A/N- Hi there! This is my take on the Dark Knight trilogy, I hope my take on it is something slightly different than others and enjoyable. Constructive criticism is welcome and it is a bit darker than anything I've written so just a little warning. Also anything that's in italics is my main characters thoughts. Thanks for the read and if you like it please leave a comment :)

Present

I quietly sipped my glass of Jack and Coke in the corner of the loud and crowded bar. A place I had recently been spending nearly every night at. Between the loud noises, fights, and alcohol it was the only place where I could escape from being home alone and stuck in my own dangerously twisted mind which was the worst thing all crazy person had to endure.

I gulped back the last of my drink and immediately another full glass took its place. I looked up to see the tall, dark, and handsome bartender giving me a lusty grin to which I sent a flirty wink in return. Tom or Fred I think his name was, a young and enthusiastic guy I'd hook up with from time to time when I was bored. He was a good lay and wore the hell out of that man bun; his accent wasn't completely awful either.

Nice ass too.

I watched appreciatively as he walked back over to the bar but quickly grew confused as he headed back over to my table. Without a word he expertly placed thirty shot glasses directly in front of me and filled them each with whiskey.

He briefly looked up to see my confused expression. "From a friend," he answered in that sexy Portuguese accent.

"I don't have friends," I said matter of factly as my right eye slightly twitched.

"But I hope by the end of the night we will be." A woman spoke in an unrecognizable accent, possibly middle eastern.

I turned to see the fair skinned woman who stood about five, five. Her brown hair was braided back allowing people to see her beautiful face and deathly cold blue eyes. I also noticed the gun that adorned her hip which was just barely hidden behind her thick brown jacket. It was obvious that she wanted something from me and it was definitely not a friendship.

"I don't need any friends," I told her clearly before taking a sip of my new drink. "Though wiskey is definitely the way to my heart," I joked with a smile as I leaned back in my chair. "What do you want lady?" I asked curiously scanning the crowd to see if she brought any other 'friends' with her.

"To make you an offer you cannot refuse," she explained.

"No thanks," I said declining on the spot. "I'm retired," I told her with a sarcastic grin.

Her smile immediately dropped and she took a moment to quietly examine me with those stern eyes. I simply raised an eyebrow at her obvious attempt to intimidate me. She would have to try a lot harder as I've been subjected to glares worse than that. Her attempt brought me nothing but amusement. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she simply raised her left hand never taking her eyes off of me. A few men in militia gear then entered the bar and sent a single shot into the ceiling causing everyone to panic and quickly evacuate.

"Not you man bun," she told the bartender, Fred or Tom or whatever his name was. "We'll need you to continue to serve us for the night." She shrugged out of her jacket and took a seat at the table across from me. "Vodka," she ordered as she sat back relaxing in her chair and sent me a smile that clearly asked if I was impressed.

I'm not.

Once my shaken lover messily handed the woman her drink he quickly ran for cover back behind the bar just as man large in size entered the building.

Now him I'm impressed by.

He was tall and muscular with some sort of contraption around his head and face, I had never seen such a thing. He strolled across the bar with authority and ordered the men to wait outside. An order with which they immediately followed except one man with a beard whom remained by his side. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as I had never seen a man so big, he was like if the Hulk had a son.

Ok I'm exaggerating.

But not that much.

Kinda.

Eh.

"Talia," the woman said dragging me out of my thoughts and refocusing my attention back on her. "Talia Al Ghul," she introduced and instantly the last name sounded familiar.

"Relation to Ra Al Ghul?" I asked and she seemed pleasantly surprised.

"My father. How do you know of him?"

"Oh you know," I said taking another sip. "Knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy," I said with a smirk.

"Would that guy be Bruce Wayne?" She suddenly asked causing me to almost drop my glass. I looked up and met her amused eyes as I slowly swallowed the whiskey in my mouth, this time it seemed to burn more than usual.

"Never heard of him," I fibbed.

"Do not lie," the big man said in a surprising British accent that sounded as though it was somehow mechanical. It came off as completely fake and computerized.

"Now now friend," Talia said calmly with a smile, "let's take things slow." He then met my green eyes with his blank charcoal greys before looking at her smile and immediately calming down.

What is he her pet?

"We've been searching for you for a long time Gwendolyn."

This time my glass broke into pieces as I instinctively threw it across the bar angrily.

"Never. Call. Me. That." I warned through my teeth as I glared at her, unable to stop my right eye from twitching.

"Enough!" the big man angrily interrupted again as he pulled out a folder and began to read from it. "Are you not Gwendolyn Cruz Wayne, wife of Bruce Wayne? Thirty six years of age from Bordeaux, France who's father-"

His voice was interrupted by the sound of multiple shot glasses smashing against the wall and the floor. In my uncontrollable moment of anger I could no longer hold myself back as I took my arm and harshly smacked them off the table.

