Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The tension in the bank was palpable and for once, you were a victim, caught up in the madness. 

You expected the humans in the room to evaporate or combust into goo, but a quick self reflection confirmed that the fundamentals of your glamor remained intact. You wouldn’t need to summon Amenadiel after all. Which meant the crowd was more shocked by your random appearance than seeing an angel with their natural eye.  

A shame that was the least of your concerns.  

Pain. You hadn’t felt it in ages; however, the dulling ache was nothing compared to the warmth of this stranger’s touch. You could feel the heat seeping from his gloves permeating your skin. It made you feel... alive. Desired. Emboldened.  

A deadly cocktail in your opinion and especially towards a human. 

Despite your better judgement, your e/c eyes fell closed, and you leaned into his hold. Nothing was making any sense, but you relished in the brief moment of peace.  

That is, until the strange man opened his mouth.  

"Did it hurt?"  

Three words was all it took to yank you back into reality— or perhaps it was the intriguing sight of his pupils dilating as they bore into your soul that helped steer you back.  

What could he see? Did he learn your identity just by looking into your eyes?  

You didn’t want to believe this mortal could detect your angelic prowess even with your glamor at its current low levels. Nothing about you screamed, ‘ I’m an angel.’ Were your eyes glowing by any chance?  

Surely it was a coincidence and you feigned ignorance to avoid further suspicion. "What?" You gasped. 

Joker hated repeating himself, yet he didn’t mind if it was for you. There was something about you that he couldn’t quite place.  

To Joker, life was a meaningless thing that he navigated without a care of the conclusion, until an electric charge made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He felt an odd sensation— like he was being watched— and glanced across the room where he felt the pull.  

There was nothing there but thin air, yet Joker swore he felt a presence, observing him. He guessed that today was the day he finally lost his mind or rather what was left of it.  

It wasn’t like The Joker to become distracted during a fight and Batman was not going to let the rare opportunity go to waste. He delivered a crucial blow hoping to would take Joker out. It hardly phased the clown who laughed off the pain.  

However, Joker did feel something; it was strangely familiar yet undeniably foreign that overwhelmed him all at once. He wasn’t imagining things. The best way to describe it was like a phone on ten percent being connected to a charger. There was no denying it now, something happened, he just didn’t know what.   

A sharp gasp drew everyone’s attention away from the fight and Joker swore he saw an angel when he locked eyes with you. 

Just how could Joker overlook someone like you?  

You. Doubled over, wheezing in pain, but looking as radiant as ever. Ignore the fact you appeared literally out of nowhere, Joker had to know who you were. You captured his interest without even trying and kept it firmly within your grip. Life became a lot more meaningful now that you were in the picture. 

Your fleeting gaze towards Batman stirred up jealousy in Joker’s heart so he dug his nails further into your jaw to steal your attention away. "I saiddd.. did it hurt... when you, ahh, fell from heaven?" He asked. 

Oh. So you did hear him correctly.  

Somehow this mortal saw through your glamor and deduced your existence. That would not do at all. You weighed the options available to handle this oversight. You could wipe this man out of existence, or you could deny deny deny.  

It had been decades since you harmed a human and you didn’t want to go through the unnecessary paperwork and protocols that would follow if you did so. It was best practice to talk your way out of the situation.  

Or take a page out of Ario’s textbook and charm your way out. “Are you implying I’m a fallen angel like Lucifer?” you batted your lashes and watched the man falter with a response.  

“Well. I.. uhh—” 

“Let her go Joker.” You frowned at your charge for butting his way into the conversation. You were beginning to dislike the bat more and more.  

Batman had finally come to and wanted control back over the situation. How he managed to be taken seriously in that ridiculous suit was a miracle, but you had to thank him for his service. He put a name to this odd looking man who piqued your interest.  

Joker.  

You could see the irony in the name. His ghastly makeup reminded you of 15th century court jesters. Long ago, you were a guardian angel to one that served the infamous Tudor King. Both men were fools in name and practice.  

The present-day clown holding you hostage had yet to prove if he was one as well.  

Nothing about robbing a bank in the middle of the night seemed like a joke to you. To each their own you assumed. Humans were an unusual lot.  

Batman and the Joker threw insults and witty comments back and forth and you wisely tuned out their conversation. They acted more like old friends than mortal enemies. Typical male behavior.  

What drew your attention away was the red paint this Joker fellow wore. It accentuated the gruesome scars etched in his skin. You didn’t care if was rude, you had the urge to touch them. Your finger brushed against his scarred check, and you knew you messed up the moment Joker stopped talking.  

