Disclaimer: I don't own "Batman Begins"

I ran down the streets of Gotham as fast as I could. Hardly believing I overslept and was going to be late for school, I took short cuts. At first I thought of ditching school, but then I remembered I lived with Edgar now, and he would be furious with me. I'd rather take my chances with school, thanks. I was able to get to Gotham City Private 5 minutes before the bell rang. Before I was the most "popular girl in school", I was treated like dirt. Now, when my classmates stared at me, they looked disgusted and angry. It seemed that Haley Kingston's rumor mill had gone around overnight. I just stared straight ahead as I got my books and quickly went to my first class. When I walked in, I saw Ally and Haley sitting together. Ally didn't look at me, but Haley sneered at me as I sat as far away as possible when the bell rang. Miss Milan, the teacher, came in.

"All right," she announced. "Listen everyone. A lot of you did very poorly on last weeks test. And I know that most of you are participating on this Friday's performance, and you can't qualify unless you have a 70 or above. Due to lack of prepardness, I am seriously considering in disqualifying you all from the performance,"

The class groaned. Not only was Miss Milan an English teacher, but she was a choir teacher. I was in choir too, and this Friday's performance was supposed to be for the Fall Concert. Ally was partnered with Haley long before I came into the picture. Truth be told, I have never sung since my parents died, even when I started talking again. I just read or mouthed the words. My mother was once a singer too in school. They say she was the best. Bruce once told me she had the voice of an angel, and would sing me right to sleep when she hummed lullabies. I don't believe that anymore. Out of the corner of my eye, Haley raised her hand

"Miss Milan!" she cried. "There is no way we are cancelling Friday's concert,"

"I said I was considering Haley," Miss Milan explained. "Which is why I have an assignment for you in order to qualify if you still want to be in the concert,"

The whole class was eager to get this assignment. It was supposed to be a creative writing assignment and handed in by the end of Friday before the show. To be honest, I never signed up for the show, but I still started to write the paper anyway for extra credit or something. The whole class was silent to me, and I heard no sound other than the scratching of pen on my paper. I didn't know what I was going to write, but somehow my hand just flowed with words. i had no plot...just my life story in a different form.

Once upon a time, there was a small village. In a little cottage, there lived a little gitl, who was no more than twelve. She lived happily with her mother and father and thought of nothing else outside the borders of the little village. But when her praents were away, their lives were taken by an evil wizard, whom was known to no one. Fearing for her life, the little girl ran off into the enchanted forest, full of witches and goblins, and children who lived in tall trees

On her way, the little gitl met two men: A wise old wizard accompanying a good prince, who had just returned to the kingdom from a long absense. The good prince told her bot to fear. He would take her in, and restore the love she had lost. And so she traveled with them, not knowing that an Evil King wanted her in a tall castle to become his slave.

They had encountered the Evil King on their journey. He and the good prince fought for a while, while the wizard kept the little girl safe. When the dual was a draw, the good prince warned the Evil King never to come near the little girl. But these words were burned in the little girl's mind forever: "She Will Be Mine"

When night had fallen, the little girl had strayed from the group, and wandered into Goblin Territory. The goblins were vicious creatures, and treated the girl very badly. They were also very hungry, and their dinner was right in their grasp. Just as they were about to kill her, a knight dressed in black armor came to the rescue and saved the little girl from being goblin food. At first she was frightened, but when he saw the look in her eyes, he told her: "I am a friend, and the last thing I want to do is cause you harm"

But before the little girl could say her thanks, the Dark Knight had left her all on her own. On the way down the winding road as the sun rose, she came across a happy boy who loved to play in the woods. He took te girl by the hand and said: "Come with me to meet my sister, the Duchess, and she will make you a fair princess"

When the little girl met the Duchess, she was busy having a verbal battle with a witch. She was a beautiful witch, and was known for her cold heart throughtout the land. The witch noticed the girl and smiled wickedly

"Come with me," she said. "And I'll make you the most powerful of all,"

The girl was afraid, but the Duchess stepped in and said: "This girl will never be taught your wicked ways. She will become the most elegant princess in the kingdom,"

The witch was furious and disappeared from the room. Immedietly, the girl was dressed in fine clothes, and practically worshipped. And yet, she wasn't exactly happy. While wandering off into the corn fields on the country side near where she used to live, she stared at a lanky and limp scarecrow. In the distance, she saw a lovely maid working as hard as she could. At first, the Scarecrow tipped his hat off to the girl and maiden, but then the winds picked up, and the Scarecrow turned evil. Placing a curse upon the maiden, she immedietly saw what she most feared. Then came the Dark Knight, and fought the evil Scarecrow.

