Disclaimer: Trollhunters belongs to Guillermo del Toro.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
Shout out to Forever-Furuba for always reviewing, and thanks to everyone else who also reviews. It's an indescribable feeling, knowing that people actually like your writing.
The Pub was an interesting place when everyone wasn't glaring at you like you didn't belong.
There were trolls in all emotional states; crying, laughing, quiet, there was even a bar fight in the corner. Thankfully it was some of the smaller trolls and a couple gnomes, so there wasn't too much damage. Given everyone else's reactions, though, this was relatively normal.
"Ah, Tarmek! There you are!" Draal enthusiastically greeted him.
"Hey, Draal. Yeah, I've been helping the Trollhunter with something. Sorry to keep you waiting." Jim didn't miss the way that Draal momentarily snarled at the mention of the Trollhunter.
"Never mind that. Tonight is to prepare us for the glorious battle tomorrow! Bugan, we'll need another mug of grog over here. This one has never had the sweet taste of grog pass his lips!" The rest of the Pub gasped, all falling silent. Everyone crowded around their table, making Jim extremely uncomfortable. His ears pressed back against his head and he let out a small whine.
Draal noticed his distress and clapped him on the back. "Not to worry, it's a tradition to see how well a troll takes their first gulp. The way you react will tell us what kind of a troll you are!"
The red troll that Jim presumed was Bugan brought him a cup filled with grog, then eagerly waited with the rest of the trolls, watching. Jim felt extremely nervous, glad that Claire was already asleep and wouldn't be affected by what he was about to do. Hesitantly, he brought the cup up to his lips, and before he could apply better judgement to his current actions, took as big of a swig as he could.
He immediately wanted to die.
Despite the burning in his mouth, tongue, throat, and even stomach, Jim stayed resolute. He forced himself to stay in the same casual position as before, even though his muscles tensed beneath his shirt. And then, the most peculiar thing happened. The burning became with a cool, calming sensation, as if he had been drinking a soda instead. The way that it initially burned but was replaced with the cool sensation instead. Jim grinned. "This isn't bad."
The trolls all cheered, slapping his back and congratulating him. Draal laughed, slapping his hand on the table. "A warrior, then! Unsurprising as it may be, congratulations, my friend!"
Jim took another swig before continuing their conversation. "So, this is for tomorrow, huh?"
"It is the ancient tradition of warriors to feast before battle." Draal took another swig of his own glug, shaking his head to dispel its disorienting effects.
"And why is this battle necessary?"
"Because she is not worthy of being the Trollhunter. She is challenging both my honor and the honor of my father."
"So why do you hate her? Because she became the Trollhunter, or because she beat you?"
Draal slammed his glug back on the table, narrowing his eyes at Jim. "It sounds like you are taking her side."
"Is there a reason not to?" Jim took another sip of his own glug.
"She is not a troll! She knows nothing of our people, our customs! She is unfit to be the Trollhunter!" Draal yelled.
"She is more experienced than you might think. Do not forget that I have been training her as well as sparring with you." Jim glared at him. He would not let those he loved be insulted in front of him.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Eventually, Draal sighed. "I don't envy you, Tarmek. It is the nature of teachers to care about their students." Jim snorted. Probably a different kind of care than what he had for Claire. "Tomorrow, you either lose your student or your friend. No matter the outcome, you lose. For that, I am sorry."
"Yeah," he said quietly, getting up from his seat. "Me too."
Leaving the Pub, Jim contemplated their conversation. He was immeasurably glad that he would not lose Draal or Claire. Not to each other, anyways.
A statue fell with its arms crossed into a crystal cavern, a smile etched forever on its features.
Jim shook his head, dispelling the image. It wouldn't happen again. Hopefully, he could get away with not having to reawaken Merlin again. Wizards were more trouble than they were worth.
Making his way back to Blinky's library, Jim took a small detour through the market, just to see their wares. Over the past few days, he had gained an enjoyment of watching the trolls interact with each other, especially when bartering in the market. So far, he had not actually bought any merchandise, preferring to leave interacting with society up to Blinky.
A brief snort of amusement came from Jim as he remembered the day before he killed Gunmar. They had said that he was still Jim, but there were too many things that had changed. Once, he had been okay with meeting new people, even if he had been a little introverted. Now, though, he would unconsciously keep out of the arm length of anyone that he did not. He had not spoken to any new trolls, either. Draal and Vendel were already etched into his memories, even if they did not act the same as he remembered.
Finally entering Blinky's library, Jim bypassed the books and headed straight for the trapdoor. It had been a while since he had slept, and although he needed less with the Heartstone, he still needed more than most trolls. Plus, he wanted to talk to Morgana. She was quickly becoming a friend, despite how their relationship had started. She also knew more about the changelings and Gumm-Gumms than anyone.
