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"Alright, Mr. Nygma, ready for another session?" You asked the man sitting in front of you with a straitjacket that restricted his movement.
This was the seventh therapy session you had with him, yet you knew next to nothing about him, most of the time because he was good at avoiding questions, other times because he just stood silent and didn't answer them.
But you still had faith like, well, any other psychiatrist you've met... Except for all the other ones that had been working with Edward Nygma. Those had completely given up on him after a few sessions, but running away wasn't an option, you needed to prove to yourself that you could provide help to the people that seriously needed it.
And you also needed the job.
"Oh Doctor, no need to keep things so formal, this is our seventh session after all, they all tend to leave around this point, and I would love to hear you call me by my name when you decide to leave in a fit of anger and desperation." He smiled as he usually did, and you just decided to ignore his comment and focus on what you were going to ask him.
In the last sessions, you've noticed he loves to talk about himself plenty, but only about his current self, The Riddler, when you ask him about his childhood he tends to avoid it or just plainly ignore it, so that was a difficult topic for him to talk about.
"Do you like cards, Edward?"
He seemed a bit surprised by your question at first, but he quickly went back to his usual relaxed expression.
"Well, well, trying to change your tactics now, Doctor? Thinking that you'll get me to talk about my childhood that way?" Once again you ignored his comment, and from one of the pockets in your white coat you took out a new deck of cards that hadn't even been opened yet and left it on the table.
He frowned and looked at them for a bit before looking back at you.
"I'm just curious because I was thinking that someday we could play cards." The deck of cards was something you had planned for the session, but you thought of it when you saw some footage of how Edward behaved in his cell, compulsively trying to do anything to keep his brain active.
"... No, it's alright, I do like cards." His expression relaxed once again. "Cards are interesting, don't you think? Just some pieces of paper with some numbers and shapes drawn on them, yet you can do so much with a deck of cards."
"Indeed, there are so many games you can play with them."
"Games? I mean yes, of course, but when it involves cards I've always been more of a magic guy, of course I don't believe in it, I just enjoy the illusion it can create." That was something new he hadn't told you before.
"Oh, magic? So you can do magic tricks?" you asked curiously.
"Heh, well, not that many anymore, sadly, but I remember when I first started to learn them when I was younger, Houdini has always been one of my inspirations, he was a master of illusion and performance art, and that was one of the things that inspired me to..." Suddenly he stopped talking and slowly looked back at you before smiling again, "Oh, well Doctor, I would say that was a smart move, but honestly? It was kind of a low blow, manipulating me like that, using how I behave against me, don't you feel guilty about it?" Again, you just ignored his comment and took some notes.
The session ended early once again because, as per usual, at one point Edward just decided to stay silent and not answer any more of your questions. But you didn't mind, because at least you got something new out of him, Houdini and performance art... Interesting, definitely something that fit his actions as The Riddler.
You had to leave the room with the deck of cards back in your pocket because the policy or Arkham strictly stated that nobody could leave gifts to patients, but after seeing so much footage of Edward in his cell you knew that not only did he need to do something from time to time to keep his brain active, he needed to be constantly doing something.
He needed that deck of cards, so later that day you went to visit him on his cell.
"Yes, I'm just going to check on him before leaving," you told the guard that was at the beginning of the hallway where his cell was, luckily the cell was far away enough for the guard to not hear you.
"Sure, should I accompany you?" the guard asked.
"It's not necessary, I'll be quick." The guard nodded in response, and you proceeded to walk towards Edward's cell.
You found him standing in front of a wall, mindlessly tracing something on it with his finger.
You lightly knocked on the metal door four times to catch his attention, and he turned his head to look at you, a cunning smile on his face, "Doctor, what a surprise, I wasn't expecting you." He walked to the door, only being able to see you through the small window on it that had a couple of cell bars that wouldn't even let him get an arm out.
