Beautiful Sins (A Joker FanFic)

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was sunny outside, the kind of weather that made you want to have a picnic. I always loved Gotham in the spring. This mid-April weather is what made me decide to paint in the park, away from the doom and gloom of Luka and I's apartment. I packed my art supplies and set them by the front door.

"Luka?" I called out.

No reply.

Hm. "Luka, I'm going out."

Still, no reply. I bit my lip, acid rising up in my stomach. Why wasn't he replying? I slowly walked over to his bedroom door, I heard nothing. I decided it was safe to open it slowly, just to check on him. I had half expected to see him either watching porn or murdered or something like a horror movie or whatever, but as I peered through the small crack I made by opening the door I had not seen either. All I had seen was Luka sitting at his desk, his back to the door. He had headphones on and he was skyping someone... I couldn't hear his voice but I listen to what Luka said. "She's only 19..."

"Yes, but her birthday isn't for another 6 months..."

I squinted to see who the other person was, and then I thought back to a few months ago.

"No, the Joker hasn't been around..."

Oh my holy fuckeroni! That's Joseph Hernandez! Wait... why was Luka talking to him? Why was he asking about the Joker?

"She hasn't talked about him, no...." he paused. "You either, but she did throw out all the art of the Joker she had done...."

"He wants you because I want you..." A memory of the Joker's words went off in my head; I quickly shook it off.

But why was Luka talking to him? It made no sense. I quietly shut the door, and grabbed my stuff on my way out of the apartment. As I walked to the park in the better part of Gotham I found myself questioning the last few months. I had thrown out all the paintings and drawings I had done of the Joker, although some I sold online. I wanted to forget about J, the only version of the Joker I wanted to talk to was the one I could never talk to again, yet I yearned... I searched for a way. As I passed the same ice cream shop I had met Joseph at I shuttered, pushing away the emotions that tried to force their way into my thoughts. I bit my lip, trying to distract myself from the emotional and mental pain, with the physical pain of it.

My mind wandered to the man who was with the Joker the day that he had come into my room through a portal. He dressed in all green and black. He wore a green mask and had brown hair... Maybe if I could find him I could convince him to help me travel to that Joker's dimension. I needed to know how I could fall in love with him, enough to have a family with him... He was so different than this Joker. I needed to know what event separated the two dimensions. What made them so different?

I realized I had bitten my lip too hard as the taste of blood flooded into my mouth. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip as I walked onto the soft grass of the park. I wore flip flops, so I felt grass tickle my feet and I smiled. I looked around and took a deep breath of relief. Nature always made me happy, even if it was cut into a square baseball field shape in the middle of a metal and glass city. The wind still blew through my redish-brown hair that hung down just above my tailbone. I felt the warmth of the sun even through my tank top and denim short-shorts.

I set up my canvas and set out my supplies, but I was stuck. My mind stayed on the green suited man. So much so that I decided to paint him. I painted my room the night he appeared, it wasn't hard to with my photographic memory. I started with the crack in the wall. As I moved onto the man in green himself I found it hard to avoid the emotions of that day. Once again my mind went back to Luka, why was he talking to Hernandez, J told me he was dirty. I've researched Al Ghul, and they are too. So how does J even know him? How does Hernandez even know me?

Joggers ran by and some slowed every once in a while to observe my work, but no one had stopped and actually spoken to me in the 3 hours I was there, well that was up until this very moment. I turned as I felt the presence of someone. A man, he had long blackish-brown hair that fell to his shoulders and light blue eyes. "Hey, isn't that Green Lantern?" he asked.

"Huh?" I paused as he signaled to the painting, and I looked back at him. "I don't know actually, who is that?"

"Well if you don't know why are you painting him?" he asked mindlessly, taking a drink of water from a bottle that sat at his side in a holster.

"Uh... I had a dream?" I said with an awkward laugh.

He looked at me with disbelief, furrowing his brow and then giving me a sarcastic smile. "Okay, Martin Luther King." he chuckled. "Well, the Green Lantern is a "superhero", he's like a guardian or something or another of the dimensions or rather parallel universes."

My eyes got wide and I asked, "Well what's the difference between the two?"

"Well, a parallel universe is an alternate reality in which one minor event is different thus changing the entire outcome of the future. A dimension is a world different than one's own with nothing similar, unless you're talking about an alternate dimension. That's what most people who haven't been properly educated in the matter call a parallel universe. Which is okay I guess, because a dimension could also be a parallel universe in appearance but not in reality, like a dream, you're in a place that seems one way, but in reality you're in bed sleeping. It's real to you but not to those who are awake." He explained.

"So this Green Lantern travels through parallel universes?" I ask.

"Yes," he paused looking up and then nodded looking back down at me. "And also dimensions."

I bit my lip, "So where does he live?"

"Well, that's tricky, because there is only one of him. His kind only exists in the universe or dimension that they are in currently, so no parallel universes revolve around their actions, only the ones they have directly affected. If you were witness to something they did you can contact them directly, but you would have to meet them in another dimension." He answered.

"Well how would I- I mean how would someone do that?" I replied with a nervous smile.

He looked down at me suspiciously. "Well... dreams are gateways to dimensions. That's why people who suffer physical trauma go into comas, their spiritual-self escapes to another reality. A different plane of existence, aka another dimension. Dreams are the short hand of that, so I suppose if you could sleep long enough to touch the alternate dimension you could reach him."

I bit my lip. "Sounds complicated."

"It is. I mean it's like when one sock disappears from a pair and you never see it again. You know it went somewhere, you just don't know where. If you've ever encountered this kind of thing then items from the dimension that reached out to you or the parallel universe that the person came from, would appear." He smiled gently. "Make sense?"

I smiled brightly but then it faded and I looked down. "Yeah." I said quietly.

"Well, it was really nice meeting you, you seem very smart, I'd love to get to know you. I'm Bruce by the way." He smiled at me offering his hand. "Bruce Wayne."

I smiled up at him mindlessly and offered my own. "I'm Raven, and I agree, it was very nice talking to you too."

The rest was a blur, my mind struggled to comprehend what I had just processed.

"Here's my card." He smiled charmingly before jogging off. "Call me."

I struggled to smile as I replied, "Okay." But he was already gone. How did he know so much about this? My mind wandered to our conversation and I knew that I had to find a way to contact this Green Lantern guy.... That's when I realized... that photo! The photo of the Joker and I had just shown up! I pack my stuff and ran back home, I was going to get some answers, no matter what.