Chapter Text
This story doesn't begin right away. Only a few days after, right when Jim visited Strickler for the first time and he spotted the Amulet Of Daylight. His eyes became saucers at the sight of them.
And he wasn't the only one. A senior girl, one with short black, slightly curly hair and bluish-green eyes, not exactly big but not exactly skinny and fairly tall saw it too as he left the office. She was presenting as 18, so she could leave the school without many problems, but she knew it would be much faster to teleport.
So, she found one of the empty broom closets and in a flash of pink, she was gone from the school and in her place of work and home.
"Welcome to the GDT Arcane Books, lovelys," Came a voice from below. She was up on the second floor and she hoped that he wouldn't come up here with others.
Thankfully, she knew where a certain glasses wearing cat liked to nap this time of day. Keeping her head down as he continued talking, she snuck to the window that had the best bit of sunshine in the afternoon.
"Psst!" She whispered. "Psst! Archie. Archie. Arch!" She shook him gently. He didn't move or make a sound. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Wake up, you damn cat!"
"Actually, he's a familiar, love," said the same voice that had just been downstairs a minute ago. The girl whipped around with a hand on her heart.
"Douxie!" She exclaimed.
"Angel, what are you doing here?" Douxie asked, worry a small feature on his face. 900 years old and still no better at hiding his emotions.
"Isn't school going on right now? What would make you risk exposing yourself-"
"I saw it!" Angel said, a bit too loudly. She seemed a bit out of breath like she had just sprinted instead of teleported. "The- the amulet. I saw it!"
"Calm down, love," Douxie said, putting his hands on her shoulders. His hazel eyes bore into hers kindly. She took a breath. "Where did you see it?"
"At school. This kid, Jim has it. It was sticking out of his bag, glowing bright blue." Douxie pulled back in surprise. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that. He put a palm to his head and hand on his hip and breathed out heavily. Trolls could take care of themselves easily and most were taught to be fighters from a young age and trained for centuries. Hell, the last trollhunter had a son at the battle with the first trollhunter.
But a human?
"A-and you're sure-"
"Yes, I'm sure, Douxie. I've seen it on every trollhunter so far. At least, for the past few years I've known about this. And no, there is no way it was a phone either. I know the difference between new phone and ancient relic."
"Ok, this is new," he said. Then he glanced down the stairs. "I-I need to get back to work and you need to get back to school. And I don't care that you're over 30 years old. You choose to go undercover there." He had a smirk as he said that last bit, like he just shut down her entire argued.
"I know I saw a changeling there. I just, don't know who." An embarrassed blush coated her cheeks which made Douxie chuckle more. "Hey, how bout you try and find one without a Gaggletack!"
"Alright, love. Just get back to school and keep an eye on him." Despite his playful tone, she could still see and hear the unease he tried to hide. She brushed some of his blue tipped strands out of his eyes, causing his guise to fall.
"Hey, it'll be ok. The amulet chooses people for a reason, right?" He gave a small nod, his guard down, every bit of emotion showing at the lingering touch. His eyes were wide and puppy like.
"Then don't worry. And until he's properly trained, we help keep an eye at him." Douxie seemed ok with the idea, gently moving her hand from his face.
"Then you better get back to the school before you're missed. You are pretty ra- pretty nuclear." It seemed like he wanted to say something else, but settled on that.
"Thanks," Angel blushed. "I'll see you for dinner." Backing away and focusing on exactly where she left from, she vanished in bright pink flash. Douxie smiled at the place she left from. He would have continued to stare at it were it not for Archie's voice cutting through the air.
"If you're done being a hopeless romantic," the familiar yawned, "then you best get back to your cover job."
"Oh, right," Douxie said, snapping out of his trance. "See ya Arch." Douxie ran down the stairs, but turned back for a moment and pointed an accusing finger at the familiar. "And I am not a hopeless romantic. Angel is just my roommate and my friend." This time, he went down stairs, greeting customers as he went. Archie groaned and sat up.
"I swear, the older they get, the more hopless they are."
. . .
Hours later, Angel had decided to follow Jim and Toby after school. Jim rode Toby to the dentist and then home. Nothing happened until the next day.
Bular chased them around the town, almost killed the two. If she hadn't slowed the truck down or gave Toby just a little push through that alley or even slowed Bular down himself....
"Ahhhh!!!!" Came from below the bridge. Angel smirked and let the spell she was casting fall. She had bought them just enough time to get to Trollmarket and safety. Her job was done and Bular was none the wiser.
"I know you're there, wizard." Her blood froze as she hid behind a nearby pillar.
Or maybe he was.
