————<•>————
"Looks like rock face has brains for rocks as well"
————<•>————
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Toby whines as we swerve through the crystals.
Claire and I are not the most patient people, so we decided to sneak around so we can listen to what's happening between the Tribunal and Vendel.
"Toby, it'll be fine" I promise as I quickly grab his arm, steadying him as he almost trips over his own feet.
"I see no reason for your impatience" I hear Vendel say as we sneak around and duck behind the crystals.
"He may still be alive! There's been no other troll-hunter chosen. Why do we have to move now?" Vendel says as we speak over the crystals and towards the conversation.
"We cannot allow the child's folly to endanger all of trollkind" Queen Ursuna says.
"Foolish he was to go in alone. Should not have gone at all" A Wumpa says.
I can't help but agree, why does Jim have to be so stubborn and heroic?
"If Gunmar finds the boy, what's stopping him from getting out?" Another troll asks.
"Killahead Bridge is locked in the vault" Vendel defends.
"Like a vault will stop Gunmar" Queen Ursuna says bitterly.
Rocks on the table suddenly shook and flew into the air, forming the face of a troll.
"Tear it down, and let the flesh thing perish in the Dark-lands" The rock face said as I frown "Your toy amulet will choose another"
"Those ungrateful turds! We don't have a say about Jim, but volcano guy does?" Toby says bitterly.
"Even in the troll world the leaders suck" I grumble as we look back towards the conversation.
"The troll hunters fate is not yet sealed, the amulet has yet to call another" Vendel says defensively "He may still return to us"
"Captured already he may be, with Gumm-Gunn horde marching for us!" The wumpa says fiercely.
"I am astounded at what I'm hearing. Master Jim's deeds may be brash, yes, but in his short tenure bearing the sacred mantle, the troll hunter slayed Bular the Vicious..." Blinky starts, everyone flasbacking towards Jim slicing his sword and killing Bular.
"Rallied the Troll market against Angor Rot, uncovered the changelings in our midst, and captured the very bridge you now wish to make his tomb!" Blinky says angrily, everyone looking down disappointed in themselves, even makes me feel bad and I've done nothing.
"So many times he has granted our kind mercy, saved us from ourselves! I don't merely ask that we keep the bridge standing, I demand we go in after him!" Blinky yells with his fist in the air.
"Very moving Blinkous, but answer me this. Who's to say this human isn't a changeling, who went in to free Gunmar himself?" Rock face said.
"Looks like rock face has brains for rocks as well" I mutter to Toby and Claire, Toby letting out a loud snort making Claire and I quickly cover his mouth and duck behind the crystal, peeking over and sighing in relief when no one's looking at us.
"I am flabbergasted!" Blinky gasps in disbelief.
"I see no proof otherwise" another trolls says in a snobby voice.
"How dare you!" Claire yells as we rush out from behind the crystals.
"You were the ones who said he has to answer every call!" I yell out.
"He went in to hunt down Gunmar, the one troll the rest of you are too scared to deal with!" Toby yells as he accusingly points his finger towards the trolls.
"Jim has done everything for you selfish trolls! He makes one mistake and you all just throw him away like he isn't the best troll hunter you've ever had!" I yell angrily.
"Oh not these three" Rock face groans.
"Yes us three" I mock as I glare at the stupid floating rock thing.
"You are always a pain in my rear" Rock face says as he glared at us.
Claire and I glare at him as we step forward but a troll grabs us from behind.
"They deserve to be heard! If you boot them from these proceedings, you may as well do the same to me!" Blinky yells, the silence after unbearable as the council trolls look at eachother silently.
Next thing we know, Claire, Toby, Blinky and I are thrown outside roughly.
"You stupid Gremlins! How dare you!" I yell as I stand up and match towards them, Claire grabbing my arm and pulling me back.
"Scum of the earth!" Blinky yells with me.
————<•>————
Claire, Blinky, Toby and I pant as we quickly run up the steps towards the vault.
"Woah there younglings! I'm afraid the vault is off-limits until the Tribunal ends" Draal says as he stands guard in-front of the door.
"Draal you don't understand!" I pant as I try and catch my breath.
"The tribunals going to tear down the bridge with Jim in it!" Toby yells, still halfway up the stairs as he pants with his hands on his knees.
"Bushigal! They can't do that!" Draal says with wide eyes before turning around and placing his hand on the door.
The door glows blue as the lock starts spinning and spinning, spiralling downwards before opening.
"They're not going to get through us!" Draal says as he takes his weapon off his back and starts to walk through with me next to him.
"Got that right" I say as I give him a fist bump, something that took him way too long to learn.
