Right here.
Summary: Batman was always there, until he wasn't anymore.
Based on the song Right Here by Ashes Remain.
Genre: Angst, Hurt/comfort
Words: 1,409
Warnings: Slight mentions of depression, Character Death
Disclaimer: Do Not Own.
Italics- Flashback
Bold- Quotes
Shayera felt her heart shrivel up, standing in an oddly thin silence as she stared at the casket. If her wings weren't hidden by magic, she knew they'd never lift off the ground.
But that wasn't happening, and all she could do was silently cry along with hundreds and thousands of mourners. She along with eight others, silently reached the casket, holding a small white rose she had picked just hours before.
Upon reaching the casket, all she could let out a small sob, staring at the peaceful resting face of one of her best friends. All in all, she wanted to believe that the man would open his eyes and just smirk at her, leaving the whole room laughing. She wanted this to be a joke, a stupid heartbreaking prank that they would always pull on one another.
But in her heart, she knew that would never happen.
Silently, she tucked the flower behind his ear, lips quivering as she touched his cold pale face.
The others rested their own flowers, dark and white to signify his role as the two Knights. Not that anyone but them would know of course.
She walked back to her previous standing position, embracing her best female friend in a tight hug as they sobbed in pain.
The priest began to recount the loss, as he had done several times in the past two hours. Shayera still couldn't believe a single word.
"We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a great man." He stated numbly, forcing Shayera to remember that he had known Bruce as well. "He has saved the lives of countless of people, and helped us a plenty to dig us out of our dark days. In his final moments on this god forsaken earth, this man had met his faith saving three innocent children with his own life. I pray to thee Mr. Wayne, may your soul rest in piece. Amen."
The church was chorused by hundreds of broken voices repeating that final phrase.
"Amen."
Shayera screwed her eyes shut, letting a louder sob escape her throat.
"Shay."
"Shut up and let me grieve, John." Her voice shook, and she just decided to hug Diana tighter.
No one said a word after that, watching in pained silence as they finally lifted Bruce's Casket off the pedestal. Clark being one of the carriers.
There was no rain, no clouds, it was a perfectly sunny day reaching it's end and dipping into the night. Shayera had to admit that the setting sun left beautiful streaks of magenta's and pinks to color the setting sky, but she couldn't help but feel empty.
Within an hour, they reached Bruce's final resting place. His tombstone carved into a giant cross with the golden plating at the base of it. Instead of the normally polished marble that was usually associated with every tombstone, it was covered in writing, every inch of it had a reasonably small quote within a box. Considering how tall the tombstone was, a lot of well-meaning quotes fit there.
"Never stop marching, there's always a battle to fight." Shayera remembered Bruce whispering that softly to some random couple when they went out on a morning run.
"The biggest battles won't matter if you can't push yourself to win the smallest fights." She hadn't heard that one before, but it had a beautiful sentiment behind it.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes you need to take a step back." She had heard Wally say that to himself a couple times in the watchtower, it must have really stuck to him.
"No matter how you feel get up, dress up, show up and never give up."
"It may be stormy now, but it never rains forever."
"It's better to walk alone than with the crowd walking in the wrong direction."
"Just because my path is different, doesn't mean I'm lost."
And one that hit Shayera right at home, one that he had repeated to her several times when she had returned. She fell to her knees in tears, wondering when did everything stop.
"It's the little things that keep people like us going."
Then why did he stop?
Shayera shut her eyes, letting the sorrowful music playing finally letting her cry in pain as several others were doing behind her. Her memories were a torrent of pain.
"Batman!" Shayera fumbled, slipping off her seat and standing to attention. "What are you doing here?"
She no longer had her mask, and maybe that was what made her uncomfortable around everyone. But she doubted her Thanagarian mask would do much to help her situation.
Just days before, she had gotten the man to tell her about her son, and then he had left without another word. For days, he had been ignoring her, or rather, she hadn't seen him. Either way, it was odd for him to turn up like this.
He gave a subtle nod, the light behind him illuminating his intimidating figure.
"Shayera." She hadn't realized he moved closer until he pushed the seat around. "Sit."
She swallowed heavily, re-seating herself in her previous spot. She watched in silence as he pulled up a spare chair across from her and sat in it as well.
Without a single warning, he held something out to her, it wasn't wrapped nor did it seem like a weapon but he seemed insistent that she took it.
"I-," Shayera flinched slightly when he had thrust it forward ever so slightly.
"Take it, read it, then talk." He grumbled softly.
She looked around slightly before reaching out and grabbing the small toy. It was furry and soft, and warm.
Shayera brought it close to her, inspecting it to see a small little bear holding a decently sized letter. She was slightly awed, wondering why the man had ever bothered to remember her love for small teddy bears. With care, she retrieved the letter, and in the dark lighting she managed to make out the words.
"It's the little things that keep people like us going?" She read aloud, slightly confused by the sentiment.
She looked up but Batman had simply pointed back to the object in her hands. She glanced back down, and continued to look at the letter, before flipping the flap up and retrieving several..cards? From the inside. When she got a closer look, it greatly surprised her to see it wasn't cards, but photos.
Photos of her and Bruce, laughing as they played the Wii. One she knew Alfred had taken. Bruce was in this ridiculous pose, hip sticking out to the left as both his hands here high up in the air, his face contorted in pure amusement. While she was doubled over laughing extremely hard, her hair in a messy bun.
The next few photos were of them, the original seven at the beach. Bruce was in this ridiculously colored swim shorts and an obnoxious streak of white on his nose, Flash beside him holding to ice-cream cones. Shayera and Diana were posing on the beach floor dramatically, while the other three were buried neck deep. Bruce was the only one not smiling, but he had this tiny little smirk.
And it continued. Photos of the food fight they had, photos of the time they got into a Nerf war, the first time they had watched a scary movie, and the moments after Flash fled the room screaming in horror.
A tear drop fell onto her hand, forcing Shayera to clumsily wipe away her tears, unaware of when they had come.
As she turned over the last photo, there was a small little letter, no more than twenty words maybe.
"It's the little things that keep people like us going, just remember, I'll be here until morning comes."
Shayera let out a small watery smile, closing her eyes before opening them to see Batman smiling softly at her.
"Thank you." She whispered in a small broken tone.
Batman's smile softened, giving a small awkward shrug before looking at her once more.
"I don't need a thanks." He murmured. "I just want to stop the rain."
Shayera let her tears fall, reaching over and hugging the dark knight who tried his best to comfort her.
She would never stop.
Shayera opened her eyes, finally witnessing as they gently lowered his casket.
She felt as if the rain would never end. It would never stop.
So why did he?
A/N: OKAY! For all of you who don't know, because I haven't updated it, ALL MY FILES WERE DELETED! YAY! I actually was able to get them back, but my files were already corrupted, so it was too late to save them.
This is a quick one-shot that I actually did in about two hours so it's kind of shit but whatevs.
This one-shot was heavily inspired by the song Right Here by Ashes Remain, sooo yeah!
Anyways that's it for now, remember to leave a review and with that,
-Maiden Out.