Chapter Text
Jim’s POV
As I walk out of the school building the late afternoon sun hits my eyes. I have a whole new appreciation for it ever since I got out of the Darklands. I shiver as I get a flash reminder of that awful place, it had only been 2 weeks since I had gotten back but I still have some nightmares about that place. I take a deep breath and exhale to get that troubling thought out of my head. I then felt someone tapping my shoulder, I turned around and it turned out to be Claire. My whole face lit up and my heart fluttered in my chest.
“Hey,” she smiles.
“Hey Claire, what’s up?” I smile back.
“Did you want to go to a cafe to grab something?” She asked, shifting her spot to stand in front of me.
“Yeah sure, my mum is still at work so I still have some time to kill before I have to make dinner.” I smiled, accepting her offer.
We then started to walk over to the main part of town, where all other small shops and bustling cafes were. As we passed them we held each other's hands, we hadn’t had a lot of time to talk ever since I had gotten back from the Darklands. Especially since I had a lot of school work to catch up on and Trollhunter missions to help out with.
“So where are we going?” I asked as we passed by the cafes that I had been to with her.
“It’s a new cafe I found just recently, the drinks and food there are to die for.” She said, we were getting close to where the warehouses were and further from where all the people were. I shrugged it off, if Claire liked the place then I think I should give it a chance.
When we finally arrived at the cafe we chose a table to sit at and waited for the menus. Claire was quiet this afternoon. She’d normally be gushing about a new Papa Skull song that came out or be talking about a new assignment that I would definitely need to catch up on. This isn’t like her.
Soon enough a waiter came to our table and gave us the menus, we decided to go with just a coffee each. I would definitely need it for the late night to come, especially with all the studying I need to catch up on. I decided to have a glance around the cafe, there weren’t many customers, almost none.
“Here are your coffees, enjoy.” The waiter arrived with our coffees, he placed them down carefully, giving Claire a nod. I wonder what that was about.
“Drink up, wouldn’t want it to go cold.” Claire said as she started drinking her coffee. I nodded and then lifted the coffee cup to my lips.
“Wait.” Claire said hesitantly.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Did you want some sugar with that?” Claire asked as she picked up a packet of sugar.
“Um no thanks, I’m good.” I replied. The warm brown liquid slid down my throat. It tasted really good. I continued to drink the delicious beverage until the cup was empty. It filled me with energy and a feeling that I’ve never felt before.
My head began to pulsate violently, I gasped in pain and accidentally dropped the empty cup.
“Hey are you okay?” Claire’s voice bounced around the room. I looked up and there was no-one there. No-one was in the cafe.
I was all by myself.
It didn’t even look like a cafe anymore, it looked more like an abandoned building. Another pang of pain went through my head, then my body. My vision became blurry and I tumbled out of my seat onto the floor. Hitting my head on the solid cold floor. I could hear footsteps coming towards me.
“So this is the human Trollhunter that slayed Bular? I thought he’d be a bit more fit than this skinny teenager.”
Claire was crouching down next to me, then she started glitching. Someone I didn’t know was disguising themselves as Claire. She had long raven black hair with a purple ombre. She wore a black leather jacket with a purple t-shirt underneath with black jeans and black leather pants.
“Why?...” I groaned, I could barely say a word. The pain was like if I got hit by Drall in the head.
“Why? Because you're a threat. A threat that we need to eliminate for our boss.” She said.
“Who are you?” I questioned, my vision was starting to blacken.
“You don’t need to worry about that. All you need to know is that you aren’t going to bother us anymore and we can continue with our plan to take over the surface.” My mind became fussy and could barely understand what they were saying.
“Let’s get out of here before anyone finds us.” The girl said.
“What should we do with him?” Someone else said, they sounded male, probably the waiter that had served us.
“Just throw him in a garbage bin, no-one will know.” The girl replied. I could feel myself being pulled into unconsciousness and succumbed to it just to stop the pain. It was so painful.
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I jerked awake. I could barely move, my body was so sore and my head felt numb. There was a disgusting smell emitting from where I was laying. I opened my eyes slowly, the sky was orange. I lifted my head slightly and looked around, there was garbage surrounding it varying from paper scraps to food waste.
I quickly jumped out of the garbage and got any excess trash off of me. I guess what happened wasn't a dream. Wait a minute, they were sent to kill me. How am I still alive? I rummaged through my pockets, the amulet and my phone was still there. I let out a sigh of relief. Also why didn't they take the amulet? Nevermind that, I need to get back before anyone worries about where I am.
I started making my way back to my house, with it being a longer trip than usual as I was out in the old warehouse area.
Once I got home I noticed that mum wasn’t there yet. I then raced upstairs to get myself clean. I think I might have to have a couple of washes to get that garbage smell out.
Once I was finished in the shower I stepped out and wrapped my towel around me. I dried myself and then walked out of the bathroom and went straight to my room. I put a white shirt on with track pants, I began rubbing my hair with the towel to get the excess water out.
