Haha! Okay, now.. I don't know where this is going, where it has come from or anything like that. I was bored today in class and this was the product. I should warn some readers that this might be a little triggering, especially later on, so I apologise for that, but please don't read if you think you can't handle it. Anyway.. I shouldn't be writing this but who cares? My Merlin fanfic has sorta just.. ugh I don't know, but you don't care about that! See if you like it, this is only the prologue, so all will be revealed in time! Thank you

WARNING: this story has self harm and panic attacks. DO NOT READ if you think you'll get triggered or don't like that sort of thing.

Connor's fortnight had been less than good. In fact, it had been terrible: he'd almost been sacked from his job at the ARC; Lester knew everything; Abby had been avoiding him (although, Connor admitted that it was his own fault after all); and he was pretty sure the rest of the team at the ARC thought he was crazy. Which he was.

To only top it all off, that day had been a more than eventful day for the team. An anomaly had opened up, and they'd had reports from policemen of something new, something no one had seen before. Of course, at first the team dismissed it as the anomaly itself - policemen had been told how to recognise anomalies, so could call the ARC team straight away to neutralise it, it seemed as though this was a less than trained officer who called them.

When the team got there, however, they found they were wrong. The anomaly was much bigger and brighter than any of them had seen, even Lester gasped when he saw the image of it sent to him by Sarah.

There was nothing anyone could do to close it - none of Connor's equipment would work to close it. Nevertheless, they found a way to lock it, so locked it until it finally faded away. Nothing had come through, they deducted, which was lucky as it was on a school's grounds.

Connor hadn't thought much of the weird anomaly until they were back at the ARC. Then, he supposed, he thought a little too much.

He sat at his computers, checking through any and all anomaly sightings, trying to match the size or brightness to a previous one, but didn't succeed in finding any. As if the last two weeks hadn't been enough, he thought.

But what did the new anomaly mean? Was it from some time period never seen before? What if it had let something through and the team just didn't notice? Was the strange type of anomaly a warning of some sort? Perhaps they were just going to grow and grow... The thoughts became too much for Connor, rushing through his head like trains, noisy and thundering. His heart beat in his ears and his vision became blurry. Crap, the black haired man said silently. Closing his eyes, he found the black was way too dark, so opened them again. He jumped from his chair, sending it crashing to the floor, the rush to his head was enough to make him stumble as he attempted to get towards the door.

No one could see him like this. Too many people already had.

Nearly to the door, someone stopped him and strong hands grasped his shoulders tightly. With a start, Connor realised it was Becker... or was it? His dark and frantic eyes couldn't focus on the face, which was seeming to be mouthing words at him. Or was it talking? Connor couldn't tell, he had gone numb from the touch maybe-Becker was giving him. Someone was touching him though, weren't they?

Nothing made sense in his mind anymore. Decisions were flipped and questions asked over and over, his head was about to explode.

Then James Lester was there. Safe. Connor realised he was shouting things, not to him, to others. The hands left his shoulders and Connor could see more clearly now, yes. Lester's face was hovering above his own saying apparently silent words and the younger man wondered when he had ended up collapsed on the floor against the wall.

Something Lester said got through, eventually. Wait. It wasn't Lester, it was the demon again. Oh how Connor had missed him! Had he missed him? Surely he must have done, right?

The demon laughed loud and long and dark; there was no other sound. Connor heard someone screaming and noticed with a jump that it was his own voice.