stephanie nashton does it all (forthem) wrote in rooms, @ 2014-10-19 22:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !tales, *log, eddie nigma, stephanie brown |
nashtons - sleepy hollow (pt 2)
WHO The Nashtons.
WHAT Meeting in Sleepy Hollow. (Pt 2 of 2)
WHEN After this, and before this
WHERE Tales, Sleepy Hollow.
WARNING ghosties. sads? so much sads.
Stephanie’s smile wibbled just a touch in appreciation and frankly surprise as he turned to her with breathless sort of admiration. She hadn’t expected any sort of reaction from him, honestly, let alone something so positive. So, she watched him for a moment as he approached, slightly taken back in the best way possible, in a way she hadn’t felt in a while. She wasn’t even upset by the baby he whispered or how he tried to tease her with a touch that didn’t reach her skin. Her blue eyes followed his finger, and then looked up at him with curiosity and agreement. Yes, she’d play the game, too. Her lips curved up in the corners, piqued and happy that he even wanted to play something like this, like she was seeing him for the first time.
“Of course I will.” She followed out after him, quite aware of the gazes dragging along with them in their wake but not reacting either way. Even turning her nose up a little bit with a flash of pride. Sure, she and Eddie were crumbling little by little, but for now he was still hers. Her hands smoothed over her pants before she turned to Amadeus as well. “Ready to keep Bart company for a while, boy?” She rubbed his soft, chestnut neck, and then tugged at his rein once. Her time on Wondy Island had given her the chance to learn how to interact with horses, and there definitely wasn’t that hesitation there was before.
As she lead Amadeus ahead of Eddie and his stead towards the barn on the side of the inn, she turned over shoulder. “Are you taking me on a magic carpet ride? Or is this going to be ghost surfing? Piggyback rides?” She smirked a little, hoping he wouldn’t take offense to it. She was wary of joking at all around him, but she just couldn’t help it. Vestiges of what they used to have still lingering in the back of her mind like they were still there. Maybe they were. Maybe they just needed to be reawakened.
Eddie rolled his eyes at her. “One, I can’t summon magic carpets. I’m not a full wizard, thank you for reminding me. Two, do you mean the waves would be ghosts or we’d be surfing over ghosts in some kind of mosh pit fashion? Three you’ve used up all your piggy back ride privileges in Halloween Town.” His form of joking wasn’t exactly the same as hers. More nerdy knowitall than nostalgic 90’s kid. Eddie didn’t know if it had always been that way. He wasn’t even sure of the last time they teased each other without it becoming aggressive. Eddie’s mouth wiggled into a frown at that, but it didn’t last long. He wanted things to get easy between them again. If they couldn’t do that, then they were really doomed.
He lead Bart into the stable and took his saddle off, brushing the horse down a little before letting him sleep. “I’m not going to tell you. I might actually make you walk all the way to the ghost camp.” Eddie patted Bart’s neck and then joined Stephanie in the middle of the barn once she was done with Amadeus. He offered her a smile. It wasn’t that messy, carefree question marked smile that she knew so well. It was more curious. Polite. Trying. He wanted to put in an effort instead of tanking this whole night right from the get-go. And, really, how was that any different from how he treated her in the very beginning? Eddie tried so hard to understand what it was like to be Stephanie Brown.
“It’ll be a surprise, how’s that?” Eddie lead her out of the barn and towards the old church he had tried to resurrect Crane from. A moment passed and he looked at her, appreciating how she looked in that riding outfit in the ghostly moonlight and then pointed to the hat she was carrying. Yes he wanted to see her in it. “So, when I tried to bring Crane back, his ashes got swallowed up. By a black hole...thing. Should I feel bad I didn’t give him a proper burial? Or is that kind of thing not really important anymore?” Eddie was glad he lost contact with Captain America. The man would have probably had something stern to say about messing with someone’s remains.
“Well, crowd-surfing over some ghosts would probably be pretty rad. Probably.” She smiled, all dimples and blonde hair, trying for a second to needle him before letting it all go. She knew she was pushing boundaries, and frankly she had no right to, but the tears earlier had been a little cathartic. At least for the moment. Give her a second, and it would probably all catch up once again. Amadeus was de-saddled as well, as she tossed the saddle carelessly to the side before joining up with Eddie. His smile made her feel a little uncomfortable, and that joking nature melted away slowly. She didn’t frown or accuse. Just regarded him in the pale moonlight with a cant of her head and stormy blue eyes almost too dark to even see in that barn.
“You do love your surprises,” she said softly, smiling with slight encouragement before falling into step with him. Catching his gesture, she chuckled just a touch, twirling the top hat on the tip of her finger messily before placing it on the top of her head. It didn’t look bad, maybe a little Zatanna-ish, but Steph carried herself well for the first time in a long time. And it wasn’t because she was proud or happy. More like she was trying to prove herself to the man who was trying to love her again. Fighting the urge to grab his hand, she fiddled with her own before clasping them behind her back. A beat of silence followed his question, and then she shrugged. “No. I don’t think so. It’s more of a personal thing anyway, I’ve always felt. More indulgent for the people who are left behind. That’s why I dumped the ashes of my baby brother’s costume off a building all those years ago. Sentimentality. Crane has no one left to be sentimental, and honestly, if he is back, does it even count? Does any of it count?”
