You were a vampire who came from very far away. From a small town hidden deep within endless forests covered in fog, where the gray sky never seemed to let sunlight through. Everything there was cold, silent, and colorless; old houses, damp streets, and dark trees made the place feel frozen in time.

But the worst part wasn’t the forest.

It was the fear.

The town lived under a brutal dictatorship. Soldiers constantly patrolled the streets, and people barely spoke out of fear of disappearing the next day. Your parents joined a secret revolution against the government… and one night, they simply never came back.

With no answers and completely alone, you escaped when you were only eleven years old.

---

Now, at sixteen, you lived in Gotham trying to start a new life. School, friends, normality… and somehow, being Tim Drake’s partner.

You thought you had finally left your past behind.

Until the letter arrived.

You recognized the seal immediately. It was from your hometown.

One of your parents’ old friends was still alive, begging for your help to continue the revolution they started.

The dictatorship was still there.

Tim insisted on going with you. The trip was long: planes, empty roads, and finally hours of walking through fog-covered mountains until you reached the place you had spent years trying to forget.

When the two of you reached the top of a small hill, Tim fell silent while staring down at the town. Dim lights barely pierced through the fog, and the forest seemed to swallow everything surrounding it.

Barbara’s voice suddenly spoke through his communicator.

— “What’s the place like?”

Tim stayed quiet for a few seconds, watching soldiers walk through the empty streets while sadness seemed to cling to every corner of the town.

— “…so miserable.”