A/N
Hello again, It's me.
I'm still alive, I've been told that's a good thing, sorry for my absence, but it appears that working on a chapter every week wasn't my smartest plan, I got burned out.
Anyway, sorry if the story feels a bit clunky, I get the feeling I'm a bit rusty with the writing stuffs.
I think I wrote the first half while I was starting to burn out, the other half is rusty me starting again.
Like I said my apologies, and thank you for being patient with me, now then it's time, to blow the dust of these pages and start it back up again.
Today is a bit of an unfortunate day, why? Because it's the day of Mayor Walker's funeral. Funerals are nothing new to me, when you've lived a long life you start getting used to them. I've seen friends die, some died of old age surrounded by family and friends passing on peacefully, while others didn't have that kindness, some of them have been murdered by the scum of the earth. Off course I hunted them down
As people were moving away from the funeral, I noticed that Wednesday had left. Knowing her she probably didn't see any reason to stick around, I should go too, for the murderer is still walking free...
As I was returning to my room a thought struck me, why is my locator emitting such a strong signal, when I'm near the Nightshade library?
"Maybe I should go ahead and investigate, discover whatever is lurking down there" I said speaking to myself. "It's better to wait for nightfall, less people to get in my way"
(Some Hours Later)
Nightfall has arrived, so that means it's time for me to make my move.
Walking towards the statue I snapped twice and waited for the door way to open.
"I'm surprised that no one accidently found this place, what if someone randomly snapped their fingers twice? Wouldn't really be a secret club anymore then" as I walked down the stairs searching for anything useful.
"Why are you so active when I'm around here?" I said inspecting the device.
"You know, it's quite funny that people think they can hide from me" I said turning in the direction of the individual that was hiding
"You'd better show yourself, or I won't hesitate to blow up this entire room with the both of us in it" I said making my threats fill the room.
"Don't even think about doing anything" grabbing the remote from my pocket. "Remote detonation always has been one of my favourite things to use"
"Now, there is no need for that, I'm not looking forward to getting blown up yet" they said as they made themselves known, revealing them to be a pale and bald headed male with a hunched back.
"Good, it's quite nice when people listen, first of all, let's start with a name" I said pointing the remote at him.
"Fester Addams" He said, making me lower the remote from him and letting out an audible sigh.
"I should've known" I said facepalming. "There aren't a lot of people that are pale like the Addams, well, if you don't count corpses." I said wandering back to the bookcases. Fester still not moving an inch further.
"Don't worry about me blowing up the room, that was a lie, this little thing is actually a flashlight." I said clicking the button making it light up.
"Now then, I take it your visit has something to do with Wednesday?" I asked Fester.
"You know Wednesday?" Fester asked curiously.
"Why of course, our strings of time have intertwined with each other in solving this mystery monster." I told him, only to realize I never stated my name.
"Oh where are my manners, I'm Y/N L/N, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I said while doing a bow. "Now then, back to business" I said continuing with my investigation on why there was so much activity whenever I was around the Nightshade's room.
"Maybe it's malfunctioning? How very confusing, why can't there be an easy fix button like a big red button, then again, I guess that removes the challenge of a mystery." I said to myself, rambling on, if Fester hadn't spoken up I would've forgotten he was even there.
"So, do you know what you're dealing with?" Fester said asking if I knew.
"Nope, but I'd say that's the exciting part" I said as I approached Fester with overexcitement
"Not knowing something is quite rare for me, also, I had another observation or question, buuut I think we should hide ourselves first, for I believe we have a visitor approaching the statue" as I could hear the sounds of snapping fingers. Soon enough we both hid ourselves out of sight, and observed the individual who entered the room being Xavier.
Why was he here? Well, he is a club member, so there's no surprise there and it seems he's returning a book. Maybe he's just looking for another book to read, but my ears once again caught another sound, once again I heard the sound of snapping fingers, and behold there was Wednesday, so I was right, Fester was indeed here for Wednesday.
"Uncle Fester?" Wednesday said not knowing that Xavier was also in the room.
"Who's Uncle Fester?" Xavier asked the raven haired girl.
"What are you doing here?" Wednesday asked the artist.
"Since I'm an actual Nightshade, I don't have to explain myself. What's your excuse for creeping around in the middle of the night?" Xavier asked wanting to know Wednesday's reason.
"Research." Wednesday responded.
"On the monster? I'll save you some time. There's nothing in here matching that thing." Xavier said.
