Bat-Style Resting

Slowly drifting back to consciousness, his first sensation was a throbbing pain in his arm, head and back. Not the greatest way to wake up in the morning, but there were worse ways. Cracking his eyes open a slit, the lids slammed shut even before his brain registered the screaming pain the light inflicted on them. Deciding against opening his eyes again, he listened instead.

Dripping, the screeching of bats, the slight hum of many computer screens, the steady beeping of a heart monitor. Most likely the Batcave's medbay. Throwing his not-injured arm over his eyes, he tried to open them again. A quick scan and yup. Batcave. The motion attracted attention of course. Before he closed his eyes again (it still hurt to open them, even with his arm blocking most of the light), Alfred and Bruce came rushing in. They started with the usual twenty questions, (Are you alright? What hurts?), but Jason ignored them. Instead, he asked his own question, "Bruce? What happened?" Oh good. His voice still worked. With his eyes apparently on the fritz, he wasn't sure what else was out of whack.

The questions stopped abruptly. With the most worried look Jason had ever seen, Bruce regarded him. "What do you remember?" Always has to get the last question in.

"Bald bastard… Xehanort… He was going to stab Tim… 'S cool though. Saved him. Fuzzy after that." Fuzzy, but not gone. He remembered little bits of him fighting, snatches of conversation spoken around him, his head pounding.

Bruce smiled, partially relieved. "You did." He sat by Jason's bed, Alfred running off to get a pot of tea and some cookies. Proper nourishment for the recovering hero, of course. The bonding time between Bruce and the erstwhile Robin was a bonus. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Bruce finally asked the question that had been bugging him since he had loaded Jason into the plane. "Jason? While saving Tim, you were covered in darkness. But you didn't let Dick hug you, heal you. Why?" He probably should have asked how Jason had gotten that covered to begin with. Batman would have. But Bruce wanted to know why his son refused treatment, even while unconscious.

Jason shifted, using the motion to buy a moment to think of the proper wording. Finally, he said, "I promised." Bruce would ask the questions he needed to. Save him some energy.

As predicted, Bruce asked, "Promised what? To whom?"

"My darkness. I promised I wouldn't drive it out again. I kept control, it gave me power." He laughed weakly, "I guess in the end I lost control anyways. Didn't attack family though." Bruce started a little at the word, so Jason used it again. "Didn't let myself attack family. Suppose that's something."

Even with his eyes closed, Jason could feel Bruce's uncomfortable shift next to him. "Jason… It's good of you to keep you promise, but it can't be healthy for you to stay like this."

Huh? "Like what?"

"Open your eyes. There's a mirror here."

"I can't. Light's too bright." He heard Bruce get up and walk towards the dimmer switch on the wall. Carefully cracking his eyelids again, he was relieved when it didn't hurt at all. He opened his eyes fully and pulled his arm off his face… Wait, what was that on his arm?

Veins and arteries, black as pitch, standing out like a tattoo. It covered his entire arm, from his fingertips, to the sleeve of his t shirt and probably further. He reached out for the mirror Bruce handed him. The lines continued on his chest, up his neck, even over his face. And his eyes. Yellow. As yellow as the eyes of bastards he had fought tonight. This wasn't right. He frowned. This wasn't the deal.

He needed to talk to his darkness.

"Yo, darkness! Get out here!" Once again standing on his stained glass tower thing, which was now a solid black tower thing, Jason crossed his arms and frowned. The rat wasn't getting out of this one. If he had to wait for a week, he would wait.

Finally, after what felt like hours (but was probably closer to thirty minutes), a spot of darker darkness appeared just a bit to his left. It widened, then stretched upwards, shaping itself into the darkness that Jason knew and rather hated right now. You called? Its voice was still off. Kind of… buzzing.

"Yes, I did. Mind telling me what's going on?" Jason waved out with one of his arms. Injuries didn't show up here, but the dark markings on his skin did. "This wasn't part of the deal. Take it off."

The darkness cocked its head at him. You asked for power. I delivered. Malice dripped off of every word.

"Yeah and now I don't need it anymore. Take. It. Off!"

I cannot. It is part of you now. I am part of you. I will not leave.

