#Henry Jekyll what have you gotten yourself into this time.

[definatelymrhyde]

TGS page Spoilers!!! For page sept 16 2024

Okay so I know the last frame with Jekyll is HEARTWRENCHING but can we PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE FORMAT OF THIS PAGE??

The slow monologue and scene lead up until the three last panels were intense and sad yes. Jekyll’s last dialogue is sad, yes but do you know what makes this more sad??

The slow, silent shots where nothing happens and they all just look.

They just look at the closed door for a moment.

Also the way he apologizes for Hyde’s actions as if they were HIM acting. I mean. It KIND OF WAS HIM. In a way, at least.

He treats it as if the whole time it was just a disguise potion, and seeing and hearing Hyde was just a big mind trick to make himself feel better about what he’s done when looking different.

And that’s also heart wrenching.

So anyways, if anybody needs me today, I’ll be busy sobbing over this absolute masterpiece of a page :)

[dross-the-fish]

I found myself thinking of Jekyll today and wondering if it causes him physical pain to have to fake a smile. To what extent is Henry Jekyll, pleasant doctor and sophisticated upperclass gentleman a painful mask he has to wear and does the discomfort ever feel physical?

I was at the local aquarium today (this is the perfect time of year to go because it's open but there are no tourists so it's never crowded and admission is cheap) hanging out and doodling on one of the benches while I watched the fish. I had on headphones to listen to an audio book and to provide a buffer between myself and anyone who might try to talk to me and I had been looking forward to relaxing for a couple of hours when a family walked up and the father waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention. The minute they started asking me questions about what I was drawing I was filled with what I can only describe as intense dismay.

Obviously the family being present isn't in of itself an issue, it's a public aquarium, it's aimed at families and parts of the aquarium are geared specifically at children, but the family noticed me drawing and stopped to talk to me.

I reiterate that this was not something they did wrong, they were just being friendly, but I was really not prepared to have a conversation and I found the whole ordeal to be...well an ordeal. They were interested in what I was drawing (a sketch of Henry Jekyll because he's been on my mind off and on) and just the thought of having to explain who this character was, hoping they got it, and having to potentially explain why I was drawing him felt overwhelming.

And it was, they did not know who Henry Jekyll was, they were vaguely aware of Jekyll and Hyde but weren't the type of people to read classic literature and had never heard of the musical or actually seen for themselves any movies featuring the character. The mom commented that he looks like "a Disney villain from back in the 90s" which...fair assessment, I can't pretend I don't see why she would have thought that. The older kid was probably the most interested and wanted to see more of my drawings which made me really uncomfortable but I let him look through my sketchbook anyway because his parents kept saying he was interested in drawing and he loves art and I felt too anxious to say no.

I made small talk with the parents for a while, all the usual, "what's your name, where you from, what's your job?" (I hate those questions, they are usually the least interesting things about any people, myself included) and I wondered if this is what Henry does on a regular day. Has ordinary conversations with reasonably nice people and feel completely like a fish out of water the whole time. I felt pretty terrible about it too, I didn't have any hard feelings or resentment but the whole time I was thinking "Stop touching my things, go away, please fucking leave so I can get back to my audio book and my drawing. I just wanted to sit with the fish for a few hours because it's supposed to be quiet here this time of year."

No one ever seems to catch on that physically talking to people is an effort for me. I've gone my whole life and no one has ever noticed that I'm anxious or uncomfortable in situations where I have to speak out loud because I've gotten good at faking small talk and I know how to make my voice sound pleasant.

It's strange because I express myself easily enough in writing and I like messaging with people over text but the minute I have to be verbal with people I don't know I feel like I'm putting on an immense effort. I have to consciously choose a tone, figure out what words I want to say, be ready with an explanation in case I'm asked questions and I have to do all of it in real time on the spot. It feels like improve, like I'm constantly doing an improve routine and I know most people would say "Just be yourself!" But myself doesn't want to be doing this at all. Myself wants to be drawing and looking at fish. Even as a child I was never very social, I liked to doodle or daydream or build with my lego sets. I got reprimanded a lot for being too quiet. So I made myself more talkative and learned how to hold conversations. I learned to blend in but it's so tiring at times and I can swear when it's at its worst it feels almost physical. The discomfort becomes a suffocating "texture" on my skin and in my brain and I have to keep pretending like I don't notice it because every time I try to articulate how I feel people don't understand it. It's just not a thing they experience.

So I just keep "acting normal," and wonder if there's something wrong with me, like I'm operating on a different frequency from the people around me and I'm the only one on that frequency so other people don't even know it exists. It's...incredibly isolating at times. Even my partner doesn't seem to hear the world as loud as I do or experience the "texture" it's just a strange THING that I'm stuck with by myself. I wonder if it was the same for Henry Jekyll? Except instead being of too quiet he was too loud, too boisterous, threw tantrums, didn't know when to stop rambling about anatomy and weird gross medical facts. So he learned how to cover it and move through life pretending to be interested in everyone else but keenly aware they could never share his interests because his favorite subjects were too grisly and if he started talking about diseases he'd put everyone off. I head-canon Jekyll loves what he does, but he doesn't love it for reasons a doctor should, he doesn't care that much about healing the sick, he cares about conquering illnesses, he likes to learn about symptoms, he enjoys the disgusting viscera of his work. But he can't let on that this is what he enjoys about his work because that's not noble or heroic, it's something most people would find creepy of him. So he buries it and pretends he cares about curing the sick. He pretends he enjoys talking to people who don't know anything about who he is or what he does but they think they do because they are aware of doctors and understand that medicine exists. All the time he loathes it, it exhausts him and he can't even indulge in activities he enjoys to blow of steam because he enjoys things like brawling, doing drugs, and fucking. All things a man of his status shouldn't be seen doing. There's an image people associate with Henry Jekyll and it's an image he can't afford to tarnish...

but it's not really HIS image, it's just a buffer he keeps up to make himself more palatable. I wonder if that ever hurts him physically, if the mask ever feels like a "texture" muffling him.

there are times when I feel like it's no wonder he wasn't repulsed by Hyde when he first saw his reflection. Because I can only imagine by the time Hyde showed up he was already completely burnt out on being Jekyll.

[unhingedexperimenter]

Becky still had quite an unimpressed expression on her face. How would she be able to face her teacher now without dying from the embarrassment now? "I'm not sorry about it. It'll be just fine, Becky. He won't be treating you any differently and it won't be awkward. He seems like the type who wouldn't want to make his students uncomfortable. Besides, I'll be honest. No one has caught my eye like this since..." Dr.Two-Brains trailed off. Now looking very solemn which alarmed his daughter. She understood what her father had meant by that. Bob looked saddened by this as well. "Okay, dad. I'll cut you some slack." It was true that the mad scientist had been on plenty of dates before. It never bothered her too much. It was never serious when he dated. It was always casual. This was what she assumed it was. Yet her father acted differently with her teacher. Knowing that he's never felt anything deeper about anyone since her mother. "Thank you." His expression brightened. When they had gotten into his van after leaving the building,having parked right in front, Becky had fallen asleep the moment she buckled up. He wasn't allowed to park there but what could he say? He was a villain and the school didn't care about his illegal parking anymore. Not after the first few goopings when they tried to apprehend him about it. Looking at his daughter in the mirror, Dr.Two-Brains smiled. Luckily the villains had decided to ease off crimes for the day. When Dr.Two-Brains had called a meeting at the EVA just earlier that day. They still did some crimes but what they committed were so miniscule it wouldn't make Wordgirl come after them. He wondered about that new criminal in town. Who was this Mr. Hyde? How was he able to evade his daughter and trick her? Dr.Two-Brains decided he would look further into this criminal once Becky was home and tucked away into bed for a well deserved slumber. He'll have the chaotic four of his come over and aid him with this. Bob had snuggled up to Becky, also falling asleep. That image melted the mad scientist's heart. He could never get over just how adorable his daughter and her monkey were. When they had finally arrived at the house, Dr.Two-Brains had made sure to take a few pictures of the sleeping girl and primate before carrying them both into the house. It was honestly easier said than done but he managed to safely get them into bed without dropping either one. Without waking either one up as well but if he was going to be honest the two were dead to the world. Nothing would wake them up and he was just fine with that. They needed sleep. Though he wasn't very happy that she was up late fighting crimes. That was definitely not going to become a regular occurrence.

Henry was still reeling from what he had just experienced. Hyde was enjoying mocking him over this. “I thought you had a good poker face, Jekyll. What was that pathetic show you put on? You held yourself together better when you were involved with Morcant and Robert. Then Whiskers comes along and you act like a schoolgirl? That was hilarious to watch, especially when your idiotic face went red as a tomato!” Hyde laughed so obnoxiously in Henry's ears. The latter looked extremely irritated with the former. “Will you just shut your bloody trap for once?” This didn't bother the criminal one bit. Instead, he was reveling in just how much he was getting on his nerves. “And what will you do about it? Ground me? Go ahead and try. That worked out just swell for you the last time.” He was always taunting him about that. Hyde was still a bit angry with his counterpart over that. “I just want to have some peace. Just give me a moment's peace. That's all I ask.” A shadowy figure appeared in front of Henry.“Only in your dreams. Though. Villain. That intrigues me. Perhaps the girl was right. Maybe I should become more than just a criminal.” Henry's eyes widened at that. “What? Absolutely not! It's bad enough that you steal and do whatever you please when in control but you are not becoming a villain!” He grinned in such a way that made Henry bristle.

@thecountoflondonfansite

(You can tag me on my tgs side blog. I also apologize but I know a few Scottish words. So to anyone reading this I apologize for the inaccuracy.) Becky Boxleitner noticed a change in the atmosphere as she and her pet monkey Bob walked into the sixth grade classroom. All of the students were excitedly chatting with one another. Becky and Bob exchanged confused looks at the scene. 'What is going on?' They both thought. Becky walked to where her friends Violet Heaslip, Rose Franklin, and Todd Scoops Ming were sitting, also joining in the excited yet low volume chattering. "Hey guys what's going on?" Becky asked her friends. They each turned their heads to greet their friend. "Hey Becky guess what, we're getting a new teacher for our class!" Scoops exclaimed. Becky looked surprised at the announcement. Bob also mimicked her facial expression. "Wait really? What happened to Miss Davis?" Becky asked, wondering what happened to their old teacher. It was just a week only into the new school year so a sudden teacher exchange was a complete shock to Becky especially since there were no announcements about it beforehand. "Miss Davis had to move back home because of a family emergency." Rose Franklin answered. "The principal had to scramble to find a new teacher to fill in for our class. It was all last minute stuff." Becky nodded in understanding of her friends' answers. It was a nice perk to be friends who were upcoming reporters. Soon the final bell rang which indicated for every student to take their seats. Becky took her place beside her best friend Violet and Bob plopped down next to her. Soon a man who looked to be in his mid 30s walked in and towards the desk. He had curly brown air, an arched nose, and reddish brown eyes. He wore a tan button-down shirt with a red vest as well as brown slacks and dark suede shoes. The man gave a pleasant and warm smile to all the students there. "Hello my name is Dr. Henry Jekyll and I will be your teacher for the school year." Becky and the other kids ears perked up as they took note of the man's accent. Even Tobey became slightly interested in his new teacher. None of them were sure where their new teacher was from. Dr. Jekyll gave a light chuckle as if he could sense their growing curiosity about him. He lightly clapped his hands together to gain their undivided attention and focus. "Well since this is my first time teaching here, why don't we all play a little game so we can all get better acquainted with each other. Here's what to do. One at a time, say your name and share a wee bit about yourself. Likes, family, interests and all that. I'll go first to show ya what ah mean. Again. My name is Dr. Henry Jekyll. I was born in Glasgow but ah moved to London where I attended university. I have a five year old wee lassie or daughter named Amber. I enjoy chemistry and reading on occasions. Now who would like to go next?" @unhingedexperimenter

Of course Tobey had taken the opportunity to place attention on himself and to have a reason to boast about himself. “My name is Tobey McCallister the third and I will be the most intelligent student you'll meet here.” The others had rolled their eyes, used to this kind of behavior from their peers. Becky seemed to be the most annoyed by it. Having been forced to put up with his destructive tantrums in the past. Henry smiled just as warmly as before. Unbothered by the obnoxious behavior that the boy had been displaying. Tobey had been going on about himself for a good few minutes before the teacher finally spoke up. “Ahem, yes. Thank you for that Mr. McCallister. Would anyone else like to tell me a bit about themselves as well?” No one could tell that behind the facade, Dr. Henry Jekyll was becoming more irritated by the moment. Not by the child but by the pest that refused to leave him be. Scoffing within his head at what they just heard. He didn't share the disembodied voice's opinion but wanted to give the other children a chance to introduce themselves as well. To the others' shock, Tobey seemed to have taken this well. Quickly going back to his desk with no issues. Becky was relieved at that. Soon the other children had started to introduce themselves to their new teacher with little to no issues. He seemed genuinely nice enough to her. This new teacher didn't seem like most of the adults within this city. Some she had to define words repeatedly for. Dr. Jekyll knew what he was teaching and knew his vocabulary. It was Violet who had brought Becky out from her own thoughts, calling her name. Waving a hand in front of her face. “Becky?” The girl smiled in an embarrassed manner. “Huh? Yes?” Violet smiled, patient with her best friend. “Why don't you introduce yourself now? Nearly everybody else already did.” She had given a surprised expression. Becky hadn't realized that she was so lost within her thoughts until then. She stood up and began speaking. “My name is Becky Boxleitner and I also like libraries,reading and Pretty Princess.” The presence that was grating at the teacher's nerves had deemed this too dull to enjoy. Leaving Dr. Jekyll be to his teaching. Well, getting to know his students. He was happy to see that they were engaged in these activities that were meant to break the ice. Though one student in particular had caught his attention the most. Becky. While she did seem rather bright, there was something strange about her behavior at times. Pausing whatever she was doing at the time to listen in on something. Thinking it went unnoticed. Even once looking alarmed and she made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He had allowed it. Feeling that it would've been better to have let her. It seemed…oddly familiar. As if he had seen that behavior somewhere before but couldn't figure out exactly where from. When the school day was finally over, Becky had gone to go home like the others. Dr. Jekyll had of course stayed behind to set more things up within his new classroom. Making a plan on exactly what he'll actually start teaching the next day. Though, the grating voice had returned to be a thorn in his side. “Come on. Leave this boring stuff alone. Leave it until tomorrow. I've been pent up for far too long. Let's have some fun.” This had earned an eye roll and a loud huff from the teacher. “No, I've got to get this done now. You will have enough time tonight. Just be patient until then.” A shadowy figure formed in front of Dr. Jekyll. A frown on its face. “But this is so extremely dull. I want to stretch my legs. I want to make myself known already.” Dr. Jekyll glared. “And that is precisely why I'm so hesitant to let you out so soon. At least let us get acclimated to our surroundings first.” The figure let out an annoyed groan. “You know you want this as much as I do. Otherwise you'd never have any actual fun in the sad and pathetic life you call yours.”

@thecountoflondonfansite

[cryptidofthekeys]

The Beginnings of Obsession

@tiny-yan-anon​ You said you’d like to be tagged in the Jek n Hyde story so there ya go, this was fun to write but gosh d a m n was it long as hell- Uh TWs would probs be for like Drugging, Violence (Someone gets beat with a cane to be specific), Blood is mentioned but there’s nothing graphically gory, Obsessive Behavior, and Yandere-Ish themes

You were out for a walk in the park, it was evening time so it was nice and cool outside, you didn’t have to worry so much about overheating at this stage of the day, it was nice and peaceful out as well… Nothing and nobody could bother you… You could relax on the bench and watch the sunset, you had hoped you weren’t too late to catch the view you always loved so dearly, you took your seat on the bench and sighed, you could see the sun perfectly from here, nothing obstructing it at all as it slowly began its descent, and then it was letting the moon have its turn up in the sky. You watched as the moon slowly began rising and sighed in bliss, this was so nice… It was so nice whenever you got the chance to come to the park, this place had always calmed your nerves. The moon was just as peaceful as the sun, granted, it was dangerous around these parts at night which is why you couldn’t stay for too long, after the moon ascended further you got up and quickly made your way out of the park, glancing off at it as you continued walking, the stars shone brightly in the sky, and not a cloud in sight tonight… And as you continued your walk you bumped into someone and fell backwards, you winced a little in pain before quickly apologizing, the person held a hand out and you could get a good look at him now.

He was a man around five foot seven, wearing a blue turtleneck underneath a white lab coat, blue pants and even shoes that matched his outfit, he also wore circle glasses as well, he had a well groomed beard and sideburns, his hair was dark brown with some gray on the sides and it was a bit of a messy curly undercut, aside from all that those eyes were the most striking thing about him, they were a baby blue color and his face held such a friendliness to it, he held his hand out to you “No no, it’s quite alright, here, let me help you up” You nodded and slowly reached out for the extended hand, he quickly tugged you up to your feet and helped you dust yourself off a bit “There we go… Are you alright? I hope I didn’t startle you!” His tone was very polite and you smiled albeit a bit awkwardly “Not really… I just, wasn’t paying attention to where I was going was all” The stranger nodded “Ah, I see… I do not want to lecture you but you should know, it can be awfully dangerous at night time here, you never know what kind of depraved individuals you’ll run into at these hours…” You nodded “Of course, I’ll keep that in mind…” The stranger smiled before he realized “Oh, where are my manners? I haven’t even introduced myself yet…! My name is Henry! Henry Jekyll” You took a moment before you then had a realization.

“Oh! You’re that Doctor I’ve heard so much about aren’t you?” Henry nodded, chuckling a little “My reputation exceeds me I suppose… Yes, I am the local Doctor everyone talks about so dearly” He looked a little embarrassed but nonetheless you smiled and extended your hand “My name is (Y/N), it’s nice to meet you Doctor Jekyll” The man laughed a little, accepting the handshake “Please, you may just call me Henry… Would you like me to escort you back home? After all, wandering these streets alone at night as I’ve said, can be quite dangerous, and it would be a shame if something bad happened” You shook your head “Oh no, I don’t want to trouble you or put you outta your way…” Jekyll only smiled “Nonsense, I can assure you… It’s quite alright, I wasn’t too busy for tonight anyways” You sighed but smiled nonetheless “If you insist, then I guess it’s alright…” Jekyll let go of your hand, realizing it was awkward that he was still holding onto it and then you and him were on your way, you told him your address so he could actually lead you back there.

“So, what were you doing out here anyways? Er, if you don’t mind me asking that is” Henry asked to which you quickly responded “I just… I really love watching the sunset when I get the chance, and seeing the moon and stars… It’s all a very pretty sight when you can find time of course…” Jekyll nodded “Hm, I do suppose the sunset can be quite charming… And there are no clouds obstructing the views tonight either, a perfect evening for a stroll, I rarely go out anymore, I suppose I have gotten all wrapped up in my work as of recently” You nodded “So, your a doctor, what is it you do exactly?” Jekyll cleared his throat before speaking “Well, I used to have an ongoing experiment but uh…” And then he sighed “I would rather not go into details of that old experiment... After all, it uh, it is in the past… I will say my field is mostly in scientific studies, alchemy to be more specific, I spend quite a lot of time in my lab back at my mansion, if you’re ever interesting in learning about such things then I would be more than happy to teach you” You nodded “I’ll keep that in mind” And there was a pause before he spoke up “What is it that you do exactly?” You shrugged “Eh, I just do little things here and there… Nothing much, just… Enough to keep food on the table and pay the bills I guess…” Jekyll nodded “I see…” And there was another pause, this one a bit longer than before.

“Well, er… I know we just met but if you ever need any help with any of that, then please, don’t be afraid to contact me, after all I do love helping others out in times of need” And then he pulled out a little card with his info and number on it, you took it but then shook your head “I appreciate that offer immensely, but, I’d never wanna trouble you like that…” Jekyll merely smiled “Oh but it isn’t any trouble at all, like I said, my job is to help the people around! And even if that means paying for their bills or buying them something to eat or drink then so be it” You smiled at that “...You’re very kind… Not a lot of folks, especially not the richer ones would offer something like that” Henry nodded and sighed “Oh believe me, I know how you feel on that matter… Even if I am rich, I have always refused to act so snobby and selfish, being selfish and snobby gets you nowhere in life…!” ...Well, maybe he lied a little on the selfish part … But they didn’t need to know such details, the two of you continued your conversation, getting to know each other before finally he had led you back to the address you told him “There we are…! I’m surprised we didn’t run into any sorts of hooligans… I suppose it’s our lucky night, huh?” You nodded “Yeah… Oh uh, thanks by the way… I appreciate you taking the time to walk me home”

Henry had a bright smile on his face “It wasn’t a problem!” The people around here really didn’t tell a single lie about Henry Jekyll, he was as friendly as could be, so sweet and polite as could be, especially to offer such things to a person he barely even knew, as you were heading inside you turned back to him for a moment “I uh, I’m sure I’ll see you around some time, yeah?” Henry then shrugged and adjusted his glasses a little “Perhaps! I DO spend most of my time in the lab but, if you ever want you are free to stop by my home! My address is on the card I gave you” And then you nodded and he waved goodbye to you as he headed back to his own home, you got inside and closed the door behind yourself, you looked down at the card in your hand and read it more properly now ...Maybe, maybe you would pay him a visit one day, for now though you wanted to get some sleep, you walked over and placed the card down on the counter and headed off to the bathroom to brush your teeth, as you were getting ready for bed.

