Disclaimer!!! I DO NOT OWN DC OR LES MISÉRABLES!!!
"Look down, Look down
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down, Look down,
You're here until you die"
________________________________
Bruce could remember a time before the city went to Hell.
He could remember long summers spent with his parents. Where his mother would bake them something for their Sunday picnics they always had without fail.
He could remember the night they were murdered too.
That was the last time for a long time that he would answer to Bruce Wayne.
He had run.
He run and run until he couldn't anymore. And when he couldn't anymore, he snuck onto a shady cargo plane parked by the Gotham outskirts and let it take him away. He didn't particularly care where he was going anymore, whether it was safe or not. He had always been so sheltered that danger didn't seem too real at first. However, when the plane touched down a day later in the desert, he realized that this may not have been the greatest idea ever.
He was seized at once.
The young Wayne was dragged through room after room until he was thrown at the feet of a graying man sitting on a traditional looking throne.
The man sentenced him to death without even a second glance at him, and for a moment, he felt a flush of relief. Death. That's what happened to his parents. He'd be joining them soon. But that relief was short lived. Panic suddenly gripped his chest as he was thrown into a cell. There was a young girl about his age, maybe a little older, pointing a sword at his throat. She lowered it to his chest and Bruce was sure that she was going to kill him.
But she didn't. Bruce would spent the rest of his life wondering why. Instead she left him there, and shortly returned. She explained to him in an accented voice what she had done. She had gone to her father, and pleaded for his life. She then informed him in an icy tone that he'd "Better be worth it."
___________Line Break_____________
Ten years past, Talia continued her training with the league and "Matches" was to be her apprentice. She informed her father that she must have one, as he himself had had plenty over the years.
Matches Malone, that's the name that the child had given the league. He confided in Talia years later however, that this was not his birth name.
Talia had felt something all those years ago, she hadn't recognized it at the time, but as she was exiting her teen years she learned it to be love.
She was in love with this Bruce Wayne. He had become her best friend. However, her father would never allow her to marry so low below her rank, she knew this.
She and Wayne began a relationship in secret regardless of whether her father would approve or not. However, when she became pregnant, they realized that they must do something to resolve the issue of their secret. They had two options at this point, confess to her father, who would no doubt notice her changing figure soon, or run. Run far away where the league could not reach them. There was no such place on earth, she knew. But they had to try, for if her father discovered this turn of events, the two of them would surely be put to death. The only reason Talia had been allowed to live as a child, as because she was female and therefore could not inherit the league from her father. Moreover if this child was born a male, her father would surely sentence him to death.
This was not an option Talia liked. No, running was their only option.
Word of Gotham closing soon was spreading across the world. If they could get back to her beloved's homeland, then they would at least have SOME form of security from the league.
___________Line Break_____________
This had been a mistake. They should have never come here. Gotham was getting worse by the day. The rumors had not been unfounded. The city had closed. Been deemed too dangerous and disowned by the United states. Discarded.
Their son had been born a decade ago. Talia had named him Damian. The name means "To tame." She hoped that maybe someone, maybe not her child but someone, would tame this wild region. This place where criminals ran rampant, and disease spread. She could feel "the clench" in her body now. It was a strand of Ebola. That was the only information the public was given about it. Also that there was no cure. There was no hope, she knew. She didn't have much time left. Her beloved was out looking for food. Currency was worthless nowadays since the economy crashed and the U.S. military stationed themselves outside of Gotham to guard the border, successfully limiting all contact and trade with the outside world.
Damian was sitting outside her door. She told him to stay there so he would not catch what she had. Their apartment walls however were thin, she could hear him crying.
"My son." she said as sternly as she could muster.
"Y-Yes Mother." He tried.
"Cease your sniffling my son." She croaked. "Your Father will be home soon. Stay strong young one."
"M-Mother?" Damian sobbed.
"Remember your lineage my son. This incessant noise is beneath you. You were born to lead, to be strong."
"Yes Mother." The child cried.
"Damian-" Talia hesitated. Not long now. She could feel her strength waning. She didn't want the child to catch what she had but... "Come here."
The door creaked open. There stood her child, the spitting image of his father.
"Come take my hand child." Damian all but rushed to her side, scooping his mother's clammy hand in his.
"Do not fear death my beloved." Damian hiccuped as Talia said this. "I will see you again. You will rebuild the world. That is your mission. Take this city we have learned to love and make it good again. Do you understand?"
Damian hiccuped again. "Yes mother."
"I-I love you Damian. Remember that. Your father and I love you very much."
"Yes mother." A fresh wave of tears came from the ten year old's eyes.
That was the last thing Talia ever heard.
____________Line Break_____________
Bruce Wayne, still known as Matches Malone came home after finding a loaf of bread to an empty apartment. The front door was open, as if someone had left in a haste. Bruce dropped the bread and rushed in the house.
"Talia!" He shouted frantically. "Damian." In the back bedroom, lay his wife. Dead. Dead like his parents. Bruce steeled himself and went to her bedside. He checked her pulse. None. He closed his eyes and fought back the tears. He knew for days this would happen. There was no cure for the clench. Besides, his son needed him.
"Damian?" He called, softly at first. "Damian? A little louder." Bruce got up. He checked the only other bedroom. Nothing. He furrowed his brow. "Damian?" He shouted, much louder. He ran into the kitchen, recklessly throwing furniture about, desperately looking for his child. "DAMIAN!" he ran to the front door. He wasn't in the outdoor hall.
______Boy that's a lot of Line Breaks_____
Gone. His son was gone. His wife was gone. Talia was always telling him that their child was too much like him for his own good. It had never crossed his mind that he might run the same way Bruce had done years ago after witnessing death. There's no way Damian didn't know his mother was dead.
It was official. Bruce Wayne had lost everything again.
He passed a poster on a lamppost. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: BATMAN. A few years ago, He and Talia had tried to do something about the crime in Gotham, but that was before the factory that "Matches" and "Mrs Malone" worked in burned down. They hadn't been able to find stable worked since, and therefore couldn't continue to fund their crusade. Nobody except for an officer named Harvey Bullock was still actively searching for him. However, uneasy it made him feel, he knew he didn't really have anything to worry about since he hadn't been Batman in years.
Besides, he had other things to worry about.
The grief tore him alive. He lost both lights of his life all in one night. Damian was resourceful. Bruce would search all night but he already knew that if Damian didn't want to be found, he would never find him.
Bruce let out a howl of agony. He hadn't felt utter pain like this in decades. Not since he lost his parents. But somehow, either because it was more fresh, or because he felt responsible this was almost worse.