As Jim descended into the living area of Blinky's library, he noted the deep rumbles of AAARRRGGH! and Blinky's much quieter breaths. When he entered his own room, he unbuckled Nightfall and propped it up against his bed. He sat down on his bed, stripping off his armor before slipping under the covers and closing his eyes.
"Look who's back."
Jim opened his eyes to Morgana floating directly over him, staring into his eyes. She sighed. "I much preferred it when you were on the surface. I had much more entertainment."
Jim grinned. "Sorry to disappoint you, Milady. I'll be needing more rest soon, though, once I leave for the Old World."
Morgana frowned at him. "I still believe that is a bad idea. You should at least get someone to take with you."
Rolling his eyes, Jim responded, "I'm not letting you out, Morgana. Once we've built up some trust, then I might think about it. Besides, even if I wanted to let you out, I would have to go grab the Staff of Avalon from Merlin's tomb. Which could wake Merlin. Do you really want that?" He sure as hell didn't.
"Not particularly." Morgana dropped next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
A silence bloomed between them. Not an uncomfortable one, though. A thought eventually occurred to Jim. "Hey, if you wanted someone to talk to every night, couldn't you talk to Claire?"
"If I was capable of reaching out to the amulet bearers in this crystal, don't you think I would have? The amulet is quite literally your heart. That is a very different connection than someone who simply carries the amulet."
"There's no way for you to talk to her while you're trapped?"
"Perhaps if she slept directly underneath me with the armor on, but even then, the probability is low. Besides, I have no interest in the backup."
"She's not a backup, Morgana."
"Really? Then why did the amulet only call for her once it determined that you could not take it? Why is it you that trains her? Which of you killed Gunmar while fighting off Angor Rot, again?"
"She's had the amulet for a week, Morgana, give her some time." Jim sat up, forcing Morgana to raise her head. He picked her up, ignoring her pout, and stood up, setting her down next to him. "Hey, what do you know about Stricklander?"
"The leader of the Janus order? Quite a bit. Are you asking if I can help to get him on your side?"
"Yeah."
"Look at you, manipulating a helpless woman to get what you want. I never thought I'd see the day." Morgana sat back on an elaborate chair she conjured.
Jim rolled his eyes. "We both know you're not helpless, Morgana. But seriously, I would love some help. If I could get him taken care of before I leave, then I would be much happier with the way that things will go here." He conjured a beanbag so that he could recline.
"Then I'm sorry to tell you that there is no way that he will join you. Not yet. He believes that the best thing to do for his people right now is to get Gunmar out of the Darklands, and as you well know, he is very stubborn. He would need a greater reason to come over to your side."
"Like my mom."
"Love is always good at changing people's minds, yes."
They fell silent for another moment. Jim cleared his throat, grabbing a horn nervously. "Uh, this is a really personal question, so you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but is there anyone you ever loved?"
"Hmm." Morgana contemplated the question for a moment. "Not in a healthy way, no."
Jim nodded. He had suspected as much and would not force morgana to relive those memories.
"By the way, is there some way that we can get some warning before-"
Everything turned white.
"Dammit," Jim sighed when he woke up. Before he got out of his bed all the way, he strapped all of his armor back on. Getting up, he buckled Nightfall back on before leaving his room.
Walking up the stairs into Blinky's library, he was greeted by the other two trolls that lived there.
"Ah, Master Jim! How was your day yesterday? AAARRRGGHH! and I barely saw you." Blinky smiled at him, while the Krubera nuzzled is forehead. Jim made a whine of greeting to him before doing the same with Blinky.
"Yesterday was great. Vendel left me alone long enough for me to grab the Daylight walking stone."
"He left box out?" AAARRRGGHH! rumbled.
"Yeah, but it helped that I knew what it looked like. Does he check it often? I didn't really think about that at first."
Blinky held up his hands, palms up, his equivalent of a shrug. "I do not know. As long as you have left once he discovers its theft, you should be fine. When is your next lesson with him?"
"At four in the morning until I leave."
Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! both glanced at each other before looking back at him. "You'd best be on your way, then, given that it is currently three fifty-five."
Jim blinked. "Oh shit." He launched himself out of the library as fast as he could, jumping through the streets to the Heartstone. Several trolls shot him odd looks, but he was less focused on them and more focused on not annoying Vendel for being late.
Outside the Heartstone, he slowed down just enough not to crash into the guards. Swiftly pulling out Nightfall and putting on the table, he nodded to the guards, who pulled up their halberds and let him in.
Once inside, Jim found Vendel in his usual position, hunched over his desk, examining some crystal. "Elder." Jim tilted his head up to greet Vendel.
"Tarmek. Welcome back." Vendel gestured to the area in front of his desk. Taking his cue, Jim walked up to it and stood there, his hands behind his back. "You did well in your greeting and waiting for me to summon you to approach. Make sure your hands are in full view as best you can; clasping them behind you makes it seem as if you have a weapon. Leave them by your sides."
