Hey everyone! Welcome to my one-shot contraption! This chapter is an AU of my Original Knight Of Merlin AU. But in general, this one-shot has a little angst. This is based on a version of the Original Knight Of Merlin story that was the ORIGINAL idea of mine. I still love this idea and I might at some point do something more with it, but for now, here is the one-shot version of it. XD

By the way, I might be making quite a bit more of these due to how I'm trying to get back into writing my stories. I've been writing so much to help my friend out with his story that I basically forgot to write for myself and lost my flow. So here I am trying to get it back XD.

I hope you guys enjoy this, nevertheless!

I hear some of the stories that the other kinds and even my own had told about me. I was once a hero of both who is deemed fictional and non-fictional, but now I am a slaughterer of both. It's not my fault, but I watch myself slash my sword at those I used to protect and watch them tumble to the ground into pieces. I used to tear myself apart when it came to the beginning of this hell that I am confined to, but now I just numbed myself to the torment and keep myself distant to what my body is doing.

I blame my hell upon the woman that entrapped me under her will.

I remember the day that everything had changed. I was only fifteen at the time, a young muggle ready to fight for the innocence that my mother and father were also sworn to protect. All I wanted was for them to be proud of me. So I picked up a sword and jumped into the fight. I trained under a wizard named Merlin beside his favorite student, Morgana.

Morgana quickly became something like my sister. I was young and naive compared to her, I was only ten when I started my training, but she loved the fact that I was "pure" in her eyes. I had yet to see the chaos of war or the corruption of power. She even swore to me that she would protect me from such things, always claiming the battlefield was no sight for a child. Especially a muggle.

Kind of ironic knowing now that I fight against my will to do her bidding.

The Battle Of Killahead was when it changed. I was asked to fight for my mother's efforts to protect our kind along with trollish, but my mother also verbalized that she hated that I was needed on the field.

"You are my child, nothing hurts me worse than knowing the hell that awaits you in your first march." She placed her hand on my cheek and gave me a sad smile. "But you're a powerful young man. The only one of your kind to master both magic and magical defenses. We need you and I know you will do well."

I shake my head from the memory as I felt my hands steady my sword against the young Trollhunter. She is around my original age. Sixteen, maybe if she's lucky, but Merlin's damned amulet had called upon her.

A humanly mortal Trollhunter. Merlin's amulet had done what every being thought was unimaginable. Yet here she stands, what I believe to be the most powerful of all of them.

I watched the Trollhunter a lot more than Morgana would wish. She always claimed that I was staking out the Trollhunter for personal reasons, but I would always claim it was to understand her movements and weaknesses. But at least I can control my own body within those moments. I can't let Morgana believe I'm doing something completely unreasonable.

I felt a powerful burn summon itself within my veins and I fell to my knees only to see a flash of concern flood the Trollhunter's face. I closed my eyes and re-opened them to see Morgana floating before me.

Speak of the devil.

"James." Her voice boomed within my head and I felt myself hold my head between my hands, even though I couldn't even see myself do so within Morgana's plain. "Stop playing games with the human. You have to slaughter her. You've killed countless of trolls that were in her position, I know you can handle this." She floated closer to me and put her hand on my chin so that I was staring into her eyes as I felt pain serge from where her palm was upon my skin.

"Or I will."

Suddenly I was thrown back into my own body to see the Trollhunter close enough to touch. She was crouched down and trying to see if she could help.

Problem is, no one can.

I felt another burning sensation fill my veins as I screamed out in agony.

I've got to do something. Before I lose my own control.

I throw myself back and tumble to my feet as I looked at a worried but also panicked Trollhunter. Her eyes made me stop as I noticed a familiar look within them that made my limbs completely freeze.

"My boy." I held my father within my lap as I tried to keep the blood gushing out of the wound within his abdomen.

"Don't speak, father, it'll weaken you."

"If I don't speak now, then I may never will." I looked over to my father to see a smiling face yet worried brown eyes looking up to me. "I love you. You know that right? My son? You've made me more proud than any father could." I could see his figure blur lightly as I felt tears start to well in my eyes. The sounds of war were still deafening, but his words spoke volumes over the screams of dying men. "I wish for you to continue. Carry the legacy. Take my sword and protect those that can't protect themselves. That's what our family does, my boy. We have abilities. We must use them for the right causes."

I stumbled once more as another surge of pain hit me through my limbs and cover most of my skin. I could see Morgana's magic flowing through my blood as it glowed beneath my skin. My armor covered most of my limbs completely, but my forearms weren't shielded.

"Great Scott! I have never seen this happen to Morgana's Assassin. It looks, it looks as if he's possessed!" I growled as a voice I remembered from my childhood rung from the right side of the field.

Blinky, still afraid of battle, I see. I swear, if it wasn't for this helmet, he would be speechless upon seeing my face.

"No time to wait! Her accomplishes are here! End it! NOW!" I felt myself grab my father's sword, the one I swore to protect the innocent with, be held before me as if I killed many before the young woman before me.

Well, probably because I have.

I felt myself lunge at the human before she threw herself back a good couple feet away from where my slash landed.

