Jason knows Gotham.

He can feel it, the eyes on his back, the subtle shift in the air, the way Gotham curled at his soul. The hold she has on him grows stronger, sharper by the minute as something━ something rotten settles in her roots.

Jason knows Gotham, knows her the way he knows the dull beat of his heart, the pain that is ever present in his bones. The city is his, just as much as he is hers━ every rotten, broken part of him matched her ragged edges, and fit seamlessly together. A Mobius strip, two entities, one tiny, insignificant thing who had no chance, and one a city that had been dying since its founding encircled by one another. They ate each other, held each other, and fed off of each other.

No matter where he was, no matter how he was━ living or dead.

And he knew that she lived in him, knew from the silence that settled into his soul the moment he breathed in her stale and smoke-tainted air, the influence of the pit being eaten away, a calmness settling in his bones, something that he had only felt around━

Jason could feel her even when he wasn't there━ when he laid six feet under, buried, forgotten, unavenged, replaced. He could feel her, feel her curl around him, could feel a warmth in his bones tinged with ravenous need, a beat of a heart━ not his, not yet.

It's something he's grown to cling onto, ever since coming back, ever since leaving her. He was no longer a child who could delude himself with hopes of a father, a life away from the madness that ravaged the streets and so, he had learned.

He knows her, he knows when something is off.

Which is why he finds himself walking outside of his territory, well aware of the fact that Batman could spot him, leading to unwanted conversations that would most definitely escalate to arguments and ripping open scabbed wounds.

But, Jason still kept going, letting the pull of Gotham lead him to where he had to be because, above all, Gotham took priority.

He stops when he's on the outskirts of Old Gotham, a frown twisting on his lips when he feels the all-blames hum, waiting to materialise at his command. He looked around, eyes narrowing at wall━ sigils.

Fuck, Jason thought to himself, hand unconsciously raising to trace the symbols. The language was not one he had ever been able to learn but he knew those scriptures, knew what they all added up to. He knew them, despite his limited knowledge of anything outside of the All-Caste, he knew them and had memorised them at one point to protect━

It was crudely done, not holding the usual finesse of the ones he'd seen before. A stray probably, he thought to himself looking around the area, trying to spot if anything was amiss, focusing back on the wall when nothing caught his eye. He knew it couldn't have been them, he had kept an eye on it, on any movements they made that would be a danger to her and himself.

It could've been some magic-trotting idiot, Jason reasoned with himself. It would explain the girl he had buried a week ago. But, he couldn't help but let a tendril of doubt creep in, there were too many coincidences to look past, and yet, he couldn't find it in himself to accept it, not when it lacked the most important component.

"Hood?" Jason looked away from the wall, hand flexing to grab the gun from the holster but he paused, recognising the voice.

"Wing?" Jason asked, confused as he turned to face Dick, "What can I help you with?"

Dick doesn't respond, walking beside him to look at the sigils, "That's Mgick," he breathed out, turning to face Jason, "Hood what's going on?"

"It's older," Jason corrected, not bothering to answer his questions as he took out a blade━ one he had forged and inscribed himself as he went to break the sequence. These being here would only bring her here━ and while he knew that she had already caught wind of it, the pulsating redness of the sigils more than enough proof of the power they were exuding━ he hoped that this was enough to keep her away from him for a longer.

How things change, he thought to himself bitterly as his blade broke the biggest sigil, the red dimming into nothingness. Once, he would've called her here himself, deal with whatever was leaving the sigils all over Gotham, poisoning her roots but now, the thought of her had something vile curling in his chest.

The memories were still raw, despite a few years having passed, Jason still couldn't find himself letting go of her or her memories.

"Hood I think we should call Z━ Hood!" Dick snapped, watching as Jason started scratching out the sigils with his blade, not heeding his words. "Hood this is━"

"Trust me," Jason muttered, now crouching to scribble a sigil of his own to disrupt the power from the existing one, "You don't want these being here longer than it already has."

There was a beat of silence and Jason could feel Dick's eyes on his face, accounting what he was seeing before he made a decision. He heard a sigh from the older man, "okay, I trust you."

Jason froze at the utter conviction in the man's words. His relationship with Dick had gotten better, better than anyone else from Batman's brood━ excluding Oracle━ and yet, these moments still left him unbalanced, scrambling to find a reply as his throat closed up and his eyes burned.

Jason cleared his throat, nodding to himself as Dick goes to ask: "What do they mean?" At Jason's head tilt, the older elaborated, "The sigils, what do they do?"

"Power dampener," Jason points to the biggest sigil on the wall, the circular shape that the other ones blended into. He then pointed to the ones that were just words, "and this one replicates an aura━ act's like a bait."

