Chapter 31. Kisses
A dark portal opened and closed to reveal a cloaked figure a few feet away from the closed door. She exhaled in relief when she took notice of her surroundings when a sudden spark lit up a few scattered candles in the room and brought a soft, dim light.
She turned around and acknowledged her company before heading to the bookcase built in the wall, trying to ignore the smirks and smiles that met her.
"I was wrong, four eyes was more than capable of handling the situation" taunted Brave, leaning against the wall by the window suddenly very interested in what seemed to be a magazine of sorts when Knowledge glanced at her.
"So much for Blue's concern of you needing help, you had everything planned, didn't you? Down to the disguise detail." taunted Rage, arms crossed over her chest.
"A mere necessity in light of the situation as I didn't want anyone, specially him, to recognize me. Garfield has seen us before in Nevermore but I cannot imagine his reaction if he sees us in the real world"
Loved looked up and beamed at hearing his name "We are allowed to call him by his real name?"
"Yes. He wishes us to do so and even claimed that coming from us would be… special. I cannot fathom why would he consider it special if he's been called by his real name before. A lot recently, in fact." Knowledge shook her head a bit then resumed her search.
Love smiled at her in endearment at how clueless her sister emotion was. Rage only shook her head in annoyance.
"Look, whatever you did earlier, you might want to consider doing it again. It regenerated our powers and gave us enough strength to perform the spell. Blue said you might need help so that's why we're here…" said Brave putting down what she was reading and walked towards Knowledge who had turned to them upon realization of her words.
"You know, you might find what you're looking for if you put your glasses back on" Brave said in a matter of fact tone while she looked up at the bookcase, also in search for the book.
Knowledge touched her face then around the belt on her waist. "hmmm, I must have dropped them"
"What if someone finds them?" asked Timid speaking for the first time.
"Maybe no one will notice them… maybe…" Brave was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"There goes your pool of probabilities" said Knowledge then turn to the rest "quickly, hide. We do not have time for this"
Another knock filled the room "Raven?… can I come in?" Garfield called from the other side but got no answer. He took another look at the oversized glasses in his hands and took a deep breath.
"I know you're not Raven. You came from Nevermore and I need to know what's going on. I need to know if Raven is ok"
"You have to let him in, he has a right to find out" said Love with concern and hope in her voice.
"He knows is you, he might as well find out about everyone else. Besides, he helped before, we are going to need his help again" said Rage, frowning at her own words.
"Very well .We just need to make sure not to startled him. Seeing us all together might be a shock to him… specially you Red." the smirk on Rage's expression was not reassuring but Knowledge was glad she did complied.
When the door opened, Garfield peaked in, cautiously, not sure what he would find and almost jumped out of his skin when a familiar voice invited him in.
The room was dark with a single candle in the far corner. It took him a few seconds for his sight to get used to the dim light when another candle sparked to life. The room a bit more visible, still creepy and eerie, but there, to his left was the Raven he saw a few minutes ago.
"Forgive my earlier deceit Garfield, I was not expecting an encounter so soon." said Knowledge in an almost unemotional tone like her mistress.
"Um… its ok … wait, if you're one of Raven's emotions, which one are you? And why are you here… outside her head" he said moving his arms around to express his distress. that's when she noticed her glasses on his hand and with a wave of her hand, the glasses were encased in her dark energy, pulled from his grip and landed on her hand. When she put them back on, she answered.
"I represent Raven's knowledge. Everything she has read and learned about in her lifetime. Everything she knows"
"But we call her four eyes for obvious reasons" came another familiar voice. He looked around in surprise when he noticed the curtains moving. But after squinting his eyes he noticed all three cloaked figures in different shades approaching. But the one that made him tense up the most, was the one who's glowing red eyes could be seen under the hood.
"Please Garfield, do not be alarmed, there is valid explanation for our presence" Knowledge said and with a wave of her hand, several more candles came to life, brightening the room, revealing the colors of their cloaks.
The one in dark green, whom he remembered as Brave, approached him first with a "What's up Garfield?!" and a punch on his shoulder.
"Hello Garfield, remember me?" said the one in purple, smiling sweetly at him. He felt more at ease and smiled back. And for a split moment forgot why he was in Raven's room.
"Is my understanding correct? You two have met before." said Knowledge looking from one to the other in curiosity.
"Briefly" answered Love without looking away from him.
"Which emotion are you?" Garfield asked after a moment.
