Teen Titans: How Long Is Too Long?

Chapter 2: My Sense, Their Sensibility

*Raven's POV*

I debated for a while before making that call to Robin. I knew it wouldn't go down well, I anticipated a huge reaction from him. I could also predict that his tone would be accusatory, as if this was somehow my mistake, my fault. That's why it didn't affect me so much when he replied, "you WHAT? What do you mean, how did you lose her!?"

But I can only prepare myself for so much raw emotion without losing my composure. The result seeps through as irritability in my own voice as I explain, "it's not like I forgot to pay attention to her. It happened very suddenly. One moment I knew where she was, the next-"

"Well guide me to where you lost her! Where was she last? And find where she's now!" he interrupts, looking up at the sky wildly as if trying to locate me to direct his anger better.

No, I shouldn't say anger. His despair.

I wonder how much more desperate he'd feel if he fully understood how disconcerting it is that I have no signs of Starfire, none whatsoever. I don't just mean visually. I mean her energy, her being, her life force. All of them are constantly emitting these forces that only I seem to perceive, and when they're loud with their words, their frequencies become like loud static as well. It can be so overwhelming, so loud I feel like it's tearing me to shreds.

But it's so much worse, so so much worse when one of them is this quiet.

I spend so much time wishing Star and Robin could keep their expressions of love down so I wouldn't be caught in the tides, but if only for a brief moment, I think I prefer that over the complete absence of it.

"I last saw her entering a shipping container between docks 21 and 22," I announce, currently soaring over that exact spot and watching as Robin sprints his way closer. Cyborg is also approaching at a fast pace, and Beast Boy is already shifted from an owl back to a hound, sniffing the earth right below me.

As I look at him, he shifts into a human to speak into his radio. "Her scent here is strong, and fresh, but it's like, it ends out of nowhere, it's not going anywhere!"

Oh beast boy that wasn't the best way of phrasing that. I can tell Robin's anxiety is now only a second away from bursting. But I can also feel Garfield's genuine and unsettling confusion, and how that's weighing him down as well.

I wish I could help him cope with that. If only I knew how to cope with strong emotions myself, instead of only having learned how to dodge or block them.

I give it a shot, though. I lower myself next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He searches for understanding in my eyes and I meet his uncertain gaze with steadiness and resolve.

It's not just on you to find her, Gar. I know it's not just on me either. We'll do it together.

His breathing normalizes a bit. His aura is less chaotic.

I did well, I think.

"Where is she?" Robin asks, arriving alongside a solemn Cyborg. I don't let Beast Boy answer, preferring to face our leader's outbursts myself than watch them get into a fight over it.

"We're not certain, Robin. But this is the last place we-"

"Starfire!?" he calls out, clearly not pleased with my answer. He tries on the radio as well.."Starfire, come in. Where are you?"

I notice Cyborg's typing something into the panel in his robotic arm, but it's not good news either. He shakes his head saying, "this is also the last place where she had her radio on. The signal's off now. Or it's out of the map."

"Well which is it?" Robin asks through gritted teeth. The tensions only keep rising. Even the storm seems to intensify. "Do we know where she is or not?"

Cyborg frustratedly says, "we don't." And it's the last straw that sends Robin off.

With a marked sigh he stomps away, fists drawn, searching for her with nothing but his low vision in the dark. He has no special way of sensing her, detecting her, locating her. He shouts her name but there's no reply. I doubt she could hear him with the raging weather anyway, but then again I know for a fact that it's a pointless attempt. I know she's not nearby. I know she was here very recently, then vanished. And I know we're not going to find her unless she reappears as inexplicably as she left.

I also know what we all know, but won't say out loud.

Wherever she is, she's in danger.

We just don't know which kind.