Disclaimer: I don't own Batman etc, etc.

Second Chapter

We took the long way to reach Jason's house, because he decided to walk around that big road I was pointing before. I asked him why we didn't simply cross it.

"Into Crime Alley? Are you crazy? It's the worst place in all Gotham. The Joker's territory. She'd kill us on sight, if she was in a bad mood. Also, there are criminals of all of sort there, so believe me it's better for you to never go there."

After a while, we reached a semi-abandoned building. It didn't seem very safe, but Jason reassured me: "It's damaged since the earthquake, but it will still hold. I decided to live here when lots of people abandoned it, because the Narrows is a so unhealthy and dangerous that nobody wanted to invest to fix it up. Maybe the multi-billionaire could, but he hates this part of Gotham to much…"

"The multi-billionaire?" I asked him with curiosity.

"You ever heard of Thomas Wayne, the richest man of Gotham, and probably of the entire America?"

That name wasn't new to me, but… I didn't remember…

"Are you okay?"

"Yes… But I don't know him."

"Your amnesia is worse than expected, uh?" I was prostrated, but Jason shook my hair friendlily: "Don't worry, if you think too much your little head will explode."

We entered in the apartment. It seemed like a tornado had passed around, as it was all in disorder. "You've been robbed." It was the first thing that came into my head, and I told him.

"Uh… No. It was already in this state when I left tonight."

"You are really untidy. If he was here, he would already have told you to clean up all this mess!"

"He who?"

"I… I don't remember!" I was on the verge on crying, because of my frustration.

"Well, Bruce, why don't to go to shower while I get some clean clothes and I make dinner?"

"Uh… Fine."

I went to the bathroom, no less messy of the living room but at least clean. However, after looking to the shower I turned immediately back.

"Jason…"

"What's the problem this time?"

"I can't use the shower alone…"

"Look, I guess you should be tall enough to use the shower…"

"But he always helped me to make the bath! There is also a bathtub, so I want to use it and you could help me…"

Jason snapped, "Fuck! Always with the "he"! You don't remember your parents, but these stupid things, right? You are only a spoiled brat, and because you're in my house, I order you right now to go to the bathroom and use that damned shower!"

"But I… I…waahh!" I started to cry, as finally I reached the end my patience limit. Jason, immediately intimated by the scene, tried to comfort me.

"Sorry, Bruce, I lost my temper… I shouldn't have shouted at you. Let's make a compromise: this time I help you in the bath, then I teach you how use the shower by yourself, okay?"

"(Sniff)…Okay."

Few moments later, I was immerged in a sea of bubbles, playing with them; Jason was looking at me, smiling. It was really comforting after that hard night. Then he started to clear me, but he stopped when he noticed a scar on my body.

"But this scar… It's from a gunshot! And it is in middle of your chest! It almost impossible to…" He stopped, but I already understood he wanted to say "survive." But we both remained silent. Then, Jason noticed the water in the tube slowly becoming pink, and then more red.

"And this? Blood? Where…" He looked towards my hands. The mud covered previously my injuries, but now they started to sting again. "How the fuck you managed to reduce your hand to that? Or do you not even remember that?"

"I…" I wanted to tell him all, but I immediately stopped:"Forget it. You would never believe me…"

"Why not? I promise not to yell or laugh or anything else, if you want to tell me…"

"Really?"

"I swear, kiddo."

And I started to tell him about the fact I woke up in a coffin; that I desperately digging out of it, that I came out like a zombie, and I traveled into Gotham without a precise destination, until I met him.

I talked without stopping for a while, and then I looked towards Jason. He was in complete disbelief: "You don't believe me, right?"

"What?... No, no, I believe you…"

"For real?"

"Yes. I'm only sixteen, but I lived here enough to understand when a person is lying or not. And you're telling the truth, even if your story is really incredible…But in a world like this, it's not so incredible."

"I… Thanks, Jason!" I immediately felt the need to hug him, because I really wanted someone believed to my story. I was really lucky to find him, but only later would I understand it was a predestined meeting.

"Stop it, Bruce! You are soaking me!" His tone was peremptory, but I knew he was cheating.

After a while, we started to eat together in the kitchen. Jason was a passable cook, thought I admit I ate better dishes before. In the meanwhile, he started to tell me some of the events of the past twenty years: about the destruction of Western Europe as consequence of a war between two mythological populations, the Atlanteans and the Amazons, about the earthquake which isolated Gotham from the rest of the USA ("It was a time where here really the life valued really low", said Jason with sadness), and the rise of the metahuman race… I was astonished, but also amazed and intrigued as well.

"However, I guess without the help of the metahumans or other heroes like Cyborg, Darkshadow, and naturally Batman, America would already be doomed…"

"Who is Batman?" Again, I was caught by that name.

"It's the vigilante of Gotham City. Nobody knows who is he. He wears a cape with two pointed ears and a black mantle that makes him appear like a bat, and he had a bat on his chest, hence the name. It's almost twenty, maybe twenty-five years? Since he fought his anti crime crusade under the motto "I'm Vengeance, I'm the Night", and he always stopped the plans of the worse criminals of the time; also, he is one of the few capable to match directly Queen Hippolyta and Emperor Orin. Luckily, I never had the occasion to deal with him before."

