~Joker's POV~

I could hardly contain my excitement. It had been about two weeks since Karma awakened to his Persona and I haven't heard any news about the detective in a while. So I had a very simple yet well thought out plan in order to lure him out. It was the middle of the night, fifteen minutes before midnight. My target was a few security guards at the museum from last time. I smirked watching the detectives from the roof of the building. I had alerted Asano to fake a sighting at the museum so that I could lure out the red headed detective. I quickly swung from the roof into an open window, sneaking in undetected. I quickly took out any guards that I found painting my path with a trail of scarlet. My bloodlust slowly started to rise as midnight approached. Soon the entire floor had dead bodies scattered around and was covered in the beautiful red color of blood. I started laughing evilly to myself. I heard a small ding signaling that the elevator had arrived. My smirk grew as I heard to doors open. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen." I said in a dark voice. I could sense the major spikes of fear from each one of the detectives. All except for one. Karma himself. He's the only one who actually kept a straight face and was able to stomach the stench of blood. I turned around with a smirk. "Only ten minutes til midnight detectives. How is this gonna go?" I questioned. My gaze locked with Karma's and we both held eachother's eyes. Waiting for one of us to make a move. Terasaka, from what I could gather was the trigger happy one of the group was the first to try and shoot at me. I dodged the bullet with a flip, while in the air throwing a knife and cutting his hand, causing him to drop the gun. The knife lodged itself in the wall and once I landed I jerked my hand back, the knife flying back to me. I caught it with a smirk before pulling out my own gun. "I'm not an armature ladies and gents." I said, slowly moving towards them. They all froze eyeing my movements carefully, all the while Terasaka clutching his bleeding hand with a hiss. I walked up slowly to Karma who was the one in front of the others. Karasuma no where in sight. I smirked pressing the barrel of the gun to his chest. But he didn't even flinch, he continued to look me dead in the eyes. "What do you want Joker?" He growled. I clicked my tongue in annoyance before pulling the weapon away. "Geez it's no fun when your prey isn't scared of you." I grumbled scratching the back of my neck. I rested my knife on my shoulder with a smirk. "Detective you need to learn to not bore me. Last person who did that ended up dead." I said with a wink. Still he didn't flinch. In fact his gaze challenged me. Challenged me to actually do something. My smirk grew. Interest in this detective skyrocketing. Fast as a snake I had a knife to his neck and Karma himself in a hold glaring at the other detectives. "So much as move and your best detective is dead." I growled. The others were even more petrified now. I smirked slightly. "Now, now, no need to fear. I'll let him go without harming him so long as no one follows. However..." I trailed off, my smirk becoming more sinister. "If I so much as get a feeling that any of you are following me he's dead. And I swear to God I don't play around when it comes to hostages." I hissed. They all slowly moved, parting a way to the elevator, glaring at me viciously. I smirked cheerfully. "Thank you.~" I said in a sing song tone, moving with Karma to the elevator.

~Time Skip~

Once we had gotten far enough into the forest I looked around with a glare. I sighed slightly. "Looks like they heeded my warning after all. Smart for detectives." I grumbled. I released the red head letting him fall to the ground with a thud. He sat up rubbing his head with a small hiss of pain as I pocketed my knife and put my gun back in its holster. I untied the string that was attached to my wrist and put it back with my knife before stretching a little. I checked the time. 11:55. "Five more minutes." I mumbled to myself closing my pocket watch. "Was that a pocket watch? Who the f*ck uses those anymore?" Karma questioned. I smirked at him with a shrug. "Me I guess." I said. "So wait...you're not going to kill me?" He questioned. I shrugged again. "They didn't follow me. I said as long as they didn't follow that I wouldn't kill you. Believe what you will, but I stay true to my word. I mean after all I did teach you how things worked in the palace did I not?" I questioned. He flinched. "So that wasn't a dream." He mumbled. "Nope!" I said with a smile. "Welp. Nice talking too ya'. But I got places I need to be. Later detective." I said. "Oh...and don't follow me." I added, more in a growl. I walked off. After about a minute of me walking and sprinting I had a feeling that I was being followed. I spun around quickly but saw nothing. "The fudge?" I questioned. I shrugged and went back to walking. And then I felt it again. This time I continued walking until I was able to pinpoint where exactly the presence was coming from. Once I was able to fully find it I spun around and pounced. Knocking whatever it was to the ground and pinning it against a tree. I looked down and met the golden eyes of my little red headed detective. I smirked holding my knife to his neck. "Now, now. What did I say about following me?" I questioned. The fear that flashed in his eyes caused me to smirk. But...that's when I saw it.

