Nightmare in Arkham
Chapter 26: "Rosebud" (Part 2)
-Poison Ivy lay back in her room, this time with the window bolted shut and her arms strapped to the sides of her bed. Her head was wrapped in bandages and, although she was once again unconscious, it was clear she was not in a coma, as she was breathing normally and even gave a slight grunt or snort as she lay in her dazed sleep.
-Dick and Dr. Thompkins were standing outside of the room peering in at the sleeping plant woman. A doctor stood beside them.
-"Don't you two worry. We've taken extra precautions to make sure that animal stays in her cage this time."
-"Who brought her in?" Dick asked curiously.
-"We don't really know for sure. It was a man in purple suit driving a black mustang."
-Dick raised his eyebrows, "A guy in a purple suit?"
-"Yeah, I guess he was some kind of businessman. I remember he had a really charming smile."
Within Ivy's dream she lay in the field without a care in the world. Her joy had almost put her into a second dream state. She remained completely unaware of the claw that was gripping the branch of the elm tree just slightly out of her vision.
-Freddy chuckled to himself before looking up. Right above Freddy's head was hole in the roof of the cavern with an ugly face peering down. The Emperor Penguin stood beside the hole waiting for further instructions from the only person he would call "boss".
-"Fire in the hole," Freddy said. Even though he spoke only loud enough for himself to hear his words, the Emperor gave a wide, disgusting smile before taking one puff from his cigar and dropping it into the hole where it landed in the branches of the elm tree.
-As Ivy continued to lie in the grass, the scent of smoke filled the air. Then came tiny crackling noises that quickly turned into the sound of a roaring blaze. Ivy opened her eyes and saw that the beautiful, flower garnished crown of her memorial tree was now a massive Afro of raging fire.
-Ivy jolted to her feet, narrowly avoiding some flame-covered debris that fell to the ground where her head was just resting.
-The moment the flames fell to the ground they instantly began to spread, like snakes slithering after prey, and engulfed everything in their path.
-Ivy's fearful eyes spotted the rosebud on the ground, still alive and untouched by the hell that had entered her Eden. She instinctively made a quit grab for the flower, plucked it from the ground, and made a run for the exit.
-She could see the vine door less than 30 feet away and the flames had not taken it yet. Ivy sprinted with all her might with the rosebud tucked away in her bosom. However, just as her hand was about to touch the vines, a voice called out. "Red?"
-"Harley," Ivy uttered to herself under her breath. "Harley, where are you?!"
-Completely ignoring the danger, Ivy darted into the opposite direction allowing her only way out to be taken by the fire. Ivy ran through the inferno following the sound of her friend's voice until she came to a clearing, and standing just ahead of her was a woman with long black and red hair tied up into two pigtails.
-Ivy smiled with pure delight, despite the destruction that surrounded her, and raced over to wrap her arms around her friend. But as she made it half way across the clearing, her foot sank into the ground.
-Ivy nearly fell flat on her face but she caught her balance in mid fall and placed her other foot on the ground, which also became consumed in the mire. Ivy tried desperately to free herself but only managed to sink deeper until she was submerged to her waist in the ground. Then the woman turned, and Ivy's face turned white as a ghost.
-The Bridesmaid smelled Ivy's fear and licked her bloody lips as she moved in for her feast. She stepped over the ground that had consumed Ivy as if it were rock solid and she began sniffing through Ivy's hair. Ivy could only close her eyes and whimper, pleading to herself to wake up from this nightmare.
-This, of course, strengthened Ivy's fear and excited the Bridesmaid further. And, to make matters worse, the scent of Ivy's fear lingered with her natural scent (a mixture of vanilla and peaches), and the Bridesmaid ran her tongue down Ivy's neck as she had done to Robin. But instead being killed by the poison that ran through Ivy's skin, the taste seemed to please the Bridesmaid and she sank her teeth into the crook of Ivy's neck causing her to scream in agony.
-As algae blood gushed down Ivy's shoulder, the reflection of Ivy's best friend blindly moved her hand to Ivy's chest and found the flower. The creature stopped feeding on Ivy, took the flower out of her bosom, and studied it while Ivy was left crying and pressing her trembling hand down on her bite mark.
