Rules - Batman fic -- PG13

[tigriswolf]

Fandom: Batman
Title: Rules
Disclaimer: no one mentioned did I create
Warnings: AU; character death
Pairings: none
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 325
Point of View: third

The Batman does not kill.

It is a rule, edged in granite, unbreakable: the Batman does not kill. If he were to take a life, he would no longer be Batman, but instead a criminal.

The Batman does not kill.

----

All men bleed and all men die. Even the Batman is not invincible; he is not an alien, but instead flesh, blood, and bone. And all men, even the alien type, feel anger. Hate. Despair. 

And because they feel those darker emotions, rules—even rules edged in granite—can be broken.

----

When Bruce Wayne assumed the cowl of Batman, when he invented the vigilante and began prowling Gotham for crime, he wrote three rules. 

The Batman does not negotiate.

The Batman does not attack unless provoked.

The Batman does not kill.

----

Of course, time passes. And two of the three were broken over the course of years. But one, the third and final rule of the Batman, remained uncrossable. Unbreakable. But the Batman towed such a fine, fine line. And black and white blur so very easily into many shades of gray.

----

The Batman does not kill. Not even when provoked beyond most men’s endurance. Even when it would save another life. Even when it would save his own. 

The Batman does not kill.

-----

Except Bruce Wayne collapses on his bed. Except blood stains his hair and face. Except the warm, sticky blood had sprayed into his mouth as he screamed at the Joker, “You will hurt no one else!” 

Except the Joker died and Bruce Wayne sleeps easily tonight.

Tonight the Batman crossed a line. Such a fine, fine line. The line between hero and villain, perhaps.

The line that, once crossed, can never be crossed again.

----

The Batman does not kill. Perhaps, Alfred realizes, watching Bruce Wayne sleep, the Batman is no more. 

Maybe he died with the first man he killed.

 

Comments

[dariclone.livejournal.com]

That was just so realistic and staryling. I loved it!

[tigriswolf]

Thank you!