It's quiet.

Quiet as I wrap my glass ornaments and table décor in newspaper. Quiet as I slowly fill up cardboard boxes with what I can. Quiet as I direct the members of my father's gang around, as they carry my furniture to the lift to take down to the moving truck.

Just simply, silent.

My sister is sitting on the balcony outside, watching the sun set over Gotham city. She hasn't spoken to me because she knows what I am going to ask.

What did Sukiyo tell Jason? 

Whatever it was has made him angry enough to not talk to me or contact me since the rescue a few days ago.

I miss him.

Bruce, Dick, Tim and Damian seem to be reluctant to talk to me. Not because of what Jason was told, but because I let the Yakuza kill Sukiyo's men.

Dick, at least, texted to tell me that they had not seen Jason either. He'd been looking for him, contacting friends who might know.

But other than that Jason has just disappeared.

And I feel empty.

"Tykva. Are you sure you do not want any?" My father calls over my shoulder. I turn around, stepping out of the way as the chair from my room is being carried through.

"I'm sure," I answer, glancing at the large Russian holding a bottle of vodka. He sighs and holds his own shot glass up.

"To the safety of my daughters," he says, before drinking it.

"Safety," I mumble, looking out to where my sister is. Having already been staring at me from outside, her gaze snaps away immediately.

I glance at my father, watching his men disassemble my living room sofa to remove it in pieces.

Without saying anything, I wander through the living room towards the hallway. This apartment was such a nice place, until it was defiled by my presence and brought danger and destruction.

I'm moving somewhere similar, but higher up. My father also owns it as he owns this one, but the penthouse and the floor below it will be mine and it will be better fortified.

Three rooms in the penthouse and two in the floor below, which I will use as a base...if I decide to keep wearing the mask.

I was always afraid that putting it back on would result in never being able to take it off again.

My room is empty; anything still here is staying, like my bed. The bed Jason and I shared for so many nights. 

These walls will always be a part of those memories.

My wardrobe isn't empty yet. I still have to pack my clothes and other stuff in here, like my jewellery. On the shelf where my necklaces are, Jason's stands front and centre, red gem twinkling in the light.

At least, 'Geisha' couldn't take him away from me.

Sukiyo was taken away by Bruce, to Blackgate prison. As I was involved in the case, it was given to the new DA of Lightway city. My father offered to have her killed, but I declined.

I declined, because Hiroshi would not want me to kill the mother of his child.

Does she deserve to die? Well, she didn't kill anyone important to me. Death is deserved upon death, which she brought only to the Yakuza that argued against her at her rally.

When she gets out in twenty odd years, they can take it up with her. Until then I am happy to let her grow old and wrinkly in a cell.

As for her younger friend, she has been taken by Doctor Fate to serve her time in his tower of fate. It's the only place that can hold a girl of her ability.

They have both left marks behind. A few, really. The deep stab wound on the back of my shoulder for a start. Another memory to add to the book that is my skin, marred by the years of wearing that awful mask.

Another in the form of a child. An orphan, technically. I can't just let him... I mean, who is her child with now? Who is Hiroshi's son with now?

Last, is a mystery. A mystery to me. Because my sister knows and my father knows and I need to. 

I'm pretending not to notice my father's concerned glances my way. It's because I declined the alcohol- I never decline alcohol. But I can't drink it.

"Papa."

My voice cuts through the gentle bustling in my now ex-apartment.

"Da?" He looks at me innocently. 

"Tell me what she told him."

I look a him, watching me without any emotion in his expression. I turn on my hard court-gaze, staring him down like he's a witness.

I'm not letting this go. I need Jason back. I need him, now, more than ever.

"Ubiraysya," he commands his men to leave, eyes not leaving mine. It takes a while, but eventually there are eight of them leaving, the elevator doors sliding shut.

If it was quiet before, this is deafening silence.

"Get your sister," he says, remaining very serious. I turn around and stride over to the balcony doors, pushing them open. With her powers my sister already knows, turning around with a guilty expression.

As of walking to her own death, she shakily steps through the doors into the apartment.

My father moves across to to where they had pulled the sofa apart and sits down. I follow, because maybe I will need to be sitting down for this information if it is that shocking.

Caelan sits as far away from me as she can.

Dad takes a deep breath, "Listen, tykva..."

~

Dick had never liked anything that was literally dirty. Sure, his line of work invloved dirt and grime and blood and gore. But not like this. Not, possibly, the stingiest looking apartment building in Blüdhaven,

So much death and crime had happened here most people, including criminals avoided it. So it sits here alone, rotting away.

At least he thought it did, until he had received a call back from Roy about Jason. Roy mentioned the apartment and Dick knew this is where he needed to be.

Where Jason was.

With her. 

Once upon a time the blood and dirt stained hallways had been full of drug addicts and the homeless, lying on the floor, dying slowly.

Instead its full of rubbish and smells awful. The carpet is soak with water and other liquid he'd rather not know, with broken glass, plastic and litter spread everywhere.

It reeks of death and damp.

So when he reaches the end of the hallway, the last apartment facing him, he expects the inside to be the same.

However, when he pushes open the door it is nothing of the sort.

The apartment isn't a Grayson-Meadow standard; more Harper-Todd style, but it's still clean and in better shape than outside. Almost like another world.

He's faced with an entrance, dark, the carpet an ugly yellow in the light peaking out from under the door to his right.

There are small shuffles coming from inside the room.

Without a second thought, he takes his joined escrima sticks in hand and reaches for the handle. Jason. Jason could be in there, he tells himself.

Gently he twists the handle to find it's not locked. Light pours into the entrance as he pushes the door open, revealing the last thing he expected.

A bedroom, looking like a bad 80s motel with an ugly wallpaper, the same carpet and harsh yellow light is presented before him.

In the centre of the room against the wall is a bed with a floral blanket on it, only adding to the tacky feel of the apartment.

But that's not what catches him off guard. It's the green eyes staring at him, unfazed by his presence. The green eyes just waiting for Dick to their owner.

Jason is sitting in the bed with a cigarette between his lips. His back is propped up against the headboard and he's shirtless- naked, Dick would guess. With the blanket over his legs he doesn't know.

Worst of all, beside him, is a head of silver hair. Rose Wilson is clutching her pillow tightly beneath her head, upper-body clearly bare. She's naked.

Two naked people in bed together and Dick doesn't even realise he's bringing his escrima stick down on Jason's head until it meets his hair.

"You're an asshole!" He impulsively shouts. Cheating. This is cheating, on one of the most amazing women he has ever met in his entire life.

Rose stirs in her sleep as Jason rubs his head, glaring up at Dick with a hatred in his eyes. Dick, guesses, that hatred isn't towards him.

"Wait outside."

That isn't what he's expecting either. He's expecting to be attacked and shot at, or begged for silence. Stunned by the entire situation, Dick stumbles backwards with Jason's intense gaze never leaving him.

When he's back in the entrance he pulls the door shut, turning to the other one and pushing it open. He's faced with an almost bare looking living room and kitchen. There are no windows by design, so it's lit only by a dull lamp in the corner.

Awkwardly, he moves across the living room to sit at the small table.

He's cheating on Venus. He's cheating on the girl Dick was sure would be the love of Jason's life.

There's an explanation. There had to be. Jason wouldn't do this without good reason. He loved Venus with all his heart...

Didn't he?