Only two words to say: epic battle. :D
Rachel's heartbreaking death has broken Bruce more than before because it happened for sure this time, but we are FAR from over. Anyone who has seen "The Mummy Returns" must have the idea. That's as far as I am going to avoid spoilers. Just know that Bruce's rage is beyond the way Batman had his, as he is not Batman anymore - so he might be willing to go a little further while staying in character.
Chapter Twelve
At last. At long last, the time was upon them. Talia grinned triumphantly as she marched without hesitation back into the chamber where her father's statue rested, waiting for the blood of life to enter his mouth. The blood of the failure of a man, and that of the woman I will never call a sister. The red glimmered dark and rich in the gold in her hands.
She stood before the serpent statue, in all its regal form and power etched in stone unlike many things in life that weren't set in stone. Ra's al Ghul had been a powerful human being in life, and he would be even more now. The mouth of the gigantic golden creature was wide open for her to pour the goblet's contents down and into the passageway that led to the preserved corpse of the Demonhead.
She wasn't sure how much time elapsed before a great force zoomed from the statue and shook her body, suctioning like a great wind past her, and the whole room was soon filled with an even brighter lighting of gold than before. She grinned again as the Gold Temple returned to life in its former glory.
~o~
The earth rumbled beneath their feet of the desert Anna now stood with the army she'd raised from the Book of the Dead left by her mother before she died. She stood before them as their unofficially appointed leader, her sword given to her by the dead man which had once been general of the Roman army in Caesar's time, now joined unlikely but appropriate for this present day against the one that would soon arise. The one they all feared for thousands of years.
Anna gritted her teeth as she witnessed it all with her "men". The sands of time had poured out, and a darkness was covering the golden sands of the Sacred Desert, spreading faster than any clouds of an impending storm. Symbolic and also perfect enough, she thought sarcastically as she gripped the reins of her horse; the skeleton soldiers rode on their own horses long since decayed as well to bones and dust. "So it begins," she murmured in Spanish, half to herself. Bruce, Rachel, everyone...please hurry.
~o~
What has just happened? Jonathan wondered even though he knew the answer. The impact was like that of an earthquake shaking the earth, and before the whole pyramid had been a dull golden brown; now it was pure, almost blinding gold. He almost collapsed to the ground along with everyone else; Sinéad and little Damien held onto each other for support while Bruce fell atop the corpse of his lover and the mother of his son. Looking over at them, Jonathan felt a pang of grief he had never felt before.
We have an unforgettable and unpleasant history, and I will never forgive or forget what she did to take away my life, but...she didn't deserve to die this way. The boy needs his mother, and I never knew mine. I wouldn't know what it was like, but I know she deserved to live as a whole family.
He saw Bruce stand and rise, dusting off his all-black uniform with a look of sole angry determination that he now knew he'd seen somewhere before. "I'm going to stop them," he said in a lower voice, gruff that was all too distinguished, making Jonathan remain where he was in pure and utter shock.
Batman...he is the Batman...was the Batman, he corrected himself, watching the billionaire vanish out the door, his whole body shaking visibly that Sinéad and Damien noticed and went over to him. "Are you all right?" she asked.
He couldn't tell her, not now. Not with the boy there, for he was too young to understand and would go around telling people and jeopardize his family. "Just the shock of the impact," he lied. She nodded, scrutinizing him, telling him that she didn't believe him. Damien, however, ignored him and instead went to kneel beside his mother's body, his cries audible and Jonathan would have called annoying if it weren't for the sympathy he began to develop for the child. He walked over and knelt beside him, patting the small back, a warm electrical surge coursing through his body afterwards. It was a warmth he never felt before in his life. Not like the one Sinéad gives me; no, this is something else I can't quite place.
He wasn't sure how to console the boy without hurting his feelings more than they already were, and without invoking Sinéad's wrath. "I'm so sorry, Damien, but think of it this way. She's gone to a better place." The barriers between myth and real life were broken anyway, so there had to be a point of some afterlife. "Like my grandmother used to say, and like it says in the good book..."
Damien's head perked up then and looked straight at him, his brown eyes wide. "The book! That's it! The Book of the Dead!"
"He is precisely one bright little child, and I'm willing to help."
All heads turned to the doorway where the woman in white priestess robes stood, in both her hands said book, the black cover resembling river rock carved with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Unbelievable, but it has to be done. However, Jonathan's rational side kicked in that he demanded with Sinéad, "Who are you?"
She cracked a small smile; her eyes were covered by a black band to indicate that she was blind. "Hasina, high priestess of Mistress al Ghul. She will have my head for this, but I hold morals that the woman did not deserve the end she got. She deserves another chance that was wrongfully taken from her. Once she returns, all of you must join your friend against the fallen rearisen."
