Chapter Text
Seeing his life reduced to a monotonous routine in a place he didn't want to be because he knew he didn't belong there was depressing.
Now, on top of that, with each sunrise he was losing what little remained of himself; his sanity was deteriorating more and more, and the knowledge that an indefinite countdown hung over him, one that could reach zero in the blink of an eye, signaling the end of his days, gnawed at his mind.
Tyler sometimes felt more dead than alive, but even so, a small impulse existed within him, his other half, that told him giving up wasn't an option.
Accepting defeat and opening the door to death is synonymous with weakness, and we are not weak.
And if he was completely honest with himself, he didn't want to give up either. He had been through so much in his barely 17 -almost 18- years of life that he refused to accept such a... humiliating end. Yes, he had never been enough for anyone in his life, but at least he could try to be enough for himself.
Besides, he couldn't ignore the fact that he'd been given a second chance at life. Wednesday, who he thought would kill him without hesitation the moment he asked, chose to slice his bonds instead of his jugular.
She gave him a second chance to live.
And maybe that's why he accepted Capri's offer, agreeing to go with her without much question.
You have nothing left here, nothing to lose, why not try?
And at first, he had tried, why wouldn't he? The problem was that the weight of his past actions and the fame they had brought were backfiring, and even his own kind of outcasts, the pack Capri talked so much about, didn't seem the least bit interested in even looking at him.
They were supposed to understand his situation more than anyone else, to help him, but once again, the promises they made to him remained just empty words.
He didn't know why he'd thought this time would be different.
It would never be different.
Like every night, Tyler was wandering through the woods behind the campsite.
He could spend hours walking; he might even say he was starting to memorize the place.
It was the only time of day he felt even remotely calm, just him with the echo of his thoughts and the voice of the Hyde that occasionally surfaced.
Sometimes he transformed, seeking that feeling of freedom he loved so much, even if only momentarily. His nature was one of the few things he truly liked about himself. He wasn't ashamed to show himself as he truly was; he wasn't just the sweet, normie barista or the monstrous creature, he was both, and he liked being both.
That night was no different from the others. Walking, even running, through the woods without really knowing where he was going. His thoughts always absorbed him to the point of moving on autopilot, but his senses were always alert to any possible threat.
A Hyde's hearing and sense of smell are far more developed than those of any human or creature, which is why it was so difficult to take one by surprise, even in human form.
But that didn't mean it was impossible.
And although Tyler had stopped after sensing something nearby—or rather, behind him—in the blink of an eye, his feet had left the ground and his back slammed into a tree as a large hand immobilized him, gripping his neck.
His first reaction was to extend his long claws without fully transforming, intending to free himself from his attacker. One of the few things he had managed to learn at the camp was partial transformations and how useful they could be in certain situations, like this one.
However, he forced himself to stop the moment his eyes met the creature's, and suddenly the scene felt all too familiar, almost like a déjà vu.
"Enid?" His voice came out more broken than he expected, perhaps from surprise, confusion, and a little fear of the situation. What was Enid doing in that area? Had she come to finish him off once and for all? But it wasn't a full moon. What was happening?
Apparently, the call had also thrown her off, as her head tilted slightly in confusion—almost like a pup's—while she stopped growling at him, showing her large, sharp teeth.
"Enid," he called again, this time in a lower tone. "It's okay, calm down," He wasn't sure if that tone and his attempt to get the werewolf to release him peacefully would work, but at least he could try. "Could you…" His attempt to ask was interrupted as he suddenly fell to the ground, but not because Enid had released him willingly. When his gaze focused on her again, he saw another similar figure, another wolf, on top of her.
The other werewolf was attacking Enid.
And as if the realization were a switch, something inside him ignited and, without a second thought, he transformed, letting the Hyde take complete control of the situation. His priority at that moment was to save Enid; he would have time later to question why.
Tyler quickly approached and grabbed the wolf from behind, pulling it off of Enid and throwing him with all his might against a tree. The wolf fell to the ground, noticeably stunned, and it took him a few seconds to recover before he lunged at the Hyde with every intention of attacking him.
