{"sf1_id":876851,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Meeting Davy Jones","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":4749,"posted_at":"2015-06-23T02:01:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Ocean","Plot Development","Rage","Ship","Story Progression","Werewolf","anger","hyde"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/876851-meeting-davy-jones","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/876851","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=876851\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#103 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nThis will be the final segment for a while. How long I cannot say.","content":"                \"I\nthink that now's the time for whatever idea you have.\"                Edward\nstood his ground where he had assumed a higher view on the ship. \"I'll be\nstaying right here, though I might suggest you take a slightly higher perch.\"                 \"WHAT?\nNo way! I'll not let you face this thing alone!\"                Edward\ndidn't look at her; not even once. He knew where she was and what she was\nthinking. He did however keep his eyes on Hyde. The thing that he was was a\nhundred times more horrid than he was the first time he had seen him, when\nRobert still seemed to have some small control over the form. Now it was\nnothing more than a hulking, disgusting creature that had the very stink of\nevil to it. When it came to mindless depravity, this thing probably had a\ncorner on the market. Unlike the cardinal, who seemed to have a plan in his\nschemes for gathering together so much lore about the weres, Hyde was just a\nlone brute, intent on his own insane pleasures and inane destruction.                 \"Go\naway Mags. This fight will end here today, on this ship. If I don't survive,\nthen make like you said and fly away from here, as far as your wings will take\nyou. Get up high and let the air currents carry you. West should let you hit\nGreat Britain, and east somewhere in Europe. Skip going north or south. Those\ndirections would be a fool's errand.\"                She\nwas watching him as he was watching Hyde. She should have been angry, but he\nwas a foolish male. More importantly, he was her fool and she loved him dearly.\nShe flew up out of reach and settled down on a railing.                Hyde\nfaltered for a moment. It was difficult to tell if he was simply drained from his\ndays at sea, or if something more was afoot with his hesitation. He had his\nhead cocked as if listening.                \"Home?\"                Edward\nnodded quietly.\"Yes, Great Britain is home. But you can't go back now.\"                Hyde\npuffed out his chest. \"I can go anywhere I please!\"                \"No,\nRobert could do that for you. He could go out and about, visit with people, eat\nin fine restaurants, write, and overall be a pleasant sort of person. You can\ndo none of those things.\"                Hyde\nsmashed his fist into the deck. The wood splintered under the impact. \"I did\nnot choose this!\"                \"I\nnever said you did. You're a victim of his irresponsible meddling.\"                Hyde\nseemed confused. \"How do you know so much?\"                \"That\ndoesn't matter. Do you really wish to live in pain the rest of your life?\"                \"I\nfeed on pain. I feed on hate. I feed on...on...\"                Edward\nstared at him, wary that at any moment he could turn on him. He was banking on\nthe fact that Hyde had likely never kept his form for so long, even during the\nwar. And even then, he had had a solid enemy to face. He and Maggie weren't\nthreats, not in a direct sense.                \"Feed\non what?\"                \"I\ndon't know. Damn you! What have you done to me?\"                \"Nothing.\nAs you said, I only have one arm now, thanks to you. All I have is my voice;\nand hope.\"                \"Hope?\"\nThe snarl in his voice was gone, replaced with something akin to a child's\nplea.                \"Yes\nhope. We must either put you two back together, or we must tear you apart. You\ncannot live like this anymore.\"                Hyde\ndrooped a little. \"Together? Me with him? I think we would both rather die than\nsuffer that indignity.\"                \"That\nis where the second part comes into play. When one of you dies, the other will\nbe set free. At least, that's what Robert believed. \"                \"Believed?\nHe is a fool. He is a tinkerer, a little man who had great expectations. Look\nwhat he did. Look at me.\"                \"LOOK\nAT ME!