Title: Diary in Gotham (DC)
Fandom: Batman (Nolanverse).
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Bane, nameless citizen.
Rating: G.
Word count: 271.
Warnings: Spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises.
Challenge: #007 Bond
The first day, at the game ... it was supposed to be fun. Victory. But exhilaration turned to fear in our hearts when the field was destroyed, the distant, deep bass sensation of more bombs going off, boom, boom, boom, rattled us to the bone. Gotham was plunged into terror and darkness.
A week later, we were still learning to cope. Mostly we refused to even leave the house. Outside, we heard heavily armoured trucks and tanks roll down the street. The madman's followers were on the streets, armed to the teeth. Our food was running out alarmingly quickly.
A month later. We'd ventured into the world, gone back to work, put food on the table. But fear sent us all scurrying back home as soon as possible. Fighting over silly things like chores and choice of boyfriends stopped. It was easier to hold the hand of a loved one, easier to say the words 'I love you,' when we thought our lives could end at any moment, wiped away in the face of a too-powerful nuclear weapon.
And now it's been three months. We're still afraid. But we can go out now, go shopping without glancing constantly over our shoulders, even meet at a bar, if it's far enough out of the public eye. Home is a haven, a place of safety and togetherness as it never was before. My broken family is whole again, together, bonded by the horror that looms over Gotham.
And we learned the name of the man who brought us together today. Bane, he's called. Bane is not the name I would have given him.