ILLUSION || Jason Todd

FIFTY-EIGHT

❝IF YOU HAVE TO GO

BE MY GHOST

HOPE YOU HAUNT MY DREAMS❞

MEGHAN TRAINOR, AFTER YOU

Waking up from a nightmare infused sleep left Lorelei gasping for air as she clutched her bedsheets. It was another sleepless rest filled with pictures and sensations of Jason dying. His pain battered through her body with the residual energy her artificial abilities clung towards.

Time wouldn't heal this wound. Unlike her previous nightmares, the memories of her time with Joker and Scarecrow alike, these were never manageable. The ice blonde mage could relive her own pain a thousand times without batting an eye and it only takes one nightmare for her to crumble and crash with the loss of Jason.

But Lorelei was immortal now. This was her future. Waking up with a heart beating impossibly fast with a thin layer of sweat lacing her body. Jason's death would never leave her, no matter how desperate she wished to have a second of peace without pain and agony and her heart shattering to enjoy the last moments they could ever spend together; even if those moments would never waltz to the sounds of reality.

Her morning jog had taken longer than it typically had this morning. Her mind had too many wonders, too many thoughts lingering in the back of her abyss. As her thoughts eventually drifted from Jason, the break defining the findings from her ventures last night overruled her ponders. There was no use in fighting the gravity of her situation as she cleaned up for the day, wearing the most casual outfit she could find before wasting no time in finding Thea.

"Thea?" Lorelei spoke as she walked into the library. Her footsteps creaked under the hardwood floor as Thea turned towards the young mage, a smile drawing on the elderly woman's face that Lorelei couldn't bring herself to return.

"No breakfast this morning?" Thea asked, setting up the necessary books for whatever lesson she had planned for the day. It wasn't an unusual sight, this was typically Thea's morning routine while Lorelei ate breakfast.

Sometimes, Lorelei would even bring her breakfast to the library so they could start her studies earlier than scheduled. That was an almost daily routine when Jason just died, the young mage wanting to fill the hole he left gaping as his death remained true. Her night terrors were never ending, only flourishing a growth sprout with her slumbers.

"No, we have to talk first." Lorelei spoke, bringing her hands close together as she adjusted her maxi skirt.

"I know that look, Winston's said something." The surrogate grandmother stated, her stare firming as Lorelei let out a shrug.

It was not surprising Thea was so quick to notice a difference within Lorelei, a teacher knew these things after many years of teaching the one student. "Did you help create the elixir?" She asked, her hands clasping in front as her weight shifted on foot.

Lorelei's stare kept still with determination as her amethyst eyes kept its stare towards Thea. The elderly woman let out a chuckle at the question, her head shaking before giving out her own shrug. "Which one, munchkin? I've made a lot of elixirs in my days."

"Don't play dumb, you know which one I'm talking about and I want my answers." The ice blonde mage stated, her words falling sharp with a warning around the room.

"Have it your way, then." Thea sighed, waving off Lorelei as she turned back to her books. "Yes, I was there with that Scarecrow. I told you, I was heavily involved."