Chapter 2! more angst to come ;)

and avocado dad is HERE-

Viva la on with the story!


Jim expected a lurch in his stomach. A burning rage or chilled fear or humid anxiety. But instead it just reacted the same way his body did—with the complete and utter feeling that something was wrong and he needed out.

That's all he wanted. Out.

He found that he didn't take the statement as...enraged as he might have if he was in a normal state of mind.

"So you think my dad was a changeling." Jim stated bluntly; he couldn't care enough to make his voice sound like it belonged to a living person. It droned out of his mouth in a monotone.

Blinky cleared his throat, setting down the books on the table Jim was sitting on.

"I think that it could indeed be a possibility. While exceptionally rare and highly frowned upon, Trolls and Changelings mating with humans is not unheard of. Conception of such a hybrid after intercourse is even rarer, but assuming the mother contains the right minerals and maintains a healthy diet and physique during pregnancy, it could very well happen." Blinky hesitated for a moment before adding on as an afterthought: "As a doctor, Barbara would have been very well educated in the proper pregnancy procedures and the development of a human fetus, Master Jim."

The boy in question didn't say anything. How could he? His dad left on his fifth birthday without even saying goodbye. He had no emotional attachment for the (supposed) human he was named after. The man was a spineless, selfish, twisted bastard. He already had the title of such in Jim's mind—James Lake Senior being a changeling would really only make things easier for Jim to accept his absence.

The idea that his sperm donor might be a literal monster as well as a figurative one actually made Jim smile a bit.

After all, it's easier to accept a changeling acting like a changeling, instead of a human acting like one.

Because it's the first one's nature. It's a choice for the second one.

...what did that mean for him, then?

The Trollhunter was pulled out of his thoughts by Claire, who had asked a question. Apparently the others in the room decided to let him settle in his silence for a while while they continued the discussion.

"Even if Jim is half changeling—how would we stop what he's experiencing? Not-Enrique said that it takes changing forms to get it to stop, but we're not even sure if Jim has a troll form!"

Blinky hummed in agreement, stroking his chin. "On top of the problem as always, Miss Claire. I believe we are at a figurative fork in evidence." He began, pacing as he always did when thinking, "By all means, previous encounters with Gaggletacks and many other enchanted items indicate that Master Jim does not have a troll form. But the mere fact that we're here having this conversation while he is experiencing internal turmoils only comparable to those of changelings with familiars, completely disproves all of that.

The blue troll paused, scratching his head with one of his upper arms. "The only question is why…"

"Puberty?" Arrrgh suggested, glancing absent-mindedly at Not-Enrique, who was digging through the bigger troll's fur in boredom, and shoving anything he found interesting into a makeshift sack made out of a pillowcase (which was also provided to him from the mass of green fur)

"Puberty does account for many wondrous and strenuous changes in human whelps' bodies as they ascend into adulthood, my friend, but in such a case as this, the changing of chemicals in a human body would not activate a troll gene. We must remember, changelings are traditionally made—stolen normal troll whelps that were altered in a process we have yet to figure out. There must be some kind of activator..." Blinky reasoned, and looked over to Jim again, six eyes studying him intensely.

"So that must leave to the question of what Master Jim came into contact with to awaken and alter the troll genes in him—and subsequently turn him into a form of changeling…"

The question remained unsolved for a few hours. Toby had turned up shortly after the conversation ended, brandishing the paper copy of his driver's license and asking Jim if he was okay in some weird cocktail of worry and excitement.

Jim tried to sleep during that time. He figured that being unconscious was the closest thing he could get to relief at the moment, but try as he might, the realm of subconscious wouldn't bless him with its mercy.

His body ached. His limbs felt wrong. His bones felt like intruders and his organs felt like uncomfortable bags of...of wrongness.

In hindsight Jim knew the answer to the question. He just didn't want to acknowledge it. After all, it wasn't even proven that he was half-changeling anyway, so why were they trying to figure out what made him into one if they hadn't even determined if he was one?

Finally, he spoke up.

"...what if it was his sword?"

It was the first thing anyone had said in a while, so naturally, it took a minute for the others to process it.

"Gunmar's sword, you mean? Toby asked from his position on the floor. Jim nodded hollowly.

"The one he uses to turn Trolls into Gum-Gum's. He used it on me in the Darklands. Or tried to, at least the—my amulet activated my helmet before it could do any real damage."

