Terra Firma

Homer

People always say that love is blind.

Or love makes us blind.

Some other old fart said that.

Maybe. Just maybe.

Going blind is what leads us to love.

I said that.

Cosette

(wwwwwaaa

wwwwaaaa

wwwwwwaaaa

oh my god a baby

kkkkeee

dropped them dropped my keys

wwwwwaaaaa-kkkkkeee)

"WAKE UP!" My ears were assaulted by deafening sounds. The mourning of sirens, the flat and impersonal codes spat out of police men's walkie talkies. Hundreds of questions, being traded like a high speed chase to see who could get to stupid first. Gordon shouting commands, Lucius Fox slowly sipping water and calmly explaining to a medic that he would like to go home, his cats are hungry.

Two hands, patting my head. Again:

"Wake up! Come on, I know you can hear me!"

My eyes fluttered like butterflies emerging from their cocoon, and reality was back--with the smell of death, ruined cars, and burning cigarettes, for many of the cops around me were smoking.

Jay stared into my face, relief flooding over his features.

I yelped in surprise, jumping up from a cot I was on and hugging him. I hissed regretfully after that, looking down to see a bandage on my midsection.

"Got cut worse than you thought," Jay said in a quick voice, like he knew he didn't have much time to talk to me, "Lost a lot of blood when we found you. You probably thought it was a papercut. Silly Cosette. Always underthinking the real world, and overthinking the imaginary."

We smiled at each other. There was a difference in Jay. He'd grown a beard for some reason and... I don't know what the other thing was but he seemed to be better because of it.

I wanted to ask about it, but I didn't--I only yelled out in shock and question as two gruff officers came up from behind and the click of handcuffs sounded with a definitive metal click. He didn't even flinch, kept his shoulders relaxed and walk confident. He even smiled a tiny smile as he turned in the direction of a police cruiser, this time going toward the rear seat.

"Don't worry! It's cool. Gordon will explain everything, I just have to comply with the protocol."

I shook my head, not understanding. What could Jay have possibly done while I was gone...

He answered my silent question while ducking into the back seat. It shocked me, comforted me, told me that I really did have people that cared in my life. Summed a good friend's loyalty up in five words, riding on his signature 'just saying' smile:

"I worked with your ...Dad."

I turned my head after watching the car drive off, for I heard another sound within a barricade of officers walking in a direction of a familiar vehicle, and not for average criminals.

It was laughter. Not his regular smooth and darkened red wine sort of bubbling chuckle, but it was broken and piece-y and interjected by babbling. As if someone had taken the bottle of wine and smashed it. Right over my head. I peered from my position on the stretcher to see him being lead, head down but mouth talking, very aware he was going to the place with white walls and endless fountains of medications.

"FOOLS." He cackled, "ALL FOOLS! Try as you might. It won't ever end! I can prove... I'll show all!"

I finally caught a glimpse of him as they threw him in the back, arms wrapped up and leg bent without the cane at his side. They'd bandaged up the stabs in his back, and I bet the bruises had already begun to form on his skin. There was a tiny tear drop of blood peeking from under his dark hairline, and his left eye was twitching in a quick and constant way. His mouth was snarling, and his teeth looked sharp, so white it seemed his gums were bleeding. His hair was messy for once, and little bits of a lighter, almost blonde color peeked out.

I sniffled then and surprised myself, remember how he was when he was Happy.

The hustling bustling men in their police suits moved and for a moment I got a full veiw. Our eyes locked from our sitting positions, though his were black and cold like glittering marbles. His perfect teeth contrasted it as they spread over the face in a deviant, sinister grin and he chuckled once more.

I couldn't look away.

Before they shut the doors completely of his transport, he winked at me. Twice.

Angel

I watched from afar in shock and stilled horror as they both froze in their attempts to hurt the other. The high noise of police cruisers in the distance, people panicking, and other symphonic sounds of destruction were drowned out by one tiny cry--screaming from within the walls of the burning structure they'd been shouting in front of.

Oh my God, I thought, It's a baby.

I crept near, letting smoke and ashes hit my sweaty face. The daylight lingered, but the smoke made things dark.

I covered my mouth with a hand as the mood shifted. The pendulum swung, and all attention was brought to something that was too fresh and too young to know what the world meant.

They both turned slowly, staring up at the top window of the small apartment building. The Joker stood, legs shoulder width apart and gloved arms down by his side. His head cocked to the side upon slouching shoulders, painted eyes seemingly void of soul. But at his sides, his fingers were curling and his whole stance hinted of a man who was finding it very hard to wrestle with something in himself.

