Batman Begins/Dark Knight 1. Chapter 1

This story is based loosely on The Dark Knight Rises. This is complete fiction, I own none of the characters you recognize. The rest, well you know... This is a story of how I think Talia and Bane spent their time beyond the Pit and training for the League.

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** The Cold and Heartless**

Written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 1

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"Talia?"

There were noises of combat. Noises of a sword being slung around. Searching for its target.

"Has my father returned from his mission?" She sent one last blow to the practice figure, sending its head tumbling to the floor with a thud. Her muscles were sore and her fire slowly starting to dim. She spent her mornings like this. Fighting. Practicing. Anything to kill the anger in her bones. The fire in her core.

She had her back turned to the guard. He did not answer immediately, so Talia took time engaging other aspects. It was then that she lifted her shirt and replaced her bandages across her abdomen. She gritted her teeth as the light touch of her fingers resurrected the throbbing just above her ribs. Her father was teaching her. Making her stronger. Absolutely kicking her ass. But he was absent; his mission was running longer than planned. The League's leader had been gone less than four months, still, it was longer than normal.

For that time, she was forced to train with a partner who enjoyed jabbing her in the side with the flat end of his sword and it hurt like the scorching hells.

She remembered the practice stick jabbing into her side when her father would train with her, and his scoldings; "If it had been a real sword, you would be dead, and I would have to wipe your blood off of the floor." When he returned, she would be ready. She would be able to take him on.

Talia finished replacing her bandages and put her shirt back on, knowing fully well that it smelled like sweat and exhaustion. She put her father's sword back on the shelf and walked back over to the guard.

"He will be returning within the hour and by then he expects you to meet him in the dining room, dressed only in your best. His patience is thin and your appearance will soothe his mood if you look like your mother." The guard did not smile. He did not scowl. He began to retreat, expecting Talia to follow. She slipped on her shoes and exited the battle room, locking the door behind her.

Talia found herself alone as she made her way to her chambers. These walls familiar as they ever were, held a certain dry feeling as she creeped to her room, silently. She did not hum to make the silence seem less haunting like she was told was expected of young ladies. She was a member of the League.

Humming wasn't a fearsome quality.

And innocence must be killed down where there is no light.

There was no more innocence in Talia, a girl of no more than seventeen. She was what seemed like already a woman, if that be possible.

She walked in the shadows as she neared her room when a dart whizzed past her head and nailed the frame of the door. She spun around quickly, crouching, her stance ready for a fight. She was greeted by M'har, who was smirking in the dim light of the hallway.

"M'har!" Talia shouted, but couldn't help the exhale of relieved air. He wouldn't hurt her; couldn't. They grew up together. He was her first friend when she found her father. He was the only thing she knew. The only thing she trusted.

"Baby Tal. Always ready." M'har walked towards Talia and removed the dart from the door. "Your father almost home?"

Talia glared playfully at him. "He is to be here within the hour. I suggest you leave me be, so I may make myself presentable. I am told he is in a terrible mood and you won't want to be around to experience it." She turned her back to M'har to unlock her chamber door.

"He has a surprise, Tal." He sounded serious. He mumbled something under his breath that Talia missed.

She turned around to look at him with a frown. "How would you know?" She asked.

"When does he ever personally wish to meet with you the day of his return?"

Talia scowled.

"Get dressed in something pretty, Tal." M'har patted her shoulder before he turned and disappeared.

Talia Al Ghul entered her bed chamber with every intention of not meeting with her father and sleeping the rest of the afternoon away.

But she couldn't defy her father. Especially not when he was in a foul mood.

* * *

"Talia?"

A different guard was standing in the door way. Talia had changed from her practice clothes and the change was significant. Her metamorphosis was uncanny. She looked in the mirror. It was evident she looked that of her mother.

Actual beauty.

Her dress was beaded and crafted so precisely that she felt so miniscule in the dress that was so abstract. Her hair was nothing but short curls. Not much could be done to make it look pretty. So she just added a clip speckled with diamonds to her brunette locks. Texture.

She sighed.

"Is he in any better graces?" Talia pondered. She avoided the guard's gaze as she passed around him and into the hallway. Her heels making a clapping noise against the stone floor.

"He disappeared the minute he returned. I know less than you." The guard led her down the hall and out the door, crossing the courtyard and past the garden. Her heels began irritating her soles and she silently groaned with each step she took.

Her father was back. He had been gone for three months, two weeks and three days. And now he was back. And she would have to train harder and better for their next combat session. She would have to be better. Faster. Stronger.

The sun was nowhere to be seen. The clouds made their appearance a week ago and they have been around ever since.

Talia Al Ghul walked down the corridor, turned right, and followed the hallway to her father's personal dining room. She paused in front of the door. She knew that the guard wouldn't follow. She turned her head an inch, not knowing if she should say any kind of farewell.

She didn't.

Turning the door knob, Talia entered the room only to find it empty. There in the middle of the room was the table, lavished with only the finest meats in the middle east. There was a fireplace that had a magnificent fire brewing, enveloping the room in the warmth. Talia walked over to the table and traced the pattern in the table cloth, wondering when her father would show. She thought back to M'har telling her about a "surprise" and wondering if that was the case. Why else would her father wish to see her the instant he returned? She doubted he loved her that much.

Taking a step towards the fire, Talia felt her stomach drop. What if she didn't like his surprise? What if it was a bigger responsibility to take on? What more could he want from her? Talia hated surprises. Loathed them.

She crouched down, feeling the warmth close to her skin and sighed. She loved fires. No matter the poverty she felt, she could never feel anything other than rich in the presence of the flames. The warmth was so inviting. She stared into the flames and saw herself. Her fire. Her loss. Her pain.

She saw everything she had lost in her early years. Her mother. Her innocent. H-

Talia felt the ice in her stomach, felt the terror in her veins. It had been six years. She had let go a long time ago. She didn't want to reminisce any more than she wanted to stab her thigh.

Standing up, Talia found a book on the fireplace shelf. She ran her finger along the binding, feeling the gentle leather under her fingers. She opened the book to the first page.

"Your mother was with me the night I bought that journal." Talia flinched as her father's voice sliced the silence. She turned quickly on her heel, her eyes as wide as a deer's being caught in the headlights. "She told me that the binding was so beautiful, that she thought it was the work of the gods."

Ra's Al Ghul stalked over to where Talia stood by the fire. He was not much more than five feet away from her, but it was still too close. Her father's face was impossible to read. She did not know whether she wished to hug him or retreat a few steps. That was her relationship with her father. Enough love to fear.

He stepped foward and placed his palm on her lower back, turning her towards the fire. He was now to her left, watching the flames as she did earlier. Though, she doubted he was seeing what she saw.

"My mother's silk had a similar pattern." Talia spoke with tenderness but felt the bitter taste in her mouth. Her mother didn't survive the Pit. She did.

Her father's jaw clenched. He knew that Talia knew the story. The story of why her mother was condemned to the Pit instead of himself. She knew that she understood. He, however, would never forgive himself for allowing his beloved to get involved with such a situation if he knew it would have taken her life.

"My child, join me at the table." Ra's stance shifted and he reached for Talia's hand. Talia had expected a raging temper, but the rumors must have been mistaken. Her father was angelic. He made sure her chair was tucked in when he crossed to the other side and seated himself.

He asked her about her training and her education. Her experiences and challenges while he was away. She answered politely and in a vague manner. It was not awkward, yet no more comfortable. This was casual. This was real.

Talia sliced her sirloin and placed it in her mouth, savoring the taste as she examined the room. She brought her water glass to her lips and sipped lightly.

"The mission went as planned, dear child." Ra's smiled at his daughter. "I have brought you back a surprise."

Talia's stomach fell. She knew it. She just knew it. M'har was right. She sucked in a nervous breath. How could she have guessed? Maybe it wouldn't be bad. Not all surprises were bad. Right? She placed her hands in her lap.

"And what kind of surprise are you going to present me with?" Talia looked up under thick eyelashes. Under the table, her nails were stabbing her palms as she watched her father stand up and walk towards the fire to gaze inside once more.

"I have found you a partner to train with. One I believe suitable enough to take on your fire. You will wake at five o'clock each morning and spend ten hours training each day. He will be your core. You are to treat him with the greatest respect because he is not your equal, Talia. He is experienced. More than you. I will not allow you to mess up your chances of becoming the best you can be because of your temper. You will behave, do you understand me?" Ra's turned around to look at Talia.

Talia looked down as she frowned. She didn't want to train with someone else. She wanted to train with her father. She wanted to be his apprentice. Not some stranger's. Her father was so sure she would mess this up? And what if she refused?

"Do you not wish to teach me yourself? Have I proven myself unworthy?" Talia fumed. " You cannot pass me along to another. I am not to be shared! I am your daughter and I want to be taught by my father!" Talia shook her head. She didn't want change. She wanted the ordinary. The comfortable.

Ra's kept his resolve as he waved away her rejection. "Talia, dear daughter, you do not see the logic in my decision, but I will prove to you that this is not the wrong choice. You will train with the assassin of my choice and I will not have it any other way. You will be the best, Talia, in time."

Talia stood up in a haste. She slammed her clenched fist atop the table sending a shiver through it, causing it to vibrate. "You cannot do this, I will not be apart from you. If you make me train all day with someone else, when will I see you? When will I see my father?"

Ra's made his way to Talia and cupped his daughter's face with his hand. Talia pulled her face away, turning her back to her father, praying to the heavens that she wouldn't cry. She wasn't sad. She was mad.

"I will not leave you, Talia."

Talia groaned. "You don't get to promise me that!"

"I did not promise it." Talia turned to look him in the eyes. His honesty was painful, but she knew it was true. He could never promise that. Not after the first time. Not after he had been torn from her a first time.

"Do not defy me, sweetheart." Ra's face warmed a little. "Do you remember when my men and I went into the Pit after you found me?"

Talia nodded, frowning.

"I was offering jobs to only the finest, strongest men who I thought could be made into warriors." Ra's face grew solemn. "I asked the doctor who had helped your mother give birth to you what you were like as a child and he told me about your life after your mother's death."

Talia looked down, pinching her forearm. Her mother's death had led her to a brand new life. To a harder heart. To a loss of innocence. One that led her to her dearest friend.

"The doctor explained the complications of having a female inmate amongst the rest of the men. He told me about the way the inmates didn't suspect until the last minute. When you had to live on without your mother, you lost your childhood. I know, dearest. I know how hard that was."

Talia gripped her father's hand as the tears escaped and she tried to blink them away.

"You were careful, but they found out, didn't they? That you were not a boy. That is when they attacked you?"

Ra's wiped her tears from her face. Talia nodded.

"But you were not alone. You got out. The Doctor told me."

Talia stared into her father's eyes. They had been over this. Why was he repeating himself? Then Talia remembered that she was mad with him. She didn't want to talk about the _past._ It wasn't exactly a warm subject. He knew that she was pained when she talked about then.

"I don't want to talk about what happened then, I want to go to sleep." Talia started to pull away from her father's grip. Amazing herself with her defiance, Talia walked around her father.

"Talia, you are not to leave. We are not finished."

Talia spun around, the fire in her rising. "I do not want to be told anymore! I'll be damned if I have to hear another word about my dead mother, and you should let her name rest with the peaceful. Not let her be remembered as another helpless woman being trapped in the sorrow and pain you never knew!"

"Don't you want to know who you will be training with?" Her father questioned.

"You!" She shouted, "I will be training with you!"

"No." Ra's shook his head. "No, Talia."

Talia glared at him. "Then I will not train at all."

"You will change your mind." Ra's challenged softly.

Talia scoffed. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

"I know you, Talia. I know all of your secrets."

And at that time, Ra's decided that it would be wise to leave his daughter with no goodnight, kiss on the forehead or wish of peaceful dreams

"You will meet with your partner come five o'clock. Sharp."

Once he was gone, Talia screamed with rage. Her fingers furiously wiping the tears at her cheeks, her calloused fingers rough.

She left the room without another glance behind her and found her way to her room knowing fully well that no sleep would come tonight.

* * *

In the morning, Talia washed her face. She pulled a shirt over her head. Her hair was pulled back. Her mind: lost.

She clenched her fists as she pressed them into the sink, shutting her eyes tightly to try and satisfy the tension in her core. She had slept a mere two hours, but even then they were not sound. Her mind would not rest. She inhaled deeply, trying to prepare her mind. With one last sharp inhale, she left the sink, walking out of the bathroom and to exit down into the hall.

Talia found herself in the same room she was in the day before. But then there was no longer a headless practice figure. Her partner had not arrived. Talia was alone.

Or so she thought. The lights suddenly cut out. She was in the dark now. Only the light from the early day came into the room, but even that wasn't much. The shadows lied.

But she knew this room. Knew it like the back of her hand.

She ran as fast as she could to the wall, jumped and kicked off, grabbing the bar above her head and swung around until the bar was pressed to her abdomen and she was holding tight. She flipped around and now she was swinging, gaining enough momentum to fling her body onto the second level. Landing wasn't pretty, but she quickly repositioned her catlike stance. Her intuition told her that she wasn't alone.

And she trusted it.

She ran towards a barrel, leaped over it and tumbled behind a series of boxes. She was getting used to the dark. She could see better now. Her breathing was ragged, but she felt the air shift then something move to her right. Someone, a figure sent, a blow to her shoulder which she barely dodged, causing Talia to jump over the boxes and off of the first level. She landed on her ankle wrong, making her limp for a few moments before she endured the pain and made her way to the weapon shelf. She grabbed a sword and slung it around to barely miss the turban of the figure. Masked and unrecognizable. The only thing assumed was the opponent was male due to his size. This opponent wasn't messing around. He was obviously going to kill her.

After grabbing a sword as well, the figure and Talia clashed weapons. She shouted with rage as she put all of her force into the next blow. The figure used the flat end of his sword to hit her in the side. She hissed but aimed for his leg that he deflected. She managed to get behind him and punched him in the kidney, but the figure seemed unphased. As if her force didn't even matter.

As he turned, she ducked under his arm and crouched. The figure stared at her then ran in the opposite direction, jumping on a table, flinging him up to the next level. Talia was searching for movement but saw nothing. She kept circling, searching the air and checking the grounds.

But he was faster than her and stealthier. He grabbed her forearm and slung her on the floor on her back, knocking the air out of her. She choked, searching for her breath. She had bitten her tongue, causing blood to flood her mouth. She made attempts to move but she knew he was going to end this now.

The lights suddenly came back on. The figure circled Talia who was sitting up now. The man looked at Talia. His eyes were roaming her face with an interest unknowable and indescribable. Talia's hair was shadowing her eyes. She watched the masked figure tilt his head to the side as he studied her.

He looked into Talia's face deeply and something confused him. "What does Ra's Al Ghul wish to complete by training such a young thing?" His voice was muffled but he sounded as if he was hollow. Like he was speaking through a hollow pipe. He stood up from his crouching position and turned his back to her and started walking.

Talia felt the iron taste in her mouth as she spat out her blood. "I'm his daughter" She replied. "I believe he wants me to carry on his legacy."

Something wasn't right then because the figure froze in his tracks. Slowly tilting his head to the side, his body began to follow until he was all the way turned around. He looked into her blue eyes. Searching. She wasn't sure if he was finding what he wanted.

What did he yearn to find?

Did he want to see her fear?

The figure's eyes widened and he took a step back. He did not look scared, but shocked all the more.

Talia breathed unevenly as she tried to keep her eyes locked on the figure. He was trembling, bringing his hand up to hover over the cloth wrapped skillfully around his crown and mouth. She watched wide-eyed as he stared into her soul. She didn't know why the reason behind his sudden rigid figure.

Tangling the fabric in his fingers, he unwrapped until the cloth fell to the floor.

His face was barely a face. He wore a mask that seemed to be sending oxygen to his lungs. That seemed to be keeping him alive. His face was marred. His face was broken. But Talia knew this face. She knew it all too well.

Talia stared into the face of her protector. Her eyes wide with disbelief.

She was looking into his eyes as she thought she never would again.

He hadn't changed enough for her to forget.

"Bane?" She breathed and she stood up to inch towards him. She watched his body move to hers.

Bane's eyes were wide and his trembling hand reached out to touch her soft cheek, caressing it like a delicate flower.

"Talia… You've grown."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Second Chapter up and running. I usually don't update this fast, but this story is just flowing in my head so I'm writing it down. I am floored by the response to the first chapter. My readers are the best.

Tell me what you think about my story line/characters/writing style or whatever. **Your opinions shape me to be better**. I would love to know.

Good day!

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**The Cold and Heartless**

Written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 2

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Talia was a butterfly. A Monarch. The most beautiful of her kind.

Her mother was rocking her in her cell, whispering words of affection and love. She was even singing a lullaby.

It was a beautiful sight. One that could not be trifled with. Through the lengths of hell and beyond, there was still the very same beauty staining the corners of the prison as the child silently swayed in the mothers arms.

She was so small. No one except her mother and the doctor knew about the sex of the child and they told everyone who asked that she was a boy. It was better that way. At least for now no one would care about hurting an infant.

It was not obvious, nor was it made out to be, but someone was watching.

He was watching from his place across the room. He was young. He tried hard not to stare, but the child in the woman's arms was something he had never remembered seeing.

His name was lost with the shadows, still too young to be considered a man. He had never seen a human so young be condemned here. The child didn't deserve this hell. It was such a small thing, no more than a year or so old.

The mother's shrill laugh startled him. The child's hands were searching its mother's face which had caused her to laugh. The sound was so pure. It was so foreign to him.

When he realized he was looking, young male frowned, shaking his head as he turned away and walked back to his cell.

In ten years he would not turn away from this child. He would love her. He would save her.

* * *

Bane's hand fell from her cheek and he looked into the blue of her eyes. He was unreadable. Talia didn't know how to feel. It had been too long.

Her eyes grew wider with every second she continued to stare. The blue seeming a faded ice.

She was frozen to the core as the shock refused to fade. Bane was towering over her even from the distance. Neither took the first step to eliminate the small space in between them. It was too scary. Almost as if they moved an inch, the other would disappear. And neither wished that. Not for their lives. They stood there with itching fingers and frozen feet. Lost minds and cataleptic souls.

The cold silence was terrifying, for she felt incapable of coping with the stark silence suffocating her.

The sword in Talia's hand fell to the floor with a shrill clap, and something about the noise snapped her out of her terrified state. Talia finally let go of the breath she was holding in and ran the first step to fling herself into Bane's arms. Her ear to his, her cheek to his, her soul to his.

Her complex emotional system was shut down and she didn't care to define what she felt. She just focused on the feel of her protector.

He was so very warm. The feel of his skin on hers was entirely too overwhelming.

Talia's arms tightened as she shivered when he wrapped his arms around her waist. She never thought she would ever see Bane again, yet here she was her arms around his neck. Reaching for any form of skin she could feel. He even smelled the same. The childhood memories reacted to his scent and she cried. She cried and felt on fire.

Bane held her close, his hand stroking her hair. Her fingernails pierced his shoulders and she was practically choking him, yet he held her with such tenderness.

Bane held her close and Talia didn't move. They were one. Finally. Again.

They had held each other for what felt like hours when Talia pulled away to stare at him with wonder in her eyes and eagerness in her fingertips. Her pulse was racing and there was a throbbing heat radiating in her head. She brought her hand up to his mask to run her fingers across the cool metal and watched his eyes watching her. He was not crying like she was, but his orbs were thick with the emotion he must have been feeling.

Talia's face crumpled as the emotion overtook her once more. She sucked in sharp breaths and turned her face away. Bane's hand found itself reaching for her. He wanted her to look at him. Talia's eyes squeezed shut as Bane guided her head to face his.

Bane tenderly wiped her tears away and she laughed suddenly because she realized how stupid she must seem. He sat her down with him.

"I thought I had forgotten that sound." Bane's haunting voice came in the softest of tones.

Talia opened her eyes. The moisture from the tears stained her pale face.

"What sound?" She asked.

Bane's fingers ran across her jaw and landed on her lips.

"Your laugh."

Talia felt the tears run down her cheek, but the smile on her face was radiant enough to overshadow the pain she felt inside. She had him, now. And nothing would take him again.

Nothing she wasn't worth fighting to keep him close.

Talia reached for his hand and held it close to her cheek.

"You were missing from me." Talia stated. She didn't say 'I missed you', she said that her protector was missing from her. That he had been gone from her side. From her heart.

She had loved him entirely too much and he was a part of her. He was her most prized friend. Her most darling protector.

"What happened to you?" Talia asked, lightly skimming her fingers across his mask, hearing his breath coming out deeply.

His eyes turned cold. Talia wished almost instantly that she could take back the question. She wanted to know, but she didn't want him to remember especially if it would cause him pain. Bane stood up and started walking around. Talia stood up as well but stayed glued to where she stood.

It seemed a lifetime before he spoke.

"They… knew, Talia." Bane sighed angrily. "They slowly began to figure it out."

Talia kept her eyes open wide as she resisted the urge to reach out for him.

Bane was ten when Talia was born. By the time her mother died, she was ten. Bane was twenty when he took Talia into his cell and protected her from the outside. A year had passed. A year of solitude. She was only eleven years old and Bane was everything a guardian should be and more. He kept her safe. He made sure she was provided.

"Females are not common in the Pit. I tried my hardest to keep you safe." There was a vein evident in Bane's neck that looked strained. "But not everyone is good. And you would have been… taken from me forever. So you had to leave. When I found them surrounding you, nothing could have stopped me. So I battled them off. I fought as hard as I could, but I was only… one."

Talia felt the ice in her veins. She didn't like to think of anything harming him.

"I had made sure you were safely making the climb before I was attacked. I watched you climb higher and higher." Bane's tone was fearsome even behind the mask. He paused throughout his sentences and the pauses were haunting "I didn't see if you had made the life-threatening leap. By then I was being grabbed from each direction."

Talia wanted to find some way to make him stop. Make the pain go away from his eyes.

"I at least didn't have to hear you in pain, Talia. I would endure whatever to never have to hear you scream. "

That was enough. Talia finally made the space in between them vanish as she grabbed his arm and wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Do not speak anymore, my friend."

Talia didn't want to hear anymore. Words weren't necessary. Silence spoke in understanding tones.

Bane was unresponsive at first, Talia didn't mind. She felt the electricity in her fingertips as they lightly touched the skin on his body. He was here. Body and soul. When Bane lifted his enormous hand to lightly brush her hair, she exhaled softly.

* * *

Talia glared at the flames.

She had demanded she meet with her father once she left Bane in the practice room. Her visit did not consist of combat like her father wished. She stood in Bane's arms until the ache in her heart subdued enough for her to stand on her own. The feel of him made her weak.

When she left Bane, it was hard enough to actually breathe on her own.

Now she was in her father's dining room with questions.

He must have known. And that made him a monster for keeping Bane from her. An evil cockroach.

She impatiently tapped her fingers against her glass as she shifted her glare to the journal on top of the fireplace shelf. It was the same one she saw the night before.

She glanced back from the journal to the flames but something about the journal interested her. She put her glass on the fireplace mantle and reached for the journal. She flipped the cover and glanced at the first page. Down in the bottom left corner, Talia noticed a small drawing. She frowned and squinted as she tried to make out the shape. It looked like a snake spiraling a star. Talia flipped the page onto the next and found a series of names. Ones she did not know

There was the sound of a door opening and Talia quickly closed the book and set it back on the shelf. She turned to glimpse at her father entering the room. It was startling being caught, but then she frowned because if her father didn't wish for her to read it, he shouldn't have left it out in the open.

"Talia." Her father greeted. Ra's walked over the edge of the table and lingered there.

His daughter took one last swallow of her drink before she set it on the mantle and stealthily stalked over to where her father stood. She wanted nothing more to slap him hard across the face but knew that decision wouldn't be wise.

Instead, she looked into his eyes as he stared into hers and waited for him to explain his actions. He didn't.

"You knew." Talia all but whispered, putting as much venom as she could into the phrase. It wasn't a question. It was an accusation. She stared at her father feeling feelings a daughter shouldn't towards her father. Ra's didn't even blink.

"Yes."

Talia's heart sank. She had hoped she would be wrong.

Her mouth was open in shock as she tried to breathe. Talia, then, turned on her heel.

"Talia..." Ra's sighed with frustration at her retreat.

"Six years!" She screamed at him, turning around to stare at her father. "I have lived with this pain and misery for six years! I have tried to keep it hidden. I have put on a strong face for you. I lost everything! My mother and the only one who kept me safe were gone! I was in hell living without Bane these past six years. I thought he was dead! But you knew he could have been my solitude and you kept…him…from…me! How dare you keep him hidden from me for that long? That was not your decision!"

Ra's didn't scowl at her temper. He was unreadable.

"You raided that prison six years ago. You took him out six _years_ ago. Why did you not bring him to me?" Talia was in tears now. "You knew how I loved him. I owe him my life. You owe him that as well because his sacrifice brought me to you. Did you ever think about what you had done to me? Did you ever think of my _pain?_"

Ra's sighed and walked over to where Talia stood; trying to reach for her cheek but Talia flinched away and took a step back.

"Don't touch me." She hissed.

Ra's looked like he was about to, but decided he wouldn't. "I took him away and kept him from you because you would have thought him a monster, Talia."

"Nonsense!"

"He was not the Bane you remembered anymore."

Talia let out a frustrated groan. "I know what happened to him, I felt his scars. He is still the only thing real."

"He was broken, Talia." Ra's stared into her eyes. "He needed fixing. I took him away and I made sure he healed. I let him get stronger. I showed him the League. He knew you were my daughter."

Talia shook her head, trying her hardest not to believe.

"He didn't ask for you, so I didn't say." Ra's swallowed cautiously. "I assumed he believed you dead as well. No one walks across the desert at your age and survives."

She didn't believe him. Talia's tears were like acid stinging her with each one that fell. "I want the real answer. Why did you keep him from me?"

Ra's gaze shifted, he was now looking down instead of at Talia.

"He grew, Talia. And so did you. You both grew older and stronger and I wanted you both to be strong enough so that once you did reunite that you could be level headed enough to focus on the cause, not only the satisfaction of seeing each other."

As confused as Talia was, she tried to see reason.

"If I brought him to you six years ago, you both wouldn't be the people you are today. You would be a child and he would have been too blinded to see any reason in becoming one of my best soldiers. The pain of losing each other has made you both guarded. Strong. It has made you a warrior, Talia."

Talia's fingernails were stabbing her palms.

"I did not want to hurt you." Ra's expression was true enough to make her believe him. "You are close to being a woman. I believed you old enough to handle knowing the truth and completing my legacy. I believe in you. You will not fail me now." He didn't ask. He assumed. Yet he was right. She couldn't.

Talia's anger was starting to fade from her body as she listened to him speak. She grew up with the mindset of giving everything she had to her father's cause. His plan to keep Bane from her was painful, but the right decision in his eyes. She must believe the same.

Her father had never failed her before.

* * *

Talia was on the highest perch of the temple looking out onto the mountains with distain. The sun was never present around this facility. It was always overcast and her mood was relating with the weather. She wanted warmth. She wanted to be held. By her father or Bane or the faith she was slowly losing. She felt like the weight of a thousand boulders was being mounted onto her shoulders.

The biting wind blew viscously and Talia pulled her gloves up to her mouth to try and ease the ache of the cold by breathing warm air and savoring the feel of the warmth encasing her fingers for those few seconds.

Bane had been called for another treatment in the hospital wing. Talia wasn't allowed to see him. It had been two hours and he was still wrapped up in that hospital. She asked him where he was staying so that she could visit him after. She wanted to have him close. She wanted to be told a different story. But what other could have been true?

Bane had been away from the prison for nearly six years.

Talia frowned and pulled her scarf tighter around her neck when she heard a scraping noise from below her. She glanced down. Climbing up to where she sat was M'har with his hood pulled up and his slingshot in hand.

He made the last few notions of the climb before he sat himself down next to Talia on the highest perch, overlooking the mountains.

Talia kept her gaze away from his, but he kept his on her. The wind blew and howled and asked unsaid questions.

M'har wanted to know. He knew something was bothering her. He was Talia's friend. He knew she was thinking too much. She did that often. And he also knew that all too often that she held everything in and that soon it would tear her apart.

M'har was two years older than Talia. He was tall and what most females in the compound found handsome. He acted half his age quite often, but he was the best fighter Talia had seen. He was tactful and wise even in battle.

When she found her father and joined the League, Talia was eleven going on twelve. She was a child. She was raised in the League for three years when she met M'har. He was sixteen. Her father recruited him when he saw him street fighting. He was an orphan living with his Uncle who was abusive and nearly carved his name into M'har's back. He was lucky to have gotten out when he did.

M'har first met Talia when she was training with her bamboo stick and nailed M'har in the face from behind. He hadn't realized she was practicing and he was going to warn her about her shoe lace which was unraveled.

Talia had to apologize consistently until she had forgiven herself. She had to only apologize once to win M'har's forgiveness. After seven stitches to the nose, around fifty tissues to mop up the blood, and fifty-two apologies, Talia found a friendship most needed. Talia taught M'har patience and agility while he taught her stigma and rhythm. They were fire and ice. Polar opposites, but the best thing for each other.

"Bane has returned to me." Talia's voice echoed off of the surrounding walls, startling him.

M'har didn't need a minute to process that. M'har knew about Bane. Talia would spend hours crying when she was still young. M'har was often the one to comfort her. Bane was often a subject discussed. He understood immediately.

"What?" M'har frowned, turning to look at Talia. "He is here?"

Talia didn't smile when she nodded. "That was my father's surprise."

M'har felt something in his stomach, something vile that he didn't like. He wasn't sure if it was the cold wind that had slashed against his face or the fact that he wasn't sure if Bane's return meant the loss of Talia. He knew just how much Talia loved Bane and his friendship with her would never be enough to make her stay if she had to choose by chance.

M'har loved Talia, but he knew her enough to know that his love was not going to be enough if it was put next to her love for Bane. He smiled sadly as he looked down at his slingshot. He wanted Talia to be happy, not sitting on rooftops wallowing.

"Here" He handed Talia his slingshot and reached into his pocket for some pebbles he had picked out earlier.

Talia looked at the slingshot and then back to M'har. "What?"

"It's simple, Tal. Take the slingshot and let's see how many targets we can hit." M'har smiled wide.

Talia frowned. "There are no targets." She pointed out.

"There are always targets." M'har shook his hand, telling Talia to take the slingshot.

When she did he poked her arm and motioned with his chin where she should fire first. Talia was never so grateful by having M'har there. After a while of skilled aiming, Talia let the sling go and triumphantly cheered when she heard the echo of rock against the metal pole. M'har laughed, throwing his head back.

Talia's laugh faded as her face became serious once more. Her breathing became less stable and she began to cry. Talia frowned and scrunched her nose as the tears kept coming. She _never_ cried this often. She barely ever cried. Talia didn't like feeling so much. The amount of emotion was overwhelming and frustrating and Talia was completely embarrassed with how exposed she felt.

M'har tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder when she snapped. "No! I don't need comforting. I'm fine!"

"Talia… You don't have to hide what you feel. Not from me." M'har's green eyes were warm and welcoming but Talia was tired and emotional.

Talia wiped her tears as she began standing up. "I'm sorry for being sharp with you, M'har. But it's been- I just need to rest."

M'har nodded. Talia handed him his slingshot. He turned his head and looked out onto the horizon, assuming she would just leave. Talia could tell that her words stung. He was only trying to help. Talia kneeled down and laid her hand on M'har's. He turned to look at her with an unreadable face.

Talia squeezed his hand. "Thank you." She didn't have to say what for, he knew.

Then Talia was gone.

* * *

"What are you, Talia?" His voice was like a salvation, rich with protective love and familiarity. The sand under her toes was strangely soothing and she used her ears to navigate. Through closed eyes, she tried to see. And breathing in, she smelled the dry air and rust from the cells around her. Bane instructed that she stand completely still and focus on her breathing. The calming sensation filled her and she let go of the outside. She was completely focused on the world inside of her.

"I am a butterfly." eleven-year-old Talia was focusing on her core. "A Monarch butterfly"

The more she relaxed, the more focused every cell in her body became. She could feel everything inside of her. The beat of her heart, the pulse in her veins.

Bane was circling her, his voice quiet and collected. Bane had told Talia that she was a beautiful butterfly for more than a year now. She had never understood why. "Why a Monarch?" He asked.

"Because they are the most magnificent of their kind."

The hair on her cheeks tickled and her fingertips felt fragile pressed lightly against the cloth around her thighs. Bane was to her left.

"And why are you a butterfly?" He asked, his tone turning serious. This question mattered the most. He wanted to know if she understood why he told her she was a butterfly. He wanted to know if she could figure it out on her own.

Talia was impossibly still and didn't speak a word for the longest time. Bane stopped pacing to stare at the back of her head.

She finally opened her eyes, seeing that he wasn't in front of her and turned to face him. "I don't know."

Bane smiled sadly. He didn't know why he expected her to understand so young and never having seen a butterfly grow.

"Come, little one." He said softly, waving for her to meet him at his side. They made their way across the prison in silence. Talia didn't think about the question after they had left. And she would never know why Bane related her to the Monarch butterfly. She would not wonder until she was at her breaking point and feeling the gates of death calling her name.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter coming soon. I would love to hear what you have to say. Reviewing is chivalrous. Be knight-like for me and **review. **


	3. Chapter 3

Wow, another three days and I've updated! I'm feeling happy!

I want to thank all of you for reviewing! really, thank you so much! A special thank you to onyxrose13 (your review was really helpful!), Belle de Sainte Ange (loved what you said) and s-chick-12 for your reviews! Please tell me what you think for this chapter. Would love to hear!

okay, so here is another chapter. Not much I'm going to say about it, just read and enjoy.

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 3

* * *

She exhaled raggedly as the sweat made its way down her forehead and into her eyes. Ignoring the sting, she bent her knees and walked slowly to the right, her partner mirroring her moves. She was undeniably tired, but she was managing the best she could.

Then she striked.

Her fist aimed for his temple, missing by inches as she swung her body around to send a kick to behind his knee. He grunted but quickly moved back circling her again. She didn't like that.

Running to where he stood, she jumped high enough and wrapped her legs around his torso as she sent a series of jabs to his face. This sent him falling backwards and allowing Talia to force him into a head lock.

Talia was fuming. "You are not trying, Bane!"

Bane laughed at his place on the floor when Talia tightened her grip. But of course, it didn't even cause a difference. Talia let go with a groan and stood up, crossing her arms. Bane was still amused as he stood up as well to watch her pace angrily.

She was cursing, letting the string of foul words flow from her petite mouth with such fire. Bane couldn't help but laugh at the way she balled her fists as she cussed him out.

"Don't you dare laugh at me!" She yelled. Her head was spinning but she ignored the sensation as she skillfully danced each step to Bane before she wrapped her elbow around his neck and flung her body onto his back, allowing the force to bring him to back onto the floor before she slid on top of him, practically straddling him. Now his laughter was booming through the room.

Talia growled. "You bastard"

"Shadow Princess has a temper today." Bane muttered behind his mask, the laughter glowing in his eyes. Talia pressed her forearm to his windpipe to silence his laughing. She used her eyes to totally murder him before she lifted her body off of his and turn around.

"I don't see the point in you being here if you aren't even going to-"

She didn't finish, though. Bane had grabbed Talia's elbow and gently spun her around before he picked her up and slung her over his right shoulder. She was so shocked that her scream was deafening.

"Bane, enough, put me down!" She yelled.

Talia was pounding her fists against his back, not liking feeling the sense of no stability. This made her even more dizzy and she felt like she would faint at any minute but she continued to kick and pound her fists against him. Bane didn't even flinch while she thrashed around in his arms.

"Bane!" Talia screamed.

It was then that he slung her off of his shoulder and allowed both of them to fall to the floor in a tangle of limbs. But Bane didn't stop, he had grabbed both of Talia's arms and pinned her to the floor. But Talia brought her right knee to slam it into his hip and sent them spinning until she was on top but by then Bane used enough force in his knees to fling her over his head and stood up quickly. Talia retrieved her stance as well before she ran to Bane and sent an elbow descending, aiming for his collarbone. He blocked it as easily as she had sent it.

Talia backed away, then and kept her hands in claws, ready to attack. She was sure she was going to collapse of exhaustion but she wouldn't back down.

"Why won't you fight me properly?" Talia questioned, spiraling her body, sending a kick aiming for Bane's head, but missed when he ducked skillfully.

Bane straightened his stance and tilted his head to the right, looking at her as if she were ill. "You will die."

Talia scoffed. "I am stronger than you think." They were circling each other, Talia's sweat was dripping and her body ached but the thrill of the fight kept her body alive and powerful.

Talia sighed angrily. Bane's moves were only a fraction of how much he could do and Talia didn't want to feel like he was going easy on her. She'd be damned if he made her feel weak.

"I can manage just fine." Talia looked into Bane's eyes, hoping he would see how honest her statement was. How much she wanted for him to do as she said. He was twice her size. No doubt, stronger. But he would not hold back on her, not now. She wouldn't allow it. She was going to be the best. She needed to learn from someone worthy. Not someone who treated her with such care. "Do not hold back."

Bane slowed his walk for a moment to really look at her.

Talia needed to make him see that she wasn't a little girl, frightened in her cell in the Pit. That she was a warrior. A Shadow Princess. All innocence gone.

That was when Bane inhaled deeply, his gaze turning from humorous to serious before he repositioned his stance.

Talia smiled triumphantly before she began making her way towards Bane, ready for an actual challenge.

* * *

"It is time to sleep now, little one."

Talia scrunched her nose and whined. "Now?"

"Now" He replied, locking the cell door. Her face fell as her shoulders slouched and she walked over to the cot, climbed in and pulled her covers up high. Bane took a separate blanket on the floor to make a bed of his own, laid down and turned his back to Talia as he closed his eyes

Bane never slept next to her. He made it a point to stay his distance when she joined him that first day in his cell and it seemed to have stuck. Bane gave her the bed and he lay on the floor. The pain of losing her mother made her blind to the noble gesture.

Time was passing. Minutes to hours. Yet Talia didn't sleep. She rolled onto her side and looked down where Bane lay.

The night was cold. The air was dry and it seemed hollow as the minutes passed and pretty soon, Bane was shivering in his sleep. This wasn't the first time he suffered through a cold night. It was just the first that Talia was actually awake to see him suffer. She felt the warmth of her blanket surrounding her and felt sorry that Bane couldn't experience the same. He had done so much for her. He deserved the cot. He deserved the warm blanket. Then Talia decided something. She wanted Bane to be as comfortable as he made her feel.

She sat up and got off of the cot. Bane's breathing was soft and even and his face looked so innocent in the unconsciousness as she walked around to face him. Kneeling down, Talia carefully shook his shoulder.

"Bane…" She carefully nudged him once more. "Bane…"

He frowned and started to roll over when he opened his eyes and saw Talia crouching over him.

"Talia?" He asked, trying to ease the shivering. "What do you want?"

"You are cold." She stated. "Take the bed and this blanket" She pulled it off of her shoulders and handed it to him. "I will sleep down here. I am not cold."

Bane looked at her as if she was speaking a language he didn't understand. She was offering him the comfort of the bed and the bliss of the warm blanket. She was giving this up for him. He stared at her with wonder. The gesture was so foreign.

Talia smiled crookedly as she waited for him to answer.

"Go back to sleep, Talia. I'm fine." Bane handed her back the blanket. He could manage. He always did. Talia came first. She always did, she always would. "You get the bed remember? This is my bed." He indicated the floor they sat on.

Talia frowned. She just wanted Bane to be content.

"Please?"

Bane frowned. "I don't want you to sleep on the floor."

"I can share." She proposed. Bane looked into her eyes, searching for the purpose of her discussion. Talia stood up and climbed back onto the cot and slid her body as close to the edge as possible. Bane looked at her small face as she closed her eyes.

Bane felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. It felt like gratitude, something he wasn't used to feeling. This small ten-year-old child was allowing him to share the comfort she most certainly deserved. He just didn't know what to think.

He didn't know how this would end, but he stood up and took a step forward. He laid the blanket over Talia before he slowly eased his body down on the cot next to hers. She instinctively remained as still as a plank of wood and kept her distance. Bane kept his eyes on her petite face as Talia left her eyes shut.

He saw such innocence and pure heart. He saw a beautiful bird trapped in a cage for life. Where only he would see her beauty.

"Bane?"

"Yes?"

"Are you still cold?" She asked.

Bane chuckled silently, "Not anymore."

Talia yawned. "Good."

Bane looked down to her while she tugged the warm blanket closer to her body. He closed his eyes and smiled. She relaxed a bit and slowly began eliminating the distance she provided for them. And pretty soon Bane and Talia's skin were touching and the cold was no longer an issue. This was only the first of many nights that they would share in the warmth of each other's presence. From that day on, Talia slept as close as possible to Bane. Enough to feel his heartbeat.

They were soon lost in dreams beyond.

* * *

Talia opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep and only the pain in her head was enough to rouse her.

It felt like a thousand pounds were mating with her eyelids, duplicating, making it impossible to stay awake. Stay alert. The pain in her neck was excruciatingly obvious as she tried to sit up only to find she wasn't in her bed. She was on the floor again.

She checked the clock on the wall. Five thirty-two. She dozed off at least two hours ago once her practice with Bane had finished and she left for her room to change. She couldn't remember the last time she actually got a full night's sleep. Only a few hours in between.

But truthfully, Talia hadn't slept well in six years.

Each time she closed her eyes to sleep, she only got enough sleep to keep her going. The kind that kept you alive. She always felt cold where she lay, hoping that the dreams would stay away but they always came back. The feeling of falling and the scraping of the stone on her palms. That's what she dreamt about. Every night.

The bed was never used. She always pulled down the covers and fluffed the pillows for the illusion that she spent her nights there, but it was always the floor that serviced her body. After spending many years sleeping in an uncomfortable cot, the only thing normal was to sleep uncomfortably on the floor. Not in her lavish bed, complete with fantastic feather pillows.

But Talia wasn't even falling asleep on the normalcy of the floor. She hadn't been falling asleep at all. Her recent nap was the first time she slept in thirty-six hours.

She stood up slowly and walked to her dresser to pull out a change of clothes. A shower would be most convenient. She made her way to the female bath house, dragging her feet as she went. She didn't feel right. She felt completely wrong.

Stepping into the cold shower, Talia washed the sweat off of her body wishing that she could also scrub off the bruises. Then she smiled weakly, because Bane did as she asked. He didn't hold back when they battled. He actually challenged her. So she embraced her bruises.

The cold water laced her bones with the cure they most desperately needed.

Soon she would be strong again.

Talia really felt horrid as she dressed clumsily into the grey fabric of her tunic. She combed her hair with her fingers and tied it up to dry. Her head was pounding and the blood in her body seemed like boiling water. The drowsiness was unbearable as she struggled to walk out of the bath house and to the public dining hall to eat. Talia was always allowed special treatment, being the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, yet she chose to bask in the normal like everyone else. She wasn't any different.

And it was completely boring eating alone at a table made for twenty.

Talia hadn't even made it halfway to the dining facility when she had to halt and clutch her head, trying to stop the dizziness. The room was spinning and her stomach was doing the same. Her forehead was on fire.

She awkwardly leaned her back against the wall and slid down, trying to keep her head up and her eyelids opened. Her body felt the same as it did earlier.

She groaned as the spinning increased and the heavy feeling didn't fade.

* * *

The curious whispers did not stop after the first day.

Almost a week had passed, yet they still stared.

Bane was the talk of the League every second of every day. The recruits gossiped like old women about him in secret. Some said he was a monster. Others were sure he was deformed. Demented.

He did not even pay attention to them. He wasn't here for them. They could gossip as they may.

The women were afraid of his mask. They claimed he was the devil. He was not like them.

The men classified him as a brute.

But Bane remained ignorant of their opinions. He did not eat with the rest of them. He sat in the dining hall with no plate in front of him, shifting his eyes from the door to the people surrounding him. He was only here to meet with Talia. Otherwise he would be gone.

But Talia still hadn't come.

He had been sitting in the same position, arms crossed and body tense, for twenty minutes and Talia still didn't make her appearance. He sighed heavily and turned his gaze to the window to glimpse at the fading light.

More whispers.

Another fifteen minutes passed and by then, Bane had enough with waiting. He stood up from his quiet spot in the corner and made his way out of the building without paying any attention to those staring. Once he was out the door, he followed the hallway. After a few minutes of listening to the noise of his shoes on the stone floor, Bane reached where the hallway split and turned right.

Walking slowly, he shifted his eyes to the floor and found a young woman sitting down clutching her head. As he got closer he realized that the young woman was Talia and that she looked paler than normal. He quickened his pace and kneeled to her side.

"Talia?" His echoing voice came out concerned. "What is wrong?"

He reached for her hands that held her face and pulled them away. Talia was trying her hardest to breathe evenly and she looked as white as a ghost. She kept her eyes closed as she exhaled through her mouth.

"I think I'm going-"Talia swallowed before she clutched her head again, "to pass out."

Bane didn't waste time as he carefully picked Talia up and started walking. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew that he needed to get Talia some place where she could rest. Some place safe.

So he started walking to his room.

* * *

"Bane?"

The dark was surrounding them in the cell and Talia was curled up next to Bane under a thick blanket, not necessarily finding the sleep she wanted.

"Hmm?"

Talia licked her lips as she curled her toes and tried to ease her body more comfortably on the bed. She honestly should have been asleep, they had laid down no more than thirty minutes prior. But Talia was restless just like every night they spent together. She never wanted to sleep. She wanted to talk. She never talked enough.

Bane was literally the only person she trusted and that made him the only one she spoke to.

A situation most disappointing.

But Bane did not mind. He kept his eyes closed as he waited for her to speak.

"A giraffe is an animal, right?" She asked, staring at his face. He frowned quickly, opening his eyes to look at her.

"What?" He asked, wondering if she was joking. What could have possessed her to have wanted to know the answer to that?

"The other inmates were talking about their favorite meats and one of them mentioned a giraffe. What does it look like?" Talia brought her hands up to lay under her head, keeping them warm. Bane raised his eyebrow in amusement as Talia waited for her answer.

"It's… um. Well, it looks like a horse but has a very long neck. And it has spots all over its body…. and…." He trailed off, shaking his head slightly because it seemed silly that she had never seen one. "Go to sleep now, Talia." He whispered.

Talia nodded. She closed her eyes and wiggled her body closer to his.

Seven minutes passed before she opened her eyes and frowned. "Did you know my mother?" She asked quietly. Hoping he would be awake. When he exhaled loudly, she knew he was.

"No" He answered. "I didn't."

Talia looked up at the ceiling. "Then why did you take me away?" She wondered. "You didn't owe her anything."

Bane opened his eyes once more and gazed at her. He didn't know how to answer that. He had never thought about it.

It was true that Bane found a certain fascination with her as time passed and he got older. The concept of a child so young in the Pit made all of the inmates notice, but Bane kept an eye on her. Watching her became an unconscious activity.

The night some of the inmates raided her mother's cell, Talia's fate was soon to be the same as her mother's unless he did something. Bane didn't have to think twice. The sickening screams of Talia's mother filled the prison as the terrible deed was being accomplished. Talia was yelling for them to stop, screaming for her mother. She picked up the sharpest thing she could find and ran to assault one of the men by piercing the sharp object into his back. He yelped in pain before he turned around, intending to strike her hard. That was when Bane picked her up and slammed his fist into the man's side, causing him to fall over and onto the floor.

He made his way back over to his cell knowing that Talia's mother was not able to be saved. The tears in Talia's eyes and her heartbroken sobs were too painful to hear.

"Make them stop!" She cried, her voice faltering. "Don't let them hurt her anymore."

Bane looked sadly at the child. "They cannot hurt her anymore, child. Your mother can never be hurt again."

Talia turned her red eyes down and buried her face in her hands as she sobbed. Bane could tell that she understood. Her mother wouldn't be hurt anymore because she wasn't coming back.

She was gone forever.

Bane hadn't spoken in the longest time that by the time he was ready to answer Talia's question her eyes were closed and she was finally asleep. He looked down at her sleeping face and noticed ever detail. He was slowly starting to let her in to his heart. The thought was scary. People were evil. Betrayal was in their nature.

Yet she was so young. Her innocence was endearing. Her heart was so warm.

Bane smiled. He placed his arm around Talia and closed his eyes. His answer could wait until the morning. The sun always made for a brighter mood.

* * *

The sun finally made an appearance and the warmth it brought with it was magnificent.

Never in her life did she feel so under. So far down. Almost as if her body was being weighed down by the exhaustion she felt. Yet she never felt so replenished. So relieved. Her body was tingling as she started to regain consciousness.

It felt like she had slept for days. Weeks. Months.

When Talia opened her eyes, she was greeted with the bright attitude of the room. The ceiling wasn't familiar, neither was the bed underneath her. Talia looked around slowly until her eyes landed on the figure sleeping in the bed next to her.

She didn't remain conscious as Bane carried her to this room. She only remembered him picking her up and starting to walk. She fell asleep in the comfort of his arms.

He was facing her and holding her close as they lie. Talia eased her body closer to his as she watched him sleeping. For a face that had seen so much evil, he looked so pure while he slept. She inhaled his scent and the aroma soothed her soul.

Talia felt warm inside as she brought her arm up to trace the scars on his arm. He didn't flinch or rouse as she touched his skin, so she assumed that he was as deep under as she was earlier. She would let him sleep.

The flutter in her stomach started once she thought back to her nights in the Pit with Bane as close to her as he was now. Nothing had changed. They had grown. They were older. But she was still that little girl sleeping in the arms of her protector. And that was enough to fill the hole in her heart.

It was enough to complete her.

* * *

A few more weeks had passed and each night Talia slept in Bane's arms. Each night she slept soundly. She was able to actually sleep. And that made her stronger. Her fighting was getting better too, especially since Bane was teaching her. Her father would step in from time to time to watch her practices and he made sure her language classes were up to speed. He would send her out to battle on the frozen river and out to climb the mountains.

Talia was advancing at a tremendous rate.

Her father had returned after being away for a week and Talia was to meet with him. He had another surprise. She thought back to his last surprise; Bane. She wondered how her father could top that. Was he bringing her mother back?

Talia laughed darkly before she paused and wondered why she even found that amusing.

She had just left the dining facility as she made her way to her father's study. The soft noise of her shoes on the ground was the only noise until a group of recruits passed, their metal armor making noises as they moved.

Talia turned left. Entering her father's study, she was greeted not only by her father but also by a man she didn't recognize. He was wearing a dark blue suit laced with a silver tie. His formal wear was magnificent. He had close cropped hair and a black beard.

"Talia." Her father welcomed. "Come meet my dear friend."

Talia crossed the room and held her hands behind her back.

"This is Barry Roslind. He has prepared a passport for you and arranged a flight to London that will leave in a week."

Talia frowned and looked from Roslind to her father. Then Roslind stepped towards Talia and handed her a heavy envelope.

"Inside here is your mission. I have assigned thirteen others as well. They have each received an envelope identical to this. You will read your requirements and if you choose to take it, complete your part in the cause."

Talia was confused, she was being assigned to a mission? Outside of her home she had known so well? She had never recieved a mission of her own.

She hesitantly took the envelope from his hand, wondering if they were being serious and opened it.

She pulled out the first paper and read the name she was being assigned to play. The woman she was going to be.

Miranda Tate.

* * *

A/N: Uh-oh! What next? Be wonderful and review!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Another update and this one is the longest to date! I hope it's what you were waiting for.

Reviewers I want to thank:

**Belle de Sainte Ange**: Seriously update on every chapter if you would. I am SO god damn pleased to see your reviews every time I check my email. The length of your reviews is fantastic and I love knowing what parts warm your heart. Thank You 3

**coco181**: Thank you so much for your praise, I really don't deserve it!

**HeyNowYa**: I'm glad you enjoyed how I wrote that scene! It was really enjoyable to write.

**s-chick-12**: Thank you! I couldn't help but put in some nonchalant questions in there, and my favorite animal is a giraffe so I had to.

**onyxrose13**: Thank you for your praise as well. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.

**GhibliGirl91**: I try my hardest to make her as strong as I imagine she really was. Thank you for noticing!

The rest, I salute you for sticking with me for this long. Please tell me what you think of this chapter.

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 4

* * *

The shock was still eminent, but the excitement was so much more prominent. With her envelope in hand, Talia raced through the halls, her tunic clinging to her skin and hair blowing elegantly. She thought back to the room she was in no more than ten minutes ago and how the envelope she was holding was the very thing she had waited _years_ for.

Centuries would be more accurate. At least that is how it felt.

She had trained years to be ready for this moment and the knowledge that the hard work had brought her to this point made her so ecstatic. The joy practically radiating from her skin.

Talia Al Ghul had proven herself.

And now, without any other intention, she was running to him. _Him. _The only one that could possibly begin to comprehend how much she had worked for. The only one who had seen how alive her spirit was before she joined the League.

Bane.

Talia was sprinting down the halls. Her legs not taking her as fast as she wanted, but as fast as they could go.

Talia was ready. She was utterly and completely ready. She would not let anything get in the way of fulfilling her father's legacy. The League's cause. The sun would come and she would rise with it. She would show the world.

And the best part was Bane would be with her. He would join her, she was sure of it. Bane was the best soldier. Talia would know, she had the bruises. He was the most prominent recruit. He was twice the size of the others and over ten times as strong. He was lethal, fast and sharp. He was concentrated. His moves were liquid. His motives, determined.

In a week, Talia would be free of this cage.

She would finally be able to battle actual people instead of plastic figures.

But she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't look over what she was assigned to do. It may only be a business mission.

Either way, she had it. She couldn't hide the smile becoming wider as she hurried around the corner and down the stairs to the under level. Bane's room was on the bottom floor. It was gloomy and that was fine.

This meant something big. Her father was trusting her. She had somehow finally proven herself. She was so filled with joy that she was practically glowing. All Talia ever wanted was to show him that she could do whatever he needed. She could be the best.

She wanted to show him her worth, ever since she found him.

The only way that Talia felt she could get close to her father was through his legacy and without being allowed to carry out any part of it, she felt like she was slipping from him.

The last thing Talia wanted to do was disappoint her father.

"Bane!" Talia yelled as she was quickly running down the hall. She reached his door and knocked repetitively. "Bane!"

After the seconds turned into minutes and no reply came, Talia began to frown. After knocking another three times, she muttered a hushed question under her breath and turned the knob to his room. It was unlocked.

Entering in silence, she closed the door and looked around. Her eyes landed on the bed. _Their _bed. Talia spent her nights in this room. Each time she closed her eyes, she inhaled his scent. Each time she inhaled his scent, she was a child again.

The complexity of their relationship was indeed confusing to the average eye. The bond they shared was stronger than the gravitational pull of the sun. They had no boundaries. Sleeping in the arms of a man ten years her senior who until now had no connections with her since they had been trapped in the prison of the lost world did occur as a situation most scandalous. Talia almost wondered what the other recruits must think.

It almost seemed like love.

But they did love each other. Talia truly loved Bane with each cell that made her existence. He made up every inch of her. He was her best features. He was her origin.

They did not have boundaries.

She would spend another night here. She would sleep well again tonight.

Talia crossed the bed and searched down the hall for Bane but he was not in the other rooms. Bane lived in the lowest point of her father's home. Her home.

He received whatever rooms weren't occupied and in that case, he received them all. No one wanted to sleep so far down the facility. Something about ghosts.

Assassins scared of ghosts was as illogical as Great White sharks afraid of Minos.

Turning to the bathroom, Talia noticed a brown paper bag that was bunched up and thrown carelessly on the floor. She stepped over the bag and saw light glowing from behind the bathroom door. Talia knocked on the door. "Bane?"

His heavy breathing was noticeable even from behind the door. It was cracked open so Talia could peek inside, but she didn't stop there. Talia eased the door open more and her eyes fell on Bane. He had his back to her and was standing over the porcelain sink, his breathing deep.

"Bane?" Talia asked. He no longer wore the barely fitting black shirt, he wasn't wearing a shirt at all. Talia had seen his chest before, but even then she was a child and the scars weren't as severe as they were in this light. Talia's gaze turned to the syringe that was lying on the counter.

Bane had noticed Talia's entrance and slowly turned his head to glance at her, his breathing still trying to find a rhythm.

"What did you inject yourself with?" She whispered.

The veins in Bane's arms were blue and obvious. She reached out to grab his forearm and he flinched at the cold nature of her fingers. She ran her calloused digits over the main vein and wondered about whether his body was acting the way it should.

"It's for my joints." He replied in the hollow tone she had grown so used to. The one she learned to savor.

Bane rubbed his knuckles softly in the crease of her arm before he turned around and slowly left the bathroom. Talia exited as well, shutting the lights off as she did. Bane pushed the brown bag to the side with his foot before he made his way over to the edge of his bed to put on his shirt, but Talia reached him before he could and she pulled the fabric from his hand.

She kept her eyes on Bane as she watched him watching her. His eyes were wide and she was not sure what she was going to do, but she walked around him to gaze at his back. Her fingers slid down his vertebrae as she traced the long scar that was there, wondering what could have possibly caused such a mark.

"You have experienced such pain." She stated no hint of questioning in her voice. Bane turned around slowly to face Talia. His eyes were filled with emotion that could only be told silently. His body was massive next to the petite form she possessed and as he towered over her, she felt small and fragile.

Talia wasn't sure what to do next so she said what she came to say.

"I have been assigned a mission."

Bane's stared at her. The emotion on his face was unreadable.

She walked over to the bedside desk and picked up the brown envelope. "I didn't want to read much until I came to you and we could read ours together." She smiled up at him.

"Ours?" The confusion in his eyes and his posture was obvious. He sat on the bed and looked at Talia as she frowned back at him.

"You didn't receive an envelope?"

Bane shook his head.

* * *

"M'har" Ra's greeted M'har as he entered Ra's Al Ghul's waiting room. The lights were dim and the mood wasn't any livelier. To be quite honest, M'har wondered the motives behind being called here. Ra's held a glass of gin in his hand as he paced to the table to pull out something from his leather bag.

"I have assigned Talia to a mission." Ra's words came like ice down on M'har.

Talia?

She was a young girl of no more than seventeen. She was an excellent warrior, but the technicalities were severe. There were no practice figures out in the real world, this time she would be fighting real humans. Warm bodied humans. Tough, unforgiving humans who wouldn't hold back from killing her.

Talia could manage fine come hand-to-hand combat, but what would happen if someone pulled a gun on her and embedded a bullet in her skull?

Shivers ran through his core as he imagined the death he feared the most. Hers.

Ra's turned to face him, his face glowing from the fire that was blazing from his left. "Talia is going to be heading off to London with thirteen other of my best assassins to capture and eliminate the CEO of _Pillage Advances_, who has started noticing that a company I have been invested in has stolen data from his to service their own. The company, _Trinity Radioactive Studies_ has stolen thousands of information, along with investment money. I have been in partnership with this company for over ten years under the unknowing eye. The CEO plans to close down Trinity forever. I am still in need of their intel, so I cannot let this happen. He must be eliminated. He will be attending a charity ball to help meet sponsors and I have assigned Talia as a foreign business woman who researches growth development of the economy. She is developed enough to understand her role. She will be playing a woman of twenty. Talia will intercept the CEO and lure him away from the public eye. I have no doubt he will have men guarding him, so I have advanced my team to thirteen of my finest. The problem with sending her, though I believe in her, is that she is inexperienced."

M'har frowned. He didn't understand why he was being told this.

"Then why do you intend on sending her on this mission?" He questioned. Talia could go on another. What was Ra's purpose in sending her on this one? If he truly believed her not ready, why send her at all?

