Chapter Text
By the time Talia notices she’s behind schedule, it’s the moment she realizes she accidentally fell in love. More specifically, with the man, she’s supposed to kill. It takes her a while to process it, to be honest. After decades of working for her father and everything that he represents, it is hard sometimes... To notice basic things for an assassin like her.
Fall in love, for example.
“Come with me,” He whispers, slowly kissing her neck. It’s morning, perhaps way too early, but this is the last day they will spend together. He already has booked a flight and Talia knows she will soon have to play low.
After all, every good thing must come to an end.
But it’s the way he puts his arms all the way around her and kisses her cheek while bringing her back to bed, that makes her heart hurt. During the past week, Bruce has been the warmth she’s been chasing all along. Bruce is like the sun to her moon.
She didn’t know she could even feel this way, at all.
And in a moment of weakness, she thinks about saying yes, and everything that entails. On leaving the lies, the secrets, the double life behind. To have the possibility of redemption, the one she has been seeking ever since she was taught how to wield a weapon.
The mere thought of new possibilities simply hurts.
Because as much as she would love to, as much as she wishes to, she’s realistic enough to know that Ra’s will not leave her and everyone she loves, alone. She can’t endanger Bruce, not after giving her this.
“Let’s go to America,” Beloved whispers into his ears. She soon feels the prickle of tears when he embraces her with force, whispering all the promises and dreams he wants to share with her. Dreams about a family, in a world where she doesn’t have to fake anymore.
A dream in which she’s not an assassin or Ra’s heir and instead she’s… just Talia. The woman Bruce fell for. I’m sorry, she thinks, closing her eyes. And praying to whatever god out there, that still listen to her pleads, that someday Bruce can forgive her for doing this.
“Hey,” She feels his concerned gaze over her. His warm breath tickles over her neck, and she wishes so hard she could live this moment forever. “What’s wrong Talia?”
“Nothing,” She says choked up, fighting to drown all those feelings. She knows what she must do, and feelings will only be an impediment to her quest. She takes a quick glance at the clock and gathers every ounce of courage. His flight is in five more hours and for once, Talia wants to enjoy the last minutes with him.
She doesn’t waste time kissing him back, with force. And as they make love and everything they can make of; Talia's last wish is that one day Bruce can forgive her. She hopes that one day, in another life and without the heavy chains that enslave her, they will get the chance to make their dreams come true.
I'm sorry.
The room is quiet, except for the sounds of Nyssa reading. She turns another page, partially bored. It’s the third book she got, after a mission to South America with her sister Talia. The same daughter that had been given a mission months ago and has yet to return.
Ra's simply watches from his throne, expectantly. It’s been months since they saw her. What Ra's asked Talia hadn’t been an easy decision, but considering that Talia is the best assassin in the league, he was willing to risk it all.
Especially, if you considered what the mission entailed. Now, if it had been for him, Ra's would have gladly brought the Detective’s body himself. But if there’s one thing he has learned is that sometimes one cannot do what the heart desires.
In Ra’s case, getting a hold of the Detective’s body.
Because despite all his abilities, he is still limited to what this weak human body can offer. After centuries of waiting for the right moment and the right body, Ra's cannot deny he has gotten impatient. The Detective’s body is the last thing he needs, to get rid of this fragile and pathetic mortal body.
A body that, despite all the help granted by the Lazarus Pit, fails him from time to time.
It’s the main reason why Ra’s hasn’t been able to advance in his plans.
Which was why when the opportunity presented itself, he didn’t waste time in sending his eldest daughter Talia. And while Talia had sworn to not disappoint him, to follow and honor his legacy, he cannot deny that uncertainty has taken place upon his mind and hasn’t let it go.
He needs to know if Talia succeeded. If Talia managed to do what the rest of his men couldn’t achieve, ever since the Detective left them. Perhaps there was once a time where Ra’s thought the Detective could aid him, in his quest to correct this crippled world.
To co-help him eradicate the horrors that this world offers, but all of that changed the moment the Detective stated his goals.
That he had chosen another path.
Fool, he can’t help but think, twirling his glass of wine in his hands. This world is enough dark and broken for one mere mortal to play the hero. Now, he only hopes Talia will come soon with what he asked of her. Except she doesn’t come that day.
Or the next one.
Days turn into months. And while Nyssa silently mourns for the death of her sister, Ra's watches the horizon staying hopeful that Talia hasn’t failed him. That he’ll soon have the Detective’s body. So, when two months came without Talia nor the Detective’s body, Ra's knows that something changed.
That perhaps the Detective got to Talia first.
He never thought it would be his daughter’s loyalty.
He storms into the room.
The rest of his people are silent, as Ra’s carefully walks to the messenger that prompted this urgent meeting. Nyssa is not too far from him, scrutinizing the messenger’s state, her hand already touching her sword in case this is a trap.
It’s not.
The boy is trembling, but Ra’s focus is more on what is in the messenger’s hands. It’s an envelope of some sort. As Ra’s picks it up, he slightly falters when he finally manages to dissect the handwritten letter addressed to.
A handwriting Ra’s knows far too well.
He scans the content and soon enough his hands start shaking. A snarl escapes from his mouth as soon as he finishes reading it, because out of all the things he had been expecting (ever since he gave Talia a mission), treason was not one of it.
“Father?” Nyssa asks, stepping in, confusion laced in her voice. “Did something happen?”