He rescued the little girl and maiden, and saved the maiden from the curse that seemed unbreakable. He then brought the little girk back to the good prince to find the Evil King fighting with him. Sadly, the good prince lost, and took the little girl away, and locked her in the tallest tower of his scary castle. When the sun--

I stopped a bit after that sentence...That's it. I don't know what I want the ending to be. What happens to the little girl? Does she run away, never to be seen again? Does she g oback to the Good Prince? Down she rush to the Dark Knight for help?...Or does she stay with the Evil King locked in her prison, and hidden away from the rest of the world? I jumped when the bell rand, gathered my things, and rushed to my next class: Gym. I absolutely hate that class. I have no athletic ability whatsoever. Plus, we were playing dodgeball today, to make it even worse. So there I stood, in a dark green shirt, and black sweatpants, next to a bunch of my classmates, as Josh and Haley (the chosen team captains) picked us out.

"I pick Ally," Haley started first

I looked down a bit. That meant I wouldn't be on the same team with my best friend...At least I thought she was still my friend

"Bryan," Josh said.

"Kyle,"

"Robbie"

"Clara"

"Zach"

"Crissy"

"Sarah"

I snapped my head up from looking at the ground. Usually, I get picked last for games like this. What I really couldn't believe though, was that I was picked by Josh. Slowly, I pulled myself away from the waiting students, and to my team, opposing Haley. I was with mostly boys, but I didn't mind. I just didn't understand why Josh picked my to be on his team. Dodgeballs were set across the dividing line. I stole a glance at Josh before the game started. He looked like he didn't want to look anyone in the eye. When dodgeball started, everyone on the opposing team wanted to throw a dodgeball at me. And hard. Man, I hated this game. I'm always the one to get picked on. Still, I tried to make the most of it, and dodged everything in my path. Some people on my team were hit, and had to go sit on the benches. Pretty soon, Josh and I were the only ones left on our team. I couldn't believe I had made it this far into the game. On the other side, Haley, and two other girls were left to try and get us out. Ally was out a long time ago. One girl threw a dodgeball at Josh, and he caught it. That meant that the girl was out. In a rage, Haley and the other girl pelted dodgeballs at us, with no success. Josh was able to get the other girl out. But as he threw the ball he had, Haley caught him off-guard, and hit him hard in the stomach. It had to be painful. I watched him fall to the ground, clutching his side in pain. He was crying out a bit. I couldn't understand. The balls didn't even hit that hard to injure you. What was wrong? The next thing I knew, I was running toward him.

"Time out!" I shouted at the coach as I bent down next to my cousin. "Josh, are you okay?"

Josh didn't answer me as kids from our team, and even Haley's team, circled around Josh and I. Two boys put Josh's arms around their shoulders and led him out of the gym. Before I turned away, I heard him mummble my name. I went to his side as he mummbled another thing:

Adam Gerons

I stood there puzzled a bit. Adam Gerons. Who was he? A student? Teacher? Someone I should know? I turned to find Haley with an evil smile. Anger rising inside of me, I went toward her and made her look at me.

"You hurt my cousin," I said with courage. "You have to apologize to him,"

...Where was this sudden urge to defend my cousin coming from? We didn't even get along that well. Haley sneered at me.

"I'll apologize," she started. "...If you apologize about ruining my 6 thousand dollar dress,"

Somehow, I knew she was going to bring that up. I stood my ground.

"I'll apologize for your stupid dress," I growled. "If you apologize what you said about my parents, and what you did to Josh,"

"And I'll apologize for your parents and Josh, if you apologize for being a freak,"

"...Look who's talking,"

By this time, there were kids around us, and they all whispered to each other about the comment I made to Haley. I didn't care if I hurt her feelings. Besides, all I got from her was a look of shock as I turned away to go to the locker rooms.

"Wait a minute," she said. "Did you just call me a freak? Me?"

I turned around and glared.

"Well," I said softly. "Look who decided to grow some brains,"

"No," Haley shook her head. "That's not right. You're a freak. You're not as pretty as me, or popular, or--"

"Do you honestly think I care?"

With that, I turned away from the group with a small smile on my face.

After school, I heard my name being caled on the intercom to report to Miss Milan's room at once. I thought it was just to talk to me about my grade on last weeks test. I knew it didn't got that well, and I didn't study as much as I should. But this was different. When I came through the door of the classroom, Miss Milan was sitting at her desk reading something. She gestured me to have a seat, and I did so when she looked at me.

"Did you write this?" she asked me, pointing to the paper she was reading

I stared at the paper. Soon realizing it was in my handwriting, I found that it was my creative writing paper. I must've accidently left it on my desk this morning. Quickly, I tried to save myself.

"Yes, I did," I said quickly. "But it was only just for fun. I was going to write soething else--"

"Sarah, I'm not angry," Miss Milan stopped me. "...It's just...This is a really good story,"

I stopped babbling nonsense, and was dumbfounded. She liked what I wrote? I couldn't believe it.

"You like it?" I asked.

"Of course. It's very creative...I'm guessing you're the little girl, and your godfaher is the Good Prince,"

I nodded. It was kind of obvious. I don't know if Miss Milan got the rest of the story.

"I would like to keep it and show it to the other English teachers," Miss Milan continued. "Sarah, do you know what your grade is in this class?"

I shook my head.

