overlithe (overlithe) wrote in batmanjoker, @ 2011-01-26 17:29:00 |
|
|||
Original poster: kitcatitalica
Title: The King and His Fool
Chapter 5: We Two Kings
Word Count: 692
Pairings: Batman/Joker
Disclaimer: I don't own TDK or its characters, just this strange metaphor I've forced them to inhabit. And stop complaining, you two, you know you love eating turkey on a stick every morning! Oh, those boys...I think they took that sexually...
Rating: PG
Warnings: just some good ol' fashioned Dark Ages man-kissing
Chapter Summary: The palace burns, but no fire can separate the two kings.
A/N: Hope you've enjoyed this so far. It was fun to write, at least. It gets a bit B/J-philosophy heavy toward the end, as does lots of my work. Hope you don't mind too much. :P And this was inspired somewhat from the song "Message for the Queen" from the 300 soundtrack.
The palace burns. The people have finally had it with the kingdom’s endless changing of hands, at the whims of two mad monarchs. A few remain loyal on both sides, but too many have died for each cause. Far too many. So the factions brave enough to revolt now take matters into their own hands.
They surround the jester king with sparks of madness in their eyes, chaining him to the throne as they light the palace aflame. The other king still remains shackled to the wall behind, so they leave him as he is. Then, as the blaze flares up brighter, they race for their lives out of the crumbling palace, shoving each other out of the way into the flames in their selfish haste. Soon, they turn on each other, and leap at each others’ throats, only to be obliterated in their self-lit pyre.
The fool grins as only he can as he watches the irony play out to its fullest. Sent to their deaths by their own unwitting hands, while he in turn gets dealt the same card. For his rule was what brought the kingdom to this state, and now he is to be consumed by his own wildfire.
But not if the other captive king can help it.
His last few months have been spent tugging at the slowly slackening chains in secret moments. Now, they are loosened further by the fire, and he nearly breaks free. But it still is not enough.
Not until he sees the jester slump forward in the throne.
With a wild cry of anguish, he summons his most hidden reserve of strength and shatters the chains that hold him. He leaps from the wall to cover the body of his fool, shielding them from the blast as the palace finally gives out and implodes around them.
Hours later, or perhaps years, or maybe just mere seconds, the dust settles around them and both kings stir. The dark king feels a knot loosen from his gut: the fool is yet alive.
As they both try to separate and escape the wreckage, they find they cannot. Looking down at their wrists, they come to notice what most often appears as invisible, save for moments as scarce as this.
A chain.
But this chain is not like the links that trapped them in their own palace just moments before. No, those were manmade, and far too weak to withstand the kind of strength that this chain exhibits. This chain is permanent. It binds the two monarchs together, through thick and thin, across time and space, stretching to encompass the world if it needs to. But it can never break. For it was made long before their time, and will remain long after they are gone.
Looking at their chain now, they silently understand. The walls of the palace will be rebuilt again, just as they always are. It will never be the same, always growing shakier with each passing day, ready to give out with just the slightest nudge; all it would take to topple it over would be a little push. But it will never fall. And until it does, the two kings will war over it, taking their victories and short-lived dynasties as they come.
Carefully, so as not to damage their bodies any further, the two kings take each other into their arms, holding each other quietly in the lull of the blast. Their chain loops gracefully around their wrists, gradually fading until it turns invisible once more, but grows stronger with each reluctant, desperate kiss.
It may not be what they intended at the start of it all – in the beginning, all they wanted was to pull the world to their side. To be a magnet, drawing everyone and everything into their center of gravity. But pole met pole, positive met negative, and instead of ripping their world apart…they found that opposites attract. And they, the two forces, are as opposite as they come. They have collided together in every possible way, forming a separate, unbreakable entity no one will ever understand or sever.
For they are the eternal union.