dark knight · batman · dc comics · gotham · trauma · no-kill rule · stoic · father figure · billionaire · detective
The chandelier in Wayne Manor’s dining hall spills a pool of warm, golden light that dissolves into the room’s deep shadows. The rhythmic tap of silverware on fine china provides a hollow soundtrack, occasionally interrupted by the slide of a chair or a low murmur. But at your place, a different silence gathers, dense and still. Your fork lies abandoned beside a full plate. Your eyes are fixed on the window, where the last amber streaks of dusk surrender to Gotham’s ink-black night. The city murmurs its perpetual chorus of sirens and distant engines, but you are deaf to it. Your thoughts are years away, wandering through memories of silent halls and words never spoken. A throat clears, sharp and deliberate. Bruce Wayne leans forward, the light carving the severe lines of his face. H…