AN: *insert Bruce Buffer's, "It's time!", announcement*

ENJOY!

ARC Seven: Quest of Sand and Memories

Chapter Fifty Six: Joker

The moment the green gas dissipated, Subaru was able to get a more clear look at the man in front of him.

He was wearing a purple business suit, with a simple purple bow tie. A bullet proof vest was on his chest...obviously painted violet for aesthetic purposes. He had slicked back hair with faded sides.

….His hair was all green, which almost matched his ominous light green eyes, which creeped him out. Almost as much as his absolutely white skin, red lips and a horrid smile that revealed even his gums. His unkempt yellow teeth looked almost ghastly to Subaru.

This man looked almost inhuman.

"Hey."

"Huh?"

"It ain't polite to stare kiddo."

The Joker started walking over to him, his hands in his pocket. Subaru instinctively started backing away. Joker chuckled a bit, seeing the fear plastered on his face.

"Easy there weird eyes! I just wanna talk for a bit. Nothing more!"

Joker pulled his hands out of his pocket revealing nothing in white gloves.

Subaru took a deep breath as he stopped backing away.

"So...what do you want to know?"

"Hmmmm...well for starters, introduce yourself."

"Ummm...well my name is Natsuki Subaru. Nice..to meet...you."

"Hmmmm...Subaru...Su-Ba-Ru? I get the feeling that isn't a very...normal nam,e like Paul or Jake. Where are from then, Su-boy?"

"J-Japan.."

"OH! Japan! I really like their food...especially the fish."

"Oh right-"

"-It reminds me of the time I poisoned some fish farms with my Joker Gas. Everyone who ate the fish had a big ol' goofy grin on their face! Hahahaha! Oh man, you should have seen it!"

"..."

Subaru felt a tinge of fear as Joker made his comment.

"Relax there, Su-boy. I'm just asking some questions."

"Oh...Okay."

"Next up, ahem. Where are we?"

"...The Pleiades Watchtower."

"...And where is that exactly?"

Joker put a finger on his face as he tilted his head in a questioning manner.

"...The truth is we're in another world. Filled with magic and knights. You know like story books?"

"Honestly, I'd call YOU crazy for saying that. But looking around I can see your point."

"Ummmm...you actually never introduced yourself."

The moment he said that, the Joker stopped gazing around the room and stared directly at Subaru. His carefree smile was gone and he had a look as if he was insulted by Subaru. Subaru could feel his heart race and gripped on his whip with all his might.

The pupils in Joker's eyes were like fixed, tiny points of darkness, like he felt no real joy or anger towards anything. They let in no light, they stare back and fix not just on you, but everything around you….like you're nothing to him but a speck in space.

Subaru had felt a crippling fear with this man. More than Scarecrow. More than Petelgeuse. More than when Rem had tried to kill him. And more than even Elsa.

Then…

"Pfftt! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh just relax Su-boy! I'm just screwing with you! Hahahahaha. The look on your face was priceless!"

Joker covering his eyes as he pushed his head back, laughing as if he was having the most joyous moment in his life. Subaru took ragged breaths as he felt he was forbidden to do so just earlier.

Joker actually took advantage and quickly stepped ahead and was now next to Subaru. Subaru felt like screaming in fear, but he didn't know how he would react, so he decided not to. Joker was patting him on the back and holding onto his shoulder as if he was his friend.

"Now then, I'm the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime! But not like the actual Prince himself...he's a bit of egotist himself. Huhuhuhu!"

"R-right."

"Now tell me...where is Batman in all this?"

"He's with the others...somewhere in this tower. Don't know where though, we got separated."

"Ah, I see. And what's Bats to you?"

"My friend...and he's been training me as well."

Joker suddenly grabbed Subaru's face with both hands and stared deep into his eyes. Joker's eyes moved erratically as they gazed at Subaru up and down. Then he pushed him away and held his sides as he began laughing again.

