Her mom had taught her a lot. She had taught Selina how to read and also how to steal, how to be smart and how to be stealthy. But she had never had to teach Selina not to trust strangers; Selina had learned that easily enough on her own.
She wondered how her mom would feel if she saw Selina now, living in a gigantic mansion with a boy her age and his mom and dad and even his butler. Would she tell Selina not to trust them? Would she tell her to stay and eat their big meals and sleep in their comfortable bed and wait to see when they would kick her out?
Selina knew that would happen eventually. Mrs. Wayne liked having her there, and had even bought her a whole bunch of new clothes so that she didn't have to keep wearing Bruce's clothes. But sooner or later, it would change.
When she was six, her mom brought a stray cat home to the basement where they were squatting. She was a black cat with bright, yellow eyes, and Selina had liked her immediately. They had taken care of the cat for a few months, and Selina had named her Nightcat, because she was black and her mom found her at night. But then her mom decided that it was too expensive to keep taking care of Nightcat, and so had taken her away. Selina was furious with her mom for days after that, but her mom convinced her that Nightcat was never really part of their family, she was just a stray, and she was too much of a burden for them to keep her.
Now, Selina was Nightcat. She was a stray that the Waynes had taken in, and they would keep her until they decided that she was too much of a burden, or they got bored of her, or they decided they simply didn't like her anymore. It would happen eventually, as surely as the sun would rise the next day and it would be like she was never there. And maybe Bruce would be upset about it, because he seemed to like having her there, but he would get over it just like she had gotten over losing Nightcat.
So she decided to make the most of whatever chance the Waynes gave her. She read through a lot of Bruce's books, and when his school year started, she followed along with his homework. Leslie came over fairly often to guide her through some lessons, but those were more boring than when she could go at her own pace. She didn't want to go to an actual school, where she couldn't decide for herself what she learned when, like she was used to.
But she also went through the manor when no one was around to see her, making note of where some of the more expensive items that she could carry were located. When the Waynes eventually kicked her out, she would make sure to take enough that she could sell to keep herself comfortable for as long as possible. It was what her mom would do.
Bruce liked playing checkers, and she didn't mind playing that with him, but when he tried to teach her chess, she had a much more difficult time. There were a lot of different pieces that moved a lot of different ways, and some of them didn't make sense at all, like the horses that were supposed to be called 'knights.' Still, she sat there and moved the pieces around until he eventually said "Checkmate." He liked winning and she liked when she made him happy, because it meant that he would want to keep her around for longer.
"What's something that you're afraid of?" he asked very suddenly one day, as they sat on opposite sides of the board.
She stared at him. "What?"
"What's something that you're afraid of? Someone at school said that a good friend will tell you what they're afraid of, because they trust you."
She frowned and crossed her arms. "How do you know they weren't just trying to trick you into admitting what you're afraid of?"
He matched her expression. "He wasn't asking me." Then his gaze dropped. "I don't know if any of my friends at school are good friends. But you are."
Selina's arms fell. "I am?"
"I think you are. But will you tell me?"
She blinked a few times. "What's something that you're afraid of?"
He opened his mouth, perhaps to say that he had asked her first, but then closed it again. After a moment, he said, "Bats."
"Bats?"
"Bats are scary. They hide in caves and attack you if you fall in."
"Did you fall into a cave?"
He winced. "Once. And a lot of bats attacked me."
"They were just defending their home. They probably thought that you were attacking them."
"But I wasn't."
"I don't think you should be afraid of bats."
"Well I am. Your turn. What's something you're afraid of?"
She frowned again. She wasn't afraid of mundane things like bats. She had known an old tramp once who was terrified of bees, but it didn't make sense to her. Bees were tiny and their stings only hurt for a little while. And bats don't even sting.
But Bruce was waiting for her to answer, and she didn't know what to say. She knew what she was afraid of, of course. She didn't want the Waynes to kick her out. She liked it here. But she didn't want to say that to Bruce.
She was saved by the door opening in the hall outside, and then voices. Alfred greeted "Master Thomas," and then someone else called "Mr. Falcone." The voice that replied was deep and made Selina feel a prickle in her spine.
And then Dr. Wayne entered the room with the other man. He was tall and broad, but Selina found that she couldn't look away from his face. Parts of his face were strangely like a mirror, especially his eyes.
