Always Traught

If This Is The End

"Where do we go from here?" Artemis asked him. She looked down at their intertwined fingers, as if that would give her the answers. Dick just let out a shaky breath. For the first time in awhile, he didn't have them.

"We leave?" The trained acrobat responded, but instead sounded like he was the one asking her for guidance. It made sense. She had given it to him several times before.

The blonde teen moved to sit down. He followed her motions and settled on the frozen ground. The short grass was dusted with frost. The sun wasn't quite set, but thick, grey clouds covered the star. Artemis and Dick were bundled up in multiple sweaters. Winter was coming and it was coming quick.

Artemis sighed, "I don't want to run away. We've lost everything once and came back from it. We can do it again."

"Not this time, Artemis," Dick shook his head, "I'm not going through Bruce's abuse," He spat out his adoptive parent's name like it was poison. Even the sound of it made all the bruises on his skin twinge.

"I don't want to leave our friends in the dust," Artemis protested.

"Sometimes you have to think about yourself," Dick rebutted. For a long time, the two heroes hadn't. They focused on the outside world, as if that would solve their problems. And they never once talked back to their fathers or reached out for help. And for that, each hit felt ten times worse. They stung, burn, and sometimes bleed. Bruce liked to use his fists more than anything. Lawerence Crock was more keen on the weapons.

Artemis took in a deep breath. Her free hand picked at the grass under them. She knew he was right, but that didn't make her feel any less guilty. The feeling of abandonment was one the archer was acquainted with. The thought of bringing that upon M'gann, Wally, Kaldur, and all the other members of the team ached at her heart. But then again, how could they care for the team when they were beaten to the point of near death almost every month? Being murdered would've hurt the team more than them running to safety.

She nodded, "You're right."

"So we leave?"

"We leave."

Dick leaned back onto the grass, his back started to ache from sitting up for too long. He stared up at the cloudy sky and started to think. He thought that maybe this was the plan all along - Running away. The bird was the one to bring her far away from anything they knew, after all. They were doing their weekly inspections of each other. They would dress each other's cuts, broken bones, and sprains. Dick couldn't forget the sound of her popping his shoulder back in his socket, or the feeling of the blonde colored gauze in her hair. So he grabbed her hand and walked through the zeta tube, going to the middle of nowhere.

"Where do we go?" Artemis asked after a while.

"Canada? South Africa? Italy? A place where they could never find us?" Dick suggested, "Or we just keep moving."

Artemis laid down next to him and leaned against his chest, careful not to jostle any of the injuries underneath his sweatshirts. The two teenagers sat in silence for several minutes. She even started to drift off for the first time in two days. The goddess was too scared to rest in her own home.

"The circus," He said somewhat suddenly.

Artemis looked up at him, "The circus?"

"We'll always be moving," Dick started to explain. His fingers started to kit in and out of her hair, mindful of the gauze that covered a cut, "We can fake our identities till we're eighteen, be on the constant move, and be looked out for. And if we join Haly's circus, none of them will let anyone hurt us."

"Won't Bruce look for us there? He isn't exactly oblivious."

He shrugged, "He will. That's why we won't be Dick Grayson and Artemis Crock anymore. We'll be different people."

"I don't know," The blonde frowned.

"Think about it, Artemis. It's safer than anything," He said as he closed his eyes. It was noticeably more cold than before, but he ignored the temperature. Dick had been in much worse conditions as punishment. He knew Artemis had been in them too.

"If that's our best bet, for now, then I'm alright. If this is the end, then I'm alright."

Dick turned his head and planted a kiss against her forehead. Even in the cold, she radiated heat, "We will be alright."

A/N: I think is this is the end, guys :) I have written about 38 one-shots for Traught since March, and I think it's time to wrap up. This story, if you can call it one, means so much to me. I've  gone through several hospital visits, sick days, and even graduation while writing this. So that leads to a big thank you.
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🖤🖤🖤🖤THANK YOU 🖤🖤🖤🖤
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Thank you :)<3