The beeps were monotonous when Jekyll awoke. His vision had been blurred before the white light and walls filled in the details. He was in Beacon's infirmary. He was covered in bandages and he felt weak. Blood loss was had, that much he was certain of himself. Blurry as that was, Jekyll could remember getting wounded even when his aura had run out. Aura. It was often broken and incomplete with him. Yet, during that fight with Cinder and the White Fang, his aura was perfectly fine. Whole. A tear fell from his eye.
"No," he continued to say to himself as he shook his head. "We're not... we're not…"
A groaning sound interrupted him. Next to Jekyll, there was an unconscious Thumbelina Peach. Between the two, Peach suffered the least. Jekyll didn't know what time it was nor was he certain if it was even the same day. Perhaps Peach had already woken up earlier and this was her continuing to rest.
His fist tightened. In his eyes, Cinder had somehow gotten hold of Peach's weapon and aimed impaled him by his shoulders. He could remember his grip on one of the White Fang's weapons as he cut through that woman's eyes. Taking someone else's weapon, Cinder must have thought to frame his partner for his possible death.
Jekyll made an attempt to get up but went back down when a shot of pain shocked him from the sudden movement. He had forgotten that he should have done so slowly. He was in more pain than he initially thought. He made another attempt, slowly this time. There was no nurse at the moment, probably already finished with their rounds or have yet to start, and so he took a better look at his surroundings. The place was small, probably the school clinic but he had never been here before. It was certainly no hospital with how small it was. Everything that had been needed was there in the room with the nurse presumably located somewhere nearby. This one here was dedicated solely for housing the patients, most likely students.
Next to him, Peach stirred. When her eyes opened, the first thing that they had done was look over him. She then sat up with much better ease. Her wings had many empty patches where feathers should have covered them. Her wounds weren't as obvious as his which might have been the result of aura. She flinched when she tried to wipe her eyes. Had she been hurt there? Jekyll wonders.
"Hey," he called out weakly. "Are you okay?"
"Better than you," Peach replied just as weak.
"What happened?"
"You don't know?"
Jekyll paused. Then, he said, "I remember that we were ambushed. I think we would have lost."
"Is that it?"
"Yes."
Peach's eyes went empty. She laid back down, wings facing towards him. Her face away from him. Jekyll gulped as he could feel his heart rate rising. There was no monitor on that which would have made it obvious and he was glad for it.
"Illusion-based semblance," Peach said. She said nothing more and continued to rest.
"Peach?"
She sighed. "You happened, beansprout. Or rather, Hyde happened."
Jekyll's jaw dropped. Of course she did. She was there when it had happened. Why had he expected anything else? Right in front of them, Hyde had come out. In desperation and anger, Jekyll gave in and let Hyde run free. To see those faces of theirs turn from cocky smugness to a fear and need for survival was the one high that he could feel even when he was the one who was at the back of the mind.
"So you know," he said. He could deny it but what good would that do? He was confined here and there was nowhere else that he could.
"Not as much as I think I need," Peach replied. "There's something else that you're hiding from me, aren't you?"
Jekyll stayed quiet.
"When?" she asked. "Will you tell me after someone gets hurt? Or will you tell me after I've gotten blind?"
"Blind? What do you mean blind?"
"I told it was an illusion-based semblance, Jekyll." She turned to give the stink eye. "I heard you talking to yourself. I can tell you right now, it wasn't Cinder."
"That was you?" Jekyll's eyes widened. "I nearly—"
"You mean Hyde nearly did?" Peach's eyes narrowed. Her teeth were laid bare. She was holding back her own anger. When Jekyll did not answer, she resumed. "Were you planning to tell me at all? What is Hyde, Jekyll? Who is Hyde? Are you really Jekyll or am I talking to Hyde? You said Hyde murdered the town you used to live in? But he was there! Hyde was taking over your body or something, does that mean that you're the one who killed everyone there? Is Jekyll even who you really are? Or is Hyde the real one?"
