Sorry for the long-ish wait, the internet was down for a while, but during that time I wrote this chapter and half of the next one! I procrastinated about this and homework...guess which one won? :D
Be prepared for a bad-ass Robin in this one, and in the next things will hopefully be a lot clearer! Enjoy!
Rose walked out the door of the block of flats and started making her way home. The wind brushed past her face like icy knives and Rose regretted not bringing her coat to school with her. The moon was high in the sky, with the dark blue clouds moving floating past it.
The nightlife in Gotham was just as fast as during the day- almost every street had a nightclub of some sort, and they didn't close till very early in the morning. The dark alley ways were never safe, and they just got worse after night fall.
Rose wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep in what was left of her body heat. She put her head down whenever passing dodgy looking people of a group of henchmen, making her foot steps quieter in fear of being noticed.
She turned a right and started walking down a rather wide alley way, feeling slightly more frightened than before because of the men who were watching her. She felt their eyes bore into her back, and spotted one of them dragging their eyes even lower than that. Rose shuddered and picked up her pace a little.
"Where you going, darlin'? No need to rush, in fact, why don't you come in and I'll give you a cup o' coffee."
Rose froze on the spot and turned around slowly to face an appalling looking men; he was smiling widely (Rose didn't feel comfortable with him looking at her like that), one or two of his teeth had gone and left a huge gap on his top set of teeth, he had an eye patch on and was staggering towards Rose now.
She then realised that he wasn't the only one up on his feet, about 4 or 5 of them were limping to her. Quickly she looked for a way out but didn't see one. Her breathing got heavier and her hands were shaking violently in her blazer pockets.
"Aw, why you so scared, honey?" a different man said, taking a curl of her hair and wrapping it around his dirty finger.
"I'm not...s-scared," Rose whispered, absolutely terrified now she couldn't even find her voice for a second.
"Of course no', now follow us, we 'ave a surprise for you," someone else whispered in her ear and she bit her lip to hide a whimper.
The smell of alcohol and cigarettes clouded her thoughts and she felt a pair of hands being placed on her back.
She wanted to fight back, to scream and yell at them for touching her, but she couldn't find it in her. She was frozen on the spot.
More hands were on her now, her shoulder, her waist, her stomach, covering her back, even her cheek.
"Stop, please, leave me alone," she cried. Her eyes were clench shut and she felt tears forming in them.
They didn't listen to her, but pushed her to the wall, she started to yell now and hit them, but all in vain, they didn't hear her, only saw her.
One of them ripped her blazer off and threw it onto the ground.
Another was about to undo her skirt when suddenly there was a loud sound of someone hitting the ground and a painful groan filled the air.
The men turned around to face one of there own on the ground, holding his arm in pain. Rose's eyes widened and she saw the fear on the faces of the men holding her and they looked at each other, almost sending a message through their expressions. The immediately let go of her but stayed close, though further enough for Rose to pick up her blazer and check for any damage: there was none.
The men were shaking now, and one of them whimpered.
"We know you're here, now come ou' and be a man," someone shouted out into the night.
Then a new voice was heard: "You asked for it."
A body jumped off the top of the small building and flung two men off of their feet, they kicked and punched and dodged every blow the men sent their way and managed to get them all on the ground.
Rose was still up against the wall, trying to make out who this person was, as they were only a red blur to her, but realisation dawned on her and it only took a second for her to know who it was when they stood up slowly and faced her. Rose blushed and walked off the wall.
The Boy Wonder stood in front of her with his arms crossed. She couldn't see his face; it was in the shadow of his hood.
"Thank you," she managed to get out, still blushing. "I don't want to think about what would've happened if you didn't come and..."
"Save you?"
Rose looked at what she thought was his eyes and nodded. His voice was deep, but not deep enough to be heard from a man. He was just an inch or two taller than Rose and she thought that he can't have been much older than her.
"I'm sure you know better than to walk through an alley way at night."