"Hello, Mr. Falcone," Bruce said in a very polite tone, standing. Selina stood as well, because it seemed like she was supposed to.
"Hello, Bruce." The Mirror Man's eyes only looked at Bruce very briefly before returning to Selina. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you. This is my friend, Selina. She lives here now."
The Mirror Man stepped forward and extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Selina. My name is Carmine."
Selina's hand moved on automatic to meet his. His hand was very large and his fingers were thick as they completely wrapped around her small hand. "I'm pleased to meet you too, Carmine."
He gave a small smile as he shook her hand and then released it. "Do you like it here at Wayne Manor?"
"Yes, I do."
"That's good." The Mirror Man turned to Dr. Wayne. "Well, Tommy, let's go somewhere and chat."
Dr. Wayne nodded, and they left the room. Selina stared at the empty doorway.
"Come on," Bruce said after a few seconds, "let's keep playing."
She sat down opposite him and moved the pieces without thinking, until he victoriously said, "Checkmate."
"Who is he?"
"Who is who?"
"The Mirror Man."
"Huh?"
"The man who was just here with your dad."
"Oh, that's Mr. Falcone. He's a friend of my dad's. My dad saved his life a long time ago."
"Oh." She looked towards the doorway again.
"Why did you call him the Mirror Man?"
She opened her mouth, but for some reason, the question felt unusually difficult to answer. Something about the Mirror Man made her uncomfortable, and she decided that she didn't want to talk about him anymore. "No reason."
As the months passed, Selina began to let herself wonder if maybe the Waynes wouldn't kick her out after all. Bruce tried to spend time with her whenever he wasn't at school, and Mrs. Wayne insisted on treating her as though she were her own daughter. More and more, she began to go everywhere that the Waynes went as a family, to movies and plays and fancy dinners and even some big, very fancy parties that were called 'galas.' Her closet slowly grew and grew with more fancy dresses and shirts and headbands and even some jewelry. When her birthday came in February, the Waynes gave her a gold necklace with an amethyst pendant in the shape of a cat, because she had told Bruce that she liked cats.
Before she knew it, a year had passed, and she agreed, with some reluctance, to go to Bruce's school with him when it started again. She felt increasing trepidation as new shopping trips occurred, this time for big textbooks and notebooks and pens and pencils and fancy calculators.
And then Dr. Wayne got tickets for an opera on the last night of the summer, but Selina didn't want to go. She certainly hadn't taken a liking to opera, and she had a ready-made excuse in that she wanted to start looking through her textbooks and making sure that she was ready to start school. She likely wouldn't actually crack open the books, of course, but she wouldn't sit through hours of high-pitched singing, either.
Bruce hesitated when he saw her successfully get out of having to go, and looked like he wanted to imitate her. But he was the Wayne child, who was supposed to appear in public with his parents and enjoy what they enjoyed. And besides, he couldn't exactly pretend that he wasn't ready for school.
So he went to the opera with his parents, and Selina stayed behind. And everything changed that night.
Even though Mrs. Wayne had bought her a bunch of dresses, none of them were black. So she wore a dress that had white and black stripes running vertically all around herself and felt that it was strangely appropriate. She felt hopelessly divided as she sat between Bruce and Leslie and stared at the twin coffins lying side-by-side, forever side-by-side. She was part of the family and yet not. She was one of the many grieving members of high society here and yet she was not really one of them at all. The Waynes had tried to make her feel like she belonged in this world where she had been an intruder all along, and now her curse had struck them down.
She knew instinctively, definitively, that this was her fault. She had been afraid that they would kick her out, that they would turn their backs on her like everyone else did, but they didn't. But she always had to lose in the end, always had to wind up alone. So if they wouldn't abandon her, then something bad had to happen to them. Everyone in her life had to disappear, one way or another.
And she couldn't stop thinking, agonizing, over what might have happened if she had just gone to that stupid opera with them. She was from the streets, unlike them. She could have spotted the danger before it came, could have kept them from cutting through the alley. She had escaped from that exact sort of danger before. She could have helped them, could have saved them.
It was all her fault. In the end, she was the one who had abandoned them, without knowing it.
