**COMPLETE** Diamonds and Scars (Harley Quinn & The Joker - Fanfiction)

Five Years Later

Empress' Perspective:

It's been five years now since I admitted my crimes. I was transferred from Blackgate to the newly rebuilt Arkham Asylum just over a month ago. I suspect Joker and Harley have been captured and placed in Arkham too, but they're crafty and dangerous... if they were captured or arrested then they definitely would've put up a fight.

I was sitting at a table in a quiet room, filled with books and an open window. This was the new Arkham Asylum, it felt more like an asylum than a prison now. I was waiting for my psychiatrist to enter the room with me. Doctor April Harding was one of the new members of staff in Arkham...and she was assigned to work to fix the criminally insane. She was a professional in her field of work, one of the best therapists working at Arkham Asylum.

The new owner of Arkham Asylum was Lawrence Saunders, a nice well dressed and understanding man who didn't force treatment on any of us. It was definitely a much more relaxed atmosphere in here than it was in Blackgate.

Doctor Harding entered the room with me, she took a seat on the chair at the opposite end ofthe table I was sitting at.

"Good afternoon" I greeted her with a smile.

"Afternoon, Emma...I'm afraid I have some rather troublesome news." she paused, putting her hands together on the table to maintain the level of professionalism as usual. "This is the last session you'll have with me. Lawrence Saunders has decided to change around the psychiatrists in hope to truly help the criminally insane. I hope you understand" April explained.

"No! I don't want to speak with any of the other psychiatrists...I feel comfortable talking to you, please...there must be something you can do?"

"I'm afraid not, I wish that were the case. But let's make the most of the last session we have together."

I covered my wrist over with my shirt sleeve, hiding the slits in my wrist which were from my childhood.

"I used to make a mark on my wrists for every victim who died because of my cruel words, or by my blade...wielded by my hand." I felt I had to explain my entire stage of progressing insanity. It was my only hope to if I wanted to get better.

"May I see?" she requested.

"I....I guess" I rolled up my sleeve nervously and lay my arm on the table. She looked at my wrist with concern and sympathy. "I regret everything I've done...I didn't mean to do any of it."

"I understand, you were just scared...that's all. Now, how comfortable do you feel to talk about your past? I won't force you to answer anything you don't want to answer...but please allow me to help you."

"I...I don't know, my life flashes before my eyes when I go to sleep every night...it's like a living nightmare I'm in..." I pushed my fingers onto my head and started pressing on my skull anxiously.

"Easy, It's alright...you're OK. Tell me about the nightmares." she put her hand out on the table reassuringly.

I calmed down and put my wrists in-between my thighs. I sighed, preparing to open out my heart and soul to this woman.

"I remember seeing my cousin, Jerome...and we used to see each-other every day, and we used to get on really well together...until" I paused.

"What happened?"

"Jerome's parents passed away on his tenth birthday...when I went round to his house...I saw that he...was on the floor crying his eyes out. I tried to give him a hug but he pushed me away, insisting I left him alone...I tried to force him away from in front of their bodies but he ended up doing this..." I showed her the large scar on my hand. "He was just scared, he didn't mean to do it! But ever since that day...he refused to live with the guilt, and tried to commit suicide before he was caught in an attempt to jump out of the bedroom window. He was taken away and put in an asylum, I don't think it was Arkham...but I didn't see him until his eighteenth birthday when he was released and he returned home." I looked into the psychiatrists eyes with dread.

"They released him? If it was Arkham, he would've received a certificate of deemed sanity, if not then it must've been Blackgate, Belle Reve or another prison or asylum I've never heard of before. Please, continue."

"By then...he didn't recognize me...he didn't know I was there, seeing him turn into this monster. He saw me as this 'Empress' and insisted I controlled the lives of everyone...'all mortals must suffer' he kept repeating. I once caught him trying to slice his own neck open with a table knife...he threatened that it was because of me which was leading him to do this. I realized that he would 'sacrifice' himself to save me...as a sort of ritual I guess? It was some really messed up brainwashing or voice in his head...I really don't know how he managed to get himself in such a state...but he did. Jerome never showed this side of himself, only when I was around. That's why he was never caught again, not until I found him dying at his brother's private auction building...I saved his life by bringing him to hospital. But he was dying, a chemical known as XOS – formulated by his family would be the only way of curing him...but it had to be an unstable dosage to try and battle whatever he was going through."

"Oh my...you've really been through a lot. But did it work?" she asked, she gave me sympathy but also found herself intrigued in my back-story.

"It succeeded, yet I knew he wasn't Jerome anymore...his eyes were glowing a bright blue, and he killed all of the staff in the room. He proceeded to kneel before me and only this time...he was forcibly killing others for my pleasure" I sighed emotionally. "Five years ago, I called him on the phone and finally requested him to end his life. It was the most agonizing thing I've ever had to do, but it was more merciful than letting him live any longer as the blood-spilling maniac that he was."

"How can you be sure that he actually killed himself? Pardon my ignorance, but there's no evidence that he did."

"I heard the gunshot myself...so yeah, I'm pretty fucking sure...sorry, I'm just upset.

"No need to apologize. It's quite alright to feel like this, Emma. What you've just explained is horrible, and I'm sorry you've had to go through it" she assured me. I guess I could have felt worse, if she wasn't as understanding as she is. "Jerome may have faked that gunshot though, a gunshot doesn't mean he shot himself in the head."

"Then he would go against what I ordered him to do...and he's so obsessed with my words that the very thought of him not obeying is unfathomable."

"But not impossible" she stated. She wrote several notes on the piece of paper attached to the clipboard on the table.

I couldn't read what she was writing, but in a generalized statement it was probably something like 'she's just fucking insane' which is fair enough. Because I guess I am insane. I've been driven to the breaking point all my life...and now maybe finally it's clicked.

"Have you heard enough to make your boss happy?" I groaned.

"The information you've told me will be helpful. Has it made you feel any better by discussing it with me?" she asked.

"No, it hasn't made me feel better." I said bitterly.

"Sorry to hear that, but give it some time...we'll help you through this" she smiled at me politely.

"I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, Doctor Harding. But I'm not going to talk to anyone else. I'll refuse" I smiled maniacally towards her.

You know when you have that really strong bond with someone...and you know that they understand you? Yeah, me and Doctor Harding have that kind of relationship forming.

"I can't promise anything, but I will try." she left the room.

I was still at the table, twiddling my thumbs and looking around the room. I got up from the chair and put my ear towards the door. I could overhear a conversation between Harding and Saunders outside of the room.

(UPDATE: These alternative perspectives and OC inclusions are there for a purpose, I promise. Just stick with it, yeah?)