Villain fic

[icarus_chained]

I don't write much of it, I know. Batman alone has this whole gallery of enemies and half-allies and people of dubious morality to contend with, and I've largely ignored them. Wonderful, complex people, and I've never given them their due. Not that this really does, either. But anyway.

Title:  Dreams of Human Evil
Rating:  PG-13
Characters/Pairings:  Ivy, Harvey, Selina, Joker. Implied Ivy/Harley, Selina/Bruce, even a tinge of Joker/Bats, but that's more obsession than anything else.
Summary:  Four villains dream, of happiness where they can, and desire where they can't.
Wordcount:  981 (short, I know)

Dreams of Human Evil

 

 

Ivy dreamed.

In her dream, she walked through verdant woodland, listening to the rustle and flow of life as it was meant to be, life as it had once been. She felt its surge beneath her feet, felt the power and joy that sang up through her as the Earth exulted in her presence. The sun shone down on her hair through clear skies, the water flowed fresh and pure under her soles, her babies grew straight and strong without the poison of man to stunt them.

She came upon a memory of them as she walked. The crumbled and unnatural arches of what had once been a human place of worship. Worship, hah! They had understood nothing of veneration. But they did now. They knew now, how to respect and worship the world they'd been given. How to venerate Mother Earth as she deserved. She had made very sure of that.

Harley was waiting for her in the ruins. Ivy stopped at the opening arch, just looking at her. At her face, fresh and untainted by white paste, young and shining with the innocence she had once had ripped from her. Her heart sang at the sight. Harley was free, here. In this world she had made, there was no-one to hurt the woman she loved, no-one to tear his way into her soul and drown her in human filth and evil. In this world she had made, Harley was as safe and free as her babies.

In her dream, Ivy stood before the young woman she had saved, in the world she had made new, and she was happy.

***

 

Harvey dreamed.

In his dream, he looked up at the statue of Justice as she rose stern and proud over the world that had once forgotten her. She wore a smile, in his dream. A smile just for him. Her most loyal envoy. The man who had reminded the world of her place among them. She was blind, blind to his disfigurement, conscious only that he had served her cause well. As he had been proud to do.

A man stood beside him in his dream. A man who served justice too, in his way. A man who had fallen among the unjust in his time. A man who had been his friend, and failed him. Failed Justice. But now that man stood at his side. Now that man watched as the wicked of the world were judged and punished as was their due, and turned to give Harvey a grave and understanding nod. His friend once more. His comrade once more.

And then another man stepped up for judgement. No. No man, this one. A monster. A crazed demon, who had looked upon his Lady, and had the effrontery to laugh in her blind face. Harvey frowned, stern and implacable, and cast the final vote on the villain's life.

In his dream, Harvey stood beside his friend, and watched as the demon died, and he was happy.

***

 

Selina dreamed.

In her dream, she stood in a fine drawing room, surrounded by the tasteful riches she had chosen for herself. The room was warm, the fire before her glowing like gold. She had just returned from a wild and vibrant chase, chilled by the rush of wind, and it's warmth was welcome to her.

The door opened behind her. She did not turn. She knew who it was, who it had to be. And she smiled, as he laid gentle, powerful hands on her bare shoulders, as he caressed them, and leaned in to press his lips to the back of her neck. Filled with liquid warmth, she tilted her head back to rest it against his strong shoulder, and looked up at his stern, loving features. Her knight. Her lover.

His eyes gleamed a deep, rich blue as he smiled down at her, the same blue as the sapphire that glowed in the hollow of her throat as a symbol of her love for him. In his turn, he wore an emerald on his finger, it's etheral green always there to remind him of her eyes. Of her love. A green ring such as another had once given him. But Bruce didn't love that other. He loved her. He always had. And now he knew it.

In her dream, Selina stood among her prizes, in the arms of her love, and she was happy.

***

 

The Joker did not dream.

Or if he did, it was as his waking thoughts were, a bloody kaleidoscope of images to the tune of a crazed calliope. His mind wheeled and spun, dancing at random through red-stained dreams, even when he was awake. He did not know dreams from reality, didn't understand the distinction between the corpse-ridden corridors of his mind, and the body-strewn arenas he made in reality.

The Joker did not dream. But he did desire. He yearned. And that yearning had a face. It had a shape, a form. The black spread of wings. The powerful movements. The stern, unyielding gaze, the white glare that pierced through the madness in his head, gave him a moment of reality through the rush of dreams.

The Joker wanted that man. He wanted to catch him, to break him, to own him. He wanted to show those eyes the whirl of dark dreams that lived inside him, he wanted to introduce that mind to his reality. Because, in some part of his soul that remembered not having always been this way, he had an idea that once that man saw them, understood them, shared them, then they would be real the way other people understood things to be real. Once that man knew his dreams, they would be his dreams too.

The Joker did not dream. He didn't understand happiness. But he looked at the shadow that swooped down on him, and the laughter bubbled up through him. Reality beckoned in that dark form, and he waltzed to meet him.