Chapter One: Sentence
Raven leant against the cool and hard surface of the rock wall. Her hands rubbed her temples as she tried to figure out what to do. She turned her head to the right, Kyd was lying on the ground. He had been staring at the roof since the announcement was given. "What are we going to do?" Raven asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. Kyd sighed as he sat up, his arms leaning over his knees. He turned his face to the side to stare at her for a moment.
"We have a year, right? So maybe we can try figure a way out of this." Kyd said. Raven nodded though she didn't agree with his approach and doubted the chance of getting out of this.
"I guess so." She said.
"I know it seems unlikely but maybe we might find something out. In the meantime, though. I would like to see you." He said, and this seemed to confuse Raven more. She couldn't image why he would want to see her.
"Why." She asked.
"Because. You made it clear that you doubt we'll be able to escape from this, and I'm not Interested in marrying a stranger. Maybe we could get to know each other so it won't be that bad." He said, a small smile reached his lips, but his eyes remained as they were. Raven leant back on the wall, the rush of cold allowing her to think more clearly. He was right, marrying a stranger wasn't ideal. But he was also her enemy and she needed to make sure her friends would be safe.
"If I agree to meet you, how will this work. I don't wish for my friends to become effected." Raven said.
"They don't have too. It can be a truce between us. Neither of us can use the information against one another or tell our friends… I don't want this either, but if it has to happen then I'll do what I can to make it easier for the both of us." He said.
Raven moved over to where Kyd sat. She sat opposite him with her legs crossed. She understood that this was dangerous, but it was less dangerous then allowing her friends to become involved. They had already proven to her before that they are willing to go through hell and back to save her and she couldn't allow them to interfere here. After all, the demon world was much darker then she'd ever admit to them. Kyd clearly felt the same in that respect. He hadn't mentioned his friends at all besides to state that they would not be involved.
"Once a week is the most I can offer, and I cannot guarantee that we will see each other since crime isn't normal scheduled in advance but I will make my best effort to meet with you." Raven said and too her amazement Kyd did not argue.
"In the meantime, I guess we should both try and find a way out of this mess." He said, and Raven nodded. She still didn't think it would be possible. In their world things happened that no one could stop and more often than not, they would have to live with it. She stood and headed to the door, intending to leave. "The park where we fought last. It has a small performing area meant for children. We can meet there at night if you want so that no one see's us and I think Thursday's would be best since there the least likely to be interrupted." Kyd said.
"Okay, then I will see you there. I'll likely come out after eight if that is fine with you." She said to which he nodded yes. Raven teleported from the room to her bedroom. The door had been knocked off its hinges and Cyborg sat on her bed holding her communicator. Raven had forgotten that she'd been in the middle of a fight when she was teleported. Cyborg's eyes lit up as he notices her, and he moved to her, hugging her tightly.
"We didn't know what happened Raven. One second you were by our side, the next you were gone. Are you okay?" he asked. Raven tapped his arm as a sign to make him let go and used once he had stepped back, she used her powers to place her door back up.
"I'm fine." She said. She wasn't sure what more she could tell him. Cyborg was like a brother to her and she didn't want to lie to him, but her and Kyd agreed to keep their friends out of this. Plus, she knew that telling him anything would cause him to be involved later. Still, the idea of lying to him, even if it was for his protection didn't seem right. "My powers caused me to teleport away, I was very distracted today that all." She knew it wasn't enough, she hadn't explained why it took her so long to return.
"Raven, it's been almost five hours. Everyone has been searching for you." Cyborg said as he watched her eyes very closely.
"I ended up hitting my head against a pole when I spawned so I was out for a while. I'm honestly okay Cyborg, it was just an accident I swear." Raven said. She could see that Cyborg wasn't 100% okay with her response, but he wasn't likely to press her for information. Instead he pulled his communicator out and informed the rest of the team about her safe return to the tower. Raven listen to them for a while as she followed Cyborg to the kitchen. She had expected Robin and Starfire to question her some more when they returned, however Beast Boy was the only one to come home. He teases Raven about hitting a pole, believing her story completely unlike the others. Raven knew everyone else had questions, and they would ask them eventually.
