My eyes opened and I was in a familiar cell. I was in Bane's prison.
My cell door was open, just like everyone else's. I slowly walked out and looked around me. It was strange that I knew this place like the back of my hand when I had never even been here before.
I was dressed in the blue outfit the prisoners wore. My hair was tied up into a high ponytail. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was the only female in this place.
I walked around until I found Bruce's cell.
"Bruce," I said quietly.
"Kris?" he said. His voice was hoarse from the extreme pain he was in because of his broken back.
I walked in and sat down next to his bed, taking his hand in mine. "I'm so sorry."
"This is my fault. I couldn't beat him."
I looked at him sadly and gently squeezed his hand. The kind prisoner from the film came into the cell with us.
"You must be Kristina Jacobson," he said to me. I nodded in reply. "Yes, we were told this man's love was joining us." He went to the other side of Bruce's bed and began giving him food and water. The blind doctor in the cell next to us said something in a different language. "He asks how much you would pay us to let you die," the prisoner said to Bruce. "I told him. I told him you had nothing."
"Do it for the pleasure," Bruce rasped.
"They pay me more than that to keep you alive."
"Don't think that way," I said to him. "I know you're in pain, but I will not allow you to die."
The prisoners outside began chanting.
"He will try the climb."
Bruce painfully turned to see what was going on. One of the prisoners tied the rope around his waist and began climbing. Unfortunately, he fell at the same place everyone else did and came crashing down.
"Has anyone ever made it?" Bruce asked.
"Of course not."
The blind doctor said something roughly.
"He says there is one who did. A child. A child born in this hell."
"Bane."
Wrong. It's Miranda.
"An old legend. Nothing more." The prisoner got up and turned on the TV.
"Don't," Bruce begged.
"Whatever it is they want you to see, it's happening soon."
After a while, we watched the TV in horror as Bane came onto the football field and gave his long speech about the bomb.
Then the president came onto the screen and gave an encouraging talk to the city about staying strong. I looked over at Bruce and the look on his face and the tear coming down from his eye made me feel all kinds of terrible. He winced as another surge of pain coursed through him. I softly ran my fingers through his hair and clutched onto his hand. Before long, he was unconscious. It hurt me so much to see him like this. So broken in so many ways.
Ever so quietly, I began to sing Siúil A Rún to him. I remembered singing this to him when he had been gassed. That seemed like so very, very long ago. I sang the song to him over and over again. I noticed a few of the prisoners walk by the cell and stay to listen to me. It occurred to me that my singing was probably better than anything that had happened to them in a very long time. Soon, at least fifteen prisoners were sitting outside the cell listening to me sing.
I continued to run my hand through Bruce's hair and I pressed small kisses on his face.
"I love you," I whispered to him letting my head touch his.
The next day, we watched Bane's speech outside of Blackgate before he released all the prisoners inside.
It wasn't long before Bruce forced himself out of the bed and onto the floor. He tried to do a push-up but failed miserably.
The blind doctor said something next to us as the prisoner walked in.
"He says you must first fix your back." The prisoner went over to him and the both of us rolled him over.
"How would he know?" Bruce asked.
"He was the prison doctor. He's a morphine addict who incurred the displeasure of powerful people. Including your masked friend." He grabbed a rope and fashioned it into the tool needed to help Bruce heal.
"How?"
"Many years ago, it was a time of plague. Some of the other prisoners attacked Bane. The doctor's fumbling attempts to repair the damage left him in perpetual agony. The mask holds the pain at bay."
"Bane was the child you spoke of? He was born here?"
No, it's still Miranda.
"The legend is that there was a mercenary who worked for a local warlord. He fell in love with the warlord's daughter. They were married in secret. When the warlord found out, the mercenary was condemned to this pit. But then he exiled him instead. The mercenary understood that it was the daughter who had secured his release. But what he could not know was the true price of his freedom. She took his place in the pit. And she was with child. The mercenary's child. Innocence cannot flower underground. It was to be stamped out. One day, the doctor forgot to lock the cell. But the child had a friend. A protector. Who showed the others that this innocence was their redemption. It was to be prized. The mother was not so lucky."
The blind man said something to the prisoner sharply.
"This is Bane's prison now. He wouldn't want this story told." I watched in horror with tears in my eyes as the prisoner pulled on the rope and hefted Bruce up as he began crying out from the utter pain. He went over to him and said, "There's a vertebra protruding from your back. It has to be put back."
I turned around and squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a fat tear drop to the ground as the prisoner roughly punched Bruce in the back fixing the vertebra. Bruce let out an awful scream that hurt me to my very core.
