Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The early morning sun started to brace the horizon as it cast a shadow over a bridge, mist could be seen  the ground. A car started to pass by the bridge as the voice of a radio host could be heard speaking [ Good morning , Arcadia Oaks. It’s 4:30 a.m. If you’re still in bed, you are missing the most beautiful sunrise, clear skies and a beautiful morning ahead. And big news… ]

A disposable cup rolled through the fog as the wind moved it into the shadow of the bridge, a dark heavily armored troll with horns curled around his head smashed the cup under his foot. Bular the Butcher. Son of Gunmar the Black and known for slaying many Trollhunters, killing other trolls and eating innocent humans. Bular the Butcher was currently in the middle of a battle to the death with Kanjigar the Courageous, the Gumm-Gumm growled as he lunged at the light colored troll with silver plated armor. The two shared a few blows and came to a stop, they were both catching their breaths.

“Yield, Kanjigar” 

“A Trollhunter never yields” Kanjigar breathed heavily “I'd rather die”

“Terms, accepted” Bular jumped into the air with a yell.

He tried to smash the Trollhunter but Kanjigar was able to slide out of the way just in time, Bular attempted to throw a few punches at the troll, the first one was dodged but the others were shielded with his sword. Kanjigar raised his weapon, he swung it at Bular who dodged it as he whirled in the air and prepared to punch the Trollhunter. Kanjigar punched Bular to the air as the Gumm-Gumm slid through the ground, he was ready to stand but was stopped as Kanjigar pointed his swords at him.

“Your turn, Bular” Kanjugar took deep breaths “Yield”

The sun beamed down onto Kanjigar, who stared at his shoulder as it smouldered and started to become stone. He placed his hand on his shoulder, then quickly realized his error as he had stopped paying attention to his enemy but before he could correct it Bular kicked Kanjigar, who tumbled backwards, his sword sliding into the sunlight. He looked back to see Bular slowly approaching, the Trollhunter decided to ignore the pain as he reached for his sword, his hand burning blue. The glow from the amulet embedded in his chest plate flickered.

“There is nowhere left for you to run, Trollhunter” Bular pointed out “Give me the amulet”

Kanjigar sprinted up the canal and leapt onto the underside of the bridge, he turned and clutched his sword, Bular jumped out from behind a support beam, swung around it and kicked Kanjigar, who slammed into a gutter. He jumped away as Bular lunged at him. Kanjigar hopped down and hung from the support beam while Bular chased, he made his way through the beams and threw himself back up and glanced around. Bular tackled Kanjigar by surprise, his sword falling to the ground as Bular held him over the edge. The sword shattered as it vanished.

Bular the Butcher laughed menacingly “It all ends here”

The side of Kanjigar’s face burned as Bular pushed him further into the sunlight. Bular's claw swiped at Kanjigar, who grabbed his arm and held it in the sun. Bular recoiled and clutched his burning blue arm as it smoked, returning back to its original state. Kanjigar doubled to his feet, trying to regain his breath and holding onto the beam of the bridge.

“It's me or the sun” Bular threatened as he took his swords out “Either way, you're doomed”

“No. The amulet will find a champion. They will stop you, and your master” Kanjigar started backing off to the edge of the bridge “I may end, but the fight will not”

Bular’s eyes widened in realization as Kanjigar stepped back off the bridge and into the sunlight, his hands crossed over his chest. His skin burned blue as it hardened, Bular gasped in shock as he tried to reach out for the amulet “No!”

In the canal below, Kanjigar’s stone body shattered, Bular leaned out into the sunlight. But it hurt him, the Gumm-Gumm roared in pain and then in anger, he punched the support beam by his side. The amulet shone, ready for its new wielder.

Inside the Afton household the alarm of a clock screamed as it notified its owner of the time, the watch blinked multiple times as it showed the time. 6:00 am it rang. The boy let out a groan as he tried to press the button on the alarm clock, his hand flailed around multiple times before finally pressing the button and shutting off the machine. Michael Afton groaned once again as he rubbed his face, finally waking himself up as he stood up and pushed off his covers.

The teenager started getting ready for the day, washing up, changing off his pajamas to his usual clothes, he checked himself in the mirror to brush his hair. His hair was almost in a mullet, he didn’t get to have it any longer since Father wouldn’t allow him, but at least it helped him look less similar to Father. He left his bathroom and walked down stairs as he hummed the tune of a song. He toasted some bread for his breakfast and ate it as he looked over a recipe book and looked for a specific recipe. Once he found it, Michael went to the kitchen and started working, choosing a knife, then slicing onion, stirring, turning the oven on and making something.

In the meantime Michael made a few pancakes for his siblings, since Father was going to do nothing for Lizzie and Ev and Michael owed them to make them a good breakfast and food after— They deserved to have a good older brother, he wasn’t one but he had to at least try— Plus they had asked nicely for pancakes. The oven rang, pulling Michael out of his thoughts. He took out the meatloaf and divided it in 3 pieces, wrapped them up and put each one of them in a paper bag. Once he was done with the twin’s breakfast Michael made his way up the stairs, humming a different song from before and going to Elizabeth’s bedroom first. Someone needed to wake up these sleepy heads, he took a look inside as he saw his sister sleeping with a smile. Too bad she had to go to school soon.

“Wake up sleepyhead” Michael flickered the light multiple times to wake her up before finally settling by leaving the light on “You gotta get ready for school”

“Uggghhhhh” Elizabeth complained as she grabbed her pillow and pressed it into her face “Can’t I just sleep for a little bit longer?”

“Sorry Lizzie but unless you want Father to be notified about you getting late to class I’d suggest you start getting ready”

“Fine,” the girl pouted as she sat up “But you owe me big time!”

Michael rolled his eyes with a smile, this was their morning routine, Michael woke Elizabeth up she complained and maybe threw an insult or two (which she didn’t mean to) since she was always cranky when she woke up “Whatever you say, princess”

He closed the door behind him and went into Evan’s room, just like with Elizabeth he took a peek and watched as the boy had most of his face covered by his pillow. Most of the portion that could be seen was scarred. Mouth open and drooling as it left it soaked, it was better to see it dampened by that than the other option. Michael made his way inside, going to the window first as he opened it and allowed the light to get inside. The boy in the bed stirred as he started to wake up, Michael carefully made his way towards Evan and kneeled down.

“Come on Ev” Michael brushed back his brother’s hair “Time to wake up”

Evan slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw his brother, he rubbed his eye as he mumbled “Morning”

“Breakfast is already on the table” Michael told him “You just gotta get ready”

“Okay” Evan finished rubbing his eyes and sat up “Thank you Mikey”

“Anything for you,” Michael reassured him.

