Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except my own. They know who they are!
Authors Note: Back at it again with some Batman fanfiction! Honestly, the first ever fan fiction story I wrote was for Batman, so I'm pretty excited to write more for this. I plan for it to be a little mini series?
Leave a review! Positive or negative... I enjoy all feedback.
All over her, they crawled. Skittering across the thin and frail parts which she called arms, paler than foam from the atlantic. Plying through dark hairs made of bristles only to burrow themselves beneath her skin, tearing and ripping through her once soft flesh, like savage beasts—capturing droplets of blood as quickly as they begin to drip onto the porcelain linen. Her legs and back, were no different, subject to their ravaging of her body. Once a temple, now a desolate cage, trapping her pitiful soul within it. Those terrible things were a singular entity. It was a parasite that she could not rid herself of, an endless cycle which she could never put to a halt, always seeming to strike once the sun had set and the murky clouds rolled across the midnight skies.
As quick as they had come, the parasite and its spawn would crawl from the pores of her skin and evaporate into the humidity. There would be silence. Darkness. Pure and utter darkness, enveloping her entire body. It hadn't been over. Unable to move her body, she would lie there and let it take her. All of her functions seemed to fail. A scream could not be forced from her dry lips, her eyelids had not the energy to be lifted upwards. The saliva building up in her mouth sat at the back of her throat, desperately trying to make its way down the small crevice before her tonsils shriveled into nothing.
And then, there was nothing. Silence.
Then a scream.
"Athena!" the name barging from her lips as she gasped to gather all of the air inside of the small, unlit room. Cheeks wet with a sudden warmness, contrasting with the cold that overtook her entirety, tears… never felt so nice. "My name is Athena." Beads of sweat traced her forehead and nose, breaths ragged, eyes wide enough to pop out of their sockets. Pulling her legs close to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, the shadows of nothingness surrounded her. Putrid blackness intruded her lungs, intertwining with them until it was almost impossible for her to continue to take in even breaths.
Suddenly, the door swung open, fast and heavy footsteps making their way over to her. "Athena? Athena, what's wrong?" the familiar voice filled her ears, pulling a piece of her back from the nightmare she lived. Her mother's tone etched with concern, flowing like that of a river under a moonlit sky, in a sweet whisper that would lull even those well rested to sleep. A tone she only used with her. Eyes connected with hers, a soft chartreuse visible even with the absence of light. The natural slitted, feline manner they were often in had vanished, while peering straight into the eyes of her daughter. Pixie cut, black hair framed her face, battered from wars, mental and corporeal, scars only a few could possibly see. Light freckles littered across her tanned features. The simple sight, of even just those specks of imperfections of her skin, made every worry she had fade away. The bed squeaked with the additional weight. Before she could even answer her questions, her mother's arms were tightly wrapped around her body. "You had the nightmare again." More of a question than a statement, Athena slowly nodded her head, gradually falling into the comfort of her mother, a faint scent of jasmine clouding her nostrils.
Trotting a few seconds behind her, had been a small cat. It's coat white and sleek, tail swishing from side to side as it slinked its way closer to the bed, preparing to leap upwards. The small cat rubbed its head against her, purring a tender sound. Like most white cats, its eyes almost matched hers, blue.
"It's okay," she whispered into her ear, gently circling her hand around the small of her back, "oh, baby, you're okay." Mom pulled closer, much like a lioness protecting her cub. "You're home. You're home."
A soft breeze beginning to drift from the window beside her, made its way to where she sat. It was cold, fresh. Athena nodded, closing her eyes to turn her head towards the open window where she could see nothingness. Her world, it seemed so bleak and frightening, so surreal, like she had been plucked from the universe itself and placed in a foreign place where everything had been against her, even her own dreams. She closed her eyes again, as more tears rolled down her cheeks, creating another streak of sorrow. Sobbing into the shoulder of her mother, suddenly, something changed. Behind her closed eyes, was not darkness, but light. Athena lifted her eyelids, taking in the sight in front of her. The sky was once a void, with not a star to light the way.
"I'm home," taking in the first steady breath in hours, somehow finding it within herself to utter words that felt so foreign to her. Her solace, it had been found.
One star rested in the center of the sky. The clouds had parted, allowing for it to chase away the shadows of the city. A symbol of justice, it might have been, but it was a symbol of hope as well. A glimmer of hope that one day, all the nightmares would cease to exist. This was Gotham's Star. It's radiance poured into the room, something brilliant. It was only a simply insignia.
A black bat.