Author's Note: So I was listening to Evanescence's "Missing," which is essentially a song talking about unrequited love (and that love can be interpreted as romantic love or familial love), and I suddenly thought, Hey! This could totally be Jericho's song to Slade! Thus, this little drabble was born.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
Missing
Even though I'm the sacrifice,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't someone missing me?
And if I bleed, I'll bleed
Knowing you don't care.
And if I sleep just to dream of you,
I'll wake without you there.
Isn't something missing?
Isn't something...?
Jericho wonders if his father knows that he isn't living with his mother anymore. That he's currently residing on a mountaintop, with only the sky, the flowers, his guitar, and his memories for company. Jericho wonders if his father ever thinks about him, about the family he managed to single-handedly break up.
Don't count on it, a cynical voice in Jericho's head says. Not like Slade ever cared. Isn't he the reason you've been mute for the past eight years?
He can't argue against that. The day he lost his voice was the day he saw a whole different side of his father. That was the day that the innocence of a young boy named Joseph was shaken.
He remembers the coldness of the knife that was pressed against his neck by one of the men who had kidnapped him. He remembers the terrorist threatening to kill him if Slade did not give him the information they wanted. And he remembers Slade refusing.
Apparently, his job as an assassin was more important to him than the safety of his own son.
Jericho rubs at his throat. Dad, do I mean so little to you that you would not care if I'd bled to death? Would you have cared if Grant or Rose had been kidnapped? He feels a stinging in his eyes, but he doesn't cry; he hasn't cried since the day he realized he would never speak again.
Maybe it makes no difference; there are about a thousand ways the incident could have gone, even ways where it could have been avoided, and Slade would still be the same. He would still be paid to kill people and ruin lives.
Including the lives of his family, Jericho thinks dully. And the worst part is that he still loves the man he calls his father. It's stupid, it's foolish, and Slade doesn't deserve it, and Jericho still loves him.
The boy smiles wryly; if he wasn't mute, he would probably be chuckling to himself. And that's the difference between him and I. I can't live without a heart.
Jericho lies down in the flowers, the stars twinkling above him in the night sky. A few minutes later, he drifts off to sleep. He dreams of the father he never really had, and there are times where he never wants to wake up.
But of course, dreams are only just that, and sooner or later, Jericho has to return to reality.