"Hehehehe. What are you the new bird-boy, now?! Bats has really lowered his standards if you are going to be the new Robin."

Joker then wiped away a stray tear from his eye and lowered his eyes at Subaru.

"Being close to him...is bad luck you know?"

"What?"

"Everyone who gets close to Bat ends up dead...or worse. I should know, I did alot of the killing myself. Hehehahaha. You should think twice of being close to him you know?"

"No way."

"Hmmm?"

Subaru narrowed his eyes at the Joker which seemed to genuinely surprise him.

"Batman-san has been my friend since the very beginning. Even if he went behind my back and came up with those shady plans of his, even a psycho like you threatened me to and even if we went up against the world...I won't abandon him. Never!"

"Wow! What a rousing speech Su-boy. Here here!"

Joker happily clapped to Subaru's pledge, but it soon stopped as he suddenly pulled out a knife from his sleeve. He then pounced on Subaru, but his visor took notice of the knife and he was barely able to dodge it, but ate a kick to the side by Joker. He stumbled away as he held onto his side.

"Ack! What the fuck?!"

"Okay, so listen. For some odd reason, I really feel like killing you. Crazy right? It's just like this, odd feeling, that it's what I'm supposed to do. No hard feelings right?"

Joker then made his move and dashed at Subaru doing everything he could to stab him. Subaru was blocking the hits but each slash was still cutting up his arms and legs.

Then, Joker dropped what appeared to look like gumballs on the floor. Subaru noticed them too late. They exploded and released Joker Gas all over the place. Subaru tried his best to cough it out.

Joker spread his arms wide and happily took in a deep breath.

"Come one Su-boy, live a little! Breathe, my strange little bird boy! Breathe it in."

"Ack! Hakk! Hakk! Ha...Ha..Ha ha ha ha.."

Subaru couldn't control himself...he breathed in too much of it.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HUKKKK-HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHA!"

"Atta boy Subaru!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Subaru collapsed on the ground and held onto his throat. He kicked at the ground as he was sweating profusely. His eyes were widened to the point that he no longer blinked and tears were spilling out. Mucus leaked out of his nose in conjunction of the saliva falling out of his mouth.

A hideous grin plastered on his face, making his cheeks spread so wide it looked painful. His gums began to bleed and his skin was starting to turn badly pale.

And he just kept laughing…

Batman was banging on the wall, so much so that his hands were bleeding badly form it.

"Batman stand back!"

Batman saw Beatrice aiming her staff at the invisible wall. Batman leaped out of the way as her staff glowed bright pink. The small spirits face was stuck in a furious expression as she prepared to fire.

"Ul Minya!"

Three humongous pink spears fired out of her staff and hit the wall, but the spears splintered to hundreds of smaller ones and exploded at once. However as the smoke cleared, the invisible wall was still clearly there and had not even a scratch on it.

"No! NO! Subaru!"

The spirit fell to her knees and began to cry. She dropped her staff to the ground, as the staff landed Emilia fired a large icicle at the invisible wall. But the icicle shattered away.

Emilia ran over with her dagger and tried stabbing away at the wall, tears escaping her eyes as she watched on.

"Subaru! Hang on! We're coming! Hang on!"

But her dagger snapped in half, the piece that broke off cut her cheek. Batman used his foam gun to lather every bit of the stuff on the wall. He then grabbed Emilia and jumped back, as he then pressed the trigger.

The resulting explosion...also did nothing.

The group realized they could do nothing but watch on.

Subaru was still laughing wildly, as he started to scratch his cheeks so hard that he began to bleed. Then, he had an idea.

"HAHAHAHAHA -I CAN-HEHEHEHEHA-RETURN-HAHAHAHAHA!

"Hm, what's that? Speak up a bit Su-boy! You're death chuckles are kind of getting in the way of your final words. Honestly I'd like mine to be 'I'll be back!', or is that too cheesy?"

