Notes: we expect updates to come a little slower than usual due to our busy schedules.


Chapter 6

[Hannah's pov]

It might just be that she's tired and now has the beginnings of a dull headache, but the shouting seems rather unwarranted. No, she didn't expect Jim to react positively to her implication, but was yelling really necessary?

They're currently walking through the suburbs, a place where they could be easily seen and draw attention. Hannah glances around to see if anyone noticed, is peeking out of their windows, or coming outside to pinpoint the ruckus…. Yet not a soul does.

This might make sense if it was sometime around midnight, but it's not. Sunset was not too long ago.

Hm…. Maybe it's just cartoon logic? Everyone in town seems to be indoors after sunset in the tv show, and they blame all strange sounds on raccoons-

"He can't be! How can you steal a baby without the family noticing?"

Ah yes… back to the discussion. Hannah blinks a couple of times, trying to regain focus.

"Look, it will be easiest if you act like everything is normal for now. When Claire asks you to babysit, accept." She suggests with a shrug "That should also be proof that we are in fact witches-" she can see Anita momentarily cringe at the blatant lie "-and that we aren't working with Bular."

Jim seems to consider this, arms relaxing and falling to his sides instead of gripping his head in panic. Toby is simply nodding along with her reasoning. Good.

They're quiet for a while after that. The small group cross the street, each person deep in thought… except for Hannah. She's simply pleased to have some peace and quiet for the time being.

Jim then quickly ushers the pair towards one of the many houses and they follow along without any complaints.

They enter without caution or secrecy, so Hannah assumes that Barbara isn't back from the hospital yet… And that they must look pretty underwhelming if Jim is willing to take them into his house.

Wait.

Jim opens the door to the basement and calls out, "It's me Draal."

"Shouldn't you be in Trollmarket? Now is not the time to shirk on your training, trollhunter."

Holy… Hannah can't suppress a shiver when vivid red and yellow eyes peer up from the base of the stairway, the poor lighting of the basement dulling the rest of the hulking troll's features. She can feel Anita step closer to her as they watch the son of Kanjigar ascend the steps.

Now, Draal held more of a resemblance to his animated one than Jim and Toby did, but that didn't make him look any less intimidating. He easily loomed over the pair once he reached the top. His stone hide and the jagged gems protruding from his back look less welcoming than their animated counterparts…. He could kill them both with one good hit… and they know it.

"What is this! More fleshbags," the troll growls, gesturing to the women "or are they impure."

Hannah's fighting to keep from visibly shaking as his eyes scrutinize them up and down. Anita has gone stone still (haha) and is gripping the other girl's shoulder. They are supposed to know trolls. They are supposed to be acting normal or at least semi-fine in the presence of one.

Jim shakes his head saying, "Not changelings. We already checked. They said that they're… witches." "Prophecy witches!" Toby eagerly corrects, "And they say they want to help Jim."

At this, Draal looks confused and more than a little skeptical. His pupils narrow to fine points.

Damn it! Even if the correct term for the female version of a wizard is a witch, maybe trolls would call one a sorceress instead (Hannah doesn't remember the show ever referring to the Pale Lady as either, so she couldn't be sure). And while adding "prophet" might have made more sense with the boys, it probably sounds like rubbish to a troll.

"Anyways," a hand on each woman's back pushes them towards the basement stairs, right past Draal. They're both forced to move onto the first of the steps. "I'll see if you're lying. Draal can guard you till then."

The troll huffs at the idea of having to watch over them, but moves to fill the basement entrance, deterring any ideas of escape.

Hannah has to partially pull Anita down the steps, the other girl's movements being slow and stiff. She wants to talk to Anita, but that will be difficult now that they're going to be sharing this small basement with a troll. While it may seem that everything is going well for the most part, it would be nice to put their memories together and form a timeline of important events. Or maybe just decide what do next.

The moment they reach the bottom of the stairs, they can hear the door close and the troll begin to make his way down as well. They move to the furthest corner of the room just as Draal begins to make himself comfortable at the base of the steps, those bright eyes of his trained on them. Unwavering and…. Curious? Doesn't matter.

Hannah decides to make the most of it and settle down on the cement floor. "This isn't too bad." Hannah whispers with a smile "Once Jim has proof-"

"Witches?! You went with witches?!" The now familiar golden form of Arthur all but hisses, his earlier formality and regal presence completely absent.

