Chapter Text
If you were to ask Jason about where he would see himself 10 years in the future, he would probably say something like graduating college or continuing to fight crime. He would never have fathomed the idea of death, yet here he was, stuck to roam the earth for all eternity as a ghost until his death was avenged. The former boy wonder’s spirit stands still staring at the monument his “father” erected after his initial passing to commemorate what a “good soldier” the Robin was.
His blood boils at the implication that he was nothing but a child soldier to a traumatized billionaire and his crusade against crime. Not even six months after his demise had his “father” started to incorporate more kids into the vigilante lifestyle. Worst of all the clown that ended his life, the clown that crippled Barbara Gordon, the clown that orphaned Duke Thomas, the clown that has committed numerous atrocities to not only this family, but thousands of others across the world, continues to live in an Asylum that fails to contain any of its residents.
A loud crash from the cave briefly startles the dead teen. He turns to see his replacement yelling at his team to stay on task and be quiet while he collects information about a case Bruce told him to stay away from. Seeing that he has all eternity to stew in a pit of despair, Jason decides he could cause some mischief to make his replacement squirm. While initially resenting Tim Drake, the boy who took on the mantle of Robin a few months after Jason’s demise, he understood that the kid never wanted to take the mantle but had to for the sake of Bruce’s sanity. He has since proved himself to be an incredible hero as Robin and then later as Red Robin arguably more worthy for the cowl than Goldie. In spite of this Jason was not going to give up the chance to mess with the boy.
Jason glides over to the bat computer where Tim is mercilessly typing away to get past all the protective measures their Tim’s father installed. His rowdy friends (Teen Titans?) hang in the background trying to keep themselves occupied with something without being snapped at by the high-strung boy wonder. Jason eventually decides on phasing through the computer to cause a delay in the system. The replacement's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates behind his cowl as they are flooded with the red light of the screen that displayed warning of Tim’s snooping.
Red Robin releases a string of expletives before turning to his team and explaining the situation. Jason smiles as he hears the opening of the entrance echo through the cave, causing the group of teens to flinch. The voice of Damian Wayne fills the cave in a condescending manner, berating the young detective on his foolish mistake. Replacement extends his bo staff and the Demon Brat unsheathes his sword. Jason wished as a ghost, he could still eat because a bag of popcorn would be nice right now. As the two weapons make contact with each other one of Tim’s teammates catches the dead boy's eye. The girl ( Raven? Enchantress? Magik?) stands in a far corner away from the groups and waves her hand beckoning him over.
Jason glides over to the girl who looks at him with fear and intrigue. She lifts her hand and waves it through him which causes her to release a timid squeak. Jason rolls his eyes at the girl's behavior and decides to speak up.
“Now that you're done with that, you mind telling me why you called me over here?”
The girl purses her lips before answering Jason’s query. “You are Jason Todd, the second Robin who died 7 years ago?” The question comes out as more of a statement as if she already knew the answer. Jason has long since come to terms that he had died, but sometimes hearing how long you have been gone really makes all eternity feel like all eternity. He slowly nods his head, not bothering to verbally respond to the question.
“What’s it to you?” He bites out, turning his melancholy into rage.
“You are an enigma.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question.”
“You aren’t supposed to stay dead.”
Jason’s world stops for a moment as he analyzes the girl's words. He wasn’t supposed to stay dead, as in he still died but was supposed to come back? The girl looks back at him as if waiting for a sign to continue her spiel. The dead boy numbly nods his head towards her.
“If you do not already know, my name is Raven and I am the daughter of the demonic overlord Trigon. I have many abilities dealing with magic, telekinesis , dimensional travel, and so on and so forth. I also have precognition, or flashes of the future.” she leaves the statement open ended to effectively communicate that she saw me in the future back from the grave.
“So you're saying I am going to be revived soon?” I can’t tell if it is fear or relief that leaks into my voice but it is enough for Raven to look at me with sorrow and pity.
“No, the dreams I had were very specific down to the date when this would happen. You would awaken 6 months after you died for some unexplained reason, you would be kidnapped by the League of Assassins who would submerge you in the lazarus pit and train you, you would return to Gotham to try to get Batman to choose you or the Joker…” her voice trails off indicating that its better that I don’t know.
“ Earlier you passed your hand through me and got spooked. What was that all about?”
“You aren’t like most ghosts. With my demon genetics I should be able to make physical contact with you and yet here we are,” Her voice drags on and her lip twitches before she starts again, “I have seen you before but now that I have been able to look at the situation more hands on I would like to have The Justice League look at you.”
“ What are Superman and Wonder Woman going to do that you can't do? As far as I can tell you are the only person who has a semblance of an idea of what's going on with me.” Jason scoffs, wanting this conversation to be over so he can watch the Demon Brat and Replacement beat eachother up.
“Not them , The Justice League Dark. It is composed of members that deal with more of the magic and paranormal threats the world faces.”
“What are we trying to achieve by doing this? Are we trying to bring me back, or trying to send my soul to rest in Heaven or Hell? Is this to bring closure for the super hero community?” Raven’s mouth gapes open trying to find words to say, but come up with nothing. Jason looks at her before responding softly, “besides, what if I want to stay this way. Coming back will only bring pain to myself and my family.”
“You can always reach me at the Titans Tower if you ever change your mind, or if you simply need someone to talk to.” Raven finishes off and stands in the corner with me in silence. Another crash erupts from the cave revealing Bruce in his Bat gear glaring at Damian and Timbo, who were in the midst of tearing each other's face off. An argument quickly ensues between father and sons. Raven looks back at me and nods.
“Well, that's my cue to get out of here. Remember what I said.” With that said she materialized a gaping black portal that the team, sans Tim, walked through.
Tim hopped on his motorcycle and drove away from Bruce, and Jason thought what better way to clear my head than torment this kid.