"Is there a particular stance that I should be in? Humans find it disrespectful if you do not stand up straight in front of them." Jim made sure to change his stance to accommodate Vendel's remarks.
"No. The stance that you find respectful will most likely work. It shows that you do not fear them, but you respect them enough to pay attention." Vendel placed a book on the table. "Since we do not have much time today due to Draal's challenge, I would like for you to read this. While it is not A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore, it is a brief history of the Old World over the past two centuries. Or at least as much as we can find."
Jim picked up the book. Compared to A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore, it was indeed small. He opened to a random page, taking note of the date on it. 1936. Flipping a few pages later, he noticed how almost the entirety of World War II was skipped. Looking up at Vendel, he was about to ask the question, but the old troll beat him to it. "The Huldufólk made communication difficult during the war. While their numbers had been decimated in the war with the Gumm-Gumms, they look close enough to human to sometimes be able to pass as them, which made their invasion of other troll cities much easier, since they could masquerade as soldiers. Since then, we have not been able to get any news from areas past Germany."
The half-troll nodded, closing the book. "Thank you, elder. I will have this done as soon as possible."
"See to it that you do." Vendel waved his hand, dismissing him.
Jim took the book with him, grabbing Nightfall as he left the Heartstone. He was glad that he was so good at memorizing terrain, since it made it much easier to get back to Blinky's library. The Darklands were useful for something after all.
When he walked in, he was met with the sight of everyone fussing over Claire. Blinky was quizzing her on the three Trollhunter rules, which Claire was answering with an exasperated air.
"Rule number one." Blinky held up a finger.
"Always be afraid."
"Rule number two." Blinky held up two arms, one finger up on each.
"Always finish the fight, but we're disregarding that one, right?"
"For now. Rule number three?"
"When in doubt, kick them in the gronk-nuks."
"Keep in mind that Draal has a blind spot behind him," Jim cut in.
Claire looked up, startled, but Blinky simply nodded. "Indeed. I do believe that you are as prepared for this fight as you can get, Fair Claire."
"And it's thanks to you guys." Claire smiled at them all, her gaze lingering on Jim for a moment. "You know, two weeks ago my biggest worry was a play. I'm still a little shocked as to how fast everything's been happening."
"Yeah, but you've got us, C-Bomb! Not to mention Jimmy-Jam. You definitely have him." Mary smirked at them, laughing a bit at Claire's reddening cheeks.
"Don't worry about this, girl! You've got this. He's just a bigger and stronger Steve made of rocks," Darci added.
"Pretty sure that worrying is the first rule of Trollhunting, but yeah, don't be too afraid. Jim did it, and he was way more of a mess than you are. I believe in you."
Jim shook his head exasperatedly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Tobes."
Toby slapped him on the middle of his back, since that was as high as he could reach. "No worries, Jim, you've got it together now. I'd bet on you over Draal too." He grinned up at his best friend, Jim grinning back at him.
Blinky shook his head. "We shouldn't be wasting our time here. There isn't much time before the fight, so let us make our way towards the Hero's Forge. As the younger, you will be entering from the gate, and as the elder, Draal will be entering from the bridge."
"Let's go, then. This is probably as good as I'm ever going to get, so the least I can do is try and figure out a strategy to use in the arena," Claire said.
Despite her nonchalant demeanor, Jim could feel how nervous she was. Not only nervous, she was terrified. Not that he blamed her. Draal was eight feet of whatever the troll term for muscle was and had centuries of experience fighting. She had been at this for a grand total of about a week.
To try and lift her spirits, he scooped her up and put her on his shoulders. Claire gave a shout of surprise, before instinctually curling around his head and wrapping her legs around his neck. "Hold on," he said, before launching into the air. He ran across the rooftops at a breakneck pace, listening to Claire's breathless laugh and feeling his heart soar. Even if there were times that he hated his new self, he always felt alive when he was feeling the wind part around him. Claire's nervousness burned away at the feelings of excitement that both she and Jim were feeling, and he did his best to fuel that excitement within her.
Only too soon had they reached the Hero's Forge. Both unwilling to part from one another, Jim slowed to a walking speed to get to their area behind the gate. The other trolls looked at him questioningly, and a couple openly glared at Claire on his shoulders, but Jim didn't care. They could think whatever they wanted as long as they left him alone.
When they finally reached their designated spot, Jim reluctantly picked Claire up off his shoulders and set her on the ground. She stared at his face, smiling, before sighing. A foreign feeling seeped into his soul. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said. Jim stared at her expectantly. She sighed but continued anyways. "I just really want to kiss you."
"Oh." He was once again grateful that blushes did not show through stone skin. Smiling down, he took a note of her blushing face and let his amusement and affection flow freely through the bond. "After the fight, then."
Basking in her emotions in the soul bond was something that Jim had taken to doing whenever he needed to calm down or if he just had the time. She was usually so calm, so happy, and maybe a little stressed, but what high school student wasn't? It was much better than the complex human emotions mashed with the troll animalistic feelings that made up his own mind.