"I don't want to be Hyde!" Jekyll replied, raising his own voice. It flinched Peach, causing her to stop. His voice then became weak. "I never meant to make Hyde."
With a sigh, Jekyll resigned to his fate. There was no other choice anymore and if he were to keep it a secret, he would only be putting other people in danger. He looked at Peach who looked back at him with expectant eyes and told her the strange case that is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
He spared no detail. Everything that he could remember, from the Board of Governors to the formula's recipe, Jekyll told Peach everything that he knew. He didn't stop there either. He told her of heroic spirits and his true nature here on Remnant. His involvement with Ozpin and the Secret Circle. Peach had been silent all throughout and was listening intently, never asking questions unless she was uncertain. With every word that came out of his mouth, Jekyll could feel himself getting weaker already, like he had carried a burden for the longest time and the exhaustion of carrying such a burden finally caught up to him. His only break were the times that he needed a drink of water. Those times when he would ask, they would stay quiet, preferring that only Peach would learn of this information rather than anyone else. In time, perhaps but Peach would get the full picture.
When he had finished, Jekyll felt himself empty. Normally when things like these happen, they would usually feel relieved from having to share something so heavy. But for Jekyll, all he felt was a painful headache. The only thing he could think about was how Peach deserved someone better as a partner. An assistant. He could even call himself her friend now. Despite being on a bed, his knees felt weak, like he could collapse at any minute. He had to carry his own head with heavy it had become. His vision began to blur that Jekyll had to lie back down. He was just exhausted.
Peach, by contrast, was silent. She looked at him neither in anger nor relief at having told the truth. Jekyll would have preferred it if she had at least been disappointed in him. But she did not show any signs of it. She was in contemplation as she continued to look at his rather ill-looking form. It must have been a lot for her to take in which it was.
When she finally spoke, Jekyll was expecting the worst. She asked, "can you do that again? Create that formula, I mean?"
Jekyll raised a concerned eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I am concerned that there is a real chance that someone out there would decide to do what you did again. You've read the experiment on the origin of the Faunus, the Humanzee experiment? Who is to say that someone won't do what you did?"
"But why you?" It was Jekyll's turn to narrow his own eyes. "Why are you concerned about the formula?"
"Have you seen what you have done?" Peach tried to control the raising of her voice. "White Fang. Grimm. This magical girl thing apparently. You held your own against all of that. Granted it was free-for-all but still! I don't think even the strongest, most bloodlust-filled huntsmen would be able to do what you did."
Jekyll looked away. "It is not because of my own power. No. I don't want to be Hyde."
"But it's a part of you. This Hyde is part of you."
"Well I don't him to be!" He had less restraint and raised his voice. He had to calm himself down. Peach already appeared scared and he already knew the reason behind it. Having let go enough of his own anger, he continued. "Tell me why. Why should I recreate the worst thing that I could have ever concocted?"
"Because I am not about to put other people in danger because of yo—him," Peach replied. "Hyde puts everyone in danger and if you can't somehow put this dark side of yours under control, someone needs to stand in your way."
"And that person is you?" Jekyll asked.
"I'm your partner for one," she reasoned. "You have Mr. Hyde? Fine, I'll be Ms. Seek or whatever."
"Why? That is a terrible decision, Peach. You'll be putting yourself in danger and not just that, everyone else as well!"
"Is that any better than what you're doing? You've been holding yourself together for how long now? All the while trying to get this Amber the help she needs. You call me reckless? You're doing all this alone."
"Because I'm the one who ended up being brought here in the first place. I am her Servant, Peach. It is my duty to help her."
"And does your duty mean you have to do it alone?"
"You could get hurt."
"I nearly lost my eyes, Jekyll! I feel like I deserve to know when I should be watching my own back from my partner."