With the twins now awakened, Michael returned to his room, made his bed and cleaned up, he then prepared his school bag and did the same for Elizabeth and Evan. He put his backpack on and took the twins bags downstairs, there he saw as the two were finishing their breakfast. Evan was already done with his pancakes and was drinking his orange juice, Elizabeth had taken her last pancake and put it all inside her mouth.

“Alright tots, clean up and grab your backpacks” the twins did as they were told, Michael then gave them each their respective backpack “Ok, time to go!”

The three made their way to the garage, and opened the door to see the three bicycles. Michael looked up from a magazine with a motorcycle and frowned at the sight of his bike, he could only dream of getting something like that because there was no way. Father would waste money on something Michael really wanted. The three put their helmets on and grabbed their bikes, Michael turned to look at his siblings as the door of the garage started to rise. 

“Now, stay together, make sure that no one follows you and if any weird looking guy–”

“Yeah, yeah” Elizabeth interrupted her brother and rolled her eyes “We know the rules, we know the route. Stop worrying so much!”

“We can take care of ourselves Mikey” Evan added “You used to go to school by yourself when you were our age”

“Stop annoying us!” the twins complained in unison.

“Ok sorry, sorry I’ll stop you cheeky bastards” Michael chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, the garage door finished going up while the Afton siblings got on their bikes. The three rose their eyes as they saw the trashcan on the ground, its contents spilled, Michael let out a groan “Ugh! Bloody raccoons!” 

They heard the ring of a bicycle nearby, the trio looked to the side to see Jeremy Fitzgerald, dark skin, obsidian eyes, a piercing on his eyebrow and multiple on his ears he was smiling, showing off his braces and had brown messy curly hair with the tips dyed blonde. He wore a two coloured jacket with short sleeves, one side yellow and the other one orange and a black t-shirt, ripped camel pants with a red belt and golden buckle, yellow and white wristbands, sneakers with red and yellow socks. The boy was on his bike and leaning on it.

“ ‘Sup, been waiting for you for a while Mike”

“Hi” the twins greeted him.

“Hi Jer, just cleaning this up and I’ll be gone” Michael greeted and then turned his attention towards his siblings “You two go, I’ll clean this up”

“Ok!” Elizabeth said, Evan nodding “See you when you get back from Freddy’s!”

“Bye Mikey” Evan waved as the two started to leave.

Michael grabbed the trashcan and started cleaning up everything, it took him a few more minutes to pick everything up and return it to its place. Once he was done he stood up and got on his bike, he looked at the other boy who seemed to be nervous.

“We're late for school, Mike” Jeremy said “Next time we leave the trash on the floor”

“I was preparing some meatloaf for lunch” Michael explained “Plus, if Father sees a bunch or racoons around the house he’ll kill me”

“Yeah” Jeremy pursed his lips.

“Let’s go!” Michael said as the two started making their way onto the street, the two riding on their bikes.

“Right behind you!” Jeremy chuckled as they pedalled away.

“It's 8 O'clock!” Michael realized.

“We're going to get suspended, on account of meatloaf!” Jeremy complained.

“Take the canal, Jer” Michael turned to an auxiliary road “It'll save us five minutes”

“Yusss” Jeremy cheered as they made their way through the shortcut, the teen hitting as many bumps on the road as it made it look like he was vibrating “I’m telling you man, we should always take this route”

“I’d rather not get my arm broken” Michael joked “Plus, the fun of using this route when we’re late is that it gives us more adrenaline!”

Jeremy chuckled as he rode on one wheel for a few seconds “You’re right about that”

“It gives us a little more excitement when we need it” Michael informed, pedaling faster and causing a cloud of dust “See ya in school slowpoke!”

“Hey!” Jeremy complained as he tried to wave the dust away and catch up to his friend “That’s cheating!”

Michael pedalled as fast as he could, using the speed to jump to the canal, arms in the air and sun hitting his face as Michael had his eyes closed and allowed himself to take it all in. Little moments of adrenaline rush like this made him hate himself a little less, it was just himself and the wind, nothing else to judge him or to be affected by him. He still didn’t understand why Jeremy had decided to stay with him, but a selfish part of Michael couldn’t help but be glad he had decided to stay friends with someone like him.

Once the bicycle hit the ground, Michael came to a stop as he looked up and waited for his friend “Come on, Jer!”

“Michael, Afton” the voice in the amulet— which sounded like Kanjigar’s— called.

The boy turned his attention to the pile of rocks, unaware that they belonged to Kanjigar the Courageous, he was curious about how a voice could’ve come from there. It must have some device, maybe a trick from Father? But how would he know that Michael would make his way through the canal? From behind Jeremy arrived at the canal and came to a stop as he noticed that Michael was distracted, he watched as Mike put the bike down and made his way to the pile of rocks.

“Notice anything interesting there?” Jeremy joked.

“Hey! Hey, Jer!” Michael called as he took out his helmet “Did you hear that voice?”

“What voice?” Jeremy caught up to Michael as the two made their way to the rocks. 

“Michael, Afton” the amulet called out once again.

“Whoa!” Jeremy yelped as the two fell down backwards.

“That!” Mike pointed at the rocks “That pile of rocks knows my name” the teenager knelt down and got closer to the rocks.

“It's a pile of Kayspar, minerals don't talk” Jeremy got close as well as Mike picked up a rock and threw it away “There's got to be a walkie-talkie in here or something”

Michael then saw a light in the middle of the rocks so he took them out and saw a strange amulet “Huh. It looks like an amulet”

“Who's doing this?” Jeremy called out “Come out now!”

“Hello! I'm listening” Michael put the amulet closer to his ear, Jeremy got his ear close as well. Suddenly the bell rang as it caught the two by surprise “Oh! Final bell!”

“We're so late, our kids are gonna have detention!”

“Come on. Come on, Jer” Michael said as the two got on their bikes “We can still make it” 

“I'm right behind you!” Jeremy assured him as the two made their way to school.

As the two teenagers left the canals in the sewers near the canal 6 eyes opened up as they watched Michael leave “It chose, a human?”

The two had barely been able to make it to school and in time for class, just like always he took notes and paid enough attention to know what to expect on his exams. He had already gone through a few classes and was now in history class with Mr.Strickler, everyone had their computers out and was writing down what Mr.Strickler was saying. The teacher was using his pen to point at the projection on the board.

