Hello, It's Mrs. Hyde

Prologue - Scene 1: Ashes of the Beginning

(A/N: Song above is the theme for this story)

Jessica (Narration):
"Time is a cruel thing. When you're young, it moves slowly — a lazy river winding through golden afternoons, laughter echoing between trees, joy so pure it makes you believe it could last forever. But time doesn't care for innocence. It only takes. And one day, it stops flowing gently and becomes a flood.
This is the story of how everything I loved was torn away...and how the girl I used to be died in the ashes of our childhood."

The midday sun shimmered gently through the tall trees that surrounded the small clearing. Birds chirped from the branches above, weaving melody through the air, and the grass under Jessica's bare feet was cool and damp with morning dew. Laughter danced through the woods — two voices, young and full of mischief.
"Jefferson, wait up!" Jessica called, chasing after her brother with a determined squint in her eyes.
He turned just in time for a pinecone to bounce off his back.
"Ow! Hey, no fair! You cheated!" he shouted, grinning as he skidded to a halt beside the old oak stump they'd claimed as their fort.
"You were going to throw one first!" she argued breathlessly, triumphant and flushed.
He grabbed a stick, pretending it was a sword. "I'm Captain of the Guard. Intruder, state your name!"
Jessica crossed her arms and puffed out her chest. "I'm Princess Jessica of the Moonwood Grove, and you're trespassing in my kingdom, serf."
They both collapsed into giggles.
Behind them, the modest hut shimmered in the dappled light. It wasn't made of ordinary wood or stone — no, their mother had woven it from the elements themselves. Vines grew through the walls as if in a loving embrace. The chimney smoked gently, carrying with it the scent of rosemary and cinnamon. A barrier of moss and riverstone made it nearly invisible to the casual eye.
It was hidden magic. Safe magic.
Their mother, Aralynn, stood nearby, her hands deep in a basket of herbs as she hummed a tune under her breath. She smiled softly at the sound of her children playing. Their father, Elric, was working at the anvil beside the hut — reforging an old blade with a soft hum and a rhythmic clanging that seemed more ceremonial than practical.
All of it — the warmth, the laughter, the safety — felt like something out of a dream.
A dream that would end far too soon.

Jessica (Narration):
"If I had known those would be some of the last moments we'd all share together, I would have held tighter to them... I would have memorized every note of my mother's voice, the precise way my father's hands cradled my face when he kissed my forehead goodnight. But children don't know to fear the future. They think magic is eternal. They think love is indestructible."

The wind changed.
Jessica froze mid-giggle, sensing it first — a sudden stillness, like the world had taken a breath and refused to exhale. The birds fell silent. The light dimmed unnaturally.
Aralynn's head snapped up. Elric stopped mid-strike, gripping the blade with white-knuckled hands.
"Inside. Now," their mother whispered, the air crackling faintly around her.
Jefferson moved to grab Jessica's hand, but a shadow moved between the trees — tall figures in cloaks, no faces visible, but their presence was like ice in the bloodstream.
Magic-hunters.
Elric was at their side in an instant, lifting both children in his arms and running for the hut as Aralynn extended her hands and whispered an incantation. The ground trembled beneath them, roots tearing up from the soil and wrapping around the oncoming intruders like serpents.
"Elric!" Aralynn called. "Get them out!"
"I'm not leaving you!" he shouted back.
"We don't have time!" She turned, her eyes meeting his, pleading and resolute. "They've found us. If we don't separate now, they'll get all of us."
Jessica clung to her brother, tears forming but not yet falling. She didn't understand. Why weren't they fighting together? Why was her mother's voice so... final?
Elric reached into a hidden shelf in the hut and pulled out something Jessica had never seen before — a black top hat. Old, but gleaming with magic.
"Jeff," he said, crouching low and looking into his son's wide, terrified eyes. "This hat — it's not a toy. It's a key. And it's yours now son. You'll know how to use it when the time comes. For now, keep her safe. Promise me."
Jefferson took it with shaking hands. "But, Father I—what about—?"
"There's no time."
Outside, the vines shattered with a pulse of dark energy. Aralynn's protection spell had been broken. She turned to them one last time and whispered something under her breath — a wind curling through the doorway, brushing their cheeks like a kiss.
Then she was gone — running into the night with fire in her hands and death in her wake, the door slamming shut behind her.
Elric forced them toward the hidden trapdoor beneath the hearth. "Down," he urged. "Go now. Don't look back."
Jessica reached for him, but Jefferson pulled her down. "Come on!"
The last thing they saw was their father raising the reforged blade, eyes bright with tears — and then the trapdoor slammed shut above them.

Jessica (Narration):
"That was the day the sun never came back. That was the last time I saw either of them — our parents, our protectors. And that was only the beginning of the pain my brother and I would come to endure."