WARNINGS/AUTHOR'S NOTES:
- Twins soul bond au
- Galadrigal brothers centric
- season 2 spoilers
- minor character death
- talk of death and war
- wrote this all in one sitting on my phone while on painkillers
I do not own Trollhunters, nor any of its characters. Enjoy!
It was always considered a ledgend. An old wives' tale. No troll thought it worth investigating, and simply brushed it off.
Twins' souls are cut from the same cloth... A wise old troll once said to a newly affirmed mother of two. She, however, never truly understood nor cared for the words. In her arms she cradled her living miracles and couldn't take her eyes off of them. She only wished her recently felled mate could have seen them. Twin trolls are exceedingly rare.
Carrying the two whelps home, she smiled. She knew exactly what to name them...
*0*0*0*
Blinkous Galadrigal and Dictatious Maximus Galadrigal were a pair of enigmas. Despite their individual nuances, they reflected each other in frightening ways.
Dictatious was very persuasive. Always quick to convince his brother to join him in little adventures (that usually landed them a serious reprimanding). He also took everything in with a pinch of salt. The little pessimist of the family, filling their home with sarcasm and snarky remarks and strangely philosophical discussions. It came as no surprise when he took a liking to books.
Then there was Blinky, the more boisterous of the pair. The blue whelp that wore his emotions out in the open for all to see. Curious in all things, he'd take his twin's pinch of salt and raise him a handful of sugar during their deeper conversations (just to see what would happen) and thrived curled up beside Dictatious for long reading sessions.
As for the frightening part... It was difficult to explain.
One day Dictatious had climbed up onto a table while his mom and brother were in the opposite room engaged in a tickle fight. Neither heard him fall, but Blinky's giggles morphed into a pained yelp. He then ran for his brother with tears in his eyes. With no explanation for what had just happened, their mother did her best to comfort her two crying whelps.
Moments like this continued to happen and increase as the centuries past.
Blinkous was highly in tuned to his twin's emotions. Either reflecting his brother's mood or simply knowing when something was off with him. Dictatious, on the other hand, had the uncanny ability to read his brother (turns out that Blinky isn't always the open book he appears to be). The green twin was in tuned to his brother's thoughts. He even discovered a verbal tick no one else ever noticed when his twin lied.
Those boys certainly are close, trolls would say. They know each other so well... All their mother could hope is for them to stick together.
*0*0*0*
...Her death certainly was a tragedy.
Her two boy's were old enough to take care of themselves. It's the only reason she joined the war effort in the first place.
An entire battalion of trolls and gumgums were caught by the morning sun during the heat of battle... including Ms Galadrigal. The battle was considered a victory (they successfully kept the gumgums from raiding a nearby human settlement) but at too high a price.
Only one survivor (shielded by a larger comrade) managed to slip away from the battlefield to tell the tale. Said survivor insisted no one return to the carnage ridden valley, but of course the twins ignored her advise... only to find a feild of gruesomes and stray, unidentifiable, leftover, dead stones.
That night they huddled together, completely immersed in mourning, closer and more reliant on each other than ever before... then proceeded to fall away from then on.
*0*0*0*
They joined the war effort. Though, unlike their mother, were not recruited to be soldiers. Instead they simply followed directions including: carry this, take this here, write this down, give this message. Basically, just a pair of errand boys, which Dictatious thought to be demeaning. Blinky was content to help in any way he could. For the both of them, it eventually paid off.
Deya, herself, found value in their work. The two and a few choice others were chosen to document the battles and serve as messengers... one per battalion.. meaning the brothers would be split up.
When Blinky went out in search of his brother to bid him farewell, he was overcome by the desire to be left alone. With no explanation as to why he felt this way, the blue twin left to report in to his assigned battalion general, never to see his brother again.
*0*0*0*
With how close they'd been, Blinky had expected to sense or at least feel something off inside if anything were to happen to Dictatious (as he'd been able to before). A faulty superstition it would seem. He was preping to deliver his daily report when the general gripped him by the shoulders and offered his condolences.
Once again there would be no body retrieval. Not because of gruesomes, but because every dead troll had been smashed (and they did not have the time or soldiers to spare for collecting and sorting all the remains). The gumgums once again proving their hostility through disrespecting the dead.
That night, Blinky did not sleep. He tossed and turned and mourned yet another life taken from him... yet among all his sorrow, an anger broiled beneath.
*0*0*0*
He was positive his naive twin brother wouldn't ever understand. Too lost in the ideals of loyalty to recognise Deya's faults, Blinky is blind to the true enemy.
Humans.
Why protect such a feeble race? They fear and readily attack trolls (no matter their standing) calling them monsters. They would never bat an eye or think twice about the battle that had claimed his mother's life. They didn't deserve to live.
Of course at first he had his doubts about betraying his peers, so he used his position as scribe and messenger to listen in and gather data. When it was affirmed that Deya planned to leave the surface to human kind while trolls would be forced to hide underground, he waited for an opportunity.
Three simple steps is all it took.
He wandered off from the camp and found himself a group of gumgums, leaving a message in plain sight. Later, he unveiled himself and offered up his services. He was taken to Gunmar, who demanded proof of his intentions and worth. Finally, Dictatious presented all his notes detailing his battalion and it's orders.
Gunmar must have been pleased, instructing his men to leave no stone intact (both concealing the Galadrigal's disappearance and the fact that they now had an informant).
The transition had gone so smoothly that he was unprepared for the barage of woes that tore through his head. Things like "No, not again..." "By gorgus, not him too, why him..." and "My brother's dead."