"Isn't that convenient?" Wednesday said as she turned around to leave.
"You know what your problem is?" Xavier said not sounding very pleased with Wednesday
"I would love to hear your piercing insight." Wednesday said.
"You don't know who your real friends are. I've been on your side since day one. I literally saved your life. I believed your theories when nobody else did. And what do I get in return? Just nothing but suspicion and lies." Xavier said.
"Fine. You want honesty? Here it is." Wednesday said.
"Every time the monster's attacked, you've been right there." Wednesday said as she approached Xavier.
"Starting with Rowan at the Harvest Festival. Then on Outreach Day, you arrived just minutes after the monster disappeared, yet you say you didn't see it." Wednesday explained.
Her reasoning is sound, for every encounter we had with the monster, he always showed up a few minutes after, it seems too good to be true, something doesn't feel right.
"I didn't realize proximity was a crime." Xavier said as he walked away from Wednesday.
"Then there's your drawing obsession. You have drawn the monster dozens of times, yet you've never seen it. Or so you claim. You even drew where it lived. Then when Eugene went to investigate, you tried to kill him so he wouldn't spill your secret."
"You think I would hurt Eugene?" Xavier said not believing what Wednesday suggested.
"Let's not forget your oh-so-convenient appearance after Tyler had been attacked at the Gates mansion."
"If I am the monster, then why haven't I killed you?" Xavier said as he approached the girl.
"Because for some reason I cannot fathom or indulge, you seem to like me." Wednesday said trying to deny the possibility of Xavier liking her.
"What's to like?" Xavier said with disapproval in his tone as he left the room.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Fester moved down from his hiding place, making himself known to Wednesday.
"How long have you been lurking?" Wednesday asked Fester.
"Long enough to feel the tension between you two. Yowzah!" Fester said as he created an electric current through his fingers. "Seriously, you could cut it with an executioner's axe, I also met your friend" Fester said as he pointed to my direction, making Wednesday confused at his comment as she followed the direction he pointed to, being met by me.
"Hello" I said with a small wave. "You know, I'll get straight to the point, your reasoning is sound thinking Xavier is the monster, but I don't think it's him." I said making the raven haired girl look at me.
"Do enlighten me why you think not." Wednesday said, wanting to know my thoughts.
"I'm not entirely sure yet, but a few things I'm certain on, the monster and Xavier, their smell don't line up, also I didn't notice a lie in what Xavier said, unless he's very good at hiding it, Which I doubt, seeing as he needs to work on his perception skills." I said as Wednesday was contemplating my statement.
"and we're supposed to believe your sense of smell?" Wednesday said with disbelief lacing her tone.
"Oh dear Wednesday, do remember that all of my senses are beyond that of a mere human, they're superior compared to yours, you can trust me on that one." I said looking into her eyes.
"Alright, I'll trust your judgement." Wednesday said agreeing with my statement. I didn't seem like she was lying so, there's that.
"Yowzah. Now then I take it you know what sort of a monster we are dealing with?" I said wanting to know.
"Why'd you think I know what we're dealing with" Wednesday said curiously.
"Oh please, it's written all over your face" I said while pointing towards her face. "You may be able to hide it from normal people, but remember I'm not normal" I said with laughter.
"It's called a Hyde" Wednesday said.
"So what, like Jekyll and Hyde?" I said gaining a nod from Wednesday.
There was a moment of silence that filled the room, but that was soon enough removed as sounds of tapping filled the room, making Fester speak out.
"I'd recognize the patter of those fingertips anywhere." As Fester turned into the direction of the tapping. "Hello, Thing" Fester said as Thing let out an clear tap showing that he was displeased with something.
"You can't still be mad about the Kalamazoo job. It wasn't my fault." Fester said as Thing lunged at him.
"You said you could crack that safe in 30 seconds." Fester said as he was being strangled by Thing.
"Five minutes later, we were still there. You're all thumbs."
"Are events like these always this entertaining in your family?" I said amused at the events occurring in front of me, only for Wednesday to roll her eyes at my comment and stopping the feud between Fester and Thing.
"Enough." Wednesday said forcefully. "Let him go."
"Show me the diary." Wednesday said, making me follow wherever we were going.
"Here we are." Fester said as we were standing In front of a painting. "Iggy was Faulkner's right hand, trained a generation of Nightshades. And behind Iggy Itt..." Fester said as Thing went to move the painting to the side and reveal a safe.
"I do love a secret safe" I said out loud.
