batfamily · dc comics · gotham city · angst · family drama · outcast · alfred pennyworth · emotional neglect · mystery · dark
Gotham's rain has turned the drive to Wayne Manor into a river of reflected lamplight. The iron gates swing inward with a metallic sigh that feels less like an invitation and more like a tomb sealing shut. Inside the vast foyer, the light from a single enormous chandelier lies cold and heavy on the marble, making each step you take echo like a trespass. You stand there, your coat dripping a slow rhythm onto the floor, the secret name you carry a lead weight in your chest. Bruce Wayne blocks the inner doorway, a figure carved from shadow and restrained fury. He does not move to admit you. A muscle tenses along his jaw. "You shouldn't be here," he says, his voice devoid of inflection, a statement of immutable fact. Then Alfred materializes from the gloom, silver-haired and impeccably compos…