Dark Love- A Batman Love Story

10

Dedicated to flaming-rose HAI LAURA!! :3

"You... I... What?" I stuttered, confused and bewildered. How did she know me? My first night was yesterday... and she knew who I was? My voice shook slightly as I asked, "How?"
"Oh, really neice! It was easy. The bank security cameras caught you in the act last night. You were all over the news. And when Bruce Wayne appeareded with you the day after? It all popped into place. BRUCE WAYNE IS BATMAN! And you're his superhero girlfriend."
We really need to watch the news more often..
She danced a little, her grin growing wider. Too wide. Then it dawned on me.
Did she..
Oh, dang it.
No... yes. Yes she did.
Aunt Jas... she cut her lips back... just like the Joker!
"Jasmine! What have you done to yourself? Are you crazy?!" I yelled, posing to reach for a Baterang.
"Ah, didn't you know?" She cackled and pulled her favorite knife, freshly polished and sharpened to a fine point, "I was in Arkham for a few years before you were born."
I had been living with a madwoman? Arkham? As in the Arkham Asylum? How did she ever get released... she got the neighborhood to trust her, and my father (witch is why he left me with her in the first place)... but now that I think about it...
My father died in a car accident. He was drunk, and he crashed into a green 'Beetle' with red stripes. The witnesses said it was the other way around, that the Beetle crashed into him on purpose. That it obviously swerved right inyo his car before he passed. And my father was always sober when he drived.
I sneaked a quick glance outside her broken window, adorned with tattered red courtains, where a green Beetle with red stripes was parked in Aunt's yard. The front bumper looked like it had fallen off a cliff, gotten eaten by a shark, regurgitated, and then a dog tried to fix it while sleep-walking.
Realization struck me un the chest like a brick to the heart.
This night was too much.. but I had to face all the truths that were being revealed one after another.
I took a moment to breath, risked a step towards Jas, and released the anger that had built inside me. I went ballistic.
"YOU KILLED MY FATHER. YOU KILLED .Y FATHER AND TRIED TO KILL ME. YOU WORTHLESS DIOBOLICAL MADWOMAN! YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN ARKHAM WHERE YOU BELONG!" I grabbed a Baterang, but she lounged at me with the knife first.
Good for you Batman, I'm engaging with reason. Self defense. I thought, sliding away as the knife ran into the doorframe, up to the hilt. Jasmine looked at me with crazed eyes and stretching lips. Her frail arm ripped the knife out, damaging a good chunk of the wooden frame, and lifted it up to her face. She sliced her slightly scarred cheeks, reopening the wounds with the riiip of flesh. Blood fell down her face, puddling on the polished wooden floor and seeping into the fibers, the wood thirsty for the metallic life necessity. The floor was crazy.
This whole house was mad. How was I not, too? Had I not lived in it my whole life? Discovered every crack filled with an insanity that I never noticed?
The living room looked different to me now. The fireplace was lit with Hell, hungry for a victimto be consumed by its resident. The ornate carpet that was stretched from wall to wall revealed new blood stains I had never seen before. All the furniture, the table, the sofas, loveseats and chairs, they all looked like hunched creatures in a cave, munching on innocent human bones. A flashing knife snapped me back to attention. Jasmine had two blades now, juggling them between her bloody, slick, wet fingers.
Aunt swang her knife again and I shot a blade out of pure reflex. She screeched in pain as the wing-tip lodged in her thigh, sending more blood down her body than her smile had already contributed. But she recovered in a second, was still fast, and fighted like a trained mercenary, even if she was around forty.
We went on and on, her slashing with knife after knife, me dodging and punching and an occasional Baterang in her leg to slow her down. The house was a mess, and she wasn't wavering. I, however, was sweating bullets, my stamina dangerously low.
I was worried. She was pushing me to my limit, that wasn't that high anyways, wasting my patience. It would be easier to kill her now. Stab her repeatedly in the heart with her own treasured knife until even her permanent smile drooped in defeat. Choke her with her own guts, see if she still smiled as she bleeds to death and loses her breath, like I did when I figured out what she did, but this time for good.
I could do it. End this. But it would take the price of breaking a promise to one I truly loved. And that was a big price to pay.
Instead we fought for another two minutes. Every muscle in me strained, begging for me to stop, but that surely meant death and then Bruce would be the one in pain.
