Chapter Text
“September 14th, 3.58 am” Henry noted down to his notebook.
He hasitated a few moments before raising the test tube to his lips. The formula was a strong thing, he knew it could cause his death easily enough. Taking one last breath, he calmed his nerved and swallowed the watery green liquid.
“Consumed 10 centiliters of formula, HJ7.” Henry mumbled while noting the changes down. “Salty, bitter taste. Stings the gums.” He smacked his lips a few times, he didn’t exactly like the taste but he couldn’t complain.
Opening his shirt’s first few buttons, trying to get rid of the heat Henry continued noting down. His body had started showing a temperature rise. Henry hoped he didn’t get indisposed later. “Warm in the gullet, prickling heat spreading strongly trough my veins.”
It was getting truly hot now; he was struggling breath, never mind continuing to write. “A lightheadiness...” Henry’s head was spinning. The room was moving around him and he struggled to stay upwards to continue writing. His feet staggered and he almost fell backwards, but Henry managed to grip the table just in time. The table’s contents shook a bit with the added weight and one of the beakers fell down from the table with a crash.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp feeling in his stomach. It was a grinding feeling in the bones, like his bones were rearranging and shrinking. His muscles contracted and his body froze up. He fell onto the ground, the nausea too much to him. He felt a fear so primal, so deep he felt it in his soul. It was a fear stronger than birth or death itself. It was an agonizing process, he couldn’t stop the screams coming out of his throat.
After all of those dreadful sensations ended he felt like he just came out of a big sickness. There was something strange within his feelings, something indescribably new and sweet. He felt younger, lighter, happier within his body, filled intoxicating recklessness. His eyes which had gone blurry within his age had been fixed, now seeing everything more colorful and beautiful. His mind was experiencing a flood of mental images of forbidden pleasures and selfish desires. From the first breath of his life he knew himself to be ten times more wicked, a slave to his original evil. The thought braced and delighted him like wine.
When Henry started flexing his new body, he noticed that his body had lost mass. He was shorter framed, now swimming in his normally fell-fitting clothes. Henry wanted to see this new form in the mirror but remembered that he had no mirrors in his laboratory, as there was no reason for one to be here. Thankfully he remembered the mirror in his room and set off for it.
Walking barefoot wasn’t something he had done since he was a little kid, it was a feeling he didn’t realize he had missed when growing up. The grass was slightly damp as it was always rainy at London and it got his feet got wet. He looked up to the dark night sky. The stars were shining slightly, making whoever looking up aware that they were there. Getting his head back from the sky, he entered the building. He had to be quiet to not wake up any of the servants from their deep slumbers.
Walking inside his bedroom, he stood in front of his length mirror. It was usually just around his height but now it towered over his shorter form. This change amused Henry, causing him to giggle to himself. It seems his voice had changed too with his body, it was higher pitched yet somehow raspier. He made a few sounds to try out his new voice. It wasn’t a really nice voice to hear, he certainly wouldn’t want to hear any songs coming out of this mouth.
“Ehem. My name’s Henry-”
Henry scoffed. If he was going by a new face, a new voice he ought to have a new name too. He sighed, he was not good proficient at finding names at all. His face soured as he started thinking about what name could he possible use for this new identity. It would need to be a name people couldn’t tie back to Henry Jekyll.
“Edward.”
It was the name of his late grandfather, and he was almost going to be named Edward himself. He liked the name. Finding a satisfying surname would be harder. He didn’t want to use the surnames of his friends and colleagues but he also didn’t want a ridiculous sounding surname that could be laughed at, if he can choose a new name for himself it should be something good sounding!
“My name is Edward…Edward Hyde.”
Hyde sounded like ‘Hide’ as in hiding somewhere, it was simply a fun play of the words. It wasn’t that original maybe but it would work. He would have to get used to calling himself Edward Hyde in this form to not accidentally reveal himself, if anyone would actually believe he was Henry Jekyll. He was a man of considerable stature, and Edward was dwarfish next to his normally tall figure. Even if their facial structures could be found similar, no one could go closer than a relative.
Henry-no, Edward got rid of the clothes. Seeing himself naked in this form the first time was shocking to him. Of course he was shorter but thinner aswell. His normally almost bare chest was filled with curly hair. Turning his back against the mirror, Edward looked at the mirror to inspect at his back when he saw something fuzzy, at the same color of his hair. It sat on where his tailbone was.
