This happens after a fight, I refuse to write the fight so you'll have to make up what happens on your own! This is mostly due to my chronic laziness and inability to properly write fight scenes.
Fire.
Fire, ash, and smoke.
Blue eyes scanned his surroundings, eyes widening with every second, his knees growing weak as he realised where he was- when he was. A suit of magic and technology protected his weak human body from the raging fire as he allowed himself to fall onto his knees.
Whispers surrounded him as he attempted to drown out the noise with his own cries of pain and sorrow. He was back at the battle against the titans. The battle he had lost.
Heat flowed from ahead of him, a set of feet approaching in an almost angelic manner yet heavy at the same time. The scraping of a blade caught Jim's attention as he looked up to come face to face with the one that took it all away from him.
Bellroc.
The fire goddess towered over him. Unspeaking and unmoving, her eyes a bright golden yellow as she watched the boy. Jim could do nothing more than just stare into her bright eyes that reminded him of the sun.
With a wave of her staff, his surroundings shifted and turned into that of a volcanic landscape, no longer the destroyed streets of his hometown as she proceeded to charge towards him.
The alarm of his phone beeped loudly, startling the boy awake as he shot up from bed, gasping and wheezing for air, his eyes scanning his surroundings. Panic and pain slowly started to fade from his eyes as he blinked away the tears that had started to fall in his sleep, his brow and back drenched in sweat.
Golden eyes peered into his the moment he turned to face his alarm only to find silence and the familiar form of the nature goddess by his bedside. "Nari…?" he wheezed out, throat unnaturally dry before being handed a glass of freezing cold water to drink from by the ice mage. "Wh-what are you two doing in my house…?" Jim weakly asked after taking a sip of water.
"We aren't in your house." Nari said with a soft smile as she continued to hold onto the bundle of black feathers in her arms. Allowing the words to process, Jim finally took a look around his surroundings, finding that he was surrounded by the beautifully shining orange crystals of the heartstone.
"Heartstone…?" he voiced out, looking at the two primordial gods in the room.
"You were injured quite badly in the last fight." Skrael elaborated as he hovered closer to a shelf filled with, what he assumed was medicine before muttering something under his breath before he spoke up again. "Nari, we're out of white willow." he said before a miniature willow tree grew in a pot not too far away.
Jim could only blink and stare at the two mages in front of him. "Fight…?" he asked, remembering the dream he had just had of his fight with Bellroc, but nothing from the previous day's event.
"Against the trollhunter." Nari elaborated, hopping onto the bed next to Jim as she made the teen lay down once again. "Your fever is high, no doubt caused by the wound." She whispered, gently touching the boy's shoulder causing a searing pain shoot through his body, instantly curling up on himself.
His head swam in a haze, his eyes heavy from exhaustion as the adrenaline from his nightmare had started to wear off. Was he getting sloppy? How could he have let himself get so hurt like this? "If it makes you feel any better, you have managed to strike the trollhunter with your dagger on the upper left arm." Skrael said, levitating a mug of warm tea over to the teen who graciously took it and drank.
The tea was bitter but the combination of cinnamon and honey helped mask it. He took a moment to think, a moment to remember the day he had met them; the Arcane Order.
It had been on his first day down in trollmarket, about to leave with his mother and Claire when he was suddenly meeting the ground with his face as a little familiar nature goddess came barrelling towards him.
It was a surprise to see Skrael floating over behind a panicked Douxie but it didn't seem like he was there out of ill intent, in fact, the ice mage even seemed to be surprised at the time.
Nari had clung onto him that day, refusing to let go so instead he had decided to stay the night, with his mother's permission, at Douxie's place after they were all introduced. Turns out the Arcane Order and punk rock wizard all stayed within the heartstone, ensuring its safety.
And ever since, he would meet up with the wizards after Nari had expressed her interest in his own magical abilities. During the first few weeks he was tutored on how to use his magic at will, how to do basic magical tricks such as levitating objects. Unfortunately for Jim, it had turned out that his magic was mostly innate and was, instead, magic that acted as a reserve. He was more of a battery than he was a mage.
In a way, he was like a living heartstone; able to store magic and able to give back magic to those who needed it.
Just then, the door opened, revealing his mother's worried expression as she rushed over to her son's side, carrying hospital grade medical supplies. "Jim!" She exclaimed before running over to his side and holding his hands, not wanting to cause him pain. "How are you feeling, honey..?" She asked, her eyes already professionally scanning her boy for any signs of pain or discomfort.
