Chapter 1

A new millennium had begun which excited some as it marked the dawning of the new age, but many Gothamites did not see it as such. In fact, as far as many could see Gotham was becoming more of a cesspool for the degenerates and sinners of the world. As the years went by Gotham only became more ridden with crime and suffering.

Arthur Fleck did not consider himself to be a degenerate, but he did acknowledge that he was indeed a man lacking morals, although he did retain some morals for the sake of his loved ones. He was born in Gotham in the year of 1979 and back then Gotham was considered to be a wealthy and economically prosperous city. However, the same couldn't be said in year of 2000.

What kicked started Arthur's spiral in decline was the birth of his daughter in 1995. He had met his fiancé, Harleen Quinzel, in his early teens. She was not his first girlfriend and sure they had had their ups and downs but they had lasted longer than anyone had expected. Then he was met with a surprise. He had only been on the brink of sixteen when she, his precious daughter, came into his life and she was an absolute angel.

Now, he had already broken the law dozens of times before her birth but it was the need to provide for her that he became a "professional". She was his life, his angel, his Lucy. He would be damned before he allowed her to go without any proper food or clothing.

Alas, he did have every intention of finding a career and living an 'honest' life as his beloved Harleen had once put it once before but his life became... complicated which forced him to drop out of university. He had been studying chemistry and physics; he still dabbled in them from time to time but not seriously.

Now, by the year of 2001, he managed to provide a roof over himself and his two darlings and he managed to fill their bellies twice a day: breakfast and dinner.

Harleen, or Harley as he liked to call her, had gone to university and majored in psychology and minored in pharmacy but she did little with it. Whilst Harley had no excuse for being 'unemployed', Arthur did. His mental health deteriorated with every passing year after he hit eighteen years, not that it was great to begin with in the first place.

He was a 'certified' paranoid schizophrenic who also happened to suffer from psychosis as well. Whilst he found this quite funny for his own personal reasons this did not bode well for him as his would-be-employers would always kick him out on the curb before he could even make an impression on them. Thus, he was 'unemployable'.

He often suffered near panic attacks at the thought of not being able to afford his daughter her next meal. He had little friends which left him with the company of his twisted mind. Fortunately, he did have one true friend who always stuck with him through thick and thin.

Bob Kane, his one true friend, and his only counsel. He met him when he was just a toddler himself and they got along just fine due to the fact that they shared a birthday. They were as thick as thieves, always up to no good, always the bad batch.

Unlike Arthur though, Bob went on to become a lawyer. He had no problem making many friends in university due to his good looks and friendly demeanour. Arthur never understood why women dropped to his feet but apparently his small blue eyes, short black slick backed hair, strong chin, medium sized Roman nose and small lips were attractive to some women.

The majority of people could not believe that they came from the same neighbourhood and for many it was inconceivable that someone like Bob could even associate himself with 'someone like Arthur'.

Arthur looked the complete opposite of Bob both in features and attire. Arthur's small brown eyes often changed according to his mood: when he was in a pleasant mood his eyes were like hot coco but when he was in a mood to crush the other person his eyes were as black as kohl.

He often wore casual clothes like distressed jeans and polo shirts with their collars popped which contrasted with Bob's suits. His hair, naturally curly, he often spiked until it added three inches to his height although he more often than not already towered over people being six foot whereas Bob was only 5"9.

According to Harley Arthur had this boyish look to him that some women swooned for. However, even he couldn't deny that his facial scars scared off many people. He had a small scar on his lower lip which forked at the top and a long smooth scar on his right cheek which reached from his mouth to his cheekbone making it look like he had a one sided smirk on his face permanently.

Arthur didn't care too much for female attention not after he came into financial difficulty which also happened to be the topic of discussion with dear Bob.

"Well, how much do you have left?" Bob queried after he took a sip from his coffee.

Arthur hung his head between knees and tongued the scar on his right cheek, "Only enough for, uh, this month."

Bob set his coffee down on his desk and sauntered over to his friend, "Look if worst comes to worse, you can always borrow from me" Bob paused, took a seat next to his friend on his brown leathered sofa and stared ahead. He bowed his head and rested his hand on Arthur's shoulder "You don't need to pay me back, you know."

Arthur interjected "Yes I do, Bob. It ain't right."

"You're my brother. My money is your money" Bob added.

Arthur shook his head and looked Bob in the eye, "Bob, life is good to you right now. It always has been. I don't know if you'll be sayin' that when you hit hard times."

Bob punched Arthur on the shoulder before he stood and returned to the window, "Don't you say shit like that to me Artie."

"Just sayin'. Anyway, I gotta go! Gotta go get the grocerie-eeees for this week before Lucy gets home." Arthur snatched his leather jacket from the top of the sofa and walked past Bob without a single glance.

Bob saw him out, "Arthur! I was serious, ya know! If you need anything, you come to me."

Arthur waved goodbye without turning and left Bob's apartment. Luckily for Arthur, Bob lived in the richer parts of the city which meant the supermarkets weren't too far.

Now, if only he had enough money to set him up properly so he could move Harley and Lucy to a better part of the city and out of the Narrows.

;-;-;-;-;

Lucy trudged back home from school, distressed as usual. Being a first grader in elementary school wasn't hard unless of course you were the outcast who everyone picked on. Now, in any normal world it was illegal for a child to go home unaccompanied, especially if it was a six-year-old. However, this was Gotham, more specifically the Narrows.

Anything went as long as it was convenient.

Lucy absentmindedly kicked a stone out of her path as she proceeded down the path that she memorised by heart.

Now while it was illegal for a child not to be picked up by a parent or a guardian, Lucy's parents were 'unavailable' so she had to return home by herself. As did most of the children in her school but there were a few rare handfuls of children whose parents had employers with hearts of gold and allowed them a short break to pick up their child or children.

Evidently, Lucy was not one of those few lucky children. Her father worked himself like a dog and was rarely at home and her mother… well, Lucy did not regard her as a mother.

Lucy nearly stopped her pace in deep thought in the middle of the road which could have been a death sentence but she quickly shook her head and pulled up her hoodie. She quickened pace knowing that she was not completely alone. In the narrows there was a cockroach in every corner.

Fortunately, Lucy's school wasn't too far away from her home and she often arrived home in roughly fifteen minutes. Despite the short distance the journey was still so miserable. Firstly, it was almost always raining lately as if God knew Lucy was down and wanted to further dampen her mood. Secondly, Lucy was afraid of many things in the Narrows, all of which were rational fears, and this caused her much anxiety.

For one, Lucy did not like rats as she feared their freakish size and she just so happened to spot one a few yards away as she jumped over a puddle. She had nearly slipped and cracked her head open. Surprising, even herself, she instead landed on her feet and slipped to her knees rather than face first.

Once, Lucy had a nightmare that a rat tried to eat her mainly because she had once witnessed a rat eat a dead homeless man's fingers off. Her daddy had assured her that the rats wouldn't get her that night but it did not quell her fears. Now, as she half jogged home she thought she heard it scuttling behind her.

In a state of hysteria Lucy began to run for her life. Once she reached her front door, she slipped out the necklace that held the door key and struggled to open it due to her being vertically challenged.

When the door clicked open she dashed in and locked it with the three locks attached to the door which were placed lower than usual for her sake.

She turned and rested her back on the door; she breathed a sigh of relief until she heard her name being called.

"Lucy! Lucy, is that you?"

Lucy groaned regretfully under her breath, "Yeah! It's me"

Harleen came into the hallway wearing her new black lacy lingerie, "Whaddya think?"

Lucy scrutinised her mother. Her mother's eyes were blue and had specks of hazel in them and when she was particularly excited they would shimmer as they were now. Her face was caked with makeup, her delicate shaped nose was practically another shade of white and her medium sized lips were practically popping with the red lipstick that stained them. Her cheek bones were pink with the blusher she added but it looked more like a blossoming bruise than a blush.

