A/N- So, this is doing better than I thought it would. Granted, I've only gotten 3 reviews...but they're positive reviews and that's all that matters. To be honest, I'm not expecting much of a response with this story seeing as how everyone's fixated on the Joker right now. Not that I don't love that clown, but Harvey needs love since he's one of my top fav three characters from Batman (the other two being the Joker and Harley Quinn, of course).
So what I'm trying to say, thanks to three who have taken a few minutes out of their lives to review this story. You don't know how much that makes my day to see someone actually likes my writing. And now for the story…enjoy!
How To Be Dead
"Harvey, Harvey, Harvey Dent."
He knew that voice anywhere. And the last place he wanted to hear it was in front of him. Harvey looked up from whatever it was he had been staring at to see the ever smiling Joker stop in front of him.
"The last time I heard about you," the Joker began, looking up as if it had been years. "You were dead."
"Only half of me," he muttered. "But as you can see, I survived. Again."
"How has your stay at Arkham been, Harvey?"
"Better than your stay at county." The former lawyer spat, getting to his feet as he began to walk away.
"That is certainly true."
Harvey let out a small growl when the clown stepped in front of him, that irritating grin on his face. He had half the mind (literally) to knock that grin off, or at least attempt to knock it off.
"Is there a particular reason why you're stalking me?"
"Stalking?" he mouthed, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at him. "I am not 'stalking', as you put it, I'm merely...checking up on my good friend."
Harvey scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"And to make a proposition to you," the Joker continued, his voice lowering. "Do you have a second?"
He flipped his coin, watching it spin as it went up before falling into his waiting palm. Harvey quickly flipped it on to the back of his other hand, his blue eyes snapping back up to look at the Joker. It took a few moments before he removed his hand, sighing as he saw the scarred side.
"What do you want?" he asked, not wanting to associate with the sociopath.
"I think we should help each other out," the clown began, nodding his head as if to show how serious he was. "I mean, we've already helped each other..."
"How?" he demanded.
"I told you who was responsible for..." he motioned his hand to the left side of Harvey's face before continuing. "And...Rachel's death, still a tragic event. I also allowed your fun side to break free. And in return, you were my ace in the hole...still are."
"And now?" he asked, trying to ignore that spark of excitement his other half was experiencing.
"We help each other get outta here, for one thing. That should have been obvious. If you get out, you come back for me. And vice versa, naturally. And then once we're out and showing Gotham just who exactly they messed with," the clown's tongue darted out and ran across those red lips of his before he went on. "We help each other with that problem known as the Batman."
Harvey couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips, but quickly controlled it; he wasn't about to let that freak know he had caught his interest. But one look at the widening smile, and the Joker knew he had him. His blue eyes went back to the coin in his hand, thinking it over.
"What do you say?" he pushed back a stray green lock of hair as he waited for Harvey's answer. "Partners?"
To his utter horror, the ex-D.A. found himself flipping the coin again. As he went through his routine to find out his answer, half his thoughts were praying for the unmarked side to come up; the other half hoping for the opposite.
"I think we have a deal," the clown shrugged, a chuckle escaping his lips as Harvey snatched the coin from the back of his hand, cursing his luck. "Do you always have that much trouble making decisions?"
"I don't have trouble with anything," Harvey snapped, glaring up at the taller man.
"If you have to flip a coin to figure out what you're gonna do..." he let the sentence trail off, smirking.
Shaking his head, Harvey pushed by him and made his way to the other side of the room; flopping down in the old couch and ignoring the other inmates. He glanced up to see the Joker walking to another side, not doubt to try and cause a commotion between everyone in the room. He sat on the torn couch for a few minutes before the sound of something breaking reached his ears. Within seconds, he found himself with the few other inmates by the pool table; watching the fighting that took place in front of him.
'Go on, Harvey. Release that anger you have, let me just...take over for a few.' Two Face coaxed, a massive headache forming.
After a few short seconds, he was in among the fighting crowd. A few of his punches made contact with inmates and guards, a sense of liberation taking over him. He fought his way over to the cause of the sudden brawl, a small smile on his face as the white skin of his 'partner' came into his view. As he figured, the Joker was laughing as he strangled a guard while everyone else ignore the two.
His left hand grabbed the eight ball and threw it at one of the inmates rushing over to the clown with a contraband item. The ball hit him square in the head, causing the inmate to fall; a pool of blood forming around his head.
"Nice shot, Harvey." The Joker laughed as he finished squeezing the life out of the guard. "Or does this side of you have his own special name?"
"You honestly think I would keep Harvey's name?" he growled as he snapped a pool stick in half, bringing it down over someone's neck. "It's Two Face."
"Hee hee!" the clown giggled, grabbing the other half of the broken pool stick. "I like it. It suits you well,"
Rolling his eyes, Two Face rammed the jagged end into one of the guard's stomach. It seemed like as fast as the fight had started, it ended; the inmates falling down to the floor as a greenish gas filled the room. The last thing Two Face saw before his eye closed was the Joker struggling with guards in gas masks, laughing manically the whole time.
