Pamela Isley, now known to most of the world as Gotham's own botanical terror Poison Ivy, had experienced by far the most horrifying few weeks since her transformation into an entity that was one with nature. When she was still completely human, the changes that were occurring inside her as she turned from woman into plant were all at once terrifying and thrilling. No one could say that it hadn't been an ordeal, regardless of the outcome. Poison Ivy was thrilled to be free as her body changed, but the innermost part of Pamela Isley had been scared out of her wits.

Though now Ivy accepted her lot in life--indeed, embraced it and all the perks that came with it--her most recent trauma wasn't as easy to recover from.

When news reached her that Harley Quinn was dead, she retreated into herself, withdrawing much the way a tulip closes itself to the outside world in the cold.

And that's what she was…cold. A chill permeated her body, freezing her from the inside out, almost as though her circulatory system had been pumped full of ice water. It wasn't a physical glacial sensation, it was that creeping dread and sense of loss that ripped at her heart, making her hurt so badly she wondered if it was possible to die from the strength of her mourning.

Harley's death had hit her like a load of bricks landing squarely on her chest, leaving her with a myriad of emotions that she hadn't experienced in a great long while. Ivy thought her human emotions were a thing of the past, but that sudden surge of agony she felt when she discovered her friend--and occasional lover--had met an untimely demise proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that on the very deepest level, beneath the sage green flesh and poison running through her veins, a human heart still beat strongly.

She'd thought it quite possible that spun glass organ had been crushed beyond repair under the weight of the news of Harley's downfall, but now that she'd overheard the Batman and Commissioner Gordon, she found an equally foreign emotion surging through her…

Hope.

If Harley was alive, it meant that Ivy was no longer alone in the world. She just hadn't realized just how alone she was until Harley was gone.

Ivy had always been a loner of sorts, never letting anyone get close enough to her to hurt her, but somehow Harley had wormed her way into Ivy's life, latching onto her the way a creeping Jenny attaches itself to whatever surface was readily available.

The world seemed somewhat darker since Harley wasn't in it anymore and Ivy had become even more isolated than she had been before. She escaped Arkham, but she didn't go on any crime sprees…instead, she mourned, visiting the little grave in Gotham City Central Cemetery, forcing red roses and black poppies to grow up amidst the lush grass the moment spring came.

Now that she understood just how much the dopey blonde meant to her and that Harley was still alive and kicking somewhere, Ivy made a solemn oath.

Once she found Harleen Quinzell, she would never let her go again.

Now it was just a matter of finding the woman…