Chapter 1

Introducing…

One night sealed it all. Young Bruce met Jerome and Jeremiah at the circus and become friends with them. However, Jerome's madness soon make them part…Until that night at the Gala, where Jerome ends up kidnapping Bruce for himself instead of obeying Theo Galavan.

English isn't my mother tongue, if you spots mistakes, please, tell me. Present is set in season 2 while Past is set in season 1.

It all started during that night at the circus. Both Alfred and Bruce would wonder in the future how things would have turned out if Alfred hadn't taken him to the circus that night.

Present Day

In the Wayne's manor, Bruce was studying. He had a lot of homework and though he knew he had to finish those, he secretely hoped Selina would suddenly visit him. That's why he was in the living room with the window slightly open though it was cold outside. He remembered the kiss they shared, his first kiss… It was definitely something!

He was thinking about it when he heard the door bell ringing. He was cautious when he opened the door, he knew too well now that stranger meant danger. He saw a delivery man standing there, nothing seemed out of place.

"Hi?"

"Hi, I have a package for Bruce Wayne."

"Okay…"

He signed the register for it, the man thanked him and left while he was closing the door. Who could have sent a package? Was it something dangerous? He didn't hear anything that could make him think there was a bomb inside. He went back in the living room, opened it carefully and dropped it to the ground once he saw what was inside. He put his hand over his mouth to hold back a grunt as he saw that.

A handful of severed fingers were at his feet, still bloody and fresh.

It wasn't the first time he would see something gruesome, but still...He had to call the cops, immediately, he hoped Gordon would come. As he was grabbing the phone, Alfred came in.

"Did I hear the door..."

His butler stopped mid-sentence when he saw the fingers on the ground, he looked at Bruce's pale face, and took the phone away from him.

"I'm gonna give that call."

The teenager just nodded and looked once again at the package. Bruce had a feeling on who sent this. But he was in Arkham, wasn't he? They heard a soft noise coming from the window and they both saw Selina enter. Bruce felt relieved to see her.

"It's you..."

"Yeah, what's wrong? You look like you're about to faint."

He looked toward the fingers on the ground and Selina made a disgusted and shocked face. She had also seen horrible things before, but this was so out of place that she couldn't help but feel shocked.

"What the hell?!"

"Someone sent me that. We called the cops."

"Do you know who it is?"

"No...Well, I think it could be Jerome..."

"Your crazy friend? The one who killed his mother?"

He just nodded, almost in a trance-like state. Gordon and Bullock didn't take long to be there; they didn't even wonder why Selina was here.

"Severed fingers…Now we know where those went," Bullock declared.

"What do you mean?" Asked Alfred.

"Well…Recently some inmate from Arkham escaped. This morning, they murdered several people by throwing them off a building. We noticed some of their fingers had been cut off."

"Who are they? Is…Jerome Valeska one of them?"

Bruce's question greatly surprised both Bullock and Gordon. The Maniaxs identities hadn't been revealed to the press yet!

"Yes. How do you know that?"

"Jerome was…We used to be friends," Bruce explained. "And he is the only one who could send something like that to me."

O o O

Past

The circus was in town; though Bruce wasn't really fond of those, Alfred suggested they could go. Selina Kyle had left the manor and it was obvious Bruce missed her. Though Alfred wasn't really fond of her, he had to admit she had helped his boy lately; he had been a kid again with her. Now that she was gone, Bruce wouldn't smile much; he was too serious, thinking only about investigating his parent's death and training. He was only eleven and Alfred knew he had to shake him out of that. He thought maybe doing something fun and a bit unusual would cheer him up.

"This seems like a big circus, I heard some numbers are astounding," Alfred told the boy while they were taking their seats.

"I didn't know you liked circus that much."

"I wouldn't say I'm a big fan, but it can be entertaining."

They stopped talking as it started. The magician wasn't really Bruce's thing, but Alfred noticed that he enjoyed the acrobats a bit more. He was fascinated by the snakes when a woman danced with those and got really hooked up on the knife-throwing number. In the end, he was happy to see Bruce applaud in genuine glee.