She looked off into the distance and wondered. If Stephanie disappeared and reappeared as another, would she be completely written off by everyone in Gotham? Would they think of this as another redo? Would they see this as a chance to finally have a Stephanie they wanted? Would her husband find the woman he loved again? The questions swirled in her head. “If it’s a different one, does anything that happened before count?”
“You look good.” Eddie said honestly when she put the hat on. “It’s not your typical style, but you still always manage to interject with blonde batness.” He raised a finger in the air. “I could recognize you in any outfit. Even a tricky moustache.” To him, Stephanie was wholly unique. There wasn’t anyone out there like her, even in the hordes of bats and birds. She wasn’t like her mentor Dinah who was all rough without any of the charm. She wasn’t like Oracle who was stern despite the occasional playfulness. She wasn’t like anyone.
He put one hand behind his back as the other held out the lantern, listening to her wonder. “I always felt as though it was my duty to take care of the rogues. Firefly, for example, because no one would ever hold a funeral for him.” Eddie liked the contrast in who they were. Stephanie with putting her brother to rest. Eddie with honoring the rogues despite the horrible things that they did. “I think Crane would have been delighted. Honestly. He couldn’t have had a more unique funeral.” No it wasn’t somber or anything like that. It was flashy and scary and it almost cost Eddie his life. Crane would have loved all of that, no matter which Crane it was. “And, put to rest in the very tale he was modeled after. Crane, meet Crane.” The green man didn’t intend to ramble on, he was trying to curb that with Stephanie. Though, he wondered if she brought out that tendency in him naturally, whether she found it entertaining or not.
The question of whether or not what happened before counted made him furrow his brow at her. It was a good riddle. “Do you mean, should we blame the things that the last Crane did on this one? Or perhaps that the slate should be wiped clean? That we should forget all about the Cranes, however similar, who came before?” Eddie asked with interest and then pondered his own questions. “I think certain individuals should be treated the same from the get go. I think if something happened to me and a new Riddler showed up, he should have to work to get where I am.” A pause. “If people forgot me completely...I don’t know. I’d feel cheated. Like all this work was really for nothing.”
She fought the urge to bow with a flourish in a ploy to deflect his compliment. Instead, her cheeks pinkened a bit underneath the lunar glow, and she glanced away almost bashful. “You could recognize me in any outfit, Eddie, because you have every inch of me memorized,” she murmured with an affectionate and amused smile. Her hands unlatched from behind her as they climbed the hill, arms swinging at her sides. Frankly, she thought she probably looked a little ridiculous, but she was pleased that Eddie appreciated it. Grateful, even.
And as he spoke, she listened with rapt attention, eyes flickering between him and the sepia-toned path ahead of them. No matter what Eddie though, Stephanie found him fascinating. Utterly, arrestingly fascinating, and she wanted to tell him so. She laughed in its place, however. “You can’t lie that it didn’t end with a bang at least?” Crane would have loved something bombastic and consuming, of course. He would have been so pleased with what Eddie had done, especially if it almost cost him his life. “And honestly, what would have happened with his ashes anyway? His girl is gone, and no one else was willing to do anything with them.” She shrugged, not as empathetic as she could possibly be. She was way too fatigued from her own heartache to dish it out to more than a select few.
“Yeah, like what if we all changed eventually. We all got switched out, one-by-one. Are we supposed to forget everything that happened completely, or do we let them pay for the sins of someone they don’t even know?” Steph crossed her arms over her chest in thought, frowning at the church ahead. “If a new Stephanie came here tomorrow, does she get to be Spoiler? Does she get to fill in my role? Does she get to pay for all my fuck-ups? Does she get to be your wife?” She knew what he meant, about earning it all, but why should it be any different than Crane? Why not treat Crane like he was fresh and new every time, even if they all knew he was so far from fresh or new or anything remotely un-Crane-like.
Eddie did notice how she listened to him and silently appreciated it. He didn’t know if she was trying because her joking around upset him. He did know, however, that Stephanie was a terrible liar and even worse at a poker face. If she wanted to listen? She would. So, Eddie believed her interest to be genuine. “No one else cared. And, why should they?” Eddie didn’t blame anyone else for hating Crane. Part of him hated the strawman, too. “You’re right. He would have thought it was fantastic.” And he smiled a little hopefully, like part of his worry was put to rest.
When she started talking about a new Stephanie and a new Spoiler and a new wife he turned to look at her from his ascent up the hill. “Stephanie.” Then he paused, mulling over what she was trying to say. “I think people need to prove themselves.” And, that was the green bat Selina teased him about coming through brightly. “I think we’re all just characters written to be a certain way almost every single time. I’ve read all the comics, or most of them anyway. I myself am a blend of different men who all had the same problem. I had to prove I was different in a significant way. Because I want to be more than just a mental illness in neon green.” Eddie’s tone wasn’t stern, it was enlightened as if her asking the right questions let him think about these things that had been running through his mind for a long time. “We all start from a simple template. And, that Stephanie Brown template? Isn’t what I fell in love with. If you vanished and a new one showed up, I wouldn’t even talk to her. We’re from Gotham. Handing us anything is an insult. We’ve got to prove what we’re made of.”
Stephanie hadn’t had an opinion on Crane beyond hatred in years. He made them all suffer in ways that no one else made possible, and while the utopia toxin was wiped from their memories by war, that didn’t paint Crane a different color in her memories. He was still murky brown, sludge colored piece of shit that would never be wiped completely clean. Sure, she thought that maybe Crane should be given the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, the benefit of the doubt was offered too many times. Maybe it was time to just throw him away lock and key for good.
