Chapter Text
“Wait, so all those times I’ve been talking with Hyde, I was really talking to you?” Rachel questioned, seemingly more confused than she should be at Jekyll’s explanation.
“No! I mean yes… well, sort of… Hyde’s technically a part of me but he’s his own person now and this is his body, at least usually, I’m in control now… sort of…”
Jekyll was trying his best to explain two long years of experiences between him and Hyde, plus several more years of research in the span of only a couple of minutes of dialogue, which in his tired state, was seemingly impossible to accomplish. He was getting nowhere.
“Okay,” he said once again, “Let me start from the top with some basics, I Henry Jekyll, decided to make a potion that could theoretically split one into their good and evil parts, once I thought I discovered the secret to the potion, I used myself as the test subject, and in doing so, created an elixir that could change my body into that of Edward Hyde’s, a being that is immature, rash, selfish and… and…” Henry had to pause to take another breath. He never realized how hard it was to explain all of this before. He never thought it would be an easy task, but it certainly shouldn’t be this difficult to get across, and the head trauma didn’t seem to be helping his situation all that much. I need to find a simpler way for them to understand, thought Henry to himself, how does Rachel think of Hyde…
“Rachel? Do you remember the first time you met Hyde?” He finally said. Thinking for a second, Rachel opened her mouth to reply.
“Yes… it was about two years ago, I was making cookies, and you-he I mean-fell into my blackberry bushes and started going off about how he was the ‘Spirit of London at Night’ and ‘emerged from nightmares themselves.’”
That sounds about right, thought Henry Jekyll remembering back to that cursed night and how full of himself Hyde sounded, even for him.
“Well…” continued Jekyll looking up at Rachel through his newfound lengthy hair, “Let’s just say that was the first night I ever took the potion, and it didn’t exactly go the way I planned. Instead of separating myself into my good and evil halves, the potion seemingly created a being out of my deepest repressed urges, Edward Hyde,” Of course the first thing he did was jump out of a window, he thought recalling all the bruises he had accumulated from his lesser half, “Anyways…” he continued, “…for the past two years we’ve been taking the potion, me taking it to turn into Hyde, and him taking it to turn back into me.”
“So Hyde’s evil?” Rachel asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“No, no, no… Hyde’s not evil, he’s just, everything I try not to be…” Jekyll said softly, “That’s probably why we’re so different, different enough for people to keep us separate at the very least besides our appearances I mean.”
“Well, you’re not that different.” Rachel said bluntly, “I knew he was a gentleman playing the role of villain the moment I saw him, didn’t I say so Lanyon?” Looking over at Lanyon it seemed he had once again taken the role of the silent observer, still sitting next to Henry and taking everything in, “Lanyon?” Rachel said once more snapping him out of the daze he was in.
“Right sorry Rachel…and um, Henry” He said sitting up once more, “So basically, your theory of duality, that was the reason for the potion, right?” Looking quite sheepish, it seemed Lanyon wasn’t exactly taking in the situation to the best of his ability. If he hadn’t been the embodiment of the perfect gentleman in Henry’s eyes, some might say, that at the moment, he was a nervous wreck.
“Maybe I should just leave you two alone for a moment,” Rachel sputtered, slowly backing towards the door, “I’ll go get Lucy so we can explain the situation, I’ll be right back…” the door closed with a thud, as she left the two men alone. If the room didn’t have enough awkward silences for the night, Jekyll and Lanyon were suddenly stuck with each other in a frankly strange situation, not knowing what to say to next.
Breaking the silence, Jekyll finally answered Lanyon’s question.
“Yes,” he said slowly, “It was my theory of duality that drove me towards the creation of the potion.”
Sighing, Lanyon stood up from Jekyll’s side and started pacing the room nervously. After a moment, he paused, turning to speak with Jekyll once more.
“I’m sorry if I seem a bit… out of sorts at the moment Henry,” he said not being able to look Henry in the eyes, “It’s just…. This is such a strange situation and I have so many questions about this whole ordeal I don’t even know where to start. Like for one, why didn’t you tell me?” Looking down at the bed, Lanyon could tell that this was the question Jekyll had been dreading the most.
