losthunter | Thorn in the Garden of Life

"I don't know..." Hunter feels that perhaps he should reach out to Hermione to get those answers from her.

And then, when suddenly, Jim gets a far-away look in his eyes and starts snapping about how 'Starfleet's not coming', Hunter pulls out his PINpoint and sends a message to Hermione.

"Jim..." He softly tries to get the other man's attention. "Jim, can you hear me?"

Jim doesn't seem to hear him, and when he looks at Hunter, he doesn't seem to see him either.

Jimmy stands in the cramped confines of the cave, barely big enough for two thirteen-year-old boys, his stomach a constant searing ache in its emptiness. "I'm gonna get more water," he says, looking back over his shoulder at Tommy. "Your burns are getting worse."

It probably won't do any good. The water isn't clean and they have no way to boil or sanitize it, or even bring back more than a few mouthfuls at a time. But it's the only thing he can do.

He takes a step, and just as suddenly, he's not in the cave anymore. "Tommy?" No, not Tommy. That was years ago. "...Hunter?"

Hunter is very concerned. "This is not good Jim... I have called Hermione. And she will be here shortly to figure out what happened."

"Did you have another memory?"

"I..." He is not going to panic. He is not going to panic.

Lies. He's totally panicking.

It's not just the memories. It's Tarsus, as vivid and raw as the day it happened, and he can still feel that phantom gnawing hunger and thirst, and he can't quite stop himself from going for the one thing he knows might help.

Jim makes a beeline for the cupboard where he stashed his ration bars, and for just a moment he's overwhelmed to see so many. A box this size could've fed them for days, and it's all just sitting here, unguarded. Free for the taking. The fact that he himself put them there doesn't matter. He grabs two, shoving one in a pocket and tearing open the other, needing to banish the hunger.

Hunter keeps out of Jim's way, when he makes that beeline for the cupboard. He is more than panicked too, when Jim starts shoving some of the ration bars into his pocket.

He hears the sound of a PINpoint activating, and turns to greet Hermione. He keeps her away from Jim for the moment, feeling that right now it would be a bad idea to get between Jim and his intended goal.

"Something really weird is going on..." Hunter's voice breaks as he tries to explain. "From what I can understand, he is having flashbacks. And when they happen he just completely goes into that moment."

"I think Austin managed to curse him..." Hunter sighs.

"Jim?" Hermione's voice calls out to the captain. "Can I take a look at you? I want to figure out what happened."

Jim hates showing weakness in front of others, even if they're friends. Even that isn't enough to stop him from devouring half of the ration bar, barely tasting it at all, part of him embarrassed to be like this in front of people.

He stops himself from eating the other half, carefully wrapping it back up and shoving it into his other pocket, saving it for later. With a little food in his belly and the weight of more resting against him, the panic recedes a little, and he reminds himself that there's more still. He doesn't have to worry about it going bad before he can eat it, or worry about it getting stolen from him to feed someone else. Someone from the other list.

"Just... just a second." He skips getting a glass and drinks straight from the tap in the kitchen, cupping his hands to catch the water and raise it to his mouth. The last handful, he splashes on his face, as if it could help wash away the memories. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference, but the cold and wet helps anchor him to the here and now, just a little more.

Hunter is standing between Hermione and Jim, so that that his privacy is respected right now. They are both worried about him, but Hunter is especially protective right now. He is half tempted to go back to his world to find Austin...

But he knows that Jim needs him right now.

Hermione waits for Jim to take as much time as he needs. She is pulling a few dozen runes from her pouch, placing them onto the coffee table. Every now and then, she will ask Hunter a question about Austin, and then makes some adjustment to the pattern of the runes on the table.

"Take as much time as you need," she reassures him. Hermione just wants to help.

Jim braces himself against the counter for a moment, trying to force himself to calm down. Tarsus was thirteen years ago. It's over.

It's never over.

He finally turns around, hesitantly stepping back towards Hunter, still a little skittish. "I think I'm okay." It's not entirely true. But he's as okay as possible, after that.

And that was one of his better memories from Tarsus. What will he have to relive again if this continues?

Hunter runs a hand over his head. He is concerned for Jim right now. He hates that Jim is suffering right now. And there is nothing he can do.

