A/N: oh boy. This is gonna be a long one, been working on this for weeks. Sorry for taking so long, But i just got home from a long trip and i have yet to really land. Plus i'm not feeling too good mentally atm. But i think i'll be back now. Enjoy.
Summary: Rosie and Arthur has a confrontational meeting.
Taglist: @elusive-ivory @pcrushinnerd @help-i-am-obssessed
Want to be tagged? Just tell me!
Warnings: Self harm and swearing.
The room stood still. You could hear a needle pin drop to the floor. The smell of mold of the room had completely disappeared, the air stood still, all sound had disappeared from Arthur’s ears. All he could hear was the faint ringing.
Arthur still stood. His shackles moved slowly as he moved his legs in anxiety.
His heart pumping out of his chest it felt like it was gonna explode, Maybe it was.
Was this real or is this something in his head He thought. This must be some stupid joke, A hallucination.
Arthur started to walk around the visitors room with his head down. Mumbling words under his breath.
Rosie's eyes followed Arthur as he roamed around the room with his head down. Her face was blank. She had to keep it together.
The guard took Arthur violently by the neck and sat him down on the chair in front of Rosie. Glass separating the two.
Come on clown, I don’t have all day. The guard said.
Arthur didn't like that. He wanted to strike and beat the living shit out of that guard. But he didn’t want to cause a scene not now...he just sat there, in that chair with his head down.
Rosie slowly grabbed the telephone on her side, leaning it against her ear.
Her hand was shaking.
This is so fucking stupid. She said quietly to herself.
Arthur still sat there with his head down. His legs shaking and him giggling. He felt a fit coming up. Not now, please.
And then it happend.
He burst into a hard laugh, making Rosie back down a bit. She still held the phone, just not to her ear anymore.
She could hear the laughter through the glass, it was muffled for sure. But it was heard. Loud and it sounded painful. Hysterical.
She looked back to look at Jonathan, he and the female guard on their side looked right back at Rosie. Jonathan gave her a comforting smile, quietly saying You can do this.
Rosie gave Jon a grin, not a happy one but a reassuring one. She turned around back to the glass.
What she saw was Arthur, the joker. Staring back at her. Still laughing. She felt a chill go down her spine. His eyes was so similar to her own.
Arthur really tried to keep his mouth shut. This was not the time for a fit. He could taste the metal in his dry throat. He could really need some water but knows he would not get a glass. The staff had little respect for Arthur.
Seconds after, his laughter died down. The room was quiet again. He picked the phone up and put it over his ear as best he could. It's not easy to hold a telephone when your hands are shackled.
Rosie slowly put the telephone up to her ear again and could hear the guard on her side say.
10 minutes starts now.
The lady guards voice was stern and a little mean but that's what she has to sound like in this line of work.
Rosie could hear the faint dying laughter on the other end. Heavy breathing and moans.
Arthur took a deep breath before he began to speak.
‘’You have no idea how much I have missed you, my sweet little girl.’’
Arthur’s voice was soft-
Arthur gave Rosie a smile, but for once not a smile in annoyance or hate as he usually faked his smile.But a smile of kindness.
Rosie didn't smile back however. She held the telephone to her ear and just listens.
‘’I never thought I'd see you again. Ever. But now you're here...’’ Arthur sounded happy.
Arthur sighs deeply.
‘’I suppose that bit-...I'm sorry, I meant your mother finally told you about me?’’ He said.
‘’She died a long time ago.’’ Rosie said, her face still emotionless. She felt like she had to keep a straight face.
Oh... Arthur's eyebrow winked looking down at his feet. He said it in a soft voice.
‘’I just came to see if you where really real, Arthur. And not just me going insane. I've had dreams about a man with no face. Turns out he was you.’’
Arthur felt a cold through his spine. She doesn't call me dad...
He cleared his throat
‘’Well...I'm very happy you came to see me, love. I cant believe how much you've grown up. How old are you now Love?’’
His voice was soft as butter and his face wasn't hard and angry. It was kind and loving, something Rosie hadn't really expected.
Rosie felt it wasn't right for him to call her love. But at the same time it felt right. It confused her.
‘’I'm...uh almost nineteen. I'm sorry if you don’t mind, I have some questions for you.’’ She said while looking at the floor behind Arthur. It was scary to face him, she felt very uneasy. They looked so alike each other.