~o~
The gong could be heard banging from the distance. Bruce gripped the weapon he found along the way in both hands - a golden sword taken from the statue of a warrior from long ago - anger and fire coursing his blood and flowing through his heart and his whole body. This is for Rachel...and this is for the whole world.
The darkened end of the hallway ended with a burst of gold and all things rich and old - everything from the roaring fires and illumination of the treasures scattered about. Treasures from the ancient world. Bruce's skin was beginning to sweat, not that he cared; it was a release of the pain his heart was feeling through his body. Four years of living without Rachel, thinking she was dead only for her to reemerge and break the news about a son, their hopes of starting over as a family dying along with her only minutes ago. It would be just him, Damien and Alfred from then on, until however long the old man would live.
Bruce knew he had to focus on his mission and shoved all thoughts to the back of his brain. He crouched behind a large bonfire container as soon as the view of the woman who murdered his lover came into view; Talia was mustering all her strength as she swung the drumstick and rang the gigantic golden disc called a gong, the sound echoing throughout the whole temple in an effort to summon her father, wherever he was. Bruce had been hoping he would never see Ra's al Ghul again, but he swore from this day forward it would be the last time.
He noticed a chasmic space between him and Talia, and it opened to reveal thousands of figures clamoring for someone to come in; their shapes were human, but they couldn't be living human beings. Outlines were red over brown, faceless things too violent and eager for humanistic characteristics, and the sliver between them was red bordering on yellow...the underworld. The entrance to the underworld stood between him and this beautiful woman too cruel to be considered any man's dream. But this obstacle didn't stop Bruce from unleashing a shout and all his limited strength he would gladly risk for his sweet Rachel and avenge her death. He still clung to his morals that justice and revenge were two separate things, but the times have changed.
An inhuman bellow suddenly shook the whole room by the time his feet touched the floor less than a foot away from the chasm in the earth he had crossed. It made the daughter stumble herself, but as soon as she regained herself, she saw him standing distances away and smiled. "So, you chose to leave the wife to die, didn't you?" she taunted.
"Would have been my wife," Bruce returned, more than ready to murder her and break his one rule.
"Sometimes you have to sacrifice for the greater good, as my father always used to say." She abandoned the gong and began to make way towards him, walking around a fallen statue. "Rachel was a necessary sacrifice; she had to give up what was most precious to her for the good of the cause."
"I LOVED HER!" Bruce roared angrily, losing his temper. "But what would you know about love when you never experienced it?!"
"She can learn to give it to you, Bruce. Join us and end this conflict today."
That voice... Bruce thought with horror as he heard the sound of the main double grand doors of the chamber open slowly with loud creaks, getting his attention and Talia's. He didn't miss her triumphant smirk, chose to ignore it and held his weapon on him as the doors opened to show a gigantic serpent figure in the darkness, outlined by the lighting in the background only, until it slithered into the chamber to show all of its horrifying glory.
The thing estimated to be about sixty feet long, rust-colored with shimmering black scales in places that were there and not there, depending on the light reflection, the spikes of the back as golden as the head in which the mouth opened to show a long, narrow red tongue and two long white fangs, gleaming brighter than any sword blade in the world. The spikes of the back of the head served as more of a "crown"; the eyes gleamed vivid ruby red with a narrow black slit of a pupil. Ra's al Ghul. But not in human form.
The face was too snakelike to form a human smile, but Bruce could hear it in its voice, bearing the slither of a common serpent mingled with the voice he remembered but haven't heard since the monorail crash. "Did you not think I would return, Bruce? I told you I was immortal. Many forms of immortality, at that."
Bruce backed away, crouching low to nearly match tiger-stance. "I won't join you, Ra's. I said no that night and now is no exception. I stopped you that night, and I'll do it now. For Rachel and the whole world."
The snake laughed, the sound rattling like a cobra's tail. "You will never learn, will you? You fought your decadence for Gotham for years, and now you will learn it's all beyond saving. If this is your choice, then meet your end like your lover."
"Your own daughter," Bruce spat, quickly taking notice of how the long tail whipped out and made way for him. However, he didn't dodge it fast enough to be knocked into the abdomen, the force knocking the oxygen out of his body and sending him back and into the air. He slid along the smooth stone floor, still clutching the sword in his hand. If Ra's al Ghul wanted to fight again to the death, he would get it.
And they say family is messy business; truer words have never been spoken: "Nothing is thicker than blood." I also love the Animated Series version of Ra's and Talia that I couldn't resist bringing that in.