"We just want the world to love the little monsters that we are."

Atticus

Persephone was so glad that they had finally stopped driving. Dick and her had taken it in turns driving all through the night. They were exhausted, so had stopped at a dinner for some coffee and breakfast. The one thing is that Dick is grumpy when tired, compared to Persephone, who went all hyper and happy. Rachel watched on, very confused. How on earth did they get together? Most would say beauty and the beast, but Rachel thought it was more Persephone and Hades. 

The waitress laid a cup in front of Rachel and two in front of Dick, who had Persephone on his shoulder, half asleep. "Thank you," Dick said, trying to sound polite at the same time that Persephone did it to sound awake." you two want a hot chocolate?"

"Yes" "Just coffee. Black." now, had you just heard the exchange, you would have assumed the adult wanted the coffee but, you may have been surprised to find that it was the young teen who craved coffee.

"I bet they have marshmallows."

"yes, please!" Both Dick and Rachel smiled at Persephone, who seemed to have perked up at the idea. Rachel hadn't known Persephone long but, despite that, she already loved her. She knew that it was the same for the older woman.

"That will be two black coffees and a hot chocolate with marshmallows, please," Dick requested.

The waitresses pored the two coffees before going off to get the hot chocolate."My mom didn't like me to drink coffee."

"It's okay. We'll keep your secret," Persephone said in a conspirative tone. 

Rachel smiled back at her as she reached for the sugar but looked away when she started pouring it in. "Sweet tooth, huh?" Dick chucked, "just like this one," Dick said as he looked down lovingly at Persephone as she swatted at him jokingly. His tone then grew more serious. "Rachel, has anything like ... Like what happened, ever happened before?"

 "Dick," Persephone hissed. Turning to Rachel, "you don't have to answer that if you don't feel comfortable."

"No, it's fine. You two deserve to know. That hasn't happened before. Not like that. I didn't mean to kill that guy."

"How did you kill that guy?" Dick asked ever, the detective. Persephone elbowed him in the ribs. Thankfully this is when the waitresses returned with Persephone's hot chocolate. Persephone used it as a perfect segway to change the conversation to something a bit happier. Keeping the chatter light and carefree. To any one of the outside, they looked like a happy family.

✯🌻✯

Rachel and Persephone were inside their motel trying to figure out what to watch while Dick was in the car doing heaven knows what. "I know, let's Watch Game of Thrones" was Persephone's suggestion. 

Rachel, not quite knowing what she was getting into agreed, she just liked the way Persephone's face lit up when she suggested it.

"Game of Thrones it is!"

When Dick finally came in, the two girls were happily sitting next to each other on the bed, munching on unhealthy snacks.

"Hey, you two want pizza?"

"Yes, please!" Persephone exclaimed as Rachel just nodded. 

"I know Persephone's order; how about you Rachel, Anything on it?"As Dick was about to turn around, he finally had a look at the TV. "Is that Game Of Thrones? Persephone, should she be watching that?"

 "I don't see the problem."

"Well, if you say so, but if she has nightmares, it's your fault," Dick said as he walked out to the door. 

Just before he could exit, Rachel shouted, "Just don't get pineapple on it."

 "Well, Obviously," Dick said as he left.

"For a second, I thought we would have to kick you out," Persephone said, winking as she nudged Rachel.

Rachel just snorted, turning back to the TV. Persephone stood up. "I'm going to have a quick shower. I won't be two seconds!" Rachel nodded, not even tearing her eyes from the TV.

Persephone hummed as she walked into the small bathroom. Thankfully there were towels and a bathrobe. She quickly stripped before hoping in the shower.

Persephone was towelling off when she heard Rachel scream. She quickly threw the bathrobe on and came out to see a sobbing Rachel praying as she was drawing crosses. Persephone ran up to her when Rachel exclaimed, "No! Don't touch me, I don't want it getting out." 

Persephone ignored her and wrapped her up in a hug, rocking backwards and forward to calm her down. Thankfully Dick chose that moment to walk through the door and see the two on the floor he put the pizza on the table before bending down and hugging Rachel from behind. The two adults whispered sweet nothings and soothing words into the young girl's ears to calm her down.