Kyd fell back onto his bed, making a soft sound before he sighed. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about this situation, and considering he had a girlfriend he was even more confused. As his eyes started to close Kyd hear his door open. He sat up as Billy entered the room. Kyd had forgotten he had just disappeared for hours on his friends. He had honestly been more focused on what was happening than what his friends might be feeling right now.
"Your back." Billy said. He held a hand against the door as he closed it trying to make as little noise as possible. "The others have gone to bed. Not sure if they're asleep yet though. They were worried about you." He added.
"I'm sorry, you know I'm rather jumpy." Kyd said, smiling at his friend. He hated that he lied so easily but at times like this, the ability to lie was a gift.
"I know, but you've never been gone for hours. We thought that this time something might off happened. It was so long." Billy had moved over and was leaning on the dresser near Kyd's bed.
"I'm fine, I was just caught off guard. When I teleported, I ended up in a small room and I tried to stand but ended up hitting my head really hard against something. I ended up draining myself and eventually collapsed from exhaustion. I'm really okay and next time I will try to get home sooner." Kyd said. He felt so bad, he had come up with a whole story, but it was necessary. He didn't want his friends involved in any way with the underworld.
"Well, I guess your back now, so everything should be fine." Billy placed his arms behind his head and turned to leave the room. "We placed dinner in the oven for you if you're hungry and I think you should talk to Angel, she was very worried about you." Billy said, leaving the room as he spoke. Kyd sighed and grabbed his phone from under his pillow. Angel wasn't going to let this go as easily. He called her and gave the same story that he had given Billy, writing it down as he spoke so that he would remember it for later.
"I don't understand how you can be okay with this teleporting at random Kyd. It's happening more and more. I'm really worried that one of these day's you won't come back at all." She said. Kyd laughed lightly at her comment.
"Don't worry Angel, I will always come back, no matter how far I teleport." Kyd said, but as he said this too her he realised that in a year this wasn't going to be anywhere near as true as he would like. One day he would leave and never see them again. Kyd shook his head trying to remove the thoughts from his mind.
"Can I come over?" Angel asked.
"It's really late Angel and I doubt I will stay up. My powers have drained me pretty bad. But I will meet up with you tomorrow." He said, and Angel reluctantly agreed to this. He placed the phone down and laid back on his bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for him.
Kyd woke up early, he figured he had gotten at most two hours' worth of sleep. He teleported from his room to Billy's, taking clothes and teleported to the bathroom. Since Kyd had moved in a year ago, he had been borrowing Billy's clothes. He barely had anything besides a few pairs of jeans and a couple of shirts. Billy had been nice enough to share, but Kyd eventually started to help himself.
He throws his clothes off and turned the hot on. As Kyd leant against the wall, water running down his body, he thought about what do. He was hoping he would get the chance to collect some books on demonic marriages, but with Angel around that wouldn't be easy. He could pick up the books before meeting Angel, but she would notice he had something and want to see. Teleporting back and putting them away was an option, as long as no one notice.
Kyd sighed as he thought more about the marriage part. He had known for a long time that he could be used as a thing. Simply a way to gain more power for his father. He had hoped that nothing like this would ever happen, but he knew how unlikely that was. Still, Raven wasn't a bad choice. She seemed to share a lot of his moral opinions and she would never force him to hurt someone.
Kyd turned the shower off and sat in the steam for a long time before dressing. It was only 2am when he went into the kitchen. The calendar said Wednesday which meant that he would be seeing Raven tomorrow as long as nothing changed. He wondered what they would do while in each other's company. He had doubts that their first meet up would be anything but awkward.
He said down and turned the tv on. He didn't really watch the shows that played, and he kept the sound off. He just wanted something that would distract him till it was time to leave. He knew that there was a sort for demons in one of the less populated areas and that it opened at 4am so he had planned to head there first. He just hoped that his money would be good there and that the sort would have something on marriages or an answer to solve his problems at least.
