Back again!
Here is another chapter. It was a bit of a challenge to write something, but I think I am getting somewhere.
I really enjoy the positive reviews, thank you so much!
Enjoy~!

The calm feeling surrounding Angor Rot was a welcomed one. One he did not get the luxury of having often, lately even his dreams weren't safe anymore, but this time it was nice and quiet. Angor did not remember having any dreams when he occasionally woke up, but he fell right back asleep, the peaceful feeling getting quite addictive. His body and mind had no intention of getting up soon but unfortunately he felt a big hand gently shake his shoulder, trying to get him out of his peace.

It felt like Angor had to push through a heavy, invisible curtain, dead set on trying to keep his eyes closed and his body under the soft blankets. The assassin had a lot of negative opinions about fleshbags, but they sure knew how to keep themselves comfortable, the mattress keeping him put, pulling the blanket shield over his head with a tired moan as he buried his face in the pillow. Whatever Draal wanted, it could wait.

'Angor, wake up.' He heard the guard tell him with a chuckle, apparently amused by the assassin's reaction.

The assassin kept silent, not feeling the need to get up, the weighted curtain keeping him right where he was. He hoped that Draal would get the message and leave him alone. The man wanted Angor to sleep more, so that was exactly what he was doing. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like Morgana-

Shit.

A sense of panic shot through the assassin, the realization kicking in of the consequences of him falling asleep. Pulling the blanket off his head, he quickly rolled on his back to look at Draal sitting on the edge of the mattress, pulling his hand away after Angor's sudden movement. The assassin did his very best to keep his eyes open, his golden eyes scanning the guard for any sign of damage. Ignoring the questioning look Draal gave him, he looked him over, but there was no scratch to find on the man. The guard seemed to be in no distress, simply sitting on the edge of the mattress with a glass of water in his other hand.

'Nothing happened in the night, don't worry.' Draal assured him with a smile, putting the pieces together.

Night? The assassin gave the man a confused scowl, his eyes groggily shifting towards the tiny window of the basement. Early sun rays shone through the glass, hitting the boarded up wall that used to lead to the sewers. It only hit that spot in the morning and Angor had gone to bed right after Barbara fixed his hand in the late morning, so that meant…

'Yeah, you were out for a while!' Draal noted, his eyebrows rising. He offered the glass of water to the assassin, making the prisoner look back up at the guard. 'Drink up. Thought you needed some water after so many hours.'

The assassin groggily stared at the glass, the information slowly reaching his brain as it apparently needed some time to start up. Running a hand through his even messier then usual hair, Angor pulled himself into sitting position with a sigh, taking the glass from the guard. He thought it was strange that he had such a hard time keeping his eyes open, staring at the glass. In the prison house that problem never occurred. Although, in there he had to sleep with one eye open and that was before he knew about his little sleep walk adventures.

It was also strange that the witch had not showed her face in all those hours. Angor had expected the woman to show up, she had done so many times before, but for some reason she had not. It was an understandable strategy to not possess Angor when Draal was on guard. The bigger man could easily bash Angor's skull in, or that was what Angor hoped Draal would do if it came to that, but for Morgana to not even appear in his dreams, that was odd. She did tell him she was in trouble, fear written all over her face, but that was just one of her lies. Not appearing in his dreams was just one of her tactics. She was in no danger. She must be. Even if she was, why would he care? That would be in his advantage. If she died, problem solved. He wasn't worried about her. Absolutely, under no circumstance, worried.

'Don't look so worried, the water is not poisoned. Drink!' Angor hear Draal say with a chuckle, making the assassin jerk his head up to look at the man, realizing he had been staring at the glass in his hand for a while now. Draal did not seem to think much of it luckily, so Angor just nodded and jugged the water in one go, shoving the thoughts aside. Whatever the reason, Angor had gotten some rest, the heavy curtain slowly fading as he started to feel more awake then he had in days.

Draal took back the empty glass, putting it on the chair next to the bed where he had been guarding for the night, before standing up and putting his hands on the back of his neck, stretching his back with a little grunt. Angor stared at the back of the guard, noticing that the bigger man looked exhausted this morning.

'You kept watch the whole time?' the assassin asked.

'I did.' The guard casually answered, continuing on rolling his shoulders, trying to get the stiffness out of the muscles. He must've sat on that chair for quite some hours. 'It is my job after all.'

The assassin blinked for a moment, a bit taken aback by the man's answer. So the man really did keep his word. The bigger man his plan had worked, even if it was a risky one. It kept surprising the assassin how dedicated Draal was to this 'guardly duty' of his. Staying up all those hours to keep watch needed some discipline. Angor would know, holding quite the record, although he might go a bit to the extremes himself. He wasn't oblivious to it, he just did not have much choice, but it did not sit right with the assassin, seeing the guard act in the same way.

