WFGE fic: Cold Iron

[mithen]

Title: Cold Iron
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 3900
Summary: On a Solstice night, under a full moon, Batman is drawn into a world of beauty and danger.
Notes: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange! Prompt F8, "Clark/Kal is one of the Fey and Bruce is only human, how could it possibly work out?"

Comments

[starsandsea]

Between the pale trunks of the yellow beech trees he saw them coming, a retinue of white horses carrying figures in full plate armor that glimmered like moonlight on water. Most were silver, but a few were a pale steel-blue, and they were led by a knight wearing armor that seemed to be carved from pure sapphire. Batman waited, resisting the urge to wring the water from his bedraggled cape, beginning to realize that he was much further from Gotham than he had thought, and the white horses (their eyes were a starry blue as no mortal horse's eyes had ever been) circled around him. The knight's faces were hidden by their visors, but Batman could catch a gleam of eyes from within them as they looked at him. Their lifted lances were shafts of diamond, of starlight.

Ooooh, such pretty description!

"Well, I caught the first syllable or so of that," said Bruce, "So I guess I'll call you Kal, if I may."

The sweet, sad laughter again. "I would be honored, Bruce."

*squees a bit*

"Faeries? Like...Tinkerbell?" Batman did a quick mental inventory of who must have been working with Freeze. Scarecrow? He knew what fear toxin felt like, and it wasn't this. Mad Hatter? No, this felt more real than Jervis's usual technique. "Regardless," he said, more to himself than the possible figments around him, "I don't believe in faeries."

Bruce... *pets him gently*

Bruce lifted his chin, though the glory of the King and Queen made his eyes ache as if with unshed tears. "I bow to no one," he said, his voice mostly steady.

Oh, Bruce... Be careful!

"Fair Prince Kal," he said with a bow of his head, "I hate to turn down your hospitality, but I have heard that eating your food and drinking your wine might not be the wisest actions."

If he had thought that Kal's beauty was unbearable before, seeing him smile forced Bruce to revise his opinions. "You are a wise and cautious man, Bruce Wayne."

Oh, clever Bruce and good Kal!

The kiss broke and Kal put his lips to Bruce's ear. "You are more beautiful than I ever dreamed, Bruce Wayne. Be strong tonight, and brave of soul, and know that I chose you of all mortals to bring to this world."

Eeeep!

Bruce looked around the circle of beautiful faces, gone suddenly cold and merciless, and kept his breathing even. "I don't believe in you," he said, raising his voice. "The First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter and energy--"

*cheers Bruce on*

Kal caught a crystal arrow out of the air before it could reach Bruce's head. "Not this way, Father!" he cried. "I love you, and I love our people--but I have told you, I will not have us survive at the cost of another world's freedom!"

Oh, Kal! *hearts him*

He wrapped his arms around Kal, bending over him, and whispered, "I believe in you, Kal. I believe in you." He held the prince of Faerie close and believed with all his heart in his goodness, and his beauty, and his bravery.

As he whispered, he felt the claws of the Void slowly release them, felt unreality slinking away. There was air around them, and it was bitterly cold, and he was kneeling in snow with a naked man heavy and real in his arms.

*flails*

When Alfred informed him that he had been missing for a month, Bruce found himself without words the rest of the ride home.

*wibbles* Oh, man, poor poor Alfred!

It would be hard, but Bruce believed that Kal would find his place in the mortal world. He believed that Kal was the kind of person who could make any world he inhabited a better place. And he believed--irrationally, without proof, but with utter certainty--that they would be together from now on, hand in hand and back to back.

He found, in short, that he was able to believe in almost anything with Kal's hand in his.

*flails again*

Oh, so perfect! So so perfect...

Thank you so much for sharing this, Jen, it was gorgeous! All the stunning descriptions of Faerie were so beautiful and Kal! *flails again* You made my day twice now, thank you! :D

[mithen]

*wibbles* Oh, man, poor poor Alfred!

I guess Bruce was lucky it wasn't longer, really! Faerie can do odd things...

I had a lot of fun with the descriptions of Faerie (hm, reading and seeing Tolkien so much lately might have had something to do with that!) and I'm so glad you liked them!