I feel it every day,

It's all the same,

It brings me down,

And I'm the one to blame...

NOVA

Within the confines of her flower prison, there was nothing to indicate anything of the passing of time. It was dark and about as insulated as one expected a closed flower to be, and it was surely killing off every remnant of Nova's sanity with each passing second. For the first of what she assumed were hours (she counted at first but quickly lost her way and momentum), Nova clawed at the petal walls, assuming it would be easy to tear through and break free. It really wasn't. Even if her weak nails had been capable of ripping the petals that confined her, she really didn't have the heart to damage a plant like that. It was pathetic. It would be like raising a hand to a child. She couldn't do it. The only thing that even remotely kept her anchored to her sanity were the ongoing sounds from the outside world that echoed about from wherever she was. She had to assume the greenhouse, or the house itself... that was unless she wasn't even at Ivy's base. Nova had no way of knowing and it was driving her ever further down the deep end. At least it was clear it was Ivy's voice she was hearing, along with all it's seductive glory. Even all muffled and passed through the thickest layer of the flower's shell, the way Ivy would say certain things, or the way her tone would change and shift and drop would send a shiver down Nova's spine.

"Nova, dear, I hope you're keeping that plant well nourished," Ivy's pretentious, drawling tone cut through her reverie, drawing her back into the stifling darkness she was smothered with. Nova rolled her eyes in irritation, giving no response beyond a rebellious scoff. Of course she was. It was all she could do to keep herself alive. If she fed the plant it would feed it's strength back into her and the exchange would keep the both of them nourished. Ivy wasn't finished with her lecturing, "Now, you see, petal, I'm heading out to do some research as it occurred to me in the early hours this morning that I actually know nothing about you." There was a pause, where Nova could hear the sound of somebody brushing their hair, and it was obnoxiously loud, "Tell you what, my captive chrysanthemum, if you tell me of your name; I will let you out a little earlier than I was intending."

Nova considered this, frowning, playing with her lower lip. It was certainly very tempting, but one bargain always led to another and the stakes would always be upped until the circumstances became inescapable and there was nothing left to live for. As long as she kept as much of herself as secret as she could, then she would always have the upper hand. It would drive Ivy even nuttier than she already was. The blighted Green Goddess was evidently irritated by the ineffective silence,

"Bad move, kitten."

She spat the word out, gritting her teeth around it, mocking her with it.

The sharp pang through her heart was everything to do with the fact that this had been Jared's favourite pet name for her.

"If you let me out..." Nova's voice wavered over the word 'out' - the reality of how trapped she was hitting her, "... I'll tell you anything-"

"Stop talking like that."

"What?"

"As if you're saner than the rest of us. Like you have it better. You don't, dahlia. You're just as doomed as the rest of this corrupt city."

Nova swallowed rather audibly, wetting her lips. It terrified her that Ivy could seemingly read her mind even when she was imprisoned in her floral cage. Her heart throbbed oddly, screaming her to admit that Ivy was right - even internally would be enough. Another, not so poignant part of herself argued that the moment she started to believe the things Ivy told her about herself, would be the moment all was lost. Through the means of a fleeting breath - a bristling of leaves in a spring breeze - she accepted the confrontation. It was true. Nothing was the same.

"The walls are pulsating," she whispered, knowing that Ivy's superior senses could pick it up.

"Anything else?"

"Colours are... different... I've also forgotten what the sky looks like."

"Poor, delicate rose. If you behave yourself and accept what you are now, and your obligation by my side; I'll set you free and show you the sun rise and set... daily." Her tone was oddly intimate, touching on that of a lover's - a paramour. It set fire to Nova's nerves and she found herself developing that unexpected soft feeling that buzzed at her spine and the back of her head. Nova felt deceptively safe. Treasured, in some way. This was no good.

"Do you really have to talk to me like that?"

"Would you prefer a scornful mistress?"

"I would prefer my freedom."

