ROGUE| DICK GRAYSON

xxviii. tired of fear

"Run, Rowan, run!" 

The young girl's lungs felt like they'd explode as she sprinted out of the arena. Her brunette hair flew behind her and what she wore was somewhat revealing. On her right shoulder was a silver plate of armor, but brown leather stuck to her skin all the way down to her thighs, which were exposed. Right above her knee were grey stockings, brown boots, and silver kneepads. Straps went across her body to hold packs of daggers and various weapons. She wore fingerless gloves that went above her elbow and a brown mask covering the bottom half of her face and neck.

She held a sword in her right hand as she sprinted toward the arena gate. It was quickly closing and just as she was about to leave, a hand grabbed her ankle, pulling her back. When she finally looked up she saw Eros with a wicked smile.

"Why are you trying to escape, my dear Rowan? You have lives to kill." He kept pulling her until she was in the middle of the arena, dirt covering her torso.

Her breaths were shallow; she was still supposed to be on Earth! She has two more months! 

Rowan stood up, facing the god. Eros was at least three times taller than her and had brown, curly hair with pink, glowing eyes. His skin was tan and he wore a pink tunic.

The girl looked around to find people cheering all around her. She faced the man again, "Please, Eros! I-I want to go home."

He bent down to her height with a grin, "Oh, darling, I want to kill all the gods who've ever wronged me. It's never gonna happen, sweetheart. Time to accept that." Rowan shook her head in denial. This had to be a dream, she never said her goodbyes, "See, my dear Rowan, no one on Earth cares about you as I do."

"You're sending me here to die!"

He put his large hand on the side of her cheek, "Oh, lovely, you got it all wrong. On Earth, you never lived, only merely survived. But, here? Here I can make you look like a goddess. Everyone here would want you or want to be you. Here in Olympus, you can live, I promise. Don't you want that?"

And, for a mere second, she believed him. She wanted to believe him. Rowan was tired of fearing for the future her father cursed her with. Her mind ran wild with ideas and thoughts that she could do, "Really?"

Eros transformed himself into a smaller version of himself, so he could be at eye-level with her, "They call us dreamers. But, we're the ones who don't sleep." Her eyebrows furrowed and the crowd stopped cheering; everything was quiet, "Parents kill more dreams than anybody."

Rowan shook her head with tears in her eyes, backing away, "I don't deserve this and you know it."

"It's out of my hands, my dear."

"You're lying!"

He softly smiled at her, "Promises are the sweetest lies, darling."

"You speak in riddles and I don't understand, Eros. Why can't you just let me go!"

"I don't break deals!" His anger rose as he grew more frustrated with the girl, "Your father broke a deal before; I will not trust him again and I'm sorry that you're on the losing side—"

"Then break the deal, please!"'

"No!"

Loud screams were heard from all around her, the crowd was getting killed one by one. Everyone was running away, trying to escape from this mass genocide, but it finally reached them. In mere seconds, they all lay dead on the floor, blood pouring out of them.

Rowan wanted out, she needed out. She was going to die here and nobody even knew.

"You see, my dear Rowan? If you break this deal, Earth will be in a lot more pain than this." He sighed as if he pitied the girl, "You cannot escape death, no matter how hard you try."

She eventually fell to her knees in a pleading manner. Rowan felt as if she was already dead, "Please, please, let me go home right now. I-I can't take this anymore. If this is my future, I already want to be dead."

He knelt down to her and placed a hand on her cheek, "Oh, my darling Rowan, that day will come soon enough. But, right now? Right now I'm giving you a task."

The girl looked up to meet his eyes, "I want you to kill your father."

"So, how long has she been sleeping like that?"
"Dunno."
"Her hair is crazy."
"She is a little crazy and by little, I mean a lot. And by crazy, I mean psychotic." 
"I said her hair, dumbass."
"Oh."

Rowan opened her eyes to find the team staring down at her.

"Rise and shine, babe."

"Dude!" Robin gave Wally a glare which in response, just shrugged at him. 

The girl rose from her spot on the couch, glaring at her team, "If you guys don't stop staring at me in five seconds, I'm stabbing you all in your sleep." They all quickly dispersed except for Robin who plopped himself next to her head. She fell back down, her head in his lap.

"You're the worst human being on the face of the planet."

"Aww, I think that's the nicest thing you ever said to me." Robin chuckled and began to play with her hair. She slowly took off his mask and looked up into his blue eyes.

"What if the rest of the team sees?"

Rowan laughed, "Puh-lease, they won't come back until I'm out of this room." Robin nodded and bent down, placing a quick kiss on her lips. As he went back up, she swiftly pulled his face down once more, kissing him for longer.

"What was that for?"

The girl's mind instantly went to her dream, but she just shook it off and smiled, "What? I can't kiss my boyfriend?"

Dick smirked, "I mean, I guess."

She put a mock frown on her face, "Fine, then I won't kiss you again." 

The boy immediately shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Uhuh."

Robin laughed and kissed her once more with so much more intensity. She put everything she had into that kiss as she didn't know when the next time would be. Soon enough, he pulled apart, out of breath, "I forgot to breathe."

Rowan laughed and snuggled closer to him, almost falling asleep once more.

"Promise we'll stay like this forever?"

The girl hesitated; she hated herself, "I promise."

After all, promises are the sweetest lies.