An Origin and an Ending Chapter 8, a batman begins/dark knight fanfic

A/N: Hello my lovelies! Sorry it's been such a long time. Just going to do a few anon review replies (read them if you want a little insight, perhaps, into where this story's going…)

Ladyannabeth – chapter 3

I like how you wrote "we know Grace won't die tragically". Aha, but we are yet to meet our story's end. Perhaps Grace will have a tragic ending…

But I also liked what you mentioned about "you've made [Bane] even more human by having him make all the wrong choices even though he knows there's something better out there" – all my writing, fanfiction or not, is about people and the choices they make. I'm being greatly inspired by Wuthering Heights at the moment and the idea of pride and cold logic becoming before love – I find that idea fascinating, and want to bring a little of that into this.

Ladyannabeth – chapter 7

"It fleshes out Grace even more and we actually get to see the side of her that really is the daughter of a drug dealer". Lots of people have mentioned this aspect of Grace's character that I never really thought of before – early reviews mentioned that Grace must be a bit of a badass. So I'm dreaming up plot thread that explores that aspect of her personality a little more. It's all coming together in my head guys, very exciting!

Also: YES! I loved Crane the tickle monster too, bless him. Completely and unashamedly OOC but the idea made me giggle.

'Grace'

Thank you so much! I'm trying to bring out that underprivileged background (Bane reminds me of Plan B, haha! But, you know, more deadly terrorist than political rapper…). Also his English accent gives me the perfect opportunity to write a fanfiction set in my home country. Tom Hardy's voice/accent is GORGEOUS and I suggest all the readers check it out on YT if you want an idea of how Bane speaks in this fic. (Because, like Batman, I think Bane puts on that voice because he's wearing a mask).

Not an anon but shout out to the awesome 'Old Gregg' who left a review. HI. Yes, best ep of The Mighty Boosh in the world.

Amanda:

I did research to check they did A Levels in 1988, eheh. Yeah, I wanted to include it to give it that authentic feel (and also the English A Level system is VERY different to the US equivalent, so it needed some explanation as to why the characters are taking the subjects they do.

Now: on with the story!

(Note: half way through Bane uses the word 'gel'. This means girl, pronounced like hair GEL but with a hard g. There you go!)

Tired of the sound

I've heard before

The gnawing of the night time at the door,

Haunted by the things I've made.

I was broken

Grace avoided him for a week – she even swapped seats with someone in maths so she was huddled right in the back corner of the room. He couldn't watch her without rather pointedly twisting in his seat and staring, so he made do with sending her quick glances when he checked the clock on the back wall. She was always working, head bowed, hair framing her face – there was one moment where she might have been looking at him, but her eyes snapped away before he could tell.

He found himself missing her smile and the way her eyes used to light up sometimes when she caught him grinning at her. He missed the small groan she made when she made the same mistake in a maths problem and he missed the way, when she was irritated, she would cluck her tongue and scowl. He missed her.

Still. All this was better than lying to her. He already felt guilty for keeping his childhood locked away from her; he didn't want to start adding white lies about boys with broken noses into the mix.

So when said boy appeared, his feelings were momentarily jumbled. When he'd been speaking to Grace he hadn't felt guilty – yet, seeing the boy with an odd sort of nose guard and two dark bruises underneath his eyes, his stomach clenched. He rarely saw the consequences of his attacks – he'd broken bones before, had once stabbed a boy's hand with a fork – and he couldn't help feeling guilty. He'd never felt guilt before – all of his attacks, he had thought, were either deserved or provoked. But perhaps he'd been a little too violent with the year thirteen boy.

So he couldn't blame the way Damien flinched when Bane popped up next to him as he pulled a few books from his locker.

'You alright, mate?' Bane asked forcedly, clapping a hand on Damien's shoulder until he cringed away.

'Look, if you're going to throw me in a bin can you just… get on with it?' Damien whispered, earning a stare of confusion from Bane.

'Look, mate, I'm not a bully, I just get –'

'Could have fooled me,' Damien snorted, slamming his locker shut, rucksack in hand.

