FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO WEEKS SHE SAW THE BATTLEFIELD FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, Corruption was monstrous and angry, fighting to achieve their objective at no matter the cost. Both fronts had fought valiantly but only one can stand on top, death surrounded them all as either spirits faded away as they were killed.
Elizabeth didn't know what to feel as the trauma began getting to her, looking down she wished to finish this quickly as she grew more and more afraid and terrified from the fight.
Going to the pillar she stayed there and felt her insides churn inside out from what was seeing, panicking she curled up into a ball.
"Now you see how hard it is" his voice told from behind her, it held sympathy for the young girl "the weight of doing what is right is greater than what any could ever imagine"
She clenched her teeth "get away from me"
He sighed and sat down infront of her "I understand your pain, you are doing this for them." he said placing his hands on her shoulders "this is the price, this is the cost of doing what is right and now you truly understand it."
Through gritted teeth she teleported away and stood in front of the pillar "I agree, I will do whatever it takes to keep balance, but never side with you again." she told hoping for him to leave.
He scowled at her "you chose this, wielder."
She panted heavily as she turned to look at the pillar hopelessness in her eyes "why protect something that's already dieing?"
______________
The trollhunters got out of the gyre in the middle of the woods where the bridge stood "oh dear, we are officially fugitives from trollmarket."
Kanjigar told him as they were in a hurry "forgey, what they think we must concentrate on what we do, we have all that we need"
Claire picked up a book ad scoffed "and then some"
Toby was sick of the ride "okay, how does this crazy crime spree help us save Jimbo, exactly?"
"The key is the troll, the key to the hunter.." Marc muttered "wait you're gonna use Aaarrrgghh to open the bridge!" he shouted joyously, Grabbing his phone he said "I'm gonna call lizzie!"
Kanjigar was quick to dismiss the idea "no, the chaoswielder is not needed for this mission"
They all gasped "but she's the one who founded the pieces!" Claire shouted.
"If anyone wants to save Jim more, it's her," Toby said.
He shook his head "the wielder has her own responsibilities to tend to, she has fulfilled her part in saving the trollhunter, now it's time to fulfil yours"
They were unsure of the idea but nodded, Marc worriedly cancelled his call, hoping that this mission wouldn't be too dangerous if she were to be on her own.
_____________
Opening her front door she lazily walked back home "mom! Dad! I'm home!" she yelled tiredly, she was shocked to find the house this quiet "you guys aren't talking about something, oddly..." shrugging she went to the kitchen "might be asleep-" her eyes narrowed as she looked upstairs "something isn't right."
Going to their room she knocked on the door and she knew something wasn't right since her mother wasn't a heavy sleeper at all. Reaching for the doorknob she gasped as the door opened revealing her mother smiling at her "hey there sweetheart!"
"Um... hey mom?" she said unsure of what is going on.
"Is everything okay darling?" her voice was oddly sweeter than usual as she whispered.
Elizabeth was suspicious but shrugged it off "no, no, was just wondering if everything was okay." she said "um g'night" walking back to her room.
"G'night schnooks!" she told before closing the door.
She froze and looked behind her "what in the world is going on?" she asked herself, confused.
Going to her room she was more than exhausted at this point but before she could fall onto her bed she was paranoid so she locked her bedroom door and shut her window close. Sighing, she fell onto her bed, in a means of curiosity she wondered if she could use her powers to go into the Darklands now that the bridge was somewhat restored. With her energy she went into the lands in her spiritual form looking around in the cell rooms "this place is something I definitely won't miss" she told herself, holding her arms around her.
She heard familiar voices at the end of the hall "Toby? Liz?" the voice shouted. She quickly hid behind a wall "I'm up in here!".
Hearing Toby's voice in the darklands made her realise that they had continued into the darklands without her "Jimbo? Oh my gosh! You're not dead, you're not dead!"
That was enough for her to understand that Jim was going to be home and safe sooner than later, going back to her body she leaned her chin on her knee. They did not need her to fulfil this mission, they had it under control without her.
