Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to DC Comics.

This was a request from a reviewer, hope ya like it!


-In front of Gotham City Hall

Batman dodges an armor piercing round and throws a batarang at Deathstroke. The mercenary deflects it with his sniper rifle and takes a second shot, hitting the Dark Knight in the shoulder. The cape-clad man grunts and grits his teeth, enduring the sharp sting of pain as he runs toward Slade. He knew that with the sniper rifle in his hands, Deathstroke would kill him with so much distance between them. Slade's eye narrows, seeing through Batman's plan and he climbs up a wall swiftly. He reaches the top just as the caped crusader reaches the base of the wall, hesitating to steady himself. The world was spinning and his head ached painfully, a result of Poison Ivy's toxin that still ran through his veins. Slade Wilson notices a chance to strike and quickly acts on it. 'I have a 75% chance of success in achieving a fatal head shot' Deathstroke thinks to himself as he aims straight down and fires.

-Two miles away

Superman curses himself as he flies as fast as he could towards the Gotham Town Hall, where the mayor was almost assassinated…Again and of course, Batman went there as fast as his wings could carry him to save the day. Batman, the love of his possibly eternal existence, was too damn proud to ask for help when he needed it. It was only last week that Ivy managed to poison him and he had still not fully recovered. There was no way he could take on Deathstroke alone.
Clark's supersonic hearing catches a single gunshot from a sniper rifle, a choked cry of pain, and the splattering of blood. His eyes widen in fear as he finally reaches the Town Hall only to see Batman fall to his knees, blood spurting from his jugular.

"NO!" Superman yells in anguish as he catches Bruce before he crumpled to the ground and held him in his arms. Deathstroke was long gone, knowing that as good of a mercenary as he was, he was no match for an angry Kryptonian, especially without any Kryptonite on him.

"Bruce? Bruce, can you hear me?" Clark asks desperately, covering the wound on his neck with his hand.

"I'm...Sorry. Stupid mistake..." Batman whispers hoarsely, his vision blurring Superman into a blob of red and blue.

"Your jugular was sliced open by the bullet, I need to cauterize the wound with my heat vision or you're going to die" Superman says gravely, his hands trembling and his breath quickened. The Dark Knight only gives him a slight nod, too weak to speak. Clark Kent takes a deep breath as he removes his hand and begins to burn the wound closed with his heat vision. Batman feels the heat and a slight burning sensation but he was numbed by the blood loss and the cold hands of death slowly pulled at him, beckoning him into the next world and the promise of eternal sleep. Bruce whispers Clark's name as the blurred world darkens into a black silence, broken only once by Clark's mournful cry.

-Three weeks later

Awareness finally reaches the mind of Bruce Wayne and with awareness came the dull knife of pain. Batman's mouth was dry and he knew from the smell and the familiar feel of the sheets that he was in his room and lying on his bed but the slight odor of cleaning products was alarming, as was the sharp beeping in the background. Then, it dawns on him. He was shot once in the shoulder and he was clipped in the neck. His jugular was sliced clean open. He was so close to bleeding to death but Clark Kent, his lover, had saved his life. He was so foolish and so very lucky.

'Now, time to wake up, Bruce' Batman tells himself as he forces his blue eyes to open. The familiar white ceiling greets him and the pain intensifies as he shifts slightly. "Ow..." His voice was pathetically weak and hoarse.

"Bruce...?" An apprehensive yet familiar voice questions from his right. He ever so slowly turns his head, ignoring the sharp twinges of pain to face his lover, Clark Kent. The man looked so unkept and sad that it nearly tore Bruce's heart in two. He was unshaven, his hair was messy, his eyes were reddened and wet with tears and under them were grayish purple bags, a testament to his lack of sleep. "Oh, thank God, Bruce" Clark nearly sobs, barely managing to keep himself together as he hugs Bruce as gently as he could. Bruce wraps his uninjured arm around the Kryptonian's body, blaming himself for every last hiccup and tremble that he felt. "Three weeks...Three weeks I waited when everyone said you were...You were..."

"Gone" Bruce finishes, gently rubbing his back.

"You have to stop this, Bruce. I can't take it" Clark whispers into his ear, voice trembling.

Batman sighs and frowns. "Clark, I'm going to be fi-" Bruce starts.

"No! You don't understand!" Superman says angrily, stepping back and glaring at Bruce Wayne. "You're just an ordinary man! You're pushing fifty for Christ's sakes! There is no reason why you should still be out there-"

"No reason? No reason! Have you looked around Gotham? Are you blind? Gotham needs Batman! I can't just quit!" Bruce growls, his eyes narrowing at the Kryptonian before him.

"You have no powers, Bruce. Besides, you have Richard and Tim, tell them to take over. Isn't that why you trained them?" Clark asks as his anger continues to rise at what he perceived as the Batman stubbornness coming through.

"Dick has Bludhaven to take care of and Tim is just not ready. My hands are tied. And what does my lack of supernatural abilities have to do with this? Are you suggesting that I'm inferior to you? The last time I checked, Deathstroke was a normal human. Besides, your arch enemy is human as well and has beaten you with nothing but a glowing green rock" Bruce says coldly, his hands clenching into fists.

"What? No! I'm not saying you're inferior! It's just that to be a vigilante in Gotham, powers are almost a necessity. Even Bane has his Venom! And my weakness to Kryptonite has nothing to do with this!" Clark snarls, clenching his teeth.

"I think it has a lot to do with this. You are calling me weak when I've saved your sorry ass on more than one occasion, Superman" Bruce says mockingly, enraged by the mere suggestion that he was not an adequate fighter because he was normal.

"That's tough talk coming from a man who nearly died three weeks ago and lives thanks to my 'sorry ass'"

"I would've been just fine without your help! In fact, I never asked for it!"

"You never do! Why can't you trust anyone? Why can't you trust me! That damn pride of yours is going to kill you like it killed Jason!" Clark yells before he could stop himself.

Bruce's eyes widen slightly, pain flashing in his blue orbs as he goes quiet with shock.

"Oh, God...Bruce, I didn't mean-"

"Get out" The injured man whispers; hands clenched so tightly that knuckled turned white.

"Bruce, Please, I'm so-"

"I said, GET OUT! I never want to see you in my house again, alien!" Bruce yells, knowing that calling Clark an alien would hurt him but not caring, blinded by his own pain.

Clark flinches back, as if burned, and stares at Bruce in silent surprise, unable to believe that he would say something so hurtful. He lowers his head and swiftly walks out of the room, hiding the tears that were building in his eyes and ignoring Alfred's questioning gaze as he leaves the mansion.

Alfred slowly walks into Bruce's room and sets the tray of food down on the nightstand. Bruce's back was to Alfred and not a sound came from him. "Do not hesitate to call on me if you need anything. Anything at all, Master Bruce" Alfred tells the now trembling man, staring at his back for a few moments before leaving him alone.

Bruce stares at the wall before him and a few tears leak from his eyes. How could the one he loved hurt him with the memory of his greatest failure? How could he hurt the one he loved the most in retaliation? Why couldn't he trust anyone, even the one he loved? Bruce could only blame himself and now, he was alone again. Perhaps forever.

-Elsewhere

"How could I be so stupid? How could I say that to Bruce? How can I expect him to trust me now!" Superman mutters angrily to himself as he flies home. 'How am I going to make this up to him?' Clark thinks sadly to himself as he continues to fly, his tears falling like droplets of rain from above.


Author's Notes:

Dark: Well, I really hope you guys like it! Will update soon, i hope. Please review!