Rating: M (May boost rating depending on chapter)

Warning: Rape, Abuse, violence, language (Add anything that appears in later chapters)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything

Constructive Criticism is welcomed

Worlds Divided

The roar of the car engine is what startled Dick back into reality, as his shiny blue eyes, now currently filled with tears about to join the ones that had already escaped, became focused on his current surroundings rather than the events prior. He looked down at his leotard that was now stained red with his family's blood, causing a jolt of pain in his head at the sudden rush of memories. In an attempt to get as far away from those memories as possible, he decides to focus on other things such as the Gotham police car he was currently curled up into a ball in, which was being battered by the raging storm outside. Even the police officer who was driving was more interesting to study at this exact moment, Jim Gordon he believes was the name he saw on the man's badge. That man was the one who had comforted Dick and taken him away from the circus. As Dick drifts off back into his thoughts of the circus, he fails to notice the building they were currently pulling into the driveway of.

Jim turned around and faced the boy that seemed to have his thoughts someplace else, and decided giving him a little shake to grab his attention. He didn't fail to notice the distraught boy flinch.

"Hey kid, we're here" Jim stated in his gruff voice. Dick looked up at the odd man, then looked around attempting to find out where 'here' was, eventually deciding to ask. The child's small voice emerged shakily, "where exactly is here?"

It was almost said in a whisper that Jim had to lean in a bit closer to catch the question. "The one place we can send ya, Gotham orphanage" Jim replied with a grim voice.

Dick only nodded, and pulling his jacket around himself, jumped out of the car allowing the rain to wash away all signs of tears he had shed. With shoulders hung low, he went and grabbed his bags, Jim helping him carry them, and walked up to the front door. Jim looked down at the shivering boy, 'hopefully he won't catch a cold' he thought.

"You know, you may not have to spend too long here if you get adopted, though Marie the one who runs the orphanage is a sweet old lady, she'll take care of you" Jim said as he smiled down comfortingly at the boy.

Dick looked up at those words, but instantly noticed how the smile was fake, and life in Gotham would never be that easy.

Jim knocked on the door a few times and they both waited in silence.

A plump woman who looked quiet run down answered the door, seeming as though she was about to yell at whoever was knocking at this ungodly hour, though she refrained from doing so when she saw Jim. Greeting him she invited them inside, "welcome to Gotham orphanage, I am Marie and I look after all the children here." She smiled a tired looking smile as she spun around with her hands indicating towards the current house they were in.

"Thankyou Marie, this is Dick Grayson, your newest resident who will be staying here until he is hopefully adopted. Now I need to get moving, other matters to attend, but I trust you shall show Dick around?" Jim replied in a polite and formal tone, no doubt gained from many years of experience in the police force.

"Of course, I'll take care of Dickie here, you get a move on" Marie said sweetly whilst pulling Dick to her side and ushering Jim to the door. With a wave Jim left leaving Dick with Marie.

Dick didn't know what to think, the house was old and shabby though the lady seemed nice, nothing like the circus though. As she begun speaking of the rules and showed him to his room, he zoned out completely, just numbly following along, only really caring for the escape of reality that was sleep.

Once left in his room with a goodnight kiss and his belongings, he immediately flopped onto his bed being slightly pained from the hardness of the mattress, but nonetheless falling into a restless sleep.

The loud sounds of pots and pans being bashed together awoke Dick from his restless slumber, with the early morning sunlight filtering through the wafer-thin curtains as he pried apart his eyelids that were laced with sleep.

The first thing he realised was another set of eyes staring unamused at him, and the second was a fat finger prodding his side. A gruff voice from what sounded to be a teenage boy spoke, "rise and shine roommate, gotta give you the room tour!"

With confusion to the older boy's words Dick cautiously sat up, but still slow from the lack of sleep, he failed to notice the rough hand that grabbed his shoulder. Before he knew it he was skidding to the other side of the room and landed hard against the wall. The voice spoke again, though with more amusement in it this time, "my name's Terry, and you are the new kid, which means you need to learn your place"

Dick heard the large footsteps coming closer as he curled himself into a fatal position, he even heard the rustle of fabric as Terry's leg drew back, ready to strike. Sucking in a breath, Dick braced himself. Suddenly, the door slammed open and the croaky voice of a woman pierced the air, "breakfast time boys! Didn't you hear the wake up call!" And not a second later were Marie's hands wrapped around Dick's and Terry's ears, dragging them off towards the kitchen.

