In a queenless hive no life is left though to a superficial glance it seems as much alive as other hives.
He laughed viciously as she slammed the door behind her, stomping away, tears cascading down her broken face. He laughed even harder at the image of her pausing outside the building with the realisation that she had nowhere to go, that she would have to come back to could be so funny when she wasn't trying to be, his little Harlequin.
When a week had passed the joke had stopped being funny. Didn't she understand that her crawling back to him was only funny when it was all still fresh in his mind? He was angry, furious. He demanded that Frost find her, she'd never been away from him for this long. Frost nodded and left the clown to his chaotic thoughts.
She'd been gone for a month, with no sightings of her when he started to get reckless. He'd mow down any and everyone in his path with a vengeance, praying that he could draw her out of hiding this way. It didn't work. He went to Ivy's house and strangled her, desperate for answers. She didn't have any, she'd assumed he had killed Harley as he always threatened to do. She joined forces with him to try and find her.
It had been three months before he let the Bat beat him to a bloody pulp, almost killing him before his goons stepped in to save him. It was headline news on every single paper that he was at death's door. He had thought Harley would've rushed to his side to be with him and nurse him back to health. She did not, and that cut him deeper than anything the Bat had done to him. The fact that she had not come running back to help him tore at his chest, painfully tugging at his heart like no other pain he had ever felt before. That was when he realised the joke was on him, and he did not like it one bit. He laughed so hard that tears rolled down his face.
At six months the criminal underground was littered with rumours that he wasn't competent enough to run Gotham anymore, no one except those closest to him had seen him in over a month, and there had been no killings in his name. He had not put on a show in so long. It began to unravel that Harley had left him, but that no one had even caught a whisper of her whereabouts in the six months she had been gone, it seemed that Harley Quinn had left him for good this time, and that shook the foundations of the whole city.
At eight months everyone knew to avoid The Joker's gaze. A small drug lord had foolishly thought that he could rule Gotham due to The Joker's absence. He had been wrong and had paid the price in blood,in ways no one had before. The Joker had made an example of him, and anyone that dared to look at him wrong, daring anyone to try and claim his throne as King of Gotham. No one tried or even spoke of it.
By the time the ninth month had come around anyone who was anyone, or wanted to impress The Joker had searched the city far and wide for Harley. In all the effort they had overturned every brick, searched every nook and cranny in the forsaken city. The whole city knew not to dare hide her from him. So why hadn't she turned up anywhere? His mind plagued him with vicious thoughts, his head was swimming.
It had been ten months before he had interrogated, tortured and killed at the very least three people from every maximum security prison or asylum that they would possibly think of putting his precious Harley in. She had not been secretly moved to any and the voices in his head started to scream at him, expecting the worst and filling his head with images of her corpse. A corpse he'd repeatedly told her he would make her into. The voices screamed louder and his chest ached.
At eleven months his goons came back from searching all the Morgue records since she had disappeared, in Gotham and it's surrounding towns. Harley was not dead, the voices lulled. He was conflicted, relief that she was alive, but betrayed that she had not returned, even when his life had been in danger, because she was alive so she must have known. That night he felt his hope of finding her dwindle, his office was destroyed, before he started on the club. The only thing left standing in all its glory, was her cage.
It was a year before the memories of that night started to haunt him. The image of her on the floor bloody, blue eyes opened wide, finally seeing him as the monster he was, he pinned that as the moment she had decided to leave him. The second image was of her in pain at his hand, a look he had always loved now made him nauseous, it was why she had left him. The third image was of her leaving, the look of sadness and hatred in her eyes stunned him, a look he had never seen from her before, a look he had never wanted to see.
At a year and a half he had given up hope of finding her, she did not want to be found and it hurt him deeply because he would change now, he could not live without her and he hadn't seen that before but everything had changed, the small things she did, the less crazy she made him feel, that had all been ripped away from him. She was a drug, he her addict and she had made him go cold turkey.
At one year and eight months his mind could only focus on what he could have done different, why that time he had beat her had been different to all the others. He had stopped blaming her long ago. He shouldn't have hurt her, not when she didn't want him to. He still couldn't get his head around why this time had been different, the final straw, it wasn't the worst he had done to her by far. He needed an answer, he had to find her, he could change.
