So for awhile now I've been practically digging into any and all Jekyll and Hyde content I can get my hands on... so because of that I felt compelled to make a one shot, though I feel like there might be a couple more stories I could write as well.

Oh well that's for another time, for now be warned there is body horror ahead.

The First Transformation

"Pseudo Science" they called my theory. Too dangerous and not enough evidence to support it… Fine then, I don't need their help! I started this alone, I will finish it alone! Doctor Henry Jekyll, a well respected doctor, a charitable man of great renown… a man who had just had his life's work turned down and called "heresy" by his peers. By one of his long time friends. All to his face.

Though he was fuming, no raging, on the inside, on the outside he had to keep up appearances. His lips kept in a neutral, thin line, hands resting on the handle of his fine cane, eyes trained ahead of him. His fingers did quietly grip the handle of his cane a little hard, but with the white gloves he wore, no one would be able to even see the white knuckles his grip was producing on his hands.

Normally Jekyll would have taken a hansom to his home, but after a fight he recently had with Doctor Hastie Lanyon, one of his oldest and closest friends, he needed time to think. He needed the cool fresh air on his face and time on his own. Sure, he could ask his servants at home to leave him be, but that would still be limited and the risk of him snapping at any of them was too high a risk at the moment.

Deep breaths Henry… Just think. Think and plan for how to move forward. How to prove them all wrong… how to prove to Lanyon how wrong he was. Jekyll mentally told himself, taking deep soothing breaths and slowly beginning to smooth out his anger. His temper was always something he knew he had to keep underwraps. To lash out like he wanted would always be frowned upon… would affect and destroy his reputation. A reputation he spent years building up.

A reputation that he had to protect at all costs… a reputation he had to hide behind. A reputation that would be so easily shattered should others see the parts of him he had to hide away. The parts of him that longed to be seen on the surface, longed to get out of his flesh and make themselves known.

It would be so much easier to handle if I could separate all my negative traits… Then they wouldn't have to affect me. No they would be easily transferred to a different consciousness, a different form and would never have to affect me again.

Turning down the street he found himself getting closer and closer to his home. A couple more turns and he would finally be home, clear minded and ready to conduct his experiments in privacy. That is until someone bumped into him on the road.

"Ah, my apologies good sir!" the man apologized, sounding more like he was just responding to what was expected of him rather than actually meaning it, while Jekyll stood there for a second lost in his mind.

You think an apology will be enough?! Open your eyes and pay better attention to your surroundings, you insufferable piece of- Jekyll's thoughts raged for a moment but cut out as he put on a polite, kind smile. A well practiced one that no one had ever been able to see through to see his darker, undesirable thoughts.

"No, no I should apologize to you. I should have paid more attention, myself."

The two bid each other a goodbye and Jekyll finished his walk home without further incident. His smile placed on his face the rest of the way home, hiding away the thoughts and urges to make that man "learn" some respect. His grip on his cane tightening ever so slightly with these thoughts.

….

It took him a while, nearly a year in fact, but Jekyll was at least 99% sure he finally had the right ingredients for the medicine he was creating. HJ 7, the only one that had the most reaction out of all the others, the only one that showed any kind of promise compared to the others, it had to be the one that would prove to be the one that would work. HJ 1-4 were complete failures and most of their components had to be scrapped, HJ 5 was going somewhere but seemed to be a dud in the end, HJ 6 made him realize he might be missing some crucial ingredient with only a mild reaction.

"Who knew a bit of salt would be all I would need in the end?" Henry laughed to himself, looking into the green liquid in the graduated cylinder he held. It was then he noticed how his hand shook and how his heart beat had seemed to get a little louder the longer he looked at the "completed" medicine.

Why? Why am I so nervous now? Jekyll mentally questioned himself before taking a deep breath and baking away from the chemicals.

"Calm down… this is the moment after all." he muttered out loud to himself, getting his notebook ready for the commencing experiment. Before beginning though he did pause and double check that his door was locked as well as making sure he heard none of his servants outside the door. It wouldn't do well for them to come in and interrupt his greatest moment after all.

Then again it is rather late for any of them to be up and about… Poole might still be up and about but that's normal. If this fails to yield any results mayhaps I will join him in the kitchen for some soothing tea. Jekyll thought with a small genuine smile crossing his face at the thought, his nerves calming a bit as well. Just what he needed.

Going back to the desk, Jekyll made a quick note of the time and while his nerves were still cooled down he brought himself to drink the whole formula in a single gulp, face scrunching up a bit from the salty after taste that lingered.

"I will definitely be needing that tea after this…" He muttered to himself with a shudder going down his spine. Quickly he began to write in his journal, the time, taste, even what he was feeling in order to document what might happen.

No noticeable behavioral changes.

Henry couldn't help but laugh a bit at that line as he wrote it. His nerves once again started to fail him as a bit of anxiety creeped into his heart once again. Honestly in hindsight he probably should have had at least one person around to confirm that or not. After all if he was truly separating his good consciousness from his evil one would he, the person going through it, actually notice anything changing at all?

