overlithe (overlithe) wrote in batmanjoker, @ 2011-01-26 16:41:00 |
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Original poster: kitcatitalica
Title: The King and His Fool
Word Count: 617
Pairings: Batman/Joker
Disclaimer: I don't own TDK or its characters, I just convert them into medieval metaphors - which I /do/ own. No stealie. ;)
Rating: G
Warnings: ain't nothing, really, except extraordinarily mild slash that's next to nil in existence
Summary: The dark king sits on his throne in the black night, while the grinning fool lurks behind him forever.
A/N: Basically my attempt at a pretentious extended metaphor, aka Gotham Meets Medieval Times!!! (C'mon, Batman's a "knight", Joker's a "jester"...you can't tell me I was alone in thinking about this at some point.)
There once was a king. A great and powerful king, whose kingdom belonged to his subjects, but was eternally his. His path to the throne was fraught with violence and bloodshed, but Lady Justice guided his way. Victory was ever his dream, but never his goal; his goal was progress.
Before his reign, Terror owned the day. Corruption plagued the palace court, yet no one paid it any mind. Until he came. He drove out the tyrants and took the throne, not because he wanted it, but because he was needed.
And so it began. Each night the queenless king made his solemn way to the iron black throne, a simple crown of two horns adorning his brow. Most could not see it, or perhaps chose not to, but his other crown – his real crown – hung on the wall behind him. A crown of thorns.
Each night he sat on his reluctantly inherited throne, granting the needs of his subjects. Criminals hung their heads in front of him, yet a sword never touched their necks. For executions were never the order of the night – justice had other methods, and swiftly and surely fell upon the transgressors.
Everyone feared his power and his wrath. Some hated him, and conspired to topple his rule, but they always failed, for they could never completely conquer the king of their spirits. And so the king ruled, ever in the hearts and minds of his people, though they never realized it themselves. He lived in them, and thus he could never die.
Yet a shadow always cast itself over the king’s court, cast by a solitary figure that forever lurked behind the king’s throne: the smiling jester, whose constant presence everyone tried to ignore and deny. But there he remained, cackling at each soul that kneeled before the king’s feet, the theatrics of the display his personal amusement. He served as a reminder that it was all a sham – that the king, for all his power, was only as human as his subjects. Men and women saw the grinning fool as they looked on their king, and walked away with heavy hearts. For victory would never come as long as the fool remained.
Most would flatly deny it, but they knew the jester existed in their souls just as much as their king. He was as much a king as their monarch. And the king himself refused to admit it, but the jester existed because of him.
And far worse, he existed because of the jester.
Yet a powerful secret held its breath in the courtroom, unbeknownst to the subjects, even to the servants, forever faithful to their king. In the early hours of the morning, before the breaking dawn, the subjects would leave the royal courtroom and return to their homes and villages, to carry on with their daily lives. In the echoing stillness of the silhouetted hall, the king would sit alone in silence. But he was never alone, for the jester forever lurked behind him.
However, when the night was still, the palace empty, and all quiet and lonely, the jester would take his proper place. His throne only ever existed whilst the king sat on his. But as the night reaches its darkest hours before the dawn, the jester ascends to his invisible, rightful throne of the king’s lap. His feet propped on the black throne’s arm, his head resting on the king’s shoulder, the jester wears his true crown of the king’s gentle fingers, running through his hair.
And together, all alone except for each other, the king and his fool wait out the dark night, awaiting the golden streaks of dawn to begin their new day.