#Jim. Toby. and Claire were the more difficult ones. Not entirely sure why though

[taags-old-account]

Living With The Guardians Of Arcadia A Guidebook For Dummies

(There's Also A Lot Of Rules)

Written by: Barbra Lake

1. When Krel invites you to a robot fight. DO NOT ACCEPT. I don’t care if the Gun Robot helped save the world, it’s not allowed back on earth.

2. Whenever Aja enters the room, you do not need to chant ‘we stan one Queen’. Just bowing once will suffice. (I don’t care how much you ‘simp’ for her Steve)

3. Grit-Shaka’s are not allowed in the Castle under any circumstances.

4. Douxie is not allowed to use the bow in the castle unless we are under attack.

5. Eli is NEVER allowed to drive.

Quick note that Douxie is also not allowed to drive if Eli is in the car with him.

6. Do not permit Krel to decorate for Christmas, it ended disastrously the first time.

7. Jim, Steve, and Douxie are not allowed to race on their vespas/motorcycle respectively.

8. The word ‘Crispy’ is officially banned by Tobias Domzalski.

9. Claire is not allowed to channel her inner ‘Nico Di Angelo’ and shadow travel to China. It nearly ended in World War 3.

10. Krel must go to bed after 2 days of no sleep. He surprisingly has good puppy dog eyes, DO NOT GIVE IN!

11. Jim is the only person allowed to cook inside the castle. Claire is allowed to make her signature guacamole. (Apparently Jim says that he prefers it if I don’t cook, but I think he’s being silly. I’ll let him have this one though.)

12. Aja and Claire are not allowed to ‘visit’ Area 49B.

13. No matter how ‘Glorious’ it would be Varvatos is not allowed to pilot the Castle

14. Weapon checks are necessary before leaving the castle. (I’m not bailing you out of jail for the 5th time Jim and Douxie).

15. Archie is not allowed to have Nougat Nummies.

This also includes Gummy Bears.

16. If Aja asks to hang out with Toby, Eli, or Douxie, one adult must be in the room.

17. If Steve’s solution involves fire. Do not follow his plan.

18. Do not allow Eli to talk to you about the following topics (especially if Douxie is in the room):

Mothman

Arcadia’s Freakiness

Bigfoot

Nessie

The Billy Craggle

19. On occasion Douxie will read your star sign for shits n giggles, he will read your future, please stop him before somebody realizes that they are dying young.

20. Jim and Steve are not allowed to engage in fistfights.

21. Claire is not allowed to do necromancy, it works too well.

22. Please try to convince Krel that screaming explicits when an experiment fails is not good.

23. Toby and Steve are not allowed to egg on Jim to do stupid self sacrificing things ‘for the vine’.

24. The following games are not allowed to be played on Arcadia Gang Game Night:

Monopoly: That game ruins friendships.

Truth Or Dare: I’m also not bailing Claire out of jail for the 4th time.

Pokemon: I don’t even want to know what happened that night, but I don’t want a repeat.

Go Go Sushi: AAARRRGH!!! will win. There is no sense trying.

Hide & Seek: I don’t care how well your sticky spell works, hiding on the side of the castle is prohibited Douxie.

Mario Kart: No explanation needed.

25. Toby, Claire, Jim, Steve, Eli, Mary, Darci, and Shannon are not allowed in school on Saturdays. No matter if they get detention, do not allow them in.

26. No more recreations of High School Musical.

27. Microwavable Ramen is not food, Douxie, even by me. Jim is the only one allowed to cook for a reason.

28. The plants are not allowed to be fertilized, no matter how much you think Nari’s plants need them Toby.

29. No more body swaps. It got weird fast.

30. Magnets are not allowed to be put on Jim’s armour, no matter how funny the hello kitty ones are.

31. Krel and Aja have an affinity with crabs. Do not:

Cook a live crab in front of them, they will cry.

Let them give knives to crabs.

Let them keep the crabs they find at the beach.

32. Claire is not allowed to resurrect Bular for Jim to fight when he gets bored.

33. Do not fall asleep near Steve, he will draw a mustache on you.

34. Never Gonna Give You Up is banned.

35. ‘Tight Jeans’ Hank is not allowed near the Castle.

36. There will be no smiley faces drawn on Senor Uhl’s truck

37. Claire and Douxie are not allowed to spar for the safety of the world.

38. Krel and Nari are not allowed to play around with the Earth Titan and the Gun Robot.

39. Douxie cannot wack anybody in the face with Spellcaster, even if they say ‘of course you have blue hair and pronouns’

40. The entire team is not allowed near Area 49B while No Roots is playing.

41. The words ‘Tokyo Drift’ are banned.

42. Duct Tape does not fix everything, Douxie is only allowed half a roll a day.

43. Douxie is not allowed to swindle anybody with his ‘lad of fortune trick’

That said, if it’s the Arcane Order trying to destroy the world, then it’s fine.

44. Stuart’s Taco Truck is not allowed inside the Castle.

Do not give into Steve and Toby’s begging. It will only end in chaos.

45. Blinky is not allowed near fires.

46. Heavy Metal is not to be played between 12am and 6am (some people need to sleep Krel.)

47. When Claire asks you to come ‘dressed to kill’ it can go both ways

If she says it with a neutral face then she means it figuratively

If she’s smiling the same way she did while possessed with Morgana, I suggest bringing a shovel

48. Jim has the uncanny ability to convince people of random things. No Varvatos and Zadra, the mountains are not challenging your honour. Please.

49. Don’t try to give Douxie decaf. He will glare at you ominously for months

This also applies to Krel

50. No matter how hard they beg, do not give into the children asking to play Minecraft for ‘just 5 more minutes’. It will turn into an all nighter.

51. If you see Douxie holding a deck of cards please ask the following question:

What are you doing with those cards?

If he answers by asking you to play a card game without shuffling the deck, then you are safe.

If he answers by asking you to play a card game while shuffling the deck of cards. Run.

He will slice you into two with one. The only reason Blinky isn’t dead is because he’s made of stone.

52. If you see Krel talking binary with the Blanks. Don’t ask questions. Just leave the room.

53. Do not say that penguins don’t exist. Aja will believe you.

54. Stardew Valley and Subway Surfers are on thin fucking ice.

55. Claire is not allowed to play around with Zadra’s double-ended scythe

56. Nari is not allowed to create new creatures. The Billy Craggle was bad enough.

57. Fireworks are prohibited.

58. The Skeltegs and Gnomes are not allowed to get in fist fights.

Nor is betting on fights caused by a bored Varvatos

59. Douxie must take at least 2 nights off from work per week.

60. Everytime one of the team comes in from a mission, check for injuries. The whole lot of them will hide it because of their weird self-sacrificial issues.

61. Goats are not to be seen near the castle

62. Bessie must be kept in the pen. No matter how much Steve begs for her to get fresh air.

63. Krel under no circumstances will be flying one of the boats.

He can though if we are in grave danger

Or at least 2 other adults with the ability to fly it are in his presence.

64. AAARRRGH!!!! will find ways to hide in Toby’s closet. Don’t ask, and leave him be.

65. Jim and Toby are not allowed to make Tube City for the hamsters.

66. Claire is not a good driver. No matter how hard she tries to convince you that she can drive. She CANNOT.

67. When they go undercover, please make sure the children are not wearing the following:

a CIA suit

a baseball cap with a cat wearing glasses on top

Trollhunter Armour but with sunglasses

a ski mask

Italian Plumber Outfits

68. Eli is not allowed to be on youtube for more than 2 hours. He seems to find the dark side of it quickly

69. The children prefer outdated memes. Including the one with this number.

70. Claire is not allowed to speak latin under any circumstances

71. A baseball bat is not a formidable weapon. No matter how much Jim, Eli and Steve say it is.

A quick note that Jim is not allowed to throw his sword.

72. When Toby is bored he will make random badges for small accomplishments. He just throws them on you. There is no stopping it.

73. Krel is not all-knowing, he just has a lot of information inside that brain, including a very large ego.

74. If you somehow managed to anger Douxie you will be able to find him in the following places:

The roof, he uses sticky spells to stick to the side of the wall.

Don’t scream when you see a scary broody Douxie sticking to the side of the wall. You’ll just scare him.

The vents. He’s a Clint Barton kinnie

The dungeon’s closet. I know it is filled with various creepy things. Don’t ask.

75. Aja is not allowed to drive. She will find her way into a ditch. We are not sure how she passed drivers Ed.

76. The word ‘heist’ is banned

It got out of control last time.

77. Claire somehow manages to thrive in the deorganization that is her room. I know her desk is upside down. Don’t question it.

78. If Jim tells you to avenge him, even for the smallest things. You must avenge him, or else he will cause mass chaos.

79. No mentions of the ‘Gatto Surprise’ Incident.

80. Steve, Nari was just joking (I think), Nari does not eat bugs.

81. Someone please tell Krel and Aja that the Bee Movie is inaccurate. And no, the bees do not need nectar guns.

Speaking of the Bee Movie, Toby will find weird places to hide the script. Don’t ask questions. Just ignore it.

82. Douxie will eat kit kats the wrong way just to spite you. Do not anger him.

He may brood and eat kit kats the wrong way. To avoid or find him please see #74

83. Eli will look into the camera like the office, or stare to the side and say nonchalantly: ‘this is it narrator, this is my villain origin story.’

84. If Douxie says he’s going to ‘shoot the shit’, he means it literally, despite the ‘no bow in castle’ rule, he will go down to the training room and shoot at photos of people that annoy him.

85. The only take-out Jim will eat is Thai.

86. Douxie will not sleep until he collapses. Make sure that he sleeps every night.

87. There is a whole closet filled with VHS tapes. Don’t ask, AAARRRGH!!! likes them.

88. Don’t question the Gnome with the doll and peanut children.

89. Jim looks like a sweetheart. He can and will destroy you, with a sword or sass.

90. No rewriting Romeo and Juliet then acting it out ‘just for funsies’ the car chase was something else.

91. Don’t ever shout ‘rule number 3!’ in front of Jim. It ends badly.

92. The children will complain about the roaming charges while they travel around the world. It’s an inside joke that few understand.

93. Claire and Toby will talk about the ‘boneless gag’. Don’t ask what those two came up with.

94. Jim will randomly start speaking Spanish when he’s with Claire. Yes, it’s bad, no don’t tell him it’s bad.

95. There is a random army of goblins with a raccoon that will show up and bug Jim. Weirdly they listen to him

96. Blinky is not allowed near explosives.

97. Steve’s ringtone is actually ‘Buttsnack’ repeated over and over again. Don’t ask questions.

98. Don’t even try talking about the ‘bad coffee’ incident.

99. Nana will knock out police officers with a shovel. We try not to worry about it.

100. Bessie the cow is on thin ice with the farming game

[purplerose244]

Irrational - Chapter 5: I love you too much

HELLOOOOOOO!!! 🤩🤩

Here comes the fifth day of @spacecampweek with what is probably my favorite fic of the bunch! Little song-fic but not really situation in a normal world AU, where Krel is about to confess his feelings in a special way! 💕💕💕

Enjoy!! 😙

Summary: Prom is here at last, a night of entertainment, of happiness, to celebrate changes and the future. What better moment for Krel to finally express feelings that have been hidden for so long? Time to put those guitar lessons to some use...

Read it on the AO3

It was happening. No more holding back, no more thinking rationally about his chances without concluding a thing. Tonight, everything was going to change.

Prom had turned out to be an absolute oxymoron to walk into, between his deep appreciation for parties and his unsettledness at dealing with other people of different temperatures – or ‘cool’, as they liked to call themselves. Everyone was dancing like crazy, that was very good, and everyone was talking loud about nonsense, that was very not good. Adding to the unpleasantries was the music playing onto the stage, something pulsing yet in a hardly dynamic way. If this was another night, he would have liked to teach these people what real music sounded like and propose himself as a DJ, to properly say goodbye to Arcadia Oaks High. Then again, in another delson he would have not worn these kind of flashy clothes – he had lost the chance to call this a normal night the moment he had exited his house wearing a bow.

There was a lot of movement in the middle of the room, and in the middle some familiar faces. He could spot Jim’s questionable moves while Claire was laughing loudly with red cheeks, he could see Toby doing some robot moves while Darci danced along him, he managed to notice Aja spinning all over, between a super smiling Steve and an extremely radiant Eli.

It looked like they were all having fun, so much fun. Krel wasn’t… not yet.

“Hey Clint.”

He almost snorted at the sudden voice.

“Mary, I know you know my name at this point.”

