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~~~~~As all good horror stories start with rain and lightning, so Detective James Gordon and I were trudging up to the entrance of Arkham Asylum- home for the crazies. We had received alerts that the place had been overrun by prisoners and all the guards were either dead or missing. On top of that, the power was out. Leave it to Gotham City to have the power of a building full of the insane go out.
"Conners! I need you as backup in case anything goes wrong! Stay near the entrance and don't move!" The Oh-So-Wise Jim Gordon barked to me.
"Sir, with all due respect, We have no idea what's in this crazy house, and who has escaped or not. It would be better if I came! Jim, please. I can do this. Trust me!" I knew Jim still viewed me as a kid. I mean, it was him who rescued me from the car crash that killed my parents. I do have to give him credit, if he didn't take pity on this poor kid who sat in the police station, miserable and alone, I would have probably ended up dead somewhere.
Anyways, enough with the backstory, Jim and I walked through the doors and entered the gloomy building. It was completely pitch black, and except for a few "emergency lights" placed on the walls, I couldn't see anything else.
"Ryla, Stay here, the guard's office is to the left, so sit in there and try to fix the cameras. If you hear anything, and I mean anything, you get out of here! Do you understand? I can't risk one of these psychos taking you." Jim told me.
"Jim please, I'll be fine! I promise I'll stay here though, but you have to watch for yourself. I swear, if I hear anything I want you to run out of here. I can't have the Dad-figure in my life killed on my first assignment as detective!" Jim, I guess, did not appreciate my failed attempt at a joke. I should really work on the timing of those.
Jim walked away as I went to the office and sat in one of the chairs. I looked around the room, very... cozy. The desk was littered with sheets of paper and old coffee and grease stains covered the surface. I slowly started spinning around in the chair and humming one of my favorite songs. Call me crazy, but it does help when my nerves start acting up. I looked back at the papers and tried to shift through them. They seemed to be patient files.
VALESKA
NYGMA
ZASZ
CRANE.
All the names on the files did sound familiar. I mean, who in Gotham hasn't heard of Jerome or The Riddler. I personally knew Victor Zasz when he almost killed me. I was being held hostage and I must say, he was pretty funny:
“Hey kid, look I hate to break it to you… but you’re my hostage!” A tall, bald man with guns said to me. I just stared at him, unamused. Of course this would happen to me. I mean what were the chances that as I was walking home, someone would recognize me as being in the care of the one and only James Gordon and use that to their advantage. Fast Forward to right now and I was sitting in a chair with a gun being pointed in my face.
“Dude, c’mon! I have work to do and I can’t be bothered! Jeez! Just let me go, this is so annoying. I know you won't kill me cause then Jim will be on your ass.” To be fair, I was having a pretty bad day. My boyfriend had broken up with me, I had stepped in mud, and now kidnapped.
Zasz just looked at me, shocked. I’m pretty sure no one spoke to him like that. I admit, I was a little nervous, I bet I just fucked evrything up, right? Now he will call my bluff and just… Bang. Suddenly, he laughed. Not a small chuckle, but a full head-thrown-back laugh. “Phew, Kid! That was funny. Alright, I’ll let you go, I like you! We should definitely keep in touch! Adios!”
And that was the beginning of my weird relationship with Zasz. He would sometimes drop tips on cases that Jim was doing and I would come in like "Hey all-of-a-sudden I have the missing piece!" To his credit, Jim didn't really question it. Gotham was crazy enough.
One of the files did strike me as different. The one about CRANE. I had, of course, heard of Jonathan Crane and his transformation into The Scarecrow. I felt a lot of pity for the guy. I mean, his mother dies, then his father turns into a psycho and injects him with a lot of "fear juice". His name also struck a cord within me, like I had heard it somewhere before, but I dismissed the idea, I had never met him before. Just as I was about to open the file, I heard a loud bang. I froze, heart pounding. Should I run like Jim told me? Or should I try to investigate, maybe Jim as in trouble! I needed to help him!
I slowly eased out of my chair and peaked my head out of the office. It was still pitch black and I tried to make out any movement that might mean danger. I started cautiously exploring the halls of the asylum. It was definitely creepy. The whole building gave off a vibe, almost like a sickness that curled around whomever was unfortunate enough to enter this place.
"RYLA! RUN! NOW! GET OUT!" Jim's strangled yell came from down the hallway. I turned to look at him, he was a mess! It looked like he had been thrown into a wall a couple of times. Suddenly, a man came out of one of the cells and shoved me up against the walls.
"YOU WON'T SCARE ME ANYMORE! I BECAME YOU! YOU STUPID CLOWN! I AM BETTER!" He screamed in my face.
I gave a cry and feebly tried pushing the man off of me. Jim leaped on the man's back and tackled him to the ground.
"Ryla, you need to run! Find Harvey! Go!" Jim struggled with the crazy man.
"Jim No! I'm not leaving, please! I can't abandon you!" I cried. I'm not usually a very emotional person, but Jim was like my dad. He protected me and I couldn't just leave him.
"Ryla, I'll be fine, I promise! Now go!"
I took off running down the halls, I'm not leaving him, I'm just getting help. I repeated this in my head as I sprinted down the darkened halls. I then skidded to a stop, of course... I looked around and realized I had evidently made a wrong turn and was now lost.
I saw an office with a Warden's plaque on it and went in, The place was in total disarray, papers everywhere and... was that blood streaked on the wall? I slowly backed away from it when I felt a blade being pressed up against my throat.
Freezing, I realized it was some sort of scythe-why hadn't I check to see if anyone was in the room?!