Poison Ivy walked a few steps forward as if she was in a trance. The ivy was still covering her, her hair was still in that ridiculously comical yet somehow elegant ball. But her posture was a woman wilting before the fire. Her eyes were widened with the full realization of what was happening, and her lip quivered slightly. They were like that for a long time, two frightening deities standing before a monstrous fire.

The baby... or whatever it was... silenced.

The air became heavier and I could only watch as Ivy's face first crumpled, then shouted deliriously as she ran forward with the grace of a gazelle,

"MY FAULT! MY FAULT! SHE'S IN THERE AND IT'S MY FAULT I HAVE TO GET HER OUT!"

The Joker grabbed her, dragging her frantic body a little ways away.

"It's too late, Ivy, it's too late."

Cosette

"Are you alright?" Gordon waved his hand in front of my face.

"Yes... just... shaken up a bit."

"You're lucky to be alive..."

I turned, squinting my eyes at the black shaft of smoke I suddenly noticed in the distance.

"Gordon.... shouldn't someone put that fire out?"

He said some jargon into his little walkie talkie to who I presumed was the fire department, cursing when they responded that the wreckages made things too crowded, that they were in the process of cleaning it up now. There was a long pause, and one said something about 'The Batman' speeding up ahead.

Something urgent cried out within me, and I listened to it:

"Gordon. Please. We have to get over there."

Angel

I jumped when he snarled from beside me, appearing like an intangible shadow close to me.

"What are they doing?"

I stared, hypnotized by the two figures and hardly realizing what I was saying,

"My mother's name was Sarah. Sarah Lune. Do you know what I heard her say last... begged me last, when she went crazy and I refused to pull the trigger?"

The Batman stayed quiet, watching from our place in the shadows of daylight and fire.

I never understood it then, but I did now. I reached into my pocket, secretly grabbing Harvey Two-Face's coin--the only man I'd loved, and the only piece I'd have--and rubbed it with my thumb quietly.

"Love... is watching someone die."

Ivy

Too late. It was too late.

I heard myself sob as I breathed another desperate breath, grabbing at air. It slipped through my fingers like the sands of time.

Memories persisted through the smoke. Memories of the doctor laughing at me as he told me my baby wouldn't survive after all. Memories of me watching Moms in the office with a secret envy. Of learning there was no chance I could ever have one of my own after a haphazardly arranged experiment. Remembering the moments I'd hugged Daisy, the fact that she was all grown up now and probably on a path too much like my own.

I rubbed my face in desperation, reaching out to the window with a longing hand.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I chanted, staring at the ground. Trembling like a child after a big crying spell, even making the hiccup-y sighing sounds that came with the few stray tears.

Joker

She could take just like a woman, but she broke like a little girl.

I stared at her wild face, remaining quiet for a rare moment. She would never be able to shrug off this, never be able to let go. I looked down at the marigold blooming brightly on my purple jacket, looked then at her face stained by dirt and tears and a bit of blood on her nose. She'd killed a child. On accident, yes yes. But she would never be able to tell herself that. Not for one second.

I made a promise to her, it seemed like ages ago. But I hardly ever forget things I feel like remembering, and this promise was one of those things.

I was a man of my word.

Ivy

"May."

I looked at him tiredly. I was very tired. My head hurt like I'd taken a hammer to the back of it, and my face felt hot from standing so close to the licking, flirting flames. My eyes spun wildly back to the top floor window, completely engulfed in dancing, sickened orange. I stared back to the reflective surface of wet pavement, letting my hands fall limply to my sides.

I'd failed, hadn't I?

I only halfway heard him beside me, shaking his jacket off with lazy confidence and then throwing his gloves to the street.

I could count the few times he'd held my hand. Today was one of those times. He slipped it into mine, threading his paint covered fingers through my elegant and pale ones, giving a squeeze.

"What's done cannot be undone," His painted face stared distantly up at the blue sky, thick with smoke, "Lady Macbeth, Act five. Scene one."

I stammered, "I know but we're always---"

His other hand grabbed my chin. There was a gentleness to his aggression now, a certain softness in his crazed brown eyes.

"How can anyone expect to be responsible in a world that's so fucked up?"

I felt my lips shake, knowing now how this would end.

We moved forward, stepping in perfect sync--although my steps were pointed and tapping, and he shuffled along like crumpled newspaper on a windy morning. We reached the threshold of the place, staring into hungry flames

(abandon hope)

and the words dropped from my mouth before I could stop. A question everyone asks on the day of reckoning, the day where everything loses importance and yet gains a divine meaning.

