A/N: Set sometime shortly after "The Battle of Two Bridges" and written for a prompt someone dropped in my Tumblr inbox: Jim is temporarily blinded by a magic thing, but it only lasts a day or so. He still needs help getting home, so Toby leads him carefully and stays with him while he's blinded because Jim admits fear of being defenseless.
Originally posted on Ao3.
"Blinky, I don't think I'm up for training tonight."
Jim's chest ached with each deep breath he took, his balance still felt a little off, and his headache came and went. All natural things to expect after a hospital inducing fight with Ms. Nomura, and then getting into another serious fight the day he's released only to push through the aftermath of the battle for the play.
Seriously, the only reason he didn't faint as Romeo was a weird concoction of adrenaline and joy and relief and the way his stomach flipped when Claire smiled at him on stage. He'd gone home, collapsed into bed exhausted. His mom even called him off school and Jim spent that Friday sleeping.
Now, Saturday evening had come to Arcadia. Like Friday, Jim had spent the day in bed. Only an hour ago had he felt well enough to leave the covers, shower, and scrounge up food. He had planned to go back to sleep, maybe while watching a show on his laptop. Not deal with his friends knocking on the kitchen door shortly after dusk.
"I understand, Master Jim," Blinky wrung his lower hands together. "I am aware you still need time to recover, but a Trollhunter must push through trouble and keep up his training. I'm not suggesting anything physical. Simply an exercise for your senses."
"Plus," Toby threw in, span title="I figure Draal has been such a good troll he was allowed into the market for medical care""Draal's be asking about you. Vendel won't let him leave the heartstone, so you'll have to go to him."/span
"See Draal," Aaarrrgh echoed.
Jim winced, both in pain and in anticipation of more. His concussion-addled brain did not like loud noises, and Aaarrgh's rumble qualified. Nor would troll market be quiet. Still, he did want to check up on Draal. Jim could put up with the discomfort. At least it would be dark underground.
"Just, let me take some medicine before we go."
"Certainly," Blinky said, entering the house to wait in the kitchen.
Jim walked upstairs, debated about three or four ibuprofens, and took four as a precaution. A quick change from pj's to jeans, and he started downstairs.
Toby waited at the bottom, nibbling his lip. "Hey, Jimbo. I know we're pushing you, but if you really can't-"
"I'm fine, Tobs."
"You're moving reeeaaaally slow. And have bags under your eyes. And keep wincing. Like that."
Jim sighed. "The meds just haven't kicked in yet. And I really want to see Draal, make sure he's okay. He did a lot for us."
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure, but bright lights and loud noises bother me. So if you could get Aaarrrgh to whisper, that would be amazing."
"On it."
"Master Jim," Blinky called out as they entered the kitchen. "Are you prepared to leave?"
"Just two more things." Jim snagged a Gatorade from the fridge.
Drink lots of fluids, his mom's note said under an Arcadia magnet. She'd taken yesterday off to look after him, but had left a few hours ago after brushing a kiss to Jim's forehead. Her shifted ended at midnight, but history said she'd pull into the house around 1:30 am. Considering Jim planned to be home and sleeping in four hours, that shouldn't be a problem.
Still, secret hiding actions were second nature now. He wrote a brief note explaining the need to leave the house and so he'd gone over to Toby's. If Barbara came home to find Jim gone, for whatever reason, she'd safely assume he'd gotten tired and crashed across the street. It wouldn't be the first time.
"Okay, now we can go."
Riding a bike was a no-no. Jim's balance would leave him at the most random times and the motion made him nauseous anyway. Instead, since Aaarrrgh insisted, Jim and Toby rode on the troll's shoulders while he slowly lumbered towards the bridge. By the way Blinky kept shooting glances in Jim's direction, the blue troll had also noticed Jim's discomfort moving around.
"I heard the play was a success, Master Jim."
"Yeah?" Jim turned to Blinky. "How do you know?"
"Wingman said," Aaarrrgh said.
"Quite."
"Tobs doesn't count."
"I do too! The play was awesome, Jimbo! And kudos on not freaking out during that kiss scene."
"You kissed Claire?" Blinky asked.
Jim flushed scarlet. "It was a play kiss. We just made it look like we did."
"Looked real to me," Toby muttered.
Jim still hadn't decided if theatrical kisses were something he liked or not. It meant he hadn't kissed Claire properly, yet, but he also had no idea how to kiss properly. Spring Fling would be soon enough, he could worry about it then.
Blinky pulled out the hornswaggle and let them into troll market. Jim held in a sigh of relief. The dark staircase with its gently glowing crystals soothed his head. That, or the drugs were finally kicking in.
