AN: Got hit with a wave of post-movie Bane x Talia feels while driving today, so I scribbled this out. Cheap therapy or masochism? You decide.
Spoilers for the end of The Dark Knight Rises.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the following work, nor am I making any money from writing/posting this drabble. Thank you.
"Time to get up."
She struggled to raise her head, open her eyes, but she felt so heavy. Her body had been re-cast in lead.
Boots crunched over broken glass, each step a memory: a rock through a window, a stray bullet, a wine glass meeting a wall. "Talia. Time to get up."
"I can't," she murmured, barely able to twitch her fingers. "Don't you see I can't?"
The krsh-krsh-krak of the footsteps stopped beside her. "You must let go of him and get up."
That made her angry. "Never! He killed my father. I'll not stop until I've ruined him."
The voice was closer now, perhaps arm's length away. "Do you choose to stay here for him, then? Is it not enough that you gave your life for him?"
Her eyes opened.
A man stood over her, a being of great height and width, his shoulders broad and his legs long. He was beautiful.
"Who are you," Talia sighed, too tired even to snarl, already half-sure of the answer but not so certain she wanted to be right.
The man knelt down beside her, his full lips quirked into the barest of smiles. He covered his nose and mouth with his hand.
"Bane," Talia sobbed, wanting to reach for him but unable to move. "Bane. Bane. Please…"
His eyes, those dark and deep eyes, held hers. "I can't do it for you. You must do it yourself."
She struggled harder now against the heaviness. Tears leaked over her nose in a crooked path as she wept, across the bridge and down one cheek to pool on something hard: a dashboard. "Do what?"
"Let go of him."
"No," she moaned piteously, "how could you say that? It's all we've lived for these last few years!"
"Yes," he replied, "and that time is over. Will you give your afterlife to Bruce Wayne as well?"
"I don't—" she hiccupped and tried to reach for him again. Her arms would not listen. "I don't…"
"I do," Bane answered, and she could see him touch her hair, yet there was no comforting sensation to match his stroking. "Leave him to what remains of his life. It doesn't matter anymore."
"But our plan, Bane…"
"I have a new plan. One without wrath or pain."
Talia blinked, and when he threaded his thick fingers through the wild remains of her braid, she could feel it. "Peace?"
He nodded and smiled for her again, a tiny fragile thing she had only ever imagined.
"It will be quite the change of pace for us," Talia quipped, lifting her head to lean into his gentle touch. "I won't leave unless you go with me."
"Then we are both as selfish as ever," he said, his tone light but his gaze fierce. "Please, Talia. Rise."
Talia grinned and pulled away to stand somewhat shakily on her feet, and Bane offered his hand to her. As he led her away from the wreckage, her steps felt firmer, more sure. His skin was warm and calloused. "Where are we going?"
Bane gripped her hand tighter and grinned so widely Talia could see his slightly crooked teeth. "Anywhere."