This day just kept getting better and better. "Can you at least make it, I don't know, less visible? It's worrying the crap out of my family." And Jason. He was seriously freaked out. What had he gotten himself into? "Not to mention, my eyes are crazy light sensitive. Is that supposed to happen?"

You are of the darkness now. It is expected. I can reduce the effects. But it will still be there. Jason got the feeling his darkness was smiling. Under your skin.

It raised its arm. The marks faded from his skin, but Jason could feel them burrowing their way into his muscles, his bones. It was a feeling he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. Well… Nah, the Joker probably deserved this. And then a bullet in the head for good measure.

Finally, it stopped. His arms were clear and he had the feeling that if he looked in the mirror, his eyes would be back to their normal shade of teal. His darkness stared at him, glowing yellow eyes boring into his. The deal stands. Do not drive me out. You will regret it.

Before he could respond to the threat, light surrounded Jason and his world shifted.

Bruce was looking for a better word to describe Jason passing out after looking in the mirror, but "fainting" was pretty much the only one that came to mind. Which made no sense. Right before he "fainted", Jason had this look of fury and absolute determination on his face. Passing out after that wasn't really a "fainting" situation. Maybe "blacking out"…

This was off topic. He was covering his worry about the situation with concern over his word choice. Forcing himself back into the worry, he rushed around, checking Jason's heart rate and brain patterns. Everything seemed normal. Where had Jason gone?

Suddenly, the marks faded from Jason's skin. His face, deathly pale a moment ago, regained its colour. Lifting one of his eyelids, Bruce sagged in relief at the familiar teal. He moved back, tucking the blankets more firmly around his son, then sat in the chair next to the bed, waiting for him to wake up.

After a minute or two, Alfred showed up, bearing a fully laden tray. "Oh dear. Has Master Jason gone back to sleep? I had hoped that he would relieve me of these baked goods." The butler set the tray down on a nearby table, then regarded the teen in the bed. "At least his colour's better sir."

Bruce looked up at his longest friend. "Yes Alfred. At this point, it's more than I had hoped for." They stood for a moment in silence. "How are the other boys Alfred?"

"Resting sir. Master Dick's chest has a few new scars on it, Master Tim is limping a bit, Master Damian has been equipped with an additional four blankets and a hot chocolate, and Master Sora is still asleep. All in all, we seem to have escaped relatively unscathed. Especially now that Master Jason is looking better."

Bruce simply nodded, then started preparing to have Jason moved to his room. He would be much more comfortable there.

Jason woke up slowly, blinking his eyes and then rolling his head into the soft something under it to avoid the light. Head throbbing dully, he blinked a few more times and then looked around carefully adjusting his watering eyes to the light. He was in his room, and Bruce, cautious as ever, had still put an IV and heart monitor beside his bed. Then Jason spotted a plate of cookies on his bedside table and instinctively dived for them. The movement brought his attention to his skin, which had very faint lines running across it. With a jolt, he remembered what had happened earlier. Shoving a cookie in his mouth Jason sat up, ignoring the pain lancing though his back and arm. No wonder his eyes were stinging and throbbing in response to the lazy beams of evening light shining through his window. His darkness had told the truth. He could dull the side effects but not stop them.

The next plan of action was obviously sunglasses, because he was not dealing with throbbing, watering eyes everywhere he went. Peeling off the electrodes and pulling out his IV, Jason flicked off the switch to the EKG before someone came running and then stood up shakily. So he definitely wasn't at 100 percent yet. That was to be expected though. Slowly he trudged over to his dresser and pulled open drawers, searching for something that would give his eyes a bit of relief. It had been a while since he had been in this room, and he wasn't really sure where things were anymore. Finally he found a pair of dark shades and slipped them on. The result was instantaneous and he had to sigh with the relief his eyes were experiencing. Looking around, Jason wondered what he should do next. Bruce and Alfred would probably blow their tops if they knew he was out of bed, but that only made Jason smirk. It meant he couldn't get caught is all. Crossing his arms and considering his options, he decided it would be a good idea to go and check on his brothers and Sora. Images of Xehanort standing over Tim, helpless and unconscious, with his blade drawn back to kill, were still reverberating fresh in his head. Going and bugging the others would probably make him feel better.

