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The explosion wracked the warehouse, sending Jason careening. He crashed through the rotted wooden floor and down a level. The landing knocked the wind from him, air gurgling from the wound in his throat. Fire raged, scorching his clothes and filling his lungs with acrid smoke.
Him or you. Him or you. And he chose him.
A frustrated scream came out as a gurgle as blood poured from his wound. He pressed one hand to his bubbling throat as his other desperately dragged himself through burning rubble.
Burning. Smoke filling his lungs. Broken bones screaming. His mother screaming.
The blood made his shirt stick to his chest as he struggled to breathe. It was useless. The blood and smoke filling his lungs made it impossible to get oxygen. He was dying. Again. In a burning warehouse. Unable to breathe. Jason laughed, a choked sound that splattered blood on the floor in front of him. He smiled with blood stained teeth and rolled onto his back. This is how it was always going to end.
He watched the fire rolling across the ceiling. There was no doubt in his mind that Batman had carried the Joker to safety. Jason was never the chosen one. He was never good enough for the Bat. A proud runaway full of bad decisions. He ignored the tear leaking down his temple.
Fuck you, old man.
His body convulsed in a futile and desperate attempt to get air. His fingers curled against the concrete as his back arched. His mouth gaped. His vision tunneled. It was all strikingly familiar. He’d been through it before. I’m not scared, he told himself. I’m not scared. He squeezed his eyes shut.
“You should not be here.”
Jason instinctively rolled away and to his feet, hand reaching for a gun that was long since missing.
Dick stood before him in his Nightwing gear.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded. There was no response as the man stared at him. “If you’ve come to take me back, it’s too late.” He laughed harshly and held his arms out to either side. “There’s nothing left to save.” Still no response.
Something wasn’t right. How did Dick get here from Bludhaven so fast? It didn’t make sense. Jason squinted at the figure which shimmered and, between blinks, transformed. He bared his teeth at the woman now standing before him. “Who the fuck are you?”
The woman stared at him, one eyebrow raised. Her dark eyes bored into him. “What are you doing here?” The question did not seem wholly directed at him as she stepped forward through the flames and debris easily. The fire licked at her black clothing without burning. Her silver ankh necklace bounced lightly with every step.
“Stay back,” Jason warned. He stepped back and glanced down to check his footing. His heart stuttered. At least, it would have stuttered if it had been beating. “What the hell? What did you do?” Jason fell back, away from his own body that was contorted in death on the floor. He landed in fire that didn’t burn him.
“That’s the problem, I didn’t do anything. So how are you here?” She leaned over him. The fire didn’t light her eyes.
He realized he wasn’t breathing. He didn’t need to breathe.
“Tell me, Jason Peter Todd, why are we meeting again?” She placed a hand on his cheek and Jason flinched from the sudden cold. He couldn’t feel the heat of the flames, but her hand sent a shiver down his spine.
“I don’t understand.” He frowned. “We haven’t met before.”
“And yet, we have. In fact, this is our third meeting. You certainly wouldn’t recall the first.” She slid her hand to his temple. “And some memories have shifted or been locked away so you don’t recall the last. Yet you still remember you were brought back. How did it happen?”
“I don’t know,” he found himself saying. His vibrant, almost glowing, green eyes couldn’t look away from her stare.
She smiled kindly. “How intriguing.” She stood, her hand going to her hip. “Now, what to do with you?”
The body on the ground stared lifelessly at the ceiling. The smoke made it impossible to see the sky through the hole the explosion made. He couldn’t see the stars. He now understood what was happening. He understood who the woman was. Death had come for him again.
Jason slowly pushed himself to his feet. “I’m not going to beg,” he said, shoulders back. He was taller than her, but he still felt small as she considered him.
“No.” She smiled. “Some things don’t change.” She chuckled at a joke only she understood. Her gaze trailed from Jason to his body and her smile faltered.
“Just get it over with,” Jason growled. The shock of what happened was wearing off and the pit of anger was building again. He didn’t like the look she was giving either version of him. He didn’t want to draw this out anymore. He was done. He’d proven his point. No one cared. They’d be glad he was gone and dead. Bruce would be glad. The Replacement ecstatic. Dick relieved.
The building groaned, threatening to collapse and bury him.