"You speak more like I do every passing day, do you realise, lavender?"

"No I do not."

There was no response to this - only a classy peal of laughter. Nova licked her lips again and placed a hand on the soft petal to her side, it felt as though it were carressing her back.

"I return later, lilypad. I'd offer you the specifics, but..." her sentence wavered as she giggled, "I'm sure time is one of many concepts to have fallen from your grasp." Her laughter was cruel now.

"Time, time, time, time, time, time..." Nova muttered uncertainly to herself.

"This is the purest proof that time spent around those savages does nout but dessicate the brain."

"Savagery... animals. Hunger. Pain. Strife."

It was a summary - a linking of words - which was all her mind could muster these days. Ivy had left at that point, Nova was sure, as there was no response.

IVY

There was something beautiful about the earliest breaks of dawn. Not even just that but the things it brought with it - little things. Dew drops on the leaves, breaks in the sky... reflections. It was the little things, the natural things that gave Ivy the love for the world that she needed. Passion was more accurate. It couldn't be said that there was anything that Ivy actually loved beyond plants. Ivy was fond of things. Ivy was fond of Nova. A girl who was so filled with passion - the very reason Ivy had picked this girl was because of that very passion. Brought to Arkham Asylum for headbutting a pig-cop during a protest in favour of plants. It all linked so beautifully. When she'd seen the blossom attack the meatbag for the second time... that was when she'd known. This girl was woven from the same thread as she. A kindred spirit in a doomed life like this could surely be a thing to seek out and eventually possess.

Possess.

That was the key word.

That was how The Joker phrased his thing with Harley from time to time - their dysfunctional onslaught of a romance was so topsy turvy, and yet, somehow, the two of them ended up as equals. Sure, Joker was the boss as a front - on the front cover - but Harley was just as instrumental as he. She was integral to his daily operations, the way their system worked. Harley would play the dumb, pretty blonde act and it would be assumed she was harmless, and so she heard things. None knew she was the psychology major, the very psychiatrist who had made the most process with The Joker ever. Harley heard things, she deciphered things and saw through things and later The Joker would hear about it - and even later, the right people would die or be rewarded. Even Ivy had to admit it was a good system.

As far as she could tell, the clowns were partners in crime. The one thing that wasn't clear was whether either of them knew whether it was true love or obsession.

Enough about them. Today was a day of discovery of a different kind.

Ivy trailed her fingers along the nearest branch, the familiarity of the texture was a necessity. The property across the way was the one she was in search of - it had a lot of answers to the questions she had - the ones Nova would continue to refuse to give her. Florence Caldwell. A pretty name, that. Not as fitting as the title Ivy had given her upon their meeting. Florence suggested that she were delicate, that she was a daisy, when she was actually a snapdragon or a venus flytrap. Nova communicated that - the name fit her progeny like a glove. It irked at Ivy that she'd been forced to seek it out, though, to seduce someone and make them give her the name. She'd had to go to Town Hall and look through files and pictures. It had been a grimy experience. Nova would pay for it later.

There was a movement passing by one of the windows.

... A man? There was a man inside Florence Caldwell's registered address. With a snarl, Ivy hastened to glide down to the property, a vine snaking through to obliterate the lock and let her in. She was upon the stranger in an instant, glorious eyes blazing and teeth clenched so tightly that they were like fangs,

"It's not considered polite to enter another's home with invitation."

Even with a hand around his throat and a vine wrapped tight around his waist, the man managed to be witty, "Maybe you should practice what you preach."

Ivy cocked an eyebrow, "How do you know I don't have an invitation?"

"How do you know I don't? And besides, you had to ruin the lock to get in."

"A fair observation." Ivy let the man down, eyes narrowed as she scrutinised him. The vine remained secured around his waist.

"See, I have a key. This is the home I share with-" he cleared his throat and shook his head, it was clear he found it difficult to breach the subject matter, "shared with my girlfriend, before she left."

Oh? How interesting. The man was deluded.

