For those of you who have read a few of my other things... I know! This is NOT a RobStar fic! Gasp! Kyd Wykkyd/Raven. Wykken. That's their ship name, right? I like it, so it is now. This fic kinda skips around with time. I left it ambiguous on purpose. The amount of time that happens in the page breaks is inconsequential. This could all happen in one day or over a month, and I kinda like that.

Raven sighed. Her head was killing her. More tea, maybe? She couldn't be addicted to the stuff. She never put caffeine in it.

"-and Robin said it was normal for the boyfriend and girlfriend to apply use of the tongue during prolonged lip contact, but I am nervous as my tongue is different than a human's. It is purple and greater in length and flexibility-"

Ew. Not that Raven was grossed out by Starfire's tongue. She was a mature young woman. Besides, she'd already seen it countless times when she looked at Starfire's throat for a medical examination. But she didn't want to imagine Starfire's tongue and Robin's tongue and what they might be doing in the same sentence or... general area.

"Robin loves you for who you are, Star." It was Raven's generic answer for many of Starfire's relationship questions. It was the easy way out, but at least it was true. "Giant purple tongue included."

Starfire made a distressed sound, and Raven glanced away from her carefully painted toenails to look at her friend. The alien was sticking her tongue out and looking at it, going slightly cross-eyed. "Ib bis mot biant." She withdrew her tongue and blew on her fingernails to dry the hot-pink polish. Tilting her head, she stuck her tongue out again and studied it with a furrowed brow before frowning. "It is merely long, and prehensile. It is about the same in width."

"I wouldn't worry about it much. I'm sure that when you move past... lip contact and onto other amorous activities, you'll find that he appreciates it," Raven assured her dryly. She separated her third and fourth toes so they wouldn't touch when she painted them.

Starfire furrowed her brow, confused, but not long after her initial confusion she blushed and coughed a little. "Truthfully, I had not considered that."

The empath smirked. She got a sort of malicious glee out of making Starfire uncomfortable. The alien was so uninhibited about the topic of conversation and even signs of affection, like hugs or friendly pokes in the side, that Raven often tried to push her buttons in more subtle ways. She couldn't let her flounder for long, though.

"Don't worry about it, Star. Things between you two will work out. Robin's smart enough to know that you're a great find, so he won't be screwing that up any time soon. As long as you communicate, you shouldn't worry."

"Yes. You are correct. Communicate," Starfire repeated under her breath as though she was committing a great wisdom to memory.

"Yeah. Want me to get your right hand?"

Starfire nodded and stretched out her arm, fingers spread apart so that it would be easier for Raven to get them. Raven levitated Starfire's hot-pink polish, encapsulating it in black energy, and unscrewed the cap.

"Do you not wish to do the gossiping of boys?" Starfire asked as Raven gently stroked the brush over her thumbnail.

"Uh..." Raven muttered. "I'm not really interested in anyone right now. Doesn't make for interesting gossip."

"What about Beast Boy?"

Raven sighed. Starfire seemed intent on playing matchmaker for the two unmatched members of the team. Not that Raven saw what she and Beast Boy could possibly have in common. Yeah, maybe after that whole Malchior thing she thought... maybe they had a connection... or some chemistry... Although at the time, he was hung up on Terra and she was hung up on Malchior. She wanted to wait.

Then Trigon attacked and Raven just didn't have time to think about relationships. Not long after that, the Brotherhood of Evil attacked, and even if Raven was emotionally ready for something to happen, Beast Boy certainly wasn't. By the time all that was wrapped up, the opportunity seemed to have passed.

Besides, after the way Beast Boy acted in Tokyo, chasing whatever pretty girl happened to cross his path, Raven was second-guessing her own feelings. She would admit, grudgingly, that she may have harbored a small crush on Beast Boy. But that was then. Things had settled down since then.

"No, Starfire. I'm not interested in Beast Boy."

The alien princess seemed to deflate and get a little sulky. "You are not even interested in Aqualad?"

Raven smirked. "There's a difference between appreciating someone's looks and wanting a relationship with them. You should know that, anyway. I recall you gushing to a certain spiky haired idiot about whether or not Aqualad had a girlfriend. Did you really want to be Aqualad's girlfriend, Starfire?"

Starfire shifted her hand so Raven could get to her other fingers easily. "That was different. I was actively attempting to make Robin jealous. Besides, I could not see myself rejecting Aqualad if he had asked me to be the girlfriend."

"Oh, man. I kind of wish that happened. I would have loved to see the look on Robin's-"

A sharp pain shot through Raven's stomach and she made a strangled noise that resembled a hiccup. She released her telekinetic hold on the nail polish and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Raven?" Starfire called, concerned.

She glanced up at Starfire, the pain gone as suddenly as it appeared. She panted a little, pressing her fingers gingerly against her stomach but meeting no pain. "Um, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry."

Starfire glanced down at her hand, which was covered in nail polish. So was her skirt, the bit of her leg that showed between her boot and skirt, and a fair amount of her duvet. The bottle was cracked down the middle, lying innocently among the hardening lacquer.

"I am not concerned about the mess. Are you the okay?" Starfire demanded, peering at Raven anxiously.

Raven flipped her hood up. "Fine. I don't know what came over me." Raven used her powers to scoop up the cracked bottle and tossed it in the garbage. "I'll buy you a new comforter when we go to the mall. You can get whatever obscenely bright color you want, my treat."