Lucy also noted that her mother's naturally brown hair had been dyed a honey blonde which did not suit her in any way. She had curled them to the point that her hair reached her shoulders rather than her chest where they naturally sat. It all looked so wrong, so fake.

Lucy did not think her mother was beautiful in any sense of the word even though she knew many people thought she was, what with her looks and her 'perfect' body. Her mother was on the skinny side and was 5"6; she dressed fashionably to the times and had a way with people. Lucy, on the other hand, knew what her mother was truly like and her mother was an ugly person, but she wasn't about to tell her that anytime soon. The last time she did she didn't hear the end of it.

So, Lucy settled with the average answer, "You look fine".

Harleen's cheeriness shattered, "Fine? Just fine?" She put her defensive pose on which was her putting her hands on her hips and staring down at the other person over her nose.

Lucy felt her brows crease in agitation, "Yeah"

Harleen fumed "I spend all this time trying to look my best for your father, and all you have to say about my effort is that I look fine?"

Lucy threw her bag off her back and started to take off her coat but Harleen stopped her, "Hey, don't be rude! I'm talking to you!"

"I don't care!" Lucy bellowed back, "Leave me alone!"

Lucy ran off to her room before Harleen could grapple her wrist. All Lucy heard before she shut her door was her mother hollering at her "Ungrateful brat!"

A few hours later, Lucy sat in her room having completed a few drawings, she was on her fourth one when she heard the front door slam open. Her mood instantly lifted at the thought of her father returning and all but ran towards him.

She swung her door open and was met with the sight of her father setting the groceries on the floor and kicking his shoes off.

"Daddy!"

Arthur looked up and instantly beamed at her, "Little angel!" He held his arms out for her to come to him. Lucy didn't hesitate to race into his arms. Arthur raised her above his head and twirled; they both shared their first laugh of the day.

Their laughter just so happened to arouse Harleen, who had thrown on a glamourized blue tracksuit, and was leaning on the threshold which led to the kitchen "Hi Puddin'!"

Arthur's smile dipped down slightly at the sight of her. He put Lucy down and patted her on the head.

"Harley" he nodded her way "How are my girls doin'?"

Lucy hopped in her spot and she enthusiastically explained her drawings to him whereas Harley smirked and mouthed something incomprehensible to him.

Arthur carried the groceries to the kitchen with the help of Lucy who was still rattling on.

"Hey Harley, what did you give Lucy?"

"What?" Harleen looked behind her after she put the jar of peanut butter away.

Arthur asked in a light tone but Harleen knew that behind his smile, there was a threat "Lucy, what did she have for dinner? What did you give her?"

Harleen didn't think twice before telling him "Nothing."

Arthur raised his brows in exaggeration and looked down to his feet where Lucy was practically hugging his leg, "Lucy, you didn't have dinner? What did I say about that, huh?"

Lucy smiled up to him not sensing the tense atmosphere between Arthur and Harleen "It's my house so I can eat whatever and whenever I want."

"Ex-actly! So, what does your little stomach desire right now?"

Lucy held a hand to her chin in thought, "I don't know what desire means. But I want to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!"

Arthur chuckled at his daughter "To desire something is to want something. So if I say, what do you desire? I am saying, what do you want? Understand Lou?"

"Yeah!" Lucy jumped, giggling.

"Good, now why dontcha sit down there and I'll whip you up that sandwich"

"Yay!" and Lucy ran off.

Arthur turned to Harley and pierced her with a dark look, "As for you, Har-ley, we need to have a little, uh, talk-ah."

Harley stood abruptly and left "Whatever".

Lucy watched her mother leave before she asked, "Daddy, can I have a double sandwich?"

"I don't know. Do ya think your tiny body can handle it at this time?" Arthur peered over his shoulder.

Lucy thoughtfully held a hand to her chin, "Hm, maybe"

"How about we save that second sandwich for tomorrow, huh?"

