Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On the surface, Arcadia oaks seems like any old quiet Californian town. Keyword, surface. For below that surface lurks an entire society of monstrous creatures. Trolls, goblins, pixies, and all manners of strange terrors. Creatures with fangs, horns, and claws. With coats of crystal and coats of fur. Creatures with wings and tails that could knock a human dead in a single sweep. Magnificent monsters of long-forgotten legend and tonight Arcadia Oaks was fated to encounter a new one.

Trees tumble to the ground as massive wings pierce through them. Claws toss dirt every which way as they rush to escape from pursuers. Moonlight pours through the treetops, illuminating shimmering black and white scales. Piercing blue eyes slit to thin lines as they spot an end to their current path. The trees fade into a massive rock slab from which human voices can be heard.

“You really need to get some friends that don’t keep you up all night because they don’t know how to freakin study! This is downright abuse, Claire!” A jovial yet exhausted voice calls out, with small gasps punctuating the sentence.

Pointed ears perk as these words make their way through the trees. The massive creature creeps forward and peaks through the branches at the humans. She watches them as they ride over a hill on odd-looking carts.

“And I don’t mean of you! Making us ride across town to get you! Abuse I’m telling ya!” The voice from before continued. It came from a short, pudgy human. Rather young from the looks of it. All three humans. Especially to be out this late without any parents.

One of the other humans speaks. This one sounds more feminine. She must be the Claire the pudgy one spoke to.“Oh, stop complaining you butt! They’re as much your friends as they are mine.”

“I think Darcy might be a little more, eh!” The third human shouts the front of the Claire’s cart. A small blue shell obscures most of his face. Regardless his teasing smile is still readily apparent. The pudgy one turns bright red. Odd. Humans don’t normally turn red. Unless they’re bloody from their last hunt.

“You know I only have eyes for one woman Jimbo!” The red one retorts, peddling his cart to keep up with the others. Jimbo? That's certainly an odd name.

“Oh yeah, the mole right!” The Claire laughs. “I dunno Toby, I think Darc and you would be super cute together.” Toby must be the pudgy red one. The Claire winks and holds tighter to the Jimbo.

“Anything to make the creepy obsession stop.” The Jimbo deadpans. “If you go to school in a fur suit to whoo the mole, our friendship is over.” All three laugh.

The creature’s tail twitches and her sapphire feathers stand on end. Her horned brow furrows and her lips curl away in a growl to reveal dagger-like fangs underneath. A branch snaps and an arrow flies through the air, grazing her shoulder. They’re back. Blood runs down her leg and stains the grass beneath her. She scurries through the trees and away from the young humans. There has to be a good hiding spot somewhere.

“So how long exactly till your house, I don’t think my legs can take much more of this!” Toby asks, trying to change the topic from his failing romantic life. He pants heavily as he bikes up another hill,

“Uh, guys?” Claire taps Jim’s shoulder and the bike halts to a stop. Shattered branches litter the ground, mauve blood is soaked the soil, massive paw prints desperately winding through the trees, and the most worrisome of all were the arrows embedded into the trunks. The three teens looked on in concerned awe at the sight. The boys wanted to look for what could’ve caused this much damage. But Claire reminded them of their task at hand. Rest. There would be plenty of time to investigate the next night. Not wanting to upset their guardians, the boys agreed. The three began to head off, unaware of the events that just occurred.

The three teens dropped Claire off at her house. Her parents glared at Jim and paid Toby no mind. Luckily ‘Enrique’ wasn't as hostile, flashing them a toothless smile. This quickly relaxed the Nunez’s confrontational demeanor.

“See you at the drama party?” Jim shrugged.

Claire giggled. “See you then, Romeo.” She tucked her bangs behind her ear and backed into the house, closing the door softly as her parents could be heard scolding her from the other side.

Toby glanced up at his friend. “What party?”

“The cast and crew are having a pizza party during 4th period.”

“A pizza party! Ah, man. Any chance I can be your plus one?”

“Any chance you can stick to your diet for half a day.”

“Oh har har.” Toby snarks. “You just don't want me third wheeling you and Claire-Bear.” Jim blushes a bright crimson as a small smile graces his face. Toby rolls his eyes as the two began to bike home, ready for a good sleep. For once. As the two slept, strange occurrences spread through Arcadia, ranging in severity from minor incidents to near disasters. Knocked over garbage cans to hospitalizations. Of all the nights to be off duty.

 As the sun rises the trollhunters trio went to school as per usual. Having finally gotten some sleep, none had heard of all the insanity that went on throughout the night. Mary, Darcy, and a couple of other students are gathered at the entrance.

“Claire-Bear!” Darcy near tackles her friend to the ground. “We were so worried! You weren’t answering our calls and you were out there with that...that thing!”

“Whoa whoa, Darc slow down. I was at home. Asleep. I know it’s hard to believe.”

“Wait, what thing?” Jim asks. The three girls look over at him.

“There’s apparently some crazy panther on the loose! ” Mary explains. “At least three people to be sent to the emergency room!”

Claire’s expression drops into a disturbing realization. Her chocolate eyes dart to Jim, who was obviously going through the same thought process. The giant paw prints they had found the night before. They certainly hadn’t looked like any cat’s paw, but then again, they hadn’t seen the animal that did this.

Jim isn’t entirely sure how to react. He’s seen crazier but, god, people were sent to the hospital. This threat isn’t specific to him due to his trollhunter duties. It’s real. It’s out there. With innocent, defenseless people. Claire takes his hand in her own. He lets out a deep breath he didn’t realize he was holding., “Well, I’m sure it’ll get caught right?”

“Yeah, I’m sure they will.” Darcy adds. “Dad said the thing must have been huge. Someone’s bound to see it. Just maybe don’t be biking around town in the middle of the night. Okay?” She takes Claire’s free hand and nods expectantly. Before Claire can respond, Toby pipes in.

“That’s fair.” Toby agrees. Out loud at least. But he knows as well as the other two that they have to check this out.

 The eight hours tick by at the speed of an arthritic tortoise. Waiting for class to get out this has to be one of the most torturous experiences of their young lives. Just waiting and waiting to be able to go out and investigate. The final bell finally struck and the hallways flooded with teenagers rushing to be literally anywhere else. But before any could take a step off the school grounds, a message rings throughout the intercom system.

“Good afternoon students, this is Principal Levit speaking. Before you all leave campus, it’s encouraged that you find a buddy to walk home with. Due to the unfortunate hospitalization of a local, authorities announced that until further notice, all minors will be required to follow a strict curfew and buddy system while on public streets.”

“Who else was hospitalized?” Jim looks at Claire and her friends. From what he’s gathered the first three had been from the town over.

“You didn’t hear, Jimmy-Jam?” Mary pulls out her phone and shows him one of her recent chats with Seamus.

Mary: Where are you??? Are we still on for tonight?

Seamas: Not tonight Mar

Seamas: My mom picked me up

Seamas: Dad was attacked by a bear or panther or something

Seamas: I’m gonna be here until he’s out of the ICU

There’s a picture. A man in his fifties, unconscious in a hospital bed. Bloody bandages running down his arms and across his torso. Stitches holding his forehead and scalp together. Jim gasps and covers his mouth. He’s killed trolls before. But all they leave in their wake is dust and stone. Not blood. Not this. One thing’s for sure, this didn’t look like a normal animal attack. Panthers and bears go for the neck. A quick kill. This was a calculated warning.

Mary and Darcy hurry to join a group of girls leaving the grounds. “Are you coming, Claire-Bear?” Darcy asks.

“No no, you go ahead. I’ll call you later. Who else is going to protect these doofuses from panthers?” She pulls Jim and Toby under her arms. “Or monsters.” She whispers under her breath.

Mary wiggles her eyebrow. ‘Sure. Panthers.” She makes mocking kissy faces. Darcy rolls her eyes and drags Mary away as she waves goodbye.

As soon as the girls are out of earshot, Jim wriggles away from Claire’s hold. “Not monsters. Trolls. We’ve been over this. And it might not even be a troll either.”

“What else could do something like that.”

“I don’t know but definitely not a troll. Strickler's gone, Bulars dead, and Nomura was sucked into the darklands.”

“Could goblins do something like that?” Toby shrugs.

“I don’t know.” The taller boy admits. “Maybe Blinky could-”

“Let’s maybe leave Blink out of this one.” Toby interrupts. “At least until we know for sure if it was a “monster” or not. You know how he is. He’ll probably think it’s a dragon or something.”

Jim’s gaze drops to the ground. He thought the idea of Blinky’s insanity died with Bular. But apparently not.

“We’ll wait, alright. Just...try to get some more information about the attack. If someone says it was blue with horns and glowing yellow eyes, it was probably a troll that was discovered by a human and freaked out.” They all agree to the plan and head to Jim’s house to work on the details. This proves to be rather difficult since they have no idea where to start researching. All the news articles online decided it was a panther or a bear. For hours they text classmates and google different types of mauling to occur in California. Nothing. Zip. Notta.

 “I’m home!” Barbara calls out as she threw her keys onto the counter, she turns to see Jim and Claire at the dining table. Bags sunken under their eyes and pale exhausted complexions make them appear as living corpses. Dr. Lake glances into the living room to see her young neighbor out cold on the couch. “ What in the world are you guys doing?” She scolds. “It’s almost eleven at night, shouldn’t you two of you be at home?”

Toby jumps awake at the sudden yelling. He yawns and “Hey Dr. L. We’re just working on a...umm... a school project. Yeah.” Toby tiredly answers.

“You can work on it tomorrow. Toby, go on home. Claire pack your stuff, I’ll drive you.” Both children nodded and did as told. “And you.” She points at her own son. “You’d better be showered and ready for bed when I get back.” Jim sighs, and nods. He remembers when she just trusted him to be responsible on his own.

Soon it was only the James left in the house. He can’t quit. Not yet. It’s only a matter of time until these attacks turn lethal. He sits on the bottom step of the staircase, head in hands. In his peripheral vision, he spots his mother’s purse swinging from the post. A piece of paper sticking out. He hesitates for a moment. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. She already doesn’t trust you. But he can’t force the curiosity out of his head. He grabs the paper. It’s a clear picture of Seamus’s dad’s mauling. No bandages. And it only confirmed Jim’s fear. No cat, even a panther, could cut this deep.

He hurries up to the bathroom and turns the shower on extra hot and lets the steam freely fill the room. He stuffs the picture in his backpack, strategically places pillows under the blankets, and turns the shower off as he heads for the garage. The large panel door creaks open and Jim pedals out full speed. He only stops for a moment to look back. “I’m sorry Mom.” He sighs and continues on his path to Trollmarket.

 Run. Run. Run. Arrows wiz buy. The creature stumbles. Her wound only growing sorer and possibly infected, it can hold barely any weight. The woods aren’t good enough anymore. She has to find somewhere they’d never think to look for her. She whips her tail through the air, bringing a massive oak falling onto the path behind her. She blasts a couple trees to her right before taking a left turn.

She ducks into some bushes and hopes that her midnight scales will be enough to conceal her in the darkness. The hunters climb over the oak and inspect the area. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. One points in the directions of the blasts. He loads his bow and they once again give chase. In the wrong direction. The creature waits for them to be out of earshot and makes a mad dash away from them. Hobbling along on three legs until she trips into a large concrete canyon.

She pants and licks the reopened wound clean. She needs rest. She spots a small metal cave and limps inside. She yawns and warms the floor beneath her with her plasma. She curls in a ball to wait for morning light to force her to run once more.

“Come on, where is it?” The creature's ears perk up. Her sapphire eyes adapt once more to the darkness. It’s the boy from the morning. No. It only sounds like him. This thing is made of metal.“There ya are!” The metal man celebrates. She pulls herself up to investigate but doesn’t get far as her leg collapses under her weight. She falls to the ground with a yelp. “Hello?” The metal man turns around. No. No. No. It steps closer and closer. It pulls a sword from it’s back. “Arrgh? Blink?...Draal? Who’s in there? Are you okay?”

Jim’s at the mouth of the pipe now. He sees an outline shift in the darkness.

The metal man is so close now. She can’t see it faces but she can only imagine the bloodthirsty hunter's scowl etched into it.

“Please, if you’re hurt, I can help.” Jim pulls his phone out and holds it up to use as a flashlight. Nothing. He could have sworn something was-.

She releases her grip on the ceiling bar and drops down onto the metal man. Teeth bared and drool dripping from her fearsome jaws. Claws unsheathed and ready to gore.

Jim kicks his attacker in the chest. Massive wings open up and beat powerful blasts of air at the trollhunter. He slashes blindly into the dark. A bloodcurdling roar shakes the canals. “Uh...nope.” Jim makes a break for trollmarket. He grabs the horngozzle and draws a messy half circle onto the wall.

A blue swirling portal opens by the metal man, she sees an opportunity for better shelter and possibly even some food. She gallops past the metal man and dives into the portal to the secret world below. She is slightly taken aback by the crystal staircase but not enough to stop running. A roar bellows from her throat, sounding halfway between a charging elephant and tiger mid-hunt.

“Well, this went from bad to significantly worse.” Jim huffs in annoyance. He presses Toby's character on speed dial as he pursues the massive creature.

“Jimbo is there a good reason why you're calling me at 2 in the morning?” Toby finally responds in a downright murderous tone.

“Well, remember the dragon theory you joked about?” Jim chuckles awkwardly.

Toby quickly switches from murderous to giddy in the .02 seconds.“Where are you?”

“Chasing said dragon into trollmarket. So if you could hurry, that’d be great.”

“I’m on my way! Oh, oh! Arrgh is coming too!” Toby hangs up and the trollhunter is once again on his own. He reaches the bottom of the stairs and searches the entrance cave to the city.

“Look, I know we got off to something of a rocky start, but how about we just let bygones be bygones?” He peeks around a boulder where he could've sworn he saw movement. Nothing. “Please don’t be in the city. Please don’t be in the city.”

“Fire!” A voice cries from the distance. A huge blast of blue flame engulfs the pub.

“And it’s in the city. That’s fun.”

 The two teenagers cling to the fur on Arrgh’s back as he runs his full speed to trollmarket. “You’re a lot faster than you look!” Claire shouts as she grabs onto the trolls back horn.

“Jim trouble!” Arrgh grunts as he halts to a stop under the bridge. He leans to let Claire and Toby down.

“Thanks for the ride wingman.” Toby pats his friend on the side and pulls his own horngozzle from his backpack. Claire runs her hand through her messy, matted hair.

“I think I lost a couple hairclips back there.” Her awkward laughter is cut short by a bright blue light clearing the stone from the wall. “Whoa.” She takes Toby’s hand and steps forward as the crystal staircase begins to glow. She enthusiastically drags her friend down the steps. Admiring every gem and every marking carved into the walls.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Toby cries out. “You’re going to get us-” He yelps as their hands slip apart and he tumbles to the ground. Arrgh quickly sets him back on his feet and pat’s him on the top of the head.

“You okay?”

“I am but she’s going to get us killed!” He climbs back onto the troll and they pursue Claire into the city.

 She runs through the crowd of trolls, dodging angry fists and sharpened swords being thrown her way. She cries every time her weakened leg hits the ground but if she stops she’ll be run through with one of the monster’s blades and mounted on the wall. She sweeps her tail back and forth to knock the stone creatures off their feet. The metal man screams after her.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Jim shoves his way through the crowd. “Come back!” The scaled beast disappears into one of the runoff caves. He follows into the inky black cavern. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He sighs to himself.

She runs and runs and runs. The cave comes to an end with a large cluster of glowing crystals. The rainbow of gems reflects against her shiny scaled hide

“Please, you're hurt, scared and I know how you feel. I was scared too, the first time I came here but you need to calm down. I want to help.” Jim speaks into the blackness hoping that the dragon would hear him, daylight’s fire-coated blade lighting the immediate area around him. Eventually, a multicolored light dulls the swords flame. The creature backs against the lights crystal source. Ears pinned down and back arched like a hostile cat. The fear in her aqua colored eyes was obvious, pupils nothing more than slits. He lets out a deep breath and wills daylight away followed by his armor. Weaponless, armorless, defenseless, the trollhunter approaches the creature. He rises up his arm with open palm inches from the jaws of the creature. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Her pupils dilate in relief and she wiggles in excitement. It is the boy. It is the Jimbo! She sniffs his hand and presses her snout into it. “Atta boy.” She circles around him soaking up his scent. Memorizing it. “Wait a second…” Jimbo leans down and looks between her hind legs. “Oh...atta girl I guess.” He chuckles and runs his fingers through the soft blue feather along her forehead. “Atta girl.” He rubs his cheek against hers. The creature’s ears perk up. “Whoa no no go back to cuddly dragon.” She shakes her head and tosses him into her back before sprinting back from which they came.

A shrill scream echoes through the cave. Claire.

Chapter Text

A pained yelp fills the cave as Claire is tossed to the side by the creature’s thrashing tail. “Sorry!” Jim calls back, holding onto his mounts horns for dear life. The girl groans and sits up. It only takes a moment to register the fact that her friend is in trouble.

