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Somewhere in a cavern where the light of the sun does not reach a mansion stood surrounded by poppies, where two figure lives
"Brother, I'm bored..."
"Well you've been sleeping and dreaming all day. Can’t say I’m surprised"
"Maybe call all of our siblings so we can have fun with the mortals or a mortal??"
"Please brother, you know how all mortals are the same... They sleep, they grow old if not from our sister, it’s I who oversee their demise"
There was a bit of silence in the room
"Well... there is one who manage to slip out from our grasp, dear brother"
"Are you are talking about Sisyphus, He has already been dealt with centuries ago"
His brother hummed as a piece of paper materialized in his hand
"Ever heard of Jason Todd, Dear Brother?"
"Oh him, I don’t know what the Gods have planned for him but Sister has dealt with his demise before, I was thoroughly impressed how our siblings designed his death, don’t know how it will turn out the second time... Why? Do you have a plan or something?"
"I might have an idea. But let us call our siblings first and see ask what they think of my plan"
"I will summon them dear brother, but I hope this will be entertaining"
Gotham City
Jason is tired, No Jason is fucking exhausted the night he had was just plain chaotic. It was supposed to be a simple drug bust but suddenly it became a full on gang war. Hell it seems like those goons were mad with rage and this was something coming from him, Barbara made sure that it’s not Scarecrow’s fear toxin or any other rogues. So he just brushed it off as one of those nights. He can’t wait to go to his safe house and just sleep when he reaches his safe house.
Entering his place he opens the lights and was met by twenty or more people standing in the middle of his safe house dressed in lavish suits and gowns, Jason quickly pulls out his gun and points to one of them. They just stared at him and all shared a chuckle ignoring the imminent treat.
One of the guy steps forward to him, Jason pulls the trigger but instead of a body falling down the man just steps closer. Did he just miss? No he never miss especially at this distance, then maybe this is a hallucination maybe whatever those goons got manage to infect him as well.. fuck
The man finally spoke to him
“Greetings Jason Todd” the man says looking amused at Jason
“Definitely a hallucination” Jason thought
But the man just showed him the bullet and drops it making a clinking sound as it bounces off to the floor.
Okay maybe it’s not a hallucination and maybe he is just dreaming all this. He was tired after all, he pinches himself and felt the pain
“Oh this is definitely real Jason Todd” The man says again
“Who the fuck are you? and what are you doing here?” Jason growls at his uninvited guests.
The man has the audacity to smile at him
“We are the children of the night, Jason Todd and we have a proposition for you”
“Children of the Night? What are you guys? Some Court of Owls wannabees?”
“No… We are far more ancient than those pieces of meat, much more powerful and if you agree to our terms you will be greatly rewarded”
The man just smiles and nodded as he turns back to what Jason assumes is the man’s twin brother, though unlike the first man that spoke to him this man just look perpetually tired.
"Greetings, Jason Todd, My name is Hypnos, God of Sleep, Twin Brother of Death, and Son of the Goddess Nyx... I came here for a request to keep us" He motioned the group of people behind him “Entertained, if you manage to do that, we are going to reward you something you most desired"
Jason chuckles at that
"Do you really think, I will believe that you guys?” Jason makes a gesture pointing his gun at the people in his room “Are Gods?? “
The tired looking man just smiles as dark cloud of smoke enveloped his body, when the dark smoke recedes; the man is shown to have wings on his temples and wearing a very dark garb, dark as the night.
“Well shit these guys are not joking”
Hypnos then faces the group of people behind him "Well you've met two of my siblings before" as he gestured the two individuals to come forward
"Hello it's nice to meet you again Jason" A young woman greeted
"My name is Ker, I plan and execute the violent deaths of mortals and also guide their souls after my designed has been fulfilled, Your death was one of my greatest plans I have ever executed”
Jason mind just went blank at that statement. This woman, no this bitch was the reason he had suffered so much at the hands of the Joker and to be blown up to kingdom come and she has the nerve to say that his death was one of her greatest design? Fuck that he pointed his gun at this Goddess and just shoots her in the head in which the bullets just phased through her.
He stops shooting her after a few minutes when he hears one of the women of the group just straight out laughs at him. Her hair is in disarray and her eyes are green.
“I just love that you just violently shoot your guns at my sister!! My creation really did a number on you Jason!!”
Jason looks at her confused
“Oh! The name is Lyssa!” she puts her hand in front of Jason expecting a handshake but Jason just ignores it “Grumpy…” Lyssa whispered as she returns her hand to her side
“So what did you do to me?” Jason asked
“Well not me exactly but what my creation did to you” Lyssa smiled at Jason
“And your creation is?”
“Well technically its Hebe’s creation, I was kinda bored because those Olympian Gods were always having a party and they have the audacity to not invite us so I just added something to their drink. But before Hebe can serve it to the Gods, She finds out it was tainted and she threw the contents to this world”
Jason does not like the sound of this story
“You guys named it the Lazarus pit which is totally unfair because I help created it and a guy who was raised from the dead was named after it” The woman actually pouts
Jason looks horrified this goddess created the Lazarus pits out of boredom and spite.