You couldn’t help but keep thinking of the doctor, you were a bit curious about him you wouldn’t deny, and it seemed he was curious of you too given all he had said, offered, and asked.

                                          M e a n w h i l e. . .

Jekyll had returned to his home and sighed deeply, he greeted Poole first since he was standing right there, must’ve been waiting actually… As he began walking toward his lab he greeted the maids as he walked past, they offered him some tea or something to eat to which he refused, he wasn’t feeling too hungry or thirsty right now, besides, he had some things to think about as he made it to the door, he quickly shut it behind himself and locked it, he then walked over and sat down in his chair and ran his hands through his hair, the entire walk home he had only thought of the person he had met earlier, he had only thought of you the entire time… It was so strange, the moment he first saw you he started feeling… Something, he thought about it some more, and it seemed like… Love? There was no way! Love at first sight was only ever in those fantasy stories, he had never really believed in love at first sight, it wasn’t the way he was wired, sure if some believed in that, who was he to judge then? But for him to feel such a strange feeling so suddenly… He heard a voice laughing at him and of course, right on cue to be a bother… Jekyll sighed “What do you want, Hyde?” He sounded a little snappy but then again, who could blame him? He watched as the exact being he didn’t want to see manifested right in front of him.

Hyde gave him a smirk as he paraded around the other “Someone’s got a crush~!” He kept exclaiming, cackling as Jekyll blushed and tried to defend himself “I do not! There is no way I can have a crush on someone I just met! I don’t even believe in love at first sight!” Hyde only grinned, displaying those sharp unpleasant teeth, somehow, even after all the years Jekyll’s spent with him, that display still managed to unnerve him “Oh come on! It’s SO clear~! You looove them~ But tell me something, do you even know if they have a significant other? Do you even think they’d like you back? I mean, who’d ever wanna get with a pathetic weakling such as yourself?” Hyde seemed to take notice of Jekyll tensing, and that look in the other’s eyes… Now, Hyde has seen many expressions on the other’s face before but this one looked… Different, he couldn’t quite place his finger on it just yet but it piqued his curiosity nonetheless. “Ugh, why don’t you just disappear for a while, hm? Just leave me alone for once” He was avoiding those questions which Hyde quickly caught onto, he walked over and got uncomfortably close to Jekyll, studying his expression carefully “...Hmm… You wish for me to leave you be?” There was a pause before he grinned, even though he was just like a ghost practically, those teeth being this close unnerved Jekyll immensely more than before.

“Fine then, I shall leave you be ...For now~” And just like that Hyde vanished which surprised Jekyll entirely, there was no way the other just up and left like that… It was up to something, he was planning something and Jekyll didn’t like that one bit, he knew asking would be pointless, Hyde would never admit to anything anyways… He sighed and ran his hands through his hair again, great, now he’d have to worry about whatever the other was up to…

...This was going to be a long week… After a day had passed you decided you’d visit Jekyll, you were curious about his work and maybe you could get to know him a little better in the process, it wasn’t too hard a place to find too which was good, you knocked on the door and a Butler answered the door “Ah you must be (Y/N)... The Master has told me about you, please do come in” You nodded at this. You then made your way inside and wow… It sure was fancy, a lot fancier than you were used to for sure, then again, what else were you even expecting with such a famous doctor? The Butler cleared his throat “My name is Poole... The Master is in his Laboratory right now, if you will wait here a moment I will go and fetch him” You nodded and waited as he entered through the door, you took this moment to properly look around the place, it was huge and had a lot of fancy decorations, lots of fancy pictures, overall it was just… Super fancy, of course, even though you didn’t know much of this man, there was one thing for sure, all of this house definitely seemed fitting for him, after a few more moments of waiting you heard the door open and turned to see a smiling Henry “Ah! (Y/N), I didn’t, um, actually expect you to visit so soon…! There isn’t anything wrong, is there?”

You shook your head and smiled “No, just thought I’d come by and see you, this... Isn’t a bad time is it?” Henry quickly shook his head “No no! Not at all! Would you like something to drink while you are here?” You nodded “Some tea would be nice…” Henry nodded and told Poole to fetch him and you some tea, he nodded and got straight to work, meanwhile the doctor led you to the couch and you both sat down “So, how have you been doing today?” You shrugged “The day’s been alright so far, I had some free time today hence why I got to drop by here… How about you?”

Henry smiled “Yes, it’s been… Good so far, I have just been working around in the Laboratory for the time being as per usual” You nodded “Made any new discoveries yet, orrr anything interesting in particular happen?” Henry then shook his head “Not quite yet… I am still working on a few things here and there but those are just simply works in progress for now… Alchemy can be so fascinating and interesting once you get involved in it!” You nodded “I see… I dunno if I could ever understand honestly” There was a pause before he spoke up “If you would like, I can show you some of my works in progress” You looked at him in a surprised manner, and even he looked surprised, he was never usually the type to let many if ANYONE down there in his Laboratory… And then Poole was delivering the tea to the both of you, Jekyll thanking him quickly and then Poole promptly left out of the room to give you two more privacy, after that you looked at the doctor “I mean… If you wanna show me, then I wouldn’t mind…” You gave him a smile which honestly made his heart flutter every time he saw that bright smile of yours, granted he knew it shouldn’t, this was far too soon for any nonsense like that.

It was strange even because the more Henry looked into your eyes the more he felt his heart rate spike, those eyes held something he couldn’t describe, and whenever those eyes landed on him he swore he could almost feel a blush threatening to appear, he needed to stop being so ridiculous, he needed to get a hold of himself! He quickly grabbed his cup of tea and began drinking, you did the same and for a few moments it was silent until you spoke up “Your house is very beautiful” You honestly didn’t know of anything to really say but something was better than nothing, this made the other smile “Ah thank you” ...Jeez, okay, you needed… To just, relax, you didn’t know why you were being so uptight with him, and honestly he seemed a little nervous as well.

You took a deep breath after taking a sip of tea and then you sat it down on the table “So uh, if you want… You can, go ahead and show me the projects you're working on…” Jekyll seemed to notice you finally relaxed and he was relieved of that, he almost felt himself relax a little as well “Oh, of course…!” He stood up after sitting his tea down “Come on, follow me!” He exclaimed, he was excited in all honesty to show someone his work, especially you.

...Ahem- (I’ll be honest, writing peeps first meeting n getting to know each other  is not my strong suit but just bear with me) You followed him down to the stairs and you gasped upon seeing his Laboratory, the room was huge and it was filled with, okay, well you didn’t know what all it was exactly but from what you could see there were lots of bottles and beakers filled with various substances, there were also lots of notes here and there, files, and honestly a lot of stuff cluttered around “I uh, have been meaning to organize things a bit better in here but I got caught up in my work…” He could hear a voice in the back of his mind that said liar, you just got lazy… But he merely shooed that away, he prayed that Hyde wouldn’t bother him right now… You looked around the Lab in awe “It looks so cool…! If you uh, want I can help you clean up the papers” Jekyll shook his head “I appreciate your offer but I will clean it up myself, later on…” You then noticed some weird ingredients in some jars on the table, you walked over and knelt down to get a better look at them “What’s this…?” Jekyll looked over to the jars and smiled brightly “Ah! Those were two ingredients I had been planning to mix together recently, I got sidetracked with other things however…”

He then walked over and pointed to the jar that held some green looking leaves “This would be Scented Bay Leaves…!” He grabbed the jar and carefully opened it, holding it up to your face, you sniffed at it and the leaves definitely had a strong floral scent to them, he then closed them back up and sat them down, he grabbed the other jar and the material inside looked… Well, very strange if you were going to be honest with yourself… “And this is, well it’s some of one of my own formulas I have made before” The liquid inside the jar was a bit cloudy and gray looking and it looked gross, he then opened the jar and sat it back down on the table, he grabbed the bay leaves jar and opened it back up, he grabbed a pair of tweezers and set them down near the jars and then he grabbed a beaker, he also put some thick looking gloves on (be safe when your fucking experimenting and toiling in gods domain sometimes ok?) He told you stand back just a bit and you did so, you could still what he was doing as he picked up the tweezers and grabbed one of the scented bay leaves with it, he hovered it over to the jar with the weird liquid inside and after a few moments he lowered it and dropped the leaf into the substance.

After a few moments of nothing happening, the substance began to bubble up, it was foaming and okay… It was overflowing a little onto a tray he had quickly set it into, luckily it didn’t seem like it was going to overflow out of the tray, you looked on in awe as you watched the liquid bubble and foam and then slowly begin turning into a Dark Purple color and you were amazed but Jekyll seemed a little… Disappointed “Ah… ...T-That was… Supposed to turn Black… N-Not a Dark Purple like this” He saw Hyde manifest in the corner of the room and he could see the other laughing at him, laughing at his failure, he tried to just ignore the other which was always easier said than done, he took the gloves off and cast them to the side and sighed, you walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder which he did flinch a little at, but he quickly relaxed upon seeing a smile upon your face “Well… I uh, I don’t know how it went wrong or what exactly went wrong… But that… That was still cool…!” Henry looked surprised, he expected you to laugh at him as well, he expected you to comment about his failure and give him a bit of scrutiny even, this definitely caused a blush to appear on his face and Hyde was even stunned by this, jeez… You REALLY weren’t like the others, they would have laughed directly in his face!

This quieted the ghostly being in the corner down immediately, he watched Jekyll’s facial expressions carefully, given how long Hyde had been with Jekyll, he knew the man inside and out, literally… He could hear those thoughts, those thoughts the other kept trying to bury deep down, trying not to think like that, this was… Definitely interesting, he wanted to see just how this little story played out… Henry quickly cleared his throat and there was a smile on his face “...Thank you… I… I appreciate that…” You nodded

“Yeah… I’m sure you’ll get it next time…! Just uh, be careful… I dunno much about Alchemy but I don’t want you getting hurt” Jekyll nodded “But of course… I always try my best to be careful…” You looked up at the clock and it was getting late “Oh jeez…! I should really get going, thank you for the tea and for showing me your lab, this was cool! I had a lotta fun!” Henry suppressed a sigh, he hated that you had to go so soon, he wished you could stay here, with him… Forever… ...What was he thinking?!? He quickly spoke up “Oh of course, sorry to have kept you so long haha… Do you want me to walk you home tonight?” You shook your head “I appreciate that offer again but I’ll be fine…! I gotta hurry, I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow but the next day I’ll be free, seeya then?” Jekyll took a moment before nodding “If you want, remember you are free to stop by anytime you would like!”

You nodded and waved him goodbye, he waved goodbye to you as well and watched as you walked back up the stairs. He quickly took a seat in his chair and sighed in bliss, you were so wonderful… You didn’t judge him once or think his fascination and love for Alchemy was nonsense or ridiculous, you didn’t even give him any scrutiny for his little experiment failing in such a way… Which okay, he was still a little embarrassed about, next time he’d need to make sure things wouldn’t fail, he wanted to properly impress you… He wanted you to stay with him forever… His eyes widened a little at that thought, that thought had been creeping in a lot, jeez, he needed to get a grip on himself, that was not the type of thought to be thinking, especially not since you two were still getting to know each other...

He then glanced over to Hyde who was still standing in the corner, the two locking eyes and then Hyde was approaching without a word, this worried the doctor for a moment “...H-Hyde?” The ghostly figure never once breaking his gaze with the doctor as he stopped right in front of him, his expression was neutral as he studied Henry’s nervous one… After a few moments he suddenly smirked “You really a r e in love already… You want them, you want them s o badly… You are willing to do a n y t h i n g and e v e r y t h i n g to have them by your side…”

Jekyll was about to object to that statement but Hyde held up a clawed hand “I’m N O T finished yet… Jekyll, I can r e a d your thoughts, even the ones you’ve been so desperately hiding, the one you’ve been burying ever since you first laid eyes on them… I’d say this goes f a r beyond just love… It’s…” Hyde grinned before continuing “O b s e s s i o n…” He rasped out, this made Jekyll shake his head and he shot up out of his seat “I- No, that is not-” He felt himself get pushed back into his seat.

He was surprised at that, but Hyde got f a r too close for comfort, he could practically feel the other grab at his shirt collar “Henny… Don’t you d a r e lie to me…! I k n o w you from the inside and o u t… You can’t hide anything from me~ You are obsessed with them…! I never thought you would ever be obsessed over anything b u t your little experiments but here we are…~” He chuckled, stepping back a little as the doctor shook his head “...I… I don’t know what you are referring to, Hyde, now kindly leave me alone…” The figure laughed at Henry “Oh but you d o… Henny… C’mon~ If you’ll allow me, I can take care of this~! I can go get them for you!” Jekyll immediately stood and Hyde was surprised at the glare in the other’s eyes “Don’t you DARE! I will NOT let you hurt them! I will-” Hyde cut him off immediately “I don’t mean to hurt them, dumbass… What I mean is… I can fetch them for you! You want to keep them, you want them by your side…! I can go fetch (Y/N) for you! All you must do is give me the chance! I’ll deliver your precious (Y/N) unto you~” Henry shook his head “No way Hyde, there is no way I am going to let you out to do anything of the sort! I am NOT obsessed like you seem to think I am…! You are just trying to trick me like you always here, so I will let you have some inkling of control but I am NOT going to do that!” Hyde scoffed and crossed his arms “...Think about it, Jekyll… I’ll give you some time” And just like that, Hyde was gone.

Henry huffed in pure frustration, taking his glasses off to momentarily clean them before putting them back on his face, he sat back and slumped down in the chair, running his hands through his hair “...I am NOT obsessed with them… I just think they are quite charming and nice and I… I just… Want to get to k-know them a little better, that’s all…” Jekyll tried not to think of Hyde’s words, tried not to think of any of that but during the night, even as he tried to sleep… He could not take his mind off of you, even into the next day, ever since he first met you he had been thinking about you non-stop, he had been thinking about you being by his side, you being his in general… His beloved… The further into the day it got the more those thoughts intensified, at first he had thought maybe Hyde was somehow influencing this but that wouldn’t be right, Hyde wouldn’t care for such a thing surely… Jekyll never knew Hyde to express attraction or any kind of love to anyone before, as much as he could try, blaming it on Hyde wouldn’t work this time… Because this wasn’t that monster’s doing, this wasn’t his mentality, it was all of Jekyll’s own accord, all his own thoughts… He sighed, he tried to work on his experiments throughout this day since you wouldn’t be coming over, and he wanted to try taking his mind away from you.

Try as he might, nothing seemed to work, usually working with his experiments took his mind off of anything else, but not you… You were still in his head, you were still his primary thought, he tried to read, write some stuff down even, but no matter what happened, no matter what he did, he kept thinking of you… This day finally passed and yet another night of him dreaming of you, dreaming of you standing by his side, dreaming of you two holding hands together, the two of you even sharing a kiss one day perhaps… The next day you had come by just as you said you would, you greeted the doctor happily and even gave him a little hug, he froze at this at first but then he had the brightest and warmest smile on his face as he placed one arm around you, he… Wasn’t used to being hugged but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy one from you… So soft, so warm… Like the day you first visited him, the two of you sat down and had some tea together and got to know each other a good bit better, asking each other various questions and the more you talked about yourself, the things you liked, just…

Anything and everything about yourself made Jekyll’s heart swoon, you were so passionate about your hobbies and the things that interested you, he even felt like you matched his own passion for things of that sort… It only made him adore you all the more… He listened to you go on and on and let you talk mostly, usually he loved to talk about his accomplishments and he’d lead conversations but he was more than happy to let you have the stage here… Eventually it was evening and time for you to leave again, he was sad to see you go but he knew you’d be back the next day, and it continued like that for the next FEW days actually, you kept coming to visit him, the two of you would talk about how your days have went, any new discoveries Jekyll had, etc- Like always by the evenings, you’d have to leave and get back home, this would leave Henry to think about you during the evening and the rest of the nights, slowly but surely he realized, he couldn’t fight this feeling off much longer, he still was not obsessed no matter what Hyde had tried to tell him, it was probably just another tactic of his to gain control or to upset him or something… Another day had come by, you knocked on the door and were greeted once more by Poole who looked delighted to see you “Ah, (Y/N), please do come in, The Master is waiting for you…”

Now, unbeknownst to Jekyll, during those few days, Poole had pulled you aside along with the other maids and told you about Henry seeming so much more happier since you came along, Poole mentioned how the doctor seemed to like you a lot actually, any time you said you were coming over he’d practically beam and the more Poole told you, you… Really needed to tell the doctor something this day, he knew it was something important from what you had said over the phone before coming here, he was sitting on the couch and smiling like usual, he waved you over “Ah, hello (Y/N)!” You smiled back albeit much more nervously “H-Hi Henry…” You came over and sat down, at first Jekyll had asked for some tea for the both of you but you quickly spoke up “Um, I-I don’t want any tea right now, I’m not… Thirsty…” Jekyll seemed to take notice of your nervousness “...(Y/N)? I...Is there something wrong? You did say you had something important to discuss with me before coming over here… You aren’t sick or anything are you?” Jekyll simply motioned for Poole to leave for now which he quickly did, you then shook your head “No no… I-I uh, I’m not sick… I have… I have something to ask you…” Henry raised a brow “And what would that be? If you need money for something, I can gladly-” You cut him off “N-No, nothing like that…!”

You took a deep breath, already you were beginning to tremble… “...I… I… Jekyll… Do… Do you…” And then you paused, you were sweating a little, jeez… This was going to be harder than you first thought… He waited patiently however as you tried to steel yourself, you took some deep breaths and after a few moments you finally blurted out “...Do you like me?” Henry blinked in surprise as he looked into your eyes, he then quickly looked away, a blush forming on his cheeks “...I… Erm… W-Well… I uh…” There was a pause from him, he kept his gaze down to the floor as he spoke “...Well, to be quite honest with you (Y/N)... Yes, yes I do…” ...And that’s what you were afraid of… Oh boy… Jekyll studied your expression, one of sadness… He was confused, but he waited since it looked as if you were about to speak, you stood up as you did so “...While that is… Flattering… I-I… I’m sorry… I… I al-I al...alre…” You felt a lump in your throat, you were so worried he was going to be angry or react poorly “...I...I already have a partner…”

There was a long pause, it was awkward and so silent you could hear a pin drop in this very room… You slowly looked toward Henry who seemed to be processing this for a moment, he then stood which worried you but then you saw a smile on his face. It wasn’t a bright or happy one but still “I understand, (Y/N)... I want to ease your mind, I am not going to overreact, I am not going to get angry or upset over it… That would be so childish of me” You looked surprised, even though he was clearly a little hurt, you stood yourself “...Th-Thanks for understanding… We can still be f-friends if you want though…! I-I mean unless y-you think poorly of me now… O-Or if t-this made it too awkward…”

Henry shook his head “No no, not at all… I am not going to think poorly of you, I should apologize though, I hope I did not make you feel uncomfortable in all this either… If you don’t mind or find it too awkward, I would love to still be friends with you” He held out a hand, offering a handshake which you smiled and took “Of course… Th-Thank you… Thank you s-so… So much for understanding… I-I’m sorry if I l-” After shaking hands he then held his up “No no, none of that now… I promise you, it’s fine, you do not have to apologize” You nodded “Alright… I-I’ll still come and visit you… If you’ll allow me” Jekyll nodded “You are welcome here anytime, you and your partner both if they wish to come along!” You nodded and gave him a hug which he hugged back, and then you were on your way, waving goodbye to him and he did the same to you.

