I knocked on my old friend's door.

I was greeted by a blue squirrel.

"Hello Poole." I greeted his old butler as he lead me into the entryway and shut the door. "Is Dr. Jekyll in?"

"Yes sir, but he's prohibited visitors."

"Is he ill?" I asked.

"He is..." Pool seemed unsure of his choice of words as he twittered his thumbs and looked down at his feet. He left the sentence hanging there, as if he wanted to say more and fought against it.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked at me as he said with certainty.

"He is."

"May i speak with him?"

"Oh. No sir." He said quickly. "He's locked himself in his study and demands to not be disturbed."

I was confused that he wouldn't call for a doctor. I was convinced that there was something else happening here.

I rushed up the stairs and stopped only when i herd Poole's strangled voice.

"Please sir, please don't." He pleaded.

I looked down at him, worry and terror across his features.

"You need not worry Poole, I won't upset your master." I said trying to ease his mind.

I hurried up the rest of the stairs until I arrived to his study door. I listened to his paws pace across the floor. I knocked. The pacing stopped as I heard him come to the door.

"Jekyll." I called.

"Please, leave me be Utterson." I heard him plead.

"Jekyll, please." I cried.

Silence.

"Henry, please." I cried again.

Finally the door opened and I gasped as I saw the weak and tired form of the tiger that was Henry Jekyll.

"Henry, my God, what happened to you?!" I cried in disbelief.

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

"I can help you." I said as I reached to touch his paw. He pulled away as if he was burned.

"No! You've been a trusted friend and have comforted me in my darkness. I thank you, but now I must face this darkness myself."

He began to close the door but I stopped it with my paw.

"Locking yourself in this room will is not the solution. Dr. Lanyon is dying!"

"Lanyon." he said as though in a trance.

He looked as though he were fighting with something.

"No. No. It cannot be." He put his paw on his forehead as he groaned and stumbled into my paws. I felt him shiver and he groaned in pain again.

I helped him into a chair. "Please tell me what is causing you to be in such a state."

"No. This is my own folly. I realize that now. There is nothing you can do."

Never have I seen my friend so hopeless.

"You must leave." he warned me. "I don't want to hurt you. Please before I...I Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

He screamed in pain as he clutched his head.M!"

He screamed again.

The scrams turned into roars.

I watched in horror as the tiger transformed.

This tiger also had dark black curls but unlike Dr. Jekyll's tied back hair, his hair was wild. His eyes red with cats eye slits. His teeth sharp and pointed. His nails dug into the upholstered chair leaving shadows of where they once were. He smiled a wicked smile and laughed. My fur stood on end. No longer did I see the kindness of Dr. Jekyll. I saw the cold heart of a killer, a monster, the devil himself.

"What have you done to Henry!" I fumed with anger.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Utterson. I am Hyde. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He stood and bowed.

"Where Is Henry!"

"Somewhere very safe. It's good to be back again."

"Back?"

"You see, Dr. Jekyll and I are the same person."

"What? How?" I asked dumbfounded.

"He made a potion to separate the good and the evil. Evil, that one side of man that every man loathes and yet can never escape from. As you can see, he succeed. I am pure evil. Free to roam and do as I please without consequence. No guilt. No sadness. Liberation. Now if you excuse me me Utterson I must take my leave."

He walked to the door but before he could reach it, I blocked his exit.

"As I have said before I MUST Leave."

"No!"

"Let Me Pass."

"No."

"MOVE ASIDE!" he yelled.

"Never. I won't let a monster like you roam out on the streets. You've already done enough destruction already. To Dr. Jekyll and to many others."

He sat down. "Destruction?"

"You've trampled a poor lady cat and killed a zebra. You are a danger to society."

"I am a free spirit. And I have the perfect cover."

"You've used Dr. Jekyll. You have destroyed my dearest friend, caused him pain and have troubled his mind."

"So i'm the villain here? He's locked me up in his mind for too long. I was held captive, forced inside a cage. He's the villain, not me."

"You know the law enforcement is hot on your trail."

"They are?" he looked uneasy.

"I thought you didn't have any guilt?"

"I don't. If they catch me the'll put me behind more bars. More loneliness. More pain."

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I'm alone in the dark with no one but myself to talk to."

"What about Dr. Jekyll."

"He hardly listens to me. And besides I don't like him anyway. Goody two shoes."

"Do you know what love is?" I asked him.

"Love. The love of flesh and skin against skin."

"No. Never confuse lust with love. There's a difference. You care about there needs and well as your own."

I looked straight into his eyes.

"Jekyll, I know you're in there. You can't let him control you. You have to fight him."

"No, I don't want to go back inside the cage. It's so dark and i'm lonely." Hyde said.

"It's for the best." I said as pet his black curly hair.

"No!"

With one swipe of his paw he knocked me against the wall. He was about to do it again when all of a sudden.

"Leave him alone." said a voice that wasn't Hyde's. Jekyll was trying to fight back.

"And why should I? I thought that you liked being me?" Hyde challenged.

"I do, but I won't let you kill my dearest friend."

"So you care about him, do you?" Hyde smirked.

"Yes I do and if you don't leave him alone i'll lock you back in your cage forever."

"You can't do that?!"

"Can't I?"

"But I don't want to go back in the cage!"