Where was the nurse? Jekyll thought. Surely by now, they would have noticed the raising of the two's voices. They would have been held down and made to stop their bickering lest they end up hurting themselves more. Aura or not, they were still not in the best condition and if it kept going, Jekyll and Peach would have hurt each other.
Peach sighed. "Listen. There is a lot to take in with what you said. Forgive me if I'm a little concerned that losing my eyes is relatively the least of my worries. Frankly, with the explosions happening and with the sheer size of some of the Grimm, I was scared for my life. I never went to any of the huntsman schools, you know."
"Why did you?" Jekyll asked.
"It was never my choice. I never wanted to be one but everyone else made me. They didn't care what it was that I wanted and honestly, Professor of Plant Science is more of a compromise than anything else."
The two then went silent after that. Jekyll more because of shame while Peach was more on exhaustion. Both having said their pieces after an otherwise stressful situation. The two of them had let out some things.
In the end, it was Jekyll who broke the silence first saying, "alright. As soon as we have recovered, I'll create the elixir for you. I'll even write down the process behind it all."
"And will it do the same for me as it did for you?"
"I make no promises," Jekyll replied. "You would become the second subject of that experiment if you did. Even more so if you consider that the effects of the elixir might only be because of my status as a Heroic Spirit. There is no telling what it might do to you."
"I'll take it," Peach said.
"But why?" He couldn't help but wonder. "Why do you care so much?"
It was Peach's turn to be quiet. "I already told you about my not going to the Academies. Truth is that I never wanted to be a huntress. Everyone else chose this for me. From the moment I was born, my parents said that I would become a huntress. This is nothing more to me than a compromise. I'm making the best that I can here."
Jekyll listened. He said nothing for it was the least that he could do here. Peach never spoke when he gave his story. He would do the same for the swan faunus.
"Then, you came along," Peach continued. "Skill-wise, no offense but even I could beat you. Of course now knowing why you hold back and I'd get the urge to run as far away from you as possible."
Here, Jekyll laughed. He could not blame anyone. Hyde just has that air about him here. Peach resumed her tale.
She ended it by asking, "so, we're even now?"
"More than that," Jekyll replied. "I have to warn you though, if you still insist on that formula, you may never come back from it all."
"I have you there don't I?"
Once again, Jekyll had been silenced. What was it about Peach that pushes her to be this far? Despite everything, she pushed on regardless of the obstacles that stood in her way. Even in the face of Edward Hyde, she would rather go against her own instincts to run and stick by him.
Jekyll shook his head. "You are a strange a woman, Thumbelina Peach."
"And you are a beansprout," Peach replied.
The two continued to lay in their bed for hours until Mulberry and Greene came in and filled them with the information. After their scuffle at Mountain Glenn, the two had been unconscious for days and had been brought to Beacon's clinics. During that time, the other two professors have processed and made the report for both Ozpin and the council of Vale. Merlot Industries had sent them a message and even sent them coordinates for where they would meet. Jekyll had used this time as well to reveal it to them, if this was going to be an occurance for them, then they need to know.
"I see." Mulberry nodded as he followed along. "Thanks for telling us. Certainly explains the aftermath."
"He said that he could use some subjects for a field test," Greene explained. She didn't appear at all surprised. "And by having us professors would actually make him elated with the potential amount of data he would get."
More information had been said but the gist of it all was that the four of them would be sent out again when both Peach and Jekyll had recovered enough to move again. According to Ozpin, he didn't want the students to have to focus on this when they should be focusing on the Vytal Festival. Namely, the Vytal dance that would be coming soon and the missions that they would be undertaking after.
Peach was the first to recover. With her not being as hurt as Jekyll, she was the first to be able to leave Beacon's clinics. Jekyll, on the other hand, stayed a while longer. His aura's instability was getting in the way of his recover and he spent more time trying to compensate for it by resting and keeping up his nutrition. Aura can speed it up but he could always do it the old-fashioned way.
