-Kyd Wykkyd-

My name is Kyd Wykkyd. Or at least, that is the name I have decided to give myself. I have yet to actually require the use of a name so I haven't actually had a reason to give it to anybody else yet. I doubt that anyone will ever think to either care or ask about my name though.

I am, in the main essence of things, not entirely real. Or at least, I was never supposed to be. Now that I do exist, my purpose is simply to serve my Master. I am not overly fond of my purpose. Master Klarion is a Lord of Chaos, the Witch Boy. He loves to wreak destruction and pain upon the Mortal Plain. I do not, if only because my nature is different than it was meant to be. That is to say, my Master and I are not the same.

Magic is alive, a force of nature with a will all its own, albeit only semi-sentient and aware. Chaos Magic is in many ways even more so. A true practitioner of magic, no matter how powerful and transcendent their abilities may be, can only hold a limited amount of magic within their chosen vessel. For most magicians, that vessel would be their mortal bodies. For a Lord of Magic, their essence (and the vast expanse of magical power inherent to said essence) would be far too much for a mortal form and instead, they require a medium through which to channel their powers on the Mortal Plain. In my master's case, he chose his familiar, Teekl, as a means to project his own physical body into this world. So long as the cat remains here, so too can he.

Master Karion attempted to cheat a way out of this by creating a loophole. By creating a spiritual body here on the Mortal Plain, he sought to bypass the need to channel his magic through a familiar and eliminate his greatest weakness. But it didn't work out that way. As I said before, Magic is alive. And She does not like to be cheated. Master Klarion's spiritual body was created easily enough, but it was formed of raw Chaos Magic and gained a consciousness and will of its own. It became me. And since I am already alive and have a soul (somehow... it should be impossible but I'm not complaining) Master Klarion cannot possess my body and cannot exist on the Mortal Plain through me.

I don't have a physical body in the traditional sense. I am a being of shadows. Grey skin, red pupil-less eyes, dark purple hair and an intolerance for direct sunlight make me… well, I'm not entirely sure actually. I know I'm not human. I'm just shaped like one. I don't have organs or bones; I'm made up of just shadow on the inside. And the outside It's what I'm made of - shadows and magic. I don't need to breathe or eat or even sleep really, though rest is good after using up too much energy. I am actually a very useful tool, even if I'm not what was originally intended.

Naturally, Master Klarion threw a fit upon discovering that his attempt had failed. I was punished for my unwitting part in it. I was punished for coming into being when my consciousness was unwanted. Master Klarion bound my voice. I have never spoken a word or made a sound, and I never will. There is no reversing the curse. Which is, of course, crippling to my magical abilities. I cannot cast worded spells. The only thing I can still do is use the shadows. Mind you, shadows have almost limitless potential. Theoretically, with enough practice and discipline and training, I could become a Lord of Shadows in the same way Master Klarion is a Lord of Chaos or Dr. Fate is a Lord of Order. I have the power, the potential, but not the knowledge or experience for that sort of thing because I've only existed for thirteen days now. I am very far from the day I can live up to and properly unlock that potential. And I probably won't live long enough to reach that day. Master Klarion will likely kill me during one of his hissy-fits long before I reach any sort of real strength.

It took me a while to come to the conclusion that I don't actually want that to happen. I actually want to keep existing. It's one thing to be conscious and aware, but to want things for myself? Maybe I'm more real that I thought I was… All this being said, persisting with my decision to exist means obeying Master Klarion without question (not that I can speak any questions I might have anyway). So when he says 'find this guy and suck him through a shadow portal', I find the guy and suck him through a shadow portal. His name was Kent Nelson. And that was the start of my very first adventure.

His name was Kent Nelson.

And that was the start of my very first adventure.

