New Beginnings || New Limits [Prequel]

02| New Realizations

***

From the roof I could see the man that was my target, and for the first time...I hesitated. And I realized what exactly I was about to do. I had never seen our assigned targets as anything other than a target that had to be eliminated, and now I knew that this was far from the truth.

Seeing this man surrounded by his family, forced me to rethink what I had to do. And it made me question who really was the monster here. Of course, the Bratva has been responsible for a numerous amounts of deaths, but so have I. This man had children and a wife.

If I killed this man now, I wouldn't only be taking a life, but I would also leave a family grieving over his passing. That's when it finally hit me and I thought about all those men and women who I have killed int he past, who also left a family behind. But, this was something that needed to be done, at least that's what I have always been led to believe. That all these people were just targets that needed to be eliminated for a greater purpose.

But if I didn't complete this assignment, I would be the one that would have to face a death sentence once I returned to Nanda Parbat. I had no other choice, so I waited until everyone left the office, except that man who I had no other choice than to kill.

Pushing all my doubts aside I raised my bow aiming it at my target, and with a deep breath I released the arrow, wondering if I just made a big mistake.

***

I walked though the hallways of Nanda Parbat before I stopped in front of the main chambers as two of the guards opened the doors for me to enter. Ra's and Nyssa were in the room, deep in discussion until they realized I was now entering the room.

"Artemis." Ra's said slowly, as I stopped in front of him with a small bow. "I suspect that everything ran smoothly."

"Yes." I told him as I held his gaze.

Ra's then walked around me as a way of intimidation, but I stood my ground as I looked straight ahead. "No witnesses to the scene?"

"None."

"I have expect the best from you my daughter." Ra's finally told me before turning turning around, and I knew that was his way of dismissing me. I walked out of the room and released a nervous breath knowing that I just did something that would surely get me killed if Ra's ever found out.

"Sister." Nyssa called out and I stopped, allowing her to catch up before continuing my path down to me bed chambers. "You should feel proud of what you just accomplished Artemis. Yet, you don't seem pleased."

I stopped and I grabbed Nysa's arm pulling her into my chambers and locking the door behind me. "Have you ever questioned what are mission is?" Hearing this Nyssa looked at me questioningly, clearly unsure if is was serious.

"Of course not." She immediately replied once she realized I was being serious. "Are you having second thoughts? Artemis, that is a dangerous thing to have."

"I know it's stupid." I muttered, scolding myself for having these thoughts. "I was just thinking that there might be another way for these criminals to get the justice they deserve."

"There is no other way, they must be eliminated completely. People never change." Nyssa told me confidently. "We are not the villains here...they are."

"You're right." I attempted to convince myself. "I don't know how I let such thoughts get into my head. Ignore everything I have just told you."

Nyssa put a comporting hand on my shoulder as she looked at me with concern clear in her eyes. "Are you sure that you are alright?"

"Yes, just tired is all. It has been a long day."

"Then I shall leave you, so you may rest." She told me, before she left the room. Once the large door closed behind her I took a seat on the edge of my bed as I ran my hands through my hair in disbelief.

As I sat there I began to feel this unbearable amount of guilt for everything that I have done. I had never regretted anything I had ever done, until now. Suddenly I heard a sound from the balcony outside that immediately had me on my feet.

I pulled out two blades from my boots, and as I turned around I threw them in the direction of the sound. My eyes widened as I realized who was at my balcony, but the blades were easily sidesteps both the weapons that were headed in her direction.

"Paula." I muttered once I recognized who it was as I stepped closer to the balcony. It had now been months since I'd seen her, and she left without a single explanation of her whereabouts. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't be like that, I'm your mother." She replied in almost a bored tone as she walked into the room.

"Well you haven't been much of that lately." I countered. "So, what are you doing here. I thought the you were released from your duties here."

"I was." She continued as she took a seat as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Yet his motives were unjust."

"And what exactly were his motives?"

"He discovered that I bed another man." Paula replied numbly, but I could still her the resentment in her tone. I paused, but decided I didn't want to know anything else on the subject.

"Well, that doesn't explain why you are here now." I told her, and the truth was I was beginning to feel hate towards her. Regardless of the fact that she was my mother.

She sighed as she began to reach out to me, but I took a step back, unsure of what her true intentions were. "I came here for you, of course. I know what you did today Artemis. And you must surely know that if Ra's ever finds out he might not be as merciful as he was with me, regardless if he made you his second heir."

I froze wondering if she knew about what I did in Russia, but I couldn't be completely sure. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You didn't eliminate Anatoly Knyazev like you were assigned to do." She replied holding my gaze. "You couldn't possibly believe that Ra's al Ghul would never find out."

I turned around, not wanting her to see the doubt in my eyes. "Who did you know?"

"I'm your mother, I was keeping an eye on you. And apparently it was necessary considering that your decisions may have just caused you your life."

"Ra's won't find out. Now that Anatoly knows that he is being targeted he and the Bratva will go underground." I tried to convince her, but I knew that I was just trying to ease my own doubts.

"And who long do you believe that will last?" She continued to as me and as she took a couple steps closer to me, and this time I didn't move away.

"Then what are you suggesting I do?"

"Leave Nanda Parbat. Come with me, and we could start a new life together. I can finally be the mother that you deserve to have." My mother replied with a surprisingly softer tone. I wanted to believe what she was telling me, but I found it hard to truly trust a woman who has hurt me so much.

"I couldn't." I told her, I grew up in the League. This life was all I knew, and I had never imagined it being any other way. Until now. Until I realized that the League of Assassins was forcing me to become a person that I didn't want to be. Not anymore. I once took pride in what I did, in what I accomplished. But, now all I was starting to see myself as a monster. And I didn't want to be that person anymore.

"Artemis you are only 17, you don't expect to live your whole life as a member of the League?" Paula told me, and I was surprised by the concern on her voice. It was something I had never seen from her. "So what do you say Artemis? Will you join me?"

***

^^^ A/N Hope you guys are enjoying this so far. I really hope that I am conveying Artemis' (Diane's) internal struggle on what she has been taught to believe and what she believes. And I hope this prequel really makes Diane seem more than just some love interest, which is what I really don't want you guys to just see her as.^^^