** Hey there loves! Here's chapter 6 for your viewing pleasure. I'm trying a new spacing thing so let me know how you feel about it. Long paragraphs get annoying to read so if you think they need to be even shorter, I'd love to hear it. Enjoy :)
When she came too, she was lying in the dark in what she assumed was her cell. For the entire time that she had been here thus far, the light had remained on in an attempt to disorient her. But now, as her body lay sprawled out on the bare floor, it was pitch black.
Her head was pounding again from the hard bang it had taken from the metal floor of the van. Combined with the last few days of torture, she was pretty sure she had experienced more pain than her entire life combined. With a tired groan, she lifted her hand to her head. Luckily, she didn't feel a gash, but the bump that had already emerged felt like a tennis ball. Immediately, tears began to fall from her eyes making her head throb even more.
Even without seeing her face, she was quite sure that she looked like she belonged in some sort of institution. Up until now, the joker had left her face alone, but tonight, there was no joking in his tone, no humored smile, just pure anger. She had accomplished her goal but part of her-a part that was growing larger by the minute- was hoping he would have just killed her.
Finally forcing her self off of the floor, she crawled over to one of the corners where her mattress was before stopping. There was nothing there. She let out a whimper before turning around feeling around the small room with hopes that she was simply disoriented before realizing that it had been taken away as was her blanket. Her clothes had been left on thankfully, but she was utterly and completely defeated. Unsure of what to do, she huddled up in the corner, wrapping her arms around herself before sobbing loudly as she began to rock herself. She didn't care if anyone could hear it anymore.
An hour later, she heard the lock click shortly before the door finally opened and the light flicked on. She squinted, seeing the Joker standing in the doorway. He hadn't bothered to change his clothes or refresh his makeup leaving small patches of skin showing through the white paint.
"Have you calmed down?" He asked with a frown.
She tried to answer, but her words were choked off into more heavy sobs as she pressed her back against the wall, lowering her eyes away from him.
"No, then?" He watched her cry even as no tears fell, tilting his head as he studied her, enjoying her distress for a long moment. It annoyed him pretty quickly, though, and he smacked his lips before continuing.
"You know, you ruined our night. I had the boys cook you up a special dinner but you just lost your mind!" He said with a laugh, pausing as he looked at her again.
She wasn't rising to his taunts however, nor giving him any indication that she had heard him. Just a glance at her and it was obvious why. She looked physically ill. Bruises had littered her body since the day she arrived her, but now, her face was beginning to show signs of his beatings as well. He did try to avoid aiming for her face. It was nice to look at something other than the ugly mugs of his goons day in and day out. But sometimes she was just asking for it.
The bump on her head was beginning to grow and he could see that the impact had blackened her eyes. Well, that part he somewhat enjoyed. Perhaps he would find her some red lipstick for her so that he could have a laugh every time he saw her with it on. It'd be like having a dark feminine version of him around. Minus her brooding. He did hate brooding.
For a moment, He considered reaching down and shaking her until she gave the reaction that he wanted, but with the concussion that he had given her earlier, he hadn't even been positive that she would wake up. And that wouldn't have been good. Not at all. Not when she was so much fun and he had so many plans left for her.
"Oh all right." He finally said with an exaggerated sigh, kneeling down to her. "To be fair, we both said some things we didn't mean." He said in that slow, condescending tone that she hated. "How about we let bygones be bygones and get some food in ya?"
At the mention of food, her eyes drifted up to him again and widened with hope. She nodded her head slightly, hoping he truly meant it.
Without a word, he bent forward to help her up before jumping back at the last second, narrowing her eyes at her as if he had been expecting a different reaction that her listless shift.
She looked at him, confused.
"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" He questioned, his lips pouted playfully.
She couldn't even be bothered to laugh at the bad joke, wondering if he was ever actually going to give her any food.
He frowned; annoyed that she wasn't seeing the humor in the situation. She had, twice now, attacked him and was still breathing. He found it hilarious. Of course, after throwing her roughly into her room and locking the door, he had stormed out of the building with his favorite knives, using nearly all of them on the first unlucky person he could find-some low level mobster peddling drugs about 8 miles away.
