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melodiouswhite · 4 years

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde rewritten - Ch. 49

49. Her Ladyship's strange and remarkable Friends (tw: bad French and mention of violence and gore)

Just a few days later, Lady Summers informed them, that her old friends would be happy to meet them on Sunday. But they would have to come to them, as they had no housekeeper and couldn't leave their house alone.

Lanyon had major issues with permitting the Lady to travel across London in her state. It had been only three weeks since the incident and she was still very fragile.

But it was quite impossible to talk her out of this, so he gave up. He did however ask the coachman to drive as carefully as possible.

“Don' worry, Doc”, the Irishman replied gruffly, “My drivin' won't be the problem 'ere.”

This didn't make Lanyon feel better in the slightest, but he said nothing more.

And so it came that on Sunday, Lady Summers and the male quartet were on their merry way to Soho of all places and apparently not far away from where Hyde lived.

Of course Lanyon's greatest worry was that his Lady was fine. But deep down … he had to admit that he was curious.

He really wanted to meet those childhood friends she had been talking about so much lately.

After a while, the coach stopped and they got off.

Lanyon was surprised to see that they were standing in front of a corner bookshop, that seemed to share the building with a surgery. The house was in good shape and looked a bit out of place among all the other buildings that were anything but.

He read the sign above the door.

Flamel & Wife – Bookshop and Library, est. 1865

Antiquary books, textbooks and school utensils

And right next to it:

Dr. Faust, surgery

“Huh. I do know that house”, Hyde stated, “I bought a few books here. The bookseller was a Frenchman and he was really-”

“He's one of the friends I'm going to introduce you to”, Lady Summers told him.

Then she slowly stepped up to the door, but hesitated to ring.

“I seriously hope that they remembered”, she muttered, “Last time they thought I was someone else and the reception was … explosive.”

Lanyon swallowed and tried to ignore his sense of foreboding.

Now the Lady finally rang the bell.

Something moved inside and a chubby woman with auburn hair and brown eyes opened the door.

She recognised the Lady, gasped in delight and called something over her shoulder further into the house.

“Careful, careful”, Lady Summers told her, when she wanted to hug her, “I'm having a sick phase.”

The auburn-haired woman frowned. “Oh mon dieu! Je suis désolée¹!”

Lanyon's attention was up. That had to be the French proprietress.

Lady Summers stepped to the side, so the other woman could see her company.

“Perenelle, these gentlemen are-”

“Tell us all at once”, the other responded. “Entrez! Les autres vous attendent²!”

“Perenelle, speak English”, the Prussian reminded her. “Only two of my companions are fluent in French.”

Sheepishly, the Frenchwoman apologised and let them in.

About time, Lanyon thought. It's pretty rude to wait that long to invite people in.

“Cut them some slack”, Lady Summers responded telepathically, “They don't have guests that often and are quite apprehensive.”

The four men were lead into the parlour, which was a bit cluttered, but otherwise cosy enough.

A gaunt, platinum blond man with silvery eyes and a pince-nez fetched a few extra chairs. “Do sit down”, he invited them. That had to be the bookseller Hyde had mentioned.

And sure enough, they recognised each other.

“Monsieur Flamel”, Hyde spoke. “Quel plaisir de vous revoir³.”

“Mister 'yde”, the man returned. “Fancy seeing you again.”

Their tone was cool and they didn't look as pleased, as they claimed. Then again, no one was pleased to meet Hyde and the brunette naturally reflected the antipathy he was met with.

Then the man named Mr. Flamel turned to them. “Welcome, gentlemen. I'm Nicolas Flamel, the landlord and owner of the bookshop in the front and the small library upstairs. This-” He pointed at the auburn-haired woman, “-is ma merveilleuse épouse⁴, Perenelle.”

Lanyon tried to recall, where he had heard those names before, but then Jekyll solved the riddle for him.

“Nicolas Flamel?”, he cried, “The Nicolas Flamel? The man who is said to have found the philosophers' stone?!”

Oh. Now Lanyon remembered, but-

What the hell?! That man lived 500 years ago!

The Frenchman chuckled. “I'm surprised you know me. People aren't that interested in alchemy these days.”

Jekyll blushed a little. “I am”, he admitted quietly.

The other man, who was tending to the fire, paused. “Really? How nice! I'm an alchemist myself. Everyone in this house is, actually.”