-As the monster studied the flower for a few moments with her enhanced sense of touch, it said to itself, "A rosebud."
-"Little pig, little pig, come to Daddy," Said a male voice and the Bridesmaid smiled with joy at the familiar sound of her master's voice.
-"PUDDIN!" The monster squealed. Ivy shot her eyes open and turned in the direction of the voice. Freddy was standing against a burning tree with his ungloved hand pressed firmly against the raging fire, yet it didn't seem to be bothering him in the least.
-The Bridesmaid ran up to him, smiling the whole way, and when she stopped in front of him, she presented him with the rosebud. Freddy stared at his female minion then at the flower. Then he gave a wicked smirk.
-"Aw, how sweet." Freddy swiped the flower away with his claw and grabbed the Bridesmaid by her chin and starred straight into her beady eyes.
-"You ugly little shit," Freddy gently brushed a strand of hair out of the creature's face, "Now there's a face…" He turned to Ivy with a sadistic smile. With one mighty swing, Freddy hurled the Bridesmaid through the air and she landed right in front of Ivy, so close that their faces were practically touching, "…ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE!"
-Ivy screamed in terror as she began to sink father into the ground until only the top of her head and one flailing arm remained on the surface. Then Freddy's foot pressed down on her head and pushed Ivy into the ground and out sight. Freddy threw his head back, threw his arms out, and released a horrific victory laugh as the fire danced around him.
-The Bridesmaid sat on her knees whimpering with her arms wrapped around her chest. Freddy looked down on her and gentle ran his bladed fingers through her hair. The Bridesmaid smiled and leaned her head against Freddy's leg like a dog.
-"Good little bitch," Freddy said with a smirk.
Ivy was expecting to die. Instead, she landed on the ground in a dark passageway. Her head struck the ground hard and she lifted it while moaning and rubbing it. When Ivy's vision adjusted, she saw something lying beside her on the ground. In the miniscule light, she could just barely make out the image of Victor's snow-globe, still intact expect for a tiny fracture that looked as if it were slicing right through the woman inside and cutting her in half. When Ivy looked up from the snow-globe, she was face to face with a skeleton.
-She shrieked in horror and jumped back, right into another hanging corpse. After Ivy repeated the same process two more times, an eerie blue light ignited and lit up her surroundings, and Ivy found herself in the forest of dead children.
-Ivy tried to scream but was hindered by a gagging choke. Then she felt bile rising and churning in her stomach. She threw up in her mouth but forced it back down as she fell to her knees. Ivy looked up, and hanging by a meat hook just a few feet away from her was the corpse of a little girl who looked as if she were sleeping peacefully…but her entire body, except for the face, had been flayed.
-Ivy's throat felt like a mixture of fear, anguish, and disgust was strangling it. She felt hot tears pouring from her eyes and a sob escaped her lips. She placed both her hands over her mouth and nose and let out a horrid scream.
-"My, my," Freddy's voice sounded. Ivy shot her eyes forward and saw Freddy's grotesque figure approaching, "I'm aware it's no Garden of Eden but I didn't think it was that bad."
-Ivy rose to her feet, her eyes were bulging with anger and fright.
-"H-H-How could you? Why would you do this?" Ivy said through her tears.
-Freddy ran his claws down the body of the flayed girl, covering his knives in her blood for a second time, "Well, as I'm sure you must know, sometimes you have to prune back hard in order to make something flourish."
-"They were…children," then her tone grew angrier, "How many? How many innocent lives have you taken?"
-"Innocent? Hmm, not that many recently."
-"You're an inhuman monster!" Ivy spat as she started to go into fight mode.
-Freddy stopped in the middle of his forest of children making his face visible. Then he gave Ivy a cold smirk that made her back away in fright.
-"You're one to talk."
-Ivy felt uneasy and she quivered as the dream stalker's eyes stared into her's.
-Behind Ivy, a bright green illumination lit up and when Ivy turned around, she screamed a guttural cry of absolute horror.