"Please do not worry about-"

"I'm going to my room. I'll be out before dinner, okay? See you then."

"But..." Starfire protested weakly as Raven levitated out her door.

Raven opened her doors with her powers and hovered in front of her bookshelf. With her powers, she selected a book on Azarathian treatments for various ailments and flipped to the section about symptoms with her powers. She found stomach pains, but they were all described as either crampy pains or nausea. Nothing about the sharp pain she'd experienced.

She selected another, this one a normal medical journal. This book indicated that it was probably something she ate. Which, to be fair, was very possible. Living with three boys and an alien with questionable preferences when it came to her diet, Raven had lost her sensitivity to food that was maybe a few days past its expiration date.

But something told her it was more than that. With her powers, she selected a book on demonology. It slid forward slowly, and Raven hesitated. She was making a big deal out of nothing. It was just a stomach ache, and it was gone now. If it came back, she'd look into it. There was no use freaking herself out over nothing. She slid the book back into place, where it stood innocently among the others.

She struck a match, her hands shaking slightly, and levitated the match to touch the wicks of the five candles in her room. She assumed the lotus position and levitated in the middle of her pentagram that she always kept on the floor, her cloak draping across the floor. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she chanted.

…

Raven leaned back on the couch. Beast Boy was jamming on the controls trying to make a monkey smash its way through what appeared to be a maze, only with rolling barrels that the character needed to jump over, bananas that it might slip on, and for some reason, the monkey had a gun slung around its waist. Raven would never understand video games.

She was trying to keep her eyes on her book, but Beast Boy was making a spectacle of himself, leaning all the way over as he turned the character, pounding the buttons furiously (and loudly), and even jumping up on his feet for better leverage.

Raven peeked over the top of her book. "I really don't understand how you're so into that thing."

"Huh?" Beast Boy asked distractedly.

"Video games. Don't you get enough fighting in your life? You can fly. I can't imagine how you could fly over the city and not even blink, but you drool over video games."

Beast Boy didn't answer right away. He made his monkey shoot its gun at attacking gorillas, jump over a few bananas, and reach a red flag that marked the end of the level. He jumped up and twirled around happily. "Woooooo! Didja see that, Rae? I just beat Cyborg's best time!"

Raven frowned. "Congratulations," she said sarcastically.

"Video games are awesome. You can't shoot stuff in real life."

She lowered her book. "That's true, but I don't get why you want to shoot stuff."

"Because! They're evil. They're trying to stop you from rescuing the princess." Beast Boy was looking at her like she was missing something very obvious.

"Nothing is truly evil, except for Trigon and the demon that spawned him. Everyone has a backstory," Raven recited. It was one of the lessons the monks of Aazarath taught her.

"Um. Okay. You're overthinking it." Beast Boy sat down again and picked up his controller. "These are evil gorillas. They're totally gonna kill the princess unless you get to her first."

"And killing is the only way to do that?" She knew she was being stubborn, but it was a lighthearted conversation and if it helped Beast Boy finally understand that no matter how many times he morphed into a kitten she would not play video games with him when Cyborg and Robin were busy, then it was worth the silly banter.

Beast Boy started jamming on the controls again. "Well, this monkey can't shape shift or move stuff with his mind, so yeah."

That wasn't a bad point, actually. "So... there's a princess in this game?"

"Yep. And she's hot, for a monkey-girl."

Raven sighed. Of course she was. This was a game whose base market was teenage boys. There had to be sex appeal somewhere.

Shooting pain reached up her stomach and she gasped. Beast Boy was so absorbed in his game that he didn't notice. Raven gritted her teeth and waited for the pain to pass. It stayed longer than it had last time. She squeezed her hand into a fist and pressed it against her gut to try to stop the pain. It wasn't working.

"Aw yeah! Eat bullets, you ugly gingers!" Beast Boy shouted as he shot at a group of orangutans on the screen.

Raven tried to cut through the pain by repeating her usual mantra, but she couldn't focus. Between the pain and Beast Boy's shouting and the sound effects of the game, she couldn't break through.

A beam of energy shot out of the gem on her forehead and smashed into the TV.

Beast Boy shouted and dove under the couch, shape shifting into a mouse to fit better.

Raven panted. The pain was still there but the adrenaline from the release of power was helping a little. The TV had a huge crack in it, the screen spiderwebbing splintered glass across the entire frame. "Azar," she muttered.

Beast Boy stuck his nose out of the couch and twitched it, before crawling out entirely and shifting back to his human form. "What gives? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Raven put her feet firmly on the ground and rocked her weight forward, standing gingerly.

"Are you sure? You can hardly stand." Beast Boy reached out to offer her support, but she batted his hand away.

"Don't!" Raven shouted. Beast Boy dropped his arm and held his palms out submissively. "I mean, I'm okay. Just gotta sleep. Sorry about the TV and your game."

"Don't be... Wait, the game?" He kneeled next to the console and pressed the eject button.

Raven whirled around and made for the door, knowing what Beast Boy would find.

"Nooooooooo!" she heard him wail as the doors slid shut behind her. She could picture him holding the two halves of his game in each hand, tilting his head up toward the heavens dramatically. She shook her head to herself, immediately regretting it as pain filled her head.

