Author's Note: This is set before the events of 'The Blind Fortune-Teller' and will follow the Gotham storyline up to a specific point. It's an 'AU' of sorts. I hope you like the story, more will come soon and please leave a review on your way out, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

"Wake up!"

Sore eyes snapped open with a loud thud. Weak palms pushed against the cold, plastic floor as she tried to get up. The sun was reluctantly peaking over the great bridge. She looked out the van's window, soft rays highlighting the bruises on her cheek. The messy mattress behind her hosted another two girls, both of which were fast asleep. She turned to them for a mere second, made sure she had not been seen and slipped outside.

The soil was wet, humid from last night's rain. She made her way to the river. The camp was silent, nobody had emerged yet. When she was close to the bank she crouched among tall grass, slipped a hand in her shorts' pocket and pulled some smoke out. She rolled a cigar, dug inside her pockets for a lighter and sat there, smoking by the bank.

Soon the rest awoke and ruined her beautiful moment. It's alright, she's used to it by now. She got up and gathered her belongings, heading back to the camp.

Most mornings were pretty quiet and went by without much fuss. They gathered for breakfast, nibbled on something then set out for practice, or preparing the stage. When that was done, you might as well wander around until your time comes. Which was exactly what she did. But not tonight. Tonight was a premiere show, the tickets had already been sold out and there was no way anyone was leaving before the stage was empty.

The circus had its way. It belonged to the performers and the income was used to buy supplies and food and not for anyone's personal gain. It was as if working to support an asylum. For some of the performers, this circus had been their home for ages, whole generations had been raised and died during its many travels. For others, such as herself, it had been a sanctuary.

Outside the Dagger-Master's trailer a small crowd had gathered. She pushed her way through the dancers and stood on the very tip of her toes just in case she could make out anything from inside. But being tiny and weak compared to the dancers –these dudes had been working their asses off their whole lives to own these bodies- she was soon pushed aside and had to wait. Will Grayson neared her after a while. The middle-aged acrobat looked down on the girl and faked a deep sigh.

"It is quite a shame, she was still a young girl. Just like you." He commented. The girl snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face him.

"Huh?"

"You know, Samantha. Dave's sidekick." He smirked. The girl pursed her thin lips.

"Is she gone?"

"Found dead this morning." He continued in a morbid voice. "I wonder who would take her place. Certainly none of my comrades." He chuckled.

Simon the weeping clown sneaked up behind them. "You bet your bottom dollar." He growled towards the Grayson. The girl swallowed hard and stepped back.

"You guys take it easy, it's not like it matters anyway." She said but it was merely a whisper.

"You think some random creep would come to the camp and randomly kill someone? Sounds quite unlikely to me." Simon said. Grayson's eyes narrowed.

"Well whatever it's quite a joke that she had to die like this after all this time she spent having daggers thrown at her by a blind man, don't you think?" The girl interfered, trying to lighten up the mood. Grayson rolled his eyes at her morbid humor and walked away.

"Nah, don't mind him he's old and his humor's all rusty." The clown added. She turned around to find his eyes fixated on her. She stepped back. Simon was rather intimidating and she had heard an awful lot of bad rumors about him. Better keep her distance.

Samantha's death had an impractical side to it as well. No one would offer to take her place in tonight's show. So the Ring Master, a brown man named Daniel, walked up to the female dancers trailer and knocked on the door thrice.

When you're working for the circus being talented at what you do has some pros and cons. On the bad side, you get to do all the hard work and experience the most pressure as the show relies on you. Everyone resents you for your talent and you'll rarely ever make friends –but you're guaranteed to make a lot of enemies. No one will leave you alone as long as you stand out, because the circus is more than a show. You live with those people. And you want to keep good relations with them for your own sake. At the same time when you're not as talented, you'll most likely be picked to fill in Samantha's spot and get daggers thrown at your face.

Today was one of the few days Jinx wished she had been on the 'rather-talented' side. When Daniel stepped up to her she knew what was coming and that there was no way she could avoid it.

"Are you or are you not part of this circus?" he said before even greeting the girl. She nodded silently. "Go to Dave and ask him what you must do to prepare. You'd better do your best, girl." He threatened.

A couple of minutes later, there she was before the blind man. He was not the first blind human she'd witnessed –the fortune teller that she'd visited once was lacking his vision as well. But he was harmless compared to someone with a full set of kitchen knives strapped around his waist.

"Joe will help you up the board. There is a slit for ankles and wrists. The board can rotate, as you probably know. And as it rotates I will throw. Now the trick, if you'd like to know…"

"No that's ok, I like a little mystery in my life. So long as I don't get stabbed, that is." She chuckled. Dave didn't. He rarely had any other expression than his neutral one. Actually he didn't seem to be listening to her at all.

"Well, when you hear Joe's whistle you must go to him and he'll help you on the board. There is a slit for ankles and wrists…"

'Shit, he's totally wack…' she thought. Jinx nodded and was preparing to say that he'd already told her but instead she stepped backwards and out of his trailer. For one thing, she could at least take a walk by the bank without having to worry about the preparations. While the others set up their stages, all she had to do was wait.

'Look, Samantha was working for like what ten years, with this guy and she never got a scratch. It's not like that will change tonight. It's all going to be alright. Yes, quite alright.'

There was noise behind her. She snapped out of her thoughts and accidentally dropped the cigar from her fingers. She looked over her shoulder to find a figure creeping towards the bank. 'Better keep damn quiet…' she thought then started to drag herself backwards up until something stiff and cold collided with her backbones. She turned around, momentarily taken aback by the gray mass. It was just a rock. The camp wasn't far. Someone would hear her screaming anyway. She swallowed hard and slowly got on her feet.

"Sorry if I scared you."

She jumped back with a sharp shriek. He started to laugh, Jerome. His skin looked even paler in the dim sunlight and his eyes were fixed on her frown as his smile slowly faded to an apologetic look.

"No sorry, I really didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, whatever Jerome just...You know I'm probably worked up with the whole Samantha story…" she muttered. "What are you doing out here anyway?" she huffed, shifting a bit, obviously trying to change the subject.

Jerome glanced at the cigarette that was still smoking on the ground and the package of smoke that peeked over her pocket and frowned a bit.

"Just..looking for mice." He breathed, his eyes going from the cigarette to her, then back to the cigarette.

She shifted uncomfortably. They were about the same age, perhaps she was a bit older. Jerome looked many times more morbid than she did. They were both kind of weird but this is the circus, who isn't!

She nodded, dragging one foot behind the other and crossing her hands behind her back.

"Right…for Sheeba right? I mean…" she chuckled, "you know, it's not like you'd eat it or something…"

Jerome smiled, a bit softer than before. He then dug both hands in his pockets and looked away, stating his departure. "So…I'd better get going." He said with a side-smirk. She nodded and he begun to walk away only to come to a halt a few steps away from her. He turned around, as if he'd forgotten something very important and looked her in the eye, dead serious. "You really shouldn't smoke, you know. Bad for the voice and all." He added. Jinx's mouth hung open at his comment. He waited for a second but she wasn't going to respond so he just walked away.

It wasn't the comment as much as his way. It was as if he was really pissed about it, when it was none of his business. Anyway Jerome was weird, people here were weird, that was a matter of fact. She refrained from rolling another cigarette and went to join the rest for tonight's preparations.