Empty space
Jason todd meets Death before being resurrected.
Warnings: gore, blood, angst, fear. Happy ending, I swear.
He awakens frightening, grabbing furiously at his body in panic, trying to find himself.
He can't hear anything...yet... there's this ringing sound that seems to echo all around him... like a laughter...a maniac laughter.
He opens and closes his eyes while gasping and choking for air. Every time he opens his eyes, he sees his face... that smile... that inhumane smile. He squint his eyes shut, bracing his ears with both hands before yelling and begging over and over for Him to go away.
He could feel his broken ribs at every breath he took. Panicked, he looked down at his destroyed robin suit, looking for band-aid in his belt when he noticed his body twisted in a way that would hunt his dreams. His bones were popped out of his skin. The deep carving of the knives were painting his suit in a deeper red with his own blood. The ripped skin tissue and tendons were making him gag. He sat on a small puddle of his own blood. He stared at his body for a few seconds, blank, before the dull pain suddenly shots through his body.
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He screams.
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He screams in agony.
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He screams even when his voice cracks
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He screams even when there's no sound coming out of his mouth anymore.
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He falls silent on the floor. Quietly suffering. Sobs echoes in the void.
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He warped his bleeding arms around himself, clutching and gripping at his suit in a desperate attempt for comfort. His shoulder would jerk up every time he sobbed. He let his head fall to the floor until his forehead hit the floor.
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Tears run down his cheeks.
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The sound of his pain echoes
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Until the only sound remaining is his sharp breathing in the void.
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"Hello?" An echo reaches his ears.
He gasps harshly as he abruptly looks up. He sees nothing. Just now, he realizes he doesn't really know where he is.
There's mountains ahead of him, but they are strange. They look like they were made from black ink or some sort of waterpainting? It's beautiful yet strange.
The floor beneath him is completely white with small black dots like stars within it. It looks like a reverse night sky.
Not so far from him, he sees flowers. But they don't have any colors in them they look just like the mountains, water- ink-ich. They don't move. He just now noticed that there's no sun nor moon. There's no wind.
Where was he?
He clearly wasn't in that dark and twisted place with them...with him.
"Hello?" He jumped a little, that echo again. It sounds so close, but there's nothing around him. He was alone.
"Oh," it echoes. It's... pleasant, soft. Like rain. He missed rain.
"I didn't notice you were here, apologies." It's not an echo but a voice. He looked around, slightly unnerved. There's a voice speaking, but he was alone.
Until he sees a bright silhouette in the distance, slowly shaping itself more clearly as it approaches him.
He can feel his heart accelerating at every step they take. He started to back away from them. Leaving a trail of blood as he crawled away.
What do they want from him?
We're they going to hurt him like they did?
We're they going to torture and torment him like he did, too?
He doesn't want to find out.
No.
He crawls away while moaning in pain, tears running down his cheeks as he whines like a dying animal in the middle of the road, abandoned and left at the mercy of the cars. He doesn't look back. No, he doesn't want to look at the light that will end him.
He crawls until he can't no more. Exhausted and tired, he cries in pain.
He waits.
He waits for them to finish the job.
To finish what he started.
Breathing heavily, he lay there. But after a few minutes of silence. Nothing happened. We're they waiting for him to look at them? Did they want him to see who would take his life? The silence still remains. No, he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing his tears. They can go to hell.
Still, nothing happens.
His curiosity is edging him to look behind him. To see what is happening. But he pushed the thought away like it was fire.
Nothing.
Even after minutes that have passed, still nothing.
He takes a chance and looks behind him.
To see a woman staring at him with a gentle gaze.
Jason was pretty sure she was the incarnation of the sun with how bright she glowed. Her hair was snow-white. She had bandages wrapped around her eyes and hands. Her dress looked like waves of clouds when there's a strong wind pushing them into beautiful curly lines.
She had stopped a feet away from the small puddle he created earlier. She bowed slightly at him. "Greetings, young one."
He shallowed down his saliva before cautiously turning his body towards her.
"I hope you were not waiting for long." Her voice echoes softly in the void. It's nice, calming. Like a mother wishing goodnight to her child after a bedtime story.
"What is your name, my child?" She asked him softly.
He eyed her suspiciously. His mouth moves into a thine line as he stares back.
