A/N: Ah, Chiaroscuro. This is a story I've been itching to do for some time, but just making it was a challenge. See, this is dedicated to Beware the Batman, a TV show back in 2013-2014 that, in my opinion, was criminally underrated and too short of a good thing. The idea was to do a one-shot, but even that got changed up so many times. Luckily, I figured out what I wanted to do with this, so everything's fine now.

For some of you, certain elements in this story might seem different, but they're meant to reflect either what happened in the series or what I inferred from it. Reviews, criticisms, and glances at this are very welcome. To all ye who read this, I hope you like it. And now for the disclaimer…

Disclaimer: I do not own Beware the Batman or the characters in it. They are created and owned by Warner Bros TV, DC Comics, and Cartoon Network.

When people see me as Batman and Bruce Wayne, they expect me to be the same person, just in different clothing. But the truth is that I'm not. I may have the body that they share, but in reality, they are two different people. Bruce Wayne is the front, a playboy masquerading for what Gotham wants to hear. And Batman? He's my pent-up anger coalesced into a tangible force directed at the scum that taints my city.

Maybe there was a time that I was happy, but I can't remember it. Memories of my parents are like butterflies escaping my grasp, the reason being that I was never a happy child. I was too deductive, cold, calculating. The efforts of my open and warm parents seemed to be the traits I was bound to contradict. Alfred sometimes got me, but it was never enough. I always wanted to know more truth and control what I could find in the logic of the world. Then the shooting happened, and it was like I relapsed into my defining traits to the point where I was a fully different person. While tragic, my parents' deaths are what made me all the more determined to oppose crime.

I had the drive, yet it wasn't totally clear the reasoning for it. I focused on my efforts to become the perfect human, so I vowed that food and sleep be damned. I worked out as much as my body could endure, attended the most valuable and prestigious institutions for knowledge on everything. I even used my company's vast resources to find and locate the fringe combatants of the planet, hopeful they could teach me knowledgeable secrets. However, it was only when I met the Bat that one night that I began to fall into the two personalities defining myself. Inside the creature, there was a monstrous fear comprised of darkness and ambiguity – and I wanted to capitalize on it.

The mask made, I began constructing the Batcave and my operations. The equipment took hundreds of dollars, as did what amounted to my lair, but the personas…they cost more than material gain. Psychologically, I had to prepare for what people would say. Bruce Wayne needed to be cocky and arrogant in public, but calculating and brutal in private. Alternatively, Batman had to be someone capable of taking the necessary blows and analyzing random events into a linear thought process. Keeping these two lives separate was the challenge; having them cross-pollinate into each other was my way of keeping them afloat.

But what I didn't expect…was a partner. Halfway through my first year, everything had gone smoothly enough. My routine was established, the crime rate was dropping, and I was content. Then Alfred's goddaughter Tatsu appeared to work for me as a bodyguard. An ironic position, and considering Alfred's knowledge of my capabilities, I thought it was beyond laughable. But I stuck with it for the sake of family.

And then she revealed herself, peeling away like layers of a complex onion. She wasn't just a former C.I.A. agent with military expertise; she'd also done undercover work in the League of Assassins, picking up a souvenir in the form of the mystical, deadly Soultaker Sword. She'd lied to me, but when I saw her drive to fend back the League and protect Alfred, I knew she was cut out to help protect Gotham. Her motivations and reasons were different, as was her form of training, but nevertheless, she grew to be what Gotham needed her as; her namesake, Katana.

The year progressing, I found myself just questioning who I was. Fights were beginning to become more taxing. The adversaries Tatsu and I faced weren't just smarter, but also garnering abilities and skills few people could hope to gain in a lifetime. More than that, one or two of my new foes seemed to form psychotic attachments to me, holding themselves up to me as some sort of equal. Anarky, in particular, loved the attention, and it only made me more determined to lock him up in Blackgate.

All this emotional taxing came to a head when Alfred left, desiring to finish up some loose ends. With nobody like him to morally ground me, my two halves crushed into a semi-amorphous being. I quit holding back and went all out, snapping on Killer Croc and lurking more in the shadows than in the sunlight. Katana tried to reel me in, but it was harder than ever to be two people when everything seemed to be getting progressively worse.

However, there were just enough people I gained as allies that made me return to form. Lieutenant Gordon was probably the first and only cop I forged a friendship with. I saved his life and took the fall for him in hopes of the greater good, so eventually, he repaid me by asking for my help from time to time. Most of the department still didn't trust me, but with his say, my job was a smidge easier. The "Bat-Signal' was a…cute touch as well.

Then his daughter, Barbara, got herself inserted into the mix. She was a persistent thorn, begging to help in any way she could. I initially took her for a fanatic teenager, but her computer skills and familial defense for the law – even if it meant stepping outside its boundaries – earned my respect. Without her technical wizardry, much of what we'd accomplished wouldn't have occurred at all.

Metamorpho and Man-Bat came next. Victimized by horrific evil at the hands of others, their lives could have very much turned to tragic villainy. Instead, I empathized with them because I knew the pain of being victimized. They're still dealing with their lost humanity, but working alongside others has helped lessen their plights. And their unique abilities are a useful asset in crimefighting.

So, after everything that happened from when I started as Batman, my perspective in both of my lives has changed. Bruce Wayne and Batman are still a necessary evil, a yin and yang constantly at war for control of my well-being because they decide how and when I can help my city. The difference now is that I know I'm not so alone anymore. My allies and colleagues are united with me, and through us Gotham, has a fighting chance to escape the crime that's smothered it for decades.

I don't know what my parents would think of my current role, but I can't mull over what could have been. Because right now, my life is pulled between the light and dark too much to be black or white. The contrast is my life; chiaroscuro defines me and my struggles, and I intend on never letting go.

Nice to get that done. Feel free to review if you'd like. To make things juicer, there may be more Beware the Batman stories down the pipeline…