~Karma's POV~

Joker's smirk turned into a small frown as she titled her head to the side with curiosity in her eyes. This expression was something I wasn't used to seeing from her. She leaned closer glaring me right in the eyes. The fact that she was so close wasn't the only thing making me uncomfortable. One, she had a knife to my neck, and two...SHE HAD A KNIFE TO MY NECK! But something...odd happened. She lowered her knife and put it away before resting her hand on my cheek, still glaring into my eyes with a curious expression. I couldn't deny that I was curious too. Why was she acting like this? And why was she silent? The curiosity in her eyes slowly faded, now showing nothing but interest. "How...odd." She mumbled quietly. She leaned in closer to a point where our faces were only inches apart. "Insanity." She murmured. "Huh?" I questioned. "How peculiar. How could I not see it before?" She mumbled to herself. Joker continued mumbling stuff under her breath. All I could pick out from it was four things, insanity, odd, bloodlust, and easier. Those words kept popping up. "Hmm..." She hummed to herself. "I guess I can't kill you yet. No...you're too interesting....It'd be a waste of a perfectly good play toy." She mumbled. "What are you talking about!?" I shouted. Hiding the fact that I was extremely relieved about the whole, not killing me part. That was reassuring at the very least. But I was also, absolutely terrified. She titled her head to the side again. "There it is again. A flicker. A spark. It's there." She mumbled. Joker smirked sending a shiver down my spine. "You're like me." She said. She started laughing darkly. "How could I not see it before? A spark of insanity! I mean I knew you were an assassin in the past but to think you'd actually-!" She cut herself off, gesturing at me with an indescribably creepy smirk. "Wait...what are you...?" I trailed off, confused about where she was going with this. "You just made my job ten times easier detective.~" She said in an innocent tone. She flicked open her pocket watch again. She hummed slightly flicking it closed. "Still have three minutes before midnight." She mumbled pocketing the watch again. I growled slightly, tired of her word games. "You sit on a throne of darkness you hear me!?" I spat. She smirked at me. "It's comfortable, you should try it sometime." She responded. I couldn't help a small snicker at that. She smirked again. "You don't actually hate me do you?" She questioned. I was shocked. "What the? Where the hell did you get that from!?" I questioned. "I knew it." She said a small chuckle in her voice. I quieted down slightly. "Why are you doing this? Why the sudden interest?" I questioned. She chuckled a little more darkly. "I thought it was already clear. But I see you're still confused. Well detective let me tell you something about me." Joker said. "I have a special ability. The ability to see how much insanity resides in a single person. Kinda like how that friend of yours, Nagisa, can tell if someone is lying just by looking at them. And right there, I just saw a little flicker of insanity in your eyes." She said with an evil chuckle. "What the-no..." I trailed off, realizing that she had figured it out. She giggled slightly. "I'll admit, you did a good job of hiding it. I really don't see how you've kept that insanity hidden from me for so long. But now it's clear to me...You really are just like me." She said. "You're insane." She said with a crazy look in her eyes and evil chuckle in her voice. I shook my head. "No! No I'm not! Let go of me!" I shouted. "Sorry detective no can do til the chime of midnight." She said. "But still..." She trailed off, leaning closer to me again. "It makes me wonder...why someone like you would become a detective? Would chain himself down like a dog. It's odd. Maybe you got tired of blood? Was your bloodlust quenched? Some kind of agreement perhaps?" She questioned. "Why? Why would a fearsome assassin with powerful bloodlust and insanity just one day stop? Stop and become a detective of all things? It's pitiful." She said. I growled at her, not liking being the one questioned. "Even though you don't see them they're there. The chains. You can't see them, but I can. They have them wrapped around you." She said. Her eyes were distant like she really could see something that I couldn't. And they held nothing but honest to God pity. Her hand moved to my neck. The movement terrified me but she didn't do anything. Just lingered there for a minute. "My eyes can see everything." She said. She pulled back her hand, a momentary flash of fear in her eyes as she clutched the hand to her chest. "Chains." She mumbled. I noticed the slight tremble in her voice. Something was scaring her. She shook her head violently before slapping herself. Her eyes refocusing. "Focus Joker!" She hissed at herself. That's when it all stopped. Everything froze, even Joker herself. Her normal smirk returned to her features, only this time more wild and crazy. "Ding, dong, bing, bong." She said. "Bing, bong, ding, dong." She continued in a slow tune. I recognized that tune. "The chime of midnight." I said quietly. That's when it hit me. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO ME!?" I shouted starting to struggle. Joker chuckled. She looked at me, her eyes blood red, pupils now slits. "You're about to find out.~" She purred leaning down closer to me. Stopping only an inch or two from my face. Her blood red eyes held nothing but pure insanity. And yet they held me in place. In a trance like state. They were hypnotizing. And it felt like they were draining the energy out of me. Slowly, or at least it seemed slow to me, I started losing the strength to struggle. I closed my eyes tightly, expecting death or pain. To be stabbed or shot. But no. Nothing. The only thing I felt was...warm. When I opened my eyes I realized that Joker...was kissing me.

