Despite the monumental occasion of Kon's arrival to the past, life continued on relatively smoothly for the following two weeks. The rest of the Family was informed, of course, and a video conference between Bruce, Jason, Kon, Clark, and Diana had all five agreeing that it might be time to finally tell the rest of the JLA. Jason wasn't the only one wondering about the implications this event had, after all. It was time to loop in everyone else, see if they had noticed anything different over the last several months.
So, the Friday before they were supposed to meet with the JLA, Kon arrived to Wayne Manor in civilian wear with a pack slung over his back. Next to him, a hyperactive Jon was bouncing around, eagerly anticipating another play date with his best friend. It had been odd, seeing Jon so young like this again, and not the self-assured man he had become. The man that Kon had known, instinctively, would one day be his successor. But Jon was still Jon at any age, and he accepted Kon's newly-increased presence in his life with his usual cheer. The rest of the Kents, knowing full well why Kon had moved to the Kent Farm, had been tempted to tell the child the full truth, but after some discussion, elected not to. Jon was nowhere near as mature as Damian, unfortunately. There was no guarantee he would take the information well, or if he did, be able to keep it secret.
They only had to wait a minute before the doors opened to reveal a face Kon hadn't seen in over a decade: the famed Alfred Pennyworth, the longtime retainer of the Wayne Family.
The British butler raised an eyebrow. "Mister Conner. Mister Jonathan. Welcome. Masters Jason and Damian have been waiting for you."
Right on cue, Damian stomped forward with his Nintendo DS in hand, looking every bit like the grumpy, temperamental seven year old that terrorized Gotham Academy's second grade class. At least according to Jason and Tim, at any rate. "Jon! Come! We must crush the Elite Four once more so my Gabite can evolve into a Garchomp!"
"On it Dami!" Jon cheerfully said, running inside and only stopping for a moment to kick off his shoes. Alfred let out a mournful but resigned sigh as the boys jogged up the stairs to Damian's room. Kon shook his head in nostalgic amusement.
"Those two haven't changed at all," the current Superboy commented.
"I can only imagine the trouble they got up to when they got older," Alfred noted dryly.
This got a chuckle out of Kon. "Oh, you have no idea." He was pretty certain that Titans Tower still had scars from all the antics those two had gotten up to. Both towers.
Kon handed off his bag to Alfred, but before he let go, he grabbed the outside of one of the butler's gloved hands. "It's good to see you, Alfred. And please, call me Kon."
Alfred smiled at him. "Very well then, Mister Kon."
Jason hummed as he walked down the stairs, smiling when he saw Kon waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. The moment they were close, they clasped hands and exchanged a bro-hug of sorts. "Hey. You missed Tim, by the way. I dropped him off for a date with Stephanie about an hour ago."
Kon waved him off. "It's fine. If I don't see him today then I'll just see him tomorrow at Mount Justice."
"How's that going, by the way?" Jason asked curiously.
His friend shrugged. "Well, all things considered. It's a bit of a work in progress, considering the experience difference and all. I'm content following orders but whenever things get harry I tend to take charge. And with my tactile telekinesis…"
Jason raised an eyebrow. "How strong is it?"
"…It's as strong as it was before I died."
The former Batman's eyes bugged. "That's…strong. Really strong." Which was an understatement. Kon was the strongest telekinetic in the world before he died. There still hadn't been anyone close to being as strong as him before Jason died, not even M'gann, who had been the solid second on the list. While the first Young Justice team faced quite a number of threats during their tenure, it would be a while before they had to face a threat that required the kind of manpower.
"Yeah," Kon breathed out. "It's taking all my self-control to not end the missions early. I'll intervene if lives are at stake, but, well, they need the experience."
"Like training the newest YJ teams back in the day," Jason noted.
"I guess so," Kon agreed, eyes once again alight with memories.
Jason gave him an understanding pat on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's take a tour of the house. See how much and how little I changed over the years."
"It's weird not seeing a wall of pictures here," Kon commented at he stared at a mostly empty wall that only contained a portrait of one of Bruce's ancestors. It was located right at the junction between the family wing and the rest of the house.