“I don’t want to be here any more. I don’t want to watch this!” He tried to grab something to throw, but his hand passed through the chunk of concrete. “End this. Just make sure I don’t come back. I don’t want to fuckin’ come back, alright?” He tried to kick a rock with the same outcome, only making his anger worse. “Isn’t it your job to make sure I stay dead? If you had done your job I wouldn’t have woken up in a coffin. I wouldn’t have come back here, I wouldn’t have done all this,” his voice cracked. “It’s all your fault!” He grabbed her shoulder, digging his fingers into her leather jacket.
Death did not react. Her eyes stayed on his body.
“It’s all your fault,” he whispered, slumping forward.
“Some things have not changed, but some things have,” Death sighed. Her eyes slid back to him. “I did not bring you back, Jason. I don’t know who stole you from me. Or for what purpose. But I promise I would not have done that.”
Her calmness cooled his rage. Jason hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now, anyway.” He swallowed. “He didn’t come for me,” he whispered hoarsely. “He didn’t save me. Just like last time.” He pushed back from her, letting go of her jacket.
Death stared at him with a frown. Her lips parted as if she were going to say something, but she was interrupted by a booming voice.
“HOOD!”
Jason startled and looked around. “What the hell?” he muttered.
“Red Hood! Where are you? Jason!” Batman’s shadow was moving through the warehouse. He skirted a particularly bad area and coughed harshly. It was too dangerous for him to reach their section, and the rubble hid Jason’s body from view. “Jay-lad, please! Tell me where you are!” With a frustrated growl, Batman moved to the next floor.
“He came.” Jason stared, eyes wide, at the last place he had seen the vigilante. “He actually came back for me.” He desperately latched onto the anger that was beginning to stutter in his chest. “Fuck you, old man! Why couldn’t you have cared earlier, huh? Why didn’t you just kill him and save me?!” he screamed as a beam cracked above them. “Why didn’t you save me before? Why didn’t you come for me before?!”
Death put a gentle hand on his bicep. “He did come for you then.”
Despite himself, Jason believed her. He fell to his knees in the rubble and fire that couldn’t hurt him. The memory of his last death ended when he died and resumed in his coffin. He didn’t remember any afterlife or Death coming for him. All he knew was smoke and ash and scorching heat and pain and fear. He’d died alone like he knew he would. Like he deserved. He was the one who ran away, just like he was the one that gave the ultimatum. But if he had held on just a little longer, if he hadn’t given up, if he’d been stronger… Would Dad have saved me?
“Jason!” Bruce yelled from the floor above.
He winced at his name and curled into himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
He didn’t hear Death approach. Her steps were silent as she knelt next to him. “Are you ready, Jason?”
The young man looked up at her. “It’s not fair,” he said without blame. It was a fact. A statement.
Death looked at him. The sickly green of his eyes had faded to a teal. She looked at the young man and suddenly saw the scrawny fifteen year old from three years ago. She looked and she saw a soul that was broken and hurt and defeated. She looked and saw an enigma that didn’t make sense and wondered briefly what Destiny would have to say on the matter. Then, she did something she did not normally do. She reached out a hand and pressed it to Jason’s neck.
Her touch was cool against the batarang injury. He waited tiredly for the inevitable, resigned to his fate as the coolness spread through his body.
“I’m sure we will meet again, Jason.” Death smiled quietly as air rushed around them.
Jason blinked and found himself staring up at a cloudy sky. Smoke drifted from the burning warehouse beside him and orange light illuminated the alley. He pushed himself up with a groan, his body sore and sticky from the blood covering his chest. He gently touched his neck and was surprised to find a raised scar where the injury had been. The skin was tender to the touch. Something itched at his memory. A woman in dark clothes with cool hands, but the image was getting harder to picture. It was slipping away, much like a dream.
“Jason!” a ragged voice called from inside the burning building.
The usual flare of anger Jason felt when thinking about Bruce did not surface. Instead, something akin to heartache shot through his chest. It took a minute for him to get his shaky legs to cooperate. He leaned against the brick wall and watched the shadow moving through the fire for a moment. “I’ll see you later, old man,” he rasped as he pushed off the wall and headed for his closest safe house.
Death arrived at the warehouse just after the explosion to collect Sheila Haywood. The woman was still screaming and in shock. It happened with traumatic deaths. Death had seen it time and time again. She approached and gently took Sheila’s hand. The woman whipped her head to her and her eyes widened in recognition.
“I don’t want to die,” she cried. “I don’t want to. I can’t.”
“I’m sorry, Sheila.”
“But I…” She trailed off and looked at the rapidly collapsing building, her eyes landing on a crumpled form in bright colors. “I need more time.”