"I'm fine, mom… I just need some time to rest…" Jim said with a reassuring smile, giving his mother's hand a gentle squeeze. Yet, he could see the worry and panic in her eyes, worry that screamed not only for her son, but from something else.
Barbara took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down, averting her gaze from her son. Something heavy was weighing down on her and he knew it. "Mom…?" He voiced out, tone heavy and concerned.
It took a moment, but soon, Barbara looked up to her son once again meeting his gaze. "Jim…" she started quietly, holding her son's hand in both of hers. "I-it's Toby..." She said in a hushed whisper, definitely earning the teen's attention.
"W-what about Toby?" Jim asked, a sinking feeling of dread settling down in the pits of his stomach.
"I… I don't know exactly what happened, Jim… but he was hurt in the fight… a-and his wound… i-it showed signs of creepers-sun poisoning…" blood drained from the teen's face. His friend- his best friend had been injured with creepers-sun poisoning. No one other than Angor Rot, changelings and himself actively used the poison, yet it was only him at the battle.
He had hurt Toby.
How could he? Surely he would have known if he struck Toby! He was his best friend! But the fight refused to surface in his mind as if being pushed down by a blanket of thick fog. Maybe it was because he was disoriented, distracted by the fact that his birthday was in a few days. Gods, he was turning seventeen again soon. A year and a half after he first came into the market.
Almost ten months for the new trollhunter. That's right, his diluted creepers-sun poison had taken half a year to finally take full effect, he had six months to get the antidote to Toby. But how could he without revealing himself and without notifying the trollhunter.
Jim brought up his hand to rub tiredly at his face, wincing in pain when he moved a little too much. A shaky breath escaped the teen as he laid down, staring at the ceiling in thought. Things fell silent in the room after that, the teen too deep in thought and worry to say anything.
Toby Domzalski walked into school three days after the fight against Draal and Hunter. He couldn't understand why, but they were found at the dump heap, seeming to be collecting a random assortment of items with a group of, what he could assume were non fighting trolls.
His team had managed to surround them, but in a moment of weakness, he had allowed himself to be cocky, complacent, and that had earned him his very first major injury; a large gash on his upper left forearm carved using Hunter's poison tipped dagger.
That instant of pain allowed their enemies to escape, but not before he had delivered an almost fatal wound on Hunter.
Being the trollhunter was hard, he would admit that much. But it was something he was chosen to do, even if he was still seventeen. Yeah, sure, people could argue on the controversy of him still being a minor, forced to fight in a centuries old war, but he didn't have a choice. The amulet had chosen him and the only way out of it was through death.
Something he sure didn't want to happen, but chances were looking very slim due to his poisoning. No one knew anything about the poison that Hunter used, it was slow to take effect but at the same time, incredibly painful.
"Tobes!" The familiar call of his childhood best friend drew him back from his thoughts. A wide grin grew on the shorter teen's face as he watched his best friend approach.
"Morning, Jimbo!" He called back, hand outstretched for a fist bump, but all he received was a worried look from Jim.
"Tobes… mom said you got injured…" Jim said in a small whisper. "You didn't even tell me you were going out on a mission… I was worried sick…" he said, casting his eyes down to the ground.
Toby frowned, slightly guilty for keeping his friend clueless about what he had been doing the entire time. He felt nauseous knowing how much distress he had caused Jim- had Dr. Lake and Nana been just as worried?
A gentle hand came up to gently hold Jim's own hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, causing said teen to look back up at his stout friend. "I'm fine, Jimbo." Toby said, giving the taller teen a reassuring smile. "It was just a scratch!"
The look in Jim's eyes screamed disbelief and knowing, something Toby brushed off as concern and wavering hope. With a small nod from the taller teen, they walked hand in hand, neither one wanting to let go of the other until they had to seperate. Both knowing that they were on a time limit as they headed to their respective classes.
A day.
It had only been a day and Jim hadn't been able to grab Toby's attention long enough to hand him the antidote he had made the night before. The Hunter had started getting more and more desperate to grab his best friend's attention, hoping to whatever God was out there that he would be able to do it soon.
He hated every second Toby was under the effects of the poison. He hated how Toby would wince in pain when he moved wrong, how his voice would crack slightly in agony when he spoke while carrying things, how with a slight touch, the shorter teen would move away immediately.