"Because I'm going to be sending you to watch over her."

M'har's eyes narrowed. "You are sending me to spy on her?"

"Spy. Watch. Whatever it takes. I want to know she is safe. I only have one daughter."

Ra's pulled a brown envelope out of his brief case and held it in front of M'har. M'har looked at it, every inch of him telling him to question this.

"Inside here is your mission."

* * *

Talia's stomach dropped. She didn't understand. She had honestly thought with everything she had that Bane would have been with her. Had she been wrong to have assumed? Bane had trained her and made her stronger. Bane was _the _reason she was good enough to actually go on this mission.

Her throat constricted when she tried to swallow. Her excitement was slowly starting to fade. She didn't know how long the mission was or when she would be back. The fear was becoming overwhelming. What about when she laid her head down to sleep? Would she be able? With no warmth, the nights to come seemed depressing and cold.

It took everything she had not to let her emotions get the better of her.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, her back towards Bane.

"Congratulations, Talia." His voice echoed with the edge it possessed. He stood up and inched over to where she sat and looked at her face. She had her eyes turned down, obviously trying hard to keep control of her facial structure. The confliction was severe.

Talia's breathing began to quicken. That was when Bane had to cradle her face. "Talia, what's wrong?"

She shifted her eyes to his face, the fear still there. "No, it's okay." She swallowed again. "I'm fine. It's just…. Well, I thought you would have been with me." She smiled half-heartedly. Bane searched her pale face for an absolution, but found nothing.

Talia had to be strong. She was going to complete the mission, and then she would be back. She could handle the separation.

She grabbed his hands from her cheeks, smiling tenderly.

Bane didn't know what to say. She had advanced at an alarming rate. She was ready for this.

"I'm just disappointed, that's all."

Bane squeezed her hand. "You will be fine."

Talia frowned, he made it sound like she was afraid. "I'm not scared, Bane." She wondered if that was true. She honestly wasn't scared of the mission. She knew how hard she worked and how good she had become. The fear only settled in when she found out that Bane wouldn't be with her. The thought of him here while she was thousands of miles away was too unbearable to comprehend.

She tried to remember to breathe to keep herself from turning blue.

He chuckled and nodded. "I never said you were. " Talia nudged him playfully before she stood up and fingered the envelope lip, wanting nothing more than to read it there and then. But Talia was taught to never share information with anyone outside of the mission.

"Care to join me for dinner?" she mused. She wanted to get her mind off of everything except Bane. All things worked out in the end. They were together now. That was enough. Talia needed to learn to be strong again. She spent six years without him.

What was a little more time?

Nodding, Bane walked over to her side where she had her eyes closed and was calculating how to cope, when he brought his hand up to brush away her hair from her eyes.

"Happy Birthday." Bane breathed suddenly.

Talia's eyes shot open and she turned her head to look up at him. "What?"

Bane chuckled. "Leave it to you to forget your own birthday."

Talia shook her head. She knew what today was. "How did you know?" She didn't tell anyone her birthday. No one ever asked. Not even her father.

Bane's face grew serious. "I was there when you were born, Talia. It's not something I'm bound to forget."

Talia looked down in amazement. She was eighteen now. Old enough to know that she wasn't prepared for what was to come.

Bane exited the room after a long look at her. She didn't need to be told to follow.

By now, it was instinct.

* * *

Talia hissed as the tool that was being used to clip the excess of her fingernail cuticles instead clipped the skin too deep. Manicures were the spawn of Satan.

Talia was to be made into a woman. That meant dyeing her hair, perfecting her nails and waxing every inch of her body. That left her with a beautiful complexion and a very tingly nervous system. The woman who was fixing her nails looked up sympathetically at Talia as she tried to reclaim her posture in the chair. The woman was no manicurist that was for sure. She was a woman. The one assigned to help her.

Everything about this made her uncomfortable.

She had four days left.

Four more days to complete her transition into Miranda Tate. Today was the day that Talia was experimenting make-up. She had never worn any before, but the assistant insisted they try different looks. Ones that shaped her face better and eliminated the youth. Talia was almost eighteen, playing a grown woman of twenty. The challenge lied only with her looks.

Once Talia's nails were polished and dried, she took her hair out of the towel and let it fall down her shoulders. She ran her fingers through her hair, hoping that the dye had sunk into her hair and wouldn't bleed onto her fingers.

The woman assisting her, Naema, took her over to the vanity to help run a comb through it before she pulled out a box filled with make-up and started applying it to Talia's face. The foundation eliminated any blemishes and did its best to provide Talia with a clean complexion. Next Naema applied a rosy toned blush to Talia's cheeks to shape the bones and give her face angles. An almost nude rose colored lipstick was dabbed on her lips and provided Talia with a lustrous full mouth that was tempting to be kissed. If only she had the admirer.

Talia didn't look into the mirror as she was being made beautiful. She never saw herself as beautiful. And no one ever told her that she was. The praise always came for her talented battle strategies. How fast she caught onto whatever she was taught.

Never for what she looked like.

Once her make-up was fully applied, Naema rolled Talia's hair into curlers and then brought the tweezers up to her face and started to pluck any excess hairs under her eyebrows.

Not a word was spoken between the two since the moment they started. Talia didn't initiate conversation and Naema knew better than to converse with the daughter of the leader of the League of Shadows. The only noises that were made were the symphonies of Naema's tools being tossed around and the silent clasps of the tweezers being used.

Twenty minutes had passed and by then Talia was pulling her clothing off and being handed dresses to try on. Talia had worn dresses before. The luxury of being the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul. However, she didn't enjoy how the average woman in London wore her gowns. The cut was too far down and the fit was targeting curves Talia didn't even know she had.

Naema settled for a sapphire blue gown that cascaded down to the floor in elegance with quality hemming beyond the hands of any Middle Eastern seamstress. Talia lifted her hands over her head and allowed Naema to slip the dress carefully over her body, enjoying the cool feel of the fabric on her skin.

Pulling the zipper up the back, Talia smoothed the dress down her abdomen to erase any wrinkles. Naema unclipped the rollers from her hair and allowed the dry curls to fall and shape Talia's face. When Naema came around front to look at her, Talia saw something in her eyes that she only saw once before in her life. But she couldn't pin point the emotion playing on her face.

"Am I finished?" Talia asked, bringing her manicured hands up to pull a curl down and let it go, watching it bounce like a spring, frowning at the foreign sensation.

Naema's waved her hand to the mirror on the wall, indicating that Talia look for herself. Turning around, the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul noticed the woman in the mirror and couldn't believe it was herself.

Talia Al Ghul was the furthest thing from vain, but if she had a moment where she wasn't being modest, this was that moment. The chestnut curls surrounding her face were glistening, her eyes were glowing. The dress was snug against her curves and she noticed the way it shaped her hips and torso.

There was no denying her beauty at this moment.

Talia turned back to stare at Naema and couldn't find words. The change was entirely too overwhelming.

"You look beautiful, ma'am." Naema murmured. Talia turned back to her reflection, needing to see if she was right, for she didn't believe it once she turned away. Yet, looking into the reflection, Talia felt truly like the princess they talked about in stories.

Except she was the only princess who was trained to kill.

* * *

"Volcanoes don't exist around here, Talia, get your facts straight."

M'har shook his head as he rolled his eyes.

"I know that, but you can't tell me that this doesn't look like a bowl full of lava." She indicated the bowl of serum she had in her hands. It was a vibrant orange with a hint of maroon and the texture was thick.

M'har gave her a look. "When are you ever going to need orange face paint here? In case you haven't noticed, we have a hell of a lot of snow."

Talia rolled her eyes. "It's not face paint, M'har."

He frowned. "Then what is it?"

Talia's smile faded. "It's for Bane. He's supposed to rub it on his forearm to help seize the pain from the wound."

Talia knew about the fight. Since she was so invested in becoming ready for her mission, Bane spent his time training with another partner. Though he was able to win the fight effortlessly, he still caught the end of the opponents sword. The slice was deep and though the pain was managed thanks to morphine and his enduring determination to withstand it, Talia knew that he couldn't fight infections.

No matter how strong he was.

Talia was on her way to meet him in his room when she met M'har in the hallway with knives in hand, heading to target practice. He had told her days before that he was going to be with her while on her mission. The thought was comforting. Having someone like M'har around would ease her troubled soul a bit.

"I'm sorry, Tal." M'har uttered, startling her.

She looked curiously at him and raised a brow. "What for?"

M'har looked at her with green orbs, wondering how she didn't know what he was talking about. He of all people knew that Talia was sad that Bane was not going to join her on the mission. He knew that the distance would be hard for her. The mission was planned to last at least a week if not more. That would seem like years for her, he knew.

He felt that way when he left for missions.

This would be his fourth. His first with Talia there.

He was only nineteen, but he had killed eight men since he joined the League. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with the thought of Talia killing someone. No matter how evil.

Before he could answer Dr. Sae came around the corner. He saw Talia and M'har standing there then he scowled.

"Miss Talia, why have you not taken the ointment to Bane yet? You left my office twenty minutes ago!" He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Please make your way to him now, the wound may get infected within minutes! Here, take some gauze, and make sure you wrap it tightly to conceal the ointment."

Then he was off, walking quickly down the hall with his papers crammed under each arm.

Talia shook her head. "I better go." She grabbed M'har's arm and squeezed it admiringly before she said her goodbyes with her sky blue eyes. Walking around M'har, she left in silence.

M'har turned around to watch her go. Talia wasn't going to need protection. He was. He needed someone to protect him from the time they were about to share and the feelings he was about to develop. Whether he wanted it or not.

* * *

"Do you believe in heaven, Bane?"

Talia was sitting on the large tiled bathroom floor, allowing the paste to spread on Bane's bicep while he sat with her, controlling his breathing and waiting for the ease to start. But it _hurt_. It hurt a hell of a lot less when she didn't lather it on. The sting was horrible and each cell in his arm was fighting it.

Talia had located Bane in his room when he was searching through his dresser for something and he started to look angry when he couldn't find it.

She was able to tame his anger enough to sit him down and try and do as the doctor had told her. Now her fingers were delicately rubbing the ointment, the pressure as light as eyelashes on cheeks. The light feeling of her fingers on his skin sent tingles to his spine and throughout his arms.

Bane grinded his teeth as the searing heat from the inflammation was too much to handle for the seconds that came. His silence gave her the answer she was waiting for.

"I don't either." Her voice coming out like silk. Bane looked at her face as she focused on working on his arm. She was still wearing her make-up and the curls were new. Bane looked at her face and searched for something. A reason to turn away. A reason to stop looking perhaps.

But he couldn't. She was flawless. Truly a beauty made for heaven if it existed. He had watched her grow older, seen her tears. Bane had seen her evolve.

But the growth had never ceased to amaze him. She had truly turned into the most beautiful flower in the field. The most radiant beam of sunlight.

Talia turned her eyes away from his arm to stare into the only thing that betrayed his emotions. His eyes. Talia felt electricity lacing her bones as he looked at her. She finally knew where she had seen the look Naema had given her just hours before. It was one Bane had when he looked at her. Every time.

She was being looked at like she was beautiful.

She suddenly realized how close she was to him and how the heat from his skin was reaching for hers but couldn't quite grasp. His massive body was hovering over hers and the sunshine couldn't compare to this kind of heat.

Talia found herself pulling her body back once she realized she was leaning in closer. She placed the spatula like tool back into the bowl of ointment and stood up to wash her fingers. After, she wrapped the gauze around his wound and taped it closed.

"But maybe there is a heaven." Talia muttered, keeping her eyes away from his. "My mother told me about it. She said it's where good people who do good things go."

Bane stood up and stared at her.

"My mother is in heaven." Talia smiled sadly. "When I die, I want to go too."

Bane shook his head, he knew what this meant. She was starting to embrace the option that she might die. And he wouldn't allow her to think that way.

"But I won't see my mother where I'm going."

Bane watched her carefully. "Talia, enough."

"You will go to heaven, Bane." She turned to smile at him with sad eyes. "I know you will."

Bane's eyes shifted as he stared at her. "Talia, stop."

"But maybe that's okay." Talia turned around to throw away the excess gauze. "Because when I die, I know that you are going to be loved, if not only by me."

She turned back to face him and took a few steps backwards to give them distance.

"You see, my mother told me about a deity, called him by a name I can't remember. She said that if we believed, then we would be saved. I don't think I believe in my salvation as much as yours. I know you will be loved by this god. I know he will accept you."

"Talia, stop this." Bane's face grew hard.

"I am still unsure of what will happen to me once I-"

"Enough!" Bane yelled.

Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms under hers, gripping hard and lifted her body off of the ground. She gasped as he lifted her, held her close, and completely disregarded that she didn't like being lifted. Talia screamed as he strode out of the bathroom.

"Bane! What are you doing?" Bane brought her over to the bed in a few long strides and almost roughly sat her down. He pulled the covers down and pulled her body with him into the middle of the bed. She was furious. What was he aiming at?

"Bane!" Talia was angrily squirming in his arms as he pulled the covers up and over their bodies. "Why did you do that?"

He pulled her body close and the bold gesture took her breath away. He was warm. So warm.

Without looking at her, Bane spoke harshly, his voice like _fire_. "You will _never _believe that I will not be wherever you are, do you understand me?"

Then the earth did not revolve. Silence fell and the only thing real was Bane and his words. Talia's oxygen was vaporized as the words he had just spoken began to sink in.

Talia's frown eased as the impossible emotion flooded her throat and lungs and encased her in a cocoon of desire. Bane's sentiments were sharp and commanding, but Talia only found peace with them.

Talia searched his slowly relaxing face as she resisted the urge to let her tears show. The phantom of her emotions was hiding behind her heart. Not yet close enough to show itself.

No other words followed, he just held her close. The silence spoke in the most beautiful tones. He didn't need to tell her that she would be safe. He couldn't tell her what would happen. He would let his heart speak to hers. They always had the best conversations that way. That way, what they spoke was true.

Bane had his eyes shut, persistently keeping them closed so he wouldn't look at hers. Talia never looked at him the way she did now.

The time passed slowly as the warmth they shared radiated within and surrounded them. The smallest of implications were the largest of gestures. The lightest touches left the darkest of marks. Talia slowly started to grasp herself closer to Bane and his arms tightened around her, creating walls impossible to diminish. His fingers tickled her spine and her breathing was soft against the croon of his neck.

They were one again. All other implications were eliminated as they held each other in the midst of the future to come.

Time was endless now as Bane slowly began to fall asleep, nuzzling Talia close to his bare chest, while she laid awake gazing at him and feeling his heartbeat under hers.

* * *

Three more days had passed and the day of departure had finally come. Talia willed it to stay away as long as possible, but she couldn't cheat time. She was soon dressed and transitioned into the beautiful and smart role she was assigned to play, making her way outside.

The warmth of her body slowly starting to grow cold with each step she took towards the vehicle that would take her away. She felt the wind try its hardest to stress her hair which was flipped kindly into a bun on top of her head, but knew the pins wouldn't allow that. She felt the cold wind on her cheeks and knew that it was only adding to the color she already had thanks to the blush Naema had shown her to apply.

But the worst was when the ache in her heart didn't fade as she walked closer to the vehicle that would take her towards the one thing she had been striving for all of these years.

Her farewell this morning was completely heart shattering. She braved it well, but she couldn't deny what she felt inside. A goodbye to a most beloved friend. That was the soreness under her ribs.

Bane was not conscious when she said her goodbye. She knew she wouldn't be strong enough to depart if he was awake. He knew she wouldn't be there when he woke up, just like the six years they spent apart. So for their last night, the warmth of each heartbeat and the _burn_ from each touch was the only thing she was allowed to hold onto as she left the room, trying to diminish the tears.

She was strong. Crying wouldn't make her stay. Couldn't change the fact that she was leaving.

She neared the cabin of the van where the other recruits waited. One of them walked forward to take the suitcase from her, before Talia turned to the door, pulled it open and climbed inside.

The others climbed in as well. Talia leaned her head back, closed her eyes and felt the gravel underneath her tussle the van as they began to drive away.

She refused to turn her gaze back to her father's home; her home.

She refused to look back at all.

* * *

A/N: And she's gone. I have school on Monday and that is going to really affect my writing time, but I will update soon. I really mean it when I say that every review is delightful, good or bad. Tell me what you think. I write better when you **review**!

(off note) I plan on writing one shot fics for Bane/Talia and a few Selina/Bruce fics as well so keep updated with my work if you want to see more stories from me!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Another update! And I had college to complete as well! I feel proud.

Well, this chapter is the longest of them all so far. I had figured three plot lines, so it took me a while to sort out which one I wanted to go with, I hope you like the one I chose.

Reviews I love to see:

**Belle de Sainte Ange**: I love you with all of my heart okay. Thank you for writing such LONG reviews! I seriously cannot let you know how much your last one meant to me! Please review on every chapter I write. Tell me what you hate, tell me what you like. I just love you okay?

**NinjaNicky:** Wow, thank you so much for what you said! This chapter explains what he was looking for in a sense, hope you can see it because I was very vague.

**finaljoy**: Thank you for sticking with me this long! I am glad you are liking it.

**Dei Gratia 43**: Please be patient with the romance, it will come, I just really want to build up to it.

**Guest**: WHOA, tiger. Slow down. Sex comes later. I love that you're eager though.

**teeheexoxo**: What an honor! Thank you for ranking me so highly!

And the rest of you who have reviewed my chapters! I love you all very deeply. I mentioned the previous readers because what they wrote caught my attention. This isn't bribing, but... if you write long interesting reviews I will write about you in my author's notes...

Any way, my writing is inspired by Florence and The Machine. So if you would like, look up Florence and have a listen while you eat cookies and read. She really set's the mood with some of her songs.

All my love.

* * *

**The Cold And Heartless**

Written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 5

* * *

_Our Father Which Art In Heaven,_

_Hallowed Be Thy Name._

* * *

"Name please?"

The flashes of the cameras came from each side as the bite of the cold London air clung to her skin and the people around her made excited noises, yelling for each party goer to look their way for a photo. Nuzzling her body more comfortably in her coat, she brushed her curls out of her face.

"Tate" She spoke as clearly as possible before she kindly looked at the man who was checking the list for her name.

"Ah, here you are Miranda." He looked up at her. "This way, please." He gestured with his arm for her to follow the red carpet inside. Talia walked past him, her hands brought together at her core as she tried her hardest to keep her eyes from wandering _too_ much. Once she was inside, a woman at the door asked for her coat, which she slipped out of easily. Talia examined the luxury of this lifestyle as she walked gracefully into the room. The chandeliers were glistening, the Champaign ever-present. The women wore their best diamonds to show off and the men sold their lies in their designer suits. And the best part, their wallets were fully stocked. No doubt they would be prepared if the world became more and more unforgiving.

There was laughter and it was everywhere.

Classical music was being performed in the background as Talia scanned her eyes across the sea of people around her. The dance floor was filled with various kinds of people, but Talia was searching for only one person. She had studied the picture for hours. Days, really. She knew his face. She could find him anywhere.

Thomas Schovert was hiding somewhere.

She walked around and found her way to the marble stairs. Ascending, she searched the room. She noticed a recruit, Sylvia, conversing with two business men on her left. Sylvia shifted her eyes to glance at Talia. The graceful Miranda Tate then turned around quickly and swiped the Champaign from the tray in front of her. One of the agents was holding the tray. She looked up at him under thick eyelashes and he gave her a small nod.

Then she swiftly turned around. Her heels making noises as she made her way around the top floor. Glancing at the men and women around her, she felt her curls just barely brushing her shoulders with each step she took, the taste of her lipstick lacing her tongue as she wet her lips, trying to make them look fresh.

"I wasn't aware attending balls was an activity you enjoyed, Miss Tate." A voice came from behind her.

Talia paused, looked down and resisting the urge to smile as she turned around. "It isn't, Mr. Fowler, but I do tend to make exceptions."

Shifting her gaze from the floor to his face, Talia found M'har smirking at her, his smile was mischievous. Having his hair slicked back, the view of his face was admirable. Almost comical, the change. His green eyes were deep. Talia had never seen M'har in anything like the clothing he was wearing now. Designer suits were his strong point.

M'har walked around to place his hand on her lower back and led her to the railing of the top floor. "Do tell me you have a purpose for coming, otherwise I will have to have no choice but feel offended that you did not warn me you would be here."

Talia looked down to where the couples were dancing below and kept her chin up.

"My business intentions are what brought me here, Jacob. But, I must apologize if I hurt your feelings. It was not my intention." She continued to glance around the room. A few minutes passed when Talia's eyes landed on her target.

"Do you know how to waltz, Mr. Fowler?" The classy Miranda Tate turned her gaze towards the famed bachelor, Jacob Fowler, and waited for an answer.

He smirked at her before he nodded and held out his arm for her to capture. She slipped her petite arm through his and held up the end of her blue dress as they descended the stairs.

The ball room was swarmed with couples, but they fit in nicely. Spinning her around to face him, M'har placed a hand on Talia's waist and laced her fingers in his before he moved effortlessly to catch onto the rhythm of the music.

He really _did_ know how to waltz. Talia was a sucker for a good dance. Good thing she had M'har here to see to it.

Turning them, M'har looked around the room. "Do tell me what your 'business intentions' are, Miss Tate." He looked down into her ice blue eyes before he smirked once more, the double meaning lacing his words. "Perhaps I can help you."

* * *

_Thy Kingdom Come _

* * *

She felt him wrap his arms around her body in haste and her feet no longer touched the floor. Circling his hand to cradle her crown, he ran as quickly as possible to the side of the wall. The side with the sun light cascading down to meet them. They never visited this side. He told her that she could never make it, no matter how much he wished he was wrong. The chances just weren't realistic.

She would never be able to climb up and out of the prison. Knowing that, she kept away from hoping.

Talia clung to him, her nails stabbing his shoulders as she held on. The cloth wrapped around her neck was being flung with the wind as she tried to close her eyes and imagine that the men behind her were not following her. That they weren't coming to kill her.

Bane's body went as fast as it could and even then he was a good twenty feet ahead of them. The rattle of Talia's bones making the world shake.

Then Bane finally reached the spot where he could lift her high enough so that she could catch the wall and just _climb_. Ascending towards the light she had come to know so well; the only thing that reminded her that while she was stuck in a hole, there was another world outside. Something massive and forgiving.

Or just as equally deceptive.

Talia's tiny hands grasped the rock, trying to ignore the scarping sensation as she pulled with everything in the middle of her body to find herself on top. She looked back down to where Bane was; the men finally reaching him and showed her how unforgiving the world really was. No mercy was shown for him. No mercy was bestowed.

Bane shoved and skillfully fought each one, but the number outweighing him caused him to falter. He turned his head up as she started to grasp the wall, looking down at him with the devastating realization that she would never see him again. He was gone.

She couldn't breathe.

She watched him mouth a simple, final goodbye before the swarm of men attacked him like wasps. Except, she felt all of their venom. All of his pain.

She had no other choice but to climb to the salvation above while the men below destroyed what was left of him and just as equally, the rest of her heart.

* * *

_Thy Will Be Done,_

_On Earth, As It Is In Heaven._

* * *

The sharp raps on her door startled Talia awake.

The unconscious world was letting her go as she opened her eyes quickly and noticed she was on the bed for once. The _cold_ bed. The dream was fading away like smoke. The same dream. She had it all the time. She was climbing and climbing but she never escaped. She just kept getting higher, only to find that the climb didn't end. She groaned as she clung desperately to the sheets before she slowly sat up and then the damn knocking started again.

Talia brought her hands up to her face and exhaled. The annoyance was severe. Was this really the _time_? Why the hell would anyone knock this loudly so early in the-

Oh…

After glancing at the clock, she realized that it was twenty minutes past nine in the morning. Fabulous. She'd overslept.

Talia slipped on a silk robe (having slept in only her undergarments), compliments of the expensive hotel the team resonated in, before she opened the door to a recruit standing stoic in front of her.

"You're dress." She handed her the sapphire gown delicately. Yawning, she took it from the recruit's arms and shut the door after she retreated. The dress was encased in a plastic wrapper that fell further than the gown so she had to be careful not to trip over it as she went back to her bed and laid it on the messy sheets unceremoniously. She would look elegant in it. Lady-like.

Turning on her heel, she walked over to the bathroom and paused in front of the mirror. She kept the lights off and only the light from the other room was reflecting off of the walls. The shadows were outweighing the dim color reflecting, but Talia could still see herself. Placing her hands on either side of the sink, she bowed her head.

The day had finally come, and my, did the cold bite. They arrived in London on a Friday, yet the charity ball wasn't until Sunday. That gave them time to focus on the plan.

The tempting urge to swallow was overwhelming, but the reflex didn't really seem as easy as she thought it would be. Too many things didn't seem as easy as she'd wished.

She kept her head low, her curls surrounding her head in a mass of frizz. The morning chill sent goose bumps up her arms and legs and left her no other option but to shiver from the cold. The time ticked away silently. Six more minutes and she would turn on the lights. Six more minutes and she would diminish the sorrow.

She flexed her fingers on the counter, stretching them and testing the joints. Closing her eyes tightly, she finally swallowed the uncomfortable sensation crisp in its prime. Her emotions trying to make its way out of her throat. She could feel the strings in her chest wrapping around every other organ in her abdomen and _pulling_ until the tenderness was too much to bear. Where was bliss in situations like this? Where was comfort? She willed herself to hold on to her values. The time would come. She would do his willing. She would complete a part in his cause. Her father would be proud.

Swarmed by the inflammation her heartbeat caused, Talia felt the liquid stinging in her eyes trying to overflow onto her cheeks. Bitter tears.

She did not fear it. The future. She knew her destiny. The only one she ever knew was right ahead of her. Fear was so petty. She couldn't feel fear. Wouldn't. To be afraid was to be weak.

She would make her father proud.

She had no other option but to wonder. Did he miss her? She wanted to know with all honesty whether he even noticed her absence. That was the key to her ease. To know that she mattered enough for her own father to spend time even thinking of her. That was all that she needed.

She had to steady her knees, then. The sunlight, dim against the shadows, was wrapping around her body in a silent ritual of sacrilege. Maybe that was why she felt so awful. She knew about her sins.

Only a masochist could face it.

The tick of the clock persisted until it was evident that only twelve seconds were left before she was going to have to force herself to put on a brave face. Twelve seconds she was going to allow herself to be weak.

And to be perfectly honest, she was totally afraid in those twelve seconds. Fear. The only thing that made her feel weak.

Once the twelve seconds ticked away like a symphony, Talia turned on the lights. Bringing a comb up to her locks, she raked through them, making the tangles disappear. Slipping off the robe, Talia felt vulnerable in what little she was wearing. Her scars were present, she had quite a few. The one just below her heart and placed over a rib was the worst of them. A few more, such as a V-shaped one on her back and a ugly one right beside her knee were reminders of her life. She grew up this way. Scars were like birthday gifts. Yet, she never received any of those.

She turned from the bathroom and paced around her room, running her fingers through her hair before she walked over to her suitcase and unzipped it. Searching in the first pocket for her cosmetics bag, her fingers ran across something thin and poking her fingers. It felt like a piece of parchment. Gripping it better between her fingers, she pulled it out of the pocket. It was small, practically a business card, but it looked rich like it was made with the paper they used for wedding invitations.

Folded over, the paper was sealed. Tearing the midnight black seal, she opened the crisp paper. After pulling her hair from her eyes, she glanced down at the note.

There, on the bottom half of the folded card resided an orange and black butterfly wing. She brought her hand up to her lips, feeling the warm breath escaping them in surprise before she brought it down to pick up the wing and hold it up to her eyes. The complexity of it was beautiful. It was so vibrant. Then she noticed that where the wing was previously lying were four letters written in black text.

The flutter of her heartbeat was as mighty as a series of drum beats. Her core was turning into molten lava as the ringing in her ears started. Emotions kissed the seams of complete happiness. Will power struggled to stay alert.

She was wrong. Though the six minutes were up, she wasn't able to diminish the swelling of her throat and the moisture from her eyes.

The four words completely eliminated her self-control.

_Be strong, little Monarch. _

* * *

_Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread_

* * *

"Have you ever heard the story of Hansel and Gretel, Mr. Schovert?"

Looking up at his face under thick eyelashes, Miranda Tate held her wine glass up to her cherry red lips. It had come down to Thomas Schovert, she and two other men standing in a circle. The joyous sounds of the event were filling the air.

Talia had truly spent the entire evening playing her role to the dot. She based Miranda Tate off of the qualities she saw in the classy women that were portrayed on the television. Though difficult to find, she managed to base her characteristics by watching the news conferences. She felt comfortable enough acting. Having to create a false identity, she would spend hours learning about how business women acted. How they walked, how they talked. She even learned what Miranda Tate did as a profession; studying growth in the economy.

She had eased her way into conversation after an accidental mix up of chair numbers that was, indeed, not accidental at all. Following the plan, Talia graciously apologized and offered to leave her seat which was actually assigned to Schovert, yet he denied the offer and instead took his assistant's seat, causing the assistant to dine with the other men and women who were seeking to invest. So technically, the switch up was a blessing.

Talia smiled innocently and offered her hand for him to shake, giving her name. Schovert smiled back and praised her on her polite manners; something foreign in the business world especially for those as young as she. Some small talk was accomplished, mostly about work yet other subjects were discussed.

A public speaker had arrived and the room grew quiet as he told his story. The dinner was served after and once that was finished, Miranda Tate had Thomas Schovert as intrigued as ever. Practically wrapped around her finger like a lock of her hair.

The time passed, she had danced, chatted and talked her way into the hearts of almost everyone in the room including the one that mattered the most.

Now she was standing in a circle talking to Thomas Schovert, asking him about a nursery rhyme.

Thomas looked at her and smiled questioningly. "It's a classic fairy tale, of course I have. Why do you ask?"

She tucked a chestnut lock behind her ear before she spoke. "Don't you agree that in a way the story is very much like the business world?"

She raised her glass of wine as she found three sets of eyes focusing on her with confused stares. One of men laughed, obviously finding her statement comical.

"How do you figure?" He was in his late thirties if not older. His hairline was receding and he wore spectacles. He looked at Talia with admiration in the dirtiest kind. The glances he gave her made her uncomfortable.

She turned her head away from his gaze to glance at Schovert. "Well. We are very much like Hansel and Gretel. We all come from poverty, whether you were born into it or if your family experienced it decades back. In the story, Hansel and Gretel live with their father and wicked step mother who convinces their father to cast them out to survive in the woods to save food for only her and him. The father is a good man, but he does not deny his wife. She is, oh, so wicked. Though I'm sure this part of the story does not relate to everyone entirely, am I right Mr. Schovert?"

He chuckled. "You have not met my mother, Miss Tate. She was a ghastly woman, god rest her soul."

Talia smirked. "Oh, please don't tell me that your life is exactly like the story! That would be dreadful."

His laughter rocked through him.

"But anyway! Though we are not abandoned in the woods in the same technical sense, I believe that we do get placed somewhere that we don't particularly start off feeling comfortable in."

The men were gazing at her, trying to understand.

"So we have nothing left to do but search. We are smart beings, we overhear conversations, per say. We come prepared with bread crumbs to create a trail back home…. Yet, soon enough, we come across a warm cottage filled with sweets and promise. We indulge ourselves because we do not know any better. We have no clue that behind it all, the old woman who keeps the cottage is actually planning to make a meal of us. I mean this in the figurative sense, of course. We do not become cannibals, but the business world is carnivorous. You have to learn to be tactful. Wise."

The men were now intrigued by her words.

"You have to learn to trick the old hag and lock her in the oven."

Schovert portrayed emotions on his face that were unreadable. She stared at him as she uttered the last word before she put her glass down. The men were silent for a while, so she continued.

"Yet you see, the story then moves on to the children going home. The father is there waiting, ready to greet them with open arms. But where is the mother? Speculation seems to tell us that she died, but how? Now many people put two-and-two together and claimed she was the witch who resembles the evils I mentioned."

"But even then," She continued. "Sometimes, even after the witch is dead and they are free, what if the lost children never return home and they move on from poverty and find something better. Isn't that how the world works?"

The men around her stared. Talia shrugged her shoulders and placed a hand on her hip. The other CEO was the first to speak.

"Well done, Miss Tate. You have taken a well known tale and related it to the world I live in." There was a round of laughter.

Talia looked up at him with a sweet smile.

"I have heard lots of analogies in my day, but never one related to Hansel and Gretel. I will have to add that one to the books." He smiled back at her before he checked his watch and his stance became rigid. "I need to run to meet with Charles, Tom. Thank you for the invite; it was quite a lovely get together. Give my love to the Mrs. for me?"

Thomas nodded before he held out his hand to shake. The CEO turned to shake the other man's hand as well as hers before he said. "It was fantastic to meet you Miranda Tate; I hope I can allow myself to look forward to doing business with you."

"I do believe I hope the same."

Then he exited the room. The other man hovered behind. She needed to get out of here with Schovert _alone_. She glanced across the room to lock eyes with M'har who gave her a nod.

Time. It was the time.

She was about to complete her task, when she heard the other man whispering to Schovert. "We will release it in a conference tomorrow; the information will ruin them."

Thomas nodded, scratching the scruff on his chin.

She had to get Schovert out now.

"Mr. Schovert, I daresay that your friend just gave me an epiphany as he left, would you care to walk with me so I may tell you?"

She tried her hardest to keep her eyes away from the other man, hoping he wouldn't follow. Thomas put down his drink.

"Of course" He offered. Turning around, he started to walk and she followed, yet the other man grabbed her elbow before she could leave which made her turn sharply.

"Miss Tate, it was such a _pleasure_ meeting you. Perhaps, if you ever wished, I could find you a position on _my_ company." He ran his fingers down the side of her arm, while the hunger in his eyes only grew. She flinched away from him.

"Perhaps. I will consider your option. But I must warn you, I can get quite restless. Sitting behind a desk all day would bore me." Then she turned around and walked over to where Thomas was waiting and let him lead her down the hallways filled with paintings and soon to be grief.

* * *

_And Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors._

* * *

Talia was not assigned to kill Thomas.

She was merely the seducer.

She had walked with him through the halls, telling him about how she wished to use her talents as an expert in economic growth. The boring stuff. Once they were at a certain point, Talia claimed that she must have lost her mother's pin that was so elegantly clipped in her hair along their trip through the hallways. He offered to help her find it. When she finally brought him in front of the right door, the recruits came. Grabbing him and gagging him, they pulled him away to a separate room. Only Talia didn't follow like she was supposed to. Instead she started walking. M'har caught sight of her and ran after her.

"Where are you going?" He hissed.

"I have business to take care of." She started to walk again.

"You most certainly do _not_. This is your business."

She turned around and narrowed her eyes. "Go take care of it. You and I know that it is not my job to execute him. There will be a lot of casualties tonight, but I do not plan on letting my latest target die like the rest. He deserves worse."

M'har's eyes widened as what she said sank in. "We are only here for Schovert then we are going to burn the place down. Killing someone else is not your mission."

She gave him a conflicted look. "Trust me, please." She pulled him close and turned to whisper in his ear. "I'll meet you and the others same time and place. I won't be late."

Then she turned swiftly and left. M'har had a mission to complete. She did as well.

* * *

_Lead Us Not Into Temptation,_

* * *

"I don't think I was able to conclude my story with a thesis, Mr. Hale. Would you like to hear it now?"

She had sleazy, womanizer Joseph Hale pinned against the wall of the library, her forearm to his windpipe. After injuring his knees, making it nearly impossible to walk, Talia Al Ghul was no longer the innocent Miranda Tate.

"Perhaps you've thought of this yourself." She licked her lips before she pressed her arm deeper. The choking noises Hale made were satisfying. "Leaving bread crumb trails can work two ways."

Joseph Hale tried to squirm under her. She shoved him harder against the wall, causing the picture frame to fall and shatter before she used the heel of her hand to break his nose. His strangled pained noises filled the room. This was the west wing, no one would hear him. She had scrounged up enough will power to fake seduction and lure him out of the public eye before she broke as many bones as she could.

The blood running down her fist was like liquid gold.

"The intention was to set a trail to return to safety. But what if the witch still lived? What if she came back to punish the children? The ones who deceived her."

She watched his blue eyes shifting in a panicked frenzy as he began to whimper.

"What better way to find them then a trail?"

She stood up then and started to pace. Hale was lying on the floor, shivering and pathetic. "I have handled men like you before, Mr. Hale. Do not think me so naïve."

He cupped his nose with his shaking palm before he started to quickly inch towards the door. He was trying to escape. Talia spun around and sent her foot slamming into his side. He toppled over, groaning.

"Were you going to try to rape me, Mr. Hale? Or did you just plan on using pedophile tactics?" Joseph didn't look at her as she circled his body. "You see, I do think you have underestimated me."

Joseph sounded like he was crying, his voice cracking. "What do you want with me?"

Talia turned around. "What do you know about _Trinity Radioactive Studies_, Mr. Hale?"

Joseph Hale turned his head to look at her with bloodshot eyes. "W-what?" He stuttered.

"You knew they were stealing from Thomas Schovert. You were going to shut them down." She crossed the room and sat down in a velvet chair.

"H-how did you know that?"

"You seem shocked. Especially since only you and Thomas knew about the scandal, am I correct?" She watched him watching her as he slowly nodded.

"_Trinity_ was lazy. They left evidence. Trails." She stood up and walked over to his side of the room. "I am merely the crow that is here to diminish the trail."

His eyes widened. "You bitch." He spat. "You will never get away with this!"

Talia kneeled down to his side. "That is where you underestimate my motives."

But, before she could flinch away, the piece of wood stabbed her side. She screamed as Joseph twisted the wood, letting the splinters dig in. She didn't realize that he had picked up the pieces of the broken picture frame, which resulted in a stab to her side. She grabbed his hand and pushed it away, before she slowly eased the wood out. The pain like acid. As she was hissing from the pain, Hale tried to stand up. Before he could get his body vertical, Talia used the strength remaining to yank his body downward and locked his head in her arms.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and stayed stoic as he struggled.

"Trinity will fail. All of the best companies have their….." He gasped as she squeezed. "resources. The company will run itself in the ground."

Talia brought her face close to his ear as her breath came out raggedly. "That is where you are wrong. The ones who succeed don't leave trails. That is why when I'm done here, no one will know how you died."

He thrashed furiously under her.

"No one will ever know that the last face you saw before you died belonged to the heir of the League of Shadows."

Then she grabbed his chin and crown, twisting impossibly far, just enough to hear the bones crack. His body grew limp in her arms. Breathing fast, she pushed his heavy body off of hers, noticing the pool of blood that was underneath her. The pain in her side was throbbing. That was when the sprinklers went off, sending water showering down on her like a storm. That was her queue. Thomas was dead. The fire had started. She needed to escape.

She grabbed her heels off of the floor and ran as fast as she could, knowing the whole while that she was going to lose an unhealthy amount of blood.

The splinters embedded themselves in her skin as she ran towards the door and opened it only to look down the hall and see the flames licking the staircase, her only way downstairs. She turned around and ran back into the room. The screams were coming from outside. She ran to the window and freed the latch. Letting the glass swing open, she looked down. There was a good twenty feet between the window and the grass below.

She eased pulled her dress up and climbed onto the window sill, perching skillfully. She was going to have to jump. Gripping the window sill, she looked back into the room behind her as the water fell. Nothing would stop the fire. The explosives would go off in a minute, setting each room ablaze.

Taking one last look at where Hale lied, she turned her head back towards the outdoors and leapt from the building. Amazingly, she tumbled on the floor before she stood up, uninjured.

She started to sprint towards the crowds of people. The men and women looked back at the mansion that was glowing on the inside. The other fires had started. The women's make up was running down their faces, either from the heat or from tears. Talia focused on making a bee line towards the front drive way where she knew her car would come.

Not two minutes had passed when the black, sleek ensemble arrived. She slipped inside and looked up, seeing the faces of everyone. No one had died. Only she was injured.

They all nodded when she stared at them. Thomas was dead. The car started to move faster once they were clear of the remaining cars around them, and soon they were on their way out. They would sleep elsewhere tonight. Other arrangements had to be made. It was too risky to sleep in the same hotel twice.

The recruits started talking about the trip back to headquarters.

All except M'har who kept his eyes on Talia.

* * *

_But Deliver Us From Evil._

* * *

"Did you kill tonight, Talia?"

M'har's fingers dug into his palms as he waited for her answer. They were in another hotel. Talia had grabbed her key and made her way to her room as soon as they got out of the car. She left for her room in such haste that the recruits had wondered if she even made it inside or if they had lost her on the trip.

She did not shower. She didn't even peel off the bleeding dress from her body. She curled up on the bathroom floor and laid her head on the linoleum. By now the bleeding had seized yet the sting didn't fade. She needed to get the splinters out and possibly require stitches.

However, she didn't have the will power to move.

Sleep didn't come. She was as still as a sloth, lying on the ground. That was how M'har found her. He had asked for a key to her room so that he could check on her, which was wise. The sight was frightful.

He picked her up gently and brought her over to the bath tub and ran the water lightly so that he could dab the cloth in the liquid. The thought of peeling off her clothing probably wasn't the best idea because he knew she wouldn't like to be exposed in front of him, but he needed to help her. He needed to heal her.

He pulled out his pocket knife and cut away the dress from her bottom half up to her abdomen. She was wearing underwear and a strapless bra, which worked out well for her. M'har studied the stab wound on her side before he left the bathroom to search her bag for tweezers.

Upon returning, M'har sat down next to her and carefully began pulling the wood from her side. There wasn't much, only five or six small slivers, but he was careful when removing them.

She didn't whine as he did his work. She stared at the side of the bathtub and exhaled each breath with control. He was still sitting, pulling out the splinters while he waited for her to speak.

"Yes." She didn't look at him while she spoke.

She had killed someone for the first time, that night. She had killed a real human. That came with the job.

He kept his eyes on the tweezers, trying his hardest not to look at her like he so desperately wanted to. It wasn't fair. She didn't deserve to feel that. The _feeling_. He knew that feeling. He had experienced it at least eight times- well, nine now.

Talia was always trying to prove that she had eliminated all of her innocence, so why did he only see the child in her? Why did he consider her only innocent?

The water underneath her was a cloudy red.

He turned his eyes toward her face. She wasn't looking at him, yet she could feel his gaze on her.

"You need to see a doctor." He muttered as he pulled out the last piece.

"Stop it, M'har."

He frowned and looked at her. "Wha-"

"Stop acting like I'm going to crack." She sat up in the tub, grabbing a towel and placing it against her side. "I'm fine."

Standing up, she grasped the towel rack and steadied herself as she walked around him.

"Talia…" He sighed.

"Joseph Hale was my target, M'har. My father assigned me to execute him." Her wet hair falling in a sopping mess on her shoulders. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I didn't want to keep it from you, but that was what I was told."

"Why?" He stood up and stared at her.

"I haven't a clue." She rinsed her hands off in the sink before she turned back towards him. "I completed my part, now I want to sleep."

M'har frowned, he didn't want her to shut out everything. "Talia…"

"Please leave me alone, M'har." She patched on some gauze around her wound before she grabbed a clean towel and walked out of the bathroom. M'har stood there for a minute. He couldn't decide what to do.

He finally left the bathroom after her, leaving her blood and the wood chips behind. She laid the towel on the bed before she placed her body down, wincing as she moved. No further medical treatment would come tonight.

He turned his back towards her and made his way towards the door.

"Hey, M'har?"

He turned around to glance at her. "Hmm?"

"Thank you." She pulled the covers closer to her face. "I am not fair to you, I know. You were very helpful and I'm sorry for being so grouchy."

Looking back at Talia, M'har smiled sadly. "Go to sleep, Talia. I will meet you at the van tomorrow. We'll be home again soon."

She let out her breath. "Goodnight, Jacob Fowler."

M'har smirked. "Same to you, Miranda Tate."

He left as soon as the lights were shut off and the only thing left was the darkness.

* * *

_For Thine Is The Kingdom, And The Power, And The Glory Forever._

* * *

The morning came quicker than the night had lasted. Talia woke early (early being three o'clock because their flight left at six thirty) for treatment to her side which resulted in five stitches and lots of antibiotics that _burned_.

Talia tried her hardest to eliminate any thoughts that came into her mind. She couldn't look back.

Especially not when she was going home.

Going back to Bane. She smiled at the pavement as she walked away from the hotel and towards the van that was going to take them to the airport for their flight back home. She could feel the warmth of his entire soul calling out for her. She was ready to be encased in his arms again. She was ready to be near him and smell his beautiful scent. Talia was enchanted by the thoughts.

The swell in her chest grew as she walked quickly over to the van. The sun hadn't come up yet, the night was still alive and well in the skies. There, the recruits were already standing around the sides and back, packing their things in. She reached them and allowed another member to place her bag in the back.

M'har met her by her side. "Are you ready?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Your father is going to be very proud, Tal." He said clearly as he led her around to the cabin door. "You did magnificently."

She couldn't hold back the excitement. Her father _would_ be proud of her. How could he not?

The other members found their way inside of the van and Talia was about to get in herself when she heard someone hollering for a woman.

"Miss!" One of them shouted from behind. She turned around to glance at the man. He looked like a business man. She began to worry that he was from the night before, when he held up what looked like a small book. "You dropped your passport!"

She patted her coat pocket to find that she did indeed lose her passport. She looked up at M'har. "I'll be right back." She said before she began quickly making her way back to where the man stood at the entrance of the hotel.

She met him with a grateful glance. "Thank you! I would have been in a lot of trouble without this."

He smiled back at her "Don't worry about it."

Then Talia turned on her heel and made her way back.

She hadn't moved more than three feet when there was a bone chilling blast and the van had exploded. The blast had caused Talia to fall backwards onto the concrete. Her ears ringing violently as she looked to where the van was, being eaten by the flames. She felt the world spin as she tried to comprehend.

Then she felt a force trapping her nose and mouth. There was a cloth being pressed up against her and she knew that it must have been drugged. That was when the little vision she had started to blur.

The chloroform did its magic to her body and before she could scream for her salvation, she was deep under. Sleeping with the unfortunate souls.

She was being kidnapped.

* * *

_Amen_

* * *

A/N: Confused at all? I would be if I were you. Thank you for reading another one of my chapters! **Reviewers get love. **Want to share some ideas? I would love to hear. Send me a PM if you want and I'll look over your ideas! Tell me what you think of this chapter. Love it? Hate it? Let me know.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Ugh! It's been literally forever since my last update. I had a serious case of writers block. But, things have been sorted out and I have brought you another chapter of The Cold And Heartless!

I have literally had so many distractions: College, work, Doctor Who season premiere and Tumblr of course. I'm sorry I kept you waiting this long.

Reviewers I love. (some of you don't care but writing about people who review my stories is my favorite part!)

**Belle de Sainte Ange**: Belle, honey, you literally commented on my other fic, Expectations like an hour ago and here I am with another update! How much do you love me? YES YES YES, I HAVE BROUGHT YOU DRAMA! I hope it's the kind you wanted. And thank you, I try to make her as badass as possible because I figure that's how everyone should be. She's such a strong woman, I want to be her, omg.

**Raphs No.1 Girl**: Yes, I know. I'm sorry I left out so much of Bane. I just really needed to focus on Talia and make things revolve around her. I hope you like my Bane parts in this chapter!

**NinjaNicky**: You, darling, are one amazing gal. I really really adore your reviews. Keep them coming please!

**GhibliGirl91**: I looked back over my chapter after what you said and I agree, it seemed fine when I re read it the first time, but I like having another person's perspective. Thank you for the insight.

**Dei Gratia 43**: I know! I wanted you to be sad, I like it when my readers become emotionally attatched to my characters!

**Guest**: I am literally in tears. I cannot even thank you enough for telling me that you think my fic is the most well written bane/talia fics out there. I disagree. I like it, but I have never been told it's the best. Thank you!

The others (**ForeverReadRed, Sylar1610, azaleea**) thank you for the praise, hope this update is good for you!

I seriously have a flare for gore/violence so this chapter was really easy to write. It's sick of me, I know, but I write some of my best stuff when I'm being creepy. If it's too much for you, you might want to catch the gist of it then move on a few paragraphs.

But as for the rest of you who enjoy that sort of thing, I salute you.

I will try and update as soon as I can. I have a plan for the next chapter, so I hope it goes the way I see it in my head.

Thank you all once more.

Enjoy!

* * *

**The Cold And Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 6

* * *

_Authorities still don't know whether the fire was accidental or started intentionally, yet sources claim that the centuries old mansion, which belonged to the late Veronica Sage was starting to deteriorate with its old age which caused it to catch fire so quickly. Five were found dead, including the CEO of _Pillage Advances_, Thomas Schovert, along with his partner, Joseph Hale and eighteen others with severe injuries. We have recieved no comment from the police about any leads. We'll be back with more from that story in a bit._

* * *

Bane kept his eyes on the clock.

Time ticked like a painful reminder that she still wasn't back.

The days were finished.

She hadn't returned yet.

He knew her father was investigating it.

He didn't have enough patience to wait.

But there was nothing he could do

* * *

Hysteria. Definition: Emotional instability caused by trauma**. **An emotionally unstable state brought about by a traumatic experience.

* * *

"Let me out!" She pounded her fists violently on the metal door. The single handle didn't budge and she felt compelled to slam her body into it. Nothing. The room was dark. The room was empty.

She felt the panic rising in her throat.

"LET ME OUT!" She screamed louder.

It was too unreal. Too black and white. The edges of her vision were blurring.

Nothing was real. Nothing could be real.

"HELP ME!"

Her muscles were tightening, cramping from the stress of her trying to push the door open. She wailed.

"PLEASE!"

She kept pounding until she was sure she broke the skin on the side of her hands. Her fists never grew so sore. She was frantic now.

"Talia….."

She whirled around, gasping from the shock. The pulse raging behind her ears. She eased her back against the door, trying to vanish by pressing herself impossibly close. The voice was teasing. Taunting.

"Come find me…. Talia."

She froze. The darkness was clinging to her skin. She couldn't see anything behind her. The only light came from around the door frame.

"Oh, Talia…." The taunting voice rotated in the still air, finding its way to her ears. She swallowed before she wondered where her courage had fled to. She needed to escape, she needed to get free. What would anyone want with her?

Clenching her hands into fists, she took a deep breath before she took a tentative step into the darkness. Cautiously, her heartbeat went up a notch.

"Talia…"

How did she come of this place? When did she get here? The reality was unrealistic. Too simple. The confusion was overwhelming for she didn't remember how she entered to room or how she even reached the door. She only remembered her screams which were defiantly being ignored.

To whom she owed, she was unsure.

She deserved an explanation. She deserved a plea. She needed to know the truth. The desire for release was catastrophic.

She wore no shoes. The cold of the floor jolted up her legs and caused shivers to her spine. She brought her shaking hands out in front of her and tried to search her way deeper into the darkness. There was an essence of copper and iron.

"Who's there?" She whispered.

There was no response. She made her way further and the silence rang through the air like a cold reminder of the situation at hand. She barely lifted her feet, mostly dragged them slowly. Then she felt herself step into a pool of liquid. She gasped as the slick moisture got in between her toes. The fact that she couldn't see what it was made her breathing quicken. She tried stepping a little faster while keeping her poise before she bumped into something heavy and warm.

She flinched away quickly wondering what she could have possibly encountered.

"Do not be _afraid_." The voice came from behind her. Talia grabbed her throat and felt her rapid pulse working hard as she tried to stay quiet and turned quickly to face the direction of the voice. She didn't like the idea of being surrounded by the dark anymore. She didn't know what possessed her to even walk towards the thing she wanted to escape from.

Then the light blessed the room to a point where it was too much to handle. She quickly flung her hands over her eyes and groaned due to the stinging affect it created. She wanted to open them, but the blur the sudden change caused her vision to fail for a few minutes.

She cracked her fingers to allow some light to come through and adjusting became easier.

Then a shrill scream escaped her.

The floor was covered in a mess of blood, which was spread with each step she had taken. Then she noticed the bodies. Each one was hung up to the ceiling by their feet, their throats slit. The blood trickling down their faces like what seemed a waterfall. She then understood what it was that she had encountered. It was a cold, white corpse.

She brought her hand up to her mouth, pressing it so hard to her lips that her teeth scraped her palm. She was in agony trying to block out the stench. The tears running down her face were like acid. She felt everything inside of her attacking common sense.

Because there, surrounding her, were the corpses of the people she knew.

"Are you afraid?" The voice sliced the air behind her.

She whirled around, yet she couldn't catch the face that belonged to the voice before she woke up.

* * *

Blinking, she was frozen to the core. She didn't dare move, the fear transfixed her. She couldn't deny the relief that was flooding through her, yet she was still holding her breath. It was a dream. A nightmare. It wasn't real.

Only minutes later, she sat upright and noticed the sweat. The heat practically frying her alive.

She sucked in shallow breaths and felt the hysteria growing. There was a light shining from above. Everything around her was an awful shade of white that just blinded her until she couldn't even think. She felt the numb. Absolutely.

She finally opened her eyes once more and remembered that she was trapped. Except, this time she wasn't in the dark.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

Sharply turning her head to the right, she noticed a young man edging closer to her. He was in a white robe and had a paper mask to cover his nose and mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed other men and women in corners pulling out vials and holding needles. She glanced down at what she was on and felt the cold metal of the table. The tray next to her on a separate stand contained tools used for surgical specification.

The man, which seemed no more than eighteen, came closer towards the side of the large table she was placed on, holding a needle in his hand.

"Your heart rate is increasing, I am going to give you some stabiliz-"

But before he could bring the needle close enough, she picked up the shears from the tray beside her and embedded them into his neck. He screamed as they sliced through his skin, which caught the attention of the other nurses. She picked up a set few of the other tools and skillfully sent them flying in the direction of the people surrounding her. One of the small knives caught the arm of a female, which gave Talia enough time to slide off of the table and slam her fist into the side of a man who was trying to restrain her.

"Someone bring the tranquilizer, we need her to calm down!" Someone yelled, before hands were grabbing Talia, causing her to have to struggle to move. She thrashed in their arms, trying to break free, but the amount of people holding her back was too many to fight off.

"Someone bring me that tranquilizer now!"

"Hold her tight!" A man shouted.

"The process isn't finished yet, she needs to still be under!" A woman exclaimed, she was aiding to the man Talia had stabbed.

"Gibson, go and make sure the exit is sealed!"

She didn't see anyone return with a needle so she couldn't help the terrified gasp at the pinch of the injection in her thigh.

"Get off of me!" She screamed and groaned as she pulled with all of her might against their grip. Her heartbeat was evident in her skull as she felt the effect of the drugs bringing her closer to sleep.

Then she collapsed. The drugs were too powerful and she fell limp in the arms of them, feeling the numbness return and transfix her soul.

* * *

"Where am I?"

She was dying for a drink. The dehydration was going to kill her, she was sure. The handcuffs keeping her to the chair were digging into her wrists, no doubt they would leave marks.

Sitting there, across the room, was a woman in black robes. They cascaded down her in unshapely ways. She was a very plain young lady, who could be no more than twenty years of age. Her platinum hair was the only thing really beautiful. She was pale, had stark black eyes and white eyelashes to blend in with her skin. She had identical scars on each cheek, the only thing bringing color to her face. They looked like scratches from a knife or sharp object, which hailed just below her cheekbones all the way to the front of her lips.

She sat up straight and had both hands placed in her lap elegantly. Her hair was parted down the middle of her face and tucked behind each ear, giving Talia a full view of her face.

The tranquilizer had knocked Talia out with such force that she remained sleeping for almost six hours with just the lone injection. She awoke in the chair she was sitting in now. No longer in what she imagined was the surgery room, but instead, a room with six walls.

Her chair was placed in the center of the hexagon room, while the woman sat in front of her under one of the six windows above each wall.

"Your location is irrelevant." The woman's voice was musical, each word coming out as a symphony.

Talia frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Why am I here?" She asked in a whisper. The woman kept her face as still as stone.

"Very good."

"What?" Talia asked, shifting in her seat.

"The mind is the most powerful and useful part of the human race. Keen computation leads to skillful tactics." She was almost robotic in her action, keeping her body stoic in the wooden chair.

"I do not understand." Talia muttered, swallowing and feeling the drought present in her esophagus.

"Your ability to instantly change the question of your reality has proven you aware of your current situation and leads you to observe your options."

Talia pressed her lips together. "You aren't making sense. Who are you?"

"You have noticed, for that we congratulate you."

"Noticed what?"

"How many of your questions have I answered?"

"None of them!" She fumed. Talia pulled her wrists against the handcuffs and hissed when she remembered just how useless the action was.

The door behind them slid open and in walked two women and a man. The women were dressed in black identical to the woman in the chair, while the man donned white robes.

"Sphere has ordered your company, Needles." The woman to her right said, before she turned to Talia and assisted the man releasing her hands and feet. Talia stared wide eyed at them, what were they doing? Did they dare release her in front of this woman? Wouldn't she kill them for setting her free?

The woman, apparently known as Needles, stood up and allowed Talia a real glimpse at her platinum hair. At least three and a half feet long, it was pin straight, enveloping her shoulders.

The woman walked past Talia and out of the room. Talia looked around before she felt the man pick her off of the chair and made her stand upright. She felt wobbly having sat down for so long. The women came to her sides and peeled her out of the medical robe they must have placed on her before, and were now stripping her naked and brought her over to a plastic mat the man had set down on the floor. One of the woman knelt down to the bag she had brought in with her and pulled out shears.

The woman holding her struggled as Talia tried to pull away. What the hell was she going to do with those? The woman edged closer and pulled them up to the side of Talia's neck and sliced the hair that was there.

"What are you doing?" Talia practically screamed. She tried to flinch away when the woman brought the scissors back up to cut some more.

The women did not speak as they continued to violate her. Talia had to still her motions, afraid that she may end up with the tip of the shears in her neck. The cold air in the room caused her to shiver and having nothing on only worsened the situation. Once they had cut her hair to a point of no more than three inches below her ears, they brushed off the excess hairs and placed her in pitch black robes. Yanking her by her elbow, the women pulled her out of the room while the man behind her stayed to clean up her beautiful chestnut curls off of the floor.

Talia felt incoherent as they pulled her through the hall. Where they were journeying was a mystery. Talia stumbled as she looked around. There was no one occupying the halls, no one at all. She felt the women bruising her elbows as their grip tightened and they turned a corner.

Then they brought her to a large white door, opened it and placed her inside the room.

She stared at the door before she exhaled and grabbed her forehead and clenched her teeth. Enough was enough. Too bad she couldn't complain about it.

But really, what more could they do?

* * *

"Something is wrong."

He paced furiously to the tick of the clock. The transition from his normal calm physique quickly changed to that of a desperate individual. Gripping the sides of his coat tightly, he moved around to keep his mind going.

"Why would they send a ransom message without asking for ransom?"

The video was simplistic. Her beautiful face was still as she slept and no harm seemed to have been caused, yet his sides ached with desperation and fear.

"They did ask for ransom, Bane. They seek my alliance."

_"We seek the audience of leader of the League of Shadows. We have abducted one of your finest." _There was a woman in pale blue robes with extremely long black hair that directed her blue eyes towards the camera. "_The task is simple. We only seek alliance. I am known as Sphere. The agency we have constructed focuses on the mind. Your assassin has experienced great skill in physical combat, we only wish to teach her to enhance her brain and make her ten times the fighter she already is. We have taken her to train her. So I offer you this, in exchange for your recruit, we will give you insight to our knowledge and in return we will provide you with our experimental weapon of choice. We encourage you to send others to accompany her."_

Bane pressed the button on the remote to pause the video. The words the woman spoke were gentle, yet he felt fire inside.

