Adriana was led through the cramped white corridors by Rick Mchallahan. She plucked at the loose-fitting white garment she was given, holding her pants up with one hand while the other brushed dark, greasy strands of her hair out of her face. The guard gave a sneer.

"Sorry your clothes are a bit big. Only ones I could get my hands on."

Adriana sensed he enjoyed watching her hobble around in a uniform twice her size. She gave him a resentful glare and tugged at her pants again.

The guard halted, pointing to a wooden door a few feet away. "There," he snarled, shoving her forward, "that's his office." Rick grinned and snickered like a hyena, ducking away, but not before muttering, "Enjoy…" under his breath.

Adriana waited for his footsteps echoing in the hall to subside before slowly approaching the door. She could hear a faint scratching, as well as a steady ticking, inside the office. She waited, holding her breath as she listened to the soft noises inside, and finally, with the lightest touch, she rapped her knuckles on the door.

The gentle scratching paused, followed by the screech of a chair and loud footsteps. Adriana was expecting the door to open, but even so, as soon as Doctor Crane stood before her, she sucked in her breath just a little.

Doctor Crane's mischievous grin was on his face again as he held open the door. "Come in, come in," he said, motioning to a rather comfy-looking couch sitting against the wall. "Take a seat."

Adriana walked to the couch quickly and sank into its soft warmth gratefully. Jonathan closed the door with a resounding thud and wheeled around. He pulled his chair from behind his desk and set it before Adriana.

The girl looked around his office curiously. Diplomas and awards were framed on the wall, books upon books upon books were piled onto shelves and bookcases, his desk was strewn with papers and various bottles and vials filled with strange colored liquids.

Jonathan sat down, folding his hands and crossing his legs, looking more and more like a typical psychiatrist would…although Adriana still kept a reserved, cautious look at him.

The man observed her through squinted eyes before finally breaking the silence after what seemed like an eternity.

"I see you've adjusted to Arkham well," he murmured, raising an eyebrow at her unrecognizable, if not surprising, new look. Adriana's head drooped as she gave a half-hearted nod.

"I understand. Arkham has a strange way of…converting, shall I say…even the hardest of criminals. Although, I do expect some of the more boorish guards had a little to do with it as well. Am I correct in assuming so?"

Adriana gave another nod, but Crane was dissatisfied with her reply. He frowned, and his tone grew a bit stern.

"I suppose your refusal to speak is due to this abuse you have suffered…I am a psychiatrist," he added, seeing the worried look on her face, "I could see how uncomfortable you were around dear Ricky McHallahan, and the fact that you lashed out at him…only natural to see you high-strung, if not sloppy, nature at work—"

"I didn't lash out!" Adriana blurted hoarsely. Crane gave her another faint smile.

"She speaks? Good. I thought we were going to have to communicate through charades all evening."

Adriana looked down at her hands as Crane picked up a notebook from his desk and tossed it into her lap.

"Go on. I was just finishing some notes. Read if you'd like." He pressed his fingers together beneath his chin. "I believe you'll find some things very interesting."

Adriana hesitated, watching him. A slight frown crossed her features, but with a quivering hand, she opened the cover and slowly began to read the first page. She frowned a little harder, her eyes darting to and fro across the paper. Adriana turned the page and continued to read. This went on for fifteen minutes, though it may have been longer since various words were quite unusual or illegible to read. She looked up, finally, and stared at Crane with a quizzical expression.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

"Oh?" Crane cocked his head, feigning confusion. "You don't know?" He took the book from her and thumbed through the pages.

"Day 1, haughty attitude, cheeky, sarcastic. Guards throw punch, keeping subject silent. Sent to cell 13. Day 15, bedraggled appearance, keeps quiet most of the time, has failed to eat anything for a day. Day 27, loss of sleep, rarely eats, paranoia, hallucinations…Hmm, I guess Arkham took a little more out of you than I expected. This, dear Adriana, is just a piece of the vast observations I have been taking of you over the days, weeks, months under my care."

Adriana looked stunned. "Wh-…what?...y-your care?

"Yes my care. You see, I wanted to come out and be open and honest about this, so I could gain your trust. You see, I have been running Arkham for a while…I have seen many patients come and go, and by go I mean die or transfer, but you…you have truly intrigued me."

"Intrigued?" Adriana crossed her arms, hugging herself nervously. Crane gave a smirk and chuckled.

"Don't worry. This isn't about us, my dear. This is about you. This is about me giving you, perhaps, a second chance at life outside these walls."

Adriana lifted her head and knitted her eyebrows together in puzzlement. "You mean…like…I can leave?"

