Skrael POV
For the past few days, I think, everyone's been running around, meeting together and preparing for a war. I think they've held five meetings by now, but I'm not sure. I wasn't in any of them, and everything's been a haze since we told the trollhunters about Aridam. I can't remember what I've told them or where I've been accurately. I think either Krel or Douxie have been around me the entire time, yet I still can't be sure.
I'm finally broken out of that haze by Krel. He's in front of me in his human form, his hands are on my shoulders, and he's looking at me concerned.
"Skrael? Are you good? You've been out of it for nearly two weeks." Krel asks, keeping his arms on me.
'So that's how long it was'
"I'm fine." I answer, trying to get back inside.
'When did we get outside?'
"You sure? You'd barely answer anyone, and when you did, you'd mumble something. Plus you haven't eaten anything unless me or Krel forced you to." Douxie said from behind me, making me jump.
"When'd you get here?" I asked, the question slipping out.
"I was the one that brought you here." He said with a smirk.
I looked down, feeling a warm blush spread across my face. Krel moved himself to my right, and grabbed my cheek, making me look up, as Douxie went to my left and placed a hand on my arm.
"What happened?" Krel asks, with a soft look.
"I don't know, I can't remember anything. The last clear thing was running into the war room, and everyone learning about Aridam's escape." I look up at both of them to see them glancing at each other, before Douxie sighed.
"Come on, let's sit down." He said, while lightly pulling us with him.
We sat at the edge, like how I had done before, with Douxie on my left and Krel on my right. Krel would look at me every now and then to make sure I was actually here, and Douxie held me close.
Douxie POV
It's nearly been two weeks since that unwanted news was told, and Skrael hasn't registered anything that's happened. Krel and I are getting really worried, we're the only reason he does things, and even so, he barely even lets all of it happen. After another meeting, I pulled Krel and a still hazed Skrael outside
Krel was shaking him for a minute when he finally broke out of that haze he's been in. He looked at Krel for a bit, kind of confused, Krel looking at him concerned.
"Skrael? Are you good? You've been out of it for nearly two weeks." Krel asks.
'Please don't space out again'
"I'm fine." He answered, trying to get back inside.
"You sure? You'd barely answer anyone, and when you did, you'd mumble something. Plus you haven't eaten anything unless me or Krel forced you to." I said from behind him, making me jump imperantly.
"When'd you get here?" he blurted out.
"I was the one that brought you here." I said with a smirk.
He looked down, a pink blush spreading across his face.
'He's really become warmer since in that haze. His body almost looks naturally pale.'
I walked over to them, Krel moved himself to Skrael's right, and grabbed his cheek, making him look up, as I went to his left and placed a hand on his arm.
"What happened?" Krel asks, with a soft look.
"I don't know, I can't remember anything. The last clear thing was running into the war room, and everyone learning about Aridam's escape." Krel and I shared a glance at each other, before I sighed.
"Come on, let's sit down." I said, while lightly pulling them with me.
'Skrael was really out of it. He needs to take care of himself more, before he gets sick. It would be terrible timing, knowing him, he'll be using his ice at a constant rate when we find Aridam, making him even worse.'
We sat at the edge, like how I had done before, with Skrael on my right and Krel on his. Krel would look at him every now and then, and I held him close, to possibly make him calm down more.
"We're planning on finding Aridam and stopping him before anything major happens." I say in a soft, hushed tone.
At this, Skrael looks over to me, confused.
"You mean fight him? Did Bell and Nari agree?" He asked with a slight panicked tone.
"Bellroc was the one to suggest it." Krel answers.
Skrael looked full blown panicked after he said that. He looked down at his lap, slightly hazing out like before.
'Oh no.'
"Skrael? Please tell me you can still hear us." I say, worried that we'll lose him again.
Instead of answering, or phasing out, he quickly stood up and started running. Startled, we did the same. We followed him, and nearly lost him multiple times, because he kept turning quickly through the Corridors. He finally stopped in the war room, where everyone was still in and making preparations for the upcoming battle.
"Nari, Bell, please tell me they're wrong about you guys suggesting going after Aridam." Skrael says, out of breath. His fingers turning darker by the minute.
"No, we did. Why?" Nari answers him.
Skrael looks scared by that, and Krel and I walk towards him, hopefully able to calm him down.
"Do you not remember what happened last time we fought him?!" Skrael asks, nothing but worry and fear on his face. Ice starting to lightly coat the floor around him.
"What does he mean?" Claire asks, facing Bell and Nari.
"Last time we fought him, both of them got knocked out with multiple injuries while mine were fatal." Skrael answers, barely able to keep calm.
Everyone, except for Bell and Nari, looks at him with shock and horror on their faces, including me. I walk closer to him, and place a hand on his shoulder to feel him shaking.
"When I got them away enough, I woke them up and we trapped him. If we tried anything else, we wouldn't have succeeded." He continues, looking down. His fingers and feet are entirely black now and the floor and some of the walls are becoming heavily covered.
"He is too powerful and we would be fools to try and attack him now." He says looking at everyone.
"And we would be fools to let him roam around again." Bell says, walking closer to Skrael.