Once it was dry enough I tried to style it a bit. I then went downstairs and started to cook dinner. Not too long after, mum got back from work. She looked exhausted.
“Hey Jim,” she tried to smile through the exhaustion.
“Hey mom, dinner should be ready soon.” I smiled back. I decided to make something simple since I was still shaking off whatever had happened earlier. I decided that tomorrow would be better to tell the others what happened. I placed the dishes onto the table with a fork and knife. I had made us a chicken schnitzel with mashed potatoes.
“Thanks Jim.” she thanked,
“It’s no problem mom.” I replied, then we began to dig into our food. The food was delicious as always.
Once we were finished eating I washed up and then mom kissed me goodnight, letting me know that she was going to bed. I walked up the stairs into my bedroom and then sat at my table. I began to do some of my homework for a while then went to bed.
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The next day I told Claire and Toby what had happened yesterday. They were relieved that I didn’t die but were confused as to why the poison didn’t kill me.
Throughout the day I still felt like crap. I had a headache and felt a little light headed at times. Claire noticed this and I told her that I was fine. After school we went down to Troll Market and explained to Blinky and AARRRGGHH!!! What happened to me.
AARRRGGHH!!! Smelt something off with me, he especially notices this because of his heightened sense of smell since he was brought back. Blinky assures me that he will start to do research about this and says to lay low for now saying that the element of surprise is crucial to finding whoever the mystery girl was. He also said that it should just go away on its own throughout the week.
So I won’t be able to do much besides going to school, which wasn’t too bad as I was still feeling off. So no more Trollhunter missions til this is all over and I make a full recovery.
So throughout the week I started getting more symptoms. My head feels itchy, my teeth hurt, I’m always hungry but eating things I don’t normally eat, which would be considered gross to my standards and that’s saying something. My body is sore.
Plus I haven’t been sleeping very well because of nightmares. Nightmares of Gummar escaping the Darklands and killing my friends and family. Nightmares of my friends leaving me. And nightmares of a monster. A monster that looks like me but more trollish, more aggressive and vicious, void of humanity.
But today a couple new symptoms appeared. These are the most worrying by far. I hadn’t noticed that I had been getting taller and my bottom canines had been growing longer. More troll like, slightly resembling the ones from my nightmares.
Thankfully it was the last school day of the week. But I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hide this from my friends and mom. I don’t want them to worry. And I certainly don’t want them seeing me like this. I haven’t even told them about my nightmares. I just hope it won’t get worse.
I then grabbed a face mask so that it covers up my mouth and no-one sees the elongated teeth. The teeth aren’t too noticeable but this is me just being cautious. I’ll just make up an excuse that I’m getting a bit of a cough. But that doesn’t solve the height problem. I guess I’ll blame it on growth spurts.
Blinky said I should be fine so I trust him. After school I’m going to be going back to Troll Market to see if he has found out anything. I started to get ready for school and put on an outfit I thought I would never have to wear.
When Toby and I were younger his Nana had given me oversized clothes for my birthday. I guess my mom never threw them out because she thought that I would wear them some day and also courtesy. They were just a blue sweater and gray pants but they did the trick, still a bit big but good enough for me. Once I had breakfast and made my lunch, I started heading to school.
The walk to school seemed quicker, maybe it’s just my imagination. I walked into the school with my mask on, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I headed straight to my locker to put my stuff away.
Everyone’s footsteps seemed to be louder too. It's just my paranoia. Toby approached his locker, I quickly finished up, closed my locker and walked away. He didn’t seem to notice me, which was good, I didn’t want him to see me like this.
I walked to my first class, besides having to explain why I have a mask on to my friends and teachers. When I promptly said ‘I have a bit of a cough and don’t want others to get sick’, nothing much happened throughout the day.
Having the extra bit of height didn’t really make anyone question it, as they probably labeled it as a growth spurt. I still had a fuzzy headache, my whole body and teeth were still sore and my head itches. I would run my hands through my hair to give it a quick itch, which Claire caught onto after a while and I assured her that I was fine.
It was the end of the school day and I wasn’t in the best of moods. Claire, Toby and I walked through the courtyard and I noticed that Steve was bullying Eli again. He slammed the locker door on Eli after shoving him into the said locker.
“Come on Steve, when are you going to stop with this crap?” I spoke up, irritation dripping from my voice. He had done this for years now, why does he always do this to him and others?
“What was that Lake? I can’t hear you from your stupid mask.” Steve chuckled. I then grabbed the mask off of my face and walked closer to him.
“I said, leave him alone.” I firmly said, trying to control myself. Clenching my mouth shut after realising the situation I was in.
“So what are you gonna do about it huh?” He said shoving me, I stood my ground. Now that was it. He is so annoying, someone needs to put him in his place. I clenched my fist and then punched Steve squarely in the jaw. Steve stubbled back from the punch I laid on him but quickly regained his balance. He rubbed his jaw from the throbbing pain that was pulsating from it.
“What the hell is wrong with you Lake? Now my face is messed up” He shouted while holding his face. I turned around and saw Claire and Toby standing there in shock. I stomped away with Toby shouting at me to come back but I just wanted to get out of there.
