Once again, thanks a lot, Nightwingsass, for your review! I'm glad you like the way I portray the characters since that's the biggest challenge for me. Oh, and of course thanks to everyone else who reviewed, too, although I'm pretty sure I answered when possible.
And while I'm at it, I'd like to thank the friend who got me into reading (and eventually writing) about YJ. She probably won't read this because she already knows the whole story as my kind-of-beta, but I think she deserves a public mentioning since she is the reason this story exists. And because she told me "no", more than once, when I sent her part of my writing in which I went OOC, accidentally.
For now, let's see if Richard can make further progress or if he draws back into himself again.
The butler was busy preparing breakfast the next morning, when suddenly someone spoke.
„Good morning", came a timid voice from behind him. Alfred turned on the spot, surprised.
„Good morning to you, too, Master Richard. How come you are down here this early?"
The boy shrugged. „I couldn't sleep." He stood in the doorframe, obviously unsure what to do.
The butler thought about telling the boy to sit down, but guessed he wouldn't want that. Sitting next to someone doing something didn't seem to be in the child's nature. Which left one option to make him feel comfortable.
„Maybe you'd like to help me with this?", Alfred asked nicely. He earned a shy nod.
Ten minutes later, when they had just finished and moved to put everything on the table, Master Bruce entered the room. His surprise at the boy's presence was obvious.
„Richard, good morning." He smiled.
The boy, who had a pot of coffee in his hands, looked up. „Morning", came his barely audible answer. Alfred was content. At least some of yesterday's progress seemed to have lasted the night.
Master Bruce moved over to the table to sit down, just as the boy was about to set down the jug. Master Richard tried to elude his guardian and lost his balance. Alfred couldn't do anything but watch from the other side of the room, as the hot liquid poured down onto the table and the floor and the boy stumbled.
„Careful!", his employer called out and reflexively turned to catch the boy. Unfortunately, in that exact moment, his weight had rested on his injured leg, so he twisted the already sprained ankle. Used to pain far worse than this, he didn't say anything, but couldn't help but make a small noise and flinch. Master Richard caught the expression and asked „Are you alright?", his good education stronger than his diffidence for the second.
Master Bruce put on a smile again but was caught off guard and therefore didn't react fast enough. „Yes, I just … tripped on the stairs last night." The boy looked at him, seemingly not quite believing the hurried answer. But he just nodded and moved to finally put the pot on the table, before he realised he had dropped it. The coffee drenched the floor, the tablecloth and the newspaper lying on top of it. The boy looked at the mess for a long moment and then jerked back…
„I'm sorry", he whispered, almost tears in his eyes.
„It's alright, no harm done", Master Bruce hurried to reassure him, as Alfred moved to clean up. But the boy drew back into himself and stayed silent for the rest of the morning. Neither of the men managed to get another word out of him.
Over the next few days, Master Richard became even more silent than he had been at the beginning, not even talking to Alfred anymore unless absolutely necessary. Sometimes he vanished for hours on end, the butler occasionally not able to find him, which meant quite something as he knew about every hiding place in the manor.
Master Bruce and Alfred got more worried every day as nothing seemed to be able to draw Richard back to them. To make everything even worse, the boy's nightmares got more intense, some evenings it took several minutes to wake him.
Five days after the incident, it was especially bad. When Master Bruce had entered the boy's bedroom, Alfred had been busy at the other end of the hallway. But when the cries wouldn't stop, he went to see if he could help.
Standing in the doorframe once more, he looked at the by now familiar picture. Master Bruce kneeling on the floor beneath the window next to his ward, shaking him softly. But Master Richard didn't react. He thrashed around in his guardians grip, tears streaking down his face and he was begging.
„No, please, don't! They didn't do anything, please! MUM! DAD! No! Leave them alone, please!"
„Richard, wake up! You have to wake up. Come on, boy!" Master Bruce had raised his voice and slightly intensified the shaking. Slowly, the child in his arms calmed down and eventually opened his eyes, only to close them again within the second. He pulled back from his guardian and buried his head in his blanket, face turned towards the wall.
