Joke's On You (Jerome Valeska)

Chapter 34: In The Darkness

A month later, Jerome's funeral.

I cradled my little baby girl and stood over to the hole in the ground, his coffin was empty the GCPD seized his body and are keeping it frozen so they can make sure he doesn't get brought back, I throw a rose into the hole in the ground and my two boys followed after and threw a rose each into his grave, after the ceremony I took my kids to get some food, Ariella is fine with my breast milk but the boys were hungry, we walked into a small Diner Jerome had owned and ate lunch at every day, he's only been gone a month but already the world feels darker, "evening Mrs Valeska" the manager said with his head low "our usual table please, Roy" I said and he nodded, I led my boys to our seats and Roy handed us some menus "take all the time you need, and my deepest condolences" he said "thank you" I said hugging my baby closer too me, he walked away and I looked at my menu "boys what do yous want?" "I want daddy back" Leo said through sobs "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry baby" I said grabbing his little hand and he squeezed it "he's not coming back like you did, is he?" Cade asked and my heart dropped "n- no, he's not" I said and his eyes glossed over, he's a lot less emotional than Leo is but I can see that this has destroyed him, it's destroyed our family, and the so called mighty heroes are to blame, "I just want a water" Cade said and I nodded "can I have a coke?" Leo asked "you can have anything you want today, baby" he nodded and looked back down to his menu "Mrs Valeska, phone call" Roy called out, "hold your sister" I said handing Cade Ariella and he snuggled her into his chest, I walked passed the counter to the kitchen and picked up the phone "yes?" "am I speaking with Lucid Valeska?" "you are, what do you want?" "firstly I wanna say what an honor it is to be speaking with you!" I rolled my eyes at his fanboying "get to the point" "right, sorry, my name is Dwight Pollard" "so?" "and I have to tell you something regarding Jerome Valeska" "Jerome is dead and I run our empire now" "but he could be-" "look I'm trying to have a meal with my children after burying my husbands casket" "of course, my apologies" "good day to you" I said and hung up. the weeks after his death turned to months and soon it had been a year.

No one's POV: Sky occupied herself with work and her children and she found herself thinking of Jerome less and less with each passing day, it has been 1 year and 3 months since he died and her family was slowly getting used to not having him around any longer, the world mourned Superman's passing and Sky gained the fear and respect of the City from it, with hers and Jerome's money they had made together she built a house, it was huge and mostly made of glass, it was very open and a little secluded but perfect for her and her children.

Lee Thompkin's POV: Jim just put me through the ringer with this one, he brought in Jerome fucking Valeska's body, apparently his body ended up in Indian hill and they had plans to bring him back, but Jim found them presumably before they could, because when Jim and Harvey found his body his face was missing, "are you sure he's definitely dead Jim?" I asked before stepping into the room "I promise Lee" "last time you told me someone was dead, they were alive and almost killed you" "there's a guard in there with you, but he's dead" I nodded and Jim walked away, I walked into the room but almost tripped on something, I looked down and saw the guard dead "what the-" before I could finish someone pushed the door shut and grabbed me from behind, they covered my mouth and placed a gun to my head "boo, ha ha" he choked out, he's alive, Jerome stole the dead guards clothes and hat and had bandages over his bloody face, he told me to tell him everything he had missed and what happened and about his crazy cult that somehow resurrected him, and to no surprise he was impressed, "wow, well that is quite a story" he said with now raspy voice and clapped his hands together making the gun in his hand hit his other hand, I rolled my eyes at him and he continued "you know I know I've been dead but.. doesn't them seem kinda crazy to you" "hey maybe you're dreaming, try shooting yourself" I responded and he let out a "oh" followed by an "huh" he looked at the gun, he really is crazy, he lifted it to his temple but quickly moved it away again with an effortless "nah" then we continued talking and I rolled my eyes "hey, tell me more about this cult, they think I'm pretty great.. huh?" god he's so narcissistic "they're a bunch of raving lunatics and idiots" I spat disgustedly at his excitement over people worshiping him "lunatics.. and idiots? ooh my kind of people" he said impressed suddenly he stopped and his body convulsed as he let out  choking sounds then he quickly recovered and walked up to my face "sorry, mm, head's still a little fuzzy.. you know I was just reborn" he pointed his gun at me and I stared at it and he continued to talk "last year was nothing but darkness" he hissed the ending almost in a snake like manner "as far as the eye can see" he finished then lifted his head and suddenly he flashed a smile "I know you.. right?" "yep" I said unamused "hey, did you and I ever uh" he made a groaning sound and clicked his tongue while gesturing to his crouch "oh god, no" I said disgusted "what? ginger's not your type?" he asked getting in my face I put my hands out as to say no fucking way and he grabbed my face and pulled me into him "oh! I remember.. now.. you're Jim Gordon's little" he put his tongue close to my face and made a gesturing choking sound "twinkie" he finished "easy" I said looking at his gun that he shoved in my face "how's it going between you and Jimbo? huh? you still together.. or?" I turned my head slightly away from the gun "no" I said sternly "no? ohh that's a shame, I really liked you guys" I rolled my eyes and he continued "hey, what happened?" he said sounding almost sincere, I tilted my head "he killed my husband on our wedding night" he stared at me for a second then small chuckles left his lips "glad you find it funny" "I do" he said then broke out into laughter, suddenly he turned to me back to serious "I get why you don't.. hm" he pushed the gun under my chin and broke out into laughter again "wow.. you miss a lot being dead" he said through laughter then started laughing harder "know what go ahead" I said waving my hand off at his antics "enjoy it, there's about a hundred cops on the other side of that door ready to kill you all over again" he let out a final chuckle and turned to me "I see you're point, to business" I rolled my eyes and he went on "last time I was alive, I was killed by Superman right?" "right" I responded and he nodded "well, I suppose I should start by killing him-" I quickly interjected "Superman's dead" "nohh who beat me to it?" "your wife killed him" "my what now?" he doesn't remember Lucid? "Lucid Valeska, Queen of Gotham City, the woman you married" he stopped to think for a second "she's the most beautiful woman in the world" huh, maybe he just needed a second to think then suddenly he grabbed my face and pulled me close to him "my daughter, where is she? what happened to her?" he asked worriedly "she's fine, Lucid keeps her kids away from the media, I've only seen her once" I saw his whole body relax and he backed away from me a little "where can I find them?" "no one knows where she lives, all I know is she built a house and it's somewhere in the woods" "hm, well guess I'm just missing one thing then" he raised his gun to my head and leaned in closely to my face and grabbed my throat and said "where is my face?".