In the future, after Dick's death, Jason had moved the portrait to another area of the Manor and replaced it with a photo of the core family — the last photo of the entire family before Bruce's death. That had been the sole photo on that wall for over three years until Carrie Kelley had decided a new photo was needed and placed one of the entire Family next to it. That had spawned into a tradition of placing photos of the family and their friends over the years on that wall, all surrounding that first family photo.
Jason had gone as far as to get some of his brothers' own photos out of storage to place on the wall. It had been quite a shock to Kon when, during his first visit to the Manor in several years, he had found a photo of Tim, Cassie, Bart, and himself on the wall, during one of their nights out on the town. Jason explained that it had been so they would always some kind of presence in the house — an idea Kon had agreed with whole-heartedly. While no photo could be placed connecting them to their superhero identities outright, for those rare visitors not somehow involved in the superhero life, Jason had managed to fill up most of the wall all the same, to the point that they had to expand it to the next wall over.
That wall had been a staple of Wayne Manor for years. For it not to be there, well, it was another reminder of the situation. Another nail in the coffin. They were both in the past, and there was no going back.
"I've been thinking of asking Bruce to start recreating it — as much as we can with this timeline, in any case, but I'm not sure he'll go for it. You know how touchy he is about his secret identity."
Kon nodded slowly. The first Batman's obsession with his secret identity had become infamous over the years, long after the man himself was dead. Of course, that wasn't to say Jason wasn't protective of his own secret identity, or those of his children. It just wasn't to the same degree Bruce had gone to, or even Tim. The Bats had simply been too ingrained in the superhero community for too long to not have their names spread, even if it wasn't to the same extent as the other major superhero families. So Jason was more relaxed about it than his predecessor, only really enforcing that etiquette when out on the field.
It had been the same with Kon. There had been a time when the Superman identity had been almost as secretive as the Batman identity. But there hadn't been a point in the end. Not only was the Super-Family just as much of a cornerstone in the superhero community as the Bats were, but they also never went to the same lengths as the Bats in keeping their secret identities. The farthest any of them had gone (besides Jon's stint as Nightwing) was Kara dying her hair brunette, and even then she had eventually stopped doing that. Instead, they had all settled for glasses and let themselves be amazed by how oblivious the common populace could be.
"Do you miss it, sometimes?" Kon blurted out before he could stop himself.
Jason raised both eyebrows. "Miss what?"
"The future."
The former Batman looked stunned for a moment, before sighing sadly. "Everyday."
Kon nodded absentmindedly, swallowing. "How were they, afterward?"
Jason crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, tapping his fingers against one of his forearms. "Van was doing fine. He asked for you occasionally, but for the most part, he was happy. Jon and Dam did a great job filling in for you. And as for Hiyori…"
"Please tell me she moved on, Jay." Kon didn't like the idea of his wife being alone. He loved her, and he wanted her to be happy, even it couldn't be him anymore.
But Jason…Jason had never been one to beat around the bush. "You were it, Kon. She tried, but she later told me that no man she ever dated afterward would ever compare to you."
Kon released a shuddering breath as he ran his hand up his face and through his hair. "I wish I could've been there for them. Hiyori…Van…" I should've been there to see my son grow up.
Jason drifted his eyes away, lingering on his own regrets. "You know how this life is, Kon. We rarely ever get what we want."
"I know, Jay," Kon responded, glum. "I know."
There was a silence, and then…ring!
The former Robin and clicked his teeth. "Dick," he told his friend, before taking the call. "What up, Dickie?"
"Jason, there's this crazy 'Donna Troy' chick hanging around the Tower right now, claiming to be a Titan. Know anything about that?"
Jason immediately became alert, pushing himself off the wall and clasping the phone against his ear much tighter. Kon didn't fail to notice this, and his sorrow was soon lost in his concern.
"What are you talking about, Dick? Donna is one of your teammates."
"Are you sure? Because I've never seen this woman before in my life."
Jason's eyes widened. "Dick, give me a moment," he told his older brother, before lowering the phone and placing his hands over the speaker so his voice wouldn't carry over the line, before looking back at Kon with a distressed expression. "Kon, call Cassie. Ask her if she knows who Donna is."