The creature bounds out of the cavern and winds through the city streets once more. The stone beasts are armed now. Throwing swords and hammers. The Jimbo cries as a sword slices his forearm. She can’t leave him to the mercy or these monsters. She can’t. The boy glows a bright blue and dawns his metal shell. The weight upon her shoulders increases. Her wounds ache and burn. She can’t leave him but she can’t run anymore. She leaps over another multi-eyed stone beast. “Goodness gracious!” It drops to the ground and peeks through its fingers. “Master Jim?! What in Deya’s name are you doing?!”

“I don’t know!” The trollhunter yanks on the dragon’s ears, desperate to get her attention. She halts to a stop. “Oh thank god.” He sighs and pats her head. Her tail starts to sway and her wings expand. “Oh no no no-ahh!”

They’re airborne in a matter of seconds. The two begin to climb past the heartstone, closer and closer to the ceiling of the cavern. A blue glow crawls up her scales from tail to chest. The glow burns in the back of her throat as she readies to blow away the stone and make for the sky.

Sparks flicker from the amulets gem. Lightning arches around it and strikes the dragons in the back of the neck. She releases her plasma blast sooner than intended and it hits the crystal staircase from across the city. Several steps fall to the ground and dust fills the air.

The ground cracks as the dragon slams into it. She’s immediately knocked out cold. The daylight armor releases a burst of energy as Jim hits the ground, breaking his fall. Barely. Claire and Toby rush towards their friend and help him sit up.

“Jimbo are you alright?” Toby rasps, exhausted from all the running and just general concern for Jim’s tendency to get himself into these situations.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine Tobes. What about the dragon?” He wipes the blood away from his busted lip. He looks over to see her surrounded by trolls armed with spears and swords. “Get away from her!” He jumps to his feet to quickly and falls to his knees. Claire looks to Toby and nods at the injured creature.

“I’m on it.” He rushes over to the trolls and jumps between them and the dragon. They back down in confusion at the tiny human and his poor decision making. “We’ll take care of the dragon. Alright? Wingman? A little help here?” Arrgh pushes his way through the crowd and lifts the dragon onto his back. “Now leave it to the professionals.”

“Where is he taking her?” Jim takes a deep breath and tries to stand up again.

“Oh no, you don’t Mr.” Claire catches him. “I gotcha.” She lifts him up bridal style and turns to Blinky, who’s finally broken his way through the chaos. “You’re...you’re Blinky aren’t you?”

“Indeed I am.” He takes the boy from her. “And you must be the young Claire, Master Jim has told me much about you.”

“Oh, he has?” Claire giggles.

“Stop staying things.” Jim puts his hand over Blinky’s mouth, embarrassed but not in the right mind to properly defend his love-struck ranting about Claire.

“We’ll have you fixed up good as new. Alright, Jim?” Claire takes his hand as the three head to Blinky’s library and Jim’s eyes fall shut, slipping into unconsciousness.

 Jim yawns and drags himself out of the bed. He quickly realizes this must be Blinky’s room based on the extensive amount of books piled by his feet. Voices echo down the hall from the main library.

“Hey, guys.” Jim greets the team.. He stretches the kinks out of his back and is nearly knocked to the ground by his human friends. “Guys, this isn’t the first time I had a near death situation.” He chuckles and slips out of their vice grip hug.

“I know but…” Claire cups Jim’s face. “I can’t see it ever getting easier.” Bright red flushes his cheeks. His eyes widen as he realizes.

“Whoa, wait, where’s the dragon?” He looks to Blinky who is clearly holding something back. The nervous humming gives it away. The troll sighs and steps forward.

“Master Jim I’m afraid that the dragon shall be felled tomorrow, and is being kept in the dungeon until then.”

The young trollhunter falls silent. “She, she didn’t do anything.” He whimpers.

“It tried to kidnap you, Jimbo.” Toby pats his friends arm.

“She was scared and alone! You can’t kill someone for that!”

“Master Jim, please.”

“No! You said the trollhunter answers every call and I promised to answer hers.” He pulls the amulet from his pocket. “There’s not going to be any execution on my-ahh!” He yelps as Arrgh lifts him up by the collar.

“Jim hurt. Need rest.” Arrrgh tosses the boy over his shoulder.

“Certainly, old friend. If you would put our young trollhunter back to rest.” The trolls nod at each other. Jim continues struggling to escape.

“I don’t need rest Arrgh!” His angry cries fade as the bedroom door slams shut.

“Oh my gosh, Jim’s got Stockholm Syndrome.” Toby gasps.

“What? No! No, he doesn’t. He’s just...Jim.” Claire sighs. “He just doesn’t want this on his hands.”

“Vendal has made his final decision. We’ve no control over the dragon’s fate.” He taps his chin. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“If we can prove the dragon is simply an animal and has no malicious intent, Vendal may sway his vote and allow the creature to live. In captivity of course.”

“How do we do that? We’ve been calling it dragon a lot but it could be some weird troll for all we know.”

“We’re in the greatest source of trollish knowledge this side of the rocky mountains!” Blinky gestures to the book stuffed shelves circling the room. “I’m sure with a little research we’ll understand the creature's origins in no time.”

 “Alright. Alright.” Jim takes a deep breath and runs full speed into the door. Once again, his 90-pound frame is not nearly enough to knock it off the hinges. “God...dang it.” Jim censors himself and rubs his shoulder. The armor markings are probably permanently indented in his skin by now.

He sighs and plops back down on the bed. They’re going to kill that poor animal and it’s his fault. He let her into trollmarket, to begin with. If she dies it’s on his hands. Tears burn his sky blue eyes.

“Eh, Ocochca Kua!” Jim quickly wipes his eyes and looks around to see the source of the shouting. A gnome is perched on the pillow. “Ocochc! Ocochc! Ga!”

“Chompsky!? What on earth are you doing here?” He holds out his hand and Chomsky climbs into his cupped palms. “I thought you were at Tobe’s place?”

The gnome doesn’t speak, partially on account of the fact that he couldn’t aside from his nonsense gibberish. But more so because he is entirely too enticed by the silver scale peeking out of Jim’s pocket. “Ococha Kua!” He claps excitedly.

Jim pulls out the scale. Lightbulb. “Oh, is this what you want lil’ guy?” The tiny creature nods. “Alright, you can have it but you have to do one thing for me.” He gestures to the door. “Get me the heck out of here.”

“Yah!” Chompsky leaps off the bed and scampers towards the door. He manages to crawl through the small gap and climb up to the doorknob. Clicking and clacking sounds mix with… is that a buzzsaw? Jim presses his ear to the door.

“Chompsky?...Buddy you there?” The door swings open and hanging from the mangled doorknob is the gnome, wearing a successful smirk. “I’m not going to ask how you did that, but a deal's a deal.” He sets the gnome on the floor and offers him the scale.

“Ha! Yaya!” Chomsky grabs the scale and hurries into a crack in the wall.

Jim sighs and sneaks down the hall. He pokes his head around the door to see the team is still here. Claire is hanging off the couch with a Volume 36 laying open on her chest. Arrgh is curled up in the corner with Toby snuggled into this fur. Blinky, however, is wide awake scanning 3 books and sipping a tiny cup of tea. Hopefully tea. “Okay, okay.” Jim gulps and rolls the amulet in his hand. He takes aim and chucks it at the bookshelf.

“My goodness!” Blinky yelps and grasps at his chest.”My word, what was that?!” He shuffles through the spilled books until he spots a soft blue glow. He lifts the final book. With a flash, the glowing object disappears. “Huh?”

The amulet reappears in Jim’s hand as he sprints through the back alleys of trollmarket. It takes him a good while to find the dungeon. He really should learn the layout of this city he’s supposed to protect. Two large guards stand by the entrance. One armed with an ax and one a sword. “Miss. Janice help me.” He takes a deep breath and approaches.” “I need to see the dragon!” Jim orders. The guard raises a stony eyebrow at the boy so desperate to see the monster. The monster that had attempted to kidnap him no less.

“Sorry, kid. Nobody gets through.” He shoves Jim back.

“Oh! Oh! Are you really going to deny me some righteous vengeance?!” The Trollhunter puffs out his chest and put his hands on his hips. “Do I need to enact revenge on you too?” He pokes the guard in the chest. “I felled Bular the Vicious! Son of Gunmar! I can end you like that!” He tries to snap his fingers. It doesn’t work. Stupid armor.

“Fine but don’t kill it.” They step to the side. “We need it intact for the execution or our jobs are on the line.” Jim nods and galivants into the dungeon. He presses his hand to the pressure plate and the vault doors roll shut.

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” He collapses to the ground. “I’m alive! When I’m done with this whole trollhunting thing I may have a future in Hollywood. Holy crap.” A weak roar echoes through the dungeon. Jim jumps back to his feet searches the hanging cages. “Dragon!” No response. “Come on girl! I know you’re here!” Chain rattle above him. He clasps his hands over his mouth and stumbles back. She’s not even in a cage. She’s being hung by the tail. Blood leaks through the too tight chains. Her lighter scales bruised darker than her onyx ones.

Jim draws daylight and plants it into the dirt. He steps on the hilt and leaps just as his armor and sword fade away. He’s barely light enough to reach the dragons altitude. He grabs onto a chain around her neck and pulls himself up. Redawning daylight, he slices through the bindings and they fall to the floor.

“Come on girl, don’t quit on my now.” Jim whispers, brushing the dragons sapphire feathers.”I’m gonna get you out of here.” He cuts her free from the rest of the chains. She pulls herself up but heavily leans on the trollhunter for support. Jim pulls a lever to release one of the cages to the ground. “Alright, hop in.” The dragon cocks her head and whimpers. “Trust me.” She hesitantly obeys and climbs in. Jim reels the chain as tightly around the gear as possible and jams in the sword. He hurries in the cage and closes the door. The vault doors slowly roll open.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” A guard rushes into the room.

“Sorry! Gotta go!” He summons daylight and the gear releases, yanking the makeshift elevator to the ceiling. The dragon pokes her head through the bars. Her feathers and scales glow up her spine. “Now!” She blasts through the ceiling and the elevator flies through the stone into the surface world. It falls back to the earth, shattering against the cement canal floor.

Sunlight hits her scales for the first time in what seems like forever. She flicks her sore tail and sure enough, her fins won’t work in sync. The chain cut her near to the bone. Wait, where’s the Jimbo? She scans the canal for any sign of the human boy. She breathes a sigh of relief and she rolls over to see him releasing his armor.

“You’re probably getting sick of the crash landings huh?” He brushes the hair out of his face. The dragon coos and nuzzles into the boy’s hand. “Aw, your welcome. But you’re free now. As soon as the sun sets they’ll be after you.” He helps the dragon to her feet and gestures to the sky. “You should get a head start.”

She sits and stares at the sky. What is he pointing at?

“What are you waiting for?” His shoulders slump. Jim tries to shove her from behind. “Get flying you stupid lizard! God, you’re heavy.” He pants. He stumbles back and trips over the dragon's tail. She yelps and bares her teeth. He realizes the full extent of her injury. “You...you can’t fly can you?”

 Cats yowl and dogs yap from behind the neighbors' fences. “We’re almost home, they can’t hurt you.” Jim comforts the dragon. He unlatches the gate and leads her through the yard. She collapses into the soft grass and purrs. “I’ll be right back with some bandages. Don’t move.” He wags his finger and backs into the house.

She huffs. Great. Alone again. Her eyes wander as her tail swishes back and forth. Her blue eyes slit as a small orange butterfly perches on a flower. The terror of Trollmarket raises her rear and kneads her claws into the ground. She pounces. The butterfly flutters out of her way and she slams into the fence. She rubs her head and repositions herself. This time. This time for sure. She narrows her eyes and charges once more. Once more missing her target. Her scales illuminate and fire builds up in the back of her throat. Stupid little bug. She aims and-

“No, no, no, no!” Jim jumps in front of the dragon, trying to prevent her from turning his backyard into a crater. She swallows her flames and coughs up the leftover smoke. “No fire!” She rubs the bridge of her nose. “Now let me see that tail.” He plops on the ground. “This is going to hurt a little.” She screeches as he pours the sanitizing alcohol on the bloody tail. He winces and wraps it up in gauze.

She sniffs the wrapping and picks at them with her teeth. Why is her tail brown now?

“Hey! You knock that off!” Jim scolds. “Do I need to get you a giant cone?” The dragon cocks her head and licks her chops. “Oh. are you hungry? Let's see what we have to work with.” She follows the boy inside, barely squeezing herself through the frame. She finds a soft thing to play with. “Oh for the love of- leave the couch cushions alone.” Jim shouts from the kitchen.

“What do dragons eat?” He shuffles through the leftovers in the fridge. His gaze falls on a meatloaf recipe taped to the cabinet. With those teeth, she’s gotta be a meat eater. He pulls 4 pounds of hamburger from the fridge drawer. “I was saving this.” Jim remarks in fake annoyance. The dragon’s ears droop and her eyes fall to the floor. “It’s alright though. You’ve been through a lot. I’d say you earned some pampering.” Her ears perk up and she wanders back to explore the living room.

“So you do you have a name? I feel bad for just calling you ‘girl’. How about Marshmallow? Nah, too soft. Oh, how about Fang?” The dragon pokes her head through the kitchen divider and flashes him a toothless grin. Her dagger teeth poking slightly from her gums. “Huh, toothless. Sorta. I guess Fang is out...Claire? No no that’d be weird. What was that one cat's name? I swear Nana’s had so many cats over the years. Number #9 I think that what I called her…Don’t look at me like that I’m bad at names.” He tosses the meatloaf into the oven. His phone dings. “Shoot. I was gonna watch the Lunar Eclipse with Tobes tonight.”

The dragon’s head shoots up. Her ears twitch and she wags her bandaged tail. “Hmm. Eclipse.” The dragon wiggles even more. “Oh, you like that Eclipse?” Now she’s bouncing. “Well maybe Eclipsa, what do ya think Eclipsa?” Her tail becomes a complete wrecking ball in her excitement, knocking down pictures and even furniture. “Woah girl calm down!” He catches a vase. “If you’re gonna stay, you can’t destroy the house.” Her pupils grow to the size of dinner plates and shine like there’s stars in them. “Aw man. You’re, you’re really good at that.” Jim turns away but the dragon puts herself back in his line of vision. Eyes growing ever bigger and brighter.

“Enough!” He laughs, nabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. Here you go you begging son of a...lizard I guess.” He tosses the fruit and Eclipsa catches it mid-air. “Hopefully that'll tide you over until-what are you doing? What in the world are you-” And up comes the slobber covered apple right onto Jim’s new sneakers. “Ugh.’ He kicks the apple away. “Definitely a meat eater.” He cleans up the half-digested red delicious and returns to his, keeping his eye on Eclipsa.

As he opens the oven door an aroma, invisible to his human nose, fills the air. The dragon nearly shoves her head into the oven after it. Jim shoos her away and sighs. “So I take it you don’t care if it’s half raw?” Eclipsa gurgles and vibrates with excitement. Her shoulders wiggle furiously and her tail struggles to stay neutral as not to destroy the entire kitchen. Jim throws on a pair of oven mitts and slides the meatloaf across the floor. “Easy girl, it’s still a bit hot ok.”

Food. Food. Food. The dragon digs in like she hasn’t eaten properly in months. Which isn’t too far off. Ever since she embarked on this quest, she’s had to hunt for her scout pack. Leaving herself with mere morsels of their leftovers. She swallows the last hunk and licks the crumbs from her paws. She walks back to the soft square thing and curls up, resting her head on it. This is nice. How have the humans not thought of this?

“Glad to see your comfortable girl.” Jim chuckles snapping a quick pic on his phone. Laying her head on a pillow like she’s a little person. Or, well, really big person in this case. Tobes is going to love this when he figures out she’s not a murderous monster. Oh, Tobes. How is he going to explain this to Tobes? Or Claire. Or his mom for that matter. How’s he going to hide a two-ton dragon? His room won’t work. His mom would find her if he ever he sleeps through his alarm again. He can see it now. ‘Jim wake-ahh!’ Yeah, no. Wait. He hid Draal in the basement for weeks. And with the troll welcome in his old home, it’s prime real estate again. He tucks his phone away. “Eclipsa?” He cocks his head at the now empty living room.

 “Blinkous, that Trollhunter of yours has finally cracked!” Vendel screams, knowing full well the trollhunters intentions of protecting the beast.

Blinky was twiddles his four thumbs and lowers his ears. “Well, I assure you there must be a reason for this! He wouldn’t simply allow such a danger to Trollmarket run amok!” And yet, as he says this, he actively avoids eye contact.

“Then prove it, before Trollmarket demands blood.” Vendel warns as he turns to the panicking trolls and vainly attempts to calm them down, in the same turn, Blinky goes to the others to plan their recapture of the dragon.

“You don’t think he took that thing to his house do you?” Toby shrugs. “I mean, Jimbo’s not dumb, he wouldn’t put his mom in danger, right?”