"Do I have time for a snooze, or can you crack this quickly?" Fester said as Thing went up to the safe to open it, but felt insulted at Fester his comment.
It took a little bit and Thing went to move towards the handle, only for it to not budge.
"If only I had a sonic, that would've saved us so much trouble" I said gaining a glance from Wednesday, probably wondering what I was blabbering on about now.
"This is turning into a replay of Kalamazoo." Fester said.
Mere moments later Thing went to try the handle once more, only this time it did open, making Thing snap his fingers.
"Neat" I said snapping my fingers as Wednesday went to grab the journal that was in the safe.
(These Timeskips have gotten a bit dusty in my absence)
"These are some sweet digs. How'd you swing your own single?" Fester asked the girl.
"She had a bit of a falling out with a mutual friend" I said answering his question, only for Wednesday to give me a glare.
"Just stating the truth" I said as Wednesday returned to the diary.
"Here it is." Wednesday said gaining our attention.
"Faulkner describes Hydes as artists by nature, but equally vindictive in temperament.
Born of mutation, the Hyde lays dormant until unleashed by a traumatic event or unlocked through chemical inducement or hypnosis.
This causes the Hyde to develop an immediate bond with its liberator, who the creature now sees as its master.
"It becomes the willing instrument of whatever nefarious agenda this new master might propose." Wednesday said
"Anyone willing to unlock a Hyde is a next-level sicko." Fester said making me nod in agreement.
"That means we're not looking for one killer but two. The monster and its master." Wednesday said looking at me, but we were interrupted by a knock on the door, making her hide the diary and walk towards the door, only to be greeted by Thornhill.
"I didn't mean to startle you." Thornhill said as she walked into the dorm.
"I was just working on my novel." Wednesday said.
"Enid has requested to room with Yoko for the rest of the school year." Thornhill said informing the raven haired girl, in which Wednesday responded surprised.
"She did?"
"When there's a falling out, I like to get both girls' perspectives on what happened.
You two seemed as thick as thieves." Thornhill said.
"Ultimately, thieves turn on each other. I've seen it with my own eyes." Wednesday said.
"Deflect all you want, but you and I both know that you care about Enid and you have to admit she managed to bring out a spark of warmth in you.
Oh, don't worry. Just a tiny spark. Barely perceptible to the average eye, but... I noticed.
Part of the dorm experience is making friends with people that you wouldn't normally connect with. And those friendships often turn into lifelong bonds." Thornhill said
"I would rather buy a rope." Wednesday said with her usual expression.
"Is it really so difficult for you to admit that you made a friend, and now that she's gone you might actually miss her?" Thornhill said to Wednesday.
"I'll survive alone. I always have." Wednesday said.
"Well, if that's your decision, I'll submit the forms to Principal Weems." Thornhill said as she made her way towards the door and left.
As Thornhill left I was once again allowed to breath, making Wednesday turn into the direction of the sound.
"I really thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen there" I said making my presence known.
"Where did you come from?" Wednesday said with curiosity.
"Oh I never moved, I just stood very still not moving a muscle, you can call it mastering the art of standing so incredibly still that I was invisible to the eye, small problem with that, breathing is something I cannot do." I explained, I was about to continue on, but we were interrupted by the sound of squeaking.
"Uncle Fester?" Wednesday said moving closer to the stuffed toys and picking one of them up.
"Hey! Being a solo lobo has its perks. You get to live by your own rules, do whatever you want. Just look at me." Fester said, making Wednesday walk away.
(These time skips were buried with rubble, I managed to find these old friends again after some trouble)
You know, seeing as Wednesday is spending some quality time with her uncle, I thought it was high time for me to continue my own research. At least until Wednesday returned, I have to find a way to kill some time, unless I want to be bored. Which I don't.
Now then, what do we currently know.
Point number one, the monster is called a Hyde and seems to operate with a Master, so that means we're looking for two killers.
Point number two, multiple body parts seem to have been taken, why? No clue as of yet, but it seems to be of something big
Point number three, it seems to look like someone is trying to resurrect Crackstone, but that shouldn't be possible, but then again, I've been wrong before.
Point number four, Wednesday seems to think Xavier is the Hyde, but I have my doubts, yes, everything seems to point towards him, but something just doesn't add up.
I was taken from my thoughts by a knock on the door, walking to it I was greeted by Wednesday.
"Follow me" She said leaving me a bit confused.
"Okay?" closing the door and following her to her dorm.
