Talia bowed her head, trying, "Damian..."
"No." he looked up at her. "Just no."
It was hard, after that. They'd won...it didn't feel like it at first. Damian had held Sahara's limp hand and held it up to his lips, a parting sign of love and respect. He'd stood first, out of the four around his sister, and spoken quietly, calm as a pool of water with a swelling rain cloud hanging overhead. Any minute now, the storm would crack open the sky and disrupt the still body of water. "We'll take her back- bury her."
Raven stood next, her voice was smaller than ever, "Where?"
"Next to- next to my grave.", he said. "Always close enough." Damian tentatively glanced around the room, passing over the familiar faces which seemed, in that moment, all too foreign. He looked to Raven. He looked to Adyn. He couldn't look at his mother. "She's coming home."
Raven would see to the remaining demonic forces and spread the message to the nearby towns, the tyranny was over. New demonic leadership would be established, the spirit of the demonic overlord would pass in to that demon: Raven didn't want it, she didn't want it at all in any capacity, Adyn couldn't and wouldn't take it. The natural order would resume in Hell- she would call on Lucifer to ensure the proper procedures were carried out, Etrigan would join him. It wouldn't be the first time that all those of the ruling bloodline had killed eachother, the mantle would pass to another, as those of the Sins do. A new bloodline to carry the weight of Hell, and the end of thousands of years of Al-Djinns.
And they went back.
It was that simple. A portal or two, a few mumbled words, and they were all back. Deposited in the League of Assassin's new Gotham HQ. Earth. Numb thank-yous left numb individuals with numb hearts and that greyness only intensified. Constantine did that sad sort of half-smile. Zatanna, another half-smile. Zeela, another half-smile. Aleil, half-smile. Batwoman, half-smile. Emrys, half-smile. Like they were all silently saying 'cheer up love, it's okay'.
It fucking wasn't. No way. Not nearly. Ha-fucking-ha, it's all good.
Talia stood, motionless and soundless. Through the numerous people in the room, Damian saw her kip quiver first, then her fists tightened, and she looked at her daughter's body: wrapped in her son's cape and hovering in a yellow glow above the ground. Talia's hands covered her mouth and she choked back a cry, her eyes streaming water unblinkingly. Something clicked in her mind, and hysteria pushed through. That was the final shove, the last piece in the puzzle that was Talia Al Ghul's madness. She couldn't breathe, her chest was too tight.
This was one time too many. All those years, she'd chucked Damian's body in to those green waters time after time. This was one child too many, one time too many.
Raven felt it, she knew that her brother did , Constantine and Zatanna also, Damian too. Something in the air, something new, something very very dead. Not dead, but death. The reapers three, the claimers of souls. Damian couldn't see it; he could sense it. They were visible to the other three, unbiased creatures whose cloaks were black as the Styx.
Batman turned his head sharply, staring at them. He had apparently encountered them before, somehow, which came as a surprise to Raven.
Sahara's soul had long since departed; these reapers sought another's. Talia quivered before the body of her daughter, her eyes open a little too wide and her eyebrows a little too arched. Her aura screamed wrong to Raven.
A soul was for reaping.
Raven couldn't help it. "No!", she blurted, on a whim, covering her mouth as soon as the word had left. The reapers three turned and faced her direction, almost inviting her to continue. Constantine and Zatanna looked at her in alarm. "It's not her time,", she whispered, "it can't be her time. Not yet."
Standing besides him, Zatanna held a hand out in front of Damian and said, " thgis ruoy raelc". He saw the reapers three, stopping in their tracks, watching the demoness from behind empty hoods. Talia. They wanted Talia.
Raven held out her hands, both of them glowing purple, and walked to Talia. The reapers three followed her actions. She placed both hands on the Al Ghul's back, in a comforting gesture, and closed her eyes. Searching deep within herself, Raven found her core pool of empathic strength. In that, she fumbled around, trying to find something bright and clear. It came to her like a switched in lightbulb, brighter and clearer than she'd dared hoped for. Raven tugged that forwards and pushed it from that emotional pool to her hands. And focused all her efforts on getting that to Talia's centre, her soul. The happiness and stability- the sheer positivity that lay in her heart, Raven shared with Talia, blazing through her maddening sadness.
