Hello, wonderful readers. Been a long time, eh?
Sorry to leave all of you hanging for SO LONG, but I honestly lost all motivation for this story a long time ago – as is the usual case with me and my past experiences with writing. As much as I hate other writers for doing the same… I'm only human. TT-TT
Before I gave up completely on this story, I managed to write one last chapter, which I unfortunately lost. However, I discovered this lost segment of my story this evening, and thought that it was the least I owe you all for adding this story to your favourites and subscriptions. ( And for that, thank you SO much. Hugs for all!)
So, I hope you enjoy it. I thought it was pretty amusing to find this again and read over what my fifteen-year old self had thought up. I think I might have some plot notes lying around somewhere, so I'll try and locate them. I'd love to finish this story for you all, but I can't make any definite promises. I'm a university student now, and I scarcely have time to breathe, let alone write FanFictions, any more. xX
But we'll see. Let the missing chapter commence!
Francesca Jayawardena: Purple Harlequin
Chapter Four - Closer
As Joker and Yoru made their way, carefully towards Central Gotham, it became harder and harder for them to hide themselves in the shadows since the sun was risen now. The shadows were still there, but they weren't as useful to a pair of criminals on the run.
"This is why I only come out at night." Yoru muttered, checking around the corner to make sure no one was there, before dragging Joker along behind her. She looked back at his wrists, which were still bound by Batman's handcuffs.
"I don't suppose you have a key, do you?" He asked her. She pursed her lips.
"We'll worry about that later. First, we need to find somewhere to take shelter… it's a long way to my hideout yet." Yoru sighed, tiredly. She felt so drained, so exhausted; as if she ran a marathon last night. She noticed an alleyway to their left, which she slumped into and sat on the floor, closing her eyes as if going to sleep right there. Joker followed her in, with his eyebrow raised at her sudden drowsiness.
"Well… my place isn't too far from here." He mused, looking about the alleyway. Yoru opened her eyes and looked up at him, frowning slightly. "What?" He asked, annoyed.
"Nothing." She shook her head as Joker rolled his eyes. He noticed something in the corner as Yoru looked down at her dress, which she was shocked to find covered in blood. "What…" She gasped. "What happened last night?" She asked Joker, who frowned.
"I thought you said you remembered." He said slowly. Then his face lit up, "A saw!" He exclaimed, picking up the instrument off the ground. "What are the odds, eh?" He attempted to hack away at the handcuffs, but because they bound his wrists together, it proved very difficult.
"Give it here, Joker." Yoru sighed. He gave her the saw; which she then used to cut him loose of the manacles. It was quite hard work, but they managed to break one of the links between his wrists, which allowed him to move his arms freely again.
Yoru then returned her stare to her blood-soaked dress. "I remembered taking you and Batman hostage." She murmured. "I don't remember… this."
Joker began to fill her in, "Last nigh-" Then he abruptly stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening suddenly at the sound he could hear approaching from the distance. Yoru's heart started beating frantically. They could both hear the sirens. Gotham Police were coming. Joker looked deeper into the alley. It was a dead end. "Right." Joker looked upwards and saw what he was looking for: a drainpipe. He looked at Yoru, who had peeped around the alley corner. "Can you climb?" He hissed. She turned and looked at him quizzically. Joker pointed at the unsteady pipe and she shook her head worriedly. "Oh boy…" Joker groaned. The sirens were getting louder by the second. Yoru looked around the corner again. Not one police car in sight. There was an alleyway across the road, in which Yoru could distinctly see a set of metal staircases, which she could use to get to the roof and take a safer route. Judging by the pitch of the sirens, the police were only a few roads away from them. She stepped back into the alleyway, a dark look upon her face.
"I'll run for it; you take the rooftops." She told Joker. He shrugged.
"Sure. Works for me." He turned to the drainpipe and climbed up it expertly. Yoru took a deep breath and ignored the screaming of the sirens which were only one road away now, surely. She took one look at the Clown Prince of Crime, who was now hoisting himself up onto the rooftop, before making to run as fast as she could across the road. But before she could manage it, another car came hurtling down the road in the opposite direction, nearly running her over. She jumped back, recovering quickly and looked down the road. Her heart nearly skipped a beat: the police car was coming down the road at a uniform speed. They'd definitely spot her if she stayed there, in the small alley. She clenched her fists, bracing herself: Sometimes you just have to take risks.
Yoru ran towards the alley as fast as she could manage at her level of energy. She didn't dare check on the police car for fear of tripping over. As soon as she made it into the alleyway, she made a desperate leap for the ladder above her. She caught it, though the impact of throwing her weight onto her arms nearly wrenched them from their sockets. She stifled a scream of pain and pulled herself up. The orange sun glared across the rooftops as Yoru squinted hard to figure out a route to familiar grounds.
