dramatic confrontation time! hella
It had started to rain.
We stared each other down, floating high above the ruined city. Red fire swirled around my hands, mirroring yet opposite of the sickly green tendrils that dripped off his. Water sloshed down my face, dripping in my eyes and soaking the ruined garments I wore, but I took no notice of it. I had eyes for nothing but Hyde, a mere twenty feet from me, torn and ragged and breathing heavily, looking like a mad king dethroned and awaiting either beheading or freedom, whichever he managed to snag first.
The silence crackled around us, reality bending under the strain of the two who were supposed to be one existing apart. Shadows danced at the edge of my vision but I ignored them, knowing any distraction meant Hyde would leap, would attack, and I would be done.
The new-found powers I had just given myself, set to match his, pulsed through my veins. Everything was sharp and bright, like fire itself ran in me in place of blood. I felt more alive than ever before, and that energy burst at the seams, struggling to be let out. But I had to wait for him to make the first move; to do first would also mean death.
He darted forward, faster than intended, almost too fast for me to catch, but I saw. I dropped like a stone, spinning and catching him in the side with a swipe of energy, burning away the clothes that dripped off him like embers and letting his attack barely miss me.
He must have forseen that, for he spun upside-down and shot at me, loose tendrils of sickness shooting forward and wrapping around my midsection, knocking the breath out of me. He laughed maniacally, tightening his grip, and slammed me to the ground, his own injury forgotten.
"Nice try, Henry, but you'll have to be faster to beat me!" he crowed.
I pushed myself up and launched myself at him, fire trailing from my hands. His taunting was cut short as I flew past him, he having spun out of the way in the nick of time. My hand caught a still-standing street lamp and I whirled around it, using my momentum to crash straight into him.
We grappled, having fallen to the ground, a clash of green and red like Christmas colors, blinding, burning, hissing and sputtering flames licking across the wet ground as we rolled around and fought like savage animals.
He ducked out from under my fist and backed away, kicking me in the chest as he went and put some space between us. Blood dripped down his face, mixing with the falling rain and washing away. His clothes were torn and burned, revealing a scarred chest. I wasn't in a much better state; my breathing was labored, a lancing pain traveling up my ribs every time I sucked in a breath. One of my ribs was cracked, and the others no doubt bruised.
"Not looking too good now, are you, doctor?" Hyde asked, grinning maliciously. He licked at his lip, catching a rivulet of blood and spitting it out. Something white followed, and his grin looked suspiciously absent of a tooth when he showed it again. I felt pride well up inside me at the sight.
"You'll never beat me," he hissed, stepping closer and lifting off the ground an inch or two. I followed suit, backing away, keeping distance between us and planning, eyes glancing from side to side as I looked for an opening.
"Of course I will," I said back, calculating. "I am the good, you are my id. Ego always prevails; it is my nature. I made a mistake, but it is time to clean it up."
Hyde laughed. "If you really believe that, you are more idiotic than I thought," he said. He darted forward but stopped quickly, watching me flinch back and laughing all the while. He was taunting me. "I am stronger than you could ever believe, and that's all thanks to you. It matters not that you've managed to give yourself the same level of power you accidentally gave me, I've had it longer. I know how to use it. All this bollocks of 'good and evil', 'ego and id', will do you no good when I have you back in your mind, wrapped up nice and tight in your own personal hell."
He circled around me, raising his hands. Viridian swam around us, whipping the rain into a frenzy. My hair hung in my face and I was forced to push it out of the way to keep Hyde in my sight.
"Hell, maybe I'll forgo the hell," Hyde added suddenly, cackling. "I'll just kill you now, be rid of you forever. Then you'll never have another chance to usurp me again, and I'll be free forever to do what I want, when I want, without having to worry about your 'morals' keeping me back!" He inched closer, closing in on me. His flowing energy kept me from backing up. "All I have to do, is get rid of you."
