WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ "MY HERO IS YOU" THEN YOU MAY BE CONFUSED. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ IT BEFORE YOU START TO READ THIS, BUT IT IS NOT REQUIRED.

Don't Look Back

It was dark. Not a word was shared between friends in anticipation of what was to come. Their hearts raced faster and faster as they walked closer to the light ahead of them. It felt as if hours had drug on until they finally stopped at the edge of the light.

"Now," the announcer said over the intercom, "joining us here in Metropolis to go against our team is, all the way from Gotham, Gotham High's Bulldogs!"

The crowd's cheers echoed through Abigail Wayne's ears like shouts in a canyon. She smiled as her and the rest of her team mates continued out into the stadium. They waved at each familiar face they saw towards the visitors' side of the spacious gym. Once they all sat down in a spot on the bench, someone gave a slight nudge towards Abby.

She turned her head to Aaron West, her long-time best friend and boyfriend.

"So, are you nervous?" he asked her.

"Psh! No," she denied in best voice she could, but was unfortunately unsuccessful.

"You're lying. It's okay to be nervous, heck even I'm nervous."

"Anxious is the word to describe this feeling. This is our last game for crying out loud! And it's in Metropolis, the home of Superman!"

"Hey, what's the competition? We've got Batman on our side."

Abby laughed slightly. "True."

For as long as Abby had known Aaron, he had always had the special gift of making her feel better even in the roughest of times. Whether it was his genuine smile or his optimistic personality, he always seemed to make her smile. They had been dating for at least a year now and they were still going strong.

"All right team, gather in!" their boxing mentor, Coach Jeff hollered.

Every one huddled around the coach without one question.

"Look, I know since you think that you've made it this far you can just slack off without getting your cans kicked. Well…I'll tell you right now, you're dead wrong. I want to see each and every one of you giving it all!" he almost demanded. "If I don't see any of you giving it all you can then I'll just pull you out of the rink with no questions asked. It took us one whole plane ride to get here. I don't want to see all of the money that Mr. Wayne donated to get us here go to waste within the next few hours."

"Coach?" Adam Benedict piped up. "When are you going to get to the part where you start to encourage us?"

"I was getting there," the coach answered turning back to the rest of the team. "This is our last chance to show what we're made of. I want all of you to give the best performance that you've ever given in your boxing career. Devin Wolfe, as you know, this is her last year of Gotham High before she goes off into that crazy thing we call life. This may be your last game of the year, but this is probably the last game in her life that she'll ever compete in depending whether or not she'll go to the pros. Live this day as if it were your last…or else you'll regret it. That's all I have to say, Devin, please lead the team into the cheer."

Devin emerged in front of him. "Alright guys, are you ready?"

All of them shouted back, "Ready for what?"

"To show Metropolis what we're made of! Gotham!"

"High!"

"Gotham!"

"High!"

"Gotham High!"

"Bulldogs!"

Everyone cheered as the announcer once again spoke over the intercom.

"Please take your seats as the match begins."

Following the orders of the announcer, Abby along with rest of the team took their seats. Once she sat down her nerves once again caught up with her again. Before even realizing it, a warm hand wrapped around Abby's. She looked up to face Aaron's reassuring face.

"Relax," he whispered to her. "Everything's going to be fine. We're gonna make it through this."

"You always say that."

"Yeah, but I mean it every time."

Again, Abby's nerves were relaxed because of his voice.

"Wayne!" Coach Jeff called. "You're up!"

Her coach's voice snapped her from her current trance, causing her to nearly jump from her seat. After Aaron had given her one light kiss on her forehead, Abby made her way to the edge of the rink where Coach Jeff stood.

"So who am I up against, Coach?" was the first thing Abby asked him before putting on her headgear.

"Sam Young. Smart kid, but he's got an ego."

"Story of my life," she tucked in her mouth guard under her teeth.

"Be careful: he's very decisive and…somewhat distracting."

"I've been doing this for about a year Coach, I think I have this system down."

"If you say so, Wayne."

"May the first competitors please enter the rink," the referee called.

Once Abby had her gloves on, she jumped up into the rink.

"Keep your eyes on the prize, Wayne!" her coach shouted behind her.

When the referee signaled for her to, she walked towards the center of the rink to face her competitor. Under the headgear she could see Sam Young's flashing his bright blue eyes at her. Ignoring him, she refocused her attention to the referee who was going over the rules she had at least heard a thousand times. Once he had finished he went to the side for one moment.

"Hey, you're Abby Wayne, aren't you?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah and you're Sam Young. Small world isn't it?" she answered him sourly.

"Relax. There's no need to fight with our words; we're gonna be fighting with our fists anyway."

"That's what I'm counting on."

On the referee's signal, they got into position.

