"By the spirits of my parents, I will avenge their death's by spending the rest of my life warring on criminals."

Those were the words Bruce spoke as a child, knelt beside their bed, ready to end everything. His vow was what had kept him going.

He had failed. Bruce Wayne had failed. As a son. As a friend. As a man.

His failure had led to death and destruction.

He'd spent the last year treating his patrols like a game, acting rash and almost getting himself killed, for what? The path he had chosen was a dangerous one and he had no choice but to take it alone. If the events of the past twenty-four hours had proved anything to him, it was that he wasn't ready. Ra's had seen it, told him, not what he would do, Bruce could see that now, but what would happen if he continued on his journey. It wasn't a threat, it was a promise of the future.

It was the reason Bruce had to cut all ties. No goodbyes. He'd slip away, only tell Alfred to tie up loose ends. He'd understand, he always did. Nothing would hold him back anymore and when he returned to Gotham, he would be ready to fulfil the vow he made to his parents all those years ago.

4 Hours Ago...

Bruce felt light-headed. Everything was upsidedown and he didn't have another plan. He should have thought, come up with a backup before. He was so convinced that everything would go smoothly. He was overconfident and too caught up in worry that he didn't consider the potential that everything would go wrong, that he could die and as Ivy explained her plan he was defenceless. Her puppet, dangling in the air attached to her strings.

Ivy was ready to fulfil her destiny. The green had told her what she needed to do and she was willing. They were to take back Gotham and once her strength had replenished they would move along the coast taking back what was rightfully theirs. They would save the Earth from the scourge of humanity with her best friend at her side and when Ivy finally freed her, she would be grateful.

Selina's mind was clouded. Every neuron was blocked by Ivy's compounds. She was aware of everything but each time she tried to think for herself or fight for control, her mind was pushed further back until she couldn't fight, all she could do was watch.

"What did you do to her?" Interrupting her big speech as she described how she was going to take back Gotham, Bruce expected her to be angry.

"Done?" She asked, incredulously. "I didn't do anything to her. She had a change of heart, ask her yourself."

The vines loosened their grip and Bruce fell. In the few seconds he had to prepare, he put his hands out to protect his face but his body hit the floor hard. The bruises that were beginning to form from smashing into the upstairs office stung. He took a minute to recover, playing to her ego, but once he was on his feet he crossed the room to Selina. He needed to get his hands on the canister and hit Ivy with everything it had before he could try and break the spell she had over Selina.

Up close, her face told a different story. Her eyes were bulging. Bloodshot and red with heavy bags under them as if she hadn't slept in a week, glistening with tears that couldn't fall. The smile looked unnatural like her cheeks were trying push up passed her pained eyes. She looked horrific. He raised his hand as he whispered her name and touched her cheek, his fingers softly grazing against her skin. Her expression softened and he felt a sense of relief, she was still in there.

"Selina?" She was quick, distracted, he almost didn't see her move so her fist caught his jaw hard, quickly knocking him off balance.

He stayed down this time, lying on his side. He heard Pam mutter something along the lines of 'nice job' to Selina as she approached him still holding the canister.

"She's mine." She kicked him hard in the stomach earning a groan from him as he rolled onto his back and then she kicked him again, this time in the ribs.

She wanted him to feel an ounce of the pain she had felt. He might look at her and see a murderer, a monster, but what did that make him? She kicked him again and he squirmed but it didn't make her feel better. He still thought he could save the day but he was wrong. She went to kick him again but this time he was prepared, he grabbed her foot and twisted it, she let out a yelp as she fell down beside him. Before she could react, Bruce tugged the canister from her grasp and she screamed in defiance trying to claw it back but it was too late. He had turned the atomizer towards her and just as he went to press it down, Selina tackled him. They slid along the floor a couple of feet, ruffling the carpet beneath them up, as the spray formed a tiny mist between them followed by a hissing sound, it was empty.

Bruce dropped the canister as they came to a stop. He couldn't breathe. Coughing, he tried to take in air while Selina pinned him to the ground, completely unaffected by the gas she had inhaled, a side effect from the spores in her blood. It was like tear gas, burning his eyes and throat but as it dissipated he began to find his thoughts again and the first one that crossed his mind was that Lucius had done it. The canister almost had nothing left in it, before Selina got to him he must have done it. All Bruce had to do was get to the fire alarm by the double doors he had come in.

