————<•>————
'We love every version of you, Jim'
————<•>————
Claire ended up portalling herself to me after I didn't come back for a good twenty minutes, and together we portalled back to the group.
"There you are! We thought you got lost" Toby cackles as Claire and I walk through the portal.
"I did get lost. I was stuck in a really tall tree and couldn't be bothered getting down" I explain to the boy with my arms crossed before I realise someone isn't here. "Where's Jim?"
"We thought he was with you?" Claire tells me.
"He was too fast, I lost track of him" I tell them as Claire holds out her staff, attempting to find him.
She grunts as nothing happens, only a pathetic black wisp that soon disappears.
"I can't find him with the staff. It's like it doesn't recognise him anymore" Claire explains with a worried expression on her face.
"So Jim's out there by himself? He shouldn't be by himself right now" I stress as I start to fiddle with my hair.
Jim's always been quite self conscious. Whether it be about not being a good enough Trollhunter or his looks. And now that he looks the way he does, he's at his most vulnerable. He can pretend all he wants, but I know he's struggling.
If anything, Jim as a troll is weirdly nice looking...
Who am I kidding, he's hot.
"And it's almost daytime, he can't be in the sun" Claire reminds, only furthering my worry.
"Then we have to find him" I say.
————<•>————
The group all quickly split up. I decided to look through the woods we were in, deciding that maybe Jim got lost. After around twenty minutes of yelling for him, I decided that he wasn't here.
I sigh in frustration as I swat a branch away from my face, only to cry out as it comes flying back and whacks me in the face.
"Oh for gods sake! You stupid branch!" I yell as I grab the branch and attempt to pull it out, only to sigh in embarrassment as I realise I'm weaker then I thought.
I awkwardly clear my throat and let go of the branch, glancing behind me to make sure no one saw my pathetic attempt to pull out a branch from a tree.
"Glad no one saw that" I mumble to myself.
"Apparently my name is no one now" Claire's voice teases from behind me, surprising me enough to screech.
"Claire!" I yell in annoyance, pointing a finger in her direction. "You saw nothing"
"I saw nothing" She repeats before walking closer to me. "Find anything?"
"Nothing, unless you'd count a ton of bugs that won't stop annoying me" I sigh as I swat another fly away from my face.
"You need to calm down a bit, your stressed and frustrated" Claire says to me.
"Of course I'm stressed and frustrated! My boyfriends been turned into a troll and now he's lost somewhere! He could be stone by now" I exclaim as I point to the sun shining down on us.
"Right, sorry" Claire mumbles, and immediately I feel bad.
"It's not your fault...its Merlins" I grumble as I think of the old man. "I don't know what I'm gonna do Claire, I mean, a troll boyfriend? Life's gonna be so complicated now"
Jim can't go in the sun anymore, he won't be able to go to school, he can't even eat normal human food.
"Life's always been complicated, we're trollhunters" Claire attempts to joke.
"Yeah, but this is different...he's still Jim and I still lov-" I start to say before immediately cutting myself off and slamming my hand over my mouth, hoping Claire didn't catch that last bit—but she did.
"You still what?" Claire asks, her eyes wide like she's expecting me to say the word she thought she almost heard.
"Nothing" I grumble as I cross my arms and look away from the girl.
"You were gonna say you love him!" Claire squeals as she grabs my arm and shakes me around excitedly.
"No, I wasn't! Ew, love! That's gross!" I say childishly as Claire laughs loudly.
"You have to tell him!" Claire gushes in excitement.
"Claire, now is not the time! Jim's just been turned into a troll and we can't even find him" I stress before sighing, finally giving in to the girl. "He doesn't need me proclaiming my love to him right now"
"Or...that's exactly what he needs" Claire says softly, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Now come on, let's go find Toby"
I nod and smile at Claire, forever thankful she came into my life.
Claire opens the portal and we walk through. We appear in the middle of the road on the bridge above the canal's. My eyes widen as I look forward to see Toby up ahead and riding his bike straight towards us.
