Who: Sara Lance (Ta-er al-Sahfer) What: Sara dreams of completing her training with the League of Assassins When: This morning Where: The Lance House Ratings/Warnings: Teenish; Blood, Sara dreams of killing someone Status: Narrative | Complete
Only the strongest of the students of Ra’s al Ghul would complete their training with the League. After Nyssa had nursed her back to health, it had been a hard year of training. Sara had the scars, crisscrossing across her back, to prove it. She wasn’t sure what had kept her going, but she was sure at least part of it had been because of Nyssa, Ra’s’ youngest daughter. A year had passed quickly, and now it was time for her final test.
She had known going into the fight that only one of the warriors who had walked into it would come back out again, but even still, Sara wasn’t sure if she could take another person’s life. Oliver’s words kept echoing in her head. Taking a life changes you.
She was bleeding and bruised as she stood over her opponent, but she was still the clear victor. There was only one more act between her and becoming a full-fledged member of the League. A bonafide assassin.
She searched for Nyssa in the crowd and met her eyes, sure that Nyssa, at least, would see the doubt and uncertainty in Sara’s eyes. Maybe she did. Nyssa simply closed her eyes and nodded, and Sara steeled herself. Then quickly, without anymore hesitation, she slashed the blade across her opponents neck. The spray of blood covered her hands, splattered her chest and her face, but the life faded from his eyes in seconds. If nothing else, Sara could be glad that her first kill had been a clean one; that he hadn’t suffered as he bled out. She didn’t have time to dwell on it for long. Nearly as soon as her opponents heart had beat for the last time, Ra’s al Ghul was at her side.
“Have you chosen your new name, child?” he asked, his voice almost fatherly.
Sara’s eyes sought Nyssa again, but only for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “I will be “Ta-er al-Sahfer,” Sara answered.
“Yellow Canary,” Ra’s said, his eyes crinkling in something almost resembling amusement. “Welcome to the League of Assassins, Ta-er al-Sahfer.”
Sara woke with a start, breathing hard. She knew that this dream would come, the dream where she finally killed someone, but she hadn’t been prepared for it. She could still feel the blood, hot and sticky and wet, on her hands. Stifling a sob, she brought her hands to her eyes to keep the tears at bay, and it was only then that she realized she hadn’t been imagining the feeling of blood on her hands. It was there in truth, and now she’d spread it on her face.
She almost sobbed again, but she took a deep breath and controlled herself. Crying wouldn’t get her anywhere. Right now she needed a shower, and she needed to get to the bathroom without waking anyone up. Laurel couldn’t know that she had joined the League in her dreams. Maybe they were just dreams, but Laurel wouldn’t understand.
And Olivia… well, there was no way that Sara could let Olivia see her like this. She felt an icy weight settle in her stomach. Was this going to happen often? If she was going to dream every night of being an assassin - and she would, there was no escape from the League save for death - then how long could she go before either one of them found her waking up, covered in someone else’s blood?
She listened at her bedroom door for a moment, and not hearing any movement, she opened it and slipped quietly into the hall. Her fighting abilities had already improved, as evident with her fight with Colleen, but as she slipped silently through the hallway, she realized her abilities to move silently had also carried through. Given the blood that now dripped from her hands, that was a little more unsettling than she would have liked to admit.
Being able to move silently or not, it was obvious she couldn’t stay here anymore. She had been happy, living with Laurel, repairing the relationship that had been strained ever since they had been children, being able to play with her adorable niece every day. But it wasn’t as if finding a new place to live meant she would never see them again. She wasn’t leaving the Orange County again.
She took a deep breath, and then released it slowly once she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She could do this. She had to .