How stupid Tyler thought to himself, and the Hyde agreed. He grabbed the wolf by the neck, stopping his way to him, and held him in the air, roaring and baring his sharp teeth. The wolf, even to his own surprise, was utterly intimidated by the monster before him and cowered like a frightened puppy.
A second roar escaped the Hyde's throat as he slammed the wolf to the ground and raised his free hand, displaying his claws in the moonlight. Without hesitation, he attacked the one who, just moments before, had been the attacker, with his claws until the canine’s only movement was the rise and fall of his chest, his breathing ragged and ragged despite his injuries. He was likely in his final moments, and maybe his vision caught a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel in the midst of his agony.
Tyler took a few seconds to compose himself and let the euphoria of the moment drain away. He then approached Enid, who was struggling to her feet due to the wounds on two of her paws. His gaze met Hyde's, and in her eyes, frustration and a flicker of fear could be seen in her eyes.
Tyler scanned his backpack, found it, grabbed it, and transformed back into his human form. He quickly pulled the clothes from the bag and dressed. If there was one thing he'd learned after so long constantly transforming, it was to always carry extra clothes. It was rare he actually had to use them, but he never knew when situations like this would arise, so he preferred to be prepared.
Now fully dressed, and more cautious than before, he began to approach Enid again. As expected, the moment he entered the wolf's field of vision, she growled at him and once again tried to stand, but couldn't. "Hey, it's okay Enid." he called her name for the third time that night, and it seemed to still throw her off completely, as she tilted her head slightly again, her defensive expression shifting to one of confusion.
This definitely didn't go unnoticed by Tyler, and he, too, seemed quite lost in her reactions.
"I just want to help you," he said, taking a couple of steps forward with his hands raised in a gesture of peace. "Can I see?" he asked, referring to the wounds on her paws, which were still bleeding slightly. Tyler waited for any reaction, a growl, some kind of intimidation, even that Enid, however much she was hurt, would get up and run away rather than let him help her. But instead, he was once again utterly surprised when she gave him a slight nod and lifted her paw a little, extending it toward him.
It took him a couple of heartbeats before he reacted and lowered his trembling hands from their initial position to accept her offer to examine her. The moment his fingers made contact with her limb, an involuntary whimper escaped her lips. "Sorry." he said quickly, giving her a fleeting glance before returning all his attention to the wound, now inspecting it with all possible care.
The wounds weren't very deep, but they were still painful enough. Tyler might not have been a doctor—he was far from it—but from his own experience, he knew that he should at least disinfect and bandage it if she didn't want those scratches and bites to become something much worse. "Do you think you can walk?" His initial idea was to take her to the camp, making it easier to help her. Capri wasn't there those days, but perhaps another member of the pack would have enough empathy to help.
However, when he thought about it, was it in either of their best interests for an outsider to see Enid in that state? She wasn't just injured; something else was wrong. He glanced quickly at the sky, and just as he suspected, the full moon wasn't shining.
The memory of that night at Willow Hill flashed through his mind, and his own words echoed in his head: "This time there won't be a full moon to save you" Even though he was supposed to have everything in his favor, he was the only one who had been in real danger—partly because of his mother—when Enid attacked him and held him the same way she had today.
Except that night, it wasn't Enid who had attacked him.
Tyler had clearly realized that, in some strange way—like everything surrounding Wednesday—she and Enid had switched bodies, not only because of Wednesday's (Enid's) call to herself or the darker and colder appearance of the wolf that night, but because the attack felt different, personal. That night's creature had a sharp gaze, a gaze he knew all too well, but in its eyes he saw no sign of hatred or contempt as he had expected, but rather a warning he couldn't decipher.
Enid tried to get up once more, and although this time she managed to stay on her feet for a few seconds, she decided she wouldn't be able to endure a walk to wherever the boy wanted to take her, so she collapsed to the ground.
Tyler saw frustration creep across Enid's face and at the same time felt it coursing through his own body. "Okay, umm... how about you stay here while I go get something to heal you?" She seemed to consider the idea, but suddenly her expression changed, and she shrank back.
