1A/N: So for the record, for this story none of the episodes happened after haunted. I don't think I'm completely happy with this chapter but who knows. Another strange one but they've all been strange. Robin will be back in the next chapter when things probably will get stranger. Oh and thanks to everyone who reviewed. Every time I lose my interest in writing, I just go back and read a few nice reviews and it usually gets me going again so thank you very much. It is appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but hey, I think we all knew that already

Doors That Can't Be Closed

Chapter 4

By: FinalityLife

Raven hung back in the main room, seemingly in shadows, the same shadows that seemed to follow the young woman wherever she went, watching...observing her friends as they scampered around the kitchen preparing a very late breakfast as it was already after 10 o'clock. Each member was their characteristic jovial, boisterous self which in Raven's mind made absolutely no sense but of course there were plenty of things at the moment that didn't make any sense. Though Raven made no effort to hide her watching, as it was clearly visible to anyone just by looking at her, none of the Titans seemed to pay her any notice at all. The only time she would break her gaze from being on them was the few times she found herself looking at the main room entrance, hoping that Robin would just glide in with a smile on his face and make everything all right. He never did come.

Time passed with much of the same activities and feelings radiating off of her three teammates. They were not feeling concerned or worried, but had a strange contentment within each of them. As Raven watched, she continued to analyze the meeting that had taken place in Cyborg's room. Starfire and Beast Boy had seemingly made a point to attack her and her words and seemed completely in to the idea of removing Robin from the position of leader as well as the tower. Beast Boy had seemed so cold, so uncaring in that meeting and she had never seen him in such a way, with the one exception of when they had battled Terra. Raven felt herself shudder at the thought of the blonde girl as it reminded her of how she had allowed herself to be fooled, to be hurt, and nearly destroyed along with the rest of her friends.

Raven watched Starfire who had a very large grin on her face as she consumed some strange food of hers that only she could digest, let alone enjoy and Raven carefully noticed that despite her smile and the good feelings coming from her, she continued to rub that exact same spot on her arm. It seemed almost like there was still pain there that she was trying to sooth away, but Raven knew there was no physical pain anymore though she also knew there was indeed pain within the young woman still. However, it confused Raven as to why she felt no emotional distress from Starfire at all.

Raven's eyes drifted over to the third Titan, the one she knew for a fact had openly and blatantly lied about her and her actions to the other Titans. It was what made the least sense to her. Why would he do it? There was no possible explanation in her mind because she knew the man as well as anybody could, and he was not one to do such a thing. She also remembered how he had glared at her at the meeting, as if she was being out of control when in fact she was being the only true rational one there. Over and over again the same thought ran through Raven's head. Nothing made sense.

Raven quietly waited for a moment to talk to Cyborg alone and as time passed, she once again found herself impatiently tapping her foot on the floor. It seemed to her that Cyborg was purposely taking his time to cook and eat and carry on completely irrelevant conversations with Beast Boy. After what seemed like an eternity, Cyborg finally sat up from the kitchen table and announced that he was going to go work on the T-car for awhile. As he walked out of the room, Raven was positive that he had turned his head to give her the strangest of smiles though she wasn't sure if she had just imagined the entire thing. She just wasn't sure anymore.

Cyborg busied himself underneath the hood of the T-car, wrench in hand, a happy tune whistling from his lips. He never even saw her coming.

"Cyborg..."

"What the..." BAM! Cyborg had shot up from the sudden appearance of Raven's voice, making solid contact with the hood with the human side of his head. Raven almost felt like cringing at the sound of the impact but she really wasn't in a sympathetic mood.

"Damn, damn, damn! Why do you have to always be sneaking up on people Raven! Can't you just stick to doing that to Beast Boy. I know you would enjoy that a lot more." Raven glared out from under her hood.

"I believe you said almost the exact thing last night to me Cyborg when we talked or are you still trying to pretend for whatever reason that did not happen." Cyborg's face immediately turned to one of immense confusion before falling into a very strange look, one that was usually reserved for when a person was put face to face with a crazy person.