Once you were out the door and out of sight, he let his hand fall to his side, and then it balled into a fist, he glared daggers at the door, he heard Poole enter the room and he spoke up “...Poole, I am going to be in my Laboratory for awhile… I want NO disturbances from ANYONE, is that understood?” Poole quickly nodded as he heard his Master’s tone “Yes sir… Of course…” Jekyll then stormed over to his lab door, slamming it shut and locking it behind himself, Poole looked at the front door, he had overheard a bit of the conversation from the other room, he did not intend on eavesdropping but still, he sighed “...I hope he will be alright…” He then rushed off to go tell the maids and others not to bother the doctor any tonight, to let him cool off…

Meanwhile Henry had stormed down to his lab, right over to the table and he placed his hands upon it, for a moment he simply stood there, before he shoved everything right off the table and into the floor, the crashing and smashing of jars echoing off the wall, he then pounded his fist directly into the table, he screamed out in frustration as he punched the table over and over to the point where his knuckles were red… The thoughts going through his head right now weren’t pleasant, after all this time, all the days they spent talking together, after him trying to gain confidence to ask you out, it turned out you already had a significant other!

The thought of anyone else besides him holding you close made him want to wretch, it made him sick to his stomach to think that someone out there had stolen his love away, they stole Y/N from him… They stole them away, that wretched disgusting excuse of a living creature had stolen his precious Y/N away from him! He felt so many things… He felt anger first and foremost, then he felt sorrow and heartache, and then he felt sick to the point where he was almost sure he would vomit… Every time he thought of your partner, every time he thought of them kissing you, holding you close, saying those three little words that HE should be saying, NOT them… HE should be the one holding you close, HE should be the one kissing you, HE should be the one you love! NOT them! Not ANYONE else! HE was the ONLY one you should have ever fallen for!

And yet here some dirty filthy scumbag had gotten to you before he could? ...No… No NO NO! He was NOT going to simply stand by and allow this! After all the days and nights he spent thinking of you, after all he had secretly written down about you, the love letters he had even written but was too afraid to send, oh no… He was NOT going to let you go that easily… No, you WERE going to be his, you WILL be his…! He stood there, fists clenching in anger, a darkness in his gaze for once, something he usually only saw in Hyde… And then it hit him… He had denied this for so long, he denied having feelings for you in the first place, denied so many things…

...He was done denying, even if he had to admit this was an obsession… Then so be it, he was done holding back, he was far too desperate… Far too desperate to have you here, with him, by his side, he was so desperate to hear you say you loved him instead of that disgrace of a human being, the more he thought about them… He felt pure disgust wash over him, there was no way they were fitting for someone as perfect as you, no way they were fit to have such a lovely being as yourself standing by their side, no one so lowly deserved you… You were his… You… You would be his… And then he slowly raised his head up, he noticed he had been crying a little as well in the process of this.

He wiped his tears away and then slowly he turned his head to the bottle on one of his tables, it was a dark brown bottle… “...Tr-Tri… Trichloromethane…” He muttered to himself, that bottle of sweet smelling liquid… Usually called Chloroform… He stared at the brown bottle before looking back down to the table, his hands grasped at the table and he continued to stare for a moment before he took a deep breath and then spoke aloud… “...Hyde…?” Right on cue, the being manifested right behind him, even though Hyde hadn’t manifested into his ghostly form before, he heard and saw the entire thing unfold… He had a smug smirk on his face “Yes, J e k y l l…?” There was a long moment of silence as the doctor slowly stood upright, he walked over to the other table, the monster following right behind him, Jekyll’s hands balled into fists at first before he grabbed a beaker of green liquid, there was a long pause, a tense aura filling the room before Henry finally spoke up “...Go fetch them for me… ...Please…” The desperation in the doctor’s voice was almost too intoxicating for the monster that stood behind him, there was a moment of silence before he grinned, displaying razor sharp teeth “...But of course, d o c t o r~” Another pause before he chuckled “...Do you want me to dispose of their partner as well…?”

“...Do what you wish, just do not hurt (Y/N) no matter what, quite frankly I do not care what happens to their partner, whether they live ...Or they die…” Hyde’s grin widened immensely at that “Ooh~” His voice getting a bit raspier, he was getting more excited by the second… Henry quickly consumed the substance from the beaker and he clutched at himself, it had been so long since he let himself drink this vile thing… Since he had let Hyde take control, but that was the least of his worries, he didn’t care about Hyde having control right now, he just wanted Y/N… That’s the only thing in his mind right now, that’s all he wanted… He did let out a loud cry of pain as he slowly began transforming into the very monster he had been fighting for so long to keep restrained, even if Hyde got out sometimes on occasion, Jekyll was still mostly in control… He could feel his body morphing and changing, first was his height, he grew to be about six foot six at least, then those razor sharp teeth were poking through, pointed ears and claws growing into place, and those multiple tongues lashed out into the air as he let out a heavy breath.

After a few moments of his body morphing and changing and making so many god awful noises, this was it… Hyde was FINALLY in control again! He looked down at his large clawed hands as he moved his fingers individually, he let out a very raspy and shaky breath, he had pure ecstasy coursing through his veins right now “...O h… To be f r e e  a g a i n…” He quickly looked up and walked over toward the mirror, looking over himself “Ahh…” He breathed out, this was REALLY happening, he was FINALLY in control! (for personal reasons, Hyde takes control and the fuckin outfit comes with him fdjkslrjfgdks its also funny as fuck to imagine just Hen transforming and Hyde comes out along with his clothing) “Oh my d e a r… You have n o clue what you’ve just done…” Hyde laughed, his laugh raspy and horrible just as it always was, he turned his attention to the bottle of chloroform and walked over, grabbing it and a rag “This should come in handy…” Hyde glanced over as he saw Jekyll manifest into ghost form “Hyde, do you have an actual plan?” The monster cackled at that question “What do you take me for, some kinda idiot?” “...Yes actually” And there was a snarl from Hyde, he looked angry at that and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Hmph… I guess you really don’t want (Y/N) as bad as I thought…” Henry quickly spoke up “No! NO! Hyde, please…” There was a pause, even with the ghostly form Jekyll took, Hyde could see the pure desperation in the other’s eyes “I apologize… Just, please, I want them… I n e e d them by my side…” The monster smiled wide, “That’s more like it… Mm, don’t you worry… By the end of the night, they’ll be by your side alright… You know, I’m q u i t e interested in meeting them myself, for such a being to exist to cause t h i s sort of reaction from you… For it to go as far as you finally letting me have control, WILLINGLY at that, I need to know m o r e…” And then he set off, he of course took the back entrance, not wanting Poole nor any of the others to see him, he crept off into the night, it was wonderfully dark out, even with the nightlights on, the moon was covered in clouds, oh this was so incredibly perfect… He could easily track the both of you down and go undetected! This was perfection! And it felt so good to have the breeze brush through his hair, to smell the disgusting air of the city, it was revolting and yet he loved it so! He ran through the darker parts of the street, only running into and knocking over a few people which he didn’t stop for in the slightest, he only chuckled as he darted past, he had a mission to do!

He paused for a moment to sniff at the air before quickly running again (fuckin- animalistic predator lookin ass) after a bit he arrived near your home, he hid in the shadows as quickly as he could as he watched you and your partner walking up to the door, hand in hand, he sneered at this display, they wouldn’t be holding hands for too much longer, while Hyde didn’t see anything in particular about you, he knew there was something special about you, he even heard and definitely felt Jekyll’s heartbeat pick up, the doctor manifesting himself beside Hyde, he watched as you conversed with your partner, and then they gave you a quick peck on the lips, that made Henry ball his hands into fists “...So they are the one who stole my (Y/N) away from me… I… I…” There was a pause as Hyde turned to look at Jekyll, he saw a look he had never seen before in the weak and usually timid doctor, he was so shy usually but the look he saw, and the words the other spoke… “I h a t e them…” He hissed before continuing “I want them OUT of the picture…! (Y/N) is mine and mine alone…!” Hyde snickered “With all the time I’ve spent with you, I have n e v e r seen t h i s from you before…”

“You are usually such a righteous man, the thoughts you're thinking right now… Such violence…~ Are you going to blame that on me this time, or will you finally accept that you're not as righteous as you claim?” Jekyll sighed “...I… I… Hyde, please just, focus… I am fed up with waiting… I need them, I want to hold them close in my embrace… I want to give them the proper love that they need” The monstrous figure rolled his eyes “Yeah yeah, I get it… You want them, you looove them… Blegh… I don’t see it…” And then Jekyll vanished, leaving Hyde to watch you enter your home with your partner, he’d strike but not yet… He wanted to wait just a bit longer, given the time of night that it was, you two would surely be going to bed very soon… Even though love wasn’t something Hyde particularly cared about, he was still curious about you himself, he could feel it deep down himself, perhaps being a part of Jekyll, if he gains an obsession over someone, perhaps it affects him as well then… ...He’d find out soon enough, he was sure of it, he waited for a bit and then he saw the lights all turn off and he grinned “Oh… Sweetness… You’ll be ours soon enough, it’s fate…” He waited a few moments longer before slowly creeping from the shadows, it was time…

Meanwhile… You had fallen asleep cuddled up right next to your partner, it had been a long night out, they took you out to get some ice cream so you wouldn’t feel as bad as you did for earlier, you knew it had hurt Jekyll and even with him reacting as well as he did, you still couldn’t help but feel guilty, so your partner decided to take you out tonight and take your mind off it, and it did help a lot, going out and enjoying the night… It felt good, boy were you exhausted when you had arrived home however, it had felt good to get into bed, you fell asleep fairly quickly along with them after you two had gotten ready and then turned the lights off… You were sound asleep, snoring softly, blissfully unaware of the danger that was slowly creeping in through an open window in your home, it was prowling around in your kitchen at first, eating some of the food you owned which Jekyll scolded it for, the monstrous figure only rolled his eyes at the ghostly manifestation, shooing him away with a clawed hand, Hyde might have been on a mission currently but there was no way it was going to pass up an opportunity to cause a little mischief here and there, he looked around the place and it was rather basic, far too boring of a place for his standards.

He wandered around, trying not to knock anything over, although being silent for a being as wide and large as him was easier said than done, he crept through the house, looking for the bedroom in particular, after he found it and saw you sleeping so soundly, he grinned, he almost couldn’t contain himself as he crept to the foot of your bed, he stared at you for a moment, how could such a being drive Jekyll to this point… He was so curious of you, not many things nowadays caught Hyde’s attention but you? You definitely piqued his interest… Maybe not in the way you did with Jekyll but he still held a certain interest in you… He stood at the foot of your bed, staring at you and then his attention turned to your partner who slept just as soundly, he grinned at them, so this was the one keeping you away and driving Jekyll to the point of pure anger, driving him to let this monstrous beast take control? ...Hm, this would be much simpler than Hyde thought, and then he saw you stir, his attention immediately snapping back to you as you raised up, rubbing your eyes slightly and looking around the room, you then laid back down for a few moments before…

You immediately shot back up and glanced toward Hyde, your eyes as wide as could be as you stared at the tall figure, he was covered in the shadows but you could see those eyes staring back at you, those glowing red eyes, and then you could see a wicked grin, full of too many teeth in the dark, you looked toward your partner and began shaking them to wake them up, it took a few moments before they grumbled “Wh-What is it, hun…?” You quickly spoke “T-Th-The...There’s a person…! THERE’S A PERSON STARING AT US!” You quickly shrieked, this made your partner shoot right up to look in front of them, however when you looked back toward the spot, that figure was gone… Your partner had turned on the lamp to illuminate the room a little and there was definitely nobody there now “B-But… I-I KNOW I saw someone…! It… It had red glowing eyes and… And… T-Those teeth…” Your partner looked at you, they were definitely a bit skeptical of that but... “Do you want me to check it out, (Y/N)?” You bit your lip and nodded, they got out of bed, and grabbed a flashlight from the drawer “You wanna come with me?” You shook your head “I-I think I’ll just stay r-right here…” Your partner nodded “If someone tries anything, whack ‘em with the lamp, there’s plenty of shit in here to use…!” You nodded at that and watched as they first shined the flashlight toward the shadow-y spot.

They then checked the entire bedroom before leaving to go check the rest of the house, you heard them fumbling around in the other rooms as you took a look around the bedroom, not really getting out of the bed since the room was illuminated enough and they had checked it out beforehand, you had no idea what you saw but you knew it was something or someone staring back at you from the darkness… You knew that wasn’t just a dream or hallucination surely, there was no way… You were awake right now as well! After a bit you realized you couldn’t hear your partner anymore, no noises indicating them searching things “A-Are you okay?” You called out loud enough so they’d be able to hear and no response…

You tried calling out their name and nothing and that’s when you immediately got out of bed and walked toward the bedroom door, you peered out and saw nobody so you called out again, still no response, you were starting to get worried now… You made your way down the hall and right as you got to the bathroom you let out a scream as something jumped in front of you, after you had stumbled back only then had you recognized it was your partner who was laughing, you immediately stood and glared at them “T-That wasn’t funny! What the HELL is wrong with you?!” You gave them a punch in the shoulder, nothing too hard of course, it was merely a playful punch even if you were actually a little angry with them.

They laughed and rubbed at their shoulder “Oh man! You shoulda seen the look on your face (Y/N)! Holy shit, that got you w a y more than I expected!” They continued to laugh as you huffed and crossed your arms “That wasn’t funny at all… I thought something bad happened to you…!” Finally their laughter died down a little “I’m sorry, c’mon… It was just a lil joke…” You let out a hmph “It wasn’t a very good or funny one…!” They bit their lip to refrain from any more laughter “Alright, alright… (Y/N), c’mon… I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist, ya know it was too good an opportunity to pass up!” They wrapped their arms around you in a hug “Coommeee oonnn… Honey, please don’t be mad…!” They were beginning to look like a hurt puppy “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!” You laughed at that “Yeah right…! You’d absolutely do it again if you got the chance!” And then they snickered “...Well yeah maybe~” You huffed but proceeded to hug them back “You’re very mean…” They chuckled “I know~” They then pulled back and held your hand.

“In all seriousness though, we should get back to bed, I checked everywhere in the house, no signs of anyone or anything, no signs of someone breaking in, nothing…” You sighed, a bit relieved, maybe it was a mere hallucination “...M-Maybe I was just seeing things…” Your partner nodded “I think we’re both still exhausted… It’s been a long day, come on dear, let’s get back to bed and rest… And tomorrow we’ll… w-we’ll…” Your partner began trailing off and you could feel their hand beginning to tremble, you looked toward them and saw their eyes were wide “H-Honey…? [Partner’s Name]? ...W-What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…! Tch, are you seriously trying to scare me again?!” (I’ll let y’all name your own partner, it's a useless thing but ya know have some fun)

They didn’t respond, they were frozen for a moment before they pulled their hand away from yours and shakily pointed behind you, you huffed “I swear… If this is another one of your scare tactics, you’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight…!” You turned around and then your eyes widened just like theirs… “...H-Holy shit…” You muttered, you were staring up at a large figure, he was dressed from head to toe in a black and red, his eyes were also red, and then you noticed his grin, those were ra… Razor sharp teeth… T-This was the thing that had been staring at you in the bedroom!

“Ah…” He rasped out, his breath ghosting over you and okay… His breath reeked, it almost made both you and your partner gag right there “Good evening you two…~” His voice was bone-chilling and as raspy as one could get, you were staring into his eyes for a moment, frozen with fear before your partner had grasped onto your arm and immediately pulled you back “Run!” They shouted, quickly tugging you along with them, you sprinted alongside them and the figure only snarled as it charged forward “You cannot escape me, my love!” It called out, he seemed surprised he uttered that in particular, ah… Perhaps fascination would soon turn into obsession, either way he wasn’t going to focus on that right now, he had a job to do…! As you both almost made it to the front door, the figure had pulled out a cane and whacked your partner in the back of the head, they collapsed to the ground as you screamed out, you could see some blood running down and onto the floor, you knelt down beside them and your hands were trembling, you had almost forgot about the massive being standing just over them for a second before he lifted his cane up again, you quickly shoved him back away and stood in front of them.

“I won’t let you hurt them again! If you wanna kill them you gotta go through me!” The figure only snarled and lowered his cane “You are a defiant little one, aren’t you?” He then paused before chuckling “I couldn’t care less about them! It’s y o u who I’m after my dear…~ Since I’m in an oh so generous mood tonight… I’ll give you a choice, you can make this much easier for yourself if you’ll come along quietly with me or you can choose the hard way and run and well… You won’t like what happens then~ And don’t forget, if you run now, I’ll have an opportunity to swing at your precious little partner~ And if they aren’t dead already, then they will be with this next hit!” You bit your lip, he was right… If you tried to run he could easily swing again and if they weren’t dead already, there’s no way they could take another hit… Before you answered him you looked down at your partner, they weren’t moving, you had hoped they were only unconscious, not much blood had come out, not enough to cause death surely… Then again you didn’t know but either way, you couldn’t risk them getting hit again, you wouldn’t risk it… You looked toward the figure and nodded “F-Fi...Fine… I-I’ll go with you…”

The figure grinned widely “Excellent choice my dear…” And then it grabbed your arm, a bit too harshly and was dragging you out the door, you took one look back at your partner, they still weren’t moving but you could only hope they would be alright, after all, had you tried anything he’d surely go back for them, and that was the last thing you wanted… You didn’t want them to die, maybe… Maybe someone would even call for help, the figure tugged you closely to his side and snarled “Keep up…! You might as well forget they ever existed, because you’re never going to see ‘em again…!” You glared up at the figure “Wh-Who even are you anyways…?” There was a pause before he grumbled “...You may call me Edward Hyde…” So it did have a name… “Wh-Where are yo-you even taking me…?” He rolled his eyes “Tch, so noisy… You’ll see when we get there my dear~” This was FAR easier than Hyde had expected, he didn’t even have to use the chloroform he had grabbed earlier! He kept dragging you down the street and as much as you did try to resist, the man had a v i c e grip on your arm practically, you continued walking with him until you got way farther from your home before you suddenly held a leg out in front of him, sure this winded up tripping both him and you up but you were faster than he would be.

You quickly got up before he did and as he tried to grab your ankle you quickly kicked him in the face and dashed away as he yelled out your name, you were not going back to your home, no way were you going to endanger your partner like that, and there was no way he was going to go all the way back to your house just to finish them off either, he wouldn’t go out of his way like that surely, you dashed down a different street, you had no idea where it led but you didn’t care as long as you got away from that thing… You kept running into the night, it was very late and there wasn’t a soul in sight, everyone was most likely in bed by this hour, this street had a bunch of large homes, mansions in fact… This must’ve been a place where very rich people lived, and you didn’t figure they’d help someone like you out, you looked around, not knowing where to go next, and then it hit you…

Maybe you could go back to Jekyll’s place! If he’s there he’d surely protect you! You looked at one of the street signs as you were coming up to it, Jekyll’s home was a street over from this one! Luckily there seemed to be access from the street you were currently on, you made a mad dash for that street in particular, you hadn’t heard Hyde in awhile, you hadn’t seen him either, you hoped maybe he had just given up entirely, maybe it got bored of the chase, either way, you wouldn’t stop running until you got to Jekyll’s home.

Eventually, you had managed to get there, your legs had almost given out on you during the run, you were breathing heavily, chest heaving with heavy ragged breaths as you rung the doorbell, after a few moments nothing happened, but you rang the doorbell again and then a light came on, you waited for a few moments and then you were greeted by Poole who looked surprised “(Y/N)? What on earth are you doing here at this hour? And… ...Oh my… Is everything alright? You look frightened…!” You took a moment to breathe in and out before explaining to Poole the entire situation, from the monster attacking your partner, to trying to take you, to you tripping him up and then finally to you running here for some safety… Poole quickly stepped aside and let you come in, knowing that his Master would be q u i t e upset with him if he were to refuse that, and even then, he didn’t necessarily want to see you hurt either, after you dashed inside, he quickly closed the door and locked it before looking back at you “Would you like for me to call the Police?” You thought about it before you realized, while the police could probably help you out, you remembered your partner, laying there on the floor…

“Not f-for me… Please… He… That thing attacked my partner… I-I want the police to go there, and… Get an ambulance f-for them…” Poole nodded, you told him your address really quickly and then he called the Police, he explained a bit of the situation to them, that a terrible incident had occurred and they needed to send some help over to your home, somebody was hurt or potentially worse, after all was explained and done, he hung up the phone “The Police will arrive at your home as soon as they possibly can… If you would like, and I do believe it… IS for the best… You should stay the night, after all… The Master would give me s u c h a scolding if I let you get injured or worse…” You nodded “Y-Yeah… I… I wanna… s-stay here…” After all this, you had almost been on the verge of tears, from thinking of your partner being potentially already dead, to just this insane situation in general, your hands were as shaky as could be… “Wh...Where is… Jekyll a-an...anyways…?” Poole pointed toward the Lab door “The Master has been in his Laboratory all night… I am, admittedly, a bit worried about him… I doubt he would mind it if you went in and checked on him, and besides… You should be the one to inform him of your situation” You nodded, you walked toward the Lab door and carefully turned the knob, to your surprise and especially Poole’s surprise, the door slowly opened, that’s odd… Poole could have s w o r n the doctor locked that door earlier… ...Oh well, either way, he watched you enter the Lab and shut the door behind yourself.