“Whatever Kurt, whatcha up to?” The queen of the bees appeared in front of him, all sparkly in her pink shock dress. “Hank got all handsy, Dean is being shy, and that cute guy from Arcadia Oaks Academy that snuck in is being difficult. I’m up for some juice and it looks like you’re up to something.” And the queen of gossip too as well. She grinned at him, clearly playful. “Could it be you’ll stop being a wuss, at last? That would be nice!” He didn’t deny it. for a second. Big mistake, her eyes immediately widened, like she got struck by absolute knowledge. “Don’t tell me-”

He covered her mouth, realizing midway there that there was no point, the music was so loud it silenced everything. Despite that, he couldn’t bring her to say it. Not yet.

“Perhaps… maybe.”

Mary’s eyes turned into stars. She quickly wiped his hands off her.

“O-M-G, finally, I’ve been waiting for this for so long! Ha, I knew you were going to be the one to do it, Darci owes me five dollars! So does Logan! Pff, why was everyone betting on the space dork anyway… hey, what’s wrong?” She was perceptive. It happened after knowing each other for a couple of years. “Cheer up Kai.”

He laughed again. His chest felt like it was exploding, but in a good way. Seklos and Gaylen, for how long he had postponed what he was about to do, blaming time, work and consequences? It was terrifying in a way that was almost pleasant. Maybe. Perhaps.

“I am fine.” He swallowed, because of course the moment he had scanned the entire party, he had noticed it right away. Or rather, he had noticed a lack of him. “He… he is not here though.”

“He’s probably still bummed that he got into that accounting college his grumpy dad wants him to go but still doesn’t know about the engineering one.” Krel was holding his breath about that one too. Seamus had promised to be roommates in that case. Was it going to be weird if tonight wasn’t going to turn out the way he wanted? Was he going to be awkward around him? “Alright, I can smell burning thoughts, hashtag stopbeinganerd! You’re telling me you’re going to do it and I wanna know how, where and when, and if you try to chicken out now, I swear I’m gonna smash your precious guitar!” She sure knew how to get him riled up.

For the first time since he had come to this decision, Krel smiled, thinking of the backstage, the phases he had prepared into his head. He looked up, shaking his head.

“I believe that would be counterproductive for my plan.”

Mary’s mouth popped open, and if that wasn’t satisfying.

“No.”

“Kleb yes, I am not holding back.”

“That’s gonna be the bomb but you better don’t swoon anyone else, you dang charmer! I have all boy dates tonight and I wanna keep them focused on me only!” She giggled, patting his shoulder. “Just go for it, okay? You’re cool, even when you’re being a nerd.” It was as good of an encouragement as he could get right now. “Just wait until your dorky prince charming arri- Oh this is too perfect.” She was smirking, so much her makeup was scrunching up a little.

Krel didn’t have to turn around to know. He did it anyway.

What a view. This prince really wasn’t above physical appearance as he had first thought when he had arrived in Arcadia, powered by his absolute intellect, rationality, and general annoyance towards social interactions with amoebas. It had taken him a while, a whole while, to accept that even someone like him could get this soft inside.

Give then right time, and the right person.

Seamus was radiant, with the black jacket and the blue tie, with the polished shoes and the pulled back hair. From the relaxed eyes the discussion with his dad must had ended without a punishment, and he was actually smiling. Everything, he was so absolutely everything it made Krel choke up.

Mary was arching an eyebrow, although she most likely know what was going on. The prince swallowed, almost choking again, trying to keep his composure as usual.

Failing.

“… and… and you are absolutely sure…?”

“What in the world, Ken, yes! Yes he is completely head over heels for you, yes if you confess you bet your perfect grades he’s gonna reciprocate, yes the moment he will hear what you’ve prepared for him he might as well take a ring out of his pocket and propose in the middle of the dance room!” He grabbed his shoulders, shaking him a little. “You two are the absolute worst! C-bomb has actual guts to ask Jimmy Jam out, Darci and her Tobypie went for it naturally, even Steve is an idiot sometimes but not at dating and Aj and Eli practically gravitate around him! But you!!” She grabbed his collar, her stellar eyes turning into black holes. “You two are pining messes that I’m absolutely done with! So, I swear, Krel Tarron, if you don’t get on that stage and finally confess, you won’t have to make plans for college because this will be your last dance. Ever.” She could had stopped the threat at his actual name. That alone would have done it. Mary gave him the ‘I’m watching you gesture’, before backing down into the crowd without getting her eyes off.

Krel swallowed, nodded, watching her disappear into the party. Despite the dread of being murdered in cold blood being quite intense and even impressive, it was quickly washed away, as soon as Seamus looked at his direction with those blue eyes of him. There it was, that urge, that need to impress him somehow. It was their thing, the fulcrum of their rivalry that hadn’t stopped, even after years. The need to make the other break their mask of pride and turn it into amazement.

Bold enough, the prince grinned, winking at him. The way the blonde gaped warmed his heart. Was that pink on his cheeks? The lights were too strong and colorful, it was hard to tell.

Was it important? Not really. It was now or never.

Making his way towards the stage was a challenge itself, luckily his dancing skills were not to be ignored and swirling around these random kids was pretty easy and entertaining. The band was playing a pretty energetic movement, there was a keyboard player going absolutely nuts and a drummer doing their best. There was definitely something that could had been done to improve the whole performance – perhaps a few remixes on a DJ board, just saying –, but they were really into it. It almost felt bad going up there and show his own abilities.

Then again, Krel didn’t care.

He had a mission. With that determination in mind he immediately went behind the curtains of the stage, finding familiar locks of blue hair monitoring the situation. Having Douxie as the responsible one was still unusual, even though the ripped off pants and the numerous studs all over his suit were more likely. It probably wasn’t enough for him, he was tapping his foot over and over.

Krel cleared his voice, the older one turned, turning the frown into a smile.

“Krel, how’re you liking the show?” He snorted.

“Fine…” He really couldn’t help himself, it was too easy. “Would be better with some metal rock in it.” The smile was gone. Krel snorted again.

“Really, you’re going to put salt on it like that? Zoe already gives me a hard time because I didn’t get the Ash Dispersal Pattern to play here, don’t you get in the way too!” He turned to the band with a frown, shaking it. “‘Your music might not be a good example for the students’, fuzzbuckets, how old do you think these kids are?? Besides, how is techno a better alternative? Those moppets, I swear…” He muttered something under his breath, a curse most likely, then he sighed. “Alright, I’m fine. Extremely salty, but nothing a drink can solve later. I’m guessing you’re here to ask me something?” Perceptive. All of his friends had to be with him.

“Something like that, yeah…” He breathed in and breathed out, he was absolutely going for it but it didn’t make any of this easier for him. “Alright, I need a favor?”

Douxie smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh yeah? You need a favor from this random guy who got nominated supervisor as cold comfort for not having his band play tonight? Little old me?” He snickered, shaking his head. “Should have thought before you came here to mock, shouldn’t ya?”

“Hisirdoux…”

“Nope, can’t let this one go, I’m out of patience tonight and I need to get at least one gratification. How about you apologize to me? I’ll even help, start with ‘You are the best guitarist I’ve ever known’ and… whoa, wait, what are you doing?” Was it a bluff? Krel was bowing already, but perhaps his brain was messed up tonight. “Dude, how are you actually doing it? What is this favor all about?” Oh. Right. He was the most prideful person on the planet. He had almost forgot.

Krel straightened up, shrugging a little. From the tone of the current song, it seemed that this band was almost done. He peaked from behind the curtain. Seamus was talking with Steve, giggling a little. The prince couldn’t help clenching his hand around the shirt over his chest. Ah, he wanted this, he wanted all of this.

He felt a familiar wave of warm. He turned back to the guitarist, and Douxie was gaping, blinking several times. It was probably clear.

“I want to make an exhibition.” His honey eyes widened.

“… yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“… alright then.” Douxie smiled, pointing at the backstage with his head. “Prepare yourself Lover Boy, I’m announcing you right after this.” If it wasn’t to preserve what was left of his pride, Krel would have hugged him. “Is it DJ Kleb time?”

Krel moved a few steps towards the back. He stopped.

“No,” He turned to the guitarist, smirking. “It is Krel time.”

 ***

 “Alright, give it up for ‘The Raise of the Titans’! Amazing performance you guys, can’t wait to properly see you on Wednesday!” Douxie always looked confident on stage, he was born to have the attention of a public. It was something he and Krel had in common. Right now though, there was only one look the prince wanted all for himself. “Hope you’re having a blast tonight! How’s prom going?” A cheer followed. “That’s great, because we have a special exhibition right now. A special song, for a special someone! Give it up for Krel Tarron!”

The wood under his feet made a sound after every step, it was drowned by the voiced in the crowd. It made him smile thinking how many people were going to be surprised by his presence, his appearance, and especially him appearing with a guitar instead of his beloved keyboard. There was a single stool in the middle of the place, with a microphone already adjusted for his high. He thought that really needed to thank Douxie after this, for everything, as he sat down with the instrument on his lap. He had accorded it while he was in the backstage, but out of habit he did it again, the sound reverberating into his mind. It was like a reality check, a call to the place, as he finally looked up to the public.

Aja looked close to crying, absolutely overjoyed. Mary was smirking so much her cheek looked like it was being pulled. Steve looked absolutely astonished. Toby was grinning impossibly wide. Eli had his glasses shining and a bit smile. Jim had amazed eyes over him. Claire looked ecstatic. Darci was giving him a thumbs up. Everyone was there, everyone.

And then there was him. Him, adorably confused and starstruck.

Krel grinned. I hope you are ready for this, you math blonde.

“This song is for a dear person to me. I have never been able to express my feelings properly before. I have never been particularly good at.” He let another note fill his silence, it made him smile again. “But I will not shy away from it, not anymore. I went through everything with you, high school, my problems, your problems, math and space and everything between,” There was no doubt, not anymore. “I want to go beyond now.”

His mind was peaceful, his body was burning. It felt like he had never been more alive before. His fingers knew what to do, that song was a part of him. He just took a deep breath, and let the music take over.

 I love you too much

To leave without you loving me back

I love you too much

Heaven’s my witness and this is a fact

I know I belong, when I sing this song

There’s love above love and it’s ours

‘cause I love you too much

 It used to be just him, his mind, and his sister. Them against the world, with a mother that wanted her to be proper, with a father that wanted him not to be him. Everything had turned out so badly at first without them, and so not badly after, to the point he had managed to make an actual life away from Cantaloupia. Then, the escape had become home. Then, it he had become the place where he had met the only guy that was ever going to make him feel.

It used to be just him, his mind, and his sister. Now it was him and his sister, friends and family, a home and the world, and so many feelings in between. This was the right place, this was the right time, this was the right guy.

It used to be just him, his mind, and his sister. Now he could hardly imagine himself without the blonde in the picture, the one that could cloud his mind and fill his heart.

 I live for your touch

I whisper your name night after night

I love you too much

There’s only one feeling and I know it’s right

I know I belong, when I sing this song

There’s love above love and it’s ours

‘cause I love you too much

 The two of them weren’t the easiest people to deal with, their lives weren’t the easiest lives to deal with. It had been because of a cruel game of destiny or a lucky shot from faith that they had found each other, Krel at Seamus’ door whenever he felt like he didn’t matter, and Seamus at Krel’s whenever he felt like exploding? Was it bad that in their worst some of their sweetest moments together were born? Was it bad that overwise they might had not become this much of friends?

They were living in a world that was cruel and unforgiving, with people even less likely to welcome them. Krel liked to think that by knowing each other, they had managed to overcome that obstacle, and meet also the people that were fine. That were okay.

They were okay. He was okay.

He had never forgotten that one moment of them, not once.

 Heaven knows your name I’ve been praying

To have you come here by my side

Without you a part of me is missing

Just to make you my own, I will fight

 The song was a tragically familiar one. During the worst of his pining, when he thought he was never going to be good enough for him, when he thought that he didn’t deserve to feel something this pure and breathtaking, this had always been the song. Shannon had taught him the first notes after she had gifted him the guitar after a curious sequence of events, and then Douxie had taken over teaching him all he had needed to know. It was all so familiar now he hardly had to think about how to move, where to put his fingers, if it was too strong or just okay. It was cheesy in a way he never thought he could possibly be, with feelings he never thought he could have.

Aja had always listened from her room, he knew she had even though she had never said it, because before going to sleep the same delson she had always come to hug him. Mary had always told him that playing a love song to cure his – stupid – pained heart seemed a little counterproductive. Maybe she was right. But even if everything was to end tonight, he didn’t care.

He liked love. He loved love. He loved Seamus.

 I know I belong

When I sing this song

There’s love above love and it’s ours

‘cause I love you too much

 Caught by the sudden burst into his chest Krel stood up, almost making his stool fall down. He didn’t care. Right there the crowd’s cheering came to his ears, and despite how much he wanted to scan the place and look for that familiar strawberry blonde mane in between, he forced himself not to. Not yet, not until he said everything, not until he was sure he had delivered everything he had inside. He shushed his mind and let the rest of his body sing.