The goons who lived in the lower levels of the building were unfortunately getting too good at reading his emotions and had learned to disappear when they heard his heavy footfalls and angry muttering. Maybe it was time to do a purge soon. He did get truly bored seeing the same faces every day. Maybe if he had let her kill someone, she'd be in better spirits. He might put that to the test some other time.
"Come on, slugger." He took her arm with a disappointed frown, pulling her off of the floor, albeit much more gently than he normally would have.
Once she was finally on her feet, he led out of the room, having to support her more than he cared to as she stumbled along the hallway. A scowl crossed his lips as they slowly climbed what had once been a large, elegant, double wooden staircase leading to the fifth floor of the hospital that he had commandeered. It was now covered in a thin layer of dust, dirt, and trash as the building had been empty for years now. One of his men had managed to reroute water and electricity while keeping it off of the cities books and they had been making themselves at home here since his escape almost a month ago.
Next to him, Arella was gripping the banister for dear life as they reached the first landing where a wall of windows illuminated the open area with an eerie glow. He wanted to leave her so that he could make a run up the steps taking two at a time like he was used too, but the last thing he needed was to have her wandering around his floor with no chaperone.
His face twisted in annoyance as he made his next few footfalls exceptionally loud before letting out a growl. "Oh come. On!" His hands flew up in the air before storming over to her and wrapping an arm around her waist lifting her from the floor and beginning to storm up the steps.
Ignoring her squeaks of protests as her body leaned sideways, he began to mutter to himself angrily, making his way up the second flight while carrying her as if she was little more than an envelope under his arm. When he finally got close enough to the top of the stairs, he simply released her waist, letting her body drop the foot or so to the floor as he looked up to watch her panic from a few steps down.
Arella gasped, grabbing the edge of the banister so that she wouldn't fall down the steps after the sudden drop.
"Think you can walk now?" He frowned, crossing his arms before ascending the last few steps.
She looked up at him with a glare, wanting so badly to scream at him and remind him that the reason she could barely move was him. Over the past three days, she had begun to think that maybe he was really just this oblivious to anything that did not concern him. That fact only began to anger her even more. He was like a spoiled child who had never been told no and she hated it. But for now, she would simply keep her mouth shut. It was a miracle he was letting her eat at all after what had happened tonight.
"Yes." She replied simply, her voice shaking with anger as everything she couldn't say at the moment became clear with one look at her narrowed eyes. She hated him, more than she had imagined she could hate any one person. And though she would play his game for the time being, she was going to kill him as soon as she could.
As his eyes met hers, they both stood there in a silence pregnant with anger. Each mentally pondering how much they wanted to scream at, attack, kill the other. And each doing everything in their power to contain it, wondering if the other was going to move first. It was a strange moment. Though the balance of power had been almost completely shifted to the Joker's side for the entire time that she had been here, for that brief moment he wasn't her kidnapper and she wasn't his captive. They were just two people filled with rage.
It didn't last long, however. The Joker was steadily getting angrier as she glare at him and was itching to put her back in her place. The look she was giving him at the moment was almost as bad as hearing her smart mouth and he couldn't have that. No he couldn't.
With a low growl, he leaned closer to her. "You know, if you keep looking at me like that-ah, I'm gonna start to think you don't want to see me. I could always let you eat downstairs." He hummed, his lips brushing against her ear in an attempt to unnerve her. To send her back to the submissive place her preferred for her. "My men would love to have a chance with a feisty little tart-ah like you." As he finished, he pulled his head away from hers to glare at her, he wanted to see all that anger she was emitting change to fear, watch those eyes fill with terror. And she didn't disappoint. As soon as his eyes met hers, she quickly turned her head to look down at the floor instead.
"I'm sorry." Her voice broke the second awkward silence with barely a whisper, hating herself for the fear she was feeling right now. But the expression on his face right now was one of the most terrifying she had ever had him shoot her way. She was positive that if she had made the ill-advised decision to challenge him again, she wouldn't make it another minute. "I'm just hungry."
