A/N: I typed like a mad woman to finish and edit this to the last minute before midnight. So I'd better hear from you! Lol, get comfy. All else needing to be said will be at the bottom.


(Watch as I make this object,)

x

"Kory disappeared," Richard whispered almost hauntingly the moment he shut Rachel's door and strode over to her.

Rachel was immediately getting up from her bed and met him halfway, her eyebrows shot up to her forehead. "What?"

"I heard after my friend Bruce stopped by to visit me today. He said a girl was kidnapped in Bludhaven. Red hair, green eyes. A recent Arkham girl released. It had to be her..."

"A-Are you sure?"

"I-I don't know. I thought she was... A week. One week, Rachel. What's going here? I thought Arkham was helping us, giving us new lives! But Bruce said there's no sign of her. Anywhere."

"D ...did you ask Dr. Wilson?"

"He said Kory's not his concern anymore." Richard clenched his fits and shut his eyes.

Rachel felt herself shaking.

x

Weeks later

Christmas came and past. January rolled in and its freezing temperatures and rattling on hospital windows did nothing to warm the patients and staff inside. As a cold front moved into Gotham one Saturday afternoon, Richard was in his bedroom with the door half-closed. He was incredibly tired but couldn't sleep with all the thoughts running through his mind. So he make-shifted his pillow into a head rest and sat up on his cold mattress, absentmindedly sketching a snowbird in the corner of his old crumpled paper.

It became apparent that Dr. Slade arrived earlier with the new year. Both didn't understand why, but only knew from the constant gossip between staff workers. Did he know something was stirring in his office? Did he find a clue? Or were they paranoid? Maybe his only reasons were that new patients always arrived in Arkham by the end of May and he was just starting to get ahead in his paperwork and prognosis.

And yet, with every odd chance Richard and Rachel could get, they were no sooner putting together a connection between Dr. Slade's strange patients and their suspicions. More files about patients being let go suddenly from the psychiatrist's care were being uncovered, from almost as far back as when Arkham was first established. The ages varied but their distinct bruises were the only thing that connected them. Their discoveries kept bringing them in circles. Kory was still missing, but by New Year's, Richard and Rachel's worry had died into an ashamed form of defeat. She had to be gone for good.

Loud footsteps suddenly bounded down his hallway. Richard almost chose to ignore until the usual, high-pitched annoying voice of Jack that was bouncing off its walls.

"Atta boy, Gar gar! You show 'em how it's done! Hahahaha!"

"Patient! Shut your mouth! You aren't allowed to speak wit-"

"Ohhhh touchy, Malcolm!"

When the quick altercation ended, Richard's curiosity got the better of him and he rolled out of bed to head to his door. He vaguely wondered if Rachel could hear Jack's voice from the top floor behind her closed bedroom. As he peeked through the frame he caught sight of a jumping boy, galloping down the hall with his hands in the pockets of his new jeans. Richard pulled his door open all the way.

"G-Garfield?" he called. The nurses following the blond-haired boy immediately turned to Richard and glared at him.

"Where's your supervisor, boy?" one of them asked with raised eyebrows. "Shut your door a-"

"Richard! My man!" Garfield hopped around the burly men and pushed past Richard's doorframe and launched himself at the seventeen-year old.

"A-!" was all Richard could say as the shorter boy enveloped him in a bear hug, completely shaking him of his personal space and boundaries. Richard hadn't had a hug from anyone in months and it almost felt foreign and creepy to him.

"Logan! Don't hug that boy, he's still-"

"I'll find Kory," Garfield whispered quickly into Richard's ear. "But sooner or later, you als-"

"Logan!" and before Richard could comprehend what was happening, the boy was ripped away from him and pulled back into hallway. Richard didn't even get the chance to say anything back to Garfield as the teen hopped back down the hallway. If he had realised by the new clothes the blonde wore that he was being released, he might have said something, anything. That was the last time he saw him.

It also took him some time to realise that after he had closed his door and sat back down on his bed, he felt a small tube of rolled paper clutched in his fist. It was Garfield's departure gift, even though the boys had only spoke to each other once.

x

"Garfield? Who is that?" Rachel whispered to Richard Wednesday night.

"A guy, our age. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and a-"

"Twisted obsession with inflicting mutilation?"

Richard raised his eyebrows. "I keep forgetting that you've been here long enough to have heard different things about Dr. Slade's patients." But she shook his head.