"I am going." He claimed. He had made his decision. She had been away long enough. She was taken. He was going to find her.

"Now, Bane, things haven't been sorted out, I need to talk with-"

"I am going. End of discussion." He had already made up his mind. With or without permission he would find her. He would always be able to find her. In some impossible way, he could feel her heartbeat from distances the length of miles. He could feel her blink. He could relate each breath she took to the wind that passed. She was everything; everywhere. He would not give up until she was close enough to touch. His little butterfly. She was alive, that was enough motivation.

Ra's narrowed his eyes, the challenge not being accepted gratefully. He looked long and hard at Bane. The option to make him stay was to prove his power over him was tempting, but he knew that Talia would be frightened even though she was stubborn and wouldn't admit it. Bane would be a comfort.

"Very well" Ra's announced after a long period of silence. "I will round up a team and send you out as soon as this blizzard ends. You will not portray any violence once you arrive. I have considered the deal and I plan to agree. This could be useful for the League. No matter what, under any circumstances, you will not let your emotions get the better of you. I have noticed since you have returned to the League a behavior change in my daughter. You both seem to have found a bond, I respect that. But do not let it control your actions. I am trusting you."

Bane resisted the urge to frown. Ra's was making it sound like he had romantic feelings for her. Bane didn't like that. He knew Talia since she was a child, how blasphemous would it be to see her as anything else. He shook his head.

"Do you agree to my terms?" Ra's leaned over the table and scribbled something on a blank piece of paper.

Bane nodded. "I do."

"Then I want you to deliver this to Macer. We have work to do and I suggest you deliver it quickly." He handed the note which he folded neatly to Bane, before Bane left as quickly as his massive body would let him.

Ra's turned back to the television when he had left the room, hearing the door shut.

He pressed the button to resume the video.

"_We will send more information as the time passes. If you agree, we expect your recruits in four days, and if you fail to comply we will not offer our information a second time and your daughter will be executed. We do not mean for chaos to start. We only seek your intelligence."_

Ra's watched the screen and allowed a small smile to settle on his face. Things were going according to plan.

* * *

"What is your name?" The woman who sat with her in the hexagon room asked. Her long white hair tucked behind each ear and flowing down her back.

"Talia Al Ghul." She forced out between her teeth, feeling the bitter taste of defiance wishing to escape.

"I do not wish for birth names, I asked you, what is your name?"

"I have told you." The woman kept her midnight black eyes on Talia. "Why do you insist on constantly changing your train of thought?" Talia accused. She was getting tired of games. Either kill her or set her free, just end the stupid mind games.

"You must concentrate on what defines you." The woman leaned closer to Talia. The distance between them no more than a foot. She was in the white room the maids locked her in interrogating Talia with useless questions and propositions. What the hell was the point in all of this? What kind of kidnapping was this?

"Enough of this!" Talia nearly yelled. "Why won't you kill me already?"

"We are not holding you against your will." The woman announced.

"Like hell you're not!" Talia stated. "You killed the other recruits." They had killed them. Practically her family. And M'har. What of him? He was dead now. She felt the stabbing in her gut. The sorrow too much to comprehend.

The woman blinked. "We had selected one of you by random, the rest were not relevant. We only needed one."

"Needed one of us for what?"

The woman's face was not beautiful. She was very ordinary. The only color on her face was the pink of her scars. The rest was black and white.

She turned around and started to walk around Talia. "What is your name?"

Talia exhaled, this was getting annoying. "I have already told you."

"Needles. Do you think that was my birth name? The one my mother bestowed me with?"

Talia frowned. "What do you expect me to call myself?"

"What is significant?"

Talia growled. "I don't know. I have always been Talia, what more is there? I am an assassin. I don't expect you to allow me to identify myself with the name 'death'!"

The woman in black kept circling Talia, her voice echoing off of the walls. "You must think harder."

The fire in her was so strong she could burn forests. She was so confused with this woman that she was ready to rip her head off. What kind of significance? What the hell could be done with that?

She wanted nothing more than to tear flesh or stab something. She wanted to go home. She didn't understand why she was here at all.

"Why are you-"

"A single needle nearly sliced my face in half." The woman randomly said, her voice musical. "I assumed you wondered about my scars, well, now you know."

Talia closed her eyes lightly, trying hard not to imagine her suffering. What could she identify herself with? What things did she have? No scars that vivid. What memories did she think of most? What times did she share. What moments?

She felt exhausted. This was too hard. And what was the point of it?

"What makes you happy? What do you fear? What do your loved ones call you? What makes you strong?"

The last word caught her attention. _Be strong, Little Monarch._

She exhaled. Of course. Bane's childish name always identified her. She never knew the reason why he called her it; she just knew that the name was hers.

"Monarch" She breathed, the whisper so quiet, yet Needles heard it and nodded.

"We each are told to select a name before joining the cause that identifies us, body and soul. Does this name complete such tasks?"

Talia turned around to face Needles with emotions coyly playing across her face. "It is the only one. I am sure."

She swore the woman smiled then, or at least it seemed so. "The ridding of your hair was ritual. The length of the hair defines your progress and time loyal to your morals. One step out of line and the hair is sliced off once more. We do not accept failure and shame will be bestowed upon you if you desire to rebel. The length of your hair earns you respect. I suggest you don't disobey."

Talia brought her hand up to graze her short locks. "Why do you need me?"

The woman blinked, the white eyelashes fluttering. "We desire allegiance with the League. Oh yes, Miss Al Ghul, we did know about your background." She announced when she noticed the confusion in Talia's eyes. "We will train aspects of your mind. I have sent word to your father; he will allow you to train here in exchange for our specifications. We wish to make you stronger, but you must cooperate."

Talia bit her tongue, contemplating her options. She didn't have many.

"What must I do first?" She sighed, defeated. What could be left for her to lose? She ached for salvation, but what could she expect?

"We are going to find you a place to sleep. You are allowed two meals a day, one in the morning, five o'clock, then we fast until supper which is at seven. Miss either and you won't be given anymore. You are given a uniform. Disregard what is expected and you will no longer have an inch of hair on your head, do you understand?"

Talia nodded. The woman turned around and marched towards the door. "Follow me." She ordered.

Leading the both of them into the hall, the woman walked gracefully, her platinum hair brilliant as it swung from side to side. Talia had never noticed such a uniform hallway. The bright lights reflected off of the white walls and it almost seemed like a hospital without paintings or decorations.

They reached the end of the hall and turned left into another hallway leading down to sections labeled in a language she couldn't read. Needles led her to the last door of the hall.

There was a crest on the door. A crest she recognized but didn't know where from.

The snake spiraling the star was certainly a symbol she had seen before.

* * *

If only she was smart enough to stay aware.

Really how many times did this need to be done before she learned to _look_?

She didn't watch her steps carefully, because as she turned a corner, she slammed into someone with a very hard physique.

She was almost knocked to the ground, yet she steadied herself just in time by gripping onto their arm. She looked up and noticed that it was a man she had slammed her body so ungracefully into.

"Sorry." She muttered.

He couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He very slowly turned his head to stare at her with hard eyes. His stance was rigid and his eyes narrowed. He was handsome, she couldn't deny. Yet he kept his cold gaze on her and she began to feel uncomfortable.

She let go of his arm and backed away from him in haste. He slowly began to walk once more and once he broke their gaze, he was gone quickly out of the hall. The other occupants noticed the encounter and stopped to stare. She had to quickly regain her posture.

A young woman with hair at least a foot long came to her side. "Don't worry about him. He's a stiff one with everybody."

Talia looked up at her porcelain face.

"His name even fits his posture."

Talia raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what's that?" She wondered.

The girl smirked. "Scarecrow."

* * *

"Will I ever go home?"

Needles pursed her lips as Talia started to speak. This was a place of _peace_, talking was sacrilege.

"Be quiet, Monarch."

* * *

Once the meditation was finished, Talia asked again.

Needles had her hair pulled back that evening, the view of her scars was clearer. She walked in front of Talia towards the bath house. Talia was to be stripped of her make-up, become free of her manicured nails. She was to be beautiful no longer.

The process was completely different than what she was used to. She was never noticed as beautiful, but at least then she was allowed to be seen so. In this place, beauty was something you earned. It came with a price.

"That is, if they have agreed to our terms. They have not yet sent word back."

Talia frowned at the back of Needles' shoes as she walked. "And what were they?"

Needles sighed, she obviously didn't like Talia asking so many questions. "If they did not cooperate, we would execute you."

Talia stopped walking and stared wide eyed as Needles noticed her halt. She turned around and looked at Talia who had her blazing gaze remaining on the woman with platinum hair.

"You will kill me?" She said, astonished that she was being told this. "What is the point in that? I thought you wished to train me."

Needles rolled her eyes. "We do not need you in specifics, we needed a member of the League to hold as ransom. It was for good measure. Yet, I would not fear. There is no reason they should not agree to our terms." Needles turned around and started to walk again.

"Come, you are required."

"For what?" Talia wondered, cautiously.

Needles turned around, her right lip curling upwards.

"Experimentation"

* * *

Monarchs had wings.

Talia had nothing.

She couldn't escape.

She was practically drowning in the terror.

Her heartbeat drumming violently wasn't the only sound. The shallow breaths escaping her transfixed her as she tried to close her eyes.

* * *

The task had been simple. Needles assured her.

A woman in blue robes was waiting in a room with two other men. There was a chair in the middle of the room.

The woman in blue nodded and had a simple smile on her lips. She had shockingly blue eyes and thick black hair that was longer than Needles'. Talia had entered alone which made everything seem more intimidating.

"My name is Sphere." She walked over to Talia's side. "We have a task for you to complete."

Talia nodded nervously. She wasn't sure what she was going to have to complete for them.

"Sit down in the chair." She ordered, turning around and exiting the room with the two men, leaving to retrieve something hopefully.

She sat down and looked around cautiously. She tried her hardest to assure herself that the more she cooperated, the quicker she would be able to go home.

Her breathing was a matter she needed to calm. She breathed deeply and let her eyelids shut. She didn't want to drift off, but it was becoming more difficult to stay awake with each second that passed without the return of the woman named Sphere and her men.

The time ticked away like tiny grains of sand in an hourglass. The bright light hovering over her head was bright and caused it to seep through her eyelids, making everything look red.

She wanted to go home. She never yearned for anything more. She wanted to see Bane. She wanted to see her father. She wanted none of this to have happened. She felt her heart ache for her beloved friend who had died not even a week before. She wanted to hate these people. But she put on a brave face.

The constricting of her heart made it harder to keep her heart rate stable. She wanted to rewind time. Go back and tell her father that she wasn't ready for any of it. She couldn't do it. Not if she knew the price that came with it.

The consequences.

The doors didn't open again.

She began to get restless. Upon opening her eyes, she noticed that the light began to flicker. Now that was always a bad sign, she turned her head and looked around.

She looked down at her fingers, noting that they no longer acquired their shine and there was literally almost no nail there.

Then there was a clicking noise from above. The noise continued before there was a loud popping noise and gas instantly filled the room. The force of the gas supplying the room was too strong and soon everything that Talia inhaled was tainted with the toxin. She yelled, terrified, and tried to run towards the door.

Before she could reach it, a demon entered the room.

The beast had milky white eyes that did not see and a mouth piece that was oozing black liquid. Something was crawling behind her skin, slithering. Talia gasped sharply, quickly retracing her steps back towards the chair. Anywhere. The demon was coming for her.

It was becoming terribly hard to breathe. The blood inside Talia's body felt like fire and knives. She screamed as the Demon turned its head to reveal spiders making a home in its long black hair.

The Demon rounded closer to her, its white eyes glowing. Talia felt her body go numb as she realized that she was backed against the wall. Escaping was not an option she could count on.

Then the glow of the Demon's eyes began to fade and it fell over to the floor, stabbed from behind.

But salvation wasn't complete.

Demons had partners. This one had a mask as well, one made of nails. Nails were pointing in each direction, keeping the mask planted on the second Demon's face. She screamed once more and felt her body begin to shake uncontrollably.

"Talia!" It called in a sinister tone. She wailed, trying her hardest to shut her eyes.

"Hurry! We need to go." It reached for her and she tried to struggle, but the masked Demon had her in its arms in a matter of seconds. The mask of nails was terrifying her from the angle she was seeing.

She was losing herself. The lights were fading. How many more seconds would transition into hours? Her eyes were starting to roll upwards to glance at her skull. She couldn't hold on anymore.

The words of the Demon were clouded in her ears and she heard gun shots. She tried to make sense of everything, but it was too confusing.

She felt the Demon's steps as she unwillingly let her eyes close.

Her life being drained out of her like and the numbness began, starting in her throat and making its way to her lungs and knees and toes.

When she could no longer feel anything, she noticed the Demon's roar, as powerful as thunder and then there was nothing left to comprehend.

* * *

A/N: How many cliffhangers is she going to give us? I know, I know. I'm evil. Want a cookie? You can have one when you **review** and tell me what you think.

They are the good kind.

If that's not bribing, I don't know what is...


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm back! Another chapter is down and I think you might like it.

How has my week been? Well, I went to go watch Lawless on Wednesday and let me tell you this, Tom Hardy is the best actor of our generation. Plus he's got this really sexy face... okay! Anyway.

******SPOILERS FOR LAWLESS, DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE: **I just realized that I wrote the scene in Chapter 6 of Talia's loved ones with their throats slit and when I went to watch Lawless, Tom Hardy's character, Forest, gets his throat slit. Now, if this fanfiction ever gets super famous and people make gif sets of it on Tumblr, they can use that gif and everything will be perfect. I just couldn't believe it. **SPOILERS OVER.******

But anyway, moving on to my favorite reviewers who get the chocolate chip cookies for reviewing.

**Belle de Sainte Ange**: Thank Jesus and candy canes you recognized the Scarecrow bit. I was literally scared that everyone who read my fic only watched The Dark Knight Rises. Anyway, YES YES YES the drama is what I live for. I hope this chapter explains everything for you. And once again, love your reviews. You always give me such long ones and I can't live without them. You're amazing, really.

**Raphs No.1 Girl**: Thank you for noticing the Scarecrow line up as well. You actually gave me the inspiration to write one of my scenes in Bane's point of view, so thank you for that! Enjoy this chapter and thanks for the advice.

**screamingoutalovesong**: Thank you so much for the praise, I hope this chapter does your expectations justice!

**teeheexoxo**: I love that you enjoy my suspense! I'll try to keep you on the edge of your seat!

**NinjaNicky**: Ah, babe, thanks again for another wonderful review! He did 'wreck shop' and that might just end him up no where good! Stay tuned and find out! (I sound like a reality show...)

**MonDieu666**: Hello there! what a lovely surprise seeing your review. I hope you like this chapter because... ahem... there is some Bane/Talia...

**Guests**: You both are wonderful, thank you.

**s-chick-12**: I have updated for you! Indeed, Bane must! I like it when you quote the paragraphs or sayings you like, it shows me what I need to provide more!

All the rest, thank you!

I really felt lazy this past week. I could have written this earlier but school is running my life and inbetween I don't want to write. I had to sit down the other day and map out my ideas. Really get a feel for what I want to write, do you know what I mean? I want this fic to be the best it can be and I want to know what I want to write about. Thankfully, I grasped a better concept and I have plotted my ideas. This story is actually very easy to write because it has so much insight to the later years and so much for me to imagine in the earlier ones.

**Reviewing is really the best thing you can do because the more you talk to me and tell me what you think, I can map out a better story line. I mean it when I say that it only takes a few words to get me motivated to be better.**

Now, I should probably set up a tag on tumblr that holds all of my update info or whatever so you guys won't have to wonder what's taking me so long to update.

But maybe that's a bad idea.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Thank you for reading!

* * *

**The Cold And Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 7

* * *

Her scream was the most heartbreaking noise. It was enough to kill his insides and murder his soul. The pitch and desperation were too much. The earsplitting scream was enough to send his stomach over the edge and into oblivion.

She was in agony.

Her miserable cries came from the room ahead. She was making tormented pleas and they were ringing through the air. The ice in his veins was stabbing his conscience as he needed no encouragement to make his way towards the strangled cries. He never had such a reason to sprint.

He didn't have to move far to reach the room, but even then the door was closing rapidly. His steps were amazingly fast enough to bring him close enough to catch the door before it had slid all the way closed.

He searched each inch of the room until his eyes finally fell on _her_.

She might as well have been a ghost, because she didn't look human. The sounds she was making didn't sound human either. She was cowering against the wall as a woman, the woman on the film, inched towards her.

She hadn't noticed his entrance because she didn't turn around. With her hair like a veil, she stalked towards her prey. Talia was hyperventilating, looking whiter than bone.

She had never looked so fearful.

He advanced quickly, turning his head to the side and noticed tools, sharp utensils. He grasped whatever he could fit into his hand, wincing as they stabbed his fingers and quickly progressed to the woman, letting the stiletto form of whatever he was holding pierce her from behind.

Luckily the tool he held was long enough to actually reach her heart and soon she was stilling her motions and fell to the floor in a heap of midnight locks.

He took no notice in her body as he made his way to Talia's side. She had her hands clamped over her mouth as she stared at the woman on the floor. He wanted to pull her close and embrace her, tell her that she would be fine.

He was getting ready to reach out and grasp her when she shifted her eyes to his and yelped with terror. Screaming like she was in agony, she tried to find a way around him and away. She was sobbing, the fear in her eyes something he had never seen before.

She was shaking with the horror.

He shifted his gaze from her face, she was in hysterics, and it was too heartbreaking to watch. But why? Why was she so terrified? He swallowed the ice in his throat.

Bane quickly turned his head and looked at the cloudy atmosphere and then down at the woman and noticed that she had a mask wrapped around her mouth.

Then he took into account what he had done. The woman on the floor, the one with the long raven hair, was dead. He killed her.

The very thing he was not supposed to do.

"Talia!" He turned his eyes towards her, trying to make her look at him as she wailed and thrashed in his arms. "Hurry, we need to go!"

She wasn't responding, she just continued to breathe shallowly, so he took action and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees and picked her high off of the ground. Talia screamed loudly in his ear and he had to hold back a desperate groan as he made his way towards the door when he noticed the cameras above them.

_Surveillance._

He gripped Talia close as he shoved the door open and ran down the hall. He looked around, searching for his way out. How did he get in here again?

Turning, he recognized the hallway he came in through and ran to turn the corner. Talia was as light as an infant in his arms, but she was becoming terrifyingly still. Turning his glance to her, he noticed the blankness of her eyes starting to become more dominant.

He quickened his steps.

Turning another corner sharply, he encountered a band of men walking down the corridor. They all paused instantly, staring at his face, no doubt wondering about his mask. Wide eyed and calculating, Bane noticed their stares shift to the woman in his arms.

He assumed they realized what had happened or they just acted on instinct, either way, they were beginning to advance him.

He backed out quickly, turning and making haste to the exit, _any_ exit. The woman in his arms no longer putting up a fight. He felt his heart rate quicken.

She was sleeping. Had to be. He wouldn't allow himself to think that she had stopped moving because of anything else. If he did, he was sure he would go insane.

Racing down the corridor, hearing the footsteps behind him of the men advancing, he heard a bullet whizz by. He ducked instinctively, grasping the woman in his arms closer than before, trying to keep her safe.

There it was. The exit. An actual exit. A door with an actual window showing the moonlight falling over the hills. He never thought land could look so majestic, especially at a time like this. It was at the end of the hall, to the right held another pathway through this confusing maze. He was nearly there when someone came around the corner and the impact his body made with the other's was enough to send him almost flying to the floor. Instead, his forceful encounter caused the man to fall backwards and onto the ground with incredible force. Another bullet from the one of the men following him just barely missed his body. The man was in white robes just like the rest and he groaned as he rolled, trying to comprehend the pain. Bane noticed, just as he moved, that a gun was tucked under his robes.

Now thank the _heavens_ he encountered this man.

Though the signs lead to the undeniable idea that this man on the floor was sent to contain the situation which meant shooting him down, Bane tried not to think about that too much. He quickly dropped Talia to the floor and behind the wall before he quickly turned around and pulled the trigger to send a bullet flying through one of the men's shoulder. The three other men didn't even stop as they charged further down the hall. Bane fired at them as they fired at him and one of the bullets just barely clipped Bane's arm, causing him to hiss with the pain as he shot two more down.

The last man was charging and Bane dropped the gun, it no longer useful because it possessed no ammunition. Bane ducked as the man sent his fist flying for his face. He turned around and danced with the other man, keeping his stance ready. The white robed assassin had sent a strike again, this time he hit Bane just before he could dodge it. But Bane retaliated as well and his blows were more powerful.

The man fell limp to the smooth floor and soon came the blood.

He breathed deeply as he turned around and raced back to Talia. She couldn't keep her eyes open much longer, her heartbeat was _roaring_ through her veins and he didn't know what to do. He cradled her face, trying to keep her eyes open as much as he could.

Then he heard heels.

Slow and calculated, he noted each one getting closer, turning around and looking down the hallway, a woman in black robes with incredible platinum hair walked down the corridor. Her eyes were fierce as she kept a poise physique.

Bane braced himself, woman or no, he would still tear her apart if she initiated a threat. Eyes like daggers, she stepped closer, the clicking of her heels was ringing in the air. Bane stood up and walked into the middle of the hall, picking up the other man's gun and pointing it at her forehead.

She did not falter, she kept walking. He pulled the trigger only to find the result disappointing. He threw the gun to the side, there were no bullets.

He began to crouch as she got closer, yet when she came to three feet from him she stopped. Her midnight black eyes were engaged on focusing on his face.

Bane was speechless. He kept his eyes on her as he shifted his weight to his left leg. The woman's eyes twitched as she noticed him leaning towards the hallway. Her eyes fell on Talia, her head bobbing as she tried to stay aware, and she narrowed them into slits.

"She is strong."

Bane kept his eyes on the woman, not daring to let them shift towards the woman on the smooth tile floor. He kept himself collected, not allowing the woman in black the satisfaction of an answer.

"Tell me, masked man, is she worth the fight?"

Bane didn't have time for this, Talia was dying. He unwillingly let his eyes fall on Talia who had closed her eyes for a second too long before she opened them again and let out a faint plea. The ice in his stomach was burning as he looked at her. She couldn't be-

"Where is the antidote?" He turned back to look at the woman, desperately hoping that his desperation wasn't showing. She shook her head.

Bane roared with rage. "Give me something to heal her, then you can deal with me."

The woman did not smile or even frown; she gave him a long, hard stare. Bane was furious. He didn't have time.

Talia didn't have time.

The woman finally broke her stare when she blinked. "She is, isn't she?"

Bane clenched his jaw. She was worth any fight. Any war. She was worth more to him than his own life.

The woman walked around him then and he turned with every inch that she moved, keeping his eyes glued to her. She walked over to the left hand side of the door to where a technical device habited, then typed in a code. The door slid open and the chill of the outside wind flooded the room.

Bane took no time to hesitate, which was stubborn but he didn't think much of it then as he ran to Talia's side and picked her dainty body in his arms. Crossing the hallway, he made his way to the open door and exited. The woman standing in the door way yelled out to him before he got too far.

"Your decision has been made, I hope you realize how unwise it was."

Bane didn't turn around, he continued to sprint.

It was too long. Talia felt dead in his arms. He tried to keep his mind clear as he ran. Taking off into the night and not looking back at the facility as he tried to make sense of what just happened.

She had set them free?

The woman in his arms so fragile he was horrified that any wrong move and she would crumble to dust. He was dying as she made no response.

He raced for the woods. Something wasn't right. What kind of assassin was that? Letting them leave? Bane tried to comprehend as he made his way further and further into the forest.

He looked down at Talia and noticed that her eyes had finally shut completely. The pain under his ribs was too overwhelming to bear. He halted, seeing no other option and set her down on the cold bed of leaves.

"Talia…" He muttered, his tone just loud enough to wake the creatures around. He kept his eyes on her pale complexion and cradled her face in between his hands, a silent sorrowful cry for her salvation escaped him. "Talia, please."

He felt his stomach constrict and the desperate need to revive her became overwhelming. He didn't know what to do; her breathing was becoming so _scarce_.

Then he remembered the room. The room, the one he found her in, was thick with the essence of smoke. Some kind of gas.

That was it. That was what infected her and was causing her to drown in hysterics.

Thinking of nothing else to do, Bane started to tear off the latches to his mask. His clumsy fingers wrestling with the notches that kept it together as he clawed it away piece by piece. The pain was anguish as the night air hit the skin that hadn't been exposed in what felt like centuries. The throbbing was misery as he continued to rip the mask from his face. He wouldn't allow his fingers to still as the last hook keeping the metal mask to his face was freed and then the _agony_ started.

It was like knives were stabbing him repeatedly in a thousand sections of his face. He was silently screaming as he settled the mask over her small face. He wasn't sure if she was inhaling or even breathing, he just kept the mask close to her nostrils and mouth and _prayed_ to the heavens that she would start to recover.

The mask was massive compared to her tiny face and he wasn't even sure if what he had done was effective, yet he picked her up once more and started to run again.

The anguish in the center of his face was explosive and he felt the sides of his vision start to vibrate from the pain. He was seeing flashes of light as he clenched Talia so close to him that he was sure he had to be hurting her.

Running further into the night, he didn't take time to stop. He was getting her as far away as possible, no matter the pain he felt.

* * *

The birds sang a symphony.

The hallow noises sounded faint, however and the single reason was unknown. The cold ground was noticed slowly as she started to shift. What _was_ she lying on?

There was pain in her crown, throbbing and heated. There was essence of pine and some kind of minerals.

The bitter taste in her mouth was foul. She tried to search her memory for what she had done last. She was losing the battle of the desire to open her eyes. They felt a thousand pounds heavier than normal.

Shifting some more, she let her fingers search the surface she slept on. Letting them graze her surroundings, she felt crisp things. Things like leaves.

She felt like she was frowning if that was possible as she tried again to open her eyes. She felt drugged; it shouldn't have been so hard to have just opened her eyes. Letting only a fraction of her eyelids open, she felt the sore all over.

The turn of her neck was vile, but she shifted her head enough to notice that she was on a bed of leaves and stone. In a nutshell, she was confused out of her mind. Where was she?

The last thing she remembered was…..

Then she sat upright quickly. Turning her head sharply, she observed the room.

She looked around as quickly as she could manage and realized she was in a cave of some sort. The darkness was most prominent in the west side and she wasn't even sure what was down there. She brought her hand up to cup her forehead and she felt sick.

What had happened?

Groaning, she searched for a way to get vertical. When she stood up, the world felt like it was spinning. She had a most ferocious nightmare. Devils and demons summoned to massacre her. Then she felt the demon's voice ringing in her ears.

_Talia_

The demon had spoken her name.

Becoming rather fearful of the dark, she let her wobbly knees bend and soon she was walking slowly towards the sunlight.

The forest outside was stocked with evergreens and pinecones. Not a person in sight. She turned around over and again and just tried to remember how she had gotten here. She vaguely remembered the parts in the demon's arms. What had it wanted?

She distinctively remembered the fear. The torture of the mind and soul, her body in shaking fits. She remembered how it encased her insides with a tranquilizer. She remembered feeling worse than death.

Mission, kidnapping, experimentation then death.

She was dead right?

This fantasy was too crisp to be a dream. Sunlight was magnificent, this day it flooded the forest like a prayer. Turning around, she didn't know where to go, or for a more pressing matter, what to do. She climbed the rocks surrounding the cave and made her way on top of a high rock slowly due to the lack of propriety. Upon reaching the top she stared wide-eyed out into the green and brown. Nothing, she couldn't see anything. Anyone.

No direction what so ever. Where should she go? And the matter of whether or not she would encounter anybody to bring her to civilization was unknown and rather doubtful. She sat down on the rock and felt the terror sinking in.

She was either dead and living in a heaven-fancy universe or she was alive and lost beyond salvation. Either way she would never return to the life she knew before. The agonizing realization was like dying from famine. She couldn't licit the knowledge.

She let the sobs begin to pulse through her bones. Escaping her lips, a moan of complete sorrow was the only sound that shook the forest. The cicadas and sparrows couldn't extinguish the sound. The tears were her only hold on reality.

She thought of her father. She had failed him. She had been captured and annihilated in a mental form. She wouldn't be surprised if he had forgotten her. And if he did remember her, he would most likely frown upon her. She had brought shame to his cause.

She couldn't live with the fact.

She had comfort in the fact that she knew he loved her. He had told her a few times, they weren't often, but she savored each one. He truly loved her, she knew, because she was the spitting image of her mother. Her mother was fantastic and bright, she was mighty and strong. She modeled herself after the woman she only knew for so little. She would be as strong-willed as her.

But even though she was all that she could be, pride came before love and if she disappointed, she was no doubt not going to be loved. She wailed as she knew it was over. She would never see him again. She would never be able to prove herself.

Then she thought of Bane. Her beloved secluded salvation. She yearned for him with each living second and the reluctance of her noticing that she would never see him either was enough to turn her soul to dust. She had just received a chance to become a part of him once more, a puzzle piece in his heart, a fragment of him. She couldn't believe that she had left him again. She couldn't handle the thought that she would always end up being torn from him. The normalcy of their situation below average and she just felt the skin on her body being ripped apart as she thought of the end. Her end.

She wished she could tell him. She would let him know if she could.

What was she to do then? How many more seconds of repentance? Picking her head up from its encumbered pillow that was made from her knees, she brought her hands up to wipe her cheeks. The roughness of her fingers so somber on her cheeks.

Nothing was left to take.

She stood up, trying to ignore the feeling of instability and slid off of the rock, making her way down. She was not going to sit any longer. She had to move.

So she headed out.

Traveling, she did not see a single creature. She traced her fingers along the trees and looked up at the sky high branches that she swore were scraping the sky. The sky was a brilliant blue.

She journeyed for at least a half hour before she heard the water. A waterfall was near, she was sure. Time didn't exist as she walked through the clearing and she was soon at the side of a river with a waterfall in the background. The grass blended with pebbles and soon the pebbles were stones. She looked out into the black water and had no doubt that it would be freezing.

Edging closer to the shore, she didn't even think to take off her shoes as she crouched down and let the cool water bathe her ankles and fingertips. She wasn't deep enough to see a reflection, though she knew that she looked like hell. All pale and probably like the dead.

She never learned how to swim. She was never taught. She looked out onto the black water and the scary wide range of the water bed. She felt the cold water lacing her feet as she knew there was no hope left. If she was indeed alive, dying of starvation was not going to be an option. She didn't want to prolong her death.

She stood up and took off her shoes, peeled off the black robes and only remained in her undergarments as she stepped over the smooth stones on the shore floor. The water was now at her knees and she felt the constriction in her soul tightening as she got deeper in the water. She didn't want to end her life. She never wanted to say goodbye.

Yet, she wouldn't live another second in misery. She didn't have the motivation to move on. She had lost everything. Everyone.

The water was now at her collarbone. It was snug against her skin.

She wanted to hold onto something. A prayer. An origin. She had nothing to grasp. She wanted arms to hold her. She wanted the feel of someone's heart. She wanted the warmth. Everything inside of her was shouting for a liberation. She wanted-

Then the floor dropped off.

Talia gasped as the floor of the lake made a steep turn and she was now underneath the ice water.

The chill of the water was everywhere. The water was too dark to see anything. She thrashed around, trying to find the floor. She hadn't expected the ground to disappear underneath her and though she was now in the state she wanted to be she couldn't drive away the fear that was running throughout her. She wasn't ready.

She changed her mind.

The scream she exerted was desperate but no one could hear. The water silenced her call as she moved her legs and arms furiously. The water was filling her nostrils and throat and the pain was _torment_. Her limbs began to cramp and she felt the spasms of pain coursing through her body. She wasn't ready.

She wasn't ready at all.

But death was beginning to creep up on her and she tried her hardest to fight it. However, the fight wasn't enough. Her movements were stilling as she felt the world slipping from her consciousness and soon she was becoming a victim to the oceanic fatality.

* * *

He was going to lose her for a second time.

He kicked through the water desperately as her body began to still.

By the time he reached her form she didn't have her eyes open, the fear inside of him was stabbing. He had his grip on her and he was moving. Now, he was treading through the black water with such force he reached the shore in a matter of minutes and laid Talia on the rocks.

He pressed his hands violently against her chest as he tried to shove the water out of her system. He could not supply her with air and he hoped this method would do fine by itself even with the disadvantage.

He repeatedly pressed his palms harder over her lungs.

Her body convulsed with each pump of his hand and soon she was oozing liquid from her mouth. This was his encouragement to continue and soon she sprayed out a fountain of water and she was turning on her side, grasping the stone ground with a cry. Bane grasped her body quickly and felt her breathing fast and enough to shake her.

She tried to pick herself up on her elbows and soon she was vomiting up whatever water was left in her system. Her mournful sobs were shaking her.

Bane wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her into his arms. She opened her eyes slowly but she didn't look at his face, she curled her body closer to his and clung to him, coughing violently. She had found her origin and stayed as close as humanly possible before she turned her head and looked up at her savior. The lament that fell from her mouth was enough to send fire through his veins.

Pulling her closer to him, she brought her shaking fingers to lock onto his neck. The weeping noise that escaped her echoed off of the shore and she clung to him with all of her might. No words were spoken. Talia cried in his arms and he held her close, finally alive.

She was confused and utterly destroyed in a sense, yet she didn't let that stray from the fact that Bane was this close. It had to be a dream. It was definitely unreal. Talia only needed that. Dead or alive, heaven or hell, she had Bane.

She wanted to ask why, how. She wanted to know. Bane pulled her up, placing each hand on her sides and bringing her upright on his lap. He looked into her face, finally being given the opportunity to catch her blue eyes moving. She coughed unconsciously, her lungs obviously not all the way dry, but the intensity of her stare was burning. She looked confused. But most of all, she was amazed.

Her nose wrinkled as the sobs returned and she bowed her head.

"How are you here?" Her voice dry and cracking, but the desperation in her tone massacring his common sense.

"I made you a promise." He pulled Talia close and she cried into his collarbone. The grace of his form made for her. She fit perfectly in each inch of him. She was such a delicate figure that he tried to hold her close without breaking her.

But she wasn't holding back, she gripped him with unyielding force.

She was cold and he was warm. Her body shaking from the shivering, she was so cold. The embrace was long overdue and they didn't want to ruin it. However, Talia was curious what he meant. She frowned into his chest.

"What?" She asked through chattering teeth. The shivers controlling her body.

Bane closed his eyes as he answered. "I will always be near. Wherever you are."

Talia leaned back to look at his face. He opened his eyes to look at her and she kept her face unreadable as the seconds passed. He wanted to say she looked indifferent but it was something stronger. She looked at him with fire.

Desire.

She clenched her teeth, trying to ease the swell in her chest. She couldn't comprehend it. She tried to lock it away. Nothing could compare to the feelings she had circulating her then. She looked at him and the pulse inside of her was like an electric shock with each rotation.

She admired him too much. She absolutely _loved_ him too much. She felt the warmth at the thought that Bane would, somehow, always rescue her. He was the core of her reality. He was her existence.

She let out the breath that was trapped within her and she turned her head to the side, noting the black water. She almost died. The realization was heartless. How could she almost give up on her life? No matter how miserable, she couldn't believe that if she had gone in only a few minutes prior she would not be here in the arms of her protector.

Her _protector_. That was really what he was. From the days in the Pit until now, she would never let go of his hand. She made a silent vow to keep him just as safe to her heart as he made her feel in the physical form. That was in reality the only way she could repay him.

Quickly turning her head back to him, she placed a hand on each side of his face as she brought her ice-cold lips descending on his cheekbone. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and shivered from the comfort of his warmth. She could never repay him fully for what he did for her.

The debt was too deep.

She could only cling to him, her deliverance. She could only graze his skin and relive the previous events as she continued to thank whoever ruled after death that she was still alive to _feel_ this.

* * *

He carried her as he made his way away from the river. She was glad that he did because she was sure she wouldn't have been reliable to walk. She had been through so much over the past days.

They did not return to the cave. She didn't know where they were going and she was sure that he didn't either. He just walked. They didn't feel the need to talk and that was fine. They had a special talent for speaking through the silence. They had a language of their own.

When Bane set her down, she was asleep. Her blue lips were chapped and he knew she was cold because she shivered consistently throughout the journey, but he wouldn't dare light a fire in case predators were lurking in the shadows. He couldn't risk it.

But she no doubt looked frigid under the moon light. Her clothing had dried considerably through the time that they walked but it wasn't enough. He didn't know what to do. He peeled off his coat which was still damp from the river water and laid it on the floor. He brought his hand up to her face and grazed her skin. She was shaking from the cold but too deep under to notice.

The only thing he could think of doing was sharing his body heat. So, he settled his body on the floor next to hers and pulled her close. She rustled in her sleep and instinctively let her body get closer to him. His heat not phased from the coldness of the river.

He _never_ ran out of warmth. It seemed almost inhuman. But in that case, it was true. How much human could he possibly be? He rubbed her arms, trying to circulate the blood and create friction.

Talia roused from her slumber and moaned with approval. His warmth was welcome and she relished in it.

"Where are we?" She asked tiredly.

Bane's voice hollow as he answered. "I don't know."

She nodded. A stupid question, she realized. Neither knew the location or even the time. Talia's fingers felt brittle and her legs _ached_ from the cramping, but she moved closer to her protector and waited for his warmth to radiate throughout her body.

"I missed-"She began but the man beside her interrupted.

"I know." He muttered. "Me too."

She would grip him tighter if she felt like her fingers wouldn't snap.

"What did they do to you?" He asked, trying to keep his tone stable. The cold of the night was miserable. Talia felt the ice in her gut. She had forgotten about _that_. What had they done to her? She wasn't entirely sure.

"I don't know."

One moment she remembered sitting in the chair and the next she was screaming from the _terror_. A toxin of some sort, she remembered the fear. It infatuated her soul and she remembered savages with masks and-

Then she gasped.

"That was you." Her nails were stabbing his arms as she looked through the midnight dark atmosphere and tried to glimpse his face. "You were there."

Bane froze next to her. He didn't enjoy the memory. She had stared at him as if he was a ghoul; a demon. She had screamed because he reached out to touch her. The pain of the memory was overpowering. He could not erase her terrified pleas.

He knew now that the gas was only a drug that caused agonizing hallucinations, but that still didn't end the sorrow in his gut. She still screamed.

"How did you escape?" She asked. The honest truth was that she had wondered for the longest time how he had gotten away.

He swallowed and tried to hide the fear in his tone. "A woman let us go. She didn't even try to stop me."

Talia frowned. "What? Why would she do that?"

Bane shook his head. "It all seemed too unreal, it was too easy."

Talia opened her mouth to reply, but then she heard the noise. A buzzing of some sort, she perked her ears and turned her head to the side.

"Do you hear that?" She asked. Bane was silent for a minute before he frowned and sat up.

The whirring noise was getting closer, and then the trees began to sway. Talia sat up slowly and looked around. What _was_ that?

Bane stood up and prepared himself for an oncoming threat. Talia followed and flicked her eyes to each corner of the forest and tried to see. There was nothing to observe, but that noise was getting louder and more prominent.

It was getting extremely close. She searched the skies. That was when the lights came flashing from above. Blinding and absolutely impossible, they shined down on them as the wind from what seemed to be a hovercraft caused the trees to separate and blew debris from the ground. The hovercraft got lower to the ground but hovered just far enough above the forest floor. Then the ropes were thrown out of the cabin. Talia threw her arm over her eyes as she looked up and tried to comprehend what was going on.

Bane pulled her body close as he readied his stance for battle.

Then they descended from above. Sliding down the ropes, they came quickly to the ground. Men in black.

Either to kill them or save them.

* * *

A/N: Another cliffhanger. DO. NOT. HATE. ME. or you can, I don't care. I just love leaving you hanging.

Any way **review** and I will update as soon as possible.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hello faithful readers!

Another chapter is here and I have so much for you to read! I have created a tumblr for my fanfic updates and information. If you want to follow, it's theleague-ofshadows. there isn't much. But anyway, moving on...

A big thank you to all of my reviewers.

Lots of you were really surprised that I made Talia attempt to kill herself, but imagine yourself in the situation. What would you do?

Finaljoy: You were my favorite reviewer this week because I recieved three reviews from you but seriously, thank you! I am very thankful that you liked the religious aspects to my story. I believe the same that Talia has a mix of two different cultures as she transitions into Miranda and that she has a very large interest in all. I thank you for the praise of my scarecrow bit. What song were you listening to as you ended that chapter? And I am very happy that you are enjoying this story. Much love! xxx

Belle de Sainte Ange: BELLE! I am so very very happy that you liked the chapter. Please tell me what you think of this one (perhaps your favorite quotations so I know what to add more of?) Glad you enjoyed, enjoy this one as well!

Guest (hooked guest): I can't believe you loved it THAT much. I don't agree that others pale in comparison but you really made my day with that comment. To know that I am doing what I love and you are enjoying it as well makes me glow.

Clumsytonks: Glad to know it's feeding your addiction!

screamingoutalovesong: Thank you and I'm glad you liked that part. It was really easy to write!

NinjaNicky: I love you, your reviews are the best! thank you!

The rest of you I don't have time to mention because I have to go to work soon, but I really love you. Thank you!

Here's chapter eight.

* * *

**The Cold And Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 8

* * *

"You shattered the knuckles of his third and fourth finger in his left hand, fractured his ribs, left him with internal bleeding and now he is under treatment of a concussion."

Ra's Al Ghul stared into the eyes of the warrior he had called to his drawing room. The recruit turned his gaze down at the dirt on his shoes.

"Bane, your skills have improved impressively."

The recruit turned his eyes back up to stare at Ra's in utter shock. When he was told he had to go in for a meeting with the head of the League of Shadows, he was sure that he would be neck deep in trouble. Because, honestly, he knew. He had nearly massacred the man in only a few _minutes_.

It had been what felt like months since she left. Bane counted each second of every day like it would go faster if he continued to count. And when the number of seconds became so high he was sure he would find his end, the only thing he could really do to ease the waiting was to train.

So that was what he did.

Every damn day.

The sting in his knuckles was barely noticed as he squeezed his damaged fingers together and looked at the man in front of him. Ra's Al Ghul nodded in appreciation before he turned and walked over to the table to set down his glass.

Bane looked around. The room was always so dark. The firelight barely provided enough glow to fully light up the entire room, so Bane had to struggle to look around him. Why did Ra's enjoy this room to be so gloomy? Did it reflect a mood? Or perhaps he just enjoyed the dark.

He didn't know what to do then. Bane never fully felt comfortable in the presence of anyone. He never had to prove himself or try. But living in the prison for so long, he had forgotten how to talk with anyone in a proper manner. Especially Talia's father. He couldn't begin to find a way to become comfortable. It wasn't the personalities of the person he conversed with, it was how to use his own to actually contribute. How could he pretend that he actually considered what they said? Did he even need to lie?

And in the end, annihilation and combat was all that he knew. Social aspects of the League were absent as the damn _mask_ on his face cut all ties with opportunity. How could anyone actually look past that? What would Ra's do on missions? Send him with a marred face as such to converse with business men?

He doubted the CEO's of the world would not think him a monster.

Ra's was the worst of them all, however. The woman he called dearest thought the world of her father. Bane watched her talk about him and the way she would ooze respect like it was a gift. She would never disobey. And, though he respected the League's leader as well, he could never let down his guard. Not particularly with him alone, but he was a reason he kept it up.

The man with the black and grey beard and those killer blue eyes didn't mess around. Ra's proceeded to comment on his fighting skills with praise and Bane watched his face cautiously. Something about this man was off. He didn't trust him fully like a true member of the League should.

But could anyone blame him for feeling as such? The man he had spent years with after he had been pulled free of the Pit and to reality was like a slap of cold wind. All he cared about was his cause. Indeed, it was a very well plotted cause, but was it enough? Was it enough to keep secret that in fact his daughter did not die the trip home? That she had found her way across the _desert_ in the raging heat in desperate attempts to find the one tie to her history she had left?

Was there a purpose in keeping him away?

Talia was a different matter. When she was brought back into his life, wide-eyed and just as beautiful, she had changed. Her innocence had faded quite remarkably and she was so constricted. She didn't know just how much she was. And that was what really ruined all aspects for him, because she was just as beautiful and wonderstruck but she didn't have an open heart.

But honestly, he didn't blame her. There was nothing to blame. It was just disappointing to see her so closed off.

Because the man in the mask knew, he had the very inkling the second he was reunited with her, that she would never be the same. She wasn't a child. She had grown up. And the loss of innocence was heartbreaking in a matter because she deserved to still be young. To not have to feel everything that surrounded him. Not to have to feel the world on her shoulders.

Yet she grew. He had to find a way to comprehend the growth, but she evolved with such haste. He knew that she was so much younger, but he considered her so much older. She was a girl beyond her years. A girl who had seen pain and misery. Yet, a girl who had known love. He knew, he made sure she felt it. Her mother made the same decision.

His bond to her was spirit bound. Something not of the physical, but of dreams. He was twenty-seven. Just a young man with so much potential. Yet, his emotional attachment to an eighteen-year-old was what kept him grounded. And how absurd the others assumed the bond had become. How could he possibly be so keen on a young woman, and in fact, the League heir? The fact that he was so much older would separate him from friendship? From everything they had shared in the past?

Honestly, couldn't people see? It wasn't romance, it was love.

A love so strong that it took every inch of pain and suffering inside and turned it into hope. A miracle of sorts that didn't stop giving. The years in the Pit were their past, a distant memory. And with every painful remembrance, the future was what they had. And they did. They had a long future that wouldn't change. He would never allow anything to take her away again.

That was why he was counting the seconds. Each grain of sand fell excruciatingly slow.

Bane looked back up at Ra's and wished to ask if the mission was complete, if they were finished and going to come home. But he didn't. He didn't utter a word on the subject. He continued to listen to Ra's talk until he grew quiet and Bane took that as a chance to leave.

He asked for dismissal and when he was granted it. But before he could leave, Ra's called out for him as he reached the door.

"Bane, I am going to need your talents soon. When the time comes, I will require you to do my bidding."

Bane turned around and looked at the man. He was going to be needed for missions. He was going to kill for this man. What did that mean to him? Bane nodded slightly and turned his back. He returned to his room with nothing to look forward to except sleep and even that wasn't so pleasant due to the coldness of the bed.

* * *

So, the woman had sent her men to massacre them.

The reason it was so easy to escape was because the woman wanted it that way. She would run them until they were surrounded like dogs. And really, what other reason was there? They could not escape that simply. Nothing was ever that easy.

So they ran.

Bane gripped Talia's hand and bolted. They were weak, they were tired, but overall they were not going back. Talia tried to move her legs faster as she turned her head and looked for an escape. Bane was pulling her and she was moving quickly, dodging trees and jumping over large stones.

This was bound to happen, she didn't know why she let herself hope. It was stupid to think that there would ever be more than an hour of solitude anymore. Not with the circumstances, not with her life. All she wanted was to be able to feel fragile and at peace with Bane. Couldn't she get that? She hadn't seen him in weeks, didn't she deserve at least an hours rest in his arms? If there was ever a time she felt like murdering, it was at its most extreme then.

But they just sprinted. No time to figure the options as they ran for their lives. They weren't even sure if the men were following them when they were confronted by more men as they entered a clearing. Bane halted and Talia tried her hardest to lessen her momentum to keep from bumping into him.

She looked around, wide-eyed and frigid. The men wore helmets and thick leather suits; they held no weapons which was odd. Talia gripped Bane's arm and resisted the urge to hide behind him as one of the men who was following them stepped forward.

"Well, Bane, was there really any need to run? If I didn't know you better, I would mistake you for a coward." The voice was muffled, unrecognizable.

Bane suddenly became rigid, as if he was somehow able to recognize the voice. After a long pause, he replied.

"Escaping is not the same thing as running away, Blanchet, though I'm sure you would know the difference."

Talia flicked her eyes upward in disbelief. Blanchet? As in Cassic Blanchet? A member of the League?

He took off his helmet and pulled down a scarf that was wrapped around his mouth. He had a particular smirk on his face.

Bane's stance was stoic as he looked at the man. Talia looked from Bane to the man and then around at the others. They weren't the woman's men. They were _her_ men. Her father's men sent to rescue her.

* * *

"Why, I must say Miss Al Ghul, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Talia was seated in the hovercraft, her eyes growing wider with each second that passed. The previous encounter too much to comprehend. The future was too much. Just that afternoon she had absolutely no hope of returning to her home. Now she was in a hovercraft, on her way.

The man, Blanchet, was running the scarf he had worn around his mouth through his fingers, again and again. Talia kept looking around at each face in absolute disbelief. She knew only three of the faces of the eleven men that were in the hovercraft and that didn't even include the pilots. She knew Blanchet. He was one of her father's best, yet she though he'd retired. Or even died.

She never saw him at the facility anymore.

"You act so informally, my dear. Do you not remember that your father and I were very close friends?" She noticed how he used the past tense before she shifted in her seat, the buckle of the belt strapping her in was tight around her waist. Talia really wondered what happened to this man.

"It's been five years, Mr. Blanchet, surely you can excuse my informality." Talia resisted the urge to purse her lips as she replied. She didn't know the reason behind him coming or how he even returned to the League, all she knew was that he was taking her home.

The man across from her laughed. "Please call me Cassic, Talia, I may as well be your uncle." Talia turned her eyes down the cabin of the massive aircraft and locked eyes with Bane who was watching her closely. Blanchet had requested a talk with her as soon as they entered the aircraft which called for privacy. Bane didn't like that.

Talia didn't either.

However, she sat with her hands gripping one another as she tried to still her heartbeat. "I was barely thirteen the last time we met, and even then you weren't there very long. What was it? A year?

Talia dug her fingernails in her palms as she looked into the man's black eyes and waited for an answer. He grinned back at her.

"A year and a half, little one-"

"I'm eighteen." She shot back.

"Still a valid detail, Talia." He ran his fingers through his faded gray and black hair. "You are young."

Talia rolled her eyes. She wanted to thank him for saving her, but until she was in the walls of the facility, she would show no gratitude to anyone.

"So, you're back at the compound?" She asked as she ran her fingernails over the cold metal of her seat, letting them get caught in the grooves.

Blanchet resisted the urge to roll his eyes himself. "I owed your father a favor, now we're even. Besides, I don't plan on staying long."

Talia looked up to the top of the plane's cabin. "I didn't think so." She exhaled loudly and shifted her gaze back to his face and folded her arms across her chest. "Do you have anything left to say?"

"Are you going to want to listen?"

"I don't believe so." Talia muttered quickly. She stood up quickly and without another glance at Blanchet, she walked solemnly over to where Bane resided. She could feel Blanchet's eyes on her as she closed her eyes and turned her head to rest on Bane's forearm, but she didn't even pay attention to him.

What she didn't know was that he wasn't looking at her.

* * *

The aircraft had no windows or clocks so the estimated time it took the recruits to reach their destination relied on one's perspective. Yet, one particular young woman didn't spend much of the time awake. Her short hair tickled her nose and cheeks as something shook her shoulder gently which caused her to rouse.

She fought off the dreamless sleep and turned her head, frowning before she opened her eyes and noticed she was still on the hovercraft. She turned her head up and noticed Bane looking down at her with tired eyes. She pulled her head up from its position on his shoulder and wiped her eyes, trying to eliminate the dry feeling from under her lids.

She sat up and ran her fingers through what hair she had left and rubbed the bridge of her nose before she turned to look back at Bane.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked, scratching behind her ear as she turned in the uncomfortable seat a little more.

He looked back at her with blue eyes that looked dull and tired. "I'm not sure, I would say two hours at the most. I'm sure we have been flying almost three. There's a man that keeps coming up and down the aisle. I assume we will be landing shortly."

Talia nodded and yawned as she rubbed her neck and looked around at the other men who were either asleep as well or using their knives to carve fruit. Either way, she noticed that Blanchet was one of those sleeping. Arms crossed and head tilted back, she was sure he was unconscious.

She didn't know how he had found them or even how they knew that they were in need of being rescued. All that she knew was that she was on this plane and that she was god knows how long before she was back. Back to her home.

Then she remembered. She turned her head back to Bane.

"How do you know Blanchet?" How _did_ he know Blanchet? When they encountered each other in the woods, Bane knew who the man was before even took off his helmet. How could he? He came to the League less than eight months prior. How could he know a man that Talia hadn't seen in five _years_?

Bane's eyes flickered over to the man who was resting across the aircraft. "Your father couldn't stay all the time to train with me."

Talia frowned. "So he was your mentor?"

The man next to her nodded, tightening his crossed arms as he turned his eyes away from Blanchet and over to the opposite side of the plane.

"Why is he back?" Bane asked.

Talia turned her eyes back to the Blanchet and bit her bottom lip. "He owed my father a favor."

* * *

The aircraft had landed. The descend from this flight was much more violent than that of the private jet she took to London. But soon, the body of the plane was completely still and Talia was able to stand. There was a platform that started to fall and created a way outside. She took a moment before she stood up and let her eyes wander over the people in the cabin. They were quickly standing up and repositioning their uniforms and grabbing their helmets. Talia stayed frozen for a second as she felt her stomach drop.

It was Bane who pulled her out of her nervous state. He put his hand on her shoulder causing her to look up at him. She was frightened, that was obvious. He couldn't imagine what for. He didn't trust these men as much as she did, but she was going to her father. What could make her so scared?

Bane got off of his seat and kneeled in front of hers. She lowered her head as he took his hand from her shoulder and placed it on her knee.

"What is the matter?"

She wouldn't look up at him as she spoke. "How can I face him?"

Bane frowned and he tried to look at her face better but her damn hair was shielding her eyes. "What are you saying?"

Talia was silent for a while. She didn't say anything. The only noises were coming from the men around them. The men were starting to clear out, leaving them and only a few others in the metal body of the plane. Bane looked down at his fingers resting on her knee. Shouldn't she be excited? He never imagined she would look as such. He couldn't explain why she felt like a child under his fingers.

He was going to suggest something before he heard her sharp inhale. He turned his eyes back to her face before he heard her sniffle.

"Thirteen others are dead, Bane…" She shook as the tremors in her chest took over. "I shouldn't have gotten... hurt. I shouldn't have… gotten treatment that morning." She finally let in to temptation and let her face fall into her hands as she cried. "They would be here with me."

"Silence, Talia." Bane commanded suddenly. "Look at me."

Talia pulled her hands away from her face and turned her chin upward as she tried to blink away the tears. Honestly, she needed to stop crying. She felt pathetic and feeble. How many times in the last six years did she show this much emotion? Never. Because she was stone then. Cold, hard stone.

The feeling of crumbling was the worst feeling she could ever imagine. And that was how it was. Every day. Pressured and ready to blow. She wasn't going to last with the amount of pain in each heartbeat.

Bane nudged her knee and indicated that she focus on him. She turned her eyes to his and he didn't smile, he didn't frown. He was perfectly still and kept his eyes on hers as he reached out and gripped one of her hands and kept it in his grasp. Talia felt the tears still wet on her face but she never moved an inch

Bane held her fingers strong and still as he looked into her eyes, reassuring her for only a few more seconds before he stood up and pulled her up with him. Talia lifted her other hand that was not being held to wipe away her tears. She looked ahead of her at the archway that lead down. Bane looked at her face and she turned her eyes up to his.

And in that moment, though he kept everything poise and as indifferent as humanly possible, she could swear he would be smiling at her if he could. As if, somehow, to reassure her.

As if the touch of his hand around hers wasn't enough.

* * *

"Miss Talia, what a pleasure it is to see you back."

Then she was wrapped in arms. The very ones that she had earned battle wounds from. Talia grew up with many partners to train with and one of them was this man. When her father was away on missions and trips, she would spend that time with Kingsley. Kingsley Evernot was her guiding light when she was fourteen. The child inside of her only adored everything he did. With time, Kingsley had to step down from the position as the young woman he was teaching needed a variety of partners, or so her father said. However, Kingsley still meant a great deal to her and she would meet with him from time to time and spar. Talia never wanted to let go of the feel of his arms around her.

But Kingsley pulled back and took a view of her face. Talia smiled kindly as she looked around at the men and women. These people she knew and cherished, so alive and free.

Bane stood behind her and looked around. She walked over to embrace another elderly woman named Usama who taught her literature throughout her six years at the League. The elderly woman mumbled something in Arabic and tugged Talia closer to herself. Usama brought her aged hands up to Talia's face to cradle and whispered a phrase of great gratitude which caused Talia to smile.

Talia turned her head to smile at everyone when she locked eyes with someone across the room.

His stare was just as intense as his daughter's.

* * *

The little chatter that was ended as soon as everyone around looked at Talia's frozen face. She did not even flinch or move forward. She just stared, wide-eyed and frozen to the core. She didn't know what to do and really, she couldn't move. All of those hours wishing that she was close again to her father were diminished as she feared his reaction to everything she had caused.

She loved her father and she knew he loved her, she just never knew when.

She didn't feel his arms, she didn't even remember seeing him move, but somehow he was holding her. Keeping her close and wrapping his arms around her tiny body. Talia was so shocked that he even embraced her at all. When was the last time he held her close? The day she found him? The day she told him of her mother? When? He never held her as such and the feeling was as foreign as ever.

She didn't respond at all.

Ra's pulled back and brought his hand up to frame her face just as Usama did. The young girl inside of her was warm with the gesture. She never was truly able to feel the adoration of a parental figure. She had her father who wasn't the supreme model for such, and her mother who had only been around the first few years of her life so honestly, she didn't remember. But she kept her estranged eyes on his blue orbs and just tried to gain a stable breathing cycle.

Ra's didn't utter a word as he pulled his hand from her cheek. He was as quiet as a mouse when she finally blinked. No words were said. He had said everything he needed to in his embrace.

Because Talia felt like she was finally allowed to breathe.

* * *

It had only been a few minutes of silence yet the time felt so agonizingly long. Talia curled her fingers as she grasped to his robe and instead of pulling away like she had intended to or at least let herself wish, she rested her forehead on his shoulder and let out every inch of air that she held back in her system.

There were, the nerves, leaving her system.

She had received the reaction she wanted, or more like hoped for. She didn't know what to expect from the man in her grip, but she would take this. She would always take this. Her father wrapped his hand around and placed his fingers delicately on the nape of her neck, brushing her short hair.

The men and women were either quiet or had started to clear out unnoticed because Talia was ignorant of those surrounding her. She didn't feel anything except her father's fingers in her hair and the warm pulse under her forehead. She had been living in a phase so tense she would never have thought that the release would be this sweet.

To finally feel weightless and free was such a heavenly feel. Talia only spent a few minutes in that position but it was enough. She had finally felt like the gesture was enough because she had gotten more than she had expected.

She turned her eyes up to her father's but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking past her. She tilted her head an inch to glance over her shoulder and saw that Bane was behind her. Her father turned his eyes to his forearm which was bare and scarred.

Talia tried her hardest to replay the previous encounter over in her head. The action was too unreal to seem eligible, but she had felt it. She pulled herself out of his arms and scratched her scalp as she tried to find something to say. The questions she wanted to ask and the answers she wanted to receive. Couldn't she be given that?

Then she decided that it could wait. It could always wait. She was literally exhausted and out of will power. She still felt weak from the intake of the toxin and nearly drowning along with the days of hysteria and absolute fear.

She was sure she would collapse.

Ra's noticed she was starting to grip her body and he started to step over to another recruit before he whispered something in their ear and the man ran off quickly. He turned back to his daughter and gave her the tiniest of smiles.

"Welcome home, Talia." He rubbed her forearm. "You have been so brave."

She looked down, the ice in her stomach. Only she hadn't. She couldn't remember the last courageous thing she did and that scared her. She had even tried to kill herself and the shame of the thought was overbearing. How many times would she relive that and regret it?