“Where else would he go?” Claire points out. Though her argument is logically sound, Toby is right. Jim would never risk his mother’s life like that. Or his own without good reason. None of this situation makes sense.

“It’s our only lead, Arrrgh and Tobias will search the tunnels. Leave no stone unturned. And Lady Claire if you wouldn’t mind you checking Master Jim’s domicile. Just to be safe.” The team all nod in agreement. “I shall continue to look at the books to see if we can identify our culprit.”

 Picture frames tumble down the staircase. A flash of Eclipsa’s finned tail disappears around the corner. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going, young lady!” Jim chases after the dragon into his room. She’s made herself all too comfortable on Jim’s bed. The frame creaks under her weight and she sniffs a poster over the pillow. He takes a seat next to her and runs his fingers through her soft feathers. A low purr rumbles through the room.

“That’s a Vespa,” Jim explains. “I’ve got down in trollmarket. Pieces of one. Me and Blink are fixing it up.” The dragon growls at the poster. “Are you jealous you big weirdo?” She snorts. “It can’t fly like you but...it’s a good project. Helps keep my mind off things.” Eclipsa cocks her head. “I was going to build a bike with my actual dad but he’s kinda awful so that didn’t work out.” He trails off and stares at the poster. Eclipsa looks at her new friend, distress etched his face. She presses her cheek to his and purrs like a jet engine. The boy laughs and leans into her.

“Thanks girl, I needed it that.” A grateful smile pulls on his lips. A smile which she tries to copy, though with little success. The amulet ticks to the rhythm of dragons purring and glow just a bright. “A trollhunter answer every call and I think you’ll fit in just fine.”

Chapter Text

The rain gutter smacks into the house as the wind picks up. Her blue streak is pulled from its hair clip. “Come on, Claire. This is so stupid.” She groans to herself. Toby’s right. He wouldn’t put his mother in danger. He wouldn’t bring a freakin dragon into his own home. Probably. She doesn’t actually know him all that well, after all.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Claire whips her head around towards the bedroom window. Okay, maybe she knows him better than she thought.

“Jim! Are you up there?!” She sees him peek around the corner. His eyes widen and he darts away. “Hey! You get-” A white-blue blur flies by the window. “, down here. Alright then.” She takes a deep breath and picks up a loose branch in the yard. The door is unlocked.

“Get in, you stupid lizard!”

“Jim, are you up there?!” A door slams shut and the boy comes stumbling down there the stairs.

“What’s up Claire-bear?” He chuckles nervously and glances back at the bathroom door.

“Don’t call me that.”

“But Darcy-” She narrows her eyes and crosses her arms. “Okay, not on a nickname basis. Cool, cool, cool.” A loud crash rings in their ears.

“What is that?” Claire tries to push past him.

“Nothing. Nothing. I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s-no no no no!” Claire slips past him and sprints to the bathroom door. “You don’t wanna-!”

“Stop lying to us, Jim!” She scolds and reaches out her arm. Before she can even turn the knob, Eclipsa bursts through the door, knocking it off its hinges. Her lips are pulled back in a hideous snarl. Drool drips from her jaws onto the screaming girls face. Claire grabs the branch she armed herself with, gas gathers in the back of Eclipsa’s throat as she prepares to fire.

“For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!” Blue light fills the hall. “Don’t. Touch. Her.” The sword hovers inches from the dragon's forehead. A stern expression contorts Jim’s face. She immediately understands where she stands in comparison to the human girl and backs away, cooing an apology.

Claire sits up clutching her chest. “What the-”

 “First trolls. Now dragons. What’s next, fairies?” Claire chuckles nervously as she takes another chug of water from the pitcher.

“Actually, the fairies lost the war to the pixies a few hundred years ago.” She continues drinking water like she doesn’t have to breathe air. “I know you’re scared. She was too.”

“I’m not scared, Jim, I’m ticked.” She pulls herself off the couch. “Trollmarket is calling for your head and you’re just lazing around with the giant cat-gecko thing that you stole!”

“They were calling for her head!”

“Because it destroyed trollmarket!”

“She, not it!” They both huff and plop down on the couch. Eclipsa coos and pushes her snout into Jim’s palm. “It’s okay, fuzzball.” He strokes her feathers. “I didn’t want to do this alone, Claire. But none of you would listen to me.”

Claire sighs. “Okay, maybe none of us handled the situation very well. I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

“Hey!” She elbows him in the side, laughing.

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry too!” He shields his ribs from another elbow attack. How could anyone stay mad at those big brown eyes? He scoots a little close. “I really am.”

“You really are pretty incredible.” Claire brushes her bangs behind her ear. Jim’s cheeks tint a bright red. “I don’t know how you’re so open-minded about these things. I never would have fought so hard to rescue her like that.”

“You absolutely would have!” He takes her hand. “You’re like the sweetest, kindest, heroic person I know. “All you saw was me being attacked. I would’ve reacted the exact same if we’d switched places.”

Her cheeks turn rosy too as she leans in. “You’re just saying that.” Her eyelids drop and Jim leans in too.

“I’m really not.” Their lips are inches from each other. Centimeters

Ugh! Eclipsa gags. Half-digested meatloaf spills over the rug.

“Oh, ew!” Claire snaps out of her small trance and jumps to her feet, stepping away. Eclipsa’s eyes fall to the floor guiltily. “Aww!” Claire absolutely melts. “Oh, it’s ok baby girl. You feeling sicky?” She presses her nose to the dragons and kisses her on the cheek. “

“See? Not evil. Just a little awful...And she’s not listening at all.”

“Hmm?” Claire doesn’t even look up from her current vessel of misplaced sisterly affection.

“Nothing.” Eclipsa glances over as Jim heads to grab the mop. “Way to ruin the mood.” He whispers. Claire giggles. Oh, that she heard.

 Deep below Arcadia in Blinky’s library, the six-eyed troll continues his research. He replaces the last book on the shelf. The last piece in his personal collection. Sighing he turns to the pile of human books packed away in the corner. They’d always been his brother's favorite reads. It felt almost disrespectful to his memory to read them now. But it’s not as if he has a choice. Not if he wants to keep his pupil from being executed.

He begins with a leather-bound on the top of the stack, titled in strange Nordic runes. Runes he hadn’t seen in centuries. The troll sighs and flips to the first page.

“There were dragons when I was a boy.”

He leaps from his state of hopelessness and flips through the pages.

“The Mysterious Zippleback. A large, powerful dragon to prove that two heads truly is better than one.” Flip. “The electric Skrill.”. Flip. Flip. “Monstrous Nightmare.” Flip. Flip. Flip.

“The Elusive Fury.” The illustration dawned an incredible resemblance to Jim’s dragon. “This incredible dragon has two known subspecies. The Light Fury. An all white, feline-like creature capable of turning it scales reflective through immense heat and becoming invisible to the naked eye. I’ve had very limited interaction with this magnificent beast in my life but I’ll tell you now that’s I’ve never seen a dragon with such grace before. Or since.” Blinky looks to the second page and runs his hand over the charcoal drawing. “ The Night Fury. The Unholy offspring of lightning and death. At least to those on the outside. I know different. My entire village knows different. The Night Fury may not possess the grace of its subspecies but has demonstrated time and time again it’s power to rival Thor himself. And loyalty beyond the stretch of the horizon. For 6 years, Toothless the Night Fury was my best friend and partner in adventure. Inseparable. For 6 years. Until the day we met her.” The next two pages were dominated by a sketch of both Furies flying beside each other. Clearly meant to be mates.

Though they lacked the horns and feathers of trollmarket’s current cause of panic, the structural similarities are obvious. If this dragon was, in fact, a Fury as the book described, they may just have a solid argument for her survival.

 “Oh, sweet bed. How I missed thou.” Toby plops down and pulls the covers over his head. He presses Jim’s name on speed dial and lays the phone by his head. The house shakes as Arrgh falls to the floor in exhaustion.

“Tobe! Tobe, I know you’re mad but-”

“You had us worried sick, man!”

“I know. I know. But I’m fine. Promise. Claire went home already if you want to come over for some apology tacos?”

Toby and Arrrgh share a look, no way that’s all this invitation way. “Fine. But you’d better have real cheese. Not of that Velveeta crap.” He scolds.

Jim laughs on the other end of the line. “Love you man. See you soon.” He hangs up.

“Uppity up, wingman!” Toby shoves the massive troll to his feet. Or at least tries. “We’ve got a reconnaissance mission!”

“Recon in scents?”

 Eclipsa groans as she’s forced down into the basement. “Don’t worry, girl. You just gotta give me enough time to catch Tobes up.” He lays a plate of raw chicken breast on the ground. “You be good, alright?” He kisses the dragon on the forehead and hurries up the stairs to answer the door. She sighs and chows down on the dead bird. She spits out a bone and picks at her teeth with her claws.

A deep mournful call echoes through the valley. Eclipsa’s ears perk up. Every instinct in her body tells her to go to it. As a good alpha is supposed to do. But if she does, Jim is dead meat. She swallows and pulls herself up to the window. She lets out low coo in response. Silence. Her eyes well with tears and she presses her nose to the window. Stay safe. Please.

The stairs creaks as the two boys enter the basement. The dragon snarls and the shorter boy jumps. She relaxed upon seeing Jim in his company. turns out though the ‘threats’ were just Jim and another boy.

“This is Toby D. You remember him right?” She sniffs. It’s the metal-mouthed boy. From the underground.

“Jiiiim.” Toby whimpers and clings to Jim’s forearm.

“Easy girl, easy,” Jim strokes her nose and turns to his friend. “See, she’s just scared.” He takes Toby’s hand, “You just need to show her you don’t want to hurt her.”

Toby reluctantly walks towards the massive reptile and prays he’ll leave this experience with his hand intact. that he wouldn’t lose a hand if she decided to take a bite out of him. “ Our Father…. in heaven, hallowed be your name... your kingdom come, uh you will be done, on earth as in-”

“Tobes you’re Jewish!”

“That’s why I don’t know the words!”

Jim groans and rolls his eyes. He holds his friend's hand inches from the creature. She closes the gap, pressing her forehead against his hand and giving a rumbling purr.

Toby’s muscles relax for a moment before he starts jumping in excitement. “Awesomesauce!” He moves on from just touching her nose to giving it gentle scratches under the chin like he would a cat. “I’m guessing Claire knows?”

“Yeah she does, the problem now though is getting trollmarket to realize she’s not dangerous.” Jim lamented, going up to scratch behind her ears as well. “Or at least not aggressive.”

“Figure out soon.” Arrrgh rumbles, from atop the stairs. He doesn’t want to spook Eclipsa, so he doesn’t come too close. “Tell Blinky.”

Jim knew he was right and that it was their best chance, and begins to pace. “Well...maybe when While I try and sneak Eclipsa into trollmarket. He’ll know how to make them listen.” He has to. What other options do they really have?

Toby places a hand on the young trollhunter’s shoulder. “We’ve got this Jimbo, don’t worry. You- we’ll be able to clear her name.” Toby pumps his fists prematurely victorious into the air and jumps on Arrrghs back. But the troll doesn’t budge.

“Not go. Blinky come. Trollmarket too angry now. Dangerous.”

“Who in trollmarket too angry?” Jim gulps.

“Everyone.”

 Blinky rushes out of the library and bumbles his way into the heartstone. “Vendal! Vendal!” He pants. “I found-” A massive guillotine stands behind Vendal’s. “Great grumbly gruesome. What in the world is that monstrosity for?!”

“To fall the monstrosity your young pupil stole. It could too easily fly out of the deep.” The older troll continues to sharpen the blade on the grinding stone. “The trollhunter himself will stand trial before the tribunal.”

Gathering his wits, Blinky pulls the book from his satchel. “Master Jim was simply doing his job. The dragon is docile and therefore wrongly imprisoned. Observe.” He shoves the book into Vendal’s face. “The fury, despite being skittish, is a naturally social creature capable of forming incredibly strong bonds with their human rider. Master Jim must have formed such a bond. He can control the Fury. Neither has to punished.”

“This furry you speak of-”

“Fury.”

“Destroyed half of trollmarket. It’s left several shops and homes in rubble. Purposeful or not, such acts can’t be ignored. I’m sorry Blinkous. I truly arm.” He lays a paw on Blinky’s shoulder and gives an apologetic nod before leaving to assumably prepare the forge for the execution.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

He pulls his cellphone from his satchel. “Blasted thing!” He’s starting to realize why Tobias gifted him some an advanced electronic device. It’s absolute garbage. “Hello? Hello?” He holds it up to his ear.

“Blinky! You need to come to my house right now!”

“Master Jim?”

“Yes! Now hurry!”

“Oh, oh, oh. Of course.” He sets the phone down on the desk and hurries away. The phone slips onto the floor and shatters. Now it really is garbage. 

 As Blinky not so stealthily sneaks across the backyards of Arcadia. He yelps as part of a fence collapses underneath him. He haphazardly rams the broken pieces back into the ground and keeps running. He stumbles upon Jim’s house and cautiously approached. He peeks in through the window to see only darkness. He gulps and steps inside.

“Master Jim” He whispers sharply.“Why did you call me? Are you in danger?” Blinky tiptoes through the kitchen to avoid detection from the potentially furious Fury. He did aid in her capture after all. There’s a creak from the other room. He prays to Deya that the part of Elusive furies holding grudges isn’t true.

I AM GUN ROBOT

“What in the world?!” Blinky turns the corner to see his pupil watching TV snuggled up to the Fury. Tobias joined him and huddled under a blanket with Arrrgh.

“Took long time.” The larger troll grunts as he chows down on another VHS tape.

“Gun Robot 3 was just put on Netflix. What are we supposed to do with that information other than binge the whole series?” Toby explains. Jim nods in agreement.

“I think Eclipsa might have a thing for the alien dragon thing Or she just wants to lick the TV. I really don’t know.”

Blinky rubs the bridge of his nose. “Master Jim, I thought you were in imminent danger.”

“Then why’d you take 2 hours to get here?” Toby remarks. The troll blushes as he doesn’t want to discuss the sock buffet that he stumbled upon in all the chaos of trollmarket., He shakes his head and refocuses on the situation that was at hand.

“So you called me here for a below subpar film series?” Blinky scolds three hands on his hips and one wagging a finger in the boys faces’. His expression softens has he notices Eclipsa peek sheepishly out from under the blanket. He gasps, finally getting a good look at the creature. Jim chuckles and stands up, allowing her to approach Blinky. Though hesitant at first, the troll outstretches two hands to the dragoness. “The drawings don’t do your kind justice.” She nuzzles into his hands and purrs.

“Wait, what drawings?”

“My goodness, I nearly forgot!” Blinky rustles through his satchel, throwing loose papers all over the place. A draft catches one and Eclipsa gives chase. “Our scaly friends here is a variety of Fury dragon.”

“Furry?” Arrrgh grunts.

“Fury. There are only two documented subspecies.” He flips through the pages to the sketch of the Night and Light Furies. “My best estimation is that these two combined into a single species and evolved to become the magnificent beast we have before us.”

“Oh, look at the baby ones!” Jim points to the hatchlings nested beside the Light Fury.

“Yes, they are quite adorable. And trainable. Once you earn a Fury’s trust, they are loyal to you for life. Master Jim, I believe you and uh…” He gestures to the dragon, searching for the right words.

“Eclipsa. Her name's Eclipsa.”

“I believe you and Eclipsa have forged such a bond. In an incredibly short amount of time, I may add. If we can only show this to the other citizens of trollmarket, we may stand a chance of having the bounties dropped.” Jim breathes a laugh. It’s hard to wrap his head around. This creature for some reason trusts him so much even after being treated the way she had. She sees something good in him worth putting her faith and life in.

“So Eclipsa won’t be executed?” Jim asks as said dragoness rubs up against his leg.

“That’s the goal. However, we have to do this right. Or her fate is...well. To quote the Red Queen ‘off with her head.’” Blinky makes the slit throat gesture. Jim instinctively places himself in front of the feathered dragon at the gesture.

“Ok, so let’s plan to make sure her head stays on.” Jim scratches behind the dragon's ear.

“Master Jim, answering the call, once more!”

“Yeah, it was starting to get a little calm around here lately,” Toby remarks, pulling out his cellphone. “Claire’s gonna kill us if she’s not included in this.” For hours the team plans a way to show that Eclipsa isn’t a destructive monster. As the sun begins to peak over the horizon, the trolls approach Eclipsa to say their goodbyes.

“Bye bye scaley baby.” Arrrgh presses his forehead to hers, his markings glow a light blue as Eclipsa’s spinal scales do the same. Blinky takes his turn.

“Don’t you worry my dear.” He runs his fingers over her left horn and scratches the sweet spot they discovered behind it. She rams her head into his gut, her version of a hug. “This time tomorrow, you will be a welcome and celebrated member of Hearthstone Trollmarket.” He glances over at the trollhunter. “ I promise.” Jim nods and waves them off.