"HAHAHA-CAN RETURN-HAHAHA-BY DEATH-"

Just then Subaru's heart was grasped by Satella's dark hands. His body felt the immense pain of her hands…

"Almost…"

"...?!"

"Almost there...my love…"

Subaru breathed normally again as he stood straight up again.

"I MADE IT BACK!"

"WHAT?!"

Joker clenched his knife as he gritted his teeth viciously.

"How? HOW DID YOU SURVIVE MY TOXIN?!"

"Hah hah hah...sorry Joker, but that's-"

Subaru wiped his mouth and then snapped his fingers at him with a victorious smile.

"That's a trade secret."

The two men glared at each other. What was several seconds, felt like minutes to the two men…

Joker leaped over to Subaru and tried to stab him. Subaru used his metal hand to grab onto the blade, but Joker pulled out another one and stabbed him in the forearm.

"AGGHHHHH!"

"HUHUHAHAHAHAHA!"

Subaru let go of the blade as Joker actually flipped over Subaru.

As Joker landed behind Subaru, he then grabbed onto his bow tie and smiled at him more.

"Surprise!"

"HUH?!"

The visor noticed his action and Subaru fell back...dodging the acid that sprayed out of it.

Subaru looked on as the neon green acid landed nearby, eating away at the floor. Joker sighed disappointingly, as he tossed the bow tie at Subaru's feet.

"SHIT!"

Subaru got up as he tried to run away from the bow tie...only for it to explode behind him. Subaru was not fatally injured by it, but his right calf was horribly torn up and his entire back was burned up quite badly. As he slowly got up, he saw playing cards fly towards him. He used his arms to block them...and they impaled him all over his arms, one even made it past his defenses and stabbed him in the cheek.

Subaru panted loudly... then he was stabbed in his back right shoulder.

"AGGGHHHH!"

"Come on! A stab like that should only hurt when you laugh!"

Joker the raised the other blade high in the air as he giggled to himself. Subaru's cybernetic eye focused on the Joker.

"INVISIBLE PROVIDENCE!"

His Unseen Hand shot out and punched him square in the face. Subaru then finally got his whip and tried to wrap his arm, but he missed. It still hit him in the face, but it did not deter Joker. Joker made it past his whip, and slapped Subaru with his free hand, then head butted the young man.

"You're out of your league, Subaru!"

Joker then tossed another playing card that sliced Subaru's lips open.

"I fought Batman and all the original Robins! You're just a punk who hangs out with him!"

Joker slapped him again, then punched him, then sliced his chest open with his knife.

"FUCK OFF! REVENGE COUNTER!"

With that, Joker's chest also ripped open, making him lose his balance. Subaru punched Joker in the face, hard enogh to make his nose bleed. But the opponent seemed unamused by it.

"Ha! I've taken punches by pretty much everyone in the Justice League. Your sissy girl scout hits-"

Joker kicked him in the jaw, making Subaru actually roll away on the ground.

"-they certainly won't work on me little man!"

Joker then stabbed him with his other knife on Subaru's unharmed back shoulder. Subaru screamed out in pain, but tossed a throwing star at Joker which exploded near his face. His cheeks were torn away the side of his hair was burned away...but he was still smiling. Joker then kicked him away as he laughed away. Subaru tossed every single throwing star he had in his disposal.

Ice.

Fire.

Earth.

Wind.

Subaru tossed every single one.

Icicles.

Explosions.

Rock Spears.

Wind Blasts.

All these attacks were dodged by Joker who animalistically dashed forward at Subaru. He laughed all the way through, glimmers of light were shinning in his eyes...the glimmers of killing intent. He then retrieved another knife.

Joker flipped over Subaru and sliced at his back then stomped on the back of his head.

"HEHEHEHAHAHAHA! Just another joke of a person trying to bite off more than he can-"

Joker was hit by another Unseen Hand and flew back. He tumbled on the ground as Subaru struggled to get back up.