Noticing he wasn't going to answer, she smiled gently. "May I sit with you?" She asks while gently pointing beneath herself with her hand.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he slowly and painfully nodded at her.
She bowed once more while mumbling a 'thank you' before lowering herself to the ground. Sitting crossed legs.
A moment of silence passes between the two as they both stare at each other. One of curiosity and one of patience. Finally, she breaks the silence.
"You seem to be hurt, young one. Would you like help with your injuries?" At the request, jason feels his eyes water again. They want to help? Or their just trying to get him to let down his guard so they can hurt him?
He opened his mouth to speak but closed it right away. He hesitated. What if, just maybe, they do wanna help? It hurts so bad...
No.
She's going to hurt him in some way, that's for sure. Like the bat, how he left him for dead or how that maniac destroyed his body and sanity.
Rage ran through his body at the thought of the bat. He left. He abandoned him in that place with all of them. He left him for dead.
He clenched his jaw close as he closed his fits, almost drawing blood with the pressure he was putting on his skin. He glared darkly at the ground, lost in his own anger.
He didn't notice the woman had gotten up and walked towards him until he felt warmth on his back.
Then his gazed snapped to the woman that was now kneeling beside him, her hand on his back and the other slowly going towards his chest.
He should push her away, yell at her to get away from him. But he doesn't. It's like his mind can't think of anything when her hand lands on his chest and a warmth blooms in his body.
This feels nice...
He remembers when his mother used to hold him during cold nights when he was younger. It was warm and safe. Just like this. Tears roll down his face at the memory.
God, he misses his mom.
More tears fall as he sobs at the warm memories he suddenly remembers. He remembers Alfred showing him a book, his favorite now. When Alfred prepared tea every time him and dick came back together after a snock out. He remembers the video games nights he had with dick after a particular rough day.
With the overwhelming feeling of loss, He couldn't help but reach for the strange woman. He wrapped his broken arms around her form into a desperate hug as he cried, burying his face in her neck as he sobs and gasps for air. Holding on to her like she would keep the shadows and the cold away from him as long that she stayed by his side.
She hugged him back, sending warmth all over his body. She caressed the back of his head and rubbed his back gently while whispering that everything will be all right.
That he is safe.
He slowly realized that his body doesn't hurt as much as it did. He pulled away from her to look down at his body. He was no longer bleeding, and the trail of blood that he made, as well as the small puddle, had turned into the same flowers he noticed earlier. Gentle and small flowers.
His body was no longer broken or dislocated it was strong and powerful. He felt like a new person. He closed his eyes to feel his mighty heartbeat. It was strong and alive like a drum on the battlefield, strong and constant.
He was alive.
"My child." He opened his eyes again to look at the woman beside him who smiled.
"Jason." his voice was loud and strong. It was completely different from earlier. It sounded like he could move masses by just talking. "My name is Jason."
She smiled brighter. She was proud of him. He could see it in her body language. She was proud and happy. She reaches for him once again.
"Jason... my sweet little bird." She said gently while caressing his face like a mother would to her child. "Your time has not come, yet." She slowly took off his robin mask off of his face and placed it on the flowers beneath them, revealing his beautiful deep blue eyes. "They still need you. Your family needs you."
Jason suddenly has a flash in his mind. There was a 'S' like Superman symbole and a plushie? Of Superman? He sees hair? Red/ orange hair in a high-ponytail? And an arrow, a red one. As quick as it came, it vanished. He blinks a few times. What the hell do those things mean?
The ground suddenly starts to shake before it slowly starts to glow a deep green emerald.
What is happening?
He looked around himself when he noticed the mountains fading away in the green. The flowers turn into greenish colors. He looks back at the woman to see her smile sadly at him. "It's time..." she simply said before putting one last time her hand on his cheek, where she heals a rather deep scar.
Jason reaches for her hand to hold on to it. Scared of what will happen next.
"It will be okay, Jason. Do not be afraid of the future." He frowns, confused at her words. As the world around them crumbles into green. "Even if you don't remember... just know it will be okay." She continues as she reaches up to kiss the top of his head, causing a streak of his hair to turn white. "You will be okay." She looks straight into his deep eyes and smiles reassuringly before everything fades to green.
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"Everything will be okay." It echoes...
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The Outlaw's Spirit
After a reveal gone wrong, whether intentional or not, Danny books it. Sam and Tucker have to stay behind in Amity to prevent Maddie, Jack, and the GIW from following their best friend. The trio is 16~17 or so at this point.
