If you have reached Part II before reading Part I, please read that first:

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Mad Love Series, Part II: From the Ashes

Prologue:

She tries to make it through,

Make it all worthwhile again

He breaks her down but

She comes out stronger.

She has been hurt before

But she has made it through

Feel her heart in her chest

To know she's alive

After all he's done.

She had to change her ways

To survive, to believe again

But she's ready to be new

Her feelings won't take her down

Her emotions aren't in the way

Not anymore.

She's real now.

She's ready to break out, break free

Of his chains

Of all his lies and deceit

A new self is born

She will no longer be broken

She will no longer be in pain

He will go down

She wants to feel his heart in her hand

To break it like he did hers

She believes in herself now

She is not weak

She's the strongest she's ever been

And from the ashes, she'll begin again.

Chapter 1: From the Ashes

I will now rise from the ashes

Don't call me pretentious

I'm sitting here making my own rules

And if I fall from the ceiling

You'll be down there waiting.

"Rise from the Ashes," Quietdrive

It had been 3 months now. Three months that I had been waiting to strike. Unfortunately, there was never an opportune moment. The man's operation had tightened like fucking Fort Knox in the time I had been gone.

I really doubted that he thought I was dead. He couldn't be that utterly mindless. I had been working on keeping myself as under the radar as humanly possible. I basically hid out in my parents' apartment, trying to handle all their affairs after their deaths on that tragic day. This will be the last I speak of it, since it brings back too much pain, and I don't think about my pain anymore.

I only think about my revenge.

I was a different person now. I suppose I didn't feel anymore like myself, but I felt better. I felt ready to face the world instead of dreading it.

He was there, somewhere in this city, hiding from me. Hiding from everything. There had been no recent activity from him, and the police were boggled. I had watched the reports anxiously, to see if there were any leads on his location. After countless hours of exasperation and disappointment, I had decided to look for him myself. Nothing's best done unless you do it on your own.

I had warmed up my act since then, fixed my costume (yes, I still had it), fixed my character. I was Harley Quinn now, after all, and she wasn't your typical villainess. I suppose I am not intrinsically evil, by any means, I'm just evil by association.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I had been left everything in my parents' will; they had barely had time to change anything after Maggie passed away. Yet, I was still left their entire estate, all their life savings, and Maggie's trust fund. Needless to say, I had more money than I knew what to do with. It was a good fallback in case I ever needed it, but until then it was staying safely in the bank. In Connecticut.

I wasn't taking any chances considering his track record of bank robberies. Knowing him, he would definitely go after my fortune to spite me.

I knew him all too well, and that was going to be his weakness. I am the only one who can make him feel, and I am the only one who can make him fall.

The man had obviously changed locations in Gotham; I had been to the warehouse multiple times in the past month, peering in through the dirt-streaked windows for any sign of life. Yet I saw nothing, heard nothing from inside those metallic walls. It reminded me a bit of a prison, and I wondered vaguely how I had been able to stand living there for so long.

I had to exact my revenge on him; because of all the wrong he had done me. I used to believe that people were inherently good until he came along. I had a different view of the world now, and I wasn't used to that. I had preferred the familiar, the comfortable…now I was stuck in an unpredictable world of deceit and lies, something I had never known. It frightened and exhilarated me.

…

One night, I was in the penthouse, staring blankly at the television, flipping channels for any recent crime reports. Nothing but insipid re-runs and porn movies at this late hour. I was not prepared to watch the Girls Gone Wild commercial 8 times in one hour, and turned it off, leaning my head back against the couch. I closed my eyes, sighing deeply.

I was anxious and restless. Sleep hadn't come to me in days…I guess I had witnessed so much misery that I was afraid to sleep again. Every time I tried, something kept me up.

That wasn't what I needed to focus on now. Right now, I was going to hunt him down, and nothing was going to hinder me.

I suddenly heard a knock on the window. Jumping up, startled, I hesitantly peered toward the parlor window, seeing the familiar face of the Batman staring back at me.

I crossed the room urgently, opening the window, letting the cold winter air in. I involuntarily shivered as the wind passed by. I moved aside to let him climb through the window, and he shook the snow off his shoulders.

"I have some news." He said gruffly.

I lit up with excitement. I had kept in contact with the Batman during my stay here; he had been an invaluable asset to my cause. He was a vigilante like me, so he couldn't exactly blame me. We were two sides of the same coin.

