"I always thought my proudest moment was seeing you graduate from college," Lilli's mother said. She sat on the floor, her back against the pillar. "But I was wrong. There never was a proudest moment. It was always proud moments. From watching you ride a bike for the first time, when you made honor roll, getting your driver's license, graduating high school, college. But one of my proudest moments was seeing you graduate from medical school. I thought to myself, my little girl is becoming a doctor. She's going to save lives. And you did, didn't you?"

Lilli squeezed her eyes shut, huddled in the farthest corner away from her mother. She's not real, she chanted in her head. Her mother was not there. She was safe in Gotham City, away from all this insanity. This was just of figment of Lilli's exhausted mind.

"Do you remember when you called me, so excited? You were a resident and you found a heart murmur in a newborn baby. You were the only one who caught it. You sounded so proud and in that moment, I knew that all the loans and the tears and the all-nighters were all worth it just by the sound of your voice." Her mother sounded all choked up.

Lilli let out a sob into her knees, refusing to look up. "Go away," she wailed. "Please."

There was a beat of silence. "When you told me you accepted a job at Arkham, I was terrified for you. What if an inmate got loose and attacked you? You could have been killed or kidnapped or raped. And then, finally, we got the call. You were in the hospital, poisoned by that Crow man, and my heart stopped. I thought you were going to die, Lilith. My little baby girl," Sarah sobbed.

No, Lilli thought. No. I won't listen. You can't make me listen. She covered her ears and drowned out her mother's sobbing until all Lilli could hear was the ringing in her ears. When Lilli finally looked up after what felt like hours, the room was mercifully empty.

She let out a loud sigh of relief and slowly stood up. When she reached the mattress, she collapsed on it in misery. Edward had not come back at all since he gave her food and water. Lilli's stomach cramped up from lack of food again and while she rationed her water, the bottle was nearly empty. He had to come back soon or else she would die.

He loves me too much to let me die, she found herself thinking often. Many times she would stare at the door, willing Edward to appear but he never did. And once the hallucinations started, she began to scream and beg for him to come back promising to do anything for him if he would just walk through that door.

"I remember the day you were born." Lilli closed her eyes. Please, no, she prayed. Not again. She opened them to find her grandmother sitting at the edge of the bed. "Your father called me, saying Sarah was in labor, and I made it to the hospital not long after your birth." Her grandmother smiled sadly. "Your grandfather was in failing health so I had to call Yvonne, our in-home nurse to watch him."

Grandpa George died not long after Lilli was born, Lilli remembered; liver cancer combined with dementia. From what Lilli understood, it was an ugly death in the end.

"I got to the hospital," Margaret continued, "and found the room. And when I went inside, your mother was resting and your father was holding this small bundle. He looked up at me and then down to you and said, "Lilith, I'd like you to meet your Grandmother Margaret." And he handed you to me and Lord," she sniffled. "You were so small but so beautiful. You have your grandfather's nose," she added. "I saw that straight away."

Margaret's face crumpled. "I held you for the first time and you didn't stir from your sleep. I was so overwhelmed by so many emotions and how much I wished George was there with me."

I'm sure. Lilli's eyes drooped. You all love and care for me, I know. Perhaps they would all go away if she went to sleep and never wake up… She didn't want to feel like this anymore.

She stood in a long hallway, the lights above flickered and cast shadows everywhere. Lilli looked around but saw nothing. Had she finally died? This was not what she thought the afterlife looked like. It was disconcerting to say in the least.

The lights continued to flicker rapidly as she walked down the hallway. There were no doors but eventually, Lilli found windows on each side. She approached one and peered into it.

She recognized the room beyond: her parents' dining room. A young Lilli sat at the head of the table while her mother set a large chocolate cake in front of her. There were six lit candles in the cake and Lilli watched as her six year old self clench her eyes shut before opening them and blowing the candles out. Her parents and grandmothers clapped. Lilli wondered what she had wished for because she couldn't remember.

Lilli backed away and moved onto another window. In this one she watched herself, a slightly older Lilli, practicing piano. When she was ten, her grandmother Margaret insisted she try playing piano but it never took. But it was where she obtained her love for Beethoven.

Lilli stared at her hands. She wondered what would have happened if she became a pianist instead of a doctor. She could be anywhere in the world right now playing for audiences, if she was good enough, instead of a doctor at Arkham Asylum. She never would have met—Lilli didn't allow herself to finish that thought. That kind of thinking wouldn't do her any good.