I wanted to practice forming opinions and started coming up with them for everything that crossed my path. It seemed a good way to help develop my consciousness and identity. I did not want to be a copy of my Master. Master Klarion was, in my opinion, a whiny brat, but also very scary and I didn't want to know what would happen if he ever went all out. Teekl was a little diva and a bully. Abra Kadabra was a phony and a loser, granted reasonably clever, though that may just be because he's using technology from the future that makes him seem smart so he's also a cheater. This building was ugly and depressing. And Kent Nelson… he was awesome. He was strong and nice and kinda funny and brave. I decided that I liked Kent Nelson. I did not however like him more than I liked existing, and so did nothing. It grew surprisingly difficult as time drew on. I was unsure, however, if I was becoming fonder of Kent Nelson or less fond of living. Preferably the first.

Twenty-three days. That's how long Kent Nelson had been here. He hadn't budged an inch. And despite the way my innards writhed and swirled and billowed as I saw what happened to him, I held myself perfectly still and did nothing. Abra Kadabra was human and actually required sleep, so that's probably what he was doing. Klarion went outside to go destroy something because Mr. Nelson was pissing him off and he didn't want to kill someone in a fit of rage that he still wanted to play with by accident. I was on guard. There wasn't much to do. Mr. Nelson couldn't possibly have escaped even if I weren't here. I was reasonably impressed he was even conscious.

"You know son," Mr. Nelson spoke suddenly, surprising me, not that I showed it on the outside, "there are better people who would be willing to Apprentice you than Klarion. And you don't seem particularly suited to your Master."

I stared at him. I wasn't sure what it was that I wanted to say but I wished (not for the first time) that I could speak. It didn't happen.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked me.

I stared at him, not blankly but hesitantly. With a lifted hand and a wordless spell, I dissolved the shadows which formed my clothes around my neck. Mr. Nelson's eyes widened slightly in recognition. He knew what the marks around my neck meant. I swallowed and looked away silently. I couldn't offer any more explanation if I wanted to, not that it was needed anyway.

"Well that's a doozy," he realized. "There's no getting that off. But you already knew that."

I nodded.

"...You don't want to be here either, do you?" Mr. Nelson asked me. I think he already knew the answer.

I hesitated before looking down and shaking my head in defeat, lowering my ears slightly.

"Don't you worry there. Soon enough my friends will come to help me. I'm sure they'll help you too if you'd like." The very thought provoked an odd, fluttering sensation in my chest. I wasn't sure what it was, probably some sort of physical manifestation of internal emotion. Magic was easily affected by emotion after all and my body was fueled by magic so it only made sense. Then Mr. Nelson asked another question. I didn't know questions could make you happy. "What's your name, son?"

I felt the corners of my lips twitch up slightly. It was a strange reaction to have. I paused, unsure of how to communicate my name to the old man before turning and spelling my name out one letter at a time in black flames across the air. Fire and shadows didn't mix very easily and I'd purposely done a sloppy job so that they wouldn't be too strong or difficult to control. Kyd Wykkyd. I spelled it that way on purpose. I liked how spiky the letters looked when written out and it had a K like Klarion and Kadabra and Kent. Maybe it was a silly way to pick a name, but I'd never heard any 'normal' names, so it was the best I could do. I actually enjoyed having what was probably an odd name. It was better than nothing and I'd chosen it myself. Maybe someday someone could help me pick a more normal name…

"It's nice to meet you, Kyd Wykkyd," Mr. Nelson said, not at all thrown off by my name. Maybe it wasn't as strange as I thought.

I nodded to him and put a fist over my chest where my heart would be if I were human. I was pretty sure that was a greeting, wasn't it?

Mr. Nelson chuckled slightly. "Nowadays most people just shake hands or wave, but I like your style, Kyd. Don't lose it."

I cocked my head to the side but nodded.

I didn't interfere when the strange new people came. I was ordered to stay out of sight and out of sight I stayed. No more no less. Then I got a new order.

"Don't let him put on the helmet!" Master Klarion ordered.

And I had to obey his orders. The only way I could stop the speedster fast enough (because he was a speedster and I was not) was to switch places with him. I teleported just as the golden helmet came down over what would have been his head. It landed on mine instead. And I screamed.

