97 Chapter 97: A Bat Hidden Within (2)
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"Learn to treasure your life because unfortunately, it can be taken away from you anytime."
- L Lawliet, (Death Note)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
"You think that 'he' fooled me, don't you?" Old Bruce stared at me with a deadpan.
"Maybe, maybe not... What did he promise you by the way? Was it your parents or maybe a new life?" I asked looking at the face of 'my younger version' who was expressionlessly staring back at me.
"My parents...? Yes, I admit that I really wanted to meet them again, save them, and hug them one last time. But no, that was not my biggest wish. That night, when my parents died and I was lying down there while bleeding out, the thing I was the most worried about was the city and the hundreds of kids like me who were losing their parents every day because of its corruption. I wanted to save myself, my parents, and every other victim of this cursed city, to help the world. To bring change was my biggest wish. And that being listened to me.
He told me of a possible dark future and showed me what I was supposed to be as well as what the world would be like without Batman. It wasn't pretty..."
"And you chose to just sacrifice your life after that? For what? A more mentally balanced Batman?" I asked, confused at the self-sacrifice bullshit the kid was spewing from his mouth.
"No, I sacrificed myself for a much better version of... me. You are supposed to be the best of us, the best Bruce Wayne, and maybe even the best Dark Knight. And no, I didn't just sacrifice my life for it, I sacrificed my soul. You see, as my father used to say, everything has a price. I was always fated to die there, no matter what but you weren't supposed to inherit my body. It was 'he' who changed that and gave me a choice. I could just peacefully pass on and maybe even reunite with my parents in the afterlife or... he could bring YOU into this world inside my body and my soul would be used as the required energy, anchor, and fortification that your spirit would need to survive. I would completely fade away with time but a better version of me would be born." Young Bruce revealed.
The world flickered and the scenery around us changed with his words as we found ourselves back in the dark alley where the original Bruce Wayne and his parents were shot that night. In front of us were the cold hard dead bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne who looked like they were trying to protect a slowly bleeding out kid Bruce Wayne with their bodies even in their last breath.
"And let me guess, you chose the second option?" I asked as I looked at the crying face of the dying Bruce Wayne, his eyes slowly losing color in despair and yet holding what looked like a faint trace of hope.
"Yes. And judging by your actions using my body with the little snippets of memories I was able to view, I don't regret it. My one life will now be able to save so many others. 'He' was right. You are much more than I ever could be. Every Bruce Wayne is broken in some way. Maybe you are too but you have the potential to be better than all of us. You are not what this world wants but what it needs." Young Bruce for the first time showed a small smile at me after he kneeled in front of his and his parents' dead bodies.
"So, this was never my isekai. It was yours. I was transmigrated in your body because YOU wished for it from some omnipotent entity who took notice of your dying. Hahahahaha. *Sigh* My wish to become the best Batman of all time, was that even my own wish, or was that too just the remnants of your desire affecting me?" I muttered, wondering if I had been manipulated in my second life from the very moment I was born.
"... Truthfully, I don't know because that was indeed my last wish. But I swear that I had never even tried to affect you in any way, I simply couldn't. The moment you took over my body, my soul was broken down and used to heal and augment your soul while the rest of it was brought up as shields around your spirit to hide you from the sights of all the cosmic entities of the world. To everyone else in this multiverse, including even beings like Death you are me, the original Bruce Wayne, only a little different.
'He' assured, me that only the most powerful entities of this multiverse can even hope to recognize you but fortunately for us, those beings don't normally interfere with the mortal world too much and most probably won't care about you unless you do something extremely major to attract their attention. And as for me, I already told you before. I am just the last dregs of the old Bruce's sense of self that was left here for you to 'clear things up'. In fact, I am growing weaker as we speak and soon I will disappear too. So, we don't really have much time." Young Bruce explained.
"I see. I guess I'll believe you for now." I didn't. I was going to run thorough scans the moment I returned to the physical world to make sure that I was completely ME and only me, but of course, I didn't need to say it aloud. "And sure, I will do my best to protect Gotham and our world. After all, I am one of the idiots living in it. And I also have people I care for, like Selina, Vicki, Nyssa, Zatanna..., Alfred, and maybe even that idiot Deathstroke." I admitted, immediately promising myself that I was never going to admit this aloud in front of anyone else ever again.
"I know you are going to. Thank you for that. Any other questions for me before I go? Oh and sorry for making you transmigrate as the guy who was indirectly the cause of your death. The man who heard my wish had a funny sense of humor."
"It's okay man. You don't need to blame yourself for that, it wasn't your fault. You suffered enough and your sacrifice is... too big for me to even imagine. But I have some things to ask you before you go. You might have found out by now that your... our father made some mistakes in his life. But if I reveal those mistakes, the rest of the world can twist them around to use them to fling mud at his image. So, do I.."
"It's your choice. I am not the real Bruce anymore. You are. Even my parents' spirits will never know what truly happened to me that night. YOU are their son now. YOU are Bruce Wayne and what you want to do with that information you found is YOUR choice. I know that whatever you choose, it will be the right pick." Small boy Bruce answered as he got up from his kneeling position and directly faced me.
