Gamer4 in. The opening to this chapter might seem a little weird, but that's because it was part of the beginning of the original book, and I somehow neglected to put it in up until now. But, it actually fits fairly well here, so I don't feel an overpowering need to go back and change it. Anyways, onwards and upwards, and forwards, they say.

Disclaimer: A quick look through my stories would be enough for anyone to know that I despise writing these things...

Chapter IV

The Five-and-a-Half Minute Hallway

When discussing the film released by the Titans after they left the tower, one must always make mention of two strange shorts released by them months before the release of the film itself, and people's reactions to them.

The first time anyone on the outside (barring Tim, assuming everything was true) heard of the problems the Titans were experiencing in their tower was with the release of a fun little short entitled "The Five-and-a-Half Minute Hallway," so named because it was five and a half minutes long. It was an optical illusion regarding a hallway in Titans Tower, and would typically not make sense to the one who watched it until the film was released several months later.

In this short, the camera is held by Robin, and, while nobody actually appears on camera, we can deduce from voices that other people involved with the filming included Cyborg, Tim, and Starfire, though Beastboy and Raven seem to be absent. Robin, the camera in his hands shaking somewhat, turns to a door on the wall of the living room. He approaches this door slowly, zooming in on the fine paneling and textures, before turning to a nearby window. Opening the window, he pushes the camera out and focuses on what would be the other side of the door, except there's nothing out there except the outer wall of the tower. At one point, he tosses a small rock across the wall, an act which wouldn't make sense until a few moments later, when the camera reenters the Titans' living room. Here, it returns to that door, and Robin, having proven that nothing can logically be behind this door except a wall or a very small closet, he moves forward, reaches out his hand, and pulls it open.

On the other side is no wall or closet, but a long, dark hallway, continuing down for roughly ten feet before coming to an abrupt end. The camera zooms in and out, affirming the hallway's presence, before Robin returns to the window and shows us the other side of the door again. But where there should be a ten-foot protuberance of some kind, there is still only the other side of a wall. Having affirmed the impossibility of what's on camera, Robin returns to the door and zooms in on the hallway again, still present, lurking just beyond the camera's lens. He takes a few steps forward, but is stopped by Starfire's sudden cry: "Please, friend Robin! Do not enter the hallway of darkness!"

Though we can't see Tim in the shot, we can easily imagine him scratching the back of his head as he says, "Yeah, I'm with Star on this one, bro. Doesn't seem like a good idea."

Here, Robin stops, but slowly reaches out his hand into the hallway. Abruptly, he withdraws. "Wow, it's cold in there," he muttered, shaking his hand.

This short was succeeded a month or so later by the disturbing, enigmatic Exploration #4. This one, compared to Five-and-a-Half Minute Hallway was very clearly not one continuous shot, and was much longer. While we can't divulge every detail of the second short, we can go over a few separate segments, including an exasperated Robin taking a drink of coffee and thinking out loud: "They've been down there too long..." No clarification is given as to who "they" are or where "there" is. "It's no good," he mutters, taking another drink. "We'll have to go in eventually..."

A few random shots, including the tower surrounded by trees, a red substance spreading across a tiled floor-

And then we see a shot of Cyborg, Raven, and Tim all working together to hold Starfire back from something. "HE- IS NOT- GONE!" Starfire is shouting, fighting tooth and nail to leap towards something off-screen. "WE MUST GO IN AFTER HIM!"

A shot of a young woman with pink hair pulled up into two spikes on the sides of her head, dressed in black. She is running desperately through a long, dark hallway.

A shot of another young woman, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, with long, blond hair. She has a young man dressed in blue leaning on her. "Terra Markov," she is muttering to herself as she pushes through a similar hallway. "Born in Colony 9, Markovia. Came to Jump City in 2007. I'm not alone down here- it's watching me- stalking me- maybe human, maybe not- long fingers- Terra Markov, Colony 9, Markovia, Jump City, 2007... Terra Markov, Colony 9, Markovia, Jump City, 2007-"

XXXX

A great deal of debate raged over these shorts, particularly in relation to each other, debates that only grew more furious with the release of the film that tied them all together. Several considered them little more than previews of a coming attraction, others consider them an essential part of the film's experience, and still others consider them great moments of cinema in their own rights. Once more, the Titans don't seem to care one way or the other about their audience's belief. However, in analyzing the film they released, it seems that none can go without mentioning these predeceasing shorts, and the bearing they have on the film as a whole.

