[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. This idea has been floating in my head for a while, so here it is. I've always like the idea that Kyd and Raven are related, so here is their story. Enjoy.]
A small, hooded child whined nervously from deep in her throat as she squinted her eyes closed and tried not to think about her missing brother. Her legs hung from the windowsill like a doll due to her stunted height, and she rolled the binoculars given to her around in her pale hands, debating actually checking up on her misguided relative.
Raven...wasn't like Elliot - not in the slightest. Raven was only seven years old, after all. And Elliot was a whole nine years old - much older and more mature than Raven, at least from her point of view. Raven had learned a long time ago that it was much easier being content, even if you had to fake it, then trying to make your situation any better. Raven and her half-brother Elliot had grown up in Styx, a terrible, godforsaken dimension filled with lakes of fire and deformed, monstrous lower demons that all served their shared father, Trigon the Terrible. Raven knew, even at her young age, that it was pointless and ignorant to dream of a better life.
Raven and Elliot were different, but that's what glued them to each other.
Raven was shy and nervous, skittish and panicky. Some of the other demons nicknamed her 'puer clamare', which was translated to 'crybaby' in English. She often had nervous breakdowns and fits, crumpling to a heap on the ground and bawling her eyes out like a baby as she wrapped her white hood around her body like a baby would a blanket. Raven didn't ever ask for much, too scared of anything and everything that could happen if she ever stepped out of line for even a moment. She almost always hid her face in her hood, finding ease in the feeling of being able to hide from the hell around her. Raven didn't see her home as a hell because it's all she'd ever known since birth. The only solace in Raven's home was Elliot. Though she would never understand his build in nature to disobey their father.
Elliot was very much different from Raven. Elliot was loud and obnoxious, yet he could also be sneaky and devilish when he really wanted something that was just out of his grasp. Elliot had ambition, much more bravery and strength and ambition than Raven. Elliot knew that there was more out there, past the portal that opened up to Styx. Elliot wanted more, he always wanted more. He was never satisfied with what he had, despite the almost royal like status and living conditions of him and his little sister. Elliot often disrupted meetings between high-class demons with his loud mouth, and brutally paid for it, though he never apologized. Elliot was usually the one who was beaten until he bled and malnourished due to his lack of respect, but he never once regretted any of what trouble he caused.
One day, a very long time ago, Elliot came across a history book that a now dead history professor had dropped. Elliot managed to sneak it into his bedroom, and he was blown away by the pure thought of being human, Earthen. On Earth, people chose who they wanted to be, and no one could stop them, no matter what background they had. Those born into poverty could become kings and legends if they really worked hard enough. A rich man could become a martyr for his cause if he were stupid enough. A little boy with demon blood running through his veins could be a hero.
Ever since, none of Elliot's life - or Raven's for that matter - had been the same. Elliot had learned how to summon portals all on his own, simply so he could levitate objects out of the human realm and into theirs, which is where Raven had gotten the binoculars. Elliot thought about escape day and night, and nothing Raven did could sway him away from the path of rebellion. The only thing Elliot cared about more than escape was Raven herself.
And so now, Raven sat on the windowsill she always sat at, binoculars in hand, as Elliot once again tried to make it past Trigonian guards toward the portal that opened up to the Earth dimension. Suddenly Raven saw a large red blotch pop up out of nowhere right in front of the crude portal, but she waited a moment before looking through the binoculars. When she did finally hold up the blocky black lens to her sad indigo eyes, she immediately squinted her eyes shut again to block away tears, cringing painfully as she turned away from her brother's two hundred and twenty ninth failed attempt of escape. She tried to block out the image of her older brother's limp and frail body being carried across the ground by his legs, rocks breaking into his skin as he was dragged toward their home and blood covering his now bruised face.
Raven whined in her throat again, pulling her hood further down her face to hide away her soft tears.
Before Raven could even start pacing with worry, a large pounding opened up her door and an unconscious Elliot was thrown carelessly on the ground of her floor. The two large demons laughed menacingly at Raven's face that was frozen with fear and worries, finally leaving with one last glare to Elliot's broken body.
"Elliot!" Raven cried in a small voice as she ran and fell to her knees in front of her unresponsive brother, already running to find medical supplies they'd gathered from Earth. Raven didn't yet know any healing magic, but she was mastered in medical sciences due to her brother's frequent encounters with guards and other abusers that assaulted him purely out of spite. Her voice slowly began sobbing again, low tears running down her cheeks as she patched up her brother and wished on everything that he would stop his pointless mission to leave.
Suddenly, Elliot's clawed hand reached up jerkily to rip Raven's hood off of her face. With closed eyes and a reassuring smile. He never did like it when Raven hid, he always thought his sister should be proud of what she looked like.
"You're crazy, Elliot." Raven said with a broken and scratchy voice.
"And you're - agh - ungrateful." He replied, his sentence being interrupted by a hiss of pain when he reached into his side to grasp what he'd gone after near the portal.
Elliot shoved a dirty copy of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein into Raven's hands, smiling wider when Raven looked over the cover excitedly and flipped through the pages to decipher what language it was in. Raven stood up to go put the book on top of the many others that were scattered about the messy room, turning around to find Elliot already limping over to where he slept to grab a pillow. She sighed sadly before she looked over at the book again, smiling and willing the lights that hung from the ceiling like vines to dimmer out into the darkness. Raven grabbed herself a pillow and began arranging a pillow fort with a single candle lit with her brother, smiling and listening intently as he told her the story of a man he'd learned about named Gandhi, and how he'd overcome the odds of the world for those he loved.
When they were finished, Raven climbed inside after her brother and they fell asleep facing opposite sides as they normally did so that if any demons came in after them they each had a view of one side of the room and could alert the other. The room was still covered in red from the fiery light outside, but it was easy to ignore from the surrounding blanket and pillows.
"...Elliot?" Raven said in her small voice, getting only a hum and still closed eyes in response from her recovering brother.
"Will you sing me your song?" Raven asked again, wrapping herself up both in her normal blanket and in her cape, trying to imagine what it felt like to be held by a mother when she was sad like the girls in her books.
There was a drawn out moment of silence before Elliot's raspy and calming voice filled up the space in between them and chased away the monsters outside.
"This is what I brought you, this you can keep. This is what I brought, you may forget me. I promise you my heart, just promise to sing. Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep." Elliot sang low and softly, echoing in Raven's head as she mouthed the words and ultimately fell asleep.
Elliot and Raven were different, very different, but that's what glued them to each other.
[I'm so tired. Also, a lot of this is stress writing because of some stuff going on in my life. So here, take this before I pass out. Read and Review please!]