Two sides of the same coin

Chapter 5 - Comfort

"Alfred?"

Bruce couldn't help the small smile that formed on his face. It really was Alfred.

"Alfred."

He repeated this time with a sigh of relief. After a moment of silence, Selina stepped forward.

"Look, I know you've been through a lot in the past hour but we should really go."

She said, gesturing towards the door. Alfred nodded and began to walk towards the door, pulling Bruce with him. Bruce's eyes drifted down to the floor. He couldn't stop thinking about those videos and from what he assumed was a fake Alfred. His smile faded and the relief he had felt a moment ago faded away with it, being replaced with fear. He let out shaky breaths which only lead to his vision beginning to blur. Bruce felt alone even with Selina and Alfred being there. He was with his family, but he still felt alone. He looked up from the floor towards them, but was met with only those dark hallways of the building he feared when alone.

"Alfred? Selina?"

He called out, but the only reply he received was his voice echoing off the walls. Once the echoes retreated into silence, the only sound that filled the air was his own shaky breaths. Before he could decide what to do, a projector turned on. It projected something on the wall and Bruce walked over to see what it was. It showed the same video of Alfred that he had seen time and time again.

"That's not Alfred. It's not. It's not...."

Bruce could only mumble to himself, it wasn't Alfred. He knew that, at least he thought he did, but it looked just like Alfred. How could it not be Alfred? The same clothes, the same grey hair, and the same brown eyes. It had to be Alfred.

Bruce was put in the same scenario, running through hallways hoping to find Alfred. He didn't know what else to do. After he stopped running, he began hyperventilating. The anxiety and adrenaline running through him. The fear as overwhelming as before. Once again, wishing for some sort of comfort.

'I believe that your demons are particularly similar to my own.'

"Shut up!"

He covered his ears and hunched down close to the floor, believing that it would help despite the obvious fact that it wouldn't solve anything. He had no idea why he kept on thinking of what Jeremiah had said. Those words weren't supposed to be comforting, but they were. He didn't want to be comforted by those words, it was only false security from someone who didn't care for other's well being.

He stood there in the dark, alone while being forced to watch those videos again. Until he began to hear Selina's voice echoing throughout the building.

"Selina...?"

"Bruce....Bruce!"

Bruce's eyes snapped open and immediately took in his surroundings. He was in his car, he wasn't the one driving, Alfred was. It took a while to realize that he was stretched out on the second row of the car. Bruce galnced up towards Selina who was looking at him from the front seat.

"You okay?"

"Ya...how'd we get here?"

She tilted her head and gave him an odd look.

"You mean you don't remember? Alfred called Lucius, lucky us, he managed to find your car and brought it to us so we could get back to the manor."

He looked towards Selina, he didn't remember any of that, the last thing he remembered was standing in an old building with both her and Alfred.

"You really don't remember? You were there with us."

He shook his head, it didn't ring any bells. Unease began to settle in.