I can't keep up like this, he thought. I need some way to tap into the entirety of my aura without him. While he wouldn't call it a blurry experience, there was most certainly a sense of his being on some kind of out-of-body experience. But he was certain that he had full control of his aura there. The trade-off there was that, as Hyde, he didn't really care much about self-preservation and only cared about the chaos of combat and the thrill of the kill. Still so quiet, he thought. It would have been much better had Hyde just come out and it be a massive, but terrible, prank. Jekyll shook his head. We're not as… separate… as I thought. He still had no control once Hyde takes over but he would admit that he is at least mildly aware of what was happening.
Jekyll looked at his hands, the appearance of his aura was like that of a flickering light. Then, Jekyll, for only a moment, allowed himself to be close to Hyde. Thoughts of mayhem, chaos, and hedonism began to fill his mind. If he were to describe the feeling, it was like putting one's feet in the ocean but staying as close to the shore. The more he allowed it, the further out into the ocean he had to go. If he let himself, he would be lost at sea, at the mercy of the evil tides that continue to lurk within his own soul. His aura had begun to feel stable. It showed visually too as the number of flickers had become sparse to a point that it was almost like that of most huntsmen.
He sighed. To reach his full potential as a huntsman would mean that he would have to find that balance between himself and Hyde. He couldn't allow himself to lose control lest he would repeat what had happened to Peach without the luck of her aura reserves but he couldn't keep restraining himself either unless he put himself in danger while also increasing the burden of his allies.
Eventually, he had been dismissed from the clinic. There were still a few days before they were to go to Merlot's island and from what he had seen, there was much activity to be had in Beacon. For one, more students from the other academies have begun to appear and some of them were busy helping with the professors. There was a dance coming up apparently and they were either assigned or they volunteered to help. The only ones who didn't really engage much during this time would be him and the three professors.
Jekyll checked himself. Only now did he realize that he was now bereft of a weapon. He must have either lost it or broke it back at Mountain Glenn. Not like he needed that particularly, he would be fine just grabbing anything that he could for a weapon. That knife of his was just that, a knife. The first thing he did was get some proper rest. The clinic's may not necessarily be uncomfortable but it certainly wasn't a luxury either.
As for the weapon, Jekyll simply procured another knife that has been made of finer qualities. One benefit of having Greene as a friend meant that she had a number of tools at her disposal. Each one was never meant to be held onto for sentimentality values. Each was just a tool meant to achieve one's goals. She had given him one of her knives and told him to keep it, she had a lot.
It was at night that he had been called to the headmaster's office. He, along with Mulberry, Greene, and Peach, had been assigned to deal with Dr. Merlot and the man was courteous enough to just give them his coordinates. It pinpointed towards an island as shown on the screen that had been presented to them.
"For the duration of this operation," said Ozpin. "The four of you will be comprise the team MGHT." On the screen, their pictures were shown along with the initials; below said initials was the word Moonlight. The headmaster then turned to address Mulberry in particular, "can I entrust you with this, Mulberry? You have the experience but I would understand if you don't—"
"I'll be alright, headmaster," Mulberry replied without letting the headmaster finish. Jekyll looked to Peach who only shrugged. Looking back, Greene placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Very well," Ozpin said. "I will not give you a time limit but with the Vytal Festival ongoing, it would certainly be pleasant if you four could return at least before the Vytal dance."
"Oh we most certainly can't afford to miss that," Mulberry joked. "I already rented my suit."
Mulberry and Greene were the first to leave the office, preparing for the journey or to get some needed rest. Peach stuck a little longer when she realized that Jekyll wasn't following. It was only by the headmaster's assurance that she left. There was something that he needed to confirm from the headmaster first. It only occurred to him during the briefing session. He remembered the promise he had made to the headmaster.
"Something happened in Mountain Glenn, didn't it, Mr. Jekyll?" Ozpin asked, already knowing what his intentions were and making the first strike. "The level of destruction, while massive, is frankly a little too small of a scale even with the Grimm involved."