The man was stocky and thin, had unkempt, ginger hair, a crooked nose and sharp blue-grey eyes with slight bags and frowning wrinkles. He gave Lady Summers a warm smile and said something in German to her.

She laughed: “Good to see you too, Johann. Gentlemen, this is Prof. Dr. Johann Georg Faust. Yes, that Dr. Faust”, she added, when she saw their incredulous faces.

They just had time to introduce themselves, before Hyde suddenly barked: “You! I remember you! You're the doctor I was forced to pay, when-”

“You trampled a little girl”, Dr. Faust finished icily. “Well, if it isn't Mr. Hyde! It's not a pleasure to see you again.”

“Likewise!”, Hyde hissed, “You wanted to kill me!”

The ginger-haired doctor looked at him scornfully. “I didn't try to. Besides, what kind of reaction would you expect after walking over a little girl like she's a dirty rug!”

“Well, what was that brat doing out there in the middle of the night to begin with?!”

“Running from a creep her parents had sold her to! I know that, because-”

“I don't bloody care-”

“Don't lie to me! I have the same ability as Luise and some more. And if I didn't know what happened to you since then, I would-”

“What would you do?”, the brunette snarled. “Turn me into an animal?”

“Why not, I bet you'd make a beautiful cat-”

“Please!”, Jekyll cried, startling them, “This is not the moment to argue about this!”

“He's right. Pull yourselves together, girls! You're both pretty!”, Lady Summers agreed firmly.

The two squabblers stared at her. “GIRLS???”

“And please don't turn him into a cat, Johann. You know I'm allergic to them. Außerdem hat er viel gelernt in den letzten Monaten⁵.”

Lanyon stared at Dr. Faust in horror. “So what Marlowe and Goethe wrote about you is true?!”

Dr. Faust shook his head. “It's not. Don't wreck your brain, Dr. Lanyon.” A mischievous smirk. “I don't need a demon to do the fantastic! Do you want to see-”

“No, I do not want to see it! I've seen enough witchcraft in one year! This is too much!”, Lanyon spat angrily. Then awareness of his tone set in and he apologised: “I'm sorry. How rude of me.”

Dr. Faust shook his head. “It's fine. I'm accustomed to worse.”

Then he smiled lopsidedly. “I'm stoked to meet you. Not to sound offensive, but … you three went to school and finished it. So far I've been the only one!”

The Flamels coughed in the background.

“Oh shut up, you two have been home-schooled!”

Jekyll frowned. “Not to sound offended, but what is that supposed to mean?”

Two more men entered the room.

Dr. Faust sighed and pointed at one of them. “This is what.”

The one he pointed at was a peaked boy with long hair, glasses and amber eyes. He looked young, but his black hair was greying and tied up in a messy pony tail.

The other was huge (not smaller than 8ft), had yellowish, nigh transparent skin, creepy yellowish eyes, a black mane of hair and looked more like a huge rag doll than a living man.

“Oh, they're here! Hello, everyone”, the boy said, “It's a pleasure to meet you. Luise told us so much about you-”

“Did you clean up the mess?”, Dr. Faust asked.

“Yes, Doctor. I did.”

“Next time think twice, before you make a mess in my lab, do you understand me?”

“Yes, I do”, the boy said duly, but looked a bit agitated at being talked to like a child.

But Mr. Flamel jumped to his aid: “I don't see 'ow you're one to admonish 'im about making a mess, Jean. Do you remember that one time you almost blew up my bookshop in Paris?”

“That was 200 years ago and an accident! You can't still be angry about that!”

The Frenchman's silvery eyes narrowed.

“… I guess you can.”

Meanwhile the boy turned to Jekyll: “I'm Victor Frankenstein.”

Jekyll gasped: “What a surprise! I read the novel by Mary Shelley, but I didn't think that I would ever meet you! Charmed!”

Oh! The novel 'Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus' by Mrs. Shelley! Henry loves that one!

Victor blushed awkwardly. “Likewise. You must be Dr. Lanyon?”

“No, that's me”, Lanyon spoke up sourly.

Frankenstein blushed. “Oh! Oh Heavens, I'm so sorry! I didn't think-”

Dr. Faust facepalmed and groaned: “Of course you'd assume that Luise would love the man you would find most handsome in that group!” (Jekyll blushed) “Stop stuttering and introduce to them what you made!”