Stephanie stopped about halfway between him and the bottom of the hill, leaving a good chunk of distance between the two of them. Or at least good chunk for them. The Nashtons, who were usually close enough to taste each other’s breaths. Now? Now they could be an inch from each other and feel miles apart. She was comforted slightly by his insistence that they all needed to prove themselves over and over again if new ones kept coming. But what about the old? “Do you think that’s why we have to keep proving ourselves all the time? Because we’re from Gotham or because we’re just these templates? These people trying to be more than what we’re meant to be.” There was no way any iteration of Stephanie Brown ended up like she did, and maybe this was punishment for doing so. “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with us. Not fundamentally at least. Yeah, we’re fucked in the head, but we can still be amazing. Both of us. But maybe we’re doomed to have to keep proving ourselves in that same sort of sick cycle neither of us want to be in anymore.”
Eddie had the urge to grab her hands and promise her everything was going to be okay. It was an old, old habit that didn’t really have any weight anymore, did it? He imagined trying now and it failing miserably. So he just stood there and looked at her for a long moment, thinking about what she said and then finally shook his head. “You and I, more than anyone else in Gotham, thrive off of proving ourselves. If we ever had to stop, we’d be even worse off than we are right now.” Eddie offered her a smile and a small shrug as he searched his belt satchel for the bits of cheese he brought the ghost mice. “Are you tired of proving yourself, Stephanie?” He asked and looked up at her. “I am sometimes, too.” Eddie admitted and looked down at the cheese in his hand. “But, I don’t think we’d be worth anything if we didn’t keep trying.”
He inhaled heavily and opened the creaking church door. The entire place was dark and unsettling and nothing could be seen beyond Eddie’s lantern. He said, “Watch your step” and almost put his arm out for her to hold onto before he remembered that touching was off limits. Eddie waited until she got inside of the church and then blew out the lantern, making the church pitch dark under a cloudy sky with only a smiling moon giving them light. In mere seconds, glassy green ghost mice scurried out from under pews, out of walls and up from floorboards. They crawled all over Eddie unapologetically and he didn’t seem phased or frightened by it.
“Cheese platter, anyone?” Eddie asked them with a smile that was illuminated by their glowing bodies and spread his hands out so they could crawl around his fingers and palms. They squeaked happily and some even ventured over to Stephanie to sniff her out and make sure she was safe. The scene might have horrified most, but Eddie seemed happier than he had been all night. “It’s not like necromancy at all. It’s something else, Stephanie. I just don’t know what.” He whispered hesitantly. His powers were a riddle to him that he had to keep close in case she just didn’t understand.
Steph managed to stumble only a little as she waded through the darkness barely illuminated by his lamp, and then only by the moonlight above. She reached out for support, only finding air where she expected doors or pillars or maybe a hand to be. But, they were playing a game, weren’t they, and she wasn’t going to be the one to lose just yet. She would probably lose eventually -- she was desperate for his affection and reassurances -- but she’d make him question it just a little bit longer.
Suddenly, the room burst with illumination, and yeah, she might have yelped at the scurrying green mice that filled the room. She blinked a few times, like she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing, and then she rubbed her eyes in comical disbelief. She had seen him raise a snake from the dead and conjure an entire scene right out of a Dickens’s Christmas, and after a second she realized this wasn’t any different. She wasn’t scared, just caught off-guard, and she watched the ghost mice warily regard her with a flickering smile. “So we’ll figure it out. Or you’ll figure it out and I’ll be here for you to talk it out with.” Maybe that last bit was a little hopefulness, but she couldn’t help but try.
Eddie turned to her, covered in ghost mice and smiling at the little surprised yelps and faces she made. He still liked catching her off guard and for the first time in months, it was in a good way. “Yeah?” He asked when she offered and then smiled down as the mice tried their very hardest to eat the cheese. “Steph, what if all of this gets to be too much for you? When I tried to bring back Crane, my powers imploded and I almost died because I was careless. And, I don’t know if the family or the league will be okay with any of this. What’s going to happen if I accidentally raise Bruce’s parents while we’re at the Manor for some holiday? Or I raise the dead to help fight crime?”
He looked down at the mice and one of them turned nightmarish for a half of second. A blip of teeth and fur and claws. Eddie closed his eyes and then it went back to normal, little eyes looking up at him like it didn’t understand what went wrong. “While I was stuck here for a month without you I got very good at assuming I was the absolute worst for anyone that wasn’t a witch or a skeleton.”
Steph tried her hardest not to make a face when she saw the critters skittering up and down his body, and she had to remind herself that technically they couldn’t do anything to her, right? She had missed the transformation, that blip of fear fuel, and ignorance was bliss. They were safe, weren’t they? At least these little ghosties were. She scooped one up from his arm and held it between her hands, curiously eyeing it like she was waiting for it to blow away in a puff of smoke or bite her or something.
“So?” She looked back up at him, not paying attention to the little mousey in her hand anymore. “I don’t care what they think, and this is not going to be too much for me. I know it’s not. I’ve told you time and time again, you can’t get rid of me that easily. Even if you think our marriage is failing, I’ll still be here, ready and willing.” Her gaze lingered on his puppy dog browns for a moment before she closed her eyes, shaking her head again. “And you know that’s not true, Eddie.” She had to stop herself from saying baby, the default pet name she fell to when Eddie needed comfort. “You’re good. You’re good for so many people. You can be good for me if we let each other do it. If we let each other be good for each other.” She stepped a little closer, unperturbed by the undead mice and wanting to be near him.