 I love you too much!

I love you too much

Heaven’s my witness and this is a fact

You live in my soul, your heart is my goal

There’s love above love and it’s mine, ‘cause I love you

There’s love above love and it’s yours, ‘cause I love you

There’s love above love and it’s ours, if you love me…

… as much

 When the last note left his instrument, an urge to cry mixed to an absolute pride took over. He did it, he actually did it. In his mind the song was still echoing, beautifully in the open as it was always supposed to be played. He was drained and so, so happy.

Then, as his head finally allowed in something other than exhaustion, it finally hit him the amount of people that was watching, and how crazy there were going with that applause. It was reverberating all over, he was surprised he noticed it only now. Steve was holding onto Eli and Aja, every single one of them looked close to tears. Mary was shouting something to one of her current dates, pointing at the stage then back at her, probably something like “I know him, he’s my friend, he’s cool because I’m cool, good old Kevin”. Toby was jumping up and down, with Darci laughing and applauding. Jim and Claire were holding onto each other, clapping with fervor. It was good, everything was so good right now.

Finally, Krel allowed himself to look.

Right then, his hear broke.

He wasn’t there. Seamus wasn’t there anymore. No blue tie around, no lock of blonde hair, no red freckles in sight. There was no way this prince couldn’t find him, so…

He left. He didn’t stay for him. He didn’t.

“How about that, huh?? Krel Tarron, everyone!!” Suddenly Douxie was by his side, Krel didn’t look at him. It hurt. He thought it wasn’t going to matter, but it hurt. “He will be all over you for autographs and junk later, let him rest for a moment, and welcome the next exhibition of the night!” His arm was onto his shoulders. Krel didn’t move. He didn’t want to. Then he got a squeeze, and he looked up out of pure instinct. Douxie was still smirking, like his heart hadn’t just gotten smashed against the solid ground of the ballroom. He pointed to the exist and Krel, sighing, obeyed.

He crossed the next couple of performers, who patted his back telling him how good he had been. It didn’t feel like a proud moment anymore. It felt like a waste. The guitar was hanging onto him by the lace, luckily, he would have forgotten it on the stage overwise. Krel sighed, putting the instrument down as soon as he was behind the curtains. He could deal with this.

He didn’t want to, but he could. He just needed some time to-

His hold was callous and warm. The prince knew it so well he almost didn’t have to turn. He did. Seamus had his entire face flushed. He looked outstanding.

“Come with me.” His voice was low, almost fearful, and Krel could do nothing other than follow his lead. He was dragged along as they were staying as far away from the crowd as possible, going for the exit. If anyone had noticed them, Krel was sure Steve or Mary would have taken care of them. As soon as they were out of the room, it was silence. The school looked almost dormant like this, without lights around, the abandoned lockers circling the corridors.

It was going to be one of the last times, in this special place.

There was little time for that kind of nostalgia, as they didn’t walk for long anyway. Seamus seemed in a hurry, he was moving forward without a single word. It almost made the prince fear that he had gone too far and had made him mad. Some more uncharacteristic apologies brushed his lips, at least as a precaution, no matter how weird it was going to be.

They died into his throat as soon as he was pressed against the wall. The echo of the music was gone. There were only those impossible blue eyes getting closer and closer and-

Krel would have laughed. He would have laughed in any other occasion, because this guy was rough and prideful and used to be really bad at dealing with his anger issues. Yet he kissed with the outmost gentleness, like he was genuinely afraid of breaking him, like he was terrified that at any point something was going to wake them up from this dream. Krel wanted to hold onto this dream. He held onto him, hands reaching for his shoulders, then up into his hair. They were not fluffy at all. Again, he would have laughed if he wasn’t this overwhelmed by the fact that this was happening, that Seamus was kissing him and it was happening. The hold onto his mane must had woken up the blonde, as he moved forward with urge, breathing in and taking more.

It was marvelous. It was uncertain and clumsy and they were both really inexperienced at this, and it was marvelous. Slowly the timing was getting clearer for the both of them, because despite pride and their social skills they were instead really good at learning and understanding. The rhythm drowned them both, and it almost made Krel forget he had lungs. It got him there, the urge for air, and he let out almost a strangled noise when he got out of one last kiss.

Seamus was panting just as hard, if not harder, his pupils blown. Krel had never seen him like this, it was a whole new side. He wanted to know it. He really wanted this.

“Sea-”

“Shut it.” Another kiss that made him hum, it was sweeter than before. He almost forgot the words. When he tried to talk again Seamus promptly kissed him again. He completely forgot the words. “You said more than enough, now it’s my turn.” The blonde was smiling of that beautiful smile again. “I’m gonna make every single word count.” His hand went over his hair, caressing his brown locks like they were precious treasures to keep. The urge to cry came back.

Along with another desire, that made Krel come back to his senses and smirk.

Once again, rivalry.

“Aren’t you an overachiever?” Seamus hummed questioning, brushing their noses together. It was too good, the prince giggled. “There are exactly 212 words into my song.” It was too perfect. This wasn’t an out of the world experience, this was the natural consequence of their relationship. Seamus was holding him, and he really didn’t want to be anywhere else.

The blonde seemed taken back by his words, for almost a full second, only to laugh. He brought him even closer, breathing against his lips.

The world disappeared. Prom could wait.

“Better start counting then.” He lunged forward, a quick press closer to a caress. “One,” Another one, deeper but still quick, that made Krel naturally lean back. “Two…” This time it was proper, making him decide that he didn’t really need his mind right now. There was no issue, no invention in standby, no math problem to solve. He could allow himself this. “Three.” He could take every single part of him, as a reward in a way, as a present even more. Without a single remorse Krel laced his arms around his neck, deepening every following kiss.

They stopped counting after nine.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

So let’s talk about Claire

[Image description: the very pixelated Wizards poster, cropped to only focus on Claire]

First: the obvious. Her streak seems bigger. No hair clips can be seen. Either she’s got her hair pinned back (maybe that’s where her clips are?) or she cut it.

Second, the almost obvious. Her eyes... I know a lot of people are saying her eyes are black, and while Claire having spooky dark magic eyes sounds great I’m not entirely sure about this because her eyes are brown anyways. Brown eyes are often mistaken for black in pictures without a great amount of detail. Then again, she’s the only person on the poster who has eyes.

Third, the not obvious. Ever since the Shadow Staff got destroyed, one of the big theories has been what new weapon Claire will use. Multiple options have been presented, from bo staff to javelin to wormhole generator on a stick to the fact that she’s got claws and spikes on her armor and those will be her weapon, to even just the idea that Claire won’t need a weapon, she’ll just be casting spells from now on.

In the poster; Claire appears to have a weapon. It doesn’t look like the wormhole generator we’ve seen. If Claire were to be holding it like a bo staff, or even casting out a beam of magic from her hand, then her hand would be much paler than her face; it would be as pale as her streak.

No, Claire seems to have a sword. And that, my friends, is a source of confusion. Weapons are like signatures of characters; in Trollhunters it was rare that two characters had the same weapon; either magic was involved in possessing a weapon, or characters seriously thought that baseball bats would protect them from the supernatural.

So why now has Claire exchanged a staff for a sword? Is it to differentiate her fighting style from Douxie and Merlin? Douxie and Merlin’s staves have handles, and it would likely be more difficult for them to use the twirling motions that Claire used with the Shadow Staff. Her fighting style would be different.

Moreover, the members of the original trio all used different weapons, and Claire is veering a little into Jim’s territory by using a sword.

However, Claire’s sword is not just any sword. She appears to have an épée.

[Image desrciption: an image showing the differences between foil, épée, and saber fencing. The different target areas, hilts, and cross sections are shown.]

Okay, fine, I guess it could be a foil or a saber, but I’m going with épée for Claire given the shape of the very pixelated guard. The point is, Claire’s sword does not appear to be a sword meant for large swinging motions like Jim’s sword is. It’s a piercing, stabbing weapon intended for a user who is light on their feet. It’l still be a fighting style unique from Jim’s, and hopefully it’ll retain some touches from Claire’s staff fighting style. (Note: please I really hope Claire won’t try and twirl her épée like she did the Shadow Staff because that’s not good form and won’t have the same sort of momentum, just do fancy wrist flourishes like the rest of us.)

But still, why give Claire an épée?

For that, we need to go back to the origins. Before Trollhunters was a show, it was a book. Before Toby had a warhammer, he had the unfortunate nickname “Tubby”. Before Jim had an amulet that made armor for him, he was a descendant of a long line of trollhunters, called paladins. And before Claire was a Latina with hints of magical power, she was the Scottish immigrant Claire Fontaine.

Claire Fontaine did not have a staff. She was a fencer, and more importantly, she was from a paladin bloodline (though, a different one than Jim). However, it wasn’t until Gunmar attacked that anyone realized this. “It was only because she had become adept at hiding her dual selves, one side from her parents, one side from her friends, that the trollhunters had failed to detect her paladin nature--and that she had failed to recognize it herself.” (Trollhunters by GDT and Daniel Kraus, chapter 39)

I doubt that Claire Nuñez has secretly been a trollhunter all along, simply because in the show the line of trollhunters isn’t a bloodline (and if it was, then Jim couldn’t be chosen without changeling heritage or something like that). However, Claire has definitely shown signs of having had magic since prior to stealing the Shadow Staff, and hopefully Claire’s magic is explored. After all, this isn’t Tales of Arcadia: Wizard, it’s Tales of Arcadia: Wizards.

(Also, Claire had a bit of a double life even in the first half of season 1, trying to please both her parents and her friends. This life became triple after she learned about trolls, and it was briefly quadruple because Claire was Morgana’s unwilling and unknowing servant. Those lives have collapsed into a single one of helping and aiding trolls. Claire Fontaine’s lives collapsed a bit into one as well, at least in her friendship and later romance with Jim.)

TL;DR: Claire’s new weapon appears to be an épée; this is likely symbolic of her growth.

[sorceress-coffee]

The Battle of Two Bridges

AO3 Link

As consciousness returned slowly, I could make out a soft beeping, playing to a steady rhythm above my head. Another soft rhythm playing to my right. I tried to sit up, only to be pushed back slowly onto the bed. When did I get home?

“You need to take it slow; you were burnt pretty bad.” A voice called out.

My eyes opened to a room shrouded in darkness, the blurred form of Claire was the one who had pushed me back. Shifting my head to the right I could see Jim in a hospital bed hooked up to a few machines, the heart monitor had been the soft beeping. “What happened?” I croaked, trying to get up again.

Claire sighed, helping me sit up gently, moving the back of the hospital bed into a sitting position. “Do you remember anything?” She asked, handing me a glass of water.

Taking it, I nodded slowly before gulping it down. My entire body felt like it was burnt raw. “Goblins in the woods… Jim’s amulet was fake. Burning…” I trailed off glancing at Claire’s hands that had been bandaged. “You tried to help. Then, Jim’s armor.” I finished, frowning at her bandages. “I’m so sorry Claire.”

Claire smiled softly, waving it off. “They’re not that bad, minor compared to whatever happened to you.” She explained, gesturing to my arms covered in bandages, I could feel more around my torso and legs as well. “You started to glow when Jim called for the amulet. It must’ve been painful.” She sighed, “Jim finished off the goblins and then a pink monster- troll- attacked us. I ran to get help, by the time we got back both you and Jim were unconscious. My dad called for ambulances and you were rushed here.” She explained, watching Jim’s chest slowly rise and fall with his steady breaths.

I smiled softly, shifting my arm to hold her hand. “Thank you.” Looking over the bandages I groaned, “Think there’s a way we can explain this without telling everyone about Trolls?” I asked, knowing it wasn’t possible.

Claire frowned, looking over both our bandages, “Not sure, I told them we were attacked by animals in the woods, but I couldn’t place what they were. It won’t account for the burns though.” She explained. “So, what is going on? Jim is kind of obvious, magic armor equals magic destiny, but what about you?”

Sighing, I reached out my hand, summoning Midnight in a flash of light. “It’s magic,” I held out the collapsed weapon for her to take. “I’ve been studying in Trollmarket.” I shrugged.

Claire’s eyes widened, taking the weapon carefully. “Can anyone learn?” She asked quickly, keeping her excitement down as to not wake Jim.

I paused, thinking over what Vendel has taught me so far. “Not entirely sure. Vendel, my teacher, said I was born with magic. Blinky, Jim’s trainer, has mentioned that Jim doesn’t have magic in his blood. So, I guess if someone had magic in their bloodline, they could learn magic?” I explained, not too sure how it worked myself.

