AN: Hey guys! This my very first FF that I've ever written so please, please, please go easy on me! I'm going to do my very best to tell this story and I hope you all enjoy it!

;)

Chapter One

I Hear Him

I was twenty years old when I first heard his voice.

A loud, booming, raspy, melodic laughter that continued all through the night until I fell asleep.

I have to admit that when I first heard him, I was terrified. It wasn't the fact that I was hearing someone else's voice in my head for the first time. It was the emotion that I could feel behind his laughter. The anger, the sadness, the pain, and the twisted joy beneath it all. It was as if this man was seeing the world in a whole new light. It was as if he was reborn in some way; and the elation that he emitted in his laughter, sent shivers down my spine. There was something masochistic about it. It was as if his pain and suffering was the source of his giddiness. I couldn't understand it; and so, I was afraid.

I remember lying in bed that night and trying desperately to fight sleep. I thought that if I allowed myself to doze off, then I would never hear him again; and that was more terrifying than his twisted laughter.

I had waited a very long time to finally hear him. Most people hear their other voice after they hit puberty. I should have heard mine at the age of fourteen and fifteen like everybody else; but I didn't. I always wondered why. A hundred torturous thoughts would pass my mind every day as I tried to come to terms with my singly occupied mind. I remember how all of my friends would gossip and giggle about their other voices. I remember doing my best to pretend that I was as happy as they were. Whenever someone asked me about my second voice I would lie and makeup a pseudo persona so that my secret would never get out. I did this for six years. That's six years of lying. Six years of worrying that I didn't have a soulmate. Six years of never knowing why. Until that night when I finally heard him.

I still wonder why it took so long for me to hear him. Maybe I wasn't mentally ready for him yet or maybe he wasn't ready for me; I'm not sure. All I know is that I am extremely grateful that I can finally hear him. It's so peculiar having someone else's voice inside your own head. You never know when they're going to say something. It happens out of nowhere. Of course I rarely get to hear my other voice say anything. He's always laughing. At times I hear low distorted whispers that I can make absolutely no sense of; they don't help me understand him at all.

I know that a soulmate's voice can only be heard when they are deeply feeling an emotion or when they are going through something significant. So, I can't help but wonder what it is that keeps my soulmate in such a giddy mood all of the time. I hear him laugh almost every day. I wonder if he's just one of those happy-go-lucky guys who's easy to laugh. The only thing that I know for certain about him, is that he has a deep admiration for the bat vigilante of Gotham. I can hear him call his name at times. Batman. Batman. Batman. Sometimes he calls him Bats. Nonetheless, whenever he brings up the Batman, he always feels a mix of joy and anger. I don't understand this either.

Sometimes I wonder if he has as much trouble understanding me as I do him. Do my thoughts ring clear in his mind? Did he have to wait as long as I did to hear him? I wonder if he hears me thinking about him because I do that a lot. I don't ever hear him thinking about me though. But then again, I hardly ever hear him think about something concrete.

My soulmate is such a mystery to me. I can't wait till the day comes where I finally get to meet him. I hope he's as whimsical as I imagine him to be. I bet he's got a great sense of humor. I also imagine him being very handsome, and tall for some reason. And, I feel like he's going to be one of those guys who is a total gentleman and is an absolute sweetheart. Oh, I can't wait to meet my very own silly prince charming!

I reluctantly pull myself out of my thoughts for the eighth time that day. I was in the middle of editing my final thesis paper when I let my mind wander. It's just really hard to focus whenever I hear my other voice laugh in that maniacal manner. Whenever I hear him I start thinking about all of the possibilities and questions that this man presents me with.

Once I finish putting the final touches on my paper, I email a copy to myself –just in case- and print the whole thing out. Before I can turn this into my professor at the University, I need to go do my shift at Blackgate first. I've been training my psychiatric abilities at an internship at Blackgate prison for about a year now. I'm just finishing up with school. Once I turn in my final thesis –if it's good enough- I'll finally graduate and get my doctorate degree.

When my entire paper is finally printed, I tie my hair up in a bun, change my clothes, and dash out the door. The nearest train station is a couple of blocks away from my apartment, so I always discreetly grip my keys between my knuckles during this walk. I don't exactly live in the best neighborhood in Gotham; it's not the worst, but it's still pretty bad. I keep my purse close as I board the 'L' train at Wayne Central Station. I arrive at the Blackgate Penitentiary twenty minutes later and I make my way through security to clock in. I throw my things on my desk in the office that I share with three other interns. Guy Kopski is already settled in his desk, munching on a muffin. He looks up and offers me a warm, crumb-lipped smile as he greets me.

"'Morning Harleen. How's it going?"

"Eh, same old, same old," I shrug.

"Did you finish your thesis?"

"Yup," I sigh and attempt to rub away the sleepy feeling from my eyes. "I can't wait to turn it in and finally be done with all this."