The man her father had just spoken to had come back into the room quickly with Doctor Sae close behind him. Ra's turned his head and caught a glimpse of them before he exclaimed. "Ah yes, Doctor Sae; please, come."

The doctor marched over to where Ra's stood, while Ra's tugged gently on Talia's elbow and waved for Bane to follow. "Please get these two medical attention."

The doctor looked over Talia's pale and hollow face and over to Bane's body and nodded. He indicated his hand towards the doorway and made sure they understood. Talia took one last look at her father and stepped away and over towards the door, Bane only a step behind.

The doctor was turning as well when Ra's pulled him aside and said low and heatedly. "Make sure they are in separate rooms, Doctor." Taking one last look at his daughter retreating out of the door, Ra's turned around and stalked out of an opposite exit.

* * *

Talia lay painfully on the hospital cot, trying desperately to find sleep. She was given no salvation what-so-ever and that made her restless.

After the hour treatment to her physical wounds and a check for diseases, she was told to lie down and breath through a mask that sent air laced with a treatment for her lungs. She didn't know how but it only made her feel worse. She was being cleansed. The air running through her made her drowsy but it wasn't chemically mixed with anything to make her tired. She remained alert, even through the night.

Bane was separated from her, forced to stay in a room down the hall. He needed to check the bullet wound for infections and was also tested for any diseases. But she didn't know if he was any luckier at finding sleep. She wondered if he was awake.

She turned over on the cot and tried to ease her body of the tension. Her father didn't come to visit her. He didn't even come to see how she was. She guessed she wasn't surprised. She was to rest and he was keeping his space. That was fine.

She wouldn't be able to do anything else. She just laid still and let her mind wander. So many things were to be said. So many things were left unacknowledged. She needed to know. She wanted to know. But she guessed it could wait until the morning. Or beyond. She didn't know when she would get answers. All she cared about was that she _would_ get them.

She traced patterns in her sheets, trying to ease her troubled mind. She dragged her delicate fingers across the fabric before she stilled her digits and stared out into space; thinking.

She turned so that she was on her back and staring up at the ceiling. How much time would she actually spend in this bed? Then she sat up and pulled her legs over to dangle at the side of the bed, her toes just barely grazed the cold stone. She bowed her head and knew she probably shouldn't do this. But she slowly began to edge her body off of the bed and stepped towards the door of the room. She twisted the knob carefully, trying to keep any noise from being made. The hallway was bright and she had to squint, but she slipped her body past the door and gently let it latch. The outside of her door had a clipboard with scribbled writing hanging.

She turned her eyes around the hallway and found Doctor Sae sleeping in his secluded part of the corner. His arms were folded and he obviously didn't intend to fall asleep because no one gets comfortable enough in _that_ position to sleep intentionally.

Talia slipped past him effortlessly, looking down the hall at the other rooms. She grew up in this part of the facility. The hospital wing was her- well, bittersweet playground. This was her childhood. If she didn't have a new bruise each week, she wasn't training correctly.

She made small steps, but she reached the other side of the hall in haste as she found the other room with a clipboard and knew that Bane would be inside. She hesitantly reached out to touch the cold metal knob before she twisted it and eased the door open.

Bane was lying with his back to her, most likely asleep. She watched as the bright light from the hallway illuminated the room and highlighted the details. Quickly slipping inside before anyone could see her, she carefully shut the door without making a sound. However, the light from the hallway was enough to alert Bane who wasn't asleep after all. He turned his head and glanced at the small woman in the door way. She crossed the room and made her way to the edge of the cot he was laying on and turned her head down to watch herself pick at the edges of her fingers. She didn't know why she came here.

Bane watched her without fully sitting up. The girl inside of her wanted to reach out and let him pull her in his arms, but she wasn't sure what to do.

She looked at the walls and then down and noticed the fixture of the rug on the floor, yet she never uttered a word of why she came or even what she wanted. She took enough courage in her system and used it to guide her body to the side of his bed. She sat with grace and shaking nerves and just plain exhaustion before Bane shifted his body closer to one side so she could slide in next to him. He was placed under the covers but she didn't wish to be encased in a sheet. She lay on top of the bundle of blankets on her side of his bed and brought her hands up to lay beneath her cheek.

She swallowed before she opened her mouth to say something then decided she better remain quiet.

"You have a lot on your mind." The man next to her mentioned. It was obvious and downright true. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to just feel his chest vibrate against hers as each word he uttered sent a tremor through her. She wanted to calculate each heartbeat and each time he blinked. She just wanted to talk to him. She didn't know what she wanted to talk about but she knew that was all she ever wanted to do. Even when she was in the Pit. Especially then.

She opened her eyes to look at him and he looked back. That was routine. She would open her eyes, exactly at the moment he called out for her and she would find him staring back, his gaze unreadable. Talia could never understand why it mattered so much to her. She could never know why she wanted to feel that feeling each second of every passing moment.

It was the one occasion that Bane didn't pull Talia close in his arms, and that was okay. Talia was not in need of his affections through physical contact. She could feel him holding her close in his aura and that was enough. She didn't need anything other than that.

"I do." She inhaled sharply and nuzzled easier into the mattress. "Maybe that's why I can't sleep."

The room was so dark that she had to strain herself to look at him properly. Bane and Talia laid in the darkness for quite some time before either spoke a word.

"How did you find me?"

Talia was never one to be persistent with asking questions, and honestly hadn't she asked this already? But the knowledge had not yet come her way.

Bane turned his head a fragment of an inch. "There was a woman. We received a video of her speaking, claiming she wished for your father's intelligence. You were there. In the background. You looked so lifeless."

Talia flinched at the thought. Either the chloroform or the result of the tranquilizer, she had been knocked out twice since she was kidnapped.

"They claimed no harm would come to you." Bane's almost whisper was strangled. Even through the filter of his mask, he sounded strained.

Talia turned her body so that she could brush the hair from her eyes.

"They wanted others to join you. I volunteered." He continued. "But when I arrived there, I heard you screaming."

Talia nodded. That made sense. She was positive she was under the drugs then and it scared her that she couldn't tell if that was exactly the case. She didn't want to know any more about that.

"How did they find us after that? When we were in the woods?" She asked. She honestly didn't understand how the men dressed in black could have known where they were or even that they needed help.

Bane turned his eyes up to look at the ceiling. "Why do you think I couldn't sleep?"

* * *

The morning came not long after. Talia wanted to stay awake and talk with Bane for the rest of the night, but that wasn't possible because she had fought many battles, she didn't need to start one with her eyelids. And consequently, that was fine. Sleep was never a bad thing. Talia didn't feel cold, so she remained on top of the blankets, but she was close enough to touch Bane and that kept her warm.

Bane slept soundly for the first time in weeks. It was assumed that Talia would be the one having trouble finding dreams, but instead it was Bane. The reason, though assumed, was unknown.

The pair was sound asleep when another entered the room in silence. The intruder didn't even make a sound as he stared at the form of the young woman snug against the side of the man. The tiny figure against the mass of the other looked appalling and quite frankly, a sight that couldn't be erased from the mind.

Especially for a man protective of his daughter.

* * *

When Talia finally woke, Bane woke with her. Her eyelids fluttered and she tried to remember how she got here and why, but she didn't actually care. The mutual gaze sent shivers down Talia's spine. Bane looked at her and she looked back and there was nothing but time on their hands. Clocks were not present anymore. Time was endless. But, though time was endless, it was not eliminated and it still passed. After a good long wondrous gaze, she finally blinked and guessed it would be best to sit up. She slid off and paced around the room until she reached the edge of the side of the bed he resided on. Bane turned his body to face her and she let her fingers descend and reach his wrist, squeezing it gently and smiling attentively. Bane nodded slightly and she turned around. It was time for her to leave. She hoped no one noticed her absence.

The door knob was cold as she twisted it and made her way out of the room. Tip-toeing down the hallway, she eased inside of _her_ room and sat on the edge of her cot before she eased her body down under the blankets and closed her eyes. There was really no point in staying awake, pacing. For god's sake, she wasn't that much of a wonderer.

After thirty minutes of secluded relaxing, she heard the door begin to open and Doctor Sae entered with a smile.

"Good morning, Talia." He stepped over to her bed side and put his hand to her forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever. That's good." He checked off something on his paper as Talia sat upright.

"I feel fine." She muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Doctor Sae looked at her and nodded. "Yes, well, it's only precaution that we treated you. You seem to have no diseases so I do believe you can go back to your normal everyday things today."

Talia just barely smiled when the doctor went to the cabinet on the wall and unlocked it to take out a pill and filled a glass of water. Bringing it back to her, he told her to swallow the pill and she would be able to leave.

The days turned and passed quicker than she imagined. She did not transition back into training until three days after she returned, and by then she felt rusty. But that wasn't horrible, she knew she would get used to it again. Bane was almost always near. He was a beautiful shadow, and sometimes, she was as well. It did not matter that he was separated from her half of the time. She still slept by his side. She still used that sacred time to talk and to feel and to just begin to cherish.

The days turned faster than wheels and she was convinced that between the training and meetings with her father and making the transition back into her life was enough. She had almost, not yet fully, but very nearly given herself time to forget about her traumatizing experiences. It had been a week since she returned and she was going to make the most of it. Of all the time she had here.

For less than ten minutes at least each day if not more, she would cry. It was not purposefully, she didn't want to feel as much as she did. But in the few minutes she let herself think, she cried sorrowfully. Because M'har wasn't there to practice darts with her. He wasn't there at all.

The time moved so slowly that she was amazed that a week had passed. It was a Sunday. The sun wasn't out, as if it ever was, yet the day still seemed bright. She did not see her father around and strangely enough, she couldn't find Bane. The morning dragged on as she left the practice room and went down to the hallway.

It was a normal day. Something opposed to the week before. Talia was finally starting to feel like things had turned normal.

But that was before she found out that Bane was assigned to a mission.

* * *

"Don't do this." She pleaded. Her father gave her a stern look as he turned around.

"Silence, Talia." He exhaled loudly as if he was annoyed. "I'm assigning him on a mission, not sending him to his death."

Talia felt her throat tighten as she just couldn't hold her posture a second longer. "Please." She whispered. She was in her father's drawing room, where a fire was lit and all other lights were not. She finally sat down for the first time in this room because she couldn't trust herself to stand.

Ra's turned his gaze to her and she tried to keep her face serious enough to persuade him. But she felt like _dying_. How could he do this? Bane was only back a week. He was only just adjusting. She was only just adjusting. The terrible absence that would follow would completely kill her and he must know.

"It was planned three days before you returned Talia. He was already supposed to be gone. I have given him time to recover and I cannot wait any longer. He is the one I need and as much as this pains you, I have to call upon him to service me." Ra's paced by the fireplace. Talia felt her face start to constrict as her eyebrows knitted together in an attempt to keep from crying.

"Then let me go with him. I want to be there."

Ra's had a terrible expression on his face then. It was disappointment. She couldn't see just how much he hated those words. "You are not needed. You will stay."

Talia stood up in quick haste brought a hand up to her forehead. "Send anyone else." She allowed herself to repeat. She needed to at least try and persuade him. "Please."

"It is done. He is going."

Talia swallowed the sorrow in her throat. She couldn't do anything now, she knew. She nodded and let the tears roll down her cheeks. She always felt shameful crying in front of her father but on this occasion she didn't care.

She turned around slowly and walked out of the door without asking for permission to leave, which was something she never did.

* * *

Bane turned his head to observe the room. Talia was nowhere to be seen. The lack of her presence was strange because she was always here at this exact time. She would one way or another find herself in his room and she would always lie next to him. He looked around the room and down the hall but she wasn't around.

He started to walk , turning his body down the hall and made his way out. He would walk. That was fine. He searched for her unconsciously as he passed the halls and around the facility. The sun was set and only a purple haze was left on the horizon. He searched the insides and when he couldn't find her there, he began to make his way outside. He was about to give up when he noticed her perched on the edge of the stone ledge before the mountain started to descend. She had her legs dangling over the edge and her hair was blowing softly with the cold wind.

She didn't hear him make his way toward her and as he got closer he accidently kicked a stone, letting it scrape across the floor. She flinched and turned her head sharply to look at him with wide eyes, ones that were petrified.

Her expression didn't shift as she continued to look at him and he knew exactly why.

Talia pulled her legs up and turned around. She set her feet carefully on the ground and turned to Bane. The little girl walked over to her protector and demanded she be held. The reasonable part of her brain was being ignored as she marched over to Bane and wrapped her arms around his waist. He knew. She knew he did.

"I want to protect you, Bane." She didn't cry like she felt. She spoke softly as she nuzzled her head close to his chest. "I want to keep you safe. Just like you have always kept me."

Bane froze around her. Talia gripped him softly and gave into whatever it was she felt. Sorrow? Pain? She couldn't pin point it. She just felt it. She was going to have to live without him again. She was going to have to endure the wait, just as he had with her. But this time it felt different, because she knew. She knew of the possible consequences.

Bane didn't pull back to look at her when he spoke. "You _have_ kept me safe." Talia frowned and shook her head.

"Nonsense, I haven't done anything."

Bane tried his hardest to keep his fingers from squeezing her too hard. "You came into my life in the darkest point, Talia. You did save me. You pulled me out from that point. You were just a child with innocence and that was all. You have protected me for years, even when you were gone." He pulled back to look into her eyes. "Because even when you were gone, I never let myself go back there. To that point. I remembered your innocence and the impossible love. That kept me alive. It kept me strong."

Talia frowned, not sure how to comprehend his words. Bane brushed her hair out of her eyes and muttered. "Protection doesn't need to be physical all the time. It's not valid. You kept me safe with your trust."

Talia exhaled softly and pulled Bane back into an embrace. He wrapped his hands around her waist and gently squeezed her body. "You are so strong, Talia. You have always been brave. I will come back to you."

She inhaled sharply. "You don't get to promise me that." Bane whispered in her ear.

"I didn't."

* * *

A/N: I know you all are really hating me right now, but I wanted to say something. I couldn't give Bane and Talia a good long time together because honestly, that wasn't realistic. Bane and Talia are not ordinary and definetely don't live normally. They are going to have moments like this where they are seperated and won't be around each other for long periods of time and the time they are with each other won't be long. But that's what makes it romantic. Because with what little they have, they make the most of it. I know so far everything is confusing, but I have a background story to it. Trust me. I'm not writing this with a confused story line. It will all make sense in time.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter and I will update soon.

And remember to **REVIEW**.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Good evening faithful readers! Look at that! I changed my pen name to fit my Tumblr account (which by the way is now up and running and provides my followers with Batman/ Bane and Talia pictures as well as updates of my fanfiction so check it out if you want. I'm under the same name as my pen name.) I have been gone quite a long time! It's been a long three weeks. Between college (which by the way, my essay got an A, I'm very proud.) and work and life, I've left you all hanging. Please forgive.

How many of you are just so confused? There are so many aspects that I still need to clear for you all. It's all fine and okay though, because I know what I'm doing! The next chapter is going to be so exciting, seriously I have it all provided in my head.

For those of you who were gracious enough to review, I love you. I really do.

**Belle de Sainte Ange**: I have this really warm spot for you in the complex emotional system I have. The adoration I feel for you is so high. I wish to praise you on your ability to make me scream with joy. Each word you write in response is magnificent, so beautiful. I am very happy that you enjoyed the last scene of Chapter 8. It was a last minute entry but it meant so much to me to provide Talia with a sense of loss. The fact that she can't protect Bane hurts her because she figures she has so little to contribute, but that's when Bane gets smart and reminds her that she has always been a safe part of him. That she has the capability to bring him peace.

**ClumsyTonks**: Thank you very much. Enjoy!

**MonDieu666**: I must say, love, your reviews are always a pleasure to see. I enjoy every word you write to me and I want to thank you for being so kind as to review. It means a lot!

**ForeverReadRed**: Thank you for your enthusiasm. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**NinjaNicky**: Take my heart, please. You have just made me smile! Thank you for reading this far and thank you for writing what you liked and didn't.

**finaljoy**: Reviews are treats, but honey, you are the cherry on top. I have such a child mentality and honey, you make my hyper side run wild. I love you. I know. So much ominious things but that's my style. I just write stuff like it all the time. Thank you for enjoying the last scene as well! And thank you on your praise of my description of each character. I work unbelievably hard trying to make them act in character that it's exhausting. Good to know it's paying off! Yes. The sex, sex, sex part of Bane and Talia will come wayyyyy later. So much further on because things need to be sorted out. Things need to be plotted and planned and made agonizingly slow. I am a tease, I know. You deserve the world. Thank you for supporting me this long.

**Azaleea**: Thank you!

If I haven't made this clear, I like to write very long, detailed chapters about heartbreak. I'm sorry if you don't like. But seriously, there is a scene in here (review and tell me if you can guess which one it is) that every Bane/Talia fan will love. I just know it.

I actually have song recommendations for you all if you wish. (Scene 1) Talking to the Moon - Bruno Mars and (Scene 8) Fix You - Coldplay. Both songs formulated the scenes so listen to them if you wish to know what I was listening to while writing.

Also listen to Time by Hans Zimmer. Though it's a song from Inception, it's positively perfect for Bane and Talia. I get chills each time I hear it.

Enjoy another long chapter.

All my love.

* * *

**The Cold And Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 9

* * *

At the peak of the night's darkest point, the stars were as bright as they ever would be. And consequently, the small and simple room was illuminated with their light. Instead of laying in the bed she spent so many night in years before she even knew of Bane's salvation, Talia curled herself in feeble attempts of getting comfortable on the mattress that claimed his body (along with hers) every night since that day she fell ill with exhaustion.

She, like any other, yearned for warmth.

Outside of the window, the moon was a perfect circle and brighter than the sun in a sense. She didn't cower away from looking directly at it like she would with the sun, however, and in that time she felt the chills radiating her body.

Warmth was not an option. And it wasn't because she had no one to curl toward. No; instead it was because she wouldn't let her mind rest. She shivered, and it was because she knew he was out of her reach. She squeezed her eyes shut and cringed as the dry and empty feeling in her stomach was at a point most extreme.

She had to fake it. The melancholy feelings she refused to express. Not a soul in the world deserved to sympathize with _this_. In the chivalrous attempts to keep a smile, the little girl swallowed a plea. She wouldn't dare cry. She wouldn't dare.

The cartilage in her fingers was sore and painful as she continued to grasp the sheets and at least try and end the agony in her core. These attacks from her nerves were the worst. Contractions of the soul, she couldn't eliminate the feeling as if someone was beating the insides of her and cutting her open. It was worst on nights like these when she would get no word from her father. Nothing. No information would ease her.

The stone walls of the bedroom haunted her and kept her phobic of the lack of space. Yet, she couldn't sleep anywhere else. There was no other sanctuary like the sheets and the protection of this room. But even then, she couldn't sleep. If she was lucky, on other nights, her mind would cooperate and settle still for hours so she could actually reach the unconscious world she wished to grasp. And in her dreams, she would sit patiently and wait.

As she roused the next day, Talia would fix her curls, reach for a robe and exit the room. Another lonely night dead and gone. The black skies, when silence fell, brought the fear. Nothing was more terrifying than silent hours when the mind would disobey and there was nothing to distract her. She couldn't fight it then. Because she knew, silence evoked thought. And she hated it.

It had been one month and fifteen days. The plotting and planning for the assigned corps that was sent to do her father's bidding needed to be drawn out.

Forty-five days of solitary confinement. Forty-five nights of continual harassment of the bloody feeling in her core. Could she see no end? She would spend every night just like this.

The pain started to ebb as Talia turned onto her side and ran her fingers over her forehead. Bringing her ankles together and curling her toes, she straightened out her body and inhaled sharply. She was positive that she no longer possessed the ability to shed a tear. It seemed she had run dry. By now, she could only stare nonchalantly at the space in front of her and think. She didn't care to cry.

The room was deep navy and bright enough to see her surroundings. Bane's room was so far down the facility, yet it still held its own window.

Talia was sick of talking to the moon as if it would actually talk back. As if it would give her a sense of peace with its words. She would often wonder if Bane, wherever he lie, was glancing up at the same moon and wondering about her. Then she shook her head each time. She didn't want to begin thinking that way. The moon was as lifeless as she and she found it depressing to relate herself as such.

Talia shifted under the covers and soon found studying the edge of her pillowcase (well it was Bane's, but honestly, the _details_) to be a useless distraction as she popped her tense knuckles. She would stare at the fabric until she memorized each stitch without having to look. But, perhaps she should find other ways to find sleep .Another way to distract her mind.

Honestly, to be trapped inside of the dark and cold room was worse than being trapped in the heated walls of hell and to be tarnished with a pitchfork, being yelling at like the damned. She missed them. Her father; Bane. She missed them with each cell and it wasn't enough to think they would be home again, not knowing when but just having the knowledge. And who could tell her that she would be strong to cling to the fact, when in reality, she felt so weak.

She closed her eyes slowly and exhaled before she sat up and turned her gaze to the window. The brightness of the moon was only a fraction of its true might because the window's curtains were half closed. Talia let her toes brush the stone floor before she rubbed her arms and left whatever warmth was left in the bed. She made her way to the window and carefully reached out to grasp the edge of the navy curtain and slowly pull it to the side.

The light reflected off of her blue eyes and almost made them seem darker than they were, and in that moment she knew what she had to do.

She looked up at the white moon with craters speckling the perfect circle and felt the edges of her lips twitch as she wondered if somewhere out there, he was looking back.

If Bane was observing the moon with stated intensity as such and missing her just as equally.

* * *

The tiny dove watched behind the shadows as the man on the lower level held the blade with caution. The exhale came out in a silent passage and each time she blinked she clenched her fingers tighter. No one knew she was there. No one knew she was watching.

The father of the princess did not falter as he stared into the eyes of the man with the sword clung in his fingers. The warrior who was so close to completing the task; the warrior who was nearly an agent to the cause was nearly finished. He only needed to complete one simple exposition and then he would be a member.

A part of the destiny.

And in the final moments of encouragement that came from the eyes of the leader, the glint of the sword's reflection caught the warrior's attention. The man at his feet whimpered with fear as the sword lay across his neck.

The warrior looked down at the peasant. His clothes were tattered and his hair infested with dust, but he did not have the right to feel as if he was innocent. The man below him had stolen and conned men for years before he kneeled here. He should feel no pity for himself. He created his fate.

The leader cleared his throat and turned to stand opposite of the warrior. He spoke in soft tones.

"To show compassion is to earn one's downfall. If you show mercy you are no better than this man." The warrior looked up as the man continued. "You must show that you will not hesitate while serving. If you fail to comply, the only justice you will receive will be your death."

The warrior turned his gaze back down to the man, his fingers flexing around the sword's handle. The man underneath felt the shift and swallowed another whimper. The soldier raised the sword above his head and resisted the overwhelming urge to close his eyes and shut out what would come next. He would show no resistance.

The girl in the shadows watched the decapitation with nothing but a hole in her stomach and a void that could not be filled.

* * *

"Bane, the head wishes to speak with you."

The man in the leather coat looked up and noticed a young man standing in front of the booth that he resided in. Bane then understood what the man had said and nodded as he put down the parchment he was reading. The secluded part of the train was safe from the common eye and the man in the mask could roam freely without the terrified shrieks of women and the disbelieving wide-eyed men. He slid from the booth he was residing in, stood up, and started to walk where the recruit pointed.

He did not expect anything, maybe that was best.

* * *

Talia was no more civil in her behavior than a vulture was to a rotted bone. In the literal sense, she tried her hardest to remain in cycle with her better being and show the remaining crowd that she would indeed be able to survive. And honestly, there was nothing physically traumatizing about the situation if you disregarded the lack of verbal interactions she wished to encounter. She ate, she slept. There was a routine to be upheld and she would finish it.

Yet the emotional impact his separation left her with was enough to decapitate the god in heaven himself. She was no stranger to pain, yet each time it pierced her with a conclusive set of fatal instruments. If she chose to perceive things differently, maybe she could manage.

The sun rose with the brightest attitude and form and the girl with the uneven chestnut curls rolled out of the bed and rubbed her eyes until she felt truly awake. It was actually a relief to wake up and find that she had actually slept.

She tilted her neck as she looked around for her robe. The night silks she wore were thin and flimsy enough that she had no desire to walk outside wearing only them. She was a lady of poise and modesty. Finding it wrapped in a bundle at the side of the bed, she knelt to pick it up and slip it on.

It seemed early enough that not many would be around, so she didn't have to fret over the thought of being confronted on her way back to her room to change. She knew that people knew that she spent every night here. Still, it was not the fear of their knowledge. It was the fear of judgment.

She looked back at the bed and sighed. She gripped the fabric of the comforter in her fingers and pulled the blankets back to the way they were before she tarnished the bed. Pulling tightly, she made sure there were no wrinkles. She didn't understand why it felt right to do this each day. She knew she would only ruin the form each night when she climbed back in the sheets. But she did it each morning. She always made the bed.

The way he had each morning.

If she strayed from routine she was sure to go mad. The repetition of each ritual she completed could not be changed. She was not going to let go. She wouldn't pretend, but she wouldn't change. So she tugged at the edge of the blanket as she licked her lips and stretched once more.

Talia gripped her hair tie from the bedside table and pulled her hair high on top of her head. Turning on her heel and pulling her robe tighter she walked to the door. She resisted the urge to turn back and glance around to make sure everything was the way she left it. She left the room and was surprised to find how much warmer the hallway was opposed to the room.

She walked back to her room silently and without catching the attention of any bystanders. That morning she showered, pulled her hair high off of her shoulders and dressed in her robes for training. Kingsley very kindly agreed to train with her like old times because Yosmund, her trainer since Bane left, was sick.

Thirty minutes passed quickly as she found her way inside the training room and proceeded to stretch and loosen her muscles. Kingsley met her inside the room and he cracked a smile watching her practice her hand-to-hand combat with a practice bag. Talia preferred this compared to weapons. The most valuable weapon was of the body and it would be useful to learn how to use it at all times.

She was mighty crafty with a sword or small knives, but her force came through her fingers. She wanted to know that she could manage without the excessive materials.

Kingsley set his cloth pack to the floor and slipped off his shoes just as Talia had when she entered the room. She heard the pack fall to the floor and she turned her head before she gave him a small smile and stilled the practice bag. She turned and walked over to where he stood.

"You should try sleeping, Talia, you're starting to look old." He smirked. Talia grimaced as she resisted the urge to narrow her eyes. If only he _knew_.

She found herself in front of him as he started to wrap his knuckles with fabric to protect his hands. "Sleep defies me. It seems to deny me any form of itself. Perhaps you could give me a good word." She nudged his shoulder as she gripped the fabric that he handed to her. She began to wrap her knuckles as well.

They sparred for minutes on end; it wasn't really a training session. This was due to the fact that Talia was having too much fun with the thought that this reminded her of her childhood. She found herself clung to his back and they tumbled to the floor. The mutual rings of laughter filled the room.

"What would your father do if he knew you laughed while engaging in combat?" The man beside her said in between chuckles. Talia finished her breathless laugh as she turned to look at him.

"I haven't trained with my father in months. I doubt even I could tell you the answer to that."

She rolled onto her stomach and pushed with her arms so she could stand and jumped about for a few seconds, trying to energize her body once more. Kingsley made his body vertical as well and he straightened out his clothes before they went another round.

The day passed with a great deal of repetition.

Good. That was how she liked it.

As the hour neared, Talia left her crouching position and stripped the fabric from her fingers. It was time to nourish the body with the day's meal. She pulled the last bits of fabric away from her fingers and she clenched her hands into fists to try and pop the knuckles and ease the tension.

Kingsley held his hand out for her remains and she handed them to him with gratitude. He walked to the opposite side of the room to dispose of them. She knelt down to his bag and opened it hoping she would find a flask of water or perhaps a cloth to rub away the sweat.

She let her eyes search each inch, trying to search for either item when her eyes fell on an object that was thin and wrinkled. It was a piece of paper, thick in material and certainly couldn't be parchment alone. She pulled it from the safe pocket and turned it over.

The disbelief ran through her bones like an electric shock as she inhaled sharply and turned her eyes to Kingsley. He was walking back to where she knelt and frowned at her astonished expression. Her eyes darted from the object in her hand to his eyes before she finally chose to stare at him alone.

She felt the saliva in her mouth vanish as she lost the capability so swallow. Finally she was able to formulate words.

"This is my mother."

* * *

"Bane, that is enough!"

Ra's voice echoed throughout the wind and through the valleys as the arm wrapped around another man's neck began tightening. The man in his arms was gasping for air and his choking pleas began to quiet. Bane felt his whole body vibrating as he realized that he was being instructed.

"Bane, I said let go."

His eyes opened. Letting his arms still, he maneuvered them from their place around the man's neck. The warrior he had been battling was groaning on the floor and clutching his throat as his eyes widened and he rolled. Bane was breathing heavily as he turned to look at the surrounding recruits and then at Ra's whose face was unreadable.

The other men muttered things silently and swore as they looked at the man on the floor and then back to Bane. Ra's glared over at where Bane stood before he shifted his head slightly as to shake it disapprovingly and turned around.

Exhaling with force, Bane didn't think much as to dust off the snow staining his coat. He watched Ra's Al Ghul stalking back to headquarters, and he listened to the others say their piece through their quiet tones.

* * *

"You disobeyed."

The two words sliced the silence scathingly as it became obvious there was no place to sit and no place to relax.

It had become uncomfortably obvious that this conversation was not casual. There was nothing casual about it at all. And to perceive it any differently was to lie, and the heavenly god above knew there was no point in doing that.

It was clear. The water was no longer clouded. There was nothing between him and the truth. He was not assigned on this mission to terrorize the members of the Spanish Embassy. He was not sent with the rest to complete the League's cause.

* * *

"What was this man to you, Talia?"

The small girl danced lightly on her feet around the room with grace. She curled her body out of the way of the weapon being slung her way as she widened her eyes and remained alert, constantly watching. She let out a shriek of surprise as the flat end of her father's sword touched the back of her leg before she quickly turned and gripped her sword better.

"Bane?" She asked. He nodded. Her father had asked many questions before of her beloved protector and friend. He had wondered about his talents. Of his life. She had told him of Bane when she found him not more than a year after she escaped. She told him of her journey, across the desert and from land to land. And how she wished to bring him out. How she wanted to retrace her steps and find her way back to the prison. To bring him to her. His body cold, the corpse of the man she cherished. If he was dead, she would not leave him to rot with the rest.

But overall, she would bring terrifying justice. She would make them pay. She would make them plead.

She had tried. Twice, exactly. But both times she failed to find the land. To find the desolate location that she yearned for. The place she had grown in.

Bane was rarely a subject discussed, for Talia kept her thoughts muted and secluded. She did not wish to begin to lose her memory of him. She feared that if she spoke of him he would begin to wear out with the movements of her tongue and soon she would lose a sense of what he was and what her father chose to let her see.

Talia stopped her movements. She did not care if her father struck her with his weapon. She turned her eyes to his and looked down slightly. Thankfully, he stilled as well and waited for her to answer.

She thought of Bane. So dark and empty that Pit always was. It was not a life source. It could not contain energy or love. It was only death and misery. Yet, she knew that he was the closest thing to the beauty of life and she missed him sorrowfully with every inch of her existence. She felt her chest constrict with the emotions. She felt her heartbeat quicken with the thoughts.

Talia dragged her tongue across the hard edge of her teeth as she blinked, fluttering her thick eyelashes. She did not wish to cry. She could not show sorrow in front of her father. The man she had grown to fear as much as she loved. She could not give him a glimpse of that part of her heart.

"He-"

But she did not get to continue as the door to the practice room opened loudly, due to the silence filling the room, and Talia felt herself start as she turned to glimpse a recruit her father was to train at the hour. The little girl turned her eyes up to the clock on the wall and sighed. She dropped her sword to the floor, knowing fully well that the other recruit would need it.

"It is four, I must make my way to Usama." She did not look at her father as she spoke, she only turned to grab her bag and sling it over her shoulder before slipping on her shoes. Ra's sighed with deliberate impatience, yet he understood and watched her leave. He would ask her again later. He would get his answer. Talia passed the recruit and nodded before she reached the exit. Ra's was standing there where he was before, beginning to turn and make his area ready for battle once more when Talia called out for him. He turned to stare at her.

She spoke loud enough for him to hear and for her heart to understand that it was time to let it go. It was time to be honest.

"He was mine, and likewise completely."

* * *

"How do you have this?"

"It's a gift." Kingsley replied.

Talia frowned as she pressed her fingers impossibly tight around the photograph. "A gift from whom?" She asked. Kingsley reached her side and more equally reached for the picture in her hand. She stared, astonished, before she flinched away from him and stood up. She backed herself away from where he stood and held the picture over her heart as she lifted her other hand to settle around it.

"The question is more 'for whom'" Kingsley inched closer to Talia. "For you." The two words sliced at her heart. She turned her head to glance at the window and just let the air in her system flow from her. Talia didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do.

Her short curls were in her eyes, yet she didn't care. She turned her blue eyes down to the painting of her mother. She was familiar enough to recognize, but she didn't realize just how beautiful she was. Talia was ten when her mother passed, yet she could still see her face as if it had only happened seconds ago. As if she was still wrapped safely in the security of her arms.

She pulled her fingers to her lips and curled her hand into a fist as she let out the warm breath.

"How do you have it?" She pondered breathlessly, pushing the hair out of her eyes so she could stare at him. The man had grey and black hair and the brown eyes of virtue. "And don't lie to me."

Kingsley kept his eyes on her. No indication crossed his gaze of being caught. "Your father wanted me to give it to you."

Talia turned her shocked gaze from his fingers scratching his beard to his eyes in less than a second as his words continued to ring through the room.

"What?"

The princess almost dropped the picture then as the shock seized her veins and totally controlled her. She thought of her father. The man who always grew mute when her mother was mentioned. He was very much like Talia in that sense. She would not talk of Bane when she thought him dead. Her father would rarely talk of her mother _because_ he knew she was dead. She was positive that there was no such thing as a painting that she held close to her heart.

Talia lifted the painting to be level with her blue eyes as she examined what marvelous things ink could do. She looked at the painting of her mother. It was no doubt painted before her years in the Pit. Her mother sat, turned her head to the side and was the spitting image of grace and formality. She did not smile, yet her face was so peaceful and beautiful that she did not need the facial expression to allow people to know she was happy.

Her mother; happy.

Talia let out a soft noise of muted delight at the thought of her mother actually free and healthy. Very much like Talia was now.

Kingsley watched her with sympathetic eyes and smiled. He moved closer to Talia and softly patted her shoulder blade as he too looked down at the painting.

"Why did he want me to-" She started but was interrupted.

"I was to give it to you today." Kingsley answered, shaking his head. "He said 'she would like that, it would be her mother's birthday.'"

Talia inhaled sharply as she turned to look at him with bright eyes. "Today would have been her birthday?" When he nodded, she smiled. She missed her mother more than life, and rarely liked to think of her too often, yet the thought of her mother in peace gave Talia a great deal of hope.

"I'm not supposed to say this-" He started.

"Then do not tell." She quickly retorted. No matter her curiosity, she did not wish for Kingsley to receive trouble for giving information. She wouldn't lose anyone else.

She held the picture close to her heart even as she and Kingsley made their way out of the training room and elsewhere, for she did not think of anything else. That night she lay in Bane's bed finally with a sense of warmth. A sense of ease. Though it was only momentary, it was enough.

She, for only a fraction of a second, though back to when Kingsley wished to tell her something forbidden and she couldn't help but wonder what it was that he wished to tell her about. But she didn't spend long dwelling on the thought. She didn't let him speak and that was the consequences of her actions. She wouldn't question it.

She wouldn't know.

She would have no idea that, indeed, the photo was used as a bargaining chip. A sentiment of the heart that would invade her and give her a sense of emotional stability. A form of propaganda that kept her still. She would never know that her father was using this as a way to make her remain loyal.

* * *

"Excommunication." The word left the man in the mask as he finally understood. Pulsing vibrations filled his core and the very sensations in his fingers began to still. He stared at him. Stared directly into the eyes of Ra's Al Ghul, not knowing what would come of him. His fate lied in the man's pale hands.

The silence was prominent in the room for it was only the two of them, and only the silence became more obvious as the seconds ticked on.

"Yes. However, in your case, it's more commonly called exile." Ra's Al Ghul lifted a finger and gave a slight nod. Bane did not move an inch. He would stay in his position. The words ran through the room and reflected off of the walls, sending them back to Bane's ears and letting them settle in his bones.

Bane did not blink. "You are asking me to-"

"You did not think I would notice your affections towards my daughter?" Ra's took a step to his left and shifted his gaze to the floor. "You did not think I have noticed how everyone acts around her?"

Bane resisted the urge to frown at the sudden turn in subject matter.

"'The Child of Ra's Al Ghul'" He mentioned, a slight edge to his tone. "What a title to carry, is it not? That a girl so young shall carry out my legacy. She has grown quite remarkably; she is no longer a child. I have seen the way my men look at her. Some more gently than others. I have noticed the way she responds. But never have I ever seen her willingly accept the love of anyone, not even what I have provided her. She knows nothing other than the cycle she has always lived in and I-" Ra's took a minute to shake his head, "I can only give her so much. She takes what she deserves. Proceeding to the point in her life where she did not wish for anything at all, I began to worry. She would not speak to anyone beyond her teachers and occasionally M'har, and she would continue to lace her words with depression. She was never happy. I would return from missions and checking in on you to find her hollow and mute. My daughter never smiled."

Bane was silent. He flexed his fingers and breathed cautiously as Ra's continued.

"You never wondered about her. Her name never fell from your mouth. Talia was to grow older, she was to become hardened by pain and stronger by sorrow. You showed tremendous talent so I took you in. Yet, do not mistake me for being a forgetful man, I was not ignorant of your relationship with my daughter before my years with her. I could see, your face marred and your spirit angry, I could see it in your eyes the effects of Talia's compassion and love. I could see the effect she had."

Ra's eyes were like daggers. "But Talia is very deceptive."

Bane frowned.

"Her intentions are weak compared to her loyalty and therefore she has mislead you in ever thinking that she would stray from her morals. I saw it. I can still see it in your eyes, even as I am telling you this, that you wished for her to defy me. You and I are very different, Bane. I can read your thoughts as if they were flashing in front of me and I can decipher your motives. Has my patience and understanding not been enough? I have given you a second chance and you wish to supply me with betrayal.

I have lived a full life, understanding the pain and misery of my actions and I have modeled an empire after my values. Today I stand taller than any man who has ever tried before. Peace echoes through my veins and I will bring justice to remain that sentiment. I collect the prized consequences. I conceive the honest catalyst. You had shown excellent loyalty and perseverance throughout your years. It was not until I brought you to her that I have doubted each second of the reunion. Do you believe me so ignorant of your affections towards my offspring?"

Bane considered the question rhetorical as he let Ra's speech sink in and comprehend.

"Do you think I am ignorant of her mutual love?" he paused, "Yet, I have no doubt that her affections are weak in the shadow of yours. She is, however, only a child."

Bane, still, remained silent.

"And you grew stronger. I have watched you. Your monstrous abilities have led me to believe that killing has become too simple. It has become just as much a law as breathing and therefore you have seethed the essence of the very misery I left my wife to rot in. I cannot look at you without seeing the tantrums and vile resurrection of my misery. I cannot look at you and see how my daughter does. Your actions only a matter of a few weeks prior show me that you have no sense of self control. You bend your alliance to me at the sound of Talia's screams. What would she have done? My daughter would have resisted the urge to disobey, as you know."

Bane couldn't say anything, he was frozen where he stood.

"I brought you to the League with every intention of allowing you to enhance every aspect of yourself to perfection so that I could physically craft the perfect soldier. But monsters do not have the willingness to be taught. A desire to demolish dishonestly claims every aspect that you possess and I will not be associated with it."

"And what of Talia?" Bane finally breathed, his voice mute yet loud enough to hear the question.

Ra's turned to look into Bane's eyes. He did not have a smile of triumph because he knew that there was no scenario where Bane would be able to stay. No, in fact, Ra's looked cold. He looked thick with the hardness of his heart.

"Talia will not follow you."

The five words were expected. They were, however, not embraced. Bane breathed complicatedly through his mask and willed himself not to feel anything. He would not dare touch the emotions that so urgently wished to flow free.

Never again.

Bane wanted to speak then. He wished to at least move a fragment. To tell Ra's of his twisted agenda.

"You will accept the generous exit I am providing you." Ra's suddenly proclaimed, turning so that he had his back turned to Bane. "Think of it as mercy, for every recruit who disobeys learns the pleasures of death."

"What is the purpose of all of this?" Bane asked.

"Everything I do is for what serves the best cause. With each agony there is new life. But I have done my fair share of the necessary to keep my daughter in line with my values, no matter the viewpoint."

"I do not-"

"I have serviced her with the likeness of each obstacle. Through her kidnapping to the-"

"You licensed the kidnapping?"

"I partitioned her motives. I tested her."

"You nearly killed her!" Bane fumed. He became dangerously dark.

"I enhanced her!" Ra's disagreed heatedly, letting his voice grow loud.

"You will massacre her, through and through for the benefit of your own doing without challenge and she will drown under your reign. You will murder the phantom relationship that you have for the few characteristics that you wish for her to possess."

Ra's narrowed his eyes. "Do not speak as if you understand my position."

Bane's eyes grew hard.

"For measure, I am sure you have noticed that this comes with a price. Though I am not killing you, I will obtain a certain boundary around her if you decide to come within contact. And she will suffer from it." Ra's proclaimed.

"You would inflict pain upon your own daughter if I disobey these terms?"

"That is why you will not." Ra's stated in undeniable assurance. "I owe you gracious praise for your determination and though it has not been rewarded, you will learn in time that every bone in the system has its use. You were merely a fracture that I will have to nurse. You should take this as a kindness and leave without complaint for I will only give you one chance."

The door made a noise and Bane's eyes snapped open as six men entered the room. They pursued him and grabbed his body, restricting him. Bane was strong, but he was only one.

"She will grieve. Her heart will be broken when she learns that you left her. She will never forgive you for unwillingly staying. She will learn that you were trapped. That though you were everything to her, that she meant only a miniscule fraction of that to you. She will grow angry and cold. But she will soon forget. They always forget." Ra's spoke of the scenario as if it was actually true and with one last look of satisfaction let the men assault Bane unconscious and drag him from the room.

* * *

Talia was in a state of confused notions as she felt her eyes flutter. She could not see. Beyond her eyelids was cloudy and shadowed. Webbed castles and butterfly wings mirrored in her mind as she tried to remember what she was dreaming of. It felt oddly familiar, this feeling. She thought hard which day it was. She had the strangest feeling it was the night before her father and the others were to depart. She turned her head, the lovely feeling of her neck stretching was all that was.

In complete bliss, though growing impatient with each minute that did not let her see, she let her fingers graze her surroundings.

She did not remember how she got there, she did not even remember why, but all that she knew was that she was in his bed, under his sheets. There was a clap of thunder from outside that roused her slightly from her deep sleep. She was not sure if she was awake or beyond.

She didn't mind, she didn't care.

She turned slightly and nuzzled her body closer to the soft sheets when she felt her fingers dance over something warm and smooth. She slowly began to let her fingers embrace the feel of the object as she slowly started to open her eyes to witness it.

The room was dark and solace as ever as she looked far and beyond, trying to recognize her position. The window let the lightning from outside shine in. The rain had come. She rarely witnessed downpours and on the nights they came, she found they brought her comfort. She felt the bed shift from under her when she turned her head to the right where the warm object had been.

It had slipped from her fingers and now it was close to her side.

Talia finally focused and found herself filled with warmth when she noticed that the victim of her touches contained a mask. The one she learned to love.

But something about him was desolate. Something was new. She never saw such hunger in those eyes and before she could decipher the purpose, Talia was encased in his arms. First she assumed he was begging for a normal embrace, then she realized that he had other intentions. She assumed he wished to hold her close, but soon she was being examined and being touched in places that _burned_. His fingers bruised the soft skin just under her ribs and he sensually ran his fingers down until they were placed over her waist and there he let his face fall into the croon of her neck. The cool metal jolting her skin as she imagined there he would let his lips lay. Talia gasped as a feeling she never fully embraced exploded in her core. She froze quickly, and found herself letting out a noise of estranged approval as the man before her touched her waist in dangerous motions. She couldn't imagine what he was doing it for, but she liked it. She absolutely loved it. Attentively looking into his eyes as he pulled back to stare at her, Talia willed him to notice her astonishment. She dared not think of what he might have felt previously as she stared long and hard into his blue eyes. She wanted to know him, feel him. She wanted to know this part of him. What if she was younger? What of her age and maturity? Had she not seen enough pain and sorrow to enjoy this without guilt or question? Talia did not take time to finish her thoughts. She brought her lips to the side of his jaw and slid her hands down his forearms, and Bane slowly continued to do those maddening movements with his fingers. Talia returned the gestures with those of her own and soon she practically stabbed his skin with her fingernails and kissed whatever form of skin on his neck remained free of the mask.

Bane soon found his body over hers and he held his fingers agonizingly light against her skin. She groaned with disapproval. She didn't want him to lightly brush her skin. She wanted him to be so close to her that they became one.

The sensations all too overwhelming.

Talia tried to think as his fingers outlined her ribs and grew dangerously close to the point just below her heart. She did not know what to make of this. She did not know how she became so partial to his touch.

He was her protector, he had never been her lover.

But she just couldn't end the thought of his fingers on her sides, playing with her skin. She brought her legs up to both sides of his waist and her fingers knotted in the leather of his mask. Talia slept in nothing but her undergarments once more, yet she did not notice.

Bane however, did. He pulled her over so now she was on top of him. Talia became wide-eyed and completely modest. She stared at Bane who looked up at her and she wondered what was to happen then. He very carefully ran the edge of his thumb over her pelvis bone and the action sent shivers running up her side. Talia looked down at Bane whose gaze did not sway from hers.

"Don't leave me." She muttered. In the state she was in, intoxicated on the feel of his skin so close to hers, she did not think of the meaning; the defiance. She did not think of how these words were going to affect the way she seemed. Her morals told her not to show fear, or weakness, for that matter.

But she did not care. She knew that Bane would leave her in the morning and she pleaded for him. She knew it was useless, she knew there was no point. Yet, she was scared that if she kept repeating the sentiments to herself that she might die from the answer she would never receive. She knew Bane could never stay. She knew, yet she tried.

Bane looked into her eyes. "Please don't go." She repeated.

The man, so warm and real under her did not utter a word, he only stared at her. She did not expect an answer, but she did not like the silence.

Then a bolt of lightning sent light illuminating the room and then suddenly following it was the loudest form of thunder Talia had ever heard.

That was when she awoke from her dream.

* * *

The thunder still rolled through the valleys and the room still shook from the sound. Talia shifted her startled eyes around the room and noticed that there was no one lying with her. She was alone. She was only given ten minutes or less of ease before the door swung open to Bane's room and Kingsley rushed in.

"He's back, Talia. Come quick. He's injured."

"Who?" She quickly shot up in bed.

Kingsley quickly replied. "Your father."

Kingsley was soaking wet and frantic. Talia did not think twice and flung the covers from her body, picked up her robe and ran. She raced down the halls, Kingsley held his hand out to her and they dashed through the facility. One section they had to bolt outside and then Talia was drenched in water. Running in the rain, Talia could see the light coming from the room just inside. Her father was sitting and bending over, the blood drenched in the cloth at his side.

She made the last final steps and then she paused in the door way, staring frantically at the form of her father. He was breathing normally but his wound on his forearm was sickening.

"Father.." She started. Her father turned his gaze up to her and his emotionless face became alive.

"Talia." He breathed. His face a pale echo of the silence. She inched closer to him, trying to diminish the frown forming on her face. He hissed as Sae used his needle to pull tightly and close the stitches before he stood up. Talia, much like a doe, curiously and fearfully let her gaze catch his.

"There was a bombing. It was unexpected and it shook the embassy. Crossfire of another association. It shouldn't have happened." He looked restrained then. "Ten didn't make it."

Talia felt her stomach drop. She resisted the urge to whimper. "Did-"

Her father looked at her then. His gaze cut her off and she lost her breath. Her father looked at her and she knew then. Ten. The chances of the twenty-two that went. Talia knew of it then.

She would have fallen to her knees, if Kingsley did not hold her up. Sae looked up at her for a moment and his face fell. Her father looked down at the floor. The room became depressingly dark as Talia felt parts of her body collapse.

Ra's made movements towards her and he did not pause until he was inches from her. "It was a not planned. There was nothing we could do."

Talia felt her stomach constrict. This was the closest thing to an apology she would get. She knew he cared. She knew that he knew she was grieving. He gripped the side of her head and placed a kiss on her temple. A kiss most unexpected. She exhaled painfully and let her fingers grip his robes.

He let go of her, however, and walked over to where Doctor Sae was cleaning up his supplies.

Kingsley had left her. Only her father and Doctor Sae remained. But they both needed to retire for they still had men to heal. They still had things to take care of. Ra's pulled the cloak from the edge of the chair and turned to look at Talia.

Talia looked into his eyes and saw something that she rarely saw. Sympathy.

Then her father turned. He left the room with Doctor Sae.

Talia turned around to examine the room. Only a candle lit the darkness. The thunder outside blasted through the hills and Talia watched the rain fall. She felt very much like the weather then. A moment of light before there was a crash and then everything began to fall. Much like the rain.

Talia could feel them, the heartbeats. Each one pulsing through her like a curse. She knew then that she didn't die. She only became dangerously numb.

The skeleton inside of her so tender and sore, she dared not move too quickly.

She stared out into the night. The black night that always brought her pain. The dark night that would never end. The sleepless escapades that brought her no peace. Talia could no longer see the moon. She only saw the clouds. The very rain that had soiled her bones. She noticed the way every creature hid from the weather and how similar she wished to be.

Talia witnessed the rain falling and felt everything she tried to push from her veins. She felt it all, no matter the numbness. Then the sorrow was too much to handle and Talia let her body do its justice. She let her body do the human rituals one excels when they are in pain.

She exhaled.

Looking over at the candle, Talia embraced the light. She stood up and bent over to extinguish it. The smoke was still swirling patterns in the air when she ran.

She ran out into the rain. Into the thunder and lightning. She ran from her feelings, from her heart and soul. She went as far as her feet would take her and soon she found herself at the ledge. The very one that Bane had met her at only a few days before he left. The very one where she told him she wished she could keep him safe. That she could protect him.

She had failed. She was unable to keep him safe. She had no physical attributions to keeping him safe. She never did. She would always have to live with the fact that she could never constrict death from reaching him.

For pity was what she deserved. One who loves anything death can touch cannot be commissioned into their original form. One who falls so deeply down to the point that reviving their soul seems like hell in its mightiest form creates a death sentence. May one never feel such retched emotions.

May one never love so fiercely. Or perhaps, may one in fact, love so mercilessly. Yet let them never feel the sorrows of separation. May they never feel the walls of desperation. May they never face such tragedies.

She knelt down and touched the ledge, wet and cold. She lay her forehead still at the edge of the stone and let her body be ripped apart, the whole time the rain fell from the heavens. Somewhere far above.

Her hair clung to her skin and the droplets of water rolled from her body like pestering venom, but she did not become astonished by it. She did not feel the instruments colliding with her body. She did not hear the thunder.

The only sound she could perceive was the tantalizing beat of her heart. The phantom beats of an attribution most divine and yet, so poisonous. Her heart, the thickness and brutality of each pulse, did not die. It did not still its motions.

All that remained was the repetition of the same noise. The same tick of the clock that would not end. The rain kept time with each beat and soon Talia could no longer feel her bones.

She stood up and let the sorrowful lament fall from her lips before she clumsily brought her hand to just above her breast and tried to rip the torment from its feeding ground. She bruised her chest from the pressure of her fingers, digging so brutally close into her skin that she was sure she would find her fingers encased in blood and soon touch her tortured heart with ease. Her thumb wrapped into the edge of her collar bone. Her fingers left the darkest, most mournful marks.

The smooth skin that laced her bones was no more than human flesh that ceased to allow her any form of contact. She wished to mute the consistent beating. She pleaded for silence of the chaotic mind she possessed. Her pain masked any form of legitimate grief.

The night did not free her. She did not find comfort in the rain, cleansing her body of its rich cocoon of restraints. The very lines that wrapped around her again and again until she was trapped in every aspect. Trapped so tightly that she would never break free.

Black midnight skies did not echo the clean formality of the air. Everything was shadowed. Everything was dark.

Talia did not move for minutes on end. Very much so that it felt as if hours had passed instead of seconds. The remained standing until she felt unable to stand. She cradled her head in her hands. The rain had not ceased and the night did not end. But she knew that the final farewell had passed without the knowledge of it even possessing such significance. She would never be able to feel his skin. She would never grasp his heart, or cradle his holy demeanor. She would never touch him again.

There was no space for the peace. They had not been given a reunion that satisfied. They did not have enough time.

There was a void within her that was unable to be filled and no amount of outside influences could even begin to decrypt such an emotion. She was not given a formidable valediction.

* * *

A/N: I don't know how many of you have read my other fics, but I felt incredibly proud that I fit in the word valediction in there to match with my one-shot fic that has nothing to do with this plot line at all. I'm just strangely laughing at it.

I know you all hate me. I've come to embrace the fact.

I want to know your thoughts. I want to know if you hate me or love me or just want me dead because I keep breaking your heart. How many times am I going to do that?

I am honestly itching to write the next chapter! I have a very fantastic idea for it. A very "Count of Monte Cristo" type feel. I have twisted every angle and lead you in all different places, but they will all lead to one. Each question will get an answer.

I salute every one of you who has taken the time to read, favorite, follow, review. Thank you.

Just a heads-up, I'm going on a cruise from the 13-21 so I will not be writing, I won't be thinking at all. I will be vacationing and you'll have to just live without a chapter for then. Hopefully I can update before I leave. Hopefully school doesn't smother me.

Take all of my love, because it's yours. I adore each of you. Thank you for reading.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I'm back from my cruise and I wrote this chapter in two days, so I'm sorry that it's short and awful. But it explains a lot of details.

Reviewers, you have been so kind to me!

Thank you everyone for reading and commenting. Please do the same for this. I apologize if it's sloppy. It's late and I am going to fix it tomorrow.

Bless you all!

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 10

* * *

Snow was no more than a burden on the escalations of the hills and the white glistened gloriously. There was no sound but the wind and the deep imprinting steps made towards the top. In the reverie, the wind wiped against the hair on her head and she would pull her coat closer to herself. She would try and conceal the miniscule body heat she had remained.

They say that the common god can be heard from the highest of spaces. That and the lowest. In the circumstance that a woman of her age should climb a mountain nearing dusk was absurd. Yet, the whistle of the wind slipping through the rocks and down the hills and the snow that fluttered from the high heavens, created a peaceful era. She would deal with her trials in due time.

For now, she stood higher than any other man. She clenched her fist and turned to observe the sun falling slowly behind the mountain's peak and watched the sunlight dance across the snow bed.

Talia exhaled. An extensive, perpetual series of months had passed. The time stimulated and did not still to keep time with her. Her mind was not in tune with the modern surroundings. She did her daily rituals, had spent her time wisely. Her behavior passed adequately and she did not freeze her wits. She maintained her balance and civility. Her father kept his keen stare upon her as he observed. She knew he watched. Yet she had learned how quickly she could fool him.

Soon, he did not stare quite so often.

She was proper, compassionate, incorruptible, and maintained her class. But she did not feel the emotions she so convincingly echoed.

_We were not alone. _

Her father's words never stopped ringing through her ears. He told her of the day, and though it was only once, she remembered it to every acute detail and beyond. A legendary bomb that shook the palace they so particularly targeted. A plan so precise, they would never know the reason they were sabotaged.

A personal vendetta, her father proclaimed. One so strong against his league and causes, that those of her father's corps were murdered in the middle. An organization that she knew well. The one that wished to harm her too. This association had taken Talia and experimented on her as if she was an animal with no voice to object. Her father said that as they escaped, there was a woman who stood tall and looked directly at him. "We warned you." She said. Talia did not know what the words meant, but she knew who he was describing. A woman with scars leading down her cheekbones and to her lips. The woman known as Needles. For a name unlike her very true one was what she had. She would describe herself as she was seen. There was no ground where Talia could stand stable. She had already felt the earth beneath her separate and the only thing that kept her hanging was the absolute objection to ending her life. No matter how miserable it felt as the heartbeats continued, she would never silence her life and pain her father. No matter her pain.

Seventeen months; that was the time that had passed. Seconds on end that could not match up to the ticking of her heartbeats and the counting of each inhale and exhale. She had lived. The sorrow wavered and on some days, she could live without complications. She had no complaints. She never let a word disgrace the peace she had struggled so hard for. There was nothing left for her to hold.

Talia found her way down the side of the mountain to an edge that stuck out far enough for her to stand sturdy on long enough to watch the shadows form as the sun lowered closer to the point where she could no longer see.

She felt stiff. She would not lie in the presence of what many said was the home of the gods. She rarely traveled this far up and never did she do it alone. She did not know of the thoughts of the people on the ground. She did not know if they were looking for her or enjoying the rituals they consistently pursued. She would not lie and say that she was in any form to pray for solitude. She was solid and thick. She looked at the sun. The sun looked back.

The wind caressed her cheeks and ravaged her hair in a way that left her enchanted. Something about being as high as she was, and the magnificent colors dancing off of the walls, she almost let her heart embrace it. For colors as inspiring as such took the grey and white mountain that she looked out upon for the time she resonated and made them look as if gold dripping from the atmosphere. She was perpetually instigated into a state that she had not felt for a long time. In a sense, it seemed a fraction before the feeling of living. She had been living, but in vain. A sacrifice each day to crawl from her solitude and brave the unsure surroundings.

But today, she felt different.

Talia let her gaze look upon the surface previously beheld and let her fingers graze her coat pocket. She looked down; pulled the picture she had been given so long ago. A year and a half prior, in fact. She took the picture of her mother, the one of her expression so thoughtful and wise. The one where she was lavished with the love Talia knew she must have felt. Where there was no hatred and immorality for the time being and she had been immortal. She had radiated such beauty and grace. Idealistic values that Talia could only hope to model after.

Talia looked at the side of her mother's face. She had studied each detail of her and beyond through the days. Though only a painting, Talia knew it would have been what she looked like. The blurred form of the memory she had of her mother had faded through the years. The painting was all that she had that was true.

Emotion was no stranger to Talia. She had courted the emotion to a point that they were intimate. Yet, she gave no mind to tears. Talia felt empty, her heart no longer available to shed a tear. The young woman, soon to be twenty years of age, had finished her days of sorrowful laments.

Talia, a girl grown so stable with the pain she had received, learned that she had truly shared a bond with them. The ones she loved. So convinced that she could never love again after she had lost so much, she had been drastically proven wrong. The shades of her relationships were from the lightest shades to the darkest. The middle always held a strong place with her mentors, teachers and on the certain occasions, the few she named friends. A woman of her stature should not have grown so deeply in care of such bonds. But her mother was of the darkest shades, along with her father. The shade that was so deep and rich, the strongest color that intensified.

But bonds sharpened. She had learned through the years that she was a female with stronger, protective emotions and that love could be flexible and formulate a different kind of affection. For M'har, it was camaraderie. It was a brother that was bonded through hope and kindness. The kind that ripped her apart the minute of his departure. She had to learn to blend her truths with his intentions and soon she could find the purpose that she needed. That she would always be his as he was hers. They were brother and sister. So anciently bound, so intellectually honest. A friendship that would never die no matter the loss of a companion.

