White Nights 𓆩𓆪 Jason Todd
© goldenveils, 2024

Annika Aikyō had her existence woven into evil and greed, but she was determined to pluck the threads— unwind every wrong and weave a new tapestry, one laced with justice and plaited with honor.  And she would.

To the world, Annika was dead— buried six feet under in her family's burial ground and forgotten, even by those who still knew she was alive. She became nothing but an echo in the void. Another body within earth's soil. She didn't mind it, really. It made doing what she needed to do much easier.

Dismantling her Father's legacy from the shadows of Gotham under the guise of yet another elusive masked vigilante, Nyx became a thing of nightmares— her Father and brothers would be proud... if her target wasn't them. Shredding her Father's influence had been simple. She had wiped her Father's dealers off the map faster than he could hire more, broken down his army– twisting his soldiers' minds against the man they worked for.  It didn't take much. Men were gullible— one well placed rumor had rendered her Father's power null. It also helped that she knew her father's temper. That she knew his paranoia. Everything played out like dominos. Everything fell, piece by piece.

She should have known, though. She should've known that he would never stop. Destroying his legacy wasn't enough. In doing so, Annika, unknowingly, pushed her Father's limitless ambition towards an even worse path. She had done her job too well. She had never expected her Father to become involved with Black Mask, the eldest Aikiyō didn't believe in partnerships— his pride (read as: ego) was too big. Pushing her Father's shattered legacy into Black Mask's hands was definitely not what Annika wanted. Now her Father's dealings were much more sinister than before, fueled by a sadistic man and anchored by his money.

Black Mask was a much bigger threat than her Father ever was, but she had not foreseen them working together. It was... difficult. It made her mission close to impossible. But she had no choice. So she began to plan, her mind plagued with her own failure. And then it happened. A light within endless nights. A chance.

A meeting would be held, one where she could finally get the information needed. But like everything else in Annika's life, something had to go wrong. She'd heard of him before that night, but she hadn't gone into that meeting expecting a meeting with Red Hood. What was meant to be a recon mission turned into something much more complicated, the threads tangling, fates intermingling.

It didn't help that the shadows that plagued her mind began to wither and move— memories she did not recall pacing their prison at the edge of her consciousness.

But that was only one piece of the puzzle. One piece of many and she did not know which pieces to connect first.

She did know something, though. Annika knew two things with absolute certainty. One, her family was dangerously involved with one of the most vicious men in Gotham. And two, she would stop at nothing to bring that partnership to an end and stop her family's vile misdeeds once and for all.

   Annika Aikyō / NYX
"I will vanish in the morning light; I was only an invention of darkness."
— Angela Carter

JASON TODD / RED HOOD
"But the heart began to grieve, to ache,
like an open wound."
— Anna Akhmatova

𓆩𓆪

i. hi friends! we are here with yet another fic because i have the impulse control of a toddler! this one is a lot darker than my wally fic is so it'll definitely be a roller coaster of emotions. i'm super excited to write annika and jason though. emo babies. TRIGGER WARNINGS / attempted suicide, mentions of human and drug trafficking, gore, canon typical violence! if you cannot read any of those things then this fic is not for you, i'm afraid.

ii. this fic is dedicated to one of my best friends kenn (RedRoots ) who is  a tremendous reason on why this fic exists in the first place!! number one jason todd stan, this one is for you pookie i love uuuuu!!! thank you for answering all my questions and for also being such a great friend in general! a giant thank you to another close friend, sam (kinaiiya ), who's been here since the beginning of this fic and has been yelling at me for the past week about posting! ily ily thank u so much for hyping me up and actually giving me the confidence to write this! and to my bff lenny (siIverveils ) for also being such a giant confidence booster when it came to this fic!! you and your comments have made this fic a lot more enjoyable to write. also, thank you to ven (viendettas ) for the absolutely STUNNING covers. i appreciate it more than you know!! shoutout to the watchtower server folks!!!!! telling some of you the plot for this fic had me cackling. you guys are genuinely the best ily ily <33

MORE DEDICATIONS/
gryzons keupid kinaiiya viendettas riotsuns kateprydes fatalfIaw sealines bompous RedRoots siIverveils huramuna teabeIl i love you guys all SO MUCH!!!!!

happy reading,
D <3

started: october 27, 2024
finished: