"These are the nights and the lights that we fade in

These are the words but the words aren't coming out

They burn 'cause they are hard to say

For every failing sun, there's a morning after." The World is Ugly by My Chemical Romance

Walking the streets of Gotham was always a challenge for Remy. For the most part it was because the people were paranoid from the way the city has attracted its collection of villains and were harder to steal from as a result of that. Also the fact that if he were successful in stealing anything there was always a chance that one of Gotham's many vigilantes would come in to return whatever he stole. And Remy knew better than attracting that type of attention as a thief.

Quiety he entered a store that he's been visiting over the past three years in the slums of Gotham. The cashier wasn't looking at him when he entered the store, flipping through one of the many gossip magazines about the celebrities of this city. He caught her attention when he went straight for the counter. She gave him a knowing looking, figuring out already what Remy would want to buy. He did only buy one thing after all.

"The usual?" She asked, moving to reach behind her to the rows and rows of cigarette packs and cartons.

With a lazy smirk and a tilt of his head, Remy replied with "The usual for me, chère. Gotta get to my destination before the rain comes for me and the rest of the city."

"Yeah I heard there was gonna be rain today. Do you want an umbrella as well to keep yourself dry? That trench coat looks like it won't protect you from everything that Gotham has to offer for the weather." She said. It was sincere in its own way even if it was to get him to buy something else besides the one pack of cigarettes.

"Why not? Need to keep myself presentable for the company I have to visit today." Remy easily paid for his two items and then left the store. With a pack of cigarettes he bought for Jason safely tucked into his pocket and umbrella in his hand, he hailed a cab on one of the busier streets.

Seeing the site of the city was a treat for Remy. Even if people would try to make a case for the many reasons not to visit Gotham, Remy knew beauty when it was in front of him. The architecture of the older buildings was absolutely stunning to look at, especially when Jason had taken him on a few of his solo patrols in the past. Running from each building gave him a site that he knew he could never forget for the rest of his life.

But even with the few patrols that he was allowed on, Jason made the both of them stick close to mansion whenever he visited in the light of day. Even if the younger boy insisted because he didn't want Bruce to see where Jason kept on getting his cigarettes or anything else along those things, Remy felt it was more like Jason wanted to make sure that the thief didn't try to steal from anyone. Even if he was three years younger than Remy he was somehow the more responsible one of the two of them in their friendship.

Though that had to do with their upbringing, Remy mused. Even if he was on the streets up until he was ten, Jean-Luc, his Papa made sure he was able to have something akin to a childhood before he left home. Jason wasn't given the same treatment when he was adopted by Bruce. Even if Remy knew that Jason liked being Robin, helping make sure that civilians were safe from villains and that the streets were a bit safier to travel there was still that persistent thought in the back of his mind. One that he even voice to his Papa more than once.

Remy felt that Bruce should have waited a few more years before letting Jason become Robin.

While Remy understood the reasoning that Jason gave him about why he became Batman's sidekick it still didn't sit quite right with him. The younger boy should have been given the chance to experience something close to a childhood, in fact he even deserved it from the few things that Remy heard from his past. But it was an argument that he knew wasn't worth having.

Some things would never happen with force and that was one of them.

When a few streets away from the mansion, he made the cab driver stop. Giving the man a big tip, Remy quickly and quietly made his way towards the Wayne estate. Jason had been busy for the last few months between the patrols as Robin and trying to integrate into the team of teens. There was the issue of Jason having school at the same time between these two things. Which meant that he didn't have time to converse through texts or visit Remy.

Plus from the few texts that they did shared with each other Jason was having problems with Bruce over how to take down villains and thugs. From what he gathered through the angry texts was that Jason had this expectation that he shouldn't treat the criminals that were drug deals or human traffickers or even pimps with decency that he would with civilians. Obviously this caused a rift between him and Bruce when this kept repeating itself.

When being grounded from patrols or being able to join the team for a time being, Jason had taken to visit Remy where Bruce couldn't find them easily. The younger teen had angrily ranted to him about everything he had been keeping in all while eating something that wasn't healthy. Remy quietly took all of it in knowing it would be best for Jason to let this all out.

While Remy understood the frustrations that Jason was currently having with his adoptive father, he also had the perspective of being a few years older. He knew that a lot of the underground activities of many criminals were something that nobody should tolerate (and perhaps get a few kicks in the head for.) But the flip side to that is that it would also make other vigilantes a target of the police if the criminals kept being handed to them beaten and full of injuries. Plus those injuries would make it take longer for the criminals to get into the prison system.

But when Remy had mentioned these thoughts he had to Jason, the younger boy just ghosted him for a few weeks after. It took the promise of a few cigarette packs and a training session or two with Remy to get him to finally talk again.

With a sigh Remy reached the part of the mansion where Jason's window was. It was about two stories up with a few trees near it making it easier to climb up without resorting to using other ways to do so. The branches were close enough to the window stile for anybody to get into the mansion.

With practice routine Remy went up one of the trees and made his way through the window. The room was the same as it always is with shelves packed full of books that were given to him by Bruce, Alfred and Papa over the last two years. A few posters of movies and other interests hung on the wall around the sizable room. But the thing that always got Remy was the bed that was always made up after the kid got up for the day.

The only difference with this visit was the thing layer of dust that covered everything. Running a finger over one of the many shelves Remy saw how much dust he had picked up. With slight confusion, he rubbed his finger on his clothes to get rid of it. Jason was cleaner than Remy had ever seen for a kid around his age. He would even dust once a week to keep it away from his books.