“The Peloponnesian War was actually three wars, fought between Athens and Sparta. The first war is known as the Archimidian War” Mr.Strickler explained as he got away from the board and walked around the class, every student was browsing the internet except for Michael “Type that into your search engines. A-R-C-H-I-M-I-D-I-A-N”

Jeremy noticed Michael’s distractedness and moved his hand across Michael's eyes while he stared at Charlotte Emily, freckles adorned her umber toned skin as her fingers used the keyboard of her computer and her emerald eyes looked at the screen. Long brown braided hair was held by a green scrunchie, she wore a short white shirt with a gray sweater vest, with black and white stripes at the portion of her neck and the bottom of the sweater. She had a green bracelet on her left wrist, alongside a few other bracelets from her favourite band ‘Papa Skull’, short trousers with a belt and a black belt chain with a skull from Papa Skull adorning it and brown boots.

“Ugh! Really?” Jeremy complained, he noticed as Charlie’s gaze flickered to Michael as the two exchanged glances, Jeremy sighed “Close your mouth. You're drooling”

“No. No, I'm not” Michael denied “What are you doing?”

“Research!” Jeremy informed him as he typed at the computer.

“Hey, look up ‘talking amulet’ ”

“I already did that, all I got was toys” Jeremy showed him the screen of the computer “One of them was a plushie”

“Michael!” Mr.Strickler called out “Would you agree?”

“Sir?” The teen looked nervously at his teacher.

“With Herodotus' opinion on his tactics of war, as I've described”

“Uh…” Michael looked at Jeremy for answers but the boy just looked away and whistled “Absolutely!”

“Excellent. Which tactics, specifically?”

“The, uh... winning ones?” Michael answered.

Everybody laughed as the school bell rang, the students started gathering their stuff and leaving the classroom “All right, all right” Strickler sighed “Don't forget, Jameson, chapters four and five” he turned his attention towards Mike “Michael! May I have a word?”

Michael had been packing his books into his bags, his attention turned towards his teacher’s and didn’t pay attention to where he was putting his book, accidentally causing the bag to fall down. Michael yelped in surprise as he and Strickler tried to put the things in the bag.

“Michael, you're distracted” Strickler said as he gave him a book “You fell asleep between the invasion of Attica and the Peace of Nicias, and your attention wandered for the rest of the class”

“Sorry” Michael looked away in embarrassment as he took the book back, tonight had been plagued with the ‘Nightmares’ as Michael liked to call the monstrous versions of Freddy and his gang “I didn't get a lot of sleep last night”

Strickler gave Michael his headphones “I know your father is a really busy man and with your mother in the hospital you want to care of your siblings”

“Someone has to take care of them, Mr. Strickler” Michael shrugged while he put a book in his bag “I’m the only one that will do that” 

“I believe I'm overdue for a conversation with your father” Strickler wrote his phone number in a piece of paper and gave it to Michael “Have him call me, please”

“ Uh…” Michael mumbled as he grabbed the paper, his blood running cold just at the thought of Strickler having to tell Father about him falling asleep. He would kill him.

“And feel free to drop by my office if you ever need to talk”

“Yeah, I'll do that,” Michael said with a small smile.

“Oh, and, Michael, if you fancy Miss Emily, I submit that talking to–” Strickler and Michael both stood up as Strickler playfully hit Michael in the head with his book “Will be much more effective than staring at” he then gave the book to him.

“I mean” Michael rolled his eyes “I’ve technically talked to her”

“Ohhh, young Michael” Strickler chuckled “Mumbling and stumbling over your words does not count as having a conversation”

The next and last class that they would have for the day was at the gym, Michael waited for Jeremy as his friend was climbing up the rope. He had already reached the top and played the bell, he was now looking around and watching the rest of his classmates working out. Michael then noticed Charlie on her phone, watching videos with some friends, laughing at the screen. Maybe he should follow Mr.Strickler’s advice and try to have an actual conversation with her, if he didn’t then he might regret it later. Michael took a deep breath as he approached her.

“Muy buenos” Michael greeted in broken spanish “¿Qué tal te encuontras in este percioso día?”

“Your spanish has improved a little bit” Charlie pointed out as she looked up from the screen, her friends giggling before deciding to leave the two to themselves.

“Uh– um, somewhat” Michael made a so-so motion “Sí, sollo para conseguire una A”

“Maybe I can give you a few classes if you want,” Charlie suggested.

“Can’t, I’ve got work at Freddy’s” Michael sighed.

“I still can’t believe that Uncle Will makes you work so much” Charlie crossed her arms and pouted “I can give you the classes at Freddy’s or…” she handed Michael a slip of paper for the Romeo & Juliet play “We can give him a reason to stop giving you work, it could be fun! Plus we’re in desperate need of some boys for the play”

“I don’t think a play can get Father to stop making me work”

“Maybe not a play per say… but I can definitely get my Dad to convince him” Charlie said “After all Uncle Will did not like the idea of Marionette when I pitched it, but then Dad came in and told him all about it and his plans and he folded! I’m pretty sure it was the same with Foxy”

“I’ll…” Michael looked down at the paper, knowing Father there was no way he was going to be allowed on the play “I’ll give it some thought”

“Yessss” Charlie cheered “You’re gonna love it, I promise!”

Anything that involved Charlie, Michael knew he was going to love, he just wasn’t going to say that out loud “Ok…”

“I’ll talk to you the day of the play, ok?” Charlie winked at him before leaving.

“Y-yeah” Michael couldn’t help but blush, his face going red.

Not long after their conversation the class finished and everyone went onto the changing room, Michael had already gotten back into his clothes but Jeremy had a few complications when getting changed. By which it was Jeremy putting on his piercings and earrings back into their place, the problem was that there was no mirror for Jeremy to look at his reflection. So for now he attempted to put his things back in place by himself.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! So close!” Jeremy complained as the piercing fell down and he picked it up “You talked to her?”

“Yep!” Michael opened up his bag.

“Like, actually spoke to her?” Jeremy asked “Not just, you know, in your head? Or a bunch of mumbles”

“I unleashed my Español on her” Michael grabbed the amulet as he took a look at it.

“Oh, no. You should totally do it”

“What? The play?” Michael asked and closed the locker “I'm not an actor”

“Come on. You want a more exciting life, a new big change!” Jeremy lazily pointed at Michael “It’s written all over your face”

“I don't think Romeo and Juliet is exactly the answer, Jer. I don't want just, you know, exciting. I mean... more” Michael shrugged as he leaned on the locker “I just need to know that there's something more to life than high school, than just following all of what Father has planned out for me”

A shade moved a few feet far from Michael, which went noticed by the boy.

“Your old man sucks, in so many horrible ways I can’t even describe” Jeremy sighed “How have you not run away yet?”

But Michael wasn’t paying attention to what his friend was saying, walking away to where the shadow had moved and even if he had, they already had that conversation. As much as Michael wished to leave the place behind he wasn’t going to leave his siblings, he couldn’t even escape with them because his Father would somehow find them just like he always knew when Michael would sneak out. He also couldn’t just leave his Mom behind. Plus whatever punishment Michael received he deserved it, but he wouldn’t tell that to Jeremy since he would freak out.