“Right, sure. This-” He pointed at the giant, “-is my creature.”

“His homunculus”, Dr. Faust corrected cuttingly, “And he has a name.”

Lady Summers stood up slowly and introduced the creature. “That's Adam. Johann named and adopted him – sort of – because Victor doesn't want to deal with him.”

It was Hyde, who first stepped forward, looking up at the giant in wonder. The creature named Adam stared back. Then he knelt down and Hyde placed one of his small, bony hands onto one huge knee. He looked even tinier and more fragile next to the black-haired giant.

Lanyon could tell in their eyes, that they were recognising each other, seeing the fellow artificial creation in each other, the suffering companion. There was something heart-rending and intimate about it and the bespectacled doctor had to hold back tears, when the two hugged each other (awkwardly, as Hyde wasn't used to giving affection, while the other seemed unused to getting it).

From the corner of his eye, he could see Mrs. Flamel wipe her eyes with a handkerchief.

Dr. Faust looked mollified at their interaction, seemed like he really cared about the giant.

After a while Jekyll joined his other half and held out his hand. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir”, the blond said kindly. “I'm Dr. Jekyll. I'm his creator.”

Jekyll placed the other hand on Hyde's shoulder and rubbed it gently.

The giant blinked. Then carefully took the offered hand and replied: “The pleasure is mine.”

Lanyon and Utterson exchanged a glance, before following suit and introducing themselves.

“So, we 'eard about what 'appened at the royal gala”, Mr. Flamel brought up later.

Hyde and Adam were sitting in the library, while the rest of the group was still in the parlour, having tea and cakes.

“Such a barbaric thing to do to a lady. Seeing you in such a state around this time of the year, when you're normally fine … 'ow bad was it three weeks ago, right after it 'appened?”

“It was awful”, Lanyon told him, before the Lady could answer. “We needed to give her two transfusions, because she was suffering from severe anaemia …” He felt a lump in his throat and had to turn away to regain his composure. “I'm sorry”, he apologised.

Lady Summers grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

But Mr. Flamel shook his head. “Why apologise for love and care? It's the most wonderful thing in the world. And we don't just feel this way because we're French.”

Mrs. Flamel took her husband's hand and gazed at him lovingly. “We've been married for 518 years”, she told them.

“That's wonderful”, Jekyll replied, “I wish I had such a wonderful relationship.”

“You will”, Dr. Faust suddenly spoke up, “But you need to learn an important lesson.”

The blond doctor frowned at him. “And that would be?”

“To be careful with how you speak to and about the ones you love and, most importantly, consider the feelings of others!”, the ginger told him bluntly.

Lanyon could tell that Jekyll was offended and about to make a snappy retort. But a gentle look from Utterson silenced and pacified the angry scientist.

They all knew that Dr. Faust was right, but it was wiser not to say that out loud.

Still though, how the hell does that man know?

The eerie alchemist answered aloud: “I already told you, I have the same ability as Luise and some more. I can also predict the future and perform necromancy, but I don't use that to earn my livelihood these days. I'm tired of people insulting or trying to kill me.”

“Necromancy?”, Lanyon repeated, “You raise the dead?!”

Dr. Faust frowned. “No. No spell in the world can really bring back the dead, even though Victor here would love to tell you otherwise. I can only conjure their spirits and question them. And that alone is something that shouldn't be done.”

“Have people ever asked you to do it?”, Utterson asked curiously.

“Of course!”, the alchemist groaned, “In fact, it happens quite a lot lately. It's always the same kind of people. They can't get closure over the death of a loved one and want to get them back. This is so boring and tiring, that I just send them away. If they have an actually good reason and can pay accordingly, only then I consider it, maybe!”

“Uhm …”

Everyone startled, when Victor Frankenstein spoke up.

Right. That lad was still there too. He was looking at Jekyll in fascination. “So … you're in love?”

The blond Doctor blinked. But then he nodded and smiled. “Yes. I certainly am.”

Frankenstein tilted his head. “But you're not married. I see no ring on your finger.”

Jekyll shrugged.

Of course he could have replied something the likes of: “I would, if I could.” or “It's illegal”. But then he would have given away that he was loving another man (or two, because Lanyon was quite sure, that Jekyll loved Hyde as well) and that was more than dangerous these days.

Both Lanyon and Utterson knew that and that's why they weren't offended by his apparent nonchalance.

