Chapter 2

I made my way through the country roads in Covington, Ohio towards the Convent. The last conversation I had with Rachel kept replaying in my head and wishing that I had gone down that day, and not waited. I had promised her that I would be there for her, and I failed her. Suddenly, I felt Rachel's energy leave the Convent and head towards another energy nearby. This new one felt different than a normal human.

I turned and drove towards this new energy, hoping to get to Rachel. When I found it, I was at a storage facility. I got out of my truck and made my way through the storage buildings, following the energy. Making it down one of the rows of buildings, I saw a 1986 silver Porsche 911 Carrera parked in front of one of the units. 'I know that car,' I thought in shock. 'It can't be.'

I walked closer to the unit, hearing voices inside. A female voice and one that I hadn't heard in four years. I looked inside to find a woman with dark skin and magenta hair and Dick Grayson. "Dick?" I said without thinking.

Dick spun around to see me standing there. He still looked the same, dark brown hair and honey brown eyes. "Emma," he breathed in the same deep voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find Rachel," I told him, then actually looking around the unit. It was filled with pictures of Rachel and a lot of religious pictures and texts. "What the hell is all this?"

"What do you want with Rachel?" the woman demanded defensively. She stared at me with untrustful green eyes.

"And you are?" I countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Kory Anders," she stated raising her head and putting a hand on her hip. "And you?"

"Emma Roth," I proclaimed, and pointed to a picture on the wall. The picture had Melissa, Rachel, and I on Rachel's tenth birthday. "Rachel is my younger sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Dick said confused. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I narrowed my ice blue eyes at him, and he shifted uncomfortably. "You know why."

"Sorry about the confrontation," Kory apologized, and I looked over at her. "There have been people after Rachel, and I just wanted to make sure you weren't one of those that wanted to hurt her."

"At least you're trying to protect her, and I appreciate it," I said honestly with a shrug. Then her words registered with me. "Wait, who else is after her?"

"There was a guy with a raven tattoo on his back in Detroit," Dick spoke up. "Then there was a freaky family that took her in DC. Kory here apparently saved her from them."

"Hank told me about them," I said slowly, thinking. This was not good; too many people have been finding her.

"You spoke to Hank?"

"How do you know each other?" Kory interjected before I could say anything, almost intrigued by the tension between us.

"We used to date," Dick and I said at the same time. We both looked at each other before I moved the conversation forward. "So, you're looking for Rachel?"

"I don't remember anything past almost a week ago," Kory admitted. "The only thing that I know is that I was looking for your sister. Do you know me?"

I scrutinized her, taking in her energy signature, before blinking. "I've never met you before." Kory slumped before looking around again with a sigh. "But I don't think you're from Earth."

Both Kory and Dick spun around to look at me. "Are you sure?" Dick questioned.

I just raised my eyebrow at him, and he looked away from me again. "Four years and you still doubt me, nothing changes with you then, does it?" Dick looked at me with a frown, but before he could say anything, I changed the conversation. "So, where is Rachel?"

"Safe," Dick said, still with a frown. "Kory here stole my car to get here, but she's safe."

"Emma, right?" Kory interjected when she saw that I was going to argue. I took a deep breath through my nose and nodded to her. "Did you know about her birthday?"

"What about her birthday?" I asked, confused.

"The mortality rate spikes every year on that day," Kory explains. "Ever since her birth, over two hundred thousand additional dead worldwide. Did you know that?"

"You know an awful lot about her for someone who doesn't remember anything," I countered. I didn't like that she had all this information on my baby sister.

"Probably," Kory admitted, before gazing at the wall next to her. Most of it was printed out Bible passages with strange writing in the margins. I walked closer to look at them myself as Dick came up beside me. Kory grabs a sticky note off the wall and mutters in a different language. She turns to me with a worried look in her eyes. "I think she's part of a prophecy," she explained. "She's the Destroyer of Worlds."

The moment the words left her mouth, I got hit with a mass amount of dark energy and screamed. I felt arms around me as I my knees buckled. My vision was blurry, and my ears were ringing. The ground began to shake and suddenly the energy was gone.

