"Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?"
—Jack Nicholson

|•|•|•|

Ember's nose was undoubtedly broken.

After nearly an hour of leaning over the bathtub, her bright red blood staining the off-white plastic tub as she gaudily sobbed, the bleeding began to cease.

Joker hadn't even checked on her. Not that she necessarily wanted him to, anyways. In all honesty, she was rather fearful of him again.

Back to square fucking one.

How fucking vacuous could she be to actually think that he remotely had any feelings towards her? Even though she'd openly admit that she was still in love with Jackson, she did not love the Joker, and the events that unfolded in the kitchen today proved exactly why.

He was a monster.

As the woman lay slung over the tub, her ribs beginning to ache from the uncomfortable position, Jackson's fifteen-year-old face bombarded her mind.

God, what she'd do to have him back.

"Ember?" A muffled voice squeaked from behind the wood of the door.

"Come in." She lazily spoke, her head throbbing in discomfort as she didn't even bother to look at who entered.

"Are you hungry?" Horton's voice called.

"He hates me, doesn't he?" Ember croaked, the back of her hand lazily swiping against her nostrils as she wiped away the excess blood.

Horton raised a brow, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other in the doorway.

"If he hated you, you'd be dead."

Ember twisted in her spot, collapsing onto her bottom as her back rest against the side of the tub. The blonde boy stood stiffly in the doorway, his bottom lip between his teeth as he observed the blackened skin surrounding her nose.

"What's going on between you two?" He added, quite nervous to hear her response. Even though he adored his boss with every fiber of his being, he knew that he'd never be his.

"I dunno," She honestly answered, avoiding any eye contact with the henchman. "One minute he's a sappy romantic, kissing me under the stars with Stevie Nicks playing in the background. The next, he's clinging to me like a fucking leech, practically ripping my clothes off. And then, nothing. Fucking stone cold."

Why the hell was she telling all of this to Horton?

"You guys have kissed?" The man squeaked, his face paling as the words left his mouth.
"Do you fuck, too?"

Ember paused, observing the expression plastered across Horton's face as she shuffled in place against the tub.

"Uh, no."

Even though the thought of him merely disgusted her at the moment, the visuals of them becoming intimate with one another were enough to make her toes curl. Sure, they'd only been together—like that—the one time way-back-when, but she couldn't help but wonder how it'd be to sleep with the fucking Joker. Something told her that he was the dominant type in bed.

"Horton, can I ask you something? I consider us friends." Ember stated, bringing her knees to her chest, her arms wrapping around her lanky legs as Horton grew more uncomfortable by the second.

"You do?" He practically scoffed.

"Well, I mean, I have no friends and I'm kind of lonely here, so you're close enough to one." She rambled.

"Uh, alright. Shoot."

"Do you think the Joker is capable of feeling love?"

The mans jaw dropped at her inquiry, closing tightly again as he struggled to formulate a response.

"I-I don't know, to be honest," He stammered, his forehead crinkling in wonder as he fidgeted in place. "Maybe?"

Ember hummed in response, her fingers lacing together as she imagined those three words escaping Joker's scarred lips.

Would she ever hear them come out of his mouth ever again?

"Where is he? I want to see him." She spat, climbing to her feet as the sticky blood on her shirt clung to the skin of her chest.

"You want to see him after he broke your nose?" Horton chuckled, even though he'd feel the very same way. Nothing could waver his feelings for Joker, nothing. He was simply in too damn deep.

Ember wordlessly nodded, twisting the knobs on the faucet as the water came out in a steady stream. Horton awkwardly watched as she ran her fingers under the water, wiping the dried blood from her face as she cleaned herself up a bit.

"He's not here," Horton stated. Ember craned her neck, a puzzled expression on her face as the water dribbled down her chin. "He left all pissy."

"To do what?"

Horton sighed.

Was she really that damn stupid?

"Well, he is the Joker, and you did piss him off. Typically, he just kills people that piss him off, but for some reason, he just won't kill you. So, he has to kill somebody, otherwise he'll lose his damn mind."

|•|•|•|

"P-Please don't—"

"Please don't." Joker mocked, a shrill burst of laughter erupting from his lips as he fisted the collar of her shirt, slamming her body against the drywall like a ragdoll.

