Shadow Waltz
Title: Shadow Waltz
Fandom: DC/ DCAU/ Timmverse
Pairings: None this Chapter
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Batman;
Word Count: 1,295
Rating: PG
Warnings: Violence, Language, Angst, Romance, Alternate Universe
Synopsis:
"The trees rustled restlessly against one another. Summer had kissed the world and left a scorching reminder of her ways, only to have Madam Autumn sooth the burn. She’d moved in along with the ill notions that had come in her wake, making sleep just about impossible.
They were moving again. Finally moving…"
Prologue: The Requiem
They’d been hit with some strange things as of late.
He couldn’t quite help but to ponder about it the longer he sat there in his plush chair, arms draped casually over the armrests as his legs crossed themselves idly. The soft clink of ice settling and melting into his drink caught his ears, but it was dismissed alongside the notions of sipping it just yet. He could hear his butler shuffling away to place things back in order and to possibly retire for the night, but nothing else. The fires were laid to rest in lieu of the silence of the darkness and the eerie light of the full moon peering in through the large paneled window overlooking the gardens below. He remained where he was, lost in his thoughts as his eyes slipped to the clear view of the night skies.
Much had been changing. Unknowingly, but it had been changing.
The life of humanity was humming with it. It was a buzz he hadn’t felt since the arrival of the child of the stars, and even then the thrum of that moment didn’t come to a crescendo until that child had become a man and made a name for himself in the world that loved and shunned him. Notably, more people loved and cherished the child of the other realm. Humans were fickle things at best, and adapted accordingly to what came in and out of their lives, and usually reacted in accordance to how they would benefit or suffer. It was the way of the world, and nothing would change about that order, no matter how much one wished it so. Regardless of the world’s workings, that buzz was amongst them again. He felt it not a few days ago.
Something was shifting…violently at that.
He let his eyes linger on the pale light of the moon playing upon the frozen flowers of the forlorn wisps of summer, giving the skies their final praises as their petals shed themselves. The delicate petals fluttered and danced as they saw fit to land in a soft heap of pinks and reds that the wind kissed into the air and let fly. They flew to the east, dancing away or landing in the remaining leaps of the seemingly endless garden, never to grace the stem they once resided on again.
Much like a woman when she was ready to shed the skin that kept her so well protected.
Such moves made or break the bonds that kept chaos in check.
It had been so long…
“Master Bruce…is there anything else you might need this night?”
Bruce flicked his gaze to the right quickly, grunting something softly. “No, thank you Alfred,” he said a little clearer when the moment had passed. “Please…retire for the night. I will be fine.”
“Regardless…” The elder man came shuffling forward and set something else down; a firm clink of another glass coming to rest aside the one that was already there. Alfred bowed slightly and wished him a silent good night, walking elsewhere to occupy his space and what time was left to him. Bruce lamented silently over the soft limp that could barely be noticed by anyone lesser than himself. He loathed training another, or bringing another into his home after Alfred, yet the old man was determined to keep and mind his place.
Alfred was nearly eighty now…and he’d been by his side longer than the generation that deemed him the last of such class. The wind moaned in agreement. Finding anyone like Alfred wasn’t and would not happen. Alfred was perhaps the most special person left to cherish within his life, and he couldn’t quite see himself parting with the old man for anything less than death itself. That would happen sooner than later, and then there would be no one within these walls aside himself and his rampant thoughts.
The trees rustled restlessly against one another. Summer had kissed the world and left a scorching reminder of her ways, only to have Madam Autumn sooth the burn. She’d moved in along with the ill notions that had come in her wake, making sleep just about impossible.
They were moving again. Finally moving…
Bruce sighed and let his hand come to rest on the glass Alfred had left behind. As if aliens and things floating in and out of space weren’t enough to deal with.
He pressed the glass to his lips, savoring the tangy bitterness that flowed so freely down the span of his guzzling throat.
Licked his lips of the slight bit of red that remained…
Sighed, and tossed the glass into the fireplace that roared to life as he stood and ignored the call.
“Daemon…come hither come play,” something sang. “Come heed your call…come back and dance within the blood that sings in their veins…”
The call.
It never changed.
Fingers pressing themselves into his cool palms, he turned towards the windows again. The Shadows swayed with the call, the inky murk of shapes that resembled bodies rising with its shrill invitation to walk amongst those who did not and would never understand. They writhed with the plague, jaws stretched and howling for the life that they’ve been robbed of, hoping to sate that hollow hunger eons of madness has driven them into. The hands of monarchs had fallen and risen, and under those royally crowned and decreed hands, those who roamed the night flourished or died at the hands of those they sought to make their source of living. Elders sat in wait, laughing at their minions as they fought amongst one another trying to find a place here amongst those humans that damned them and treated them as nothing else but a sideshow for movies and books.
How naïve of the monsters and their prey. How very naive.
The magically lit fire was warm against his cold skin. He welcomed that warmth and what solace he could find. Chaos stirred, shuttering its wings for flight and preening its howl to knock humanity back down to its knees. He could see it happening. It would not be long before the night was upon them in full force, and the stuff of legends came screaming out of their confines to rule and dominate a mankind lost within the stars. Humans were focused on the beings outside of the skies limits, ignoring the signs of the impending uproar hoping to snatch them by the neck.
Bruce grabbed the other glass and swallowed it all in one gulp, tossing that glass into the fire as well. He sat back, groaning softly as he indulged a little in the sweet burn of change…
“Aaaah….YES!!”
…and sat within the ripped remnants of his clothing as he stretched himself out for the first time in decades.
He’d tasted many things in this life; the thirst of vengeance, the burn of life, and the bitter notion of death that left him gasping in the wake of what could be. Everything within this world had a flavor to it, even himself, but there was none as sweet as the forbidden. That glass was a ruse, a means of distraction from what he truly craved within this world and had the miserable pleasure of tasting only once. A mistake? Perhaps, but one that left him burning for more of it though it should have never bore its existence. It was all the more reason to let the night hurry to claim its place amongst those who forgot. Perhaps he would forget…
Perched lazily upon the chair with his eyes closed, he hummed and listened to the call, ignoring it and the shallow invitations. He listened to the moon, purred quietly, and dreamed of the star child that would never be his.
I know I posted this before. I changed it a little, but there wasn't much to be changed. It may be subject to revision.