When they went out, they strolled a bit to look at the place, until Bruce spotted something interesting. At the Snake dancer's caravan was a red-haired boy with a snake in his hands. Bruce couldn't help but be fascinated. He advanced toward the teenager without even thinking about it. He was so at ease with the animal it was almost scary but very cool too. He found himself closer to the redhead who took notice and looked at him.

"Hi?"

"Hi. It's…What kind of snake is it?"

"It's a young white boa constrictor. For now she isn't as long as me, but her growth isn't over. Soon, she'll be a monster," he said with a gleeful smile.

"I imagine! You must be fearless to handle them like that."

"To be honest, it's like a game to me. Want to hold her?" He asked with a malicious grin.

Bruce was astonished at this, it wasn't something professionals would usually do. Yet this was a kid, not a professional. He considered the snake. She was a boa, so not poisonous, but she was big already. Yet he had to learn to conquer fear, hadn't he? If he wasn't able to do something like that…He showed his hands to allow the teen to give the snake and he noticed the surprised look on the other boy's face. He was probably not expecting him to say yes.

"Spread your arms more, yes, like this, she'll need you to balance her weight properly. Here you go…"

He put the snake in Bruce's hands and his breath was cut off. The young boy was first stunned by the weight and the feeling of the cold scales, but soon he relaxed and released the air from his lungs. The beast put her head on his arm and he allowed her to do so. He looked at her with fascination; he could feel the strength in his fingers. He looked up to the boy who was grinning: "Could she kill me?"

"That's a possibility. She is still small, but so are you."

Bruce released a huff, still nervous but feeling strangely good too. He felt thrilled by that contact with danger, although the animal was passive, obviously well-tamed.

"She is a beauty."

"You're doing well for someone who isn't used to that. What's your name?"

"Bruce. You?"

"Jerome. I'll take her back, though. If my mother sees that, she'll go crazy. And she is really nagging when she's like this."

He took the snake back and put it in its cage.

"How old are you?" Asked Jerome.

"Eleven. You?"

"Fourteen. For a guy of your age, you are pretty daring indeed," he said while looking at him with interest.

"You learned as a kid?" Asked Bruce while looking at the snakes.

"I lived in this circus all my life. And I lived with snake all my life as well. They're my friends now. I don't have a number in the show, but I help my mother to take care of them."

"That's pretty cool."

"It's also helpful. Once a bully was trying to get me, I took one of those and approached him with it. He ran away like he had seen all hell unfold before him!" said Jerome while theatrically extending his arms.

It made Bruce giggle a bit. He could perfectly imagine the scene. "You probably never saw him again."

"Oh I did, but he cowered when he saw me. That felt pretty satisfying. Though I wished I had beat him, but I wasn't really good at fighting back then, and he was really tall."

"The snake scare was more original," Bruce pointed out.

"Yeah, more spectacular, too. Do you wanna see the others?"

Bruce nodded enthusiastically and Jerome showed him various snakes, he was especially impressed by the cobra.

"Those are more difficult than boas, and more dangerous in my opinion," Jerome explained.

"Bruce?"

They both saw Alfred coming toward them, Bruce knew that Alfred was probably worried, he had forgotten the 'Master'. Jerome put the cobra back in his cage. If the man started to complain to his mom, he wouldn't hear the end of it. And if she was to tell his uncle…The man bowed slightly to him:

"Good evening."

"Good evening," he replied sternly.

"We have to go home, now."

"Oh, okay," the boy muttered with disappointment.

"You can come back tomorrow afternoon. I'll have nothing to do," Jerome suggested.

The kid accepted gladly, though his guardian was a bit less enthusiastic. Jerome watched them left. Bruce…He actually found himself wishing to see the kid again.

Next chapter will have more of Jerome's POV. I don't know when I'll update, I have other stories on the way, but next chapter should be longer, this is just an introduction. Don't hesitate to review.