Disclaimer: Trollhunters belongs to Guillermo del Toro.

Don't worry, this story will not be abandoned, it's simply that I do have a life and this is more of a hobby.

"You're bound to that girl now."

Jim shifted his weight from foot to foot, his armor creaking with him. Just because he could take it off did not mean that it was leaving him anywhere near Morgana. "I'm aware of that. What I don't know is why."

Morgana floated over to him. He tensed, instinctively preparing to fight, despite knowing that she wouldn't attack him anymore. This time, Morgana had once again opted for a fanciful dress, but this time had jewels woven throughout her hair. She tapped his amulet. "Merlin always had a plan. They always manage to go at least mostly his way, even if he loses a bit." She looked away from the amulet, crossing her arms. The emerald forearm rested on top of her right forearm. "He never intended to stop at one amulet."

The implications of her statement weren't lost on Jim. "He didn't mean to seal you away."

Morgana looked into his eyes, wrinkling her nose disdainfully. "Of course not. Merlin was always one for efficiency and permanent solutions. Having the most elite warriors with the greatest magical equipment in the world being connected by the fabric of their very being is quite efficient and leads to many permanent solutions."

The gears ticked in Jim's mind. If Merlin had managed to get Morgana's entire body, he could have created enough amulets for a squadron of Trollhunters. If they could all communicate without even speaking… "They would be unstoppable."

She nodded. "Of course, I refused to go without a fight, no matter his prattling about how it was for the 'greater good.' The magic entrapment was an accident, which he attempted to get you to rectify. Of course, that led to this predicament." She spread her arms, gesturing to the dreamscape.

"That still doesn't explain how I took your magic."

"You probably didn't. I know you have the eye of Angor Rot in that amulet, and his magic is nothing more than an extension of my power. It likely attempted to nullify my magic, but the concoction of magic already in the atmosphere, the other stones in the amulet, and the power of the spell I launched at you most likely mixed to create this outcome. I have lost my magic to overuse and exhaustion of its reserves."

Nodding, Jim asked the most prominent things on his mind. "Why aren't there younger versions of us? And why are we connected?"

Morgana floated away, a thoughtful expression on her face. Her long hair floated in front of her and she began to stroke it absently. "I can't be certain since time magic is only supposed to affect inanimate objects, but I don't believe that two of the same soul can exist. Since I have the same body that I had before travelling back in time, my soul was able to occupy it, essentially overwriting my younger soul. Your soul, on the other hand, most likely could not fit in your body. To compensate, your body changed to accommodate it."

Jim cocked his head. "Is that why I woke up on the cliff outside of town?"

"Yes. I noticed a convergence of ley lines somewhere near the town, which is probably where you woke up. The position held enough energy for your body to change itself." She floated back over to him. "You didn't need a concoction again because your soul already held the pattern for changing. Be glad that you were not aware during the changing of your body; it was probably as painful as the first time."

The half-troll winced. "How do you know how painful it is?"

"I created the method for changing creatures. Most would die of shock." She shook her head. "It's difficult to survive your atoms being pulled apart and put back together."

Jim's hands firmly clenched around his ears. "I am not going to talk about this."

Morgana made an 'ah' sound. "Right, I hadn't taken the mental trauma into account. Apologies." She floated above him, putting her hands behind her head and reclining. Suddenly, they were in an old room that Jim would expect to see in a castle, a roaring fire in a stone hearth with the walls covered in tapestries and bookshelves. Jim looked up at Morgana, tilting his head in a silent question. Surveying the room, Morgana answered it. "This was my old room when I was apprenticing under Merlin. You asked why we were connected. Again, I suspect it is because of the amulet." There was a trace of nostalgia as she talked about the room.

Carefully, Jim let the armor recede from his body. The amulet remained, prominently embedded in his left pectoral. "It's because it's a part of me now, isn't it?"

She smiled at him. A genuine smile, he noted. "Clever. You are correct, of course. Trolls have a shard of Heartstone embedded in them instead of hearts, which is what allows them to remain animated and siphon off energy from larger Heartstones, like the one in Trollmarket. The amulet is your heartstone; your second heart. It was made by this." She held up her emerald arm. "I have quite literally become a part of you. One may even say that I am the closest to your heart." Her smile became softer, and Jim tentatively smiled back. It was surprisingly easy to talk to her.

