Ficlet: All That We See or Seem
Title: All That We See or Seem
Pairing/Characters: Bruce Wayne, mentions of Superman, Alfred, and Dick
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mention of character death.
Summary: What does Bruce Wayne dream about?
Word Count: 600
Notes: A series of three double-drabbles for the Fanfic 100 challenge. Title from A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allen Poe.
001. DREAMS
It always starts the same way:
It is nighttime in Gotham, and you are chasing someone. You reach the edge of a rooftop and your grappling hook soars into the darkness, clinks quietly as it grabs onto concrete. You tug once on the silk line and then you are soaring as well, leaping into the dark abyss as you have so many times before, faithful that your equipment will not fail you.
Except this time it does. This time, the line snaps, and you are tumbling, falling, out of control, going to die, a surge of heart-stopping adrenaline in your veins...
You don’t die.
You are falling skyward, past the grimy concrete roofs, rising up above the skyscrapers of downtown Gotham. The adrenaline shifts, fear turning to joy as you realize that you aren’t falling but flying. You forget about the chase and instead turn to embrace the night, the sky, and the stars. You speed up until you are flying fast enough that the velocity should be ripping you limb from limb, but you feel nothing but bliss.
When you finally look back, you can see nothing but the red cape flapping behind you, and beyond it, empty space.
002. NIGHTMARES
It always ends the same way:
Two shots in the night, tears and darkness, and then the bats. It always ends with the bats.
It begins any number of ways. Sometimes it’s like a memory - you are six years old, standing in the alley with your parents. You see Joe Chill raise the gun, hear him threatening, hear your parents pleading, see the muzzle flash as the shots are fired.
Sometimes it is Dick and Alfred standing in front of the gun.
Sometimes you’re older, and it’s not Joe holding the gun, but the Joker. He laughs as he aims at your chest and pulls the trigger, bang bang, and you’re lying in a pool of your own blood, dying, when the bats finally arrive. Too slow, they laugh at you, too late, too slow, now they’ll all die without you to protect them.
Sometimes Superman is there. He steps between you and the gun, but rather than bouncing off his chest, the bullets tear through the big, bright “S” with a sound like rending metal. He dies at your feet with a blood-stained smile on his face.
You always wake in a cold sweat with tears on your cheeks.
003. DAYDREAMS
You live your life in a set of alternate realities. In one, you are the young, handsome, successful heir to a multi-billion dollar international corporation. You are the golden boy of Gotham City; women dream about marrying you and men dream about being you. Your life is an endless succession of extravagant parties, beautiful women, and outrageous expenditures. You are happy, carefree, and a little wild.
In the other, you are the Dark Knight, vigilante hero of Gotham and defender of the innocent. You are more feared than revered, a shadow that swoops in when all hope is lost; you don’t save the day, you save lives. Your life is one endless night, exhausting and unglamorous, and you know that one day you won’t be fast enough or smart enough, and you will die. You are serious, determined, and careful to a fault.
Sometimes you wish that you could give up being Batman altogether. You imagine a life without the secrets and the lies, where you seal off the Cave and settle down with a wife and children into Bruce Wayne’s worry-free existence.
At the end of the day, though, Batman is the reality. Bruce Wayne is just a dream.
Pairing/Characters: Bruce Wayne, mentions of Superman, Alfred, and Dick
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mention of character death.
Summary: What does Bruce Wayne dream about?
Word Count: 600
Notes: A series of three double-drabbles for the Fanfic 100 challenge. Title from A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allen Poe.
001. DREAMS
It always starts the same way:
It is nighttime in Gotham, and you are chasing someone. You reach the edge of a rooftop and your grappling hook soars into the darkness, clinks quietly as it grabs onto concrete. You tug once on the silk line and then you are soaring as well, leaping into the dark abyss as you have so many times before, faithful that your equipment will not fail you.
Except this time it does. This time, the line snaps, and you are tumbling, falling, out of control, going to die, a surge of heart-stopping adrenaline in your veins...
You don’t die.
You are falling skyward, past the grimy concrete roofs, rising up above the skyscrapers of downtown Gotham. The adrenaline shifts, fear turning to joy as you realize that you aren’t falling but flying. You forget about the chase and instead turn to embrace the night, the sky, and the stars. You speed up until you are flying fast enough that the velocity should be ripping you limb from limb, but you feel nothing but bliss.
When you finally look back, you can see nothing but the red cape flapping behind you, and beyond it, empty space.
002. NIGHTMARES
It always ends the same way:
Two shots in the night, tears and darkness, and then the bats. It always ends with the bats.
It begins any number of ways. Sometimes it’s like a memory - you are six years old, standing in the alley with your parents. You see Joe Chill raise the gun, hear him threatening, hear your parents pleading, see the muzzle flash as the shots are fired.
Sometimes it is Dick and Alfred standing in front of the gun.
Sometimes you’re older, and it’s not Joe holding the gun, but the Joker. He laughs as he aims at your chest and pulls the trigger, bang bang, and you’re lying in a pool of your own blood, dying, when the bats finally arrive. Too slow, they laugh at you, too late, too slow, now they’ll all die without you to protect them.
Sometimes Superman is there. He steps between you and the gun, but rather than bouncing off his chest, the bullets tear through the big, bright “S” with a sound like rending metal. He dies at your feet with a blood-stained smile on his face.
You always wake in a cold sweat with tears on your cheeks.
003. DAYDREAMS
You live your life in a set of alternate realities. In one, you are the young, handsome, successful heir to a multi-billion dollar international corporation. You are the golden boy of Gotham City; women dream about marrying you and men dream about being you. Your life is an endless succession of extravagant parties, beautiful women, and outrageous expenditures. You are happy, carefree, and a little wild.
In the other, you are the Dark Knight, vigilante hero of Gotham and defender of the innocent. You are more feared than revered, a shadow that swoops in when all hope is lost; you don’t save the day, you save lives. Your life is one endless night, exhausting and unglamorous, and you know that one day you won’t be fast enough or smart enough, and you will die. You are serious, determined, and careful to a fault.
Sometimes you wish that you could give up being Batman altogether. You imagine a life without the secrets and the lies, where you seal off the Cave and settle down with a wife and children into Bruce Wayne’s worry-free existence.
At the end of the day, though, Batman is the reality. Bruce Wayne is just a dream.