Hey there everyone! I'm really sorry about the radio silence when it comes to my stories! A lot of stuff has been going down with how I'm now the senior director for my theater department and I'm really excited and busy and stressed and happy all at once! That and the increased workload from my AP Literature class is absolutely slaughtering me but due to how she moved our giant paper for after spring break, I can write for this a lot more than what I was! I hope to update a lot more between now and summer but that will be probably hella difficult but I'm aiming for it!

I hope you guys enjoy this nevertheless! Thanks for dealing with my bullshit of an update status!

Class droned as if we were in the land of melting clocks and slowed space. As if I lived in The Persistence Of Memory and with every movement, my mind and body dragged and lagged. As Stricklander, excuse me, Stickler was lecturing it seemed like most kids in the class felt the same. His words were muffled and dull but as annoying as loud radio static. But I've always felt this way about his speeches. Even before he was my teacher.

I overheard a kid yesterday that they about fell asleep in this class a couple of times. I just kept mentally saying imagine it if he was like this at a kitchen table or at a mission conference.

When the bell rang though, it shattered this mentality and forced me back into reality. I grabbed my bag from under my desk and about dashed out of the room.

"Mr. Lake. I would like to speak to you."

God fucking damn it.

I pivoted my step and turned around to see Strickler almost standing right behind me already. I looked over my shoulder to see a slightly worried look coming from Toby as he left but he shook it off when I sent him a reassuring smile. Once the last kid left the class, I didn't look at Walter but I spoke the same.

"Alright Stricklander, what do you want?"

"You know not to call me that when we're in daylight, Atlas."

"Do you want me to call you Walter instead?"

"I'm the teacher here. You know what to call me." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "People used to call you it as well, can't be that hard to say." I gave him a death glare rather quickly.

"And you know that I legally had that changed." He just chuckled in reply.

"Last names was not why I called you to stay back, Atlas. You and I both know about the, well." He picked up a little ball that was left behind by the kid that just kept flicking it back and forth on his desk and crushed it between his fingers. "Demise. Of one of the Janus Order's spies on humanity. I can say with a completely unbiased nature that he was not invaded any of the laws that were placed."

"What if I explained that he almost exposed changeling kind by trying to eat a passing human being? Would you rather people be killed because one of your people got cocky and decided that he was above the law?"

"I wouldn't have ended a truce over it." I laughed at how he was trying to be threatening. "What's that laugh suppose to mean, Atlas?"

"You believe you have the power in this." I gave him a smirk as he gave me a snarl. "Don't forget who is the 'champion of Gunmar'. I'm not just a pawn anymore." I could hear him growl slightly under his breath a started toying with his pen like he's always done. I smiled knowing that I had him in a predicament.

That's right, Walter. I'm not a little kid you can manipulate anymore. It seems you're losing your grip anyway. The little event I had with your henchman happened months ago now, so it's either that they decided not to tell you or you decided now to toy with me in the 'normal' part of life. But let's be honest, is there anything normal about us, Walt? Is there really?

"Carry on with the rest of your day, Atlas."

"Thank you, Mr. Strickler."

After that, the rest of the day came rather easy in comparison. I was biking home after rehearsal when I heard a familiar chant.

"Waka chaka!" I dashed after the goblins while they teased me with my amulet. "Give that back you bag of mucus!" They ran around a corner with ease, set for the one that was holding the amulet. He ran like that of a cartoon as he skids across the floor but was stuck running in place for a second but trying to move in the right direction. With me not being that far behind in the first place, I used this to my advantage.

I pushed myself to run a little faster and brought my foot back when I was close enough and punted the little gusher like creature against the wall. He hit the top of it and then landed on his ass when he slid down the wall, dropping the amulet as he did. I picked it up as quick as I could and stuffed it in the front pocket of my blue jeans.

I chuckled as it got up and ran. "I still don't understand why we use you! Yes, I understand you're good thieves and all, but you're easy to catch up to." I looked behind me to see a slime seeming essence was covering the walls of the hallway leading to where we were. "And easy to kill." I looked back at the coward at my feet who had a mustache proudly drawn on his lip.

