For Whom The Bell Tolls (Trollhunters continuation/Evil Jim AU)

14: Daylight

Claire and Toby had grabbed one of Jim's arms and were helping to carry his weight down the road. Rainfall had soaked the trio through to the skin. Despite Jim having taken the brunt of the fall in troll form, thus avoiding to much physical damage, he'd managed to twist his ankle and was still dazed by his concussion from the day before. He definitely needed the help.
They all walked in silence, Jim removing his jacket and draping it around Claire's shivering body after a few steps. She initially protested, but his gesture made her smile. Toby felt slightly more envious but opted to keep his feelings to himself.

"Man, this weather sucks." Jim said whilst attempting to blow hair from his face, but the damp caused it to stick to his forehead instead.

"Yep." Claire shuddered.

Toby nodded, shaking off some of the excess water.
They took a diversion through the woods, hoping the tree canopy would provide some form of reprieve from the onslaught of rain. The rain had since begun to fall a little heavier, splashing the water up their ankles. Under the refuge of the forested area, Jim felt a sudden rush of a strong smell smack his nostrils like a freight train. A lingering stench of rotting flesh permeated the scent of wet earth. Something was with them. He stood back, defensively crouched around his friends. Now would be a great time to change.

There was a sound of crunching twigs, footsteps smashing into the dirt underfoot. Two individuals were running through the trees, chasing them. This caused Jim to freak. Claire and Toby clued into Jim's heightened state of anxiety and drew in close to him. Claire picked up a stick, Toby fumbled through his belongings and grabbed a handful of disc shaped objects.

"What are those?" Claire whispered, leaning into Toby's ear.

"Oat cookies Jim's mom made for my nana. Dr. L forgot they were in the oven and they ended up turning out like concrete. No offense Jim. I'm sure they could stun a raccoon or two." Toby chuckled quietly.

Jim rolled his eyes, "It's fine, we all know she can't bake or cook..."

A moment passed, Jim remaining crouched low to the ground, listening as the running grew ever closer. The others could now hear the heavy thudding of footsteps, heading in their direction. Claire's grip tightened on the stick, Toby pulled a charred oat cookie from the bag and held it out like a discus. Two shapes became visible through the trees and collided with the teens head on.

"Shit, hey, you okay?" Jim called out to them as he stood up and brushed the mud off his clothes.

"Well, we were in the middle of heroically running away and you happened to interrupt that." A voice he knew well replied with a hint of sarcasm.

Jim nearly wept (again, he was crying a lot today), "Blinky?"

Blinkous Galadrigal rose to his stubby feet. He had his back turned to them all.

"Who would like to know?" He inquired as her turned to face them.

As soon as his six eyes looked upon the small group of humans, he screamed. Two of the humans also screamed, however to his surprise, one of them didn't. The teenage boy seemed unperturbed by seeing a troll standing in front of him, as if he'd seen one before. AAARRRGGHH!!! skidded to a halt just behind them, panicked and made an attempt to hide behind a bush.

"How do you know my name, young whelp?" Blinky stared at Jim once he'd finished screaming.

"I'm just glad to see you...I know you don't remember me but it's a long story."

"Who are you exactly human?" Blinkous pushed again.

Jim sighed and offered his hand out, "James Lake Jr. But most people just call me Jim. These are my friends Tobias Domzalski, Toby for short and Claire Nuñez. What exactly are you running from?"

Blinky merely stared in disbelief. This was strange. This human had to be a changeling to know his name and to know trollkind. AAARRRGGHH!!! didn't seem too bothered much to his surprise.

"AAARRRGGHH!!!" The goliath spoke, pointing at himself.

"Dude, this is totally whack! What the heck is this?!" Toby threw his arms up.

"Guys, this is Blinkous Galadrigal. One of the smartest scholars I've ever met, his collection of books is one of the most extensive on this side of the globe. And this is AAARRRGGHH!!!, he's a pacifist. They're...trolls." Jim awkwardly laughed.

"Wha- trolls?! Since when?! How do you know about this stuff?" Claire and Toby practically said in unison.

"I had the very same question." Blinky seethed.

Jim clammed up, his breathing began to speed up. He shuddered. He saw the green haze begin to cloud his vision and panicked. His fingernails dug deeply into his scalp. His eyes flashed fluorescent green for a second before he nearly collapsed again. His concussion was coming back to haunt him. He plunged his hand into his pocket, clutching the monitus charm tightly until the pulse of calming energy washed over him.

"Weren't you running from something mister uhh Blinks?" Claire asked inquisitively, nervousness etched into her face.

"Blinkous. Also yes fair lady Claire, AAARRRGGHH!!! and I were running from the Gumm-Gumm Prince. He found us out and about, decided he fancied himself the chance to take us both down. But rest assured, my friend and I are more than capable of handling ourselves in the art of combat!" Blinky grinned triumphantly, Jim knew the troll was embellishing the crap out of his story however.

"Bular bad," AAARRRGGHH!!! concurred, sniffing the air, "Humans run, Bular kill humans."

"WAIT-! So first, trolls exist and now one is coming to kill us?" Toby was panicking wildly, "Jimbo, anything else you wanna tell us?!"

"I'd quite like to know how you know so much James." Galadrigal added.

Jim steadied himself, brushing his hair from his face, "I think it's better to show rather than tell."

He pushed his way past the trolls, removing his tank top and throwing it to the floor, revealing his heavily scarred abs. He didn't really have a reason to, part of him wanted to showboat however. He'd taken the Gumm-Gumm warrior before, this fight was going to be a piece of cake.
Bular crashed through through trees, roaring. The others nearly screamed, Jim stood his ground.

"If only my father were to see you! Fraternising with...human whelps...you're a disappointment to your kind! I'll enjoy grinding you all up into paste." The brutish troll guffawed with a messed up smile contorting his features.

"You won't lay a hand on them. I know who you are, I've killed you before...I'm not afraid to do it again. Especially if you stand in the way of me getting what I want." Jim spat in response, a deep scowl setting in.

The Gumm-Gumm Prince found this amusing. The puny human thought it could stand up to him, a feared troll warrior, son of Gunmar the Black? Pitiful. Bular raised his blade to, ready to use it to cleave the boy in half. This was an easy fight.
Jim on the other hand dug his feet into the ground and readied his fists. He tried to will his beast transformation out but it wasn't working. Claire, Toby, Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! were all frozen, watching with intense curiosity and fear. Bular took a running leap, using his brute force to send Jim hurtling. Jim jumped back up again, wiping mud off his wet cheek and sliding under the troll's legs, flipping onto his back. Bular started to throw himself around to try and chuck Jim off, but it was to no avail. Jim grabbed Bular's scruff and pulled on it hard to subdue the monster. However, just as he got an edge in the skirmish, Bular managed to toss him into the ground and stamp on him. Jim winced from the pain. The blade was raised above his head. Jim looked back towards his friends. He couldn't move. They were all too frightened to move.

"NO!"

A flash of blue appeared above Jim's head, followed by the clang of metal hitting metal. He weakly looked up to see someone standing over him, holding a long silver sword with a notch in the blade, a blue fire-like glow shining off it.

"WHAT?" Bular sounded enraged.

Toby looked upon his reflection in the blade of the sword he'd just managed to somehow manifest out of nowhere. Whilst he was slightly bewildered by this and the whole day, he couldn't deny that this was completely awesomesauce.