Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jim Lake Jr opened his eyes to a swirl of dimly lit colors that had no obvious meaning to his slightly drowsy brain and the repetitive beeping of an alarm he didn’t remember setting. He lifted the magazine from his face, an expression of happiness coming to his face as he saw the no longer familiar surroundings of his old bedroom. 

Though he had spent this night and every night before it resting in this room, to Jim it had been a while since he had truly lived in this room. Within his memory he had spent months living in a den with his girlfriend and surrogate father, and even after his return this room had been taken over by his many adoptive siblings in his absence. 

Jim smiled wide as his body shot up from the suffocating comfort of a bed he had grown unaccustomed to, and he threw his legs swiftly over the edge of the bed, jumping to his feet and ignoring the rush of blood to his head. He sped past his mother’s room- sparing only a short but loving glance towards the hastily written note warning him of disturbing its sleeping resident- before he happily lept down the stairs towards the garage. 

Jim hurried out the garage door, hearing the crash of racoons knocking over trash bins in their hurry to hide from the loud whirring noise the door gave out. He stopped by the fallen cans and looked quickly at his surroundings. Jim’s excitement was quickly crushed by the realization that there was nobody waiting for him on the other side. 

“Tobes was here when the racoons knocked the trash over…” He murmured as he stepped towards the trash that was strewn on the ground. He looked around hopefully, as though his best friend would suddenly appear from thin air, though disappointment quickly began to spread across his body. His shoulders slumped as he bent down to pick up the overturned trash can.

“Morning Jimbo.” 

The ringing of the bike bell. Those words. That voice. Jim turned around quickly and looked at the boy in front of him as though seeing a ghost.

“Toby…”  

Jim nearly cried out in excitement as he ran to tackle his friend in a hug, burying his face into Toby’s shoulder. The smile on his face as he hugged his friend tightly could have eclipsed the sun, it shone so bright. He couldn’t help the tears that began to run down his cheeks as Toby awkwardly patted him on the back, letting out a little laugh. Jim was grateful that despite the strangeness of his actions, his best friend let himself just be held.

Jim pulled his friend down to the cement with him so that both of them were laying on their backs Together . It filled him with an unforeseen amount of joy to be able to think that word again as he laid down, looking at the bright blue sky with the person he trusted more than anyone else. “I’m so happy to be back.” 

Toby was- for the most part -willing to lay there in silence with his friend, though they both knew they would be late, and though Toby was uncertain as to why Jim was acting this way he would stay by his side no matter what. Just as he knew Jim would always stay by his. 

—

Jim knew he was probably acting strange. After the emotional ride he had been on this morning his state of mind was very fragile and to the people around him it likely seemed like every little thing was setting him off. He felt the stares of people who he had once seen every day on the back of his neck. He was acting differently. 

Toby seemed surprised when Jim admitted that he could no longer remember which classes he had when, and where said classes were. For Jim it had been almost 3 years since his schedule had been the one it was now. For everyone else it must have seemed as though he had a sudden case of amnesia to forget the route he walked through the halls every day.

 Jim knew that it was likely weird how he stopped in shock upon entering his first class and just stared at Mr.Strickler, his hand twitching as though he wanted to reach out and make sure he was really in front of him. Jim watched Strickler intently throughout the period, his mind flashing between the image of a loving parent rushing into his death for HIM, and the image of his teacher here. Still alive, here in front of him. He was shocked that he managed to hold in his tears. He felt so happy to see his favorite teacher before him once more.

Later on Jim could see the look of shock on his friend’s face when he managed to scale the rope in gym class easily, as though he had been doing it for years. Though this body was weaker than he was used to, Jim had scaled ropes many times in his run as a Trollhunter, had climbed harder surfaces, and he could easily remember tactics for scaling a rope easier. He barely remembered a time when he couldn’t climb things easily. He truly only remembered this was out of place when he finally noticed the gobsmacked look on Toby’s face as he struggled to get more than a foot off the ground. He casually shrugged his shoulders at his friend before turning around towards the bleachers and seeing her finally.

Jim had forgotten just how different Claire had looked before everything. Before the Darklands, before Gunmar, before Morgana. She had a sweet little blue streak in her darkly colored hair, and it was pinned back with an assortment of different colored hair clips rather than being pulled back into a short ponytail. Her face was kind, and he loved the way her eyes sparkled as she laughed, his memory showing him the same sparkle in her eyes as they fought together on the battlefield. 

He vaguely remembered them sharing a class before this moment, but he had been too caught up in his own head to really pay attention to which students were surrounding him in history class. He blinked hard and before he knew what he was doing he had reached the bleachers and was smiling up at Claire, Darci, and Shannon. 

“So uh,” Jim began quickly, his voice far more steady and his words more articulate than the first time he had walked up to her like this. This was someone he had spoken to a thousand times, who had held his beating heart in the palm of her perfect hands. He could never be afraid of her. “The school play. I hear they’re looking for people?” 

