Despite their best efforts, they still could find no trace of Batman.

"He must be in the maze," Dick tells Tim. "It's very large, with no end in sight. The walls are white, with light from unknown sources. No food or water, but plenty of people attacking you - not letting you rest... unless you submit to their will."

"If not?" Tim said, agitated.

"Death." A sliver of panic seeps into Dick's eyes. "They always have a way.... Through fear... no one could escape... no one."

Tim tries to coax out more information Talon was unable to provide. It isn't that Dick is uncooperative, but rather the maze had become the most traumatizing memories he had of the Court, the representative epitome of the Court's absolute powers.

Batman has been missing for ten days. For an average person in that kind of hostile environment, this means certain death. But the family refuses to believe he could be anything but alive - because he's Batman.

Another peaceful yet sleepless night at the Wayne manor. Red Robin has left with some other members for night patrol, while Damian remained behind to guard the batcave.

Taking advantage of an opening, Dick slipped passed Damian to visit Alfred. At the time, the butler has been dusting Bruce - Batman's reading room. A single lamp flickers at the corner of the impressive space, only just light up an area on the desk and the upper body of the butler. The buttons on his sleeves shimmered in a halo.

Alfred files the accumulated piles of papers on Bruce's desk. Under the golden light, the creases of his face are but dark crevices, his eyes hooded. As opposed to a trained butler, he's more like a father waiting for his son to return.

"Good evening, Alfred," Dick poises by the curtains, half of his body cloaked with moonlight while the other half remained in the dark. "Uh. Could I call you Alfred?"

Alfred sets down the picture frame he'd been holding, and nods at the visitor. "Of course, Mr. Grayson."

"Please call me Dick. Tim and ... Damian all call me that."

"As an adequate butler, I'm always required to mind my manners." The butler smiles. "But I will call you Richard."

Dick smiles back, but he quickly suppresses it, uncomfortable. "I really don't know where he is. I.. I'm sorry." The apology blurts out.

Dick knows the importance of Batman to everyone here. Not because of that cowl or that fear-inspiring power, but rather the person underneath. They care about him, just as he cares for Jason. His sense of guilt deepens every time he watches the butler caresses the picture frame, a feeling of helplessness and embarrassment.

"This is not your fault. Do not apologize. But I do appreciate your concern. Thank you," the butler reassures him. "Is something bothering you? You need not hide yourself behind the curtains." He moves to escort Dick into the couches before the desk and settled them both into them, face to face. One sits close to the window, the silvery moonlight discolouring the figure beneath. The other huddles near the unlit fireplace, the darkness shrouding his outline completely.

Dick relishes in the darkness, feeling himself sink into the softness of the couch. He takes one moment to test the cushions for traps before relaxing his limbs. But as soon as he realizes that his calves and feet are exposed to the moonlight, he tucks them back in once more. His instincts as a Talon still haunts him, averting him to any sources of light.

"What did you want to talk about, Richard?"

The moonlight smoothes the crevices on Alfred's face, erasing his age. He and the couch beneath him both basked in the silver light. His eyes glittered in the shadows casted by his high brows. A judge.

"I..." Dick stutters. "I want to talk to Jason. But he's ignoring me... I'm... disappointed." His head droops.

"I heard that Mr. Todd is being plagued by hallucinations."

"Yes. The side effect of Lazarus Pit.... I still remember that day... he..." Dick thinks back to his first day in the room to visit Jason. At the time, he was certain Jason would be fine when he wakes up - he was fantasizing their new future - a future with neither the Court nor Batman. He shivered in front of the metal door, almost unable to push it open due to excitement. His only thought was to talk to Jason - anything is fine.

But Jason rejected him. He rejected talking to him - rejected his feeding him - and any other form of assistance. Jason insists he's only an illusion - and this is once again a lie. He had shut himself into the prison of his mind.

Dick tried all he could - all the things he thought Jason would like. But to no avail. Jason only looks him in apathy - as if studying a piece of art, or watching a movie. But just as he was on the brink of despair, Jason would once again stare at his face - his green eyes burning with a flame of fear, doubt, and obsession. It was something that could devour them both. And it was because of this that Dick could not give him up. He's certain Jason is only sick.

Until today.

Jason finally spoke.

Dick had been sitting on the floor, watching Jason on his bed as he reminisced their past together, when Jason started struggling.

"Don't look at me!" Jason said, rolling from the bed and crashing into the hard ground. "Don't use Dick's eyes to look at me! Stop copying him, you imposter!" He squirmed forward, as if wanting to strike him - and then scuttled back, disgusted. At last he stopped moving, face down on the floor by the bed.

Dick moved to help, but Jason stopped him.

"Don't touch me." Jason crouches into a fetal position, his eyes squeezed shut as if in fear of Dick. "Don't use that face here. Don't trick me anymore - don't let me believe you are real, and then hurt me again... don't..." His voice died in his throat and trickled out as tears.

Dick's chest constricted, as if someone had punched him. He could not breath, the pain emanating from deep within. His outstretched hand jerked back. Unable to refuse Jason's wishes, he left the room, lingering through the manor like a ghost until he saw the light from the reading room.

"This is all my fault." Dick sinks deeper into the sofa, his hands pressed to his face. "I only wished to be together with him. I only... I don't know how things became like this."

He's never hated himself this much - hated himself for giving Jason the Lazarus water, hated himself for believing their teacher so easily - hated himself for begging him to revive Jason. Hated himself for letting Jason die - and for the two of them to fall into the Court's trap.

They could have avoided all this - but Dick had let it happen.

Alfred sighs. "I think Mr. Todd needs some time alone - as do you."

"We've waited for so long - why do we need to be apart again?"

"To think." Alfred pauses. "About the past, present, and the future."

"But I've forgotten what I even look like - what am I supposed to think about?"

"Yourself then. You need to find yourself, who you are supposed to be - before trying to solve problems. And Jason - he needs a way of discerning reality. When the time comes, you'll be able to be together again."

The shrill sound of alarms pierced the night air, disrupting the quietness of the manor.

Dick jumps from the sofa, hovering low along the floor. The butler stands up as well, checking the status on his phone. The signal is coming from the sewer gates connected to the batcave, and a call of distress from Damian.

Dick watches the butler in fear. "Is it Jason? He's going to leave me."

The butler does not answer, instead leading Dick into the batcave.

All is in order in the cave - with neither signs of fighting nor blood. The door to the cell room is securely locked - Jason huddles in the corner, immersed in his own world and completely ignoring the ruckus. Damian is gone from the computers, instead kneeling in front of the sewer gates. He's struggling to hold up a grown man in his arms.

The intruder's black armour has been shredded, his cape like dead leaves in autumn. His face is pale under the ragged cowl. His exposed left hand is thickly veined, thin and clutched like the claws of an eagle.

"Master Bruce!"

Damian lifts his head towards the butler, his child's face full of fear and a measure of relief. It is only then did Dick remember he's only ten. And that Batman is his father.

Dick saw himself in Damian, and Jason in the figure on the ground.

Hearing the butler's voice, Batman slowly opens his eyes, his gaze muddled. Blood seeped into this eyes. With his last strength, he grabbed Alfred's sleeves. His cracked lips quivered, and he forced out his voice.

"Alfred... they are... they are all.... The maze."

Blackness descended.

"He got out from the maze...."

Damian and Alfred turns toward Dick, who stands not to far away, his face alight. His eyes burned with hope as he stares at the unconcious Batman.

"He's... he's the solution to the Court."

A smile tugs at his mouth.