"That was it?" Ivy laughed at him and rolled the canister across the room with her foot. Selina loosened her grip giving Bruce the chance to throw her off. He didn't give her a second glance, just pushed himself to his feet and made a break for the door. His feet pounded against the ground as he ran.

Five feet away. Four feet. Three. He felt the vine tighten around his waist, trapping his hands by his hips but it didn't stop him moving so he slammed into the open door with a hard thump before being forcibly turned around and slammed him back into the wall.

"So close," Pam mocked. "Yet so far."

Bruce looked over his right shoulder and winced, it hurt to turn his head. He wasn't sure whether it was his collar bone or his shoulder but he knew she was right. The fire alarm was two or three inches above his shoulder. He tried struggling against the vine as Ivy slowly walked over to him but it only resulted in it tightening, straining his ribs even further.

"I took you for many things, Bruce, but never a coward. What gives?" When he didn't answer, she twisted her wrist and the vine tightened even more, his torso tensed up in reflex.

"Okay!" He cried out. "You won! I don't want to die."

The vine loosened just enough to allow him to breathe.

"Oh, Bruce." She caressed his cheek. Like this, he was hers to do with what she would. "I'm not going to kill you... yet. I want you to watch me take back Gotham from humanity, then I'll kill you but you don't need two eyes to see, do you?"

"No, Pam!" Bruce pleaded as Selina reached into the top of her dress to reveal a small pocket knife.

"Ivy, I meant Ivy." She rolled it between her fingers before clicking the button and the blade flicked out.

"Selina, listen to me. She's controlling you!" His reasoning fell on deaf ears as she raised her hand, she was going in at an angle so she would take the eye and reduce the risk of killing him, after all, it was Ivy's will. Bruce swallowed nervously as he prepared for the impact and Selina swung her arm, twisting her fist as it came close to his face and punched the fire alarm breaking the glass.

"Selina?" Ivy questioned as the siren rang before she felt the sting of the first few droplets hit her skin.

Bruce felt the vine begin to loosen while she stumbled backwards and the sprinklers sizzled into life. Within a few seconds puddles began to form on the ground and the pain became too much for Ivy to deal with, she felt her feet give way and she was there again, in the street, the coppery taste of blood in her mouth as she stared up at the sky. Selina rushed to her side and took her hand in her own and Ivy squeezed back as the stars rained down around her. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she pushed to smile.

"No, don't try and speak." Selina had tears in her as she watched the colour draining from Ivy's face again, the green pigment was being removed by the chemicals, leaving her looking a sickly pale as she struggled to form a sentence. The sprinklers slowed quickly, going from showering to the room to slightly dripping.

"You... Chose... Me..." Ivy managed to force the words out and Selina nodded softly, her cheeks wet, the water that had fallen disguising her tears. Selina held her hand, as Ivy's eyes flickered shut and her body fell slump and cried.

The other two pods Ivy had created began to deteriorate, turning snow-white before they began to crumble. The one on the left revealing a pile of corpses, people Bruce recognised. People he had invited to their deaths. He felt his heart in his throat when the other pod began to stir, hands pushing against its weakening structure until they broke through.

"Alfred?" Bruce crossed the room, tackling him with a hug with his good arm just as he got his feet onto solid ground before pulling away quickly, examining the older man's face. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm tickety-boo, apart from almost being plant food. Cup a tea and I'll be right as rain." Alfred said, a failed attempt to put Bruce mind at rest. He could see it in his wards eyes, a reflection of himself thirty years ago. Guilt. Pain. Loss. Nothing he could do would make any of this okay.

"She's still alive?" Selina said, getting Bruce's attention while the survivors rushed out of the room trying to get away as quickly as possible.

"It was never meant to kill her." Bruce told her. "Just incapacitate."

She nodded before gesturing to his arm that now hung lower than his other one. "You alright?"

"I'll be fine. What about you?"

"I..." Selina took a step trying to steady herself. "I'm..." Another step, her eyes became cloudy.

"Bruce?" She took another step and missed, falling hard. Bruce was too slow to catch her as she began violently shaking on the ground.

