You should have known that he was trouble from the beginning, but your arrogance once again got in the way. You had seen it all in Gotham being the Jokers daughter with crazy plant ladies, flying rats, human scarecrows and penguins, you figured a vampire wasn't that big of a deal. You thought if anything nothing was scarier than the clown king of gotham and if anything you couldn't handle happened you'd go to him.
"God was I wrong" you said to your reflection in the mirror in a faint whisper.
It felt like it had been a day since you met Damon and at the same time twenty years felt like he had passed. He worked his vicious charm and you fell for it. Not even realizing how calculating he was being with it. He played the role of the romantic to trap you like a fly in a fly in a spiderweb. Everything wrong happened so slowly you didn't realize it was abuse at first. He just seemed to be acting like normal Damon, which in hindsight he was .
The longer you stayed the harder it was to get out. You wanted to give him chance after chance hoping. You had heard good and bad about him and even saw some of it with Elena, he grew to be good sometimes. Sometimes.... the word echoed in your head. Why is it that when people are bad to us, once they show a little bit of kindness we fall for them?
Your phone lit up on the bathroom counter, her name shined and gave you the only warmth in the whole house but it was quickly followed by more guilt. Another thing you messed up you thought, you broke up with your girlfriend to be with Damon. Wanting to leave behind a good, safe girl who treated you right for some danger. You wanted to answer your former lovers text admitting that she was right about Damon gave you too much anxiety.
You studied the bruise on your arm in the mirror, it was clearly up after a few days but the blotchy yellow and blue marks still sat on your skin. You should have left right after it happened, but again you made excuses for him. Told yourself that he didn't mean to grab you that hard or it was just the wrong angle. Then your eyes moved up your reflection to the black mark under your eye which could not be ignored or talked out of.
You wanted to scream so loud you shattered the glass in front of you but it felt as though sometime had their hand wrapped around your lungs squeezing every time you tried to make a noise. You picked up your makeup bag as gently and quietly as possible and took our your cover up. You seethed as you patted the brush against the bruise to cover it up. There was no going back now. You tried to resist the tears as you thought about the shame weighing down on you.
You are the clown princess of gotham, you didn't want to admit that you let this go on for so long. You were ashamed and your pride was bruised more than your body. Once your face was all the same color again you pulled out a long sleeve shirt to cover your arm and zipped up your bags. Peaking out the door, you saw Damon still asleep and made a break for the door before he woke up.
The Joker sat on his bed not taking his eyes off his phone, waiting for any word from you at all. You were usually back by this time and he was starting to become neurotic. Joker didn't believe in things like fate, but in this moment he wished he had followed his gut and stopped you from going out. He didn't like Damon and everyone knew it. Except this time it wasn't his usually jealousy over your significant others, it was a horrible feeling in his core that something wasn't right.
Joker leaned his head back thinking about his daughter and closed his eyes to soothe his headache. When he felt the vibration on his bed however he flung his whole body up to check his phone. It wasn't his daughter but her ex. Joker growled hating that his daughters ex girlfriend has his number. He was always relieved to get rid of the ex's and have his baby back to himself. His phone continued to vibrate in his hand getting three messages from her. He was ready to delete them until the last one caught his eye.
I can't get ahold of (y/n)
I'm sorry to bother you but I know there is something wrong
He's hurting her Mr. J I know he is
Joker could feel his stomach begin to ache thinking that his worst fears were just confirmed. As much as he hated seeing his daughter give her heart to someone else, with this girl at least he knew she was safe. When he let her go out on dates at least he could sense that her intentions weren't bad. He didn't want to trust anyone else, and he never did trust anyone else besides Harley and his daughter, but he couldn't deny the feeling in his gut.
As he was thinking about whether to respond or not he heard the front door open. He ran out of his bedroom and met his daughter in the living room. She wasn't her usual confident self. Her shoulders were tensed up and she held her hands on the opposite arms hugging herself. When she noticed he was there she turned and forced out a smile. There was nothing more Joker hated than a forced smile.