"You ARE going back."

"No!

"Please, reconsider."

"No. Now back in the cage you go."

"NO!" and with that the tiger transformed into Dr. Jekyll.

He fell against me exhausted.

"That was a brave thing you did. You fought against him and you won."

"I couldn't let him hurt you."

"But he's going to come back."

"I'll stop him next time."

"But you can't leave him caged inside you forever. You'll never kill him Jekyll. You have to come to a understanding."

"But if I do let him out, he'll kill you. And I could never forgive myself if that happened."

"Henry?"

"HM."

"Did you really mean what you said. That I was the man you loved the most."

"Yes. Although society thinks otherwise."

"Yes. It does." I wondered if maybe I could change Hyde just a little. "What if I told Hyde that somebody loved him."

"I don't know if he would understand what kind of love you meant."

"I know. But the thought that you're not alone in this world is still comforting."

"I suppose."

"Henry."

"Yes, Gabriel."

"I think actions speak louder than words."

Then I pet his soft black curly hair and kissed him.

He moaned against my mouth.

I looked at him again and said.

"You need to rest."

He nodded his head and that's when we heard a small noise.

He both turned to see the purple squirrel looking shocked.

"What are you doing here?" Jekyll asked.

"Well, I heard commotion upstairs and I wondered if you were all right. When I opened the door I saw my master and then he transformed into someone else. And I've been here since.

"You won't tell anyone about-"

"No, sir. Your secrets safe with me. Do I need to call your butler Mr. Utterson?"

"Yes, tell him that Dr. Jekyll's ill and I am staying the night to comfort him."

"Yes, sir."

He left.

I supported Jekyll through the hall and toward his bedroom. He put his weight mostly on me and we finally came to the entryway to his bedroom.

We both walked to his bed. "I trust that you can get into bed yourself."

He nodded as he climbed into bed.

I climbed in after him and he lay down and I lay facing him. He put his paw around me as urged me near. The beating of his heart was the lullaby as i drifted off toward sleep.

Sunlight streamed through the window and shone brightly on my face. In annoyance I opened my eyes and I saw Hyde sleeping next to me. At least he didn't run about the streets this time. I was still uncertain if he knew that this relationship wasn't just about sex, that he couldn't go and find someone else to have a fling with and leave me and I didn't want to be his source of pleasure either. I looked upon the sleeping Hyde. He looked so peaceful and not the monster I saw in the study the day before.

He began to stir. He opened his eyes. "Good morning G-"

He realized he had turned into Hyde. He looked shocked as he stared at his paw.

"Is this the first time you've woken up as Hyde?"

He nodded.

"I don't want to find you with some other pretty little thing and i don't want this relationship to be only for your desires. Understand."

"You don't trust me?"

"After yesterday how can i?"

"Point taken."

"Now to make sure i get my point across." I did just the same as I did with Jekyll. I brushed back his unkempt black hair and kissed him. I was expecting him to get the upper hand but he just closed his eyes and gave into the kiss. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No."

"Why do you hate each other so much?"

"I'm the evil half of him. He hates that i'm pure evil. He's the goody two shoes."

"Your jealous of how good Jekyll is? You can be good too."

"How? With all these evil thoughts running through my head?"

"You need to control yourself."

"I can't control Jekyll? How can i control this self?"

"Don't give in to the evil instincts."

"How do i do that when evil instincts are all that I have?"

"What does your heart tell you?"

"I don't have a heart."

"Yes you do. It's right here." I guided his paw to his beating heart.

"It wasn't beating before."

"That's because you didn't truly love someone before."

Then all at once he hugged me.

"Thank you." He sobbed into my shoulder.

"You're welcome Henry."

"You...You called my Henry."

"Why shouldn't i?"

"Because Jekyll gave me a name already."

"He only gave you a name so he could separate himself from you. You are a part of each other. A bond no one can separate. Why should I give you another name?"

"Because Jekyll..." He looked down.

"Listen to me." I put my hand under his head and tilted it up so he looked me straight in the eyes. "I love you be you Hyde or Jekyll. You are one in the same. There is no need for both of you to fight. I love both halves. I love you Henry and nothing will change that."

There were tears in his eyes again.

"I. Love. You." I kissed him again.

When I pulled back there was Jekyll had returned.

"Please don't fight him. He understands now. Don't call him Hyde anymore. Call him Henry." I pleaded.

"All right. Are you sure he understands?"

"He was just jealous of how good you where. I helped him see that he could change if he wanted too. He has a heart and so do you. I love you both Henry and I wish you wouldn't fight anymore."

After some silence.

"What's he doing right now."

The tiger closed his eyes and focused.

"He's not pacing in his cage. He's...he's nuzzling it."

I smiled.

Then he started to laugh.

"Stop...stop it. Ha Ha. Stop it."

"What's he doing now."

"He's... Ha Ha. licking the cage and it tickles."

"So do you accept him as a part of you now?"

"I do."

"And i do too."

"What time is it?"

"It's... Oh My God 1:00. Were both late for work."

"Let's stay here today."

"Whatever you want Henry."

And this time as I listened to his heartbeat I noticed he had two. One on each side of his chest. And they were in perfect rhythm.

I fell asleep next to the double lullaby that was Henery.