Dear readers,

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I really felt that the old version of this chapter was too immature as compared to the subsequent ones, even though it does show my increasing skill as a writer. It just really unsettled me to see it, and I guess it was the same for some of you two.

Rosalind2013 proofread this, and I thank her very much.

Enjoy.

Psyche.

Mischievous

Raven was on the roof of the highest building in Jump City, meditating at the very edge. She exhaled deeply, thankful for the peace.

The Tower was suddenly much too crowded for her liking; everyone was always doing something. All she needed was a good meditation session, which obviously wasn't going to happen at home. Starfire absolutely had to make her taste the food that she cooked – concoctions that Raven couldn't have made sense of even if she was drunk – to see if Robin would 'be pleased by them'. Of course Beast Boy had to kick his usual hare-brained antics into overdrive, and Cyborg seemed to be under the unshakable assumption that she loved working on the T-car. It was a wonder she hadn't flipped out and attacked them yet.

So there she sat meditating under the stars. She floated in the lotus position; eyes closed as she took in all the smells of the city and basked in the calm.

Suddenly, she sensed a change in the environment; someone was on the roof with her.

Raven stopped chanting her mantra and opened her eyes. She couldn't quite tell what exactly it was, which made her anxious. She was usually able to sense a lot about people around her, even those who weren't human.

Just who was on the rooftop with her?

"I know you're there," she announced with the same old monotone. "You might as well come out."

Suddenly she heard a soft thud behind her and stood as she turned swiftly, right into the face of Kyd Wykkyd. She let out a soft gasp and took a step back.

Right off the edge of the building.

The moment she realized she was falling was the moment she felt Kyd Wykkyd's hand encircle her wrist and hoist her back up. For a while she could do nothing except stare at him. He was a villain, and he had just saved her life.

Something was up.

She pushed him away from her and fell into a battle stance. "If you came all this way to kill me, you should have just let me fall."

Kyd raised both of his hands, the international sign of peace.

"Why are you here?" she demanded, refusing to drop her combat stance.

'I was just hopping from rooftop to rooftop', He explained telepathically.

So that was why he was so quiet. He can't - or won't - talk.

"…What?" she asked. "What would a villain be doing just 'hopping from rooftop to rooftop'?"

'I'm only really into stealing, but I don't really do it often. Especially not without my team.'

"…"

'I just like causing trouble,' he said, theatrically raising his cape over his nose and shifting his eyes from side to side in the manner of a cartoon villain.

Raven relaxed her stance, more confused than anything else. "You expect me to believe that?"

He nodded.

Raven sighed. She was definitely dealing with an overgrown child, not a threat.

"So, what are you actually doing here?" she asked.

'Well actually, I wanted to give you this,' he replied, reaching into his cape and pulling out a pitch black rose with intricate white designs.

He handed it to Raven, who took it hesitantly. She traced it with her finger, feeling it crackle with energy. The rose was obviously crafted with pure magic, a taxing and painstakingly slow process. It must have taken him weeks to make it.

And he gave it to her.

"It's beautiful," she murmured. "But why would you just give this to me?"

'Think of it as a peace offering. I was sort of hoping we could be friends,' he answered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

There was a long stretch of very tense silence before Raven gave her answer.

"I'm probably going to kill myself for this later, but…fine."

Kyd's face lit up in a broad grin.

"I don't really sense anything bad about you," Raven muttered as a tilt of her head betrayed her curiosity. "In fact, you interest me. I couldn't quite place you when you showed up. I'd like to find out why."

'And I would be happy to show you.'

"Hmm," Raven hummed. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Bear in mind that I don't trust you, but I am willing to give you a shot. Don't try anything sly or I will end you."

Kyd crossed his heart and raised his right hand, still grinning.

'Until next time, Lady Raven,' he said with a bow.

Raven rolled her eyes at him.

He turned around rather comically, whirling his cape with him. His cape caught on his ankles, making him fall down and land with a thud on the hard concrete.

Raven let out a short bark of laughter.

He got up quickly and gazed at her with an expression of pure shock. 'I made you laugh'.

Raven composed herself. "It was a cough," she replied with a perfect poker face.

'Keep telling yourself that,' Kyd said with a smirk. Just like that, he was gone.

So Raven was left alone on the rooftop, studying the rose and the conversation that just took place. She sighed and teleported straight to her room. She took one of her many sketchbooks and drew a picture of the rose, signed it, and on second thought, wrote a quick note to herself. Something about what happened tonight, in case something went sour in this risky friendship.

Then she took her biggest tome, one she has never read and probably never will, and delicately put the rose between the middle pages. She promptly slammed the book on the rose to preserve it, and slipped the tome back into its place on the shelf.

She sighed again and reached for her communicator, only to realize it wasn't anywhere on her. She was puzzled as to why that would be before she remembered the little exchange on the roof. She couldn't believe she fell for it; he was obviously just after her communicator. She sighed yet again, shaking her head at her stupidity, and went back to sleep.

…..

The next morning she woke up to find her communicator on her bedside table along with a note. She scowled at the offending piece of paper; he had some nerve to leave a note for her after conning her out of her communicator. How did he get it here anyway? He must have used one of his portals.

Against her better judgment, she sat up and picked up the note carefully. After checking the thing for any tampering and detecting none, she opened it. There was a message sprawled out in messy cursive handwriting.

Dear Raven,

I'm really, really, honest to Ayen sorry. I just couldn't resist stealing your communicator. I didn't do anything to it, I swear.

Please don't kill me.

Kyd Wykkyd

Despite herself, Raven's mouth curled up into a small smile. This was obviously going to be an interesting friendship.