(Moved From: "Renowned Ardor" - My old account)
****MUSH-WARNING!****
The following story is about passionate love, and thus contains a lot of "mush." Haters of heartfelt moments be warned...
JOKINGLY EVER AFTER
The following is a story about things that change, and how when they do, you want others to always, forever, be the same...
Location: Neo-Gotham City. AU Batman Beyond/Batman: The Animated Series.
Time: One year after the events of "Return of the Joker" in a specific alternate timeline.
Prologue
The Joker that wreaked havoc in "Return of the Joker" was merely a pawn, a puppet, a test. He was sent by the Joker forward in time as part of an elaborate scheme devised to achieve lasting immortality through the use of revolutionary, and illegal, DNA-manipulation technology. Not one year had passed since this foe had been stopped, and all of Gotham was sure the Clown Prince of Crime had been put to rest once and for all. Little did they know, he would soon be back, better than ever, and this time, not alone.
Joker's brought Harley on his journey with him, and this time around, things will be a bit different. The Gotham they knew is long since gone, and as the villainous duo seeks to reclaim their place in the world, the distance between their heyday and the present becomes all too clear for them to see. A journey of awakening soon unfolds as the two seek to tell their jokes to new crowds that have never heard of their devious names. As the Clown Prince of Crime is soon to learn, it's not the audience that matters when the jokes are all done, but the lady backstage in the curtains, who ultimately still makes life fun.
Jokingly Ever After
Chapter 1: Bright New Smiles
"Puddin'?" she whispered, eyes slowly focusing. As the muscles attached to her pupils began to loosen back, Harley Quinn's vision instantly interpreted the glowing white being in front of her. The room was dark, black even, savor four slivers of sun that projected themselves through slits on the blind of a nearby window and danced in illuminations around his form. His sleek black hair glistened shiny with light, his eyes, full of intent, were yellow and bright, though of all the features that she knew of him, what touched her the fastest was that devilish grin.
"HAR-ley!" he spoke, "Why it's about time you came to!" Joker's face dropped into a scowl. "You have no idea how boring it can be watching somebody sleep for three days," he said, rolling his eyes.
Harley swallowed. "I've been asleep for three days? What'd I e-" She suddenly paused, her expression twisting into a jumbled frown. "Say...What give-...Where are we?" she asked. Harley scanned the room from left to right. There were piles upon piles of old, dry, dusty wooden crates strewn haphazardly about the floor. Tangled, frayed, grey netting sat stacked in the left corner of the room, and a group of three busted barrels stood clustered to her right. She looked down and found herself sitting on her own wooden box, a moth-eaten, dirt-caked, pink and white-flowered quilt wrapped around her cold body.
Joker leaned back with a smug little grin. "Why, we're in Gotham City's very own East Dock Storage Facility! Abandoned Warehouse Number 8, to be exact!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then quickly contorted and coughed. "Notice the smell of old fish and sawdust?" he said, smiling sheepishly.
Harley raised her eyebrow and stared.
"Oh it really is a lovely place, Harley. You won't find such luxury and comfort around Ol' Gotham City these days!" A stream of wood chips and cobwebs lightly drizzled down on his left shoulder as the sound of pigeons cooing echoed suddenly from up above. Joker pursed his lips, looking at the dirt from the corner of his eyes, then quickly brushed it off and smiled sheepishly again.
Her eyes were narrowed. "Something funny's going on, Mistah J. Why are you dressed like that?"
Joker looked down at his humbly-clad body. He wore brown-colored leather dress shoes, dark blue cotton pants, and a green, long-sleeved sweater. For a moment, he bit his lip and stared, then his gaze quickly shot back up to Harley. "Because this is what my host was wearing!" he scowled.
"Host? You mean like a game show?" she asked, trying not to grin.
"Not exactly, Harley," he replied, smiling back, "You see, how do I put this?" Joker cupped both hands behind his back and paced the floor. "Oh! I know!" He turned and looked at her directly in the eye. "Baby...We're dead."
"Eep!" she squeaked, jumping back slightly and covering her mouth, "Wha-whadda ya mean 'dead'? Mistah J?" Harley swallowed.
His eyelids relaxed as a warm smile spread across his lips. "Harley," he said, wrapping an arm around her back and sitting down beside her, "Do you remember that time we kidnapped The Bat's little boy-scout helper?"
"Y-You mean the kid? Yeah! I...remember..."
"Gooood. Do you remember how we twisted his mind with those devices to make him our 'son'?"
