zeegoeshere

Born Again
By Zee

It's different every time.

Notes: Spoilers for Teen Titans 34 and the Titans Tomorrow arc. Thanks to glossing and mizzmarvel for the betas.
Disclaimer: Not mine, am poor, don't sue.



It isn't like the first time.

There are no creepy voices of old men, no faces floating in the glass of his tube talking about memory implants and Kryptonian genes. There is no shattering of glass, no gang of rough-talking midgets to help him escape.

And this time, there is no confusion, no illusion that he's something better than what he is.

"Kon."

This time there is only one voice, and the water drains from the vat and the glass peels away before Kon can punch his way out.

"T-Ti.." He can't speak. His tongue feels thick, floppy in his mouth, useless. He's on his knees, he realizes, naked. Tim is wrapping something around him, a... cape.

"It's all right," Tim says. Robin says. "You're all right."

***

Tim tells him that it's okay that he can't speak yet, can't walk or even see very well. He explains that he didn't have a state-of-the-art lab or most of the resources Westfield (Luthor) did; he wasn't able to get a hold of the technology that allowed them to make Kon's birth the easy, almost instantaneous process it was the first time.

So Kon has to learn to talk again.

"It's okay," Robin murmurs in his ear. "I'll teach you," he says, his hand pressed against Kon's belly and moving lower.

***

Kon doesn't know how much of the world has changed. He hasn't left the cave yet, on account of the fact that he can't really see yet--everything is red and blurry. Robin says his heat vision is--is 'bleeding' or something, and Kon doesn't get that, but Robin says he'll fix it. Tells Kon that he's making great progress, tells him how glad he is that Kon is here, between kisses and gropes. Kon kisses back and wonders if Tim's costume is red all over now, or if it's just his freaky eyes. He doesn't remember the Robin tunic being the color of blood.

Kon also doesn't remember if they used to do this, before. His memory is patched, piecemeal: he remembers being born (the first time) perfectly, remembers every detail. He remembers sparring with Knockout; remembers going down on Tana; remembers returning to Cadmus Labs once and finding everything gone. He remembers the way Clark's glasses glinted in sunlight but he has no memories of his classes at Smallville High; gone, too, is every memory of Young Justice's time on Apokalips, and most of his memories of living in Metropolis. He can't picture Cissie or Anita or Lobo, either--has no association with their names or pictures when Robin brings them up.

Kon remembers the incident with Luthor vividly, like it happened yesterday. When he runs his fingers through his hair, he still expects to touch smooth skin, a bald head. He dreams about Luthor's voice in his head, sometimes; sometimes he thinks that he remembers Luthor speaking to him when he was in the vat, before consciousness, even though he knows that's not a real memory--Robin tells him it isn't, at any rate.

Robin frowns when Kon talks to him about memories, but doesn't say anything. He never asks how much Kon remembers of him, even though Kon knows the question must be bothering him.

Kon remembers enough to know that Tim has changed.

***

One year: that's what Robin tells him. Actually, a year and a month, give or take. A year since Kon died.

"That doesn't matter," he says. "You're here, now. I brought you back."

It's okay. It's all right now. I brought you back.

***

They don't react well, when Robin finally brings Kon out into the world. (His eyes are still tinged with red, but Robin thinks it's the best they'll get.) Kon didn't really expect them to, but....

Well, he doesn't know what he expected.

"Robin, what have you done?" Batman barks out. He's staring at Kon the way he always used to, as if Kon were a ticking bomb, a few seconds away from going off.

You were right, Kon wants to tell him.

"Conner," Cassie says, and Kon doesn't have to look to know that her eyes are filling up with tears.

Clark's facial expression is nothing new, either, but he used to hide it better. Before. Fear, revulsion, anger, more fear...

Robin squeezes his wrist. "I brought him back," he says, his voice cool and calm. Lower than it used to be, Kon thinks; he sounds a year older. "I did what none of you dared to do, and I brought him back."

"Robin, this isn't right. This isn't how it should be--" Clark starts to say, but Batman interrupts.

"Robin, stand down. You can't--"

Robin's voice is inside his head, the same way Luthor's was. I knew this would happen. Do it, Kon.

The fire behind Kon's eyes goes off, hitting--possibly killing, Kon isn't sure--Batman. After that, it's chaos, and Robin's voice is in his head the whole time. It's easy this way: Kon doesn't have to do anything, doesn't have to think--he watches his body and Robin go through the Justice League, his eyes starting fires everywhere. Tim lets him come back to his body later, when he's flying high above an ocean with Robin, the fight far away and forgotten.

"They won't bother us anymore," Robin tells him when Kon asks what happened.

***

The third time it's relatively painless; Kon can speak, walk and see just fine the moment he steps out of the tube. Tim puts another cape around his shoulders, red and smooth and heavy, and murmurs "Superman" in Kon's ear. Luthor stands beside him and smiles at Kon, deep lines crinkling around his eyes. He looks old, and beside him Tim looks barely younger. They share conspiratorial glances, and Kon thinks he missed a lot.

"How long?" He asks.

"Doesn't matter," Tim--Batman, now--says. "It's okay. I brought you back."