Kon quickly fumbled for his phone. Jason didn't bother to wait for him, instead returning to his call with Dick. "Yes, Dick, I'm sure. Let her into the Tower, and wait for me. Kon and I are going to head over there immediately. If you still feel like you can't trust her, fine. Just watch her for the time being. But I can assure you — she isn't a threat to you or anyone else on the team."
"Alright," Dick said, though he clearly sounded skeptical, "if you say so, little wing. Nightwing, out." The call cut.
Jason turned back to Kon, who was talking furiously over the phone. Eventually, he ended his call too, and he had a grim look on his face. "I called Cassie. She doesn't know who Donna is either," he explained to his former teammate.
"Fuck," Jason swore. "We need to get over there now."
"I'll go grab my bag from Alfred. My gear is in there," Kon added, already on the move.
"While you're there, tell Alfred to watch Damian and Jon while we're gone and to pick up Tim and Steph from their date and Cass from her ballet lessons!" Jason called out to him as he headed towards the direction of the study. "I'm going to go suit up in the Cave! Meet me in the backyard when you're done!"
Because of the severity of the situation, both of them had rushed in their duties. Jason had suited up as fast as he possibly could, only doing two check-overs to make sure he had everything he needed and that nothing was out of place, before meeting Kon in the backyard. After that, Kon flew them over to Titans Tower as fast as Jason's body could possibly handle without being ripped to shreds, arriving there within an hour and a half of Dick's call to Jason.
They were quickly let inside of the base, where they were guided to the main meeting room. There, they were met with a disheartening sight. The Titans were all off to one side of the table, watching Donna suspiciously. Donna was on the other side of the table, hands in her lap and looking down at the table, clearly devastated that none of her friends remembered her.
Jason stepped forward and stared at her for a moment, before Kon pushed him, silently gesturing to his friend to go to her. The former Batman licked his lips nervously, before deciding to go with his friend's suggestion. He walked towards the former Wonder Girl, ignoring the looks the Titans were shooting him. "Donna," he said as he approached her, crouching down to one knee and taking her hands in his. "Hey."
Donna blinked as she lifted his head to look at him. "Jason?"
"Yeah," Jason nodded, smiling.
"You…remember me?"
"I do. Kon and I both do," he said, gesturing to the other teenager in the back, who waved at them with a comforting smile.
The poor woman looked on the verge of tears. "But…how?" she asked, voice raspy. "No one else does."
Jason clicked his tongue against his teeth. "It's a long story," he finally admitted. "And neither of us is entirely sure how, but the fact is that we do, and we're going to fix this. I promise."
"But we don't even know why this is happening!" Donna cried, lifting one hand to try and stifle her sobs. It was obvious she had been trying to figure out why for a while now.
"Hey, hey," Jason spoke quietly, pulling the hand away and brushing back a lock of hair. "It's going to be okay, Donna. Alright? And you're wrong — we do know why."
"We do?" Donna wiped back a tear. "But how?"
He hesitated for a moment, before speaking again. "It doesn't matter how. Not right now, anyway. But as for why…it's more of a who, Donna. It's Dark Angel."
Donna froze. "What?"
"She's gone back in time and erased everyone's memories and records of you," Jason explained. "She's doing it in hopes of driving you insane before she kills you."
The Amazon didn't have anything to say to that. Her mouth was open, her bottom lip trembling, but no sound was coming out.
"All we have to do is stop her," Jason continued. "We do that, everyone's memories should be returned and the records restored. They'll remember you, Donna."
"But how do we find her?" Donna asked, despondent. "She could be anywhere, Jason."
"Don't worry. We will. We can call in Zatanna or Dr. Fate—"
"Or you could just look over here!"
All the superheroes snapped to attention as another woman warped into the middle of their conference room. Her appearance could be best described as demonic — she had long, shaggy black hair, pale skin, and red eyes. Her nails were sharp and elongated, and she wore a red dress with long sleeves that showed off her cleavage. Any attractiveness that could be found in her appearance was offset by the downright vile smile on her face and her aura, which exuded menace.
"Dark Angel," Jason hissed, glaring at the woman with hatred in his eyes.
"Who the hell is that?" Dick demanded, drawing his escrima sticks, as the rest of the Titans, including Donna, prepared for battle.