"Toby, watch out!" Claire yells as the boy quickly skids his bike to a stop in front of us.
"Sorry. Any sign of Jim?" The boy asks as I sadly shake my head.
"Nothing" I mutter as the portal disappears behind us.
"This is nuts! How can he just disappear out of no—hey, is that Merlin?" Toby asks as we walk to the side of the bridge and look down to see Merlin in the canals, looking through the bars that lead to the sewers.
"What a weird old man" I mumble as I watch him look around cluelessly.
"What's captain crazy armour doing now?" Toby asks confused.
Claire groans in annoyance at the sight of the man and portals away before Toby and I can even blink.
"Well, Claire's gonna kill him" I mumble as I watch her portal infront of him, pointing her staff towards the man threateningly.
"Should we go help her?" Toby asks, gaining a proud smirk from me.
"You read my mind, ginger" I mutter as Toby jumps onto his bike, helping me climb on behind him before we go zooming off towards Claire.
We start to get closer and Toby immediately starts to peddle faster down the steep slope, only causing him to slightly lose control.
"Listen up puzzle master—Ahhhhh!" Toby's screams mix with mine as he slightly loses control and goes speeding past Merlin and Claire, only to swiftly turn his bike again before skidding to a stop infront of the two.
"Jesus Toby!" I scold as I quickly jump off the bike, grabbing the end of Toby's helmet and pulling it over his eyes before I look to Merlin with a nasty glare. "You! I don't know what you did to Jim, but when we find him, your turning him back!"
"Back?" Merlin asks, obviously amused. "There is no back, it's permanent"
My face goes slack as I watch him start to walk away.
"What?" Toby blanks.
"Ugh!" I yell in annoyance as I use my powers to stop Merlin in his tracks. "You can't just turn my boyfriend into a troll!"
"Boyfriend? Time for a status update, huh? Good for you" Toby smirks making me look to him in annoyance.
"This is old news Toby, keep up" Claire says with a roll of her eyes.
"He's half troll, half boyfriend" Merlin shrugs as I feel my left eye twitch at the audacity of this old man.
We all gasp as Merlin suddenly drops to the floor on all fours, sniffing the ground like a dog looking for food. He then swipes his finger on the ground before licking the pavement and muttering under his breath.
"He needs to go to a mental institution" I mumble with my arms crossed.
"Agreed. What is your deal, dude? You trolled Jim. You lick cement! Are there any other secrets your keeping from us?" Toby exclaims in annoyance.
Merlin licks the ground once more before finally looking up to us.
"Oh plenty" He nods before standing up.
"Tell us" Claire demands.
"Well, then they wouldn't be secrets" Merlin smirks.
I go to speak but am interrupted by the ground shaking. I gasp and grab onto Claire's arm to stabilise myself before we both feel Toby wrap his arms around us both in a fright.
And then it stopped.
"Well...that was weird" I mumble as I peel Toby's arms off of me.
"Are those quakes coming from Trollmarket?" Claire asks curiously.
"Worse. Morgana" Merlin mutters with an angry snarl. "We need to find the Trollhunter"
"That's what I've been saying" I mumble with a roll of my eyes.
————<•>————
It was night by the time I got a call from Barbara, and hope immediately bubbled in my chest. I quickly answered it and brung the phone to my ear, nervously tapping my foot to the ground.
"Hey Barbara, any sign of Jim?" I ask as I wrap my free arm around my stomach.
"Hey Y/n, there's somewhere I'd like you to look" Barbara tells me.
————<•>————
Claire, Toby and I immediately made our way to the school. We slam the hallway doors open and quickly run past the classrooms.
"Jim, you in here?" Toby yells as we jog around the school.
"Jim?" I yell as I open a random classroom door, glancing around before closing the door and continuing after Toby and Claire.
Toby and Claire make their way to the lockers as I quickly go to our History class. I glance through the small window of the door before opening it slowly, looking around the room.
"Jim?" I call before I notice a mark on Jim's desk.
