#lemons mail

Except hyde is still there,

just without memories of BEING hyde, just his memories as jekyll

So while the lodgers are trying to fix the de-aging/ amnesia jekyll also goes "apologies, but I think I might be possessed? There is a blonde demon haunting me through my mirrors reflection" which ofc pisses hyde off because he assumed that it was actually jekyll who was the demon who possessed and stole his body before realising that ".. wait, I'm blonde? Why am I blonde??"

If hyde actually manages to incite a transformation / from his perspective 'take back his body from the guy who stole it' he'd be so confused as to why he looks so different. Probably accuse jekyll (who he still assumes to be a body snatching demon) of placing a curse on him, all the while jekyll freaks out because he thinks hyde is the body snatching demon

Both of them accusing each other of being some demonic entity because what else are they to assume

Hyde also doesn't go by hyde, he insists that he's jekyll (because from his perspective he is)

Oh. My god. Thank you for blessing me with this au

Grghhh… I am a sucker for de-age aus…

All in all this is super awesome sauce!! Waiter!!! Give me 3 fanfics and an au of the au !!!

How the fuck are they gonna react??

Like oh shit the blonde demon Jekyll said was haunting him is Hyde??? Why is Hyde possessing Henry? HOW is he possessing him?

All the while Hyde insists that no, HE'S Jekyll, no he doesn't know why he's blonde and also green eyed and also short, this is as weird to him as it is to you, but you gotta believe him that he's Jekyll.

(And indeed the lodgers notice, that de-aged Jekyll does act a bit Hyde-ish, and de-aged Hyde does act Jekyll-ish)

But they ignore that because how the fuck would that make sense? Instead, they decide that whatever experiment de-aged Jekyll also combined him with Hyde. And also erased Hyde's memories? Either that or Hyde was secretly a demon this whole time. Surely, that makes more sense than them being the same guy!

The lodgers keep trying to coax Hyde into admitting whether or not he's a demon swearing that they would not judge him if he was, they find the idea kinda cool tbh (I mean it would make sense, why would Jekyll hire a nonscientist as an assistant, him entering some sort of contract with a demon in exhange for prosperity for the society sounds possible, at least more possible than Hyde being Jekyll)

Hyde would be rather frustrated at how no one seems to believe that he's Jekyll, and then people start describing what Hyde is usually like, before this whole de-aging fiasco, and to the lodgers suprise, Hyde is geniuely appalled at what people say. Set half of London on fire?! He'd never do that!

All the while Jekyll is yelling at Hyde to give him control back of the body, being very confused and scared about the whole thing, but somewhat relieved that the lodgers don't believe Hyde, to which, since the lodgers seem set that a demon is involved, Hyde tries to convince them that this "imposter" Jekyll that keeps yelling at him in the mirror is actually the demon

Now imagine lanyon getting involved

Especially if Hyde and Jekyll got de-aged to pre-breakup times

We do know the doe eyed part of Jekyll pre split is mostly attributed to Hyde...

Oughhh…. There are so many angst opportunities with hyde in this au aghhckk.

I can just picture him yelling at the lodgers, tears beginning to well up, and he’s just so desperate and confused (probably when the lodgers are still set on him being a demon) “I AM HIM!! I AM, I AM! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME. PLEASE!” And the lodgers are like “oh fuck hyde never cries” and they start trying to figure what he is if not demon.

I do think that because it’s still Hyde, his eyes would still be green, but probably a lot dimmed down and muddier. As well as jekyll’s (red but very muddy and dimmed down)

And oughhhh. Lanyon… so many things to do with him as well.

And even if that wasn't the authorial intent, it does read that way. It really feels like the HJ7 potion only gave form to stuff already present within Jekyll.

So what I'm saying is that if anybody else drank the TGS version of HJ7, it would have different effects than it did for Jekyll and Hyde

For example, for some reason, when I think of what would happen if TGS Lanyon drank the potion, I feel like it would affect him the similair to the way the potion affects book Jekyll, even with his own reputation stuff and how he puts on false airs it doesn't feel like he has the same flavour of identity stuff going on as TGS Jekyll and Hyde for the potions effects to manifest the same way.