"The one responsible for all this," Kon told him, stepping into a ready stance. "The one who wiped your memories of Donna away!"
Dark Angel lifted her hands and began forming a massive ball of red energy. Jason grit his teeth and glanced back at the others. "Kon!" he shouted.
Kon obeyed the implicit order and lifted his hands, managing to form a massive telekinetic shield just as Dark Angel fired. While he managed to protect everyone from the blast, the surrounding building had not been so lucky. By the time he was sure it was safe to drop the shield, the walls of the room along with the main computer had been completely obliterated, revealing the outside world in their place.
The Titans looked around in dismay at their destroyed conference room, while Jason drew out the All-Blades from the depths of his soul. Kon flew over to stand next to him, forming two bubbles of telekinetic energy around his hands. "You ready?" he asked.
Jason flipped the All-Blades in his hands, holding them level with his chest. "Always."
"Knight!" Jason looked back to see it was Dick calling him.
"Have your team distract her, Nightwing!" Jason called back. "Superboy and I will take her down!"
Not bothering to wait for an answer from his older brother, Kon and him sprung forward into action. Jason boosted himself with the miniature platforms Kon made for him, using them to propel himself towards Dark Angel with on of the All-Blades aimed directly at her shoulder. Kon, meanwhile, formed to more barriers around her legs, trying to keep her stationary. Just as Jason was about to strike, however, Dark Angel managed to teleport away, forcing him to catch himself on the ground with a quick roll.
Dark Angel teleported in front of him and grabbed him by the neck with a telekinetic choke hold, using one hand to blast away at Kon with a continuous beam of energy, forcing him to retreat. Jason tried to stab her in the leg, but she caught his wrist and twisted the blade out of his hand, before doing the same to the other one. She then lifted a hand to his temple, caressing his hair.
"Now then," she rasped, "how did you manage to avoid my memory wipe? I'm certain I wiped Donna Troy completely from record."
"Fuck you," Jason cursed back in response.
"Oh, my dear, I think I'm too old for you."
"Again, fuck you. I'd never want anything to do with a deranged psychopath like you anyway."
Dark Angel slapped him, causing Jason to smirk at her. Before they could continue their conversation, the Titans started their own counterattack, aiming arrows and batarangs and energy blasts all directly at their adversary. Dark Angel scoffed before binding Jason to a nearby tree with her powers. Then she began to shake, before gradually growing to a gargantuan size.
As she began swatting away at the Titans, Jason struggled out of his bonds, trying to draw out a miniature knife he kept in the wrist of his suit so he could saw off the wood. He stopped, however, when he saw Kon get up and fly over to him. Using his telekinesis to boost his strength, he ripped the wooden bonds off of his friend, allowing Jason to fall to his knees, rubbing at his wrists to make sure nothing had been damaged. Then, as one, they began to observe the battle as they recovered.
It wasn't going well, to say the least. Dark Angel seemed to have an answer for everything the Titans threw at her. It didn't help that their teamwork was off due to none of them remembering who Donna was, and thus not remembering her power set and skill set. Their entire dynamic was scrambled, and Dark Angel had no issues taking advantage of it.
"We need to get back in there. We need to take her down," Jason grunted, getting back to his feet.
But Kon stopped him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder to keep him stationery. "I know how much Donna means to you, Jason, and she means a lot to me too. But if we go in there half-cocked, without a plan, we will get killed."
Jason wrenched his shoulder out of his grip and whirled on his friend angrily. "Then what are we supposed to do! We stall any longer and Dark Angel will kill her! Will kill all of them!"
Whoosh!
"Maybe we can help!"
Both boys turned around to see that Wally West, the current Flash, had arrived, along with a much unexpected figure: Diana. Wonder Woman.
"Flash, Wonder Woman," Jason exhaled in relief. "Thank God!"
"How did you know what was going on?" Kon asked, stepping forward.
Wally grimaced. "During a conversation with Diana I realized she didn't remember who Donna was. I then went to Green Lantern and he admitted he didn't know who she was either. Then we got reports on an attack on Titans Tower. I couldn't convince Lantern to come with us, but I did manage to convince Wonder Woman."
"I will admit, I do not understand what is going on," Diana admitted, taking out her lasso, "But I do trust Flash and if he says that we need to help this Donna Troy, then that is what we shall do."
