Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2024-03-04
Updated:
2024-09-04
Words:
2,657
Chapters:
4/?
Comments:
33
Kudos:
169
Bookmarks:
22
Hits:
1,400

Leaving Is Easy

Summary:

"C'mon Jekyll is the most suspicious name out there! We know you're a changeling." Jim exclaimed in frustration, while Toby nodded in agreement, Jackson tilted his head and smiled that creepy but oddly charming smile of his. "You think I'm a what now?"
..
Or
Jackson's mom moves Jackson saw from monster high to escape bullying but now he is being hounded by two weird teens who think he's a monster (he is but not the kind they think he is.)

Notes:

Let me clarify something this is not canon accurate at all also Jackson looks the same except his teeth are slightly sharper and his eyes almost glow giving him a semi uncanny look he also has weirder puppet like movements that kind of freak people out.

No knowledge of tales of arcadia is needed since I'll do my best to introduce the characters the only problem might be the descriptions of appearances since I'm horrible at it.

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Jackson didn't tell anyone he was leaving; he felt he didn't have to; they wanted him gone, so he finally convinced his mother, and they left as easily as that. 


They had created a schedule of sorts. Jackson gets the school shift, while Holt gets to be out after school doing whatever he pleases, as long as he is out of the eye of any human's. 
It should have been easy. 


It wasn't.


...
On the first day of school, Jackson found himself being pinned to a locker once again. Unphased by this behavior, he simply tilted his head. What did he do wrong this time? They couldn't hate humans in a human school? Maybe it was the glasses or the bowtie? 


"You're so pathetic." Oh, that checks out; he was kind of small in comparison to the bully. The boy holding him against the locker was blond-blue-eyed, and he looked angry, but not at Jackson more like someone else. "Oh." Jackson mumbled, and the blonde let him go in grudging respect for his lack of reaction. 


Jackson had been pushed around by monsters three times larger than himself; a Normie blonde wouldn't be able to hurt him unless they held a weapon. "Hey, dude, are you okay?" Someone squeaked, and Jackson turned around head first, with the rest of his body following after.


"Yes." He stated, keeping his voice, that even the boy in front of him wore glasses that were taped together and a green shirt with blue jeans, and his hair was neatly combed. He seemed to sense something off about the hybrid, as many people do, but Jackson felt something off about the other boy as well.


"I'm Jackson Jekyll." He stuck out his hand to the shorter boy, who took it, shaking hesitantly. "And you are?" Jackson smiled; his movements were almost mechanical. "I'm Eli Pepperjack." 


Jackson's hand was oddly warm, but he didn't show any signs of a fever. Eli squinted at him suspiciously. Jekyll was an odd last name considering its origins, although Eli himself had little room to judge because his last name was a cheese.


Jackson's smile became strained. "I must be going now." Eli didn't miss the correlation between his sudden departure and the music from Claire's cellphone. 

Chapter 2

Notes:

Sorry for not updating as soon as I thought I would

Chapter Text

Jackson liked it here better than Monster High. The only reason being that yes, there were a lot of bullies; however, these bullies couldn't turn him into stone, shapeshift, step on him, or throw him effortlessly. He could hold his own here, and the people that gossiped here couldn't phase through walls and possess people, so that helped! 


As he made his way to class, someone rammed into him, and he went tense for a moment. Everything in him itched to defend himself, but he knew it was an accident, so he simply smiled. The boy who bumped into him had jet black hair and blue eyes that complimented his jacket.

"Crap uhm." The other boy scrambled. "Sorry, I was late to social studies." He muttered. "You're new; where are you going?" Jackson blinked and pointed in the vague direction of social studies. "Oh, nice. Uhm, wanna walk with me?" He asked, and Jackson nodded, and they went on their way. 


"What's your name? I'm Jim Lake." The other boy explained, and Jackson tilted his head. "Jackson Jekyll." He said it curly, and Jim frowned. "Like the book?" He asked, and Jackson grinned widely. "Exactly like the book." 
///
The social studies teacher was weird with a capital W; he kept staring at Jackson like he wanted to murder him. It made Jackson very uncomfortable, and he smiled instinctively, showing off his sharper teeth unintentionally.


He was pretty sure that it was a natural response in order to ward off threats, but considering that his teeth were actually more blunt than they looked, it wouldn't actually do anything in a real fight. 


Jackson stared down at his laptop, typing down notes at Strickler spoke, and by the end of class, he had 12 pages done. He moved to get up when the bell rang, but he was paused by Strickler holding a hand in front of him. 


"Jackson, would you stay? I have something to discuss with you." Eli shot him a worried look, but having dealt with Mr.Hackington for several years, he was fine, or at least that's what he told himself. Jackson nodded mechanically in an automatic response to confrontations with educators he'd developed in his time at Monster High. 