"She's Love and I'm sure you remember Rage…" she said with a nod on her direction "I'm sorry to cut the introductions short, but may I remind all of you, we have a pressing matter to take care of"
"Pressing matter? You mean Raven is in danger?" Garfield asked, his attention back to reality.
"In a way, yes. Her unconscious state provided leverage to her insecurities, making them the dominant emotions at the moment and now they're threatening to overrule her control over the rest of us"
"Insecurities? You mean like, she's sad or something"
"Raven is depressed" Said Love with a worried expression.
"Thanks to that creature and ymm…" Rage was interrupted when a stripe of dark energy prevented her from keep talking that Brave cast her way. Rage only glared and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Sadness and Depression are destroying everything. They destroyed Happy's domain…" continued Brave once she was satisfied rage was not able to speak.
"And we're not sure what happened to Happy" Love said.
"So… Raven is depressed because of me?" His ears drooping, feeling guiltier by the moment.
"We are not here to point fingers Garfield, we are here to find a solution"
"Then let me help… I'll do anything for Raven… but how?"
"our earlier encounter provided a way. That's the reason they are here… the extra jolt of energy gave them the strength to perform the spell. But we must hurry. Right now we are as real as the real Raven, but we cannot remain much longer for it would damage her psyche irreparably"
" So how are we getting the extra jolt of energy?" Garfield asked, scratching his head not exactly sure what he did before.
"You must do the same thing you did earlier… you must kiss every single one of them"
Garfield made a double take after Knowledge spoke. On seeing his uneasiness, Love spoke in a whisper "You have no idea the power your touch holds"
"That's it?… a kiss?" he asked incredulous.
"Not just any kiss… it must be with the same sentiment as before" corrected Knowledge.
"Pucker up Beasty Boo, I'm first…" Said Brave smacking her lips.
"Wait, is not that simple, we need to have the portal ready… Love, get the mirror from the drawer, Red , here is the book, find the title to the spell I showed you guys earlier and get what we need… Timid and I…" She stopped to look around and the others did the same "Where is Timid?"
…
…
Back at the med bay, Cyborg was still going over the readings of the monitors, trying to find the cause for Meliah's sudden near awakening when out of the corner of his eye, saw something move just behind the console.
"Alright B, I thought I told you to…" He walked around the console but found nothing. He shrugged to himself and walked back to his seat when he thought he saw traces of dark energy disappear. He got up and turned his right arm into a sonic cannon and slowly walked around the room looking for anything out of the ordinary when someone knocked the clipboard off the console where he had been sitting earlier.
"Who's there!" he called out but no one answer, so very slowly, he walked back to the console, cannon ready and when he saw no one there, without looking down, he picked up the clipboard and straighten up, when he did, saw a gray figure, looming behind the monitors that were attached to Raven's body "You there!. You have exactly five seconds before I…"
"It…Its me Cyborg…" he was sure he heard Raven's voice but how can it be, he thought while he looked from the figure to the bed where Raven was still unconscious. He shook his head and got his cannon ready "Ok, time's up!" he said over the humming noise it made, making him seem all the more threatening.
"Wait Cyborg… its me…" the voice said and cautiously got out of her hiding place and removed the hood of her cloak and showed a perfect replica of Raven except her cloak was light grey and her expression was almost of fear.
"Raven?…" he said, glancing once more to the bed, then back to the Raven in front of him. "Wait, you're not Raven… Timid? … the one from Nevermore?… the one from Raven's mind?" Timid nodded after every question. Cyborg finally put away his cannon, then scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"if you're from Raven's mind… what are you doing here?… wait… is it you the grass stain was babbling about earlier?" he asked while he raised his eyebrow. She shook her head while blushing profusely "No… that was… that was Knowledge… Garfield caught her by surprise"
"Garfield huh?" he said with a sly smile.
"Yes, he…um… he said we could… call him that" she said not being able to hide her blush before putting the hood of her cloak back over her head.
"Ok but, that doesn't explain what are you doing here"
"I want to help… with her." she said nodding towards Meliah.
"Really? Why?… I thought you didn't like her"
"Only because… she's been… taking him away…we don't like that"
"I see… well, we can use all the help we can get. She's still in semi critical condition.
Timid walked carefully to Meliah's bed and extended her hands where the wound was when out of nowhere "What do you think you're doing!" came the angry voice of Rage. Cyborg was taken aback at the sight of four glowing red eyes and the not so friendly smile she sent his way.
"I… I'm trying to help her, just like Garfield asked" Timid said while Cyborg got his cannon ready, aiming at the girl in red.