Drugs, he decided as the market itself did not bother him as much as he expected. Still, Jim noted that Blinky, Aaarrrgh, and Toby circled him like an honor guard, shuffling him quickly towards the heartstone. Trolls and gnomes kept looking at him. More than that, kept trying to edge close to get a good look. Aaarrrgh growled at a few to get them to back off.
It was his first time back here since Bular's defeat. Honestly, Jim expected more attention. Regardless, he was thankful to have such good friends looking out for him.
"Trollhunter!" Draal exclaimed when the group entered the heartstone.
Jim winced at the shout.
"Not so loud," Toby hissed, pushing his palms down on air at Draal. "Jim's got a concussion."
"Concussion?" Aaarrrgh asked.
"Internal injury to the brain," Blinky answered.
Both Aaarrrgh and Draal looked to Jim in alarm.
Vendel, just walking into the room, snorted. "Humans are so fragile. It's a wonder you do what you do."
"We heal fast. Don't worry," Jim calmed his friends. "It's like…a bruise on my brain. Nothing serious. The effects will go away soon. Mom said give it a full week."
"Bar-bu-ra does have knowledge about human injuries," Draal mused.
"Yes," Jim started to nod, but caught himself. Bad idea. "But how are you doing, Draal?"
"Better. Rested." The warrior troll held out his stump of a right arm for inspection.
The last time Jim saw Draal, his stump had ended in jagged, rough cuts of stone. Now, the stone was smooth and rounded. At least, it looked prettier than before.
"Vendel sanded it, without damaging my flesh. We're preparing a prosthetic and soon we can resume our training."
"Looking forward to it."
"Come, Master Jim," Blinky waved his arms. "We have sensory training to do."
Jim allowed himself to be pushed towards the main part of the market. "Sensory training?"
"Trollhunter."
Jim looked over his shoulder at Vendel, everyone else in the room turning to stare at the pair.
"It seems," Vendel continued, "The Amulet of Daylight choose well. Thank you for ridding trolls of Bular's threat."
"It's wasn't just me. We all helped." Jim waved an arm to include everyone in the room.
"That's right!" Toby said, standing up straight. "It was a team effort."
Vendel frowned at Toby, but didn't say anything.
"Show me your new arm when you get it," Jim told Draal, allowing Blinky to lead him out.
"And you heal fast, Trollhunter," Draal answered.
"So, what's this sensory training?" Jim asked as they entered the Hero's Forge.
"Ah." Blinky rubbed all four hands together. "There are five senses for humans, are there not? Sight, taste, sound, touch, smell?"
"Yeah."
"Do trolls have more?" Toby asked.
"If you consider an innate knowledge of sunset and sunrise a sense, then yes."
"Let me guess," Jim ventured, "We're honing them all separately today."
"Why yes, Mister Jim. One never knows when you will be temporarily blinded, or deafened by a concussive blast."
Toby nodded sagely along with Blinky's speech.
"I use taste a lot," Aaarrrgh offered.
"Taste?" Jim blinked at the large troll.
"Different stones give air a different taste. Volcanoes too."
"Quite," Blinky nodded. "Troll can identify environmental conditions by the taste of the air. For example, we found your house Master Jim by the taste of magic in the air and followed it."
"Okaaaay."
"That's awesome!" Toby jumped up. "I wish humans could do that too."
"You can't?" Aaarrrgh asked.
"No." Toby shook his head. "We only taste stuff we put in our mouths."
"How strange," Blinky muttered. Jim made a note to sneak him one of his mom's old anatomy textbooks. He should have thought of it earlier. Blinky put him through the wringer most days, the historian should know the basics of human biology.
"Well, I supposed that means we shouldn't start with taste then." Blinky frowned.
"What about sight?" Jim offered. "Or, I mean, turning mine off and concentrating on hearing?" It was a selfish request, because Jim could feel a headache coming on. He didn't know if it was the bright light in the Forge or something else, but closing his eyes sounded very attractive right now. Not just sleep, though he wanted that too, but just to give him a sensory reprieve.
"Excellent idea, Master Jim. Let's start by making you blind. Temporarily, of course." Blinky dug into his left pouch and pulled out a talisman. Toby and Jim leaned in to look at it.
Carved from onyx, the circle contained five bumps equally spaced out. In the center was set a clear crystal, glowing white.
As Jim watched, Blinky pinched on of the bumps. The crystal turned orange.
"This is a Fem-Sansene, a training tool that blocks out senses. I've set it to stop your brain from receiving information from your eyes." Blinky held out the talisman to Jim.
