Chapter 9. Ilusions and Nightmares
Beast Boy had closed his eyes and fell to his knees.
"How am I going to tell her?" He asked to himself. He felt a hand on his left shoulder and another holding his right hand. It was Raven and Starfire respectively.
"You wont have to… I will" Said Batman.
"But I thought you said…"
"That's not what I want you to talk to her about. I want you to find out who was with her when the power plant was destroyed".
"She came alone and even after the beating the Beast gave her, no one came to her aid, so why would that person be relevant right now?" Asked Cyborg.
"Because whoever helped her also pointed her the way to you. If she had been aware of where to find Beast Boy, she would have come to you sooner".
After a few seconds of silence, Dr Stone cleared his throat slightly and said "Batman, if I may…"
"Yes, Dr Stone"
"Would it be wise to tell miss Simmons about the fate of her mother and risk an outburst that perhaps the Titans are unprepared to handle?"
"Already thought of that Dr Stone… Cyborg… the chamber you built to protect Raven from her father a few years ago is still operable, correct?"
"Way ahead of you Bats" Cyborg said while typing furiously on the console's keyboard. Batman had narrowed his eyes and looked at Robin with an arched eyebrow and mouthed "Bats?"
Robin could only purse his lips to contain a smile, Starfire muffled a giggle, Raven had closed her eyes and moved his head from side to side in disbelief and Dr Stone tried to hide a smile that quickly disappeared when Batman frowned at him. Only Beast Boy was too deep in thought to notice.
"The chamber is up and running as we speak" Cyborg continued with a smile, unaware of the effect his choice of words had on the Dark Knight.
"Pure titanium Alloy, pre-barricaded surface from top to bottom and airtight sealed. Nothing goes in or out within the timer" He continued proudly of his craftsmanship.
"Very well, bring her now to the chamber. The sooner we get this over with, the better".
"But she's still passed out from the sedatives" said Beast Boy.
"Not according to your video surveillance" Said Batman while a small screen from the bottom of the monitor was enlarged and showed the live video of the holding cell room.
Beast Boy got to his feet and ready to exit the room. "Beast Boy, wait!" Called out Robin.
"I cant wait here Robin. She cant go thru this alone"
"B, just give me a few minutes to set the timer and…" said Cyborg
"You'll have plenty of time to do that while I get there tin man" Beast Boy said and took off.
Cyborg turned quickly to the computer and activated the timer on the chamber then run out of the common room with Robin. Starfire was already flying ahead and Raven had phased thru the floor.
"Suddenly I feel so antiquated" Dr Stone said to himself. Batman heard him and almost felt the urge to smile… almost.
!
Meliah was fully awake now. In fact, she had been awake for quite some time since Raven came to check on Garfield. She had sensed the sorceress's presence the moment her portal started to form.
She saw thru hooded eyes everything that had happened and heard the entire conversation, also found out about the conference call. But what had her replaying the entire scene over and over, was the kiss Garfield and Raven had almost shared.
The whole thing had been innocent, yet intimate. She had watched with sad curiosity everyone of their moves. She was intrigued how a powerful demoness that had been able to, not only heal her wounds but enter her mind, and yet… she was painfully shy around Garfield.
Oh, she had noticed the signs back in the med bay, even at the beach. How they had tried to protect each other.
She had wondered while they ate what would it feel like to share feelings with someone so caring and gentle, not mentioning handsome, like Garfield.
She had noticed him in that wretched animal state of hers. Even boldly called him out on it… ha! It had been so particularly endearing, even alluring, to watch him blush at the complement.
She had silently held her breath when they were about to kiss, even expectant. Never has she experienced such a simple yet intimate action. Not even held hands with anybody for she had never been around people her age or even real people at all.
She wasn't sure if she felt happy for Garfield or jealous of the demoness. Then heard the conversation about the conference call and then they had left her alone again. "So Batman will be there…" she thought to herself, but decided to think of something more pleasant.
She thought about the way he had held her. So close to him. How he had carried her with strong arms and gentle hands. He had kissed the scars on her face in such a way that she wished for him to really kiss her. She had closed her eyes, discreetly breathed in his scent and lost herself in it for a moment.
And when he had insisted on carry her all the way to the holding cell, her heart skipped at beat because she had another excuse to put her arms around him again. She knew Raven had noticed this and somehow Meliah had felt guilty about it.
An errant thought crossed her mind " Why wonder, when we can have him for ourselves?" Meliah closed her eyes at that. "It wouldn't be right or fair" she said softly to herself.
"Life hasn't been right or fair for us, why should hers?" the malicious voice said in her head.
"And to think that's my voice" she mused to herself in disbelief and rolled her eyes at the flirting familiar voice.
"You keep denying yourself what you've been craving all this time" the voice said tentatively.
"I don't even know what I crave, how can you?"
"Oh, but you DO know"
"Oh yeah? And according to you, what would that be?"
"Him, of course. He's such an specimen and those hands and lips of his hold the promise to be capable of wonders"
"Ha! That's Garfield you're talking about. My childhood friend. The one that could almost be my brother"
"Almost… but he's not. And he's all grown up and ours for the taking"
"He's not "ours", if you haven't noticed" she scoffed to herself.
"What I've noticed is that he's single with a lingering crush on a demoness that doesn't have the guts to tell him how she feels"
"And.. You do…of course?"
