Fic: Legacy

[dragonbat2006]

Fandom: Batman
Rating: G
Characters: Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne
Words: 366
Summary: On the first Halloween since the Wayne murders, Alfred has an unpleasant task awaiting him.
Genre: Angst
Warnings: None

For: ladyoneill's request in the Halloween Goodies meme

Legacy

Alfred knocks on the bedroom door. “Master Bruce?” he ventures. “Are you quite certain?”

The boy is lying on his bed, still wearing his private school uniform, staring at the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. “I’m too old for candy this year, Alfred,” he says flatly.

Alfred sighs. “Very good, sir.”

It should be very good. Last year, he’d had to ration the candy and hide his annoyance when he’d spied Master Wayne slipping his son an extra treat when he thought the butler’s back was turned. In some ways, he’d thought with a measure of exasperation, Thomas Wayne could be as much a child as his young son. And now, Alfred would give anything to have last year back.

With a sigh, he goes up to the attic. He’s not given as much to brooding as the young master. Thankfully. Still, there are times when his memories get the best of him. He pushes back the lid of one of the trunks, not certain what he’ll find inside. When he’d begun to pack away Thomas and Martha’s things, he’d fully intended to inventory each item, indexing to a master list for easy location and retrieval, but it would have taken too long and Bruce had needed him, and compiling such lists so soon after the funerals would have bordered on the callous. Well. There is time to begin that onerous task now, he supposes.

He recognizes the first item he lifts out at once. A gray form-fitting costume, neatly folded. And directly beneath it are blue trunks, and a matching cowl with an attached cape, scalloped to resemble bat-wings. Thomas Wayne wore the outfit a year ago today to a Halloween costume ball.

Alfred reaches for the clipboard and pen that he’s brought with him and dutifully makes the record. “One Bat-Man costume,” he says aloud. For a moment, he wonders whether it should be kept. Bruce only saw it the one time, after all, and it’s doubtful he’ll ever wear anything like it again. Still, the costume was his father’s and legacies ought to be preserved.

He sets the costume down on the floor and reaches into the trunk for the next item.