Written for Day 2 'Lazarus' of JayBabs Week. I know it's late, but I thought this prompt was interesting, so here goes!
Title: Who Are You To Me?
Author: evianacid
Category: Batman/Young Justice
Word Count: ~800
Rating: T
Pairings: Jaybabs
Summary: An amnesiac Barbara climbs out of the Lazarus Pit and meets someone who she thinks she should know...
Barbara felt the chemicals of the Lazarus pit coursing through her body, filling each blood vessel with reinvigorated energy. By then, the burn had faded and she was left with nothing...nothing but liquid life running through her veins.
Heart pumping, she swam to the surface, spluttering when her head broke through the glowing green waters. Renewed, she pushed with all her strength against the edge and hurled herself out of the pool, landing hard on the bank.
“Barbara?” A voice wafted over, hesitant and uncertain. She looked up to see a dark-haired man wearing a leather jacket and carrying a shiny red mask.
“That’s my name.” She stated, opening her mouth and closing it after realizing that she had nothing else to say. She only knew her first name. Barbara.
“Yes. Barbara Gordon.” The man said carefully, approaching her. He held out a gloved hand and, taking hold of her, hoisted her up to her feet. “So you don’t remember anything else about your life?”
The darkness of the cave, combined with the neon green coloring of the Lazarus pool, created an eerie glow that made the man’s dismayed expression seem even more unsettling. “Yes. What happened?” She heard herself ask, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“You saved us all.” He said. Here, his voice broke, and she recognized the glint of fresh tears sliding down his cheek. “We all thought you were gone forever.”
“We?” Barbara asked, mystified.
“Dick. Bruce. Alfred. Tim. Stephanie. Cassandra. Damian.” The man said, bowing his head. He looked up at her hopefully, as if the list of names might jog her memory. When she didn’t react, he continued. “Wally. Artemis. Donna. Ted. Dinah. Helena. Zinda-”
“Stop.” She gasped, feeling overwhelmed. A tear slid down her cheek and dripped onto the cavern floor. Her heart raced as dread overpowered her senses- though she had lost her memories, the same could not be said for her emotions. Each name filled her with a different feeling- enough feeling to make her panic. It was a scary thing to feel so much and not know why. “Please stop.”
“Oh god, Babs. I’m so sorry,” he choked out, devastation coloring his face at seeing the pain she was clearly in. He fell to his knees. “It was my fault. All my fault.”
Barbara stared at the man crouched at her feet, not knowing what to say. “What do you mean?” She finally asked.
“The invasion. If I hadn’t been so stupid- If I hadn’t gotten myself caught, you wouldn’t have had to-” He wiped his wet eyes furiously. She noticed that one of his dark-blue eyes was bruised and blood-shot. “It was all my fault.” He sobbed again, shoulders shaking underneath the burden of his grief.
Invasion. Caught. Jason. The last word shook her with a jolt, a sudden burst of electricity that stroked every nerve in her body. “Jason.” She said, voice coming out strong and clear. “You’re Jason.” She had never been more sure of anything in this new life.
He looked up. “You remember?”
She stared down at her hands, noticing a burn scar slowly fading. In moments, her skin was smooth and unblemished. “Only your name,” she confessed. She looked into his eyes and summoned up the nerve to ask a question she had been afraid to voice. “Did I die?”
“Yeah. You sacrificed yourself blowing up the mothership.” Jason pointed to the bruise on his eye ruefully. “This here was from Dick. He still won’t talk to me.”
Dick. “Those people you named-” She said hesitantly. “Who are they to me?”
“Your family. Your friends.” He got to his feet and brushed the dust off his knees. “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her invitingly. “They’re waiting outside.”
Barbara took his hand, feeling completely overwhelmed again- she had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time today she would feel this way. Not even the last time in this hour, probably. As they walked out of the dark cave and into the sunlight, where she could faintly see the silhouettes of a dozen or so people waiting, she asked another question.
“And who are you to me?” She turned to his face expectantly, waiting for an answer.
However, he remained quiet, seemingly agonizing over how best to answer the question- she could tell in the furrow of his brow that he was warring with himself. The familiarity in which she read his face surprised her, but the skill was present nonetheless. That’s how she knew when he squared his jaw and turned his gaze reluctantly away from her that he had made his decision.
When he spoke, his eyes were filled with a pain that she slowly recognized to be guilt…and self-hatred. For what, she didn’t know. But what she did know was that she didn’t believe his next few words. “No one at all.”
