Why hadn't she thought about something that important sooner? Claire kept cursing mentally, as she ran through the castle. Her first action should have been about finding out what point of time they all had ended at, but, no, the girl just had to delay that one.
Who did she try to fool? The Latina knew the exact reason for that reluctance - she was simply scared. Afraid to discover that she would have to relive some of the most horrible moments. Terrified of the possibility that things may become even worse the second time around. The sense of guilt and helplessness apparently was her eternal companion, and Claire hated it with passion. She had to break free from those and pave her own road to a brighter future.
This time no one should have died. So what if the point of the time divergence was different? Their small team had lived through so many impossible challenges. They would be able to do it once again because they were never alone.
There was no point to deny the harsh reality - right now, Claire was inside the flying castle, meaning that the time would be somewhere between Jim getting stabbed with a corrupt shard and the trip to the Middle Ages.
Was the shaking because of the Arcane Order's attack? That would have been quite a catastrophe. If Bellroc had jumped back as well, the entire battle would go in an entirely different direction.
For better or worse, it wasn't that one. Claire realized it soon enough when she had seen Blinky and Merlin, both quite battered and arguing about something.
"I dare to pinpoint that your measures have been too drastic!" the six-eyed troll yelled at the wizard.
"Drastic?" Merlin shot him a dirty glare. "We cannot allow a raging beast here!"
"Master Jim isn't a beast!" Blinky looked like he wished to punch the old man, preferably using all four fists. "We should try to talk to him!"
Claire felt her heart sinking. She didn't want that. Everything but reliving that nightmare of Jim losing his humanity and free will and turning into a literal monster. How many times had she woken up after experiencing those memories in her dreams? Sometimes the girl could even feel the imaginary pain of that time when Jim tried to choke her.
"Where's he?" the question escaped her lips unwittingly, making both Blinky and Merlin notice her at last.
"Fair Claire…" the scholar troll tried to approach the girl, probably in an attempt to provide some comfort, yet she avoided the hug and glared daggers at Merlin.
"Where's Jim?" the Latina repeated, her voice full of newfound willpower.
The old wizard rolled his eyes in annoyance:
"I guess everyone in the Trollhunter's team is a madman. How many times should I repeat for you lot to understand? Young James is far too gone, he cannot tell apart friend and foe. Restraining him was the only sound option…"
"You don't understand, we can reach him! I can reach him!" Claire interrupted him, not interested in whatever explanation Merlin had. She knew it for sure - last time, when Jim had been under the enemies' control, the girl had managed to reach his soul and pull it out. It had been that difficult back then simply because she hadn't known how to do it.
"Preposterous!" the wizard huffed. "Are you implying that you can fix that berserk state when I cannot do a thing?"
Oh, great. Claire had already forgotten how much of the self-centered prick Douxie's master was. Apparently, he genuinely believed that he was the only one with enough knowledge about magic.
"I have no time for your delusions," the old man glowered at both Blinky and Claire. "The Trollhunter is restricted, and the door is enchanted. End of discussion! Right now, I had to contact my apprentice. And you two - don't dare to pull anything stupid!"
He huffed once again, turned on his heels, and stormed somewhere.
"I cannot believe that I used to respect him so much," Blinky muttered with annoyance. "He only cares about his plan! What are we? His pawns?"
Claire stayed silent, watching the departing wizard. Why couldn't Merlin simply listen to others?
"Blinky, what exactly has happened here?" she asked the scholar at last. The Latina could guess how everything had gone, but she still wanted the confirmation.
"Remember the stasis magic Master Jim was under?" the troll started grimly. "It failed all of a sudden, without any external influences… And Master Jim…" he stopped, apparently, not sure about what he had witnessed.
"Has he become a full troll?" Claire came to his aid. Blinky had said there were no external factors, but the girl was more than sure that there had been one. She may haven't been the expert when it came to wizardry, but she still could tell that one time magic interfered with other. Hadn't the time stasis crumbled during the jump to the Medieval times? Of course, Jim's mind traveling to the past had also messed with Merlin's spell.
The troll scholar looked at the girl, quite dumbfounded:
"How do you know, Fair Claire?"
The Latina nearly facepalmed at her own carelessness. Of course, she couldn't possibly know, not being present. Should she have explained to Blinky everything about the time travel? He wasn't Merlin, in the end, and probably would be more accepting of the idea of changing the timeline.
