A/N SS-lover06, XPsychoBabyDollX, forgetmenotflowers and Sithlord8665 get a nice bouquet of flowers and chocolates along with a video came of choice! Thank you all so much!
And here we, GO!
~~/~~
~~Cara POV
I hadn't realized how much my head was hurting until I walked out of the hospital. The doctor had said I had a slight concussion, and all I needed was rest really. Then he ran off to another patient. I would hate to be an emergency room doctor. People's lives always in your hands.
All the cabs were taken, due to the fact that it was early in the morning, so I had to walk. At least this time I knew how to get home. When I had woken up, I was in clothes, which I hadn't thought about it until I started walking down the sidewalk. I wasn't wearing clothes when I was rescued... My face turned bright red. Batman saw me naked... I coughed a few times, embarrassed.
Stopping on a street corner, waiting to cross, my head pounding. I needed to get home, and soon, my head was killing me and my vision kept going in and out.
I looked across the street, and almost choked on my own spit. The Joker, in disguise, was talking to a cop like they were best friends, a box of doughnuts in his arms. I pretended I hadn't seen him, and hoped he wouldn't see me. My breathing came quick, and I felt lightheaded. Was it because of The Joker? Or something more serious.
The little walking man appeared on the crosswalk sign, and I crossed. It was as if my feet weighed a ton. My vision started to darken, and it became harder to breath. As I crossed, The Joker noticed me. One look at my face, and he grinned madly. The officer was still next to him, so I gave no sign of recognition.
I felt something warm run down from my nose, but I kept walking. I glanced at The Joker again, and his grin was gone, instead he had a frown on his face. About halfway across, my knees started to go weak. Before I fell, The Joker grabbed me, keeping me up.
"You don't look so hot Sugar," he said under his breath, and I managed to chuckle. He had no clue how bad he looked. But before I could tell him, my eyes rolled into my head.
~Joker POV
I was just out meandering around, enjoying the freedom, watching the chaos around me. The latex wasn't as itchy as last time, so I didn't have the need to scratch it off immediately. Then my stomach reminded me that I needed to eat once in a while. So I went to Steve's Doughnuts, and picked up a box.
On the street corner, there was a cop, who looked very distressed. Deciding to see how stupid the Gotham PD really was, I struck up a conversation. Turned out he just found out his girlfriend was cheating on him. It was too bad, the guy seemed like a relatively 'good' guy. A normal person would try to cheer him up, so that's what I did.
"Well, it'll come back and get her in the, uh, end," I said, seeing if he noticed my speech pattern. He didn't. He laughed sadly and nodded. Man this light takes forever. I told him a few jokes, and he was soon laughing. That's when I looked across the street.
Man, Golden Girl looks like shit. The light changed (finally) and I started to cross. So did Golden Girl, and I smiled at her. Next second, I noticed blood dripping from her nose, and I frowned. That wasn't a good sign. Next thing I knew, she was falling. I didn't want to catch her, but my arms shot out and caught her anyway. She owed me $6.50 for a new box of doughnuts.
A strand of hair had fallen into her face, and I brushed it away. Her eyes connected with mine, and I flashed my infamous smile at her.
"You don't look so hot Sugar," I murmured, and I saw the corner of her mouth twitch, as if she tried to smile. Recognition flashed in her eyes, before they rolled into the back of her head.
"Not good," I muttered, picking her up. My new cop buddy was calling a bus, and I told him to cancel it. When asked why, I told him I could carry her faster than an ambulance. He complied, and I started in the direction of the hospital.
Once I was far enough away, I ducked into an alleyway, and started to make my way 'home'. Golden Girl remained unconscious, or dead I couldn't tell, in my arms. I was doing well until I ended up at a dead end and a ten foot chain link fence. To top it all off, barbed wire lined the top.
I willed it to blow up for a few minutes, hoping the number of times I've seen Star Wars and the jedi mind tricks would work, but it didn't. Finally, I turned and walked the other direction. Golden Girl wasn't large, 140-145 pounds at most, but that doesn't mean it was very fun to carry her dead weight around for a long time.
So I set her down on the ground, bending backwards to crack my back.
"You know Sugar, I just remembered I still, uh, hafta take ya on that date," I giggled, remembering our first kiss on the bus. Seemed like just yesterday when I had first met her. Who knew she would be so much fun? I sat down next to her quiet form, poking her with my foot every few seconds.
"Hey Sugar, you still alive? 'cause there's more fun to be had," I said, smacking my lips together. No response. So I continued poking her. She would get up eventually.
~~Cara POV
I was expecting to see The Joker conscience immediately after I fell into the darkness, like usual, but he wasn't there. So I sat in the darkness, alone, for who knows how long. It was a little scary, the silence, the absolute darkness. I tried to call out a few times for Joker conscience, but no sound left me. Hugging my knees to my chest, I closed my eyes and waited. A lonely life I lived, if I was so dependent on figments of my imagination.