She looked towards the opposite roofs in search of Joker, but the clown was nowhere to be seen. Yoru smiled, sadly. Well, at least one of them was safe now. She began to move in an easterly direction; her route aided by the sun. Then she suddenly got the feeling that she was being watched and she spun around, ready to face Murdoch.
But he wasn't there. Yoru frowned at herself for being so paranoid and continued along her path, until…
"Freeze!" A commanding voice from below her yelled. Yoru stiffened and looked down at the road; an Oriental woman was standing in the open door of a police car, gun poised; ready to shoot her if she decided to run. Yoru sighed in defeat. What a pathetic way to get caught: wandering the roofs like some lost fool. "Wait there and we'll come for you." A black officer got out from the other side of the car and made a phone call, probably to his chief.
Yoru looked about the place for a way to get out of the stupid mess she got herself into. But there was none. That police officer wasn't taking her eyes off Yoru, and the confident way in which she was holding the gun made it clear that she had a good aim.
Then after a moment, Yoru blinked and frowned at the female officer.
"Erm: I know this might sound a bit odd, but… what am I under arrest for?"
The officer seemed a bit confused by this question. Her hand lowered slightly; if Yoru had run then, she might have got away.
"Haven't you heard?" She asked, regaining her aim upon Yoru's shoulder.
"Heard what?" Yoru asked, confused.
"Well, that doesn't matter 'cos she's not going to jail!" Yoru jumped; Joker was right behind her all along. Before the police officer had a chance to pull the trigger, Joker had grabbed Yoru around the waist, lifted her up and ran as far away from the police as he could. "What do you think you're doing?" Yoru said through gritted teeth, tightening her grip around Joker's neck so she didn't fall.
He let out a single laugh, then suddenly his voice grew serious. "You did something to me last night and I'm feeling some weird side effects. Maybe you can give me some answers to my questions." Yoru strained to understand what he was talking about. But her memory was a blank save for a few blurry recollections, such as ambushing Joker and the Bat; Yoru looked at Joker. He did look a little pale, but he was pale anyway. How could she differentiate when he looks healthy or not?
Joker carried her a while - it seems that GCPD lost them - before stopping at the ledge of a rooftop. He let go of Yoru, who put her feet on the roof, uncertainly.
"What now?" She asked. Joker looked at the ground; so did she. It was a long way down. After a few seconds, he looked at her again, a mad gleam in his eye. Yoru was reminded of someone, but she couldn't match a name to that particular maniacal expression which was etched upon Joker's face. "Joker…" She said nervously; he was starting to scare her now.
"We jump." He spoke, excitedly. Yoru's green eyes widened at him.
"You're joking." She said; Yoru could easily spot a way to ground level a few buildings away. But before she could point that out, Joker cackled and grabbed her hand; before she could pull away, he'd jumped off the roof - taking her with him.
Yoru shut her eyes and squeezed Joker's hand as they fell forever, it seemed. Then her feet met the ground and her knees gave way; she tumbled to the floor and rolled onto her back, inhaling deep mouthfuls of air. It was then that Yoru realised that she held her breath during the fall.
"Wasn't that just fun?" Joker's head appeared upside down in the middle of the sky. He was leaning over her with a look of euphoria which a child would put on after conquering a particularly scary roller coaster.
Yoru pushed him away, irritably and sat up. "Are you insane?!" She shrieked. Joker cocked his head to one side, clearly puzzled, but amused all the same.
"Should I really patronise you by answering that question?" He giggled. Yoru found his immature laughter suddenly the most annoying thing in the world. She grabbed hold of his orange shirt and pulled, him so that his grinning face was inches from hers, in a threatening manner.
"You could've gotten us killed, pulling a stupid stunt like that, you moron!" She seethed at him. Joker stopped smiling and wrenched her hands off his shirt. Yoru rubbed her wrists from where he grabbed her as he straightened up, unexpectedly annoyed. She was so taken aback by this change of personality that she stared at him, afraid of this new Joker.
"And here I thought you had a good sense of fun, Freowen." He said, somewhat bitterly.
"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" Yoru growled, even though she felt bad about what he said. Joker didn't respond, but looked about the area instead.
They were in another alleyway.
He seemed to recognise the place, since he instantly walked over to a dumpster and lifted it up purposefully. Yoru gaped: did she know that Joker was really that strong?
Then she noticed a small opening in the ground beneath the dumpster and closed her mouth, feeling stupid.
It was a fake dumpster.
"Ladies first." Joker motioned to the passageway which he just opened.
Yoru looked at him. "Where-" She began, but Joker answered her question before she could finish it.
"My hideout. Just follow the tunnel." He said casually.