The woman cried outward in pain, blinking away a mess of tears as her feet dangled inches from the floor, her body held upwards by the strong hold of Joker's fist.

That signature Glasgow grin curled upwards, the red nearly meeting his black holes for eyes as he released his hold on the woman. He watched as she tumbled to the floor, her knees buckling as she thrust her hands out to dampen her fall.

She lay flatly on the ground, watching the mans feet intently as he circled the area, a strand of profanities falling from his scarred lips. The woman stilled when the haunting sound of a switchblade clicking into place echoed in her ears.

"Oh god, please no—" She begged, her eyes meeting the violent purple handle of the blade as her blood instantly ran cold.

She's seen that blade before.

"F-Fuck," She stammered, slowly crawling to her feet as she flattened against the wall. Joker's brows raised as he gradually approached the shivering woman, his tongue caressing the deep folds of his face as her heart stopped beating entirely.

"Jackson?"

"Ge-zuuus," Joker wheezed.
"Too-k yah long enough, O-liv-i-uh."

Livy's eyes widened in horror, her arm outstretching to capture his face.

Joker froze, his gaze locked on her hand as it slowly rose to his face. Surprisingly, he allowed the somewhat innocent gesture, her trembling fingertips gliding across his cheeks, the destroyed flesh slipping between her hands.

"I didn't even recognize the scars under all that makeup..." She trailed off, the pad of her thumb tracing the deep crevices of his left scar as he sat still beneath her touch, his breaths coming out in short spurts as his chest tightened. Not out of lust, but out of hatred.

"Take a goo-d look, sweet pea. You're the reason my face looks like this." He hissed, the brisk knife coming into contact with her collarbone as she trembled under his grasp.

The fingers on his free hand laced around her neck, his fingers applying the perfect amount of pressure to ensure that she could still somewhat breathe. She screeched as he lifted her feet from the ground with ease, holding her body against the wall by the nape of her neck.

Livy's hands clawed at his, desperately trying to pry his clutch from her neck as she gasped for air.

"J-Jackson—" She rasped, her legs swinging violently as they collided with his knees. Joker merely chuckled, releasing his hold suddenly, causing Livy to tumble messily to the floor once again.

The woman loudly gasped for air, massaging the swollen skin of her neck with her fingers as Joker steadily watched, a sinister grin plastered on his face.

"You're the J-Joker? How?" Livy gasped, still limp on the floor as Joker clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Hmm," Joker sang, flawlessly twisting the open blade between his fingers, not once catching the skin of his fingers on the knife as he lowered himself to Olivia's level. "Let's see-ah."

He tapped the dull end of the blade against his painted chin, as if to think of all the reasons why he became the infamous Joker.

"Have you-uh, for-got-ten what you did to me, all those years ago?"

"I didn't do anything to you, Jackson!" Livy swiftly defended, but was silenced by a sudden and unexpected slap clean across her face.

Livy's eyes widened, her neck twisted at a painful angle as her hands instantly caressed the tender skin where Joker had hit her.

"You're full of shit, Liv." He snapped.
"Tell me when it happened."

He didn't need to elaborate, Olivia knew exactly what he was referring to.

The woman took a deep breath, her eyelids fluttering closed as she recollected the memories of her time with Jackson. It was true, they did have unprotected sex in front of the fireplace that one night. However, she also had multiple rounds of unprotected sex with Ken, the boy who lived down the street, around the very same time.

"There wasn't just one night," She revealed, her eyes focusing on his pink tongue, which was currently tracing the torn tissue of his right cheek. "Ken and I slept together multiple times, all unprotected. I'm sorry, Jackson."

Joker rose to his feet, a hand running through his greasy, flourescent locks as Livy cowered on the floor beneath him.

"Why di-d you tell me it was mine?"

"B-Because I loved you—" Livy stuttered, but was immediately silenced by a harsh blow to the sternum. A yelp fell from her lips as she curled into a tiny ball on the ground. The pain was excruciating, and she had a very bad feeling that the Joker wasn't done with her just yet.

