Both James and I turned towards the door, staring as Joker strolled through it. He paused, pretending to look at a picture on the table near the door before walking into the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. "Didn't I?" he asked, his stare boring into James.

James opened his mouth to reply, but I stood quickly, cutting him off. "What are you doing here?"

"Sh, sh, sweetheart, I'm trying to handle business right now." Joker said, patting my cheek and shifting me aside.

I stared, feeling my jaw drop and my temper rise at an alarming rate. "Yeah, and you just waltzed into my apartment while we were 'handling business', so answer me." I snarled, stepping in front of him and crossing my arms.

Joker gave a quick laugh and patted my cheek roughly. "I like your, ah, attitude, but right now is not the time, sweetheart." He started to move me out of the way again, but I stood my ground.

"Yes, it is the time. Now answer me." My hands curled into fists, nearly shaking in an effort to contain my anger.

Joker gave me an exasperated look and leaned his head forward, tilting it towards mine. My spine stiffened, not sure whether I should stay put or back away. His gloved hand went up to pat my head in rough mock-affection, and for a moment, I thought he would keep leaning in and—

My mental panic attack was cut short by his next words whispered so closely to my ear that I could feel his painted lips brush against it, "You, ah, were late. You had training tonight, remember?" he raised his eyebrow at me before shifting his stare behind me to James, the dark orbs flashing with something dangerous. "I see why now." He nearly growled.

Suddenly, he moved pass me and pulled James up off of the couch, striding to the window that had the fire escape exit. "Let's have a little chat on the roof, shall we?" he asked rhetorically, throwing his head back with a cackle so loud that it seemed to bounce off of the walls hauntingly.

He shoved the window up, pushing James out of it before climbing out himself. My heart constricted at the look of pure concentrated fear and anger written on James's face. My muscles jolted into action and I followed uselessly after them. I stuck my head out of the window, watching as Joker dragged James up the stairs. I jumped out, taking the stairs by two to catch up with them. Just as I hit the roof, I saw Joker holding onto James's shirt collar, barely keeping him from falling over the edge onto the unforgiving alley three stories below. He was saying something to him, though I couldn't tell because his back faced me and the wind snatched any wandering words that drifted my way.

"Joker!" I yelled, slowly walking up behind him.

"I think you should stay right, ah, there." The clown responded, the whites in his eyes seeming to glow as he looked over his shoulder at me. The black paint around them only emphasized their glow, and I repressed a shudder.

I froze, as if moving another inch would trigger an unwanted reaction, which, in a way, it technically would. "Joker…" I tried to keep my voice level, not wanting to let him get any satisfaction from my fear. "Leave him alone."

"Now, uh… why should I do that?" he stepped off of the ledge, though his grip didn't loosen up on James's shirt.

He turned his torso to face me. I thought he was smiling, but with those scars of his, I couldn't tell if it was an illusion.

'That's the intended effect, honey.' The voice in my head piped up. I grit my teeth, annoyed at its bad timing.

"He didn't do anything wrong. Let him go." I retorted, crossing my arms in an attempt to hide my shaking fingers.

Joker's shoulders shook in a silent laugh, and he readjusted his arm to rest around James's shoulders. James looked as if he wanted to protest, but instead chose not to voice his opinion on the matter. "I'll be fine, Jade." He told me, "Go back downstairs."

I ignored him, choosing instead to switch my gaze to Joker, who stared back unnervingly. His tongue darted out across his red lips, poking at his scars before retreated back into his mouth. "Actually, sweetheart, he has done something… wrong. We came to a little, ah, agreement a few weeks ago… and Jamie-boy here broke it." Joker cackled, shaking James's shoulders roughly as if he had told the funniest joke of the day. "And I think. He needs. To be. Punished."

And with a last tight squeeze to James's shoulders, Joker bound towards me, spinning around me to grab me from behind. A surprised noise escaped past my lips, and I squirmed to get free. He pulled me back towards him, and I stumbled painfully into him, scrambling to regain my footing. Joker's irregular breath fanned over my ear in quick pants, "And you, my dear, are going to do the honors."

My head jerked to the side as if I had been slapped, "W—what?" I spluttered, my eyes widening as they connected with the mad clown's dark orbs.

"Have you ever shot a gun, dollface?" He took my hand and plopped something cold in it— a gun. A heavy one too.

Joker stepped around me again and started towards James. "But Jamie-boy doesn't, ah, seem to agree with me," he tutted and shook his head, coming to a stop next to James, "You're deciding for us; who gets to die tonight?"

James looked just as shocked as I felt, but Joker continued on before either of us could interrupt, "Your job is easy: pick one of us and just, pull the trigger." Joker's voice dissolved into mad giggles, laughing at the joke only he understood and found humorous, and it took another moment for him to gather himself. The grin on his face seemed to drop. "So, Jade, who will you choose?"

My brows squeezed together in thought; I hesitated. How exactly was I supposed to use a gun? Of course, I'd choose to shoot Joker, but he was standing a bit too close to James for comfort. It's a risk you're going to have to take, I told myself. With a shaky breath, I raised the weapon in my clammy hands, hoping that it wouldn't slip. I pointed it at James, but, in the second before I pulled the trigger, I shifted it a bit to the left. Joker seemed to sidestep the bullet, a mock-hurt look plastered on his features. "That was pretty close there dollface, I think you need to shift it over a bit to the—"

BANG.

The sound of it seemed to reverberate through my entire being, but with all of its mighty power, somehow Joker still managed to evade it, "Now, now, Jade—"

BANG.

I was starting to get more and more frantic, wondering how the hell was it possible to dodge bullets?! I pulled the trigger again and again, but he managed to dance out of the bullets' range every time until—

He'd somehow managed to dance his way closer to me, and now he was right. Behind me. His hands wrapped around mine as I pulled the trigger one last time, and I barely heard his next words, "But, ah, Jade? I think you've been aiming at the wrong person."

I saw it all in a painful slow motion: Pain barely registered on James's face as he stumbled back, his hand reaching up to touch the growing blood stain on the left side of his shirt. His shoe caught on the edge of the building, and he tumbled back and out of my sight.

For a second my muscles seemed locked in place out of shock, my blood pounding so harshly in my head that I thought it'd force its way out through my eyes. Then, time suddenly caught back up and I lurched forward, tearing myself out of Joker's grip. I rushed towards the edge, leaping off and catching myself on a balcony two stories below before dropping the final story to the ground, landing roughly on the side of my foot. I ignored the pain and crashed to my knee, crawling pitifully to the still figure a few feet away. My hands shook as they touched James's hair, slick with sweat and the blood that was pooling on the ground beneath him. His grey eyes stared straight ahead, already dull and lifeless.

"Oh god, no… no, no, no…" the words sounded strange exiting my lips, as if they weren't my own. I pulled his head into my lap, my torso hunched over him as I kept mumbling, the words slurring together and rising in pitch as I became more panicked, "Nononono, god, please, no…"

Tears dripped onto his face, which was growing colder by the second, and I wiped them away as if he were the one crying. "James…" I whispered, my voice breaking.

When more wet drops fell, I realized it wasn't just my tears, but it had begun to rain as well. I didn't move for a long while, not sure what to do. It wasn't until I heard sirens growing closer that I was forced to get up, but even then I was reluctant. A part of me wanted to stay here, let the cops find me… I deserved to be punished, after all. I harshly squashed that part, kicking it to the side. James wouldn't want me to—

I cut the thought off, a fresh wave of tears threatening to force themselves out. I couldn't deal with my emotions right now; I had to get clear first. I closed James's eyes, rising to my feet after laying his head gently on the ground again. With one last glance, I turned and ran.