And I screamed.

It hurt. There was a Lord of Order possessing my body forged through Chaos! I'm sure Dr. Fate was doing something with my body, probably fighting Master Klarion or something, but I couldn't be sure. Everything hurt! It was like everything that was supposed to be at least semi-solid in my body was melted loose and wisping away. I lost control of my shadows. My mindscape was being ripped apart before my eyes. I could feel myself shrinking as I leaked magic, trying to fight off the possession. I was losing. I was going to fade. And I was terrified.

I didn't mean for this to happen... Somebody help me…

Somebody help me…

At least I got the chance to use my name, just once…

-Wally POV-

Okay, I'm no magician (because magic doesn't exist!) but I'm pretty sure that Dr. Fate isn't supposed to be black, smoking, screaming, shrinking or generally writhing in pain. Klarion froze, then started laughing. It was a bit like hearing JJ laugh when he was in his crazy mode - you knew whatever set him off wasn't actually funny and you weren't sure you wanted to know what it was that set him off exactly.

"Oh this is great!" he bragged, "Now they can destroy each other! Get them both out of my way!"

That sounded bad. Dr. Fate (and that creepy kid who popped out of nowhere) being destroyed would definitely be bad. I ran forward, narrowly dodging Klarion's creepy shadow claws. I'd seen what those things did to Kent's glowy dome, I didn't want that happening to me. I ripped the helmet away from the guy's head and he fell forward, collapsed.

"Aww," Klarion whined, "they lived." A very creepy (inhumanly creepy!) expression morphed across his face. "I'll just have to fix that later. Now give me the helmet!"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," I told him, narrowly dodging one of his hands as it swept across the rooftop.

"You can't keep dodging forever!" he challenged. This was starting to feel like whack-a-mole. I didn't like being the rodent. "Just hold still already!" he ordered. The hands transformed into giant blades and cut diagonally across the roof. I just barely managed to jump between them. It'd changed from whack-a-mole to jump rope. I noticed the blade just barely passing over the prone body of Klarion's minion who was still lying on the floor where he had fallen, unmoving.

"Dammit, this isn't working," I muttered. So I did the only thing I could think of. I put on the helmet.

"Um… hello?"

-Kyd Wykkyd POV-

Wally was still talking. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He jumped about a foot in the air. I winced slightly and looked down. I didn't mean to startle him, I just wanted to get his attention.

"Geez! Someone should put a bell on you," he said.

I gave Wally an incredulous look. A bell? Somehow I sincerely doubted that would work. If I touched it directly, it would be robbed of sound too. I thought Zatara had explained this to everyone. Granted he was kind of talking down to everyone, but he did explain. Next second Wally was gone. And back. With a bell. And a collar. Huh.

"Ta-da! Here!" Wally held it out to me at arm's length. "Now you can stop scaring people witless and I can stop having heart attacks."

Were heart attacks really bad? They were, right? For humans? I'd been hurting Wally!

"No, no, no, no," he assured me quickly. "Not literal heart attacks. Just figurative ones."

What the everloving fuck is a 'figurative heart attack'? And did I really just freak out over that?

"Yeah, I know, people are weird," he dismissed. "Anyway, so with the collar that'll work right? And you can absorb it when we're on missions or whatever. Right?"

I nodded at him. Taking the collar I just sort of blinked at it.

"Here, I got it," Wally offered, taking the collar and buckling it around my neck comfortably.

I ran a thumb over the leather, a smile growing at the corners of my mouth. I don't exactly need much stuff like humans do. Clothes, food, whatever. I'm fine without, I essentially provide for myself so long as there's shadow. I don't even need air the same way humans do. So this is the first time in my life anyone had given me something. Wally didn't understand sign language and while I could spell it out with shadowfire, that was a pain in the neck. So I did something out of character and hugged him instead. I was grateful. I was glad.

Wally hugged me back. "I'm glad I finally did something right for you," he admitted. "I keep screwing up and hurting you by accident, so… yeah."