Master Bruce looked helpless at the small figure, one hand still laying on the child's shoulder.
„God, I wish I could help you! Please, Richard, talk to me." But he didn't get an answer, so he stood up and walked towards his butler. Out in the hallway again, the two men looked at each other, deep concern written on their faces.
„What did he mean by saying, ‚Leave them alone'?", Alfred asked.
„I have no idea", Master Bruce replied, frowning. He stood there, next to the door, thinking hard. „Unless… But that can't be." He looked at his butler. „Do you remember what the headline read, over which Richard poured the coffee?" Now Alfred was the one thinking. He had thrown it away, the copy hadn't been readable anymore. He could only recall a picture of some policemen underneath the text. The butler shook his head.
„It was about an ongoing investigation on racketeering here in Gotham. I read it later that day at the office because it could have held important information for Batman. But it only said, the officers couldn't get their hands on anything specific, other than some cases of weird accidents. I decided to keep it in mind, but ever since had other things to take care of, at night, since some patients made their way out of Arkham, again." The butler began to understand. „What if the death of Richard's parents wasn't an accident after all. What if someone tried to press protection money from the circus, but the director refused to pay and Richard somehow heard about it." Alfred followed the train of thought and nodded in agreement. It made sense and would explain the last few days.
„But why did Richard only react now?" Master Bruce wondered. „At first he was only traumatised by his loss, not by why it had happened."
„I assume that is just it, sir." Alfred spoke up. „He was in shock and completely suppressed all other relating memories. It would have been too much for him to bear. But reading the headline woke the memory again and now he is thrown back into the state he was first in."
His employer's eyes turned into steel. „Well, at least now I know what to investigate next." And with that, the World's Greatest Detective turned on the spot and walked towards the batcave.
The next evening came and it was heavily raining again. Master Bruce, who had been back late the night before but without any success to show, decided to go on patrol early.
„Maybe the rain spares him the nightmares, and if he does have them anyway, I trust you to wake him, Alfred. My time is, in this case, better spent out there in the attempt to solve his parent's murder." Because that it had been a crime rather than an accident, was nearly confirmed. On further investigation it had become obvious that there had been quite a few cases of racketeering on showmen, so it was most likely the same here.
When his employer had left, Alfred made sure he stayed close to Master Richard's bedroom so he would hear him if necessary. But the hours passed and everything stayed silent, so around one in the morning, the butler decided it was safe to go to bed.
But when he went to check on the boy, he got the feeling, there was something off. He carefully opened the door to the bedroom. The window was open as expected but the sheets were neatly arranged on the bed rather than laying on the floor.
Alfred's heart seemed to miss a beat before speeding up. Where was the boy?
„Master Richard?" he asked into the empty room but got no response. He turned for the hallway and quickly searched the corridor and every adjacent room. No sign of him.
Although he would never do it out loud, Alfred internally swore. How could this have happened? And where did the boy go? Not to ask why he did it in the first place…
„Master Richard!" He went through the whole house, calling for the boy. With every empty room he came across, his suspicion solidified. The child had left the building, probably even the grounds.
At some point, he even checked the batcave. Who knew, maybe the boy had found it when he was exploring the manor. But no, he wasn't down there either.
As soon as Alfred was sure the boy was gone, he tried to contact Master Bruce, but his employer didn't react to his comms. This happened sometimes, for instance when he was in a situation that required utter silence or concentration, but at the moment it was quite inconvenient.
The butler didn't know what to do next, nothing that happened often and he certainly didn't like it. He couldn't reach Master Bruce and so wasn't able to decide on further measures. In the end, he kept searching the house over and over again, constantly trying to call his employer.
When the intercom rang and hour later, he was desperate.
„Could you please come down to the batcave? I'll be there in a few minutes." The dark voice of the Batman sounded slightly distorted through the device.
Not sure what to feel, the butler responded. „Certainly, sir."
