Chapter Text
I’m not the only one… I’m not the only one? I’m. Not. The. Only. One.
It takes a second to wrap my head around this. Are these people from my universe? Do they come from a different one? Are any of these people a variant of Batman or any other vigilantes? Do I get to meet them? Thousands, millions of questions are running through my head a million miles a minute, when they are interrupted.
“Are you sure none of these people look familiar?”Commissioner Gordon asks again.
I looked all the people over once more.
I shake my head, staring at the glass window behind him.
“I’ve never seen these people in my life. Plus, even if I have, I wouldn’t remember.”
Commissioner Gordon nods his head.
“Well… is there anyone we can get in contact with?”
“I don’t…”, I breathed in shakily, I couldn’t meet his eyes, “I don’t remember”, thank you to all my acting classes.
Commissioner Gordon gives me a sad smile.
“Why don’t I go get your learner's permit and look it over? It might give us some information to get in contact with your family.”
I nodded as he got up from the seat, leaving the room, leaving me alone. I knew I had to keep up the act. The police are still watching me from behind the glass.
I heard mumbles from behind the door, saying something like.
“He’s here.” I heard footsteps walking away from the door. I stare down at my hands and fiddle with my thumbs. The silence of the room is loud…
I tap my foot on the floor, and the sound fills the room. I need to focus. I need to focus on something, I can’t cry, I can’t cry, I can’t cry, no.. no, not now. I grab my necklace, rubbing the smooth metal pendant. It was a gift from my father…
God, I’m being dramatic, it's just a necklace with the Jedi Order symbol from Star Wars.
He gave it to me when I was around 7 years old.
That was always our thing, Star Wars.
A good amount of time passed before I was snapped out of my thoughts, dropping the necklace. I looked up to see Commissioner Gordon, standing in the middle of the doorframe. He was standing in a way that he was trying to hide something behind him.
“We took a look at the file you filled out and your permit. We’re going to do some digging and find your family, okay?”I wish luck to the poor soul who has to try and find my parents. I just nodded as the Commissioner continued to stand in the doorway.
“We have someone here who wants to talk to you. We have some friends helping with this case. It's just going to be the same questions that I asked you, okay?”
He stepped into the room as someone else stepped into the doorway. The same sad Labrador puppy I saw before landing here, except he’s older now. Standing in the doorway was Dick Grayson, or as he’s known on the streets of Gotham, Nightwing.
He gave me a warm smile before turning to the Commissioner, “Do you mind giving us some privacy for a few minutes?” Grayson glanced at the one sided window. It looked like the Commissioner was about to say something before shaking his head.
“Fine, you get fifteen minutes”, he sighed “No point in arguing anyways,” I heard him say as he closed the door behind him. I keep staring at the door, I’m too scared to look. I’m scared that if I face him, then my fate will be sealed, like it's not already.
“It’s Madison, right?” I nodded, staring down at my feet as I swung them back and forth.
“Okay Madis-”
“I’m not from this dimension”, after I said that I couldn’t stop, I was just spewing word vomit.
“I don’t know how I appeared here but I do know that I’m from another dimension I just landed in the middle of nowhere it was just some back alley way or something I have no idea how I made it to the police station I think I’ve just been running on pure adrenaline and shock for the past hour or two now and sourpatch kids..this is all my fault you know after nights of lying in bed and wishing that I was in your universe It has now actually happened and I have no idea what to do and my family oh god my family their gonna be worried-” Suddenly I felt tears in my eyes, the tears that I have been holding back for the past hour finally come out. It's not like one of those soft cries. It's a sob, with hacking and coughing as I try to catch my breath, but I can’t, because I’m crying.
I hear the screeching of a metal chair as Nightwing stands up. He kneels on the ground next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“This isn’t your fault, It’s not your fault that you got transported here. I can’t even imagine how scary and hard this must be right now, but I can tell you something. Me and the others will help you. Every step of the way, we will help you find a way home and a way back to your family. Okay?”
I nodded still sobbing. It took me a few minutes to regain my breath, but I eventually did. Grayson helped by showing me a breathing exercise to help calm down.
“You don’t seem all that shocked”, I said, my voice still raw and wobbly.
“About what? Oh, I’ve talked to the others who have somehow made it to this dimension.”
I nodded, finally looking him in the eyes. “Does Commissioner Gordan know… or?”
“He knows the information he needs to know,” which I know is code for, ‘no and we have no idea how to tell him and it’s too late to turn back at this point’ or he could actually just know the basics.
“Why don’t you tell me about your universe? You said that you wished you were in my dimensions, what do you mean?”
I took one more deep breath to calm myself down, “In my universe you and the other vigilantes don't exist. There are no heroes with powers or rich people who decided they want to do some good. You guys are comic books, stories, movies, to entertain people. I have read your stories, and I wanted to be in one so bad”, I let that sit in the air for a few seconds.
“Wait, so we don't exist?” Grayson gave me a somber look.
“Nope, thankfully though none of the super villains exist… Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
I furrowed my eyebrows, “You're always gonna have evil people in the world.”
Grayson nodded and lowered his voice a little, “You said you read the comics, does that mean you know..?”
He let his sentence trail off but I knew what he meant.
I replied in a hushed whisper, “It's great to finally meet you in person Dick”