Before Jim could respond, the world turned white.

"Dammit!" Jim sat up in his bed, livid. He was making progress with Morgana! Why did he have to wake up?

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Jim growled to himself. His amulet pulsed with his heartbeat, brighter with anger. As he was working himself up more, he felt an odd sense of calm, before recognizing it as Claire. His phone pinged on his bedside table. Picking it up, he read the text. 'Are you okay?' It was from Claire. Another text came in. 'I almost just stabbed Steve with a pencil for hitting on me.'

He snorted before letting Claire's influence calm him. The image of Claire beating up Steve helped, providing a source of great amusement. He would pay money to see that.

'Sorry,' he texted back. 'Just woke up.'

'Waking up makes you that angry?'

'Most things do.' His phone went silent for a bit, allowing him to stretch. Yawning, Jim decided to get something to eat. Anxiety tinged his bond, and he gently pushed a sense of confidence across it as he trudged downstairs to his kitchen. Claire texted him again while he was rummaging through the fridge.

'I want to talk to you about that, but I want to do it face to face.' That explained the anxiety.

'Anytime is good for me.' He felt a general sense of confusion across the bond. 'What's wrong?'

'We're at the museum today. Met Nomura. She and Strickler are nowhere to be found.' So today was goblin day. This would be a particularly difficult day, since if they played their cards right, they could get Killahead bridge early. However, they would need to get past Nomura and the goblins. Without him.

'Get Toby to delete the goblin that Eli is showing everyone.' Another few minutes passed, allowing him to scarf down an entire raw steak before Claire replied.

'The goblin thing is tonight?' Excitement raced across their bond. It still felt odd, being connected to someone so intimately. Jim pushed amusement across, feeling a faint sense of sheepishness from her.

'Yep. Have fun.' With a bit of a start, he realized that this would be her first 'call,' not the gnome like him. He'd follow them from the shadows, of course, but they probably wouldn't need any help against goblins.

More importantly, they would need to make plans for tomorrow night so that they could get into the museum and get a picture of the Killahead Bridge without it being blurry and unbelievable like last time. Plus, he was going to go to Trollmarket tonight, after the whole goblin ordeal.

Shrugging to himself, he went and got some raw meat out of the fridge and dug in.

Claire sighed and put her phone in her back pocket. Since last night, she had been feeling as if she was filled past capacity. The whole soul bond thing took some getting used to, and she hadn't had nearly enough time yet. She leaned on the railings of the museum's second floor, gazing at the mural on the wall.

The surge of anger had scared her, especially with the way that it influenced her. The need to hurt something, specifically Steve, had been so overwhelming that it was a wonder that he wasn't dead. What was worse was that it hadn't even left. The rage had simply simmered down and was now a smoldering feeling in her gut. It had been ever since her soul had been bonded to Jim's.

She needed to talk to him about it, because she might actually snap soon. And she had only been dealing with it for a day.

Toby walked up behind her, Mary and Darci trailing behind him. He tapped her on the shoulder, making sure he had her attention before talking. "Claire, we have a huge problem."

"What is it?" She asked for the sake of keeping up appearances.

Mary spoke up. "Some weird green spidery thing flattened in front of Eli's house. Toby managed to delete the picture, so at least we've managed damage control. You want to call the trolls?"

Claire nodded. "After we get back. I'd like to actually have a normal day for a bit. I get the feeling that it won't happen often." Toby wandered off, saying something about examining the geological part of the museum.

Steve started making his way over to her. Claire rolled her eyes. "Not this guy again." Annoyance welled up in her, and she felt a poke of curiosity from the bond. Sending back a bit of calm, she motioned Darci and Mary over. "I don't want to talk to Steve right now."

"Who does? He's, like, the obligatory bully that every school has, and he doesn't even realize it," Mary scoffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She pulled out her phone and started texting on it, and a couple other girls came over and surrounded them. Steve stopped walking, glaring at the girls, before muttering something to himself and storming off in another direction. Claire sent Mary a grateful smile, knowing that she called them over.