She entered her room and lit the candles by hand, not trusting her powers with the flame. She crossed her legs and sat on the floor, too distracted to meditate properly and hover. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

As she meditated, the pain went away. She could think clearly. She eyed her book on demonology and swallowed. "Azar protect me," she muttered.

…

Raven grunted as she landed flat on her back. She winced as her elbow hit the ground. Robin stood over her, frowning. "Come on, Raven. I'm hardly even trying."

"I'd hope not," Raven snapped back. "That would be kind of an unfair fight." She levitated herself so that she was standing in front of him.

"Villains aren't going to care if it's an unfair fight."

"I would be using my powers against villains so it wouldn't matter much, would it?" Raven demanded.

"Don't be difficult," Robin admonished. "I can't help you practice your defense if you're using your powers."

"Shields?"

"You have to have a good defense under the shields, though. Try again. Don't dodge or duck. Just block." Robin sank into an offensive stance.

Raven sighed and pulled her arms close to her chest, ready to block him. "All right, let's go," she grumbled.

Robin started out a little slowly, swinging punches at her torso that were easy to block. He swept a foot under her ankles and she jumped over it. He sank a punch into her stomach. He was pulling his punches, but it still kind of hurt.

"Okay, okay, that's enough."

Robin stepped back. "You have to practice at least a little."

"I know that. I don't feel like it right now."

"That doesn't really matter. We have to stick to a routine."

"Right, like you've been sticking to a routine," Raven scoffed.

Robin crossed his arms over his chest and lowered an eyebrow at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Like you and Starfire are sticking to a routine," Raven clarified moodily.

He turned a satisfying shade of red. "We spar twice a week like I spar with everybody else."

"You mean you start out sparring. You end up doing... other things."

He went red. "That was once. Um, twice. She told you about that?"

Whoops. She didn't want to get Starfire in trouble. "I can tell anyway."

"I thought you didn't read our emotions."

"I try not to, but Azar, Robin, when you two are in a room alone... 'sparring', it's hard for me not to get hit with all that emotion. I put up a block as soon as I realized, if it makes you feel any better."

He sighed. "Okay, my own personal stuff aside, you need practice. I'm sorry that you're not feeling up to it, but we can't just not do it. Just give it ten more minutes, alright?"

She glared at him. "Fine."

"Good. Let's go." He dropped back into an offensive stance.

Raven swallowed. She raised her arms again and dutifully blocked his attacks. After a few minutes of a mediocre performance on her part, the now-familiar pain filled her stomach.

"Ah, Robin, wait..."

"Come on, you're doing well. A few more minutes." He swept his ankle under her feet again and she fell forward, one hand out to break her fall and the other clutching her stomach. Robin's eyes widened, concerned. "Shit. Are you okay?"

She turned to look at him, and she could feel her eyes blazing. "Next time I tell you I want to stop, let me stop. Stubborn idiot." Her voice had a deep quality to it.

Robin stared at her, frozen. "Raven?"

She gasped, whatever strange energy rushing out of her eyes and back into her stomach, filling her with pain like broken glass. "Ah... Robin, I'm sorry. M-my stomach..."

He crouched down next to her. "Here, come on. Take my hand." She did and he helped her to her feet. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Nothing he could prevent, she knew. "I just need to meditate." It wasn't a lie. Meditating would help. Maybe a trip to another dimension for supplies.

Robin looked at her doubtfully. "Raven, if something's wrong, you need to tell me."

"I can handle it." She took her hand out of his grasp, straightening out in spite of the pain and giving him a defiant look.

"Fine. But if I don't see you acting normal- reading a book on the couch, painting your nails with Star, making fun of Beast Boy- by the end of the day, you're getting help."

"Fine," she answered levelly. She wasn't concerned; her pained spells only lasted for a few intense minutes.

She walked calmly for the door and waited for it to close behind her before hunching over so far she was almost resting her head on her knees. She hobbled back to her room and didn't bother with the candles. She groped at her bookshelf manually, her powers out of her reach, and knocked down a few books in the process. She lifted the heavy demonology grimoire and dragged it over to her bed. She wrapped her duvet around her and kneeled as she clutched her stomach.

She flipped to the demonic ailments section. It was all about how demons might try to possess regular mortals. Not helpful. She flipped to the index and read, hoping to find a word that would inspire her or give her a clue as to what was going on with her, starting with Azarath, pg. 194 and skimming the words until she got to Zinthos, pg. 362. She took a deep breath and tried again. Her eyes caught on the word exorcise, pg. 923.

She flipped to the page. She'd never read the section on exorcism before. Exorcists scared her. If anyone tried to exorcise Trigon's soul from her body, she'd die. If the incensed soul of Trigon didn't kill the exorcist first.

Reading helped take her mind off the pain, which was slowly fading. Some of the methods priests used to exorcise demons from the body were harmful to the innocent victim, and many of them died. Many died because they were half-breeds, demon spawn like herself. She was reading one account of a priest who exorcised one young girl. He'd written down her symptoms of possession. Among silly things like 'refuses to attend mass' and 'can only say the Lord's Prayer backward', Raven found 'shooting stomach pain'. She swallowed nervously.

Demon possessions did happen occasionally. Nothing as drastic as what horror movies usually displayed, but it happened. Lesser demons moved from host to host, like a germ. It was how they traveled around. They weren't strong enough in this dimension to move without a host. The subject of their possession might feel sick for a few days before moving on as though nothing had ever happened.