"Turn around, girl." a low, distorted voice spoke from behind me. I slowly turned around to be met with a scarecrow... no, The Scarecrow. "What's with the mask dude? What do you want?" I heard my shaky voice ask. Ok, probably not the wisest thing to say, but I was freaking out a lot and that mask looked really creepy. Scarecrow just tilted his head slightly, "What I want..." His raspy voice said," is fear. I want to cure it, to help others cure it!"
"Cure fear? That's stupid! I mean, fear is apart of being human. You can't cure something that we all have!"
"Oh, but I can and will. These... foolish people, trapped and held back by fear. I will set them free, and they will become what they fear the most!" He took a step towards me as I took one back.
"Soon, girl, you will be set free too, all of Gotham will soon follow..." His voice rang in my ears. I decided to get my thoughts together and do something. I shoved Scarecrow back and bolted for the office door. I was nearly there when someone tackled me and we both rolled onto the ground. Crane hovered over me and shoved his forearm in my face. The sound of gas spraying filled my ears and I realized he had just sprayed me with the "fear juice". The one thing I was afraid of. This mixture could turn a sane person insane. It could make you see your worst fear, and I knew I had plenty.
In the back of my mind, I felt the weight shift and get off of me. I realized that Scarecrow, or Crane, must have gotten up. He probably wanted to see the effects of his gas.
The world started to flicker around me. Voices started yelling from all directions, but one of them stuck out in particular...
"Hi, I'm Jonathan, I suppose we're partnered up for the project-"
C'mon Ry! Last one to the Scarecrow is a rotten egg!-"
Ry, She died, my mom's dead!... there was a fire-"
I have to go now Ry, Dad is making us move away... I promise I'll see you again!... I'll never forget you, never..."
The voices grew too loud, they were each begging for my attention while shouting in my head. It grew too much, I started to scream, or was I already screaming? I couldn't tell. Suddenly, a waterfall of cold water splashed down on my face. The voices died down and I bolted upright.
Crane was crouched in front of me looking at me curiously, "How do you know me?"
"I beg you pardon?" My uneven voice asked.
"You called my... my name? How do you know me? I don't remember you." Crane spoke again, his voice was just as uneven, his breath was shaky. I realized it was him who poured the water on me. That must be the gas's weakness- water.
"I-I don't know... The voices were all so loud, I don't really want to remember." My gaze flitted to his, He was still staring at me. For some reason, everything about this seemed normal and comfortable, like I had been around him before. "What's your name, girl?" He asked.
"Ryla. Ryla Conners." I huffed out my answer. I just wanted to get out of here, my thoughts went to Jim and I hoped he was safe. Suddenly, there was a clatter as Crane dropped his scythe. He scambled backwards so fast, I thought he has teleported.
"Ry-Ryla?" His strangled voice came from behind the mask. His shaky hands immediately reached up for said mask and tried taking it off. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally got the latch and pulled his mask back.
Taking one look at the boy in front of me, I was shot back into the depths of my mind, old memories started to surface: Of course, Jonathan Crane was my old best friend. We did everything together and then his mom died and he moved away. I never saw Jonathan after that, but he had promised he would never forget me. I suppose childhood promises mean nothing in the real world.
Coming back into the present, Jonathan sat in front of me. The boy who I had fallen in love with, was alive and well, for the most part. For once, I had nothing to say. I just started at him as he started at me. Each of us recalling old memories and drinking up the other's face.
"J-Jonathan? it's really you... why?" I asked him. All these thoughts were running around in my head, My Johnny, my Crane, was The Scarecrow-Gotham's feared villain. Yet, I couldn't see that right now, I just saw a boy as lost and frightened as he was when he told me he had to move away all those years ago. "Yeah, little crow, it's me..." His voice cut through my thoughts, I remembered he would always call me that-his little crow.
"Why? Jonathan, why?"
"You know why, You of all people know what he was like, you know what he did. Now, I'm just following along, I will save this world from its curse."
"Jonathan, fear isn't a curse! It can be a strength in some cases! Stop this madness! Please, come back." I begged him, I remembered why I had fallen in love with him. Jonathan was sweet, loving, and so smart. He always had my back and always looked out for me.
"Ry, I can't. I can't stop being The Scarecrow as much as you can stop locking criminals up. We can't."
"Jonathan, please... Let me help you!" I put my hand out towards hum. Waiting for him to take it, just as patiently as I had waited for him to come back. He slowly grabbed my hand and we both stood up. I was about eye-level to his chest and I pulled him into a hug. Everything about this felt right, it was just me and Jonathan. The scarecrow and his little crow.
I heard a voice shouting in the distance, I realized it must have been Jim, and by the sound of it, he brought backup. I slowly pulled away from my hug and almost immediately missed the warmth from Jonathan. I started at him and saw he was already looking at me, his head tilting ever so slightly as if asking- What will you do? I just backed away, and he realized I wasn't going to turn him in, I would let him go for the sake of our old love.
"Ryla..." His quiet voice spoke. I held up my hand, it was already hard enough finding him again only to lose him just as quickly.
"Little crow, I will come back for you, I promise..." He then walked out of the office door and like a shadow, slipped away and disappeared into he darkened shadows.
"RYLA!" Jim shouted to me, "Are you ok? Did Crane hurt you?" He started bombarding me with questions.
"Jim, I'm fine. Really. I am, I promise." Jim looked satisfied enough with the answer.
"Well, that bastard got away, I guess Gotham will still have its Scarecrow prowling around." I only hummed in reply and finally walked out of the Asylum and into the cool night.
I slipped my hand into my pocket and felt a piece of paper. I pulled it out and read the note
Little crow,
I promise, I won't leave you again.
I hope, in time, you can forgive me for what I am. I know that I will
always love you... Stay safe, please
- S
I smiled and put the paper back into my pocket, as I got into the police car and drove back to the station. I'll see you soon Jonathan. I promise.