Huffing she tucked herself in bed and stared at the amulet on her table side "what do I do now?"
_____________
The next morning came along and she got dressed grabbing her blue hued glasses, she no longer needed them but it was the easiest way for no one to ask her about her eyes, looking at her amulet she contemplated the idea of taking it with her.
Picking up her bag she left the amulet behind "I'll summon you if I need you." she told the inanimate object but before she left she placed it on her top shelf "just for good measure."
Going downstairs she gasped when her parents turned their heads towards her as if they were visibly waiting for her to come downstairs "hey there kiddo!"
"Morning..." she responded, cautiously walking around them, everything seemed so off about them "uh is everything okay? Nothing weird happening right?"
They simultaneously nodded their heads "nothing at all darling, here's your lunch to go!" her mother shoved the bag towards her "anything for breakfast?"
Looking at them with narrowed eyes, she said as kindly as possible"'no, no, I'll um, just take this apple for the ride." grabbing an apple she picked up her bag and backed away to the door her eyes darting between them "have a nice day..."
"You too!" they said at the same time freaking her out even more.
Quickly rushing to her bike she went to the front of the house and looked back at it "what in the word is going on with you two?"
Out of nowhere Jim lunged at her picking her up into a hug "Liz! It's so good to see you again!"
Shrieking she began freaking out even more "everyone is too overly optimistic today!" she shouted not realising who it was.
"I missed you so much" he spoke gently and she finally realised his return.
As if every spark of joy went off within her she pulled away from him and hugged him "you're back..." she whispered enjoying the feeling of being in his arms, she pulled away and slapped him gently in the face but was enough to hurt.
He grunted and rubbed his cheek "thats new."
"What were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed!" she said as she unleashed her worry upon him. He remembered his last encounter with her and felt guilty but to his shock she hugged him again "I'm just glad you're safe!"
The others walked up to them and Claire teased "guess we're even now"
She chuckled as she pulled away and Jim was lost "even on what, did you guys make a bet?"
"No, ever since her and Marc started dating I've taken the liberty of teasing them" she said, he was shocked and speechless, pointing between the two and they both nodded.
"A lot has happened in the past two weeks, Jimbo" Toby told grabbing his friend in a side hug.
He chuckled lightly then got on his bike "well, no time to waste guys! We've got school!" he said joyously as he pedalled down the street.
The others were quick to begin to apologise "we're so sorry we didn't grab you, before we left!" Claire said grabbing her hands "it's just the darklands are made out of corruption and you would've been weak in there"
"I was gonna call you but kanjigar told us that you had your own mission, how did that go?" Marc cut in as he hoped nothing went wrong.
"My own mission?" she asked, confused.
Toby asked her "wait, so there wasn't any mission?"
She shook her head in response " no, not really, i mean i did encounter Dandril.." she muttered at the end making Jim yell as he returned to them.
"You what?!" he asked grabbing her shoulders "did he-"
"Nothing really happened it was just a talk," she placed her fingers on her chin "now that i think of it it could have something behind it but other than that I haven't had that much of a BIG chaos mission"
"But why would he lie?" Jim asked them all.
She scoffed "wielders and hunters don't get along that swell, jimbo." she punched his arm lightly as she got on her bike "I would've expected you to know this by now" she asked teasingly.
The others rode behind the two allowing them to have a long awaited talk among themselves, Marc whispered to Claire "oh we are so, getting her back with this"
"Let the lovebirds enjoy their time, for now" she told him ominously.
Jim chuckled at her words "how am i supposed to know that I'm supposed to hate my ally that's also my girlfriend?" he asked her, making her giggle lightly.
"Jim its simple tradition!" she said sarcastically.
Chuckling he sped up "whoo hoo!"
Shaking her head she saw a figure with glowing eyes hidden in the trees, groaning she hunched over as she pedalled and looked away "now is not the time, brain. Please give me one day off"
She was glad that Toby came in to provide a distraction "have you talked to him about it?" he asked.
"It has to come from you Tobes, you know that"
He argued "but he just got out of the darklands! He needs time to recover"
Meanwhile Jim was performing dangerous tricks on his bike but seemed to be having the time of his life.