As the other students filed out, Mr.Strickler's 'polite teacher' facade crumbled. "What are you doing here, unregistered?" He demanded, and Jackson tilted his head. "Excuse me?" He asked politely. He could feel a certain type of panic bubble up inside his chest, but he held it down. If he panicked now, he'd be found guilty over whatever Strickler was on about.


Strickler stared at him for a few moments before visibly relaxing. "My apologies; it seems I've made a mistake. Carry on." Jackson nodded again and left, not thinking much of it. 
///


Holt stretched and yawned. It feels as though it's been years since he had been out in Jackson's place. He was left in the middle of the woods, as the deal stated, but it was nighttime, and the only thing helping Holt see was the glow of his own fire. Now which god's big idea was it to give Jackson the night vision? That seems like a poor decision on nature's part.


Actually, speaking of that, Jackson got all the cool stuff! He could do magic, he could solve any math problem within seconds, and all Holt was was a good DJ. Life ain't fair, but at least he had social skills. Jackson is severely lacking in that area, for sure!


Again, that was another poor decision on nature's part. Jackson really needed the social skills more than Holt did because humans were so picky! Holt whistled a tune while wandering aimlessly. Getting out of the woods was Jackson's problem. 


There was something off about this place, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. "I think I saw it that way!" That accent sounded weird; maybe British or Scottish Holt wasn't exactly good at identifying accents. 


Holt didn't know if he should hide or just wait things out, so he kind of just stood there until the voices reached him. There was a cat and a human with blue hair. Holt remembered that it was hair dye; most monster high students didn't need hair dye, and Jackson's hair wasn't actually dyed, even if it looked like it was. 
That was a natural color. 


The blue-haired guy, no older than seventeen, maybe stared at Holt and slowly raised his wrist; there was a cuff on it with strange symbols. "This is nowhere in my records." He muttered, clearly confused by Holt. 


"Uhm hi?" Holt muttered to Christ that he wished he could turn back into Jackson right now, but it was kind of too late for that. The blue-haired boy backed up. "You're not a changeling, are you?" He asked suspiciously, and Holt blinked. "What the fuck is a changeling?" 

Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Holt didn't know what to do. Suddenly,  he was being stared at by a strange human and his talking cat, so he didn't know what to do and bolted. He ran full speed; he had no idea where he was going, but that didn't matter. He didn't end up getting far before he fell flat onto the ground, his headphones falling off and breaking. 


"No, no, no!" Holt held them against his chest before disappearing into a flash of smoke, leaving a disoriented Jackson in his place. Jackson adjusted his glasses and blinked. Holt had left him in the middle of the woods. 
Again. 


"I knew it!" A blue-haired boy jogged up to him, holding a cat in his arms. Uhm,  the cat had glasses for some reason? Jackson wrinkled his nose. Why would some seventeen-year-old boy be in the woods after midnight unless it was for the same reasons as himself? 


Which wouldn't be possible for obvious reasons. "Uhm, I have no idea what you're talking about, so?" He actually didn't have any idea what that gender-bend Clair was even talking about. Maybe it was something he asked Holt? But Jackson doesn't have any of his memories so he wouldn't exactly be able to help him with that. 


"Douxie, he may be telling the truth." The black cat spoke, and Jackson wasn't that phased; he just gave him a weird look before trying to stand up properly without falling. Douxie still didn't look convinced, and Jackson flinched.


"Name." Douxie took a step toward him, and Jackson backed away nervously. He felt himself begin to panic when Douxie moved closer in response. "Jackson Jekyll." He blurted it out without much thought put into it, and Douxie froze.

The cat next to him gave Jackson a judgment look that reminded him heavily of Toralei. "Like Henry Jekyll?" He asked before staring at him like he was actually seeing him for the first time.


He grabbed Jackson's wrist and pulled him closer to get a better look. Jackson smiled widely and awkwardly, unsure of how to respond. "I'm his grandson?" Jackson didn't know why he framed that like a question when it was the truth or why he was even telling this random person the truth anyway when he should be hiding his scareitage.


"He died when he was nineteen." Jackson felt like he needed to add that information there for some reason, even if it was none of Douxie's business. Douxie let go of him and took a deep breath. Jackson stared at him for a moment or two before booking it, and for some reason, Douxie made no move to catch him. 
...
"Everyone here is just so weird!" Jackson gripped at his own hair while pacing back and forth; he had face-timed Draculaura, one of the only people he'd unblocked. She looked busy and frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked, and Jackson groaned. "Someone was acting like he knew my grandfather personally? Every single record was destroyed; there's no way he could've known him outside of that trash book." Jackson ranted, and Draculaura grimaced. 


"I met him for a short amount of time." She commented, and Jackson groaned. "But you're a vampire! You've been around for like a century by now." He exclaimed before grimacing. "He wasn't a vampire, I could tell!" He just instinctively knew when vampires were disguising themselves, and this guy was human.