I dont know. It could be an interesting avenue to explore what identity means for different people .....

"It's just... I dont remember being anyone else"

Rachel shifts uncomfortably. "I suppouse since Jekyll lost 15 years' worth of memories.. you did, too, and all you got left with were his."

He doesn't look at her right away, a small frown on his face, before his eyes widen and he snaps to look at her.

"I, what, I'm not 15! I'm a grown ass man!"

Rachel averts her eyes

"I mean.. it would make sense wouldn't it? Jekyll had 20 years of memories left after the whole thing, you meanwhile have no memories of your own."

"I, Well! Explain! How I'm in Jekyll's body then! Why everytime we regain a memory I seem to feel it tenfold while he seems to recline back and act as if he's watching someone else's life unfold!"

"I.. huh?"

"You can ask him yourself and he'd tell you, half the reason he's so keen to get rid of me is that he believes it will allow him to feel again. When I remembered how Robert broke up with me-..Jekyll, when we remembered that he just sat there, unaffected. So why! Why is that! If these are not my memories then why am I not the one sitting here watching them like a film reel while Jekyll is the one getting his heart broken all over again?"

"I... don't know."

Hyde huffs, as he turns to look away.

"Of course you don't"

"... im sure once we begin to bring back your memories, at least those that we can bring back, this will all become less confusing"

"...okay"

This is AWESOMESAUCE :0

(To be fair on lanyon (and the lodgers) they have been tirelessly trying to fix the de-aging situation only to have this new problem thrown in their face. Kinda hard to not get overwhelmed and fall back on the simplest explanation).

Hyde is left so devasted that it gives jekyll the opportunity to take back the body, relieved that robert didn't believe hyde.

Now, if rachel is involved (and she would be involved) imagine getting to see this much younger hyde and jekyll. Hyde acted weirdly un-hyde-ish, but that makes sense to her, she always thought that hyde's whole shtick was part of a slumming phase, so it makes sense that de-aged Hyde is a bit more propper and gentlemanly (she refuses to believe that hyde is a demon, instead thinking that the de-aging incident also combined the two men. Somehow.) But when she gets to interact with de-aged jekyll and sees all of his hyde-ish mannerism gears begin turning in her head. (She dismisses it at first. Of course a younger jekyll would be more daring and excitable the way hyde is, he's younger! But it nags on her)

Meanwhile lodgers begin to search the office to see if there is any evidence of demonic contracts or the like. What they do find is a bunch of fragmented nonsensical notes. It's hard to tell what they're about, but they all seem to be pertaining to the same experiment

Maybe at some point the lodgers begin to ask jekyll why he thought hyde is a demon since he was the one who suggested that hyde was a demon initially, and, if he can hear hyde in his reflection, to ask why hyde thought HE was a demon (something jekyll grumbles about because obviously hyde is trying to trick them all and he ought not have to relay what hyde has to say, but he eventually relents)

And at first it's stuff that just makes sense, like this how this is an absurd situation and how demonic possession is the only thing that makes sense. But then they start talking about personality traits? And how they find each others personality traits detestable (how jekyll thinks hyde volatile, and how hyde thinks jekyll is manipulative) which quickly gets them arguing, as jekyll stops relaying what hyde is saying in favor of arguing with him, making it pretty hard to follow what is being said for the lodgers

Because people thought it was so sinister, and on some ways it was a sign of problems to come but to me in retrospect its really sweet. For a moment Hyde and Jekyll, despite both being present, aren't fighting because they're both too busy gazing upon the man they love

Jekyll and Hyde are secretly lovers

Hyde is Jekyll’s long lost brother/kid/relative

Hyde is the result of one of Jekyll’s experiments (not technically wrong, just picturing something more like Frankenstein’s whole thing)

Hyde was unethically experimented on by Jekyll (it’s why Hyde looks like that)

Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll (the classic)