Chapter Text
Oswald awakes with one of the worst headaches he has ever experienced, stabbing pains reducing his eyesight to only just make out the room around him. Sitting up induces a queasy feeling all over his body. How have I got here? where IS here?
Bright, puncturing white. No windows; one door that was clearly locked from the outside. Clean Sterile-looking. Observing the room there is no clear way out or indication of where he was other than, at a guess, some type of hospital. No, what kind of a hospital locks it’s patients in.
This wasn’t making much sense but then again nothing ever did in Gotham and Oswald had become accustomed to adapting to any situation, however out of the ordinary.
He tries to think back, he remembers being betrayed by Edward (surprise there) before Jim Gordon came to do the arresting. The last place Oswald should be, he thought, were a jail cell. Though the events behind his incarceration were still a mystery to him.
Suddenly, the jolt of the door’s metal lock opening made Oswald’s survival side kick in, clambering out of bed and towards a table that he spied held several surgical tools, of some use for a weapon.
The jailor walked through the door and he readied himself, scalpel raised in a feeble attempt at attacking his foe, at escaping whatever fresh hole this was-
“Oswald it’s me!” his vision wasn’t the best still but the flash of green before him slowly morphed into the shape of Edward, the voice finalising that it was, in fact, him. This didn’t make Oswald want to lower the weapon anymore as he lunged forward, intent on inflicting some harm.
Edward easily reaches out and pries the tool from his hands, setting it upon the table, “Yes, me, will you just calm down and listen before you jump to conclusions.”
His brain throbs against his skull, making him wince and scrunch his eyes in pain, dropping his defences.
“C’mon, we have to get you back to bed before you keel over.”
Edward slots an arm through Oswald’s before he can protest and practically lifts him onto the bed.
“I’ll get some pain medication for you,” he opens some drawers in the side table, searching through mountains of obviously stolen supplies.
Oswald resigns to the fact that he isn’t capable of much right now, laying back on the bed and giving in to exhaustion.
***
Once he awakens for a second time, the sensation of a warm compress is being applied to his forehead and it feels so soothing that it takes a few seconds to realise Edward is applying it.
“Wha-where,” he starts forward, before Edward pushes him gently back down.
“Just, rest. you will hurt yourself further. I’ll explain everything.”
This isn’t completely unnatural for them, tenderness mixed with violence, it was just never a sure thing which one stuck.
Edward settles back down in the seat next to the bed once he’s content Oswald won’t try to attack him, pushing the flannel back down and holding it in place. Oswald registers that the pain in his head has all but disappeared but enjoys the feelings of having Edward fuss over him, must be the medication .
“You were at the GCPD after being arrested by Jim Gordon, it was all going according to my plan. I had to assure you were there before I would be able to extract you, before it all broke loose. It was the only chance of survival.”
Edward ‘s expression looked frightened, as he talks about Oswald’s survival, as though he were worried about an alternate outcome.
“I-I had to get you out, get us away. We are in my hideout I had, a bunker, just outside the city in case situations such as this were to arise.”
Oswald wasn’t quite sure whether he was still dreaming or had hit his head or both. Is this one of Edward’s games , told in such a fashion that it’s sole purpose was to toy with it’s victim?
“Ed,” he sighs, “I really cannot be both-”
Ed stands, gripping Oswald by the shoulders and looking into his eyes, “I am not joking Oswald, you can’t leave. We’re safe here for now...you will be safe. I will look after you.” he relaxes his grip and settles back into the chair as though trying to reassure himself of what he just said.
The mood had shifted. Oswald felt real fear for the first time but not for himself, for mistaking Edward and what was happening here and why none of it made sense. He hadn’t seen Edward with fear in his eyes for a very long time, he was always so sure of himself, they both were.
“Ed, what happened? Please tell me.” His voice much softer, “I-I don’t know what is going on and I just want to understand.”
