Two chapters in a row, whaaat?! Oh yeah, baby. I changed the audience Rate to M, because I had some new ideas, but wanted to be sure I can freely write it without being a wrong influence to younger readers. Again, little disclaimer that I do spellcheck my stories, but I am still training my English grammar. Don't feel afraid to message me if there is a mistake. I'll gladly accept it! Alright, enjoy people!

Chapter 4:

It was night time when Merlin arrived at the home that served as a prison. He left Claire back at his work station, as he thought it wasn't a good idea to bring her to a place with two prisoners who already have proofed to be violent. Normally he wouldn't care that much, but who couldn't care a little about the fair Claire.

Merlin opened the secured door with ease, it was his own sealing magic after all, and marched inside with his hands behind his back. His lifted his chin up as he observed the chaos inside the prison. The whole hall, living room and kitchen was covered with rubble of broken furniture and rubbish. Not to mention the bloody trail on the stairs. Gunmar was still stationed behind the counter, not moving, but trying his best to look threatening toward Merlin. 'Lovely home you have here.' Merlin said. 'The blood really makes a finishing touch, don't you think?'

Gunmar stayed silent, but his burning eye said enough. Get the hell out of here was written on his face. Merlin didn't pay it any mind as he walked through the living room, trying to avoid the mess. They both knew that Merlin would smite the floor with Gunmar if he pleased. No questions asked. When Merlin finally looked towards Gunmar himself, he saw the state the former wartroll was in. He was covered in blood and the cuts on his arms still had blood seeping out of them. Gunmar looked rather pale, Merlin noted. He didn't care if Gunmar died of blood loss, that troll has been quite the pain in his behind, but he had to admit, although it was a good call from Jim to have him come right away. It did not look like Gunmar would have survived if they waited a day longer.

Without a warning, Merlin walked towards Gunmar and grabbed one of his arms. Gunmar backed away, but the blood loss made his reaction too slow to avoid Merlin jerking his arm right up to observe the damage. Merlin looked at the gashes intensely. They were deep and clean. Not a very complicated wound to heal. His eyes fell on the angry troll in front him. Gunmar looked like he could rip him apart, but what was he going to do in human form? Bite him? 'Keep still.' Merlin noted as he lifted one of his hands and closed his eyes. His hand started to glow a radient light and he slowly reached towards the wounds on Gunmars arm, as he opened his eyes again. His hand touched the wounds and they slowly began to close up. A trail of blood remained as the wounds were nowhere to be seen. Merlin wasted no time to grab the other arm and repeat the healing enchantment.

Gunmar still kept his murderous gaze on him, but refrained himself from resisting. His pride was stomped on hard enough it could reach the earths center, but the healing did work and Gunmar didn't feel like dying just yet. His killing list was still very, very long.

After Merlin finished fixing Gunmar up, he stepped back, observing his work like he just repaired a land mower. 'Well enough.' he said and casually walked around the rubble, heading up the stairs. The bloodtrail made it clear the other prisoner must be upstairs. 'Don't try to damage yourself again. I won't waste my power on you a second time.' Merlin mused while reaching the top of the stairs. His footsteps slowly faded as he entered the second floor, leaving Gunmar alone in the kitchen. Gunmar angrily stared into space, fully healed but still feeling the sting of defeat after letting Merlin heal him. Not forced at all, Gunmar let him, he told himself. Still… he started to notice his former strategy of brute force wasn't giving the results he wanted. He was strong but, he admitted with a lot of effort, not strong enough. No troll strength. No army. No magic.

Gunmar sighed and put his elbows on the counter, resting his chin in his right hand, as he had done for many centuries on his throne in the Darklands. 'All in time…' he muttered to himself. He was defeated once, but loosing hope did not get him out of the Darklands. He waited for an opportunity. A small mistake in the design. Some weak spot he could use to his advantage. This is just a different cage with different locks. Somewhere in here must be a weak spot...