I slowly walk towards it and pause as I see the word JIM carved into his desk.
"Oh, Jim" I mumble worriedly before I quickly leave the classroom.
I find Claire and we make our way to the gymnasium. Claire opens the door with a creak and spots Toby near the bleachers.
"Toby!" Claire yells out to the boy, catching his attention as I watch Toby excitedly look up.
"He's here!" Toby yells, just as Jim leaps out from underneath the bleachers, jumping onto the wall and launching himself onto the high rope that he climbs until he can leap onto the beams near the ceiling.
"Jim, wait!" I yell, immediately causing the boy to stop as he crouched on the beam and looks down to us angrily.
"Don't you get it? I'm not Jim anymore. Go away!" Jim yells angrily before leaping through an open window.
I watch him go sadly before I turn to Claire desperately.
"He's going to the roof" I mumble quickly, causing the girl to nod and grab out her staff, opening it with a click.
"Goodluck" Claire mumbles as she opens a portal for me, and I don't waste a second before I jump through.
I find myself on top of the roof, and quickly spot Jim who hadn't noticed me yet. I watch as he stares blankly up into the night sky, sadness and confliction written all over his face.
"Jim" I call quietly and I watch as Jim turns to me in surprise before he covers his face and jumps behind a concrete block. "No, please don't run from me..."
When I get no answer I decide to stay where I am, not wanting to scare him away again.
"I know you see yourself as some monster, but you have to know that I don't see it that way, no one does" I say quietly, slowly taking a step forward when I get no response. "Whatever you are...whatever you do...whatever you say...none of it will ever stop how I feel about you, about us"
It was silent before he finally spoke.
"Why?" I hear him grunt, confusion and emotion layered in his voice.
I stay quiet for a second, looking to the ground as I feel tears build up in my eyes.
"Because I love you, Jim" I say with so much emotion that it hurts.
I hear Jim let out a shaky breath before he seems to shuffle closer to the edge of the concrete block, seemingly too scared to show himself but wanting to be closer to me anyway.
"You do?" I hear him mumble shakily as I start to rapidly nod my head before realising he can't see me.
"I do" I say quietly with choked up laugh. "How could I not? Your very loveable"
I hear him laugh quietly to himself and I feel myself smiling.
"I love you too, Jimbo!" I hear Toby's voice yell out as he pants from pulling himself up the ladder. "But let's talk on the ground"
"Hurry up, Toby!" Claire yells in annoyance, apparently below Toby's slumped form.
"Right, sorry" Toby pants as he pulls himself up and slumps to the floor as Claire finally pulls herself up to the top.
I smile at the two before I look back to Jim who had pulled himself up to the top of the concrete block, looking to us curiously.
"I know I could never understand what your going through right now. You look different, you act different...you eat different" I mumble, recalling how Barbara said he ate a blender. "But your still the same Jim we all love, and not even this can change that"
Jim looks to the three of us before he looks down with a tired sigh.
"I can't fight Gunmar and be the person you want me to be" Jim says as he looks to his his hands.
"Then don't be the person we want you to be, be the person you need to be...either way we'll be here, we'll always be here" I say to him as I feel Claire lay a hand on my shoulder with a nod.
"We're here on this roof for you" Claire says to him.
"Especially me, man. I just climbed three stories for you!" Toby cries as I nod.
"That's true friendship" I smile as I nudge Toby playfully.
"And maybe you feel like everything's changed, but that's only the outside stuff. Inside, your still you" Claire smiles.
"We love every version of you, Jim" I say, smiling softly up to the boy who continues to gaze to the ground.
"Maybe your old life is over...but that doesn't mean we can't be apart of your new one" Toby tells Jim with a hopeful smile.
Suddenly the door to the roof opened and Barbara and Strickler come rushing through, pausing as they looked to the scene in front of them.
"Jim" Barbara says to the boy with a soft look on her face. We all start to walk towards Jim as he jumps down from the concrete block. "We're here for you"
Jim shakily steps back as we step forward, looking to us with tears in his eyes.