"We'll see what the princess has got under her sleeve," he hissed.

"I'm wearing a tank top, you idiot."

Without realizing it, the referee's whistle had blown and Sam's fist came colliding with her face. Although caught off guard, Abby jabbed him just above his belt. In return he punched her in the shoulder causing her to slightly flinch. He could sure hit hard. She could feel a bruise slowly emerging from her arm.

"Why so shocked, Princess? Was it the punch or the charm?"

"No. The fact that you are a bigger idiot than I thought."

With that she swung her fist over to his face. He didn't even need a second to react. Sam jabbed her on her side. There was no time for pain, she kept telling herself. Just wincing in pain would give him an opportunity to cause her more pain. As if it were an instant reaction, she hit him in the neck.

Shortly rubbing his neck, he said to her, "Man, Wayne, I didn't know you had a heck of a punch."

"First of all, you don't know me and second of all, you could say I have a friend in the shadows who taught me a couple things."

Taking this opportunity of his weakness, Abby quickly punched him twice on the sides of his stomach. Sam hugged his abdominal area, groaning in pain. Just when she thought he had given up, his fist thrust deep into her stomach causing to fall to the ground. Everything was now turning into a blur.

"Abby, c'mon get up!" she heard now distant voices call.

Her eye fought to stay open. She could now hear the referee counting backwards from ten. Abby had to get up. People were counting on her. She couldn't let them down. Allowing the pain to encompass her stomach, she got up to her feet.

"Bet you didn't see that coming did ya?" Sam smiled smugly at her.

Her only reply was a swing at his face. He ducked his head before hitting her once again in the stomach. She involuntarily winced in pain. He punched her again, only causing her to be caught off balance for a few moments. Abby had now seen his game. He created an Achilles heel for his opponents in order for it to be easier to take them down. She smirked to herself…two can play at that game. Without expecting it this time, Sam took another punch at her stomach. Getting down to her knees she hugged her stomach in pain.

"Look, Wayne let's make it easier on both of us: withdraw from the match and go home to your rich daddy."

Abby looked up at him with desperate eyes. "I guess that would be easier."

"That's a good girl," he said with triumph in his voice. "Now go tell the referee you want out."

"Okay, that sounds good," she nodded standing straight up.

She had only turned around for a second when Sam said something very undesirable.

"And so the princess finally runs to her castle."

Although it was a small mutter, Abby heard it loud and clear. It was time. She spun around, hitting her fist against his face. She didn't stop there though. Abby hit him in any place possible—or what was allowed in the rules. It was as if there was a monster inside of her that she couldn't control and made Sam unable to fight back. Sure, he tried, but it seemed worthless since she could since where he was hitting. Abby finally stopped. Sam stood there, wobbling on his feet. He swung his fist not only to Abby, but to collapse to the ground as well.

The referee got down to Sam's side counting down from ten. "…Three, two, one. Gotham takes the first point!"

Everybody on the visitors' side cheered at this announcement. Abby smiled victoriously to herself as she exited the rink.

A hand firmly patted her back. "Great job, Wayne. Get some rest, will you?"

She recognized the voice as Coach Jeff. "Sure thing, Coach."

After setting her gear to the side of the rink, Abby felt her body being lifted off of the ground.

"Aaron!" she nearly screamed. "What are you doing?"

She knew it was him. She knew that tight grip anywhere.

"I'm giving you a victory hug!" Aaron replied with enthusiasm.

"The victory is done and over with, and so should this hug…so would you please put me down?"

"Fine," he placed her gently back on the ground. "But I'm not exactly done with you yet."

"I was kinda counting on that," she said before turning to kiss him passionately.

Aaron returned the kiss, but just as he did an annoyed voice came up from behind them. "Eh!"

They parted from their kiss and saw Adam's disgusted expression. Abby blushed in embarrassment while Aaron smiled guiltily towards him.

"Sorry man," Aaron apologized.

His apology didn't seem to faze Adam's expression one bit. "Why is it that every time I try to come to say a simple hello, I always catch you two sucking each other's faces?"

"We don't suckeach other's faces," argued Abby.

"You just happen to catch us in a very bad time each time you come over," Aaron reasoned.

"That's for sure," Adam sighed. "Anyway Aaron, can I borrow your gloves? Mine got ripped up by my dog."

"Sure, I'll be right back."

Abby spoke as soon as Aaron left. "So are you up next?"

He nodded nervously. "Yeah."

"You'll do great. Don't worry about it, you're a good boxer."

"Thanks, but I'm not really nervous about the match."

"Then what are you nervous about?"

"My sister's getting married and supposed to say a toast after the ceremony and all that, but I have no idea what to say. To add to that I hardly even know the guy that going to be my brother-in-law soon."

