knowing smirk graced her lips haughtily. It was all done in typical Affection fashion of course but there was something different…it was as if she couldn't really call her Affection anymore, like that name was all wrong for her…

"You're right," Affection winked at her, "I'm not Affection anymore." She fluttered her lashes before moving closer, "I prefer to be called something else now…let's just say, I've been through a change…a rebirth of some sort." The smile turned almost Cheshire-like, "Care to guess what it is?"

Raven grimaced, not really wanting to know, "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's nice." Affection—or whoever she called herself nowadays—pouted, "So, what's the deal with you not having a malformed shadow?"

She didn't, alright. It was strange; Affection really didn't have Dick's shadow, she still had her own shadow, the one shaped just like her own in the real world. It was like she wasn't affected or something, and that certainly worried her. It was hazy—she was sure of that—but it was clearly Raven's shadow and not Dick's and it made her wonder what did Affection possess that made her defiant against this…this…epidemic. What made her so special?

Affection's pale lips curled at the edges and she raked a delicate hand through her mass of dark hair, identical to Raven's, "Oooo…" she cooed, her words bordering on sickly sweet, "but don't you want to figure it out? You know how much I love puzzles Raven."

Raven hated it when Affection played games with her; there was never a straight answer when it came to this Emotion. Whenever they would converse, Affection would encourage—well, more like, push—Raven to figure things out on her own, the Emotion had always claimed that it was because with the emotion of affection, one never did actualise anything without figuring things out…or so she said. Raven had an inkling that Affection actually enjoyed torturing her and that she would stop at nothing to annoy her with her nonsensical words of romance; she loved romance as much as the next girl—though she would never admit it out loud…ever—but Affection sometimes went over the top with everything.

"Really, Affection, I don't have time for this. Now I know that you know why you, as an Emotion, aren't being consumed by Dick's emotions?"

"Gosh, Raven, I wonder why you avoided staying with Gar tonight." There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke those words, completely ignoring Raven's own words, "He'd be so warm and you'd have some type of emotional support through this ever so tough time…" She let her words trail off.

Raven rolled her eyes, "Are you seriously going to lecture me about that? You know as well as I do that I regret it." She stated blandly, rolling her words in her mouth, "So, are you going to tell me or not?"

"Oh very well." Affection shook her head mockingly, "You ruin everything, you know that?"

This time it was Raven's turn to smile cattily, "I know."

"You know how I changed my name?"

Raven nodded slowly, and though she denied it consciously, she knew what Affection had changed into and it felt strange…like she wasn't supposed to feel it. She had not been brought up on it, for she was supposed to be the bringer of doom, and she didn't really know what it felt like and she knew when she compared to other people's—Kori's for example—it didn't totally match but since it was hers and hers only, she thought that she was interpreting it quite right. She just didn't know what to do with it, he knew that Gar felt it too but what difference did it make? Did it really change anything at all in their standing?

She shook her head; this was neither the time nor place.

"Well, since it is your own then it is quite unaffected." Affection—for she refused to call her anything other than that—said simply, "You and Dick feel, well, me but towards different people and also because your concepts of…me…are both different and so I am quite unchanged." Raven kept silent for a while as she continued, "You and him are similar in many ways, sometimes too similar and that's why the bond you have binds you two so tightly, because it—the bond, I mean—perceives you both as one person and by doing this it is forcing you to be…one."

"So, if you're unchanged then that means that I'm still safe? That I don't need to sever the bond?" Raven questioned.

This time Wisdom answered, her mouth twisted into a frown, "No, or at least we think not. This may just be a question of concept on the term of 'affection'," she did speech marks as she said this word, "but concepts change and that means that this current safety lock in the form of Affection might not hold for as long as we may think."

"Meaning that…she still hasn't stopped growing? That she would develop even more?" Raven asked, curious about this aspect of Affection's.

Affection flushed prettily, though not embarrassment, Raven guessed, but more in joy and delight, "It is possible, if you allow it. Even though your moods yo-yo all the time, I don't see why not. It feels good though, doesn't it?"

"If good is translated as feeling like my stomach is eating itself every time I see him, then yes, it's good." Sarcasm layered word upon word in that sentence.

"I think they're more commonly known as butterflies." Affection smiled prettily, "You enjoy the sensation, anyway." She pointed out.

Raven nodded numbly then realisation suddenly struck her as she turned towards Wisdom to see if her presumptions were correct, "You're saying that the only way to stop this is either to break the bond with Dick—not knowing what the full consequences are—or to stop loving Gar. That's it, isn't it?" Her voice was demanding, she knew, like that of a spoilt brat, but she couldn't help it, the thought of those two choices were in itself horrifying, "But how would not loving Gar stop it? Would it not just catalyse the whole process all together if Affection was out of the picture?"

