I found him!
I can't believe it, I've finally found him! I imagine reaching out and touching his face just to make sure he's real. But I can't.
I can't move. I'm trapped in my own body, a prisoner in my own mind. I suppose I should explain from the beginning, but I'm warning you, it's a bit of a long story and doesn't yet have a happy ending. Alfred told me the story many times until I could finally just repeat it to myself. It all began long ago on October 3rd, when I was born...
Alfred Pennyworth stood nervously outside the doors to the East Wing of Wayne Manor, seven year old Bruce Wayne pacing nervously in front of him.
"I can't wait Alfred! He'll be here any minute! My very own little brother!" Bruce exclaimed with an eager smile, "I wonder what they'll name him, maybe Thomas or Joshua! I'll have a little brother to run and play with in less then an hour!"
Alfred smiles and pats Bruce's head, "Now Master Bruce, we don't know if it's a boy yet and you'll have to wait a bit before you can do all that with your sibling." On the outside his face is calm and resolute but on the inside Alfred was terrified. Just a few months earlier it was discovered that the baby was an Ectopic pregnancy and could kill both the mother and child. Despite this discovery, Martha Wayne refused to get an abortion. In her heart she believed that she and the baby would be fine. But now she was in labor and from what he'd heard from the nurse, things weren't going well.
"Fine, I guess it would be okay if it was a girl." Bruce finally concluded and Alfred was about to express his approval when the door opened and the nurse walked through.
For a moment she left them in complete suspense while they waited to hear what had happened, then the woman's face broke out in a smile as she put her hand on Bruce's shoulder, "Are you ready to meet the newest addition to the family?" When he nodded excitedly she opened the door, "Go on then."
As soon as he had run through she turned to Alfred, "Both mother and child are fine. The babies parents would like you to come in and meet her." Alfred gave the nurse a grateful handshake then hurried through the doors and down the hallway to the end of the East Wing where the Clinic was. There he found Bruce waiting to go inside to see his sibling, apparently having last second jitters. Alfred put his hand on his shoulder gently and lead him through the door.
Inside was Martha and Thomas Wayne looking down at a bundle of blankets with grand smiles that belong only to proud parents. Bruce slowly walked over and peered into the bundle. Inside was a baby girl, her face still red and a little scrunched, already with tufts of jet black hair on her tiny head. Slowly her eyes opened to reveal the oddest shade of blue any had ever seen, in fact they looked... violet.
"The doctor says it's just a genetic mutation. But they're beautiful." Martha said in hushed tones.
"Correction, Martha. She's beautiful." Thomas whispered proudly.
At first Bruce just stared at her silently then slowly his mouth curled in a smile and he reached forward to softly stroke her hair, "What's her name?"
"Sapheara Euphemianna Wayne." Martha gave her husband a sweet little kiss on the nose.
Bruce laughs a little, "What a mouthful!" He seems to get lost in her violet eyes then says quietly, "Sapheara..."
"Sapheara?" My mouth longs to cry out yes! Yes, it's me! Bruce looks me in the eyes and shakes my shoulders, "Sapheara, look at me! What are you doing here?"
I simply look ahead and say nothing, my stare is blank but I can see him clearly. His blue eyes, and black hair, so much like what our father had looked like in the pictures. He has a bit of a beard now and is all bundled up from the freezing air outside of our cozy but oh so dangerous academy. A small blue flower is in his pocket. No! I want to yell, don't let him trick you into using the flower. "Sapheara, please answer me!"
"She will not speak, unless I tell her to." Says a smooth but chilling voice from behind. Henri Ducard. Ducard walks toward me and gently brushes my hair, "She's his best student. A superb fighter, so silent a rabbit couldn't hear her if she was an inch behind it and she strikes faster then a cheetah. She's also very loyal."
"And she's my sister! What is she doing here?!" Bruce begins to get angry at Ducard and I almost feel bad, Ducard has always been kind to me. He even seemed sad when I began to lose grasp of myself.
"We found her as we found you. Though she wasn't in a jail, instead she was in a lot of trouble with gang leaders in China. She boxed a little too well from what I heard. She told us her story of woe. Her story of how she had set off at 15 years old to find her older brother and bring him home." Ducard was circling me with an odd hint of pride in his voice, "Sapheara made it until she was 17 on her own, traveling the world. We rescued her, and since then we've trained her. She's a survivor ."
