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Climbing the stairs to her apartment always felt like hell after a dance class, but Lydia felt extra sore today. The sight of her apartment was like water in the desert and the sound of her key unlocking her door was like the first cry of a baby. The apartment wasn’t much, but it was home to Lydia. After last Halloween, she was lucky to even have an apartment. Crime had increased tenfold on Halloween night due to the Arkham Knight and his militia taking over Gotham. With Scarecrow’s looming threat of dropping his latest gas over the city, anyone with common sense had hightailed it the hell out of Gotham, leaving criminals behind to wreak havoc across the city. Buildings had been damaged beyond repair and because Gotham was Gotham, nothing had been done about it. Luckily for Lydia, her entire apartment building was untouched as if it had a barrier around that prevented anyone from touching it.
Lydia slid off her shoes and socks, already noticing the bruises on her toes from dancing. Lydia stumbled around into her bathroom to grab a bucket and made her way into the kitchen to fill it up with ice water. She set the bucket down in front of her reclining chair and sat down, slowly lowering her feet into the ice-cold water.
To pass the time, Lydia started reading Pride and Prejudice. She had read the book dozens of times now, but it always reminded her of her Jason. She had lost him nearly four years ago, but she still missed him. She remembered how she tried to remain optimistic and Dick had fueled that optimism, but it all came crashing down when they received a video from Joker. The gunshot still rung in Lydia’s ears and the sight of a bullet entering her boyfriend’s heart continued to haunt her despite the many years gone by. The mere sight of her boyfriend’s drained face was forever imprinted into her memory. The months of torture he endured were clear from just that short video alone and the “J” burned into his cheek proved that there was more below the surface.
Lydia shuddered and tried to dismiss all previous thoughts to focus on reading. Before she could get very far into her book, Lydia heard a tapping noise at her window. She ignored it at first, thinking it was just some random noise, but then the tapping turned into knocking. Lydia turned around and dropped her book when she saw what was making the noises. The Red Hood was at her window, waving to her and motioning for her to open her window. She had heard a little about him from Dick, who said that he was new to Gotham and was killing criminals left and right. Lydia had never been a criminal, so why was he at her window?
A mixture of curiosity as to why Red Hood was at her window and fear that he would just shoot the window in was what eventually made Lydia pull her feet out of the bucket and go over to window. She unlocked it and pulled it open slowly, prepared to have a gun in her face. Instead, she heard, “What’s up, buttercup?”
Lydia didn’t immediately have a response for that. She had pictured him being much more serious, but he was jokingly greeting her as if he knew her.
“Do you mind letting me in? I’d hate to have come over here without getting to talk to you,” Red Hood said, resting his elbow on her window and cupping his chin in his helmet. Again, she was speechless by his presence and simply moved aside to let him climb into her apartment. She knew that if he was here to hurt her, he would have done so already but she still couldn’t figure out why he was here.
Red Hood shut the window behind him and cleared his throat. Just moments ago he had seemed so confident and now he seemed almost nervous. His nervousness momentarily boosted Lydia’s confidence and she asked, “Why are you here?” Lydia’s voice shook slightly as she spoke and she was certain he had heard it.
“Listen, I know you’re nervous and scared right now, but please don’t be. I’m not here to hurt you. I just needed to come by to see you,” Red Hood answered, holding up his hands and speaking gently.
“Do you know who I am?” Lydia asked, confused. She had only a few close friends that knew where she lived and she was positive they weren’t parading around as Red Hood. Her next thought that he was a stalker because duh, Gotham, but she had never had an issue with a stalker before.
“Of course I know who you are, Lyddie. It’s me,” he answered as reached his hands up to his helmet, slowly taking it off. He rested the helmet on his hip and gave her such a familiar, boyish smile that it made Lydia swear that every clock in the world had suddenly stopped.
In front of her was the face of a boy-turned-man that she hadn’t seen in years, her beloved Jason Todd. Lydia knew he was supposed to be dead and she had even seen the footage of him being killed, yet he was standing right in front of her.
There were a thousand things Lydia wanted to say to Jason, but she only managed to stutter out his name.
He laughed nervously and replied, “Yeah, Lyddie. I’m here.”
Jason was only a few feet away from her, but Lydia had never run to someone as fast as she did then. As soon as her arms were around him, she burst into tears. The boy she had loved and lost was no longer lost, but still just as loved. She didn’t know how it was possible for him to even be here with her, but she couldn’t have cared less.
She felt him hug her back, rest his head on her shoulder, and start crying himself. Jason ran his hand up and down her back in an attempt to comfort her, but the sound of him crying only made Lydia cry harder. She had only seen him cry once and it was on the anniversary of his mother’s death, but his sobbing now was nothing compared to the tears from years ago.
After a few minutes, both of them had calmed down enough to be able to speak. Lydia pulled back from the hug and wiped the lingering tears on Jason’s face before going to the sink to dump her now-melted bucket of ice water and grab two glasses of water for the both of them. She guided Jason to her couch and had them both sit down.
She let Jason take a few sips before she asked, “What happened to you?”
Jason was quiet for a moment before he answered, “It’s a long story, but you deserve to know all of it. Joker kidnapped me and kept me in Arkham Asylum for 15 months. He’d come in often and beat me until he was content. He broke my ankle nine times, he let me hang from the ceiling by my wrists and fucked up my shoulders, he fucking branded me, and so much more that I can’t even remember. Throughout my time with him, he made me believe that Bruce had just abandoned me and moved on with his life. He filled me up with so much hate, Lyddie.” Jason was breathing heavily by then and Lydia put her hand over his to comfort him.
“Continue when you’re ready, Jason. I’m right here,” Lydia said softly.
Jason drank some more water and a few minutes later, he started speaking again.
“After 15 months, he taped himself shooting me, made it look like he killed me, and sent it to Bruce. I had surgery to get the bullet out and save my life. After that, Joker just...let me go. I left Gotham for Venezuela and started training a militia to assist me in killing Bruce. I worked alongside Scarecrow and last Halloween, we planned our attack against Gotham. I found Bruce and could have killed him, but I couldn’t. After that, I restarted my life in Gotham and became the Red Hood. I knew I wanted to come see you when I could, but I needed some time to myself. I’m...I’m better now, so I tracked you down and came to see you,” he finished.
Lydia was positive that 15 months of torture from the Joker would make anyone do the crazy things Jason had done as Arkham Knight. He had been alone, confused, and felt abandoned by the man who was supposed to love him. Now, as the Red Hood, Jason seemed to be trying to redeem himself from his Arkham Knight days.
“I’m happy that you’re in a better place now, Jason. You need to continue healing and although I know you’ll never be completely okay, I want you to know that I’ll continue to support you. You obviously know where I live now, so don’t hesitate to drop by when you need anything and I really do mean anything,”
Jason smiled a little and replied, “Thank you, Lydia. It means a lot to me.”
After that, the two talked over anything that came to mind for the next several hours. Lydia did most of the talking, but Jason would listen and chime in every so often. As the sun rose, Jason put on his helmet and said goodbye to Lydia with a promise that he would come see her again soon. Lydia hugged him before he left and watched as he leapt out her window, closing it behind him and giving a little wave. To Lydia, it seemed as if the sun was rising over the new beginning of an old relationship.