The affliction grew worse as the demon grew in power. A demon as powerful as Trigon couldn't possess a human. He was his own entity. However, a lesser demon that possessed Raven could feed off Trigon's energy in her, growing more and more powerful while leeching her of her power. She wasn't sure if the leeching would result in physical pain, and she tried to remember Azar's lessons in the occult.

An exorcism wouldn't cut it. She would need to purge the demon from her soul with intense meditation and herbal remedies, using Trigon's power to fight it off. If she was possessed… which she probably wasn't… she would need supplies. Herbs and potions. That would require inter-dimensional travel. She was in no state for doing that now.

Forcing herself to be calm, she struck a match and lit all five of the candles in her pentagram. She shook the match out and sat in the middle, crossing her legs and closing her eyes. "Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…" Saying the words slowly forced her even further into her calm. Everything was fine. She was fine. Everything was okay.

…

Raven studied her collection. Iron, silver powder, salt, sage, bronze. A wide assortment of home remedies that would do nothing against a demon like Trigon, but could vanquish a lesser demon swiftly. Not that Raven was possessed.

There was a knock on her door. "Rae? Our shift for patrol."

She sighed. She'd forgotten that it was her turn to patrol with Cyborg. Robin liked to send them off in pairs, sometimes going off for patrol by himself but never letting the rest of the team go solo. To his credit, he hadn't put himself on patrol with Starfire since they started dating.

"Yeah, okay. I'm coming." She levitated over to the door and joined Cyborg in the hall.

"Your room smells good, Rae! Whatcha cookin'?"

She smiled at her friend. "It's sage."

"What for?"

She shrugged, which her friends knew was more of an 'I don't want to talk about it than an 'I don't know.'

"Alright, alright. T-car?" Cyborg asked hopefully.

"Sounds good," Raven answered.

She liked patrolling with Cyborg. Patrolling with Robin was no fun at all. With Beast Boy it was okay. He couldn't talk while in animal form, and if they were actually working it got kind of quiet. Which she didn't mind; it was just uninteresting. She used to like patrolling with Starfire best, but since she started dating Robin she took the patrols much more seriously.

Cyborg liked to hit a drive-thru fast food place and get milkshakes, then hang out in the T-car with the music on. Even though Raven didn't like Cyborg's music much, she liked spending time with him. Adorably, he'd ask her how Robin and Starfire were getting along. He was so protective of naïve, trusting Starfire that even Robin wasn't safe from his suspicion.

Milkshakes in hand- strawberry for Cyborg and vanilla for Raven- Cyborg rolled through the streets slowly.

"You been feelin' okay since the whole TV blowin' up fiasco?" He asked conversationally.

"Fine," she answered quickly.

Cyborg gave her a worried look but she fixed her gaze on the windshield ahead of them. "Okay. I was just askin'."

She offered an apologetic smile. "I know. Sorry. I hate it when I break things with my powers."

"Aw, it's okay. We don't blame you."

"I know. Thanks. Beast Boy was pretty upset."

"Nah, he was okay with it. We got the new Gamestation 4 to replace the old one."

The police radio scanner beeped between their seats. "Control Freak at Game Center on 4th Street and West Avenue."

"Aw," Cyborg grumbled. "Better finish your milkshake quick." He picked up a microphone attached to the scanner. "Don't worry, coppers. Titans got it."

The voice on the scanner redirected police attention to another situation and Robin's voice came through the speakers. "You guys got this?"

"Chill, dude. Go back to kissin' your girlfriend." Cyborg smirked conspiratorially at Raven.

There was a pause as Robin battled with himself as to whether or not he should answer that. He let out a frustrated sigh. "I wasn't-"

"Yeah, yeah. Later."

If Robin answered that, his voice was lost under the roar of the engine as Cyborg pressed his foot against the gas.

Raven put her hands on the dashboard to steady herself. "You should probably put lights on this thing."

She could see Cyborg grin excitedly. "That's an awesome idea!"

They pulled up to the video game store and Raven levitated into it as Cyborg locked up the T-car. The store was in various states of disarray, with little candy monsters scuttling around.

"Look. Massive Effect 3 totally ruined the series. You can't sell it for more than M.E. 1 and 2!" Control Freak shouted at the guy behind the counter.

"Dude, it's still a new game, so the value is higher. It's economics. Besides, Gameware released free DLC that totally fixed the ending."

"Yeah, but the downloadable content doesn't come with the game. I deserve to be compensated!"

"I don't know what to tell you, man."

Control Freak crossed his arms sulkily. "Throw in Porthole 2 for free!"

"Don't you do anything other than play video games?" Raven deadpanned.

"Titans!" Control Freak shouted as he whirled around.

"Just us," Cyborg answered as he joined Raven.

"Fine. Then my job is twice as easy." Control Freak brandished a thick remote control at them. "Attack them, my sugary minions!"

A wave of miniature candy threw itself at them. Raven threw up a shield, but the candies knocked Cyborg on his back.

"Not again! Y'all made me sick last time. But I guess it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." He scooped up the candies and shoved them into his mouth.

"Enough." Raven closed a circle of black energy around his remote, smashing it.

The pieces clattered to the floor and Control Freak frowned. "Uh. Can I buy you a copy of Massive Effect 3? Totally on me."