She nodded, tracing the crystal veining in thought. “So, you’re a mage, Jim is a ‘Trollhunter,’ is that what I saw in your basement?” She asked before turning bright red, realizing she admitted to breaking into our house.

Laughing softly, I nodded, “That was Draal, he protects our home when Jim has to go on missions.” I explained. “The basement is his room.”

Claire’s jaw dropped, “Wait. Draal, as in your boyfriend? That Draal? The one that gave Jim advice for the kissing scene?” She asked quickly, sitting on the edge of her seat.

My face burned scarlet, remembering my slip up when Jim was wearing the Grit-Shaka, “Yeah, that’s my Draal.” I told her, rubbing the back of my neck, “Sorry about that by the way.”

Claire shook her head quickly. “No, no, I just… You’re dating a Troll?” She asked confused. “Isn’t that difficult as a human?”

“Well, I’m not a human, so I’ve got that going for me,” I explained, hoping she wouldn’t freak out on me. “Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, whatever you want to call it, have the appearance of a human, but they’re made of magic and are more Troll-like than Human-like.”

Claire nodded slowly, processing my explanation, “So, exactly how are you different besides the whole magic thing?” She asked, setting Midnight next to my covered legs.

I hummed, collecting my thoughts, “I don’t know much honestly, this is still new to me. I do know I’m more durable, I’ll age extremely slow like I’ll be centuries old and still young. There are also different magic abilities from wizard to wizard. I can wield daylight, which is only carried in Merlin’s bloodline. I can enhance my physical strength, heal, and teleport as well.” I sighed, realizing I knew next to nothing about wizards. “Look, Vendel would be better at answering your questions, I’ve only known for a couple of months now.”

Claire nodded, “Does that mean I get to go to Trollmarket?” She asked, a hopeful glint in her eye.

I laughed softly and nodded. “Why not? Jim takes Toby already. I’m sure one more fleshbag won’t cause too much excitement.”

Claire giggled at the use of ‘Fleshbag,’ “Is that what they call us?”

“Oh yes, and you will hear it a lot,” I confirmed with a grin.

Claire smiled before looking over my bandages again, “So, if you can heal, why haven’t you tried to?”

I winced looking down, the pain our conversation had dulled being pulled to the front of my mind. “It would be suspicious if I came in with burns and they mysteriously disappeared overnight,” I explained, holding out my hands to her, palm up. “Hands.” I nodded to her own bandaged ones.

Claire glanced at her hands before carefully setting them in mine. I smiled softly and began the healing incantation, eyes, and palms glowing a soft blue as warmth spread to Claire’s hands, healing the burns under her bandages. I dropped my hands after, smiling. “That should do it.”

Claire was eyeing her hands, stretching them out slowly. She jumped out of her chair when she realized the pain was gone. “That’s amazing!” She exclaimed, covering her mouth quickly and glancing at Jim.

I smiled at Jim, still resting quietly. “Nomura did a number on him…” I trailed off, “I’ll be able to heal us when we get discharged.” I told Claire, trying to dispel her worries.

She smiled softly as the rain began to pour outside. “I’ll leave you two to rest, it’s been a long night. Thank you for your help.” I smiled, waving her off as she left for home.

Jim awoke as the world began moving with the morning, rain still pelting our hospital room window. Holding his head, he slowly sat up. “Did a bus hit me?” He asked, trying to focus.

“Nah, just Nomura,” I spoke up, snickering when Jim jumped at my voice.

His eyes locked onto my frame, focusing slowly, “What the hell happened to you?” He asked, noting all the bandages.

I shrugged, “Something to do with the amulet I think, other than that, no clue. How’s your head?” I asked worried Nomura may have done actual damage.

“Fuzzy, sound hurts a bit, but at least it’s still attached,” he tried to joke, using the remote to raise the head of his hospital bed. His phone lighting up on the table between our beds. He picked it up frowning at a single missed call and voice mail.

“What’s up?” I asked at his confused stare. Trying to get a peek of his phone screen.

“Voice mail, from Strickler,” He replied, showing me the screen.

I tensed seeing the teacher’s contact on the voice mail. “I don’t like this.”

Jim let out a sigh, eyeing his phone, “Nomura said I had to open the bridge, they can’t do it without me.” He explained that was the only reason he hadn’t been killed last night.

I nodded to his phone, “Shouldn’t you listen?”

He nodding, starting the voicemail on speaker, Blinky’s voice coming from the phone. “Master Jim,” Blinky sounded stressed on the other line, Jim and I exchanged a look of panic, “you must listen to me very carefully.” He paused for a moment, “They have captured me and you to come to the Bridge, “he trailed off, sighing before his voice continued, “alone.” I twisted on the bed, throwing my legs to hang over the edge, trying to get up as I stared at Jim’s phone. Jim held a hand up trying to get me to stop, listening to the voice mail intently. “Don’t come! It’s a trap!” He yelled out! “River Ee-” his voice became muffled.

“Give me that!” Strickler snarled out, having taken the phone from Blinky. “It appears things have grown awkward, Mr. Lake.” He began, Blinky’s muffled protests fading out. “Meet me in the alley beside the theater if you ever want to see your friend again.”

We could hear a crash as Blinky’s voice cut through again, “Don’t open the Bridge! Under no circumstan-” and the voice mail cut off.

Jim and I stared at the phone, trying to process everything that was said. “They have Blinky,” was all Jim could get out at the moment.

I carefully got up, walking over to him slowly. Jim shifter over so there was room for me to sit with him on the bed. I climbed in, minding the bandages covering most of my limbs. “He’s going to be okay. We’ll figure something out Jim.” I tried to comfort him, mind spinning over all the details.

Jim held my hand, careful of the burns, he replayed the voice mail, over and over again. Focusing on different parts each time until Toby knocked on the door.

Toby walked in, frowning at the extend of mine and Jim’s injuries. “Are you two alright? You look like someone just died.” He said, standing next to Jim.

Jim sighed, playing the voice mail for Toby. “I’ve listened to it a hundred times now, and I still don’t know what to do.” He said, throwing his phone down onto the bed.

“You don’t have to do this alone. You’ve got Arrrgh, Draal, River, and me.” Toby explained, trying to help Jim.

“They said I had to be alone.” Jim snapped. “If I’m not, what do you think they’ll do to Blinky?” He asked.

“Blinky made it clear. ‘Under no circumstances.’” Toby tried to defend.

Jim squeezed my hand glaring at his phone. “Enough friends have gotten hurt because of me. River’s covered in burns because the amulet was stolen. No more.” Jim told him.

“Really? Because Strickler was the one who stole it right? We also have no idea if that’s why, whatever happened in the woods, happened.” I argued back, pulling his hand to look at me. “People aren’t getting hurt because of you. They’re getting hurt because of Gunmar.” I snapped.

Toby sighed, pulling something out of his bag, “Well, Jim, It's your call. You’re the Trollhunter.” He handed the amulet to Jim. “Here. I picked it up in the woods after you two were dragged away. I thought since we all found it together, we’d always be in this together.” He pointed out to Jim.

Mom came walking into the room with a clipboard, smiling at us. “Hello, Toby.” She greeted.

“Hey, Dr. Lake,” Toby greeted as Jim hid the amulet. “I was just leaving, they’re all yours.” He said, running around Mom quickly. “Can you believe it? Coyotes!” He asked, running out the door.

Mom closed the hospital curtain, walking back over to us. “You both have good friends; one even stayed all night.” She smiled, sitting with us.

“Yeah, there’s really no one like Toby.” Jim chuckled, adjusting in the bed.

I snickered; Jim had no idea how much Claire cared about him.

Mom smiled at me before addressing Jim again. “Actually, it was a girl. She said her name was Claire,” she explained, checking over Jim’s scratches.

Jim’s eyes widened as he glanced to me, I only shrugged back causing him to let out a flustered laugh.

Mom looked between us before sighing, “I want you to talk to me and I expect to hear the truth.” She told us, voice going stern. “What were you doing in the woods?” She asked us.

Jim glanced at me before thinking of what Toby had said, “Well,” He started, “Claire thought she heard her brother crying in the woods, so we went in.”

“And something attacked us. They looked like weird dogs, so we thought it might be coyotes.” I finished, trying to be convincing.

“The truth.” Mom ground out. “Your scratches,” She turned to me, gesturing to the bandages, “you have burns. Those weren’t from coyotes.” She pulled up Jim’s scratched arm, glancing at the scratches again.

“I swear! You can ask Claire.” Jim tried again, pulling his arm out of her grasp.

I winced, shifting away when he brushed against my burnt leg. Mom frowned seeing I was still in pain. “Stop lying to me!” She snapped, checking my bandages. “You both come home from school covered in bruises, sneak out in the middle of the night, get arrested for a silly Chubby Tracker?” She asked, standing from the bed.

“I know you’re angry but!” Jim tried again, mom grabbing our hands quickly, carefully holding mine.

“Angry? I’m not angry and I’m long past worried. I’m terrified.” She explained. Holding our hands close as she continued. “You’re young and you think you’re invincible, but one of these days, you’re gonna… find out you’re not. We all do,” she sighed out, staring at our clasped hands. “Please, tell me what is happening to my kids.” She pleaded, looking between us.

When Jim looked away, mom pulled back to take out the letter he had written before his fight with Draal. I winced at the memory, glad to see the letter was still closed. “Jim’s letter?” I asked her.

Mom nodded, looking up to Jim. “I found this in a cookbook.” She explained, holding it out to Jim.

“It’s… Still sealed.” Jim noted, looking from the letter to mom.

“Whatever is happening, whatever it is you’re afraid to say, I want you to tell me, face to face,” She explained, reaching out to hold Jim’s face. “There was a time when you used to share everything with me. Both of you did.”

Jim smiled softly before looking away, frowning at the hospital bed. We both knew this was something we wanted to protect her from. I sighed, clasping my hands in my lap, keeping my eyes locked on them as mom turned her attention on me.

“Fine,” Mom finally spoke, getting up to grab her clipboard, back facing us. “If that’s the way you feel, your doctor has discharged you both. Mr. Lake, help get Ms. Wyllt home,” She instructed, waking from the room quickly.

I winced, grabbing Jim’s hand as the door shut behind mom. “Jim, I know we want to protect her, but won’t this be worse?” I asked, worried about how worried mom will be from now on.

“We can’t risk her getting involved, Toby’s just as involved as we are, and now Claire knows too.” He sighed, getting up and grabbing out stuff. “The fewer people that know, the better. Besides, if mom did know, you think she’d just let us keep going to Trollmarket? Let us fight Bular and Changelings?” He asked as he helped me up, getting us out of the hospital as soon as possible.

“Alright, I’ll concede on that one,” I huffed, wincing as we took a cab home due to the rain.

Once we were home, Jim helped me up the steps and into the house where Draal was pacing. Spotting us, he rushed over, carefully assessing the bandages. “What happened? The Toby said you had been attacked last night saving the Claire.” He asked quickly.

Jim smiled softly, letting Draal take over helping me into the house. “We’re not exactly sure. The goblins were after Claire, we found out that the amulet was a fake, I called the real one to me, I think River reacted to it too, her magic went crazy, and then Nomura tried to kidnap me.” He babbled on, trying to get us much information out in one breath as possible.

Draal’s jaw tightened at the mention of my magic getting out of hand, sneering when Jim mentioned Nomura trying to kidnap him. “Impure.” He ground out, looking down over my bandages. “Why did your magic ‘go crazy’?” he asked, helping me sit on the kitchen counter as Jim began looking for something.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it had to do with whatever Jim did to summon the amulet,” I explained before starting the healing incantation, a soft glow covering my arms, torso, and legs.

Draal turned to Jim, frowning. “That shouldn’t have been possible. If the amulet is stolen, it shouldn’t be able to make it’s way back to you.”

Jim nodded, pausing in his search, “Blinky mentioned that when Chompsky stole it, I wasn’t able to summon it then, why was I able to now?” He asked, worried.

I hummed softly as the glow fade, burns now healed. “Well, Merlin made it, made because I share his blood?” I asked, “I mean if I can use daylight, and the sword and armor are made of daylight…” I trailed off as Draal and Jim both turned to me.

Draal thought it over, “Blinky may know, or Vendel.” He suggested.

Jim sighed, taking out his phone. “Blinky’s been captured by Strickler, I have to go help him.”

Draal’s jaw dropped, turning to Jim. “How do we know that?” Jim played the voicemail for him, waiting to see his reaction. As Blinky’s messaged played, Draal tensed staring at the phone. “Play it again,” he instructed. Jim started it over again.

Blinky’s voice filled the kitchen again, “They have captured me and you to come to the Bridge… alone. Don’t come! It’s a trap! River Ee-”

“There!” Draal snapped, “What was he saying to River?” He asked Jim.

