merendinoemiliano-Haha thank you! A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too lol
T3ddyBearL0ve-Thank you! Trying to have some mystery lol. And tell me about it! Everything is moving soooo fast!
Jim's head throbbed with pain. He groaned, and abruptly shut his mouth because even that hurt. Voices garbled around him, but it was like someone had wrapped a blanket around his head. He had the vague awareness of being dragged. His hands weakly grabbed the iron links, confirming he was still in the net.
The dragging abruptly stopped, and a mass of orange stooped down to his level. Jim narrowed his eyes, ignoring the flash of pain that followed.
"Hm, he woke up sooner than expected," the orange mass grumbled. Jim had to strain to hear him because he just sounded so, so far away. "Still got some gravesand in you, whelp, or are we in the clear?"
Exhausted as he was, anger rose in Jim at being called whelp. "I'm no runt!" he roared, baring his teeth. Or, he tried to roar. It came out as more of a weak whisper.
The orange mass clucked his tongue. "This youngling's got it deep in his system, doesn't he?" he asked himself. "At least it's almost gone. Can actually see some blue in your eyes." The mass straightened. "I think one more hit ought to do it."
A voice nearby said, "Oh, don't-"
Something hard whacked Jim in the head, and he fell into unconscious once again…
Jim blearily opened his eyes and winced. He was in some light-filled place, and that was just too much for him right now. He could dimly hear the murmurers of voices all around him, but he was too drained to try to discern what they were saying. He didn't even care where he was being dragged to at this point. All he wanted was some sleep…
"Jim?" Claire asked, her voice trembling. He could smell her fear, and it was delicious. He wanted more.
"Fleshbag," he snarled.
"J-jim. You're not a-acting like yourself. Please, you've got to snap out of it." She took a step forward, and Jim's lip curled in warning. "This isn't you, Jim, I know it isn't! Somewhere, you know it too! Please-"
"Shut up," Jim growled, anger coursing through him. She should be terrified, screaming for her life, not-not talking him down like some scared, wild animal-oh.
He futilely covered his ears, desperately trying to block the girl out. He didn't want to listen to this. He couldn't listen to this. He was barely aware of talking back to her. Old memories rushed through his mind, making him nauseous. No. No. He couldn't take this anymore.
"SHUT UP!" he roared, slapping her away. The fleshbag flew through the air. Her head collided against the ground with a sickening crunch.
Jim stared in horror at what he'd done. "No," he whispered, the fight fleeing him. "No. Claire!"
He rushed to her side and sobbed. Blood pooled around her head. Her eyes gazed blankly at nothing. The life in them was gone. She-she was gone.
And it was all his fault.
"CLAIRE!" Jim shot up. His stomach roiled at the sudden movement, and he promptly vomited the contents of it out. He wiped a shaky hand across his mouth. Thank God, it was just a nightmare. Claire-she was still alive.
Then a few tears slid down his cheeks, and he choked back a sob. But he had still done so, so many horrible things. He had hit her. He had fought Nomura. He left the trolls, the ones he was charged to protect, behind.
What kind of Trollhunter was he? No, what kind of person was he? No one should harm the people they loved, yet he had. He was a mons-
"Well, look who's up," someone grunted. Jim flinched at the noise, but he was too tired and sick to do anything else. He looked up, and his eyes widened in surprise. The orange troll that had dragged him here raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, kid. How ya feeling?"
So, trolls really had captured him. But to where? Now that his nerves were more or less calmed, Jim was finally able to take in his surroundings. He was in a cave warmly lit by glowing crystals. It was sparsely furnished, with only one stone table in the center. Jim was in some kind of alcove, a wad of cloth under his head.
It was then that he realized he saw no exit. Honestly, he was too tired to care at this point. "Horrible," he replied weakly.
The orange troll snorted. "Yeah, gravesand will do that to you."
Jim swallowed. "S-so, it really was gravesand that-that-"
"Made you do a bunch of stuff you'll regret for the rest of your life," the troll finished. "Yeah, it was. You must've taken a lot of it too, because it took several good whacks to the head to knock it out of ya. Who knows how long you've been under its influence."
"W-wait." Panic started bubbling in his stomach. "What's the date?"
"Don't know. We don't keep track of the dates here."
Confusion made him temporarily forget his panic. Jim frowned. "We? You and the purple troll?"
The orange troll chuckled. "That 'purple troll' is Loranda. I'm Carbak." He held out his hand.
Jim was surprised at the human gesture. He hesitantly took Carbak's hand and shook it. "You guys do handshakes here? Isn't it more of a human custom or something?"
Carbak dropped his hand, his discomfort apparent. "Yeah, it-it is, but, you know. Us beserker trolls used to mingle around humans quite a bit back in the day."