She felt like she shouldn't be here, but she also couldn't leave Bruce's side. She had abandoned his parents, the very last thing she could do now was abandon him. But that didn't stop her from thinking about it over and over and over again.
The Mirror Man approached as the funeral ended. His eyes passed back and forth between them as he offered his condolences, as though she were grieving as much as Bruce was, as though she weren't the one responsible for it all.
"If you need anything, just let me know." His deep voice was soft as his eyes passed back and forth again.
"Thank you, Mr. Falcone," Bruce replied, and they were the first words he had spoken in hours.
She watched as the Mirror Man walked away, and felt the urge to run after him, to leave with him. She had learned more about Mr. Falcone over the past year. She had learned that he was also part of this world and yet not. He was the protector of Gotham, but he did that by also being the enemy. He was a mirror with two sides: A good guy among good guys and a bad guy among bad guys. And he was also the shield that stood between them.
Like her, he was a part of two different worlds. But unlike her, he had made himself belong in both worlds, while she didn't feel like she belonged in either anymore.
She kept watching the Mirror Man until he was out of sight. And then she watched the place where he had disappeared.
"Miss Kyle?" Alfred's words drew her back, and she turned to him. His eyes darted back and forth between her and where the Mirror Man had gone, and then he looked at Bruce, and then at the mausoleum one last time. "Right, perhaps it's best if we get back to the house."
Bruce stood still, his gaze stuck on the mausoleum where his parents would now remain forever. She looked, but quickly looked away. She didn't want to think about this place anymore. She could feel nothing but more guilt from looking at it. She had caused two Waynes to be placed there prematurely, and she got the sick feeling that she would be the reason for a third to also go there before his time. And she didn't belong here. She wasn't a Wayne, had never been and would never be.
But she still couldn't bring herself to leave.
She was horrified when she learned that she had been added to the will. She wasn't the only non-Wayne in the will, of course; Alfred and Leslie and a number of other friends all received bequests. But Selina didn't qualify among them, either. She didn't deserve anything from the Waynes when she had all but forced herself into their lives, burdened them for a year, and then abandoned them to their deaths. She didn't want anything, and when she asked the lawyer to give her bequest to Bruce instead, she wound up having to yell over Bruce insisting that she should have it.
That was the first time that she and Bruce yelled at each other. It wouldn't be the last.
Neither of them went to school. Leslie came over even more often, insisting on continuing their educations, but neither of them could pay much attention. Bruce had trouble sleeping, had trouble eating, and walked through his days like a zombie. And the more he struggled, the harder it became for her.
She took to sneaking into his room at night so that they both could sleep, and it soon became clear that Alfred knew but wouldn't stop them. It was much easier to sleep when they were together, reminding each other that they weren't completely alone, at least not yet. So they did the same thing with eating, and then with everything else. They stuck together like glue, often holding hands just for comfort.
It didn't just help with the loneliness, but also with the guilt. The knowledge that she was making him feel better soothed the horror of knowing that she had caused all the pain in the first place.
And so, very slowly, things got better again. Color returned to a manor that had become hopelessly gray and bleak.
It was on Halloween that she finally got him to laugh for the first time in over two months. And she did it by, of all things, invoking his fear. She put on a vampire movie that she found more silly than scary, and just as he balked when bats appeared on the screen, she snuck up behind him with a black cat ears headband and a black pillowcase stretched across her arms and behind her back like bat wings.
He screamed and dove off the couch. She couldn't help laughing, which made him indignant. "Selina!" But then he finally cracked a smile, and soon he was laughing as well.
She went to help him up, but he pulled her down beside him as revenge, and they both laughed harder. They laughed all the laughs that they hadn't laughed since that horrible night.
She poked him in the chest, her hand still clutching the corner of the pillowcase. "I'm scarier than any bat."
He grinned at her, his eyes flitting up to the cat ears headband. "Well those are cat ears, not bat ears, so you're like a... a bat-cat. That's pretty scary."
"Master Bruce?" Alfred entered the room, pausing at the sight of them on the floor. "Miss Kyle? Is everything alright?"
Bruce's smile shrank by half. "Yes, Alfred, we're okay."
Alfred's gaze darted back and forth between him and Selina. "Is that a pillowcase, Miss Kyle?" But his demeanor changed when Bruce started chuckling again.
