Thank you eeyop1428, for beta-ing this story :)

Warnings: This story contains violence and sadism (but nothing too extreme, don't panic), psychological suffering, lots of Alice in Wonderland references and angst.

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight.

(Alanis Morissette - Uninvited)

Jervis Tetch looked at the weirdoes and droolers he shared the room with.

Dear God, how had this happened?

One day he had been an ordinary man. He had a flat. He had a job. He would wake up and go to work five days a week. On weekends he would mull about the house in his easy clothes and read fantasy novels. Maybe watch a film in the local (and somewhat derelict - though charmingly so) cinema on Sunday nights (when the cinema would be largely void of happy couples and wild teenagers).

Yes, it had been lonely, but it had been ordinary. Now his life was a circus freak show, and not only was he lonely but also deeply frightened.

'I could tell you my adventures, beginning with this morning... but it's no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.'

He dimly remembered his trial. He guessed it had occurred a short time ago; though he was certain of nothing but of entering this place late last night. What he did remember of the trial was painful. Alice (it hurt just to think of her name) had not come to the trial in person to testify. He was considered too dangerous for her safety. He had expected to go to prison for kidnapping. (Again, he winced.) It hadn't seemed like kidnapping at the time.

He had tried to explain this to the police, the lawyers, the judge, and the jury. But no one understood. They all stared at him in confusion. But it was easy for them. They would all go home to their partners and children. They had not experienced returning home every single day for eleven years and having no one there waiting for you.

Travelling alone.

Going for walks alone.

Eating alone.

Sitting alone.

Watching TV alone.

Reading alone.

Sleeping alone.

Waking up alone.

Everyday feeling a black hole growing wider in the pit of your stomach.

So of course they stared at him in bewilderment. Even though he had thought they were kindred spirits, even his Alice (wait – that was wrong, she wasn't "his")... even she had not understood. She had been too bright for him. She was a soaring butterfly and he was a lowly worm. She had only pitied him – it was the only explanation he could think of. But he had loved her so. He still did.

And that was what hurt most of all: everyone who was meant to love him did not. It was as if he were cursed; as if he were born under a dark star.

He had not been able to explain these things properly, anyway. His mind had been a fog. One minute he was Jervis and then, suddenly, he became someone else; someone braver and more daring. Someone who, he thought, Alice could love. He wasn't a total fool after all. He knew that she would not love Jervis for Jervis. His parents had not. His sister had not. And they, as family members, as blood relations, were supposed to offer complete unconditional love.

So how could someone like Alice love him? His beautiful, golden haired girl…why would she love someone she had no ties to, other than sharing a workplace with? Why would she love someone who even his parents could not love like they were supposed to?

To think, he was so unwanted, so defected in personality. He had almost fallen into complete despair, as he had all those years ago in his youth, but something inside of him had stirred. Something wanted him to fight for her. He began to understand that if he was so insignificant a person, the best option open to him was to change himself, to become a new and better personality all together.

He took the best qualities of her brutish mate: his bravery and his confidence. Billy had also been very good looking. Jervis could not make himself tall, dark and handsome, so he had gone for wearing a snappy outfit instead. But then Jervis had improved on these qualities. It was in this manner that he would win against Billy. So, on top of looking like a cool cat and being brave and confident, Tetch had also tried to portray himself as charming, tentative and, moreover, CONSISTENT. No one could ever say that he was not consistent. And these latter qualities felt more natural to Tetch anyway.

So he could not understand the rejection. It made no sense. He had worked it all out: the scientific formula, the mathematical equation, to make up her perfect beau. Yet Alice still did not want him; she had gone straight back to Billy.

Jervis forced his hands through his fine yellow hair, tearing it from its roots. He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice the tiny blood streams running over his head.

No sense… Nonsense…All uncommon nonsense…

It was in this confusion over the rejection that some sort of madness began to stir within Tetch. But he did not know this.

When the dark winged creature called Batman injured him so badly (not just physically) he was a blur of conflicting feelings. When Batman had said that he would have killed Alice he was shocked. He would never kill Alice! God knows he had waited for her for so, so long! Days and weeks and months of unrequited love aching in his chest – it had hurt so much! He would have died, simply put. Had he let Alice go he would have laid down on the floor and died. But then, that new personality, the one he had dressed himself in, that would not have died. Its survival mechanism was too strong. He… It… would have killed her.

After the doors slammed shut, locking him in the police van, he was numb, fading in and out. ('I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!')

When he had been questioned by officers and his lawyers he had struggled to explain, often falling into apathetic silence or hysterical tears. God, it had been so humiliating! All the police had scowled down at him, obviously viewing him in derision. Jervis Tetch: the loser, the freak, the weirdo; now he was also the madman, the lunatic, the psycho, and the stalker.

On top of all the people who had put him in this hell hole, he bet all of the old school, college, and even university bullies were watching the news and laughing. He could see them sitting with their lovers and children, pointing at his goofy, stupid face on the television screen and saying, 'I knew that freak! I always knew he was a freak!'

His mother would have died of shame, had she not already been dead. Damn it, he had just wanted to show he loved her! Was that wrong? Really, so wrong? The flowers were perfect; he'd handpicked them all himself! They had cost a fortune. Then, putting them all around her apartment and stealing her keys to make a copy without her knowing (she mustn't have known, that would have ruined the surprise!) had taken effort. He would have appreciated it if someone had done that for him.

But all the police and their ilk had thought it was weird, obsessive, and even perverse.

Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.

Of course there was a moral – a reason – a conclusion to be made. She had rejected him. Why? Why had she, like all the others? Maybe it was because he had kept his own qualities? Maybe being charming, attentive, and consistent was wrong. Where had these so called positive attributes gotten him in life? Every successful person he knew was vicious and selfish.

Jervis dipped his head low. They all thought he was insane. Maybe if he just let go and let what happened… happen...

And with that, Jervis began to fade away. His head slumped forward. His shoulders became slack. Like the rest of his roommates he became another zombiefied drooler of Arkham Asylum.