Fitz snapped his head up at the intruding noise.
The door. Fitz scrambled up from his knees
The door to the case was open.
Fitz closed the door again immediately, terrified that he accidentally opened the case again by hitting it.
The last thing he needed was someone else that he cared about getting eaten by this stone because of his carelessness.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed exasperatedly, slightly embarrassed by his sudden outburst. He was about to turn away from the stone when something caught his eye.
The stone's surface was rippling as if it was liquid.
Fitz stepped closer to the case, not believing his eyes.
The rock was twisting and turning. Stretching and skewing.
The rock was getting smaller. It's black mass deforming into a shape...A shape of a person.
Fitz gasped and placed the palm of his hand against the glass.
The black mass finally stopped shifting and the darkness slowing began to ebb away, revealing color.
The color of her porcelain skin. Her brown hair.
"Jemma." Fitz breathed out, his breath fogging the glass case. A part of Fitz's brain knew that she'd most likely chastise him later for looking at her without any clothes on, but he couldn't help but stare. He could not believe this was real.
Her eyes brought him back to reality though.
Her eyes stared back at him unseeing. Still solid black, like the stone. Not a trace of white. Not a trace of the warm brown color that usually stared up at him.
"Jemma, what...?" Fitz didn't even know what to ask. What's wrong? Where were you? Are you okay? Are you even Jemma?
"Leopold Fitz," Jemma whispered in a voice far too airy and mystic to belong his best friend.
The glass door of the case whipped opened making Fitz jump back in surprise.
The room's temperature seemed to drop tenfold. Fitz could now see the puffs of air in front of his face, making him realize just how fast and hard he was breathing. The room seemed to grow darker as well, or was Jemma just glowing brighter?
The impersonator, its eyes still black as night, stared straight ahead and started taking a step out of the case.
And then it collapsed.
