Chapter One: Fate Intertwined
"So, this is the kid?"
A police detective quietly asks as he hovers in a doorway, across the room sits a young boy motionless. His face is unreadable, but his body language says enough. Tired eyes full of unshed tears stare at the hardwood floor, black hair disheveled and shoulders hunched forward, his small arms wrapped around himself to desperately find some level comfort. This night has been hell for him. A kind of hell all too familiar to the tired detective. One of loss.
"Yep, my partner and I found him sitting there in the alley next to-"
A stern look directed over his shoulder quickly silences the abrasive patrol officer standing behind him. The detective redirects his gaze to the boy and slowly walks into the room. Careful in his steps as to not startle him. The boy's glass-eyed gaze towards the floor does not shift, either unaware or uncaring of the man's presence.
The room is large, or at least, the largest in the otherwise small police precinct it resides in. A few desks lay close to each other, under cluttered messes of paperwork and old coffee cups. There are no other officers watching over him. His colleague's chairs sit empty. Knowing how they feel about the boy's kind; their lack of presence is not missed.
With a final almost disinterested glance at the scene, the patrol officer leaves as the detective finishes his approach. Calmly, he lowers to one knee right across from the boy and lays a warm hand upon his shoulder. The boy flinches.
"It's okay."
Simple, comforting words, but enough. The boy's gaze rises to the detective, meeting eyes full of warmth and understanding.
The walls the boy constructed crumble and his eyes grow wet with tears.
He falls forward into the arms of the detective, burying his neck in his shoulder. His quiet sobs resonate in the room.
"It's okay, you're going to be okay."
The logo of the police department looms over them, painted on the wall. Chipped and dulled with age, it shows a yellow badge with the words City of Vale Police Department: Gotham District inscribed upon its surface.
Half an hour later, after calling the boy's family estate to inform them of the events of that night, an older gentleman arrives in a panicked state. His appearance is that of a man who is barely holding himself together, the grief noticeably eating away at his carefully constructed demeaner. Greying hair disheveled and tired eyes locked upon the boy he is now solely responsible for.
"Master Bruce," he begins calmly as he lowers himself to eye level. Whatever words of comfort he had prepared goes unsaid as Bruce interrupts with the first words he has spoken all night.
"Alfred, they're gone. Mom and Dad are gone because of me," he cries out in a mess of emotion, feelings of guilt and regret that had been boiling in his heart throughout the night exploding to the surface.
"No- "
"They're gone because of me. If I hadn't gotten scared- "
Alfred wraps his arms around him before he can continue.
"Enough of that now, it was nothing that you did," he says sternly, rubbing Bruce's head with the warm palm of his hand in a show of comfort. "It was him and him alone." Bruce buries his face in his butler's shoulder. The only family he last left; he numbly realizes. The detective watches from a short distance, kindly giving the two the quiet moment they need before addressing the butler.
"Sir, sorry to interrupt but we'll need you to fill out a few sheets of paperwork before we can release Bruce to your custody."
"Ah, yes of course Mr.- "Alfred teeters off, only now realizing he hadn't caught the officer's name.
"Detective Gordon."
"Detective Gordon, I'll get started on that right away."
Alfred stands while remaining a hold on Bruce's hand.
The night that forever changed Bruce's life ends with the sound of pen on paper as he quickly falls asleep in a waiting chair, wrapped in Alfred's large coat. His face caked with dried tears and a heart entirely exhausted, its tank empty. The next morning, he would come to realize with a tired sense of resignation that it would never truly be full again. His dreams thereafter forever haunted by the image of that alleyway, the cold bodies of his parents draped next to each other and swarms of bats crying out into the night beneath a shattered moon.
For now, however, there is only Alfred carrying the sleeping young Master out of the police department to the car and Detective Gordon watching tiredly from the front steps, his gaze focused on the small pair of bat ears resting atop the young boy's head.
BREAKING NEWS:
THOMAS AND MARTHA WAYNE FOUND DEAD IN GOTHAM
The broadcast flashes across a large television screen, accompanied by a somewhat portly reporter, well-aged and clearly accustomed to delivering bad news, with a visage of stoic professionalism he reports on the recent tragedy.
"—found dead in a Gotham alleyway. The pair leave behind their 8-year-old son Bruce Wayne, sole heir to the Wayne family fortune. Details on the killings have yet to come to light but rumors of anti-Faunus incentive are spreading like wildfire throughout the Kingdom. The family has had a history of controversy after Thomas Wayne, at the time, sole heir to Wayne Enterprises and acting CEO of the multi-billion-lien company, married a Faunus woman, an unprecedented and highly criticized decision for the otherwise prestigious line of Wayne heirs."