When the other five walked in, they saw Jim leaning over Claire, resting his forehead on hers. Blinky immediately walked over to them and broke them apart. "Have you lost your mind, doing that in public?"
Claire tilted her head. "What's bad about it?"
"Only mates show affection that way," AAARRRGGHH! rumbled. "See troll doing it with human without knowing story is bad."
"Beyond bad, that is practically taboo!"
"Wait, that's the troll equivalent of making out?" asked Mary.
Darci smacked Mary's arm. "Why do you think Jim's dad just broke them apart like an embarrassed parent? By the way, Claire, we're totally saying that we caught you making out with your boyfriend now."
Claire stayed resolutely silent, becoming more and more red by the minute.
Toby held up his hands. "But seriously, I don't think any of the trolls saw. If they did, they'd be kicking up a huge fuss, wouldn't they? No offense, but you're not exactly the subtlest of creatures."
"You are correct, Tobias, but I implore the two of you to keep your displays of affection to more private venues." Blinky glared at the two of them. "And Master Jim, while I may not have any formal power of you, I will still – how do the humans say it – ground you if you do this again in public. Understood?"
"Yes, Blinky," Jim muttered, staring at the ground. He had a slouched over posture, his ears drooping.
"Good. Now you, Fair Claire, need to prepare yourself. You have a fight to dominate." Blinky pulled her to the gate, AAARRRGGHH! and her two friends following closely behind. Toby walked up beside Jim, silently standing with him.
"Next time you start giving free rides, I want one. If you don't mind, though, I'll pass on the make-out afterwards." He nearly died laughing when Jim slammed his forehead hard enough into the wall to create spiderweb cracks.
"Gathered trollkind! The son of the previous Trollhunter has laid a challenge before the current Trollhunter, and you shall all bear witness to the ensuing battle, which will be one for the ages!" Vendel sighed to himself. He already knew the outcome of the battle; no matter how good Draal was, if someone who was able to kill Gunmar and fend off Angor Rot while doing so personally trained and vouched for the other fighter, he would put his bet on the other fighter.
"Draal, son of Kanjigar, son of Tarigar, Draal "the Destroyer," come forth." The old troll watched as the aforementioned challenger rolled forth from the bridge, milking the audience's praise and generally showing off. Sighing to himself, Vendel decided that it was better for Draal to lose. It was about time he got a lesson in humility.
"And now, the challenged, Claire Nuñez, daughter of… ha-vie-air. Come forth, human Trollhunter." Observing silently, he noted as the trolls booed her. A couple of them even threw litter at her, which made Vendel sigh. He had hoped that using the sacred ground of the Hero's Forge would be enough to stop the trolls from throwing trash, but apparently not.
Someone would have to clean all that up later.
The human Trollhunter floated off the ground as she summoned her armor. It was an odd feeling, seeing an armor that he was so familiar with being resized to fit something so small. Draal pounded the ground and snorted across from her, trying to intimidate her, but Vendel was pleased to see that while she did not seem to be much, she refused to be cowed. He paused another moment for dramatic effect before giving the signal.
"Begin!"
The crowd roared with anticipation, but neither of the fighters moved. Both stood, glaring at each other with all of their might, not moving an inch even as the arena began to shift around them. He wondered why that might be, before he scoffed to himself and thought back to who they had both been training with recently. Finally, and rather predictably, it was Draal who moved first.
They had both been carried to the top of the spire, and the bull-like troll capitalized on the reduced space that Claire had to dodge by running and not rolling towards her. In response, though, Claire chucked her sword at him, the blade pointing straight as she dived off the central platform onto one of the other platforms, rolling to stick her landing. Draal slapped the blade to the side with the back of his arm before attempting to follow her, but by that time Claire had already moved again.
The girl was doing her best to stay out of Draal's sight, which was a wise decision on her part. In a straight fight, she would have no chance against him. Her only saving grace right now would be her size and strategy.
The bull-like troll leapt down to the platform that Claire had been on but was forced to jump to the next one when it began to turn vertical. Draal looked around wildly, searching for his quarry who was on the other side of the spire. Currently, she was trying to climb up to the top, most likely to ambush him from the top.
Unfortunately, when Claire had pulled herself up to the central platform, Draal chose that moment to jump back up to survey the area again. Their eyes met, and Draal gave a brief roar before barreling towards her.
Claire crouched down as low as she could, keeping Daylight parallel to the ground. As he came close, she stabbed forward, forcing him to jerk to the side and nearly fall off the spire. Claire tried to exploit his imbalance, lashing out with a swing meant to push him off and force him to fall, but Draal only barely managed to grab her sword and throw her.
Vendel internally winced when Claire slammed into the wall and tumbled down it. The crowd cheered for Draal, but the elder was barely able to make out Jim snarling from behind the gate, AAARRRGGHH! barely managing to restrain him. The other humans were throwing their fists around and screaming something he couldn't hear.