"Emma!" Dick's voice was shouting as my hearing cleared. I looked into his, surprisingly, worried eyes. "Are you alright?"

I nodded at him as he and Kory helped me stand. "What happened?" Kory asked in concern. "You screamed and then fell."

I swallowed around the dry feeling in my throat. "Rachel," I whispered, they both looked at me in alarm and I pulled out of their arms. I stumbled out of the unit to see the black cloud in the direction of the Convent. I then spun around to face Dick and Kory, pointing to the cloud. "I can feel it when she uses her powers. And you left her at the Convent, by herself."

I went to walk back to my truck when someone pulled me back by my arm. I stumbled back into a hard chest and another arm came around me to steady me. After everything stopped spinning, I looked up into Dick's concerned honey brown eyes. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked with a frown.

"To get my sister," I growled and shoved him off me. "After you abandoned her. Hank told me about what happened in DC."

Dick sighed with a look of guilt on his face, but before he could respond there were birds that filled the sky and were flying away form the Convent. I looked back at him before moving away again. However, Dick pulled me back again before I could get too far. I went to argue with him, but he cut me off. "I know you want to get her, but not in your condition. You were just in intense pain just a minute ago and you can barely stand now."

"I hate to agree with him," Kory jumped in, coming over to us. "I really do, but he is right. You are in no condition to drive."

"You also won't be able to help Rachel if you get hurt," Dick reasoned.

I stared at him with a frown for a moment. I knew that he was right, even if it pissed me off. "My truck has my stuff in it," I told him with a sigh, and a look of surprise came to his face. "I can't just leave it."

"I'll drive it," Kory offered. "You can ride with Dick."

Turning to look at her, I saw a mischievous look in her eyes. It made me think that Rachel might have told her about me. Four years ago, I had come home torn apart when Dick left, and Rachel helped me build my walls up again. I sighed again holding my keys out and when Kory grabbed them, I held on firmly. "Don't trash my truck," I warned.

I let her take my keys after that and she smirked at me as she went over to my truck. Dick lead me over to his Porsche and got me settled into the passenger side. As Dick started to drive, I looked over at him and my curiosity got the better of me. "Why were you gonna leave her?"

"Really? Now?" Dick fired back as he glanced over at me. I just gave him a deadpan stare. He sighed and gripped the steering wheel harder, shifting in his seat. "I'm no good at family Em. You above everyone know that."

"You're still lying to yourself?" I asked, and he looked over at me in shock as we pulled up to the Convent. "I know people that are no good at family and you're not one of them."

I got out of the car before he could say anything and glanced around the wreckage that was left of the Convent. There were ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. I walked up to the destroyed section and Kory came up to Dick and me to stare at it in shock. "She must've lost control," Dick whispered.

"Now you both know why people want her," I whispered, as I tried to feel for her energy. "She's not here. I can't feel her."

Kory came over and gave me a side hug. "She might be nearby," she said. I could feel her concern for where Rachel was. It made me give her a half smile, liking the fact that there was someone that could look out for my baby sister when I couldn't be there.

Dick then ran past us towards one of the ambulances that one of the sisters were sitting on with a blanket around her, staring into space in shock. "Hey, where's Rachel?" he asked worriedly. "Is she okay?"

"She left," the sister answered absently. "Ran."

I narrowed my eyes at the sister's voice. Moving so that I could see her, I could feel a glare slide into place. "Today is full of familiar faces," I spoke up. Kory and Kick both looked at me in confusion, but the nun seemed to pale further upon seeing me. "What happened?" I growled. "Huh?"

"Hey—" Dick tried to chastise me, but Sister Catherine, as I remember her name was, cut him off.

"We just wanted to keep her here," she said frantically. "Keep her safe, that's all. Where no one could hurt her, and she couldn't hurt anyone."

"You locked her up?" I growled again, moving forward. Dick grabbed me by the waist to hold me back. "She trusted you!"

"There's no stopping it now," she warned.

"Stopping what?" Kory asked her.

"Oh God," Sister Catherine was freaking out now, and she looked to me. "Oh, God forgive me. Please, you must forgive me."