The windows were endless moments of Lilli's life as she continued on. There was the time when they had to put Honey, their twelve year old yellow lab, down. Lilli had been inconsolable the entire day. It upset her so much, her father had to come get her from school because she'd burst into tears when she saw a classmate reading Old Yeller.

Even so, a few tears trickled down Lilli's cheek as she watched a twelve year old Lilli petting Honey as the vet administered the shot. She really loved that dog. Honey always insisted she was still a lap dog even though she clearly wasn't but would worm her way onto laps. And she was a great lover of fetch but never knew how to give the stick to Lilli so she could throw it again.

She brushed away her tears and hurried away. In the next window, a fourteen year old Lilli blushed as another freshman asked her to the Homecoming dance with him. What was his name? Michael, Mark… Matt? She couldn't remember, it had been too long since high school. Nothing happened with their relationship. They went to Homecoming together but remained friends until they went their separate ways in college.

Another window showed her high school graduation. The seventeen year old Lilli dressed in her cap and gown walked across the stage to received her diploma from the principal.

On and on the windows went. From Lilli moving into her dorm room at Gotham University (oh god, she hated her roommate freshman year. All that girl did was party and bring boys and girls back to their room in the dead of night while Lilli tried to sleep) to her calling her parents telling them she had been accepted to med school.

There was the graduation ceremony and then Lilli moving in with her medical school roommate Marissa who was really cool and nice. She always kept joking about how much their lives were going to be like a Scrubs episode. Marissa would eventually get her dream job as a pediatrician at St. Jude Children's Hospital while Lilli went on to do her residency at Gotham General.

Lilli cracked a smile when she saw the twenty-two year old Lilli picking out a kitten. That was when she got Ludwig. He had been the most insistent for love when Lilli came to look at them. He pawed at Lilli and meowed constantly and even insisted on climbing up her jeans so she would pet him. She laughed and fell in love and brought him home with her. That brought her back to the thought of Ludwig back in her apartment and if he was alive or not. Lilli's eyes watered with unshed tears.

She forced herself to walk away from the scene and passed by many more: her father's sixtieth birthday party, the first time she lost a patient, the day Gretchen Whistler came to her office with a job offer, waking up in Jeff's bed, even the time when she confronted Edward in his cell—god, that seemed like years ago.

Eventually, she came to a large, metal door at the end of the hallway. A dripping, bright green question mark was painted on it and Lilli felt fear. Could this have been an elaborate test Edward set up for her? No, Lilli decided. It couldn't be.

Still, she hesitated as she reached for the door handle. But she had no other choice but to continue on. With difficulty, she managed to get the heavy door open and stepped inside. The door shut with a heavy clank and Lilli found herself in a vast room. Green question marks were painted on the walls, giving the room a soft green glow.

"Hello?" She asked tentatively to the room. Unlike the hallway, this room gave her an uneasy feeling as if something lurked in the dark corners waiting to pounce.

A presence loomed behind her and she felt a pair of hands travel up her arms before resting on her shoulders. "Together at last," she heard Edward whisper into her ear and she shivered. Even in death, she couldn't escape him.

He turned her around and she was staring into his eyes. Her mouth moved wordlessly but she didn't know what to say. "My sweet Lilli," he murmured as he traced her lips with his finger. He glanced at her. "You should know this a game you cannot win."

And he was right, she realized in horror. She couldn't keep up with him. She didn't know how to toy with someone's psyche; she wasn't a psychiatrist. Lilli lost this battle long ago. Edward was merely claiming his prize.

"You haven't," someone said behind Lilli. Lilli turned to see Catwoman standing behind her. Catwoman? Lilli blinked in confusion. What was she doing here?

Catwoman smirked. "You know what he wants. He craves it. And when someone craves something as badly as he does, they becomes blind to everything else." She sauntered over to Lilli, a smirk on her lips. "You have more power than you think."

"I do?" Lilli asked. How?

"What does he want most from you?" Catwoman continued. "When you figure it out, that will be your greatest weapon."

Her greatest weapon? "I don't understand," Lilli said.

"You will," Catwoman said.

-x-

Lilli woke with a start. What just happened? Had she been dreaming just now or had she finally gone crazy? But, as she looked around, she found no imaginary people rattling off their memories. She was alone.

She stood up and began to pace, ignoring the protest from her body. What had Catwoman meant 'her greatest weapon'? Lilli had no weapons; she couldn't even fight in her weakened state. Maybe it's not an object, she thought. What if it was something else?

What did Edward want most from her? Her submission? But Lilli didn't know how she could turn that into a weapon. No, it had to be something else. She hated these mind games. Why couldn't someone just come out and tell her exactly what she needed to do to get out of there with her mind intact—Lilli came to a halt.

