[A/N: This is going to be the first chapter that really starts to become graphic. There will be sexual abuse, human trafficking, and underage rape. I do not ever condone any of these acts and will not allow commentary praising these acts on this story. However, I am including these acts within my story for two reasons. 1) These things do happen in real life, often unreported and ignored because of the age or cultural identity of the people involved. 2) I refuse to believe that this shit wasn't happening in Gotham (they were, canonically, actually—the first person Jason Todd kills in the comics was a pimp), and for a girl in a gang with no options, I find it plausible for poor little Star to be caught up in it. Thanks for understanding!]
The boy's name was, as I later found out, Jason Todd. He was the leader of a street gang made up primarily of children, and they all stayed together in an abandoned apartment. At first, they let me stay with them and share their belongings, seemingly expecting nothing in return. I slept, ate what they let me, and began to return to normal. Little by little, Jason got to know me, speaking what little English I could understand.
I told him what had happened—that Freya had died, that I couldn't go to school. Looking back, these conversations are probably the ones that affected most the direction my life went within the gang. I certainly don't believe that it was due to any actual attraction on his part.
The gang let me coexist with them peacefully, ignoring me not, as I then thought, out of trepidation, but out of pity. After a month, I was finally asked for retribution. I was laying on the floor of the apartment, in the space I had managed to claim as mine. Night had fallen on Gotham, and most of the rest of the gang was either out on the streets or asleep in the corners of the room when Jason strode into the apartment.
"Little goat!" He called as he strode in, his voice more harsh than usual. His nickname for me hadn't changed, and secretly, I was glad. It made me special. I stood up as he came in, glad to see him. He grabbed my hand, the same way he had the day he found me, and escorted me into his room.
Once inside, he closed and locked the door behind us. I'd never been inside his room before, and I looked around, trying to absorb it. Most of the small room was taken up by a bed with sheets and blankets, a luxury. The walls were barren, except for a poster of a man in all black, who was wearing a cowl. Around the edges of his room were the weapons, clothes, and books that he owned. Jason was the only one of us that actually went to school—he said he had a promise to fulfill.
While I examined his room, Jason watched me, an expression I couldn't read on his face. With no warning, he reached out and hugged me. Unsure of what had brought on this affection, I hugged him back. I was just happy to be wanted.
"I'm going away soon, little goat." He said, his hand in my hair. "I'm being trained for a new job, one that can make a difference in the world," his voice was softer than usual. I stayed quiet, saddened by the thought of losing the only person I had. "But to get this job, I have to cut ties with everything in my life. I'm leaving the gang to James." I shiver at the thought. James never stayed with the gang, but he was arguably second-in-command. However, James was cruel, as far as I had seen. He'd hit some of the other members, and his face was joyful as he struck them. "I'm so sorry," Jason whispered. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't know how to ask. "I can't stop him from this path, I would if I could. Please believe me." His voice broke, and I saw him truly then—a confused boy that couldn't stop what was happening.
"I believe you," I replied, trying to reassure my only friend. He looked me in the eyes, then, backing away from me slightly.
"Your eyes are like stars, little goat," my eyes were bright, but with tears, not fire.
"When are you leaving?" I asked, my voice pitiful. It may have only been a month, but it had been a quiet, happy month, and that had meant the world to me. In answer, a knock came on the door.
"Now." He said, recomposing his face, forcing himself back into the charade of a man that I know knew him to be. He unlocked and opened the door to James himself. As James entered and Jason left, I thought I saw a tear run down Jason's face.
Too soon, James closed the door behind him. The lock clicked menacingly. James was older than Jason, truly a man. I never knew why he'd been willing to follow Jason's lead, as young as he was, but it was clear now that James had been looking forward to seizing command. His face was twisted into a sneering, terrifying smile, and the light glinted off of his glasses and stringy unkempt brown hair.
"It's time for you to earn your keep, little goat." He paused, laughing at some internal joke of his. The laughter harshened his face, instead of smoothing it. "You know, Jason should have been calling you our cash cow. You're going to make us more than just a pretty penny." Confusion must have been written on my face, because James took it as an excuse to step closer and show me.
Afraid, I was rigid as he approached me. His hands formed claws that ripped my bedraggled shorts off of my hips, and he pushed me onto Jason's bed. Pulling my underwear off to join my shorts, he thrust a claw inside me, causing searing pain, drawing a cry from my mouth as I tried to get away from him. He grinned at my attempts, releasing me just long enough to free himself from the constraints of his own pants before he dragged me back to him.
"You know," he whispered in my ear as he pinned me beneath him, despite my struggles. Satisfied, he freed one of his hands from pinning mine and used it to grab my hip. "You're really lucky that it's me that's doing this," using the hand on my hip as leverage, he forced himself inside me, sighing as I shrieked at the pain. "I know plenty of people that would pay good money for a virgin as cute as yourself for their very own." He withdrew himself completely and realigned, entering harder than before, still whispering to me. "But you remind me so much of my sister…" another exit, another, faster entrance, harder as he gained his momentum. My throat was raw from screaming, so I lay there silently as the tears streamed down my face and the pain washed over me. "I couldn't let you be given to just anyone, not when I had been craving this for so long." He ceased whispering as he built up his own pleasure and brought himself to an explosive finish within me.
He brought himself out for a final time, briefly cleaned himself and redressed, ignoring me as I continued to sob, unmoving on the bed.
"That was fun, Babs," he said, opening the door. "Let's do it again sometime." He left the room, and me to myself.