The Proving

CONTENT:

Rating: Teen
Flavor: Drama
Language: some
Violence: yes
Nudity: none
Sex: just some kissing
Other: none

Author's Notes:

There's nothing to say, here.

The Proving

==#==

The moon was a bare sliver shy of full. It hung low and heavy over the parapets of Nanda Parbat. Malcolm and Rebecca walked atop the high wall, hand in hand. The Himalayan mountain air moved in a cool breeze. Malcolm shivered; to him, it felt ice cold. The moon shone glossy highlights in Rebecca's hair. The stars glittered like a thousand diamonds.

They climbed to the highest watch-tower, open to the night on all sides. "This is perfect." Rebecca tugged him to the edge. "Oh, Malcolm; it's so beautiful."

Words choked him, so he only gazed on her beauty in silence. She leaned against him, and he put an arm gently over her shoulders.

"Sometimes in my dreams," she whispered to the night wind, "I'm with you. Just like this."

"Mine too," he confessed.

She turned to face him, her hands warm as she cupped his cheeks. He bent his head to bring his lips to her waiting mouth. They kissed, softly, deeply. Her hands fanned over his neck, carded his hair; his arms slipped around her, held her close. So warm in the chill night air. My Rebecca. My sweet, sweet Rebecca. Malcolm let his spirit drown in the loving embrace of his wife.

A short eternity later, they eased back.

"Thank you," he whispered, his breath brushing her lips.

That little crease between her brows appeared, now in curiosity. "For what?"

"For reminding me what it was like."

He loosed his arms from around her and shoved her, hard; as hard as he could, as if trying to throw her the length of a whole room. He shoved her so hard, he nearly toppled after her, and he could see her as she fell backwards.

She seemed frozen in time, her hair and clothes billowing around her as if she were an art nouveau drawing. And her eyes, crystal clear, looking back up at him. In an instant, they were filled with hurt, betrayal, fear.

He tore himself away; he clamped his hands over his ears; he crouched by the low retaining wall, blinded by tears, deafened by his own scream. He screamed so he couldn't hear her scream, as she plummeted down past the wall, the mountain's face, falling, faster and faster, to finally crash into the jagged crags that would tear her body apart, crush bones, rend limbs, pulverize organs and flesh, leaving nothing recognizable, nothing the Lazarus Pit could bring back.

When he ran out of air, silence rang loud in the night. Malcolm found himself on his knees, hunched over. His hands dropped to his lap. His throat was raw; his eyes were dry. Nothing was left.

He died inside.

==#==

The next morning, he found himself again on his knees, in the Assassin Lord's audience chamber.

"You killed your beloved," Ra's al Ghul stated, his words filling the chamber with inescapable truth.

"Yes." Malcolm saw no reason to deny it. He was still numb.

"I must confess, I didn't think you had it in you." Ra's al Ghul stood from his throne and paced a circle around Malcolm. Malcolm didn't look up, but his gut knotted. "When you came here, you were a soft man, weak, wounded... Instead of standing up for yourself, you wormed your way in here with illusion, mere trickery." Al Ghul finished his circuit. "Yet you had hidden strengths, so I allowed you to stay. I granted your request.

"This also weakened you and your resolve in your pledge of service. Did it not?"

Again, Malcolm remained silent.

"Yet here you are, having killed twice. Having proven yourself within these walls. Transformed into a man of strength. Of conviction. Al Saher." The Assassin Lord contemplated him. "You are stronger than I imagined. You will join the ranks of our elite, and you will train under Al Owal." He turned and began to sweep out when Malcolm found his voice.

"But... my son." Without Rebecca, without him, Tommy had no one.

Ra's al Ghul turned back to him. "Every man and woman in the League has given up their former selves, their former lives, to be reforged anew. Al Saher has no son."

"But... but I can't just-"

Al Owal moved up beside Ra's al Ghul. "You will have twelve hours to set your affairs in order. At the thirteenth hour, you will be here at your induction."

"Before you plan your disappearance, Magician, " Al Ghul purred demurely, "know that if I need to hunt you down, I will make sure that your old life truly is destroyed. Everyone, and everything you love - your family, your friends, your fortune, your business... There will be nothing for you to return to."

Malcolm wet his lips. "I will not fail you, Master."

"Good."

==X==