Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Titan’s tower is a beautiful refuge. Not that Tim needs time away from Bruce or his father, but they can be overbearing at times. If his father isn't hounding him about schoolwork, then Bruce needs help with a case or he needs Robin to patrol with him or he wants Tim to stay and have dinner with him, even if he doesn't really see Tim sat at the table with him. He sees Jason. They both pertend he doesn't. They both pretend Bruce is okay. Like when he laid his son to rest he didn’t also leave a piece of himself in that grave.

Tim doesn't mind, really. He knew what he was signing up for. He saw what happened to batman once Jason died and decided he wanted to help - he needed to help. But god it's exhausting. Sometimes all he wants to do is drop the acts. To stop pretending he's the perfect son with perfect grades and to stop pretending he's Bruce’s dead son. Titan’s tower is the perfect place for that, especially today as it's empty.

He can just relax.

A floorboard creaks behind him.

Maybe he can't just relax. It was probably just Kon back from wherever he was. Or Cassie. Or Bart. He didn’t think they would be back so soon but sometimes missions take less time than expected.

Heavy footsteps.

None of the titans had particularly heavy footsteps but they could just be tired. The unusual gait is definitely not something to be concerned about. It isn't like Tim doesn't recognise it, he’d heard it thousands of time when the owner patrolled. Admittedly it is strange that it sounded like a dead boy is walking down the hallway but there is probably a logical explanation.

It sounds like they are getting closer. Like they are just about to turn the corner. Where is his staff? Not that he needs it. Just so he knows where it is in case he needs it.

“Tim Drake.” A modulated voice calls. That is definitely concerning. Some would even say mildly alarming.

The first thing he notices was the blood red helmet. Light bounces off it, creating a glare that is almost painful to look at. Then he takes note of how tall the guy is. This can't be Jason. Not only because Jason is very dead, but also because this guy is much taller than Jason could’ve ever hoped to be. Tim already knows who this is anyway, it's the Red Hood. Gotham's new crime lord.

"They say you're better than me." The Red Hood announces. Tim isn't really sure what he's referencing, he would be very surprised if he was secretly a crime lord and was a better crime lord than the Red Hood. He tells the man as much.

In Tim's opinion, the laughter is unwarranted. There's the hiss of a helmet opening and... wow. The Red Hood looks just like a young, angry Bruce, if Bruce had a white streak in his hair.

"Lost for words?" He asks as he cocks his head, "Don't worry, so was Bruce. Though I suppose that is to be expected. It's not every day your dead son rises from the grave." He laughs bitterly at that.

Okay so maybe it is Jason Todd then. That's not scary at all. Meeting the person you've been trying to live up to is not an intimidating thing. It isn't like he'd never met Jason. It's just a bit of a shock. A warning would've been nice maybe.

"So, what do you think Tim, are you a better robin than me?" He asks as he prowls towards Tim.

"Yes." He isn't really sure why he said that. Of all the things he could've said, he'd gone and chosen the worst possible response. It was actually quite impressive. In all fairness, it did make Jason pause in his tracks, giving Tim enough time to grab his staff before Jason charged at him.

"Why do you think that? Because you found out Batman's identity. I hate to burst your bubble but he knew. You were watching him and you thought he didn't notice a creepy little stalker, but he knew and he let you follow him, his next disciple. You think you're so special because you figured out the dark knight's identity and no one else did." Every word was followed by a punch or a kick or a swipe, a lunge or a feint. But Tim's good; he's robin for a reason.

"He didn't know," Tim insists, and it's true, Bruce didn't know that Tim was stalking him. Neither did Jason, who let out a cold, humourless laugh.

"Do you think you know Bruce Wayne better than I do? Do you think you're smart enough to outwit the batman? Accept it. He let you know his civilian identity and then he convinced you that you could help him, that you could help Gotham. But you can't trust me, I know firsthand." Tim jumps off the balcony and Jason follows, the floor cracking under the force of his landing.

"Gotham's a shithole. It can't be fixed when you're throwing criminals into the revolving door of Arkham and it certainly can't be fixed by some kid with delusions of intelligence." The blows come faster and with more force than before as Tim is forced to back away.