Some sounds seemed to come out from the shower room and Michael made his way there, the room was foggy and he could barely see a thing “Hello?! Anybody in there? ... Hello?”

The shade moved again but Michael could barely make out what it was “Got another one!” Jeremy’s voice cheered, spooking Michael and causing the boy to go back to his friend “Whoo-hoo! Finally! Success, success!”

The two were making their way out, neither of them noticing the six eyes staring at Michael. The two had left the room and grabbed their bikes, the two were walking towards the exit as Jeremy spoke.

“So, good news, dude. My orthodontist says I'm almost done with my braces” Jeremy informed “Just a little bit longer”

Their conversation was interrupted as they spotted Steve Palchuck terrorizing Eli Peperjack, the sight of it making Michael frown, seeing others acting like he used to towards Evan made him mad. Eli was a nice kid, his worst crime was being a nerd that got into too many conspiracy theories. Seeing Steve act like he used to just made Michael want to punch him in the face and teach him a lesson.

“Michael” Jeremy pulled his friend out of his thoughts “I know what you want to do but it’ll just make things worse”

“We can't just let him do that” Michael frowned.

“Oh, yes, we can. If you go after Steve it’ll just make things so much worse for you, people have finally stopped talking about the incident” Jeremy reminded him “Do you want to give them more reasons to hate you?” But Michael didn’t listen as he walked towards Steve “Michael? Michael! Oh, no”

“Tell me again, dweeb-face” Steve elbowed the locker “Tell me about the creatures and maybe I'll let you out!”

“Or you can let him out right now” Michael informed him, staring daggers at his classmate as everyone's attention was now on him “I mean, you know, it would be nice”

“Nice would be you minding your own business” Steve pointed accusingly at him “Since I don’t think you’re the right person to demand others to be nice”

“Oh, Hi Michael!” Eli happily waved when he was able to take a peek outside.

“So, where were we?” Steve interrupted as he closed the locker again “Um... Oh, yeah, okay. You were telling me about the monsters you saw this morning, with fangs and. What was it, again?”

“Stone for skin!” Eli explained “In the canal!”

“Stone for skin?” Steve chuckled as he leaned on the locker “Man, Eli, you've got some imagination”

“Maybe he saw one of my Father’s animatronic, probably testing them or something. Only he knows what’s going on with those”

“Does it really matter?” Steve shrugged.

“Look, Steve, seriously, just let him out” Michael sighed.

“Or you'll do what?!” Steve grabbed Michael by the jacket and lifted him up, which was kind of dumb since Steve should remember that Michael himself used to get into fights, or maybe he forgot since Michael hadn’t been in one in a long time.

“Alright, do it” Michael got closer to Steve, he had gotten worse things than that any other week “Punch me”

“You... you're asking for a beating?” Steve looked confused.

“Yeah. Just go crazy” He might as well just be talking to Father “In 20 years, you're gonna be fat and bald and you'll be working in a muffler shop, and Eli will have a career in software and he'll be a billionaire”

“I do like computers” Eli prompted from the locker, Steve punched it to shut Eli.

“Let him out!” Jeremy started chanting “Let him out!”

“Let him out!” Everyone started chanting as well, causing Steve to stumble “Let him out! Let him out! Let him out! Let him out!”

Coach Lawrence suddenly interrupted them as he left the gym “Palchuk, what's going on here?”

“Uh, nothing, sir”

“Why aren't you at practice?” the coach questioned.

“I was helping Eli, here” Steve opened the door to the locker.

“Hey guys!”

“He was stuck,” Steve lied.

“On the double!” Coach Lawrence demanded “Now!”

“Friday, at noon. You and me” Steve closed the locker, trapping Eli inside of it again, he started making a clock motion as he started leaving “Tick-tock. Tick”

After Steve left Michael opened the locker and Eli got out “Thank you”

Michael just sighed, maybe he really should have stayed out of it, he wasn’t the right person to help out others. He was a monster hiding under human skin, trying to pass by as one and no one really seemed to care. Not even Jeremy who always looked out for him. He just grabbed his bicycle and made his way out, Jeremy giving him a reassuring smile as they left the school.

A tired breath escaped his lips as he leaned on the prize counter, he hated working at Freddy’s, Father didn’t even allow him to get paid! But he still had to wear the damned uniform as if he was an actual employee and not free service, Henry didn’t force Charlie to wear it! She didn’t even work here! She came in to help from time to time because she thought it was fun and liked to work with Henry in the animatronics. Meanwhile Michael… well he enjoyed tinkering, but sometimes it felt like Father wanted him to lose a hand by accident.

A little girl hopped onto the front of the counter, Michael turned his attention to her, the girl lifted her hand up showing her tickets “I’ve got some tickets!”

“All right, hand them here so I can count them and give you a prize” Michael smiled, the girl returned it as she handed the tickets to him. Michael put them into the machine as it counted them “You’ve got 102 tickets, anything you wanna get with those?”

“Ummm…” the girl looked around. “Can I get the toy-bonnie keychain please?”

“Here ya go” Michael gave her the prize and braced himself to not cringe at the next words he was about to say “Have a fazztastic day!”

“Thank you!” The little girl giggled before happily hopping away.

He hated working here and didn’t even want to, but at least the nice little kids that smiled and enjoyed their time here made it somewhat worth it. Somewhat.

Jeremy slid on a chair to Mike’s side “Back at school that was awesome, man. Did you see how I did that chant? ‘Let him out. Let him out’ I mean, you probably won't live past Friday, because you refuse to throw a punch again but it was awesome”

“Steve isn't really worth it” Michael shrugged “Dude will probably get himself killed without needing anyone's help, no need to even try to punch him when he can just trip and stumble his way onto his grave”

“Yeah” Jeremy chuckled.

The two quickly quieted down as they noticed William making his way over to the two, a dissatisfied look on his face, Jeremy made sure to slowly leave the counter while still sitting on the chair as the man arrived “What did I tell you about bringing your friend here?”

“Father” Michael acknowledged “He followed me here, I’ve told him plenty of times he’s not allowed to get here when I have work”

“Sorry Mr.Afton” Jeremy shrugged lazily, not sorry “I thought the place welcomed everyone, it says so in the promotions”

“It’s different when the person entering influences my son into making some horrible decisions” William reminded.

“Just leave Jeremy” Michael sighed “You always get bored and complain anyways”

The other teen frowned before finally relenting “ Fine. Tomorrow I have a basketball match in case you wanna come watch”

“We’ll see how my luck goes later” Michael shrugged.

