Eclipse: A TrollHunters Fanfiction

Chapter Seventeen: Arise

Claire was hugging a book to her chest with one arm as she turned the dial on her locker with the other.  It had been two days since she had visited Jim in the hospital and he still wasn't awake.  Dr. Lake assured them that he was going to be alright, he was just in a coma until his body had healed enough for him to wake up.  Toby and Claire had been spending a lot of time in TrollMarket again, talking with Blinky and Vendel, giving them updates on Jim's condition.  He'd gone into surgery again since the initial one, to set his bones properly and heal his internal injuries.  He now had a cast and sling on his remaining arm, casts on his legs, with them both being elevated from a pulley above the bed.  They had done a lot more, though it was mostly internal work.

Claire was broken from her thoughts when someone slammed her locker shut in front of her.  She blinked a few times and looked over to see none other than Steve Palchuk standing beside her, leaning against the locker and smirking.  "Hey, Claire-Bear." She sighed and worked on putting her combination in again.

"Hi, Steve." She said, voice flat as she got the door open again and traded out the book in her hands for another.

"So I heard that Jim is back in town." Steve folded his arms.  "And that he took...quite the beating." Claire slammed her locker shut and met his eyes.

"What are you getting at, Steve?" She nearly growled, meeting his eyes. He blinked a few times, not really expecting this level of anger from Claire.

"I'm just sorry that I wasn't the one that beat up that ButtSnack." Claire huffed.

"You know Steve, someone might actually like you if you weren't such a jerk." She held her book tighter to her chest and stormed off to her next class.

Toby jumped when she slammed her history textbook onto her desk. "Claire?" He asked as she plopped down into her seat and angrily flipped to the page written on the board.

"Why is Steve such a jerk?!" She nearly shouted, her voice strained from her efforts not to scream.

"Woah Woah Woah, keep your voice down!" Toby said, shushing her a bit so all of the eyes that were on them would turn away. "What did he do now?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"He was just giving me crap about Jim." She grumbled, her nerves visibly calming down as he rubbed her shoulder. She looked over at him, her watery eyes meeting Toby's.

"He's not worth it, Claire. Just ignore him." She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"You...you're right." She sniffles and looked up as the bell rang. "Do you want to visit Jim again after school?" Toby opened his textbook.

"We should probably check on Blinky too." She checked her phone for texts, but there weren't any. "Looks like he doesn't know what that green potion is yet."  Toby nodded a bit.

"Do you have any ideas?" He asked.  Claire shrugged.

"It came from the DarkLands, so it can't be good, right?"

"Why would Jim bring it back through if it wasn't good?" Toby asked.  Claire chewed on her lip as the teacher entered the room.

"We're just going to have to ask Jim when he wakes up." She whispered, leaning towards Toby a bit.

"When do you think that'll be?" Toby asked, also leaning closer to Claire.

"No idea.  I hope it's soon."

~~~

Barbara froze when she felt her Son's fingers twitch below her hand. "Jim?" She whispered. His brows furrowed and his eyelids twitched. His mother held her breath and watched as his ocean-blue eyes slowly opened. He glanced around, his eyes foggy until they landed on Barbara. He blinked a few times before trying to speak, though it was hard with the feeding tube down his throat. The noise he made was rough and gurgly, but did sound vaguely like 'Mom?'.  She let out her breath and tears started to fall down her face once again.

"Jim!" She lurched forward, pulling her son as gently as she could into her arms. She cradled the back of his head, holding it to her shoulder as she began to cry. "I missed you so much...you scared me!" Jim was only vaguely aware of what was happening, he could feel his mother crying, and feel the burning, searing pain in his chest when she hugged him, but he decided not to react. She was clearly upset. Why...was she upset again? He closed his eyes and sighed, just letting his mother hold him. She pulled away, grinning widely and sadly as she brushed Jim's hair from his forehead.

"I love you, Jim." She whispered, leaning forward to kiss his hair. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but he just woke up. He probably didn't have all the answers quite yet. "I'm going to go get a nurse, Okay?" She said, and he nodded slowly. She gave his forehead another kiss, before hurriedly leaving the room.

Once she was gone, Jim took a deep breath, or, tried to. It was hard with the tube down his throat, and the oxygen in his nose didn't really help either. He slumped back in his bed and looked around the room, his senses slowly coming back one by one. I'm cold. Why am I cold? He looked down at his body, finding that his upper half was entirely bare other than some bandages wrapped around his torso. He found his right arm was in a sling. What did I do? He looked over to the other side of the bed, and saw the control for the bed he was in resting on the mattress. He reached over to grab it and found that his arm wouldn't move. Did I break that too? He looked down at his left arm, or, where his left arm was supposed to be. His blood froze when he saw it wasn't there. His breathing started speeding up as he began to feel as if he was spiraling down. His head fell back and he screamed, the noise tearing painfully through his throat as his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

Barbara Lake came back to the room, Nurse right behind her.  "Jim?" She stepped forward, gasping when she saw the reading on the EKG machine.  His heart rate was getting faster and faster.  The nurse ran back out into the hall.  "He's going into shock!" She called some nearby staff and they rushed in right as Jim's rapidly rising heart rate dropped, and a long tone filled the room.  Jim's heart had stopped.  Barbara was frozen in place, a feeling of cold watching over her as she watched the medical staff running around, the doctor barking orders and the nurses doing as they were told, clearing the way for an AED machine.  Barbara was holding her breath as they pressed the pads against his chest.

"Clear!" The sound was muffled, like Barbara was far away and underwater, not like she was right beside her son.  She watched as Jim's body jerked as the electricity coursed through it.  They stared at the EKG machine, but the line didn't even move.  It was still flat.  The doctor took a breath, got the pads ready, and shocked Jim again. 

And again.

And again.

Barbara was shaking as she watched her son's body jerk with the force of the shocks.  She had tears streaming down her face and was hugging herself, fingernails digging into her skin.  It was only then that one of the nurses noticed she was still there.

"Doctor Lake, Please come with me." She took Barbara's hand and pulled her out of the room.  She knew it was her son on the bed, but no one should have to watch their child get shocked over and over. 

"I...o-okay..." the nurse took her out to a little lobby area and sat her down. 

"Do you need anything?  Water, food?" Barbara shook her head.  The nurse patted her hand and stepped away.

"I'll keep you updated.  Stay safe, Doctor Lake." Barbara only nodded, and the nurse walked off.  She bowed her head and let the tears flow freely, sobs escaping her lips as she fiddled with her hands.

Come back, Jim.  Please.

(Revised: 1/2/2020)