You carefully walked down the steps until you finally reached the Lab itself, you called out so you wouldn’t hopefully frighten the doctor “H-Hey…? Henry…? Are… Are you down here?” You didn’t see him yet but just in case he was in here, you had started to talk about your situation, the danger you could be in and your partner, and that’s what had you on the verge of tears again, you quickly tried to wipe them away, however when you got no response to that… You looked confused “...J-Jekyll…? Poole s-said… You’ve been in here all night… ...A-Are you alright?” Again, nothing but silence and now you were walking around the Lab, it was a fairly big one… But even then you didn’t see him at all, you tried calling out to him again and you were growing more worried by the second, you searched around but saw no sign of him, maybe he had gone out for the night? But then… Oh no… What if he was in danger as well?! You needed to go tell Poole, you turned back around and ran right into something… Something large… You stumbled a little bit but then you looked at the thing you had run into and your heart sank… Your eyes widened as you looked up into the other’s… Those red eyes were all too familiar, and then the figure grinned “My my… It seems I found you again, my love~” He purred, and stepped forward, and then you stepped back, it repeated like this until your back hit a wall which you softly gasped at.

Hyde leaned forward, he was far too close to your face and you could see those sharp teeth that could easily rip you apart if it so desired, his breath ghosted over your skin, it made goosebumps form across your skin and the hairs on your arms stand up, his breathing was purposefully heavy, you could hear rasping and some growls even as he opened his mouth further, a set of tongues lolling out of his mouth, you stared at them, eyes wide with terror as the tongues reached up, caressing your face in a sickeningly gentle manner, you whimpered, tears cascading down your face as you shivered in pure disgust, after that he pulled away and chuckled at you “You really… A r e something special… Aren’t you~?” You glared at him “...What did you do with Doctor Jekyll, you sick fuck…?” Hyde took a moment before…

He burst out with laughter, that laugh sending chills down your spine as it echoed off of the Laboratory walls, after that he looked back at you, a smug smile on his face “Oh… Don’t worry about Doctor Jekyll… He’s perfectly fine my love…~” You looked around for some kind of opening to try and run, it was going to be tough, extremely tough given how large Hyde was, but it wasn’t completely impossible by any means… Hyde wouldn’t deny this either, he was starting to feel… Something himself, maybe it was just as he said earlier, maybe this little obsession was getting to him as well, when he looked into your eyes he felt something… The only thing different being, Jekyll didn't like seeing the tears on your face or seeing you so scared and distraught. Meanwhile Hyde seemed to enjoy it f a r too much to the point where Jekyll had even spoken up “H-Hyde… That’s… That’s enough, don’t scare them anymore than you already have…!” However Hyde merely ignored Jekyll this time around, almost like he didn’t even hear the other in the first place, he brought a clawed hand up and gripped at your chin, forcing you to look him in the eyes, he took his other hand and wiped your tears away, his claw getting dangerously close to nicking you in the eye.

“Shh~ Now now, there’s no need for the waterworks, my dear…~” You tried pulling away from him but his grip was still vice-like and okay, it was beginning to hurt your chin a little bit, you reached up and grasped at his arm “J-Just… What do y-you even w-want from me anyways…?” Hyde chuckled, his grip loosening from your chin finally, you brought your hand up to rub at the spot, that was going to be sore later… “Mm… What I want is v e r y simple… I have told you already or perhaps you’ve forgotten it?” You looked at him, confused, this was your only chance to run because you saw him reaching behind himself into a pocket “...I want…” He rasped out, his hand slowly pulling out a brown bottle, shit… You had a feeling you knew what that brown bottle was “...Y O U!” And with that you slipped past the opening you had seen earlier, it was a tight squeeze to slip past him but you managed to do so, you made a beeline for the stairs, you heard Hyde snarl and okay now he sounded really pissed… As you reached the top step, Hyde jumped up onto something and then over the railing, slamming down on the ground below, it's a good thing this staircase wasn’t made out of wood otherwise Hyde would have had the entire thing come crashing down, he instantly grabbed you and hooked an arm tightly around your waist.

“NOT… This time my love…” He growled out, clear anger in his tone, you still tried to struggle away from him, trying to call out for help in hopes that maybe Poole would hear or someone, as you did this however, his grip only tightened even more to the point where you wheezed, jeez if he tightened his grip anymore he would probably crack a rib, even though this was an awkward kind of position, he managed to open the chloroform, he then threw you to the ground rather harshly and stood over you, he grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and poured some of the substance onto it, trying not to stain himself nor his clothing, he then tossed the bottle to the far side, meanwhile you were trying desperately to crawl away from him, he crouched down and sat atop you, pressing the handkerchief over your mouth and nose rather harshly, your hands shot up and you tried to fight him off, not that it really did much good, this thing was far stronger than you could ever hope to be, either way you still weren’t going to go down without a fight! You screams were muffled by the rag but you prayed that someone upstairs would hear you, even before when you had screamed, you had hoped someone up there heard those!

You didn’t hear anyone approaching the door or any sounds of someone talking however, and after a few moments and him keeping the rag pushed directly onto your face, your struggles began to slow, and you could feel yourself fading, your vision starting to blur here and there… Even then you struggled until your body wouldn’t allow you to anymore, the last thing you saw was that smug bastard grinning at you before your vision faded and the darkness overcame you… Eventually you shot up out of a bed with a gasp, you were still a bit disoriented from what had happened earlier, you tried to immediately get up out of the bed only to stumble here and there and when someone put their hand on your shoulder you screamed and swatted it away “(Y/N)...! C-Calm down, it’s only me…!” You blinked in surprise, your vision still blurring a bit but you could at least make out who it was, even by voice alone “H-Henry…?” You rubbed at your eyes and that helped your vision a bit, it was enough to see the figure standing in front of you… “Yes, that’s right… It’s me, it’s Henry…” You looked around the Laboratory for any signs of that monster from last night “Wh-Where is… Hyde…?” Jekyll sighed and shook his head “No need to worry yourself with that man, my dear friend… I am assuming you mean the man I saw hovering over you last night of course… Ahem... Let me explain a bit further, if you’ll allow?” You nodded and as you almost stumbled over, Jekyll helped you back onto the bed.

“You see… It must have been after you passed out, because as I walked in the door, I saw h i m… That monster of a being standing over you… You say his name was, erm… Hyde, yes?” You nodded at this and so he continued “I quickly grabbed my cane and ran him off and out of the lab, I… I just… (Y/N)... What was that man even after in the first place? Did he hurt you at all?” You had to take a few moments, you rubbed your face a little and then looked up at Henry “I-I… I don’t know… I don’t… H-He said… He said something about… Me? Wanting… Me…? I don’t understand… I just… He attacked me and my partner… O-Oh god… [Partner’s Name]...” Tears welled up in your eyes and you pulled Jekyll into a hug, he carefully wrapped his arms around you “...I’m sorry (Y/N)... I’m so sorry you had to go through all that… I heard from Poole actually, a bit about that… He said he had called the police for your significant other… I myself, do not know of their condition… But, I heard they got sent to Doctor Lanyon’s Hospital… He is a fine doctor and a friend of mine! If anyone can help your partner, it would be him…” While you couldn’t see his face, Jekyll was smiling, almost smirking even as the hug went on, oh it was so lovely to get to hold you close like this… You felt so warm to him… Sure, one side of him did feel a bit bad for lying to you and for what Hyde had put you through but you were here now and that was all that mattered, he would have to… Thank Hyde for that later, somehow anyways.

Because even despite causing trouble here and there he DID deliver you to the doctor as promised, he did exactly what he said he would do… And even after he was finished, Jekyll could see Hyde over in the corner, just staring at the two of them, his gaze flickering back to you in the end, there was no denying it from the both of them at this point, love and obsession had stricken the both of them, and it was pretty safe to say with one glance, the two of them were definitely in agreement on this one, they would never be letting you go… “...Jekyll? Did you hear what I said?” The doctor blinked before looking back at you “O-Oh…! My apologies, what did you say?” You repeated yourself again “I said… Thank you… For saving me, i-in the end at least… I don’t wanna think about what else… That thing would have done…” Henry nodded and smiled “I… I do wish I could have been here a lot sooner, before he got to you in the first place”

“But… At the very least, I still managed to get to you before he dragged you off to God knows where… And I am just… Glad you're safe…” And then the both of you realized, you were still hugging each other, you pulled away first and chuckled awkwardly, wiping some of the excess tears off your face “Yeah… I’m grateful… For that…” And then Henry looked around the Lab “You know, since such a dangerous man is at large… Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here, with me, Poole, and the others for a while? I, of course, will not force you… But, I would rather you stay with someone at the very least and not risk being alone…” You thought about it for a moment and shuddered “...Y-Yeah… After… What happened… I-I really don’t… Wanna be alone…” And then Jekyll was smiling brightly “Wonderful, you may stay here for as long as you’d like my dear… ...Friend!” He needed to be careful with his wording for now… After all, this was only the beginning, he didn’t want to rush things and risk any suspicion, in due time… You would fall for him, you would fall for the both of them, and even though he is normally a patient man, he can barely w a i t for that day to come, to think of hugging you, kissing you, dancing with you, it filled him with a euphoric sense but for now… 

                            This was only The Beginning…

(Thats the ending, Im making it sound like a chapter thing but I s w e a r its not, I mean unless people would really wanna see it develop n shit go down or whatever but for now, very VERY subtle Yandere undertones from the good righteous man himself, keep in mind btw, these are MY versions of the lads, not- from anything else,, so ye- This was fun and exhausting to write but I’m EXTREMELY proud of this one, sometimes subtly in yandere stories can be fun to write

This literally started off with o n e concept of Jekyll falling for the reader and then it turning into basically an obsession/yandere deal and getting DESPERATE enough to let Hyde take control and go after them and that was it, that one thing spawned this entire story- I didn’t intend for it to be this long either but I figured I might as well see it through to the end otherwise I wouldn’t have been proud, anyways- im just rambling now, I hope y’all enjoyed this <3)

[painted-crow]

Fictional double Birds, webcomics edition!

I found/rediscovered some more Bird characters for y'all~

These pals are all webcomic characters, so you can read their stories for free :D the name headers link to the first page of their respective comics!

Just a reminder, clicking the images gives you better quality and can make the text easier to read. I've put alt text on the images with the relevant info--sorry if this still isn't the most accessible post. ^^;

Henry Jekyll (The Glass Scientists)

Thanks to @aubade-things for reminding me this comic exists, and for discussing it with me! I binged the whole thing a few days ago, haha.

The Glass Scientists is a webcomic about a haven society for mad scientists, in a world that does not like them. Jekyll here is trying to keep it from falling apart, but between mad science shenanigans, plain old lack of funding, and a fellow called Hyde who is definitely not the same person, who told you that, he's... uh... struggling.

Jekyll screams Badger secondary at first, his Bird secondary is just VERY burnt.

He idealizes Badger as a huge part of how he thinks a Proper Gentleman should be, and he has this super uptight Badger performance that does noooot actually make him happy.

His primary's shaky, too, but he's working on it. This just about says it all, honestly:

Yes, that is a figment of his own imagination yelling at him for using Bird secondary to sort out a major piece of his system.

Jekyll is peak "person who looks like they have their shit together but is actually a mess underneath" and I'd be okay with him being a little less relatable thank you very much

He is slowly reclaiming his secondary though:

Sidenote: I have had almost that exact experience, about the same topic, during a period where I'd burned Bird secondary.

(Seven year old Paint was obsessed with the idea of plant medicine. You know how some kids mix up "potions" with stuff from their back yard? I wanted mine to work. I had this giant textbook about it and everything.)

Alas, remembering was less useful to me; all it really gave me was an extra uncanny experience reading this webcomic :p

Thistle (Daughter of the Lilies)

Thistle is a cinnamon roll hiding a whoooooole lot of trauma and anxiety. I'll let you find those panels for yourself, though. Instead, here she is entertaining some children with her magic:

Sometimes she sounds like a Badger primary, but she's a full-fledged Bird:

Her secondary is a little singed, too, but hers is WAY better off than Jekyll's. She's doin ok.

Spoiler warning: the current comic arc shows her face, which is a major reveal--so if you want to puzzle out what her deal is on your own, start from the beginning and avoid the front page for now ^^

She's also super relatable, but in a way that doesn't bug me. I'm trying to figure out why Jekyll does... I think it's that he's an example of a very burnt Bird secondary that looks seriously familiar to me, but his primary is unstable too and I find that unnerving--I've never burned mine. To me, he feels deeply unhealthy in a way that Thistle doesn't at all. Thistle's morality is very clear and bright; the parts of her system she struggles with most are about how she sees herself, but I deal with the same thing (it's probably less common for Birds not to) so that's fine.

That does say something about the general tone of the two stories. DotL deals with some heavy topics, but it's a much more optimistic feeling world with a much more stable protagonist.

DotL fights with Girl Genius for rank as my favorite webcomic, period. Everyone should go read it, it's beautiful and funny and relatable and tragic and then it's funny again. Also there are dragons! At least one of them is plot relevant, and several of the pages he's on got turned into posters by popular demand because the art is just that good.

Speaking of Girl Genius:

Gilgamesh Wulfenbach (Girl Genius)

Girl Genius is a gaslamp fantasy comedy adventure romance about mad scientists, and it does all of those things really well at the same time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's a goldmine for Bird secondaries.

This story has also been adapted into ebook and audiobook versions, so if comics are hard for you to read, that could be a more accessible option!

Snake primary is the most popular (Agatha, Tarvek, Zeetha, Bang, Krosp, Lars, and most of the Jagers) but there are a few Birds hanging around. The Baron is a Bird primary, I think, and Othar is some form of Exploded Idealist (double Lion?) but I'm going to focus on Gil because he's a main character.

The page that cements his primary for me is this one, where he's arguing with Snake primary Zeetha (who is Loyal to Agatha). Agatha's been the victim of some weird mind control stuff by the story's BBEG, but Gil hasn't gotten that context yet and the Baron (his dad) is convinced Agatha IS the BBEG.

And yes, he's technically pantsless in this scene but hasn't realized that yet either. It's not his fault... the "ability to rant" part of a Spark's brain wakes up long before their situational awareness does.

Also lol @ Zeetha's reaction. Gil is one of Agatha's Important People, and Agatha is Zeetha's, so he's safe, for now, if he behaves.

As for his secondary:

And:

Like many of the cast, Gil is a Spark and very vulnerable to nerd sniping. RIP his lost sleep.

Also mine, actually. I'm gonna end this here and try to go back to bed ^^;

Happy reading!

[bansheeoftheforest]

Ok so its 2:30 am and im going feral over syndicate au

After they “officially” (or as official as they can be at least) hire jekyll as their chemist things are somewhat awkward between henry and jacob for a bit. With the other people henry can be professional and friendly towards but jacob was literally the one introducing him to all of this. Via a one-night-stand

Except that attraction between them is obviously there?? Like they (probably) wouldnt have done the wahoo with eachother if it wasnt there, so all theres left is for them to get to know eachother. And they do slowly get to know eachother through meetings, and business exchanges where jacob tries to flirt and henry is flustered but not too flustered to laugh, and then they start talking outside work and then before they know it theyre back to making out except this time theyre SOBER and they decide it means something. And then BOOM, boyfriends

And then jacob thinks hes funny, and the kidnappings start happening

Also i would to know how jacob would react to the big reveal that jekyll = hyde. Personally im a big fan of “oh wow my beloved youre genuinely an insane person :) thats cool tho. Love you lots xoxo”

Hey dude. You know what I was... Is it called daydreaming if I did it to go to sleep? Either way you know what I was imagining over and over and over when trying to go to sleep?

Exactly this.

I can imagine Henry being so incredibly awkward around the other assassins and especially Jacob at first. After all, Jacob was a one-night-stand and all other assassins wanted him dead (he assumes) but he quickly befriends Evie and Greenie because he is as social as a puppy and is just as likable as one. But he keeps a distance from Jacob because he finds the entire situation incredibly uncomfortable and especially after what happened with Robert. He doesn't want to get hurt like that again and even if his heart slowly, slowly is letting go of Robert and willingly opens itself up again, he desperately tries to lock it away and make sure he isn't too close to Jacob. Jacob, who probably is a person to fall head-over-heels with persons he just met and especially if they have even shagged (he literally fell in love with two of his enemies after 1-2 meetings, canonically, one being a gal and one being a lad) is probably quite hurt by Jekyll taking a distance but he still tries. Hence the flirting, hence still trying to get to know Henry.

A few months pass, maybe. Henry gets used to working for the assassins, he spends most of his free time on the train because he can escape both Lodgers and friends alike and just... Relax. Even if he spends most of his time there, and even if he tries to get away from Jacob to not end up more hurt, he just can't. He keeps getting pulled into those handsome eyes and those flirty jokes and he just can't deny that he is feeling something for Jacob, and Jacob notices. Suddenly Greenie and Evie are gone on an emergency mission and Jacob and Henry are alone on the train. Perhaps Jacob would offer Henry some whiskey, perhaps they would just sit around and talk on one of the couches. Perhaps Jacob would slowly inch his way closer and Henry would pretend not to notice. Suddenly Jacob's hand is on his thigh and Henry's breath hitches, his face shots up to meet Jacob's gaze and their noses brush together. They are alone, Jacob takes his chance, and so softly he presses their lips together. Nowhere near as hungrily as their first meeting and nowhere near as possessively as during their shag. It's soft, it's adoring, and Henry can't help but melt into it. He doesn't want to but something in him feels safe with Jacob, much safer than he had ever felt with Robert, much more loved than he had ever felt by Robert, yet he quickly falls back to reality when Jacob's hand moves-- maybe not even up his thigh, maybe he just accidentally nudged it-- and Henry places his hands on Jacob's chest and breaks off. So many thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head, yet all he can feel is how his heart clenches so violently and everything in him is screaming stop, stop, go back, you are ruining it, all while it's also screaming run, run, don't look back, don't let yourself get hurt again.

Henry stands up, Jacob follows as Henry begins to panic so slightly. He is apologizing profusely, he is saying that Jacob please shouldn't take this personally, it's just... He can't handle this right now, he's sorry, Jacob did nothing wrong but Henry just isn't ready for it. Right as Henry is about to leave the train, Jacob stops him. He asks what he did wrong, or what's making Henry panic so. Henry stops, for a moment, takes a deep breath, and tells him that he just... Does not know what Jacob wants from him, and he has been hurt by pretend-relationships enough that he doesn't want to experience that again. Jacob tells him that he actually likes him, he would like to have an actual relationship with him sometime, if that would be something Henry would want and would be comfortable with. Henry pauses, another deep breath, and finally, he just says that... He needs to think about it. Please give him some space, he will give him a letter once he has gotten to think things through, he is sorry for being difficult but it's just... So, so much for him and after what he has been through. It's nothing personal, he assures Jacob, yet both of them just feel so, so hurt as Henry waits for the nearest train station and leaves. It's in the middle of the night, yet he is trudging his way back to the Society alone. Jacob debates following him, just to make sure he gets home safely, but doesn't.

Maybe it takes a few days, maybe some weeks, maybe even months, but soon, when Jacob enters the train after a particularly foul mission, Evie has a letter for him. "Jekyll came by and told me to give it to you", she says. Jacob could not grab it any faster, hastily tells her some weak excuse before excusing himself to his personal train compartment. He sits on his bed, he takes a deep breath, and he opens the wax seal of the letter-- so formal and official, he thinks. He wonders what Jekyll has told him, what news he is about to get. He can't deny that he likes him and that he likes him a lot. More than he liked Pearl. More than he ever liked Maxwell. What he feels for Henry feels good and real and he just feels miserable at the thought that Henry might not feel the same.

He opens the letter; the actual text and paper are just as "official" and formal as the actual wax seal and letter fold.

And then he reads it.

And the first thing Henry does, no surprise, is apologizing, and Jacob feels his blood run cold. But then he continues to read, and Henry is explaining why he was so scared. He has been hurt before, his last boyfriend treated him like a side piece that he just threw away and they had known each other for two years and it has affected Henry a lot. He apologized for being difficult, but he is willing to try out a relationship if Jacob is still up for it, and if he is just willing to take it slow and be patient with Henry.

