Chapter Text
My only one
My smoking gun
My eclipsed sun
This has broken me down
Stuck buried in the depths of Tyler's mind, Hyde had nothing to do but think.
For the first few days after breaking free from his restraints and fleeing to hide in the woods, Hyde couldn't bring himself to think about anything but Laurel Gates. He mourned her deeply, his sadness seeping into Tyler's consciousness. He felt lost without her presence in his mind.
But then he started to think critically about his devotion to Laurel. This new ability frightened him, but he couldn't bring himself to stop.
He had trusted Laurel with everything. He gave her his mind, body, and soul, and where had that left him? Slowly breaking down in the woods, alone.
But she gave everything too, he reminded himself. She gave her life for this fight, and he couldn't even do that.
He clung to the slim hope that she had died, at least in some way, for him.
My twisted knife
My sleepless night
My winless fight
This has frozen my ground
Tyler felt trapped.
He knew there wasn't a home for him to go back to. He didn't dare go into town at all for fear that he would be recognized and captured. But as the days dragged on, capture didn't sound so bad. At least then he would have a steady supply of food.
After he first broke free, he had been so hopeful that he could find Wednesday and convince her to become his new master. But the longer he hid, the more doubt clouded his mind. Even if he was able to find out where she was, it would be impossible to get there without being captured or dying unless he woke Hyde. And even then if he managed to get to her without harming himself or others, he suspected she would kill him on the spot. Why shouldn't she?
This thought was almost too much for Tyler to bear, so instead he let his hatred of Laurel Gates fuel him.
He thought about how she used his past against him, twisting the grief over his mother's death into anger at all outcasts. He thought about how her plans kept him awake night after night, making him a shell of a person. He thought about how after everything she put him through, they didn't even win the battle against the Nevermore students. She stole his life and then left him alone.
So here he was, frozen in this moment in time. Trapped.
Stood on the cliffside
Screaming "Give me a reason"
Your faithless love's the only hoax
I believe in
When Tyler was so desperate for food that he was sure his body must be on the brink of death, he reached out to Hyde.
Hyde wasn't difficult to find. In his weakness, Tyler hadn't been putting that much effort into suppressing the monster.
"What do you want?" Hyde snarled, though there was little force in his voice.
"If we stay here much longer, we'll die. But in order to get anywhere, I need..." Tyler trailed off. He really didn't want to admit it.
"What, you need me to come out so you can run to your goth Barbie girlfriend? Just so she can kill us both? No thanks, I'd rather die here."
"She won't necessarily kill us," Tyler said, trying to convince himself as much as Hyde. "I'm sure if we explain that Laurel manipulated us into killing-"
"She did not!" Hyde cried, furious, though Tyler didn't feel him trying to break free. "She helped us! She loved us! She loved me!"
Don't want no other shade of blue
But you
No other sadness in the world
Would do
Tyler knew exactly where this train of thought would lead, so he switched tactics.
"Don't you miss having someone love you like that?" Tyler asked.
Hyde drew back. "What do you mean?"
"Even if Laurel loved us once, she's gone now. But if we found a new master, they could love you-"
"NO," Hyde snapped. "Only want Laurel."
My best laid plan
Your sleight of hand
My barren land
I am ash from your fire
"No one will help me like Laurel. No one will make me strong like Laurel," Hyde paused, then continued, "No one will want me like Laurel."
Tyler was growing exasperated at the foolish monster he was stuck with, but held back when he detected a hint of sadness in Hyde's last statement.
"I know you loved her. And she made you feel loved. It's the nature of the bond," Tyler said, trying to be gentle. "She helped you and made you strong because she needed you to fight her battles. She couldn't have done any of it without you."
Hyde was calm now. Pleased, even.
"But really," Tyler continued cautiously, "she couldn't have done it without a Hyde. Not necessarily you, any Hyde would do. An outcast to do her dirty work for her and obey her without question."
Hyde was conflicted. He didn't like the idea that Laurel could have replaced him with another, but he liked that Tyler knew that he would obey Laurel without question.
Tyler noticed this and took it as a cue to carry on.
"So she lured me in and brought you out and made us feel special, needed, loved. Everything we wanted. But it was all just a means to an end for her."
You know I left a part of me back in New York
You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for?
You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
From when they pulled me apart
The statement hit Tyler as hard as it hit Hyde. It was a truth Tyler had been dwelling on for a long time, but putting it like that cut like a knife.
"Why are you still so concerned with her?" Tyler cried. "After everything she did to us. She hurt both of us."
Hyde couldn't have stopped Tyler's rant if he tried. It was a shaken up bottle exploding. It was an ocean crashing through a broken dam. It was a wound that had festered and burst.
"She tortured us and exploited us just to serve her own goals. She didn't actually care about us or what we wanted. She only cared so much as we were useful to her. And now she's dead, so maybe we could finally heal, maybe we could be on the same team, if you would just stop holding onto her!"
You knew the password, so I let you in the door
You knew you won, so what's the point of keeping score?
You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
From when they pulled me apart
"I only know as much about our kind as she let me know, but I believe that all Hydes should be able to choose when and how they're unlocked and who does it," Tyler said, his fury subsiding into despair. "Laurel stole that chance for us. She forced you out with pain and suffering and there was nothing I could do to stop her."
Hyde bristled at the reminder of his admittedly unpleasant unlocking, but also, the suggestion that if it was up to Tyler, he wouldn't be unlocked at all.
"And after all that, she wouldn't have even concerned herself with us after she won," Tyler continued. "I'm sure of it. Why would she? She would've gotten what she wanted out of us and then either killed us for being just another outcast, or left us to figure out how to live like this on our own. But she lost, and we're still here trying to figure out how to go on. No matter what, we lose."
But what you did was just as dark
Darling, this was just as hard
As when they pulled me apart
Hyde was unnerved by Tyler's outburst. He felt almost... scolded. In all their time together, Tyler had never stood up to him in this way before. Fought for control, yes, but never this combination of admonition and introspection. So despite not liking what he was saying about Laurel, Hyde let Tyler continue.
"And I can kind of understand where you're coming from. It's in your nature to need a master, and of course there's a special attachment to the one who unlocks you. I bet most Hydes only ever have one master."
Tyler paused before admitting what had been plaguing his mind since his escape.
"I'm terrified of what could happen now. Of what we might do. Laurel made us do awful things, but what if we become so unstable without a master that we're even more dangerous? And if now we're vulnerable to being found by another master, who might pounce and claim us?"
Hyde was so stunned by this revelation that he didn't think to defend Laurel.
"That's why I want to find Wednesday and try to convince her to be our master. If I could, I'd want to have no master and be free to live in peace, just us. But I'd prefer to choose a new master that I trust now than wait and get stuck with another Laurel, or worse."
Tyler waited for Hyde's reply. It was cathartic to even have this conversation with himself, to admit his fears and desires, and he could only hope that Hyde was actually understanding.
He wasn't sure if saying that he would choose no master over Wednesday was a complete truth. If he was being honest with himself and Hyde, being alone just the two of them forever would likely drive him mad. But Hyde didn't need to know that, not when it seemed to Tyler that he was finally getting through to him.
My only one
My kingdom come undone
My broken drum
You have beaten my heart
"I... I don't want another master," Hyde said, but didn't sound at all sure of himself.
Tyler felt Hyde retreat back into his subconscious.
For now, it seemed that they were both out of fight.
Don't want no other shade of blue
But you
No other sadness in the world
Would do