She smiled seeing him have some kind of joy "he seems okay, maybe he's glad to be back?"
Marc pedalled next to her "you have your point, but no one can be this excited about going to school on a Monday"
Jim skidded to a halt "come on slow pokes! Let's take the ol' shortcut!" he shouted.
They all smiled knowingly "well, uh, since you've been gone, Claire found a faster way." Toby told him.
He scoffed "come on. What's faster than the canals?"
Claire created a portal behind a truck and they came riding out "whoo! You're right you've gotten good at that!" the bell caught his attention "good ol' Arcadia Oaks high!"
Liz tilted her head "is it just me noticing this, or has he been saying ol' a lot?" she asked.
"Trust me you're not the only one" Claire said.
As they walked into the school, Jim was greeted by a round of applause and cheering "what the..?"
"T.P. covered for you while you were gone," Marc told him, hoping to ease the confusion.
"T.P.?"
Claire immediately rushed to answer "of course, Toby pie!"
Toby deadpanned "you missed a lot, dude!" he reached into his bag "had to eat your moms spaghetti carbonara, more like cardboard-nara you owe me!" he sighed before giving him his books "you also missed two weeks of homework, don't hate us"
Jim was beyond joyous "hate you? Are you kidding? I love homework!"
At this point, Liz was worried about the amount of enthusiasm she was seeing today placing a hand on his shoulder. She asked "are you sure, you're fine jim?"
"Of course I am, beautiful! Now lets see..." he said before listing his homework.
Marc and Claire leaned into Liz and smirked "beautiful, huh?" he asked.
She huffed "come on guys, we're over that phase right?"
Claire chuckled lightly before going dead serious "oh it just started, beautiful"
"Looks who's back!" Steve yelled before grabbing jim "did i hear you say you love homework?" he asked suspiciously "there's something fishy going on in this lake." he yelped as jim pulled him into a side hug.
"I even missed you!" he said before slapping his cheek in a friendly manner "the ol' palchuk."
"What?" Steve was confused "get you're germs off of me!" he yelled as jim began smugly throwing gentle punches.
Toby walked towards Darci with some flower that made her sneeze "flower for my flower"
"Oh... how sweet" she told before grabbing them.
"I just wanted to let you know, some things have calmed down in my life, and now you have my undivided attention" he told happily.
She gently told him this in between sneezes "thats nice, but you don't even know anything about me, I'm allergic to flowers." she handed him the flowers that no longer had their petals "first you say you like me, then I hardly see you. Can't we take it slow?"
"How slow" he asked fearfully.
"Like glacial?" the bell rang and she told him gently "you're cute TP but you gotta work on your timing."
When she left he slammed his head against the lockers and began sobbing "things are all back to the way they were" jim said nonchalantly leaning against Toby, he said to Liz happily "its like i never left!"
"yep , back to square one. How great for us."
______________
After going to trollmarket, trying to save the books that blinky was burning, a weird time of jim being overly enthusiastic and confusing the crew, a quick encounter with Usurna that had stare down with Elizabeth, finding out that he's under the mercy of the tribunal and was forgiven, and finding out that there were goblins behind a cinema. The trollhunters and chaoswielder left to investigate.
"alright , coast is clear" jim told them as they all walked down the alleyway "nothing like a simple mission to get our Mojo back, huh"
Elizabeth looked back at him "did you just say Mojo?" she asked.
Aaarrrgghh began sniffing a dumpster "smell poop"
Claire cringed in disgust "ew!" it only got grosser once he tasted it "double ew."
"Aaarrrgghh? What is it?" blinky asked.
He tasted it and told them "blood goblin"
"It cannot be..."
Marc cringed in fear "why is it that anything that starts with blood, becomes scarier than it should be?" he asked them.
"Are those the green ones or the blue ones?" toby asked them.
Blinky explained "contrary to their name, blood goblins are white."
Claire fearfully asked "but they can't be here! The only place you can find white goblins is..."