"Not Me… We.. I am you, remember?"
"How can I forget? You remind me every day"
"Only because you try to shot me down like a disease"
"You might as well be. No normal person talks to herself and actually gets an answer or get into a real conversation and… arg! What am I doing? I'm going insane!…" Meliah grabbed her head and sat on the bed, still talking softly to herself.
"You're not insane. You would have if I hadn't pushed my way out all those years ago and saved our lives… Meliah, you were too far gone with almost no spirit left for all of what those bastards did to us. We had already hit bottom. We had no other way but up and out". The voice in her head said, no malicious tone anymore. But serious, like her own.
With somewhat sadness, Meliah sat straight and softly said "I guess I was so far gone that that gave you the strength to be your own person"
"You are my own person Meliah, because I am you. We have always had only ourselves to depend upon. But the prospect that we might not have to do so anymore is right here. Why not take advantage of the opportunity?"
Meliah looked around the small cell while listening to her inner self trying to get some sense into her. Her eyes fell upon the plate covered with a napkin on a night table. She smiled, despite herself, at Garfield's gesture. Then leaned in, took a slice and sighed while taking a bite of the cold pizza.
"Just pretend that you don't talk and leave me to my own thoughts, ok? And let ME pretend I'm alone" She said softly. "as you wish" her inner voice said. Meliah closed her eyes and saw in the clouded horizon of her mind, the crystallized blue eyes, close.
!
The door hissed open and Meliah opened her eyes and saw an agitated Garfield almost running in. "Garfield!" she said with a smile.
"Hey M. Sorry… I wasn't here …when you woke up… but…" Beast Boy started to say between breaths.
"Its ok Gar. I know you had a conference call to attend to. Don't worry"
He looked puzzled "How do you know about the conference call?"
She giggled "Raven woke me up when she answered her communicator and heard Robin talk''
"ow..uh… did you… see… anything?" he asked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Was there anything to see?" She smiled at his blush and looked at his left side. At that moment Raven walked out of her portal.
"Hello Raven" the girl said but got no answer as the alien princess zoomed in the room with the door barely opened and landed next to Garfield followed closely by Robin and Cyborg.
Meliah got up and looked at each of their faces. Garfield's was the saddest.
"Gar, what's going on"
Garfield looked at Robin who was by the panel and opened the force field to let the changeling in.
Garfield walked in, hugged her tightly then kissed her scars one by one. Held her hands and lead her outside of the holding cell. She looked around suspiciously. "Gar, please say something, you're scaring me" she said softly to him.
"M, there is something you need to know" Garfield whispered.
At that moment, a giant screen behind Meliah turned on. She noticed the light coming from behind and turned slowly. On one half was Batman, on the other was Dr Stone. She smiled at the doctor.
"Dr Stone, how wonderful to see you again"
"Hello child, how are you?"
"Honestly?, the best I've ever been"
The doctor had a somber expression "I'm glad my dear" . Then Meliah turned to Batman. "Batman? I assume you will tell me what's going on"
"I'm afraid I don't have good news…" he noticed she took a sharp breath and grabbed Beast Boy for support. She looked expectant. "The authorities found your mother's body on the outskirts of Gotham"
Beast Boy felt her stiffen, she was backing up against him and unconsciously stabbing him with her claws. She was turning pale, her eyes open as wide as humanly possible. Beast Boy tried to hug her, turned her around to face him and saw her expression "M, breath… for God's sake.. Breath!"
She started to breath in spasms. She wasn't looking at him or anybody. Just trying to find some kind of way to wake up from the living nightmare. She was trying to get away from Beast Boy but Cyborg came next to him and with his big arm held her tightly. She closed her eyes. Beast Boy noticed her hands trembling. Cyborg felt her entire body shake. "Guys.. Be ready…" Cyborg yelled over his shoulder.
Meliah had managed to whisper "When" When no answer came, she turned to the screen "WHEN!" "Over a week ago" Batman answered. Cyborg noticed her eyes and the effect they had. As tears were running down her cheeks, her eyes crystallized as if draining of all color.
She started to fight her way out of Cyborg's tight embrace but as that didn't work, she turned into a cheetah, growling with bared teeth inches from his face. He let her go only to yell "NOW!" and managed to grab her again, but she scratched the skin of his arms then big green hairy arms of gorilla grabbed her and with mighty strength, pushed her into the chamber, slamming the console on his way in. The doors closed behind the two changelings.
"NOOO BEAST BOY!" Raven yelled. Then turned to the screen with glowing red eyes and yelled, at the Dark Knight "COULDN'T YOU HAVE A LITTLE MORE TACT? YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST SHOW HER PICTURES OF THE CRIME SCENE!" She said and started to summon her dark magic but nothing happened.
Again, she chanted her mantra and tried to open a portal to phase thru the thick door but found no way in, when she turned to Cyborg, her eyes still glowing red, he said "Sorry Rae, remember I designed the chamber to protect you. It counteracts Trigon's powers" He said in a haste.
She landed in front of the doors, her eyes no longer glowing. She could hear the bangs and thuds on the other side. Then turned to Cyborg "What have we done?" she asked in a whisper as tears run down her cheeks.
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Thank you for the few of you that have given me your support and encouraging words along this story. I'm enjoying myself writting it and I hope you're enjoying yourselves as much while reading it. please review.