Tyler understood that the werewolf didn't want to be left alone, and his brain began to piece together the events of the night at Willow Hill with those of today, managing to deduce that Enid was facing a situation she wasn't prepared for, one that brought imminent danger. However, reaching that conclusion still didn't help him understand many things: why could Enid transform without a full moon? Why didn't she transform back into her human form? If she was in danger, why wasn't she with her family or, failing that, with Wednesday? And perhaps the question that disturbed him most:
Why did Enid let him get so close without trying to tear him to pieces?
After a great effort from both of them, especially Enid, they managed to reach a cave not too far away where the wolf could wait while Tyler went to the camp for a kit or anything that would allow him to heal her.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” Tyler was assuming that she understood everything he said to her; it had all been short phrases that didn’t really need a response, and yet, Enid’s actions acted as responses, indicating that there was some kind of communication between them.
This time he didn’t wait for any response—or rather, any movement—from her and quickly left the cave. On the way back, questions kept spawning in his head, leaving him with only more doubts than he already had, and he lamented the timing of these things, since he had no one to talk to about it or ask for proper help.
Usually, he was the one who caused the problems, not the one who solved them.
The only option he considered viable to understand Enid's situation—which now seemed to involve him as well—was to search Capri's room/office for any information. She was a werewolf after all, so she was bound to have something.
After about 20 minutes, Tyler arrived at the camp, and, as every night after his hikes, the silence was palpable. It was very rare that he'd encountered anyone awake wandering around, and the few times he had, the other person had epically feigned ignorance and returned to their room in a completely undisguised manner.
His first stop was the mess hall. His gaze had caught a couple of times of a first-aid kit near the kitchen entrance, and he would also look for something to eat. All the emotions that had coursed through his body in the last hour had whetted his appetite.
He then slipped into the cabin that also served as Capri's office and, without much effort, opened one of the windows to get inside. The room was clearly dark, but the moonlight made the place recognizable enough that he didn't need to turn on an extra light. Tyler scanned the room for just a couple of seconds, and when his gaze fell upon a bookshelf, he approached it without hesitation and began browsing through each book.
A couple of minutes passed, and he was still looking for the right book. At first, he had told himself he would just grab the first book he saw and, if necessary, come back and get another one later, but his instincts weren't at all pleased with any of the options that crossed his path, and the selection process ended up being more meticulous and tedious than he had planned.
His patience—known for being almost nonexistent—had reached its limit, and he decided that the best thing he could do was go back to Enid and try to find information another way later. He went back to the window, and the moment he tried to step out, he was inexplicably stopped by himself. As his body froze in front of the window, he felt an electric shock surge up his spine with such speed that the sensation almost went unnoticed by Tyler. Almost.
In less than a second, all his thoughts vanished, and a single word began repeating in his head: Desk. Tyler couldn't fully process the fact that he hadn't checked there, and when he came to, he was standing in front of Capri's desk on the other side of the room.
What the hell?
This had to be another horrible symptom accompanying his impending madness. Since when did his body act so deliberately without him even realizing it?
He shook his head, trying to focus, and although he was still bewildered by his own actions, he began searching the desk. It didn't take him long to find a book on the table, open and covered with some unrelated notes and papers. Tyler took it and closed it to see its cover: Lupine Hierarchy: The Relationship Between Control, Instinct, and Loneliness.
He felt a wave of satisfaction upon reading the title, and with his instinct—or subconscious…or madness, he no longer knew—content, he finally left the room and began walking back to the cave.
The only constant sound was the crackling of the leaves that adorned the forest floor beneath his boots as the rain began to fall, its drops gently landing on his face and hair. The forest around him appeared tranquil after having been the scene of chaos itself. However, his mind was the complete opposite of his surroundings. Thoughts raced aggressively through his head like a hurricane plotting to mercilessly destroy everything in its path, to the point of beginning to cause him physical pain.
His hands trembled uncontrollably at his sides, and his breathing became erratic with each inhale and exhale, almost as if the air wasn't actually reaching his lungs but rather getting stuck halfway and then escaping again. The sensation was so overwhelming that his vision began to blur.
