Death's a Joke.

The Joker stood with a look of anger on his face, the shadows masked him from view yet Ace knew he was there. She always knew, as if she was always one step ahead; informed before anyone else. Ace kicked the puddles with her boots while she skipped around in the rain without a care in the world as she left the alleyway and onto the empty road.

The Joker quickly followed through the shadows after her in confusion, his eyesight almost completely gone due to the amount of rain that was falling from the dark grey swirls in the sky. From the other end of the street appeared a running figure of a bat.

Ace took a sharp intake of the air which was so cold it was like she was swallowing glass and turned around to the direction of Batman which a piercing cackle. Her makeup was now beginning to flow into the rain which surged down the road like a miniature river.

The driver sped up as he noticed the roads were empty, the dull glow of his car lights barely cut through the pitch-black darkness, it was as if the sun had been consumed and all life of Gotham had been sucked away, a soulless atmosphere just clinging instead. His foot pressed harder on the pedal until he noticed a figure in the road ahead. Out of panic his tattooed arms tensed as his hands gripped the steering wheel, hastily turning the truck to the left causing the back of the truck to smash into a nearby brick building and several crates; the metal was ripped off like paper and flung itself as the wheels screeched while the truck lost control. The smell of burning rubber from the tyres was filling the air.

“Ace!” The Joker roared at the top of his lungs, he couldn’t understand why – why did he care what was to happen? His mind was racing as he had just given his presence away but Batman had long since gone as he pointed behind Ace who stared in confusion for a split second.

Ace turned on the ball of her heel instantly and let out a gasp. Her eyes widened and lit in the streetlamp. The Joker saw something in this light; her eyes were like that of a frightened deer. She wasn’t the villain he knew, he saw a side he had never seen before – the human side of Ace, the small, terrified girl inside. He had seen something no-one else had seen, and it had seen it instantaneously before it happened.

As if it had happened within a blink, the end of the truck crushed into Ace and flung her body like a ragdoll across the road, trapping her against a brick wall. The Joker’s legs began running towards Ace, he had no idea why, he hated her.

Her body lay sprawled out across the floor, her hair was covering her face as she lay between the bricks and half smashed wooden crates. She looked asleep, like a doll that had been thrown and landed at an awkward angle. Ace lay in her blood, but minus the cuts that seeped a stream of the red liquid she seemed at peace. The Joker dropped to his knees and dragged her body.

He dragged the body from it’s trapped position before he shuffled so he was proper against the wall and cradled Ace close. He hated her, he hated her…that is what he had told everyone. As he looked downed at the lifeless body and the clouds still swirled shades of grey, he let out a sigh of devastation, his breath was visible and he kept taking gulps of the air even though it was hard to breath. He kept trying to look around and ignore the feeling in the pit of is stomach as his eyes welled up with tears. - The wet dew beginning to stick to his eyelashes, threatening to fall if he dared to blink.

And then, as he looked down at Ace’s face and moved the blonde locks from her pale features he stared at the scars as if in deep thought before gulping a choked sob and looking up at the rainclouds, a few tears dripped down his face for the first time as he did the only thing Ace would do to annoy him. With his voice cracking he held Ace close but didn’t look at her as he began to sing;

“…But I’m thinking of what Sarah said,
That love is watching someone die…”