"The darklands." jim inhaled as he sat down realising his mistake, Liz walked to him and placed a hand on his as she knelt down.
"No way! We destroyed the bridge!" toby shouted.
Claire told them all "well, draal did leave his post to save us. "
"You don't think in that time--" Marc was cut off.
"If they got out, what if gunmar got---" jim was now afraid
"I would know, I sensed his energy once I think I would sense it again if he were here" Elizabeth said, hoping to reassure them.
Blinky agreed with her "these are just a few goblins, A few ferocious, insatiable, bloodthirsty goblins."
Toby bit back but was about to ask "jim, there's something we've been meaning to ask you"
Claire was quick to silence him "toby." she said before asking "if these little poopers are in Arcadia, how do we find them?"
He sighed "we don't find them they find us."
Liz thought for a moment before smirking "are you sure about that?" she asked before creating a flicker of light in her hands.
As she sat in a meditative position she left her body and told them jokingly "guard my body please?"
As she searched through she gasped as spirit flew towards her knocking her off balance, turning around she gasped as she saw a mischievous spirit make a teasing groan as if telling her to catch it, she focused on the important matter at hand and continued following the light, shocked at the fact that it ended up going to tobys room.
Going through the wall she saw the light go to chompskys home and heard him shouting she kneeled by the room and pulled the light back "hey chompsky, sorry for the disturbance" she said but he kept yelling foreign at her "sorry to ruin your night, I'll go now." looking up she gasped seeing three blood goblins crawl down.
Snarling at them she used her powers to destroy the three of them all but gasped when she saw two more come and chase after the gnome, she tried to use her powers again but noticed her hands begin to flicker again, realising she didn't have her amulet. As quick as she could she destroyed the other two before her spirit went back to her body.
Gasping awake she saw jim sitting in front of her, grabbing his collar and she yelled "they're at Toby's house!"
Toby gasped "nana!"
They walked into Toby's room, that was now an absolute mess "oh no not chompsky"
"It was supposed to be a simple mission," Jim said, disappointed in himself.
Elizabeth told him "missions aren't made to be simple jim." she said softly.
Marc looked at the dollhouse "but he can't be gone, i mean we are talking about a gnome who survived the darklands, right?" he asked.
Toby held onto the gnomes hat "yet he goes out like this?" he was on the verge of tears, glancing at the other three "nothings been right since..." he wanted to hold himself back "since.." his emotions built up as he bursted out "why did you go into the darklands without us?" he yelled.
"Wait what?"
"We found the amulet together, we trained together, we killed angor rot together!" he emphasised the others remained silent "and you just left us!"
Jim stood up and asked them all "wait is this how you all feel?" he glanced at Elizabeth who was the only one who stayed quiet.
"You promised we'd get my brother together." Claire said.
Marc added in "from what I've heard going to a place like that, alone, is a pretty dumb idea" i said simply.
"After everything we've been through, you said it was trollhunters not trollhunter." Blinky said, disappointed in jim.
"Gunmar wanted revenge for killing his son" he argued "the amulet chose me to protect you."
Elizabeth finally spoke "that doesn't mean we're not in this together"
He sighed as he sat back down "when i saw aaarrrgghh die... I couldn't bear losing anymore of you. I just wish everything could go back to the way things were, when everything was normal." he said. They all realised the toll Jim's choices took on himself "yeah the darklands was a failure. I went in alone so you wouldn't have to. But classic jim, you guys have to rescue me anyway. Some hero I am"
Blinky gave jim the gnomes hat "the amulet chose you to be a trollhunter, you made yourself a hero"
"But chompsky didn't deserve this" he said before standing up "he may have been small but he had a big..." he stopped as he saw aaarrrgghh begin sniffing the hat "you mind i was trying to give eulogy"
He continued sniffing as he looked out of the window "by gorgus, he's picked up their scent!"
"The goblins?" Claire asked.
He shook his head and told them all "gnome"
Toby was joyous "chompsky's still alive"
Marc stated simply "I knew that gnome would still be alive"
Toby hugged Marc's side and told them all "well what are we waiting for let's go find him!"
