It's not raining at Jason's funeral. Which isn't a surprise, not to Bruce. He's buried enough people to know that just because his world is shattering, the real world isn't.
Sam, however, has only lost his father. And his mother, but the boy...no, the man who is kneeling at his brother's grave was too young to remember that. Jason, Jason was all he had left.
"You know," he mutters, wiping the tears away from his eyes in a desperate attempt to seem strong, and to keep the suit that was lent to him clean, "When Dad and I let you have him, we expected you to keep him safe. And then he came for me, and he was Dean again, not Jason Todd, not the Robin you'd trained him to be. And I finally got to fight ghosts with my brother again."
Sam's eyes meet Bruce's, and both are startled, Sam at the tears, and Bruce at the anger he sees. "You promised me," Sam hisses. "You promised me that even with a new name, he was still my brother and I would never lose him. He was going to go to hell for me, and you did nothing then. And who ends up taking him, but the god damned Joker. I never expected that you would be able to keep him safe from the supernatural crap, but you could have at least kept him out of your god damn mess!" Sam's voice has been rising, and now he's on his feet, screaming at Bruce, and all Bruce...All Batman can do is stand there and listen. He's done this so many times before, yet somehow all he can see in Sam is Dean, is Jason, and he can't bring himself to look anymore. He lowers his head, and isn't surprised when Sam's fist collides with his jaw. He is surprised at the amount of force, but he had begged John to let him train Dean for a reason, and he really should have known that the resolve, the anger, the hope and the pain and the fear...He should have known that it was all in Sam too.
Sam's fists keep flying, and Bruce lets himself be hit. Over and over and over again. They both lose track, not that they were paying attention in the first place. It doesn't matter, because some part of Sam is still thinking, and after that first punch, none are laid anywhere that bruises might be seen after Bruce dons the cape and cowl besides the last. It is the hardest punch Sam thinks he's ever hit someone with, and Bruce falls to his knees in front of Sam. In front of Dean's little brother, Jason's reason for training, Dean's reason for living and after all this time, Bruce cannot help but wish that while Dean belonged to the Winchesters, Jason had belonged to him.
They don't know how long they stay like that, but it doesn't matter. Sam's fists are still clenched, Bruce's crumpled body is still fighting back the sobs that he knows he needs to let out, and it doesn't matter that Jason...Dean was taken from Sam a month early, because the youngest Winchester is never going to stop fighting to bring his big brother back to life, and Bruce will always feel that Jason Todd, his creation, life, and death, were his biggest mistake.
Fin.
A/N: Just something that I've had rolling through my brain for a while, ever since my brother and I found out that Jensen Ackles voices Jason in Batman Under the Red Hood. I may continue with a scene after Dean/Jason comes back that's also become an insistent plot bunny, but I'm not sure when.
The Title comes from the Clint Mansell song "Death is the Road to Awe", which I listened to while writing this.