Talia Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne meeting as teens.
Bruce began to travel when he was still young, like freshly a teenager (lowk ran away to do so). He traveled all over the world training.
At the age of fifteen, he ran across a group of assassins. All highly skilled. So skilled, that one of them (reluctantly) showed Bruce a few things. Only basic things, fighting stances, Defence moves ect. The assassin wasn’t in town for long, a few months at most, but they saw promise in Bruce. Saw potential. And so, They sent him to be trained properly.
For months, Bruce trained with the LOA. He learnt fast, and showed enough potential that Ra’s himself became interested. Ra’s decided to become involved with Bruce’s training.
There, Bruce and Talia met.
Bruce was sixteen, a stubborn angry teen convinced the world weighed on his shoulders.
Talia was seventeen, a sharp but kind teen, terrified of her destiny.
They became friends. Bruce being one of the few people Talia’s age that she was permitted and able to speak to. Talia being one if the few people Bruce’s age that he could connect with.
They felt like the only two people on earth that understood eachother.
Talia had killed before, during fights when there was no other option, during missions when the victims were horrible people. But she had never enjoyed it. She would scrub her skin raw in the shower afterwards, watching the blood rinse down her body.
Bruce had never killed before, never during the fights in which it seems like the opponent won’t stop until they’re dead. Never during the times when Ra’s sends assassins into his rooms in the nights, in an attempt to goad Bruce into killing.
And yet, they understood eachother wholly. They loved each other wholly. It was completely unconditional. They were young, and their love all consuming. This terrified both of them.
And when Ra’s finally reached his limit, giving Bruce the ultimatum of death or murder, Bruce fought and clawed his way out, leaving his intended murderers/victims alive and unconscious. And he left. He left the LOA without saying goodbye.
Eventually he made his way back to Gotham, he became Batman and gained his first Robin. And there, he met Talia again.
Talia Ah Ghul, The daughter to the Demons head.
And their overwhelming love sparked to life, as though it had never left. It consumed them, it burned them. And then she left. Feigning a miscarriage and fleeing in the night.
And until this, they had always understood each other. They had always stood by eachother, protected eachother. They had a bond that could not be broken. And when Talia left, the trust they forged vanished. The understanding they felt fizzled away. And they realised that the soul consuming, unconditional love they felt for one another, was burning them from the inside out.
For a love like theirs to exist, there had to be sacrifice. For a life like theirs to exist, there had to be pain. And they loved eachother, but they were both smart enough to realise that love wasn’t enough on its own.