_______________
Searching through an alleyway they followed aaarrrgghh who sniffed the way. Blinky narrowed his eyes as he saw something bright and red fly towards them "by gorgus, what is that?"
Elizabeth noticed this and yelled "everyone get down!"
As they all crouched avoiding the light, she stood up seeing the red creature smugly croak at her "you are not supposed to be here! Go back home!" she told but the creature growled before flying off again "ugh! Stupid spirit!"
"What was that?" jim asked her as he stood up.
She sighed "something isn't right, the spirits have been showing up and that was the second one so far" she inhaled deeply "I might need to check with Agnar on this one."
As they continued following aaarrrgghh, they went into a small firework warehouse. They sneaked around carefully and found chompsky being spun over fire as he whimpered in fear.
"Looks like there's two of them, you flank right I'll take left" Jim said but Toby was suspicious.
"Shouldn't there be more of them?"
One of them jumped out of nowhere and onto blinky making them scream "off me you foul beast!"
They began to transform "by the power of Merlin, chaos is mine to wield!" she yelled but nothing happened and that's when she realised "my amulet!"
Jim hit an incoming goblin away from her "you didn't bring it with you?!"
She used her powers and ripped off a few sharp pieces of wood making them her weapons "how was i supposed to know that I was going to be going on a mission?" she asked moving the sharp pieces towards them and destroying a few of the goblins "Marc cover me!" she tried to move her focus onto her amulet as she reached her hand out, but the amulet didn't appear in her hand "what the? Its not working!" she shouted looking down at her hands.
The fireworks were set alight and Elizabeth was now happy she had a different weapon under her command, moving the fire she moved it around her and threw some of it at the goblins
Toby chaotically stood above the chaos of the fireworks going off "behold our dreams and nightmares united!" he yelled before being attacked by a goblin.
Marc burned one of the goblins with his hand and looked around her "Liz could really use crazy voodoo Lizzie by now!"
She threw one of them off of her and them "is that what you guys call it?!"
Jim tried to kill the final one "hold still will ya!" he shouted and he was shocked as it stopped "you... you can understand me?" it nodded.
"Master jim, quickly! We saved the gnome! We must get out of here!" blinky shouted but he was ignored.
Jim began interrogating the goblin "did anything else escape the darklands?!"
"Yes."
"Who else got out? Gunmar!?" he asked but the goblin smirked "did gunmar escape?"
The goblin disappeared before it would answer and the others were calling out, before things got worse they quickly escaped the mess they were in. going into an alleyway they looked back at the bright fireworks going off in the sky.
"So much prettier from a distance huh?" Claire asked as she leaned into her staff.
Jim noticed a moment begin to form between chompsky and his... lady. The gnome proposed to her in a heartwarming moment to the others as they applauded.
"I'm not sure it's official, but it's sweet."
"Looks like some good came out of the darklands, after all" Jim said as he watched on.
Claire scoffed "yeah you dingus! My brother is back because of you!" she said.
Liz chuckled and placed her hands on jims shoulders "some great came out of all of this, I don't think any of us would want to change that."
He smiled at her "that's true, we okay T.P. ?" he asked.
"Whoo, we awesome-sauce, although I hate that T.P. 's catching on" he said glaring at jim.
Marc slapped his back lightly "you can't deny it."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes leaning her head on Jim "might i remind you, I gave you a super annoying nickname too!"
Toby's eyes lit up in joy "what is it? Give it to me, give it to me, please!" he pleaded.
She smirked and looked at him "do you want me to tell them, markimoo?" she said as she drawled out.
He gasped "you promised to drop that!"
Claire was joyous "aw, another cute nickname i have for you" she said looking up at the flustered marc.
"Liz you will pay for this."
She chuckled lightly "I'll be waiting"
Jim looked at liz and grabbed her hand in his "care for a teleportation free walk, m'lady"
Giggling she wrapped her hands around his arm "please don't let this catch on, and I'd love to"
They walked through the night, hand in hand, unaware of the terrors that have slipped through the thinnest of cracks, the terrors that awaited them when the time came.