A/N: The sad thing is how easy this is to write for. Don't even need to try. It comes so naturally.

Disclaimer: Don't own. At all.

Rebel Yell

Her bags had been packed for a week. And when he came home covered in blood that wasn't his own, she knew she had to run. Artemis had an escape planned out, and it was planned pretty well considering she was scarcely thirteen.

The bus station was just a few miles away, right on the outskirts of Gotham. She knew how to get there. She knew how long it took, how fast she had to run, how dangerous the journey would be. She'd take her bags and a few hundreds out of her daddy's wallet and make a break for it: that was the plan.

All Artemis wanted was to get away from him.

He was covered in blood, and for a few moments, she was genuinely worried. When he showed no signs of injuries while grabbing a beer from the fridge, she knew he'd killed again.

Striking the final nerve, she shut her book and began to head back to her room. "I'm going to bed," she sighed, barely offering a wave as she left the main area to head back to her own space.

"Night, baby," he called to his daughter in a hoarse voice before turning on the tv, volume low. "You want me to tuck you in?"

A pang of guilt hit her hard, but she knew this was for the best. "No, Daddy, I'm alright." Artemis shut the door with a faint click!

She moved to her closet on soft feet, careful to avoid the creaky floorboards. Opening the doors, she reached in and pulled out the bag packed with a book, the clothes she needed, and the necessities of life. Artemis looked to the door, wishing it didn't have to be this way, wishing her father would just stop what he did and breakaway from that life.

"I'll join you somehow, Jade."

Artemis threw it over her shoulder and set it on her bed. Collapsing her bow and packing in a few arrows, she prepared herself for the long trek that would turn into the rest of her life. She was taking this liberation into her own hands, and nothing would stop her from attaining freedom.

The window was only a few floors up. Training had hardened her so that such a fall would sting but leave nothing more that a dull ache for an hour or so. She tossed her bag out first, listening to the gentle thud! of her jeans padding the landing. Then she wriggled her own way out the window and let gravity pull her to the ground.

It stung but not for long. Adrenaline kicked in and the panic of being caught captured her heart, making her heart pound like a drum. Artemis looked back up to the window for a moment before finalizing the decision: she grabbed her bag and ran.

Alleys, broken sidewalks, and crumbling buildings slid past her as reality faded away, every fiber of her being focused on the escape. This would be her only chance because being caught meant closer surveillance and no opportunities for preparation. She had to get away now. Waiting any longer meant she might not have made it out without being caught.

Gravel flew up from under her feet; the girl ran alongside train tracks, knowing the next railcars that raced past would be around midnight. It was barely nine, and she couldn't stay long enough to try and catch a train. Artemis bolted, staying out of the light, staying away from anyone she came across. She wouldn't be seen, she couldn't be seen.

Within an hour and a half of alternating jogging and running, the young girl could see the bus stop so close. The lights were glowing on the horizon, a beacon of hope, the last surge to freedom.

A rush of air brushed past her ear, and the whistling of an arrow screamed through the night air; the twang! of the string finally caught up to her moments later.

Her feet kept flying, kicking up gravel, sneakers crunching over dead leaves. She couldn't stop, not now. The exhaust from an array of buses filled the air, the sweet aroma of freedom. The lights flickered at the station and another bus arrived. She could catch a bus to anywhere, really, as long as it took her far away from Gotham. Away from her father.

She just couldn't handle it anymore, the stress of wondering if he was alive, the pressure of becoming his protégé, the battle against the guilt of knowing that he could be killing someone any given moment he wasn't in the apartment. She couldn't live with any of it. No more. She didn't want it anymore.

Another arrow flashed past her, slamming into the ground just a few feet ahead. "Artemis!" came his ferocious roar from behind her. "Come back here!"

She didn't look back. She couldn't look back.

Because no matter what, he was still her father; since Jade had left and her mother had been put in prison, she'd promised that she'd bring their family back together again. She'd be there for her mother when she got home. She'd go with her father and find Jade, bring her home, and make the house a home again. She swore that her family was the most important thing in her life and that she'd repair all the damage done over the years.

"Artemis!"

No. She couldn't turn around, she couldn't keep that promise, and she wouldn't go back. She loved her father, that was undoubtedly true, but she wouldn't deal with it. No. No more.

She tripped.

Her foot caught a half-buried rock, and she was on the ground in a heartbeat; Artemis was scrambling to get to her feet a moment later, hands getting scraped by stones and gravel. She barely got to her feet and pulled her bag back over her shoulder before she felt his hand grab her ponytail and give a good yank, making her cry out in pain, her voice sharp and short.

"Where are you going?" he asked, voice like a wolf's feral growl. His other hand had gotten her shoulder and turned her around so gray eyes met gray eyes.

She tried to keep a proud heart, tried to face her jailer. Artemis knew she would break, but she couldn't give him the satisfaction so soon; the girl wouldn't give him more power over her. "I was going to find Jade." Her gaze was hard as stone, lower lip scarcely quivering. "I was going to bring her home."

"Why did you keep running?" An angered glint caught his vision; he could see the fear make her shiver.

Cleanly responding, she said, "I knew you wouldn't let me go." And she felt the bitter taste of prison rising on her tongue, the stench of freedom, the buses, fading fast as confrontation rose like a storm on the sea. "And I want my sister back."

A low, guttural growl thrummed out of his throat and he released his hold on her golden locks. Lawrence heard the gasp of relief she gave. "We'll find her together," he reminded sharply. "We agreed to this before, baby girl." He'd listen to her lie, let her believe she held the upper hand, and pretend like he didn't know what was going on that his dearest daughter was trying to abandon him in his time of need. "I don't want you going out on your own. You'll get hurt out in the real world."

Submission came quickly. He wouldn't hurt her, that was what really mattered because that was all she'd truly been afraid of. A hand catching her cheek, a shove into a wall, scissors taken to her hair… Artemis gave in, knowing it would buy her more time, a few more moments of living life. She just needed him to let her go, and maybe she could try again.

But somewhere deep in her heart, she knew she'd lost any chance at escape.

"Yes, Daddy."

"That's my girl." He gave her shoulder a good squeeze and pulled her close, even taking her bag upon his own shoulder. Right where his bow hung. The bow that he'd tried to kill her with.

Because Artemis knew too much. His daughter was a danger to his mere existence. And it scared him.

A/N: Review?

~Sky