Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
Wayne Manor
December 25th, 2011
It was the annual Wayne Foundation Christmas Ball. There was a fresh coating of snow outside, and we had started the day with a little family Christmas. Jason seemed like he didn't like the holiday, but when Alfred and I made a big Christmas breakfast, he drifted into the kitchen, smelling the cinnamon french toast, bacon, the little cinnamon rolls, the eggs, everything, the look on his face was priceless. He had been dreading the family holiday the entire week before, and when it finally came, he finally seemed to feel like we were his new family. He had been so distant, barely talking to us and aggressively training with Bruce. But today, I was realizing this kid my father took in from the street, felt like he was having a real Christmas with a real family for the first time in a long time.
They day had crept by as we all waited to get ready for the ball. There were workers all around the house, maids to make sure the place was pristine and in order, caterers preparing the food and setting up the massive and elaborate dining room, well, more like a dining hall, that we rarely ever used. Because I wasn't here for this event last year while in the clutches of a fifty thousand year old being, my father hired someone to get me ready for the event. I had to look perfect, especially in the events that have occurred in the last two years. I had gone missing, I had baffles the Gotham tabloids with my extreme weight loss and sickly appearance, the Weylin Case had been re-opened, causing some to look back at my case from when I was younger. My father didn't want anyone to have any reason to question my health. Just two days ago, I had to stand and let someone give me a spray tan that matched my skin color in order to cover up all of my scarring.
I was the first one to get pulled away for getting ready. Jason and Dick joked about how I was getting carted off to torture. They were only half right, when I would have to hold still and be plucked, poked, and groomed for an hour, maybe two, before having to put on my dress. The woman preparing me washed and dried my raven black hair before parting it in the middle, taking a curling iron to the black strands. When my hair was finished, my hair flowed into natural curls, the top straight and perfect before getting curlier towards the bottom. I tucked the front strands behind my ears as the woman started putting makeup on me, using a contouring palette first to accentuate my already prominent cheekbones. She gave me nude colored lips and natural eyeshadow before giving me thin eyeliner and mascara. I had to sit for a bit with my eyes closed as she put fake lashes on me that made me feel very uncomfortable, but I sat through it. When I could open my eyes, I felt that I didn't look like myself. I looked like my mother. I looked like someone else. She even painted my nails, giving them french tips.
The woman had me step into a pair of nude heels as she put small pearl earrings in my ears. She pulled out my dress and helped me out of the robe I was wearing. The dress was champagne colored, the light gold fabric shimmering in the light. It was halter, coming up to my collar bones, hooking behind my neck and leaving my shoulder blades bare. The glittering fabric was fitted around my torso before flowing freely, shining like beams of early morning sunlight. This was the moment where I started to be jealous of my reflection. The woman staring back at me was not the girl that entered this bedroom. But she was who I had to be when I walked out. This was a moment where I wished I was like Tori, free to no longer care about what people had to say. I wished I could dye my hair, not be expected to do everything exactly how everyone else wanted, not be scrutinized and kept under watchful eye.
But I took a breath, thanked the woman who prepared me, and walked out of the room. The clicking of my high heels reverberated on the marble flooring as I walked down the hall before descending upon the stairs that curved slightly into the large foyer of the manor. At the bottom of the stairs awaited my family, who started their preparation after me and finished before. My father saw me immediately, smiling as his little girl carefully descended in her six inch heels that were surprisingly comfortable. Jason was staring at the door as cars began to pull up into the driveway to the hired valet service. Dick smiled, making me feel like a little sister, more like a big sister, which was pretty accurate considering the newfound size difference. My brother elbowed Jason in the arm, and he turned to face me. This was where I realized that the three of them were were donning the christmas spirit. My father had a bowtie with his black tux that looked like a candy cane with a thin stripe of green pervading the white. Dick had a suit on, his vest shiney red and his tie green with little red santas driving slays of reindeer. Jason, I hadn't seen him so dressed up before. He wore a tie printed with christmas trees and ornaments and stockings, and a look that I had never seen come from him either. He looked at me in awe as I made it to the last step and walked right up to my father, hugging him tightly, but cautiously, careful not to mess up the woman's masterpiece that was my hair and makeup.
"Shall we meet our guests?" My father suggested with a sigh. He enjoyed this functions about as much as we did. Putting on the phony voice and stooping down to the menial and domestic conversations of the Gotham Elite. It was very rare that the people we had to talk to in order to keep up with appearances. I didn't want to do any of this, and neither did my family. But as a Wayne, is what we have to do, pay for the big fat spread to feed the Wayne Foundation out of the pockets of those around us with the Societal guilt that they should be helping in a way bigger than themselves, and that was contributing to the foundation. I walked side by side with my father, Jason and Dick following closely behind us.
At first, I was quiet, just smiling and nodding in conversations that my father held. But then, I noticed two people in conversation that I hadn't even expected. Ted Kord and Oliver Queen. Then like it was just so normal, Clark Kent, notorious reporter from the Daily Planet in Metropolis, approached the two of them, recorder in hand. He just was so nonchalant, interviewing a fellow Leaguer and someone with similar intentions to Wayne Enterprises. Ted Kord had Kord Industries and did very well in the R & D departments, just like Wayne Tech. So when I approached them, I had to do my best not to laugh.