Joker got up and tossed his knife at the young man. It lost trajectory as the Unseen Hand slapped it...but instead of stabbing at Subaru's head...it stabbed him in the right foot.

Joker then walked over slowly to Subaru.

"Come on Subaru, look on the bright side of all this. You'll be remembered as the first person who got a good ol' whooping by ME! All you can do...is stay there-"

He then motioned his hands to Subaru, as if he was showing off a magnificent work of art.

"-and SMILE."

Subaru finally got up...as he did everyone on the other side of the invisible wall, saw that the two blades impaled on his back, combined with the curved cut...made it look like Subaru had a giant smile on his back.

Subaru coughed blood, as he tried to keep himself from falling.

Joker nodded his head happily...as he pulled out a crowbar from his back. He then leaped at Subaru and struck him in the shoulder. Then as Subaru fell over and tried to guard his head, Joker continued pummeling Subaru over and over again with it.

"Oh man! This takes me back!"

"AGH! AGH!"

"Things are the way they are. I kill. You die. It's all like a long drawn out joke you know?"

"...The only…"

"Hm? Speak up kid."

"THE ONLY JOKE HERE IS YOU!"

An Unseen Hand uppercutted Joker in the jaw, giving Subaru enough time to pull out the knife from his foot stab Joker in the knee. Then he used his metallic hand and punched him in the eye. Joker let go of his crowbar, letting Subaru get a hold of it.

Subaru whacked him in the side of his head, sending pieces of flesh flying everywhere. Subaru then swung it again, sending teeth and blood spraying everywhere.

Joker grabbed another card and stabbed Subaru in his lower jaw...but the card didn't pierce far enough and Subaru wasn't killed.

Subaru then used the hooked edge of his new weapon and stabbed him in the collarbone. He then head-butted him, the impact sent their heads back, Subaru took advantage and kicked in the jaw. But the blood on the floor made both men slip and fall onto the ground. They were now face to face with each other...inches away, breathing distance.

Joker took the gamble and pulled out a gun. Subaru furrowed his brows as the clown pulled the trigger.

A stick stuck out of it with a sign that said 'BANG!", making the Joker chuckle a bit.

Subaru then reached over and yanked the crowbar out of the collarbone, tearing away at his flesh and hitting the gun away from his hand. But blood on his hand made the crowbar slip out of his hand and it rolled away from them on the opposite side. The gun itself slid from them...until it stopped only a few feet away.

The two men stared at the gun for a few moments...then their eyes leered over at each other. At that moment, they both made a mad crawl for the gun. Joker tossed his last playing card at Subaru which stabbed stabbed him in top of his head. Then, the blood on the floor made Subaru slip and land harshly on the ground.

"HEHAHAHAHAHAHA! Tough luck kid!"

Subaru leered over at the gun...then he heard something.

"Rem believes in Subaru-kun."

"AGGGHHHH! INVISIBLE PROVIDENCE!"

His Unseen Hand shot out and was able to grab the gun and slide it away from Joker and to Subaru. He quickly grabbed it and fired it randomly as he screamed out in frustration. The sign shot out...and stabbed Joker in his unguarded throat.

The Joker grabbed onto it as he coughed out blood and gasped for air.

"HAKK! HAKKKK!"

"Hah hah hah hahhhhhhh…."

Joker peered over at Subaru and chuckled, even as he choked on blood.

"Hehehehehe...hkkkk...way to go….Natsuki Subaru…"

"Hahhhhhh...hah…"

"You got my respect...hakkkk….hkkkk...you almost could of been….m-"

Joker's last gurgles lasted only a few moments...then he died...his body shattered away like glass. As did something behind Subaru.

"SUBARU!"

He could hear footsteps, but he didn't have the energy to even turn around or move. His exhaustion was catching up with him...then, he closed his eyes.

Subaru opened his eyes as he saw that he was in the white room still, he felt sore all over his body.