XXXX

Returning to the film itself, when the camera fades in again, a great deal of time has passed since the incident in the closet, where the closet itself seemingly expanded by two feet. Tim neglected to check into his hotel, electing instead to remain behind and help his new friends try to solve the unrelenting mystery surrounding the tower- the undeniable fact that the insides were a good two feet larger than the outside. While they analyze the issue from all sorts of different angles, they can find no answer to how their home has suddenly become so strange.

In absence of measurements, now that the anomaly is so blatant, Robin, Tim and Cyborg turn instead to science to try and find an explanation for it. Raven falls back on her books, from ancient tomes to modern Azarian dissertations, trying to find some branch of magic to explain the strange goings-on, but so far, even this had turned up no results. Starfire and Beastboy, belonging neither to the realms of earthly science or Azarian magic, were increasingly shut out altogether.

One day found the two of them together, in the living room. Cyborg and Tim were working together in the closet, as usual, while Raven and Robin were in their respective rooms, poring over books of magic and science. Starfire and Beastboy found themselves sitting together on the couch, watching a movie. It was about this time that they began a conversation, not noticing as Raven slipped into the living room behind them, heading over to the kitchen to brew a cup of tea.

It started innocently enough, as a character named- wouldn't you know it- Emma was introduced to the plot. Beastboy glanced over as he saw Starfire give a small twitch out of the corner of his eye. "Something wrong, Star?"

Starfire briefly considered the situation, and decided, this time, to come clean right away. Her friends had a way of getting her secrets out of her. She smiled... perhaps it was better that way, unable to hide her troubles...

"It is that name... Emma," Starfire said. "I have heard-"

"Oh," Beastboy said, looking downcast. "So you've heard it, too, huh? I was kind of hoping you wouldn't..."

"You have heard Robin saying that name, too?"

"Of course," Beastboy nodded. "My room is right next to his, and I have better hearing, remember?" he motioned at his ears. "I don't know exactly when it started... he just starts muttering in hi sleep, over and over again. 'Emma, Emma.' I thought it might be... well, you probably know. He never says anything else about her, just that name."

Starfire looked downcast. Beastboy gave a small jump. Waving his hands in front of him, he quickly added, "I- I don't mean it like that! I mean, I'm sure it's just-"

Raven had heard enough. Not sticking around to hear Beastboy digging himself into a deeper hole, she headed through the doors, strode furiously down to Robin's door, and banged on it.

A second later, it slid open, revealing a somewhat disgruntled-looking Robin on the other side, a few stray papers that looked like the tower's building plans under his arm. "Something wrong, Raven?" he asked.

"I'll tell you what's wrong- Emma," Raven said.

As an empath, Raven prided herself on being able to read emotions like an open book. That said, she wasn't quite prepared for the wave of emotion that rolled off of Robin at this simple word- a mixture of dread and sorrow- and, strangely placed, some sort of remorse. Even stranger, Robin didn't seem to show any sign of it on his face. Taking a deep breath, he responded, "I already told Star, I don't know anyone by that name." He quickly moved to close the door, only for Raven to stick her foot out to prevent this.

"Look, I don't care if you keep your secrets," she said, a slight fire burning in her eyes. "All the secrets I keep, how could I? What I do care about is when Starfire is hurting because you won't tell her the truth. You must realize how this looks to her?"

Robin backed up. "It's nothing like that," he said firmly. "I wouldn't keep it secret if I thought it could hurt her to do it-"

"It is hurting her," Raven interrupted. "She's going around, asking everyone she can if they know who Emma is, she's confused why you won't tell her yourself, and scared about the reason for it. Robin-"

"I need to go out," Robin interrupted.

"...What?" Raven asked, slightly taken aback.

"I'm heading out," Robin said, pushing past her. "There are a couple books I wanted to look at at the library."

Raven stared as her leader marched down the hall, turned to the elevator, and stepped out of sight. This was strange...

Sighing, and remembering her still-brewing tea, she turned back to the living room. She'd press him again when he got back, enough as was necessary to get the answers she was looking for.

XXXX

On the outside, with the trace of a sigh, Robin followed through on what he'd said. He made tracks for the library- though with no clear idea of the books he was actually looking for. Vaguely, he began pulling some books of M. C. Escher and Salvadore Dali off the shelves and scanning through them. It was strange, he thought, how different the impossible was in a book. It was one thing to look at an Escher or Dali picture, when you knew you could return to reality just by closing the book, another altogether when there was a violation of everything you ever knew in your own home, in what you had previously defined as 'reality...'