These were not his. He was certain that they were not his. In fact, he could tell who these belonged to.
He recalled a brief passage from a book he once read.
Twins' souls are cut from the same cloth.
*0*0*0*
The war was over and he'd been blessed in the most strangest of ways. Social by nature, he had befriended an ex-gummgum general of all trolls. A strange and befuddling development (considering the losses he suffered during the war).
In complete honesty, he didn't quite understand it himself (and no, it was not just an attempt to replace his brother. He was certain of that). Maybe it was because Arrrgh didn't look down on him in pity and/or annoyance.
Appearantly, he'd become somewhat intolerable. They called him paranoid and obsessed with conspiracies ever since the loss of his brother... And maybe he would have agreed with them, if it wasn't for the constant sense of deceit and vengfulness looming inside him. Those feelings had always served him well (except the time it failed to alert him to his brother's demise). Despite that one set back, when the feelings did present themselves, they were never wrong.
He would find out what was going on and who was doing it, even at the expense of Vendel's sanity.
*0*0*0*
Today was obviously a good day for his Earthside twin. Random laughs filtering in through Dictatious' very weak mental block, driving him crazy.
No matter how hard he tried to dispel the intrusive thoughts, the kept on coming. He'd been wary of the fact that their connection is most likely a two way stream. However, his attempts to close off the connection proved fruitless and he HATED it!
Here he was stuck in the darklands with a bunch of mindless soldiers and Lord Gunmar... Only to suffer and be taunted by the joys of his brother. His worthless, naive brother.
Another round of laughter and he shouted, "Be silent!"
Without a moment to react, he was sent flying into a nearby wall. His vision blurred and there was a distinct cracking sound. Once he collected himself, he realised his folly.
No one but him could here the laughter, and he had just yelled at it whilst standing next to Gunmar. The gumgum leader had backhanded him and growled.
"Know your place, Dictatious."
Now his master was in a foul mood. It would take some time and flattery to get back in his Lord's good graces, but he had more than enough time.
Huh... At least the laughing had stopped.
*0*0*0*
Arrrgh wanted to become more fluent in the English language, since most market trolls now prefered to use it. Blinky was more than obliged to teach.
The lesson was cut short when Arrrgh discovered just how sensitive the back of his stout friend's neck was. He had been settled behind the scholar when his breath brushed over Blinky's shoulders. The two then proceeded to tell each other random facts about themselves that the other didn't know. Every minute or so, Arrrgh would deliberately huff, encouraging laughs from his smaller friend.
Blinky was in the middle of recounting the time his library had been infested with nomes when suddenly he lurched forwards.
His vision blurred for a moment or two before returning to a semi-normal state.
Later that day he decided to visit Vendel and inquire of him the possibility of crafting a set of eyeglasses (his vission still not quite right).
Vendel simply waved him off saying, "Trolls don't wear eyeglasses."
*0*0*0*
The moment words he never expected to hear were whispered in his ear, Dictatious knew exactly what he would do. If anyone could get his brother to talk, it was him. If he had the chance to sever this cursed bond, he would take it.
For the first time in ages, he was happy to think of his brother. Just not... for the reasons one would expect.
He watched from a distance as the soldiers strung up the traitorous general and his twin with chains, waiting patiently until they were secure. Once done, he was more than proud to snuff out any and all of Blinkous' hope, his naivety. Took even more pleasure in taking out his vengeance by using his brother as a living punching bag. Immediately Blinky's verbal ticks and subconscious thoughts began to fill in the gaps. Poor troll, never able to lie to his twin.
Desire and vengeance thrummed anew once Dictatious caught sight of his spear because FINALLY! Finally he would be free of this bond.
"Aduer, brother."
*0*0*0*
The flare! He needed the flare because this was the moment Kanjigar spoke of. Now was unmistakably the time to use it. He knew because he could FEEL it... and it became clear as day, the murderous intent swelling inside was from his 'so called' brother.
In that single moment, everything came to light. Why the strange feelings had failed him all those years ago (no point in fearing for your life when your life isn't in danger). Why he'd been able to sense mood swings in his twin during their childhood.
Blinky swung with all his might and used all his brother's hate as motivation to grab the flare and rake it across the taitor's face. Any empathy (that usually allowed him to share in his brother's pains) was lost in the heat of rage. No sympathy was spared because there was no point.
Blinky knows how his brother feels, after all.
*0*0*0*
Hate is a daily consistent now. Both his own and Dictatious' combined feelings ensuring it's presence (until the day one of them dies). However, it is easily subdued.
Blinky glanced around him and smiled.
Beside him, his long-term friend walked, alive and healthy. To his right, the three human whelps shared in a mutual silence as they enjoyed their walk back to trollmarket from the burning fireworks storage facility. The shooting lights filling the sky with sound and color attracted most eyes and ensured their stroll went undetected from the human public.
The two trolls bid the kids goodnight and then meandered into trollmarket.
Another flare of hate threatened to sour his pleasant mood and Blinky was determined to squash it.
"Arrrgh, my dear fellow, would you like to accompany me to the Heartstone?" he asked, "l'd like to speak with Vendel."
His companion nodded looking a tad bit concerned. "About Jim?"
"Oh no, no, no." Blinky's smile grew. "I've just come to realise how much I appreciate my real family."
Blood (or even a binding of souls) is not the makings of a family. Family is, as the humans would say, the people who care about you...
...and Blinky was blessed with a large family.
Whad'ya think?