The blade slices into my throat. Blood quickly seeps out of the wound... This feels familiar... I try to keep going, picking myself up to face Red X, but the world fades to black...
I hurt myself today,
To see if I still feel,
Grey. That was the singular color of this massive space.
"So, this is Hell."
"Far from it, Bruce. This is just a small part of your mind." I turn towards the voice and...no...it can't be...
I focus on the pain,
The only thing that's real.
"Father?"
"Yes, son. But let's not forget the rest. Come on out, everyone, let's not keep him in the dark. ...He does that enough to himself..."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, they do. Mother appears behind Father. Alfred briskly walks toward them. I feel something behind me and see Jason doing the "bunny-ears" trick behind me, laughs, and walks over to the group. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn to see Dinah, gripping the shoulder for a moment, giving me a strange smile, before joining the others.
"How...how is this possible? All of you are..."
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting.
"Yes, we are," Mother said, "this is all going on in your head. Some people see their life flash before their eyes when they're dying or is having a near-death expierence, others have empithinies. You're one of the others."
"So, am I dying?"
"I doubt it, Master Bruce," Alfred said, "after all, you seem to still have, in a much reduced form, the abilities you aquired whilest under the command of the Unity." I wanted to look away from them, not wanting to see the hurt in their eyes, but I couldn't. I know this is something I have to do, I just don't know where I know this.
"Does that mean I'll still feel all of you in my mind?"
"Not exactly." Jason replied, "From what I understand, the actual minds of us left when you refused to no longer work with Unity. But, a small part of us are still inside you."
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
Suddenly, memories flood me. I remember meeting a young woman, I remember giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, I remember holding a young boy who I now have to care for, I remember meeting a wierd rich guy who accepts me in his home, I remember my mother pressuring me to continue her mantle.
Then, I see myself raising a small boy, in three different perspectives; I remember putting on a lame-looking green costume, and starting to fly across the city; I remember putting on a different costume and joining a group of titans, knowing my mother would be proud.
Then...then I remember The Joker carving into my chest, laughing maniacly, I remember two vile people violating me in the worst way, and yet again Joker beating repeatedly with a crowbar, begging for my mother to do something--anything--to help and her doing nothing.
...I remember protecting my son as a mugger shoots me in both the chest and in the jaw...
Finally, a memory from all perspectives, of looking through my eyes as I...
What have I become?
My sweetest friend.
"I betrayed everything. Everything I trained for, fought for, would willingly die for...all for memories."
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end.
"Okay, so you screwed up," I see Dinah standing next to me, hands on both my shoulders, "do you have any idea how much I screwed up in my life? How much the others here screwed up in their lives? Hell, how EVERYONE has screwed up in their lives? There's nothing you can do, but to get back on the horse and try again."
"No...this is the end. Did you NOT see what's going on out there? It's the end of the world. How can I try again if there's nothing left to try in?"
You could have it all
My empire of dirt,
"I can't do anything to stop it, I'm only a dying man in what's most likely thousands. I...I failed.
I will let you down
I will make you hurt.
"Okay, wait." Jason said, walking towards me, "You're telling me that the man who practically made me read Nietzche until the sun came up suddenly doesn't have enough will to keep going?! You are seeing history, ladies and gentlemen!"
"Yes, I must admit, seeing a stubborn man like yourself give up is quite unexpected," Alfred said, walking closer to others, seemingly crowding me. "Even in your most titanic guilt-trips, you still kept going."
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair,
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair.
"Honestly, I had a feeling this might happen," Mother said, getting closer to me, "so, your father, Alfred, and I decided to make something up in this mind, to help you."
"Wait...how is that possible?"
"You act as though this is the first time your mind created a different persona," Father replied.
The others got themselves off of me and walked to be behind me. Part of the grey disapates and I see a figure, on its knees in an alley. I realize immietely what this is, and I wonder what this is about. Suddenly, the figure stands and walk towards me. He barely reaches my waist, wearing a tux, and blood is stained on his knees, but I instantly reconize him.
He's me.
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears,
"It wasn't your fault. Neither of you."
I look down and I realize what he meant. The mask is missing, but I see the rest of my costume on me.
You are someone else
I am still right here.
I...I didn't know what to say. I could only drop to my knees. He/Me puts his arms around me, such an alien sensation.
What have I become?
My sweetest friend.
He let's go, and...he doesn't move, but I get further and further away...
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end.
You could have it all
My empire of dirt,
I understood what I was supposed to do. This might be the end of the world...but I still have to try and fight, if not for myself, then for the little boy that's still inside, for the people I love that I now feel is a part of me, for the people I decided long ago to defend, for the...for the ideals I swore to honor.
I will fight. If I don't survive, if I don't stop Unity, the least I could do is to go down fighting this evil. They would have to untangle me off this evil's claws, with my cold, dead hands.
I will let you down
I will make you hurt.
I see the others for the first time in what feels like forever. I push myself back on, to find the mask in my hands. I can't think of anywhere else it could possibly go but onto my face.
"Well, it looks like you don't need anymore convincing," Father said.
"Is...is this good-bye?"
"Not really," Mother said, "after all, we've always been a part of you. Now, it's even bigger. Make us proud, son."
"Yeah, Bruce, give 'em hell."
"You were the son I never had, Bruce. No matter what happens, I--and all of us--will still be pround of you. Remember that."
I wanted to go to them, embrace them for one final time, but they started to fade away. The grey of the space turned darker, completely black, and finally I fall back into the world in a blink. I'm still in the Fortress, the battle being just as intense. I feel my neck, and somehow the wound has caked over. I reminded of what they said about still holding a small portion of the powers I got from the Unity.
Though I wish every day that the events in my life that lead to this had not happened, I can't imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else then what I feel I am meant to do.
If I could start again
A million miles away,
I would keep myself...
I find Red X, not far from where I last saw him. I throw a Batarang at him, bashing him on the side of his mask. He turns and I give him a good show, slowly rising back from the dead.
"You think you have beaten me?"
I am Bruce Wayne. I am The Batman. I will never stop fighting. Ever.
...I would find a way...
