At first there was only noise in the distance. An approaching wave of death. And then after just a few seconds the blow reached us. The glass windows shattered and brick columns collapsed. It was beautiful in its own way, I thought, as the force threw us on the ground and everything around us shook and crumbled.

The destruction kept coming in waves and it made my head spin. The walls were coming down as the city hall slowly collapsed in itself. After mere seconds, I passed out with a satisfied grin on my face. I was happy to die. I wanted it to be over with. I was going to be rid of Harley and her world. My soul would finally go back home.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As he finally came to his senses, he felt something heavy on top of him. Within seconds venom provided him with clear rational thought and strength he needed to remove parts of the brick wall off of him and stand up. Everything was in ruins, people outside laying on the ground, dead.

Batman lay at his feet, motionless. He looked dead. The knife still burried deep inside him, blood seeping out of him. Bane merely stepped on him and went on, crushing him underneath his boot just for personal pleasure.

He found her laying on the ground like all the rest. Her body covered in glass shards, but nothing heavy.

He picked her up in his arms, feeling nothing but pride. She pressed the trigger without a second thought, like she promised. She destroyed Gotham for him.

She was unmoving, without any signs of life. He knew the blast knocked her out but he wondered if the radiation killed her.

He leaned closer and checked for a pulse. He could only feel a faint thump underneath his fingers. A beat that was slowly growing weaker by the minute.

He wondered if she was strong enough to wait for him to get her to their base and a doctor. But after all, he wasn't prepared to take that chance. Not with her. So there was only one thing he could to.

He knew the consequences of his decision and what it would lead to. But he was prepared to do anything for her. Even if she hated him for it later. For the addiction that came with it.

He unlocked the hinges of his mask and pulled it off. Ever so gently he fixed it on her face and moved strands of hair away. Her breathing was shallow before but as he tightened the mask around her face, it seemed to have deepened.

He didn't have much time before his body would demand venom again, but he was determined to wait until she was stable enough to remove the mask.

Holding her tightly, he walked over the ruins and the broken marble and emerged outside. Snow was blasted away and people lay dead everywhere. The entire city was broken. Killed. Ruined.

Not a single building was left standing but the leftovers of their former glory could still be made out.

The scar on his back started aching, his body craving venom, but he ignored it and walked on, over the dead bodies and ashes and snow, with her safely in his arms.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ever so slowly, my eyes fluttered open. The air was still and cold. Despite sensing it, I didn't feel cold. I felt like my skin was boiling hot, but it was oddly pleasant.

With each passing minute I regained more and more of my consciousness. I watched the tiny particles in the air shuffle around me and fall down slowly as light illuminated them.

It was beautiful. My body felt invincible. There was no pain. No cold. No fear, but serenity. And wonderful heat.

A tear slid down my cheek. So this is what death is like. In all honesty it was a lot more real than I imagined. I thought there was going to be nothing, but this was more than I could have ever hoped for.

I got up slowly, noticing how none of my muscles were sore, all my bruises gone, my skin practically glowing. I had strange clothes on me that smelled wonderful and clean. I felt so... at peace.

I got up from my bed and looked out of the window. It was snowing outside and all I could see was wilderness and mountains. No people. No noise. Just nature in all its beauty.

I looked down at the ground, I seemed to be in a house with a strange design, an unknown architecture with a slightly asian feel to it. The walls were made of black, nearly dark grey wood. My room appeared to be on the first floor of the house, or so I estimated. Everything was clean and pure and orderly.

I opened the window and inhaled deeply. Dear lord was death beautiful. And I had so much energy inside me. So much serenity and even with the window open and the snow coming in, I felt no cold. Like my body was invincible.

I swung myself over the window frame and jumped. I hit the ground hard, sinking in the snow, but there was no pain. I felt nothing.

I smiled, determined to test the limits of afterlife. I wondered if this was heaven. It sure felt like it. Or maybe there was no heaven or hell but just this pure primal nature. Life like it was intended to be lived. And I had it for forever. I was free of all the problems I had, of my weak mortal body, of Gotham.

I brushed snow off my pants and stood up from my kneeling position. I looked around and wondered where I felt like going to. The entire afterlife was at my feet, the entire world for my taking. I have never been at peace like this before.

Just as I started walking, I heard a man say:

»What the fuck are you doing?«

My head snapped to my right where a man stood in front of the main door to the house, bow and arrows in hand. He looked completely and utterly dumbstruck.

»Are you fucking crazy?!« He yelled and came toward me.

He wore the same odd clothes that looked kinda asian and I wondered what the hell was going on. He seemed upset that I jumped out the window from the first floor.

But my surprise was soon replaced by an amplifying anger. Why the fuck were the people in my afterlife? Did this mean I was going to have to share my world with others? Fuck that I wanted it all to myself, I selfishly thought as anger boiled inside me.

»Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?« He asked and grabbed my upper arm.

My anger took the better of me and I grabbed his hand and pushed it away rudely.

Hurt myself, I laughed and snickered. What was he, stupid?

»Fucking hell your skin is boiling! Do you have a fever?« He asked and tried to touch my forehead.

At this point my anger turned into uncontrollable rage I had never felt before.

I snapped and punched him straight in the face and broke his nose. He yelped and fell down on the snow, holding onto his bloody nose.

