Dusty. It's so dusty. Every surface in the room has a thick layer of dust on it. The windows are blackened. The air thick, unbreathable.
Panicking, the young woman reaches for the door knobs. It burns to the touch, scalding her skin. Tears bead in her eyes from the pain, but she stomachs it. After much struggling, she prizes the door open.
Nothing remains. Only charred ruins of the place she once called home. She calls out to her loved ones. No answer. The smoke clogs up her lungs and she slowly sinks into a deep sleep, unable to utter a single breath.
Morgana's eyes shot open and darted around the dimly lit cavern. Her limbs felt stiff. She struggled to sit herself upright, looking upon her right hand and seeing a cluster of damaged skin, scarred from multiple burns. She'd spent so much time questioning where it'd come from, but if her recent dreams were anything to go by, clearly from trying to escape a burning room.
She sighed drearily and shifted her left arm. The corruption had almost consumed the entirety of her left arm, dark obsidian with veins of emerald running through it. Her body was trying to root out the curse and heal itself, but to no avail. It was stiff to the touch when she moved it.
The witch's gaze fell to her feet. She pulled herself onto a nearby rock and allowed her bare feet to dangle into the pool of clear water beneath it. The icy temperatures were refreshing and a welcome distraction from both her nightmare and her current state.
Beside her, she heard Jim stir. The human rolled over, his face contorted into an expression of mild distress. Morgana felt sympathetic for the poor child and slid over, crouching beside him. Jim began to whimper quietly.
"Wake up little lamb, you're dreaming." Morgana whispered in a soft voice.
Jim's cries grew louder. He wasn't waking up. He wasn't aware of anything around him other than the hellish images plaguing his sleep.
Morgana urged him again, louder, "You're alright, you're safe."
Lake began to convulse violently, his veins bulging from his skin, rife with the same neon green glow that littered Morgana's cursed skin. His eyelids flew open suddenly, his irises briefly flashing the same green before fading away to a softer teal colour. His muscles were trembling, nervous sweat beading on his forehead. Morgana had pulled him in close to her chest, holding him and trying to reassure him. Jim lay there in shock, unsure if he wanted to cling to her or force her away from him. Either way, he couldn't move.
"What happened? You appeared to be dreaming but then...you appeared to have some form of seizure?"
"I...I'm not sure..." Jim lied.
He knew what he'd seen. Images of Arcadia burnt to a crisp. His friends and family dead at his feet, time and time again. Their blood on his hands. A cruel fate he'd been forced to endure thousands of times.
_______________________________________
Arcadia burns. Fire tears through the streets, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. The remains of Bellroc's Titan are strewn around. As the smoke clears, any glimmer of hope within the boy fades as the aftermath becomes clearer. The hero collapses to his knees, exhausted. Around him, the bodies of everyone he tried to save. He's seen this so often, he can't even muster tears. His sadness is overwhelming, but it remains inside him, unable to be released through crying. He failed again. The boy sighs and holds aloft the amulet, allowing it to transport him back to the beginning...once again. Something was lingering, though, clutching at his thoughts, taunting his every move. It hurt.
Jim's teal eyes suddenly opened. He was shivering anxiously. His muscles ached. He awoke to Morgana clutching him tightly, trying her best to calm him. His limbs too heavy to lift.
The curse across the witch's face now encompassed a larger portion of her body. Curved crystalline horns arched away from her forehead.
Time passed slowly. The two spoke about Jim's dream. Jim gritted his teeth as he lied to Morgana's face. Flashes of his nightmare kept showing up to haunt him as he tried to resist the urge to tell her his woes.
Eventually the Trollhunter snapped, "QUIT PESTERING ME!"
Morgana looked taken aback. Her emerald eyes were full of shock. Jim met this with his own look of horror, as it dawned on him the expression he'd managed to illicit from a ninth level sorceress. He scrambled backwards across the floor, awkwardly staggering to his feet and backing into the smooth stone walls of the cave.
"I-I'm sorry...," Jim stammered, "I-I didn't mean it t-to come out l-like that..."
Morgana shook her head and composed herself, also standing now. She didn't speak but simply smiled and nodded in response quietly.
Jim properly took in her appearance. Something had gone horribly wrong here.
"Morgana...your face...did I cause this?"
She sighed, "I took some of your curse away to alleviate your suffering young one, but it manifested in me. My body will fight it, though. I feel weak, however."
Jim blinked slowly, his vision starting to cloud with a familiar neon green haze. Suddenly, Morgana was lit up like a humanoid glowstick, tendrils of yellow arcane energy swirling around her body. He looked down at his hands. A lurid green energy danced about his fingertips, flowing throughout his whole body. Sparks of yellow were fluttering around him as well, causing Morgana to flicker slightly, like a dimming light bulb.
This was weird.
It was only when he looked around that he realised he was seeing magical energies, usually invisible to the naked eye. He could physically feel the energy flow as well. His felt...unusual, abstract and ancient, untamed. The yellow coming from Morgana felt lonely, powerful and vengeful. Something within him started to crave more of the feelings he got from her magic.
Jim shakily reached a hand out, palm outstretched, towards Morgana.
"ᵂʰᵃᵗ ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵈᵒⁱⁿᵍ?!" Her voice echoed, it felt distant.
He clenched it into a fist, grasping onto the energy firmly. Morgana let out a cry of pain as a bright stream of energy began to rush out of her body and into Jim. The power grew stronger within him, Jim felt...able, he could help this way. Something wanted this, it was telling him he wanted this. A malevolent grin spread across his face.
He was completely oblivious to the sorceress' attempts to beg him to stop. He merely continued. Morgana slowly lifted up her hand in a last ditch effort to save herself.
I won't fall prey to another monster... Her thoughts strained.
But there is no monster, I'm taking what's rightfully mine!
"I'm sorry..." She mumbled before she keeled over and collapsed, passing out.
Jim's cocky smirk faded rapidly as a sense of morality returned.
"Shit-" He exclaimed in shock, "No...no no no! You're gonna be okay, it's okay...I didn't mean to...but I did? What the fuck is happening to me?! I just...I wanna go home..."
He fell to the floor beside her, sobbing quietly. The ground beneath them both suddenly gave way, causing them to fall into a cold abyss...right back into a familiar bedroom.
YOU ARE READING
For Whom The Bell Tolls (Trollhunters continuation/Evil Jim AU)
Fanfiction"Time unfolds differently, like a flower. The Trollhunter will know what to do." James Lake Jr. is close to losing his mind. Nearly being driven mad by repeatedly resetting the timelines to save his friends, to save Toby from an inevitable fate. N...