"Oliver Queen," I greeted, shaking his hand. "Ted Kord," I smiled, shaking his hand as well. "It's an honor to welcome you to the Wayne Foundation Christmas ball, and Merry Christmas I might add." I smiled, welcoming them. Oliver was having trouble holding back a smirk, he knew how much I hated these things and how fake I felt. Roy and I used to be event buddies, whenever we were at the same one, we'd hide at a table in the corner, hoard deserts, and play dots-to-dots, tic-tac-toe, and m.a.s.h. on napkins, even when we were little before I was a hero and he was the new Ward of Oliver Queen. I missed having him as my best friend.
"It's nice to see you again, Sylvia." Oliver smiled. I could tell he missed having Roy as he partner in crime at these things too.
"And Clark Kent," I turned to the kryptonian hiding behind thick framed glasses. I shook his hand quickly. "Glad to have someone from the Daily planet here. If you would like, I could run through the goals of tonight and the Foundations aims for the future, or I could introduce you to the guests of your choice if you'd like to talk to them about whatever stories that you and your colleagues at the Planet are pursuing?" I offered, and he seemed very happy with my behavior. He was often wary around me, ready to intervene if I ever had another incident. What I didn to Superboy was horrible and Superman was the only one who could stop me in time.
"Well, Ms. Wayne, I'll find you later for the information on the Wayne Foundation, but right now, I'm actually looking for your father." He was polite and playing into his cover instead of using his x-ray vision to find my father in the house.
"Well, he's currently back in the foyer, greeting guests. Would you like me to take you there?" I kept up the politeness, thinking it would be a lot easier than hiding in my room and ignoring the guests to my father's dismay.
"No, I think I can find the foyer. But thank you." He was so polite to me in return that everything felt fake. This is why I hated events like this. When you're something like me, this kind of stuff isn't natural. When he walked away, I excused myself from Ted and Oliver, wandering around the ball until I got to the large dining room. I naturally passed the normal food and skipped right to the desert. One of the caterers served me ice cream and slices of the key lime pie, pumpkin pie, and apple pie, and cheesecake. I grabbed three forks and headed for the table in the far corner where I found Dick talking to Jason, trying to make him feel more comfortable in this new situation.
"Hey, Sylvia." Dick greeted me, but Jason was silent and staring at the table. I could tell he was irritated.
"Hey, I come bearing deserts." I smiled, setting the large plate down and handing them their forks. Jason's face lit up like it did this morning, and he immediately started to eat the pie and cheesecake. I started on the ice cream, mixing it with my bites of pie first.
"So, I was thinking," Dick started, "maybe after everyone leaves, we could raid the leftovers and watch some movies." He looked at the two of us and he knew I was always down with movie nights, but Jason started to look even happier. We just wanted to make this kid, the kid my father found stealing the tires off the Bat-mobile in a dirty alley way, feel like he had a place with us. We wanted him to know that we were his family now, and that he'd always have a home here.
We sat there, picking at the pie, talking about what movies to watch, I caught a glimpse of something. There was someone in the crowd with striking red hair, and looked about my age. I started to get excited, thinking maybe my event partner in crime had finally showed up. I bolted from my seat and marched across the room in my high heels, searching for the redhead. I even pushed through some people that called out at me, telling me to watch where I was going. I wanted to see my friend. He had been crushed when he found out he was a clone, and he wouldn't talk to anyone unless it was about his crazy search for the original Roy. I wanted to find him and just give him a hug, but with all my school work, Jason, training the new members of the team, and patrol, I can't do anything. The only time I've been able to see Wally has been when he comes to help me on patrol, when he comes to hang out with Dick, and when he and I sneak into each other's houses to sleep. It's hard to sleep without him. The nightmares got worse when we found Tori, and they got worse when I stopped the treatment. So when I found the redhead and saw their face, my heart melted in sadness.
"Roy." I said, seeing the Archer was something else. He turned to me and I saw the bags under his eyes despite his attempts to cover them up with concealer. I looked into those clear blue eyes and he looked back into my green, and I was overwhelmed with guilt and sadness.
"I'm sorry I haven't been arou-" He was trying to apologize, but I cut him off with a very forgiving hug. I had missed my friend. He had been so caught up with trying to get us to be treated fairly and to protect us from the possible mole, that he drifted so far, and I just missed him.
"You don't need to apologize." I told him softly, holding my friend close. He and Dick were almost the same height now, so I felt dwarfed. Dick was just a couple inches shy of Roy's height.
"I've missed you." He said in a low tone. I was still in a tight embrace with him, but soon let go.
"I've missed you, too." I returned the feeling, and he just grabbed my hand.
"Come on, there's been something I've wanted to do all night." He lead me into the ballroom, where the band was playing some good up-tempo music. He twirled me around, and we started dancing, just like we used to. Except back then, he had to share me with Dick, but my brother was otherwise occupied with making Jason more comfortable. After a few songs he stopped.
"What's wrong?" I looked up at him, believing that maybe he was finally having fun, despite his search for the source of his DNA. But apparently, I was wrong.
"I feel guilty. I should be out there, looking for him. He's the real Roy Harper." He finally explained, Roy looked away from me and I just sighed again.
"No, you're just as real as he is. None of us knew him before you were Roy Harper. You're the realest thing we've ever known. When his life was put on pause, yours began, and you have been making your own choices from day one, all the way up until the end when they took advantage of you. So yes, look for him. But take time to live the life you deserve. You are one of my best friends, so trust me when I say I know you better than most. So believe me when I say this, you are one of the realest things in my life, and that's saying a lot considering my track record. So dance tonight, and keep searching tomorrow. But don't forget that you are living your life, not his."
A/N: Hi! I hope you all liked the chapter and just a friendly reminder, please review!
-thegirlwhoisstillwaiting