"That is something to be nervous about. I'm sorry, I can't help you. I don't have any experience with this kind of stuff and I don't want to throw you off."

His face fell. "You don't know what to do either. It's okay."

"But Sasha does," she quickly added. "Her mom just got married a couple years ago…maybe she could help you with the toast thing."

Adam only shrugged before Aaron returned with his gloves.

"Here you go, man." Aaron handed Adam the gloves.

"Thanks, I'll talk to you guys later."

"See ya," they said as Adam went in the opposite direction.

"Ugh!" Abby groaned. "I feel so stupid!"

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "And why would you feel that way?"

"Adam asked for advice about his sister's wedding, but I completely blew him off."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't blow him off."

"Not exactly, but I still couldn't help him."

"It's okay," he reassured. "It's better than giving him false information."

"You're right…but I still wish I could've helped him."

"We can't all help everyone, Abs. C'mon, let's go sit down and watch the rest of the match."

Abby silently agreed with him by following him over to the bench. The rest of the match went on so-and-so. Gotham lost some and won some at the same time, but thankfully it wasn't enough to put them too far behind Metropolis. Actually they were in a dead tie with them. One more match and the game would be over. Abby could feel Aaron tightening his grip on her hand as the team waited for their coach to announce which one of them would go up next.

"Are you trying to make my hand fall off or something?" she nearly snapped at him.

"Sorry," he loosened his grip. "This is the last match and I haven't gone at all tonight."

"What makes you think that he's gonna choose you?"

Before Aaron had the chance to answer, Coach Jeff's booming voice intervened. "West! C'mon up here!"

"Didn't I tell you?" he muttered to Abby.

She pulled him in for a hug before he got up from his seat. "You're gonna do great. Just stay focused and don't let anything distract you."

"Will do."

Aaron headed over to the coach once Abby had let go of him. She observed him as Aaron spoke to the coach.

"So, Aaron's up next, huh?" said Devin's voice.

Abby looked back at Devin who had seated herself in Aaron's seat. "Yeah, apparently he's the last one for the night."

"Shouldn't be that bad. It's just like any other match he's been in."

"Yes, but there's one huge difference: he's never done a time-breaker like this before."

"True, but it's not like we're on the brink of World War III either."

She took one more glance at Aaron as he entered the rink. "It's not just that. For as long as I have known him, he's never had to be relied on before. Sure his parents leave him to take care of his little sister sometimes, but it's mostly left to Jared to carry the rest of the family it seems like."

"Jared? Please," Devin snorted. "All he's good for is…oh that's right he's a good-for-nothing jerk."

Abby bit her lip. "Sorry I forgot you guys broke up a couple months ago."

"It's alright. I'm over it. I just can't get over how immature he is ninety-percent of the time. Anyway, Aaron's a good kid and a boxer. He will be fine."

"OK…I'm gonna go watch him now…you know to give him encouragement."

"Sure, you go ahead and do that. I'll just steam off for awhile."

Abby gave a quick nod in agreement before leaving. She had thought two months was long enough not to mention Jared in a conversation with Devin, but apparently not. Although she tried to hide it, she did sound a little tense. Oh well, maybe she just wouldn't mention Jared ever again to Devin to allow her to cool off for a few moments.

She stood beside Adam as he observed the commotion in the rink.

"So, did I miss anything?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Not much. They've already started fighting if it tells you that much."

Thump! A body suddenly collapsed to the rink's floor. Abby's eyes widened when she realized who the body was.

"C'mon Aaron, get up!" she called out to him. "You can do it!"

Thankfully, he wasn't unconscious so he got back up to his feet as fast he fell. But just as he did, Aaron was hit in the eye. Abby flinched at the sight. That's gotta hurt. Apparently Aaron didn't let that distract him. His fist headed towards his face, but his opponent had hit him at the waist. He fell back to the ground.

Abby pleaded back to him. "C'mon, Aaron! If you got up once you can get up again!"

The referee came up and began to time Aaron's collapse. "Ten…nine…eight…"

"You can do it, Aaron! It's only one more minute!"

"…seven…six…five…"

Aaron slowly curled his upper body off of the ground. His shaking arms looked as if they could fall off any instant.

"…four…three…"

He was so close. Only more push off of the ground and the match was solid. If only things had turn out that way. His back collapsed to the ground.

"…Metropolis takes victory for this round!"

Abby saw Aaron slowly close his eyes. She immediately jumped up into the rink and headed to Aaron's side.

"Aaron, are you alright?" she urgently asked.

"I lost," he moaned quietly.

"It's okay…there will be other matches."

"I made us lose."

"No, you didn't. The judges haven't even tallied up the points yet."

He opened his eyes. "I had a chance to get us ahead and I blew it."