"And then the teacher at school was trying to kill me, I think!" He blurted out and nearly teared his hair out. "At least I don't have to see Manny again!" He added as if that were the bright side of this whole thing. 


His hands lit on fire, and he shook them to put it out. "This is the worst."
...
Jackson saw through Steve easily; he was nothing like Manny and more like a mix of Toralei and Abbey. He knew that Steve coated himself with a layer of ice to keep people out and keep himself safe. It was something that Jackson understood perfectly well, so that's why he found himself becoming oddly defensive of the blonde. 


It was just blatantly obvious from the way his eyes always darted around, like he was constantly waiting for someone to hurt him. "Who is that?" Jackson asked despite the fact that he had heard the blonde's name several times he wanted to hear it directly. "That's Steve; he's a jerk." Eli stuffed more food into his mouth, signifying the end of the conversation, but as always, Jackson was almost dangerously curious. 


"Anything else?" He asked, and Eli narrowed his eyes at Jackson. "If you'd rather sit with him, then whatever." He grumbled, and Jackson tilted his head to the side. He didn't understand why Eli was so upset about it. "I want to sit with you." Jackson wasn't a very skilled liar, so that was the absolute truth.


"I just want to understand everyone here." He added it almost as an afterthought. Eli bit his lip in thought before pointing at Steve. "He's not as horrible as he wants to be." Eli snorted. "He's a terrible actor." Eli then pointed to Jim.

"He's not as heroic as he pretends to be." Then he pointed to Toby. "He's a leech." Then he pointed to a girl with a skull t-shirt and a blue stripe in her hair. "And she's laughably gullible." Eli took a deep breath, as if he had gotten something heavy off of his chest. 


Jackson knew that feeling very well, and he thinks that maybe he helped Eli get a little bit of his resentment out. "The food here is good." He changed the subject just like that, and Eli smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, although there seemed to be a slight spark there. 


"You're lying." He accused, and Jackson shook his head. "Trust me, it's leagues better than the food at my old school." He challenged Eli, and Eli adjusted his glasses. "What did they feed you at your old school?" He asked, and Jackson shook his head. "You really don't want to know." 

Notes:

I kinda head canon that Eli has a lot of pent up anger that is just waiting for the right moment to explode because if I was him I would too what he said about the characters there aren't reflective of my own opinion

Chapter 4

Notes:

I'm so pissed this is so short, the reason why is because I had the full draft for this chapter and it was somehow deleted so while I rewrite that you can have this

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Eli was not exactly confrontational; that was an understatement; he was the furthest thing from confrontational, and that was his problem. He didn't like anyone at this school; in fact, he thinks that he was closer to hatred for them. Steve and Jackson made the exception just a little, and that was because Eli didn't know Jackson well. 


Steve was another exception because he was almost relatable in an odd way. Putting that information aside, the reasoning was obvious for Eli saying yes to Jackson's request to hang out. 


"You showed up!" Jackson smiled widely. Eli was getting used to his uncanny vibe already; it was almost charming. "Yes, I did! Did you expect me not to?" He giggled, and Jackson shrugged. They were in the middle of the woods after all, so maybe that's why. 


"People at this school stink." Jackson said suddenly while poking a rock with a random stick he had found on the ground. Well, that was blunt. "They do." Eli agreed but poked Jackson in the side. "You don't get an opinion on that yet though." He teased; he felt weird around Jackson, especially when he was in a secluded place with him. 


He didn't quite understand why he agreed to this, but it was a nice change to talk to someone who didn't mock him. "Listen, you don't have to believe me, but a few days ago I saw something really strange." Eli lowered his voice down to a whisper, and Jackson smiled. "I know a lot about strange; you don't have to hide anything from me." For some reason, Eli believed him. 


"There were giant monsters made of stone, and they fought underneath the bridge. Listen,  I know I sound crazy, but..." Eli's voice trailed off when Jackson started staring at him in horror. "You don't sound crazy." He interrupted before he could continue. "I mean, did they look like gargoyles?" He asked, and Eli nodded. They did, just way bigger. 


"Okay, okay, this can be solved quickly. I just forgot you saw that, Eli. I believe you. Just forget about it." Jackson stood up and practically ran off. That's a surefire way to make Eli remember forever. 
....
"So there's no rogues or anything?!" Jackson was shouting into the phone, and Draculaura did her best to be the calm one. "Rochelle said no!" Her voice was getting higher pitched though, and Jackson sighed. 


"This could end in disaster if we don't clean this up somehow." He gritted out, and she made a sound of agreement. "You don't need to get involved, Jackson." She was right, this wasn't his fight anymore; why did he feel the need to involve himself? 

Notes:

Short ahh chapter but I wanted to hurry and update because I left y'all hanging for so long