One by one the mice started to scurry away and the green man sprinkled the rest of the cheese on the ground so they could roll around in it later. Eddie picked up the lamp and lit it again so he could look at her. “Baby, if you don’t think this marriage is failing, you’re blind as a bat.” He said dryly. Her words hurt and this sudden vow of hers to always be there for him seemed new. Eddie was raised on the streets and his gut reaction was to be careful of people who hurt him. And, Stephanie? Hurt him. “You were distant since we got back from Earth-3. I knew you had PTSD, but as it went on it made it harder for me to trust you. Even after you got treatment, you tried to keep me at arms length because you were afraid. At one point, I did blame you for making me feel so alone. So, now you promising to be there for me is hard. It’s not something I can believe right away. I need you to understand that.”
Eddie tugged at the edge of her jacket and pulled her a little closer, though not enough to touch. He held the lantern up so they could see each other. “I want to make this work. I’m just so damned miserable and I’m tired of being miserable.” A long sigh and he had to stop himself from touching her face. “I’m sorry I can’t let you back in yet. I just can’t. But, I’m goddamned trying.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes, but the expression was lost in the dark, even if a quiet huff accompanied the whole thing. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly, relishing in the pressure of holding herself together. She wanted him to touch her, to love her, but she knew that wall was too high, almost insurmountable at this point. A wall that she had created in a way, and that they had both perpetuated for months upon months. But, she tried to understand. Swallowing hard, she tried. “Okay,” she whispered, words almost lost into the darkness as she stepped forward. In the dim light of the lantern, he could see her blue eyes blooming with concern and maybe just a touch of mistiness.
“I’m tired of being miserable too, and I’m sorry I’m the reason you’re feeling that way.” Her fingers ran down the length of his jacket; she couldn’t help but try to touch him. Her hands stopped just before his, however, and drew back towards herself. “I’ll wait. You know I’ll wait for as long as I have to. As long as you’re patient with me too, okay? We have to be patient with each other.”
Eddie didn’t expect her to ask or promise patience. He thought she was going to fight him for it or cry or find a way to blame him. And, years ago he would have accepted blame readily because it was so much easier for him to play the bad guy. Here, it wasn’t that easy. Here, they both had to pick up the pieces if they wanted this to work. “I’m running out of patience, Stephanie.” He admitted, though his voice didn’t hit that cruel sharpness. It was more of a warning that they didn’t have infinite chances. That changes needed to start happening if he was expected to keep loving her as much as he did.
He held onto her shoulders, avoiding any skin to skin contact and then turned at the sound of hooves and a carriage. “Our ride is here.” Eddie exhaled and then managed a smile at her. “Let’s go have some fun.” And that was what would glue their relationship back together. What good were promises if they didn’t enjoy each other’s company? If they couldn’t have fun? He stepped out of the church and waved at a horse and carriage that looked more suitable for a funeral. The driver was a hunchback man with deep red eyes and a crooked smile. “Ivan! Good evening.” The riddled man’s voice turned bright on a dime. That carnie friendliness that he could pull out of a hat in seconds. Eddie had a way of speaking to freaks from all walks of life as if they were royalty. As if they deserved all the respect.
“Edward.” Ivan said with a tip of his worn hat and the carriage door flung open. Inside was a tall, lean man wearing round dark spectacles and a very nice top hat. He was dressed in deep blacks and reds that were more in the style of Victorian London than Sleepy Hollow America. The most notable thing about him was, of course, the fangs on either side of his mouth. Both slender and incredibly sharp. Eddie got in the carriage first before giving Stephanie a hand.
“Stephanie, this is Reginald.”
“My dear.” Reginald said and it became very clear that if Eddie was a vampire and also British, he’d probably be this guy.
“He’s a contact from Halloween Town. Don’t worry, necromancers and vampires apparently have an age old truce. You’re safe.”
“Unless he dies.”
“Unless I die.” Eddie was smitten with this vampiric man.
Stephanie nodded. She knew his patience was running thin, and she knew she couldn’t keep asking him for forgiveness. What was their breaking point? Would it be in this town, in this place away from their home? Would it be when they finally got back to Gotham? Or years down the road, after a family, after a house, after everything when they both finally snapped? She was so scared that one day they would both have to just give up on each other because this wasn’t working. After everything they had been through with each other and apart, it wasn’t working. It terrified her that they might not be able to find a solution at the end of the day.
But she smiled when he smiled at her and nodded again. Fun. They would try to have some fun, and if that couldn’t happen, then they were done for. So, she followed out towards that dark carriage and tried not to frown or hesitate, even when the vampire (who she assumed was going to be called Vlad or something cliche) introduced himself.
“Hi,” she said softly, fighting the urge to put out her hand to shake. Was that a thing vampires did? She smiled courteously, and she took Eddie’s hand to help herself up. The first bit of real contact after what seemed like hours (but had been less than that) of teasing her with it. She settled next to Eddie, hands in her lap, and she rolled her eyes at the two of them. Practically in a bromance and they barely knew each other for more than a few weeks, no doubt.
