Chpt.1

Shit. I'm gonna die. Again. Second time around can't be too bad, right? Well, I hope it's not too bad… fuck it. I'm probably going to hell if the place exists. With the shit I've pulled, I'd be lucky if I ended up in limbo or as a ghost or some shit.

Red Hood a.k.a Jason Todd was limply laying in an ally, crimson blood oozing from his temple. He was shot in the head, everything was fuzzy, and he was going to die.

If I'm gonna die, couldn't this be hurried up. Everything hurts and I can feel my blood leaving this body. Maybe I could just shoot myself in the face and maybe I'll actually just die quickly… wait… my arm isn't moving. Did I break it? Shit. This really is a bad day.

Jason's fingers twitched, but that was all the movement he could accomplish and pain was seething from every joint and crack in his body. Tears ran down his cheeks from the sheer pain.

Then suddenly he felt… calm. A feeling of soothing warmth enveloped his body as if he was being wrapped in a blanket that came right out of the dryer.

In his vision he could see a glowing ethereal-like figure in front of him. He couldn't make out any of the figures' details, only that it was smaller, about four foot, and was a bright white color.

"An angel." Jason rasped out, surprised that he could speak to begin with.

"No. I'm not an angel." The figure stated, and Jason was surprised by how young and child-like the voice sounded.

"Not an angel? What are you then?" Jason questioned as the pain in his joints and head started to ebb away, but his eyesight was still fuzzy with everything seemed like a smeared watercolor picture.

"… I don't know." The voice whispered, then in a flash, the figure was gone, and Jason was left alone in the ally.

Great. About to die and I'm now hallucinating. Jason thought as he ran a hand through his hair. However, the action made him pause.

I just used my fucking arm. His hands then groped at his head, feeling no injuries and no pain. His temple was smooth without even a dent from where he had been shot only moments earlier.

He stood up feeling revived and healthy.

"What the fuck?"

~*~*~*~Several Days Later~*~*~*~

Jason had yet to figure out what happened to him that night in the ally way. He would have chalked it up to the event being that he was visited by an angel but the figure said that it wasn't an angel, so Jason wasn't getting anywhere. If it wasn't an angel, then what was it? And why did it heal him? And how could it heal him?

The young man shook his head and tried to focus on his work, trying to figure out what time a certain drug deal was going to take place.

Unfortunately he wasn't getting much headway.

"Gotta clear my mind." Jason grunted, talking to no one in particular as he threw on his leather jacket and headed out the door of his safe house.

Jason strolled down the street with ease, not concerned that he was in one of the roughest parts of Gotham. Heavy gun fire could go off and nobody would even flinch. Jason's calm steps were halted when he heard a gruff voice shout,

"Work your magic!" however, that voice wasn't the one that caught Jason's attention.

"I can't!"

That voice. Jason thought in shock. It's the voice from whatever healed me. Jason looked into an ally to see a big man pinning a little girl to the wall. Her hair was an odd white color and her eyes were a light blue. However, her skin was a dark chocolate color, making the contrast between her hair and eyes very prominent.

` "I need you to work your magic!" the large man pinning the girl exclaimed.

"I can't!"

"You can't or you won't?"

"I… I dunno… I just… I get tired a-and it hurts…"

"Selfish bitch!" the man raised his hand to slap the girl but that was when Jason drew out his gun and shot the man in the leg.

"Agh!" the man screamed, dropping the girl as he held his leg. The girl looked at the man, then at Jason, then sprinted away.

"Hey! Wait!" Jason shouted, but when the girl continued to run, he followed after her.

She was fast, but he was much faster. He gave the girl some credit for knowing the area well, though. She knew the ins and outs of the neighborhood and some of the best places to hide which told Jason one thing.

She's from the streets. She's a street kid. She knows the same places to run and hide when I was a kid living out here. Jason thought, then smirked. He knew where she was running to.

Jason turned quickly, taking a different route to where he knew the girl would be heading.

He calmly reached the baker shop and leaned on the side coolly, waiting for the girl to come running out of the ally towards the shop.

The people who owned the bakery were good people who promised the Red Hood to help any kid who came running into the store. It was a place all the street kids knew about and people knew that to mess with the bakery would be to mess with Red Hood, so people made sure to not chase kids into the store or mess with kids who were in there.

