~
Smoke wafted through the room that Ashley stood in. The air here was thin, dry, and bitter it brought goosebumps to her arms and neck. She wore thin black clothes with no leather or steel embellishments. The ceiling was high, and the cavern was dimly lit, however her eyes could pick out the faint outlines of the other ghuls standing around the edges of the room. Her hand itched to go to the moonstone necklace that hung under her shirt, however her body was trained to remain unwavering in its stillness.
"Welcome, daughter of the night."
At the sound of her master's rasping voice Ashley bent at the waist, holding the pose until a pair of black leather shoes came into view.
"Stand child, and let me see your face."
Ashley stood slowly, meeting the face of Ra's Al Ghul. It was handsome, not at all what she had been expecting after hearing his raspy voice. This man looked regal, fatherly even. Her blue eyes met his black bottomless ones, and she could suddenly sense a great darkness within him, one that almost cost her the hard earned composure that she always maintained.
"My daughter tells me that you are the top of your class, and during the recent attack on our Nuprene strong hold, you saved her life? Is this true?"
Ashley looked him in his ghostly eyes and nodded slowly saying.
"Yes master."
A smile broke across Ras' face, and he reached a hand out to Ashley, nodding kindly, inviting her towards him.
Carefully the young woman took his hand, and waited to see what would become of her.
"Then I am indebted to you. From this day, until you enter your grave to become a member of my court, I will personally uphold your training, I am adopting you."
Ashley's knees felt weak as the gathered group of assassins gasped. Her classmates stared at her with respect, and most with a little with disdain. There had never been a child adopted by Ra's, he regarded them all as stock to be traded and trained.
Suddenly the room shifted under her feet and she was falling into a deep well of shimmering gray.
"Have you finished with your fun Shadow? The time draws near for our plans to unfold, and our father is calling you home."
Opening her mouth, she was surprised to find that her voice was strong and clear.
"I am not coming back Nys, I will never go back to that place, not after what he did to Able ."
A cold female chuckle echoed through her mind in response.
"Foolish girl, he was helping you. That human samurai was making you weak. Besides the master will not allow his little Shadow to slip away. "
~
Ashley woke before her alarm in a cold sweat, her body was coiled tight, and her hands were bloody from being scratched by her finger nails. Sitting up slowly, she took a deep breath and looked around. The room was empty, however Nyssa Al Ghul's voice was unmistakable in her mind.
The oldest daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, and her primary mentor, had called her home to the the mountain lair of the Assassins.
Standing briskly, she pulled out the neat black pile of clothes from the backpack under her bed and rifled through it until she found a small black pouch.
Upending the contents of the pouch into her hand she felt tears start too leak down her cheeks. There, sitting in the center of her palm was the moonstone necklace given to her by Abel, a green jade shard from his sword, and the note he had wrote her before leaving to infultrate the Japanese government.
He would return soon for her, only to find her gone.
After a moment of consideration, Ashley clasped the necklace around her thin neck, and quickly shoved everything else back into her backpack. Returning the backpack to the underside of her bed, she walked to the tiled bathroom.
Pulling off Bart's t-shirt that she had slept in, Ashley faced the large tub and shower. It was wide, covered in a brown tile that reminded her of mountain stone. There were glass doors that slid across the whole thing, and three shower heads that cascaded down from the ceiling.
Grinning with pleasure, Ashley stepped into the shower and washed quickly.
--
The uniforms provided by the school were mostly comfortable, however the skirts were a tad non-functional in Ashley's opinion.
Trotting down the hallway, she practically jumped down the stairs. She was excited to get out of the manor mostly, but the allure of school also had her impatiently waiting for Dick in the entry room.
"You ready?"
She spun at the sound of Damien's voice. Her eyes narrowed at him, and she realized that she would be attending school with the boy terror.
"I am, are you?"
The boy looked at her tauntingly for a moment then grinned coyly.
"I am always prepared to outwit the children of my age."
Rolling her eyes, Ashley pushed the front doors open as the sound of a humming engine met her ears. A fast looking car pulled up in front of the manor, it was blue and black. Damien yelled "Shotgun!" and shoved past her, racing down the sidewalk to sit in the front seat.
Rolling her eyes, Ashley followed slowly, taking in the crisp morning air.
--
The drive to Gotham Academy was fast, with the sights passing, and the bickering of Damien and Dick in the front seat to fill the gaps that her thoughts did not. Finally, their car pulled up to the front of a fancy looking school building and Ashley gaped.
Fancy cars were pulling in and out of the drop off bay. Kids in uniforms much like Ashley's flocked back and forth from the building to the vast courtyard out front. Sensory overload was making the young assassins ears ring.
Dick turned around in the front seat to look back at her, a small smile on his face.
"Have a great first day."
Ashley tried to force a small smile for his sake, then she slid out of the car. She was greeted by a beaming red head, her blue-green eyes gleaming with laughter. Her dark blue polo had the word 'Alumni' screened on it in gold lettering.
"Hello, my name is Barbra and I'm your alumni leader for today!"
Ashley smiled at her softly, and extended a hand,
"I'm Ashley."
Looking behind her to introduce Damian, Ashley was annoyed to see he was already gone. Turning back to the young woman, who was now staring at Dick who sat with the windows down, Ashley looked sharply at her brother.
He noticed her gaze, winked at the redhead, and sped off quickly, narrowly avoiding an angry soccer mom on the way.
Rolling her eyes, Ashley said smoothly,
"Thats my big brother."
Barbra eyed her for a moment, then replied,
"I know, he asked me to take care of you today as a favor. We're old friends."
Ashley nodded slowly, saying
"Well thank you. I'll need all the help I can get."
She had spent the entire last night googling how to be normal at school. So far, she had found that joining a sport or being pretty were her best options. Since she was neither a natural beauty or cared to wear much makeup, her choice had been sports.
Barbra had begun to walk and talk, forcing Ashley to follow her closely in order to hear .
"Over here is the student cafe, you can get lunch and coffee from here during your free times, over there is the sophomore hall, where you will take your classes."
They walked for a moment more while Ashley took it all in.
"This is the gym, mostly the lacross and cross country teams practice here. And over there through those doors is where the pool is."
Ashley looked on at the huge double doors labeled gym and pool respectfully.
She nodded and followed as Barbra led the way to another set of doors. These were nicely painted, and made of fancy wood.
Barbra pushed through the doors and motioned for Ashley to follow. She grinned at Ashley's astounded face as she looked at the view and said
"Welcome to Gotham Academy."