Jekyll and Hyde: Duality

A terrible price

Prelude

Tension filled the room, together with silence. Hyde glared down at Dance. The man was wearing the same uniform. The same mustache, the same cold, black eyes. And yet this knowing smile on his lips made Hyde shiver in anger. His breath came in fast gasps. Something was different. Something had changed.

The incubus. It was inside of Dance. How it had managed this, Hyde did not know. But what bothered him was that this undead man believed he could open the Calyx. He was holding it in his leather gloves right now. A dusty, brown jar, inconsiderable, yet so deadly.

"Nice try", responded Hyde with an angry pant in his voice, "I still don't believe that you can open this." Dance was bluffing! He had to. The mad man would only believe this if he saw it with his own eyes. However he also knew that this would cost him time. Time, he did not have.

Dance smiled coolly. "I doubt that", he responded, "We no longer need you, Hyde. I have the power to open the Calyx now. And when I do it, I will unleash its full power and potential. Destroying you and your friends." He placed his hand on the cap. Hyde's nostrils flared anxiously. No! This is impossible.

Dance's hand slowly moved sideways as he made the cap crack open. A glimmer of blood red light leaked through the slit. It flew through the air, hitting Hyde's chest, making him grunt in pain. It was as if a blade had cut through his flesh. A brief glimmer of power. Dance was about to unleash something great and monstrous.

Hyde's jaws were forced open as he unleashed an angry roar. Throwing one of the bandits down the balustrade, he started to race down the stairs. His actions had been a silent signal. Tenebrae charged. And Hyde and his friends charged back. The time seemed to freeze. Hyde hardly noticed Bella, pushing Lily out of the killing of a bullet or Ravi, ducking a bandit's fist. Up there Garson, Maggie and Hills were probably fighting as well.

The world could end in the blink of an eye in this house and no one would notice it. Hyde had only eyes for Dance, who was opening the Calyx, sending flashes of red light everywhere. His blood pumped in his ears, together with Olalla Hyde's voice: "You have to find the Calyx and open it. If you can crush the heart before a single heart beat, you will be fine. But the more it beats, the stronger it gets. Strong enough to kill. Even you. And kill all those around you."

Dance had opened the Calyx. Hyde reached him and with an angry roar lifted his hand. Blood red light streamed out of it. It vibrated as the mad man pushed a hand in it, ready to make contact with the beating organ that lied in it. A sharp pain shot through his arm as if someone had slammed a blade into the palm of his hand. Hyde crunched his teeth as he grabbed the heart. A loud explosion filled the room and the red glow blinded him. Hyde felt his feet thrown off the ground. And before he could react, the mad man hit the floor and everything turned black.

~Jekyll & Hyde~

The cool stone against his cheeks. His eyes were closed. Hyde could not move. Pain had taken over every single inch of his flesh. His muscles were burning. They felt stiff and frozen. Hyde had no idea if he could even walk.

With a groan, Hyde's lids shot open. The world was a blur. Grunting and grumbling, the mad man tried to focus on something, anything. Finally his vision stopped spinning around and he could see the jar before him. It was broken in several pieces, smoke fumed from its shreds, a fair purple shade.

And in the center of it all laid the heart. It was not really intact as blood was spilled everywhere. The flesh had a dark shade over its red skin as if it had been burned badly. An aura of villainy, bitterness and maddening rage laid over it, slowly fading away. It was as if Lord Trash had realized that he had just gotten imprisoned in this other world even more.