"Stay like this until you stand."
I slowly went over to him. His breathing was ragged and I knew he was in a ton of pain. Against my will, I felt more tears form in my eyes at the sight of him. I gently took his head in my hands and softly pressed my lips to his.
"Stay strong," I said quietly. "You can do this."
He looked up at me with wide eyes. To help distract him, I began singing again. This time, I sang All My Tears, a song we had played at my dad's funeral. Once again, more prisoners came by to listen to me.
Bruce eventually finally found the strength to stand on his own. He slowly removed himself from the rope while rejecting any attempts from me or the prisoner to help him.
It was time for him to try the jump for the first time. I watched him climb, and like I expected, he fell down and crashed into the wall when he missed the platform.
When he came up to me, I slowly walked up to him and enveloped him in a huge hug. We must've stayed that way for well over two minutes, but no around us seemed to care.
I went to my own cell and sat against the wall hugging my legs to my chest. Bruce came in not long after and sat down beside me. He took my hand in his and we sat in silence for some time.
Finally, he said, "I'm sorry you got sent here because of me."
I turned to look at him. "It's not your fault. I'm the one who came after you."
"To help me just like you always do. And instead you get taken away from everything you know and sent to this horrid place."
"At least I'm with you."
He leaned towards me and we shared a gentle kiss. That night, I went to his cell and lied down next to him on his bed. Obviously, the beds were small, so it was a tight fit, but I managed to get both of us to lay on it comfortably. I rested my head on his chest and then I felt his arm go around me and gently move up and down my arm.
As I watched Bruce do some sit-ups, the blind prisoner began speaking to him in English. "Survival is the spirit. The soul."
"My soul is as ready to escape as my body."
"Fear is why you fail."
"No, I'm not afraid. I'm angry."
Maybe so, but fear was what he needed to get out of here. I watched him prepare to do the jump for the second time. He didn't even make it up to the platform before he lost his footing and crashed into the wall, knocking himself out. Some of the prisoners lowered him down and I supported his head while they helped deliver him back to his cell.
He woke up with start and gasped heavily.
"Shh, shh," I whispered as I rubbed my hand through his hair. "You're okay."
"You do not fear death," the blind doctor said to him. "You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak."
"Why?" Bruce asked.
"How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible, without the most powerful impulse of the spirit? The fear of death."
"I do fear death. I fear dying in here while my city burns. There's no one there to save it. And I fear leaving Kris alone in this place with no way out."
"Then make the climb."
Bruce laughed. "How?"
"As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again."
It was time for the third and final climb. I walked out of my cell and joined Bruce at the bottom. There was a fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen in long time.
"You can do this," I said quietly to him with tears forming in my eyes once more. For some reason, my emotions were heightened here and I found that tears had been coming to me every time I saw Bruce. I hated it, but at the same time, it was also kind of refreshing to not force myself to hold everything in.
"I won't leave you here," he answered as he pressed his forehead to mine.
He gently kissed me as a tear ran down my cheek and when we parted, I whispered, "I love you." Before he could say anything back, I nudged him forward. "Go."
He tore himself away from me and very, very carefully began climbing higher and higher. I watched him as multiple tears slid down my cheeks. Finally he was at the platform where every man failed. I saw a swarm of bats come out and surround him, forcing him to duck. When he stood back up, he made eye contact with me, even though he was pretty far away from me. I nodded to him and I could just barely see him nod back. He paused as he stepped to the edge of the platform and looked out to the other one across from him. My hands were clenched into tight fists as I squeezed my pants legs in nervous anticipation. The chanting from the prisoners around me got louder and faster. I held my breath as he jumped.
I awoke in the bed in the Manor right as Bruce grabbed onto the second platform. A small smile etched on my face at the thought of him doing that. I always massively fangirled at that part when he finally made it out of the pit.
I held onto that dream as much as I could, especially when Bruce held me close in his bed and all the kisses we shared.
I had been wondering what would've happened if I had been sent to the pit with Bruce. I guess that's what it would've looked like.
At least if I was there, he wouldn't have to suffer through all that without me. But maybe the thought of seeing me again along with saving the city would be just what he needed to get out of there. And if that was the case, then no matter how much I wished I was with him, I was right where I needed to be.
This was actually a completely unintentional chapter. I finished the whole story when I was watching Dark Knight Rises with my best friend for the umpteenth time, and I got to wondering what it would've looked like if Kris had gotten sent to the pit with Bruce. Obviously, I couldn't just go and change everything I had already written, so thus this chapter was born! Ironically, it's my favorite chapter in the story! :)