Bruce seemed awestruck at the story, having not even known that for 5 years I had been a Missing Child.
"Come along Bruce, Raz al Ghul will see you now..." As they walk away and his voice fades my mind too begins to go back to how I got here...
Three years had passed peacefully since my birth, with a few bumps in the road, such as Bruce and I falling down an old well and nearly being scared to death by bats. I swear Rachel Dawes blames herself for that to this day. My jet black hair had not been cut once since the day I'd been born and was now in shiny waves to the middle of my back.
I was on my mothers lap staring at a now ten year old Bruce, as we rode on the train on our way to the opera. Bruce and my dad were in tuxes while my mother was in a beautiful black dress with a fur wrap. I myself had been wearing a black unitard with a fluffy white tutu and my hair up in a braided bun. I barely listened to my families conversation as I entertained myself with the pearls hanging from my mothers neck. Bruce smiled at me often on that trip. I wish that I had known those would be the last true smiles on my brothers face for a long time.
Bruce had always been proud of me from the second I was born. He bragged to Rachel about how my first word was Bruce and he often doted upon me with dandelions and cool rocks he would find. My three year old self could not have known that my brothers gifts would no longer be a simple and heartfelt action but from that night on would be used only as an apology.
Watching that Opera was terrifying. I don't even remember the name of it. I just kept watching those bat looking things and getting more and more scared. I was about to start crying when suddenly my dad picked my up and our entire family left the theatre.
We went out the back and as my father told my mother he simply needed some air he handed my to Bruce, who held me close as if to calm himself down.
Everything after that becomes a blur. I remember a man... Then loud noises, banging sounds... Looking down at my white tutu to find it not had red spots on it and Bruce holding me tighter then ever and sobbing so loud I thought my heart would rip open.
Many police officers tried to pry me out of Bruce's arms but he screamed at anyone who tried to take me from him. He held me in one of the offices while a police officer with a mustache put our dads coat over Bruce's shoulder. He said his name was Gordon. I remember a little dent appeared on my forehead as I scrunched my face in confusion and asked, "Bruce, why you wearin' daddy's coat?"
This turned Gordons stare to me, "This must be your little sister. Sapheara, right?" Bruce nodded slowly and buried his face in my hair, which suddenly felt wet. It took me years to realize it was from his tears.
Gordon went over to a desk, pulled something out then walked over to me, "Here you go, sweetheart." He says kindly as he puts my mothers string of pearls around my neck. I touched them softly, not knowing then the beautiful kindness that was behind this simple act.
"Gordon, what're you doing? Those are evidence, the investigators are only going to take those from her." Gripes the police captain.
"If anyone tries, send them to me. I'd like to see them try to take the last piece this little girl has of her mother." Gordon says sternly.
Alfred came to pick us up then, he carried me while Bruce walked behind. That moment is the one I remember most of that night. I watched as my brother lost his childhood and I lost my brother...
"She beats you again, Bruce, you must stop thinking of her as your little sister." Ducard says from the sidelines as Bruce stands on the ice once more as I get back into defensive position. Ducard had pitted me against Bruce four times now and each time I had brought him to the ground with his sword ending up about ten feet away.
"I can't, she is my little sister!" Bruce picks up his sword once more and approaches me. He raises the sword and I raise mine.
"Wrong, Bruce. She isn't. She hasn't been for over 5 years now. You had a choice at one time, and you made the one that meant she would no longer be your sister."
"I had to though, and she didn't need me! She had Alfred, that doesn't make her no longer mine."
"But she isn't!" Ducard insisted, "Sapheara belongs to only Raz now."
We begin our fight and I beat him once more, and while I stood over Bruce, my sword against his throat Ducard called out, "Speak your mind, Sapheara."
There was so much I wanted to say, so many emotions but in that moment all I felt was anger. So I spat out the only words I could, "You left me." And with that I dropped the sword and walked away. Ducard took up my sword and fought the shocked Bruce, insulting him and my father, which ended with Bruce falling through the ice.
While Bruce warmed himself by the fire I stood on the ice once more, looking up at the stars. Its cold out tonight, kind of like the night the cold sunk through my skin and wrapped itself around my heart...