“I’ve got no doubt I’m safe,” she told them both honestly. “But then again, I don’t know what kind of trouble the two of you can get into, especially when I haven’t been around.”
The game that he had set in motion in the beginning fell flat before he could even realize it. He had offered his hand, she took it and that was that. There was no going back to that anticipation of the first kiss, the heat of their bodies against each other in a stolen moment. That didn’t exist anymore now that they had been together for so long. Eddie mourned it, he thought that they had become an old couple in years instead of decades and that was a bad sign, wasn’t? But, he wasn’t willing to show weakness or hesitation in front of a vampire, so all his attention and charisma went straight to the man in black and red.
“Reggie here is more of a tour guide than a trouble maker.” Eddie smirked at the vampire across from him and then relaxed in the carriagee seat as it started to move. “He shows me haunts. I give him tips about the living.”
“Though I hardly need his expert advice.” Reginald interjected dryly.
“Tonight he’s taking us to a ghost camp. Soldiers, American ones. I’m going to ask around about the horseman and see if he’s ruined any of their parties.”
“Try not to confuse them with talk of advanced technology, Nigma.” Reginald rolled his eyes and Eddie grinned. Thick as thieves.
Stephanie and Eddie had gotten close very, very quickly years ago, and Earth-3 had only escalated that. Eddie was right to think that Stephanie was basically his wife when they were there. Even better, they were partners. Here? They were drifting apart, they were losing each other, the spark was fizzling between the two of them. They had always had the spark, even when they didn’t have honesty or closeness. They had that passion and warmth and breathlessness. But now? It was just second nature. She knew that wasn’t good either, but she didn’t know what to focus on recapturing first. The physicality or the honesty?
She settled in next to him and regarded the vampire in front of her, smiling vaguely at their buddy cop chemistry. It was charming to see Eddie so at ease with someone, but it lurched her stomach that it couldn’t be her to do so. That it couldn’t be her to make him feel like himself. Maybe that was a sign that this marriage was really, truly failing.
The carriage lurched forward, and she wiggled her fingers when Eddie told her the plan. “Oooh, soldier ghosts.” She smirked, actually genuinely excited to go ghost hunting and possibly get her ghostbusters on. After a second, she turned to Reginald. “You know, the last time I ran into a vampire, he strangled me and my friend when we were just trying to enjoy a night on the town. Hopefully you won’t feel the same inclination.”
Reginald gave her a very flat look at the wiggled fingers and then slightly raised his eyebrows at Eddie. The two exchanged looks and for a moment it seemed like they were having a silent, creepy dudes with powers conversation. When Stephanie changed the topic to how a vampire once strangled her and her friend, Eddie cleared his throat with great aggravation as if he was riding in the carriage next to an embarrassing person he had to bring along.
Reginald continued to be unimpressed with Stephanie. “How charming.” The vampire fluttered his eyelashes (in a very Eddie like way, to be noted) and looked out the carriage window without another word. The riddled man was frankly embarrassed by her and found the night once again taking a nose dive for the worst. It wasn’t long after that the carriage stopped. The smell of campfires, smoked meat and booze hit the senses immediately. There were messy renditions of the mocking “God Save the King,” which Eddie thought was very punk rock of them.
When they stepped out, the ghost camp stretched a few acres in tents. Ghostly figures moved about the camp as if they were alive. Shadows of a world they couldn’t forget and would never leave. “Poor bastards never made it. Not one of them.” Eddie knew instantly as if he had somehow pulled up a profile page. Reginald had no interest in talking to ghosts, so he stayed behind, reading a book in the dark as he hummed along with the tune. Politely, Eddie waited for Stephanie to join him before going to speak with any of the ghosts.
Stephanie balked visibly when they exchanged their judgemental looks, cheeks burning up as Eddie cleared his throat in that same sort of way that she imagined Umbridge did. Condescending, embarrassed, and so above whomever she was speaking to. Instead of responding or even acknowledging either of them, she just turned to look out the opposite side of the carriage, arms cross as protection. The idea that Eddie was actually mortified by her burrowed under her skin. He’d never been embarrassed by her, not like that, not that she could remember. Fingers digging into her forearms, she tried to swallow the bile crawling up her throat as she blinked away angry tears.
She didn’t even realize when the carriage came to a stop, too lost in the frustration she was feeling over the whole situation. Sighing deeply, she waited a moment after Eddie climbed out of the carriage, stealthy wiping away at her eyes, before she followed along. Completely avoiding any sort of contact -- eye or physical -- with Reginald. And while she was appreciative that Eddie waited for her, the look she gave him told him everything he needed to know. That if she was too embarrassing for him, he should tell her right then and there. Instead of following him around to talk to the troop of ghostly soldiers humming along to national anthems, she stood by the carriage for a few seconds, arms still crossed.
Eddie wasn’t going to have another goddamned marital spat, especially right in front of his very first vampire friend. Frankly, it seemed like Reginald was not only all too aware, but also incredibly bored by the humdrumness that was committed relationships. He was a vampire, after all. The kind who loved himself long before others. A small, nostalgic side of Eddie envied that immensely. He used to be the man rolling his eyes at stupidly predictable and tedious relationships that blew up right in front of him. Meanwhile he happily had two bimbos on his arms that never wanted things to get personal.