"Umm Rae, are you sure your feeling alright because I have no idea what you are talking about. The only person I talked to last night was Starfire when she came to my room to talk about Robin and his...condition. I never saw you last night." Raven's response was low, more of an accusing hiss than anything, and Raven wasn't even sure where it had come from, only that it was out of her mouth before she could even think.

"Liar." Raven watched as Cyborg took a slight step back, his apprehension at this very moment quite clear.

"Just calm down Rae. I mean why would I lie about something like that. Your like the baby sister I never had, why would I even think about doing something so stupid for a second. I'm not getting anything out of it." Raven found herself unable to come up with a response, noticing the genuine sincerity in Cyborg's voice when he had called her baby sister. She would be lying to herself if she didn't admit hearing those words spoken like that did bring her comfort, a different comfort than when Robin was near, but still good.

"I'm sorry Cyborg but I know I talked to you last night. Is it possible your having a glitch in your system or something, maybe affecting your memory." Cyborg's lips formed into a grim line.

"Sure, it has to be the machine's fault, faulty wiring or something." Raven felt the slightest sense of loathing in Cyborg's voice, whether it was for her or himself at that moment she was not quite clear.

"That's not what I meant Victor...its just...there has to be an explanation unless you really are just lying straight face to me right now." Raven was trying to keep her accusing tone light but she just couldn't help it. Her confusion and frustration were getting the better of her. Cyborg's eye turned hard, his voice stern.

"I am not going to stand here Raven and keep being insulted by you. I will not continue to let you call me a liar when I am not one. You come into my garage, making outrageous claims, questioning my integrity and then my own brain, and you expect me to stand here and take it." Cyborg was almost yelling and Raven found herself speechless and was happy her hood covered most of her face. This felt like it had come out of nowhere, Cyborg twisting her intentions into something bad. She wasn't trying to insult him, she was just trying to find answers, and now...mad would be an understatement.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to insult you. You're overreacting Cyborg."

"Just like you were overreacting at the meeting this morning." Raven gritted her teeth.

"I was not overreacting."

"Yeah and you just always scream out no during general conversation. You're acting strange Raven. Maybe I'm not the one lying here. Maybe there's something wrong with you."

"There is nothing wrong with me Cyborg. I am not the one who 'forgot' our conversation yesterday." Raven flinched slightly as an angry Cyborg slammed the hood of the T-car down making a loud bang.

"Listen Rae, I did not talk to you last night." Each word was spoken loudly and emphasized to make his point. "So just stop with this nonsense. You need to stop acting weird and pull it together because in case you forgot we have a problem with our 'leader' which is far more serious than your little phantom conversations. Okay?" Raven again found herself wide-eyed in shock at Cyborg's outburst.

"Don't think for a second I forgot about Robin." Cyborg chuckled slightly.

"Could have fooled me Rae. Sometimes I wonder if you even give a damn about any of us." Raven felt anger rise in her though she knew it was from her and not her demonic side.

"How dare you!" Cyborg didn't even blink as Raven moved forward a little bit shaking slightly from her sudden rage. Again Cyborg chuckled quietly, his eye holding within it something Raven could not identify.

"Not so nice to be accused of things is it Rae. Especially those that are more truth than lies." Raven felt her anger boiling at the sheer audacity of Cyborg but she also wondered where this all had come from, how long he had felt this way toward her. He had just referred to her as his baby sister and now...she could see resentment in his eye. However, at this moment, Raven's anger met its match in her logic as she forced herself to float out of the room before she said anything she would regret in one of her rare displays of open anger. Of course she also knew in the back of her mind that she was running from Cyborg, slightly afraid of what he might say to her if the conversation continued. As she fled the confrontation, she never noticed the satisfied grin on Cyborg's face.