I cocked my head to one side before shrugging. Wally very much so lived in the world of science. I didn't blame him for not understanding some things. Like magic in general. Granted Wally stuck his foot in his mouth a lot, but that was fine. I just sort of figured it was in his nature. I was willing to respect that.

Kyd adored the cave. It was dark, there were places to hide, it wasn't damp mold or dusty. And most importantly there were people. People who didn't hate him even, for the first time in his existence! (There was Kent, but he was also being tortured and held prisoner and probably wouldn't have stuck around if he had any choice in the matter so Kyd figured that he didn't really count.)

Red Tornado was strange. He was similar in that he was non-human and non-biological… but he was also a robot. (Android. Kyd didn't know if there was a difference.) He was a personification of science and the opposite of mysticism. They were opposites. And neither of them knew how to 'act' human properly. Actually, Kyd wasn't sure that he wanted to act like something he wasn't. If he could suddenly (magically) become corporeal, he would, even if it meant he would have access to fewer of his powers. But that was impossible. Because he wasn't human. His body was collected from shadows and held together by magic. 'Human' had nothing to do with being a literal personification of darkness. Even his creator had been a Lord of Chaos, not even homo-sapien magi.

Most of the people here seemed okay with him despite that fact. Things with Wally though… were awkward. Wally still refused to believe in magic. And that hurt. Not physically, but… some other way Kyd wasn't yet sure how to name. How could Wally accept him if he actively rejected the very thing which made up the essential and absolute essence of Kyd's being? It just wasn't possible. And yet… Wally learned sign language. He gave him the bell… sure it was a joke but the gesture was appreciated. Honestly, the young speedster meant well… so Kyd just didn't know what to do.

Kyd couldn't speak, and while there were days when that weighed down on him so heavily he feared he might collapse under the silence, it helped that in general, he was a relatively quiet person. By nature, Kyd preferred to observe and learn rather than to ask questions directly or to actively seek answers. As he watched he saw things that others didn't notice or pay attention to, things no one else knew were there. Kyd paid particular attention to the people he was surrounded by since they were always moving and always active and so responsive and changing to the world around them, while constantly changing their world and the world in general in their turn. It was fascinating. And it was beautiful, especially when they interacted with each other.

JJ, in particular, seemed to have a tactile fixation. He would reach out and brush his hand across Apollo's wrist the second he seemed to start being upset and he'd return the gesture by taking his hand and moving his thumb across the back of it once or twice in apparent reassurance, even without looking sometimes. And the climbing. JJ climbed on people, especially tall ones. He would walk up, grab Conner's arm and clamber up so he was perched quite happily on the clone's shoulder, beaming down at people, and Conner would let him, merely looping an arm across the front of his legs so he wouldn't fall. Whenever Wally or Robin sat down, JJ would up and hop into their laps, burrowing into their sides happily. He always seemed quite content there. Sometimes JJ would take one of Kaldur's hands and poke at the webbing between his fingers curiously, playing with it and Kaldur would smile indulgently and continue what he was doing with his other hand unconcerned. He'd hug people from behind and scamper away before they could turn around and hug him back. Even without touching anyone, JJ was always physical in his speech and active in his thoughts. When he talked, he moved not just his arms but his whole body as though swaying to the meaning of his own words.

It was JJ's face, however, that taught Kyd the most.

It was moments like these where Kyd would reach out a hand of his own to the youngest(ish) boy. With a small shy smile which only sometimes reached his eyes JJ would take his hand. Sometimes he'd just hold it and that would be enough. Sometimes he'd pace it on his own head and Kyd would ruffle his hair for him, preening gently. Other times he'd duck under it completely and bury himself in Kyd's side, nuzzling closer, and Kyd would allow him to seep into his shadowy body a little bit and hold him closer than a purely physical being would be remotely capable of. But Kyd was a being of shadows and magic (and silence) so he could. And for JJ's sake, he would.