'Hey, look – I'm sorry about your nose and all,' Bane told him awkwardly, his own nose crinkling up as he looked down at the boy in front of him. He was a skinny thing with pale skin and thick-rimmed glasses. Abruptly he did feel like a bully. 'I just overreacted – I was worried about my friend.'

Damien stared at him, eyes narrowed and shrewd.

'I know Grace. She's a sweet kid.' He paused, running his tongue over his teeth, sending Bane a look that made him feel like the boy – a year younger than Damien – that he was. 'You two are friends, then?'

'Well,' Bane frowned, scratching anxiously at the back of his head, 'we're sort of fighting at the moment.' Damien nodded, head cocked to one side.

'Look, it's cool – there's not going to be any permanent damage to my nose or anything. Don't worry about it.'

Bane blinked rapidly, flushing a deep red. Just as he'd never apologised to someone he'd hit or beaten up, he'd never been forgiven – it was a lightening sensation and he felt a little more free on his toes afterwards. He was jolted out of his reverie by Damien clapping him on the shoulder and wandering off as the bell rang shrilly.

Shaking the dumbstruck expression away from his face, Bane realised he was going to be late for his games lesson and broke into a sprint – hence why he didn't see Grace staring after him a small smile playing across her lips.

'Damien!'

The boy jumped – it was the second time he had been approached that day and, as someone who was used to melting into the crowds, it was fraying his nerves. He turned to stare at Grace, eyebrow raised. He knew what had happened wasn't Grace's fault, but as he smiled at her and felt a twinge of pain in his sore nose, he couldn't help but feel a matching twinge of resentment.

'Hello, Grace,' he smiled uneasily; he was itching to head home early, his free periods last thing on a Wednesday the perfect opportunity to skive school. She bobbed her head anxiously, looking up at him with bright eyes, the full view of Grace's face for the first time pulling a wince out of him.

'What the hell happened to you?' He gawped, resisting the urge to trace a hand over the heavy, dark bruise on her face. The mark was beginning to fade but by the way the crinkling of her eyes or the raising of an eyebrow was followed by a wince, it still hurt. Rolling her eyes, Grace let out a light laugh and explained,

'My Dad gets really bad night-terrors – he clipped me when I was trying to wake him up.' Both were aware of how hollow – how false – her words sounded, falling around them like lies; luckily, no one who had questioned Grace so far, teachers and students alike, had cared enough to press the matter. Whilst Grace had managed to attach herself to a small knot of girls, she was still relatively solitary and spent most of her time alone, nigh-on disappearing most lunchtimes. She didn't have enough particularly close friends to worry themselves about her – unlike Bane's group of four tightly bound friends – and so felt uncomfortable when Damien leaned forward and asked in an low voice,

'Did Bane do that to you –'

'Jesus, Damien, no!' Grace interrupted, a mixture of outrage and frustration laced with her voice. Raising his hands in defence, Damine told her bitterly,

'To be fair, he does sort of have a track record.'

Although the evidence was right in front of her in the form of Damien's broken nose, Grace gritted her teeth, jaw clenching dangerously. Struggling to keep her voice soft and gentle, she continued,

'I'm fine. I was just wondering – I, uh, I saw you talking with Bane earlier.'

Glancing down at her feet awkwardly, aware of the way her voice echoed down the corridor –she had skipped maths to hunt Damien's locker down, and had happened to catch him at the right moment – Grace forced herself to ask, 'what were you guys talking about?'

Damien turned on her as his locker automatically snapped shut, eyes narrowing. He and Grace were barely friends – they were closer to pleasant acquaintances – and he couldn't help but wonder on the abrupt interest she had taken in his social life.

'Why do you want to know?' He eventually replied, leaning his shoulder against the lockers in an attempt to deduce Grace. Unfortunately, Grace Clarke was fairly unreadable; her features should have felt like an open book but, on closer inspection, the constant, gentle animation of her face hid more than it revealed. A curl of blonde hair was hanging in her eyes and her lips remained staid, pulled into a strict line as she attempted to find an answer. The most expressive part of the girl was the constant twisting of her long fingers, revealing her struggles as she eventually met his gaze.

