In the Footsteps of a Giant
Chapter One: The UnderworldPJO belongs to Rick Riordan, and the batfam to DC.
Hi! If you're new, I'm Australian and will use our spelling and vernacular. Please do not come for me because I've used Oxford English spelling or grammar. Constructive criticism is welcomed, criticisms and abuse are not.
The bomb counts down. The bomb goes off. Bye bye Robin – bye bye Jason Todd.
And that should have been it! But between one agonised, gasping breath and the next, Jason was awake and staring up at a middle-aged woman with greying black hair, an old-styled black gown decorated with red poppies, and a loose red shawl over her shoulders.
Instead of the Ethiopian warehouse, they are now underground in a room that's seemingly been carved out of a cave, with lush woven rugs on the ground and Graeco-Roman tapestries hanging from the walls.
There is an altar in the corner that looks like the Greek and Latin alphabets had a lovechild, which Jason is surprised to find that he can understand: Praise be to Lavernai Pocolum, Patron of Thieves, Cheats, and the Underworld.
"Hello, husur," she murmurs, in a surprisingly low voice.
There was a scoff from behind Jason; he swung around, and then staggered back when he registered the see-through, ghostly Sheila Haywood. "You've been in America long enough, Mother, surely you can speak fucking English!"
The older woman sniffed. "I was Etruscan long before Europeans were considered a collective, never mind when they thought to invade this forsaken country. I was Roman even longer." She turned to Jason then. "Hello, nefiś. I am sorry for your death. You were to have been the greatest hero to come from my bloodline; you already were one of the greats, but your mother has robbed you of your future."
"My mother was Catherine Todd," Jason says viciously, scowling at Sheila. She doesn't seem affected by the slight.
"Certainly, she was more of a mother to you than this one!" The woman exclaims, before turning back to Sheila. "He knew nothing of you, and thus I suppose nothing of myself and his heritage?" Sheila scoffed. "I see. Well, Pluto asked me if I would be speaking on your behalf, Sheila Haywood. Daughter you may be to me, but you have long abandoned any knowledge of myself or my teachings. Pluto has assigned you to the Fields of Punishment, daughter, and I will not argue against it. Goodbye."
There was a ripple of shadows around Sheila that sucked her in with a strangled scream, and then it was just Jason and the woman, who is sighing sadly.
"You do not know me, do you?" The woman asks softly, looking at him with eyes a brilliant dark green. When Jason shakes his head, she nods back and says, "I am your grandmother, your teta. I am Lavernai Pocolum. You may call me either Laverna, or Grandmother, whichever is most natural to you. I am the Roman Goddess of Thieves and Cheats, and before that I was an Etruscan Goddess of the Underworld."
Jason's mind boggles. "So… I'm really dead?"
"I am sorry, nefiś. You were not supposed to, yet. Demigod lives are always far too short, but you should have made it to your twenties at least, living in that Godless city."
"What's that mean?"
"Pantheons change," Laverna says softly. "They follow their people, or they follow the political world power. America is the current location of the Roman pantheon, and the locales of the country reflect their ancient contemporaries. Mount Olympus is atop of the Empire State Building, for example; Atlantis, which first sunk because of it's godlessness, is now the city called Gotham. You were safe from ancient monsters there, though less safe from human monsters. I am sorry for your hardships, nefiś."
Jason shrugged uncomfortably. How was he supposed to answer that? Maybe Joker had cracked his head so badly that he had gone crazy even in the afterlife.
"It has been a long day for you, nefiś. Why don't we retire, and you can ask your fill of questions of me tomorrow, and I will tell you more of your heritage."
Jason swallows, nods, but has to ask first. "My – Batman. Did he come for me?"
Laverna nods. "He arrived just in time to witness the explosion. I'm sorry; he grieves you now. I can show you tomorrow, if you like?"
"Show me?" Jason demanded then. "Aren't I dead?!"
