Raven chained her grief tightly and locked it into a deep corner of her heart. Something in her wilted, her hope diminished and the foundations of her will weakened, but she kept her outward calm.
Her birthday came and went, bringing with it the dark premonitions of what was to come. The prophecy was revealed, the fateful day came, and her father – her creator, she reminded herself – came to conquer. But in the hour of deepest despair her hope was rekindled and her will manifested itself, banishing her demonic sire and removing the threat of annihilation from the world.
But even though she managed to find peace and comfort with her friends, she could not find joy or happiness. She would never again feel them.
Raven was in lotus position, levitating in the Main Ops Room, reading a book. It was Teale's copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Whatever had happened between them, it reminded her of him, and it was one of her most precious possessions. She read the words written almost three millennia ago and tried to expand their meaning with her own thoughts on the ideas within.
She heard Cyborg and Beast Boy walk into the room, shouting and laughing, behaving even more boisterously than usual. A lot more. Mildly interested, she lifted her gaze to see what was going on and froze.
"Hey Rae! Look who's back! And I bet he doesn't even know what happened here while he was away!"
Teale was standing there, watching her through his grey eyes. She slowly disentangled herself from her lotus position and canceled the levitation. She strode towards him as if in a dream, took hold of his hand, gave him a small sisterly kiss on the cheek and said "Welcome back. It is good to see you."
Cyborg laughed uproariously. "Good to see him? You were always one for understatement, little sis, but this sets new heights even for you!" He swung his arm to clap Teale on his back, but Teale sensed it and ducked, with the end result that the huge metallic paw flew over him, slapping Beast Boy smack in the head and tossing him several feet to crash on the couch.
"Oops! Sorry, little bro! Got carried away there!"
All the commotion attracted Robin and Starfire. Robin gave a whoop and ran over to his friend, also trying to clap him on the back. This time Teale did not duck – there was no danger of broken bones or cracked spine. Starfire flew a full loop before streaking down to hug the surprised Teale, laughing merrily all the time. She then noticed he was turning purple, released her hug and giggled. Teale flashed a weak grin, gulping lungfuls of air.
The next two hours were spent by the Titans in recounting to Teale the story of Trigon's ascent and subsequent demise, told by everybody at the same time, often cutting each other off, hopping ahead and then jumping back, going off on tangents, in short in such a chaotic way that no one could make heads or tails of it, except that something big happened, that only six people in the entire world actually know about it, and that somehow Raven saved them all.
Teale glanced at Raven, but she was studying the book and ignoring everything and everyone. He couldn't tell if it was real or if she was putting on a show for him. It did not really matter.
I had no choice then, and I have no choice now. Just as I had to leave, now I had to return.
He longed to tell her why, to explain himself, to have her understand that he had to do it, but he knew he couldn't.
After a few hours the commotion died down and the Titans settled to their usual pursuits. Teale chatted with everyone except Raven. He then succumbed to Beast Boy's incessant requests, pleas and whines and played a round of Space Race 4 with him.
Teale played half-heartedly, barely paying attention to the game. To everyone's amazement, Beast Boy won by a small margin. When it ended, Teale said "Guys, I'm tired. I'm off to bed." and left the room. Beast Boy couldn't hear him, he was still staring at the results screen, mouth open and a little drool dribbling down his chin.
After about a minute, he whispered "I won… I won. I won! I WON!" and started hopping up and down, switching forms. He threw himself as a small green monkey in Starfire's arms and led her in a dance. Starfire was never one to refuse a good dance, so the strange duo whirled and hopped around the room, laughing and screeching.
Amidst the commotion, Cyborg rose from the couch and strolled over to Raven, sitting down beside her.
He tapped his prosthetic eye with one finger and said "Little sis, you'll forgive ole' Uncle Cy for prying into your personal life, but it don't take a broad frequency, EM amplifying, image enhancing eye to see that something's not right between you and Teale. Wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"Just like the old Raven we all knew and loved. But you're not her any more. What is it?"
She sighed. "Cyborg, I don't want to talk about it."
"I know. That's why I'm wasting my time trying to wheedle it out of you instead of aligning the tachyon injector on the T-Car. Now be a good little girl and tell your Uncle Cy what is it. Did something happen between the two of you the night he left?"
Raven felt a flash of anger. "Nothing happened, Cyborg!" She started to rise from her lotus position. I just want to go to my room and enjoy my misery in peace.
"Ahhh, so that's it?" asked Cyborg, placing his hand on hers, stopping her from rising. The metallic hand was warm and its touch was surprisingly gentle. "You see how easy it was to tell it all to Uncle Cy, little sis?"
Her confusion must have been obvious, because Cyborg suddenly chuckled.
"Your emphasis on the Nothing" he explained. "You see, little sis, us guys are a weird bunch. We'll happily face hordes of killer robots, armies of evil mutants and extradimensional demons without flinching. But when we have to face a girl? Whole 'nuther story. Your insides turn to mush, your tongue thickens, your throat is suddenly three sizes too small for you to be able to breathe… Nasty business. Give him some time, little sis. Give him some time."
Raven couldn't feel Cyborg's emotions through the metallic hand, but she saw them plainly in his human eye. His concern, his love, his friendship, the way he called her "little sis". The angry retort she almost threw into his face evaporated. She lowered her eyes and sighed.
"It is not exactly like that, Cy. It's much more complicated."
"Ain't it always?" he said, and with a final pat on her hand, he left her.