Finally, he giggled, standing up straight and moving away from her down the hallway, knowing she would follow. "You women and your hormones." He laughed again before his mouth quickly turned down into an unseen frown once he was far enough away. At this rate, he and his knives would have to go out again before the night was over.
The Joker led her the rest of the way down the curved wide hallway completely covered with windows on one side before stopping at a door where he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, jingling them overly hard for a moment and pretending to look for the correct one as he smirked at her.
Arella resisted the urge to roll her eyes; he was stalling now and it was driving her crazy. Instead, she decided to ignore him as she leaned against the wall and let out a soft sigh, looking out through the windows across from her.
It was strange how peaceful everything looked from here, even while she knew that somewhere out there, the entire Gotham City PD was frantically searching for clues through the charred remains of one of the city's most upscale stores. She tried to spot some sort of Landmark in the distance, but there was nothing but rows and rows of trees rolling over the hills. Maybe that meant that the city was in the other direction. It had taken them 30 minute to get to Barney's so they were probably pretty far away. Either that or the Joker had purposefully driven around in circles to throw her off. She wouldn't put it past him.
It was beautiful in this part of the building, even with the excessive dirt and trash that covered the concrete floors and peeling walls. She highly doubted that the Joker had purchased the place for its aesthetic appeal, but that didn't make it any less so.
When she glanced back at the Joker, she was surprised to see him looking at her as if she had completely lost it, his hand on the doorknob of the open door as with his shoulders hunched over. She hadn't heard him open the door and wasn't sure how long he had been staring at her. For a brief moment, she considered apologizing before simply lowering her head and walking into the room past him, trying hard to press he body as far away from him as possible through the small door frame in order to avoid touching him. He only grunted before following her in and slamming the door behind them.
Arella looked around as she entered, it was a bedroom obviously, and one that was much better than the one she had been given. It was almost three times as large as the cell and a metal bed frame sat in the corner next to a pointed alcove that featured floor to almost ceiling windows right before the wall sloped into a pointed cieling. It was still decaying as much as the rest of the place, but the floor had been swept and clean white linens had been haphazardly thrown onto the mattress. Across from it, an old dusty red couch sat against the opposite wall near a wooden wardrobe and an almost threadbare rug covered the floor. But the most exciting part of the room was the desk, bolted to the floor next to the window, which was topped with an entire package of water and a few plates of food.
Her eyes widened, happily. Part of her had been positive that the Joker was lying to her just to torture her further. He truly didn't seem to have a limit to how much he could dish out. But as she stare at the food on the table she could almost cry, it was almost too good to be true. That thought gave her pause as she wrapped her arms around her stomach which had begun to protest her delay. What if this was his way of torturing her further? To let her come within arm's reach of food that she couldn't have. Unsteady eyes raised to her captor as he walked confidently past her over to the table and picked up a piece of shrimp, popping it in his mouth and chewing it noisily.
"Mmm." He hummed happily, even as he picked up two more, stuffing them in his mouth in order to free up a hand to grab a bottle of water, drinking much of it in one gulp.
From the middle of the room, Arella remained completely still as her wide eyes followed every bit of food he put into his mouth. She found herself glancing down at the desk after every bite that he ate, making sure that there was still enough food there. Each time reassured her that there was, but her heart still dropped with his next piece. His table manners were abysmal, but she didn't care at the moment. Hers probably would be too, if she ever got a chance to eat.
After watching him for what seemed like forever, she couldn't wait any longer. She took a deep breath before looking up at him. "May I have some….please?" Her voice almost cracked from fear.
The Joker turned around to look at her with the same look he had held outside the door as he still munched on a piece of shrimp. He could almost burst into laughter as he did. She looked so pitiful standing there all huddled up in the middle of the floor, her wide eyes hungry as she watched. He had half expected her to run past him to the table, but instead she just stood there, heavily bruised and starving as she awaited his command. He did love when she begged.
"Well…" he said finally, gesturing to the food, managing to keep his grin under control.
She didn't need any more of an invitation than that, running over quickly and grabbing four of the water bottles and a plate quickly before darting over to an empty spot on the floor in front of the window before he could stop her.