And Jacob, of course, is willing to be patient. He is willing to wait for Henry because he likes him.

At the end of the letter, Henry asks Jacob to meet him in his office somewhere during the evening; he will keep the window open.

And Jacob does come.

And they get to talk it all out, they get to set some boundaries and actually talk about what they want out of all of this. Obviously ends with Jacob embracing Henry in a way only lovers can, and loads and loads of kisses.

Look, I'm just... So soft for this ship, ok? And now I have an excuse to ramble on about it bc more people actually ship them through this au and I love it.

ALso realized I completely forgot the last part heeh <3

So far, I have imagined the assassin crew (Jacob, Evie, Greenie) needing Henry for something but they see this... This blond gremlin breaking into his office. They immediately think of cornering him and questioning him about why he is breaking into Henry's office, except they enter at exactly the wrong time and manages to catch the transformation as Hyde turns back into Jekyll. They all stare in horror and yet Jacob doesn't hesitate to immediately run forward and cradle Henry; spitting and trying to keep himself from vomiting as all that slime and goop comes out of his mouth and eyes. Henry coughs, he manages to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is the assassins and Jacob's face. He coughs again, he presses out a panicked smile, and the only thing he says is "oh fuck."

Jacob, without even thinking about it, immediately helps Henry to gather himself and clean himself off of the slime, Evie and Greenie are just standing on the sidelines unsure of what to do. Finally, Henry is rested against a cabinet and his breathing is calmer, and he manages to explain everything. Yeah, he was really depressed a few years ago and he thought there were things that were horribly wrong with him so he wanted to get rid of that. Except he accidentally personified all of that "bad" stuff and now that person is Edward Hyde. Jacob would definitely be... Slightly concerned, but would very much be like "oh so you are slightly insane and also halfly schizophrenic? Ahaha is no big deal I still love u darling xoxo"

...Y'all think Jacob would start flirting with Hyde too after that?

Honestly! I very much like all kinds of confessions when it comes to the Jekyll/Hyde reveal, so? Gimme all your thoughts, I crave them all. I just love the angsty routes <3

[galaxy-parchment]

Vampire AU

1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6  : 7 : 8 : 9 : 10 : 11 : 12 : 13 : 14 (you are here) : 15 (coming soon)

I’m so glad to have another chapter out I was worried people would unfollow from all of the inactivity. But nonetheless I made sure this wasn’t a super short chapter so the wait would be worth it. Also for whatever reason I seem to have put more swears than usual in this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Lanyon shoved his way through the outskirts of the room, ignoring Jekyll’s pleas for him to rethink things. He stomped up to where Brokenshire had just been standing. Lanyon cleared his throat as loudly as he could manage and made no effort to hide the heavy scowl on his face.

All eyes in the room looked up at him with reactions ranging from disinterested to alarmed, but he had gotten their attention, that’s all that mattered.

“What the hell has gotten into you people? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you’re being?” he yelled, his voice travelling far around the large, echoey room.

“What are you talkin’ about, Doc?” a voice called out from the crowd.

“I’m talking about how nobody in the building seems to think that getting funding for the Society matters in the slightest! How the hell do you think we give you the materials you need to do your insane tinkering?”

He looked back at Henry as the murmurs turned to bombarding Lanyon with cries of protest and self-defence. He looked scared out of his mind, anxious and frantically attempting to settle the crowd with no success. It only made Lanyon angrier to see his friend being pushed around like that.

“It’s about time you people learned some basic respect! I don’t care who convinces you of otherwise, even if it is Frankenstein!” He was a hair’s breadth away from losing the steadiness in his voice.

Then someone cut through the racket with a panicked scream.

“Bloody hell! He’s got fangs! He’s a drainer!” Lanyon quickly shut his mouth and stepped back. Shit. He was a few days overdue to feed, wasn’t he? 

“That’s ridiculous!” Lanyon said, careful not to let his teeth be too visible. Getting worked up didn’t help him out in the slightest. His voice was being drowned out as everyone had turned on him and he was being yelled at instead.

“I bet Hyde isn’t even a vampire! You were probably trying to get the heat off a’ yourself!”

“He probably tried to kill Luckett too!”

“Stake the drainer!”

Lanyon froze in place and watched the scene unfold, petrified. He feared someone would take the initiative to attack him at any moment, but he couldn’t bring himself to move a muscle. 

“Stop!” The room was silenced eerily quickly as Jekyll stepped in front of Lanyon, blocking him from the verbal onslaught.

“Dr. Lanyon may be a vampire, but that doesn’t mean that we should turn on him immediately! We will settle this like adults and we will NOT be continuing this appalling behaviour!” He looked at them with a stern eye, then back at Lanyon with a twinge of concern that felt like a dream to him in that moment.

Jekyll turned towards Lanyon slightly and gestured up the stairs. “We should talk, Robert.”

Lanyon stared at him with dread and sighed, “Okay.”

They were cautiously watched as they made their way to the door. Lanyon was grateful for Rachel, who had crept out to the foot of the stairs in the silence and made an effort to keep anyone from following.

The heavy doors shut behind them and Lanyon’s heart dropped. 

It was too late, he’d been found out. Before he knew it he was being confronted by one of the worst possible scenarios. Henry would probably throw him out and he wouldn’t have any choice but to leave London. He thought through every plan he could to get out of this when suddenly Jekyll said something entirely unexpected with a chuckle.

“You have no idea how relieved I am that you’re the vampire.”

Lanyon stared at him. “What?”

Jekyll suddenly stepped up closer to him. He opened his mouth wide and there they were. A pair of well-kept fangs jutting out from the rest of his teeth. They were fairly small so he must have fed recently.

“You’re joking…” 

Jekyll shut his mouth. “Nope!”

Lanyon frowned. “So you didn’t think to open up to me about this? How did you even get bitten? You never go out.”

Jekyll paused and was looking for something to say. “Well… neither do you!”

Lanyon put his hands up in defence. “Okay so maybe I used to go out slumming. But I don’t do it anymore unless I go out to feed.”

“Oh… I…. uh… I used to go slumming too…” He said it far too quickly for it to be entirely true, but Lanyon decided this wasn’t the time to push it. The moment was lost anyway as Jekyll suddenly looked annoyed. “Wait, so did you actually break into Luckett’s room? I’m certain Hyde didn’t do it! He’s god knows where!” He didn’t look sure of himself, but Lanyon couldn’t bear to lie to his face right now.

“I.. I did it…” Lanyon looked aside, avoiding Jekyll’s gaze.

“Why? You scared the lodgers half to death!”

“Because Hyde is a terrible influence on the Society. You bend over backwards trying to defend him and all he does is cause trouble!”

Jekyll stared at him like a deer in headlights before snapping himself out of it. “Well he’s gone now, we’ll talk about it some other time.“ He rubbed at his own elbow and joined Lanyon in avoiding eye contact.

“It’s kind of funny isn’t it?“ Lanyon said, looking back at Jekyll, prompting him to look up as well.  ”We were both hiding this whole vampire business for so long that we didn’t even realise how convenient it was that we were always accommodating each other so well.”

Jekyll chuckled, “I guess it was pretty funny, wasn’t it? I thought you were suspicious of me!”

“I thought you were suspicious of me!” Lanyon said, pointing jovially.

They pondered on the relaxed silence for a moment. Jekyll gave a pensive hum.

“What are we going to tell the lodgers out there? We can’t exactly brush this off as nothing…”

“I’m sure there’s some way we can appease them, I’d rather not have to skip town.”

“Well, they are scientists, you could just offer to let them run some tests on you…” Jekyll said, shrugging tensely and casting his eyes upwards, unsure of his own answer.

“I suppose it's worth a try…” Lanyon looked reluctant, but couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“It’ll be fine!” Jekyll said, getting up with a burst of false energy and striding to the door, waiting for Lanyon to leave the room with him. Lanyon sighed and joined him.

[thejeksburyguy]

I'm Still Fucking Angry So Here Have More Trans Jekyll - a tad bit softer this time

Henry Jekyll was many things.

Practically disowned.

Broke.

Holding himself to a standard of perfection that was taking a toll on his mental and physical health and would one day likely kill him.

But when he recieved a slap in the face from Rachel Pidgley and was only given the angry screech of, "YOU DAMN BIGOT!!" as a clue, he realized something was very wrong.

Because of the many things Henry Jekyll was, a bigot was not one of them, and as he started to get more and more disgusted and passive aggressive looks and treatment from the Lodgers, he started to get a sneaking suspicion as to who had been spreading that particular rumour around.

"Alright, what did you tell them?" Henry asked with a resigned sigh as he walked into the makeshift infirmary/bedroom, red eyes tired as he started preparing the old woman's medicine. Frankenstein looked over, smug and haughty.

"Only the truth," She sneered, and Henry bit back a cackle at the absurdity of the situation and the way her face crinkled when she'd said that. "You are nothing more than another pretentious, privileged, bigoted member of the aristocracy! A sniveling tyrant who condemns love solely for not fitting his ideals! A— why are you laughing!?" Henry snorted, trying to stifle his surprisingly scratchy laughter. He couldn't help himself; he was sleep-deprived, overworked, and now he was being called queerphobic. Him, of all people! He found the whole thing laughable.

"Ooohh, Ms. Frankenstein," He chuckled as he managed to compose himself, though he nearly started back up again when her expression soured at the lack of 'doctor' in that sentence. He took up a chair beside her bed as he began the check up, making sure her pulse was steady and there were no signs of her condition worsening. "You really don't know how to properly study a subject, do you?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're getting at, MR. Jekyll," Frankenstein snarked, but, much to her annoyance, the good doctor merely smirked, raising a brow. She wished he was sitting just a bit closer so she could accurately punch that smug look right off his smug face.

"My dear Victoria," Henry cooed, earning another glare as he handed her the vial of medicine. "You'd think someone such as yourself would be able to spot unusual individuals, but perhaps the old age is finally getting to those sharp eyes of yours. Either that, or the poisonous lizard you ate is affecting you more severely than I originally thought." Frankenstein opened her mouth to rebuke his comments on her age and mistake, only to pause.

"...what do you mean, 'unusual individuals'? I thought I already made it clear that you aren't a real mad scientist in the slightest?" Henry paused, confidence wavering slightly, and Frankenstein grinned, thinking she'd gotten under his skin. Whatever biting comment she had intended to make next was cut off with a startled sputtering as the Scotsman began to unbutton the top half of his vest. When he started to undo the bottons at the top of his dress shirt, Frankenstein stammered, "Now see here, Jekyll! Acting like you've gone mad doesn't make you a—!!" She fell silent as he tugged the fabric down to reveal a thick layering of bandages around his chest.

Frankenstein watched with wide eyes as Henry fixed his clothes back up, grey eyes looking conflicted as she took in his vulnerable expression. Henry cleared his throat, straightening his back in as regal a manner as he could. Frankenstein was staring at him, and the expression on her face was one he wasn't familiar with. He squirmed in his seat, heart rate picking up. Why did he reveal himself? Why did he tell her? She would ruin him, she—

"I've never.. I didn't think.." Frankenstein seemed almost breathless. Eventually, she stammered, "I didn't know there were others like me." Henry looked over, shocked, as the woman undid her coat to reveal... a completely flat chest. The two stared at each other, disbelief in their eyes, when Frankenstein broke the silence with a blurted, "My parents named me Victor. I felt that Victoria would be the obvious choice to make, when changing it."

Henry seemed almost giddy with excitement as he stammered, "M-My mother named me Marian. I didn't want any reminders of them or that name, so I chose Henry."

"Do you mind if I ask why?" Henry blushed hotly, then looked away, mumbling, "I.. got the name from your book. 'Henry Clerval, the best friend of Victor Frankenstein'. I guess I'd daydreamed a bit too often of being the one involved in that story." He scoffed at her smug expression, rolling his eyes. Frankenstein started to look a bit guilty, then offered, "I can tell the Lodgers I was wrong. About you being a bigot, not the other stuff."

Henry chuckled a bit, expecting that there would still be that odd rivalry between the two, though now it felt.. softer. Kinder, almost.

"I would appreciate that. Though, um.. please, don't.. tell them that I'm.." Frankenstein scowled at Henry's timid request, then, sighing, agreed to it, though not without commenting, "If you didn't hide yourself away like this, you would be a lot happier. Maybe that stick up your arse would even fall out." Henry shot her a soft glare as the old woman laughed. The rest of the examination went smoother than the ones prior, with the older scientist being at least somewhat cooperative. Jekyll left the room with a bounce in his step, feeling a little lighter than normal, and even when he recieved a particularly powerful glare from Griffin as he passed by the man, his spirit remained high.

Henry Jekyll sat down to do his paperwork, still smiling, feelin just a little less alone in the world.

[supervillain-smut]

Since you said you were in the mood, could I have a smutty Henry Jekyll fic? ~

Thank you, this was so much fun to just go wherever with this! You absolutely can!

"And you're sure you're OK with this?" Henry sighed as you were undoing his shirt. You kissed along his jaw and nodded "For the third time, Henry yes." He was always so worried you wouldn't want him in this way especially considering Edward's *ahem* habit of his own way of interrupting. So long as you didn't mind a, um voyeur making snide comments about your 'sappy' lovemaking in Henry's mind and depending on the location the mirror, Henry was OK with it. Granted, he was always nervous but quickly calmed down.

He was so lost in thought, probably arguing with Edward, that he hadn't even registered you had gotten his belt off and his trousers undone until you stroked him at a steady pace.

Once he was back to earth with the sensation, he let out a strangled moan and tilted his head back, slowly starting to rock his hips best as he could with you in his lap in time with your strokes.His mouth was agape as he panted, suddenly his eyes squeezed shut as a wave of pleasure came over him and settled at his groin, and he gasped.

You slowly worked your way down in between his now spread legs, so as not to stir him as you watched his expressions as you worked his trousers off of him. He blindly lifted his hips as you worked them off, and only noticed once they were tossed to a corner of the room and you settled yourself back in his lap, teasing his member with your folds.

Again, his jaw dropped as he looked at you with half lidded eyes, begging you to just seat yourself on him. You slowly sank onto him moaning at the length of him, and once he was fully sheathed in you he gently bit into your shoulder where you could feel his heavy breathing.

You started moving, riding him firmly but gently as he panted and gasped at your warmth as he kissed the hollow of your neck and occasionally buried his face. As time progressed, he was becoming more desperate to finish, grabbing onto your thighs, nipping at your neck and collarbone and attempting to thrust his hips up. He held up a hand for you to stop moving, seemingly having an idea as he moved your legs on either side of his so you were straddling him, raising you up on your knees, just keeping the tip of him in as he moved your arms around his neck, and had you lean forward a bit into him.

 Just as you opened your mouth to question what he had in mind, he started pounding into you, your knees immediately giving out sinking you down on him again as he hit that spot over and over. As soon as it all began, you cried out and hung tightly onto his shoulders, whimpering. "God, Henry this feels so good! Oh, don't stop!" He hadn't intended to as he hung tightly onto you as he finished, cumming deep inside you with a moan, and you followed after. He pulled out, a splash of cum following as he lay you on the bed and pulled the covers over the both of you.

[fox-guardian]

Meeting the Master (part 2)

Part 1

His first task of the morning was to wake up his master with breakfast, so after getting dressed, he went out to retrieve it. Eggs, bacon, juice, biscuits; it smelled rather tasty. He brought it back up to his master's room and knocked upon the door.

"Master Henry, it's time to wake up," he called. He didn't get a response. He did this a second time before opening the door just a tad. Now he could hear snoring. He stepped inside and approached his sleeping master. He was laying on his luxurious bed wrapped in his luxurious sheets, and hugging a luxurious pillow tightly to his chest as he snored loudly. 

"...Master Henry," he repeated. Henry's eyes snapped open as he jolted awake. He turned and squinted at Poole, "Mm...Morning...." he greeted as he tossed his pillow aside. Poole took his master's glasses from his nighttable and presented them to him alongside his breakfast. Henry woke himself up a bit more, put on his glasses, and then sighed, straightening himself into perfect posture as he began eating. Odd, Poole thought, he didn't need to look so formal. He had just woken up. 

Poole stood there awkwardly watching him eat. "Is there... anything I could do for you, Sir?" he asked.

"You could leave me alone," Henry replied, rather bluntly. He then froze, as if immediately regretting what he'd said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sir, unless you have a specific task for me to do," he said, noting that this must be the sort of behaviour his father would want to hear about. Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Mr. Jekyll yet today. Or Mrs. Jekyll, for that matter. Perhaps they weren't up yet? 

Henry sighed, and continued eating in silence. Poole found a chair and sat down on it, taking in the room around him. It was clean and perfectly organized. He looked over at what appeared to be a sort of makeshift study area or miniature laboratory, with books and a chemistry set that took up most of a desk. 

"Permission to speak, Master?" Poole asked.

"Su- Yes, permission granted, Poole..." he replied. He didn't seem to be used to giving orders. Poole thought he would've had some experience with the other servants, but perhaps he was so naughty that those privileges had been taken away before he could practice.

"What's all that?" he finally asked, pointing at the bottles and beakers.

"Oh, I recently got back from university. I'm now a doctor of medicine. That's my chemistry equipment," he still seemed annoyed by Poole's presence, and he couldn't blame him. He wouln't want someone spying on him all day either, but he assumed he was deserving of such punishment so he didn't have much sympathy for him. 

"Doctor of medicine? That's an interesting field choice," Poole said, trying to see how such an apparently unruly young man could graduate from a university.

"Mm," said Henry between bites of bacon, "My parents weren't as excited about my passions for science as I was. Perhaps that's why I also got a couple of degrees in law..." 

Law degrees? And chemistry? That's a lot of school he'd have to commit to attending...

"You've already gotten both law and medical degrees? How?" he asked.

"I attended medical and law school simultaneously. It's a matter of careful scheduling, really," he paused and took a sip of juice, "I didn't get much sleep..."

Poole was surprised. He didn't think someone so "disobediant" and "defiant" could commit to such a schedule. Surely there was a reasonable explaination, though he couldn't find it yet.

...

Later that day, Henry announced that he would be going out to spend time with a couple of friends. Poole asked another servant where Mr. and Mrs. Jekyll were, and was informed that Mr. Jekyll had left for work and that the Missus was off with friends somewhere and that neither would be back before the evening. A busy bunch, he thought.

Poole, as he was instructed, followed his master out as he went to visit his friends. They arrived at a cafe and Henry approached a certain table with two other young gentlemen sitting at it, eating lunch. One was a heavyset fellow donning a suit of soft blues and light blonde hair, and the other a taller, more brawny fellow wearing reds and browns, with very pale blonde hair that mostly covered one eye, glasses, and a nice mustache. 

Henry's demeanor seemed to shift as he greeted them. He stretched out his arms and spoke clearly and articulately, you could hear the smile on his face as he spoke, "Ah, Utterson, Lanyon, my dearest friends! How are you?"

They looked at him, a bit shocked and disturbed, as if a stranger had approached them. 

Henry continued, "Let me introduce you to my new servant, Poole," Poole stepped forward and bowed for them, "His job is to serve my needs..." his tone shifted slightly, "...and to report my misbehaviour to my parents."

His friends' faces fell with pity and understanding. Perhaps they were troublemakers as well and Poole was keeping them from their fun. They sat down with the two young men and ordered their food. Poole learned that the one in blue was "Utterson" and the one in red was "Lanyon". He also learned that Henry had met them both during university, he studied medicine with Lanyon and studied law with Utterson. 

The air became tense once again, and in an effort to break it, Lanyon suggested going for a walk through the park. As they made their way over, Poole stood behind the three friends, noting how much his master stood out from them. Not only was his fashion sense much darker than theirs with his jet black coat and hat contrasting with their more gentle blue and brown coats and hats, but they way he held himself was also odd. His friends walked... simply. Just walking as people do. He supposed Lanyon walked with a certain excitement, swaying a doctor's bag proudly with each step, while Utterson seemed more reserved, keeping his hands in front of him. Each of them bobbed with each step they took, and from a distance, nothing was very unusual or unique about their ways of moving. It was only up close and next to Henry that a distinction could be made. He held himself with perfect posture, his arms shifting only slightly by his sides and his head staying still with each step. If you couldn't see his feet on the ground you'd think he was floating just above it. His walk was perfectly even, almost eerily so. If it weren't balanced by his cheery demeanor, Poole would think a ghost was walking ahead of him. But even then it still seemed off.

Everything had started to seem off.

...