If I never had to deal with these things again, I would be a happy camper. But Dad said that they're needed because they are small enough to slip through into the Darklands. He never told me why that was important anyway though.

I never thought I would see these suckers anytime soon though.

I broke off from my normal path home and went toward where I thought the voice came from. I peddled and peddled until my front tire slide sideways and I came crashing down. I skid away from my bike slightly but my ankle was still under the contraption. I picked myself up slowly to try to not to cause any damage to myself. The scrapes were nothing in comparison to what I was used to, but it could be worsened if I wasn't careful.

Once I got myself to my feet I walked around and noticed the exact reason why I had such a rude interruption lesson from gravity. There was a pile of green, slime like material, on the roadside. I squatted down and rolled my now stuck tire back and forth on the heel of my palm, watching as the essence stuck confidently to the rubber. I noticed that there were tire marks, multiple actually, that seemed to flatten most of the muck. Soon after I noticed there was a marker too, with a single set of tire marks on it. "Seems someone met the wrong type of 'mythical' creature to accidentally kill." I picked up the bike by its handlebars and pulled it completely free from its slime confinement.

I need to keep my eyes open and always be ready. If they're back to the goblins then that only means that they are not planning anything joyful.

I thought to myself as I made my way back to my usual path. Gliding along the streets in verbal silence but with a mental orchestra of voices within my head.

I'm not the same gullible kid. I know why they used them at the time, but it took a lot to get a straight answer from Stickler before he left. It was to make more changelings. To take children, specifically infants, that are predetermined or have a 'fate' to be one of them, and bring them to the Darklands. That way their familiar can live here and be able to do the dirty work of the Janus order.

They are planning something. It might be small since they're using the green little lackeys, but usually, it only takes something small to cause chaos with the Janus Order.

Once I got home, I put my bike in the garage like normal. Noticing easily that the car was in its normal spot. I closed the garage door and went into the house while taking my helmet off. I dropped it once I came through the doorway through to see Stickler sitting there loud and proud while stirring his tea. My mom was standing in front of him with what could be clearly noticed in her voice that she had a displeased look on her face.

"When I told you that you could stop by some time to sign the consent forms from me to be his teacher, I never meant that you could be here without my knowledge." Strickler at this point took a small sip from his tea and smiled at my mother.

"Well, Barbara, I know how difficult it is for you working at the hospital to be home very often so I decided to stop by and stay so we can get this done and over with."

"Where the hell did you get a key to get into my house, Walter." He gave her a sly smirk. "You were never really good at stopping habits, Barbara. So I checked the one stop you always kept a spare key and for my luck, it was there like always. Taped under the welcome mat." I could tell my mom was about to burst at her so I walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey mom, I'm home." She looked over to me and her distaste and aggravation washed away and a small smile replaced it instead. "Welcome home Atlas! How was school?" I gave her a small shrug. "Everything went smoothly. Talked to my friends, got bored in some classes, was asked again to do sport, but that's all apart of the new normalcy now."

I know that's what she wanted for me. A new normal. A new life to begin. To forget all that Walter had done to me or the pain I was put through. Doesn't help though that she believes that he only abused me like a normal abusive stepfather situation is or was. She has no clue what actually happened or what he actually did. So she holds a lot of anger toward Walter and swears that if he lands a hand on me again she will get him fired, but it would be a lot worse if she knew everything. She would want him dead.

"Walter is here for me to sign the consent forms for him to be your teacher. Are you sure you want this?" I gave her a smile in return.

I need to keep an eye on him. This is the main way how to. He gets to keep an eye on me, I get to keep one on him. Win-win situation.

"I already made a couple of friends in the class! One of them that even taught me that there's a theater program there and asked me if I was interested! I love the classes I have. Yeah it's awkward and I don't always feel safe, but I need to get over all that happened." I looked over to Walter and my smile disappeared for a moment. "Doing this will give me a good restart."