At two years a club owner called one of his goons, scared out of his mind, certain that Harley Quinn was in his establishment, not wanting any trouble with The Joker. He and his goons had raced there immediately, met by the owner at the door, taken in and shown to the bar. And there she was. His heart raced. She had dyed her hair, into a brunette shade and covered her tattoos but there she was, his Harley. He went to step forward to her, she hadn't noticed him or his goons, but then he faltered as a man wrapped his arm around her waist. She leant back into him, a smile on her face as she tilted her head up to meet his waiting lips. The Joker smiled, how funny his little Harley was, coming back after all this time with one of their favourite games to play. But then she pulled away and the look in her eyes sent his heart plummeting through the floor, it was the look she had given him, love and devotion. The same look the man was giving her. She turned around in his arms to face him and raised her hand to his face, cradling it. He almost snarled when he saw the engagement ring on her pretty little finger. She had left him for another man. He was seeing red. The goons around him fell silent, knowing the look on his face meant death. But he barely noticed, eyes still focused on his love, as she looked at hers. He could see that she was happy, a look she had never given him. She was happier than she had ever been around him and he wanted to claw at his eyes because she was happy without him. She was living a normal life, one with reciprocated feelings and no abuse, the life she had wanted but that he could never give her. She finally had everything she had ever wanted. The voices told him to shoot this man who was stealing his property from him, but that if he did she would never forgive him. He walked out of the club.
He screamed in the alley next to it. Pure fury ripping its way out of his throat, he took the head of one of his goons that looked a little like the guy Harley was wrapped around and smashed his face against the wall until there was no face left. He calmed slightly.
"Someone follow them, report everything they do for the next week." He commanded, one of his goons nodded and scurried off back into the club. The Joker let out a deep, shaky breath.
A week after he had seen her, two years and nine days since she had left him, he finally had some information. Harley was living with him in a small house a town over from Gotham, they were engaged. The goon had mentioned that they were going to plan to have children after their marriage. The thought made The Joker sick, she was living the life she had always wanted with life he had denied her. He found out that she was attempting to become normal, she was dying her hair and covering her tattoos with makeup to hide under a normal life. He found out that this guy knew exactly who Harley was, he was a fan of hers before she had known him. He had written to her when she was in Arkham. This filled him with a rage he'd never felt before, she had had these letters in their home, she had kept them, known where to go. This man would've always been there at the back of her mind. The thought made him sick, she'd known that she would leave him. Known that she would go to him.
A week later he realised the irony of the situation. His fan, his creation had left him for her own, to mould him the way he had done to her. He laughed in fury, didn't this man understand that he had created Harley? That he should thank The Joker, not undo his work by making her normal, no Harley could never really be Harleen again, she would get too bored. She didn't like to be bored.
Two days had passed before he couldn't take it anymore, the vivid nightmares of Harley in this man's bed, being pleasured by him, loving it like she didn't think of him anymore. Couldn't stomach the thought of another man seeing the marks, his marks, dotting her skin in places he had never intended another to see. He stood outside the house, breathing heavily, attempting to calm himself. The picket fence made him seethe. He rang the doorbell.
She opened the door, clearly having just woken up, rubbing her eyes, her hair a mess. He could see her blonde roots fighting against the chemicals she had put onto them, her tattoos visible now she had removed the makeup she covered them with. She was beautiful. Her eyes widened when she realised it was him, instantly waking her up as she tried to slam the door in his face. He laughed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He called as she backed up into the house, his foot stopping the door. He followed her in and she grabbed a gun from the desk next to her in the hallway. She aimed at his head.
"Why are you here?" She asked him, panic in her eyes. He could no longer see the devotion that was once there. Anger grew within him.
"You left me Harley. Why do you think i'm here?!" he shouted. There was a thud from upstairs and footsteps rushing towards the pair. The Joker's eyes darkened.
"You want to kill us." Harley whispered, tears rushing to her eyes. The Joker laughed and stepped forward, his head resting on the barrel of the gun as he cupped her face with his hands, looking deep into her eyes.
"Oh Harley, I don't want to kill you, him however…" The Joker trailed off, eyes darkening as a man appeared at the top of the stairs. Harley gulped.
"Harley babe, what's going on?" The man asked rubbing his eyes. As soon as he saw The Joker he froze, when he saw the look of pure fury and hatred fixated on him he got chills down his spine.
"Go back to bed sugar, Joker will be leaving soon." She said not looking back at the man, eyes fixed on her former lover. The Joker's eyes snapped back to her as soon as she had called the man 'sugar', a vile pet name. He was the only one she gave those to. As much as he hated them, he was her Puddin'. The Joker pulled out his gun, aiming it at the man, never taking his eyes off of Harley.
"Why don't you stay, sugar?" He spat. The man didn't dare to move a muscle.
"What are ya doin' here J?" Harley asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I'm here to bring you home, you belong with me, Harls." He said softly. She flinched, it was a way in which he had never spoken to her before, the way she had always wanted him to. He saw a flicker of hope in her eyes before she shut it down and it made him smile.
"I don't belong to you no more, my sugar treats me better than you ever did, I'm his now J, and he's mine too." She said, tears filling those bright blue eyes. The hand she held the gun in shook slightly with her emotion. The Joker laughed, a sharp and loud noise filling the quiet house they stood in.
"You don't understand do you Harley? You will always be mine, and I will always be yours. You have my marks all over your skin, they will never leave you." He said intently, laughter still echoing in his mind. She shook her head, tears rolling over her cheeks.