All the smiles and embraces and laughter and homely feelings, everything that brought peace and joy, she projected on to Talia.
"There now,", she soothed, as Talia's tears ceased, "it's going to be fine."
I'm doing so, Raven felt something else leave, a dark and dreary thing that had stained Talia's heart for so long. The demoness defiantly looked at the reapers three, proclaiming, "You have no business here. Can't you see?"
Everyone else, minus the five of them, was beyond confused. Most chalked it up to some weird kind of demons thing going on. Though an audible, "Heh?", came from one Timothy Drake.
Raven had succeeded. The reapers three slinked away, sinking in to the shadows until their presences no longer stained the air. The demoness released a breath shed been holding, stepping back from Damian's mother. Talia looked up, her eyelashes clinging to one-another. When she looked at Raven, no cold spite lay in her eyes (that had been eradicated from her heart).
She frowned, then wiped the damp from under her right eye with a single finger. For what certainly seemed the first time in forever, (if any of you start... I will cut a bitch) Talia smiled in genuine gratitude. "I don't know what you've done, but thank you."
Watching reservedly, Damian didn't know what to make of it. That look...he'd never seen it in his mother's eyes. He had an inkling that told him he'd be indebted to Raven from now on...for what, he knew not yet. Others in the room began to leave- heading back to the Manor and their various separate destinations- but Damian payed that no mind.
And then all was still, for everyone had left, bar Raven, her brother, his father and his mother. Talia's eyes traced over the contours of her daughter's motionless face, the stillness of her chest. Not with guilt, but with grief. No one spoke- no one knew what to say.
Until Talia did.
She called for her son, "Damian,", and walked over to him. He didn't look up. She held both her hands in his, "Damian my child,", he met her eyes, "forgive me." Talia closed him in her arms, he was unresponsive, then he lifted his and hugged her back. She buried her face in her son's neck, her muffled words drawing tears from his eyes for the too-many-th time that day. "Forgive me, please...forgive me my child...please..."
Pins stuck in his throat, making forcing the words out harder than holding back a sob, "Never trust a hug,", he pulled away, holding her hands like a semi-drowned man clinging to a chunk of driftwood, "it's just another way of hiding your face.", Damian smiled that sad, sad smile of his.
Talia leaned forwards and kissed his forehead, no longer needing to crouch down to reach him.
"You don't need to ask, there's nothing to forgive."
"But there is,", she insisted, "too much, so much-"
"It's finished.", Damian wiped the tears from his mother's cheeks. "That chapter is finished."
***
There was no fancy funeral, no tear-drawing eulogy, no procession. Sahara Al Ghul was buried with the peace she should have lived by. Her grave was dug by those she loved, her body buried by those who loved her, her flowers laid by the one whose love came too late. They'd buried her as soon as possible, and that was that.
Bruce asked no questions of his son, nor did his son give any answers. It was enough, their silent understanding. One day, in the future, Damian would be compelled to come to his father and explain it all in an emotional night. That was a long time away. He would have to explain why his mother had to leave too, where she'd decided to go, on a whim after Sahara was resting forevermore below the Earth. The truth is, Damian didn't know where she'd gone- he hoped it was some place good, some place where Talia's mind could unfurl and contemplate the good and the bad of this world and her part in it. Damian knew he would see his mother again, reborn in a new light with eyes of love and a heart ready to embrace him.
He had retired to his room for the rest of the day, content in thinking about nothing. It had reached well past midnight. There was a knock on the door. Raven came in. She saw him there, lying with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. And so she joined him, both next to one another, saying nothing, staring at nothing.
Eventually, as it always does, sleep welcomed them with open arms, and the sandman decided that dreams were not fit for than night.
A.N:
Ooof. And another sad chapter to hit you in the feels again, author:1 readers:0. I'm kidding darlings.
This is another early update, it felt right to stop here, even if this chapter was quite short. I think the length worked well for this one.
So...I guess I've officially rehabilitated Talia Al Ghul...yay..? I'm really curious as to how you lot feel about this one, I know it's taken an emotional toll on me.
Thank you!
-Bats