"What are they doing in there!" I hear someone yell from behind us, clearly referring to Blinky pulling a panting Toby up the stairs.
"Please! Stop them!" I hear someone yell.
"Break the controls!" Blinky yells as him and Toby run inside.
"You know, if only I had a portable Warhammer...oh wait I do!" Toby yells before grabbing his hammer and turning it on, rushing down and breaking the controls, the door shutting on the trolls outside.
"Nice Toby!" I say as I give him a high five, Toby smiling in success.
"So...now what?" Toby asks as we realise we have no plan.
"We hold them back as long as we can!" Claire says as she twirls around her staff.
"Works for me" I say as I signal my armour, my bracelet turning into my staff as I twirl it around me.
Toby holding out his hammer, Draal cracking his back and Blinky readying his fists.
"Always had a thing against authority" Draal says as he gets into a fighting position.
"I just hope master Jim is near" Blinky says.
The door suddenly opens with the trolls marching in, Queen Ursuna in front.
Draal suddenly lets out a roar as he rolls forward, the guard troll swinging his hammer and knocking Draal to the side.
Claire yells out before she swings her staff, the troll simply swiping it away before grabbing onto Claire, Toby yelling and swinging his hammer at the troll, the troll swiping him away as Toby falls.
I yell and throw a blast at a troll getting too close, successfully knocking it back as it hits a wall.
Apparently I seemed to be the only one going fine as Claire and Toby get tossed to the ground by a troll, Blinky running forward towards another and getting punched away.
"Good gracious! Your condemning the boy!" Blinky yells at Queen Ursuna.
"A fight against the Tribunal is an affront against troll kind!" Queen Ursuna says with a smirk.
I stand in front of the portal with my staff upwards, seeming to be the only one who hasn't been knocked away.
"You can't do this, Jim is still in there" I yell at Queen Ursuna, the troll simply smirking at me.
"This has to be done, now move" Queen Ursuna orders as her guards step into line with her.
"No" I say simply.
Trolls start marching towards me, I throw a blast at one, the troll knocking back and hitting the ground with a thud.
I yell as a troll swipes at me, ducking as I blast him away as well, not realising another troll is approaching as it grabs me roughly, holding me in the air as I struggle.
"Let go of me" I yell as I squirm in the trolls grip.
The portal suddenly turns a blue making my eyes widen in panic, Jim's coming through...and they're trying to close it.
"Wait stop!" I yell, swinging my staff at the troll holding onto me, but doing no damage whatsoever.
"No! The amulet! He's coming through! He's coming through!" Toby yells as he grabs onto the trolls legs.
"It's Gunmar. Tear it down now!" Queen Ursuna yells.
"No!" Toby and I scream as trolls hold onto us with tight grips, nearly taking the breath out of my lungs.
The troll swings at the portal as we yell.
"No! We're here! We're right here!" I hear a faint voice come from the portal, a baby crying coming after it as my eyes widen.
"That's Jim! Stop it's Jim!" I yell hysterically as I try and squirm my way out of the trolls right grip.
"Enrique! Stop! That's my brother!" Claire cries as she jumps over a troll standing in front of her, running towards the portal.
"Stop please!" Claire yells as she stands in front of the portal.
"He's coming through! They're right there!" I yell as I kick the troll holding me in the groin, the troll dropping me as I run to Claire's side.
"Jim!" I scream hoarsely as I see him running with Enrique in his hand, an army of trolls behind him.
"Enrique!" Claire cries as she sees the baby in Jim's hold.
"Y/n!" Jim yells, a small smile making its way onto his face even with trolls chasing after him.
He reaches his hand out, my hand reaching out for him as our hands almost touch before I get a grip of his hand, holding onto his hand tightly as I pull him towards the portal as Claire holds onto me so I don't fall in.
Jim's almost in the portal when his eyes suddenly widen.
"Oh no" Jim yells as a troll grabs him from behind, I yell as I lose my grip on his hand, Jim falling back as trolls surround him, the portal behind me blinking.
"Jim no!" I scream, Claire holding onto my shoulder so I don't run in after Jim.
Jim gets free from the trolls as he runs forward, Enrique in his hold as he throws Enrique at us, Claire getting a hold of him.
Jim's eyes catch mine for a split second, that split second making me realise what he's doing, and all I want to do is go back to when we first met, when everything was easy.
Jim smiles sadly at me before the portal suddenly falls as I scream out Jim's name. Claire and I falling back as the portal collapsed around us, rumble of rocks thudding to the ground.
I let out a cough as the dust clears from the air, I groan as I sit up and look towards where the portal just was, where Jim just was.
