Jðkêr//Är†hµr x RêåÐêr ïmågïñê§ & ðñê-§hð†§

• His Name Was Carnival (Pt.2)

-- 1st person POV --

Just like the vivid memory of you first meeting Carnival stuck in your minds eye, so did another vivid memory. Only the other was painful and deeply distressing.

You'd been out of town all day with your mom visiting relatives. It was late by the time you arrived back in Gotham and neither of you had any possible idea that you'd return to find the city ablaze.

Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances were everywhere you looked, prompting your mom to switch on the radio so she could find out what exactly was going on.
You don't remember anything that was said on the radio, but you sensed that your mom was scared.

As she pulled her car onto the main drag which ran through Gotham Square, you stared out of the window at the carnage around you.

It was terrifying.

Gangs of masked thugs ran up and down the street, smashing up store windows and parked cars, starting fires and letting off flares.

You remember your mom swearing. That stuck in your head because you never heard her swear in front of you. At that point you started asking her if everything was going to be okay and she assured you it would be.

But it wouldn't be okay.
Not for you.

The car was forced to slow down due to the wreckage of some vehicles in the road blocking the way. Your mom swore again and told you to hang on while she turned the car around.

It was as she was performing this manoeuvre that your young eyes fell on the slim figure of a man standing on the hood of a police car.

He wore a bright red suit, had stringy green hair and was wearing messy clown makeup.

Pressing your face up against the glass so you could get a closer look, you watched as he stood with his arms outstretched in front of the huge crowd that had gathered.
They looked as if they worshipped him, cheering for him like he was a famous celebrity or more accurately, their leader.

Their leader.
The man responsible for the destruction of Gotham.

But as your mum reversed, the tail end of the car nearing the crowd, the sound of screeching tyres caught the man's attention.

He looked up at the exact moment you realised who it was.

Carnival?

No it couldn't be.

You stared open-mouthed at his face. That familiar face. The same lovely face which had smiled at you so many times. The face you'd been missing so much. The face you adored.

As he looked back at you recognition dawned in his watery eyes. He lowered his arms, the demonic red grin falling as he recognised that it was you.

It felt like the longest few moments of your life as you stared at him in horror, trying to comprehend how your beloved friend had turned into the monster that now gazed back at you amidst the chaos he'd created.

You recoiled away from the window with a scream, which startled your mom and made her stall the car.

Fear coursed through your veins as you shouted at her to drive away, sobbing hysterically.
She did.
And even though you didn't want to see any more you couldn't tear your eyes away until Carnival was nothing but a blurred red smudge in the distance.

You hadn't slept that night.
Too afraid to in case he came after you, plus every time you closed your eyes you saw that image.

A red-suited demon had now taken the place of the green-wigged clown you loved with all your heart.