Darci grabbed one of her shoulders. "Mary and I are coming to your house after school, because we need to get to the bottom of something. You don't mind, do you?"

Annoyance flared within her again before Jim soothed it from across the bond. His constant anger was making her more irritable, but at least he could still calm her down. "I kind of have something I need to do after school."

"Like mope around in Jim's house the way you have been for the past week? Uh-uh. That's what we need to talk about, and you're not getting away this time," said Darci. Mary nodded at her from the other side, and Claire was now cursing her silently. She also trapped her in by getting the other girls to surround them. Claire shrugged Darci's hand off her shoulder.

"Seriously guys, I'm fine. And besides, who else is going to make sure Toby does his homework?" Claire rolled her eyes. She loved her friends, but it would be great right now if they could be a little less caring. She was supposed to talk to Jim after school, and she really wanted to define what they were and why the hell he was so angry all the time.

Darci and Mary exchanged a glance. "He can come to your house too, right? If he makes you happy, we won't object." Darci placed a comforting hand on her back.

"Even if he is totally on the loser spectrum," muttered Mary. Darci lightly slapped the back of her head.

Claire blinked. "You want to clarify that a bit?"

"It's not unusual for people to find comfort in each other after losing something important to them. It can often lead to strong relationships."

Her amusement overwhelmed her irritation, and she started laughing. "You think me and Toby are together?"

Mary nudged Darci's shoulder. "See, I told you! Claire's way too smart to go for him!"

"Toby is great once you get to know him, but he's not really my type. You guys should get to know him, Darci especially would love his jokes."

Both girls raised their eyebrows at her before looking over the rails at Toby drooling over some rocks and then looking back at her. Claire rolled her eyes but nodded.

Claire's parents still weren't home yet, but there was plenty of guacamole and chips for them to all snack on. Toby, being his usual self, raised a hand. "I have a question."

Mary scoffed, but Darci smiled at him. "What's that?"

"What am I doing here? I mean, you guys are all friends, but I'm not really part of this clique or social level. I'd kind of like to be at my best friend's house, thanks."

"Don't you have any other losers who you hang out with?" Mary sounded genuinely curious. They all put their backpacks down around the front door, except for Toby.

"Nah. It's always been me and Jimbo. We've… never really had anyone else. I moved here right when his dad walked out on him, and I've only ever had my nana. We filled a lot of each other's gaps. No one else ever understood us enough."

Mary had gotten progressively more surprised as he had been talking, and now she was on the verge of tears. Despite her social obsessiveness, Mary was surprisingly caring, and now she understood how much she had tread on his feelings. She covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry, Toby, I never… I'm really sorry."

Toby arched an eyebrow, looking at her strangely. "Uh… it's fine? I mean, I'm pretty used to it."

Darci put a hand on his shoulder. "Not to be a downer, but you just lost the only friend you had, the one who filled the hole of your parents. I don't really know what that feels like, but we're here for you. If you want us, we can be your friends."

Claire felt like facepalming. Obviously, Toby had completely forgotten about his best friend going 'missing,' and now it was throwing off his cover. Belatedly, Toby seemed to realize that too, glancing at her wide-eyed. "Oh, um, yeah. That'd be really great, to have friends, which I guess I currently… don't have?" Toby gave them all an awkward sort of grimace.

Predictably, it was Mary who hugged him first. Darci joined in after her, and Toby looked at Claire, communicating as best as he could for her to help. Smirking, Claire shook her head. Toby's lips curled, and he did his best to gesture her over without the other two seeing. Darci caught her gaze and smiled. "C'mon Claire, there's room for another." Sighing, Claire stood up. Toby grinned at her victoriously before she joined in, doing her best to squeeze the little round bugger to death.

They all separated, Toby looking a little blue but grinning nonetheless. Claire realized that this was probably the most attention he'd ever gotten from girls his age. Catching his eyes, she sent him a glare and ran a finger across her throat to get across her point. No funny business. Toby gulped, nodding vigorously.

