Paris, France 2015
Sabine walked into her kitchen and was only mildly surprised by the additions of one Talia and Damian sitting at her kitchen counter. Talia and her son had appeared at random intervals often enough that waking to find them was no longer a surprise in itself. The real surprise, however, was the timing, as it had been less than a month since they last appeared here. And out of an attempt of secrecy, she never appeared more than a few times a year.
"Talia, Damian," Sabine greeted warmly. She reached to turn on the coffee pot in the corner of the kitchen. Talia greeted her in turn with a nod of her head and thin lips pulled into a straight line. To anyone else, Talia would appear the perfect picture of impassiveness, if a little tired. But Sabine had been trained to be an expert at body language, and she had spent enough time with Talia in her youth as well. She knew how to read her friend. Something was wrong.
Sabine chose to let it go for now, knowing that Marinette would soon wake up. Tom was already down in the bakery, preparing the bread for the day, but Sabine had not been feeling well the night before and had elected to get a little extra sleep to hopefully ward off what ever was ailing her. Given how early Tom woke up, it was unlikely that Talia and Damian had been here long. Maybe an hour or two at most.
"Madame Dupain-Cheng," Damian said, returning the greeting for both him and his mother.
Sabine gave Damian the warmest smile she could muster. Damian was harder for Sabine to read, her skills having fallen into disuse and having had less time exposed to the boy, but she was clearly able to see the boy was disturbed as well. Yes, something was wrong.
"Have you two eaten?" Sabine asked. "Marinette will be up soon, and I'll be making breakfast anyway. Two more will be no trouble."
It did not go unnoticed by Sabine that Damian's eyes shone for a moment at the mention of Marinette. If only for a moment. Sabine knew a childhood in the League was a lonely one. Aside from Talia, she had had no real friends to speak of. Damian most likely did not have many friends either and he only got to see Marinette once every few months.
"Thank you, Sabine," Talia said graciously. "That is very kind of you." She tilted her head to the side. "When will Marinette's school start?"
"Never, actually," Sabine said. Sabine reached for a pan and opened the fridge to get the egg carton. "The school was flooded because of a faulty pipe. Classes will return to normal tomorrow."
Talia nodded in understanding. She turned to Damian and motioned to the stairs that lead up to Marinette's room.
"Sabine, is it alright if Damian awakes Marinette?" Talia asked, even though it was not really a question. "I'm sure Marinette will be excited to see Damian again." And we need to talk. Alone.
Sabine nodded, not dropping her cheery smile. "Of course."
Damian seemed to catch onto the unsaid words, as he frowned in an expression just short of a pout but not quiet.
"Mother, I assure you, whatever it is you need to say –"
"Damian, please," Talia said, exhausted and exasperated. Damian blinked and then finally agreed with a nod of his head, and he disappeared up the stairs. Once Damian was safely out of earshot, Talia turned to Sabine.
"I'm so sorry, but we had nowhere else to go on such short notice," Talia apologized. "Or at least, no one else I am sure I can trust. At least on such short notice. Me and Damian will be gone before long, I promise."
Sabine raised a brow from the stove.
"Talia, slow down," Sabine told her. "You are always welcome here, you know that. No need to apologize. But what happened? You never return so soon."
Talia gave a shaky breath, and Sabine saw the mask Talia always wore crumble. Tears clouded her eyes and frown lines circled her lips. Sabine's eyes widened and she turned off the stove, moving to Talia's side.
"Talia?" Sabine questioned softly. A single tear escaped her eyes.
"My father is dead," Talia said, barely audible. "Th-there was a coup, lead by Deathstroke. He attacked in the dead of night. Me and Damian managed to escape, but not before my father was murdered by Deathstroke. His body was…. mutilated, burned. He was so far gone, not even a Lazarus Pit could have saved him."
Another tear slipped out, and Sabine wordlessly slipped her arms around Talia in an embrace. Talia was not an emotional person. She was succinct and closed off, much like Damian was. She did not often let her emotions get the best of her, or at least, not openly show that they were. To see an openly emotional Talia did not happen every day, even every year.
Sabine pulled Talia close, as silent tears rolled down Talia's cheeks. Ra's al Ghul would not win any awards for his parenting. He was abusive and manipulative, acting more like his daughter's handler than her father. Talia had resented her father, hated him on the worst of days. But she also had love for him and loyalty as well, as life was complicated and so were relationships. Talia had both loved and hated her father.
