Malice & Misery

"What the fuck is wrong with her." The Joker growled into the phone as he paced back and forth in his room.

It had been exactly one week since the little bathroom scene between Joker and Alice. After she passed out, he got back to the original plan of cleaning her up, enjoying the view of course. Once she was fresh and clean he carried her back to his bed, which was their bed now more than anything. He sat next to her, and waited patiently for her to wake up again; except she never did.

"You're the uh doctor, scarecrow, you found her, you studied her, you have the medical records, the journal, yet why the hell does it seem like you do not know..anything?" He continued to hiss into the phone, stressing his words. He had called Scarecrow letting him know of last weeks events, how she suddenly woke up but then knocked right back out. It seemed almost as if her waking up was a dream. Heck, the Joker would've questioned himself on whether he really was imaging things if it weren't for the two clear puncture marks she had left on his neck. But that made Joker even more upset, the fact that this girl had him questioning his own thoughts and mind, his own sanity. Who the hell was she to make him doubt himself?

"I understand you're frustrated Joker." Scarecrow sighed into the line, he himself was just as baffled. He's never dealt with anything like Alice before, and truth be told he was...well..lost.

"Frustrated?" Joker scoffed into the line. "Oh, I'm much more than frustrated. You think I took her from you because I wanted to play a fun little game of guess when the leech wakes up and tries to eat me? Nu uh. If this is how things are gonna be then uh i'd rather have you take her back. Do you know how many buildings I could've blown up whilst waiting for her to wake up again, how many times I could've gone on a little play date with batsy, how many times I could've been on the news, how many people I could've slowly and beautifully killed?" He snapped, his anger growing as he recollected exactly how much he missed out on.

"Ok Joker let's take this a step back. Let's just try to figure this out, There has to be a reason why she suddenly woke up, and we can build from that and maybe figure out how to wake her up for good. There must be something that maybe triggered her to wake up possibly..?" Scarecrow started on the other line, his voice still calm despite Joker's boiling rage.

"I mean she woke up after she fell into the tub but..." The Joker went silent as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought, trying to recall the events that led to her waking up. Was it because she started drowning? Maybe her body...her "powers" woke her up as a defense mechanism because she was in danger and then she fell asleep again once her body was safe..? But then what about when he was chocking her, and all the other bruises he gave her? She didn't wake up then. Nothing makes sense. She didn't make sense.

That's when it hit him.

Before he came home that day to give her a bath, he was off on a killing spree in Gotham. While he was out, he had gotten grazed by a bullet on his side, leaving a pretty deep wound. He got it wrapped pretty good by one of his men, but he hadn't gotten stitches yet, leaving the blood to freely fall.

"Blood..." The Joker said in amusement into the phone.

"What?" Scarecrow repeated him in confusion. "She was bleeding? What happened?"

"Nothing, I gotta go. Thanks, uh, for all your help doc." Joker said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes before he hung up the call, cutting scarecrow off while he was talking. He was deep in thought while he threw the phone onto the desk.

"Blood." Joker repeated out loud to himself as he walked over to the bed and hovered over Alice. "Vampires...drink blood." He said almost in amusement as his fingers ran over the two familiar punctures on his neck, then down to the wound on his side. "It was my blood...her trigger." He then grinned his chilling Glasgow smile as he bent over to tuck a dark tendril of her hair behind her ear.

"Well if it's blood that you want doll," he drawled out as he lowered his lips next to her ear, "then a blood bath is what you shall get."

***

~Alice POV~

I keep hearing voices. Unfamiliar ones. It's not them. Before, when I was still free I could hear them. But they disappeared a long time ago...or is it that I disappeared? Either way, they're gone. So who are these people?

I've lost track of time a long time ago...but I haven't felt anyone's presence since then. See I've lost track of society's time, but I had began a record of time for myself. The time I was free, the time I was taken, and everything from then until now, the void. But these voices, this presence, it was different from the time I was taken. And strangely enough compared to then, now I felt...safe?

No...that's wrong...I'm not safe...I was never safe. Because of who I am...because of what I am...safe simply does not exist. Even like this, stripped of all consciousness and power, I was still threatened. Because you see even when I'm unconscious, I'm still aware. I still feel every push, every pull, every presence. Even when I'm dead, I'm alive. Painfully alive. And even when I'm alive I'm dead. Empty. It was never ending. It could never end, I could never end.

"...You're mine now, doll."

Who are you? Wait...of course, they can't hear me. You see I can still hear them, although since I've been out since the time I was taken, my ability to hear has been diminished. Why can I hear them? Like I said I'm not dead, neither am I in a coma, like I've heard them say. I'm simply...well....famished. Blood is what I need. But now from a tube, not from blood bag. I needed to feast from a body, drink like the beast that I am. None of this IV business. I needed to drink someone's blood until they were ran dry; in fact I needed a couple of bodies. My mouth watered just thinking about it; not literally of course...literally my body was well, just a sad unconscious sack of flesh at the moment.

I had almost escaped once...at the hospital, it was a little while after I was taken I think. I'm not sure. All I remember was I had pierced their neck, ready to have my meal, when I realized that person's blood was no good....there blood had been injected with something strange making it almost poisonous to me. And then that's when he walked in, the one who had ruined me. I'm not sure if he had poisoned their blood, knowing I would go after it, or if maybe the patient had been sick, it was a hospital after all. But no, something in my gut had told me that it was all his doing...because he was a sick twisted man himself.

The man who had stripped me of my freedom, the man who had stolen my time. The reason I'm here and alone.

Or was I still alone...?

Where was he and who are these people? I'm not sure if I should feel relieved or worried. I felt my body being moved, I hadn't been moved for a while, since I arrived here I believe. I'm still not sure where "here" is, but I know it's not where I was before. In fact I believe I'm far from there. It's hard to observe things when everything's pitch dark. I can for the most part somewhat hear and feel, but I cannot see. I've been in darkness. It used to drive me quite crazy, being in the dark with just my thoughts. Wondering if they would come for me, to save me, even though they were gone from my mind. Wondering if he would try to test on me again. Wondering if I could escape. Wondering if I would ever be free from this; from the darkness, free from myself.

But here I was, in the presence of someone new. I felt him carry me. Where was I? The air was different. He was different. Everyone else was either crazy or simply too normal; well too normal for a supernatural being like me. But this man was different...he had a certain air about him. If there was something I was good at, especially being technically "blind" lately, it was judging a person based off of feelings. And the feelings I got from this guy? It was...lunacy. Everyone else had been so cynical about me, leaving me attached to wires and not touching me in the slightest. But here this man was, carrying me like I was some sort of...pet almost ? And without a slightest hint of fear. It bothered me. I did not like it. Who was this imbecile? Does he not know what I am? I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to drink him until I watched him die in my arms, not leaving a drop of blood...but not now, later.

I'd do that after I got to see his face. After I got to see who and what type of man this incompetent human with no regards to common sense was. See why he held me like I was his pet...why he saved me.

He saved me...

He saved me...?

...Who are you?