Disclaimer: The author does not own the Teen Titans. All credits go to the respective creators of the Teen Titans, the most amazing set of characters in the world.
I Fear That You'll Fear Me
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" recited Raven calmly from her place in the air. Two large black claws reached from behind Gizmo and seized his jet pack, completely disassembling it in seconds. As Gizmo fell screaming curses from the sky, Cyborg took the opportunity to blast him with his sonic cannon, just to make sure he didn't try building anything new. Meanwhile, Starfire pelted Mammoth with a flurry of star bolts as Robin raced around him in circles, wounding a length of cord around him. Beast Boy on the other hand, had morphed into a triceratops and was trying to pop See-more's gargantuan eyeball with his horn before he took off from the ground.
With Cyborg handling Gizmo, Raven squared off with the H.I.V.E's equivalent of her: Kyd Wykkyd. His dark powers were similar to hers and if the two of them stood side by side with their dark garb, stoic expressions and pale complexions, it would be hard not to mistake them for twins. But on the inside, they were as different as day and night. They glared at each other, quietly oblivious to the racket their teammates were raging around them. They simply stared; each wondering why the other refused to attack or even move.
"Azarath-" Kyd Wykkyd suddenly opened his own portal and disappeared through it. Raven's amazement slammed into her like a ton of bricks. Her surprise was quickly replaced with a cold twinge of dread that started in her spine and spread through each and every vein.
Today was the day.
Raven felt a choking sensation seizing her neck; her own fear strangling and sucking the breath from her lungs. She collapsed on the ground as if injured, her body heaving in laborious gasps. She cast a gaze upon her teammates and having sensed they could handle the others, she hastily engulfed herself in her dark powers and teleported herself back to her bedroom. Once there, she forcefully shut her eyes and levitated off the ground, reciting her mantra over and over again in a desperate bid to calm herself. She knew that meditation was her form of escapism, but at this point, what choice did she have?
The remaining titans stormed into the tower like a tornado on the run. They all reeked with the humiliating stench of failure. Before Robin and Starfire had restrained him, Mammoth had smashed his great fists onto the street, sending huge slabs of Tarmac flying towards some unlucky civilians. One old lady was in the intensive care unit while three middle-schoolers were hospitalised with more broken bones than one could count with one's fingers and toes. They felt as though they had won the battle but lost the war. They should have done better. They had always taken pride in ensuring the civilians' safety on all their missions. But now this. Their perfect record had been smashed. The fact that Kyd Wykkyd had escaped added insult to injury and Raven's sudden ditching of the mission stirred the whirlwinds of resentment. As such, four disgruntled titans split from each other like the ends of a fraying rope; each heading to their own rooms for some time alone to think.
Beast Boy shuffled into the main room with his ears down. Jerking the fridge open, he pulled out a slice of tofu, crushed it up and threw the broken bits it into a frying pan. He flicked on the gas before taking out a plate and dropping it on the counter with a clatter. Having carelessly thrown a small knife on the plate, he ripped open a loaf of bread and tossed two slices onto the plate. From a lower cupboard, he took out a bottle of ketchup and some salt before kicking the cupboard door shut. He took several minutes to doggedly put the elements of his sandwich together in an untidy jumble of poorly prepared ingredients. Having finished his prep work, he slowly took a bite - vainly wishing that the image of a slab Tarmac smashing into an old lady would leave his mind. Sure, she shouldn't have been there watching the drama, but it had been the Titans' duty to protect her and they had failed. The door behind him slid open and he could hear Cyborg's heavy footsteps followed by lighter, stealthier ones. That would have to be Robin, since Starfire and Raven usually flew everywhere.
There was no need for a greeting. Their heavy thoughts were mutual.
Raven opened her eyes and touched down to the ground, clutching her temples. She usually felt better after meditating, but today it was different. She could sense that her teammates had returned, and although she was not next to them, she could clearly feel their emotions from where she was. Guilt. Anger. Frustration. Regret. These negative emotions bounced off the walls of the tower and careened into Raven. She fell to the floor, trying desperately to keep her own emotions and powers under control.
"Cyborg," began Beast Boy hesitantly as he took a seat next to him on the couch. His friend looked so hurt that he didn't know what to say. "Wanna play some games?"
"I'm not in the mood for it, B." replied Cyborg grumpily staring at the floor. Robin joined them on the couch with a pained expression on his face. As the leader of the titans, he felt responsible for all that happened and blamed himself for not stopping Mammoth earlier. But he would not blame Star. Never would he ever blame Star. In fact, if not for her blinding Mammoth with an enormous star bolt then using her alien strength to wrestle him to the ground, more people would probably have gotten hurt. The doors of the main room slid open again and Starfire came floating in. She wore Raven's characteristic scowl on her pretty face. Despite being the most upbeat member of the titans, she too was feeling lousy. Just then, the door slid open for the third time and the Queen of Crabbiness herself flew in.
"Raven!" Screeched Beast Boy as he exploded from the couch like confetti from a canon. "Are you okay? Why did you abandon us! We could've used your help!"
"Friend Raven, do you have the blue feeling?" asked Starfire innocently, temporarily cheered to see Raven, crabby looking as she was.