"There was no way that truck wouldn't have hit them." He continued, a strange tone in his voice. He was on the brink of laughing, but there was no humor in his voice. "And I would have caught the Trollhunter if you hadn't warded the rooftops or slowed me down just now."
Angel didn't move and she didn't dare teleport. That cause a flash and him to attack the bridge. If she focused, she could discretely turn invisible. Well, it wasn't invisible per say, but it would make sure no one knew she was there.
"You've been a thorn in our side for almost as long as Kanjigar was. I can't wait to tear your head from your body and rip out your heart!" He jumped on the bridge growling. Angel held her breath but was unfortunately unable to cover her mouth. The illusion would be broken if she moved.
As he moved from pillar to pillar, her heartbeat picked up. Faster. Closer. Faster. Closer. Until she felt his breath on her face. It stunk like a thousand dead bodies. Whether they were human or animal, she wouldn't ever try to guess.
"I can smell your fear, wizard," he said, his eyes glowing with amusement and joy. "It's smells delicious." Bright lights came rushing down the road, causing Bular to run. Angel didn't dare to let out her breath until she was sure he was gone.
One whimper and couple tears left before she collected herself enough to teleport to an alley just a block away from the Cafe Douxie worked at. It was a nerve-wracking walk, one that had her jumping at every car honk, every cat's meow, every dog's bark. By the time she got to the hostess stand, she was visible frazzled.
"Hey Angel," the hostess, Susan, greeted with a smile, barely looking at her as she grabbed a menu and silverware. "Just one in a booth in Douxie's- Hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah," Angel said, looking over her shoulder. It was a slow night, not a lot of foot traffic. "And that's what I want."
"Ok then. Follow me." Angel did as asked, following her to a back booth. Susan didn't take anything but water as her first drink order and said she'd send Douxie over as soon as he could. Angel thanked her, but asked for some Dr. Pepper too.
She leaned her head back and tried to relax in the dark red booth with the soft lights above her, giving her a warm glow. Her heart had slowed, but not by much.
"Angel, what's going on?" Douxie's voice helped. Opening the eyes that she didn't even know that she'd closed, she saw Douxie's hazel eyes look down on her with concern. In one hand he had a delicious fizzling soda with no ice. And the other was ice water. She reached for the soda first, but it was pulled away. "Nu uh uh, love. Water first. You look like death."
"Yeah, I just avoided it," Angel said without thinking and took the water reluctantly. Before taking a drink, she facepalmed. Douxie sat down across from her.
"What happened? I thought you were just following-" Douxie stopped as realized what happened. "Did- did he attack you?"
"No," Angel said as she finally took a gulp from the water. It actually did feel nice going down her throat. "Not me, anyway. But Douxie, he was so close. I- I- I could smell his breath." She started gulping it down, if only to get to the sweet crisp coolness of the soda sooner.
"He was that close to you?" Douxie's eyes widened. It was easy to see that he was upset, and worry would be an understatement. "How did he know you were there?" At this, she looked down guiltily. "Angel, what did you do?"
"He was about to kill Jim and his friend. I'm sure they didn't see me, but I had to use magic a good few times. And, of course, our wards tipped him off." Douxie started to put a hand to his head, but Angel grabbed it and held it over the table.
"Bleeding Balroths," Douxie breathed. But both seemed to be calmed by the simple act of hand holding. "No wonder you came in looking like you did."
"I couldn't go back to the store alone right away."
"Ok. Then you stay here till I get off. You want your usual?" He asked, slowly getting back to a happy face. But it was tainted with worry. Still, Angel nodded as he got up and moved around to hug her. "My treat."
"What? No!" Angel protested, pulling away only enough to look at him. He chuckled.
"This isn't up for debate, darling." He got up and started to walk off, but not before berating her for reaching for the soda when her water was only half gone. She didn't listen.
He put in her order, went to check on his other tables (it was a slow night, so he only had two), cashed one of them, cleaned a couple tables, then went to wait by the window where the food came out. The perfect place to keep an eye on Angel.
She had her LED headphones one, likely listening to some Disney songs or anime themes to calm down. Her look was neutral as she scrolled through her phone. Likely looking at fanart, reading or preparing to write a fanfiction. Ever since they became a thing, she had become almost obsessed with them. Especially when she was upset.
"Order up, Doux!" The cook, Randall, said, sounding fairly annoyed. He must have said it a couple times already. "Oggle at your girlfriend on your time."
"Sorry, Ran," Douxie said as he grabbed the tray. "And she is not my girlfriend." Randall muttered something along the lines of 'whatever you say' and Susan, who was passing by just rolled her eyes. Douxie resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her.
