Broken Can Be Beautiful (Jared Leto's Joker Fanfiction)

Becky Would Have Liked Her

Hatter walked quietly to the door, looking back at the sleeping Lisbeth before gently closing
it behind him. Panda Man stood, leaning back against the wall. He straightened up as Hatter left the room.

"How's she doing?"

Hatter shrugged, not wanting to reveal too much. "She will be fine; she ate and now she is asleep."

"Is she ready for tomorrow."

Hatter frowned. "She doesn't really have a choice, does she?"

Panda nodded somberly.

"I've gotta run to my room for a minute, I will be right back."

"Sure."

Hatter hurried to his room to grab his book. He wanted to stay with Lisbeth tonight and he definitely knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, so he needed something to distract him.

As he returned to Lisbeth's room, he saw that Panda wasn't alone. Casually lounging next to him on the wall was Nicole.

When she caught a glimpse of him, she smiled. "I was bored, wanted to see if anything fun was happening down here."

Hatter couldn't help but smile back. He knew that Mary was spending the night at the house tonight and of course she wouldn't go anywhere without her other half. Since Nicole had started working at the club, her and Mary had become joined at the hip. Hatter was happy; he hadn't seen Nicole get close to anyone since Becky had died.

Hatter walked over to her. "Where is Mary?"

"With boss."

Hatter felt his smile slowly turn into a frown. Nicole sighed when she saw this.

"God, Brandon, you are so dramatic! She is going over he plan with him; your brother and Harley are there too. Don't worry. He is not cheating on your precious little doll." She spit out the last few words with such venom, that he felt himself take a step away from her.

Panda sensing drama, that he didn't want to deal with, murmured his intent to take a food break and walked quietly away.

"What is your problem with her, Nicole? She has never done anything to you. I saw that look you were giving her earlier...and she saw it too."

"Why do I have to like her? I am not required to like everyone."

Hatter sighed. "Yea, well Mary is nice to her."

"Well maybe Mary is just a nicer person than me!" Nicole shot back.

Hatter took a step back towards the girl in front of him. "Fuck, Nicole! Why do you have to be such a cold-hearted bitch?"

Nicole felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach; all the air left her body and she felt tears welling in her eyes. What Brandon said, it was too familiar; it was Becky's standard line to her. Her kind-hearted twin, always wanting Nicole to smile.

Brandon saw the tears and he knew what he had done. He took a step closer and put out a hand. "Nicole...I'm..."

"Stop, please stop." She said cutting him off, wiping at the tears before they could fall. She hated crying. She needed to pull her mask over her again; anger was much more comfortable to her than sadness.

"You know, Brandon, you are right. I shouldn't just not like people for no reason, so you want to know the truth? I do have a reason to dislike her. She is a weak, little insignificant girl!"

"Come on, Nicole..."

"She is fucking weak!!! She doesn't deserve your friendship, Brandon. You went from Becky to her; she doesn't compare to Becky!"

Hatter looked pained at her words. "Nikki, no one could ever take Becky's place."

Nicole let out a cold, hard laugh. "You could have fooled me! Look at you, worshiping the ground she walks on." She lowered her voice and brought her face close to Brandon's. "You and boss-look what you do for her! He is starting some kind of war for her; people could get hurt. Mary, you, Mr. J. All for what? For one pathetic, sniveling little girl."

Brandon sighed, shaking his head. "You don't know her like we do. She is a good person; she has a good heart. Becky would have liked her."

Nicole glared at Brandon. "If Becky was still around, you wouldn't be here. You would be out in the world living a good and healthy life with your real best friend."

Brandon felt the tears start to fall down his own cheeks. "I miss her too, Nicole. Everyday."

Nicole felt the sadness returning and she turned around, starting to walk away. She turned around once more glancing over her shoulder. "She isn't worth it, Brandon, you will see. She is crumbling. She would probably be better off if Dig had just killed her." She turned back around and hurried back to her room.

Hatter leaned against the door, letting the tears fall, wanting to get them all out before he went back into the room.

On the other side of the door, Lisbeth crouched on the floor, her arms around her legs, her own tears in her eyes. She had woken up after Hatter had left the room and unfortunately she had heard everything, and the thing that made her the most sad was that she agreed.

She was weak and she knew something would happen and more people would be hurt because of her.

Why? Why was she so important to me everyone? She didn't deserve it.

She felt something in her break; something shattered. Nicole was right, she was slowly crumbling and she didn't know what to do to save herself or those around her.