"I'm fine." Raven said dully as she poured herself a cup of tea. How she longed to retreat to the safety of her room! But she could not. Not before she told them what she needed to say. "You have the cheer up," she gritted her teeth and avoided eye contact.
"Cheer up? Ya want us to cheer up?" Cyborg suddenly exploded, something that surprised even Robin. "How many times have we told ya to cheer up only to be met with that ridiculous scowl of yours? Plenty of times! And now you wanna waltz in here and act like a therapist telling people to cheer up? We'll cheer up when you do!"
"That's enough." Robin elbowed Cyborg and shot him a warning glare.
"I-" Raven gripped her cup so tightly that her pale knuckles began to flash white. "I sense emotions and am affected by the emotions of those around me. You should know that by now."
"So ya ditched the mission, got people hurt because of your irresponsibility, got us all in a foul mood and now ya wanna pretend like it's all our fault that-"
"-Cyborg!" Robin's command snapped Cyborg right out of his rant.
"I need to meditate." With that, Raven opened a portal and disappeared.
"Look what you did!" Cried Beast Boy the moment Cyborg let him go. "You made things worse!"
"Sorry man, I don't know what got into me." Cyborg hung his head. "I was just so wound up about, you know."
"All this negativity isn't helping." Said Robin wearily as he turned towards the door and motioned for the others to follow him. "We should leave. I doubt we can cheer up with what we have on our minds so the best we can do is to leave her alone for a while."
It was a sad silence settled over the group as they headed towards the T-Car. This was becoming a depressing routine - them going out together and her staying at home by herself. For several weeks now, Raven had been more aloof and mysterious than usual, blowing off numerous team outings and even some mission briefings. They had tried everything. Robin had encouraged, probed, prodded, bribed and when he got too frustrated, had even resorted to yelling at her. Mission briefings were too important to be blown off. Starfire cried, whined, wailed, groaned and begged Raven to come along while Beast Boy pranked, pleaded, shouted and downright harassed her by taking some of her books hostage and insisting that she pay the 'ransom' by coming to movie night with the Titans. As for Cyborg, he stood and watched from the side, bribing her with waffles occasionally but generally giving Raven her space. He figured that she had enough harassment from the rest of the Titans to deal with although he did share their sentiments. They were all afraid that if they let her go into seclusion, she would never come back.
And though they tried, still she refused like the stubborn half-demon that she was to join in the team activities. In fact, the more they tried to include her, the crabbier she got. Movie night was one thing however, this was the first mission she had ditched and to the rest of her teammates, this was downright unacceptable; especially since they had failed the mission in her absence. They hated to admit it but they had certainly taken her for granted.
"I don't know what's wrong and she won't tell me." Robin confided as they drove along searching for a good place to just sit and rest.
"It's so frustrating," Cyborg sighed as the car ground to a halt before a red light. "She knows that we want to help her but she just keeps on hiding things from us. I thought the whole experience with Trigon coming back would change her and teach her to trust us more but apparently not."
"Wait a minute!" Beast Boy's eyes widened in the direction of a large poster advertising a local band's upcoming gig. "The date on that poster!"
"I do the seeing of it. What is of the puzzle to you?" Starfire asked sweetly having leaned over to Beast Boy's window for a closer look..
"It's Raven's birthday!" Beast Boy exclaimed excitedly before bouncing up and down on his seat like a child.
"That's today's date!" Gasped Cyborg as cars behind them started honking at him because the light had turned green. "We've been so busy with Plasmus, Johnny Rancid and the Hive that we totally forgot!" He exclaimed a bit lamely.
"Is that why she's acting weird?" Beast Boy wondered. "Is it some kind of Raven tradition to hate every birthday she has?"
"Aww c'mon! It isn't possible for her to have two bad birthdays in a row!" Cyborg surmised as he cast a glance over at Robin.
"You never know." Robin said after a few seconds of thought. "Her last birthday was the day that the world was supposed to end."
"What if there's another prophecy?" Asked Beast Boy. The moment the last word left his mouth, Starfire let out an ear-piercing screech that nearly caused Cyborg to crash the car.
"It is the ending of the world again?" She demanded, her big green eyes darting around the car's cabin.
"No. Turn around we're going back." Robin ordered before reaching behind to offer the startled Starfire his hand. "Raven needs to answer some questions."
"Raven? Raven?" Robin pounded on her room door twice. There was no response. "You try." He gently nudged Starfire forward. She pounded the entire door down with a single knock.
"She isn't in here." Cyborg's robotic eye adjusted to the darkness of Raven's room faster than the others did.
"Let's track her communicator." Robin pulled out his own to check her coordinates. "Weird. This says she should be right here in the tower."
"She ditched the communicator." Beast Boy's sharp eyes had caught sight of the yellow object near the foot of Raven's bed.
"There has to be another way to find her. Cyborg, go through all the surveillance footage we have of the tower. Starfire and Beast Boy, fly to the mainland and search through all her favourite hideouts." Robin gave out orders as he stepped into Raven's room and began snooping around.
"Oh Raven." He thought to himself as he surveyed her room. "Why?"