"Give it to me." I said, literally bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Calm down. Villains don't bounce." He said in his ever-serious tone.

"You're really no fun at all." I pouted slightly.

"It's not exactly part of my persona."

"True," I mused, "You're not known as the 'Dark Knight' for nothing."

"The Dark Knight?" he furrowed his brow.

"Yeah, um, don't you watch the news?"

"The news hasn't been favorable to me lately." He admitted.

"Well…I suppose that's true." I flushed, "Anyway, what were you here to tell me before I took this conversation on a 180 turn?"

"I have news of the Joker's new hideout." He fished one of his many pockets, and pulled out a piece of paper, "An informant of mine has infiltrated the premises, and managed to snag a copy of the blueprints for me."

He handed them to me, "I thought you might be interested."

"Yeah, definitely," I eagerly took them, "Thanks so much. You've been such a huge help to me these past few months. I can't thank you enough."

"It's not a problem. We fight for the same purpose, although we may be going about it in a different way for different reasons. Either way, he needs to be stopped immediately before the safety of the public is at stake again." The Batman said firmly, "You are important to this operation, as well, Harley. You're the only one who has insight to his real character. We may have to resort to psychological warfare with this man."

"Throw it back in his face, you mean? Reverse psychology?" I asked, absent-mindedly staring out the window. It was a clear night, crisp and the moon bright in the center of the sky. Things were starting to look better.

"You'd know best." He shrugged, "You're the one with the degree."

"Yeah, I guess so." I smiled half-heartedly, "Are you ever going to reveal your identity to the world, Batman?"

"Not until my job is complete here." He said shortly, "I can't let people know. They always end up getting hurt in the end."

"I know the feeling." I said grimly.

"I'm still sorry for your loss, Harley. It must have been awful. I am an orphan myself, actually. My parents died many years ago, though."

This was the most I had ever heard him speak of his personal life. It kind of threw me off guard. I wasn't necessarily expecting him to be as jaded as I was.

Although, now that I think about it, a man who dresses up as a bat to prowl the streets at night probably has some serious issues.

He cleared his throat, "Well, I must be off. I have other business to attend to."

"Wait!" I called after him, "Where is this place?"

"Main and Greenfield. I think you'll know which one it is right away." And with that, he was off.

An elusive man, he was.

I stared down at the intricate blueprint in front of me, eyes getting a little tired trying to figure out the little details. Mainly, I was looking for hidden entrances, places I could squeeze into without being noticed. As I scanned it, one location stood out above the rest.

Below the back entrance to the building was a sewer. Alright, pretty nasty and I was not fond of rodents or any type of insect that likely resided there, but it would have to do. They would never expect someone to climb out of the sewer. Or, at least, I hoped so.

I could be horribly wrong, and that is where they get all their shipments in, but I had to take the chance that they didn't.

In any case, I at least had a semblance of a plan. It was better than the blank stares and empty pieces of paper with which I had tried to brainstorm ingenious schemes on.

I was nervous, yes, to see him again. But I really had exact my vengeance or else I would never feel like I was complete. I would feel like I had never accomplished anything.

This is my life now, and I had to accept it. I would never be the psychologist again, I would never again be the normal person riding the subway to work and drinking coffee in the mornings. Waiting in lines, doing all the mundane shit that we all take for granted. Once you've had everything taken away from you, nothing else matters.

This is all I had left in my life.

Which was rather pathetic…?

But yes, it was all I had.

He would know how much he hurt me. How he ruined me. How he destroyed everything I had worked so hard for in one fell swoop. No one should take this lying down. Especially me. The person he said that he had loved.

Did he still love me?

If he did, why the fuck should I care?

I felt like I shouldn't. It wasn't like I had forgotten what had happened between us. It still haunts me to this very day. It was my biggest mistake and my biggest regret, but I had to forget about these events to remain objective. My feeling shouldn't be playing into this. I thought I would be stronger than this.

I was scared to face him again, but I had to suck it up. He was my sworn enemy, the person who needed to be brought down. That was of utmost importance and I wouldn't let my personal life get in the way…even though that was the reason I was doing this.

For my parents…for my sister, whose life had been tragically cut short before it had even began, and for John…my John, the only person who had ever loved me in the way no one else could. Not even how the Joker believed he could.

All of a sudden, I felt the urge to lie down…and I fell into a deep sleep for the first time in a month.