"I understand he serves as your counterpart but..." the Guardian deemed worthy of protecting the Joy of children glanced towards his Shadow, his ice cold eyes devoid of the warmth that overflowed from him, and Bruce kept his face devoid of all reaction.
This conversation was as old as it was unnecessary.
His Shadow currently stood against a wall at the farthest end in the workshop from the rest of the gathered Guardians. It was no great shock to find that he had deemed this gathering worthy of his monstruous state, allowing him to loom over almost all congregated. The hood that covered the upper half of his face did nothing to hide away the scarred maw that was his lower face- tattered, thin lips were pulled into a frown that was barely not a glower.
"If you have a complaint over the role he serves, you are more than allowed to take it up with those in power." he made sure to keep his voice flat and unaffected before he turned back to look at the scattering of papers before them. "We have decisions to make- children will suffer more than just bad nightmares if you can't pull it together, Kent."
It was a manipulative, underhanded move to call him by that old name; a name that took them both back to lives that were no longer their own; a name that was attached to a time that they would never be able to go back to.
Clark's wintry eyes warmed almost instantly, melting with unfiltered amusement. Then, noticing what he had said, his fellow guardian closed his eyes and breathed in deep. Finally, he opened his eyes, which had returned to their usual, kind glaze, and grabbed at one of the pictures their recon agents had taken of the newest threat towards their world-wide charges.
The rest of their team continued to cower silently from Greg's meaningless glares.
Krampus. His dark, sadistic other half. A figure known all over the world as a punisher of wicked children, unforgiving, cold- a demon in all but substance.
His true name was Greg Saunders, and he was once a superhero, just like the rest of their team.
Unlike the rest of their team, though, the new life je was assigned to live for the rest of eternity had not been kind.
"Now, what's got the Jolly Big Man so upset?" a long, thin tail began to wind around his arm, curling and coiling at its leisure. "Yuh'll get frown lines 'fore y'hit a millenia, Angel Eyes."
Bruce felt his chest begin to glow with warmth at a name he had spent the first decades of this eternal life without remembering. It angered him to remember how this was taken from him even as he felt himself relax at being reassured that Greg was with him and no one would ever dare take him away.
If such a thing ever happened, no amount of loyalty to his duty would keep him from proving to the criminals how wrong they hadbbeen in assuming that Krampus was the dark half of their whole.
"It would aid in your PR to drop the myth about torturing children." he grabbed the tail before it was able to slither away from his arm; held it carefully, without any real force.
Should Greg want to pull his tail away, he'd be able to without using any real force.
Within his hand, the tail stiffened.
Bruce glanced up, following the tail to its owner, and found that Greg had allowed himself the comfort of dropping his monstrous, inhuman form. His other half now stood beside his large, red chair.
In their first life, Greg had been a breathtaking individual.
Now, with the otherworldly allure he wasn't able to conceal in this form... Bruce couldn't believe this had beem kept him from him for so long.
Greg's stubbled jaw was tight and he swallowed before a pink, forked tongue ran over his perpetually dry lips. His face was turned away from Bruce, bright green eyes focused on the empty workshop before them.
"Y'know why it's a good idea ta keep 'em in the dark." the tail twitched in his hand before it began to wind around his palm, "Let the whole world think I punish naughty kids an' I can work all quiet-like ta give the real varmints what they deserve."
Greg's voice became monotonous, vacant. Bruce did not need to see his face completely to know that his eyes would look much the same, glossed over in horror.
As the Guardians of Innocence, they both had vastly differing roles. Whereas Bruce was able to luxuriate in the bright joy of becoming Santa Claus, a true protector of childhood, the love of his life had been assigned a role that was as much a punishment as a blessing.
For the first years of this life, Krampus had been a true terror to children, as feral as a wild animal, blinded by a rage that had beenagically whipped up to keep him frenzied.
Bruce was still in the midst of hunting down the magician so powerful to have been capable of interfering with their true divine roles.
"It is not your role."
And then scarred lips were pulling into a pained, sardonic smile. "But it makes my role so much easier, Angel Eyes."
The tail squeezed his hand and then Greg was clapping his long, clawed hands, "Hot cocoa. That's what we need ta cleanse our palates."
As he began to move, the tail did not let him go.
Even if he knew that this was not a matter that could be allowed to lay without a proper solution, Bruce did not fight against the tail that pulled him to follow along. There were no other outsiders in his home anymore, which meant that Greg was free to roam without worrying about any seeing him outside of his role as Krampus. It was one of the few times he was able to see his other half to be his true self.
"Do we have pumpkin spice?"
He knew that they had run out, seeing how it was a favored taste for their elves. But he knew that making a fresh batch always helped soothe Greg.
"Think we gotta make some. Alright, we'll make a new batch 'fore the cocoa- gods know we deserve a break 'fore we gotta save the world all over again." already, there was more emotion in Greg's voice.
Once this new King of Nightmares had been dealt with and Christmas had been survived... he'd finally be able to hunt down the monster that had kept them apart for so long and shattered his other half's soul.
After that, he would only have to focus on nurturing Greg's innocence back to where it needed to be.