Ed had finally had enough of seeing Kristen be hurt and abused by that nasty, sad excuse for a Cop. He was still unsure on his relationship with her, whether they were friends or colleagues, but he just knew that no one deserved to be treated the way Tom treated her. It made him think back to his dad -an abusive man who believed violence was the answer to all of his problems. She deserved so much better. And Ed was not going to let it continue.

That's how he ended up hiding outside Kristen's in his car, watching out for Tom. He knew they were supposed to have a date today so he should run into him. A knife sat in his pocket but he was still concerned over why he brought it in the first place. He thought it was his subconscious telling him to have protection in case something went wrong, but some part of him thought that bringing it was for a different reason entirely.

After an hour or so of waiting, Dougherty finally came walking down the street towards Kristen's place, and Ed quickly jumped out the car. "Stop right there buster!"

"Riddle man?" The cop asked confused and annoyed as he looked at him, and began to approach him instead "what the hell are you doing creeping around here?"

"You need to leave Miss Kringle alone"

"What?" He continued to approach, and Ed's hands shook slightly as he stood his ground.

"I'm not gonna let you hurt her ever again. I think you need to leave Gotham, tonight"

Tom laughed and stopped a few steps away from Ed, "Oh I get it now. You've got a thing for my girl! That's too funny. What about your man, Penguin? Got tired of him already or have you seen him for the psycho he really is?"

How dare he even think to say those words? To imply that? "You're wrong. I love him, and I'd be dammed if that ever changed. I'm here as a friend"

Tom just laughed again as if the idea of him and Kristen being friends was a joke, and placed a hand on his shoulder gripping it hard. "Don't take this personal"

Before Ed could even react, a fist flew straight into his stomach causing him to double over in pain, falling to his knees. What are you gonna do about it? He shook as he quickly grabbed the knife, and Tom yanked him back to his feet chuckling, "You want some more? Upsie dais-"

The cop's eyes widen in shock as Ed drove the knife straight into his chest in a panic, hands trembling as he pulled it back out in just the same amount of shock. "Oh dear..." Tom moved to grab him and Ed stabbed him again and again and again, until he had fallen to his knees leant back to stare at him.

"Riddle man..." Was his very last words before collapsing.

"Oh dear. Oh dear,  oh no" Stumblimg away from the body he began to panic more, gasping as he struggled to breath. His heart hammered in his chest as he looked at the dead body, then at the bloody knife caught between a laugh and a cry. "Oh dear, oh dear"

He dropped the knife, almost certain he had heard himself laugh, though the only thing coming out of his mouth was the sound if him hyperventilating. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and called the only person he could think of to help him.

___

Oswald wasn't bothered about Ed calling him in the middle of the night. What he was bothered by was his panicked and hysterical voice on the verge of tears, desperately trying to tell him something through a riddle. He asked Ed to just tell him what was wrong, when he sobbed out that he had killed someone and needed his help. It was troubling, to say the least, but Oswald had dressed himself in record speed, called Gabe to pick him up, and raced down to where Ed was.

His soulmate was pacing up and down the pathway, mumbling numbers under his breath as he turned and walked the other way. As he got closer, he realised that Ed was counting up to 8, turning and taking another 8 steps. He also noticed how Ed saw him on his fourth step, but had to walk the next 4 before rusing over to him.

"Oswald, I'm sorry I had no one else to ask! He hit me and I just panicked and stabbed him and I-"

Oswald held his hand up to cut him off, concern swimming in his eyes despite the calmness on his face, "Where is the body now?"

"I move with a car and go the same speed, I open and close to hold what you need-"

"Ed"

With a shaky sigh, Ed pointed to the car trunk "I was scared someone would see so I hid him in there"

"Ok well we'll take him and hide the body somewhere. Perhaps throw him in the river by the docks-"

"No! No, what if it resurfaces? The CCPD has chemicals that could dissolve the body and we can hide the bones. Do you have somewhere with a large sink or bath like container?"

Penguin raised his eyebrows, though considering he worked in forensics it was not surprising he knew a thing about dead bodies, or how to hide one. "Yes, a warehouse. You collect the chemicals and then we'll dispose of this body together"

"Thank you" His partner sighed and headed back to the car, when a female called across the street to him.

"Mister Nygma?"

Oh dear, Miss Kringle. What if she saw?

"Mi-miss Kringle?" Ed looked like a deer in headlights as he looked back at her, "What are you doing here?" It's her house dummy, she lives here.

"I live here...? What are you-" She glanced over at Oswald finally noticing him as he goes to stand beside Ed, "and Mr Cobblepot doing here?"