Raven glared at him. "Not even-" She was cut off by a stabbing pain in her stomach. She fell to her knees and clutched her stomach with both hands. Cyborg snapped handcuffs over Control Freak's hands.

"Good job, Raven. Whadda ya say we drop Freak off at the police department and-" He stopped when he saw her kneeling on the ground, her face screwed up in pain. "Raven?"

"Cyborg," she grunted. "You need to get me back to the Tower."

"What's a matter?"

"I'm being possessed."

At this point, Raven was squeezing her eyes closed and gritting her teeth to compensate for the pain, so she didn't see the expression on his face. She imagined it was something similar to the time he went on a date with Bumblebee and Jinx showed up, jealous and angry. "P-possessed?"

"Yeah. I need to get to my pentagram- agh..."

"Raven? Raven!" Cyborg shook her shoulder, but she didn't stir. "Dammit," he mumbled. He picked her up bridal style and arranged her in the passenger seat of the T-car. He drove back to the Tower after sending a message to the police to pick up Control Freak at the video game store.

Carrying Raven gingerly, Cyborg took the elevator to the ops room. Robin and Beast Boy were playing Mega Monkeys while Starfire watched.

"Hey, y'all, we got a issue," Cyborg announced.

Starfire was the first to react, gasping loudly when she saw Raven. "What has happened?" she demanded anxiously, taking Raven from Cyborg and shaking her by the shoulders.

"Easy, don't shake 'er! She says she's possessed."

"Possessed?" Robin echoed, concerned.

"She says we gotta put 'er in 'er pentagram," Cyborg relayed.

"Let us make with the haste!" Starfire rocketed toward Raven's room and the boys hurried to join her.

When they entered Raven's room, Starfire was attempting to sit her up. She lolled lifelessly in Starfire's arms. The alien kept making concerned and frustrated clucking noises.

"What now?" Robin asked Cyborg, who threw his arms up in a shrug.

"Maybe we should light the candles," Beast Boy suggested.

Starfire perked up and fired five starbolts at the wicks of the candles, where they caught fire in a burst of green before fading to orange.

The four Titans looked on anxiously. "Okay? She's fixed now?" Beast Boy asked, approaching Raven carefully. He lifted her eyelid, revealing a blank, red eye. He shouted and dove behind Cyborg, frightened. "Not fixed! Not fixed!"

Robin crossed over to her bed and picked up her book. He flipped a few pages and he studied the runes for a moment. "I can't understand this."

Cyborg took the book from him and scanned the pages with a beam of red light from his arm. "It doesn't look like any of the ancient languages I have stored in my database."

Starfire hovered behind the boys. "Perhaps if I was to engage in lip contact with Raven, I would be able to decipher the writing? Although as she is unconscious, I do not know how successful the language transfer would be."

Robin looked at her over his shoulder. "Um, why don't we see if we can't-"

"Try it, Star! Try it!" Beast Boy urged excitedly.

Robin glared at Beast Boy and caught Starfire by the wrist as she started moving in Raven's direction. "Wait."

"Dude!" Beast Boy groaned.

"I think we know someone who can read this. Without lip contact. Give me five minutes." Robin disappeared out Raven's door.

…

Not much longer than five minutes later, Robin reappeared in Raven's room, dragging Kyd Wykkyd by the collar.

"Okay," Robin said as he dumped the villain-in-training unceremoniously on the ground. "Here's the deal. Our friend is sick. You're going to help us cure her."

Kyd Wykkyd crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away.

"I know sign language," Robin offered.

Kyd Wykkyd signed something at Robin rapidly.

"There's no reason to be rude," Robin admonished, narrowing his eyes. "Star, Kyd Wykkyd's a little reluctant to help us. Can you help me think of a reason he should give us a hand?"

Starfire leaned forward so that she was eye level with Kyd Wykkyd and allowed her eyes and hands to glow, muttering in Tamaranean.

Kyd backed away from the incensed princess with his palms out, looking at Robin desperately. He curled his left hand into a few signs.

"That's what I thought. Thanks, Star." Robin plucked the demonology grimoire from Raven's bed. "We aren't sure what's wrong with her. But if you think we won't know if you did something, you have another thing coming." He shoved the heavy book into Kyd Wykkyd's chest.

The boys narrowed their eyes at each other and Kyd Wykkyd held the tome open to the page Robin was looking at before. He glanced from the runes on the page back to Raven.

He cleared the sand on the ground that formed Raven's usual pentagram and walked over to Raven's bookshelf. He took a crystal container of red sand off the shelf and removed the stopper before shaking the contents on the floor, replacing the previous sand pentagram.

The four Titans watched silently, a range of expressions from worry to suspicion on their faces.

Kyd Wykkyd took the sage from Raven's collection of anti-demon materials and held the herb over each of the flames, filling the room with its scent. He pocketed the salt and took a breath before stepping into the red pentagram.

In a slightly hoarse voice, he started chanting in a strange language, reading from the book in his arms.

"He talks?" Beast Boy demanded.

Robin shrugged.

As Kyd Wykkyd chanted, the inside of the pentagram started to change. The floor became rocky and cracked, the temperature rose considerably, and wind blew against him. But he didn't stop reading.