"She left? Where did she go?"

"I have no idea. I don't know, alright? You need to go. That's what I know."

He moved to shepherd her towards the door but Ivy raised a finger, wagging it at him as her plant yanked him back rather harshly.

"Ah, ah, ah. Answer my questions and you might just live. What is... was your lover's name?"

"Florence."

Ivy inhaled rather sharply. The betrayal stung her like weed killer. Nova had kept this from her, had made her think-

Ivy never saw red when she got mad - she simply saw a dark, more violent shade of green. The hand once again wrapped itself around the man's throat, the indignation was back.

"And what is your name?"

"J-Jared," he choked out, struggling now that the grip was tighter - all pretences of wit and confidence had long since slipped away and now he was just a man who had no idea how much trouble he'd gotten himself in simply because he'd said the one name that would have ensured his doom.

"Jared," Ivy breathed, eyes lighting up with the information. Jared. She could use this, she knew. Manipulation was a strong suit.

"Why do you want to know all this?" He appeared to have been conserving his breath, as this answer came out fairly coherently.

"Because your girlfriend is my girlfriend now," Ivy sneered. It wasn't true, but it would do the trick. Just as Ivy expected, Jared took the bait, his face contorting into one of barely restrained anger,

"Excuse me?"

"Except, of course, she's not going by Florence anymore..."

"What are you talking about?" He was visibly very riled up by now. 'Twas the result of asking question after question and having none of them answered. It would drive anybody right down the road to fury.

"Here's it is, Jared; the deal. Nova is with me, now, and you shall be the... best behaved bit of blackmail in the god awful history of this world. Do you understand that?"

Jared fidgeted about uncomfortably within her grasp, "You're not going to get far with that. She doesn't care about me. She left."

Ivy simply laughed and shoved him headfirst into the nearest wall to knock him out.

NOVA

Nova tried not to pay attention to how much time was passing. Not only did she have no idea, but she was having trouble actually counting - she would get as far as 13 and then everything would go blank and the next few in the sequence would dissipate from her mind, along with the rest - her reasoning for this came to 13 being an unlucky number. It was all she could come up with. It was as far as her unreasonable mind would take her when it came to rationalisation. Instead, to pass the time, she murmured things to her plant captor, having a conversation that, from an outsider's perspective (or someone who wasn't Ivy), would appear to be one sided. She twinned this with gentle caresses to the petals around her. It was an odd feeling to be soothing her captor like this, but this plant was no ordinary captor - it possessed no malicious intent - plants were obedient creatures by nature, and Ivy had taken advantage of that to bend them to her will, and so Nova could not blame her captor.

Nova had just been contemplating the chain of command in the current setting, when she heard the front door being kicked in. Someone was doing a hell of a job trying to struggle their way away from who Nova immediately assumed to be Ivy. Her sympathetic head shaking was cut short, however, when the back and forth began:

"What the hell is that?"

"That, dear Jared, is your beloved, run-away girlfriend."

"You turned her into a plant?!"

"In some ways."

Nova couldn't breathe. She couldn't even speak to call out to him. He was here. Here. How was that possible? How could she save him? He couldn't be here. Ivy would kill him without a doubt.

"I'd really prefer you just killed me, to be honest, if you're planning on answering every question like that."

Nova sniffled rather loudly and smacked a hand to her mouth in shock, trying to cover the effects of her sorrow. There was a heavy silence in the room, and when Jared next spoke, all traces of wit or joviality had dropped from his tone,

"That was her, wasn't it?"

"It could have been any of my many experiments," Ivy's answer was just littered with lies and smugness. Nova wanted to punch her more than usual. In fact, if she got out, she'd go straight to throttling her. She licked at her incredibly dry lips and finally managed to speak up,

"Jared..."

"Okay, that was her." Ivy's comedic timing was spot on, but nobody laughed. Nova could hear footsteps nearing her flower prison with every step - they were heavy, like that of a zombie - it had to have been Jared. Ivy was graceful no matter the circumstance or situation,

"Florence? Are you the flower or are you in the flower?"