“See ya!” Jeremy waved before leaving.

After making sure that Jeremy was out of the way William slammed his hand on the counter, catching his son’s attention as the teen tried to not flinch.

“Henry has told me the most interesting thing” William said “He told me that you and Charlotte plan to be part of the play, but… you have work here and wouldn’t be able to do it if you got distracted”

“Is it really work when I don’t even get paid?”

“Should I remind you that you and your friends have not gotten into any trouble thanks to my forgiveness?” William’s eyes stared down at Michael’s his words seeping into the teen’s mind “The least you can do is repay your brother’s medical bills by working”

“Yes sir” Michael said without realizing.

“I knew I could find you both here!” Henry’s voice interrupted the conversation as he approached both Aftons “Sooo, Mike, someone told me you were interested in your school’s play!”

“Well, Michael has work to do here and with his mother in the hospital he tries to help out at home” William’s voice imitated that of a worried and unsure parent “He doesn’t have a lot of time in his schedule”

“Well, last time you said that you gave Mike the work since he didn’t want to do any extracurriculars” Henry reminded “Now he wants to do them! Let the boy enjoy his time, he’s always going from home to school, school to here and from school to home”

William rubbed his face and pinching his nose with one hand and closing the other one into a fist before letting out a sigh “You’re right, old friend” he put both hands on his hips “I should allow Michael enjoy some of his free time”

“I’m glad we could agree, Will” Henry’s smile brightened as he patted William on the shoulder. “I was heading off to see the endoskeletons, gotta do a checkup on them. Do you mind helping?”

“I’ll be there in a jiffy love, right behind you” William smiled as Henry walked away, he turned his attention back towards his son “I’ll allow you to do these little club activities if you can stay here for the rest of the day and close up, see if you can take a little bit of responsibility”

Michael bit his tongue, if he spoke then he wouldn’t get to have the little freedom he was just given. But still, what did he know about responsibility?! Michael was the one that had spent all his bloody time taking care of his siblings for years!

“Whatever” He rolled his eyes.

William quickly grabbed Michael by the chin “I think you used the wrong wording. Would you like to repeat that?”

“Yes, Father” he gritted.

“That’s better” William released his chin and cleaned his hand with his suit “You know where to find me if you need me”

“Like I will,” Michael muttered out of his earshot.

After finishing up with work and making sure that everybody had left Freddy’s and no trash was left behind, Michael changed back to his usual clothes and made sure to check if things were locked right. It was already dark outside. Once he was done he closed the door of the entrance and looked around the keychain for the keys of the entrance, the night guard would still take a few hours to get here so it was important to make sure nothing was left unlocked. As he found the right key and finished locking the entrance door, Michael’s phone ran and he looked to see that Jeremy was the one calling.

“Hey, Jer” Michael answered.

[ Did it talk again? ] Jeremy asked excitedly, confusing Michael for a second before he remembered what his friend was talking about [ Did it do anything interesting? ]

Michael checked his bag and took out the amulet, looking it over “Nope!”

[ JerBear! Dinner! ] Jeremy’s grandma could be heard in the background.

[ In a minute, Nana! ] Jeremy responded [I've got to go. Text me if it does anything cool ]

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry” Michael hung up the phone, he was starting to head out but his attention changed back onto the amulet on his hand as it blinked a light blue “Um... Hi. How you doing?” Michael got the amulet closer to his face “I'm Michael. But then, you knew that because you spoke my name, which is... weird. Hello?” He tapped it “Anybody in there?” Michael fiddled with one of the handles before throwing his arms down “And now, I'm talking to an inanimate object. Come on! Talk again, or you are going up on eBay”

A loud clatter came from the back of the pizzeria… where the trash was thrown out, Michael let out an irritated sigh at the realization of who was the culprit.

“Raccoons!” Michael groaned.

The boy put the amulet in his pocket and slowly and carefully made his way to the back, as much as he didn’t want to face a bunch of racoons, he’d also rather not deal with being blamed for their mess. The tapping of footsteps could be heard as Michael made his way, while walking the teen was unaware of the amulet glowing as the arms switched positions. Michael looked around at the back, the light illuminating the area as it showed that the trash was perfectly fine and clean. Just in case Michael decided to check if any racoons were in the trash.

The light suddenly burst off, scaring Michael as he jumped back and the trash lid closed. Once he realized no one was there, he sighed and took a closer look at the side of the trash just in case. 6 eyes opened as they seemed to be moving right behind him, the troll to which the eyes belonged appeared right behind the teenager as he was clearly unaware of his attention.

“Master Michael!” The troll screamed in excitement. Michael screamed with a jump back crawling on all fours, bumping his head onto the wall “Master Michael!” He repeated as Michael screamed once more, bumping his head again as the troll came closer but not close enough to be seen by the security cameras as they only caught the backdoor and part of the floor “We have found you!” Michael with another scream, backed away in a different direction but stopped as an arm blocked his path “I am known as Blinky”

Michael couldn’t believe the situation he was currently in, there were actual real monsters right in front of him! They weren’t as scary as the corrupted version of Fredbear in his nightmares, but this thing was so real unlike the others (even though those dreams always felt hyper-realistic). Michael hoped that they wouldn’t chomp off his head like in his nightmares. It was just one monster, he could try to run away from it, right? Michael lifted his head to find another troll, yet larger in size.

“Hi” it waved, Michael let out another scream of panic as he tried to run away but stopped as the six eyed troll accidentally blocked his way “It's Aaarrrgghh” it held up 3 fingers “Three Rs”

Feeling cornered, Michael backed up into the wall, realizing this way didn’t allow him to escape Michael tried to move forward. Instead of escaping he moved in between the two trolls. As they got closer, Michael dropped to the floor with a scream.

“Hmm. He says… aaaaaa!” Aaarrrgghh, let out a petty scream “...a lot”

“It's more of a yelp, I believe” the creature guessed “A greeting, perhaps” 

It tried to imitate Michael’s scream much more quietly, to greet Michael but instead all of what the teen could see was a wide mouth with sharp fangs. A mouth that was getting way too close —oh god— he was going to get his face bitten off wasn’t he? Another scream erupted from Michael's raw throat as his brain finally seemed to work, getting up and trying to run, Aaarrrgghh grabbed his legs and dangled him upside down as Blinky stepped closer. Michael covered his eyes as his body trembled. Oh god, he was going to die, he was going to die.

“Master Michael, you have been chosen” chosen? Chosen for what? As their next meal?

“Hmm. Blinky, he looks scared” Aaarrrggghh realized.

“Uh, Aaarrrgghh, my good fellow, would you mind? This is a moment of some solemnity” Blinky informed.