Guy grins beneath his muffin. "Aww do I annoy you so much that you can't wait to get out of this internship and leave me?" He does a terrible job at feigning being hurt. "Harleen, I thought what we had was special…"

I smile and roll my eyes as obviously as I can. "Oh Guy, it's not you it's me, I swear." We laugh and continue teasing each other until Daniel Copeland –one of the other interns- strolls into the office with coffee at hand. The three of us exchange pleasantries and talk about where we plan on working when we finish school. Guy wants to work at Arkham Asylum. He's always trying to convince one of us to stay and apply to work at Arkham with him, but the other interns and I don't want to live in Gotham anymore. Daniel and I want to work at S.T.A.R Labs in Metropolis and I remember Amber Lowery –the fourth and final intern here at Blackgate- saying that she wants to work somewhere in Chicago. Honestly, I wouldn't mind working at Arkham Asylum because there are so many interesting and challenging cases that I could get my hands on if I worked there; But, I really hate where I'm living right now. My neighborhood isn't exactly safe and I won't be able to afford a nicer place in Gotham City for a while. If I move to Metropolis right after I finish school, I can afford a cheap place in a much nicer neighborhood than the one I'm living in here. Metropolis is just a safer place to live in right now than Gotham is.

The longer we continue to talk about our future jobs, the closer I feel Guy getting ready to lecture Daniel and me about the benefits of staying and working in Gotham. Before he gets the chance to even start his little speech, I remind my coworkers that we have a job that we should be doing right now. They laugh and head off to their morning sessions. I grab my morning files from my desk and do the same.

At three o'clock I finish my last therapy session with one of the inmates. Before I leave to the University to drop off my thesis, I decide to have lunch in the break room with everyone else. To my surprise, Daniel is the only one in the room. I pull up a seat opposite him and look around the room quizzically.

"Where is everyone?" I ask.

"I have no idea. I've never seen this room this empty before."

"Me either. It's kind of creepy… I wonder if-" My sentence is cut short when I feel a sharp pain shoot through my head. My hands instantly reach for my forehead in a failed attempt to alleviate the internal pain. Daniel watches me with concern evident in his eyes.

"Harleen are you alright? What's wrong?"

Another pulse of pain shoots through my temple. "I-I don't know."

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My other voice startles me with his booming laughter. I've never heard him this loudly or clearly before. He sounds very proud and triumphant.

As I try to balance listening to Daniel's questions and my other voices laughter, Amber storms into the break room with a frightened look on her face.

"Oh my gosh! Have you guys heard the news?"

Daniel and I furrow our eyebrows in confusion and shake our heads no.

"Where the fuck have you people been?! Turn on the damn news!" Amber's demand seems to startle Daniel a bit because he immediately fumbles for the break room's TV remote. The TV turns on to a GNN breaking news segment.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Vicky Vale is narrating some live event that's happening on top of the GCPD building, but I can't concentrate on the exact words that she's saying because my other voice's laughter is loudly resonating within my mind.

A helicopter camera flies over the rooftops of Gotham City and slowly zooms in on a man standing over the GCPD. He's a tall lean man with porcelain skin and vibrant green hair. I recognize him immediately as the Joker. I've seen pictures of him before and read a couple of articles about him in the Gotham Times paper, but I've never actually seen him in action. He seems to exhibit a demanding presence that keeps everyone from looking away. His outfit also really helps grab attention because he's dressed to kill in a classic deep purple suit and slicked back hair.

Amber's voice stops me from analyzing the Joker any further. "This guy is seriously fucked up in the head! And that's saying something coming from me." She points to her white signature doctor's coat and refers to the fact that she's soon to be a mental psychiatrist. "I was late today because all of the roads were blocked. Apparently this guy set up several bombs around the city and he's playing some sick guessing game with the Batman. They've got cops roaming all over the city looking for these bombs. They even called in more than half of our security staff here to go and help out. Apparently, one bomb already went off in that steel company on the outskirts; it killed everyone working there that day. I heard that Batman found and disarmed three bombs already but there's still one left. One of the orderlies told me on the way in that he heard that the last one is in Gotham General Hospital. Can you believe it?"

I look from Amber and back to the TV in disgust. What kind of man is he? How on Earth can someone be capable of causing so much chaos and destruction? What kind of person is even capable of blowing up a hospital? What a horribly sick, sick man. How does he live with himself?

I watch as the Joker flamboyantly waves a small remote control looking mechanism around in the air. His lips pull back into a wide beaming grin as he calls out the Batman, taunting him. He then throws his head back and erupts into a loud malicious laughter.

-Wait a minute… I know that laughter…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

I know that laughter.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh my God, I know that laughter…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No, no, please no…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No. Not him… No.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

IT'S THE SAME LAUGHTER THAT'S RESONATING IN MY HEAD.

AN: What'd you guys think? I hope everyone liked it. I feel it's a little rushed, but, eh. I wanted to get the ball rolling already. Let me know what you guys think! I'll see ya in the next chapter.