"For a birthday girl, you don't look very happy."

Terra blinked. She gave a look at the other girl, who gave a her a wide smile.

"Eighteen years old and you're acting like this? Come on, live a little."

Terra turned away from her, clutching her bag in front of her.

"I haven't had many happy birthdays." She admitted, voicing her deepest darkest feelings for the other girl to hear. But she had already turned away, apparently not catching her admission at all, as another of their classmates ran up to them. They started chattering happily, and Terra found herself completely forgotten.

This isn't right.

These aren't…

Real friends…

The image of five faces came to the forefront of mind, and she shook her head wildly, trying to forget them. That had been a lifetime ago.

No.

It never happened.

Remember?

It was so strange. She somehow felt more kinship to five people that didn't exist than she ever did here, at her high school, with her classmates. Why exactly did she feel so out of place? What exactly?

"Terra."

She stopped. The breath hitching in her throat.

"Come to me."

She turned, gazing intently at the shadows of the alley right next to her. Without thinking she stepped forward.

"Terra?"

Her friends stopped to look back at her as she stepped into the shadowy alley. They looked at each other, appalled, and then chased after her.

"Terra where are you-?"

They stopped. They looked around, certain it couldn't be true.

Terra was gone.

…

"I could never be a Mother myself."

Historia gave Raven a surprised look. Little Maria was asleep in her lap.

"Why ever not?"

Raven shrugged. "It's best I don't breed."

Historia clicked her tongue disapprovingly. Raven smiled in spite of herself.

"You don't understand." She said gently. "I'm a monster."

"There are those who would say the same thing about the Eldian people." Historia said coolly.

Raven felt ashamed. "I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't mean to suggest that I… have had it harder than you."

"That's quite alright." Historia said. "We must not dwell on such things. Even if there are those who hate us… we must not stop pursuing our own happiness."

"Happiness?" Raven repeated. "I don't know the meaning of the word."

"You want me to define it?" Historia smiled, as she stared down at the bundle in her arms. "I think happiness… is finding something in life that you never would have expected to love. Things that surprise you, that excite you, that give you reason to exist. I think life is full of pain, but when I look back… all I can think of are all the people that matter the most in my life."

She smiled, and jostled the bundle in her arms. "And now, I have one more person to care about."

Raven found herself smiling listening to her talk. "I'm happy for you." She said softly. "Truly, I am." Privately, she was a little bit troubled. Talking about this with another girl… a normal girl… did nothing but remind her just how she was not ordinary.

She tried to ignore it, tried to pretend that she was normal…. That she deserved to exist, and that she had value.

But she didn't. The world would be better off if she simply didn't exist.

The thoughts followed her throughout her day. Even as she worked with the Eldians to negotiate a peace treaty with the outside world, and met with Robin and his stern faced guard Annie, and tried to focus on plans for the future. She could not distance herself from the feeling that she was completely alone.

"That is a very important book."

Raven looked up with a start. She had been looking at a book in the castle library, one with a detailed map and history of the Eldian homeworld. Eren Jaeger was staring down at her impassively. He was not smiling. Raven felt a brief surge of fear: she was sure that she had done something wrong.

"I first saw it when I was a kid." He told her. "Shinganshina… the city in which I grew up… was surrounded by walls. Everything was cut off from the outside world." Raven stared at him. She could feel intense emotions welling up within him.

"I dreamed of freedom." He said. "Of what I would find when I left the world behind the walls behind."

She wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt intimidated. "What did you find when you left?"

He looked at her.

"Disappointment."

She flinched.

"Our walled civilization was a prison of our design." Eren said. "The outside world feared our power, and out of a foolish desire to do right by them our King chose to withdraw onto an Island, sealed off by walls. His belief is that we should stay there until we died out."

Raven felt the water in her throat dry up. "That's terrible…" She murmured. She knew the conversation was going to go in an ugly direction. Eren nodded.

"The outside world thought us devils.' He said. "They hated us because of the gifts that were granted to our ancestor, Ymir. These gifts were used, and so they were feared."

Raven felt breathless.

"This prison." Eren continued. "Was made with good intentions. To separate us from the outside world and prevent us from destroying its people. But in the end… the world refused to change."

He placed his finger on the book. "Even now, I am sure, they blame us for the world's problems… even though we have left them all behind."

Raven found the power to speak.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked quietly.

And he answered:

"Your Father is the Devil that cursed Ymir."

…

Robin was led into the room that housed Eren Jaeger's throne. His bodyguard Mikasa was absent today. Unusual, since he rarely saw the two apart. In her place was Levi Ackermann. They gave each other a cold glance as Eren looked down on him. Historia was sitting to his side, intently watching him.

"Dick Grayson." Eren said. "You are wondering why I called you here."

Robin said nothing.

"I have allowed you the freedom to travel about the island as you please and experience the world behind the walls as the Eldian people do." Eren said. "Tell me…. What do you think of the Eldian people?"

Robin stared at him blankly.

"They are the same as anyone anywhere else." He said. Historia gave him a soft, surprised smile, and Eren nodded gravely.

"Yes…" He said slowly. "We are the same. We have the same needs, the same desires, and the same wish for peace. Why, then, have we been fighting?"

Robin glanced down at the ground.

