REWRITTEN!!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, or anything so related or found within. I merely write this fanfiction. Give the proper people a hand for kicking ass. I also do not own anything to do with the Dark Knight, though this story is heavily based on it, and actually pulls from the movie, trying to stay as canon as possible.
Warning: though the movie was not rated R, this will be. So, M. There will be language, alcohol, adult themes, dark themes, violence, blood, etc. I tend to go a little overboard in a few of those arenas, so the M is to cover my ass. Also, later on, there will be slash. As in Bruce (Batman) and Harvey. If you don't like it, don't read it. I'm giving the warning now for that reason. There will also be Dark Knight SPOILERS galore. It's unavoidable. Sorry.
Author's Note: I have been a Batman fan for years. I have been a fan of Harvey "Two-Face" Dent since the first time I was introduced to him as a young child, and even used to have a replica of his coin, which I used to make a great deal of my youthful decisions. And now, with the representation taken in the Dark Knight, I can't help myself. This is mostly me being weird. Enjoy.
FROM GRACE
Prologue: Making Fate
The warehouse was dark, foreboding. There were still streaks of ash crawling up the concrete and metal pillars like fingers of the reaper, stretching up from hell to envelope this place and all within it. Night reigned supreme here. It was cold. He could see his breath, billowing out from between his mutilated lips, clinging to the still air, resonating like remnants of the horrors which had taken place there, not so long ago.
Had the Batman really thought that the both of them could be saved? The Joker would not have set up such an elaborate trap had he known both would be. That would have been too easy a victory. There was no victory in this place. Only death. Only defeat.
This was an elaborate plan, much like the Joker's. While the whole police force was off, chasing after the Joker, just as the Joker set up two ferries, one with prisoners and one with citizens, to blow themselves sky high, Harvey had kidnapped Commissioner Gordon's family. The children had tried not to cry, but the little girl had, and the wife, the mother had too. She was crying for her children that were not yet lost.
And now they were here, where it all began.
The name "Two-Face" had not begun here. It had been a nickname for a while, through law school, through his time in the Internal Affairs division. He had fought corruption, trying to make the police force as polished as the badges they wore, and yet, somehow, even as he resulted to low blows, the worms still managed to thrive. Some of them had even been on Gordon's special crime fighting unit.
Was the Batman corrupt, too?
His heart clenched in his chest, beating furiously, pumping life through half of his body and pain through the other. It was like a barbed wire was being tugged through his veins with every moment. Harvey wanted to collapse, but had to fight it. There was still a little strength left in his body. Enough for this, at least.
The frigid nose of his revolver nestled into soft, innocent skin, the little boy's temple, and then his cheek. He was crying too now. Harvey had cried, at least through the one eye that still had tear ducts, ever thankful that the other did not, lest the salt of his tears further torment his seared skin. Only half of him could cry, because the other half of him, the woman who had said yes to him, had died in this very building, right here, where the bomb went off. There was not even floor where the bomb was anymore, just collapsed steel and concrete, a giant hole.
There was a lump in his throat. He wondered if Gordon could physically see it through all of the burn damage. Could he? Harvey wouldn't ask. Words were rolling off of his somehow unharmed tongue, steeped in venom. They just rolled from him, his not even entirely cognizant of what it was, only that it was coming, only the emotion attached to it. Harvey hated them. Gordon. The police force. Even Batman. They had failed him. Failed Gotham.
And now, they would pay.
His thumb flicked upward, a chime accompanying the launch of the coin, like the chime of silver bells. The coin landed. Harvey stared across the dark, dismal expanse, blue eyes harsh and glaring at the armored suit the Batman donned.
Despite everything, what had been between them, the sacrifices he had made for him, Harvey still did not know who was behind that mask. It would make this easier, not knowing. If he knew… Swallowing harshly, Harvey glanced quickly down, seeing the burnt and scratched side of the coin leering up at him.
His finger tensed in the trigger well and tightened as he looked back up, bullet exploding from the barrel, burying itself into the Batman's abdomen. He staggered, clutching the wound. Harvey could barely make out the dark glistening of blood.
Next was the boy.
Moving the revolver back into place, nuzzled into the boy's cheek, Harvey readied the coin again. His hand was shaking. After the boy, it was his own turn. He would turn the gun on himself. It did not sound like such a horrible thing now. Not at all. Taking a deep breath, holding it, Harvey flipped the coin again.