She had barely unloaded her loot on the floor and sat when she tore the top of the first twenty ounce size bottle, guzzling it down without hesitation before grabbing the second and doing the same. She wasn't sure when she would get the chance to eat again or how long the Joker would give her before he interrupted so she tried to get as much down as possible at once.
At the desk, the Joker had stopped chewing, staring at her in slight shock. He was sure it hadn't been that long since she'd eaten or drank anything. Mentally, he recounted the last few days before realizing it had. He'd have to have a talk with the goon guarding the door for not reminding him to water their guest. He watched her open the third bottle of water before his mouth turned into a soft smirk.
'Oh this was about to get good'. Setting down the bottle in his hand, he reached behind the desk, grabbing a small trash can and placing it near his feet, tapping his foot idly as he waited. She didn't even seem to notice that he was there anymore as she finished the third bottle, opening the next bottle and starting once more. But this time, she only managed to get a third of the way down before stopping, pulling the bottle away from her mouth and sitting there awkwardly for a moment.
Without a word, his foot tapped the metal trash can to get her attention. She understood immediately, her face twisting in pain before she scrambled over to the can, stuffing her face in and cringing as much of the water she had just downed emptied into the trash can.
The Joker let out a loud cackle, slapping his knee as she did, watching her heave before she finally stopped, breathing hard.
Accusing eyes finally looked up at him as one hand gripped her stomach and the other kept the trashcan in place. "What did you put in there?" She questioned finally.
"Me?" He placed his fingers on his chest, still laughing. "I would never. Where's the fun in poison?" He pretended to wipe his eyes. "No. No. That one was your fault."
"What?"
"Well you can't drink nothing for days and then drink everything at once." He giggled as if he were merely telling her the sky was blue.
"Why didn't you stop me?" She almost yelled at him, catching herself and lowering her tone almost immediately.
"Because you have a heck of a right punch." He laughed, waving a shrimp at her before tossing it back into his mouth.
She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, relaxing against the can for another moment.
"I'm left handed." She muttered, not thinking that he had heard her until he let out a humored snort.
"Well that explains it." He patted his right cheek with a grin, slinking over to the bed and flopping down before swinging his legs up and lying back, his hands behind his head. "You gonna eat that?" He gestured to her plate.
She gave a slow nod, crawling back over to her plate and sitting back on the floor with her legs crossed, beginning to eat, though much slower than she had been when drinking. The food was surprisingly delicious but she was sure that had something to do with eating nothing for days. It was difficult to eat slowly as she moved around the plate of shrimp, rice, pineapple, and grilled chicken. The mixture was strange and she wondered who had cooked it, but none of that mattered right now.
For the next fifteen minutes, she focused on her stomach after each bite, making sure that it didn't begin another protest before continuing. For a while, she almost forgot that the Joker was within arm's reach, staring at her as she ate. He was surprisingly quiet during the whole thing, and it wasn't until she sat back from the plate with a satisfied sigh that she looked up at him, somewhat awkwardly.
Now that she had eaten, the silence was beginning to unnerve her. But he barely seemed interested in her at the moment as he stare up at the ceiling with a blank expression. For a moment, she thought that he had fallen asleep, but she could see him tapping his shoes together idly. It was strange to see him like this, not throwing jabs in her direction or torturing her in one way or another. He seemed relaxed and she wasn't sure how to react to that version of the Joker. The silence was broken by his nasally voice.
"I know I'm good lookin' sweet cheeks, but now you're just being rude."
She quickly turned away. "Sorry." She muttered, picking up her half empty bottle of water and starting to open the top before deciding against it. She was feeling much better after eating and with the Joker in such a relaxed state, she figured it'd be the best time to get some of her questions answered. But she had no idea where to start, it was like trying to navigate a mine field, not knowing what would set him off. But she had to try.
"Those people…at the store…" Her voice stammered a bit before she paused, pursing her lips and mentally scolding herself for being so skittish. She took a breath before continuing. "Were you always going to blow it up?" Her voice returned a little stronger as she looked out of the window.