Tyler closed his eyes—squeezing them tighter than necessary—and forced himself to stop and implement the only piece of advice that had proven useful from all his sessions with Dr. Kinbott: “Inhale deeply for four counts, then exhale for another four. Clear your mind and focus solely on your breathing. If you can pinpoint the exact moment you're about to lose yourself, implement this exercise and you'll see how calm returns to you.”
One, two, three, four… He inhaled deeply, letting the air, with its moist touch, fill his lungs.
One, two, three, four... He exhaled through his mouth as he unconsciously opened and closed his hands, trying to release the tension.
Inhale, One, two, three, four...
"Tyler..."
Exhale, One, two...
"Ty..."
A sigh, almost a chuckle, escaped his lips. He wasn't going to fall for it again. "Leave me alone," he ordered without opening his eyes, tilting his head back, feeling the rain fall harder than before on his face.
Inhale, One, two...
"Tyler, sweetie, don't talk to your father like that." His eyes snapped open, and everything around him seemed to freeze; he could almost swear his heart stopped for a second.
When his gaze focused on the two figures in front of him, his mouth went dry, and his breath caught in his throat completely, as if he'd forgotten how to breathe. Donovan wore his sheriff's uniform as impeccably presented as ever, with that commanding presence that anyone who saw him in his role as an officer would recognize—a role he played even at home when they were alone together—and that tired look, tinged with disappointment, that he always gave him. Tyler had learned to live with it, and that's why he'd reached the point where he simply stopped trying to please him. There was no point in continuing to try if he was always going to think being a Galpin was too much for him.
However, Francoise's gaze held that mixture of love and adoration with which she always looked only at him, that look a mother only gives her son. She was wearing a blue dress with a print of small white flowers—her favorite dress—white shoes with a small heel, and a necklace with a pendant that, when opened, revealed a picture of Tyler as a child. Seeing her like this, just as he remembered her before everything, so alive, made his stomach lurch.
"T-this isn't real," he stammered, his voice so agitated and uncertain that for a moment he genuinely doubted himself. "You aren't real." He roughly ran his hands over his eyes, as if the two presences had something to do with his vision and not with his mind.
"God, honey, your father was right when he said you looked terrible," he heard his mother's voice now closer, behind him, right in his ear. "You know this wouldn't be happening if you'd let me help you."
A humorless laugh escaped his lips. “Sure, because your help was going to be so efficient after you’d been lying to me the whole time, right? ‘Let’s make him believe we’re doing all this for me so we can then subdue him, what could possibly go wrong?’” The sarcasm was evident in his words.
“I only wanted what was best for you.” Tyler opened his eyes in disbelief and turned away, noticing that his mother was now alone and her clothes had changed back to what she’d worn the day everything happened at Iago Tower. Plus, her gaze no longer sparkled but rather looked empty. “Being a Hyde is a curse. You needed me to save you.”
“I don’t need you,” he replied aggressively, more of a growl. “I don’t need anyone.”
“Are you sure about that?” She asked in a mocking tone, “Your nature doesn’t think the same, just look at you.”
Anger coursed desperately through Tyler’s body, seeking release somehow. “You lied to me, you betrayed me,” he declared through gritted teeth, inhaling deeply, trying to stay behind that thin line that separated him from total loss of control. “You’re dead, and you can’t do anything about it, so leave me alone.”
“I’m dead because of you,” she emphasized as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and the rage coursing through Tyler’s veins was momentarily replaced by remorse at his mother’s words.
She didn’t die because of you; you tried to save her.
“Do you really think that by helping that werewolf you’re going to undo everything you’ve done?” Francoise attacked again. “That she is going to forgive you and you’re going to have your happy ending?” The mention of Wednesday completely threw him off balance, and he felt his eyes begin to sting as tears threatened to spill. "An Addams doesn't bring anything 'happy' with them."
Don't listen to her, she's not real.
"You don't have much time left, Tyler. You're going to die." Her tone was utterly dry and cold, making sure every word sank into his mind. "Stop trying. Nothing you do will erase who you are, what you've done. You'll never be truly free."
A scream escaped from deep within his throat as he fell to his knees, defeated, and the rain, now a downpour, engulfing him violently.
What if she was right?