Arthur leaned back in his chair. He had a bit of trouble keeping the phone on his ear. The shackles were on too tight as always.
Rosie felt sweat running down her back. She was so scared and her anxiety was so high. She looked back at Arthur.
Arthur was looking at Rosie the whole time, smiling warmly.
‘’I suppose so. What would you like to ask love?’’ He said.
Rosie closed her eyes and sighed, leaning in closer to the glass before talking.
‘’Why? Why didn't you try to find me?’’ She blurted out, she could hear her voice breaking.
She continued.
‘’You never found me.. I was so scared and alone when mom died. I waited for someone to save me. Save m-...’’ She stopped talking. Tears building up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes with the ends of her cardigan.
Arthur was quiet. Everything In the room had just become louder. He struggled to find words and his eyes turned sad.
‘’I...’’ he started.
‘’You don't think I tried to find you? When *she* left I looked everywhere for you. Months!’’
Rosie would sniffer. Looking down at her lap while Arthur spoke.
‘’But...I never did find you. Not even a lead. So i gave up. I shouldn’t have done that but i figured your ma had met someone rich and moved far far away from Gotham, thinking you would be better off without me as a father.’’
Rosie looked up, her eyes were reddened with a tear or two going down her cheeks.
‘’Figured...You were happy.’’
‘’And then...I did what I did.’’
Arthur looked sad. He could feel the tears building up in his eyes as well, but he pulled back.
‘’You killed people.’’ Rosie said bluntly. Looking Arthur straight in the eye.
Arthur looked into Rosie's eyes as well, making them lock eyes.
‘’Yes. I have. But you gotta understand love, they where bad people.’’
Arthur's voice had changed. It sounded more confident. Same but different.
Rosie and wiped away her tears. She leaned away from the glass a little. Moving her chin up.
"Murder is murder" she said.
Arthur looked down. Feeling absolutely useless. He had failed as a father and he had failed to find his girl.
Before he could explain himself, the female guard came up behind Rosie.
She tapped Rosie's shoulder.
‘’10 minutes is up. It's time to go’’
‘‘There is no way 10 minutes has already gone by...’‘
The guard just sighed, putting her hands on her belt equipped with various weapons.
Rosie looked up at her, then back at Arthur.
He was still holding the phone.
His face got even sadder.
"I have to go..I’m sorry".Rosie said.
Arthur bit his lip. He wasn’t too happy about this. They didn’t even get to know each other!
He felt anger slowly building up.
‘Maybe...I'll come back. We'll see." She said shrugging.
Arthur slowly nodded.
"I love you Rosie. I'll explain everyth-..."
His word got cut off, the guard on his side had grabbed a hold of Arthur's shoulder. Hard.
"Time to go" he said.
Arthur didn't like that. Not one bit.
He started resisting, trying to still sit on the chair to look at Rosie.
The guard got annoyed, Hitting Arthur on the head. Not hard to knock him out but still. There was no need for it.
Rosie got close to the glass, clearly not happy with what was happening in front of her.
''HEY! Don't do that!'' She yelled.
There was no reason for the guard to do that. None at all.
Arthur looked at Rosie, Laughing.
Rosie saw the whole thing, she saw the guard hit Arthur and drag him outside of the visitors room. Hearing his muffled laughter.
She was so mad. She felt anger building up.
Then she noticed that she was crying, why? She didn't know the man.
How dare they?
ROSIE'S POV:
She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. What just happend? Did they really do that? The way she saw he own eyes in his, the way she recognized herself in him.
To be real, it scared the shit out of her.
Did he really love her? Did he actually try to find her? Or was it just things he said to get sympathy out of her.
It was all so confusing.
Rosie and Jonathan were outside, waiting for the bus back home.
Jonathan had a cigarette in his mouth and he was looking back and forth at Rosie, his eyes were worried.
Rosie was gone, day dreaming about the encounter. This was a major thing.
It was pouring rain now. Thankfully there was a roof over their heads.
She was looking at nothing nor hearing much.
It wasn't Until Jonathan placed his hand on Rosie's shoulder she finally snapped out of it.
‘’Are you There? The Bus is here.’’ Jonathan said, looking down at her.
