𝑺𝑼𝑹𝑽𝑰𝑽𝑶𝑹 | 𝐃.𝐆 ²

|20| 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 ✔︎

Harper gazed out into the skyline. Her dark, unfocused eyes blanched at the blur of the city beneath her. The wind was harsh against her skin, snipping at her flesh but she didn't move and she didn't care. She just wanted everything to stop. She wanted it to end. She didn't want to suffer anymore.

" Harper!" Dick's voice rang out, his cry falling silent as hopelessness entangled her like vines. Why was there always an interruption? Harper remained firm. Why out of everyone did it have to be him?

" Harp-"

" It won't stop." Her voice was soft, a wisp in the wind. Her words were carried away, lightly yet enthralling like feathers swept away by the breeze. It was a sound so broken. The remnants of a fallen soldier, a damaged hero.

" You're okay Harper."

" No" She shook her head as the sound of cars, and the noises of the city became overpowering. Its obnoxious off beat rhythm caused her to blink and her erratic heartbeats to follow the irregular song. " I'm not. I'll never be. I just want it to be over. Don't you understand?"

" Harper please" The desperation clawing in his voice sent a mournful ache in her heart. The tears she kept so hard at bay fell out of her eyes and down her cheeks. It started as one, then another and another. Each tear holding its own burden.

" My whole life I've tried to do good." Her hands flexed at her sides, her nails digging crescent moons into her palms. " I've tried to be the best me but that was all pointless. I'm cursed Dick. My parents are dead, my brother is prancing around with the man we swore to destroy. I'm nothing more than a burden, to Oliver and Dinah, to you. I deserved it, I deserved it all. The pain, the torture. I'm the reason that boy got shot. "

Her head turned slightly, not enough for him to see the grief etched onto her face but enough for him to know she had his attention. " It can all be over. It will be over soon. Then no one needs to worry, not about me at least."

Dick to a wary step forward, his eyes carefully trained on her chestnut brown hair billowing in the wind.  " Harper, I need you to step away from the ledge." He spoke, his voice wavering as the girl stood on the edge of the skyscraper. Her foot angled forward and unsteady. His hands raised instinctively towards her.

She heard his approaching footsteps but she refused to move. She wouldn't, she couldn't.

" I'm right here Harper. Just the two of us. Just like the night when we were just teenagers on that roof. Together, just us"

" I'm weak Dick." Her head shook subtly, her lips pursed together before her tongue gently grazed over the healing wound that ran down and over her bottom lip. "  I'm just a weight that's being lugged around. Everyone who gets close to me ends up leaving or worse. I just want to make it stop. I'm tired of this life."

" No, that's a lie Harper. You're the strongest person I know. Don't say that, don't ever say anything like that because Harper if you look around. Those people behind those doors. They love you. They look up to you. I look up to you." His eyes blurred with memories as he inched closer to her.   " Before all of this. All the bad guys, before the life threatening dangers, before the world became hell. It was just you and me. Harper and Dick  against the world. We always had each other. We always will. Because if there is one thing certain in life, is that I don't want to live in a world that isn't graced with Harper Phoenix." Dick watched as her body trembled slightly, her shoulders shaking as she repeatedly shook her head. Tears streaming down her face.
" Harper, you are the love of my life. And I can't go on, if you're not beside me. I simply can't survive."

Dick carefully stood on the ledge beside her. His hand reaching out for hers as he balanced himself on the edge. " I won't live in a world without you. You mean everything to me." He spoke, he glanced down below them, it was as if the skyscraper suddenly grew ten times taller. He took a breath before holding her hand tightly, his eyes holding so much sincerity.  " So Harper. If you do this, we do it together. I'm not leaving your side."

Her lips trembled as her glossy eyes lifted from the road far below to meet his stare. " I love you Harper Phoenix. Always and forever right?" He smiled at her. Harper gripped his hand tighter, his eyes never straying from her red rimmed ones.

" Stay with me Harper. I'm not ready for our story to end."

Harper stared at him for a painstakingly few seconds. The world quietened for a bit, allowing for her to just take him in. Everything flashed before her like a tidal wave of comforting yet unforgiving reflections of her life. So with a small sniff, the girl nodded.

Dick took a step off the ledge and onto the roof. He slowly and delicately helped the girl off the edge of the building, his arms pulling her immediately into his chest.

He softly wiped a stray tear that escaped her eye before he kissed her forehead. His arms held onto her as he tried to absorb all the pain and torment she was in. So he did. They stayed in each others arms for as long as they needed. His hand weaved through her hair as sweet nothings were cooed into her ear. His words drowning out her muffled sobs.

They were two shattered and bruised souls who would go to wits ends for one other. Whose love, which was pure but tainted was a sight to behold. Two broken pieces of glass, that were  destroyed from the cruelty of the world. But together they were strong. They were stronger than all the forces going against them. They may not have their fairytale ending, they may not get their happily ever afters. But they didn't need them. They had each other, that's all that mattered in the end.

Harper Phoenix had Richard Grayson. And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Because as they said, Dick and Harper would always have their forever and always.