"I…" she opened her mouth to confess everything. It was the right approach. They all could trust the scholar troll - he was basically no different from Jim's father (well, way better than his biological one).
"I cannot just sit here, doing nothing!" Blinky exclaimed in frustration and looked at the girl apologetically: "I'm sorry, Fair Claire, I think I'll be more useful in the library. Even if that pompous scoundrel says that there's no way to help Master Jim, there has to be at least one! I refuse to give up!"
"But!" the Latina attempted to stop the troll, but he had already run away. Why couldn't everything just go smoothly? Apparently, life itself kept sending them more and more challenges.
Claire felt someone squeezing her hand gently.
Nari! When had the plant deity appeared? Most likely, not before everyone else had left.
"You seem lost," the demigod commented sadly. "What do you plan to do?"
Was there any need to ask? The first priority should have been saving time itself, otherwise, everything they all had come through would have been in vain. Yet the girl couldn't deny that her heart forbade her to forsake Jim. Her sixth sense kept screaming that it would have been a grave mistake.
"I'll save Jim," Claire stated boldly. "Perhaps, Merlin cannot do a thing, but I can. I've done it before, in the end…"
An ugly doubt raised its head, whispering that she still had no idea how and that there was no guarantee that she would succeed the second time, but the young witch silenced it at once.
There was no space for mistake. Hadn't Douxie taught her to believe in her powers more?
Claire really wished Merlin's successor was somewhere nearby to give her some encouragement. After all, the young man had that mysterious older brother-like presence in him, which made everyone feel more confident.
"Claire!"
Funny thing, it felt as if the girl could hear her friend's voice right now. The illusion was so real.
No, it wasn't an illusion - Nari was looking at some spot in confusion. She had heard it as well.
"Do you know that person?" the demigod inquired. Claire followed her gaze and finally noticed Douxie peeking from behind a column.
"Teach? What are you doing here?" the Latina couldn't believe her own eyes - it was as if her own wish had summoned the exact person she needed right now.
Wait, was it her timeline's Douxie to start with?
"It seems we both jumped back…" the young wizard sighed, leaving his hiding spot. It was as if he had read her thoughts. "But where's Jim?"
Claire averted her eyes. Of course, she was glad to reunite with her magic teacher, yet that hadn't erased all the problems.
"I see," Douxie muttered after hearing out the explanation about the whole situation. "Fuzzbuckets, it's even worse than I've suspected…"
"It's not hopeless though…" the girl shook her head. "I can reach him…"
"Will it work?" there was a clear doubt in the young man's voice. "Last time, Jim's soul wasn't even in this realm anymore…"
He nearly jumped when he heard a quiet statement:
"His soul is here."
Nari stood there, examining Douxie with an incomprehensible expression on her face. Merlin's successor felt a pang of pain as he watched the demigod. The scene of her death in that horrible future flashed before his eyes once again.
No, this wasn't his Nari, the one he had considered his sibling. The one he had wished to protect, not because losing her would have meant the end of the world, but because she had been the family. The one he had failed…
A part of Douxie simply wanted to hug the plant goddess, all the consequences be damned. But… Wasn't he basically a total stranger? Who gave him the right to be overfamiliar?
A comforting hug was the response he got to his inner dilemma. Despite being shorter, Nari embraced the young man like a mother would her child.
"Bonds never go away after they bloom inside your soul," she whispered, smiling to the wizard wistfully. "No power in this universe can erase those. I may not know you still, but the bond formed inside your soul is genuine… We were close in your future…"
Douxie couldn't help hugging the demigod back tightly.
"I'm sorry for not saving you," it left his lips before he had managed to consider it. "I should have invented a better plan…"
"You still have a chance for that," Nari smiled with encouragement. "And I'll stop running earlier. We still can build a brighter future…"
"All of us," Claire added. "We're the team, after all."
She was right. The power of bonds had always been their strongest point, the one that trampled over multiple enemies.
"Let's save Jim," Douxie nodded. "And then… I have an idea, though it's crazy and risky…"
"Crazy and risky is regular for us, Teach," Claire chuckled. How many times had the members of guardians pulled something close to impossible?