However, even then, a woman took to heart the one who protected her most, and loved her just as equally. The protection she basked in to contain a mutual affection, and the love he expressed was nothing compared to hers. A starting friendship that was most dearly needed, and beyond to the continuity of such a bond yet with stronger affections. A moral mindset that kept her intact. That she could never be considered such an emblem. But her heart grew unknowingly larger and more in tune with the hum of his heart and the hymnal that was his voice. The hollow tones and his eyes that spoke for him were such guide lines. She grew so close to him without any intention or will that it was terrifying to understand the reality of it. For her to have bent her heart impossibly and to have taken each affection as if it was an unintended friendly affair, was where she had failed. For someone like Bane was not ever made to be her servant. She would always mold before him. She only wished she had received a chance to tell him so. He was, unknowingly and most truthfully, the darkest shade.

To have been given such love and affection and no possible ability to process the emotion, gave Talia a sense of unease. For she was never given the option or understanding to comply. She was never given a chance to let him know the truth of such affections. That she felt something more. That she was so much younger, but felt so much protection and admiration for him. That she…

She loved him.

Most honestly and devotedly and to the bones throughout her body. Bonded in skin and flesh and to the muscles and veins. She was unearthly matched to him, and to his memory.

So as she looked out onto the horizon, and watched her sunlight fade, she took one last look at the photo of her mother. She exhaled, finally and peacefully, for her heart could not ache any longer. The sun was almost set; the orange slowly turning a rosy color. Talia tucked the photo into the crevice of her pocket and turned to make her way down the mountain. She had to live now. She had to start living again.

But she would never feel alive again. She would only live.

* * *

"Society will understand that their pretentious reign will soon become a matter to divide along with those who wish to defy that purpose." His voice rang through the facility like a prayer. The echoing cheers of men danced off of the walls. They each thrust their fists in the air and started to chant. The phrase fell from their lips with force and intensity. Each time they got louder. Bane turned his eyes to look at the men he had gathered. The men that would become an army for the purpose.

The cause so similar to the one he had modeled after. They firmly held their guns in their hands as their voices grew louder and louder. He searched the faces of each of the men. These men were so similar, all the same kind of militia members. Men at each corner of the room. Ten months and an army was built. Ten months and he had built a foundation from scratch. A structure of institutionalized men that would endure his orders and destroy whatever was necessary.

Men. An army. Everything that was needed. All except one.

Bane clutched the edge of his vest tightly as the voices raised. The battle cry sung in the world below. The phrase that would tempt the inmates of the lost prison. To _rise_. To climb higher to the salvation above.

_Deshi Basara. _A chant so captivating and loud inside of the walls. He taught them of the freedom that would come. Of the justice that would be served. He let the words ring and reach his ears. He raised his chin as he inhaled deeply and listened to them.

For the many times he heard those words, he felt the emotion pulsing through him then. He felt the anger.

Enough anger to rise above the filth below and formulate a world were justice served a higher purpose. He inhaled and turned to the man standing next to him and held out his hand. He was handed the trigger that caused the walls to shift and soon the light from the outside shined in the room. The men started to turn and made their way outside while Bane watched what he had created.

Then he turned his head. One man stood still and stared at him as Bane did he. The man smirked and pulled his hood down before he walked over to his side.

"Very impressive, indeed. Yet, I am unsure of whether there is a point in your actions, Bane. You may believe that plotting against him in secret will work to your advantage, but you must remember who it is you are trying to become. Ra's Al Ghul does not waver from his strategies. He is not ignorant. If you show your face, the world will remember. He will not stop before god to kill you and finish the task."

"Calm your perpetual disdain for my cause, Blanchet. Do not forget that I understand his motives. I am only enhancing his legacy to one of my own, to the people's pleasure. The people are the ones who drive the purpose and beyond. Ra's could only see for the benefit of his own, that is where I am going to interfere. I will make his cause better than even he could wish."

Cassic Blanchet widened his smirk until it was a full smile. "He is deceptive, is he not? A member of the League of Shadows does not just disobey and get a chance to see the light. But perhaps he wished for you to hold a more honorable stance as he looked you in the eye and told you his lie. I would know, he tried it with me when I did not agree to drugging Talia. I am malevolent but I am not heartless. I would not interfere with his schemes to experiment on her as if she were a dog. He was the heartless one to think that kidnapping her intentionally would pass through unnoticed. His intentions have grown stiff with power."

Bane's eyes grew hard.

"However, I still owed him the favor for helping me." Cassic found a particular interest in his fingers and Bane clenched his fist. Blanchet did not find them by accident that night in the woods. Ra's sent Bane with a tracker to find them. That was his plan. He would bring Talia home and show her how much she meant to him, that she would melt in the softness of his actions and she would strengthen her loyalty to him. Or at least, it seemed the most logical explanation.

It was a blur from then on. Blanchet had rebelled from the beginning. He wished not to interfere with Ra's agenda. So he left. Mighty quick and silently as well, but Ra's never held him by the neck. Blanchet was free to do what he wished, though this time, he cut all ties. He left no ability for Ra's to contact him for another plan or wish.

"It is a gift that you managed to survive." Blanchet muttered, his eyes glowing with amusement.

Bane exhaled loudly and gripped his vest to keep his spine straight. Cerebral contusion affected his drive, but he was still able to escape. Torture was present. They did not kill him instantly or without pain. Pain came and it was endured. But Bane was no stranger to pain. He made his passes and then he somehow, unbelievably, escaped. Blood was shed incredibly and to the point where life could not be contained with the loss of it.

He was never meant to survive.

"Save your sentiments, Blanchet. A fire rises. Soon, this legacy will spread and the minds of the desperate and willing will enter and we will have built a militia. We will hold the power."

* * *

"Tell me of it, child. Did the wind howl like the children of the moon? Did it bay like the night wolf?"

Usama held her fingers through the threads of the sacred white shawl as she continued to hum and wait for Talia to answer.

The young woman shifted her gaze around the garden that was withering and everything turned brown because of the cold. There was no life here, not until spring.

"How did you know I climbed the mountain?" Talia wondered, not actually afraid of asking as she imagined it would be to have been caught.

"There is talk that I am a sage, young one. But I know the young heart works in mysterious ways." The old woman, so wise, contained the ability to see what was most commonly overlooked. Talia flicked her eyes to Usama and let herself frown. "Your father has eyes, but he does not see. You are not happy, child. You are conflicted."

Talia crossed the garden to edge. "No, Wise Mother, I am content. Have I made it challenging to see?" She gripped the Wise Mother's wrinkled fingers from around the shawl and smiled weakly, but convincing enough.

The old woman placed her soft, aged hand on Talia's cheek and brushed softly against her skin. "You have loved, child. A loss that impacting does not fade with time."

Talia looked down and nodded, trying to keep the smile on her face to prove, to just show, that she was strong. "Time. That is all that I have, Wise Mother. I am not sad about it."

The Wise Mother lifted Talia's chin to make her look into her eyes. "It has been more than a year and you still look the same as the first day. You have been strong. So in tune with your surroundings and have grown. But your eyes are dull. You have not really felt, have you? You have forgotten how to smile. Your lips have not twitched truthfully. I can see it, child. You have means to escape. You have intended to find a way out. That is why you climb the mountain, is it not? That is why you leave your heart behind. You only think with your brain. You only see with your eyes."

Talia blinked slowly and wished to turn away, but her gaze was locked.

"I have not lost my faith. Forgive me, but I am capable. Dear Old Mother, I am happy." Talia gripped her hands tighter and placed a kiss on the wrinkled knuckles. Perhaps she spoke the truth. There was everything she had been blessed with laid before her. Circumstances or not, she had every right to be happy.

"Just because they have left, does not mean that the spirit has died."

Talia searched the old woman's eyes.

"They are with you, child." She placed her hand over Talia's heart. "In here.

Talia shook her head. "I understand, but they are gone. They are not coming back. I know that." She looked at the woman and smiled weakly once more.

"What you had with him; with your mother, it has not vanished. Do not forget that."

Talia felt her fingers sting as she tried to swallow the pain that was becoming prominent in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time she felt an emotion so strong. The older woman pulled the shawl from her hands and fingered the edges. Then she brushed Talia's hair from her eyes and placed the cloth on top of her head and around her neck. The chestnut curls and blue of her eyes were stark against the color of the fabric.

"The gods have been cruel to you, my dear, but your vibrancy does not dim. A cycle does not end. One of your circumstances will last forever."

She tucked the edge of the shawl into the side of the rest of the fabric and smiled as Talia continued to stare at her. Then Usama knelt down to pick up a lone flower that had grown in the weeds and lifted Talia's hand to place it there. Talia looked down at the flower and felt the moisture gather in her eyes. Time had been endless since the last time she cried and now was no different occasion. The emotion, so plain on her face, was not from the sadness within.

They had never left. They would always be with her.

* * *

Bane dug his fingernails into the crisp outside of the green skinned apple. The juices oozed out and stained his fingers. He calmly watched the horizon as the sun began to rise and he inhaled deeply and exhaled just the same.

He watched the colors slowly color the sky and soon the sun was present. He sat a vehicle that would take him to their next destination. The apple stressed under his fingers and he looked down and noticed that he had bruised it quite badly. Quite unintentionally.

He picked it up to frown at it. Something so fragile he should never have touched. The apple had been destroyed so quickly and without notice that he was indeed startled by his incivility.

He sighed and tossed the apple to the edge of the leather seat. He was not hungry. He would not have eaten the apple; he just wished to do something with his agitated fingers. But he was tired of marring innocent things.

He was tired of ruining them.

He then thought of Talia.

* * *

_The courtroom is waiting to be packed with Gotham civilians this early Saturday morning as the hearing for the man known as Joe Chill who was convicted of murdering Thomas and Martha Wayne fourteen years ago, could be given early parole in return for testimony against his former inmate, alleged mob leader, Carmine Falcone. Also to be present today is the son of murdered, Bruce Wayne. He has not commented on the current situation. Yet the city of Gotham has no other choice than but to wonder if speaking against Falcone will lead to a better and more safe environment for the citizens of Gotham, or if in fact, it may start a war. _

Talia watched the screen intently as the woman presenting the news stood still for a moment before she directed the news back to the main station. Talia sat on the seat in the room that held the television, one of the few. She gripped the edge as she watched the news shift to a mass fire in Brazil.

She had begun watching the news.

It had become an obsessive hobby. There was no explanation or even a way to justify it, but she had watched the television each morning for the past five months. Her father always watched and he kept a keen eye on the sections that were failing. And she had a particular interest in knowing what was going on in the world and where she could play her part. She was ready to enter the active aspects of her father's cause once more.

But she always watched the news alone.

Bruce Wayne. Not a soul in the world didn't know who that young man was. The shadows that followed him were larger than any imagined. The news soon turned back to that story and then the picture of his face was covering the screen. Handsome, but terribly angry. A kind of anger that could only be eased at the result of vengeance. Talia looked at his face and recognized herself.

She then had to turn off the television.

A man like Bruce Wayne understood her need for peace. Or perhaps, it seemed. She felt the phantom image of his face in her mind as she thought of Joe Chill and how he had ripped apart a family, a home. She then thought of Bane and how he was ripped from her.

Their circumstances weren't so different, Bruce Wayne and hers. She was much like him, in fact.

* * *

"Are you ready to begin?"

The voice of her father was soothing and relaxed. He had been understanding, he did not urge or rush her to return. He had not said a word and she did not ask. Not until now. She was ready to return. It had been seventeen months. It had been much longer than she anticipated. But now, she was ready to restart.

Talia looked at him and wished that she looked secure enough. She nodded.

Her father smiled. "You have trained and prepared yourself for this. I am glad that you have decided to return."

It was true. She was ready to begin again, she just never made the step.

Her father inhaled deeply and then turned to reach for an envelope that was set on the table. She told him to bring it.

"It would be efficient, if you wish, to be a part of this."

Talia nodded, indifferently. She would do whatever.

"Very well. I want you to visit Lana and pack your things. She will give you a list of what is necessary."

Talia nodded again and took the envelope from her father. She turned and started to walk away. She was ready for this. She wanted to continue with the life she had before.

"Talia." Her father called. She turned to look at him. "Pack light, I don't want you gone long."

She looked at him as he looked at her and she felt warmth in her. Her father didn't want her away longer than necessary. He wanted her close.

She had forgotten what that felt like.

* * *

Lana was a kind woman, no more than forty years of age. She was no warrior. She was an elder. One kept to maintain balance and provide silks for the members. She designed the uniforms and helped to provide.

Talia was given a list of what was needed and what she had. She entered the room that was provided with common clothes. She was heading to one of the largest cities in Japan, she needed to look normal. Three skirts, five blouses, five pairs of pressed suit pants and two dresses.

Lana helped Talia dress and undress and figure what looked best.

Talia packed no more than what was needed.

She left everything behind. Everything beside the picture of her mother.

The plane would leave on the morrow and she would have to sleep until then.

* * *

"It's called Hiro." His voice circled the room. "It's a virus powerful enough to shut down the entire city."

Bane frowned as he looked at the parchment in his hands and then to the young man who had just handed them the information.

"That was all that I could find. I don't know who's making it or when they are going to plant it but someone let it slip that it was being produced and that it was originated in Tokyo." He announced. He looked at Bane in particular and seemed to cower away from the two men.

"Do more investigating." Bane commanded. "Find out when they are going to plant it, and where."

The young man nodded almost violently and exited quickly.

"Don't startle him too severely, Bane. He might faint from terror." Blanchet teased sarcastically. Bane paid no mind to that.

"It is going to rip the city apart." Bane said, his voice was quiet. "They may do as they please, but their timing is off. For a thriving city such as Tokyo to be corrupt would rock the balance of society and displease the matter of every citizen on the horizon. For the city to collapse, they must need a better agenda."

Blanchet looked at Bane through narrowed eyes. "So what are you suggesting?"

Bane walked around Blanchet and to the window of the room. "We must intercept this before it becomes a catastrophe and save chaos for when it is needed. We must direct it to a society so out of place and off balance that it will have no other choice but to feed off of its loss and start new. Better and more privileged."

"So you propose we steal the virus? How do you suggest we do that?"

Bane looked out to the top of the building far off into the night sky. "We create a distraction."

* * *

Torture was not the only decipher of truth. But it was indeed an effective one. Through torture, the plan to spoil Japan was eased out of the mouth of an insider.

Bane stood up on the pedestal and shouted out to his men. "Society will understand that their pretentious reign will soon become a matter to divide along with those who wish to defy that purpose."

Then his words triggered a roar of enthusiastic responses.

* * *

Talia stepped off of the plane and made her way straight to her car. She had a driver that took her to the hotel she was to stay at. The other members were located at other locations upon Talia's command. She did not want to be bundled together for the fear of past events. If she was alone, only things could happen to her. Especially the bad things. Her skin felt warm as the April air and sunlight surrounded her. She stepped out of the vehicle once it arrived and she entered and went straight to get her key. Upon entering her room, she set her suitcase on the ground.

She crossed the room and reached for the remote. The television was small. The news was playing in the background as she made her way to the bathroom and pulled her hair from her the top of her head. She wet a hand towel and cleansed her face of its makeup.

She walked back into the room and sat at the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair before she leaned down to her pouch and pulled the book from her bag. A dictionary that she had begun learning to help her talk short phrases of the language to sound professional and sophisticated as she was supposed to sound was now firmly in the safety of her fingers.

* * *

The next morning she woke and showered. Dried her hair and pinned it back. She dressed in a white blouse and a navy skirt and slipped on low heels before she applied lipstick and put on pearl earrings.

She grabbed her briefcase and turned to grip her key before she left the room and made her way to the elevator and down to the lobby. She took a cab to local coffee shop before she took the subway the rest of the trip to the building she was meant to do her father's bidding. The building was tall and made of steel. Windows never ending and people ever-present. The inside was fashioned with high class sculptures and modern art. She made her way to the front and asked for the man she was to meet with.

The woman at the desk was very beautiful, smiling sweetly and telling Talia that he was occupied but would meet with her in due time.

She sat down and opened her briefcase to find the files she was to give to this man. The ones that would be used to blackmail him and send his side of the company to a state of desperation that would lead to begging. He would have to agree to her father's terms.

Yet Talia browsed through them, made sure that she had each piece and then placed them delicately back into their safe place inside the briefcase.

She waited for ten minutes, turning her head to glance at the people around her. Men in suits walking up the stairs and women walking gracefully in their designer heels. The janitors swept the floors and there were men working on the construction outside. Many faces past and she wondered if she was still as quick as she used to be.

Then she turned her eyes to a man across the room. He kept turning his head to look at his surroundings and back to his bag. Then he continuously shifted his eyes up to the clock on the wall. She frowned, wondering why he seemed so suspicious. Then he shifted his gaze from the clock to his bag and unzipped it to pull out a gun.

The firearm went off in the air and the screams of the civilians rang through the room so quickly and so loudly, that Talia quickly dropped to the floor. The citizens lowered as Talia turned her eyes to look at the man who held the gun in his hand and then as other men began pulling their weapons from their hiding spots. She felt her heart rate quicken and her eyes widen as she tried to imagine what could have caused this. She turned her eyes down as she tried to avoid making eye contact and kept her bent body still.

There were whimpers of the men and women around her and shouts from the men then the room grew quiet and there were sounds of footsteps. The loud sound of boots colliding with tile made for a symphony of terrifying sounds.

Talia kept her hands by the sides of her face and kept her eyes low as the figure neared what she imagined was the middle of the room. To the north east of her. The men continued to shout to keep their heads down.

"Hey boss, he isn't here." One of the men shouted from behind her. He must have consulted the woman at the desk and demanded to know of the location of a certain man.

Talia tried to think her hardest. Tried to think of a scenario where she could escape.

"Search the building."

Talia froze then. She felt her fingers stiffen as the voice traveled to her ears and she listened. A voice, one so impossibly familiar and so dangerously true. She felt her insides constrict with emotion before she held her breath and turned her head a fragment and moved the fingers from her face.

The boots and cargo pants leading to the vest and the mask, the dead walked before her.

The corpse of his body stood before her, more real than a vision, and most certainly more impossible than heaven. Talia shifted her eyes to the side of his face.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Please Review! I'll update soon.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I deserve a medal for this. I have written you the longest chapter in the history of long chapters. 13,000+ words.

Again, I mention the medal...

I don't want to say anything special in the top notes. I have written you enough.

A special thanks to my regular reviewers: Belle, finaljoy, and Raphs No. 1 Girl. And a kind thank you to my new ones: Cali, Mina, Caligirl4ever87, sasha, and Almondjoy90.

Now, go off into the giant chapter I have provided for you and enjoy. I will write more in the notes below.

Good day.

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 11

* * *

The silence in the room was deafening as she made no noise, despite the fact that she was screaming on the inside. The echoes of the footsteps had ceased and Talia had to conceal the whimper of astonishment that was ripping at her throat. No possible reaction could match hers for she did not know what she felt. A series of dangerous emotions flooded her soul. To define each would be to count each grain of sand on the longest beach.

Her fingers, barely shielding her eyes, were numb. The breath caught in her throat was enough to strangle her. But she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

He mirrored exactly what she remembered. Nearly eighteen months of feeling alone, she felt her heart rate increase so quickly that she was sure she would collapse with the absolute shockwave pulsing through her veins.

He was dead. He was not alive.

How could this have happened? And who would torture her so? To resurrect the memories she tried so hard to conceal and trap deep underneath? Who was so wicked as to do such a thing? Her mind was slowly escalading.

The man before her no more than an imposter of her mind. He was not here. She couldn't believe it, wouldn't. The pain was too overwhelming to allow.

But he looked real enough.

A visage of the person she had tied her heart to in such a tangled fashion she would never break free. She looked, through stressed fingers and brittle bones, to the face of her previous salvation. He was so real. She was convinced that the memory of him had faded to a point of dilution, but he was just as she remembered. He was the same.

Time had not marred him or blemished his appearance. He stood in the middle of the room, the object she had treasured, and he did not see her. She was as invisible as the rest of the Japanese population. His eyes roamed the room, passing her and looking around at the others.

She felt her jaw ache with the need to call out for him, to make him see her. But that could never be done. She could not even move her eyes.

His back was turned to her and she realized that she never really was given an opportunity to glimpse his face. She noticed the mask, the easily recognizable device, but her brain started to speed up as the initial astonishment began to cease.

An imposter. That was the most logical solution.

One of the men neared closer to the location Talia resonated and she flinched, turning her head down.

Bane was not a face easily forgotten. His mask was a symbol of fear to many who knew him and an invitation to others who observed. He was not well known past her father's boundaries, but Bane had once nearly tore down a facility to find her, she was sure that he had been remembered.

Revenge? Possibly the outcome of his actions from the association that assaulted her. She found it logical that they would assemble a man of his build and conjure a mask so similar to Bane's to stand in to torture such a broken soul. Or perhaps, it was to carry on with the memory. She cringed at the thought of them ripping his solitude from his corpse and placing it on another man.

Impressive as he was, he could not just die and become dust. A memento; he would be remembered and feared.

How cruel they were to recreate.

His back still remained turned and she did not see his face as the men shouted and urged the civilians to stay stoic.

Her Bane was lost. Forever gone and never coming back. The hope she felt for seconds previous was now starting to stab her painfully. She felt her soul constrict once more.

Then he turned. His mass moved as he observed the men and women on the ground and their eyes observing the tile. Inching until his face was fully viewable, Talia realized that she was proven drastically wrong.

No matter how she wished to reason with the situation, she would never be able to fully comprehend just how her insides vaporized to the sight of him. She had never been so false, so incredibly wrong. Her heart had been so quick to object to the reality and the pain of having to deal with another form of depression that she chose to believe any other option than the reality of the situation.

But his eyes were the same. The very same blue that did not fade with time and the way he used them to search the building's surroundings, gave truth to his form.

Then Talia gasped. The splitting sounds caused the man to look at her. She remembered that she was being watched, and flinched as the man to her right to move to her. He began roughly gripping her elbow and forcing her to stay still. The commotion forced the attention of the man standing in the middle of the room to turn his eyes to her.

Talia was a child again. That was all that she knew.

Only feeling the radiating inflammation coursing through her like a savage beating and finally she locked eyes with the man. For a minute, his shock was eminent, turning the rest of her reactions to dust as she looked at him and he looked at her and a connection had been created and undisturbed. The man at her side gripped her crown and pushed her head down to stare at the floor. She flinched by the force, but kept opening her lips to plead him to take her to the man in the center of the room. To tell him of their relations and how she could not comprehend or even prove how much she longed to touch his skin.

The dry breaths sucked in were the only sound she made as she tried to struggle to keep from ruining her façade and running to fling herself into Bane's arms and tell him of the struggle and impossibility of his departure. Of how much she needed and craved him.

"We got him." One of the men, who firmly held a device in his hand, announced loudly from across the room as he hastily ran down from the stairs.

Talia waited seconds, or perhaps it was minutes, for a response. To hear his voice once more and prove to her that she was not dreaming. That this was not a mirage or hallucination. That she was indeed in the same room as the man she had believed dead. An impossible, life threatening truth that spilled delicious motives and dangerous emotions.

That she was not wrong.

But her father had told her that-

Her father had said he was dead. That he had died. He felt the broken corpse that could not be healed or put together again. That Bane was lost in the crossfire and that he was completely and forever gone.

How could it be possible then, that he was definitely and so realistically in front of her?

Unless-

"Has he brought it?"

The voice so anticipated and yearned for did not do her body justice as it reacted in a way that she was so foreign to. She took everything inside of her and willed it not to rebel and turn her into a martyr. She prayed that she could remain in control of her actions and expression and not spoil everything she had worked so hard for to throw away and retrieve what she wished for most.

His voice, in perspective; quite shaky and obscure, blended in with the whimpers and cries of the people as low as she.

The other man nodded and turned his gaze to the stairs and watched as his other men came down.

There were sirens starting to flare in the background and Talia knew that they didn't have much time. She wondered if Bane knew that and was anticipating it. She wondered if he ever thought of being caught. If he ever wondered about them taking him away.

"Well, then we mustn't waste time." His hollow voice rang through the room. "Bring the citizens. We are going to take an escape route."

Talia was then being forcefully pulled to her feet and felt the hard edge to the man's gun touching her skin through her blouse. The others started to get louder as they were pulled to their feet and the men began to shout. Talia searched the room for Bane but he was lost in the sea of the others. She became frantic then, terrified that it was all a dream. Turning her head, she tried to search for him as she was shoved forward and told to keep time with the others. Her breathing became quick as she yearned for his form to appear. She needed confirmation that she did not dream it. That he was alive.

She drastically gripped the civilians in front of her, trying to maintain her balance as they were shoved to a part of the building crowded with faces. She looked up at the cameras on the walls and wondered if they had captured her understanding. She wondered if she seemed as much alike the others as she looked around frantically, or if people would understand that she _knew_ who these people were and what they did.

There was a scream of terror as a woman was gripped tightly and then there was a section ahead that became less crowded and soon she noticed why. There he stood, no more than three yards in front of her with his arms by his sides and his back to her. She inhaled and felt her eyes grow larger with the shock. She felt the others fearfully step backwards and try to get around him without creating attention that would get them noticed, but Talia only wished she could do so.

She wished to call out for him in hushed tones and make him see her. She needed to be next to him.

His eyes flickered in her direction and searched the sea of people. She felt like ice when his eyes finally landed on her. She broke the gaze to keep check that she was not going to collide with anyone, but then she looked back at him and noticed that he spoke to a man next to him, flicking his eyes back to her form.

Then she lost sight of him once more as the people shoved and moved her closer to the other side of the room. The men moved them closer together as if they were a flock of sheep, constantly rounding them with their guns pointed. Talia glimpsed at their faces and realized that she did not know a soul. She felt herself back onto someone's feet and felt someone grip her shoulder.

Then she felt herself being pulled backwards. There was gunfire shot ahead which caused everyone to scream and push faster ahead.

Then hands found her and she heard a scream across the hall and a plea to her left. A bag was placed over her head and she inhaled sharply and silently yelped once more. Gripped by her elbows, she was being pulled forward. She tried to walk but she kept bumping into people and objects and she wrestled with her restrains.

Then she was freed and claimed by another set of hands. The agility and strengths of the person's movements were quick then as she felt a shuffle and then she was being pulled to the side. Practically held off of her feet, the person pulling her dragged her persistently. Seeming to wrap her and the person in a wire, Talia suddenly felt her body being propelled downwards. The sickening feeling in her gut caused her to gasp, but soon she felt ground beneath her.

Her shoulders were gripped and she was moved forward once more, then she was being thrust inside a cabin of some sort, the smell of leather close to her nose. A door quickly shut and she was placed up right but maintained the bag over her head. Her breathing was quick and shallow. The darkness of the cover over her head added to the hysteria and soon Talia was flinching, trying to figure out where she was and what had happened. There were noises near the front as the car tires squealed and then there was a sharp corner that was turned.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Talia turned her head to the side quickly as she heard an unfamiliar voice plea suddenly. Talia did not see others being taken as well. The accent the man possessed was thick and foreign, obviously not used to speaking English.

The car jerked before it steadied out on the normal road and she was given a sense of stability in her seat. She kept her lips firmly shut for she was unsure of where she was or who her audience was. There were minutes that passed, yet soon, there was a shudder and the car suddenly came to a halt. There was a voice, a man's, as Talia assumed he was being dragged from the vehicle.

She then felt herself being gripped and pulled from the car.

"He says to keep them covered and send them in separate cars. In here are their locations." A voice came from her right. She shifted her head to get a better listen to his accent before she was being moved.

Another car, the same routine. Talia could have traveled in the car for hours, for she was so focused on time that she had begun to disorient it. She felt her abdomen clench as she thought of her outcome and what could possibly be done. She did not speak, once more.

The car slowed and halted, then she was pulled outside and being told to walk. She and one who gripped her elbow made a short trip. There was a noisy door being opened and then Talia was pushed inside the room. Her heels echoed in what seemed to be an empty space and then she had her hands freed. She gripped the bag over her head and in furious motions, pulled it off, but she was unable to see who it was that had abducted her. There was a figure slipping out a door to her right and with a loud shudder, the door slammed. She ran to the door and tried to turn the knob but it did not move. She slammed her fists against the metal and tried to yank it once more. She couldn't open it. She heard the loud screeching of the tires as the vehicle drove away then she bent over to exhale.

She quickly observed what seemed to be a warehouse. An empty warehouse, with windows high above. But she was unable to locate exactly where she was. She quickly walked to the other side of the room and tried to look for another exit. The warehouse was large, enough to hold at least a hundred cargo containers built for a ship. She was becoming restless and all the while depressed.

She thought back to what had happened only that morning. Of whom she saw. She did not want to be trapped. She must look for him, she must-

Then she noticed a figure out of the corner of her eye as she turned. She quickly twisted her head and found him, the one she wished to seek, standing still and solid.

A woman filled with irrevocable and tantalizing emotions with a heartbeat so violently pulsing, was a victim of stillness for she did not move and she did not speak. She stared, openheartedly and terrified into the eyes of the man whose palm was once the size of her head, placed delicately as he cradled her so many night in the cell of the underworld. Her very own form of satanic desire. The man who sacrificed what he could to maintain a safe cocoon for the child, the one she once was. She stared into his eyes; the ones that, as she evolved, were the only ones she ever needed to look into. A sanctuary and bliss that formed his stature was now beheld in front of her.

She ignored the silence. She ignored the space. She made her way to him and clung to his body like a prayer most desperately answered. She wrapped her brittle and most fragile arms around his neck.

"Oh ghost, what phantom power could bring you to me?" She squeezed her arms around him and let her breath cascade on his skin. He felt real enough that Talia wanted to cry aloud. She was quickly and firmly gripping his form in whatever way she could and her breathing was erratic.

Nearly eighteen months of the thought of his grave of rubble and a body cold and never able to be repaired was all that she could see. Even then, as she wrapped herself around him, did she feel the hole she felt for _months_.

But then she noticed that her partner was unresponsive. His fingers touched her sides, but he was stiff and did not lay his head in the croon of her neck to smell her skin. Talia pulled back from him and noticed that he did not look at her. His gaze was much more interested on the structure of the windows above.

She wished to know the reason. Without pulling away completely, she brought her hand to his mask and stroked the pipes there, trying to feel the realness of it all. But she wished for him to look at her. Why would he not look at her? Tugging slightly at the edge of the leather, he finally turned his eyes down to her, but he did not see. He looked completely indifferent, but there was another added emotion that she could not locate or define.

"Bane?"

Her voice calling to him made his eyes turn away once more. She started to grow frantic. Why would he not look at her?

She pulled back to really get a view of him when he shifted his body and then looked back at her, his gaze electrifying but so melancholy. His gaze lingered on hers for what could have been hours, but time was not recorded. She felt the seconds draw on agonizingly slow as he looked at her face.

"What are you doing here, Talia?"

His voice, spoken so dangerously low, startled Talia. She unintentionally flinched, not at his tone, but at his choice of words. She opened her mouth to respond then closed it only to find that she had no response. What was she doing here? Of all of the questions to be asked and all the answers she could give, that was what he chose?

"I-… I…" She started. "Bane, wh-" She paused, to stretch her fingers and frown at the ground. What was she to say? "What do you mean?" She finally answered, her eyes darting back to his. "Bane, I-… How are you here?"

"Do not change the subject." His voice still so quiet. The woman was speechless for a few moments, trying to regain her stability.

"A mission." She shook her head, trying to clear her clouded mind. "I was on a mission."

Bane gave her a look she was not used to and she felt her body seize because of it. He was so still. His body did not move to embrace her as she had wished, for she stood opposite him and cold. "Did your father send you? Did he know that I would come?"

Talia frowned. "How- Bane you were gone, how could he have known?"

Bane inhaled deeply and turned his eyes to the side, his voice hollow. "Ignorance is not a card you can play well, Talia. You forget that I know exactly how you act your parts. Do not think you can fool me."

Talia frowned. "I don't understand."

"Enough lying." He flexed his fingers, his voice sounding strained.

"I am not!" She defied. "Bane, you are confusing me! Tell me how you are here."

"Do not command me, Talia, you have no right." His words came out harshly and he suddenly shifted, his stance terrifying. He looked into her blue eyes and he balled his fists. She watched his expression increase to one of silent distrust. She became small with confusion.

She flinched at the tone he used, but she also tried to softly respond with another question of her own. "Why won't you look at me?" She asked, softly. "Bane, why won't you show me your eyes?"

"How dare you come here? How dare you let him twist you to torture me?" He emitted through a strained tone, turning his eyes to hers and piercing her with his intensity. His voice grew quieter and much to her confusion, duller. As if he was not truly there. Talia did not understand. His stillness only grew by the seconds and she was unable to stop it. Talia was so shocked by the sentiment that she took a step back.

"Who?" She asked forcefully, trying to understand.

"Your father." He explained, his voice louder this time; echoing off of the warehouse walls. "Your precious father who cannot leave me alone. Who will not let me forget you."

Talia cringed at his words and inched closer only to find him retreating away.

"And you, such a willing accomplice." He muttered through strangled tones. "An instructive coconspirator such as yourself, why are you here?"

Talia's eyes were wide as she tried to find the words to answer. "Why would you think I would torture you so? What have I done to deserve your scorn? Bane, I have yearned for you with each breath of every moment and I-"

"Enough." Bane announced, his quiet voice so heartbreaking and torturous. Talia wished to know the purpose of his expressionless sentiments. "Silence your excuses. I do not want them to mar the only decent memory of you that has not faded with time. I do not want your reasons."

"But I have not shared any! Even worse, I have not been able to properly understand what I have done." She yelled. She then hushed her tone and stepped forward. "Bane, no form of happiness can match the feeling that is coursing through my veins. Why are you acting so uncivil and unjust? Just look at me as you did before-"

"How dare you?" He proclaimed, his gaze flickering to hers.

"Silence!" She yelled back, finally thoroughly furious. Bane did not quiet, however.

"How dare you think you have any right to tell me such things? After what you did to me? How dare you bring your tempting fire, the kind I cannot fight, and use it against me? How dare you stand here, demanding to receive answers, when you chose your blessed father over me?"

His voice echoed splittingly throughout the room and everything was his words. Talia was transfixed where she stood.

_Chose_?

Talia had no response as she let his words swim through her brain and try to settle, but they wouldn't. There was now a great distance in between them. Talia's eyes finally moved, looking to the side as she tried to close her astonished mouth and find words to respond. But how?

"Chose?" Her pained whisper was a surprise to even her. She rushed the word out of her mouth and tried to look at him, but her eyes couldn't.

Bane was rigid, trying to remain his stance as he looked at her with such unreadable emotions. But there was definitely something powerful there. Such fire that had not stilled for months, perhaps a year. He had forgotten when it started. Reason enough was that she didn't care. Perhaps with time his mind grew harder and he reasoned with the devil. Yet, had she never wondered where he had gone? No matter Ra's reasons of interception, his lies could surely not be so convincing, quite so easily.

He had honestly thought he meant more. But with time, he began to reason with that _wretch's_ words. She did forget. She had chosen her father over any form of trying to find him.

"I never had the option-" She began.

"For the sake of what is left of the self-respect I have for you, do not dare give me-"

"Let me finish!" Talia interrupted, as well. "Be quiet!" She yelled.

"Why should I? You have lived without hearing my voice long enough, it is time that I abuse this opportunity." Bane stepped forward, his voice suppressed, letting his arms depict his emotions.

"Do you honestly believe that I do not wish to hear it? That I have not desired for _months_ to just hear the sound, and confirm what I realize now was a lingering suspicion?' Talia lowered her voice. "That I have not been pained each second since the moment you were ripped from me? That I have not thought of you since? You were always a ghost inside of me; that though you were gone, I had your spirit bound to mine and we were infinite. Bane, _how_ _dare_ _you_ accuse me of being heartless and choosing anything other than what I have felt for years, ever since you returned to me?"

"I have no other option." He answered, his form incredibly still.

"No! You dare tell me that?" She spat, her voice pained. She stepped closer and looked at his face, her eyes searching. "You could have found me! We could have been together, but you didn't!"

Bane snapped his eyes to hers and his gaze was fire. Finally his voice shifted, and he reflected anger. "You could have found me, Talia! You could have at least tried to look for me!"

"How could I?" She screamed. How could she have ever known?

Bane clenched his fists before he exhaled heatedly. He confirmed all that he needed to know. And the knowledge of it cut inside of him. He decided it was time to leave. He couldn't handle anymore words. The truth was expected, but that did not mean it did not hurt. "Leave Japan, Talia." He looked once more at her, his eyes unforgiving. "I have learned all that I came here for."

Talia looked through flushed expressions and suddenly became confused. "What?"

But he did not answer. He turned and without another look at her, made his way to an invisible exit.

"How can you consider this a curse? Bane-" She yelled after him, but he kept moving. Talia felt the ice inside of her abdomen as she watched him fleeing and felt the ache.

She then became furious.

No reasons could justify or explain why she had done it, but she did not stay still very long. She slipped out of her heels and ran to him and assaulted him from behind. Bane flinched as she used her fists to maim him in any way she could. Yet, he quickly turned and tried to ease out of her way, turning his eyes to her, not making an effort to fight back.

She stood straighter once she regained her balance and began sending a kick to his side. Bane obviously didn't expect that she would attack him, however, because his eyes were wide with surprise. Filled with complete agitation and incomprehensibility, Talia tried her hardest to physically stop him. Her fist strongly collided with his face and her knuckles scraped against his mask, causing blood to trickle down her fingers. But she did not care, she continued to beat him. She could not decipher what had caused such violent intentions, but she tried to bruise him as much as possible. Her fire did not dim. He was not going to leave her, not again.

Within minutes, Bane gripped her wrist and painfully squeezed when she tried to punch his form twice.

Talia winced and grunted with fury. She twisted in his grip and ease out from under then she attacked from behind. Bane turned and gripped her body forcefully then they both fell to the ground. He quickly pinned her under his body and gripped her arms painfully.

"Leave me be!" He shouted, loud as they were so close. He finally barked at her, no longer remaining any sliver or self-control. His voice was infuriated and loud, but there was another element hidden in it.

Pain.

Talia squirmed under his weight and tried to free herself. She was so much smaller and obviously not as strong, but she still fought. She whimpered with distain and groaned when she was only trapped more uncomfortably. "I cannot." She finally cried. Her voice was constricted, either by the pain or by the sorrow. "I cannot leave when I want-"

"What do you want?" He shouted forcefully, trying to maintain his drive. The woman under him was now in tears, but not from the pain. "What could you possible ask for that I have not already given you? You selfish creature! How can you continuously dissect me as if I was a useless animal? You cannot hold me anymore, Talia. I will not let you. You abuse your reign over me to torture what is left of my weak resolve. Let me be. You _will_ not ruin me anymore. What more could you possibly want from me?"

"I want to be free of you," She shouted, her voice faltering as the words ran throughout the building. She struggled for a few more minutes, but soon she grew still. She closed her eyes whimpered hollowly as she rested her head back to the floor. "As you are so obviously free of me."

Bane softened his grip at her sentiment and for a second, finally looked at Talia. _Looked_ straight at her, not through or beyond, but at her. The soft tremors in her chest vibrated under his body and he had to remember that he was not here to sympathize. He wanted nothing to do with the pain she brought with her.

But she cried so mournfully and with such ache that he could not remember the reason for his fire. His resolve faltering quickly. She cried and he clenched his fists, trying to keep himself from comforting her. She didn't deserve it. He did not let her go.

"Why did you not find me, Bane?" She swallowed her sorrowful tone. The tears falling down the sides of her face to her ears were glistening as he looked at her. Her voice was so tormented. So confused and angry. Bane searched her eyes and felt his stomach clench.

Why did he not find _her_?

Him. Why did she not try and find _him_.

He clenched his fingers around her wrists, looking straight at her when he proclaimed in a torturous melancholy tone.

"A question I might ask you." He answered heatedly. She did not fear him. She stared back with pain, but it was not physical. "You never looked for me." He accused.

"You were dead!" She shouted, shifting continuously under him. Her voice so stabbing and painful, she growled her words "As real as you are now, you were _dead_! You are nothing more than a ghost and as visible and realistic as you may seem, I have lived for months with no feeling throughout my body completely. I have suffered more than even _you_ have. My only heart was ripped from me, tarnished and impossible to reconstruct." She was in tears then, her voice loud and forceful. "You were not able to be found because you were no longer real. How could I journey to find you?" She paused to silently congest the sob erupting through her. Her tears were as magnified as the seconds that passed.

Bane was transfixed as he stared down at her. "Did he tell you I had died?" His gaze was curious. He did not expect Ra's to tell her. The purpose of his lie was so that Talia would hate the memory of him. He wondered why Ra's had changed his mind and decided to let her believe him dead.

It did not make sense.

She nodded through her tears as she realized how much of his weight was lifted from her. Bane exhaled raggedly. He inhaled deeply and grunted with displeasure. "Your precious father failed to murder even me."

Talia shook her head, a look of deliberate annoyance crossed her features. She was tired of him trying to accuse her father of such silly actions. "It was not him that bombed the embassy. It was the woman, the one who freed us."

Bane frowned. "A bombing?"

Talia noticed his confusion.

"That was what he told you?" Bane's expression shifted as he understood. Ra's did not tell Talia what he said he would, and how foolish Bane was to believe him. "That I died… in crossfire?"

Talia looked up at Bane and shifted her jaw, before she wrinkled her eyebrows and tried to speak softly. But she couldn't. She was speechless. His skin was warm through his clothes and she embraced the feel of his soft skin that was exposed.

Then Bane lifted his body off of hers completely. All of his warmth he took with him. He stood up and edged away from her, stepping back step after step. Talia slowly sat up and felt the ache in her body the pressure left behind. This position felt familiar to her. A moment long passed that occurred when he had found her. When he had been brought to her unknowingly, and he did not recognize her. A moment in time where he was as fearsome as he was mighty and she could only stare at him and wonder what would happen next.

He stepped away, his eyes wide and confused. Talia stared, her breathing unstable and incomprehensible.

Her past relapsed. She was on the floor again, looking up at the man she had so long ago and not knowing the outcome. And he, he would stare back, as confused as he was then. Then she thought of every occurrence between them. She thought of all the love he shared with her and her alone. She wondered what could have caused him to have turned so guarded from her. What she could have done to hurt him.

His denial of her made her heartbroken. She started to reason with emotions she promised she would never toy with. That she would never question the truth of his promise.

But she could not stop herself.

"You betrayed me." She finally whispered, so hurt and decisive. "You promised me you would always be where ever I was. That we would always be together."

Bane flinched at her whispered words. He tried to grasp the reality of her words, but he wished to object the truth.

"I could not risk your safety." He finally answered. Talia scowled.

"Bloody incorrigible, you are! Damn your reason for my safety. All I ever needed was you." She fumed.

"And likewise, but nothing would inflict pain upon me if you went searching for me!"

Talia's retort faltered as she quickly closed her mouth and frowned. "Pain?"

Bane stepped forward hesitantly. "What did he tell you? When I never came back, what excuse did he conjure?"

Talia wrapped her fingers through each other. She found a way to stand and then she stood still. Bane looked into her to try and decipher what she was thinking of. She looked at him, her eyes searching, as she reached up to place her palm over her mouth. The ache in her abdomen increased as she brushed her hair from her cheeks.

"There was a storm," She began, thinking back to when she was told. Though, as she thought back, she was flooded with memories of her dream; one so dangerously tempting. She had to deliberately exclude the remembrance. "I was sleeping; dreaming. The thunder woke me. Kingsley told me of my father's return and of an injury that needed tending to." She held her hair behind her ears as she talked. Then her voice cracked. "There was so much blood. The bomb had injured his arm, and then, he told me ten did not survive the ambush. Ten, Bane, out of twenty-two. I knew the odds."

She let the tears fall from her eyes as she struggled to continue. "A week later, I could finally comprehend the truth. My father spoke of sabotage. Of a war so petty, but one that seized you. That you were unable to be fixed. That you had died."

Bane watched her eyes turn to the floor and watched her breathing make her body shiver.

"How moral." Bane replied, turning his head to the side. "Perhaps he does have a heart."

"How can you be so obscure?" Talia contradicted.

"How can you be so blind?" He answered solemnly back. "Have you perceived the situation, Talia? Lest, I would not take you for an ignorant fool. Do not make such an obvious solution a clouded one. I pity your loyalty, it has blinded your actions for reasoning."

Talia let out a frustrated noise. "See what? What am I so drastically overlooking?"

"Your father has become a monster!" Bane replied quickly and icily.

Talia frowned and shook her head. "How can you define him as such?"

"He told you I was dead!"

"He was mistaken!"

"HE WAS AFRAID." Bane yelled, so loudly that the warehouse seemed to shake because of it. Talia flinched slightly because of his tone, but she stood perfectly still.

She did not answer for a while, for she did not know what to say. Time moved and soon she found her voice again.

"Afraid of what?" She finally asked.

"You were sad, Talia." Bane started. His eyes examined her carefully.

She was shocked by the statement. She stood for a minute in silence. "What?" She answered. She wondered the point of the sentence.

"You were depressed."

Bane flicked his eyes to hers and really looked at her. Talia frowned and looked for an answer, trying to understand the purpose of his words. "That was long ago, Bane. Long before-" Then she noticed.

Talia paused with her mouth open in shock. She felt her veins coursing with an epiphany long overdue. Bane erased the sadness. Bane was her salvation. When he was near, she was content. She was only sad when he wasn't around. She was never happy once he was gone. She was revolved around Bane like a string. He was all that really truly mattered to her.

And that made her father scared.

"He felt threatened by you?" She asked, her voice so low it was barely hearable. Bane did not nod however, or show her any form of agreement.

"No, Talia. He felt threatened by you."

Talia's frown deepened. "How so?" She asked. How could her father be threatened by her?

"You are your mother, Talia. He will only ever see you as such. The relationship that you have with him could have been severed at any time if you had grown more adapted to a lifestyle away. If I had offered a chance of freedom away from there. I did not intentionally begin having doubts, but time shifted. Your father seemed to notice which expectations I met and they did not please him. He noticed the only reason I stayed."

Talia watched his eyes meet hers and she clenched her jaw as a sensation clawed at her insides.

"How would he feel threatened by me? If you had means to rebel, wouldn't that make you the threat?"

Bane shook his head; he stepped closer, but not close enough. "I am a pawn, easily removable. If he wished me gone, he would only have to arrange a meeting. But you, he could not lose. He concealed the truth from you because he could not lose his heir. Or, if he truly does have a heart, his daughter. He lied to you for the sake of maintaining your loyalty. You could have threatened that at any time."

Talia grimaced, "What truth? What did he lie about?'

Bane lifted his hands to grip the edge of his vest as he did before and straightened his back. His voice came out pained. "Exile."

Talia could not comprehend. She gaped at him. "He exiled you?"

Bane paused for a moment, contemplating. "No. He lied about that too."

Talia stepped closer, her eyes filled with emotions unknowable. "How?" She emphasized, she was tired of having to get short, evasive answers.

"He claimed he was going to excommunicate me, but he did not let me go freely…" Talia felt her eyes widen and her breath diminish. She knew, guessed properly, the words that would come next. Bane inhaled deeply before he answered. "His men have very particular forms of torture."

Talia wailed and turned away, the knowledge too much to sink in properly. "No!" she moaned sorrowfully. "No!" She turned to have her back facing Bane and she dropped her face in her palms. Her father could never. He couldn't.

She felt the pull of her stomach as she leaned over and sobbed.

Not Bane. Never Bane. Her father had betrayed her. Not Bane.

Never him.

She forgot about him as she struggled with herself, trying to maintain a form of solitude. She knelt to the floor and felt the pain overwhelm her system. She had brought every horrible thing to Bane, for as long as she was near, he would always be hurt. From his injuries leading to his mask, to the torture her father had inflicted, Talia would always feel responsible. Her hair masked her eyes and she felt disoriented.

Bane watched her fall to her knees in her misery and he had momentarily forgotten his anger. All the fire inside of him drained for he could not be uncivil towards her. She never knew. She had always been lied to. She did not find him because she would be diagnosed insane if she chased spirits. She was not sent to torment him, though she was ripping his insides apart when she cried.

Bane knew he should have resisted. That he still felt terribly livid but with whom he did not know. Or if it was Talia. But he stepped hesitantly and cautiously over to where she was kneeling (as if lost in a prayer) and lowered his body to be level with hers.

Her fingers guarded her eyes and she stilled, almost as if she was no longer crying. Bane resisted from touching her. His hatred, which had built up over nearly eighteen months, was losing its purpose. He had always felt that she deserved such exclusion of his affection, but he was wrong. She did not ever deserve it. Bane fought a battle long outweighed.

For the woman before him was almost twenty. A year had passed and she was pale. No color reached her. When he looked upon her for the first time in months, he noticed how hollow she was.

Talia pulled one of her hands from her face and wiped her tears, then she lightly placed the other fingers on her brow and closed her eyes.

"Did he really betray you?"

Her voice split the silence and caused Bane to look at her. She did not look back. Bane exhaled roughly. He turned his gaze down to the dusty floor and then to her delicate fingers placed on her pale face. When he did not answer, Talia opened her eyes and looked to him.

Though he tried his hardest to resist the emotions playing coyly in his abdomen, when she looked at him, his entire resolve crumbled to dust. Talia's eyes were rimmed with red and the blue was clear. He looked at her and thought of how she had truly evolved. She was a revolution from what he had remembered. She was no longer the child in the prison. She was completely new.

He looked at her with conflicted eyes. He wanted nothing more than to tell her of her father's sins, but he was not convinced that she could live with the knowledge. Her father was an important idol she had grown so accustom to, especially the time he had been gone. A poisonous source that she fed off of like a tick. He looked into her eyes.

She would be devastated.

He slowly and cautiously moved his head to confirm her suspicions.

Talia calmly nodded and turned her eyes away. She covered her ears with her palms for a second then she moved them to shelter her eyes.

"How many times?" She wondered, her voice thick with emotion he assumed was distress. "How many times has he lied to me?"

Bane looked at her. "I don't know."

Talia wrinkled her brow and nodded. She held her hand to her mouth and tried to keep her breathing stable for she looked ready to unravel with the emotions she felt.

"I did not choose him." She revealed.

The man next to her frowned with confusion and Talia wiped at her tears.

"If I had known-" She started. "I could never… Bane, I-"

But she did not finish.

She saw the arms begin to embrace her before she actually felt them and then she felt his warmth once more. She froze, spending time to inhale sharply, before she pulled her fingers from her face and gripped his neck. Her fingers slid up his neck and gripped his face, the mask and all that was left. Finally, an embrace she tasted in the pit of her soul could ignite a fire in her so venomous and heated that she felt herself being torn apart. Bane clenched her much tighter to his form, never truly expecting to ever feel her again. He had given up a long while back.

He exhaled with constriction in his throat as he suppressed some of his anger for the time being. The action of holding her was irresponsible and he would not enjoy the consequence of the feel of her later on, but he did not free her.

Talia shifted her head to rest in the space between his shoulder and his cheek and she inhaled as much as she could. The smell of him so sweet. A unique fragrance that could twist her into an unstable state, and make her cry. Talia reached for his skin, reached further on, and she was complete.

Bane forgot the fire, forgot the pain he had suffered. He deliberately ignored and diminished the hatred he claimed he had, for it was not relevant to her. He would pay for his sins in due time, but for now, she was all that he felt. Talia made her body closer than possible to his, and he embraced her. Her sweet inhales and exhales tickled his neck as she found her bliss in the state of his arms.

Her fingers locked around his mask, the part of him that was original. So unlike anyone else. She gripped the leather and ran her thumb across the pipes so roughly that she thought she would surely slice her skin. Her fingernails cased with the dried blood that was caused previously from the pipes, grazed his cheeks before she let them travel to the back of his neck.

He inhaled, softly and surely.

"I would never have caused you such pain, I would never have- If I had known… I-" Talia's sentiments became incomprehensible.

Bane silenced her. He pulled back to grip her face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks while the rest of his fingers cradled behind her ears. She wrinkled her nose in an attempt to keep the tears from overflowing.

"Do not explain your reasons." He began.

"But my loyalty blinded the truth."

Bane shook his head. "Justifiable."

Talia shook her head but did not utter a word more on the subject. "Earlier, when you said something about pain inflicted upon me, what did you mean?" Talia leaned closer in his arms and felt so close to him that she could feel his pulse vibrating behind his skin as he looked into her eyes.

Bane looked back and made a low sound in the back of his throat. "Insurance that I would not find you. Your father warned me that if I came searching for you, that you would pay the price. I had doubts that he would keep by his word, but I could not risk it."

Talia straightened where she sat. "He was going to…" But she did not finish. Pain would have been her consequence if Bane searched for her, but pain was what she felt even when he didn't.

Her father, who had always been the emblem to her satisfaction, who had always been so flamboyant in his righteous manner, had deceived her. The truth he ensconced and the bundle of lies that only grew larger with time eliminated her sense of stability and knowing. How often did he betray her? How often did he lie? Her father could not have, but it seemed he did.

And Bane, the only one who had ever really mattered to her, was a victim to her father's crimes. Was a victim to his wrath. She had lived for months believing all that her father had told her. Years, actually.

The reality was cold.

She whined. "I _loved_ him… I gave him all of my trust. I serviced him with my loyalty and…affections." She leaned over and cradled her hands in her palms once more, letting her sorrow run through her veins like a mass attack of uncivil emotion. She was tired of crying, but the tears did not end. She was not a child anymore and she had not cried for months. The feeling so foreign to her that she was sure she would become seized with the shock as if she was electrified.

Her father. The mutual affection had been snapped like a bone, and the shards could not be realigned. Talia yearned for the knowledge to be false, but it was not. She looked into Bane's eyes and she was sure. She knew he was right. And perhaps she always knew it too, a lingering feeling in the pit of her stomach. Always present and ready to present itself, but Talia was never willing to let it free. She had no desire to think this ill of her father. She was never ready to believe the worst in him.

The man who had designed her and molded her to be exactly what he had wished had destroyed what real emotions she felt. No matter her love for him, she could not forgive him.

Not after what he had done.

Talia groaned into her palms with such parallel disgust. Disgust for herself and for her father, for the truth and the lies. She did not feel Bane as he turned his gaze to her, for he did not shift. She shook her head and wished to be numb. To not _feel_ as she did then. She was furious. So much love for her mother, but it seemed, never for her. That she was only useful for business purposes and to be used as a pawn, as Bane mentioned. Though she was not easily removable. That her father could honestly pain her so mindlessly and without thought, was sickening. Talia's groan turned into a strenuous noise and then she was no longer kneeling. She stood with haste and furiously wiped the tears from her cheeks. She walked only a few steps but that was all that she needed.

She was flushed, her face rosy with the color so obviously portrayed on her cheeks.

Bane watched her eyes quickly search the room. She clenched her forearm tightly and shook with anger. Bane did not know what to say. He always imagined the moment that Talia would find out, he just never figured her reaction.

Then her eyes turned to Bane.

Something in her gaze startled him, for he had never seen an expression as such playing across her face since his return. He had never seen her look at him that way. He had seen how affectionately she could look at him, but she was not gazing at him with respect or plausible friendliness.

This was a flame.

One look of something more than love and less than worship.

The image of her face in the cell made of iron bars flooded his mind as he thought of the child he protected in the prison below, and of her innocence that never faded with time.

She looked at him and no words were needed. For she could communicate with him in ways that felt spiritual and through a bond stronger than life itself.

She looked down at her fingers and then she exhaled hollowly. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

She moved. The distance that she hated was soon eliminated as she crossed the room and stood before Bane without looking into his eyes and hesitantly rested her forehead to the center of his vest. She didn't need comfort, she just needed to be close to him. She had spent so much time otherwise.

"I'm so sorry." She wrestled with the words.

Bane was motionless from the surprise. His fingers sensitively rose to brush her hair. He was frozen with the urge to step away and refuse her warmth. But no matter Bane's struggle to resist the pleasure he felt from her skin, he unknowingly gave in. There was nothing else but the two, barely wrapped in an embrace, but still, it was enough to relish the contentment. It had been more than a year since an embrace was shared and satisfaction was sweet. Talia slowly eased her arms around his form and slid her fingers upward to his face. She pulled back to look at him. She looked desperate to maintain him, and so she looked fearful. Bane hated that look.

He clenched his fists as he deliberately ignored what he knew was right and what felt divine.

He gripped her waist tightly and Talia exhaled with surprise. Then, she frantically wrapped her arms around his neck. Her heart radiating with the heat.

Bane gripped her tightly this time because of love, not for the sake of formulating a proper answer to the questions he had, or even for his hatred. He held her to him with strength. He held her closer with each second. Talia clung to Bane with fervor and swallowed her words. She held him and he held her. She was never strong enough to keep him, but she would try. She would always try.

"He can never know that you are alive." Talia mentioned. She pressed her cheek to the side of his neck. "He must never know."

Bane held her tightly, refusing to separate from her. "He already does."

Talia froze in his arms, her body becoming still and stiff. Her breathing increased.

"Did you kill them?" She asked. Them. Her father's men.

Bane was still for a moment. "All of them."

Talia loosened her arms around his neck and he released her to let her feet touch the floor. Talia stood close, but leaned so her eyes could see his. "You need to flee. He knows by now that something went wrong and he will be looking. He will not stop until he finds me."

Bane was seized by her words. "This will be different, Talia."

Talia froze. She inhaled cautiously. "What?"

"There was a reason everything was not making sense. A meaning behind how easily we were freed."

"When I was kidnapped?" She asked, her mind swarming with questions on the turn of subject. "How is that relevant to-" Then she paused. A tiny possibility infested her mind. Her eyes widened as she considered the possibility.

She stepped out of Bane's reach, shaking her head.

"He couldn't…" She whispered.

Bane did not utter a word. Talia resisted the truth, she did not wish to accept it, but it pushed at her like a menace. Bane's silence confirmed her suspicions and Talia placed her hand over her mouth and whimpered with the shock.

"He let them experiment on me? Like a fiend?" Her voice was thick.

Bane did not nod or answer, but she knew. Talia was most likely bruising her neck by the force of her fingers as she looked completely destroyed.

"He will look for you, Talia. But he cannot track us." Bane spoke, his voice echoing. "Not like last time."

Talia nodded and brushed her newly damped cheeks before she stepped forward and gripped Bane's arm. "You need to escape then. Leave the country. I will find you after." She smoothed out the fabric that rested on his chest then she looked up into his eyes.

Bane shook his head and gripped her wrist. "I will not leave here if you are to return to him." He answered.

"I must escape without him knowing that you were ever involved. I cannot risk your safety." She stated.

"Damn my safety. I cannot protect you if you leave." He replied, his eyes intensified each cell in her body. Talia quickly swallowed her retort. She looked into his eyes as he looked into hers and saw the desperation he so urgently tried to hide. A kind of desperation that did not normally follow him.

"I am not letting you go."

Talia clenched her jaw and wrinkled her brow as she deliberately tried to refuse the feelings inside to seize her. She listened to those few words over and over in her mind as she tried to remember it was essential to breathe.

Talia forgot everything. He could protect her and she could love him enough to keep him safe. Propriety lacked when she nodded then and opened her mouth to reply.

"Then we must not stay long." Her words caused Bane to search her eyes and then he loosened his grip on her arm. She had to believe that they would be safe. "He can _never_ find us."

Bane firmly nodded then he pulled Talia close to his body. She inhaled sharply and made a sound of muted happiness and contentment.

"It has been torment, Talia." His voice was strangled and low. His fingers were brittle and tense as he pressed them lightly to her back. "Living this way. With such hatred towards you. Feeling as if you had betrayed me."