Jazz, being the best big sis that she is, has been taking college classes online to protect Danny. She helps the two destroy the Drs. Fenton lab before grabbing her go bag and getting out of there. She plans to start anew in a different city so that Danny can eventually join her. She's thinking Gotham, with the ambient ectoplasm, and high crime rates, it'll feel more like home than Star City, or Metropolis.
Danny, meanwhile, keeps running. He comes across a high-tech jet and hides in it, pulling a stowaway.
This jet is a Batplane, but is currently being used by The Outlaws for a mission.
Danny's ghost sense has no idea about how to react to Jason, so it causes him to cough, revealing his location to the group.
"B." Artemis instructs Bizarro with his nickname.
Bizarro moves in slowly, while Jason pulls out his guns, and Artemis her sword. Bizarro opens wherever Danny is hiding, revealing his black hair and blue eyes of his human form. Seeing the shaking teen, B gently pulls him out and 'restrains' him via hug.
Danny is freaking out at the sight of these out-of-the-norm people, and his ghost sense is triggering a coughing fit, aggravating whatever wounds he may have.
"One of your brothers?" Artemis asks Jason, despite keeping her guard up.
"Not that I know. What are you doing in here, kid?" Jason lowes his guns, but doesn't holster them, wanting to keep them in hand in case this kid is an enemy.
Danny, coughing, takes a closer look at the three surrounding him.
"Red Hood? Artemis of the Bana-Mighdall? Bizarro? What? Huh?!"
"Worry, we hurt you." Bizarro says soothingly.
Tensing, Danny prepares to use his powers, but Artemis explains what Bizarro means before he does.
"What are you doing in here, kid? You're hurt." Jason reiterates before noticing just how the boy is breathing other than his coughing fits.
Feeling safer with these three than he had with his parents in a long time, and with them all not being entirely human themselves, Danny is willing to explain some things, but not everything.
"My parents, they're scientists, they found out that I'm not entirely human... I had to run. I saw this jet, and it was a chance for me to get further away from them before they track me down."
"They can track you?" Artemis asks while Bizarro releases Danny, setting the teen down on a bench. Jason pulls out a med kit and sets it down next to Danny.
Jason then gets the Batplane into the air while the other Outlaws get to know the stowaway more.
Jason's inner bat wants to do so much research that he resembles the Replacement more than himself, but more of him sees himself in the kid and, as much as he loathes to admit it, pull a Bruce to take care of the much-too-thin teen.
Setting the autopilot to Gotham, Jason re-joins the discussion, noting that the kid's coughs get worse the closer he gets. Odd.
Bizarro and the teen have bonded over video games and movies, even with Bizarro's speech mannerisms.
Artemis, on the other hand, is patching the boy up, not offering much to the conversation other than clearing some things up for B.
"Course's set for Gotham. Figure we'll want Alfie to get some proper food in ya. Now, can you explain all the coughing?" Jason plops down across from the teen, keeping some distance to not make the coughing worse if his hunch is right.
Danny explains in the broadest terms for his ghost sense, that it can tell when people have died, and that Red Hood didn't come back right.
Tense, Jason's vision bleeds into green as he questions, "How?"
"I can tell because I didn't come back right, either..." Danny then tries to explain ectoplasm as glowing green goo, causing Jason to tense even more.
"Lazarus Waters."
"What?"
Taking off his helmet, the lenses of Jason's domino are glowing, "Lazarus Waters. They threw me in mostly dead, and I came out mostly alive."
"That shouldn't..." Danny tilts his head, thinking of the lessons from Frostbite on the nature of ectoplasm and what happens when it gets corrupted. All part of his training for taking the throne. "Huh. Sounds like you got a batch of the more corrupted stuff. With pure ectoplasm, it would bring you back fully, with few side effects."
"Ectoplasm?" Bizarro asks from Danny's right.
Explaining in more detail, since Red Hood is some sort of subject of his and needs help, time passes and soon the autopilot is landing the jet.
"Come on, kid. Let's get some food in you, then we can see what to do about the Lazarus Waters." Jason puts a hand on the door to the Batplane, opening it to reveal the Batcave.
Just something that was floating around in my head. Not sure if I'll continue it, it's unlikely.
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