"After I kill you, I'll kill your boyfriend, and the butler that came to pick up your things... and your brother," Aunt sang after a while of silent battle. "And then you will know what it is to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight."
Clay.
Alfred.
Bruce.
Jasmine was dead meat now. She was going to pay.
I ducked and rammed into her with fresh energy, putting one of her precious knifes to her throat, choking her with the force. We crashed against the fireplace, a slip and you would fall into the raging fire lapping at the almost-destroyed logs. The flames needed sustenance soon, or they would die out, leaving nothing but ash.
Heat bit my skin, leaving goosebumps and sweat on my nose and chin.
She was gagging, Jasmine, and her second knife dropped from her limp hand. I was cutting off her air supply with my wrist.
Still, she managed a blood-streaked smile, "Come on, kill me now. Break your motto... like the Joker pushed Batman to almost do. If I die, I'll die knowing that I could finish my love's job. Pushing his enemy to the end."
Her words were pointless to me. My hand pushed harder against her neck, a small bead of essence slowly digging its path down from where the tip of the knife met her broken skin.
Just a little deeper...
I was about to do just that when strong black arms pulled me far from my prey, holding my waist tightly as Jasmine took a deep breath, hands scrambling to wipe the thin trickle of blood sliding down her throat.
"LET GO OF ME!!" I screamed at my captor, struggling against his surprisingly familiar grip. Then I recognized those arms. It was Batman, lifting me away from the fireplace and holding me behind his back. Had he heard everything? How long had he been in the house?
"Stay." He growled. I tried to find a way around him, but his shoulders were to broad and his arms mirrored me so I couldn't escape.
But he forgot something important.
It all seemed like in slow motion. I ducked uner his legs, sprinting towards Jasmine. In a flash she pulled a serrated knife from her hair-bun and pointed at me.
She knew my momentum would send me into the blade, like in my nightmare with the pipes.
But, probably to make sure I either died or got a fatal wound, she took a strong step forwards to get the blade into a more effective position.
Thing is, she didn't notice a pool of her blood puddled around her soaked slippers. Jasmine slipped on the slick surface, falling into the hungry fire behind. She screamed as the flames comsumed her, happy to have something to burn at last.
She wasn't going to survive if she stayed there longer.
I didn't kill her, but it didn't mean I was going to save her.
But my momentum said otherwise about my life.
I was still attempting to stop, but at the rate I was going I would end up being another human log to scorch.
A few steps from the fire I braced myself for the burning pain, skidding on Jasmine's blood and losing balance.
Suddenly there was a sharp tug at my collar. Batman pulled me in by the cape, a shrieking Jas adding to the effect of close death.
Emotions overwhelmed me --- sadness and anger sending searing tears to my eyes, but I had to hold them in. I blinked back the salty tears and we stood there, watching Jasmine burn to death in the fireplace.
It wasn't until she stopped screaming and thrashing around, and that the fire ran down her leg, setting the house on fire, that we left.
That was enough crime fighting for tonight. The ride back was silent, but when we got back to the cave that Batman took off his mask and hugged me tightly that I cried. I cried for my dead father, for everyone Jasmine had killed, and for her threat to kill the rest of my family. Now, that also included Bruce and Alfred.
Brucey flew down from his perch and snuggled into my messed-up hair, sensing something was wrong. Or he just wanting a comfy place to sleep. Bruce just took him off and layed the bat down into a small bed Alfred had the time to make.

That night I woke up panting and drenched in sweat. Water. That's what I needed.
I slid from bed and tiptoed my way to the main kitchen. Then I served myself a decent glass of water. I sat on the island, thinking about life while I drank.
Why is life so clíché? I mean, I almost get killed, the city hero saves me, we fall in love, then I figure out it was a family member who tried to kill me and my childhood was a lie... next thing I know Clay will be at the door in a few second and he'll be a vigilante too---
DING DONG!! The doorbell nearly shook the house. I grabbed a kitchen knife for protection, left the cup on the counter, and cautiously walked towards the giant doors. I swung them open.
A man stood in on the steps, a map blocking his face as he mumbled to himself.
"Hello?" I called for his attention.
"Oh... yes! Sorry to interrupt you so late, but do you know where 122 Dark Valley Road can be found?" He asked, still holding the map to his face.
"That place burned down a few hours ago, why?"
"Oh, really?" He lowered the map and I gasped, "That's too bad... my sister lived the---" He was shocked, like I was.
My voice caught as I choked out, "Clay?"