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chapter twenty-five ━ the other side of paradise

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❝ i'll see you there ❞

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FINDING A WAY to move on was never easy. Grieving was never a positive experience. It was tough, excruciating, and there were times when you ask yourself why, why them. Twice now Skylar had watched someone she cared about die in front of her. One got stabbed in the neck, the other burnt to a crisp. Both times she witnessed the death. Both times she broke down. And both times, Jim Gordon was there, standing there, watching another person be ripped away from her and he did nothing to help. Though he did extend his apologies about Bridget, it didn't matter to her. Why was it that he got to keep his happiness and she kept losing her's?

She woke up before Selina did and got dressed in her usual outfit, seeing as she only owned one pair and then a backup if anything happened to the first. All of her previous clothes she gave to other homeless kids because she couldn't bring herself to wear any of the colorful shirts she used to have in her closet. It was the least she could do for kids that were in similar situations and were just trying to make it through another day.

The TV was on when she stepped into the study, a familiar boy standing in front of it, watching the latest news of Galavan becoming the new mayor. Her lip twitched with growing anger, her fists clenching, her eyes narrowing but then suddenly the television was turned off and the remote was placed down on the coffee table as Bruce turned to face her.

Skylar's fists unraveled as she smiled tensely, making her way over to him. He was the first to speak, looking surprised to see her there. His head tilted to the side a bit, curious. "What do you have against the front door?"

"It hit me on the way in last time so now I hold a grudge against it. The window is my new best friend," she replied back teasingly, making him laugh a bit, amused by her answer. "It's good to see you."

"Skylar, what are you doing here?" He asked, all trace of positive emotion gone from his face in an instant. "It's been a month since I last saw you with the whole. . ." His words trailed off when he saw her flinch a tad, eyes darting away from his face so he stopped what he was saying, knowing that was a bridge that was much too risky to travel over.

Acting as if he hadn't mentioned her deceased brother, Skylar moved on, brushing the words off her shoulders almost as she plastered a smile on her face. "You wouldn't believe the week I've had. So I met this girl named Bridget and-what the hell, do you like girly stuff now?" Her words had stopped when she had glanced over and seen what looked to be a purse or a wallet but it was blue with sparkly gems on the front.

Before Bruce could answer, a blonde girl entered the room, shorter than Skylar but clearly had money. Then it hit her. This bitch that just entered the room was Galavan's niece, the one she pushed into a fountain. Her eyes went wide a bit before she composed herself and concealed the hurt expression on her face that he would be hanging out with the same girl who's uncle murdered Jerome.

"Sorry," Silver sighed, walking in with such elegance that it looked forced. "I got lost on the way back from. . .oh, hello." The younger girl noticed her, walking over and stood right next to Bruce, a big polite smile on her face that made it look as if her cheeks were going to split at any second.

"Silver St. Cloud, this is my friend Skylar. Skylar, this is-"

"I already know her name, you just said it," the said female Valeska interrupted, giving him a look but did not show the betrayal. Despite the fact that Jerome had tried to kill him, he knew how much her brother meant to her, how devastated she was when he was gone and yet here he is buddy-buddy with Silver.

The two were shocked by her hostility though the blonde bitch's was just for show. But then she had the audacity she put on a pretty smile and continue on like she didn't know who Skylar was. "Are you staying for lunch? Please say you are. I just moved here and don't know many people." Then before either could protest, she looked to the billionaire boy. "Bruce, go tell Alfred to set another place for lunch. Come on, it'll be fun! Go. Shoo." He smiled and then left the room without hesitation. Skylar watched with disgust, scoffing at his obedience.

And the second he was out of the room, the door shut, Silver's smile dropped. She looked to Skylar, stepping closer, trying to threaten her. "While it's just us girls, let me give you a little advice. You come around here again. . .well, that would be bad."

"For you, it would be," the brunette replied, taking a step herself which did cause a slight falter in the blonde's persona. "Because if I ever see you again, I'll slit your throat open."