"Ow. Ow. What the-"

"-Subaru!"

Beatrice ran over and hugged him tightly, he could feel her tears on his chest. He slowly caressed her as she continued to cry.

"Beako...good to see you."

"Betty was worried sick, I suppose! Don't you dare do that again!"

Then he felt something under his head...something soft and heavenly to him.

"E-Emilia…?"

"Hi Subaru."

She had once againgiven him a lap pillow, something he enjoyed very much. She slowly rubbed his head, as she held back her tears.

"Subaru...I was so scared. You fought that man so bravely. But you got soooo hurt...and none of us could get to you."

"You saw it…?"

"Yeah, we were stuck behind an invisible wall, we saw everything. That man, Joker was it? He hurt you so badly...I...I never felt so angry at a person in my whole life."

Subaru could see the sadness and anger mixed in her eyes. So he decided to smile at her.

"It's okay Emilia. Like I said, no matter hard it gets...no matter what I face, I'll face it head on. For you, Rem, Beako and everyone here. I want to live here in this new world."

"Okay…"

She then did something even he did not expect...she softly kissed him on the forehead. This made him hold his breath and blush softly.

As she finished she whispered to him…

"Then...I'll make sure to make this life worthwhile, my knight…"

"Yeah…"

After some more time, Subaru got up and met with everyone else. They were glad to see him well and good.

Ram went over to him shaking her head.

"That was some hideous fighting I saw Barusu. You haven't learned a thing from Batman-san have you?"

"It's hard to fight a guy who has fought Batman like clockwork you know?"

"Regardless, I am glad to see you safe and sound. Rem...would be displeased if you fell here."

"...Yup."

Subaru looked over at Rem, he smiled happily to see her safe and sound. He felt warm inside seeing her rest so peacefully.

Julius went over and wrapped his arm around Subaru.

"J-Julius?"

"I am glad to see my friend is alright. You fought with everything you had. From what Deathstroke said, Joker was a very tricky opponent."

"Tell me about it, I thought I was going to die back there."

"Using a terrible sense of humor? Yes, Subaru has come back to us."

"Oh screw off!"

The two knights chuckled it off as nothing more than useless banter.

Deathstroke roughly patted Subaru on the head and gave him a quiet nod.

Batman walked over and met with Subaru.

"I'm so glad to see you safe."

"Hey, it'll take more than that to kill me you know?"

Batman was quiet as he looked down. He must have felt some guilt for having Subaru face his former arch-rival alone. But a quick thumbs up and wink from Subaru, relaxed him enough.

"Okay...but that fight showed me you still need training. When we get back, I'm going to grind you into shape."

"Man, maybe I should've lost that fight."

Subaru earned a quick finger flick to the forehead by Batman. While he felt pain, he gave a wry smile back...making Batman grin along with him.

Everyone was now gathered at a giant metal door that had appeared in the white room.

"Okay, you have passed the trial and now are allowed access to the Corridor of Memories."

"Now, do you know how we get to the last layer?"

"Sorry sensei...while you have met the qualifications to get access to the zero level. You must pass the 'secret' Trial and then you will be taken to the zero layer."

Subaru turned to Batman, who nodded back.

Shaula pushed the doors opened revealing an even larger library. The interior looked like something out of the Romanic period of Earth's history. The ceiling had the very stars in plain view. White birds were flying around, not seeming to be bothered by Subaru and the others at all. One even landed on Patrasche's back. It tilted it's head around several time and then flied away.

Subaru then looked at Shaula.

"So this library houses the memories of those that are alive is that correct?"

"Of course, anyone living now, no matter the condition, has their memories here. There are even books on lost magic and events stored here."

"Wow, this like the Giga version of the Forbidden Archive! Right, so say I wanted Patrashce's memories would-"

Before he could finish, a white bird flew in front of Subaru carrying a book labeled "Patrasche". Subaru realized the birds were helpers and ordered everyone to ask for the names of those who needed them.