"Oh yes, your new friends. One of them is one of my brightest students. Miss Nuñez has taken quite a liking to him." He gave me a knowing look and I glared back.

I know what you're thinking old man and I swear to Deya if you bring Claire into this I will tear you apart and make your followers watch in horror as I-

"Oh! Miss Nuñez? Who is that Atlas?" I looked over to my mom who seemed over the moon at now having a name to tie to one of my 'new friends'. "Oh, her name's Claire. She's this amazing friend of mine that I have advanced English and some other classes with. She's the one that taught me that there's a theater program. Her mom's one of the chairmen for the city council." My mom gave me a suffocating hug after I explained Claire to her.

"So, a chairmen's daughter that should have some pretty high grades if she's in your advanced English class that is also into the arts? Is she pretty too?" I could feel myself lightly blush at the comment. "Mom!" She pulled back with a small laugh. "Can't I make fun of my little guy?" She put her hands on my cheeks with a soft smile that I couldn't help but mirror back to her.

I haven't been little for a long while mom. Not for a long, long while.

But you'll only realize that once I'm a senior or maybe at my graduation.

I watched my mom look by as Strickler as she grabbed a pen out of her lab coat pocket. "Alright Walter, I'll sign the papers. But only because Atlas believes this will be a good step for him." She walked over to him where he handed her a packet of papers. She grabbed his wrist as he tried to hand them to her though and her voice relayed all I needed to know about how she must have looked.

"If I find out any harm was done to my son by your hand ever again, I will hunt you down. I will go to the ends of the Earth to protect James." She let go of his wrist and grabbed the papers. "Remember that." Strickler looked at me as mom went to the table to look over the packet before she signed it and I gave him a cocky grin.

What followed that was Strickler being swiftly forced out of the front door with my mom calling after him that she was going to change the locks. Once the door was closed, she gave me a sheepish smile. "Remind me to find a new hiding spot for the spare key." I chuckled at her as she walked up to me since I was now in the chair that Walter once occupied. "So, tell me more about this Claire girl. You never did answer my question."

I chuckled at her. "She's just a friend mom. She's really smart and driven, though. She's been helping me out a lot with Algebra since she took Honors Algebra last year." She nodded along, expecting me to go on.

"And?" She drew the word out as long as she could as she walked around the counter to get a bottle of water from the fridge. "Still haven't answered my question."

I chuckled at her antics. "Alright alright. You got me. She's pretty. Really pretty. Happy now?" She gave me a giant warm smile after she took a sip from her water. "Yup!" I rolled my eyes at her but gave her a chuckle in reply.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed. I ate at Toby's before I came home so I already had dinner. I'm just gotta do some Algebra homework and then I'll call it a night." I started my way up the stair as we gave each other a 'good night' and an 'I love you' before I even reached the last step.

Once in my room, I dropped my bag at my desk and pulled out my stuff for my homework. After I finished it by looking at the problems that Claire helped me with during lunch, I changed into some sleeping wear and basically flopped into bed.

The moment my head touched the pillows, I was basically drifting. My last thought being that I completely forgot about my Spanish homework. Puedo mentirlo.

School the next day was rather uninteresting. At the end of the day, I was unhooking my bike from the rack but stopped at the sound of my name being called. I looked behind me since that was where the voice was coming to see Claire running up to me with a smile, pack back on his shoulders and two flyers in hand.

"Atlas!" When she got to me she started bouncing on her feet in excitement as she gave me the spare flyer. "I just got this from Miss Janeth!" I took the poster without a second thought and looked down at it. I smiled as I noticed it was the audition announcement poster for Romeo and Juliet. Next Tuesday with Thursday for callbacks if need be. I looked back up to her and was almost blinded by her enthusiastic smile. "I can't wait! Can you?"

I finally lied. I finally did. I lied to mom last night. She's not pretty, she's intoxicating.

She's beautiful.

"Defiantly."