"We were on our way home and had to pull over as Ed wasn't feeling too well. We don't mean to be a bother" Oswald answered with a smile, "We were just leaving"

The woman didn't seem entirely convinced, but she just nodded and turned to go back inside when she paused, "You haven't seen Tom out here have you?"

Ed looked ready to pass out, "I have...not..."

Kristen gave him a look, but nodded and sighed looking down the pathway, "Goodnight"

Once she left, the two hopped in the car and drove down to the CCPD. Oswald wasn't really ok with Ed driving in this state, but he had never got his license and other people drove him so he wasn't much use. The car ride was silent, except for Ed's shaky breathing. The police department wasn't far from Kristen's house, so it took little time to get there. They pulled up, and Ed stared at the wheel intensely for a minute before jumping out, grabbing a backpack from the back seat.

He slowly headed up the steps and headed towards the morgue, keeping his head down to try and avoid drawing attention to himself. He repeated the same phrase to try and settle his nerves. No body, no crime. No body, no crime. No body, no crime. No body, no-

"Hey Ed, didn't your shift end already?" Jim asked coming out of nowhere.

"Oh...yes. Yes, I just...need to get something" Jim nodded slowly, but didn't move, "Can I help you with something, detective?"

"Ah, no. Nevermind. Have a good evening" The detective walked to his desk, and Ed took a breath walking to the morgue. He quickly pulled the bag off his back and went to the cupboards, grabbing two jugs of acid from the cupboard and throwing it in along with a few power tools, gloves and the respirator. Oswald probably had them at the warehouse, but he wanted to make sure. As long as he brought it back tomorrow no one would know, right? Once the materials were collected, he zipped the bag up with difficulty and hastily left before anyone could question him. He jumped back in the car, and, with Oswald directing him, they drove towards the warehouse, which was located down by the docks.

The two got out, and Ed retrieved Dougherty's body while Oswald went over to unlock the door. It was cold and dark in there, but there was a metal, bath like tub tucked away in one of the corners. "Thank you for helping me" Ed sighed as he carried the body over and dumped it in. He placed the bag down and pulled out the power tools, undressing the dead cop before dismembering him.

Oswald stood and watched amazed, but worried. Ed was too quiet. He couldn't tell what his partner was feeling or thinking as he cut the limbs off so the man could fit properly inside. Once Ed had finished, he pulled out some gloves, a respirator and two jugs of acid pouring it in over the body parts, then added some water. Then, once he had finished that, he pulled the gloves and respirator off and sat down in the floor with his head in his hands. Oswald sat beside him, wrapping an arm around his body, and kissed his cheek.

"What happened, Eddie"

Ed probably would've blushed at the nickname if he wasn't so horrified at himself. "There's a lady, Kristen, the one who saw us outside her house. I want to be her friend, but I'm not sure if she likes me very much. Her boyfriend, this guy here, was an abusive asshole who kept hurting her. I just wanted to protect her, to get him to stop. But men like Officer Dougherty don't change" He though back to his father, and how after 18 years he didn't realise that neglecting and beating your child was bad parenting. "I asked him to stop but he attacked me, and I stabbed him out of self defence. But...once I did it...I couldn't stop. It was like I lost control of my emotions"

"Eddie...it's ok. You meant well. It was an accident"

He didn't answer. Instead, he just sighed and sat in silence for a while, resting his head on Oswald's shoulder. After a while, the two decided to go for a little walk while they waited for the body to decompose, but they didn't get far until Oswald's leg had enough. The cold, fresh air of the sea helped ground Ed for a while longer, and keep him from throwing up.

It took hours until the flesh and muscle had been dissolved, or at least tender enough to pull off of the bones. Ed pulled his equipment back on and drained the liquid, before pulling the remaining tissue and muscle from the bones until they we mostly clean. They stuffed the bones in a bag, and Ed drove to a secluded place on the outskirts of Gotham to bury the remains before heading home.

The sun had begun to rise over the city as he parked his car outside his own apartment, taking a shaky breath. The adrenaline of tonight's events had managed to keep him from panicking too much, but now the consequences of his actions were becoming very apparent. When they got out, and Oswald grabbed his hand noticing that he was beginning to tremble again as they headed inside.

Ed walked inside and took a look at his apartment, then almost burst into tears, "I'm so sorry"

"Whatever for?"