Yoru lowered herself into the hole, feeling hesitant about crawling into such a small space. She ducked and began to move along the passage, guided by her hands owing to the darkness. A few moments later, Yoru began to wonder if Joker had tricked her for insulting him; and this was an endless passage, in which she would be crawling for days.
"Joker?" She called, nervously. There was no reply from behind her for a few seconds. Then his voice cut through the darkness.
"What?" He replied, irritably. "Just keep crawling: you can't get lost in here." Feeling a bit more comforted, Yoru continued along the tunnel for a considerable length of time, - or did it feel so lengthy because the tunnel was so claustrophobic? - until Joker grabbed her ankle. "Stop." He ordered, kneeling and lifting the roof of the passage up.
Light flooded the tunnel and Yoru saw that Joker had just opened a secret opening into what seemed to be a warehouse. As she climbed up onto the floor after Joker, she noticed that there was a castle in the far corner, which had the masks of comedy and tragedy on each of the two turrets.
"Your hideout?" She asked rhetorically. It certainly felt like somewhere Joker would set up residence.
"Like it?" He asked, closing the tunnel opening; but before waiting for an answer, he opened his arms, inhaled deeply and said, "Home, sweet home!"
Yoru wondered how this could possibly be a home to anyone, since huge crates were taking up a lot of space and the only area which looked capable of proving home was the pseudo castle. She sincerely doubted that the miniature building had plumbing or any central heating for the winter.
"…Even though that idiot ruined some of it." Joker sniffed at the broken crates and floorboards scattered around the vast space. Yoru didn't dare point out that the ceiling was partly destroyed too, since he seemed quite annoyed at the mess which he did notice.
Then Joker turned to her and bore a knowing look into her eyes.
"What?" She asked, feeling uncomfortable again.
He sighed and lifted his green hair from his shoulders. Yoru frowned, deeply confused by this action.
"Look at my neck." He told her. Yoru did so, and she noticed two small pinpricks of red.
"What has that got to do with me?" She asked, though she knew too much about folklore and vampires to not understand what he was trying to get across.
"Everything." Joker lowered his hair and looked intently at her, as though deciding if she was bluffing or not. "You seriously can't remember?" He asked Yoru, who was deep in thought.
"…No. I don't remember… much."
"What do you remember?" He jumped onto a crate and peered down at her, awaiting her answer.
"I told you, Joker." She responded impatiently. "All I remember is taking you and Batman to… Murdoch."
Joker raised an eyebrow. "What part of taking us there do you remember?"
Yoru thought about this for a moment, stroking her green arm gloves as she did. One was caked in dried blood, which Yoru stared at for a moment. "Oh God…" She gasped, a look of shock upon her face. "What have I done?"
"FINALLY! You remember now?" Joker cried triumphantly; but as he opened his mouth to say something else, Yoru spoke, voice trembling.
"I killed them…" She whispered, "Every one of them…"
Her knees gave way and she collapsed to the floor, a look of pure terror on her face as though she could see something Joker could not.
The clown scratched his head. She obviously hadn't remembered what he wanted her to. He climbed down from the crate and sat down, shuffling towards her until he was directly in front of her.
Joker noticed tears running down her horrified face, and it embarrassed him. Yet, he still spoke, "Uh… Can you remember what happened after all that… bloody… stuff?"
She blinked and wiped away the tears slowly while saying, "I…" Then she suddenly lost the look of fear on her face and it was replaced by a look of utter disgust.
"Yes..?" Joker said, encouraging her to elaborate.
"Blood?" She exclaimed. "What was I thinking?"
Joker chuckled. "You remember taking the blood of that moronic official, huh?" Yoru looked at him, then shook her head vigorously, though this news disgusted her further. "Then what?" He questioned.
Yoru grimaced at the floor. "I remember wanting blood. Lusting for the taste. When I was sitting in the van…" Joker drew a sharp breath; this is what he brought her here for. "But the rest is a blur." She said quickly, shaking her head again. Joker fell onto his back, groaning with disappointment. "Sorry." She added, sensing his frustration.
"Hmph." The Clown Prince of Crime grumbled moodily.
"Why did you want to know, anyway?" She asked curiously.
Joker waved his hand in the air. "Oh, you know. These bite marks could have been something serious. But it doesn't matter since you can't remember."
Yoru narrowed her eyes. "It's not my fault, Joker."
"Of course not." Came the sarcastic reply.
Yoru got to her feet, annoyed. "I'm sick of your attitude towards me, Joker. Would it kill you to show a little patience to someone who has a brief spell of amnesia?"
When he didn't reply, Yoru sighed exasperatedly. "How silly of me; you expect to always get your own way."