I got into her face. "A hypocritical bitch like you? I highly doubt that."

Turning away as an EMT pulled Sister Catherine in an ambulance, I walked back to my truck. I could hear Dick and Kory come over to me, arguing over Rachel. I closed my eyes, trying to find Rachel's energy, but couldn't get even a flicker. I let out an anguished cry and kicked a rock that hit a tree, leaving a dent in the bark. It wasn't until Dick came into my sight ling, looking blurry, that I realized the I was crying, shaking, and breathing heavily.

"I can't find her energy," I choaked out. "Something's blocking me. I should have just left the moment she called me."

Dick's grip tightened on my shoulders and helped to ground me. I grabbed his elbows to try and steady myself. "Emma, look at me," he demanded. I took deep breaths to steady my breathing as I looked into his honey brown eyes. "We are going to find her Emma. We are going to keep her safe, I promise."

A part of me wanted to deny his promise and point out that he always breaks them. But I could feel his sincerity in his voice and he energy. I could only take a deep breath and nod.

"What did you mean when you said you couldn't find her energy?" Kory asked, breaking Dick and I apart.

There was a small part of me that felt cold when he voiced his arms. I mentally shook myself and turned to answer Kory. "My powers are the opposite of Rachel's," I explained. "Her powers are dark, and mine are light. I can feel when her dark energy flares up and my powers reaction varies."

"That's why you screamed when she blew up the Convent," Kory concluded, and I nodded. "And if somethings blocking you, then she's getting more powerful."

"Yeah," I conceded sadly.

"But she's still a kid," Dick opposed firmly, and he put a hand on my shoulder. "Alon and scared and on the run."

"He's right," I admitted. "We need to see if someone saw her after this. We'll try the police station first."

They both agreed but then Kory frowned. "If we're gonna be riding together, then what are we gonna do with you're truck?" she asked.

"I'll have someone come get it," I murmured.

"I'll follow you to the police station then," Kory said matter-of-factly with a smirk, and walked towards my truck.

I blinked as her words registered. "Wait! Hang on!" I shouted at her. "I'm stable. I can handle driving my own truck!"

"No, you're still shaking," Dick contradicted by holding up my hand. I looked at my hand to see it was still shaking from my panic earlier. My shoulders dropped with a heavy sigh and nodded. Dick had to help me into his car again and, as he walked around to the driver's side, I pulled out my phone. Dialing the first speed dial, I waited as it rang.

"What's up Em?" Romolo's voice came through.

"I need you to come and get my truck Rome," I told him, cutting straight to the point. "I found where Rachel was, but she's still missing."

"Wait, if I'm getting your truck, how are you getting around?" he asked in confusion.

"Dick is here," I deadpanned.

There was silence for a moment. "Richard Grayson? Dick Grayson? The asshole who broke your heart. That Dick?" he fired off, his accent getting thicker the angrier he got.

I sighed as Dick drove. "Romolo, please, I don't have the energy to argue with you right now. Just, can you come and get my truck?"

Romolo took a deep breath over the phone. "I'll be there. Where are you?"

"Covington, Ohio, at the police station," I relayed to him. "Thank you for this Thunder."

"Always Lighting. See you soon."

We hung up and Dick cleared his throat to get my attention. "So, was that your boyfriend?"

I raised an eyebrow at the anger in his voice. Then it hit me. "Are you jealous?" Dick only clenched his jaw and I just sighed. "Not that it's any of your business, but Romolo is my cousin."

"I thought you weren't close with your family?" he asked.

I knew that he was trying to distract me from the earlier part of the conversation. I didn't want to think about the fact he still got jealous over me, and it made me warm so, I let him. "Just Romolo and his mom," I explained. "Our dads are brothers."

Dick looked over at me when silence fell between us. I was looking out the window in worry when I felt a warm hand take mine. My head whipped around to look at him. "We're gonna find her Emma," he promised with conviction. "You need to have some faith that she will be okay until we find her."

Despite our past, I squeezed his hand for the warmth and comfort it provided. "Yeah, we'll find her."