This Gray Weather Will Fade

There is a girl and he can’t see her yet. As his eyes start to focus, she becomes less of a blur and more of a figure. At a first glance, he can see her auburn hair that glistens in the moonlight and is so wavy that he’s taken aback when a slight breeze tousles it. Her porcelain skin seems flawless, like an untouched figurine made without a single flaw.

But just as it is, it is merely at first glance. He isn’t in the folds of her mind. He can’t see the disorderly and chaotic thoughts now packed into every corner of her being, desperately trying to burrow their way out and pleading for sanity.

He cannot see her imperfections. If she were closer he could see the scars on her neck, hiding beneath her thick locks flowing in the slight breeze. He could notice the bruises of torment and abuse along her arms and collarbone. He could see the things that she no longer tries to hide if only he were a bit closer to her.

He steps lightly, trying to not make even the slightest squeak of his shoes so he was not to startle her. He watches a sliver of moonlight bounce off her hair as she stands motionless in the grass, and he shudders; he knows not whether it is the waxing moon or the way that she looks like a ghost beneath it.

He had no plan on how to approached to broken girl, standing unsoundly in the middle of the abandoned street. She stares at the pavement, leaning her weight on one leg more than the other with her hands tucked away in her jacket pockets.

“Nora?” Gordon whispers, sauntering out of the darkness of the alley way and hesitantly approaching towards her. She makes no attempt to look at him, but keeps her stance as he had found her. Gordon waits patiently before she finally speaks, but it wasn’t a word of greeting. They finally faced each other as people generally do, fully illuminated. But after awhile, she asks him whether he’d mind. She takes a step to the side, and sinks into the shadow.

“He killed him.” She spoke just above a whisper, and Gordon nods in understanding for he knew exactly who she was referring to.

“I know. We tried our best to get there in time.” Gordon tries focusing on her silhouette, but the darkness covered her perfectly, giving no chance of him seeing her.

“But you didn’t.” She replied.

“I tried.” Gordon said.

“You didn’t try hard enough. I warned you about the officers in your unit,” Nora shuffled her feet. “And you had just listened to me, he would still be alive.”

Gordon didn’t need to see Nora’s face to know the glare that was being shot at him like daggers. “Nora, please. I’m sorry.” He held up his hands towards her in defense, seeing the frightening glint of metal in her hands.

“It doesn’t matter now.” She shrugged, still speaking barely above a whisper. “I understand now.”

“What do you understand?” He asked.

“Why Harvey did all those things in the end, trying to put an end to the real corruption in this city.” Nora’s voice had grown into a casual tone, making Gordon’s heart beat louder in panic. “It turns out it was the people I trusted most the whole time.”

Gordon felt the impact before the sound had reached his ears. He had his hands on the left side of his ribs, tightly holding them in attempt to make the sudden wave of pain that had washed over him be less overpowering. Gordon fell to his knees, bending over onto the pavement with one hand holding the spot of impact and the other holding himself up. Not soon after was he on his back unmoving and unreachable.

Nora stepped out slowly from the shadows with the gun still pointed at Gordon’s body, slightly smoking. She stared at it in silence, tears welling up in her eyes as she was washed over with the feeling she feared she would eventually perceive: numbness.

A slow clap brought her out of her trance and Nora moved her eyes up in front of her, locking with the smile of the man who drove her to madness only for a moment before focusing on Gordon again.

“I’m impressed.” The Joker pushed his lips out, taking small steps around the body before finally reaching Nora. “I’ve got to say, I uh, I didn’t think you had it in you.” He licked his lips, pushing his hands in his pockets as he smiled at her, but Nora didn’t respond.

The Joker hated to watch her do this to him. The way she kept silent, unpreturbed or even faltered by what was going on around her, just as she was when she was locked in the building just four days ago. It made his chest fill with violence. He had to stand in the street, calmly picking at the loose thread in his pocket as she looked up. He remembered the first time, those four days ago, when she looked up. He’d stuck a nerve with her then.

“Well now you do.” She said plainly, as though the Joker was a common friend to her. A hollow feeling exploded in him then, a deep aching that made him want to scream and thrash and become entirely like his chaotic self.

He remained calm though, continuing on with his proposition he wanted to give to her in the first place, ever since he knew of her whereabouts when she’d disappeared. “I’ve got an idea.” He then flatly said, “Join me.”

He saw her now, pausing for a moment in the apprehensive silence. Nora scanned him for a moment, she learned to read him like a familiar textbook without his knowledge; she knew his phrasing and his sentence structure, and even felt the contents of his words when she could not see his face.

“Why?” She humored him.

