He asks, softly, looking him in the eye, holding him like that. He doesn't let him speak yet, knows the denial will be instantaneous, but rather wants him to think about it.
He lies still in Bane's arms, absorbing pain and something stable.
"Bats."
It comes in a rasp, with a smile. And it's true, but there's also the fear of failure, which he developed after Rachel died. So Ra's never touched either phobia.
"What she does not see cannot hurt her. The dead, in my mind, do not watch."
He murmurs.
"They simply are not. Snuffed, from the world, without consequence or meaning. There is no justice, no harmony, but no injustice or dischord either. We are simply a sum of cells. Shed the intolerable cruelty and injustic of her death and focus on the air that moves in and out of your lungs."
Bruce's philosophy of the afterlife is much the same: there isn't one. But he's clung to Rachel's ideals, and the crushing guilt over her death has kept it all very much alive in his mind. He's heard virtually every suggestion there is on how to deal with it, and on the surface Bane's advice isn't any different.
But the wording is; it acknowledges the injustice without throwing it in Bruce's face, and it's specific. 'The air that moves in and out of your lungs'. It's oddly hypnotic, and Bruce closes his eyes, and breathes.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-08-22 09:41 pm (UTC)He asks, softly, looking him in the eye, holding him like that. He doesn't let him speak yet, knows the denial will be instantaneous, but rather wants him to think about it.
"I'll teach you to face it."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:22 pm (UTC)"Bats."
It comes in a rasp, with a smile. And it's true, but there's also the fear of failure, which he developed after Rachel died. So Ra's never touched either phobia.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:29 pm (UTC)He murmurs, forehead creasing down at him.
"Fearsome in flight, I suppose."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:32 pm (UTC)He's well aware that it's ridiculous. It was absurd even when he was a child.
"So I became Batman."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:39 pm (UTC)He decides, shifting them, sitting back, dragging Bruce up.
"You'll like them once they're in your lap."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:43 pm (UTC)"And what's your fear?"
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:14 pm (UTC)Which he survived.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:49 pm (UTC)He taps his nose.
"The rest is just finding rhythm once more."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:05 am (UTC)He's resisted it for so long...but the world is falling apart and he can't help if he can't pull himself out of his own wreckage.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:06 am (UTC)He orders him, arms around him.
"The past is past."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:18 am (UTC)"Is that how you're all right with having me around, even with how she felt about me?"
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:25 am (UTC)He murmurs.
"They simply are not. Snuffed, from the world, without consequence or meaning. There is no justice, no harmony, but no injustice or dischord either. We are simply a sum of cells. Shed the intolerable cruelty and injustic of her death and focus on the air that moves in and out of your lungs."
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:43 am (UTC)But the wording is; it acknowledges the injustice without throwing it in Bruce's face, and it's specific. 'The air that moves in and out of your lungs'. It's oddly hypnotic, and Bruce closes his eyes, and breathes.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:51 am (UTC)Said, as though that is that.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 12:54 am (UTC)