"Yes, Alfred, it is. Do you have a problem with that?"
Alfred's lips quirked as he watched Bruce laugh. "No, Miss Kyle, I have no problem with it at all. As you were." And he left the room.
By Thanksgiving, Bruce was laughing fairly regularly, and she kept trying to make it happen more and more, because she found it much easier to laugh when he did. They went for walks around the grounds, watching as the leaves on the trees turned from green to gold to red. Some trees fought harder against the changing weather than others did, which turned the woods around the manor into a beautiful collage of different colors.
Her mom had always worn a lot of black, and she stole or occasionally bought black clothes for Selina to wear, too. Black clothing made you harder to see at night, which made it less likely that you would be attacked. But when Selina came to Wayne Manor, Mrs. Wayne bought her lots of colorful clothes and dresses, and she had learned to like the pretty colors a lot.
But now she was starting to outgrow the clothes that Mrs. Wayne had bought her. So after Leslie brought a big turkey to the manor on Thanksgiving and they all watched the parade in Gotham on the television and then ate the turkey with potatoes and jam and stored lots and lots of leftovers, Selina asked if she could go back to Gotham with Leslie to go shopping. Bruce didn't look happy at the idea. He hadn't been in the city since that horrible night, and she hadn't been there since even before then.
But Alfred decided that perhaps they would all go the following day, seeing as it was Black Friday, a big shopping day where loads of people would be about and they could blend into the crowd. Not that Bruce would know how to blend into a crowd if he tried; he still stood out like a sore thumb in his button-down shirt and pants. But they were all safe among the crowds anyway while Alfred kept looking around carefully and Leslie guided them swiftly to the department store.
Selina selected more black clothing than she was sure Mrs. Wayne would have approved of. She didn't know if it was more because she missed her mom or because, being back in Gotham, she was thinking again of all the practical lessons she had learned during her time on the streets. As they waited in line for the cashier, she noticed where each and every customer stashed their wallet after paying, and thought about how easily she could have stolen many of them if she weren't here with Bruce and Alfred and Leslie.
And then a pair of men in black jackets entered the store, looking around with stern expressions. They skipped the line to the cashier, who looked nervous when he saw them. They spoke quietly, but Selina heard the name "Falcone." After a little more conversation, the cashier pointed them towards a door at the back of the store, and they went over to it. Selina watched them until they were out of sight.
"Collecting protection money on Black Friday," Leslie muttered. "They keep getting more brazen."
"They work for Mr. Falcone?" Bruce asked.
"Yes." Leslie placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about them. They're just here to make sure that no one robs the store."
"And he makes the store pay for the protection?"
"Well of course," said Alfred. "That's how it works, isn't it? Just like you pay me to protect you."
"But you're my butler. It's part of your job."
Selina looked around. A lot of people were looking at Bruce now. There were children who looked jealous and parents who were frowning. "I don't think you should talk about that here," she said quietly.
Bruce looked at her in confusion, but stopped talking.
Selina looked at the door where the men had gone, and wondered about the man they worked for. Did the Mirror Man ever come shopping here? Did he have children that he took to stores and restaurants and parks? "Does Mr. Falcone have children?"
To the others, it was a very sudden question, and they looked at her in confusion.
"I don't know," Leslie answered. "Thomas knew him better."
Bruce winced at the mention of his dad.
The men came back through the door, and one of them was now carrying a bookbag. They looked around again as they made for the exit. One of them caught Selina watching, but he simply looked at her for a moment before continuing to look around.
After that day, Bruce's rise from the pit of grief started taking a different turn. He started asking more questions about Mr. Falcone and about the crime that happened in Gotham. Alfred and Leslie exchanged worried looks and after a while refused to answer anymore questions, so Bruce took to going through newspapers.
Sick of seeing Alfred look concerned but not do anything to deter Bruce, Selina took it upon herself to question the boy. "What are you doing?"
"Just reading the news," he replied, not looking at her.
"What are you looking for?"
"Nothing."
"Bruce, how many times has Alfred told you not to lie?" She grabbed the paper and pulled it out from beneath his hands, hiding it behind her back. "Why do you suddenly care so much about what happens in the city?"
He scowled. "Do you think Mr. Falcone told the mugger to kill my parents?"