The women quickly glance between the floating orb and Draal who is still simply watching, not reacting at all to Arthur or his shouts. After a few more glances in the troll's direction to affirm he can neither see nor hear the king, Hannah opens her mouth to reply yet Anita beats her to it.

"That was her idea." Anita whispers, gesturing to the other girl "Not mine."

"Merlin's a wizard, Arthur here has magic, the Pale lady is a witch or sorceress or whatever." Hannah's voice gets even quieter as she continues. "Witch just made sense at the time. At least I came up with something. You were speechless."

This time, Anita is the one cut short from replying.

"Knights!" the king exclaims, "You are my knights! Handpicked for your worthy hearts – your inherent desire to do good – to do what is right for others! Not for your lies!"

"But what if those lies are the best way to assist those who would not accept our help otherwise?" Hannah counters, then turns to her companion "And at least I'm not the one who said 'prophecy' witches like….. Anita? Anita, stop staring a Draal."

The other woman blinks twice and adjusts her glasses, somewhat embarrassed by her own actions (or at least how obvious she was being). Not to mention that the blue troll had locked eyes with her at some point during her observations. Carefully she joins Hannah on the cold floor with a soft sigh.

"It's really him." She murmurs with hesitant awe, stealing yet another glance in Draal's direction "He's just like I imagined him but….. real."

If Hannah wasn't becoming increasingly tired with every passing moment, she would probably be staring right along with her. However, that is not the case and she can't stay focused on one thing for too long. As amusing as the obvious confusion they're causing Draal may be, Hannah has already moved on. Moved on past the presence of a troll, past talking privately with Anita, and past disputing whether or not 'witch' was a valid term.

"Yeah, he's real." Is all she says in response to the other girl's murmuring before turning back to the orb "Now go away. We already look insane. Best not add to it. Draal's probably wondering why we keep talking at the wall."

Now she just wants the king to leave or dissipate, cause he's already on her bad side and his complaints are childish. Who cares what they're called as long as it works? At least she's going along with any of this. Most people would probably be searching for a way home instead of embarking on a quest to aid a cartoon character.

"You could just look at me while you talk." Anita suggests softly.

"Sure. Just as soon as you can keep your eyes off Draal for more than thirty seconds." Hannah retorts…. but is regretting it soon after.

While Arthur may deserve her snappy comments, Anita does not. They are both in the same boat, and the other girl hasn't been all that rude. It's more that her general attitude towards the king puzzles Hannah. Why respect a being that stole the two from their homes, and sent them to a potentially dangerous reality full of trolls, goblins, and changelings? It just….. didn't make sense.

"Sorry, Anita." She says, eyes now focused on the floor "It's just – I'm just…. I'm tired."

She gets no reply, and she can't bring herself to look up. She's just tired and stressed and still wishing for all of this to be a dream. A hand rests itself on her shoulder Hannah wills her eyes to meet the other woman's. She's met with a soft smile and a noticeably absent glowing orb.

Anita sighs, "Me too."


[Jim's pov]

Climbing on a deadly cliffside with only a rope to stop you from falling to your death is probably not the best time to be questioning your actions. Unfortunately for Jim, that's exactly what's happening.

Throw in dodging fire and he's practically begging to get injured somehow.

On the way down to Trollmarket, Toby and him had talked about the possible enemies, or "new troll helpers" as Toby insisted. Toby seems to think they could help a lot, and if magic armor and TROLLS were real then why not helpful magic witches? It seems a little optimistic though. Jim doesn't trust them and he isn't sure he even will if this changeling info is real. They are up to something, he can feel it.

Unfortunately, the task of telling Blinky about what happened was also brought up, and promptly passed (thrown like a bucket full of angry gnomes) to him as "You're the Trollhunter. It's your duty to protect humans and trolls, right? Well I'm in need of protecting dude".

If only he had had more time to talk to Draal before they had to leave. Maybe he could have helped Jim figure some things out or just what to say to his friends and trainers, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh. As it is, he'd hardly said anything to Draal before leaving him with the two women earlier. Yes, he told Draal their claims to be witches, and when they were out of ear shot he had whispered his plan to prove it and the information about the supposed changeling baby. In the end, this was still a mess though. Are witches dangerous? Would one be able to hurt a troll? Draal hadn't looked alarmed or impressed by the claim so, probably not?