"I was told to." He said. "That's all."

He felt ashamed. All of his life he had been training and honing his skills, out of a sense of duty and obligation to Batman. He had genuinely thought he had been devoting his life to do good. But now that he had more perspective… now that he understood what Bruce Wayne actually had been… he could only feel a sense of contempt and disgust for himself for allowing things to become this grim.

"A man chooses his own path." Eren said quietly. "Men are not truly cattle if they understand the nature of their existence. You, and everyone on this planet, was used. But that does not invalidate your existence."

Robin blinked. He somehow felt rather emotional, but was determined not to cry.

"Batman lives still." Eren said. "And you must be the one to destroy him."

Levi gave him a dark look.

"Kid, I killed the man myself. He's dead."

Eren shook his head.

"No, I understand he had been revived." He said. "By the Devil Trigon."

Robin felt his chest seize up.

"Batman will endanger the world to reassert himself as the hero he sees himself as." Eren said. "He will sacrifice everything to continue this farce. Forever, if he can. He must be stopped. And you are the only one who can stop him."

Robin spoke:

"I'm not strong enough." He said. "I'm not-"

"You are." Eren said. "You must be. You know what will happen if you are not."

Robin stared at him. The coldness in his heart was beginning to harden. He steeled himself and nodded.

"Walk the Earth." Eren commanded. "Find those who know him best. Understand your greatest enemy better than he understands himself, and there you will find the path to defeating him."

Robin stood up. The thought of confronting Batman, his mentor, made him feel apprehensive and nervous. But the instant he took that first step, and the one after, and the one after that…

"Eren Jaeger." Robin said. "I will do everything in my power to stop Batman… even if it kills me."

…

It was dark. Terra didn't know what to make of the dark. She was free to move about in the darkness of her own free will, but she there was no hope of navigating her way out of this place. She simply sat on the floor, knees up to her chin, wondering vainly just how things had gotten to this point.

She had walked after the voice that had called out to her, and instantly the shadows had surrounded her, swallowing her completely. When she had regained her senses, she was here. She had no idea how long she had been sitting here. Waiting. But there had been no sign of the voice since she had awoken.

"Terra."

She spasmed, looking around wildly. She half expecting to see a light or some one coming to rescue her, but there was no one. She was all alone.

"You really thought you could escape, Terra?" The voice asked. "You thought you could simply leave your life behind and become an ordinary girl?"

"What are you talking about?" Terra asked. "I am normal." The last word seemed to struggle to get out, as if she didn't quite believe it herself. She shook her head wildly. No… she was normal. She had always been normal. Nothing strange had ever happened to her. Except, maybe… when that green boy thought he knew her…

No, that was simply a mistake. She did not know him. She did not.

"You did." The voice said heavily. It seemed to surround her, almost like a kind of mist or fog. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, somehow entering straight into her mind rather than through her ears. "You are different."

"No, I'm- normal!"

"You may be able to fool the Titans, Terra… but you can't fool me."

The figure did not step out from the shadows. He appeared out of nowhere, as if he had been standing there to begin with. As if the shadows were apart of him. Terra screamed and threw herself back, looking up at him in horror.

"Stand." Slade commanded. Terra shakily got to her feet. Her knees trembling.

"It never fails to horrify me,' Slade said, as he raised a single armored finger and stroked her hair. "Just how such talented people fail to make even a single positive change in the world."

Terra stared at him. Something in her felt defiant, but the feeling in her was so alien that she wasn't sure what she should do.

"Superman could have controlled the world." Slade said. "He could have built us advanced technology, expanded space travel, eliminated all crime and suffering… but chose to do nothing. He was given godlike power, but chose instead to save cats from trees and protecting a useless newspaper reporter."

He grabbed her chin and forced her head up.

"You are no different.' He said. "You abandoned your powers, abandoned your talents and forsake your own identity in order to pretend as if you are a normal person. Well. I have news for you, Terra… you are not normal. You never will be."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Slade." Terra said, as she pushed his hand away from her.

"I never told you my name." The man said quietly. Terra flinched. Her mind racing.

"I saw you on the news." She said. "Fighting the Teen Titans…"

"The Titans?" Slade repeated. "And who is their sixth member, Terra?"

She flinched. Her mind felt like it was going to burst.

"There is no sixth member." She said immediately. "There's Robin… and Beast Boy… and Starfire… Cyborg… and Raven. There's only five. They're my friends, I-'

She stopped. She shook her head.

"No, I've never met them…"

She stopped, and froze. Didn't she… meet Beast Boy? Didn't he tell her that she-?"

"You are extraordinary." Slade said. He placed his hand on her neck and trailed it down her shoulder. "You refuse to admit it, even to yourself. It is traumatizing to you… to remember that your entire life is a lie."

"It isn't a lie!" Terra insisted. "I'm normal!"

"I have a very special role for you to play, Terra." Slade said. "I can't afford for you to continue this farce any longer."

He reached her thigh and, once he reached the edge of her skirt, slowly started to peel it up.

"I will make you do what I want." He said coldly. "I'll force your powers out of you, if I have to."

Terra flinched backward, horror overtaking her senses.

"N-no!" She squeaked. "You wouldn't! No!"

Her screams of protest were consumed by the darkness, where none could hear her.