"We'd better finish before Merlin returns because he won't be happy…" the young wizard shivered at the thought of what his master could possibly do after learning about messing with the timeline. "Archie promised to distract him, but our time isn't limitless… Besides, as far as I remember, the Arcane Order will attack in some hours. Let's hope they had no change of plans…"
There was still a concern regarding Bellroc, but Douxie dismissed it for the time being. Right now, they had to focus on something else.
Claire led the way as they walked through the flying castle. Now that she knew what to look for, Jim's energy signature shone like a beacon to her.
He had fallen under corruption once again. Her boyfriend's presence felt so heavy, so suffocating right now.
Raging.
Confused.
Lost.
But, more important, grieving and guilty. This one was new.
Last time, the curse had latched into the Trollhunter's hero complex, turning it into his mind prison. This time there was something else for sure.
The sense of loss. It had to be that one.
"Here," Claire stopped before the heavy doors. Well, saying it aloud was rather pointless - their little company had been hearing enraged roars for a while. Finding the source of the commotion was a piece of cake.
Douxie tried to push the doors without any success.
"Not Nimue's cave level protection, but still problematic," he muttered after examining some magic rules. "It'll take some time to dispel it…"
"Or we can enter the other way," the girl suggested. Mastering shadow magic certainly had its perks. If they had been able to enter Lady of the Lake's prison that way, why not trying it here as well?
The Latina focused, attempting to summon a portal. She had done it so many times, both with Morgana's staff and without, that it had to be as easy as riding the bike.
Yet…
Nothing had happened.
Claire stared at her own hands in disbelief.
No.
It couldn't possibly happen.
She had reclaimed the shadowmancy, made it her own, and learned to use it more efficiently. However, it still refused to work.
Because none of that had happened in this timeline.
"Claire!"
Would she be the one to fail everyone?
"Claire!"
Would she lose everything only because of being helpless?
Hadn't she sworn to herself never to be useless and fight for the ones she held dear to her heart?
Someone squeezed her shoulder in calm encouragement. The girl flinched, finally noticing that Douxie had been calling for her for some time already.
"Teach, it doesn't work…" she confessed, feeling herself like a kindergartener failing the elementary task.
"You need to focus," the wizard's voice was calm yet firm. "Magic has a strong connection to the mental state. If you have even the slightest doubt about it working, it'll fail. Have faith in yourself. You have teleported a titan - I bet even Morgana would have troubles with that!"
Claire smiled at encouragement. The young man was right.
Don't think, become.
The end of Jim's speech at the school play's auditions flashed through her mind momentarily. It felt like it had happened millennia ago, with all the events that had happened since then. They all had lived through so much and grown to be better people and true defenders of the world balance.
The tiny doubt was a meager rival, how could she possibly lose to that one?
If anything, Claire was angry at herself - and, well, negative emotions had always helped at summoning shadow portals. The one appeared and expanded right before the doors.
She wasn't useless.
Everything would change for the better.
"Well, wish me some good luck," the girl inhaled, mustering some courage and smiling at Douxie and Nari.
"Wait," the wizard caught her hand before she managed to jump inside the portal. "I'm going with you!"
"What?" the Latina blinked. She didn't even know if she was frustrated or surprised more. "Don't you trust me with that task?"
It was rather disheartening to hear that her magical teacher wasn't that sure of her abilities. However, the misunderstanding was solved at once.
"I'll go as a back-up," Merlin's apprentice stated firmly. "You need to focus on reaching Jim. And I'll be there in the case we end up fighting him. I cannot let you be hurt. Moreover, Jim'll never forgive himself if he injures you…"
"Sorry," Claire whispered. Douxie was right. Everything could possibly happen, and they had no space for being selfish and trying to work independently.
She jumped inside the shadow portal first, with the wizard following in her tracks. It brought them inside a small hall. Jim's raging emotions felt overwhelming here.
The scene from the young witch's nightmares had become a reality, apparently. She hated even remembering her boyfriend's corrupted form - yet now, it was right before her.
A raging beast, roaring and trashing against the magical restraints. His eyes and crack-like marks were glowing a fiery red.
Red!
Claire exchanged glances with Douxie as they both understood what it meant. When Jim had fallen under the Green Knight's control, the glow was sickeningly yellow. His current state, on the other hand…
"Jim has gone berserk," the wizard confirmed the Latina's suspicions aloud.