She frowned. "Mr. Falcone and your dad were friends."
"But he controls the crime in the city, doesn't he?"
"Not all of it. Bruce, there are a ton of thugs and thieves out there, hiding in every alley in the city. Take it from me, I've seen a lot of them. Most of them are just out for themselves. Mr. Falcone doesn't need them."
He looked down. "So you think that my parents' deaths didn't mean anything?"
"What?"
"If it was just some thug trying to get money and jewelry, it could have happened to anyone. It didn't have to be my parents."
She felt her guilt surge anew. "You're right." And she should have been there to stop it.
"And that means it could keep happening. That other kids could wind up like me, because of those horrible criminals."
She sighed. "It happens a lot, Bruce."
He fell silent for a few seconds, his eyes turning dark with anger. "I want to stop it."
She raised her eyebrows. "You're ten years old, Bruce. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know." He sat back and crossed his arms. "I wish my dad never saved Mr. Falcone."
Selina felt a surge of anger at that. She stood, backing away from him with the paper. "He also does good, you know. There would be more crime if he weren't controlling so many of the criminals."
"That didn't help my parents."
"I know. But that doesn't make it his fault that your parents died."
"Well I think that all crime should be stopped. Then no one will have to wind up like me."
"That's never going to happen, Bruce." She sighed, realizing that the only way to get him away from these thoughts was to change the subject. "You want to watch a movie? Something funny?"
"No."
"Bruce, please."
"Let's watch Star Wars."
She blinked. She didn't dislike Star Wars, but she wondered why he chose it. "Okay."
When he leaned forward angrily as Darth Vader killed Ben Kenobi and Luke screamed, she got an idea of why he had thought of it.
Growing up, Selina had mixed feelings about Christmas. On the one hand, she liked the small, colorful lights that were put up around the city, and her mom managed to steal some most years so that she could put them up at wherever she and Selina were living at the time. On the other hand, Christmas meant a season of very cold nights, and cold nights on the streets were much, much worse than cold nights in a warm manor.
This year, Bruce was asked to attend the lighting of the big Christmas tree outside of Wayne Tower, to show that the Wayne family was still there and still cared for the people of the city. Selina wasn't sure how lighting a Christmas tree showed care for the people, but she went along with Bruce and stood between Alfred and Leslie as Bruce was surrounded by men in business suits, and he looked very small among them.
Alfred was looking every which way, just as he had done last time they went into the city, but there were police officers everywhere. There were a lot of wealthy people here, so there were a lot of police to protect them. And Selina spotted Mr. Falcone standing near the edge of the crowd.
The men in suits lit the tree and everyone clapped, and Selina snuck away from Alfred and Leslie and over to the Mirror Man. "Mr. Falcone?"
He looked down at her in surprise. "Selina?" Then he looked at the man that he was standing with, who looked at Selina curiously, and quickly stepped away. "I'll be just a moment, Sal." He led her away and turned so that Selina was facing away from the other man, and crouched in front of her. His gaze flitted over her shoulder towards the other man and there was an odd look on his face. "What do you need, Selina?"
"I..." She started, but lost her nerve.
"What's wrong? You can say it. You always have a right to be brave, child."
She stared at the face that looked so much like a mirror in some places, and gathered her courage. "I just wanted to ask..." Her voice came out quiet. "The man who killed Dr. and Mrs. Wayne... Did he work for you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I don't think that. But I just want to know for sure."
"No, he didn't work for me. I never wished any harm on the Waynes, Selina. I would have saved them if I could."
She smiled at the confirmation of her faith, even as she felt a fresh wave of guilt as she also wished that she would have saved them. "Good. Will you come by the manor again soon?"
His lips straightened. "Would you like me to?"
She hesitated. "Yes, I would."
He was silent for a long moment. Then his gaze flitted over her shoulder again, and he stood. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to. I have a lot to do here in Gotham."
Selina's face fell.
"Mr. Falcone?" It was Alfred. "Good evening, Sir, and Merry Christmas. Miss Kyle, if you'll come along, we'll be heading home now." He was wearing a very stern expression, clearly not pleased about her sneaking away from him.
"Go with Alfred," said the Mirror Man, stepping away. "It was good to see you, Selina. Merry Christmas." With that, he returned to the other man he'd been talking to before.