"We need to take down Dark Angel," Jason told them both, glancing back at the battle. "We take her down, and everyone's memories of Donna will be restored."
"Right then," Wally turned to watch the battle with him, prepared to jump into the fray. "How do we do that?"
Jason paused. "I don't know. The only way I can think of is to kill her, but…"
"We should just knock her unconscious for now," Kon suggested. "Bind her. If that doesn't work, then we'll figure something else out."
"Works for me," Diana tossed in, stretching her lasso until it was taut. "How we should do this?"
"Keep hitting her until she goes down, and then keep hitting her until she's out," Jason said, once again drawing out the All-Blades from his body. "Flash and I go low, Wonder Woman and Superboy go high. Everyone agree?"
He got nods in return. "Then let's go!"
Just like that, Jason felt himself picked up by Wally and quickly sped over next to one of Dark Angel's legs, which he quickly stabbed, lodging the All-Blade directly into her skin. At her current size it was more of annoyance than anything, but it distracted her long enough for Wonder Woman to use her lasso to swing Kon in a circle, launching him directly at Dark Angel's upper body.
Kon adopted a classic two-fisted flight pose, hitting Dark Angel directly in the chin, causing her to stumble back. He landed on her shoulder and started sending repeated telekinetic blasts to her face, continuing to force her back. Just in time, as Wally returned from his run around the area to strike her abdomen with a Supersonic Punch. Dark Angel gagged with the blow, bending forward and forcing Kon to fly off her shoulder to avoid falling off.
Jason glanced back at the Titans, who had almost recovered from the thrashing Dark Angel had given them. "Now!" he shouted at them. "Before she recovers!"
They didn't need to hear anymore. At the direction of Nightwing, the Titans attacked, with Donna herself leading the charge. Jason drew out several batarangs and added to the barrage, and saw Kon doing the same with his telekinetic blasts. Dark Angel crumbled to her knees as the barrage got to her, trying to shield herself with her arms from the attack.
Then, she burst out of it with a scream, releasing a shockwave that sent them all flying away and off their feet. Jason felt himself careen against the ground, groaning and blinking when he stopped, trying to get his wits back. Before he could, however, he felt the familiar touch of a telekinetic chokehold around his neck, and gagged as he was forcibly lifted off his back and upright into the air, in front of a now normal-sized Dark Angel.
"Such a nuisance," she hissed. "Why do you fight so hard for her?"
Before Jason could reply, he felt Dark Angel lift a finger to his temple. The moment she touched it—
"Okay, okay, so which is better? The chocolate chip? Or the oatmeal raisin?" Jason lifted both bowls of batter for good measure.
Donna hummed for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin, before giving him a sly grin. "Both," she answered cheekily.
Jason slumped over, giving her a dry look as placed the bowls back on the counter. "Come on, Donna. This is serious. Terry told me Matty wants the best cookie flavor ever for his birthday party, and I can't fail him now."
"Then why don't you just ask him?"
He looked at her as if she said something blasphemous. "I can't just 'ask him'! I'm Batman! It's my job to know these things without anyone needing to tell me anything!"
Donna shot him a bland look. "Jason. Really?"
"Yes, really!"
The Amazon pressed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "You and your ridiculously high standards for yourself. Jason, it's a cookie flavor. There's no way to determine 'the best cookie flavor ever' because it's all based on opinion."
Jason pointed a wooden spoon caked with some leftover cookie dough at her. "Says you. Alfred managed to figure out the best cake flavor completely on his own without having to ask for anyone's opinion."
Donna gave him a look. "Alfred Pennyworth."
"Yes."
"The man you called the best baker ever."
"Yes," Jason repeated, wondering where this was going.
"The man who, you said, could bake anything, and it would be the best whatever…ever."
"Yes—Oh." Jason blinked, then groaned. "Oh."
Donna shook her head, then took another plastic spoon and dipped it into the chocolate chip cookie batter. She scooped out a bit of it and then placed it into her mouth, savoring the sugary spice of the chocolate. "Mmm. Delicious."
"So it's the chocolate chip?" Jason asked, lighting up.
"Nah. The oatmeal raisin."