"So you want me to kill too? To stoop to you're level? You're trying to clean up Gotham the easy way. What if you make a mistake? Kill the wrong person? People can change when you help them." Tim lands a hit to Jason's jaw. He can feel the bone crunch under his fist as Jason's lower jaw moves with his fist, causing his teeth to dig into the flesh of his mouth, cutting it. Blood flies from the open wounds, splattering both of them.

The injury only seems to enrage Jason as he kicks Tim in the stomach. He can feel his ribs crack and splinter as he flies back into the wall, breaking it and landing in a pile of rubble in the next room. Jason emerges from the cloud of concrete powder, the light behind him casting an eerie glow as he looks down at Tim - like he's God about to pass judgement.

He leans over. Slowly. Like he's taunting Tim, and he is. Fingers curl around Tim's staff and pull. It's ripped from his grasp and Jason smiled, straightening. He considers the staff and throws it between his hands as Tim attempts to pick himself up off the ground. He fails as agony, white hot and unrelenting, flairs across his ribs. That's okay. He can still drag his body across the ground. Jason must notice what he's doing because he laughs again. Tim's really starting to hate that laugh.

"Come on boy wonder," He taunts, "you can do it! Get up. Get up and fight me. At least I'm giving you a fighting chance. I never got one."

"Is that what you want? You want to kill me?"

"No. I'm just trying to see how tough you really are." He swings the staff and hits Tim in the back, causing him to collapse back onto the rubble, but Tim persists, continuing to pull his body through the mess of concrete and wood. "Where do you think you're going?" He tuts as he grabs the back of Tim's shirt, picking him up off the ground, "Are you trying to go that way?" He throws Tim's limp body through a door and follows him though.

"If you wanted me to open the door, you should've just asked." Tim manages through bloody coughs, but Jason isn't paying him any attention, he's focused on the room they've entered.

"Statues of fallen titans." He spits, "Where am I? I was a titan. You've got fucking Kole but you don't have me." The laughter comes again, but it's different this time. Less controlled, more manic. He sounds almost out of breath. The amusement quickly turns to anger.

"Where am I?" He repeats, "I died. I fucking died, so where am I?" His fingers dig into Tim's jaw, nails drawing blood as he tilts Tim's head up to look at him.

"Do you want robin back? Is that what you want?" Tim spits. Jason drops his jaw, standing back as Tim picks himself up, ignoring the screaming pain in his ribs.

"Why would I want robin back? I want to be remembered. I want my death to have meant something."

"That's what you want? You think your death meant nothing? I had to convince Bruce to let me become robin, I had to show him that he was destroying himself. I've spent so long trying to be you, pretending not to notice when Bruce looks at me like I'm you. The only reason you're not in Arkham is because he's holding back, hoping you're going to go running back to him. But I know better. I'm not holding back." He throws himself at Jason, kicking him in the stomach. Jason doubles over in pain, a smile appearing on his face.

"Good. That's the robin I've heard about." He straightens up, looking in shock at his empty hands as Tim twirls the staff he took from Jason's hands. Tim charges back at Jason, swinging his staff and managing to hit Jason. He grabs the other end of the staff as Tim attempts to strike him again, once again ripping it from his hands, but instead of using it to attack Tim, he throws it to the side.

"Do you still think you're better than me?" He asks as he punches Tim in the face, a messy foam of spit and blood sprays from his mouth.

"Yes." Tim croaks. He clearly hadn't learnt his lesson and braced for another punch, but it never came. Jason looked down at his bloody, bruised form with disgust. There was the tear of fabric as he removed Tim's robin symbol.

Chapter Text

Fighting Klarion is such a pain. Literally, the guy doesn’t hold back. Tim dodges blasts of energy as he advances on the witch.

“What do you want, Klarion?” He asks through gritted teeth.

“All I want to do is have a little fun.” Klarion giggles, “I heard Batman was out of town and Gotham is the perfect place to sew a little chaos. You probably wouldn’t even notice, the people here are mad enough without me.”

They’d started fighting at the docks when Oracle alerted Tim to some unusual activity but now they were nearing the city center. Originally, he’d thought it was the trafficking ring they were tracking down together but there was no such luck. When Tim arrived on the scene, Klarion greeted him by setting fire to a nearby boat and using his telekinesis to hurl it at Tim. Not cool. Admittedly, responding by swearing and punching the witch in the face wasn’t the most mature reaction but he started it, and he was a well-known villain.