The riddled man gave her a look that dared her to just open up the hotel door and go home before he relented a little. “Come on. They only do this for a few hours and then they’re gone.” Eddie took a couple steps backwards, turning to walk down the line of soldiers as he tried to stretch out his contact with the spirits. These boys were afraid of the brutish German mercenaries. A fear that only really started to blossom after being killed by them on the battlefield. The riddle was, why did they come back here instead of haunt the battle they died in?
Stephanie hesitated for another fraction of a moment by that horse-drawn carriage that looked straight out of a funeral home, and a tiny part of her wished that Eddie told her to go home. To just leave him alone. She was disgusted by it, but there it was in the back of her brain. Whispering that he didn’t even want her there anyway, so why stay? Why put herself through this? But, she was a stubborn bat, and she wasn’t giving up that easily. No, he would have to actually ask her to leave if he wanted her gone, if he was so mortified by her that he couldn’t stand to be around her.
She fidgeted with the rings on her left finger for a moment, purple and gold that he crafted himself, and she wondered what they would be like if she had said yes on Earth-3. Would it have been worse? Better? Was this implosion inevitable between the two of them? Maybe Riddler and Spoiler weren’t meant to work out. As much as they hoped and dreamed it would be different, they were both drawn and written to be certain ways. Maybe the collapse was just the world correcting itself. Lost in thought, she wandered behind Eddie slowly, almost at a snail’s pace, and regarded the ghostly men meandering around the camp. It was eerie, to say the least, creepier than anything he’d shown her as of yet. “What do you need me to do?” she asked at a whisper after a moment, attempting to hide the anguish and frustration from her voice.
Eddie could feel every fucking thing that happened in the ghost camp. He could feel the trees, the earthworms wiggling around in the dirt, the lives of each ghost, the slow walk of Stephanie behind him. The problems he had with her faded into the background. The lack of trust, the knowledge that she wasn’t built for this kind of power and exposing so much of it to her now was a mistake. All of it was inconsequential in the face of all the little threads that connected the universe. “We are looking for something wrong.” He turned to look at her, eyes aglow with that pale green.
“Each one of these men died the morning after this night they keep replaying. They should have been stuck in the battle, but they’re here. Why? What’s different? What changed?” Eddie turned just as one of the ghosts noticed something strange and the riddled man lightly took Stephanie’s hands. “Riddle me this. I’m just another golden ratio. What am I?” He whispered gently and their bodies were quickly covered with a soft green. The ghosts went back to not noticing them at all. “We need to see what went wrong without them knowing we’re here. It’d mess up the entire investigation.”
Stephanie stepped a little closer to Eddie when he turned to look at her, not at all unnerved by that creepy green glow in his eyes. She was trying so hard. Trying hard to understand, to be what he wanted, to be what he needed, and here she was still royally fucking it all up. Part of her just wanted to take him back to their (his?) room at that inn and just wrap around him and forget. Forget. They were both so good at pushing it away lately. Maybe this was why they needed to. Because beyond the surface, maybe there was no surviving this for the Nashtons.
She swallowed hard, pushing the thoughts from her head, and squeezing her eyes shut to stave away any sort of tears. A lip bite, and she shook her head fiercely to snap herself out of it. Her eyes popped open when he took her hands, and she looked at him for a long, long moment. “Maybe they’re looking for something they lost,” she said before she could help it, and clearly she wasn’t really talking about the soldiers surrounding them. Clearing her throat, she shook her head again and squeezed his hand quickly before relenting. “Maybe something happened here that connects all of them? I don’t know what it could be, but maybe something.”
“Sometimes, when you find something you lost, it’s changed.” Eddie turned from her and surveyed the camp. He tried not to think about how easy things had once been. How they’d go on adventures, how they’d investigate for the truth and it felt as if they were a team. How there used to be a time when all he wanted to do was hold her hand, kiss her face and show her off. Now, he just wanted to get this night over with as soon as possible. He didn’t even care about the horseman. He wanted to know what was wrong with these lost spirits, attempt to help and then go sleep on the farthest side of the bed from her.
“Clearly it’s something that connects them.” Eddie stepped from her and started to carefully inspect some of the tents. His mind started to whirl at top speeds. Anything to get out of here while still saving some face. A sabotage? That seemed possible. There could be a spy in the camp they didn’t know about. He looked for suspicious activity. Someone trying to sneak away while the others drunkenly sang, ate and chatted. If there was anything, he couldn’t find it. Either because it didn’t exist or his problems with Stephanie were ruining his focus. Eddie knew it was probably the latter.
"Change might not be all bad," Stephanie replied, voice cracking ever so slightly. “Sometimes changes need to happen for things to get good again.” She knew she probably shouldn't be showing so much weakness, that big brave blonde bats didn't quiver under the pressure of a man. But this wasn't any ordinary man. This was the love of her life, and she couldn't stop thinking about how she had ruined it. How he used to not be able to keep his hands off of her and now he could barely stand the sight of her. She thought about offering to leave the door or to at least sleep in another room at the inn. She thought about insisting on taking a slight break if this was what being together was going to be like, but she was too weak for that right now.
Instead, she just crossed her arms over her chest when he stepped away from her and swallowed back more tears. At a complete and total loss for what to do. “I’m trying, Eddie,” she told him softly. Whether or not he heard it was another story entirely, and she rubbed a fist in her eye before wandering a little further away to investigate. A creepy chill filled the air, sending the hair on the back of her neck standing up. Eddie might have been right to think she wasn’t fit for this kind of stuff, but she would stick around for as long as he’d have her. Nothing seemed off aside from the obvious of them being ghosts, but Stephanie wasn’t as keen as she usually could be. “You think it’s a something or a someone?” Her voice was clearer this time, not the dropped whisper of moments before as she surveyed a tent.
