Unbecoming: Chapter 1

Authors note- So I just wanted to say that this is a hypothetical situation from the episode in Part 2 where Merlin gives Jim a chance to redo his life. Jim doesn't take the amulet and while things are dandy at the start, because of his decision the world is overtaken by Gunmar's armies. So this story presents the hypothetical situation where the amulet is destroyed, Merlin does give Jim a second chance, but that second chance is to continue living in the world he destroyed so he could fix the mistakes he made. So yeah, you know that epic scene where he goes to fight Gunmar without his armour, well just imagine that it continues from there without Jim going back to the original timeline. Follows the episode Unbecoming.


Of Future Past


The world had become like this because of him, because of what he had done. This wasn't a dream. He had actually lived through everything again, every single day, every moment. Everything was real no matter how much he suddenly wished it wasn't. He wished it was just a bad dream, that he had done the right thing and took the amulet when he should have. Even if it was a second chance he should have just taken the amulet and thought ahead, done things right when he had the chance and with all of the hindsight that came with a second chance. He had run instead, away from the responsibility, away from his dreaded fate, away from his friends.

But he would run no longer.

"I am the troll hunter!" he screamed.

There was so much rage, so much confusion and amidst it all a sense of understanding that dawned on him. No one believed in him but that didn't mean all was lost. He was still Jim Lake Junior, the guy who conquered Bular, defeated Angor Rot and who would bring down Gunmar. He had still lived through being the Trollhunter and those weren't just memories either, it was his other life… but this was his life now. He could run no longer.

With great pain he stood from the cold stone ground and moved to the dead form of Draal. He winced in disgust as he was forced to yank the Trollhunter sword from Draal's back. It was heavy, unbalanced, and larger but it wasn't unfamiliar. He pulled it over his back and made his way to the exit. Armour or not, powers or not, he was still the Trollhunter. This was all his fault and he would fix it.

"I'm the troll hunter amulet or not"

It was a conformation of his faith, of his will to die. If he went out surely he would die. Gunmar would kill him without his armour. He would die.

"You know if you go out there that you'll die?" Unkar stated.

"What choice do I have?" he sighed.

"Oh, there's always a choice. Run away, save your skin."

"That's not who I am. Out there, they need a Trollhunter, and a Trollhunter fights to the end."

Jim made to walk away, dragging the sword of merlin behind him. Suddenly a thundering sound caught his attention again. He winced as he turned around, the once blue spirit of Unkar now larger, brighter. It shone a magnificent green and the voice changed significantly, losing the high pitched tone in favour of someone that sounded far older, wiser.

"Ah, now you get it. My amulet does not make mistakes."

"Your amulet…" Jim asked before he gasped in understand. "Merlin?"

"You know it's customary to kneel before a wizard."

Jim did kneel out of respect but his mind blanked as everything sunk in. It wasn't Unkar the Unfortunate that sent him back, it was Merlin. He didn't know how to feel about that.

"Gunmar is free, Trollmarket is in peril and of all of the creatures in our world I chose you. Now show them why."

With a determined expression he pulled the sword over his back again. The heavy weight felt familiar, although not in a tangible sense. Once again so much rested on him, so much was left to him, but it felt right. This was his responsibility, his purpose and all of a sudden he could not, for the life of him, imagine why he had ignored it. He walked confidently to the door, eyes narrowed, body in a state of focus. The rush of adrenaline was a familiar one. In front of him was Gunmar, large obsidian body illuminated brightly amidst the fire and screaming. His eyes trailed to him and Jim knew the fight had begun.

With a scream he charged. Gunmar the Black turned to look at the boy who had dare challenge him. He was a small, scrawny thing, barely capable of causing him harm. He moved to swat the flesh bag away, after all a human child should not have been capable of accomplishing much. In his folly he underestimated the charging teen. The boy swung the sword with unprecedented strength and speed, catching him off his guard. In a split second he blocked with his own sword sending the child stumbling backwards. There was no doubt that the boy knew how to use the sword but Gunmar instantly recognised it as the Trollhunter's sword, one that was far too large and weighty for a small human to carry.

"Kneel boy, and I shall show you mercy!"

Jim wanted to scream 'never!' but it crossed his mind that the line was a little too cheesy. There was also the small fact that despite putting on a brave face he was so very scared. Blinky had told him to always be afraid, but fear was a driving factor, something to push him forward, to keep his guard up; it was not however something that should freeze him on the stop.

"After what you did Gunmar, I will kill you," Jim growled with whatever bravery he had left.

