Princesses of Gotham, a Batman / Disney crossover fanfic by Raberba girl
Part 2 (rough draft)
Bruce soon discovered that Snow White was apparently one of the Bristol Blanchards, which surprised him given where he'd found her and the state she'd been in.
His digging didn't turn up anything reassuring - Snow White had never returned to school after her father's funeral, and a man named Hunter Boarman was indeed connected to the household. His physical address was listed as a condo in town owned by Hilda Blanchard, but security camera footage showed that he spent at least half his time at Blanchard Manor, often spending the night.
As far as Bruce could tell, Snow White never left the property for as far back as he was able to check; the one exception had been the night he had found her, when she'd been driven by Boarman. Tracking the car showed that they'd stopped for a while at a run-down house in an isolated neighborhood, then they'd emerged again and got back in the car. Near the area where Batman had found the little girl, the two must have parted ways, because the next time Boarman appeared on camera footage, he was alone.
The more Bruce investigated, the more disturbed he became. The house in town turned out to be a can of worms, absolutely stuffed with evidence of multiple murders going back at least twenty years. Since the crime scene wasn't active, Bruce sicced the GCPD on it as soon as he'd gotten what he needed. A warrant was issued for Boarman's arrest, but it turned out to be moot when one set of remains was identified as his.
'So who killed him?' Bruce wondered in dismay, now intensifying his investigation into Hilda Blanchard. He couldn't find any direct evidence of child abuse or neglect, but he couldn't find any evidence that she gave a crap about her stepdaughter, either. When Batman broke into the manor, he found it empty and perhaps even recently abandoned - the master bedroom was missing some key items, and all the arrangements with housekeepers and groundskeepers had been canceled. Hilda Blanchard appeared to have vanished as well, though her remains were not found among those that had been retrieved from the slaughterhouse.
As days and then weeks passed, Bruce knew he should be checking in on Snow White, but he kept putting it off, reluctant to see her when he had no good news to share. Eventually, however, the decision was made for him when he responded to a call about a robbery and discovered that one of the suspects was Snow White.
Three other girls from the orphanage were sitting on the curb, handcuffed and sullen, but Snow White was perched on a low wall several yards away, chattering almost cheerfully to an officer as he scribbled down notes. There was a pigeon perched on her shoulder and a raccoon nestled in her lap. "...and I did so hate to disappoint Mother Gunn, but I was terribly clumsy and dropped the bag right into the security beam by mistake. I didn't even know it was a security beam until Gina shouted at me! It hurt my feelings a little, but it was my fault, and I am sorry. I think it's very odd that the jeweler wanted us to pick up orders at night after the shop was locked up and no one was left to greet us-"
"Snow White," Batman rumbled.
"Oh!" The little girl scrambled down from the wall with her unnatural grace, the animals leaping clear as they were dislodged, and ran to him, throwing her arms around his legs. "Mr. Batman, I'm so glad to see you!"
"What's happening here, Snow White?" he asked in bewilderment.
"Oh! Well, Mother Gunn sent us to pick up some orders for her, but the jeweler was too busy to have them ready during business hours, so we had to come after the security system had been armed, and I'm afraid I tripped an alarm by mistake-"
Batman looked up at the officer in disbelief. The man shrugged and said, "Lady who runs the orphanage has apparently been using the girls to commit crimes for her. We're opening an investigation."
'This just keeps getting worse and worse,' Batman thought unhappily, looking back down at Snow White. She smiled up at him with such pure, sweet, unironic innocence that he started to seriously question her intelligence - she clearly had no idea how she had been manipulated, even though many Gotham children were coming up with their first cons by her age. The other girls, now being ushered into squad cars, were acting like more typical Gothamites, their shoulders hunched with resentment at being caught and their eyes burning with hatred as they glared over at Snow White.
'I can't send her back there,' Batman thought. He couldn't send her back to Faye Gunn, anyway, but it looked like it wouldn't be safe for Snow White to share the same foster placement with any of the girls who had gotten arrested tonight because of her, either.
"I'll be right back," he told the girl, gently disengaging from her. "I need to make a few calls."
o.o.o
Jim reluctantly agreed to foster Snow White for a few days - he was technically too busy to take care of a young child, but Barbara still lived with him and had been happy to pick up the slack when the situation was explained to her, so Bruce had one less thing to worry about.
In the meantime, he got a provisional foster parent license as quickly as he could; he'd still need to work on meeting the full requirements over the next several months, but for now, Snow White could stay at Wayne Manor until he figured out something better to do with her.
