Note: I do not own any of the characters included.
Since I only actually started writing my oneshots for Talia Al Ghul Fan week a week ago, all of these are going to be really short, and probably not super good. Also, I really don't like either of Day 2's prompts, so I'm probably gonna skip that day. Anyway, please enjoy what there is!
For this specific chapter, I should say that the only person I'm actually genderbending is Talia. Her (Or now His) name is going to Talib, because it's male and pretty close to Talia. The idea is that now that Talia is male, she (I mean he) would be her/his father's heir (Since Ra's is so sexist and picky on the gender of his heir).
All of these are narrated by Talia.
Day 1: Genderbend
My heartbeat thumped in my ear as I stood in front of my father. I took a deep breath before stepping forwards towards him. Feeling my heartbeat nearly stop as he did so, I watched him turn around. I fidgeted with my fingers, tightening my fists as I regained my courage to begin this difficult conversation. He looked back at me, awaiting my response. All I could do was stand there for the first couple seconds, until I finally took my final sigh before I talked.
"Father," I spoke slowly, waiting until the right words came to me. He seemed fairly patient with this pace, as he didn't say anything about it, but I could tell inside he was a little annoyed at how long it was taking me to say even the most simple things. Unfortunately, I knew what I was about to tell him would only annoy him more. "There's something I have to tell you."
"What is it?" Father quickly responded, the annoyance and impatience I had sensed before showing even stronger in his voice. I bit my tongue, knowing this would not help me get the best reaction out of what I was about to say, even if my slowing talking should have helped me let the news down slowly. I looked up at him, realizing it had already been almost 30 seconds since he had asked me what I had to tell him was. Quickly, I said whatever I could to continue the conversation, as he had already started going back to what he had been doing before.
"I should warn you. What I'm about to say may upset you." I warned, hoping that in the long run, warning him would do more to keep him calm than just plainly end up annoying him. Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything to that, I continued to talk, "In fact, I'm quite sure it will upset you, and quite a lot, actually." I explained.
"Okay, well, what are you about to say?" He replied, just as quick as last time. I knew now he was expecting me to actually tell him it, but I felt a rush of panic fall over me. I could very well be risking my life by telling him this, and by upsetting him in this way! He was so used to everyone -including me- practically worshipping him. I didn't know how he'd react to not only one of his assassins, but his own son, not wishing to end up being as similar to him as possible.
I tried to take a few more deep breaths, reminding myself that avoiding getting to the point would only aggravate him more. There was probably only a very small chance he'd resort to anything similar to killing just for this small act of disloyalty, because even though he usually had hostile punishments for anything like that, I was his child. He couldn't possibly kill his own child, could he? But even after telling myself these reassurances, I still just couldn't seem to bring myself to start to say what I wanted to.
"Are you sure you're ready to hear it...?" I asked nervously, knowing I had to continue to buy time until I could get the words out of me. My muscles ached from how tense this conversation made me feel, but I knew I couldn't relax until I was done saying this… Or if I just gave up.
"Yes." He stated, a harsh breath escaping his mouth. He had obviously had more than enough of all this, "I am ready, so just tell me!"
I felt his frustration rise every moment that I waited. I just had to spit it out. "I… I don't think I…" I stuttered, almost shaking as I tried to speak. "Father, I don't think I want to… be your…" The words began to slowly come out, but I felt myself stop before I finished my sentence. All I needed to say was one word left, but I couldn't seem to tell him. Heir. I don't think I want to be your heir. It shouldn't have been this hard to say it, but it was.
As I paused there, I suddenly realized my stupidity. I had gone through so much work to regain my courage to tell him my feelings, but the truth was, being his heir could be a good thing. I had always thought of it as being just like him, as following in his ruthless footsteps, but maybe it didn't have to be that way. Once I was the leader I could do whatever I wanted. I could make this league less ruthless and less overall terrible. A smile came across my face for the first time that day.
"Nevermind…" I cut myself off, brushing the entire tense conversation off. Father seemed annoyed that I had wasted his time, but a little relieved, too. He most likely knew exactly what I was about to say, and it occurred to me that he had spent centuries trying to find an heir, so the idea of me not working out must have scared him a little. He sighed, his shoulders slumping down as he went back to doing what he was doing before I even came in.
"You should go train then, Talib. You may already be fairly good at fighting, but it never hurts to practice even more. You need to train a significant amount each day if you want to be a good leader one day." He ordered, gesturing to the door. I hurried off to the training center, beginning to work on my martial arts skills. He had a point. Maybe I wouldn't need the training to kill every person I set eyes on, but I would most likely need it for something… Perhaps even a little bit of crime fighting if the time calls for it. I'd use this league of assassins to kill the people that actually deserved it, and no one who has not done something else terrible. As long as my father died before his master plan was defeated, I would be saving most of humanity by not fulfilling it past his death date.
I smiled to myself as I trained, knowing that now, all I had to do was follow his orders for just a while longer. Just until his death came, which considering his old age, could happen any second. Then, I would be able to do more than even a lot of superheroes could do. But instead of using it to destroy humanity, I could fix this league… and use it to save humanity.
If it's not clear, she/he was gonna say no to being her/his father's heir because her/his father's plan involves killing so many innocent people.
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