Jason keeps a bag under his bed. It is always packed in case he needs to flee the city, if anyone ever found out who he was.
At least, that's what he tells himself.
Some nights there are just too many ghosts, too many memories that keep him awake. Some nights the dreams are too much to handle, and all the things he knows about this hellhole of a city too much to stomach.
It is on these nights that Jason takes his bag and walks out of the city.
He doesn't know why he keeps going back to Gotham even after everything. There's nothing for him here, after all. No family, no friends, no home. The city has given him nothing but grief, and not even memories of the good old days, when he was young and hopeful and naive, can make him forget all the pain he's had to deal with.
If Jason felt anything towards this city at all, it is disgust. Practically everyone would rather go about their lives pretending they're not surrounded with corruption and injustice. Those in power are content to live in ignorance, the powerless so resigned to their lot in life that they don't even bother to do anything.
How can you save something that doesn't want to be saved?
The city is so overrun with crime, so teeming with criminals and brightly costumed freaks, that Jason knows there is no hope for the people here. Not when there are those who turn a blind eye to the city's many wrongs.
Gotham is hell on earth.
Gotham is irredeemable.
Gotham is drowning, and not even the Batman can save it.
Jason knows this. He knows he can't stop every horrible deed that lurks in the shadows.
And yet he tries, every time. Because not everyone turns a blind eye. Not everyone is willing to pretend nothing is wrong. Not everyone wants to stand by and watch the city destroy itself.
Maybe this is why he always returns. Maybe this is why he can't let Gotham fall to ruin. There are still people who hope, people who can't protect themselves from the lowlife scum of the city.
So what if Gotham can't be saved? So what if the people don't deserve to be saved? Who is he to decide that, who is he to give up?
It would be so easy, he thinks, staring at the road. So easy to walk away and not look behind him. But he doesn't. Jason returns to his room to stare at his ceiling until morning.
He stays.
But the bag remains packed.