Jason scowled and flicked a bit of flour at her. Donna laughed.
Jason grunted as he blocked the blow aimed for his face, then retaliated with a punch of his own. Donna blocked with her forearm, before countering with a spinning elbow. Her opponent grabbed that one too, sliding down her arm to forcibly straighten it before bending it behind her in a painful hold.
This was their third sparring match today. After spending several hours going over an advanced hand-to-hand combat session with a Tier 2 class, the two had stayed behind in the Watchtower's gym, taking advantage of the five hour-break between that class and the next one. Having worked up a bit of energy, the two elected to let off some steam with a good, old-fashioned spar.
Donna threw back her head, reverse-headbutting his chest until he was forced to let her go, then followed up with a kick to the solar plexus. Jason stumbled back, catching himself with his hands on the ground and weaved under Donna's downward punch, instead slamming into her shoulder first and knocking her to the ground. He quickly pinned her under using his greater body mass and weight, using his hands to hold down her wrists.
Of course, he didn't really have her pinned. Donna was an Amazon whose strength was on par with her sister's. If she wanted to, she could throw him off and there would be absolutely nothing he could do about it. It was only because of her decision to limit herself to the strength and speed of a normal adult woman of her size and fitness that he had managed this much at all.
He grinned down at her. "I win."
She pouted up at him. It was cute.
"Ah! No need to be a sore loser."
"I am not a sore loser," Donna insisted to him.
Jason gave her an amused look, panting slightly. "Sure you aren't."
She was scowling, and he was smirking, and the moment held like that until they heard someone clear their throat. Startled, they glanced at the doorway to see Kaldur standing there, a towel slung over his shoulder and a bottle of water hanging from his left hand. He raised an eyebrow at them.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, tone deceptively neutral.
Suddenly realizing the compromising nature of their position, Jason quickly scrambled off Donna and got to his feet, straightening out his work out clothes, watching as she did the same. "You're not interrupting anything!" They said as one, then cringed when they realized what they did.
Kaldur raised the other eyebrow. "Right," he said in a way that made it clear that he didn't believe either of them.
Jason and Donna turned to each other and then looked away, both heavily blushing. "I…better go wash off," Donna said awkwardly, then scampered off as fast as she possibly could without making it obvious she was trying to escape the uncomfortable situation.
Both men watched her go and disappear around the corner, towards the showers. Then Kaldur glanced at Jason and shook his head. "You two are sad together," he told his friend.
Jason groaned. "Shut up, Kaldur."
"Stop fidgeting, Kon!" Jason scolded his best friend for the nth time as they waited for the guests to finish filing into the church and seating themselves.
"I can't help it, Jay!" Kon whispered back as he waited eagerly next to the bishop at the altar. "What if she doesn't show up?" he sounded almost hysterical at the thought.
Jason sighed. "Kon, she's going to show up. I've met very few couples as hopelessly and disgustingly in love as you two. So stop worrying."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one getting married to love of your life today," Kon grumbled back.
"Even if I was, I wouldn't be nearly as nervous as you," Jason asserted.
Kon shot him an incredulous look. "You're kidding, right?" He pointedly shifted his eyes to a seated Donna in the front row, who was speaking with M'gann in hushed tones.
Jason followed his line of sight and scowled. "Screw you."
"You two, shut up!" Kaldur whispered to them both, cutting into the argument. "Wallace just came back. The bridal party is about to enter! The ceremony is about to start!"
Both men clamped their mouths shut and straighted their backs at that. Wallace rejoined the line not long afterward, taking his place as the last groomsman. Soon, the doors slowly opened and Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" began to play. The world fell away.
The ceremony had finished without a hitch and the reception was now in full swing. Jason had quickly found himself press-ganged up the stage to sing his own rendition of "I Melt With You" by Modern English for one of the first dances. Upon finishing and receiving his applause with a graceful bow, he left the stage and stuck around the refreshment tables, filling up on the food. On top of the ceremony, there had also been the pictures right after. He was hungry. If it hadn't been for the manners had instilled in him all those years ago when he first arrived in the Manor, he would probably be stuffing his face right now.
