Blood of the Skull

Do you want to talk about it? Jason, please talk to me. What happened? That's one thing Jason refuses to address: his past. But when an old enemy returns and threatens a certain Babybird; he has no choice, but to confront the past.

WARNING: This story contains abuse, suggestive themes, self-harm, suggested rape, violence, and language (mainly from Jason). I do not own Batman or anything related (if I did Damian would not have died).

This is my version of Jason Todd before he became Robin. The story takes place in the present as well as flashbacks. This story contains references to Breaking Point, but it will make sense if you haven't read the Breaking Point.

Chapter 1

Tim's POV

Present Day

I hadn't seen Jason in months. He had been with the Outlaws doing….. Well, I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. Knowing I wouldn't get a straight answer, I didn't even bother asking. Jason does not like questions. But he was finally home. But Jason was only home for the weekend. We had become somewhat close and honestly, I missed my older brother. Almost a year ago, I was going through a really hard time and I basically tried to kill myself, but Jason had saved me. He even gave me his old costume. Dick thought it would be a good idea for us to have some "brotherly bonding time." But the real reason is that Dick is worried about me. He's probably thinking that I'll tell Jason if something is wrong. Truth is that I've been really busy with the Titans while Dick has been too busy with Damian to notice if anything's even wrong with me. So I haven't really been eating or getting enough sleep; I've just been so busy. So everything was settled I would be spending the weekend with Jay.

*******Break********

Dick walked me to the door of Jason's new apartment. Jason stood in the doorway, smoking. He was wearing jeans in the beginning of winter. A bright red image of a skull was tattooed on his right upper bicep. Has he always had that?

"Jason, I need to talk to you for a minute." Dick said.

Jason looked over at me. "Up the stairs, take a left." He added, before dropping his cigarette on the ground.

Apparently those were the directions for my temporary bedroom. Just as I entered the apartment, I heard Dick mention my name. Great. They were already talking about me.

Whoa, Jay's apartment is actually kinda nice. Two bedrooms, a decent sized bathroom, kitchen, a sitting room, and a garage. The rooms were modern and nicely furbished. It didn't even smell like alcohol, cigarettes, and beer yet. Plus the apartment had access to the roof and it was secluded. Great for patrol.

I dropped my duffel bag onto my bed and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Jason stood in my doorframe a few seconds later.

"I'm hungry. You ready to get something to eat?" he asked.

"I guess so. Where are we eating?" I asked.

"We'll walk down a couple of blocks to a diner."

"Sounds good. Um Jay... you are going in a shirt right?"

********Break********

Jason was sitting across from me wearing a light under shirt and his leather jacket in a booth in an old rundown diner. It was freezing outside. How is he not cold?

"You know what you want yet?" he asked while keeping eye contact with his menu, returning me from my thoughts.

"Um I'm not really hungry."

His eyes left the menu and narrowed upon my face.

"But I guess I could get a cheeseburger." I said quickly.

"Hey babe!" Jason called out towards our trashy waitress.

She had bleach blonde hair, wore way too much makeup, her uniform was way too tight and revealed cleavage, she was wearing like 6in heels, while smacking gum. She clunked over towards our table and immediately took a seat beside Jason. She pressed her painted scarlet red lips against Jason's and she began attacking his face and hair with her hands. Gross. They came up for air and she immediately turned towards me.

"Who's the kid?" she asked, no longer chewing gum.

"Vickie, this is Tim, my little brother." Jason said before popping the gum, that he now had in his mouth and placing his hand on her ass. Disgusting.

"We'll have a couple of cheeseburgers." Jason said.

She stood up. "I'll put it in for you. You wanna come over tonight?" She asked while kissing his ear.

"Cant."

She stood up and narrowed her eyes at me. "You can't find someone else to babysit?"

"No." Jay answered sternly.

"What about tomorrow?" She asked a little more hopeful.

"I'll think about it."

She smiled, and clunked back into the kitchen.

Jason turned his attention back to me. "What?" he asked.

"How long have you had your tattoo?" I asked wanting to change the subject.

He got this blank look in his eye. "Does it matter?" he growled.

"Not really... Were you drunk? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." he answered coldly.

At that moment, she returned dropping two chipped plates of grease dripping cheeseburgers with bubbling greasy fries in front of us. Gross.

*******Break********

I drew my hoodie closer to my face and stuck my hands into my pockets as we stepped outside. I could see my breath. It was freezing. The sun had disappeared into the night sky. Jason didn't even seem to notice. How is he not cold?

We started walking back towards his apartment. I saw him glance at a crumbling building in Crime Alley. I stopped walking. He noticed my lack of footsteps and turned to face me. My attention was on the crumbling building.

"What was that building?" I asked turning to face him.

His face remained expressionless and unreadable. "A building."

I stepped closer to him. "Is that where you lived? Do you want to talk about it? Jason, please talk to me. What happened? I promise I won't judge you."

His eyes narrowed and his tone was icy. "I'm not here to play twenty questions. If I wanted to talk about it, I would have said something. Just drop it."

I avoided the wrath of his piercing eyes and looked back at the dilapidated building. I thought I could see someone standing by the building. It was almost like they were watching us closely.

I turned back towards Jason. "Jay, do you see someone over there?"

His gaze swept Crime Alley, but he didn't focus on anything. He shook his head a moment later. "No, you're probably just imagining things."

I turned my gaze back to the building and I was met only by darkness. "But, I…"

I decided to drop it, he was probably right. We continued walking towards the apartment, leaving Crime Alley behind us and probably memories of Jason's past.

The next chapter will set the stage for Jason's past!