'You are not going to do this every night.' Angor stated. It was no request. Draal wasn't going to follow in his footsteps.

'Of course not.' Draal finally turning around to give the assassin a puzzled look, folding his arms as he faced the man. 'Tonight we shall split the hours. It just looked like you really needed to regain some strength, is all. You already look a lot better.'

The assassin felt some relieve, keeping silent as he watched the guard turn around again to walk away towards one of the cloth racks, rummaging through the clothes. At least Draal seemed to have a clear mind in the situation. Hopefully Angor could join the team after a few more nights of sleep, when his brain finally would function like it used to. At last he could continue preparing to end Morgana once and for all. After that, Gunmar, Merlin and that annoying, little impure Strick-

All of the sudden, a white t-shirt got thrown onto his face, covering his sight. The assassin immediately pulled it off, giving the guard an annoyed scowl. Why did this man keep on interrupting his thoughts?!

'What.' He sneered with a dangerous growl.

'Get out and get dressed!' Draal ordered, putting his hands on his sides as he looked at the assassin with a cheeky grin. 'The Barbara has plans for us.'

Angor raised a brow, not quite understanding what Draal was getting at. Was it him or did that sound a bit ominous?

'This is foolish.'

'Awe, come on, Angor! Show us!'

'Yeah, this I must see.'

With an annoyed growl, the assassin roughly shoved the curtain open, wearing the ugliest, brightly colored sweater he had ever encountered. His golden eyes glared down at Draal and Barbara sitting on two comfortable, green colored arm chairs in front of the fitting area, both not being able to hide their laughter as they got presented with the abomination he was wearing.

When Draal had announced that the mother of Jim had 'plans', it apparently meant that she wanted to acquire new clothes for both of them. Autumn had started and because no one had expected the trolls to remain human as long as they did, they needed to prepare for the colder seasons. Because, low and behold, fleshbags could not handle the cold very well. In the Lake house, only Draal and Angor needed protection against the cold, the woman and the changeling already had their own preparations and the trollhunter had the privilege of being a troll now, only wearing his red glowing armor.

The assassin did not expect his captors to actually allow him to get further then the garden, expecting the night of the soul search to be the first and last time they would let him, but apparently Barbara had pulled some strings. If Angor kept a low profile and an alias, he was allowed to go outside. Under supervision of course, but that role was easily filled by Draal. To make the list of rules even longer, Draal had to alert at least one of the other trollhunters if they left the house. The demands his enemies wanted annoyed Angor to the bone, but at least he got to go outside, one thing he desperately wanted for a while now, so he went without any objection.

Angor thought it strange, that the group took a risk like this, only because Barbara for some reason cared about the assassin getting cold. It could be simply because, without Angor, the trollhunters probably could not find Morgana. If the cold was bad for humans, they had to keep him alive. Their solution seemed a bit too much effort though. He would simply make a fire or steal Draal his clothes if it came to that. He'd already stolen plenty of t-shirts, the assassin only possessed about three himself. He never quite cared if they were too big, it did the job. Draal never objected about it either, but the mother of Jim was dead set on dragging them to some dusty smelling shop called a 'thrift store', rummaging through a gazillion racks filled with clothes, picking out certain sweaters and jackets for them to try on. Angor did not care about what the woman would pick out for him as long as it would not restrain his movement too much, until she forced him to wear the hideous monstrosity she called a sweater.

'This is too adorable!' Barbara laughed, her amused smile reaching her eyes behind her glasses, clapping her hands together in amusement, wearing a simple purple shirt and blue trousers instead of her usual scrubs. Angor narrowed his eyes at her. He could've sworn she was enjoying this way more than a simple task as this should be.

'It hurts my eyes.' Angor sneered, pulling on the edge of the sweater, trying to look down to see what was on the front. 'Why is there a dog with a red hat on it?'

'Because it's a Christmas sweater!' the doctor happily answered, apparently expecting whatever Christmas meant to be a good reason to wear this. 'Everyone should at least have one of those for the holidays. Draal got one too!'

The assassin's eyes fell on Draal, who already had put on his ugly sweater before Angor reluctantly came out of the fitting room. The guard's sweater was brightly red, with a giant, green pine tree on the front. A night without sleep seemed to not have broken the guards mood. A big grin on his face, apparently finding this as hilarious as the woman sitting next to him.