After a while, I heard footsteps from far away, and I looked in that direction. A small purple dot was miles away. So I quickly got up, and started running in the purple dot's direction. The closer I got, the more defined the dot became. A mop of green hair, black eyes, white face, and a bright red mouth. It was Joker conscience. I wasn't alone anymore.
As soon as I was in leaping distance, I leaped into his arms. He didn't even stumble, it was as if I weighed nothing.
"Miss me Sugar?" he said after a second, smiling at me madly. I nodded, making him laugh loudly.
"I had things to uh... deal with..." he explained slowly, choosing his words carefully. His dark eyes flicked to mine, and I saw a flash of something in his eyes.
"It's time Sugar," he suddenly said, and my brows furrowed. What did he mean? Joker conscience placed me down gently so my feet were set firmly on the ground. His gloved hands remained on my shoulders, and he looked me straight in the eyes.
"Time to be strong again Sugar. Time to wake up," he said in a deep voice, a sane voice. What? Already? But he had just got here, why did I have to go? As if he could read my mind, he chuckled and patted my head.
"Don't worry Sugar, Joker conscience will always be here whenever you get hit over the head with a baseball bat," and with that, he shoved me away from him. I fell back into the light, swearing at him the whole way. Even though I had created him, he was such an ass sometimes.
I woke up in a dank and dark alleyway, NOT the place I wanted to be. Remaining still, I looked around without moving my head. Yup, nothing I saw made me feel any safer. A felt my side being poked repeatedly, and I held my breath. Great, a hobo found me, and was using me as entertainment. I steeled myself, deciding to flip over and scare the hobo off.
So I did so, and instead of scaring off a hobo, I made The Joker fall over laughing. I stared blankly at the laughing man, not amused. Unlike Joker conscience, I wasn't happy to see the real Joker. While the one was my anchor to sanity, the other was the push that sent me to insanity. If I had to chose life with The Joker, or unlife with Joker conscience, Joker conscience and I would be together forever.
But I couldn't say this of course. One because I lacked the ability to, the other because I wanted to keep my bruised face as it is, not worse. When The Joker finally stopped laughing, he sat criss-crossed and put his hands on his knees, leaning forward. He looked like an ape. An insane ape with horrible teeth.
"Gooooooood morning Sugar," he said, still smiling. I looked around again, looking for some help, but there was none. Seeing that my only company currently was The Joker, and there was no one else in sight, I figured he was the one who helped me. Why he hadn't just taken me back to the hospital was annoying me.
I looked at him, hoping my annoyance was portrayed through my eyes. It was, because he reached out and flicked my nose.
"StoP scowlin Sugar, it's unbecoming of a young lady!" he said in a shrill voice, placing his hand on his chest and attempting to look 'sophisticated'. I kept scowling, making him flick my nose again. I flinched, snapping my teeth together in an attempt to bite him.
He found that amusing, and I sat waiting for him to finish. He waved his pointer finger at me while he laughed. Suddenly he stopped laughing and grabbed me, getting right in my face, a knife in his hand.
"I wouldn't do THAT again Sugar. Otherwise... I'll hafta hurt that pretty black and blue face of yoursss," he hissed, spit flying into my face. I will admit, I was a little scared, and I'm sure it showed on my face, but I was more entranced by his smoldering eyes to really worry about him carving my face. Oh, THAT'S a great sign.
The Joker's dark eyes changed from enraged to amused. He liked scaring me. Bastard. His grip on my face loosened, yet remained. Now he was studying me. I wanted to sarcastically ask him if I had something on my face, just to get to him. Perhaps even make him laugh. But alas. I WILL regain my ability to speak, then I can talk everyone's ear off. And trust me, I will.
The knife disappeared, and Joker took off his glove. Confusion was on my face and he just shushed me. His ungloved hand came up to trace the small scars on my face. I hadn't had the chance to conceal those, so they were quite visible, and that made me self-conscious. He started to press lightly on the bruises, making me wince and mewl in pain. Shushing me again, he lifted my chin to look at my pure black and blue neck.
"He really did a number on ya Sugar. Too bad the Bat Man took him away before I, uh, taught him a lesson," he said, still studying. Once he finished, he backed away and released me. There was something in his eyes, something that he tried so hard to hide, his humanity.
"I'm fien," I told him, struggling slightly with the words. My head had stopped hurting, and I actually did feel fine. I actually felt a lot better than I have in a long time. To test my health, I stood up, waiting for the pounding in my head. It never came. For now at least. The threat was still there however, and I knew if I over-exerted myself too far, I would end up paying for it.
Looking down at The Joker, I saw that he was looking up at me like a little kid. I motioned for him to get up, holding out a hand to him. He stared at it forever, like it was something dead. I rolled my eyes, and lowered my hand, but he suddenly grabbed it and pulled me down. Crying out, I landed in his lap, disgruntled.
"Stop tat," I snapped, trying to get up, but he just laughed and held me to him. He then stood up with me in his arms.
"I'm never gonna stop Sugar, not till you stop being so damn fun," he said, and carried me out of the alleyway bridal style. I groaned, and closed my eyes, hoping the nightmare would end soon.