Sabine could say with her whole heart she thought the world was a better place without Ra's al Ghul in it. But she also knew Talia and Damian had loved him in their own way, so she would not say it aloud.
Talia gave another shaky breath and wiped at the tears, once again pulling up her mask after this moment of silent vulnerability, filing away her grief for another time.
"I could not let Damian see me like this," Talia insisted. "He has already lost so much. He needs me to be strong for him."
Oh, poor Damian. In the span of a day, he lost the only home he had ever known, plus his grandfather. Sabine had been told that Ra's had held affection for his heir, but affection could only go so far. Damian, for his part, always had a story to tell about his grandfather, the great and powerful Demon's Head. It was evident he at least loved Ra's, for all the old man's faults.
"Being here, with friends, will help you both heal," Sabine told her. "And you do not need to be strong for me, at least. I am here for you, Talia, and for Damian."
Talia gave the barest glimmer of a smile.
"Thank you, Sabine," Talia whispered.
Sabine heard the pittering of feet upstairs, and she knew that Marinette was now awake. The pajama-clad form of the little girl appeared, climbing down from her attic room, Damian not far behind.
"Tante Talia!" Marinette squealed. Her socked feet hit the hardwood floor and she slid across the floor to where Talia sat on her barstool. She smiled up at her honorary aunt with a toothy and radiant grin. "I didn't know you were coming to Paris!"
"It was….a spur of the moment decision," Talia decided on. Damian made a tittering sound.
"What she means to say is that our home was attacked, and we are currently in hiding," Damian explained. Though Talia had agreed with Sabine's decision to shield Marinette from as much as the truth of the League as the possible. Damian, in his youth, seemed to not agree with them on this point. Though Marinette seemed to have not caught onto the fact that were assassins, former, current, and in-training; she knew that Damian and Talia came from a world very different from hers.
"In hiding?" Marinette asked, turning to Damian.
"Yes," Damian answered. "Me and Mother have been uprooted after the death of Grandfather. We will have to remain here for the time being. Regrettably."
Marinette's eyes widened sympathetically.
"Your Grandpére died?" Marinette said. She brought a hand to her heart and reached another hand out to put on Damian's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."
Damian softened for a singular second, and for a second, he looked like the ten-year-old he was. A mourning ten-year-old, who was having muddle through these emotions for the first time. Anger. Sadness. Grief. And for someone like Ra's, who had dolled out love sparingly and gave punishment freely. That made it much more complicated, grieving someone who you held both love and hate for.
Sabine knew that Damian would most likely isolate himself, based on everything she knew and saw of the young boy. But Marinette would never let him do that. Marinette would not let him shrink in on himself, not as long as he was here in Paris with her.
"How long will you be in Paris?" Sabine asked.
"Not very long," Talia assured. "We have plans to fly to Gotham commercially to evade suspicion."
"Gotham?" Sabine's brows nearly shot up into her hair. "But isn't that –"
"Where my father lives?" Damian finished. "Yes. We will be joining him in Gotham shortly."
Talia bit her lip, and Sabine had the feelings there was more to that than Damian was privy to.
Marinette clapped her hands together excitedly for Damian's sake.
"You're gonna meet your dad!" Marinette beamed. "That's great Damian!"
Marinette, of course, was not privy to the information of that Damian's father was Batman. She knew he was a wealthy man from Gotham, but she was young enough and he was a minor enough a celebrity that Marinette had no idea who that was. Sabine knew it was a matter of time before Marinette put it together that this man was Bruce Wayne of all people. And perhaps even realized he was Batman.
But that was a discussion that could be tabled for another time. When she was older. Or maybe she would never figure it out, and it would just be one of many secrets Sabine kept from her.
Damian cracked the barest of smiles that disappeared so quickly Sabine doubted if she had seen correctly.
"Yes, I suppose that is one silver lining in all of this," Damian admitted. "I will finally see if his as formidable as Mother claims."
"He will be," Talia said. She looked between Marinette and Damian. "Marinette, I heard your school was cancelled for the day. Perhaps you and Damian could play together, yes, while me and Sabine prepare breakfast?"
Damian crinkled his nose. "Mother, I do not play – "
"Okay!" Marinette cut him off, and she griped his hand. She pulled him back up the stairs to her room and they disappeared. Sabine knew if Damian really wanted to get out of Marinette's grasp, he would, but he made no motion to do so as they slipped up into her room. Sabine was not surprised. That boy could deny Marinette nothing.
