A retired magician raises a bucket daily

Everything in front of him blurred and dissipated like clouds and smoke, and he came back to his senses again, the space between his arms had become empty, and the surroundings had become empty and chaotic, like ink poured into clear water, spinning, spreading and changing.

Reed stood up, and there were whispers in his ears, men, women, old people and children, crying and laughing, some were scolding loudly and some were mourning softly.

He seemed to be watching a documentary called 'The First Half of Jason Todd'.

In the documentary, sometimes Jason will see him and talk to him, sometimes he can't see him. They seem to be in two worlds. He is doing his own thing, but he also seems to be influenced by Reed.

Reed watched as the skinny boy in an ill-fitting overcoat stood in front of the mound, clumsily placing a bouquet of clean white flowers on it.

It was a rare fine weather, the sun dyed the clouds orange, the world was on fire, red climbed up the branches, climbed up the tall buildings in the distance, climbed up his eyes, the boy stood there, seemingly at a loss what to do.

"Not long ago, she told me that she wanted to live a good life. She said that she wanted to change a place to live with me."

He stood like a tree, and whispered, as if he was muttering to himself, and seemed to be talking to Reed.

"I went to work today." His eyes fell on the few white flowers with dewdrops on them. He didn't have the money to buy a cemetery, so he could only find a barren grassland and dig a hole to bury her body in. , "I bought a bouquet of flowers."

The woman's body was thin and yellow, her eye sockets were deeply sunken, it was completely different from what he remembered, she was no longer gentle or beautiful, but the boy just closed her eyes in silence.

"I don't want her to steal the flowers she took when she left."

His voice was soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing the dead souls sleeping under the soil.

The time here is like a roll of old film that keeps rolling, occasionally stopping to play a part of it randomly.

And the boy in the film grew bigger, his eyes became sharper, and he became more and more confused.

Reed stands in the night rain in Gotham, cold raindrops penetrate his body, the boy hides in an abandoned shop, wearing a worn cotton coat, a white cat sleeps in his arms, He lazily stroked the cat's fur. The glass of the shop was broken, the wind and rain were raging outside, and it wasn't very warm inside, but he couldn't find a better place.

The boy was working as an apprentice in a small car repair workshop, and the teacher who taught him often scolded him and beat him when he was drunk, and his wages were always deducted. The thin arm twisted the wrench.

......

He saw the boy go to steal the tires of the Batmobile, and was caught by Batman on the spot. The two of them had a fight. To be precise, it should be a one-sided suppression. The knight picked it up.

The boy stared at Batman as if he were staring at Reed, silently accusing Reed of not coming to help him.

But Reid just shrugged, saying that he should not be able to beat him.

......

He might have had the happiest time he'd ever seen Jason.

The boy was adopted by the rich in Gotham, and got everything he dreamed of, even family affection.

Reed watched as Jason proudly became a heroic bird on a Gotham night.

He spends his days gaining knowledge at school, and at night he puts on his uniform to drive away the darkness of the city.

Occasionally he has to deal with his elder brother who climbs the window to battle.

I met many like-minded friends in Titan.

His father is occasionally strict, always urging him not to forget to do his homework and not wanting him to go on night watch, but concern always follows; Afu often sneaks out a little cookie from Bruce's share and stuffs it in Jason's For that share, I hope he will grow up quickly, although Mr. Butler's cooking is not so delicious except for the cookies.

And the elder brother who ran away from home gradually accepted him, sometimes taking him out on a motorcycle to play.

everything is fine.

until the clown shows up.

Reed appeared in a new scene again, he saw Jason, and this was a strange room.

Jason was lying on his side on the ground, his body was in a torn uniform, his face was covered with blood, and he was covered with scars from beatings.

A man with green hair, wearing a purple suit, and a creepy, crazy clown make-up on his face is holding a crowbar.Blood was dripping from the tip of the stick, and one or two drops fell to the ground. The only sound in the room was Jason's ragged breathing.

Reed rushed over and took his face in his hands.

The magician was very distressed. He sent all the magic power into the boy's body, but this time it was useless. Jason's body seemed to have a bottomless black hole. The magic power was swallowed up bit by bit, but there was not even a single scar. cure.

Reed was reflected in Jason's ice-blue eyes, and some spirit finally jumped out of the empty pupils.He opened his mouth with difficulty, but nothing came out.