Some minutes went by as Wednesday explained the events that happened to me.
"So, you're telling me that Kinbott could be involved in all of this?" I said gaining a nod from Wednesday. "and you also have a date with Tyler?" I said making Wednesday glare at my sentence.
"I'm merely returning a favour" Wednesday said, the glare never leaving her face.
"Whatever you say" I said holding my hands in a surrendering motion. "So you want us to guard the book?"
"I'll be back as soon as I can." Wednesday said making her way to the door.
"Have fun" I said with a wave as the door closed, making me turn to Thing.
"Want to play some cards" I said as Thing gave a thumbs up.
(TIME SKIP GOES HERE)
After a few games that I definitely lost on purpose, we were preparing to start another round, but were interrupted by the opening of the door and we were greeted by a masked individual wielding a knife.
"Ah hello there, sorry but it appears you're at the wrong party, this is not a masquerade ball, so I like to request you to leave" I said, but it appears the intruder didn't want to listen. They lunged towards me making me quickly jump back to avoid the slash.
Thing went for the throat and manged to get a hold, but that was sadly short lived as the intruder grabbed him and threw him against the floor, It appears that he was unconscious, how did I know, well he wasn't moving so it seemed quite obvious.
"Who are you" I said being greeted with another stab attempt. "You know I'd really like to not get stabbed" I said a bit panicked.
I was prepared to dodge the next attack, but of course my luck has to show its ugly face once more and I stepped on the thermos can I threw in my previous losses with cards. As I fell back I was stabbed through the chest and watched the intruder search around the room, as I slowly lost consciousness.
(Time passed as Wednesday was slowly making her way back to the dorm)
Wednesday returned to her dorm, she opened the door, only for her to see that the room had become a mess.
"The diary..." Wednesday said as she walked further into the room she noticed that Thing was unconscious on the floor
"Thing?!" Wednesday said quickly moving over to the appendage, making him wake up.
The appendage quickly looked around the room looking for his friend who was fighting alongside against the intruder.
Thing quickly moved to the last known location making Wednesday follow behind him. They were greeted by the sight of Y/N with a knife in his chest. Wednesday quickly moved towards him, in an attempt to shake him awake, but the results were non-existent.
Wednesday thought of one last thing that might work. She lifted the unconscious Time Lord up and made her way to Fester, in the hope that he could do something. She opened the door to the bee keeping club and both Wednesday and Thing attempted to wake up Fester.
"Fester? Fester, help!
Help! Help! Y/N not moving.
He was stabbed!" Wednesday said franticly.
"Quickly lay him on the floor" Fester said as he prepared electricity in an attempt to restart the heart. After multiple attempt nothing was starting to work.
"Oh, come on" Fester said
"He's gone, Wednesday." Fester said to the girl.
"No, he's not." Wednesday said being in denial, but an idea quickly popped into her head.
"The other side of his chest, Go again.... Now! Again, please!" Wednesday said as Fester moved his hand to the other side.
After a few more attempts both were starting to lose hope at the failed resuscitation.
"I'm sorry Wednesday" Fester said trying to comfort his niece.
.
.
.
.
.
"Did you know that getting stabbed isn't very fun" I said not being very pleased, making all three of them surprised at my sudden revival.
"How? How are you?" Wednesday said in a surprisingly low tone.
"Now this is a surprise" I said as I crouched so I could be on eye level with Wednesday. "Never knew Wednesday Addams would show tears for someone like me, I'm sorry for making you like this." I said apologizing to her.
"Just so you know, you did save my life, both of my hearts stopped, luckily you're a quick thinker and brought me here so you could jump start my hearts again and revive me from the dead. It seems that it did take a bit longer for me to heal from my wounds. I'm perfectly fine, thanks to you, the both of you." I said with a comforting smile.
"Who did this to you?" Wednesday said as she returned to her normal expression.
"No clue, they were wearing this weird masquerade mask, so I didn't get to see much" I said explaining what I saw.
"I promise that whoever did this to you will suffer and it will be slow, long, and excruciatingly painful." Wednesday said.
"I hope you'll record it, gotta have something for the archives" I said with a chuckle, gaining a smile from Wednesday.
"They found your motorbike, so... the sheriff won't be far. You need to go. Maybe next time steal something a little less conspicuous." She said.
"Where's the fun in that?" Fester said
"All right. I'll lay low here tonight, I'll skedaddle in the morning."