They finally arrived at the park, picking up pebbles and skipping them into the pond, occasionally picking up a conversation topic only to end it a tad sooner than Poole thought made sense. They weren't talking about anything awful, just reminiscing about recent get-togethers, or even university... but each topic seemed to die prematurely. It was quiet, tense. Poole noticed that Henry hadn't tossed any stones yet. He was simply standing by, out of place among his own friends. At first Poole thought that perhaps they simply spent time with him because of his status, but it became clear to him that Henry wasn't usually like this around them.

They stopped skipping stones and went further into the park. Lanyon suggested going off the path and wandering among the trees. Despite no signs saying that this was prohibited, and Poole recalling many times where people would do just that, Henry adamantly but politely declined. 

Poole looked at his master. He was smiling a perfect smile. The same smile he'd had on the entire time. It started to waver. It looked as if he was trying to fight back whatever expression was trying to pass over his face. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and finally agreed to step off the path. His voice also seemed to be caught in a struggle as he spoke.

They all wandered into the trees. Utterson pointed out animals and bugs, Lanyon smiling at the little flowers that popped up here and there, and Henry stepping on every stick he could find until it made a satisfying snap. 

"...Does anyone else smell pie?" Henry asked, sniffing the air.

"Oh!" said Utterson, "That's probably me. I went over to my parents' house and baked a cherry pie with my mother, so the smell may be lingering."

"Ah, that's right, you moved out of your parents' house, didn't you?" Henry asked.

"Yes, I'm still getting used to it... I miss waking up to the smell of breakfast wafting in from the kitchen," he said wistfully, and then laughed, "Now I've got to make it myself!"

"Get yourself some servants," said Lanyon, "a cook, a maid, a butler, it'd make things easier."

"True," Utterson replied, "but my mother taught me all these skills... It'd be a shame never to use them."

As they were talking, Poole glanced over at his master, who seemed to be trembling. Poole then came upon a realization. Ah... he thought, that's what's been creeping onto his face...

Henry then bent down and picked up a large, leafless branch. Suddenly, he lifted the branch over his left shoulder and swung it at the trunk of a tree, snapping the branch in half with a startling crack. Everyone jumped, including Poole. 

He finished his thought, ...rage.

Henry started pacing and muttering to himself, "...what's the point if he's just gonna tell them ev'r'thin... doesn't change anythin... it'll all be the same anyway..."

Utterson approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder, and began softly whispering to him. He seemed to relax. Lanyon also tried to calm him down, but to no avail. He started trembling more, crumbling into a little ball on the ground, hiding his face in his hands. They all stood by silently until he threw his hands up in frustration and stood up again.

"Forget it! I give up!" he said, having lost his perfect composure, "Doesn't matter anyway. Why bother? Let's go climb a tree."

Poole was... confused, at best. He had no idea what he was talking about, but was more than a bit concerned about that little rage fit. He'd have to report that, definitely.

They went on, enjoying themselves more thoroughly. Lanyon and Henry raced each other up a tree while Utterson stood at the bottom telling them were going to hurt themselves, they made little crowns out of flowers, and told silly jokes. Poole took note of everything particularly dangerous or inappropriate for a young gentleman to be taking part in, but they were mostly just being young men. Playing silly games, having fun... nothing Poole hadn't done when he was younger. He wasn't really seeing the man that had been described to him. Perhaps there was worse to come? Surely there was. This was far too tame to require a chaperone, especially for a grown man. Maybe the Jekylls simply had different standards? But wasn't this a tad extreme? 

Time would tell, he decided. He still had the better part of a week before the first meeting, there was still a lot to learn about his new master. Hopefully things would start to make more sense...

((Hoo boy a multi-part story W O W look at me go. I’ll probably do a third part soon as well but yeYE this is fun. This one feels a little messier though, so I hope y’all still enjoy it.))

[glass-neo-alchemist]

OOH OOH MEEEEE PLEASE

A Walk at Twilight

I never finished the strange case of Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde but I did play all of MzaM’s Jekyll and Hyde game which I’ve been told is pretty true to the original story soooooooo

Mr. Utterson tapped his foot as he waited outside the door to the Jekyll residence. He quietly counted the seconds that passed since Poole had gone to fetch his master as he watched the sun start to touch the horizon and dye the sky orange. Gabriel whipped his head back around in mild shock when Dr. Jekyll stepped out onto the small porch.

“Good evening Gabriel, I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting.” Henry smiled softly to the other man as he greeted him.

“You needn’t worry yourself, my friend. After all, your delay held cause for me to witness this lovely night.” Mr. Utterman replied quickly with a smile as he gestured to the setting sun. Jekyll chuckled and nodded.

“It is rather nice out tonight, may I suggest a stroll Gabriel?”

“I find the suggestion lovely Henry.”

Arm-in-arm, the two men started heading to the nearby park.

***

Once at the the park, as the sun was almost half covered by the horizon, the two mens’ conversion had dwindled to a comfortable silence. Jekyll smiled softly to himself.

“It’s been too long since we were last able to be in each other’s company, Gabriel, I rather think I missed it.”

“Well, old friend, that’s what will happen when you go off for so long, I do hope your travels to the east provided you with success?” Henry was silent for moment before nodding, half to himself, half to answer Utterson’s question.

“I do believe I have gotten what I was looking for, but- ah- now only time will tell I suppose.” Gabriel chuckled.

“If you say so Henry.” Jekyll’s warm smile back nearly had Utterson stopping in his tracks as butterflies filled his lungs. He quickly caught back up with the taller man, grin on his face as he tried to ignore the feeling.

The two continued on their walk until they had once again looped around back to the Jekyll residence. By this time, the sun had completely set on the horizon and the only light left came from the street lamps, still at this point being lit. The two came to a stop outside the building, Jekyll still laughing from the story Utterson had told about someone who had come in for legal work.

“- and then the man said, “Well sir, I had assumed the man I was accusing would be the one to pay you!”-”

“No!”

“He did! And when I tried explain to him he had to pay dues, he threatened to sue me!”

“And how exactly did that work out.”

“He came in the next day to ask me to be his lawyer to help him sue myself.”

“What a fool!”

The two men continued to laugh, when Gabriel looked back to Henry, bathed in soft light from his residence, he felt his cheeks warm uncomfortably and he looked away. He scolded himself, after all his particular… thinking, wasn’t exactly smiled upon in the more powerful peoples of society. And the possibility that his close friend also thought the same was impossible, such feelings wouldn’t be requinted.

“Is something wrong Gabriel?” Henry cut through his thoughts as he asked the question with a small frown on his face.

“No, no, nothing Henry, it seems I was just lost in my own thoughts.” He waved off the concern and gestured to Henry’s home. “It was very nice to catch back up with you my friend, but I wish not to oppose on your sleep.”

“I appreciate the sentiment Gabriel.” Jekyll opened the door and stepped in for a moment before turning back around.

“Is something wrong?” Gabriel asked, taking a step forward, only to stop in his tracks when Henry leaned forward to place a kiss on his cheek.

“Have a good night Gabriel.” the door closed softly behind Dr. Jekyll.

[lilacmoon83]

Dreaming Out Loud

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 125: An Untold Story

As they entered the tavern, they looked around and saw many different types of people. There were what looked like Vikings at the dart board, a pair in a booth in clothing that suggested they might have been from Agrabah, and even a few people dressed in clothing generally found in the Land Without Magic.

Behind the bar was an olive skinned man, who eyed them knowingly and tossed the towel he was wiping the bar with away.

"Well...this is something. It's not everyday that the Supreme Goddess visits my humble little Tavern," Aesop said.

"It's been a long time, Aesop," Persephone greeted.

"Your Majesties," he said, bowing to all of them, except Van Helsing.

"You've been scarce lately, Van Helsing," he mentioned.

"Yes, well Transylvania is a shit hole. The bloodsuckers keep me busy," he said, as he sat down at the bar.

"I'll take some of that special brew you make though," he said, as Aesop poured him a very big glass of ale.

"We're not here to drink," Persephone chided, as Van Helsing began to down the large mug.

"She's right...we're here to pay a visit to Dr. Jekyll. One I doubt he'll enjoy," Hades added.

"I feel that we can do both," Van Helsing replied, as he continued to drink and Hades rolled his eyes.

"You are useless," he argued.

"Oh that's rich coming from you, blue hair," he quipped.

"Speak of the Devil," Aesop commented, as a bespectacled gentleman came into the tavern. Hades gave him a look for that comment.

"Sorry...bad joke," he offered, as they turned to observe the man.

"So that's him? Dr. Jekyll?" Emma asked.

"Don't let his appearance fool you...he's barking mad," Van Helsing said, as he concealed himself so as to not spook the doctor right away.

"Dr. Jekyll…" Persephone called, as the doctor approached curiously.

"Yes...to whom am I speaking?" he questioned.

"Persephone," she said.

"And Hades," he added. The doctor looked quite intrigued by that.

"It's not often the Gods of Olympus bother with this land...especially since they like to pretend that it doesn't exist," he commented.

"To what do we owe such a privilege?" he questioned.

"We have much to discuss, doctor and we are here to give you a firm cease and desist warning," she said.

"Cease and desist? I'm not sure what you mean?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Cut the mild mannered, well meaning act, doctor. We are well acquainted with your work and that you and Hyde have been making visits to the Land Without Magic," Hades replied. The doctor's well meaning smile changed instantly to a more devious smirk.

"The authorities in New York are generally overwhelmed with work. They'll hardly notice a few missing homeless people and prostitutes. In a way, you could even argue that I'm helping to clean up their streets," he said, causing Snow to gasp in alarm.

"Who are you friends?" Jekyll inquired.

"Never mind them...they are none of your concern," Persephone warned.

"Forget they exist if you know what's good for you," Hades added.

"Interesting...that must mean family," he said, as he looked between Snow and Persephone.

"Oh yes...the resemblance is quite striking. It is easy to see where your daughter gets her incredible, fair beauty," he mused.

"A Demi-Goddess…" he said, as he looked at Snow and then Emma.

"Two Demi-Goddesses, I assume," he stated, as David put his arms around Snow and made a point to put himself in front of his wife and daughter.

"Demi-Goddess blood...now that would be fascinating to experiment with," he commented, nearly causing David to launch himself at the doctor, but he was stalled when Van Helsing made his presence known. But the doctor seemed unfazed.

"You really should be more discreet, monster hunter. I've known you were here since the moment you entered this realm," he said. David turned to Aesop.

"Did you tell him?" he questioned.

"A little accusatory, Prince Charming…" Aesop retorted.

"I didn't tell you who I was," David countered, but the other man only smirked.

"I was the author at one time. I'm still familiar with all the realms of story, especially yours and your lovely Snow White's. It is one of the most prominent, though many other mainstream authors have gotten your story quite wrong," he mentioned.

"But as they have since their family stole the authorship from me, the Grimms got the honor of recording the real story of Snow White and Prince Charming; the tale of a legendary true love above all others," he added.

"Wow...bitter much?" Emma taunted and he smirked.

"And then there is the Savior. Another epic I was deprived of writing. The product of this true and legendary love that would break the Evil Queen's dark curse and save an entire population of damned people," he regaled.

"But I started it all. I paved the way for those authors...for entire Grimm family, only for them to toss me aside and bar me from ever picking up a pen again," he added.

"Yep...that's a lot of bitter," Emma commented.

"History even doubts my existence and all because the Grimm brothers wanted the glory," he added.

"We're sorry that happened to you, but this man is killing people and might be endangering everyone in our Kingdom and many others," Snow interjected.

"Not my problem, Princess," Aesop retorted.

"It will be if you help this monster again," Van Helsing said, as he prodded Jekyll forward.

"Come along doctor...time to release all the poor people trapped in your asylum," he said, as they followed him. But they missed the smirk on Jekyll's face, as he led them there.

~*~

The agents looked around the diner, seemingly confused by how normal it seemed. Neal stood up, motioning his son to stay with his great grandfather.

"Can I help you?" he asked, showing his badge on his hip.

"Law enforcement?" the woman asked.

"Deputy Cassidy," he introduced himself.

"Deputy...is there a Sheriff around?" she asked.

"Out of town," he replied.

"Then I guess you'll have to do," she said, as she flashed her badge.

"Supervising Special Agent Julia Isaac with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she said.

"These are agents Mason, Cade, O'Bryan, and Quinn," she added.

"What can I do for you?" Neal asked, playing it cool.

"You can give us access to your criminal files. We're here to reopen the murder investigation into Kurt Flynn," she replied.

"Kurt Flynn...doesn't ring a bell," Neal replied.

"That's not surprising, given that it's a thirty-year-old cold case. But you do have Kurt Flynn's son in your custody and another man that broke this case wide open. We need to interview them too," she said, as she produced a warrant.

"This is a warrant for the seizure of your entire database," she said.

"I can take you to the station...just need to make a call really quick," Neal replied. She smirked.

"So you can have someone get rid of the files we want? I don't think so. You're going to lead us to the police station and you can do it in cuffs if you'd like," she threatened.

"Go…" Eli urged, as Henry ran out of the diner.

"Stop that boy!" she called, as two of her agents chased after him, while Eli and Neal were cuffed.

"So that's it...you just walk into town and take over? Is that warrant even real? Neal questioned.

"We're looking at castles and we saw a flying unicorn on the way here. Does it really matter if it's real?" she countered. Neal scoffed.

"That wasn't a unicorn. They have horns. Only a Pegasus flies. Get your facts straight," Neal joked.

"Cute...but will you be so smug when my agents catch up to your son?" she asked.

"He's a kid, but underestimating my son would be pretty stupid," Neal answered, as they were marched to the station.

"So you're Neal Cassidy, which is definitely an alias. So who are you?" agent Quinn asked. Eli smirked.

"I am Your Majesty King Elijah," he answered.

"Another comedian...that's fine. You'll be singing another song soon when you see what you're facing," Quinn stated.

"And exactly what is my crime? And I wasn't joking about the King thing. My castle is the one farthest north of here," he retorted.

"This is all insane," O'Bryan commented.

"Yeah...you have no idea how in over your heads you really are," Neal warned, as they approached the station. He could only hope that Henry found Regina before those other two agents caught up to him.

~*~

They followed a captive Jekyll onto the grounds of the Asylum, which was a dreary building surrounded by an attractive garden.

"How many people do you have locked up here?" Snow questioned.

"Most of my cells are full. But many are transients or mentally ill patients. To those that society has forgotten...I have given purpose," Jekyll claimed.

"Purpose? They're people you have locked up! You're killing them!" Snow shouted.

"I should have known that your daughter would be the bleeding heart type, Your Majesty," Jekyll commented.

"Take care how you speak of our daughter," Hades warned.

"Our daughter...isn't she the child that your wife conceived with a mortal prince?" The doctor questioned.

"Papa Hades is as much my father as my biological father is," Snow interjected, making him chuckle.

"Papa Hades...now that is amusing," Jekyll said.

"Yeah...keep laughing at my wife and you'll have done your last experiment," David warned.

"The great monster hunter, Van Helsing, hasn't been able to kill me yet. Do you really think you can, Prince Charming, is it?" He retorted.

"Do you really want to find out?" David growled in return.

"Charming...is that really your name? A little narcissistic to call yourself that, isn't it?" He goaded.

"If you must know, I gave him that name and he most certainly lives up to it in every way," Snow insisted, as they went inside the facility.

"Okay...let's start by releasing all these people and then you'll take us to the place you keep meeting the Dragon," Persephone said.

"Oh, I think not," Jekyll responded, as a high-pitched sonic wave blared from the intercom. He seemed impervious to it, but the rest of them covered their ears in pain and promptly lost consciousness. Jekyll removed some specialized, tiny pads from his ears, as Mr. Poole approached.

"Thank you Mr. Poole. Please put Persephone, her husband, and the monster hunter in a magic dampening cell," Jekyll ordered.

"And the other three?" He asked. He smirked.

"Oh, they are quite interesting. Bring them to my lab," he replied.

~*~

Henry ran as fast as he could through the woods, weaving around trees and cried out, as he tripped over a branch that was sticking out of the ground. He fell down, but then scrambled to his feet, intending to keep running. But the two agents caught up to him and cornered him.

"Easy kid...we just want to talk," agent Mason said.

"Yeah right...you just arrested my dad and he didn't do anything!" Henry cried.

"Actually, I put your dad's name into the database and he's a wanted man. His name popped up in Phoenix and Portland for grand larceny. Looks like he's been dodging the authorities for years," Agent Cade said. Henry looked fearful at that. Not only were they here to take one of his moms, but possibly his dad too.

"Come on kid, let's get you to the station too. You can at least say goodbye to him," agent Mason said, but a growling halted him in his tracks, as a giant wolf blocked his path to Henry.

"Oh my God...shoot it!" agent Cade cried. The wolf snarled and Henry hopped on Red's back, as she took off with him, even as the agents fired their bullets uselessly.

"I've never seen a wolf that big before," Cade mentioned.

"Let's get to the station," Mason said.

"Agent Isaac won't be happy that we lost the kid," Cade replied. He snorted.

"Yeah, well we're both lucky we didn't just get mauled by that wolf," he answered.

~*~

Snow mewled gently, as she opened her bleary eyes. She looked around and quickly noticed that her arms and legs were being held in place with restraints.

"Ah...you're awake," Jekyll said, as he approached.

"Let us go!" Snow cried, as she saw that her husband and her daughter were both in the same type of position she was.

"Oh, I'm afraid not, Princess Snow," he said.

"Queen Snow," she corrected.

"The last few hours of research and exams have been quite enthralling," he said, as she then noticed the machine that was in front of her husband, showing an x-ray of his chest and it was quite clear to see that he only had half a heart.

"Half a heart in his chest and half a heart in yours," Jekyll said, as she noticed the same type of device in front of her.

"Even in fairy tales, I never imagined something so fantastical could be possible," Jekyll mentioned.

"Well it is, but it is nothing scientific for you to study. It's true love," she refuted.

"True love...true love that produced this young woman," Jekyll said, as he referred to Emma.

"The resemblance between her and the both of you is quite obvious, but I wasn't sure it could possibly be so since she looks the same age. But the blood tests confirmed it. She is yours," Jekyll said.

"You didn't need a blood test for that, four eyes. You could have just asked," Emma grumbled, as she woke up.

"Emma…" Snow called, as her daughter tried to get her bearings.

"What the hell…" David growled, as he came to as well and found himself restrained.

"Charming…" Snow whimpered, as he looked at her.

"Snow…" he said, as he looked at the doctor.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"What do you want?" he demanded to know.

"Relax, Your Highness...I am almost finished with my examinations," Jekyll replied.

"The blood samples I took were quite fascinating," he continued.

"I expected the samples to be extraordinary, because of the Demi-Goddess blood, but I found his quite fascinating as well. There is an extraordinary quality to it as well, something I've never quite seen," he mentioned.

"And it's in your daughter's too," he added.

"Because of that...I have determined that she is the perfect candidate to test my serum on," Jekyll stated.

"Like hell…" David growled, as he pulled at the restraints with all his might.

"Your serum?" Snow asked with trepidation.

"Yes...so far, my serum has failed to complete the separation between a person's good side and their dark side. But I believe your daughter, due to her lineage and this strange anomaly in her blood, that she may be strong enough to survive it," Jekyll replied.

"Survive? You have tested others and they didn't survive?!" Snow exclaimed, as she started to panic.

"I'm afraid so...but you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure if anyone can survive, it would be the Savior," he said.

"You sick psychopath! We're not letting you test your insane serum on our daughter!" Charming cried, as he pulled on the restraints with all his might.

"Oh, I'm afraid that I'm going to do just that and there is nary a thing you can do about it, Charming," Jekyll responded, as he readied a syringe.

"Mom...dad…" Emma said, as she looked at them and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"I love you…" she said, clearly scared beyond belief at what was facing her. Snow began to sob and fruitlessly tried to get free.

"Emma…" she cried.

"Please don't do this! She's our baby...please!" she pleaded to the cold, unfeeling monster of a doctor, but her begging was paid no mind. David struggled desperately with the restraints and Snow's cries pierced his heart.

"Please! Please no!" she cried for their daughter, as the doctor approached her. Charming felt the fire coursing through his veins and as much as he had been leery of it up until now, he gave himself over to it and his arms glowed red, as he literally burned his way through the restraints.

"How did you…" Jekyll started to say, but he was cut off, as David punched him in the face, breaking his nose on contact. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

"Curse you…" Jekyll seethed, as the syringe lay broken on the floor and he glared up at the prince. David ignored him and undid Emma's restraints, as she hugged him tightly, before they both scrambled to undo Snow's.

