oh my gosh. The success you guys are giving this story is incredible. Thank you so much too those two who reviewed and all the favs and follows, you guys made my day yesterday!
all right. Same to for this chapter as the last, please read and review and tell me if you find any errors (I'm typing this on my iPhone since my laptop lost its own system -how that's even possible, I have no idea. Apples great and I love them but really?- and bottom line is its not working. So now I'm stuck dealing with autocorrect and this stupid keyboard.
Also this chapter will be much sorter, the last one was ridiculously long because I just wanted to see if anyone would like it. Obviously you guys did.
Alright on to the story! Thanks again and I hope you all enjoy!
light streamed in through the open curtains and straight into his eyes. Sometimes, Jason wondered if the beds had been specifically placed so that when the window was opened whoever occupying it would be chased out by the sun. He didnt doubt it, rich people would do something that sneaky.
damn it was bright.
but not as bright as it should be. it was more a dull, early morning bright than the nine o'clock glare that usually greeted him when he usually got up on the weekends.
"Alfred," the boy groaned, pulling the covers over his head and rolling away from the cursed light. he glowered at the clock on the bed side table, waiting for the numbers to blur into focus. "It's only 5 in the morning."
when a British voice didn't immediately order him out of bed regardless with what was always definitely a chuckle -no matter how much the brit denied it-,Jason glanced at the bedroom door. There was no one there. Which was odd because Jason wasn't known to be one you could just wake up and trust to get out of bed on his own after you left, more often than not he would have to be physically dragged out of bed if you wanted him up early. Alfred was always waiting at his door in the mornings.
Jason glanced at the clock again. It still read 5 o'clock.
and then he did a double take. Yes it was five, but unless the device was lying -which wasn't possible, unless the Internet it was hooked up to was off as well- it wasn't the morning. And the sunlight invading his space was evening light.
"what?!" Jason exclaimed, reaching for the foul thing but only ending up falling off the bed and landing on his face. So now not only was the world ending, his balance had decided to take the day off as well? Perfect. Just perfect.
the world ending might have been a little of an exaggeration, but the fact remained that he never slept this late. Ever. Aside from not being allowed, Jason wasn't even sure he could. Noon was usually his latest.
he tried to remember what had happened last night that might explain why he was so tired. He was rewarded for his troubles with a sudden, stabbing headache that dull almost immediately to just a soft throbbing that was easily ignored as soon as he stopped trying to think.
whatever the case, it was definitely time to get up. Swinging his legs over, Jason pushed himself to standing and waited for the black spots to disappear. Once he was sure he wasn't going to fall over, he started for the door and down the hallway in the direction the kitchen.
he reached the kitchen without meeting anyone and found out why a moment later voices reached his ears. He followed them, creeping along silently on instinct. They were low so that he couldn't make out words or distinguish whose voice it was but it seemed as if every one had gathered in the living room. And bruce was certainly there, Jason four recognize the low rumble of his surrogate father's voice in his sleep, threw a door and under the influence of sedatives, and it held no hostility which meant there was no danger. Still though, it was seriously odd -odder than sleeping in this much- that no one was around.
More than a bit curious, Jason walked towards the living room door with the full intent on barging right in. If it was an important Wayne enterprise meeting, Bruce would be meeting in his study. If it was a secret dark knight meeting, they would be down in the batcave. And Jason couldn't remember being told about any guests he needed to tiptoe around. Besides, this was his house damnit, far be it for him to go were he please. If they didn't want him over hearing, that was their problem.
everyone stopped talking when he walked into the room. And Jason stopped as well. Sitting not four feet from each other, were Bruce and dick. Bruce and dick not at each other's throats. Jason by no means missed the tense atmosphere in the room but it wasn't anything like the suffocating miasma that usually accompanied the pair. This felt almost civil, which was beyond weird.
scratch what he'd said earlier. The world was ending and the demons in hell desperately needed mittens and scarves.