Talia flinched at his words but nodded into the crevice of his neck.

"I wished I would have seen as you had and believed you dead." He muttered. He could not explain why he was suddenly telling her this. As if he deserved to let her know. He cursed how unstable he had become and how his words could not silence. Talia exhaled exhaustedly.

"No," She replied. "No, you should never wish to have felt what I did." She pulled back and looked at him. Her fingers touched the black leather of his mask. "To feel nothing is worse than feeling rage. You never deserve to feel that."

Bane looked into her eyes. Her blue eyes grew grey with each second he looked into them. "I did, though. When you escaped from the prison. And beyond that, when your father rebuilt me. I had no hope for your life."

Talia ground her teeth as she felt her chest constrict. She softly touched the buckles attached to his vest. "You needed to let your heart break." And she meant it. She had never seen Bane so vulnerable, but she imagined he must have been pained more than she herself had. And in that moment, Talia could not think of anything beyond his struggle.

And hers.

Bane raised his hand to graze her cheek for the first time in the longest time, his rough fingers brushed against her soft skin. His fingers were stiff, and his eyes looked unsure and so _conflicted_. His stance was rigid, but his fingers continued to brush her cheek. He did not know if he was going to enjoy the outcome of this situation, of the emotions that would follow, but he did not turn away. He would hold onto her as long as she needed him. He always would.

He was unsure of what he was to do, of what he felt was right, but this came close. Talia looked at him with her lips slightly parted and her eyes wide. She did not turn her gaze away. She had forgotten how beautiful it felt to be caressed.

Bane looked meaningfully at each aspect of her face, noting how she had truly grown, before his eyes turned to look at the door. When she could not see his eyes, he closed them and inhaled deeply, trying to suppress the sensation in his abdomen.

"We need to go." He announced, shifting so that he was turned towards the exit, the one Talia could not find. Talia walked to pick her heels off of the ground, not bothering to put them on. She turned to look around the room. The very one where the truth would always lie. Where the walls would absorb their words and conceal a moment she most desperately needed.

She turned her eyes to Bane who watched her and she crossed the room. She stood beside him and looked up to his eyes. He stared back to her and blinked. She did not smile. She was perfectly emotionless.

Then she placed her delicate fingers to the back of his hand and tangled them with his, sending jolts up her arm and to her vertebrae. Bane looked down at their twined hands and stared for a long time. This action so foreign and the last proper time they had held their fingers this close was when they had returned from the forest so long ago. His action to hold her hand then was to supply her with confidence she needed.

This gesture she complied with the means to prove her affections. Talia kept her fingers still, but the warmth she excelled was not needed from any form of friction.

He felt what she had. Ever since they looked to each other in the building in the city, Bane could not control the inundation of emotions gripping him. He desperately tried to resist the cacophony of his self-resolve, but she captivated that aspect and manipulated it to service her own self. He desperately tried to never feel that again, for the pain of losing her had already damaged him severely. He looked into her eyes and she did not smile. Her face, now calm and perpetuated with contentment, was all that he had ever wished to witness.

But the pain, the kind he knew would follow if he allowed her to enter his heart was what kept him from allowing any form of acceptance. He had decided long ago that she would not break him. That he would resist any form of her. But he was wrong.

He was captivated by her once more and he was falling. So slow and dangerously, but he attentively out waited the bliss of the fall, for he knew how disastrous the landing would be.

He looked at her as she waited for him to move to take her away. To keep her safe, just as he had promised. The very thing he feared he would. How could he promise to keep her safe from harm when he himself could not trust his own words? That he had been hurt too drastically. Too unceremoniously.

But he did not move his gaze from her. No matter his unwilled fear, she still had her fingers through his, promising the love he had hated throughout time, for it made him weak. It made him plausible. She still held his hand with the promise that she would always love him.

And somehow, that made him sad.

But that did not stop him from tightened his fingers around hers.

* * *

Talia woke on a soft object without a memory of how she came to falling asleep. Gently letting her eyelashes flutter to try and grasp her surroundings; Talia turned on her back and swallowed the dryness in her throat. The room was dim and there was no noise at all.

Talia stared at the ceiling and just tried to remember where she was. Shifting her gaze to the bedside table there was a phone with a curled cord then a lamp that matched the pattern of the comforter wrapped around her body. Then she noticed a phone book lying next to the clock. She was in a hotel.

A cheap one by the looks of it.

Talia sat up and looked around. Hadn't Bane brought her here? There was no one in the undisturbed left side of the bed. Talia frowned as she began to wonder if it was only a dream. If she had only imagined it. She twisted to let her feet find the ground, when she realized that she had not dreamt it.

Bane lay on the ground close to where her feet had landed and he was deeply asleep. Talia watched his breathing move his body, even as he lay on his side. He looked pure as he slept on the floor.

Talia frowned as she wondered why he had chosen to sleep on the hardness of the floor instead of sharing her comforts. She stood up and quietly walked around him to face his front. She looked down at his face, so rich with sleep, then she carefully lowered her body and lay on her side as well. Bane did not feel her body next to his. She was so decisive about her movements that it was as if she was barely there at all.

An innocent soul slept next to her as she let her eyes examine his face. She listened to the soft exhales that left his mask and lightly used her fingers to touch his balled fist laid by his abdomen. His skin was warm. Her touch caused him to flinch and unconsciously move, but it did not wake him. She lay on the hard floor and looked at the lines of his mask, at his detailed eyelashes. At him.

She looked down to her hand over his and noted that the blood was cleaned from her hand. She remembered Bane _insisting_ on cleaning her dirty fingers and bandaging the injuries. She had scraps of cloth wrapped around both her index and ring fingers then some taped over the top of her hand. The bandages lightly pressed against his hand as she continued to caress his.

Talia wondered why he had slept here rather than with her, as they had always done. She wondered why he looked so distant and why he would not hold her as he used to. She looked into his sleeping face and questioned many things. She only wanted him to return to her as before.

She shifted a bit, turning her body so she could capture just a slight amount more of his heat. She curled, maybe balled, herself closer to him and with a slight and careful movement, she was touching his form.

Her movement caused Bane to shift quite a bit, but he did not seem to wake. He unconsciously inched his body closer and seemed to find its way through dreams to her. His body accepting hers willingly through the unconscious and the reality, even if his mind was not ready to accept the knowledge.

Talia smiled sadly at him. She knew it would take time. That he had been hurt too long to forgive and truly open his heart to her once more, but she would wait however long it took.

She would wait forever if that would make him love her as he did before.

Talia watched his chest rise and fall with his quiet breathing, and soon, she closed her eyes. She slept next to him for the first time in months. She did not lack her partner of dreams any longer.

He was with her, as he had promised he would always be. And she smiled as she slept on the cold, hard floor.

* * *

It was seven years ago. She thirteen, curled on her father's couch, too young to service him yet. A child who would have to grow to be accustomed to what her father had planned for her. She was told that she would be crafted into the men and women that she watched fight for her father.

But for then, she watched the news. Watched the woman speak of a man ruined with the need for vengeance.

A man who was to listen to the man who murdered his parents. She watched the screen with wide eyes as the young man's face became visible on the screen. He looked formal. He looked blasé. But she could pinpoint a certain vengeance in his eyes. A vengeance for the man who pleaded for justice.

Justice would find him.

Talia was sure.

For she and Bruce Wayne came from similar circumstances. Her dearest friend was dead somewhere in the dark prison; and she would, just as Bruce would surely find a way to rid the world of Joe Chill, bring exact retaliation to complete justice.

She would rise.

* * *

Ra's Al Ghul stood just behind the carved doors as there was chatter of a man climbing the mountain. His men assembled and one of his finest who had prepared for this moment, sat on the throne above the rest.

Ra's dressed particularly to match the others. He could not risk this traveler to single out his true identity. For this traveler was not one he was prepared to lose.

No, this man would become the fighter he had dreamed of since the day he began forming an army. This man could level the balance just because of his own pain and fear.

Ra's stared at an object across the room as he found himself deep in thought. Talia had not returned from her mission and no matter his efforts, he was unable to find her. He knew the purpose; the reason. The news confirmed that there was a section of the building that his daughter roamed that was seized by terrorists.

One of them, the media described, wore a mask. He knew who it was.

He just did not know how Bane had survived.

He ordered that when the killing of Bane was finished, that the men who completed the act would be terminated as well, to keep chance of Talia finding out an option that was not available. He never expected that Bane would be the one to do the action.

Talia was not declared a missing person because she was not even on the radar. The news only searched for Ji'dancu Li, a man who was a specialist in technical affairs. The search continued for Ji'dancu, but no one was searching for his daughter.

But he knew what had happened to her. He knew the outcome.

Talia had found him. And he had told her everything.

He had told her of his agenda. And if her loyalty to Bane outweighed her loyalty to him, he knew she would never forgive him.

His heir had left him. She was never coming back.

There were two knocks on the door, and Ra's turned his head sharply before he took a step backwards into the shadows. The doors opened to allow the viscous wind inside and let it fill the room with a chill that could freeze the bones. The candles lit near the door struggled to keep their life as the man walked forward. He was bundled in thick attire and slowly and with defeat written across his features, walked inside the room; snowflakes clinging to his body. His breathing was irregular and he looked that of a cripple.

The man stepped inside of the wider area and pulled his hood down and the cloth from his mouth away. He breathed heavily as he stepped closer, his eyes fixated on the man in the comfort of the ancient throne.

"Ra's Al Ghul." The man said. There was noise behind him and he turned to see a man latch the door with wood, keeping the man inside. Men arrived from each side and stare at the stranger with interest. They inched forward with a look of perpetual curiosity. A new challenge had presented itself and they were ready to see if they might rise to beat it.

Then Ra's stepped from his place in the shadows and announced loudly, "Wait."

The men paused and looked to him just as the man covered in snow had. The man behind him spoke in a language that the stranger obviously didn't understand.

"What are you seeking?" Ra's asked. Henri Ducard asked. For his façade was all that this man before him knew him as.

"I seek…" The young man before him started, swallowing and thinking to find his answer. "The means to fight injustice."

Ra's stepped closer to the man in the bundle of coats.

"To turn fear… against those who prey on the fearful." His hair and beard were wet with the melted snow and his cheeks were red with the cold.

Ra's stared at the man for a minute, searching his face for the purpose he fore sought.

He brought his hand up and pulled the blue flower from the inside of his coat and carefully handed it to Ra's. Ra's smiled with satisfaction and turned to examine the flower in the light. The man behind him, on the throne, spoke furthermore in the language the stranger did not know.

"To manipulate the fears in others…" Ra's translated. His thoughts roamed to the past week and how no word from his daughter had come. How her silence was strangely sickening. How he had sworn never to love anything again after his wife's death. And how she had, uncommonly, ignited an emotion within him that he never allowed free. How she would never speak to him again. How her hatred had somehow dejected the man he was. He looked into the strangers eyes and spoke clearly "You must first master your own."

Meaningfully looking at the man in front of him, he pushed the thoughts aside, for they could not distract him. He wouldn't _let_ them. He looked at Bruce Wayne and asked him a simple question.

"Are you ready to begin?"

* * *

A/N: Now that I've left my story off on a lighter note, Bruce Wayne has finaly arrived! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and how many aspects I have had the opportunity to add. I am honestly a horrid writer and I always hit a wall sooner or later, but I have not stopped yet and I am extremely surprised!

Thank you all for encouraging me.

If you have any unresolved questions, my tumblr is the best way to contact me. I'm under theleague-ofshadows.

One thing I wanted to share was how hard it was to write Bane for this chapter. I initially wrote him furious and enraged with Talia but then I thought, that is not the worst kind of way to retaliate. No. The worst kind of feeling is knowing that something is wrong, but the person does not show their rage. They are so angry, but also so completely hurt that they do not open up, and that is what makes Bane special. I can't imagine him furiously shaking his fist and yelling "woe is me" to Talia like some delerious fool.

So Bane was the main factor of this chapter. I hope my hard work and constant editing has paid off.

Also, the section I added of elaborating on the scene where Talia watches the news, I had to formulate to show how far back the event had occurred and how it could overlap with my time line. I initially wanted Talia to be older, when she had lost Bane for the second time, but then I thought of something different. The Nolan version of Batman claimed that after Bruce left Gotham, he was gone for seven years. I imagine that he was only with the League for a few months and that gives me time to fit him into my story now, so that he can return to Gotham and I won't be delaying his participation.

I just didn't want Talia and Bane growing too old so that Bane was nearly forty by the time he made his name in Gotham. Tom Hardy wouldn't like that.

I have spent days working on this chapter. Non stop writing for hours and after I had finished 26 pages, I felt this completed a new feel to my story. From here on, new situations are going to occur that can test relationships and circumstances can destroy them. I am planning on bringing on new characters and elaborating on old and I have tons more cliffhangers prepared.

It is nearly midnight and I am posting this, as I always do. I prefer to post my chapters at night. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because I like sleeping and waking up to see who comments, favorites and follows this story. I hope you all know how amazing it is to write for you.

I have so much gratitude for you all. Thank you for making my writing something I enjoy doing.

Please review and give me a reason to write you another 13,000+ word chapter.

Peace, love, and undying adoration. Thank you.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Not another 13,000+ word chapter. I'm sorry. But it's pretty damn long if I must say.

This chapter was horrific to write. I lost half of it when my computer crashed so I had to redo it and I was really sad to have to be put back a few days. But also because I was so sketchy with my emotions. I wanted to write my characters one way, but they always came out looking two sided and I hated it so I had to redo them. Please forgive me.

A side bit of information: Ra's Al Ghul actually had two wives. His true love, Sora, and Talia's mother, Melisande. I wished to add Melisande's name, but I figured that since Nolan did not, that maybe I should have left it out too.

A GREAT thank you to all of my reviewers.

finaljoy: No, honestly, I plan on taking this story to 30-40 chapters at least. I can fit so many things in this story because Nolan has already pretty much provided me with a background and long fics are always a beauty. And thank you for the compliment. I am very greatful to have you as a reader.

Belle: I did not even think of Wuthering Heights when I wrote that, but damn you are right! Have you seen the short series with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley? It's fantastic and I just love it (thought the story I really can't stand.) Thank you for your praise as well.

I wish I could mention all of you in this post, but it's almost two in the morning and I'm dangerously close to falling asleep on you all. I only mentioned the previous two to answer questions.

Please enjoy this little bit I have provided for you and get ready for a whole new adventure in my world of characters.

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 12

* * *

A child lay in the bed of water. A woman held her head above it.

There was not a place below her neck that the warm liquid did not touch. It swarmed her and the heat was starting to fade. Her body was tired. Her mental state was dim; she lay in the silence of the bathroom. They had moved from the hotel they stayed in the previous night. This one was larger and much more luxurious. A certain luxury that was not necessarily needed.

The bathtub was small, but so was she. She could fit her slim body into the cavernous space and let the water wrap around her like a blissful dream.

But she was not content with the dream.

Talia lay with her body tilted to the side, her face from her chin to her ear was lost under the warm water. She kept her nose above the water, just barely allowing her to breathe. The child she was so long ago was urging her to relax under the water, to forget her pains for a _minute_ at the most. But the woman she had become could not reason with that.

There was no such thing as forgetting.

Bane had left the hotel to gather supplies and make efforts to flee the nation. Japan was not big enough to hide them properly.

Talia closed her eyes and exhaled carefully, her fingers clawing at the bottom of the tub. She wrinkled her brow and felt the shiver growing in her stomach. A feeling that she had felt all the previous day and furthermore.

A feeling that came with his return. Or more importantly, his rejection. It was not initial, and it was not plainly obvious, but Talia knew that he was not truly present. That he was so much further back. On another level that she could not relate with. One so behind hers that it seemed impossible for him ever to reach the point she had learned to accept.

He seemed so lost.

Talia had only been with him a few nights. She would need time, and he would as well. She would accept the fact, because she was never going to leave him. She may live with him as a burden if she must, but she would never feel the pain she had before. She would rather look into his eyes and see him guard his emotions rather than not ever having to look at him again.

Or maybe that was exactly the opposite. She clenched her teeth harshly and curled her toes under the water. She was tired of feeling. She was just so damn tired.

She let her fingers press austerely to the hard floor of the bathtub and thought of how she hated how she felt for her father. How she knew how unkind she had shifted her perspective. How betrayal could bleakly render her love. She never wanted to feel such. Never. But she did. He had betrayed and conned and trapped her in her bones.

He never loved her. Someone who loved her would never do what he had. Not even for her benefit.

Talia tilted her head upward and felt the pressure in her abdomen as she thought of how evil her reality had become. How her father was beyond saving, and how Bane was lost.

She looked to the door across the room and wondered where he could have gone. Where he dwelled inside and if she would ever see _him_ again. She shut her eyes tightly. She did not want to see anything. She did not want to hear.

And she was properly finished with feeling.

She slid her body closer to the faucet of the tub to let her head be enveloped in the water. Her hair swarmed her face and she held strongly to the breath she withheld. Her eyes searched as the water she had recently disturbed trembled above her. She kept her eyes open firmly as the seconds ticked on and she enjoyed the temporary lack of sound.

Her mind was muted.

A perfect harmony of bliss and deliverance, Talia relished the few moments underneath the water, looking up to witness the ripples of water. She never wanted to return to the surface, but soon, that was the only option. Using her feet to push against the edge near the faucet, Talia slid her body straight and lifted her head above the water.

Inhaling sharply, she laid her head back, her wet hair sticking to her skin. Her eyelashes were speckled with droplets of water and her skin tingled with the lack of warmth. She gripped the edge of the tub and closed her eyes.

Only a moment. A minute at the most of silence and then it was gone. She had been yanked back to reality without any interest in participating. The child weak with the hunger for assurance and love, and the woman who struggled to reason with the truth; Talia was both. She was entirely a blend of the two.

She lay in the same position for a few more minutes, letting her skin grow accustom to the slowly growing cold water. She glanced at the door once more.

Only the other night, she had woken up alone.

Not properly a denial of her granted affection, but he did not stay. When she woke in the day's earliest moments as the sun shone through, she fingered the edge where his body had disappeared. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, not wanting to awaken. She refused to think on it more than she needed.

The water soon became too cold to enjoy and Talia used her aching bones to push her body upwards and wrap a towel around her body.

She sat on the edge of the tub and cradled her head in her palms. A few minutes passed and soon she was tired of sitting. She stood and looked around for her clothes, then she remembered that she was in such a hurry to conjure a bath that she did not think to bring any form of clean clothing. She sighed tiredly as she gripped her towel tightly to her skin and turned to open the door to the bathroom.

She slipped outside and began her search for the clothes Bane had set out for her.

* * *

The room was dark. Completely thick with the lack of light. But it was not dark enough to diminish all brightness.

He could still see.

He had slipped inside quietly and without seeking attention. He assumed she was still sleeping so he kept the lights off.

The room was larger than the last. He did not enjoy the cramped sessions that occurred. With such little space, he was unable to avoid situations that he wished would not occur. He did not want to talk. Not now. He was not ready. He was not sure when he ever would be.

Talia seemed to have caught on as well, because she did not say anything less than necessary. But she looked at him; those blue eyes saw what he wished to hide.

He hated the knowledge.

He stepped in the suite silently, crossing the hall and heading to one of the rooms. Talia would be sleeping in the other, just as he had left her. He did not sleep that night. He couldn't welcome another opportunity. One that Talia might be too weak to defy. And he might be, just as he had the night of, completely conflicted.

Then he heard a commotion to his right and he froze, turning his head to look around. The noises came from the room across the hall, and then he noticed there was light flickering in the dark room. He stealthily stepped closer, praying it was Talia.

He wasn't in the mood to deal with burglars.

Bane crept down the hall. There were soft noises of bare feet stepping against the creaking floor as the person in the other room moved. He found himself close to the doorway and turned his head to observe carefully the inside of the room.

Her small form was visible in the low light emanating from the television and Bane sighed with relief, but then his gaze adjusted on her body. The blue and white glow from the television was rich on her naked skin.

Bane clenched his jaw in astonishment and he knew he should have turned his eyes; it was completely mandatory and moral, but he didn't. It was dark, but the low dim made shadows and light that he could not look away from. Her back was turned to him. She had already pulled the trousers he had set out for her when he ordered one of his men to purchase and deliver them for her. But she wore only those as she turned her head, ran her fingers through her hair and let the wet strands fall back to her bare shoulders.

Talia walked quickly to the side of the bed and reached for the blouse in the neat pile she had disturbed. Bane shifted his eyes away, trying to control his breathing. He looked down at the floor and clenched his fists. He did not glimpse anything beyond her bare back, thankfully, but the burn in his abdomen was still tight with the constriction. His shock outweighed his anger at himself. He heard Talia moving more in the room and quickly, but silently, left before she could discover he had been back. He walked across the hall and to a separate room and locked the door behind him.

His fist gripped the knob forcefully and he exhaled with distain. He yielded his breathing as the reality of his actions sunk in. He very nearly growled with frustration because the previous encounter was literally the _last_ thing he needed. Seconds passed and each time his mind willed him to think back to the image of her skin, he furiously fought it.

But Talia was slowly creeping into his system again like a sickness and there was no cure. There was no antidote for the terrible infection.

* * *

He was not particularly loquacious, and perhaps that led to questioning his motives. Ra's however did not pay much mind to Bruce Wayne's lack of common verbal interactions. Succinct flashes of anger were prominent, but it was his emotional drive that gave him his ultimate interest. Ra's pushed; shoved his sentiments harshly to project some sort of response beyond the obvious control. And Bruce was quick to learn.

Exquisite fury was excelled when such demanding blame was rained upon Bruce's parentage and how his father lacked the ability to save not only his own life but that of his beloved wife. The young man thrashed, turning each incentive into one of complete solitary refinement. Lashing harder, excelling to his body's utmost potential. Bruce Wayne fought back.

Ra's felt the morality inside of him, whispering words of urgency to restrain, but the warrior poisoned his mind with thoughts of reluctance. The Wayne heir needed to acknowledge the consequence of every action. Of the draws to any form of mercy. So flagrant in its prime. That no matter the heroics, his father had been too compassionate to helping the very ones who were too desperate to see sense. That a city was slowly, into an abyss unknown, becoming too corrupt for the justice to maintain.

Gotham, an asylum for rules to be broken. For the laws to become shackles rather than weapons. Ra's kept his eyes firmly on the section, slowly deciphering a purpose. He watched through the years.

Bruce Wayne's broken playground that he never truly touched, letting his life pass by without a flicker of enjoyment past the physical attributions money could buy. His early years as a young man were tainted with the venomous anger and pain. No good would have come from his billionaire status and what good would it do to harbor an establishment with an anarchist of vengeance?

Bruce Wayne had money, a position; a life that promised. But even the strongest have vulnerability, and in his case, he was in urgent need of completing a cause. One Ra's could provide.

An invitation. Though it wasn't sought, when the leader of The League of Shadows received word of a particular prisoner resonating in the prison of the West hills, he could not resist such an incitement.

For here there were, placed on mountaintop, spending the night traveling back from the frozen waters they battled on. A ritual most common in the eastern hemisphere. Warriors would brave the night for the purpose of preparing for events to come.

Bruce desperately formulated an unstable rhythm of rubbing the fabric that shielded his skin from the cold in rotations to create friction that could stimulate heat. Useless, but there was no room for common sense. The fabric was soiled with the waters from the lake, the cold attacking his skin like a thousand needles. He had not been mindful of his surroundings when the lake rummaged beneath him and he was smothered by the ice water. Ra's watched him shamelessly yearn for warmth with interested eyes. Most men would savagely clench their fists and try their hardest to restrain the trembles blatantly coursing through their systems; not embedding their faces into a cocoon of fabrics.

Ra's watched the man use his instincts in futile attempts to nourish his body. Something about the way this man freely showed his discomfort softened an aspect within Ra's to reveal a sort of sympathy that had not been touched since his daughter left.

Ra's sighed tiredly. "Rub your chest," He began, his thick with knowledge. "Your arms will take care of themselves."

He looked to confirm whether the man did as he suggested. Not lifting his head, Bruce shivered violently and convulsed with the agony, but did as such. He examined the way the man braved his surroundings, not once opening his mouth to complain. Only obliging himself in self-comforting tactics.

"You're stronger than your father." Ra's muttered, turning his head to examine the flames as the fire next to him licked at the night sky.

Bruce looked up with obvious disapproval. "You didn't know my father."

"But I know the rage that drives you." He continued. "That impossible anger strangling the grief until the memory of your loved one is just…. poison in your veins."

Bruce stared at the fire with anguish.

"And one day you find yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed…" Ra's face was distant. He inhaled, letting the emotions soil his bones. "So you'd be spared your pain."

Bruce turned his eyes to examine Ra's, his expression curious. Ra's looked to Bruce.

"I wasn't always here in the mountains." He explained, looking up at the night sky before he looked back to the flames. He swallowed carefully. "Once, I had a wife. My great love."

His eyes became dull with his unconscious will to lock away the subject, to resist the pain. But he continued. "She was taken from me." Ra's shifted his expression. "Like you I was forced to learn there are those without decency… who must be fought without hesitation. Without pity. Your anger gives you great power. But if you let it… it will destroy you."

The elder of the two flicked his eyes to a distant object to observe while his mind ran amuck in thoughts of his history and plain attributions. The loss of both wife and daughter. Of his sun and moon. He stared with decisive venomous bile into the flames. There was no consented reason for his actions. Everything he touched was catastrophically lost.

His beautiful wife, a pure delicacy in a land of rich disasters, was ripped from him for the lack of his decency in providing her a safer life. His love for her was the rarest of the gems, but inside, even the warmest flames lose their vibrancy. For a love so beautiful could not last in a land where mercy was abandoned. For his actions, his wife was given a sentence worse than death and for which he could never forgive himself. If he had known the price…

He should have known.

The whispers of the wind carried the name he had held within for years to the point of uncertain verification. His great love. The woman who gave up everything for the sake of her happiness. A sacrifice that had cost her much more than he was willing to understand.

She had defied her father. Just as Talia had.

And that of his daughter. Her spirit rooted to the core with essences of pain and misery, but gripping dangerously tight to the sense of reality and for her that was one he did not approve of. For his loving daughter only found peace with a monster. Only found refuge in him. Ra's hated the thought of her so embedded in his system and thought of how he wished to free himself of the anger, of the pain. Talia would pull and tug away at him like a nerve most unnoticed until the inflammation was too much to ignore. And in the moment of her shift in perspective, Talia would forever be a poison in his system. One that he was not prepared to live without. Talia was like a rock inside of him, keeping him bound to the ground with feelings of hatred and the impossible guilt for driving her, his wife and his daughter, away. And mostly for Talia, for he knew she had a choice. He only wanted her to be loyal.

To be his.

Ra's stretched his cold fingers absentmindedly and looked back to Bruce. He would have to learn to rid himself of the conflict; he began remembering how much his plans would do for the world. For him. He thought then of no matter such a petty emotion as love, the means to fight injustice outweighed the pleasure. He would fend off the cold remembrance, and in the end, he would triumph.

He would shed himself of the ties that ever encouraged pain.

Bruce looked into his eyes and Ra's frowned slightly before he completed his sentiment. "As it almost did me."

Bruce frowned, his shivering had mellowed and he was finally able to breathe normally. "What stopped it?"

Ra's clenched his jaw. "Vengeance."

* * *

They did not stay long in the hotel and for a good reason. They were leaving. Finally and thoroughly. Talia had not seen Bane at all that morning. Since her bath to the hours that passed, he did not return. She assumed he was out. She decided not to fret.

As the minutes turned into slow hours, Talia sat on the carpeted ground, her legs crossed and her gaze to the television. She absentmindedly changed channels, searching the news for quite some time but soon becoming bored with the repetition.

She stopped changing channels after a while and left it on some movie that she did not know. Tired of sitting on the hard floor, she lifted her body and searched around the room. The hotel being so high-class, Talia admired the architectural designs that blessed the room. The space was small, but it was only one of the three rooms the suite possessed and this room had the largest windows.

She left her room to enter the main and looked for something to nourish her body with. Water or perhaps a tangerine. A fruit she had grown fond of back at the gardens of her home. Then she cringed. She no longer had a place to call home.

The palace gardens she would never see again. She would never return now that she knew of her father's crimes. It was not like Talia to have a well written path, the stars did not align and give her peace amongst the confused atmosphere.

She sighed with pain in her abdomen. She was exhausted.

She picked not a tangerine, but an apple; a green one, before she turned with reluctance and made her way back to her room.

When he had returned, she was asleep. Her feline form curled in a comfortable position with her body moving slightly from her relaxed breathing. Her pale face looked bronze in the sunlight and her hair was in disarray across the pillows.

A movie played in low volume which he was sure she paid no mind to. Perhaps it was the reason behind her dreamy state. Bane inched inside of the room. Looking down on her, he watched her breathing peacefully. He clenched his jaw, trying to understand the burn in his abdomen. As she was sleeping, he allowed himself a few minutes to glimpse at her.

She looked grotesquely unhealthy. Her face was thinner, her angular cheekbones more obvious than before. There were deep shadows below her eyelids that mocked her sleeplessness. Her skin was pale as normal, but she seemed to radiate a cold nature that was not evident before. Her limbs were thin as well.

But it was her eyes, when they were open, that looked the most morbid of them all. She had been broken too many times. And perhaps she was dealing with it. _Silently_. Perhaps she was holding it all in. After the knowledge of his death and beyond, he could imagine her sorrow. He felt the very same thing when he thought her dead.

He was obstinate since she had returned, refusing to let her enter his heart once more, but he could not seize caring for the woman. He always would. His eyes lingered over her small form and found her fingers, relaxed and curled, lying on her abdomen. He then frowned as he remembered they were not bare. Her fingers were wrapped in cloth and he had to remember how they had come to be covered. He thought of her retaliation.

Of how she had hurt herself trying to stop him. As she always had hurt herself because of him. And likewise, for he had always pained himself for her. He scowled at her bruised knuckles.

She would never understand.

Bane edged closer to her bedside and looked down at her face before he carefully settled his body onto the mattress. Her hair was longer. The chestnut curls back to their original length and seemed to be evened out. They were guide lines down her face, twirling delicately to the nape of her exposed neck and resting carefully there. Her other hand was placed up to let her fingers rest just below her jaw, barely brushing the smooth skin there. Her shadowed eyelids added a taunting look that complimented the pale pink of her lips. Her breathing slowly expanded her chest as she inhaled once more, yet she did not make a sound as he watched her. She was unaware of his balled fist by his side.

It was entirely too overwhelming. Perhaps it started long before and he had only felt it then; the separation a vying factor, but he knew she had caused it. That she was the reason and underlying background to this deceptive emotion. It was undefinable and unable to be deciphered. The sweltering flame bestowed inside of his veins inflamed his core. There was a dry sensation beyond expression that engulfed his system. A irritate repetitious itch laced in his abdomen. A vex most unfeasible. She was like a thick tar inside of his veins, keeping him from straying.

It was completely bothersome. Inconvenient and irritating. He found himself resisting a venomous growl. What _was_ such an emotion? Why did it feel like… like death? He shifted his gaze to the window.

Why was there pain, rich in its prime?

Talia was eleven when she left the Pit. Before, she had grown slowly and as if invisible. A child with no questions of her reality. She lived without any woe for herself. When Bane took her from her mother's cell and protected her from the outside, he only did what felt right. Talia grew closer to him with each breath. She had opened herself and began trusting such a man, twice her size and capable of dangerous things. But she did not question it.

The fact that she became comfortable without thought seemed to mark him with sensibility and appreciation. Something he had not felt in the longest time. The fact that a dainty child, whose life deserved pity, gave him her trust within a small amount of time, befuddled him. For she had grown, no doubt, to object the humans of the world. Her mother had infested her daughter with the idea that bad people were ever-present. That trust was not a gift given freely.

But Talia had no choice, perhaps. She was ten, small and innocent. Having seen such horrors, Bane figured she would stubbornly defy him. Run to find death and journey where her mother had. That she would look at him with disgust, because he could be like all the rest.

Her fingers, smaller than twigs on branches, wrapped around his thick neck and she clung to him as he pulled her from the dangers of her mother's cell. She made a painful noise as the realization and sorrow melted into her skin like a curse. She held to Bane, not thinking to pull away for reasons unknown. Talia held to his skin, her heart searching for some sense of peace. Of some way to forget the pain.

Bane was not particularly a caring man. He had no comrades. No local companions. Preferable and a reality. His interest spiked when the maiden was lowered into the Pit, partially from the fact that women were like braised meat; uncommon. But that made them a mark for the ruthless. Talia's mother, her name unknown even by him, was a prey to such dangers. But even before, his curiosity grew much to his own disliking. For he figured the more he seemed to look on towards the woman and child, the more that he would grow to care.

And he did.

A year, or less maybe it was less, he would spend with the child. He occasionally grunted with dissatisfaction on days when he felt the child too much of a burden to possess, but overall, her blue eyes reminded him that it was the fact that he did protect her that gave him a sense of life. That though he had been locked down so far under for years, caring for her was something that gave him warmth. That the fact that she had needed him, appreciated him, infested his soul with a peaceful atmosphere.

It was implacable. For as she had left him without a chance to placate his restless mind. He was left, wounded and scarred with a mentality of death, for himself and for her (for he knew she had only lived long enough to meet her first village of desperation.) That she was dead. It was treacherous. Such emotions lingered within him for years. Beyond his liberation and leading to his training.

For the fact that she was no longer able to provide him the affluence of her company, Bane needed to configure a sensation that could fill the void so empty within himself. It was something vile. Something completely placid but an emotion that would diminish him.

Vengeance.

He grazed his eyes over her sleeping face and sighed gently. There was a monster inside of him. Venomous and pillaging like a loitering contagion. It clawed through his system, fitting uncomfortably inside until Bane felt weak. There was a need ripping at his core.

Talia had been brought back into his life in such a frenzy that Bane had to adjust to the shift in perspective. That it was not only about his life anymore. That there was still another to care for. That she was still a vital half of the circumstance. It was not bleak, caring for her. It reminded him of a purpose beyond hate. Of a need that could rouse emotions within that he was unsure of, but ones that felt right. She printed her sins plainly for him to capture and consume and he took her for the woman she had grown to be. It was a ritual that seemed to repeat itself.

But as she had grown, he had learned that that infectious itch in his system seemed to become more deliberate. The undefinable reaction to the look of her skin; the colors of her. How instead of gripping onto a scintillate transgression, he always objected. Stood still amongst the continuous temptation to inherit her soul. Bane very nearly growled then.

What _was_ the cataleptic comprehension that consumed him?

And as Talia was absent, through the time of his desertion, Bane had slipped into a state as unstable as the first time he had lost her but this time it was not vengeance that expended him. It was a grotesque hatred. Something stronger than vengeance. It was revenge.

The two were convincingly similar, perhaps identical, but Bane considered revenge a more powerful of the two. For once vengeance was completed he would be content and deal with his trials in a civil manner as if they were an echo of a dim thought. But his revenge would never be fulfilled.

He wished not to think of his past events and with his complete objection to the occurrence; he could not deny that somewhere within him he felt compelled to know about Talia. Even though he was convinced he hated her for all that she did. That though he believed she had chosen her father before him and deliberately disregarded his emotions, Bane would feel essences of her sifting through his skin and staining him. He could not free himself from her, he could never.

He searched her pale skin, wondering how she could dream after all that she had lost; after all that she had struggled. And he as well. For when they had been reunited only days prior, Bane felt his self-resolve crumbling to dust, for he could not simply deny himself the pleasure of her presence. It was thoughtless. _Completely_. It would transgress him and he would surely die because of it. That though she was as real as sunlight echoes of the dreams he could no longer become a part of, he yearned for her.

And that completely infuriated him.

He could _not_. It seemed too obscure. Not if there was ever a pain as hollow and still so rich with pitiless remembrance. It was a bloody distinctive _rendering_ of what a human should never have to feel. And call him self righteous, perhaps. Call him a monster for deliberately ignoring her warmth; her passion. He could enhance feasibly a million of his favorite traits, ones that other could possess. But it was true, he needed hers. That was what made his struggle so persistent and reluctant.

He was selfish. Yet all the more selfless at that point. Because she was infinite inside of him. Because he decided that he could not live without her.

He shifted his position on the bed and leaned over to place his hand on her shoulder and shake gently. It was time to leave. His minutes were up. They had to leave Japan and never return. And he, himself, would have to fight a war to keep her close and continue to exclude her from his heart. A battle that was not easily won. Yet an inevitable one. Because he would have to let her in. Someway and with time, but he needed to start.

* * *

Talia's thin fingers circled the water glass that was fresh with condensation and absentmindedly looked out onto the clouds as the plane flew moderately through the sky. It was the afternoon on a Tuesday. The sunlight hid behind the clouds somewhere and the sky was a mystic blue. Her breathing was calm and she was deliberately tranquil. Her silent partner sat across from her in the leather of his chair, lazily looking through the pages of the daily paper.

Talia stared out onto the horizon.

Bane watched her when she did not notice his stare. There was something in her eyes that perplexed him. Something most profound and disheartening. Something exhausting. Her blue eyes seemed grey in the light of the sun. She gently had her head resting on the edge of her seat, her jawline strained as he assumed she was clenching her jaw slightly. Her fingers around the glass cup were bleak with no less emotion than she had written on her face. She was dull.

He resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. He resisted the urge to ask what it was that bothered her. She sat, her hair lying at the nape of her neck as it had before, and she seemed to never blink. Bane shifted his weight a bit; he was silent as he did.

It was only the two of them resonating on the plane. The others had left earlier on. They were relocating. The plane lacked turbulence and the ride was smooth over the past hour. Talia sat in one of the luxurious white leather seats of the private aircraft.

She kept a small smile for the time they entered the cabin and before. She was not persistent on reflecting what she felt inside. But then, as the plane began moving quickly through the air and there was no one particular to remain a resolve for, Talia's smile faded. She did not consider Bane any different from the rest, but she knew perhaps that he would not wish to speak casually with her. Not if he followed the previous encounters they shared.

Bane watched her eyelids begin to fall. She could not fight the sleep. He looked at her struggle to stay awake but he also perceived her losing. She was not prepared to fight a game so difficult to reign over. He watched her slowly drift past the point of consciousness and then beyond. Her fingers relaxed around the glass and soon she was dreaming.

She looked peaceful then, but he could not shake the image of her looking so tired and unresponsive. She looked almost defeated. Bane frowned and shifted his eyes across the cabin. He clenched his fingers around the newspaper and sighed. She was trying, trying for him. But he was giving her nothing to encourage a need to continue.

His eyes shifted back to her face. Such a virtuous woman. Respecting his space and acknowledging that he would need time. It made him feel even more selfish. Even more evil.

He exhaled softly. Ten minutes seemed to tick by and he looked back to her to find that she was awake once more. Not making a sound to indicate that she had woken, she continued as she had before to stare out of the window. Bane lowered his paper which led Talia to shifting her gaze to him.

She noticed that he looked to her and she smiled weakly. After stretching her shoulders she sat more formally in her chair. Then she turned her gaze to him.

"Where are we going?"

Her voice was quiet and skeptical, seeming to tense at the broken silence. He kept his eyes on hers; ostensibly tilting his head an inch and inhaled. Her stare was soft. His was curious. Perhaps they could find an understanding in the mutual connection as they had before. He swallowed the irate tension in his core. Her soft expression seemed to placate him. The words he spoke next were the first of many to come. They had hours to travel. He exhaled assumingly. Perhaps he was masochistic indeed.

"America."

* * *

New York, in fact. An effervescent host for breeding a righteous cause. Like a crown of the hailing ruler.

It was larger than anticipated and surely not what she had expected when her father told her of the states beyond. The ones of freedom. Had it been more sickening a sight she might have been tempted to excel a fantastic range of perpetual disgust. There was only steel, twisted and molded to formulate a towering heist of society.

But it was deliciously growing in a state that led to corruption, and that seemed to ember the flames within Talia. Despite her objection to anything pertaining her father and his mind, she could not deny that his forceful methods were valid within her. It was still something she believed in.

The black ensemble's windows were tinted so severely that it seemed impossible for anyone else to look within. She sat comfortably into the leather of the back seat and gazed out onto the horizon of glass and metal, enhanced to build buildings that were larger than her eyes could travel; journeying up towards the sunlight.

It was noisy, very much like Japan, but it was _louder_. It was damn annoying.

She focused on a building that seemed to never end on its path traveling upward.

"Do they need such large facilities?" She pondered.

Bane shifted his gaze to her instead of his fingers tracing the sewn seats. "Size is everything here, Talia."

She shifted her gaze to him. "Perhaps it's fortunate you will blend so easily." Her sarcasm staining her tongue again. The continuing of the plane ride began undecidedly, as there was more conversation as the seconds passed. As Bane melted his resolve and let her inside for once.

A very deliciously tempting moment. For she took what she could. It began slowly and with obvious caution, but the more he talked to her (pertaining the most unimportant things,) the more his tone lost its straining edge. He asked her of the places she visited when he was absent, then she returned with the same question. Yet he had more to share than she.

Between each question he would still, perhaps asking himself if it was wise to continue with such activities. Talia watched him look out the windows of the plane and pause. Then he would shift his gaze back to her and ask her something else.

It was not until the flight entered its last hour that she felt his questions grow more intense. That she could feel him asking for how she felt rather than how she dealt with the moment in time. And that caused her to become overwhelmed with no clue what to do.

It was half an hour before the flight was to land and Bane had grown quiet once more. Talia looked out onto the city growing closer and felt comforted. Bane was not stationary enough for her to properly feel as if he was as he used to be. But she knew then of his efforts to try, and that was enough.

Bane made a sound of reluctant disapproval but with an obvious hint of unusual amusement as the car turned another corner.

"For you."

* * *

They looked at him as her father's men never looked at her father. There was no fear. Ra's Al Ghul's men honored him and respected him, but in fact there was always an underlying terror behind him. But there was no means of distress beyond these walls.

"Talia." She heard her name from behind and quickly turned to see her father's previous comrade in the living flesh. She inhaled and echoed the notion.

"Blanchet." She answered quietly.

"What I wouldn't give to see your father's reaction to your vanishing act. Do you think he is indeed blue with rage? Or perhaps your disappearance has roused a different morality of him." Blanchet shared a smirk with her. The all too knowing glimpse that told her he knew how her father worked.

She clenched her teeth and failed to reply to such an accusation. "Where is Bane?" She ordered.

Blanchet's smirk grew wider. "Always concerning one or the other. Can't either of you spend perhaps a minute separate?" His tone mocked.

Talia narrowed her eyes. "I have spent more years without him than I would have wished. You are not allowed to judge my interest in his whereabouts."

Blanchet lifted his hands in defense. "Easy now, young one. I was only suggesting. I figured he still blamed you particularly, perhaps more than your father. After years of such knowledge, I assumed he wished for time apart."

Talia grimaced. She hated his knowledge in it all. How intelligent he was. She bit her tongue to refrain from a retort. She turned her head to look around the building. Very much underground, the room echoed with the men hard at work.

"He has." She answered, letting her vulnerable admittance stain her features.

Blanchet scoffed with disbelief. "Count your blessings, Talia. Because if you do not unravel that cord soon, it may stay knotted forever. Give him something to counteract. Perhaps you should bed the fool."

Talia clenched her jaw more tightly, listening to his words before she stepped forward and gripped the collar to his shirt, pulling him close. "I will rectify you permanently in the most painful way endured, for you have no business interfering with business that we share. I will not bed him, you indignant low-life. You will transcend. Remember your position, Blanchet, and keep your bloody deviant theories inside of your warped head."

Blanchet's smile only grew wider with her venomous tone. He leaned closer. "Oh, but sweetheart, I'm only just beginning. I'm a realist, Miss Al Ghul. And honestly, I'm getting sick of all the sexual tension. Just hurry and fuck him already. Maybe then he'll want to talk."

Talia scrunched her face with disgust. "You're an ass."

He chuckled as she shoved him away from her face and began turning to exit the conversation and leave the room. "Maybe" He yelled after her.

Talia growled.

* * *

After Blanchet, Talia spoke to no one, resting her body in a section vacant as she waited for Bane to be finished. She did not know his business or even what she was to do, so she waited.

"A woman?" She heard from behind her. Talia quickly turned her head to let her eyes land on the form of a healthy looking female at least in her late twenties. Talia frowned.

"Excuse me?" She asked politely as she wondered what she had meant or even who she was speaking to. But the woman looked straight at her.

"The child from his legend." She answered. "He never mentioned that the child was a female."

Talia inhaled confusedly and turned so she could look more clearly at her face. "What legend?" The woman walked over to Talia's front and looked deeply into her eyes. She had light brown orbs that searched each aspect of Talia's face as if she was searching for a way to comprehend.

"He told us of a child that cheated hell."

Talia inhaled cautiously. "Why would he tell you that?"

The woman smiled carefully and sat down to be level with Talia. "He told us many stories of hope. I remember the one of the child the most; or yours, as it seems."

Talia looked into the sun kissed face of the woman. Her hair was midnight black, short and no longer than her shoulders, but enough to pull back. She had a slight round face and her complexion looked dull, but she pursued Talia with such interest it seemed unusual.

Talia was partial to maintaining a common breathing cycle. She wondered why Bane would even speak of her when she assumed that he indeed hated her through the years that she was gone. She wondered why he would still tell her story of hope and despair.

"You are the warlord's offspring? The child of the Demon's Head?" The woman looked kindly and a bit nonchalantly into Talia's eyes.

Talia looked down at her fingers and nodded. She couldn't think of a way to answer and tell the woman that she was not anymore.

"I'm Cresta." The tanned woman muttered, not offering a hand or even a friendly wave, just a gaze that wished to greet.

Talia gritted her teeth with anticipation. She looked into the woman's eyes.

"Talia." She answered.

* * *

"It's mine?" She asked, standing in the doorway of a massive penthouse apartment in an amazed fashion. He was certainly not serious. He told her that they could relocate at any time. It was simply too pricey and unneeded. She would sleep like the rest of them. She would live back at the facility like the normalcy of the era he had created. She did not want to live in a large apartment separated from anyone. From him.

Bane nodded reluctantly. Talia cautiously walked to the center of the room. She looked around with obvious disappointment that she would have to live apart. Her fingers ran over the smooth furniture as she walked to the window to peek out the blinds.

She sighed deeply and turned her head down. "It is too large, Bane. What am I to do with so much space?"

He made a sound of disliking. "It is fit for a sovereign, Talia. For a monarch."

She turned quickly and caught his eyes. "But it is not fit for me. Not if I am to live alone."

He sighed loudly. "You will have visitors often Talia, when roots are planted and you climb the social staircase. Do not trouble your mind."

She set her purse in the hollow crater of the furniture. She exhaled exhaustedly and turned her eyes down. It was a luxurious employment, being given such home. She decided not to complain any further.

"It is much, but thank you." She muttered, her eyes not catching his.

Bane walked to meet her at her side and watch the moonlight paint a picture on the floor. Talia inhaled his scent as he was so close. He seemed to vibrate next to her in a fashion that she was foreign to.

They stood like that for minutes, breathing in the same air. Then Talia inhaled quickly, breaking the silence. "I wish to sleep. Perhaps you should go."

Bane resisted the urge to look at her. Sleep? What was such an unusual ritual, for it had not found him for days. Not years actually, for she was always gone. He only ever slept when she was near. Talia turned slightly to walk to the kitchen where she set the key to her new home. When she returned she had already pulled her hair from its place on top of her head.

"I will see you tomorrow then." She assumed, her voice thick with an emotion unknown. Bane turned to look at her and slowly nodded. Something about him willed him to stay longer. Willed him to maintain vigilance, but also to relish the time near her scent. Her skin.

But instead he very quietly looked once more at Talia with a look that perhaps blazed slightly, before he walked to the door way and closed the door with care.

Only minutes after, Talia tested out the new shower equipped with every body soothing serum to her liking, while Bane clenched his fist on the ride returning to a bed of his own.

* * *

Constriction was such a mute word compared to what it felt like within her. She had not fallen asleep as she wished to and instead, lay in a bundle of her own sheets with her wet hair swarming her shoulders. It had been one long hour of complete refusal of the common sense she so recently possessed. She told herself that she didn't.

But she yearned for him. Almost to a point, in fact, that completely rummaged her soul. She had not cried since his return in the warehouse and she had no means to either. But it hurt. Blazing hell and beyond, it hurt.

She lay on her side for minutes without end because it seemed to soothe the pain, but it did not eliminate it. She had promised herself that though it seemed that things began to move in a direction that looked promising, she could not dare let herself hope. That Bane would need time, and she would give him that. And beyond all else, she was going to have to endure the sacrifice.

One so deliberately catastrophic.

There was a clicking noise outside of her door and Talia froze under her sheets. Was that an intruder? She did not think to move, unlike her true characteristics and nature, but instead stayed frozen in her position. A soft shuffle seemed to be created somewhere in one of the other rooms and Talia tried to control her breathing.

Someone was in her house.

She heard the steps nearing closer to her door and she pushed her body slightly to one side of the bed but before she could slide off and hide underneath, the door handle seemed to twist and the door slowly opened. Talia was frozen. Totally and completely solid with fear.

Then she saw him, and that only added to the element of fear, but of a different kind. Talia sat up so quickly that all of the blood seemed to rush to her head in one quick motion. Bane cautiously entered the room and took one look at Talia. She remained her resolve for only a few seconds before she was unable to do anything but cry.

She never fully realized it, or perhaps her body had not because once she started, she could not stop. Quickly reaching her side, Bane sat at the edge with her and cradled her head. She inhaled and felt a flicker of emotion coyly suffocating her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him with desperation that she had not been able to fulfill in days.

What she did not expect was when Bane laid their bodies down on the sheets gently. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body to his to relish her warmth. She inhaled him, took everything and pulled it within her. She let her fingertips bruise his coarse skin and wished to feel his warmth radiating everywhere and at all times. Her tears did not stop.

She realized then how much she really and truthfully needed him. And how much the separation had deliberately taking a piece from her. The chill of the night air raised chills on her skin, or perhaps it was the sensation of his fingers placed so beautifully around her waist. All that she knew was that her wet hair sought his skin and they were a mess of two bodies and souls.

"What have you done to me, you selfish thing?" Bane rasped, his voice sounding impossibly breathless. All that self restriction and deliverance crumbled. All of his stubborn attitude faded with the wind. He clenched her body harder and almost painfully but Talia paid no mind. She shook her head.

She did not answer for there were no words and maybe there never really needed to be any. Talia brought her fingers up to the leather of his mask and edged the metal and pulled him closer. It was minutes, perhaps decades, before Talia felt whole enough to pull away and look at him. Their faces closer than they had been in months and there was nothing but skin and flesh and bones to nerves. There was nothing but blood and stains of one heart upon another.

She laid still, searching his eyes in a slight melancholy manner. She did not know why he had returned for her. She only knew of his skin, and how glorious it felt against hers.

* * *

The next morning came but Talia made no regards to the sunlight. However, it was early in the day when she rose. And she woke to find that Bane had not stayed. But she could only ask for so much. One night of deliberate defiance of morals set a path for those who wished to dine with sin. Talia looked to the side of the bed and wondered how long Bane had even remained with her.

But it did not matter. Talia sat up and let her body stand vertical. She walked to her kitchen and looked around for a mug and a pot to brew tea when she found a note. She lifted it with shaking fingers and flipped the folded card over.

There on the bottom half was the address of the location she had waited in with and spoke with Blanchet and the woman. On the top half was one word written forcefully with black ink.

Surprise.

Talia frowned but then ran to her bedroom and searched through her closet for a change of clothes. Upon getting ready, she slipped on her shoes and quickly exited the apartment (almost forgetting her key.)

When Talia reached the building she searched for Bane. She locked eyes with Blanchet from across the hall and resisted the urge to flash him a rather rude hand gesture when she heard commotion to the right and followed the sounds. She noticed Bane, leaning over paperwork, and fought a content exhale.

She reached his side and waited for him to notice her. He tilted his head when he noticed her and he looked up with unsure eyes, but this time, they were not obstinate.

Bane nodded to her and quickly rounded up the paperwork on the mantle. Turning he stood straighter, as if to align his spine. She breathed cautiously.

"You have a surprise for me?" She asked, almost unsure if that was what it really said on the note. She felt her fingers twitch with anticipation. What if she did not like the surprise? What if it was not something she was prepared for?

Bane nodded and placed his palm on her elbow and started to walk, slowly guiding her past the groups of people. He exited to a lower section to the building and led her through hallways. He found them both to a section very much like the other, yet there were fewer men in the room. Bane searched and singled out a group of militia members huddled together, talking of past experiences. Three of the ten in the group had their backs turned to them.

Bane reached closer to them and slowed his steps. "Barsad." He called, the name echoing through her ears. The form of the man on the far right of the three men turned as his name registered and faced the two of them.

Then Talia immobilized, because she knew the man. She knew him through life and death.

She was not the only one to become fixed with the shock, however, because M'har did not move an inch as he laid his eyes on her.

* * *

A/N: Good, delicious cliffhangers! For those of you who don't know, Barsad was Bane's wingman in TDKR. I have taken creative license and made him my beloved M'har, for it is stated that Barsad was too a member of the League. Hope you enjoyed my twist, I will update as soon as possible. Review for me, please.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Almost another 13,000+ chapter! Hooray!

A little Thanksgiving treat to you all. SO. MANY. ASPECTS. Seriously, I have written so many different things. They all are a little sketchy, but they will be explained in further chapters.

Oh, my! It's been almost a month since I last updated! I feel awful for leaving you all hanging! But I needed to recooperate. Take some time from writing and get back to living for a bit.

Thank you all for the comments on the last chapter. Really, I am very fortunate!

A lot of you either love Blanchet or hate him and I am not going to tell you which to do! I am the only one who will know how he turns out, and I love seeing you guys comment about him. He is one of my characters who tells it like it is!

And I am overwhelmed with the praise over my portrayal of M'har as Barsad. It was something I thought of very early on but always questioned it. Thank you all for supporting that. Originally I was going to make him the man in the plane raid that Bane told to stay behind, then I thought how heartless that would make him and how Talia would never forgive him.

*a side note for Danielle* Thank you for all of your insight. Sometimes you know my characters more than me!

I am sorry if it looks really confusing, I promise I will elaborate later. Enjoy this segment and have a blessed holiday!

Love Always.

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 13

* * *

A divine selfishness she caressed with murderous fingertips that could clutch a symphonic heart without effort and crush the beating organ until it was no longer an instrument of use. She lay, emotionless and curled to his body like a child seeking comfort. Her crown resonated just below his mask and her hair tickling his neck. Her fingers loosely gripping the front of his shirt unlike only an hour before, for then she held onto him as if he would fade. He felt the agonizing burn of her fingertips on his skin.

Talia's delicious, muted breaths roused something within him as the feeling of her exhales sent a sensation ripping through his body. Her scent filled every corner. Her skin claimed all of his interest.

He wished with precious deliverance that he could truthfully graze her skin as his soul wished for him to, but that part of him was permanently muzzled with grotesque reality of the impossibility. He tilted his head to the side and softly let her smooth hair caress his cheek. She moved as he had, but with unconscious intentions and let her fingers reach more thoroughly around his body. They were placed finally at the sides of him and she made a sound of sleeping symphonies, her form inching closer to his.

Bane's calloused fingers rested softly on her shoulder. He looked upward and watched her ceiling fan spiral for minutes without end as his mind sent him into an almost identical helix. The woman wrapped in his embrace had clung to him with such urgency that he himself felt incentive to revel in her scent and presence until he could not breathe any more.

He had been determinate to ignore the infectious itch within, but even he could not resist her for as long as he had wished. He truly wondered what it was that she had done to him. He wondered what could have happened to him to make him feel so. He felt tender within as he realized her effect. Her deliberate disease.

He clenched his jaw and inhaled deeply. His fingers stilled in her hair. She was sound asleep and he was never more awake. She had, perhaps, come to terms with the fact that he had shown an ounce of deliverance from his self-resolve and restraint. She had fully wallowed in the fear of loss that seemed to follow her when he kept his distance and for the previous event, she seemed to have truthfully fallen apart. For she cried. She had cried so mournfully. It was a cleansing, perhaps. That she would grip the knowledge of the need for him as strong as his for her. That she must have kept within each commemoration and to let it finally, truthfully roam free, she could not keep her resolve. She truthfully needed him, as for which he needed her. And then a cycle would repeat.

His fingers seemed sore from the consistent curling he had made so prominent to ease the tension; but now, as they lay softly on her shoulder, he could not think of anything beyond how quickly events had turned. How he had selfishly given in to her, but was still so unsure of his feelings, of what he _should_ in fact feel.

Earlier, as she was curled in his embrace, Talia had used her nails to pierce his body and grip him to her. It was animalistic: her need. And he used his impossible strength to cradle her. But more importantly, to smother her. To make her feel every emotion within. And she reveled in it.

Bane could not see her face, she was resting her crown into the corner of his neck. He clenched his jaw, but slowly ran his fingers down until they were placed over her hand. He carefully let his fingers graze her wrist before he decided he would indeed go through with the event. He lifted the small form from his side and carefully placed it to her side and he slowly eased his body from her embrace. Talia did not make a sound as he slowly unwrapped her body from his. She was sound, purely beyond any way of waking. Bane lifted his body from the bed and turned to look down at her. She curled comfortably into the empty space where he laid.

Her skin, as smooth as silk and the complexion a faded beige, seemed to tempt something within. Her dark curls made the symmetrical path down her neck and it annoyed a factor deep inside of him that he was not sure of. He looked to her face, as he always would, and sighed with troubled spirits. She had returned. She was fixated in his presence. He had finally shown her some form of vulnerability.

And in return, to keep from breaking her heart, he needed to prove to her. He needed to make her trust that it wouldn't fade. He needed to prove it to himself. He curled his fists as a sensation beyond sating seemed to claw inside. He watched her breathe. Bane noted her every breath.

He would have to prove to her. Something too terrifying to fully understand. But he would have to show her that he would destroy himself for the sake of her. He would truthfully terminate himself for this feeling. He would surely die because of it. And he would tear down the world for her to feel the same. For her to truthfully understand his loyalty to her.

His undying loyalty.

* * *

The distant horizon held a strawberry field complimented with a horizon of purple and the warmest of colors. There was a soft breeze of the humid spring air and the tree swayed with delicious motions. That was where she resonated. Under the Oak. Her chestnut curls seeming to stress, but her mind was not on her hair. She let her fingers dig into the soil where she sat and she enjoyed the smell of the fresh earth amongst the fruit in the distance.

It was quiet. Not a sound was made besides the tree's motions and Talia leaned her head over and smiled at the ground.

Freedom. It was a rich word.

Freedom from her hell, the only one she ever knew. Her home and her father, his plan and her attributions. She was so young. Not ready for any of it. The few seconds; the time she had to savor, was the only thing keeping her strong. She was so much younger than she was. Seen so much than it seemed she should.

She let the dirt find salvation under her fingernails as she patted the soil and tried to smooth out the aged ground. Her burgundy dress clung to her skin as the wind found a more deliberate cycle. Soon, the wind would be too much to bear. There was a storm about to come. She could feel it.

She then heard a whistle blending in with the wind; a whistle, as if perhaps from a train. She turned her head towards the noise but could see no tracks or even the box cars themselves. The noise was soft, but becoming urgent. But she couldn't see anything. She stood up, brushing the soil from her dress; the debris staining her fingers. She turned again, looking around for the source of the noise, slowly growing louder, but found nothing. She wished to search, and she was about ready to, before she remembered that he told her to stay. That he would meet her.

