Eclipse: A TrollHunters Fanfiction

Chapter Forty-Four: Homecoming

Coach Lawrence was in the middle of his health lesson when there was a knock at the door. He grumbled a bit and set the chalk down as he went to basically throw the door open. The anger that was on his face suddenly softened. The class hadn't been paying attention, as always, but when the door opened, that actually got them to look up from their phones under the desk.

"Welcome back, Lake." he whispered as he moved out of the doorway. Everyone moved onto the edge of their seats as they watched Jim step into the room. He was wearing what he always did, except for the left arm of this jacket was knotted at the base of his stump. Everyone gasped when they saw it. Jim waved a little awkwardly, before someone finally chimed in.

"I told you it was his left arm!" Eli shouted, voice cracking and squeaking. His outburst was promptly followed by him shrieking when Steve smacked him upside the head.

"Palchuk!" Coach Lawrence shouted. "Leave Pepperjack alone!" Steve huffed and slumped in his seat. "Lake, Domzalski, Nunez, go ahead and take a seat." Jim nodded and moved to take one of the three empty seats in the back, right beside two kids he had never seen before.

"So you're the Jim everyone has been talking about today." said the girl beside him, moonbeam blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. Jim shrugged a bit.

"I guess I am." he whispered.

"Everyone was talking about what appendage you had lost." piped in the boy sitting next to her, leaning to look at Jim from around the girl. Toby raised an eyebrow.

"Appendage?" he tilted his head. The girl nodded, and put a hand on Jim's stump, which made him recoil, though she didn't pull away.

"Do Humans not regenerate limbs?" Jim and Toby exchanged nervous glances.

"Uh...no? We're not starfish." Toby eventually said. The girl's eyes went wide.

"You have fish in the shape of stars here? Lively!" Jim moved to take her hand off of his stump.

"Do...I know you?" she shook her head.

"I don't believe so. I'm Aja, and this is my baby brother Krel." she motioned to the boy beside her, and he waved. "We just came here from Cantaloupia." Jim let out a bit of an awkward laugh.

"Cantaloupia, huh? Don't think...I've ever heard of that country." Krel and Aja seemed to exchange a nervous glance before they both immediately began playing on their phones. Jim sighed and looked over at Toby, who just shrugged. Coach Lawrence went back to his lesson, though it was obvious that no one was really listening. Jim tried not to notice as everyone kept glancing at him, but it was hard. When the bell rang, for once, not everybody rushed out of their seats to get to lunch. Jim got up, and jumped as someone ran over to his desk.

"Jim!" Eli squeaked, and Jim had to keep himself from wincing.

"H-Hey Eli." he managed a bit of a forced smile. He just wanted to get to his next class. But currently, every other student in the class was right behind Eli, with the same curious tint in all of their eyes.

"So...what happened with your arm?" Mary asked, leaning around Eli, a bit of an impish grin on her face.

"Mary!" Claire almost shrieked.

"What? He's been missing for months now and we want an explanation!" Mary looked back at Jim, and he just sighed, hand moving up to rest over his stump.

"I...I-I don't remember." Mary groaned loudly.

"Really? That's a really bad cop out, Jim!" Jim chewed on his lip, and Claire put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's true, Mar-bear, he doesn't remember." she huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine." she groaned. Jim sighed a bit, and the crowd dispersed, finally letting him get to his next class. Claire gently took his hand, leading him to their next class.

"Don't worry about them right now, Jimbo." Toby said. "This will all blow over eventually." Jim shrugged a bit.

"Yeah, I guess." he whispered. "My mom is really the only one I was worried about lying to. But...now she knows."

"And at least the police have dropped the case for now." Toby added. Jim nodded.

"Yeah, I'm glad no innocent person is getting blamed for something they didn't do because of some random evidence. Tracing it back to a secret underground society of trolls wouldn't be very likely." Claire, Toby, and Jim chuckled a bit as they walked down the hall and to their next class.

"Did you hear that, little brother?" Aja whispered once the trio of Trollhunters had walked past the group of lockers they were by.

"I was right by you, Aja." Krel huffed a bit. "But yes. Apparently Arcadia has a secret underground society of trolls. Whatever those are." he huffed. Aja nudged his arm with her elbow.

"Maybe this society of Trolls has some Akiridion tech! Maybe even a Daxial Array to fix the mothership!"

"How would a Daxial Array end up underground?" Krel tilted his head, and Aja shrugged.

"I don't know, but we have to try! We have to make friends with those humans!" Krel groaned as Aja grabbed his wrist, and dragged him down the hallway.

"Jim!" she called, and while he did stiffen a bit, he did slowly turn around.

"Uh...yes? Aja and Krel...right?" Aja smiled and nodded, before glancing over at Krel a bit.

"Yes, that is correct. I was hoping you and your companions could show me and my little brother around." she smiled in a way that seemed a little unnatural on her face. "We are still new to Arcadia, and would like to get to know your...culture."

"And your secrets." Krel mumbled, and he groaned as Aja elbowed his ribs. Jim sighed a bit. He was barely able to handle school without feinting.

"Uh...yeah. Sure. It'll be nice to get some sun, I guess" Aja grinned.

"Lively!"

~~~

A/N

Another chapter down! This fic is officially over 12K reads so an art special is on it's way!

And just out of curiosity, would you guys be interested in/mind chapters focusing mostly on Aja and Krel? I know it's a Trollhunters fic, but writing their characters is actually pretty fun! Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more of them!

Thanks for reading!

~TJ