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Jason Todd vividly remembers being tortured by the Joker, then dying in a bomb explosion.
He remembers the pain that seemed to last an eternity, before finally stopping.
He knew he was dead when the pain stopped, opening his eyes and finding himself in a field of different flowers under a magnificent clear sky and a sun that did not hurt his eyes no matter how long he looked at it, only confirmed his death.
It was calm, he felt at peace. He walked a little in this field of flowers. He saw many birds flying over him, most of them robins; there were many butterflies of different colors and species on the flowers, as well as ladybugs and bees.
And even though he already loved this place, this peace, he couldn't help but feel sad, to worry about his father and his brother.
And The Death understood it.
They appeared from nowhere, one second Jason was alone and the next a giant unknown being was infront of him.
Well, not really unknown, Jason could say who -what- it was just by looking at them.
They were exactly like in the stories, a long black coat (Jason think it was a coat) with a skeleton's head and hands, holding a scythe. They were tall and they seemed to float, their legs nowhere in sight.
And against all odds, he wasn't afraid of them. On the contrary, Jason felt comfortable with them by his side.
"I am The Death." They introduced themselves. "It's a pleasure to meet you, little Jason."
That's how Jason met The Death.
It was shortly after this that The Death allowed Jason to see his family again.
“I don't want you to see your dead body.” The Death had explained when Jason had asked them to take him to see his father when they met.
It was four days after he died that Jason was able to see his father and brother again.
During those four days, Jason stayed in what The Death called his eternity, the place he belongs now that he is dead.
He learned a lot of things during those four days, like the fact that he had wings, that wasn’t angel’s wings but crow’s wings, and he learned how to fly with it. Surprisingly, flying was easy.
“Why do I have crow’s wings ?” One day Jason asked to The Death.
“Because you are one of my crows.”
“Your crows ?”
“My Crows are souls who works with me but in the world of the living in most cases. Their missions vary; some are chosen while they are still alive and do a few missions before dying; or others, like you, are chosen upon death.” They explained.
“Does this mean I'm going back to the world of the living ?!” Jason asked, excited.
“As a ghost, yes. Sometimes as a real crow.” They answer. “I will be guiding you when you will start.”
“When will I start ?”
“When we will visit your family.”
And now they were in Bludhaven, at Dick’s home.
Before going to his brother’s home, they were at the manor. Bruce was crying and couldn’t hear or feel the touch of Jason when he was trying to comfort him, to tell him that he was fine with The Death at his side.
Jason didn’t stayed long, he couldn’t bear the sight of his father mourning his death. Alfred mourned him too, but more discreetly.
But Dick was different. He could see and hear Jason.
When Dick saw him, he only cried louder, thinking he was hallucinating. And he didn’t believe Jason when he told him that he was real and not an hallucination.
“He can’t see me.” Said The Death when Jason asked them to tell his brother that he was real. “Only mortals with whom I have a strong connection with can see me.”
Jason decided to continue visiting them, even though neither Bruce nor Alfred could see or hear him, even though Dick thought he was an hallucination. They were his family, and he couldn't bring himself to abandon them.
It was the next day that Jason started his job as a Death’ Crows.
It was simple, guiding the lost souls into the Death Realm/World.
There were two ways to do it :
1.To reap their souls with a death's scythe (also called Falx Mortis).
2. Taking one of the lost soul’s hands and walking non-stop, and asking them about what they remember, their lives, making them realized that they are dead, the soul had to tell how they died before they could continue their walk alone until they reach their eternity.
Jason chooses the second one.
His first lost soul was one of a little girl, around eight years old, her name was Iris Jonson. She was beaten to death by her father. Her father had hide her body in his basement. The mother was dead so nobody noticed the death of the little girl.
“There’s nothing I can do for her to have justice ?” asked Jason, sad for Iris.
“One of my oldest Crows liked to take his crow form in this type of situation; he would circle and peck at the police officers until they followed him. He would lead them to the crime scene, to the victim’s corpse.” Explained The Death.
“How can I take my crow form ?”
“Are you sure you want to do that ? You will have to see her corpse, and it’s not a pretty thing to look at.”
“I’m sure.”
That day, Jason took his crow form and annoyed the police until they finally follow him into the man’s house, into his basement.
Iris corpse was horrible, has days of decomposition.
Her father was arrested for murder.
Jason Todd was a Death’ Crow, he was doing his job and visiting his family when he could.
It had been a few years since his death, he didn't know exactly how many because time in the world of the living and the dead did not pass at the same speed.
And he couldn’t help himself with how he looks because, well, you can’t age when you’re dead.
He often visited some of the lost souls eternities when he had the time, he was friend with most of them.
He saw when Tim Drake was added to the family, when Bruce decided to take him as Robin (or maybe it’s more when Tim decided to become Robin and to take Bruce as a mentor).
Jason would have been angry if he didn’t saw how much Batman needed a Robin.
So he just observe, like always.
Tim was a good robin, and a good addition to the family.
Jason was happy to have him as a brother, even if for Tim he was just a dead-ghost brother.
There were times when he wondered if Tim could see and hear him like Dick. Sometimes Tim would look in his direction without saying a word, and sometimes, while on missions, he'd follow Jason's advice. Maybe they were just coincidences, or maybe not.
Jason never had the chance to have an answer because he was resurrected.
When Jason realized that he was alive again, he was not happy about it.
First, he was in a grown man body, taller than before, secondly he didn’t had his wings anymore, so no more flying, he couldn’t even take his crow form anymore !
The Death wasn’t happy about that too.
The first thing Jason did after coming back was trying to kill himself, he wanted to go back in his eternity, to visit his friends again, he wanted to continue guiding the lost souls… His ‘life’ was in the afterlife, not alive.
“One of your brothers need you. And you can’t help him dead.” Was all it needed for Jason to stop, to stay alive, at least just a little longer. Just the time to help his brothers.
Damian Wayne was a child.
He was being trained to be an assassin.
He was Bruce’s son of blood.
And more importantly, he was Jason’s youngest sibling.
And Jason would be damned if he let one of his brothers become an assassin.
So he decided to join the league, doing like he remembers nothing, just to approach Damian and gained his trust.
That took time, a lot of time, but at the end, Jason was able to take Damian to the manor.
(He deliberately ignored the look Talia gave him as he left with Damian.)
Jason left Damian on the doorstep of the mansion, having given him an envelope containing DNA tests that proved Damian was Bruce's biological child.
The Death was at Jason’s side when Alfred opened the door to welcome Damian. They didn't leave until Damian was inside the mansion.
Jason was sure that Alfred saw him when he was leaving, but he didn’t had any time to think about it.
After all, Gotham had a lot of lost souls that needed to be guided, a lot of souls that were in search of justice.
Jason Todd was the Red Hood to the public, someone who killed the villains and killers of Gotham.
Only Gordon knew that he was the one calling for the bodies of the killers victims.
And only The Death and the dead ones knew that he was guiding and avenging the lost souls.
Jason was calling for the corpse of one of the lost souls when Batman decided to arrive.
He didn’t had his mask on, so when Jason turned around, Batman was met with the face of his son he thought dead.
“Jason ?”
Jason silently cursed the entity at his side that had not warned him of Bruce's arrival, the entity that had even told him he could safely remove his mask here.
(The Death sighed, seeing that Jason wasn't happy with this development; but he would later understand why they had decided to do it this way. After all, Jason had a second chance with his family, and they would do everything to make sure he didn't waste it, even if it meant being hated for a little while.)