Sure enough,the bus had arrived.
‘’Yeah I'm here Jon, don’t worry about me.’’ Rosie said, faking a smile.
They got on the bus, there wasn’t many people on it. The bus driver looked angry and mean. Like many in Gotham.
They went to the back of the bus. Rosie sat next to the window and Jonathan sat next to her.
They rode a few stations quiet before Rosie struck up a conversation.
"So. Is Ben gonna be nice to you?’’ She said, looking at Jonathan with a smirk.
"Yeah well...he doesn't know we went to Arkham to see him. He only knows we left for a few hours. Should be fine." He said, giving Rosie a smirk back.
Rosie’s eyes went back to the window and she let out a puff.
Then she turned back to Jon.
"That's a relief then!" Her voice was enthusiastic, she looked down at her thighs, keeping her head down.
"I just want to thank you Jon. This was hard for me and you were there for me.Thank you"
Still kept her head down.
Jonathan awed, wrapping his arm around Rosie.
"It was nice being there for you, A little scary though."
Rosie sighed. "Yeah, i can get that. was scary for me too.’’
Rosie looked up at Jonathan, they locked eyes and Jonathan smirked.
"What?" Rosie said with a half laugh.
"Nothing it's just...you really has his eyes." He said.
Rosie's smile slowly faded away.
"Oh no no I'm sorry. I didn’t mean it like that." He said.
"Its fine. I thought so too. I am his daughter after all. *Heh It's crazy huh? How you been away from someone for most of your life and you stare back at them with eyes so familiar." She said.
A few minutes went by and it was time for Rosie to get off the bus. Jonathan lived further away.
She hugged Jonathan goodbye and thanked him for everything.
Rosie started walking the rest of the way home. Still leftover makeup from the night before. She pulled up her hood of her jacket. She always looked down at the ground when she was out walking...but now after the meeting, she decided too look up.
She saw a dirty city. Trash and dark. Homeless people sitting under bus stops to cover from the rain, children crying.
Rosie quickly put her head down again, preferring to not see the truth.
Once she got home she took a long shower. She needed to think... think long and hard about what to do next.
Jokers pov:
Being pulled out of the visitation room is not fun. Not one bit.
That asshole guard had NO right to do that. Arthur was having time with his long lost child. How DARE HE?
Arthur had to be restrained by two guards that took him to his cell. He was so angry that he yelled and tried to get out of the guards grip of him.
"Shut the fuck up, Clown!" One guard said.
"Let me see her! "let me see my DAUGHTER!" He growled, But No matter how hard he tried he could not get free from their grip. He would if he wasn’t fucking chained.
The guards were quiet now, mostly grunting trying to control Arthur. There wasn't much he could do with the shackles, but he was still dangerous.
They opened his cell and threw him inside. not taking the shackles off,closing the door.
Arthur ran up to the small window on the cell door.He was hysterical, boiling with anger towards everyone and everything.
"ILL KILL YOU! ALL OF YOU. HOW DARE YOU?" he screamed. He was Joker now. He felt like he could do anything. But alas, he couldn't....Yet.
The guards laughed at him through the small window. ‘’Sure you will, clown’’ Before closing the little window.
Joker resulted in too banging his head on the door. It hurt for sure but it was something he felt in control of doing. And he needed to harm himself, punish himself. Almost like a safety thing.
While he banged his head against the door, he got an epiphany. He was gonna get out of this hell hole and be a father to his child. With or without Hanks help.
He keeps banging his head until he gets dizzy. Joker stumbles around his room, almost falling too his knees. All he can think about is Rosie, He now has a new purpose...to be her father. Maybe set things right in Gotham.
He feels his consciousness slip away from banging his head. But that doesn't matter, his decision has already been made.
A/N: Hi guys, this might be unexpected but i really want to rewrite the story's first chapters and EDIT the others. I have so many new things i want to have added in the story that only can be introduced in the first chapters. Plus i want to write it better, the first chapters i wrote while traveling and i didn't really have all the time to make it good. But don't worry! I'm still writing the continuation. Just might take a little slower. So here it is. First chapter of The eyes of a clown, remake!
Rosie is born in 1978, so is 19 in 1997 which is when the fic is set in.
