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The ropes were tied with Edwards frame in mind, so they're tight against his chest. They dig into his arms and press uncomfortably creased fabric against his skin. His chest aches with heaving breaths, and a thin film of slime is still dripping off his face.
He stays slumped forward-- he doesn't want to face him. He doesn't want to face any of them.
"...It was me." He murmurs. Why would Edward do this? What did Henry ever do to deserve his life being ruined like this? "It was always... me."
"That doesn't make any sense," Robert's voice is filled with denial and confusion, raising what's sure to become an argument. "What was that? What is Hyde?"
"An experiment-- a mistake." Henry wants to run his hands through his hair and tug at it until he feels better. He wants to run, to hide, but he's tied to a chair with an obnoxious spotlight on him and the whole of his world staring down at him. "I thought I could fix it, but... I..."
"But what?" Henry looks up, finally, to see Robert's confusion and denial turn to anger. His fists are clenched, his face is set, "Why would you do this to yourself? Why would you lie to me?"
"I didn't--"
"Two years, Henry!" Robert gestures, his arm lashing out in a way that makes the chair Henry is sitting on rock with the force of his flinch, "That man worked for us, and you never thought to mention you share a frontal lobe?! Was this some kind of sick joke to you?! Were you trying to make a fool out of me?"
"No!"" He never wanted any of this to happen- he never meant for Robert to find out, it wasn't meant to spite him, he just wanted...
"Then why?!"
"Because I just wanted to be good!" He yells. Robert's angry expression breaks into shock. Henry breathes through the silence, and feels his eyes burn with tears. "I wanted to be-- to be the person you needed me to be. That everyone needed me to be... So I did what I had to-- what I thought I had to do to... become that person.”
Henry drops his head down. He doesn’t know if he’s hiding his face, hiding from the shame, hiding from his mistakes and the consequences of his actions, or hiding the tears running from his eyes.
“And… It didn’t even work. I promise you, Robert, I never– this was never meant to– I didn’t want any of this to happen,” his voice cracks and breaks. He’s so tired, he wishes he’d never even thought of making Edward. “I tried to fix it, I did, and it didn’t work. I can’t fix this.”
He just doesn’t know what to do anymore. He’s shoved himself so far into a corner he’s practically one with the wall. His own hole is so deep he can’t see the sky anymore.
Henry’s head jerks up at the sound of footsteps. Robert’s taken steps away from him, his face is screwed up in a mixture of emotions, none good. He turns on his heel and– and he leaves.
Robert Lanyon leaves him.
Again.