The hill was not very tall and not far from civilization. Talia looked on to the fields ahead and watched the sun setting to paint the sky a marvelous burnt orange and yellow. She did not wish to sit yet she had no interest in standing. She wondered where he was. He promised he'd come. She wouldn't be there if he didn't.

The sound in the background grew louder, seeming to become a noise too imminent to ignore. Talia frowned and craned her head, beginning to walk around the tree to see behind it if, perhaps, the whistle came from that side. There was nothing, however. Nothing at all. She was puzzled. How could a sound be so close yet not within sight?

There was then a very alarming noise from behind. Talia cowered to the sound and turned quickly to find what had caused it and she ran around the tree, looking into the distance. There, at the bottom of the hill, in the center of the field, was a cloud of smoke from a recent explosion. There were screams but no one within range. Talia gasped at the sight.

Because the explosion took place within a vehicle.

Talia stared with bewilderment, but she did not stay put longer than a few seconds. She ran to the place, trying to find the source of the screams. She needed to help them. She needed to help them all. Whoever it was.

There was a bone chilling scream, there at the center, but the flames were licking too high at the sky for Talia to reach the vehicle with ease. She had to think logically. She would die if she moved any further. But then the scream rang again, this time behind her. She turned, her fingers tingling. There was nothing. No one.

Then everything stopped.

The flames made no sound, the wind ceased, the screaming stopped. Talia turned slowly, her eyes roaming over the vehicle, frozen mid-flame. She inhaled slowly, looking on as if to understand how it was possible for the scene to be frozen. She looked at the smoke above and into the flames. She did not know what she was to do.

Then the flames moved again, except they did not reach for the sky. They moved lower to the ground. They retracted and back to the vehicle. The shrapnel flung past Talia slowly and repositioned itself, making the body whole once more. She stared on with wonder, looking to the cabin hoping to see a face. She saw nothing.

Then there was a hand that gripped her shoulder, roughly turning her around. She gasped with shock and turned to meet the eyes of M'har. Her eyes grew wide with astonishment for he had been dead for quite some time. She wished to regain posture, ask him of the possibility of his deliverance, but could not do so before he drove a knife threw her heart, killing her instantly.

* * *

Her eyes opened as she awoke, her sheets feeling colder than she remembered. She did not bolt upright as she so normally did when she dreamed this dream. Possibly because she had never dreamed it quite that way.

Talia dared not blink. She stared on to the empty side of her bed and was frozen. She did not move at all. Perhaps it was safer that way.

Her breathing was the only thing visibly unstable. She stared wide-eyed out onto the room, glad that Bane had not come to her that night. Her brittle fingers gripped the sheets and she felt a shiver tempting to run down her spine. She thought back to the dream.

Because she always met the point where things started to rewind. When things began turning backwards, like a clock set counterclockwise. She always met that point. She continuously felt the hands, though they were always gentle, gripping her to make her see him. She would always see his face. The face she had missed and she would exhale with astonishment, confusion and momentary delight. And he would always return the action. Grip her close and hold her as she did him.

But this was different. This version. Because he did not embrace her. He assaulted her. Pierced her with a blade that ran deep to her heart. The fury in his eyes a sight she had never seen. As her dream faded, she seemed to have remembered him screaming something to her. She watched his mouth move but she could not see what it was that he had said.

She wanted Bane. She needed him close, but he had stayed away that night. She could only ask for so much. He did not give in again, and she guessed that she knew he wouldn't. He was stronger than she was at resisting. But still she needed his arms, like towers, keeping her safe from everything that fed her fear. She wanted his warmth.

But she also wanted to see M'har. M'har Barsad, as it seemed his name was. She never asked for his last name as he had never asked for hers. But being the daughter of the League's leader, he need not. She never wondered where he came from or what he had been through. He told her of how her father had found him but never further than that and she respected his privacy. He was her best friend, but they were not children to reflect on the past. They moved forward. Together and bonded through the time spent beyond the Pit and his troubled past.

But it seemed he had not told her much at all. Not shared with her as many secrets as she wished to know.

She had heard too many lies. Had seen so much evil.

She stared down at the cream colored sheets and finally blinked. She needed peace. She needed solitude from her troubled mind. She needed something that was avoiding her. She needed _someone_ who had not come that night.

And the warmth within her sheets. She needed that just as much as the company she yearned for. But she could not always get what she wanted.

* * *

The earlier morning, when Bane had revealed her beloved friend in the flesh, Talia did not know how to react. She did not even know how to breathe. She grew rigid, having the support of Bane at her side to keep her stable as she stared forward and to M'har, who she had always believed very much dead.

When he had turned to glimpse at Bane and see why he was being called, Talia watched his body freeze like hers, his eyes heightened with shock. He did not move just as she had stayed stoic. The men surrounding them grew quiet and stared from the beautiful woman, embarked with terror and astonishment, and the man with faded ocean colored eyes staring at her. It had been years. The years did no justice.

Bane made an order for the remaining to leave the building. It was now only the three of them.

M'har breathed her name, then. He made no movements. Did not blink. He only spoke her name. Talia whimpered, her whole body slowly moving, shaking. Her eyes were wide, rimmed with the tears she did not care to lose, and the blue was brighter than ever. She released herself from Bane's grip and staggered forward. She made her way slowly to his side. Her fingers reaching out, her eyes looking down to where they might touch. She opened her mouth to inhale; a normal reaction to the surprise. She gently let her fingers touch over his heart, the pressure soon becoming bruising. There, underneath the thin cloth of his black shirt, was a pulse.

Talia let out an agonized breath, her eyes closing as she sobbed with the sensation. M'har hesitantly gripped her fingers above his heart and crushed them in his hand. She was real. She was there.

Talia's free hand gripped his shoulder; she made sorrowful sounds. Sounds no man deserved to hear. She let her forehead fall to his pulse point by his neck and she let her wet tears stain his skin. She did not know how he was alive. She did not know how it was possible.

M'har grabbed her body and clung to her. His mind still frozen with shock. Talia did not pull back to look at him, she did not wish to speak. She only felt his skin. She was a severed part of who she was before. M'har held a woman he no longer fully knew. And she held a young man with nothing left to give.

Bane looked on at the two of them, wrapped so closely and heard Talia often make a troubled noise. But he saw what he knew he would see. Talia and M'har remained that way for legendary minutes, seeming not to part. Bane watched Talia curl herself closer to M'har with each second that passed and frowned at the sensation building within him. He couldn't understand it.

With one last glance, he figured it be best to leave the two in peace. Leave them to discuss their trials. Leave them to sort their stories.

Leave them to grow close as before. Something he wished to do.

* * *

"Is he in love with her?"

There was a scoff coming from her right and she turned to see his face. A rude expression seemed to claim his facial features as he smirked with mirth.

"He is incapable of such an emotion." Blanchet seemed to roll his eyes. He continued to carve the apple in his hands. Cresta frowned a bit, turning her eyes to look back at Bane who was standing at the other side of the room, before he settled in a seat. He had been settled there for nearly an hour, doing nothing but sitting patiently. Cresta had seen the Demon Head's daughter walk down the hall with Bane, to enter the room at the end, but she only saw him return. She wondered what was inside.

"I think you're wrong." She muttered, softly almost hoping he wouldn't hear. But Blanchet chuckled darkly, having heard her sentiment.

"And what do you know of love, sweetheart?" He drawled, slicing a thick chunk of the apple from its core and began chewing on it.

Cresta frowned at her fingers. She did not know love. She only knew the pain of having to watch someone love another without any regard to her. Love to her inquired that both parties shared a mutual affection, she only knew of her affections.

"I know of how my mother felt towards my father, and of how he felt towards her. I know of the swans of the lake, never straying from their partners. I know of Shakespeare and his sonnets of romance." She began, tying her hair back. "I see how he waits for her." She indicated towards the man across the room sitting in the chair by the door. "I know what love is, Blanchet. I don't need to have felt it to know it."

Blanchet sighed heavily as he sat more formally in his chair. "Let's pretend that's true and question for a moment. Why have you come to care if he cares for her or not, child?"

Cresta pursed her lips and sighed, annoyed. He always referred to her as a child. Blanchet was in his late forties. He was not what one would consider old. "My concerns are not for you to understand. Nor will I share them."

Blanchet smiled mischievously at her deliberate resistance. "Then I wouldn't speak on it." He replied. "But if you truthfully wish to know whether he is capable of such affections, then I would encourage you ask him yourself."

Cresta grew still. Her eyes boring into Blanchet's and he could tell that she immediately resisted the idea. She suddenly, though she tried to hide it, looked fearful at the thought. His smile grew with the sight of her seeming uncomfortable. She clenched her jaw, looking back to Bane who sat exactly as he had before.

And then she looked on to the door, the one that still had not opened, and thought of swans, sonnets and her parents. And of the man in the mask, loving the woman behind the door instead of loving her.

* * *

He did not stay by the door any longer. After what seemed an eternity, he moved. Left when she did not exit. He knew that she would need time. And he would give her it. He would give it all to her. So he left. Finding his way through the tunnels and to a place where he could sit in silence.

She found him there. He turned his head to glimpse at her. She had red eyes, but her expression was peaceful. She walked to his side and kneeled before him, placing her hand on his bent knee. She looked up to him, her eyes solidified with an emotion he could not decipher. She looked up to him and her eyes had dried, her mouth was set, and her breathing was stable. He kept his eyes on her as she inhaled deeply and squeezed her fingers around his knee.

He looked down at her fingers and he clenched his jaw. Raising his hand hesitantly, he brushed her fingers with his own and placed his large hand on top of hers. His breathing was unstable at the touch of her cold skin.

He looked back to her eyes, they seemed to be more alive than usual, and watched her slowly morph her face into an expression of gratitude. She did not speak and neither did he. It seemed a method of speaking without words. Of eyes communicating in ways that words could not.

She rested her forehead to her fingers at his knee and smiled, not daring to cry. Bane brushed her hair as he did when she was a child. The smooth locks were like silk under his fingertips. She swallowed solemnly and thanked him silently. Without words and tone. He knew. She knew that he did.

Bane looked down to her and continued to hesitantly brush her hair. He was unsure of how to comprehend. He looked down to her with wonder. A woman who had lost so much deserved to be given back something in return. She had needed it and he was able to provide.

* * *

Her tears had not ceased even as he held her as close as he did then. She imagined the sorrow might stop once they embraced, but it did not. He finally pulled back to look at her face, her eyes as blue as the sky. She focused on each aspect of his face until it became imprinted within her skull.

Her fingers reached up and drew lines from his temples to his jawline. Her thumbs were placed along his cheekbones. His eyes searched hers.

"Talia?" He asked again. She whimpered once more and nodded, her tears seeming more inept then. M'har's face seemed to morph, it seeming incredibly sad. She clenched her fingers around his face and seemed to hold tighter in futile attempts to keep him close. To keep him from fading. He held her as well, his fingers around her shoulders.

"I watched you die." Her voice faltered as she swallowed another whimper. She looked at him, her fingers sliding to his shoulders and not believing in what she was touching. M'har shook his head.

"I was close, but I was not inside of the cabin when the explosion took place." He explained. "The impact was strong enough to excel me backwards and the influence of my body to the concrete was enough to knock me unconscious. I woke up in a hospital bed with nurses asking me who I was. I escaped one night when they were to take me into custody. I didn't die."

Talia looked up into his eyes and frowned. "But you didn't come back."

"To come back to what?" He insisted. His face grew dark as he looked to her. "To your father's war? His betrayal of _all_ of us? His mentality of superiority and reign?"

"To me." Talia said, her voice clear with determination. She searched his eyes, stepping back a bit. To _her_, damn it. He should have come back to her. As they always would come for each other. As children who had promised to grow together and protect their kin. Who had made a pact to service the other with nothing but love and kindness.

M'har inhaled deeply, turning his head to the side. "I wanted to. More than anything, Talia. But I could not return to you."

Talia exhaled exhaustedly, her eyes brim with tears. "Why?"

M'har clenched his jaw. He exhaled with force and turned his head to the side, not wanting to look at her. How could he tell her? And what was there to say? There was nothing he could do to try and make her understand. He wouldn't even try. He had promised himself that long ago.

"I am sorry, Talia." He muttered. He turned his eyes back to her and his face softened. "I'm sorry that I did not-"

"Enough." Talia interrupted. She looked to him.

"Talia, listen to me-" He stepped forward to embrace her, but she flinched away from him.

"Enough!" She said again, louder this time. She backed away from him, her face painted with betrayal and heartbreak. "Again." She muttered to herself. "Again with-"

But she stopped, her sentiment frozen in her throat. She blinked furiously, trying to restrain the tears. Between her father and Bane, to add M'har to her heartbreak was not an action she wished to comply. She looked into his eyes and tried to breathe. Her father had broken her. He had invested her, turned her into one of his soldiers. But what was worse was that all of that love she knew he projected was not important enough to him when it came to what she was needed _for_ rather than what she meant to him. And then with Bane, who had always loved her endlessly, to scorn her for nearly two years after he believed that she had chosen her father over him. The pain the image had caused her left her breathless and broken. For she had always been faithful to Bane. To have him look at her with hatred cut her to the core.

And furthermore, with the sentiments previously being stated, it was obvious to Talia that she was well not worth the return of her beloved friend. That he did not come back to be with her in the end, for a reason he could not give. That instead he would apologize to her and believe that every moment in the past could be erased with that implication. She had just had enough.

She could not share her heart anymore.

Talia wiped her tears, her fingers cold and sore. She brushed her cheeks roughly to diminish the moisture. "I have had… too many people leave me. Having died or disappear. I have believed it, and wallowed in self-agony. But how _dare_ you? You have ruined my heart… ever since the day we were to return home. And you would not return to me? You would rather avoid my father than see me again?"

Talia's tone became venomous. She looked to M'har with such furious desperation that she seemed to project a most sinister oppression. She looked to him with heartbreaking betrayal and sorrow.

"No, Tal. Never." He accused. "You wouldn't understand-"

"How would you know that? How could I not understand _anything_ that you have gone through?" She retorted.

"Because the emotion had not applied to you in any way, Talia. You may understand it, but you have not felt it and I will not allow you to try and empathize."

She curled her fingers into fists. "What feeling could have made you decide that I was not worth enough?" She accused angrily. "What emotion could sway you enough to disregard me?"

M'har wrinkled his brow. He looked to Talia with sadness from within. He never wanted to hurt her. Never. "Do not think like that. Your stature never changed. You will always be my best friend."

"If you loved me at all, you would have never done that to me." She reasoned.

"It was because I loved you that I did it, Talia." He answered. He looked away from her, his eyes searching the empty space. All had left. It was only her left in the room. "It was because I loved you too much that I had to stay away. Because of the knowledge I had collected ever since _he_ returned. I could not put myself in that situation, Talia. I would not, for the sake of my sanity and your well-being. I had left you because I could not look at you and see anything being extracted. Because you did not love me back-"

"I have always-"

"But not as I did, Tal. Never as I did." He interrupted her mid interruption. "Your feelings were different. I understand that, and I respect it as well. I never wanted you to love me as I did unwillingly. I always wanted your spirit to be free. In the end, your heart belonged elsewhere and I had to understand that it would never be mine to hold. You have always been my closest friend. My bonded sibling. I have admired you. So irrevocably. I had always wished for your best interests. Your heart had consumed me and I had loved you. I still do. But your heart has been captured like a bird. You love him."

He turned to look at her and noticed how still she had become. Her mouth was parted by the shock and her eyes were wide as a doe's. Her fingers uncurled and she lifted them to her lips. She had obviously never known. He smiled sadly at her; his chest constricting as he realized that he had just revealed the truth to her. That it could not be undone. He had told her.

He watched her eyes flicker; she looked down and he could tell she was obviously deep in thought. He smiled.

"Do not trouble yourself, Talia. I have no reason to be covetous. I believe I have always known. That was why I needed to stay apart from you. Because I could live around your happiness, but I could not allow you to see the lack of mine."

His words softly echoed through the room. She turned to look at him, her mouth set and her eyes pleading with an emotion that he only knew as pity. Because she must have known how it hurt to love someone who did not love her back. He was wrong. He could see it in her eyes that she could empathize all too well. That she must have felt the same thing he felt; and that made him sad. She looked to him, her eyes rich with the emotion, and he realized that she was indeed intoxicated with it. He noticed something that he never wished to see.

"Does he know?" He asked. She stared past him and tucked her hair behind her ear. She nodded.

"He must."

M'har exhaled softly. "Did you tell him?"

She shook her head. "He has hated me the entirety that I was with my father. He has seen me as an omen. A monster that deliberately tarnished him. I know that he understands that I never wished to hurt him, but he will never look at me the same."

She seemed to choke on the last phrase with the emotion rising in her throat. M'har looked to her heartbroken face.

"He loves you, Talia."

"But not as I love him!" She answered, her voice faltering.

M'har sighed. "And that… is how we empathize."

Talia looked to him, noticing the truth to his words and looked down to her fingers. He was right.

It was a few minutes of silence before Talia looked up at him. "I'm sorry."

M'har stepped forward and let his arms surround her, embracing her fully. "Never be sorry for the past, Talia."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You didn't." He answered.

She made a sound of disapproval but let the conversation fade. She stepped back and looked at him. He smiled slightly, the smile she had missed so much, and she gripped his fingers.

"I really do love you, Talia. But I had to let you go a long time prior. I had to let you live without a shadow, without a nagging intuition. I had to let you love fully without someone to hold you back." He said.

Talia looked up at his once green eyes that now seemed blue with the memory of past experiences.

"When I never came back, I had to grow on my own. I met other people and I lived other lives. I never meant to hurt you, and believe me, I wanted to return. But I had to follow my morals instead of my intellect. I had to believe that I would meet someone later on that could cleanse me of my attachment to you. That I could love her as much as I loved you, but I could do it without feeling as if I had lost something."

Talia smiled, even as the tears fell down her cheeks. She nodded, her heart tight at the thought of how much pain she had caused him.

"And did you find her?" She asked, her eyes still seeming guilty.

M'har smiled sadly. "Yes." He muttered. "But I still feel as if I am losing, even with her."

Talia clenched her jaw. She looked to M'har. Her oldest friend; here in the flesh and bone. She smiled, but her eyes were filled with sadness. Because she could not cure him. She could not help him in any way.

"Does she know?" She asked as he had. Feeling a cycle formulated. "Have you told her of your affections?"

M'har inhaled deeply. He shook his head.

"Then she is obstinate." She replied. "She isn't refusing such affections."

"But she will not repay them." He sighed.

Talia frowned. "And what proof do you have?"

He looked into her eyes and bit his tongue. He could not tell her the reason he knew because she wouldn't like the answer. He looked into her blue eyes and he wished it wasn't the way that it was, but that wasn't the case. She would dive into a new set of emotions if she knew. He could not tell her the truth.

She waited patiently for him to answer but he did not speak. He brought his fingers up to wipe her cheeks of their tears and reveled in the feel of her warmth under his fingertips. He smiled then, his calm expression comforting.

"Let us focus on more important things. How did you come to figure out your father's actions?" He asked.

Talia let out a soft laugh and closed her eyes for a moment. She continued smiling when she backed away and walked over to the seat he had resonated in previously. She patted the opposite chair, ready to tell him of her stories.

* * *

Her blue eyes seemed to dim as she rubbed her nose and sat more comfortably in the cradle of sheets. She looked over to the window and watched the moon shine into her apartment, thinking deliberately about the dream she just had. Her fingers led a trail down her neck to the skin just above her heart, and there she grazed the flesh, noting that it was not tarnished as it had been in her dream. She exhaled with exhaustion.

Her expression was melancholy. She remembered the previous events and sighed. She thought back to M'har's words; his ability to profess his once undying admiration for her and of the fact that she had never known. She felt guilty to have caused him pain. She never wanted to hurt him. And while she felt angry that he had not returned to be with her, she understood the reason why he didn't. She knew of the pain of loving someone who did not return the love. Her fingernails dug into her skin.

She inhaled sharply and slid off of her bed. Her feet took her to her door and down the hall way, heading to the kitchen. The darkness was distracting, but she did not turn on the lights. She reached the faucet and turned the water on, invading the cabinet for a glass. Filling the glass with the cool water, she drank without complaint. The cool water soothing her body as it ran down her throat. She rested her body against the counter.

Her camisole was not enough to keep her warm and she felt the reaction to the cold bother her. She closed her eyes, letting the silence be embraced. She bowed her head as her fingers curled around the marble counter.

She felt ice within her stomach, but not from the cold nature of the water, but instead because of how her life seemed to twist continuously until she was broken beyond repair. She wished for an easier life. One where she would not have to hide from her father. One where she would be able to resonate where there was no plans of deception. No propaganda or lies. One where she could _live_, truthfully and free.

There was a whisper in the wind. Some sound coming to her right and she quickly turned her head. She squinted in the dark, looking for an intruder as her mind told her to. She stepped carefully, her movements silent as she advanced forward to look as to what had made the sound. She had been taught never to disregard suspicions.

Her mind instantly thought to Bane and the possibility that he had come to visit her. It was intuition, perhaps. He always seemed to know when she was troubled. Her mind seemed comforted at the thought. Maybe he had come, indeed.

But there was no repetition to the sound. She listened forcefully, but all she noticed was silence. She began believing she had imagined it when she was seized from behind, being pulled backwards into a place unknown. She thrashed, moved her body furiously to try and ease her way from the intruders grip. She let out a shriek and slung her fist to collide with the person's side.

The intruder groaned, letting her free of one arm. Talia took the opportunity and pushed herself from the circle of arms. She ran forward, the trespasser quick on her tail. She jumped over her sofa and around the table, turning only to find the unwelcome guest grab her by her waist and pull her to the floor. She looked up to see an unfamiliar face. A man.

She made a sound of pain as she fell harshly onto the ground, but he could not grab her hands before she assaulted the man. Using her fingers to clasp around his neck. The man made a choking sound as her fingers pushed further against his skin and his trachea. He pushed her harder against the ground. His hands pushing her more forcefully and she whimpered by the pressure.

The man loosened his grip once her fingers dug too far and he began gasping for air. He lifted his hands from her shoulders and up to her fingers around his throat. She slammed her knee into his side and pushed him over, rolling her body on top.

"Who are you?" She demanded. Her voice hoarse. She pushed her forearm up to his wind pipe and applied pressure to make him weak enough to resist the urge to get up. "How did you get in here?"

The man laughed weakly, his body shifting under her. She pushed her forearm further. 'Who are you?" She yelled more forcefully.

He spoke in what she had to register as Arabic. She frowned. He looked Mandarin, by his complexion and stature. His words rang through her ears. _I am the devil's advocate. Sent to retrieve the sinners who have transgressed. _Her eyes flickered, moving from his face to stare into the distance.

Devil's Advocate.

Transgressed sinners.

Her father had sent a member of the League to retrieve her. But how? How did he know where she was?

_How many are you? _She asked back in fluent Arabic. Her mind suffering from confusion. The man laughed once more.

_We are infinite._ He replied. _But I was happy to oblige. You don't remember me._

Talia clenched her jaw. Remember him?

_My child, Dorabella, she was ill._ Talia grew still as she looked to his face. Dorabella. The name was indeed familiar.

_I shared with you my concern. I told you that you were my only hope of convincing the Head of letting me go down the mountain to visit her. I shared with you her history of diseases._

Talia clenched her jaw. She remembered him. His daughter, he said, had blue eyes. A rare Mandarin beauty. She watched the man smile menacingly as he watched the recognition stain her features.

_I begged you to persuade him to change his mind. Do you remember?_ Talia made a terrified noise as the man beneath her took the opportunity of removing himself from underneath her and pinning his body over hers. _I never got to leave! My daughter died on a Tuesday, with no one there but my deceased wife's blind mother. Because of you, I was not able to return to my daughter and heal her! _He began ranting in what Talia assumed was Mandarin and she cried out with pain as he applied pressure to her wrists.

_I fell ill. I had pneumonia. _She claimed. It was true. She had intended to aid the man of his misery and persuade her father to let him retire his duties for a day, but she had become so ill that she was unable to even ask. But the man above her didn't know that. He assumed she was creating an excuse.

The man growled. _My daughter had Thalassemia. _Talia was unsure of what that was. _She died waiting for me! You deserve the same fate!_

The man strongly held to her but Talia managed to wrestle her wrist from his grip and used her fingers to dig into his eye sockets. He made a sound of pain, his growl becoming a scream of rage. Talia slammed her knee to his side and moved her body from underneath him. He toppled over and she took the opportunity to stand and run. Her breathing was frantic. She moved quickly before the man threw a dagger her direction, though it clattered to the floor on her left. She shrieked unintentionally as the loud noise startled her. He charged at her, only looking through one eye. He grabbed her arm forcefully and yanked her to the wall, but she pushed him hard enough, slinging her body around to kick him painfully.

She ran to her kitchen and frantically reached for anything she could find to defend herself with but she couldn't find anything. He was coming faster then. His staggering motions did not slow and he was reaching her. Faster and faster. She let her fingers search behind her while her eyes watched him. He pulled something from his pocket as her fingers grazed a handle of a kitchen knife and he screamed with rage as he came dangerously closer. He reached her, his knife firmly between his fingers, when Talia drove the sharp end of her meat slicing blade through his heart. The edge of his blade grazed her side, causing blood to flood down her side.

He made a strangled noise as the blood began choking him. He fell backwards, onto the floor with a loud noise from the collision. Talia gasped, her breathing erratic as she stared down to the man. His eyes did not see.

She made a delirious sound, one that consumed her. She brought her hand up to her mouth and looked down to him. There was an awful stinging at her side and she looked down to see blood oozing from her body. She dropped the stained knife in her hand and let it clatter on the tile floor. She ran across the hall and snatched her keys from the table by the door. She didn't bother putting on a coat. She ran out of her door and down to the garage, slipping inside of a car she was provided and sped off down the road. Only thinking of going one place.

* * *

There was no knock. Someone twisted the door open and it swung backwards, revealing Talia covered in blood. She rushed inside, sobbing and shivering. Three guards followed her and waited by the door. Bane stood up from his place at his desk and let the papers in his hand fall in a scattered mess to the floor.

He rushed to her side and examined her wounds before he looked into her eyes. She reached for him, her blood stained fingers wrapping around his body. She gripped him close and did not let go. He froze in shock.

"Talia-" He was about to ask her what had happened, but as if she read his mind, she told him.

"He found me." She wailed, her voice faltering. "He found me…"

Bane pulled back to look at her. "Your father did this?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No." She answered quickly. "No it was one of his… men. One with a vendetta. I could not save his daughter, so he tried… he tried to kill me. I killed-" She paused to inhale a sharp, sorrowful breath.

Bane gripped her face between his hands.

"I killed him." She whispered.

"Where is his body?" He asked. His fingers tense against her skin.

"At my apartment." She answered. "Bane, he got inside." She shuddered. He gripped her arm tightly.

"He found me." She sounded like she did not believe it. Like it could not have happened. And it shouldn't have. She swallowed, her eyes wide with the fear of previous occurrences. He looked at her terrified expression as she tried to formulate words to speak. She made soft noises of fear as she thought further on it and Bane felt ice in his veins.

"Where are your keys?" He asked suddenly. He looked up to her. Her eyes met his and she uncurled her fingers, letting the instruments jingle against her fingertips. She brought them up to her eyes, staring at them before she hesitantly handed them to him. He moved backwards and out of her reach and moved around to hand them to one of the guards.

"Dispose of the body and cleanse the scene. Do not let anyone inside and do not leave. If you are confronted, dispose on sight." He ordered. "I will make my way there in time."

The three men exited without further word. Bane closed the door and walked to Talia's side. He did not think on anything but the blood staining her shirt and her wounds. Her terror. He reached her quickly and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and under her knees, lifting her up and taking her to the bath tub. She made a surprised noise, but did not protest.

He set her feet down on the cool tile and made sure she was stable before he turned to twist the knob on the side of the bathtub, letting the water jet from the faucet. Talia continued to shiver. She bit her lip and tried to remain quiet. She grazed the edge of her camisole and carefully peeled it away from her skin. She hissed when the fabric released from her cut skin, but she pulled the shirt until it was completely gone from her body.

Bane turned to look at her, then he froze. He watched her remove the rose colored fabric from her body and throw it to the floor. She moved her fingers to her side and carefully touched the sliced flesh. She bit her lip hard to keep from screaming. Her fingers were rich with red. Her cream colored bra was stained with the red and the edges of her pants were as well. She began tugging at the fabric around her waist. She noticed Bane shift his eyes, turning them back to the water and she watched him dip a hand inside to test the climate. She slipped the fabric from her skin and was then left in only her undergarments. She did not care. She began pulling at the clasp between her shoulder blades when Bane stopped her. He gripped her wrists and pulled them forward, shaking his head. Talia stared at him for a minute, before she nodded. She wasn't afraid to reveal her body. She was not ashamed of its form. Nor was she embarrassed of the lack of privacy. But Bane stopped her and that was all that was. She did not try to defy him. She didn't know what thoughts filled his head nor did she want to. She could imagine him seeing her form, her child-like physique, as it always was. And she wondered how he coped with the thought of her, having always been so much younger, formulating into a woman with a grown body. She wondered if he noticed.

Because he had always seen her as a little girl. He had watched her grow up. And to lay out all that was never meant to be revealed must have seemed too much to comprehend. She understood. She respected it as well. She was not afraid.

She slowly moved to the tub's side, her whole side seeming to sting. She was not as sore as she imagined, but she was tired and _terrified_ from what had happened. Bane moved to her side to grip her elbow to keep her steady but she shook her head.

She eased her body down into the pool of liquid and she scrunched her face in pain. The water attacked her wound like fire. She clenched her teeth, the pressure agonizing but helpful to take her mind off of the stinging flesh at her side. Her fingers curled around the edge of the tub.

The wound was in a frenzy as the water seemed to suffocate it. The dried blood at her side made red clouds in the water. She spent minutes in the tub, letting Bane cleanse the cut. He did not try to talk with her. He was silent as he healed. It was not long before he made her stand up and leave the tub, wrapping her in a towel when he left the room to gather supplies so he could seal the wound. She made no noise. She was quiet and still as he did his work. Her breathing was rapid, but she seemed calm enough. He gently pulled the thread, pulling her skin together tightly and she silently groaned at the sensation. He carefully sliced the string and reached for a bandage to place over it. Her eyes stared ahead as he taped the soft padding to her skin. She rubbed her arms against the dirty towel and ran her fingers through her wet hair cautiously.

Bane stood up and threw away the excess. He looked to Talia and told her in a soft tone to exit the bathroom. She got to her feet hesitantly and moved forward. She walked further into his room and noticed the scattered papers on the floor. She bent down to pick them up, whining softly at the pain in her side. Bane stopped her hand, carefully wrapping his around her waist and pulling her to the bed. He gripped the comforter and pulled it down. She hesitantly sat down, not wanting to lie down just yet.

She looked up to Bane as he walked over to a door on the West wall. He reached inside and retrieved a large black shirt, closing the door. He walked back to her and gently handed it to her. She pulled open the fabric and ran her fingers along the hemline before she looked up to him. He helped her pull it over her head and it cascaded down her body. She pulled her dark hair through the back of the neckline and flattened the space above her stomach. Bane kneeled down to grip her wrists.

"Do you know who it was, Talia?" He asked. "Did you know his name?"

She looked to him and shook her head. Bane continued.

"Where did you stab him?"

She lifted her fingers, placing her index finger to press lightly over her heart. Bane looked at her fingertips and nodded.

"Sleep now. I am going to surveillance your apartment. I will be back in the morning." He was starting to back away when Talia made a muted protesting noise.

"Please don't leave." She whispered. Her voice desperate. She wanted to bite her tongue but she could not. The words came and she could not stop them. She sounded foolish. She was safe her. She would not be attacked. She had nothing to fear. But her fingers gripped his arm.

She cursed her incentive lack of restraint.

"Go to sleep. Continue your work. Do anything you wish, Bane. But please don't leave me alone." She continued.

"I can gather you protection, Talia. They can guard the door."

"I want you to stay." She admitted. Her words cutting deep into him. He looked into her eyes and she felt herself cringe with the realization of her words. It made her sound weak and awfully petty. She looked down to the sheets and exhaled tiredly.

There were minutes of silence before Bane moved. He wrapped the comforter around her body comfortably and tucked her inside. She let her head rest on the pillow, the whole while looking at him.

"I presume they can deal without me until morning." He declared. Talia let out a weak exhale of relief as she looked up to him. He was going to brush her hair from her face when he retracted his hand, deciding not to. "Sleep now. Morning will come soon."

Talia nodded slowly, her eyes watching him turn to return to his desk and gather the papers from the floor. It was minutes before she shifted, her body easing more comfortably into the mattress. She did not sleep. She stared off into the distance and silently waited for dreams. It had been half an hour and with consistent side-ways glances from Bane, she remained positioned as she had prior.

He worked hard despite her presence, or so it seemed. But he could not stop looking over to see if she was asleep. He urged himself to continue his work despite his yearning to sleep. He had resisted her one night already and that landed her with an assault from an intruder. He cursed himself that he hadn't come to her that night. If he had been there she wouldn't have gotten hurt.

He turned his eyes to look at her, but this time she looked at him. He intended to look away as soon as he noticed her stare, but he didn't. She stared at him with silent appreciation and something that registered within him as desire. A fire untamed and irrevocable.

She was subtle, but she either didn't realize that she projected such emotions, or she was unsure of how to conceal it. Bane looked to her; lost in her stare, and seemed to inhale deeply. Wishing she wouldn't look to him in such a way. Wondering what it was doing inside of him. There was ice in his veins.

She didn't smile, nor show any facial formalities. She looked to him and he looked back.

Then she moved her eyes away, slowly shifting them to the other side of the room. Bane continued to look at her, balling his fist as something tore at his insides. She exhaled softly and tried closing her eyes. He could not control his body. Something possessed him and soon he was standing. He set down his work; disregarded it and moved from his place in his chair.

He twisted the knob that turned off the lamp and then there was no more light. He reached the side of the bed that she lay on and he watched the dim glow from the light reaching under the door reflect off of her eyes. She looked to him calmly, almost as if she had hoped he would come to her. Her mouth was calmly set, her eyes were peaceful. Though her expression, if he deciphered it correctly, looked partially sad.

Her fingers, long and pale, reached up from under the covers to carefully stroke the steel of his mask, her eyes following her nails. Bane closed his eyes with defeat. He finally let the façade fade as he truthfully embraced just how horrified she had made him. How the sight of her, covered in her own blood, seemed to terrify him. She inhaled softly and did not dare move.

Bane opened his eyes to look to her eyes which were persistently watching her fingers. He reached up to grip her digits softly. Her small hand cradled in his.

"I have to leave." Talia proclaimed, cutting the silence with her words. "He sent someone like a hound to retrieve me. I cannot stay here. I cannot hide forever."

Bane looked into her eyes and clenched his jaw, his breathing sounding strained behind the mask. Her fingers curled in his.

"And I don't want you to come."

She sounded like she was lying, but Bane looked into her eyes and he saw a certain truth. "That is not your decision to make."

Her brows knitted, the dark making it hard for him to decipher her emotions. "I have to find him, Bane. I have to stop this. If that means I have to-" She inhaled sharply and swallowed her words. Even if she had to kill him. She was going to say it, but that was not what she meant. She couldn't. She hated him. She had grown to hate him.

But her love did not dissolve. He was still her father.

She didn't continue. Bane watched her in silence. She turned her eyes to him and her eyes were pleading, hoping that he would understand and that he would not follow. That he would be safe away from her. That he would understand that she needed to make peace with her father. That even if he would never set her free, that she herself would feel free.

Bane exhaled tiredly. "Go to sleep, Talia."

He sounded almost pleading. She stared at him for a minute, her silence seeming to be deafening. She inhaled deeply, twisting her fingers in his. "I can't."

"Try." He urged. His body rigid, wishing she would do as he ordered.

"I don't want to." She admitted.

He sighed with defeat. "You are still so stubborn." He pressed, thinking back of the days in the cell when he would only want to sleep and all she wanted to do was everything but.

Talia laughed softly, her sounds echoing mutedly. "And you are remarkably impatient."

Bane made a sound of amusement. She turned her head, shifting a bit further into the mattress. Her eyes searched his with interest. Her soft fingers moved along his hand to create a path that irritated his skin in the most delicious way. Her blue eyes closed and opened as she blinked, her breathing never losing its pattern. She looked to him and something about her stare was tempting.

"Dream, Talia." Bane ordered softly. Talia looked to him, her blue eyes flickering with the moisture and reflection of the light. She smiled sadly. If only he knew.

She felt a dry sensation in her core as she thought back to what had happened and how unreal it seemed. She clenched her jaw and tightened her fingers in his. Dream.

She reasoned with herself and had a feeling that she already was.

* * *

Her sobs were persistent, vying for all of his attention as her head was cradled between his neck and shoulder. Bane hesitantly brushed the short hair on top of her head. She spoke through a strained throat, moaning things she could promise if they would just _stop_ hurting her.

She even offered her own life.

Bane clenched her closer to his form, fitting her inside of his arms more comfortably as he let her cry. Wrapping his fingers around to gently rub her back. She continued to plea, but she did not lift her face from its spot in the nook. She did not want to see. Her tears were cold as they dropped down his neck.

Bane had never soothed a mourning child before. He had never affectionately touched another human being for what seemed centuries. And to suddenly have this child clinging to him as if he was a deity sent to rescue her seemed like a task he was not ready to fulfill. He was unsure of what to say or even what to do, he just did what felt right.

He made a noise, a rather comforting one, and hesitantly massaged her tiny form with promises of protection. He looked out amongst the crowd, all of the men running up and descending the stairs. Rioting in the distance. He heard foul remarks being thrown around the prison, echoing to reach each corner. The child grew silent in his arms, her fingers gripping the cloth of his shirt. She still shivered and trembled. Her form seeming too small to withstand so much emotion. She continued to repeat her mother's name. She repeated the only name she loved.

Bane softly cradled her head with his palm and promised her warmth and security, a love that ensured. He had never cared for anyone, much less himself. He was not ready to take on a life that was not his own. He may never be ready. But it was the only option. The right option.

"Go to sleep, child." His voice was rich with an emotion unknown. He swallowed cautiously, trying to figure out what it was.

The child moaned a protest, her head seeming to shake.

For a reason he could not fathom, the young man smiled. His breath coming out in a nonchalant manner. "So stubborn." He remarked. There was a sad atmosphere that outweighed the entire body of his peaceful mantra. Because he could not provide for the child. He could not give her what she needed.

And no child deserved that fate.

* * *

"Arkham?" She whispered, her eyes narrowing slightly at what he had just said. "That's the narrows."

Bane nodded, his eyes searching out the window. "It's half an hour from here. It is the first place your father would expect which is the last place he would look."

Talia watched the buildings pass as the car took a turn. She placed her stiff hands in her lap and held them close together. She didn't like Bane's plan of moving her. She didn't see any logic in it. Why relocate her so close to where she was formerly attacked?

"We traveled from Japan, Bane. We could have been anywhere. How did he find me in New York?" She wondered aloud what had been bothering her the entire night. "Someone must have seen me. He must be close."

Bane clenched his fist. Did she think he did not know? He knew all too well and that was what influenced his decision to leave. He wondered what Ra's business was within New York. Such a big city. The only other large manifestation was Gotham. He could acquire a few reasons why Ra's would find interest with that region.

"Arkham is a run-down city. You are maintaining a safe environment for yourself."

Talia tilted her head, her eyes looking confused. "Arkham is filled with mental hospitals and drug addicts."

Bane nodded. "You are more than capable of maintaining."

"Why Arkham? Shouldn't Gotham be more deliberate?" She wondered why he would lead her into an infestation of corrupt when that was exactly what her father preyed on. Why not send her to a more facilitated environment?

"Arkham is ideal for your father's cause, which makes it mandatory that you remain there until the cause is, perhaps, fulfilled. To hide within the obvious. Your father is a smart man, but he looks for what he can see before he searches underneath the layers." Bane replied.

Talia exhaled cautiously, looking at Bane for a long minute before her eyes turned, searching the buildings that passed. Looking for something unknown.

* * *

"She is to be trapped like a dog within those walls without end?" M'har shouted. "She will suffocate! She cannot live that way."

"She will live the _safe_ way, and until I know there is a secure enough foundation, she will not leave her apartment." Bane reasoned.

M'har defiantly scoffed. "She will hate it. She will absolutely hate _you_ for it."

Bane exhaled loudly. "Do you think I do not assume that myself?" His tone was rich with annoyance. More at himself than at anyone else.

M'har looked at Bane as he turned his head to glimpse out the window. It was silent for a long time, Bane's body vibrating somehow. He then let out a harsh increment to his rage, cursing under his breath as he balled his fists. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to please her and keep her safe.

M'har understood his difficulty, but he wondered why Bane was keeping her concealed from her father. He wondered what could keep him keeping her distant. He wanted to know.

He didn't get an answer. Only an order to travel to Arkham and retrieve Talia's transcripts. M'har walked from the room.

"Such a shame." Someone drawled to the right. M'har turned his head sharply to inspect Blanchet leaning down the hallway. "I'm going to miss her."

M'har never had a liking for Blanchet. His slowly graying hair was getting longer and his black attire made him look older than he really was.

"You don't look so good, recruit." His voice sounded like unforeseen poison. "Something bothering you?"

M'har clenched his jaw. "Not a matter worth sharing, Blanchet. Thank you, though, for your mock concern."

Blanchet made an amused offended noise. "Now, now. No need to bite." He pushed off from the wall and followed M'har as he stalked around him. "I am only pointing out the obvious. Talia locked up in a run-down home in the trash city of Arkham is offensive, even to you. How _does_ he think it's smart to do that?"

M'har paused and narrowed his eyes at Blanchet. "Do you have a purpose behind your interest? Or have you grown so immune to humanity that you seek the first person you find to question their lives so that you can ignore your own?"

Blanchet didn't falter at M'har's harsh words. "Talia is the daughter of a strong leader. She has no reason to feel weak, locked inside of a hell house. How much would _he_ love her if he sends here there?"

"It is for her protection!"

"Do you actually believe that?" Blanchet pressed.

"Of course I do." M'har spoke through clenched teeth.

"But there is something else." Blanchet remarked, his smirk growing. "Why has he settled her in Arkham? Especially since he has always had business in that central region?"

"Where is your proof, Blanchet?" M'har initiated, his tone questioning.

"Ah, trust. Such a valued trait." He answered. "Very similarly to how you are so trusting of him."

M'har frowned, his breath coming out sharply. "They are Bane's orders. And I am to carry them out."

"As you wish, comrade." Blanchet lifted his brows with defense. "Just keep an eye on her. If Arkham isn't safe for her, you might have to negotiate with the brute and reason with him a place that is. Her father will find her. There is no stopping it, only delaying."

M'har looked to Blanchet for a long intense minute, contemplating each thing he had just said and wondering why he was agreeing with it, before he walked around him. He wondered why he even listened.

* * *

"You would never have left on your own" He remarked, his fingers gripping the wheel of the vehicle. Talia was fuming next to him.

"Of course I wouldn't! Bane gave me specific orders!" Her tone was venomous. "Have you lost your mind?"

M'har turned a corner with ease, her temper not affecting him. "No, Talia. You have. He cannot keep you locked up in that hole. Your sanity is wearing thin."

"Damn you, M'har." She spoke through clenched teeth. M'har had literally kidnapped her. As in, breaking into her apartment and actually forcing her from its walls. Bane would murder him. And she would let him. Damn him, indeed. How dare he defy an order so specific?

"What do you plan to do?" She spat, her words scathing. She turned her gaze to catch his as his eyes left the road for a second and found hers. Her blue eyes were challenging, wanting him to give her his best explanation.

He turned his eyes back to inspect the road. "To meet back at the compound." He indicated to the distance where New York remained.

Talia's eyes widened with disbelief. "Are you insane?" She asked loudly, her voice alarming in the silence of the car. "I cannot! Stop this! M'har, take me back. If Bane sees that you have risked my life, he will massacre you." She sat more stoic in her chair and stared at M'har with anger.

M'har turned the corner, seeming to slow as there was a parade that was apparently taking place somewhere down the road. "Talia, you love him right?"

"Shut up!" She fumed, her fingers gripping the edges of her seat.

"You have to show him what you feel. You cannot let him assume." M'har sped up a little as he passed a clearing and then turned another corner. Talia could seem Gotham civilians roaming the streets in uniformity, children and adults cheering.

"Stop the car now." She ordered.

M'har disregarded her request and continued. "I know you, Talia. And you have to prove to him that you will be fine-"

"Pull over the car, M'har! Now!"

But he ignored her once more, they came closer to the back end of a building and crowds started to formulate. She could see a good variety of people. Wondering if her father was in that crowd waiting for her. Why wouldn't M'har listen? What was he stalling for? She growled.

"Talia, you can't fear-"

"Stop the fucking car now!" She screamed defiantly, tired of his persistent refusal to do it before. M'har made the car come to an alarming halt. She unfastened her seat belt and didn't take time to look at M'har. She exited the vehicle.

The driver got out as well, shouting at her as she got further away.

She turned and stalked heatedly over to where he stood. "How dare you!" She shouted. Not asking him, but rather accusing him. "What has possessed you to think you can defy him? Or me for that matter? I told you to take me back! I ordered you!"

She did not spend time screaming at him for much longer because she walked quickly around his form and to the sidewalk and moved further down, hoping to catch a taxi to bring her back to Arkham. M'har began following her and she quickened her pace. She searched the road for a taxi and once she spotted one, she waved her hand violently trying to catch the driver's attention. She ran to the car, her fingers just barely gripping the door when she collided with someone to her right, his fingers over hers.

She urgently turned her eyes to glimpse the figure who was going to steal her cab when she met ice blue against tanned skin, complimented by a black suit and dark rimmed glasses. She made no sound as she realized who the person was.

The cab driver honked his horn impatiently, and by then the figure turned his eyes down to look at Talia, the same expression as when they last met. He narrowed them with confusion, as he obviously didn't intend of encountering her after she had left. He stepped back and smoothed out the front of his coat.

He held a brief case, as black as night, and she realized that he had just stepped out of the courthouse. She stared wide eyed to his face and opened her mouth as if to ask him how he found her. There was a chill that ran down her spine. There was a shout from behind him; a separate man came from the steps of the courthouse. The man next to her flinched as what seemed to be his name was called.

"Dr. Crane! Are you heading to Arkham?"

* * *

A/N: And Dr. Crane has entered the picture! Shall she give us another cliffhanger, I think she may!

I know that all of you hate me now.

A side note of information, the disease Thalassemia is a disease inherited and is most commonly found in Asian and African habitants. Alpha thalassemia occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or changed. They can lead to heart failure.

So many aspects and so much for you to think on. I encourage reviews. Especially since it's Thanksgiving.

Have a wonderful holiday my American readers. And to the rest of you for being so kind.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Can I just say, I have never written a chapter this long, or this complex in the entirety of my life. I honestly don't know how I made it out alive.

17,000+ words!

Where is the medal for the OTHER longest chapter? hmm?

I don't want to say anything, really in these top notes. I feel I have more to say through my story and once everyone is done reading it, we can discuss yeah?

But before I go, a special thank you to all of my reviewers. Any bit of feedback is selfishly desired.

Thank you!

Now, off you go!

* * *

**The Cold and Heartless**

written by theleague-ofshadows

Chapter 14

* * *

_In the hills of Malaysia, just beyond the eastern hills, there resonated an empire that was so large, its shadows spanned out to reach each corner of the surrounding mountains. The empire was named Dinijad, ruled by a king known as Tos Alminot. Alminot harbored a deep affection for each of his people; he was truthfully a kind and just king. He married to the princess of the southern Indonesian border, their marriage sealing a bond between the lands._

_All was tranquil as the years bore on and no trouble came to the palace in the eastern hills. His wife, Silveya, took an interest in the local sweeper boy who apprenticed his father down in the cellars. On occasion, she would call him to her drawing room and have him work where she could watch; fascinated by the thought of a child to call her own. The young boy had light curls and the deepest of blue eyes. _

_Silveya grew accustom to the boy and required his and his father's work for personal service. Alminot watched his wife become less agitated and more peaceful as she conversed with the child. He found it odd for her interest to be so strengthened, but his wife was happier as the time went by. He found it strange that she looked beyond status and enjoyed the presence of a poor boy and his withered father. _

_Every night of the full moon the king lay with his wife as tradition of the eastern goddess. It had been months since the marriage, many times that the king had mated with her, but it was not until the night of the seventeenth full moon that Silveya confessed to her husband the complexity of her condition. Her father wished for her to conceal it, for he knew that the king of the Eastern Malaysian hills would not want a wife who could not bear a child. _

_Silveya shook with fear as she finally told her husband that she could not carry his heir. She was unsure of how the king would react or even if she would be thrown aside due to her lack of the ability to give. But she was sure her husband must know the truth and hope that he was a merciful man._

_Alminot stared at her sun-blessed face, his body stiff with surprise before he reached his thick fingers to wipe the tears from her eyes. She looked to him with surprise, almost wondering if he truthfully had heard her. Alminot made a sound of humor, his mouth forming a smile as he spoke._

"_Fear does not become you, dear one. Please, dry your tears. Your honesty has mesmerized my soul and I treasure your courage."_

_Silveya did as he commanded but her tears did not stop. She grew to love the man even more as his understanding seemed to touch something within her. _

_Alminot seemed to understand, then, what the true reason behind his wife's interest in the child was. Her affection was one that she would never be able to give to a child of her own. _

_Three years had passed and though the couple still lay beneath the full moon, they did so knowing that there was no outcome beyond the simple pleasure. Silveya took in the young child once his father died of a disease that took place in his lungs. The young boy, Hunstan, grieved for months. Yet softly, and with time, things started to get better for the child. Silveya and Hunstan shared time together as things started to grow past the point of sorrow and to a new age that seemed to flourish. They were to reach a golden age._

_But time did not escape Silveya and her new adopted son when the plague reached the west hills and flew down into the eastern hemisphere. Silveya's Indonesian roots ceased the disease from affecting her harshly, yet the plague fell upon her husband and Hunstan. The king's bed side was always filled with healers and those trying to keep him healthy enough to live for the kingdom did not have an heir. Silveya persistently stayed at his side for days, wishing to heal both of her loved ones at once, but knew her duty as queen. _

_One evening, when the shadows seemed the darkest, Alminot woke to a raging cough. Silveya seemed to calm it with warm water and gentle rubs down his spine. Alminot looked to his wife and saw her fatigue. He reached up to softly graze her cheek and told her she should go to their chambers and sleep; that he did not wish to see her die. She shook her head and continued to nurse him._

_But as time passed, Alminot saw her worry in her eyes. He spoke gently after minutes had passed. _

"_Hunstan needs you, my love. Call in the healer and he will nurse me to health. Our son needs you."_

_She smiled at the way he used the word 'son' for he had never fully embraced the way she loved the child. She brought her husband's hands to her lips and kissed them tenderly before she stood up and exited the chambers. _

_She did not return that night. After reaching her son and sitting beside him, humming a melody of her favorite fable, her son faded into the night to return to the Eastern gods. _

_The queen did not exit the castle for two years, lost in her grief and agony. Her husband did his best to comfort her, but the mother she was did not return to the land of the living. Silveya grew mute with sorrow. _

_Her husband, rich with grief at his wife's loss, wished to see her smile once more. He wished to search for young children in the common grounds below that were orphaned or in need of care to bring to his wife and let her have her chance as a mother again, but nothing prevailed. The king was on the verge of lost hope._

_That was when he went to the Black Corna for help. The wicked warden of the dark forest was rumored to have possessed magic; enough to help a human, even, for the wizard mainly used his power on animals. The king snuck from the castle with a few guards to enter the dark forest and met with the Black Corna, his face uglier than a charred swine's. The king did not cower in the face of the darkest in the entire realm, however. He stood tall and pleaded for the wizard to help his wife. _

_The Black Corna bowed his head gently and closed his eyes in a polite manner to address the king. "The boy was not of her blood?" _

_King Alminot winced at the words, his mouth ajar at the magician for he had not uttered a word of the boy's parentage. He nodded and asked if there was a way to heal his wife of her depression._

_The Black Corna confirmed, but spoke quietly a warning. "Magic is a burden, King of the East. If you permit me you must know there are always consequences."_

_The king hesitated, his fingers firmly gripping the reins of his horse. He thought deeply of his wife and how he could not live with her sorrow. She needed to live again. He looked up to the wizard and nodded. "I want your help."_

_The Black Corna raised his head, his chin high as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He raised the edges of his cloak and spun it around his body, creating a cocoon for himself. The wind began shifting and the clouds formed above. The horses grew skittish as the weather changed suddenly and then the ground began to rumble, smoke seeping from each crack. _

_The guards shielded the king but the king only wished to look further. The Black Corna did not pronounce a word before he opened his eyes once more and looked to the king. His cloak unraveled from his body and there by his feet laid a bushel of blood red dandelions. He knelt to pick three, and stepped solemnly to the king. The guards prepared their swords but the king waved them away. The magician lifted his hand up to the king's and placed the flowers in his hand. _

"_Have her ingest these. They are Dandelions of Rivena, produced from magic and the blood of a pure turned sinner. They are not poisonous and will heal her of her condition. But remember, King of the East. This is a burden that will come with a price. Make sure you are ready for the consequences."_

_The king curled his gloved hand around the flowers and nodded to the Black Corna. Then the wizard turned his head and moved slowly to the edges of the trees, his phantom-like physique haunting. When he was not to be seen anymore, the men traveled home._

_Upon his arrival, the king went to the kitchens and alarmed all that worked there to demand his wife be prepared a dish of braised meats marinated in an herb sauce that contained the flowers. Time slowed as the dish was prepared and the king grew anxious. _

_Upon its delivery, the queen refused the meal, claiming she wished not to eat. The king grew troubled with this and demanded that the meal be saved for when she did possess an appetite. It was the next day that the queen finally fed and when she was finished the king saw no miraculous recovery. _

_Days started to pass, yet the king only saw her more pale than before. He began to worry when one day his wife came to him with a grave look on her face, her eyes wide as she proclaimed. "Your majesty, I have not bled past a week now."_

_The king looked to her, his face confused when he finally understood the meaning behind her words. The queen was blessed with child. But it was impossible due to the fact that they had not lain in two years. The king was busy contemplating how it was possible when he suddenly thought on to the Black Corna and his magic. Could it be possible that he cured his wife of her condition? _That_ condition? The weeks that passed the queen still seemed estranged, but had a certain glow to her that he king had not seen in years. She used her slim hand to graze her stomach and felt where her child would be. She was in initial shock, but as the months passed the mother grew happier._

_It was a February when the queen gave birth to an heir. The king did not even mind that the child was female for all that he cared for was that his wife was content. The new mother rocked her child in her arms and sang to her, just as she had Hunstan._

_The child was named Miranda._

_Eighteen years passed and Miranda flourished as the beautiful princess the lands wrote songs for. She had rich brown hair, flowing down her back past her corset edge. The men of the lands wished with earnest to court her, but her loyalty seemed to remain with her religion and people. _

_Her people were just as equally loyal. _

_Her mother and father were the most loving of them all. They cherished her and often called her a miracle. _

_It was not until Miranda's eighteenth birthday, the day she bridged to womanhood, that the magic's consequences seemed to follow. _

_The halls were filled with the people of the distant lands and that of her own when a loud rumbling noise entered the room and there was a shadow cast all around. There were screams of terror as a hooded figure seemed to rise from the stone floor. _

_The Black Corna had returned. _

_The king stepped forth, his eyes wide with disbelief. "What has provoked your visit, magician?"_

_The Black Corna bowed once more and pulled his hood down. The people of the crowd shriveled with disgust. "I told you of a time when my deeds would need a prize in return."_

_The king stiffened, only he knew the meaning behind his words. "No." He whispered, his tone pleading._

"_I warned you, King of the East."_

_The king shook his head and reached for his sword, but the Black Corna used his hand to magically flick it from his grip. "I do not wish to start a war, sovereign. I have come to collect."_

"_She is not yours to collect, wizard! She is our daughter! The rightful princess of Dinijad!"_

"_The princess that I gave you."_

_Silveya gasped with disbelief. "She is my daughter! Please don't take her from me!"_

_The wizard turned his eyes to her, his face softening at her pleas. "I'm afraid I cannot. Your husband made me a deal and I am unable to break the bond."_

_The queen wailed, gripping her daughter's arm tightly as she protested. "She is all that I have."_

_Miranda looked with confusion to her mother and then to the magician. _

"_She has been bound to the demon who gave her life. Balance has to be set, your majesty." The man in the cloak uttered. His claw-like hands reaching out slowly for the young woman. _

_Miranda looked to her parents and shook her head. "Mama? Papa? What does he mean?"_

_But before she could receive an answer, the king yelled for the guards. There was a clatter outside as the men reached the door and entered. The Black Corna hissed with distain and reached for the young girl. She let out a surprised cry as she was ripped from her family._

"_I told you, King of the East. Magic always comes with a price." Then there was a large cloud of smoke and the walls shook once more. Once the center of the room cleared of its residue, the princess and the wizard were gone._

_Miranda struggled against the grip of her captor, pleading for him to take her back. But her abductor was silent as he pulled her through a dark tunnel made of earth. There were torches illuminating the pathway, leading further and further down. _

_They reached a metal gate, twisted and deformed in an ugly fashion. Miranda smelt the filth beyond the doors and cringed, every aspect of her being curled with disgust. When the gates opened, the Black Corna took her down through the purgatory and to a chamber filled with the essence of ash._

_Miranda cowered in fear, her eyes searching the room._

_The Black Corna took her to a goblet, took a blade from under his cloak and cut a sharp line down her palm. She hissed with pain as the blood flowed down her palm and into the cup, steaming as the liquid made contact with the bronze goblet. There was a low growling that aroused as her blood mixed with the wine in the goblet. _

_The ritual was complete; her bond to the Black Corna was sealed. Because he gave her life, she was to be his for the remainder of her life. _

* * *

Talia's fingers pressed lightly over the illustration on the opposite page of the girl with the dark hair and her captor, gripping her tightly when her father called her name. A small frown forming on her face as she looked for her father, Talia had to return from a world that the tale had created. The windows let in light as the sounds of men battled in the background. The young girl looked up from her spot on the west wall, the book of ancient tales, withered and aged, in her fingers. Her father waved for her to come forth, his face forming a soft smile.

Talia licked her index finger and gripped the page firmly before she marked the page she had finished and stood up.

"Reading again, little one?" He asked, his fingers curling around her shoulder as he led her over to one corner of the room. She nodded, the story still etched in her mind. She wished she had not been interrupted. She wanted to know the ending to the story.

* * *

There were eight sharp raps on the dark cherry door, but with the speed of the notions, it sounded more like three. She turned her head intently to look down the hall. Had Bane come to visit her so soon?

"Talia, open up. It's an emergency."

M'har's deep voice reverberated behind the door and Talia stood up with haste. Her feet quickly took her to the wooden entranceway and she swiftly gripped the knob and unlocked it. M'har entered, turning quickly to grip Talia's elbow.

The young woman looked up to him and widened her eyes. "What is the matter?" She asked quickly, her body stiff with surprise.

"You have to come now." He searched the room, finding it empty. "It's Bane." He whispered.

"Is he injured?" Talia inhaled sharply, her whole mindset shifting as she gripped onto M'har, demanding an answer. A critical hysteria seemed to transfix her as her thoughts drifted to all of the options that came with his previous words.

M'har set his jaw. "Come, we must hurry."

Talia frowned immensely. "What has happened to Bane, M'har?" She persisted.