"Put that away you fool!, Trigon doesn't control me anymore…" her eyes glowed brighter and Meliah's heart monitor started to beep faster. Cyborg put away his cannon and run to the console.
"Man, ,we gotta do something, at this rate, she'll burn the sedatives and pain killers… Rae if you're gonna do something, do it now or we'll loose her"
Timid's hands were encased en healing energy and hovered over the wound. "You're a fool… this creature is the cause of the mess we're in and you still want to save her"
"She's not the cause of our mental dysfunction but our insecurities. She only did what was in her nature and in doing so, she also helped rescue us from Slade…" Said Knowledge out of a portal followed by the other emotions and Garfield. "Now, do hurry, we don't have much time".
Cyborg made a double take on the new comers but said nothing until he got close enough to Garfield "Yo man, what's going on"
"I'll tell you later tin man, they're running out of time" said Garfield approaching Meliah's bed and smiled at Timid who was blushing and trying not to look at him in the eyes. "Hi Garfield" was all she said.
Brave came next to her and extended her hands over Meliah's body in the same way. The wounds were closing in and scars on her torso, disappearing. "Go ahead four eyes, get everything ready, I'll help over here in the main time… Hey Cy, what's up!" Cyborg was at a loss of words and just answered with a peace sign.
Meliah woke up with a start and the surprise she got when not only one, but two Ravens hovered over her. She sat down, not being able to take her eyes off them.
"Its ok M, these are Raven's emotions… the one in green is Brave and the other one is Timid. They finish healing your wounds" said Garfield while they waved at her.
"Her emotions? Where is Raven?" Meliah said, finally looking at him. He nodded towards the other side of the room. When Meliah turned, saw the oddest thing. Not only an unconscious Raven laying on the bed, but another standing next to her, removing her blue cloak and retrieving another one in bright yellow from under the pillows and had huge round rim glasses perched on her nose who nodded at her once.
"Garfield, its time" the one in yellow said.
"Time for what?" asked Meliah.
"You'll see" Garfield said when a sudden breeze and a red and yellow blur made a screeching stop next to him. "Whoa! What happened?" Kid Flash said looking around at the many Ravens gathered in the room. Then stopped to look at Meliah and smiled while she smiled back.
All the visiting emotions gathered around Raven's bed. Knowledge placed the mirror facing up on Raven's chest. Grabbed Garfield's hand and asked the other ones to grab each other's hand and Raven's. after chanting the spell , the mirror started to glow in dark energy, encasing Raven's body as well.
Brave was to go first being the one that had the skill to fight against the shadows. He whispered in her ear the things he loved about her character and gave her a kiss. She smiled and soon disappeared in the dark cocoon.
Timid was next. And while hiding inside the hood of her cloak, he could tell she was blushing. "You don't have to be shy with me" he whispered, she smiled and even dared to kiss him first then disappeared in the dark energy.
Love came next. With an adoring smile and a twinkle In her eyes. Garfield grabbed her hands, kissed each one and whispered in her ear how much he loved that smile. She smiled even more and gave him a soft kiss on the lips then disappeared as well.
Knowledge came forward and before he said anything she stopped him while placing a hand on his chest. "I already had my turn but I wanted to thank you for your understanding in this dilemma"
"What's going to happen after all of you go back? Will raven come back?"
"After we take care of what we must in Nevermore, Raven will resume her healing trance and wake up in a few hours"
"will she… remember all this?"
"eventually… perhaps while she speaks with you, in the main time, Red has a few questions of her own… goodbye Garfield" and with that, disappeared just as the others had.
Rage approached him in a way that made him swallow hard, but her demeanor seemed calmer, at least her glowing eyes had toned down considerably and the extra set was gone. She quickly scanned their surroundings and saw he expectations who had remained silent all the while. She pushed them a bit farther against the wall.
"Do you still mean what you said before about me? The dark and angry side of Raven?" she whispered trying to have some privacy.
"Every word" he said without hesitation and for the first time her smile changed from the murderous, evil one to a more sincere and without anymore to say, she pulled him to her for a somewhat chaste kiss, because even the evil Rage could not let an opportunity like that pass, and then disappeared into the cocoon of dark energy that dissipated seconds later.
He watched Raven for a change. A sign that all that he had just done, had been worth it but for the first few minutes… nothing. As time went by and the clock marked the levels of his anxiety, he paced along the room next to her bed until a flicker of hope made its appearance.