Epilogue

Nightwing POV

Six months. It's been six whole months since the Joker's death at the Manor. Six months since the girl I love lost her mind. The body count has risen heavily in that time; mainly cops but also people who interfere with her. She's not the Charlotte I know anymore, but it still breaks my heart to see her wreak havoc like this.

Even though she became the monster she always feared she was, I still struggle and hesitate to bring her in. It took the first month to convince everyone that it must be me to stop her, that it was my entire fault so I should take responsibility. Barbara was the most difficult to convince, a deep loathing for Charlotte driving her rage. But eventually she caved and I was left to stop my girlfriend.

In the whole six months, I've ever come face to face with her once; she's too quick nowadays always gone before I get there. No, the only time I've seen her since that night was at the Policeman's funeral, the one that shot her father. Mercy believed that the man didn't deserve a funeral and released all of hell's fury onto his family and friends. Thirteen were counted dead that day; I had only managed to save a few. But a few is better than none.

I came face to face with her in the middle of the fight between my family and her henchmen. Her madness was evident even on her complexion. Her green and white costume was frayed at the hems and her two ponytails were scruffed and knotted, sticking up in all directions. She didn't wear a mask anymore, just smudged eye shadow and liner around her eyes and messy lipstick hastily drawn in the form of a wide smile; like that of the Joker's. I had frozen, unable to move from her gaze and I could feel the unspoken apology just daring to leave her lips. We stared at each for what felt like eons and only stopped when one of her henchmen dragged her away. Not a word was spoken, the emotional ties between us shocking us like electricity.

Harley Quinn had also disappeared off the radar, but I've been searching until finally I came up with her obvious retreat. Ivy's Greenhouse. That's where I'm heading tonight so Harley could hopefully give me some answers, the crime rates from both Harley and Ivy have significantly dropped and we're all grateful. I approached the greenhouse wearily, keeping an eye out for traps.

I was lucky enough to get in without a scratch and soon enough I was inside the bright green building, looking for the two villains. They weren't exactly hiding and I found them both in a room which walls were covered in a variety of roses. Harley was on the bed in a robe, hair out and face puffy and red from crying. Without the upset expression, I could easily see Charlotte in her. Ivy was next to her, in a lab coat and patting her knee.

It took them both a moment to notice my presence, and I was surprised when they didn't react violently. Harley was the first to speak out of all of us. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're looking for my baby girl… I knew it would be you to come out of anyone…"

I went and knelt down so I was at eye level with her. "Can you tell me anything that could help me? I don't want to hurt her."

She looked up with me, pain flooding her features and she shuddered before speaking. "I knew one day she would break. She has the same mentality as the Joker, only needing that push to descend her into madness. For her whole life, all Charlotte wanted to do was please him. I would give anything to have done something – anything! – different. Maybe she could have an ordinary life, but he had gotten so deep into her head there was no going back. I suppose she's like me in that way."

Ivy wrapped her arm around the Harlequin and cooed her as fresh tears began to fall. "I hoped that boy Dick – or even you – could help her in some way, to stop that madness from taking her over. But his death just was the breaking point. It was mine too, but I was more snapped out of a trance than turned mad."

I placed my hand on her knee in comfort before whispering loud enough for her to hear. "Where can I find Charlotte?"

Harley, or should I say Harleen again, sighed before admitting, "She's at the funhouse, she won't leave there because it's where she grew up."

I thanked her and nodded at Ivy before turning and leaving. Of course she was there; the only place I wasn't brave enough to go without memories haunting me. I began to sprint through the Gotham night before I could talk myself out of going there. The building eventually came into view and I slipped into her bedroom window which was still wide open as it always has been. My breath slowed down from the running, but my heartbeat was still pounding in my ears.

I'd never taken the opportunity to admire her living space, the scrunched duvet that looks as if it hadn't been touched in months, and the mirror she shattered visible from where I was standing, blood marks still obvious, a make-up table, and a wardrobe burst open with clothes everywhere. None of this caught my attention as much as the space next to the door did. My white shirt she had worn was nailed there, covered in bloody fingerprints obviously hiding something from view. I moved the shirt out of the way to reveal the Polaroid pictures we had taken that day at the beach.

That had begun as the best day of my life until Harley and her decided to rampage in the CBD. Now I would give anything to be back there. I let my shirt drop back to where it concealed the photos and went to leave the room when my foot kicked something. I looked down to find a loose floorboard, obviously concealing something else and I pulled it back to reveal a tattered journal.