"I believe you just might be onto something there, Master Jim." Blinky praised, coming up to the Trollhunter and inspecting him.

Jim smiled at the compliment, and the four-armed troll patted him fondly on the shoulder. Blinky then hummed, looking at the book in his lower left hand.

"There is one known way to urge a changelings toll-ness to come out beside the means of a gaggletack," the troll began, face screwing up as if he tasted something bitter—well, bitter to trolls—"but I highly disagree with it."

"Talking about Grave Sand?" Arrrgh asked, a trace of disgust also lacing his voice. Blinky nodded grimly.

"What's Grave Sand?" Toby asked, looking between the two trolls.

Blinky laid a book on the table before answering. "Grave Sand is a dust made of pulverized Gumm-Gumm bones. It allows changelings to shed their human forms easier and enhances the trollish instincts within. On trolls and humans however, it simply acts as a drug—a type of steroid, or something similar to what you humans call Heroine, to be exact."

Blinky grumbled as if the word itself tainted his workroom, "Changes made to the user are random and sometimes permanent. Which is why I am so hesitant to use it…"

Like clockwork, Jim doubled over in excruciating discomfort, kicking and jerking limbs randomly as he tried to stop the strain. Blinky gazed upon his charge sadly, wishing he could just make the boy's suffering disappear.

"However, seeing as though Master Jim's condition seems to only be worsening, I believe we have exhausted all other options."

A spark of energy had flown through the room at that sentence; Claire and Toby had hopped to their feet. "Well, where do we get it?" Toby asked, ready to travel to the Darklands again if it meant helping his best friend.

"That is where the issue lies." Blinky said, clasping his upper hands together, "Gumm-Gumms have been gone for centuries—any Grave Sand us trolls possess is very sparse and expensive to acquire. It could take us weeks to find someone with some to spare."

"We don't have weeks!" Claire said, distress chipping off her tongue, "we'll be lucky if we have hours!"

Blinky nodded, just as distressed, before Jim piped up again. "What if Strickler has some?"

The others in the room turned towards the teen, looking at him as if he had grown two heads.

"Okay, Jimbo, I know you're kinda experiencing some messed up mental and physical stuff, but Strickler is the last person we want to call right now." Toby stated. Clair turned to the other boy in retaliation.

"But what other choice do we have? Like Blinky said, Grave Sand is really only useful for changelings, so it would make sense that the Janice Order would have a bigger stache than trolls—especially since they've been in contact with Gumm-Gumms since the war ended!"

Toby hummed in begrudging agreement, before turning to Jim. "Do you really think we can trust him, Jim?"

The Trollhunter took a moment, having to force himself to nod. "He's...dialed down since he went off the grid. Him and Nomura both, actually. They have nothing left to lose as changelings since they betrayed the Janice Order and Gunmar." Jim hesitated for a moment, grimacing before adding, "Actually, Strickler might have my mom to lose. They're still dating…"

"And if they're dating, that means we have leverage anyways!" Toby cheered, "If Strickler ever wants to get some he needs to make sure his love interest's son survives another night."

"Toby!" Jim shrieked, eyes wide and face contorted in a weird mixture of disgust and betrayal, "I did not need that image!"

The ginger in question chuckled deviously, cracking a metal-filled smile, before turning to Blinky.

"So how do we contact Strickler?"

Blinky gazed towards Jim as he answered. "Well, I think Master Jim is the only one here who holds the changeling's cellular number, so that would be our best bet.

Jim grimaced, slowly inching his hand to his back pocket, grasping at the device in it for a few moments before managing to get a grip on it.

He pulled it forward and used the thumbprint security to let himself in before even glancing at it.

Big mistake.

The teen hissed in pain as the harsh lighting of the device caught his too-sensitive eyes, causing the migraine pounding in his head to throb even more painfully.

"Ouch. Ouch okay that's—that's not gonna work." He choked, trying to press past the pain and choke down a few tears of frustration. He held the phone out to Blinky, who took it tenderly, as if afraid the boy's arm would snap off if he used too much force.

"Strickler should be under 'Motherfucker' in my contacts." Jim said, an edge of pride seeping into his features despite the discomfort.

Tony snorted, ignoring Blinky's retort about how inappropriate the contact name was in favor of stating: "how appropriate."

"Shut Up, Tobes."