'Angor, you must see this!' Draal wheezed, jumping up from his chair and looking down at his sweater, his big hands searching for something. With a little 'oh, here it is!', little colorful lights suddenly popped up on the tree, lighting up the sweater like the luminous stones in Draal's basement. With his grin still holding strong, Draal put his arms out, presenting the light show. 'Enchanted sweater!'

Angor just stared at him dumbfounded, both wondering what enchantment fleshbags had used to light up the sweater and not knowing how he was supposed to keep a low profile when the guard walked around looking like a heart stone with an attention problem.

'What is the function of this?' the assassin uttered with big eyes, lifting up his hand towards Draal's sweater in disbelieve.

'Human tradition. For the ones who celebrate Christmas, that is.' Barbara giggled, before standing up from the armchair herself, grabbing some clothes she had picked out beforehand of the pile. 'Now go try this on! We are far from done.'

The assassin let out an annoyed grunt, grabbing some of the clothes before giving her one of his glares, turning around and disappearing behind the curtain again. Foolish fleshbags with their foolish traditions and foolish incapability to withstand freezing temperatures.

The radio in the thrift store played some melodies on the background, what was 'soft rock' if Draal remembered correctly. Personally he could not make the connection between the music and soft rocks, but plenty of humans seemed to like it. It did not sound that terrible, he guessed.

Draal rummaged through a few clothing racks, wondering if there were some flannels in his size. He was above average when it came to size, so whenever the guard could find one, he took it. He never thought that searching for outfits would be something for him, but surprisingly he did not mind. If he was human, might as well try some human things. Better that he chose something for himself then leaving it to the Barbara, who was still running up towards Angor with options that could be described as 'experimental'. Draal was not a professional in the exterior department, but even his eyes would occasionally hurt when he saw her pass by with sweaters or pants.

Wisely, he remained silent about it, the woman was enjoying this way too much for him to crash her party, but it became a challenge to keep himself from laughing when he looked at Angor. The more clothing the Barbara came up with, the more confused the assassin would get, not understanding any of the functions of such bright colors of patterns. It was a surprise to see that the assassin kept his mood at 'annoyed' instead of picking a fight with the woman. Draal assumed that Angor was clever enough to follow at least some of the rules, not hurting one hair on the Barbara's head if he did not want to have his head removed, but it was a nice sight to see the assassin having a civil conversation with her. Even if it looked like the assassin was completely out of his comfort zone, Draal thought it was good for him, seeing Angor have a normal day for once. The man could use some more of those.

The guard felt relieve, seeing that the assassin had regained some of his color after regaining some strength. Draal's concern had been growing lately, seeing the man slowly digress on sleep deprivation and stress, staring into nothing more times than the guard was comfortable with. Or breaking the bathroom mirror for that matter, the guards attention drifting towards the white bandage, neatly wrapped around the assassin's hand. But today, Angor looked a lot better, trying to avoid any option of sweater the Barbara offered him, the jacket his was currently wearing already having to many sparkly accessories then Draal had seen the average fleshbag walk with.

Eventually, when Barbara walked away again, Angor's golden eyes looked straight at Draal, catching the guard a bit off guard. Draal quickly averted his eyes, returning his attention on the flannels, hoping that the assassin did not catch him staring for so long.

'Draal.'

'What the-!' The guard almost pulled the cloth hanger off the rack, feeling the shock shoot through his body when the assassin suddenly appeared next to him. How did he get all the way over here without the guard noticing?!

'The woman's vision is cursed.' Angor muttered with a scowl, keeping his voice down, not paying attention to the startled look on the guards face. 'Let's just tell her I will borrow your clothes. This needs to stop.'

Draal watched the man pull off the sparkly jacket and throw it between the flannels rack with some vengeance, revealing a simple, black sweater underneath. Letting go of the rack, the guard put his hands on his sides, giving the assassin a questioning look. 'You do not fit in mine, you are too small. Just tell her what you like and she can adjust her search.'

It was Angor's turn to give the guard a confused stare with big eyes, mixed with a hint of annoyance after being called small, folding his arms. 'I already told her what function I wanted.'

Draal raised a brow, looking down at the man. 'It is not all about the function. It is also about choosing something that you like wearing.'

The guard looked around for a second, finding a couple of beanies in different colors laying in a basket to his right. Taking a black one, he quickly pulled it over the assassin head before the man could back away. Ignoring the annoyed growl of the prisoner, the guard adjusted the beanie, before pulling his hands away. Motioning one hand towards the mirror, he addressed Angor. 'Here. It fits, it's warm and the color is not remarkable. Do you like it?'