At four Kyd teleported to a bus stop that he had been to. He didn't know where the store was, only that there was one in this area. Most of the area was torn down buildings or burnt buildings. There was the occasional squatter here and there, but no one that bothered him. Eventually Kyd came past a store with black curtains and in decent repair. He figured this had to be the store since everything else was too dishevelled. He walked in, using his hands to swipe away a beaded curtain. The store was filled with various ingredients that were used to make potions and books explaining how to do so. He found one on history of certain powers and one on the genetics of demons. Both of which wouldn't help him.
Finally, Kyd headed to the store clerk, his body clearly not normal. The boy had horns forming on his head and his skin was tinged a slight grey not naturel for humans. "I'm looking for information on demonic weddings." Kyd said as he reached the counter. The boy didn't even shift his gaze as he pointed to a small corner of the room. Kyd turned on his heels moving to the corner. There were a few books on food, spells and items that could be related to demons. In the very corner, buried under a tower of books was one titled ritual. Kyd bent and tugged the book out of the tower, knocking the pile over the floor. The boy at the counter looked over to Kyd, his eyes glaring at the work he had caused. Kyd brought the book over and handed it up to the boy, trying his best to gloss over the accident.
Demons where always seen as heartless and cold, and for the most part Kyd knew that this was true. He would need to act like one of them when he was forced to interact with other demons, but around his friends he was able to act in the way he wanted. He handed over the cash and took the book out of the store. The sun was cracking through the buildings, lighting up parts of the streets. The light showed just how decrepit this part of town really was. Demons often went for places that were less likely to be stumbled upon and this area seemed to scream stay away.
He quickly teleported back to his room, stashing the book behind the leg of his bed before teleporting to Angels apartment. She often didn't leave until he was here. The neighbours weren't nice and there had been a few robberies in the building. Angel had told Kyd once before that a woman was stabbed to death on the lower floors. For her safety, Kyd agreed that it would be best if he was around when she wished to go out. He'd also take any excuse to see her and this one didn't make him sound too much like a geek. He reached the fifth level, her floor and went to the door near the end of a long hallway. All the floors from level 2 to 6 where dedicated to small apartments, a one room studio really. The two level above where almost the same, with the addition of two extra rooms. Kyd had seen them when he made the mistake of teleporting into one, thinking it was her room. He was just glad that no one had caught them.
He knocked a few times before Angel answered. She held her hair brush in her mouth as she tied her hair. Kyd noticed that she was only in a bra and that her pants weren't done up properly as she walked away to let him in. "I see that your already to go." He said, laughing as he plopped onto the couch. Angel shot him a small glare as she looked at a few different shirts.
"Lately you've been running late so I figured I had a bit of time to looked over my clothes." She said in return. With a shirt in either hand she stood in a mirror looking at one to match her pants. Kyd sighed as he laid on the couch. "If it bores you so much, why not help me pick one." She suggested. Kyd rolled off the couch and moved over to her clothes, looking at the ones she had been flipping between. He passed her one that had an eagle on it and then wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck lightly.
"I'm not bored, just tired. We could always stay in and then you wouldn't need to put clothes on." He said, pulling her tightly against her body. Angel laughed and turned slightly so she could kiss his cheek before pushing him back.
"I need to go to the shops, but once where done there I'd be more than happy to stay here with you." She fixed her pants and throw the shirt on, grabbing his arm as she moved to the door.
"Are we going to come back here or back to mine." He asked as they started to head downstairs.
"We're limited at yours. I know you don't think your friends can hear anything, but I know they can, and I won't be comfortable there. So, if your intending on starting something than we'll have to come here."
"And I'm telling you the guys would sooner die than actually listen to anything that goes on in my room. They wouldn't say anything to anyone anyway." Kyd said but Angel just waved her hand.
"I get that, but the answer is still the same. If your plan is too actually do something, then it's here or nowhere."
"You tease me like that and then force me to miss out on a simple taste. I think you just want me to suffer." He said in a mocking tone. He grabbed the door and opened it as she walked out.
"I'm not teasing you, you got to my house earlier than I'd expected. And I would let you do more, just not at your place."
"I can't, not tonight anyway. But maybe soon." He said.