Claire tried to push herself off the ground but was forced to roll to the side when Draal came careening down where she had just been. Dust exploded from the ground, briefly obscuring the audience's vision, but when they were able to see again, Draal was on his knees, cradling his gronk-nuks. Vendel snorted, pleased that the Trollhunter was making good usage of the rules so far.
The crowd went silent. Claire was hiding behind Draal's back, and the troll couldn't find her. Behind the two of them, the spire began to fold back into the ground, but the blades were still swinging from the walls.
Draal whipped around, holding out his arm and backhanding Claire through the air.
Behind the gate, Jim slapped his forehead.
Claire coughed, struggling to get back up before she caught sight of Draal rolling towards her and held up her hands instead. Her armor glowed a bright blue before a fine mist formed over her like a shield, and Draal bounced off it. Undeterred, the troll angled his ump so that he would land on the shield and started slamming his fists into it. He was saying something, but Vendel couldn't hear what.
Draal got tired of pounding the shield and picked Claire up by an arm. He took a second to glare at her before slamming her into the ground and tossing her against the wall again.
This time, Claire lied on the ground for several seconds before trying to get back up. Vendel could see that her movements were getting more sluggish, and he knew that this match was most likely over.
If Draal did not stop, he would be forced to intervene. From what he had observed, Jim would be enough to take on most of Trollmarket before falling, and they could not afford to have that right now.
However, he was presently surprised when Claire ducked back down beneath a blade that slammed into Draal, throwing him through the air in an almost gentle arc and off the edge.
The human Trollhunter got up much more easily than before, and Vendel stroked his goatee. Faking weakness to lure an enemy into an ambush was not the most honorable technique, but the elder was old enough to know that honor wasn't always something to strive for. When the girl had finally made her way to the ledge, one of her arms hanging limply, she summoned Daylight again.
Vendel narrowed his eyes. The crowd was chanting for the kill, and the girl looked like she would indulge them. However, he would not stand for the child of the previous Trollhunter being murdered by the current one over something as petty as honor.
Thankfully, he did not have to intervene, as Claire plunged the sword into the ground and wrapped the limp arm around it, grimacing. She used it as leverage to help the defeated troll back onto the ground of the Forge, where the two nodded to each other.
Draal's shoulders rose, then fell in a large sigh. He cast his eyes towards the ground and began his walk of shame back to his home, where he would take some essentials and leave. The troll let the trash and gnomes pelt him without any resistance, well aware of his new lack of standing in Trollmarket. The Trollhunter looked after him, briefly sighing herself before being engulfed by her companions, who had launched themselves from the gate as soon as it had opened.
Vendel nodded to himself. This was shaping up to be a promising future indeed.
"C-bomb! You did it!" Mary shouted as they reached Claire.
Blinky threw his fists in the air and cheered. "Splendid job, Fair Claire!"
"Hmm. Good job," rumbled AAARRRGGHH!. Jim noted that he was looking sadly at Draal, but he knew that Draal wouldn't be too badly off by the end of the night.
"Nice going, Claire! Told you that you could do it," said Toby, grinning at her.
"You okay, Claire? You took some bad hits." Darci kneeled next to her and looked her over.
Jim was immensely proud of her. He had barely won, mostly through luck and a tiny bit of strategizing, and she had done just as if not more admirably than he had. However, he could also feel how much pain she was in, and how tired she was. "C'mon guys," he said. "She's tired. Let's get back to the library so I can check out her injuries."
They all nodded. Darci pulled her up by her good arm, but she sagged on the other side. Mary tried to get the other arm over her shoulder, but Claire cried out when she touched it. Jim sighed, walking over to Darci's side. "Here, I got her," the half-troll said. Darci handed her off to him, but he ignored her arm in favor of scooping her up with an arm beneath her knees and another behind her back. He made sure that her bad arm was laid across her stomach before they all set off.
"You know, I was expecting to be able to hide behind him," Claire said, glaring up at him.
Jim winced. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said. "I've been sparring with him and used it against him a couple times. I didn't realize that he had adapted to it by now. Speaking of which, the move to take him down was very familiar."
"In the words of many wise men, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," she responded, her eyes bright.
The rest of them laughed, while the trolls shrugged at each other.
"So, Jim," Toby started, getting his attention.
"Yeah?"
"Still going to kill Draal after you've relieved him of his horns and gronk-nuks, or have you calmed down now?"
Jim sighed, wishing he had a free hand to cover his eyes with. Unfortunately, the subject of which he wanted to hide that little comment from was firmly situated within his arms and was not trying hard at all to hold back her laughter. "What happened to the bro code, Tobes?" he lamented.
Toby shrugged. "There are certain sources of entertainment that one cannot ignore, my friend. Embarrassing you in front of your crush of years is one of them."