"Well, I just couldn't leave without giving you..." you took the deck of cards out of your pocket, handing it to him through the cell bars, "This."
He raised his eyebrows, surprised by your gesture, taking the deck of cards and looking at it for some seconds before changing his expression and looking at you suspiciously, "I don't get it, what do you gain with giving this to me? Oh wait, let me guess, you think you can gain my trust?" He smiled again, opening the deck of cards.
"I just noticed that you tend to do almost anything to keep your brain active, so I thought that the deck of cards would help, that's why I'm doing it," you explained as he shuffled the cards before fanning them in front of you.
"Choose one," he said.
You looked at the cards before mentally deciding on one, "Got it."
"Good, now let me guess." He expertly shuffled the cards once again before taking the one at the top and showing it to you. "Is this your card?" You looked surprised at him, that was your card, and he didn't need to ask anything else to confirm it. "Nine of hearts? Well, I don't believe in cartomancy, but if I'm not mistaken, this means someone you know wants something more in a relationship," he explained, shuffling the cards once again. "But anyway, thank you for the cards."
"You're welcome Edward, just try to keep them hidden." You smiled in response.
The days passed and you tried your best to get to know more about Edward, while also giving him the occasional gift that you felt he needed, and, even though he seemed to see through your intentions, he always accepted the gifts with a smile.
But one day that changed.
It was at a therapy session, you had been informed that earlier that day Edward got into a fight for, apparently, no reason, when a guard entered his cell. When you sat down in front of him he received you with a frown and not his usual smile.
"Hello Edward, how are you today?" He just looked angrier at you in response, he had a small bruise on his cheek, probably from the fight. "I heard you got into a fight today, why is that?" Still no answer. "They told me you had no reason for it, is that really what happened?" You knew he wasn't much of a fighter, so him getting into one for no reason was highly unlikely and pretty much not how he behaved.
He stood silent some more time, evaluating the situation, looking at you while thinking, and you decided to give him all the time he needed until, eventually, he spoke. "The cards," he simply said.
"What's up with them?" you asked.
"He took them away and I tried to stop him," he explained, his expression relaxing a bit, "I thought it was part of your plan, but now I can tell it wasn't."
You let out a small sigh and leaned in a bit closer, "well I'll try to talk with the guards, but they may be suspicious of me if they haven't told me they took away the cards from you," you whispered, hoping the microphones in the room wouldn't catch what you were saying.
He leaned in a bit closer as well, but he didn't say anything, he just looked at you, as if he was analyzing your facial features, and that's when you noticed that was the closest you two had been since you started to work with him.
A knock on the door was heard, and the guard outside it spoke, "Doctor [Last name], time's up."
You leaned away from Edward, who leaned back against his chair when you stood up from yours, you didn't want to admit it, but your cheeks had gotten warmer after being so close to him.
"I'll see what I can do, Edward," you said with a small smile before walking outside the room.
You walked straight to the guards' office in the building, finding there a guard talking with Hugo Strange, your boss, before they turned their heads to look at you.
"Ah, Doctor [Last name] just the person I was looking for," Hugo said, and by the tone of his voice, you could tell that he didn't have good news for you. "I had been informed that your patient, Edward Nygma, has recently gotten into a fight with one of the guards, correct?"
"Yes sir, I just finished a session with him where we talked about the topic," you answered, "he said he got into a fight because one of the guards took away a deck of cards from him."
"A deck of cards, yes... Did he tell you from where he acquired this deck of cards?" Right to the point of course.
"Not really, no." You shook your head in response.
"No? Well, then it must be a coincidence that this is the same deck of cards you showed him in one of your sessions," he said, and you frowned at him, trying not to seem nervous.
"I'm sorry sir, but are you implying I gave him the deck of cards?"
"No, of course. I know you did." He signaled something to the guard beside him and said guard quickly went to the computer in the office and turned the screen around to show security footage of the day you went to visit Edward in his cell, the footage clearly showing how you gave something to him through the cell bars.