"Why?" Angel asked.
"I think their a little freaked out about the teleporting away from them. I just think I should stay so they see it was nothing." Angel nodded as he talked and sighed as she took his arm. A small sign that she agreed with him. Kyd and Angel walked to the shops, a small place down the street where she found a few things that she could cook. After she had grabbed her food they sat outside the shop at a bench. Angel had been quite about him teleporting, but Kyd knew she was waiting for this chance to find out more about the whole thing.
"You said that it was nothing Kyd. And I get that you teleport sometimes at random, but this time you got hurt. Maybe we could put a tracker on you so that if you disappear again, we can at least help." She suggested. Kyd sighed as he placed his weight on his arms, leaning back to stare at the sky. Buildings clouded most of his view, but it allowed his focus to be elsewhere for a moment.
He couldn't allow them to track him. There were just too many complications with the idea of it. For starters if he had a tracker on him, they would find out about Raven and his meetings with her sooner or later. Then there was always the chance he'd be teleported to the underworld again and they wouldn't be able to find him at all. What would that do to them? He figured that they would assume he had died or something, but he couldn't be sure.
"That takes away my feeling of freedom. And besides, I won't let that happen again. I can see how much it freaked you all out, so next time I will be far more carefully." He said, trying to get out of the conversation as soon as possible.
"You can't guaranty that though. Please Kyd, just think about the tracker. I don't want you to disappear some day without warning." Angel said. Kyd wanted to promise her it would be fine, but one glance at her face told him that she wouldn't except that. Her eyes were almost misty, and she was trying so hard to be okay.
"I will consider it." Her eyes instantly brightened at the possibility. "But that's not a guaranty. I'll see what I can do, that's all I am promising." He finished.
Angel reached over, pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek. "That's enough. Thank you." She smiled at him as he held her kiss, smiling back too her.
As they walked back to her apartment, Angel talked about the things that had been happening in her life. She had been working on finding herself a job and managed to get one working in a small clothing store. Though she didn't say which one. Kyd listened as she talked about her interview and smiled. His mind however, was elsewhere. Angel had mentioned that their anniversary was coming up. that they would be together two years in only a few months. He realised, for the first time that Angel wasn't supposed to be a part of his future anymore. That his like was now dedicated to another.
Kyd had come to this conclusion before. But the reminder of how long they had been together really forced him to think about her. He was going to break her heart, and what excuse would he give her. He found someone else, he was being forced into marriage, he couldn't stay with her and she couldn't ask why. None of those sounded like something he wanted to say to her. He had been in her life for almost 2 years and she had been in his. He didn't even think it would be possible to find someone like her that didn't see him as a monster. Now he was going to act like a monster as he walked out of her life.
He just hoped that book he brought said something about their betrothal. That was all he could really hope for. A way out. Kyd kissed Angel goodbye as they reached her door. She was confused when he told her that he had to go. But she didn't get the chance to ask as he teleported from her view and into his room. falling back on to the bed, he reached down and took the book, trying to read it as the words moved along the page. He needed to find something. He needed to fix this.
Raven woke up at 5 and headed down to the kitchen to make herself a tea. She had been sorting through her books for most the night, trying to find the ones that would help her in this situation. She had a pile of thirteen books ready to ready, but she was rather doubtful that any of them would help. It wasn't often that demons could simply get out of something without any consequences.
Robin had walked in and waved to her as he headed to the kitchen. He often cooked his food early so that he could work on sorting other things out for the rest of the day. "How are you this morning?" he asked as he gathered the items he wanted.
"I'm fine." She said, lifting her tea too take back to her room. Robin stopped her as he called out to her.
"I wanted to talk about yesterday Raven, I know you said it wasn't anything too distressing, but we couldn't find you. What if something like that happens again. I want to know that you will be safe." Robin said, his face showed concern even though Raven couldn't see it completely. She understood what they wanted, some way to keep an eye on her when her powers played up. Raven didn't really want that though, not with everything that was now happening. She couldn't risk them finding out about Kyd.