“To be honest, I’m not really sure,” Jekyll said looking up at his friend, “when I was making the potion, I was so excited thinking about what the prospects of its success would be, how happy I was going to be when I told you I had vanquished evil from myself, but after it’s results…” Jekyll paused, taking in his current appearance once more, “I just thought you’d be disappointed in me, I suppose, and even after things got more complicated with Hyde and the police, and I did want to tell you… it just seemed like too much time had past and you would think I had betrayed your trust in keeping such a major aspect of my life a secret for so long,” sighing once more, Jekyll decided to finish with an apology, “I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer, but at least everything can be out in the open now.”
“Okay.” Lanyon said, taking in Jekyll’s explanation word for word, “I think I can understand why you kept it from me, but another thing I’m having a hard time trying to grasp, is why did you keep taking the potion? If it didn’t work for its intended purpose, why on earth would didn’t you forget about it and move on to other projects? Wasn’t it too much trouble for what it’s worth?” Lanyon began pacing again, unsure of himself, and still visibly confused and bewildered by his friend’s bizarre situation.
“It wasn’t that simple!” Jekyll exclaimed, becoming agitated, “Taking the potion….unleashing Hyde…it did something to me, something I can’t reverse…”
“What do you mean?” Lanyon said concerned for his friend’s wellbeing. Unsure what to say next, Jekyll once again started spewing words. Having kept everything a secret for so long, it seemed like Lanyon was going to receive the whole truth or nothing at all.
“It’s not like I wanted to keep taking the potion!” Jekyll cried out, visibly distressed, “….I mean a part of me did, for strictly scientific reasons of course, but after all that…once I knew the full extent of the potion’s abilities…” pausing for a second Jekyll tried to compose himself so his headache wouldn’t start up once more. After a moment of reflection, he finally admitted his dire situation to Lanyon.
“It was Hyde okay, he was making me do it.”
“He… made you take it?” Lanyon said slowly looking over at his friend, eyebrows raised.
“He doesn’t just go away when the potion is reversed.” Jekyll said with dismay, “He’s in my head, taunting me, judging my work, telling me everything I do is wrong with every step I take. He’s in my reflection every time I look in the mirror, and when he’s especially antsy, he floats in front of my vision, distracting me from my work, begging me to let him out for the night. Or he works on my nerves and my insecurities until I give in,” Looking down, Jekyll once again clenched his blanket, not daring to look up lest he sees a look of pity on Lanyon’s face. “And it’s only been getting worse as time goes on…” Jekyll added, “Hyde’s gotten craftier, he’s found a way to unleash my deepest fears on me in the daytime and…” he paused not wanting to say it, “To put it bluntly Robert I’ve been hallucinating, and my stress has been giving Hyde the control he’s always desired. That’s what happened tonight at the party, and that’s why he was able to gain control against my best wishes and drag us to the Bazaar where you found us.” Almost on the verge of tears or passing out once more, Jekyll finished, waiting for his friend to say something about how stupid he had been to get himself into this mess, or leave him in disgust, or any number of other horrible possibilities Jekyll’s mind could imagine.
Lanyon’s will never want to see me again after this, thought Jekyll, I’m ruined. He was so lost in his own thoughts he hadn’t even realized Lanyon had stopped pacing and instead walked back towards his bed to kneel beside him.
“Henry?” He asked softly. Looking up, Henry’s eyes were once more locked with Lanyon’s, “I’m so sorry you had to keep this from me, I should have done more to help you… I knew you were stressed but I was too caught up in my own business to notice. I hope you can forgive me.” He said embracing Jekyll in a rare display of affection, a simple hug. Pushing his head into Lanyon’s shoulders, Jekyll couldn’t believe his ears. How can he act like he’s the one in the wrong? Jekyll thought to himself, I should be the one to blame for everything that’s happened…
Just as Jekyll was going to explain how Lanyon wasn’t the one who should be forgiven, the door to the room opened with a loud bang. Suddenly released from their embrace, Lanyon and Jekyll swung their heads towards the sound of the door.