Joker fell to his knees, seizing her face in his hands as he squeezed her chin between his fingers, the blade slipping between her lips as she loudly cried beneath him.

With wild eyes, Joker rotated her body to sit on top of her, flattening the woman against the floor as his hips ground painfully against hers.

"You're fucking trash." He spat, his nose only inches from hers as she violently shook beneath him. His shoulders sat hunched above her, the blade tearing against the corner of her mouth as he drew a small sliver of blood.

An ear-piercing scream fell from her lips, silencing into a slight gurgle as blood pooled into her mouth.

Joker removed his hands from her face, allowing the woman to twist her neck to the side and spit the blood from her mouth. He wasn't finished with her yet, and he couldn't have her drown in her own blood before he was fully satisfied.

"You didn't love me." Joker huskily whispered, spitting on her cheek as he removed his weight from her hips.

"Mom?" A third voice called from across the room.

Joker's painted lips curled into a painfully large smile, his torso slowly twisting to see the source of the voice.

A giggle vibrated through his chest when his gaze settled upon a shivering girl in the doorway, her lanky limbs covered with Winnie-The-Pooh pajamas as she clutched a teddy bear in her arms.

"Avery?" Joker hauntingly whispered.

Avery's eyes settled upon her bleeding, cowering mother on the floor, her mouth twisting into an "o" shape as she observed the clown before her. She instantly recognized him as the man on the television, the Joker.

"Mommy, why is the Joker here?"

"D'you-uh, remember me, doll?" Joker pried, his feet slowly shuffling over towards the girl in the doorway.

"I don't know you. I only know you from the TV." Avery confidently spoke.

"You-uh, used to love the sound of my voice, baby girl."

Avery openly scoffed at his statement. His voice was creepy, she hated it.

"What do you mean?" She squeaked.

"When-uh, you were in your Mama's belly, you'd always kick when you hear-d my voice."
Joker reminisced on the memory, squeezing his eyes closed tightly to rid himself of the painful visual of Avery always kicking against his palm. Back then, that was the best feeling in the world.

Avery's eyebrows knit together in confusion, her weight shifting from one foot to the other as she stared past the Joker and at her mother on the floor.

"Mommy, what is he talking about?" The girl panicked, her gaze avoiding Joker's haunting complexion. She'd surely see him in her nightmares for weeks.

"Sweet pea, I used to date him. H-He thought he was your dad." Livy croaked.

Avery blinked several times, horrified by the fact that her mother dated this hideous man...

"I promise, he wasn't so scary back then, Ave. He didn't wear all that makeup either."

"Enough small talk." Joker boomed.

"You," He thrusted his finger in Olivia's direction. "Are the reason my life went to shit."

"J-Jackson, please—" Livy begged, but immediately shrieked in horror when Joker retrieved a handgun from the inside of his theatrical purple coat. His gaze sat fixated on Livy the entire time, not once looking in the direction of where the gun was pointed when it suddenly fired, sending a ripple of vibration up his arm.

A body thudded to the ground, the only sound in the building was that of Livy's immense sobs as Joker clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"I-uh, shoulda done that tw-elve years ago." He muttered, his gloved fingers toying with the gun as he slowly approached the cowering woman on the floor.

"D-Do y-you know what you've just d-done?" She sobbed, her electric eyes transforming into a deep, blood red as she loudly sobbed on the floor.

"Uh, yes," He drawled.
"I shot your little girl in the face."

The man sunk to the floor once again, the knife meeting Livy's cheeks as his open palm cupped her jaw.

"Now we can match."

Before Livy could react, the knife tore through the skin of her cheek, a blinding wave of pain flashing through her as she begged for the end to come.

|•|•|•|

Quite a dark chapter, but I thought it was essential to show. Even though the Joker can be soft and even romantic with Ember, he is still the Joker, and he's a truly fucked up dude with no remorse for his actions.

Sorry for leaving yall hanging last chapter without a QOTD or authors note, although it was pretty amusing to see everyones reactions.

QOTD: Would you ever get a Joker or Heath related tattoo?

My answer: I actually have one already! I have "Why so serious" tattooed on my side, a little bit above my hip!