Chapter Text
The Harth Witch of Gotham
Dying young was never in the plans for me but no one can really plan for the exact time of death. The day I died I had read my tarot cards for my future. I had made it a point not to read my own tarot cards because they always gave me a bit of anxiety, usually offering warnings rather than reassurance or advice. I mostly do a standard three of cards spread past present and Future. It didn’t help that I got the Hang Man bord with life with anticipation for change, Eight of Swords feeling trapped buy your own choices, and Revise Devil removal of self-imposed chains. The only thing that made me not want to call off the week was because the Tower was not part of the reading. It was also a good reminder why I liked to just draw rune stones they may not have as many different readings, but they are clearer to me on what it means.
I look at the hang man and the eight of swords and shake my head those two card have followed me my entire life. I have always had some sort of bound theme in my reading as I am bound by family, fear, duty and anxiety. I’ve always felt like I’m chained in some way and if something happened to those, I am close to and lost my home I would be gone with the winds. As it was, I was a witch without any ties no coven, no patron and just enough knowledge to know how to stay out of trouble but not enough to have powerful spells to back up the kitchen spells I use.
I felt something brush against my senses and glare at the tea pot in the corner “Willard don’t you even thing about it.” I glared at the Candy Cane Christmas tea pot to anyone passing by it would seem like I was having a glaring contest with an inanimate object. To those who knew Willard was the dam Ghost that I was attached to the tea pot, he liked messing with fire alarms at 3:00 AM and staring at the back of my head to freak me out because the shit head thinks its funny. Why a dead Grown ass man decided to spend his entire after life attached to a candy cane tea pot I couldn’t tell you. All I know about him is that he was in his early thirties, a bit of a bean stock, with short spikey hair, anima villain glasses and treats smudging with sage as if he is smoking weed.
I have had several people ask why I keep the haunted tea pot if it comes with an unwanted guest. For one he is an ass but not malicious. He's kind of like that cousin that's an ass and you know it but you keep him around because his family and you're kind of stuck with him. I know how to handle him he really doesn't hurt anyone. I don't like getting woken up at 3:00 in the morning but he's never actually hurt anyone.
So, I keep him around like that roommate that doesn't pay rent when they're supposed to and leaves you dirty dishes. The one thing I've always been strong with magic of the veil but, block it out for the most part though sometimes things slip through. Today it didn’t feel like his normal banter it felt like he was anticipating something, and it was giving me the heebie jeebies almost like when he first was gifted to me and I didn't know what was there. With that lovely thought I started to clean up my cards and set about getting ready to head out to our family dinner at home.
The feeling of unease hadn’t lessened as people arrived, in fact it was getting worse as the night went on. We were trading Family gossip finding out what everybody was up to and being our normally rowdy selves. It was a normal family dinner, but I was ready to start pulling out my hair by the time things started to wind down some. I finally settled down enough to just let it go as I knew that whatever was coming it was nothing I could change.
Nobody could have guest what happened next, I had been reading not doing anything strenuous my ass was in a chair, book in my hand and relaxing with family chatting around me when it happened it was a brain hemorrhage. No family history, no warning, just a little bit of a pressure headache behind my eyes, and something wet coming out of my nose (blood). I was dead before anyone noticed or my face hitting my open book. They pronounced me brain dead on site once the ambulances arrived, I was an organ donor so they put me on a ventilator so that my organs were viable when they sent me to surgery 27 people were given a better life, I wouldn’t know this till much later as I was gone.
My first memory in my new life was waking up it was blurry, loud and I could see a woman with red hair, a man with dark brown hair and another man in a black and white suite who looked like Jack Bannon. I didn’t know who they were, where I was, nor what was going on. I tried to talk but all that came out of my mouth was the wails of a newborn. I didn’t know I had been reborn into a new life. I never thought I would wake up as Tana Brigid Wayne Eldest Daughter to Martha and Thomas Wayne and older sister to Mother fucking Batman.
After the first day of my new life, I knew that something had changed and that I would never be the same as before. I wasn’t always aware of my past life the memories all the time would fade out, and I would be a happy, somewhat normal baby. Then there would be times when I would “wake up” the first time it happened I was ½ and My mom Martha Wayne handed me my little brother Bruce the day he was born.
“This is your brother Bruce you’re the older Sister so you will have to look after him,” said Thomas.
I look at him dead in the eye and give him the most serious look I can muster. “I will protect him with my life”
Scared the ever-loving shit out of Martha (Mom), Thomas (Dad), and Alfred. Before that moment I had said maybe 10 coherent words and nothing with two syllables. You do not expect a toddler to even know what that means let alone being able to say something like that with no trouble or hesitation. Dad cleared his Throat and shifted uncomfortably “well that's lovely dear sweetheart.” He wasn't very sure what to say and neither was anybody else in the room, it was quiet for the next few minutes until Bruce started to cry and it was Mom to the rescue for a diaper change.
