The first thing I remember is the dark. Flashes of yellow and white were at the edge of my memory, but the thing I could remember most clearly was black. I tried to move and my elbow jammed into something.
"Fuck." I hissed, my voice sounding weird in whatever I was trapped in. I pressed my hands up and could feel something plush under my fingertips. I frowned and ran my hand down the material. It was satiny smooth. The same material was under me and then I stiffened as I felt what I was wearing.
My hands moved up my chest slowly, over the tie and collar. I was in a suit. I was wearing a suit because I was dead. I was laying in a coffin. I was dead and I was buried. I thought I was going to puke. I shoved my hands forward, nails dogging into the satin. How did I get here? My mind was so fuzzy. I couldn't make any noise. My throat was tight and I felt like I was choking. Was I dying all over again? Was this Hell? Why? It couldn't be. I had gone to church. I had prayed…was I still going to have to go to Hell? I shoved forward again and somehow the roof creaked. I snarled and shoved again, my fists bloody by this point. I had to get out. My breath was becoming choppy and tight. I was panicking and running out of air.
I must have been really desperate to escape. It was pure adrenaline or something. No human could be able to punch their way out of a casket. Not with tons of settled dirt on top of it. I did though. I dug my way to freedom and dug myself out of my own grave. I kept slipping, the dirt crumbling beneath me, it got in my eyes, mouth and nose and I coughed weakly, filling my mouth with more dirt. I felt like I was sinking back in, that my casket was calling me back to eternal sleep. I couldn't go back. Not there. Fear kept me moving, fear had to get me out of there.
'Don't let me die here...'
Finally I managed to grab onto solid ground. I dug my fingers into the cold dirt, hands bleeding freely now. I barely felt any pain. I kicked forward, dragging myself out of that hole, my grave, Hell and threw myself forward onto the ground. I landed face first, choking for air. Rolling onto my side I stared up at the sky in who knows how long. Had it been hours since I was buried. Something told me that grave wasn't quite that fresh. I blinked, dirt gathering in my eyes and I used my bloody hand to push it away.
It was snowing.
I always liked the snow…liked to catch it in my palms and watch it melt. Liked to throw snowballs at passing cars and to watch snowflakes fall and land on the long eyelashes of a boy with magical eyes-
I groaned, fingers digging into the snow covered dirt as I breathed. The air never smelled so amazing before. I lay gasping for breath, chest heaving as I stared into the night sky. Snow continued to float down, sticking to my skin before melting away. I painfully turned onto my side. It felt like I had taken a beating…I had died. I tried to stand but my legs refused to work. Then I heard the crunching of approaching feet. Someone was slowly making their way through the snow towards me. I rolled over onto my side, eyes peering open to see a pair of really nice looking leather boots. I glanced up but couldn't make out the person's face. It was a woman, that was all I could tell.
"Sleep now," The woman spoke up, voice far away. "It's time to rest." Her voice was sort of nice. Like my Ma on one of her good days. Was Ma here to bring me to Heaven? Was she even in Heaven? I didn't want to upset Ma. Sleep. Sleep sounded good.
When I woke up again I was laying in some hospital bed. I could hear the beeping of the heart monitor. I turned my head, blinking at the overly bright lights. For a second, I thought I was back in the Batcave. That wasn't possible though… Everything rushed back to me at once. The shed, Joker laughing as he brought the tire iron down again and again, and the ticking…something was ticking. A bomb, I remembered and it was counting down in bright red letters. It was counting down and I was stuck. I couldn't get out...
"You're awake." A woman's voice spoke up and I turned my head towards the chair next to me. She was a pretty broad, dark eyed and dark haired. She was watching me with a guarded kind of expression.
"You're the one who found me?" I asked…or tried to ask. My voice was so raspy and garbled it came out more like, "Yerunfonemehhh." The woman blinked.
