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She knew it was none of her business, he was entitled to have his secret identity but what he’d said the previous night wouldn’t leave her head. But it was a welcome distraction from that poor woman’s lifeless eyes burning holes into her soul.
“You alright, Artemis?”
She jumped slightly and looked up, “Oh, Dick.” She shifted, “I didn’t get much sleep.” Which wasn’t a lie, she didn’t sleep a wink, her mother told her she could have stayed home from school and she appreciated that…but she didn’t want to stay home. She knew she’d just sit and stew more and more about everything she did wrong and anything she could have done differently.
Dick sat down next to her, she didn’t know him that well to be honest. She didn’t consider him to be a super close friend, he was an acquaintance, a friend of some of her friends. But he was a good kid and was sociable, literally was always floating around like a ball of energy always talking.
Where did he get all that energy from?
“How are you always so energetic?” She asked.
He raised an eyebrow, “Would you believe me if I said Bruce has some very powerful coffee?” He asked, smiling, she just rolled her eyes.
“I mean I could, but…” she trailed off and shook her head. “Never mind, don’t you have Barbara to follow around like a lost dog?” He was never that far from her, she could have sworn the two were glued together or something.
“She’s not here today,” he shrugged, “So I figured it looked like a good day to bother you,” he said, smiling softly. “Unless you really do want to be left alone.” He stood up, “Because in that case I will leave you be-” he said as he started to stand up, Artemis grabbed him and shoved him back down. “Oh, alright then.”
She exhaled, they were in a more isolated part of the cafeteria, near the windows overlooking the garden. “I…I had a bad night,” she mumbled, she didn’t know why suddenly she felt like she had to dump all this on him. He probably didn’t wanna hear it, but…there was something about him that just brought her peace.
She didn’t understand why, but while she didn’t know him very well she felt as if he knew her. She should probably be creeped out and concerned but she wasn’t, “Do you want to talk about it?” He tilted his head, “I’m not great with advice, but I’m always here to listen.”
“How do you handle living in Gotham?” She asked, “All the death..” She gripped her skirt and dug her nails into the fabric, “So many people die, and everyone just…brushes it off.” She didn’t understand, last night the cops and paramedics were so casual when they arrived at that alley. Made the report, said they’d investigate but would anything ever come from it? Would they really? They looked at that poor woman as if she was more of a burden than a tragedy, like her life had meant nothing.
He leaned back in his chair, “I’m sorry, that was dark and came out of nowhere,” Artemis said quickly as she rushed to her feet.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Artemis,” he gently grabbed her arm and she sat back down and took a deep breath. “Gotham…it was a-” He paused, “wake up call.”
“No kidding,” came her bitter response.
“Do you wanna tell me what actually happened though? What brought this topic to mind?”
“I witnessed something last night, and it ended badly.” Her voice was barely above a whisper now, “And it was all my fault. If I had done something differently, paid attention, things would have been different.” If she hadn’t rushed down there feeling all high and mighty she would have seen the second man, would have known what to do. A different approach. “God, you probably think I’m a lunatic.”
“So you feel guilty?”
She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the sound of the bell going off signaling lunch was over. “Shortly before my parents died, I saw some men lurking around the circus. I recognized that they shouldn’t have been there. That they were up to no good, but I didn’t say anything.” She opened her eyes and turned to him, “That night my parents died, and we found out that the equipment was sabotaged, I put it together that It was those men who did that. I remember thinking that If I had just said something, told someone what I saw, maybe my parents wouldn’t have died.” He shrugged, “But would it have really made a difference? I was a kid, who would have believed me? Would they have been able to find out what they were doing? Would they go and kill someone else?”
Artemis opened her mouth to say something, but found herself at a loss of words.
“People are evil, if someone is out to cause harm. By god they’ll do it, maybe you’d stop them but what’s keeping them from doing it again? Evil people are everywhere and death is an unstoppable force.” He slowly stood up and grabbed his backpack, “Just remember this please, Arty what happened last night, it wasn’t your fault.” And without another word he walked away.
Artemis sat there stunned, “W-Wait!?”
Robin's words from last night flooded her mind.
“Look, I’ve seen a lot of death. I’m not heartless, but…something I've learned and had to learn the moment I stepped foot into Gotham is that death is an unstoppable force.”
“It’s not your fault.”
It was him?!
She stumbled to her feet and ran into the hallway, but he was gone.