It was a blurry awakening as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Warm lighting as light rain fell... she could smell Tyler's coffee scent. She thought perhaps she was in Heaven.

Her eyes adjusted and she found herself in Tyler's room.

She was right.

Victoria sat up from Tyler's bed. It was starting to become a habit, ending up in Tyler's room. Though she didn't complain about it, she didn't know what to think of it now. Now that he may potentially be the monster that had been killing people of Jericho. Even the late mayor.

She picked up her phone to check the time, accidentally bumping his camera off the nightstand and onto the carpeted floor. It'd only been an hour since she saw Xavier.

She tried to pick up her recent memories, trying to remember how she ended up in Tyler's room. She knew she had anticipated making her way to his house, but just like that? It didn't make sense.

Then she remembered the blue Cadillac. Its headlights nearing her at full speed when a large, blunt figure pushed her out of the way.

There was no way that was human.

She felt her knees grow weak as she recollected the memory of seeing Rowan's wallet in his closet. She had to find out. Even if she refused to believe it.

Tip toeing her way into his closet, she ruffled through the same pile of clothes she saw it last. But it was gone.

"If it's gone, that means it's got to be his wallet," Victoria thought hopefully.

She turned back, frightened by Tyler's sudden presence on the other side of the closet door. He had a raised brow and crossed arms as he leaned against the closet door frame.

"Looking for something?" he asked.

She had the feeling he was onto her, but she couldn't find herself to fear him as she thought she would. Seeing his face only made her remember their kiss. And to avoid his questioning, that was the only thing she could say to get his mind off her snooping behavior.

"Yeah, actually," she said, trying to hint sarcasm. "I'm looking for my pride back."

"Hm. What happened to it?" he asked with a grin.

Victoria crossed her arms. "I left it in your room. After we kissed."

Tyler's behavior seemed to have changed as he nodded with a smirk on his face. A smirk that she'd never seen before, as it was very smug and proud. She could've almost thought he took her pride.

She then noticed he was still very dressed for the late timing. He was not in sleeping or work attire. As a matter of fact, he looked very nice and well put together.

It then struck her. She stepped back, putting two and two together.

Tyler saw her expression change as he changed his as well, now concerned. But she couldn't tell if he was concerned about her or himself.

"What's the matter?" he asked as she made her way past him.

She reached for his door handle, but he shut it on her with a light slam. She prayed that they weren't home alone but from the driveway, she only saw one car. Tyler's car.

She met his eyes again, but this time they were less concerned and more scared for some reason. He looked as scared as she did when she stepped away from him, cornering herself near his bed calmly.

"You were Wednesday's date," Victoria stated disappointingly.

Second once again.

Tyler didn't answer right away. "It's not what you think-"

"It's exactly what I think!" Victoria exclaimed. "You- used me to get close to Wednesday."

"Why would I do that?" Tyler demanded. "I would never- I wouldn't do that to you."

Victoria put together the pieces quickly as she stayed quiet, her eyes pleading through him, in hopes that she was wrong. "You're the Hyde..." she didn't want to believe it. "It all makes sense why you would ever get close to me in the first place."

Her eyes turned to the camera on the floor and it hit her. Tyler's been watching her. It was his polaroids that Wednesday found at the Gate's mansion.

"That's why you used me," she couldn't manage to admit.

Tyler seemed shocked that she had put two and two together as he approached her. She immediately stepped back, now on the edge of his bed as he froze, not wanting to make her fear him any more than she looked like she was.

"You used me," Victoria said, exasperated. She felt at loss, not afraid that at any moment he could turn and kill her. She thought he deserved to know how he made her feel.

"I didn't use you, I was just doing as I was told by- by my master," Tyler explained with a rush. "I swear, you weren't a part of the plan at all. It was Wednesday-"

"I don't care whether I was a part of the plan or not!" Victoria exclaimed angrily, standing from his bed. "You actually made me feel like I was someone to you. I thought- I thought you wanted me as much as I wanted you."

She could feel her throat burning from this embarrassing confession of anger.

"Have you kissed her?" Victoria asked with an expressionless face.

"Kissed who?"

"Wednesday!" Victoria exclaimed. "Did you kiss her like how you kissed me?"

Tyler's mouth was briefly agape before he shut it as he took a step near her. She didn't move, making him realize that she wasn't afraid of her. But his silence said it all as she turned away, hiding the shame and anguish on her face.