"Now, now. You know that's not true." Joker wagged a finger at her from the floor. Yoru rolled her eyes as he continued. "If that were so, I'd easily manipulate my way out of Arkham. It's not that straightforward, I can tell you that." He looked at his castle, then his grin returned as he darted towards it. Yoru stood there, growing weary of this unexplained behaviour.
"What now?" She yelled after him, as he rushed into the building and started rummaging around in it.
"I need to get a start on my next crime!" He cried, gleefully.
Yoru couldn't help but laugh. "Does your entire existence revolve around creating mayhem and destruction?"
"Why not?" He appeared at the top of the castle, smiling from ear to ear as he read something off a blueprint. "Aha!" He exclaimed, remembering something. He grabbed a rope and jumped from the castle, cackling. When he landed onto the floor, he clasped his hands behind his back and addressed Yoru. "You are very lucky to be the first person in Gotham to meet my new recruits."
"Recruits?" Yoru echoed. "I thought you worked alone."
"Yes, but a little help never hurt anyone now, did it?" Joker said, airily. Then he scurried back to the castle and called into the open door. "Punch? Judy?"
Moments later, two large figures clad in purple left the castle and stood on either side of the grinning clown. Yoru absorbed their odd appearance. They simply looked like two overweight circus freaks.
"What do you think?" Joker folded his arms.
Yoru spluttered, not sure of what to say, "Well…" She began, "They're very… very…" She wanted to say 'hideous', but the look on Joker's face resembled that of a proud parent, so she hurriedly said instead, "Interesting?"
"My thoughts exactly!" He beamed up at them. "They'll prove very useful in my next stunt…"
Yoru didn't satisfy her curiosity by asking her what he was planning to do, but she asked instead, "Where did you get them?" She instantly realised how rude this might have sounded, so she said to the goons, "Sorry; I don't mean to offend."
"They don't mind." Joker patted one of their beefy arms. Then he recalled Yoru's question. "E-bay." He said simply.
Yoru raised her eyebrows. "E-bay? Seriously?"
Joker shrugged. "You can get anything on there, don'tcha know." He burst out laughing as Yoru sighed, shaking her head.
Then the smile on his face dissolved as he winced and collapsed onto the floor. Punch and Judy looked confusingly down at the clown, who was writhing in apparent pain. They weren't sure of what was going on or what to do.
Yoru rushed forward instinctively and knelt down beside him. "Joker? What's wrong? Can you hear me?" She asked gently.
Without warning, Joker's hand shot out and grabbed Yoru's arm, tight. The sudden movement was so terrifying, that she moved back slightly, in alarm. Nevertheless, she spoke again. "Joker, tell me what's happening." She commanded with authority, even though she flinched as his nails cut deeper into her skin. Joker didn't respond, he seemed to be having a fit. Yoru looked desperately at Punch and Judy. "Please tell me one of you knows First Aid." She begged.
The two goons looked at each other, then shook their heads, idiotically. Yoru sighed impatiently and looked down at Joker, who was still squirming in pain, though it seemed as if he was calming down now. His eyes were glazed over, but his breathing was returning to normal. Then he abruptly stopped moving.
"Joker?" Yoru called into his ear. Joker blinked and looked at her, his blank facial expression suddenly contorting into an angry one..
"Now do you see?" He snarled, suddenly aggressive. Yoru looked at him incredulously. Joker sat up and continued, "This is a result of whatever you did to me last night!" As he spoke, he motioned to the scars on his neck.
"But how do you know if it was me?" She folded her arms, sick of his unexpected mood swings.
Joker clicked his fingers and the henchmen lifted him to his feet. He narrowed his eyes at Yoru. "I can tell. I'm not stupid."
Yoru let out an exasperated sigh. "How the hell can you possibly know, unless you saw me do it? What, do you calculate everyone's teeth marks or something?!" Joker extended his hand to her dress and touched the blood stains.
"That's my blood." He murmured.
Yoru opened her mouth in shock. "How..?" She asked, bewildered.
"That doesn't matter. What does matter is what will eventually happen to me if these fits are getting worse."
Yoru observed Joker's facial expressions. He seemed even surlier than usual. She wondered if this was another of the side effects of whatever he was going through. And if he was going through something… what was it; and how would they find out?
"Batman." She said, suddenly.
Joker looked like she just slapped him. "What?" He spat. "I'd never ask him for help. He's my sparring partner, and that alone!"
"Yes, but do you want to get rid of these fits or not?" She asked, impatiently. "It would be best to ask someone who always counter-acts disasters. I mean, he did find an antidote to your Joker Gas."
Joker scowled at this, but he pondered on her suggestion for a while, pacing the floor.
Eventually he turned back to her and said, "Fine. Let's do things your way."
Yoru smiled. "Now we just need a way to get him."