"Highly doubt that. Besides, did you really think you ever had a chance with him? He's a billionaire and you're circus trash. Now, tell me something, would anyone miss you if one day you were just. . .gone?" She didn't reply to that, holding herself back from punching the girl in the face. "I didn't think so."

Right before she was about to throw a witty reply to shoot her down, Bruce entered and Silver quickly put another smile on her face, turning to look at him. He wore a similar one, clearly thinking that there was not a single thing wrong with any of this or the fact that the girl he met the night his parents died might be upset.

"I told Alfred. What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," Silver told him, giving him musical laughter that would make any young boy melt. "Just girl stuff." Then she cut a glance to Skylar to see if she would argue her words. And she didn't, not knowing how to react at the moment, her fingers twitching at her sides, itching to grab her knife and do what she threatened to do.

---

Alfred came in with a tray of food and drinks not long later, Skylar perched on the armrest of the couch across from Silver and Bruce, stay far away from both of them. She wore a blank face but when she looked to the butler, she could see the look on his face. Sympathy. He must have figured out about Bridget, perhaps he even regretted hitting her. Just maybe.

He straightened his back, clearing his throat. "I had no idea we were entertaining today, Master Bruce. Anyone else popping by?"

"No. Thank you, Alfred."

Silver picked up a teacup, taking a tiny sip and then took a whiff of the smell. "This is marvelous, Alfred." Skylar rolled her eyes, not bothering to pick up anything he just brought out. "I fell in love with Lapsang souchong when I lived in Fujian. Driving through the Wuyi region, all you could smell is the burning cedar they use to smoke leaves."

Alfred clasped his hands behind his back, looking a bit impressed as she spoke but that soon dwindled as he forced himself to keep that calm smile. "Right, well, technically it's, uh, pinewood, miss, but I appreciate the enthusiasm."

Skylar smirked and finally picked up a teacup as well, inhaling the smell before she forced a sigh, drawing attention to herself. "Nothing like glorified tap water." Then she took a sip, making an exaggerated slurping sound.

Bruce smiled behind his cup, Alfred looking amused while Silver looked disgusted, shaking her head. The butler left the room and the blonde bitch set down her drink, putting another fake smile on her face to keep her appearance up. "So, Skylar? Tell me about yourself. Any family?"

That stung. The female Valeska gripped the handle a bit before raising her head and looked her dead in the eye. "Yeah, actually, I do. Of course, I did recently lose a family member, when your uncle stabbed my brother in his neck and killed him. But you knew that. You're just trying to be an innocent, naive, pathetic little Barbie doll." She looked to Bruce, appalled that he was falling for this. "You really buying her act?"

He didn't understand, looking awfully confused. Silver scoffed, pretending to be offended at her accusation. "I beg your pardon?"

"I would beg that I don't kick your ass off a twenty-story building, you bitch," she snapped, letting venom seep into her words. Bruce stood up, calling her name in a shocked tone but she didn't let it affect her, standing up, setting the cup down, facing Silver who also stood. "No, seriously, what do you want with Bruce? Is it the money? I mean it's certainly not his wacky yet unique sense of humor. Or his intelligent personality."

"I think I should go," Silver murmured, a tear going down her cheek as she turned away, grabbing her things.

Bruce still fell for her act, shaking his head. "No, wait."

Skylar saw the tear and laughed humorlessly, in awe that this was actually happening. "Is that a tear? Wow, you're even more pathetic than I thought you were." There wasn't an ounce of guilt in her veins as she watched the blonde feign hurt, crying silently as she walked to the door, taking one last glance at Bruce before apologizing and then leaving.

"What did you just do?!" Bruce questioned the brunette, shaking his head.

She tossed her hand up, gesturing to the door Silver just disappeared out of. "Look, you can be a bit blind sometimes which is okay but believe me when I say, that girl is bad news. You should've heard the things she said to me while you were gone. I'm doing you a favor by getting rid of her."