The assassin's golden eyes glared at the mirror through the strands of his white hair peeking out from under the beanie, keeping his arms folded. The man did not look that comfortable, looking at the mirror. 'I guess…'

Draal's amber eyes switched between the assassin and the mirror, noticing that the man got a bit tense. With a small sigh, the guard walked towards the assassin, standing behind him to look at their reflection in the mirror with a big grin, putting a large hand on the assassin's head. 'I like it. It suits you.'

Angor was a bit taken aback by the sudden touch, his shoulders tensing up a bit, but he stayed put, staring a bit unsure at the guard in the mirror, his walls fading a bit. It pleased Draal that he did not back away. He knew that the assassin had a problem with physical touch, the assassin made that clear many times, but it was nice to see the man was actually trying. Maybe the guards little speeches were having some effect. It would be nice if Angor would open up a bit more often. The guard enjoyed their conversations. A smile would fit him even better.

Feeling himself smile at the thought, he let go of the assassin's head, intending on turning around, but he immediately stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a figure walking behind them in the reflection. His insides instantly turning into stone, feeling a light panic rising when he realized who was entering the thrift store.

'Crap.' he moaned. Without warning, Draal grabbed the assassin's shoulders and pulled him down, hiding between the racks in a crouched position, pulling the man with him. The strong dusty scent of the clothes blocking his vision filled the guards nose as he kept still, listening to the footsteps.

Surprisingly, the assassin did not object against his sudden movement. Instead, he immediately turned around, shoving some clothes aside to look directly at the guard, his face dead serious as he whispered. 'You take the right. I will corner the fleshbag from the left.'

The guard looked at him with big baffled eyes. The assassin had quickly catched on that someone was approaching them, but he seemed to not fully understand the entire situation.

'No!' Draal quickly whispered back. 'Do not attack her. I am trying to keep you out of-'

'Oh my, Draal is that you?' a high, but for some reason quite low voice asked from somewhere to their left. The guard mentally cursed as he realized the woman had already spotted him.

Holding a few tote bags filled with her latest shopping spree, Bagdwella stood before the clothing rack, leaning on one large hip, a purple lipsticked smile on her face. After getting her hair done at the salon, making it extra spiky today, she had bought herself a gorgeous, new purple dress with a black belt around her waist. All because, well she was worth it. The fleshbag stores had way more option for her to choose from, mostly sewing her own dresses back when trollmarket was still intact.

What a great coincidence that she had run into Draal, unexpectedly standing in the thrift store with a man she did not recognize. She had not seen Draal around much lately, which disappointing her quite greatly, she enjoyed their conversations back when they both lived in trollmarket. She always made time for attractive men. He may have cut the conversations short most of the time, but Bagdwella knew he was just shy. She knew he liked it. Hearing about the fact that Draal had risen from the dead had given her great enjoyment, hoping they could continue their old ways, expecting the big man to also move into new trollmarket, like the rest of them. Unfortunately, the big man had remained with the trollhunter, mostly out of sight.

The woman had felt great joy, spotting him through the window and did not put any hesitation on walking straight into the store. Although, she did wonder why they suddenly hid under the clothing rack.

'Oh my, Draal is that you?' she asked, acting like she did not already know of his presence, looking at the rows of flannels in front of her. She took a few steps forward to push aside some of the clothing, not intending on letting Draal go off the hook, shy man that he was, but before she could, she had to jump back in shock.

A white haired man with black and glowing golden eyes jumped out of the clothing rack with a dangerous growl, fully intending on attacking Bagdwella. The woman let go of her many bags, putting her hands up with a high pitched scream, but suddenly, the unknown growling man got pulled back by the collar of his black sweater. Draal appeared from the clothing rack, furiously pulling the man back and shoving him away from Bagdwella.

'Back off, I said NO!' Draal growled, towering over the man. The white haired man with a black beanie was a full head taller than Bagdwella, but he suddenly looked a lot smaller when Draal stood before him with balled fists. The man looked a bit taken aback by the bigger man's reaction, as if he did not expect that his outrageous reaction would be unacceptable.

'But-' the man started, but Draal cut him straight off, putting a finger up with some irritation.

'She is NOT the enemy.' He tried to whisper, but he was too angry to cover it fully, Bagdwella watching the whole show, looking at the back of the broad man with surprised eyes.

'Then why did you make us hide like cowards?' the unknown man bluntly asked, folding his arms in defiance as he looked up at the bigger man. This seemed to make Draal look a bit uncomfortable, looking at Bagdwella for a second, trying to think of what to say.

'Because err… Well, you see-…' the bigger man stammered.

Bagdwella adjusted her dress with a light giggle, already used to Draal getting all embarrassed and shy around her, adorable as he was. He did not have to say it, she already knew. The shock had worn off by now. It was not difficult to see that the man next to Draal was a troll. This was not the first time she had heard the growl of a troll, she used to be one herself once. A simple misunderstanding, she could live with it.