He was broken out of his reverie when a voice behind him muttered, "Raven said I'd find you here." He turned to see Tim walking towards him.

"You come to chew me out, too?" Robin guessed.

"No, nothing like that," Tim said, raising his hands in surrender. "It's just that... my vacation time is over tomorrow. Sorry, buddy, I have to be going soon. I'm heading to a hotel tonight, then I'm going to catch a train back to Gotham tomorrow."

Once again, Robin felt that strange sense of loss at the idea of his brother leaving. "Sorry to see you go," he finally said. "I'll miss you."

"Hey, it's not like it'll be forever," Tim laughed. "I know I wasn't trained by the greatest detective ever, but I did notice that you've got a phone in that tower of yours."

"It even rings," Robin easily retorted. For a moment, they stared at each other, then they stepped forward to embrace. "See you around," Robin said.

"Yeah, see you around," Tim repeated with a smile.

XXXX

Robin let out a sigh as he stepped back into the tower. After a while out in the city, he'd come to a decision. He was going to apologize to Raven, and have a talk with Starfire. He couldn't bear the idea that he was causing the Tamaranian princess pain. But first, he had a stop to make.

He headed up to the closet, where he found Cyborg, taking a break from working on the extra two feet to stand up and glare at it, furious at its simple existence. "Got some books for you," Robin quietly muttered, tossing a couple of scientific tomes to the half-robot.

"Thanks," Cyborg muttered, not entirely sure how they would help, but willing to accept anything at this point.

At that moment, Starfire came floating in. "Hello, friends, have you discovered anything?" she asked hopefully.

"Nothing," Cyborg muttered. "There's no way this should exist. This is an abomination of space."

"Yeah..." Robin said, only half paying attention. "Say, Starfire, have you seen Raven anywhere?"

Starfire was on the point of answering, when to their ears came a new noise: the sound of laughter, coming from the vague area of the living room. "Sounds like Beastboy's about to crack down there," Cyborg said with a vague smile, returning to the two feet.

As they sat there, they picked up the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, followed by the door being flung open. There stood Beastboy, making wild motions with his arms, but seeming almost incapable of speech. His eyes were wide, and his skin seemed to have turned white. But that wasn't what caught their eyes: it was that his mouth was entirely motionless, and he was very clearly not laughing. And yet they could all still hear a continuing, wild laughter-

"Beastboy!" Robin shouted, jumping up. "Is something wrong with Raven?"

Beastboy continued with his wild motions, waving his arms in the direction of the living room, but apparently unable or unwilling to speak. Throwing only a brief look at each other, the other three shot out of the closet and down the hallway. Sure enough, as they approached, the laughter began to distinguish itself as being in Raven's voice. They increased their pace- whenever Raven laughed, it generally meant something bad was going on, but this... this laughter was just wild.

Finally, they burst into the living room, whereupon Starfire gave a great gasp, Cyborg's jaw almost literally dropped to the ground, and Robin reeled back as though he'd been punched in the stomach. On the left wall of the tower, a new hallway had suddenly appeared, roughly ten feet deep, and made of that same black-with-streaks-of-gray material as the closet. And sitting a foot or so in, curled up on the ground, with her legs pulled up to her body, and laughing like a maniac, was Raven.

Only when they'd entered the living room did they realize that words were mixed in with the laughter. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall!" Raven was crying. "Show me! Define me! I am the Eternal Telmerain! I am not an Anti-Existence- I am the perfect chain!"*

While none of the titans could make heads or tails of what she was saying, it is immediately obvious that Raven isn't the only one affected by this strange new addition. As soon as Starfire's eyes fell on the hallway, she gave a brief scream and began flying as far back from the darkness as possible. It is only now that we realize that she seems to suffer from an acute claustrophobia.

Between Raven's rambling, Beastboy's wild arm motions, and Starfire desperately pushing as far away from the hallway as possible, only Robin and Cyborg were left thinking rationally. Robin, seeing the main problem, rushed towards the hallway and pulled Raven forcibly out of it. As he did, he noticed, in passing, that the air seemed to turn very cold at the hallway's threshold. The moment she was out of the hallway, Raven collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Robin picked her up, handed her off to Cyborg, who was stronger, and began ushering the group out of the living room and towards the medical lab.

