Patrick Wayne was Bruce's father. The thought kept swirling through his mind, along with counter thoughts: Maybe it was only in this universe, maybe Thomas just made it up as one last chance to hurt Bruce, maybe Martha made it up to spite her abusive husband. Bruce didn't know what was real, didn't know how he should feel, should he feel relieved that Thomas Wayne wasn't his biological father? Sad for all of the missed moments he could've had with Patrick? Angry that Patrick didn't do more? All Bruce felt was the cold embrace of numbness, he was alone on the wrong Earth, in a house that was probably going to be burned down by the end of the night, and he just didn't care anymore.
Bruce was done, finished, he had no more energy left. His will to survive had dissipated, maybe it had died with his mother, just like the last time, maybe the thing that choked Thomas and leaked his identity was just the dying embers of the creature that was born on the night little Bruce Wayne had left Aragon Theatre.
Bruce wondered what he would be without that creature, without the Bat. The thought of a new personality rising from his broken mind sounded exhausting. Sleep sounded much better and his eyes were so heavy. Bruce curled up on the recliner and closed his eyes, maybe the smell of smoke would be the alarm clock for whatever monster that inhabited him later.
"Bruce!" The voice of Barry Allen echoed through the house like a phantom
Bruce didn't want to hear it, whatever great disaster the speedster was prophesying this time wasn't Bruce's problem, others could take care of it. He felt great shame at that thought, but he was sure it would subside back to his calming numbness eventually.
"Please! Listen to me!" Barry screamed but Bruce's journey had finally come to its end. He had seen the fates of the other Batmen of the Multiverse. Dead, betrayed, abandoned, watching even more comrades suffer. Bruce made his peace, after everything, he didn't want the Bat anymore.
"Trust me!" Barry begged "This isn't your Earth! Let me bring you home!"
Home. Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Alfred, Diana, Clark, his Barry, Victor, hell even Arthur Curry. Bruce's home.
Bruce stirred, slowly opening his eyes but not seeing the speedster anywhere. Maybe he was hallucinating. He fought against his rational mind and exhaustion, standing painfully and calling for Barry, his voice hoarse and excruciating. He probably looked crazy, standing there shouting at thin air.
The air didn't stay thin for long, it shimmered, the taste of copper entered Bruce's mouth and a bolt of rainbow lightning burst into the room, it circled around the entire house erratically before finally stopping at Bruce.
The figure in the lightning could have been Barry but Bruce really couldn't tell, his form was too hard to look at, too bright, it hurt, his vision blurred.
The figure reached out a hand to Bruce. He hesitated, forcing himself to remember every terrible thing waiting for him back home. Jason's grave, Martha's grave, the Joker free, another Crisis probably around the corner. It would never stop. Jim wouldn't stop either, he'd fight to protect Gotham, like he had for forty years, against criminals and cops alike. Thinking about Jim made Bruce feel braver. Finally Bruce reached out and took the figure's hand.
The entire world lurched. Everything spun. Bruce's stomach collided with his lungs on their way up his throat to escape his body. He felt like he was being propelled through space at the speed of light. He could see colors he couldn't describe, he could hear noises that set his mind on fire and made blood trickle down his nose.
Bruce's heart felt like it was being pulled apart, his chest tightened, it was becoming impossible to breathe. Bruce was certain his body couldn't take this strain much longer, he was seconds away from a massive heart attack.
The world screamed, and then suddenly with as much warning as it started, everything stopped.
Bruce fell to the ground, dizzy, breathless, and covered in sweat. His ears rang.
He wasn't left alone for too long, as two strong arms lifted him back to his feet.
A man in a green robe cast one of his hands over Bruce's body, while still supporting him with the other. Bruce could feel an alien energy wash over him, it was soothing, nurturing, healing. Bruce could focus again.
They appeared to be standing on a platform, suspended in space. Stars hung all around them.
"Bruce Wayne" The Robed Man spoke "My name is... he started, before looking lost "...the Spectre" he eventually decided
This Spectre's face looked familiar, he almost reminded Bruce of someone he went to college with.
"Where's the Monitor" Bruce asked, assuming that one cosmic being would probably know another
"Dead" the Spectre replied "I'm his replacement, for now at least"
Bruce didn't spare a moment of sorrow for the Monitor, he was a manipulative coward, but with him gone, a question was left unanswered.
"Why did the Monitor make me see those universes? Why did he make me live through all of that?"
The Spectre looked uneasy, or as uneasy as whatever kind of deity he was, could be. Just as he opened his mouth, the bright figure beside Bruce screamed in agony, capturing their attention.
All the colors of the rainbow extended from the figure, flashing with chaotic lightning and instigating a sort of personal storm within. The Spectre rushed to the figure's side.