When I tried to fight back, she held me down with a strength I didn't know she possessed. I couldn't fight. I could only lay there, completely helpless to her. But something felt...off about the way she was kissing me. It didn't feel...natural. It felt like something was prodding around in my mind. Covering my thoughts in a fuzzy haze, as if filling it with water. When she pulled away my strength flooded back to me and I pushed her off of me. A reaction I could tell she was expecting. She sat a little ways away from me as I used my hand to cover my mouth in shock, leaning up against the tree. But something was different now...everything felt...fuzzy. And for some reason it was funny. Really funny. I shook my head, clearing it of the weird feeling. "What did you do to me!?" I shouted. Bloodlust ragging out of control and making a few birds in the distance fly off in distress. Joker flinched back slightly. But then smirked. A smirk that would later come to haunt my nightmares. She snickered, almost silently, then it turned into a slightly louder chuckle. Before she burst out with crazy and evil laughter. She clutched her stomach and just looked at me while laughing. "Oh my! This was so much easier than I thought!" She said laughing again. "I never expected your bloodlust to be this powerful! It's perfect! An insane detective with some of the most powerful bloodlust I could have ever even conceived is sitting right in front of me! I should give you a gold metal for how easy you're making this for me!" She said pointing a finger at me while laughing. That's when I noticed it. Joker's eyes had dimmed. The red glow that had been there had dimmed and her pupils had returned to normal. Whatever she had done to me had taken a lot of energy out of her. But I had realized this a little to late. She stood up and walked back over to me. She took my chin in her hand forcing me to look up at her as I leaned against the tree for support. She titled her head slightly but then her smirk returned. I could tell from that expression that whatever she had done had gotten the results she had been looking for. She smirked at me. "I knew all you needed was a small push." She said. She chuckled. "You were already right there at the edge, and all you needed was a push to fall in." She said darkly. Her eyes held nothing but mischief. "Welcome to the deep end. Just try not to drown yourself I want that honer for myself." She said. She finally released me and began walking away. Joker stopped right at the treeline, just as my vision was starting to get blurry. "I hope you enjoyed the kiss of insanity." She said. And with that final parting line she left. Seeming to disappear into the trees. Once she was gone I collapsed on my side, chuckling to myself for some odd reason. Everything just seemed...funny to me. It was hilarious actually. That fuzzy feeling came back. And what was worse...when my thoughts came back to how she kissed me. What scared me the most was that I liked it.

~Time Skip, Third Person POV~

Nagisa, Asano, and Karasuma ran through the forest trying to find Karma. "Please tell me Joker didn't kill him!" Nagisa said worry in his voice. "KARMA!" Karasuma called. The others had already informed the taller male of the situation at hand. Everyone in the agency was on the search for the red headed devil. "KARMA!" Nagisa and Asano called. But all three shut up when they heard faint laughter. It was so faint they'd barely heard it. They ran off to the source where, much to their surprise, found Karma. Laying there in the fettle position, chuckling and giggling to himself. They approached the red head with caution. Nagisa bent down and gently shook Karma's shoulder. "K-Karma?" He stuttered, worried for his old friend. Karma's eyes lit up as he sat up with a smile, and Nagisa flinched back in fear. Karma's eyes...they seemed to be glowing, swirling with something the blue haired male hadn't seen since Jr. High. Insanity. Pure and utter insanity. "Whoopsies, guess I was out here for way to long sorry about that." He said scratching the back of his neck with a smile. "Are you alright?" Karasuma asked. The moment the red head heard the older male's voice his expression and demeanor changed drastically. "Oh...You're here. But no, for the record I'm anything but alright." Karma growled. He pulled himself up before glaring at Karasuma. "Sorry to worry you sir. But I've never been quite alright. And if I wasn't alright before well I sure as hell ain't alright now. So sorry about being a burden, but I can find my own way back home. Thanks for the concern." Karma spat. He stuffed his gloved hands inside the pockets of his coat and walked back into the direction of the museum. "What happened to him?" Nagisa asked as the red head left, trembling ever so slightly. What did Joker do? Asano thought. "I think Joker broke him." Karasuma said, taken aback by the red head's tone and unintentionally answering both the boys questions. Karma turned back to them with a smirk. "Oh, just FYI, I was already broken. What Joker did was shatter what was left. Just letting you know that I was broken and no one cared to pay any mind to it. Ha! Morons!" Karma called back before turning heel and getting a running start before jumping into a tree and continuing on his path to the museum.

