The Man Who Falls (7/10)

[mithen]

Title: The Man Who Falls (7/10)

Pairing/Characters: Clark/Bruce
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:  None needed
Continuity: The Dark Knight/Superman Returns crossover; a continuation of Leap of Faith.
Word Count:  2600Summary:  Clark Kent arrives in Gotham after the events of The Dark Knight and adds up the facts surrounding Bruce Wayne and Batman.

Comments

[sinisterf]

"Listen to me,." Clark felt a terrible urgency grip him, igniting his words, bright and blazing. "You and Batman, you're locked together in some kind of twisted cycle of revenge and redemption, but you have to let him go. You have to let Batman go, Bruce." Something flared in Bruce's eyes, something new and much more dangerous, but Clark kept talking, desperate, as if the force of his words could make him give up his vendetta, step away from the edge. "Don't let him use you, don't let him break you, Bruce. You give so much to this city, you're so...good, and brave, you deserve so much more than to throw away your life trying to be a symbol, when the real you is so...is so..." Beautiful, he wanted to say, and shied away from the word only to find loved there instead, and fell silent entirely, breathing hard and looking at Bruce's white face.

I know this is a lot to quote, but this whole paragraph just hit me so hard. There's a truth there that Clark, at this point, doesn't know he's saying. And Bruce's reaction is perfection. He wants someone to save him, maybe? But then he doesn't want to be saved. It's a conundrum. Guh!

[mithen]

Ahhh, thank you! I was really hoping to get that balance right, that Clark sees the Truth if not the facts correctly, you know? And Bruce struggling with his desire to be understood and his fear of it...this one took some re-writing and I'm glad the results worked for you! :D