"It's not what you think at all," he said quietly. "I never anticipated for things to go this way. At first, I couldn't remember anything... and then I started having these visions of the night before... She's done things to me that I can't even explain to you. I couldn't let her find out about us-"

"Us?" Victoria repeated, facing him with a rise of frustration. "When was there even an 'us'? You never- we never- What could I have done to make her think there's an us?"

"It's what I did," Tyler explained. "At the Harvest Festival, I could hear your conversation with Enid about the strange flash in the middle of the night. It didn't mean much until I picked up Rowan's wallet and... there was a photo of you. A few."

She felt mortified as she asked, "What kind of photos?"

Tyler swallowed hard as he shook his head with annoyance at the recollecting memory. "Photos of you sleeping... changing... all from his polaroid."

The same polaroid that laid on Tyler's floor.

"I don't remember much of what happened after that," Tyler said quietly. "I just remember feeling disgusted and then- then so much hatred towards Rowan, a boy I'd never even met. It was the first time I turned without intoxication but when I woke up, I could still hear his screams. Then when Wednesday said that he was dead... I couldn't find myself to feel sorry. The photos he took of you and kept like trophies... it's disgusting. I'd never let anyone get away with that."

She was at a loss for words. It made so much sense that she couldn't even find herself to not believe him. But she still demanded for proof.

He disappeared inside his closet briefly as he recovered Rowan's wallet. The exact leather wallet that she saw a few days before. She took it and couldn't hold her gasp as she found two polaroids of her half naked and changing.

"You kept the sleeping one, didn't you?" Victoria asked, not removing her eyes away from the photos. "The sleeping one, your master found it from you. Wednesday and I got a hold of it. That's why your master thinks I'm important to you. She found it."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it," Tyler said, not sounding so sorry. "I couldn't- I couldn't just shove it under a pile of laundry like the other two. I had to know more beyond a photo so I started to see you more. Most of the time you did the work, running to and from Jericho every morning. I didn't question it because I was grateful, but then I realized that you were seeing Kinbott and it made sense. Especially after my dad told me about your stomach content from the hospital. I had to help you."

Because he couldn't help himself.

She couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sensation of disbelief. The inner battle of right and wrong was confusing her as she tried to calm her breathing. He was merely inches away from her, towering over her.

"How am I supposed to believe you?" Victoria asked breathlessly. "You've lied to me all this time!"

"I've only done as you have," Tyler said defensively. "I was afraid you'd find out what I was and I'd never see you again. I couldn't let that happen. But I grew reckless with the way I felt... my master found out I've been able to break out of the beast's form because of you."

"Me? I- who's your master?" Victoria questioned quickly.

He couldn't answer.

"Tyler," Victoria said, nearing him with a hand on his chest that crawled up to his cheek. "Who's doing this to you?"

He gulped at her cold touch as she caressed his cheek with her thumb affectionately.

"Thornhill," he exhaled quietly. "She wanted me to use you to get to Wednesday, but it didn't work... so she threatened to take you away from me... to kill you. Because I couldn't."

She then envisioned Thornhill driving behind the blue Cadillac that almost hit her and succeeded in hitting Mayor Walker. She then remembered every moment she felt eyes on her. At the funeral, the Weathervane, the forest on her runs...

"You have no idea how much it worried me when I saw that scar on your arm," Tyler said, lowering her sleeve as her hands remained on his neck worriedly. Her arm revealed the scar from Crackstone's Crypt. "I thought she had made me do something. I never would have forgiven myself..."

She pulled herself away from him, feeling ashamed of herself for falling into that situation. To love him would be wrong. He was a killer. She couldn't want him no matter how hard she tried. She never would've been able to forgive herself if she accepted his sins as her own.

"Tyler... I can't- What do we do now?" she begged. "How could you let me-"

She paused.

"How could you do this to me?" Victoria asked, hiding the deep despair that pounded against her heart.

How could he have allowed her to cross the point of no return?

He couldn't say anything as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, finding it hard to make out words that could comfort her. He didn't even think she would end up like him as much as he loved her. Even if he had yet to admit, he couldn't help but love her.

"You're so good for me," Tyler said breathlessly. "You have no idea, please, forgive me. All I've ever done with my own will–I did it for you."

She didn't know how to feel. But she was certain about one thing.

"How can I fix you if I can't even fix myself?" she asked, desperately wanting an answer.

Tyler seemed to already know. But he hesitated, unsure if she'd agree. "Isn't it love when two broken people are trying to fix each other?"

