The thing about trauma was that it was sly. It slipped in quietly, unnoticed and unhindered. Burrowed down into the warmth of one's mind, a tiny little particle of almost nothing that the mind closed around. But, like so many other things, that particle grew as it was fed. Just a little bit at first, then more and more and eventually that particle started to irritate. It couldn't go anywhere, but the mind could wrap it in layers of padding. Compress it tightly, wrap it over and over again to protect itself from those sharp edges. Even after the abuse was over, still it stayed in it's own pearl of a cocoon. Quiet. Waiting.
One couldn't see the pain for the coals they strolled through. It wasn't until they'd been pulled to safety that the ache started to be recognized as something malicious. And, sometimes, even then it didn't ache at all until something happened to strip away a corner of the padding that had been wrapped around it and the edge was just as sharp and jagged as it always had been.
Holding Gloria's hand as the nurses collected samples stripped off those first layers of protection and he didn't try to hide his tears as they slipped out from under his domino. She trembled with every cold, clinical touch and he offered her what strength he had to help in any way he could. He chomped at the bit as they planned the drug sting, his patience thin and wearing thinner, those protective layers finally started to fall off on their own.
Later, he held her hand as long as he could before the detective nudged him away so they could cut her down from the rafter she'd hung herself from. The little particle of nothing was an obsidian blade, lodged so far inside himself that he couldn't breathe as he watched Batman help lift her body up so that she didn't shatter like fine china when the rope was cut.
Something sliced deep and bled freely and while Batman's back was turned, he slipped out of the apartment on silent feet. He moved without thinking, his pulse a roar in his ears as he swung through the city that he both loved and loathed. That sharp blade twisted with every block he moved, digging deeper and deeper. He ran on instinct, half blind and mostly deaf, his rage driving him further and faster.
He didn't mean to point himself in Felipe Garzona's direction...but he had no regret as his feet thudded down onto the balcony.
Remix. Slapping a big TW: SA and CA on this whole thing >>
One couldn't see the pain for the coals they strolled through. It wasn't until they'd been pulled to safety that the ache started to be recognized as something malicious. And, sometimes, even then it didn't ache at all until something happened to strip away a corner of the padding that had been wrapped around it and the edge was just as sharp and jagged as it always had been.
Holding Gloria's hand as the nurses collected samples stripped off those first layers of protection and he didn't try to hide his tears as they slipped out from under his domino. She trembled with every cold, clinical touch and he offered her what strength he had to help in any way he could. He chomped at the bit as they planned the drug sting, his patience thin and wearing thinner, those protective layers finally started to fall off on their own.
Later, he held her hand as long as he could before the detective nudged him away so they could cut her down from the rafter she'd hung herself from. The little particle of nothing was an obsidian blade, lodged so far inside himself that he couldn't breathe as he watched Batman help lift her body up so that she didn't shatter like fine china when the rope was cut.
Something sliced deep and bled freely and while Batman's back was turned, he slipped out of the apartment on silent feet. He moved without thinking, his pulse a roar in his ears as he swung through the city that he both loved and loathed. That sharp blade twisted with every block he moved, digging deeper and deeper. He ran on instinct, half blind and mostly deaf, his rage driving him further and faster.
He didn't mean to point himself in Felipe Garzona's direction...but he had no regret as his feet thudded down onto the balcony.