"You assigned Greene to spy on me, didn't you?" Jekyll responded with his own question. While he may have shared it with Peach, he wasn't quite ready for that to be public with the rest of the faculty, assuming that it hadn't been revealed already. He shared it with his team out of necessity. When Ozpin nodded in the affirmative, Jekyll could only sigh. "Alright fine, it only makes sense that it will come sooner or later. However, I will say that I have some objections on the grounds that I will be far from Amber."
"I understand," replied Ozpin. "I intend to protect Amber myself during your time away." He turned around on his chair. He looked down on the floor. "We were so close, were we not?"
"We were," Jekyll confirmed. He could see that the fist of Ozpin tightened only to loosen a moment after.
"I am not certain how much longer she could hold on, Jekyll," Ozpin said.
"You're not thinking about putting Ruby through that," Jekyll guessed. The girl had been forwarded two years into Beacon.
"By the Brothers, no," Ozpin replied, seemingly offended at the notion, surprised even. "Even Qrow would have my head for that. Don't even get me started on Taiyang."
"Just wanted to make sure."
"And you have my guarantee."
After another minute, Jekyll spoke again. "I heard there are these missions that professional huntsmen would have to shadow the students on. You don't intend to send me there, do you?"
"I will not risk having you convince the potential candidate against the notion if her team just so happens to pick the mission that you will be shadowing. No. I don't. I offer you Beacon Academy grounds to protect and stay close to Amber if you are not to shadow any of the students. If the timetable lines up, team MGHT would not be in proper shape to take another mission so soon."
Jekyll nodded. "I guess we are in agreement then."
"Until we reach that point, we are still allies, Mr. Jekyll." Ozpin stood up. "There is no need for us to be at each other's throats yet."
"I intend to keep my promise, headmaster," Jekyll replied.
Ozpin returned with a warm smile. "I hope you do, mist—no—doctor Jekyll. Whatever degrees you may have had may not be recognized here, but I've seen how much aid you've been during Peach's laboratory class. Our students aren't always the most careful."
"That they aren't." It was mostly the fact that their tools are rather fragile and huntsmen and huntresses are often more accustomed to handling tougher objects in general.
The two shook hands. Jekyll then turned around and left the headmaster's office. When he went out, Peach was there waiting for him.
"Is this one of those secrets I have to find out later or..." Peach asked.
"An agreement between me and the headmaster," Jekyll answered. "He said that something like this may have come up and I wanted to make sure that the deal we had is still on."
Peach sighed. "Alright, let's go get some rest. It will be a long trip to Merlot's island and odds are, we're going to be resting on the trip there as well. It's just going to take that long. You planning on telling the others? Mulberry could use a little bit of that if he is going to be planning."
He nodded. During the trip, he would reveal just how capable he was. After returning to his room, he didn't sleep well. He had already slept off earlier which made it difficult to do so now. Instead, he took to reading. In particular, he had found some articles online that was said to have been written by Dr. Merlot. They were old now and judging the time of publication, it must have occurred from before Merlot Industries had been shut down. The articles themselves looked to be scanned copies of the original since they appeared to be rather like old paper.
"Grimm and the nature of the human soul," he said. "Now why would a researcher of Grimm be concerned about the human soul that he would actually put it into his research of the Grimm?"
It was one of the latest articles that have been made available. However way he tried to search, there is no publication of anything after that. With Grimm being this humanity's evil and the study of the soul? Jekyll had some knowledge on the idea of the nature of the human soul. Checking the time, he only had a few hours left before they are to leave. Jekyll then went to bed; he could at least have a nap before team MGHT was to go.
As he laid his head down, he twirled his new knife. It was much closer to a dagger really. It was specifically designed to be a weapon. Greene must have thought of it and gave him a rather good quality one. With Peach now in on his own secret, he would have to reveal it with the rest of his team.
AN: This one right here was tough, mainly referring to the confrontation between Jekyll and Peach here. Criticisms is welcome on this one.