 He’ll be home soon. He promised. He promised. Eclipsa paces through the basement. She speaks out the window. Still not home. Still not home. Where is he? A loud crash comes from upstairs. She barks up at her boy in excitement.

“What in the world?”

The responding voice is female. Definitely not Jim. The doorknob twists. Gotta hide, gotta hide. Eclipsa ducks behind the furnace but she can’t fit.

“Jim is that-oh my gosh!” A blinding blue light hits her as she peeks through the door. “Jim!” Barbara scolds. “What are you doing home from-” She glides off the last step and looks around the empty basement. “School...okay so that happened.”

The dragon sniffs the air. The woman smells of illness but doesn’t act like it. Though pale, her cheeks are a rosy pink. Her eyes the same bright blue as Jim’s.

Barbara pops the lid off her coffee cup and sniffs to see if it was spiked or something. Nope. Just crazy. Wait. She leans down and picks up a small black scale from the ground. “Where’d you come from?” Her stomach grumbles. Oh right. Food. She stuffs the scale in her pocket and scurries back up to the kitchen.

Eclipsa finally exhales as her scales revert back to their non-reflective state. That was a close one.

 The wheels of Jim’s bike squeak to a halt as here’s his mother’s car start up in the driveway. “Crap!” He yelps and dives behind the bushes. He’s not supposed to be home for another 3 hours.

“I don’t know, Lin.” Barbara leans on the station wagon and continues talking into the phone. “He’s made it pretty clear he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore so why should I want to talk to him...God, I know I’m supposed to take the high road. Be the adult here but I’ve never had to before. Jim’s always been such a good boy. Hell, he still makes me breakfast every morning.” She sighs. “No matter how mad I am at him...Yeah, I’m leaving right now. See you soon. Okay, bye.” She ends the call and hops in the car.

Jim pulls himself free of the bushes and brushes the leaves from his jacket. He wipes his eye clear of any welling water. Guess this whole “silent treatment” thing hasn’t been easy on mom either. A low roar breaks through the silence. Oh no, Eclipsa! Jim breaks into a sprint and nearly tumbles down the stairs.

“Where are you girl? Are you oka-ahh!” He’s tackled to the ground and drowned in excessive dragon kisses. “Oh thank god.” He sits up and they bump noses. “I’m so so sorry. I didn’t know she’d be coming home for lunch or I would’ve hidden you at Toby’s.”

He’s home! He’s home! He’s home! Eclipsa bounds around like an over-energetic puppy.

“Okay! Okay! Calm down!” Jim laughs, pulling himself to his feet. “It’s time to go clear our names.”

Chapter Text

Moonlight pours through the trees onto the pursuit underway, trees crash and burn as two shapes frantically flee their hunters. The humans were falling behind. Escape nearly in their grasp. The female roars as green metal net pins her to the ground. Her screeches echo through the forest, begging her partner to come back for her. It’s too late. She feels a sharp pain in her thigh, right below the scales. Her violet eyes flutter shut.

The male is forced to keep running. Even as he barrels down the leafy path, he can feel the arrows scratch and pierce his hide. He runs and runs and runs. Growing ever more tired until he finds the perfect hideout, a small cave in the side of the mountain. It’s a bit cramped but he can’t afford to be picky. He squeezes in as deep as he can. He lets out a deep breath and curls into a ball, licking at his wounds. He yanks each arrow out with a torturous groan. Any loud noise could draw the hunters. All he wanted was rest but he’s seen for himself what dragon hunter arrows can do. The pain they can cause let alone.

He licks at the bloody scrapes, more whines escape his throat. This mission has been a complete disaster, First, the Alpha’s granddaughter goes missing, and now he’s lost his best friend and gotten himself injured and possibly cornered. As he looks out of the cave, he feels his eyelids grow heavy. No. He has to stay awake or they might find him, pull him from the cave, and he would end up just like his companion. He had to stay awake until he knew they wouldn’t find him, but he can’t control it and he passes out, unable to fight off his exhaustion.

Eclipsa gulps as the horngazzle makes its half circle back to the ground. The portal opens a familiar blue swirl reflects in her slit eyes. “It’s okay girl. You’re not alone this time.” Jim armors up and mounts the dragon. “We gotta be stealthy alright, fluffs?” The dragon nods and fires into the portal before jumping through.

“I don’t think she knows what stealthy means,” Toby remarks.

“What?!” Jim yelps from the other side. Metal clangs as his armor hits the ground. The rest of the team follow. Claire trips over literally nothing and Toby chuckles.

“It’s not funny Tobes!” She groans and looks back. “What the actual heck?” Eclipsa’s tale begins to reappear. The scales reverting back to their creamy white. “Jim. Is your dragon a ghost too?” She looks over at the trollhunter. Who is in utter awe.

“No, she’s just insanely freaking cool.” He reaches out his hand and feels for the dragon's snout. She rubs into his palm and purrs. “Aren’t you girl? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!”

“Okay if we’re done nuzzling air,” Claire rolls her eyes and smirks. “We’ve got an execution to crash.” She leads the team down the crystal staircase. Eclipsa coos at the sight, not having been able to fully absorb it last time. That awe fades as a thunderous chanting and stomping shake the ground. Blinky and Arrrgh share a concerned look. The chaos is coming from the epicenter that is the arena. This is far worse than either anticipated. The city is abandoned and littered with crude drawings of Eclipsa being beheaded. The dragon sniffs the poster on the side of the pub.

“Come on.” Jim steps between her and the poster, guiding her away. “You don’t have to see this.”  

“Master Jim, you and Eclipsa would be best protected from above,” Blinky suggests. Jim nods and climbs upon the dragons back. Soon the two silently slide above the market and perch above the area spectators. The rest of the group force themselves through the crowds only be stopped by the barred doors entering the area. Vendal stands in the center, beside the massive guillotine. The executioner seated beside him, sharpening his ax. It’s one of the guards from Eclipsa’s imprisonment. He must have convinced Vendal to give him another chance. But where is the other guard?

“Friends! Today we are gathered in our sacred Heroes Forge to rally against the treasonous crimes of our own trollhunter!” His eyes wander through the crowd until they land on Blinky’s heartbroken expression.

“How could you?” Blinkous mouthes. He knows this is wrong. However brash the child's choices were, he’s proven himself more than worthy of trollmarket’s respect. And forgiveness.

“For he has...he ...” Vendal falls silent and takes a deep breath. “May Deya have mercy on me.” He whispers to himself. “Our trollhunter has done nothing less than his absolute best!” The stadium gasps. “He is but a human whelp, and to expect him to comprehend all of our rules so quickly simply isn’t fair. He felled Bular, the son of Gunmar himself! We cannot execute him for this misguided error.”

“ Whoa. ” A smile pulls at Jim’s lips. “That’s probably the nicest thing Vendal has ever said to, er, about me.” He looks over at Eclipsa and her gummy smile. “Maybe the old goat isn’t that much of a butt.” He chuckles.

“Furthermore,” Jim and Eclipsa turn their attention back to the speech. “We must destroy the creature that has led to this misguidance.” He gestures to the poster of Eclipsa with his staff. It hits the dragon all at once exactly what that piece of paper is meant to represent. Her.“That has undoubtedly taken over his mind and turned him against us! Manipulation of this scale is unforgivable!”

“And we were off to such a good start. Fluffs, what are you doing?” Eclipsa snarls at the old troll. How dare he speak of the future alpha like this. Jim is her friend, not her slave. “Calm down, girl.” He runs his fingers down the back of her neck. No. She will not stand here and be compared to the Slavers. The absolute monsters that used her people as weapons.

Eclipsa slips underneath Jim and dives down to the center. She lets loose a few bolts of plasma at the guillotine,, blowing the contraption apart. Her scales glow and she lets loose a cautionary roar.

“Okay, so I guess this is what we’re doing.” Jim deadpans and jumps in after her. He stabs Daylight into the ground, hand still o the hilt and his other hand on the back of the dragon neck. “Nobody is getting executed on my watch!”  

“Oh, dear.’ Blinky cringes.

“He’s going to get himself killed!” Claire rushes into the stadium only to be yanked back by Arrrgh.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about Vendal!” The trollhunter scolds, pointing his sword at the troll. “Eclipsa is no monster! She did what she did out of fear. Out of the instinct to survive. All I was to her was a predator and trollmarket a labyrinth of the attackers.” He gestures to all the citizens in the areas. They look at each other and wince, lowering their weapons. “She didn’t know any better then but does now.”

Eclipsa lets out a deep breath and lets her scales dull. Her sapphire eyes dilate and she sits back, tail wrapped around Jim. She lowers her head and coos. Her apologetic tone breaks through their language barriers.

“Do you know better?” Jim dissolves his armor and tucks the amulet in his pocket. Vendal only looks on in utter disbelief. To see the terror of trollmarket so docile. Obeying this human whelps commands. “Just...let me show you.” He takes the trolls clawed hand and holds it before Eclipsa’s snout. “I promise, she won’t hurt you.”

Vendal finally snaps out of his silence and smacks the boys hand away. “James, I have had to up to here with your-oh!” Eclipsa rams her head into his stomach and purrs. Her version of a hug. “What...what is it doing?”

“I think she likes you.” Jim chuckles.

“Oh! Oh my!” Vendal laughs. “Yes, I know. I know! Deya’s grace!” Eclipsa tackles him to the ground, play wrestling and licking him. The entire stadium breaks into laughter.

“I always knew he could do it,” Claire announces, gently elbowing Blinky. The rest of the team glare at her. “I was pretty sure he could do it.”

 Three Weeks Later

 Sun rays peek through the scarlet curtains, tinting the room red. A low growl builds in the back of her throat. The dragon claws kneed into the floorboards as she lowers herself to the ground.

Crystals rotate around Jim. Mist fogs his view. All that he can make out is two glowing blue eyes and a booming voice calling for his death.

“No, no!” The boy whimpers in his sleep. The dragon’s tail whips back and forth and her shoulders wiggle ready to bounce.

“Ahh!” Jim cries as a huge weight falls on his bed, slobber coats his face and matts his hair. “I know girl! I’m up, I’m... up “ He doubles over and shoos the dragon onto the floor. “ Right in the gronknucks. ”

Eclipsa continues to squirm and bark at her friend to get his butt out of bed. It’s morning, Jimbo! It’s time to play!

“Don’t you do me like this fluffs. You’re very cute but I’ve got school.” Jim sighs, almost forgetting about the nightmare she woke him from. He looks over at his clock. “Like half an hour ago, oh my god!” He leaps out of bed. “So late, so late, so late!” He kisses the dragon on the head, snatches his book bag, and runs down to the garage.

Her ears droop. Oh, well. They’ll play later. She strolls out into the hallway and peaks into Barbara’s empty room. Right beside the bed is a framed picture of her and what the dragon can only assume is baby Jim. A hint of a smile pulls her lips. Thor, does she miss her own parents. What would they think of her now? She continues down the stairs. Having finally found a new core crystal only to lose all of her entire retrieval team and scouts.

The basement steps creak under her. She chows down on what’s left of last weekend's meatloaf that she hid out. It was covered in dust by now but she’s not picky. That being said, the fresh rabbit meat wafting through the trollmarket tunnel is rather appetizing. Blinky must have left some scraps in her stables. But it’ll have to wait. She’s come far too off track as is. She walks back up the stairs and squeezes through the backdoor. She props her forepaws on the top of the fence and peers over into the seemingly endless woods. She has to find her pack, no, her family. It can’t wait any longer.

The usually overwhelming gossip from his fellow students comes through as nothing but muted rambling. Her scrolls through the pictures on his phone. The pictures Claire sent him of her an Enrique. Probably due to her doubts he intended to keep his promise. The photos of Eclipsa sleeping peacefully on the floor next to his. And bounding around her new stables.

“So what I’m hearing,” Toby interrupts the trollhunters thought. “Is you were totally fine with rescuing Claire’s baby brother until you learned you have to kill Gunmar. And on top of that, you still can’t figure out where Eclipsa came from or if there’s any more of her out there.”

“Wow, you really were listening. I thought you were too busy checking out the mole.”

“I can multitask Jimbo. One of the many traits that will that tantalizing Talpidae falling in love with me in no time.”

Jim rolls his eyes and chuckles. “And the nominees for the boys are Steve Palchuk! Eli PepperJack! And, James Lake Jr!”

“Wait, what?”

The air smells of dirt and dead leaves. Not even a hint of her friends. Though, it has been weeks since that night. The hunters could have...no. Her team is made of the strongest, stealthiest warriors out there. The hunters are probably way off their trail. Eclipsa takes another whiff and this time, bingo! She follows Shadow’s scent to a clearing. Three blood-stained arrows protrude from the ground. No, no, no. She sniffs the arrows and lets out a deep whine.

Tears burn her blue eyes and she bows to the arrows, a mourning gesture to fallen soldiers. The hunters will pay for this. They will.

The sun is now past it’s prime and Jim will be coming home soon. Until she can avenge her old friends, the best she can do is protect her new one. She drags her self through the house and plops on the kitchen floor. Her ears twitch as she hears Jim’s bike fall onto the sidewalk outside.

“Stupid school. Stupid spring fling.” Jim kicks his bag on the ground. “I don’t have time for this.” She collapses onto the couch, face buried in the cushions. The dragon leaps over the kitchen counter and scrambles to her friend.

Don’t be sad. Don’t be sad. She presses her nose into Jim’s cheek and whines. “Hey, girl.” He turns only his head and scratches behind her ear. “Did you have a good day?” No. Not exactly. But it’s certainly better now that he’s home. She pulls the collar of his jacket and urges him into the backyard for fresh air and well-earned playtime.

An enormous figure sleuths around forests. He can swear he smelled a hint of the alpha’s granddaughter. No, not a hint, she was here recently. He sets his paw down on a pile of leaves and a bloodcurdling yowl escapes his throat. A snare fastens itself around his ankle. The hunters can be far off. He runs as fast as he can on his remaining limbs. He opens his wings to fly but his leg gives out and he tries to take off. He rolls down the slanted terrain until he rams into a large rock.

They could probably track him here but he doesn’t care anymore. His mission is a failure. He’s a failure. He’s better off as a hunters trophy now anyway.

“Whoa, Arrrgh did you hear that?” Toby looks up from the dragon book he borrows from Blinky. Littered with notes of which of the creatures he’d most want to have as his own. Why does Jim always get the cool stuff? First a magical amulet, now a freaking dragon. He tosses the book onto his nightstand. “Wingman? Are you awake?” The troll lets out a snore and rolls over on his belly. “Okay, I’ll take that as a no.”

Toby sneaks out the backdoor. Or a sneakily as possible covered in DIY kitchenware armor. He unsheathes his ladle and holds it in front of him as he wanders through the trees. “Hello? Anybody out there?” He pulls out his phone and texts Jim, hoping him and his 2,000 pound flying cat can come to help him. The only response he gets is a pic of Eclipsa fast asleep on Jim’s chest and a caption explaining how she’s too cute to move.

Solo mission it is. He continues to search the woods. Signs of something big begin to pop up. Trees tossed aside, the forest floor left as mangled piles of dirt, and a pawprint deep enough for him to take a bath in. And blood. A lot of blood.

'Ah man, I should've brought Arrrgh.” Toby complains to himself and carries on until he’s stopped dead in his tracks. An enormous dull copper and bronze dragon with moose-like horns, a long tail sporting an ax like tip, and legs built like pillars. The dragon shifts, it’s golden slit eye peek over its wings. “Uh...nope.” Toby dives behind a tree and fights back hyperventilation.

“Ok, ok, ok you faced worse,” Toby tells himself between heavy breathes. Why can’t he breathe? He’s not lying to himself about facing worse. Maybe that’s not why he’s freaking out though. Maybe this is excitement? He peeks around at the dragon. Jim doesn’t have all the cool stuff anymore. Toby can have a dragon of his very own! And one way bigger than that overgrown cat-gecko!

He tosses his ‘helmet’ and ‘sword’ to the ground. He steps out from behind the tree and approaches the dragon. His pace appears to fast. The dragon snarls and scoots back. Toby is entirely obvious to the creatures distaste. “Hey, there big guy! How’s it hanging.” He stretches out his palm and barely grazes its snout. He’s flung into a tree by the creatures massive tail.  

“Okay, that could’ve gone way better.” Toby groans as he pulls himself back to his feet. As he tries to climb back down the tree, he slips on a cracked branch and face plants into the dirt. His armor now stained in mud, the boy gives in and lays back against the tree. “Congrats Jim. I guess you do get all the cool stuff.” He wipes the mud from his face and flicks it at the ground. A couple drops hit the dragon's muzzle. A switch flips in the dragon and his tail starts furiously thumping against the ground. His golden eyes dilate and he cocks his antlered head.

Toby raises an eyebrow and takes a bit of a risk. He scoops up a big pile of mud and chucks it towards the creature. It explodes in front of the dragons face and it leaps to its feet. Only to collapse again under its own weight. He rubs his face in the mud and purrs.  

