play destroy. | birds of prey

one: story telling business

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"like what my mom says; if you want to start off a killer story, you gotta start from the beginning."
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ZARA SAT ATOP OF her bed; music playing in the air, her silver knife shining in from her fairy lights above, and her target tapped on her wall. The lined paper attached to the wall had the drawing of the most popular girl in school. Her face all prettied like a spoiled princess, Zara was proud of how it looked—better for destroying it later. With a smile, she took a breath and took her shot, throwing the knife right in between the drawing's eyes. Bullseye. With a smirk and a small giggle, Zara flopped on her bed to stare up at her ceiling—the fairy lights greeting her like white sparkles. She smirked in pure happiness. This was life.

She had a great room, great clothes, perfect hobbies, and most of all, a family. She was loved. What she coveted her whole life to have a family that loves her and now she has one. For almost four years everything was amazing. Even though her parents were the Harley Quinn and The Joker, that didn't matter. After Harley came back from saving the world, everything seemed okay and in the spotlight. Like her father said, smile. Everything was in smiles. Except, it wasn't [until now for her it was].

"I should've seen something coming. Life is never perfect, even for a second in time."

"Zara! Wait! Puddin' No!" Harley's cries and pleas shocked Zara as she saw her mother get carried out by her father's goons. "Mom!" She ran after the buff men, her loud music filling every inch of their big home, and Harley's begs to her father ringing in her ears. "Zara! Darling don't!" Joker's voice boomed through the house before she could even reach the men as they threw Harley out and shut the door; guarding it against the other side as Harley's sobs and slams on the door—muffled outside. Joker's arms quickly wrapped around Zara's in a hug, embracing her but at the same time restraining her from getting to the door and to Harley. "Dad, what the FUCK are you doing?!" Zara yells in pure confusion, hearing Harley's cries grow weaker and the slams on the door grow louder with rage. "Mommy can't be with us anymore. She's broken sweetheart. But don't worry, you'll see her... Sometime." Joker said, squeezing her in a tight embrace. Her head laid on his chest as she felt his heartbeat loud and clear—tears started to pour from her eyes. Everything was happening so fast, she couldn't process, couldn't think. her stomach felt like it sunk to the bottom of the ocean and her legs gave in, sliding both her and the Joker to sit on the ground. "But I love mom..." she softly said as the lifted her head from his chest and held her head in his hands. "This pretty face loves Daddy too right?" He asked, looking in her ocean blue eyes that were filled with confusion and uncertainty. He could read her like a book, and the hesitancy painted her blue orbs. The Joker frowned, lowering his voice in an almost dangerous tone. "Right, Darling?" Another tear escaped Zara's eye as it rolled down her pale cheek. She swallowed. "Of course. I-I love you both but—" she looked back at the door, that was empty on both sides. The goons had left and nothing but Harley's fingerprints on the window lingered from the streetlight. "And I love you too, my sweet. You're my daughter, how couldn't I?" His words melted through his mouth like sweet honey, Zara's tears soon multiplied by the second, and the Joker softly wiped them away.

"He said he loved my mom too, but guess where she is now?"

"You wouldn't do that to me, right dad?" She could feel herself slip into her dad's words just as easily as she did the first time she met him those four years ago when she was fifteen. She didn't know what to think, what to say, but she knew she was powerless against her father. Questioning anything he did wasn't an option, and her biggest mistake she learned the first time."Now, let's forget all about this night and go to bed. It's 11:50 Zara. You have to get to bed now and let Daddy work." He said with one last look, standing up from the ground and giving his beloved daughter a pat on the head, leaving her on the ground and walking back to his study. Zara leaned forward and closer to the door, her arm in a desperate attempt to reach the door handle but her brain kept her legs planted on the ground. Tears spilled on the floor and painted her hands with shiny water that splashed around. "Mom..." she softly whimpered, giving up on reaching and falling on the floor in tears.

"If I knew better, I would've picked my ass up and followed my mom outside. But desperation and loyalty for my father kept me in check—a big regret I later will admit. Even though he is my family, sometimes, they can be wrong too. It's hard to let go, it is what I learned for myself here."

Late into the night, the Joker wanted to check if Harley made an appearance around the house afterwards. If he had loose ends, he sure as hell wouldn't let it come back to him, so, he sent a few of his goons to patrol around the perimeter of the house that night, making sure that Harley finds her way in any direction but here. Walking out of his study, the sight of his daughter's sleeping figure on the floor greets him. Blinking a few times and furrowing his brow, he sighed in annoyance, walking past the girl. He told her to get to bed, but if she was doing this, he wasn't going to deal with it. Taking a look out of the main door, his mind kept going back to Zara on the floor. The sudden guilt of leaving his daughter on the floor even nagged at him as he left a huffed sigh; re-rolling the sleeves of his button-up and kneeling on the floor towards the sleeping Zara. "Damn it." He hushed to himself.

Carrying his daughter up the stairs to her room, he kicked her door open and put her on her bed. Turning off her blasting speaker and tucking the girl into the covers. Giving one last look at her, his face met his palm as he clearly was fighting with himself. The lights dimmed quickly as he shut the door, not giving a second glance back as he went downstairs to continue his plans for the rotten Gotham City and for the certain Batman.

"In this story, I'll admit the wrongdoings of me and my family, but sometimes even my dad was fucking different. But then again, my mom was...in other words, different too. Different in a real-life sort of way. My dad was different in a special daydream sort of way."

"If you think it ends here with family drama, oh man, that's the most fucking underestimated thought yet; as a certain someone makes everything I've learned and been taught more complicated. But like my mom says, it's my fucking story, so I get to tell it how I fucking want."

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