Eclipse: A TrollHunters Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Explanation

Strickler looked up when there was knock on his office door.  He looked back down at his laptop.

"Come in." he kept typing, until he heard someone sit in the chair in front of his desk.  He lifted his eyes, and recoiled a bit, closing the laptop.

"Ms. Nunez." he picked up his pen, fiddling with it just like he always did.  "How nice it is to see you." Claire stared down at her lap.

"Do you know what's going on with Jim?" she whispered, picking at a string on her skirt.  "He...said Gunmar took him but...the video..." Strickler sighed.

"Have you seen his amulet?" he asked, turning in his chair to open the secret room in the back of his office.  Claire lifted her head.

"Huh?" Strickler slipped the pen back into his jacket, getting to his feet.

"His amulet.  Have you seen it?" he asked, walking over to his work bench and picked up a book he'd left there.  Claire got out of her chair.

"Yes?" Strickler flipped through some pages, and paused. 

"What did it look like?" Claire hugged herself.

"It...was purple." Strickler suddenly held tighter to the book in his hands.

"So he did kill Gunmar." he sighed, and set the book down so he could rub the bridge of his nose.  Claire's eyes widened.

"What?" she whispered.  "Then how...how did..." she rubbed her eyes as they began to prickle with tears.  Strickler looked over at Claire.

"Stones placed in the back of the amulet don't only alter the amulet's powers, but also the holder." he whispered.  "The power of the Trumbric Stones was believed to be too dangerous to be held by any troll.  The affects it would have on a human has never...been evaluated." Claire nodded slowly, tugging on a strand of her hair.

"So...what is it doing to Jim?" she whispered. 

"I don't know." Strickler whispered.  "No one knew the power of the Triumbric Stones until Jim added them to his amulet.  We are clueless as to the powers the Death Stone possesses." Claire sniffled a bit.

"So...i-is Gunmar back?" Claire whispered.  Strickler shook his head slowly.

"No.  I don't believe so." he sighed a bit.  "The Janus Order has not heard anything from the DarkLands since shortly before Jim got back.  And he could have only gotten the DeathStone if he had killed Gunmar for good.  I am afraid that whatever he is seeing, isn't real."

~~~

"Your mother tells me that you lie compulsively, is that true?" Jim tried to ignore the Psychiatrist sitting by the edge of his bed.  The hospital required he talked to a mental health specialist after the events of him jumping out of his own window.  The Psychiatrist noticed how defensive he was being, and sighed.

"James, do you have suicidal thoughts?"

"No." Jim nearly snapped.  He didn't.  He didn't jump out of his own, window, he was kidnapped!  Why did no one believe him?

"Then why did you jump?" Jim looked over at her, almost glaring.  He wasn't mad at her, really.  She was just doing her job, but he was mad at everything about the situation.

"I told you.  I didn't.  I was taken." he said, anger clearly showing in his voice despite his efforts to not sound as frustrated as he felt.  "Why does no one believe me?" the doctor let out a breath, clearly frustrated in the fact that she wasn't getting anywhere.

"Do you know why no one believes you?" she whispered, and Jim shook his head.  He hadn't seen the security footage, he didn't know.  He didn't even know if there were any security cameras outside of the hospital.  She nodded, and picked up her tablet.

"Jim, there are security cameras right outside of your room, did you know that?" Jim froze.  Did they see Gunmar and think he was just trying to make a show?

"No..." he whispered.  They had given her the footage as a part of his psychiatric evaluation, and she started the footage, turning the screen to face Jim.  Jim watched with wide eyes as he seemingly broke his own window and jumped out.  Gunmar was no where to be seen.  Once he'd disappeared from the frame, she pulled her tablet back.

"Jim, why did you jump?" she whispered.  Jim felt sick.  Why wasn't Gunmar in that video?  Why did it show him looking like he was crazy?

"I-I-I didn't." he whispered, but he wasn't sure anymore.  He felt his eyes prick with tears, he didn't understand what was going on.  "I...they...doctored the footage...I swear I didn't..." he rubbed his eyes with his hand. What is going on?

~~~

Claire kept her head bowed as she talked to Blinky and Toby.  She told them everything that Strickler had told her, and it was clearly taking her toll on her.

"So Jimbo is going crazy?" Toby asked, leaning on Arrrgh.  Claire nodded a bit.

"I...I think it's the DeathStone." she whispered.  "That or...or PTSD." Blinky nodded slowly.

"Then what do we do?" Toby asked.  Blinky picked up a book.

"We need to find the Amulet." he whispered.  "We need to keep it away from Jim.  Perhaps he will feel better if it is not close to him." Claire nodded slowly.

"But where is it?  Didn't it disappear?" Blinky nodded slowly.

"My guess is that it is somewhere near Jim.  It's his amulet." Claire nodded slowly. 

"Toby...Toby and I will go see if we can find it in his hospital room."

"Good luck, Fair Claire.  Tobias."

~~~

A/N

I know this chapter is short and its super dialogue heavy, but I just had to get something out to you.  You guys deserve it.

Just a little update with my life, I suppose.  My Guinea Pig of 5 years passed away over the weekend.  If anyone wants to hear the super sad story, I'll tell it in the comments, but I'll spare you if you don't.  Of course I've been pretty out of it the past couple days, and I know it shows in my writing.  Hopefully next week will be better.

Thanks for reading!

     ~TJ