It was a real let down but Lucy wasn't about to complain. She was getting food made by her dad!

After Lucy was fed and Arthur tucked her in he stalked off to his room where he found Harley on the bed. What a disgusting sight it was. She lay wearing black skimpy lingerie and had the audacity to order him around.

He inhaled deeply and relaxed his shoulders, "Oh Harley. What should I do to you?" he asked slyly as he shut the door to their room.

She played coy, "Whatever you want, Puddin'!"

Arthur got to his knees and crawled on top of her, "Harley, you sure?"

She batted her lids at him, "Sure"

Arthur smirked cruelly "Ok"

The hand that he had gently laid on her neck quickly began to squeeze the life out of her. She struggled against him, withering like a worm out in the open, and pawed at his hand.

He eased the pressure but kept his hand on her throat, "What's the matter, Harley? You said I could do whatever I wanted" he asked in a faux sweet tone.

She coughed "Puddin'! What did I do wrong?"

Arthur chuckled darkly, "You didn't feed Lucy! Our daughter! For whatever shit excuse, you didn't give her dinner! Have you seen her body recently?" Arthur shook her roughly "Have you?"

"What do you mean, Arthur?" she was playing the dumb card.

Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and the voice grew rougher, more violent, "You. You love to rile me up, dontcha?"

Harleen felt dread set in her stomach. Her body began to shiver and she broke out in cold sweat.

Arthur cocked his head to the side, "Harley, Harley, Harley. What money did you use to buy this shit with?"

Harleen gulped "The allowance yo- you gave me last week-"

Arthur interjected and leaned down until his nose was an inch away from her face "The money I told you to spend on Lucy, hm?"

Harleen shrunk and stammered "Ye- yes."

Arthur clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Harley, do ya know, uh, how much-ah money I got left?"

Harley silently sobbed as Arthur's grip increased gradually "I only have enough for this month… and I don't know if you know this but, uh, the month is coming to an end soon". Arthur nodded his head and casually leaned back "So, what have you done to help pay the bills, hm?"

Harleen's only response was a quick shake of the head and attempted to remove herself from his dangerous grip.

Arthur's brows furrowed and he queried from her as if he never paused, "or what have you done to help Lucy?"

Harleen began to quiver and cry with volume now. Arthur shook her and told her to shut up but when she failed to dampen her cries, he slapped her lightly, albeit from Harleen's perspective it was done so with brute force.

Arthur soon understood that Harleen was in no condition to answer him so he left her alone on the bed and took the couch. He awoke several hours later with a stiff body and a splitting headache. Much to his surprise, he found Harley a few feet from him, asleep.

He never truly understood that woman; he wasn't violent with her in the start but a year after Lucy was born it was apparent to him that Harley was not motherly material, so he took it upon himself to educate Harley how to become a better mother. Alas, it had not worked thus far.

Despite his treatment, she always crawled back and she always would; ever since he came to this revelation he began to detest her. She had no dignity. She was no woman. She was not even human.

Increasingly, he questioned as to why he kept her around, but he never came up with an adequate answer.

;-;-;-;-;

The few days that came after were uneventful for both Arthur and Lucy. However, it was after a full week later that Lucy first experienced something terrifyingly eventful.

It had begun with the same routine as always. Lucy woke up, had a quick and unsatisfying breakfast, tried to survive the day at school and then returned home. It was certainly an evening she wouldn't forget.

Lucy's wellies squelched as she jumped over another puddle. She had thought ahead and had brought her wellies with her to school and right on que it had rained during last period. Fortunately, the rain had died down by the time it was time to go home. It was in these conditions that Lucy had the most fun because she would attempt to play Leapfrog with the puddles and her imaginary friends.

As she hopped over the last puddle in sight, she heard a low snigger. At first she thought it was all in her head until she glanced behind her and found a hooded figure. From the person's build it looked to be a man, he wore a grey baggy tracksuit and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. She couldn't see his face at all as it was shrouded in the shadow of his hood; all she could make out was a hooked nose and a bit of his chin.

