"Jack! Ice cream!" I shouted from the kitchen. Almost immediately, footsteps bounded into the kitchen. I tried to contain my laugh as he pawed at me with limp hands. It didn't work. My laughter rang out loudly and echoed around the kitchen, Jack shortly joining in. It wasn't maniacal laughter, for once. It was pleasant. "Here you go." I handed him a bowl that had 5 very generous sized scoops in it. His grin so big; I thought his scars might tear open. He kissed me on the cheek and pranced out of the room. Yes, Jack Napier, The Joker, Feared Villain of Gotham City… pranced. Because of ice cream. Then again… The ice cream was very good.
"Hey, why do you get 6 scoops and I only get 5?" He questioned indignantly when I lay on the couch. He was at one end and I was sprawled at the other. Top and tail. I looked up at him with the spoon still in my mouth and my eyes wide and innocent. I had taken to keeping my mask off when we were at home. Jack had even gotten me into the habit of keeping my makeup off. It took a while, but we got there in the end. "Because I'm a woman. Women need more ice cream than men. It's a scientific fact that Einstein came up with." I explained and Jack just cocked an eyebrow. "You know it's true." I said defiantly and then stuck my tongue out at him, quickly shovelling another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.
Jack grumbled good-naturedly and ate his ice cream silently. His silence worried me. "What's wrong, Jack?" I asked, still eating my ice cream so as not to show how worried I truly was. If he saw through it, he didn't indicate it. He looked at me intensely. Why do I get the feeling he can see into my soul? My pitch black soul? "I'm getting the same feeling, dollface." For a moment, I thought he was replying to my thoughts. And I was scared shitless at what he could have heard. "I think something bad is gonna happen soon. To us." Oh, that. Thank the probably non-existent Gods.
"It's gonna happen soon." I said quietly. Of course, I didn't know that, but as time went on, my uneasy feeling got worse and worse, until it felt like a stone sitting in my stomach. I felt uncomfortable.
"I don't particularly want to leave, but it's only a short errand." I admitted as I put my makeup on. I was so used to not wearing the stuff anymore that I almost walked out of the door without it on. If Jack hadn't have called me back in, I dread to think what would have happened. Since people had seen me on television, I had to take extra precautions. I was wearing a big purple hoodie and tight jeans. The hood was very deep and I liked it that way. "Then let me come with you. I don't want you getting in any trouble." Jack reasoned and I shook my head as I put my makeup away.
"I know you're uncomfortable without your makeup on. This sort of errand doesn't need a big shoot-out so if you wanted to come, you'd have to look 'normal'. I know how much you hate having your makeup off, so I'll do this on my own." I explained, using the 'You-don't-have-to-do-anything-you-don't-want-to-do' card. But the look in my eyes told him that it wasn't up for discussion. He sighed and nodded. "If something happens, I'll never forgive myself." I swallowed thickly.
"Well, I'll have to feel guilty while whatever the bad thing is happens." I didn't cave. Yes!
"Yeah, and maybe that'll teach ya."
So, I was out at the supermarket, looking at the wonderful selection of ice cream when a voice whispered in my ear. "I know who you are." I didn't look up, I didn't freeze, I didn't even feel surprised. I had known this would come. That's why I forced Jack to stay at home. I continued walking down the aisle, taking all of the flavours into careful consideration. "Do you? That's nice. You must be a really creepy stalker if you're actually going to confess to it." They chuckled throatily and it sent awful shivers down my spine. Not the kind Jack gave me when he got close to me, or the kind Jack gave me when he smirked at me. These were the kind of shivers that let me know that I wasn't going to get out of this, despite my reputation and strength. This man meant business and I knew that leaving my cell phone at home was a bad idea. "Don't you think we should go outside?" The man breathed and I could smell disinfectant on his breath. He also seemed adamant on not touching me though he was comfortable with breathing right on me. Oh great, a mysophobe. (A mysophobe is someone with a phobia of germs, in case you didn't work it out or search it up.) I gulped down bile and nodded. I knew this was coming. I followed the man outside. And then a sharp pain stabbed through my head, not unlike the one Jack and I suffered from in the interrogation room. Unfortunately, this one was not aimed to cause pain. It was supposed to knock me out. Which it did. What a lovely day I was having.
