Pretty Little Puzzle Piece | Edward Nygma

Chapter One - An Enigmatic Introduction

Chapter One - An Enigmatic Introduction

"Welcome to the GCPD, Miss... Esmeralda Collins."

The young red head looked up, having zoned out slightly, but the words of the large, bald, GCPD Captain brought her out of it.

"Oh, please, it's Esme. Just... Esme, sir." She smiled softly, large green eyes falling sheepishly to the floor as she adjusted her thin rimmed glasses.

"Esme," He agreed, nodding his head. "Well, we're glad to have you. Our last Archivist ran off with an officer and we haven't heard anything from them since. About time someone got our files in order again."

"I'd be happy to do that for you, sir." She nodded her head, giving him a charming smile.

"I'm glad. Find your way down to the archives and settle in, I'll have someone come and check that you're good in a while."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Esme nodded, before turning and making her way out of the office.

The archives were easy enough to find, and Esme didn't even have to talk to anyone, much to her delight. She was rather anti-social.

"You should talk to people more, perhaps even find yourself a boyfriend."

Esme jumped slightly at the voice that echoed in her head, and she turned her head, seeing the figure of herself standing there that only she could see.

"I... don't need a boyfriend. Also... I t-thought I told you to stop this."

"How can I stop? I'm part of you. Besides, you know I'm right," The other Esme tilted her head, giving the real Esme a cocky smile. "You just need to show a little more... confidence!"

"I don't need confidence! Now, please, leave me alone, I need to work, it's my first day..."

Esme blinked, and her reflection disappeared. Shaking slightly, she turned back to the cabinet, pulling out a stack of files, before the sound of a throat being cleared caused her to shriek slightly, jumping and spilling the files from her hands across the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The dark haired man exclaimed, darting over to her and kneeling down beside her, helping her pick up the papers.

His fingers brushed against hers, causing her to jerk back slightly with wide eyes.

She swallowed and looked down, gathering up the remaining files before climbing to her feet, straightening out her skirt and looking anywhere but the man in front of her.

"What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?"

Esme looked up at him at the sound of his words, her wide green eyes meeting his large, soft, brown ones, that looked upon her with a slight eagerness.

"Your... your name." Esme replied, unsure, to which the man in front of her nodded.

"Correct. Edward Nygma." He introduced himself, holding out his hand, the others clutching the files that he had collected off the ground, to which Esme placed her own in it, shaking it for a mere second before pulling away.

"Esmer- uh, Esme C-Collins..." She stumbled over her words, her face flushing the colour of her hair as she looked down at the floor.

"I think Esmeralda is a lovely name."

Esme looked up in shock, but, before she could ask Edward how he knew her full name, he pointed to the cheaply made temporary name tag, that had her full name scratched onto a white sticker pasted on it.

"Oh, r-right," Esme nodded slowly, hesitating, before slowly looking up at him. "Mister Nygma?"

"Yes, Miss Collins?"

"How... how long were you standing in the door before I... dropped all my p-papers?" She questioned cautiously, watching the way Edward's expression flickered for a moment.

"Long enough, I'd say." He admitted slowly.

"...and you heard my-"

"-entire conversation, yes."

Esme began to shake, looking down at her hands. Someone knew. She was mentally unstable. She was going to get fired on her first day.

Noticing the tears that began to well up in the young woman's eyes, Edward looked worried.

"No, no, no, don't cry, it's fine, honestly. I... I have conversations like that with myself too, it's totally okay." Edward tried to assure her, to which the young woman laughed weakly.

"Not like this, you don't." She shook her head, to which Edward carefully thought over his words before slowly responding.

"You see her, don't you?" Edward questioned, to which Esme looked up at him with wide, horrified eyes. "Like another you. Standing in the same room. Almost like a more... confident, dark reflection."

"How did you...?"

"Because its the same for me. I see a more confident reflection of myself. He tells me to be more outgoing but I try not to listen because... well, that's not who I am."

"I... I understand..." Esme looked at Edward with a newfound admiration, to which he gave her a gleeful smile, handing her the files.

"So, how were you thinking of organizing the files? Because I think the system could use a bit of work." Edward changed the topic with a smile, to which Esme smiled softly, setting down the files on top of the cabinets before turning back to Edward.

"Well, I was thinking... lateral." She explained, making a lateral motion with her hands.

Edward stared at her with a wide grin.

"You are... very enigmatic, Miss Collins."

"So are you, Mister Nygma," Esme smiled sheepishly, looking down at her hands. "I feel like... we have a lot in common."

"I feel the same way, Miss Collins. Perhaps we could discuss our similarities more over lunch. I know this delightful little cafe only a block or two from here."

Esme giggled softly, reaching up to tuck a stray loose curl behind her ear.

"Sure... that sounds lovely."