Though she stood a foot away from him with her arms wrapped around herself, she wanted nothing more than to crumble in his arms and to cherish him for the rest of her life. She wanted to free him, but she couldn't deem it to be possible. She was just a girl.

"It's an obsession–an addiction," Victoria responded after a long moment of silence. "I don't know if we can say we're in love... for all you know, you're not even in love with me. You're intoxicated."

Tyler shook his head. "I know what's real. When you're around, I can resist the Hyde. That's why I couldn't kill the mayor; She had to do it herself. And she knew something was holding me back–that you were holding me back."

"But don't you understand, loving you would be a living lie no matter who I choose," Victoria said with a strong realization. To choose him, a killer, would betray everyone. But to not choose him would be a betrayal to herself.

"So you're afraid to be with me because of your guilty conscience?" Tyler asked with disbelief. "I choose you over everyone. I knew it from the day I saw you–that you're right for me."

"We're not the same," Victoria interrupted. "I- I don't think I could forgive myself if I ever betrayed my other loved ones."

"But what about this one?" Tyler added. "What's going to happen to us from now on?"

She inhaled sharply, knowing the answer to that already.

"I'm not going to tell anyone about you. Not even to Wednesday," Victoria admitted quietly. "I'm going to find a way to free you of this enslavement and let whatever happens take its course. But I can't- I can't keep making decisions I'll regret later. Because I fell for who I thought was Tyler and not the Hyde. Now I just don't know who you are... I'm sorry, but after it's all over, I can't continue to make mistakes that'll hurt me.."

"What, so you're saying that kiss no longer means anything? That it was a mistake?" Tyler demanded with a heartbroken disbelief. "It meant everything to me, Victoria. You're what makes me strong, if you want to free me just stay."

She couldn't say anything. It was too much all at once.

"But if you can't help me," Tyler said quietly. "At least let me help you. With everything that's going on."

She was struggling with her self image while he was being enslaved–yet he still offered all he had to help her. It only hurt her more as she later denied her feelings to protect the both of them.

Because if he fell for her more, it'd be harder for him to lose her.

And if she allowed herself to continue loving him, it'd only be hard to know who she really loved all along.

Tyler or the Hyde.

- - - ᡣ𐭩 - - -

It'd been nearly two days since Tyler confessed it all to her. She still couldn't believe it. He possibly loved her as much as she loved him. Though she'd never get to tell him so. She could feel it, but she refused to acknowledge it as she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she were to be with a killer. Because that'd mean she fell for the Hyde and not Tyler.

"Isn't it love when two broken people are trying to fix each other?"

Tyler's words haunted her because she'd been burying herself in textbooks about the Hyde. As promised, she'd free him. Then leave.

To stay would mean everything was alright when it wasn't. The guilt she'd have to carry would be too much. In all honesty, she wasn't even sure how to tell her parents why she wanted to leave Nevermore.

Besides Tyler, she felt that all was well at Nevermore. Besides Xavier being arrested shortly after Wednesday gathered information with Sheriff Galpin.

Despite it all, she couldn't help but not feel bad for Xavier. He had put himself in that situation. She felt no responsibility to free him.

But that was two days ago and now she'd gotten news that Wednesday was being expelled. She had yet to know why. So when she saw Wednesday outside, from her window, she brushed Gomi off her lap and rushed downstairs to catch Wednesday for questioning.

She'd been expelled so quickly, it was a wonder as she called out her name. Wednesday stopped, turning to Victoria as she approached with a heavy sigh.

"What happened?" Victoria asked desperately as Wednesday looked around for suspicious ears. "Why're you getting expelled? I heard you got arrested and-"

"I have a feeling you know exactly why I got expelled," Wednesday interrupted, eyeing Victoria up and down.

There was only one thing Victoria was hiding from Wednesday, but she didn't want to poke at it quite yet. Perhaps she was wrong?

"What did you do?" Victoria asked sternly.

Wednesday finally answered after a hesitant thought. "I captured Tyler, in hopes that he'd be the Hyde."

"Why would you think that?" Victoria asked with a rise in her chest.

"Because I got a vision. When-" she paused.

"When you kissed," Victoria finished blankly for Wednesday. It slipped from her tongue without another thought.

Wednesday moved on from her sentence. "He admitted it to me at the sheriff's station. Xavier's not the Hyde. I have a plan and I'd prefer if you stay out of the way–no matter what your feelings for Tyler are, his aren't real. Thornhill–or I dare say, Laurel Gates–has been controlling Tyler-"

"I know!" Victoria interrupted with sudden denial. "I know what's going on, but it's not entirely his fault. It's her who's behind all of this."