Bruce pressed the button to end the call to the pilot as Alfred knocked on the door. He let himself into Bruce's room, one of the twenty-five makeshift hospital rooms set up in the labs in the Wayne Enterprises building. He cleared his throat to announce his presence when Bruce didn't acknowledge him.

"Alfred." Bruce twisted his neck slightly to adjust the sling for his fractured collar bone, he'd been right when Ivy slammed him into the wall. His ribs, on the other hand, were broken, three of them at least. Just sitting hurt but lying in the bed was worse, besides he'd have plenty of time to rest on the plane.

"Lucius managed to stabilise Miss Kyle but she isn't out of the woods yet." He informed him.

"I'm leaving." He didn't try and sugarcoat it, he had to go.

"You're going home?" There was no doubt that Alfred knew what he meant.

"I'm leaving Gotham. Alone." He clarified.

In the silence, as Alfred walked around the bed and sat down next to Bruce, every thought possible went through his head on how he could stop him from leaving but at eighteen, he no longer had a say over Bruce's life. "When?"

"Tonight."

"There is nothing that I can say to make you stay is there?"

Bruce smiled softly as he shook his head 'no' and Alfred knew he was right. "This is something I have to do Alfred."

"What am I to tell people?"

"The truth. I packed up to go travelling with billions of dollars in the bank. People will believe it, spoiled orphan and all."

"And Lucius? Leslie?"

"Lucius is more than capable to keep running the company and tell Leslie not to worry."

"She'll always worry, as will I." He shrugged his shoulders before deciding to tell Bruce the truth. "You know she always knew about your 'late-night activities'."

Bruce wasn't surprised. "How did she find out?"

"She's a perceptive woman, her sessions with you were a ruse. She was waiting until you trusted her enough to tell her once I had explained why it was you were doing it."

He'd always respected her, as one of his fathers closest friends, especially when she had made him one of her many priorities after his parent's death, but now he didn't know how to feel, she trusted him just like Alfred did. Even though he was sure it went against everything she believed, she believed in him. "Tell her I'll miss her."

"And what of Miss Kyle?" Alfred asked cautiously.

"Why was she at the party?" He had to know.

"She wanted you to 'leave her alone'."

"Ah..." Bruce let out a sigh, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"You know she never meant it." Alfred began.

"No, she did." Bruce said despondently before handing Alfred a folded piece of paper that he had been fiddling with while they talked. He'd nearly decided to go through with his plan, no goodbyes, but he couldn't abandon her after what she had gone through, no completely. "Just give her this."

His name was the first word from her lips as she shot up into a sitting position in the hospital bed. It was like an epiphany, she couldn't lose him like she lost Pam, she couldn't be alone, she needed him in her life. He made her a better person and she wanted that, she wanted to be better, she wanted to be normal. If she let herself get swallowed into another pit of self-loathing, she was scared she'd never get out of it.

Hearing her cry, Lucius re-entered the room for the first time in three hours.

"Miss Kyle, my name is Lucius Fox, I work for Mr Wayne. Your body has been through significant trauma, you need to rest." From what he could tell, when Ivy lost control the spores began feeding off of Selina's body's sugars. They had to heat her up to denature and kill them off, nearly killed her in the process. If there were to be any left in her body hibernating and they started multiplying, she could go into hypoglycemic shock and die.

"You're the guy that had the gas."

"Yes, I was."

"Sorry." She muttered. "Where is he?"

"Mr Wayne?"

"Gone." Came a voice from the doorway.

"What'd you mean gone?" She turned towards Alfred, only now noticing the throbbing pain in her head and her hand shot to her temple.

"He left you a letter." Alfred crossed the room and handed her a folded piece of paper before returning to the doorway.

Selina read the letter slowly and then read it again.

"What are you doing?" Lucius asked as Selina climbed out of bed. "I'd strongly advise that you stay in bed."

"I'd strongly advise you tell me where my clothes are." The look in her eye worried Lucius.

"Oh my, they are over there." He said pointing to the chest in the corner, adjusting his glasses nervously on his nose.

"Alfred..." He pleaded for the older man to interject.

"Just let her go." He told Lucius before turning to give Selina some privacy.

