This was written for a person who requested the prompt "Just tell why you did it!/Because I'm in love with you, okay!" with Jlaire. I'll admit, I have absolutely no idea how this AU works; I just thought it would be cool for this fic.
Jim didn't have the amulet anymore, but it hadn't been so long that he no longer recognized the sound of armor grating against stone with every footstep. After all, that was a sound he was used to from Trollmarket and mad dashes across the concrete streets of Arcadia Oaks. Did either of them exist anymore? Jim didn't know. He had been the protector of two worlds and he'd failed both of them.
She hadn't even killed him. If she had killed him, there could be another trollhunter. A better trollhunter. Instead, she had thrown him into a cell.
He still didn't understand why she did this. He still didn't understand why she had done any of this.
The footsteps turned a corner, and Jim saw a person in golden armor. She had many names and titles.
The Pale Lady's Left Hand.
The Eldritch Princess.
Duskbringer.
The Lieutenant of Darkness.
Shadowdancer.
Arcadia Oaks High's very own Juliet.
Claire Maria Nuñez.
And, as Jim called her in his head, most duplicitous teenage girl in the entire universe.
The smile she gave him would be sweet if he ignored the cracks that surrounded her currently-brown eyes.
"Hey, Jim," she said, reaching an unarmored hand through the bars like she wanted to hold his hand in her own. He stayed well away. "How are you?"
"Oh, I don't know, pretty well I guess for someone who's been betrayed, captured, and thrown in a cell," he said sarcastically.
She sighed. "I know you don't like this, but if you just proved to my Lady that she can trust you, you could be somewhere that isn't a cell."
"Oh, what, like a grave?"
"No, Jim. And it's because of me that she trusts you at all despite Merlin's influence on you, or else you would be in a grave."
"Yeah, sure, like I trust that and not that she's gonna sacrifice me for some evil grand ritual to make the sun never come up again or something."
From the way Claire flinched, Jim suspected he hit the nail on the head.
"Yeah, I thought so. That's exactly what she's going to do, isn't it?"
"No, the changelings and I showed her how, even as beautiful as the dark is, not even magic could keep the Earth alive for long without the Sun. My Queen does not want the world to end, just to change."
"Funny. I don't believe you."
She looked so sad, and if it were six months ago Jim would hate himself for making her look that way. "What can I do to make you believe me?"
"Give me my amulet back."
"No."
"Yeah, yeah, you won't even let me defend myself until I join you."
"You don't need to defend yourself from me."
"And what about Morgana?"
"I can keep you safe from her."
"You stole my amulet and threw me in a cell! You're the reason why my mom, Toby, your family, and all the trolls and all our other friends are in hiding! Just tell why you did it!"
"Because I'm in love with you, okay!"
There was a time when Jim would have been overjoyed to hear that Claire was in love with him. There was a time when he had been in love with her.
"If you really loved me, you'd be on my side and you'd be trying to save the world."
Claire sighed and turned away from him. She pulled out her staff and a portal formed in front of her.
She looked over her shoulder. "One day, my love, you will understand that I am. And one day, you'll finally understand my methods."
And then she left him alone again.
Good.