Even Pamela's book was housed here, even though she was not from this world.

But Subaru knew just having the books was no easy fix to gain everyones names and memories back...so he ordered everyone to look around to find clues .

For a while they found nothing of importance. He did notice that on the walls were etched out symbols on them...that's when he noticed, they were star constellations.

"GUYS! LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and took in a deep breath.

"I need you follow me orders...very, very carefully."

After that, Subaru was near his selected symbol, while everyone else was near theirs.

"On three...one...two...THREE!"

One by one each person touched the constellation on the wall in the order each was numbered. It was something Subaru knew very well.

Finally, Subaru was the last one, and when he touched it, they felt the library shake violently. Then, next to Subaru the wall opened up revealing the outside of the tower...white glowing steps that really connected to nothing appeared.

"Holy shit...IT WORKED! Guys! I found it!"

The path to the zero layer appeared.

They made it to the hole on the side of the tower and gazed out and saw the Augria Sand Dunes below them. Subaru decided to be the brave one and took a step on the floating steps.

"Oof!"

He tapped it a bit and stepped on the next one. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay guys! It's solid we can go now!"

Everyone nodded as they carefully mad their way up. Batman realized they could not take Rem in her wheelchair so decided to carry her.

The stairs wrapped around the top of the twoer then, it spiaraled upwards. Everyone was gazing around as they were literally walking in the sky. Subaru glanced back and saw Batman carrying Rem.

"Hang on Rem...we're so close."

Finally after a good five minutes...they saw no more step in front of them. Subaru reached out his hands.

"Oh! I feel something."

He pushed forward and two invisble doors pushed through and Subaru tumbled inside. Everyone panicked a bit and ran after him...then they saw it. They were in a large room similar to the throne room in the palace. Ahead of them was a door that seemed to be made of a literal piece of outer space.

Subaru got up and...heard his voice.

"What simple tasks do you seek?"

Subaru was at first spooked by it...but he was not detered. He looked back at Batman and nodded.

Batman understood and with the help of Ram, he carefully place Rem down. Ram let herself give her own lap as a pillow for her.

Julius stepped forward alongside Anastasia.

Patrasche stepped next to Subaru and looked up at the door.

"Please...return Rem, Julius Juukulius, Pamela Isley and Patrasche back to normal!"

"...With the powers of the stars and all that connects this world...it shall be done."

Suddenly, out of Beatrice's satchel four books flew out. They floated in the air, in front of them all. They began to glow brightly...and then a huge flash of light and feeling of weightlessness hit them all.

The light dissipated and Subaru rubbed his eyes. He saw that the four books flew past him and down the stairs they came from.

"Hey…"

He turned around and saw Emilia staring at Patrasche.

"I-I-I-I remember Patrasche."

"...YOU DO?!"

"Yeah, she helped out so much in the Sanctuary, right?"

Patrasche wagged her tail and ran over to her, she licked her more and more while growling happily. Emilia seemed to enjoy it, even shedding a bit of happy tears.

Julius looked over at Batman...who gave him a humongous hug.

"Welcome back, Most Valuable Knight."

Julius...put his arms around his back and quietly weeped.

Pamela looked at her hands and tears began falling out of her eyes…

"So...that's it huh?"

Subaru smiled happily...then he saw Ram looking down with her eyes widened to a point of discomfort.

He slowly walked over, panicking as he was unsure of what was currently happening. He feared the worst...that he failed to save her, that the journey was a waste of time and that he was always-

"-sama?"

Subaru stopped dead in his tracks. His field of vision focused on Ram. Focused on the pink hair maid and the girl who rested on her lap-

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

-and how she started to move.

.

.

.

.

"N-Nee-sama?"

.

.

.

With the emergence of a voice as beautiful, as the sounds of nature itself...the crying started.

"Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a form of heaven" - Tryon Edwards