"I'm not sure anymore."

"Uh, okay. Let me just-"

Ivy intercepted then, "Lay a grubby hand on the plant again and I'll execute you where you stand, meat-bag."

"Yeesh."

"Stand back. Blackmail is most effective when twinned with visuals."

A blinding light of some kind began to peek through into her enclosed cage as the petals peeled back at Ivy's command. The process was slow and teasing, but eventually the job was done and Nova was left curled up in the centre, hiding her eyes; rocking back and forth. She tried harsh blinking, thinking it could speed up the process of the recovery of her eyesight. She so desperately needed to see Jared, and then to feel him-

That was her incentive, and though she tried her hardest to get her eyesight back on her own, it was useless and Ivy strode forward, yanked her head back by her hair, and dropped a foreign, strong smelling liquid into each of her eyes. With a light smack to Nova's cheek, she was left to adjust to the rest on her own. Initially, she couldn't see further than the moisture - her eyes swam and her head ached - bright white turned into foggy grey, a gradient of the previous into sepia, and eventually... colour. Blessed, vibrant colour. A sigh of relief passed her chapped lips, and she squinted at the shapes before her that hadn't quite formed yet. Nova whiped the remaining foreign liquid from her eyes and then she could see. But, oh, how she wished she couldn't. Jared was kneeling a short distance away from her, a pair of scissors discarded on the floor by him. Ivy was stood behind him, a vine wrapped tight and restricting around his throat - a knife held in Ivy's own perfect hand to Jared's temple. Nova clenched her jaw and began to crawl slowly forwards, but stopped short when she saw the way Jared was staring at her.

Horror and pity, pure and unadulterated, coloured his features.

"Don't look at me like that!" She cried out, curling herself back up into a little ball to shield herself from his judgemental eyes.

"What happened to you?" Jared gasped out in what Nova heard to be disgust.

"She became just like me, little man... isn't she monstrous?" Ivy was mocking, chiding, her grin was broad on her red lips. She curved a hand round and down his jaw, pushing her hand to rest on the cheek furthest away from her.

"Change her back. Now. Do it now. Do it. Change her ba-" Jared started to babble the way he always did when he panicked, cut off by the vine around his throat clenching his throat tighter.

"Oh, that's rich!" Nova snarled, trembling with the fury she'd held inside her now for God knows how long. The majority of it was directed at Ivy and always would be, but it had twisted, become corrupted, spiralling into this new horror. Jared was right there, now, held in place and hating her. It felt that way. Nova could feel it pricking at her like thousands of little needles. She was far too deluded to realise she was projecting her insecurities onto him - taking it as fact and actuality. Nova uncurled herself and got to her feet, legs shaking like a newborn fawn, "You were the one talking about marriage! Marriage, Jared! That's when you vow to love and cherish someone no matter what, regardless of their appearance, their flaws-"

"Flaws?! You're fucking green! You're shacked up with Poison Ivy in the middle of nowhere, living inside plants! You've got vines embedded in your skin! I doubt you can even be classified as human anymore!" Jared roared with a fury that Nova couldn't grasp the root of. Ivy had loosened the vine around his throat enough that he was capable of not only speaking but shouting his frustrations - his turmoil unwinding itself inside him. She'd done this on purpose, Nova knew - this was what Ivy wanted - but it didn't stop her from screaming at her beloved.

"I went missing, Jared, and you never came to look for me." This had an effect on both. A heavy silence fell, Jared licked at his lower lip and dropped his head as far as he could manage with Ivy holding his head back the way she was. Nova panted, exhausted already after so much exertion and emotion. Still, she wasn't done, "I was locked up in Arkham Asylum," she informed him in a quiet, solemn tone, "I was put in there against my will and nobody ever realised I wasn't supposed to be there - until Ivy and Harley and Joker. They got me out of there, and then there was..."