XXXX

Once there, they placed Raven gently in one of the beds, where she began floating a couple inches off the surface. They'd seen this before- this was her natural defenses kicking in, her powers healing her subconsciously. Determining that there was no immediate danger, they instead turned to each other. "What- the heck- is that?!" Cyborg started, managing to keep from hysteria, but just barely. "If someone has the time, would they mind explaining what's happening to this tower?"

Starfire sat down on one of the beds, sobbing quietly into her hands, clearly rattled. Robin sat down, putting his hand around her shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Star," he said quietly, doing his best to reassure her. "It's going to be okay."

Beastboy collapsed onto a bed as well, taking deep breaths, doing his best to calm down, though his eyes were still bugging out a bit.

"We cannot go in there!" Starfire said, also doing her best to calm down. "Please, Robin, promise me you will not enter that hallway!"

Robin hesitated slightly, but then gave a small nod. "Alright, Star, I promise." Turning to Beastboy, he said, "Beastboy, can you talk?"

Though he still looked somewhat ready to vomit, Beastboy nodded. "I- I think so," he said.

"Good," Robin said. "Now, I need you to tell me, as best you can, what happened there."

"I don't know," Beastboy said earnestly. "I was just sitting there, playing video games by myself, when I suddenly heard this laughing behind me. I turned around, and there was Raven, sitting in that hallway! That's when I ran up for you guys..."

Robin quietly stood up. "Well, I don't know what's going on here," he said, "but I think we'll need to call in some extra help." With that, he headed out.

Cyborg stared after him for a little bit, then quietly said, "Yeah, I'll call in some help, too." With that, he began punching in a number in his arm.

XXXX

As it turns out, Tim hadn't even made it to the hotel before Robin gave him his call-back. He was skeptical at first, but all traces of this vanished when he returned to the tower. We see him staring, dumbfounded, at the newest addition to the room. "Apparently, closets are for wimps," he muttered quietly, examining the hallway closely. He turned to the window, pushed it open, and gazed outside. "No sign of it from out here," he announced.

"We figured that," Robin muttered. "Any ideas on what to do about it?"

"Call an exorcist," Tim said, only half-joking. "As far as what I can do, well... we'll see."

Over the course of the next day, he builds a door and installs it into the wall, sealing off the hallway. He furnished the door with no less than five locks. "Don't worry," he later assured the group. "This one's on me."

"I hope you don't get in too much trouble with your job," Robin mused, watching his brother at work.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Tim said good-naturedly. "I called them up. Explained it was a family emergency. I've got a little more time over here." Smiling, he finally locked up the door, and stepped back to admire his work. "Honestly," he said, "I'd be more concerned about you. Aren't there supposed to be a lot of baddies out here? Like that one guy- what was his name- Slake?"

"Slade," Robin said shortly. "No, he's not a problem. He's dead- he's been dead for a year."

"Oh, really?" Tim asked, his eyebrows raised. "How did that happen?"

"I don't like to talk about it," Robin muttered. "So, that door will hold, right?"

"Sturdy as they come," Tim agreed. "You know, what I think you need is to get the word out- maybe get a professional opinion."

"How do I do that?" Robin asked.

Tim shrugged. "Make a video of it?" he suggested. "If all else fails, you can post it on Youtube."

XXXX

The general agreement is that this segment is to thank for the production of The Five-and-a-Half Minute Hallway. Everything seems to fit- Beastboy and Raven's absence, Tim's return, and the door placed on the hallway itself. While the short would play into the film later on, this still doesn't stop many people from considering it to be the trailer it was considered from the beginning. Perhaps interest in this mechanic (after all, whether it was real or faked, the inclusion of the trailer as part of the film is a clever touch) was more eclipsed by what was to follow. Either way, it is still the opinion of many people that the short, regardless of how it ties to the film, is a masterpiece of modern cinema, and one frequently cited in discussions of the post-modern.

XXXX

*Apparently, I can't even resist giving references in a story as serious as this one. A tip of the hat to Xenosaga, a game series I have a very love-hate relationship with. Great story and gameplay, but dang, those bosses are so annoying...

Not as much 'punch' at the end of this chapter, but I'm hoping there's been enough advancement in the plot to satisfy. To let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism and questions, as always, welcome to help make the story better, while I will use flames to stare into for hours on end, being hypnotized by the dancing fire, and finally falling asleep right where I sit, Gamer4 out.