»Don't touch me,« I said deathly and straightened my back.

I looked at my knuckles that didn't hurt one bit. The last time I punched a man I saw stars from the pain and now I could barely register any touch at all.

»What is your problem, lady?!« He said, I hurt his feelings as well as his body it seemed.

With his every word my rage seemed to get greater. I didn't even understand why but I wanted to bash his skull in. I wondered if he would die and be restarted here in afterlife after a few minutes or if it was impossible to kill him.

I tightened my fist and prepared to find out exactly where the limit was, when an all too familiar voice stopped me in my track.

»So you've finally awakened.«

I looked toward the door and saw Bane standing there, hands holding onto his vest like usual.

»Bane?« I asked in disbelief and surprise totally masked the rage away.

Oh, but it made sense. Of course he was dead as well. He was with me at the city hall when I pressed the trigger.

»She jumped out of the fucking window!« the guy ratted out, grumpy, with evident hurt in his voice.

He looked like a little child telling on his sibling as he approached Bane, still holding onto his bloody nose and glancing at me beyond his shoulder in distrust.

»She's fucking crazy!«

Bane merely gave him a death stare that told him he was gonna have something else broken besides his nose if he didn't leave immediately. The man quickly disappeared inside the house without another word.

»You jumped out the window?« Bane asked calmly, with a cocked eyebrow.

Both of them were being so confusing, I really didn't understand. I wondered if I was crazy, but my body felt so powerful, so defiant to all the cold and the pain. If I felt like this, how could it not be real?

»Yeah... I figured, why not?«

»Why not? You might have broken a bone,« he said sternly and approached me.

His dark eyes weren't pleased with me but at the same time he wasn't upset yet.

»Broken a bone? Bane, I feel indestructible,« I said with a smile.

»You're going to feel like that every time you take a new dose.«

»New dose? Of what?« I asked, dumbfounded as Bane inspected my body for injuries.

»Venom.«

I went quiet and watched him stare at me. Suddenly the world stopped being so perfect. My feet started feeling heavier than before and this weird sense of reality creeped in. It was like waking up from a dream. And slowly, I started to realize this world might not be what it seemed.

»Where are we?« I asked and he chuckled.

»Tibet.«

Everything spun around me as I began to understand. This wasn't death. This was fucking Asia.

»Wait, hold on,« I said, my brain blocking all thoughts.

»I'm confused...,« I began but he interrupted me:

»I brought you here after the bomb went off. Gotham is destroyed and the majority of its people is dead. You would have died as well if I hadn't given you venom.«

My brain was working over-time, trying to process all the information. And then it dawned on me how stupid I was for thinking I was dead. And punching that poor man... I suddenly felt sick to my stomach from guilt.

»Bane I can't feel pain... my body feels surreal. Like I'm immortal...,« I started to explain, noticing how utterly and completely insane I sounded. But it felt so real...

»Venom does that. It blocks pain receptors to a certain degree. The absence of pain is what makes you feel that way. It will wear off in a few hours. Afterwards the pain will be dulled but you will be able to feel it despite venom.«

His face turned slightly concerned, if that was an even possible emotion for him, and he continued:

»You will have to receive a dose every few days.«

»For how long?« I asked, completely naive and shocked at all he'd told me.

He didn't reply and just stared at me. My eyebrows turned in confusion as I stared right back. And then it hit me as I looked at his mask. I have never seen Bane without it, except once, when we kissed. The memory made me blush slightly and I lowered my gaze. But he never took it off because it constantly supplied him with venom.

»I see,« I said and took a deep breath.

»But wait, you said every few days, right?«

»Yes,« he said calmly, never breaking his gaze.

»Then why do you always wear the mask?«

»I require a higher and constant dose.«

»Oh...« I said lamely and tried to think of something to say.

Everything just seemed so crazy, my body was high, buzzing off venom like it was cocaine. And there was this odd pent up energy inside me that made me restless.

I was reminded of that dominating feeling, his body suddenly closer to mine, towering over me. Venom at its peak made me feel emotions much stronger, and I could feel myself growing weak under his relentless gaze. I started getting wet just being so close to him. I started wishing this were death because then I could just jump him already without any consequences... Fuck, I would climb him like a tree and fuck his brains out.

I bit my lip as I tried to clear my head. I never took drugs before so this was a completely new feeling to me, hard to control. I could only imagine how hard it must have been for Bane, with all those higher and constant doses of venom. Maybe that's why he's always so emotionless... to try and control venom, I thought.

»So why Tibet? What is this place?«

»This is the League of Shadows' training ground. You will remain here until you finish your training.«

I could not avert my gaze from those trap muscles of his, his strong hands holding onto his vest... that thick neck just calling out to me to be bitten...

»Wait, I thought your goal was to destroy Gotham... ,« I managed to say, trying to avert my attention to something else before I lost control and did something stupid.

»I thought that was it, the ultimate plan,« I said honestly.

»Oh, we've only just begun,« he said darkly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If it seems a bit odd, try to imagine being high off cocaine for the first time and just experiencing emotions in a new way. I know it may seem a bit uncharacteristic of Ana to be this way, but I wanted to try something different with the story. Let me know your thoughts and opinions :)