“Huh, I guess different dragons need different training.” Toby muses and he runs his fingers over the dragons rough scales. He chuckles. This time the creature doesn’t fling him away but nuzzles into his touch, just relieved that there’s a human that isn’t just itching to hang in his on their wall.

Rust colored eyes stare at the two new friends. The dragon cooes and wags the tip of its tail. The collar around its neck releases venom into his neck. His eyes slit into thin lines and he follows his master’s scent back to the camp.

Chapter Text

The boy continues to stroke the dragon's snout. He knows the creature needs help. The snare on his leg makes that abundantly clear. The problem is though, how in the world is he supposed to get this behemoth home. Arrrgh was already difficult enough to hide. The dragons cooes. Toby sighs.”Alright, fine.” He shoves on to force him up. It doesn’t work. “Move...Your...Big...Scaley....ahhh!” The dragon leans and Toby falls into the mud again. The dragon laughs. “You mock me.” The dragon licks the mud off Toby’s cheek. Oh, duh. He grabs a handful of mud and starts to walk backward.

“I’ve got plenty of mud for you if you’re don’t barbecue me,” The dragon stands and limps forward. “Atta, boy.” Toby continues walking backward until they reach his backyard. After a few overly curious detours, as well as some, knocked over trees. Thankfully nobody leaves there houses to check on the crashing.

“Alright, I'm going to go inside and get you something to eat. You eat meat? You look like you probs eat meat.” The creature cocks his head and accidentally gets his antlers stuck in the branches of a nearby tree. “Alrighty then, I’ll take that as a maybe. I’ll be right-”

“Toby-pie! What are you doing out here?”

“Nana, what are you doing up?” Toby panics and steps in front of the dragon, futility trying to conceal it. The creature breaks free of his branch entrapment and bows playfully.  

“Oh, who is this sweetpea?” She scratches the dragons chin. “Is he one of those Scooby puppies?” The dragons ax like tail thumps against the ground and his eyes roll back. Looks like Nana found the sweet spot.

“Scooby pup- yes! My friend from school lost her Great Dane puppy and I was looking for him in the woods.” He gently holds the dragons injured leg. “But the poor cutie must’ve been attacked by a wolf so I brought him home to patch him up. If that’s alright?”  

“Oh, Toby-pie! You’re such a good boy, helping your friend find her lost puppy.” She pinches the boy's cheeks. “Your parents would be proud of you, deary.”  

“Thanks, Nana.” He sighs in relief and hugs his grandmother. As they pull away, she brushes his hair out of his face. “You be good, okay? My true crime stories are about to start and I don’t want to miss them. There’s plenty of food in the fridge if either of you gets hungry.”

“Thanks….again.” Nana nods and heads back into the house.

“Phew! That was a close one. Heh, buddy?” Toby gently elbows the dragon. “I’ll go get the first aid kit. You sit.” The earth rumbles at the dragons hyde hits the ground. “And stay.” Toby eyes the dragon as he backs into the house. He quickly grabs the first aid kit from beneath the kitchen sink and runs back out. “No licking!” Toby scolds and swats the dragon's tongue away from the wound. He unsuccessfully. attempts to cut the snare with a pair of safety scissors. He groans. If the dragon's teeth couldn’t break the binds how could he? Wait.

“Stay.” Toby pops up and sprints up to the door. “Again.” The dragon huffs and sniffs the air. His eyes dilate as he catches a whiff of her. He stands up and stumbles through the yard. He shuffles his wings and lowers his head, fire builds up in his throat and he aims for the clouds.

“Come on Arrrgh!” Toby struggles to drag the massive troll through the door frame. He managed to squeeze through and rolls off the porch.

The dragon swallows his fire and creeps towards the unknown creature. His ax tail raised and ready to strike. The smaller furry creature rubs its head and stumbles back in shock. Its eyes go black with a small green light replacing its pupils. Saliva drips from its fangs. The dragon slashes at the beast with his tail and narrowly misses and mutilates Nana’s flower garden.

“Hey! You two knock it off! We’re all friends here. We’re all buddies! Take a chill pill. ” Toby scoops up some mud and raises it, gesturing for the dragon to sit. Which it doesn’t.

“Hurt?” Arrrgh’s ear droop as he noticed the snare. His eyes are back to normal. Toby nods.

“Can you help?” He had to. Someone had snared the poor creature. Abused it even if they didn’t go for the kill. The troll grunts and wraps his massive hands around the snare. His markings glow a dull green as he slips his fingernails under the snare. He snaps through it with ease

The dragon eases up and presses his snout against the trolls. “Good. Good baby.” Aaarrrgh pats the dragon's trunk-like neck. He giggles as the dragon purrs.

“At this point, I'm wondering if you just threw me in the tree for fun,” Toby teases, scratching behind the dragons left wing. He chuffs and lays down to allow his new friends to dress the wound. Toby pulls out the hydrogen peroxide. “This is gonna hurt a little bit.” The dragon screeches as his wounds are cleaned out. Arrrgh has to force his mouth shut so he doesn’t alert the whole neighborhood. Toby fetches some meat from the fridge and the sewing kit.

It takes a good two hours but when they’re finished, the leg looks almost good as new. The orange stitch thread blends right into the dragons dawn colored scales. Toby’s pride fades into an exhausted yawn.

“I think it's time for me to catch some Zs. You too big guy.” Toby pats the dragon's shoulder, who slowly lowers his head to the ground in agreement. He limps into the trees, trying not to put pressure on his freshly stitched leg. He curls up in the earth and lets himself fade into unconsciousness.

The morning bell rings and snaps Toby awake. Jim snickers. “The tides have turned I see.” Toby blushes. Usually, it’s Jim snoring at his desk but between healing the dragon and helping Jim with his trollhunting duties, all he’s got to run on is caffeine and anxiety. Not to mention the Spring Fling is just around the corner. Coach Lawrence dismisses the Sophomore class to the gym for the second new semester pep rally.  

The lights are all dimmed save for a single spotlight on the microphone. Eli approaches with a boombox perched on his shoulder. “Oh! What’s your theme, Jimbo?”

“Theme?”

“You didn’t come up with a theme!”

“Sorry, I’ve been distracted. With the whole impending doom from Gunmar thing.”

“That and we still haven’t figured out what a dragon from Norway is doing in Arcadia. Oh, dragons could be your theme!”

“Little on the nose. Don’t you think?"

“Jiiiim!”

“Fine! Okay. I’ll go find something to work with.” Jim rolls his eyes and sneaks out of the gym. Toby yawns. He’s gonna pass out if he sits here too long and he hustles after Jim.

“Great.” And he’s gone. Toby sighs and wanders outside to the greenhouse. Maybe gardening could be Jim’s thing. “Let’s see here.” Toby shuffles through the various tools. “Shovels? No.” He picks up a hoe. “Nah, Mary’s probably already claimed that one.” He tosses it to the side. “Oh, an ax! We’ll go medieval on this dance!” Toby reaches for the ax but it shifts after from him.” What? WHAT? !”

The dragon wiggles forward and nuzzles Toby. “What are you doing here?!” The dragons cooes and struggles to maneuver his antlers back out the door. “No, no, no! Don’t to that! I'm glad you're happy to see me buddy, but you can't be here. People are going to freak .” Toby pats the dragon on the snout. “I’ll help you get out of here and you can head home. Alright?’

A familiar scream echoes through the air. “Uh oh, you stay here. Don’t move. I’m coming, Jim!” The dragon moves. He bursts through the greenhouse walls after the boy, scooping him up and tossing him onto his back. His massive wings catch the wind and they glide over the school building onto the soccer field on the other side.

“What in the world?!” Jim stumbles backward, dropping the shattered totem in the mud. The dragon snarls and pins the boy to the ground.

“He’s our friend!’ Toby strokes behind the dragon's horns. “He’s our friend.” The dragon backs away from the Jim and plops down in the mud.

“You...you have a dragon too?” Jim takes the other boys hand and pulls himself to his feet.“Since when?”

Toby chuckles. “Since like 2 nights ago. He’s pretty crispy , don’t you think?” Toby finger guns.

“First of all shut up. Second of all, did you seriously name it Crispy just to mock me?”

“I was undecided but not that you’ve put that brilliant plan in my head, abso-freaking-lutely,”  Toby smirks and slides down the dragon's leg onto the grass. The gym doors swing open.“Oh no.”

Miss Janeth and Senior Uhl make their way around to the soccer field. “Mr. Lake!” Uhl calls. “It’s your turn to present!”

Janeth sighs. “I told you he wouldn’t participate Karl.” She rolls her eyes and gasps as Karl smacks his hand over her mouth.

“Did you hear that?”

“Excuse me?” Janeth pushes his hand away and they peek around the edge of the gymnasium wall. Jim and Toby are standing in the middle of an absolutely mutilated soccer field

“Heh, good afternoon.” Jim chuckles. “Can we, uh, help you?” He glances up at the dragon perched on the roof.

“Don’t be silly, Jim. You’ve gotta present your theme!” Toby grabs his friends forearm and drags him towards the teachers. Jim trips over the crease in the ground Crispy cut with his tail. He falls flat on his face and is left coated in mud.

 Claire clears her throat and turns back down to the microphone.“Ok, now for my next story-” She falls silent as Jim slumps up next to her, tracking dirt all the way from the door. “Dios mío! What happened to you? ”

“You don’t wanna know.” He retorts and takes the microphone from her. The entire gym’s attention falls on him. “Whoo doggy that’s, uh, that’s a lot of people.” Toby jumps between Jim and the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I give you your future spring fling king! Here to present the winning theme for this years dance!”

“Okay….what is it?” Mary snarks from the small crowd of female candidates.

“Uh….dirt?” Jim shrugs.

“Also known as the home of the Mole!” Claire jumps back in and whispers in her friend's ear, “ You’re really bad at this.”

“Yeah! Who’s ready for Molemania!?” Toby cries,

Slowly but surely applause begins to rise from the crowd. “Mole! Mole! Mole!” They all chant. Toby and Claire smirk at the trollhunter. He forces an awkward grin.

“It looks like we have a winner!” Coach Lawrence snatches the microphone back.  

“You don’t decide that Domzalski.” He hisses. “But yes Lake does win the first competition. But if I see one drop of mud on my gymnasium floor-!” The applause grows even louder before dying down as the student get up to leave. “Not so fast!” Lawrence gestures for Jim to take his spot in the lineup and the other two to take their seats. They oblige.

“What took you two so long?” Claire asks Toby as they sit down. A sheepish smile pulls at the boy's lips. He glances over at the window to see Crispy’s antlers peeking around the edge.  

“I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Now before you, all rush off to classes you don’t pay attention in anyways,” The crowd chuckles awkwardly. “I have an important announcement to make. There has been a sudden departure. Principle Levit has taken an indefinite leave of absence. We wish him well, but he sent an email recommending an interim replacement, which we all support. Please welcome, Principle Strickler!”

 In the shadows, a pair of creatures lurk, anxiously awaiting their master to return from the stone fortress before them. Their noses twitch as they catch the scent of the Goregutter on the roof. “In time.” The troll holds out his arm to force them back. One of them strikes but his stinger doesn’t break the stony skin. The larger dragon snarls at them.

“Easy, love. It is not their fault they were raised by a fool.” He scratches behind the dragon's wing. Her purring shifts into a growl towards the larger dragon. “So, the trollhunter’s not quite as helpless as I assumed. Good. This may turn out to be an actual challenge.”

Chapter Text

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Eclipsa winces as the hammer smacks against the iron nail. “You’re okay.” Jim tosses the dragon another tuna roll and gestures for Claire to tone it down a bit.

“Oh, calm down. I’m done anyway.” She slides down the ladder and admires her handiwork. “Toby it’s ready!” The boy leads Crispy into his new stall. The dragon ducks to avoid ramming his antlers into the door frame.

“See, buddy! Lots of mud to roll around in!” He plops onto the ground and begins to make mud angels. Crispy wags his tail and copies his rider.

“Oh my god.” Jim chuckles and buries his face in his hand. “We’re not doing that.” He playfully glares at his own scaled companion.

Claire leaps onto the Fury’s back. “Speak for yourself!” She wrestles the dragon into the mud, laughing ecstatically. Eclipsa laughs and licks the earth from Claire’s cheek. “Looks like someone's got a favorite. I’m the fun parent.” She sticks her tongue out at Jim and giggles.

The trollhunters turns a deep red with the implication that he’s they’re parents together. Even if it is for a giant cat gecko. He breaks from his lovestruck state as Blinky lays a stony hand on his shoulder. “Master Jim, may I speak to you for a moment?”

“About what?”

Jim takes a seat across from the visiting lava troll. Blinky stands behind his pupil to observe. “Is there something-?” The lava troll lifts up a finger to shush him as he gulps the rest of his glug. He drops his mask back over his face and burps. “ Okay then. Is there anything I can help you with? Um...”  

“It’s Agni. And if there wasn’t why would I be here? We’ve never asked for the aid of a trollhunter before but this is urgent. Ghatto hasn’t stirred in a week except to grief eat a couple servants.” The troll slams his fist against the pub bar. “We need out chieftain back!”

“Whoa, whoa, big guy,” Toby interjects. “We don’t even know who this Ghatto is or why he’s upset to begin with. You gotta give us more info than this.”

“Ghatto is the keeper of trollkind’s most precious treasures,” Blinky explains. “Though to acquire any said treasures is to court a torturous death.”

“Neato, but why’s he so sad?’ Toby turns back to Ghatto’s servant.

Agni snarls, ears pinned back. “I don’t know why he’s upset.  He won’t talk, fleshbag.”

Crispy pokes his head through the front door and lets out a warning growl. “Why should we help you if you’re just going to be a total butt to us?” Claire pokes the troll in the arm, her own warning growl contorting her freckled cheeks.

“Because,” Agni turns back to Jim. “A Trollhunter is supposed to answer every call. And this is a call.”

Blinky claps his hands together. “Shall we then?” The three teens all look at each other in defeat. Therapizing a giant depressed murderous troll.  Not exactly the ideal way to spend one’s weekend.

Jim takes a deep breath as the gyre rises from the ground. All his ducks are in a row. Mom thinks he’s on a camping trip, however unhappy she is with him for that. Toby has a whole backpack full of tacos to share. Thank god Claire brought some sandwiches for those in the group who don’t have steel digestive systems. Every duck is in a row.

“How are we supposed to get Crispy on that thing?” Toby slides down from his dragon's shoulder. “He’ll never fit!’

Blinky sighs. “We may have to leave our gargantuan companion behind for this mission.” Crispy lowers his head and cooes at his rider.

“What are those wings fake or something?” Agni snarks. “Just have it follow us in the air.”

“With all due respect, that plan couldn’t possibly work. He couldn’t see our route from the sky.” The six-eyed troll explains.

“Figures. At least the overgrown cockatoo would be smart enough to follow orders.”  The lava troll gestures to Eclipsa. She bares her teeth and prepares to tear the stone monster to shreds. Jim pats her shoulder in a silent order to back down.

“He’s not dumb! He’s just husky. Don’t you listen to him.” Toby scratches under the dragons chin. “I’m not leaving him.”

“And I’m not leaving Toby to travel with a jerkface like you!” Claire hops on Eclipsa’s back. “You can take the stupid sideways top and we’ll fly. Together.” She fluffs Eclipsa’s feather playfully.

“I’d say that’s a rather splendid plan, fair Claire.”

“Me too.”

“Well, majority rules,” Jim smirks, leaning on Eclipsa’s side. Agni approaches angrily, ears pinned down and spear drawn. Crispy lets out a cautionary bark. The troll yelps and drops his weapon. “He’s a sweetheart, really.” Agni rolls his eyes. Gulping, he steps up to the massive reptile.

“Are you sure they’re properly trained?”  Toby nods as he climbs up on the dragons back. The troll’s ears perk and he places a hand on the dragon’s chest. Crispy lets out a blood-curdling roar, knocking the troll back several feet. “Ah, no. I’m not getting on that...that thing! I’m taking the gyre.” He stands by the gyre for a few moments waiting for any objections. None are made. He growls under his breath and trollhunters watch as the gyre speeds off, leaving a trail of light and dust clouds in its wake.

 The team makes their way to the dungeon where the wreckage from Eclipsa’s great escape has been converted into an elevator to the surface. At least until proper repairs can be proceeded with. “You ready, Blink? Arrrgh?” The smaller troll sticks his hand out of the blanket covering them and gives them a thumbs up. Jim nods at his dragon and she pushes the lever to open the roof.

Crispy grabs the trolls in his forearms, shield them with his body from whatever sunlight makes its way through the blanket fibers. Eclipsa looks back at the humans mounted on her back as if to ask if they’re ready. Jim lets out a deep breath. “Maybe go a little easier on me this time, huh girl?” Sparks shoot from the amulet on his chest. “A lot easier.” The dragon laughs and shakes her head.

