For Whom The Bell Tolls (Trollhunters continuation/Evil Jim AU)

3: Lost And Found

Hazy lights passed overhead. A cacophony of beeps, voices and sounds could be heard in the background, but they felt distant. An uncomfortable feeling was in Jim's left arm, it very much hurt. He tried to budge his arms but there were too heavy to move. In fact, his entire body was seemingly paralysed. It took him a moment to realise he was lying in a bed on a hospital ward, an IV line connected to his left arm.

"Ugh...fuck this..." He stirred, his eyes fluttered open, taking in the horrifically bright room around him.

"Hey honey, I'm glad you're awake."

A gentle hand caressed his forehead, brushing aside a chunk of his fringe. It moved down the side of his face and onto his cheek. He softly pushed his head against it.

"Hey mom..." Jim managed to utter weakly.

Barbara Lake looked over her son with a concerned cerulean gaze. It was full of warmth. She could see how weak he looked. He'd taken a pretty sudden fall.

"Is it bad?" He asked her, coughing a little as he attempted to sit up.

"Just a light concussion hon, you'll be alright after some rest and some soup." She replied gleefully.

Jim's eyes widened, he feigned a gag, "Eww mom! Nooo, not your soup!"

"Well I'm not letting you cook! Not in that state anyway," Her tone was light-hearted in nature before rapidly transitioning to become more serious, "By the way, I just wanted to ask about something I noticed on your face."

"My face?" His words slurred together a little.

"Yes, your face. Hon, I noticed you have...scars on your face? I didn't know you had these! Have you been hiding them?" She pressed.

Jim's line of sight shifted to out the window, where a gentle rain was tapping on the glass, casting the skies above Arcadia in hues of grey. He guessed the concealer he'd nabbed from Claire and used to cover his facial scarring had rubbed off when he'd fallen. He'd been using it with each reset so as not to draw attention to them, but it clearly had failed now. But then again, he hadn't fainted and been hospitalised either in any of his recent timelines so he hadn't really given it a second thought. He weakly ran his fingers along the small grooves of the scars that wound around his face. He'd forgotten where he'd even got them. Well, most of them. He remembered his eyebrow scar. He'd got that from the Green Knight.

He choked out a just about discernable sentence, "Oh these? Uhh they're a form of prosthetic stuff...it's for the play. The theatre club is doing Romeo and Juliet, I was trying out for Romeo. I wanted to add some FX makeup so I'd stand out from the other guys. I borrowed this gel stuff that cinches up the skin and makes it look like scars."

Dr. Lake didn't look as if she believed a single word. But she didn't want to question him further on it at this time, he was clearly in no condition to cope with things like that right now. Instead she simply exhaled and stood up from his bedside.

Walking away, Barbara offered Jim a vague smile, "Try and get some rest sweetie. If you can. I'll drive you home once my shift ends and Dr. Hemel gives you the all clear. I'll make sure the ward nurse brings you some food later. Just don't go to sleep. It's potentially dangerous."

"Aight." Jim murmured under his breath.

He weakly raised his right arm and reached for his phone which was charging on the cabinet next to the bed. He could barely reach it. He let out a few strained grunts and gave up. Instead he allowed himself to sink into the pillow a little. The stench of disinfectant was just about bearable. The teenager cleared his thoughts and just listened to the rhythmic patter of the raindrops against the window pane. Despite the fact he was currently hooked up to various tubes and machines, it was nice to have a moment of peace. He'd almost forgotten how calming the sound of the rain could be.
For a moment, the world was tranquil.

Relaxed yet, Trollhunter?

Jim nearly leapt out of his skin. The same lightly raspy voice that had come from the amulet was now reverberating around his head. He could feel a form of presence, a pressure inside his brain. As if someone was lurking in there.

What the fuck-?!

He thought in panic. His mind was erratic and genuinely spooked by the voice. This surely had to be because he was tripping out to high heaven on painkillers right? How else could he be hearing whatever the entity's name was right now?

Oopsie! Didn't mean to startle you James. Although rather hilarious, don't you think?

The voice was mocking him, the tone was laced with snarky intent. Jim tried to block it out, he kept repeating over and over, "I'm hallucinating, it's the painkillers," to try and dissuade himself from losing it. Eventually he felt the presence fade away. Yeah, okay, top two priorities were keeping everyone away from the amulet and also finding out what was happening with his amulet.
He wracked his brains for ideas, who could he go to? Claire and Toby were a no-go since they didn't know anything; there's no way he could access Trollmarket in his current condition, so Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! were off-limits. That left him with two viable options. Douxie, Merlin's apprentice, who had helped to craft the original amulet of Daylight or alternatively Krel Tarron, who had crafted the new one. Jim figured Aja and Krel wouldn't have yet crashed in Arcadia so that left Douxie, which didn't bother him overly. Whilst he had initially found the young wizard completely insufferable, he has led grown to have some respect for him as they'd got to know each other more. Plus since this was linked to the Time Stone and the Kronisfere, Doux would definitely be able to provide some context, if not the whole answer.
He owed Toby a milkshake, so he decided he'd try and slip Douxie a note whilst he was waiting their table. That'd be better than drawing attention by asking him outright in public.

After a couple of hours had passed, Jim was walked to the car by his mother. She bustled him into the front passenger seat and climbed into the car also to drive them both home. Jim didn't speak, opting to stare out the passenger window and watch the streetlamps pass by. Barbara twigged his reluctance to speak and chose to respect the silence. She just gave him a gentle squeeze on his shoulder and kept her attention on the water logged road. Something seemed different about Jim, she'd noticed it before but she found it bothering her again. She felt confused. Who did she believe? Jim or her gut instinct? She summised she'd just watch him for now, keep an eye out for any concerning behaviour. After some silence, she finally broke the tension.

"Jim..." Her voice was soft.

Jim pivoted his neck so he was looking in her general direction, "Yeah mom?"

Dr. Lake gripped the steering wheel tightly. Her eyes didn't shift from the road in front, "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Yeah...I know mom..." He knew she could see right through him. He desperately wanted to tell her everything, but he couldn't bring himself to, "I'm...I'm fine."

"Alright honey. I'll be here to listen whenever you're ready." She said reassuringly and stopped the car's engine.

She began to walk through the steadily pouring rain towards the front door of the house. Jim climbed out the car and called out to her.

"Mom! Wait!"

Barbara spun to face him, her flaming orange hair now soaked through. Jim hobbled forwards and threw his arms around her. All of the pent up emotions he'd been bottling up for so long spilled out of him at once. He felt so lost and hopeless. Tears rolled down his cheeks, he hoped the rain would mask it. She said nothing in response, just slowly raised her arms to his back and pulled him in close to her, holding her son in a comforting embrace. Neither one cared about being drenched through, they had each other and for that brief time, that's all that mattered.