With that, their chances to succeed had spiked out. The girl took a deep breath to calm down her anxiety and took a step forward. The beast troll growled as she approached him. From the corner of her eye, Claire noticed Douxie preparing for an attack.
"Nothing too dangerous," he ensured the young witch. "Don't worry, when it comes to restraining, I know more than enough spells!"
She nodded and came closer.
"Jim! Do you recognize us?" her voice was firm and clear. A part of the girl hoped that it would be enough. Alas, another guttural growl was the only response she got.
No one said it would be easy. Besides, if the Trollhunter could still acknowledge his surrounding, Blinky would have calmed him down earlier. After all, Jim saw the father in him.
Claire focused, remembering all the happy moments she had with her boyfriend. His speech at the school play audition, their first, pretended, kiss, their dance at their special spot, his return from the Darklands, the countless hours they spent together during the journey to New Jersey… Their love story wasn't too perfect, there had been multiple bumps on that road and supernatural stuff complicating things. Yet, they both had lived through all of that - their love was forged during fights and strife.
"James Lake Jr.! Are you that weak to lose against some puny curse? You have defeated enemies way stronger than that!" the girl yelled, taking another step. "Remember? Bular, Angor Rot, Gunmar, Bellroc…"
Jim roared at the last name, trying to get free. A restraint keeping in place his right arm suddenly snapped, turning into glowing dust at once. The troll's claws stopped less than an inch from the Latina's face as another magical rope restricted its movement.
Douxie wiped drops of sweat from his forehead. It had been too close.
"Claire, you'd better change your approach!" he pointed out. "I don't think mentioning fighting will work here!"
"Understood," the Latina nodded. Her magic teacher was right. She had to fight that rage with something else…
He was floating in the nothingness.
Or, perhaps, not floating - it was nearly impossible to tell for sure.
Not that he even cared about all of that.
It was so peaceful, so calm there. Maybe it had been just the right place to fade to black and disappear without a trace.
"Jim!"
Why was someone still calling for him? Hadn't he disappointed all of them? Or maybe there was another phantom resurfacing to torment him more.
"Jim, wake up!"
Why did it take her shape? It couldn't be Claire - just an illusion. It was his personal hell, after all.
The teen expected more accusations, more cruel words, yet those never came. Instead, the girl took his hand into her own.
Warm, she was so warm. Jim hadn't realized how freezingly cold it was around him.
"I can't," his voice was coarse and quiet. "I deserve being here…"
The teen tried to distance himself from Claire. He had done nothing to deserve her warmth or kindness.
"I should have been a better friend. How could I fail to see that Tobes was struggling? I took him for granted, foolishly believing that he would stay by my side, no matter what!"
Toby had struggled too, yet always had hidden his worries behind the jokes. It never meant that he had been ok.
"And Strickler? He was reasonable enough, yet I forced him to act suicidally!"
Barbara had finally found some personal happiness, and her son just had yanked it from her.
"Nomura? I was assigning the teams. What a braindead kind of guy I am to send a troll to the sunlight location!"
He had to be more attentive to details, not needlessly endangering his allies.
"And before that? Draal lost his arm and then sacrificed himself in Merlin's Tomb to save me! Vendel died because I didn't notice Usurna being suspicious! Aaarrrgghh got poisoned with Creeper Sun because he protected me! Mom was hurt! Your brother ended in the Darklands!"
The sense of guilt was too overwhelming, too suffocating. Everything had been his fault and…
A stinging pain stopped his rant at once. Had his girlfriend just slapped him?
"Have you calmed down?" she asked, her expression unreadable. "I've thought you have always believed that bad things could happen to good people. We just need to continue living or try to fix things if it is possible… And it's still possible, Jim! You have gone back in time just to make everything better!"
Claire smiled at him sadly and continued:
"You've always claimed that it isn't Trollhunter, but Trollhunters… Yet, how many times have you tried to bear that burden alone? Your journey to the Darklands, that time when Merlin convinced you to become a half-troll, that sacrifice when you pushed the corrupted shard inside your heart… You also wanted to go back in time by yourself! Jim, we are your team. We are here to fight by your side. You are not alone…"
She outstretched her hand to her boyfriend.
"Do you still trust me after all that stupid stuff?" Jim sighed heavily.
"You're my Romeo," she shrugged. "I'll never leave you. We have no time to waste, so let's go!"
The teen smiled back and grabbed her hand…