Chapter Text
Clark and the other members out on this mission to break down meteors headed towards earth came into the mess hall of the javelin. Clark's ears were always good, always disecting thousands of sounds hitting him from all over but in this moment he heard no chewing, no hums of electricity working throughout the station, he did not hear the conversations amongst his peers. The only sound that existed was the voice of the news anchor coming from one of the T.Vs. "Comissioner Gordon has confirmed that the body recovered from the Gotham city water waste treatment plant was in fact that of Gotham's dark knight, Batman."
Clark continued to listen as he made his way to the hatch of the satellite. "The body has not yet been released and the commissioner states he will not be divulging the identity of the caped crusader at this time but the family has been contaced."
'The boys.' Clark dialed up the manor as he waited impatiently for the bay doors to open.
"Wayne residence we don't want any and you can't have any." That was Jason, he sounded . . . His normal level of abrasive but Jason was excellent at burying his pain, he'd learned that from Bruce.
"It's Clark. I'll be there in under five minutes. How is everyone holding up? Do we know who-"
"Shit Kent, fuck werent you . . . You can't come here."
"What do you mean I can't come there? Bruce is . . . There is nowhere else I need to be more Jason." The fact that he wasn't there with them this very second was maddening.
"We're . . . See the thing of it is, it's complicated Supes."
"I . . . Know that. We'll . . ." Get through it? Was that the right answer? Bruce would have the right words he always knew exactly the right thing to say.
"We'll talk about it when I get there. The doors are opening now. I-"
"Stay the fuck there. You're not invited ok?"
"Invited?" This wasn't a God damn tea party Bruce was dead. Where wasn't Clark invited? The manor? The funeral? Earth? Clark didn't need to breathe which was great because inhale as he tried nothing was getting in.
The doors to the hatch were fully open. Clark was fighting against the vacuum of space but that phased him not at all. He stared into the void and felt cold, felt overwhelmed and already a drift. Where did he go? He wasn't invited home. He glanced back into the ship. Was he expected to go back in and just try to . . . Go on living as if nothing happened.
"Yeah it's nothing personal supes. It's just a family thing you get it right?" Jason was still on the other end of the comm.
"Yes." Clark replied numbly. Because he did get it, a family thing and Clark was a house guest not a family member. "Still don't hesitate to call if you need anything at all ok? I will drop everything to be there I mean it."
"Clark, man . . . Give it . . . Things will make sense soon. Just be ok yeah?"
"Yes." Clark hung up.
Clark floated into space for a bit and then he screamed. So loud that the satellite shook, he noticed a familiar green orb circle round the station. Was he not invited there either? Was he really and truly alone? He was so angry. He wanted to break something. Honestly maybe a small part of him wanted to kill something. No he never wanted to kill anything. He needed to calm down. He needed to control himself. He needed the universe to be so much smaller than it was.
Bruce used to do that for him. Make the world and all It's outside influences dissappear. Let Clark feel bound up and compact, let there just be singular space he occupied instead of getting stimuli from every available source. But Bruce was gone, it was just him. How did he get calm? He got calm before Bruce came along didn't he? But he'd never been this upset before. He'd never felt this alone.
'I need somewhere small.' Clark couldn't go back to the station. He didn't want to talk to anyone and if the green lantern shield was any indication the collective agreed a break was in order. Clark started off in search of somewhere to escape the tangible, escape, reality. He couldn't take how large and overwhelming everything was. He needed it all to just stop for a bit. He needed everything to go away.
A sad smile hit his face he knew where to go, he knew where to hide from everything Bruce had told him, Bruce had promised to take him there one day.
'You asked if I could move anywhere outside of Gotham, that's where.' Clark had meant Hawaii or Naples or something . . . Normal but he had asked Bruce so he wasn't all surprised when he got a batty answer.
'OK. Why there?'
'It has a impressively low geometric albedo.'
'There's an easier way to say that and You're just showing off.' Clark had caught him Bruce had grinned.
'They say it's darker than coal there, just true dark.'
'A place made of shadows, you would love it.' Clark tried to picture it, that wasn't hard, he just closed his eyes.
'I'd take you with me Clark. It would be . . . Relaxing for you. It's not as cold as you would think quite warm really. The gravity there, it's heavy and it's quiet there. I think I'll make a place for us there. I think that's where we'll go when it's all too much and we need to get away.'
'How far away is it from gotham again?'
'750 light years? Give or take.'
'So you'll never really go there?'
'No but it's a nice thought huh?'
Bruce would never go there but Clark could, Clark would and he'd stay there till anything made sense. Maybe he'd stay there in the dark till he disappeared.
There was a funeral for Batman. Superman was not in attendance. In fact no one knew where he was. He had disappeared, a fact Bruce was not informed of until after he crashed said funeral.