Riddle me this...

Chapter twenty two

"I was thinking that maybe we could develop your powers some more." Edward suggested to Nina as he pulled on his clothes for the day.

"What kind of development?"

"Not sure, maybe throwing fireballs again?"

"Are you trying to train me up to be your superpowered henchwoman Edward?" She playfully nudged him before pulling on a pair of trousers.

Edward pulled at Nina's side,

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"Do not riddle me now Edward." Nina laughed at Edward's reaction, a pouty bottom lip and sad puppy dog eyes.

"Come on." She dragged him down the stairs to the room he had let her practice in before.

*

White satin sheets fell loosely over her naked body as she lay in his bed. Her eyes were closed, leaving Oswald to believe that she was asleep. He watched as her chest lightly rose and fell with her breathing and he was overcome with a calmness he hadn't felt before.

He approached slowly, as if moving would wake her, taking one step at a time. It reminded him of the playground as a little boy playing 'what's the time Mr Wolf?', while all the other boys and girls would run forward when the wolf had his back turned Oswald would creep forward, not caught by the wolf when he spun back around to catch his prey. In turn he was rewarded by being a winner, something he had not been since those playground days.

He was close now, only a few more tender footsteps and he would be upon her. Her eyelashes fluttered and he stopped in his tracks. He felt idiotic. How could someone's eyes make his heart pump that much quicker?

He hovered over her, not quite sure what his plan was now that he was here, before reaching out a hand to caress her smooth porcelain skin. There was a moment then that he felt another squeeze as his heart pumped another healthy dose of excitement through his veins, he was in love with her. It was a revelation that wasn't a surprise, he had presumed it for a while now.

The scene changed before him in a flash of lightning. Suddenly the window was open and rain was pouring in through the window, the light from the moon casting a long shadow across the bedroom floor. She lay covered in blood, her throat slit, her body covered in fingerprint bruises.

Oswald threw himself backward onto the floor in horror, was it him that had done this?

No, he couldn't have.

He remembered Porcelain lying on the ground outside his club in a pool of her own blood, fingerprint marks around her throat.

He knew then who would have done this: Fish Mooney.

He ungracefully stood up and walked back to the scene in front of him. As he stood, looming over her corpse he let a tear fall onto her arm.

"Nina." He whimpered.

Oswald always had a touch for the dramatic when it came to dreaming, he realised this as he woke. Needless to say the dream had impacted him, he still had the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach and as he rubbed his eyes he felt the tears on his face.

"This is ridiculous." He shook it off and got ready for the day.