"Indeed." The woman slowly stood, still watching me with her weird ass expression. "Jason Todd, welcome back to the land of the living." She walked around the bed as I processed her words. So I really had died…Bruce hadn't saved me like I had hoped he would. Bruce had failed me and I had died because of it. Why hadn't he come? Where had he been?
"Do you remember everything?" She asked and I nodded once. "Excellent. It will take sometime for you to regain your strength."
"I…die-ed." It wasn't a question. It was a fact and I wanted to know what changed.
"Yes, however fate has many tricks up their sleeve. Of course, you wouldn't have been much use just digging yourself out of your grave. I brought you here to heal you using my father's Lazarus Pit."
"Fa-fath…er?" In all honesty I had no clue what pit she was talking about. I was still trying to understand why the hell I was alive. The woman smiled at me and it wasn't a sweet smile. More like she knew something I didn't.
"Ah yes how rude of me. Introductions are in order. I am Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's al Ghul." The name sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. My fingers dug into the blanket covering me and I swallowed.
"How…lo…ng….long." I forced out and the woman…Talia reached to smooth out the blanket I was laying under, sort of like a mother would for her son but without any warmth in it.
"Over a year has passed. I believe you're thirteen years old now." Talia hummed and I stared.
A year.
I had been gone for a whole year? She let me process this information as she went over my vitals. I didn't even pay much attention to her. I was gone for a year and somehow I was alive again and not a pile of bones. Did this pit have some magic powers included? Talia continued to watch me. There was that weird spark in her eye that I couldn't read. Women were always difficult to understand.
"You are gaining your strength back, Jason. It is much to process in one day." Talia leaned forward and pressed her lips to my forehead in some kind of kiss. It wasn't affectionate though. I know affection and I knock mocking. Talia had plans for me. Yet I couldn't care less. I didn't want to talk or learn about her damn schemes. I just wanted to sleep.
The first time I saw my reflection I barely recognized myself. It was me no doubt, but it felt off somehow. My hair was red again, but there was now a section of pure white in the front. Talia told me it was part of being put into the Pit. My face was sharper, making me look older than thirteen. I looked like I had seen Hell and came back to talk about it, and I think I had.
I stayed with the League of Assassins for the next several months, training under Talia. The pits brought back my strength, but she taught me how to hone it. I became a weapon under Talia's careful tutelage. My rage feeding my fire. The Lazarus Pits had done more than revive me. It peaked my physical strength and made things clearer. I saw Gotham for what it was. I saw Batman as flawed and not the unbeatable Dark Knight I had worshipped. I could only hope that he took down the Joker before that animal killed someone else.
"Some luck. I think I'll just keep this. Maybe I'll personally return it to him."
No amount of hair dye would get rid of that white streak, but I was quick to cover the red. I didn't want any part of me to associate with that life. Not when I was still so raw about it. I trained continually, not allowing myself a moment of relaxation. Relaxation gave me time to think and there were things I couldn't risk letting my mind wander to.
I was still a kid in many ways, but my mind felt like it had aged ten years. I was going to wear myself too thin and snap under the training. I could feel it every time I walked onto the training mat. Finally, Talia admitted it too and told me that I would take the next few months off to use my skills out in the world. She was the same way, I think. She got bored staying in one place too long.
"Allow yourself to flourish, make a name for yourself and when the time is right I will call you back to finish the rest of your training." Talia stood on the mat, hands clasped behind her back as she watched me. "You have done well these past months. It's time you had some freedom." She turned on her heel and I followed her out of the training room. I packed my belonging, which weren't much. I had nothing from my former life anyone.
"Where will you go to?" Talia asked as she leaned against the chair, twirling the knife through her slender fingers. I watched her for a moment as she waited for my answer. I hadn't really had a plan for where to go, but now an idea was forming in my head. I wouldn't go back to Gotham. But there were other cities with valuables and adventure that were far enough away from Batman for my sake. I glanced over my shoulder to glance at Talia who was now watching me curiously. I grinned.
"Jump City."