By: Faita

"Okay, I got the snacks, you've got the movie. What are we watching?" Terry asked walking into the room. Alisa sat on the couch holding a videocassette in her hands. Mandy was sitting next to the couch in her wheelchair. She was reading the back of a box. "Jessie is tired of her dismal life in her small home town. She leaves in search of adventure and love," she read. Terry nodded as he sat down next to Alisa. "I see. A chick flick," he said as Alisa took a piece of popcorn from the bowl. "Absolutely," she said smiling and placing the piece in her mouth. Terry and Mandy laughed. Mandy pressed a button on a remote and the TV turned on to a news program. "Batman foiled an attempt to rob the Gotham First National bank yesterday. The city of Gotham is finally beginning to warm up to the Tomorrow Knight after three years. The Gothamites did however take a quick shine to Blaze, but is worried about her present absence" the man said. Alisa walked over to the TV and slipped the cassette into the slot on the bottom of the TV then sat back next to Terry. They watched the TV a few minutes before Mandy pressed the play button. "On an unrelated topic, Eric Grayson, son of billionaire Richard Grayson, was killed in a car crash yesterday when his car drove off the road. He was killed on impact as his car collided with a lamppost on the side of the road. He was on his way to visit his sister Emily Grayson," a woman on the TV said. Terry's eyes widened in fear. He stood up quickly, knocking the bowl to the floor. He grabbed his bag and coat and ran for the door. "Isn't that the brother of that friend of yours?" Alisa asked, but Terry was already out the door.

Terry held his jacket and bag in his one hand as he knocked rapidly on Emily's apartment door. A boy with small red sunglasses and red hair that fell to his ears opened the door. Terry was surprised to see him there, as he was of Terry by the look on his face. "Is this Emily Grayson's apartment?" Terry asked. "Yeah. You must be Terry McGinnis. Hi, I'm Adam," he said. "Adam, Walker?" Terry asked remembering Emily telling him the name. Adam nodded. "Yea. Come on in. Emily's actually been expecting you," Adam said as he moved out of the way to let Terry inside. Terry walked into the small hallway leading to the rest of the apartment as Adam closed the door behind him. Terry stopped and turned around to see Adam. "How is she doing?" Terry asked him. "See for yourself," Adam motioning to the rest of the apartment. Terry took that as a question with an unexplainable answer. He turned around and walked into the apartment. He saw tons of tissues all over the ground. What few trashcans he could see were filled with tissues. Adam walked him over to the door that lead to Emily's bedroom. Adam pressed a button on the side and the door opened. It opened to a dark room in which most of the light in it came from the two glass doors. A figure lay on the bed, it's face buried in the pillow at the head, and it was laying on its stomach. "She's been that way for an hour, I can't get her to talk to me anymore. She heard about it almost three hours ago. First half she just cried, hence all the tissues. Next hour and a half she just talked about Eric when they were kids. Then she just laid there," Adam whispered to Terry. Terry nodded as a response. "If you can get her to talk to you, tell her I had to go work on homework for school and that the dean is giving her a week more for her paper. Just tell her anyway even if she doesn't respond," Adam said as he left the small room. Terry never took his eyes off her figure in the bed. He felt so sorry for her. Eric was her favorite brother, watched out for her, and protected her from Pete. Now he was dead, and she just lay there, blocking out the world. He dropped what was still in his hands. The bag hit the ground and opened, his mask fell out of it on to the floor. He stopped walking when Emily suddenly slowing lifted her head and looked down at the mask. Terry could see her red, tear drenched face. The sadness in her eyes could brake anyone else down in tears, but not him, not the Batman. She took her eyes off the mask and looked at him, straight in his eyes. He suddenly became aware that not only was there now sadness in her eyes, but hatred, hatred directed solely on him. It frightened him; he was actually scared of her. Very nerve in his body yelled at him to run, hide, and hope that she wouldn't look for him. But he just stood there, frozen in his tracks. She turned around into a sitting position; her hair was in a ponytail but loosely hanging around her face. She raised her hand in his direction; hatred had now fully taken over her face. Was she going to try to hurt him? Would she? Why would she want to? What had he done? He could see for a quick second in her watery eyes that said 'I'm sorry' to him before he felt a great force against his chest that pushed him into the wall behind him. Pain shot through his body as he fell to the ground, his back still up against the wall. It had hurt; it had hurt a lot. She was supposed to be on his side. Now she was standing above him, looking down at him with sad, hateful, disappointed eyes. "Why weren't you there?" she asked him crying. He could see the tears running down her face as he suddenly knew why she had hurt him. She was blaming him for not saving her brother. "It's your job! You're the Batman aren't you? Batman saves people! He protects them! Specially his family and friends! What could you possibly have been doing that was more important then my brother!?" Emily yelled at him with tears falling to the carpet between his feet. He figured it was best not to answer her. He knew she didn't really blame him, but she still could make him feel very guilty. "Why weren't you there? Why didn't you save him?" she asked now fully crying as she fell to her knees. He had seen her cry before, not often, and never like this. This was crying, this was like nothing he had ever seen. Not even at his father's funeral years ago. He would never cry like that, he didn't know if he could, if any one could. He gathered all the strength he had left, she really did have amazing powers, and she really could kill him easily. He crawled over to her, which was all he pretty much could do. He wanted to just watch her, watch her cry and weep, and he didn't know why either, he just wanted to. But he didn't, he couldn't. He wrapped is arms around her shoulders and held her. She rested her head on his shoulder; he could feel her tears coming through his shirt. She didn't blame him any more, and if she did, she wouldn't hurt him, for that he was glad. "It's okay, it's okay Emily," he said as sweetly as he could. He wasn't an expert in medical diagnostic, but he figured he had a few cracked ribs. She looked up at him. No longer any hatred in her eyes, only sadness, and a look that asked for his forgiveness. "I'm so sorry Terry, so sorry. I, I just, just," she said then she whimpered and set her head back on his shoulder. "What are you going to do now?" Terry asked her. "I'm all packed. I'm heading home for a while. Leaving right now. I'll be back, don't worry," she said to him. She stood up and walked over to her bed and pulled a backpack from underneath her bed and set it on her bed. She picked up her jacket and put it on. She placed the pack on her back and picked up her helmet with the picture of an angel on it off a hook on a rack off the wall. She bent over and picked up his mask. "Wanna see me off?" she asked him as she threw it at him. He smiled at her and placed the mask over his face. "I got the batmobile on the roof, quickest way to get here," he said. She smiled at him. Most likely her first smile in hours. She walked out of the apartment after placing the helmet on her head. Batman took the rest of the costume and put it on.