In the meantime, he did know he had to channel his anger, which was burning more brightly then every before. Gunmar was no fool, but after loosing the war when he finally broke out of his former prison, turned into a weak, needy excuse for kettle and getting imprisoned AGAIN, the fire blinded him in thinking clearly. The reason for his demise, Merlin and that bastard of trollhunter, were unfortunately not an option at the moment. The only one in reach to focus on was the assassin who was, despite being weaker then Gunmar, extremely clever and skilled. But he wasn't the only clever one in the house, Gunmar thought as he smirked in his hand. He'd have his fun with Angor. He only had to be discreet and focus on dodging Angors attacks more then tanking throught it… like an assassin. Gunmar chuckled on that thought. Yes.. this could work.

Angor faced the wall of the shower as the hot water washed away the blood. He absently stared at the now turned red water on the floor, twirling around and slowly dissapearing into the drain. His wounds were healed in a blink of an eye by the wizard, so at least he could look at the floor with two eyes. His mood had not improved though. The old man and the trollhunter left shortly after he was healed. 'I will find a way to make this better, I promise!' the half troll hypocritically stated as he confiscated all of Angors hand made weapons. Leaving him alone and unarmed with that buffoon downstairs.

Angor understood he did just as much damage to Gunmar, making him an equal threat, so taking away his weapons could be seen as a wise choice. What they didn't realize was that he wasn't such a fool that he'd pick a fight with Gunmar in a human body that can bleed out in a mere hour if he wasn't careful. Ofcourse he wanted Gunmar dead and he loved the idea of watching the warlord choke on his own blood by Angors doing, but he'd rather go insane once again in total isolation then die at the hand of the damned bastard who bloody slaughtered his entire villa-

Angor immediately stopped his train of thought and sighed deeply as he let his head lean on the cool tiles of the bathroom wall. He closed his eyes and listened to the water falling down and hitting the floor. He took a few breaths and tried to clear his mind. Thinking about that isn't going to help. There are plenty of materials around the house. He could just make more weapons. He'd fought many battles, this is just the next one and all he needed was to prepare for it.

He opened his eyes once again and turned the shower off. After drying himself off, he held his hand on the doorknob, listening closely if there was any signs of Gunmar in the hallway. It was convenient that Angors room was across of the bathroom, reducing the risk of running into the other prisoner. He opened the door, checked once again just to be sure, and walked over to his room. Closing the door behind him, he went over to the drawer to grab some clean clothes. He opened it and stopped in his tracks. On the pile of shirts layed the in cloth wrapped glass knife Angor used against the Trollhunter. A square, brightly colored piece of paper was stuck onto it.

Angor blinked for a moment before slowly grabbing the knife and pulling the note off. It was strangely sticky. He stared at the hastily written note: 'In self defense ONLY!'. He did not like to admit it, but he was a bit relieved by this. It meant the trollhunter wasn't that oblivious to the situation. Not that Angor was hoping on some magic rescue mission. He was in this prison because of that halfbreed after all…

He got dressed and sat down on the floor, leaning against the drawer while facing the door. In any case that Gunmar decides to fight him again, he at least could defend himself. He felt exhausted, but held his knife steady in his hand, not leaving the door out of his sight. Whatever the trollhunter thinks of to 'make this better', he better do it quick…

'So if my calculations are correct, if we give every troll a subject to research on about this human society, we will have a massive amount of knowledge in a blink of an eye!'

Blinkly enthusiastically slammed his hand on the chalkboard where he had written his whole plan out. 'It will be a project that requires great effort, but with perseverance and discipline, we can turn the research into books and teach each other the ways of the human!'

'Or we can just go to the Arcadia public library, borrow a bunch of books and teach them ourselves?' Strickler rhetorically asked, sitting at the wooden table across of Blinky's presentation, tapping his finger impatiently on the desk. This meeting was taking away his whole afternoon and he wanted to go home. The care of many changeling babies was no joke and he didn't know how much longer the babysitter could survive this ordeal.

Blinky, being the almighty new leader of trollmarket, thought it wise to call upon all the 'experts' on humans available, to help the humanized trolls of Arcadia to integrate better in the town. For the last four hours, they were couped up in Blinky's new found office, which was filled with many of his books and trinkets from his former home in the old Trollmarket.

Blinky's hand slipped from the chalk board, erasing a part of his master plan. Pointing his finger up in the air he said 'The Arcadia library! How could I forget!'.