“Hmm? Solembily?” The big troll asked.

“It means serious and dignified”

“Hmm. Dig-oo-nified”

Well if they weren’t going to eat him, maybe Michael could plead? “P-P-Put me down, please?”

Blinky silently gestured to his friend to put Michael down.

“Oh” Aaarrrgghh followed the request and placed the boy with his feet on the ground before patting Michael's head as the boy yelped throughout the whole thing.

“Thank you. Now, where was I?”

“Uh, Master Michael…” Aaarrrgghh started listing, Michael taking a step away from the creature and looking up at it fearfully “Found you…”

“Yes” Blinky put his hands together, Michael taking another step back “Thank you” Blinky started again while Michael tried to run but Aaarrrgghh stopped him with his hands, the teen going back and forward from one hand to the other “Master Michael, you have been chosen” Michael stopped running as Blinky approached him, the boy backing into the other creature “The amulet of Daylight challenges you to ascend to the most sacred of offices”

“Orifices?” Aaarrrgghh asked “What orifices?”

“ Offices . It means responsibility” Blinky explained before turning his attention back to Michael “Unbeknownst to your kind, there is a secret world, a vast civilization of trolls lurking beneath your very feet, hidden from view”

“Tro... Tr-Trolls?” Michael asked in disbelief.

“Trolls. Yes, trolls. And it is now your charge to protect them” Blinky informed him as Mike yelped “For you, Master Michael, are the Trollhunter”

“Trollhunter” Aaarrrgghh repeated as Michael screamed again.

“This honor is yours to accept. So, what say you?” Blinky asked but Michael never gave an answer. 

Instead his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell to the floor, his body rolling near the backdoor before lying still as the two trolls that invaded his space, surrounded him but not close enough for the security cameras to catch sight of them.

“Is that a yes?” Aaarrrgghh asked.

“Hey kid–” someone was nudging Michael in the shoulder “Come on wake up, boss is gonna be so mad at me if I tell him I found his kid knocked out here”

Michael opened his eyes and sat up “Wha–?”

He looked around to see the night guard employee looking at him worriedly “Thank god” the man let out a sigh “I thought I would have to call the ambulance. You alright there kid?”

“Uh– yeah” Michael still looked around, in case those things were still here “Did you see anything or anybody around here?”

“Can’t say I have” he shook his head “Sorry. I got in checked the cameras and barely saw you here since the lightbulb’s busted, then I came out to check what was happening and here we are”

“...Alright…” Michael stood, dusted himself off and grabbed his bag “I’ll… be going home”

“You do that kid. Remember to be careful”

“Yeah, yeah” Michael shrugged off before making his way where he parked his bike and get back home.

Once he got back home Michael threw himself onto the sofa, today had been quite the shocker and Michael wasn’t sure if he had just dreamed what had happened or not. He didn’t care if he missed dinner, the twins could make something for themselves. Mike was just going to fall asleep right here, he wished he had stayed knocked out back at Freddy’s. Might as well do that, Father could complain about it later, if he was even home to see him. 

Michael was woken up the next morning, by someone nudging him just like last time. The teen opened his eyes to see Elizabeth and Evan, his sister being the one that had woken him up.

“What are you doing sleeping on the couch?” Lizzie questioned.

“I was too tired from work to even get to bed so I slept on the sofa” Michael explained “Did you two have breakfast?”

“Yup!” Elizabeth nodded “We had cereal”

“And sandwiches for dinner,” Evan added.

“Good, good. I’m gonna call Jeremy if you two won’t mind” the twins watched as Michael picked up his phone and walked out to the yard while speed dialing Jeremy “Pick up, pick up”

Answering his prayers, Jeremy's voice appeared at the other end of the line [ Hey, Mike ]

“Jer, it's me!” Michael said “You're never going to believe what happened last night”

[ Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of something, Mike ] Jeremy said as more and more sounds could be heard in the background.

“I am freaking out here! Seriously freaking” Michael brushed his hair back as he started walking in circles “I need to talk to somebody and I’m definitely not telling Evan and Liz because that’s just asking to give them teasing material for the rest of our lives”

[ Chillax. What's going on? ]

“Okay, last night, I had to close Freddy’s and heard something in the trash” Michael explained “I thought it was raccoons, but then–”

[ Yeah, hang on a second– ] a whistle could be heard in the background as someone blew on a whistle and screamed [ Sorry, Mike. I'll have to call you back ]

Michael sighed, unlike Jeremy he still had to go to class today, he headed back inside made some toast and alongside his siblings headed out to school. Should he tell his siblings about it? Maybe not, the two would probably think he was making things up, trying to scare them. The two already had a horrible experience with the animatronics Father made, Michael telling them about big stone creatures with a ton of eyes and sharp teeth was going to make them think he was trying to scare them. Even though it was a story about him being chosen for something.

In the end Michael decided to keep his siblings out of whatever it was that he had gotten into, he still needed to talk to someone about it and Strickler seemed to be the right person. He always had good advice, maybe he could help him out? Michael pushed the door open as he took a peek at Strickler's office. The man was listening to music while working.

“Ah, hello, Michael” the teacher greeted as he looked up from his paperwork “What can I do for you?”

“Um, do you have a minute?” Michael wondered, looking worried.

“Are you alright?” Mr Strickler turns off the music “You look peaked. Here, sit”

Michael exhaled, got a chair and rolled the seat to get it up “Okay. I don't really know how to say this, but last night, something incredible happened. Actually, unbelievable . Completely unbelievable ” he sat down and dropped his bag but got up again as he rolled the seat up again “As in, you won't believe me, but I'm telling you it's true” he finally sat down “I promise you it's true”

“All right. Just calm down. I'll believe you” Strickler assured him.

“Uh, okay” Michael tried to think of his next words “Last night, two, um, things showed up at Freddy's”

Strickler tilted his head “Things?”

“You know, things”   Michael went on a circle in the chair “Guys. But really weird . One had these eyes , and the other one was huge and hairy . And they said that they were tro–” he stopped himself.

“Tro?” Strickler raised an eyebrow.

“Tr...trainers!” Michael had quickly realized that Strickler was not going to believe him and send him to the loon if he told him “Trainers, who want to train me in…” he saw the chess game on Strickler’s table at the side “Ch...uh... chess” Michael got up and grabbed a chess piece as Strickler watched him with a chuckle.

“And why would that have you so perturbed?”

“They really weirded me out” 

Michael moved the chess piece down from his view to reveal Steve kicking a soccer ball far off the field and hitting a classmate, the blonde turned and ticked his finger in the same motion as he did yesterday, his mouth was moving and it was pretty easy to guess what it was he said. Michael looked almost sadly at the chess piece, Steve was going to be really annoying wasn’t he?