"No, I read his file."

"Oh."

"So ...what'd he give you?"

Richard pulled the paper tube from the elastic band of his pyjama pants and unrolled it between them before holding it up the window. The little light from the half-moon lunar cycle was able to illuminate some of the writing.

"I read it earlier," Richard explained. "It's a list, of things to do to get good behaviour and a quicker mental assessment from the psychiatrists."

"A cheat sheet?" Rachel asked as her eyebrows rose. She had never been in school long enough but knew what it basically was. "Garfield wrote you this?"

Richard shook his head. "No, it was a message sent to him ...from Victor. Before he-"

"I knew Victor," Rachel pondered. "Big guy, pretty loud. He ...tried to talk to me once. He's gone now."

"I know. Garfield told me about him briefly. Both were friends with Kory. They tried to make a pact to leave Arkham together."

"But how did Victor know what to do about the doctors? He hasn't been here as long as I have."

"I don't know, he ...probably knew something that we still don't." As Richard reread the paper for what must've felt like the hundredth time, Rachel brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them with hard eyes.

"Well, whatever he thought, it worked. Those three are out, and I'm still trapped in here."

Richard caught her bitterness and looked up at her. He started to see that the more Rachel was allowed to be open about her true feelings, the more cynical she became. But he didn't mind. He had always been cynical.

"But Kory was kidnapped. And who knows where Victor is?"

Rachel looked away as a thought passed her face. "I heard he was living in downtown Gotham and that he wanted to come back to visit a staff member who was his friend. But I've been here every day. I never saw him. ...W-what if he's gone, like Starfire?"

Richard looked away. They were entering dark waters and Richard hated putting more worry on Rachel.

"Tell me more about Garfield's file. What did it say?" he asked her.

"J ...Just about his past. Nothing about his future except that he was supposed to stay here for another seven months for temporary care. His photo ID was also stamped in red." Richard quickly mentioned to her how Garfield had told him about being dropped off by his parents and they never came back. But Rachel shook her head.

"His parents are dead. Because of him."

"But you said mutilation. Wasn't it because of what he did to the animals?"

"Animals? Richard ...he was charged with human mutilation. The file said ...the fingers and limbs of his parents were scattered all over their lab."

Richard's face fell gaunt with shock. But Rachel didn't see and glared her eyes.

"I don't know why he told you that, Richard. But he was the animal," she shook her head, "...He was a beast, not a boy."

Richard couldn't believe it. Although Garfield had hugged and talked to him like a buddy, he couldn't doubt Rachel or the files more. There was a reason why Arkham was for the criminally insane...

Everything was hitting him too hard, all at once. His mind was swimming. The thought of Kory's disappearance, Victor, Garfield's lie... It was too much. Instant sickness washed over Richard and Rachel rubbed his back as he doubled over into her pillow and tried to muffle the dry retching in his throat. He didn't eat much that day so there was nothing to throw up.

He had even considered making Garfield a part of the Jump City in Rachel's world – a friend, a confidante for all the help he'd given. Now he wasn't so sure, and he felt guilty.

When the sickness passed, he breathed slowly. But both froze when a sound down the hall was heard.

"Oh no," Rachel breathed. "Are they...?" She tried to get around Richard to crawl out of bed but lost her footing in the dark and fell to the floor with a thump! Rachel's eyes went wide as her leg began to have a spasm from the shock. She shut her eyes painfully as the muscle tightened. It began knocking against the cold wood repeatedly. Thump-thump-thump-thump! The sound in the hallway paused and started again, growing louder and probably coming back down the hallway.

"Richard!" Rachel breathed as softly as she could, but her eyes were terrified with fear. Before she could stop the leg twitching herself, Richard dived to the floor soundlessly beside her and scooped her up in his arms. He pressed one, large hand to her leg and held it in place to the floor. Her leg shook like an tiny earthquake under his warm palm.

Rachel's heart pounded in her chest, partly due to the fear of whoever might come and catch Richard in her room – but more so for the thought of having the seventeen-year old pressing her so tightly to his chest.

They sat frozen on the floor in fear with Richard's hot breath down her neck from his nose. When the sound in the hallway seemed to stop near the door, Rachel shut her eyes in wait. Richard squeezed her impossibly closer.

They counted in their heads.