There was a long tense pause where Lucy froze and held her breath and the man simply stood there shifting from foot to foot. Lucy swallowed thickly and shook some of her free hair out of her face. She turned to her side completely and clenched her shaking hands. She was scared that if he heard her breathe then he would get her. It didn't help that his eyes looked to be glinting in the darkening light.

She remembered her daddy telling her to never trust anyone in the Narrows, no man, woman or child. They all wanted something from her and wanted to hurt her. A shiver crawled up her spine as she remembered the kids at school talking about the boogie man who stole kids in the narrows to eat them for dinner.

Belatedly, it dawned on Lucy that he had been slowly trailing behind her which scared her out of her wits and set her off into a panicked frenzy. Without another thought she scampered down the road and her pace increased as she heard his quick feet behind her.

Tears began to blind her because even she knew her short legs wouldn't get her home soon enough despite being so close to home. Her bag bounced as she ran and turned a corner which allowed her to narrowly miss from being spirited away. She heard a crash behind her but daren't look behind her.

There was the door to her apartment complex just a few feet away. Her hands shook as she pushed the door open but her hope died somewhat as she remembered the stairs she had to take. She lived on the top floor which was the fifth one, and could take her forever to reach but she tried nonetheless. She heard the door bust open and hit the wall behind as she reached the bottom of the first set of stairs.

She glanced behind her and screamed when she saw how close his dirty hands were but then she hit something hard. Lucy heard a grunt and she fell to the floor. She squeezed her eyes as the pain flowered on her head and bottom. Lucy sat up and rubbed her head but as she opened her eyes she found that she had ran directly into the back of someone's knees. Lucy trailed her eyes up from the person's feet to their head.

The first thing she saw were leather knee high black boots which were accompanied by six large metallic studs on the tips with many straps on the shin region climbing up to the knee. After the shoes came the black trousers, which was accompanied by a graphic t-shirt which depicted the satanic symbol with a skull and a long black leather trench coat.

Lucy realised it was an Indian woman; her skin was a very dark smooth brown and her kohl black wavy hair reached her bottom. At the neck region, the woman wore a few silver chains of varying lengths and a large studded choker. Her thick lips were lined with black matte lipstick, she had a septum piercing on her Grecian nose and she wore black eyeshadow around her large almond shaped black eyes.

Her left ear held one silver small hoop in the standard lobe region whilst her right held many piercings. Her right ear sported an industrial, a standard lobe, an upper lobe, an orbital and a helix piercing.

The Indian woman menacingly glared down at Lucy and one of her sharp eyebrow was arched questionably. She was a tall and imposing woman, almost as tall as Lucy's father at 6 foot and the heels on her boots were nothing like the heels Lucy's mother wore. Instead, this woman wore small and thick heeled boots which hardly gave her any height and still she towered over both Lucy and the stalker.

Lucy's lips and chin quivered in real fear as this ominous woman shot daggers at her with those icy black eyes. There was some relief when the Indian woman's eyes shifted towards the man who had been chasing Lucy.

Lucy also turned to the stalker and was not shocked to find that the man was hesitating and was on the verge of running. Clearly, he was having second thoughts after running into this situation. The woman turned fully to the stalker and arched her brow even further which Lucy did not think was possible.

The woman cocked her head and the man was off; she did not pursue him, there was no need. He wouldn't dare make a move against her. She had not uttered a word but it was clear to the stalker that the woman was not going to stand around and let him do as he pleased.

"Do- don't hurt me" Lucy's voice broke the woman's stare.

The woman looked down at Lucy and just appraised Lucy as she shrunk under her gaze.

"Why on earth would I do that, child?" her deep feminine voice responded.

Lucy only eyeballed her which made the woman look to the ceiling and back down to her.

The woman sighed through her nose, "Well, are you going to stay down there all night?"

