Chapter Text
things you said that made me feel real
“You’re not just Heir to the Demon,” Sara started one night, brushing her fingers through Nyssa’s hair.
Nyssa paused in her reading, raising her head so that the glasses she sometimes wore perched precariously on the edge of her nose. “Is something troubling you, Sara?”
“It’s just-” the blonde frowned, her nose scrunching up in frustration as she searched for the right words, “Everyone here just refers to you as Heir To the Demon. Even in the small outlying areas around Nanda Parbat you’re known as such.”
“It is who I am, Habiti,” Nyssa reasoned, laying the book in her lap to give Sara her full attention. “It is who I always have been, who I will always be. I was raised for no other purpose than to succeeded my father as the next Ra’s Al Ghul when the time comes.”
Sara shook her head, cupping Nyssa’s cheek in her free hand. “You might be his heir, but that doesn’t define you. You’re Nyssa. You like spicy food and sitting out late at night to stare at the stars. You like mountain climbing for some ridiculous reason I haven’t figured out yet. You’re favorite color is yellow,go figure,” she smiled then, just a little, leaning down to press a kiss to Nyssa’s nose, bumping against her glasses. “You like to read about culture and history and you act like you hate those trashy romance novels but you don’t. Not really.”
She curled her finger along her girlfriend’s jaw, holding her gaze. “And you love me, an outsider.”
Nyssa frowned at the last bit, opening her mouth to protest. “You are not an outsider, Ta’er al-Sahfer-”
“But I am, at least to the League. Just because I came back doesn’t mean they trust me, not like you,” she sighed. “The point is, I just want you to remember that you’re more than all of this-” Sara gestured to the room around them, the four walls binding them in place within Nanda Parbat. “You are always going to be more than this.”
Nyssa fought back tears, her eyes burning as she shut them tight. She could feel Sara move above her, settling until they were chest to chest with her discarded book still resting between them. “You’re gonna be free someday,” Sara whispered, cupping Nyssa’s face within her hands.
She opened her eyes, the image of Sara blurred from tears. She smiled. “I already am.”