The half-troll snorted. "You're just angry I haven't hung out with you lately."
"That's always a possibility, too. I want some bro time before…" he trailed off, making Jim sigh. He knew that everyone within his pack was unhappy with his decision to leave, but it was something that had to be done.
"You know I have to do it, Toby." The others sensed the turn in the conversation and were shuffling along uncomfortably.
Before Toby could reply, however, Darci spoke up. "What's your plan for the Old World?"
Sometimes, Jim regretted not becoming friends with Darci earlier. Out of their entire group, she was the best with social cues and comfortability. He wondered why. "Well, the first thing that I'm gonna do is find the Inferna Copula. Y'know, so Angor Rot doesn't murder me on sight. Not that he can. I'm kind of immune to magic."
Everyone halted in their tracks. Self-consciously, Jim halted between them. "What?"
"You're immune to magic?" Blinky asked, staring at him, completely bewildered.
"Well, yeah. I've got Angor Rot's eye in my..." He looked around, making sure no one was listening. He really should've done that to start with, but he wasn't used to having to hide things in Trollmarket. "…in my amulet. It'll just bounce off of me. Or apparently throw me back in time. At least I assume that's the reason that I came back, because nothing else really makes sense. Doesn't really matter, anyways." Becoming uncomfortable with the way that they were standing still in a crowded market with an injured Claire in his arms, he jerked his head in the direction of the library. "Can we go, please?"
The trek was more silent. None of them said anything until they got back to the library, where Jim said, "Can you guys all stay out here for a bit? I need to check Claire's ribs."
Darci crossed her arms. "Maybe I should come in with you."
Jim nodded, but was surprised when Claire said, "No, I've got some things to say to him, and I don't get a lot of private time with Jim."
Toby snorted, and Mary wiggled her eyebrows at them. Jim sighed. "Really, Claire?"
"What? It's not like we'll be doing anything more than talking." She nodded her head towards the library's entrance. "Get walking, mister."
In the library, Jim deposited Claire on a table. "Dismiss the armor," he said. A second later, the armor glowed and disappeared, the amulet falling into his waiting hand. "Alright, I'm going to need to take off your jacket, so I can look at your shoulder," he said. She sat up, shrugging it off of her good shoulder. As carefully as he could, Jim pulled it off of her bad arm, then pulled back her sleeve, grimacing at the discomfort he felt at her pain.
He didn't need too much time to figure out what was wrong. Her shoulder was very obviously out of its socket, but it was an easy fix. "So, Claire, what do you think of Nomura?"
"The museum changeling lady? She's kind of badass, even if – Aaggh!" She screamed as Jim forcefully shoved her arm back in her socket, twisting it a tiny bit to get it correctly situated. She curled into herself slightly, holding her other arm over her shoulder. "Dammit, that hurt."
"Yeah, I know." Jim had to set a couple of his own dislocated arms. By this time, he could do it like Nomura did right before he had turned himself into what he was now. Toby watched him do it once and immediately passed out, just like he did with Nomura. That was a funny memory.
"Shirt up. I need to check the ribs." He tried to ignore the implications of that, but it was a bit difficult with Claire smiling at him like that and the feelings of amusement streaming across the bond. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop it."
The amusement grew stronger, but she did it nonetheless. Getting to work, Jim stared at the blotchy spots on her skin, putting his fingers against them gently. After a moment, he was able to determine that none of her ribs were broken, but his fingers did not leave her skin. It was only just now occurring to him that this was the first time he had seen her stomach, and wow, was it toned. "Hey," she said. Alarmed, he flicked his eyes up at her, feeling like he had just gotten caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Her eyes sparkled, and he felt an intense affection across their bond. "You done yet? I want that kiss you said I could have earlier."
The half-troll snorted and pulled down her shirt. Claire scooted to where her legs dangled over the edge of the table, pulling Jim closer to her by his neck until she could touch her lips to his. Her hands dragged through his hair, then transferred to his horns. Jim briefly broke this kiss, so he could raise his eyebrows at her. "What?" she said, defensively. "I like them." To prove her point, she pulled him back down by them, sucking on his bottom lip and catching it between her teeth.
After another minute of kissing and basking in each other's presence, Jim reluctantly pulled away. "We should probably get the rest of them in here before they barge in here and ask us what we're doing."
Claire rolled her eyes but nodded anyways. Jim shouted, "Alright, you guys can come in now!"
Toby and Mary were the first to burst in, Darci walking in after them. The two trolls ambled in behind them, embroiled in their own discussion. "Jiiim, Darci's being a killjoy!"
"Yeah, like, totally not cool," Mary agreed, her phone in her hand.
Jim looked to Darci and raised his eyebrows. She scoffed, saying, "I wouldn't let them rush in and get pictures of you two making out."
"Thank you, Darci," he said, ignoring her comment of them making out. "Maybe Toby and Mary should take a page out of your book in being friends."