"I don't want to hurt you! I know that Morgana has control over you! We can help." I felt a growl grow under my breath.

She wouldn't be able to help me. I've been trapped within this routine for three hundred years! There was no saving me from Morgana. There was no saving my soul.

"Don't waste your breathe." I lunged once more and had my sword above my head before slamming it down to where the Trollhunter stood once more, this time cutting the ground where she stood and shattering the Earth it contacted with.

"Poor child." I looked up to see Morgana hovering above me, her arm cradled against her chest. "I knew nothing good was going to come from you being on the field. Yes, you fought well, but you lost greatly as well." I coughed as Morgana came to Earth beside me. I was holding my side tight, I had taken a blow from Gunmar's sword straight to my side before I helped my mother banish him to the Darklands. Before I watch a Gum-Gum throw her across the land like it was nothing. Before she was stabbed by a spear to the chest.

"In which way?" I joked as I coughed lightly between the words. Blood coming to my teeth as I did so. "My mother is dead, my father is dead, Merlin left me here to die, and I doubt you'll be able to help with your injury." I watched a knowing smirk come to her face as she let her arm hang by her side which I now noticed half of which was missing.

"I can do much more than you deem of me, little one." She took a couple of steps closer to me and placed her hand onto my head. "So Merlin left us both, huh? Left us both to die. Did you know that he did the same with your parents?" I watched her lean down and looked me in the eyes. A smirk covered her face once more.

"Wouldn't you love to return the favor, my brother?"

I felt myself be thrown back into the body to feel myself being restrained from behind. "He's a lot stronger than I thou-!" I threw my head back the smashed the back of my helmet into the head of my captor. After I felt myself being released, I noticed that my vision was less constrained. My helmet must have cracked in the impact. I watched as Blinky's six eyes went wide as he saw my face.

"James?" I panicked slightly as I gripped my sword tighter within my gloved hands.

"Foolish child! I gave you that for a reason! How stupid can you be?"

"James? What has happened to you? I knew Barbara was searching for you, but I never of though-"

Wait. Mother?

"Don't let him fool you! You and I both know that woman is dead! We both watched her die on that battlefield. He's trying to distract you."

"I watched my mother die! Impaled by a Gum-Gum's spear! Left with it within her chest for her to die slowly!"

"That's wrong, young Lake! She's very much alive and searching for her missing son." I screamed as I felt Morgana's magic surge through me once more.

"YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD! We both know this to be true! Stop fooling around, child."

I clutched my head as I felt Morgana's magic flow around me. I looked up to see a tornado-like essence around me of her death magic as a concerned Blinky was now beside the Trollhunter and couple other mortals that I have gotten used to seeing on occasion. The Trollhunter's friends, as I assumed. I could tell by now that my eyes weren't the same. They also blackened whenever Morgana had strived to take control.

"I know you lost your father all those years ago, my boy, and I knew what that war was like. But that didn't mean you had to go to Morgana for-"

"She came to me!" I felt myself screech as I slammed my sword down once more to crack the ground further. "I was dying! Merlin left me for dead! My father for dead! My mother for dead! I wanted to cause him hell! I wanted my revenge. He killed my family. Using war to do his bidding! To rid of his foes or those that were more powerful than him! My family paid the price. Now I pay to be able to see his head on a stake!" I felt Morgana's magic start to numb my body as a blind rage was mixing into her ability's pure darkness. I could see my veins turn to pure black as lightning started to strike from the death magic's pulse. "That damned wizard will pay for what he put my family through! He'll pay for the innocent lives he pushed toward slaughter! Once that is done, I will be free. Once that is done, I will fight for what I promised to my father."

"James, right?" I whipped my head toward the Trollhunter's voice that now neared my right side.

"CLAIRE! What are you doing!?"

"I know how you feel. This, rage, that flows through you, I understand it completely. The frustration that builds with every second knowing he's alive. I know it too well. I hate the damned wizard too." I watched as she chuckled at the thought. "But wishing death on the man will not bring back those you lost. I can't imagine the pain you feel. Losing your parents to a war and being the only one to survive? It must be an internal hell for you." She stepped closer, she was right outside of the storm that was created around me. "I've met your mother. She's a wonderful woman. A strong witch as well. She told me a lot about you. You look just like the paintings that she kept. She's never given up on you. Almost four hundred years later and she's never thought of anything else but finding you. Even claimed that she marked you at a young age to keep a bond between you two. Of a Motherhood Knot, right? On the top of your forearm?"

"Don't listen to her, James. She-"

"She's alive?"

"Yes! She's been helping me through all of this with the hopes to find you once again. The only thing that has kept her fighting for all of these years, was you." I felt the rage I was feeling before slowly subside as Morgana's magic still whirled wildly around me. As my anger left me, my body started to acknowledge the skin melting pain that the woman's magic was placing as it pulsed through my veins. I screamed out as I dropped to my knees once more.

"GET OUT!" I clutched my head with my left hand as I felt my chest tightened as her vicious voice filled my head.

