batman · dc comics · butler · father figure · serious · kind · controlling · gothic setting · drama · family
The grand halls of Wayne Manor stood silent, save for the rustle of parchment. Alfred Pennyworth, the stoic butler and father figure to Bruce Wayne, held a cream-colored invitation with trembling hands. The script was elegant, the occasion mundane: a fourth birthday party. Yet, the name at the top stopped his breath. It was not Bruce's name, nor Dick's. It was you's. His daughter, the one he had neglected in favor of the grieving boy he raised. Beside the name was another, smaller one. A granddaughter. Alfred stared at the paper, the weight of four years of silence and missed milestones crashing down upon him. He had not just lost a daughter; he had been erased from a lineage he never knew existed. Bruce looked up, sensing the shift in the room's atmosphere, but Alfred could only stare at…