Chapter 3. Safe
"Noooo…" Raven yelled alongside someone else, and before she knew it, she had been knocked out of the sky and fell with a muffled thud.
Raven opened her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings. It was quiet, dark but more important, there was someone holding her down, breathing fast and hard.
What stopped her from using her dark magic and propel her assailant off of her was his scared whispers "not you… I'm not going to loose you Raven…"
it was Beast Boy. Trembling, sobbing each word. She felt her neck and shoulder wet with his tears.
They had fallen on a pile of clothes. She remembered it as she had walked over it when she made her way to sit on his bed earlier.
And although softer compared to the floor, the knots of clothes started to bother her back. But could not bring herself to move him as he might still think he's in the nightmare she had witness.
So slowly, she rubbed his back to calm him down. Beast Boy lifted his head slowly. The moonlight shone on his tear stricken face. Her heart felt heavy. She had never seen him so scared and vulnerable.
"I wont loose you" he whispered again. A tear running down his cheek. She managed to get her right hand free and with her finger captured the runaway tear and whispered in what she hoped was a soothing tone "I'm right here Garfield. I'm safe with you. We are home"
He gave her a half smile and laid his head back on her shoulder still not letting go of her.
Raven thought that she ought to be mad at him, in raging fury for pushing her down, not getting off of her when obviously the nightmare was over. But then, the memories of his dream flashed in her mind. Making her remember sensing the terror, fear and despair young Garfield had felt then and how helpless and guilty he felt now.
" all those emotions are not from a memory Rae. He is really feeling fear, despair…sorrow among other things." said Knowledge in her mind.
"He needs us Rae, let him be. You can be mad at him tomorrow if you want but right now he needs to hold on to some kind of reality to keep himself sane… at least for the night."
Raven signed and tried to settle for the night the best she could. Beast Boy had fallen sleep again and he was snoring softly on her shoulder "he better not drool on me" she thought to herself before falling sleep.
The last thing he saw was her. The Ice Queen, that tried with all her might to hold every emotion within for dear life. Always detached and cold.
Mean and even violent when he went too far with his pranks and taunting just to make her smile.
He had been thrown out the window in more than one occasion as punishment. But also, in more than one occasion, she had showed that she cared about her friends. Even him. Just like now.
He had been so depressed after he found out there was someone else like him, because at times, he, the clown, the jester… the one that always had a smile on his face, not only felt alone but also lonely.
Even Cyborg could grow tired and bored of his lame jokes and pranks. Robin didn't tolerate him as much and Starfire, although always happy and loving, could kill the joy of a good prank when she didn't understand what was going on.
But with Raven, it was a challenge. He had made it his ultimate goal to one day, make her smile. A goal that, no matter how angry she got, he enjoyed pursuing.
Her remarks could be mean and at times even cruel. But he always let it slide and kept on smiling. Every now and then she would really hurt his feelings but would get him alone and apologize and he would be the happiest teen ever.
And now, here she was. Not to apologize but with real concern. To others, her signature monotone would be despotic and cold, but he knew her better. Knew her moods very well and could hear the change in her voice. Specially when she was worried. He always knew he could count on her.
He had asked her to stay until he felt sleep. He knew it probably wouldn't be for long for she had little patience sometimes. But Beast Boy was glad she stayed never the less.
He watched her meditate. Whisper her mantra and lull him to sleep. But then, the dream began.
Started out the same. A normal looking six year old Garfield playing with his childhood friend.
His parents ,research scientist ,always traveling and moving all over had finally settled in the south coast of Africa, long enough for him to make a few friends.
But the one constant friend young Garfield had, was a girl. The five year old daughter of one of his parent's associates in the lab.
They were inseparable. Always laughing, always exploring, always playing pranks on each other.
That day had started as it usualy did. After breakfast, young Garfield and little Meliha left to play in the forest. It was Saturday, so no school was open and they had all day to play.
