Mr Scarecrow.


In Gotham, the usual usually happened. It happened generally every other day, something odd happened and the rest of Gotham's crowd simply shrugged it off and continued with their daily lives.

Odd was simply a different way of saying 'normal' in Gotham and that meant there was very little that could surprise the people of Gotham, but generally, every so often, something did surprise them.

There was only one group of people who did not get surprised and if they did it usually wan't very easy.

But, there was one person, that stood out from the rest, who never really became surprised and if he did he hid it superbly and his name was Jonathan Crane, but he was more commonly known as the Scarecrow in Gotham.

The man was dedicated to fear, and he was truly the master of controlling his and everyone else's. Apart from Batman's.

Though that was besides the point, Jonathan was just not one of those people who could be made jump very easily.

But this night, this one fateful night, Jonathan Crane got the biggest surprise of his life.

How it all started? Well, he was simply walking down an alley, minding his own business, dressed in full Scarecrow garb because hey! Batman was far away from where he was and no one else was going to bother him so… why not?

He did have a long over coat though, just to hide himself a little, but other then that he was fully dressed in his Scarecrow costume.

Now, Jonathan, as stated before, was not a man to be scared or even surprised, but what happened next surprised him and it surprised him a lot.

He'd turned a corner, entering another alley and he only just about saw the blur heading towards him until the little thing was wrapped around one of his spindly legs, clinging on for dear life, crying into his leg as she continued to mutter something to him.

Jonathan stared down, dumb struck, at the little thing that was currently holding onto his leg like a limpet and then he saw it and he was momentarily shocked.

Clutch in the hand of the little thing that was still fully secured to his leg was a scarecrow dolly, presumably from the wizard of Oz book.

It was strange, most children liked the tin man or the lion, little girls mostly loved Dorothy and Toto but this little thing was clutching the scarecrow.

Suddenly, the little thing looked up at him with wide scared eyes, eyes that were mismatched, one green and one purple and both had white pupils and black around the iris, little tears creeped out of her eyes as she stared up at him, sniffling. Her orange hair stuck to her face from the wet of her tears and some of it blew in the wind, but what shocked him more was the fact she had grey skin and it appeared some of her teeth were pointed.

Jonathan had heard of this condition but he never thought he'd ever see someone with it.

"Mister Scarecrow!" the little girl cried as she continued to hug his leg, still staring up at him with wide eyes.

Jonathan blinked before he even knew what he was doing he was knelt down in front of the little girl staring back at her curiously. "Yes little one?"

"You're my friend aren't you?" she whispered as she looked down at her scarecrow dolly and then back at him. "You're my friend you'll keep me safe?"

Jonathan frowned. Keeping children safe wasn't really what his MO was about at all. "I think you have me confused, little one."

"But you are Mister Scarecrow!" she cried and held up her dolly in front of her and towards Jonathan as if to prove her point.

Jonathan looked down at the smiling scarecrow with a very happy face like the overly joyful book always showed him to have and he frowned even further.

In Georgia, his home town, the scarecrows never smiled.

"See!" the little cried as she held it up to him still and waved it around in front of his face. "You're Mister Scarecrow, you're my friend! You keep me safe."

Can't we just toxin her and be done with it?

You and I both know, we don't toxin children.

Come on, Jonny! She's in our way, we gotta go and you know it.

Fine, but I had no part in this, it was all you.

Jonathan slowly stood up and pulled out a canister from inside his coat, before he sprayed it in the girls face.

She stumbled a little and coughed before shaking her head and looking up at him in confusion.

Here it comes, Jonathan thought as he braced himself for screams, but non came, instead the little girl tried to grab the canister from his hand.

"What is that Mister Scarecrow? It didn't smell very nice. Is it meant to ward of bad things? Like the scary monsters?"

Jonathan blinked. Once, twice and simply stared at her.

Okay….

It didn't work.

Did you give her the right toxin?

This is the right toxin, it just didn't work.

Then lets keep her.

What?!

You heard me, let's take her with us, she could be very useful.

How is a child going to be useful?

Jonny, Jonny, Jonny, Jonny! Look at her! She's beautifully scary! Those eyes, that skin, her hair, those teeth! She's the perfect companion for us! The perfect Mistress of Fear!

Jonathan pondered this for a long time before he looked back at the little girl. "What's your name, little one?"

The girl smiled at him, still hugging her scarecrow dolly. "Luna, Luna Fright!"

Perfect!

A little too perfect.

Shut up Jonny! Just take her already!

"Luna," he mused before he looked back at her. "That's a very pretty name, named after the moon."

The girl nodded before she frowned ever so slightly. "Everyone says I'm ugly."

"Ugly?" Jonathan shook his head. Parenting these days. "No, little Luna, you are anything but ugly in my eyes."

"But everyone calls me a monster!"

"Oh…" Jonathan trailed off. "Well, you look nothing like a monster little Luna, I have seen monsters and you do not look like them."

"You've seen monsters?" the little girl went wide eyed as she stared at him. "Are they scary?"

"Yes," Jonathan answered before he looked back at her. "But they don't scare me."