"It's too much, Oliver" The being inside the storm whimpered "The Speedforce is eating me alive"
The Spectre reached out, guiding his hand through the lightning and touching the figure. The form started to clear, to slow, revealing the gaunt, almost skeletal face of Barry Allen.
The Spectre drew Barry into an embrace, seemingly unworried by the lightning all around. Bruce bit down his fear and decided to wrap his arms around the speedster as well. They had been through so much together, this couldn't be how it all ended.
The Spectre pushed Bruce back before he could so much as put a hand on Barry's shoulder.
Barry cried and the Spectre held him.
"I'm so sorry I asked this of you, my friend"
"Eh, you can't take all of the credit" Barry hissed "I've been using these abilities so much lately, I knew it couldn't last"
Barry looked over at Bruce, Jesus Christ, he looked so much like Jason did, the night he died.
"Bruce... I'm so glad you found me"
The pupils in Barry's eyes flickered blue before suddenly shifting and becoming engulfed by a strange golden light. The light leaked down his irises, dripped out of the lids, and started to consume his entire face.
The Spectre reluctantly broke the hug and stepped away from Barry. Without anyone keeping him up, the speedster buckled to the ground.
"Do something!" Bruce begged "Help him!"
The Green Cosmic entity grimaced, before closing his eyes tight and simply replying "I wish I could"
The light spread like a wildfire, overtaking Barry's body, leaving him a barely identifiable figure once more. He seemed to convulse, like he was having a seizure, the light grew brighter and Barry disappeared.
Tears rolled down Bruce's cheeks as he attempted to reach out again, only to have his hand slapped away by the Spectre.
The light became lightning, fierce and powerful, but most importantly, unstable. It crackled and fizzed, racing around the small platform it was trapped on. It grazed Bruce's face, drying his tears, it pulled down the Spectre's hood and danced around him, before finally flinging itself off the platform and heading out to the stars.
Bruce felt overcome. He wasn't quite in shock anymore, the sadness and feelings of loss held onto him like an old friend, anger bubbled its way to the surface only to be tempered by his confusion, and most puzzlingly of all, Bruce felt two feelings he couldn't understand, happiness and pride. Why was he happy? Why the fuck was he proud? Why wasn't he crying anymore?
"What the hell happened?" Bruce demanded from the Spectre, he grabbed the pseudo god by the cloak for leverage before latching onto the being's throat with his other hand.
The Spectre dissolved from Bruce's grasp, and reappeared beside him, his face was stoney, pale, and impossible to read.
"Barry was dying, the Speed Force that gave him his power demanded that he become a part of it, permanently" The Spectre explained, he was clearly trying to keep his voice as unemotional as his face, but he was failing, he sounded as shook up as Bruce felt.
"Barry just became a part of something bigger" the Spectre continued "Something that will never get sick, and never truly die... He's free"
Bruce broke down, sinking to his knees. He knew Barry had been sick, the result of the same devastating energy that allowed him to travel through the multiverse and even time itself. It was still heart wrenching to know that he was gone. After all they had been through together, all Barry had given Bruce, from the message that saved Bruce's world "It's Lois, Lois Lane, she's the key" to his comradeship, his capacity for hope, love, and his will to defy the universe itself if he thought it was wrong.
Bruce just lost another son. Last time, he pushed everyone he loved away from him. He couldn't do that again. He needed his family. He needed Alfred and Jim. He wanted to find Dick, he wanted to be his overbearing foster Dad again. He wanted a hug. He needed a hug. He needed someone he loved to hold him.
"Take me home" Bruce just about managed to croak out, his mouth was dry and his voice still felt raw and fragmented.
The Spectre rested his hand on Bruce's shoulder, Bruce didn't even have the heart to shrug it off.
"I can't"
Rage bellowed through Bruce's veins and he swung for the Spectre, his fist collided with the being's face and sent him sprawling to the ground. Bruce suspected that the Spectre let him get that punch in, an act of pity.
"Why?"
The emerald deity raised himself back to his full height. He took a breath, something which Bruce would've considered odd if not for the anger clouding his mind.
"The Monitor enlisted your services for a Crisis"
"And?"
"And... When it ended, all the universes that were destroyed, happened to find themselves reset... including yours"
"Barry said I would go home" Bruce realized that he sounded like a child
"It's not as simple as that, believe me, I wish it were" the Spectre countered, lifting a hand and creating a large green portal between them
"This was your Earth, before the Crisis occured"
Images shimmered and came to life inside the portal. From the planet Earth hanging in space, to the United States, to New Jersey state, to Gotham City, and Wayne Manor, at last stopping on the east side of the Wayne Estate, just outside the family crypt. Kate Kane puffed on the last vestiges of a cigarette, before lighting one anew on the dying cinders of the old.
