Drag my teeth across your chest
to taste your beating beart.

Howl, FLORENCE & THE MACHINE.

The thief and the flame. A tale as old as the stars.

It all started with Prometheus, the champion of humankind.

Out of love, out of respect, out of pity, the Titan stole fire from the gods to gift it to humanity.

Selfless love rewarded by eternal punishment.

The Greeks would call it ἀγάπη — agape, the highest form of love. A love so pure, so simple, that it needs to be destroyed in the most vile of way.

And throughout the ages, the myth evolved. Mary Shelley's telling gave rise to the Modern Prometheus, but in her hands, the Titan was no hero. No, he was something darker. The one who dared to light the flame, only to find it consuming him, corrupting him, twisting his gift into a burden he could not bear.

Perhaps that's what the fire does. Maybe it's never meant to be shared, never meant to be borne. Perhaps Prometheus, in his infinite love, wanted to keep the flame for himself—his love transforming into obsession, his sacrifice into a mania that blurred the line between salvation and damnation.

It might sound like madness, or even like I've lost my way. Perhaps, I'm the unreliable narrator of this tale. But then again, who else could tell it better than the one at the center of it all?

I had time to think. To watch, to feel. And in my reflection, I understood what others failed to.

He was the thief, and I was the flame.

And in a way, it always was meant to be this way. The flame was always mine to give, to take, to keep burning. But the thief—him—he couldn't help himself. Like Prometheus, he thought he could bear the weight of the flame without being consumed by it. He thought he could give it to the world, to save those who couldn't save themselves, to light the way in the darkness of Gotham's soul. But in doing so, he became both the giver and the taker, the one who could never truly escape what he unleashed.

Driven by a desire to prove himself, to fight for a world that had long abandoned him; he was the one who took from the heavens, who stole from the gods of justice and created his own brand of vengeance. In his fire, there was no mercy. Only the cold, burning need to destroy what had once hurt him.

I see it now, clearer than I ever did before. His love, his desire to light the world with a flame that only he could carry, was never a choice. It was a curse. He was the thief, driven by a love that couldn't be tamed, a love so pure it couldn't exist without destroying the very thing it sought to save.

But what of me? What of the flame that flickered in him, that warmed him when nothing else could? What does it mean when the flame becomes both the cause and the effect of its destruction? Is there a way for the flame to survive once it's been stolen? Can it burn without burning out?

In the end, it's not a tale of heroism. It's not about redemption or punishment. It's about love, in its most dangerous form—love that transforms, that consumes, and that leaves nothing untouched.

We were always bound this way. Together. Forever.

And so we are. Both of us. Fated to burn brightly, but never without cost.

In this dance of fire and destruction, we are bound together. Not as hero and villain, not as savior and sinner, but as two souls intertwined by something deeper. Something that cannot be explained by mere logic, but only by the myth we are living.

And I wonder, now, if either of us ever had a choice.

🪽

WHO DID YOU COME BACK FOR?

WHO MADE YOU CRAWL OUT OF YOUR TOMB?

WHO REIGNITED THOSE DYING EMBERS IN YOUR HEART?

Was it vengeance that pulled you from the depths, fueling your every step with a fiery determination to confront the one who condemned you to darkness? The desire to see justice served, to witness the agony mirrored in their eyes as they plead for mercy, just as they once showed you none. Did the thirst for retribution drive you to rise again, fueled by the flames of righteous anger?

Or was it her? The beacon of light in your shadowed existence, whose mere presence stirs a dormant warmth within your soul. The one you shield from the world's harsh gaze, convinced that she is too pure for its cruelty. Was it the thought of her, her unwavering belief in your redemption, that compelled you to defy the grip of death and return to her side?

As you emerged from the darkness, the question lingered in your mind like a haunting refrain.

Who did you come back for?

The answer may lie in the depths of your own heart. Perhaps it was a combination of both, fueled by the burning desire for justice and the undeniable pull of something. For in that moment of resurrection, you were driven not only by the need for vengeance but also by the longing to protect and cherish the light that had guided you through the shadows.