As Dick was roughly shoved into his allocated spot on the long bench, a small bowl was placed in front of him full of what appeared to be, the best way he could describe it, cow shit. His first mouthful even tasted like it. Dick cautiously peered along the table scanning over each of the other orphaned children, they all varied in age with the youngest whom appeared to be 4, to the eldest whom appeared to be 18. They were all wearing extremely ragged looking clothing, which caused a jolt in Dick's stomach as he realised he still had not changed out of his leotard. Drawing his attention away from the others, Dick looked down to find his leotard still soaked in his family's blood. His eyes stung as he fought back tears and he excused himself from the table before he had barely touched his meal.

Racing back to his room, and getting lost on the way multiple times, Dick found his bag safely tucked away under his bed with fresh clothing. Picking it up, he navigated his way through the large house to the showers, occasionally running into the other children. Upon entering the washroom, Dick scrunched up his nose in disgust. The place indeed looked quiet unhygienic with mold flourishing in the damp corners and a layer of grime covering every touchable surface. Attempting not to touch most surfaces, Dick squeezed his way into the shower, stripping down and running the water. Whilst attempting to wash away all of last night's memories under the not so clean water, Dick heard the squeak of a door hinge. After a few moments of silence, he shrugged and continued on. He could only ignore that small sound for so long though as the shower door was ripped opened and a hand was clasped over his mouth, with his windpipe being blocked off by an arm. A gruff voice then spoke, a voice he recognised that belonged to Terry, "we didn't get to finish our introduction earlier!"

Dick could practically hear the smile, and mumbled and struggled pointlessly, the grip was too strong. The voice spoke again, whispering dangerously into his ear, "And now I have your attention, why don't we continue"

The arm tightened around his neck, Dick was really struggling for air now, with his vision slowly going black. Suddenly oxygen flowed through him, and many brightly coloured swirls filled Dick's vision as the arm had seemed to release right before he had blacked-out. Sputtering and coughing, trying to fill his lungs with oxygen, Dick was too distracted to noticed the leg flying towards him. With a cry of pain, the shoe had buried itself into Dick's stomach, as he collapsed on his back.

"You make interesting sounds there roomie" Terry's piercing voice practically sang over the sounds of the flowing shower water.

At the end of his words, Terry climbed atop of Dick and starting beating him over the head with his fists. All this time, Dick was struggling to escape, but by the end of the beating he had given up and was lying on the cold tiles, his body rattling for breath.

Terry, after having his fun and believing he had given his lesson, was now leaving. Right before he exited the bathroom, he turned his head grinning wickedly and spoke, "that was fun, hope to do it again sometime"

Dick, after lying under the cold shower water for another few minutes, struggled to push himself up and turn off the water. Leaning against the wall, he dressed himself, grabbed his belongings and slowly trudged out of the bathroom and to his bedroom. Collapsing on his bed since Terry was nowhere in sight, he mumbled to himself, "could today get any worse?"

The day continued on as usual, a few hours passing by here and there. Dick nowhere insight, seemingly having disappeared, but to one who really looked, they would realise he was more so hiding. After getting out of the old building and into the few acres of land they had in their possession, Dick searched for a place to escape. A place to escape from his memories, and also from Terry, his tormentor. Walking through a field he had stumbled upon, and fumbling a little down a hill, still slightly groggy from the beating in the shower, Dick came upon an old shed. Rusted terribly and seemingly abandoned, he ducked under the chains struggling to hold together the doors that were falling apart, and cautiously entered. Inside was spacious, with plenty of machinery that was most probably used to keep the grounds of the orphanage well kept, now seemingly forgotten and left to rust away. Though when Dick entered, his sight caught the glint from the steel of the butcher knives hanging down from a beam. They reminded Dick of the circus, with their sword and knife performances that were both daring and dangerous.