"Mr. Poole!" Jekyll called, as the large man entered the lab and stood menacingly in the doorway. David cut him off, as he barreled toward them and ducked his large fist, before landing one of his own in the other man's gut. They traded blows and David ducked another jab to the face, taking the opportunity to punch him in the jaw. Mr. Poole hissed in pain and touched his chin, feeling that there was burned skin left by the prince's fist. He looked at him questioningly, before charging again. David was ready though and threw him over his shoulder. Mr. Poole went crashing into the doctor's lab table and equipment, including the large beaker that held all of the existing serum.

"NOOO!" Jekyll cried in horror, as he glared murderously at the prince.

"Do you know what you've just done?!" he screamed.

"That was years of work, you foolish brute!" he cried.

"That was all the serum I had in existence!" he ranted.

"Good...then maybe it will stop you from hurting anymore innocent people!" David shouted back, as the Doctor tried desperately to scoop some of the existing serum up into an empty vial, but it was a futile effort.

"You're going to pay for this, Prince Charming!" he screamed, as they noticed that a small fire had started, thanks to the Bunsen burner being upturned and making contact with the various liquids that now stained the floor.

"We need to find your parents and Van Helsing and get out of here," David said, as he ushered them toward the exit of the lab.

"Stop them Mr. Poole!" he cried. Unfortunately for them, they did not see that the fire had spread to the medical equipment present and the oxygen tank ignited, sending a plume of fire through the room. David pushed the three of them through the door and they escaped the flames. But Jekyll and his cohort were not so lucky and they both cried out, as they were caught in the inferno that was now the lab. Snow gasped and turned away from the sight. Mr. Poole was completely engulfed and the poor man's cries slowly dissipated, as he perished. Jekyll growled and tried to crawl toward them. He had suffered burns on his face and body, but was still very much alive at the moment.

"This isn't over…" he growled, as he cried out and started to convulse. They watched in horror, as he changed into someone else, who they could only assume was Mr. Hyde.

"Run...we need to get everyone out of here, before this whole place goes up!" David cried, as he ushered his wife and daughter forward. They hurried through the corridors, as an insane and badly burned Hyde chased them.

"Snow!" Persephone called, as they rounded the corner and entered the cell block.

"Mom!" she called, as Emma tried to use magic on the lock.

"This is a magic dampening cell," Hades said, as they realized it wouldn't work.

"Maybe we can melt our way through, like you did with the restraints," Emma said to her father, as they both put their hands on the bars and began to do so. Van Helsing smirked.

"You're both learning fast...that's good," he said, as he looked up to see a deranged Hyde coming at them.

"Whoa...what the hell happened to him?" he asked.

"An oxygen tank exploded on him," Emma replied, as they melted enough of the metal away for the three of them to slip through. The rest of the cells were not dampened by magic, so Persephone and Hades used their magic to snap the locks on all the cells.

"Everyone out! This whole place is about to go up!" Hades called, as they started filing people toward the exit.

"Get them out of here...I'll get the rest with magic," Hades told his son-in-law. David nodded, as grabbed Snow and Emma's hands, before leading them out.

Within a matter of minutes, the entire asylum was completely engulfed, but luckily they had gotten everyone out, with the exception of Hyde.

"Oh Snow…" Persephone gushed, as she hugged her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

"Do you think he survived?" Snow asked with trepidation.

"It's hard to say. Even Jekyll and Hyde have their limits, but since he was Hyde, I wouldn't count him out just yet," Van Helsing replied.

"He was going to test his serum on Emma," she said fearfully, but then put her arms around her husband.

"But then Dad saved me. He burned his way right through the restraints," Emma said, with pride and Snow kissed him passionately.

"We need to relocate these people and then find where this Order that the Dragon is working with so we can shut them down," Hades said.

"Uh...most of these people are from the Land Without Magic," Emma whispered.

"And Jekyll said most of them are homeless," Snow added. Persephone nodded.

"Can any of you show us where you were taken from when we get to New York?" she asked.

"I...I think I can," one young woman said.

"But who are you people?" she asked.

"That's a very complicated story, but just know that we're going to return to New York and you'll all have beds to sleep in tonight," Persephone answered.

"What about all this stuff we've seen? Who the hell is going to believe any of this?" a man asked.

"No one and trust us, it's best that way," Hades replied, as his wife used a key to open a portal to the Land Without Magic.

After they left, a badly burned and injured Hyde crawled from the burning building. He yelled out a blood curdling scream of rage and agony, promising that he was not done and he would seek revenge...

[mimosaeyes]

Stuff I’ve been reading in 2017

The third annual reading list! (Here’s 2015 in two parts, and 2016.) School was killing my love of reading but I refused to let it. And so here we are, three years and 280 books later.

I’ve taken the liberty of bolding my favourite reads this year, and including some background about how I came to read what I did. Here we go:

I pseudo-resolved to read slower this year, and savour books that need time to seep in. Longer books tend to fit that profile for me, so I went and read the longest book in my home library.

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, translated from the Russian by Rosemary Edmonds (reflections here)

Don’t know how I zeroed in on this gem in a Kinokuniya bookstore, but I love it and you should definitely read it. Go. Go now. I was two years slow on the uptake for Pulley’s debut, but when her second novel came out this year, I literally ordered it online in 0.0002 seconds. It’s number 51 on this list.

2. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

I can’t summarise how I feel about this next one. It just gets to me. After reading it, I went on to watch the film as well as its 20-years-later sequel. I might read some more by Welsh, but gosh the Scottish accent is hard to decipher.

3. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Perfect for bringing along on my first semester studying overseas.

4. Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord

And then the school texts start! As does leisure/procrastination reading: all the Neruda and Sexton poetry, plus Dostoevsky. Only novels, novellas, plays, and anthologies are listed here; this semester I studied many isolated short stories and poems. Books I read twice are the ones I happened to write essays on – it doesn’t necessarily mean I liked them a lot. (In fact, if I really like a book, sometimes I deliberately avoid writing about it, because analysing something too much can ruin it.) I read all the poetry aloud, because poetry, but I worry also in part because the silence in my room was getting oppressively lonely.

5. Joe Cinque’s Consolation by Helen Garner 6. Bereft by Chris Womersley (twice, actually) 7. Melanctha by Gertrude Stein 8. Breath by Tim Winton (twice, actually) 9. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 10. Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems edited by Nathaniel Tarn, translated from the Spanish by Anthony Kerrigan, W. S. Merwin, Alastair Reid, and Nathaniel Tarn 11. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 12. Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (out loud just because) 13. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky 14. To Bedlam and Part Way Back by Anne Sexton 15. All My Pretty Ones by Anne Sexton 16. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (twice, actually; pseudo-thrice) 17. Live Or Die by Anne Sexton 18. Love Poems by Anne Sexton 19. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde 20. Transformations by Anne Sexton 21. The Book of Folly by Anne Sexton 22. Sorry by Gail Jones 23. The Death Notebooks by Anne Sexton 24. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (her second novel is number 79) 25. The Awful Rowing Toward God by Anne Sexton 26. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 27. 45 Mercy Street by Anne Sexton 28. Words for Dr. Y. by Anne Sexton

In the break between semesters, I marathoned several TV shows (oops) and revisited a book series from my childhood. (Which, incidentally, ends in a greatly upsetting way?) That series is bookended by two novels which are companions to each other.

29. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 30. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer 31. Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer 32. Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer 33. Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer 34. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer 35. Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer 36. Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer 37. Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer 38. The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce

Back to school! Again, quite a few short stories and poems not reflected here. 42, 48, 49, 51, and 57 for leisure; the rest were for my courses.

39. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (twice, actually; making it thrice in two years, dammit) 40. The Hunter by Julia Leigh (twice, actually) 41. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney 42. Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller 43. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 44. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin 45. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (twice, actually) 46. Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz 47. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 48. My Career Goes Bung by Miles Franklin 49. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz 50. Bad Behaviour by Mary Gaitskill 51. The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley 52. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon 53. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead 54. Simulations by Jean Baudrillard, translated from the French by Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman 55. Frisk by Dennis Cooper 56. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (twice, actually) 57.《边城》沈从文 著 58. Motion Sickness by Lynne Tillman 59. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (twice, actually) 60. Affinity by Sarah Waters 61. The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner 62. The Twyborn Affair by Patrick White (twice, actually)

The school year concluded, while still in Australia I read books I’d been given or chose on whims. I bought number 65 in Cairns Airport because I had nothing to read for the rest of a five-day trip; I’d started and finished number 63 during my domestic flight on day one. Clearly I’d underestimated how much I still wanted to read, having overloaded during the semester.

63. Mãn by Kim Thúy, translated from the French by Sheila Fischman 64. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (no words, only illustrations; please, please experience it for yourself) 65. And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave (it’s a Bible reference; think Southern Gothic)

Back home once more, I had access to my personal library, as well our national libraries! Although I’d embarked on a big crochet project as a Christmas present for some close family friends, I went pretty hard in the rest of my free time, which was abundant, because unemployment.

Some of these books just caught my eye on the shelf. Some have been on my To Read list for ages, because of friends’ recommendations (76 and 77, for instance) or because I figured I needed to see what the hype was all about (81 through 83, and 85 through 87). On the subject of YA fiction: no offence if you’re a fan of the genre, or indeed of these two series in particular, but to me it tends to feel like the literary equivalent of empty calories — easy reading that makes for a change of pace from books like 79, or 76. I read each trilogy in a day. Also, yes I realise I’m very late to the party; I haven’t watched the movies, either. Heh.

66. The Great and Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms by Ian Thornton 67. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (on which Studio Ghibli’s The Borrower Arrietty is based) 68. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (before I went to watch the movie) 69. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka 70. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (on which Studio Ghibli’s film of the same name is based) 71. Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories by Mikhail Shishkin, translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz, Leo Shtutin, Sylvia Maizell, and Mariya Bashkatova 72. The Sage of Waterloo by Leona Francombe 73. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 74. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom 75. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez 76. White Teeth by Zadie Smith 77. Uprooted by Naomi Novik 78. How To Be Both by Ali Smith 79. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (her first novel is number 24; I’ll read her third in the new year, as it demands slow enjoyment) 80. The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff 81. The Maze Runner by James Dashner 82. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner 83. The Death Cure by James Dasher 84. Jip by Katherine Paterson 85. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 86. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 87. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 88. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

And that’s it: another year in books! Do note that thanks to my new theme, I now put updates in the sidebar about what I’m currently reading and watching, respectively. So if you’re ever curious, mosey on over, I guess.

In the new year, I’ll be creating a Goodreads account specially to complement my (admittedly infrequent) postings here. I haven’t gotten an account there previously because the star rating system seemed so reductive, but I have since realised that if professional movie critics can do it, I ought to stop being so high and mighty. Besides, I’m curious about the Goodreads community, and might want to try my hand at writing a couple of reviews, if I find the time and energy.

See you in 2018, everyone!

(Update: here is my Goodreads profile!)

[mindfulwrath]

Silver, Part I

Because I literally cannot resist writing things and because Henry Jekyll has always been Highkey Relatable™ for me (and because there’s a notable lack of my boy G. J. Utterson in the comic), here’s a short TGS fic.

Let me know if you want more? I could keep going.

Words: 3,917 Warnings: None Part II

"I dislike that Hyde fellow immensely," said Utterson. Jekyll froze halfway through uncorking the wine.

"Well," he said, picking his composure up off the floor and dusting it off, "he is a bit rough around the edges, hah hah. One gets used to him after a while."

"I've spoken with Lanyon about him," Utterson said. "He doesn't like him, either."

What a shock, Jekyll thought, although the words had a distinctly Hyde-ish cast to them. He shook himself, pouring out two glasses of wine. If he filled his a little fuller than he ought to have, it was only because it had been a stressful few days.

"Robert dislikes anyone and everyone who didn't go to school with him," Jekyll said, ferrying a glass of wine to Utterson and settling into the armchair next to his. He had a sip of his wine, hoping to encourage Utterson to do the same. The lawyer became significantly more pliant after a couple of glasses.

"Neither one of us can work out what you see in the man," Utterson went on, dogged. "Lanyon seems particularly disturbed by it. He worries at it constantly. He's of the opinion that the man has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and certainly none that you would find endearing."

"Ah, jealousy, that green-eyed monster," Jekyll remarked, smiling to himself.

Oy, Hyde muttered, scowling. Jekyll sipped his wine again.

"Is it warranted?" Utterson asked bluntly. Jekyll flushed from his chest to his hairline.

"Absolutely not," he snapped. "My association with Mr. Hyde is—is purely, purely professional."

Well done, Hyde said dryly. Very convincing.

Utterson raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"I just hope you know what you're doing," he said. He finally took a sip of his wine. He closed his eyes and sighed all the tension out of his shoulders.

"I do," said Jekyll. "And of course, I appreciate your concern. Yours and Lanyon's, both. I understand that Mr. Hyde is . . . unusual company. I hope you can understand that he is useful despite that."

How kind of you, said Hyde. All this flattery's going to go to my head.

"And yet," said Utterson, "you seem unwilling to use him."

"As a scapegoat, yes, I'm rather reluctant," Jekyll said, his tongue going sharp. He took a gulp of wine to soften it. "A person might almost get the idea that you and Lanyon are simply trying to get rid of the man and have seized upon this as a prime opportunity."

"I'm trying to help you, Henry," Utterson said gently.

Jekyll let out a slow breath, rubbing his face.

"I know," he said, the exhaustion catching up with him. "I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drag you into this mess, it's only—"

"You needed a lawyer," said Utterson. "Desperately, by my estimates."

"Rather," Jekyll admitted.

A lull came over them. Utterson swirled his wine and had another sip.

"Would you like to know how I can tell?" he said.

"Regale me," said Jekyll, gesturing expansively.

"It's because you've broken out the Claret," he said, a very faint smile on his very serious face. "And a fine vintage, as well."

Jekyll sighed, regarding Utterson fondly.

"You've caught me out," he said. "I admit I thought myself particularly clever for that one."

"Well, you've succeeded in putting me in a better mood," said Utterson. "I would, of course, have helped you anyway, but I would have been annoyed about it."

"Of course," said Jekyll. "I know it's asking terribly much of you, especially since I won't be able to pay right away, considering the Society's—"

Utterson waved him off, having another sip of wine.

"Pro bono, Henry," he said.

"Gabriel," Jekyll said, struck. "You—you can't. It'll put you out of house and home. You must at least let me pay you back once things have settled, I insist."

"Well," said Utterson, and there was that minute twinkle in his eye that told Jekyll he'd just walked right into a trap. "There is something you could do for me, if you insist that anything must be done."

"What is it?" said Jekyll. He did not say, Anything. He had put his foot in that one just a few too many times.

"You could stop seeing Mr. Hyde," said Utterson. "Fire him, ban him from the Society, cut off your association with the man."

"I've already told you, I'm not throwing him to the wolves," Jekyll said, bristling.

Don't let dear little Jasper hear you say that one, Hyde remarked. Jekyll would have kicked him if he could.

"That's not what I said," said Utterson, with infinite patience. "I asked that you stop associating with him. Just let him go his own way. The man's been nothing but trouble since he arrived. I do dislike him immensely, Henry."

"He is an important part of this organization," Jekyll said tightly, his hand clenched on his wine glass, "and I see no reason why he should be let go."

"I see no reason why he should be kept on," said Utterson. "If you could explain it to me, I'd be most appreciative. I do still intend to represent you and the Society, if that affects your answering at all. I'm asking this as a favor. I'm asking it as a friend."

Jekyll took his time answering. He drank some of his wine. He forced himself to relax his hand before he shattered the glass.

"Mr. Hyde has access to people and places that I do not," he said eventually. "People and places that I can't access, if I'm to maintain any sort of respectability."

"First of all, I imagine there's hundreds of people like that," said Utterson. "And second of all, from what I've seen, the only danger to your respectability is Hyde."

"What is it about him that impressed you so unfavorably?" Jekyll demanded. "When I spoke with him about you, he told me it was a pleasant and uneventful meeting."

Utterson cocked one dark eyebrow.

"Did he," he said. "That wasn't my experience."

"I know he can be a bit . . . sharp, yes, but—"

"It wasn't his sharpness that concerned me," said Utterson, cutting him off. "Nor his abrasiveness, nor his impropriety. No, Mr. Hyde struck me as a singularly irresponsible and disreputable man, intensely selfish, with as much regard for you and the Society as most men have for a slug."

Hah! He's not wrong, said Hyde.

"That is why I feel it's best for you to let him go," Utterson concluded. "That is why I dislike him. That is why I am so puzzled as to the nature of your relationship with the man."

"I appreciate your concern, my dear friend," Jekyll said wearily. "And I promise you that the instant Mr. Hyde makes himself more trouble than he is worth, I shall be rid of him forever."

The hell you will, said Hyde, suddenly much less jovial.

"I'm having difficulty understanding how that instant hasn't already come and gone," said Utterson.

"Yes, I suppose you would," said Jekyll, his politic wearing thin. "You've never had the time nor patience for anyone even an inch below your station, not to mention your complete lack of any imagination whatsoever."

"But I do imagine things, and the things that I imagine might be driving this very peculiar partnership upset me," said Utterson. "I'm worried about you, Henry. I'm worried you've gotten in over your head. I wish you would talk to me. I wish you would take pity on my imagination and explain."

"My business with Mr. Hyde is my own," Jekyll said.

That'll definitely convince him it's a ~professional~ relationship, said Hyde.

"Yes, but Henry—"

"Gabriel, how long have we been friends?" Jekyll interrupted. "You know I'm not the sort to get myself into trouble I can't get back out of. Trust me. I'll know when I'm in over my head."

You're in so far over your head you can't even see the surface, Hyde said, derisive. But at least you know it!

Utterson sighed, shaking his head. "I can't say I understand," he said, "but I'll trust you to know yourself and your own business best."

"Thank you," Jekyll said warmly. "Shall I top off your glass for you, and we'll discuss what's to be done about the current, ah, immolated state of the Society?"

"Yes," said Utterson, "I think that sounds appropriate."

It took approximately four years for Jekyll to rid himself of Utterson. Eventually he had to resort to getting him too drunk for polite company, at which point Utterson did the decent thing and excused himself, albeit somewhat unsteadily.

When he had gone, Jekyll drew the curtains and sank back into his armchair, his face in his hands. He couldn't recall the last time he'd slept properly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept at all. He'd somehow managed to talk Utterson around to pinning the explosion on the theater company next door, instead of on Hyde—now that the talking was over, he couldn't remember how he'd done it.

The taste of silver was bitter on his tongue. He wondered idly if it was poisoning him. It certainly wasn't pleasant.

He heaved himself up and opened another bottle of wine, this one of a much less fine vintage. He no longer had anyone to impress. Perhaps if he went through enough of them, he could sleep, or at least pass out.

It's hilarious to watch you sticking up for me, Hyde said. You should do it more often.

"Go away," Jekyll sighed.

So do you think they figure I'm blackmailing you? he asked anyway. Ooh, or maybe they think we're ~romantically involved~! Imagine the look on proper Dr. Lanyon's face while he pictures you in bed with—

"Gutter trash?" Jekyll supplied.

What?! Hyde cried. How dare you! I am a diamond in the rough, I am a night-spirit, I am—

"Gutter trash," Jekyll said happily.

I'm you, Hyde snarled. Gutter trash, yourself, or you would be, without that shiny ~reputation~ you love so much. It's a shell. It's a sham. Deep inside, you're everything I am. Not so shiny once you take the polish off, are you, dear doctor?

Jekyll's jaw clenched. He turned his back and poured himself a glass of wine. He slugged half of it down in one gulp.

Oh, hit a nerve, did I? Hyde said.

Jekyll drank the rest of his wine.

I'll take that as a yes, he said smugly.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble for one day?" Jekyll asked.

No such thing, said Hyde. And I didn't cause anything. Moreau did, and I killed him. Don't know if you noticed that. They should be giving me a medal, instead of persecuting me.

"You blew up the building!"

Moreau's flamethrower blew up the building, said Hyde, pouting.

"Because you dropped a caber on it! I told you not to do it, and you didn't listen, and now the whole Society's a burnt-out shell!"

So much the better. It was due for a good cleaning-out.

"I should have let you burn," Jekyll said nastily. "I should throw you under the wheels like Robert and Gabriel advised."

Go ahead, Hyde said, his lip curling. Enjoy ruining your precious reputation. You wouldn't last a week without me. I'll enjoy watching you drag your own name through the mud.

"Is that a challenge?" Jekyll asked.

It is now, said Hyde. One week. Let's see how well you hold up. It's a shame you couldn't have waited a bit. Now you won't get to go to the Blackfog Bazaar at all.

