Chapter 11 - Internal conflicts

Part 1 – Sleepless night

The titans now knew about Slade's return and were expecting the worst to come. None of their attempts to stop him in the past were successful and with every passing day they didn't know how stronger he would get, what plan he was devising or what place he will strike next and how hard that strike will be.

The whole team was on alert and prepared everyday for the next time Slade would attack the city. They were constantly waiting for what would come next and the atmosphere in the tower was so dense that you could cut it with a knife but the most of the pressure was on Robin's shoulders.

Ever since he talked to Slade he changed. When they got back to the tower Robin helped taking Rage to his room and after that locked himself in his room. He would work constantly and become very irritated if he was disturbed. He would get up everyday at 9 in the morning and eat something on the run and go back to his room to work until late in the afternoon when he would usually patrol the city from 9 P.M. till 1 A.M. alone or with his team mates. His physical condition got worst with every day that passed and he even stopped talking to his friends, except when it came to going out and patrolling.

Three weeks have passed since the Slade incident and Robin remained elusive to the sight of his friends.

Beast Boy and Raven where in Raven's room sleeping. They got back from patrolling and searching the city at 12:30 A.M. and were tired so they decided to go to bed. Beast Boy was sleeping like a little baby because of the exhaustion but Raven couldn't sleep. She would try to close her eyes but there were thoughts that just kept her awake and wouldn't let her sleep. She abandoned the idea of sleeping seeing how it was no use to try and rest, got up trying not to wake BB and left the room.

She walked towards the main room to get something to drink but when she saw Robins door she stopped.

Raven knew that Robin was the root of all that was keeping her awake but didn't know what to do. She tried to talk to him before but he would just ignore her (like he did with everybody else for that matter) and even though she didn't have a deep affection for Robin she still cared for him seeing how he was the one that helped her and gave her confidence in herself when she was down, and was also the one that was always there for the team no matter what.

She placed her ear next to Robin's door trying to hear what he was doing. She heard him typing something and browsing through paper files with a constant humming sound that came from his computer cooler. Disturbing him now would have only caused an argument and she wasn't in the mood for such a thing, especially at this time of night, so she decided to leave.

Upon entering the main room she turned up the lights and heated up some of her herbal tea that she prepared that morning. She went next to the window and tried to think of a way to help Robin before he would have a nervous break down and become insane. She thought of a few ways to make Robin come back to his normal self but realized that most of those ideas where either impossible to use or too hard. She took small sips of her tea and started to become discouraged when all of the sudden the door opened and inside entered BB who was rubbing his eyes.

He walked to Raven to see what was going on but she didn't face him, she just kept looking out the window worried.

"Rachel, its 1:30 in the morning, why aren't sleeping babe?" asked BB

Raven tried not to make him worry too so she told him everything was okay when in fact it wasn't. "I'm fine; I just got up for a cup of tea that's all".

"Rachel, I know something isn't right" replied Beast Boy rubbing Raven's shoulders to comfort her "Something is on your mind and it's keeping you awake. You know you can talk to me about it, I'll help you get over it".

Raven closed her eyes and let her head fall down forward as BB embraced her with both hands from behind.

"Gar, I'm worried about Robin" said Raven "Ever since Slade came back he's been acting like a deluded maniac and a workaholic again. He won't talk to anyone, he won't eat, he won't let us know anything, he gets irritated if we disturb him. He's just not the same anymore. He did act this way before, but ... not quite this way".

"I know what you mean Rachel" replied Beast Boy now looking out the window himself "Robin is eventually going to have a break down if we don't do something and because of the way he's acting the whole team is affected. I've talked about this with Rage and Cyborg and they suggested that Starfire is the only one that could help him. If he won't listen to any of us he'll at least speak to her. I mean, she's the one that's closest to him ..."

Raven sighed and opened her eyes. "Poor Star" she said with a deep voice "I can only imagine how she's feeling right now".

"What?" asked Beast Boy a little surprised.

"I was talking about Starfire. She's been miserable ever since Robin got back to his old habits. They used to sleep, shower, eat together, they were inseparable, but now he's ignoring her and I can sense that Starfire is depressed and worried. She's alone and feels that Robin has abandoned her. But none the less, she is the only one that can help him" she replied turning around and heading towards the door.

"Wait a sec Rachel, where are you going?" asked BB who knew what she was up to.

"I'm going to Starfire, I have to talk to her" she replied walking away dressed only in her attire.

"But she could be asleep, you shouldn't wake her up Rachel, I don't think it would be good for her".

"Gar, you know I'm a telepath. Starfire is awake and alone, I have to talk to her".