Don't Say You Need Me - Jonathan Crane Drabble
Warnings - none except refrenced non consented ghost hands
— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —
It'd been almost 2 weeks since she'd last heard from the man she loved. Last time she'd seen him he'd been the one to reach out, look for her until he found her, to tell her he missed her and needed her back. Like always she believed him, blurred by the rose lens of love. He'd been there for a while, not long but a little longer than usual until one morning he'd left, with nothing but a few words of how he needed to leave and couldn't explain it to her.
Here she was now, laying in her bed, a comforter covering her from head to toe as she stared out her apartment window into the gloomy streets of Gotham. The tv was playing in the background, the news reporter buzzing about more criminal attacks of people dying from a gas poison. She could care less, a villain could come into her apartment now and strip her of everything but she wouldn't care, her heart had been ripped out again.
The moon was bright in the sky, but clouds would come and cover it again, leaving her in darkness again.
It was late into the night, but she couldn't sleep.
Flipping over, she looked at her small clock, 2:37, it read. It's been days since she'd gotten good rest even if all she did was rot in bed.
She hasn't always been this way, she'd been with many men before, but none of them had made her so sad to lose like Jonathan had. She'd been strong, never shedding a tear for any of them, telling herself they weren't worth it. But then came the doctor, with his charming good looks and stoic personality.
Lost in thought she once again stared into nothing in particular, lost in thoughts that kept coming. Her phone lit up, she zoned into it. She was getting a phone call. Sitting up, she picked it up, the caller ID was unknown.
Furrowing her brows she answered, "Hello?"
"Y/n, hello. It's Jonathan."
Silence filled the room, her heart leaped in her chest, from happiness, excitement, pure bliss. It was like the color had returned into her life once again. She was happy to hear his voice again, like a drug it lured her in and had her addicted everytime.
"My love, where have you been? I've been worried sick." She inhaled shakily, the news of his voice making her happiness overpowering, "Oh, i've missed you so much, Jonathan.." she whispered. She was now sitting up completely, the first movements she'd done in a while.
"I've been busy here at Arkham, you know how my job is. Lunatic after lunatic. You wouldn't believe how many crazies are in this city." His voice sounded the same, yet she could suspect a different hint of tone from his usual annoyed one, it sounded darker, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She decided she was imagining it, from her lack of sleep and time since she last heard him.
She let out a giggle, "Yeah, I'm sure, I've seen the news. There's a new criminal they call the Scarecrow, spraying victims with a fear gas. Another crazy you'll be seeing soon, huh?" There was a noise in the call as if a shift in fabric, "Perhaps if he's caught. I've seen him around the media, his techniques are quite intelligent though, the police haven't caught him, not even the infamous Batman." There was a snarkiness in his voice, his annoyed tone had returned, his tone almost sounded insulted at her comment.
She wondered why, then another question popped up, "Why did you call me until now, Jon?" She was now frowning, looking down at her knees, her heart aching in fear of what he would say.
"Ah yes, I called you because I wanted to see you, my darling." Her frown lifted, a smile replacing it as she bit her lip happily.
"I've been wanting to see you more than anything. When did you want to meet up?"
"I'm outside your apartment complex, if now is fine." Jolting up she looked outside her window, seeing him walk into the doors of the complex, her heart raced as she looked at herself.
She looked a bit messy from laying in bed, "Oh, um, yes now is fine. Let me just clean up a bit. Just knock when you're here please." He gave a quick response, as she hung up. She wasn't sure what he needed but now her nerves were getting to her as she replaced the lounge clothes she wore with actual clothes. Slipping on a small black skirt and sweater, she tidied up her hair as she heard a knock.
Opening the door, she smiled widely, there stood the man she'd yearned for, dressed in his usual suit. "Jonathan…" She embraced him in a tight hug around the neck, holding onto him like he'd disappear into thin air again, "I've missed you so so much." She exhaled into his neck. He placed a hand on her waist, he'd never been much of a physical person. Stepping back, she stared into his face, smile never leaving as she motioned him to come in. He did so, she noticed he was carrying a suitcase with him, she assumed he'd just got out from Arkham.
"Good to see you too, darling. I needed to see you again." He spoke, setting down his suitcase on the kitchen table. Her heart fluttered at his words, he did seem a bit different.