Wisdom nodded grimly, knowing that despite Raven's lack of enthusiasm, those two were the most logical and convenient choices, "That is the point. She won't be out of the picture, she will merely get weaker and she may even lower her status, and so we will have two different concepts—yours and Dick's—which would then prevent the identity consumption." The dark eyes peered through her glasses contemplatively, "You can still love Garfield platonically." She said in what Raven thought was an attempt to cheer her up.

The reality of it was harsh and unless there was something else she could do, those were the only two options available for her. What was she to do? She did not want to risk Dick and yet she did not want to lose Gar. She loved Gar; it was inevitable and so…so…right that she realised that there was no use in denying it anymore and she found herself not wanting to deny it, like Affection had mentioned before, she liked it. It was easy not to love him before they started their relationship, before she knew his touch, his kisses and his laughter, but now she would probably feel at loss if she did not have any of those things. It was not that she could not go on living without him—no, it was clearly not so—but the life would be drab, bland, grey and unfulfilling…she did not know—no!—she knew that she did not want a life like that, not after she had experienced such bright colours and such strong emotions both from him and evoked by him. There was also that sense of familiarity and comfort that always oozed from him that she craved, and if she had to stop loving him, that would all go away. And how would he feel about it? Surely, he would not understand, surely he would then condemn Dick even more than he already has. Surely he would hate her for being so strange and so cold.

Surely there was another way?

"There may be other ways but we have no found them…and we are losing precious time." Wisdom stated shortly, avoiding her eyes.

Affection suddenly shot back at her, "Then we will find those other ways! She cannot…she should not…stop loving Gar just because of something as insignificant as this, Wisdom. It is inhumane to tell her to do so!"

"It may be the only way." Wisdom retorted sharply, "I don't find any pleasure in this either, Affection, but we all have to make sacrifices."

"Then sacrifice Dick!" Affection burst out to both Wisdom and Raven, red faced and frustrated, "You love Gar!"

Raven felt her throat constrict, "I…I cannot. It would hurt him and it would hurt Kori. But…" she felt the words wrapped in her throat, desperate to get out but knowing that it would be painful if it did, "but…I haven't even told Gar that I love him…" she whispered croakily, "I haven't even…" speaking the words verbally hurt even more, "I love him, I do. I really do." Her words were slow and hesitant but they were there.

There was nothing left to it and she knew that Raven didn't want to stay in Nevermore any longer, not if she had to. Her head hurt, her chest hurt, her heart hurt and for once she knew that it was definitely hers, that this was definitely hers. She licked her lips nervously and though she was in the metaphysical realm and she knew that her lips weren't actually dry, they felt like there were cracks and crevices in them with a flake like texture that annoyed her.

She shook her head slowly, inhaling deeply at every word she spoke, "I'll…I'll think about it. I'll find something." Her voice quavered with determination.

With all her might, she pushed Nevermore away, not even bothering to say goodbye to her Emotions. The place was getting hazier and hazier, like sand slipping through her fingers though it was slow and torturous, like trying to pull out all your hair one by one. Shudders crawled under her skin as she forcefully pulled herself away from the metaphysical and tried to get back to the physical realm, to where logic applied and anything that was solid was real. She had only done this once before, and it had been the same; the same slow, tormenting and mind chilling pain that coursed through her. Nevermore did not like being ignored as it tried to capture her in its claws, but Raven knew that she wouldn't—wouldn't want to, that is—get out if she didn't get out when she did.

Finally, her eyes flashed open and her breathing was slow and heavy. She felt searing, recurring pains on her forehead and she knew that her chakra was glowing wildly. Raven sat up, clutching at the blanket tightly, her knuckles white, and she stared at nothing in particular as she rewound the events that had happened in her mind. Her mouth was dried up; she realised, and instinctively swallowed, though it didn't really do anything to quench her thirst. She had done the right thing, she knew, it had been right to rip her whole being out of Nevermore no matter how painful; if she had let her emotions overwhelm her in Nevermore, she would've been trapped and in real life she would have been ensnared in a catatonic state.

Another sigh escaped her lips.

She didn't know what to do, she really didn't.

It wasn't that that really bothered her in the first place, actually. It wasn't the thought of not knowing what to do that was bothering her. It was the thought that she thought that she had an inkling of what she had to do and she was scared.

She loved Garfield. Every fibre of her being was telling her that whatever she was feeling towards him was love, and that was significant in itself; she wasn't brought up on love, as all of her friends knew, and her concept of love may have been distorted ever so slightly but—at the very least—she thought that this was love and, truly, that was all that mattered. She loved him...she loved him and she didn't want to lose him before she fully explored this feeling, fully explored their relationship and fully…fully understood what it was to love and be loved.

A small, almost insignificant whimper was heard from her as she felt her chest constrict.

She loved him…

A/N: So, what did you think? Liked it? Hope you did!