I frowned, listening close to the message again. Focusing on the muffled parts, “It almost sounds like,” I trailed off, eyes going wide. “It’s Eemeli.”

Jim frowned at the phone, “Does that mean they have him too? Why would they take him?”

“What’s the plan?” I asked Jim, knowing we were going after Blinky and Eemeli.

“Your plan,” He stated, searching through the kitchen again. “Well, your goblin plan.” He clarified.

“The Chubby Tracker?” I asked grinning.

“Yup, I’ll go meet with Strickler while you two get Arrrgh and Toby, you’ll track my location, and once you’re certain we are at the bridge, you’ll bust in and help me get Blinky and Eemeli back.” Jim grinned up at Draal and me.

Draal snarled, “I don’t understand. Why do you need to go it alone?” He asked Jim, worried for him.

“Because this is the only way it will work. You have to trust me on this, Draal. Jim answered, searching through the cabinets.

Draal sighed, leaning against the counter next to me. “I trust you, but I also fear for you.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he continued. “You are walking into a den of death. For What? Blinky?” He asked. Worried for Jim’s safety.

“I’d do the same for you,” Jim responded right away, causing all fight to leave Draal instantly, finally locating the Chubby Tracker. “Just get Toby and Arrrgh. Be ready.” Jim told him, pausing before leaving to look back at Draal. “If anything goes wrong, if it means anything, I hope you’re the next Trollhunter.” He said before taking off into the rain.

Draal sighed as we watched Jim leave, “And I hope it won’t come to that.” He spoke softly. I hugged his arm, watching Jim disappear in the rain.

“Let’s go, we should start tacking him,” I said pulling Draal over to Toby’s house quickly.

“River! Draal!” Toby greeted as we piled into Nana’s garage. “Where’s Jimbo?” He asked, worried he took off alone.

“We need you to track the Chubby Tracker,” I explained Jim’s plan quickly to Toby and Arrrgh. “Wherever he ends up, we need to be ready to fight.”

Toby nodded quickly, handing me his phone to keep an eye on as he grabbed somethings to make armor out of, Arrrgh helping him reach a platter. “So, we track Jim, bust in, fight Bular and Changelings, rescue Blinky, and make it out in time for Jim’s play!” He rattled off, grabbing his phone and taping it to the platter, strapping that to his chest. He finally grabbed an old pot and a baseball bat. “Ready to go!” He grinned up at us.

I nodded, looking at the phone strapped to the board, “They’re moving from the alley! Let’s go.” Summoning Midnight, we took off into the city, thankful it was raining heavily, and that no one was out during the storm.

Toby continued to update us on Jim’s movements as we headed into town. We paused near the park gazebo, waiting for the tracker to update. “Uh… I don’t know if this is right,” Toby spoke up, gaining all of our attention.

“What’s going on, Tobes?” I asked quickly, worried the app wasn’t registering.

Toby turned to show me his screen, “If that’s where the bridge is, then wouldn’t that mean they moved it back?” He asked, pinching at the screen to zoom in on Jim’s location.

“They took it back to the museum!” I hissed out, taking off quickly, Draal running on all fours next to me. Arrrgh lifted Toby onto his back as he caught up with me. We avoided what little traffic has gathered and entered the museum quietly.

I motioned for the guys to silent, waving them along as I made my way to the roped-off section the bridge had been residing in. As we neared the plastic curtains, we could hear several voices, most notable were Jim’s and Blinky’s.

“Oh, Master Jim, why did you not heed my warning?” Blinky asked, trying to sound like a stern parent only to come off as worried sick that Jim had shown.

“You promised we’d build that Vespa together. Remember.” Came Jim’s voice, I could hear him hesitate for a moment, “Where is Eemeli? Let them go,” He demanded.

I could hear Bular chuckle at that, “Still in the dark?” He asked Jim, the sound of his sword unsheathing. “Open the Bridge. I will not ask again.”

I could barely make out NotEnrique’s voice as Jim’s steps drifted further from the plastic curtains. Blinky began to yell at Jim, trying to get him to run away, not to risk releasing Gunmar for his safety. “Master Jim! One Troll’s life isn’t worth the risk! Think about Trollmarket! Your friends! Your family” He yelled.

I frowned hearing Blinky’s words. “One troll,” I mumbled out, something didn’t feel right. What had Bular meant by still in the dark?

Draal nudged me when I began to mumble, worry evident on his face. He tilted his head to the side in a silent question.

I drew closer to him, keeping my voice as low as possible, “Blinky said we’d be risking everything for ‘One Troll,’ he never mentioned Eemeli or a human being kept here. Something is wrong,” I spoke quickly, eyeing the plastic.

Draal’s jaw tightened and I could see gears turning in his head, he thought of something. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know, Eemeli could be held somewhere else, left for dead, or Bular could’ve eaten him. I gripped Draal’s arm tight, trying to reign in my panic. Draal, nuzzled his nose against my cheek, helping me calm as our attention was ripped back to the curtain, the tracker sounding off on Jim’s arm.

Nomura’s voice cut in with a sneer, “He’s wearing a tracking device. You said the Trollhunter was alone!”

Jim’s voice cut out over the others, “Not Trollhunter. Trollhunters!” He yelled out as Arrrgh tore down the plastic curtain.

Toby was positioned in front of us, bat raised to the ceiling. “I am Toby! Grandson of Nana! Fan of hard rock!” Announced, similar to how Vendel greeting him when they first met. He tapped his phone and soft Jazz began to fill the room.

As everyone was distracted by the Jazz music, I glanced around the room quickly, trying to assess the fight ahead. Blinky was hanging upside down near the bridge, he seemed to be in once piece, and very confused over Toby’s choice in music. Bular was looking between Jim and our group, a single sword drawn for the moment as he tried to wrap his head around the music. Jim was standing in front of Bular on some scaffolding, which could be dangerous if it got knocked over. Strickler and Nomura were positioned directly in front of us, Strickler I would have to keep an eye one, I’ve never seen him in a fight. NotEnrique was perched behind them, sneering at our group until he locked eyes with me, his sneer quickly falling to a frown.

In front of the bridge opening, next to the scaffolding back, was a large ruby-colored Troll, or Changeling, that I’ve never seen before. Our eyes locked, and a twisted grin split his face as the music finally changed to Papa Skull. Jim summoned his armor as Bular yelled for our death.

Draal took off with a roar and Bular cut down, aiming for Jim’s head. Daylight barely stopped Bular’s blade as Draal spun up the scaffolding, slamming into Bular, claiming his opponent for the time being. We broke off quickly as the changelings and goblins recovered from Draal’s rampage. The goblins began to swarm Jim, Arrrgh and Nomura were locked in combat, and Toby went for Strickler’s Gronk-nuks before going to cut Blinky down. NotEnrique was attacking the goblins acting as if it was an accident.

The ruby changeling came charging after me, that twisted smile never leaving his face. I activated Midnight as he drew near, using my teleportation spell, I was behind him in a flash of light. He hesitated the moment I disappeared. Using the opening it granted, I charged Midnight with enough magic to stun Draal, and launched at his back, piercing his left shoulder.

The changeling snarled but otherwise seemed unaffected by the attack as he grabbed Midnight from his shoulder, yanking it out roughly. His grin grew as he turned to face me, holding Midnight out of reach. “I was hoping we’d get to fight again. I wasn’t allowed to break you before.” He snarled out.

My blood froze at the sound of his voice, Eemeli’s thick accent penetrated the troll-like gravel. Eemeli was a changeling, that’s why he had taken the Troll news so well. I took a step back, trying to steel myself. Eemeli was not a friend right now, he was an enemy who helped kidnap Blinky. My jaw tightened as I bared my teeth at him, “Who’s next? Should I expect Coach Lawrence?” I snarled at him, holding my left hand out as Midnight tore from his grasp, returning to me.

Eemeli and I were circling each other now, he seemed to be satisfied with taunting me at the moment. “Coach? No, he you don’t have to worry about. Did you honestly have no idea? Some random foreigner moves to your city, your school, as you’re looking for Changelings, doesn’t freak out about Trolls, and is quick to join your little hunting party.” He smirked, “and the little Witch is oh so happy for him to join. To be honest, pissing your mate off was fun.”

I growled, realizing Eemeli had been scenting me to distract Draal. “The more changelings I meet, the more I realize Jim and Draal may have been right,” I spoke, alluding to the fight Eemeli had witnessed between Draal and me.

Pain flashed across his face before he let out a roar, charging after me again. “What does a witch know about us?” He yelled, slamming his horned head into my torso, knocking me back.

I yelped, rolling over as soon as my back hit the floor, getting up quickly. “I know you weren’t born a Changeling,” I growled back as he charged again. This time, I was ready. I hooked Midnight’s blade on one of his horns, using all my modified strength to throw him back against the bridge. “I know a witch created the process of turning Trolls into Changelings.”

Bular and Draal smashed through the lower half of the scaffolding, it to fall towards Eemeli and me. I froze, wanting to help Eemeli and knowing I should just move. I heard Eemeli yell out as he ran into me full force, throwing of us out of the way. He snarled, getting up, falling back into a fighting stance.

I sat up, shocked that he ended up helping me instead, I frowned watching him. I could see he was fighting himself, making himself continue the fight. “and I’m sorry. I’m sorry you were taken so young. I’m sorry a Witch tortured you, changed you. I’m sorry Gunmar has control. I’m so sorry Eemeli.” I told him, flipping Midnight blade down and impaling the ground. This wasn’t a fight I could finish. “Changeling or human, I hope you’re still Eemeli,” I told him, standing up to face him as Strickler used Jim to open the Bridge.

I quickly grabbed Midnight’s staff as the portal opened, pulling debris in quickly. Eemeli’s claws sunk into the floor keeping him grounded. I looked past him and into the portal, color draining from my face as I could make out Gunmar’s from on the other side. My eyes began to burn bright as my magic responded to the Amulet, I let out a pained scream as my grip tightened on Midnight. The Amulet was pulling magic from me, quickening the process of opening the bridge.

NotEnrique climbed up the side of the Bridge to the Amulet, trying to pull it out. The magic began seemed to electrocute him before he shot off onto the balcony of the museum. Draal let out a deafening roar as he abandoned his fight with Nomura and ran for the bridge. Quickly climbing up to the Amulet he began to pry it out, yelling as the magic began to burn him.

At his yells, my eyes snapped open in time to see Nomura attack him, trying to pull him away from the Amulet. I forced my magic towards the Amulet, the resulting overflow slammed into Nomura, throwing her off of Draal, next to Eemeli and me.

As the portal began to pull her in, she snarled, catching my ankle and sinking her claws into my flesh. I shrieked as her claws tore through my flesh, letting of Midnight as the pain of having my skin flayed overtook my senses. Nomura released my ankle now that I was being pulled toward the portal along with her.

I could faintly hear someone yell my name as red overtook my vision. Suddenly I was sent rolling across the floor. Eemeli had moved to save me again. He slammed into me with such force that it sent both of rolling until he crashed into one of the concrete pillars. Falling over me, he sunk his claws into the ground, keeping me pinned so I wouldn’t get pulled into the portal again.

As I saw Bular pull free from Arrrgh, a burning sensation surged through my skin as the Draal was encased in a blinding light, pulling the Amulet free. As soon as the Amulet had been pulled from the bridge, the residual magic exploded within the Bridge. Eemeli lowered himself to shield me as debris shot past us until only a pile of rubble remained. My eyes slowly returned to normal and the burning sensation calmed as the dust settled around us.

Eemeli slowly stood, helping me up to stand as he surveyed the damage. My eyes shot to Draal, he laid near the plastic curtain, his right arm had turned to stone, falling off his body. “Draal!” I screamed, flashing to him immediately. I forced magic into my palms, reciting the healing incantation, praying to anyone that he would be okay.

Jim slowly rose from the rubble of the bridge, “huh?” He paused, eyes landing on me, frantically pouring everything I had into the healing spell. “Draal!” He howled, running to us. He slowed near Draal’s arm as it crumbled, revealing the Amulet that had been in his palm. Jim let out a pained sigh as he picked up the Amulet. Both of us had been on the verge of tears as soon as we saw the state Draal was in.

A labored groan reeled us both in, hovering near Draal’s face, I held my breath, watching as he slowly opened his eyes. “I’d hand you the amulet, but,” he began, I cut him off hugging him as tight as I could.

Tears had started to roll off my cheeks like streamers. I pulled back just enough to kiss him, summoning all my worry, relief, and happiness that he was alive, and burning it into the kiss. Draal had been in shock at the move, recalling Jim’s explanation of kissing. He leaned into the kiss enough to return it, still unsure of anything other than smashing faces together, and too groggy from the explosion to try anything else.