~Later that night, Joker's POV~

I was sitting at the head of the council table, about to start another meeting. Asano gave me a weird look before slamming his hand down on the table startling everyone else and myself. "Da f*ck Kitsune!" Flame spat. "Joker what did you do to Karma?" Asano questioned eyeing me. I smirked darkly and chuckled. "Aw. Can you really not figure it out?" I questioned. Everyone else gave Asano weird looks. "What are you going on about?" Midnight questioned. "Yes. This is odd." Itona agreed. Light and the others all nodded in agreement. Asano sighed. "Earlier when Joker went on her little raid on the museum she used Karma as a hostage. When me, Nagisa, and Karasuma found him Joker over there was nowhere in sight but Karma basically had lost his marbles. The dude nearly went psycho on Mr. K I could see it in his eyes!" Asano said slamming a fist down onto the table again. I smirked with a small laugh. That's when it seemed to hit Asano. He looked at me in shock. "You didn't." He said quietly. "Really? I thought I did." I said dismissively. Asano returned that smirk. "You sneaky psychotic genius!" He shouted. "I try, I try." I said. Flame and a few of the others smirked realizing what I had done. "The old Kiss of Insanity. Nice one Joker." Shadow said. "Bet the poor b*stered never even saw it coming." Midnight said laughing. "You didn't go full 100% did you?" Itona questioned, slightly concerned for his old classmate. "No, no, of course not. He's not ready for that. No it was just 20%. I only gave him a taste of what insanity is capable of." I said dismissively. "Well I bet someone is eager to drown him if it was 20 and not 15%." Breeze chimed in. I smirked. "Maybe I am." I said. "Wait...slow down...What are you guys talking about?" Light asked. We all looked at him and sweat-dropped. "Right you're still new. You don't know about it yet." The others deadpanned. "Allow me to explain!" I said with a bright smile. "You see I have the ability to see things that other cannot. I can tell how much insanity resides inside a person just by seeing it in their eyes. But I have a second ability. The kiss of insanity." I said. "The Kiss of Insanity allows me to bring out the insanity inside a person and or make them insane. It depends really. However this ability is at its strongest at the very dawn of midnight, when my sanity all goes to s*it itself. And a good half of the time it isn't effective unless the person I'm using it on accepts the insanity that I'm planting in their mind. Which is why its better to use it on someone who's at the very least already slightly insane. Basically they're standing on the edge of the deep end and I push them into the water. Whether they actually swan dive and land gracefully is up to them." I explained with a smirk. Light nodded. "I see. And you used it on that detective of yours?" He questioned. "I only just realized that the kiss of insanity might work on him when I saw a small flicker of insanity in his eyes." I said. I thought back to that small flicker. The curiosity that it peaked. And when he was under the effects of the kiss, when he was going insane...My thoughts trailed off as I thought about how that flicker of insanity looked so beautiful and natural in his golden eyes. "Careful everyone. I think Joker over there is swooning." Flame said with a snicker under her breath. I snapped out of it shaking my head and tossing a knife at her. "Shut up you d*mn magician!" I spat. The other all started teasing me. "EVERYONE OUT!" I shouted pointing at the door with a blush on my face. They all filed out at my order and I just sat in my chair trying to calm the ragging blush on my face. I sat there, thinking. Breeze was right about one thing. I thought. I do want to drown him...Badly. I want to see that look of insanity in his eyes again. It just...looked so natural, like pure insanity. I thought. I grit my teeth while clenching a fist. I'll have to speed the plan along before I do something to ruin it all. We've already made great progress, and the kiss will speed things along with out a doubt. I'd prefer it if I didn't ruin all of the preparation just because I got impatient. Remember (Y/N), don't rush this. He has to accept the insanity on his own. He has to ask me for it. I thought. I bit my thumb, my blush returning. But still...it looked so beautiful in his eyes. I thought back to the swirling insanity in Karma's bright gold eyes. How it all looked so...perfect. Like it belonged there. I shook my head, clearing it of thought before getting up and grabbing my stuff. There's one thing I forgot to tell Light about the kiss. I thought humming slightly. It drains me. I'm left with barely any energy after a full force kiss. That's another reason I only use 15 or 20%. And why Karma has to accept it himself. Because if I went full force just because I was impatient, then he's going to catch me. Because I wouldn't be able to resist afterwards.....Doesn't matter. Not like anyone needs to know that little detail. I thought with a shrug.

As I was walking home my thoughts reverted back to Karma again. As much as I tried to push those thoughts away they kept coming back. And then...my thoughts came to the chains I saw around him. I stopped walking abruptly. I held my right hand in front of my face to see that it was trembling. I growled and put my left hand over it, stopping the trembling. "You're outside the cage now Joker. You're outside the cage." I told myself. "Never show weakness like that again you moron." I spat. I shook my head and continued walking. "I am The Joker. The Wild Card. Nothing can chain me down. I hold all the cards. Nothing can stop me." I said to myself. I started humming to myself, beginning to skip towards my home with the moon silhouetting my figure.