The Flamels and Dr. Faust seemed to get the hint as well, because they made no remark either.

But Frankenstein began to pry: “Who is it? The black-haired lawyer sitting-?”

Dr. Faust promptly elbowed him. “Shut up, Victor. It's none of our business, who he loves and it doesn't matter anyway.”

“But I want to know how their-”

“It's none of our business!”, the alchemist growled, “And even if it was, you wouldn't understand the emotional depth of it.”

The black-haired boy glared back at him. “How are you one to talk? In the 400 years of your life, you've never once been in love!”

“Neither have you”, the ginger-haired man retorted. “You claim that you were in love with Elisabeth, but you never confided in her, never were there for her, when she would have needed it and on top of that, you left her alone on your wedding night. Everyone in this room can tell you, that this has nothing to do with love and it's not how you treat someone you care about.”

The others nodded affirmatively.

But Faust wasn't finished yet – in fact, he seemed to be just getting started.

“And don't even get me started on how you treated your creature. You animated him and ran away, because you didn't like his eyes. And you still insult him and call him a monster, ugly and other charming things like that. I would have preferred dying over treating my little Gretchen like that, when she was alive.”

That caught Lanyon's attention. “So your alleged mistress was actually your daughter?”

“Mhm. My little sunshine she was!”

“'E was a good father too”, Mr. Flamel spoke up, “'E took good care of 'er.”

Dr. Faust smiled warmly. “She really was the best person in the world. But then she fell in love, married and decided to grow old and live a normal life with her family. Of course it broke my heart, when she died and I still really miss her sometimes. But she was happy and that's all I could ask for as a father.”

He pointed at an oil painting at the wall. “That's her. Nicolas painted that.”

It was the full body portrait of a beautiful, blond woman with grey eyes and rosy cheeks.

“She doesn't look anything like you”, Utterson pointed out.

“Oh, that's because I only adopted her. I met her shortly, after I had faked my death in 1541, when I was moving around with the Flamels (we were already a group back then) and she was sitting at the side of a road, begging for alms. She just looked so pathetic, I had to do something. That's how I got myself a daughter.”

“When did you become immortal?”, Jekyll asked curiously.

The German alchemist shrugged. “When I was 38 years old. Then I met the Flamels on a trip to Heidelberg and after some persuasion, they agreed to teach me how to make a Philosophers' Stone. For a while I could conceal that I wasn't ageing. There was no registry back then and as a wandering Doctor, I was always on the move. However … I was very famous in a lot of territories of the Holy Roman Empire, so it was only a matter of time, before someone would question my age. So I created a puppet, that looked like me and caused an explosion. It worked perfectly, they thought the Devil had claimed me.” He shook his head. “Of course I had to go into hiding after that. But I still nearly got killed countless times. Got accused of some vile stuff I don't even want to take into my mouth.”

“To their defence, Johann”, Lady Summers remarked. “You're rather unheimlich⁶.”

She had a point there.

Dr. Faust was obviously brilliant and charming in a gruff way, but he also seemed paranoid, difficult and – to put it politely – borderline creepy. Something was just off about him. Not as extreme as with Hyde, but it was unsettling.

Like Jekyll's science.

Yes, that was it. The aura of alchemy and dark magic was just oozing off him.

Totally someone people would pin to have a deal with the devil.

Suddenly Lanyon remembered, how Lady Summers had said that the two would get along famously. And he realised that she might be right.

“I can't decide, if I should be flattered or offended”, Faust drily responded to his inner musings.

The hoary doctor blushed at being caught red-handed.

The ginger-haired man turned back to Jekyll. “Are you interested in becoming immortal?”

That caught the Flamels' and Frankenstein's attention and they looked at the blond expectantly.

Jekyll considered the question.

But then he exchanged a look with both Lanyon and Utterson.

He smiled and shook his head. “No. I don't think I could handle watching my loved ones die, while I live for centuries. I don't want that. I'm fine with living a normal life, as long as the people I care about are in it.”

Lanyon grinned; he wouldn't have expected any other answer from their mad scientist.

Utterson smiled fondly, a rare thing to see in public.

Lanyon didn't need his Lady's telepathic abilities to know that the two men's feet were touching under the table.

These two silly lovebirds.