"what are you doing here, dick?" Jason asked loudly after several seconds of just shocked blinking. He stressed the last word so it was clear enough that he wasn't using the bastard's name, but not enough so that anyone could call him on it. (That was an expensive word and a good portion of his allowance already went into Alfred's swear jar.) The guy wasn't a big fan of Jason, it was common knowledge, and Jason wasn't one to just roll over nice and hope that Grayson would start to like him. No, Jason fought back; and coming from the streets of Gotham, he'd be the first to admit he fought dirty.
all he got in reply was four owl eyed faces staring at him as if he had one eye, one horn, was purple and had just declared he was going to spend his time flying around and eating people (1). Even Alfred looked like he had no idea what to do. Bruce just looked like he'd seen a ghost, dick looked like he'd just been caught red handed doing something dirty, and the kid just gapped.
wait. What?
"and who the hell is that?" Jason demanded, pointing to the boy his age occupying the couch and wearing what looked like his swim suit. Not that Jason was in much of a position to say anything, but at least he had sweats on. besides, he had just gotten out of bed. The kid looked like he hasn't slept in ages. "I wasn't aware that Grayson was recruiting brats. I thought that was bat's corner of the market." His snark was ignored in favor of continuing to stare at him. After a moment, Jason started to feel uncomfortable. Finally his least favorite of the current audience decided to break the silence.
"Jason?" Dick breathed softly, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
Jason frowned. "Duh. I didn't get hit by that psycho magic freak's spell again did I?" He looked around for a mirror but settled for peering at his reflection in picture frame. Nope, looking back was still his face; white stock and all.
"I don't think so," Bruce said, clinging to the very edge of calm by the tips of his fingers.
"you don't think so?" Jason repeated, incredulously. "How can you not know? You rarely let me out of your sight."
instead of answering, the man asked his own question. "What's the last thing you remember?" It pissed him off really, but Jason knew that the only way to get answers was to play Bruce's game, cause the guy was physically incapable of just coming out and saying it.
"uh," Jason thought hard. What was the last thing he remembered? He couldn't recall, and that scared him more than he'd admit. There were several possible reasons he would have no memory of whatever had happened. None of them were good. And the headache was back now, pounding and clawing at the inside of his skull with a fury he wasn't prepared for. The more he tried to remember, the worse the pain grew.
"I -I don't know," he stammered out finally. Bruce frowned, but his face softened slightly.
"alright then, can you remember what year it is?"
that was easy. "2008."
Bruce's face was closed off and he only nodded but he still managed to give Jason the feeing that he'd just failed a very important test. Alfred managed to remain as stoic as ever, standing at Bruce's back in case he was needed. But he'd always compared Dick's face to a billboard, though it wasn't making him feel any better. In fact, it only confirmed the feeling in glaring neon lights. Jason kept his eyes stubbornly away from the stranger on the couch.
Jason started looking around for something that would answer his question, since the other human beings didn't seem inclined to. His eyes landed on a smart phone resting on the foot stool; before anyone knew what he was doing, he'd scooped up the phone and was lighting up the screen.
"march!" Jason couldn't believe what he was reading. "What the hell happened to December?" He glanced up at his mentor, avoiding looking at dick as much as he could, and saw only the face of someone that was about to deliver some really bad news and wasn't sure how the recipient would react. That wasn't helping to rid the thing growing in his gut, something that felt a little too much like fear.
he looked back to the screen, to see if maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him again, only to freeze. The phone slipped from his numb fingers, landing safely back in its place. Probably much to the relief of its owner. "Guys... This isn't funny. Tell me you're just screwing around with me."
Bruce's face and pressed lips were clear. Even if the billionaire and his first son could stop fighting long enough to plan something like this, which was hardly possible last time he checked but it was better than the other option, this wasn't a trick. It was march. In 2013. Five years from what it was supposed to be. Five yeas had passed and he couldn't remember any of it. Five years had passed and he was still fifteen years old, when he should be twenty.
his mind was flooded with questions, one for every dollar in Bruce's bank account. What was going on? Why was he still fifteen? What had happened? What had he missed? Why weren't Bruce and dick fighting any more? Did they get over whatever shit was between them? Why were they all looking at him like he was about to freak out? Why did Bruce look like he was at a funeral, looking down into the casket at someone he loved? what was with the red hot rage that weighed heavily in the back of his mind?
why did Jason suddenly feel like he didn't obelong there? Like he wasn't wanted?
instead he asked, "so does this mean I don't have a term paper due tomorrow?"