Once I got home I could hear Toby approaching his house, I couldn’t believe what I had done. I completely lost control there.
I hurt someone.
All because I was annoyed? That’s not like me.
I sat in the house alone on the couch. Regretting and contemplating my actions. Questions circled around my head. What is happening to me? Why am I acting like this? All of those questions and more couldn’t be answered. I then pulled out the amulet from my pocket, feeling it's warm blue light and peaceful hum sort of comforted me. The sunlight was just poking out from the horizon with it’s warm glow. The sky was a mix of beautiful oranges and pinks.
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Claire and I were cuddling each other at the top of a hill. My vespa parked not too far away from us, the sunset’s warm glow shining through the trees. Painting everything in a warm glow. We had probably been there for an hour and I wouldn’t’ve cared. I was with Claire and that was all I cared about at that moment. I was pretty much falling asleep from how comfortable I was.
“Jim?” Claire moved, looking at me. I looked at her and smiled.
“Yeah?” I replied.
“Why did you hurt Steve?” She questioned, her face went from a smile to a worried look.
“What?” I questioned. Then I looked at where the sun was but I realised that we were back at the school. Steve was holding his jaw in pain.
“What the hell are you Lake? Some kind of monster?” He yelled, his face a deep shade of red out of anger.
“What?” I looked down at my hand and realized that they weren’t my normal hands. My skin was a light shade of blue and my nails were black and shaped more like claws. I started to tremble out of fear. I turned around again and saw everyone that I cared about leaving me.
“Wait!” I cried out as I ran after them but with each step I took they were getting further away.
“You're a monster now Jim. We can’t even look at you because you're so hideous.” Toby’s voice said. I stumble over, my foot being submerged in blackness. I can’t move. My breathing quickens.
“Yeah just look at those horns, and those tusks.” Claire’s voice says, I look up and see a mirror in front of me.
On either side of my head, a horn protruding from my skull pointing behind me. My skin is covered with the shade of light blue. My teeth stuck out like a sore thumb, poking out from my bottom lip. They had changed into tusks. My hair was longer and a darker shade of blue compared to my skin. Tufts of hair grew out of my cheeks and the sides of my neck. My nose was flat and more square shaped and my ears were elongated. I looked like a troll. A monster.
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“I can’t be a monster. I am not a monster.”
I drifted out of unconsciousness as I heard the front door open. I was curled up on the couch. I must have gone to sleep. The sun was gone now, all that was left was the dark night sky along with the twinkling stars. I adjusted myself and grabbed my phone, which was in my pocket, and checked the time, it was 2 am. Mom came peeking around the corner and saw me on my phone.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” She questioned.
“It’s alright, I fell asleep on the couch. I’m just about to head off to bed.” I clarified, she nodded and slowly walked over to the stairs. I quickly stood up and went over to her to help her up the stairs.
“It’s alright Jim. You don’t have to do this,” She protested.
“I know,” I gave her a soft smile. She smiled back. We continued up the stairs and I helped guide her to bed. She laid down on the bed and I tucked her in.
“Goodnight mom,” I gave her a kiss goodnight.
“Goodnight sweety.” she gave me one back. I then walked off into my bedroom and sat awake, unable to sleep and kind of terrified of what awaited me in my nightmares.
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A Week Earlier
Unbenounced to the Trollhunter, he was being watched. By whom you may ask? Well you’ll find out soon enough. The girl with the raven black hair with purple highlights was a part of it. But she didn’t have much control over the situation. She was just following orders. She would rather be practicing her magic, but this was a way to prove herself to her master. She was making her way to where her master was, submitting her finds. As she stood outside the door she could hear her master and another person talking.
“We need to get rid of the trollhunter!” The master exclaimed.
“We must be patient, we can’t just attack him out in the open. This requires the element of surprise.”
“I know but how?!” The girl then opened the door and stood in the doorway.
“I know how,” She stated. The two tall figures stared at her.
“How dare you speak youngling!” The other tall figure said, he was a slightly overweight man with blue eyes, a large nose, black hair combed black and a light blond beard and mustache. He also has a scar on his right eyebrow. His attire was composed of an office suite with a polo shirt, leather pants with straps, and a pair of round glasses.
“Let my apprentice speak.” The master protested.
“We’ll it’s pretty obvious what you should do.” She continued.
“And what’s that?” The man questioned sarcastically.
“Poison him,” She stated. The two thought it over and agreed. They assigned her the task as it was her idea. The master led the girl back to his office and showed what he had been working on.
“For a couple of years I have been experimenting with grave sand. It’s properties are very interesting. I’ve discovered that It could easily kill a human within a few minutes with it being concentrated enough that is. If it is n't the precise type of concentrated grave sand, the consequences would be...” The master paused.
“Well I don’t know what they would be but I’m guessing that they'd be bad.” He continued.
“So do you have an idea of what the plan is?” The master asked, he was quite supportive of the idea and was curious as to what the plan could be.
“Yeah, sort of,” The girl said.
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