Klarion continues to throw bricks and lamp posts at Tim as he retreats further into the city, entering crime alley. Tim pauses for a moment. Batman had told Tim to stay far away from the Red Hood’s territory after what he’d done in Titan’s tower, but he couldn’t just let Klarion get away - he was far too dangerous. What were the chances that Red Hood would even notice Tim? Pretty high but he’d understand. Well, he probably wouldn’t team up with Klarion to beat Tim up. Hopefully.

A gunshot sounds from the rooftops.

“Klarion.” A modulated voice calls. It was like Tim summoned him with his thoughts. That’s creepy, and a little disturbing.

The witch turns to face the Red Hood as he drops from the roof of a nearby building, landing with a heavy thud.

“Get out of Crime Alley and I might let you keep your life.” He snarls as he prowls closer to them.

“How would you kill me?” Klarion giggles, “Dr Fate can’t kill me, what makes you think that you can?” He lifts a chunk of the road up and launches it at the Red Hood who spins out of the way. It was a bit offensive, he only threw bricks at Tim, but the minute Jason arrives, he ups his game and starts throwing roads at people. Jason shoots at Klarion again, who teleports out of the way. Unfortunately, this puts Tim in the way and he is forced to duck out of the way of the bullet.

“Some people have no spacial awareness.” He mumbles as he brushed himself off. He thought he was pretty quiet, but clearly not quiet enough as Jason snaps his head over from where Klarion had appeared to look at Tim.

“Leave. I don’t need any bats in my business.” He tells Tim before turning back to face the witch.

“This is my fight and, incase you hadn’t noticed, we’re in Gotham. It’s difficult to not have a bat in your business here. If you don’t want to deal with any of us then maybe you should move to Metropolis.” Tim snaps back.

“It’s my fight now. This is my territory. Leave.” Jason insists, dodging a blast of energy as Tim darts forward.

“You can’t make me leave now. Once Klarion is dealt with, I’m more than happy to be on my merry way. But until then I’m staying.” His staff connects with Klarion’s open palm.

“If you’re in the way then you’ll get shot.” Is the only warning Tim gets before Jason fires again. He doesn’t manage to dodge in time and his arm gets grazed. The pain is nothing compared to what was inflicted on him in Titan’s tower, but it definitely isn’t pleasant. Tim makes a mental note to avoid gunshot wounds in the future.

Klarion hurls a fireball at Tim who ducks throwing a smoke bomb at him as he rolls away. He hears a hiss of irritation.

“That’s it. You want to use your fun gadgets? That’s okay. I can have fun too.” He snarls and starts whispering something in another language. Tim gapes as a fiery dragon appears. Not good. Dragons are definitely above his pay grade. He turns to look at Jason but can’t find him. It wasn’t like Jason to flee from a fight, then again, it wasn’t like him to go around attacking unsuspecting robins in Titan’s tower, but death probably changes a guy Tim considers. He should probably start running.

The dragon chases after him, spitting fire. Tim briefly turns around to throw a batarang at the witch, but quickly abandons the attempt as the dragon gets close enough to tinge the hairs on his arms. This was not good. Very not good. Some would even call it bad. He needs a plan.

“Witch!” Jason shouts. Maybe he’d decided that leaving Tim to fight a dragon made from fire was unreasonable. This was good, Jason could help Tim with the dragon and… he was holding a cat? Why was he holding a cat? Tim had always thought he was more of a dog person.

Klarion seems rather angry by the appearance of the cat, angry enough that he calls the dragon off Tim and sends it towards Jason. He must really hate cats.

“Don’t. I’ll shoot the cat and then you’ll be stuck, won’t you?” He commands, holding a gun to the cat. That made more sense than a deep hatred for cats.

Klarion holds his hands up and causes the dragon to disappear.

“I will leave. Return the cat to me.” He says as he levitates. Jason’s grip on the cat loosens and it jumps out of his arms before he can stop it. The second the cat leaves Jason’s arms, Klarion smirks and creates a portal beneath Tim and Jason’s feet. “Thank you.”

They fall.