The Evil Underlord blinked in shock. How did the child know his name? How was he capable of wielding a sword? Gunmar was intrigued. He would capture this boy alive and question him before deciding his fate. Yes, he needed answers. The boy charged at him again but this time he was ready. Gunmar easily blocked the sword, swinging his sword hard enough that the boy's grip loosened and the old Trollhunter's blade flung into a rock. He had expected fear, some form of grovelling but the sheer defiance he found in its place both astounded, and irritated him. His one hand was enough to pin down the child's whole abdomen to the ground.

"You will tell me where you have heard of my name," Gunmar demanded.

"I was-"

Before Jim could finish his sentence a large force knocked over Gunmar. Jim gasped in relief as the heavy weight lifted from his chest and breath came back to him. Rolling his body to the side he was barely able to throw himself away from the oncoming brawl. Jim noticed Aarrgh beaten to the side by Gunmar. The green troll quickly noticed the teen as he sprinted quickly to Jim's direction before grabbing him roughly with one hand and running.

"Aarrgh?" Jim asked as he clambered onto the troll's back.

"No time to talk. Gunmar still chasing," Aarrgh replied.

"Make a left!" Jim called out. "Then a right!"

Thankfully the Troll didn't question him but did as he asked. Soon they had made their way to the inner suburbs. The streets were windy and small but overall hard to navigate. It would throw Gunmar of their track for now. Once they were a safe distance away Jim took a moment to look at his old friend, the friend who now had none of the memories from his previous life. His heart ached at the thought, like it had when he walked by Claire, or when he thought of all the trolls he had befriended and forgotten. He buried his face into Aarrgh's fur coat and let some tears fall at the loss of these friendships.

"We are here"

They were in a secluded clearing when Aarrgh finally stopped. Jim slid down from the gentle troll's back before his attention turned to another familiar figure. Blinky stood there, six eyes blinking in worry.

"Changeling we need to talk!" Blinky said urgently.

"I'm-I'm not a changeling," he replied quickly. "I wasn't lying when I told you I was the Trollhunter! You have to believe me! Please…" he pleaded.

"I…I don't know what to believe," Blinky admitted, "but I should have believed your warnings when you came."

"That wasn't your fault. In fact all of this is my fault," Jim sighed as he slumped onto a rock. "Now Gunmar is free, Draal is dead and who knows what happened to my family and friends… and it's all my fault."

A stony hand dropped gently on his shoulders and when Jim looked up he saw the familiar comforting eyes of his mentor. His heart twisted knowing that the troll did not remember him the way he had before.

"How is any of this your fault? If anything it is mine. I have failed another Trollhunter," Blinky sighed.

"That is not true… Draal is with his father now," Jim replied with a sad nod.

"How do you know that?" Blinky asked with raised brows.

"Just like I know how Aarrgh is a pacifist, how your brother is in fact evil and about Killahead bridge; I went back to the past. I… I was the Trollhunter and- oh god- I was so selfish. The counsel was going to sentence me to death and I just wished that I hadn't even gotten the amulet and look where that lead me," Jim laughed bitterly.

"I believe you," Aarrgh said surprising the two.

"Aarrgh… I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry. We know each other, we fought by each other's side and now everything's so wrong," Jim said. "I should be fighting Gunmar!"

"It is best not to commit suicide," Blinky replied with a pat to Jim's shoulder before sending a small smile, "no matter how brave you are. Don't think of it as running away. Think of it as a tactical retreat. Unfortunately Gunmar has gotten out and so have his hordes of soldiers. They rank in the tens of thousands. Unless you can beat an army like that there is no hope."

Jim didn't know what to say. How was he meant to beat tens of thousands of Gum-Gums without his amulet? He was definitely still the troll hunter but he was not going to fool himself into thinking the armour did nothing to help him. It took hits that would have otherwise killed him. Was hope truly lost?

"We still have hope"

Jim jumped up at the familiar voice. He turned around to see a heavily wounded Strickler. The teen jumped up and caught the falling man as he gripped his wounded shoulder.

"Strickler! How did you survive?" Jim asked disbelievingly.

"What did he call it, ah, a tactical retreat," Strickler replied with a weak laugh.

"What do you mean by 'we still have hope'?" Jim asked as he sat the man down.

"There's a safe house down by the old fallout shelters"

"The ones built during the Cold War," Jim replied with wide eyes.

"You were listening in class," Strickler laughed before coughing.

Jim pat the man's back softly with reassurance before turning to Blinky and Aarrgh. This was good news! Not everyone was eaten! There was still hope. His chest twisted a little as he wondered exactly who had survived. Dread clouded his mind before he pulled himself together. There was a time for action and a time for grieving.