Take a few careful steps towards the desk, he saw that a bunch of papers were spread out on it. Seeing the dates for the notes for various classes along with homework Remy had to wonder what happened.

Jason wouldn't leave any important work for school alone like this. Not even when he was on missions with the group of young vigilantes.

As he shuffled through the papers, trying to figure out the mystery that was in front of him, he failed to hear the footsteps coming up to the door. Suddenly he was being grabbing by the collar of his trench coat and turned around by someone stronger than him.

Remy met eyes that were dark blue and filled with unbridled anger. The man's grip on his collar also told how much they were restricting themselves from throttling him right where he stands. Remy just hoped the man could keep himself from taking off his sunglasses. Didn't need to have mutant hatred on top of being captured.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" Came the dangerous voice of the man before him. It finally clicked in his mind who was keeping Remy from escaping. It was Bruce Wayne, the billionaire of Gotham city and the vigilante of the night, Batman.

He was also the man who adopted Jason Todd.

"I was trying to visit a friend since he hasn't spoken to me in a while." Remy said, intent on using his charm to keep Bruce from lashing out at him. "Then I had to figure out why his homework hasn't been turned in for a full month when I know for a fact he would never do that for any sort of excuse short of death. So the real question here is what happened to Jason Todd?"

Bruce paused at this. There was still anger in his eyes that demanded something from Remy that he possibly couldn't give. Then he growled out,"How would you know that about Jason? I haven't seen you around here nor with his classmates. How could you possibly know that about him?"

"I've known Jason since the early months of him being Robin. In fact he met my father a year before you took him off the street and adopted him. So I know about him than you can possibly know." Remy said. He felt a bit smug saying that, but he knew it would come back to bite him in the ass.

But in the moment he didn't care.

"That can't be possible. I would have known about that."

"Are you saying that in disbelief manner or as a parent trying to look out for their kid? Because homme chauve-souris, I don't need he's a bad kinda kid, just stay the hell away from him speech that many others have given before."

"I'm saying it as the man who cared deeply for Jason and who thought that he wasn't keep much from me anymore." Bruce said somberly. His shoulders slumped forward almost like he had been defeated. Remy could feel Bruce loosening his grip on his collar. "Even with him gone, he still continues to haunt me."

With that Remy's eyes widen. He knew that even with the denial that sprang up in the back of his mind that what the man was saying was true. After all the vigilante of the night didn't have much reason to lie to a person claiming to be Jason's friend.

Then quietly, he tugged on Bruce's shirt. "Please take me to his grave. I would like to visit it at least once."

It didn't take long for the both of them to drive towards the graveyard that the rich part of Gotham had. Neither one of them spoke to each other the whole way there. They let the silence keep the both of them in their own thoughts, wanting nothing to each other. Even if they had a connecting with Jason before his death it still wasn't enough for them to start one with each other.

When the car stopped, Remy quickly hopped out of it. Same as the ride in the car, they didn't talk to each other. Remy followed behind Bruce to the boy's grave. There were some other people at the graveyard, visiting graves of their loved ones. With each one that the two of them passed, they gave a knowing look.

Then silently Bruce stopped in front of a headstone. Remy stepped forward to get a closer look at it. It was beautifully crafted and had the words that he had seen on a few other graves he had visited back in New Orleans. What made it stand out from the rest of the graves was the fact that it had a robin carved above the words.

From behind him, Remy heard Bruce walk away. Taking out the cigarette pack from his pocket, he held it in his hands for a few moments. Then breaking open the top of the pack, he took out one cigarette from it and placed the rest of the pack on the ground next to headstone.

With a quick flick of his lighter the cigarette he took was lit. After taking a few deep breaths Remy sat himself down on the ground.

"Guess you had a good reason for not answering. Still I wished I could have known sooner. Would have brought something better than these." He said, pointing with the cigarette towards the pack. "Bet you would find it funny that only I would bring a dead person a pack of cigarettes."

Then Remy lapsed in silence, unsure if he should say anything else. Time passed him by as he sat on the ground, taking in the details of the headstone in front of them. The clouds overhead threatened with rain, but still he wouldn't move from his spot in front of the grave.

Then quietly he put out his cigarette when it got too short. "Guess I'll have to tell Papa that he only has one potential son for being the Master of the Guild. He'll be sorely disappointed Jason, he was expecting so much from the both of us. But I guess that's what we get for hoping so much from you from such a young age."

Then Remy whispered "Guess this is what I get for getting so attached to someone so wonderful."

With that he stood up from the grave and walked out. Bruce's car was nowhere in sight, but Remy knew it would be too much for the man to stick around here. The few drops of rain was all the warning he got before it came pouring down. The umbrella he bought earlier today was put up.

And for once he didn't care about people seeing his eyes as he took off his sunglasses. Today would be a day for mourning for him since the world decided to take away a wonderful soul from them all.

God this chapter is quite the thing to write out. First off I had to have Remy find out Jason's death long after it happened since he wouldn't have any other way to find out other than sneaking into Jason's room. Second thing is the interaction between Remy and Bruce was kinda hard to do. Mostly because I've never actually written Bruce before. He just hasn't shown up for any of the other fics I have concerning Jason. (So please excuse his character here since it's my first attempt at him.)

But it was interesting to write someone's reaction to Jason's death like Remy did. While I've read a few fics and seen the comics for multiple serial runs for those kind of reactions, I figured it would be nice to write a subdued reaction to his death since a lot of other characters have been given a chance for the more outward reactions.

But I promise that the next few chapters will be from Jason's perspective!