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On The Third Day He Rose


Grounds of the Thomas And Martha Wayne Home for Children

3:16 a.m.

Three days.

It had been three days since she'd watched him die, watched him give his life to save a city, watched him become the saviour which she somehow knew in her heart that he always had been, and yet she still sees him.

He is there, every time her eyes close to sleep, every time she rests her head, every time her mind has a free moment. He always appears walking out of the shadows, just as he did the day he returned when she had been unsure what had happened to him. The dark knight, rising from the dead.

She always walks over to him, unconsciously reaching a hand out to see if he is real, and he invariably fades away.

Selina knows that her mind and her heart are still holding on to the memory of Bruce Wayne. A man that she had hardly known, and simultaneously felt as if she had known him her entire life.

She is certain of one thing between them: he believed in her. He'd believed in her more than anyone else ever had, including herself. And in the end, she had to let him go.

It was for his reason that she found herself standing here now, staring down at his headstone, trying to find the words to say goodbye. Somehow the words, 'I guess we're both suckers,' just hadn't been what she'd wanted to say to him. Or more importantly, what she'd needed to say. Right now, she needed to find the words necessary to get him out of her system, so that she could move on and leave this city and this whole ordeal behind her.

Selina wasn't sure how long she'd been standing at this small location on these spacious grounds, unnoticed at this quiet hour. All of the children in the manor which now served as an orphanage seemed to be asleep, and the only sounds in the darkness were those of the gently drizzling rain. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, words began to slip from her lips.

"You … You changed things … maybe not forever … but you changed things. Okay, maybe forever. I don't know. All I know … is that you changed me. I … I'm not sure what you saw in me, but … I intend to find it. No matter how hard it is or how long it takes. But I … I can't do it here. I … I have to leave."

"Come with me," a quiet voice called from beside her.

Selina wasn't startled or surprised. She didn't react or jump away in fear. She had thought of virtually nothing else except him since that light in the sky had appeared, so if she were losing her mind, it would make sense to her that this was how it would happen. She turned, slowly, to look to her side.

His shadow was there, just as she'd seen him countless times over the last three days, this time concealed by the darkness of the nearby trees.

With legs shaky and uncertain, she began to walk toward him. As she'd done many times in her mind's eye, she reached a hand up to touch his face, knowing that he would just disappear from in front of her as before.

Then, her fingers touched … flesh.

Selina's eyes widened, her heart began to pound, her breath caught in her throat and her hand began to shake. Of its own volition, her other hand raised to take hold of his other cheek, almost as if to hold him there with her so that he would not disappear again.

"What? How?" was all that she could manage.

"It was time," Bruce spoke to her quietly. "It was time for me to leave. The symbol will live on now."

"How did you know…"

"The people that I cared about let me know that the time had come. They told me that the Batman wasn't needed anymore and that Bruce Wayne's resources could now do more for the city than his body. I've left things in place, things to insure that the city would be taken care of. I found someone."

"Someone?"

"Someone that can do the job. Someone that can be better than me in time. I once thought that maybe Harvey Dent could take my place as Gotham's symbol, but the Joker destroyed that hope, and left us with only lies to keep the city going. This time, the symbol will endure."

"So are you finally ready to leave?"

"Come with me," Bruce implored quietly, his whispered words echoing her own from three days ago.

Selina answered him by stepping forward, wrapping her arms around Bruce's neck, and gently pressing her lips against his own. Unlike their previous two embraces, this one wasn't rushed or hurried. It was slow, gentle, enticing and alluring. They opened their lips, and slipped more deeply, more completely into one another. The gently sprinkling rain picked up at that moment, falling more quickly upon them, yet neither of them even took notice of it. This kiss was a promise … a sealing … a marriage … of their shared future for the rest of their lives.