Chapter Text
Bruce wakes up.
Strictly speaking, he is waked up. The pain in his back even infiltrates into his dreamless coma and permeates through every bit of his body. Now he hurts like hell.
“Stop pretending to sleep, Bruce. I know you are awake.” Selina says coldly.
“No, I am still in a coma.” Bruce answers. How long has he been out? Half of him is paralyzed and he can barely feel his legs.
“Then I’ll eat the whole apple myself.” Selina says.
“How long have I been out?” Bruce says, struggling to sit up.
“Stop. You will hurt yourself.” Selina puts down the peeled apple and puts him back to the bed.
“Two days and a half. It’s at noon now.” She slices the apple down to small pieces swiftly and hands them to Bruce.
“Thanks. But I don’t want to eat anything right now.”
“Open your mouth. Don’t let me make you.” Selina says, quoting his own words on purpose.
Bruce opens his mouth and chews down the juicy apple slices.
“Still mad at me?” Bruce asks.
“Yes. But I can’t let you die or I would never receive a word of apology from you.”
Bruce turns to her. Her eyes are still a little swollen. She must have cried a lot during the two days and a half. It suddenly strikes him that maybe she is all he has and is his only remaining connection to the world long buried and forgotten.
He opens his mouth and says slowly and earnestly, “I am sorry. And…thank you for saving my life.”
Hearing his words, Selina is apparently shocked and after a while, she says half-sullenly and half-happily, “You are welcome.”
Bruce smiles. And for twelve months and two days and a half, it is the first time he smiles from the bottom of his heart.
“I just couldn’t stand the thought of letting you die in a gutter of Gotham. A hell of way to die.” she says, holding back the tears.
The smile on his face doesn’t break or fade away. “A hell of way to die.” he repeats.
“Just…don’t leave me alone.” Selina says and reaches out for his hand.
Bruce holds back tightly. He suddenly realizes that he is not the only one who has lost his world. He was betrayed by everyone and betrayed everyone and had no one to resort to for so long that he has to relearn how to trust people. The loneliness is big and burdensome and is not easy to handle with on his own when he still wants to carry on. But he is not alone in this suffering. The torture is for everyone, he, Selina, Barry and anyone who has survived the Armageddon.
Bruce knows so many stories’ beginning and ending and so many plots full of bizarre twists and turns about glory and dream and falling and demise and betrayal and reconciliation and rebirth and rerise. And this time, he finally has the opportunity to write an ending for himself.
In the end, they won.
But winner takes nothing.