I flicked through to the last entry, my mouth went dry when I noticed it was the day she met me as Dick Grayson. She held such scorn for a friend and for Nightwing, I wonder how we ended up where we are now. I turned to the first entry, made three years ago and I tried to not cry at the innocence, well, innocent for Mercy.

Writing this makes me nervous. It's the only secret I've ever kept from my parents and it's exciting yet scary. I wonder what would happen if I ever had a boyfriend? Could I keep that secret? Today was uneventful, just like every day. I can't wait until I'm 18; when I can go and terrorize Gotham with my family. I was born to do it!

I trained with Catwoman today and there's just something not right about her. I can feel the sparks of hatred in my gut but I don't want to hate her. She's just as much family as Aunt Isley. I'm at the peak of my physical state and I want to release my strength, but henchmen aren't enough. I want to breathe the night air while fighting alongside my family. I want to be remembered.

It was short and bittersweet; I can tell that she never wanted any forms of drama or love. I don't know whether to be sorry or not but I didn't have a chance to think it through as a loud crash from beyond the door caught my attention. I dropped the book and left the room, coming face to face with a hate-filled but grinning Jordan Crane. "Well, well, well… Little boy blue… Come to haul the goddess that is Mercy off to prison?"

I had a short temper span when it comes to Jordan Crane. He began to circle me, noticing my clenched fists and firm jaw line. He's trying to rile me up so I make the first move. "Oh yes, I know how much of a goddess she is…"

Anger rising. "Her milky skin grinding against my own…"

Blood boiling. "The way she called my name and not yours…"

Must hold back fist. "Because I fucked her and she loved it."

I spun around and kicked his legs out from under him, trying to stay with snide remarks as I'm known for. Jordan looked up at me with gritted teeth and I smirked. "Yes but she never loved you, did she?"

He leapt at me with a war cry and soon we were wrestling on the ground. Jordan was trying to reach for some vials but I kept his hand away from his body with minor sharp movements to his pressure points. I spun around and got to my feet a few meters away from the young Scarecrow. I have to make him mad. Villains filled with blind rage are always so easy to take down and I know just how to do it. "Does it bother you to know that she would have been thinking of me while you fucked her?"

He went to launch a vial at me which I dodged efficiently, his anger already affecting his aim. "Because you love her, don't you? But she loves me… A damn superhero. Not even someone like her. Someone who has known her her whole life."

Jordan yelled another war cry and tried to tackle me again but I twisted away and he reached for another syringe. "Oh come on, fight like a real man! Not those pussy fluids you get. Look who Mercy craves; someone with no scientific fluid or powers, just a boy in a leotard."

I could see his temper break loose as he charged one final brutal charge, obviously not watching as my fist was pulled back and launched straight at his pretty boy nose. He coat-hanged on my fist, going flying backwards slamming to the ground and I have never been so satisfied with a punch. I heard his head crack on the ground and briefly I panicked that I killed him until I heard soft groans coming from his throat.

I knelt down, suddenly feeling sorry for the villain that has tried to kill me… Twice. "You may resent me for having Mercy's love, but you don't know how painful it was to see her break in front of me."

"And how painful was it?" Her voice made me stand up quicker than Flash. I turned and looked up to see Mercy perched on the rafters. She looked the same as our last encounter, lipstick faded and eye's smeared even more. She was watching with curiosity mixed with pain and I just wanted to jump up there and hug her tight.

I licked my lips and took a deep breath before speaking, but that didn't stop my voice from breaking a little bit. "It was as if I watched my parents die all over again."

She leapt down; her athletic body twisting in flips and spins until she landed on the ground in a crouch. She is still so damn beautiful and I want to just run up and kiss her. "It must have been awful for you to watch me kill. I'm sorry you had to see it."

Mercy slowly moved closer to me and I took a couple of tentative steps towards her, not wanting to be too close in case I lost control and let her go. "I wish you were sorry you killed people."

She looked at the ground. "Dick, you know I will never regret what I did that night. Or any night since then."

I bit my lip and looked at the wall to my right. I never wanted to hear her say those words. Secretly I hoped and prayed she would feel remorse but I knew it was impossible. I stared at the wall until I felt a soft palm on my cheek and I looked down to see her so close to me. My heart went into overdrive. "The only thing I regret is not running away with you the moment you asked me to."

My gaze softened and I reached to touch her. "Charlotte, I-…"

She hissed and jumped several meters away from me, her voice raised in a flurry of heat and anger. "The Charlotte you know is dead Nightwing! You watched her die in front of you, so accept it! I am only Mercy now… I am a killer. A cold-blooded monster with a black heart."