"He is so terrible?"

"Terrible? I should have a photo of him on this magazine… Here is it! He isn't creepy?" I looked on the photo. He showed Batman while swinging around the skyscrapers of Gotham. His red eyes dragged my attention respect to the rest of his figure. They didn't scared me, however…they saddened me instead. I didn't know why.

"I don't find him terrible. He's… magnificent." That was my response. Jason replied; "He could be magnificent, but if he was suddenly standing in front of you I'm sure you'd wet your pants."

Jason then resumed talking about Batman, while I continued to distractedly examine the magazine: "His major nemesis is the Joker. She is a psychopathic assassin, who appeared shortly after Batman, and even if he managed to capture her, she always manages to escape from Arkham. Also her identity is a mystery, the authorities never reveal who she is because it seemed someone really in high paid well to keep the secret. Probably, she is a member of a powerful industrial family, or of an influent senatorial family of D.C, which doesn't want the public opinion to know one of their relatives is a mass murderer…"

Then I stopped over an article talking on a party held recently in Gotham, and Jason noticed it: "Talking of these parasites… They participated like nothing happened in this city and this world, only to enjoy the sandwiches and the music and to say to their friends "I participated in a party of Thomas Wayne"… Not that I have nothing against him, but look that photo… He is obviously passed through facial surgery!"

I looked better; I saw a man who was talking to some persons, even if he seemed tired and his eyes and smile were sad, nevertheless he had a great dignity in his posture, almost royal: "It seems to me he looks normal…"

"Bah! How old would you say he is?"

"Well… The lower part of his hair is white, but he looks really young…Around thirty-five ?"

Jason laughed, "You are completely wrong. He is almost fifty-five! It's impossible to be so young at that age."

"There are men who aged better than others, if they had a healthy life…" I tried to counter.

"In his case? Not after that happened to him… It's a story happened over twenty years ago, but well known in Gotham; after seeing a film with his wife and son, he had the brilliant idea to pass through Crime Alley; here, the family was ambushed by a common burglar, but during the fight he had with them, a gunshot hit his son, who died in his arms. His wife soon disappear, nobody knows where and if she is still alive, and from that moment he always lived in a manor just outside the city with only the presence of his butler, a Brit he knew when he served in the army, and appeared only in charity parties like that."

I wanted to reply, but instead a yawn came from my mouth. "Well, I guess it was a field day for you. I'll get the couch ready in a moment."

"But…"

"You want to say something picky, like you were habituated to sleep in a bed filled with goose feathers? Unfortunately, there's only bed in this house, and that's mine…"

After the scene of the bath, I preferred to not further annoy Jason: "No. The couch is fine."

"Good." Few minutes later, my "bed" was ready. Jason gave me one of his old pajamas. "Well, it's a bit big, but not so much. I guess we're sort of the same size in comparison so my old clothes are alright for the minute." I nodded, while he pulled a blanket over me. "Well, good night, Bruce".

"Good night, Jason."

But after few minutes, I heard Jason said from his room "Fuck!" and then running through to me, "Okay, Bruce, come with me."

"What?"

"In the bed. I can't let a kid sleep on an uncomfortable couch like that. We'll swap beds."

So I went to his room. It was almost spartan, with few furnishings, and some posters to give a note of color. One of them caught my attention: it was that of a young masked man in black with blue fingerstripes viewed from the back while he was getting ready to shot with a sniper rifle. In the highest part of the poster was written his name: "Darkshadow"; in a lowest angle was written smaller "photo by L. L.".

But I didn't have the strength to argue more that night. I entered in the bed and again we exchanged our good nights. But certainly, it wasn't a good night for me because soon Jason was shaking me, "Wake up, Bruce! It's all right?"

I noticed my cheek were wet with my tears. "Jason… I…"

"You had a nightmare, right?" I nodded. "It's normal. You passed through an experience which would drive an adult crazy, and you are only eight. Don't be afraid or ashamed of this."

I caught one of his hands in mine, "Jason… Do you want to sleep with me this night?"

"But… the bed's too small for the two of us…"

"I don't care! Please…"

He sighed, "Fine, then. Give me some space."

I felt more relieved with him on my side. Even if I knew him for only few hours, even if he was only a sassy teenager, I felt I could trust him. Slowly, I embraced him; even if he was embarrassed, he embraced me too. Before I slept again, I told him: "Thanks, Jason."

"For what?"

"For being with me."

"It's all right, Bruce. I will protect you, I swear."

A/N: So for now this is all. In this chapter like the previous I however introduced some of my personal innovations respect to canon Flashpoint. I guess it's clear who "Darkshadow" is, I guess "L. L." too, and I want to precise Diana is around the same age of Bruce in this story, so this implied she was created more later respect to canon DCU, so at least after ten-twelve years after Bruce's death, and was Hippolyta and not her to start the war with the Atlanteans. About Bruce's amnesia, he remember some things but he didn't manage to focus the face of his parents, and so when he saw the photos of Batman and then that of Thomas his instinct pushed him to be sympathetic towards them but he failed to connect the two things. He was still a eight year old child, after all!

Be free to comment and suggest! If there is something not clear, please tell me.