He spotted the girl running towards the bakery, however, he intercepted and swiftly lifted the girl up over his shoulder and ran until he was alone with her in an ally.

"L-Let me go!" she exclaimed, struggling in the man's grip.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk." Jason said calmly as he placed her onto the ground, but still held her tight. The girl was looking at him with distrust as she shook in fear.

"I just want to know something. Are you the one who helped heal me in the ally a few nights ago?" he inquired. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, telling Jason that yes, this was the girl. However, she adamantly shook her head,

"N-No. Heal? I don't heal. What's healing?" she sputtered her eyes wide and frightened.

"You're a horrible liar." Jason chuckled, wondering if he was ever that bad, but the girl tried to struggle out of Jason's firm hold.

"Please let me go. I don't want to heal right now… please." The girl whimpered, but Jason shook his head.

"Kid, I just wanted to say thank you."

"What?"

"I want to thank you for healing me. I thought I was going to die." Jason informed and the girl looked less frightened, her eyes softening and the tension draining from her shoulders.

"Oh…" she whispered. "Nobody's ever thanked me before."

"Well, that's pretty rude." Jason huffed, but he eyed the girl. She was too skinny for Jason's liking with a ragged sweatshirt that was two sizes too big for her, tattered jeans, and shoes with the soles looking like they were almost worn through.

"Do you want me to get you something to eat and drink? It could be my thank you present to you." Jason stated and the girl stared at him skeptically.

"Some men put things in women's drinks and then bad things happen. Ms. Kyle told me that." she stated and Jason smiled, happy that Selina was looking out for street kids in some ways.

"I can take you to a restaurant where you can order whatever you want. I won't touch your food." Jason informed sincerely and the girl mulled it over.

"Would I get to choose the place?" she inquired slowly.

"Sure, as long as it's in walking distance." Jason shrugged. The girl worried her lip between her teeth, then said,

"Then… then can you take me to the Applebee's on the next block… the food always smells good."

"Sure thing." Jason nodded as he released the girl's arm and the two headed towards the restaurant.

"I'm Jason, by the way. Jason Todd." The young man introduced himself and the girl was fighting a small smile on her face. It was clear that the girl was happy how the events of the day were panning out, but she clearly didn't want the stranger she had just met to know.

"My name's Izzy." She informed. "Just Izzy."

"Is that short for anything."

"It's short for Isabell. But Izzy is what a lot of people around here call me. Except for Ms. Selina. She calls me Tabby." There was fondness in the girl's voice when she spoke about the beautiful cat burglar.

"Do you hang around Ms. Selina often?" Jason inquired, but the girl shook her head.

"Not a lot. She'll give me some food and recommend me to different places to stay at when I see her. She said that it'd be dangerous if I hung around her a lot."

"I see." Jason nodded. It would be dangerous to have a kid to look after when you were a wanted criminal like Selina. Jason thought to himself.

"Why exactly were you shot in the head?" Izzy inquired cocking her head to the side to look at Jason curiously. It took Jason a moment to realize that she was referring to the night before when he had been shot.

"Just got some people angry."

"Sounds like you got the wrong people angry if you ask me." That made Jason chuckle.

"Yeah, that's about accurate."

It fell into comfortable silence as the two continued to walk but Jason noticed something off about the girl. Yes, she was obviously happy that she was getting food, but her eyes kept on glancing all around her. Her jaw was clenched, her arms locked at her side with her fists clenched and she would occasionally look behind her.

"Nervous about something?" Jason inquired and Izzy looked up at the man with apparent worry.

"I… I've gotten the wrong people angry too." She said in a soft voice.

"It's fine, Izzy. You're with me. Whoever you got angry isn't going to mess with you while you're walking next to me." Jason beamed, figuring that it was probably a small street gang giving her grief. However, Izzy shook her head.

"No… no they are very powerful people. I just gotta be careful."

Before Jason could say anything else, they had reached the Applebee's and the girl's serious face broke into a large smile as she jumped energetically foot to foot.

"Let's get something for you to eat, Kiddo." Jason smirked as he ruffled the girl's hair and the two entered the restaurant, unaware of the eyes watching them from across the street.