Jim choked, startled by the sudden show of affection but chose not to comment on it as I pulled away from Draal. “You’re alive!” Was all he could get out, surprise, relief, and exhaustion overriding his brain at the moment.

Bular’s roar ripped through the moment. Blinky and Arrrgh were uncovering the sewer grate as a means of escape. “Master Jim, we must leave at once!” Blinky yelled to us.

“Help me, Arrrgh!” Jim asked, trying to get Draal on his feet, causing Draal to groan out in pain, still injured from the explosion.

Eemeli came up next to me and nodded to Draal in a silent question. I nodded quickly, “Please,” I asked. He slid Draal’s injured arm into his helping him up as Arrrgh rushed over, getting Draal back on his feet.

As Bular broke through the rubble we made our way to the sewer, rushing water filling the entire tunnel. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” Jim yelled at the water, looking around for another way out.

“No way! I’m not gonna jump in the sewer! There’s gotta be a chicken surprise down there! Maybe two!” Toby yelled, disgusted with our choice of exit.

I followed Arrrgh and Eemeli helping Draal over, pulling Midnight from the ground as we passed it. While the boys were arguing I looked back to see Bular getting out of the rubble. Without a second thought, or waiting for the boys to make up their minds, I jumped into the water. I used Midnight to light up the tunnel as the water pulled me further from the museum. Thrusting the blade deep into the concrete wall I was able to stop myself from being pulled further. Arrrgh noticed the light from Midnight and was able to ground himself near me. He caught Blinky and Draal and they were swept by, holding them tight. As Toby was hurtling past Arrrgh, he used his teeth to snag the bike tire holding the chest plate board, keeping Toby with us.

Eemeli wasn’t as heavy as Arrrgh and was pulled through the current quickly past them. I reached out, barely grabbing hold of his clawed hand. Once I stopped his movement, he was able to sink his claws in the concrete sewer, keeping him in place for the time being.

Jim careened past us, slipping through Toby’s hands. As Eemeli reached out for him, Bular slammed into Jim, sending them into a canal exit and out of sight. As soon as Jim disappeared, Arrrgh began slowly moving towards the canal exit, being careful not to let anyone go.

I tugged Eemeli’s arm to gain his attention as Arrrgh passed up. Inhuman or not, I was running out of air and needed to move, if I didn’t know if I could teleport far enough to get out of the sewer of if I had enough energy to try. Eemeli quickly turned to me, I nodded to his claws, stuck in the concrete, then down to Midnight, still impaled in the bottom of the sewer. Eemeli quickly caught on, grabbing my arm tight, his claws retracted until he was our combined arms’ length away, sinking them into the wall again. I pulled Midnight from the ground, waiting until the water couldn’t pull me further and impaled the blade into the floor again. Eemeli and I repeated, able to keep up with Arrrgh as we slowly made our way out of the canal.

As we breached the water, I gasped for air quickly. Eemeli was using his claws to climb out of the canal. Arrrgh had gotten Draal and Blinky up the slope of the canal when we surface. I tried to teleport onto the slope as the current pushed me past Eemeli, but it seemed that healing Draal had used most, if not all, of my energy. As Arrrgh was pushing Toby up the slope, he caught sight of my exhausted form slipping back under the water. With a snarl he shoved Toby to Blinky before launching himself after me, pulling me out of the water as he climbed the slope himself.

I gasped for air again, not realizing I had breathed in the water when I drifted under again. Two voiced were calling my name but Blinky’s cut through my daze, “Jim! Oh, no!” He bellowed, all six eyes trained on the bridge where Bular had Jim pinned, crushing him.

I felt, more than saw, as Jim’s ripped the amulet from the armor, impaling Bular with daylight as my body surged with heat, causing Arrrgh to drop me onto the slope as I had burned his arm, reacting to the surge in the Amulets magic.

Draal and Eemeli rushed over as the magic faded, both worried at the fall. Arrrgh grumbled, picking me up when it was safe. He nosed the top of my head gently, “Sorry, burning.” He apologized.

I waved him off, smiling to Draal and Eemeli with a thumbs up to let them know I was okay. “No big deal. I know how much that hurts.” I winced as the pain from this morning flashed in my mind.

We made it onto the bridge as Jim slowly pulled himself off the ledge, flopping onto the sidewalk, too tired to care.

Toby took off running to him, laughing in relief at seeing Jim. “You’re alive!” He exclaimed, tacking Jim in a hug.

“Master Jim!” Blinky yelled, appearing to be on the verge of tears as he hugged both boys tight with all four arms.

Arrrgh gently set me on feet when we reached them. “Happy,” was all he said as he lifted everyone in a group hug, effectively squishing Jim and me the most.

Jim groaned out a laugh, grinning, “Guys, I was almost squeezed to death. Ease up a little.” He spoke, though he was content with the hug.

I nodded, squished under Draal’s chin, “I would request breathing,” I told Arrrgh, happy everyone was alive, wincing at tonight’s ever-present burn in my lungs.

Arrrgh set us down gently, Toby was jumping with excitement, “I can’t believe it. You killed Bular, the son of Gunmar, man!” He shouted.

Draal took a deep breath, “My father has been avenged. Thank you, Trollhunter.” He smiled as Jim turned, patting Draal’s intact shoulder.

Jim turned to look over everyone, making sure there weren’t any more serious injuries. His eyes landed on Eemeli, awkwardly standing near Draal and I, in Troll form, “Wait, didn’t he attack us?” He asked, his attention cut between the goblins and Strickler during the fight.

I leaned against Draal, ankle still thrashed from Nomura’s claws, slowly letting the air fill my lungs as Eemeli fidgeted under everyone’s gaze. “That would be Eemeli,” I spoke up, Draal grumbled, pulling me closer to him. “He saved me twice tonight. More like three times.” I looked up at Draal, nuzzling under his chin.

Toby had his arms crossed, glaring at Eemeli, pissed off at being tricked by the Changeling. “Oh yeah? Does that makeup for him helping the others kidnap Blinky or, I don’t know, trying to kill all of us?” He shouted.

“No,” I looked to Eemeli, “as far as we know, he did help with Blinky’s kidnapping, and at first he seemed to be out for blood.” I grasped Toby’s shoulder, pulling him back to look at me. “But, when the scaffolding crashed down, he pulled me out of the way. When the bridge opened, Nomura was being pulled in, and she tore me away from Midnight, into the portal with her, if Eemeli hadn’t caught me, I’d be in the Darklands right now.” I sighed out, looking to Eemeli. “He could’ve left me in the sewer as well, I didn’t have enough energy to teleport out, but instead, he helped me get to the canal where Arrrgh could pull me out of the water.”

Blinky hesitated, looking between Eemeli and me before speaking, “Lady River, do you trust him then?” He asked, unsure of how to feel about Eemeli himself, after being hung upside down for so long.

I shook my head, frowning, “I trusted Eemeli as a human, and everything was an act. You,” I directed to Eemeli, “I don’t know yet. You helped me today, but after everything,” I gestured from Blinky, in regards to the kidnapping, Jim for forcing him into a situation that almost released Gunmar, and to Draal, for trying to distract and get between us. “It might be possible, but I don’t know how you’ll earn that trust again.” I finished.

Eemeli nodded, shifting back to his human form. Hesitating as he looked over the group, landing on me again, “You… apologized, it wasn’t you, so… why” He asked, still processing everything that happened during out fight.

I smiled softly, looking at my hands, “We don’t always have a choice in who we are, some more than others. I didn’t know of magic or the world of trolls until a couple of months ago. To find out about what I am, and what one of my kind can, and has done, to young trolls… it’s heartbreaking. I can’t imagine having your identity stripped from you and living under Gunmar’s rule.” I explained.

“Empathize,” Draal grunted out, recalling my use of the term when we spoke briefly of our parents.

Eemeli hung his head, trying to process everything, “Thank you, if you require a Changeling, well… you still have my number for the project.” He stated, running off quickly.

Blinky began to yell after him. “You can’t just leave!” He griped out.

Arrrgh held onto Blinky’s overall straps, keeping him from running Eemeli down, “Needs time.” He told the four-armed Troll. Said troll, huffing in annoyance.

Toby, having perked up when Eemeli decided to leave, grinned taking out his phone, “We destroyed the bridge and defeated Bular! And with minutes before your play starts!” His grin fell to horror, “Oh, no, the play!” He yelled out.

Jim jumped at the reminder, “The play! I almost forgot!” He groaned, hitting his head with an armored hand.

Blinky grinned, grasping Jim’s shoulder. “Hurry, Master Jim! Leave Killahead to us.” He gestured between Arrrgh and himself.

A growl from the bridge alerted us as Bular, quickly turning to stone, pulled himself up, over Toby. He raised both fists to strike Toby as his body turned to stone, the forward momentum kept the attack going. Arrrgh’s eye glowed, the whites turning black as the grooves in his body lit up. He rushed forward, covering Toby as he slammed his fist through Bular, shattering him.

As Arrrgh calmed, the glow faded. “Arrrgh, your oath…” Toby gasped out, still in shock from Bular’s attack.

Arrrgh glanced at his arm, shaking his head, “Your life more important. Not pet. Wingman.” He explained, holding his fist out to Toby with a grin.

Toby sniffled, bumping his knuckles with Arrrgh. “Ditto buddy,” He said, hugging his fist. Arrrgh picked Toby up so he could stand in his palm. “Now, let’s go take care of that bridge and make sure it never opens again,” Toby announced from his perch.

Blinky grinned, turning to Jim, “And, you, Master Jim,” He paused, giving Jim a proud smile. “The play must go on.” He shooed Jim and Toby off quickly so Jim would make call time. “Alright everyone, let's get back to the museum quickly.”

I laughed, shaking my head, “I’ll have to sit this one out, literally,” I pointed to my combat boot, caked in blood from Nomura’s claws.

Arrrgh lifted my up, careful not to jostle my ankle as he set me on Draal’s shoulder. “Get Vendel.”

Blinky nodded quickly, “Excellent idea Arrrgh! We’ll need help moving the Bridge, and you both can tend to your wounds.”

Draal winced at the thought of going back to Trollmarket, “I can’t,” he argued, glancing at my ankle, worried about the wound.

I scratched softly between his horns, hoping to ease some of his anxiety. “We just helped defeat the last Gumm-Gumm running free. If they try giving either of us shit, I’ll stab ‘em.” I told him. Grinning as I felt him chuckle.

Draal nodded to Blinky and Arrrgh, taking a Horngazle from Blinky, he headed back into the canal, staying out of the water as he drew the portal. I held on tight to his horns as he jumped through, landing awkwardly as he adjusted to only having a single arm.

As we headed down into the market, most Trolls had enough sense to stay out of way. A few whispered and jeered at Draal and his injury, but one snarl from me and they went running. “for however old these Trolls are, they act like middle schoolers.” I spoke up from my perch.

Draal chuckled, “How young would that make them?” He asked, unsure of when a human went to middle school.

I tapped my chin in thought, “Between 10 and 13 years old, usually.” I told him, snickering, “so, children, or whelps.”

Draal barked a laugh as we entered the Heartstone, heading to Vendel’s study. “If that were the case, they would have no control over their bowels.” He teased.

I smirked, hanging over his horns to look him in the eyes, “If we scared them bad enough, they wouldn’t have control over their bowls now.” I grinned, a wicked shine to my eyes.

A huffing Vendel pulled our attention back to the task at hand. He was standing in the doorway of his study, glaring us down. “What is going on out here?” He asked, before taking in our injuries. “You miss one lesson, and you return bloodied, exhausted, and you" he waved to Draal, "are missing an entire arm!” He lectured, exasperated with Draal and me instantly. “What did you do?” He ground out, all but shoving Draal into his study to care for our injuries.

“Well, first, we saved a kidnapped Blinky, disrupted the Changelings in Arcadia, Killahead Bridge exploded, that’s what hurt Draal, and we defeated Bular!” I counted on my fingers before sliding off of Draal’s shoulder. “Which reminds me, Blinky and Arrrgh need help clearing the remains of the Bridge. They’re at the museum.” I explained.

Vendel’s jaw continuously dropped lower during my explanation until he was staring at us, slack-jawed in disbelief, “Bular’s gone? We have the Bridge? And the Trollhunter?” He asked slowly, trying to recover from the shock.

I nodded, leaning against Draal’s arm. “Jim had a human event he had to run off to or he’d be here,” I reassured him.

This seemed to snap Vendel out of his stupor. He quickly pulled my thrashed boot from my injured foot. Cleaning the wounds in silence before wrapping them. He finally spoke up again as he moved on to smoothing Draal’s injured arm. “Then we have reason to celebrate! Once the Trollhunter returns from his human duties, of course!” He grinned, taking measurements of Draal’s arm. “We should have a prosthetic available that will fit…” He hummed in thought, calling in a troll to send out for the prosthetic and to tell others to head to the human museum.

