Blackened Heart {Rose Wilson}

One

Rose gave a tiny gasp as her eyes shot open.

"Rose, what is it?" Grant's hand was instantly on the hilt of the sword beneath his pillow. Between his little sister and big brother on the huge hotel bed, Joey Wilson sat up suddenly, breathing heavily, his hand flying to his throat.

Grant stood up, carefully scanning the room for whatever had put Rose on edge.

"It's okay, Joey," Rose whispered, hugging her big brother tightly. "We won't let them take you again." She vowed.

Joey continued to take shallow breaths, still holding his throat as if that would coax the air down to his lungs. As Rose looked up at her big brother, she saw the jagged red scar just beneath his Adam's Apple, barely concealed by Joey's fingers

On the other bed across the room, just out of the trail on moonlight coming in from the dirty motel window, Slade Wilson grumbled loudly at the commotion his children were making.

"What time is it?" he asked, fumbling for the clock.

"Dad, Rose heard something." Grant said, ever so slightly inching down the short hall to the door of their motel room, blade now ready to strike whatever would come through it.

Slade was instantly on alert, just as he'd trained his children to do.

"Rose, Joey, get in the closet," He whispered, his eyes never leaving the door as he pulled out two swords of his own.

Joey nodded meekly, he hadn't said a word since the family had rescued him from HIVE's labs two days ago, after he had been injured in the fight. Rose pulled her big brother into the closet, clinging to him tightly, not even daring to whimper as they waited for another noise, any other sign that someone was out there, waiting to strike.

For an eternity, even the birds outside stopped whistling. Rose had almost concluded that she'd panicked, as little kids always did if they were ever in this situation, but before she could give a sigh of relief, the door was thrown open. Slade was tired of waiting for them to attack first.

He shoved the door out of the frame and on top of four HIVE agents, leaping on top of it to force them into the ground and take out their comrades from the air. Grant blocked a barrage of bullets with his sword, deflecting them back at the shooter, who dodged.

Blood splattered over the motel porch and on the hood of the Wilsons' escape truck as Slade cut through the assassin who'd shot at his son.

"I told you before!" He screamed, his one good eye glinting in the thin moonlight.

"Not. My. Children!"

Back in the tiny closet, Rose clung to Joey, who was too frozen in fear to hug her back and offer protection like a big brother typically did.

Grant, the oldest, swung his sword viciously to defend his little brother and sister, trying to keep the HIVE soldiers from getting into the room and getting to Rose and Joey, resisting the urge to look back at their hiding spot.

Their white-haired father was a raging fury, blood flinging from his blade and into the desert sands, cool in the night, as he cut down assassin after assassin, spitting on their yellow hexagon-shaped badges and ignoring their screams for mercy.

Rose had enough of waiting. She jumped up and grabbed the bar for coat hangers, pulling on it with all her weight. Maybe if she could get it loose, she could use it as a sword and help Grant and their dad.

The ancient plaster of the cheap motel walls were not made to support much weight in the beginning, and gave way almost immediately, sending most of the wall caving in on Joey and Rose, who screamed as she fell.

Grant immediately looked up from his swordfight with one of the assassins still standing.

"Rose!" He shouted, reaching for the closet where she and Joey were hiding.

He would have run to their rescue, if it weren't for the silver blade suddenly protruding from his chest.

He coughed, feeling warm blood flood his mouth. He stumbled to his knees as the unforgiving metal slid out of his chest, the smile of his killer, the only part of the assassin visible in their uniform, reflected in the silver and mercury red.

"No!" Slade shouted.

The assassin who killed Grant ignored Deathstroke's cry, running for the indicated closet as Slade ran for his eldest son. He ripped open the door, shaking more dust down on the children.

He grabbed Joey first, who had tried to shield Rose with his own body, raising him in the air by his collar. Due to the injury to his throat, Joey was unable to scream, but Rose could see the fear in his piercing eyes, even in the darkness of night.

"No! Joey!" She cried, trying to free the bar from the remains of the wall. "I'm coming, Joey! I'm gonna save you!" She promised. She hadn't processed the fact that Grant was dead yet, but she refused to let either of her big brothers go without a fight.

Before she could free the bar and use it against the assassin, he kicked her in the stomach, knocking her into a rock and the wing out of her lungs.

"Joey," She gasped for air, willing herself to move as she watched the deadly silver impale her brother.

"Joey!" She screamed as only a child could scream, scrabbling to her feet and stretching her arm out to her brother, who reached out for her too, with all the strength he had left.

Rose's young gray eyes watched, unable to turn away, as Joey's final breath misted on the cold desert night air, and his body went limp, as the assassin dropped him on the pile of rubble like an animal carcass.

"Joey," Rose sobbed, shaking her brother by the arm. The tears pooled as his body refused to respond.

A shadow stretched out towards her, and Rose recoiled, trying to inch away from the assasin's arm reaching for her, but instead she felt something warm dripping onto her cheek.

She looked up, seeing her father's sword penetrating the assassin's armored chest plate, dripping with his dark blood.

She whimpered as his body dropped to the side, inches from her own. She whimpered as her father held out his hand to her.

"Come on Rose, let's go." He said stiffly. Rose didn't budge, still gripping the fabric of Joey's t-short sleeve.

Slade sighed, crouching down beside her. "Rose, come on. We have to leave now, before HIVE sends in more assassins."

Rose nodded shakily, her eyes still on Joey's blonde locks. When she dared look away, she immediately zeroed in on Grant's body, lying still in a similar way.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let her father see her crying.

Slade finally gave in, and pulled her into his arms, cradling her head against his chest so that she didn't have to star at her brothers' bodies anymore.

"I-it's not fair." She sniffed as Slade set her down in the passenger seat of the truck. "W-we just rescued Joey. We were supposed t-to get him h-home."

"Life's not fair, kid. Get used to it." Slade dismissed, turning the key to the ignition.

He didn't even bother to turn the headlights on as he turned onto the highway, driving away from the destruction and the bodies of the hotel.

"But don't worry, kid," he whispered, noticing the sun starting to rise over the dunes a couple miles east. "One day, we're going to even the score."

NO I AM NOT THROWING MYSELF INTO WRITING THIS WHOLEHEARTEDLY YET BUT MY MOM WANTED TO SEE SOME OF THIS BECAUSE I KINDA TOLD HER THAT THIS WAS AN ORIGINAL STORY SO SHE'D BACK OFF AND PLUS I GOTTA KEEP YOU GUYS INTERESTED IN THIS AND SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, YEAH. ENJOY.