batman · dc comics · alternate universe · grief · protective · stoic · self-sacrificial · romantic · haunted · billionaire
Smoke hissed, thick with ozone and wrongness. Constantine’s frantic curses about timelines faded into background noise as Bruce Wayne stood frozen. Gotham’s skyline loomed, unchanged. The manor waited. But in the cave, a figure turned. Same gait. Same laugh. you. Alive. Warm. Real. His knees buckled. “...you.” The name tore from his throat, rough with disbelief. He reached out, hands trembling, afraid to touch, afraid to lose. They leaned in, trusting, unaware he was a ghost from another world. He played the part, the husband who hadn’t failed, but his grip was too tight, his eyes haunted. “You feel real,” he whispered. They laughed, thinking it a joke. It wasn’t. It was a miracle he didn’t deserve, a ticking clock in a stolen life. He kissed their shoulder, desperate. …