"Jack. Where will we go?"

"Doesn't matter, as long as I've got you."

Batman

(Alfred

Yes, Master Wayne?

That man... in Burma... did you ever find him?

No

How did you catch him?

We... burned the forest down.)

Jay

When I saw the smoke, black and curling like dirty fingernails or a rat's long tail, I knew it had to be them.

I took my hat off, bowing my head in the back of the police car.

Whispering quietly to all that had wronged me, to all the gangs, the scared women and the half-assed lovers and the drunken, spinning nights. But most especially, to my father:

"The end is nothing without the beginning. And sometimes... endings are the beginning."

Joker

I could've gone on for hours. Told her today was my birthday, and it was the best damn birthday I'd had in my miserable life. Make some grand proclamation on what she was to me, how she was different, why I couldn't sever her. Could've sat down and really told her how I felt, could've baffled her with similes and metaphors and comparisons that would make Shakespeare look like a bum in the alley and Bob Dylan want to bawl his eyes out.

How she was real, flesh and bone. How she was every side of the mysterious creature that is a woman, how I loved it. How I loved her.

But the beauty of our partnership... relationship... was...

it never really needed to be said.

So instead of all that chick flick crap I just turned and opened my mouth to say:

Ivy

"I love you."

This time, I said that.

He suddenly grinned the grin I loved so much, and pulled me closer to him. His arm stayed around my waist as we entered the flames, standing in the middle of them like the centerpiece of a hellish table. Things cracked and decayed and fell around us--snapping like bones and ripping apart like flesh.

"Hey Ivy, how are a plum and a rabbit alike?"

"Oh... not this again..."

"They're both purple, except for the rabbit."

I laughed, and he laughed with me. The flames grew high, some beams from the upper floor fell and covered the entryway. There was no turning back.

"Everything burns." He laughed.

We bent in our sudden bout of glee, pressing our foreheads together and smiling. We held each other's faces in our two very different sets of hands, kissing the other a final time. The sparks spit and my skin burned. It didn't matter. When I looked at him again, I gasped.

The scars were gone, the hair was messy but no longer green. His brown eyes stared at me in surprise and we both smiled wider, realizing we'd both changed in that moment. Like in the dreams, like in the past. His teeth were white and his eyes glittered. I didn't understand why I was seeing him up close like that, couldn't have cared less really--because I loved the crooked man in his flamboyant rags and painted smile just as much as the stunningly handsome one in front of me.

So I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his fingers on my face and the flames crawling across my back.

I caught the scent of cotton candy, of popcorn and of candied apples. Thankful now, that the close smell of gasoline never left.

Cosette

Too late. Too late.

I slammed the car door shut, running out to see The Bat standing on the outskirts next to my best friend.

"No!" I screamed, grabbing onto The Batman's cape suddenly, for I knew very well what had happened before even pulling up. Somehow.

"NO! Get them out! You have to! You can't just... just..."

Gordon ran up beside me, "What..."

"They went inside." Angel said.

I began to cry, covering my face with my hands as ashes stung my eyes. I never got to tell them I loved them, I never got to thank them with all the words I wanted to say. I never got to tell Happy that, yes, part of me did want in on his life. I never got to bask fully in the sun with him because our love choked on something before it could bloom. Maybe it was cigarette smoke. Maybe it was Lysol. Maybe it was because it was built on the faulty images of the few memories we'd shared.

I cried for all of these things, hugging Angel when she held out her arms.

The Batman shook his cowled head, "But what about chaos? What about the message or the anarchy or the plants..."

"It was never about that," We spun, and Homer was there, looking out with his straight face, unaffected by the blood all over the front of his shirt, which Angel gasped in horror at, "Really, it was just about finding light in the dark."

Homer joined us, grasping Angel's hand. The only person who was missing was Jay, but we knew we'd see him soon... and he probably understood just as well as anyone else there. So the five of us stood in a strange bout of silent reverence as we waited for the fire trucks to come with their cleansing waters, not really knowing why we were mourning the loss of such woeful creatures, just knowing that we had to.

Gordon's eyes clouded with understanding. He turned, resting a hand on my shoulder hand coming up out of his pocket as he slipped something slyly into my own.

I clutched The Joker's blade, staring back at him.

"He knew."

I smiled, sniffling again, "He always knew."

Joker

You see, in their.... last moments.... people show you who they really are.