Claire smiled slightly at Jim in mild surprise and handed him a flier with just the words ‘Romeo & Juliet, 4PM’ written on it. 

“Have at it Romeo.” Jim smiled at her back as she and her friends walked away, before turning back and seeing Toby at the top of the rope ringing the bell. He didn’t remember that being the case before, but was nonetheless proud of his friend. Jim’s smile stayed on his face throughout the hour.

—

Jim eventually left Toby’s side during his lunch break, when he instead found his way to Strickler’s office. He listened outside the door for the telltale sound of classical music, knowing that the changeling would always play some when he was alone. He knew it reminded Strickler of the goblin who had sung to him before he made the swap from the darklands to Arcadia. Upon hearing the music Jim rapped at the wood of the door, waiting for the call from inside before entering the room. 

While he seemed surprised to see him, Jim could tell that Strickler wasn’t adverse to his presence. Knowing him as long and as well as Jim had, he could tell when Strickler was relaxed, could see the affection for his favorite student in the way his face moved. Just about one year ago Jim had been surprised when Walter had confided in Jim that he had genuinely been Strickler’s favorite student, when he revealed to Jim how much it had hurt to have to attack a kid you were so fond of. Looking at him now, Jim couldn’t believe that he had never noticed.

“Jim?” Strickler called from behind his desk. “What an unexpected surprise. I didn’t expect to see you in my office today, is there something I could help you with?”

Jim walked over to the chair in front of the desk, holding his hands against the backing of it as he spoke. 

“I’ve decided to try out for the school play.” He started casually, “I know I have been a little run down lately, I know you’ve been worried about me sir but I wanted you to know that I will do my best to balance everything. I won’t fall behind.” 

“I’m surprised.” Strickler said, his eyebrows lowering a fraction as he rose from behind his desk. “I never took you as an actor, Young Atlas.”

Jim moved over to the window and lifted a chess piece from the board as he looked out the window watching as Claire and her friends walked by on the field outside. 

“I don’t know.” Jim said as Strickler moved over next to Jim, fiddling with his pen. “Something tells me this will be worth my while.”

Jim watched as Claire laughed, momentarily caught in memories of a future where she would smile and laugh just for him, where they would sit and tell jokes with each other for hours in the dark. He shook himself from his trance and turned to Strickler, putting down the piece he had picked up.

“Anyway. I wanted to ask if you would come over for dinner.” 

“Dinner?” Strickler asked, and Jim figured that it must have been a sudden change in subject for the changeling. Jim had to remember that he had never shown any sort of social interest in his teacher before this moment.

“I wanted to introduce you to my mom.” He explained.

“I-” Strickler was looking at Jim with a bewildered expression. “I suppose that would be alright Young Atlas. Are you sure?”

Jim smiled at his confused teacher.

“Positive.”

And though he couldn’t seem to look at the changeling without seeing him flying to his death, Jim remained smiling as they spoke through the lunch break.

—

Jim had been thinking all day about what he would do about Kanjigar and the amulet, but he hadn’t decided until after school, as he was about to go to the play try-outs. He was walking Toby to the gates when it finally hit him- What if he wasn’t the Trollhunter? What if he let someone else find the amulet that he had grown attached to over the course of three years, let someone else have it’s protecting warmth?

Was this how he wanted things to go? He knew it had to be. If Toby had the armor then he would be protected. The amulet would never hold Jim in it’s light again, but he had to do it.  There was no other route for Jim to take. Toby had to be the Trollhunter. Jim could all but see his friend’s excited stance as he would pick up the amulet that would call out his name.

“Hey Tobes?” Jim said quickly, no way could he chicken out on this. “Maybe take the canal home. I’m sure you’ll find something interesting.” 

“Yeah right.” Toby said as he walked away with his bike. “Nothing interesting happens in this town.” 

It was done. Jim had no doubt that Toby would listen to his instructions, that he would find the amulet that night. As he watched his friend walk away he could only hope that Toby wouldn’t immediately use the amulet to punch Steve like he had instructed Jim to do when he had first seen what the amulet could do. Jim smiled and turned to enter the auditorium. 

It was funny to him how little anxiety Jim felt about being on stage this time. After everything he had been through, it was almost shocking how different he felt here, in this moment. He gingerly took the wooden sword that Eli was kindly offering up to him, testing the wait and spinning it fondly. Even this toy gave him the rush of excitement felt from holding a sword in his hand, the feelings that he had discovered in himself the first time he had fought and felt the exhilaration of knowing that he was made to fight, to wield a blade. Jim took a deep breath, looked out at his small audience and began. 

And as he stood there Jim could still feel the rush of battle, the excitement of the hunt. He felt the agony of losing those he loved, the tender touch of a grieving friend. He felt the tingle of hope that guides all great warriors from one fight to the next. He felt the warmth of being surrounded by those he was honored to call family. He remembered doing this once before, and he remembered the wise words of someone who was like a father to him as he looked into the eyes of the girl he would never stop loving.