It was more then a decade after my parents died and I was thirteen years old. My hair had been my fathers pride and joy and he used to swear that he'd never let me cut it, so I had never cut it and I had to keep it in a braid so it didn't drag on the ground. That day was one I wasn't about to forget.
I looked in the mirror, my hair is pulled up in a crown of braids which then falls gracefully half way down my back. I was wearing a nice red blouse with a navy blue blazer over it and a denim pencil skirt. I then race downstairs and look out the window, "Is he here yet?" I ask Alfred, who was still eating his breakfast at the kitchen counter.
Alfred chuckles, "If he were here, you would know already."
"I know, but I'm so excited!" I sit next to him and rest my chin on my hands, "You know he only comes home from school once a year and that's for my birthday. I miss him."
"I know, Sapheara, but today's different and it's going to be hard for him."
"I know Alfred, we're trying my parent's murderer today too." I sighed, my heart already felt heavy. I glancde out the window and see a taxi pulling into the drive way, "Bruce is here!" I yelped and scrambled to the door which I throw open and run outside, "Bruce!"
Bruce gets out of the taxi, picks me up and twirls me around, "I've missed you too, Sapheara!" He hugs me tight and I can't help but grin like a mad woman.
We sit down in the kitchen and catch up a bit then after a couple hours we have to head to the trial. When Bruce left the room they called me up instead and I had to explain to them that I couldn't remember any of that night.
Rachel came and picked me up and we waited in the car for the trial to end, suddenly I started to cry, "Rachel, he's going to get off and it's going to be my fault." Rachel turns and looks at me with a shocked look.
"What the H**** did you just say?" Now it's my turn to look shocked.
"W-Well, they called me up to testify and I had to tell them I didn't remember anything and now Chill is going to get away with murder."
"Sapheara, Chill," She sighs, "Chill may get off but it will not be your fault, they knew you were too small to remember any of it, they just called you up to make a point. You cannot be blamed whatsoever." She kissed my foerhead and went to go get Bruce.
I laid down in the backseat and pretended to be asleep. I heard as they discussed how Chill had been shot and peeked my eye open when Bruce pulled out the gun. I almost threw up when I saw it in his hand, and for a moment I believed he could have done it. I heard Rachel slap him then drop him off somewhere.
"Take her home, and tell her I love her very much." I heard him whisper before he got out of the car. Love me? What?! Bruce hadn't said those words since before mom and dad died. Then it hit me, he was leaving and he wasn't planning on coming back.
I bolt up from my seat and Rachel gasped, "How long were you awake?!"
"Who cares, let me out!" But she was pulling away already. I banged my fist against the back window shield, "BRUCE PLEASE DON'T GO!" I screamed and sobbed at the same time but he was already inside and we were too far.
Rachel drove me home and before I got out she turned to me, crying herself, "I'm sorry," she whispered.
I look at her, my hair messed up and eyes bloodshot, "I hate you." I snarl, "You let him leave me." Just before slamming the door shut I heard her begin to sob but I run inside anyway. Please be home, please be home, please be home! "BRUCE!" I scream, "Bruce, please!" Alfred appears with a worried face.
"Ms. Sapheara, what's wrong?"
I start weeping again, "Leave me alone!" I yell at him and run upstairs to my room. I change into jeans, a sweatshirt and a pair of converse. I lock the door and wait for hours staring at the mirror. An entire day passes, with Alfred and Rachel knocking at the door to try and get me to come out. Rachel threatened to knock the door down but never did. Finally around midnight these thoughts started running through my head. I have to find him, I have to bring him home. I need him, he needs me. I grab a duffle bag from my closet and pack it with clothes, a stack of cash and a pair of scissors. I make a rope from my bed sheets and hang it out the window. I place my mothers pearls on the bed for Alfred to find. Looking one last time in the mirror I grab one of the rocks Bruce gave me when I was three and shatter it. I take a piece and climb down the make-shift rope.
At this point it had started to rain and I had one last place to stop. I ran to my parents grave and knelt between the two headstones. As the rain soaked me to the bone I made a promise to my parents, "I promise I'm going to bring him home." I grabbed my long black hair in one hand and in one sweep sliced it off with the mirror shard. Then with the scissors I cute my hair to a pixie cut. I laid the hair and the mirror shard down between my parents graves and with a shaking voice said, "I promise."
