Another plan went up in smoke, leaving Harley Quinn to not only pick up the pieces, but herself with them.

She had only wanted to impress her puddin', and so she spent countless nights pondering on the perfect way to do so.

It came to her on a particular Wednesday afternoon, while she scrubbed blood stains out of Mistah' J's suit. Some rare diamond was lent to Gotham's Natural Science Museum for an exhibit, and had captured the attention of every criminal in the city for being not only extremely rare, but beautiful as well.

What interested Harley so much in the gem, was its inherent colour. Unlike common diamonds found in the local jewelry store, this diamond was a vivid green.

She was sure that the Joker would be thrilled, and extremely pleased with her. After all, it was the exact shade of his eyes.

And with that, it was fairly easy to answer fate's call. While Joker and the rest of the gang were peacefully sleeping, Harley snuck off into the night.

Donned in her costume, it didn't take long for her to break into the museum. The one or two night guards weren't an issue at all, and after a swing of her mallet, they were contently sleeping.

However, she wasn't aware that another villain had a similar thought, and already had her polished claws on her jewel. Luckily she caught Catwoman by surprise, and the pair fought until B-man intervened. Which wasn't totally fair, since it was obvious he had a soft spot for the feline.

While the lovers bickered, she swiped the diamond and headed straight home.

Soon she realized she shouldn't have done this, as the masked hero was hot on her heels. And she had just led him to Joker's private nook.

"I'm sorry, Mistah J! I had no idea!" She had whimpered, pulling on her pig-tails. The burning of her scalp did little to sate the Joker's increasing rage, his teeth bared with a snarl.

"You never do!" He growled, the red of his lips peeled back and utterly intimidating. He had lost that sleepy look when Harley had barrelled inside, confusion quickly swept under the rug.

"You've led Batman straight to us!"

Harley flinched, backing away when he stalked towards her. Desperately she fumbled with the purse hanging off of her shoulder, taking out the sparkling diamond with trembling hands. "B-but look puddin', I got you this!"

She never saw his fist, roughly making contact with the side of her head. Her legs gave out, joining her in a world of darkness as stars exploded behind her eyes.

Faintly she heard Mistah J scream out, "This was all for a rock!?"

Grinding of her bones filled her ears, threatening to snap into a million messy pieces as he began to kick her. Harley felt hollow, wishing she'd pass out from the pain. Despite her sides squealing in protest, Harley tried to fix this. To make her boyfriend understand her intentions, and kiss all of the bruises away, "I-it was all for you..."

"Clearly it wasn't! If you wanted me to be pleased, you wouldn't exist!"

You wouldn't exist.

Wouldn't exist.

Exist...

To her shameful delight, Batman seemed to be making quite an uproar downstairs. The Joker then found it important to attend to his arch foe, leaving his girlfriend to bleed on their bedroom's carpet.

She waited for a couple of minutes, making sure he was gone. Coughing up blood as she went, Harley crawled her way to the window and slipped outside. Spots of red were left behind, declaring her pitiful escape to everyone. Somehow she managed to get to a payphone, grateful when she found a couple of dollars in her suit pockets.

Smears were left on the machine as she slipped some coins inside the slot, even more so when she pressed her ear against the phone reciever.

Ring...ring...ring...ri-

"Hello?"

"C-can you pick me up?"

"I don't understand, why don't you leave him?"

She shifted her weight at the question, fidgeting with the need to explain herself, "It's not that simple."

Ivy snorted at that, tightening the bandage around Harley's midsection. "Then please, make me understand. Because I'm getting pretty sick of having to fix you, and let's be honest, he's not good to you."

Harley sighed, she was right. But she still had no room to judge, not with her own track record.

It was just...her and Mistah J are different, destined to be. Which is exactly what she told her. Only Ivy laughed outright, fingers unconsciously digging into the cream of her skin. She did it lightly, so Harley didn't completely mind.

"Right. More like you're destined to keep getting hurt; do you even listen to yourself? Last time I checked, you have a dozen bruises and minor cuts, not to mention a handful of broken ribs!"

"I don't know what to tell you" Harley sighed, both her chest and heart ached. Red and green was supposed to remind you of happy times, times spent with family and friends on the holidays. For Harley, those two colours meant a decision and a new partner. But regardless, she was destined to be on the sidelines, nourished only on pain and deceit.

A bent spoon was pressed against her mouth, the metal nice and cool to the touch. "I'm good" Harley mumbled, wary of both the sight and smell of it.

"Don't be a baby, it'll speed up the progress. And I brewed it myself, each ingredient was lovingly gathered" Ivy said as she gestured to the green brew she labelled as medicine, to Harley it had more of a potential of poisoning her.

"Harley" Ivy tried again, pressing the tablespoon even closer against her mouth. The metal painfully rubbed against her teeth, feeling piercing right through her lips. Deciding she didn't want to test the patience of the friend who saved her, Harley reluctantly opened her mouth. The vile liquid stayed on the tip of her tongue for a second before she noisily swallowed it down, but it was enough. She was sure you could use it in cleaning, the miracle solution to peel paint. She expected her taste buds to come right off, a lump of gore on the floor.

Then the aftereffects kicked in, what she supposed was for the pain. Fortunately her everything didn't hurt anymore, only to be replaced with a sort of drifting feeling. "I like this" she giggled, somewhat not sure of her mouth and how to move it.

"...It has palliative properties" Ivy explained with a whisper, leaning close to press a cool hand against her forehead. Or maybe she was just hot? The sudden heat had Harley thinking about tropical islands, the perfect destination for her and Ivy. She'd love it there, getting well tuned with the nature and all of the life she could offer.

Red and green would be in harmony, Harley smiled at the thought.

Just then, Ivy tucked her into a makeshift cot. Stars flickered underneath her eyelids as she was moved, swimming in lazy pools. She reached out, fingers tangling within the locks like a needle.

"You must be really out of it" Ivy tenderly sighed, and Harley soon joined her. She felt light, free as the wind crying outside. She rubbed those scarlet threads between her right pointer finger and thumb.

"You're so pretty" she sung, words lifting on light clouds to the heavens. They moved about, on fluttering wings like delicate butterflies. She reached out to them, but they slipped between her fingers. Wanting to touch their soft bellies, she leaned upwards.

But there was Ivy's hand, turning green with new life. Like millions of tiny plants and flowers were underneath, ready to burst out. Ivy would like that, giving her being to turn into a plant. To be green.

Red and green...

Before she could ask Ivy about being a plant, and how she would talk, that hand returned. It stroked and patted her hair, which was gritty from the dry flakes of blood. Ivy moved even closer to her, whispering promises in her ear. Sadly she couldn't understand her, but only that it was beautiful.

Harley began to sail on red waters on a boat, heading towards a green island out on the horizon. The sun shone bright and true, smiling at her with a wink. She waved towards it, thankful for the light and sweet weather. The sun began to laugh, a great and shrill cackle that filled her ears like honey. Harley laughed too, and the honey poured from her ears and into the red ocean.