Hermione taps her wand on the table and the runes start to float slightly. She waits for Jim to get closer, before adding a couple more runes into the equation. The runes float around Jim for a moment, with Hermione studying him.

"A magical curse has been cast..." Hermione whispers.

"I thought we were protected from that!" Hunter exclaims.

"He was protected." Hermione lets the runes continue to spin around and tell her more about the situation. "The dark curse was intended to put him in a permanent state of recalling memories, over and over again. To curse his mind completely useless. The charms on his jacket prevented that from happened, but unfortunately the dark curse was so strong, that he will have to deal with a little bit of the effects. He will have to face his memories."

"For how long?" Hunter asks.

"Two days at the most. If he continues to wear the jacket, the time will get shorter, as the charms continue to protect him. It is important to keep those charms active."

"Permanent?" Jim was already looking a bit pale, and that doesn't help. He can think of no greater hell than to be trapped in his own head, with nothing but his own horrors for company. Forever.

"Two days... there's no way to just break the curse?" Even two days is going to be horrible. Better than eternity, but he can't look forward to the experience.

Edited 2017-08-16 19:01 (UTC)

Hunter tightens his hands slightly, so they are both formed into fists at his side. He really wants to go after Austin now. To hurt him as badly as he hurt Jim.

"The charms on your jacket are breaking the curse," Hermione explains. "But it was a very dark spell, something our charms have never dealt with before. And from the potency of the spell, countered with how our charms are trying to unweave it's effects, unfortunately it means you recall a few memories in the meantime."

"He is a very dangerous person... to have been able to cast such a dark spell." Hermione notes, voicing her concern.

"I don't know if he did it before or after I got the watch on him," Jim adds, uncertain. He sort of remembers feeling a weird tingling when he was putting the watch around Austin's wrist, but he's not sure if it was just his imagination or not. "Might've been at the same time."

Hermione waves her wand and the runes adjust, realign, and start floating in new patterns. "The charms on the watch are working. They are keeping his abilities contained, which will protect other people."

"But you were affected before those charms were activated." Hermione frowns.

"We need to figure out how to help Jim right now. If he is living out these memories... he could get hurt!" Hunter exclaimed.

Jim hasn't realized yet that he's physically acting out the memories. When he was trying to stop Austin, he doesn't know how he got on the floor, assuming that the other man took him down while he was incapacitated. And this last one didn't have him moving too far, not enough that he's put it together.

"Hurt? They're just memories... aren't they?" He can't get hurt by something in his own head, right? No matter how awful they are, they can't injure him, or he'd have to worry about radiation sickness.

"Jim... you spoke while you were affected by the memory. You called me Tommy." Hunter tells him. "And when you said something about needing to get more water, you moved slightly off the couch... right before the memory ended."

Hermione studies the runes again. "This is why this dark spell is so deadly. He would have been trapped reliving those memories, physically and mentally. When you have a flashback, you will physically react to those memories."

Edited 2017-08-16 19:53 (UTC)

"Fuck. Seriously?" Jim doesn't disbelieve them. It just seems like this curse is one awful layer on top of another. And he's disturbed that his memories are being thrown out for all to see, with himself completely unaware. "I can't go home like this."

At the very least, his mother won't understand, and their relationship is rocky enough already without bringing up the final event that led to Jim running away from home, once he'd recovered enough from his ordeal to leave the hospital. He certainly can't teach his classes like this. Or be around Starfleet at all. That'd be a fast track to a psych hold and getting his command revoked.

"You can stay here." Hunter immediately offers. He considers himself responsible for the fact that Jim's safety is compromised. He can at least give him a safe place to stay, until the curse runs its course.

"I can create a warded area, where if something happens in your memories that invoke a physical response, Hunter can place you into that area so that you do not harm yourself, or others." Hermione glances around the apartment for a suitable place to create something.

"And you should remove your weapons... for the time being... until this is over." She knows about his knife. But doesn't want to seem him using it, because of a flashback.

She has a good point. A damn good point. Jim hates going unarmed, but he can easily think of several memories that would be dangerous for any bystanders, and the horrifying thought that he might harm Hunter in the grips of his darkest nightmares is enough to convince him.

He immediately unholsters his phaser and hands it over to Hunter, before bending down to pull his knife from his boot.

