You Don't Own Me

For the next few weeks, Violet did everything she could to avoid the Joker. It wasn't necessarily that he as a person bothered her; she didn't care what he'd done or who he was. Mostly, he just creeped her out a little bit.

Finally, she wasn't able to ignore him anymore one day when he started screaming again like he had before. She went through the same process of calming him down and getting him back, and once again the way he looked at her made her a little uncomfortable.

"You're very beautiful, little one," he told her through their small shared window and she nodded at him slowly, doing her best to avoid eye contact.

"Thank you," she said, and he nodded. She could tell that he was trying to catch her eye and finally she gave in. Her eyes connected with his and he smiled, his eyes sparkling. For a moment, she completely forgot who he was. For a moment, his beautiful blue eyes sucked her in and held her there. For a moment, she wanted to kiss him. Finally, she broke the eye contact and shook her head to clear it. Something about his eyes were almost... hypnotizing. He smiled again as she backed away, and she looked anywhere but at his face.

"What... what did you just do?" she asked him, and he shook his head.

"I didn't do anything. What are you talking about?" he asked her, and his tone told her he was actually curious.

"Nothing," she mumbled, moving back across her room to plop on her bed. "Just... just leave me alone," she whispered, and she heard him grunt unhappily.

"Violent Violet, that's no way to talk to the man who's about to break you out of here," he said, and she could tell his voice was angry.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him, not bothering to get up off her mattress.

"I'm getting the hell out of here tomorrow," he said quietly, his face pressed closely into the barred window.

"No you're not," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You'd best take me seriously, girl. I just told you I'm planning on taking you with me," he said, and she finally looked up at him.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, amazed at his apparent sincerity.

"Because you don't deserve to be here. Not really," he said, and she was surprised at his tone. It seemed to be laced with actual care.

"I do, though. I killed all those men," she said, and he gave his head a hard shake.

"No. You killed monsters. It's different," he told her, and she thought about it.

"Is it really?" she asked, and she could see him roll his eyes through the bars.

"Does it really matter? I'm telling you I'm willing to take you with me when I break out of this place. Do you want in or not?" he asked, and she could tell he was growing tired of her asking questions.

"I... I don't know if I know how to live in the real world anymore," she told him, realizing only in that moment how true that statement actually was.

"I could help you," he said, his tone coming back down.

"Why?" she asked, and he smiled again.

"Because I've never been able to resist a damsel in distress," he said, flashing his metal-capped teeth and laughing shortly.

"I'm not a fucking damsel in distress," she spat at him, making him laugh again.

"I know. I've also never been able to resist a strong confident girl who has just a couple homicidal tendencies," he said, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the words. "Are you in, Violent Violet?" he asked when she'd been quiet for a moment. She was quiet for a few more as she thought about it.

Finally, she got up off of her mattress and walked over to the window, her eyes connected with his. She looked at him for a long moment, confused again by the things his eyes made her feel. Eventually, she nodded.

"I'm in," she told him, and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Perfect. We'll discuss the plan after lights out tonight," he told her, moving away from the bars swiftly. She watched him as he sat down on his own lumpy mattress and threw his head back in a loud cackle.

Violet moved back to her own bed and sat down, wondering what the hell she'd just gotten herself into.