Darkness engulfed the main room of Titan Tower.

Night had fallen hours ago, and most of the team was sleeping soundly in their beds. But one was unable to find sleep this night.

He sat quietly staring at the small picture frame he held in his hand.

"Hey Mom, It's me again. So much has happened and I just felt like telling you. I'm sure you already know, but a couple of days ago the world ended. Yeah, then why am I still here? I bet that's what you're asking. Real nasty dude named Trigon showed up. It was hard, we nearly lost a friend. But she came back, and kicked some major butt. Raven was awesome, she went to town on her father. Kicked his sorry self right out of our world. But what do we do now? We've beat an interdimensional demon. What do you do for an encore after that? I really feel sorry for Raven. She had to live with that thing as a part of her. And at the same time, I wish I could be a little like her. She's always in control, and I just can't do that. I can't rein myself in no matter what I try. I wish I knew how she did it."

"I had to."

Beastboy jumped in surprise as he turned and looked at the girl standing behind him. "Uhh, Hi, Raven. How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough. You think I'm so controlled, but it was never something I wanted to be. I never got the chance to just be a normal teen and hang out with my friends. I don't even know how."

"Yeah, well none of us really has the chance to be a normal teen. Star was a princess, Cyborg's mostly metal, and Robin, I think he lost who he was a long time ago. None of us know how to be normal."

Raven sat down on the couch next to him. "Why aren't you ever like this during the day? You're not acting like yourself."

"I don't know, I guess when we're hanging out, all this stuff ust kind of gets pushed to the side. Then when I can't sleep, here I am."

Raven looked down at the picture. She had no idea who the woman was. She hadn't been there when he had started talking.

The lights in the room abruptly turned on. The picture was much easier to see with the light on. She noticed wrinkles as though it was old and had been through a lot. "She's pretty, who is she?"

Beastboy stared at the picture for a moment. "My mom."

Raven saw the look on his face. He obviously needed someone to talk to. "Why don't you ever talk about your past?"

Beastboy looked over at her. "I, don't like to remember. After my parents died I did some bad stuff. I didn't want to, but they didn't give me a choice."

Raven saw a tear start to form. Her voice came out a whisper as she quietly asked, "What happened?"

"I was forced to be a thief. They kidnapped me from where I lived at the time and threatened me if I didn't help them. I was young and scared. I just didn't want to be hurt. Then, one night. They got into an argument and killed each other. I got out as fast as I could. Things kept drifting onward and I eventually hooked up with you guys. Still trying to make up for back then."

"It sounds rough, why didn't you just run?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I didn't know how to survive in a city. I really don't remember why I didn't go."

Raven took her attention away from her friend and looked back down at the picture. She noticed something she'd missed before. She looked at the arm that was draped around the woman's shoulder. The picture showed no other evidence of another person.

"Beastboy. Who's that?" She pointed to the arm that rested on his mother.

Beastboy looked down. "It's really old. I don't know much about it, but I do know it's my mom's sister. I never met her, I don't even know if she's alive."

"So this is your aunt? Can I see?"

Beastboy looked at her for a second before undoing a latch on the back of the picture frame. He unfolded the picture and looked at it a moment before handing it to Raven.

Her eyes slowly started to widen. It was a lot younger than when she'd last seen it, but there was no doubt in Raven's mind. She knew that face.

"Arella."