THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS. GRAMMAR. AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/17/2020
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The reprieve from Scarecrow's attack on Gotham City had been short lived, at least it had seemed like that to Anslee Dawes. Her mother, Rachel, had merely been only one of the many victims who had to endure the effects of the so called 'fear toxin'. Although, Rachel had been acting weird before that had ever happened. Since a man named Bruce Wayne had returned to Gotham after a supposed leave of absence, Rachel had been acting strange around her child. From what Anslee had gathered, he just up and disappeared, even presumed dead at one point. But, why was it her business? She was just a normal nine year old girl living the normal single parent life, life couldn't get any more typical for her. That all changed though, the day after the attack on the city. A cloud of silence hung through the apartment of Rachel and Anslee that day, Rachel looked and acted as if she had something on her mind, but her child didn't want to ask figuring if her mother wanted her to know, she'd tell her.
Anslee sat at their kitchen table scanning over the cover of the Gotham Gazette, a pretty normal occurrence since she was learning to read more mature pieces of literature. A new vigilante going by the name "Batman" had decided to take a mantle to protect the city. Boring, superheroes were for boys. She had turned the page and a certain article caught her eye.
"Drunken Billionaire Bruce Wayne Burns Down Manor," the young girl read out loud as she scanned the picture of the part of the large home that had been attacked by the flames. She skimmed over the article, only really catching every other word since she thought it was kind of dramatic since they implied he burnt down the whole manor while only a small portion had been touched, before looking over at Rachel. The mother was hunched over their kitchen counter, her usual morning cup of coffee in her hand, but she wasn't drinking it.
The girl looked back at the article before she realized something, "Mommy, didn't you tell me that grandma used to work for the Waynes, before the whole...accident?" the brunette asked looking at her mother.
A moment of silence was shared between the two. The nine year old looked at Rachel, almost worried she was in some sort of catatonic state. That was until Rachel let out the breath she had been holding in. Rachel still hadn't answered her, just turned her head and looked at her daughter. Silence still lingered before Rachel left her place at the counter and joined her daughter at the table, a small subtle smile curled on her lips as she looked at Anslee.
"You look like him you know?" Rachel asked, a sweet and almost conspicuous tone on her lips.
The brunette girl raised an eyebrow, puzzled at the woman's statement, "Look like who?"
Rachel looked at the table for a second, looking for the right words to say in order to not upset her daughter. She looked back up at the girl, in the same dark brown eyes she'd gazed into all her life, "Like your father."
The statement had thrown her off, moments earlier Anslee was talking about Bruce Wayne burning down his own mansion and then how her grandmother had once worked for the Wayne's and then it was turned to...this, "What made you think of that?" Ans tilted her head.
Rachel paused once more, inhaling and exhaling deeply before answering a question the child had been waiting to get answered all her life, "Because you were just talking about him."
That answer hit the girl right in the hard, she couldn't completely comprehend that statement. She frowned, dropping her jaw slightly, "You mean…" but her voice trailed off before she came to realization. The girl looked back at the picture and frowned.
"No. Way."