Flaming wings don't fly(Jason Todd x OC)

Chapter 54: Burning dreams

Jason drifted into an uneasy sleep, his body exhausted from days of tension and restless nights. Despite the silence of the penthouse, his mind was anything but quiet. As he closed his eyes, the darkness within him stirred, dragging him into a dreamscape he wouldn't soon forget.

He was standing in a sunlit park, the kind that seemed almost alien in Gotham's usual gloom. Jason looked down to find a child tugging at his sleeve—a boy no older than five, with a mop of dark hair and bright green eyes that sparkled with unfiltered joy.

"Daddy, come on!" the boy urged, laughing as he pulled Jason toward a picnic blanket.

Jason's heart clenched. Daddy. The word was foreign and comforting all at once. Another voice sounded from across the park and he looked up to see a little girl with his green eyes and black hair waving to him from where she was weaving flowers into a crown.

He let his son lead him to the blanket, where Aubrey sat cross-legged, her scarlet curls glinting like fire in the sunlight. She turned to him, her eyes filled with warmth that seemed to melt the jagged pieces of his heart. In her arms was a baby, its tiny hand clutching at a lock of her hair. 

"You're late," Aubrey teased, her voice light and musical.

"Traffic was a nightmare," Jason quipped, kneeling beside her. Just then the girl ran up, showing her mother the flower crown she had made, and Aubrey laughed as she let her daughter put it on her head before running off again.

He felt peace. This was the future he had hoped for. And while he knew in his subconscious state that it was all just pretend, this was the happiest he had felt since she left. 

The boy, restless with excitement, bounded to a tree and began climbing. Jason watched, his chest tightening with pride and a faint pang of worry.

"Careful, buddy!" he called.

The boy laughed, waving at him from a sturdy branch. "I got this, Dad!"

Jason turned back to Aubrey, who was smiling at him with a tenderness that felt almost too good to be true.

But then, the sunlight dimmed.

Jason looked up, his heart sinking as the sky darkened unnaturally. The warmth of the moment drained away, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.

"Jason..." Aubrey's voice trembled.

He turned back to her, only to find her face pale and her eyes wide with fear.

The baby in her arms began to cry, its wails echoing unnaturally.

Jason's gaze shot to the tree, where his son was no longer laughing. Instead, the boy was clutching the branch, his face twisted in terror.

"Dad! Help!"

Jason bolted to his feet, his heart pounding as he sprinted toward the tree. But no matter how fast he ran, the distance between him and the tree seemed to stretch infinitely.

"Jason..." Aubrey's voice called again, but it wasn't the sweet composed tone he was used to. This time it was full of fear.

He whipped around to see the picnic blanket engulfed in flames. Aubrey was still holding the baby, but her expression was blank, her body rigid as the fire consumed her.

"AUBREY!"

Jason lunged toward her, only to be stopped by a figure emerging from the flames.

The Joker.

His face was twisted into a grotesque grin, his laughter piercing and relentless.

"Miss me, kiddo?" the Joker drawled, holding a crowbar slick with blood.

Jason's blood.

"Daddy?"

Jason looked to the side to see the little girl, his daughter, in all her perfect mix of his and Aubreys features, looking at him with a confused and fearful expression as she clutched another flower crown. The one she had promised him when she ran off earlier. 

The Joker cackled before taking a step towards the child.

"Get away from them!" Jason snarled, drawing his gun.

But when he tried to pull the trigger, the weapon melted in his hands, the metal pooling onto the ground like molten lava.

"Now, now," the Joker chided, wagging a finger. "That's no way to treat your old man, is it?"

Jason lunged at him, but the Joker sidestepped easily, his laughter echoing like a nightmare made flesh.

"You can't save them, Jason," the Joker taunted, his voice dripping with mockery. "You couldn't save yourself, so why should they be any different?"

Jason's eyes darted to Aubrey and the baby, still trapped in the flames. Then to the tree, where his son's cries had gone silent.

"No..."

He turned back to the Joker, his fists trembling with helpless rage.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock," the Joker sing-songed, raising the crowbar. "You've always been good at dying. Let's see how well they do!"

With a swing, the Joker brought the crowbar down—

Jason woke with a gasp, his chest heaving, his face wet with tears. The nightmare clung to him like a second skin, the images burned into his mind.

He was shaking, his breaths shallow and ragged as he curled into himself on the edge of the bed.

It wasn't real. It wasn't real.

But it felt real. Too real.

A sob tore from his throat, unbidden and raw. He pressed his hands to his face, his body wracked with tremors.

Gypsy whimpered, jumping onto the bed to nuzzle against him. Her warm presence was grounding, but it wasn't enough to banish the shadows in his mind.

Jason sat there for what felt like hours, the echoes of the Joker's laughter reverberating in his skull. The dream wasn't just a nightmare—it was a cruel reminder of everything he feared.

That he wasn't enough.

That he couldn't protect the people he loved.

And that he was doomed to lose them, over and over again.

As the first light of dawn crept into the room, Jason's tears finally slowed. But the weight of the nightmare lingered, a specter he couldn't shake.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep doing this.