You panicked but tried not to seem too alarmed, quickly trying to think of an excuse.
"Nothing to say, Mx. [Last name]?" Hugo asked. "You know we have a strict policy here, rules that cannot be broken for the safety of the staff. And that's why I am sorry to tell you that you're fired."
Your heart dropped, and trying not to look panicked wasn't important anymore, "Wait, sir, you don't understand, he needed the cards! He needed something!" You tried to explain, but Hugo walked past you.
"Enough! Go gather your things, you have fifteen minutes to do so." And with that, he finally left, and you saw no reason to keep trying to reason with him.
You sighed heavily, did all your work mean nothing now? What would you do after this? After all, you were in Arkham because it was your only option since no one in their sane mind would want to stay there.
But now you wanted, because you were seeing progress, a progress that no one else had been able to achieve.
Sadly, there was nothing you could do about it, no way to stay, no way to keep helping Edward, nothing, so you just decided to go gather your things like Hugo had told you to do so, but you still could do something, one last thing before you had to leave.
You walked to the hallway his cell was in when you knew the guard was on a break and quickly went to his cell, lightly knocking four times on the metal door.
"Oh Doctor, another surprise visit, my favorites," Edward said as he walked to the door. "If you're here to check if your other gifts are well-hidden then no need to worry because they surely are."
"No, Edward, I'm here because..." You struggled to say that you were there to say goodbye, just thinking that you were there for that was making you question your sanity. "They found out I gave you the cards, and they... they fired me."
You couldn't see well his expression behind the cell bars, but for a second he seemed to look truly devastated after hearing what you said.
"I won't be your psychiatrist any more, I'm sorry Edward, I truly am."
He grabbed the cell bars, "wait, Doctor, there has to be a way, I— I can be cured, right?" Your heart broke a little when you heard the desperation in his voice, it sounded so genuine.
"You can, Edward, but I no longer can do it." You slowly went to put one of your hands over his, and you felt him tightly grab the cell bar. "I'm sorry Edward, goodbye."
——————
Some months passed after you got fired from Arkham, luckily all the time you had spent at Arkham was enough for you to find another job, a better one, one that paid better and where you had more resources to help with much less troubled patients.
But your heart still ached, thinking about how close you were to helping Edward Nygma, The Riddler.
One day, after finishing your shift and getting home you heard four knocks at your front door, and when you went to look through the peephole you only saw a card, a nine of hearts.
You opened the door slightly, taking a peek through the small gap, before fully opening it in shock.
"Edward?!" you exclaimed, and he smiled the moment he saw you, saving the card in one of his jacket's pockets, "what are you doing here? Did they let you out?"
"Well, that could be... Debatable," he said, and the expression on your face went from a surprised, but happy one to a confused and concerned one. "But that doesn't matter right now, I just wanted to thank you, Doctor."
"You don't need to keep calling me... Wait, thanking me? For what?" you asked, and he let out a small sigh, a smile still on his face.
"Oh, because you gave me everything I needed to get out of that place, of course." He took one of your hands, and your concern only grew when you heard him say that, "I just needed to act some way, make some slight mention of something, and you would take an instant mental note about said thing and bring it to me, I started to think that, well, there was no way that you could be so easily manipulated, and that maybe you were secretly trying to help me get out, but oh, as time passed my confusion only grew, as well as my curiosity." He guided your hand to his face, leaving a kiss on your palm before putting your hand over his cheek. "You, my dear, are the most interesting puzzle I've ever encountered."
Your heart was racing with everything he was saying and doing, but you were unsure of what you were feeling, and you found yourself unable to speak.
"Nine of hearts, Doctor, I want more from this relationship, I want to do what you tried to do to me, are you scared? Confused? Maybe in love?" That cunning smile of his just made your heart beat faster, "Don't worry Doctor, I'll find out what it is, and you'll let me, right? Because you still believe I can be 'cured', right?"