Across the room, a man dressed finely in white watches the television intently, an almost empty glass of wine dancing within his fingertips. Sat next to him, a young girl with hair as white as snow watches along, a clear hesitancy to speak written across her face.
"Let this be a lesson to you Weiss, nothing good comes from associating with their kind."
He sounds almost pleased with the news, spoken with a light tone of voice unfamiliar to his young daughter. A small smirk rests itself beneath his pale mustache.
"Yes, father," Weiss timidly replies, not wishing to set the man off with a lack of response, a lack of obedience. She has never seen him this happy, after all.
"—in response to the tragic deaths, racial tensions are expected to come to an all-time high in the Gotham district of Vale, with police preparing for civil unrest among the Faunus population."
If only that clear satisfaction didn't stem from a subject so morbid.
"Blake."
A giant of a man gently calls down to his young daughter. The small pair of cat ears that rest upon her head, somewhat buried under long unruly black hair, twitch in response as she looks up at him questioningly.
"Come, the protest is about to begin."
Blake grins as she jumps up in excitement. The grim reality of the situation not yet settling itself in her childish thoughts. Protests were fun after all, that is when people weren't throwing rocks at her. The atmosphere was addicting, family, friends, and strangers alike all rallying together for a greater cause, signs in hand etched with the words of their hearts. Hundreds of voices coming together forming a loud singular cry of hope that echoes across the world. A call to action with the promise of a better future for everyone.
She was still too young to fully understand what they were fighting for exactly, but she knew how important it was with the way her father's eyes seemed to sharpen like steel at every event. The fire in his heart visible to all those he stands beside. A burning conviction she would eventually come to share.
Moments later, thousands have gathered outside the front hall of the Gotham District capitol building, an unparalleled show of support for Faunus equality after the tragic deaths of the Wayne family. Blake's eyes shine like jewels at the sight, having never seen a protest of this magnitude. Standing beside her however, her father's eyes shine in a different light. A deep wariness growing inside his gut as he watches more and more police cars form a perimeter around the crowd of Faunus.
Knowing the inevitable fight that's brewing he steels his resolve and marches towards the front of the crowd, megaphone in hand, to deliver his words. Blake's hand locked firmly with his own as she grunts in surprise at being pulled forward. He will protect her with his last breath if the need arises, but he knows this moment is too important to let pass.
"Dad?"
He doesn't respond verbally; his thumb brushes her knuckles gently as he reaches the front. A moment of comfort more necessary for himself than for her.
The fire in his heart burns, his chest aches with anticipation.
Standing on the steps to the district capitol, he looks out towards the crowd. Local and national news vans have parked outside the perimeter and their reporters now stand amongst the crowd, cameras in hand. He raises the megaphone to his lips
"Brothers and sisters, yesterday a beacon of hope to millions was extinguished. The marriage of Thomas and Martha Wayne was an unprecedented show of unity between human and faunus kind."
The crowd quickly silences, hanging onto every word. The police exit their vehicles.
"Their love showed us that we can be united, that we can live amongst each other as equals, that fate has not separated humanity and faunus so severely. We have all gathered here today to remind Vale, to remind the world, of the fierce urgency of now. There is no time to engage in the luxury of stagnation. We must change, all of us together, humans and faunus to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again."
The fire in his heart burns brighter than ever, threating to spill out of his chest.
The emotion in the air shifts, intoxicating to those in support of the cause, and simply toxic to those who stand opposed.
"Now is the time to make good on the promise of equality, the promise our forefathers were told at the end of the Great War. Now is the time to rise from the desolate valley of segregation. Now is the time to lift both of our people, united as one into the sun. To stand beside one another against the growing dark, the ever-constant threat of the Grimm."
The fire in his heart explodes outward, spreading to all of those around him and igniting their own conviction.
Blake looks upon her father in awe. This moment will forever be engraved into her soul. Her destiny is decided.
"Let this be the day when our fates become forever intertwined. The day when we- "
A gunshot echoes. Her father's aura flashes a bright purple.
The pin has dropped, and Remnant sits on the edge of its seat.
The sound of fighting is deafening. Blake's ears twitch uncomfortably beneath her shaking hands as gunshots continuously scream through the air, her sensitive faunus ears not yet accustomed to such loud noises. Her eyes are clenched shut, afraid to witness the carnage as her father attempts to carry her to safety. Shuffling and shoving through the crowd, away from where the fighting seemingly begins to congregate.
Suddenly and violently, she feels herself ripped from her father's grasp. Her father grunts in pain as the crowd stampedes through them, separating his line of sight from the girl most precious to him. He screams in anger and fear for her safety before falling further into the frightened crowd.