He sat down at one of the tables and she accompanied him in doing so. Staring at him, she noticed he carried himself with a new demeanor, she didn't speak until he spoke up first, "I'm sorry I left so abruptly. I had an emergency to see to. You know I love and need you, my darling."
She nodded, smiling as she grabbed his hand in hers. "I know, my love. Don't worry. I'll always be here for you, I love you more than anything."
Jonathan was pleased to hear this, he gave a smile in return. He knew when he picked her long ago she'd be perfect. No matter how many times he'd left, for months or longer, she accepted him with open arms. He wasn't interested in love or such things but that didn't mean he wasn't good at faking it, he was a master at manipulation and psychological abuse, he was only using what he knew.
"My darling, since you love me so much, would you do anything I told you?" He leaned over, running a hand through her hair lovingly, then moving to her cheek as he caressed it with his thumb. They both equally knew she would, she nodded, placing her hand on top of his as she leaned into his cool touch, bathing in the feel of it.
"Of course, my love."
"Good." He responded, leaning into her and placing a slow kiss onto her lips. She melted into it instantly, closing her eyes and taking in the feeling she missed so much. His lips were warm and he was perfect as always.
A small click was heard, but she ignored it, too infatuated with the man's lips to acknowledge or care. That was until a smell filled her nose, his lips had pulled away by now and she began coughing, opening her eyes she saw smoke and Jonathan had been replaced by a terrifying frowning scarecrow. She let out a scream that was quickly broken by another fit of coughs as she stood up, stepping backwards to get away.
A gruesome voice now filled her head and the room around her was becoming distorted, the lights flickering and dark voids and bugs crawling everywhere. "Oh my darling, having trouble?" The voices seemed to be mocking, she couldn't see him clearly now, only a terrifying dark shadowy figure slowly making its way towards her. She felt hands touching her all over. Falling backwards her body made harsh contact with the floor, she continued to scream, now crying, "Please… please stop, no no no.." she closed her eyes but that only seemed to make it worse as more terrifying images appeared.
"Your pretty little mind can only take so much. Shhh succumb to the fear! Come on my darling, let it all out. Let me see your biggest fears." The voice was tormenting, filling her whole head as she cried harder, the feeling of hands getting more painful on her body. She tried to rub them off frantically, but the feeling only worsened, she felt like she was suffocating. Opening her eyes the scarecrow was face to face with her, distorting and moving into terrifying faces straight from a nightmare.
"Make it stop, make it stop please!" Her words were coming out slurred, whines and whimpers being all that Johnathan heard. She was trying to crawl away, but not to much success. Jonathan could see it was affecting her greatly, he was pleased, a sinister smirk on his face as he ripped the mask off. She was showing to be a great sport, her fear was much more extravagant than he had imagined. He had used a lower dose on her to test it out, but she showed great promise in his future experiments.
Cooing at her, he caressed her face again, her eyes widened in fear as she was paralyzed in place unable to writhe away. Her eyes then closed suddenly as her body went limp, her brain must have exhausted from the high levels of fear. "You're okay now, Dr. Crane will take care of you for being such a good girl."
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After reading a couple of fanfics(i have lost track of what ive read XD) where Desmond uses the Eye to connect to Ezio in the library and send him back to his 17 year old self to save his family: I got the idea/prompt that when Ezio awakens back in the past he rushes to his family, ignoring a golden thread of Importance. It cant be more importsnt than his family, surely? Either way, Ezio ends up discovering he has like 1-2 day to save his family(im unsure of the timeline, but i imagine he lands before he gains his scar). So, he rushes to save them. Here i kinda get a bit lost, im not very good at planning, but i imagine he ends up killing Alberto and exposes him as a traitor to his father etc. Eventually, after a few days things finally calm down enough that Ezio can finally check out that object his Sight has tagged as Important without feeling guilty for leaving his family alone. He follows the thread to a orphanage and there he sees a 1-2 year old with a scar on his lips and brown eyes that flash a very familiar gold when the child sees Ezio. "Desmond?"