“Now, I think I know what has you so distraught, Michael”

“You do?” Michael looked confused.

Strickler stood with pride as he made his way to the boy “It's like I told you yesterday, you have a lot on your shoulders. Too much, in my opinion, for someone your age” he explained “And I think this opportunity…”

“Chess?”

Mr. Strickler took the chess piece from his hand gently, overlooked it, and set it back on the board before knocking another piece down “I think it's causing you anxiety. I know you want to be there for your siblings and mother, but it's a great poet once wrote, ‘Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody’ ”

The school bell rang, causing Michael to walk back to his bag and rest it on his shoulder “Hey, thanks for the advice. I like talking to you”

“Always”

The teen couldn’t help but smile as he started to walk away. It was always nice when he talked to Strickler, the man always seemed to understand what he was going through. He was kind like Henry, but he didn’t know Father and didn’t talk to him, which gave Mike the liberty of being able to talk about whatever he wanted. No worries about his words getting back to Father. While Michael left the room Strickler smiled and turned to head to his desk, the amulet lit up in blue from the open pocket of his bag, certainly catching Strickler's eyes, causing them to grow in realization but also panic and shock.

Back at home, Michael sliced his knife through the skin of the tomato, making various tomato slices. After sliding the pieces onto three sandwiches, he cleaned the knife before nicely throwing it in its respective place in the knife holder. After adding lettuce and cheese, he placed the last slice of bread upon each one and finished his cooking. Dinner ready for his siblings and himself. His eyes moved to his bag which glowed as the amulet peeked from its hiding spot.

Leaving his house with his bag, Michael stepped into the backyard, pulling the magical device out and studying it. Suddenly, the arms of the machine started to spiral as the rim turned blue, changing the symbols from letters to words, from Trollish to Chinese, to Spanish, to English.

“...For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command”

As Michael finished reading the words, the food in a cat's dish began to float as the computer screen in a room of a house flicked off. The fences shook in the wind as leaves blew. His eyes grew as he brought it closer, a blue spark appearing from the amulet, surrounding him before hiding near his heart as more sparks followed into his chest, his body floated in the air while the blue wave of magic had covered him. Armor appeared and connected to his body, it was too big for him but it luckily shrank to his size.

“This is so fucking cool!”

The sparks from his amulet appeared once again, this time falling to his hand, creating a sword. The vast sword was too heavy as it fell onto the ground and he tried to lift it, it then shrank to his size as blue smoke poured from it. Michael smiled, the incredibleness of the situation increasing. He started to pose for fun and swung the sword around, his confidence growing until it got wedged into a rock. Michael turned and tried to force his way out trying to pull it out (and rolling off) until he finally got it free, only to get it stuck in another rock behind him.

At the Canals by the deathbed of Kanjigar, a car pulled up near the edge as a figure left the vehicle and appeared beside the pile of rocks. His hand reached to where the amulet used to lay to reveal Strickler.

“It's been taken. You failed . You let it go” he reprimanded “Your father will be displeased”

A larger figure appeared behind him, Bular roared “Whoever holds the amulet of Merlin, I shall destroy them, just as I have done with every single one of them”

“Worry not, you brute” Strickler's eyes glowed yellow “I know where to find it. I believe the amulet has found its champion”

Back at Michael's backyard, the boy was trying to pull the sword from the stone. Once he did, he held it up with a smile.

Chapter Text

Michael held out the magical sword in his hands, a manic grin on his face, this had to be the coolest thing ever. A magic armour and a magic sword? There was no way his day couldn’t get any better, ok yeah the troll creatures visiting him last night had been really scary. But he could get over it if it meant that he would get to have such amazing things, Michael played around with the sword again. This time more careful so that it wouldn’t get stuck again.

“So cool,” Michael grinned.

“What the heck are you wearing?!”

The teen ever so slowly turned around to see the twins at the backdoor, Elizabeth who had been the one to speak up looked at him suspiciously with her arms crossed, while Evan looked at him curiously with his head tilted. Michael tried to hide the sword behind his back, giving his little siblings the best smile that he could muster.

“Oh, this?” Michael motioned to the armor “Just some cosplay”

“Doubtful,” the twins said in unison.

“We saw the light show!” Elizabeth emphasized as she gestured with her hands “Then we looked out to see you with that on”

“We’re not stupid Mikey” Evan deadpanned “What’s with the armor and the sword, spill”

“Ok, so…” Michael took a deep breath “How do I explain this without sounding crazy or like I’m pulling your leg?”

“We can give you some time if you want,” Evan suggested.

“But not too much time” Elizabeth and Evan exchanged a glance “Twin talk time”

The two huddled together as they spoke, Michael hated ‘twin talk time’, always murmuring and whispering. Judging him as they glanced at him before they would come to a conclusion.

The twins turned to look at their older brother, Elizabeth had her arms crossed “We have come to the decision that you will be given a total of…”

“48 hours” Evan finished “Plenty of time to think over what your words and what you want to tell us”

“If you do not give us the information by then you will be pinched, questioned and annoyed with weird voices and repetitive words” Elizabeth threatened.

“As long as you don’t tell Father” Michael sighed “Look, I was mostly planning on telling Jeremy tomorrow. I’m pretty sure he has to go to the dentist that day– he’s been complaining about it– So I’ll go grab him, bring him here and tell you three about the crazy stuff I saw yesterday” he explained before pointing at the two “But. Don’t . Tell. Father”

“Deal” Elizabeth offered her hand to shake, Michael took it and Evan placed his hand over his brother’s, making it so that they were doing a three-way handshake.

“Now to find out how I get bloody this thing off”

Sunlight beamed down as Michael raced down a bridge over the Arcadia Oaks canal on his bicycle, he splashed through a puddle as he whizzed past a sign that read ‘Arcadia’. He stopped at a one-story building with a revolving set of false teeth next to it, he made sure to lock his bike in place next to a bench and threw his helmet onto the bike handle. He walked into Dr. Mueles’ dentistry where soothing music plays and Gladys, the assistant, stood behind the desk.

The woman tried to stop him “Don't go in there, he's with a patient”

Michael entered the room anyway, where Jeremy was sitting on a dentist chair with Dr.Mueles holding Jeremy’s mouth open with his finger “Jer!” The answer that the teen got was incomprehensible muffling “Jer! Jer, Jer, Jer! I have got to talk to you”

Dr.Mueles reached over to a countertop and grabbed cotton pads in between his knuckles, Jeremy answered his voice still muffled “Uh, I'm a little busy right now”

“What?” Michael’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“He says he's a little busy right now,” Dr.Mueles translated.