To the Titans, everything looked the same, except that Kyd Wykkyd sank to his knees, spine straight, book held firmly against his chest. Beast Boy stepped closer to put his hand on Kyd Wykkyd's shoulder, but the sand rose off the ground and lashed at his fingers.

"Ouch!" Beast Boy muttered, bringing his fingertips to his mouth to suck on them. "That hurt."

"I don't like this, man," Cyborg mumbled to Robin.

"I don't, either. But we don't have any options other than waiting it out." Robin crossed his arms and leaned back against the dark wall.

"Do not worry, friends, I have faith that the Kyd of Wykkyd will assist Raven in her current state."

"I hope so, Star," Cyborg murmured worriedly.

…

Kyd Wykkyd read the final line and the world inside the pentagram expanded, changing Raven's bedroom into a rocky wasteland all in grays and purples. He snapped the book shut. He nudged the empath gently with the toe of his boot, and she stirred gently.

"Azar, I feel like I-" She stopped as she looked around her. "Kyd Wykkyd?"

"I'm not here to fight," he said simply.

"You talk?" she demanded suspiciously.

He shrugged. "In this realm."

"Right." She paused. "What realm is that, exactly?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "We're in Pandemonium."

Raven widened her eyes at him. "I've never been to Pandemonium."

"Yet you're half demon." He leaned forward, inspecting her closely. "Aren't you?"

She pushed her hair away from her face, suddenly self-conscious. She was also stalling her answer a little. "Yes."

Kyd Wykkyd crossed his arms over his chest. "Lineage?"

"My father is Trigon," she answered, eyes downcast.

She could see him stiffen and he made a noise in his throat like he was choking. To her chagrin, he lowered himself onto one knee and bent his head low.

"What are you doing?" Raven hissed. "Get up!" She grabbed his arm and yanked him up to his feet.

Kyd Wykkyd drew his cape closed around himself. "Trigon's daughter…"

"Shut up. It's not like that. I don't want you… bowing in front of me." She sighed. "Azar."

"The lesser demon inside you should have been weakened by the first pentagram. We'll another," he explained, peering at Raven.

"Made of what? Sand?" Raven demanded. She didn't have any on her, and there was surprisingly little sand around her, considering the whole place seemed to be made of a solid sheet of rock. "Blood?" When he didn't answer, she added a sarcastic, "Black sharpie?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up a little. "Salt." He thrust the package he'd taken into her hand.

"You do it," she said, pressing the packet against his palm.

"Can't." He backed away, letting the packet drop to the ground between them.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why not?"

"I can't let the salt touch me," he answered calmly.

She snapped her mouth shut and took the packet of salt in her hands. She ripped it open. "I didn't know."

Kyd Wykkyd shrugged. Apparently, just because he was able to talk in Pandemonium didn't mean he was inclined to do so. Raven laid out the pentagram carefully. "My friends got you to help me, didn't they?"

He crossed his arms over his chest sulkily. "They didn't even say please."

Raven laughed at that. "Robin dragged you to the Tower by your collar, didn't he?"

"And then the alien threatened me."

"Starfire threatened you?"

"She spoke in her own language."

Raven smiled at the image. "They can be protective."

Kyd Wykkyd looked down at his feet. "I would have helped you, anyway. If I knew the problem was possession."

"We couldn't have known that. It's not like you've ever been friendly to us before," Raven pointed out as she formed the third tip of the pentagram.

"Demon possession is not to be taken lightly." He paused. "Especially not when the possessed is someone with your power."

Raven blushed at the utter reverence in his voice. "I have no ties to my father anymore. I vanquished him. With my friends."

Kyd Wykkyd let out a slow whistle. "I heard stories about Trigon the Terrible, the One True Evil, Destroyer of Dimensions, from my childhood. My father was most impressed with his ways."

"Yeah. He sounds like a great guy," Raven mumbled.

Kyd Wykkyd watched her quietly. She finished the pentagram and stood, letting the empty packet of salt drift to the ground. "Who was your father?"

"Prince Vassago of Hell." He looked to Raven to gauge her reaction. "My mother was a half-demon, like you. Not as powerful, obviously. She was just part succubus, although she was a granddaughter of Lilith."

"Huh. Do the eyes come from her?" Raven asked.

He blinked slowly. "The coloring? Possibly, although my father had red eyes, as well. Greater demons often do."

Raven should have known that. "Of course."

"There seems to be a lot about demons that you don't know," he pointed out quietly.

"I've spent my entire life rejecting my demon side. I was busy learning to repress my emotions since before I could feel them. I guess I was afraid that if I learned about it, I'd become it." She paused. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this, anyway."

Kyd Wykkyd ignored that. "It makes sense that you'd have to repress your emotions. All that power could be dangerous. For most, it's easier to control. My powers are controlled by my emotions- anger, mainly, although a significant spike in any emotion will do it."

Raven found herself tempted to ask him questions. She wanted to know what it was like for him growing up. She wanted to know if his childhood was like hers, without the love of either parent, or if his was different. He could answer so many questions.

"You speak Cthulu?" Kyd Wykkyd asked.

Raven blinked. "I- Cthulu? The language of demons?"

Kyd Wykkyd narrowed his eyes at her.

"I read it."

"Can you summon a lesser demon?"

Raven furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Why can't you do it?"

"We don't know which demon attempted to possess you. I can only summon the last demon that had contact with your body. Which is useless as that was me. You can call out the demon inside you with the incantation I'm going to show you."