No one's POV: Sky sat at her glass dining table watching her little toddler run away from her older brothers playing chase with her, her giggles echoed through the house piercing the boys ears but they didn't mind, Ariella was in fact born a meta-human, she has strength, speed and a deafening scream, "boys remember to not let her go too excited, she can bust your ear drums" Sky said walking to the kitchen to get started on dinner "we know mom!" Leo called out continuing to chase the little child, "mom can I watch some TV?" Cade asked running to the kitchen "okay, only for a little bit while I make dinner" "need any help?", Cade has taken more of a man of the house role and helps Sky with things around the house while Leo has anger towards the world for taking his father from him, he is more like Jerome and is obviously psychotic, he finds enjoyment in the mutilation of animals, and they live with woods around them so there's a lot of animals, Sky doesn't stop him because she thinks it would be hypocritical, she rips people apart and doesn't bat an eyelid, "that would be great honey, can you get me the cerematic bowl?" she asked and he nodded and walked to the cupboard while he got what she asked she flicked on the TV to the news channel "as has been reported channel's 9 van was stolen this evening, we are now getting video from the thief, which we will play, in hopes it leads to his apprehension", Cade handed her the bowl and suddenly a voice came from the TV, a voice she knew all too well, "testing, testing.. am I live? am I on air? can you hear me? ah screw it! let's do it" she dropped the bowl she was holding when she looked to the screen, there he was, alive, his face looked like it had been cut off and stuck back on with.. staples? he took a breath while staring into the camera and spoke "hi.. some of you may know.. I died, uh oh, but take it from me, death is dull.. but coming back, that is something.. leave it to dying to give you a whole new perspective on life" he stepped away from the camera and revealed a man strapped to a chair with a bomb taped to his chest "and I would like to share that with you.. ah, hello officer.. you look terrible" he said to the man that had a police hat on and pinched his cheek a little and grabbed the hat from his head and held onto it"hey, you got, ooh" he said pretending to pull a lighter from behind the guys ear and opened the lighter and flicked the flame on "tonight Gotham, in the darkness! there are no rules! so.. tonight Gotham.. do what you want, kill who you want, ha ha, mhm" he stopped and let out a choking sound and twisted his head a bit and continued "and when morning comes" he walked right up to the camera and picked up a fuse "you too, shall be.." he lit the fuse "reborn" he cackled and dropped the lit fuse to the ground "oh.. and uhh my Queen and I will be taking back this city, so hang onto your hats folks! cause you ain't seen nothing yet!" he cackled and placed the cop hat on his head mid sentence, he went to walk away laughing but suddenly stopped next to the helpless man about to be blown up "oh.. and uh" he started clicking his fingers and the man answered "Dwight" "I don't forgive you for my face" he said seriously gesturing to his stapled face then burst out laughing and walked away, she watched the fuse lead right up to the man and suddenly there was a loud explosion, she ran to the window and saw a ball of fire and smoke and suddenly the lights shut out.