Draal sighed in relief now that the jagged ends of his injured arm were smoothed out. I nuzzled against his shoulder, “How are you feeling?” I asked him softly, this was the first moment we had that we weren’t rushing to escape or get help.

Draal hummed softly, extending the stump, “Better now that it’s not stabbing me.” He turned, nuzzling the top of my head, “I have a feeling if not for your healing, I’d be in worse shape than I am.”

I frowned, thinking over what happened when the amulet was drawing on my magic. “I think I made it worse.” I sighed out, “The amulet was siphoning my magic while the bridge was activated like I was an extra battery for it.” I shuddered; ghosts of my magic being pulled from me was an unwelcome sensation.

Draal curled his arm around me, pulling me tighter to him. “Is that what happened last night? When you came home covered in burns?” He asked worried, still upset that he couldn’t do anything while Jim and I were stuck in the hospital.

“You what?!” Vendel cried out, walking in when Draal mentioned the burns. “Why were you burned?” He asked quickly, checking over to see if he had missed any injuries.

I sighed, curling tighter against Draal, “I think it had something to do with the amulet. Strickler stole it, and Jim was able to summon it. When he did, it was like my body was burning from the inside out. My veins lit up with magic, they were glowing! Is that another sorcerer thing?” I asked, confused about what was happening. Uneasy seeing how worried Vendel was.

Vendel frowned, examining the visible veins on my wrists. “No, I’ve never heard or read of a sorcerer who ‘lit up’ with magic… That’s a Trollish trait.” He explained, nodding to himself when he doesn’t find any more injuries. “You’re both exhausted. You should rest here for the time being.” He stated, allowing Draal and me to stay.

Draal nodded, keeping me close to him. “Thank you Vendel,” He spoke, finally letting the exhaustion sink in. His shoulders sagged, almost caging me in against his chest.

Vendel hummed, going about his study until a large orange troll walked in with a mechanical prosthetic arm. The Troll’s gawked at the sight of Draal curled around me on the stone table. Vendel took the arm quickly, shooing the Troll out before they could do or say anything. Vendel carried the arm to Draal’s stump, fitting the holding mechanism into his stone skin. Once the holding mechanism was properly adjusted, Vendel began to attach the arm. “Try lifting your arm,” he instructed to Draal, making minor adjustments until it moved fluidly. “Alright, try the hand and fingers.” Vendel went through adjustments, grip, and minor strength tests with Draal while I dozed off in his lap into the early morning.

Loud cheering erupted through Trollmarket, drawing closer to the Heartstone. I quickly shook off sleep, wondering if the news of Bular’s demise and taking the Bridge had spread through the market. I sat up, still on Draal’s lap as metal footsteps caught our attention.

Jim quickly ran into the study, excitement and relief crossing his face as he saw Draal and I were patched up. “How are you two holding up?” He asked quickly going to stand by Vendel as he and Draal finished adjusting the prosthetic arm.

Rubbing the last of the sleep from my face, I grinned at Jim, motioning to my ankle. “Patched up, I’ll heal it up the rest of the way once I get some more rest,” I explained. Nudging Draal’s jaw with a smirk.

Draal nodded to Jim, stretching out his new arm. “Banged up, but we’re breathing,” he chuckled. Getting up with me cradled in his stone arm, he nodded his head to the doorway. “Trollmarket is celebrating.”

Jim nodded quickly, “I know! It’s insane! Blinky, Arrrgh, and Toby are waiting for us at the bar. That is if you’re feeling up to celebrating.” Jim smiled knowing Draal and I had taken the most damage today.

Draal hummed, looking down at me for an answer. I smiled nodding to him, “I’ll be useless on a dance floor, but I could hang out to celebrate our victory.” I teased, kicking Jim’s shoulder with my uninjured foot.

Face splitting in a grin, Jim’s excitement returned immediately. He led us out of Vendel’s study and out to the bar. As we entered, the bar erupted in more cheers for all of us. Arrrgh waved us to their usual table, already filled with drinks, human and troll safe. Draal laughed, taking a seat next to Blinky keeping me on his lap.

Bagdwella lifted her mug to Jim, “All hail Jim! The Bular slayer!” She yelled out in a toast as shouts, and cheers of agreement surround us.

“Hey! Who wants tacos?” Toby yelled out, as he ran towards our table, shoving a taco in Draal’s prosthetic hand before running around to shove another in my hands. “Taco for you. Taco for you.” He called out, running back into the crowd of trolls, still dispensing tacos to everyone.

Draal laughed, throwing the taco in his mouth. “Mmm, taste like the ones from our ‘date’,” he chuckled.

I smirked, taking a bite of mine, “Yup! These are definitely from Stuart’s Taco Truck.” I grinned, eating quickly.

Blinky’s voice cut through my momentary food high, “Don’t let it go to your head, Master Jim. You still have training to do.” He instructed. “Hero’s forger is unforgiving to those who are not afraid.”

“Don’t forget midterms,” Jim laughed, glad to have some semblance of normalcy with Bular gone.

Vendel passed behind the boys, chuckling as he stopped, “Lighten up, Blinkous. Why do you always have to be such a grump?” He asked the six-eyed troll, his drinks were definitely taking effect. “We have the Bridge. Trollmarket is safe once again,” he cheered.

Blinky nodded, glancing at a distracted Jim, then to me, “But their teacher changeling is still at large.” He explained to Vendel, rightfully worried.

Vendel grinned, grasping Blinky’s shoulder. “I trust our Trollhunter can handle it,” he laughed. “He has an excellent trainer.” A warm smiled covered Blinky’s face at the compliment, turning a proud smile to Jim.

As the party died down and tacos ran out, Jim and Toby helped me hobble out to sit on the steps, overlooking the Heartstone to get a little quiet time.

“Well, you said you wanted adventure and something more.” Toby started, finishing off the last taco. “Did that amulet help you find it?” He asked Jim.

Jim hummed softly as he leaned back next to me, pulling the amulet out. “No,” he stated, causing Toby to choke.

“Really? No?” I asked as Toby recovered.

“You did.” Jim smiled at both of us.

Toby smiled, trying not to get teary. “I knew you needed me,” He laughed out.

Jim’s face grew stern as he leaned forward, staring out at the Heartstone. “I’m going to need you both now more than ever, Tobes.” He sighed, gripping the amulet tight. “I don’t know how, but we are gonna get Claire’s brother back.”

Toby’s Jaw dropped, “That place is huge, Jim! Enrique could be anywhere!” He said, throwing his arms out, gesturing the entirety of Trollmarket, as if I didn’t cover a fraction of the Darklands. “I wouldn’t even know where to start looking.” He sighed.

“Not to mention we’d be walking directly into Gunmar,” I spoke up, worried for Enrique now that NotEnrique was useless to the Gumm-gumms.

“We’ll figure it out,” Jim shrugged, smiling at us. “We always do.”

[vampirequeenoffan]

yes hello im feeling your trollhunters opinion!! do u also feel like Merlin is super shady? I don't think he did a single thing since he showed up that can be considered 'good', he doesn't seem to care about anyone but himself, and after what he did to get Jim to turn into a troll (cutting him off from his entire support network, playing on his insecurities) I thought he'd turn out to be the Ultimate Villain of the show right up until the end, when he wasn't.

HOOOBOY do I ever have FEELINGS about this (which will once again be under the cut because SCREAMING)

First off, holy fuck, THANK you. Your message means a lot to me (as do the other nice messages and comments I got on my post! It feels great to know I’m not the only one who felt like there was something wrong with this ending).

Second.

Yeah, what in the fuck is up with Merlin? I liked him for a good thirty seconds after he was introduced– I’m a bit of a sucker for the ‘ancient and powerful being of legend is actually Not At All What Anyone Thought trope’ tbh. But the novelty quickly wore off and you’re absolutely right– I totally thought he was going to be the show’s Ultimate Villain. I usually love asshole characters, so the fact that Merlin is so much of an asshole that I hated him is… impressive, in a weird way. And the list of characters I’m crazy about contains several serial killers, so the bar is real low.

Let’s break this down.

Merlin, upon reentering the picture, does the following:

–Gets passive-aggressively mad at the Trollhunters for not getting him his staff

Which, y’know, could’ve been avoided if he’d just asked to have the staff in the same room with him when he’d been buried. He also had no reason to be mad, considering his plan was to release Morgana all along, and had the Trollhunters actually taken back the staff they then would’ve had to fight their way into Trollmarket in order to free Morgana, which… would have been difficult. That, or they’d have had to turn the staff over to Gunmar anyway, so again, no reason for Merlin to be mad.

Personally I totally agree that they should’ve left Morgana in there, or at least had some semi-automatic weapons ready when they did release her (because if the USA is going to have shitty gun control laws we might as well use them to destroy evil witches, amiright?), but this is about Merlin’s reaction, not mine.

Also, if this was his plan all along, he could’ve left instructions about that. So that, y’know, Drall didn’t die trying to stop Gunmar from taking the staff. You know. That little detail.

–Repairs Jim’s amulet

On the surface this is good, except that, again, he wouldn’t have had to do this if he’d written the directions to his tomb on anything else. He could’ve even had the instructions in like, the spirit room that the dead trollhunters live in, if he was really that determined to make sure it was trollhunter-specific. 

–Threatens to eat Toby

????????¿¿¿¿¿¿¿???????

What even happened here. What. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, it really added to the ‘what the fuck even is going on with him’ vibe that Merlin has, but why? Did he just… hang out with trolls too much? But only the evil trolls did that. What even was happening here. And why Toby? Was it process of elimination because he though Claire was hot (which, uh, creepy) and he needed Jim, or was this a… fat joke? I honestly have no idea.

–Gives them a laundry list of complicated as fuck items to collect

Merlin is an asshole who should’ve gotten his groceries himself. Nuff said. Oh wait, not enough said, because one of those things was literally lightning in a goddamn bottle, which they needed the help of actual goddamn aliens to get, so Merlin, with no knowledge of modern technology, really should have known he needed to at least get that one by himself.

What a guy.

–Destroys Jim’s vespa

Okay, this probably seems petty. ‘Merlin literally kickstarted the apocalypse, why do you care about the vespa?’ Well, because it wasn’t just any piece of machinery. Jim had been wanting a vespa for a very, very long time– for him, it was a dream, then a symbol of normalcy, and then it became even more than that when he finally got one– by building it with Blinky. It was a project he undertook alongside his father figure, likely took weeks of work, and was a physical reminder of how much Blinky cared about him.

Merlin destroys it and uses it to make armor.

Now, there’s some symbolism here. Merlin is destroying the vespa– symbol of Jim’s old life– and using it to forge armor– transforming his old life into something that protects his friends. It’s not unlike what his amulet has done to him, or what Merlin later tries to do by making Jim into a troll. Which, yeah, I’ve covered being a shitty tactical decision and I’m going to go over even more reasons why it’s terrible in a minute.

Point is, dick move. He could’ve used literally any other kind of metal, so the only upside here is symbolism and, let’s be real, it’s a metaphor is not a good reason to do dumb shit.

–Champions releasing Morgana

I was really happy that everyone yelled at him about this one. I was less happy that that was all that happened. Merlin did, clearly, just want his magic back. If he didn’t, he would have just left Morgana in her goddamn crystal like a sensible person, or at the very least agreed to help take out Gunmar before handling Morgana. It’s just common sense to divide and conquer– yes writing a paper is very hard, but it’s a lot easier to do that when your house isn’t on fire. Dealing with problems separately makes them all a lot less taxing, or in this case, a lot less deadly! There are so many people that would still be alive if Merlin, after being asleep for hundreds of years, had just been able to wait a few more goddamn weeks to have his fingersparkles back.

–Emotionally manipulates Jim into becoming a troll

This fucker. This assclown. You’re absolutely right– he cuts him off from everyone he knows and refuses to let him go rescue his mom, does that shitty parent thing where you guilt someone by saying “It’s your choice whether or not to do the right thing…” and spews some shit about destiny and just generally uses his title of Old Guy Who Knows Stuff to tell Jim that he Has To Do This, but it’s Totally Your Choice.

I thought, when Jim’s mom rescued herself (go Barb go!!!) and came running up to the bathroom door, that he would stop. Because that was the whole reason Jim was going to go through with the transformation– it was the only way Merlin would let him go save his mom. The fact that he just kinda… ignored the fact that they were out there yelling for him? Yeah, that was dumb. Even if he wanted to go through with it, he should have talked to his friends and family first. That was, uh, the whole lesson he learned from going into the Darklands alone. We’ve been down this road, Jim, it’s depressing.