"Yes – but I am a Goddess of the Underworld, and may do as I please. It will take nothing for me to scry your father for you, Jason." She gestured, and Jason noticed the bed she had been standing in front. "But first, nefiś – sleep. We will talk more in the morning." She hands him a long robe similar in cut to her own dress, black decorated with blood-red poppies, but with Robin-red feathers decorating the collar and sleeves.
Hesitatingly, Jason nods. Once Laverna has disappeared herself in another flurry of shadows, Jason changes quickly from his ruined uniform into the robe, climbs under the furs and blankets, and falls into a dead (ha!) sleep.
"Food, nefiś? Did you sleep well?" Laverna greets him when he finally wakes.
Jason blinks at the woman – she's still here? This wasn't a dream? – before dipping his head. "I slept surprisingly well – no nightmares, y'know? Uh, what food do we – I'm dead, can I even eat?"
"If you are with me, and you are in the Underworld, of course you can," Laverna smiles at him – his own small, crooked smile. "We can eat here, or we can join Pluto and Proserpina."
"Uh, aren't they kind of the King and Queen down here?" Jason blurts, thinking back on his knowledge of Roman mythology.
Laverna smiles at him. "They are, yes – well done! They will not mind if we join them. Pluto's own demigod son is in the Underworld now, I believe. It would do you both good to have a friend of an age with yourselves."
"… Sure, then, I guess. Do you have any other clothes I could wear, though?"
Laverna hums, and runs a darkly glowing hand over his Robin costume. It mends itself before Jason's eyes, and Laverna smiles at him again before stepping outside to allow him privacy to change. Somehow, his boots are here too, so he pulls them on and follows his grandmother from her cave into a massive cavern that could have easily housed dozens of Batcaves.
"Welcome to the Underworld." Laverna says softly. "Stay close to me, or else you might be lost or even slip between the realms. If another deity finds you and doesn't know you are mine, they could take you for their own, as well. If you do become separated from me, and another comes for you, you tell them that you are Lavernai Pocolom's grandson, and that you are helping me with my duties."
"Am I actually?" Jason asks, jerking to face her again.
"If you would like to, I would appreciate the help. I will help train you, too, so you do not need to worry about losing your form."
"… You can fight?"
"I am a Goddess of the Ancient Lands; of course I can. I know that your foster brother uses escrima sticks, but they will have no effect on the monsters of Tartarus. What weapon would you like me to train you with? I am best with knives, but I know my way around sword and spear both."
Jason probably shouldn't be as surprised by that sentence as he is, and yet.
"Can we start with knives and then trial both sword and spear?" He tries to ask with confidence, but he is caught rather left-footed here. And he'd thought his bat-training talks with Bruce had been weird.
"Of course, nefiś," Laverna tells him, holding out a hand as if to pet his hair. "May I?" she checks. Jason shrugs, and she ruffles his hair. It's nice if bewildering, in the same way that Dick's hair ruffles and hugs had been in the early days of Jason being Robin. Just like back then, Jason can feel himself blushing brightly.
He coughs to clear his throat, and asks her, "What does nefiś mean? What language is that?"
"In the language that is now called Etruscan, nefiś means grandson."
"That's… early Italian? Pre-Roman era?"
She hums, pleased. "It is. Etruria was a region of what would eventually become the home of the Roman Empire, and is now called Italy. I believe that Pluto's son is of the country – maybe you can speak of it, while we break our fasts?"
"Should I speak to him in Italian?" Jason asks quickly, noticing the massive castle ahead of them. Shit, he's about to have breakfast with royalty – with Gods! Twelve-year-old Jason, eat your heart out, fuck.
"If you can speak his tongue, I'm sure the boy would appreciate it." Laverna says, patting his head again.
Jason shrugged awkwardly. "Mostly. When Bruce took me in, I could speak bits and pieces of lots of languages from the streets, and I liked learning them, so he encouraged it."