'Or just put up some wifi in this place and google it!' Toby said with a big smile on his face, leaning forward on the other table behind Stricklers. 'Youtube got sooooo many tutorials, you can even look up how to tie your shoes!'.

Nomura, who was sitting on a rather comfy sofa a bit further away from the others, looking up from a book about Bach she was reading. She had already lost interest in this meeting an hour ago. 'Yeah, let's let a bunch of trolls loose on the internet.' she said sarcastically. 'That will go well. Especially when they find out about the dark web…'

Toby gasped and turned his head towards Nomura, putting his arm over his seat. 'You've been on the dark web?!'

Nomura closed her book and placed it on her lap, finding newfound interest in the conversation. 'How else do you think I've got my hands on some pieces of the Killahead bridge?' she smirked dangerously.

Toby stared at her with newfound admiration. 'You know no fear, do you?' he whispered dramatically.

Strickler sighed, rubbing both sides of his temples with his fingers. Barbara, who was seating next to him, chuckled lightly and laid her hand on his arm. 'I'm on Walter with this one.' she said, facing Blinky. 'Teaching them ourselves will help them to get involved in human society more gradually. The internet is a great recourse, but humans aren't all sweet angels, believe me. We can teach them how to use it later, when they at least learned some of the basics!'

Blinky smiled broadly and nodded. 'That settles it then!' putting his hands on his sides. 'Human education it is! What do you think, master Jim?'

He turned towards Jim, who was seated next to Toby, his troll legs barely fitting under the table. Jim had been surprisingly silent the whole meeting, leaning his chin on his hand, staring into space. His right ear turned to the sound of hearing his name. He snapped out of it and turned his attention back to the meeting. 'Huh, what? Oh yeah, pizza Thursday sounds great!' he said, smiled awkwardly, showing his fangs.

Barbara turned to look at him with a bit of worry. 'We've discussed that topic two hours ago, honey. Are you ok? You've not been fully here the whole meeting.'

Jim looked at her with big eyes, his lips a thin line, feeling a bit exposed and frustrated by the fact that if his mother could read and understand cooking recipes as well as her son, he wouldn't have to save every dinner date she had with Strickler.

'Uh… yeah, just… thinking about other troll problems, I guess.' he said, trying to avoid the subject. Not that it worked, knowing his mom.

'You know you can talk to us, Jim.' Barbara warmly said, giving him her all knowing motherly smile. 'What's on your mind?'

Feeling all eyes on him, Jim folded his arms uncomfortably, leaning a bit back in his chair, avoiding eye contact. Nomura rolled her eyes and opened up her book again, deciding Bach is more interesting then more 'troll problems'.

'Well…' Jim started 'I am starting to think I shouldn't be in charge of the Prison house anymore.'

He sighed and decided to just make eye contact with his mother. 'I know that Gunmar and Angor Rot are dangerous and we can't just free them, but trapped together in that house, they are now a danger to each other.' He run a hand through his hair in frustration and continued 'This morning I came in to find Gunmar almost bleeding to death and Angor Rot looked like he got run over by a bus! Merlin got there in time to fix them up, but he said he won't do it a second time.'

'Damn, this sounds like those prison documentaries!' Toby gasped.

Barbara frowned, clearly concerned. She knew that Jim had a lot of responsibilities as a trollhunter, but she never liked the part where he had to get involved with danger. After all that they've been through, she knew she couldn't stop him, but she also couldn't stop worrying. He was her son after all.

'But that's the problem of it!' Jim said worriedly, placing both of his hands on the table, lowering his eyes, he stared at his hands sadly. 'They need to be guarded, but I can't be in the house 24/7 with everything going on! If this goes on for long, one of them ends up dead and it will be my fault!'

Jim thought back at his conversation with Angor when they first met after the explosion of Arcadia Bridge. 'There doesn't have to be unnecessary bloodshed. Let me help you.'He sighed, feeling the sting of regret.'I wanted to show them mercy and I promised to help, but I've only made things worse…'

There was a moment of silence, laying heavily on the room. The prisoners were a difficult topic. Gunmar and Angor both had done so much harm to the trolls and Arcadia, that there were a lot of different opinions about keeping them alife at all. Eventually Blinky and Jim decided to lock them up in a location unknown to new Trollmarket, to avoid the possibility that some troll took faith in it's own hands. Only the trollhunter team and Merlin knew the location.