"Bait?" Dick mused, a frown twisting on his lips, "Who are they baiting?"

Jason couldn't help but let out a noise, half air, half laughter dripping in bitterness. "The devil."

━

The knot in her loosened the closer he came to her, the thing in her urging her to go closer, be closer, move until there was no longer anything left between the two of them, breaths mixing into one and the slow thud-thud-thud of his heart overwhelmed her senses.

He had forgone the helmet, just a mask covering his eyes. Her hands flexed at her sides as she forced herself to stay still, knowing that her touch would only push him further away. She swallowed, her eyes tracing over his face, over the new scars, the light blooms of red on his cheeks from a bruise and the split on his lips.

She took a step closer, her hands raising to touch his lip when she saw the way his body went taut. Keres bit her tongue, healing the bruises and cuts with a silent incantation as she dropped her hand.

"Jason." Keres choked out, the name that had once fallen from her lips as easily as breathing now refused to fall from the tip of her tongue. Memories, she knew, were like a noose around your throat and the rope tended to get tighter as time passed, tighter and tighter until you could barely breathe.

"Keres." She held back a flinch at his tone, cold and sharp and painful as a bullet from his gun. She hated it, hated the way he had this power over her, had the ability to turn her into the girl she once was instead of what she is now. "What are you doing here?"

"They're here," Keres states, watching the way Jason remained his impassive self, face not twitching which meant he had already known and ah. "She told you." Keres couldn't help herself at the jealousy that tinged her voice.

It shouldn't have mattered, Keres knew, the connection that he had with his city. She had seen plenty of civilisations bond with someone of their own but none like what Jason had with Gotham. She could feel the city pulsating around her, the air tinged with power. And it felt as if Gotham was here, a physical thing keeping Keres away from what is hers, what should've always been hers.

"I found their sigils," Jason stated instead of acknowledging what she had said, "It's taken care off, you can leave." He dismissed and turned to leave when she called out to him.

Keres shook her head, "They're back, Jason."

He frowned, plump lips twisting downwards and Keres couldn't help but stare, tongue darting out to wet her lips as she watched his mouth move. "That's not possible, I've been keeping an eye on every little thing connected to them. They couldn't have been active for that long."

"Didn't trust me when I said they're gone?" Keres questioned, looking away from his lips and meeting his eyes.

"No."

Keres barely held herself back from flinching at his curt reply. There was not a hint of hesitation in him and it was strange, the fact that a few years ago his reply would've been completely different.

Memories of late nights they spent together laughing and joking around came to her mind, the warm afternoons that they had spent wrapped in each other's arms, the hushed whispers of their fears and hopes that they had told each other echoed through her mind, the small intimate glances that they had once shared, the relief, the hope the freedom that they had felt when they were with each other. Swallowing thickly, she took a long sip of her drink, savouring the way it burned down her throat as it distracted her from the memories.

"A few survived," Keres crossed her arms, nails digging into the flesh as she reared her attention to the conversation at hand. "they were hiding out around Cairo."

"That would explain this," Keres watched as he took out a small screen from the inside of his jacket before handing it to her. "Priya Kapoor, twenty-three years old. She was found a week ago. I had to give her a burial early so that her soul wasn't bound."

Keres started at the image that popped on the screen, thin tendrils of fear creeping into her being as she noted the smudged sigils painted on the walls, at the blood spilt and the jagged lines drawn all over the body.

"Why didn't you━"

"She didn't have the inscription," Jason interrupted.

"It is them." Keres insisted and she watched as his face twitched, a sigh falling from his lips followed by a series of words that were too low for her to pick up. Keres watched as he a hand through his hair, white strands sticking out amongst the sea of raven locks. He let out a shaky breath as he turned towards her, "how long are you staying?"

"For as long as I have to," she paused for a second before adding something that she knew would hurt him, "far longer than I would like."

She saw hurt flash through his face before an unreadable look took its place. She saw him nod and take his grapple gun out. He turns to her when he steps on the ledge, "Clean this mess up as fast as you can, I don't want any of the bats involved in this. You bring more trouble than you are worth Keres."

When he said her name, he had tinged it with so much hate, so much disgust that the hurt that had taken root was replaced by indignation but before she could say anything, Jason was already gone. She sighed, staring at the empty spot where he had stood, the anger that had started to take over her draining, leaving her with nothing but exhaustion.

She didn't have a place to complain, she was reaping the seeds that she had sown. This was just the result of what she had done years ago, she broke his trust, his mind, his heart and she did not deserve kindness from him anymore.