'Don't you mind him, darling. He often gets a bit shy around me.' she told the white haired man, his golden eyes shifting its attention towards her. That was quite a… cold stare, she noticed. She also spotted the thin, red line glowing around his neck. How peculiar. She was quite sure she had never met him in trollmarket.

Both men stared at her in silence, Draal turning a bit around to look at Bagdwella, his lips pushed into a thin line. This made Bagdwella giggle once again, amused by his brooding silence. 'Do not be afraid of me, Draal! Tell me, how are things with you?'

Draal blinked for a second, before quickly going into action, putting an awkward smile on his face as he addressed the woman. 'All is well, Bagdwella. It has been some time.'

'It has!' the woman gladly replied, putting a hand on her hip as she added some extra blinks with her long, mascara filled eyelashes when she looked at the bigger man. 'And who is your friend?'

'This is err…' Draal started, his gaze falling on the man next to him for a moment, before quickly pulling an arm over his friend his shoulders, pulling him forward to stand next to him. It looked like the smaller man put up some resistance, but he was no match for Draal's strength, getting pulled forward, staring at Bagdwella with big, surprised eyes. 'This is Antonak! He is new here, so I am showing him around a bit.'

If looks could kill, Draal would have been annihilated with the stare Antonak gave him, trapped under the bigger man's arm. The bigger man shook the man for good measure, trying to keep him focused on the woman in front of them. 'Say HELLO, Antonak!'

The smaller man slowly turned his gaze back at the woman, glaring her down. Lifting up the corner of his mouth slightly, attempting to give her a smile. If that was what he was trying, Bagdwella thought, it looked rather painful.

'Hello.' Antonak greeted. Bagdwella could feel the shivers go down her spine. The man surely had a certain… air around him. It made her want to grab her bags and run for it.

'Pleasure to meet you, Antonak.' Bagdwella replied, trying to keep her posture. Taking a deep breath, she shoved the uncomfortable feeling aside, smiling once again as she put her attention back on Draal. 'Now Draal, is he the reason I don't get to see you that often?'

The smile on Draal's face painfully increased, his eyes desperately searching for an answer. 'Err… yeah! As you may have noticed, he has some difficulty adjusting to being human.'

Antonak his face shot up, angrily looking at Draal, not agreeing to his remark. 'What nonsense do you spe-'

Once again, the bigger man cut him off, wrapping his arm around the smaller man's neck, turning his other hand into a fist as he put it on Antonak's head, knuckle heading him roughly as Draal kept the painfully big smile on his face as he looked at Bagdwella.

'GREAT difficulty.' Draal added through his teeth, trying to keep Antonak in place, who tried his best to get out of the grasp of the bigger man, growling in the process.

'Alright…' Bagdwella managed to get out, not being able to hide the baffled look in her big, yellow eyes. A thought was forming in her head and she could feel her stomach painfully tighten at just the thought. Draal could act a bit uncomfortable around her, mostly running away then towards the woman, but this was a whole new kind of odd. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, staring at the uncomfortable blue haired man in front of her.

'There is something you are not telling me.' she told him lowly. She hoped it was not true, but she could not shake the feeling.

Draal's eyes widened in surprise, letting go of Antonak, ignoring the protests of the smaller man as he pushed the man behind him, away from sight. The bigger man's face told Bagdwella enough that yes, he was hiding something.

'What would that be, Bagdwella?' he asked, miserable trying to sound innocent, but Bagdwella knew better than that. He was lying.

'You are, aren't you?' she hissed, her face suddenly turning a lot more sinister then before. With a few steps, she decreased their distance, dangerously looking up at the man who slowly backed up a little bit, a nervous look in his eyes.

The woman that Bagdwella recognized as the mother of the trollhunter suddenly appeared next to her, the same nervous look on her face as Draal, her arms filled with sparkly clothing.

'Hi there, Bagdwella! How are things?! Did you get your hair done, it looks amazing!' Barbara addressed her, articulating her sentences a bit too quickly then could be seen a casual conversation. Bagdwella turned to glance at her a moment, already catching on that the woman was aware of the situation. Barbara was trying to distract her from the painful truth playing in front of her.

Bagdwella felt the anger grow, Barbara's reaction only proving her suspicion. Taking a deep breath, she ignored Barbara's greetings, turning back towards Draal, deciding to ask the question, hoping it was not true.

'He is your lover, is he not?'

