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parrotficTitle: Themes in the Key of B
Fandom: Batman Begins
Character/relationship: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Theme number: #19 - Time Spent Apart
Disclaimer/claimer: I don't own any of these characters. All belongs to WB and Bob Kane and DC comics and David Goyer/Christopher Nolan. I make no money off of this.
Summary: Rachel did not miss Bruce.
Notes: Not a huge Rachel fan, but I think she's important.
19.) Time spent apart
Rachel missed Bruce in the same way she missed finger painting and monkey bars, the same way she missed SATs and teenage angst over boyfriends. Rachel missed Bruce in the same way she missed all her childhood memories and all their attendant joys and miseries.
She had put him away with the doll she would not part with when she was five, the pony she had wanted at six (and dreamed that one day Dr. Wayne would give to her), the trashy teen romance novels that she always hated herself for liking but still read anyway, and the thrill of riding a roller coaster for the first time. He was a childhood memory, stored in the recesses of her mind for nostalgic moments, nothing more, and Rachel only felt the slightest pang of grief at the official announcement that he was dead.
This was not to say that she did not mourn him, not at all, but she mourned his potential more than she ever mourned him. He could have taken up his father's mantle, become a force of good in Gotham, and now he never would. But it was so hard to mourn Bruce himself, because it was always so hard to understand who he was, what he was.
The investigation into his disappearance was closely watched by the media, and Rachel ignored it, to the best of her ability, but it was impossible to avoid it all. The harassment of Alfred, who had inherited everything (if she heard another "of course the butler did it" joke again in her lifetime, it would still be too soon), the sightings in Hong Kong and South Africa, as fleeting as Big Foot and just as likely, the rumors and speculation of suicide. It was everywhere. But she was still a part of it whether she liked it or not.
The police asked her questions, of course, about the night he disappeared, and she did not mention the gun or the plan to murder Chill in the courthouse. She did mention that he had gotten off near the docks, close to Falcone's bar, and that was sufficient enough to get the police to back off the case. She mentioned only Falcone to the press, and that was enough for them to leave her alone, too. But all of it resolved nothing.
To the public, his disappearance was an open wound, and to give it a reason, a name, it could begin to heal. Death. The Wayne line was dead, but Gotham would move on without it. Though Rachel sometimes denied it to herself, it was nice to have that final nail in the coffin as well. She was a person of absolutes, and the ambiguity of the word "missing" did not give her any comfort.
The official announcement was a chance to give up all hope, to finally have closure, for both her and Gotham.
And just when she thought he was put away forever, merely a person she once knew and was gone now, never to return, ready to gather dust in the corners or her mind, just when she thought he was completely behind her, just when she had it all figured out...
He came back.
Fandom: Batman Begins
Character/relationship: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Theme number: #19 - Time Spent Apart
Disclaimer/claimer: I don't own any of these characters. All belongs to WB and Bob Kane and DC comics and David Goyer/Christopher Nolan. I make no money off of this.
Summary: Rachel did not miss Bruce.
Notes: Not a huge Rachel fan, but I think she's important.
19.) Time spent apart
Rachel missed Bruce in the same way she missed finger painting and monkey bars, the same way she missed SATs and teenage angst over boyfriends. Rachel missed Bruce in the same way she missed all her childhood memories and all their attendant joys and miseries.
She had put him away with the doll she would not part with when she was five, the pony she had wanted at six (and dreamed that one day Dr. Wayne would give to her), the trashy teen romance novels that she always hated herself for liking but still read anyway, and the thrill of riding a roller coaster for the first time. He was a childhood memory, stored in the recesses of her mind for nostalgic moments, nothing more, and Rachel only felt the slightest pang of grief at the official announcement that he was dead.
This was not to say that she did not mourn him, not at all, but she mourned his potential more than she ever mourned him. He could have taken up his father's mantle, become a force of good in Gotham, and now he never would. But it was so hard to mourn Bruce himself, because it was always so hard to understand who he was, what he was.
The investigation into his disappearance was closely watched by the media, and Rachel ignored it, to the best of her ability, but it was impossible to avoid it all. The harassment of Alfred, who had inherited everything (if she heard another "of course the butler did it" joke again in her lifetime, it would still be too soon), the sightings in Hong Kong and South Africa, as fleeting as Big Foot and just as likely, the rumors and speculation of suicide. It was everywhere. But she was still a part of it whether she liked it or not.
The police asked her questions, of course, about the night he disappeared, and she did not mention the gun or the plan to murder Chill in the courthouse. She did mention that he had gotten off near the docks, close to Falcone's bar, and that was sufficient enough to get the police to back off the case. She mentioned only Falcone to the press, and that was enough for them to leave her alone, too. But all of it resolved nothing.
To the public, his disappearance was an open wound, and to give it a reason, a name, it could begin to heal. Death. The Wayne line was dead, but Gotham would move on without it. Though Rachel sometimes denied it to herself, it was nice to have that final nail in the coffin as well. She was a person of absolutes, and the ambiguity of the word "missing" did not give her any comfort.
The official announcement was a chance to give up all hope, to finally have closure, for both her and Gotham.
And just when she thought he was put away forever, merely a person she once knew and was gone now, never to return, ready to gather dust in the corners or her mind, just when she thought he was completely behind her, just when she had it all figured out...
He came back.
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