Copper Heart Mechanisms

Honour Thy Father

Slade didn't want to do it, but he knew that denying the right was wrong. Robin had every right to see his own father. Even love couldn't justify this. The man carried the immobile boy to the stalls where he had his father held for imprisonment . The years had been unkind, his eyes were bagged and his face was...it looked broken.

Robin had to take a few moments before he could look back at the father he'd once known so well. This was nothing more than a cracked shell. A ghost or a hallucination of the older man. Breathing softly, the boy walked forwards.

"Father?"

He called out , the older man snapped his head up and a look of shock was worn on his tattered features. Bruce tried to reach to touch his sons face but his shackle held him back from doing so. Slade was trying not to lash out, he had to remind himself subconsciously that this was for the boy. Not for himself.

Bruce looked up once more and began to speak to his son. The mans voice was drained beyond the maximum limit, his sentence was cut in half due to extreme begging from Robin.

"I can't believe, how big you've gotten....seems like only yesterday, that you were born and scared to leave my side....I can't believe...the man you've became."

He replied softly, Robin stopped and then looked at his father hard. Why had things turned out this way? What course in life would this equal? It made him feel so angry , so angry that his father was this way, so angry that his life had spirally collapsed. It was just not fair at all.

"Why did you try to kill the king."

Robin asked , this had also made him annoyed. The king had been tormented for most of his life after the death of his wife and the kidnapping of his son Grant, so why did people wish him more anguish?

"He took you and he murdered your mother right before your eyes, he assaulted you and I could do nothing at all. Nothing.. I felt so powerless....I did what every father would do. I fought for my child...the king had wrecked many lives ... I couldn't watch him wreck yours."

At hearing these words, the king felt the metallic clash of guilt strike him hard, he had hurt the boy for no reason other than to fill the void in his soul, to try and black out the love he'd once had... He just wanted to be a blank slate...nothing could hurt him, if he blocked out the emotion.

The young boy took some breaths to steady himself before he started again, he'd known that the king done so much bad in his life. It was not his fault, he'd had all good stripped away from him in a flash, his heart clamped over in fear and he ruled with it. If his life hadn't of taken that turn, he may have remained a good hearted king.

"There's something, I never told you about..."

Bruce admitted lowly as he turned his head, the shame in his eyes causing them to well up with tears. Slade knew what he was going to say and frowned at the other male with great intensity. This would ruin everything, but the world was in ruins already so it really never mattered. But the betrayal was showing in Bruce's eyes.

"What is it father?"

Robin asked confused, the way that his father had worded his sentence had made him feel scared and uneasy. What could his father had done to make the king hate him so much? Bruce raised his head to stare at the boy solemnly.

"Years before you were thought of, Slade and I were like brothers. We done everything together and we always swore to stay by one another. That was until the day a girl was brought to our village , she was so amazing...that girl, was your mother. I fell hard but your mother loved Slade...so one night, in a fit of jealous rage. I....I done something unbearable....something I never forgave myself for. I hypnotised her and we had sex, she left Slade for me...I could have woken her....but I never... It was not until I left that I began to wellow in grief. I plotted to break the trance when I'd retuned home....I caused her to hate Slade...all from my own selfishness...."