My Refuge from Nightmares
Just a fluff filled two-shot involving the never ending love of Daddy!bats and his baby bird.
WARNING: Explicit Nightmares, a traumatic father, a traumatic son, and fluff!
;Disclaimer;
The night was dark, but the room was darker. Like always. As Bruces laid on his bed, staright and asleep, thunder roared outside and lightning followed, creating shadows all around the room for half a second. It was the closest darkness would ever get ro him again.
When most picture Batman, they are usually correct when they see a man with a cowl that hides the individual's identity, a black armored suit that blends in with the night, a flailing cape to represent the zero amount of fear but 100℅ courage he has to soar the winds over Gotham. They see a hero trying to save humanity from its wicked ways.
"Bruce... Bruce, dear... Bruce, help mommy!"
"Son! Son please help us!"
Bruce unconsciously cringed as the voices echoed his head like ghostly calls in an empty room.
But what no one would ever was the man behind the cowl. They would never see what he would go through when resting. They cannot seem to see that Batman had a hole in his chest. He is the darkness of a broken man's heart. He is the one thing the man has always anchored himself upon, in hopes that it would be enough to try and fill that hole. But sadly, no matter how many lives he saves- no matter how many damn heroic things he did in one night- whether be ten to ten thousand, he remains hollow. Just like a shell with no oyster.
A boy ran through the dark alley ways as fast as his legs would allow him to go. His lungs burned from the numbing bite of winter he breathed heavily through his mouth, but though his body was numbing, his mouth a tinted blue color and his nose a rosy red and dripping, he still kept running. He had to find them!
He spent every night drowning in his own sorrows, twisting and turning in his bed.
Bruce whimpered again, this time, his leg cocked back in a movement so rough, he could have popped a socket. Despite how tightly clenched his eyes were, one tear was able to escape the skin walls of his eyelides. "M... Mum..." he murmured.
Then, once Bruce reached the end of the the longest alley way...
BANG!...
BANG!
"Ah!" A feminine cry echoed, followed by a deep grunt.
Visibly crying out as if his words could change a DAMN thing...
Bruce released a whine too much out of his character. "No... N-No!" His fists clenched the bed sheets even tighter till his knuckles grew white.
The boy came to a stop as the scene before his very eyes filled him with dear agony. Tears pricked his eyes of both sorrow and pure horror. Two bodies, a woman and a man laid still and dead on the damp floor, limply holding onto each other's hands. A large pool of blood surrounded their bodies, staining their clothes. Tears could be seen on both of their still relaxes faces. The boy released a sob as he now gazed at his deceased parents. "Mum! Dad!" he whimpered in a hoarse whisper.
He heard a click and looked forward to see a dark shadowed figure pointing the barrel of his gun directly at him. The man murdered his parents... His family... As he thought of this, the child's eyes grew dark instead. This MURDERER... killed innocent good people... His parents. He took their lives with no thought of care or sympathy. The boy clenched his teeth so hard, they would break under pressure. Dark thoughts filled his mind. He wanted to KILL this man with his own gun... He wanted to grip him by the throat with a dagger piercing his eye... He wanted to saw of this man's limbs... He wanted to feed ever piece of him individualy to dogs...
He wanted to go against all morals and rip the man who ruined his life, apart. Some points, he just wanted to give in and so wrong to the world that remained ungrateful. He wanted to rip out every criminals' heart...
Bruce arched his back. He cried out into the air.
The man stared at the boy that was now staring at him fearlessly and snorted with a deep chuckle, putting his gun back in his pants. "You got spunk, kid. I think I'll let you live." Without another word, the man darted away, leaving the boy with the bodies of his parents. The boy, with a shudder, collapsed to his knees and curled between his parents, never caring if the blood covered his body as well. "Mum! Dad! Don't leave me!... Please!"
Bruce was now sobbing openly as his large form curled into a ball. "Please... Don't leave me!... Please! Mother! Father!"
Suddenly, there was a little tug on his pajama sleeve, and Bruce- being the light sleeper he is- jolted upwards with short gasps escaping his lips and his eyes were red from his slumber crying. He stared straight for a long moment, trying to regain and composure, which seemed to be a major fail, then gazed down to see a boy, small and frail, with shocking blue sky eyes, ebony hair shooting everywhere in messy ruffles.
But then he met a boy who had suffered the same road as he...
The boy looked beyond frightened as he stared up at the man. In his tiny hands he held a small stuffed elephant. Bruce sighed with a full breath, and even though his throat felt dry he spoke in a tired voice, "Yes, Richard?" It was dark so Bruce could not see the tear streaks on the child's face. "Um," he said with a slight tremble, making Bruce question. The child shuffled his feet a bit and pulled the elephant immediately close to his chest as if he had it giving him some closure.
"You were..." the child began, but then a loud gunshot of thunder startled him, and partly Bruce. Bruce regained calmness fast, but when he gazed back at Dick, the child was just staring at the window like it was a giant poisonous spider, now clutching the elephant so tightly, it might bust out cotton.
Bruce put two and two together, then said, "You are afraid of thunder?"
Dick stared his attention back on the man with watery big blue eyes, which broke Bruce's heart. "M-My... Tatí used to comfort me when it stormed... But now that he's..." Dick bowed his head solemnly and even though the room was dark, Bruce did not miss the tear that slipped off the child's face and land on the floor. Bruce looked at the boy sadly, on the verge of tearing up himself...
"Do you wish to sleep in my bed tonight, Dick?"
The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them. What in the hell possessed him to say that?
Bruce stammered over his words in a desperate attempt to fix his mistake, when the boy cut him off with, "Are you sure? I don't wanna bother you."
Bruce stared down at Dick, shocked.
"What?..."