✯🌻✯

They were all back on the road again. Persephone was driving at the moment with Dick in shotgun and Rachel in the backseat. Persephone focused on the road and let Rachel and Dick have a moment together, leaving them to bond over the fact they were both orphans. It made Persephone realise that she hadn't called her mums in a while. Persephone took a mental note that she would call them both and check up on them when they had arrived and settled. 

The only time that she joined the conversation is when Rachel. With so much worry in her voice, asked Dick, "You're gonna leave me, too, aren't you?" 

Persephone answered at the same time as Dick, "We are not leaving you not now, not ever. The only way that you are going to go anywhere is if you tell me to my face you want to go or they pry you from my cold dead hands and, even then, I will fight for you."

Rachel believed her. Even without her powers, she knew that Persephone was telling the truth. She knew that Persephone loved her and already treated her as a daughter and, Rachel knew that come hell or high water, she would be safe with Persephone.

Thankfully they arrived not long after. Rachel watched as Persephone practically threw herself out of the car and ran to the building and up the stairs. Dick followed with a happy smile watching his wife's antics. Rachel was very interested to know who these people were.

Persephone knocked at the door and waited for it to open. The door opened to reveal a woman with snow-white hair. Persephone Immediately threw herself at the lady. Who smiled and wrapped her arms around her.

When Persephone stepped away, Rachel watched as her face changed at Dick. Rachel figured this was a good point to step in and see what she could find out. "Hi, I'm Rachel."

"Dawn," she said as she held out her hand. As Rachel clasped hands, she suddenly saw flashes of her life. She saw Dawn, a man she didn't know and Persephone all sat around laughing and drinking. Rachel guessed the man was Dawn's boyfriend. She then saw another scene where Dawn seemed disappointed in Dick as she walked away. From this, Rachel assumed Dawn and Dick had fallen out. Though, Persephone and Dawn were still clearly friends.

Dawn invited them in, smiling at the girls and giving Dick a poorly disguised glower. "Wow. This place is huge." Rachel smiled.

Dawn smiled at her as Persephone asked, "When is Hank going to be home?"

Rachel assumed that was the other man she had seen in the memory.

"Soon," Dawn answered as the two women walked off together, chatting and catching up on each other's lives. Persephone turned round to involve Rachel and make sure Dick was following, but instead, she saw the two following happy in their conversation. She smiled at the two of them, enjoying that they were bonding, as she turned back to Dawn. 

When that had reached Dawn's roof, Rachel went off to talk to the doves giving the adults a chance to talk about her. Between Persephone a Dick, they managed to tell Dawn everything. 

"She killed someone?" Dawn asked incredulously. 

"Whoever they are, they've got people in the department. We needed somewhere safe to regroup and think about what we're going to do," Dick said, avoiding the topic. 

"What about Bruce and Adelie?" Dawn knew that the older man had more knowledge of young children.

Dick and Persephone both laughed. "Adelie would die for another kid," Persephone explained.

"On the other hand, Bruce is no good with kids," Dick added. Dawn went to sit down as Dick asked her, "how are you?"

Persephone had already asked her that, so she figured she could leave them for two seconds while she went to check up on Rachel. They chatted quietly about the doves. Happy together.

This reverie ended up being spoilt by the arrival of Hank.  "Hey. The hell are you doing here, Dick?" Hank put extra emphasis on the "Dick." Now, all Hank could see was His girlfriend and the man married to the woman he thought of as his sister getting awful close. He thought Dick had left Persephone to come alone.

"Hank," Dawn said sternly as she tilted her head at Rachel, who was sat by the Doves and Persephone, who was trying to sneak up on him. His face broke out at the sight of her. He opened his arms. Realising that Dawn had broken her cover, she took off at a sprint, crashing into his arms.

"Hello, little flower," he smiled down at her.

"Hello, big bird," she smiled up at him.

"Come inside. We have a lot of catching up to do," Hank said down to Persephone. "Last time you called, Dawn was hogging the phone."

"Hey!"Dawn shouted as she, Dick and Rachel followed back behind them.

✯🌻✯ 

The three girls were laughing as they came in from doing some shopping. The clothes Persephone had brought didn't fit Rachel and Dawn needed some food. So they figured let's do it together. Dawn ended up suggesting that Rachel carried on while she unpacked. Persephone had offered to help her, but Dawn said it was very little and sent her to watch GoT with Rachel.

