Hooray for random middle-of-the-week updates! Hopefully, I will be able to update twice a week from now on.
Hope you enjoy.
CHAPTER TWELVE –The Drawing Room
Dr. Henry Jekyll quietly slipped into the drawing room and closed the door behind him. Three other doors remained where they were; the ones to Nemo's and Mina's bedrooms closed, and the other, opening to a spare room, remained open. It didn't matter much, as Jekyll only needed a few moments of peace.
A few moments were all that he was to be afforded. He was supposed to be under supervision, and probably for good reason. He had explained that it was by Hyde's doing that he had nearly been thrown over the ship, but he wasn't sure if he was believed. Either way, yesterday morning's events reflected just how dangerous Hyde was…and yet Jekyll knew that, as long as he was awake, he could fight for control. He had been given drugs to combat the fever and pain, and had even felt up to walking around a bit.
Had any other member of the League been on watch at the time, he would not have been permitted to wander, and Jekyll would have been confined to the medical room even longer. But Skinner had been on watch at the time. Skinner was, himself, supposed to be resting instead of watching Jekyll, and was sympathetic to Jekyll's desire to do something besides sit confined in a room. The two decided to take a walk.
Skinner had been leading the way and prattling on about some topic of no interest to Jekyll, and had continued obliviously down the hallway after Jekyll had turned off into the room. With any luck, it would be a long time before he was found.
A moment of silence would not come. "You don't have much time left…" Hyde whispered. The two still struggled, and Jekyll's movements had become increasingly spastic when he was alone. Hyde had not given any indication of his power when anyone else was watching, but when no one was watching, he was constantly testing and reaffirming his growing power over Jekyll's limbs.
Jekyll sat on the bench next to the piano organ, and simply observed the room. It really was quite beautiful…spacious, yet crowded with paintings, sculptures, and collections of various sea coral and shells under glass. It was practically a museum. It was a pity his field of science had nothing to do with underwater life.
What weighed the most heavily on Jekyll's mind was what Hyde had listed as his reason for being suicidal the day prior. The thoughts that Hyde had scourged from Jekyll's subconscious were true—he wasn't going to kill himself over them, but they were true nonetheless. He didn't know if he was even liked, let alone loved, and what Skinner had said had only been for the purpose of distraction. Not that he wanted or needed the love of another man—unnatural and blasphemous—but for just a moment, he wondered if he could push away love from any source it came from. Jekyll sighed and turned back to admiring the room. The room was pretty. The room was simple. Hyde was silent. Jekyll didn't know nor care what Hyde was planning.
Skinner carefully looked inside the room from the open door, spotted Jekyll sitting there. "How oblivious does he think I am?" Skinner thought, and then considered. Jekyll wanted a moment in peace, fine. Mina wanted him supervised to make sure that he didn't kill himself; well…maybe he could do that too. Skinner backed out into the adjacent room, stuffed his clothing and raveling of bandages under the bed (feeling a slight twinge of guilt at undoing the time it had taken to get his wounds properly bandaged), and stepped into the room, very carefully avoiding the statues and glass that seemed to be scattered everywhere. He didn't make it more than two steps in before Jekyll sighed, stood up, and started walking the aisles, examining everything around him. Skinner decided to linger next to the exit and prepare to duck out should Jekyll come his way.
Jekyll's vision blurred…he carefully refocused it. It happened again, and he wondered briefly if it was Hyde, again playing with his senses, but his considerations faded to nothing as his mind seemed to drain of thought.
"What am I doing here?" he asked. He meant for it to be in his mind, for only himself to consider, but realized he'd spoken aloud after he heard his words aloud.
"Don't you know?" Hyde responded, also speaking aloud by taking Jekyll's speech function. Hyde could sense that the disease, which almost seemed to have gone away, had really progressed. Henry seemed confused, Edward was only too happy to use his confusion as a tool. Jekyll turned to face a mirror, and Hyde saw that Jekyll's eyes were no longer bloodshot, but they were openly bleeding out the corners.
