Epilogue
Alugana Al' Ghul was brought to trial, she pleaded guilty and had chosen not to accept a lawyer from the state. She was charged guilty for her crimes against Gotham and for the many deaths that had come by her influence, including Bane's murders as well. On the day of her execution by the gas chamber, Commisioner Gordon had arrived with pardon from the new Mayor of Gotham city himself.
She was taken away from the chains of justice and thrown into the popularity of politics. The city that had once hated her had fallen in love with her and she was a hero. She was no Batman, but to the city they considered her the remains of his purpose. They had hoped she would take his place, instead Alugana left. She thanked the Commissioner by giving him one of her father's blades and gave the other to John. She left Gotham with a promise that she would never return. She left America. She went Home.
...
Sometimes she would walk to the pond, she would stare at the waters and be at peace. She would smile and laugh at jokes, sometimes swim around in those same waters. Off in the distance, following the path, there lead to the great dojo of the League of Shadows. She had spent years building it, but it was never alone. Bane with her in spirit and he was with her in his son.
God was real. She could see it in the things that happened around her and all of her pain was worth it. She could see it in the things that her son was capable of. He was so strong. Her students just as much, but she favored him as her own blood. She would sit by the pond and tell him stories, he would sometimes cry and laugh. He would sometimes ask about his father and she would say, "He was a great man."
She never lied to him, she never left out a single detail when telling her son about all that her father had committed. He loved his father despite all these truths. Bane would have wanted him to know the truth anyways.
She told her son about Talia, the sister she had always wanted and had always had. She had loved and cared about deeply. The sister who had become corrupt with the very power that Ra's was trying to end.
She told her son about John and Gordon, about Bruce Wayne and most especially about Gotham.
She traveled to the pit in an attempt to retrieve Nazir. She had meant to save him from the darkness, but he was too far gone.
"My death will be in this hell and that is what has been chosen for me."
She taught the youngest in the village, but she never forced them to stay. She could never be her false father. She could never be like the man that killed her mother and her siblings.
She never told her son about this man, but he would ask of course. He would ask about the scars and she would tell him that they were her strength. They reminded her of what she never wanted to be and he would look at her with great understanding and love.
He was so smart. Like his father.
She would sit by this pond and wish that Bane was here. She would wish that Talia had never turned and that Ra's was never killed. But in the end as she watched her son learn the ways of the shadow alongside his companions, as she watched the wind drift across the waters of the pond, as she watched the ice freeze over and the snow start to fall, as she watched the sun rise and her entire world melt.
This was her balancing point.
She knew that without losing all of them, without losing the past, she never would have had him. He was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She thanked Bane every night as much as she had thanked the highest entity. She use to never believe that God was real, but through all that she has experienced and for it all to end in happiness... It was proof that he did.
And the gift that had been given to her would never be harmed.
His name was Sa'za.
Her name was Alugana.
And Ren was never heard of again.
The End.
I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I really have loved writing it, but I don't want to stop writing about Ren and the rest of the gang so there will definitely be a prequel once I work out the wrinkles in the plot.