The silence in the thrift store was deafening, the soft music of the radio suddenly not quite suiting the situation anymore. The four costumers stood very still, all eyes on Bagdwella as she angrily waited with folded arms on her answer. Draal stared at Badgwella with big, amber eyes, his eyebrows reaching for the ceiling as he processed Bagdwella's accusation.

'My what?...' Draal managed to get out, his voice suddenly a lot meeker then usual. At the same time, Antonak's head slowly appeared from behind the big man, his brows furrowed deeply as he looked at the woman with big, confused eyes, like she just grew four extra arms.

A snort could be heard from the woman's left, Barbara apparently finding this situation amusing. 'Oh boy.'

Bagdwella still kept her gaze on the giant man in front of her, yellow eyes angrily piercing through his fake obliviousness. How dare this bastard keep this information from her.

'Don't play foolish games with me, Draal.' she dangerously growled. 'I am not blind. It is obvious that he is!'

Unfolding her arms, she pointed a freshly manicured finger towards Draal, the fact that she looked like a tiny gnome compared to his giant physique not influencing the nervousness of the man. 'You have basically vanished from new trollmarket. Everyone I ask has no clue what you are up to lately and you are clearly hiding him, cooped up under that clothing rack quite literally!'

Antonak stepped aside to stand beside the big man, clearly getting irritated by the accusations. Unfortunately, his version of looking irritated looked like he was ready for murder, his golden eyes dangerously eyeing down the woman as he folded his arms. 'Even if that was true, it would be none of your business, woman.'

Bagdwella could feel herself grow fearful, her heart stopping for a moment as she tried her best to keep her posture when the man ominously stared at her. Her anger kept her going, luckily. She was not done with this conversation yet. Puffing up her chest, she made herself look bigger, trying to match up with the stare she received from Antonak. 'I have known Draal for centuries. It is my right to know!'

'That does not make him your damned property.' The golden eyes man lowly growled at her, scowling deeply as he took a step forward, towering over her. Bagdwella visibly got a bit smaller, her brave appearance crumbling when Antonak's intimidation kicked in. Before she could reaction however, Barbara walked over to stand in between them, putting a hand on the assassin's chest, gently pushing him back, giving him a warningful look.

'Be nice, Antonak. Clearly there is some misunderstanding going on here.' She started, turning her attention towards Bagdwella, still glaring daggers at the man. 'He is simply a friend of ours, Bagdwella. No need to get jealous.'

Bagdwella huffed, feeling a bit exposed by Barbara's direct approach. She was not jealous! It was not her fault that Draal acted like he was interested in her and apparently played around with this bastard behind her back. Tearing her eyes away from Antonak, she took a deep breath, trying to keep a clear mind as her eyes fell on Draal, still standing awkwardly a few steps away from the three.

The woman was annoyed by the interference of Barbara, but she agreed that this was not the way to solve this confrontation. Bagdwella was a lady, she would solve this elegantly, like she always does. Putting a sweet smile on her face, she took a step back.

'You are right, Barbara.' She mused, keeping her eyes on Draal. Slowly, she lowered herself, grabbing the fallen totebags from the floor. Rumaging through one of the bags, she searched for a certain object she had obtained earlier this day. When she felt the sharp corner of the wooden box, she pulled it out before taking a few steps towards the bigger man, passing by Barbara and Antonak.

She held out the box in front of the giant man, keeping the sweet smile on her face. 'My apologies for getting angry, Draal. I hope you can forgive me.'

Draal nervously stared between the box and Bagdwella, the familiar awkward look he made before fleeing the scene every time she addressed him on his face. 'Errr… That's alright. Misunderstanding, innit?'

'It sure was.' Bagdwella answered, pushing the box against his chest before letting go, forcing him to catch it with his hands so it would not fall on the ground. 'Accept this as my apology.'

'Thank you?' Draal awkwardly replied, holding the box between his big hands as he stared at the woman in confusion. Bagdwella simply smiled, before turning around and addressing the others.

'I'd better get going. Can't miss my spa appointment!' She cheerfully announced. 'Tah Tah!'

With a high but surprisingly low giggle, she elegantly strutted away out of the thrift store, leaving a startled group behind in silence. Draal could play dumb all he wanted, but Bagdwella knew. He would pay for what he had done to her. No one hurts an elegant lady like herself.

Three of the five Lake house residents walked towards the car of Barbara, who had parked it in the parking lot across from the thrift store. The sun was heading towards it's horizon, only having a few hours left on their side of the Earth, announcing the late afternoon. Draal and Angor carried some bags with clothes they had picked out from the store. The Barbara had tried to choose some outfits, but eventually the two men had gone and quickly picked some things out themselves to avoid further humiliation, aside from the Christmas sweaters. Draal had convinced the assassin to take that one, it was the right thing to do.

