Nygmobblepot Fluff

Restoration (4x22)

*Headcanon*

The ceilings are high, the pillars are favorable, and the whole area has more than enough potential to re-establish my club. The Iceberg Lounge will be the only sense of culture left in this place we're still calling Gotham.

"Yes," I breathe, hearing gunshots behind me. "This will do nicely."

I must leave all the pain in the past. I'm moving forward, starting with this. But for now, just for tonight, I will put thoughts of Butch into my settlement here. He was my friend. Unfortunately, he had a bad taste in women, it would have seemed. It appears Ed was right, love is weakness.

When you know what a man loves, you know what can kill him.

My mind flashes back to thoughts of Ed and myself, how we shared lives for so long, only to be seperated by a greater evil-- a woman. That's happened twice, now.

God, the majority of women truly are despicable.

I suck in a breath and look up. All Ed's ever offered me were acts of betrayal, and what am I doing? Delving down deeper into the emotions I'd said I'd banished months ago. Perhaps I need closure. Surely that's my issue, being that the last time I saw him he left me trapped in a vault while the fool ran away with his new lover. But... I should see him-- one last time.

"Gentlemen," I snap, "please make sure this area stays secure. No one comes in or out, okay? I have an errand to run before the city goes deeper into hell."

***

This part of the Narrows looks even worse than I remember it. Well, I suppose that is the case for just about every place in Gotham right now.

I make my way to what (I'm assuming) used to be Cherry's Place. A chill makes its way through my spine. Everything is so... quiet. Is Ed even in Gotham? What if he left with Lee? I suddenly want to desperately turn back, but I've made it this far....

I push the door open.

"Ed?" I call out, my voice echoing throughout the large room. On the right of the room, nothing.

I turn my head, and I am immediately petrified. My heart skips a beat and my breathing stops.

Leslie Thompkins is leaned against a desk, blood around her. She's dead. Beside her...

Edward Nygma. Ed. My Ed. All my distasteful thoughts of leaving Ed and ignoring my feelings disintegrate.

Tears welling up in my eyes, I hurry over to Edward, my heart now beating rapidly

"Ed, oh my God, Ed. Ed!" I lean down and move his shirt to see his wound. They... stabbed each other? I piece things together, trying to contain myself.

"Ed, stay with me. P- please stay with me." My voice starts breaking and I bring my hand to his face, and a bit of blood comes out of his mouth as I do so. "I- I'm here, Ed. I promise, I'll help you.

I need to hear his voice. I need to feel him breathing. I pause for a moment to check for any sign that he's survived this. But there is no pulse, there is no breath, no twitch, no sound, no... life....

"Ed?" I whisper. In a sudden panic I grab his head with both of my hands. I yell his name over and over again until my vocal cords are raw and my tears are now on his body. He's gone. "No, no no no... no.... No, c- come back," I sob, putting my head on his chest, not caring about the blood. If I'd have gotten here earlier, I could have stopped this. I don't know exactly what happened between these two, but God damn do I really hate Lee right now.

I hate Ed, too. For being so naive and allowing himself to be manipulated until it got to this point.

"You... you idiot! I... I told you.... I- I could've helped, I...." My voice is cut off by my loud whimpers. My throat hurts as I try to stop myself from crying. I push my head up away from Ed's corpse. I breathe shakily and my hands tremble; what do I do? I need him, even if I'd rather not admit it. I at least need to know that he's alive, even if he's in a relationship with someone that isn't me.

But Ed is gone. That absolute fool is gone, and my feelings for him most certainly are not.
He's dead. Forever.

Unless.....
My eyes widen. "Strange," I whisper. "Strange can bring him back to life."

I snatch my phone out of my pocket and call one of my men.

"Sir?"

"Come to Cherry's old territory immediatley. I have a job for you. Yeah, just you; tell the others to continue what they're doing."

***

With one bloody arm propped against the other, I bite on a clean nail out of stress. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to face the man.

"Over there," I say, pointing to Ed. "Put him in the car and bring him to Professor Strange-- tell him to fix him." He gives me a confused look for a moment, then nods and promptly strides over to Ed.

I watch as he's picked up and out of the room. This is what he would want, right? To be brought back to life? This didn't look like a suicide. Ed and Lee certainly aren't exactly Romeo and Juliet material. So they killed each other, but I can't help thinking that Ed would want her back if he came back. And if not... well, he can just kill her again. But I probably shouldn't risk his future happiness-- I don't know the context of this situation, so I won't let her corpse rot for now. Strange gets two test subjects instead of one, and Ed gets his... girlfriend. Or the chance to end her life without ending his.

After all we've been through, I owe him a chance at happiness. But if he knows what's good for him, he'll let me kill her. Or give me the honor of watching her be killed by him. Or helping him kill her. There are a variety of opportunities at hand here.

For now, though, I'll help restore their lives and hope for the best. For Ed.

"Take the problematic woman into the car as well. She can take her trip in the trunk."

Seeing Edward dead is not something I ever want to experience again. Thankfully, at the moment I'm in a good enough position to have Ed reanimated, but I can't get this terrible feeling out of my stomach. It isn't the same feeling I got when my parents died in my arms, or when I was forced to kill one of my dearest friends.... This is something just as deep, but laced with a romantic type of... emptiness. It doesn't quite make sense, but I can't stop thinking about what we could have been. I'm reliving our memories as if he'll really be gone forever. The image of Ed on the ground in a pool of blood won't leave my mind.

If-- no, when he breathes once again, I will be there for him. I will be the one who nurses him back to health this time. Anything he needs, I will be there for him.

After all, who else do I have?