"No" I whisper in a trembling voice as Claire starts crying, holding onto Enrique.
"You've killed him!" I hear Toby cry, the sound feeling like an echo in my brain as I look at my hand that was just holding Jim's. We lost him.
"You've killed him!" Toby screams in a hoarse voice at Queen Ursuna, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"He was right there! How could you!" I yell, my voice breaking as I stand up and glare harshly at the troll, ignoring the tears that threaten to fall down my face as I angrily wipe at them.
Toby yells as he grabs his hammer, swinging it at the troll before a guard grabs him, Toby struggling in his hold as he cries.
"You've killed him" Toby whispers in a broke voice, staring at the ground as tears roll down his cheeks.
"You've made a big mistake your majesty" I mumble with a glare at the smirking troll.
"It doesn't feel like it" Ursuna says as she narrows her eyes at me.
Queen Ursuna gives our broken group one last glance before walking away, her troll guards following behind her as she leaves us to stare at her.
Tears start to fall down my cheeks and I have no intention to stop them as I let out a loud sob and cover my face with my hands.
I feel a hand being placed on my shoulder as I look up to a puffy eyed Claire, I try to speak before deciding crying is all I can do right now as I latch myself onto Claire, hugging her tightly as she pats my back.
Jim's gone.
————<•>————
We all gather around in the library, Claire holding Enrique tightly, Toby and Blinky staring at the floor and me sitting on a chair as I stare at my hand.
"He was right there" Toby whispers as we all stare numbly at the ground.
"He got you back...he kept his promise" Claire mumbles as she looks from Enrique to me.
"We were so close...and now..." I whisper, not even being able to finish my sentence.
"This is my fault. I could've done more" Blinky says as he touches Aaarrrgghhs stone face.
"If anything it was my fault. I had a hold of his hand, he was right there and then..." I mumble, Claire softly grabbing onto my shoulder with one hand, the other arm still holding Enrique.
"We can do more! There has to be a way!" Toby yells as he desperately looks towards Blinky "There has to be something we haven't thought of"
"Toby" I whisper softly as I stand up to comfort him, Toby moving away as he shakes his head.
"No, Y/n you can't give up on Jim, you said yourself you'd do anything to get Jim back" Toby says as I sigh.
"I would, but that was our only chance Toby, the portal is destroyed" I say sadly as I slump back into my chair, rubbing my red puffy eyes.
"No, as long as the amulet doesn't call anybody else, we know he's okay" Toby says.
Just as he said that, Jim's amulet on the table starts glowing, flying upwards as we all stare at it with wide eyes.
"James...Lake" The amulet says as it starts spinning around.
"It's calling" Claire whispers just as the amulet shoots off and attaches to Aaarrrgghh's stone body.
The Amulet seems to speak in trollish, so quietly that I can barely make out what it's saying.
"I don't understand" Blinky says as we stare at the amulet.
"It's not making any sense" I say as I try and listen to the words being said.
"What's it saying?" Claire asks as I stare at the amulet.
"The troll is the key..." I mumble, straining my ears as I try and listen.
"...The key to the hunter" Blinky finishes as we stare at eachother.
"It's just repeating it, over and over" I say with crossed arms.
"It must be a glitch" Blinky decides but I just shake my head.
"Is it broken?" Claire asks, her hold on Enrique tight.
Toby leans in close to the ticking amulet, his eyes seem to widen.
"No. They're helping us!" Toby yells happily as I stare at him confused.
"Who?" I ask.
"The voices in the amulet, the ghost council!" Toby says with wide eyes.
"Well, what are they trying to say?" Claire asks him.
"The troll is the key, the..." Blinky seems to finally understand as he looks towards Aaarrgghh's statue.
"Aaarrrggghh is the key!" Blinky says excitedly as he points to the stone troll.
"He's gonna get us Jim back!" Toby yells excitedly. "You hear that Y/n? If we save Aaarrgghh, we save Jim!"
"This might actually work!" I laugh as I start to jump up and down excitedly, Claire grabbing onto my shoulder so I stop as she giggles.
"I don't believe it!" Claire says excitedly as we all start laughing.
"Now that is some glitch!" Blinky laughs as he gives me a hug, fist bumping Toby as I side hug a smiling Claire.
"We're gonna get Jim back" Claire says to me as I smile happily.
"Yeah, we will" I say as we all stare at the amulet attached to Aaarrgghh's stone body "We will"
————<•>————
Authors note:
This was a fun chapter to write
I find that I enjoy writing pain which doesn't happen too much in troll hunters so I'll take what I can get and make it as dramatic as possible
I already miss writing Jim and Y/n and it's barely been an episode 😭
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!