"Including the extra credit questions you've done on previous occasions, your grade, at the most, is at least 104,"

My eyes were wide. Usually grades go up to 100, which was the highest. I just never thought I was that good in English. Miss Milan a bunch of other questions like, did I have anything planned after I graduate, what books I've read, etc. When I told her, I found that I had read most of last summer's reading list. The one's I haven't read was "Freak the Mighty" and "A Little Princess". When she asked me if she could call my relatives, and tell them the "good news", I quickly replied "No". My uncle really didn't care about my schoolwork. I walked out of the school with a small smile on, proud of my little accomplishment.Suddenlt, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Josh walking down the street and into the city. I was wondering how he was doing, so I followed him discreetly. After all, I didn't have to go back to Mason Manor in any form other than walking...And I wanted to know who this Adam Gerons was.

Late that same afternoon, Bruce was working on covering up the well in the burned-up garden. It had been a long day: He and Alfred had to move into a penthouse in the city, he fired William Earle from his job, and gave it to Lucius Fox, and other things. After he had finished boarding up the last plank, he saw someonw coming to him, stepping over the debris of the previous inferno...Rachel had found out last night. She found out he was Batman. After she woke up in the cave, she was told to find Gordon after she was given a sedative, and give him his antidote. After a few hours of sleeping again, she quickly made her way to the Narrows, and met with Gordon. Unfortunetly, she wasn't able to get back to the bridge in time. When a little boy was in trouble, she stayed with him as she watched men start up some sort of machine. See, what it did was, it vaporized all the water, and Crane's toxin had gotten into the air. Through all the chaos, she and the boy were chased down the treacherous streets of the Narrows by Crane. It was almost as if he was imitating the Headless Horseman from Rip Van Winkles "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", because he chased them on a horse with his frightening Scarecrow mask on! But Rachel had gotten the better of him (With her taser gun), and he rode away, howling in pain. However, they were cornered by escapees from Arkham Asylum. Just when all hope was lost, they were saved by none other than the Batman himself. Before he had a chance to leave her, Rachel wanted to know his name. His real name. All Batman said was this:

"It's not who I am underneath. But what I do that defines me,"

And that's how she found out. At first she didn't understand. But after going over the pieces of the puzzle, she figured it made sense. Bruce and Rachel stared at each other for what seemed like years. As if trying to get to know one another. Bruce started first.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Rachel--" he said softly.

"No Bruce," Rachel interuppted. "I'm sorry. The day that Chill died, I...I said terrible things,"

Bruce nodded.

"But true things," he commented. "I was a coward with a gun, and justice is about more than revenge, so thank you,"

A small smile lit up Rachel's face as she walked toward Bruce to be closer to him.

"I never stopped thinking about you," she confessed. "About us...And when I heard you were back, I...I started to hope,"

At this point, Rachel and Bruce were so close, the could wrap each other in their arms. They would cherish this moment forever. Within moments, they shared a quiet, passionate kiss. It was one that they had always wished for when they were kids, but thought it would never come.Rachel broke the kiss, and looked down a bit, as Bruce wondered what was wrong, and why they had to stop their beautiful moment.

"Then I found out about your mask," she added.

"Batman's just a symbol, Rachel," Bruce said softly.

Rachel shook her head as she placed a hand on Bruce's face.

"No," she replied. "This is your mask...Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved...The man who vanished...He never came back at all...But maybe he's still out there somewhere. Maybe someday when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again,"

Bruce nodded a bit, understanding the position Rachel was in. He knew it would be dangerous for her. But he couldn't help but feel sad. For a while now, he had wondered what it would be like if Rachel loved him back. Together, he and Rachel walked back to the main grounds, holding hands, where Alfred was waiting.

"You proved me wrong you know," Rachel strted.

"About what?' Bruce wondered.

Rachel smiled.

"Your father would be very proud of you," she replied. "Just like me...And you're a good godfather. Jennifer wouldn't thank you enough,"

Bruce sighed.

"If Jennifer were alive," he started. "She would never speak to me again,"

"What happened?" Rachel asked.

"I've lost custody, Rachel,"

Rachel's eyes were wide.

"What?" she whispered. "Edgar took her! How did this happen?"

"Edgar had a warrent to take her in case anything hppened," Bruce replied. "...You should've seen the way she looked at me when he took her away. She looked betrayed and scared. During the chaos last night, she ran off looking for me...Looking for Batman,"

"That would explain this then,"

From her pocket, Rachel pulled out a folded piece of paper. Opening it, she revealed the drawing of the bat with the golden heart. Bruce took it in his hands, and studied out as he took out the locket Sarah left behind.

"She doesn't know does she?" Rachel asked.

"No," Bruce shook his head. "She's smart, but evern since Luke and Jennifer died, she can't tell who anybody is. She can't trust them. I'm still a stranger to her. Remember? And I left when she was about 5. She doesn't even know me that well,"

"She seems to know Batman pretty well...I'll tell you what. I'll go down to City Hall, and see what I can dig up. In the meantime, why don't you figure out how you're going to tell your goddaughter that you're Batman?"

Bruce nodded a bit, knowing that sooner or later, the truth would have to come out

(A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Review please!)