“Oh yeah… I am the Goddess of Madness and Rage so I guess the healing factor of that water is from Hebe and the side effect comes from me!” Lyssa gleefully added
Jason suddenly have a need to sit down, His Life, his fucking death has been nothing but a whim to these deities and here they are again talking to him in person with some weird ass request. Jason took in a deep breath and looks at the group at least they are upfront about it now.
“Okay let’s say I will listen to your request but tell me why are you doing this to me?”
Hypnos just smiles and answers “Because we are bored and your return was rather extra ordinary we don’t even know why you even return to the land of the living. Nemesis says it’s for retribution but she is not entirely sure”
Jason just stares at the God and yells “You fucking tell me I will be dragged to your sick idea of games because you guys are bored??”
“Yes and No” Hypnos answered “Yes because we are bored but No because though it may sound very fun that each of us ask you to do a request, we decided to let fate decide”
Jason warily looks at the three women who were closely sitting together
“Not those Fate!” Hypnos suddenly adds seeming to guess what was Jason thinking ”They are disqualified since they already know the outcome they promise us they won’t spoil it to keep us entertained so we have this!” Hypnos materialized a box in his hand
Jason looks at the Box “and what do I get if I manage to fulfill this request?”
Hypnos ponders at Jason’s question
“Your Father did not avenge you right? And that mortal who did Ker’s plan is still alive?”
Jason froze at the implication
“You are not gonna kill that fucking clown!”
“Who says we are going kill him? If you manage to do our request, I will curse the clown to eternal sleep…”
“Just sleep? You are no better than Bruce!” Jason interrupted
“Oh no~ You see there are fate far worse than Death, Jason Todd. We will give you the Joker you do what you have to do we will make sure that the pain is amplified 10 folds and when he finally request the sweet embrace of Death I will lock him up to eternal sleep where his mind and body will remember every beating you did to him. Think of it as that clown’s personal hell with you as the torturer. You will live your life knowing that clown is forever living the pain that you will cause to him and the street of Gotham will be safe from him because he will never wake up from it ever again”
Hypnos finished his explanation and the smile on the God of Sleep face is truly haunting as he hands the box to Jason
“So Jason Todd you accept our offer??”
Jason is silent thinking about the God’s offer. He looks at Hypnos and finally gives an answer
“You got a deal” Jason puts his hand inside the box and grabs a piece of paper he showed it to the Gods and Goddesses in the room and most of them collectively groan. Jason wonders if he got a deity that will give him a rather easy task. The prospect of the Joker eternal suffering makes him smile. His thought was interrupted when a goddess steps forward from the group, she looks young he notes, if Jason could guess from the appearance she looks about Damian’s age.
“So what’s your request?” Jason asked looking down at the Goddess
“My name is Philotes” She answers timidly at Jason “and this is my task, my brother will make you sleep and we will leave you at a random rooftop on Gotham. When you wake up you must acquire a kiss from the first person you see, but you can’t initiate the kiss the person must be the one who kiss you first and there must be desire in that person’s heart”
A Kiss that’s it? That’s the price for the clown’s eternal torment?
Jason can easily do this! Hell he can just go drop down from the rooftop where he will be drop off and start wooing some lucky bastard from the street, No wonder the other Gods look disappointed when he manage to pick this Goddess. Her task was the easiest thing he could do. He looks at the Goddess and nods to her
“I accept your task” Jason answered
The Goddess smiles at Jason as she waves her hand, suddenly a beam of light cover Jason’s wrist revealing a bracelet made of gold and other precious gems
“There is no time limit with my task Jason Todd, You can use whatever you think is necessary to achieve your goal and when your task is complete this symbol of our agreement will vanish for I am the Goddess of Desire and Friendship”
Jason stares at the Goddess “Wait did you just gave me a friendship bracelet?”
Philotes nods at Jason smiling as she disappears in a cloud of smoke this was followed by the other deities inside his room, suddenly Jason’s eyes felt heavy as he fall to the ground in deep slumber
-------
“Hood!”
Jason groans as he feels he was being shaken by someone
“Wake up!!”
“Hood Wake Up!”
Jason opens his eyes and sees Tim
“Replacement? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? You are the one who was knocked out cold in this roof top, your signal went out and O got worried so she sent me to find you” Tim explained
There was a bit of silence and Tim finally asked
“What happened to you?”
“I dunno might have been hit by some toxins got some crazy dream from it too” Jason puts his hand at his head
“Hood what are you wearing?”
“What do you mean? “
Tim points at his wrist and a sudden wave of memories just rushed to his brain. So it wasn’t’ a dream it was real, the deal he made to the God of Sleep was real, which also mean the task that Jason accepted is also real, which mean Jason has to make the Replacement kiss him. No… the deal is The Replacement must want to kiss him.
Jason pales at this revelation.
Fuck!