After they were gone, Talia spoke again.
"The League is broken. Shattered, really," she explained. "Deathstroke leads one faction, and many of the others are already rallying support. It will be all out war within days."
Sabine nodded. The League must be in shambles, with its centuries old leader now finally dead. People and organizations jockeying for power, to be the one to replace the Demon's Head. And that put a large target on Talia and Damian's backs, as the blood relatives of Ra's. If they did not find refuge and soon, they would be killed. For as formidable as they were, Damian was still a child.
"This will bleed out into the rest of the world within weeks," Sabine surmised. The League of Assassins had hands in everything. World politics, corporations, even most of the major world charities. With how unstable the League was, it would affect their other ventures.
"We will be safe in Gotham," Talia said. "My Beloved….we have had our differences. But he will protect us. He will protect Damian. With that gaggle of children he has collected over the years and cared for, I am sure he will not abandon his son."
Sabine hesitated and then asked the question.
"And what about you?" Sabine asked.
"I will travel to Gotham with Damian," Talia said. "Attempt to plan our next move."
That did not really answer Sabine's question. But in the same way, it did. Talia's only concern was for Damian now and getting him to Gotham. Whatever came next could be dealt with when they came to that bridge. And they would need to cross it, eventually.
"Ten years ago, I told you that you and Damian would always have a place here in Paris," Sabine said. "And I mean that, now and always. Marinette adores Damian, and she loves you. If you want to, you can always stay here. Make a new life, as I once did."
Sabine had once been Talia's right hand, a fierce warrior and assassin. But then one a mission in Paris, she had met one Tom Dupain. And his life had been so….simple. So mundane, and she had ached for all that she missed. All she had given up. So she had given up her old life for this new one and taken a new name. Ra's al Ghul had been none too pleased. It was miracle she was standing here today.
Talia smiled sadly.
"It is too late for me, my friend. Your place is here, with Tom and Marinette. But my place….is uncertain now, but I know I can never live this kind of life. "
Sabine had not expected another answer, but she offered the suggestion anyway.
"If you ever change your mind," Sabine told her, "I will be right here."
Sabine stood and began to make her way towards the stove again.
"Now, let us make breakfast. It will not do well to keep two hungry children waiting."
Marinette was Damian's best friend. He would be loathe to admit it, as he knew having such a connection to mundane civilian girl would only make him appear weak. Especially one that slathered her entire room with pink and had a stuffed cat on her bed to sleep with. She claimed it was to ward off nightmares. Damian knew better.
Real nightmares could not be wared off by toy cats. They carried guns and swords and stormed your home when you're resting. They kill your grandfather and exile you and your mother. They were named Deathstroke.
Damian stood at the edge of Marinette's room, sticking out like a sore thumb against her pastel wallpaper and carpet. Marinette rifled through her toybox, looking for something. Damian looked around the room, trying to see if anything had changed since he was last year. He spotted a toy Green Arrow bow set, painted emerald green as it laid on top of a desk shoved in the corner. That must be new, it had not been here last month.
Most likely, Madame Dupain-Cheng was using it to segue Marinette into learning real archery. Damian had never understood why Madame Dupain-Cheng insisted on teaching Marinette so slowly. Damian had been proficient with a bow since he was six years old. From the stories Damian heard of her, Damian knew Madame Dupain-Cheng had been a worthwhile opponent and worthy enough to be considered her mother's right hand. Why did she insist on teaching her child only the bare minimum of self-defense and weaponry? On letting Marinette be so ordinary?
Damian shook his head.
"What do you want to play?" Marinette asked, not looking from up her toybox.
"I do not play, Marinette," Damian insisted, as he did every time he met her. "Playing is for children."
Marinette looked over her shoulder.
"We are children, Damian," Marinette refuted. Damian pursed his lips.
"Maybe you are."
Marinette stuck out her tongue.
"You're really lame, you know that, right?" Marinette said, but there was not bite to her words. She smiled at him and then returned to her box, and then let out a squeal of excitement. "Perfect!"
She pulled out two action figures, and Damian could immedailty set what they were. It was two figurines of Batman and Robin, both rather recent basing on the costumes they put them in. Must be the most recent Robin, one of the fakers trying to take Damian's place at his side. Marinette smiled triumphantly and bounced over to Damian.
"Since you're going to Gotham!" Marinette said. Her eyes widened. "What if you get to see Batman while you're there?"
