An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summary:
There’s a flash of green light, and the world starts to dissolve around Jason. Why is it always green light, he has time to wonder, before everything goes dark.
Or,
anach·ro·nism (noun)
1: an error in chronology
especially : a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other
2: a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Characters: Jason Todd, John Constantine, Bruce Wayne
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death, Divergent Timelines, Magic, Angst, Hopeful Ending
Series: Part 1 of Anachronism
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Anemoia - n. nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.
Cia's influence forced many things: Timelines were plucked and twisted, resulting in a war that never happened. There wasn't a hero, so one was made. Sometimes, Link can remember the life he never had.
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(aka I once again couldn’t stop thinking about an idea, so I wrote a fic)
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The horses are tired. It's been a long march with more left to go, and though the war is ever pressing, no one is eager to rush into another battle. A few hours of rest will do everyone good.
Link halts his men at the edge of a creek and quietly passes on what orders he has before heading off to wander on his own. The Captain follows the stream till it reaches a bend and a wide empty field. He looks out across the water and takes in the sounds of the place that is as of yet untouched by the war.
Someone laughs and Link looks around.
Blonde hair catches the light of the sun, and the Captain smiles at the sight of the boy playing in the grass. He remembers those days — catching crickets and helping feed the pigs, when his greatest worry was if the dressmaker in the next town would take him as an apprentice.
Link's smile freezes as the thought slips away, gone so fast he can't remember why he thought something was wrong.
The boy looks up, and the Captain can see the blue eyes and wide smile of the indistinct face. The boy dusts off his hands and jogs to the house that is a little further afield. Link follows behind, closing the simple wooden gate before the youngest pig can escape again. He pushes open the front door and sneezes from the dust. The air inside is stale, and the filthy windows choke the light from outside to a dim glow.
It's familiar and warm, and when the blonde boy snags a chunk of hot vegetable out of the pot over the fire, it feels like home. There is a woman at the small central table slicing bread, her brown hair tied up with a scrap of fabric and her blue eyes shine with mirth as the boy frantically tries to cool his mouth. She wipes her hands on a towel tucked into her belt and runs her fingers through the boy's hair. When she talks her words are unintelligible and incredibly warm, and Link's heart beats to a feeling of home, home, home.
The boy nods eagerly and shoots up the narrow set of stairs to the second floor, nearly plowing into a man on his way down. Link shakes his head. Nothing could make him move like the promise of his mother's stew and fresh bread. Again, the thought slips away before it can be examined, and the Captain reaches a hand to his face to wonder why he is smiling.
He climbs the stairs when the man has passed, skipping over the creaky steps with silent feet. Link meets the boy as the child is stepping out of a side room, hands damp from a quick wash. The Captain steps aside and follows the blonde into a small bedroom. Link lingers in the door, watching the child stuff a handful of things into a wooden trunk before flopping face down on the bed. Midday light streams through a broken window, and the boy reaches under his pillow and pulls out a blue rag doll rabbit. He grins at the toy and rolls onto his back, holding the stuffed animal above him.
There is a shout from below and the boy sits up, shouting back his response. He jumps off the bed and carefully places the rabbit down, its floppy head resting on the pillow. The blonde boy spins on his heel and out through the door, and when he hits Link's chest, the vision fades.
The smell of stale air slams into the Captain and the simple wooden chest has collapsed in on itself. Only Link's bootprints in the dust offer evidence to the path Link followed through the house. The feeling of nostalgia remains, and looking around the abandoned room the Captain wonders what it could be for. He shakes himself and turns to leave, but something catches his attention.
Wood creaks under his feet as the Captain approaches the bed. His fingers stir up plumes of dust when they drag across the moth-eaten bedding and close around the toy, the rich blue cloth untouched by the age that clings to everything else in the house. He runs a finger over the crude pink nose and the imperfect seams, hand sewn with dedication that far outweighs the inexperience of the maker. He wants to bring it up to his face, lift one of the floppy ears and whisper his secrets like a child to a trusted friend.
Instead, Link takes a shuddering breath and wills himself not to drown in the melancholy-warm peace that has made its home behind his ribs. He backs out of the room, retracing his footsteps with unplaceable reverence; Past the washroom and it's cracked clay bowl, down the dust quiet stairs, away from familiar ghosts and impossible memories he doesn't recall until the sun touches his face again.
Once the horses are rested, the troops move on. Link spares a moment to look over the empty field by the bend in the creek when they pass, and he does not understand his expectation to see something more or the homesickness that grows with each step.
"What do you have there?" Impa asks, matching his stride.
Link looks down, confused at the toy in his hands. He doesn't know why he responds how he does, only that it feels true.
Embarking on an Incredible Journey through Different Universes: Exploring the Many Layers of Existence
Describe your life in an alternate universe.
Get ready to go on an amazing adventure that takes you beyond the normal world. We’ll dive into the details of different universes and how they work. Learn about the idea of parallel universes and what it means for how we see the world. Find out more about the interesting ways these other universes might operate and why we’re so curious to learn about…
A Nazi flag waving from the half-destroyed World Trade Center in an alternate timeline seen in Marvel Two-in-One #100, 1983 (and, by extension, #50), by John Byrne, Ron Wilson, et al.