The ground is cold, Blake realizes dumbly, taking a moment to come to her senses after being dropped so unceremoniously. All around her; footsteps violently shake the ground beneath, as if the earth itself was yelling in anguish at the turn of events. She slowly rises from the cold pavement and fearfully takes in her surroundings, her fellow brothers and sisters running from a police barricade of riot shields slowly inching towards her direction. Electrified batons lighting the air around them in an ethereal glow. One promising intense pain and persecution to any who are unlucky enough to be near their wielders.
Her body freezes in a moment of fear as she finally reaches her feet, praying that her father arrives in time to rescue her. The police inch closer and closer, their batons reflecting in her tearful amber stare.
Suddenly, as they finish their approach and the most despicable among them gleefully raises his baton aiming to strike the frightened child, her savior makes his dramatic entrance.
Blake watches awe-struck as a boy only a few years older than her, with striking red hair and small dark horns protruding from the top of his head, jumps up and kicks out at the officer's shield forcing him back. The boy quickly turns back, locking his blue eyes with Blake's amber. Their gazes are intense and hold more meaning than either could possibly understand in this moment.
The man behind him regains his bearings, switching targets and strikes down at the boy, the sound of his electrified baton shrieking through the air as it attempts to make deadly contact with the animal's skull.
Expertly, as if used to such beatings, the boy quickly dodges forward and turns back to face his attacker in one swift motion. The boy firmly grasps onto the man's arm as it finishes its descent and attempts to grapple the weapon away from the man easily twice his size. He almost succeeds before he's firmly grabbed by the officer to his right, who dropped his shield in anticipation for the beatdown. Quickly a few others follow suit, dropping their shields and abandoning the tight barricade they had previously enforced.
With renewed vigor and a newfound advantage against the distracted kid, the officer tears his baton away from the boy's grasp. His comrades quickly and easily pull his arms outward leaving him defenseless. The officer smiles in sadistic glee.
"You should have stayed out of this and remembered your place, animal."
The boy grins and defiantly spits out at the man's helmet before receiving a violent electrified blow to the face in retribution, his dark red aura flashing out to protect him.
"Aura huh? This'll be more fun than I realized."
The officer laughs. The baton lashes out more and more. His colleagues egging him on with cheers all the while.
It's when the boy's aura finally breaks that Blake jumps atop an officer's back and attempts to bite through his gear into his shoulder, unable to watch the brutal act of injustice continue. He shouts out in surprise and attempts to grab her, before suddenly the weight is lifted off his back. He turns around expecting to see the tiny girl, only to face a mountainous muscled chest instead. He dumbly looks upward. The face of pure wrath in the form of the girl's father greets him, before an aura enhanced fist explosively meets the front of his helmet.
The other officers watch fearfully as their comrade gets thrown backwards from the force of a single punch. A few quickly run off as they feel the shift in tides, leaving the first officer alone to hold the injured boy he'd been beating on. In a moment of desperation, he pulls the boy backwards, holding him in a chokehold with his electrified baton held dangerously close to his unprotected eye. The dial turned up to 11. Electricity flashes almost blindingly.
"I'm warning you freak, back off or I'll grill this animal's face."
His voice quivers.
Blake watches in fear from behind her father's leg.
Her father carefully inches forward, slowing raising his hand towards the unstable officer.
"Easy there, it doesn't have to come to this," he tries to plead.
The officer almost frozen in fear, evidently doesn't trust his words. He shifts his arm and makes good on his threat.
Skin sizzles and burns away as the baton makes contact. The boy screams.
"No!" Blake's father bellows in anger.
He lurches forward and separates the two, violently shoving the smaller man onto the pavement.
Fists rain down upon the armored officer, breaking apart his helmet, his aura flashes with each strike, constantly threatening to shatter.
Blake cradles the injured boy in her arms as pained tears leak from his one remaining eye.
Slowly, he turns his head and watches the large man thrash his tormenter. The pure anger palpable in the air around them.
It's here in this moment, that the boy, Adam, learns an important lesson. One that he will carry with him to his grave.
A lesson of violence, and a promise of vengeance.
Like Blake, his destiny had been decided today.
Years later…
The separation of a train, the severance of a once shared fate, and a bat leaping across moonlit rooftops.
A/N: Yeah, wow so there's the first chapter completed of my first ever fanfiction. I've been a reader for years, but I've never actually attempted to write anything myself, outside of boring college essays that is. Not sure how far I'll go with this story, just doing this for fun after all, but hopefully I can keep this momentum and deliver you guys a completed story someday. For now, I'll be working on chapter 2, which will be focusing more on Bruce. Feel free to comment and criticize as much as you want, I'll be reading all of them. Rating this M for now, just to be safe.