Status: Finito.
The Last Laugh
Ha Ha Ha
He was on the floor already, struggling to get air into his lungs, attempting to laugh so he could show him that there were no hard feelings between the two.
It was bound to happen this way; he knew the moment they first met that they were destined to do this for eternity, until one killed the other. Dying at somebody else’s hand was completely out of the question. The laughing man, however, had not expected the end to be this soon. This time, no scheming or planning could have stopped it.
It was already too late for finding a way out; there was none. It really didn’t matter, though; it had been fun to have him there for the last game they got to play together and now he was the only one standing in front of him, waiting to see him go out with that infamous smile that was only for him because only he could understand. They completed each other, after all; they couldn’t live without one another. If there was no Batman, there would be no Joker; with all his justice, his nonsensical and laughable ideals of eradicating all evil, came the chaos, the crushing realization that madness is far more tangible than sanity.
“What is normal, Bats?” He had taunted him before about this. Of course this had granted him with a swift uppercut to the jaw and a two month stay in Arkham, but he knew the Batman understood. They were not so different, just the opposite sides of the same coin. They’d be lost without each other.
Combine this with the way they played together, how they got in each other’s way and nerves with such ease and it becomes easier to understand how essential it was that it ended like this: with the laughing man lying on the floor and the caped crusader incapable of helping the only man that could understand him.
“You want to know something funny?” He looked down at the laughing man, sitting down next to his dying body. The laughing man heaved and coughed, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air to reply with something witty, but he couldn’t. “Even after everything you’ve done, I would have saved you.” A smile tugged at the corner of the caped crusader’s lips and the laughing man’s chest tightened. After all these years he had finally replaced the caped crusader’s humorless frown with a smile, however small.
“It is funny!” he guffawed. The laughing man’s desperation had led him to destroy the only thing that could have saved him. He had actually thought that the caped crusader, the man that he had known better than anybody else, had had it this time; after all, the girl was dead and there he was, the murderer. Despite all his efforts, despite all the deaths, the laughing man had not reached the Batman’s breaking point and it appeared that he had misjudged his nemesis, his only friend.
So he laughed, like never before; blood spurted from his chapped lips and he felt an excruciating pain that almost made him stop, but this was too good not to laugh.
“You are my dream come true, Bats.” The caped crusader looked down at him, the hint of a smile now completely visible. He waited there by his side, until the laughing man’s last laugh. The laughter slowly ceased; all that was left from that laughter were some quiet chuckles. When it was all over, the laughing man lied on the floor with the biggest smile he had never mustered while alive.
It was bound to happen this way; he knew the moment they first met that they were destined to do this for eternity, until one killed the other. Dying at somebody else’s hand was completely out of the question. The laughing man, however, had not expected the end to be this soon. This time, no scheming or planning could have stopped it.
It was already too late for finding a way out; there was none. It really didn’t matter, though; it had been fun to have him there for the last game they got to play together and now he was the only one standing in front of him, waiting to see him go out with that infamous smile that was only for him because only he could understand. They completed each other, after all; they couldn’t live without one another. If there was no Batman, there would be no Joker; with all his justice, his nonsensical and laughable ideals of eradicating all evil, came the chaos, the crushing realization that madness is far more tangible than sanity.
“What is normal, Bats?” He had taunted him before about this. Of course this had granted him with a swift uppercut to the jaw and a two month stay in Arkham, but he knew the Batman understood. They were not so different, just the opposite sides of the same coin. They’d be lost without each other.
Combine this with the way they played together, how they got in each other’s way and nerves with such ease and it becomes easier to understand how essential it was that it ended like this: with the laughing man lying on the floor and the caped crusader incapable of helping the only man that could understand him.
“You want to know something funny?” He looked down at the laughing man, sitting down next to his dying body. The laughing man heaved and coughed, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air to reply with something witty, but he couldn’t. “Even after everything you’ve done, I would have saved you.” A smile tugged at the corner of the caped crusader’s lips and the laughing man’s chest tightened. After all these years he had finally replaced the caped crusader’s humorless frown with a smile, however small.
“It is funny!” he guffawed. The laughing man’s desperation had led him to destroy the only thing that could have saved him. He had actually thought that the caped crusader, the man that he had known better than anybody else, had had it this time; after all, the girl was dead and there he was, the murderer. Despite all his efforts, despite all the deaths, the laughing man had not reached the Batman’s breaking point and it appeared that he had misjudged his nemesis, his only friend.
So he laughed, like never before; blood spurted from his chapped lips and he felt an excruciating pain that almost made him stop, but this was too good not to laugh.
“You are my dream come true, Bats.” The caped crusader looked down at him, the hint of a smile now completely visible. He waited there by his side, until the laughing man’s last laugh. The laughter slowly ceased; all that was left from that laughter were some quiet chuckles. When it was all over, the laughing man lied on the floor with the biggest smile he had never mustered while alive.