Jim took it and slipped the leather cord over his head. Instantly, the world went dark.
"Did it work?" Toby asked.
"Yeah."
Toby punched Jim's shoulder, who tried to retaliate with a hand slap but hit empty air. "Tobs! Don't hit me."
"Sorry, Jimbo."
"Don't be sorry, Tobias. That's exactly the aim of today's training." Blinky shoved something in his hands.
"What is it?" Jim asked, running his hands over the object. Long, slim. A quarterstaff?
"A broom," Toby answered. "I got one too."
"Now," Jim could tell by Blinky's voice the troll was backing up. "Tobias, I want you to hit, lightly mind you, Master Jim with the broom. Master Jim, ideally I want you to block Toby's broom, but for today if you could get in a counter attack, that would be significant."
"I'll be gentle," Toby promised.
"Let me know when you're starting," Jim said.
Whack!
Jim stumbled sideways. "Tobs!"
"Um, starting?"
With a sigh, Jim called up his armor. If the next hour promised lots of hits, he wanted to be as protected as possible.
Jim stood still, straining his ears. Sound seemed louder, more distinct. He could tell, at least, that Toby was shuffling a circle around him. How far out and how fast was harder to determine. Must be pretty close though, cuz Toby wacked him with the shaft of the broom.
Jim shook off the blow, and nausea rose in his throat. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. He was still recovering. He wondered if he put in the effort to hit Toby quickly, Blinky would let him go home early.
Plan set, Jim tightened his two-handed grip on the broom. He held it in front of him, turning towards Toby's constant shuffle.
"That's it, Master Jim, use your other senses. Hearing. Smell."
Troll noses were better than human noses. Maybe hearing too, as Toby poked his left shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Jim bent his knees and concentrated.
It was dark. He was being attacked from all sides, and every time something touched him, Jim swung out wildly. He kept circling, imagining trees. Imagining someone at his back, someone brave and scared even as his own desperation rose.
Something scratched his check, rough but not claws, and Jim panicked. With a roar, Jim lunged forward, swinging the branch in his hand sideways with all his might.
Toby's loud "oof" snapped Jim back to reality. The Hero's Forge. Not the woods of Arcadia.
"Very good, Master Jim!" Blinky called out, even as Aaarrrgh asked if Toby was okay.
Jim ignored the trolls, blindly sticking a hand out for Toby to take.
"Thanks, Jimbo, but I'm over to the left and already on my feet."
"Oh. Sorry for knocking you over."
"No prob. You okay? Looking a little pale there."
"I...drugs are wearing off." Never mind they should last six hours and it had barely been ninety minutes.
"You wanna stop?"
"Again, Master Jim and Tobais."
Jim shrugged his shoulders, facing where he guessed Toby stood. He pivoted on his left foot, following Toby's noises, straining his ears. He tried not to peer around the woods desperately. There were no trees and he was blinded.
A sudden two taps, knee, calf. Jim dropped low, waiting for another goblin to attack from above, even as he rolled to prevent the one by his feet from keeping him pinned.
Pure luck had him roll into Toby, taking out his feet. Jim tried not to squeak as his friend landed on him.
"Excellent, Master Jim. A bit unconventional, but you have successfully taken down Tobias!"
"You okay?" Aaarrrgh asked from much closer than expected. Jim would have thought a bulky creature of living stone couldn't move silently.
The world tilted in the dark as Aaarrrgh grabbed first Toby and then Jim, lifting them in the air. Three seconds later, Jim felt stone under his feet. The impact moved up his legs and he winced.
"Okay?" Aaarrrgh asked again. Jim really wanted to say no, but decided to push through.
"Fine, but, Blinky, can you change the setting? Shut off hearing instead?"
Jim couldn't see his friend's faces, but judging by the silence they all shared a look. He hoped his near panic had escaped their notice, that whatever look on his face that made Toby ask about him would be attributed to the concussion.
"Of course, Master Jim," Blinky said gently, coming over to the rest of them. Jim could hear Toby breathing hard and the beeps as he checked his Chubby Tracker. Aaarrrgh was silent, but Jim could still feel his hand, heavy and safe, on his shoulder.
Then Blinky was there, both of his left hands reassuring Jim, one on his right shoulder and another on his elbow. The upper one disappeared, and Jim felt Blinky lift the Fem-Sansene off his chest. Three heartbeats later, the stone carving thumped back on his chest.
"Um, if he can't hear now, maybe you shoulda told him what you wanted before."
"Good point. I'll just-"
"I can hear you," Jim said. "Still can't see you, though."