"Well, hello there, dear!" More nervous than usual when playing Brucie, Bruce kept his wide smile in place as he crouched to greet Snow White. "I hear you're gonna be living with us for a while! My name is Bruce."
"How do you do, Mr. Bruce?" Snow White said politely, dropping into an actual curtsy. The squirrel perched around her shoulders bobbed with the motion.
Bruce, wondering where the heck she kept getting all these animals, felt his smile shift into something more genuine. The curtsy had been very pretty and accurate. "Just Bruce is all right. You have all your things?"
"Oh, yes." Snow White smiled as she grasped the handle of her rolling backpack.
"Good." Bruce stood and shook Barbara's hand as Jim stood slouching to the side. "Thanks for looking after her, Babs."
"No problem, Bruce." Barbara rested her hands on her knees and smiled at Snow White. "Be sure to call me if you need anything, okay, Snow?"
"Yes, Miss Barbara!" Barbara held up her palm; Snow White looked puzzled for a moment, then her expression lit up with understanding and she gave Barbara's hand a very delicate and graceful high five.
On the drive to Bristol, Snow White looked out the windows and hummed to herself, her perfect but very high voice throbbing in Bruce's ears. He cast around for a conversation topic. "Is that squirrel a pet?"
"Oh, she's my friend." Snow White stroked the head of the squirrel, which made pleased clucking sounds. "I have a lot of friends! Everywhere you go, you're sure to meet someone kind to say hello to."
"Even in Gotham, huh," Bruce said wryly.
They chatted off and on until they reached Bristol. To Bruce's chagrin, Snow White seemed concerned when they passed by Blanchard Manor. "Aren't we going home?" she asked in confusion.
"Oh," Bruce realized, feeling terrible about the misunderstanding. "No... There's nobody at your house anymore, Snow White, so that's why you're going to live with me for a while. Do you want us to go back and get anything you left behind at your parents' house?"
"No," she said softly. I just thought- Oh, but of course it wouldn't be the same house."
"All right," Bruce said a little helplessly. "Well, tell me if you change your mind..."
A few minutes later, Alfred brought the car to a stop in front of Wayne Manor and stepped out to open the doors for them. Bruce and Snow White thanked him, then he got back in the car to park it while the other two headed up the front steps. Ordinarily, Alfred would park in the garage to begin with and they'd enter the house through the mudroom, but when newcomers were arriving at the house for the first time, at least, Alfred liked for them to enter properly through the front doors.
"Ohhh," Snow White cooed appreciatively when Bruce ushered her inside. "Your castle is so beautiful, Mr. Bruce!"
Bruce smiled. "Thank you." He turned at the jingling sound of an approaching collar. "Oh, here's Ace - you might want to put your squirrel somewhere safe."
"Oh, hello!" Snow White exclaimed in delight when the German Shepherd came trotting straight up to her.
To Bruce's bemusement, Ace kept vocalizing in response to everything Snow White said to him, as if he really was holding some sort of conversation with her.
"I'm Snow White. It's so very nice to meet you!"
"Whuff!"
"I'm going to stay here for a while. Mr. Bruce was kind enough to invite me."
"Arf!" Ace tensed as if about to pounce.
"Oh, no, please don't chase my friend!"
"Chitter, chitter!" added the squirrel.
"That's right, I promise," Snow White added. Ace relaxed again and licked her hand.
Once the 'conversation' was over, Ace trotted over to greet Bruce, who scratched behind his ears before looking back at Snow White. "I'll show you your room."
Snow White didn't want to be left alone, so Bruce helped her unpack and then let her follow him back downstairs. There, Alfred offered to make her a snack and she declined, but asked very sweetly if she could help prepare dinner. He agreed on the condition of no animals being allowed in the kitchen, so as the two of them got to work, Bruce had the task of carrying a very displeased squirrel outdoors - twice, since it zipped right back inside the first time he let go of it. He was glad that Ace had stayed in the kitchen, since he was pretty sure that the dog, like the squirrel, wouldn't be as well-behaved outside Snow White's sphere of influence.
Dinner was even more delicious than usual. Afterward, Bruce was a bit at a loss - normally, he'd go downstairs and work on pre-patrol research, but he had a child to take care of now. "What would you like to do now?" he asked awkwardly. "There are still a couple of hours left before bedtime." When he himself had been a child, he usually spent evenings with his parents or, after their deaths, had used those hours for personal study or for brooding.
"Would you like me to sing you a song?" Snow White asked eagerly.
Bruce blinked, a little taken aback. He'd been expecting something more along the lines of a TV show, which was why he'd led her to the den. "Sure," he said.