Those first few hours were grueling. I made it to Gotham but got lost and ended up in a bad part of town. I put my hood up and tried to look more like a guy.
I was about to pass an alley way with a burnt building beside it when I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Hey." I jumped and tried to hit what I thought was an attacker. But when I turned around I found a boy around my age with short black hair spiked up in the front, he was cute I guess, in a I'm-not-gonna-kill-you way. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." He was wearing a jacket and jeans and standing in the middle of the rain, but I suppose I was doing that too so I couldn't judge.
"That sounds like something a killer would say." I stammer slightly as I was really cold.
The boy laughed and seemed to noticed I was cold, he pulled of his jacket and handed it to me. Normally I wouldn't have taken it but I was so cold all common sense had left me and I slipped it on, it was still warm from the boy, "You look like your running from something." He pointed out, then nodded at the bag, "You got food in there for the journey?"
I shook my head and he smiles, "Wait there, okay?" He disappeared into the house beside the burnt down one then reappeared with a bag full of peanut butter, bread, crackers and what appeared to be a misshapen carrot. He handed it to me, and said with a smile that only a trouble maker can pull off, "My name's John Blake, you don't have to tell me yours if you don't want to."
I couldn't help it, I had to hug him. So I did. While I was hugging him he whispered to me, "I hope you escape what your running from." I whisper back, "It's not what I'm running from, more like what I'm running to." before I pull away I kiss his cheek, "Thank you." I whisper to him then run away.
From there I went to the train station, then the airport then wherever the latest rumor about Bruce was. Until finally the League of Shadows found me and took me in. They told me to breath in the blue flower to absorb my fears, what they didn't say is that over so many uses it dulls the users sense of agency and they become nothing more then a puppet.
"It's time Bruce." I heard Ducard tell my brother.
"What did he do?" Bruce asked about the man in the cage who he was told he had to kill.
After Ducard told him Bruce nodded and came over to talk to me. He took my black mask off and looked me in the eyes, "I'm sorry I left you, Sapheara. But before I do this, I need to hear you speak to me. PLEASE! I'm your brother, Bruce."
I stared blankly ahead and he kissed my forehead then went to kill the man. Bruce. I think to myself, say his name! My mouth tweaks slightly and I feel hope again. Bruce. Bruce! BRUCE! "Bruce." I whisper. And then I whisper it again and again, unable to believe that I had done something that someone didn't have to tell me to do first. Bruce raised the sword and was about to bring it down when I screamed, "BRUCE NO!" Bruce dropped the sword and started fighting others around him.
Ducard twirled around to face me, "You stupid girl, whether you or your brother leads the army, Gotham will be destroyed!" He smacks me across the head with the butt of his sword and everything goes black.
When I wake up the first thing I'm aware of is the throbbing in my head. I raise my hand and press to press it against my head then freeze. I raised my hand! I stare at it like I'm stupid and laugh aloud, then cover my mouth. I laughed! I had control over my body again! I laughed and cried a little.
I sat up and looked around, I was in a plane. A really nice plane. I had been sleeping on a bed and had a gauze wrap over my forehead. I stand up and stumble. Putting my hand on the wall to steady myself I walk through the cabin but no ones there. I head back to the room I woke up in and found Bruce, sleeping in a recliner by the bed. I must have walked right past him. And he must have been watching me sleep.
"Bruce?" I say quietly, and he bolts awake, a smile breaks out on his face and he wraps me in his arms. "I found you." I start to sob uncontrollably.
"Sapheara." He whispers, "I've missed you so much."
I pull away, "What happened? The League of Shadows?" I sit on the bed and he sits back on the recliner.
"Gone, destroyed, burnt to the ground." He strokes my arm where a burn mark was, "I had to carry you out but I wasn't fast enough before you got hurt."
"I can't even feel it." I say reassuringly, "And Ducard?" I ask.
"He's safe with a doctor back in the mountains, he won't bother us again."
I smile, "I have so many stories to tell you."
"And I have many to tell you as well."
All of a sudden I yawn, "Actually Bruce, I'm exhausted, can I go back to sleep?"
"Of coarse, Sapheara, when you wake up we'll be there."
"Where?" I ask curiously.
"Home."
I feel warm when he says that then flop back onto the bed and groan, "Ah man, Alfred's gonna kill me."
End of Chapter One :) I will get chapter two up as soon as possible :)