Inside the mausoleum, a Batsuit was being committed into a hole in the wall, Bruce recognized it as the one he wore the night he first met Clark, well the night he rammed him with his Batmobile at least. Speaking of Clark, the Man of Steel himself was sitting on a wooden bench near what looked like a small podium toward the front, Lois Lane on one side of him, and a little boy on the other. Clark looked like he hadn't aged a day, but Lois looked at least ten years older than when Bruce last saw her. The boy must've been their son.
A small gold plaque on the wall read: Bruce Wayne - 1972 - 2023
Bruce must've been missing for so long that he was declared dead in absentia.
Barry, his universe's version of Barry at least, held Victor Stone's hand, his face puffed and blotchy, he looked like he had been crying for hours. Barry once told Bruce that he hated funerals, that he'd promised himself that he would never attend another one after his mother's.
For the moment, Bruce was just happy that a version of Barry would live on, that his version of Barry would live on. God he felt so selfish.
Victor glanced over at the hard light hologram that resembled his deceased father exactly. The hologram of Silas Stone tinkered with a green ring, absentmindedly. Bruce wondered briefly if he would receive his own S.T.A.R Labs hologram.
Luke Fox and Julia Pennyworth left two roses each. One at Bruce's vault. One at Jason's. It was nice that they remembered the old days, they made quite a team.
Turning his attention away from former proteges, Bruce saw Diana and her partner, wait, he noticed the matching rings on their fingers, Diana and her wife, Mala, paying their respects. It seemed they had a young dark haired daughter, about the same age as Clark's son. A pendant around her neck, named her in ancient Luvian or possibly Lydian as 'Donna'
An intricate and complex language caught Bruce's ear, as in a far corner of the crypt Arthur Curry convened a small meeting with two strange looking men in armor. He marked a map of Gotham into seven different quadrants, a patrol of sorts? before handing it to the men and speaking a few words to the older of the two, a young, bearded blond. Bruce lip read four ancient words "Prove. Yourself. Protect. City"
Bruce couldn't help but worry about the consequences of setting two very obvious Atlanteens loose on Gotham to 'prove' themselves. He practiced some breathing exercises to calm himself.
Bruce noticed Dick comforting Jim next. Jim looked heartbroken, utterly crushed by the room he found himself in. Dick whispered a couple of words to him before succumbing to some tears of his own. Bruce couldn't hear what was said but he felt the same regret and pain reverberate in his own heart. Jim hugged Dick close, and Bruce's pain eased with the knowledge that they would have each other to hold onto.
The image of an old flame came next, she stood at the very back of the mausoleum, near the door. Talia al Ghul looked as beautiful and as evil as the day they first met. Beside her sat a young man, maybe in his early twenties, he had a strong chin, hazel eyes, he definitely had Talia's nose, her skin tone and her sharp bone structure, but Bruce recognized the parentage of his other features too, how could he not.
Bruce had another son. He reached out to touch the boy's cheek, to wipe away a single tear that had broken through an otherwise impassive facade. At that moment the entire emerald portal collapsed in upon itself, leaving Bruce once again with nothing.
"Take me back there" Bruce pleaded to the Spectre
"There doesn't exist anymore" The entity said, gently "The timeline has been reverted back to a much simpler period while your universe heals"
The Spectre conjured up multiple green portals, each one revealing snippets of moments from the lives of Bruce's fellow team mates. Moments he had never seen before. A Spaceship hurtled toward Earth, a little baby inside slept soundly. Another portal showed Diana attacking the secret service in the White House. Another had little Barry Allen being tucked into bed by his mother and father after a bedtime story, unbeknownst to any of them, a pair of red eyes observed from near by.
In little Victor Stone's portal, he found his way into his father's home office and started to play with various pieces of tech that looked highly experimental. Elsewhere a young Arthur Curry found himself being swept away by a storm tide, he screamed, his hands balled into fists and the storm raged. His father was fortunate enough to save him just before the boy lost consciousness.
"History is repeating itself?" Bruce asked
"Not exactly, an infinitude of possibilities has been unleashed since the destruction of the original multiverse, these children are not the same versions you knew... But they do have the potential to be, one day... maybe... On the other hand, they could turn out entirely different, for better or worse"
Bruce sighed, he couldn't not, he should've known it was too good to be true.
"Maybe they'll live happier lives" he mused
The Spectre nodded briefly before asking "Are you ready to join them?"
Bruce's eyes brightened at the invitation.
"A chance to do it all over again?"