Snow White, already sitting daintily on a loveseat with two mice in her lap (Bruce dreaded what would happen when Alfred discovered them...), arranged herself into an even more elegant pose and began to sing. "[. . .]"
Bruce watched and listened, appreciating the true beauty of her voice but also a little disturbed to see such a very young girl singing so earnestly and passionately about romantic love. She was...she was so young, she should have better things to think about at her age.
Once the song ended, Snow White exhaled in a long, satisfied sigh. She opened her eyes and smiled at Bruce. "My prince is so handsome and kind, I can't wait to meet him again and live happily ever after."
"Yes...once you're older," Bruce said cautiously.
"Mm hm. What about you, Mr. Bruce? Have you met your True Love yet?"
Bruce chuckled awkwardly. He worked a foot out from under Ace and used it to pet the half-asleep dog, belatedly realizing that it was a form of fidgeting. "I, er, I'm afraid I'm too busy for that sort of thing."
Snow White gasped and stared at him with horror and genuine pity.
"No, really," Bruce hastened to assure her. "Marriage is a wonderful thing, but not everyone is interested in it. I happen to like my life as it is, and I don't think finding someone to marry would make me any happier than I already am." 'Or unhappier,' he added silently.
"Hmm," Snow White mused dubiously.
She looked like she had more to say, so Bruce tried to change the subject with the best distraction he could think of in this situation. "[. . .]" he started, slowing down the song a bit to make up for the lack of instruments.
Snow White's eyes lit up as he started to sing. A few lines in, she closed her eyes and elegantly danced with her upper body, undulating her shoulders and smiling. By the second repetition of the chorus, she opened her eyes again and started to effortlessly harmonize with him. He marveled at the way she had such an instinctive grasp of what notes to hit without any discussion or practice beforehand.
When they finished the song, Snow White clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, that was fun! Let's do another!"
They traded songs back and forth for about twenty minutes. Bruce was a little shocked at how fun it was - he knew his voice was decent, but he didn't particularly enjoy singing and definitely did not like to sing in front of others, not since his parents died and his mother was no longer around for him to sing with.
Singing with Snow White was different, though. She seemed to love music even more than Martha Wayne had, her natural talent was phenomenal, and she took such visible enjoyment out of twining her voice with Bruce's that he felt a little bad having to call an end to the session. "All right, that's enough for tonight, dear. Why don't I help you pick out a book and you can read in my office while I work on the computer?
Snow White made a valiant attempt to read the book he procured for her, but soon enough, she had put it down and was absently singing to herself instead. By the time Bruce stopped work, the little girl was sitting by the open window, talking to the owl, raccoons, opossum, and rabbit that had come to join the mice - there were five of those now - gathered around her.
"All right, Snow White, that's enough," Bruce said, approaching cautiously. "Please send all your friends outside, Alfred's not going to like them in the house."
"Very well," she sighed. She smiled and started kissing and petting the animals. "Good-bye, dear friends! Pleasant dreams!"
They made various noises at her, then slipped outdoors. Bruce shut the window behind them. "Bedtime."
"Yes, Mr. Bruce."
WEEKS AGO:
It had been quite satisfying to punish Hunter, luring him into the [. . .] dungeon with lies of forgiveness, working him up into ecstasy, then killing him when he was at his most helpless and vulnerable. Slowly enough, of course, for him to understand what was happening to him and why.
It was the first and only time Hilda had enjoyed one of those ridiculous sessions. Maybe someday, when she was safe again, she could start indulging in the practice for herself - though, of course, she'd need a new victim for each session, since it was rather difficult for slaves to give repeat performances when they died at the end of each one.
In any case, Hunter had gotten what was coming to him, Mary Margaret was out of reach for the moment, and now Hilda had only herself to think of. She had to handle her latest target wholly by herself, but the Mirror was easy enough to adjust. Locating a friendless, ugly old hag was easy; actually procuring the target and preparing her for the ceremony was distasteful, and Hilda wished she hadn't been so hasty to punish Hunter - she should have made him do this one last job before the end.
At least it was over now. Hilda's new appearance was repulsive, but it did its work to disguise her; neither Batman nor the GCPD would ever find her. She would bide her time, watch Snow White, and wait patiently for the right moment to reclaim what was hers.
TBC
A/N: In this chapter, Barbara is 20; Bruce is two years older than her.
I don't think a "provisional foster parent license" is a thing, especially for an adult with no known connection to the child, but we'll just chalk it up to "It's Gotham."
