DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE MOVIE! This will make no sense otherwise lol
RotT destroyed me and I need fluff lol I don't quite enjoy the ending here, but I decided to run with the idea of the timeline that Jim ended up in and decided to run with it.
Also, a bit of the intro here is based on something a bit more personal that someone I really care about wrote once. It was from before I knew them and they just showed it to me from one of their old notebooks, but it fits beautifully in this and I wanted to add it in. I have no clue if they want me to state their name or not in here, but they'll know who they are once reading it lol
I was once told that soulmates are like atoms. Scattered about throughout time and space. Bouncing and colliding with one another until they find their perfect fit. Creating a bond with another stronger than anything you could ever witness. I never believed it. Not at first.
Not till I found mine in you.
I swallowed hard as I looked past my locker to see an old familiar sight. One of a dyed blue strip in dark black hair. Of an old blazer and a well-loved album sweater. A smile I have never been able to erase from my mind no matter the hell I've been put through. A small smile of my own appearing as she turned her head just enough to catch my gaze. Her smiling widening just the slightest. Just as it always has when we were together.
You don't remember it, but I was your Romeo and you were my Juliet.
I gave her a soft wave which she returned with as she went to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Something I knew was a habit of hers. No matter the timeline we were in.
You were the beauty to my beast.
My mouth felt like it was full of cotton as the memories of being stuck in such a state ran through my head. The Claire I know before me being replaced with flashes of the Claire I knew each time I blinked my eyes. The way she said that would date me for a hundred years ringing through my mind as she turned to speak to Mary and Darcy about something.
You don't remember it, but you were my everything.
Memories flooded my mind like a shattered dam as I turned back to my locker. Everything from our dance on the cliffside to her last words to me before appearing in this timeline. All of it pulling at my beating heart in such a way that it would make Shakespeare speechless.
I glanced at the corner of my eye to see Claire still standing there. Now leaning against her closed locker as Mary seemed to tease her about something.
You still are.
"You said to never stop until you love me again," I whispered the words to myself as I closed my locker with a soft click. "Hopefully I won't make as much of a fool out of myself this time around."
"Talking to yourself there, Jimbo?" I snapped my attention over toward Toby who was now to my right. His joking smile being one of my favorite sights as of late. As he chuckled, my mind started to do the same with him as it did with Claire. The Toby I know now being replaced with a hush voiced Toby who held my hand as he took his last breath. The smile he's giving me now was being replaced with the soft one he gave me then.
My own personal burden to carry. One I will not let repeat.
I swallowed hard as I tried my best to give him a joyful smile in return.
No wonder Strickler always called me Atlas.
"You alright there, dude? You look a little out of it." Toby's voice went suddenly to a soft whisper as he stepped closer to me. "Did the first late-night doing you know what got ya all tired?"
But in this timeline, I'm not the hidden carrier of the world.
I gave Toby a lopsided smile as I ran a hand through my hair. The same one I burned to save Claire from a falling Troll Market in China.
He always joked that he was a side character. That he was a sidekick in my story.
I got a glimpse of a familiar gleam of silver from his right pocket. The shine of it reminding me of how the old amulet would have a little bit of a shimmer when I held it in the daylight. How the blue gem within it would always make my eyes widen in awe at its beauty despite the burdens it had brought upon me. Burdens that I welcomed with open arms as it meant they were mine to carry for those I loved.
But now I'm the sidekick in his story. His friend as he marches down the road I once walked. The road of daylight. The path of destiny.
"Nah. It's not like I was ever good at sleeping to begin with or anything." I chuckled a little bit at myself as Toby gave me a beaming smile.
"No. No you are not." Toby chuckled a little a serious look took over his face. "But seriously. Thank you, Jim. I know this isn't the easiest stuff to join me in and all. Being now in the play and keeping up with school and now this kind of stuff. It's a lot."
It was. The first time around.
I smiled as I gave him a small shrug.
I've got practice this time.
"You're my best friend. It's you and me against the world, Tobes."
Together in the beginning. Together in the end.
"Thanks, Jimbo. It means a lot." I smiled as I adjusted my bag strap across my chest. The weight of a normal school bag being unfamiliar to me still.
"I know you would do the same for me."
"In a heartbeat, dude."
Oh Deya, don't I know.
"Looks like you have someone coming your way though." I gave Toby a confused look as he just gave me a knowing smile. "Just act cool, dude." With that, he walked off from me. Leaving me the most confused as he ever has.
"Hi." I turned around instantly as a familiar voice spoke to me once more. My heart skipped a beat as my hand clutched around my bag's strap that laid across my chest still.
No matter the timeline, it seems that the only thing that can still truly frighten me takes shape not in titans or Gunmars, but in the form of a quick-witted Shakespeare addict.
"Hi." I smiled like a fool as the word fell from my lips. It was a familiar smile. One I used to give to an unsuspecting Claire when we shared a history class long ago. Back before my days were filled with changelings, goblins, and trolls. Back before becoming the Trollhunter was being afraid of a certain troll and his hatred that the amulet chose me instead of him.
"I just wanted to say congrats on getting Romeo." My smile widened a bit more as Claire tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear again. "You really did a wonderful job at auditions. I knew you were going to get it."
"Thanks. Congrats on getting Juliet by the way. Though, it was kind of suspecting with how you perform." Claire let out a soft giggle as all my worries seemed to fall right out of my head.
God how I always loved the sound of that.
"You say that as if I didn't have any competition for the spot. Mary would be highly upset hearing that, you know." I chuckled in reply as I let go of my bag's straps and slipped them into my jean pockets instead. My hand acting as if it would meet a familiar feel of metal, but it never occurred.
"Don't let her know I said this, but there really wasn't any. You had it in the bag from the very first line there." She smiled at me in such a way that it caused the familiar feel of butterflies to appear in my stomach. The same ones that I have felt a million times before from the same beautiful sight.
"So, since we're going to be seeing a lot of each other," I swallowed hard as Claire spoke once more. "I was wondering if you wanted to practice lines and everything together. You know, for the play." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I have her an eager nod in reply.
"Totally. Definitely be down for that."
"Cool. I'll see you around then?"
"Totally." I mentally slapped myself as I repeated the same word. Though Claire didn't seem to mind as a giggle escaped her once more. She never seemed to mind when I was like this anyway.
"Cool. Nice talking to you, Jim." She gave me a small wave that I reciprocated easily before she turned and took her leave. My mind filling with familiar words as I couldn't get myself to say goodbye just yet to her slowly fleeting figure.
We said that if our stars were to aline, that we would find a way. That if we were meant to be, we'll be together.
"See you around, Claire."
I promise you. I will sure as hell find that way.