My head hung low as I could feel the blood slip through and over my bottom lip. All I could feel was this numbing pain across my body as I heard a dragging sound and footsteps come closer to where I was. It hurt to look up but I did it anyway, knowing that whatever was coming my way was not a friendly face. My eyes were greeted with that of Strickler in his true troll form with which he could easily tower over me even if I was standing, but I wasn't. My arms were bounded behind my back and seemingly tied to the ground, keeping me in this position where I was sitting on my ankles.

"You think you were so clever, didn't you? Fighting for mortal lives and then dragging some into a fight that you were battling for them." He scuffed after he finished his sentence. "Didn't I teach you anything? Compassion gets you killed in this world. If it's not you," He flung an unconscious body in front of me that dropped to the floor like a load of bricks.

"Then the ones you care for."

He had a giant smile on his face which lead me to frantically look at the body he flung without care. I noticed the torn up black blazer first and then the light purple sweater that was dirtied up and was darkened by what I could tell was blood around the collar of it. Her leggings were terribly shredded and I could see the cuts and gashes on her knees with ease. I couldn't get myself to look at her face though as my vision was blurring.

I already knew who it was.

I already knew she was barely breathing, or at least I hoped that she was.

"Look at her Atlas." I shook my head frantically until hands were placed on the sides of my head, forcing them to stop. "Look at her!" He forced my head to look directly toward her face. If it wasn't for the cuts and blood that painted her face, she would have looked so peaceful. Yet in such a painful way, she was still beautiful.

If I wasn't crying before, I defiantly was now.

"Look what you have done to her. Such a young and inspiring life, taken way too soon." My chest ached as his words echoed. I kept shaking my head after he let go of me.

It couldn't be. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be! I told her to stay. I told her to stay. She would have been safe in Troll Market. She should have been safe.

I felt my chest cave in as if my heart was being crushed by my rib cage. My sobs increased but I stayed silent as Strickler went over to her and moved the blue streak of hair out of her face with a long green finger.

"And all because of you. All because of you, Atlas. Do you understand, boy? Atlas?"

"Atlas?"

I felt as if my heart was pounding against my chest. I looked around to see I was in a completely different place than I remembered last. Multiple blue lockers lined the little room.

The locker room.

A hand placed itself on my shoulders as I noticed my back was sitting on one of the benches, my back against one of the lockers. My eyes stung and I had no idea as of why. I blinked several times before I was able to see completely. I noticed the black blazer first which was in perfect contact. Then I saw the light purple sweater, no stains or anything. I looked up to her face to see if it was all in my head or if it was real, but all I was met with was chocolate eyes that were so full of concern that it made a flood of relief take over my body.

She's safe. It was all in my head. All in my head.

"Are you okay? You just stood there. Wavering and unbalanced. Then you just, well, collapsed! Coach saw it too so he told me to bring you here since the school nurse already locked up for the day." She retracted her hand and placed both of her in her lap. "You really gave me a scare there. What happened?"

I looked at her in disbelief. This has never happened before. It must have been an anxiety attack or something tying to the exhaustion of late nights our being the Trollhunter and homework. Working off three to five hours of sleep consistently is not healthy for anyone. But, maybe it was something else? I don't know.

Should I tell her the truth? Should I lie? Will that keep her safe?

I kept my eyes on her as she looked down at her lap, waiting for an answer.

She doesn't deserve any of this. As mental Strickler said, she has so much to live for. She doesn't deserve any of the shit that being Trollhunter will bring into her life. I'm already selfish as it is, having her as my friend.

"I've been having a lot of late nights. Especially yesterday. I crashed on my way home. I don't even remember how, just that I did. Trying to get used to being here again," I took a breath, knowing that most of my words are full of lies. "It's been difficult. Really, really difficult." I ran a hand through my hair, fingers gripping the roots for a second before letting it all flop back to the way it normally is.

"I never told you my history with this place. A huge part of it still takes a huge toll on me." She looked back at me with a questioning look but still completely engulfed in concern. "My ex-stepfather married my mom when I was an infant. Promised her the world after my real dad ran off. That he was going to be there when he couldn't. She even let him help name me. I originally had his last name." I chuckled at the idea of us once being happy and put my hands on my knees.

