Bruce Wayne was the King of Gotham. His subjects adored him, praised him, but there were a selective few who believed he was unfit for the crown. They believed he lacked a sort of compassion that one would acquire from the love of their parents, but Bruce became the sole heir of the kingdom of Gotham as a young lad due to a staged uprising against the Royal Wayne family. Young Bruce was unharmed, through the guidance and protection of his butler Alfred Pennyworth of England, the heir lived to rule the kingdom.

It wasn't until King Bruce adopted a young heir from the once notorious and revered Grayson household that many of the doubts began to disappear.

The king preferred to have the young heir with him at all times, usually only allowing a young lady from the Gordon household to be friends with his son.

However, the maiden by the name of Lady Barbara seemed to have caught the eye of his son. Her radiant smile brought warmth to the once empty castle.

It was then that King Bruce felt the need to show his heir what he would inherit after his time as king passed on to him.

"Richard, my son, I want you to look out into the kingdom and tell me what you see." Bruce instructed him.

A pair of blue eyes scanned the kingdom before replying, "It's shadows, Father. Our kingdom is shrouded by shadows."

Bruce smiled, "Now tell me, do the shadows frighten you?"

Richard shook his head, "Of course not Father, if I was afraid then I would not be fit to be your successor."

"Very well." Bruce knelt down to be eye-level to his heir. "Richard I want you to look at those shadows. Everything those shadows touch will one day be yours and yours alone." Bruce was about to continue when his son stopped him.

"What about that sunny patch over there Father?"

Bruce frowned, "That's Metropolis, my son. You must never go there. Only foul beings such as Prince Clark lurk there. Only losers live over there." He stated before he continued his lecture, to which the boy was very interested in, but he couldn't help but wonder what had happened between the two kingdoms if they were on such bad terms.

Richard snapped out of his musings as his father began to tell him of the arranged marriage between him and another royal child.

One of my dearest friends showed me a head-cannon which led to this being born. I'm glad that I was able to mess around with Bruce's and Dick's relationship, it's extremely amusing.

The picture above is the head-cannon my friend sent to me. She's obviously a fangirl much like me, to which I can't blame her. There's so many takes to the DC universe it's infinite!