Eddie barely heard the trying and he shook his head. It was too little too late. He knew this was probably only a rough patch and neither of them could keep at it like this for much longer. Things would get better eventually, they had to. But, the amount she was trying now didn’t fill that hole she carved month after month. He didn’t say so, enough of it was laid out on the table for her, and just kept strolling through the camp. Earlier in their relationship, this would have been another grand gesture of a date. A whirlwind ghost story crafted for her to explore and enjoy. Now it was a slog, a race to the finish.
“Someone.” Eddie replied and ducked down to look at one of the tents. He checked his watch as the merry campfire scene started to flicker. “We don’t have much longer. It’s-” Eddie looked up to see that the carriage was there, but Reginald was not. The vampire must have tired of the marriage breaking right before his eyes and flew right out of there as fast as he could morph into a bat. “I can’t do this.” The riddled man admitted to himself. He couldn’t focus, he couldn’t bring himself to care. These ghosts would be cursed to keep on being ghosts and maybe that was for the best.
Stephanie didn’t expect a response regardless if Eddie heard her tiny plea or not. Maybe she didn’t deserve forgiveness for the wall she had built between the two of them or the damages she caused because she fucked up. She closed him out. She hated herself. And now that she could see what kind of state Eddie really was in, it only made her feel even guiltier. She wished, more than anything, that she could find the solution. Snap of the fingers and it was done -- they were happy and healthy and whole. They were actually newlyweds enjoying their honeymoon phase.
But there was no quick solution, not after the months of damage, and she knew that. She was wholly aware that it would take time to dig them out of this ditch they were both in. Still, she wasn’t going to give up. She never would. He would have to pry the broken marriage from her dead fingertips because she would fight until her grave to save the two of them. They had been through too much to let this tear them apart. They had made it through that fucking war, and they deserved to be happy for once.
“Yes you can,” she told him, stepping closer. “We’ve just got to focus, okay? Focus and figure out the problem and maybe a solution. Alright?” She tried her best to sound encouraging. She even reached out for his hand to squeeze. “Do you want to-- I can wait by the carriage if you need to concentrate.” She wanted to be his partner, she wanted to investigate together, but if Eddie needed space, she’d give him space.
Eddie looked down at his shoes, at the silly little green get up he was in and then at the hand she reached for. It hit him suddenly that he had been through a lot today with two completely different women at his side. One was easy. Easy to talk to, easy to trust, easy to touch. The other was the exact opposite, the Earth-3 version and it made no sense to him that his wife wasn’t the first. He couldn’t figure out exactly why her hand didn’t feel right in his, why this woman next to him felt so distant no matter how hard she swam towards the shore. He looked just left of her to avoid her gaze and shook his head. “No, I can’t.” He thought admitting he couldn’t do something was very brave of him, very un-Gotham.
“If we figure out what happened here, we might uncover a mystery. We might even set some souls free. But, look at them.” Eddie gestured around them at the happy, hopeful scene. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to them if I pull the plug. But, I do know what happens if I don’t, if I can’t.” He finally looked at her and that glowing green melted from his dark eyes. “It’ll be one thing that I can’t ruin. They can be like this forever. Happy.”
It was a blessing that Stephanie couldn’t read minds because if she knew what was going on in Eddie’s head about her versus Muerte, her heart might have shattered into a thousand pieces. It was what she had dreaded all those years ago, wasn’t it? That he could turn to Muerte more easily, more readily than he could turn to her. That Muerte could just become more to Eddie than she was. But, she was blissfully ignorant of that, even in spite of feeling that awkwardness radiating off of him, and she lightly squeezed his fingers before she could help herself, letting go after only a fraction of a moment.
She glanced around at the ghost camp, at the merry spirits chanting and bellowing along with the booze in their hands, completely unaware that they were dead. She felt a twinge of jealousy at that sort of ignorance and blind happiness, but she knew there was more beyond the surface. “You’d rather let them go through a happy lie then find out the truth?” she asked, just a little surprised. Then, she shook her head. “There are plenty of things you haven’t ruined.”
“I don’t know what there is for them past this moment.” Eddie’s powers were fading and so were the ghosts. “If I can’t see what’s beyond this, then why destroy what good they have? These ghosts may not even be souls. They could just be memories, imprints. Nothing.” The tents started to sink into green mists that swirled around their feet. “I thought I came out here for answers. The only thing I get these days are more riddles I can’t find the solution to.” His voice cracked with that deep rooted misery and he turned from her.
The music went distant as if it were coming from the end of a tunnel and soon the sound of crickets and owls overtook any ghostly noises that were there in the first place. In seconds, they were merely standing in the middle of a quiet, nightly meadow in between tall trees. “Let’s go.” Eddie shook off any glassy green from his body and headed towards the carriage. “I just want to go to sleep.”
Stephanie blinked as the green figures and ghouls turned into mist, and she fought a shiver threatening to run down her spine. She opened her mouth to talk about the unknown, how they used to not fear it as much (which wasn’t necessarily true, but she liked to think they weren’t so fucking shit scared of it), but here they were in a graveyard of a town scared to death of anything they couldn’t see in front of them. Even things they could see in front of them. Blue eyes glassed over sadly. “They’re not nothing,” she told him because she had to give this all some sort of meaning. Funny from a girl who hated stepping foot in places of worship.