Silence. Jim imagined the look on Blinky's face, contrite and puzzled. No doubt blaming Jim's human biology and its strange interactions with troll technology and magic.
"I'll just make an adjustment. If your hearing disappears, Master Jim, tap my chest." Blinky moved one of Jim's hands to press against the warm stone. "If your vision returns, roll your head."
"Okay."
Blinky took the Fem-Sansene in his hands again and started fiddling with it. Jim could feel the tugs on the cord, Blinky's arms brushing Jim's extended one.
Jim stood there, shuffling his weight a bit to prevent his knees locking. Nothing changed.
"Master Jim, can you take the Fem-Sansene off?"
Jim found the leather and lifted the amulet over his neck. He coiled it in his left hand, then extended it out to Blinky. Only, his hand collided with one of Blinky's elbows.
"I still can't see."
"Well, I suppose you need to simply sleep it off. Like with the fergulator."
Except, a good night's sleep had not lead to waking up normal sized. And Blinky did sound as unbothered as he had back then.
"Can I go do that?"
Jim must have looked rather pitiful, standing there blind while dealing with a headache, nausea, and not quite free of his earlier panic, because never had Blinky sounded so soft and gentle.
"Of course. We'll escort you to the bridge."
Toby took Jim's elbow and led him out of the Forge.
Jim breathed a huge sigh of relief when they emerged in the canal bed. While the colors and lights couldn't make his head hurt, he had constantly worried he'd walk into someone. Or off a stair. Or people would realize he was blind when Blinky made such an effort to hide it.
He had felt much better when Aaarrrgh picked him up and let him ride on his back. Aaarrrgh was safe. He'd never let anyone, or anything, hurt Jim.
"Are you sure you can manage to go home by yourselves?" Blinky no doubt wrung his hands. "We can put off our talk with Vendel for a day."
"No, it's okay. Tobs can lead me home."
"You're certain?"
"Yeah," Toby assured. "If Jim says he'll be okay, he'll be okay. See you in a few hours, wingman!"
"Bye," Aaarrrgh rumbled.
Jim felt Toby take his elbow and they started the slow walk back to Oak Ave, Toby giving advice about trees and roots as they made their way along the dirt path in the woods. Jim's back tensed, hearing the wood creak.
It wasn't the same. Sure, like that night visibility was limited, but he had the amulet. From his back pocket, it radiated security. Power. Not defenseless, not tonight. Not in the future.
"How do you do it?" Jim asked Toby.
"Do what?"
"Do all this!" Jim waved a hand in the air and accidently smacked a bush.
"Not sure I follow, Jimbo."
"I-" Jim cut off his thought and frowned. "All this troll stuff. I've gotten hurt, several times, and I have the amulet to protect me."
"I'm pretty sure that's the reason you've been targeted."
Jim blew air through his lips. "What I'm trying to get at, Tobs, is, how can you face everything we do? Goblin hordes and fleeing from changlings or Bular. I can summon protection, fight, but you don't have anything to help you. You're defenseless most of the time. How can you, how can you just walk into all these dangerous situations?
"I have magical armor. I have a sword. I have…chef skills and Blinky's training. But I've never been more terrified then when I had to fight without them, in the dark mind you. How do you deal with it? Walking into scary situations?"
Toby stopped walking, Jim stopping too when he felt the tug on his arm. The weight on his elbow disappeared, Toby's hands coming to grasp both of Jim's.
"Not gonna lie. We do crazy, stupid, scary stuff. If your mom or Nana knew, they'd lock the houses and change the locks every night. But Jim, running away from goblins who just ate truck is easy compared to what I'm really scared of."
"What are you scared of?" Jim whispered.
"I," Jim heard Toby swallow loudly. "Your birthday scared me. Real bad. I missed your phone call, you were alone. When Aaarrrgh and I came upon your bike abandoned in the road. When we watched you hundreds of feet above us. When you –" Toby's breath hitched, "When you fell and you didn't move at first after Aaarrrgh caught you. Did you realize you twitched the entire time home from that lightning strike?
"What scares me the most is you getting hurt, when I could have prevented it. Something as simple as walking next to you is enough. Sometimes. Like it would have been on your birthday. Like it is now."
"Tobs, you're the best friend ever."
"Don't you forget that. And know I face scary troll stuff because I need to. Isn't that why you went to fight Bular, when he had Blinky?"
Jim smiled. "You're also the smartest friend ever."
"Does this mean you'll make my favorites all next week for lunch?"
Jim laughed as he felt Toby let go of his hands to again link arms.
"Yeah. I'll do that."
Carefully, slowly, they leaned on each other to get through the dark.