Joker visibly shivered and directed all his attention on you.  

Nothing else mattered inside the bank. Not the terrified civilians, not the gravelly voice of Batman demanding Joker to surrender, and definitely not the sound of approaching sirens.  

All that mattered was the bubble you and Joker created. That nagging feeling from earlier returned tenfold the second your finger grazed his skin. He thought he was being electrocuted; it was so intense, and you were inclined to agree.  

Just who were you? You must’ve been new to Gotham or simply dumb enough to chance death; no one dared to touch him, let alone his scars.  

Joker couldn’t help but make an example out of you.  

He grabbed your fingers in his strong grip and squeezed. All you did was blink owlishly at him. “Do ya like em? The scars?” Joker craned his neck so you could see them better. “C’mere, we can match.” 

Everything else that followed, happened simultaneously.  

You watched Joker raise his army knife up to your cheek right as a swarm of people entering the room caught your eye. The police had arrived guns in hand, and one of the officers had a clear shot of the Joker and pulled his trigger to fire, all without a second thought.  

You knew for the humans involved it had only been a few seconds that passed, but you watched all of this unfold naturally. 

You knew without intervention the bullet would hit you and The Joker. It would barely leave a scratch on you but the wound would be fatal for him.  

Batman would be too slow to stop the trajectory with his feeble Batarang. You didn’t care what happened to the clown, that is until your duty hit you with full force. Your wings bristled with the need to expand. 

Your charge was in danger. Protect! You had to protect!!  

It didn’t make any sense. Ario informed you that the Batman was your potential charge. He was not in any danger— yet you felt the guardian connection (at last), lock into place. Just on the wrong person.  

Impossible. Fate had never made a mistake, yet there was no denying it. You were now bound to this unpredictable clown.  

You stared at The Joker in a newfound light as your vows to protect him transcended through the bond.  

How were you supposed to protect this man’s life when he cared so little for it? In all your years, never have you met anyone like him. Even now with the guardian link complete, you couldn’t feel anything from his side. Joker did not fear death. He sensed the danger, but he did nothing to prevent it.  

He was a walking contradiction to your purpose.  

You were a guardian angel, a protector of life, now bound to a suicidal maniac.  

You had a brief notion to do nothing and let him to die. That would serve a better example than coddling him. You doubted this human would be missed and you would be free to move onto avoiding your next assignment, but as quickly as that thought appeared in your mind, you banished it away. 

You were The Great Y/n. You did not make mistakes. You could not fail another charge. This was your duty. This was your purpose.  

Somehow, you would make the best of this situation, starting with preventing Joker’s demise. And just like that, time caught up with the present and you moved faster than the scale of lumen to protect your charge.  

Batman heard the GCPD approaching and shouted at them to hold their fire, but it was too late. The civilian hostages screamed when they heard the gunshots ring out and chose to duck for cover. Bats quick fired a Batarang to try and stop the bullets or at least intercept it from its intended target, but it was an unnecessary effort.  

The Joker was gone.  

Jim Gordon and his police officers stopped in their tracks at the Houdini act. “What the...” Gordon said aloud.  

Even Batman and his detective like mind could not understand what had happened.  

Where Joker was previously standing, was a single black feather gently floating in the air where it vanished upon contact with the ground.  

Joker had seen some bizarre things in his life however today proved to be the icing on the cake.  

He could’ve sworn he was robbing Gotham City’s Regional Bank with a small group of his goons tonight. Everything was going smoothly until Batman just had to intervene but after that, things became too blurry to recall. 

Joker thought he met someone, which sounded insane by itself, but he couldn’t get the image of a beautiful woman out of his head. She was stunning, albeit aloof in demeanor, and her eyes were truly unforgettable. He never seen e/c glow the way hers did.  

Was it all a dream, he wasn’t so sure. It wouldn’t be the first time that his sick mind made something up to push the narrative. It would not be the last time either.  

Joker groaned as he woke up further. He didn’t know where he was but that didn’t matter. As long as he was still in Gotham, he could work with that.  

A glass of water was sitting on a nearby table and Joker downed the entire cup before throwing it against the wall. The sound of broken glass was a small reprieve to his troubled mind. He needed answers. He hated being in the dark.  

Joker was prone to forgetting things—with a broken mind like his it was bound to happen, but he distinctly remembered robbing a bank one moment and the next he woke up in some stranger’s room.  

He got up and looked around searching for clues as to how he got there.  