Aside from the after taste, mild lightheadedness and some warm sensations… nothing else is happening.

Then just as he was thinking about writing HJ7 off as another failure and calling for Poole just to be safe... something happened. It started off as a sudden, sharp pain in Henry's chest. The doctor had a quiet fear that it was a heart attack at first before it began to get worse.

Oh God! Am I… Am I dying?! Jekyll's mind screamed as his body crumpled to the ground as the pain intensified. When he did try to scream out, hopefully to alert Poole or another of his servants that something was wrong, the doctor found that his voice was practically cut off as only a strangled, barely audible scream had escaped.

It didn't help when the sound of bones snapping began. The pain itself was unbearable as he felt it. Each and every bone in his body felt like they were snapping, breaking, grinding, all just beneath his skin. Skin which began to feel like it was burning up like the kindling in the fireplace. His organs were not left untouched either, as beneath the rest of the pain it almost felt like they were shifting, moving, being crushed all by some unseen hands.

Tears of pain at least crawled their way out of his eyes and down his burning cheeks though doing nothing to sooth the pain which felt like it was only getting worse. Especially when the pain reached Jekyll's skull. The sound of each little bone around his head echoed loud and sharp. The skin felt like it was burning, melting and boiling off. Henry swore he could also see his white hair falling out from whatever was going on as a couple locks fell before his wide, red eyes.

JUST END IT ALREADY! PLEASE! PLEASE OH GOD! JUST END IT!

Then, almost as sudden as the whole ordeal began… it stopped. Leaving Henry on the ground, tears still rolling down his face and body feeling sore, but the blinding was now gone. Carefully rolling himself over he felt his stomach practically flip as bile rose to the back of his throat. With a surprising amount of willpower, Henry was at least able to hold on till he reached the waste container he kept in his lab in case of something breaking in there. Once there what was left of his dinner made a reappearance… mixed with a bit of blood inside the can.

Though the blood and vomit were concerning, strangely enough… Henry felt better then he had in years. The sick feeling drained away from his body, leaving behind a growing sense of euphoria that even he couldn't completely understand where it was coming from. A laugh escaped from his throat and as soon as it reached his ears he stopped.

It wasn't his laugh… no it sounded… more hoarse yes, but… lower in pitch and yet much more... youthful? Compared to his normal one that is. As he brought up his hand to rub at this throat something else finally came to his attention… his clothes. The sleeves themselves seemed to be too large for his arms, strange as they had fit perfectly before all this, yet now they could dangle about five or so inches past his own pale hands. His hands as well were different, slimmer, while his nails were more pointed and darker, looking a little more like claws then nails.

This… What…. What IS this?!

Having to use a nearby table to help him up, Henry quickly realized he had to have lost a little over a foot in height… and his normally short hair, kept nice and neat to stay out of his face, was now longer, more curled and much… much darker then the white coloration it would normally have.

I need a mirror!

About to race for the door to the lab and make a break for his own room, Jekyll paused, remembering that there was a strong chance that his loyal butler, Poole, was still up and about doing whatever he could to help him feel tired enough to actually allow him to fall asleep.

I can't let Poole see me like this…

….

It was a little difficult, sneaking out of the lab with a backup of formula HJ 7, as a personal precaution, and up into his room but Henry had somehow managed without alerting Poole or any other member of his in-home staff.

Now in the safety of his own room, Henry made sure the door was locked and proceeded to the large full body mirror he kept there. Once he got in front of it, he stopped and stared in a mix of fascination and quiet fear. For who was in the mirror was not someone he recognized at all and yet… yet it was still him in a twisted way.

His face was less angular, a little more pointed around the chin and nose. His eyes were a little more sunken in looking and had a dark ring around them like he hadn't slept in a week. Gone were the glances of wrinkles he gained through age, now left smooth and clean. His hair, as he had noticed earlier, was darker than it had ever been in his life, a deep brown that bordered on black as opposed to the lack of color that had been persistent in his whole life well before he even reached his thirties. The parts that remained the same were his eyes and skin.

"Who are you…" Henry muttered out loud in aw, noticing how even his teeth were different in shape and spacing. Just like with his laugh earlier as well, his voice was much different than his normal one… yet unlike before he didn't react to it… no instead he reached out to his reflection. Red eyes staring straight into the mirrored Red eyes the whole while, as a twisted smile crossed his face.

A smile one would easily mistake for a sadistic, evil smile but was instead supposed to be a genuine one on this new body, this new form for Henry. A laugh once again began to surface up for him, this time growing in intensity and with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Henry Jekyll had so many more experiments and tests in the study of duality now… And he could do them all under a new identity. An identity that didn't have to hide what he felt inside, no… An identity that could live out all his desires and wants he had to suppress behind his carefully crafted reputation.

A Reputation that now no longer applied to this new identity he created for himself.