Gods, he wished he could just shove the antidote into his friend's hands and tell him to put it on. But that would make him suspicious. Not to mention the fact that Mary was going to soon learn how to read magical signatures in the area.
Yet all he could do at that moment was stare in horror at the bandages wrapped around his best friend's upper left arm where a small tint of sickly grey was peeking out.
His breath caught in his throat, unable to speak or move, and that concerned the shorter teen who attempted to cover up his injury with his sleeve.
"Jimbo?" Toby called, still trying to hide the injury with a weak, reassuring smile.
Jim tried to swallow the lump in his throat yet that only caused him to feel even more nauseous, like he was going to vomit any second now.
"Jim? What's wrong?" Toby asked with a frown, noticing how badly shaken his best friend was as he took a step closer after closing his locker door.
Jim only shook his head, his breathing bordering into a sob as he continued to stare in horror. "I-I can't do this…" he finally said in a quiet whisper, just enough for Toby to hear before the taller teen dashed off, leaving a very concerned Toby behind.
Jim ran and ran, his feet taking him to the only safe space in the entire school using all his regained strength from training.
Everything started to make much more sense now. How Toby had been distancing himself from them. How the trollhunter's fighting style was familiar. How the trollhunter and Toby both have similar injuries.
Toby was the trollhunter.
Toby. Toby was the one trying to end everything he loved. His best friend.
Finally finding himself within the confines of Strickler's office, Jim slammed the door shut before sliding down onto the ground as he finally allowed the tears to fall. He couldn't believe it. How could he? Toby wasn't someone to hold such a hatred towards trolls yet the trollhunter had a strong drive to end the trolls.
Pain erupted from his very core as he continued to sob. Anger, fear, and anguish all fighting to take hold and dig roots into his very being, his lungs burning for air as he continued to cry. He didn't know how long he had sat there leaning against the door, crying his eyes out but it had been enough time that he got caught off guard the moment a firm hand placed itself on his shoulder.
His head snapped upwards to meet the concerned emerald green eyes of his teacher. Without thinking about it, Jim leaped forward, holding the older man tight in a hug as he continued to cry, to let out his frustrations of how he hadn't noticed sooner, his anger towards the universe for doing this to him, his fear of losing his best friend because of himself.
Strickler hadn't expected the teen to latch onto him like a lifeline, truly it was worrying to see the boy so distressed. For over a year, Waltolomew Stricklander, history teacher at Arcadia Oaks High, second in command of the secret organisation of Changelings that seeked to bridge both human and troll worlds, had watched the boy in his arms overcome many hardships, come to school with so many well hidden scratches and bruises, and even recently, seen the boy walk off an almost fatal injury within days.
He knew deep down that Jim was carrying more than what he could bear, it was why he calls the boy Atlas after all, yet unlike Atlas, he saw Jim lean to the help of his girlfriend. The young shadowmancer that had been part of their organisation for years before meeting Jim, she had always been someone that cared so much about the changelings ever since she had discovered their HQ present in Arcadia.
It was a surprise to everyone in the Janus Order when a little girl suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere. At first, they had all thought that someone else had found the organisation when their lady creator, Morgana Pendragon, found the girl and took her under her wing in magic. Only a very select few have ever been taught by the lady, himself included, as well as the warrior troll known as Angor Rot, but it was the little girl that turned out to have been gifted by the shadows, just as Morgana was. And ever since then, Strickler had grown fond of the little shadowmancer over the years, viewing her as both his student and as one of his own. And he had hoped that she, too, viewed him as such.
Yet right now, the boy in his arms drew the same level of attention and fondness from the changeling in less time than Claire ever did. Maybe it was the way the boy looked at him knowingly from the moment they met, or how the sparkle of familial recognition glinted in the boy's eyes whenever they talked.
Gently, Strickler cradled the boy, rubbing comforting circles on his back to help calm him down. "It's alright, Jim. Let out the tears and frustrations." And just as he said, Jim had found himself crying on Strickler for about ten minutes before he could direct the boy to the stool by the office table.
By the time the boy had calmed down, Walter handed him a bottle of water to drink from to help the boy clear his throat so he could speak. "What happened, young Atlas?" He asked, watching the teen's every movement.
"I… I know who the trollhunter is…" he admitted after a moment, refusing to face the history teacher.
The sudden revelation froze the changeling in place before he padded over to the teen, helping the boy settle down onto the office chair for more comfort instead of the ground. Hesitantly, Walter found himself asking quietly. "Do you want me to bring in Claire?"