"I will look into something. Maybe a way you can locate me if I go missing, but I don't want it to be something you use whenever. It will be a device for only if I am completely gone. That means you've tried to contact me a few times or you've checked all my normal hang outs. Do you understand." Raven said. Robin seemed to relax a little at her words and nodded his head when she had finished.
"I can agree to that, as long as it means your safe." He said. Raven stepped back so he could move past her, back to his place in the kitchen and she headed back to her room. The pile of books sat near her bed ready for her too read through. She sat on the bed, crossing her legs as she picked the first book off the pile.
As Raven read through the books she thought about the situation she had been placed in. Kyd had pointed out that he had a girlfriend and Raven could understand that he was losing something. But she also realised that this wasn't the worst thing. Once they were forced into marriage she would be able to live a life free from her family interruptions. There would be nothing left that her family could take from her. though on the other hand Raven could lose her place on this team and her friends if she was to go through with a marriage to a villain.
The books she had read gave her no new information. A betrothal was unbreakable and would cause at least one of their lives to change drastically. Though she didn't quite understand what the books where telling her. In some ways it sounded like one person would be a slave to the other. In other cases, it sounded like the person would be able to choose things for themselves. She placed a piece of ripped paper in the book, so she could remember this page.
Raven looked over at the clock, it was almost three in the afternoon. She had spent a large time reading books and it hadn't really given her any new insights. She was still going to be forced to marriage Kyd. She sighed as she stood from the bed, stretching her body before moving to the door. Her friends would get worried if she didn't come out at least once or twice to see them.
She made her way to the roof where the team played sports. They were playing a game of volleyball and Raven could see that Cyborg and Beast Boy where losing. Raven sat off to the sides, watching as they played. Her team smiled and waved to her when they were able. She thought that this was nice, and somehow that thought brought up Kyd. If she was forced into this marriage, would she have to leave all of this. He was still a villain and that meant that she couldn't be with him, even if it was forced.
At the end of the game Cyborg left to make dinner for everyone. He was almost stomping as he grumbled about cheating. Beast Boy was cleaning up the net and collecting the ball as Robin and Starfire made their way over to Raven. "We won the game Raven." Starfire said, as she flew beside Raven.
"I know, Beast Boy and Cyborg don't seem to be taking it well though. Maybe you could at least give them a chance at winning next time." Raven said.
"And take away that sense of pride and victory for managing to get there on your own. Nah, I think I'll just keep winning till they actually win." Robin said, he smiled a small half smile as he leaned against the pole.
"I still think it would be nice." Raven said.
"Maybe we could switch the teams next time so that they have a better chance at winning." Starfire said, looking at Robin with saddened eyes. He blushed slightly and looked off to the side. Raven had started to notice that Robin had problems when it came to request from Starfire. He would shy away or accept the request without thinking. In this case he agreed that the teams should be more even so that both teams had a chance to win. Raven smiled at his reactions to Starfire. She could feel Robins emotions, his admiration and compassion for Starfire. She wondered what she was likely going to feel from Kyd. She assumed dread and hate considering he was being forced into the situation. It wasn't something she was looking forward too.
Raven had never felt feelings that where of love directed to her. She had felt these types of feelings from other people, but they were always directed to someone else within the same room. it was hard for to constantly feel others being wanted and desire and knowing that the likelihood was that she would never receive the same.
She had felt lust directed to her before, but never in a way that seemed right. Villains had felt lust for her during fights, their thoughts vile and repulsive to her. A few of her team members had felt a slight lust towards her too, but they were always short lived and never went further than a simple thought crossing the mind. Raven had already decided that she wasn't worth the attention of another. And now the rest of her life would be spent with someone that would regret it for the rest of his life.
"Raven you coming." Robin said, waking Raven from her thoughts. She nodded and stood, heading down with Robin to the kitchen. Cyborg had made a small dinner for everyone and they had all been sitting and waiting for Robin and Raven.
After dinner Raven went to her room. She picked the next book up and started to read. She hadn't realised till she had been with Robin and Starfire. She didn't want it. She didn't want to be hated for the rest of her life by the person she would be forced to spend it with. She was more determined to find a way out of this.