“Sorry if I’m interrupting an intimate moment boys, but can one of you please explain what’s going on, because quite frankly Rachel is making even less sense than usual.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evidently, it turned out explaining the situation to Lucy was a lot easier than they thought it would be, especially since they didn’t want to tell her Henry’s situation in the first place. It seemed that Lucy had been on the streets of London for so long, nothing seemed to be able to surprise her anymore.
“I still can’t believe you told her Rachel!” Lanyon said quite agitated. Looking quite huffy, Rachel’s back remained turned to Lanyon who had been on her case for a solid five minutes as Henry continued to answer Lucy’s questions. Finally swirling around to face Lanyon, Rachel snapped back at him.
“Hey! It’s not my fault! She was going to find out anyway-“
“Rachel’s right,” said Lucy impatiently, leaning against the door arms crossed, “Even if she didn’t tell me I would have found out. I did request to speak to Mr. Hyde after all, and as far as I’m concerned I still haven’t had that request fulfilled. Although I must admit, Jekyll’s explanation has answered most of my questions.” Pushing off against the doorframe, she found herself staring at Henry. If he wasn’t answering anyone’s questions, it seemed that in his current state he had reserved himself to silence.
“The only thing that continues to vex me…” Lucy continued, “…is if you look like Edward Hyde right now, why do your eyes and voice seem to take on the appearance of Doctor Jekyll. If your potion is to be believed then right now you shouldn’t even be here.”
She’s right, thought Lanyon, upon all accounts, Henry’s presence here doesn’t make any sense. Lucy’s question had been kicking at the back of his mind as well, but seeing how distressed Henry had been with the simple questions, he thought it best to leave those questions behind, at least until he knew Henry was in a better mental state. Still, a part of Lanyon was glad that Lucy was asking him the question instead of himself.
Jekyll in the meantime seemed to be in a perpetually anxious state. Everyone’s eyes were hyper-focused on him, and he couldn’t help thinking of the nightmares he had been hallucinating as of late. The pulsating masses, the monsters with a million eyes, all silently judging him, consuming his every waking moment as a never-ending extension of his daily anxieties. But they're not here now, Henry slowly realized, they aren’t here… and neither is Hyde…which means… they can’t control me anymore. Henry was almost smiling, he had been so distracted by his head trauma and his friends that he didn’t even realize that the consistent noise that had been chattering in his head for the past two years, was gone. For the time being, Jekyll was free, and he had never felt more alive with possibilities, even in this shoddy room with a semi fuzzy vision.
Distracted by his own thoughts of wonder and excitement, it was Lanyon who brought Jekyll back to reality.
“Henry are you okay? We seemed to have lost you for a moment…”
Snapping out of his self-induced daze, Henry turned to Lanyon once more.
“Oh sorry… yes I’m fine, I was just thinking…” with the anxiety suddenly lifting off of Jekyll’s shoulders, he suddenly felt like he could do anything, and that included answering any and all of his friend’s questions. I’ve kept all of this a secret for so long, he thought to himself, it almost feels good to get it out in the open, and why shouldn’t I? I have to do something with the scientific discoveries I made after all…
“To answer your question, Lucy, I believe the head trauma, mixed with my own free will is to blame.”
“Your own free will? What’s that supposed to mean?” Rachel said, joining the parade of questions once more.
“Well to put it plainly, if my memory serves correctly, tonight seemed to be a turning point between me and Hyde’s fight for control. After Hyde gained control and dragged us to the Bazaar, he seemed to push me into a type of stasis in my mind. I was trapped, unable to hear or see anything going on outside, with nothing but my own nightmares and memories to keep me company…” he decided it was best to leave Mind Lanyon out of this for now, as the story was already strange enough as it was, and he didn’t dare attempt to lose his friend’s attention again, “Anyways, after hours of suffering in the darkness, I decided to take a risk and attempt to fight for control. Hyde had done it before in my body, so I thought that I could do the same. I can’t remember everything that happened…it’s all a bit fuzzy near the end, but I believe that at the exact moment I was grasping onto the coattails of consciousness, Hyde seemed to be hit with a blow to the head, the rush must have done something to him, and left me the one in control.”