"But it never ended up that way." I looked away from Claire for a moment and then looked back instantly after I heard her move to sit next to me instead of being on the opposite bench. She placed a hand on my arm as if to tell me to continued if I pleased, but not force me to speak. I looked down at her hand, keeping myself from looking into her eyes again.

"My stepfather caused me a lot of pain." I took a deep breath before looking over to her once more. "Once my mom found out, she threw it out and she thought we would never have to deal with him again if we moved back here from Jersey after the divorce. But we seemed to forget that he came from here too with how my mom got custody of the house that she decided to instantly sell to move back here. Leaving him with no other option but to move when we decided to come back." I leaned back against the lockers more and let my head roll back so I could stare at the ceiling.

"But now I see him every day." Even if it is by my choice. "And it takes a toll on me. I allowed it though. Thought it could help me move on knowing that I'm safe from him and that there are good things to come with moving on, but it still causes me to feel anxiety. But that's part of the process, right?" I looked back over to her with my head still against the locker. I never noticed how close in height we are. the top of her head when we stood met the middle of my own, but when sitting she was almost the same height.

"Can I ask something?" Her voice was soft as she spoke. I nodded as an allowance to continue. "Who was it?" I gulped as my throat went dry. I should have known she was going to ask that.

"Promise you won't freak out?" She placed her right hand over her heart and gave me a nod. "Promise." I looked off to the side for a second before I answered. "It was Mr. Strickler. He was my stepfather."

Then there was silence. Then she laughed a little.

"Well, that explains a lot." She laughed a little more at herself and I ended up joining along. We stayed like that for a little bit until she got a call that she instantly picked up. "¡Hola mamá!" I stayed quiet as she listened to the other line. "I understand that I'm late to the car! Lo siento mucho but a friend of mine collapsed and I decided to take into my hands to get them help."

She looked at me and gave me a small smile as listening to end and placed a hand on my leg, patting it once before getting up and grabbing her bag that I didn't realize was on the floor. "I get it mamá, I will be right there." She gave me a small wave and mouthed 'sorry, text me later' before making her way to the door. "No mom, I'm not lying because I got in trouble. Coach Lawerance can vouch if need be." That was the last thing I heard as she walked away.

I got up and grabbed my bag and headed toward the bathroom of the locker room to look at myself in the mirror. Once I got there, I put my bag over my shoulder and placed my hands on the sink.

I look like absolute shit.

My eyes were puffy and it was obvious I was crying at some point. Must have been when I was unconscious. My skin was pale and seemingly stained by the salty water that flowed there.

My God I need a break.

Then I chuckled at my self and smiled. At least I have Claire by my side. I put my hands into my hoodie pocket, about to leave school, but I noticed a crumbling noise coming from the right side of the pocket. I pulled it out to see that it was poster paper folded it up into a neat little square. I unfolded it twice to see it was the Romeo and Juliet poster, a little note left on it's back in sharpie.

If you ever need me, don't afraid to reach me. I know there's something more going on. I might not be here when you awake because my mom gets frustrated if I'm late, but I wanted to make sure you had this even if it might be something to heavy on your future list. I might not have known you for long and I know it might be hard to talk it out, but I want to be here for you.

Your friend, Claire Nuñez.

P.S: Get some sleep. You seem like you need it. Whatever it is that's going on, can't harm you if you're at your best. So fight it head-on. Get some rest. If not, I will force you to. ~ Claire.

I folded it up again and placed it in my hoodie pocket once more and looked back at myself to see that the color slowly came back to my face. I cleaned up my cheeks with my sleeves and smiled once again.

Deya, I needed this. Now to go train.

My hand ran over the flyer once more as I exited the locker room.

Then get some sleep. I have no homework anyway so harm in that.

Thank you, everyone, for being patient! I know this took a while but I wanted to stay consistent at least with the length these chapters have been! Almost five thousand words later and now we're here! I hope you guys enjoyed it and please let me know! I haven't heard much on this story and I'm dying for some feedback!

All and all, have a wonderful day and keep being musical!