The Darkest Song

No way out and no way back
A bride in white a dress so red
No I will never let you go 
Never Let You Go, Lord of the Lost

“Can I open my eyes yet?” I asked, feeling a little unsure as Bane led me through the building.

“Almost.” He turned me, pushing me a couple of steps further forward. “Now you can.”

I moved my hands from my eyes, blinking as the light hit. In front of me was my piano, and I gasped, turning to face him.

“You brought this over for me?” 

He nodded, sliding his arm around me. All thoughts of that woman in the photos disappeared from my mind as I stood on my toes to kiss him. The danger of whoever was hunting us was gone, and all that was left was the attraction I was feeling.

“Are you going out again today?” I bit my lip, hoping the answer was no. I knew he was getting close to finishing the job he’d come here to do, and I didn’t know whether he would take me with him when he left, so I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could.

He played with my hair, a thoughtful look on his face. “Yes, I have a few things to do. I’ll be back soon.” 

Kissing me deeply, he left me alone again. I sat at the piano, feeling so unsure about the future. Every time I wanted to ask him where he thought we were going, something seemed to stop me.

I began to play, trying to ignore the uncertainty and fear. It was easy to tune out the real world, and I quickly lost track of time. All I could feel was the music, each individual note.

Then I was suddenly ripped off the chair and thrown backwards. I hit the ground hard, all the air suddenly sucked out of my lungs. As I tried to pick myself up, I heard voices from the doorway.

“Don’t kill her. Talia just wants to make sure he gets the message.” 

Struggling to breathe, I watched as a man dressed in black came towards me. I tried to fight back, but he was stronger and faster. He wrapped his hand around my arm, slamming me back against the wall.

I kicked at him, but he didn’t even flinch, just threw me again. Another person appeared in my now blurry vision, and punched me in the face. I tried to curl into a ball to protect myself, but they just kept grabbing, kicking and punching me. 

I was in more pain than I’d ever been in before, but I held out, hoping that Bane would come home soon. Broken and bleeding, I didn’t fight as one of them grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me into the corridor.

Then I heard shouts, familiar voices echoing through the building. The two men with me went running towards them, and the shouting was suddenly full of fighting and gunfire. 

Ignoring the pain, I crawled along the hardwood floor to my room, only to find one of my attackers waiting for me. He wrapped his hand around my throat, choking me.

“Please… stop…” I tried to cry out, not sure if it was loud enough for Bane to hear.

He pulled out a knife, but before he could do anything with it, he was tackled. I fell hard, my head hitting the floor. 

Dazed, I couldn’t see anything that was going on around me, until Bane’s face suddenly appeared in front of me. I could tell that I was lying on my back, but my body just felt wrong.

“I’ve got you.” He whispered, wiping blood off my face. “I’m going to give you something, you’ll feel better and you’ll be able to heal yourself. Just breathe.”

I tried to nod, but my head didn’t seem to want to move at all. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, but I managed to see enough through them to realise that Bane was holding a syringe of something. He injected it into my chest, and it was like every nerve in my body quickly went into overdrive. 

I gasped for breath, trying to get my thoughts in order enough to focus. The pain was gone, replaced by too much energy and it felt like my body would shake apart.

“Look at me, Alex.” He gently took hold of my face. “Focus.”

I looked up at his dark brown eyes, taking control of my mind. I didn’t need to heal everything right then, just enough to function. 

Humming, I felt the vibration flood my body. It swept past all my injuries, knitting my bones back together and reabsorbing the blood back into my system. I didn’t know how much I’d managed to heal, but I could barely keep my eyes open, even with the adrenaline that was still circulating.

“I’m so tired.” I managed to whisper, feeling my eyelids closing against my will. I tried to open them again, but they refused.

“You can sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.” His voice was so far away, and no amount of thinking could help me claw my way back.

He carefully picked her up, placing her on the bed. Anger was boiling his blood, and he stormed out of the room, dragging the body of her attacker behind him.

His men all looked a little worse for wear, but they were otherwise fine. They’d managed to take a hostage, tying him to a chair.

Bane sat across from him, trying to control himself. “Who sent you?”

“Talia.” The prisoner laughed, spitting blood on the floor. “She wants you to know that you can’t just walk away and replace her so easily.”

He cut the ropes, hauling the man up against the wall. “You can go back to her, and tell her that if she ever tries something like this again, I’ll kill her.”

Handing the prisoner over to Barsad, he headed back to her room to check on her. She was sleeping soundly, her body still bloodied and bruised. As he watched her, he realised that there was only one way he could keep her safe until he dealt with this danger.

I jerked awake, my body shaking as the pain hit again. Everything seemed to be capable of moving again, which was an improvement on before. 

Even though I was exhausted still, I somehow managed to heal myself to just bruised, rather than broken. Stretching my arms, I looked around to find Bane asleep in a chair beside the bed. His face was tense, and I could tell he hadn’t slept well at all.

Carefully swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I reached out to touch his arm. His eyes snapped open, and he looked up at me in surprise.

“You’re okay?” He took my hand, pulling me into his lap.

I nodded. “A little bruised, but I’m going to be fine.”

He didn’t reply, just ran his fingers up and down my arms. His silence spoke volumes, and I could tell what was going on.

“They’re going to keep coming, aren’t they?” I got up, walking to my closet to find clothes that weren’t covered in blood.

“They were sent by Talia al Ghul. The daughter of Ra’s, the head of the League of Shadows, she fell out of his favour because of me. She won’t give up until she’s gotten what she wants or I stop her.” He followed me, leaning against the door. 

I paused, looking at my clothes. I already knew what he was going to say, and it was going to hurt. “And you can’t keep me safe anymore.”

“No, I can’t.” He touched my shoulder, running his fingers down my back.

“So what do we do?” I didn’t move, trying to hold back the tears.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close against him. “You run. Somewhere they won’t think to look for you. I promise that I will come for you as soon as it’s safe.”

“How long will that be?” I finally looked up at him. “You don’t know, do you?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No… It’s not your fault.” I touched his cheek, standing on my toes to kiss him. “Just promise me that you’ll find a way out of this. I don’t know why this is happening, but I don’t want to lose you now.”

He lifted me up, gently drawing my legs around him. “You won’t. I know how to deal with this, but I can’t if I’m worried about your safety. Is there somewhere you can go?”

“I have some friends left in Central City, or my mum lives in Metropolis.” I took a deep breath. “But won’t they look for me there?”

“No, if you’re out of the way, there’s nothing stopping them from coming straight for me.” He brushed my hair out of my eyes. “I’ll send Jack with you, just in case.”

I kissed him softly, trying to hold back my tears. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to leave either, but I don’t know how else I can keep you safe.” He dipped his head, pressing a kiss to my collarbone. “If there was any other option, I would take it, just so I wouldn’t have to let you go. But there isn’t.”

“I guess I should pack.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, avoiding his gaze. “Mum’s going to be pissed. I haven’t called her for nearly a month, and now I’m going to turn up at her door.”

He took hold of my chin, tilting my face up to look at him. “I’m going to come find you.”

“I know. I believe you.” I gave him a small smile. “I… I trust you.”

He pressed me against the wall, sliding my shirt up over my head. Lifting me up a little higher, he kissed my chest, along my bra.

“I should be getting ready to leave.” I breathed, a moan escaping my lips.

“It can wait an hour.” He nipped at my skin. “I won’t get to do this for a while.”