Hours later Raven found herself in her room, only a few candles lighting the room. Her anger had still not completely subsided nor had her confusion and doubts, doubts about what had happened and doubts about herself. Her mind told her she had been in the complete right, had been only trying to find out why one of her best friends was lying about her and her actions and in the end, she felt like he really didn't even want to be her friend. Raven felt her heart clench at that thought still remembering the resentment Cyborg had on his face. It also reminded her of that look Robin had given her when she left his room last night though that one was far more chilling and saddening.

Raven couldn't help but doubt herself. Did her friends really not think she cared about them? She knew she was slightly reclusive and had a cold demeanor but they had to know they meant everything to her yet all of them, directly or indirectly, over the past day had accused her of not caring about them, with the exception of Robin.

"Robin..." His name came softly of her lips as she though about her leader, her friend, her...she stopped there. She knew that if he was around, none of this would be happening, none of her so called friends would be questioning her as they had done. She knew that if he was around, he would be there to defend her, to remind them that her demeanor was simply her and there was nothing wrong with it and that in her heart she cared about all of them. However all of this was only a grim reminder that Robin wasn't there, that he was locked away in his room suffering alone, and if she couldn't find a way to help him soon, she knew the other Titans would send him away to some asylum where she wouldn't be able to... She told herself firmly she would never allow that to happen. She was pulled from her thoughts when she sensed two people walking in opposite directions down the hallway. It was Beast Boy and Cyborg. Inevitably they met in the middle of the hallway which was almost right outside Raven's door.

"Hey Cy, what was all that yelling I heard earlier. It sounded like you and Raven were arguing. What did she do to piss you off?" Raven wasn't trying to listen to their conversation but it was hard not to hear it, especially when it was partially about her.

"Man that girl just weirds me out sometimes ya know. She was accusing me of all this stuff and insulting me and it all just came out of nowhere. I mean she doesn't come out of her room for weeks at a time and when she does, she pulls crap like that. I don't know."

"I thought I was the only one she treated like garbage but it looks like she's turning on you too."

"Yeah looks like it but seriously man, she was acting really strange, gave me the creeps." Beast Boy laughed.

"Doesn't she always. I mean is there any better word to describe Raven than creepy." Cyborg joined in with Beast Boy and the two young men were openly laughing.

"I don't know...maybe frigid bitch." The two started laughing harder at their little jokes, the noise echoing loudly down the hallway.

"I guess we'll deal with her after we figure out what to do with Robin. That's a far more important issue than Raven ever could be." Beast Boy nodded in approval.

"Yeah, something has to be done with him and I'm positive we can't help him anymore. We need to do something before we have a repeat of Terra." There was a deep sadness in Beast Boy's words as he spoke about his lost love though it only lasted an instant.

"Let's go play some video games B.B., relax a little bit." Beast Boy nodded with a small smile and the two left to their destination. The only one who remained was the eavesdropper of the conversation. Raven was sitting against her door on the floor, her cloak covering her entire body, her arms wrapped around herself underneath. Beast Boy and Cyborg's words continued to sit in her mind, continuing to mock her. It hurt, it hurt a lot.

"I'm not creepy..." She felt waves of incredible sadness and depression flowing through her body and every repeat of their words in her head only made it worse. That was how her so-called friends thought of her...such cruel and mean spirited words and all they did was laugh. She was nothing but a joke to them. When had all this started? How long had she diluted herself into believing she actually had friends, wasn't alone. It wasn't fair, it couldn't be true but she knew from the feelings both young men were giving off that they felt what they said. This couldn't be happening.

"Robin..." Again his name found its way out of her mouth, this time however it was said with almost a pleading cry. He would not come, he would not help her, he might even despise her just the same as the rest did but the possibility of him feeling that way hurt by far the most because it meant a lot of things that helped her get through every day were nothing but lies. Raven simply continued to stare off into nothingness, completely forgetting about the mysterious lost conversation with Cyborg and the meeting this morning, but rather could only wallow in self doubt and pity. She would remain there for hours, with not a single object so much as moving anywhere in the tower due to her powers even with the raging emotional storm within.