Title: sing, Shahrazad
Fandom: The Dark Knight Rises
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: SPOILERS for the movie; mentions of violence and character death
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1000 (ish)
Point of view: third
Why did you protect the child? a god asked him once, keeping all the monsters at bay.
She did not belong here, he gasped, dying on the dirt, eyes on the god's, blue as the sky he could barely remember, blue as the child's. This was not her place.
He had never been a good man. But he was at peace, sure of his death, glad the child had made it to freedom. The only good thing he had ever done.
.
It was not a god who carried him from Hell. It was only a man, albeit a powerful one. The most powerful man he'd ever met, would ever meet. Henri Ducard. Ra's al Ghul.
Talia's father.
Talia's father, who saved him and thanked him, and then cast him out for being too vicious. Too monstrous. Talia's father, who had left her in Hell for long, horrifying years.
He did not fight the judgment. He had long known himself to be a monster, and now his face merely reflected his soul. His body reflected his spirit – darkness, completely, unerringly, endlessly. He'd never denied the truth. Talia was safe now, and so he left content.
But she followed.
The child followed him.
.
I abandoned you to your fate once, she said, one hand on the mask, the other cupped around the back of his head. You kept me safe in Hell and I left you there. I'll never leave you again.
All he could do was hold her, cradle her as gently as he had when she was an infant, while her mother wept in despair. An innocent babe, locked in the darkness of Hell. He looked down at her, and she smiled up at him, and he swore to do his best to keep her safe.
The only good thing he'd ever done.
.
When Ra's al Ghul died, something in Talia died, too. Her resolved hardened and she turned her gaze to Gotham – for vengeance, because now she and her father could never reconcile. There could be no forgiveness.
He didn't care what they did or where they went; he'd given himself to Talia as an infant, all those years ago. Her will was his. He was her weapon, her protector, her friend.
She wanted Gotham to burn and Bruce Wayne to die agonized in the ashes.
Her will be done.
.
He had been young when he first held her, barely a man. He had never leered at her mother, never threatened her, for all the various terrible things he'd done. Of all his sins, forcing a woman has never been one of them.
Not that he stops his men. He protects only one woman, though she can defend herself now, his goddess grown and surveying her realm.
"We shall succeed where my father failed," she says, turning to grant him a smile. "We will complete his work, my dear."
He nods his head, coming to stand behind her, and wraps his arms around her when she leans against him.
How she has grown, his goddess. What a woman she has become.
He would do it all again.
.
Who were you? the child asked once, curled between him and the wall. Before this place.
He stared out at Hell, at the monsters prowling close, and bared his teeth. I was nothing, he murmured, already knowing what he had been born to do.
.
He would give her the world, but she wants only a city. All her power, brought to bear on a metropolis rotting from the inside out. She creates a new identity and goes to lay the groundwork; he recruits their army and lays groundwork of his own.
All must be perfect, for his goddess. They will burn Gotham to the foundations and die in the flames. The shadows will be swept away in the conflagration, and all will end, and maybe Talia will be content.
She calls him every night, and they speak of days long ago, and nights that were cold but for each other, and of the day soon to come, the day of retribution and justice and balance.
I miss you, she always says, sighing a world away.
Soon, he promises.
Soon grows closer, until it is finally the day of reckoning.
.
It is the day of reckoning, and his goddess falls.
.
He breathes for her. He bleeds for her. He will burn the world for her.
.
Why did you protect the child? a god asked him once, keeping all the monsters at bay.
He had been hers from her first breath, when the sky smiled at him from her eyes. They were both born in the shadows, tempered in the fires of Hell. She was his hope; he protected her so that one day she could find her own.
A man carried him from the pit, out into the light, where his goddess was growing older and wiser all the time.
The child is dead, like her father before her, and he will punish the world for her death.
Talia is dead. Her protector failed.
His eyes are open as Gotham's little maggots reclaim the city, his men dead or captured, and this time, the plan will be his.
No mercy. No hesitation.
He breathes and goes to ground, to lick his wounds and mourn.
Talia's last wish had been for Batman to feel the heat and know he had failed as his beloved Gotham died around him.
In her name, her will be done.
.
He had been born in the shadows, tossed into the darkness, abandoned to despair and fear.
His only light was a little girl's laughter, a little girl's smile, a little girl's curiosity and determination. She should never have been in the pit, nor her mother – and for all his sins, he could not comprehend the cruelty of Talia's grandfather.
For Talia, his first kill outside of the pit was her grandfather. She had smiled beautifully, watching him choke on his own bile.
For Talia, he rests and plans and lets the world believe him dead.
For Talia, the world will burn.
For Talia.