“Time is not always kind.”
She half-reached toward the boy still clinging to life. “I didn’t do right by him. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I know that.”
“Regrets are a part of life.”
A tear slid down Sheila’s cheek and she wrung her hands. “He was a good son. Be gentle with him.”
Death smiled. “Of course.” She held Sheila’s hand as light enveloped them and Death carried her away.
***
The building was smoldering when she returned. The fires had burned and consumed the building quickly in the barren desert. She stepped lightly over the debris, easily making her way to the boy curled in on himself.
“Hello, Jason,” she said as she sat next to him.
Calm blue eyes met hers. His bright costume was not marred by blood or burns anymore. He held a mask in one hand. “Hello.” He looked back out at the horizon. He was scrawny for his age, shorter than what he could have been, like he hadn’t eaten enough as a child. At least as a younger child, because he still was a child.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes.” A bit of wall cracked and fell. “Can we wait, just a minute?”
Death smiled. “It’s time to go.”
“I know, I’m not asking to stay forever.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “I’m not begging for some miracle, okay? I just…I need to see something.” He shivered and wrapped his arms tighter around his knees. The passing wind did not ruffle the bright yellow cape.
“Alright.” She relented as she slid off her jacket and draped onto the boy.
A dry laugh escaped him. “‘Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me.’”
They sat and watched the clouds slowly move across the blue sky. “I like watching clouds. They’re calming.”
“I prefer stars,” Jason said. He stared ahead, his chin on his crossed arms. “They’re hard to see in Gotham, but I could see them when Bruce took me on trips.” He frowned slightly. “Are there stars where I’m going?”
She smiled. “That’s something you will have to see for yourself.”
A smile finally crossed his lips. “One last mystery.”
A speeding truck rushed toward them and Jason froze. He sat up straighter, eyes trained on the vehicle as it stopped in a cloud of dust.
“Jason!” Batman cried as he tore from the truck and ran for the ruins.
“He came,” Jason whispered. “He really came.” He smiled wide, a slight tremble to his lips. The start of tears was quickly wiped away and he stood. He affixed the mask to his face and dusted off his hands. “Okay. We can go.”
Death stood and took his hand as Batman continued to scour the area.
Jason took one last look back at his father. “I could have been better.” His blue eyes focused back on Death with a bright smile and a wink. “Maybe in the next life, right?”
Death chuckled and led him on to the Sunless Lands.
Hospitals were complicated places. There was so much going on that it was easy to ignore the woman in black who moved along the floor. People apologized as they almost ran into her and dashed to join patients or loved ones. There were many who would be meeting Death for the last time, but there were also those who were meeting her for the first time.
This was one of those happier times.
Death smiled at the sounds of babies and mothers meeting as she passed the open doors. She arrived at the room she was needed. No one noticed as she gently approached the doctor.
“Push again.”
The mother did as asked, her hand tightly holding to the father’s hand.
“You’re doing great, baby.” His eyes were wide as he watched the doctor at the end of the bed.
“One more time.”
She screamed and pushed.
Death smiled as the baby was born.
“A beautiful boy,” the doctor said as he handed the baby to Death. “You did great, Sheila. The nurse will just clean him up for us.”
The baby screamed in Death’s arms as she carried him to the nearby table.
“There’s a healthy set of lungs on him,” a nurse said as she assisted the doctor with the new mother.
“Just like his father,” the man laughed. He pressed a kiss to Sheila’s head. “Don’t I gotta cut the cord? That’s what dads do, right?”
“Calm down, Willis. Let them work.” Sheila leaned against his arm, eyes closed.
The father was practically giddy. “You did so good, baby. A nice strong son. I’m going to give him everything I never had. Just you wait. Man, a son.” He laughed and continued to chatter to the nurse and doctor, leaving Death to her business.
She focused on the baby, cooing as she gently cleaned him. “Hello, little one, aren’t you a cutie.” She smiled and blue eyes stared up at her in a frown. “I know, it’s a very confusing time for you right now. A very big change. But just wait until you see what is out there. So much to look at and explore. So much to experience, both good and bad.” She took him into her arms again, the moment just theirs as the world moved around them. “Take some advice from me, alright? Live as much as you can. Embrace every day. Don’t waste a second of it.” The newborn blinked at her seriously. His expression made her laugh and she nuzzled his forehead. “And don’t be too serious.” She tapped him gently on the nose. “It's time for me to go.” She gently passed him to the nurse. “I will see you again, hopefully after a very full life.”