“Take that as a maybe?” Claire snarks, resting her chin on Jim’s shoulders. More blue sparks hit the air as Eclipsa bounds off of the ground. Her wings beat against the air, propelling them higher. Higher. Higher. Clouds swirl around the pair as their gleeful screams cut through the atmosphere. Drowning out Blinky’s cries from the other dragons arms.

“Master Jim! You’re going too high!”

The sky goes dark as the clouds become storms. Lighting flashes around them. Hair and feathers stand on end. The amulet glows to match Eclipsa’s scales. It clicks into a new position. A jolt of energy surges through Jim’s body as they climb higher still. Stars twinkle above them. His breath escapes as a refreshing fog. Eclipsa slows and steadies out. She looks back to check on her riders. Her eyes slit and she barks at Jim.

Claire grasps desperately to Jim’s waist. “Down!” She gasps. Jim’s eyes snap open and he turns to see the girl.  Her face is tinted purple, eyes bloodshot. The dragon dives back beneath the clouds and very nearly knocks into Crispy.

“Are you okay?” Jim turns to see his friend's back to normal. She mostly is, save for her tear-stung eyes. “Deep breaths.”

She nods weakly. “How....are... you ..okay?”  Her breathes slowly returns to their regular rate.

“I don’t know.” His amulet ticks counterclockwise into its regular position.“But, you can ride with Tobes if you want.”

She coughs and leans on his back.“I’m okay. I'm alright.” She sighs and snuggles into the crook of his neck. Red spreads across the boy's cheeks along with the same lovestruck grin she always draws out of him. Eclipsa cooes and drifts just below the dusk-colored clouds. Stars begin to peek out from the orange sky. The view of them that humans are meant to have.

“I think it’s safe to come out, you guys,” Toby calls down to the trolls. Arrrgh climbs up, Blinky clinging to his fur.

“Pretty.” Arrrgh grunts, pulling Blinky closer.

“Quite the accurate description, old friend.”

 The sun long gone, the moon has taken its rightful place among the stars and reflected in the ocean waters. Have to stay awake. Jim shakes his head and yawns. “You doing alright, feathers?”

Eclipsa yawns. Furies aren’t designed for long distance flying like this. She loses altitude as her mind drifts. “Upsy daisy!” Toby laughs as Crispy pushes the smaller dragon back into the air.

“I thought you were asleep Tobes?” Jim yawns again.

“Nah, man! What if I miss somethin cool?” He falls back in laughter.

“Oh for the love of, Toby go to sleep. Maybe you’ll dream ‘something cool’.”Toby giggles and stares off into space. “Or not. That’s fine too.”

Blinky shoves his way to the front of the dragon. “ This level of sleep deprivation is unacceptable for growing whelps such as yourselves. Master Eclipsa, if you’d please?” He points to an empty spot next to a sleeping Arrrgh. The Fury cocks her head and lands on Crispy’s back. “Now all of you get some rest. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

Toby wholeheartedly accepts this plan, despite his earlier complaints. Jim sighs and pokes Claire awake. Or, well, half awake. She slides down and snuggles into Eclipsa’s belly, pulling a wing around her like a blanket. Jim follows suit and pulls out his amulet. Rolling it in his hands.

“Master Jim? Is something wrong?” Blinky stares concernedly.

“Hmm? No, I’m just…” He sighs.”Mom’s really mad at me Blink. I’ve always been a ‘good kid’ to her and I’ve like set these crazy high standards for myself.” He sits up and puts the amulet back. “ I’m gonna end up making her hate me too.”

“You hate your mother?” Blinky gasps.

“What? No! Of course not!” He scoots up and leans on the troll’s shoulder. “ I meant, I meant my dad. Hates me.

“Oh, Jim. I’m sure you’re father didn’t hate you.”

“I dunno. Maybe he didn’t. But even if he did love me, he loved his freedom more.” He wipes his damp eyes as Blinky pulls the boy into his lap. “Am I doing that too? Leaving her all the time to do stuff like this?”

“Master Jim, I-” Blinky’s sentence is interrupted by Jim’s soft snoring. He snuggles into the troll’s chest like he’s a giant stone pillow. “Sleep well, little one.”

 It’s still dark when they arrive. Eclipsa slides down the larger dragons wing and stretches like a cat. Her ears twitch as she sniffs Jim’s still unconscious form. She grunts and starts patting him on the head. “Mom, it’s too early. ” He bats the dragon away. She growls and shrieks in his ear.

“Ahhh!” He shoots up and shakes his head. His vision focuses on who actually woke him up. “Hey, you’re not my mom.” He pokes the dragon on the nose and she tackles him excitedly. They wrestle each other in a storm of happy chuffs and snickers.

“Alright you two, remember why we’re here.” Blinky scolds, unable to help the smile forming along his stone cheeks. The team begins to trek up the mountain to the marked spot. Jim pulls out the horngazzle he was given by Agni. It’s not like the Hearthstone one with its bright orange and yellow coloring. This one is a translucent black with a dull scarlet glow radiating from the center. He hands the device to Blinky who draws the rectangle he was instructed to. He placed a hand on the stone and it dissolves into red light.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” The same volcano troll as before is standing on the other side of the portal. He gestured to the obsidian staircase behind him.” Ghatto's waiting so you’d better get a move on.” He takes the first step and the black crystal emits a red light like the horngazzle that was carved from them. “As I said before, Ghatto’s been grief eating. A lot. So I recommend staying a few feet back. We don’t want to lose the trollhunter now do we?”

Jim cringes and shares a look of concern with Eclipsa. They make their way down the rickety wooden bridges to a platform. “Why are we stopping? You said you were taking us to Ghatto.” Agni ignores the question. The trollhunter unsheaths his sword and extends it towards the troll's chest. “If this is some kind of trick so help me-”

“TROLLHUNTER.” Pebbles fall from the ceiling and dust flies from the cracks of the wooden platform beneath their feet. Jim turns to see two massive glowing eyes, lava pouring from them like tears. Ghatto.

“Holy Guacamole! He’s huge!” Claire stumbles back. “No offense.”

The living volcano continues to sob, barely choking out his end of the conversation. ”AzAz is gone. Scared.” He sobs. “Alone.” He falls silent for a moment and blinks the molten tears from his eyes.

“Who’s AzAz?” Jim sheaths his sword and steps closer, Eclipsa wraps her tail protectively around him.

“My most precious treasure, I haven’t seen him in so many moons!”

“Okay I feel you, man, but I need more detail than that.” That only gets him started again. Jim sighs. “We can’t help if we don’t know what we’re helping with” Ghatto takes a deep shaky breath but can’t pull himself together.

Agni speaks up then. “Azarnoosh is a dragon, his pet. We indeed haven’t seen it for a long time. I didn’t expect him to be this torn up over a lizard.” He cocks an eyebrow at his chieftain. “Is that really what this is about?”

The Trollhunter snaps his head towards the troll. “Wait, Ghatto has a dragon?

“Well...had.” Agni retorts. Ghatto howls in anguish.

“Dude, not cool.” Toby interjects. “I’m sure Azanarth is fine. I bet Crispy can sniff him out no prob.”

“That’s not his name at all but you’re welcome to try searching. Our scouting parties have not seen scale or wing tip of him since he went missing. If we can’t find him what makes you think  a couple humans, big lizards, a disgraced soldier, and a librarian can.”

Jim’s lips curl into a growl. “We’ll find him. I promise you that.” His voice softens as he turns back to Ghatto. “Do you have anything we could use to track him?”Ghatto continues to choke up. “It’s alright we just need-” A leather harness flies out of the volcanos throat and lands at Jim’s feet.

“Will this work?” Ghatto swallows and finally calms down. Slightly.

Jim lifts the harness and shakes off the lave-like stomach acid. “We’ll just have to see. It is half digested.”  

“Wait, a minute.” Claire steps forward. “This could end up being super dangerous. Don’t you think we should get, you know, some sort of compensation? ” She crosses her arms.

“Claire, that is not how a proper trollhunter does things.” Blinky wags his finger at the girl. “They do what they’re told every time no matter what, without need of payment.”

“Taking advantage of a griefing troll.” Agni laughs. “I think I beginning to like her.”

Claire ignores him as she continues. “That’s not ‘proper trollhunting’, that’s actual slavery, Blink.” The four-armed troll grimaces as his gaze falls to the floor. She’s not really wrong . Claire turns back to Ghatto.“Three forces elemental thou must seek in marshland, caverns deep, and mountains peek. It’s hidden in the final stanza. You have the birthstone don’t you?”

Ghatto avoids the human girl’s gaze. “Perhaps.” He sniffles.

“I understand what you’re going through. Trust me. ” She steps forward and rests her palm on the mountains troll’s cheek.”You miss your dragon. And I miss my baby brother. I need that stone to save him. We can help each other.”

Ghatto growls softly and sighs. “Alright, but please, please find my AzAz.”

Chapter Text

Feathers ruffle on the Fury’s back as the ocean breeze wafts through the trees. Eclipsa looks up at her much larger companion and cooes. The Goregutter lowers his head and takes another whiff of the saddle. “Come on, buddy.” Toby pats Crispy’s side. “We’re running out of time here.” The rising sun reflects in the dragons golden eyes. In less than an hour, his failed tracking abilities will be the death of his stone beast friends.  

Arrrgh takes a whiff of the saddle. The troll’s eyes turn a deep black with small green lights replacing his pupils. “Blood magic.” He growls and barrels down several trees in his path before Crispy lifts the stone beast in his tail. Arrrgh grunts as his eyes return to normal. “Bad men here.”

“So basically you got nothing off the saddle but there are bad men with blood magic lurking around?” Jim snarks as he climbs on his dragon’s back. “Fun.”

The group maneuvers through the forest until they reach the source of the ocean air. A small secluded beach with pastel pink sand. Crystals erupt from the ground in intricate formations. Almost as though they’d bee guided from the ground by something. “Dead Rose Beach,” Blinky explains. “A popular trading post amongst trolls from years past. Unfortunately, Ghattos reputation scared everyone away.”

“Not everyone.” Toby points to a large wooden vessel resting in the sand. Cages litter the surrounding area.

“Ship.” Arrrgh grumbles.

“Arrrgh I know times are dire but that is no excuse for that language.” Blinky scolds his mossy furred friend. “Especially not in front of the whelps.” He gestures to the human children.

Jim rolls his eyes. “He said ship . Not-”

“See? Now Master Jim is saying it.”

“For the love of-” Claire grabs Blinky and turns him towards the vessel. “That thing Blinky.”

“Well then...perhaps the foul language would be preferable.”

Eclipsa whines and looks to her rider in concern, recognizing the insignia on the sail.

Jim peaks around a crate at the guards. “Let’s hope they’re as gullible as you Blink.” The teen smirks and rolls the amulet in his fingers before chucking it across the beach. They take the bait.  “Looks like they are.”Jim playfully punches Blinky in the arm, earning him a six-eyed eye roll, before they sneak up the ladder onto the deck.

Arrrgh gives a thumbs up from the sand, the guards unconscious by his feet. The amulet reappears in Jim’s hand and he dawns the armor. Eclipsa glides down for the sail and gently lands parallel the door to the cargo hold. Toby and Arrrgh follow their friends into the hull of the ship.

Groans and growls echo through the halls. Jim holds the glowing daylight to the edge of a cage. A mother dragon cowers in the corner, curled tightly around her two eggs. Her slit yellow eyes watch intently as Jim fiddles with the lock.

Eclipsa cooes and reaches her paw through the bars.  The other dragons hyde covered in lacerations. The fury snarls and grabs the lock in her jaws, yanking it off of the cage door.

“Atta, girl.” Jim strokes his companion's head and gestures for them to split up. Eclipsa nods and throws a plasma blast a foot ahead of her before leaping through. She emerges with mirror scales on the other side.

Bright green eyes pierce through the dark as the group splits in two. The pupils widen in the dim light. Eclipsa’s echoing steps send them scurrying back to their hiding place.

They free dozens of dragons but the further and further into the ship they go, their hope in finding their original target fades. “How could anyone do this?” Jim peers through the bars at another dragon. Green scales scattered on the floor. Shed from the stress of the creature’s wounds. It whimpers and backs into the corner. Jim slices through the lock with daylight and kneels by the dragon's side. It sniffs the boy's hand and visibly relaxes, resting its head on the trollhunters lap.

“I hope none of the native hunting tribes are involved in this atrocity. However cruel this appears now, at least the beasts have been left alive.” Blinky rests a hand on the human’s shoulder. “In any case, we must keep moving,”  Eclipsa cooes and licks Jim’s cheek. He sighs and stands up to follow Blinky. The green dragons roars and they turn around. A floorboard collapses under Jim’s armored foot, setting off a spring trap locking them in. Jim struggles to pry his foot free of the spring, opting to disarm and squirm out.

“Well, well. well. What do we have here?” A voice calls out from the dark. Both dragons snarl as a man steps out of the shadows. His scraggly blond hair falls over a sunken-in face that not even starving Gum-Gumm would eat.

“Who are you?” Jim holds out his amulet.

“I'd suggest ya put away the amulet, trollhunter. ” He orders, unsheathing his dagger. Jim and Blinky look with the same thought running through their heads. How does this man know what a trollhunter is? “Why are you ‘ere hunter? We’ve not got any trolls on this vessel.”

Blinky steps up to the bars with an accusing tone in his voice. “So what am I exactly?”

“Priorities Blink. How do you know about trolls at all?” Jim pulls Blinky back.

“We slay monsters for a livin’!” The man replies. “ Why should your kin’ be the exception?” The dagger flies through the bars, slicing Blinky’s cheek and embedding in the wooden wall behind them. Blinky lets out a surprised bellow. A few pebbles tumble to the ground from the strike.

“Monstrosity lies in only in humans hearts, and this couldn’t be truer in your case,” Blinky growls, shaking an accusatory finger at the stranger.

"You wanna free all these dragons hunter? We’ll just be catchin’ more!” He gave them a sickening sneer, but told them, “but you aren’t on some holy crusade to free these beasts. No, someone sent you ‘hunter. Someone gave a call.” Jim and Blinkey tried to keep their shock but the hunter just gave the two an evil smirk.

“Who are you?” Jim asks.

“Oh, that little tidbit of trivia isn’t for you to know.” He pokes the boy's nose through the bars, nearly losing the finger to the fury. “But if you insist on labels. You can call me ‘Reaper’”

“A little on the nose, don’t you think?”

“You’re in no place for wise remarks. As seen as we capture your friends, we’re off to market. And I’m betting the messiah of trollkind will go for a rather hefty price.” The man slips back into the shadows there’s no trace of even an outline

“What do we do know. There’s no way I can break through this thing with any less than a bulldozer.” He despairingly slices at the lock with daylight. But the metal is too dense, Too strong. Reaper really pulled out the big guns for his prized capture, huh?”

The sound of clinking metal draws Jim’s attention back to the prisoner dragon. Hanging from the end of her tail are the keys, previously attached to Reaper’s belt.

Toby and Arrgggh continue their search. “Bad place.” The troll mutters, sniffing the air. The scent of blood and dust assaulting his nostrils. He leaned his forehead against one of the cages. Intended as a gesture of empathy for the trapped dragons, but it instead sends them into a panicked frenzy over the giant stone beast attacking them.

Toby pats Arrrggh on the shoulder. “Don’t worry wingman. They’re just scared.” He instructs the troll to tear off the lock. The cage creaks open and the dragons inside crawl past them. “We should keep moving.” The troll nods in agreement. But before they can move, the floorboards spring up. Arrrgh stumbled over in shock and his eyes shift into their feral black and green.

"Oh no. No no no.” Claire grabs Toby’s arm and leaps on top of Arrrgh. “We gotta get out of here.” Water rises up to the krubera’s elbows as two-headed water dragons wiggle past them.

“What was that?!” Jim clings to Eclipsa for support against the rocking boat.

“I fear our pursuers have decided out deaths are worth their ship,” Blinky explains, shielding his pupil against another explosion. “We must leave! Post haste!”

“But what about the birthstone?”

“A worry for another day I’m afraid.”

Eclipsa snarls at the four-armed troll. Who cares about the birthstone. Innocent dragons are going to die if they don’t stop this now. She takes a deep breath and takes a step into the ever-deepening water. She holds her head up high and releases the loudest roar she can muster. The sound echos back against a large mass across 2 rows down. She makes a run for it.

“Eclipsa!” Jim tries to chase her but it scooped up by Blinky and carried kicking and screaming away from the rising water.

She rounds the corner and finds her target. Azaz desperately struggles to keep his head above water. The fury dives in and shoves him upwards out of the sinking cage. She moves to follow but the door slams shut on her tail. The salt burns her eyes. Ringing fills her ears. She slowly lets out the little air left in her lungs. Her vision blurs from the outside in.

A bone-breaking pressure bites her tail and blood floats around her. She floats up and up and up.

“Atta boy!” Jim pats Azaz on the shoulder and runs his fingers through Eclipsa’s feathers. “Come on. Come on, wake up.” The ringing subsides as water erupts from her lungs and throat. Fresh air serves as a welcome replacement. She cooes and licks Jim’s cheek. “You’re okay! Blinky she’s okay!”