"Hi daddy!" you said as cheerfully as possible.
"Hey princess..." Joker said in a bitter tone, he wasn't sure when a right time to confront you was. He just wanted to rip the flesh off Damon's bones. Even if his suspicions weren't true, he was still the boy taking his little girl away. Joker decided just to blurt it out. "What has he done to you?"
You froze not knowing what to do next and your face became flushed. "What are you talking about daddy?"
The Joker approached his daughter and tried not to get offended as she stepped back. That was more confirmation something was wrong.
"If he's hurting you in anyway you have t tell me. I'll deal with him like I do everyone who hurts us" Joker said confidently.
Your nerves were shot and you felt the goosebumps rise p on your skin. At the same time this was the moment you had been waiting for and wanting. Your father to find out and do something but it was also your worst fear. It meant you had to admit that it was all real and happening. You did the thing you picked up from your parents, when something was wrong or right there was only one thing to do; laugh.
But it was the only time the Joker didn't laugh back. He was an expert in telling the difference between a genuine laugh and a nervous one.
"Tell me what he's done" Joker insisted.
"Daddy i know you're crazy and I love you but com on! I'm fine!" all you wanted was to get out of the situation so you walked past your father headed for your room. When he grabbed your arm and you seethed in pain louder than you had in the bathroom. He didn't touch you hard, but it was so unexpected and right on the bruise it was painful.
Joker immediately let go of his daughter when he heard her cry of pain. His instant reaction was to bring her into a hug and kiss her and make it up to her but he knew he didn't grab her violently. He saw his baby wrap her hand around where he had grabbed and squint in pain.
"Lift up your sleeve" he ordered, having all the proof he needed that something was indeed wrong.
"Daddy please..." you whimpered not wanting to face this reality. "I don't want this to happen".
Joker stepped in front of his baby until he was no more than an inch away and took her hand in his. Just like in the bathroom at Damon's she wanted to yell and move but her body was still. He gently pulled up the sleeve on his daughters shirt examining every inch of her skin seeing if there was something unusual. As he went up you squirmed in pain until he stopped when he saw the beginning of the bruise.
Jokers entire body filled with the heat of rage and it took everything in is power not to pull out his gun and shoot holes into the walls until he ran out of bullets. You felt the tears begin to build up and the shame washed over you again. Joker collected and calmed himself down, your presence was the only thing that allowed him to do that.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked with fury and pain in his voice. A thousand thoughts started racing through his head all at once about if he did something to lose your trust or if Damon had turned you against him somehow.
"I just...." you began trying to find the right words. Part of you still wanted to try and cover it all up. "I didn't want to be the victim. Us clowns are supposed to be strong".
Joker cracked a small smile, hearing you think so highly of the family he had built. He was also laughing however, thinking about how silly it was to think of yourself as a victim.
"oh baby baby baby..... " he said in a raspy voice "the only victim in this scenario in is going to be Damon". Joker was beginning to feel the anger in his body being replaced by enthusiasm to put an end to all this.
As the tears tears fell from your eyes Joker lifted his hand to wipe them away. You felt the pressure begin to lesson seeing your father's view of you hadn't changed and his reassurance washed over you. You forgot about the result of him wiping your face until you saw his pale face turn even paler and his blue eyes widen.
The anger began to crawl it's way back up through Jokers body except this time it was burning so bright he couldn't contain it. Seeing his daughters face bruised was the last push over the edge into complete rage and insanity. When he took a moment to think about the fact that she felt she had to cover it up as well, he just saw red.
This frightened you, then you began to feel as though he was mad at you for not saying anything.
"i'm sorry daddy.. I am I just didn't know how to tell you. I wanted to But I let it go on for so long and didn't want to swallow my pride and-"
"shhhh shhhh" Joker raised his finger up to stop you from speaking. "You have nothing to be sorry for".
