Unedited Summary: What happens when those we love write us off as crazy? The Titans knew a girl, a girl who spent her life in the shadow of others. They said the outside world was too much for her, that having to make moral decisions literally made her go crazy. Even Terra, her sister, was forced to accept the girl's fate. Yet in the darkness even crazies catch glimpses of light.

Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans or the teen titan's characters. The only character in this story I own is Max Steeler.

Explanation: This is a sequel to "The Untold Story of Max Steeler." This story is told from Max's perspective, which is not exactly stable. Hope you enjoy!

The blonde visited. The blonde with whom I share a connection. A connection I do not understand. Cannot comprehend.

She sits beside me, stroking my hair. I let her because of the connection. The connection I do not understand. I could see the dirt under her fingernails. Another connection. The girl's connection with earth. Earth song. Songbird. She was my song bird.

"We did it," she whispers softly. "We're free."

Free. How could I be free? No wings to fly. Trapped. Trapped in this nest of hallucination.

There once was a puppet master named Slade. Slade owned two puppets, both female. One of the female puppets had brown hair and metal hands. She was his favorite until the second puppet came into his possession. The second puppet had blonde hair and intense blue eyes. Her clay hands were delicate and powerful. The puppet master made the female puppets dance. He controlled their moves with string. They did his will, his bidding. The brown haired puppet had a realization. If the strings were cut, the puppet master would lose control. Every day, the brown haired puppet would cut a string. Yet as she cut her strings, the blonde's seemed to grow stronger, thicker.

"Terra if you let him, he'll attach a string to your heart and then to your soul."

"You're just jealous, Max. You don't understand."

However, it was the blonde puppet who did not understand.

Slade took Terra out of the box and caused her to dance wildly. Terra grew tired and did not want to dance anymore. Slade ignored her pleas and caused her to dance even more wildly than before. Terra cried.

The next night, Terra realized Max only had one string attached to her.

"What happened to your strings?"

"I've been cutting them, slowly, one at a time."

"I want to be a real girl," Terra lamented.

"His power is growing. If you want to be free, you'll have to cut your strings all at once."

"Can you cut them for me?"

Max tried, but the strength of the string withstood the sharpness of the scissors. The next day, when Slade took Terra out of the box, Terra refused to dance. She withdrew a pair of scissors and threw them at the puppet master. He released the strings and, as he did, they fell from her arms and legs. As she fled, the Terra puppet changed into a girl. The puppet master cursed viciously and went to the box for his other puppet. When he saw only one string attached to the puppet, he understood she was the source of problem. He took her to his workshop, determined never to lose control again. He attached metallic strings to the puppet. Impenetrable strings. He caused Max to dance wildly in Terra's place, refusing to relinquish control.

Terra continued to stroke my hair.

"He can't hurt us anymore."

The puppet master?

A tear tricked down her cheek. She could express what I longed to. Tears. Sadness. Trapped in the nest of my own skin.

A puppet. I was strung up against the wall, forced to do the bidding of others. Metallic strings attached to my mind, controlling the nightmares. I shivered.

Of course the puppet master couldn't hurt her. She was free. I was now his puppet, stuffed into a box, awaiting his commands. Once out of my box, I would be forced to dance. Is that why they kept me here? Trapped in a box? Stripped of my wings?

I want to be a real girl.

My songbird left me in the box, the cage.

She was no longer a puppet.