"Ah, you're getting ahead of me, my dear. Please, let me explain my proposal and I—"

"Listen, Doctor Crane, please…I have to get out of here." Adriana pleaded, her eyes large. "Please, I have to leave! I…I'll do anything. Just get me out of here!"

Crane sighed. "I wish you people wouldn't say 'I'll do anything', because, frankly, there are some things you will not do." He pulled off his glasses to clean them and replaced them on his face. "Why so desperate to leave?"

Adriana looked away and shook her head. "I just need to get out. Please. Let me go home."

Crane chuckled a dark, sinister chuckle and laced his fingers together. "You have no home…" He murmured. "Once you were arrested, your entire house was stripped and a new family lives there. Your family hasn't spoken to you, your friends have abandoned you, what makes you even think there's a soul out there who cares about you? You disgraced them…you disgraced everyone." He paused, grabbing her hand and holding it up in front of her face, the back of it facing her. "You disgraced your precious Carlos." He sneered, motioning to the vacant ring-finger. Adriana whimpered, half a sob escaping her lips.

"Please let me leave…please…"

Crane dropped her hand and yawned, obviously bored by her pleas. "Adriana, I can't just let you leave. That would be irresponsible as a caretaker."

"You're not my caretaker."

"On the contrary. I've been watching over you since you first stepped foot here. Sure, I wasn't around much…but I've been planning this meeting for a while. That's why I was out so long…I was preparing—"

"Watching over me? You call letting those sickening guards cat-call, insult, and otherwise make my life here a living hell 'watching over me'?"

Crane scowled. "No need to put it in such bleak perspective, Mrs. De Soto. And aren't I trying to give you a chance to leave now? Would a bad man like me really let you leave if I wanted those men to keep harassing you? Either you sit down and keep quiet so I may finish, or I could just call Rick back up here to bring you into your cell."

Adriana blinked at Crane's suddenly harsh, hissing tone and shuddered in her seat. Crane continued to glare through his glasses as he spoke.

"I am going to offer you a deal of sorts…you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours sort of deal.

"I've been watching and studying your endeavors in the world of the criminally insane since you were sent here, seeing how exactly you were caught, how exactly you carried off your ploys, you know. Things like that.

"I know you fed these men their poisons through a pomegranate. Ingenious, clever, original…it got me to thinking."

"We'd hate to have that…" Adriana thought as the man continued.

"The way you targeted these victims is by finding ones that would make big headlines. Correct?" He took her look as his answer. "So, here is what I'm offering you. I give you your freedom in return for your services."

Adriana scowled. "Excuse me?"

"You seduced pompous pretty-boys with your charm, your looks, and your ability to gain their trust." Jonathan chuckled. "Who would suspect the grieving widow of a policeman? Therefore, I wish that you help me rather than slaughter the innocents."

"They were no more innocent than you. Two of those men were charged with assault, but both were dropped due to their rich background. The third and fourth were charged with robbery and attempted robbery…again, both were dropped. I targeted those men because they got away with hurting innocent people. Just like the BAT hurt my husband."

"And Bruce Wayne? I have yet to hear any awful news about him."

Adriana drew her eyebrows together. "Oh trust me…He's the worst of them…absolutely."

Crane studied her before continuing. "Right. Well, again, I wish you would assist me in the round-up of 'patients' I need for my studies. Unless…you would like to offer yourself as specimen number one…"

"What happens if I refuse?"

"You get to go back into your cell and, as I said, I get to continue studying you instead." He gave her a sardonic grin, a delighted look in his eye. "Adriana, I know this deal is too tempting to resist. You have become my little Persephone…drawn from a world of light-hearted, carefree joy into the cruel, nauseating, shadowed underworld. Ironic, isn't it, that your choice of vessel to carry your deadly poison was the pomegranate? The very fruit fed to Persephone…the very thing that sealed her fate with Hades?" Adriana shuddered as the gleeful look on Crane's face grew. "I wished to watch over you here at Arkham…but you took to this place like oil to water. I predict you won't last more than a few weeks here if I release you back into the cell. Pathetic…"

"I…" Adriana whispered. "I'm not…"

"You're not? Not pathetic, not weak, not —"

"No!" She blurted, starting to her feet. Her garments flapped around her as she seethed, heaving angrily. "NO! I'm NOT pathetic! I said I would do anything to get out of here…and I mean it. I can't STAND this place. I can't stand you, or the guards, or anything! But if I have a chance to leave here, even if that means helping you…I'll do it."

Crane's frown slowly melted away. "So you'd rather herd up some people to help me than stay here?"

"Yes."

Crane cocked his head. "How do I know I can trust you won't take off once I let you go?"