Laverna nods. "That is good! The more languages you know, nefiś, that more information you can gain. I will teach you Etruscan, as well, as part of your training. Are you ready?"
They had reached the castle already, somehow. Jason swallowed, straightened, and nodded. Laverna patted his head again. He was still bemused by that.
When they enter the castle's throne room, they find a tall, pale man with wild eyes and dark hair, a short boy probably no older than twelve – fuck, as old as Jason was when Bruce took him in – and a gorgeous woman with black hair, brown eyes and brilliant dusky skin.
"Bonum mane," Laverna greets warmly, sketching a light bow to the adults. Jason takes that as his cue, and nods at the younger boy and says Buongiorno. The boy's dark eyes fly wide, whilst the adults nod back to Laverna, the woman asking something too quick and low for Jason to pick out overtop of the boy's excited return Buongiorno!
"Nepos meus!" Laverna answers cheerfully, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder and squeezing gently. "My grandson, who held the title of Robin these last three years."
"From Gotham?" Scoffed the man – the god, Pluto, Lord of the Underworld.
"He is a true Hero," Laverna says, head raised proudly. She gestures Jason to a seat beside the boy, and she takes the seat opposite, beside Proserpina. "He is here before his time, and my fool of a daughter has been punished accordingly. I will be training him later – young demigod, would you like to join us?"
The younger boy's face lights up, like Laverna has just asked him if he wants to pat a puppy or something.
"If I wouldn't be imposing, kind Lady," he says eagerly.
"It is no imposition to accept an invitation," Laverna smiles at him. "This is our first time meeting, and I do not know your name, boy. I am Laverna of Rome, once of Etruria."
"I'm Nico di Angelo," he answers quickly, sitting up straighter. His accent is only barely there, in the slight trill to some of the letters and the musical way he runs his words together. "Once of Venice, now of Manhattan, kind of." His eyes flick to Jason then, so Jason indulges him.
"Jason Todd, once of Gotham and now of here, as of last night," he says, smirking to hide the hurt.
"Oh!" Nico exclaims, eyes widening even further. "Robin, like Batman and Robin?"
Jason nods, swallows, and tries not to let the pain show on his face. "Yeah. Just like."
"I'm sorry for your death," Nico says politely, and Jason gives him a small smile – a Jason Todd one, not a Robin one. There's not a great deal of magic to one's own death, Jason is discovering.
The gods talk amongst themselves in a smattering of languages – English (rarely), Latin (mostly), what sounds like a few dialect words, and the occasional bit of Etruscan. Nico and Jason talk between themselves as well, Nico eating what was on his plate, and Jason eating only what Laverna handed to him. They mostly spoke in English, but Nico was so little and had looked so excited when Jason greeted him in Italian that they slipped into and out of the language easily as well. Nico told stories of his life thus far as a demigod, and Jason shared some of the brighter moments of being Robin, until Laverna finally set down her tea and smiled at both boys.
"Are you ready to start training?" She asked them. Her smile was Jason's at it's most crooked and mischievous, and he couldn't help but return it.
Jason Todd is dead. That doesn't mean he can't keep on living.
Translations (Google Translate is it's own warning)
Husur – Etruscan for children
Nefiś – Etruscan for grandson
Teta – Etruscan for grandmother
Bonum mane – Latin for good morning
Buongiorno – Italian for good morning
Author Note:
After years of declaring my dislike of Batman, Wayne Family Adventures (and the copious amounts of found-family-trope Batfam fics my mutuals have punched out in response) have finally drawn me in. My brain spat back out this. I'm kind of sorry not sorry.
If you enjoyed my work, please drop a review – and if you're not sure what to say, drop an emoji that you feel best sums up the chapter or your reaction to it, or your most outlandish reaction! Come say hi on my tumblr ( fairyofthefriz), insta ( waltzingthefaepaths) and tiktok ( faelefriz). My update schedule is infrequent at best, so I'm sorry in advance for that one.