HELLO MY LOVELIES! Here's a really quick Halloween one-shot! Sorry for the lateness, I was at a little four-person bonfire in celebration for the holiday and it was the best four hours of my whole month at the moment lol. 2020 has been one hell of a ride and that little get together has been a highlight of it, ya know?

Anyway! I hope this helped your spooky night come to a lovely end! Much love, my friends!

"Are you guys sure about this?"

"Oh relax, Jimmy Jam! It's just trick-or-treating. It's not like something is going to jump out at us." I rolled my eyes as I adjusted the crown on my head. "Who are you even dressed up as?" I gave a shrug to him as I replied with a simple smile.

"I have no fucking clue."

Honestly, I knew enough to know I was a prince of some kind. The gold chains on my shoulders with the weird golden pads with little dangle things were weird to me but I enjoyed the blue color of the rest of the outfit and it was rather comfortable. Claire was going to be dressed as someone she called Mal who I guess was the girlfriend of whoever I'm dressed up as but I didn't know anything more than that. All I cared about was that it made her happy.

"Claire asked me to just go along with it so I did. I wasn't really thinking about Halloween until she asked me to dress up with her anyway, so it's not like I had anything else planned."

"Really? You used to go all out for Halloween and you didn't even have a single idea on what you were going to dress up as? Who are you and what have you done with my Jim?" I chuckled toward Toby as he gave me a curious look. It was hard at first to get used to the skull make-up Darci had helped him put together, but I got used to reading his expressions once more as we walked toward Claire's house together. Darci was right to his opposite side and put an arm around her boyfriend as she gave me a sweet smile.

"Well, he's been through a lot, hasn't he? Wouldn't that be enough to change his thoughts on a holiday that's purely about creature of the night?" Toby gave me a sad look as Darci spoke the clear and perfect truth of the situation.

She wasn't wrong. Being thrown really close to death so many times all within less than a year was difficult to deal with. Especially on the day that people decided to dress up as some of the creatures you fought against.

There was even a kid dressed up like Gunmar and it almost caused me to go into a pure panic due to how real the costume was. It made my brain think there was a midget Gunmar on the fucking lose and I about lost it. Especially since I don't have the abilities I did back then.

I looked down to my hands as my left hand gripped around Excaliber which was strapped to my hip.

Being human was something I missed more than anything in the world. About a month after the battle with Gunmar and cementing the new home for the trolls in New Jersey, I was able to sit down and realize the long-term effects of becoming a half-troll. I couldn't take the damned armor off. I miss the Amulet of Daylight, I won't lie, but the fact I was stuck in that armor for about three to four months was annoying as well. Then add in the fact that Claire almost grew sick being underground for so long and it would make me more of an anxious wreck than normal. I had to convince her to go up to the surface for a few hours every day so that she wouldn't have the effects of it. It was rough for both of us, but we got through it together.

But the strength. The power that my troll half had was intoxicating in battle. Knowing that I could protect Claire, Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, and everyone else in New Jersey with ease was something that helped me with my anxiety at the time. I physically could protect them from anything, really.

Yet being human gave me a lot more opportunities within life outside of war that I thought I would never have again.

I shook my head as I brought myself out of my thoughts gently as I noticed we were a block away from Claire's now.

Right now isn't a time to be mulling in the past though. What happened had happened for a reason and I was given a second chance at a normal life.

I felt a smile appear on my face as I looked over toward Toby and Darci who were speaking softly between each other. Little pumpkin buckets in their opposite hands as they walked hand in hand.

I'm going to enjoy it. As much as I can.

"There you guys are!" I looked ahead of us to see Claire jogging over to meet us halfway. She kept her white and black hair on display as her purple and black outfit seemed to be a perfect mix of how she dressed when we were sophomores and how she had changed since then. The purple and black leather jacket she had half sipped being the best showcase of this as she gave me a sweet smile. She walked up beside me and kissed my cheek as her free hand made its way into my left. "I'm happy you were okay with dressing up with me. I know it's a little weird dressing up as a character you have no clue about, but I have to say it fits you well." I gave her a lopsided grin as I adjusted my crown once more.

"Anything to make you happy."

"And here I thought the candy was going to be the only sweet thing tonight."

"And here I thought I wasn't going to suffer watching you two being sickenly sweet, but here we are, bitches." I laughed lightly at Toby's remark as we started making our way as a group toward the heart of Arcadia Oaks.

"Hey, you're the same way with Darci."

"I don't think we're that fucking cheesy, right babe?"

"Toby, I think we're just as cheesy."

"You're supposed to agree with me!" Claire and I laughed at Toby's response as Darci just rubbed her boyfriend's back gently. As we were walking down the sidewalk together though, I heard a child's voice as a few sets of hurried footsteps ruffled through the grass beside us.

"FOR THE GLORY OF MERLIN, DAYLIGHT IT MINE TO COMMAND!" Three little different laughs came from some children that cut past us and started running down the sidewalk together ahead of us. One was dressed in black and red armor that seemed to mimic the armor I wore as a half-troll as the boy beside him wore a cardboard version of Toby's orange armor while the girl giggling alongside them wore a version of Claire's. I felt a soft smile bring itself onto my face as I looked out over the three of them.

I remembered as a kid always wanting to dress up as my favorite superheroes. They were people I idolized and wanted to be like as a child. May it have been Spider-Man, GunRobot, or any of those in between. I always wanted to end up them. To be someone that could help others in the future and be dubbed a hero as well.

But to see kids dressed up like me only a year after I had found the amulet was something I never thought I would see. It was as if I was a real-life superhero to them and to think that they saw what I used to see in others was something that warmed my heart.

I felt Claire's hand squeezed my hand gently while she put her head onto my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" I felt my smile widened as I leaned my head so I could put my cheek on top of her head.

"I never thought that I would see anything like that. To have little kids dressed up like us was something I would never have thought would happen when I first became the Tollhunter. I always felt as if I wasn't a really good Trollhunter for most of my time with the amulet, but seeing kids act like I'm someone like Superman is reaffirming to say the least."

"BRO! That kid did a really good job though! Did you see his sword? How in the hell did he get that?!" I chuckled at Toby's reaction as he continued. "Also, SOMEONE WAS DRESSED UP AS ME! Like what?! I'm flattered."

"Okay, TP. Stop before you get an ego."

"BUT DARC! This is like a once in a lifetime thing! I there is a kid dressed up like ME!" I brought my head back up so I could look over toward Claire and adjusted my crown once more as I enjoyed Toby's little happy rant. I shared a sweet smile with Claire as my mind started to wander off.

I guess we are heroes in our own little ways. Each of us fighting for something or someone we loved and cared for more than anything in more than just one war.

I squeezed Claire's hand gently as I brought my attention back toward the path we were walking down.

But we're also just ordinary kids in the same breath. Just a few teenagers that were just fighting for what they believed in like any other person.

Right now though, as the moon is high above me and my girlfriend and best friend are beside me, that's all I thought I truthfully was. I didn't want anything else in that moment. Just a simple Halloween as simple kids. No matter how many kids were dressed up like us or our past enemies.

I chuckled at myself as my last thought played within my head.

But if I see another Gunmar costume, that might just change.