She got a text from Jim. 'If you want, I can meet them tonight after I hash out the plan I just thought of with Blinky.'

'What's the plan?' she typed already knew who he was referring to. She wouldn't be surprised if he was watching them from his house. It wasn't like he had much else to do.

'I'm a trainer that Blinky brought in specifically to help train you because of my human-like qualities. We don't know what race I am, not that anyone will ask.'

Thinking over it, Claire nodded to herself. It was a pretty solid idea, especially because no other troll would ask him what he was. No one would ever assume that there could be two Trollhunters, either. This way, he could help her without anyone suspecting who or what he actually was.

'I think that's a great idea, but you should definitely talk with Blinky about it.' Rather than another text, a brief pulse of satisfaction radiated across their bond. It reminded her of the other thing she wanted to talk to him about. 'Don't think you've gotten out od your talk with me.'

Amusement raced across her soul. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'

"So, who are you texting, C-bomb?" Mary popped up behind her, trying to read her texts. In a brief moment of horror, Claire realized that she had never changed Jim's contact name in her phone. Mary's eyes slid from the top of the phone to her eyes, before falling back on the couch. She blinked to herself.

Darci looked over to them. "What's up, Mare?"

"She's texting Jim." The look on her face didn't change, as if there was some problem that she couldn't work out in front of her. Darci gasped, her hands covering her mouth.

Toby quickly interjected. "Different Jim, I saw it before and thought it was Jim too. I got really angry until she explained it to me."

"I don't care what sob story you have, he was texting her about Blinky. Jim wasn't taken, was he? He's with the trolls for something." Mary was obviously trying hard to figure out what was happening. Darci was looking between her and Claire, who wore an expression like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Claire? Is she right?" Darci put her hands on her hips, getting the image of an irate mother. She sent a glare at Toby, who had tried to pipe in with another explanation.

Claire sighed and nodded.

Darci's eyes tightened, and she crossed the room to Mary. She rested a hand on her arm. "I think you owe us both an explanation."

Claire stood and motioned for them to follow. Toby jumped up ahead of her, spreading his arms over the doorframe. "Are you insane? You know how he's been recently! How is he going to take everything being derailed so quickly?"

"He'll understand, Toby. If anything he told us is true, and he hasn't lied yet, then he's fairly well acquainted with things not going his way." Toby still refused to step away. Claire rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen, Darci and Mary following her.

"Where are you going?" He yelled after her.

"Out the back door!" she yelled back. Forcing some form of what she hoped felt like an apology across her bond with Jim, she set off in the direction of his house.

Jim's head tilted in curiosity from his bedroom window when he saw that the girls had left Claire's house. Toby went from the front door, sprinting down the street. Jim bounded down the stairs to let him in.

"Shut the door!" he panted, out of breath. "They figured out that you're still around and Claire is taking them here!"

That would explain the apology from the bond. His annoyance spike briefly but simmered down to its usual level when he thought about it. It wasn't really anyone's fault, just circumstances that conspired against them. He sighed briefly, formulating his thoughts before responding. "It's fine, Toby. It's not it's her fault that they found out. I've had worse hiccups in my plans, this one is pretty minor, and it doesn't involve angry supernatural beings trying to murder me. I'd rank it as a win."

Toby stood up straight, his eyes pointed to the ceiling, thinking. He shrugged, then nodded. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess it's fine. You might want to put a shirt on, though. These are high school girls, they're probably not ready for a seven-foot six dude with the most chiseled physique they've ever seen. They just know that it's Jim, not troll Jim."

The half-troll nodded. He cleared all of the stairs with a single leap, walking into his room where the hoodie that he had used a few days ago was. He quickly shuffled into it, then thought better of going back down the stairs. "Toby, could you tell them that it's troll Jim and not human Jim? That'd probably make it easier on them."

Toby quickly caught onto his thinking. "Yeah, you stay up there! You can hear us all talking, right?"

"Yeah."

"All right, I'll tell you when to come down then."

It was about a minute before he heard the girls approach the back door. He heard Toby let them in before someone smacked his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You really tried to stop us all from going out the front door?"

"Alright, so it wasn't my best plan. I panicked!"