“Talia decided to leave us,” His accent is thick, but for all the anger he’s holding off, he can brush it off. How dare she? Is the first thing that comes to his mind. The letter wrinkles under his grasp. He turns his head back to his men, brain already doing the calculations. It’s been two months since he sent her, so it is possible she’s still somewhere around Europe.
“I want her back,” He spits out through clenched teeth. “Dead or alive.”
She has got blood on her hands, a bounty on her head, and there’s a child inside of her. Yet that doesn't stop Talia from trying to run away from Father’s men. Her hands are still aching, and there’s a headache Talia knows will come to bite her later, but she can’t stop.
Won’t stop.
Especially after last night where the Hotel she stayed became a massacre when they came to her. Now, Talia knows she’s being pursued, and she cannot let herself be caught.
Which is why she pushes harder the pedal from the car she just stole. She looks back at the two black cars chasing her, and curses when the car begins to indicate it needs to be refueled. Out of all the things Talia had been expecting, ever since she had a change of heart, she never expected this. Her heart aches at the memory. All because deep down Talia... did what she swore to never do.
Fell in love.
And you know what’s worse?
Is that Talia doesn’t regret it, at all
She returns three months later, with her head ducked down and escorted by ten of Ra’s men. There’s blood on her face, half of her hair is burned and she’s walking with a subtle limp. But considering that she has been evading and covering his track for months, Ra’s doesn’t care that much.
He focuses more on the deep feeling of anger that has only grown over time, that first started when he sent the first squad to retrieve her. It took five more squads to finally capture her. He clicks his tongue when she doesn’t kneel or begs for mercy. She stays unnervingly quiet. It’s only a matter of looking at her to know her mission failed.
And if she manages to survive the punishment, he has in store for her, then he’s willing to hear her excuses. But strangely so, it’s the way, Talia returns with her tail between her legs, that catches his attention.
While under any other circumstance’s Ra’s would have simply chop the head off, it’s a little piece of information that slips out of her eldest, while she’s being punished, that makes him reconsiders not killing her on the spot.
She’s pregnant.
One word comes to mind and that is simply “uh”. The implication behind such statements is astronomical, indeed. It doesn’t make Talia get excluded from getting punished, because the undercover mission, she’d been sent, failed.
She may be his daughter, but Ra’s has no patience for disobedience… but… he lets her keep the child.
Not out of sentimentality, since Ra’s Al Ghul is not a compassionate man. The fact Talia got pregnant only proves her incapability of being the rightful successor to her birthright. Clearly, she will need to be retrained. But it’s the potential inside her, what makes him... think.
The truth is that he has no shame in admitting he soon makes plans for the unborn child. Because the child between the Detective and Talia has potential. Ever since the last donor body transplant failed, Ra’s has been seeking out a new body.
And with the right genetics and good training, there’s a slim possibility of rejection, that Ra’s is willing to take it. Anything to have enough strength to finish his plans. The plans to change this world, filled with disgrace and dishonesty, once and for all. But for that, he needs to be patient, and allow the child to grow. If he decides to take the body too young, he’ll get rejected, like all the other times.
For this, he can be patient.
So, when the times comes and his daughter pleads for her to keep the child, he lets her. But with a few conditions, of course. He’s not going to let his future body be tainted by the sentimentality that Talia has been wanting to apply.
The sentimentality that Talia has been sadly brainwashed into thinking it’s the right path. Ra’s will correct her, of course. But what she’s harboring inside, Ra’s can forgive some things. He will not let Talia’s son be brainwashed, like Talia.
They are the League of Assassins, after all.
Sentimentality is for fools.
Unlike all the pregnancies she read about, Talia’s pregnancy is perhaps the hardest thing she has ever endured. Not even being torture can compare to the pain that comes with giving birth.
Talia doesn’t regret it.
“Damian,” Talia whispers once she’s finally allowed to have him in her arms. She’s still weak and feverish, but when the housewife asked her if she wanted to hold him, she immediately said yes. She has no shame in shedding a few tears when she’s finally alone from all her father’s men that are waiting outside, with orders to incapacitate if she even thinks about escaping.
But it’s the little thing wriggling into her arms what’s more important.
Damian.
She leans back into the pillow and thinks about the whole pregnancy. The pregnancy Father allowed her to keep. It makes her grind her teeth, because she knows her child won’t be ever free from the machinations her father’s planning.
She’s no fool.
Father is planning something, and she fears it has to do with her Damian. A small spark of protectiveness washes over her, and she can’t help but cradle the small human being closer to her. Damian, on the other hand, starts whimpering.
Why? She thinks, looking at the small room Father ordered her to live in. It’s one of the many things she allowed, in order to keep Damian, yet that doesn’t make it less comfortable. There are nights where she can’t help but go back to the morning.
The morning she almost left this.
The morning where Talia could have the chance to start a new life away from Father, away from the League, away from the life she’s been wanting to flee, ever since she was fourteen. But she was weak, and now?
Now, she and Damian are paying the price hard.
A small whimper breaks her spiraling thoughts. She looks down and tired of the small thing that prompted all of this. Damian. Her heart, damaged and broken from all the pain she has endured throughout her life, aches at the sight of her baby.
Damian.
She knows, deep inside her heart, that for Damian to have a better life at one point she’ll need to let him go. Her Father is plotting something, she knows he is, but she will not allow him to touch her child.
Another mission slowly begins to form
She may have failed, but she won’t fail Damian. When the times come, she will let Damian go to Gotham, with her Beloved. Talia knows her Beloved won’t reject Damian. He’s a kind man. He’ll understand.
She only hopes that time comes soon.
(It does not)