The funeral is short and sweet, and there are a ton of people there. Jason keeps accidentally stepping through all of Dick's friends. It looks like half of Dick's high school came, and all of the Teen Titans, and several of the Justice League.
Alfred's reaction is possibly the most shattering, because he's not just somber. He's actually crying – barely controlled, heaving sobs that make his thin, frail body shake. Jason doesn't know if Alfred even reacted that way when Bruce died. He wonders if he's become jaded in the years since the death.
He resolves not to wonder whether Alfred cried for him, or if it's just Dick.
But he's really focusing on the boy in the corner, who doesn't speak to any of the others. Handsome kid, black hair, blue eyes, baby face, well-dressed. He looks like he's twelve but acts like he's twenty, and Jason knows the face. It's his own.
Little Jason hasn't known Dick long, and it shows. His eyes are dry and clear and his expression is an unreadable poker face. He stands right next to Bruce and periodically looks up at him. Jason doesn't know how his young counterpart ended up as a part of the family before Dick moved on. It doesn't matter. The point is, the kid just lost what amounts to his big brother, and Jason would give anything to know what he's thinking.
He would also give anything to know what Bruce is thinking.
Bruce isn't crying either, but his face is the darkest, coldest mask Jason has seen on him. His eyebrows are low, and he speaks to no one. There's a weird blankness to it that gives Jason chills. The eyes seem empty, soulless – even more than the white screen of the Batman mask. Sometimes Batman gives the impression of emotion, but Bruce looks like he's a dead man walking.
Jason doesn't want to think about that phrase too hard. Coming back to life is a bitch.
Jason stands there as the funeral guests leave. Alfred blows his nose and goes into the house. Bruce and young Jason stand there, looking at the casket and the hole in the ground.
Young Jason looks up at Bruce and speaks for the first time. "Are you going to kill him?"
Jason is expecting Bruce to give the answer he has always given – it would make us the same as him, it wouldn't be right, we don't kill, et cetera, et cetera. The same meaningless refrain that means Bruce doesn't take action, doesn't do what really needs to be done because of his stupid principles.
But that's not what Bruce says. Bruce grits his jaw, and anger infuses his face, and his answer is one word.
"Yes."