It was silent for a moment when a slow laugh began rumbling in the Joker's chest before he swung his legs back to the floor, sitting up on the edge of the bed and resting his forearms lazily on his thighs with a grin on his face. "Feeling a little responsible are ya?" he questioned finally.
Her eyes barely looked over at him in an annoyed glace. It was the joker who had set those charges, who had pressed the detonator, who had shot 5 people before making his exit. None of that was her fault. But she couldn't help but feel guilty.
With a hop of the bed, the Joker suddenly sat on the floor beside her, matching her position and crossing his legs as he leaned close as if they were close friends sharing secrets. Being this close to him, she could see that the Joker hadn't completely made it out of their fight unscathed. T
he beginnings of bruised skin had started to peek out from his collar where he never bothered to apply makeup. And she could swear she saw her hand imprint in the smeared paint on his jaw. Glancing down at his hands, she saw four trails of blood were she had clawed at him. She couldn't help but wonder how much more damage she had done underneath the paint. The thought almost made her smile.
"I'll be honest. I was going to blow it up. I mean, I put so much work into it. I couldn't just let it go to waste!" He giggled, flailing his arms in the animated way he always did as he spoke. "But I would have waited. Maybeeee…twenty minutes. When the store closed." He gave a sympathetic frown, as if understanding her guilt. "See, I just like to keep Gotham's finest on their toes. But you…" He chuckled, throwing an arm around her shoulder as he continued, almost unbearably close to her.
She had realized pretty quickly that he enjoyed invading the personal space of others. It was just another one of his intimidation techniques and it definitely worked.
"You wanted more. And how could I say no to you?" He finished finally with a lazy smile.
"There were kids in there." Her voice shook from anger.
"I know." He gave a low chuckle. "The gall of parents keeping their little ones out that late in Gotham. You really did teach 'em a lesson, killer."
The last word, spoken like one of his condescending pet names really hit her in the gut. Of course he would blame this all on her. "You're sick." She said softly.
"Now, now." He waged his finger, tilting his chin and looking up at her. "Let's not be humble. I did warn you. And then to let four people die while you were hiding…" He gave a sadistic smile, making a clicking sound. "You do know how to impress me, Ella."
A sniffle escaped her nose as she felt like she was going to break down in sobs again.
He released his shoulder from his grip, snaking around to look straight at her with false concern. "Don't cry. You should be happy. Do you notice where we are right now?" He gestured around the room before looking at her expectantly.
She raised her head in confusion, staring around the area. "Is this your room?" She questioned softly. The thought unnerved her. She had never kidded herself about what the madman could, and probably would do to her at some point and her fears were only intensified by the awkward bath she had been given earlier. Mentally, she tried to prepare herself for whenever the moment would come but she wasn't sure that was even possible.
"No. This is your room." He said with a smug smile.
She looked at him oddly, unsure she had heard him correctly. "What?"
He grinned, standing now. "Right next to mine. Where you belong."
Her mouth dropped even more, she wasn't sure it'd be possible for her to sleep with the Joker's room next to hers. And did that mean she could walk around now? There were so many questions that she wanted to ask, but it only came out as the only one she could articulate at the moment. "There's no toilet."
He chuckled, walking over a second door near the end of the bed that she hadn't noticed before pushing it open, leaning on the wall and gesturing inside.
She quickly scrambled to her feet, rushing to the door and peering inside. It was actually a bathroom. Not just a cold metal toilet, but a bathroom with an old porcelain bathtub with a sink, mirror, and toilet. It was still relatively sparse, but she didn't care. She could shower now, take baths if she wanted to. It was almost too much to take as she felt tears fill her eyes. It was strange to be excited about something so minimal, but she couldn't help the excitement she felt. It didn't make sense that after attacking him so angrily earlier, he would finally give her food and a proper bed. A nagging in the back of her mind told her that of course the Joker had ulterior motives for this, and that she would regret being so excited when she found out why. But for now, this little room was like heaven.
"What do you say?" The voice came from the doorway of the bathroom where he was still standing, amused by her excitement. She probably didn't even realize that she was smiling right now. He thought about drawing attention to the fact she was smiling because of him, but couldn't think of a funny enough reaction to make him do it.
