Batsis Stories, Imagines, & One-Shots

This Is Not What It Is, Only Baby Scars

The battlefield stilled before her very eyes, the combatants freezing in place; even the speedsters, who seemed to disobey the laws of time, went immobile.

Her eyes were still locked on him, even as the shimmering cloud beside her swirled until a humanoid form appeared.

"You called?" they greeted with amusement as they took in the devastation before them. "Oh my...humans and their wars...such blood and great death." They grinned. "I miss being able to join the fray."

"I want to use my final wish," she said, and they looked down at her.

"Yes, yes, I'm aware." They leaned in her ear, whispering, "So...what is your final wish that is keeping your soul from my clutches?"

She blinked and walked towards the creature, whose hand had impaled through the man's back and out his chest, heart in its grasp.

"I want to trade physical places with my father. He will take mine where I stood when I called you...and I will take his." She stared into those glittering orbs that looked like opal, cracked and bleeding. "He lives."

They were silent for some time, taking in the weight of her request, then they questioned curiously, "You would trade positions with him? Be the one who will die so that he survives? Why? Your first wish all those years ago was to have a friend because you thought your family didn't love you."

She smiled, even as her eyes began to moisten, and she raised her hand, wiping the blood from her father's mouth. "Batman is a hero. He selflessly devotes himself to bringing justice to an unjust world...and I would rather be the one that falls than to see my family broken by our father's death."

Her hand fell away. "That is my wish. I wish to trade places with dad so that he lives, and I die."

"...Your wish is mine to command," they replied and before they could snap their fingers, she grabbed their wrist.

"May I ask for something?"

"You've only this last wish."

"Call it a favor then."

"Hmm...what?"

"My final moments...I want to see my dad like he was at my high school graduation. When he was coming to hug me, arms outstretched and smiling and—" her throat began to tighten, and she looked at them. "I don't want to be afraid. I want to feel safe and secure."

The being gazed at her. "...I shall consider it," they replied quietly and snapped their fingers.

The world swirled in a haze of black and purple as the sky distorted, a thunderous sound echoing in her ears as the scenery shifted before her. There was barely a moment to breathe when an agony shot through her back and into her spine then she was staring at her palpitating organ clutched in a crimson grip.

Then the shouting started again, and her head tilted up as she locked eyes with her father whose hands went to his chest to feel the hole that wasn't there anymore. She tried to smile when the creature yanked its arm back and with a choked gasp, her legs gave out beneath her, knees hitting the ground.

Coldness seeped from her center to every limb and her senses dulled quick as lightning. Her name was being shouted, maybe by multiple people but she couldn't make them out and she somehow managed to bring her gaze up.

Someone in a black suit was sprinting in her direction, and her eyelids started to droop just as their image dissolved and she saw her father walking up to her, his arms open, that proud grin on his face as he said her name.

Whatever strength she had left, she pooled it into her arm and lifted it to him as he said her name again. Something bubbled in her chest and she coughed. Blood splattered across the rubble at her knees and ran down her chin, but she couldn't feel anything.

A smile came across her lips and it froze there as her eyes glazed over and her breath stilled, her arm suddenly falling to her side as she pitched forwards, torso hitting the ground with a thump before he got there in time.