-Lying strew about in piles like sandbags were the lifeless bodies of Ivy's children. All of them were horribly discolored, some of the corpses had veins that were pitch black and visible on their entire body, the eyes of the ones who had them open looked like glassy marbles, but most shocking of all, each one of them had some sort of spore or fungus growing out of their mouth, eyes, head, or some other extremity.
-"Your body count is even larger than mine, Miss Poison Kiss," And it was.
-Tears began racing down Ivy's cheeks. "No. No! I didn't mean to…"
-"But you did," Said the raspy voice of one of the children, "You killed us. You killed all of us."
-The children all rose to their feet like a horde of zombies and began shuffling toward their former mother, their eyes glaring accusingly at Ivy.
-"I loved all of you!" Ivy cried out, "I still love you!"
-"Oh, is that right," Spat a female voice. Ivy looked down at the snow-globe and the woman inside began to glow into beam of light. Then, the light shot out of the globe and took on Harley's image. Ivy gasped.
- "Then why did you hurt me?" She demanded angrily.
-Before Ivy could answer, Harley pushed her back and began walking toward her, forcing Ivy to walk backwards.
-"Why did you tear me away from my best friend? Why weren't you there when I needed you? Why did you push me away? Why did you leave me to die?"
-"I'm sorry, Harley!" Ivy sobbed.
-"That's not good enough!" Harley screamed. She then slapped Ivy across the face and sent her tumbling backward. But instead of falling to the ground, Ivy plunged, screaming into a dark void of emptiness. Then, she felt a hard impact followed by a loud shattering noise as she broke through the glass cycling of a greenhouse.
-Her body smacked down on the stone walkway and she could hear the sound of glass breaking as the shards rained down around her. Then she felt something plop onto her stomach that weighed a bit more than glass. It was the snow-globe, and the blonde woman was back inside. The white flitter inside the globe flew and danced around the woman while she stood with her hands up as if she were welcoming the winter wonderland she had been artificially placed in. When the snow settled the double doors burst open and Freddy stepped inside. He slowly walked over to Ivy, scrapping his claw along the metal doors as he walked forward.
-When he came within arm's reach of her, he said to her, "Ya know, if you really miss her that bad, I can easily fix that. I know she misses you…" Freddy lifted his sweater and Ivy's jaw dropped as she gazed at the faces sticking out of Freddy's crimson red body. "She's all alone in the red zone," Freddy lowered his sweater, "And nothing goes better with red than green," Then he knelt down beside Ivy and said malevolently, "And in my mind, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."
-In that moment, just like how the sudden realization that Harley was gone had slowly bubbled to the surface of Ivy's mind and turned her rage into sadness, so now did the realization that the man who took her best friend from her was mere inches from her, looking her dead in the eyes. And then Ivy's fear turned to rage.
-Freddy was startled when he saw Ivy's eyes fill with hate, her face turn from emerald green to boiling red, and her silence turn to into a teeth bearing growl. Ivy grabbed one of the glass shards that lay beside her and rammed into the side of Freddy's head, causing him to reel back in pain.
-As Freddy was trying to rip the glass shard out of his face, Ivy shot to her feet and charged Freddy, clamping her hands around his throat and ramming him into a cactus plant. Then, she grabbed Freddy's arm and forced him to his feet before flinging him out of the open doors where he went tumbling down a large flight of stone stairs that lead outside into what appeared to be a sort of botanical garden. When Ivy stepped outside and saw all the plants in the vicinity, she got a wicked idea.
-While Freddy was slowly getting back on his feet, he felt something wrap around his ankle. A massive root erupted out the ground and held Freddy high in the air. Then, like a conductor at an orchestra, Ivy waved her hands and fingers through the air, motioning the plant, and the plant obeyed. For five minutes straight, Ivy conducted the root to slam Freddy into stonewalls, rake him through thorns and pampas grass, and to drag him across the hard, rocky parts of the ground before bashing him into it. Then she ordered the root to bring him forward.
-The root delivered the horribly battered and broken, but still alive, Freddy in front of Ivy and dangled him upside down by his ankle. Freddy slowly opened his eyes, groaning in pain. Ivy grabbed Freddy's head with such force that tips of her fingernails sank into Freddy's flesh.