She turned around, her eyes wide for a brief moment as if she had forgotten that he was there. "Thank you." She said finally with a sigh. And for once, she didn't grimace.
He didn't reply, that smug, lazy smile still on his lips as he simply reached up a gloved finger and tapping his cheek.
Her face scrunched up in confusion for a moment before the realization hit her. Legs locked in placed as she stared, hoping he was kidding, but he didn't move. After what seemed like forever, she took a hesitant step forward, trying to physically stay as far away from him as possible before leaning forward and placing a reluctant kiss on his cheek.
"You're a peach." A small chuckle came from his lips before he stood up straight, turning and walking out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Arella immediately ran an arm across her lips. The feel of the greasepaint made her feel dirty and she didn't want to think about why it was there more than she had to. With a glance back into the room, she could see that the food and water had been left there. With an excited smile, she picked up a water bottle and flopped down in the new bed. It smelled like the Joker, even though he had only been lying there for a short while, but she didn't care. Before she could even get the bottle of water open, sleep overtook her.
"Oh Ella. Dinner."
Her eyes shot open, a gasp leaving her lips as she heard the nasally voice outside of her locked door. She hadn't been sleeping, but her-what seemed to be-constant state of day dreaming had lulled her into something that resembled it as much as she could hope.
It had been three weeks since she had been brought to the fifth floor and since then, she had never been allowed to leave the room. The Joker had taken to bringing her at least one meal a day and leaving bottles of water which was helping her look less like the zombie she had during her first few days, but aside from that, he almost completely ignored her. It confused the hell out of her.
Every now and then, he would take time to sit and have a one sided conversation with her, but the short interactions almost always made things worse. She found that as time went on, she became more and more unsure of what to say to him leaving him quickly bored and causing him to leave in a huff. Other times, she would accidentally slip a smart comment and he would leave again without another word.
On the bright side, he hadn't hit her since she was moved, but she would almost take that abuse over the isolation that she was feeling right now. There were some nights that she simply paced in circles for hours, wondering what people on the outside were doing at any given moment.
She also found that her imagination she depended on so often as a child was beginning to reemerge. Stories would often craft themselves in her mind before she even realized they were happening. Stories of heroism and redemption, love and freedom. Other times, when it was sunny, she would sit in front of the window with her eyes closed and pretend that she and Shawn were relaxing along the Thames, eating a dipped cone after a full day of site seeing. If she thought hard enough, it almost felt real.
But imagination could only satiate her for so long before memories of Barney's began to resurface in her mind even as she tried to forget; a feat that was nearly impossible considering the clothes that still hung in her wardrobe. And every time she got dressed, she was nearly brought to tears.
It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark green wall in front of her as she remained still under the blanket. It was the sounds of a key in the lock that forced her upright in bed with a tired sigh. She was always tired these days.
When the Joker finally entered the room, plate in hand, she was sitting cross legged on the bed, the comforter still covering her lap and her back against the wall. Her shoulders drooped helplessly as her eyes glanced up at the tall figure blankly. She tried to avoid looking at him for extended periods of times less he mistook her curiosity for glaring, but sometimes, she couldn't help it.
His eyes quickly rolled over her appearance as he entered the room with an energetic grin. "There's my favorite pet. Bright eyed and bushy tailed as usual I see." He tilted his head playfully.
Arella only pursed her lips as she looked down at the comforter, already overwhelmed by his energy which was such a sharp contrast to the silence that she normally spent the day in.
He quickly ignored her lack of response, crossing the room in a few quick steps and flopping down onto the bed next to her. Letting his legs hang lazily off of the side of the bed, he tossed the plate carelessly into her lap.
"You would not believe the night I've had." He grinned casually, letting his green tinted hair fall over his face.
She gasped, quickly grabbing the sides of the plate before the contents had a chance to slide off onto the blanket. It looked like she was having pasta again tonight. It seemed to be a favorite of whoever it was that did the cooking around here. She supposed it was easy to make for the large groups of men she assumed he had around the building. He ignored her movement, continuing his conversation as she picked up the plastic fork, beginning to eat silently.
