A Fair Price
by TwinEnigma
Disclaimer: I do not own DC characters. I do this for fun and skills building, not profit.
Nota Bene: Done as a fill for a prompt on the YJ-anon-meme, for a fic emphasizing the parallels between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Rumplestilskin/Mr. Gold from Once Upon A Time. De-anoning because I owned up to it when I finished. Contains Spoilers for Once Upon A Time and Under the Red Hood, as well as references to Batman Begins.
1.
Once upon a time, there was a kind king and queen who were loved by all. They had a handsome son and their kingdom prospered in peace and happiness for many years.
But they had enemies, those jealous of their joy, and they called out to the darkness to destroy them.
The darkness teemed and roiled, until, at last, the great Demon King himself appeared before them and said: "Aye, that I may do, but for a price."
"Gladly, we shall pay it," they said.
"Give me one of your men. Dress him in rags and haircloth and leave him unshorn."
"This we shall do, Great Dark One," they said.
And the pact was struck.
Bruce Wayne prefers to try and remember his parents the way they were and not as he remembers them on that accursed night. He knows, of course, that they were humanitarians, contributing to charitable causes and championing human rights and healthcare within Gotham and the greater world at large. He remembers sitting awkwardly through charity galas, waiting for the first moment to slip away, and watching eagerly at the window for the towncar to return from the airport with his parents. Instead, he remembers the blood and tissue spraying across his face and chest, his mother's pearls hitting the pavement, and the way they seemed to hang suspended in the air for a moment before finally falling.
His only consolation is that the homeless man who killed them, Joe Chill, will never get out of prison.