“However we most certainly are not.” The plank they’re standing on is now mere feet from the ceiling. They cry for help but it seems their pleas go unheard. They all take a deep breath before being plunged into the pitch black water. A bright blue light blows apart the wooden barrier. Daylight reverts back to its regular sword form as Eclipsa snatches the boy in her talons and swims to the surface.

"Jimbo! Blinky! Where are you?!” Toby screams from the Goregutter’s back. Arrrgh has to snatch the boy back to keep him from falling right into the ocean with them. Crispy lets out an excited bark as the rest of the group emerges from the water. He slashes his tail through the water, grabbing them all and tossing them onto his back.

Claire rushes to Jim’s side and pulls him into a relieved kiss. Their lips fall away from each other but eyes remain locked. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“I’ll try my best.” Jim chuckles. “Man, that was a close one. Huh, girl?” They both turn to the Fury to see her licking the blood from her tail fins. Wait, no. Fin. “Oh my god.”

They beat the sun. They earned the birthstone. They survived the battle. But what did it cost? Jim rolls the stone in his hand. “You have your treasure, now leave this place before I decide on fleshbag flambe for dinner."

Tears well in the boy's eyes. He's not listening as he shoves the stone into Blinky’s arms like he never wants it near him again. Eclipsa cooes and nuzzles into her rider’s abdomen. “I’m so so sorry, girl.” He kneels down and buries his face in her neck.

“What are you blabbering on about?” Agni rolls his eyes. Claire elbows the lava troll and gestures to Eclipsa’s missing tail fin. “Oh boo hoo it can’t fly. It’s not like the gyre hasn’t always been a perfectly good option.”

“What is the matter with you?” Claire hisses. “She’s not a gyre. She’s not a car. She’s not a plane. She’s our friend and she’s hurt because your pathetic butt outsourced your job to a bunch of teenagers.”

“Friend.” Agni huffs. “Fine, whatever you say. Unfortunately, I have more important places to be.” He turns to storm away but snatched up by Ghattos tongue and flung down the behemoths throat.

“Places like in my belly!” Ghatto laughs.

The group stares at him in disbelief, taking a couple of steps back. “Well, dang.” Toby looks up at his equally disgusted Goregutter.

“My apologies.” Ghatto belches. “He’s always been such a horrible Arfarfan’arf. Especially when it comes to dragons.” .

“It’s okay. We’re just glad we helped Azaz here find his way back home.” A weak smile pulls at the trollhunters lips.

“And that you’ve acquired the birthstone.”

“Yeah, that too. I guess.”

“And a prosthetic tail for your Fury.”

“Wait, what?” The massive troll begins to hack and cough until a slobbery red fin lands on the ground in front of trollhunters. Jim leans down and opens the fin. A horned skull insignia rests in its center. “This is...this is.”

“A most wonderful gesture, indeed!” Blinky pats the boy's shoulder and leans down to whisper in his ear. “Put it on quickly before he changes his mind.” But both the Jim and his dragon ignore their mentor and run to Ghatto, hugging up on the cheek.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The trolls initial shock wears off and he sighs.“Your welcome...ok now you are pushing it.”

“Sorry. Alright girl, ready to see if this baby works?” He fans the fin open, sending Eclipsa jumping like a mad dragon.

“Is that Strickler’s car?” Eclipsa lands on the roof, allowing Jim to climb to the ground on her tail. “What is he doing here?” The door creaks open.

“You know, I have Friday night off. I was wondering if maybe you’d like to join me and Jim for dinner again.” Barbara hands Walter a bottle of Chardonnay as he steps onto the porch.

“Say no. Say no.” Jim hisses from around the corner.

“That sounds lovely, Walter”

“Oh come on. ” The trollhunter dawns his armor and slips behind the pushes into the back seat of his principal's car. Eclipsa cocks her head and glides down, peeking through the window and cooeing. “Go home, girl. I’ll be fine.” The dragon huffs and plops her butt down on the road. “Someone’s going to see you!”

“Too late, young atlas.” Strickler turns his rearview mirror to look his adversary in the eye. Eclipsa growls and Jim dawns his armor, holding daylight to the changeling's cheek. “Oh my my my. Whatever shall I do? Oh, wait.” He lifts his eyebrow and runs his finger down the length of the sword’s razor edge.

“Ow!” A dish crashes in the house, drawing their attention. Barbara stands up and licks the blood from her finger. “How did that happen?”

Jim growls and turns back to Strickler. “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, nothing. But my acquaintance, I cannot speak for.”

“Acquaintance?”

“I was under the impression that you two have already met? At the soccer field.”

Jim gasps, thinking back to that day. He glanced out the window and there had been a tall grey troll hiding in the shadows. Those yellow eyes still pop up in his peripheral vision.“The one watching me from the trees.”

“He bound my fate to your mother's. Whatever you do to me, is also done to her.”

Jim’s hands shake in anger. “You’re a coward you know what?” He snarls through gritted teeth. Eclipsa ears perk up at the sound of car horn coming around the bend. The daylight armor dissipates and Jim climbs out of the car and climbs onto Eclipsa’s back. She leaps into a tree just before the other car’s headlights can hit her. They watch from the branches as Strickler drives away.

The bright white lights burn her eyes. “So they escaped Ghatto’s Keep? Hmm. The hunter is far more capable than I originally perceived.” The monsters glowing eyes bore into her soul as he spoke. His cracked grey skin appeared to be that of a corpse.

“That is exactly the reason I summoned you in the first place.” She can feel the voice escape her throat but it isn’t hers. It’s more masculine. Raspier. She catches a glimpse of herself in the reflective tile walls.  Her slim pale skin and vibrant red hair are replaced by green stone and long twisted horns. Her small hands by clawed paws and soft lips by jagged fangs. She desperately tries to scream for help but this body doesn’t obey her will.

Sirens go off, stinging her...this things eardrums. Another green creature, this one sporting a long sharp tail and red fin, rounds the corner squawking. The body she’s trapped in makes a run for it but a sharp pain runs from her abdomen through her entire being.

Her eyes snap open. The monsters and bright lights are gone. She’s back in her room. She peers down at her body. Her body. She’s back in her scrubs with a name tag reading ‘Dr. Lake’. She breathes a sigh of relief as she begins to sit up. But she can’t. She’s awake. It’s over. She’s in her body. Why can’t she move? Why can’t she move? She pinches her eyes shut and mentally whimpers. Her chest rises up and down rapidly. She can’t breathe. Why can’t she breathe? Why can’t she move? Why can’t she breathe? Her eyes snap open.

The corpse-like monster is standing over her paralyzed form. Yellow eyes locked on hers. Unblinking.

Chapter Text

Papers fly around the room as the small changelings bats at them. His paws thump against the floor as he jumps to reach his targets.“Would you knock it off?” Claire snatches her homework from the air and leans back against her headboard, typing away on her laptop. NotEnrique grumbles and curls up next to her, leaving the remainder of the mess to collect on the ground. Claire scrolls through dozens of articles detailing the exploits of modern pirates. But none flew the same symbol as those ships on the beach. Her adoptive brother’s ears perk up and twitch.

“Ey! What was that?” He jumps up and snarls at the door.

“I didn’t do anything you little imp. Go back to sleep.”

“I ‘eard a something banin’ around down there.” His exaggerated arm gestures earn his a scratch behind the ear. Claire chuckles, not taking the potential threat seriously.

Assuming her parents just got home early, Claire closes her laptop and throws a blanket over NotEnrique as he shifts back into his human form. “Mom? Dad? I’m upst-” She peeks around the stairwell. The front door still deadbolted. She steps into the bathroom, grabbing a plunger to arm herself with. Now she could hear the banging too. As Claire descends down to the first floor, the banging becomes louder. Harsher. She unlocks the front door and sneaks outside. “Who’s there?” She holds the plunger out in front of her. Another crash rings out right behind her and she strikes with her makeshift weapon. The raccoon trap flies across the yard.

Claire gasps, feeling instantly horrible, it was just a raccoon. She hurries over to see if the creature is okay. “I’m so sorry little guy, are you okay in there?” Darkness. “Anybody in there?” A guttural growl bounces off the cage walls, followed by a stream of flame narrowly missing Claire’s face. She yelps and drops the cage. A small dragon struts into the light. Their eyes slit as thin as paper and tiny dagger-like fangs poke out from the curled lips.

Claire takes a deep breath. It’s okay. It’s okay. This isn’t the first time she’s encountered a hostile dragon. She presses her hand to the bars and nearly loses a finger to the dragon's appetite. She forces down the instinct to scold the beast and closes her eyes. A soft hum wafts from her throat to the dragons twitching ears.

"Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi sol,
arrorró pedazo de mi corazón.
Este niño lindo se quiere dormir
y el pícaro sueño no quiere venir.
Este niño lindo se quiere dormir
cierra los ojitos y los vuelve a abrir.
Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi sol,
arrorró pedazo de mi corazón.
Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi sol,
Duérmete mi niño, duérmete mi amor."

Her voice echoes through the moonlit air as dragons head sways to the melody. Her dark brown eyes fall on the creature’s now much more docile expression. She giggles as the reptile licks her fingers. “That’s a good boy” She scratches his chin and lifts the cage, placing it on her hip. “Let’s get you out of the cold, huh?”

She carries the cage to her room and plops it on her bed. NotEnrique having returned to his troll form and is reading one of Javier’s ‘magazines’, yelps when he’s shoved to the side. Claire reclaims her spot and continues playing with the reptile through the bars. “Woah, I knew ya friends have dragons but did ya have to choose that one? Things the size of me-”

Claire slams her hand over the troll's mouth before he can finish his surely lewd comment. “I think he chose me more than anything.” She unlatches the cage and the dragon saunters out of his confinement like he owns the place.

The changeling's ears pin against the back of his head. “Eh eh eh whatcha think your doin’!”

“Aw, I think he likes you.” Claire teases as the reptile sniffs NotEnrique's hind end.

“Knock it off you twit!" He yells out, smacking the small dragon and earning a sharp hiss from his aslant.

"Hey be careful!" Claire exclaims and snatches up the dragon. Holding it like a little kitten, even giving the dragon. Speaking soft words in baby talk. The tone seems to work as he calms down, but continues to glare at NotEnrique. Claire notices a small vial sticking out from its neck. She untwists it from the harness device strapped to him. The dragon yelp happily and scampers out of Claire's arms. The girl studies the vial and runs her finger along the needle protruding from it. “Ow!” The needle pricks her thumb and the effect is almost instantaneous. Her vision fades to black as she hits the floor.

“Claire! Claire!!” Her name rang in her ears. Her hearing returns before her sight. She rubs her eyes and reaches out to the silver and blue blob kneeled beside her on the floor.

“Jim?” The boy lets out a deep sigh and his armor disappears back into the amulet. He practically tackles her in relief. “Jim, what happened? Why are you here?”

“We came to help you with the research,” Toby interjects, startling Claire half to death. Where in the world did he come from? “ But we found you on the floor. You nearly gave poor Jimbo here a heart attack. I was worried too but, you know, Jim’s kinda weenie about this stuff.” He teases the other boy and holds his hand out to her. Her fingers wrap around his wrist and she pushes up with her other hand on the bed. She doesn’t bother to find her footing and plops down on her mattress, still massaging her throbbing head. A blue light fills the room as Jim’s armor disappears. Her friends sit down next to her, placing a hand on each shoulder.

“I found a dragon in one of the raccoon traps. It had, like, a syringe in its neck. I guess whatever was in it knocked me out.” Claire showed the needle to the two, Eclipsa and Notenrique take a whiff, the fury recoils in disgust.

She knows this scent well. It belonged to the one dragon her grandfather would never allow to enter the hidden world. A cannibalistic beast that not only consumes other dragons young but is known for enslaving others with its psychedelic venom. Her human friend is lucky to have only been knocked out.

“We’ll take it to Blinky tomorrow, but please be more careful.” Jim takes the vial and wraps it up in his before tucking it in Claire’s bedside drawer.

Eclipsa’s ears perk. Her nose scrunches up at another foul odor. This one was fainter and vaguely familiar. She climbs out onto the roof and scans the surrounding block. She yelps at the slamming car door and camouflages herself against the tiles.

“I’ve handled goblins, dragons, and Ms. Janeth acting lessons. I can handle a little vial.” She promises, giving him a soft punch on the upper arm.

Jim’s amused smile fades as he notices the disappearance of his winged companion. “Wait, where’d Eclipsa go?”

“ Oh great, now we have two dragons MIA.” Toby groans.

“Two?” It only takes a quick glance around her room to realize the tiny dragon is nowhere to be found. “ Crap! Crap! Crap!” Claire stands up and frantically searches through her belongings. “He was right-”

“CLAIRE MARIA NUNEZ!!” Ophelia screams, a wave of anger in her voice to shatter glass and glare so intense that it could bring down Bular to his knees. Notenrique must’ve heard her coming, now back in his human form rolling on the carpet. His ‘mother’ cradled him to her chest. “You two. Out of my house. Now.”

The boys hurry down the stairs and nearly trip over each other down the front steps. Eclipsa leaps down from her hiding spot and licks her rider’s face. “I’m fine girl, but we really gotta go.” He jumps into the saddle. Eclipsa grabs Toby in her talons and barks for Cripsy. The massive dragon emerges from the woods just in time to catch the boy on his own back.

“Good catch buddy!” Toby scratches behind the dragon's horn affectionately.

After the lecture of a lifetime, Claire is finally freed to return to her room. Only her room. For the next year. The little dragon leaps down from the ceiling fan onto her shoulder. “There you are you little turd. You had me worried half to death.” She sighs and falls back on her bed, cradling her new friend like a baby. “You’re lucky you’re so cute.” The dragon curls up on her lap and she takes the moment of calm to further examine the needle.

She twirls it around in her hands, far more cautious of the poisoned tip. Eclipsa had quite a reaction to it. Maybe she knew what it was. Some sort of dragon poison? It’s within the realm of possibility at least. Her mind is ripped back into reality by a knock at the door. Without thinking, she holds the needle in her hand the way she would a knife and tosses a blanket over the dragon. She makes her way to the door and peaks out.

She sighs in relief and tosses the needle back in her drawer. “Did you come to yell at me some more?” She opens the door all the way to face her mother, hands on her hips and snark in her voice. No response. Ophelia just… stands there. Still as a corpse. “Uh, Mom? Claire reaches out to poke her arm, falling back at the sudden jerky movement towards her.

“Ohh, everything is juuuust fine. My wonderful little girl.” That voice isn’t her mother. This person isn’t her mother. The stranger’s hand cups her cheek and makes its way through her dark brown hair, grabbing a fist full of her locks and yanking her closer.

“No! What are you doing?!” Claire kicks and thrashes but it’s no use. A million thoughts rush into her head. First and foremost. Changeling. But it couldn’t be. Changelings can't change into just anyone. Right?

“Now that’s no way to speak to your mommy, is it? Not if ya want to see ‘er alive again.” The voice cackles and tightens its grip on her hair. It feels like her scalp is on fire but her frantic clawing at the woman’s hands do nothing but drain whatever calm she has left.

“What do you want with me?” She sobs, her heart pounding against her rib cage so hard she feels like her chest might explode.

“Easy girl, we want to talk ta ya.” She looks into the woman's eyes. Dead. Cold. Unseeing. But she knows they’re not always like that. Her mother is in there too. The woman who’d cradled her in her arms upon entering this word. Who’d been there for her first steps, when she took off her training wheels, and when she first got behind the wheel of a car. Tears burn her eyes as she debates with herself the best action to take. She sighs and her eyes take on a grim, hopeless cry for mercy.

“I’ll go with you, but if anyone gets a scratch.” Claire threatens the voice, who just rolls her mother's eyes and drags the teenager across the hall and down the stairs. She realizes now she didn’t have a say to begin with. She’s tossed down the last couple steps into the arms of another invader. They wore a mix of metal and dragonhide armor with helmets, hiding their face. A dozen similarly dressed hunters emerge from her kitchen. One marches upstairs.

“Come here you little-!” The man's roar is followed by terrified shrieks. They’d found the dragon.

“Hey leave him alone, he’s family too!” Claire screams out to the brute. Luckily, either because they listened or couldn’t catch the beast, the soldier returns without her dragon. Either way, they know she can lead them to a far more valuable prey. Claire feels a pinprick on the nape of her neck. Her vision began to fade to black again as her voice echoes in her mind.

“Never said you’d be awake for the trip.” Maniacal laughter funnels out of the house as the soldiers make their way back into the street.

A vent door flies off of the wall and Notenrique peeks his head out. His ears pinned back and claws bears. “Why I oughta.” He snarls and slides down the wall to the landline. He dials and lifts the phone to ear. “Kid, we gotta problem.”

Cold, confused, scared. Claire gasps for breath as she reenters consciousness. She looks around in a daze to find herself in a stone jail cell. Through the bars, she can make out the outline of two armed guards. Her eyebrows furrow. But, why? Wasn’t she just a witness?