You wanted to throw yourself into Jokers arms and have him hold you like you were a little girl again, but he had already walked away from you. He wrapped his purple coat around himself and started to load it with guns and amo he had around the house. You knew what was going to happen.
Your body was telling you to grab your father and stop him from going. You hated yourself for still feeling like you had to protect Damon in some way and felt a loyalty to him. It had just been so long with him and you didn't want anymore trouble. But your mind was telling you something different, something refreshing. Your mind was cheering on your father as he plotted to do whatever he was going to do to Damon. Your fathers words gave you a piece of your pride back. Helped you get rid of some of the shame. You knew it was going to be a journey to get it all back but this was a good start.
Joker pulled out his phone and texted Frost to get himself and the goons ready. When Frost asked where to, he was even relieved himself that the day had finally come and knew exactly how to handle it as he always did.
You still stood in the same spot where your father had discovered the secret unable to move. Joker pulled himself out of his frenzy to go over to you and slowly lead you into his bedroom. He helped you get on the bed fearing you were going to pass out from letting the weight off your chest.
"Let me do this" Joker said but it was more of a questioned tone like he was asking your permission. The Joker never asked permission to do anything.
Your mind outweighing your body and you feeling strong again, vengeful yourself, you shook your head yes. Without hesitation Joker went to his bedroom door to leave and go after Damon. But before he shut the door he paused and turned back to you.
"He's the one at fault here" and before you could process what he said your father was gone.
Damon sat alone in his apartment over looking the city. As always, he was conflicted to no end. He knew what he had done and was doing was wrong but as the story was over all these lifetimes he couldn't change himself. Even he could admit that his few moments of compassion and kindness no longer could out weight the bad. He wanted to call you, Elena, Stefan but his mind was racing about all the mistakes he had made with each of them. Damon did what Damon did best, he shrugged it off and took a deep breath and reminded himself of who he was and his cocky attitude flowed back. He got up ready to go find you in the night when his front door blew open. Smoke and gun fire lit up his apartment but when Damon saw the green hair emerge he knew what this was. He stood his ground his usual confident self.
"Oh so the little princess sent in the clown huh?" Damon called out waiting for his full form to enter through the smoke. Joker did and was followed by Frost and the other goons. "huh and he brought friend. What's the matter daddy don't think you can take me on your own?" Damon was ready to fight and show them what he was made of. When he didn't get a reaction out of the Joker he stepped forward unafraid. "You know...." Damon said raising a finger like he was a professor about to give a lesson. "about oh maybe... a few hundred years ago I was sitting at court watching the jester entertain the king and queen. This reminds me of that a lot. You the jester and me the king, know what I did to him?" Damon looked straight into Jokers eyes ready to compel "i made him dance for me".
Joker stood stone faced as he saw Damon's confidence crumble before him. Damon couldn't understand why it wasn't working. Joker began to laugh and Damon became angrier.
"There's only one King in gotham kid, and he's here to avenge his princess". Joker said as he pulled out a necklace from under his shirt. This signalled Frost and the goons to all do the same.
Frost did in fact know the perfect way to handle all this. Damon was beside himself when he saw they were all wearing vervain necklaces. That was enough for Damon to step trying to compel, he let out a sigh and realized what his fate was going to be that night. Jokers goons crowded around him and Damon clenched his fist, never turning away from a fight before. The sound of bones cracking and yelling echoed through the halls of the apartment building.
You laid relaxing in your parents bed, finally free of the anxiety of the whole situation. Your phone vibrated and you were scared to open the message at first. It was ether your father telling you things were taken care of and he was on his way home or it was Damon telling you that he was coming for you. When you got the courage to open the message you were surprised to find. It was your ex girlfriend again.
Are you all right?
You laughed to yourself, you should have known she might have had something to do with this. Only this time when you saw her message the warm feeling was the only one, no shame and no hurt feelings.
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QOTD
damson Salvatore or Stefan Salvatore.
Peace, Love, and a Bucket of
blood.
love,
alyray04