"And how many of those marks are the scars you gave me? Sugar don't give me no scars, he'd ever hurt me like you did." Harley spat at him, shaking with her anger. The Joker let out a long breath, rubbing his face as he kept his gun concentrated on Harley's lover.
"I never meant to hurt you Harls, not when you didn't want me to. I will never hurt you again, I can't lose you. I'm so sorry Harley." He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.
The voices in her head had resurfaced, screaming at her. Telling her not to believe him, she knew he could never be loving, she'd studied him, that she was a typical abuse victim, crawling back to him. But then the voices told her this was her Puddin', he was promising to be different this time. He loved her, he was the only one that truly understood her. But he could be so cruel. She shook herself back to focus, The Joker watching her intently, her sugar panting in the background, so unsure.
"I ain't dumb J, I know you make promises you don't think of keepin'. I know you'll start beating on me the second I come home." Harley said shaking.
"No, no, no Harley. I won't I swear to you. I will never lay a finger on you again." He said, running his thumb over her cheek wiping away the tears, gun wavering slightly. The voices in her head were going even crazier, pushing her to fall back into his arms, this is what we always wanted Harley. He's changing, we did it, we finally changed him, made him better.
"You gotta promise me it'll be different this time J, forever." She said, gun shaking fiercely in her hand as she made her decision. The man at the top of the stairs gasped, a sound of betrayal ripping its way out of his throat. He smiled, his Harley was finally coming back to him.
"Anything for you, name it and it's yours." He told her, because he would give her anything. She tilted her head to the side, thinking.
"I want you to treat me like a Queen, you made me your Queen but you treated me like a slave. That shit's gotta change J." She said fiercely. He nodded.
"Anything for you Harls, anything." He promised. Her eyes drifted away from his, to the man that had been her fiance. He had tears falling over his face.
"I want you to leave my sugar alone, you can't touch him." She said as she looked back towards The Joker. His whole body tensed as his eyes shot towards the man in question, hand tightening around the gun. A growl rumbled deep in his throat, before he let out a hiss through his teeth and lowered his gun, resting it down at his side. The man let out a choked sob.
"If that's what you want Harls." He said tightly, body on edge. She smiled at him and his whole body relaxed, like she had a power over him. To be completely honest she did, she controlled him in ways he had never intended to let her. He smiled back as she lowered her gun and stepped into his arms, and oh how right it felt to have her back.
He laughed as they walked through the streets of Gotham, machine guns firing up into the dark sky above them. She laughed as he stole her anything she even glanced at in shop windows. They were back, the King and Queen, and by morning everyone would know it. And everyone would let out a sigh of relief, because a Joker without Harley was a very dangerous Joker, one that had no fear, no reason to care or live.
Harley's eyes had widened when they had stepped into the penthouse, seeing the destruction around it, The Joker hadn't bothered to restore it, knowing he would destroy it all over again. He looked sheepish as she looked at it, she shot him a small reassuring smile.
"I'll call Frost in the morning and get him to fix it." He told her softly. She nodded and walked to their bedroom,which had been left intact, almost completely how she'd left it. The room felt like it hadn't been lived in and looking at The Joker hesitant to enter she realised he probably hadn't slept in here since she'd left him.
He held her tight to his chest that night, her face resting on his arm. He'd told her everything from when she'd disappeared, how it drove him to an insanity that had even scared him, made him realise that he couldn't be without her. He promised that he would never lay another finger on her, and the sincerity and vulnerability he showed really made her believe that he was telling the truth. The voice of Harleen from deep within her said that this was a breakthrough, he was finally opening up, telling the truth. Harley shut her out, focusing on being wrapped up in her Puddin'. She soon fell asleep, he didn't, terrified that it had all been a joke to her, that she would leave him in the night so that he would wake up to an empty bed. Just like his nightmares had taunted him with for the past two years. When she woke up she kissed the ears away for him, the ones he didn't even realise he'd let fall.
It took months for things to get back to their new definition of normal, The Joker adamant that Harley not be in any danger. Now that he'd seen a glimpse of life without her, he couldn't let it become permanent. True to his word he had never laid a finger on her, and left her sugar alive, as much as it made his paranoia and nightmares worse. He held her tight every night, so scared that she would leave him again, for him. After she'd been home for a week they were in bed, her lying at his side when he'd suddenly shot up, running his hands through his hair, she'd propped herself up, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere.
"Puddin', what's up?" She'd asked, still coming down from her orgasm. He looked back at her, panicked.
"Do you need anything?" He'd blurted, before looking angry at himself. Harley chuckled.
"Just you Puddin'." She'd said smiling. He looked at her intently, she could tell the voices were eating him up, fighting against each other.
"I love you, Harley." He said quietly, looking pained and terrified at the admission. She laughed.
"Oh Puddin', I know you do." She'd giggled and pulled him back down to the bed.