This is a pretty short chapter, and I guess it feels like a tiny bit of filler.

I would've made it longer, but I don't know how well 8k worded chapters are compared to 3k to 4k long ones.

Anyways, some Jlaire at the start and quickly devolves to gnome-catching madness near the end.

Hope you enjoy.

I do not own Trollhunters.

Of all the people that Claire thought would have joined the play, she absolutely, positively did not expect Steve Palchuk be one of them.

That's why her eyes turned into planets and her face turned into a sheet of paper when she walked into the gym/auditorium for Tuesday rehearsal to find him among the other cast members. That, and the fact that he'd been bedridden Monday after 'tripping on a bench onto his crotch' on Saturday.

What could he possibly want?

She glared at the back of his head as she thought about the possibilities. From what she'd gathered, he'd applied for an understudy position. However, the person she asked hadn't known what he was trying to be the understudy for.

If anything, she'd guess Tybalt; they were both jerks by trade.

"Claire?"

She blinked and turned around, finding Ms. Janeth standing behind her.

"Hi, Ms. Janeth," she greeted.

"Hello, Claire," her drama teacher said and looked around. "Have you seen Jim?"

She tilted her head. "Jim?"

"Yes, he hasn't shown up yet and it's been fifteen minutes."

Claire furrowed her brow and searched the room for her co-lead. However, she couldn't find him or his familiar blue jacket amongst the assembled teens.

"Maybe he's running late," she said, but the look on Ms. Janeth's face was anything but forgiving.

"Maybe so, but we can't waste any more time for rehearsal to begin." She looked down at her clipboard. "It's certainly a good thing Steve offered to be Jim's understudy."

What?

"What?" she asked—or maybe shouted.

She probably shouted, considering how frightened Ms. Janeth looked and how confused and curious everyone else in the gym/auditorium did.

"S-Sorry, Ms. Janeth," she said, and hid her burning face. "I thought I heard you say that Steve is Jim's understudy."

"Well, he is."

Her eye might have twitched. And her hands might have also balled into fists.

"Really?" she asked. "Why is he Jim's understudy?"

Ms. Janeth gave her a look before she adjusted her glasses and looked down at her clipboard. "Well, while he was recovering from his… incident on Saturday, he asked to join the play."

"But as Romeo?"

"Yes, he specifically requested that role."

"But what about Eli? Isn't he the understudy?"

"He was, but Eli seemed to take a sudden liking to Friar Lawrence. It was rather strange, actually."

She glanced over at Eli who was talking to some other teens. Then, she glanced at Steve who was showing off his muscles to some of the female cast members.

Yeah. Strange….

"Alright," Ms. Janeth said, drawing her attention back to her, "it's time to begin."

"B-But what about Jim."

"I'm sorry, Claire, but unless Jim comes through those doors right now, there's nothing we can-"

As if God had answered her prayers, one boy in a blue jacket barged through the gymnasium doors, almost tripping as he skid to a stop.

"¡Estoy aquí!" he called and everyone turned to look at him. "Uh… I-I'm here."

He scurried over to a seat to put his satchel down and take a swig out of a water bottle. Nearby, she noticed Steve scowling and then stalking off with some girls. Smiling just a little bit, she strode over to Jim as Ms. Janeth called for the people that'd be rehearsing the scene.

"Hi, Jim," she said, giving wave.

He jumped and turned to look at her, but then swallowed and started coughing. She watched him for a moment, alarmed and a little worried that he might choke to death right in front of her. However, seconds later, he stopped emptying the water out of his windpipe and stammered, "B-Buenas noches, Claire."

She giggled. "It's actually buenas tardes. Noches means night, and, well…."

She gestured at the sunlight pouring through the gymnasium windows. Jim followed her gesture and then he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh… Uh, buenas tardes?" he corrected and yawned. "Lo siento- I mean- Sorry. I pulled an all-nighter practicing for a Spanish presentation on Thursday."

"Is that why you're also late?"

He nodded. "Sí."

She gave him a smile before looking over at the stage where Lord Capulet and Tybalt were arguing about killing Romeo. Then, she turned her gaze to the students watching in the audience. Among them, Steve sat with his arms draped over two girls' shoulders.

