Relying on others wasn't something you had grown to be familiar with, even from a young age when all you had was a mom who was bound to leave you and the father she explained couldn't be an actual father. Watching Red Hood, your idol and now mentor, running through the streets of Gotham, gave you some sense of hope that everything he did, every punch thrown, and bullet shot was for good. Idolizing him and eventually being taken in by him. The best thing ever! Or so you thought.

Everything you did was for him, like the way you thought he did it for you. A vigilante suit reminiscent of his, made by him, you wanted to show your skills in Gotham to prove yourself worthy as his kid. You had no one to direct you on the right path or guide you past the most primitive years after your mom died. No one to tell you how much of a fool you are. A fool who was captured by a clown, the Joker found you out on patrol on your own before you and Jason could rendezvous, and he punished him for it.

Jason looked for you the whole night.

Bruised, battered, and bloodied was how the Joker left you. His last joke was to make Red Hood relive his most traumatic experience all over again, with his mentee being the punchline. Tipped off with a video sent to him, Jason finally learned where you were and raced off to where Joker left you alone with a broken mind echoing words of how you were abandoned, left for dead because he never cared. He failed you. Everything good you thought of him came crumbling down within minutes.

The door flew open, Jason's heart pounding like a jackhammer. He trembled as his eyes met yours. He felt like crying, shockingly. And very, very guilty. He slowly steps towards you like a wounded animal.

"I-" He swallows thickly, tentatively reaching a hand towards you as he scans your features under the bruises and blood. He feels sick at how hurt and scared you look, how he wasn’t quick enough, the damage was done. He wants to embrace you and wail. "Oh God.. what did he do to you... I'm so sorry."