"I only have one bed"

Oswald stared at his partner bewildered, "Ed, we slept in the same bed before do you remember? It's ok-"

"No no, that was different. I wasn't a murderer back then"

What? Why was he self conscious about this to Oswald of all people? "Ed, I've killed people, sometimes for no reason. The people I work with killed people too. I still love you, please don't think otherwise. It's okay, I promise"

Ed just sniffed and moved over to pull him into a hug, leaning down to bury his face into his shoulder and sobbed out another apology. Oswald frowned as he held him close, unsure why Ed was scared that he'd think differently of him now. Perhaps it was shock. It couldn't just be because he killed someone. Or perhaps something else was going on.

"Get changed and get into bed, I'll get you a drink. What would you like?"

"Water. The cups are above the sink"

Oswald moved to the kitchen area and opens the cupboard to get a glass. There were a few glasses in there, and a couple of measuring beakers too. He grabbed a glass, filled it with water and brought it back for him. They climbed into bed, and Oswald pulled him into a hug mumbling comforting things to him. Ed just sobbed into his chest for a while until he finally drifted to sleep, and Oswald wondered how the hell he was going to help him through this.

___

It was Oswald's idea to write a letter, saying that Tom had left town. But now Ed was regretting it. He hadn't noticed at the time when he had wrote it, but he had left a fairly obvious clue in the letter. The first letter of each line spelt out his last name. That was too obvious, why did he write that? It only set in when Kristen told him about it and he told her to read between the lines, but as he left the amusement behind his clue wore off and was replaced with dread.

His emotions were all over the place since the murder. It often felt like he had no control over them, that sometimes he was someone else. Like things he shouldn't be happy about suddenly did, and he couldn't control it until the grip wore off and he felt the emotions he would in the situation. It scared him. He had also felt himself dissociate more often, for no clear reason. Before it was during extreme stress or fear, like when his dad came home drunk and he fell in the crossfire of his rage, or being outed to everyone because Flass couldn't be nice. Now, it happened without warning and without reason. Why?

Ed had found himself in the records annex looking for a file when he began to zone off, staring off at the top of the filling cabinets ahead of him. He wasn't even aware he was doing it until he was snapped out by Krsiten's voice. "Uh, Mister Nygma?"

"Miss Kringle..." He looked down at the folders, blinked a few times in confusion and began to search through again.

"I just noticed something really weird..."

As he turned to glance at her, he noticed 'Dougherty's' letter in her hands and his heart skipped a beat. "Oh?"

"This note that Officer Dougherty left me...the first letter if every line spells out your name" Kristen held the letter out for him to see, and used her finger to point out the letters. It was intentionally left there, but all Ed could do was try not to panic and curse himself for his own stupidness. Why did he still leave the letter after he noticed the clue?

"O-oh yes, wha-what an amazing coincidence"

"Coincidence?"

"What else could it be?"

Her eyes narrow slightly, unconvinced, "So you know nothing about this?

"I- me? No. No. Nooo..." He tried to smile but she was staring at him like she knew. It wasn't even a lie, not entirely. Ed hadn't even noticed until he had left the letter, it was like he had no control over his body sometimes. Theres a brief pause as she continued to stare at him, then turned and walked away. As soon as she was gone, Ed broke out into laughter.

"Why are you laughing you fool, this isn't funny..." what a creep. "She'll keep digging..." He slammed his hands down on the drawers angrily, "Why did you have to leave a clue? ...Relax...what can she find, what can she prove? Nothing, there's no body"

The expression on her face flashed across his mind causing him to frown. He did it for her, she needed to understand that. "But she looked so sad and angry, I hate it when she looks at me that way..."

Part of him felt like he was losing part of himself. Something was happening but he couldn't figure out what it was, as if the voice in his head was more than a voice. Oh please, like you stood a chance. She knows how you feel and yet she treats you like dirt.

"I don't care, I still like her" Ed whispered to himself, but his inner voice was growing louder. Listen to yourself! Be-

"Be a man!" He cried as he slammed the drawer closed again, hands trembling as he began to feel angry towards himself, but fearful of what might happen. His emotions consistently shifted between the two as he continued to argue with himself.

"You'll do better with that woman if she's a little bit scared of you" The voice chuckled. It almost sounded like it was speaking outside his head.

"Stop talking like that" That voice, it was the one laughing when Tom died.

"What's black and white and red all over-"

"Stop it!" Ed cried, throwing the folder he was holding causing paper to fly everywhere. It felt like a part of him was breaking away, and he shook as he realised that the voice wasn't just his inner voice anymore. It was as if he was splitting in half. He began to laugh to himself, though he was unsure why. Maybe he was truly going mad. Kristen's voice echoed through his brain and he trembled, breathing hard. He is so weird.

Kristen...