'I bet 20 dollars on Gunmar.' Nomura dryly stated behind her book.

'Nomura. NOT helping!' Toby hissed, staring at her with eyes full of disbelieve.

Blinky looked at his adopted son, feeling his guilt. He slowly walked over to him, placing his hand on Jim's shoulder. 'I admire the way you show mercy to the ones many think don't deserve it.' He smiled at him in support when Jim looked up to him. 'It is one of the traits that makes you a great trollhunter, but just because this is your choice, it doesn't mean you have to carry the responsibility on your own. Whether you like the fact or not, you are still a kid, put in charge of two very dangerous criminals.'

Blinky let go of him and walked back towards the board. He grabbed the dusty chalkboard eraser and wiped away his previous plans. 'Alright.' he said and turned back towards the people in the room. 'We shall make this a priority! The prison needs to be monitored by someone who can stand up against the prisoners. Preferably more then one, so they can switch shifts.' He grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote Jim his name on the green board. 'Master Jim is already qualified. Any more suggestions?'

'Aaargh can totally take on Gunmar!' Toby quickly jumped in, happy that the conversation became more lightly. 'He is just as huge!'

Blinky nodded and added Aaargh his name on the list. 'Very well, I will ask him as soon as possible!'

Jim didn't know what to say. He had not expected immediate support after all the mistakes he had made, but here they were, helping him without any doubt. Sometimes Jim forgot that his family and friends really believed in him. Moments like this reminded him of how lucky he was to have them. He smiled as he watched the others offer their ideas and suggestions.

After a while it seemed that the meeting finally came to an end. Strickler was already packing up his things, ushering Barbara to do the same, wanting to go back to the babies. Jim was just about to stand up when his phone started to buzz on the table in front of him. A photo of Steve popped up on the screen, pulling a face that was anything but beautiful. Jim picked it up, wondering what on earth Steve had to tell him.

'Hey Steve, whatsup?' Jim asked, holding his phone to his ear and gathering his things with his free hand.

'JIM!' Steve shouted, making the trollhunter pull away from the phone, scrunching his face as his sensitive troll ears didn't like the scream treatment.

'Jim, dude, you won't believe it!' Steve continued, not noticing how loud he was being. 'Eli and I were patrolling the woods, ya know, protecting Arcadia from evil monsters like the creepslayers do!'

Jim rolled his eyes. He appreciated Steve and Eli's intentions to help, but they were known to escalate a situation into total disaster sometimes and Jim had too much on his mind to deal with this. As he listened to Steve rambling, he heard Eli somewhere on the background yelling to someone to stay back.

'We found this big guy with really weird, blue hair. He claims to be a troll, but I know a lot of the trolls in Arcadia and I don't know this one yo! You have to come quick, I think…. I think he is gonna eat us!' Steve whispered dramatically.

Damn. At this, Jim knew enough. He grabbed the last of his things and quickly paced out of the office, knowing he had to be there quickly. 'I'm on my way. Where are you guys?'

'Like I said, the woods! Just come he-' Steve paused his panic rambling for a minute. 'Wait, no, stay away evil smurf! STAY AWAY!'

Jim heard a scream that he could only identify as a little girl and then the ruffling sound of somebody taking over the phone. 'Who is this?' he asked, lowering his deeply as he tried to listen closely, he quickened his pace. He had to get there as soon as possible.

'Jim?'

He stopped dead in his tracks. Jim felt his stomach drop to his shoes and his eyes widened in disbelieve. He knew this voice. It was a voice he hadn't heard in a long time. This just couldn't be possible. The trollhunter stayed silent from a moment, not knowing what to say or believe in the moment.

'Jim, can you hear me? It's me.' the voice said, sounding a bit out of breath.

Jim still stared in the distance, forgetting he was in New Trollmarket for a moment. This didn't feel real, but still… What if it was? His mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts and questions, but his mouth could only utter one, trembling question.

'Draal?'

Oh yeah, I went there. You've got cliffhanged, stay tuned!