"Well that's a risk you're going to have to take."

Crane's awkward grin returned. "I enjoy taking risks. Alright…fine. We have a deal."

Adriana gaped as the man returned to his desk. "That…that's it?"

"Mmm…yes. Basically. Although, I do want to be sure I can trust you." He straightened up and grinned at her. Adriana's mind started to turn. That look; wily, sinister, cold…the same look he gave her when he took her to his home and…She let out a faint gasp and covered her mouth. "N-no…please Doctor Crane…please—"

"Adriana…either lower your hands or I will call someone in here…"

"I beg you…I already agreed. Doctor Crane—"

He sighed, pressing a button on the telephone on his desk. "Rick, get up here now."

Adriana yelped and bolted for the door, throwing it open and raced down the hall. She couldn't hear any angry shouts and threw a look over her shoulder struggling to see if Crane was chasing. But he wasn't. She gave a quick smile and laughed, but Adriana's small victory was short lived.

Her oversized outfit was hard to walk, let alone run, in and, when she stepped onto the bottom of one pant leg, she gave a startled cry and stumbled once, twice, three times before crashing to the ground. She threw out her hands to break her fall, but her face still struck the floor. She tasted the copper tang of blood and breathed heavily. She turned her face slowly, staring at a pair of shoes in front of her. She craned her neck up and felt any hope of escape shatter.

"Bloody lip looks good on ya, baby." Rick sneered and rounded her, pulling her to her feet by the back of her shirt. "What's the matter, hun? Doctor Crane got to you?" He yanked her along the path she had just so desperately tried to escape, half dragging, half supporting her lightweight frame. The door was still open, Doctor Crane standing over a chair expectantly. He looked up as Rick pulled her inside.

"Thank you Rick."

"No problem, sir." He threw Adriana forward and shoved her into the rich mahogany chair. "I know how much you'd hate it if your favorite convict got away."

Crane scowled at Rick. "My favorite…no. No I think not. I am surprised though at her brazen escape attempt." He turned to Adriana with a grin. "I underestimated you. Try as you might," he said, watching as Rick handcuffed the girl's hands to the arms of the chair, "you can't run from the dark forever. Scarecrow has his eye on you…" He reached up and swiped Adriana's trembling, bloodied lip with a handkerchief. He tossed a mask at Rick and motioned for him to stand behind the chair. "Make sure she doesn't fall over."

Adriana was horrified as she saw Crane pull his silver case from beside his desk. "Doctor Crane! Please, please don't!"

"Too late. You're far too deep into my little world…you can't get off that easily."

As soon as he finished his words, a familiar white smoke poured out of the case and engulfed Adriana. She couldn't scream. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. Her eyes were wide open, searching through the haze as she coughed and gagged. The familiar wheezy, scratchy voice broke through the throbbing she could hear from her heart.

"Why can't you just accept your fate? Running from me won't help you."

Adriana blinked shaking her head. She saw the blurry image of her nightmares appear in front of her. The maggot infested mask, the strange maniacal grin and of course the ice blue eyes peering at her. The Scarecrow drew its head close, squinting at her as she writhed in her seat. The grin on the mask spread and he slowly leaned beside her.

"Are you still afraid of me, little Persephone?" He whispered in her ear. Adriana could feel the small wriggling grubs fall on her shoulder and creep up her neck. She took short, quick breaths and pursed her lips.

"N-n-no…n-no I'm n-not," She mumbled through her bloody lips and stared straight ahead, not daring to look at the Scarecrow. "I s-said I'd do a-anything…I…I want to l-leave…"

"Anything? Is that why you tried to run? Running is a sign of WEAKNESS!" He roared in her sensitive ears, making her whine in pain. "But you aren't weak, right? No…you aren't. But you need to see now…do you see what will happen if you dare to run? You gave me your word. You said you'd do anything…I asked for your help in gathering guinea pigs…but, if you want to be difficult, I'm sure I could find a…BETTER…way to convince you…"

Rick gave a slight laugh, making Adriana look up. His mask was sown to his face, vast gashes and scars slashed across his faced and drool slipping down his chin and onto her head. Adriana swallowed hard and turned back around. The Scarecrow was mere inches from her face, sneering wildly. "I swear…I swear I swear I swear! I won't! I won't leave, god, please just stop! Stop, stop, stop!"

The Scarecrow held out a finger, pressing it to her lips to silence her.

