DC: I am Bruce Wayne

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.