Jim's legs wobbled from Nari's drawing power from the amulet, but when Nomura's statue crumbled, and she stepped from the rubble, he struggled to his feet.

Images of Jim's memories of Nomura flickered across the faces of each Heartstone crystal.

"Get off me, runt," Nomura growled at NotEnrique, who still held onto her leg.

"Aye! She's back!" NotEnrique presented the youngling and pretended not to be holding back tears.

Nomura's scimitars clattered to the stone floor. "G-Gabriel?"

"Mama?" The little one reached for Nomura's long, dark hair.

"But Gunmar—" Nomura scooped up her son and held him close, not caring as he tugged fistfuls of her hair. "How are you here?" she whispered to Gabriel.

The youngling nuzzled Nomura's cheek and pointed to Claire. "Tee-uh," he said.

Jim staggered over, regaining a bit of strength with each step. "Claire found him," Jim said. "He was… gone. But she brought him back, the same way she brought me back when I fell in battle with the Green Knight—with her tears."

"Thank you, Trollhunter." Nomura grasped Jim's armored hand with her taloned one. "I will properly thank Claire when this is over." She touched her forehead to Gabriel's.

Nari stood beside Jim. "To you, Nomura, Gabriel, NotEnrique, I give the gift of family."

On each one's right shoulder glowed the emblem of a white lily. It etched into their troll skin, blending with each one's natural markings.

"If one is in trouble, the others will know. None of you will go into danger alone ever again. You need not fear being left behind, for your kin will be with you."

NotEnrique hopped onto Nomura's shoulder as she stood near the pile of shattered stone whence she'd emerged.

Nomura glared at him, but soon forgot her irritation.

Strickler's statue crumbled next. The brief cloud of debris obscured him from view until he waved it away. Instead of the horns, talons, and deep green skin of a troll, he wore his human form—dark salt and pepper hair, brown jacket and pants, blue turtleneck, black shoes. But there was something different about him now.

Memories of his sordid history with Strickler, chased by ones of their odd friendship, covered the Heartstone's crystals.

"Barbara?" Walter covered a cough from the dust cloud and picked his way out of the rubble. His light English accent remained, but along with his trollish appearance, gone was the harsh growl that had underscored his words since he'd gotten stuck in troll form.

Jim's mom caught Strickler in a bear hug that rocked him backward.

"Walt." Barbara buried her face in his shoulder. "You came back to me before, and I knew you would again." She cried unashamedly.

"I'm sorry I had to leave you." He pulled her close. "The battle's over?"

Barbara nodded. "But we paid for it dearly."

Walter and Nomura exchanged nods, but when he surveyed the gathered onlookers he said, "Where's Claire? And Tobias?"

Barbara pointed over his shoulder to the casket.

He seemed relieved to see Claire alive, but Toby's casket hit him hard.

"It's going to be all right," Barbara said. "Just like it was with you and Nomura." She took from her pocket the ring box Jim had seen in the secret compartment in the basement. "We should use these. Tonight. After this is over."

"This hardly seems the time, Barbara. I thought you wanted to wait until summer—" Walter began.

Barbara laid a finger over his lips. "Tonight, hope came to life for me. I know it will for Toby too. If this ordeal taught me anything, it's that I shouldn't waste any more time." She knocked her glasses askew as she kissed him.

Jim's face warmed as he approached his mom and former teacher/enemy-turned-friend. He cleared his throat, partly to announce his presence, and partly to distract him from what was still to come in a few minutes. "Hey, Mr. Strickler."

"Do call me Walter."

Jim tested the name, but it didn't feel right yet. "I'm going to have to get used to that. But I have to ask, why do you look… like this?"

Walter seemed at a loss. "One moment, I was in Greenland, fighting the ice Titan, then I wasn't. I remember… a hallway, a bit like one at the school. When I began the journey, I looked as I did when last you saw me, but as I walked that hall, pieces of my troll form fell away. With each piece, a bit of strength left me until I came to a bend in the corridor and felt I couldn't take another step. Just as I contemplated giving up, a hand on my back nudged me around that bend. I never saw my benefactor, but they lent me the strength to take that last step."

"Angels and ministers of grace," Barbara said.

"Perhaps so. Jim, since meeting your mother I have often wished I could remain human, even if it meant losing my trollish nature and all its benefits." He flexed one hand. "I haven't the strength, agility, or longevity I once possessed, but I have what matters." He put an arm around Barbara and clapped Jim's armored shoulder. "You."

Nari joined them as Walter released Jim. "To you, Barbara Lake, and Walter Strickler, I give the gift of time. Each of you have lived much, but sorrow rests heavy on you both. Tonight, you receive a new beginning."

Before Jim's eyes, his mother and Walter changed.

Barbara took off her glasses and put them away, muttering something about needing a new prescription, and the gray in Walter's hair darkened to black. The wrinkles and worry lines each wore disappeared, replaced by vitality.

"Fifteen years I give you, to counter time stolen by care and misadventures. Live well and without regret." Nari took two steps back after delivering her blessing.

"Nobody's going to believe you're my mom," Jim croaked. "You're what, seven years older than me now?"

"Only on the outside, kiddo." Barbara mussed Jim's hair. "My memory still works just fine."

Jim laughed. "I can't wait to see the other doctors' faces when you go back to work. They're gonna flip." As he hugged her, his heart leapt into his throat as his thoughts ran to the last reunion of the night. "I'd stay, but there's somebody I've been dying to see."

Walter kept close to Barbara as Jim left them, heading for Nana, Darci, AAARRRGGHH!, and Claire.

The thud-thud-thud of Jim's pulse thundered in his ears as he approached.

When Toby's coffin lid lifted, Jim ran the rest of the way to the waiting circle of friends.