Crossing over to his closet, Jason grabbed out a sweatshirt and slipped it on before returning to his bed to grab a few cookies. He also took the time to sip some water that was sitting helpfully there as well. Munching contently on his snacks, he crept over to his door and listened.

Nothing.

Grabbing the handle, he ever so slowly prodded his door open, staring out into the hall beyond. There was no one out there, so he took his opportunity and slipped outside. It was now a game of cat and mouse. He would have to use some serious ninja skills to avoid the ever overbearing presence of Bruce and the trained eye of Alfred. Still nibbling a cookie, he made his way past doors on tiptoe, listening to every small sound with devoted attention. It sounded like there were people walking around downstairs, but that was it as far as footsteps went. All in all, the manor was extremely quiet. Jason wondered if Alfred was revelling in the break from chaos his boys seemed to initiate whenever they were all under the same roof.

Finally after many pauses and glances around door frames or corners, Jason made it to Damian's room. The door was closed, and the kid always insisted people knock before entering, but Jason enjoyed disregarding whatever his little brother said. So he quietly pushed open his brother's door. To Jason's surprise, Damian was curled up on his bed wrapped in what seemed like twenty quilts. A laptop was balanced on what was probably his legs, though it was hard to tell due to all the blankets. Jason was mildly surprised. The demon spawn rarely used technology outside of hero work. Damian seemed to be half dozing, watching something on the screen in front of him with fleeting attention. An empty cup of hot chocolate sat on his bedside table. Jason was taken aback by the normalcy of the scene. Honestly he would have been much less surprised if he had found Damian attempting to practice flipping off his walls or else researching the most effective ways to poison someone.

In his drowsy state, and with his headphones in, Damian didn't notice as Jason crept up behind him. This would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Jason was sure he could scare Damian enough to get a jump out of him. But as he approached, the blankets by Damian's side moved slightly and a head poked out. To be more specific, a large hairy head with to big black eyes and a wet, slobbery tongue.

"Quiet dog." Jason hissed, but the Great Dane was already wagging its enormous tail and trying to stand up, effectively bringing Damian out of his stupor.

"I told you before Pennyworth, I do not nee-"

He froze when he saw Jason, who in turn was silently cursing the dog. They barely interacted for Pete's sake! Why did it have to get all happy when it saw him?

Damian stared at Jason for a while frowning. "Should you really be out of bed? It seems extremely unwise. Though I suppose that is why you are doing it."

Jason raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Aw, Damian, don't tell me you are actually concerned about me."

"Tt, I could never concern myself with the inconsequential proceedings of a less superior being such as yourself. Do not be mistaken Todd. I was simply wishing to avoid Father's wrath when he finds out you have decided to ignore his orders to rest."

Jason shrugged. The kid had a point.

"I wasn't just going to stay in my bed and sleep all day. Rest is for the weak."

Jason smiled as a muscle twitched in the demon spawn's temple.

"That is completely absurd," the younger huffed.

Jason turned waving his hand half-heartedly. "If you say so kid. You just stay here and catch up on your sleep. I'm sure you need it. I'm gonna go check up on the others."

In a moment, Damian and the dog were trotting behind Jason's heels, the kid still wrapped in a heavy blanket.

"Don't you dare imply that I am weaker then you!" Damian hissed.

Jason simply smiled to himself, pleased with his ability to annoy his younger brother, and walked on.

Cracking open the door to Tim's room, Jason was unsurprised to see him awake and working at his desk, two laptops running simultaneously. Pushing the door back hard and ignoring the crack as it slammed into the wall, he and Damian walked in like they owned the place. In his own personal opinion, Jason, in his shades, looked much cooler doing so than Damian with his quilt. Tim merely raised an eyebrow, eyes not leaving the screen in front of him. "Why are you two in my room? And what's with the shades?" Tim's voice was missing its usual confidence. Hmmm…

"Tim, I am hurt! We come to check on you and this is how you greet us?" Jason cried in mock pain. He sniffed, his voice lofty. "And for your information, the shades make me look awesome. Well, more awesome." Dropping his voice back down to normal, he continued. "No but seriously, just checking on you. Do you know if Dick and Sora are up?" He wanted to get up to some mischief. He just needed a victim.

