She doesn't hear him say it; the roar of the mob is too loud. But she understands it all the same, watching as his lips form the word. Desperation is in his eyes as he struggles to stay above the furious mass of inmates.
Goodbye.
Tears blur her vision, and she forces herself to turn away. She knows that if she watches, she will never leave.
She climbs.
She rises.
She returns, years later as she'd promised herself. Her father is with her, and together, Talia and R'as al Ghul burn through the Pit.
R'as is the one who finds him, his face wrapped to cover the scars that had never truly healed. When Talia sees Bane, she kneels beside him, hearing the pain lacing his every breath.
"My friend," She whispers so only he can hear. "I've come back."
When the mask is fitted on to Bane, Talia watches. She can see instantly that his pain is relieved by the way his body relaxes, the tension in his muscles fading away.
"How does it feel?" She asks when the doctors have all gone away.
Bane takes a deep breath, the air hissing through the mask. "…Like I can live again," he says. The mask distorts his voice, turning it mechanical.
Talia gives a small smile, in the back of her mind wondering if she will ever hear his true voice again.
"Then we will live together, my friend." She says.
When she stabs Bruce Wayne, she feels triumph. Her father, at long last vindicated, his life's work about to be completed.
She repairs Bane's mask as she tells their story to Bruce, her slender fingers replacing the tubes with care and familiarity.
"My father excommunicated Bane from the League of Shadows," she says softly, eyes on Bane instead of the man she is speaking to. "His only crime was that he loved me."
She twists the knife as she pulls it from Bruce's side. It is a small comfort to her heart, seeing him in such pain.
She knows that she will not see Bane again after she leaves the building. The bomb will go off in barely twenty minutes. Gotham will be destroyed, but at the cost of their lives.
They have always known this, but the knowledge does not make it hurt any less.
Talia touches Bane's mask gently, looking into his eyes. Her protector. There is no way he can protect her from Death's approach now.
At least, in death, they shall be united forever.
The metal is cool against her fingertips, and she longs to feel the soft skin beneath.
"Goodbye, my friend," she says softly.
As she lies dying in the truck, feeling her blood recede from her body like an ebbing tide, she knows that the bomb will go off. There is no way to stop it now.
We have done it.
She can see his face clearly in her mind now. Calm blue eyes and soft lips that she wishes she had kissed. Even just once would have been enough.
Perhaps, if death is as kind as she hopes it will be, they will see each other again.
Her eyes slip closed.