𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ― 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄

𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝐎𝐍𝐄 | i promise.

april 1st, 2005
outskirts of gotham city,
01:58am.

"Athena, what are- where are you taking me?" Dick Grayson looked over to his younger sister as she dragged him off to god-knows-where at nearly two in the morning.

Dick knew Athena didn't sleep much but usually she'd at least let him sleep.

Not today apparently, today she'd woken him up by jumping on his bed—almost breaking his legs—before literally pushing him off the bed and pulling him out, to the back of where the circus was set up.

"Maybe trust your sister?" the seven year old looked over her shoulder, not slowing down, "c'mon, it's not that far"

Apparently Athena had explored the entire place last night; the circus was to stay for two nights here, in Gotham, yesterday being the first, and Dick reckoned that Athena hadn't slept last night at all, if anything her snoring away in the morning was enough of an indicator.

"If mom and dad find out, they'll—"

"Not do anything, because they will not find out," Athena turned forward, Dick couldn't see her face but he was sure that she had a smirk, or at least a normal smile, "trust the genius. You're literally the only one who knows I sneak out every day."

"Maybe instead of sneaking out in the night and sleeping in the day, you could try sleeping in the night?" Dick sarcastically offered, "it'd make all of our lives easier."

"It's not that easy, besides you know I wouldn't have woken you up if it wasn't something that I wanted you to see, plus, tomorrow's your big night right? I want to tell you something before that."

Dick frowned, "but-"

Athena suddenly halted near a cliff, letting go of Dick's arm that caused him to tumble forward, "Too late, we're here."

Dick stumbled, using a tree to balance himself while Athena walked in front of him, she turned and gave him a look, clearly asking him to walk forward, but he looked preoccupied as his gaze flickered to the view, paying his little sister no attention at all.

"Oh for the love of bagels," Athena muttered when he didn't move, "please don't make me drag you everywhere, you're hard to drag."

Dick merely blinked, still focused on the view.

He'd not seen anything quite like this ever before, and it wasn't because of the fact that the city was lit up and no one seemed to be asleep, it was because of the big signal in the sky that resembled a bat.

Now, Dick had been to many places with superheroes before, be it Metropolis with the man of steel or Star City with the emerald archer, but what he hadn't seen before was this, a giant signal of a bat.

"Hello," Athena's voice rang from beside him, dragging the 'o', "Earth the Dick Grayson? Please don't tell me I broke you, mom will kill me."

Dick blinked again, shifting his attention to his sister who was waving frantically.

Even though she wore an annoyed expression, her eyes were soft and full of worry, looking at him as if she was trying to decipher him getting lost in the horizon before she sighed, "Dickie, please?"

Her voice surprised him; it was soft, barely above a whisper, it was almost hesitant as though she was regretting everything. He would have easily missed it if he wasn't waiting for her to say something.

This alarmed him.

Athena wasn't the one to hesitate. Even at seven, she had told people a lot of things right to their face with absolutely no hesitation at all, but seeing her so uncertain at this moment got him scared; he knew his little sister, and she was his little sister, why was she uncertain around him?

"Ats, you okay?" he'd had to thread this conversation carefully, Athena would shut him down if she felt threatened in any way.

Athena nodded looking up to him, "yeah, but whatever happens here today, promise me, it's between you and me. Siblings honor."

Dick wrapped his pinky around hers, nodding firmly.

He didn't know what was up, but he knew one thing for sure and that was that wherever they went, whenever the time, he had her back like she had his.

She was his little sister, of course, only a year younger, but still little.

His baby sister if he said so himself, he'd always protect her, no matter whatever life threw. It was his job as the older brother—and he took it quite seriously.

No one was allowed to hurt his little sister. Not now, not ever.

april 1st, 2015
gotham cemetery, gotham city
03:54

Although Dick Grayson had lost a lot, he'd learnt to wrap his wounds. Seal them in an impenetrable vault to never see the light of day because he had work to do, work that never allowed him to stay in the past.

Dick Grayson was a leader, he was a fighter, he was a genius. A child prodigy.

Dick Grayson was a son, a grandson, a lover, a hero. A brother.

Dick Grayson was Nightwing, he was the first Robin. He was a vigilante.

Dick Grayson had grown. He'd progressed. He was Batman's equal.

And yet, sitting here all his achievements seemed like sticks in a forest. A forest that was burning down with every passing day.

He'd sealed his wounds, but even ten years later, returning to his parent's grave opened them all up. One by one. None left forgotten.

Vaguely, he was aware of the rain that drenched his freshly washed hoodie. Alfred would give him an earful for this but at that moment he didn't seem to care.

All that ran through was that his sister wasn't beside him right now, on the tenth death anniversary of his parents, because in the end, whatever promises they'd made had fallen apart and he wasn't able to protect him.

Hell, he didn't even know if she was alive, she had a knack for staying under the leagues radar. But honestly it didn't matter, because in the end he was the older brother, he should have held on a little tighter because in the end he'd let down his parents.

He'd broken the last promise he made to his mother, he wasn't able to take care of Athena.

///

a/n [11//7/21, 1:43am]
okay so like mentioned earlier, this is now going to be based on the season
two plot line with ton of flashbacks and athena as a darker-ish character !!
a lot of things will change, so please do not be confused