Marinette had no way of knowing that Batman was, in fact, his biological father. Mother had been very strict about that, ever since Damian was old enough to know who his father was. Marinette was not to know of this. Mother had said it was meant to protect her, give her plausible deniability in the event she needed it. And Damian cared for Marinette, so he would do as his mother wished.
For now. Maybe when they were older and Damian was finally allowed to teach her some things about fighting, and not just what self-defense Madame Dupain-Cheng taught her. Because Marinette would be in his life, and he would be damned if he let anything happen to her. Like what happened to….
"I do not wish to play Batman and Robin with you," Damian told her. And he really did not. Those mantles were not titles to be taken on by school children for play. They were scared, apart of a legacy that Damian could not finally immerse himself in.
Marinette accepted this easily and set the toys down on a chair.
"Alright," Marinette conceded. "Well, what do you want to do?"
What did he want to do? He wanted to be in Gotham already, with his father. Mother had insisted on this detour to the Dupain-Cheng's, which Damian found to be tedious and unnecessary. What good would a visit here do? Mother had said something about no one would suspect them to be here, as they had no connections here, or at least none no one knew about.
And he really did love Marinette. He liked the Madame Dupain-Cheng and Dupain fairly well enough. But he wanted to be in Gotham. At least there, he could be doing something, working towards getting vengeance on Deathstroke or anything really. Instead of here, playing with Marinette.
"Nothing. I do not want to do anything," Damian settled on, feeling that was much more appropriate answer.
"Well, that's okay too," Marinette told them. "We can do nothing if you want. I thought playing might cheer you up, but if you're still sad about your grandpa we don't have to play."
Sad? No, he was furious. How dare Deathstroke do this? How dare he kill his grandfather? Stage coup and take away what is rightfully Damian's by birth? He bawled his fists and looked away from Marinette, angry tears clouding his eyes. He tried to will them away. As Damian did not cry. Especially in front of others.
"Damian?" Marinette asked. Damian did not turn to look at her. She reached out to hug him, but then stopped. Damian was fine with fleeting touches like her hand on her shoulder downstairs, but a hug was strictly off-limits. He was Damian al Ghul Wayne. Heir to the Demon's Head and the Bat. He did not need a hug.
Marinette bit her lip, and then she scurried to her bed. She reached for the stuffed cat and handed it to out to him when she returned.
"You remember Sandrine, right?" Marinette asked. Damian nodded, dumbly, a little confused. "Well, she always makes me feel better. Maybe it'll make you feel better."
Damian doubted it. What good would a stuffed toy named Sandrine do? It wouldn't erase the past few days. It wouldn't bring Grandfather back. It wouldn't allow for him to travel to Gotham any faster.
"Come on, don't knock it until you try it, Damian!"
Damian let out a tittering but took the toy anyway. It was a few years old, Damian had seen it on Marinette's bed for as long as he could remember visiting. Not to mention one of their button eyes were missing. It was soft to the touch; it's fur fluffy and stitched on smile looking up at him with fake cheerfulness.
At first it did nothing. It was, after all, just a toy. Marinette's toy, at that.
Then he looked up at Marinette's hopeful smile, and he felt a small bloom of hope appear in his chest. It was small, almost negligible. But it was there. Even if everything was different now, at least he still existed in a world where Marinette still had her toy Sandrine. And for half a second, that was enough.
"You can have it, if you want," Marinette offered. Damian blinked.
"What?" Damian asked.
"I mean, I've got lots of toys," Marinette explained easily. "But you're moving to your dad's! Take it with you, and it'll be like I'm going with you too!"
Damian looked down at Sandrine. Damian was not sure that logic checked out. After all, it was just a thing. A useless thing at that, it served no purpose. But Marinette liked it. And if Marinette liked it, maybe it was worth something after all.
So two days later, when Damian and Mother left Paris, he made sure to have Sandrine with them.
Notes:
I have actually never written Talia before, not before this fic. So any and all *constructive* criticism would be welcome.
We have another time skip next chapter, but then we get into the meat of the story! I almost included this in the prologue, but I wanted to separate it in the end, so as to make the time jump a little easier.
I am also taking from a variety of sources. Not strictly comics, not strictly animation. It's just kind of...it's own AU version of the DC and Miraculous universe. I want this world to feel like it's own unique thing, as I feel like a world where Miraculous co-exists with the DC universe would be more than just smashing them together. Their would be ripple effects.
Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know! Have a blessed day!
-PrincessChess