Giving his patient one last look, Lucius took Alfred's advice hoping that he wasn't making a mistake, passing him in the hall. They shared no words, just a glance between old friends that told each of them everything that needed to be said and then Alfred was alone with the only person he had truly disliked at a first glance since he met Thomas. Rich, intrusive and a bad influence was how he saw him all those years ago and it was a similar way he saw Selina that first day beside the fountain but it was worse, she wasn't his bad influence, she was Bruce's. The one person he was supposed to protect with his life, until now.

"Wait." Alfred grabbed her arm lightly as she tried to get past him.

"Let go of me, Alfred!" She ordered but she stopped and didn't try to shake his hand away.

"He didn't do it to hurt you."

She shook her head. "I don't care."

"You got what you wanted, didn't you?" Alfred wasn't being malicious or callous. He didn't blame her, Bruce had made the choice to leave all on his own. He didn't want her to live with the regret, he hadn't managed to convince Bruce but maybe he could help her.

Selina paused. Of course, she didn't. Bruce was like a boomerang, every time she had pushed him away, he'd come back but it didn't feel that way now, not with the letter, not with a goodbye.

"He's gone to Goodwin Airport." He told her and then let her go.

He'd never seen Bruce so determined, so she was never going to stop him but he wanted to give her the chance to say goodbye.

Stealing a car from the Wayne Enterprises parking lot, Selina sped across the city towards the airport. It was outside the city, taking almost an hour but she made it there. It wasn't difficult sneaking past the guards of a private airfield but harder doing it in a blue dress, she'd done it before with Pam. They spent a week living in luxury before they were chased out.

She found Bruce on the runway, heading for his plane holding a large bag, she'd caught him by surprise at the last second and for the first time since they met he looked weak. It had nothing to do with the sling or the way he held his side when he turned, it was his expression. Pam really had broken him.

"Your leaving." It wasn't a question, it was a fact. There was nothing she could say that would make him stay, why would anybody stay for her? She was stuck up, arrogant, nothing, but she had to try.

"How did you get through security?" She scoffed, raising an eyebrow. Was that really his response?

"You left me a letter." He went to speak but she cut him off, adding. "It was a terrible letter."

Bruce almost laughed. There was no questioning that this was the Selina that he knew. "It was easier, I know how you feel, now you know how I feel."

"How? Remember, your big problem with me was that I wouldn't open up."

"Alfred." He admitted. Never trust a butler.

"I didn't... I was angry."

"I know."

"Then stay." She said it quicker than she'd meant to, still terrified to open up.

'I can't. I have to leave but I'll be back... some day.'

"So you're running away."

"I'm not running away, I'm running towards something, towards my destiny. Gotham will always be my home but I can't learn how to protect it here. I need to do this." How could he do that so easily? It was almost impossible for her to be honest. She was scared.

Selina's voice cracked, betraying her hardened exterior. "What about what I need?"

"Selina..." She knew that tone, she felt her posture shift as the anger inside her bubbled. "I had to make a choice and I made the right one. I can't put you or anyone else I... care about in danger."

"I can look after myself."

"But I can't look after myself!" He said, exasperated. "I nearly died because I underestimated Maroni, then you and Alfred nearly died tonight." He took a deep breath. "Do you know how many people died because of ME tonight?"

She couldn't guess, she didn't even think about it. "Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven people I couldn't save. That was my fault, my mistake pushed Pam over the edge. Their blood is on my hands."

"Fine." Her epiphany was over. The lie she had told herself. She was finally ready to open up and he was running away, she should have seen it coming.

"Fine?"

"I Hate You!" She told him bluntly before placing her hands on his cheeks and she kissed him. There was nothing innocent about it, it was as if she believed she could transfer everything she was feeling over to him. The passion. The rage. The despair. The hate.

Her mother abandoned her, Dex had died, she lost Pam to darkness but it wouldn't happen this time. She wasn't going to let him be the one that left her. So she turned and walked away, at that moment deciding that she wouldn't allow him to be the one to leave, she would be the one brave enough to say no more, but never goodbye. She had to hold onto something and he wanted to chase her. To tell her he would stay for her. He wanted to stop the pain she was feeling but Bruce watched her leave and he did nothing. He couldn't. Then, once she disappeared from sight, he managed to utter one word. "Okay."

Selina Kyle's dress was tight but she didn't notice it because he was gone.

And she was alone...

Again.

There it is, The End.

Thank You So Much!