"I want you to leave," he replied, ignoring everything she said.

With a tiny flinch, she clenched her jaw and shrugged. "Fine." She adjusted her jacket and made her way back over to the window but before she could go, he spoke again, something that cut her deeply.

"Maybe you're right." She stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder at him. "Maybe I'm not the best judge of people. Because all this time, I thought you were my friend. But clearly, you have no idea what that means."

A scoff passed through her lips as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, you're right. But you're wrong about me. You have no clue what a friend is. Because if you did, if we really were friends at all, you wouldn't have invited and became besties the person who's uncle killed my brother. Cause you don't see me hanging out with the person who killed your parents, now do you?"

That raised a flinch in him, making her feel bad for a second but then she shook her head, shoving away her regret and turned around, exiting through the window and jumped off the balcony, landing on the ground with the right amount of grace before she made her way back to Selina. and though Bruce looked out the window, watching her go, she didn't turn back.

And she never would.

---

Galavan had officially become Mayor and Skylar was fuming. After she left, she watched over the penthouse, witnessing Silver and Bruce's little kiss which didn't make her jealous, but left her enraged that he hadn't believed her in the first place, siding with the enemy. Then she got a call from Oswald, speaking that Galavan had killed his mother and that he too was now after revenge. She supposed that put them on the same side. But then after she saw the news of Galavan's speech, she had a gut feeling that Gordon didn't exactly trust the new Mayor.

The next call she got was from none other than Ed. He sounded a bit nervous, asking her if she could come over to the GCPD but not to let anyone see her. So she did so, walking there at a fast pace and arrived there in about half an hour, slipping in through the back door he left unlocked for her.

When she entered the room, she saw that there was a body, a sheet covering the entire thing, pulled out on one of the metal trays from the refrigeration system that kept the body cold. He was standing in front of it and she closed the door to announce her arrival. Ed turned and saw her, visibly sweating from his forehead.

"Hey, is everything okay? I heard you and Kristen are together and I haven't gotten the chance to say congrats, you finally got the girl."

"Actually that's what I need to talk to you about," he explained, relaxing a bit in her presence because he figured that if she could care about Jerome for murdering their mother, surely she would still care about him even after he would tell her what he did.

"Trouble in paradise?" she asked, teasing him with a smile on her face.

He quirked a grin. "Something like that."

She saw his expression, watching the different look appear in his eyes. And by this point, she knew that look by heart, her shoulders tensing a bit. She took a few steps forward, looking over at the body again, licking her dry lips. Then she turned to him to see him staring at the body. "That's her, isn't it? You-"

"Don't," he interrupted, making her jump, startled. Then he pinched his nose, muttering to himself before he took a deep breath. He reached down and pulled the sheet down, revealing Kristen Kringle's face, only her skin had lost its color. Skylar looked away, feeling her stomach churn. "It was an accident, I didn't mean to hurt her."

After she took a moment to compose herself, clearing her throat, she closed her eyes briefly and spun to him. She braved up, standing beside him as she stared down at her. She did feel bad for her, knowing that she did not deserve this fate and probably didn't know it was coming. "Was she your first kill?"

Ed shook his head. "No, I killed her boyfriend."

"The gorilla?" He nodded and she made a face, shrugging her shoulders, not caring about that one in the slightest. "Cool. But what she'd do to you? Thought she was like your soulmate or something."

"I don't know, I didn't mean to though, I swear."

She arched a brow, looking up at him. "Let me ask you something, Ed. Do you regret killing Kristen?" He didn't answer so she got her answer. "Didn't think so. You are asking yourself why that is. The answer to that question is simple: killing her set you free, that was your spark. You know deep down you should feel bad. Don't sweat it, you'll be over it soon. I would suggest doing something with the body, don't ask me though because I have a Mayor to help kill."