So basically, the Eye damaged Desmond too much, so when he went back in time with Ezio, he had to be recreated. You could give him the charcoal black arm with golden lines or even his tattoo(could be interesting seeing peoples reaction to a child having what is percieved as a criminal brand?). Heck, maybe even give golden fluffy wings that he can hide? Idk, i mostly just want/need fatherly!Ezio bonding with baby!Desmond and this idea has rapidly gone out of control in my head. XD
but yeah, basically Ezio decides that Desmond has given him such a gift with allowing him to save his family, that now Ezio will take care him(he also feels pretty guilty ignoring the Important glow for so long). He just needs to figure how to get his family accept what is looking like to be his motherless bastard, hopefully withoit too many questions. I also imagine Ezio gets the iconic scar this time from a fight with Vieri when he throws insults at Desmond for being "lesser": being a bastard and an Auditore in one package.
So, whats your thoughts on this? Anything you think is missing or want to add to?
Transferring him right as he gained his scar (like the rock hitting him was the trigger) would also serve as some kind of symbolism of his connection with Desmond, not just due to the similar scars but also because that is the first memory Desmond relived as Ezio (as long as we don’t count his birth). That would also give him 3 days max since the scar incident was on December 26, the guards tried to arrest the Auditores on December 28 and the execution would be on December 29.
Also, if you want to really hammer in Ezio feeling guilty about leaving Desmond for so long, a plot point could be that Ezio assassinates Uberto Alberti and he was able to prove to Giovanni that Uberto was a Templar BUT not that he was planning anything against the Medici or the Auditore. Perhaps, a simple Templar ring was all Ezio could give to Giovanni and telling him he was planning it with another man that Ezio hints to be Rodrigo Borgia without flatout saying it’s Rodrigo Borgia since he, as his teenage self, shouldn’t even know who the Borgias are at this point in time. This becomes a scandal all by itself and not even Lorenzo could protect the Auditores, telling them to leave Firenze as quickly as they could. Stand down and keep a low profile for now.
This leads to the Auditores leaving Firenze quickly and asking for sanctuary in Monteriggioni. Ezio would stay there to make sure everyone is safe and also to be ‘trained’ as an Assassin because Giovanni believes he could no longer wait until Ezio is as old as Federico to tell him the truth because of what Ezio has done.
Ezio also has to stay to show Giovanni that he wasn’t some rabid dog that would bite anyone.
This can range from months to even 2 years (technically 1-ish year since Ezio returns to the past in December) which is the same time frame Ezio had to train with Mario and his mercenaries in the previous timeline.
Either way, Ezio finally gets a chance to check on the important gold once he’s been deemed ‘good enough’ to go to Firenze while Federico goes to Roma with Giovanni as part of his training and maybe even ‘final test’.
And then he finds Desmond as a 2-year-old child who isn’t liked by the other kids because he was ‘creepy’ and they say he’s the devil’s child. Maybe Ezio didn’t recognize him immediately but their eyes met and Desmond’s eyes flashed gold and Ezio’s first instinct is that he does know him. He doesn’t remember when but he does know this child.
The one in charge of the orphanage finds him looking at Desmond and he tells him about how Desmond was heard crying somewhere Ezio knows all too well.
It was the same place Ezio had died on, the very same bench…
Someone gave him to the orphanage and they have nothing of him, he had been left naked in the cold that they feared he would have died had he stayed there any longer.
Then to hammer in the guilt, the reason why the children believe Desmond is the devil’s child is because of the charcoal black arm he had that no doctors could explain other than ‘he had been burned’ and Desmond had cried each time they tried to ‘examine’ it with their tools.
So Ezio takes him in, not knowing what else to do.
Then, it’s only the next day after he dreams of the only time he saw Desmond in Altaïr’s library that he puts two and two together and realized that the child was most definitely Desmond. He had to be.
And now, Ezio believes that Desmond is the reason why he had a redo and that he had failed Desmond for letting him be alone for so long.
He wouldn’t even think that people would think Desmond is his son until he hears it from one of the courtesans and he’d be like “Oh! That’s a good idea! I’ll just say he’s my son so people would stop asking questioning about who he is!”
And that was a mistake because now everyone believes he has a child out of wedlock. Perhaps Cristina would even think he had cheated on her considering Desmond’s age and now he has to suffer through his family’s questioning and lectures about having a child out of wedlock.
Then Desmond’s back starts getting itchy and later on it starts growing a pair of lumps…
That breaks his skin painfully, revealing puffs of feathers red with his blood but, after cleaning him (and trying to get him to stop crying because “Owie, papa! Owie!”)…
Ezio sees the feathers were white…
With lines of gold that he has become familiar with in his previous life.
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