They lived in a secured perimeter thanks to the scientist's insistence that their kids needed to be safe and away from wild animals while their parents worked at the labs.
The kids run to their favorite spot. A grassy opening in the plains that had a pond, not too deep. They would watch the small frogs swimming in the water.
After a while they started to play hide and seek. Garfield was really good at it because he could climb the trees without much noise and Meliah would look for him until she got tired or bored and once she even cried, thinking he had left her.
But he came down and started to call her. "Meliah… where are you" said Garfield, who started to get nervous. "Meliah, is not funny, come out already…" then suddenly he heard something and saw something move behind the bush.
He backed up a couple of steps and when he got closer to the bushes the girl jumped behind him with a loud "BOO !" that made him scream out of fear and fall on his behind.
The little girl could not contain her laughter as she was also holding her stomach and could hardly breath. Young Garfield frown and got up, dusting off his shorts.
He yelled "THAT WAS NOT FUNNY MELIAH,WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR"
The little girl finally calmed down and saw his face. He was mad at her. She showed him a frown of her own and said "well you started it.. I was looking for you and called you many times and you left me behind"…
Garfield saw her expression, she seemed ready to cry. He got closer and hugged her "M, you know I would never leave you behind. We were just playing. And you scared me, I thought something happened to you when I couldn't find you"
He then let go of her and smiled, she did too until she saw over his shoulder. Her eyes went wide open and held her breath. He followed her eyes and turn around and then he saw it. A monkey that might have been his height was walking slowly towards them, but what caught his eye was the foam coming out of its mouth and the red eyes. He turned around fully having his back to Meliah, slowly, he started to back away. The girl made no sound and just followed his lead.
At some point she whispered "Gar, I'm scared" her lower lip trembling. "shhh" he whispered back.
The wild animal seemed confused. He kept scratching his body and started to convulse which made the kids stop in terror.
There was a noise on their right side. Someone running towards them then stopped. The animal had heard the noise too and started to growl. It sounded sick.
And then without warning the animal charged on the direction of the kids. Garfield was quick and pulled the girl away of the monkey's clutches.
The animal stumbled and quickly got up, scratching the ground with its long nails. The kids were running but the girl made the mistake of looking back, the monkey was close, but she failed on seeing the ground and tripped on a root. She fell with a thud and when she looked up, the monkey was making his way back to her. She closed her eyes and screamed.
A shot was heard which paralyzed the animal for a split second. Garfield came back and quickly helped her up and started to run in the opposite direction.
The animal noticed this and charged once again. And was about to bite her leg when Garfield pushed her out of the way and instead of her leg, the animal's mouth found the boy's leg.
He screamed in pain and fell as another shot was heard. This time closer. Garfield tried to open his eyes and all he could see was the monkey's lifeless body fall next to him and blood coming out. After that he fell unconscious.
From there, everything seemed to flash faster.
He woke up a found himself in a hospital. He could feel an iv on his left arm. He looked around and saw Meliah sitting next to him.
"are you ok Gar?" she asked with a worried look on her face. "I feel fine M, why do you…" he paused as he noticed his arm. It was green.
Next flash was a pouting Meliah standing next to him. They were in the backyard playing when other kids passed by and yelled "HEY VEGETABLE BOY, DID YOU EAT TOO MUCH BROCOLLY ?" and laughed alongside his friends.
The other kid said " DO YOU LIKE MY BIKE?" Garfield said no with his head… "THEN WHY ARE YOU SO GREEN WITH ENVY" he closed his hands into fists.
Next was Meliah with bandages on her face. She was sleeping thanks to a sedative. He looked down his hands and cried into them. He remembered what had happened.
After those kids were making fun of him, he felt so angry that something snapped in him and he felt change and growl and became a bear.
When Meliah screamed, a startled Garfield/Bear turned around and hit her with his paw. He then, transformed back and run to her, but she had fainted.
Next ,a smiling Meliah was staring at him with three long and red scars along the left side of her face, from her nose to the hairline at an angle.