\" Hyde roared and\nrushed Edward, but he had been expecting just such an attack and leapt out of\nharm's way, even if only barely. Maggie nearly left her perch to come to his\naid, but only by showing remarkable self restraint did she manage to not\ninterfere. Edward was now crouching on a railing opposite her, his sole arm\nholding him steady on the rusted iron.\"I have been looking at you. Do you wish me\nto tell you what I see? I think you already know. You have to look at that face\nin the mirror, or in a rain puddles, or in the reflection from a window pane.\nYou are everything he isn't, and it was never meant to be that way. You were\ngiven life only from him trying to rid himself of something he should have\ncherished. He gave birth to an abomination, and you are the horrible result.\nYou didn't ask to be born, and yet from the pits of his darkest soul you were\ntorn loose and thrust upon this world.\"                Hyde\ngrowled. \"Do you think me a dim wit on top of being an animalistic monster?\nJust because I don't make pretty and waggle my head like a happy dog doesn't\nmean I don't know what's what. Why do you think my rage builds? Is it not bad enough\nthat I am this...thing? That I must endure what I am every time I come forth?\nEven when he thought he had control of me, I simply didn't wish to endure what\nI had to see. I am filled with hate because I hate what I am. I hate because it\nis what I am. I hate myself for it and yet without it I am nothing. Can you\nimagine what that's like?\"                \"I\nthink I can. But unlike you, I can go on with my life in a fairly normal\nmanner. You, I'm afraid, don't have that luxury. As far as I can see things,\nyou can never leave this ship again.\"                Hyde\nappeared to be close to crying, but he regained his composure and slammed his\nfist onto the deck again. \"Then no one will leave this ship.\"                \"I\ndon't think that will be the case. But if anyone will die with you, it shall be\nme. If you want both of us, I'm afraid that outcome will be just outside your\nreach.\"                Hyde\nlooked slyly at Maggie. \"What the hell do you see in him girl? I'll grant you\nthat he's tough, but what can he offer you? You're a freak like me. You should\nfind your place and cut a slice out of life. You and I could go far.\"                Maggie\nshuddered at that thought. \"The only place I would go with you is to the bottom\nof the ocean. If that was what it would take to rid the world of you, I would\ngladly give up my life for it.\"                He\nlaughed. \"It's nice to know that hate can be contagious. I like knowing that I\ncan have such a wonderful effect on people.\"                He\nintended to continue with his mirth, but it stuck in his craw. Edward was\nholding up the silver vial. Hyde looked from it to the ring on his intact hand.\nRobert had considered the ring to be the thing to finish the job. But if it\ndidn't kill him, it just might make him completely invincible. With that little\nband of metal, he could do anything he wanted with full impunity. He wasn't\nstupid; not he. In this modern world they were weapons which even he might not\nwalk away from.                Edward\nsmiled. \"Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. That is why one emotion\ncan become the other. You are the flip side to Robert. In the end, you are both\nstill just the same person.\"                Hyde\nclenched his fists and raged them in the air. \"I tire of this. I would tell you\nto rip your tongue out, but I know it will only grow back. To end this, I must\nend you!\"                He\njumped skyward, but again, Edward was ready for his attack. He spun in midair,\nlanding next to Maggie. She touched his arm to steady him, and in that instant\ngot a glimpse of what he had planned. Or so she thought. \"You can't defeat him\nthat way. There just isn't enough time for it.\"                \"Where\nelse do we need to be? How will we get there even if we had a reachable destination?\nAll that doesn't matter. We do have places to be, but until we're finished with\nthis, we have nowhere that is more important than being here right now.\"                \"Don't\ntry to trick me Edward! I saw what you're going to attempt. He'll rip you to\nshreds this time.\"                \"Maybe.\nSacrifices are sometimes needed.\"                \"Well\nnot this time. We do this thing together. After all, I was the one who sensed\nhim in the first place. So if anyone is to blame, it's me.\"                \"Robert\nis to blame, plain and simple. And what he did happened a long time ago, before\neither of us was born.                