Chapter Three: Dethl's Curse

The other Teen Titanshad rushed over to Raven's quarters as quickly as they could, while Vaati had irritably put his pillow over his ears to drown out the noise. He didn't look up to see who was screaming for a while, but when he heard Robin yell, "Raven!" he decided to get himself up. Why? He did not know. Maybe it was curiosity.

When Robin burst through her door, they found her on the floor, doubled over in pain. Apparently the pain was so intense that she had been crying, and she was gasping desperately for breath. "Raven!" Robin cried, rushing to her side. "What happened? What's wrong?"

As Vaati was nearing the room, he suddenly stopped. He felt a nagging sensation in the back of his head. Something wasn't right. He could feel an odd presence in the room, something much more menacing than what he had seen from these 'Teen Titans.' He quickened his pace and entered Raven's room. Everyone was gathering around Raven, who had managed to get herself into a sitting position by her bed, but she was still clutching her stomach in agony.

Vaati could now feel a very threatening presence residing in her body, something very foreign, and very dangerous. If he could sense it in his weakened state, it had to be very powerful. "Make way, all of you," he ordered, jostling through the other Titans until he had reached Raven's side. As he kneeled, he glanced at Robin and said, "Let me take a look at her."

Robin nodded his head and watched Vaati ask her, "What did you see? What was in your dreams?"

Raven's glistening eyes looked up at the Wind Mage. "D…Dethl…" she managed to choke over her words. "It called itself Dethl…It…said it…was feeding on…my nightmares…and my memories…"

"I see," Vaati said, almost to himself. This was sounding disturbingly like someone had attempted to possess her, but feeding off of dreams and nightmares were something he had never heard of in the case of possessions. "Where does it hurt?"

"Where…does it…look like?" Raven spat.

Vaati just raised an eyebrow and said, "Allow me to touch it. Even in my current state, if I touch a part of your body that has been affected by a spiritual possession, I can sense what it is we are dealing with exactly."

"J…just do it."

Vaati nodded and put his hand on her stomach. Immediately he heard the words, FEAR US! He did not remember what happened next, for he suddenly blacked out.

When next he awoke, he discovered himself in the hallway slumped against the wall facing Raven's door. Beast Boy and Starfire were standing over him. "Dude, are you all right?" Beast Boy asked.

"…What the hell happened?" Vaati growled.

"Right when you touched Raven," Starfire answered, "You flew into the wall outside as if you had been pulled by an invisible string."

Vaati shook his head and lifted himself to his feet. "I believe she has been invaded in her subconscious by some sort of demon. Before I blacked out, I remember it saying 'fear us.' Demons as far as I know tend to refer to themselves in the plural sense."

"Are you saying a demon followed you to our world?" Starfire asked.

"I don't see how, but Raven said it called itself Dethl. The name sounds vaguely familiar. Probably something I read in the libraries back on my world."

Vaati looked at Raven, who had removed the part of the jumpsuit around her midsection, allowing the wound to be seen. It appeared to be a bruise of some kind, and yet it couldn't have been, because it was moving, but it also seemed to be shrinking. "What did it want?" Vaati continued his questioning.

Raven's strength was slowly returning, allowing her to speak more easily. "It wanted to use my powers to unleash demons from my nightmares all over the world. It said something about wanting a world of endless nightmares. And…and then it stabbed me."

"That explains the wound," Vaati reasoned. "I think I know something about it."

"Tell us!" Cyborg cried desperately.

"I believe I read about it in Hyrule Town Library. Dethl was the driving force behind a creature called the Nightmare. It forced a sky spirit to fall into a deep sleep so it could consume the dream world of Kolohint in endless nightmares. It was confronted by one of the Hyrulean hero's ancestors, and the Nightmare transformed into different manifestations of the hero's past enemies, drawing power from his memories. He, being the hero he was, managed to defeat it. It was unknown, however, whether it had been completely destroyed, considering it was a creature born of a sky spirit's nightmares. Apparently, it hasn't. But why it's chosen to resurface here and now is beyond me."

Starfire bowed her head. "Why do bad people always try to take advantage of Friend Raven?"

"You mean things like this have happened before?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy responded sadly. "Her powers attract a lot of attention from our enemies."

Vaati knew the feeling. After all, he had often been taken advantage of in his life. Ganondorf was a particularly nasty example, but there were others, too. Others from a life Vaati had always tried to forget. Vaati shook his head, trying to put those memories out of his mind. "I suggest… someone watch her. Dethl might try to do this again."

With that, Vaati turned around and left to go back to his bed. Raven looked at her friends and said, "I don't need anyone to watch me. I'll just…I'll just meditate."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked. "Because I can stay outside if…"

"No, I'm fine. The pain's almost gone."

Robin hesitated, and then nodded his head, respecting her wish. He stood up and left, closing the door behind him before returning to his bedroom, telling everyone else to do the same.

Raven dimmed her lights and began to meditate, chanting her mantra as she floated above the floor. As she slipped further into her subconscious, she heard Dethl's voice in the deep recesses of her mind. Our time is coming. You cannot stop it. It is only a matter of time…