They were happily watching it as the dragons arrived, much to Rachel's utter joy. When they heard Hank and Dick arguing, they both ran through to stop them before anything bad could happen.

Rachel kept screaming "stop" while Dawn and Persephone tried to get the boys apart. Suddenly Rachel's powers came out as she screamed "STOP," coursing Dick to throw himself in the way of any harm that may come to Persephone.

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologised before turning and walking out. 

Persephone gave the three who had originally been in the room a meaningful look before going after the distressed teen to make sure she was all right. 

She and Rachel had gone to the spare room they would share, where Persephone tried to calm Rachel down. After a few moments, Dick appeared. "I'm sorry," Rachel whispered to him. "it's getting worse."

"stop apologising," Persephone told the girl, "you didn't mean to do any damage. You stopped the testosterone fight and, it's natural for your powers to get stronger. We will just have to learn how you can control them and not let them control you."

"anyway," Dick said, "I'm the one who should..." but he's was interrupted by the arrival of Dawn.

"How you doing, sweetheart?" she asked. "Hank is sorry. He can be a real asshole sometimes."

"You're telling me," Persephone snorted. "I love him but, he can be an idiot," she said before adding, "he's like my brother. Because I don't have a dad. I asked Hank to walk me down the aisle," she added for Rachel. Smiling at the memory.

"We gotta go," Hank yelled, breaking the moment.

"Hank and I have that thing," Dawn said by way of excuse. 

"Dawn, I really think you should reconsider. Okay? We both know it's too dangerous." Dick begged

"You win some. You lose some." Dawn said, ignoring Persephone's glare. "Take care of them, okay? Persephone needs all the help she can get with him," she said as she leant down to kiss Rachels head. She then pulled Persephone in for a hug.

"Okay," Rachel whispered, she didn't know what was going on, but she knew it was bad.

The moment the door had closed, Persephone turned to Dick, "She needs our help."

"She does. I can feel it." Rachel agreed. "Isn't that what you do?"

"What?" Dick didn't know what Rachel was getting at

"You help people." Rachel said, desperately trying to convince Dick to help Dawn 

Dick did not believe her. "I used to think so. I used to think it was one of the things I was best at. Until I realized the more help some needed, the worse I had to hurt the others. Do you understand?" He knew that Persephone knew what he was talking about, he had told her about it before, but he knew that she didn't have that problem.

On the other hand, Rachel understood him "Sometimes, when I feel the darkness come out...it feels good." Rachel said, opening up to the two adults, she trusted them and felt they deserved to know.

"I understand," Dick said with sincerity, and he did. He knew where she was coming from.

 "You want to help them. You're just scared." Rachel said

"Sometimes, there's just no time to be scared." Persephone said as she stood up, "I'm assuming you brought my suit for me?"

✯🌻✯ 

Dick and Persephone had grabbed Dicks case, which had their suits before they went to the warehouse. Dick went to behind where Dawn and Hank had been trapped. At the same time, Persephone went to the other side. Thankfully that had arrived just in time, for they hear a man saying, "This will be the worst and last pain you ever experience."

Dick chose that as his time to come out of hiding. Persephone could hear a man yelling, "Go!" She chose that as the time to make her presence known by picking them off with her bow and arrows. She wanted to use her powers, but she didn't want people to think she had returned. It was also a tad suburban for her. This would make it more draining. 

Thankfully there weren't many men. This meant that Persephone was finished before too long. She quickly made her way back to where Hank and Dawn were. Seeing the state that Hank was in, she immediately went to put his arm over her shoulder. Dick was in a foul mood. He just came up to them and said, "You're welcome."

"Jesus." was all Dawn said

"Sadly not," Persephone said, trying to keep the situation light as they followed after Dick.

After they were back in civilian clothes and walking back, Dawn finally decided to broach the subject of the fight. "You weren't kidding about having changed. I've never seen you like that before."

Dick didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say to that it was true. He had shown them a side of himself that he wasn't proud of. Thankfully Persephone didn't mind, so she walked back to him before wrapping him up in a hug. He was so glad that he had her. Dick didn't know what he would do without his sunshine.