Rolling his eyes at Jason's poor attempt at dodging the shades question, Tim replied. "Dick is. Sora was still asleep last time I checked."

That had some promise. "Hm. Wanna go draw on his face?"

"What?!" Tim turned to Jason, incredulity splashed across his features. Even Damian looked more than a little confused and surprised. "Why would you want to do that?"

Jason shrugged. "No reason really. Boredom?"

"Should you even be up?"

"Should you?"

"Yes actually. I still need to run through the files we got from Riku. There's a lot on here." Tim reached for a mug sitting innocently off to the side. Jason grabbed it up first.

Giving the hot steam a quick sniff, he grinned maliciously. "Uh huh. Coffee this strong, when did you sleep last? Before the fight? Wouldn't Alfred like to know that." Yes, he did know what he was threatening.

Tim blanched. If Alfred knew he wasn't getting his rest… "Please don't. I like my insides where they are."

"Then come on! A quick break will be good for you anyways!"

Damian scowled. Well, scowled more. "Do we have to bring Drake? I'd prefer if we left him here."

Jason ruffled his hair, grin widening when the younger boy ducked out from under his hand and swatted at it. "Yes we do. Family activity! Let's go find Dickiebird."

Dick wasn't in his room, or in the library, or in the kitchen. They had split up to search, each moving as stealthily as possible. If Alfred or Bruce caught them out of bed when they should have been resting… Well, they would much prefer to go another round with a horde of Heartless.

Jason finally found him, sitting on top of one of the chandeliers. How it didn't fall under his weight was anyone's guess. Although… Maybe after all the times Dick had crashed when he was younger, Alfred had reinforced them with titanium cabling. "Hey, Dickiebird!" He called up, "we're going to go draw on Sora's face. Want to come?"

He landed mostly silently beside him. "Should you be out of bed?"

Why did everyone keep asking him this stuff? "No, and neither should you Sir Pin Cushion. Now get down here before I bring you down."

Wide grin in place on his face, Dick followed Jason back up the stairs, both keeping an ear out for well-meaning butlers and overbearing bats. "So why are we drawing on Sora's face?"

"Damian and Tim seemed down. A bit of harmless mischief is the best medicine." Dick did too, but Jason wasn't going to bring it up until he did. Besides, maybe a marker and a sleeping face would cheer Goldie up too.

They met up with the younger two outside Sora's guest room. Cautiously cracking opening the door, four sets of eyes peeked in to make sure Sora was sleeping. Seeing that he was, Jason held up four markers in different colours. They crept in and silently started creating art.

Damian started first, drawing green cats and dogs along the jawline. Tim thought for a moment before adding yellow Red Robin and Bat symbols on Sora's forehead and left cheek. Dick went all out, blue happy faces on each temple, as well as a moustache and a goatee. Jason's red marker added a very good likeness of his helmet to the right cheek and the words "Jason Todd was here" above one eyebrow.

Finally, all markers capped, the boys took a moment to wonder at Sora. Seriously, the kid slept like a rock. Even if the feeling of people drawing on his face hadn't woken him, Dick's not-so-quiet giggles should have.

Peering through his glasses at the others, Jason was glad to see smiles on all their faces. They'd been down about something. Probably the fight. All of them had come so close to dying. At the end of the day, side effects of the darkness and all, Jason didn't regret a thing.

AN: Hi guys! It's me Arrow, and I just have to say we really needed a comic relief chapter to counteract all of that awesome. Though I think drawing on Sora's face is awesome too. What do you think Loxie?

Loxie: It really is. But, wow, these Bats are bad at resting. Should they be out of bed? This is going to bite them in the butts later, I just know it.

Arrow: Do you? I should, but we wrote this so very long ago I can't remember. Hmm. Anyways people, thank you so much for reading and hope you enjoyed it! We'll be back next week, and I'm pretty sure a kinda new, kinda old character will be joining the fun! Hooray for foreshadowing!