"Knock knock," Douxie said as he set the tray down and knocked on the table. Either she didn't notice or she just didn't care. Her soda was almost gone and water filled a little more than halfway full now that some ice had melted. "Hey, you need to eat, love," he chuckled as he gently removed her headphones.
"What? Oh," she blushed. "Sorry."
"No worries." Douxie was about to leave, but all Angel did was push the pasta around. He put a hand on her shoulder, put she didn't look up. "It'll be ok. I promise."
"How close have you ever gotten to him?" Was her answer. Douxie didn't even get a chance to answer it before she spoke again. "It smelled horrible, his breath. Like it was a death omen." She just stared blankly at her food, pushing it around every now and then.
Douxie didn't say anything, just putting her headphones back on. Music calmed her like it did him. She gave him a small and almost unnoticeable smile in thanks before he left.
. . .
The rest of the night passed by slowly. It might have been the best for Douxie since she was so close to him, clinging onto his arm.
But she jumped at the slightest sound and her fingers dug into his flesh. She kept looking around wildly every now and then, not even letting him put her headphones on. He was carrying her uneaten meal.
It made sense that she was so upset. She only started helping him in the past decade, during Kanjigar's reign as Trollhunter, one of the quietest ones a trollhunter could have. She had never really been in danger like that before.
So again, the walk was bittersweet.
"Angel, where were you?" Archie scolded when they walked into the store. He was walking nimbly down the stair railing as Angel finally let go of Douxie only so he could put up some wards. "You were supposed to be here hours ago to open the shop for the afternoon. The Trollhunter couldn't have taken that long.. to.... "
Archie seemed to talk himself into the conclusion as his eyes widened and he took in her hunched form hugging herself.
"She... she had an encounter with Bular," Douxie said as he finished up the wards and walked to her side.
"Oh my."
"Oh my, indeed," Angel muttered. "I can't stop repeating his threat in my head."
"Threat? What threat?" Douxie asked and Angel nearly facepalmed. She wasn't going to tell him about it.
"What did he say to you?" Archie asked, turning into a dragon just to quickly fly over and perch on Douxie's shoulders before turning back to a cat. Well now that just wasn't fair, the two ganging on her. But there was no way out of it now that her mouth had betrayed her already.
"He-" She started, but had cut herself off because she heard it again, clear as day:
You've been a thorn in our side for almost as long as Kanjigar was. I can't wait to tear your head from your body and rip out your heart!
"He- he said that he couldn't wait to... to tear my head from my body and rip out my heart. That I was a thorn in his side almost as long as Kanjigar was. Douxie, I-"
Douxie only waited until Arch left his shoulder to cuddle Angel to put more wards up. She absently scratched behind his ear as she looked on with worry at Douxie.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but you would've just made us take off right then."
"Yeah, and for good reason," Douxie said, his tone both worried and angry. Angel supposed he had a right to be. "Bular is aware of our presence and threatened you, and you should have told me."
He turned back to her, hazel eyes shining with hurt and fear. His lip quivered with some unsaid word. He probably didn't know what to say or was having to many cross his mind.
"I'm sorry, Douxie, I am. But- but he isn't aware our presence."
"What?" Douxie asked, and his voice cracked a little. Any other time, Angel would have giggled a little.
"He said wizard. Singular. He only thinks there's one of us."
"What difference does that make?" Douxie scoffed. Archie gave him a look that told him to hush and listen.
"It means that if he- or he- just- ugh! I hate words sometimes!" Angel complained, dragging a hand down her face. Then she took a deep breath and counted to a few numbers. "You know what I mean. If he comes, you'll have the element of surprise. He saw the color of my magic."
"I don't care about some stupid surprise attack!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her a bit closer. She could feel his trembles.
"Angel, it's worse if he just thinks it's you."
"He didn't see me."
"I don't care! You're in danger."
"Not more than usual." The two stared each other down for a few minutes, with what emotion, no outsider could tell you. The two couldn't tell you themselves. Angel felt his fingers twitch before he sighed and went upstairs. "Douxie. Douxie!"
"Eh, eh," Archie hushed her. "My familiar has a habit of getting emotional. He needs time alone when this happens."
"I know," she sighed. "I just don't want him to worry about me."
"He worries because he cares, Angel. And even more so when you don't tell him things like that. It-" Archie stopped and sighed.
"You want him to tell me how he feels, huh?" Angel chuckled humorlessly, petting him again. Archie nodded.
"However, even after 900 years, he's no better at talking about his feelings." This time her chuckle had humor in it. Archie glared, shutting it down. "Oh don't think you're off the hook, Missy. I only give you more leniency because you're young." Angel scoffed.
"I'm 30 years old, Arch." The cat jumped nimbly off her shoulders to the ground and began walking up the stairs.
"Exactly. Young."