Childhood: YEAR 1
November 25th
Crime Alley
Bruce Wayne's childhood is ripped away in a matter of seconds.
The first gunshot takes away his father, who crumples to the ground. "Don't, please!" His mother's scream rips through the alley, and she turns away just as the second gunshot sounds. Her blood splatters across his cheek, where he's standing close, rooted by fear. The pearl necklace hits the ground at the same time as her, breaking apart. Beads scatter around twinkling like little stars in the dark. The murderer curses, and flees.
Seconds. It took mere seconds. He can hear the man’s hurried footsteps fading away in the distance. He's fleeing, Bruce thinks although he’s finding it hard to care under the awful numbness, he killed them and he’s running away- Silence falls over the alley like an invisible shroud.
Bruce imagines this is what it feels like to live on the moon.
Then, a baby starts crying.
Baby, he thinks numbly, there's a baby in Mom’s arms. Of course there is. It's his brother. His baby brother. Bruce forces his locked feet to move. He approaches his parents with slow, deliberate steps and drops to his knees between their bodies. A macabre parody of how he used to slip between them in bed when his own bed felt a little too big, and too cold.
He doesn't even notice the blood seeping through his dress pants.
His father is on his back, blue eyes staring sightlessly at the night sky. There’s a dark stain where his heart is, growing and growing until the whole front of his dress shirt is soaked red.
His mother lays on her side, arms wrapped around a delicate bundle. A moving, crying bundle. Rhys.
Bruce reaches out a trembling hand. He needs to take his brother. He promised them he'd take care of his brother. He should- he should-
A ragged breath escapes him. His cheeks feel wet and prickly in the cold November air. Dad. Mom. Please-
His mother's body is heavy, (a dead weight, he thinks through a half-hysterical sob) but it moves when he grabs her shoulder and tugs her away from his brother. Her eyes are closed, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. She does not look asleep, her brows are furrowed and her lips are twisted tight, as if someone had snapped her picture in the middle of a flinch. Bruce dares a look down, even as every cell of his being revolts.
The lower front of the elegant, blue robe she'd chosen to wear to the theatre, is turning dark red.
Swallowing harshly, Bruce forces his eyes away, and they land on the squirming crying bundle.
To his horror, his brother is also bleeding, his small, round face painted an angry red. Bruce scrambles to pick him up. His brother waves his little arms and legs beneath the shawl Mom’s wrapped him in. Bruce grabs a far end of the cashmere and wipes Rhys's face, trying to find the source of all that blood. It turns out to be a horizontal cut underneath his left eye.
Bruce isn’t sure, but he thinks Rhys was cut by a shard from a broken glass bottle. The ground is littered with trash, ripped newspapers, discarded beer packs, cigarette butts, (and lily-white pearls). It stinks of waste, stale beer, and rust, but maybe the metallic scent is from the blood. There’s so much of it. Dad and Mom’s bloo-
"It's alright," he croaks out, regaining use over his voice. He tugs his brother closer to his chest, rocking him gently in his arms. "It's alright, Rhys."
The baby's cries fade into quiet snuffling. In the distance, sirens can be heard, getting louder and shriller as they come closer. They might as well be coming from another planet. Bruce has never felt so alone- it’s as if he and Rhys are outcasts on the moon.
Bruce stares at his parents. He stares and stares and stares, as he and horror mingle into one infinite night.
Little Rhys, barely a year old and weighing down Bruce’s arms, sleeps fitfully.
I hope the MC isn’t just some horny guy that was isekai into the DC universe with a system that makes him overpowered in a couple chapters like some other Batman’s younger brother story’s I’ve read. The idea sounds so good as a what if scenario story but I haven’t found any that were done competently and weren’t just another generic isekai that was slightly altered.
let me alleviate your worries:
- no harem. in fact, there won't be romance for most of MC's childhood. i will put a warning about his possible pairing when he hits puberty and starts getting love interests (dating and breaking up). but until then (and even after because that's the main theme of this fic) I'll focus exclusively on Family and Friendship.
- MC won't be OP. in fact, he won't even be fighting. he's a civilian and will stay so. no heroism, no vigilantism, no villainy. he'll have his Epic action moments tho, don't worry, he's not a coward or bland character either.
- I don't read fics outside ao3 so I don't know what goes on in fanfiction here. imma stick to what I know, and most importantly, what I like. I write fanfiction primarily for me. getting to share it and get reviews and likes is just a nice bonus ;)
Meatbun Delivery~
Thank you for the chapter ( ●w●)
Aye yo meatbun your also here what a great luck.
Dc world
Another Bruce Wayne's little brother
I've been working on this fic for six years now. You don't know how disappointed I am to find out someone's already posted a fic with the same premise. I'm mainly on ao3 and dont keep track of fanfiction here so I didn't know. Not that it would've stopped me lmao I love my fic. Was that your constructive criticism? Welp...
@LuceLucky I wasn't criticizing... Perhaps I should've added a ‘yay!’ at the end of my comment Anyway, the point is that I'm looking forward to how this one will go...and not to put too much pressure on you or anything, but I'm expecting big things since this one has been in production for six years...