It had been a long time since he had heard the voice of someone other than his inner circle of friends, but he was pretty sure that Darci started talking. "Most people only panic when they're guilty." Her tone was accusatory.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to be giving up my best friend to the authorities. Can't, especially with how he is now."

The next voice was really high-pitched. Mary's. "And how is he now?"

"He's… not exactly human anymore?" Jim smacked his forehead. Toby was getting far too nervous. Who was he trying to impress? Thankfully, Claire took over.

"He's half-troll now. We'll tell you why later, but for now, just know that this is Jim. The same Jim who helps everyone with homework and problems at home and their personal life. Okay?" Claire spoke softly, but he could still hear it.

"Okay…?" Darci sounded slightly apprehensive. He didn't blame her.

"Jimbo, you can come down now," Toby called. Taking in a deep breath, Jim opened the door to his room. He stepped on to the stairs, forcing himself down them before he could change his mind.

He heard two gasps when he stepped into view. In the kitchen, Darci was gaping at him while Mary covered her mouth, her complexion getting even paler. Jim sighed, directing his gaze at the ground. Even though their reactions were expected, it still hurt when he realized that people truly didn't think of him as human anymore.

Claire walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Hey Jim," she said, pulling back with a bright smile on her face. "You have a nice sleep?" Understanding dawned on him, and Jim sent her back a full grin. He appreciated that she was trying to show the others that it really was still him.

Darci and Mary approached him slowly. Sitting on the floor so that he would be level with them, Jim let them examine him. Darci ran her hands over his horns while Mary walked around him, a contemplative look on her face. Finally, they both turned to Claire. "Why is he like this?"

His annoyance spiked. So he wasn't human anymore, but did they have to talk like he couldn't understand him anymore? "You know that I can understand you, right?"

Claire sent him a worried look. Rolling his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself so it wouldn't affect her. With a start, he noticed that Darci and Mary had backed away from him, probably unprepared for him to talk with a different voice. He cleared his throat, the sound coming out more like a growl. Wincing, he continued on with an explanation. "I'm from the future."

The two girls raised their eyebrows before glancing at each other. "Okay, did the three of you collaborate on this? I came here partially to find a missing person that the police department is currently searching for. If you're not going to take this seriously, I'm leaving," said Darci, glaring.

Jim sighed. Deciding that he wanted to test something, he did his best to put the idea of summoning Daylight and giving it to him in Claire's mind. A gasp came from her, before she looked him in the eyes and nodded. "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" Everyone except Jim covered their eyes as Claire's armor formed around her.

The glare lessening, Mary snarked at them. "Are you planning on attacking us?" In response, Claire just threw Daylight to Jim.

It looked much like a short sword in his hands, he mused. Much smaller than he was used to. Looking up, he met Darci's wide eyes, smirking at her gaping face. "But – I thought only Trollhunters could wield Daylight?"

Jim nodded. "That's right."

"Then how-"

Mary cut her off. "He's the Trollhunter." When Jim nodded to her in confirmation, still sitting, she continued. "From the future."

"Yeah. Trust me, I didn't plan on this." He grabbed the blunt side of the blade and handed Daylight back to Claire, hilt first. She took it, dismissing both it and the armor after looking at her friends a moment longer.

Darci and Mary sat down on the couch, carefully examining everyone in the room. Darci cleared her throat. "So, Jim, do you have an amulet too?"

In response, Jim lifted up his hoodie. Mary's face instantly turned red, her jaw dropping. Darci had red rise over her face, but tactfully ignored it for examining the amulet embedded over Jim's heart more closely. Mary started drooling, her eyes not leaving Jim's exposed midriff. Claire snapped her fingers in front of Mary's face, glaring at her meaningfully. Shaking off her stupor, the Asian girl flicked her eyes between Jim and Claire before she slowly started smirking. "So that's why you didn't tell us," she started. "You didn't want to share."

Claire's eyes widened, before she started vehemently denying it. "It's not like that! He just – we didn't – I wanted to – ugh!" She glared at her friend's laughs, attracting Darci's attention. From Claire's red face and Mary snorting with laughter, it didn't take her long to piece together what they were talking about. She decided to get in on the action.