"YOU FORGET WHO'S INCHARGE HERE, YOUNG ONE! I'm the one that saved you. I'm the one that keeps you alive!"

I gasped as I felt the air within my lungs leave suddenly as I started to gulp for air while my other hand instantly went to my throat. I screwed my eyes shut as I felt a burning sensation in my chest due to the lack of oxygen. I felt a hand place itself on my back as the other placed my chin back to force me to sit straight up.

"I need the serum from Dr. Lake! Now!" Almost instantly Morgana reacted.

"Let me save you from this! They're liars. They're with him."

I would rather be with them than be on the side that murders innocence.

"Did you forget one thing? I wasn't the one that did the killing. Your hands are as stained as mine. The blood that soaks the Earth is one that is shared. You will never be rid of me. Never in a million years. I will always be with you, James. May it be in your nightmares, the shadows that follow you, or the past that you seem to run away from as if it had never happened. I will always be here.

Always."

"I'm sorry about this. It'll be quick. I promise." Almost instantly, I felt something small yet decently long piece of metal sink into the exposed skin in my neck. I couldn't make a sound due to the lack of air, but I felt my eyes widen at the feeling. I looked over to the Trollhunter to see that she had a saddened look in her eyes as she pushed down on a white little extension to whatever it was that she placed into my skin. Slowly but surely, the burning sensation that came from Morgana's magic slowly faded from my system as I was able to gasp in the air around me as I watched the blackness in my veins faded from view. A purple mist came from my skin as I knew the seal that Morgana placed upon my old wound on my left side felt as if it was burning off.

"Never forget that. No matter what happens, it wasn't just me who had slaughtered the many that came before us. I will always be apart of you, James. Rather you like it or not."

I felt the metal piece that the young girl beside me was taken away from where it buried itself in my skin as I felt myself slump forward onto my hands. I tried to steady my breathes as I felt a hand place itself on my left shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I swallowed hard before I spoke barely above a whisper.

"As good as one can be." I shook my head slightly as I pushed myself up to a normal sitting position. I looked down at my hands and unshielded forearms. I turned my forearms up and down slowly as I watched myself actually be able to use my body effectively. Especially with the Trollhunter being to my left.

Especially since she's within stabbing distance.

I shook my head as I looked over to the young woman beside me with an exhausted smile. "Thank you. Even after all the encounters we had where I was nearly able to take your life, you had saved me from the grasp of my ma- Well, my old master." I felt my eyebrows knit themselves in confusion as I looked at her through squinted eyes. "But I have a question. Why? Why help someone that has tried to slay you as I did those that came before you? Why help someone that nearly couldn't be helped?" This was when the Trollhunter stood up onto her feet and lent out her hand to me with a smile that spread across her face with ease.

"I made a promise to Dr. Lake that I would bring you home. I'm not one to break a promise." I felt myself smile at her words as I took her hand to help myself up as well. I realized at this point just how much shorter the human was to me as she was relatively four inches or so shorter than me.

"Well, at this point, I don't know how else to use my abilities but to lend them to you. Especially since I could never repay you for what you have done for me."

"It's nothing, honestly. You don't need to help us if you don't desire it." I shook my head at her as I bent down to pick up my sword and placed it back in it's scaffold on the left side of my hip.

"No. I have a promise of my own that I must keep. Ever since Morgana had taken advantage of my situation when I was merely a child, I never was able to keep my word. Now I must take this opportunity to makes the most of the situation at hand. I swore to protect the realm between realms. To help the next Trollhunter on their quest of saving the innocence between kinds. Since I was granted more time and another chance, I must jump towards action."

"Alright. I understood what you said, but I must say this now. We have to teach you how to speak modernly." I felt a chuckle rattle my chest in an odd but welcoming feeling.

"I would gratefully appreciate the gesture, Trollhunter." She smiled at me and stuck out her hand.

"Since we're on the same side now, you can call me Claire. Claire Nuñez."

"Then you shall call me James. James of Lake, if you may."

"How about we just call you James Lake then? Your mother goes by something of the likes anyway." I smiled at the idea.

"Gladfully." She then turned to the other four who have been watching our interaction and the small battle the came before it with a bright smile on her face.

"Alright, everyone. Good work today. I say we should get some rest." She looked over to me as she continued to speak. "Especially you. Dr. Lake said that the serum would take a toll over time due to how it's slowly extracting the dark magic out of your system." I nodded my head at the idea.

"Was already planning on the idea." She smiled at me as she started to make her way to the rest of her team.

"Let's head home guys." All of them started following her easily as she started making her way out of the forestry we were withing. I felt myself smile as I started following them instantly.

Home? Never had such a thing in centuries. I had a dwelling. A place I would lay my head and allow darkness to take me to dreamless endeavors. But I never had a home since I was around the age of fourteen. Back when I was naturally fourteen.

I felt a stone hand engulf my shoulder entirely while the side of it rubbed against the right side of my neck. I looked over to see Blinky smiling at me with joy-filled eyes.

"It's wonderful to have you back with us, Master James." I felt a smile spread across my face.

But it seems it had found me once again.

"It's wonderful to be back, Blinky."