He swore on his mother's grave, but then he swore on just about everything. He swore to be a better father; he swore to give his children a bright and promising future. He swore to keep the innocent safe; he swore on many things.
As a young man whose parents had been ripped away from him, he bowed to keep the same thing from occurring to others. Statistically, he knew that the task was impossible. But just maybe, someone would see him as a shining symbol in the midst of the darkness of the city.
Sometimes his fellow protectors sneered when they heard the name Gotham City. It was such a dark and crime-filled city, was there any shred of humanity left in that wretched place?
They've forgotten the beauty of the city during the daytime. They've forgotten the sleek shining skyscrapers and bustling crowds. They've forgotten that New York City and its sister Gotham City shared a quite a few similar traits.. Commonly, NYC's grittiness was lost in the midst of its glamour and vice versa.
He found himself standing once more at the sight of his parents' graves. Many times he had come there a sobbing mess who could barely stand underneath his own weight. He denied himself that right this time.
This time he stood there stiffly, as if it were too painful to move in the slightest. His face was stoic as he stared at the familiar lettering on the Wayne family headstone.
WAYNE
THOMAS MARTHA
BELOVED PARENTS
"I thought I find you here." He sharply turned to look behind him.
She was standing there, giving him a root beer float kind of smile.
"Selina," He stated, attempting to keep the surprise from his voice, "What are you doing here?"
"There was nothing you could have done, Bruce." She sighed; crossing her arms as she slowly lost her shimmering smile.
"You didn't answer the question." He looked at her expectantly.
"I thought I'd come here to try to get your mind off things." She tilted her head upwards, "Alfred told me you've hardly done anything but brooding the past couple of days."
"Alfred—?" He cut himself off, "Never mind that, I'm fine. I have been productive, analyzing over the data—to make sure it won't happen again."
Selina clutched his chin, her calloused hand fingering the facial hair, "Stop denying it, Bruce. You haven't shaved in a while, I doubt you've barely touched food the last few days, and you have dark circles around your eyes. I would guess for a fact that this has been the first time you've been out in days?"
"Yes," He gruffly admitted, not meeting her eyes. There was no point in denying it; she'd known either way.
"When's the last time you've seen a movie?" She suddenly asked.
"W-what?" He spluttered, caught off-guard by the question.
"It's a simple question." She deadpanned.
He drew in a breath, "It's probably been a few months…why?"
"Well we'll have to rectify that, won't we?" Selina gave a grin reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat before clutching his hand.
"Selina, I don't have time for distractions—"
"Do this as a favor for me," She interrupted, "Forget about the mask for one moment and just live. A movie is just but a few hours of your lifetime. You can spend the rest of your life dressed as a bat for all I care."
He stared at her for a moment, hesitant and unsure.
"Do you accept or not? After all, I've heard that a favor from me can be quite valuable…"
"Just this once, Selina," He sighed, knowing that it was no good to argue with her.
"Just this once," She promised as she led him away from the graveyard.
A/N: This was written as a warm-up writing exercise and honestly I feel very iffy on Bruce's and Selina's characterizations. Please review and tell me whether or not you think they were OOC or not -Katie