"C'mon," she offered him a hand, "let's splash you with a bucket of water so you can get your sense back."

Chuckling, Aaron lent his gloved hand back to Abby. Using both of her hands, she pulled him off of the ground and led him back the benches. It was not much of a surprise to Abby when their teammates clapped for Aaron as they passed by them. As soon as they got to the spot where they were sitting at previously, she quickly grabbed his water bottle and handed it to him.

Abby spoke to him as he took a sip from his water. "Do not worry. Everything's going to be fine. Just like you said to me before the match."

"I didn't expect Coach to…put me in that…"

"I know no one did…but that's no reason for you to go beating yourself up for it."

"I know, it's just that—"

The announcer interrupted Aaron on his tracks. "And the score for tonight's game is…Metropolis in second place and Gotham in first!"

A roar came from the crowd around them. Relief swept over Abby features.

She beamed towards him. "See? It's not so bad, is it?"

"I guess not," his lips barely lifted into a smile.

"C'mon let's go and celebrate with everyone else."

He briefly nodded before following behind Abby.

Abby and Aaron walked along the pavement of Metropolis's sidewalks soon after Coach Jeff granted them permission to venture the city. They only rule they had been to return by ten. As she walked through the large city, Abby couldn't help but notice how…bright the city was. Even in this dark of a night it was still glimmering. Unlike Gotham that was gloomy and grim no matter what phase of the day it was. Although there were a few nice places downtown you had to look very hard to spot them.

"No wonder Superman has such good luck here," she said aloud from her thoughts.

"And why is that?" Aaron asked.

"It's too easy to spot crime where ever you go. This city is squeaky clean unlike Gotham where you actually have to try and look for crime if you're a cop or Batman for that matter."

"You know when you've grown up in a city like that and your dad is a cop, you tend to spot trouble very easily."

"OK, I'll give you that. How is your dad handling crime these days?"

"Pretty well with Batman cleaning up the streets…although my dad does express some concern about him since he's some messed up guy in a cape. You'll never know what could happen."

"Yeah…but just because he breaks the law doesn't mean that he's gonna stab us in the back. He really wants to help us."

"How would you know what he wants?"

Abby hated this part about keeping a secret. You always had to lie to the ones you love in order to keep others safe. Her father, Bruce Wayne, was one of the world's richest men and yet was vigilante at night as the Batman himself. She had promised to keep his identity a secret, but the job was not as easy as it sounded. Even now, a year later, Abby still struggled with it.

"When…I met him a year ago, he didn't strike me as the guy who would the one to bring Gotham to flames."

That explanation would have to do for now.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, but that was a year ago. People can change easily in that period of time."

"What exactly makes you think that he's a criminal then?" she questioned him.

Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but was lost for words.

Abby continued, smirking. "See? You never know. I mean Renee could turn around one day and decide to be friends with us."

They stared at each other for a few moments and then burst into laughter. Renee Kendal and Abby had, what you could say, a history together. It began in kindergarten when Renee put super-glue on Abby's seat and continued on to a week ago when Renee poured gallons of sticky red punch all over Abby's hair just moments before her presentation in English. To this day, Abby still didn't understand why Renee did those deeds to her. It didn't matter anyway. As long as she got an opportunity to get back at Renee, she would still have her sanity.

"Good one, Abs," Aaron said between laughs. "You truly are the comedian."

"I try."

"C'mon, we should get back before it's too late."

"No…not yet anyway. I still want a few more minutes of freedom left before we head home tomorrow morning."

"Fine, but where are we gonna go? The mall is closed and we won't have enough time to see a movie."

"Who said we had to do those things? We could just keep walking and see what we run into."

"Yeah and with your luck we'll run into some insanity case."

Her fist pounded into his shoulder. "Not funny."

"Ow!" he rubbed his shoulder. "OK, maybe I deserved that, but you didn't have to hit so hard."

"It was mean and you know it."

"All right, I'm sorry. C'mon let's just head on back. We don't have anything left in this place anyway unless you're trying to get a glimpse of Superman or something."

"Nah, one masked hero is enough for me, thank-you."

"Well let's go then. We'll need enough rest for the plane ride home."

"I guess you're right. I just don't want to go home so soon."

"I know, but everyone needs to come home sometime."

"Where ever that is. I have two if you remember."

"I meant Gotham in general," he answered quickly.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "We should be getting back before our curfew ends."

Aaron reluctantly nodded in agreement as she took his hand. They turned back on the path they had walked previously and headed towards the hotel they were staying at. In some ways, Abby was happy to return home to see her family and friends again, but in other ways she would miss her escape from her life. Oh well, she would have to keep looking ahead and never look back in order to cope with the sudden changes in her life.