It couldn't be? But Lilli felt realization dawn on her. It was! She knew exactly what he wanted most and how she would reel him in. But she had to play this carefully. One slip and everything would be over.

She returned to the mattress and sat, facing the door. Here goes nothing, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she spoke in a scratchy voice, "If you look, you cannot see me. If you see me, you cannot see anything. I can make anything you want happen, but later everything goes back to normal. What am I?"

And she waited. If he heard her, he would have to come in. He had to.

Within a few minutes, her ears picked up the sound of footsteps getting louder and louder. And then she heard the door unlock before swinging open and there he was. Edward stood in the door, staring down at her.

There were a few beats of tense silence before he entered the room completely. "Your imagination," he answered.

Lilli broke into a smile. She got him to come back. But her heart still hammered in fear. What if he left again? "I'm sorry," she blurted. "I'm sorry. I didn't know—"

But he held up a hand to silence her and came closer before joining her on the mattress. "It's alright," he soothed. "I forgive you." He pulled her into an embrace and she relished in the contact. It felt so good to have real human contact again. No more ghosts.

He held her for a long time, murmuring soft words and stroking her hair, before detangling himself from her. "Wait here," he said with a twitch of his lips as if she could really go anywhere. He left the room, making Lilli feel incredibly uneasy as she bit down on her cry of distress. What if he wasn't going to come back again?

But he did come back. He held a steaming bowl and two bottles of water. "Slowly," he warned her as he handed her to the bowl.

Lilli's mouth watered when she spotted the soup inside. And there was a crust of bread next to it. Bread! She dunked the bread in, soaking up some of the soup and bit into it. A moan of happiness escaped her when she tasted the chicken broth. This was heaven!

Even though Edward told her to eat slowly, she finished the soup in what felt like minutes before taking a water bottle from him and sipping at it. "Famished, are we?" Edward chuckled.

Lilli felt a flare of anger—it was him who caused this—but squashed it down. Getting angry wouldn't prove anything. It would only make him angrier and she couldn't take another round of isolation and hunger. "Yes," she replied.

She went to open the second bottle but Edward took her hand. "Save it," he said. "The next supply drop isn't for another two days."

Her eyes darted to the bottle of water back to Edward. "Is this the last bottle of water?" She asked.

He nodded. "Sadly yes. But my men bring me parts of the supplies they scavenge." He brushed a stray hair away from her cheek. "Rest assured, you will not go hungry while you're with me."

Then what do you call what you did to me? A part of Lilli screamed but she kept her face frozen lest she betray her thoughts. "I'm glad," she said.

Edward smiled. "Good. Now, I must return to my work but I will come back."

"You promise?" Lilli felt like a child when she said that but she was still scared he would leave her alone again.

"I promise."And he kissed her on the top of her head.

-x-

"Lilli. Sweet Lilli, wake up," Edward whispered in her ear.

"Mm?" Lilli groaned as she rolled over. She blearily opened an eye to see Edward sitting above her, shaking her shoulder.

"Good morning, my dear," he said. "Come, I have a surprise for you."

"You do?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes. When she looked up again, she saw Edward standing there holding her coat and boots. She blinked in surprise. "Where are we going?"

"Out." He said. He handed the clothing to Lilli and knelt down. Keeping one hand over her ankle so she couldn't see, he unlocked the combination lock around her ankle. Instinctively, she retracted her leg and rubbed her ankle.

"Hurry," he urged her and she slung on her coat and stuck her feet in her boots and laced them up. He held out a hand to her and she took it as he helped her up. Immediately, his fingers intertwined with hers and Lilli did not pull away.

Edward led her out of the room and towards the door that led to the exit. Lilli's heart thumped in anticipation. Was he taking her outside? Indeed, he did take her outside. The weather felt colder now but Lilli didn't care. The fresh air and the ability to move around felt wonderful. She took in a deep breath, savoring the chill.

"I thought you'd like to come outside for a little while," Edward said while watching her. "The fresh air would do you some good."

"It's great," she breathed. "Thank you."

"Not at all, my sweet." He tugged on her hand and brought her closer to him. This time she was prepared as he brought his head down and took her lips in a kiss. She wound her arms around his neck and to her surprise, found herself returning his kiss, relishing at the closeness between them.

-x-

And that concludes chapter twenty-one! We're getting into the parts I'm sure all of you have been waiting for since you started reading. I hope I can deliver.

Yet not everything is smooth sailing in Arkham City. And what power does Lilli hold over Edward?

Reviews, favorites, and follows are love! See ya in chapter twenty-two!