A nod got the changeling moving, heading to the door before turning to look at the boy. "Will you be alright until I get Claire?" Another nod drew a shaky breath from the teacher as he exited the office, heading to retrieve Claire Nuñez.
The moment Claire saw her boyfriend curled up on the swivel chair, hugging his knees, she found herself holding him in a tight embrace, Walter on the phone with who she could only guess was Barbara.
Jim leaned into his girlfriend's touch, a small whimper escaping him as he fought back the urge to sob.
"What happened, Jim?" She asked slowly and quietly, hoping that Jim could tell her.
"I… know who the- the trollhunter… is…" he managed to croak out, his voice cracking slightly as he forced out his words.
There was a moment of silence as dread and hesitation started creeping up her spine, a very bad feeling about the situation. "Who…?" She finally asked, gaining Strickler's attention as he listened in after his conversation over the phone.
The silence in the room was thick and heavy, like a crushing weight of a thousand boulders stacked on top of each other, until it suddenly shattered like fragile glass with just a quiet whisper of a word. "Toby…"
Jim went home shortly after that with Barbara, the mother clearly concerned for her son as he hugged her tightly the moment they locked eyes.
--
Mary sat down at their usual lunch table, excited to share with everyone her newly gained ability as she scanned the sea of students that flowed in through the cafeteria doors.
Not long after, she was joined by Toby and Darci who both looked exhausted, most likely from their battle training, as they practically plopped down onto their place. A giggle escaped the Asian girl as she quirked a brow upwards.
"Three weeks in and already exhausted?" She asked, earning her a grumble from Toby and a glare from Darci.
"Not everyone can have magic, you know! You're lucky you only have to read books! Training is hard!" Darci retorted with a huff.
It was true, as a mage in training, Mary had been singled out from most physical activities to focus more on her magic and application to Merlin's magical school to get a licence. But, until then, she was tutored by the mages from the trollhunter division, unlike Darci and Toby who had to constantly train to maintain their strength and stamina.
Everything had started out quite easy in freshman year as they were all focused on improving their bodies to better handle fights, now in sophomore year, they had branched out into specialisations, mages were separated from the attackers and attackers were separated from the defenders.
"Okay, okay, fair. But hey! I learned a new trick today!" Mary beamed at her two friends as they sat up intrigued and now fully focusing on the mage in training.
"Really? What did you learn, Mare?" Toby asked, an excited grin on his face.
"I learned how to see magic!"
"See… magic?" Darci asked, clearly confused. "Mare, we can all see magic."
"No, you can only see physical magic. What about magic auras, or innate magic?" Mary said, rolling her eyes. "There's a lot the human eyes can't see, and most magic falls under that category."
A small light flickered in Toby's head as realization struck the secret trollhunter. "Oh! So like, is that how the trollhunter squad knows when magic activities happen?" He asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Yup!"
"That's so cool Mare! Can you tell who's magical here in school?" Darci asked, curious as to what her best friend would say.
"Well… I guess I could…" Mary smirked before closing her eyes as she focused on the magic around her for a minute before she opened them again.
"Well?" Darci asked, clearly excited.
"I can sense your magically infused weapons in your bags." She stated flatly, before perking up as she watched a girl walk by the far side of the cafeteria talking to another girl. "And Shannon has dormant magic." She whispered, enough for the other two teens to hear as they too looked over at Shannon.
"Okay, that is so cool." Toby stated before grinning wide.
"I know!" The Asian girl said, crossing her arms in amusement before suddenly growing deathly pale. Something her companions noticed immediately.
"Mary? You good there?" Darci asked, touching Mary's shoulder and gently shaking the girl who looked up to the one to touch her with wide, terrified eyes.
"I-I…" she stuttered out, earning her confused and worried looks from both Toby and Darci.
Just as suddenly as it had started, it had disappeared as Claire sat down with a look of worry, her worry turning into a frown when she saw Mary's shaken state.
"What happened?" Claire asked, worried for their friend.
"Not sure, Claire." Toby said, a comforting hand on Mary's back, trying to calm the girl down. "She was just showing us her new ability to detect magic when she suddenly started shaking like a leaf!"
"I-I'm fine!" Mary finally said right after Toby's explanation. "Just not used to the magic yet…" she let out a small quiet chuckle before quickly getting up. "I-I'll head to the nurse's office just in case…" she said before darting out of the doors, followed by a worried Darci.