It was a miracle he didn't hurt her eye. But as painful as it was, she tried to smile for him and told him "Don't worry Gar, I'm ok. Its not your fault. I still love you" and hugged him.
Next was the journey in the small boat. A storm was forming, he could feel it. His pointy ears tingled at the far away sound of a thunder.
The sky was dark and the wind had picked up. But that could not stop them. Garfield and his parents needed to leave before any more trouble arose.
After the accident with Meliah, his parents found out the side effects of the treatment.
When young Garfield had been bitten by the monkey, they found out it had rabies. From that he had gotten very ill. His immune system was shutting down and they were running out of options.
But as scientist's nature, they never stopped researching and in less than a day, they had figured out a serum that would help their son's immune system to fight the virus that was draining his life.
But although the procedure worked faster than what they expected. One of the first side effects was his skin color.
Slowly but surely, was becoming green. At first there were patches of what seemed to be bruises in the brown to green transition before it fades out, but instead, the color spread. And much to their surprise, he was green from head to toe in less than three hours. Then his ears seemed to elongate making them pointy. His hair turn green and finally, a fang was sticking out from his lower lip upwards.
There was no going back. And as his health got stronger so did the acceptance of his changes.
But when the accident with little Meliah happened, all hell broke loose. For one of the side effects they had not expected was a shape shifting mutation.
The little girl had been rushed to the hospital. And although young Garfield had said it had been a bear, they started to get suspicious as to the nature of the "accident" . so, in order to protect their son, they had decided to leave the small village before anyone found out about his condition.
And so, now young Garfield found himself staring out the small round window at the troubled waters. The wind made the sails whip all over and the small boat swayed precariously.
And scared him to pieces. But most of all because he was leaving his best friend behind. But something made him turn. In the small cabin. A whimper. When he looked again it was Meliah. Hidden behind the crates that contained his few belongings.
Then, a huge crack was heard. And a loud thud on the ceiling. He ran to the girl and kneeled down next to her and held her as if to protect her.
He could hear his father yelled "WE LOST THE MAST". then the thunders got louder and lightning seemed closer.
At this point, in his mind, older Garfield felt as if he wasn't alone. Somehow, he could sense a familiar presence. One that reminded him that his surroundings were not real.
But could not stop what came next. The rush, the noise. His father coming down to get him and didn't hear him when he yelled that Merliah was hiding.
Then how the were thrown overboard and how the small lifeboat was no match for the tempest that the storm and wind was making out of the usually passive river.
For a moment he forgot about the girl once his father pointed at the waterfall nearby. He said goodbye to his parents and transformed into a seagull and started to maneuver over the wind and rain.
But before he turned, a loud thunder was rumbling, knowing that soon after, a lightning would hit. When it did, he turned and saw the boat giving way to a sinking position in the water and before the next lightning was out he saw them.
Meliah, had emerged from the cabin grabbing on to the railing and then he saw … Raven?… "NOOOO" he opened his eyes and with lightning speed he threw himself at her throwing both of them off the bed.
He couldn't believe he had got to her on time. He was happy and so couldn't fight back the tears. He realized then than loosing Raven would devastate him more than he realized before and so he held on to her for dear life as he whispered "not you, I wont loose you Raven… I wont loose you."
He realized that she was stroking his back very softly, so he lifted his head and saw her beautiful face.
He concentrated on her lips for a moment. And when she said "I'm right here Garfield, I'm safe with you. We are home." he thought his heart would escape his chest and tried to say something but all he could do to give her a little smile.
And then he hugged her again. This time, he dreamt of his beautiful demoness and her soft words "I'm here Garfield, I'm safe with you. We are home…"
As they both fell into deep slumber, a shadow crossed along the window. A figure that seemed to do a free falling but instead of a thud, the flapping of wings broke the silence in the distance.
i hope the whole dream scene wasnt too confusing. i tried to explain it as brief as i could but couldnt go without a little explanation so it would make sense. pls review