Quiet The Mind

Batman stood on a rooftop overlooking the city that no longer could be meant for him. After so many years of fighting, years of effort, just one night had changed everything. Overcoming conflicts that would have broken a lesser man than him. Sacrifices that he made in his day life in his pursuit of Justice  were now fore-naught. Everything he had worked for came to a grinding halt the second his identity was revealed to all of Gotham. Crane may have been defeated, his master plan failed, but in the end he had won at destroying the symbol that was Batman. For how could there be a Batman if everyone knew that the symbol was nothing more than a billionaire orphan?

When Joker had died, that was the start to the end of everything he knew. It tore into the depths of his soul and changed him. Bruce couldn't tell any of his allies how much that loss had affected him but, perhaps they had already knew all along.  It was a tipping point in the order of balance that kept Gotham City afloat. Without the Joker then this city demanded there be no more Batman. The city itself seemed to thrive on their conflict with each other and couldn't sustain itself the moment that battle of order and chaos had reached its natural conclusion.

In Joker fashion he didn't leave Batman unscathed in his departure from their playground. Leaving behind remnants of himself on Bruce's psyche in the form of Titan induced hallucinations. Illusions that nearly consumed every fiber of his being. If the hallucination of the Joker had his way, Batman would not be standing here now. At least not his true self. Each dose of fear toxin had pushed Joker's influence upon him even more. Breaking apart his will to fight against the murderous impulses he kept at bay. In the end, it was Crane who had allowed Batman the chance to take his mind back, locking away Joker for good. At least he wondered if it would be for good.

Even turning his back on just a figment of his mind had stripped his heart raw. Bringing back all the layers of grief that, in his denial, he tried to shield himself from. If Joker were alive he would have laughed at the irony. That was the problem. Joker wasn't alive and Batman wasn't fully alive. Not really. Not anymore. Joker for years had reinforced that there was an unbreakable bond between the two of them and perhaps the clown had been right all along. The Dark Knight couldn't allow the Joker's mindset to take over, for if he did then Gotham's streets would be piled with corpses. Deep down , hidden under years of denial, what terrified him was how simple it would have been for him to become what the Joker had always wanted and viewed him to be.

Now, though, even winning his mental struggle had been in vain. Joker may not have won but in dying it allowed everything else they both fought for to be destroyed. Bruce knew that he would have never been unmasked if Joker had been around. The psychopath just wouldn't have allowed such a thing to happen. It would have ruined the clown's fun and the villains Gotham created knew that when he was alive. No one would have been able to rise to power of that magnitude when Joker ran the streets. When all was said and done because of Joker, Batman was able to flourish into the protector Gotham needed.

Batman had a protocol in place for this very situation but as he gazed at the city, enacting it was becoming more difficult. Leaving behind the life he had built wasn't an effortless choice. Gotham needed something new to fill the streets that he grappled from roof top to rooftop now.  A new type of symbol to protect its citizens and Batman just wasn't the one to do that anymore. Gotham would survive; this city would force upon new roles that needed to be filled. No matter who had to suffer in the process. When this putrid city needed a hero, it forced an eight year old child to watch his parents gunned down in front of him. Creating Batman in his parent's blood and molding him into what it wanted. Then when it needed a villain it allowed an unknown man to fall into a vat of chemicals to reemerge and fight the Bat. A cycle that would take on different forms in the future but always needed to exist.