Hyde\ngrowled and leapt again, sending them off in different directions. Maggie beat\nher wings in agitation as she hovered above the scene. She knew Edward was\ngoing to need help, but above decks was where she was any good at the moment.\nUntil she could figure out how to stow her wings, they were only going to be in\nthe way in the narrow corridors and cramped quarters down below. Going through\nthem slowly was no problem, but if speed was of the essence, she was going to\nbe of no use whatsoever.                His\nplan, while fundamentally good in conception, had a major flaw. Hyde might be\nstuck in this persona for good. If that were the case, then any attempt to\ncarry it out was fraught with danger. Robert said that if he died; that is to\nsay, if he died for real, then Hyde would likely be the sole occupant of the\nbody they had shared for so long. Thus, there would be no turning of the dark\nside toward the light.                But\nif that were the case, she would go down with her love, for without him (flaws\nand all) she felt as if she were nothing. He would have argued against such\nfeelings, had they been in a better place for discussing them. As it was, it\nwas now a life and death struggle. Any arguing would have to wait until a more\nsuitable time.                Hyde\nripped a section of railing from the nearby stairwell and flung it with\nunerring accuracy. Edward dodged it, careening through the air to land even\nhigher up on the ship's structure. \nMaggie hovered close by; worried that he would never make it through\nthis ordeal.  But Edward just gazed down\nat the raging beast below before speaking.                \"There comes an end to all things; the\nmost capacious measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to evil\nfinally destroyed the balance of my soul.\"                Hyde was\nbrought up short. \"And what is it we play now? A game of words long past? What\nwould you have me say? Something like if\nI am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also?\"                \"Then end your suffering. Go back to being Robert, and let him decide\nyour fate.\"                Hyde\nboiled with rage. \"I will never let that little pipsqueak ruin my life anymore.\nHe created me. It seems fitting that I should be the end of him after so many\nyears!\"                Edward\nshrugged. \"I personally would rather die than live my life in constant pain and\nanger. \"                Hyde\ncomposed himself as best he could manage under the circumstances. \"Do you know\nwhat he called me? Do you know what he wrote for the whole world to read? All human beings, as we meet them, are\ncommingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of\nmankind, was pure evil. I didn't want to be evil. I didn't want to be - to\nexist at all. He took all that was his dark side and gave it to me. So tell me\nman, what else do I have in my existence?\"                \"Have\nyou never known love?\"                \"Love?\nHe knew love. He dragged us across the globe because of love. The only reason I\nleft him alone in London was because London was home. The smells, the sewers,\nthe crime.  They were my only comfort. I slept\nat peace for decades before he woke me up again. And why? WHY? Because he\nwanted forgiveness. Because he found someone who he thought he could relate to;\nto trust. He was always a tiny little fool. But love... I felt what he felt. Love\nwas almost as intoxicating as mayhem.\"                Edward\nchuckled. \"Love is mayhem. I feel for\nyou that you never got to feel it for yourself. I think that you may have\nenjoyed the perversity of it much more than the solid, random destruction you\napparently favored.\"                Hyde\nsoftened, but only a little. \"Who could love this?\" he said, indicating his\npresent self.                  \"It is\nsaid that there is someone for everyone out there.\"                \"Bah.\nTime has passed me by to think about engaging in such niceties.\"                \"I\nsuppose so.\"                 Edward hardly\nhad the words out of his mouth when he chose to pounce. Hyde was distracted by\nhis present thoughts. By the time he realized that he was under attack, Edward\nhad bounded back up the stairs and was sitting on his high perch again.                 The\nattack had been painless. Hyde had felt a hand on his head for a split second\nbefore it was released again. There was no wound; no blood, nothing.                \"What do\nyou call that, you one-armed jackanape?\"                \"A\ntouch.\"                \"You're\ntouched, you impish fool!\"                Maggie\nsaw what he had done and knew she could help. She began circling the men, making\nher circles larger and larger. She attacked Hyde the same way, grasping his\nhead for a mere second before flapping furiously out of his reach. His apish\narms nearly snagged her.                \"I WILL\nNOT BE TOYED WITH!\"                Edward\nwas calm. \"We are not toying with you. We are defeating you.\"                Hyde\nsuddenly felt weak. His heart was giving him pain. His head was swimming. His\neyes sprung forth with tears.                \"What\nhave you done to me?\"                \"Given\nyou a dose of reality.\"                Hyde\nsunk to the deck. \"What are you talking about?\"                \"Love.\nI hit you with a dose of love I have for another. She hit you with a return of\nthat love. Love is the flip side of hate. It is equal to it in all respects. We\nnegated your rage in the only manner I knew how. For now, we've nullifies that\nwhich makes you what you are.                Maggie\ncame in cautiously. Sure enough, Hyde looked defeated. But she knew that he\ncarried with him an inordinate amount of emotional baggage. What they had done,\nwhile unexpected and seemingly effective, probably wouldn't last. At some\npoint, assuming that Robert was still in there, Hyde would return all the more\nangry.                But\nas it was, his body was sagging. It looked like a balloon that had been blown\nup a week before, and was now fading, leaving a stretched out mass of skin and\nwrinkles. The remaining lampreys fell off, surprised at both being out of the\nwater for so long and that their meal had suddenly dried up. The body continued\nto shrink, assuming a hardly recognizable form of the famed author.                Edward\nleaped to the deck and scooped him up in his arm. With a spring he headed down\ninto the depths of the ship.  Maggie went\nto follow, but he halted her before she could follow far.                 \"This\nisn't bravery or bravado on my part. This is old-fashioned necessity. If you\nsaw my plan for what I intend to do, then you know you can't be part of it.\nI'll need you to be up here when I return. I'd suggest getting one of the few\nlifeboats ready. You can fly, but not for as far as we may need to go. I could\nswim, but with one arm missing, I make any speed or distance. We need to get\naway from this ship as quickly as possible.\"                She\nleaned in and kissed him. \"Try not to be too stupid. One of these times I think\nyour actions are going to kill me.\"                \"As\nwell as me. But today is not that day I think.\" He turned and ran down into the\nbowels of the ship. Through his contact with the body, he could sense that Hyde\nwas presently subdued. Stevenson was still there, which gave a slight hope to\nhis plan. He had to get the two them as deep into the interior as he could go.                As\nhe went, he noted where there were doors and hatches. He had taken care to pay\nattention before, but now he was paying close attention. It was a little more\ndifficult the deeper they went, as the light quickly dimmed. Edward knew the\nfine details were going to be everything in this plan. As he loped along he\ncould feel the mind within stirring, and he hurried even more to reach his\ndestination. He was essentially now in the bilge, though in a ship like this,\nthat wasn't quite true. It hardly mattered. They were as low as they could go.\nThere was no light to see by, only darkness.                A\nvoice cried out.                \"What\nhas happened?\"                \"Hello\nRobert. How are you feeling?\"                \"I\nknow that voice. You are the new friend I met. Where are we?\"                \"Somewhere\nsafe for the moment.\"                \"What\nhappened? I remember the plane...\" Edward felt a shudder run through the small\nman's body.                \"Yes,\nthere was a problem aboard the plane. \"                \"Oh\ndear...\"                \"But\nyou and I are together now.\"                \"Why\nis it so dark? Are we dead?\"                \"No,\nwe aren't dead. But we have come close to it, you and I.\"                There\nwas a pause as Robert gathered his thoughts. \"I see. So then, it has come down\nto this. You have come to see me to my grave, haven't you? No, no - don't deny\nit. I welcome it. I trust you will make it as painless as possible?\"                \"I\nwill. Anything less would be unworthy of your accomplishments, and anything\nmore will probably trigger a response from your alter ego.\"                \"Yes,\nhe will not take this very well. I hope you have secured us in one of those old\nwar bunkers. I doubt there is very much that will contain him otherwise.\"                \"He\nwill be contained. I think that there will be enough steel to hold him until\nthe time comes.\"                \"Do\nnot underestimate him.