He looked up as Alfred passed by. The butler's hands held a tray with yet another plate of stale, untouched food. "How is he, Alfred?"

"The same, I'm afraid," Alfred replied. Bruce lowered his head, resting his clenched fists against his knees. "Any… er… sign of… well, of her—."

"Of her body?" Bruce finished. "No. The only thing we've found is her… I'm not even sure I want us to find the rest of her, for Jason's sake." He trailed off as he stood up.

"Master Bruce, I know he is in no mood to see anyone," Alfred began, "but I implore you to try and speak with him once more. The boy blames himself, you know."

"I'll see what I can do."

On the way to Jason's room, Bruce's mind raced. He wasn't quite sure what to say to Jason. Not that he would listen; he hadn't spoken a word since the day Jocelyn… Well, anyway, Bruce wasn't all that good at comforting, either.

He stopped outside the door. He still had no idea what to say. A broken heart was a hard thing to fix. Alfred had said that Jason blamed himself. Maybe he should start there.

Bruce gave the door a few strong knocks and waited. There was no answer. "Jason?" He slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. The room inside was dark. As the door widened, a slice of light cut through the shadows. Jason was sitting on his bed, leaning against the headboard. The pillow and sheets had been thrown onto the ground.

He stepped in. "Jason, do you want to talk?" The boy made no indication that he had heard him. "I know how you feel, but it wasn't your fault." Jason continued to stare forward, his face tight and etched with pain. "You can't go on like this, Jason. Jocelyn wouldn't—."

"Don't… say her name," came the seething response.

"Jason—."

"Can you just leave?" he demanded.

Bruce had heard enough. He was aware that people handled grief differently, but this had gone on long enough. "Listen, I know this is tough, but you can't stay like this forever. What's done is done. You have to start moving on."

Suddenly, Jason turned and glared at Bruce with cold eyes. "You don't understand, do you?" He sprang up to his feet, fists balled. "You didn't care about her like I did! I-I told her—I promised her that I w-would… that I would…" His voice faltered and he collapsed against the side of the bed, holding his head in his hands. Bruce's eyes softened. It was awful seeing Jason in so much pain. He walked over and sat down next to him.

"It's all I can see," Jason continued, his voice low. "I can't sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, it's all I can see. It was just her arm in all that blood. That's all I can think of whenever I think of her. Christ, I just want to remember her the way she was."

"Give it time," Bruce reassured. "You'll get better."

"She must have been so scared," Jason whispered, staring at the floor in front of him. "I… I hope she passed out… s-so she wouldn't have f-felt it…" His voice grew weak as his shoulders shook. Jason dropped his head, pressing a fist against his cheek. Bruce rested a hand on his shoulder. He listened to Jason's muffled gasps, completely at a loss for words. It was very rare that Jason showed raw emotion like this.

"You'll get better," Bruce said. Then he stood up and exited the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

One week later…

"The AI's gone missing as well? That's odd." Alfred peered up at the Bat computer. "Are you quite sure?"

"I haven't heard from him since that day. And there's been nothing but radio silence at their hideout."

"Have you tried going to the hideout?"

"I have. The place is completely shut down; even the retina scanner stopped working." Bruce paused. "But that's not what concerns me the most."

"What's on your mind, Master Bruce?"

"Jocelyn's killers," Bruce answered. "The last remaining part of Signet. I can't find them." His hands rested on the desk. "The least I could do for Jason is bring them to justice."

"Could it be possible that they left Gotham?"

"Maybe. But it's not an easy thing to do without me noticing." Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes. "What about Jason? Is he doing all right?"

"Well he's eating again," Alfred remarked. "And just in the nick of time, too. If he had decided to fast any longer, I would have taken it upon myself to force-feed him." Bruce was silent as he struggled to picture that scenario. "Still, I understand Master Todd's pain. Miss Drei was… She didn't deserve this. How terribly unfortunate."

A thought suddenly came to Bruce. What if they had never met Jocelyn Drei? What if she had never come to the Batcave? Would she still be around then? The answer and its implications frightened him.

"Joker." The voice startled him and rushed him back to reality. Bruce turned in his chair and saw Jason standing there, wearing his Robin costume.

"What?"

"It was him. He did this."

"Jason, you don't know—."

"He said it himself," Jason interrupted. "He led us astray so we wouldn't be there when Signet killed her. And since we can't find those bastards, the Joker's next."