I moved towards her, but she continued to retreat until she was against the wall, a frightful look in her eyes, eyes that were darting in all directions rapidly like she could see people I couldn't. "You don't know what it's like, Dick Grayson…"

Calling me by my first and surname she had done the first few times we hung out, which drifted the closer we became. She's drifting now, but I can't let her, not while she's lucid. "… You don't see his death in every corner of my eye sight. I see you in front of me and then a hundred Jokers are collapsing to the ground while his voice is screaming in my head that it's my fault and to make them pay! It doesn't go away! It will never go away…"

I shushed her while gathering her trembling body into my arms, the familiar feeling warming my heart but her frantic state worrying me. "It's okay, baby. It's not your fault."

"I can't sleep. Haven't sleep in I don't know how many days. Insomnia catching up with me, seeing things. Terrible things. Saw you die. Saw my mother die. It was all my fault! All my fault…"

This was truly the ramblings of madness and I remembered what she said to me that night at the ball. You make me sane. The only reaction I could think of was to kiss her, so that's what I did. I tilted her head up and kissed her with so much love I wondered if I would overpower her. But she reacted and that's all I would have asked of her.

We communicated through expression, we always have. The night she stayed at my house, the way she would tense when she was being defensive and the way she would watch every movement I made when she was being affectionate. The only problem with kissing her right now is what my response had been that night. You make me insane. So I didn't stop kissing her when I should have.

Her hands intertwined with my black locks which have grown slightly longer and my hands were clutching her waist with a fiery passion. I love her. I love her so damn much and she will always be mine. Right now, kissing each other with every emotion possible, she was my Charlotte again. Not the new Mercy that killed Police Officers for revenge, not the girl who fucked Jordan Crane… she was the girl I fell so hard for. That's what I needed to tell her.

I pulled her face back, and made sure she wouldn't look away from me. Her eyes were wide and lucid, Charlotte taking back her mind and body. "I love you, Charlotte Quinn. I love every damn thing about you and I can't help it. I loved you when you beat the shit out of me when you first attacked Gotham. I loved you when you were so tense and hateful towards my presence. I loved you when you beat me in Halo. I loved you when you admired that beautiful bird. I loved you when we danced at Wally's party. I loved you when you laughed at me dressed as Frankenfurter. I loved you when we had sex. I loved you when I washed your hair. I loved the way you hated Catwoman. I loved you when you told off that girl at the store. I loved you when you agreed to be my girlfriend. I loved you when you hated me for being Nightwing. I loved you when you blew up my ex-girlfriend. I loved you when you made me chase you over a building. I loved you when you punched a mirror. I loved you when you just wanted me there. I loved you when you punched me in the nose at the ball. I loved you when you were going to run away with me. I fucking love you, Charlotte Quinn. I always will and I will always fight for you. Even if fighting for you means taking you to Arkham for mental help."

Charlotte was staring up at me with so much love and so much passion; she didn't need to say anything. I was praying with every fiber in my body that she would come back to me, let me take her to get help and maybe just maybe become a normal person with me. My muscles drooped with disappointment and heartbreak when I saw the madness crawling back into her icy forest-green irises, dilating her pupils and the words she whispered just broke me, "We're doomed, Dick."

I felt someone grip the back of my costume and tear my body away from hers, throwing me to the ground meters away from Charlotte and I was startled to say the least. Jordan had gotten up, blood flowing from his nose and the back of his head. "She's gone, Grayson and you will never have her back."

He gripped her hand and tugged her quickly away to the front door of the funhouse and I thought my heart was going to shatter until she broke free quickly and sprinted back to me. I could feel myself light up with excitement as she leant down and quickly but lovingly kissed me one more time before whispering the words that will drive me for the rest of my life, "We may be doomed, but that will never stop me from loving you Richard Grayson."

Mercy turned and ran from the building after that, leaving me on the ground with a driven determination. We may be doomed as lovers, as hero and villain, as people, as sane people but I will save her. There is no doubt that for the rest of my life, I will be chasing down her down until the end of days, loving her but losing her with every step.

Because she is Mercy, the beautiful murderer and I am Nightwing the love-struck hero and we are doomed to chase each other forever.

I would like to thank absolutely everyone who has supported and read this FanFiction. You guys are my everything and I would buy you all a bucket of your favourite thing if I could. Thank-You!

Now that this is over, I will be dedicating all my time to Show No Mercy the novel and I will be thinking of all of you while I'm writing it. I check reviews and views every day and every single review has made me smile. I love you.

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