'Well, aside from Bagdwella, we succeeded pretty good!' Barbara cheerfully noted when they reached her car, opening her hand bag to search for the car keys.

Draal grunted, trying to sound convincing but not doing a good job. He held the box in his hand, turning it around to analyze any details, but he could not find any. 'What do you think this is?'

Barbara pulled open the door of the car, shrugging as she gave it a glance again. 'Maybe there is something nice in it. It's a present, after all.'

Angor walked over to stand beside him, eyeing the box suspiciously. It looked like something he had seen before, but he could not put his finger on it. 'Does this look trollish to you?'

The guard shrugged his shoulders, turning the box around again. There must be something inside of it, why else would Bagdwella give this. Draal had his concerns, the woman was known for her sudden mood change when you pissed her off, but at the same time, she did apologize. Maybe it was simply that she caught her reaction and changed her mind. There possibly could just be something inside of the box.

Feeling his suspicion sink, Draal opened the box, trying to look inside. Before he could fully open the lid though, a cold and for some reason prickly wind blew out of the box, right in the faces of him and Angor. The guard immediately let go of the box, taking a step back from the object. The wind halted the moment the box hit the floor, but Draal felt the sting off the ice cold wind still on his skin. With a sigh, Draal mentally cursed himself for being so blind. Why in Dea's name did he think this was a good idea?

'Of course it was.' the assassin deadpanned, his hair an even greater mess after the strong wind escaped. 'Hex box.'

'I am stupid.' Draal frustratingly moaned, rubbing his hand through his hair, trying to shake the cold feeling off his skin. 'Angor, why am I so stupid?'

'You are not stupid.' the assassin blankly replied, wiping of some of the frost off his shoulders. 'You are simply gullible.'

The guard took some offense in that, giving the assassin a glare when he turned his head to look at him. The bigger man admitted that he messed up and was frustrated with himself at the moment, but being called 'easily taken advantage off', that rubbed his already hurt pride the wrong way. Angor raised a questioning brow, not understanding why it irritated Draal. 'What?'

'I am not going to be called gullible by someone as paranoid as you.' the bigger man bit back, folding his arms as he glared down at the assassin.

'Why am I paranoid?' Angor growled back at him, immediately going into defense, lifting his hands up in annoyance. 'You distrusted that box as much as I did!'

'Of course I did not trust the box!' Draal barked back, his eyebrows furrowed deeply, Angor only annoying him more. 'but not attacking every person I don't know well enough does not make me gullible!'

'Was I wrong then?' Angor threw back, taking a step closer as he fully turned towards the guard, fighting Draal's behavior. 'As far as I know she just cursed us!'

'Should I… call Jim?' Barbara suddenly butted in with some hesitation, pulling her shoulders up as she worriedly reminded them that there were more important matters to attend to at the moment.

'YES!' Draal yelled at her at the same time Angor barked an angry 'NO!', both turning their heads towards her. Barbara looked at them with big surprised eyes, her lip a thin line as she awkwardly took a step back.

'Alright, I'll err…' she replied, presenting her phone up as she took another step back. 'I'll leave you two to it then.'

Quickly, she turned around and put the phone on her ear, created some distance by stepping out of the conversation with some relieve. Draal turned back towards Angor, pointing towards the woman as she walked away. 'See? You do not even trust the trollhunter!'

'The boy knows how to fight, not how to do magic!' Angor bit back, balling his fists in anger. 'That whelp is not going to solve thi-'

The assassin could not finish his sentence as suddenly, both their feet lifted off the asphalted ground of the parking lot, taking them by surprise. With shock they looked down at the floor, the car suddenly looking a lot smaller then it had before. The curse had lifted them up in the air, gravity suddenly not doing what it was supposed too.

'You know magic!' Draal quickly addressed the assassin, trying to look the man in the eye while he slowly turned, his feet dangling in the air.

The assassin tried to keep himself straight, but he still started to turn as well, dangling horizontal through the air. 'So you can go running towards the trollhunter and tell him I broke the rules?'

'Oh, well maybe you have to try and trust me on this one!' Draal growled back, his whole world quite literally turned upside down as he glared at the assassin, his denim jacket loosely hanging from his shoulders. 'Or does that make me too gullible?'

'For fuck's sake, Draal…' the assassin sighed, looking down, now being able to see the entire parking lot, Barbara a mere red haired spot at this point, still talking on the phone. The woman was going to have one big surprise when she would finally notice they where not on the spot where she left them.

While Angor looked down, he noticed that they started to pick up pace as they floated further into the air. 'Are we increasing speed?'