"no, you finished that years ago."
a small, nervous laugh slipped out before Jason could stop it. "Years ago huh," he repeated softly, not speaking to anyone. Then he suddenly turned back the way he came and announced "then I'm getting something to eat."
no one stopped him as he made a beeline to the kitchen. No one followed him either. So when he reached it, Jason just sat down at the counter. Thanks to his starving origins, Jason had more than a small obsession with food. He could always eat, and he ate a lot. When he'd first come to the manor, it had taken his almost three months to adjust to the idea that the food would still be available for the next meal and he didn't have eat until he felt like he would puke. Though he'd never gotten much father than that, but now Jason couldn't even think about food.
that unwanted, out of place feeling was still there; and the absolute confusion wasn't helping the matter. By nature, Jason was an adaptive person. He rolled easily with the punches life threw at him and it had kept him alive up until this point, but this was getting uncomfortably close to accumulating beyond the point he could cope with.
the losing his memory and apparent not aging or de-aging he could handle. He and batman dealt with magic and such pretty often. Jason himself had been on the receiving end of it more times than he'd like to admit, and every time bats or someone figured something out and took care of the problem. So he wasn't as worried about that as he probably should have been. Not to say he wasn't kind of close to panicking, cause he definitely was, it just wasn't his main concern.
that honor went to the pair sitting in the next room, right next to each other, and not even glaring at each other when they should be yelling and at each others throats. No one had ever told him what had happened exactly, but Jason had witnessed the aftermath of his predecessor leaving. Dick hated Bruce, and Jason by extension. Seeing them together, acting like the father and son they were, made his stomach clench. Sure that sounded selfish, but Jason had never been particularly secure with his place at the manor when it came to his older brother. He'd always had a inkling of suspicion that dick might come waltzing in one day, demand his suit back and that Jason be thrown back out onto the streets. And the man had never exactly given the boy any reason to doubt that feeling. But in the living room, the guy looked like he actually gave a damn. Which is what sent Jason almost over the edge. Dick had actually said once that he didn't belong being robin, wether it was because it was his old identity or he wanted Jason gone from the manor all together was never explained; and Jason had never been able to get enough of a read of him to figure it out himself.
but something had changed. Something major, but he still felt like dick had never come to like him during those years he couldn't remember. Call it instinct or whatever, Jason just knew that even before whatever mess he'd gotten himself into, their relationship hasn't changed much. So why was dick suddenly deciding to care now? What exactly had happened?
the more Jason thought about it and tried to answer the questions for himself, the more that uncomfortable feeling grew. And, just to add to his problem, the headache had come back full force. Then suddenly he became aware of the aura wafting from the living room: of someone watching a train crash and it clouded the air and burned Jason's airways and lungs like acid.
he had to get out of there, if only for a little bit. Just to clear his head.
gritting his teeth, he marched back to the source of his current problem. "I need cash," Jason stated bluntly.
the stupid look that passed over dick's face made the situation a little better. "What? Why?"
"i'm going out,"Jason looked straight at Bruce, daring him to say otherwise. And he wanted to, it was painfully obvious. Whatever had happened, the billionaire didn't want Jason out of his sight, but he also knew that the boy needed to get away. it had happened before when something happened or manor life overwhelmed him, being somewhere where he felt wholly that he belonged always helped when Jason just wanted to hide from everyone and their expectations to fit into a mold that he never could. And the manor, sadly, had never made it onto the depressingly short list of places he did. Bruce also knew that if he didn't let him go now, he'd wake up one day and Jason will have disappeared altogether. That had also happened before and the bat had spent an entire 72 hours searching for him.
didn't mean he liked it. The kid seemed to pick up on this as well. After glancing around at Bruce, dick, and Alfred, who had remained as a silent observer this entire time, he stood, still looking slightly unsure. "I'll go with you."
Japan frowned at the boy for a moment. Then he conceded. "fine, lets go." If having a babysitter meant getting out of here, that was fine.
besides, Jason could always ditch him.
~'~,~'~,~'~,~'~
(1): anyone get the reference? Super kudos to whoever does!