Nova struggled to speak about the horrors Ivy put her through, but this wasn't what had caught Jared's attention,

"You're on a first name basis with these freaks?"

"Careful, honey. I'm one of them now."

"Yeah... you sure are." He was hostile now, reserved and judgemental. The glint in his eye spoke all layers of cruel and condescending, his lips curved downwards in an unpleasant twist. He was rejecting her.

"You don't get to judge me for who I am now. You left me to burn. I went missing and you allowed it to just happen and not once did you go out in your crappy car to find me, did you? You. Left. Me. To. Burn."

There was another suffocating silence, during which Jared closed his eyes and did his best to turn his head away. Ivy slapped him so hard he was forced to turn it back to face Nova - a nasty red mark burning bright on his cheek. Even with all the hatred she had for him now, Nova flinched when it happened.

"Do you see now, Nova? Do you understand, little bud?" Ivy spoke up for the first time in what felt like forever, addressing Nova directly. It curled around her and smothered her in something she couldn't quite describe. Something flared within her and something else came alive inside her mind. It was the truth, she realised. Ivy had been telling the truth all along. All mankind was good for was betrayal and devastation. Jared was close to ruining her the same way Ivy had been ruined again and again and again. So she nodded and drifted closer to the pair on the other side of the room. She could see a path before her, two forks in the road - but only one was even remotely tempting to her anymore. She was raw and hollow and barren.

"I loved you more than I loved myself," Nova whispered to him, tracing her fingertips down across his cheekbones like lithe little figure skaters, "I loved you more than I could ever put into words or scripture or thought. It consumed me and blinded me and made me a pathetic little doormat for all your whims and wants..." Nova's gaze hardened, vibrant green eyes bleeding somewhat into a darker shade, "I'm done with it now - done with you. I'm sure that given another hour or the right phrasing of words I could change my mind and try to escape with you, but I have perspective right now... I have insight. I see you for who you truly are, Jared, and it's ugly."

Ivy offered her the knife she'd been holding to Jared's temple, and she took it.

It wasn't enough, though, the weight of it wasn't satisfying. It wouldn't do the job the way she wanted. It was fortunate that Jared had left the scissors just discarded on the floor like that. Nova retrieved them and balanced the two weapons in each palm. This was better. Oh, it's finally happening.

Shut up.

No, don't listen to me. Focus on the task at hand. Kill him.

Nova shuddered lightly, disturbed by her own mental processes. Every inch and fibre of her was living for this moment, she was alive.

"Goodbye, Jared," she uttered to him. He did nothing but glare up at her with blazing, unfiltered hate - his eyes streaming the tears she knew he'd rather die than admit he was shedding - and he would, too.

Nova positioned the scissors on the left side of his temple, the blade on the right, and secured her grip on both. Oddly enough, she was at her calmest in this very moment. This was her nirvana, her sanctuary. Everything was silent, for once, inside her own mind - no unwanted voices or laughter. No pulsating walls or overly vibrant, skittering and scattering colours or letters. Serenity. Yes.

A readying breath pushed itself out from her lips and with one, violent, horrifying push - Nova had plunged both the knife and the scissors into either side of her boyfriend's head. Moments after the fact, she let her arms drop to her sides, and then she was falling, falling back to the ground she should have stayed huddled up on. Ivy wouldn't allow her to hit it, though, and sent a plant to catch her. Nova wasn't even allowed the time to recover or come to terms with what she'd just done, as suddenly Ivy's lips were on her own, and she was kissing her. Nova was too wrapped up in her shock based paralysis to do anything about it, and soon found that she didn't even want to.

What a blissful tragedy this love was doomed to be.

A few delicate, red fingernails trailed intimately over her cheek,

"You're mine, now."

Over and over,

Over and over,

I fall for you,

Over and over,

Over and over,

I try not to,

Over and over,

Over and over,

You don't even try...