Shouldn't Be

Sirens screamed in the dead of night. Most likely on their way to snag another bad guy brought down by the Bats. He would know, he had been there to help apprehend the thugs. On a normal night he might have stayed to watch from the shadows, but tonight was not that night.

It had only been a week since that dreadful night, and his brain had yet to process the information that had been slapped in his face.

That night had been like any other night with the Bats since he had gone solo. They found a lead, chased after the suspect, only to get a blast from the past. The Red Hood was back, but this time it wasn't the Joker. Granted the guise had been used hundreds of times by all levels of criminals. This time it was different. This time it was personal.

Batman hadn't revealed much, if anything, about that night. Of course, he had no need to reveal such obvious information to his former sidekick. The young man already knew who it was. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that it was Jason Todd.

He had been the second Robin once Dick had turned of age and changed his name to Nightwing. He had also been like a little brother to him. When he wasn't training or fighting crime with the Bats, Nightwing was helping him improve on his acrobatic skills, the same ones he'd witnessed when chasing down the Red Hood. There was no doubt in his mind that it was him, but that hadn't meant that he would be able to grasp the situation immediately.

Now there he was after another long night of fighting crime with the Bats sat at the end of his bed, still in costume, as he cradled his head in his hands. With the tornado of thoughts swirling through his brain he hadn't heard when someone had entered his home. He may not have heard the person enter, but he felt their presence.

"You still don't understand any of it, do you," asked the man from the window. When he received no response he scoffed at Nightwing, "tch, figures."

"What do you want," sighed Dick, not once looking at the man at his window.

"Nothing really, just came to see my big brother, but I mean if you want me to leave…," the man trailed off as he made to climb out the window.

"Wait, why did you do it?"

"Do what?" He hadn't even looked away from the window that he now perched on.

"Why did you try to kill the Joker?" When he received no response Dick grew angry. He was frustrated, confused, and exhausted. Why the fuck was Jason Todd back? What the fuck was Ra's al Ghul thinking when he brought the tormented boy back to life? Hadn't the kid had enough already? What kind of sick joke was this? Had he known the impact this would have on the future of Gotham, the impact it would have on… Bruce?

Dick's mind was racing. His emotions were out of control, and he wasn't able to stop the words from coming out. "Why are you even back here? You're supposed to be dead Jason! People aren't supposed to come back to life! All of this wrong! It's all just a sick and twisted joke! You just shouldn't even be here!"

There was a pause as if Jason had been thinking through those words that stung him deeper than he would have thought possible. He knew that Dick was confused. Shit, he was beyond confused when he had found himself in the Lazarus pool. He was right though, this was all wrong and he shouldn't be alive, but there he was perched on Dick's windowsill staring at nothing in particular outside of his apartment. On a normal night Jason would have snapped at someone who spoke like that to him, especially his own brother, but that night was not tonight. Tonight he opted to responding with one simple phrase before disappearing into the night, "tell that to Ra's."

Just like that, he was gone. He hadn't even given Dick a chance to respond before he disappeared. Dick just stood there stunned for a moment before robotically closing the window and curtains and lying down. He needed rest and lots of it to calm his tormented mind. What he hadn't known as he drifted off into a dreamless slumber was that someone had been watching the encounter from the shadows and had heard everything.