He clutches the knife against his chest, a white-knuckled grip around the handle, as he listens to the sound of footsteps, just outside the building. He hadn't thought the colonists who lived here would be back so soon. His makeshift bag, a sweater with the neck tied shut, only carries a few small items he's managed to find - a water bottle, two small pieces of chocolate, a wilted handful of lettuce. Not enough. But there's little else to find, all the real food rationed away to nothing, the tiny hoard under guard at the governor's house. Too dangerous to raid.

He can't risk getting caught. Not now.

Jimmy grabs the sweater and heads for the back door as quietly as possible, but he only makes it halfway there before a hand closes roughly on his shoulder, and he panics, swinging around with the knife, its edge biting into flesh and spraying him with red. The man bellows, falling back and clutching at the gash in his belly, cursing as blood spills over his hand.

He doesn't wait to see what happens next.

Edited 2017-08-16 21:15 (UTC)

Hunter takes the phaser, and gives it to Hermione, when he notices that Jim is now clutching the knife against his chest.

"Jim?" He calls out softly.

Then Jim moves as if he is heading towards the door. Hunter had followed him, and was just barely able to step back when Jim swings around and attacks with that knife. Luckily for him, one of the charms on his vest is a Protego spell, which protects him from getting cut.

Hermione jumps up, quickly casting a Protego spell on the door that Jim is approaching, so he can not leave. She decides against casting an Accio spell on the knife, since Jim is gripping the knife too tightly right now.

"Jim!" Hunter tries again, trying to reach him.

The knife falls to the floor as Jim flings it away from himself, as if it was a venomous snake. His hands are shaking even worse than they did after the first flashback, at the realization that he might've nearly just killed someone. "Are you okay?" His voice holds not a small amount of panic, bordering on hysteria. He can't control his own actions, and it is terrifying.

He doesn't dare approach Hunter, afraid that he'll do something else to hurt him, his gaze frantically scanning Hunter's body for injuries.

Edited 2017-08-16 21:37 (UTC)

Hunter moves forward, a little cautiously, but then wraps his arms around Jim once he realizes that Jim is not caught in a flashback anymore. "I'm okay."

Hermione picks up the knife, where it was flung to the floor. She then moves into the kitchen, and packs up any knifes that are on the counter top. Then, as if experienced with doing this before, Hermione goes through the rest of the apartment. Every now and then she collects something that could be used as a weapon. She finds an empty drawer in Hunter's art studio, where she can place all the items into the drawer, and then closes it with a locking spell.

"I'm okay." Hunter repeats softly. But he is terrified for Jim right now.

Jim is terrified of himself right now, so that's fair. He holds onto Hunter, hands moving a little as he restlessly double checks for injuries. "Point fucking made, holy shit," he manages, in a strangled voice. "I could've killed you."

Hunter lets Jim double check him for injuries. There is only a scratch on the vest that he is wearing, where the spell protected him.

"We might not be able to stop this... but is there any way that he doesn't have to suffer through all the bad stuff? Any way we can get good memories in there?"

Hermione comes back, and tilts her head in thought. "It would be difficult. Bad memories have a habit of being fresher in our thoughts."

"I've got a lot of them, too," Jim says, his voice muffled against Hunter's shoulder. Of all the curses he could've been hit by, this is possibly the worst.

He's still shaken up, but he pulls away, trying once again to recover his composure. He doesn't feel right without the weight of the knife against his ankle, but holy shit, it is not worth the small comfort it brings. At least he has the ration bars on him.

It makes Hunter angry to think that Austin had wanted Jim to be swallowed by his dark memories. To have his mind waste away into the flashbacks.

"Please Hermione. If there is something we can do. Someway I can share his pain..." Hunter feels almost desperate. Jim was able to break Hunter from his curse. And he now feels helpless.

Especially when Jim pulls away. He knows that Jim needs to regain his own senses. But it still makes him feel like there is nothing he can do.

"I'm sorry Hunter. I am not skilled with Legilimency. The last time I used that magic on a non-magical mind..." Hermione took a breath. "My parents don't remember me anymore because of how I broke their memories. I don't dare to do anything like that to Jim. I don't want him to forget us..."

"Fuck..." Hunter wishes he had a punching bag right now.

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