She narrowed her eyes and frowned. "Well, better you're here late than not at all. I don't think I could handle Steve playing Romeo."

Looking back at Jim, she found him with an eyebrow raised and look of confusion on his face.

"Um, what?"

"Steve's your understudy now," she said, "unfortunately."

She watched him level a glare at the back of Steve's head, but then smile fondly. A chuckle left him and he looked back at her.

"You know, I thought Steve would be smart enough to stay as far away from you after you kicked him in the gnards."

She smiled again and giggled. "Maybe that's where he keeps his brain."

They shared a round of laughter before Ms. Janeth called them both over to rehearse.

It was around five when they ended rehearsal. People were packing their bags and a few were already heading out when Ms. Janeth called out what scenes they would be working on next time.

She, herself, was packing up and getting ready to head to Heartstone Trollmarket. Since Saturday, she'd spent almost every afternoon and night since training in the Hero's Forge. Her parents were none the wiser too, mostly because they were at a bunch of meetings and she and her friends had been vigilant about their respective curfews. Unfortunately, Darci had shot her a text saying that she and Mary were out for the night, with the former trying to console the latter after she bombed her Spanish presentation today.

So, shooting off a 'get well' text she walked over to the exit to wait. However, she stopped when she noticed Jim sleeping amongst the fold-out chairs set up in front of the stage. His head was lolled back and he was snoring, a bit of drool running down the side of his face.

She snickered and walked over. "Jim? Hey, Jim?"

He didn't wake up at first, but after she gave him a shake on his shoulder, he jolted.

"¡Lo siento, Señior Uhl!" he cried out in terror. "¡No me mates, por favor!"

With eyes squeezed shut, Jim curled up on the fold-out chair and shrunk away from her. She stared at him for a moment, a bit too stunned to say or do anything. But then, the giggles started bubbling up inside of her. She tried covering her mouth with her hand to hold them in, but they just spilled out anyways.

To the sound of her uncontrollable giggles, he peeked open an eye to spy her holding her stomach and trying not to fall over.

"Oh my gosh, Jim," she managed to get out while taking a seat. "Are you really that scared?"

He flushed red and looked away. "H-Hey, you'd be scared too if you knew mediocre Spanish and had to give a presentation to Señior Uhl."

She giggled a little bit longer, but nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess I see your point."

After a couple minutes, she calmed down from her giggling fit and looked at him. He was still blushing, but he wasn't looking like a tomato anymore. That was an improvement… yet, he was still wearing that frown.

A bit of guilt trickled into her heart and she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

"You know..." she spoke up and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "I could probably give you some help… If you wanted, that is."

His eyes widened and he turned into a tomato again. "R-Really? You'd- You'd help me?"

Without thinking, she immediately answered, "Yeah. I gotta watch out for my co-lead, right?"

He gave a smile, but it was faint. "Yeah…."

They sat in awkward silence for a moment. She didn't really know what else to say. Should she ask how much Spanish he knew? Should she ask if they should set up a time to meet? Should it be at school? After school? At one of their houses?

"So…." Jim began. "Wh-When should we meet up?"

"Uh… are you free during lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Great. I'll see you during lunch."

"Alright, cool."

"Cool."

They might have sat there in more awkward silence if she didn't suddenly notice the curtains moving onstage. She furrowed her brow and squinted her eyes, trying to spy what was pulling on the curtains. The answer was one Blinkous Galadrigal who waved one of his four arms frantically before stepping back behind the curtains.

"Are you alright, Claire?"

She looked at Jim who stared at her with concern.

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay," she said, standing up. "I'm just going to go… meet my friends backstage."

"Oh, okay," he said. "I guess I should get going too… Ha-Hasta mañana?"

She smiled. "Hasta mañana."

They went their separate ways then—though, she glanced over her shoulder at him a few times. As soon as she heard the gym doors shut, she raced up onto the stage and through the curtains.

She found both Blinky and Aaarrrgghh there, the former hiding behind a painted, cardboard prop of Juliet's balcony and the latter pretending to be a statue among some fake, marble pillars.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, slowly moving towards them as she looked around for any straggling students from rehearsal.