"Nah," said Toby. "I'm the best friend. The best friend becomes that when they know so much that you can't get rid of them."
Jim just covered his face with a palm. It wasn't enough to hide his grin.
Blinky clapped his hands to get their attention. "Moving on. Claire, I want you to know that you did excellently."
"I got my arm dislocated and nearly cracked all of my ribs. How is that excellent?"
Jim laughed. "I did break my ribs when I fought him. Also, Nomura may or may not be waiting for you at home. You guys never did tell me if you got arrested like I did."
Darci rolled her eyes. "Claire and Toby did. I know enough to not get caught, thank you."
Jim looked to Mary, who was currently typing on her phone. Without looking up, she replied, "Yeah, I went with the one whose dad is a detective. Sorry-not-sorry C-bomb."
"Traitor," Claire muttered.
"She's probably waiting at home for you then. In which case I will be following you home. I'll do my best not to be seen by Draal if he shows up, but if he doesn't, then I'll hop in."
"Yeah, that's a great way to introduce my boyfriend to my parents," Claire said. "He followed me home. Can I keep him?"
The other three laughed, but Jim just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, laugh it up. Just means extra training for all of you until I leave."
That sobered them up.
"In any case," Blinky said, "You said that Killahead bridge has only been moved from one room of the museum to another. Do you think you could verify that tonight while you are above ground?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Jim could do stealth pretty well in his troll form. And tracking. Anything to do with hunting, really. He was pretty sure the Jotuns were hunters, if he was anything to go by.
"Then we all have our tasks. Master Jim, will you be coming back to Trollmarket afterwards?"
"Nah, Toby and I have some catching up to do. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning after Vendel's lesson, though."
"Very well then." He and Blinky gently butted horns, then he nuzzled AAARRRGGHH!.
"Alright. You guys leave, and then I'll wait for Draal to follow. See you in an hour or so, Toby, Claire. Goodnight to you, Darci and Mary." The four humans nodded, Mary and Darci repeating his goodnight.
Alone with Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!, Jim relaxed. He hopped onto one of the tables, looking down at them. "So, what do you guys want to do for a bit?"
Before they could reply, Jim heard the tink of Vendel's staff against the stone ground. Evidently, the two of them did too, since Blinky sighed and AAARRRGGHH! turned towards the entrance. When Vendel appeared in the doorway, he stared at them for a moment before speaking. "Blinkous, AAARRRGGHH!, a word."
"Very well. Good night, Tarmek."
"Night."
They followed Vendel out of the library, leaving Jim to his own devices.
Jim breathed deeply once he was under the stars of the night sky.
It was always strange to be able to smell the residue of cars and other such machines whenever he came up, along with faintly hearing dogs barking from half a mile away.
It served as a reminder for how much he had changed.
Before he lost himself in thoughts again, though, he summoned his armor to him. He had a job to do.
The first thing was figuring out how he would be getting to the museum without being seen. He knew that the cameras were fake, what with Bular constantly moving around inside and outside, but he needed to be sure that none of the changelings or the aforementioned Gumm-Gumm would see him.
Climbing on top of the closest building, Jim started running over the rooftops and leaping between the gaps. The museum was easy to spot, and he was also born and raised in this town, so he was able to take the most direct route there. However, he stopped once he reached the buildings across the street.
The problem wasn't the building itself but the spacious clearing around it. Somehow, he needed to get past the clearing without being spotted, but he had no idea how he was going to do that.
Eventually, he came up with a solution: get on top of the building in a single leap. Hopefully his armor would be able to mute the landing like it did with his footsteps when he wanted it to. Bending his knees and touching his fingertips to the roof beneath him, he tensed all the muscles in his legs and pushed.
Jim sailed through the air, and he basked in the rush of air past his ears. It never failed to get his blood pumping.
When he touched down, it was on top of the roof of the museum. He had never been more thankful for skylights in his life. Staying crouched down, he crawled over to the nearest one, finding a covering that looked similar. But it was the same room that the bridge had first been found in, so it was probably some Viking ship like it was last time.
Crawling to another skylight, he froze when he looked through it.
There, in all his hateful stone flesh, stood Bular the Vicious, son of Gunmar and murderer of many a Trollhunter.
It took Jim several moments to keep himself from busting through the ceiling and slaughtering the Gumm-Gumm, but eventually he was able to convince himself that Claire needed to do it. He was at least able to confirm that the bridge was still in the museum, since Bular was talking to Gladys in front of its glowing blue stone.
Once, he actually had tried to sympathize with the Gumm-Gumm; they had both lost their fathers and wanted them back. However, he no longer held any sympathy for the dark troll, knowing his past deeds and what he did to his subordinates. Like what he was doing right now.
Which was lashing out against Gladys.
Gladys tried to run, but it was clear that Bular was out for blood. Strickler was interestingly absent, which led Jim to believe that this was happening without his knowledge.