"Hey Claire! You got dibs, or do you mind if I move in?" Mary doubled over from her new wave of laughter, and Toby started laughing. Claire turned a thunderous expression on her before a flash of light forced Darci to cover her eyes.

Claire looked dumbfounded standing in her newly summoned armor. Jim started chuckling, surprising everyone with his deep, growling laughter. It took him a few seconds to realize that no one else was laughing, and he ducked his head in mortification. He felt a wave of affection and happiness from Claire, whose armor dissipated. She was smiling warmly at him. "What?" he asked, somewhat conscious of himself.

Her smile turned into a full-blown grin. "That's the first time that I've heard you laugh." She walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I like it."

"Jesus, just kiss already!" Darci shouted from her position next to Mary on the couch. Toby, standing next to them, put both thumbs up and grinned at the two of them.

Claire rolled her eyes, stepping away from Jim, who stood up. The half-troll looked at them, internally debating on what to tell them. He sighed, figured that they should be in the know, now that they were involved. "Alright, you two, this is the last time that I'm going to go through this story, so listen up. Hold your questions until the end."

He spun his tale for them, going over the bare bones of the story. He wasn't going to share anything too personal with them, he didn't know them all too well. The parts that they were in were included, though, as he figured they would want to know what anything that they needed to worry about.

By the end, Mary was gushing about how cool everything was and how she was going to be the best sidekick ever, while Darci stared at Jim with a frown. He was getting a bit uncomfortable but masked it by crossing his arms over his chest. "What?"

"The transformation. What was it like?"

"I don't remember." He hoped that she didn't catch the tremor in his voice.

"I think you do. What was it like?" She pressed further, her eyes narrowing.

"It doesn't matter. It's not going to happen to anyone else." Jim did his best to dismiss the issue, since the others were starting to get curious about it.

"You practically skipped over it, just said you transformed. Why? And why wouldn't you want it to happen to anyone else?"

Jim cut the conversation off. "Enough. It doesn't matter. You two need to be going, anyways." He couldn't keep the tiny growl and rising anger out of his voice or the bond.

Claire caught his eye. She firmly pushed a calming influence over the bond, but it wasn't enough. He wanted them out of his house. This was his territory, and they had overstayed their welcome.

Toby knew what was happening. "Wow, look at the time! Your parents must be wondering where you are, it's time to go!" He grabbed their bags, taking them out the door. Claire nodded at them, making them reluctantly get up and follow Toby.

Jim sat heavily on the couch, heaving out an angered breath and putting his head in his hands. They clenched around his head slightly, pulling on his hair before he moved them to stroke his horns. Claire sat down next to him, doing her best to soothe him physically and emotionally. Without looking at her, he started talking. "I don't want to be like this."

"I know." She laid her cheek on his upper arm, leaning her body into his side. Her warmth did wonders on his nerves. The half-troll looked down at her, and she smiled up at him. She lifted a hand to his cheek, stroking it lightly, making him smile. "Can we talk now?" she asked softly.

Jim nodded, bracing himself for what he assumed would be an unpleasant talk. He wasn't prepared for her question of "What are we?"

The veteran Trollhunter that had seen far too many surprises blinked, completely surprised. "Uh… you're human, I'm half Jotun?"

"No, not like that. What are we? As in, our relationship?" She lowered her hand. Jim bit his lip, barely managing not to ask her to put it back. Instead, he focused on her question.

Contemplating it, he actually wondered. He knew that there was something there, there always had been. Even before they met. He didn't want to move too fast and scare her off, though. "I… don't know." Calling them friends felt wrong. They were more than that, despite Claire not knowing him all that long.

"What do you want to be?" Claire stared up at him, not breaking eye contact.

"More." He didn't even hesitate, he knew what he wanted. Thanks to their bond, he had a pretty good idea of what she wanted too.

Claire moved from his side, pulling herself into his lap. Jim's heart swelled from the sight, how tiny she was compared to him now. The moment he had met her, he knew that he was gone.

There was no resistance as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers, their souls rejoicing with each other as their bodies did the same.