Burn This Whole World Down

One: The Soul of Humanity

Now it seems I'm fading.

All my dreams are not worth saving,

I've done my share of waiting.

There was something undoubtedly ominous about the way her shoes clicked against the marble floor underneath her feet. Even the loud chanting and shouting from the destination she was steadily heading towards did not drown out the sound.

Her steps were slow; clearly shaky and uneven, betraying just how nervous she really was. Light grey eyes danced around the messy marble hall, few scattered civilians throwing curious glances her way. Most likely because they were so used to people being dragged in here by force, rather than walking into literal hell willingly and seemingly calmly. The fact that she was a young woman and looked rather ordinary probably wasn't helping her either; she stuck out like sour thumb out here.

For a second she stopped, trying to convince herself that she had to do this. That this was the only way to find any leads on her missing brother. Since Gotham City went to hell almost two weeks ago – about the same time her brother, James, disappeared – there was no other authorities she could contact about him.

Ella Brown sighed, letting her weariness show slightly for a brief second, before masking her real emotions and forcing her features back into a calm mask again. What the hell was she thinking going to a group of criminals and asking for their help? True, James got constantly mixed up with wrong people, and she hoped that someone may have known where he was now, but most of these people were still criminals – brutal ones at that.

Closing her eyes for few seconds, she desperately tried to relax her tense muscles and clear her mind. People judged in that room were criminals and she was the furthest thing from a criminal – she was a doctor for crying out loud, she didn't even know how to fire a gun. She was in no danger. Right?

Gathering whatever courage she still had inside her, Ella moved towards the entrance. The loud voices were screaming back and worth, large number of people surrounding a single golden, torn down and trashy looking chair. To Ella it was a clear mockery to all rich people in Gotham, especially when quite few of them faced their death sentences sitting on that exact, fancy looking chair. But then again, there no longer was such thing as rich and poor in this city nor in this room; here everyone was equal.

"Sooo, Mr. Jefferson. Exile, or death?"

Ella's lips twitched as she glanced up at the 'judge' who was sitting high above everyone else in the courtroom. Slipping silently into the room, she got a better look at none other than Jonathan Crane. Also known as the infamous Scarecrow. He was one of the first major criminals Batman defeated all those years ago when he first became famous. The slimy snake was testing illegal drugs on Arkham inmates and later played a major role in poising Gotham's water supplies. And now he was sitting there smugly, wearing his scruffy suite and judging people who were ten times better than him. Ella felt almost sick that she would have to address him of all people.

Leaning silently against a wall and trying not to draw any attention to herself yet, Ella waited for Mr. Jefferson's answer.

Mr. Jefferson, who kept twitching while sitting in the fancy chair, was a man in his early 40ties and had a fair amount of money if dirty remains of an expensive Armani suite were anything to go by.

The man was sweating profoundly, his eyes flying nervously around the room. The loud shouting and screaming of people were hardly helping him, that much was clear, and Ella waited with a bated breath for his answer.

"E-Exile."

The crowd cheered and Crane's eyes lit up with sadistic glee that made Ella want to turn around and run for the hills.

"Order in the court," Crane shouted loudly, banging the hammer onto the table. "The man has chosen his fate, take him away men. The walk of exile for him – lets see if he can walk on ice as quickly as can steal from the poor, ha!"

Mr. Jefferson was hauled up onto his feet and Ella watched with small amount of pity as the man was dragged out of the 'court room', looking stricken. Ella had heard rumours of the so called 'Walk of Exile'. Anyone who had chosen to be exiled had a chance to walk across the river to safety. Of course the fact that winter had just begun and the ice was still weak left anyone who tried with no chance of success.

Ella straightened up, she could already hear another person being dragged down the hall she just walked down, their screams already loud enough to be heard in a room full of loud criminals.

Clenching her fists few times, and trying to force her heart to stop beating so quickly, Ella stepped forward, stiffly walking forward and into the middle of the room.

You can do this, she told herself, you're just looking for your brother, you've done nothing to upset these people. You're fine.

Yet the loud hammering of her heart was so loud it almost drowned the sound of people around her. She reached the middle of the room far too quickly for her liking, and stopped next to the golden chair that Mr. Jefferson was sitting on just few seconds ago.

Ella swallowed shakily when she noticed that the room was almost quite, beside few laughs and cat whistles, every single person in it was staring at her. Resisting an urge to turn around and run away, she looked up at Crane who was peering at her over his glasses. His lips twitching into a twisted little smirk; he looked intrigued at her sudden appearance. Ella cleared her suddenly dry throat, deciding to speak up before he could.

"I have come here today to ask for help from good citizens of Gotham," she began, rubbing her sweaty palms against her coat as inconspicuously as she could. "It's nothing much just some information."

Crane narrowed his eyes, leaning even closer over his table to peer down at her, "What kind of information?"

Ella bit her lip. "I'm looking for someone. I was hoping to find some sort of lead here."

"And what makes you think anyone here will help you?" he asked flippantly, like she was a silly child who should have realized this sooner.

"I presumed the power of choice was given to Gotham's citizens for that exact reason," she snapped back before she could stop herself. "So they could choose who and when to help. Or am I wrong in making that assumption?"

Damn it, you idiot.

Ella cursed herself inwardly, beating herself for not being able to keep her mouth shut when required. The last thing she needed right now was to get on the bad side of one of Gotham's most famous psychos.