“That's coming from you?”, Dr. Faust's voice suddenly sounded in his head, nearly making him jump, “You call Luise your 'radiant angel' and you're her 'dear doctor'! So shush!”

Said Lady glared at her old friend. “Johann, stop that! The only one who's allowed to invade his mind is me!”

He laughed and stood to make a bow. “Of course. Do forgive me, oh Marchioness of Brandenburg, Princess of Hanover and Countess of Calenberg and Cornwall. Will I be granted mercy?”

“One last time, you lowly commoner”, she responded playfully.

The Flamels and Frankenstein chuckled.

Now Utterson spoke up again: “If you don't mind, ladies and gentlemen: how did you meet?”

The alchemist group and the mad scientist frowned.

It was Frankenstein, who answered: “Well, somehow that evil organisation found out about us and kidnapped us; that is, me and the Flamels. We were experimented on for weeks, they took quite a lot of our blood – to experiment on the samples, probably. One day they carried a half-dead ten-year-old girl into our cell. And that was Luise. That's how we met her. Dr. Faust and the Wre-” (he corrected himself, when Dr. Faust glowered at him) “-Adam came to free us. The Doctor blew up whole parts of the building and was totally shocked, when he saw the ill little girl with us.”

The ginger-haired man nodded. “Yes. But she wasn't too ill to get enthusiastic, when she looked into my mind and knew who I was. Seriously, I've never seen a little girl so happy to meet me.”

Lady Summers blushed and laughed awkwardly. “I'd never heard about the Flamels until I met them, but I had already read Goethe's Faust and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, so I was ecstatic to meet the men themselves – that's just how children are.”

Lanyon almost laughed at the Flamels' wry smiles and Dr. Faust's cocky grin.

He hadn't expected their visit to Lady Summers' old friends to be so strange, long or entertaining.

All the time their hosts had been nothing but friendly and well-mannered and Dr. Faust had quickly warmed up, when he had concluded that none of them meant harm to their mind-reading friend.

He even became friendlier to Hyde, after seeing how harmoniously the brunette and Adam interacted.

In fact, when the group came to pick the gremlin up, they found him dozing in the giant's lap.

Adam put a hand to his mouth as a sign to be quiet.

Jekyll broke into a huge smile, crossed the room silently and brought a gentle hand to Hyde's pale cheek.

“Hyde?”, he spoke, just barely above a whisper, “Hyde. Wake up.”

Lanyon saw those bilious green eyes slowly open and blink.

“Huh? Already time to go?”, he mumbled sleepily.

“I'm afraid so”, Jekyll replied and turned to Adam: “Sir, give him back to me, please. We have to go home.”

The giant was obviously extremely unwilling to let go of his “brother”, but Jekyll looked so friendly, asked so nicely and seemed to be so fond of Hyde (and he was, Lanyon knew that), that he finally gave in.

With a chuckle, the blond helped his alter ego up and helped him put on his coat.

“Let's go home, my dear other half”, he said fondly.

Hyde appeared too drowsy to really register it and just leaned into him.

They all said their goodbyes and left.

Of course not before Dr. Faust had threatened to blow Lanyon to bits, should he ever break Lady Summers' heart.

“I have nothing to fear, then”, the hoary man had calmly retorted, before saying goodbye and seeing himself out.

Jekyll and Hyde had been the first to get off the coach, when Mr. O'Connor had dropped them off one by one.

Something had concerned Lanyon though.

“Have you noticed something about Hyde?”, he asked the other two.

Utterson nodded. “Yes. He was so quiet, ever since he first saw Mr. Adam. And just now he was so clingy towards Jekyll. That's so unlike him. Something is making him upset and I wish I could do something about it. You have seen it, right, Milady? You know the answer, you have seen it inside his head!”

“Of course I have. But I'm not going to tell.”

Both men were frustrated.

But they knew: her silence meant that this was a matter between Jekyll and Hyde.

---

1) French: Oh my god! I’m sorry!

2) French: Come in! The others are waiting for you!

3) French: What a pleasure to see you again.

4) French: my marvellous wife

5) German: Besides, he’s learned a lot in the last months.

6) German: the feeling that something is off, without being unable to pitpoint it; uncanny valley; strange at best, a subtle kind of creepy/eerie at worst (sorry, I couldn’t contain myself XD)

Edit: I corrected the French grammar mistakes, in case it wasn’t clear. One of my followers was so nice as to point them out to me.

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