He had been taught the basic skills of knife throwing, so walking over to them he lifted one off it's hook. Feeling the leather grip in one hand and running his other hand up the edge of the blade, he lifted up his arm and flung it across the room. The metal twisted in the air causing it to bend slightly off course and pierce right next to the wooden beam Dick had been aiming for. Dick nodded as a notion that that wasn't half bad, and picked up the next butcher's knife available. This continued on as a few more hours came and went, Dick's aim getting better with each throw. That is, until the sound of an old church bell rang through his ears. 'Must mean dinner' he thought, as his stomach growled loudly in agreement. 'Oh yeah, I missed lunch' he mentally sighed and started making his way back to the old building for supper.

Coming up the back doors, Dick found himself in a stampede of children all racing to get their food. In an attempt to not get trampled, he quickly scaled a tree and waited until the crowd had died down. Jumping down almost silently he blended in with all the other children, not wanting to draw attention, and collected his plate that, too, was full of cow shit. Taking his allocated seat, Dick pushed around his food with his spoon, suddenly having found himself with no appetite for the dinner. Looking around himself, he noticed an older boy who had a bread roll. His stomach growled loudly, Dick needed that bread roll.

Silently sliding under the table, his mind begun formulating a plan.

'Locate his shoes: check. Now, reach my hand up, but make sure no one is looking! Okay...good... Now find the bread roll. Located. Pull it back down and-'

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he felt something sharp stab into his hand. Letting out a muffled squeak and hitting his head on the table above, Dick's hand retracted back under the table leaving the bread roll above. Inspecting his throbbing hand, Dick could make out the faint marks made by a fork, but a new pain erupted as his hair was almost pulled from his head and he was lifted out from under the table.

A burning sensation came to his cheek as he was slapped by a wooden spoon, and looking up through tear-filled eyes he could make out Marie and the boy he tried to steal from angrily staring at him. He could hear the angry shouts from the boy and the muffled laughter from the other children as he was dragged from the room by Marie, her hand pulling at his ear.

Forcefully shoved into a seat opposite the intimidating desk, and door behind him locked, Dick could hear the heavy breathing of Marie who was seemingly slightly pissed.

"I don't know, or care, what background you come from boy, but we do not take kindly to stealing here!" Marie's stern voice cracked the silence filling it with anger and disappointment. Dick already missed the silence.

"Punishment will be carried out to get the message across to you: stealing is not taken upon kindly" the lasts words spoken sternly and being ground out through her clenched jaw. Dick's head hung low, eyes looking at the floor. He knew it was bad, he knew his parents would never approve, so why was it all he could think was 'I must refine my technique, practise more'

Marie opened up a drawer and pulled out a belt with a few studs attached to it here and there. She walked over to Dick, each step agonisingly slow and echoing loudly throughout the room. When she stopped infront of Dick, the young boy looked up, already predicting what comes next. Marie nodded her head upwards, and Dick getting the message, stood up and walked over the the desk. Marie right behind the boy, pulled down his sweatpants revealing his bare skin, and lining up the belt, a resounding 'thwack' echoed off the walls. Dick, bracing himself for the next one, gripping the desk tight and bitting his cheek as to not scream, though a few tears did escape. Another hit. And another. And another. A few more came down before Marie had decided the boy had learnt his lesson, and walking back around the desk she dismissed him. Dick immediately pulled his pants up and over the now raw and raging red skin, and practically ran out of the room. Still the only thought going through his mind was 'I must refine my technique, practise more'

Stalking back to his room begrudgingly, Dick noticed the time on an ancient clock he was passing: 9pm. That meant lights out, and he was still half a building away, with the deadly staff patrolling the halls. He did not need another 'lesson'. Practically melting into the shadows, Dick walked silently through the halls, attempting to blend into the torn wallpaper best he could whenever a staff member passed. After 10 minutes, that had seemingly taken forever to pass, Dick quietly opened the door to his room. Squeezing through as he had opened it just enough for his size, he tip-toed across the room and slipped under the sheets that were atop his bed, not wishing to wake the older boy, his roommate Terry, from his slumber. Dick laid on his back, but soon found it was too uncomfortable from the 'lesson' he had just received, so decided to twist over onto his stomach, where he silently cried himself into a nightmare filled sleep.