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Pressure was building, images flashing; blood, mangled limbs of people he hadn’t protected- couldn’t protect-
There was too much noise, too much confusion- everything and everyone melting into a roaring inside his head. The cries of a child, a woman, an old man, simply walking home-
Vaguely there was the sound of a voice- Poole, maybe- asking if he was feeling alright sir? Ah. His face… it must’ve dropped the facade. Shown the decay inside his rotting soul. Of course, yes. He was fine he was alright, everything was fine and alright. Another voice joining the roaring and-
Henry? Are you alright..? Oh… that was his friend’s voice was it not? Yes… Gabriel.
Henry… Henry…yes that was his name and yes, of course Henry was fine, just fine; needed to rest but other than that feeling perfectly fit and healthy, nothing to worry about.
He needed to leave.
Everything was too much too loud, the mask slipping as he spoke. Or- was he speaking?
Oh well. Too late either way, now they were gone.
The roaring subsiding slightly, hand gliding over something smooth and round and polished, pushing, before finding something soft and comforting.
His room, then.
He sighed, lying back, the soft blankets and mattress giving way beneath him, head finally clear from most of the fog. He covered his face in his hands and wept. He was alone. Completely and utterly alone.
You’re not really alone though… are you.
The words drifted to his mind, unbidden, bringing with them pressure as before, but more gentle, more… caressing. Woven over him like a silken net pressing him into the mattress he lay upon.
No! He jolted up, hands slipping from his face, salty with his tears. He stumbled towards his desk. There was no one left by him, not really, not when h- when he-!They would all be hurt. They always ended up hurt, or worse.
Maybe if he just… yes… that would surely- just a little more… if he could-
The silky pressure was back; pressing, pulling, wrestling for control. Control that he could feel slipping from him as his head throbbed, the room around him fading. Vision ebbing to black.
The letter opener clattered to the ground.
Why do keep trying to get away Henry?
The silken net draped over him now, the pressure too great to resist. Molding itself to every part of his being. Body moving against his will, the voice taking hold of him.
When we both know… that I won’t ever release you…
He was being forced out again. Realization hitting too late, as the pain wracked his shuddering body, the form of him, holding him still, pressing against him with that horrible, silky voice, scratching inside his head. And then there was nothing. Just the pit of his subconscious surrounding him, and whatever Hyde allowed him to see.
I am you, Henry.
He was forcing him further down, further back.
And you are me.
The voice rang around him as he hurtled away from the light.
We may be damned but we’re damned together ‘til the end of time.
His consciousness was slipping. Being forced into the deep sleep the transformation demanded.
We are the same, Henry. Alive inside one another…
He let go.
Forever.