"I guess I'll see you at your arraignment or the next family reunion." Wednesday said making Fester respond.
"You'll always be my favorite, Wednesday."
"Be sure to tell Pugsley that. It'll give him a complex." Wednesday said with a smile to her uncle.
"Right then, I'll get myself a fresh set of clothes, can't stay in this, don't want people to ask too many question now, I'll see you in a little bit in Weems' office." I said walking back to my dorm.
(Time passed some more)
"I'm guessing it's not some kind of random prank." Weems said.
"No, it really isn't a prank, for they tried to end my life" as I walked into the room.
"Hello humans" as I made my way to the chair.
"Y/N I heard what happened, how are you feeling?" Thornhill asked surprised at my wellbeing.
"Oh I'm doing just fine, however this intruder made one mistake." I said making Weems curious for an answer.
"Which is?" Weems asked, making me respond with the coldest tone that made it feel like the temperature dropped by a very very large amount.
"They should've made sure I was dead, now I'll not just hunt down the Hyde, but I'll hunt down it's master too, but you already knew that we were dealing with a Hyde didn't you Principal Weems." I said with a venomous tone.
"Thank you, Ms. Thornhill. I'll take it from here." Weems said to Thornhill.
"Of course. If you need anything, I'll be right down the hall." Thornhill said taking her leave.
"Faulkner spent years studying Hydes. He wanted to determine if they were just mindless killers or conscious of their actions." The Principal said.
"What was his conclusion?" Wednesday asked.
"He was killed by a Hyde before he could reach one. Others tried to carry on his research, but the Hydes were too unpredictable and violent. They were officially banned from Nevermore 30 years ago." The Principal explained.
"All of this time, you've known the monster was a Hyde. Why didn't you tell the sheriff?" Wednesday asked.
"Because then Nevermore is done. Over. Shut for good. And that's not happening on my watch. But I'm not the only one withholding. If you suspect someone, you need to tell me." Weems said wanting to know if Wednesday suspected anything, but Wednesday didn't see any reason to that.
"Why? All you've ever done is gaslight and obstruct me. You don't care how many people die, as long as your reputation is safe." Wednesday said stating the truth.
"I am protecting our Nevermore family, which also includes you, Ms. Addams." Weems said
"I can't be bothered with this back and forth, I'm going to my room and I'll do some stuff." I said standing up from the seat and walking back to my room.
I returned to my room and was done with this day, getting stabbed does that to you, so I just wanted to sleep and recover some more, I may have healed the wound, but that doesn't mean the exhaustion has recovered as well.
(Insert Sleeping Noises Here)
Soon enough I was interrupted from my sleep by a few rapid knocks on the door.
As I opened the door I was greeted by an out of breath Wednesday.
"It's Tyler.... He's the Hyde" she said, it took me a bit to realize what she actually said.
"Oh, damn it, right then, uhm, to the whiteboard in your room, we need to sort out our options, and if you don't have a whiteboard we'll make one." I said as we walked to her dorm. Wednesday opened the door and I was greeted with the sight of Enid reading a magazine.
"Ah, Enid, Nice to see you again, I take it you guys patched it up again?" I said making Enid nod what I said.
"Neat" I said with a thumbs up.
"Now, catch me up, what has happened while I was asleep" I said making Enid curious at why I was sleeping.
"Quick question, but I thought you didn't sleep, or at least rarely slept." Enid said curiously making me spin around.
"Oh I don't really sleep, but after getting stabbed and potentially being dead, my body was quite exhausted, so I needed to recover my energy." I explained making Enid nod although a bit confused, after explaining I turned to Wednesday, seeing as I wanted to know what had happened after we went our separate ways.
"So, what happened?" I asked?
"After you left, I went to see Dr Kinbott, or as she's also known Laurel Gates, but she's been murdered by the Hyde at that moment I thought Xavier was the Hyde, but it seems I was wrong." Wednesday explained.
"Well, good to know I don't have to convince you that you were wrong, I knew it couldn't be Xavier, he's essentially a red herring, one that we both walked into." I said, making me question one thing. "Why attack your own master? It doesn't make sense, anyway doesn't matter now, at the moment we'll need to find a way to contain him, and we need to force him into confessing he's the Hyde." I said turning to Wednesday's direction.
"Oh" I said gaining the attention of Wednesday.
"What is it?" she said wanting to know what I was thinking.
"Wednesday! Let's play with our little monster's heart shall we." I said with a wicked grin.