About a half hour later, he was just about done, and about to reach for a glass of wine to wash it all down. However, he stopped himself when he spotted something in the corner of his eye. Grabbing two glasses instead, he walked over to the empty balcony area, where there was a single patron standing there, over the stone railing.
Jason approached Donna with both glasses in hand. When she noticed his presence and glanced at him, he silently handed one of the glasses over, which she gratefully took. "I thought you quit drinking?" she asked mirthfully, taking a small sip of her glass.
"I did, for the most part," Jason admitted to her. "I thought I could live a little for tonight. You know, for Kon's sake."
"Don't want to put a damper on the mood?"
He shrugged. "You know how I can be."
"You're not that bad, Jay," Donna protested lightly.
"If you say so, Donna," Jason replied, taking his own sip of wine.
A comfortable silence settled between them, as they observed the twinkling, starry night sky above.
"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Jason finally asked after a couple of minutes.
Donna fidgeted a little, shamefaced. "I…had a moment. Needed some air, you know? The last time I attended a wedding like this was my own, twenty-eight years ago."
Jason gripped the glass a little tighter, but only just so. "Right." Everyone knew how that marriage ended.
"It's supposed to be a happy occasion, right? I guess I was like you — I didn't want to put a damper on the mood."
The former Robin looked down into the insides of his glass, seeing his face reflected in the white wine inside. Then, feeling a burst of courage, he sipped the rest of it down and then settled the glass onto the railing of the balcony, before offering his hand to Donna. Donna stared at the hand for a moment, before staring up at him.
"Dance with me," he asked, and tried to make sure it didn't sound like the plea that it was.
Donna's entire countenance softened at those words, and she smiled as she set her own glass down and slid her hand into Jason's. She let him guide her to the dance floor, where there were already plenty of couples dancing, alongside with newly-married couple of Kon and Hiyori. A new song had begun to play: "The Bones" by Maren Moss and Hozier.
They faced each other, Jason clasping Donna's left hand with his right while he slid his other arm around her waist, watching her grasp at that arm with her right hand. And then…they just swayed, back and forth.
As the song continued to play, as they continued to sway, they felt their faces inch closer and closer. Donna had unconsciously moved her hand to press itself lightly against Jason's chest, the other hand doing the same when Jason let it go to wrap his other arm around her waist. Their faces were so close that their noses were almost touching. If they just moved a little closer…
"ARGH!"
They both stumbled back, forcibly separated, as they felt someone trying to run and break through their legs. Jason could only sigh when he saw it was — his youngest son Matty, who wasn't even looking at them but instead observing his surroundings. It was clearly understood why when Terry slid into view with anger on his face, his suit messed up and stained with what suspiciously looked like a piece of wedding cake.
As he watched his older son chased down his younger son much to the amusement of the other guests, Jason gave a shrug to his dancing partner. She smiled back, and then gave him a look that said, 'Go ahead. Go after them.' That was all Jason needed to see, and he took off, giving Donna one last look before he followed his children through the crowd.
Jason looked around to make sure the inner sanctum was secure, that no one else would be able to get inside without them knowing. While the Founders and all of Senior Grade I were aware of his secret identity, they were hardly the only ones on the station. Once he was certain that it was, he finally took off his helmet, letting the hatches unlock from his suit. He set it down on the table, and then deactivated the face mask he kept beneath, letting it slide down his face.
He looked at Donna, watching her take in his visage. It had been ten years since she had last seen it, after all. She hummed, reaching out to gently caress the contours of his face. "You've grown up," she commented.
Hearing that, Jason gazed at her, at that familiarly kind and open face, belying the iron will and strength beneath. "And you haven't aged a day."
They smiled at each other.
I'm not feeling the energy to write today, and I thought, since the last chapter was so short, I figured I'd drop a new one. And here it is.
I've kind of streamlined this arc, mostly because the original arc in the Titans comic included the Kingdom Titans and a whole slew of stuff that I really didn't want to get into. Also buffed up Dark Angel a bit, to make her more of a threat to the Titans and co. Hope you don't mind the changes.
And, well, I know a lot of you aren't quite sold on the Jason/Donna ship yet. I hope this chapter helps with that. Let's just say Jason and Donna will get a lot of focus soon.
Next chapter: The continued battle with Dark Angel.