He was alone, trapped in this darkness, his nostrils were filled with the rusty smell of his own blood, his limbs were heavy and unable to move,

He was so tired, the clown whispered in his ear, bewitching him, laughing at him, trying to make him crazy and make him lose himself.He stood up countless times, and then his legs were knocked out countless times.The wound clings to his flesh and blood, and obscenities pass through his ears.He whispered in his heart: Can someone come and save him?

But no, he waited for a long time, but no one showed up.

"I'm here." The magician wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, feeling that a piece of his heart had been dug out, "Does it hurt?"

He hummed insignificantly.

Look, doesn't this still remember me?I hadn't been forgotten.

The clown was still talking, and he smiled with a crazy look in his eyes, "Hmph, it's been so long, Batman hasn't found you yet, he's lost hahahahaha, I've filled this room with bombs."

"So I told him the address, hee hee hee, I want to be here one second before he comes here," he raised the communicator in his hand and made an explosive movement, "Bang them, Then blow you up!"

He lowered his head, leaned closer and said to Jason, "Little Bird, what do you think the expression of that little bat will be like?"

"Will he be crazy? Will he try to kill me?"

"Or after seeing your death, still stubbornly put me back in the mental hospital?"

"You... lunatic!" Jason struggled to support his body, his bones seemed to be broken a lot, and the open wound on his body was oozing blood continuously, he gritted his teeth, his voice was hoarse, and he said every word Say, "I'm going to kill you!"

"I'm so scared, little bird, how are you going to kill me?" The clown smiled exaggeratedly, "Here? With your eyes?"

"Oh my god, little bird, I just realized you're so cute." He nodded Jason's nose, and Jason turned his head away in disgust, but the clown smiled even more happily, "I'm a little bit reluctant to let you It's dead like this~"

Of course he can kill you.

Reed thought.

He used his magical power to bloom flowers on the wasteland, and the gorgeous flowers spread to the entire hillside. Those petals were blown up by the wind from afar, and they fell on the weak body under the soil, sending a blessing of flowers .

He walked through the rain curtain of Gotham and sat beside the boy. They leaned against each other. The magician used the strange magic that only the boy could see to change the dancing flames, and survived the long and cold night with a little bit of warmth.

He patted the boy to wake him up when he was dozing off, avoided the old repairman's curses and inspections again and again, and told Jason how to pour his wine unnoticed without being noticed. The two of them watched the old man frustrated and helpless Looks like a snicker.

He secretly used magic power to make the ground bulge suddenly, tripping Batman and almost falling. The boy who was caught laughed and gave him a thumbs up behind Gotham Nightmare.

He told Bird where the little girls hidden by the criminals were kept; instructing him on where to hit the former Robin so that he would feel pain and be unable to fight back.

.......

Because I am here.

I just want to make all his nightmares go away.

Reed put his arms around Jason from behind.

He gently took Jason's hand, his chest pressed against Jason's back, and he could feel the painful breathing.

The back that couldn't straighten up because of the painful bone fracture now has a support, and it finally straightens up.

The boy grew up, and he was no longer as thin as Reed saw at the beginning. He had muscles in his arms, and his figure became taller. He half leaned on Reed's body, pointing his fingers at the clown in a pistol pose.

He repeated, "I'm going to kill you."

The clown bent down and laughed, even pretending to cry, and said, "You're so cute."

The man whose skin was pale from the chemicals bent down and rested his forehead on Jason's fingers.

"Use your 'pistol' to kill me, little bird, I can't wait~"

Reed, who was holding Jason's wrist, condensed the magic power into one stream. They passed through Jason's flesh and bones, passed through his wounds, and gathered at his fingertips, like a bullet ready to go.

"Bang," Reed whispered in Jason's ear.

The magic ball shot out following his voice, and a beam of beautiful light passed through Jason's eyes and directly penetrated the clown's head.

The smile froze on his face, his body swayed, and then he fell back, the messy green hair stopped in front of his eyes, like a rotting corpse.

At the same time, the scene began to collapse.

The clown's body is like a vortex, sucking everything around it.

This is Jason's resentment, everything is over, the source of that seed was strangled to death, pierced by bullets, and has since become a tombstone on the way of youth growth.

This may not be able to change any of the past, and it is not even possible to talk about Jason's uneasy feelings, because this is just an illusion.

But at the end, he put a hot kiss on Jason's ear, and he said:

You should know that you have not been forgotten, you are irreplaceable, and no one can erase your traces.

You deserve better than anything*.