"That was already off the table," said Jekyll, although a pang shot through his chest. "There's too much else to be done. Sleeping, for once, for example."

Sleep when you're dead, said Hyde, shrugging. You're so boring.

"And you are exhausting," said Jekyll. He leaned his back against the cabinet and shut his eyes. He let out a slow breath through his mouth. A pair of phantom arms looped around his shoulders. The mane of blond hair leaned against his head, no weightier than a dandelion.

Just don't tell Lanyon I've been keeping you up all night, Hyde said. He'll have an aneurism. Not that that wouldn't be hilarious. Actually, now that I've thought of it, do tell him that. I want to see him pop.

"You have an uncanny knack for phrasing things in absolutely the most revolting way possible," said Jekyll. He considered another glass of wine, but that would have meant moving, and he was much too tired to move. He could stand to let Hyde lounge on him for a while, if it meant he could snatch a few moments of stillness.

Someone's got to tarnish that silver tongue of yours, said Hyde. Although I suppose that for the next week, you'll have to do it yourself, won't you. If you can stomach it.

"I managed three decades without you," said Jekyll. "I can manage seven days."

Can you? he inquired, amused. This is one genie that won't go back in the bottle, dear doctor. You snapped your soul in half, and there's no glue in the world that can stick it back together.

"I broke it," said Jekyll, "I can fix it whenever I want."

Hah! Such confidence. Such unswerving hubris! Do you even listen to yourself when you talk? Now that you've had a taste of what life is like with the shackles off, you'll never be able to resign yourself back to them.

"I can, and I will," said Jekyll. "You're nothing more than a—a fling, a temporary—"

Hyde burst out laughing, tightening his arms around Jekyll's shoulders.

It's no wonder everyone thinks we're screwing, he said. With you talking about me like that~

"You insufferable—"

There was a knock at the door. Hyde evanesced, like fog upon a windowpane. Jekyll struggled to collect himself, to swallow down the rage heating the backs of his teeth.

"Yes, come in," he said. With some effort, he creaked to his chair and lowered himself into it. Eyes down, he poured out some more wine.

The door eked open, and Jasper poked his head in.

"Um," he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, not at all," said Jekyll, beckoning. "Come in, come in. I promise I won't bite."

Unless he wants you to, Hyde sniggered. Jekyll sipped his wine and imagined it pouring down onto the bastard's puffy blond head.

"All right," said Jasper. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him, nearly pressing his back to it. "It's only, I thought I heard talking."

Jekyll's joints locked up. For a moment he couldn't breathe.

"Ah," he said. "Well. I do sometimes wind up talking to myself, hah hah. One of those scientific habits one sometimes forgets to put down."

"R-right," said Jasper. "Yeah, happens all the time."

Now he thinks you're crayyyzeeee~ Hyde sang. And he's right.

Jekyll flashed a tight smile at the boy and drank a bit more wine. His hands were shaking.

"So," he said. "I assume there was a reason you came to see me? Don't tell me something else has gone wrong. Please, hah hah, don't tell me that."

"Oh, no, Dr. Jekyll, nothing's gone wrong," said Jasper. "I just wanted to say, um. How sorry I am. About what happened at the Society. It seems like I've just been dragging trouble with me wherever I go—"

"Jasper, Jasper," said Jekyll, cutting him off. "What happened at the Society was not even remotely your fault. I know that sometimes it can feel that one brings trouble wherever one goes, but—well, the world is chaotic, and bad luck always does seem to come in waves. I'm just glad no one was seriously hurt. The building is replaceable. You aren't."

Jasper rubbed his arm, blushing.

"Oh," he said. "Gosh. Um. Right. I—I just felt like I could have done more. To stop Moreau. M-maybe if somebody else had got to him first, Mr. Hyde wouldn't've had to get involved, and . . . things might've gone differently. Or if—if we hadn't all stood about talking about Dr. Frankenstein, maybe we could've been more ready, and the Society wouldn't've got blown up."

"Again," said Jekyll, gently, "not your fault. From what I've heard, there was a great deal of standing about jabbering from all parties involved, especially Mr. Hyde."

"Right," said Jasper. He looked exceedingly uncomfortable. "Um, Dr. Jekyll—"

"It's Henry, Jasper," said Jekyll. "Please, call me Henry."

Oh my God, you two-faced snake, Hyde said, delighted. Stealing poor Rachel's wolflet. She'll be heartbroken, you greedy bastard.

"Oh, yeah," said Jasper, a shy smile tugging at his mouth. "Sorry. Um. Henry. I know this is sort of personal, and I've really got no right to ask, but—where were you last night?"

"Where any sane man would be at that hour," said Jekyll. "In bed. I got here as soon as I could, once I heard what was happening, but—not soon enough, unfortunately."

"Right, yeah, of course," said Jasper, and chuckled nervously. "I dunno why, I just thought—well, I just thought you stayed at the Society with all the lodgers. Silly, now that I think about it, hah."

"It's not at all silly," said Jekyll. "I've been known to spend the night there, and I certainly do keep a room for myself."

My, what big eyes he has~, Hyde cooed. Jekyll resisted the temptation to grind his teeth.

"Sure," said Jasper. "Makes loads of sense."

"Was that all?" Jekyll asked. "I don't mean to hurry you out, but things have gotten rather busy, and—"

"No no, of course, sorry, I really didn't mean to bother you," Jasper said, falling all over himself. "If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know, anything at all. After everything you've done for me, honestly, I'd be happy to."

Ooh, listen to that, said Hyde. Think that silver tongue of yours could talk him into bed? You could do with a little unwinding. If he's anything like the last werewolf, I bet his eyes aren't the biggest thing he's got~

"Thank you, Jasper, but there's nothing for now," Jekyll said. Jasper winced at the annoyance in his voice, and Jekyll sighed, rubbing his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to speak so harshly. It's been a rough day."

"It's fine," said Jasper, mousily. "I'll leave you alone, I'm sure you're horrifically busy."

At the insistence of his conscience, Jekyll got up and crossed to Jasper, laid an avuncular hand on his arm.

"I am never too busy for you, Jasper," he said. "And I promise you, things aren't usually this . . . exciting, here. Once all this business is taken care of, we'll get you properly settled in."

Jasper, slouching and awkward, looked up at Jekyll and smiled. The sincerity of it warmed him.

Kiss him, Hyde whispered. Go on, come on, put that silver tongue to better use.

"Thanks, Dr—Henry," said Jasper, dropping his gaze and turning his face away. "Gosh, I just feel awful about all of this. Especially with the exposition coming up so soon."

Jekyll hooked a finger under his chin and gently lifted it for him.

"Chin up, dear boy," he said. "It's only a minor setback."

Do it do it do it do it do it, Hyde chanted, like a locomotive. Come on, he's right there, the door's closed, no one will ever know!

Jasper laughed nervously, extracting himself from Jekyll's hands. Jekyll couldn't deny that the rebuff stung, but he swallowed it before it could get onto his face. There was more than enough wine left to salve that particular wound. He folded his arms behind his back, cradling his elbows in his palms.

"Right," said Jasper. "Science . . . marches on!"

"Science marches on," Jekyll agreed. He opened the door for Jasper and stood aside. "Do take care, Jasper."

"I will," he said. "You too . . . Henry."

And with that he scurried out, still slouching abominably but with a notable spring in his step. Jekyll shut the door again.

My God, you've got it bad, Hyde said. He was lounging in the cabinet glass, chin propped on his laced fingers, kicking his feet like a schoolgirl. Is it because he's naïve enough to take advantage of, or because he's desperate enough that he's easy to manipulate?

"Mr. Kaylock is a promising young scientist and my interest in him is purely professional," Jekyll said, keeping his voice down. He went back to his desk and sat. The temptation to lay his head down and sleep was almost overwhelming.

Oh? said Hyde, eyes twinkling. Just like your interest in ~me?~

"The vast majority of my current interest in you is working out whether or not you can be drowned," Jekyll growled.

A breath of green smoke swirled lazily out of the open mouth of the wine bottle.

You can always try, Hyde invited.

Jekyll did not dignify this with a response. With rust in all his joints, he set about taking care of the least formidable stack of paperwork he could find.

You know what I've noticed about wee little Jasper? Hyde asked, unprompted.

"I am working," said Jekyll.

I've noticed that wee little Jasper bears a ~striking~ resemblance to one spirit of London at night, Hyde oozed.

"He is nothing like you," Jekyll snapped, before he could stop himself. It wouldn't have mattered much—Hyde would have heard him think it anyway—but at least he could have maintained a better semblance of composure.

My dear doctor, he is everything like me, said Hyde, grinning. And what a foul Narcissus that paints you to be. Revolting.

"Go away," Jekyll said, his voice trembling with the tension it took to restrain his fury.

Why don't you make me? I was under the impression you could ~be rid of me~ any time you wanted. Or was that just another lie on the mound that hides your real face from your so-called friends?

"Is that a challenge?" Jekyll said darkly.

Hah! As if you could ever get rid of me, even if you wanted to.

Jekyll turned his chair around to face Hyde where he lurked in the cabinet. His hand strayed to the top drawer, the locked drawer. His fingertips brushed the handle. Hyde flowed down like a river in flood and gripped his wrist with more strength than any phantom ought to have.

You wouldn't dare, he snarled.

Jekyll met his eyes—his own eyes, reflected in the glass of the cabinet.

"Wouldn't I?" he said softly.

All your work would be lost. All your pain, all your desperate scrabbling at the walls would be for nothing—

"Science marches on," Jekyll said. "I don't have to be the one to carry it."

I'll burn your notes, Hyde threatened.

"Good," said Jekyll.

For a breathless moment, neither of them moved.

Hyde let go. Jekyll removed his hand from the locked drawer.

"Now if you don't mind," Jekyll said, turning back to his desk, "I've got to continue cleaning up your mess."

You won't last two days, Hyde hissed, and vanished.

Jekyll sat for a moment, basking in the silence. It was a small victory, but he'd take what he could get.

With slightly steadier hands, he poured himself a glass of wine and bent to the paperwork.

[faithandfairies]

Regina: "I'm Getting Henry & Emma Back" (Once Upon A Time S6E21)

Henry season 1: 

(x)

Emma 4x01: 

(x)

Regina 6x21: 

(x)

Emma 6x22: *Returns to Storybrooke, starts believing in the possibility of family and happy endings, in herself and her ability to make it happen, again.

Regina and Emma 6x22: 

(x)

*Regina: is seemingly happy. Has no boyfriend. What she has is the love and respect of the people and...family, Henry and Emma back. And the Charmings.”

*Emma: looks happy walking her son to the schoolbus with his other mother.

Also Emma:  *Is with Hook and...

(x)

(x)

Also Emma in 6x21: 

*Stops believing in fairy tales and happy endings. Forgets who Regina is. The first realm to go (or rather that seemingly disappears and/or where everyone’s attention is drawn to its disappearance-the hatter’s hat* used to go to its doorway of all things- ) is the gay/lesbian realm, OZ. 

(x)

Oz is the realm where Ruby and Dorothy found love, the only seemingly out and proud gay/lesbian fairy tale love story we’ve had.

I’d also like to point out that I think OZ was the one realm we didn’t see get restored once Emma believed again.  I mean, they showed us that the door was restored, but we didn’t get to go in. Whereas we got to enter all the other realms that have been on the show, aside from Hyde’s as well. The realm of Untold Stories. Interesting that of all the realms these two were left out. I’d also like to point out that Hyde was the part of himself that Jekyll hid.

I also decided to examine what the realms we did get to enter are known for.

Arrendelle: Interesting first choice to show us. This one is all about sisterly love. And friendship. About an act of true love that can thaw a frozen heart. It’s about hiding who you are for fear of what people will think of you. And accepting who you are in the end. It’s also about how true love and belief trump fear

Neverland: This one is all about belief. In yourself, in who you are and what you’re capable of. It’s about the child within that believes in magic and hasn’t lost that sense of wonder. On the show it seemed to also be about the search for what you want, for what will sustain you and your happiness.

Wonderland: I don’t know what this one is about. Escapism maybe? Escaping reality in favor of fantasy. Escaping to a world where you can be yourself and find happiness. And on the show, possibly letting go of what oppresses you, what hurts you, what no longer serves you, grows you or makes you stronger.

Agrabah: This one is all about choice. That in the end what it comes down to is your own choices. The life/destiny/happy ending you choose. The people you choose to spend it with. That prophecies and getting your “wish(es)” can be great, but what can be even better is to make the choices that make you happy on your own. To create and fight for it yourself.

And finally, the Enchanted Forest:

Our characters’ story. The realm that seemingly started it all. The Queen that started it all, seemingly still waiting on...something. Even while looking blissful.

This realm is all about the loss of happy endings in my opinion. Every happy ending that was ever lost seemed to have gotten lost here. From Hansl and Gretl, to the Mad Hatter, to Snow and Charming and Young Regina even.

*hatter’s hat one shining performance on the show before as the lesbian doorway of possibility (or some sh**)

(x)

(x)

Also, fascinating. The last time the hat was used it was powered by Regina’s magic, jump-started by Emma. This time Zelena used it. Only she doesn’t have her magic anymore. On top of that, if the magic had been hers the hat would have glowed green. Instead, it emitted yellow/gold light. The only person whose magic I’ve seen glow yellow, when not glowing white, is Emma’s.

Is it possible that Emma somehow managed to power the hat because she subconsciously wanted her family to come for her? When Emma stopped believing the realms stopped existing and the magic seemed to slowly be getting drained from them (i.e. magical objects like beans). So does it stand to reason that Emma, her belief, is an important source of the realms’ magic?)

It’s sad because I think they might actually have been able to take the hat back to Storybrooke. Storybrooke had magic, Fiona’s, they just didn’t know it.

[jeks-tgs]

Highschool AU - Part 2: How To Make Friends Enemies 101

(TW: Mentions of abuse, violence, blood, disassociation, panic attack)

Walking into class with a poorly concealed black eye was not what he had wanted to do, but sadly he had no say in the matter. Everyone looked up, eyes instantly judgmental, it felt like, looking over this stranger to not only their school but their country.

"Class, this is our new student," The teacher, a kind looking older woman with spidery fingures and sharp cheekbones, introduced him to the class. He stood in front of them, back to the whiteboard, and felt his anxiety build. "Introduce yourself, sweetheart." Somewhat encouraged by her gentle smile and soft Southern drawl, he cleared his throat.

"W-Well, my name's Henry Jekyll, and–"

"Holy shit, you're voice is so fucking deep!"

"He sounds like David Tennant, the fuck?"

"Crowley, is that you!?"

The laughter and comments killed whatever confidence he might have had, and he shrank in on himself. The teacher frowned at her students, holding a hand up. They fell quite, a few sinking down in their seats at her disapproving face.

"Class, that was very disrespectful," She scolded. She must have been one of those teachers students actually liked, because a good chunk of the class looked genuinely guilty for having upset her. "Henry is new, not only to this school, not only to this state, but to this country as well. While some of your comments may not have been intended to be mean, you must take into consideration how this might seem from Henry's perspective." She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, looking worried when he flinched. "He just moved here from an entirely different continent, and his first interaction in a new hometown is to be teased. Now, what do we say?"

A round of apologies were given, some less enthusiastic than others, and Henry felt like he had already made at least five enemies in this class alone. The teacher made a gesture with her hands, and he nervously continued.

"I was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and when I was fourteen my parents moved back up to London. We recently moved to America due to my father's job offering him a better position here, and.. yeah.. that's.. about all there is to.. that.." He felt stupid, and the snickering of some students in the back only worsened the feeling. Suddenly, a girl raised her hand. Henry looked at her, then at the teacher, confused.

"Yes, Melody, what's your question?" Oh. That.. that should have been obvious, he was a fucking idiot-

"Do you watch Doctor Who?" Henry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he was asked that. Just as he was about to give a brief 'yes', he felt eyes on him. He looked up, and nearly lost his composure; it was that blond kid who was in his backyard last night! He locked eyes with, and suddenly felt the strong urge to prove himself. To who or as what, he had no idea, but he found himself popping his collar and responding in a casual voice, "Bitch, I *am* the doctor."

Edward cracked a grin, laughing and looking away, and he got a few chuckles from some of the other kids.

"Are you aware you look like Crowley from Good Omens?"

"Ah, shit, has angel been blowing my cover again?" He himself laughed a bit when someone coughed out a quick, "That's not the only thing he blows-" After a few more questions (and wow, this teacher gave no fucks about language, and was even laughing herself, okay-), he moved to pick a seat. Feeling a bit bold, he sat beside Edward. The class went dead quiet, and Henry suddenly regretted every life decision he'd ever made, especially when faced with a pair of confused, passive-aggressive eyes.

"..no one sits next to me," He sounded Irish, something Henry hadn't picked up on when he'd first met him. Without thinking, tongue loosened from his quips earlier, he blurted, "Why, d'ye stink?" Someone actually squeaked with fear, and even the teacher was watching them hesitantly. What the fuck had he gotten himself into? The blond's eyes widened a bit, clearly taken aback, and a smile started to creep onto his face.

"You're ballsy, Jekyll," Edward chuckled. Henry felt mildly relieved, but his idea that this was some form of acceptance was washed away instantly when the shorter boy chirped happily, "I'm gonna beat the fuck out of you behind the school during lunch. Don't puss out on me." Henry looked around at the rest of the class, but no one would meet his eyes, except a few who looked at him like they were attending his funeral.

"Mr. Hyde, that's enough," The teacher snapped, turning to begin the lesson. Henry spent the next hour sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair next to a kid who was looking at him like he was going to disembowel him for fun.

---

"Only lasted a day, god damn.."

The story had apparently spread fast, and the comments in the halls weren't helping in the slightest. When lunch rang, someone actually pressed a slip of paper into his hand that simply read, 'Remember: it's 9-9-1 in America, not 9-9-9'. Real fucking helpful, thanks kid. He slowly made his way outside, ignoring the Hunger Games whistles behind him as he turned the corner.

There he was. It was only him and Edward back here- wait, no.. fuck, he'd brought Robert Lanyon. That kid was a good 6"10, what the fuck, how was that fair!? Steeling his nerves, he straightened up, chin held high as he approached him. The blond seemed genuinely surprised to see him, and turned to Robert with a laugh.

"Looks like I'll be getting that snog-sesh after all, Lanyon~" ...what?

Robert rolled his eyes, correcting, "If you win."

"I always win~" G'ah, fuck, he was gonna die-

Henry watched Edward circle him like a shark, green eyes glinting as he licked his teeth. Out of nowhere, the blond swung. His fist connected with Henry's jaw, knocking the Scot flat on his back. Edward, seemingly disappointed, commented, "Shit.. that was quick. Alright, Bob, where's my tonsel hockey, you uppity fu-"

As Henry kicked the blond's legs out from under him, the only thought running through his head was; That barely felt like anything compared to how hard my father hits me. Edward hit the ground with a yelp, and Robert actually let out a surprised laugh. The amusement died as Henry launched himself at the other, drawing back and clocking him dead in the face. He hit him a few more times, then grabbed him by his shirt collar and shook him, his left hand pulled back threateningly, clenched in a bloodied fist.

"Stay the hell away from me!!" Robert had grabbed hold of the back of his shirt, but he couldn't tug him off, adrenaline and fear and maybe a bit of a PTSD attack keeping Henry firmly in place. Others had rounded the corner at the shouting, gasping and murmuring as they crowded around the unexpected victor. "Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't even fucking think about me!!" Edward's nose was gushing blood, clearly broken, and his green eyes were wide with fear, tears dribbling down his face. He was shaking immensely, thin fingers clutching at Henry's wrist, feebly trying to tug him off.

"If you ever touch me again, I'll break every bone in your fucking body!!" He was oblivious to the crowd, unaware of how kids who had looked at him with sympathy were now looking at him with fear, how peers who had seemed to want to be friends with him were now mentally planning routes to avoid ever having to see him again. "Do you understand me?" Edward let out a pitiful whimper, then cried out in terror when Henry grabbed him by the hair and pulled. "I said do you understand!?!" Edward wailed with fright, and Robert finally pulled Henry off of the blond. He staggered to his feet, rubbing his bruised jaw and breathing hard.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Robert shouted as he helped Edward up, holding the swaying teen to his chest. Henry blinked a few times, guilt settling heavily in his gut. Fuck.. fuck, what had he done? He wasn't a violent person, so why..? The Scot didn't answer, just turned and walked away, not paying any mind to how the other kids were practically tripping over themselves to get out of his way. He rounded a corner, and the minute he was out of sight, his knees gave out. He simply sat there, disassociating, struggling to breath as a panic attack overwhelmed him.