"Beserker trolls? I've never heard of you guys before-"
Carbak threw back his head and roared in laughter. It bounced around the cave, causing Jim's head to pound more than it already did. Finally, the troll's guffaws melted into chuckles, and he wiped at his eyes. "Wow, kid. That's a good one."
Jim, for the hundredth time in his life, was at a complete loss for words. "I, um, don't get it?" he said meekly.
He snorted. "Don't draw it out too long. Jokes lose their effect if you do."
"But I'm not joking!" Jim protested. "I really don't know what beserker trolls are!"
Carbak stared at him disbelievingly. "You're serious?"
Jim nodded fervently.
"Kid, you are a beserker troll."
Jim opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "I…I am?" he asked softly.
Carbak ran a hand through his hair shakily. Once again, Jim was struck at how human these trolls acted.
"I didn't sign up for this," he muttered. He looked at Jim. "What, did that gravesand make you forget everything?"
He was just about to say 'no' but realized it would probably be in his best interest to lie, at least for now. He didn't know what these trolls were like, whether they were good or bad. Although, the fact that they brought him to their home said something about their character. But most of all, Jim just wanted to forget what he had done to his friends. If learning about his…kind helped do that, he was more than okay with pretending to be an amnesiac.
"Y-yes," he lied. "I think so. I don't remember anything, except m-my name."
"What is it, then? Unless you want me to keep calling you whelp."
"Jim. It's Jim."
"Well, Jim," Carbak said as he gently helped Jim to his feet, "let me give you the grand tour of Dwoza."
,
.
.
"Claire."
Claire groaned and turned on her side. Everything hurt, especially her head. All she wanted to do was sleep. Whoever was calling her name could wait.
"Claire," the voice repeated, more urgent this time.
"Go away," she muttered, curling in on herself.
A pair of hands shook her roughly. "Claire!" the voice hissed directly in her ear. "Wake up!"
"Ah!" Claire yelped, shooting up. She glared at Blinky, who raised his hands in surrender. "Don't do that!"
"I'm sorry, fair Claire, but we are in a very dire situation, and we need your help!" Blinky's voice was filled with panic and worry. Claire frowned.
"What happened? I remember Jim leaving," she swallowed the growing lump in her throat, blinking back tears, "and we-we found everyone, though that took a day or two…" she wrinkled her brow in concentration and immediately regretted it. "I was arguing with Merlin we should go after Jim, something came out of the forest, and then…nothing."
"We got kidnapped," Nomura said shortly, leaning against a white wall. Blinky made a noise of protest. "What? Better to tell her now."
"I don't think 'ripping off the band-aid' was the proper way to go about it," Blinky murmured, "but, yes. We were attacked by golems yet again, more than any I've ever seen in one place. Even Merlin didn't stand a chance against them. Strange magic protected them."
Claire took a shaky breath and looked at her surroundings. She, Nomura, and Blinky were in a strikingly white cell, with a thick glass wall revealing many other similar cells. A concrete hallway separated the cells. The other trolls were trapped inside, pacing anxiously inside. Some punched the glass to no effect. Merlin was nowhere in sight.
She hugged her arms. Needless to say, this was the worst road trip she'd ever been on. "S-so where are we?"
"I can answer that," a woman said, walking to their cell. Her hands were clasped behind her back, and she was dressed in a neatly cut business suit. Long blonde hair ran down her shoulders. Blue eyes glimmered eagerly at them.
Nomura slammed a fist against the glass. "Helgar," she growled.
The woman smiled. "Hello, Nomura. My, you're not looking too well these days, are you?"
The changeling grit her teeth but didn't say anything.
Helgar turned to face Claire. "To answer your question, young one, you are in the Janus Order headquarters of the midwest."
Claire's mouth dropped open. It wasn't possible. The Janus Order was supposed to be gone! "But-but Gunmar," she spluttered. "He killed you all!"
The woman's cool demeanor slipped, and her face twisted in anger. "Stop spitting your lies, girl," she snapped. "Gunmar would never do such a thing. He may hate us, but he needs us too. You and your friends took down the western headquarters without mercy! You didn't leave one changeling alive!"
"No," Claire shook her head furiously. "No, you've got it all wrong! We didn't do anything! It was Gunmar-"
"If you want to see your boyfriend alive," Helgar hissed, "you'll shut your mouth."
Her heart stopped. "You know-you know where Jim is?"
Helgar smirked. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't." She turned around and started walking back the way she had come, her heels clicking on the floor. "But don't let your bad behavior determine his fate."
A/N: Sorry for this really late update, guys! My other fic takes a lot out of me lol. I hope you guys are having a great 2021 so far! It was off to a rough start but I hope it'll get better lol
Ah, it's finally time to meet some new trolls! Jim's gonna learn so much and make some new friends! He honestly needs it at this point haha
Anyways, thank you so much for reading and please leave a review!