"Master Claire, you skipped your training session for today," Blinky said, concern in his voice.

"Sorry, Blinky, but I had rehearsal today," she said. "I couldn't skip it or Ms. Janeth would've flipped out on me!"

Blinky seemed taken back. "Surely your survival is more important than- You know what, nevermind. Right now, a denizen of Trollmarket requires your services."

She tilted her head. "Um, what?"

"Should go," Aaarrrgghh rumbled then. "Bagdwella waiting."

"Indeed," Blinky agreed.

Her friends, who'd come out to glance between the two of them, then looked to her. She, herself, sighed and pulled out the Amulet. "Ugh, fine. Rehearsal's over and my parents should be at another meeting, so I can probably train until nine."

"For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" In a blue flash and a flurry of wisps, Claire donned her armor and summoned her sword. "Alright, let's do this."

She stood outside of Bagdwella's shop, along with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh. It'd taken them the better half of an hour to reach Trollmarket via the sewers—that conveniently ran beneath Arcadia Oaks High. In that time, Blinky had explained to her everything he'd learned about Bagdwella's problem.

Apparently, there was a rogue gnome running loose in her shop. And apparently, she wanted her to catch it… Yeah, real important mission for the protector of the trollkind.

Entering the building, her first impression of the interior was that it looked like something out of a fantasy movie. Pretty much everything was made of cobblestone and lit up by crystals jutting from the ground or walls. Products—or rather, a bunch of junk probably stolen from the surface—lined shelves and tables and counters. Lanterns and socks were strung up above them like some kind of lighting fixture/display.

"Trollhunter!" Claire turned her head to the… voluminous troll standing amidst what looked like ground zero of a twister's touchdown. "Oh, Trollhunter, you've finally arrived!"

The troll—Bagdwella, she guessed—laid a hand against her forehead and sighed in relief.

Drama alert.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "So, you've got a rogue gnome problem, ma'am?"

"Yes, I do," Bagdwella said, moving to take a seat. "First, I couldn't find my monocle, then my collection of bed coils. Now, something disappears every minute!"

As if on cue, a blur of red zipped across the ground and stole the stool she was about to sit on. She watched Bagdwella hit the ground and yelp, but then she turned her gaze on the red blur. Unfortunately, it was gone before she could follow it. That left her and her friends to glance around to try and catch a glimpse of it.

"Dirty pests," Bagdwella spat. "Up to last week, the glue traps were working fine."

She gave a disturbed look at the gnome skeleton stuck to a strip of paper she pulled from behind the counter.

Before she could make a comment, though, a string of giggles sounded and the gnome skeleton disappeared. Bagdwella gasped and she tried following the gnome again, to no avail.

"Fix it, Trollhunter," Bagdwella pleaded.

Claire, in turn, shot her an apprehensive look. "I, uh, yeah. Sure, I'll get right on that." With that said, she then turned to Blinky. "So, uh, how do I catch a gnome?"

Another string of giggles filled the air and Bagdwella yelled something in Trollish.

"With quick reflexes and quick wit, Master Claire," her mentor answered, and then jumped with a cry on top of a red blur.

They watched him lay on the ground for a moment, groaning. Then, they looked up to a barrel sitting against a wall where the rogue gnome stood, holding a tiny guitar and sounding a tune.

She looked at it for a moment, a little unsure if it really was as dangerous as she'd been told. Then, Aaarrrgghh reached forward, only to have the gnome run off again. Holding Daylight up, she twisted and turned, searching the shop for the gnome.

"Up there!" Blinky called.

"No! On the shelf!" she said.

"It's going under the table!" Bagdwella shouted.

"On the counter!" Aaarrrgghh said.

Claire darted her eyes around and grit her teeth. A growl was in the back of her throat as she brought Daylight to bear over there and over here.

The next time she got a clear look at the gnome, she swung. Daylight carved a scar into the wall the gnome had been leaning against. And it sliced the table it'd been standing on when she swung again.

"Come on!" she shouted.

She slashed and swung and cleaved and stabbed. The gnome evaded every one of her attacks though, and it was really grating on her nerves. "Just! Stand! Still!"

