Marni eyed the bruising and scars along Eva's thighs. She could feel the next question as her lower lip jutted out, she was angry, but not at her. "Did he...?"

Her voice faltered, the word refused to leave her mouth. Eva felt sick, the very fact that he hadn't was the worst thing she'd have to admit "No..."

This didn't seem to be enough "Eva-"

She shook her head and finally collapsed into the couch " He didn't rape me..."

She still wouldn't believe her "Are you kidding? Eva, look at yourself! That's not 'some like it rough' that's straight up beating!"

She fitted her hand around the bruise on her neck and grimaced "I threw a paper weight at him..."

At this, she nodded to the hole in her wall "Marni, he threatened you."

She saw the fear flash in her friend's eyes. Here it came, the moment Joker had predicted... The moment that would be the only way to keep her only friend safe. "He made me torture someone..."

Her face turned a light shade of green, and Eva took it as her cue to continue "Do you remember that guy from the lounge, the one that tried to drug me?"

Marni remained silent but nodded numbly. Taking a deep breath, Eva allowed the words to pour out "I killed him…"

Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she began to shake her head "I don't believe you."

Marni swallowed the lump in her throat "Eva, I know you. You'd never kill anyone."

Gritting her teeth, Eva's eyes shut. "You don't know me Marni."

Slowly, she took another breath and opened her eyes, a smile broke on her lips. They ached horribly, he liked to bite. Eva began to giggle "Holy shit Marni, you don't know me at all."

Getting up, she walked towards her, mimicking the languid movements that made him seem so intimidating "You want to know a secret?"

She got into her face, the smile ever present. Marni was scared and Eva felt terrible that she was the one who inspired it "Wanna know why we met?"

A chuckle bubbled from her lips "I one of my foster fathers."

At long last, Marni stepped back, toward the door. Eva remained where she was "He had a stroke, he needed the machines to breath. Only took a few minutes."

"I don't believe you."

The words came out at a whisper "I don't even regret it."

Eva shrugged as she began to pick at the dry bits of blood on her face, her eyes darted towards Marni. She looked terrified now as she began to process. The tattooist stepped closer, forcing her friend to back up until she hit the wall next to the front door "Nothing made me happier than to watch that sick fuck die."

Licking her lips, and rolling her head back, she smiled lazily. Just do everything he did to intimidate, it always worked coming from him. It had to work now, Eva had always been a good actor, it was par for the course in an abuse fueled system. "And I'd do it again, I would kill that bastard over and over again."

Marni was terrified, her normally heavily lidded eyes were wide. The white reflected the lights of the apartment, making the action all the more striking. She never thought she would be afraid of Eva, Marni had trusted her through the better part of her childhood. They had relied heavily on one another, secrets had never been a factor, until now. The very idea and admission that Eva had been keeping secrets from her had left Marni petrified. In all the years that they had been friends, she had been conveniently leaving things out.

Slowly, Marni reached out her hand and grasped the door knob, ready to leave. Then she looked into Eva's eyes, and saw the barest trace of desperation. The pair stared at each other for the longest time. At long last, Eva blinked and looked away "You should go."

Marni's grip on the knob slackened. Despite her fear, she couldn't just abandon the woman who had been like a sister to her "Eva?"

Her shoulders tensed as she spun around and let her left fist go careening into the dry wall. Pain shot up her arm from where she had made contact, for a second she worried about hitting stud, but she was too angry to maintain that level of concern for her wellbeing. Her head cocked a fraction of an inch and she stared at Marni "Get out."

Within seconds, her one and only friend was gone. Eva pulled her fist from the wall, eyeing the few scrapes that dotted her knuckles. Glancing into the hole she noted how close she had come to breaking her first onto the wall stud. Her lips trembled, cradling her fist, Eva made the slow trek to the bathroom, she needed a shower. Maybe if she stood under the shower head and angled her head just right, she could drown herself. After all, that's how sheep did it, and at this point she was convinced that she was on their level of stupidity.

(Author's note: So amid most of the praise for my "sex" chapter with Joker, I did get one hater who was not pleased with the fact that I didn't sexualize the ever loving shit out a clearly abusive relationship, yeah, fuck you, I'm not doing that. I see enough young girls squeeing or Leto Joker (and I did my fair share with Heath Ledger…shut up), and how they want a relationship like Joker and Harley Quinn, and it's like wanting a relationship like Romeo and Juliet, it's incredibly screwy and weird relationship to idolize when Joker and Harley regularly kick the crap out of each other. This is not a relationship of love, it is one of obsession and control. If you want unrealistic smut, there are plenty of fanfics that feed your unhealthy sexual fantasy. And if those don't tickle you, then go write your own story kiddo.

Anyway, looks like Eva has managed to push Marni away, and Eva has some serious anger issues. I feel I must also mention that I had to look up "What's it like to punch dry wall" for this chapter. Being a writer is fucking weird, I'll tell ya what.

Oh and final note, someone messaged me wanting to see my original work. So here is one of my poems. You guys might not be into it, but whatever)

An old woman got on the bus
She smelled of opiates,
Opiates and butterscotch.
It was then I learned the scent of Death.
It was then Death and I became acquainted.
It was there that the woman dropped,
And Death stopped kindly for her
When no one else would.
When no one else would
He took her in his arms.
When no one else would
He cradled her injuries.
And when no one else could
He took away her pain.