Bruce didn't need to turn around. He knew that voice, it was ingrained in his mind more deeply than even Rachel's voice. His jaw steeled and he took a quick survey of the room near them to make sure no one was watching before he emptied his own champagne glass into a plant. He didn't need alcohol when he was being presented with this situation.
"What are you doing here, Ra's? You're a dead man." He knew. He still had the nightmares and the self-deprecation to prove it.
"You still have a lot to learn about life and death Bruce." Ra's answered, looking over at him. His gaze faltered, falling to the floor before looking back out at the city. Despite everything that had happened and everything that would happen soon enough Bruce was his student, the man Ra's had hoped would take the League after his own death, and Bruce had lost a great deal.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Rachel Dawes, the little girl Bruce had grown up with. The woman he most likely loved.
"Spare me your sympathy. I don't have anything left to learn about life or death," He turned to face Ra's finally, eyes burning with something between guilt, hatred and confusion as he stared him down. "I watched that shuttle crash, I watched when they pulled human remains from it on the 5 o'clock news." He was searching Ra's' expression as if searching for something that might explain how he could still be standing here, in front of Bruce, when Ra's Al Ghul's headstone was in the south end of Gotham Cemetery.
"Then why do you keep asking question?" Ra's asked, the picture of patience at Bruce's inquiries. "The remains weren't mine, I managed to escape the center of the explosion but was gravely injured. My men caught me before I hit the ground." And of course the same source of Crane's most potent toxin was always a wealth of healing, something Bruce would have learned if he hadn't stuck with this pointless philosophy. Just like his father.
"I've been watching Gotham Bruce, the works of Batman and what it's sown." He turned. "Do you see now? This city, it's beyond redemption. The rot, it's too far gone." Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent. The 'Joker.' He didn't need to say the names just yet.
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"What are you doing here, Ra's? You're a dead man." He knew. He still had the nightmares and the self-deprecation to prove it.
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"I'm sorry for your loss." Rachel Dawes, the little girl Bruce had grown up with. The woman he most likely loved.
Reply
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"I've been watching Gotham Bruce, the works of Batman and what it's sown." He turned. "Do you see now? This city, it's beyond redemption. The rot, it's too far gone." Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent. The 'Joker.' He didn't need to say the names just yet.
Reply
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