But he gripped her elbow more thoroughly, pulling with force and managing to take her from the room. She looked back to the dark cherry door and then forward. She didn't know where she was going, only that Bane needed her, and that was all that she needed to know.

* * *

"You jeopardized my safety!" Her voice illuminated the thick atmosphere of the vehicle as the initial shock wore off. "How _dare_ you lie like that?"

Her teeth were practically bared as she fumed with contempt. She turned her head to stare venomously into the side of his, his eyes on the road the entire time.

"You would never have left on your own." His voice like liquid, fluid in its notions. He did not dare turn to look at her, not from fear, but something Talia could not explain. She felt the bile reaction rising in her throat. She spoke through clenched teeth, turning each word into a ferocious weapon.

"Of course I wouldn't!" And she never, really would.

* * *

"Dr. Crane, have you decided to visit Arkham today? If so, I would be very grateful if you delivered these files to Rosetta."

Talia, her stare transfixed on the sole person who brought horrible memories flashing before her eyes, could not move her body as he stared back. The short man in the navy coat had reached the skinny man's side. Dr. Crane, as it seemed, shifted his eyes to the snub man at his side.

The short man had an umbrella in his hand that he must have needed earlier in the morning, though Talia was unsure because she woke not long before M'har proceeded to her apartment. He was not very attractive and at least in his mid-forties, but Talia could only look to him and yearn for him to get to safety. That the man he was addressing was implacable.

"I'm sorry, Johnson, I've just ran into an old…" He turned to look at Talia's face, his expression barely readable. "Acquaintance. I'm afraid we are going to have to play 'catch up.' If you will excuse me, I won't be able to turn in your documents as of the moment." His eyes turning back to Johnson. "But tell Rosetta not to _fear_. She will get what she… deserves in due time."

His voice was liquid and blended with the alarming honk of the cab driver. "Would you like to share this cab…Miss Al Ghul," He paused to narrow his eyes slightly, "or shall we walk while we… _reacquaint_ ourselves?"

Talia's eyes were wide. She was fully aware that M'har had been standing near her, unaware of whom the man that stood before her truly was or who he meant to her. She was unable to comprehend what it was she wished to do or even what it was she _could_ do, when the man in the silver rimmed glasses spoke once more.

"Does your father know you have come out to play?" He said in a low tone, one she could barely catch. Her eyes flashed as her heart ran a mile a minute, making her skull throb. Her lips parted with confusion and astonishment and her fingers fell from the door knob of the cab.

"He's here?" Keeping her voice just as low as his, making sure her back was turned to M'har. Her body was enthralled and seemed to move forward unconsciously as she formulated a dangerous plan. Her wide blue eyes met Dr. Crane's and she held his gaze as she waited for him to answer. Her mind detesting the idea she had previously formulated.

"He's been looking for you."

Talia felt a shiver slither down her spine as the words that came out of his mouth came down on her like ice on a winter's day. She had figured a way long before her encounter with Crane of easing herself of this war on herself and her loved ones. She had known it was the only way to stop her father. It was not one that she enjoyed, nor one that she was prepared for, but it was one that she needed to fulfill. Because enough people had died. If she did not go through with it, she knew that not one of her loved ones would survive her father's wrath.

She clenched her teeth as the dry sensation in her stomach seemed to suffocate her of any form of ease. She would have to go through with it. She lowered her voice even more as she spoke, her voice wavering. "Can you take me to him?"

Dr. Crane narrowed his eyes even more as his right corner of his lip twitched. He said nothing, but Talia knew that he could. She could see it in his eyes. She had to tell herself to calm her breathing cycle. She couldn't back out now.

M'har was nearing closer, she could feel his presence behind her edging closer. She stared into Crane's eyes for a long minute, exchanging words that were not spoken aloud. It was when M'har brushed her shoulder blade with his fingers that she swallowed and stepped backwards an inch.

"I really don't have time to catch up today, Dr. Crane." She spoke clearly, her voice much louder this time. "Take the cab, we can reacquaint ourselves another day." Her back was still turned to M'har and her eyes were still locked with Crane's. She looked into his eyes, a certain thought she willed him to receive. A conscious idea that she wished for him to catch onto so that she could go through with it.

She backed away completely from his side, shifting her eyes away as she turned around and met M'har's without trouble. His confusion was evident and she knew that he had no idea the purpose behind her encounter. She smiled weakly at him before her lips turned into a thin line and she indicated that he make his way back to the car to take her home or wherever it was he was going to take her. M'har's brow furrowed as he watched defeat become written so profoundly over her features. He hesitantly turned to slowly start walking the whole while his eyes on her. She followed him and in the background the cab honked again, making Talia wince.

"Who was that, Talia?" M'har asked, walking a little quickly as they moved away. He looked to her face as she shook her head.

"No one." She answered.

M'har frowned, but began turning his form, twisting so that he fully had his back to Talia. She felt the swell of her chest coming on. She inhaled deeply, mouthing a silent apology as she looked to the back of M'har's head. She would miss him.

Turning quickly and as silently as she could, Talia sprinted back. She was at least twenty yards away from the cab and Crane stuck his head out, waiting for her.

M'har heard her running and turned quickly to see her retreat. He quickly and on instinct, followed her. Trying to catch her, but she was too quick. She reached the opened yellow door of the cab and slid inside with haste, slamming the door and yelling at the driver to get her away. To drive before she could make sense of what she was doing.

M'har reached nearer, his fingers gripping the trunk of the cab as they sped down the street. He ran, sprinted with all of his might, to reach for her. She felt her breaths suffocate her. What had she done?

What was she doing?

The car was too fast for M'har, however, because he could not reach her. She watched him getting smaller as the cab driver sped up.

"What the hell was all that about?" The driver growled from his place in the front. He looked in the rear view mirror, glaring at Talia.

"Fifteen E. Bishop Street." Crane interfered. He then looked to Talia, her face in a frenzy. Her fingers found her lips as she tried to keep from letting the sorrow transfix her.

* * *

Scarecrow, scarecrow, scare the birds for me?

Keep the harvest free of those pesky thieves.

* * *

"Had the others told you of my name, Monarch?" He did not turn to see if she had agreed. Talia winced at his use of her faux name. The one she detested and wished not to ever hear from any mouth ever again.

"Yes." She answered, clenching her teeth.

Crane let out a humorless laugh. "I'm sure that the irony of the present situation must amuse you."

Having the taxi driver take Jonathan and Talia to the location that Jonathan requested, from then on, Crane took them out of Gotham's city limits and to an abandoned farm. There were walking through a withered corn field to reach a house at the end.

The open fields of dead corn seemed to stifle Talia into a state of watchfulness. The sun was setting. It was getting darker. It was not amusing at all.

Then she remembered what the people of the institution who kidnapped her used to call him.

Scarecrow.

A scarecrow in a field of corn.

Oh, how comical.

Talia bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something vile about how, given his history, she found _nothing_ about him humorous.

She kept quiet and when she did not answer, Jonathan turned to stare at her. "Do you know why they call me Scarecrow, Monarch?"

"Talia." She corrected.

Crane ignored that. "It is because of my mask. Perhaps if you stay long enough, I'll let you see it."

Talia frowned. What was he talking about?

They exited the corn field in a matter of minutes and headed around the house to the back where a tornado shelter was built. Heading down, Talia noticed barrels, plentiful in stock of some sort of chemical.

She craned her neck to look around as she neared further and found that the tornado shelter was only base for a tunnel that had been built further on. She reached the end of the stairs and looked to her left then to her right and saw that the walls had been knocked out and there was a deep, thick tunnel that led in both directions to a place unknown.

"What is this place?" She asked. Why had he brought her here?

"Your father has required our intelligence and has ordered us to manufacture him a weapon." Crane answered in his nonchalant tone. There were others in the tunnel as well, moving the barrels around and taking inventory. Talia searched their faces. Looking to find someone familiar but she recognized no one.

"Where is Needles?" Talia wondered. Her fingers balling into a fist. She was terrified of encountering her again. After Bane killed Sphere, Talia was sure that Needles would seek vengeance.

Jonathan did not answer. He walked to Talia's left and started to move into the tunnels, lantern gripped firmly in his hand. Talia followed him into the darkness. The tunnels led further into a place she could not see. She was not sure if they journeyed further into the earth. They reached a corner and moved that way, walking past men who were pulling caskets of some sort of material.

Talia looked around, her eyes searching when they fell upon something blue in the distance. She narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to glimpse the object better when she recognized what exactly it was she was looking at. She walked closer to Crane and once she met the site, she paused.

Jonathan noticed and turned to look at her.

She picked up the blue flower from the mass pile lying in a casket and twirled it in her fingers. She closed her eyes. It smelled like home.

Upon opening her eyes, she met Jonathan's blue ones with confusion. "These are from the mountains of my home."

Jonathan was emotionless as he replied. "It is a small supply for experimental purposes."

"Experiments for what?" She asked.

Crane turned his head, looking up towards the tunnel's ceiling and then down further. "We are almost there." He began walking.

Talia pulled a petal from the flower with her fingernails, before she set it back to the casket on the floor. "Almost where?"

But, as before, Jonathan did not reply.

* * *

"Drugs?"

Jonathan's face was grim but there was a certain wicked look to him as he smiled stiffly and nodded. He gripped the iron bars of the railing above the men working below. They had moved; he had shown her the underground level which was used to supply the blue flowers of her homeland and then to the factory above ground that harbored the chemicals that were made from the flowers. The men working below looked exhausted.

Talia wondered what her father was going to do _with_ the drugs. What even was there _to_ do with something like that?

"And she…" Talia paused, her stomach clenching. "Needles… she partnered with my father?"

Crane inhaled slowly and began walking once more, leading Talia down the stairs to the bottom level. "She did many things for your father. All of which were paid nothing exceptional in return."

He walked quickly and Talia had to quicken her pace to stay in tune with his. But something confused her. "He did not repay her?"

Crane turned, pursing his lips dangerously as he exhaled sharply. "Oh, he repaid her loyalty thoroughly." He spoke in a strained voice. "Murdered her, however, when her partnership was not satisfactory."

Talia's heart stopped as she looked at Crane and her lips parted in shock. "He killed her?"

"Do you honestly think so highly of your father, Monarch, that you would become blind to his severity?"

Talia could not speak. She could not breathe. Needles was dead. Just like Sphere. She took a few minutes to process that, the whole while Crane waited.

Of course not. She knew, to the depths of her heart, just his fire. All of that weight that he brought. She knew of his evils; of his torturous mentality. And she knew what it had done to her. She knew what she was going into. She knew what she had left behind.

Talia had to clench her fist savagely to keep from letting her tears show. She had left behind Bane.

She had left him to wage a war against her father.

"Why did he kill her?"

Crane looked down and smiled slightly, but his smile was sadistic, as if he was imagining horrible things. "Why does anyone kill anyone? For the satisfactory of sating a debt. She was, as he said, 'A tie to dismember from the core.'" He looked up to her, his blue eyes deepened. "She was not what he needed, so therefore disposed."

Talia coiled back in fear as the intensity of his gaze became too much for her to handle and the circumstances became too much for her to bear. His tone was scathing, taking her and directing it in such a forceful manner that she assumed he inflicted the dark tone upon her.

She narrowed her eyes slightly from complex confusion. "What was she to you, Crane?" Her eyes met his and she had to swallow her fear momentarily to get an answer from him.

What was his relation to Needles? It seemed more in depth than a causal relationship, for the way he stiffly answered Talia seemed to indicate that Needles was far more than simply another member.

Crane clenched his jaw, in an irritated manner, he looked to his left. He had a haughty attitude in his mannerisms and Talia was definite that he indeed was not one she wished to spend her time conversing with. It seemed that he had no interest in anything, nor anyone. Just the sentimental authority that could appease himself.

He took a long time before he answered, much to Talia's surprise. "My dearest cousin had it coming for her. I knew that she was trifling with the wrong crowd, and in return, she dug her fingers too deep into the mass of blood. You see, terror is of the mind. Something beautiful in its midst and something that is an art. We as an organization tried to teach the mind to adapt to its theft, to find a way to use it." He stepped closer to Talia and her eyes grew wide. His smile widened. "Fear is the only real emotion left that has no opponent, and in time, your father came to realize just how essential our developed thesis was. He wished to use it. My cousin was only too eager to infect herself with the idea that your father could bring our establishment to a greater era. She was too arrogant."

Talia watched Crane's lip twitch as he grew lost in thought. His cousin…. Talia was speechless at the discovery.

"She was abducted…. And then they scalped her." Crane's rimmed glasses shined as the sun from the window reflected off of them. "I am sure she informed you of our decree and the importance of purity in our establishment."

Talia nodded. She knew what that meant. When she was kidnapped, she was informed that beauty was not a gift, that it was something earned. Needle's had hair well over three feet and a half, an indication that she was well pure enough. Her father had stripped Crane's cousin of all of her purity.

She curled her fingers into a fist.

Talia could not respect the idea they stood for, but Needles' death was not necessary and it only made her father a darker image in the back of her mind; slowly easing its way forward.

She did not apologize, nor would she ever. Crane exhaled, annoyed. His stance shifted as he backed away a bit, his dark humor drained. "Still wishing to see your father again?"

Talia clenched her teeth and held back the tempting urge to spit at him with complete disrespect. How dare he mock her? He would never know the real reasons for her dislike for her father. He didn't deserve to. She cared none whatsoever of Needle's death. It did not affect her.

She turned her eyes to Crane, showing him with her darkest look that she was having none of his games. His smirk grew dangerously.

"Come now, let me show you to headquarters. Your father will be waiting there." Crane turned around and began walking once more. Talia followed. "I assume your father knows not of your visit. Tell me, how _do_ you plan to reunite?"

Talia's teeth grazed her tongue as she tried to breathe normally. "Leave that to me."

* * *

_Her bedroom cell was more like a prison than it was a sleeping chamber, and though the Black Corna did not lock the cell, she never wished to leave. Miranda would stow herself away in her chambers for days, refusing food or company. Soon, the dark wizard sent food up to her room. _

_She imagined he wished not to converse with her. He had made no attempts to introduce a situation where they may _need_ to and she was eager to concur. But a part of her wondered why she had been taken. She wondered what he had meant, 'bound to the demon who gave her life.' She pondered the thought for days, wondering what if he was sane._

_Miranda missed her parents. She wished for them not to grieve, however. She was told of their loss before her time and she knew that her departure was one that they were most likely taking heavily. She missed her people as well. She missed her land._

_She was deliberate; keeping herself calm enough as the weeks passed and resisting the urge to feel sorry for herself. She was a well-rounded woman, always in tune with her inner spirit, but she was as much human as any other. Miranda reached up to touch her eyelids with her fingers, feeling the weak exhale escape her and bit her bottom lip. Sitting on her bed, she felt the moisture stain her fingers. She made no sound, but she cried sorrowfully._

_That night she did not sleep._

_She composed herself the next day into the rightful princess of Dinijad, holding her head high and calmly taking in another day. She found to ease the bore life of the cell, singing seemed to soothe her. Always a leisure she enjoyed, the princess would hum and carol her favorite hymnals; quietly of course. _

_It was not quiet enough, however, because it attracted even the darkest of souls. She was ignorant of his presence each day as he would pass her chambers and listen. It was weeks before he finally entered upon her mid-song. She paused, turning, her eyes finding his black robes before she sought his eyes. _

_He looked at her from her place on the floor and lowered his hood. His deformed face ugly, but Miranda did not look away. _

"_What is the name of that song?" He asked, her eyes intensely staring into hers. She stood up, quickly gripping her fingers behind her back and looking back to him. She held no fear; she was only shocked. _

"'_The Blue Hills of Redmana" She answered, her voice small. _

_The Black Corna lifted his chin and looked up to the ceiling of her room. He nodded then, and inhaled deeply. "I have come to request your presence for supper. Unless… of course, you wish to spend your time here." _

_The question shocked Miranda. He had never asked her, nor had he ever seemed as if he wished to have her accompany him for anything. She did not know what possessed her, but her answer was affirmative and then the Black Corna left without another look at her. _

_Miranda sat on her bed, her mind in tangles._

_She waited hours. The time seemed endless before she decided she would exit her room to meet him to dine. She walked to her door, cautiously moving the knob until it twisted fully and she was able to open it with ease. _

_She inhaled, looking around at the surroundings she thought she remembered. Only seeing them once as the Black Corna led her to her room, Talia was sure everything seemed an ugly gloom, taking the form of evil and carnage._

_But as she left her room for the first time in months, Miranda found interest in the décor of her surroundings. She wondered how things could have changed so._

_As she reached the dining room, the long table seemed terrifying and bare, all except for the meals set on each end. She ran her fingers across the oak and clenched her teeth. _

"_You came."_

_The voice from behind her startled her and she quickly turned to see his face, hard and unreadable. She nodded cautiously and seated herself. The Black Corna seated himself at the end of his side, carefully examining her face. _

_They ate in silence, the Black Corna beginning and Miranda following. She dared not speak, unsure of how to act. It was what seemed ages before she finally asked him something, trying to keep her voice stable. _

"_You said to my parents, the day you took me away, that I was to be bonded to the demon who gave me life. What did you mean?" She looked up to him, his eyes moving to hers._

"_Your mother was unable to conceive a child and I gave your father the magic to create you. I however, used my own blood to produce the magic. You were made from me."_

_Miranda looked down, her mind hazed. "Why did you take me? You have asked me nothing of what I am to do for you."_

_The wizard smiled darkly. "You are my daughter."_

"_I am not. My parents remain in Dinijad." She answered harshly in a whisper._

_The Black Corna scowled. "I have created you, and that makes you mine."_

"_Because you have taken me does not give you ownership." She muttered, looking at him directly._

"_What do you mean?" He asked, his face darkening. _

"_You may keep me locked away in this castle, far beyond where I can go home. And you can keep me trapped forever. But I will never be yours… Because I must love you to truthfully submit." She looked at him for a long time, not turning her gaze away before she excused herself and stood up from her place in her chair. Walking back to her room. She made it all the way up the stairs before the wizard configured instantly in front of her. _

_She gasped and stepped backwards from the shock. He looked down at the floor then to her eyes. "None of my other children have spoken so."_

_Miranda breathed quickly as she tried to stabilize her heartbeat. "Pardon?"_

"_Will you meet me again, tomorrow?" He asked, his black eyes boring into hers. _

_She paused, her lips parted in disbelief. It seemed impossible for him to offer when she had just deliberately defied him in such a rude manner. She wondered what he wished to accomplish._

_She nodded then walked around him to her chambers, before closing the door and sitting on her bed. Her mind did not find peace that night._

* * *

There was a large rumble as the thunder danced between the mountains. Talia looked up from her book and turned her eyes around the room, finding that it had grown rather dark. She looked then back to the book in her lap, flipping the pages further, deciding not to read until she could see what happened. She kept turning pages, looking as the mood got livelier through the illustrations.

She turned the pages, watching the hooded figure reach his hand out to graze her cheek. The next had one of her wrapping her arms around his waist, as if she was hugging him. She flipped a few more until she landed on one of a mass of people, looking disruptive and angry.

She frowned, quickly flipping to the next page and scanning her eyes over the words, trying to catch what had happened. Her eyes desperately looked over the paper and she caught onto one section.

…_The fire started in the East section of the castle and the infuriated voices rang up the stairs. He gripped her hand and ran with her to the tower above. Miranda whimpered as he pulled her, her whole form shaking with fear. _

_They reached the door that entered the tower. He opened it and entered with Miranda by his side. He brought her to face him, his skeletal hands framing her face. "They are here to kill me, my dear." Miranda wailed but the Black Corna silenced her. "My daughter, we must say goodbye now."_

"_No." She whispered through her tears. "I will not let you die."_

"_I'm afraid that's not up to you my dear." A voice came from behind. Miranda and the Black Corna turned to see Dyanj revealing himself from behind the curtain. Miranda felt a scream rise in her throat. She knew her father's magic was weakening. He would not be able to stop this man from killing him. _

_The Black Corna hissed, the sword in his hand glinting as he shifted. _

"_He has murdered cities, princess, he is not your savior." Dyanj said loudly, his chest swelling with pride at being the first to confront the wizard. _

"_He has changed. He will not hurt you!" She screamed. "Please, leave us!"_

_But Dyanj advanced the wizard and the maiden. The Black Corna growled and slung his sword first only to find the opposite blade and listen to the sickening clash of weapons. Miranda screamed for them to stop as she backed away, lifting her fingers to her lips. The Black Corna and Dyanj battled for what seemed hours, each taking their turns in damaging the other. _

_It happened so quickly. Dyanj's sword fell upon Miranda's father and sliced his side brutally. The wizard fell to his knees, making a sound as the life started to fade from his eyes. Miranda screamed as she watched him fall._

_Dyanj looked down at the man by his feet and exhaled raggedly before he turned to look at Miranda. Her eyes were wide as his found hers. He advanced towards her and gripped her hand. She protested, trying to pull her hand free. He blocked her view of her withering father on the stone floor. She screamed for him, the whole while Dyanj pulled her. _

_Then his fingers stilled and his body grew stoic. Dyanj eyes grew wide and his breathing became troubled as he let go of Miranda and fell to his knees. _

_The maiden looked at the man shaking on the floor then she looked at the Black Corna stretching his fingers out to Dyanj and she realized he was using the rest of his magic. Dyanj took his last breath; his eyes grew still before Miranda stepped around him and to her father's side. Her cloak covered half of her father's body, rich in the pool of his blood. _

_Her tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked down to him and cradled his deformed face. He brought his hand up to grip hers at his cheek and he breathed irregularly. _

"_You used all of your magic." She whimpered. "How can I heal you?" She desperately wailed._

_Her father shook his head slightly. "I have lived thousands of years. It is my time to go." _

_Miranda's face expressed her sorrow. "No!"_

"_I have created many children through the ages, my dear, but I have never created one that I truthfully loved as I love you. I have wronged you. Taken you from the ones you loved. But I never meant to hurt you. I never knew that for you to belong to me you would have to love me."_

_Miranda nodded. She knew._

"_I love you. And I do forgive you."_

_Her father looked up to her, his black eyes dimming. "Will you sing the song? The one I heard you sing in your room?"_

_Miranda frowned slightly, her eyes flickering with confusion, but complied. Her voice was soft and broken with soft sobs, but still pure in its form. She looked at him the entirety of the time, smiling slightly as to encourage him. He opened his mouth as if to sing the last verse with her but no sound came._

_The Black Corna smiled weakly and Miranda leaned down to place a kiss on his cheek and as she pulled back, she watched his eyes slide shut. Her father had passed from her world to another._

"_Goodbye." Were the princess' last words. Her dark curls framed her face and she clung to him when she heard the cries of the angry men below. She kissed his forehead before she stood up, her cloak smearing the blood on the floor, and looked out to the window to see a tree perching near. She climbed the stones to reach the top before she gripped the branch that looked sturdiest. Lowering herself until her feet touched the snow, the princess ran into the deepest corners of the woods. Leaving behind the man who had given her life to be handled by the infuriated common men._

_She turned once more to look up to the tower and sighed with sorrow. _

_The princess formed her lips into a thin line as she ran through the woods, seeking shelter from her broken heart. She never returned to her family. She was a wanderer in the woods for years. Legends tell that the maiden can be seen in the darkest moments wearing the blood-stained cloak and always accompanied by a stag believed to be the Black Corna in spirit. _

_The legend is has told the story of a young princess who found peace with a demon whose heart was softened by the angelic child. _

_The princess was never captured or spoken to since her disappearance; she lives only in the wind._

Talia frowned down to the page and parted her lips in shock. She trailed her fingers along the smooth picture on the page and looked into the illustration of Miranda's eyes. She could see right through Talia, as if she was truthfully there in spirit.

The Black Corna, sinister and dark, redeemed himself in spite of all he had wronged. The man, who the world made out to be so evil, was lonely. He made children and took them when they were of age, but Talia wondered why Miranda was different. And how, of course, she softened his heart. She turned the pages, looking back to the place she had stopped earlier to read on from then, when there was a knock at her door.

She lifted the book from her lap and stretched, lifting her body from her place in the chair. She walked over to the door and swung it open. Her father stood there and looked down on her. She smiled.

On rare occasions, Ra's Al Ghul would meet his daughter in her chambers after he returned from a mission, mostly to let her know he had returned. It was thoughtful, a thing Talia didn't notice until she got older and by then he did not visit nearly as much as he had before.

"Hello." She began, turning her body so he could enter the small room. Talia was still very young, she didn't need nearly as much.

He walked passed her and nodded, a weak smile on his face "Good afternoon, my dear. Have you been well since I departed?"

Talia walked over to the chair and closed the book, setting it on the floor. "I have. Usama gave me literature, she wishes to strengthen my Arabic by feeding me legends of their past."

Ra's looked down to the book on the floor. "Have you enjoyed them? I assumed they were all of creatures and eastern gods. You have never shown proper interest in those."

Talia tilted her head to the side, observing the book as well. "They were, I flipped through those. I enjoyed one in particular however. It was about a princess. I have not read many of those. What exactly is one? What is required of them?"

"They lead, my dear. They are born to reign. The strongest ones find comfort in their people, and understand their values." He answered, his voice mellow. "They are heiresses. They inherit what their parents leave behind."

"But she didn't inherit anything. She was left nothing." Talia frowned, that didn't make sense.

"It is only a story, Talia." Ra's chuckled. "Do not trouble yourself."

Talia looked down at her fingers and nodded slowly.

"I came to see if you wished to dine with me. It has been a long time since I have been home and I wish good company for my first meal back. Will you do that for me?" He asked. His polite tone seemed genuine enough.

Talia looked up and smiled before she nodded and leaned down to pick up her book. She would return it to Usama. "She did not die. It is legend that she can still be seen in the dark woods. They say she lives in the wind; that she is everlasting."

She began walking to her door and her father followed, his face curious. "She has interested you intently. What was her name?"

Talia inhaled, her fingers tightening around the leather binding. "Miranda." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It's a beautiful name."

* * *

His eyes were a terrifying blue; more stark then than she had ever seen. His face composed with emotions unspoken, his mute persona was one Talia was not used to seeing. He looked shocked, of course. But there was an underlying thankfulness to his expression that Talia could not explain.

How _dare_ he think she would return to him with such love?

She kept her face calm, trying her hardest to remain poise. He told him. Crane had informed him of her arrival. And honestly, did she even begin to think that he would have kept it a secret?

It was simple, shockingly, that she could access him so effortlessly. She imagined it would have been harder, but perhaps the fact that her intent was to let her future lay in his palm made her hopes of escaping narrow. She wanted to return to Bane. To M'har.

But she knew to appease her father and for him to retract his claws from the flesh of her loved ones, she needed to settle her wars. She needed to end them.

Ra's stance was one of a man who looked to have seen a ghost. She wondered the reason behind it. Sure she had been gone for months. She had left him in spite of everything. But even he was not one to startle quite so long. She lifted her eyes to his.

"Hello, father." Her words were simple, opaque. She had no emotion behind them. She knew what she had to do and she knew what it meant she had to lose. She felt the sorrow in her abdomen at the sense of loss.

She pressed her teeth tightly together, thinking hard of how Bane would never forgive her for leaving. The decision was not instant; she knew this was the only way, but her heart ached like never before. She wished she could have told him goodbye. And in the occasion that, had she not met Crane, she would have, in her most subtle way endured. But she had no time to forge a goodbye, and now, she stood before her father, knowing nothing of her future.

There was no time between them. She seemed just as old as he as she stood across from him, her arms calmly placed at her side.

He didn't move; didn't flinch. He was so partial to remaining still that Talia was sure he was frozen stiff. She didn't smile. Her face was completely emotionless. This was what she needed to do.

"You came back."

His words were completely wrong. Talia felt a stir in her stomach as she heard them. The very voice she used to praise seemed now so very, very wrong. She had lived months without his voice, yet still, the familiarity of it was like knives on her skin. She resisted a shiver to claim her. Her lips parted slightly from the pain in her abdomen, letting out soft breaths and feeling the ice climb up from her stomach to her throat.

She didn't know where to begin. She barely even knew how to speak to her own father. The terrifying bit was that she had no resolve. She was starting to deteriorate. Talia clenched her fists and set her jaw.

_Farewell._ She silently thought to Bane and whomever beyond may hear. There was no denying. There was no escaping now. She inhaled softly.

"I have; on the occasion that I may bargain myself for your gracious service in return for the freedom of your wrath elsewhere." Her words were steady, surprising her, and she lifted her eyes to meet his.

Her father was silent. She had never seen him so disconnected. As if he was unsure of how to act. His posture was something Talia always admired because he always seemed able to maintain a balance even in the harshest of moments. She wondered if indeed it was her that had dissolved his poise.

There was a long pause before Talia broke the silence.

"Did you miss me?" She was unable to refrain from asking. Her teeth clenched as she felt the poison in her stomach, gripping and stinging. She honestly wondered if she even crossed his mind. His soldier; created only for the purpose of a cause. His daughter started to doubt his love.

She started to doubt hers as well.

She had given as much love as she thought possible in return for a devastating truth.

"Your departure did things to me you cannot imagine." He answered, his form starting to take on the look of the father she used to remember. "The loss I felt was-"

"Did your loss of an heir humble you, or did you actually miss your _daughter_?" Talia pressed her lips together, succumbing the need to scoff as she interrupted quickly. She spat. She tried her hardest to keep the anger underneath, but she knew there was no way to fully speak to him without an ounce of her hatred.

Ra's straightened and opened his mouth to reply, finding it difficult to formulate an answer.

Talia didn't let him speak, however. "I will never forgive you for what you did to him."

The silence was thick and her throat had the same feeling. She dared not close her eyes like she wished to. She felt warmth wrap dangerously around her bones. There was a severe pain between her ribs, seizing her and controlling. She shifted her jaw and touched her tongue to her teeth to suppress a sound of agony. It had hit her like a bullet. She didn't realize just how well she hid the feeling until it came impacting her, full on.

Her father looked at her, his facial features hard, but she could see something deep within him that showed her who her true father was before he became so malevolent.

"Was it never enough… that I was content?" She whispered.

"Your happiness was my only focus." He replied, quickly this time. Talia turned her head, her face morphing in disgust.

"You lie as quickly as you breathe!" She shouted, her whole face feeling tense as she struggled to maintain her focus. "How can you say that to me? I have been nothing to you. You have treated me with absolutely no…"

_Respect. Dignity. Love. Care. _She trailed off when she couldn't find an answer.

Nothing. He didn't give her what he should have.

"I have given you everything." She said instead. "I have given you my power; my strength. I have allowed you to dissect my mind, to poison it and manipulate my _undying_ loyalty. I have given you what was left of my mother. Of your wife. The love that she blessed me with, I have bestowed upon you. She spoke very little of you; perhaps from the pain of the memory. Just as I had when I never spoke of Bane. Words tarnished the memory and could morph them into something they were not. My beautiful mother, so strong and wise, told me once of your name. She only told me _once_, and I remembered!"

Ra's eyes widened from their narrowed state. He seemed genuinely shocked. From what, Talia did not know. She looked to him, her heart pleading.

"Henri. She told me your name was Henri. A mercenary who worked for her father. At the time I did not know the purpose of the word. I did not know the significance of you upon her. I only knew your name." She paused, shifting a bit. "It was not until she was murdered that I truthfully made a decision to remember it. "

She looked to him, her blue eyes piercing. "And my dearest friend, my selfless protector, he sheltered me from the depths of that hell." Her fingernails stabbed her palms intently as she squeezed her fingers into fists at her side. "He has performed no crime."

Ra's stood stoic as he listened. She wondered why he had not interrupted her already. She continued, however.

"I cannot forgive you for what has been done." She spoke, her voice like liquid. "Bane told me. He told me everything."

She looked to her father. No signs indicated that he did not already assume that Bane did. He shifted his gaze to the floor and exhaled loudly.

"You let them experiment on me. You killed your men in the process; knowing that my dearest friend, your recruit, was with them. You have disregarded my whole self, for the sake of your deliberate needs. And you staged the death of the man who has been my only salvation because you were scared of my defiance." Her face turned sad with pity at her father. She felt sorry for him, that he indeed could not see his wrong ways. "You were terrified of losing your heir."

Ra's remained the same, looking on to her face as she spoke. She trembled then, her head turning so she could focus on something else. She thought to the moments that had occurred in the past and just how much evil _stained_ them, truthfully.

"And when you did, you could not let me be free." She muttered, her eyes looking down to her palms. "He very nearly killed me."

Ra's frowned, finally responding. "Who?"

"Do you remember one of your men, the year I fell through the ice, who asked you for time of leave to visit his daughter?" She asked, her eyes dimming. She watched him nod and continued. "You had refused. He then came to me, hoping that I could persuade you otherwise. I had intensions to. But I became sick, and I never asked. She died when I was recovering. That man has harbored hatred for me through all of these years, stabilizing a personal vendetta that was unleashed the moment you ordered him and countless others, I assume, to retrieve me. I had to kill a man whose hatred was the only thing that drove him. I had to murder him to protect myself. If you would have let me go, he would still be alive."

She gripped the rimming of the dark tunic and grimaced.

"He disobeyed orders. I only wished to speak to you." Her father stated, his greying hair looking dark in the lighting of the room. He did not look desperate, but something about his tone was pleading. She frowned at that. "If he was alive, I would have punished him for hurting you, Talia-"

"Just as you punished her? And Bane?"

Ra's stopped, swallowing his retort. "What?"

"The woman. Needles. Just as you punished her for doing what you asked. Is that why she let us go? …Because you ordered her to? And when you excommunicated him? Bane. "

Talia paused, an epiphany forming and tearing her apart as she realized fully what that meant. "You blamed them…" She began, her lips parting in shock. "You wronged them all."

She inhaled sharply and covered her mouth with her thin fingers. "You knew Bane would not stop once he heard me scream, and you let him come to find me because you knew that meant he would disobey you. And you told _her_ that we needed to escape to come back to you, and that would make you a hero, therefore when she did, you _murdered_ her." She opened her mouth in astonishment and let out a sorrowful noise. "You made up reasons for your actions but they are rich with evil."

She looked to him and frowned, looking as if she was resisting the urge to cry. "Why?" She pleaded. Her voice turned into a scream. "Why would you do that?"

"After what they did to you, you honestly pity her?" He asked, his face growing hard.

"After what _you_ did to me!" She yelled. "You! I pity you and the fact that you cannot see what you have done!" She emphasized the last word; growling, using the edges of her tones to cut deepest. But there was a certain sorrow as well. She looked up to him with such loss and anger, disappointment and sorrow. It was then that she felt her heart swell with the sadness she felt within. She was powerless to stop the tears, she was unable to continue any form of control.

"Why did you do that to me?" Her fingers covered her eyes and she sobbed. "…Why?" She shook with each breath and fell to her knees across from him, clutching her abdomen with her left hand. She opened her mouth and tried to let out her anger, but it was silent. She made no sound but the occasional exclamation of her mourning.

"I taught you sacrifice." He began, his body moving to hers at the floor. "I trained you, making you impervious to pain. The ultimate warrior... You see, pain is not worse in the physical form. The most scarring form is of the mind. I had to make you mentally prepared, and feel the _terrible_ lengths of it. Familiarize yourself with it. In the end, you would know the pain and be able to never let it interfere with yourself. I had to eliminate weakness from you. I had to strip you of your love, even if it meant taking away your love for me. And Bane, of course. His love for you was too strong. I could not have it affecting you to the point where you would someday return-"

"I love him." She interrupted, her voice cutting his off. It was so sudden that he seemed to choke on his finished sentence. Whatever words were left were diminished as he paused, completely still and he looked to her. Her eyes stared at the floor and she set her jaw. His eyes were opened wide and he looked as if he stopped breathing. His face was cleaned of its reasoning and instead claimed a terrifyingly motionless look.

She inhaled loudly, pressing her lips together. She had never fully said those three words aloud. Or even to herself in the quiet excess of her mind. There was never a need. She knew.

Her fingers touched the floor as she felt her father's gaze on her skin. She turned her eyes to his and she saw something there, something terrifying. Horrible and grotesque. Like fire. But most of all she saw pain. She could feel it as if he projected it upon her. The tears forming at the edges of her eyes were set free once she blinked and the liquid stained her cheeks, rolling down to the fabric of her tunic. She exhaled quietly. She didn't know what she was to say.

She didn't know what he had to say either.

"I love him as my mother loved you..." She started, her voice thick. "And all of that pain and sacrifice, I have felt it as well. I have been invested within it. It has modeled me. Hardened, definitely. I know pain, father. I know it like a well-spoken tale. But I cannot be free of it." She looked up to him and felt another tear fall. "Love is not weakness. You only feel so because you were unable to sustain yours long enough to know that it is _life_, pure and simple. It breeds warmth to everything it touches. You look at it as if it has crippled you; as if loving her was what caused the tragedy of her death and your sorrow. You did not sentence her to the Pit. She sacrificed herself. Your exile was the very truth that she loved you enough to take your place. Is that weak in comparison to if she would have left you there? She lived with her sacrifice for your life. That was her love. The selfless, pure, agile love that I feel for him. It is not weakness. Love is the very opposite."

Ra's remained speechless at her side. She stood up slowly and fiddled with the hem of her tunic once more and wiped her tears. She walked away from his side, not wanting to be near him.

"I am not like you." Talia whispered. "I will not look on love as an imprisonment. I have given you more than necessary, but all with the grace of a good heart. All I have ever done was for you. I wanted to be like her, like my mother, but I have come to realize that you will always find fault with me. Because I am _not_ her, nor will I ever be. I have tried, that is all that I care to know now. Through my sacrifice, I honor her in the memory of one just as equal. For to save the one I love, I must settle this war by giving up what means most. And if appeasing you means I never leave here, then I must comply."

She turned to find him looking at her.

"My happiness was never your first concern." She said, her eyes deep with melancholy.

She did something then that she found was surprising even to herself. She moved towards her father. Pausing only a step away, she lightly clenched her teeth around the inside of her cheek. He did not calm his stance in front of her.

But she was suddenly at peace.

"I cannot excuse your actions." She started, her blue eyes clear. "But I will endure, for the sake of his happiness. Just as my mother did. Both just in equal hells." Her face calm as she faced him. She was not afraid. Not anymore. "You have become more heartless than I allow myself to bear. And I don't know how you live with all of your tragedy in the manner that you do." She looked up to his eyes and placed her fingers over his heart hesitantly as she thought she never would again. She was not projecting love. She was feeling if there even was a vibration under her fingers. "I have suffered as much as you, but I am not isolated. I am not frozen in my agony. You have become cold; more bitter and irate with time even as you claim to have suppressed your pain."

Her calm nature was foreign. Yet she finally felt able to set herself free of her fears and of her conquests because she had given all that she may and in return she received an assurance of some power far beyond that was unexplainable. She shifted her eyes from both of her father's, trying to find something more in one than the other, perhaps.

She felt a shiver run down her spine and to the depths of her toes and then return to her core. She had given too much. But her defeat was not without reward. She calmly closed her eyes and breathed. The release was peaceful.

She moved her fingers from his chest and dropped them to her side. She looked into his eyes. "I will always be your daughter." She stated, her face calm enough to look at him without trouble. His face was unreadable. "But I cannot forgive you. And time will not change that."

Time seemed endless then, as she finally seemed to finish all that she needed to say. And time was a friend, one that did not forget.

Ra's Al Ghul. Her father, Henri Ducard. The mercenary who fell in love only to be torn from his beloved. The man who earned his name in translation as the Demon's Head. The idol she praised since her youth. The same man who wished for her company on days that he returned from missions and the very same man that taught her how to stay alive. The one who trained her. Her source of faith and deliverance. The one who fought her in the physical and the one she defied in the spiritual. The very same man who brought back Bane. And the man who took him from her once more. The one who staged an abduction and proceeded with treatments of unkind experimentation. The very one who seemed to care so little for her. He was still the man who had killed countless, though at the time it seemed futile, which now made him animalistic and cruel. The man who had taken her friend from her. The very man who loved in such a fragile and complex way that it seemed too unlike love to even begin. The man with so many faces.

He advanced towards her, slowly, and she stayed in her place, looking into his eyes; wondering. He moved closer and he looked deeply into her orbs, trying to find something she could not understand. A vortex of emotions was plainly written in his eyes, and she caught as many emotions as she could. Betrayal. Anger. Confusion. Pain. Disappointment.

She saw it all.

She inhaled tiredly and closed her eyes, ready to hear his piece. She expected a reciprocated response. One that would contradict her and tell her that she was wrong.

She waited a long time.

He made a sound after an eternity of waiting. Perhaps it was an exhale or something more but it made Talia open her eyes to look at him with confusion. He clenched his jaw and looked to her, but this time there was a different expression that was in his eyes.

She just couldn't name it.

He looked for one long minute into her eyes, taking note of every aspect of her face. It had been months, what seemed forever, since he had last seen her. She wondered what he was studying and the purpose behind it.

He inhaled sharply and backed his face away. She looked into his eyes and there was a certain sadness to them that she could not explain. Sadness mixed with irritation, or something less than it. Maybe it was disappointment as she had seen before. She looked to him, her blue eyes glistening and she wondered what was to come next.

He looked at her longingly, and for one second she seemed to wonder about herself. She knew she was not incorrect about what she felt for his deeds. She knew he was wrong. But she pitied him in that instant, and the only thing she wanted was for the pain in her abdomen to go away.

She clenched her jaw. It had been done.

Sighing deeply and turning his back to her and without looking back, her father walked to the door and exited. It had happened so quickly that it seemed a trick played of the mind. She stood there, frozen in shock and wondered if he left to get something and he was going to return. But he didn't.

She stood in the room, in the exact position as before, for what seemed hours when Jonathan entered. "He has ordered you to remove yourself from the perimeter and return to where you came. He is not in need of your services."

Talia frowned and turned her head down, lost in confusion. "I-….I'm free to go?"

Crane held a particular expression, one of a haughty complexion. "Did you ever doubt you would be, Monarch?" He smirked then and bore his icy blue eyes into hers. "Until the future." He said as some farewell.

She stood there lost in thought and looked what must seem a mess of emotion when she watched Jonathan walk to the frame of the door. He paused before he exited, however, and turned to look at her.

"I forgot to mention… he suggests you leave Gotham instantly."

Talia frowned slightly as she used the tips of her fingers to wipe just under her eyelids and diminish the tears. "Why?" She genuinely had no idea the purpose behind the request.

But Crane did not answer. He merely turned his head and left the room. Talia looked around the area and was lost in her astonishment. She was free? Had the sole thought of being locked here terrorize her for days suddenly seem to have lost its purpose and indeed be so very much unlike the future? She used her moist tongue to dampen her dry lips as she lifted her fingers to graze them and feel her shocked breath against her digits. She closed her eyes and took a minute, a _second_, to be completely thankful in return. To whom, however, she couldn't identify.

Still seeming to not believe, she stood still. It was not until the minutes seemed to drag along that she finally moved her feet. Hesitant and fearful that he would indeed change his mind, she moved to the door and walked from the room.

Outside of the deserted house, she walked. She did not know where her feet were taking her, she just felt her body move. The rows of withered crops were haunting as the sky was very, very dark. She moved to the end of the property, her eyes scanning the night sky and her surroundings when her eyes fell on what looked like the tail light of a vehicle. She clenched her jaw and noticed a man standing by the door, staring at her as well.

"Where are you to go?" He asked.

She sighed. Talia knew that she would have to go home now, wherever that was, and never look back to relive her memories. She thought to all that she had said and all that she was to sacrifice for the love she felt and she wondered why she felt so _hollow_. Why she felt so completely numb.

She bit the inside of her lower lip as she remembered how he didn't look back at her. He had left without even a form of goodbye. She sighed with disappointment. There was very muted rage, for her pity and her sorrow outweighed it.

She could not forget and she could not exonerate. She left with bile in her throat. She left with nothing.

She looked to the man who opened the vehicle door for her and she inhaled sharply, trying to eliminate all that she felt for her father. She would always remember, and that made the reality cold.

She knew that this man was to take her far away and she swallowed all of the discomfort in her stomach. Because she was going back to _him_.

And that was enough, thoroughly.

"Gotham." She muttered, her eyes lowering. "Quickly."

* * *

Gotham was cold that evening; the night sky only making matters worse for Talia could not see the moon. The street lights were a dimmed yellow and they illuminated the empty street. It was past midnight, not many citizens were even awake. She looked down the sidewalk and passed a few stores, searching the streets for a taxi to take her back to her apartment.

She wanted to see Bane, honestly and more than anything, but at the moment she knew she needed to reach her apartment. She would then make her way to Bane. She needed a few minutes to collect herself before she faced him. Before she could face anyone. She felt the heat in her head and the pressure from all the tensing she had done each time she looked at her father.

The wind picked up quickly and blew from behind Talia. Her tunic stuck to her body more fittingly and her hair tangled around her face. She watched the leaves from the trees and the edges of an old newspaper brush by her feet and then she felt the rush of cold liquid splatter on her skin. It came in small amounts at first, only seeming a fair amount of drizzle, before the rain fell savagely from the heavens.

Talia inhaled sharply, her face turning up to the skies. At first she cowered from the rain, her first instinct was to find shelter. But she turned her eyes towards the clouds and let the water drench her hair and her clothing. It felt like bullets on her skin.

Her fingers left her sides as she lifted them forward and she made a sound that was mixed with acceptance and sorrow. One that suffocated her. Her shaking fingers reached out slightly as she felt the rain cleaning her body as each drop made a new impact with her skin. She felt the heat behind her eyelids and the moisture from within.

It was a release; complete with all that she had suffered within and it completely broke her. It was rich, the feeling of rain against her skin, and though she shivered and there was the physical discomfort, she did not mind.

She slowly turned her eyes back to the streets that were now being drenched in the water. She turned a corner and found a taxi rounding it as well. She turned on her heel and held out her hand. The vehicle slowed and Talia walked over to it, sliding in quickly to escape the rain.

* * *

She twisted the key and entered the small apartment's door without trouble. The rain had slowed but she had access to too much of it, so she was still very wet and felt horridly ill from the moisture thick in her bones. It was dark, no doubt of it, but she did not turn on the lights. She didn't wish to feel the glow on her skin, oddly as it seemed.

She walked past the lone chair at the table and raked her fingers through her wet tangles. She knew she needed to shower.

She did not see the figure behind her before she felt their arms around her abdomen and pulling her upright and to an unseen location. She screamed with genuine terror and felt her body being turned and slammed against the wall of the East corner. The huge forearm of the intruder pressed against her collarbone and she inhaled sharply from the pain.

"How dare you do that, Talia!" He growled with heat and his pressure applied more but not enough to completely make her whimper with the pain. It was more from the fear. His voice gritted behind the metal of his mask and she felt as if he was grinding his teeth together closely from the anger.

It was first only his forearm then it was his full body, crushing hers against the wall so that she could find no escape.

"Bane?" She rasped, her eyes wide. Why was he putting her in such a painful position? She gasped as his arm left her and he turned, his eyes wild with rage unforeseen. Talia slid down a bit, propping her body against the wall to keep her steady. Her fingers reached her throat and felt the pressure that had been applied just below it.

"What-" She began, but he silenced her and turned with rage.

"I thought you died!" He bellowed, his voice haunting her through every aspect of her body. He was so loud. "You left without any form of indication. Barsad had to inform me that you were entering a taxi with a stranger. Do you know how many possibilities I added up in my head to conclude what had happened to you consequently? Your disappearance had me believe the worst! Damn you, you selfish woman!"

He stepped forth and gripped her elbow tightly, yanking her without care and she winced at his strength.

He was fuming, obviously, but Talia could feel something in his posture that was so foreign to him. She breathed sharply as her wide eyes bore into his.

There were seconds, or perhaps minutes, where it was complete silence. Her breathing stilled as she formed words.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her tears falling down her cheeks and she remained completely still.

Bane shoved her arm away and turned his back to her. "I don't want your worthless apologies." He formed a fist and tightly clenched his elbow as if to restrain from letting it hit anything. She watched him struggle with his need for release.

"It was him, wasn't it?" He growled, his voice primal as she could feel his hatred. "Has he returned?" He asked, turning to look at her.

She nodded instantly, almost afraid of his reaction.

"And you assumed what? That you would return to appease his violent intentions?" The look in his eyes told Talia that he was furious. "To settle a nonexistent debt, that would appease him?"

She shook her head and opened her mouth but once more he did not allow her to speak. He gripped both sides of her shoulders and shook her. "I believed you dead. That he killed you for your crimes against him. I thought you _dead_, Talia. For countless times before, but I have reached the limit. How dare you leave? How _cowardly_ does that make you? That you could not face me? How dare you do that to me? You egoistic woman! You are a coward-"

She lifted her palms then, and pushed against his chest, shoving harder than she believed possible. She removed herself from his grip and bared her teeth slightly. She fumed.

"I did it to save you!" She spat, her eyes thick with emotion.

"I don't need your protection!" He retorted.

She couldn't help herself, she advanced and used the knuckles in her fingers to shove against his chest once more. "You did! I would not lose you. Not again."

Bane gripped her fingers and pressed them up against the wall behind her on either side of her. "I never left you!" He accused.

"No!" She screamed. "But he would have taken you from me if I did not show him that I would enslave myself to him for the sake of your life, you bastard!"

"You think that was your decision to make?" He asked. "That it was the right thing to do?"

"It _was_ the right thing to do. It was the only thing I knew how to do!" She hissed, her palms stinging as she hit him once more. "Your strength makes you more than able to commence protection for me. I have _nothing_. I do one thing, completely unselfish, and you can't even accept it!"

"Your previous actions have been the _most_ selfish of all that you have ever done!"

"Why?" She screamed, her fury raging in her veins.

"Because you left me!" He growled, gripping her sides and practically pulling her body off of the ground and slamming into the wall. "Again!" He emphasized.

Talia winced with the pressure of his fingers, but wrapped her legs hesitantly to his waist to keep her body stable and upright. Her fingers reached for his shoulders to push him away. Her breathing was hot against his skin and she made sounds of discomfort.

Then, just as her legs wrapped around his waist, his fingers moved to hers. He gripped her harshly, but in a way she had never truthfully _felt_ before. Only in her most delicious dreams. He shoved her body once more, pushing her as far as he could into the wall and she noticed the utter conflict in his eyes. Her fingers dug brutally into the skin at his collarbone and she groaned.

He bruised his fingers along her ribcage unintentionally and he glared into her eyes. She clenched her jaw, looking at his with just equal scorn.

She flinched for quite some time, jerking her fingers and fists to collide with his body but he only held her in place. She made her lips into a thin line as she tried to free herself from his grip.

Then he pushed her harder, urging her to dare try and continue struggling. She grunted and gasped synchronously and clenched her jaw from the pain in her spine.

Then one of his hands lowered from her waist and ran harshly down to the crease of her knee and pulled her leg more thoroughly around his waist. That was when Talia froze.

She stared wide eyed at Bane and her struggling ceased as his tough fingers pressed painfully against her leg, as if he held it any softer, she would let go.

"Bane?" She asked, as if she was unsure she was clearly establishing her thoughts and as if what he was doing in that instant was not real. Not real at all.

But his fingers felt real. And the pressure. And then he pushed.

And she pushed back.

It happened rather suddenly, and without an actually thought on it, but Talia flicked her eyes from one eye to the other, trying to search his eyes, before she moved her face to the right side of his neck. Her lips were cold and so was her skin, but he was so very, very warm. She ran her nose along the vein there, inhaling his scent.

It was a very earthy aroma.

Her nose was cold, like ice against his warmth. She melted against him, her fingers reaching up and gripping his shoulders as her lips found the skin between his mask and before his shoulder began. They were light, so agonizingly delicate, but she felt him stiffen.

Then she bit him.

It was light pressure of her teeth against his skin, but it was still a bite. She raked her teeth along the warmth and used her nails to grip him hard.

There was no turning back now.

He now had his hands under both of her knees and lifted her higher. She gasped and felt his cool mask against her cheek. He pulled her body from the wall. She was lifted high enough the she craned her head over his and let her fingers tempt his skin. She was cautious, but she was eager.

She ran her nails over his mask without care and she was sure she left scratches. He wrapped his hands around her waist and felt her body mold to his. He fell to his knees and held her upright as she brought her lips down to the section of the mask that parted down his face and pressed there fiercely. As she did, her fingers ran down his neck and hooked in the collar of his shirt.

She was on top of him, her legs on either side. She very nearly growled as his fingers pushed the fabric of her tunic higher and away from her legs. They were like sweltered iron, those fingers.

She felt his thumb push higher until they were fully underneath. She pulled away her lips to pant heatedly. Her own fingers found the bottom of his shirt and she exhaled with disappointment when she found no skin, but the brace wrapped around his waist. She yanked higher at the fabric and she searched for skin.

She sought to his shirt being removed. It took time, but she was able to free him of it. As she did and it was gone, he wrapped an arm around her body and leaned her to the floor, hovering her body with his. She arched her back, trying to connect their bodies once more, but she found he had an interest at the ties of her tunic. She looked into his eyes as he pulled at the ties, freeing each one.

He opened the black fabric once the last tie was undone. Her body was formed to be feline and athletic. Her training had toned her and given her a strong build but also a feminine essence that she never fully understood. But as he looked to her, she noticed his appreciation.

She just couldn't fathom it. She had always thought he thought differently of her.

He trailed his fingers down her neck and between her ribs, all the way down to her hip bone and she inhaled and made a desperate sound.

She looked up to him, her eyes wide and a clear blue. She watched distinct emotions play across his features, but she was lost in her wonder to care about which meant the most. He breathed harshly, she could feel the agitation in his system underneath her fingers. She could feel all of his conflict.

She waited, patiently as he stared to her. She knew of nothing better to do. She was certain she could wait forever, but at the instant, she wished he would act on whichever he chose.

He pulled her suddenly, pulling her atop him. She gasped at the sudden change of positions. She sat up and looked down to him. He pulled at the edges of her tunic until it fell from her shoulders and by then, Talia watched the fabric fall from her body. She pulled her wrists from the sleeve holes and set the tunic aside. Her expression blazed.

She leaned down to cradle his face with her slender fingers and kissed his mask, wishing she could kiss him underneath. After the moment passed, she trailed her fingers down until she reached his belt.

He was rid of his clothes and by then, his fingers helped her with the last of hers. His brace was removed as well. She had never seen so much of his skin. It was inviting. She felt him sit up with her, his fingers running up the sides of her naked body and she suppressed a shiver.

She could feel him, no doubt she could, and all she wanted was to be claimed. To be his. She felt his need for her, and she raked her fingernails down the side of his neck to prove her need as well. Her body was pulsing.

She remembered his rage. All that he had said. That he was furious that she left without even telling him. That he figured for the countless time that something horrible had happened to her. And she remembered how that fury led to this. She knew he didn't understand. She knew that he might never fully.

But at least now she knew that that rage, all of that fury, it was because he needed her. In the same, if even, form that she needed him. She knew then that there was love. An underlying bond. She knew that his fury came from his loss.

And she squeezed her fingers along his shoulders at the thought of it.

Her lips were on the edge of his mask, just below his eye, when he joined their bodies. Her surprised breaths came out in jagged form. She made heated exhales and her heart was pounding. The sensation was one she had never experienced and she bruised his body with the pressure of her fingers. She took a minute to adjust to the feel of him connected to her, but then she decided she could move.

Bane struggled to maintain. She could feel his body clenching, trying to hold onto her. She laid them both to the floor and moved against him in a beautiful pace. The friction of her body against his was delicious.

Her head was in the croon of his neck then, using her teeth to graze his skin once more as she suppressed a cry from within. She felt on fire. The motions they made sent her into oblivion. He set his hands at her waist and pressed, so harshly that she was sure she would be sore.

Talia had spent too long imagining her love for this man. In the instant that she knew he reciprocated, there was no holding back. She pushed at his side and flipped their bodies so that he was then on top. Letting him do whatever he wanted. Willingly letting him take charge.

His face fell to lie on her left shoulder as he moved. She let out a ragged breath and arched her back to feel any more that she could. She needed it all.

Her fingers danced down his spine, sliding over each notch. She gasped as his movements did something inside of her that indicated she was near completion. But she wondered how she could ever get enough to satisfy.

He wrapped his arms under her waist and pulled along her arched back, holding her body close.

There was a dimmed flame, one that became more profound. Talia could feel it blazing her skin. Scorching her every inch. Bane's movements were faster and more direct then. Her body was in flames. Her bones were laced with tantalizing emotions and she stabbed his skin with her nails.

She felt an effervescent sensation seize her. The fire was being fed. It was rich in pleasures. Her heart was coursing and she knew that she had reached the apogee of the action. Her bones brittle as she arched her body and tried to hang to the sensation.

Bane followed her. His fingers curling along her waist and the metal of his mask scraping along her throat line. He clung to her like a prayer, pulling her body upwards and closer to his. Her rich skin was silk on his.

She smelled like the rain and sorrow and beauty. His fingers slid up to the sides of her ribs and his face fell along her shoulder. She panted above him and he could feel her body shake. She was descending from her high. From her place in the heavens.

Talia's wet hair clung to her heated body as she tried to comprehend the heat from within. It was unearthly. Unlike anything she had ever felt. Her breaths were hot against his head. She closed her eyes and placed her fingers on each side of his face, turning her cheek and resting her head.

His anger and all of her love. All of his emotions and her conclusions. All of her understanding and his time. All of her patience and his need. All of his love and her anger.

It added up. It twined like a vine that infected the plants surrounding and could not die. It was like a festering idea. It was pure creation. It was that selfless, pure, agile love that she felt for him.

And in return, what he felt for her.

She knew that it would have to be discussed. That she would have to speak to him, sometime and in the future.

But for the moment, she pressed her cheek against the edge of his brow and felt the warmth inside of her.

And she knew that the day that followed, there would be no rain.

* * *

A/N: THEY FINALLY HAD SEX. THEY FINALLY GOT TOGETHER. AND MOST OF ALL, BANE REVEALED HIS FEELING FOR HER.

Isn't it all so sudden? Well I will show you the run down of it next chapter, but for now mwahaha.

Okay, first off let me say that I have to get up in four hours and this is a super late entry. I am really pushing myself. And this may look sloppy, I'm too lazy to check it and I'm tired and please just overlook those grammar errors, will you?

Thanks!

I'm completely finished with school so I hope to get the new chapter up near Christmas, but I can't promise anything.

Please tell me that at least one of you liked the folk tale that I made up. I thought of it as a way to show a relationship between a "princess" and this demon father that was redeemable. I originally wasn't going to have the princess be named "Miranda" but instead "Marina" because I love the name Marina. But I thought of how much a story like that might impact a little girl and how when chosing a name for a role Talia wanted to play, it would be one that she looked up to. It's really short and it wasn't explained very much but I have plans to tie it in later, so don't worry.

And as for the Bane/Talia intimate scene, I wanted pure raw energy. I wanted hatred from both sides and I wanted it to have this pure depth that is so them. I wanted to show him kind of jerking her around a bit because he knows she can handle it but that's not the point. It's the fact that he feels betrayed and he feels like she's stupid for thinking that was the only way, when it honeslty was. He's just stubborn. And I wanted Talia to snap back because she's furious at him for not even giving her credit.

AND I WANT TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.

Please review for me, I mean, I wrote what everyone's been waiting for. Even if it's two words. ANY words would be nice.

Especially since I'm staying up super late finishing this chapter when I know I am camping tomorrow and I hate camping to the pits of hell (or maybe to the depths of THE Pit, eh? Eh?) Your words would really lighten my mood and I won't feel the need to bitch to my family about making me go.

I look forward to writing what comes next, and I want to thank you again for sticking with me.

I seriously love you.


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