"Yeah...I remember," she said, pursing her lips and looking around.
"Well, Baby," Joker sighed, "That little stunt sorta backfired... Turned out to be the death of me!" He closed his eyes, leaned his head back, and let out a hearty chuckle.
Harley stared at him wide eyed, her face in horror.
"YOU managed to survive," he said, wiping a tear from his eye, "but it was still the end of your career nevertheless." Joker walked over and opened the blinds some more. He then reached down, picked up a nearby newspaper, and sat down next to her again. "Here. Read this," he mumbled, handing it over.
Harley took the paper from him and scanned the front headlines. "New Tax Increase Means a Holiday on Hold...What's that gotta do with me!"
Joker slapped his head with his right hand and slowly dragged it down his face. "Not that headline, Pooh! Read on!"
She twisted her lips again and turned her attention back to the paper. Her eyes got wide as she scanned the text in the bottom right corner. "Harleen Quinzel, 79...died yesterday in her sleep?" Her hands began to shake wildly as her breathing deepened. Slowly, still shaking, her head turned to the Joker, eyes twitching. "H-How!"
"Old age I guess!" he replied, smugly, "I'd say it was from a broken heart, but apparently you managed to find someone new!" Joker pointed to a spot under the article's photo.
"H-Harleen leaves behind two orphaned granddaughters!" she gasped.
"Mmhmmm! Got some explaining to do, Pooh?" Joker said, eyeing her intensely.
"Ph...Puddin'! I don't even know who this broad IS! My god, just look at her!" Harley motioned, still shaking, to the elderly woman in the photograph. "All wrinkled and homely and ...well-behaved! I-"
He reached over and held her frantic hand. "It's you, Harley-Girl. At least, it was you..."
"B-but I don't understand!" she said, muscles tensing up.
Joker took in a long breath and released her hand, then stood up. "Harley, when we captured that little runt, we were on the top of our game. I remember feeling like there was no duo in the world that could touch us, but I realized around that same time that there was no way we could keep on doing the same charade forever." His expression hardened as he, once again, paced the room. "That was when I came across some radical new technology, micro-DNA chips that could be used to record the exact memories and personalities of anyone! Beautiful devices really! You simply supply an ample amount of DNA from the target individual within the chip, program an appropriate dormant cycle, and slowly allow the chip to take over a new host! HA!" He chuckled. "After enough time has passed, the DNA combines with the host's and rewrites it from the inside out, turning the host victim into a clone of the original DNA from the chip in a matter of mere months!" He turned and grinned widely, beaming at Harley.
She shifted uneasily, staring back. "I...still don't understand, Mistah J..."
He sighed. "Nobody lives forever, Harley," he replied, "but with the ability provided by these chips, WE would never die out! Don't you get it? A fresh body! A new start, but all with the same wisdom we gathered from our previous life!"
Harley sat like a statue.
Joker clenched his right hand and examined his finger nails. "I may have 'died-out' all those years ago, but now I'm here, back in action, ready to bring on the laughs again!" he said, grinning.
"S-so...I'm dead?" Harley uttered, eyeing herself in the quilt.
Joker rolled his eyes and slumped over. "Try to keep up here, Pooh. I died 40 years ago, you survived, then died two weeks ago. I planted DNA microchips with both of our memories and personalities inside the host victims of young individuals whom we held hostage years ago, and, through successive amplification over another generation, our genes were passed on to their offspring, in effect creating us again!"
Harley swallowed hard, then ran a hand over her hair. "Oh...My head hurts, Mistah J...So, why don't I remember any of it?" she asked.
He smiled. "Because, Pooh, our memories were only passed on up until the point that the DNA that was put into the micro chips was taken from us...Oh! And as for the procedures... I did it in private."
Her face dropped into a frown.
"Why ruin the surprise!" he said, laughing, "After all...Aren't you delightfully shocked that you're not some old, wrinkled, disgusting wench right now?"
She gave him a look, then smiled as she gazed around at her delicate, slender, firm, little, young and classic figure. "Yeah," she whispered.
"Me too..." he smiled. Joker's face suddenly dropped into a scowl. "Though I'd love to know why you went running off with some other LOSER after I kicked the bucket!"
Harley sat back, her eyes the size of dinner plates. "Puddin'! I could neva'!"
"Don't give me that, Harley!" he snapped back, "You obviously could if you managed to have grandkids while I was gone!" He crossed his arms, looking away.