Finishing with as much vigour as he could muster, he looked up to see a slowly nodding Lanyon, and two faces of confusion on the brink of understanding.
“So basically what your saying is Hyde got knocked in the head really hard so now he’s out for the count?” Lucy said rather bluntly.
“Basically…” Jekyll replied disappointed that the fight for his very mind and soul was reduced to a mere simple sentence.
Looking him up and down, Lucy, gave a short “hmpff” before turning to Rachel.
“Well that’s all I needed to know, I told you it would make an interesting conversation, take as much time as you need, but make sure those two are out of here by dawn.”
“Wait, you're just going to kick us out!?” Lanyon said referring to himself and Jekyll, “With him in this state are you out of your mind?”
“Well this is a lady thief’s gang,” Lucy said as matter of fact, “And if you haven’t noticed, you and moneybags here don’t exactly fit the bill. I’ve given you bandages, a place to rest, and privacy from the girls. I’d say I’ve been more than enough hospitable given the circumstances. Besides, he’s fine, look at him, he’s practically shaking with energy.”
It was true, in the span of five minutes it seemed like Jekyll went from being bedridden to practically making the bedframe shake. He was a bundle of nerves and not in the nervous kind of way. He was awake and excited, and just felt he needed to get up and do something.
“She’s right Lanyon,” Jekyll said rather quickly, “I feel fine, better than before actually, this is probably the first real sleep I’ve had in days…. Thank you, Lucy.” He said looking up at her smiling.
“Don’t mention it...” Lucy mumbled under her breathe with a scowl on her face, she was obviously not a fan of being treated like a gentle lady. Looking between them, it was obvious that both Lanyon and Rachel were still concerned with Henry’s wellbeing.
“Are you sure you don’t need more rest, Henry?” Lanyon asked calmly, “Your head trauma isn’t limited to what happened to Hyde and your consciousness… it could have serious physical repercussions as well.”
“I am well aware Lanyon, but I feel fine. We went to the same med school after all, if any of the long term blunt force trauma symptoms start to appear, you’ll be the first to know, I promise.”
I certainly hope so, thought Lanyon, but those aren’t the type of ‘symptoms’ I’m worried about. The truth of the matter was, that what Lanyon was worried about more than anything else was the possibility of Hyde reappearing. He technically still hadn’t met the man yet, Henry’s current appearance and state of consciousness put aside.
“Besides,” Henry said interjecting Lanyon’s thoughts, “…the Society needs me! I still need to get everyone back on board for the exhibition, and the paperwork is always piling up, and I’ve got Frankenstein to deal with…” Lanyon tried to stop him as he tried to get out of bed.
“Henry!” he said grabbing Jekyll by the shoulders, “You’re forgetting one important detail. I’m sorry to put a damper on things… but how exactly can you accomplish anything if you look like… well, this.”
“Oh right,” Henry said remembering his current predicament, “I’ll just have to change back then, Rachel could you be so kind as to pass me Hyde’s coat?”
Gosh, it’s weird seeing Hyde’s body acting like this, thought Rachel once more, manners do not suit his face well, or that kind of gentle smile, it’s freaking me out…”
Passing the coat to Jekyll, he immediately began to riffle through Hyde’s pockets.
“What are you looking for?” Rachel said, asking the hundredth question the walls had heard that evening.
“It should be here… ah! There it is! Hyde stole some of the potions from the lab before he left, he was planning to blackmail me with it, but now I can use it to just change back…”
Reaching out to stop him, Lanyon was almost more concerned than he had been previously at any other moment from that night.
“Wait! Henry are you sure that’s such a good idea-”
Before Lanyon could finish his sentence, Jekyll was already too far ahead of him to be stopped. Without thinking of the consequences, Jekyll had uncapped the lid and swallowed the potion. And despite everything else that happened that night, that was the moment when Henry Jekyll realised something was horribly wrong.