Lucy blinked several times and clumsily stood and dusted herself off all the while the woman scrutinised her. Once Lucy was on her feet, stable, the woman turned and began to hike up the stairs two at a time without another word to Lucy.

Lucy's eyes widened at the thought of being left alone, after all the man could return at any moment, so she scuttled behind the woman, "Wait up!" Lucy called.

The woman stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Lucy who stopped literally near the woman's spiked toes. It hurt Lucy's neck to look at her this close so she took a few steps back and stumbled on her own apology.

Lucy couldn't help but wonder what the woman thought of Lucy. A small little six year old Caucasian girl, soaking wet and with mousey frizzled brown hair and ragged clothes literally ran into her knees and then started to follow her.

"Could you please, uh, help me get home lady?" Lucy asked hopefully, as the woman had inadvertently saved her before.

Lucy looked up from her shoes to the woman's eyes which were staring at her apathetically, "He's gone. You should go home yourself, you live in this building, don't you? He won't be back"

Lucy felt her shoulder's sag as she declined her request, "How did you know?"

The woman arched a brow, "You wouldn't have rushed in for the stairs if you hadn't lived here"

The woman spoke funny. She didn't sound like the other Asians in Lucy's school but at least not completely: she sounded more like the old man in that one white and black movie her daddy liked.

"Oh" Lucy said before she hung her head. The woman paused a moment before she turned and ascended the stairs. She didn't slow down but she called over her shoulder, "I don't have all day, child"

Lucy snapped her neck up; a small smile graced her lips and she began to bound after the woman.

Lucy was still wary of the woman as she was a dangerous stranger which her appearance seemed to emit as well so Lucy kept her distance but the only reason Lucy trusted the woman was due to the fact that she showed little to no interest in Lucy.

At the top of every level the woman would glance at Lucy to check which level she would go to, unbeknownst to Lucy. Finally, at the top level, Lucy ran to the end of the corridor, the last out of the four doors and was getting ready to open the door with the key on her neck when she spotted the woman entering the first door at the top of the corridor.

Lucy halted and held her key in her own hand as she witnessed the woman pull out her own key from her pocket. Lucy also took notice of the black fingerless gloves the woman wore and called out to her after she opened the door, "Hey, lady!"

Lucy's heart almost stopped in fear as the woman glanced over to Lucy.

When Lucy only stared the woman began to enter her apartment but Lucy ran over to the middle of the corridor despite her better judgement. Lucy didn't go any further as she still feared the woman and she was paralysed in her spot once the woman looked over at her again.

"Since when were you living here?"

The woman stepped out and closed her door, leaned on it, and folded her arms. "What's it to you?"

Lucy moistened her lips with a swipe of her tongue, "I haven't seen ya here before, and you talk funny".

The woman raised her chin, "I moved here today."

"So, we're neighbours then" Lucy stated.

"You could say that." The woman nodded.

"How did you make the bad man go away?" Lucy quickly demanded as the woman made to move inside her apartment.

This time the woman kept her hand on the door hand and squinted at Lucy, "You really want to know, child?"

Lucy nodded her head with vigour.

"When he saw me, he knew I wouldn't take any rubbish from him. That's why he ran."

"Rubbish?" Lucy asked, confused,

"Garbage, bullshit, whatever you want to call it" the woman explained.

"Oh" Lucy nodded as if understanding.

"Look, heed my advice, child" the woman stared Lucy down who had perked up in attention.

"No matter who it is, do not listen to their disparaging comments, and have confidence in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself then you'll never get anything in life because no one else will believe in you. So, if someone is trying to cut you down, you should stand up for yourself and give them a reason not to bother you again."

With that she was gone. Lucy didn't understand half of the words the woman said but she understood what the woman was trying to say to her.

She didn't know why the woman had said that to her but nonetheless it lifted her spirits.

Lucy giggled and skipped back to her door and entered her home without any of the anxiety of the day following her.

By the time she changed into something more comfortable and was not soaking wet her father was back and thankfully her mother was not home which meant one thing: the two of them could have fun.