"NO!" she screamed, "I couldn't DO it! I just couldn't!" Harley began to openly cry. "You're my 'Puddin'! I don't want anyone else in the world!"
Joker glanced over from the corner of his eyes. He grunted at the sight of Harley's quivering lips and turned from her, grimacing slightly to the sound of her sobs.
"I...I don't know who this broad is," she whimpered, "but I can't IMAGINE abandoning you!" Her body shook again as she rubbed her own shoulders. "And leaving you after you were dead...H-How did I live with myself..." she sobbed.
"You tell me," he growled.
"I don't know!" she cried, "I worked so hard to be the woman at your side...I couldn't have lived knowin' you were gone!" Harely coughed into her hands, burying her face.
He stared at the ground, gritting his teeth, tensing all over.
"Jack," she whispered, softly echoing his true name on the wind.
Joker choked on his tongue, then turned to her. "Harleen," he said, staring down at her.
She looked up at him with her soft, big, blue orbs, glistening wet with tears in the sunlight. Her lips sat small, her cheeks were smooth, her shoulders squeezed together, and her back arched erect, but it was all so outshined by the life in her eyes. "I love you," she said.
Joker's eyes fell down to the floor. "I know," he replied. A gurgle rose from his throat. "Why do you think I brought you back..." he said. There was silence in the room then as his eyes continued to avoid her.
"I don't know WHY my stupid self woulda done that!" she sobbed, "It just doesn't make any sense!...I...I...Iii-"
"Now, now, Pooh!" he said, sitting beside her again. He slipped an arm around her and pulled her in close.
"I'd die for you!" she choked.
"I know you would!" Joker replied.
"Maybe that'd be best! You'll never be able to trust 'us' now! I'll never be able to trust myself now!"
"Now, Pooh, you know I don't like wh-"
"But for god's sake! The only reason I LIVE is for you! I don't even KNOW wh-who I-"
He reached over with his free hand, cupping her chin in his palm.
"I...wha..w-..." she shivered, staring at him.
Joker pulled her in and gave her a big, wet kiss, square on the mouth. "Pooh," he said, stroking her lips with his finger, "I've seen people lose their cool before, but be reasonable!" he chuckled.
She stared through him, speechless.
He rolled his eyes again, clearing his throat and shifting his body around. "You know...I guess I did forget to mention that your 'granddaughters,' albeit grandchildren of another you and not THIS 'you,'" he said, poking her teasingly, "are part of a little cult called the 'Jokerz' that just so happens to worship and idolize everything about me!"
Harley looked up at him.
"Now where do you suppose they would've learned to do a thing like that?" he grinned.
A small smile appeared on her face.
"You know, that little article also points out how you once bailed them out of prison, despite not talking to them for ages! Some sort of 'family dispute' involving the mother, whom apparently broke all ties with you because of the 'lies' you told her about her heritage? Something about hiding the identity of her father from her all her life?" A wicked smile appeared on Joker's face. "Naughty Girl! I smell a dirty little secret in there!"
"Sounds more like me..." Harley smiled.
"I know!" he laughed, "That's what I thought! I can't wait to find out what you were up to without me!"
She frowned again. "Puddin'?"
"Yes, Pooh?
"I really love you..." she sniffed, "so much!"
Joker's eyelids grew heavy as he stared into her light blue eyes. "Harley...If I could've picked anyone in the world to live on with me forever, I'd still only ever pick you..."
"Mistah J," Harley whispered, tearing up, "That's the nicest thing you've ever-"
He stopped her there and pulled her in for another kiss, and she closed her eyes, melting into his arms.
"My dear, sweet, Harley-Quinn-Aid," he whispered, petting her head, "What on Earth are you doing in that tacky blanket?"
"I don't know," Harely giggled, "I just woke up today!"
"Well," Joker said, unwrapping her and tossing it away, "I think I can handle the role of keeping you warm for now," he smirked.
"Oh, Mistah J!" she teased, slinking into him.
Awe...And they say villains can't find love...
Curious about anything? Joker's DNA plan (and its ties to "Return of the Joker")? What the original Harley did in Joker's absence? Their place in Neo-Gotham? Where things will go from here? Only one way to find out... Don't worry, my friends, I'm writing this story to finally give these two a happy ending, I promise. ;)
Feel Free to Message me with all of your Comments, Questions, Suggestions, or Concerns via PM or my email!
STAY TUNED for Chapter 2: Laughing Spaces...Coming VERY, VERY SOON! (Progress Updates on my profile!)