Climbing up the steep wall, his mind is brought back to his current training by a deadly blast of fire shooting out far too close to his head. He's pretty sure that one singed his hair…. How does he end up in situations like this!?

Though the witches are worrying him, Jim promptly skips past mentioning them, having tentatively asked Blinky instead about the possibility of changeling babies. Even from down the cliff he had seen Toby's unimpressed expression as he avoided telling Blinky what happened but, well… Toby isn't the one who has to tell him!

Pulling himself higher up the rock-face Jim grunts as he tries to clarify what he's being told, "They steal babies so they can replace them with changelings?"

It would fit with what the woman said. Though the information is useful, he doesn't like that it goes along with what the possible enemies have said.

Blinky, non the wiser of Jim's inner conflict, stands above with Aarrrgghh and Toby, watching as the Trollhunter continues his training of the day. Jim climbs aided by Aaarrrggghh holding a "safety rope" at the human's insistence.

Looking down at the teen Blinky is only too happy to share his knowledge on the enemy they face!

"Precisely, Master Jim." He calls, "And, in order for a changeling to maintain its appearance in our world, no harm must come to the human child in theirs." Blinky explains, three of his four arms neatly tucked behind his back as he waves one along to his explanation, trying to pacify the worry the humans must feel for their own species' young's fate.

"I assure you, there is no safer place for a baby to be than the bowels of the Darkland's nursery."

Well there's that at least. Yes, the Gum-Gums go about KIDNAPPING BABIES! But they're safe while kidnapped. Standing on a small ledge, seeing the fire shoot round him, Jim scoots to a slightly safer distance from the flames as he replies with a slightly sarcastic, "Well, that's good to know!"

"Whoa! Hold on there." Toby then comments, sitting out the way of any danger along with Aaarrrgghh (the troll he's currently feeding VHS tapes to) while he waits for Jim to just spill the beans on the witches, "Okay, suppose they did take the baby to the Darklands, Isn't that where Gunmar is trying to escape from?" he asks suspiciously.

"The doorway to his realm is sealed for now, but it doesn't exonerate the cracks that inevitably form over time," Blinky explains sagely, "Cracks that allow small things to pass."

"Small, like babies and goblins." Aaarrgghh contributes, barely holding the rope as he continues to enjoy his snack.

"So, if we can find out whose baby was stolen, we'll find a changeling in its place, right?" Jim gasps out, leaping from one ledge to another stone face, his grip precarious as he doges the flames, "And once we have the changeling, we'll have the proof to finally convince Vend- "

Jim suddenly drops, his grip having not been enough. He falls down into the dark depths of the forge.

"Jim!" cries Toby, instantly on his feet and throwing his bag to the side as he watches the rope slip through Aaarrrgghh's hands.

Jumping from the ledge before he can think, he grabs the falling rope, trusting the green troll to catch him.

"Got him!" The large stone pacifist states as he grabs both boys, starting to pull them back to safety.

Bringing Jim up, the boy looks pale from his sudden fright and is panting from the scare, and the work out that is dodging fire and rock-climbing in armor. Hanging like a puppet, he looks to his trainer rather unimpressed (and the issues of witches back home forgotten). "I told you I'd fall."

"You fell because you knew you could." Says Blinky unsympathetically, knowing the teen must learn for his own safety in the future, "What if you're endangered and we aren't there? Next time, we'll climb sans the safety line." He continues walking past the Trollhunter, confident in his training plan. Blinky knows Jim will be able to do it, after all.

"We'll?" Comes the annoyed voice of one hanging teen.

"The only lesson learned here today is that, with this many changelings, Arcadia is far more dangerous than previously thought, for the both of you." Blink says, looking increasingly worried (though he tries to hide it) his stone hands clunking as he clasps them together. "As Jim has Draal now to protect his home, Tobias, you will now have Aaarrrgghh to protect yours."

"Really? For real? We're gonna be roomies? Yeah! High-five, big guy!" Toby and Aarrgghh high five.

And with that, Jim falls once again into the depths of the forge. Now really wasn't the time to be asking about witches.