-"Rosebud, mother-fucker!" She spat in angry triumph.
-Then she mashed her lips into Freddy's and kissed him deeply, flooding his body with poison. By the time she was finished, Freddy's body was filled with so many toxins that his skin had turned as green as Ivy's. Then Ivy looked at the root and pointed her finger down.
-The root casually dropped Freddy's broken body at Ivy's feet and she gave it a good kick that sent Freddy skidding down the stairs. Ivy then descended the staircase and looked down with contempt on her fallen adversary.
-Then suddenly, Freddy's head shot up and he belched out a massive cloud of green fumes. Ivy, herself, was immune to the toxicity within the cloud but not the gashouse odor that choked her or the fumes that blinded her.
-Ivy shut her eyes and covered her mouth as she went into a coughing fit. Eventually the fumes cleared and Ivy opened her eyes. But now, she found herself within the dark woods of Robinson Park.
-"BLAH!" A voice spat. Ivy turned and was dumbfounded to see Freddy, not only alive, but completely healed.
-"You kiss your children with that mouth?"
-Ivy choked on her words as she stared in utter terror and complete disbelief.
"No wonder they all died! Christ, I've kissed decomposing lips that tasted sweeter than yours!"
-Ivy tried to run but, as she was turning, she tripped over a root and fell to the ground. Freddy pounced on her and held her down, his left hand gripping Ivy's throat. Ivy struggled and whimpered and tried to scream but to no avail.
-"What are you crying about," Freddy asked as he slowly began sliding his blades up Ivy's legs, "I haven't even cut you yet."
-Ivy squeezed her eyes shut, praying to die quickly. When she opened her eyes, she caught sight of a figure inching its way closer to them. In the light of the moon, the figure revealed itself as Catwoman. In one of her hands, she was clutching a long stick that had been sharpened into a javelin. She was holding it up like a hunter sneaking up on a sleeping deer. Ivy's eyes gleamed with hope and she almost let out a joyful gasp but Catwoman silenced her with a finger to her lips as she inched closer and closer.
*In the real world, a doctor walked into Selina Kyle's room. "Hey hon, sorry it took so long. Things have been kinda hectic these past few hours. But here's your coffee right-" She looked up at Selina and saw she was asleep. She smiled at her and walked over to place the coffee on a table beside Selina's bed.
*In the dream world, Freddy's claws were now sliding along Ivy's abdomen. He was none the wiser about the sneak attack coming from behind. Catwoman stopped and positioned the spear so that it was pointing directly at the back of Freddy's head. Freddy gave Ivy a deathly smile as he slowly inched his claws off to the side…Catwoman thrust her spear at her target. At the exact same time, Freddy jabbed his claws into the ground.
*In the real world, Selina Kyle's stomach burst open, spraying a thick patch of blood into the face of the doctor by her bed.
*In the dream world, the spear fell from Catwoman's hand as she gasped in excruciating agony. She had been skewered through her abdomen and out of her back by four metal spikes that shot out of the ground almost directly below her.
-Ivy's screams split the night as Freddy retracted his claws. As Catwoman was falling forward, Freddy shot to his feet and caught her by the neck.
-"I thought I smelled a putty cat," He said with an evil grin. Catwoman grunted and choked and twitched in pain as her body began to grow weaker and weaker. Freddy lifted Catwoman into the air by her neck. With the last of her strength, Catwoman tossed something toward Ivy and it landed just beside her as she sat frozen in horror. Ivy quickly jolted her head to the side and snatched it up. It was a pair of car keys with a nametag that said "Rose Bud". Ivy shot her eyes back to her dying friend.
-With blood starting to pour from her mouth, Catwoman managed to feebly choke out, "Get the hell out of here, Ivy."
-With his gloved hand, Freddy summoned a massive furnace out of the ground. The door opened and flames spewed out like the gates of Hell opening. Freddy then stabbed his claws back into Catwoman's body and hurled her into the flames.
-"NOOO!" Ivy screamed. She was on her feet in milliseconds and sprinting toward Catwoman as she burned alive. Just as Ivy drew near, Freddy brought up his gloved hand and, with a sadistic leer, he waved farewell with his knives.