There was something strange about Jason's eyes. They seemed to have some sort of fire behind them. It was a look that worried Bruce. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Jason's words were slow and brimming with rage. "I'm sick of the way you handle these piece of shit criminals. I'm sick of how much faith you place in them. They're never going to change, Bruce. No matter how many times you swoop in on them, break their bones, and lock them away, they'll always keep destroying everything, everyone. Because of that stupid rule of yours, you're putting everyone you know in danger! You think Jo died by chance? She's dead because of us! Because of you!" He drew in a shaky breath and released it. "But no more. I've made up my mind. I'm going to do what you were always too much of a coward to do." He turned around and walked away.

Bruce stood up. "Jason, stop."

"Don't even try," the boy spat over his shoulder. "I'm doing this for her. If you get in my way, I'll never forgive you."

As he watched Jason leave, Bruce found himself unable to do anything. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was from the realization that something in Jason had truly changed. Gone was the spunky, eager kid who seemed so bright and full of life. Jocelyn's death had been the final, fatal blow that killed that kid. The thought hadn't occurred to Bruce yet, but something within him knew that he had lost Jason.

Yet despite his warning, Bruce went after Jason. It was a long, cold night. He knew that Jason's anger would make him vulnerable. The Joker fed on that kind of rage. Jason wouldn't stand a chance.

But that night, even though he desperately tried, Bruce could not find either of them. And that was the last he saw of Jason Todd.

Eventually, time just sort of seemed to… stop. It had betrayed him, just like everything else. But it wasn't like that mattered anymore. There was nothing. He felt nothing.

Except for the searing pain that returned day after day, reminding him of his failure. On some days, the torture never seemed to end. Then, there would be days of complete silence. Those days seemed just as bad. He would find himself alone with the darkness, dreading the moment when he would hear that croaky voice again and see that red, overstretched grin.

Still, he never lost faith. He knew that the Batman would come. Bruce wouldn't leave him. Even when the Joker would cruelly remind him of how long he had been in captivity, Jason convinced himself that the bastard was lying. But the days seem to drag on, and he began wondering if it really had been months.

The tingling in his wrists had faded, and now they simply felt numb from being restrained for so long. He was sitting the in steel chair, head bowed forward. This was one of the few times that he was actually asleep, instead of knocked unconscious from an overload of pain. But there was no comforting dream to ease him.

Suddenly, he jerked awake. For a brief moment, he forgot where he was. Then it all quickly rushed back to him. The dull pain in his body, and the ache he felt whenever he took a breath reminded him of it all. Jason weakly raised his head as he heard something heavy thump on the ground. He saw a purple figure and quickly lowered his head, tightening his hands into fists.

"What's with the silence, ol'boy? I know you're awake."

A grimace found its way onto Jason's face. "You'll regret this," he growled. "Everything you've done to me, you'll regret."

"Still got that fiery spirit in you? Good, good! Wouldn't want it to go out just yet, would we? It'll make what I've got in store so much better." He heard the Joker walk over to him, but kept his eyes lowered. "You know what I've been thinking? I've got you beaten and battered up like this." He gave Jason's chest a punch. The boy gritted his teeth as he fought down the urge to cry out. "But it's not like me to use the same old song and dance over and over again! What do you say we mix it up? Breathe a sigh of relief, because today's not going to be about bruises." He suddenly grabbed a handful of Jason's hair and yanked his head up.

"I'm thinking we add a dash of psychological torture to the mix. Liven things up a bit, you know?" He let go of Jason and strutted over to the box that he had dropped on the ground when he entered. "That's why I've gone through the trouble of bringing you some movies! Nothing gets the mind churning like a few good blockbusters. Now let's see what kind of goodies I've got here. Hmm… Tatata… No, not this one… Nope… I'm not even sure how this got in here…" The Joker continued to mumble to himself as he dug through the box, throwing things aside. Jason kept staring at the ground.

"There's got to be a golden one in here; I can feel it. Let's see… Aha! Now, this one's a classic! The Death of Jocelyn Drei." Jason's head lifted up, his eyes widening.

"Interested, are we?" the Joker mused. "Good choice. I've heard great reviews about this one. Good actors, authentic special effects… you know."

Jason didn't realize how much he was shaking as he glared up at the Joker. "You… you didn't…" His voice was raspy as he struggled to pull in breath.

"Why not? They sounded like they really wanted to put the girl through hell, and I just couldn't let that juicy opportunity slip by! So, being the generous person I am, I gave them a camera to immortalize the whole thing! After all, I figured you'd want to see your dear little Jo again. Don't say I never did anything for you!" He popped the disk in. The screen in front of Jason lit up.

Addendum: My eyes are filled with tears from the pain and agony. The hoarse, shaking words escape my lips: "Please, let me sleep." But college looks down at me and whispers, "... No."

Story of my fucking life so far.

Also, yeah Jason. So you're fucked now.