00000000000000000000000000000000000
"You do realize that you got let off easy," Doctor Quinzel did not sound happy about the news she had learned.
"How do you figure?" Two Face asked, a smirk tugging at his good side.
"Most inmates get their privileges taken away and sent to solitary for killing a guard and sending an inmate into a comma." She explained, and noticed the small chuckle that left him. "All of you got was a talk from Dr.Arkham. You were left off easy, Mr.Dent."
"I'm sorry," he said as he straightened at the name. "But Mr.Dent is not here right now."
"So, I finally get to talk to Harvey 'Two Face'?" the blonde asked, and he caught the hint of pride in her voice.
"If only you could see what I look like!" Two Face declared as he looked at his doctor from the corner of his eye.
He was faintly aware of Harvey's nagging to apologize, try to redeem himself in someway or another. But where was the fun in that? It was like he told Gordon that day at the hospital, why should he hide who he was? It was only fair for Harleen Quinzel to meet the other half of her patient, and that got Harvey to stop his quite complaining.
"Tell me, Doctor Quinzel." Two Face broke the silence. "Why did you want to become a psychiatrist?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that." An answer he had been expecting.
'Then why ask?' Harvey questioned.
'You'll see, Harvey.'
"It's not like your gonna give me your life story, Doc. I'm just...curious." Two Face pressed, and he could almost hear the hesitation from her. "C'mon, Doc! It's not like I could do anything with that information!"
"Well...I think people deserve second chances. And I wanted to help them earn that chance," she finally explained, her voice soft as if she was doing something she shouldn't be. "I like to give people the benefit of the doubt,"
'Reminds me of you, Harv.' Two Face sneered at the answer, rolling his eyes.
"And how many chances are you willing to give out, Doctor?" his voice was low, calm even.
"Wh...what do you mean?" her voice trembled a bit, and he was sure it was due to his tone.
"Surely you don't think these people can be cured like that!" he snapped, smiling smugly when she drew back in her chair. "We aren't called the criminally insane just for kicks! Anyone you send back out there will just end up right back here and it will go on like that for as long as time itself."
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and fought the smirk that was pulling at his lip, also trying to block out Harvey's nagging. That lawyer never did know when to shut up.
"You should have been warned before working in Arkham. This place slowly gets under your skin; whatever ideals you had at the beginning will slowly leave you. There have been plenty of doctors before you that had the same optimistic view when they started but as you can see now, it's all doom and gloom." Two Face went on, a harsh tone creeping into his voice. "You will lose your faith in humanity, Harleen Quinzel. I promise you that."
Her silence was all he needed to confirm that she was thinking over what he had said.
'That's uncalled for, Two Face!' Harvey's voice filled his head, anger evident in his tone.
'What was?' he was being coy.
'She just started and you're already scarring her, that's what!'
'Someone was gonna do that sooner or later,' Two Face pointed out as the silence dragged on. 'And you know that someone was gonna be the Joker. He would have made worse,'
"So the question is," Two Face broke the silence again. "How many chances are you willing to give out before that happy go lucky personality of yours breaks, Harleen?"
"Just because you have lost faith in humanity," she swallowed as she leaned forward. "Doesn't mean everyone else has done the same. There is no reason to give up on anything, Mr.Dent."
"Oh? Really? Not even this?" he turned to face her and sneered.
He watched as her baby blue eyes took in what little there was of the left half of his face. Two Face was well aware of the fear the burnt side gave people; how there was nothing but burnt muscle and bones, the way the muscle of what should have been his cheek hugged his cheek bone, how one could see all his left eye...both Two Face and Harvey knew the emotion it provoked.
"Because of the Batman, we lost the love of our life!" he yelled, getting to his feet and glaring at the young blonde doctor. "It was Gordon's fault this happened to us! His men gave him his word that they were loyal to him, and what did they do? They took us and Rachel to warehouses and wired us to drums of oil!
"She died because they came for Harvey." Two Face growled, his eyes locked on the frightened Doctor Quinzel. "That's reason enough to have no faith in fucking humanity! Don't you think, Doctor Quinzel?"
He continued to stare at her, chest heaving and anger coursing through his veins. Even when the guard entered the room and led him back to his cell, Two Face didn't take his eyes off of his doctor. For once Harvey had nothing to say on his actions, mainly because they both agreed on everything he had just said. He stared at the silver dollar in his hands as he sat on the cot in his cell, tears welling up in his right eye as memories crashed into him.
There were so many bad memories surrounding that coin, memories they wanted to forget. And it amazed both Harvey and Two Face that they couldn't find it in themselves to get rid of the small object.
How was that? I'm a little nervous about the last part, I hope I made Harvey's...Two Face's little outburst reasonable. Let me know what you think by leaving a review. The more reviews, the faster I update.
S.M.Hoffman