"Don't cry, little Persephone…don't you cry. We're done now…We're done." He purred, even though is voice was still harsh and cracked. Without a moment's hesitation, he pointed to Rick, murmured for him to get a syringe in his case, and looked at the girl once more. "Just a little shot…take away the affects…fear gas." He spoke brokenly and his face seemed to fade in and out of focus. But Adriana couldn't have been more relieved in all her life. She felt a sharp pain in on her arm and soon everything went hazy. A warm sensation overtook the chilling effects of the fear gas and she felt like she was floating on a cloud. She was just glad to be out of that room for now.

Rick yanked off his mask and tossed the syringe in the garbage. "Think it worked?"

"Of course." Crane snapped, pulling his own mask off. He placed his glasses on his nose, shoving them up slightly. "She's afraid of being called weal. She doesn't want to be feeble. So…I get her weakened until she can be convinced to do as I say." Crane nodded to the couch. "Put her there."

Rick unlocked the handcuffs and picked up the delicate lady with a beaming smile. Crane threw him a cautious look. "Watch the hands, Ricky."

Rick dumped the girl unceremoniously onto the couch and rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever…sir."

Crane twitched his head to the door and said, "Go get her belongings. Bring them out to my car and put them in the trunk," he tossed Rick the keys, "then get back to your post. I believe Mr. Christoff needs his medication in a few minutes."

Rick begrudgingly took the keys and headed out the door.

Crane turned his attention back to the girl. Her sallow face was smooth and peaceful once again and he could see her eyes darting to and fro beneath her eyelids. He glanced at the mask grasped tightly in his fingers and grimaced. He felt no guilt for his actions, nor did he even care what happened to the girl once she was out of his care in the asylum. But he didn't want to see her die there, emaciated…alone. Crane too knew the effects of loneliness…years of ridicule in school…years of taunts and pranks.

SCARECROW! SCARECROW! CAW CAW CAW!

What's the matter, Jon? Gonna go cry to mommy? Jonny's a crybaby! Jonny's a crybaby!

What a little dork! Stop reading those stupid books, scarecrow! Don'tcha know scarecrow's heads are full of straw? Scarecrows don't have brains!

Crane let out a strangled cry and collapsed into his seat, holding his head. He hated that name…stupid children in elementary school…they hated him. They hated him…because they were scared of him. Yes…their fear…their fear is what drove them to the taunts.

"Mrs. Dobson! Mrs. Dobson!" A blubbering little girl burst into the semi abandoned classroom and wailed, pointing out the door. "Mrs. Dobson, Jonathan gave me a flower with a bee in it! On purpose!"

The teacher looked to the doorway, where a gangly, disheveled little boy stood, tears in his eyes.

"Jonathan Crane, why did you give Jenny that flower?"

Jonathan heard some girls behind him giggle and frowned. "I…I didn't—"

"You are to stay behind in class and write out 100 sentences. Understood?"

The small boy nodded as the young girl, Jenny, pushed past him. As she did so, she smiled through her tears and whispered, "I don't want to be your friend, Jonny. You're ugly and stupid. I hate you. Scarecrow."

Crane remembered that little girl vividly. He had given her a flower as a present, since Valentine's Day was approaching. There was no bee in the flower. She had made it up to get him in trouble. That was his first victim…Jenny. The next day, little Jenny sat at her desk to find it vibrating. As soon as she opened it, she let out a scream, a scream Jonathan relished now that he remembered it. Bees poured out of the desk and swarmed the classroom. But Jonathan Crane, knowing this was going to happen, was surprisingly late to class. As children yelped and hollered, running out of the room, Crane watched them race by and casually turned to follow them.

Jenny's pretty face swelled like a balloon. She wasn't so pretty anymore. Jonathan stared at the mask in his hand and then at Adriana.

"I didn't like seeing little Jenny hurt. But she deserved it. She lied…liars are punished. That, my little Persephone, is why I must do this to you." He stuffed the mask in his coat. "I don't want you hurt…but if you lie to me…you have to know the consequences." He knew she couldn't hear him, and he knew it was safe to talk, but as he waited for her to wake from her drug induced slumber, he couldn't help but remember the pretty little girl he loved, the pretty girl he gave his heart to. The pretty girl that broke it into a million pieces.

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Note from Author: Hey guys! This is just a little bit of stuff that mightclear up some things. A lot of the lesser characters (Rick McHallahan, Darcee the coffee girl, little Jenny, and other small random names) are really not vital parts of the stories. So, they're not really my characters, nor are they DC characters. They're just...fillers.Adriana/Persephone is my creation...so I do take credit for that. Other than that, you can ignore a lot of the other names.

Again, thanks a lot for the great reviews, kind comments, and all around niceness. I truly appreciate every single word you guys say. So thanks. One chapter left, let's just hope those nice comments keep coming and I don't screw up the last bit too much. :)