This is what being crazy does to you.

I've learned to live with it.

"I said not to call me that!" I yelled. "If I wanted a summery of my life I would have asked! Nothing in that folder can tell you anything about who I am or what I've went through! You don't know a damn thing about me!" I yelled sending him my nastiest glare, one I had learned from the best.

"Yes of course you're right. We know nothing but what we've heard from the news and the obvious information the government has on you," Talia said trying to diffuse the situation. "That's why I'm here. I need your help, I want to hear your story and learn as much as possible and in return I can help you as well. It's something that could possibly bring us both peace," she said passionately.

I took a deep breath and tried to regain my composure.

Reel in the psycho Gwen.

"Magic," Talia said testing it out on her tongue. "That's the name you go by correct?" She asked and I nodded as a cruel smile overtook my lips at hearing the name I had earned many years ago. Oh the things I did when I adopted that name, the naughty naughty things.

I was a bad girl.

Still am. ;)

"Well Magic, what do you say? Tell me everything?" She asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked curiously before glancing around angrily as I realized I no longer had a drink.

Talia snapped her fingers and the bartender quickly brought over a new drink and also filled thirty more shot glasses.

"We want the same thing," she said with intensity as she leaned in closer.

I met her halfway as I watched the different emotions play out across her face, she was however excellent at hiding them.

"I want Batman," she started making sure to watch my emotions but I was also good at hiding them. "Or as you may know him, Bruce Wayne, dead."

Surprise briefly filled my insides as my eyes stayed neutral though the right one twitched again. I was sure only four other people knew Batman's true identity, how she had figured it out was beyond me. Though I didn't particularly care either way. Bruce Wayne was the last thing on my mind. If I had wanted him dead I would have done it years ago when I had the chance.

"What makes you think I want him dead?" I asked taking a long swig of my fresh drink, sighing in relief as it was calming my busy mind.

"Because he failed you," she said simply trying to evoke some sort of emotion from me. "The one person he was supposed to love and protect."

"Laying it on pretty thick," I said somewhat amused.

"I-"

"Don't worry," I said with a laugh before downing the rest of my drink. "I'll tell you what happened. It's just too fun to keep to myself," I giggled. "Think of it as my farewell gift," I mumbled more to myself than her.

She gazed curiously at me but I gave her no reasoning or response to my words.

"I'm all ears," she said sipping her drink for the first time.

I sat back in my chair and ran my hand through my blue tinted hair silently for a moment as I gathered my thoughts. I had suppressed my memories for so long that it was almost painful to pluck at them until they finally remerged. I glanced to my side to see the bearded militia man and the giant one continued to stand a few feet away with wary yet interested eyes.

"Have you ever been in love with someone who simply didn't love you back?" I asked aloud though I wasn't expecting an answer. "Someone whom you pined after since you first met them yet they barely even noticed you?"

"Unrequited love," Talia answered and I nodded.

"I remember like it was yesterday when I met Bruce Wayne for the first time. My father Lorenz Cruz was a famous chef with a chain of restaurants in France. When I was still young he moved us to Gotham to do business with the Wayne's as he wanted to break through the restaurant scene in America. Bruce was nine then and I had just turned six. He was so kind to me even though back then I couldn't speak a lick of English, he even let me follow him and his friend Rachel everywhere they went. With his favorite tailored blue suit, his neatly styled black hair, and his warm blue eyes; he could convince me to do just about anything he asked."

I paused as different emotions began to run through me.

"It was our parents wish that one day we would marry and join our two families together, they thought we could become unstoppable. But after his parents died he kept everyone at arms length though it didn't stop me from trying to no avail. Eventually when he was in his late teens he began to loosen up and we became even closer than before. Once I turned Nineteen my father died of lung cancer, he left behind a letter that he and Thomas Wayne wrote together before the latters passing. It was a letter stating that they hoped Bruce and I would find our way to each other and continued to make both families proud. Bruce proposed to me a week later and even though I knew he was doing it for his father somewhere inside of me I was hoping that maybe he would grow to love me like I loved him and so I accepted. We were married lavishly a month later and then Bruce took off to experience the world while I ran business in Gotham." I shivered as I could see it all unfold as though it was happening again right in front of me.

"Then what happened?" She asked gently touching my arm to bring me back to the present but I was far to gone in my memories.

"Reality," I whispered.

Past

I sipped angrily on my wine as I sat in front of an untouched meal that I had worked hard to prepare. The candles on the table still burned brightly though they were minutes away from extinguishing as they had been burning for hours now. It was our ninth year anniversary, the first one we were able to celebrate since Bruce came home last year from exploring the world or whatever the hell he was out there doing. I cut him some slack last year because he was busy with Wayne Enterprises and I knew he had to get into the swing of things after being away for seven years. Plus there was this sudden appearance of some crazy man that dressed like a bat and actually cleaned up crime, better than the GCPD anyway. This year though was supposed to be different though, it was supposed to be the year we became stronger as a unit and took the world by surprise. At least that was what he had promised; to be a better friend and husband to me. Over everything else he promised to spend tonight with me and me alone. Again it seems he's broken yet another promise and I was honestly reaching the end of my rope.