He seemed surprised by her nonchalant attitude, following her with his eyes as she patted his back and then began to leave. "So, you're not mad?"

The brunette turned around, raising an eyebrow. "Mad? Oh please, I couldn't care less about who you killed, though I do feel a little bad for her. But, no, I'm not mad. Someone you need to realize, this city has its own twisted way of bringing out people's true colors. Be glad that you finally are on the path to discovering who you are. I'll see you on the other side."

She winked with a grin, walking out of the room and closed the door behind her. Little did she know, that once she was gone, Ed's alter ego appeared nearby and had chuckled darkly, looking at the door she had exited from.

"Now that's someone who knows what she's talking about," he told the more awkward part of himself. "Oh, I like her."

---

A FEW MONTHS AGO

The man rolled his eyes, shaking his head with utter annoyance, tossing his badge onto the table. He had a phone pressed to his ear, though his attention was waning and he was about ready to hang up on the older woman who was clearly drunk by the slurring in her voice. He poured himself a glass of bourbon, taking a sip before he sat in his chair in front of the fire he had started right when he got back to his penthouse.

"I'm telling you, Damon, he is coming after me. That boy has been planning something, I know it. Your brother won't listen to me."

Damon rubbed his temple, setting his glass on the coffee table. "You do not have a son, Lila, how many times do I have to tell you this. I'm sure Paul has told you the same thing." His tone displayed just how irritated he was that the snake dancer was calling him again. This was the third call he got from her today and he was starting to think that this lady was going insane.

"I do," she stressed, the sound of something knocking over in the background. "He is Paul's son, he is a twin, his name his Jerome, the other is Jeremiah. Damon, please, you have to help me." Her voice suddenly went quiet as if she was afraid of being caught. "He has been angry ever since I put her up for adoption."

Now that was a new one. He rose an eyebrow, confused as to who this female she was referring to was but quickly brushed it off. "Oh, so now you have a daughter? Shouldn't be all that surprised considering with all the men you have slept with. Probably can't even remember who the poor girl's dad is. But, as I said earlier, you are drunk and you do not have any kids. So stop wasting my time."

With that, he hung up and tossed his phone to the other side of the couch, draining the rest of his glass and kicked his feet up on the table and closed his eyes, falling asleep right there without even making it to the bed.

Of course, when the news of Jerome Valeska's death eventually spread to Brooklyn, tales of the infamous boy who's laugh was the scariest thing you have ever heard, his jaw had dropped and the glass in his hands dropped to the ground and shattered. That drunk woman had been telling the truth after all. Lila did have a son, but he saw no mention of a twin or the daughter until a video came up on the TV of a brunette girl crying over his dead body. This girl just lost her brother and he could see the heartbreak on her face, along with a look he saw in only certain types of people. Abused ones, lost ones. A few seconds later, the reporter said the female's name and he felt his face fell.

Skylar Valeska

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Just a heads up that I am going to try my best and not apologize if a chapter is short, unless it is under a thousand words. It is extremely difficult to crank out a three thousand word chapter for Gotham without a proper transcript to figure out who says what so that's why chapters take me so long to write. I do use foreverdreaming but they do not say who says what dialogue so I have to follow the episode at the same time and its difficult so please bear with me.

Also, say hello to Damon Cicero!!! He is Paul's younger brother and his face claim is Ian Somerhalder. Though he is not blood-related to Skylar, she is still family to him and he'll be the dad Jim never was. He is also a cop! He works at the Brooklyn Police Department in New York City. If you guys would like to read more about him, go to my profile and look for the book titled 'Au Volant'.

In case you guys weren't aware, this book is now a series where the main oc from each book is intertwined with the other books of the series if that makes sense. Damon is the first to appear, Charlotte (Oswald's sister) is next! So for now, enjoy that little sneak peek of Damon at the end of this chapter :)

I hope you guys have a great day/night and don't forget to vote on this chapter, comment your thoughts, and follow me for updates!