Scanning the area he's landed, Tim realises he can't see Jason anywhere. Should he be concerned or relieved? On one hand, Jason did attack him unprovoked, causing Tim to be stuck in the medbay for weeks - it was lucky his parents were away at a dig. On the other, it would be beneficial to have some company in this strange new place, and Jason was trained as a robin and by the league of assassins, he would definitely have useful skills. It would be best to find Jason and make a plan from there. He was more likely to cooperate with Tim now he thought - Jason was as stuck as Tim was and he wasn't stupid, their best bet of survival was together.

He feels a crunch as he steps forward and freezes. Slowly moving his eyes down, he looks at what he stood on. It wasn't a branch as he'd thought, as he'd hoped. It was a head. What was left of the face was barely recognisable as human; lifting his foot, he nearly vomits as chunks of flesh and shards of bone cling to his shoe, strands of blood and skin stretching as he lifts his shoe higher. The blood is clumpy, half congealed but stringy at the same time but it doesn't look nearly as bad as it smells. Being a vigilante, Tim has a strong stomach, but nothing could've prepared him for the stench emanating from the decaying head. A wave of nausea hits him and he vomits. But it isn't food, it's dark red, almost brown. He lowers himself to the floor and, ignoring the rising nausea, touches the liquid. Blood.

This was okay. He'd thrown up blood before. Usually he was more injured, but maybe it was some sort of side affect from the teleportation. He is not dying. Throwing up blood is a perfectly normal activity in a place littered with rotting corpses. He really needs to find Jason. His robin will help him. He will know what to do. Yes! Robin will know what to do. He will help, he always helped. No need to panic, just find Jason, find robin. Easy, he's been doing that his whole life.

Where would Jason be? He plants his foot back in the remains of the head and spins around in a circle, ignoring the feeling of the head continuing to fracture under his foot. He can't see any signs of life, only gnarled, twisted trees and corpses. He might be able to hear Jason, it was very quiet here, and sound can carry very far. He listens for any sounds, footsteps or curses. Anything. But he can't hear a thing.

Has he heard anything since he's been here? He can't remember. He doesn't think so. He didn't hear the head collapse under his foot, he felt it. Oh god. Was he deaf? How would he find Jason if he couldn't hear him or see him? He could call for him. Jason would hear him. When he tries shouting Jason's name, no sound came out. Torn between panic and relief, he inhales slowly. He probably isn't deaf then, he would get his hearing back once he left here. But that means no sound travels here, it'll be more difficult to find Jason.

The sky above him darkens and it starts to rain. He lifts out his hands to grab some water, he didn't realise how hot he'd gotten. It would be good to cool off in the water. Water doesn't normally wriggle, does it? He inspects the thing he's caught in his hands. A small white bug, a maggot. Placing it between his thumb and forefinger, he inspects the writing maggot more closely. It was rotting; mould clung to it's body. He ripped it in half. It continued to move, but blood didn't ooze out as he expected. So clearly it couldn't die.

While he was inspecting the maggot he'd caught, the ones that fell to the floor crawled towards him. One bites his leg and he drops the maggots he was holding. He rips the maggot off his leg, taking a small chunk of flesh with it. He is trapped, seemingly alone with human-eating maggots. Not ideal. He really needs to find Jason and go home. There is nothing he wants more than to go home and see Bruce now. He's sick of this eerie place without sound.

He choses a direction and starts walking. The maggots follow his movement. Gross. As he walks further he notices maggots lie, unmoving on the floor. It's almost like they're actually dead, but that's not possible. Tim literally ripped one in half and it didn't die, so how did these ones die? Maybe he met a freak immortal maggot and all the rest could die. He isn't particularly eager to test that theory.

The dead maggots do confirm one thing though, there was someone else here, and Tim was willing to bet that person was Jason. He sure as hell hoped it wasn't Klarion. Unfortunately, they were probably walking in the same direction, so Tim has to run to catch up with them. That's easy enough, he spends most of his nights leaping between buildings, a little jog is nothing.

He breaks out into a run, following the path of dead maggots. After what feels like an age, he can see something in the distance. As he nears, he can make out the shape of Jason dual wielding some sort of swords on fire. Whatever they are, they can kill the maggots, and that's all Tim needs to know to advance on Jason eagerly.

Jason doesn't let on that he's noticed Tim until Tim's pressed against him, trying not to impede his movements. He doesn't seem to mind, if anything he sags with relief. It takes a while, but eventually Jason kills all the maggots and they both relax. Jason grabs Tim's arm and nods in the opposite direction to where Tim came from.