And then Merlin’s just… useless. He can’t beat Morgana, his tactics suck ass, and the only thing he does from that point on is try to get other people to die for him– looking at you, Aargh. I’m so glad you’re still alive.

So, to reiterate, Merlin shows up, fucks shit up, and then doesn’t fix any of the fucked up shit. On top of that, he’s an asshole the entire time– the “real battle of Killahead” line was just the tip of the douchebag iceberg (though ‘all you folks who died during this battle didn’t matter’ was a hell of a way to kick that off, I agree). But… why?

You’re right, we don’t know why he and Morgana started this pissing contest. We don’t even know why he took her on as an apprentice in the first place, or what connection the two of them had to trolls at all– presumably a strong one, considering how much they both tried to fuck with the future of the species. Before we met Merlin, none of these things had to be defined– Morgana and Merlin were vague enough as figures that we could imagine any number of things that had led to the current state of being. I, personally, imagined Merlin as being more invested in humans than trolls, which made sense to me because he was on the side of the trolls that didn’t hurt humans and his amulet placed a huge amount of value on Jim’s humanity. But then it’s revealed that Merlin actually doesn’t give a shit about humans at all, as he apparently eats them, doesn’t mind putting the entire town of Arcadia in danger, and tells Jim that his humanity doesn’t matter and he’s better off being a troll.

Same for Morgana. I thought her whole deal was that she wanted trolls to be the dominant species, but then she says Gunmar is disposable and doesn’t seem to give a shit about his conquest of the surface? If she didn’t actually care about trolls conquering humans, why in the hell did she want to bring about the eternal night?

So, again, what was happening and why were they so invested in the future of trollkind? If it wasn’t, like I thought, about whether humanity or trolls should be dominant, what possible reason could they have for interfering? Presumably at one point they got along, because Morgana was Merlin’s apprentice, but the only reason we get for her hating him is that he took her hand to make the amulet. . . except, wait, he did that after she started trying to bring about the eternal night. Forget why she cared about that, if he didn’t care about humans then why did he?

TLDR, Merlin’s an asshole, his decisions make no sense, and when you poke at things he creates plotholes in the entire series that weren’t there prior to his introduction. Also he’s the worst.

[margarethelstone]

It’s hard to stop worrying:  Chapter II

“I don’t know, Tobes. It’s just strange to see the sun.” A week after his coming back from the Darklands, Jim still cannot fully readjust. With more unexpected things happening in Arcadia, the process proves to be even more challenging - although it might’ve been easier if Claire wasn’t acting so awfully indifferent.

previous chapter / next chapter

fanfiction.net / AO3

Chapter Two In which some things happen but it’s still not enough to call it a plot

She arrived at the class fifteen minutes late, an incident that had never occurred in all of her previous education. That obviously caused the whole class – Miss Janeth included – to stir with agitation, making it impossible for the girl to sneak in quietly and pretend that her lateness wasn’t as much of a deal as it seemed to be in everyone else’s eyes.

Before she’d come in, they all assumed she was either ill, or that she was excused from the lesson for some other valid reasons. When she stepped into the room, however, the group understood she was indeed late, and sadly, none of them bothered to hide the satisfaction they felt at the realization.

It was somehow nice to know that the Perfect Miss Nuñez wasn’t so perfect after all.

Claire tried to ignore the curious looks everybody was giving her, and having mumbled an excuse, she almost ran to her place in the back. It took a lot of her good will not to turn on her heel and leave the wretched classroom for good – but she knew that she was still not rebellious enough to do that. Stealing the Killerhead Bridge, deceiving the Troll Tribunal, walking into the Darklands… those were the things she could do; playing the drama queen at school was an entirely different level of foolishness.

She silently put her purse her lap, took out the necessary books and almost threw it on the floor.

“Hey.“ She heard someone whisper a moment later. She glanced to her right, and noticed Jim, who was grinning at her shyly. “Nice of you to show up.“

What a dork.

“Not now, Jim,“ she cut him off mercilessly, struggling to understand what their teacher, who finally decided to stop glaring at her, was talking about.

“Hey, easy,“ the boy answered, trying to think of a way in which he could ease her mind at least a little. “It’s not like I can afford much talking, either. I still haven’t covered those topics I missed and… well, she’s just started another one. The fourth, I think?”

“The fifth,” Claire corrected him.

“How did you even manage to cover so much so quickly? I was gone for two weeks, not a year.”

“Honestly, I feel like you covered more in the last fifteen minutes,“ the girl mumbled, shifting her gaze from her notebook to the teacher and the other way round. “Besides, didn’t you say you loved homework?”

“Oh, yeah, now that’s funny.”

“But seriously. This is insane.”

“I know. Although, if that makes you feel any better, I for once have pretty good notes of my own, so I’ll gladly share.”

“Wait, you mean you were actually listening to her?”

“Yup. That is, I had been until TP started to share his opinions about Janeth being a Changeling – but then she just started reprimanding us and obviously stopped explaining anything.”

Claire rolled her eyes but refrained from saying anything in response.

“Also, she spent about five minutes wondering on how it was possible for you not to show up in her class without any earlier information. She ended up asking each and every of us if we knew what had happened to you.”

The girl jerked up her head in a reflex action and sent her interlocutor a shocked, anxious look.

“Now you’re making this up,” she pleaded quietly, hoping against hope that she had misunderstood his words.

“Just exaggerating.” Jim’s grin widened a little, while his glare was fixed on the notebook before him in a poor attempt of making himself look devoted to the lesson. “But she was surprised.“

Claire groaned quietly.

“Why is it like this? You and Tobes come in late at least once a week and no one ever says a word. It happens to me once, and everyone is freaking out.“

“That’s the point. It’s normal for us, and it’s totally extraordinary for you.”

“This is not how -”

“Guys! Quiet!” they were silenced by Toby, who suddenly decided to join – or better said, kill– the conversation that was going on between them. “The she-devil has already scolded us today, and she won’t be any more understanding now! And you were supposed to be working, Jimbo!”

“Okay, okay,” Jim waved his hand at his nervous friend and got back to scribbling, making an inward promise that he would not let himself lose his focus again. He was quite determined to do that, and seeing how dedicated to her own catching up Claire was, he believed the task would not be so difficult to fulfil after all.

Which obviously didn’t mean he could help glancing at her every now and then, as if making sure she’d really made it to the lesson. Her absence had made him feel uncomfortable at least, especially with his acute imagination stubbornly suggesting the most pessimistic scenarios of her fate. Now she was there, right next to him, and he had to admit that the sight was simply relieving.

Claire peered sideways at him.

“Yes?” she asked innocently, making sure her voice would not be heard by anyone except them two. Her neighbour found himself blushing slightly when he realised his staring had been noticed, and that it was bad enough to make her respond with an actual question.

“Nothing,” he muttered and fixed his sight on the whiteboard, and yet, the smile on his face didn’t falter. “It’s just good to know you’re safe.”

Claire raised both of her eyebrows at him, unable to understand why her friend would say such a thing. True, they were living a life of constant suspiciousness, ready to meet worst of enemies at every minute of their crazy, teenage existence, but she still couldn’t find a reason why he’d assume that she was in any particular danger that day. Angor Rot was gone, the Killerhead Bridge was too, and unlike the Trollhunter, she was still pretty convinced that Gunmar had stayed in the Darklands and thus wasn’t a threat for the group. So why would he be worried?

Except of course, she had been late.

She still hadn’t got rid of the unpleasant feeling that had been accompanying her ever since that morning when she realised that this once, she would not make it on time. She knew she wouldn’t get away with it, not with her reputation of the most punctual girl in Arcadia Oaks High School. And in all honesty, Claire didn’t even care about her good name so much – but it was not her belatedness that was a problem. It was the fact that it truly was the very first time it happened.

Jim was right when he diagnosed the causes of the flurry between their classmates. Everyone loved novelties.

She knew it was a trifle, a little thing of no importance, and somehow, she still couldn’t get over it.

‘Like being late is the end of the world’, she mused angrily, absently following Miss Janeth’s movements as the latter was covering the whiteboard with more and more figures, blind to the fact that hardly anyone in class was paying attention to what she was trying to explain. ‘Worse things happened. Besides, I shouldn’t even be here in the first place -’

“Well, that’s what I thought, too. Not that I’m not enjoying the company,” Jim whispered unexpectedly, making her choke on her own saliva. She covered her mouth trying to calm down the cough that followed directly after. Jim frowned a little. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What did you just say?” she hissed between the coughs.

“I said I don’t understand why you’re taking these classes. You passed algebra on the previous year, you weren’t here during last semester, and… You know, I was just wondering why. I have been since the winter break, actually. Tobes even started to make bets.”

“But why?”

“Because he’s a nerd?”

“No, why would you talk about it all of the sudden? Are you mindreading now or what?”

The boy turned to her for the first time for almost a quarter and looked at her in disbelief.

‘Mindreading?’

“Claire, you’re mumbling.”

“Mumbling?”

“Well, you know, speaking in a way that makes it impossible to understand and -”

“I know what mumbling is,” his interlocutor bridled and tightened her grip on her pencil. “But I don’t mumble.”

“Well, the facts prove something else.” Against his better judgement, Jim let a grin appear on his face once more. Little did he know that it would only make the girl less eager to agree; just like the words he was going to voice next. “Funny, though. Most people mumble because they turn their voice down. You do it because you turn your thoughts up loud.”

Claire gave him the coldest glare she could muster, now plunging the pencil into the desk; it broke, and she quickly turned away too look at the damage she’d caused.

“Anything else you’d like to add?” she answered edgily. She didn’t mean to snap at him like that, and she didn’t understand why his little jokes were affecting her so much – but they were, and as much as she regretted it, there wasn’t much she could do about it.

In the corner of her eye she saw Jim slouch a bit. He definitely was taken aback, and honestly, how could she blame him?

She sighed.

She just really wanted to go home.

“No,” her friend muttered under his breath a moment later. She wanted to turn to him, tell him she was sorry, and that he shouldn’t take her annoyance too seriously; he didn’t give her the time to do it, though, deciding to share one more thought. “I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t care about it so much. I promise you, in an hour they won’t even remember that you were late.”

“Won’t they?” she asked.

“No. Don’t get me wrong, but there are more exciting things to do in high school than wondering why one Claire Nuñez didn’t arrive on time for an algebra class she doesn’t even have to take.”

He glanced at her, and to her surprise, gave her another warm, reassuring smile.

Before Claire had managed to return it, his smile turned into a mischievous grin as Jim leaned towards her a little, and in a conspiratorial whisper, he added, “besides, at least you don’t have to worry about any formal consequences. Janeth adores you too much to even think of giving you a detention. But just imagine how much trouble Steve will be in when he meets her after missing her lesson like that.”

She rolled her eyes and got back to work.

The rest of the class passed in a perfect order, as both Jim and Claire resolved to make the most of the time they had left, and finally carried out their plans of staying focused on what Miss Janeth was telling them. The rest of the class weren’t too eager to cause any problems, either, so except a little chiding now and then, even Miss Janeth didn’t need to say more than the syllabus required.

The bell rang eventually, making the half asleep teenagers leap on their seats before hastily gathering their belongings and leaving the class at the highest speed they could allow. Jim was watching them in amusement while packing his own books; he didn’t feel the need to rush. Not when his pretty neighbour didn’t seem to be hurrying anywhere herself.

He zipped his bag and turned towards her.

“So, do you think you’ll need those notes after all?” he asked lightly.

“I think I’ll copy them from Darci. I’m kinda used to the way she makes them, so it will be easier for me to learn from them.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’m still impressed you’ve made any.” Claire laughed for the first time this morning, and nudged him playfully in the arm. “Wouldn’t that be like the first time ever?”

“Not exactly, but you’re close.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Pretty much.”

She laughed again and slung her purse over her shoulder. She glanced at Toby, who was waiting for them near the exit. “You two should go. I need to talk to Miss Janeth about a few other things than being late, so it will take a while. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Jim wanted to protest, but she didn’t give him a chance. As soon as she finished the last sentence, she set off towards the teacher’s desk, leaving the slightly confused boy behind her. He followed her with his sight, smiling sheepishly, and if it hadn’t been for Toby, he probably would have stayed there until Claire would leave, too.

She had a point. He was hopeless.

Only school didn’t have much to do with that.

He felt a soft strike on his cheek when Toby, having lost his patience, threw a paper ball at him. He grabbed his bag and made his way to the door, sending Claire one more smile she couldn’t see. They still had a couple of classes coming, most of which all of them attended – and after that, they would all go to the Troll Market together, making their day as perfect as it could possibly be.

Why, if Claire knew that she wouldn’t be going anywhere.