'We're – uh, we're kind of arguing at the moment. And I noticed he, uh – he's never really talked to you before –'

'He mentioned the two of you were fighting.'

Damien mainly told Grace this so he could play a game of spot the reactions; hers was barely perceptible, but her eyes lit up a fraction.

'Really? Bane talked to you about me?' Grace asked sceptically. Damien nodded and she took a moment to puff a breath of air through her lips.

Her face changed – abruptly. Every reserve, every barrier broke and a look of pure desperation welled up from her eyes and melted her hardened features. Throat tight, she muttered,

'Please Damien, just – just tell me what he said.'

Looking at the little girl before him, Damien realised that everything about the pair was so far gone beyond his realm of understanding. The way Bane had so brutally jumped to her protection – how Grace was looking at him now, so desperate and pleading. An odd bond had formed between these two broken people – so fast, so intense – and Damien knew he would never get to grips with it. It wasn't love or affection – it was if each sensed the other was splintered and broken, knew no one else in the world would be quite like them, and had been involuntarily drawn closer together. Very unhealthy – very Disco Pigs.

Damien saw that, no matter how odd and dangerous that unique bond was, the pair now couldn't stand to see it broken. If he could do something to fix the pair he would, Damien figured.

'Honestly – it wasn't much. He came up to me, apologised – said he'd overreacted when he saw you get hurt. That was it, really.'

'And?' Grace pressed. 'What did you say?'

'Uh – not much. Just that it alright.'

'You forgave him?' Grace clarified, knotting her fingers together now as Damien shrugged.

'Honestly – it wasn't a big deal.'

Grace nodded slowly, looking faintly dazed. She stared down at her feet for a few, long moments, then blinked herself back into her usual smile. Shooting Damien a sweet grin she wandered away – breaking into a jog when she realised how late she was for her lesson. Watching her faded rucksack bounce on her shoulders, Damien wondered to himself what made the girl so messed up, to have a bond with Bane. He could guess at Bane – the boy had been in care, lived with a foster family now, obviously there was something behind all that – but Grace seemed lik ea hive of carefully contained secrets.

Shaking his head to clear himself of thoughts, Damien wandered away, scrambling through his pockets to see if he had enough money for the bus home or if he'd have to walk as the heavens opened outside.

A/N: Song: I Was Broken – Marcus Foster

Hello! Sorry it's been a while. I had this chapter half written and I was determined to upload it yesterday but… Well life.

Yesterday I got my AS level results and I did really well – 2 As and 2 BS. But I got a D in English Literature, which pretty much broke my heart. So yesterday involved a lot of crying and me worrying, as I want to do English Lit at uni. Not to worry though – our ENTIRE CLASS OF TOP SET A/S LEVEL STUDENTS got Es, Us or Ds. (A U is an ungraded, so a FAIL, which was awarded to a boy who got nearly full marks in his coursework). It makes no sense and our teacher is getting all the papers recalled and remarked – he thinks there was a marking problem and that they'll all go up, and he's still confident I'll get a top mark. I'm aiming for A* in English so it really is ridiculous, the grades we all got.

Love to all :) Ooh, QOTD: what film have you seen a trailer for and gone, ooh, I REALLY want to see that. I'm obsessing over Lawless and a beautiful looking new Cillian Murphy film with Rory Kinnear in called Broken. You can watch both trailers on the ole' YT. Also did anyone else get their results yesterday? Were you pleasantly surprised or HORRIFICALLY SURPRISED as I was?

Anyway, thank you for my reviews last chapter. To all the regular readers who may have missed it – I uploaded a small part 1 to the prologue. Tell me what you think, chicaaaas.

So please review. I'm pretty drained after yesterday, all the crying and feels, and still really worried. YOUR REVIEWS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND COMFORTING AND YOU SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR ME I MIGHT HAVE TO TAKE A GAP YEARRRRR.