“Destiny is a gift…”

—

Jim biked home alone that evening, the wind ruffling his hair as he ignored the silence, and as he ignored the thoughts telling him not to take the shortcut that he had grown familiar with over the years. He had to be sure that Toby had taken the amulet, in spite of knowing now that had Toby not grabbed it Bliky and Aaarrrgggh!!! would have. Jim’s bike skidded to a stop near the large pile of rocks that he now knew to be the body of Kanjigaar, the previous Trollhunter. Draal’s father… Jim wondered-not for the first time- how it might have felt to be Draal in this moment. 

To hear his father was dead and that Draal didn’t get what he had felt entitled to- the last item of a dad who was always too distant. A father who had pushed away his only son in hopes of protecting him, only to have the person who followed be the one his son turned to dust for. For Draal to lose what was left of the parent he loved to some human who knew nothing of what Kanjigaar had sacrificed for the world. Jim shivered as he shifted through the remains of the Trollhunter, muttering apologies under his breath, some of which were trollish prayers for the fallen warrior that were commonly used within Trollmarket. 

When Jim was at last satisfied that the amulet was no longer buried anywhere within the pile of rubble he stood, his hands gripping the hard stone that he believed to be Kanjigar’s horns, feeling the familiar texture of the bone fragments. He looked to the steadily darkening sky and briefly contemplated how much more daylight he would have left in the day, before deciding it was too late to move the troll’s corpse to a more secluded area for the other trolls to retrieve later. He relinquished his hold on Kanjigar’s stone and walked over to his bike. 

He could see a blue light from inside his bag’s pocket, and could hear the vibration of his phone. He had never turned silent mode off, and he had no idea how long it could have been ringing for. Jim pulled out his phone to a picture of Toby pasted to the screen, tapping the green ‘accept call’ button before holding the phone near his ear. 

“Heeey Tobes, what’s-” Jim was quickly cut off by the excited chatter of his best friend.

“Jimbo!” Toby yelled. “You’ll never believe what just happened! There are these two people, well not really people but- forget it! You need to come here! Come over to my house now!!” 

“Hey!” Jim said quickly, “Calm down.”

Blinky and Aaarrrgggh!!! must have found him. Jim thought with a small smile on his face, to him it had been just a day since he had last seen his mentor and friend, but they wouldn’t remember him. It seemed to finally hit Jim that he no longer would have the support of his two troll friends. He wasn’t their Trollhunter. Nobody remembered what he had done, the youth he had sacrificed. He may be able to start over but the pain of what he had done and been through would never fade or be acknowledged.

“I’m on my way, Tobes.” Jim said after his short pause. He hung up the phone before hopping on his bike and heading towards his friend’s home.

— 

Jim was finally standing outside of Toby’s house, his helmet at his side as he looked anxiously into his friend’s oddly shuttered windows. Jim had spent the entire ride here thinking of how different things were going from his first time. He could have sworn that the auditions had been tomorrow, and that Blinky and Aaarrrgggh!!! hadn’t come until AFTER sundown. Things were sticking out to Jim that he hadn’t realized until now, and he felt a small bit of anxiety as he walked up to Toby’s doorstep, tossing his bike to the side before ringing the doorbell. 

He could hear whispered voices from inside the house before he finally heard the lock click. Toby threw open the door and quickly latched his hand to Jim’s wrist.

“Jimbo!!” He said as he dragged Jim inside, his eyes darting around before he slammed his door. “You’ll never believe what happened!!” 

Though Jim had initially been startled by his friend’s forceful actions, he had immediately started scanning the living room for signs of hidden trolls. He found them almost immediately. Jim could see one of Blinky’s horns peeking from behind the couch, and Aaarrrgggh!!! was ‘hiding’ almost uselessly behind one of Toby’s Nana’s plants. After he spotted the two, Jim quickly turned his gaze back to Toby, smiling at his friend’s excited expression. 

“What is it Tobes? What happened?”

“So I took the canal like you said! And then the weirdest thing happened, Jim!” Toby reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out what Jim knew to be the amulet of Merlin. Jim took in the glowing form of the amulet, his eyes seemingly unable to tear themselves from the brilliance of it. “This thing spoke to me!” 

Jim’s head shot up to look at Toby, knowing what he was about to hear, he smiled.

“Oh yeah?” He said as nonchalantly as he could without showing how wrong it felt to see the amulet in someone else's hands. “What did it say?”

Toby grinned wide and proceeded to shove the amulet into Jim’s chest.

“It said your name!!” 

Jim’s widening eyes were eclipsed by a blinding blue light as the amulet glowed at his touch. 

“ Jim Lake Jr….. ”

"... You have to be kidding me."