"Trust me Skrael, I know what happened and I know our best bet would be to take him out now. If we don't, he will start destroying the world to draw us towards him. I will not let him hurt you or Nari like that. Not again, I promise." Bell whispers to Skrael.
While walking towards him, Bell unfroze the surrounding area and was trying to warm up Skrael's freezing body temperature.
"Now that you are responsive, please go get ready. We plan to confront him by tomorrow, we are already flying out and will have people standing guard throughout the night to be sure." Bell said, guiding Skrael to Krel so he can bring both back outside.
I told Krel to continue and I'll find them later.
"That was unexpected." Jim said, blankly staring at where they left from.
"I don't blame him, he did just realize what we're doing." Claire said to Jim, walking up to me.
"What happened out there?" She asked.
"I'm not really sure myself." I say, looking over to Nari I ask her,
"Is Skrael prone to freeze or hurt himself when using his ice?"
Everyone was obviously shocked by my question, but even Bell was, which made me confused.
'Didn't Bell know about this?'
"He is. I tried to get him not to use so much and to tell Bell the severity, since I didn't even know, but I don't think he listened to me." Nari answers, looking upset.
"Okay. Aridam is suspected to be where exactly?" I ask, looking at Jim.
"Wait, but weren't you at that meeting though." Steve asks.
"No, my Warrior Oaf he was with Skrael at the time, little brother was at that meeting." Aja reminds Steve.
"We found out he's moving towards New York City, and that's where we'll be by tomorrow morning." Jim answers.
"Okay, thank you. I'm going to go find Krel and Skrael now." I say, turning to the exit
It took a few minutes to find them, yet I only found them because I forgot to grab my staff from my room this morning.
"And here I was thinking it would take an hour to find you guys." I say, leaning against the doorframe. Skrael just looked up while Krel jumped out of his skin, or in his case, changed it.
"Don't DO that! You scared me." He yells, looking really upset.
"Your fault for placing your guard down. He was standing there for about five minutes. " Skrael says, not looking up this time.
I look towards his hand to see a tablet in his hands. Which had surprised me when I was first by the room.
"Whatcha doing Skrael?" I ask, grabbing my staff and silently spelling it into my magical void.
Instead of answering, he places the tablet down, propping it to face him. Walking over I see a beautifully detailed drawing of Nari on ice. She was wearing ice skates and it seemed to be from Skrael's point of view. She looked like she just landed back onto the ice. Her left leg was behind her and right arm was stretched out with her left arm slightly on her back. It seemed like there were multiple snowflakes falling around her. She looked extremely happy, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong.
"Was this from when you and Nari went out and Bell taught me that spell?" I ask, sitting next to him.
"Douxie the observant everyone." He replied sarcastically.
"Can you not be sarcastic, like is that a possibility or is a natural occurrence." Krel asks, still in his alien form.
"Eh, more Natural." Skrael answered while shrugging.
"It looks extremely good, did you draw this from memory?" I ask.
"I'm good at drawing or painting a lot, and since I have more of a... vivid memory of things. I draw them, or the things I enjoy remembering at least."
"Cool, but I'm guessing you're not just doing that cause you want to." I suggest, nugging his shoulder.
"With vivid memories comes unwanted known details. I remember to the last detail what Aridam did to my siblings, and I know I ignore any memories when I'm drawing except the one I am drawing."
"Depressing. So, question, you always refer to Bellroc and Nari as your siblings and not sisters. Is that for a reason?" Krel asks, making me laugh at both his question and first remark.
"Bell's Non-binary, and goes by they/them. And before you ask, they were literally born Non-binary, it wasn't a choice like if I say I'm a girl or something." Skrael responds, thankfully lacking any snarky tone that could have been.
"Oh, sorry." Krel says looking regretful.
"You're fine, if you had already known this, then I would have taken offense, but you hadn't so you're fine." Skrael says, looking up at Krel.
"Now is the 'question Skrael' thing done or do you guys have more?" He asks, looking at both of us slightly amused.
"One more-" I stop, due to all of us laughing at that.
"I, uh. I just wanted to ask if something happened while I talked to the others."
"Yeah, I had a mild panic attack from a few memories." Skrael answers, trying to find anything to add to the drawing before turning off the device.
"Ok, wait.-" we laugh again.
"I promise this isn't just to keep it going." I tell Skrael
"Mhm, sure." Skrael drawls out
"Do you have photographic memory? You keep mentioning the word vivid, and my guess is that your siblings have it too, but I don't want to be wrong and ask." I explain.
"Yeah, we all do. It's part of us being eternal. I'm not sure if it's something we were born with or if we created it with constant things we wanted to remember. I know mortally it's something you're born with, but we're sort of the farthest thing by now." He answers. I nod at his answer, processing it.
"We should go to sleep, we're expected to be in New York by sunrise I believe." Krel reminds us both.
Krel POV
Skreal and I are walking around a block trying to find any irregular activity in New York City. It's kind of hard, since it is early in the morning. We had started a conversation about any random thing that came to mind and surprisingly it kept up for the hour and a half we were out here. That is, until a giant explosion happened about three blocks away from us.We're running to the scene when we saw him.
"Aridam"