\"                \"Oh,\nthat won't be a problem. He and I have tussled, and he got the better of me. It\nwas a hard learned lesson.\"                Robert\nlapsed into silence again for a few moments. When he spoke, it was in hushed\ntones. \"My friend, you have a good woman for your mate. Treat her well always.\nShe has depths and degrees you have not yet fathomed.\"                Edward\nnearly broke out in a humorous grin at what he was thinking, but refrained\ndespite knowing his face was all but invisible down here in the dark.                \"She\nis showing new sides all the time.\"                \"Good.\nI like her you know. I knew she was taken, but she made me feel young again\nwhen I first met her. I suppose it was just a passing fancy. I mean no harm in\ntelling you this.\"                \"She\nis a wonderful little lady Robert. I would do anything in my power to protect\nher.\"                \"As\nwell you should.  But I digress. I await\nmy judgment. Will you make it swift?\"                \"As\nswift as I can.\" Edward put his hand on Robert's head and transformed into his\nmost powerful form.                A\nmoment later he squeezed through the doorway, turning to pulled it shut.   As he moved through the dark, he pulled\nloose debris into his former path, littering the way and making an obstacle\ncourse. The next door he closed, but the one after he left open temporarily. He\nwalked over to the side of the ship and put his ear to the metal. The dim\nsounds of the ocean echoed through the steel plates.                \"Sorry\nHyde, but this is the only way.\" Bracing himself, he balled up his massive ham\nhand and bashed at the plating until the metal gave way.                Water\nbegan to rush in.                Edward\nleaped for the doorway and snapped the hatch closed. He went to the other side\nof the ship and pounded another hole, leaping to safety as the water rushed in.\nHe climbed several flights of stairs closing the doors all the while. He was\ncontaining the flood of seawater, but he was also containing Hyde. When that\nfreak recovered his wits, he would begin to bash his way out. That would allow\nthe water to flow to all parts of the ships. With any luck, it and the\nmalformed beast would both become one with the briny deep. No one was going to\nmiss either one.                Maggie\nhadn't dropped the lifeboat yet, afraid that it might drift too far in too\nshort a period of time. She wanted to be on hand in case Edward needed help.\nShe had a fair idea what he planned on doing, but not entirely. He had blocked\nsome of it from her mind, figuring, she had to assume, that it was too gruesome\nfor the likes of her. She was going to have to have a talk with him about that.\nShe had been killing far before he had ever found a need to do it.                She\nwaited and waited for what seemed like an eternity. Then she heard the thud. It\nwas more of a sensation that ran through the ship rather than an actual noise.\nShe waited and heard it again. She had an idea what it was, but if he didn't\nshow his ugly face in a couple of more minutes she was going in after him.                He\ncame out in full rage mode, huffing and puffing as he pulled himself through\nthe last doorway to freedom. His eyes were wild and he was shaking his head,\npossibly from the deafening noise he had created in smashing through the hull\nof the ship. He was probably stunned from the clamor.                 \"Edward!\"\nMaggie screamed at him. He turned and saw her, lumbering erratically from side\nto side as he made his way to the side of the ship.                 \"What's\nwrong with you?\"                \"I\nfeel weird.\"                \"Well,\nno time to contemplate that now. Get back to normal and get in the boat. While\nit's designed for holding a group of people, I don't think we should abuse the\ncapacity by dropping it with an oversized werewolf in it.\"                He\nshrunk down to his normal self, clutching his head and tumbling head over heels\ninto the small craft. Maggie hit the release lever and watched it fall into the\ndark sea below. With a quick glance at the doorway he had exited from, she said\na little prayer and dove to their much smaller home for the next part of their\nordeal. The craft had an emergency beacon, but time would tell whether or not\nanyone would ever receive their distress call.                 The\nwind was blowing them away from the cruise ship, putting a slow but steady\ndistance between them and that rusting hulk.  After a quarter of a mile of floating, they\nnoticed the ship was beginning to list, and at a half a mile, it was beginning\nto dip severely to the port side. Eventually, it tilted, turned, and slipped beneath\nthe waves.                \"So\nends Mr. Hyde,\" said Maggie.                \"Yes,\nso ends Mr. Hyde. May he and Davy Jones becomes the best of friends.\"                Maggie\nfluttered her wings. \"So. What do we do now?\"                Edward\nseemed to be in pain, though he said nothing about it and she was to wise not to inquire.                \"We\nwait.\"                Somewhere\nacross the sea...                The\nbell in the kitchen rang. There were many such devices, all attached to cords\nput in place decades before. One might even go so far as to say they had been\nthere for a century or more. Each connected the kitchen with a room somewhere\nupstairs in the labyrinth of chambers that filled the mansion from top to bottom.                This particular bell had a distinctive ring, and a few of the staff had never heard it go off\nbefore. Those that had knew that its activation was something momentous.\nEveryone stared as the dust drifted down from the recent chiming.                \"What\ncould it mean?\"                The\neldest of the kitchen staff shrugged. \"Tis not our duty to know. Go tell Master\nIrwedin that the lady has called. He alone will see what it is she needs.\"                The\nman thus instructed headed up the stairs to the first floor, following a long,\ncarpeted hallway. He passed many door leading to either side. When he had\ncounted out the proper number, and stopped and knocked. A voice inside replied,\nsounding both angry and curious.                \"What\nis it?\"                \"The\nbell master. The lady has rung.\"                The\ndoor flew open. \"What?\"                \"I\nsaw and heard it for myself master. I was bid to come tell you. The lady has\nrung.\"                \"We\nfinally just got settled down in the past twenty years. And now we have to deal\nwith something new?\"                \"What\ndoes it mean?\"                The\nold man snapped at the other. \"None of your business Pertie. Go back down and\nsay nothing more to anyone.\"                \"But\nmaster, I have nothing to tell.\"                \"And\nrightly so.\"                The\nold man bundled himself together and walked to the stairs. He stepped briskly\nfor one with such an elderly appearance, making his way up three flights before reaching\nthe desired floor. The room he wanted was at the end, as far from traffic as it\ncould possibly be. The floor showed a layer of dust the rest of the building\nlacked, leaving evidence of his footprints as he walked solemnly down the corridor. No one\ncame up here ever. No one.                He\nknocked on the door.                \"Come\nin Irwedin. It's not like I haven't been expecting you.\"                He\nshivered a little and entered. He hadn't seen the lady in nearly thirty years.\nIt was damned unnatural for anyone, even those of the Kind to live without\neating for such long stretches. The room was surprisingly brightly lit, with the\ncurtains flung open and the wndow letting in the fresh, healthy air. He had\nhalf expected it to be dark, dank and moldy in here after so long.                \"I\nwas told you called milady?\"                \"I\ndid ring, yes. It has happened.\"                \"But\nmilady, I thought it had been foretold that it would never happen.\"                \"Not\nby me, and that is all that matters. Just because I keep my nose out of other\npeople's affairs doesn't mean that I am not aware of what foolish people\npredict. He has survived and he has taken a bride. I am most pleased.\"                \"Pleased?\nThey said that if this were to happen, it would be the end of us!\"                \"Indeed\nit will. You should rejoice in that fact.\"                \"But\neverything we have built here. What will become of it?\"                \"You\nfear what you do not understand Irwedin. I thought you were taught better than\nthat.\"                \"Milady,\njust because you can see all doesn't mean all of us can. Can't you stop this\nfrom happening?\"                \"Yes,\nI could. But I will not. I have spent a greater portion of my life not\ninterfering. I have no intention of starting now. And you should well know the\nrule; she who knows and seeks to alter, finds her steps doth weaken and falter.\nThe moment I take action to direct events, the manner in which they unfold\nchanges and thus I have altered what I have seen.  I will help if necessary, but I will not\nhinder.\"                \"Will\nhe kill us?\"                \"Heavens\nno, you frightened little mouse of a were. He doesn't even know yet that we exist. But\nhe will. He will.\""}