Jim gasped as Daylight was knocked to the side. The blue fire disappeared as the sword flickered from existence. Now the only light penetrating the darkness of the Deep was that-that thing.
The thing lunged forward. Jim instinctively went on the defensive and summoned his shield. The thing's sword clashed on the shield, sending a spray of sparks. He was strong. Much too strong for someone his size. Jim could feel his arms trembling. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. The thing laughed, as if he knew he had Jim right where he wanted him.
Suddenly, the thing released his sword from Jim. Before Jim could react, the thing kicked Jim in the chest. The Trollhunter flew into the cavern's wall with a sickening crunch. Jim slid down to the ground. Owowowowow, he thought. Sure, the armor protected him for the most part, but it still hurt.
Jim shook his head and-and wow, that was a terrible idea. Moving his head had sent spikes of pain throughout his skull. By the time his eyes stopped throbbing, the thing had stooped down to his level. But now that the thing wasn't trying to kill him anymore (at least right now), Jim finally got a good look at him. Except, it wasn't a thing. It was-he was-no. NO. Horror washed over Jim. He was-
"Jim," James Lake Jr. growled. "We need to talk."
Jim blinked rapidly, trying to deny what was clearly the obvious. It couldn't be him. This version of Jim had fangs. This version of Jim had slitted pupils. And pointed ears. And-and he was abnormally fast, strong, he growled, roared, he-
He was a troll.
Not-Jim smiled smugly. Jim shuddered. The tusks made the smile look even creepier. "You figured it out," he commented. Not-Jim's voice was also deeper and more raspy. Not by much, but still. It was unnerving. "Congratulations, Jim. Your worst fear is losing your humanity."
Jim didn't say anything. He was still in shock.
Not-Jim snapped his fingers in front of Jim's face. "Hello? Anybody home? To be honest, I thought you'd have a bigger reaction to what you're going to become than this-"
And that's what snapped Jim out of his trance. "No!" he shouted, and he tackled Not-Jim. The two rolled on the rocky ground, pummeling each other with their armored fists. There was no rhyme or reason to the fight. It was a full-on brawl.
"Enough!" Not-Jim yelled, and he sent a particularly strong kick to Jim's gut. Jim skidded back, gasping, but he quickly summoned Daylight and got into a defensive stance. No way was he going to be caught off guard this time.
Not-Jim rolled his slitted eyes and held out his hand. The Eclipse blade disappeared from behind Jim and into Not-Jim's hand. "Would you just listen for one second? I'm not going to kill you. Not right now, anyway. But I want to tell you something first."
"I'm not going to listen to anything you have to say," Jim snapped.
"What if I gave you a warning?"
It's a trick, Jim thought. I can't trust him. But a small part of him wanted to know what Not-Jim had to say. He unintentionally relaxed his stance ever so slightly.
Not-Jim grinned. "Do you remember that idiotic military version of us?" he crooned. "And do you remember what he said, right before you sucked him back into your sword?"
What? Jim thought. Where is he going with this-
"He was right, you know," Not-Jim said, interrupting Jim's train of thought. "He said that one day, you wouldn't be able to balance your normal life and your Trollhunter life. That one day, you would have to choose. And you do choose, Jim. You choose to be me." Not-Jim bared his teeth in a ferocious grin.
"You're wrong!" Jim shouted, and he swung his sword at Not-Jim. The other version of him growled as his blade connected with Jim's, and their swordfight resumed from before.
"You know I'm right, Jim!" Not-Jim roared as he parried away Daylight. "You're already losing your humanity! I should know, I'm part of you! Don't deny that you haven't been getting more ruthless, more troll-like in your fights!"
He can't be right, Jim thought as he parried Not-Jim's sword. I would never choose to be-that. But…some part of Jim disagreed. Sometimes, when he was fighting Bular, Angor Rot, or even Strickler (when he was Jim's enemy), he'd want to do rule number two: always finish the fight.
Sure, he killed two of them because they were evil and had wanted to kill him. They deserved to die. But it wasn't just that. He craved the violence. He wanted to tear his enemies to shreds and show he was the superior fighter. It was so satisfying to see them turn to stone. Jim even felt disappointed, sometimes, when the fight was over.
And it had only gotten worse after the Darklands.
But it didn't matter. He would never ever allow himself to lose his humanity. Because if he did…he would become that thing. And he didn't want that. He was scared of it.
Jim's fear and determination finally let him gain the upper hand in the fight. Worry flitted across Not-Jim's face as he was pushed back. As the fight went on, Not-Jim's strokes became more and more clumsy. It encouraged Jim to fight harder, more brutal. That was good. He wouldn't let this part of him survive. It would die here in the Deep, and it would never haunt him again.
Jim spotted an opening, and, with a yell that sounded a bit too much like a roar, he thrust Daylight deep into Not-Jim's chest.
Not-Jim grunted and collapsed to his knees. Jim was sure he'd keel over, but then he looked up at him and smiled. "Good," he said. "Good! It was about time you knew you had it in you."
To Jim's surprise and horror, stone creeped from the wound and started spreading across his duplicate's body. Not-Jim looked down and said, "Oh, this? I don't know why you'd be surprised. I'm a troll, you know." He laughed. "You can't lock me away forever, Jim. You'll turn into me soon enough."
"I won't!" Jim shouted. "I'll never turn into you!"
But Not-Jim kept laughing and laughing, even as the stone crawled over his face. The sound was everywhere. Jim held his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, begging for it to stop, but it didn't. The laughing just got louder and louder and LOUDER-
"I won't!" Jim screamed as he shot up from the forest floor.
"Jim?" a voice asked gently as a small hand touched his shoulder.
Stranger! Jim thought wildly. He backed away from the hand on all fours, a threatening growl escaping him. He didn't know who it was so it had to be dangerous it had to be a predator he had to protect himself-
"Jim? What's wrong?" the voice said again, concern evident. Why did the voice sound like-
Claire. Oh, no. Jim blinked rapidly as his surroundings spiraled into view. Trees rustled in the wind, and the night sky twinkled above. He shook his head to clear it. He wasn't in the Deep facing an evil version of himself. He was in a forest with Blinky and all the other trolls. They had just started their journey to the new Heartstone only yesterday.
And Claire was here. His girlfriend. Who he had just growled at.
Jim's heart sank. He felt terrible. Sure, he had acted especially…trollish right after his transformation, but he had been disoriented and scared. He should have better control over his troll half by now.
He stood up shakily. "S-sorry Claire," he mumbled. "I had a nightmare. I didn't mean to growl-" no he refused to use that word "-snap at you. I'm sorry."
His impossibly beautiful girlfriend stared at him with worry. She had taken her armor off to sleep, so she was back in her Hamlet shirt. "It's fine, Jim. Don't worry about me. In fact, I'm worried about you." She started walking to him. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk-"
"I'm fine!" Jim said hastily, backing away from her outstretched hand. "Really. Just a little spooked." He laughed nervously. "I think I'll, um, go wake the others. Don't want to waste too much night." With that, he practically sprinted away from her. He just-he just couldn't face her right now. Sorry Claire, he thought sadly.
Meanwhile, Claire stood there, hand hovering. She crossed her arms and glared at her boyfriend's retreating figure.
He was clearly not fine.
And there you go! First chapter of Journey to the Heartstone! This won't be a terribly long fic, definitely less than 50 chapters. For me, I kind of drop out of fics if it's super long. Anyway, what do you guys think? Please leave a review! I'll try to respond to all of them! Thank you for reading, and have a great day/night!