The fluffy thing was twitching more now, and the muscles it moved felt oversensetive. It seemed like Edward had developed… a tail? How could this be possible?
A tail wasn’t in human biology, and he was certain that evil people did not have fluffy tails sprouting out of their backs. This form was supposed to be what was concealed, what was hidden deep inside. Perhaps Henry had messed up a part of the formula, he would have to test again to see what went wrong. Maybe it could be caused by preternatural means.
Edward slowly brought his hand over the tail, hesitant to touch the unfamiliar thing. He had never even touched a cat or dogs tail and this tail did not look like it belong to neither. It was a short, fuzzy and stout. It was rigid, as though it was showing his anxious thoughts. That wouldn’t do, to have his emotions shown to everyone else.
Pushing past his doubts, he grabbed the tail, rather roughly if the pain was any giveaway. It hadn’t felt like pulling on a finger or arm but rather something more delicate. Wincing at the pain, he let the tail go. It was evident how uninformed he was about animal biology.
Deciding to leave it be, he started wondering if he would have a tail in his original body too.
Edward suddenly remembered that he didn’t test if he could actually turn back to his original body. With that memory he started thinking of all the possibilites that could happen if he couldn’t turn back.
Henry Jekyll would most probably be declared missing or dead, with no way to find him. Edward Hyde (if he could escape without being seen to any of the servants) would have to start a new life, and a poor one where he wouldn’t be able to continue a good job without any certifications. If he did get seen while escaping then he would be seen as the main suspect of Henry Jekyll’s disappearance and be hunted for it by the police. He couldn’t live the rest of his life like that!
Edward quickly put the overlarge garments back on, vexed about his new height. It would be better if he had fitting clothes but he couldn’t run around the courtyard stark naked. He would have to buy new clothes for this body if he would actually succeed in transforming back, maybe even need to get some tailored because of the unusual shortness of his.
Edward slammed the door shut then ran across the hallways, the yard and finally got back into his lab. He shut the door locked behind him again, struggling to keep calm as he mixed the blood red formula he had at ready. His hands were shaking and he was having trouble breathing from panic. The salt mixed with the formula and Edward watched it as it became the watery green again. Not even waiting for the bubbling to go away he took the test tube to his mouth and drank it all up in one gulp. His mouth burned with the heat of the liquid that hadn’t cooled off from being boiled yet. After that he once again started feeling the effects of the transformation.
Once the pains subsided he had found himself weaker. He felt very tired and sweaty, it was an unpleasant contrast to the energy he felt in his newer, younger body. Henry hoped it was probably from the painful transformation and that it wouldn’t cause an ilness. Time awaited no one, and he simply could not be contained by mere weakness after making such a grounbreaking discovery.
Thinking of going away, he thought of the extra limb he had gotten in that new form. Lifting his clothes up, he sighed in relief once he realized that the tail had not showed itself upon this body. He wasn’t sure he could keep such fluffy tail hidden away easily. It was very sensetive and tying it up to his waist would be painful. Perhaps he could think of a way to also conceal it within his new form, Edward too.
Henry lifted himself up from the cold tiles of the floor and dusted himself off. It wasn’t that noticable in the hirsute, younger self but now that he had gotten back to his middle aged body he could feel the persistent chill that had reached the insides of his laboratory. He is in fact thicker in this body but it felt like Edward Hyde ran hotter, he hadn’t even needed any extra clothing while outside. He slid on his jacket to his shoulders and fiddled with the lock until the door creaked open.
“My journal!” Henry couldn’t believe that he forgot his journal in the midts of wondering! He had to write down the latest developments with the experiment as he had failed to at the time. He had to note down everything he could remember, all the changes he had unergone. Henry grabbed the pencil again and recounted everything that had happened after he took that formula.
He checked the clock again, 5 am. He had been working up late for days and he had lots of sleeping to catch up with now that he knew the experiment was successful to some levels. He hadn’t been able to seperate his personalities but had created a new face for his more repressed side. Henry decided he could work with that for now. Perhaps in the future he could truly separate them.
Although, separating could be dealt with later, maybe after he experimented with the new body a few more times. It certainly wouldn’t hurt, wouldn’t it?
He shut the door locked again. It would be all thought of later. Now, he was to surrend to sweet slumber himself.