Bruce swallowed thickly. Did this child see good and trust in him... What good was there left? Yes, he was a hero, but... Inside he held darkness that devoured him whole. He was just an empty shell of a man.
"Richard, I do not wish for you to... I am not your father, I can't give you the comfort he could-"
Before he knew it, Dick crawled on the bed and buried himself close to his chest, causing the man to jolt in surprise. Dick was now openly sobbing; his small whimpers and whines breaking Bruce's beyond destruction. All he could do was hold the child. But after a moment, he comfortably held Dick in a warm embrace, running his hands through the ebony locks. The child was just so small in arms, Bruce felt like he was cradling an infant. A baby bird.
Then, something in the Dark Knight's heart warmed. His baby bird. Placing his cheek on the boy's head, Bruce whispered, "There, there, it's alright, Dickie-Bird. You're going to be alright..."
To his words, Dick's sobs turned to hiccups and he snuggled into the man's chest, clutching Bruce's night shirt like his life depended on it. Bruce turned to mush. He was so amazed that he actually held a untainted part in his heart. All due to this one child he only knew for a month (and had made him a sidekick with what seemed like a thoughtless decision). What he thought he had lost when his parents died, he felt it flowing through Dick. A tear Bruce couldn't (nor did he dare) catch, landing in Dick's hair. More followed in pursuit. He just could not stop them.
"Y-You ca-can give anyone comfort, y-you're a good person. Th-thank you for taking me in as your ward, Bruce," Dick said through his sobs, "T-ati would thank you. So would Mami."
Dick's voice broke by the mention of his parents, so Bruce prevented him from continuing, "Shh, shshsh... It's okay, I understand."
"I'm scared," Dick whimpered.
"Of what, Dick?"
"Th-that man... Tony, what if he finds me?... What if he still wants to... Kill me-"
"That won't happen," Bruce growled in a protective tone. Dick felt the man's arms tighten their hold around him, immediately calming down his fears. Bruce's tense hold relaxed moments later and with a long sigh, the man petted the back of the ebony locks. "I promise, Dick... I won't let anyone take you from this earth while you're still young. Soon, you will be stronger than him," he vowed.
Dick gently pulled away and gazed up at Bruce with big puffy baby blues. They were similar from day one when he had just seen his parents' bodies fall to the floor... Where it seemed that his life had been sucked from his very eyes.
They reminded Bruce of his own eyes every time he stared into a mirror. Dick said nothing, but instead moved a bit so he was laying cuddled under Bruce's chin. Bruce moved the child more comfortably against him and he leaned back against the head board. Dick and he were sitting up, but Dick was curled in a ball against his stomach and chest, with his head tucked under Bruce's chin.
Bruce held him close and pulled the blanket over the tiny body. All seemed quiet for a few moments before Dick- with closed eyes- whispered, "I didn't know you get nightmares too."
Bruce smiled gently to hide his sorrowful look, partially succeeding. "Yes. I do."
He felt the child snuggle into his chest and the Dark Knight for the first time, drowned in warmth. "Even bats have nightmares," Dick chuckled. Bruce laughed softly and cradled Dick closer, staring into the dark shadows of his wall. As they sat there, Bruce would smile softly by every flinch Dick would make by the loud cracks of thunder, but would quickly be soothed when Bruce petted his back. Bruce decided to stay up and watch the window, as if he waited for Tony Zucco to DARE climb through and try to harm the boy in his arms.
He will show that man pain. Batman may not be a killer, but damn, does he make a fine discipliner. Soon, about ten minutes later, the man could feel light twitches coming from Dick and soft snores, which gave him the now Intel that Dick was sound into slumber. Bruce smiled down at the child and ran a hand through the soft ebony hair; Dick would only mumble and lean unconsciously into the touch.
Bruce though about what Dick had said early and chuckled lightly again. "Even bats get nightmares," he repeated.
... I never knew that as Batman, my cape would be used to cover and protect a baby bird from this world of criminals and thieves. That my courage to fly across the winds of Gotham would be needed 24-hours to defend a boy I have grown to love as a son and brother. A friend and partner. I never would have dream that my shadow would be enlightened by a boy of colors.
But that is what Dick Grayson had done to me.
The day I met the boy, I just knew I had to take him in. I knew what the consequences were of losing those you loved in a tragic incident, but I also knew the many risks that had to be one with my decision. I knew that if I took Dick Grayson in, I had to be cautious, for if I was not he would end up like me, whether I took him in or not. If I took him in, that risk could be avoided... But if I left him alone... I don't know he or I would be...
But everything worked out amazingly throughout the years. I would have never given up those times Dick, Alfred, and I spent together as a family; those memories burned themselves in my heart, mind, and soul. But also the nightmares... They became to be about Dick; my boy would be crying in the Joker's grasp as he bled to death; MY boy would plummet to his death due to his zip line snapping; MY boy would turn against me and I could not do anything about it...
But I should have seen the signs coming. Dick was growing older and he had stopped sleeping beside me, which left me and him to face off our nights alone. But at least I knew that my boy would be just a room away. He would still be safe.
As long as he stuck at my side, I will always see that Dick Grayson would always be protected...
Year 18 for Dick came by as usual at first, and I was happy to see my ward remained alive for another year...
He would be safe forever.
... But then Dick Grayson flew from my shadow... And for a long while, he seemed to disappear off the phase of the world...
That was the day my nightmares became reality...
Yeah, so maybe Bruce is a little OOC in this, but I just needed something deep to write and this became my option. I enjoyed it, so this is going to be a two-shot. Next one may or may not make you cry. I have a bad feeling about it- In a good way...
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know your input (no flames you fireballs) and we shall see next chapter!
~Review~ Review~ Love~ Blessed~ Review~ Respect~