She took in a nervous breath. "All right. Okay. I can do it, I think."

"Raven. Summoning a demon is about strength. As long as you stay outside of the pentagram, it won't be able to hurt you. You control the pentagram, so you control the demon. You have to be strong."

She looked up into his red eyes. "I… I can do it."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I can!" she snapped. "Give me that."

He passed the book to her wordlessly.

"What am I reading?" she asked, skimming the runes impatiently.

He pointed a gloved finger at the top of the right page.

Raven cleared her throat and let the rough Cthulu roll off her tongue. Cthulu was an intricate language. The grammar was simple but the pronunciation was difficult. There never seemed to be enough vowels. She couldn't translate what she was reading. She had to put all of her trust in Kyd Wykkyd. There was a small doubt at the back of her mind that he was using her to summon a greater demon to loose on the world, or something like that.

She came to the end of the passage and she glanced up. There was no change. She glanced at Kyd Wykyd, who gestured back to the pentagram.

A figure rose in the middle, difficult to make out. It screamed, a high pitched, whiny sound. It sounded like a pig's cry. "Salt? Who the hell makes a pentagram of salt!" the creature shouted in Cthulu. The words were translated, as she was the mistress of the pentagram and the creature inside was completely under her power. She heard the words in English with the Cuthulu rumbling underneath it.

She glanced at Kyd Wykkyd, who'd come up to her side. "He can't leave until you dismiss him from the pentagram."

"Please," the demon whimpered.

"Why is it like that?" she asked softly, eyes wide.

"Like what? Ugly? I don't know. Many of the lesser demons are. That's what tried to use your body as a transportation system."

"No… can't you see? Its eyes."

"What?" Kyd Wykkyd stepped forward, peering.

The creature stopped whimpering and it turned its gaze to the two part-demons. "I've been feeding off of you, girl. Delicious. Release me from this prison."

She stared at it, eyes huge. She couldn't move. "No…"

"Raven?" Kyd Wykked called.

"Release me, daughter," the demon growled, its voice deepening and two more narrow eyes appearing on its forehead.

"No!" Raven stepped into the pentagram, her hands surrounded by dark energy.

"Raven!" Kyd Wykkyd shouted. He swore. "Get out of there!"

"He stole Trigon's power. I can take it back."

"You can't fight him inside the pentagram," Kyd Wykkyd snapped. "You could just order him dead from the outside. You could keep him in there for long enough and he'd die from the salt!"

"I'm not fighting him," Raven said softly. "I'm reabsorbing Trigon's power."

She placed her hands on the demon's head. It let out a squeal. All its pain rushed into her. The salt tearing at her, flowing through her veins, ripping her apart from the inside out. She dispelled the pain as quickly as she was able, and she knew the demon wasn't feeling the pain anymore. It started fighting back.

"I will end you, girl. Stupid spawn of Trigon. I'll sink my teeth into your wrist and tear your flesh off in strips-"

She ignored the overly aggressive prattling of the demon. She could feel Trigon's power flowing back into her. It stung at her, but once she reabsorbed it she should be fine.

She couldn't stop the process. The thick essence of the demon flowed into her. "No…" she murmured. "Stop it."

"Order it, Raven," Kyd Wykkyd commanded from outside the pentagram.

"Please," the empath begged. She could feel its presence in her, so much more lethal than its attempt to possess her body. It was leaking into her soul self.

"I can't help you. The pentagram is made of salt. I can't-" Kyd Wykkyd reached for the edge of the pentagram and he drew his hand back quickly. His fingers were blistered and raw. "Dammit," he muttered. He threw himself over the salt boundary, his skin on fire, and he grabbed the demon around the throat. He squeezed his fingers together until it lost its grip on Raven, then he set up a teleport and pulled Raven through it.

They collapsed side by side on the rocky ground, Raven panting and Kyd Wykkyd trying not to move at all in order to keep from irritating the burns on his skin.

"Azar. You saved me," Raven murmured, sitting up and looking at him.

"Yeah. I was either going to die saving you or die from a bo-staff shoved down my throat, so I figured at least this way I don't give the Boy Wonder the satisfaction."

Raven laughed at that. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I was expecting a thank you, but I'll take that, I guess."

"Come here," Raven ordered.

He opened one eye to look at her. "What?"

She scooted closer to him and rested his head on her lap. He winced at the movement of burned skin. Raven let her powers wash over him, absorbing his pain, a fiery stinging accompanied with the taste of salt, and dispelled it.

"That's convenient," he muttered as he sat up. "Thanks."

Raven wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

Kyd Wykkyd patted her back softly. "It's okay."

She moved away from him quickly, blushing. "How do we get out of here?"

"My teleport powers. Although we'll have to make another pentagram. I'm not doing the salt pentagram thing again."

"You need a pentagram to teleport?" Raven asked doubtfully.

"When I'm moving through realms, yes. Cut my palm." He stretched out his arm to her.

"What?" Raven demanded, looking at his hand with a furrowed brow.

"Just do it."

She fashioned her dark energy into a sharp edge and sliced it across his palm. He let the blood pour out, clenching his hand to make it pour faster. He created the first tip of the pentagram before Raven joined him, cutting her own palm. She healed his cut as they stepped into the center of the pentagram.