Right when Jim was about to leave, though, Bular got a hold of her.
That's when Jim learned that if a changeling died in their human form, they did not explode.
He forced himself to leave when Bular started putting the purple organs in his mouth.
Jim only got about a block away before he was forced to drop into an alleyway and lose his lunch. And then his breakfast. Then he thought again of her vacant, dead eyes and blood pooling around the two halves of her body and vomited whatever was left.
He felt sick, more than just physically. It was as if his very soul had just blackened a little by seeing that, and it was responding violently. Somewhere, Claire was pushing against his bond with concern and trying to calm him, but he was too dizzy to really register someone else's emotions on top of his own.
Once he had a good enough control of himself to not start dry heaving as soon as he moved, Jim shakily stood to his feet. He had to get to his house; being in the middle of a populated town throwing his guts up was not a good thing. Jim pulled himself back up to one of the roof tops, albeit much more slowly. He set off again, at more of a jogging pace than a running one, but nevertheless progressing towards his own house.
Eventually, he got behind the house, but before he could open the door, he collapsed against it. Thankfully, it did not break, but it did open a second later. His mother's scent filled his nostrils, briefly bringing up feelings of safety before another stray image of Gladys made him dry heave again.
"Jim? Jim, what – oh my god, what's happening?! Here, let's get you inside." Jim had just enough of his senses left to dismiss his armor, giving his mother an easier time of pulling an arm over her shoulder and helping him to the couch. Jim fell across it, dry heaving again and curling into himself. "Here, let me call Toby."
As his mother dialed a number in her phone and put it to her ear, Jim felt his own phone ring in his pocket. Desperate for a distraction, he pulled it out, seeing the caller ID as Claire. Gratefully, he pressed the answer button and raised it to his ear.
"Oh my god, Jim, are you okay? I've called you like five times now!"
He gave a strangled laugh.
"I'm on my way. You're at Toby's house, right?"
"Mom's."
"Okay. I'll be there in a second."
There were no words to describe how grateful he was.
A second later, Toby burst through the door. He looked around frantically for a second before locating Jim on the couch and rocketing over to sit next to his head. "Jimbo?! Hey, man, are you okay? Well, of course you're not, you wouldn't be here heaving if you were." He was silent for a second, before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"
And expose them to the horrors? Fuck no.
"Not really," he managed to rasp out.
Toby fell into another brief silence before speaking again. "Do you want me to turn on a movie or something? It might help calm your nerves." Jim nodded. Toby got up, rummaging around the cases that they had next to their TV. "Gun Robot or How to Train Your Dragon?"
Jim shrugged. Toby selected Gun Robot and popped it in the TV, situating himself by Jim's head. The half-troll did his best to focus on the movie, infinitely thankful for Toby.
Eventually, Claire burst through the door too. At that point, Barbara had joined Jim and Toby on the couch, the two of them exchanging concerned glances over the half-troll who was resolutely staring at the TV. She could see dried tear tracks on his face and a wet cloth next to Toby. Without saying anything, she walked over to the couch, patted Jim's shoulder to get him to lift his head and sat under it so that his head would be in her lap. She started stroking his hair, doing her best to calm the roiling disgust, loathing, and depression she felt through the bond.
They all sat there like that until the movie ended. At one point, she, Toby, and Barbara had started their own conversation about mundane human things like school and her arrest, which helped calm Jim down. She smiled down at him while the credits played, hoping that he would open up. "Jim?" she asked softly. "Do you want to talk now?"
He sighed. "It's…" He refused to meet her gaze. "Bular did what Gumm-Gumms do."
Barbara frowned. She didn't really pay attention to troll things, so she hadn't made the connection. Toby and Claire, on the other hand, understood exactly what he was talking about.
"Okay." She motioned for Toby to go fill Barbara in. He pulled out his phone, sending her a text. When her phone pinged, the doctor frowned down at it before her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with a hand. She looked horrified, which was an appropriate reaction to stone monsters eating people.
"It was Gladys, so expect the switch to happen soon." Claire frowned. He was trying to force down his emotions, dulling them so he wouldn't have to deal with them. She knew how unhealthy that was.
"Do you want me to call Darci over?"
"Why would Darci help?"
"Her mom is a Navy Seal veteran, so she had to learn how to help with PTSD."
"I don't have PTSD."
Claire gently kissed his forehead. She hoped with all her might it would never come to that. "No, but this is a traumatic event and she would be most qualified to help."
Jim shook his head. "I'm fine," he said. "I'll get over it."
Claire frowned, but didn't push him. "Okay." She stayed with his head in her lap for a couple more minutes, watching Toby put in How to Train Your Dragon next. She sighed, saying, "I have to get back home, Jim. I don't want my parents to wake up and think that I snuck out while they were asleep."
He nodded. She could feel how much he wanted her to stay.
So, she did. Just for a couple more minutes.