Richard sat on the bed of his room in Wayne Manor; it was the morning before Easter, the first Easter without his parents. He remembered painting eggs with his mother, using her special stencils to spell out their names on the delicate shells. Bruce had to work today, apologizing many times for missing the holiday and promising that Alfred would take him egg hunting.
Richard sighed and stood up, grabbing his jacket and heading downstairs. Alfred was there, waiting for his young master. "Are you ready to go Master Richard?" he asked. "Yes Alfred" Richard answered, heading out the door to the car.
Soon they were at the park of Gotham, kids with baskets and their parents sitting on blankets, talking about numerous topics. "I will be right here Master Richard, please do not wonder off the park grounds on your hunt" Alfred said while giving Richard a basket. Richard nodded and started to walk to the woods that outlined half of the park, not looking at any of the kids who just stared, some recognizing him.
Richard barely found any eggs, only two so far. He sat on a fallen over tree trunk, staring at the two eggs. Their design reminded him of his parents, one being light and had the comforting color of pink, and the other having the brave color of green and being a little heavier than the other. A few tears escaped the young boy's face and dripped onto the green grass at his feet, unaware that a creature was watching. Richard wiped his eyes and nearly jumped when he felt something touch him and zip away, when he turned; on top of a rock were two more eggs, but they were special. On one was the painting of Richard's father and mother, the other had him and his family, all happy.
Richard grabbed them immediately and looked around, looking for whoever had put them there. "Hey, pipsqueak" he heard a voice; it was Terence, the bully from his school. He came over to Richard, giving him a glare with a smirk "what do you want Terence..?" Richard asked, holding the two eggs close to him. "Those are mine, give em, or I'll take them" Terence glared, holding out one of his hands. "h-here" Richard said, putting down the basket with the eggs he didn't care about. "I want all of them, stupid" Terence said, putting his hand out for the others. "No! You can't take these!" Richard said, backing away a little. "give me them!" The older boy said, grabbing Richards arm and pulling on it. Richard struggled to pull his arm back and keep the two eggs in his other arm.
Suddenly Terence's grip lightened and his gaze went behind Richard, his eyes filling with fear. He let go of the small boy and ran away, but when he had let go, he had pulled Richard forwards a little which caused the two eggs to fall to the ground and break. Richard did not look to see what scared off the bully or see the boy flee back to his mother; he was too worried about the eggs. He went on his knees and looked at the broken shells, the one with his familiar had a crack going right threw them, breaking the happy picture in half.
Richard sniffled and silently started to cry, but soon felt him being picked up by two furry arms. At first he thought it was some man or woman with a furry coat, but when he looked up, it was a large bunny like creature. No fear came to the child, but curiosity swept over him instead. "Who are you?" Richard sniffled, wiping his eyes with his left sleeve. "What do ya think ya lil ankle bitter?" the Bunny said in a Australian accent. Richard's eyes widened "the Easter Bunny..?" He asked. The bunny smiled and nodded as he sat on the ground, putting Richard in his lap. "Thank you for scaring off Terence mister Bunny" the boy said. "No problem and here." THE Easter bunny took out something from the pouch he held, but his paw fur covered what he held.
"I made more incase those weren't enough" He said, opening his paw to reveal complete replicas of the eggs that lay broken near them. Richard's eyes went wide and his smile went just as big as he took them. "your very strong Richard, I know how it feels to lose your family too." He said. Richard blinked and looked at the rabbits green eyes that held hope which comfort him. "Really?" He asked. The bunny just nodded and put Richard on his feet again "I have to go now, more eggs to place and bullies to scare off" He chuckled.
"But Mister Bunny, can't you stay longer? I beat Bruce would love to meet you!" Richard said, grabbing the bunny's paw. He sighed and went eye level "sorry kiddo, Bruce doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny, and I can't stay any longer, but who knows; I could come back next year, or the year after that" He said, patting Richards head. "Just keeping believing and hoping and I'll be there." He said, then tapped his foot on the ground and disappeared in a tunnel, leaving a single flower on where the tunnel sealed up.
Richard ran back to Alfred with only the two eggs. "Master Richard, wouldn't you like more eggs then just those two?" Alfred asked at seeing his young master with only two. Richard shook his head with a smile "no thanks Alfred, I got enough" he said, looking at the pictures of his parents.
Years passed and Richard kept believing in the Easter bunny, yet his team did not understand their youngest member's belief in the so called Myth, but each year on Easter; Richard went to the same place and found the special eggs that the bunny would leave, each one having his family on it, and on the Easter of 2016, when Richard was just losing belief and did not go to the Hunt, he found a single egg on his bed. It had the painted picture of his team, and on the other side it said "Never Lose hope" which made him smile.