Yes, that's what you think. That's what you want. That's what you hope.

Oh moon boy, how mistaken can you be?

You're lost in a dance between light and darkness, torn between two worlds that offer you solace and torment in equal measure. But in your pursuit of balance, do you not realize the folly of your desires? For in grasping at both the light and the darkness, you risk diluting their very essence, rendering them both hollow and devoid of meaning.

You cling to the illusion of having it all, of avoiding the pain of choice, yet in doing so, you deny yourself the depth and richness that comes from embracing one path wholeheartedly. The light loses its brilliance, and the darkness loses its rawness when they are both treated as mere commodities to be traded at will.

But remember, Jason, that within the depths of your heart lies a compass that knows the way. It whispers of truths untold, guiding you towards the path that aligns with your truest self. Though the choice may be daunting, trust in the wisdom that lies within, for it is there that you will find clarity amidst the shadows.

It whispers her name.

Maheen Ana Rafaela Sayeed / THE FLAME!
a.k.a... GOTHAM GOLDEN CHILD

Jason Peter Todd / THE THIEF!
a.k.a... THE RED HOOD

🪽

also featuring . . .
Dick Grayson / NIGHTWING
Tim Drake / RED ROBIN
Damian Wayne / ROBIN
??? / THE JOKER
Alfred Pennyworth / ???
Roman Sionis / BLACK MASK
??? / THE SCRIBE
Bruce Wayne / BATMAN
Theodore Evans / ???
Dalisay Adlawan / ???

CONTENT / TRIGGER WARNINGS

cursing, death, (extreme) violence, murder, PTSD, torture, severe anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, mentions of suicide (thoughts of), kidnapping, stalking, psychological trauma, psychological manipulation, SA (no written descriptions), sexual harassment, paranoia, physical/emotional abuse.

‼️ please read at your own risk ‼️

﹙🪽﹚welcome back to PROMETHEUS SCAR! i've been eating, sleeping, walking, dreaming jason todd for two months straight. i think i can finally rest with this (false, i have another story in my drafts). it's still the same childhood best friends to lovers stories, with a slight childhood best friends to enemies arc, darker topics, more yearning, more angst—just the usual. && a special thank you to star for the beautiful cover she made for this story ❤️

﹙🪽﹚ the first arc of the story will be full of ellipses and back and forth in time. i'll try to make it as understandable as possible, but let's say that the story starts with maheen still grappling with jason's death. she's in her teenage years, still depressed, and her therapy forces her to remember how things were before everything went downhill. more will of course be told through flashbacks in the second arc, and maheen's recurring visits to the therapist. this story is also a thriller, it will follow maheen's investigation of the scribe, a serial killer targeting young women from gotham's east end, until his modus operandi starts to change as he becomes more and more obsessed with our main character to the point of tracking her.

﹙🪽﹚ i'll be roughy following the main comic issues related to jason todd, from when he met bruce to becoming the red hood. however some storylines will not be exploited like the 'relationship' between talia al ghul and jason among others (we do not talk about this, nor jason/barbara relationship that came out of nowhere).

﹙🪽﹚i wanted at first to solely focus on jason and maheen's relationship, but i've started drafting a lot of scenes including the rest of the batfamily, especially bruce. considering bruce is her godfather (what even were her parents thinking), and i'm seriously digging the whole 'bruce is definitely a girl dad but life keeps on giving him sons with the same attitude/personality as him' idea, i'll also explore their relationship, especially her restrained anger towards him regarding everything that happened to jason. and of course, where she actually fits in the batfamily, some moments would just be pure comic relief to be honest, that story is already sad as it is.

﹙🪽﹚there's actually another antagonist besides the scribe, black mask, the joker and the whole criminal underworld of gotham, but you'll just discover who it is rather quickly i think. this story is also exploring how being a prosecutor was the last thing that is keeping maheen's violent tendencies at bay, and how her work in a city such as gotham where crime really never disappears, would tempt her more than once to take matters into her own hands.

2025
© ADONYSIAC ― IZIA™