They stepped into the apartment behind Hank and Dawn. "I'm going to check on Rachel," Persephone said, looking up at Dick. So she headed off to the room they were sharing.

Peering in, she couldn't see her, so she tried calling her name to see if she would reply, but she had no luck, "I'm going to check on the roof," she told the others.

Persephone was relieved when she went up to the rooftop and found Rachel in front of the birdcage. "She's up here," she yelled down for the others. She then turned back to Rachel "you scared me, little one! I didn't know where you had gone, aren't you cold" she finished as she pulled her in for a hug.

"He was going to leave me," Rachel said into Persephone's shoulder.

"What was that," Persephone asked. She was sure that she had misheard Rachel.

"Dick was going to leave me behind." Rachel handed the letter and money to Persephone.

Persephone looked at it, confused. Why would Dick do this? "He forgot one important thing I'm not leaving you."

Rachel beamed at Persephone for this. She felt so loved around Persephone and not like she was alone in the world.

Dick finally made it up to the roof when he saw his wife glowering at him and Rachel looking like she would cry. He didn't know what he had done wrong. he looked at Persephone for help but got none.

"You were gonna leave me here. You said you weren't. You lied." Rachel told him as she looked at the letter. At this, Dick realised what he had done and regretted it. "You must lie a lot. You're good at it."

Hank and Dawn had come up in time to hear what was being said. They could also see that Persephone had her angry face on and an arm around Rachel. Rachel looked hurt and confused, facing off against Dick, who looked like he felt bad. Hank was immediately angry. He wanted to know what Dick had done wrong. "What's she talking about?" He growled out.

Rache slipped out from under Persephone's arm and passed Hank the envelope. Dick, suddenly realising just how stupid he had been, steeped forwards to take the envelope. "Hank, don't read that. I..."

"It's got my name on it," Hank said as he took it. The more he read, the angrier he got. "What the fuck? You were gonna leave her here? You were gonna pay us?" Hank had finished the letter, and to say he was angry was an understatement.

"It's not that simple," Dick said, trying to defend himself.

"If it's not that simple, why don't you try to dumb it down for use? I mean, what part of 'I know you guys can watch out for her.' Is not simple, but if I'm wrong, go ahead and correct me," Persephone spat out.

"Seems pretty simple to me."Hank agreed with Persephone. "You were gonna buy us?"

"Hank, Persephone, slow down. He's just trying to help." Dawn said, trying to calm the two down.

"Wait, did you know about this?" Hank was livid. He wasn't usually an insecure person but, he knew that Dawn used to have a thing for Dick. This was a step too far even for him. "You saw what he did. He's a fucking psychopath."

Persephone couldn't believe Dick, but she didn't feel like staying with the two who were having a domestic. So she left the two arguing and walked over to Rachel. When she pulled her in for a side hug as they stared at Dick, waiting to see if he could say anything to defend himself.

"Hey, Rachel, Persephone, I was gonna come back for you."

"Liar." Rachel spits out, "You were never coming back for me, Persephone, yes, but she wouldn't have left me in the first place."

They were all interrupted by the sound of a door closing. One of them, who appeared to be the 'mom,' looked at the 5 of them. "Well, hello there, you five," She said in a falsely friendly voice.

Hank was already in a foul mood, to begin with. "Who the fuck are these guys?" he said. The only response that he got was a kick in the chest from the 'dad'.

This caused Persephone's Instincts to kick in. She grabbed Rachel and dragged her to behind the nearest air vent "stay here," she said before returning to the fight.  

"Wait, don't leave me!" Rachel called out at her retreating form. Persephone turned to tell her that she would be okay but with the distraction she was suddenly kicked off the roof by the Dad and daughter.

Thankfully she managed to grab the ledge below. The one problem is that this left her dangling. She slowly started to pull her body up. She was just getting her forams over when a frantic Dick came rushing over. He frantically pulled her over to the roof. When she was up, he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "I thought I had lost you," he said into her hair.

"you will have to try harder to get rid of me," Persephone chuckled as he peppered her face with kisses before giving her a proper kiss on the lips.

The frantic yells broke their moment of Hank as he called for his girlfriend.

Dick and Persephone rushed to the roof's edge and looked down to see Hank frantically doing CPR. Dick pulled his phone out and dialled 911.