"Hey, you can't be mad at me! You're the one who put that down as his contact!"

"Yeah! Because I'm the only one permitted to make tho—"

"Tobias, James, I am on the phone!" Blinky scolded in a very dad-like manner. The two teens quickly apologized as Claire snorted at the exchange.


Meanwhile, said changeling in question was in the middle of a dinner date with his beloved. He had been in the middle of a very fascinating conversation about medical procedures that were inevitably timeless in their ingenious, when his phone rang.

He paused for a moment, the allure that was Barbara Lake distracting him from the fact that it was his phone that was making the racket. When he finally registered the buzzing in his jacket pocket, he quickly fumbled at it, glancing at the screen as to whom was calling.

'Young Atlas' was displayed across the screen.

The man stopped a purplexed noise from escaping his throat, before glancing at Barbara, who was looking at him in expectancy.

"It's work calling me." He reluctantly fibbed, standing up and straightening his blazer. "I'll be back to you in a moment, my dear."

Barbara didn't seem fazed by this—being a doctor, she was used to getting surprise calls from the hospital. Walter never fussed when she had to cut a date short, so she had no reason to be upset if he had to take a phone call.

Walter took a moment to kiss her on the cheek, before pressing the accept call button. He turned his back to Barbara as he pressed the device to his ear.

"Young Atlas, I assume you have a reason to interrupt your mother and my's date that does not have to do with the fact that you do not approve of our relationship." The man greeted with a bit of humor.

True, the boy still didn't fully accept Strickler and his Mother's attraction to one another, but the two had been dating for nearly ten months. Whatever reservations Jim had towards their relationship have lessened substantially. It was more of a good-natured rivalry now—the teen couldn't deny that Walter truly cared for Barbara and vise versa. Nor could he deny how happy the two adults made one another.

So Walt was caught off guard when, instead of a snarky comeback in Jim's tell-tale voice, came a rather urgent response from Dictacious' brother.

"As much as I apologize for the timing, Stricklander, we have a situation of the utmost importance."

Walter quirked an eyebrow, ignoring the slight twinge of concern in his gut that was meant for his favorite ex-student, and instead focusing on the blossoming curiosity in his chest.

"Oh, and what could be so dastardly that you've called upon my assistance instead of your elder?" He asked, picking absent-mindedly at a hangnail on his flesh form.

There was a shuffle on the other end, some sounds in the background that indicated Blinky was with Jim, and probably Tobias and Claire as well.

"We believe that Master Jim is experiencing the changeling dilemma similar to Depersonalization Disorder; if we are correct in assuming that transforming is the only way to get the symptoms to stop, we are in dire need of Grave Sand so that Master Jim may be able to shift. I was told you would be our best bet to find some at such a short notice."

For the first time in a long, long time, Strickler blanked. As in he full-on had to process the sentence and repeat it in his head a few times to make sense of it. Even then, it just felt like someone had given a troll whelp some human flash-cards with words on them, and said 'create a sentence'.

The man knew of the experience Blinky spoke of. Changelings called it 'Trollish Depersonalization'. Named after the human mental disorder the troll on the other end had described. He had experienced it a few times before in his life. The only problem is that only changelings knew of the predicament.

Which led to the question: how did Jim not only know about it, but was able to explain it in such accuracy that his makeshift family was able to narrow it down to the human disease it was closest to?

Young Atlas was human. That's all he was and all he had ever been. Or so, Walter assumed he was.

Stricklander didn't remember much of the process when he was turned into a changeling. He was but a whelp back then, he didn't have the brain capacity to recall the event. He did know from Nomura, however, that Jim had been in contact with Gunnar's sword when he was in the Darklands. Could that have done it?

Strickler immediately dismissed the thought. The sword doesn't make changelings—it makes Gumm-Gumms. There is rather a big difference between the two. The blade simply coaxes trollish DNA to mutate—like summoning cancer in humans, if you will. A mind-controlling, magic cancer.

However...if Jim was half-changeling, then the magic within the blade might just be strong enough to awaken the trollish genes within the boy.

Walter could not believe the place his mind was going. He prided himself in being a reasonable person. If he was to believe Jim had changeling blood, he needed to lay out the facts, and they just truly didn't make sense. Conception of a human-changeling hybrid? It was completely illogical. Even if the fetus managed to survive its first year, it would serve the changeling parent no good. It would only give others leverage against them.

