This is a songfic reflecting the fanfiction story "Guardian Angel." The song is "Crashed" by Daughtry, specifically the remixed version online because it has a very cinematically intense feel. You can find the song by searching it online or going to the playlist for "Guardian Angel" through my profile. I have the remix as the second to the last song on the playlist.

It was the first time Terry had been back to the scene since that night. He stepped gingerly out of his car, softly shutting the door behind him. In his right hand, his fingers held the stem of a pink rose.

Old Gotham was silent as ever, and all was eerily still. But that night, it had been so loud…so bright. The flames, the sirens. He remembered it afresh, even the smell of smoke in the air.

"Well I was moving at the speed of sound

Head spinnin' couldn't find my way around and

Didn't know that I was goin' down

Yeah

Yeah"

Wayne said that Terry had been disoriented, and the vidlink had died when the blast occurred. Terry had stumbled back into the cave in a daze, his suit torn and shredded, his body only slightly singed.

Terry gingerly moved his left arm in its sling - it had been snapped when he went tumbling off of the rooftop from the impact of the shockwave. He didn't care much that his face was still healing from the bruises, his arm still in a cast and sling.

Max…she was the one who had taken a bullet.

He thought only of her now.

"Where I've been, well it's all a blur

What I was looking for, I'm not sure

Too late and didn't see it coming

Yeah

Yeah"

He stood silently staring at the heap of rubble, all that was left of the warehouse.

Why had she done it? Why had she jumped into the line of fire? Terry squeezed his right hand into a fist, feeling his pulse quickening with silent frustration. She had out-moved him. That bullet was meant for him, and he wanted it back. He should have been able to push her out of the way. He should have been the one, not her, not Max.

His blue eyes closed as the wind carried into his direction, whispering through his black hair. Her face faded into his mind.

"And then I crashed into you

And I went up in flames

Could've been the death of me

But then you breathed your breath in me

Here I crashed into you

Like a runaway train

You will consume me

But I can't walk away"

Terry gathered a deep breath and slowly exhaled it as a sigh.

His mom had found out that he was Batman. Bruce had told her. But he hadn't been able to patrol since, for more reasons than one. At first, part of him raged to be Batman, to go out and save lives until he was more addicted to the role than Bruce was in the past. He wanted to be the best. He wanted to fight. He wanted to relive that night…he wanted her back.

"Somehow I couldn't stop myself

I just wanted to know how it felt

You're too strong, I couldn't hold on

Yeah

Yeah

And I'm just trying to make some sense

Out of how and why this happened

Where we're headin', there's just no knowin'

Yeah

Yeah"

He felt like a failure, more than he had ever felt it before. No, this was a new degree of loss. This was more than a slip-up on a mission; he had lost his best friend, the only girl he loved.

He stared blankly at the twisted, scorched remnants of the air ducts from the rooftop. Any and all evidence was gone, and they hadn't found DNA on the scene. Terry cursed himself for hoping. How could she have survived it? They told him that she was gone, yet he didn't even have any proof to at least grant him closure.

Terry's jaw shifted bitterly. His adamant hopes challenged their "investigations."

But then…had she died in his arms? Was that her last moment? Had she been afraid? Had she been in much pain?

Terry brushed the warm tear away from his face, then swallowed as he looked up into the sky. He twirled the rose in his fingers. The sun was setting on Gotham, but no hero would be there to protect it tonight.

"And then I crashed into you

And I went up in flames

Could've been the death of me

But then you breathed your breath in me

Here I crashed into you

Like a runaway train

You will consume me"

Max's laughter danced in his ears. She seemed to be everywhere, in his dreams, a mistaken face on the sidewalk, but never actually there. He wondered if he was going insane. Yet still, he cherished his obsession with bitter mourning. He didn't want to forget her and move on, as he knew they would soon suggest. No, he would rather live in a state of half-being, with her haunting him, than to altogether forget her.

"But I can't walk away

From your face, your eyes are burned into me

You saved me, you gave me just what I need

Just what I need"

If she was alive, if she had somehow escaped, where had she gone? Why hadn't she come back? Did she not want to come back?

Terry extended his hand to drop the rose into the debris, but stopped himself. His fingers trembled, he swallowed again.

No, she was alive. He was sure of it.

He turned to walk back to his car, holding the rose in his grasp.

"And then I crashed into you

And I went up in flames

Could've been the death of me

But then you breathed your breath in me

Here I crashed into you

Like a runaway train

You will consume me

But I can't walk away"