Life is short, but this time it was bigger than the strength she had to get up off her knees...

[thrillofthekill]

Early this morning, one of the residents reported to one of the junior archangels about strange smells coming from one of the rooms. One look at the basement manifest and Vincent knew who the room belonged to

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[despite_myrage]

Robin had only been visiting. He only ever stops by to visit or to help out down here, since he's still the best at running events down here. His home is elsewhere, but he'll always have a connection to this bloody hotel.

There have been people talking about it. As horrible as this city is, it isn't often that a body is found in a bedroom. He can probably count the other times, if he thinks back on it hard enough. Suicide, they say.

Something heavy and painful sinks deep within his chest, and he thinks he knows who it is. It's stupid to assume. It's stupid but he's almost sure. Robin avoids asking anyone. He avoids asking who. He'll look for her instead and then when he finds her, he can berate himself for making such an assumption.

Robin steps into the common room, freezing when he sees Vincent. There's something about the way that he's standing that makes that heavy, painful weight in his chest turn sharp. It's hard to breathe. He locks his jaw, shoving the pain back to where it's more manageable.

"Sorry," he says. His voice is quiet, and he has no idea what he's apologizing for or who to. It just came out anyway.

[thrillofthekill]

"You hear?" Vincent asks, shifting uncomfortably into a more official, business-like stance that's really hard to maintain when his grimacing through pain. After a second or two, he shakes his head. "You ain't the one who should be sorry. I couldn't damn well have a conversation with that girl without it being awkward. You two actually understood each other."

[despite_myrage]

Robin had not heard that it was Jo, but he'd figured. He'd assumed. Vincent's response is a confirmation of that assumption. He doesn't even show surprise, because he isn't surprised. Robin knew.

He notices Vincent grimace in pain but doesn't say anything about it. It feels like the whole of him has been scraped out, left empty. Robin swallows thickly, past emotion that he doesn't feel.

"We actually understood each other," he agrees, with the same emptiness that he's feeling. If the fault lies with anyone, it lies with him. He understood better than anyone else could. He knew. He spoke with her about it all. He fucking preached about hope, told her he loved her, she actually hugged him, and then he left it at that. "For all the good that it did."

It all seems like such a waste. Lost promises that weren't spoken but implied. He held her as though it would be okay. It wasn't. And he knew it. It might as well have been a lie.

"There's no way that you could have... understood. I imagine it meant something to her that you... tried. At all."

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent shrugs. "Don't I know it. Life's built on lost causes and people you didn't save." And isn't that cynical? He backs off the wall and starts walking away, because he doesn't want to deal right now. His stomach hurts and he's pretty sure he doesn't need to be walking around with a dislocated shoulder. "There was nothin' that could've been done, I guess. Romana pulled you out of the ashes, but I ain't her. Never did have her touch."

He needs a cigarette and someone to set his shoulder back into its socket.

[despite_myrage]

Life isn't built on that is what he wants to say. It's built on more. It's built on love and the people in their lives, hasn't he learned that? He wants to say it, but he's unable to get the words out. It's so hard to believe in that right now.

His jaw locks, slightly.

"No one really does..." have Romana's touch.

Robin can barely remember what was going on through his mind, all those years ago. She gave him a purpose and a reason. She reached out. She cared. He doesn't know what makes Jo's situation different from his own.

And then he takes in a deep breath, settling his gaze on Vincent before he can leave.

"Life's built on more than that," he insists, because he has to. He can't lose... that. He can't. "I'll take care of... the arrangements with her... with her room and everything."

He doubts Jo had much to keep, and he has to do something. He has to do that.

"You should... see a doctor," Robin says, and then he leaves, because he doesn't want to deal with this with Vincent. He doesn't want to deal with it at all so he walks away.

Thus ends another awkward conversation between Robin and Vincent.