"You see, the boys and I are minding our business, heading to a meeting with Maroni and his men by the docks to set up an-ah…explosive deal." He waved his hands around excitedly before laughing.
"Maroni. It's like these so called 'criminals' never learn." He licked his lips before looking over at her. "Do I look like the type of guy you'd trust with a plan?"
She looked up at him, swallowing slowly. He seemed to enjoy telling her all of the details of his nights out, especially the more gruesome ones. Mostly she tried to ignore him, but right now, he wanted a response and though she hated these conversations, she'd take the Joker's company over no company at all right now. So she acquiesced to his prodding, to her dismay.
"No?" She replied uncertainly.
"No." He smirked before continuing the story before he had gone on his tangent. "So we're driving along, minding our own business, when we get pulled over by one of Gotham's finest. Well, we didn't really have time to be held up, so you wanna know what we did to him?" He smirked, moving closer to her excitedly.
"You shot him." She said, trying to hide the bitterness of her voice behind another forkful of pasta.
"Oh ." He grinned, his voice lowering to an excited hum. "Where's the fun in that? No. I planted him somewhere in Gotham . You see, I want to know how long it'll take to find him without my help."
She looked up slightly, looking over his outfit as a sense of dread came over her. "You're going to blow him up. Like Harvey Dent." She said barely above a whisper.
"Am I?" He smirked.
"You smell like gun powder."
A chuckle escaped his lips as he leaned closer to her ear, almost touching them with his lips causing her to stiffen. "I do love how observant you are." He growled.
A wave of nausea came over her. The smell of death and gunpowder were overpowering and combined with the uncomfortable closeness, she was quickly losing her appetite.
"But no. I'm not going to blow him up. Not if they can find him in time. And let's hope for the sake of his twins they do. I do hate to see children growing up without a father." He gave a sympathetic frown, leaning away as he stare at her, taking in her horrified reaction.
Her mouth opened slightly in a gasp, staring at him with unbelieving wide eyes. He always seemed to surprise her with his sadistic level of apathy, but this was almost too much.
"Then let him go. What's the point?" She begged. "He hasn't done anything to you."
"I know. Some people are just unlucky." He gave a careless shrug, smiling as if what he was talking about was no big deal.
"You don't have to do it." She tried to reason with him. It was useless, but she couldn't help herself.
He laughed. "Oh but I do. I've always been a man of my word."
She pursed her lips, staring at him for another moment before giving up, turning back around to her plate of food and poking at the noodles as she could feel tears filling in her eyes. She felt completely helpless not being able to help the people that the Joker would detail to her almost every night. That was if he was always telling the truth. She never could tell. If he was however, she also realized that his openness with her meant that he didn't care about whether or not she could turn on him. She would never get the chance to because she was never leaving him alive. Finally, her lips turned into an actual frown despite the blank look she had grown accustomed to putting forth.
"You're disgusting." She finally slipped, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was a short, uncomfortable silence before she felt the bed move with the Joker's weight pulling him to a standing position. Immediately, her frown disappeared as she looked up desperately.
"No!" She said quickly, pushing the plate off of her lap. "I'm sorry, please don't go."
He didn't reply, glancing over his shoulder at her with a frown before heading to the door.
"I said stop!" She yelled at him angrily, climbing off of the bed and rushing forward to the door. "Don't leave me here. You can't keep leaving me here!" She shouted, reaching the door at the same time that he pulled it shut behind him.
She let out an angry scream, kicking the door repeatedly with all her might. It would probably piss him off, but she didn't care right now. All of her anger was boiling over in that moment and she just wanted to see him as angry as she was.
After kicking the door for the tenth time, she gave a frustrated growl, storming over to the wardrobe next to her and beginning to yank the clothes off of the hangers throwing them across the room in hopes that it would help her release some of the anger.
With each article she threw harder, imagining that they were weapons and she was throwing them at the Joker. To her dismay, instead of hitting the floor with satisfying thuds, the sheer fabrics and lightweight cotton floated to the ground as if mocking her attempts. Laughing at her pathetic tantrum just as the Joker would. Just as he always did.