"We will make our way back," Jim said with a small nod. "If there are survivors we need to protect them. I mean, we can find a way later on to take down Gunmar right? There must be something in your spell books, a plan 2 if the Trollhunter failed…"

"I am sorry," Blinky simply replied.

A solemn silence befell the group. They contemplated their futures. Humanity had fallen as far as Jim knew. He had seen Strickler's plans and they were thorough, especially on placing changelings in places of power so as to disable humanities defences during the chance of invasion. The Janus order was thorough if nothing. The whole world was burning down before them and there was nothing they could do. Doubt threatened to cloud Jim's mind, worse yet force him to succumb to hopelessness but he remembered Blinky's words.

"Even the word hopeless is not devoid of hope," he repeated in trollish shocking his companions. "Failure has never been an option before and it will never be in the future. We will go to the stronghold and then we will make a plan from there."

"Well said Jim," Blinky replied with a large smile.

Master Jim. He put on a pained smile. Blinky would never call him that again and while it had annoyed him before, now it just seemed wrong. He couldn't dwell on it though. He helped pick up Strickler along with Blinky. Aarrgh took the lead as they made their way through the burning suburbs. What had been once a clean, safe place, had turned into something of a horror movie. Cars littered the street, toppled over, buildings were burning, there were the occasional dead remains of a human or a troll and splatters of blood echoing the cries of the victims. The group struggled to sneak across the winding streets, alongside the masses of Gum-Gum soldiers. As they made their way to the fallout shelter the numbers of Gum-Gums seemed to lessen to their relief.

"That is it," Strickler said, weakly pointing at a latch on the ground.

Aarrgh swiftly went to open the tight latch. The group was more than grateful that they had someone with such power with them. As they made their way down into the dark hallway Jim could feel something off. There was the occasional shuffling of feet, something he otherwise would not have noticed had it not been for his experiences in catching Gnomes. His eyes widened at the familiar glint of metal.

"Duck!" he screamed, pushing Strickler and Blinky down.

Aarrgh grunted in pain as the bullets sprayed into his side, while he covered his more vulnerable friends. Jim noticing the pain the large troll was in, knew this needed to end soon. He scrambled to his feet jumping in front of the troll.

"Wait! Wait! I'm human and these are good trolls!"

The man holding the gun glanced up warily before his eyes widened in dawning horror. It was no doubt the fact that he had nearly just killed a human child that paused his efforts. He took his finger off the trigger but otherwise kept up his guard.

"And how do we know you aren't one of them. You have those creatures with you," the man spat in anger.

"Excuse me, we aren't just any creatures," Blinky replied aghast.

"Not the time," Strickler spat harshly at the six eyed troll.

Jim stepped forward holding his hands up in a show of surrender but his face remained determined. "Look I know you're scared, and you do have reason to be, but I give me word as Tro- as a human, that my friends here will not… Please. We need help. Mt friend is wounded."

The man lowered his gun this time as the crowd of scared humans behind him straightened out a little. Jim noticed the crowd moving as they were pushed aside. The lights flickered on and off as the dust from the ceiling crumbled to the ground, making it hard to see, but even through the murky darkness Jim noticed the mop of red hair anywhere. It was his mother!

"Mom!" he shouted in blooming joy.

"Jim, baby," she cried as she ran through the crowd and hugged her boy.

They stood there like that for a while, just in each other's arms. Relief washed over the two and suddenly the world seemed like a much brighter place. They were all they had and they had promised to be there for one another. Both of them couldn't imagine a world where they had failed that duty.

"Mom," he whispered.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she replied cradling his head against her chest.

"There's no time," the man said waving them in.

Jim took a second before he realised that the man with the gun was in fact Coach Lawrence. He blinked his surprise but nodded and gestured for the trolls behind him to follow. As they made their way in, Jim noticed that the fallout shelter wasn't actually quite so small. This was enough for a large underground dwelling and looked about enough to shelter about 200 people or so.

"Walt? Isn't that your history teacher?" Barbra asked her son.

"Yeah, mom can you help him? He's really hurt right now," Jim replied bighting his lips. He didn't want Strickler anywhere near his mother no matter how much the man had redeemed himself in recent months. The idea of the two getting together, which he knew was bound to happen, disgusted him. He sighed as his mother took the changeling and left with a quick reassuring nod his way. The people stayed well away from him but that was most likely because of the trolls behind him that they did not trust. He slumped onto the ground completely tired and unsure of the future.

Where would he go from here?


So yeah, review, and follow for more chapters. I love reviews! Also I update every once in a while but I have no real schedule.