As he was on his way down there, his mind kept coming up with explanations for the new situation. Possibility number one, it had nothing to do with Richard, Master Bruce simply had found out something and wanted to tell the butler and did it down there, because he knew the older man liked to keep everything Batman-related out of the house. Possibility number two, he was injured and needed help. Alfred's least favourite. Possibility number three, he had accidentally found the boy. The butler didn't know what to think of that alternative. It meant, Master Richard was safe, but also, that he probably knew by now about his guardians secret identity. Which was, what both men had hoped to prevent most.
The grandfatherclock in the study opened as he turned it's hands and he made his way down the dark staircase. When he reached the bottom, he scanned the room with his eyes but no one was there. He walked over to where the Batmobile was usually parked and stood next to the wall. His dark suit made him nearly invisible in front of the black stone.
It was a matter of seconds until the hidden entrance opened and the huge vehicle entered. Batman got out and immediately walked over to the other side where a small figure emerged from the car-like construction. Alfred sighed in relief, at least the boy was safe. And in addition he seemed to be unharmed. But what was he wearing? It took the butler a second to realize, it was the boy's old costume – a red leotard with short green sleeves. Why had he put that on, instead of normal clothing? It was rainy and cold outside after all, as proven by the wet look of both Master
Bruce and Master Richard. Alfred shook his head to himself. There were more pressing matters right now. For instance that there was no way of keeping the secret from the boy any longer.
The butler decided to stay in the shadows until he was addressed, not wanting to interfere with Master Bruce's plans on how to tell his ward the truth.
Before the boy could say anything, Batman kneeled down in front of him, putting them face to face. He laid his hands on Master Richard's shoulders, who looked confused but fearless back at him.
„Richard, do you know where you are?" The deep voice of Batman echoed through the cave.
The boy looked even more confused at the question. „Your home", he guessed.
„Well, yes, in a way. And do you know who I am?"
„The Batman."
„No, I mean, who I really am, beneath the cowl."
The boy shook his head and the man sighed.
„Alright. I'm going to show you. Please stay calm, okay?"
The butler couldn't help but pity the boy. The whole scene seemed to frighten him a bit. And what was to come next would certainly be a shock for him.
The Batman slowly lifted his hands to his head and pulled the mask off. The boy took a step back.
„You… You're Batman. But… No, that can't be." He obviously was quite upset.
Master Bruce reached out to touch the boy calmingly, but he took another step back.
„But you were there. You were there! You could have saved them!" His voice grew louder with every word and his eyes started to glisten with tears.
Now it was the man who seemed shocked, obviously this was not the reaction he had thought he would get. „No, I couldn't. I'm sorry, Richard!"
The soothing tone did nothing to help the boy. „But you are Batman! You could have saved them! It's your job to save people!", he shouted at his guardian.
„There was no time, Richard." Master Bruce said sadly. „You saw it. Everything happened so fast, no one could have done anything." Alfred knew, this was only half of the truth. Even if there had been time, Master Bruce couldn't have done anything without revealing himself. But the boy would never understand that.
The tears in the boy's eyes spilled over and he turned away, hiding his face. His shoulders shook with the silent sobs. Master Bruce tried again to reach him.
„Richard, look at me, please." But the boy shook his hand off and took a few steps away from him. Master Bruce looked around the cave, helplessly searching for his butler. Alfred stepped out of the shadows and his employer's eyes settled on him, asking what to do. But the butler knew, this was not his fight. He silently shook his head and moved towards the staircase, but Master Bruce signalled him to wait. His lips formed the word ‚Stay'. Alfred wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but stepped back into his hiding place, observing the scene.
Master Bruce walked around the boy to be able to look at him, but Master Richard heard the movement and turned away again, which caused the man to stop. In the end, he just waited. Stood there, motionless, and waited. Eventually, the boy's breathing evened and he wiped his face with his sleeve.
He turned around to face his guardian. „You couldn't have done anything?" he asked, still a quiver in his voice.
„No." The man spoke with compassion. „No one could have saved them. I'm sorry, Richard, I truly am!" And Alfred knew, how honest that was. Master Bruce had experienced what it felt like to lose one's parents and he would do anything to spare someone else that pain.