With another growl, she took a couple of steps to the side, sliding her fingers around the back of the heavy wardrobe and pulling. She grunted, pulling harder until she was finally rewarded with the sound of wood scraping across wood for a few inches. Letting out a gasp of exhaustion she moved closer to the back of the large piece and pushed now, gaining a little over a foot. And when, finally, she could slip her entire body between the wardrobe and the wall, she did, pressing her hands against the back and using the sturdy wall for leverage to finally push the entire piece forward, watching it with glee as it rushed to the floor face down.
The loud crash that emitted shook the walls and sent vibrations up her spine that were finally enough to make her grin, staring at the piece of furniture with pure happiness, feeling like she had finally defeated it. It wasn't the Joker, but it would do for now.
Her eyes flicked over to the items of clothing on the floor and she smiled again. Flopping down against the back of the wardrobe and crossing her legs in front of her even as the wood groaned in protest. She reached forward, grabbing the closest item of clothing and locating the seam, digging her nails into the small stitches without hesitation and ripping it apart before tossing it aside and turning to the next. Each tearing sound soothed her and the destruction of each article made her feel a little more powerful. Try as he might, the Joker couldn't control everything, and for this brief moment, only what she wanted mattered.
So entranced was she by the systematic destruction of the expensive clothes that she had long pined for that she didn't even bother to look up when she heard the door slam open again, hitting the wall behind it with a slam. She knew who was standing there, and she knew he'd be fuming, but she continued tearing the piece in her hand. She wasn't stopping unless she was stopped by force. If he wanted to stand there and seethe then let him.
The Joker had no issue with using force, however. Glancing around the destroyed room, he began to shake with anger; his eyes coming to a rest on her back as she completely ignored him, sitting atop the ruined dresser. Letting out a primal growl, he stormed forward and reeled back, slapping her hard across the cheeks. So hard that she nearly fell off of the wardrobe with a surprised yelp.
She caught herself though, turning to look over her shoulder with a glare as she began to breath heavily. It had hurt, she'd be lying if she tried to say it didn't, but she was still angry, and running completely on adrenaline. Weeks of being left alone had left her impervious to whatever pain he could dish out. At least he was paying attention now. For once, she was getting what she wanted, even if the price could be deadly. She finally smiled.
"What, no sense of humor all of a sudden?" She taunted, knowing that she was walking on a slippery slope now.
He replied with a yank to her hair, pulling her body up closer to him as he knelt, his voice barely containing the shaky anger. All lyrical notes had disappeared and all that was left was a gravelly low tone.
"Just so you know, when the time comes…I'm going to enjoy killing you."
She gave a dismissive scoff, straining against his hand with difficulty as her breath came raggedly. "Sure. When the time comes. Why not just go ahead and do it, if you're so excited?"
"Because there are so many things that are so much worse than death. And we have as long as I want."
"Keep it up and I'm going to start to think you're all talk, Joker." She smiled again. She knew it angered him. And she loved it. It became obvious to her in that moment, that she was completely losing her mind. It was never a good idea to taunt the Joker. He had proven that time and time again to wayward reporters, overzealous cops, and all the citizens of Gotham. For a moment, her smile faltered as she began to consider the repercussions of her rash actions.
There was a long uncomfortable silence as the Joker simply stare at her, his dark orbs flaming with murder and hers rapidly fluctuating between fear and defiance. After a long moment, the Joker finally released her with a shove. Letting out a low growl before standing up straight and storming out of the room without a word, slamming the door behind him.
Arella stare at the closed door nervously for a long while, not moving from her spot atop the wardrobe. She was waiting for him to come back and make her pay for her brief protest. But as the minutes stretched with no change, a strange thought crossed her mind. She had won. Maybe he would retaliate later, and probably harder, but for now, she had won. With a nervous smile, she climbed off of the wardrobe and into her bed, drifting into a much needed sleep.
A/N: Let me know what you guys think! Good reviews make for better writing and I love reading them. Plus, it always makes a writer want to get chapters out faster. Thanks for reading so far; you guys rock!