Chapter Text
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A boy, probably in his teens woke up in a filthy alley. Far too filthy for it to be Manhattan. Or New York. Or even China. So where the Hades was he? Only then did the shorty truly assess his situation. He was lying in a filthy back alley with just his usual clothes that were soaked at the moment. He tried to get up and sharp pain ran through him going from his abdomen up to his right arm. His mind was dull. He tried to recall what was it that got him there. Why was he there? Well he probably shadow travelled. Wait. He froze as he was trying to stand. What is shadow travel? He couldn’t remember. But he had an inkling. Somehow and he had no idea how he knew that he couldn’t return to where he had came from. And he knew with absolute certainty that whatever this place was, it wasn’t where he was from. After some thinking the raven haired boy finally moved into an upright position only for the pain to run through him once again. The short teen made his way -while stumbling I might add- into the main street and the moment he walked under the nearest street lamp he froze once again. He had honestly assumed he had been soaked in water. Probably from a puddle of water or something. A rainy weather would definitely suit this grim and filthy city. But water isn’t crimson. As crimson as red wine against the light of sunset. It was definitely blood. Only at this revelation did the boy think of pulling up his shirt to take a look at the cause of pain that was constantly following him. And even though the pain was at the line of unbearable he did not expect a giant claw mark that ran from his right arm down his abdomen. Even though blood still dripped from the wound it was painfully obvious he had lost a huge amount of blood earlier. Then the raven haired youth had a second inkling. Without him thinking his left hand shot into his pocket and pulled out a little square of… something. The teen didn’t really think anything through when he put the small square of something into his mouth and started chewing on it. But he knew he loved the taste of whatever it was so he deemed the something not harmful. The moment his wound started closing pulled him out of his trance over the blissfully tasting substance. He knew it was unnatural for the wound to heal as fast as he did but at the same time he didn’t find it weird. When the ravenette looked at his body a little closer it was a tad bit too obvious how malnutritioned he was and was terrified of how many scars riddled his body. He quickly pulled his shirt down once again and decided never to face a mirror in his life.
While he was wandering the streets, he saw a fare share of street signs and there were a few that caught his attention. There were the words Gotham city repeating a bit too much. And for that exact reason, he came to the conclusion that this filthy and apparently crime ridden (he had come across ten robberies just wandering the town for just one hour) city was called Gotham City. There was another type of signs that caught his attention. Well, they were more posters than signs, but they were all either a warning; do not come out at night. Stay safe! Or some sort of fan (?) posters that were promoting a man called Batman. According to the posters Batman was some sort of vigilante that was there to stop villains in Gotham. There was yet another interesting discovery the short boy made. He remembered his name, age and that he was alone. Nico, that was his name, was a 10 year old orphan. He knew his mother had died somehow. His sister as well. What happened to his father, he didn’t know. And even though Nico was a bit strange he knew he had to find an orphanage. At least for the night so that he wouldn’t freeze to death.
After a while of searching he found a small a bit damaged building with a sign that read Gotham orphanage. The raven haired teen sighed and slowly made his way towards the entrance. The moment he entered the door he could see a tired woman calculating something. Probably the expenses for the month. For the first time in what felt like years or at least months he used his voice.
“U-um excuse m-me…?” For some reason he felt really uncomfortable using his voice. He decided not to speak unless necessary. The woman’s head shot up and that didn’t really ease the boy’s discomfort.
“What do you need, kid? Oh that’s probably a stupid question. What’s your name?” The lady seemed used to orphans. Didn’t seem to find it weird nor did she ask. And if Nico was being honest he greatly appreciated that. She did seem really tired though so he decided not to bother the young woman with anything he could ask her later.
“U-uh it Nico. Nico Di Angelo.” It sent a shiver down Nico’s spine to even say his name. His full name. He once again decided he hated it.
“Right. So Nico I take it you want to be registered into the foster system?” From that moment the woman turned to a computer and never once tore her eyes off it. Nico just nodded and hoped that the lady registered his small gesture. He did NOT feel like speaking again. There was silence in the room for about five minutes and the atmosphere was becoming more and more tense by the minute. Finally the woman spoke up.
“So Nico the orphanage is quite full. So I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with the couch in the common room. At least for today. If you have any allergies or anything similar we can talk through that tomorrow. The common room is the third door to the right. Good night.” With that matter being decided Nico didn’t feel any need to add a comment so he just moved to the common room and lied down on the couch. In less than ten minutes he was asleep.
The raven haired shorty woke up to amused chirping of children. He didn’t think it could annoy him as much as it did. He shot up and immediately the chatter stopped. The scene he was in the middle of was definitely not something he would voluntarily put himself in. He was surrounded by children of all ages, races and boys and girls alike. They all looked at him with gaped expressions. He did not know what his face looked like. And he couldn’t care less. He already promised himself not to look into a mirror in this life. He got up and wanted to sourly ask where the lady was but he realised he hadn’t asked her name. Luckily for him the woman from last night popped her head into the room at the sudden silence. The woman just signaled for him to follow her.
When they came into what looked like an office she gestured for him to sit down opposite her. She looked at a few papers fleetingly before beginning her “interrogation”.
“So Nico. Do you have any allergies or any kind of illnesses? Diseases?” When the black haired teen heard those questions he was feeling distressed. How could he answer such complex questions when he didn’t even know his family’s name?! But he just opened his mouth and stumbled through his words. And somehow he knew he wasn’t lying.
“I-uh… it’s not exactly an allergy to but pomegranates are out of the question for me. Also I have dyslexia and ADHD.”
Hi!
This is the author right here! U can call me Mr. Fool or The Fool it’s up to you. I just wanted to say thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.
See you next illusion!🪄✨🪄