An Army of Peculiar (Gotham/Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children AU)

Chapter 1

Bruce had never known a day when he did not believe in the stories Alfred put him to bed with each night. They were wonderful stories of daring escapades made by children that could do things he had only ever dreamed of, things of his fantasies. There were always pictures too, and he could name them all on sight. The pictures were old and fragile with time, but Bruce loved them dearly for they belonged to Alfred and Bruce was left in charge of them; he kept them in a locked box under his bed.

Full of energy, the dark haired, blue eyed boy could often be found racing through the halls pretending he could do things he really could not.

His parents never stayed to listen to the stories as they had never seen those special people, nor did they have any such abilities, but they never refuted the tales. They smiled indulgently and allowed Bruce to pretend he could lift the furniture over his head.

The servants scoffed at the stories Bruce enthusiastically recounted, but they also never tried in earnest to sway him from his hero worship. Comments were made about keeping his feet on the ground rather than his head in the clouds, but Bruce had been too young to understand metaphoric speech at the time.

Alfred Pennyworth, a tall, trim, strong man with pepper colored hair came to visit with the Wayne family at least once a year, but usually more, bringing with him stories of his travels and battles with great monsters as well as descriptions of whole schools of extraordinary children. He encouraged Bruce to let his imagination run away with him and never seemed to tire of their games. Other than his parents, there was no one in the world Bruce thought more of than Alfred.

Once that Bruce recalled, Thomas Wayne even played along with the games, pointing out a grey hawk that was watching them from high up in a tree, "Do you suppose that's Mr. Goshawk, Bruce? He seems very keen on you." Bruce called out to him and it was them that the great creature took to the sky, circled them a few times from up high, tipped his wings at them, and flew away.

Bruce believed in things that others considered impossible, even before his parent's death. After that, he believed in things no one else could see. He believed in monsters even though the school psychiatrist, Lee Thompkins, assured him again and again that he was simply "projecting"; that the man he had seen was only a monster in his mind because he had been frightened. Monsters were a figment of the mind even though people could do monstrous things. At ten years of age, Bruce only moderately believed her.

He hardly remembered that night as anything more than a blur. He remembered their deaths with terrible clarity but the rest, running, hiding, that was all a blur. He remembered the man that found him huddled up behind a stairwell; he remembered his calming voice, the way he treated him so gently like Bruce was fragile. There was something familiar about the man that stayed by his side, whispering words of hope and wrapping his small body in a huge coat.

Once Bruce was home, being fussed over by the staff, the grey coat still coiled about him, he realized he never told him thanks of any kind. He hoped the nameless man knew how grateful he was for the kindness he showed to a lost, frightened boy.

The world moved on from that horrific night but Bruce doubted very much if he really would. He thought perhaps he would always be in that alleyway, or at least a part of him. He hung the coat in his own closet, hoping to one day find out who it belonged to and return it with his formerly silent gratitude.

Interestingly enough, there were a great many more birds that took to flying over the mansion after his parent's death. They flew about, perched in windows, and seemed to be watching over him. There were all manner of them, some birds of prey and some of the smaller, more docile birds as well. That grey hawk made several more appearances, Bruce noticed. Whether they were part of his stories come to life or not, Bruce took comfort in them all the same.