one misstep was all it took for Elisa Di Angelo to end up under the care of Bruce Wayne. Somehow landing in Gotham, through a series of encounters, Elisa finds herself as Bruce Wayne's adoptive daughter with a fake file that raises more questions th...
In all honesty, Elisa would rather swallow glass than apologize to Tim or to anyone else for her words. What she said was true, in a sense. She didn't need to be coddled, nor did she need anyone to protect her.
She could protect herself plenty. Elisa had survived two wars and being trapped for an entire summer. Elisa didn't have the luxury of relaxing or playing family. She hadn't been a child in a long time.
But she also knew that she should because her words, although truthful to how she felt, were rude, they were mean words meant to hurt them. Every time she thought about the hurt in Tim's eyes, the guiltier she felt.
If Will were here, she knows he'd tell her that even if she were close to ninety years old, she'd never got the chance to actually be a child and have a family, so she should actually open up to those around her.
But Will wasn't there and Elisa would rather drink poison than admit she needed advice on how to apologize.
So, when Jason came to collect her for dinner, she didn't say anything to him, even if he tried to make conversation. Internally, it was because she was panicking over how to apologize. Externally, it looked like she was irritated.
Elisa sat down quietly as she looked down at her plate as she thought about what to say. Elisa wasn't good with words and she was worse with apologies. Elisa's lips pursed before she spoke up.
"I'm sorry." Her voice was quiet and she still didn't look up from her plate as everyone looked towards her in surprise.
They all pegged Elisa as the type who didn't apologize, and admittedly she was. They had also pegged Elisa as the type who didn't even acknowledge her feelings unless forced which was alos true but she was also that the feelings were there, she was just an expert at ignoring them and shoving them down.
Practice from her years after Bianca's death.
"Lise." It was Tim who spoke up but she still didn't look up. "It's okay, don't worry about it." He tried to reassure him but she glared at her plate.
"It's not. None of what I said is okay!" She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. Her dark eyes were nearly wild with guilt. "It was mean, worst than that. It was cruel. I know you're just trying to help. It's rotten work, I won't be mad if you just decide to give up." Elisa's voice was so accepting that it made their heart mad with grief.
"It's not rotten work." Cass spoke as she reached over to grab Elisa's hand and she flinched but didn't pull away.
Elisa was used to affection from Nico, from Khael. She was used to that, to the strong way she and Nico held each other as if they were going to lose the other too soon, as if they didn't want to let go. She was also used to the way Khael would cup her face with his hands.
But this? She wasn't used to this, it made her want to claw out her own heart just to make the feeling of wanting to cry stop.
"We won't give up on you." They all sounded so sure but Elisa wasn't.
She was used to losing people, she wasn't fazed by it anymore. People say things they don't mean, people do cruel things for no reason at all.
But when Tim called her Lise, it reminded her of Bianca and it made her want to sob out her grief all over again.
'Lise!' the familiar voice echoed in her ears, still unforgotten as she imagined the smiling face of her sister, her beloved sister that had died, who had sacrificed herself. The death she could stop thinking of.
It all made her want to crawl into a hole and die. She always thought she was getting better and then she thought of Bianca and it just felt worse than ever. It's probably better if they just give up already.
Elisa didn't say anything in response, sullenly eating her dinner quietly. She mostly just pushed the food around on her plate and gave up after a few bites. "Can I be excused?" Elisa's voice was quiet and she didn't look up.
Bruce watched her quietly for a few moments before sighing and shooting his other children a stern look. "Go ahead."
All it took was those words for Elisa to get up and rush up the stairs, her door slamming shut as she locked it behind her. She sat on the floor, looking at the room around her. Nothing was familiar, she wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Sleep for an entire century and slowly just disappear from this existence.
Elisa crawled into the bed, so comfortable and yet, she could probably get used to sleeping on the cold ground if she was tired enough and she fell asleep.
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She slept fitfully, tossing and turning as her soft breathing turned into soft pants, Bruce noticed it first, sitting in the chair he had pulled up next to her bed. He wasn't trying to unnerve her or startle her but his concern for her started to knaw at his chest and he couldn't help himself from watching her sleep.
Her face scrunched up in pain as she turned on her side and he guessed that was where her injury was, the one she kept hidden, the one she kept stealing bandages for.
"Don't go.... I'm sorry..." Elisa muttered in her sleep, panic filling her features as she seemed to have a nightmare.
"Bianca.. I'm sorry, please don't leave me, I love you..." Tears spilled down Elisa's cheeks before she sprung upwards, a wail leaving her lips and Brice sprung forward, his hand rubbing up and down her back soothingly but it only made her violently flinch to the side and fall off of the bed.
Jason was the first to step through the doorway and see Bruce helping Elisa up and onto the bed. He understood it instantly, Dick, Tim, Cass, and Damian followed in that exact order.
Elisa looked up at Bruce with a strange look in her eyes before completely giving up, rubbing at her eyes.
she didn't care how he got there that fast, she wanted everyone to leave.
"Lise, are you okay?" Dick asked softly, sitting close to her in her bed and she pointedly refused to look at him.
"I'm fine, nightmares happen all the time." Elisa's voice was carefully blank. "....I want to go back to sleep."
Bruce nodded sympathetically towards her and made a gesture towards them to start vacating the room. "We'll talk in the morning. Good night."
Elisa looked at the closed door as he closed it before glancing it up at the ceiling.