I honestly don't know why I'm so surprised.

Tears burned my eyes as the candles had reached their end and finally burned out leaving me sitting alone with a cold meal and a broken heart. It was then that the front door opened and closed followed by the sound of footsteps slowly entering the dinning room. The lights were flicked on and Bruce's blue eyes went wide as he looked at the table of food and my angry expression.

"Gwen-"

He was cut off as I threw my plate at him with all the strength I could muster. While it missed him some of the food splattered against his shirt and hair.

"Gwen!"

I threw another plate and my glass of wine followed by the bottle.

"I can explain!" He yelled ducking everything I could get my hands on until he could reach me. He grabbed my arms and held them against him as I struggled to get out of his strong grip.

"Let me go Bruce!" I yelled as the tears were now falling.

"Gwendolyn please," he whispered.

"You promised!" I continued. "You promised that you'd try and that you'd be here tonight."

"I know."

"So where were you? Out partying with other women? Spending our money? Were you with Rachel?" I asked as venom practically dripped from my words. "If you were with her I swear-"

"I'm not cheating on you!" He yelled trying to make me understand but I wasn't haven't it.

"How do I know that, you did before!" I yelled back and his grip on me slacked allowing me to escape and move as far away from him as possible. "You kissed her remember?" I taunted and he looked guiltily at me which made my heart ache. I caught them kissing outside of our suddenly burned down home a couple of months ago and confronted them both. There was a lot of apologies on both their parts and being the person I am, an idiot, I forgave them or at least I thought I did. I swear I was going to let it go and move on but every time he comes home late or not at all I can't help but think he's with her. "I know you don't love me-"

"That's not true," he immediately said cutting me off and I held my hand up.

"Please let me finish." He went silent and when I was sure he wouldn't interrupt again I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes before continuing. "I know you only married me because it was what our parents wanted. I only agreed because I was already in love with you and a stupid naive part of me thought that maybe one day you'd grow to love me too." He looked completely surprised but I hurried not wanting him to say anything yet. "I was trying so hard to be a good wife and friend to you. I supported all your decision within reason when it came to business, I didn't complain when you wanted to take off and discover yourself even though I was sad about it and lonely. You didn't even invite me," I whispered and he took a step closer to me. "I didn't hear a word from you for seven years and then you came back out of nowhere and I didn't even question it. I was there for you and listened to everything you needed to get off your chest but you never once asked me how I was or what I'd been through since you've been gone. I struggled trying to keep both of our many business' afloat! I never wanted to be this! I wanted to travel the world and be able to find myself too! I wanted to go to culinary school in France just like my father but you never gave me that choice! Then after all that I sacrificed for you and our marriage you go and you kiss Rachel! She's my best friend too! She was my bridesmaid for gods sake Bruce! How could you? How could you do that to me? How could you love her but not me?" I whispered in the end.

The tears were now streaming and he took that moment to wrap his arms around me tightly. I wanted to fight him, I wanted to push him away and scream at him how much I hated him but I couldn't. I was so completely broken, hurt, and confused. I still loved Bruce more than anything in the world even though he still continues to put my feelings on the back burner and hurt me.

After a moment of realizing he had said nothing in return to my rant I knew he was never going to change and I shouldn't try to make him. You can love and take care of a man all you wanted but you can't make him appreciate nor love you in return.

I pulled away and reached for his neatly wrapped present off the table. I placed it gently into his hands and he gazed at it sadly for a moment before our eyes clashed once more, his guilty blues into my wet greens.

"Happy Anniversary Bruce. I love you."

With that said I left him alone to collect his own thoughts as I needed my space right now. I felt pathetic and wasn't going to go out of my way to try and win him over anymore when it was obvious where his heart was.

Not with me.

Present

I took the first shot that was laid out before me and sighed as the burning sensation brought me back down to reality.

"You think he didn't love you?" Talia asked as she carefully eyed my every movement.

"I think it doesn't really matter anymore," I answered with a crooked grin. "As you can see we've long ago went our separate ways. Though I'll tell you something. A broken heart can fester into a disease if it's not treated properly," I said sinisterly before giggling to myself.

"Was yours?" The big man suddenly asked.

It sounded as though he meant to question my sanity and if I was him or anybody else hanging in my presence I would have asked too. Still though, I couldn't help the shit eating grin that overtook my lips as I gazed at the strangely huge man.

"One man would say yes while all of Gotham would complain no."

"Who is this one man?" He asked followed by his mechanical breathing which was slowly starting to become soothing.

"Ah ta ta! We're not at that part of the story yet."