"If you are trying to convince someone that the Trollhunter is some sort of changeling, pull this childish antic on someone less gullible." Walter practically hissed. He could feel his eyes burn gold and crimson for a moment.

Dictacious' brother responded immediately with an outraged tone, obviously offended of the changeling's assumption.

"If you think I have stooped so low as to prank calling a mere changeling when my Trollhunter very well may be dying, then that's your problem, but I am assuring you, Master Jim is in excruciating agony, and you are the only one that holds the key to his relief."

Walter immediately snapped back. "And how did you come up with the assumption that the boy even has changeling blood in his body? Have you confirmed that yet?"

There was a grumble on the other end, and the troll spoke as if through gritted teeth. "As of yet, we have no tangible evidence. All we know is that Jim is being tormented by some physical restraint and we are trying our best to resolve it."

Strickler simply rolled his eyes, quite frankly getting more annoyed by the second. "I will not aid you in this matter if all you have is a hunch." He spit the last word out to voice his agitation, "Grave Sand is extremely dangerous, and I will not give it to someone who will not use it wisely. It can be fatal to humans."

There was silence on the other end as the troll processed his words. Walter was about to hang up when Blinky answered.

"Are you willing to risk the life of Jim to preserve your precious sand, Stricklander? I know you are no fool. You know as well as I Jim had not been—nor will ever be—a normal boy. You have only known for three minutes and I can hear it in your voice. You know something's amiss. You just do not want to admit it."

Walter would have brushed off the speech. The troll was long-winded at best and this was just another one of those instances where he tried to use words to sway an opponent. But there was a noise in the background. A small, near silent noise that had caught his attention above anything else. It was a small whine, near animalistic in sound and so full of pain that the device in Walter's hand felt like it was radiating the emotion.

That small noise was Jim.

"...let me speak to the boy." He said sternly. It wasn't a request.

There was shuffling on the other end as the troll moved across whatever room they were in, speaking in muffled tones.

"Hello?"

The timid, feverish voice caught Walter off guard.

"Young Atlas, are you okay?"

There was a shaky huff on the other end. "I would give anything to say yes right now, but honestly? No. I'm not."

Walter had never heard Jim so...fragile before. Even during battle, when Strickler still begrudgingly worked under Bular, Jim had never allowed such emotions to show. He was always a calm, level-headed boy. His anger and protectiveness could get the best of him at times, but he was not weak.

To hear the teen on the verge of tears, and so obviously in pain on the other end, swayed Walter's mindset in the slightest.

"Jim, what is it that's upsetting you?"

"Blinky already told you. But it doesn't surprise me that you didn't listen." The boy snapped back suddenly, feverish anger radiating in his voice.

Walter almost snapped at the boy for his tone, but bit it back. He turned around and glanced at Barbara, who was checking a text on her phone.

He sighed. Jim was obviously in pain. And if they believed that he truly was experiencing Trollish Depersonalization…

"I will get the Grave Sand for you. But, I will require safe passage down into Trollmarket. I am not willing to let it out of my possession."

There was a relieved sigh from the other end, and Walter could visualize Jim slumping in relief.

"Thanks, Strickler."

Walter couldn't help the fond smirk the crept onto his face. "Of course, Young Atlas. I will be there in half an hour."

He hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. He brushed a hand through his hair, before turning and walking back to Barbara.

"I hate to cut this evening short, but something's come up and I must assist my boss with something."

Barbara adjusted her glasses, a look of mild disappointment crossing her beautiful features. "It's fine, you can't control when work needs you." She added in slight humor.

Walter chuckled, pulling out forty dollars and handing it to his date. "Still, I'll pay for dinner." He compromised, slipping the bills into her hands.

"A true gentleman as always, Walt." Barbara joked, standing up briefly and kissing him on the cheek. "Call me when you get home safely."

"Of course." The man answered fondly, smiling. "I will see you later, Barbara."

"See you." The woman replied, flashing an equally stunning smile.

Stricklander held onto that smile as he climbed into his car. Barbara Lake was so beautifully perfect for a human. He was falling into her web by falling in love with her. His affections would only lead to his demise.

But god, that smile.

If she was to be his death, he would die happy.


Oof Stricklander loves Barb so much and I'm not sorry that I elaborated on that

until next time, my lovelies :)