The apartment was decent enough yet it was sparsely decorated, giving it an empty feeling. It didn’t feel like a home, just a place to occupy when the need arose. It provided nothing but more questions and quite frankly, Joker had enough of the guessing game.  

He patted his pockets hoping that his burner phone was still on him. Thankfully it was and he wasted no time dialing a number by heart. It rang until someone answered.  

Joker didn’t let the person speak. “Track my location and come with answers on how I got here.” He hung up after barking his orders into the phone.  

He roamed the apartment looking for personal effects, mementoes, trash— anything that would give him insight on the person who owned the place but there was nothing .  

For all intense purposes, the place could be a stage home for rent. Joker was getting a headache when his search was unsuccessful, so he found himself back in the bedroom—the only place that looked somewhat lived in.  

He fell backwards on the disheveled bed and sighed up at the ceiling. Just what was going on? Nothing was making sense and why did it seem like he was missing something, or rather someone in his state of confusion.  

You hadn’t worked this hard as a guardian since you were entrusted to a politician.  

By the time you dumped an unconscious clown onto your bed, you had to double back to the active crime scene and distort the memories of all the humans involved. All eighty seven of them.  

Each human had to have alternate memories of the night that excluded you being in the bank while erasing you saving Joker’s life. It wasn’t easy yet tis the duty of a guardian angel. The hardest mind to alter was Batman’s.  

He was convinced of what he thought he saw.  

He threw a Batarang towards his arch nemesis (was he holding a hostage?), who simply vanished into thin air. The police officer who fired his gun had the spotty memory of someone in Joker’s arms too, although he wasn’t quite sure. It didn’t sound believable, so he dismissed the idea early on without your influence. 

He only remembered catching sight of The Joker upon entering the room and firing two shots. Neither bullet hit their target, and no impact holes were found.  

The security cameras were disabled before Joker and his men broke in so that was a dead end for investigators.  

Everyone had the same million-dollar question. How did The Joker escape? 

Batman was convinced that Joker was holding someone but every time he strained his mind to describe them, a migraine thwarted his attempts. Something wasn’t right here. There were just too many pieces of the picture missing to make a definitive report. Batman had to know how Joker escaped so it couldn’t happen again.  

You rolled your eyes and added an extra sedative to Batman’s mind to make sure it remained blocked towards any evidence of the truth. You couldn’t allow anyone to know that guardian angels existed.  

People could believe all they want— having tangible proof of the divine was where things crossed the line.  

It wasn’t your role to decide the logistics behind the rule. You would leave that burden to your more delegated angels. Your job as a guardian was done and you prepared to return to your charge when a searing pain in your shoulder made you falter. 

You were still adjusting to feeling things again. 

You tried pulling out whatever causing the pain but you quickly realized that whatever it was, it was lodged in your wings, right out of your reach. You would have to extend them to remove the foreign object. 

Great. That meant a trip in the clouds.  

You were already exhausted from cleaning up Joker’s escape act, but the pain just would not pass.  

“What I’d do to not feel once more.” you muttered to yourself.  

In a flash you were airborne, high above Gotham City and the Earth’s atmosphere, as far as the human mind could comprehend. It was far enough to safely spread your wings in all of their glory.  

It had been too long since you flew around so freely. Living amongst humans really did a number on you. You adapted so well that some mannerisms became second nature.  

You took the subway, you adopted a Gotham accent, you paid bills; never did you forget your origin. It was hard not to during times like this.  

Up in the clouds with the moon as your spotlight, you could stretch out your angel wings and bask in the joy of flight. Blending in with the humans could never take away your divinity no matter how much you tried to denounce it.  

The objects wedged itself out of your obsidian feathers and you twisted midair to catch them before they plummeted to the earth below.  

“Humans and their primitive weapons.” Two bullets rolled around in your palm along with some kind of metal bat symbol. This must’ve been the infamous, Batarang.  

Day one of your assignment and you already took a bullet for your charge and whatever this silly thing was. What would the rest of your servitude look like in comparison? You flicked the batarang in between your fingers, lost in thought.  

You felt jilted about being assigned to Joker and not the Batman.  

Nowhere on the assignment scroll hinted at a possible mix up and you hated being misinformed. Being the Joker’s guardian angel vastly changed things.  

You had the mindset that Batman would hardly require your protection and you were already determined to have an easy job until his death but with the Joker, that would not be the case.  

Already you were put to work, and it seemed it would be a busy assignment until death earned him. You weren’t frustrated at Joker—he would remain clueless about your role in his life. No, you were upset with Ario for deceiving you. 