Emily drove quickly down the highway. Her jacket and hair blowing in the wind. Her motorcycle made so much noise she could barely hear herself think. The batmobile followed her from the sky several feet behind her and above her. Batman watched her drive in the middle lane, passing cars next to her. "Good bye Emily," he said knowing she couldn't hear him. But, as if she had heard him, she took one hand off of her motorcycle handle and waved it above her head. Batman smiled to himself as he slowed the batmobile till it stopped, still in mid air. "Do you think she'll really come back?" he asked knowing Bruce would be there. Batman wondered how sad Bruce was about Eric. "Yes. But she'll be very different, say good bye to that Emily Grayson forever Terry, she'll never come back," Bruce said. Batman turned the batmobile around and headed back for Emily's apartment; he needed to pick up his bag that he had left there.

Batman walked over to the bag that had several pieces of clothes around it. He picked them up and shoved them in the bag. He walked over to Emily's dresser. On one side was the picture of Emily and Adam, on the other side was a picture of him and Emily three years ago at the Christmas party, before the thugs crashed it. He studied both pictures; the people in them were in the exact same positions. The faces changed, so did the clothes and background, but the positions were the same. Batman grinned as he picked up the one with him and Emily in it. She looked so different; it was amazing how she had changed in just three years. He looked at himself in the picture, and then he looked at the mirror. He used his free hand and pulled his mask off. He studied his face now, a cold and saddened expression, then he studied his face in the picture, a happy and joyful face. Three years changed him too he guessed. He set the picture back on the dresser. He heard soft footprints; he looked up as soon as he could, almost expecting Emily to be standing there. It wasn't Emily, it was Adam. Terry's eyes went to shock as a smile crossed Adam's face. "I knew you had a secret! I felt it the moment I saw you. I knew Emily was Blaze, I had a feeling you were Batman, and this confirms it," Adam said happily. Terry just looked at him confused. "You see, one of my powers is the ability to sense when some one is holding a secret, with most people it's easy to tell, but you were harder, and I can see why too. I know I must sound like a complete weirdo to you Terry, but believe me I have an explanation," Adam said quickly. "I'd like to hear it," Terry said still in shock. "I come form the moon too. Born and raised, only Emily doesn't know. I was sent to Earth to keep an eye on the princess, secretly though. I have powers just like her, only they're a bit different then hers. I can sense when some one is hiding things, and I can create this fog type mist that I can use for almost any reason," Adam explained. Terry actually understood him, it made sense. "What do you want?" Terry asked, not knowing what else to say. "I want to help you," Adam said plainly, a grin creeping across his face.