From the Grave (Justice League, Batman/OC)

| 3 · Lady Lazarus, or the Girl Who Lived |

"The only thing free in this world is death, and even that comes with a price." – Kamera Nabors

. . . .

"I feel like a part of my soul has loved you since the beginning of everything.
Maybe we're from the same star." – Poet Emery Allen

The great Greek philosopher Plato wrote on the anomaly of the Soul Mate in his philosophical text The Symposium : "According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves." Chinese mythology and folklore believed the Red String of Fate, an unseen red thread linking two destined lovers who would eventually find themselves together in specific situations.

Throughout the history of human existence, numerous folklore and mythologies have been passed in story traditions about soulmates, or destined lovers. In modern history, humanity has written some of the most acclaimed stage plays, pieces of literature, and created art of the phenomena.

As whole humanity has struggled with the Soul Mate question of origin asking the seemingly eternal questions: What do they mean? How are they chosen? Are those born with a Mark destined to become the person that compliments their match? If so, is free will just an illusion to some if their paths in life have already been decided? These questions have not been answered. Instead, I pose this question: Should we—scientists, students of the humanities, or even humanity as a species—be privy to such information? To paraphrase an influential pop cultural moment: scientists have become so preoccupied with their quest of discovery, their quest for the ultimate truth, that they never seem to stop to think if they should find the answers.

— "Some Are Marked: A Theoretical Thesis on the Soul Mark Phenomena, and Whether Humanity is Ready for Its Origins," Liz V. Tavia, Ph.D. (Gotham University Press, 2013)

The origins of soulmate markings were, to say the least, murky. The world may be smaller, more connected than ever before with science that could defy all previous imaginations, but there was no concrete explanation. There were theories—thousands of theories—that tried to give some symbolic of reasoning, but nothing ever truly scratched the surface. Science and the modern world, which could reconstruct a human heart and regrow lungs, were baffled by the ever-rare phenomena that had only been growing rarer. If there were just over three-hundred and forty thousand babies born each day across the globe, only .002%—shy of seven hundred—would be born with any Mark. Based on the statics of the research, of that percentage, only a small quarter of those grew to fruitarian and even less to ever finding their match.

The world may be smaller, but the odds were still low of fate being in your favor.

You were born with them; you died with them. There was no known way to remove a Mark, no laser or skin removal procedure the modern world had developed could accomplish the task. More so, you didn't simply gain a Mark at a random point in your life, and there was the problem for Theo. As Zed ran a hand over Theo's back—pulling at the tank top to get a better look before telling her to remove it completely—that familiar sense of nausea returned. It curled itself in the base of her stomach before slowly rising up her throat while her heart pounded like a hummingbird in her chest.