"Am I…I'm on the run," Jekyll said, dawning realization. He felt Hyde take his speech to answer. "You killed a woman," Hyde said. Jekyll took back his speech. "Don't be…I don't…I don't kill them, you do," he protested. Hyde responded. "You beat her to death. Police are after you." Jekyll's confusion deepened.
It suddenly occurred to Skinner that maybe he should have insisted that Jekyll rest in the medical room instead of letting him wander. Jekyll turned in a slow circle, and Skinner saw that he was bleeding from the eyes and ears.
"Get out of my head!" Jekyll cried. Shift. "It's my head, too." Every physical movement Jekyll made seemed like he was struggling against a current.
"Christ, 'enry, we need to get you back to the medical room," Skinner said, announcing his presence. He expected anger; that was the standard reaction to being watched.
"Where are you?" Jekyll asked, taking a step backward. His arm jumped backwards as his back hit a case, and the combined force toppled it, and glass shattered as its display items were knocked to the floor. "Who…who are you?"
"It's… Rodney." Skinner considered if the visibility was an issue, and stepped out of the room, and reappeared with a hat, longing for his trench coat. "Over here. We need to get Mina."
"Ah, Utterson, I thought it was you. Believe me, the experiments are going as planned, nothing to worry about."
"You're bleedin' out the ears," Skinner said, carefully avoiding the broken glass as he walked to Jekyll, not sure if he would be able to get him to do anything by force. Damn these burns! But if Jekyll was delusional, who's to say he wasn't violent?
"No," Jekyll responded, "the formula only looks like blood. It's not, really, I've thought about it…but it's not. It's the…unique mixture of particles…reflecting light in a similar manner…with the…and…blood…"
Henry's mind shifted rapidly from scene to scene as he tried to make sense of his visual input, which wavered and grew hazy at the edges. He took two steps back, almost fell over the broken display case, and then stepped over it, his shoes crunching on the broken glass. Skinner looked at the obstacle and decided to risk it.
He felt a measure of pain as he stepped on a piece of broken glass, but could not tell if he was bleeding when he yanked the shard out of his foot. He carefully grabbed Jekyll's arm, praying that he would not lash out, and led him back towards the door. Jekyll docilely followed, but still glanced around like a trapped animal, and still seemed confused.
"'ey!" Skinner shouted into the hallway at the nearest crewman. "Get Mina!"
"Mina?" The crewman asked, uncertain. He looked in the general direction of Skinner, but from his position could see only see a disembodied hat, and Jekyll, whose face was coated in blood.
"Yeah, bring Mina here," Skinner repeated slowly. The crewman quickly ran off in the direction of the library, and Skinner hoped that the message had been received.
"But what about the police?" Jekyll asked, still unsure of the situation. "They're coming for you," Hyde answered aloud.
"Jus'…jus' take it easy," Skinner said to Jekyll. "There aren' any police here."
"He's one of them," Hyde said, and this time the difference in pitch between his and Jekyll's voice was clearly audible. He was gone just as suddenly, and Jekyll whipped his head to Skinner, wide-eyed and distrusting. "No," Jekyll said, skeptical but scared, "he can't be…he's not even really here."
"'enry, listen to me, we're on the Nautilus. I'm your friend, I'm not the cops. Don' listen to Hyde."
Mina entered the room and quickly observed the damage. "What happened?" she asked.
"Uh, I kinda let him out of his room and 'e went crazy an' started bleedin from 'is face."
"She's one of them!" Jekyll said. Mina glanced at Jekyll, and then inquisitively back at Skinner. He nodded his head, only visible as a bobbing hat.
"Yeah, an' Hyde's been talking to 'im out loud. Jekyll's paranoid, or delusional, or sumfin."
Mina felt his forehead, confused at the lack of fever.
"No symptoms," Jekyll mumbled. "No fever. No headache. All gone. All better."
What Skinner found scariest about the string of quiet, obviously false statements was that they were the most rational string of thoughts Jekyll had conceived of for the past several minutes. How far gone was he?
"Alright, help me get him back to the medical room," Mina said to Skinner.
Jekyll allowed himself to be led out of the room, and Hyde reveled at his own newfound power. He was still not quite able to seize control when Jekyll was conscious…but close. So close.