He flew at me, but I'd found my opening. In the instant before he reached me, I closed my eyes and concentrated every last ounce of my power into a white-hot bolt of flame aimed directly at his unprotected middle. He screamed as it ripped through him, tearing his flesh and cauterizing the wound before it could bleed. A spattering of blood made it to the ground, sizzling briefly before it was washed away by the rain.
He clutched at his middle and collapsed, struggling to keep his insides from breaching the opening. Shock swam in his eyes, and as he looked up, I saw true fear in his expression.
I fell to my knees as well, directly in front of him, spent after the release of so much energy. The fires in my eyes and on my hands had died down, sputtering out in the drenching rain. I was barely able to keep my eyes open, but there was one last thing I needed to do before I passed out, to make sure this evil I had created left us for good.
I reached up to his forehead, channeling the last bit of energy in me into my fingertips.
"Now you are no more," I whispered.
"NO!"
I flew back, weak to the sudden outpouring of energy. Green fire raged around me, searing my skin. I screamed.
Hyde floated ten feet off the ground, hovering over me. Horrors poured from his limbs, darkness shadowing his very existence. Reality seemed to warp around him. Stones floated off the ground, fire dancing through the air, shadows curling around him and me, lifting him higher and pressing me down, down until I could barely fill my lungs through the effort. His pupil-less eyes burned a bright, sickly green, fire dancing out of them and trailing into the air.
"YOU WILL NOT BEST ME," he roared, making the very ground tremble. His features twisted into something ugly, torn and ravaged face warping into something devious, something downright beastly. He looked inhuman.
"Hyde-" I said, terror making me choke.
"NO!" he repeated, slamming to the ground. He stomped towards me, the ground shaking with every step he took. I scrambled backwards, but tendrils of darkness and green wrapped me tight, keeping me pinned.
"I AM THE SPIRIT OF DARKNESS IN YOU, HENRY JEKYLL, AND YOU CANNOT BE RID OF ME. YOU WILL NOT BE RID OF ME. I AM IN YOU, NOW AND FOREVER, AND YOU WILL. NOT. BEST. ME!"
He hauled back, energy wrapping around his fingers and forming into a blade of some kind, a lance of pure hatred and darkness coming into being in his hand. He towered over me, terrifying, and I saw my long and unsuccessful life flash before my eyes. I closed my eyes.
And something in me broke off, away.
My eyes snapped open to see Joseph, barely substantial but somehow still there, holding onto the hand that gripped the deadly weapon and staring directly into the eyes of the Devil himself that had been bearing down on me. His form flickered blue, wisps of energy wrapped around his body, trailing up his hand and down Hyde's, where they connected.
Super-ego and id stared each other down, unmoving. Hyde gritted his teeth and pushed, but Joseph wasn't having it. He pushed back, keeping them locked in a position directly over me. London crumbled around us, the rumbling thunder growing stronger and more powerful, tumbling what buildings still stood. Hyde looked mad with anger, green froth dancing past his lips as he stuttered and growled.
"I THOUGHT I KILLED YOU" he shouted above the din of the destruction around us.
"Not quite," Joseph spat, a look of anger that defied his soft features never once leaving.
Hyde snarled and pushed again, almost knocking Joseph over, but he stayed firm. The blue power that danced around him was slowly inching towards Hyde's chest. Hyde struggled harder as it got closer, panic seeping into his features. "NO" he yelled, to no avail.
"Yes," Joseph whispered. "Now."
That was my signal. Just as the blue reached his heart, I struck out with the last of my energy, pushing myself off the ground and launching myself at the two. I reached around Joseph, reaching for Hyde's head and closing my eyes. Together, we pushed, sending him sprawling. Joseph disappeared, leaving me crouching over Hyde with my hands pressed to his temples.
"I banish you from this world, and any other," I shouted, and focused.
Hyde screamed, the sound shattering my eardrums and sending the world spinning. Shadows thrashed around us, flailing as their energy wore out, and in an instant, it was over.
Hyde disappeared.
I closed my eyes, and passed out, destruction raining down around me.