"Uh, Master Claire."

She snapped her head in Blinky's direction. Her mentor, in response, gave her a long, concerned look. Breathing heavily, she looked around at the destroyed shop… and then she looked at Bagdwella, who seemed ready to explode.

"Uh, heh, heh," she laughed nervously and let Daylight disappear. "S-Sorry."

Thankfully, before Bagdwella could give her some choice words, Blinky cleared his throat. They looked to him and he gestured at the cabinet next to him. Aaarrrgghh pushed it aside with ease, letting them see a hole hidden behind it.

"Hole," Aaarrrgghh rumbled.

Blinky nodded. "Yes, it would appear the plot quite literally deepens."

"Well, how do we catch it now?" Claire asked.

Blinky opened his mouth to answer, but he just closed it after a second. He rubbed his chin for a good couple of seconds before he hummed. "Currently, we are at an impasse. You cannot fit in that hole… not in your current state."

Slowly, and almost frighteningly, he started to smile. Aaarrrgghh, beside them, frowned. "Bad idea."

She glanced between them. "What's a bad idea?"

"Nothing. Nothing," Blinky reassured, but she didn't feel very reassured. "Don't you worry about anything, Master Claire. Tend to your studies and your rehearsal while we watch the hole."

She gave him a doubtful look, but he kept up his smile.

"Tomorrow, you'll return refreshed and ready to face this challenge."

Her parents were due home by 9:30 PM. Thankfully, she managed to get back by 9:15 PM and throw on her pajamas by the time they pulled up into the driveway. Dinner had been uneventful, but also a little tense when her mom had asked her to slow down after she practically vacuumed her plate clean of food.

What could she say? Trollhunting took a lot out of her.

After excusing herself from dinner, she headed upstairs and crawled into bed. Her homework had been light—gracias a Dios—and that left her with another hour to browse social media. Though, that grew pretty boring pretty fast.

Claire flopped back against her mattress and sighed. She wasn't particularly tired, and she didn't feel like rolling over in her bed for another hour.

Her eyes roamed around her room, looking for something to preoccupy her. They traveled from her stereo to her ceiling to her backpack to the sack of troll lore books sitting in the corner… Hm.

A few moments passed before she was sitting on her bed again, one of Blinky's books opened on her lap. The pictures were certainly interesting and the Trollish writing was pretty cool, but she couldn't understand a single thing.

"Probably should've known," she mumbled and pulled out the Amulet. "Wish this stuff could translate like you… Whoa."

She blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to make sure they weren't deceiving her. Yet, as much as she tried, the sight before her stayed the same. Well, it did so long as the book was bathed in the Amulet's soft, blue glow.

What were previously sentences written in Trollish were now written in English. Every paragraph had been magically translated into perfect English. It was amazing, but she wasted little time in gawking.

"This is great!" she mumbled and flipped through the pages. "Sulith the Sour. Gorath the Glad. Atrios the Unshackled. Timik the Tamer? Hm…." She held the page and leaned in for a closer look. "Timik once befriended a gaggle of gnomes. Interesting."

And now the major canon divergence starts.

I won't spoil anything, other than the fact that Claire's less brute force and more sharp wit.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

If you didn't catch my updated Author's Note at the end of the last chapter, then let me reiterate:

-For those of you that've been concerned about my current canon liminality, don't worry, I'm gonna start branching out soon.

-There's been a lot of speculation about where characters will join or what roles they'll fill, and I just gotta say that Jim and Toby will be a part of the Trollhunters team. Though, that's going to be later on.

-I prefer using 'Master' over 'Mistress' because I feel like it's a more gender-neutral term, and Mistress also gives off a different feeling for me when I say it: "Mistress Claire"

-Also, "The Sapphire One". Like, do you have a Fanfiction account? I would really like to PM you or for you to PM me, but I'm not getting the option. I would adore talking with you, or anyone for that matter, about Trollhunter's plot, story, characters, etc. and my own story's stuff.

With that being said, Favorite and Follow to stay updated and leave a Review if you've got something great to say.

I do love hearing your guys' feedback.

With that being said, see you guys next time.