"I see. That brings me to the second question. Tell me, Bruce, if you could, would you try to bring back your parents...? Would you raise them back from the dead or alter the timeline to do so, even if it could cause harm to the entire world?" I asked with a serious face.
"You already know the answer to that question, don't you? We cannot stick to the past. We need to move on for this beautiful world to continue, even if it sometimes hurts us." He answered with a bitter smile.
"And what about your life? Would you want it back if you could have it? If you could somehow change the past without upsetting the balance, to redo things differently this time?" I asked the final question that was in my mind.
"Maybe. Who doesn't want to live a longer and happier life? I would love to experience everything that I couldn't in my lifetime... But the choices I made, the actions I took, they were all mine and I own up to them. You can learn from all the mistakes I made or would have made, you can do all the things that I couldn't, and you can be everything that I wasn't. I believe in you Bruce and this life is yours now. Everything I was, everything I had been, everything I could be, everything I had, and everything I would have had, they are all yours. My parents' memories, my money, my amazing butler... even the girlfriends that I would have made in the future, I am leaving them all for you." He said with a chuckle.
"Plus, the man told me that the death of me and my parents can no longer be changed by anyone. It's a fixed point in time, a nexus event that will happen no matter what. You will always exist and I will always die, no one can change that. That was the price that I am going to pay to achieve what I truly desire." Young Bruce Wayne clarified.
"Ohh... that makes sense," I muttered to myself, feeling bad for him. He was just a kid who was forced to mature after his death to make a hard choice. He deserved better than this.
"Anyway, it's time for me to disappear, this time permanently from your life... Take care of yourself and try to have a good life. You deserve it. Bye... Bruce." The young version of me said as he offered his hand for a handshake, his body slowly becoming transparent like he was fading from this world.
"... Bye to you too, Bruce." I grabbed his slowly disappearing hand and shook it as a warm feeling began to creep up my arm from where our hands touched and spread through my entire body.
Immediately the world flickered again and I found myself back at the mansion, this time in the library as shelves of newly stocked books began to appear in front of me. The books contained the memories of the original Bruce Wayne. These foreign memories that were not mine began to slowly flow into my head like a gentle stream of water as I finally understood how much of a hero and good guy the kid Bruce truly was. He was telling the truth. Even at that age, he had chosen selflessly and had made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up his entire soul for the good of the world.
'You were wrong. I can never be as good as you Bruce. I am selfish and I will probably never sacrifice my entire existence like you did. I will never be a hero like you... But, I will create a better world than you, that I promise.' I mentally promised while I went through all of the new memories and feelings I received as for the first time since arriving in this world, I found myself shedding a tear from my eyes.
But again this is my mental space, so this doesn't count. It's just my mental sweat.
Also, I received no memories of Bruce's interaction with that being he mentioned. According to his memories, he just got hit by the bullet and died. It was like some amount of footage was missing from his memories like someone had deliberately cut that part out.
Still, a DC universe without Batman with all of his villains and other heroes still existing, huh? Sounds like a true nightmare.
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<(Omniscient POV) >
"Have you figured out what caused this, Destiny? This is not supposed to happen. We need answers." A pale man wearing a dark coat asked as he stood inside a giant library beside a hooded man wearing shabby robes with a large thick book in his hands.
"No, unfortunately, I still haven't, Morpheus. The destiny of this particular universe is not constant. It's changing. It doesn't have a fixed destiny... at least not one that stays on for long." The robed man named Destiny calmly answered as he turned some of the pages in his book, looking like he was trying to read something.
"Then maybe Death might know something. All human souls of the Multiverse ultimately go to her after all, no matter the universe. But again, she has been too silent for the last few years. She even barely shows her face at our gatherings anymore, much less meets any of us personally. It's like she is avoiding us... For now, let's keep this thing to ourselves. I don't want Desire or Despair trying to 'play' with this world because they find it fascinating." Morpheus, aka, Dream replied while sighing.
"Yes, I agree too. This situation is too delicate for our siblings to interfere in. We don't know if this might cause any long-lasting effects on the greater multiverse. The balance is too delicate to cause any disturbance right now." Destiny nodded, agreeing with his younger brother.
"That is why I am so worried. We need to stop this. Whatever this is happening is not supposed to happen. That world was just a story among the infinite stories in Lucien's library that was never supposed to come to life. It is a putrid nightmare world that shouldn't exist. No, even if it does exist, it should remain in the Dark Multiverse where it belongs. But what I don't understand is which powerful being is crazy enough to rip out an entire universe from the Dark Multiverse without caring about the consequences?" Morpheus wondered aloud as the two brothers of the Endless looked outside through one of the library windows.
Outside the window, a ball of light which was supposed to be a single universe was visible. It was protected by some kind of powerful barrier and was located at the very edge between the Light and Dark Multiverses. It was in a dangerous position and was almost at the nexus of the two, barring entry to both sections of the multiverse.
The universe might not have a gateway to other universes of either of the two Multiverses right now, but one wrong step and everything would be over. A single crack in between this and the Dark Multiverse would be all it takes for the Darkness to come rolling in and completely take back what always belonged to it. One mistake would doom the universe back to its original home, the Dark Multiverse.
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