Wayne Manor, July 5, 10:00 am, EDT, 2016
Two nineteen year olds lay amongst tangled royal purple bed sheets, entwined in each other's arms.
The young black haired man slept soundly, his deep steady breaths slightly muffled as he nuzzled into the back of the young woman's head. Her brown hair was soft and dark and even in his unconscious state of mind he pressed himself closer to her.
The girl chuckled softly to herself. She had been awake for almost an hour already but she hadn't had the heart to move. For one thing, she was far too comfortable and warm, but also she wanted to enjoy her bed mate's company.
Her warm brown eyes wandered over the room. It was much the same as it had been since she'd first arrived at the Wayne manor all those years ago. Back then she'd just been a ten year old girl, thin and scrawny, who loved the colour purple and carried a plush toy bat. She spotted the said toy sitting on a beanbag next to an oak bookcase. It had a black bra flung onto it.
Now how did that get there?
But no sooner had she thought about it then all the memories from the last night came flooding back.
"Oh right" she muttered to no one in particular.
Blushing she turned her attentions to the bedside table closest to her on which several photographs stood framed. She reached for the closest one which had five teenagers, four boys and one girl, standing in a group in front of a large building behind them.
The tallest and oldest of the group was a Caucasian auburn haired boy with a black domino mask covering his eyes. He dressed in a red tunic with matching tights with yellow gloves, boots, belt and quiver and Robin Hood style hat. He was frowning, his arms folded, being very uncooperative with the cameraman.
The second tallest was a lean boy with dark brown skin, high cheekbones, light blond hair, pale green eyes, eel tattoos over his arms and gills on the sides of his neck. He was wearing a skin tight, full bodied red and blue swimsuit with a black belt with an "A" symbol for a buckle. Like the red head next to him he was standing in the back and folding his arms, however he was wearing a polite smile that hid behind most of his excitement.
The boys and girl in front of them weren't even bothering to hold their excitement. The one on the right was a fifteen year old in a yellow and red suit with red goggles that sat on a mess of spiked red hair. His face was grinning with crumbs of food flying out of his mouth as he gripped a granola bar. His free hand was draped over the shoulders of the thirteen year old girl that stood next to him on his right.
She was shortish for her age and was wearing a black bodysuit under a purple leotard. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a high bun and her eyes were hidden behind a domino mask as well. She was giggling madly and leaning towards the boy on her right. Though mostly covered by a black and yellow cape he was sporting a cheeky grin as he leant as though whispering something into her ear.
The young woman looking down on the photo could barely suppress a snort of amusement as she looked down at this particular boy. His jet black hair was short but stylishly messed up and though he too had a domino mask, she could just imagine his eyes, bright clear blue orbs, twinkle with delight and happiness.
She looked over her shoulder at the young man who was holding her as they lay, and her smile widened with warm affection.
His jet black hair was still messed up and he still wore the same smile as he slept. Seeing him so peaceful like this made it seem like almost nothing had happened.
And a lot had happened since that day and yet it seemed like only yesterday...
Gotham City, July 4, 6:30 am EDT 2010
Bang! A door crashed open.
"Good Morning Christine!" a young boy's voice boomed excitedly
She opened her warm brown eyes slowly, gazing up at the wooden ceiling of her four poster bed. The covers, which were varying shades of purple with black pillowcases with the batman symbol printed boldly across them in yellow, crinkled more as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
She glared in the direction of the door where a blurry mass of pale skin, black hair and what seemed to be green and grey material stood in what seemed to be the doorway.
She huffed as she crashed back down on the bed and closed her eyes tight.
It had been four years since Christine Evelyn Hallows came to live with her godfather Bruce Wayne and his ward Richard "Dick" Grayson. Come Halloween, her birthday, and it would be four years since she became Batman and Robin's second partner, the Swift. And yet after all this time, Dick still wouldn't learn to not wake her up early in the bloody morning!
But it seemed as if her stubbornness would not deter her adoptive brother from his early morning mission. With an echoing cackle he lightly jumped onto the bed, ripped the covers off her and flung them to the floor.
"Dick" she groaned, her eyes were still shut as she blindly reached for something to cover her up. Eventually her hands found her rectangular black rimmed glasses on her bedside table. She sat up again as she jammed them onto her face as she looked at the thirteen year old boy sitting cross-legged on the other side of her bed.
"Good morning" he beamed showing off his perfect straight white teeth. His black hair, she noticed, was messier than usual and many a cowlick were sticking at odd angles over his head.
"Dick…It's six in the morning"
"Actually it's six thirty! But so what?!" Dick's eyes seemed to sparkle like diamonds with his excitement as he bounced up and down in his spot. It was rather cute, like watching a little puppy play with a new toy, but Christine didn't care.
"So…why are you in my room at six thirty in the morning?"
" 'cause you needed to wake up!"
"Why?"
"Because today's the day!" Dick exclaimed loudly throwing his hands up into the air.
Christine looked blankly at him. She could almost see the fireworks, streamers and confetti materialise and explode around him. They were both thirteen but sometimes Christine wondered if Dick's brain had been de-aged by a villain to be stuck at age five.
She shook her head and sighed.
"Oh come on Chrissy! As if you're not excited too. Who was the one who wanted to bake a cake to celebrate last night" Dick complained loudly as he grabbed one of her arms and dragged her out of bed.
Christine didn't even bother resisting as he led her down through the large manor house. Four years of living with an excitable early bird like Dick you learn to just go with the flow. And if she really was that tired she could just put her head on the counter and sleep till the food was ready.
They entered the kitchen where the old butler, Alfred, was busy cooking at the stove already dressed in his suit and Bruce was sitting at the little island counter in the middle reading the newspaper in his flannel pyjamas. The two men smiled as their two youngest charges walked in hand in hand.
"Good Morning Al! Bruce!" Dick waved. Christine winced at the loud volumes.
"Good Morning young Master Dick, Miss Christine!"
" … Morning Alfred" Christine yawned behind her free hand before seating herself at Bruce's side.
"You're up early" Bruce chuckled.
"Didn't have a choice did I" Christine narrowed her eyes at Dick who smirked back triumphantly from his spot across from her as he poured milk all over his cereal.
Bruce removed the puzzle section of his newspaper and placed it in front of his surrogate daughter scowling as he caught sight of her T-shirt.
It was a light blue with a red Superman symbol on it.
Christine rolled her eyes as she tied up her hair, straight dark brown and shoulder length, in a loose bun, before taking out a pen from a pocket. Quickly she tapped the first clue of one of the crosswords.
#01 Down - something that is attained through self capability.
She tapped twelve letters and smiled widely as she neatly printed out.
Independence