"Where's my little girl?" Arthur asked as he entered the living room. He knew the moment he entered that as he was not confronted by Harleen that she was probably out licking her wounds.

Lucy hid behind the door and quietly snickered, putting a hand on her mouth, but Arthur found her as soon as the door shut.

"There she is!" he took her by the waist and swung her in the air in the circle.

"Daddy! Faster!" Lucy screamed as Arthur waved her above his head.

Arthur exclaimed "Oh no, the princess might fly away, I'm gonna have ta bring her down!" He brought Lucy down and they both crashed down with Lucy on his chest.

They both laughed joyfully, but then Lucy tapped him on the chest "Tag!"

Then she was off and in her parents room, she hid underneath the bed, and soon found her father crawling on the floor pretending not to notice her. "Ooh, where did she go? Didchya use your magic, little princess?"

Lucy giggled again which Arthur used to bait her out on, "There she is!"

He grabbed her and gently pulled her out. He settled her on the bed and tickled her belly. He blew raspberries on her stomach and Lucy began to cry as her laughter got the best of her.

"Daddy! Stop! I can't breathe!"

When Lucy had calmed down, Arthur sat next to her Indian style and asked, "Did you have dinner yet, you little monkey?"

"No, I just got home a few minutes ago"

Arthur's face grew concerned and his smile drooped somewhat, "What? This late? Lucy, what have I told you!" He scolded.

Lucy sat up, not entirely noticing her father's drop in mood "It's not my fault Dad. There was this… really scary man. And he followed me! He tried to EAT me! But then this even scarier lady saved me. She was so scary, Daddy, that the man ran away."

Though she tried to reassure him, it only concerned her father more. "What? Lucy, why didn't you tell me before? Are you hurt? Where did that bastard go? What woman?"

Lucy was taken back as her father never swore but gave him an answer nonetheless. Her father didn't scare her, not one bit, even with his scars; in fact, his scars looked funny to her as he had had them even before she was born. It was at the age of four did she learn it was not 'normal' to have scars.

Yet, when her father swore and spoke in that tone he used with Harleen sometimes, it made her wonder whether he was truly scary to others. She didn't know what lengths her father could go to when he was angry.

"I fell over and hit my head but the scary lady with the all those hoops saved me, Daddy! I'm telling you! She was scary, her clothes were all scary too, with these scary looking demons on them and she had a lot of these spikes on her clothing! And she was a little rude too but she was nice, Daddy. She looked like a biker, sorta." Lucy nodded, smiling at the memory, but then she saw the look on her father's face and realised that he was not at all pleased.

"Hoops?" Arthur questioned as he checked over her head finding only a slight bump.

"Yeah, she had a lot on one of her ears, going all the way to the top. They looked like they hurt."

Arthur was silent for a moment, then he began to rummage through a draw and handed something to Lucy. It was heavy and looked strange as Lucy had never seen anything like it.

"This is a Taser, Lou. When people try to hurt you, you just use this, ok?"

Lucy looked up with a puzzled expression at her father who stared at her with deep dark eyes which reflected only worry.

"I'll show you how to use it later. Just tell me what that man and woman looked like, kay?"

Lucy became shy and set the taser down beside her. She sat on her calves, and looked at the door, trying to remember the most she could. "I couldn't see the man but he was very tall. Maybe a lot shorter than you Daddy, but he…. He had one of those hoodies on." Her little voice became squeakier, signifying to Arthur how much of a scare that man really gave her.

Lucy carried on but there was not much to go on so Arthur managed to get Lucy talking about the woman, "Oh, Daddy she looked so scary but… she also looked so cool! Like when you hold your gun! All she did was look at him like POW! And then the man was running away like that cartoon blue bird on the TV from the Coyote"

"Lou! Lou! Forget about the road runner just tell me, what did she look like?"

"Uh, she, uh, she was brown and she was tall like the Green Lady!"

Arthur sniggered, "you mean Lady Liberty?"

