Eclipse: A TrollHunters Fanfiction

Chapter Nineteen: Amnesia

"I...I don't...I don't remember."

Barbara Lake swallowed hard when she heard these words come from her son's mouth.  He didn't remember how he lost his arm?  How could he... she glanced up at the bandages wrapped around his head and sighed.

"Will you two keep an eye on him while I get the doctor?" She asked, her voice strained in both frustration and her efforts not to cry.  Claire nodded and walked over to Jim's bedside.  Barbara kissed Jim's forehead, and left, hugging herself.  Claire smiled sadly and ran her hand up and down Jim's back.

"Jim..." she whispered, but he avoided looking at her.  "What do you remember?" She whispered, and he seemed to freeze in place.  He took a shaky breath, and looked up, into the concerned face of Toby and then Claire.

"I...uh..." he shivered a bit and rubbed his skin with his remaining hand, trying to calm himself down.  Claire kept rubbing soothing circles into his back.

"It's okay if you don't remember anything" She whispered, though she was beginning to wonder if he remembered her.  Or Toby.  Or his mom, or TrollMarket...Blinky, Arrrgh... "We'll figure it out, we'll get your memory back." Jim shook his head.

"Claire, I..." he chewed on his lip for a moment before finally meeting her eyes.  "I remember everything." He whispered.  "I remember going into the DarkLands, nearly starving to death, having my arm get bitten off by Gunmar..." he moved his hand up to rest on his stump.  He ran his thumb across the bandages and took a deep breath.  Toby rushed to his bedside.

"You need to tell your mom!" Toby shouted.  "She's been worried sick!  You have no idea how she's been since you were gone!" Jim looked up at his best friend and shook his head.

"I...I can't, Tobes." His voice was rough and strained.  "I don't want her to get hurt more than she already is." Claire listened to his words and chewed on her lip a bit.

"Jim..." she whispered.  "Strickler moved in with her." Jim froze, slowly looking over at Toby, hurt in his eyes.

"How could you let that happen?  You know I didn't want him anywhere near her," It sounded as though Jim wanted to yell, but his voice was too weak to.  His body was too weak to. Toby opened his mouth to say something, but Claire interjected.

"She nearly became an alcoholic, Jim" She whispered and whatever Jim was going to shout next died in his throat.  "It was for her own safety, Jim,"  Jim went to run his hand through his hair, but stopped when he touched the bandages.

"I..." he swallowed and let his hand stop back into his lap.  "Okay...I'm sorry..." Claire kept rubbing soothing circles into the non-bandaged parts of his spine.  He looked over at her with a deep breath.

"How's...how's Enrique?" He whispered.  Claire smiled sadly.

"He's a lot happier now that he's home." She whispered.  After she brought the real Enrique home, NotEnrique had to move permanently to  TrollMarket since he could no longer change back into his human form.  Jim nodded slightly and leaned into her, his head resting on her shoulder as his eyelids began to droop.  Claire held him gently until Barbara came back into the room, her fellow doctor by her side.  Claire moved off of the bed and the doctor took the place she had been in.

"Your mother tells me you don't remember what happened to you?" The doctor asked, pulling a flashlight out of his lab coat.  Jim nodded a bit.

"I...I don't.  I just remember going to school and...not going home." Jim lied.  He knew it was going to be very hard to try and cover this all up.  But at least his friends were here so they would all stay on the same page.  The doctor nodded and clicked on his flashlight.  Claire and Toby stood back as they checked Jim's progress with his concussions.  The doctor straightened up, sighing and slipping the light back into his pocket.

"Well, amnesia is plausible." He said, looking back over at Barbara.  "All we can do is wait and see if his memory returns, though there are no guarantees." She nodded.

"Okay...thank you." She whispered.  The doctor smiled sadly and left.  Barbara kissed the top of Jim's head.  "You hungry?" She whispered, and he nodded a bit.  "I'll be right back." She left the room rather quickly, the door closing behind her.  Jim looked up at Claire and Toby, then bowed his head.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.  "I'm sorry I went into the DarkLands without you, I'm sorry I lied to my mom; I'm sorry." He wiped his eyes with his remaining hand.  "I just...couldn't lose any more of you.  Not after Arrrgh." Claire gently rubbed his back.  Jim began to shake harder and harder until he began to sob.  "I missed you guys so much...it was so lonely and dark a-and terrifying...I couldn't sleep, I couldn't find anything to eat...I was so scared." Toby put his hand on Jim's leg, giving his thigh a squeeze.

"You're safe now, Jimbo.  Right?" He whispered. Jim took a deep breath to steady himself before nodding with a sniffle.

"Did you..." his words trailed off.  He took another deep breath and rephrased.  "How's Arrrgh?" He asked.  Toby and Claire shared glances before looking back to Jim.  

"What do you mean?" Toby asked.  "He's still..." he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.  He couldn't say that word.  Dead.  Jim nodded slowly at his words.  

"Okay...I guess...I guess it's kind of hard to tell what I brought back..." he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  "The...the bottle I...I brought back.  It's the...the Creeper's Sun Antidote," Jim whispered, staring down at his lap as he hugged himself.  Claire gasped, both of her hands moving to cover her mouth.  Toby's face had similarly lit up, glancing between Claire and Jim.

"So you're saying...that...that..." Toby started to say.  Claire nodded quickly.

"We get to save Arrrgh!"

(Revised: 1/2/2020)