Blue Moon Rising

Chapter 40: Young Atlas (II)

Atlas has another vision. Draal offers assistance in the form of fancy jewelry. The council meeting goes better than Vendel expects (at least from Atlas).

Unfortunately, not everything is going peachy. NotEnrique is starting to think maybe joining team Janus Order might not have been such a good idea.

Notes:

Disclaimer: Don't own Trollhunters or any of its characters

Hey! Back with a new chapter! The plot is speeding up quickly. Didn't have as much time to work on this as last chapter, so if there are any glaring errors, please tell me. Big thanks to Charlie for helping me with the characterization.

Check out my tumblr tunafishprincess for all the lovely fanart for this series. I'll hopefully be making a comic of the first chapter at some point so stay tuned!

At ten years old it was hard to sleep in the empty room.

Every sound of footsteps that passed his door brought forth a rolling, ever growing terror. Was there going to be another 'physical'? Would he have to do more 'tests'? He didn't like tests. He didn't like the scientists either. They called themselves doctors, but they weren't like his mom.

He knew he was lucky to have a room. In the hallways, there were these big cages. At first he thought they were for animals, but he knew better now. They were barely large enough to contain the creatures inside them. They hissed and growled and roared. At least, in the beginning. He preferred them to the older patients, those who'd been here longer. Their screaming and crying carried down every corridor, sometimes so soft he would mistake them for the air conditioning, and sometimes so deafening his ears rang for hours.

A few tried to talk to him. He never answered back. Early on one of the scientists threatened to put him inside with one of the creatures if he ever tried.

Jim believed him.

At ten years old he started to play the pretend game.

It wasn't like there was anything else to do. There weren't any games or books he could use to pass the time. Outside of his daily 'tests' it was just him and the room.

At ten years old he was alone with only himself for company.

It wasn't exactly make-believe, not really. He simply let himself go. It helped during the worst parts. If he faded enough he won't remember all the bad stuff, and there were lots of bad stuff.

In a way, it was like having an imaginary friend. Though he doesn't talk to himself or anything like that. He just disappeared. At first, it was only for a minute or two at best, but after a while he could do it for hours, sitting in the room, dazed out, emotions muted. He doesn't even have to think about it anymore. He was that good.

The door creaked open. Jim tensed, snapping out of the foggy daze. It was a nurse, though not one he knew. None of them ever lasted more than a week before someone else took their place.