Summary: Rosie unpacks for her new apartment!
Warnings: Mentions of death, addiction and abuse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘’It was time, time for me to move from home and now it’s happend. It's wack to think that i'm an adult now and have responsibility. I really have to get things fixed up here in the apartment. It's a mess now that there's boxes everywhere but ill get that fixed in no time. Bye.’’
Rosie closed the diary and sighed as she leaned back in her couch, one of the few things that were actually available to sit on in the place.
She had just moved away from home. Got lucky with an small one bedroom apartment in the city of Gotham. Sure it was in of the bad neighborhoods but it was inside the city and the rent is cheap!
The foster home had to spit her out at one point and another right?
She had worked hard for the money to get her own place, working graveyard shifts and overall weird jobs.
''Speaking of jobs, i should try to find one tomorrow''
She said to herself. No one was listening after all. At the foster home you could never be too sure if you really were alone.
Rosie gets off the couch to slowly unpack some things.
~~~~
Finally after some time, she had finally unpacked everything. It felt like an eternity but honestly it only took an hour or two.
Rosie checked the clock on the wall over the front door.
''Shit, aiight. Time for bed''
The bed was unfortunately her bed sofa. The bed she ordered at the store hasn't arrived yet so sofa it is! But she didn't really mind, all she could focus on was that she has her OWN place. Free.
She fell asleep quickly, feeling the weight she's put on her body today really taking its toll.
‘’I am in a dark place. I think i'm alone but i'm not. There are people with eyes but the rest of their face is gone and they are completely jet black. Only their eyes are visible. All but one, a man who's standing at the end of the folk mass. He has dark hair and wears a beige hoodie. I try to place my hand on his shoulder so i can turn him around. And i s-..’’
Rosie wakes up in a cold sweat, like always. This is the dream she's had since she was young. They started a few years after her mother died.
Rosie and her mom moved around a lot, lived with many different people in bad places. Her mom was an addict and it showed. They never stayed at one place for too long as most of the people sheltering them got tired of mom fast.
Rosie was left alone for most of the time. Sure she went to school but all the kids avoided her because their parents knew about her mom and didn't want their ‘‘precious’‘ children near her kid.
It was lonely, growing up like that. Her mom did care about her for sure, but the drugs were apparently more important and it got the better of her.
When Rosie's mother died, she was about 9 years old and got thrown into foster care,Though Rosie actually enjoyed foster care better, she wasn't alone all the time now.
Her mom never talked about her father. Rosie had asked many times and every time her mom got this face of terror. Eventually she stopped asking and just let it go.
Rosie sighed as she moved the covers from her body and got up from the couch. She groaned and stretched before walking to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
~~~~
Now with her coffee, she went back to the sofa and turned on the small tv she had. She had gotten it from a donation from her last foster home, a moving away gift if you will.
Rosie zapped through the channels until she found a news channel broadcasting crime.
The first thing that came up on screen was batman, apparently he had stopped a big time robbery from happening.
''So Mr.Batman, could you tell us what happend here?'' The news reporter said.
You could see that it was a resend from last night as it was dark out.
''No comment'' Batman said in his hoarse voice.
''He's do damn weird, but helpful'' Rosie said out loud.
''well, that's what i got from that. Back to the studio to you Tom.'' The reporter said.
Rosie slowly sipped her coffee, she had always enjoyed the morning broadcasts.
''Thank you Linda. And speaking of crime. Today marks the 17th year of the murder of beloved tv host Murray Franklin and the riots that Joker caused. Joker's name being Arthur Fleck was invited to the show during the time of the Clown killings. As it turned out he was the man behind it all.''
Rosie's ears perked up. This case had always been interesting to her. Apparently it happend when she was still very small but she remembers seeing news stories about it. No pictures though so this was interesting.
Then a picture of the man calling himself Joker popped up on screen.
She froze.
It was only up for a few seconds but it was enough, something started inside of her.
Those eyes. They looked so similar to her own, it was like looking into a mirror.
''During this time, the beloved Wayne's were murderd. Leaving Bruce on his own at only 10. Mr. Wayne now being in charge of the Wayne company an-...''
Rosie turned the tv off.
Her coffee went cold in her hands, those eyes. Who was he?
She just knew there was something she had to investigate about this.