The Joker took a step forward, “We’ll burn this city down.” He doesn’t let himself think beyond a single image, a flash of her at his side and the city in their hands, finally proving he was right from the beginning. Specifically speaking, right about Harvey Dent.

Nora caught a glimpse of dark movement out of the corner of her eye then, but didn’t make a single movement or reaction towards it, worried it would throw the Joker off before everything was set perfectly. She took this moment to voice her true opinion and give way her dirty tactics.

“I would never dream of doing any such thing with you.” He blinked, feeling his face flush in the darkness underneath the heavy makeup, and noticed Nora raising her hand steadily. He anticipated how this would happen, how he would suddenly be overcome by defeat for good and wondering who would step up to actually go against the system to do what had to be done. “You were wrong from the start. There are good people in this world, and many will stand to not fall at by your hand.” Nora cocked the gun once more, narrowing her eyes at the beast. “I will fight to not let my attempt to better myself and to protect this city be killed forever by a monster that is wholly temporary.”

He stared at her, and then the gun in her hand pointed directly at him. He gave a last crooked smile before the loud bang reached his ears. Falling to the ground and lying on his back, the Joker heard the soft steps of the hero, towering over him as he flickered his eyes. “Got you.” She whispered.

With one last breath left, the Joker howled his laughter to leave the biggest significant impact on the city’s history. Nora watched with a wave of relief washing over her, seeing the beast’s eyes close for the last time. Gordon came over, putting a trembling finger to his neck to make sure what they’ve waited for for years be true.

The Joker was dead.

Gordon stood up and placed a hand on Nora’s shoulder, “I’m proud of you.” He nodded, embracing her into a hug.

“How did that bullet feel?” Nora smirked, raising her eyebrows.

He grunted, rubbing the vest hidden underneath his shirt. “A little pressure was all.” He smiled, taking a quick look above Nora’s head before facing back to her. “I’ll leave you two alone.” When Gordon’s silhouette had vanished, Nora turned fully around to face the shadow she had seen moments before. He stood still, towering over her with intimidation. But Nora knew him better than that.

“Bruce.” She whispered, taking a step towards him.

“You didn’t give me any time to stop you.” He kept in character, deepening his voice to a growl.

“I wouldn’t have let you.” Nora murmured, watching him take a step closer to her.

“Thank you, for doing the thing I couldn’t.” Batman nodded his head in the body’s direction.

“It needed to happen.” Nora nodded in approval.

“How did you know he was following you?” He asked, loosening his tonality.

“I didn’t. Though, I knew it was only a matter of time before he found me.” She answered.

“And the notes?” Batman questioned.

“Merely for backup just in case.” She smirked. “And I couldn’t have you interrupting if you had found out I’d gone ‘crazy.’” Nora shook her head.

Batman then softened his voice, taking another step closer. “How are you doing?”

Nora shrugged and sighed, “Fine. I need a break from this though.”

Batman nodded again, but in agreement. “You deserve it. You’ve gotten us farther than anyone else.”

Nora sighed, deep in thought. “I know. But I messed up infinitely worse than the rest. It effected everything this time. Now I see what he was trying to teach me.”

“Who?” Batman questioned.

“Lieutenant Winters.” Nora coughed.

“Why do you call him that?” He asked.

“We had been separated for a long time. Mostly because he couldn’t take me getting myself into these kinds of situations.” Nora responded.

“I’m sorry.” Batman said, looking down.

Nora laughed slightly. “Christ. Don’t be. I’ve learned to accept every one of the consequences, no matter how unbearable. I’ve learned to be happy with what’s going on now, in this moment. Everyone is safe, and the biggest menace of this city is dead. He would have wanted it this way.”

Batman nodded, smiling at her craftiness and dedication to her passion. As he turned to walk away, not daring to speak another word for the night, she stopped him. “So now what? Are you going to drive your motorcycle into the moonlight and we’ll just see each other when we have to?” She said, eyeing him carefully while speaking in her famous tone that never quite held the full extent of her emotions.

Without turning around, he tilted his head slightly over his shoulder as he spoke, “Of course not. I expect you to be at your desk tomorrow as my receptionist at Wayne Tower, and me as your boss.”

She smirked, watching the bat as he flew off into the night with the loud eruption of the cycle. She stared at the figure that had suddenly become a distant vapor that no one could every quite comprehend but her.

The outcome of this impossible pandemonium that Nora and the city had faced marked the day where the constant rainy days had ended, and the gray sky without purpose or hope of lifting faded for the first real time in years.

And as Nora turned to walk home, she smiled as she could not wait for tomorrow.