It wasn’t like him to get caught up in these types of scandals and you flipped on your back to gaze up in the direction of home.  

The batarang pricked your thumb as you mulled over how upset you were. A ghost of a smile haunted your face once you reached a decision. You would pay Ario another visit. He would be delighted to see you again.   

Ario was entertaining a few angels in a communal garden when something shiny came flying at his face. He batted it away with his hand, but the fact remained. Just who would dare attack him on holy grounds? 

Ario soon received his answer when a dark shadow fell over the garden.  

There was only a handful of angels with jet-black wings, and he knew yours better than most. He thought you would still be on Earth observing your potential new charge and his heart grew tight, thinking that something had gone amiss.  

None of that mattered. You skipped pleasantries and slammed Ario’s face into a column, allowing spider cracks to form in the once pristine stone. Shocked gasps rang out as spectators looked on in horror.  

“Did you think I wouldn’t unearth your misdeeds? My, I thought you smarter.” You hissed into his ear.  

In Ario’s defense, he was caught off guard in more ways than one. For starters, your anger was a new concept for him. In all the years as your friend, you never let emotions control in such a way. “Whatever are you referring to, Y/n?”  

You clued him in, “Hard of hearing and scatter minded. You are becoming ancient Ario. You sent me on a botched mission. Where you aware of the deception it entailed?” 

“D-Deception? My dear Y/n I would—!” His words were cut off as you shoved his face further into the stone pillar. You did not want to hear him grovel. 

Your e/c eyes cut to an angel who tried to interfere with your conversation. You raised an eyebrow at their defiance. Surely she knew you would win any fight she dared to pick. She came to that conclusion rather quickly and backed off.  

These new angels were too pretentious for their own good. You turned your attention back to your friend who struggled to speak.  

“I mean it, Y/n, I know not of which you speak!” He pleaded. You sighed and let him go. You were drawing quite the audience, and you never were one for large crowds.  

Ario had the decency to brush off his clothes, acting as though he wasn’t fighting for his life moments prior. His milky white eyes glared at the throng of angels who were watching, and his flawless skin bloomed bright crimson.  

He grabbed your hand and yanked you away from prying eyes. Once he found a corner with enough privacy, he let you hear his mind. “Thanks for making a fool of me.” Ario huffed.  

Your eyes fell to Ario’s hold of you. You could feel again, but it lacked the intensity and warmth displayed like when the Joker did it. You let that odd observation fade away. 

“You have no one to thank but yourself and don’t touch me, I am still wroth with you.” 

“Why, what have I done?” Ario looked into your eyes, trying to find reason. “I am at a loss. You connected with the human bat did you not?”  

He sensed a guardian bond coming off of you. What was botched then about your mission? Ario was glad that you accepted the assignment since he and the counsel began to worry. 

It wasn’t normal for a guardian to go so long without a charge, and you were well past overdue. 

This was cause for a celebration, yet you did not look happy. In fact, he saw a storm brewing deep within your striking e/c eyes. It was beautiful yet deadly to witness and it made him weary. “What really happened, Y/n?”  

You rolled those deadly eyes of yours, “You truly are deaf. I followed your instruction and went to observe the mortal, only to be linked to another! How could that be, unless you sent me in vain, knowing the truth.” 

You backed Ario into a wall and your wings blocked any means of escape. He knew when to cut his losses.  

Ario held his hands up, surrendering. “I speaketh the truth. The counsel asked of me to pass along the assignment. I had no clue of any discrepancy.”  

You heard the truth laced with Ario’s word and backed off.  

He ruled himself out, but you still had to find the culprit behind this confusion. It would take some time and an audience with the counsel (something you did not look forward to) to solve.  

And all of this after you swore to remain in the shadows and live out your days in relative peace. This Joker would be your undoing. You already had the feeling.  

But back to the matter at hand. Ario’s charming aura was giving you a headache and he knew it given that a sly grin bloomed across his face. You hated when he did that.  

“Old habits my friend. Forgive me.” He cooed. He was going to sweet talk you further, until he saw your eyes glow. “Surely, this human can’t be in danger again?” He asked.  

Unfortunately so. You barely left him alone for a few hours and trouble had once again found him. You blinked out of your premonition and extended your wings to take flight.  

You were shaking your head in annoyance all the way to the garden’s balcony. “I must go.” You sighed to yourself. 

Spectators looked on as you climbed the edge and dove head first into the sea of clouds below.