They're going that way then. He seems to know what he's doing. Maybe Jason had been here before. That's how he knew the fire would kill the maggots, and that's why he knows what direction to walk in. Tim didn't know much about what Jason did in the time between his resurrection and appearance as Red Hood, other than that he was trained by the league of assassins and this definitely seemed like the kind of training they'd do.

They trudge along the monotonous landscape in silence - not that they could talk if they wanted to - until it begins to change, the trees become more sparse and the corpses stopped appearing at some point. The further they walk, the more tired Tim gets. He's almost getting dragged along by Jason when they finally escape all the trees.

Jason stops suddenly and coughs. He coughs, and Tim can hear it. He wants to cry with relief. The forced silence was stifling him. He looks at Tim then, and suddenly he wants to shrink away. How could he fight Jason in this state? He was exhausted.

"You're tired." It wasn't a question. Jason crouches down in front of him. Tim doesn't know what to do. "Come on. We'll be faster if I carry you." Of all the things he thought Jason was doing offering a piggyback was not one of them, but who was Tim to refuse such a gracious offer?

"You can sleep. It will take a while to get back." Jason tells Tim, and Tim falls asleep as Jason continues to trek through the land.

Tim wakes up to a shake. It's kind of annoying, he was having a great dream.

"Tim, wake up. You need to eat." That voice is oddly familiar. Where is he anyway? This doesn't feel like his bed. It feels like a sofa. A cheap, lumpy sofa. "Thanks." Oops. He didn't mean to say that out loud. He should probably open his eyes and apologise.

The slither of light that enters his eyes as they crack open makes his head throb, it feels like he's being stabbed by white hot knives repeatedly.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't think about the light." The voice says. It's a nice voice. Comforting. There's the flick of a switch and the light disappears. "That should be better."

Tim manages fully open his eyes and is met with Red Hood dressed in civilian clothes. He looks around in alarm, his staff is nowhere to be seen. Was he disarmed? Why was he in the Red Hood's flat? Were they going to fight again?

Red Hood shoves a sandwich in Tim's direction. He eyes it suspiciously.

"Not poisoned." Hood says. Tim's disbelief bust be visible because he sighs and takes a bite. "Bruce is off world at the moment, so I've contacted Alfred and Dick and they should be over to pick you up in a bit." He reaches over to the table and grabs a thermometer from the medkit on it. "Come here, I need to check your temperature. Those maggots are nasty things, they can cause serious illness the bite is not treated." Tim's hesitance seems to frustrate Jason as he leans over and shoves the thermometer in Tim's mouth.

They sit in silence as they wait for the thermometer to read Tim's temperature. The beep announcing his temperature was ready makes them both jump. Jason inspects the reading and nods.

"You'll be fine. Make sure you keep your fluids up and I'll be over to change the dressing once a day. Keep away from chlorinated pools for a few weeks - the chlorine makes the bite act up for some reason." Jason drones on.

"Have you been there before?" Tim interrupts, "Is that how you knew that fire would kill them?" A strange look passes over Jason's face.

"Yes, I've been to hell before - not when I died, Constantine needed something and I owed him. To answer your second question, fire doesn't kill them."

"But-"

"Don't interrupt me, Jesus, kids have no respect these days. I used the all blades. They're magic."

"Why don't you use them more? They seemed pretty useful."

"They draw on my soul for power, which is pretty nasty, and they can only be used in the presence of true evil." They sit in silence for a moment before Jason starts fussing over Tim's leg and repeating his previous instructions.

The doorbell sounds and Jason grabs a gun before going to get it. There's the sound of muffled talking and Tim can hear Jason repeating his instructions again as they get closer. Dick and Alfred round the corner and take in the sight of Tim lying on the sofa.

"Dr Fate caught Klarion, I thought you'd like to know." Dick addresses Jason and Tim, "Can you walk?"

"No he can't." Jason tells him.

"I can speak for myself." Tim protests as Jason raises an eyebrow, "But he's right, I can't." Dick starts towards Tim, but Jason's there first, picking Tim up.

"I can take him to the manor with you. I need to show Alfie how to change the dressing anyway, it needs to be done a very specific way." Alfred doesn't look impressed by the implication that he doesn't know how to change a dressing, but nods and they head outside to the car.