Wednesday stared at Victoria blankly, thinking that there was no hope in trying to convince Victoria to stay out of the way–but she had not given up on talking.

"His feelings for you aren't real," Wednesday said. "Stay out of my way or else I'll-"

"Let's go now, Wednesday," Weem's voice interrupted her. The principal exited the car impatiently and her eyes slightly widened when she saw Victoria.

"Miss Victoria Halliwell," Weems said with a nod. "I take it that you're staying out of trouble?"

It was more of a command than a question. She could sense the impatience and tightness of her tone as Victoria turned her heel and left.

Later that night, she was kept up wondering about what Wednesday could've done to Tyler. Did she beat him? Torture him in ways she couldn't imagine? It had to have been horrible for Weems to look so angered.

But a trickling sensation kept her awake as she couldn't help but imagine that there was more to Wednesday's plan than she thought. It was midnight when she heard a loud shout in the halls.

She got up from her bed and grabbed Gomi as she exited the room. She saw students rushing out of the building and sirens commanding teachers out of the school with a frantic state of mind. She turned around the corner, bumping into Bianca with a gasp.

"What's going on?" Victoria asked.

Bianca was hesitant to answer as Victoria spotted her bare neck and stepped away quickly. She refused to be sirened and pulled from her own mind.

"There's no time, Victoria," Bianca said with a rush. "Everything Wednesday planned- she was right all along about the killings and Crackstone. But right now I need your help to evacuate the school."

Before Victoria could answer, a loud howl pierced the night. It was unlike anything Victoria had ever heard before, but something told her she had to follow it.

She pushed Gomi into Bianca's arms as she sprinted away out the doors.

"Victoria, get back!" Bianca exclaimed, but she was already out of sight.

In her long nightgown and robes, she was carried through the forest. She had passed several students that'd rushed past the gates of Nevermore and felt her own breath be carried away by the wind.

The adrenaline in her blood pumped faster than she'd ever felt as she felt her magic become hopeless. She knew nothing that could help her.

When in the forest, she heard a violent crack and rustle. Afraid but not discouraged, she ran closer to find the chaos that was happening just before her eyes. It was dark and misty, the moist air creating a wetness on her skin as she came before the sight.

There was the same monster from the Harvest Festival–the Hyde–lying on the ground with a heavy chest. She didn't see anyone else as she rushed to the Hyde with a panic.

He was severely injured, scars all over its body with an unnatural bend in the forearm. The form of the monster slowly began to change into the familiar man she had fallen for.

Tyler's naked body came before her as she felt a cry in her chest. He was just barely breathing, his life hanging by a thread, his eyes shut without a trace of consciousness.

She removed her robe, placing it over Tyler, in an attempt to keep him from the cold air. But it was not of any use, as she saw his blood stain her robes like wildfire spreading. She gathered herself from her hysterics and cried as she tried to heal his injuries.

She was so afraid, as she shook as her hands hovered over his injuries. She was incanting so quietly, her voice shook with song as she tried to gather herself. But tears fell when his heartbeat grew faint.

Her breath shivered as she stroked his numb and cut up face. Even here, he was perfect as she always saw but she felt as if she'd never get to tell him.

"Please, I can't lose you now. Not ever," she pleaded, even though she knew he couldn't hear him. "I love you, please..."

She didn't want to let him go. How could she? Once he entered her life, she couldn't imagine living without him.

It hit her that she didn't care about feeling guilty anymore. Had he been dead, she would've been haunted by him everyday–would've been haunted by the thoughts of what they could have been.

She prayed for another chance with him. To see his smile and hear his laugh. His reassuring touch and passionate kisses never haunted her more than that moment with his bare and limp body in her arms as she cried.

She heard a voice and a shuffling behind her, but she didn't move to look. Tyler's father fell to his knees immediately at the scene, his own grief filling his body at the sight of his son.

Selfishly, she didn't let go as she gripped Tyler tightly, her face buried in his neck. Somewhere from the cold, she could still feel his warmth.

It wasn't slipping away.

And as she cuddled him tightly, she could feel his heartbeat against her skin as his wounds were slowly healing. But his eyes wouldn't open.

"I'll fix you," she whimpered with a rising sob that remained trapped in her chest. "Just like you wanted to do for me."

She kissed his scarred cheek, dampened by her tears.

"I promise."

- - - - - - -