"You have to be touching me. So I'm going to take your hand," he said softly.

Raven slipped her hand into his.

Kyd Wykkyd smiled at her before he started chanting. Raven didn't like Cthulu much, but it didn't sound so bad coming from him. She realized that he wouldn't be able to speak when they got back.

They hit the floor, Raven collapsing on the floor and Kyd Wykkyd landing a little heavily.

"Raven!" Starfire exclaimed happily, shooting over to her and wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "I am glad that you are uninjured."

"You are okay, right?" Cyborg asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, guys. Tired." Raven allowed Starfire to help her to her feet.

"Thanks," Robin said to Kyd WYkkyd. "If you ever need any favors, we owe you."

Kyd Wykkyd raised an eyebrow at Robin. "That doesn't include not apprehending you when you're committing a crime," Robin added hastily.

The demon boy shrugged and glanced at Raven before leaving. She wanted to go after him, but her friends were fawning over her and she couldn't blame them for that.

Epilogue

"He started out the session seeming eager not to stray from sparring, but after a mere quarter of an hour he seemed to have forgotten his objection to distractions," Starfire said with a giggle as she flew next to Raven through the night sky.

"Well, I'm just glad that you're happy." It wouldn't be much longer until Starfire decided to change topics.

"And do you remember what you said about Robin appreciating the length and structure of my tongue?"

Raven winced. "Star. Sometimes I don't want a mental picture of whatever it is you do when you're supposed to be working."

Starfire deflated. "I apologize. I merely get excited to share with you the exciting intricacies of an Earth relationship."

"I know, and I'm glad that we can talk like this, but I don't need to know everything, okay?"

Starfire nodded.

The girls touched down on the ground. "Here's the first checkpoint. Better check in with Robin," Raven said to Starfire.

She nodded again and unclipped her communicator from her belt. "Starfire to Tower, Raven and I have been on patrol for half of an hour and we have received no-"

"Did you see that?" Raven asked, softly.

Starfire paused.

"It's a dark spot." A swirling dark spot, no less. Which meant one thing. Raven glanced up at Starfire.

"-no incidents as yet," Starfire finished.

Raven raised her eyebrow at Starfire, who pushed her on the back gently.

"Are you sure? I just heard Raven say-"

Starfire waved her hand at Raven, urging her to go to the dark spot. "Robin," the alien purred into the communicator, her voice slightly lower than usual, "do you suppose that when I return from patrolling, you could assist me with-"

Raven turned away from her friend hurriedly. Even if Starfire was covering for her, it was amazing how quickly she could distract Robin from something. That boy normally wouldn't leave the investigation room for breakfast if you dangled a fully cooked meal under his nose.

One of the dark spots materialized next to her and Kyd Wykkyd stepped out from it.

"It is you. I wasn't sure," Raven said with a smile, which she reined in as soon as she realized how wide it was.

Kyd Wykkyd leaned back against the brick wall behind him.

"So, um… hi," Raven mumbled, blushing.

He gave her a smile which seemed somehow smug. He gave her a little wave.

"Okay, so I have to learn sign language. I should have thought of that. I can have Robin teach me." She paused. "Actually, that probably won't be a good idea. Robin gets kind of crazy about relationships."

He tilted his head at her.

Raven blushed furiously. "Not that we… I mean, he'd just assume… Ah…"

Kyd Wykkyd put his knuckle under her chin and tilted her head up before pressing his lips lightly against hers. He released her and leaned back against the wall to study her reaction.

She bit her bottom lip and turned to glance at Starfire, who was sitting on a brick structure that was meant to hold plants, talking into her communicator. Raven leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down so that she could kiss him.

Thanks to Lollimint for requesting a Wykken piece! If it wasn't for you, I would never have written anything other than RobStar. Not that I didn't RobStar in this fic, but you know.

I took a lot of liberties with Kyd's past, and I had fun doing it. The elements of mythology are taken mostly from various works I've read, mainly Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and some internet searches. Pandemonium, in several works, is something like another dimension where demons spawn. It's their home. Sometimes it's a city in Hell. I made it another realm. I decided to give Kyd the ability to speak there, and speak only Cthulu when he's not in Pandemonium. Also, Prince Vassago, who I decided to be Kyd's father, is a greater demon with his roots in the Bible. If you're really interested, I think it's on Wikipedia. It's not that important, though; I just wanted a prominent sounding figure so that Raven would know who it was.

I guess I should mention- I totally imagine Jason Marsden voicing Kyd Wykkyd. He voiced Kovu in The Lion King 2, and that's how I think Kyd would sound. Interestingly, Jason Marsden also voiced Impulse from Young Justice and Billy Numerous on Teen Titans, as well as several other characters in the DCAU, but his Kovu voice applies to Kyd. ...Please don't imagine Impulse's voice, or Billy Numerous's. Kovu. But, like, Kovu when he first saved Kiara from the fire. His voice kind of gets less villainous as the movie goes on, but I'm talking about the raspy, deep voice he uses.

Sorry if it was confusing, but I had a lot of fun doing it. I might write more Wykken, although I'll probably stick to oneshots. Thanks again to Lollimint for the request! This fic wasn't as fluffy as some of my other stuff, and I went out of the way to show Raven interacting with the other Titans, but I kind of wanted to ease into the Kyd/Rae action. Let me know what you guys think!