When he walked away, she hesitated for a moment before bounding after him, grabbing for the sleeve of the shirt and careful not to touch any skin. “Hey,” she said softly, almost lost in a particularly loud owl’s hoot. “I love you, Eddie.” A tug. Begging him silently to turn around. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry tonight was a bust.” She chewed on her bottom lip, looking away at one of the spindly trees overhead. “I’m sorry this marriage has been a bust so far, but I’m going to save it. I’m gonna save us.” Blinking away burning tears, she let his sleeve go in case he wanted to get away from her.
The tug of his sleeve felt like the first time she messaged him after Halloween. A tiny little bite on a hook that had been rusting away in the water for eons. Those early conversations were his blue canary by the lightswitch in a way no one had ever been before. He remembered the feeling he got chatting with her in that Chinese market. The surprised happiness he felt when she said she wanted to come over to his place. He saw what happened to people in Gotham who cut themselves off. People tried at first, but almost always gave up eventually. He saw people rot from the inside out from being alone, from never having someone pull on their sleeve when they tried to walk away.
When he looked at Stephanie, he barely recognized her. He didn’t see the woman he fell in love with and he wondered if she could look at him and honestly say he was the man she grew to love. But, deep down he believed the same thing that she did. That they’d figure something out. That they’d make it work. There was no one else in this world for Eddie and he liked to believe that no one could be as good to Stephanie as him. “I’m sorry for being an asshole.” He said after a moment. He looked down at their feet, up at the sky and then back down to her. “Touch me?” It was a request. A quiet, needing thing.
Stephanie wanted nothing more than to recapture what they used to have. Even if it was the early years when both of them were scared to admit how much they loved and needed each other. At least it wasn’t hard to show affection; at least she didn’t feel the need to tiptoe around touching him, feeling him. Running her fingers through his hair or just holding his hand. She shouldered the blame for that, even if it wasn’t all just her. Steph could see the crux of the problem, and it all dwindled down to the fact that she’d gotten herself into a deep dark hole, dragging Eddie down with her, and she didn’t realize how badly things had gotten until it was already all too late.
She took that stupid top hat off, dropping it to the floor, and watched him for a moment. She barely recognized him either, but the question of whether it was the man or the powers or something else entirely lingered in her mind for a moment. “It’s okay.” He was being an asshole, but she had been too. Plenty of times. And when he asked her to touch him, she couldn’t have fought that if she wanted to. Stepping forward just a little more, she brushed delicate fingers over his hairline before pushing them into his dark curls, other hand reaching up to cup his stubbly cheek. Blue eyes trained on his dark browns and mouth tipping up just slightly in appreciation that he actually wanted her to touch him.
He closed his eyes and connected the dots between here and then. The feeling of her fingers through his hair never changed, that soft brush of her hand on his cheek would be the same until they finally departed to the afterlife. Eddie opened his eyes to see her barely there smile and he reached to brush his thumb over her cheek. Suddenly, sleeping in a bed far away from her didn’t sound so great. Even if this fixed nothing, he wanted to lay in bed and hold her until they fell asleep. He wanted to kiss her bare shoulder and watch her try to repress a shiver.
“Let’s go. Okay? Let’s get out of here.” Eddie tugged on her blonde hair and stepped closer, focusing on the warmth of her body near his. It was the little things that made life special. The tiny pieces of the puzzle. There was a moment’s hesitation before he tilted forward to gently kiss her lips. It was a bold move by Edward Nigma, though the kiss itself was tentative and testing. He closed his eyes and focused on the softness of her lips that were almost cut by her teeth in worry.
Stephanie leaned her cheek into his touch without a second thought, so hungry for his affection it was bordering on stupid. Her eyes drifted shut, and she sighed jaggedly. Hoping and praying that this would be the first step in a (probably long, long) road to recovering their relationship. To rediscovering the them that was the most important thing in her life. Because there was no one else for Stephanie either, and she never wanted there to be anyone else. Not one person, not one man, woman, alien, whatever could even dream to compete with Edward Nashton for Stephanie Nashton’s heart.
She nodded, smirking just a touch when he tugged on her hair like old times. She almost expected to open up her eyes and see them in the middle of the field on Earth-3 and not some dusty camp within a fairytale. But she pried them open just in time to see him lean in for that kiss. It was practically chaste compared to what they were used to, but a sudden thrill filled her as it began to awaken something inside her again. She made a noise at the back of her throat, and while she was careful not to do anything too quickly or deepen the kiss, she tangled her fingers gently in his hair and pressed just a little harder against his mouth.
Eddie smiled against her lips at that soft noise she made and barely deepened the kiss before leaning back to look at her. “How does taking off all our clothes and getting in bed sound to you?” He whispered with a smarmy little smirk before he kissed her cheek again and moved to pull open the carriage door that was still waiting for them. The night was a bust, but Gotham kids never let a bad night keep them down for long. She was here, she pledged to never give up and promised that she loved him.
And, maybe the riddled man couldn’t believe every word of it yet, but he believed he’d get there eventually. She had her walls down and Eddie wasn’t foolish enough to really hurt her while she was this vulnerable. He didn’t want to try and talk anymore or scratch at every little wound they inflicted on each other. Eddie just wanted to hold her and try to feel safe.