Unwanted Allies- Dr. Jonathan Crane Story

Family Feud

Christian's kept his blue eyes locked onto the only other person he had met that had the intense blue eyes that he loved so dearly. Raleigh Jackson (Or at least, that's what she called herself now) his borderline sociopathic, twin sister. Looking at her, he noticed that in the fifteen years they had been separated, she hadn't changed at all. Of course, she wasn't the 15 year old child he had loved to pieces, but she still clinged to her tomboy-ish appearance and tough girl demeanour. 

"Raleigh..." He trailed off, moving towards her slowly, yet cautiously at the same time. No matter how many years had passed, the pair still were not on the best of terms due to their 'loving' father favouring him over Raleigh despite the immense effort Raleigh went to in order to try and even be noticed by him. There was no doubt that Raleigh's childhood wasn't the most pleasant. Unwanted by her father and abused by her mother. The fact of the matter was, they were both abused by the woman who had been referred to as their 'mother'. The mere sight of he and his twin made her sick due to the hatred she bore their father. Luckily for Christian, when their father had come to take them away from her, he immediately loved him, claiming that he would one day become his 'heir'. Raleigh on the other hand was always in the background and it seemed that their father just didn't have the time for her. Eventually, the pair had drifted apart resulting in Christian becoming incredibly wealthy and Raleigh to locked away in Arkham on a seven year sentence for attacking one of their father's 'friends' to the point of near death. In fact, the only reason Raleigh had agreed to report back on Jonathan's condition was if he paid her a large amount of money, which he had been doing ever since he found out Jonathan Crane had been arrested. However, one of the conditions in employing her help was that Christian stayed well away from her. But things were desperate now. Now that Ra's al Ghul was rumoured to be the one that Crane had been working with, their was only one reasonable solution to avoiding his wrath. Leave Gotham. 

"Don't come near me." Raleigh spat, her words were filled with venom. Christian stopped moving, his hands by his side, he could feel Edward, Floyd and Lilah's eyes all watching the pair of them with a mixture of curiosity and pity. He would have much preferred not to have told them about their tragic childhood. But it was the only way he could gain their trust and of course, save Raleigh's life in the process. If Edward and Floyd would have gotten their way, Raleigh would have been killed in order to protect everyone's identity. Telling his tale was the only thing that he could have done to save his sister's life. But of course, that was something he would never tell her,  "You told me that as long as I reported on that doc of yours, you wouldn't come here." She snapped at him. Christian sighed softly, 

"Plans have changed."

"Not for me." Raleigh hissed her eyes then turning to Lilah, "You must be Crane's chick." She said, looking her up and down. Looking over his shoulder at her, Christian and Lilah exchanged looks before she reluctantly gave Raleigh a nod, much to Floyd's disliking (They hadn't spoken properly since the night she made that horrible mistake) "I wouldn't be hung up on springin' him from this place." She smirked, "He's not the same man anymore." Lilah returned the same smirk,

"I have no doubt. Place like this, mixed with Fear Gas can have a pretty nasty effect on people." She shrugged, "Trust me. I know from experience." Raleigh grinned, licking her bottom lip before once again crossing her arms over her chest, 

"I've seen ya on the news. Jeremiah's gonna be pissed when he finds out you just walked on in here expecting to break out his best buddy." Christian frowned slightly, so Lilah had made it onto the news. It wasn't a surprise, after the incident at the Gotham City Police Department, it was hard to ignore something like that. It was dangerous for the four of them to even be in this place, but luckily, Lilah was still only known as the criminal 'Phobia'. Clearing his throat, Christian watched as Raleigh turned her eyes back to him, disgust was drawn all over her face. 

"We need to get Crane out of here and out of Gotham City as soon as possible." He informed her, his tone was pleading. 

"Why's that?" Raleigh asked, raising her eyebrow slightly. Christian took a small breath, his eyes locked onto Raleigh's,

"Ra's al Ghul." As the name reached her ears, Raleigh shifted uncomfortably, her eyes falling to the ground as if trying to find the correct words to use for the situation, turning around to Floyd and Edward, he nodded towards the door, making the obvious implication that they needed to leave. After both of them rolled their eyes, they both exited through the door that they had requested to remain unlocked for that very purpose. After the pair had closed the door, Lilah moved up beside Christian, her eyes fixated onto his sister who finally allowed her eyes to find his once more, 

"You're full of shit. Ra's al Ghul is dead" She spat angrily. This time Lilah spoke, 

"He's not. Jonathan has been working with him. I have no idea what they're planning on doing. But Jonathan said that Ra's al Ghul was helping him make his Fear Gas." She told the woman. 

"How dare you come in hear and say that name!" She screamed at Lilah, who glared at her. 

"Raleigh." Christian scowled, "I'm here because once we get Crane out, we're leaving Gotham. I want you to come with us." He told her, "You're my sister, no matter what." He smiled lightly at her. Raleigh watched him with bitterness,

"I haven't been your sister in fifteen years. If you're so afraid of Ra's al Ghul run away like you always do! That's all you're good for!" As cried, her voice slowly growing louder with every word, but despite her anger, Christian could detect in her voice that she was fighting tears. After she finished, Raleigh turned away from him and Lilah and placed her hands against the door in defeat. 

"Raleigh..." Christian's voice trailed off, but she didn't hear him. After letting out a small sob, Raleigh pulled away from the door and slammed her fist into it, a loud thud echoing through the room. Spinning back around, Raleigh slammed her back against the door, holding her fist close to her chest with a pained expression on her face. Christian moved forward, he wanted to hold her and say 'everything's okay' but the only words Raleigh wanted to hear from Christian's mouth was 'goodbye'. 

"Raleigh... I'm sorry-"

"You know what." Raleigh cut him off, "I waited for him. For years I waited for Ra's al Ghul to come back. I stood at my cell window every night and every night he let me down. Even when people told me that he was killed in that fire, I kept waiting! But of course, he never came. You were always the favourite. I did everything for him and he loved you more than me."

Silence filled the room as Raleigh and Christian stared at each other, neither knew what to say. But nothing was worse than the silence that followed when Lilah finally understood. When the words "Ra's al Ghul is your father?" escaped her lips with a mixture of confusion and disbelief; sending chills up Christian's spine that he would never forget.