Bruce's mind reeled at the possibilities, if he was reborn in his younger body, he could save his mother, from Thomas and of course the shooter in the alley. He could grow up and be the Bat, while not being defined by the tragedy of losing her. He could save Jason. Stop the Joker from ever existing in the first place.
"Be aware, the moment you enter the events of this new Earth, your memory will be altered significantly" the Spectre cautioned "You'll have the chance to spend time with those you love but knowledge of your past life and your old Earth will have no foothold... They'll fade fast"
"Meaning I might have to watch it all happen again" Bruce felt sick at the thought, he barely survived one lifetime of trauma, he couldn't do it again.
Letting himself feel the mental and physical toll of his many injuries and old scars, Bruce slumped back to the ground. Maybe a world without the Batman would be a good thing, maybe its version of Gotham could be brighter, have someone who can inspire hope in the hearts of its people, instead of just fear.
A hand rested itself on Bruce's shoulder. It was strong and reassuring, and Bruce couldn't help but look up and see the smiling face of Jim Gordon.
"Long time no see" said Jim, fondly
The Spectre said this couldn't happen, the timeline Bruce came from had reverted, his Jim shouldn't exist anymore. Bruce looked back to the green entity but he was gone, leaving the two men alone.
"How is this possible?" Bruce asked, cupping Jim's cheek with his hand
"I don't know" Jim shook his head "One minute the skies were turning red and everyone was going nuts, the next I'm being swooped up by some Cloak in a cape, he said you would need me"
"I do" Bruce admitted, pulling Jim to him
Bruce enjoyed having his love back in his arms, Jim's mustache brushed and tickled against him as they drew into a kiss. Bruce chuckled and sighed in relief as all of the tension and hopelessness left him. Bruce was home at last.
The kiss was deep and beautiful, and more passionate than anything Bruce had ever felt before. Both of them longed to be as close as possible to the other, it was like their very souls demanded it. They were the last two people left from their version of their world, all they had was each other now, but that was okay because that was all they ever needed. Bruce wouldn't push Jim away this time.
Some time passed and Jim laid his head on Bruce's shoulder, he wiped away Bruce's tears, the damn things just wouldn't stop. He didn't want to explain the whole situation to Jim, just wanted to hold him some more. He buried his face in Jim's coat, god he even smelled like Gotham.
Feeling Jim's worry building under the old coat, Bruce folded, telling him everything. He watched as his lover's eyes became alert, confused and full of concern.
"So what can we do?"
"Nothing, it's all over... The day was won"
"Don't give me that" Jim snapped "You're a big shot 'super hero' now... Send a signal to Kent or Diana, have them come here and bring us back"
"There is no back, only forward at this point" Bruce spoke softly, gently "... And that's why you have to go, take the Spectre's offer, get reborn in that new Gotham"
Bruce had promised himself he wouldn't push Jim away, and he kept true to that promise. This time he was letting him go. Letting him have a chance at a new life.
"No" Jim said, firmly "I'm not signing up for anything unless you're with me"
"I don't think I can live through it all again"
"It wasn't all bad, was it?"
Bruce smirked against the older man's lips before nuzzling him close.
"Of course not, but the twenty years we waited to get there almost killed me"
"So don't wait twenty years this time"
"What?"
Jim softly pulled back from Bruce to look at him.
"When we find each other, when you put on the suit, let's make sure we don't give each other the runaround, even if we look a little different, or we're a little rougher around the edges, let's start us as soon as we can"
Bruce leaned in and kissed his partner, sweetly. The possibility of spending decades with Jim, building their relationship romantically from the ground up, made Bruce's heart soar. It was hope. The hope that no matter how much anger or fear, or self hatred lurked in his future, Jim would be there too, by Bruce's side. They'd handle it together.
"Okay" Bruce said, simply
"Did I just win an argument with Batman?" Jim looked comically stunned "It must be the end of the world"
Bruce gazed up as the stars twinkled overhead, no not stars, Bruce realized, they were Earths, all identical Earths. If he concentrated he could see a field of green energy protecting them, speckles of lightning particles linking them together and a mysterious pale blue element creating some kind of structure for them. A purple crystal glowed brightly against them all. It flared magnificently almost like a supernova and seemed to be creating more worlds, or at the very least spitting them out. Depositing them from a place they were hidden during the Crisis?
It felt like hours passed by as Bruce and Jim clung to one another, as they admired the Earths, as they loved each other. Far too soon though an emerald portal opened up in front of them, a sense of dread and destiny emanating from within. Bruce felt nauseous.
Jim took Bruce's hand. Dread turned into joy, and as for destiny, well it didn't feel so heavy anymore.
Bruce took a deep breath and they stepped forward together.