"I can't live in your world anymore. I cant be in the daylight, I can't eat dinner." Jim stops with a shaky sigh.
"But you can let us help you" I say, taking one step forward as Jim takes three steps back. "We just want to help you"
Jim gets to the edge of the building, and it looks like he's contemplating on jumping off and running away again, but luckily Blinky appears.
My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion as Blinky levitates up, and I realise that he's standing on Aaarrrgghh's hand who's holding him up.
"Master Jim" Blinkys voice clearly surprises Jim who jumps forward before swiftly turning around in confusion. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Uh, help?" Aaarrrgghh grunts as Blinky walks towards Jim, leaving the troll to awkwardly jump to try and pull himself up, failing horribly.
"There seems to be something different about you. Why, with a few more eyes and arms, we could be related" Blinky jokes as I feel my eyes narrow at the troll.
This is not helping.
"Troll brother" Aaarrrgghh grunts as he continues to try and pull himself up, gaining a chuckle from Jim.
Maybe it is helping?
"What am I, Blinky?" Jim asks the troll.
"When I gaze upon you, do you know what I see?" Blinky asks Jim softly, the latter shaking his head. "I see a champion. A friend. A son...a magnificent son"
I watch the exchange with teary eyes as I look to Toby and Claire who both look like their on the verge of tears as well.
I quickly wipe them away but decide it's no use as Blinky brings Jim into a tight hug.
"I'm scared" I hear Jim whisper shakily.
"Goodness gracious, who isn't?" Blinky chuckles before he looks towards me and beckons me over.
I smile and quickly rush forward, wrapping my arms tightly around Jim's waist as the boy chuckles and holds me close to him, letting out a shaky breath as he leans his chin on top of my head. I close my eyes tightly as I lean my forehead against Jim's chest, a watery smile appearing on my face.
"He'll be fine now" I barely hear Strickler tell Barbara as they watch us hug, but it manages to make my cheeks flush slightly.
I try to ignore the presences of everyone and decide just to focus on this. A hug is something Jim's been needing these last few days, and I'm always happy to give one. Especially when it's for Jim.
"I love you too" I hear Jim whisper ever so quietly to me.
I slowly pull away and look up to Jim with a soft look on my face as I bring my hand up to his cheek, grazing my thumb over his face with a fond smile.
"Really?" I whisper causing Jim to smile in amusement.
"Yeah" He mumbles as gazes at me in adoration.
"I'd kiss you right about now, but that's kinda awkward with everyone watching" I whisper to him, causing Jim to chuckle and instead softly kiss my forehead as I smile widely.
"This is so cute!" Toby gushes as he rushes forward to join the hug, causing me to groan and Jim to chuckle.
"You told him?" Claire asks excitedly as I shyly nod my head causing her to squeal and join the hug as well.
I sigh in happiness and look up to Jim. He looks lighter then he was a before, happier.
"Splendid" I hear a familiar voice say as Barbara and Strickler part for Merlin to walk through, the man cockily clapping his hands. "Team Trollhunter is back together. I knew you would all figure it out. Ah, this has been rather heartwarming, but unless you plan to hug Gunmar to death, I advise we make ready, because, as you say these days, the fight is on"
"Great" I mutter as I lean my head on Jim's chest.
————<•>————
Authors note:
Wassup readers
Jim and Y/n saying I love you on chapter 98 😀 Didn't realise how much of a slow burn this book was LOL
Also not me writing that Y/n takes one step forward and Jim takes three steps back. I don't know if any of you have heard of Olivia Rodrigo, but she has a song and it's like 'It's always one step forward, and three steps back' and I thought it was funny to add.
I hope I did this episode justice, I was really trying to add a lot of cute Jim and Y/n moments but also talk about poor Jim's situation
Honestly, in the episode when Claire was like to Jim 'I know what your going through-' like girl, NO U DONT HAHA
Still love you Claire, but that line was a bit goofy
Make sure to comment and vote! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!