Then ...the sound went away. Whoever was beyond it, obviously didn't suspect anything amiss except for a patient possibly bumping the wall in the night.

They sighed and Richard let go her slowly, still worried to let go her completely. She was incredibly light in his arms, and soft. He watched her face as he spoke, still sitting close to her.

"Did it say if he had a bruise too?" Richard asked slowly and unsure, still trying to go back to normal to the way the hallway was before the interference. It was their first ever chance of getting caught. He thought they'd always been lucky and forgot that the risk still existed after all the weeks spent successfully sneaking.

"Y-Yeah," she shakily replied trying to flex her leg out again, thankful that it stopped. Richard helped her up off the floor. "Above his elbow. ...Only another boy had the same placed bruise from what I remember finding in another file. Another teen named Jericho."

"Argh, I'm so frustrated!" Richard grunted softly as he walked some ways from her and clenched his left fist. "Nothing is telling us about where the other patients go ...and what about the disappearances? We're wasting time!"

Rachel sighed and grabbed his fist gently and it instantly relaxed. Her face grew hot considerably. She didn't know she could cool him so easily with her touch but she figured it was because they'd grown somewhat close over the weeks. She thought briefly about his touch after he held her.

"Look, Richard. I think we have to accept that nothing in Dr. Wilson's office is connecting." She went over to the bed and grabbed the rolled up piece of paper. "Garfield trusted you enough to give this to you. What do you think we should try now?"

Richard looked down at her face. Pursed lips and soft glare, Rachel held up the message to his face. He took it in his fingers and stared at it.

"Our only chance now," he breathed onto her face, "is to get out. The way they did."

Rachel nodded to agree but looked down at a spot on the floor. Richard continued,

"We'll follow Victor's instructions. But we have to try to get out together unlike them." He grabbed her wrist.

"I don't want to lose you once one of us gets out."

Richard let her go and decided it was time to leave and sneak back to his own room. He was emotionally drained and thought Rachel must be the same. He was almost at the door when he remembered something.

Reaching to grab something else at his elastic waistband, he walked back over to Rachel and shoved a crumpled sheet of paper into her palm.

"I don't think you can see this in the dark. I wanted to give it to you before Christmas since... presents don't come to people like us anymore... I forgot, sorry."

And then he left. The next morning when Rachel woke and un-crinkled the paper in the morning light, she realized he gave her a paper filled with sketches of birds.

He'd never told her he did art.

(disappear.)


A/N: I know, I know there's no more Kory - well technically, not physically! But rested assured, I think this is where we say goodbye to her mentioning...hmm. And aaaw yeah! It's about time Richard's sketches reappeared again! Remember, he only had only sheet of paper so he basically gave her everything! :O It also wasn't meant to celebrate our current holiday season but... funny how that synced up anyway. Symbolic? Maybe. Let's just say he's feeling the rebellion to move away from his old life. Time to put this puppy into gear! This was chapter supposed to longer, but I cut it short because the next chapter gets kinda ...everywhere. :p Lol so enjoy this bit! More like a filler-fic too, it was meant to establish more facts surrounding the mystery. Well enjoy this teaser! I'm sure you'll leave with more questions but maybe ...a few suspicions! ;)

Thanks for reading! Stay gold. Now for the mailbox:

SladeRavenFan: Oohhhh yes Amy, I love adding tension! ;D And lol, and good! Stay confused about the stamps and bruises :3 That's what makes the mystery worth it! It'll all be explained in due time! ;) Lmao but seriously, thank you so much for your loving review! :) And I'm glad the Roy/Strange relation makes sense now.

crazynerd: I love your anxiety, and acceptance of my hugging! :D Thanks for your review! I wish I knew your name! :D

TheDreamChaser: Oooh yes, I'm glad some of the cameos are actually becoming of importance to the story -Pamela returned when everyone seemed confused about her- but I'm glad to know you like your Batman villains too! :) Harley Quinn already cameo-ed in Chapter 5 but as a brief mention by Bruce Wayne, and since I only have a desire to cameo a character once or twice. I'm not sure if she'll return... But maybe! I seriously love her twisted, little head! Thanks for your review, and for reminding me of Harley's greatness! ;D

Now until the next chapter. I'm seriously considering going rogue tomorrow and typing up a chapter or two for you guys. I just have to finish this soon. Otherwise if my plan goes up in flames, you may not hear from me till January after next week! :O