“Ahh, you're awake.” A feminine voice dances through the air. Claire whips her head around to see the owner. A young girl, 20 years tops, steps out of the shadows. Onyx hair styled in a braided ponytail. Emerald green eyes holding something; something angry, cold, calculating. Not quite right. “I suppose you’re wondering why we brought you here, besides the Terror I mean.” The girl's voice is oddly cheerful. But tight and forced.

“Let me guess, Dead Rose Beach?” Claire remarks, cocking her eyebrow.

The girl breathes a laugh. “Now that did prove an annoyance. Easily fixed nonetheless. But we’re not here to discuss that. I want to know about the Fury. You know the one. Black and white scales, blue feathers, couple horns that would make a darling pair of earrings.” She brushes her loose hairs to the side to reveal dragon fangs hanging from her earlobes. “Where. Is It.” Her tone is now flat and her eyes pierce through Claire like jade daggers.

“A furry? Gosh, I didn’t take you as someone to enjoy that kinda thing.” Claire jokes, fighting back her fear for both Jim and Eclipsa. Her eyes betray her falsified humourous shell. Her pupils were wide, her breath hitched. Looks like her acting is a little rusty. The older girl can tell for a fact, the information she wanted is in there.

“Go get the DeathGripper venom.” The dragon huntress snaps, drawing a dagger from her sleeve. “We’re going to make this little punk scream.” She draws her tongue along the razor-sharp blade, blood drips down her chin as she swirls the opaque venom in the jar. “Now we’ll get to see what little thoughts that are trapped in your head.”

The hunter dips her knife into the jar and saunters over the bars. “Don’t you dare.” Claire hisses. Her words go unheard as the guard grabs her harm with a long hook and pulls it into the huntress’s reach. She stabs the blade into Claire’s upper arm. Her eyes widen as the drug enters her blood. Her skin goes numb and her mind goes fuzzy as the venom takes effect.

“Now tell me, Love, where is the Fury?” The huntress demands, lifting Claire’s chin to look her in the eyes. Nothing. Nothing beyond a dead stare.

Confused the emerald huntress waves her hand in front of Clair’s face, “Hello? What the hell is wrong with you? This should have worked!” The huntress growls at her guard.

“W-well, the guys in research explained that you’d only get to ask a yes or no question.” The guard responds before being punched in the gut and was thrown out of the building. The huntress takes a moment to gather herself. Still fuming as she approaches her prisoner. “Do you know where the fury is?”

Despite her greatest attempts, Claire found herself speaking. It was as if someone else was forcing the word from her throat. “Yes.” She wants to lie. To scream at her. To turn that dagger right back on her captor. But she couldn’t. All she can do is stand there in horror as her voice continues to answer questions.

“Good. Now, do you know who owns the Fury?” The huntress questioned her smile becoming twisted, her hunt was on and she had some new prey.

Chapter Text

Two hours of questioning. The huntress having had her fun, Claire is allowed a moment's rest. Her appearance more corpse than warrior, eyes sunken in and skin so white it’s practically translucent. The physical abuse was surprisingly light. But fighting through the drugs obedient filter. Fighting her own mind and mouth to not put her friends in danger. Forcing her will back over her body was by far the most exhausting thing that this whole dragon thing had inflicted on her.

“I’ll admit it.” The huntress taps the knife against her lips.” You’re a tough one. Or at least stubborn as all hell.” She chuckles, raising an eyebrow. She pulls the chair across from Claire and turns it backwards to sit in, propping her arms against the back of it. The younger girl musters up the most hateful glare she can, dark brown eyes locked on her captor. She huffs and spits in the woman’s face.

“That’s because I have loved ones to be stubborn for. Who do you have?”

The huntress’s amused smile drops. Teeth bared she throws the chair across the room with ease. “Fine. Have it your way.” She turns to the guards. “Looks like it’s feeding time for our newest addition.” She drags her nails along the wall as she makes her way to the door. “The child may be scrawny but a meal is a meal.”

The guards nod to each other and stomp towards the cell. Claire could do little more than whimper as she’s tossed over one’s shoulder like a rag doll. Blood rushes to her head as she’s dangled upside down. Her vision is blurred but she can still make out the dragons caged around her. There are so many of them. All of them have that vial that was in her terror’s neck. She only sees these things because the truth serum was just starting to wear off, but she sees it nonetheless. She also hears it, there are lots of dragons, all of them cooing and peeping and rumbling in confusion or fear. The hunters just glared at the dragons and soon the majestic beasts began to quiet down, after a long walk the hunters stopped at a foreboding sight. It was a cage but it was farther from the others with various cut marks etched into the metal, scorch marks decorated the stone floor.

“It’s a good thang ya numb, this beast is going ta turn ya inta meaty ribbons.” The guard told the paralyzed teens, who’s veins began to rush with fear began to flood through her entire body. One of the guards let go of Claire and walked towards the side of the cage and began to open it, slowly and carefully the guard rose two feet before a blast of whitish-blue flames came out from the crack.

“That’s enough, we can just roll the dead meat in!” The second guard yelled out to his comrade who just eagerly nodded as he held position as the dragon blew its fire. When it died down, he shoved Claire into the cage and slammed it closed, telling his partner, “Come on, I’d rather not lose my lunch,” as he started to walk away.

As the guards left, the beast within the cage rumbled, staring at Claire as she pressed her back against the door, having regained more of her faculties. But it didn’t come closer, it just stared at her with a steely gaze.Claire felt her blood freeze in her veins as her eyes were filled with wonder as she looked at the dragon, it’s scales while dull were a beautiful bronze and the eyes a vibrant purple. Granted those eyes were glaring at her with a furious venom and filled with full intent to possibly murder her.

‘This is going to be a long time.’ Claire thought as the sense of feeling slowly returned to her.

For two hours Claire was like a stone statue, unmoving and unfeeling, and her new roommate wasn’t helping. Everytime Claire felt her limbs twitch she could hear the metal scaled dragon growled in pain, and in fear, not knowing what she would do to it. After a nearly insane amount of time of silence with hints of trapped dragon roars Claire began to do something strange, she began to sing.

Pio pio pio
Dicen los pollitos
Cuando tienen hambre
Cuando tienen frío
La gallina busca
El maíz y el trigo
Para alimentar
A sus pollitos

Now this seemed to calm the beast before her. Perhaps it was because of the fear in her voice, perhaps it was the sweet words, or the calming melody, but it worked, and the dragon stopped it’s growling, putting its head down and just staring at her. Slowly and carefully she began to move closer to the bronze scaled dragon. After a few moments Claire sat beside the dragon her eyes staring up at the stone ceiling.

“Don’t worry girl we’ll get out of here.” Claire promised the dragon who just lightly growled at the promise. The dragon just sort of stared at the girl, wondering what exactly she planned to do.

At the Nuinez household everything was chaos, Mrs. Nuniez was in hysterics with the police, Mr. Nuniez was curled up on the couch crying his eyes out. Luckily the parents knew that young Enrique wouldn’t be able to understand what was happening, however unknown to them Enrique was well aware and informing a few well more suited group about what happened.

“What do you mean she was kidnapped?!?!?!” Jim yelled out as heart racing like a jack rabbit on a cocaine high.

“Easy Jim, we don’t want you to die of a heart attack before we save Claire!” Toby exclaimed granted he wasn’t doing much better, heart beating just as fast.

Jim started to pace, asking NotEnrique, “Do you know who took her? Did you see them?” He tried to think of who would do such a thing. It couldn’t be Gumm-gumms, it couldn’t be them. Was it those dragon hunters? It would certainly explain the purple vial. “Oh god, do you think this was a trap Tobes?”

“I dan’t think so, that dragon was grateful for sis’s. Doubt a dragon would betray her after what she did.” Notenrique countered.

“I agree with our little friend, if you show a dragon kindness they’ll show you an undying loyalty.” Blinky added to the conversation, his heart feeling heavier than his entire stone body at the news.

“Little dragon help?” Arrgh asked the group, trying to find some hope in this seemingly hopeless situation.

“I doubt it, dat lil’bugger ran off when dose hunters came a knocking.” The changeling told the group as he picked his fangs, however he was about to be proven wrong as he felt a pain travel through his body. With a scream and a jump the changeling turned to see what sort of creature that would dare to bite him and as he did a familiar red colored small dragon was licking the table to get the taste out of his mouth.

“Ahaha, what did I say!” Blinky exclaimed as a fireworks of hope began to explode within him.

“Wait how did it sneak in here?” Jim questioned, but soon the small dragon spat out a familiar looking red hat. Causing the group to pale at the realization that the little dragon has just eaten a bunch of gnomes.

“No one tell Chompsky.” Toby whispered out to the group, who just slowly gave a slow nod.

“So how’d you get here?” Claire asked the copper colored dragon as she stared up at the stone ceiling of her cell, of course all that she got was a series of growls and soft roars.

“Really, I was thrown in her because me and my friends sort of ruined one of their hunting trips.” Claire told the dragon who just let out a gentle chuff, as if telling her the dragon understood. Claire patted the dragon’s side, telling the dragon. “Yeah I know, they suck.”

Just from outside of the stone cage two of the hunters just gave each other looks as they heard the conversation. Why hadn’t the girl been eaten yet? Why was she talking to a dragon? Had she gone crazy from the truth serum? One of the guards asked his partner, “Should we check on her?”

“And get cut to ribbons, I’m staying out but you can get yourself killed if ya want.” The partner answered, as the two talked to each other they failed to notice a familiar small red dragon scurried past them into the cage. It stopped when the Razorwhip let loose a blast of white fire, jumping back the red terror let out a surprise hiss from the attack.

“Hey no! This little guy is a friend!” Claire declared as she went to pick up the terror, stroking its head in an attempt to calm it down. She asked of it, “How did you get here anyways?” The nadder just cheekily chirped as he licked his eyes.

Just outside of the secret entrance of the hunters base camp the last guard fell as Arrgh bonked him on the head with his boulder sized fist.

“Have to say I miss Bular, he may tried to kill us but at least we were even on numbers.” Jim gasped out as he stared out at the dozen unconscious guards laying scattered through the entrance.

“The book did mention that poachers such as these traveled in hordes in order to protect their catches.” Blinky stated as he came out from his hiding spot.

“You know I love having a dragon but after seeing you in a fight, I think I won’t let you out of my sight.” Toby sighed as he hugged the huge head of his Goregutter, who just rumbled in agreement.

Jim stroked Eclipsa’s feathers, telling the group, “We have to be stealthy either way. I don’t think we can take them all on, that means you feathers.” Eclipsa rumbled at that and blew a fireball, walking through it so she could sneak in to the base. Once she was fully cloaked Eclipsa began to melt the entrance, following the scent of the nadder spy that they sent in. The Fury slinked around the base her heart sank, seeing her kind imprisoned and forced to be slaughtered like they were some kind of fish. Quickly she bounded though the caged and enslaved as she finally found the end of the Terrors scent, seeing the two guards standing guard in front of a stone cell that emmentated a familiar scent.

Carefully the cloaked dragon stalked closer to the cage being careful not to even make a single sound and once she was close to the guards a plan of revenge grew in her mind. As the guards were minding their own business until one of them collapsed onto the floor, wheezing in pain. The second one rushed to help his fallen comrade but soon he fell too feeling the same pain, his body just spasming as he tried to attack what hit him, but he only fell to the floor, groaning in immense pain, not noticing that two children were walking right past them. Nor the trolls or other dragons. And they wouldn’t be the only ones to suffer this fate.

“Alright, Crispy if you could do the honors?” Toby asked the massive moose dragon, who just grinned and locked his massive antlers in between the spaces of the cage doors. With a mighty heave the Goregutter ripped the door off the hinges, and soon a flock of dragons left that cage, making a bid for freedom and causing distractions elsewhere, drawing attention away from the rescue team as they went to whatever exit they could find. At the final cage instead of the dragon flying out and over them, instead the dragon just pounced straight at the Goregutter and the Fury. Turning the mighty fearsome dragons into a tangled mess of limbs that purred louder than a muscle car that was a mess of nuzzling and cuddling.

“What just happened?” Toby asked his friends as he saw the dragons just turn into something similar to a pile of kittens on the internet.

Jim made the suggestion, “maybe they know each other?” He couldn’t really think of another explanation. He almost didn’t notice Claire waking out of the cage until she hugged him, “Jim! Toby! You guys finally got here!” It was such a relief! She told them “I’m so sorry!” Though. “They… they injected some sort of truth serum into me! I had to answer their questions.” She let go of Jim.

“Wohho, Claire calm down. So what if some rinky hunters got information. We can take them.” Jim tried to calm down the worried teen, an explosion of relief going off in him as he saw that his girlfriend was safe and relatively unharmed.

“Are ya sure about that Slim Jim?” A voice asked the group, soon the Trollhunters turned around to see the green eyed hunter brightly smiling at them with a small army of hunters.

“I should’ve written my will.” Toby gulped out as he saw the out as he saw the large army behind what he assumed was the leader of the began smile similar to a crazed villain.

“I must say, when my head trapper told me that a human became a Trollhunter I just couldn’t believe it, and neither could he when I threw him into a whispering death pit for failing me.” The leader giggled out, as she walked around the group her eyes looking more like a hungry Monstrous Nightmare than actual human. She looked like she wanted to pounce on them too, for that matter.

“So what should I do to you first? Should I feed you to some Speed Stinger? Have some Scaldrouns boil alive? OOhhh, maybe a target practice for Deadly Nadders!!” The leader thought as she finished circling the group still with a wicked smile.

“We’ll choose option that isn’t painful, besides we were just here for a visit.” Jim told the crazed viking woman a fierce determination in his eyes.

“Oh yeah, well I got news for you. We know about weakness in Dragon Proof metal.” Jim informed the crazed hunter, causing her eyes to go wide as she heard the clink of falling metal it was soon followed by a whip like crack. After the sound nearly a dozen blade like spines flew through the air, breaking the chains, allowing the dragon to get out and charge, roaring loudly. The razorwhip drawing the hunters towards herself, causing a commotion as she tried to get away and scatter them.

“Hey Crispy how about we show her how to wreck it!” Toby called out to his dragon, who nodded. Quickly Toby climbed up the massive dragon as it began to charge into the fray with a mighty roar, running through hunters who tried to get out of the way, lest they find themselves winded by those massive antlers at best, many tossed into the air as Crispy threw his head upwards, giving another bellowing roar. A few hunters tried to attack the great Gorecutter, but Crispy just tossed them aside with very little effort.

“Help Wingman.” Arrrgh exclaimed as he charged in as well, his markings glowing as he charged into the fray, tossing the hunters into each other, further clearing a path in the confusion, allowing Claire, Jim, and Blinky to go through, the trio able to rush through. As the three moved, Eclipsa herself rushed ahead, knocking hunters over, the dragon snarling at any hunters who even looked at her. As they escaped Jim felt a pair of hands grab the daylight armor and pull him away from the trio, now he faced the leader and she was furious at the young Trollhunter.

“Do you think this will stop us, oh no, we’ll just come back stronger than a Bewilder Beast.” The head huntress warned Jim her eyes glowing with blood lust, but soon those eyes were soon filled with pain as she let out a slow gasp. Soon the lead huntress fell down her legs crossed as Jim lowered his leg to the ground.

"Good ol'number three." He whispered as he began to rejoin the rest of the eyes began to gloss over in pain as she slowly fell down to the ground; groaning as she did.

“I never thought I’d be this grateful for rule number three.” Jim muttered as he sprinted back to his group and could see Eclipsa swatting away other hunters to get back to her friend. Jim smiled as he ran back to her and their team, after signaling Toby and Crispy the rest of the team got away from the horrid dragon hunters.

The exit was far easier in the chaos than one would expect, with everyone so busy trying futilely to contain escaped dragons. The creatures following the trollhunters out of the cave, going their own way once escaped, all except the Razorwhip, who stayed right near Claire, pressing her snout to the girl’s cheek in thanks. Claire scratched the dragon’s cheek, telling her,

“It was no problem girl. I’m glad you’re out too.” A smile growing on her face, while Blinky just made a mental note to tell Vendel that Trollmarket was going to need a new stable.

“Umm, perhaps we should go before the hunters reorganize themselves.” Toby suggested to the team as they nearly celebrated the return of their friend, in a few minutes the team was off flying back to Arcadia, the dragons excited that they got a lost friend back.

For the dragon hunters news couldn’t be worse, the lead hunteress was fuming as she waited for the reports. Soon a sniveling subordinate came crawling towards her, his face screwed up in fear and worry.

“We lost half our haul and most of the armory was destroyed during the escape.” He informed the huntress, and his reward for telling her this was a swift punch to jaw. The huntress glared out across the damage, though her insides felt hotter than lava she couldn’t help but smirk.

“Well, well, it seems that we have our own Hiccup. Great grandad would be proud.” The hunteress cackled out as her face turned into a twisted smile.