"Yeah! And she wasn't even wearing shoes that mom and all those other ladies wear! And all her clothes were black." Lucy then gasped, "Daddy! Even her makeup was black! Mom always said people who wear black make up are stupid and bad people! Like criminals! But she was saved me, Daddy!"

Arthur scrunched his brows together, "What? That doesn't make any sense… black makeup doesn't turn people into criminals" Arthur whispered underneath his breath.

"Mom said black makeup was not flabbering-"

"You mean flattering" Arthur stifled a laugh and corrected her.

"Yeah that! And she was wearing black jeans Dad, I thought jeans were only made blue. And she had black lips and big black eyes. She looked scary, really scary dad."

Arthur licked his lips, "So she was tall, wore everything black-"

Lucy quickly added, "Oh and her hair was SO LONG Dad, it went up to her butt! How did she do that Daddy?"

"Maybe it was a wig. Ok, so tall, long hair, black everything, and she-"

Lucy interrupted again, "But it looked so real. Oh, and don't forget she had a lot of hoops on her ears"

"Yeah, so a lot of ear piercings-"

Lucy looked at her father curiously, "Piercings?"

"Earrings, princess" Arthur calmly explained to which Lucy nodded.

Arthur waited for Lucy to add anything else but when she was quiet, he motioned that he was about to speak but Lucy quickly started talking again which made him smile and sigh inwardly.

"Oh yeah, Dad! She spoke funny. She said 'rubbish'. That's so weird. Who says rubbish?"

Arthur furrowed his brow, "Rubbish?"

"Yeah, she said it meant garbage or bullshit!"

Arthur's eyebrows shot up, "Lucy, don't-"

"She spoke funny but not like the Indians at school. She spoke like that old man on the black and white TV you watch"

"You said she was Indian?"

"Yeah" then Lucy hesitated "Well, she looked like it"

Arthur smiled down at his daughter "Lou, don't just guess where people are from just by their skin. Remember that man you gave a few dollars to last summer? You thought he was American just because he was white when he was actually European. Lou, this a very vast world with various types of… well everything. Including people and since the start of time people have always been travelling so you never really get one type of person or ethnicity no matter where you go."

Lucy was about to question as to why that was the case but her Father had never said anything wrong before. "What's eth…ne..city?"

"Ethnicity. It's basically where people are from. To be more exact it is when people identify to be part of a group who share with each other similarities like as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, do ya get it?"

Lucy didn't know what ancestry was, or what culture was either; she lost him after 'identify', "So it means where people are from?"

"Yeah basically. Maybe that woman was Australian. Or British? They use rubbish a lot or she could just be a weirdo" Arthur spoke his thoughts out loud.

Then a thought came to Lucy, and she tugged on his sleeve, "Daddy. The lady told me something but she said some words I don't get"

Arthur looked at his daughter in curiosity, "Oh?"

"Yeah. She said not to listen to dis….disparagraphing…..disparaging comments and to have confidence. What does that mean, Dad, disparaging?"

Arthur was amazed by Lucy's memory because sometimes it was like a goldfish's but other times she could remember both the exact detail and words in the certain events.

"I think she meant not to listen to anyone's bad words about yourself and not to let them hurt you."

"She also said to stand up for myself. She was scary but she was good to me daddy!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah", Lucy stood up on the bed, "She was real scary dad, I wish you could've been there."

"Yeah, well whoever she was, I'm grateful she was there otherwise I would have gone crazy without ya, Lou Baby"

To be continued….

A/N:

Hi people, thank you for reading the first chapter. If you want more then don't worry, you won't have to wait too long. Nonetheless, a review would be appreciated. Also, did anyone catch all of the hints/references?

Just to help those readers who like to visualise, these are who the characters are supposed to look like:

Arthur – Heath Ledger (obviously)

Harleen – Katie Holmes

Indian woman/OC – Smita Patil

Lucy – Heath ledgers daughter (but not completely)

Bob – Wes Bentley (he's only based on him, so he doesn't look exactly like him)