I faded out after that until I was 4 and I spotted a Talon in the Yard that go me “up and alert” as they seamed to be looking in Burse’s room. Grabbed the Chalk that Alfred and I had made earlier that day. Alfred had used that attempt as a arts and crafts project to keep me occupied from other utensils in the kitchen. It had been made with crushed eggs shells, salt, and sage It was the perfect medium for a protection spell. In my old life I was a minor kitchen witch and whether the spells worked or not in my old life didn't matter the important thing is it in the DC universe magic was real and so was every single spell that I remembered. The look on the Talon’s face when he ran into the Shields of protection that I had placed around the home priceless.
The Talon looked up at the widow as they heard me laugh at their Misfortune. I grinned at him showing way too many teeth to be normal. I was quite proud of myself for freaking out a member of the undead. They were not going to get to my family anytime soon if I could help it. After they had left and I could no longer sense them nearby I hurried to Alfred and handed him paper and demanded jewelry with the runes on the paper made and given to the family. When he asked why I bluntly told him that the talons tried to get in and this keeps them away. I didn't really get to see his reaction because I started fading back into the background after that.
The next couple of years I would wake up in short burst, putting protection around the house and watching the talons as they tried to get near my famil and failed it wasn't until my 10th birthday that things went wrong. I had come down with a bad fever, and everything was fuzzy Bruce had been banging all week to go see a movie called Zorro with mom and dad I told him to go not really remembering what was going to happen. I drifted in and out of sleep until I woke up and remembered I look at Alfred with horror in my fever clouded eyes and tell him in a weak voice “Mommy and Daddy are dead you need to go get Bruce the court of owls killed them.”
Alfred turned grey in shock and gaped at me he had started to get use to my strange mannerism and how I always seem to know things that no child should. It was after the third time that I had come to him with a problem that he started to listen to me and pay attention the fact that I told him this even though I was sick he knew that I was right and that he would never see a Martha and Thomas Wayne again alive. He took in a shuddering breath when he heard the phone ring. He said to the phone, “Wayne residence.” he said to the phone it was the police asking him to come and pick up Bruce.
I had gotten up and dressed while he had been talking and had slowly made my way to the door. Alfred said nothing as he opened the card door for me to get inside. He was quiet for half the ride there before speaking “What do you know Moppet?” I was Alfreds nick name for me after the third time I had come to him for spell supplies.
“I know a lot of things Alfred things that will come things that can be things that should never be what happened tonight could have gone one of two ways. Someone was always going to die tonight. It was either going to be mom and dad or Bruce out of the two options this is the best possible choice for all The bad choices. The court of owl has gotten frustrated with me and my parents. They were mad at me for not allowing them what they wanted, and they were mad at mom and dad because they were making Gotham better weakening their power and because of that they called a hit they didn't care which Wayne they killed just as long as one of us was dead.”
Alfred closes his eyes letting himself feel a moment of grief before turning his attention back onto the road. “Is there anything I should know to keep you safe”
“they're not going to strike for some time after this I'm not old enough to take over the company and neither is Bruce. Right now, the best thing for us to do is wait and get stronger from the time I turn 18 I can protect myself and Bruce. They made an enemy today while I'm young now, I'm not always going to be powerless Bruce may be the future dark night of Gotham but now they will also have a vengeful witch on their tails.”
I had stumbled my way out of the car to Bruce forcing myself not to look at the EMT’s loading the bodies of my parent to take them to The morgue. “Bruce” I yell out to him noting the string of pearls that he was beating back together in his hands.
He looks up at me with sad empty eyes “Tara”.
I envelope him in a hug I don't tell him everything will be OK because our parents were gone it was not going to be OK for some time so I told him the truth as much as I could “I am still here Bruce me and Alfred are not going anywhere you are not alone the future is going to be hard I won't lie but you will not walk in solitude.” He grips me back tightly and cries I knew it was start of the story filled with pain trauma and a lot of fighting and I began to plan. This Batman would not be starting alone he would be a frontline fighter and a detective that I was not going to take from him but the witch of Gotham now that is a new story that was going to be all mine. I was a hearth witch a kitchen witch I specialize in protection healing and support. There would be so many frontliners Superman the flash Wonder Woman and so many others but they always were missing the backline fighters. The combat medics the training for search and rescue it's so many other things that would have made their lives so much easier. That was going to be my role I would be the teacher the one that offered hard to come to after the fighting was done.
The court of owls was just the beginning they were mine personally to take down but there would be so many others the league of assassins the legion of light the fillings that would soon come across Gotham and other major city streets. The death of Martha and Thomas Wayne for a big mark in history that not very many people would know about. It was the birth of Batman it was the birth of modern day heroes that many generations in other worlds would read about and would start a race of the met humans. I knew all this yet all I could do for now was comfort my brother and make sure that he knew he was not alone I look up at Alfred as he looks over at us. I had suttley push my parents to making a will that would give Alfred full custody rights of us as well as put ownership of Wayne and a trust that could not be accessed by anyone but us when I turned 18. Wayne enterprises was safe we were safe from greedy relatives their wills were airtight and I made sure of it. A lot of things were happening that no one was aware of but me. It was in that moment in my fever addled brain I have to wonder who gave me the cursed blessing of may you live in interesting times.