I awoke in a very bright room. Much too bright. I felt a little legarthic from my lack of consciousness and I peered around. It was just a large white room with large white lights. Nothing special. The room was simply a room. Made out of only concrete and whiteness. I didn't like it. I tried to push myself off of the hard, cold ground but I found that I couldn't. I tried to move my arms but I just couldn't. That was not something I was comfortable with. I struggled viciously and yelped a little. My eyes finally adjusted and I looked down, seeing one of the things that I feared the most. One of the things that gave me nightmares. I was in a straightjacket.
"Whoever did this to me is gonna get THEIR ARSE HANDED TO THEM ON A PLATE!" I screamed the last 8 words. My arms were restrained and breathing was difficult. The room was spacious and very wide but what was the point when I couldn't explore it? I'm not claustrophobic. I just have a massive fear of straightjackets. The large steel door I had failed to notice earlier swung open and a man stood there in white. It looked to be like a doctor's outfit and I got the idea it was a uniform. The man stood confidently at the door. I couldn't see his face; he was wearing a surgical mask. "Well, well, well, she finally awakens." The man's voice was muffled but I recognised it as the man in the supermarket. I didn't speak. "How are you liking your new room?" He asked sarcastically. I despised him. I hated him. I… couldn't let him win. I smirked, catching him off guard.
"Oh, I love it. I love the lack of furniture. It really brings out the blinding light." I said sardonically. He cocked an eyebrow at my somewhat cynical attitude.
"Well, I'm glad. Because you'll be remaining in Arkham Asylum until the day you die."
What were really hours felt like days. In order to cheer myself up, I thought about all of the brilliant ways I could torture my captor. Of course, everyone else would die as well but he, the man who I had yet to know the name of, would go first. Agonisingly. I smirked as I thought of all of the things I would do to him. And then I laughed very loudly when I thought of all of the pain that Jack would inflict on him. I knew Jack was coming. I just knew it.
A few days passed and no sign of Jack. But I knew he was coming. I knew it. The man often sent other men in to inject something into me. It was a sedative. Whenever I woke up, I would find scars on my bare legs. I didn't know what they had done to me, but I knew that I would never want to look at my arms again. I could feel them scratching things into my skin, even after I had woken up. I could feel the needles and the scalpels and the knives in every nightmare I suffered. When I was with Jack, I didn't have nightmares. I didn't dream. But now… Now, my mind was tortured by them. If the nightmares could have a physical being, they would pummel me to the ground, rape me, kill me eleven times over and do it all over again. But Jack was coming. I knew it.
I think a week passed. I don't know. With there being no windows in my prison and my sleeping schedule being fucked up, I had no idea whether it was daylight or nightdark. Oh wait, nightdark isn't a word… I like it.
No Jack. I think I gave up.
I wanted out. But I was too weak. Would he even come? Who was I waiting for again? Why was I once so confident they would come? Did this mean this mystery person didn't care? Was I insignificant?
I was awake the next time they tested on me. They came in and grabbed me roughly by the straightjacket. I was dragged into a large room filled with awful looking instruments, liquids and people. They strapped me down on a table but they kept me awake. I didn't like it. I screamed loudly. They poured a chemical down my throat and it made my throat dry almost immediately. I could no longer scream. I could no longer voice my opinions on this. They had taken my one remaining right away from me. I didn't have the freedom of speech anymore. And then the pain came. And oh man, it stung like a bitch. They didn't cease in injecting vile liquids into me or cutting my arms and legs and slicing my back. Were my scars on my face and wrists not enough? Did they want to mar me?
They made me like a man I think I used to know. They cut my mouth. They cut it so that it looked like I was smiling. Then they gave me another chemical that stopped the pain and sped up the healing process. And then they put me back in my cell and left me there to refuse to cry. Was I waiting for something? I couldn't recall. All I knew was the pain.
So, this was pretty angsty and painful. Not very nice. I think the slow descent into the madness and forgetting who Jack was made it a little cooler, if I may so myself. Pretty please review! You guys have NO idea how happy it makes me . So, hopefully this will suffice. To be honest, I can see this fic being finished in a few days. So stick with me until then! I realise that I have not even put a kiss in. I have put Sony's growing affection and love and Jack's increasing worry and compassion but I think you guys deserve a choice. So, if you review, tell me either A) They should kiss in the next chapter. B) They should kiss near the end to make it a sweet ending. C) They shouldn't kiss at all, it would ruin their characters. SO REVIEW PLEASE! :D Cheers folks. Adios.
Luna