MELLIFLUOUS ➪ Bruce Wayne {Gotham}

XI

Before even opening her eyes, Faye could feel herself break into a cold sweat.

Her breath hitched as a slight recollection of the past events scatter her mind, sending her into a deep shadow of fear.

"Hey," A whiny, snarky young man's voice rang about the room, "I think she's about to wake up."

Fast footsteps are heard echoing off every wall in the area, startling the girl as she opens her eyes to be met with a familiar face.

"Ed?" Her raspy and lost voice questioned one of the two standing around her.

"Faye, I," he spoke, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"What...am I doing here?" She attempts to sit up, a slight pain rushing through her upperbody, allowing her remember the struggle for freedom she faced while being taken. "Why was I kidnapped?" She asked, her eyebrows almost crashing together in a mixture of fear and fury.

"You're here, right now, with us...which is good!" His cheerful voice sounded like there was a sense of remorse and pity, but yet the sound of relief flooded it. "You weren't safe in Wayne Manor, especially while having contact with Jim Gordon."

"What does Jim Gordon have anything to do with the fact that you ripped me from my room against my will in the middle of the night?" She began to peel the sheets of her body, turning her back to Ed, catching the eyes of another man sitting in the corner of the apartment. The prolonged silence caught Ed's attention, introducing the two.

"Oh, uhm, Faye- This is my good friend Oswald Cobblepot." Faye nods her head slowly, breaking the eye contact. "He's actually the one who got those guys to go get you from the manor..." Ed said quietly, each word decreasing to silence. Faye nearly broke her neck as she quickly twisted herself to look at Ed.

"This guy hired two men to abduct me from where I was staying and to bring me here for no actual reason?!" She exclaimed and glanced back at Oswald, who simply just shrugged. "Take me back home or I'll ask Detective Gordon to come find me."

"Well, Faye. You clearly didn't hear one of the reasons why I had you brought here," Ed began, "You can't talk to Officer Gordon anymore."

"But why? What'd he do?"

"Him and his dimwit partner have embarrassed me for the last time, hence why I left my job at the GCPD and decided to partner up with Oswald." Ed replied calmly, a sinister smile growing on his face.

"Hence why you are bombing the train station?" She mocked him, causing his smile to quickly fade. "Ed, they just joke around with you. You can't take their stuff seriously. You're just butt hurt," she rolled her eyes. Faye squealed as his hand quickly came up and snatched her chin, forcing her to look Ed in the eye.

"I seized you because I don't need a little snitch ruining my plans of giving the GCPD what they deserve: a good case." His grip grew tighter. "They're gonna have to make a choice, and it will determine what type of people they are. Especially Jim Gordon since everyone who looks up to him as some sort of saint needs a reality check," Ed spits harshly to Faye. She struggles to pull herself away from him, finally winning and placing her own hand to her chin, attempting to sooth the redness.

"You've changed, Ed. Something's gotten into you..."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," he pushes himself off the bed, making his way to the center of his apartment. "I haven't changed. I've simply just become myself!"

"I liked the old Nygma better," Faye cattily replied. She looked up at him to see almost ten different emotions sprawl across his face at once, as if he was at war with himself.

"I," he choked, a soft look emerging to lock eyes with Faye. "I don't know what to say-" he chokes once more. "Actually, I know exactly what to say." His previously soft and understanding face melts like butter and forms into a devilish, dark look. "Get. Over. It." He bites towards Faye, drawing the girl back further and further from ever returning to the friendship they once shared. She holds her tears back, consisting mostly of anger and hatred.

"I don't care about your stupid plan anymore," she shouts. "I want to go home!"

"And where might that be? Wayne Manor?" Ed taps his chin and looks up at the ceiling as if he were deeply thinking, when only he's just mocking Faye. "What is something you and Adam & Eve all have in common?"

"Original sin?" Faye asks. Nygma shakes his head.

"No parents!" He smiles evilly. Faye's heart drops down to her stomach.

"Don't," she begins. "Don't make me want to kill you because I don't think I can hate you any more than I do right now." She grinds her teeth and avoids looking at him.

"Oh Faye, you're gonna do a lot more than just hate me after today..."