„It's so unfair", the boy suddenly burst out. „They didn't do anything and they got killed. Why do good people die? Why don't only the bad people die?"
„I don't know. It would feel better, wouldn't it?" The man's voice was soft. „Richard, can I ask you something?" The boy nodded.
„You said, your parents were killed. Why?"
„Because they were! I know it! I heard that man talk to Uncle Haly."
„Uncle Haly? The ringmaster?" Another nod. „And what man?"
„The big man with the black hair. He said, he wanted money from Uncle Haly and when Uncle Haly said he wouldn't pay, the man said, an accident would happen."
Master Bruce frowned. So his suspicions had been right. It was a case of racketeering. „When was that?" he asked.
„On that day."
„And did you tell anybody?"
The boy drooped. „No one listened. I tried to tell the police but they just didn't listen!" He clenched his fists, obviously frustrated. „No one believed me so I had to try and find him myself!" He misses the fact that he himself has suppressed the memory until now, Alfred thought. But probably that didn't matter to the boy as long as he found the man responsible for his suffering.
„I believe you", Master Bruce simply said. This answer earned the man a hopeful look from the boy. „I do believe you and I will make sure to find the man and get justice for what he did. Promise. But you will stay here!" The boy started to protest, but his guardian interrupted him before he could even get the first syllable out.
„That's not up for discussion. You will stay here, it's dangerous out there. It's no job for a kid. You could get yourself killed. These men are armed and prepared to do everything to protect themselves. Don't think I would put you under that much risk!" His tone was final, but the boy didn't give up that easily. He straightened his back and rose his chin.
„But I want to come! And I'm not just some stupid child. I can jump and climb and throw knives. And I'm really fast! I learned that at the circus."
„I know you're a great acrobat", Master Bruce said. „But that doesn't make you a vigilante. And besides, you're eight years old, so you are a child."
„Nearly nine", the boy pouted. „And I will come, if you like it or not."
Master Bruce threw his hands up in frustration. „No, you will not!"
The boy looked at him calmly. „You can't stop me. I will just keep running away as I did tonight."
The man considered this. Alfred knew, the boy had a point. With his abilities, locked doors and closed windows weren't of much use.
After a minute of silence during which Master Richard glared at his guardian and the man stared into nothingness, apparently thinking hard, Master Bruce made a decision.
„Alright." Alfred looked at him in shock. Alright? He couldn't really consider taking the boy with him, could he? He knew, his employer sometimes made unusual decisions, becoming the Dark Knight being one of them, but this… This was irresponsible. Madness even.
„I will take you with me, BUT", he raised one hand to stop him, when the boy started to cheer. „I will train you, first. You will get lessons in climbing, fighting and using some equipment, before I'll allow you to come. And I am the one deciding when you're ready, so don't even try to beg!" Alfred didn't want to believe what he was hearing. Master Bruce wanted to take the boy with him. Out there, on the streets, at night. To fight a villain. This realisation was enough to make him forget his manners. He suddenly stepped out of the shadows and walked straight up towards his employer.
„I feel I must object, Master Bruce." He tried to keep at least his voice polite, only partly succeeding. „You can't take the boy with you. As much as I do understand why you want to come, Master Richard,", he added, turning to said boy, "the rooftops of Gotham are no place for a child." He turned back to his employer who stood there, arms crossed and a stoic look on his face. „Sir, you yourself got injured so many times, can you really take the responsibility for putting a child in the same danger?"
„Don't think I'm not aware of the risks, Alfred. But it's my only choice", the other man answered. „Richard is right, we can't stop him from running away again and I much rather have him at my side where I can keep an eye out for him than him running around the city on his own." The butler could see the troubled look in the younger man's face but that didn't help him calm down. He didn't often disagree with his employer, but over this, they wouldn't have fought their last argument, he was sure.
„Don't expect me to support this madness", he said indignantly and stalked off.
So now Richard knows and Alfred isn't at all happy with the revelation. I do understand him!
I have to admit, this scene wasn't exactly easy to write, it took me two attempts... Hope you liked it! Please tell me, whether or not :-)