He tried to regain eye contact with Edward, who was now pacing the room., riddled with anxiety. This was the first time Oswald realisied he hadn’t seen his friend in such a state for years, his usual well-kept look was fraying at the edges. He wore a green shirt that was dirty and torn at the sleeves, unbuttoned at the top. His trousers were not pressed like they usually were, and he wore lace-up boots that were covered in mud. The looks of a man who had been through the wars.
“Ed...” Oswald pushed himself up onto his elbows, only now realising that Edward must have re-clothed him also, he would never wear the clothing that was currently adorning his body; a black ensemble of combat trousers, jumper and boots not dissimilar to Edwards. But why?
“Oswald, I acted because I care about you.” He turned to face him, the weariness evident in every move, “and I couldn’t lose you.”
Such truth, so easily given, Oswald wasn’t sure whether to be happy at the words or be scared at why they were now being given.
“Ed, I..” Oswald shifted his legs round the bed, attempting to stand. Edward rushed over to aid him, scooping an arm under his and supporting Oswald as he stood on both feet. “Careful Oswald, easy.”
Once steady on his feet, they looked at each other square in the eyes, feeling such warmth come from Edward was unexpected.
“Thank you, Ed. It sounds like you saved me-” Edward reaches his arms around Oswald to envelope them into a hug, holding him tight. This surprised Oswald even more who allows himself to sink into the touch.
The need for answers was pressing though.
“Ed, can you tell me what happened?” he murmurs into Ed's shoulder.
He could feel the tight embrace slacken, as though he had mentioned a taboo subject, something Ed wanted to avoid at all costs. He stops hugging Oswald but remains at his side, adjusting the glasses on his nose.
“Until I am measured, I am not known, yet how you miss me when I have flown. What Am I?
Oswald studies his face, unable to comprehend the absurdity of their entire exchange. It was so like Ed to embellish with a riddle, but he was hiding the full truth.
“Time. But what-”
“Time has passed Oswald, lots of it.” he sinks himself into a chair in the corner of the room, taking off his glasses to twist them in his fingers as he speaks, “Since I took you from the GCPD 10 months ago, so much has changed. I’ve been coming in here every day in the hope you’ll wake up, “he looks up again,
“You’ve been in a coma, Oswald.”
Oswald stands frozen, trying to process what he was being told.
“Maybe you should sit, I'll tell you the rest. Here, have some water.” he gestures to the other chair opposite him handing Oswald the glass, who downs the water in one go, only just realising he was gasping with thirst, his mind whirring with questions but waits for Ed to continue as he sits down.
“I knew about the government having these...” he ponders for the right word, “weapons, in their possession, but I never really paid much attention to them. I certainly never thought to them entering the public domain. They were always kept as pure deterrents, never to be used, experimental. In the name of science, a lot of this goes on, it’s nothing unusual. I never knew it would get out, but the minute I found out I concocted a plan to keep both of us safe, though you getting hurt in the extraction process was something I hadn’t anticipated, the route of infection was much quicker than I though-”
Oswald drops the glass he had been holding, shattering glass everywhere. His hands were shaky and his eyes wild, “Will you please-” he stopped for a second, catching his breath and looking back at Ed pleadingly, “please tell me the plain truth. Why we are in an underground bunker.”
Edward pulls his chair closer to Oswald, checking over his hands for any glass shards, “That’s the bad part I was just getting to, the world has been overrun by infected.”
Oswald sneers, tearing his hands away in fury,
“Now you're trying to tell me, what?! about zombies! This must be an elaborate plot to deceive me, I do applaud you Edward. How much of a fool do you take me for?” he goes to stand and yet Edward sits still, rigid, keeping Oswald rooted to the chair.
“Yes Oswald, if you want to call it that.” There is no smile on his face, only exhaustion, he goes on.
“Though the science behind it is much more complex but it doesn’t really matter. I only care about us now and getting you back to full health.”
Oswald’s too shocked to move or say anything as Edward pulls him into another embrace, feeling a shudder run down his spine that all of it may well be the truth and he has awoken into an entirely new world.