She could already tell from the tenseness of his jaw and the tightness of his lips that Crane was far from pleased too. He was a respected figure once more, and she blandly insulted his so-called 'rule' over justice.

"And what is the name of this individual?" he asked, slowly, a bone chilling amount of coldness in his voice.

"James Brown. But he prefers Jim."

Suddenly Crane leaned back, a flicker of recognition passing through his eyes. Ella did not miss few murmurs amongst the crowd of people either.

So… they know him then.

"And your relations to this man?" Crane demanded, his voice sharp, and eyes observing her like some zoo animal.

Ella hesitated. What should she do? Lie or tell the truth? One hand if she told them who she was, anyone her brother had wronged may use her as a payback, putting a bullet between her eyes faster than she can say 'hello'.

But then again, if she lied and someone recognize her or worse found out that she was lying they would kill her for lying to them. These people weren't exactly the type you lie to and expect to wake up to see another dawn. So, whichever option she chose did not matter because there was no safe option. This was, in every sense of the word, a lose-lose situation. She was in danger either way. Well, in that case…

"Sister," she relented at last. "Sir," she added tightly, the word sounding quite bitter coming from her mouth.

But then again, perhaps it was better to at least be a little respectful to the psycho if only to find out about James whereabouts.

The silence was suddenly destroyed by a loud, hysteric laugh that escaped Crane's mouth. Ella's lips parted in surprise as she stared at the maniac wide-eyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my dear. But your brother is long…dead," Crane announced, mirth colouring his voice, lips twisted into a half-sneer.

Blood in Ella's veins suddenly turned to ice, and she felt a heavy lump suddenly form in her throat. For years now she had expected to hear those words, simply because she knew that being around people James surrounded himself with was going to be the death of him one day. But still, the pain was still as sharp, still as bitter and crippling as if she had never known about the torment of such loss before.

"Is there anything else we can help you with, my dear?" Crane asked, his head shaking back and forth in almost mocking fashion.

He's mocking. That bastard.

Ella's jaw clenched and she glared at the ground resentfully.

Leave. Leave right now, her mind urged her desperately. She had to get out of this now suffocating room. She knew what would happen is she did not. It was rather simple really, either she would have a mental breakdown right there in front of all these people, or she would try to take that little snake's eyes out.

Ella, however, valuing her life decided to choose neither options. Instead, swallowing back a hateful response that would no doubt result with her cold body laying somewhere in a ditch, she straightened her spine and ignoring the burning in her eyes, spoke more bravely than she felt.

"No, but thank you for your time," she answered flatly, and without saying another word turned around to leave.

She walked much quicker than before, her body tense as she waited for anyone to try and stop her from leaving.

No one did.

Still, Ella did not lower her guard until she was outside the building, the fresh winter air biting lightly at her flushed skin. Stopping on top of large marble steps, Ella leaned heavily against one of the supporting pillars.

Glancing up at the grey Gotham sky, she let her eyes flutter shut as few snowflakes fell lazy from the sky. The calmness was soothing against her agony, and a single tear ran down her cheek as she carefully wiped it off the moment it fell. This was not the place to cry, she will let herself grief when she gets into the safety of her flat and not a moment earlier.

After few more seconds of silence, she got over her moment of weakness and straightening her coat she began to climb down the stairs, preparing herself for a long trek home. However, before she could, a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Stop."

Male. Demanding. Strong. Harsh. Incoherent.

She did not want to turn around. She did not want to see the face she feared she was going to anyway.

"Turn around."

For a second she toyed with idea of ignoring his demand and trying to run for it, but no doubt he would probably shoot her dead the moment she tried to flee. So she turned, slowly, cautiously. Her grey eyes met the eyes of a man before her and her heart fell to her stomach.

She knew who he was. Oh, boy did she know. Every single person in Gotham did. After all, how can anyone mistake that menacing frame, those burning eyes that pierced everyone who dared to look at them like knifes, and most importantly a metal mask that covered almost all of his face.

No one knew why he wore it, even if there were many rumours about it. Ella for one was sure that he wasn't wearing it as a fashion accessory.

So, of course she knew who he was.

The man who brought Gotham to its knees.

The man who according to rumours broke the Batman like a toothpick.

Bane.

"You are coming with me Miss. Brown."

Not a request – a demand.

And before Ella could say a word, two men appeared beside her, one of them pressing a gun to her ribcage.

So much for a quite afternoon grieving…

AN: Hello!~ Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. To my old readers - SORRY! I did not plan on disappearing for few months like that, but life has been stressful and inspiration was not being very good friend as of late. But I am back and I'm ready to work!

As for this story: I love Bane! How can you not? That guy is badass. Tom Hardy did an amazing job at playing him so I had to write this story, because character like him deserves a story written about them. I also hope you like Ella, as I always put a lot of love in creating my OC's. And as for her and Bane - well, it's gonna be long and intresting ride, I'll tell you that. I'm not known for rushing romance as it does not going to happen overnight, but I'll happen eventually.

Also, was my Crane alright? This is the first time I've ever wrote him and I was nervous. I know I made him to be an ass, but he is a villain and he is just slightly deranged (especially in Dark Knight Rises), which was hard for me to do, because I actually really like Crane. Not as much as Bane and Joker but still.

Kind Regards.

A.~