"You must be very brave!"

"Ha, Yes I suppose in your little mind I must be, mustn't I?"

"But everyone…" Luna trailed off. "Everyone still says I'm a monster!"

"Well," Jonathan knelt down and picked her up in his arms. "You're the prettiest little monster I've ever seen."

Luna giggled before she wrapped her arms around his neck, her dolly still in her hand. Jonathan tensed slightly as he felt her relax and rest in his arms. This was not something he was used to at all.

"Thank you Mister Scarecrow," Luna whispered as she continued to hold him.

Jonathan smiled ever so slightly. "Would you like to come with me? I can keep you safe from monsters."

Luna nodded before she frowned. "What about my brother?"

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, Lucifer! Well, I call him Lui."

Jonathan blinked. "You really have a little brother named Lucifer?"

Luna nodded and then pointed at a rickety house. "We live there."

Jonathan couldn't help but beam slightly. The house looked spooky but it was the names of the children, they actually interested him more then anything else.

Jonathan carried Luna to the house and then he looked around the outside. How was he meant to get in? It's not like he could use the front door.

Luna tugged on his sleeve and pulled him to the back of the house where there was only wall.

"What?" Jonathan questioned as he stared at the wall before all of a sudden shadows suddenly melted together in front of him and then he looked down at the little girl who had her hands in front of her.

She was controlling them.

This keeps on getting better and better!

Jonathan frowned at Scarecrow's comment before he followed Luna through the shadows and then he saw a little figure curled up on the floor and that's when he realised they were in the basement.

Who puts a child in the basement? At least his great granny was that heartless, he did have a bed to sleep on!

He watched as Luna ran over to Lui and pulled her brother to his feet and then she noticed he was crying.

"What's wrong Lui?"

"I killed them!"

"What? Who?"

Lui looked at her with the same bicoloured eyes except they were the opposite way round to her's. "I killed mum and dad, I screamed and it killed them!"

Jonathan frowned at this news. Did he have a sonic scream?

"You mean you used your powers?"

"I could hear their thoughts in my head, they were so mean, so I screamed as loud as I could in my head and then they were dead."

A psychic scream, well, this was getting better and better.

"It's okay, Lui, Mister Scarecrow's going to look after us," Luna explained as she pointed over to Jonathan.

Lui still looked scared but he was calming down a little bit and he cautiously walked over to him. "Are you?"

"Yes little Lucifer, I am," Jonathan smiled and then he picked Lui and Luna up in his arms, Luna made the shadows more once more and a door appeared in front of them and Jonathan stepped through, still carrying the little ones in his arms.

"What's your name Mister Scarecrow?" Luna asked, she seemed to be, out of the two of them, the most dominant.

"I'm Jonathan. Jonathan Crane," he looked down at them and gave him his best comforting smile. "But you can call me Jonathan."

"Okay Jonyathan," Luna cried as she lay her head on his shoulder, Lui following suit and Jonathan chuckled slightly.

He had to say, that they were… ever so slightly cute, well to him anyway, to everyone else they would be pinned down as freaks, weirdoes, monsters, but to the Scarecrow they were cute, because in their own way they were scary and Jonathan liked scary.

"Where are we going, Jonyathan?" asked Luna as she yawned slightly and began to fall asleep, Lui doing the same.

"Oh, we're going somewhere safe," Jonathan assured as they continued to walk down the alley. "And don't worry I'll protect you from all the monsters and I'll teach you how to protect your selfies from the monsters too."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, little Luna," Jonathan nodded before a smile creeped it's way onto his face as he watched the girl and her brother drift off to sleep as they continued to walk.

He luckily wasn't too far away from his hideout and once he was there he lay the brother and sister down in his bed, pulling the covers up to their chins and he watched with slight amusement as they snuggled into the quilt, Luna still clutching her scarecrow dolly in her hand.

Jonathan shook his head as he stared down at them.

Ah, yes, he was going soft in his age, with a small shake of his head he wandered into the small room with a sofa and took his mask off before he feel asleep.

It wasn't peaceful though and soon he fell into a fit of nightmares before he woke up and once he did, he was greeted by Luna standing in front of him.

"Lui said you were having a nightmare," she explained before she took Jonathan's hand and placed her scarecrow dolly in it. "Mister Scarecrow always made my nightmares go away, maybe he'll make yours go away too."

Jonathan smiled slightly. It was, as sad as the little thing was, the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. "Thank you, Luna, you go off to bed now."

Luna nodded and quickly kissed his cheek before she shook her little scarecrow's hand. "Look after Jonyathan," she instructed the little dolly before she padded back into Jonathan's room, shutting the door.

Jonathan was still sitting up, completely silent and in slight shock.

No one, no one had ever been that nice to him ever, even when he was a boy he never got that sort of sympathy.

He looked down at the smiling scarecrow dolly before he lay down, cuddling up to it, but just before he slipped into the realms of unconciousness, known as sleep, he muttered one last thing to himself.

"Definitely going soft."

THE END.


Note: Yeah a cutesy one I know! But I don't care! :)