-Catwoman had managed to extend her left hand out and the second Ivy grabbed it, the door to the furnace slammed shut and Catwoman's arm was severed at the shoulder, a mass of flames still burned on the stump. A white light escape from the furnace and raced directly toward Freddy and zapped into his body causing him to smile in pure delight.
"FATALITY!" He exclaimed. Then the furnace vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
-Ivy dropped the still twitching arm and fell on her back. She staggered onto her belly just as a rush of vomit erupted from her mouth.
-Freddy walked over to the arm and picked it up. He then took the burning end and pressed it against a tree, setting the whole thing up in flames. He turned to Ivy and said in Catwoman's voice, "A lion needs two claws to catch its prey."
In the real world, Batman had arrived at the hospital and the moment he walked through the doors, he saw that the whole place had spread into a chaotic frenzy. There were doctors running and yelling and patients running out of a hallway screaming in terror. The fire alarm was blaring throughout the building and outside Batman could see people leaping out of one and two story windows and running through the streets.
-"BATMAN!" A voice shouted. Batman turned and saw Dick racing toward him. When he stopped in front of him, Batman saw tears pouring from his eyes.
In the dream world, Freddy stuck his entire left arm into the blazing inferno and when he retracted it, it had been completely incinerated. Then Freddy took Catwoman's arm and stuck it onto his charred stump. The flames on Catwoman's arm fused the arm to Freddy's body, then the flames shot all the way up the arm and when they receded, Freddy's arm had not only been completely restored, but it now had a second claw fastened to it that was an exact replica of his right claw.
-Freddy turned his attention back to Poison Ivy and slowly began walking toward her. Ivy backed up against a tree, involuntarily clutching the snow-globe, which she had completely forgotten she was still holding onto.
In the real world, Batman burst through the door of Selina's room and was instantly slammed with a sight that was so horrifically overwhelming that his heart stopped completely and he did not make any sudden moves for nearly a whole 20 seconds.
Selina Kyle's body was completely engulfed in flames that had already consumed the entire bed that lay underneath her. The screams of the people running for their lives in the hall, the scent of burning flesh and debris, and the sight of Hell laughing in his face all became muted. All that remained tangible to the Dark Knight was the feeling of his heart being ripped out of his chest.
In the dream world, as Freddy slowly walked toward Ivy, his figure was completely blackened by the background of the fire that burned behind him. But every so often, a glimmer from the flames would reveal his satanic smile to Ivy.
-Sobbing and breathing hysterically, Ivy whispered with the snow-globe pressed against her heart like a cross, "Please God…"
-In response, Freddy folded his hands over his chest. With his body darkened into a silhouette by the fiery background, the claws on his fingers, which jutted past the rest of his frame, looked like spikes sticking out of the arms and shoulders of a Hell creature that had ascended from the Pit to claim the soul of a damned mortal. As he did this, he let out a loud demonic laugh that echoed through the dark woods.
-Every muscle, every nerve, every sense, every fiber of Ivy's being seized up and her body was stone still. As if in slow motion, the snow-globe fell from her hand and shattered into a million pieces. The sound echoed through the woods.
At the police station, Jim noticed a figure standing beside him and the child. It was a young gentleman with short black hair surrounding a shiny, bald cranium, a black mustache, and a butler's uniform.
"Mr. Pennyworth?" Jim asked. At the mention of that name, the child slowly raised his head to meet the man's eyes. Alfred threw himself down on his knees and embraced the boy.
"Oh Master Bruce, I'm so sorry!" Alfred exclaimed sounding like he was trying to hold back tears, "I know I can never replace them. But I promise, I will never leave your side. And remember what I've always told you: the night is always darkest just before the dawn." After Alfred's statement, Bruce opened his eyes, which now, despite the tears, burned with a freshly ignited determination.
Batman's eyes darkened with a familiar feeling of devastation that he had not felt in years. As he watched the body of his beloved burn away before his eyes, he sank to the ground, crying just as he had 25 years ago.
-The Joker's hand patted him on the head.
-"There, there, Brucie," He said with a smile, "Look on the bright side: at least you still have your sanity."