The guard halted his anger for a moment, also looking down towards the shrinking parking lot, revealing also the thrift store, the road and the forest surrounding it. They were drifting a lot faster then a moment ago and when the next moment came, it did not take long before they started to free fall into the sky, Arcadia coming into view as they tumbled upwards.

'What is this curse?!' Draal roared, trying to keep himself from turning, his voice almost drowned out by the wind soaring by.

Angor quickly looked around himself to find something, wondering if he could trap the curse into an object. Unfortunately they where high up in the sky, the only thing surrounding them the endless blue sky. He should be able to simply trap the curse into his shoe and send it into space, every troll with a brain could use simple Gumm Gumm magic like that, but that would add new problem. Once they would stop falling upwards, they would eventually fall downwards and Angor was pretty sure they had risen at least one mile into the sky, feeling his fingers slowly turn numb as the cold rapidly increased. The moment they would hit the ground, their human form would not survive, but if they did not find something soon, they would fall right out of the atmosphere, which would definitely be fatal, even for a troll.

His body began to shiver, the temperature becoming dangerously low as the air grew thin. Cursing himself, Angor tried to think of something before they ended up dead, the thin air making him slowly loose concentration. The guard next to him started to grow silent too, the former curses he threw out slowly fading, the high altitude getting him dizzy. Angor felt the worry creep in when he glances over to the blue haired man. Even if he was angry with the guard's shitty attitude from a few moments ago, wanting him dead… well Angor was starting to get to terms that he did not want that to happen, frustrated as he was about it. The assassin closed his eyes, trying to keep his mind calm. He had to think of something.

We are connected.

Angor opened his eyes, feeling the all too familiar dread kick in when he heard the voice of the woman who had been after him for months now. It seemed she was still alive, but Angor forced himself to not linger on the thought, ignoring the female voice in his head. Draal and himself were about to head towards the moon. This was not the time.

This IS the time. Use my magic, my champion!

Like hell he was. She already tried that one on him and he was not going to fall for it a second time… third time actually, but still, not the time to linger on that one.

You have already accepted me. We are connected. You can use my magic whenever you please!

Angor mentally cursed, the cold burning his skin and creeping into his entire body, reaching his bones. He tried to keep himself awake, the low oxygen levels not providing what his lungs needed. He did not want to use her magic. If he did, it meant...

I know you are furious with me after what I did, but I truly do not want you dead! Please Angor, use my magic before it is too late.

Angor felt the desperation set in, the last bits of his focus stubbornly fighting to not leave his mind. He truly did not want to do it, but he furiously realized that she was right. If he did not use her magic right now, they were going to die.

Cloud started to surround Draal and Angor more, the assassin feeling the cold mist on his skin, his skin already numb from the cold. Looking up towards the sky, wondering when the blue would start to darken. For a moment, he felt himself grow numb, his rapid solution thinking up the thing that would bring the most results.

He could just let it happen.

If Morgana never got to the part of her soul within him, she would be vulnerable for long enough for the trollhunters to find her. Especially with Merlin on their side. It would mean the Pale lady would lose. She would be dead and he would be free even if it meant he would die too. He had done it twice already. It wasn't all that bad, the sweet release of death. Third times the charm, he guessed…

His eyes fell on the Draal, completely passed out, his eyes closed as the wind blew passed, his body soaring through the air. Angor could do it, but it meant the guard would not survive either. Maybe in the big run it would not matter if Draal would die, he also had died once already. He had died a warrior death, his time had come, but Angor could not help but feel that the man did not deserve it. It was his fault after all that Draal had died. This would be the second time he'd kill him.

Draal was annoyingly cheerful, bold and yes, occasionally some stupid actions, but he was kind. Angor constantly kept searching for any reason why Draal kept helping him, what the bigger man eventually wanted from him, but until now he still could not find it. He did not want to see Draal as kind. Why could he not find it?!

The assassin sighed, realizing that he could not let Draal die. He could not do it to Draal.

Angor! Now!

Feeling the anger rise in him, all directed to himself for making such a foolish decision, he furiously roared, forcing himself to move his body, lifting his hands up in the sky. He had to get them out of the sky.

'Sa-kur-ram-kun!'

Heavy, pulsating energy shot through his hand, up towards the sky, a black mass appearing above them. It grew until a portal shrouded in darkness spread around them, both him and the guard falling through the entrance, straight into the depths of the shadow realm.

There you go! I am not fully satisfied with this chapter, but eventually I just let go of the perfectionism and posted it. I need to solidify some decisions by posting it, so I can finally choose what to do next haha.

Hoped you enjoyed it a little bit. Until next time~!