Toby sat there, awkwardly fidgeting with the paper bag that contained his lunch. The two remained silent as they started to eat their lunches, waiting for Mary and Darci to return.
"So… Claire?" Toby asked after a while, hesitantly looking up to the girl who lazily looked up from her lunch to face Toby. "Where's Jim? He just suddenly ran off…"
Claire's frown only deepened as she stared at the other teen in front of her. "He went home."
"Went home?" That caused the stout boy to frown. Jim would never just suddenly go home without a good reason, did something happen to his best friend?
"He… wasn't feeling too well… Mister Strickler called Dr. Lake who came to pick him up not too long ago." The shadowmancer elaborated, taking a bite of her sandwich, her posture defensive. She was glad that Toby had dropped it for now.
Mary Wang was not one to be easily shaken up nor easily scared or shocked, but at that moment she was terrified- horrified, even. And Darci knew this. She knew something else was bothering the Asian girl and took her to an empty hallway instead of the nurse's office to talk.
"Mare?" Darci asked after a while, Mary still shaken up and holding herself as she anxiously looked around as if waiting for danger to jump out at any second. "Mary, tell me what happened." She demanded, holding eye contact with the other girl.
Mary took in a deep, shaky breath as she leaned against the lockers, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked into Darci's eyes. "T-there was…" she started, swallowing the forming lump in her throat, her mouth uncomfortably dry. "There was… a really strong magical signal, Darci… s-stronger than my trainers…" she whispered, observing her best friend's expression morph from confusion to horror.
"I-it appeared for... a few seconds… b-but it was so strong… I-I couldn't breathe, Darci…" Mary choked out in a quiet whisper, grabbing hold of her best friend's arms in fear. "I-I was so… so scared… there shouldn't be magical levels like that here…"
Gently, Darci let her Asian friend in for a hug, allowing the teen to cry onto her shoulder, unsure of what to do with the information she was given.
Off to the hidden shadows of the hallway, a clicking of a fountain pen went unheard by the two girls as glowing eyes disappeared.
A/N: THIS IS IMPORTANT! Okay so here's a little bit of information about the education in this universe and how the trollhunter's team works and a little bit of clarification on morgana and the changelings.
Merlin's school for magic is basically like a magic camp so magic users can earn their licences to actually use magic. This was set in place because Merlin thought it cruel to punish younger children for simply having been born with magic and instead are taught at a young age that magic is bad unless used for the benefit of humans. That's what the school of magic is for; to solidify that way of thinking in the minds of teens. Of course, the school is only accessible to people who discovered their magic and applied to go there.
People with dormant magic are basically regular people that give off a stronger than average amount of magic that doesn't instinctively activate and have a very slim chance of activating on their own and often require contact with magical items.
The trollhunter's team is kind of like a mini security force, often separated by what they do; I.e. mages do ranged attacks and help with most evacuation and damage control, attackers, well, attack and are often in the front lines with the trollhunter, while defenders are there to assist attackers against any potential threats. There is also an Intel and a communications group, who mostly ensure that everyone in the fight are safe and their weapons are functioning properly, they are also sometimes referred to as the strategy sector since they organise their troops during attacks.
Morgana Le Fey, or Morgana Pendragon is still the one that created the changelings but their purpose was to bridge the human and troll world instead of being spies, they're still switched with babies but most of the time the babies they're switched with are sick or rarely had a chance to survive back then. In the show, it's obvious that something horrible was done to make a troll child into a changeling but in this universe, Morgana had found a way to recreate the effects without the torture part by infusing the rock egg with the shadow magic necessary to do so. That means that the changelings are born a changeling and not turned into one. The rock eggs are chosen through a series of tests to make sure that it would survive, and of course it is all done with the consent of the parent trolls.
Changelings also stay in contact with their original troll families and do have troll names but they also grow quite attached to their human families, with some changelings even telling their human families the truth (of course only those who they really trust, and strickler is no exception.) They also have homes within trollmarket but most changelings prefer the surface since it's much easier to get to their headquarters that way.
The Janus Order was formed for the changeling society by Morgana herself, to allow her creations to form connections and find support with people who knew and experienced similar things. So it's more of a support group than a secret organisation since every troll in trollmarket knows of its existence. And yes, Morgana is still around but she just likes to stay "in the shadows" for now.