"Yes, I do, it's just that I-
"Don't let it happen again."
Rose only nodded again and walked forward slowly.
"Thank you again."
"This is kind of what I do."
"I'm serious though."
Rose didn't know what she was doing or why, maybe it was because of what might've have happened just a few minutes ago, or maybe she was just not thinking straight, whatever it was, Rose didn't regret leaning forward and kissed the boy's cheek.
He was surprised, this obviously didn't happen often, and Rose swore she saw some sort of redness on the cheek she had just placed her lips on, but put it off as the light from the lampposts.
Quickly, Rose picked up her school bag that was on the ground and started walking down the alley towards her home.
"How far is your home? Will you be alright?"
Rose turned and nodded. "It's only round the corner, bye-bye, Robin."
She skipped round the corner, feeling giddy, and walking into her house, Lily immediately spotted the wide smile on her younger sister's face and gave her a questioning look.
"I'll tell you later," Rose said to her and she ran up to her room.
What Rose didn't notice was that certain bird was watching her walk round that corner, and didn't move from his spot on the building till she had closed her door behind her.
...
Once Rose was in her room she got out her phone and dialled Jane's number, wanting to tell her best friend about the night's events before she forget any detail. After about 3 rings Jane's high voice filled her right ear.
"Hey Rose, you home yet?"
"Yeah, I got back about 5 minutes ago. You'll never guess what happened on the way back though..."
Then she flung Jane into a slightly exaggerated telling of how 7 monster-looking men tried to touch Rose in ways she didn't want to think about in a dark alley when suddenly a hero saved her just in the nick of time- which is what basically happened, she was saved by a hero.
"And then I said thanks and he said 'this is kind of what I do,' and then I said 'I'm serious' and I kissed his cheek and walked off," Rose said all at once, doing a terrible imitation of his voice using a deeper tone of hers and using a high one for herself.
She heard Jane gasp then laugh loudly through the phone. "You did not do that!"
"I did! Hard to believe right?"
"Very!"
Jane laughed some more and soon enough Rose started to laugh with her. She laughed and laughed and laughed and suddenly her eyes were watering and she couldn't breath.
"Rose darling, everyone alright?"
Rose looked up from her position on the bed, which was with her head upside down on the edge. Her face must've looked bright red because of all the blood rushing to it but she was laughing too much to care.
"Yes, I'm fine Dad."
He raised an eyebrow but shook his head, laughing anyway.
"Come on down, love. Have some fruit before you go to sleep."
She nodded and sat up straight, saying good-bye to Jane and quickly followed her father down the stairs to the living room.
Lily was there, putting her keys in her bag and slipping her coat on.
"Where are you leaving to?"
Lily froze and gave their father a confused look. "You didn't tell her?"
Adam scratched the back of his neck. "I was just about to..."
"About to tell me what?" Rose looked at her father, frowning deeply.
He smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently.
"Honey, I know you don't like going up to the hospital because of what it brings you but we aren't going there for fun, we're going there to be for your mother when she needs us, and right now she needs us a lot, these treatments aren't ever enjoyable for her, you've got to understand that."
Rose stood there, still frowning at him, and felt her eyes water. No, Rose didn't understand, she didn't understand why they had to be there for their 'mother' when she 'needed them.' Rose didn't think that screaming and yelling at her and her sister to get out of her sight and family was 'needing' them.
"So I'm not going to school tomorrow?"
He stared at her and shook his head slowly. "I've already told the school and you'll be able to catch up on everything on Wednesday."
Rose nodded and started up the stairs to collect her things for the night.
"I've already packed everything," Lily told her.
She turned around and held onto her older sister's hand as they got into the car. She leaned her head onto the window and closed her eyes, letting the dream world consume her and take her to a place she'd rather be.
...
Did you like it? I really dislike silent readers. I'd love to know what you (hopefully) like about this story and what you might even hate! Haha, spam me with your thoughts...please? :]
- Zara