Jeremy groaned as Dr.Mueles shoved the cotton pads into his mouth, Michael watched in disgust as “Oh, God. It hurts”

“Okay, remember that thing we found the other day? In the canals. The thing with the gem and stuff?” Michael asked “ It works. It works like crazy!”

“This can't wait, man?” Jeremy turned his head to Michael 

“What?”

“He says, ‘This can't wait, man?’ ” The dentist grabbed a drill tool and shoved it into Jeremy’s teeth, the teen gasped and screamed.

“I've already waited until morning” Michael protested “Ev and Liz saw the whole thing and they want answers!” Dr.Mueles took the drill out of Jeremy’s mouth, a tear running down his cheek as a cheek retractor was then placed in Jeremy’s mouth “How much longer is this going to take?”

Dr.Mueles stared at Michael and then whipped out a multi-blade drill tool and lowered it into Jeremy’s mouth. Jeremy gasped and screamed. It wasn’t until hours later that both teenagers could be found once again inside of the Afton residence, inside the kitchen, Evan and Elizabeth seemed to be the most impatient to find out the new information. Elizabeth with her arms crossed, Evan tapping his foot and Michael pacing back and forth as Jeremy adjusted his braces and moved his mouth around.

“Eight hours!” Michael complained “I can't believe it takes eight hours”

“We’ve been waiting to find out what this is all about!” Elizabeth complained, throwing her arms out.

“Two molars, plus insertions, and some cleanup” Jeremy listed.

“Okay, info time!” Evan’s eyes shone with excitement.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going, I’m going. Just give me a jiff ” Michael rolled his eyes “You are never going to believe this”

“My mouth still feels sore” Jeremy rubbed his cheeks before reaching into the freezer, grabbed a box of frozen pizzas, and put it to his cheek.

“Check this out” Michael pulls out the amulet and holds it in front of him for a few seconds.

“Oh! Oh!” Elizabeth hopped up and down in excitement “Do the thing! Do the thing”

“Do you have any aspirin?” Jeremy asked, unaware of what was going on in the room.

“Jer, pay attention” Michael gave him a deadpanned look.

Jeremy simply rubbed his nose on the box of frozen pizzas and sniffed it, there was at least one good thing about having to rub frozen food on his face was the smell. Meanwhile Michael lowered his eyebrows and gazed at the amulet, there were a bunch of words that he had to say if he wasn’t wrong. The twins eyes widened in expectation, excited to see how the armor got into their brother.

“For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to–”

The microwave dinged, the Afton siblings raised their eyebrows and eyes shot up as they watched Fitzgerald, he pulled a pizza slice from the microwave and looked at Michael “Go on”

“It worked last night” Michael scratched the back of his head. 

Jeremy pushed the microwave door, and it bounced back open. Michael lifted the amulet up above his head and inspected it, was something wrong with it? Did he say the wrong thing? Or did it break? The twins watched their older brother, their heads tilted in curiosity, Jeremy slammed the microwave door shut.

“Are you punking me right now?”

“Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait” Michael closed his eyes. 

The amulet glowed and transformed into a blue mist which disappeared into Michael’s chest, the teenager floated up and the blue mist swirled around him. Jeremy and the twins watched in awe and the pizza slice in his hand floated up as well.

“Holy champignon!” Jeremy put one hand on his head.

Michael hovered over the floor as the silver armor encased him, he spun around and dropped to the floor. The pizza slice returns to Jeremy’s hand “Oh-ho-ho-ho!” Michael chuckled “How cool is that?”

Jeremy gazed up and down at the armor, the teen looked breathlessly “Whaaat?” Jeremy circled around Michael and inspected the armor while the twins got closer as well “Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! So cool, so cool, so cool! Dude, you know what this means, right?” Jeremy poked the amulet on Michael’s chest with his finger and then covered his mouth with his hand “You have a sacred responsibility here”

“That's what they said!” Michael pointed at his friend excitedly.

“Michael’s a knight in shining armor” Elizabeth tapped her chin “Who could believe that”

“It’s definitely kind of ironic” Evan whispered to her, the two chuckled while Michael sent them a dirty look “I’m allowed to say that”

Michael just shook his head with a smile.

“Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh” Jeremy jumped and spun in front of Michael “Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my–” Jeremy took a bite from the pizza slice, mulling over his words “You have to use these powers for the benefit of all mankind! You have to use this to kick Steve’s butt”

“Booooooo! Boring!” Elizabeth gave Jeremy a thumbs down.

“And dumb” Evan added “People would laugh at you for going into a fight in armor. What do you think it is the medieval era?”

“ Really? I show you a glowing sword and a suit of armor that can only be magic, and that’s how you respond Jer?” Michael hunched down and stared at Jeremy “Plus, if I wanted to get into that fight I could’ve beaten Steve into a pulp when I got my chance”

“You’re all lame!” Jeremy crossed his arms in protest “Instead of the Aftons you should be the Lame-os”

“Wait also, who's ‘they’ ?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well, that's the part that I've been freaking out over!”

Suddenly there was a knock on the back door next to them as Blinky looked in through the window, he smiled and waved at Michael. Everyone except for Michael started screaming in both shock and fear.

“What–What– What the heck is that?” Jeremy asked “Don’t– Don't open the door!”

“Master Michael! Ha-ha!” Blinky barged in laughing.

“So big… with sharp teeth…” Evan mumbled as he hid behind Michael.

“I'm calling 911!” Elizabeth screamed as she tried to grab her phone.

“No, Animal Control!” Jeremy corrected as they watched Aaarrrgghh trying to get in, he grabbed Elizabeth and the two jumped and rolled behind the kitchen counter “Oh my god. They talk”

“I knew it was but a matter of time before the amulet called to us” Blinky informed as he got closer.

“ ‘Called’ to you?” Michael asked, Evan took a peek outside but let out a yelp and hid further into his older brother at the sight of the troll.

“Actually, no. We've been spying on you” Blinky confessed.

“Spy on you” Aaarrrgghh pointed two fingers to his eyes and then to Michael, he continued pushing himself through the door.

“Well, keeping a close watch” Blinky excused.

Aaarrrgghh popped through the door and shook the room as he fell to the ground with a groan “Door small”

Jeremy held Elizabeth’s phone to his ear [ Animal Control ]

“Monsters, at my best friend's house!” Jeremy shouted into the phone “I need you to send a squad!”

[Is this a joke, kid?]

Elizabeth looked over the countertop and glared at Aaarrrgghh before ducking down “Make that the National Guard!”

Elizabeth’s phone hummed as the two looked at it in shock “Animal Control hung up on us”

“You told your two stout little friends and the other one about us?” Blinky asked.

“Ev and Lizzie are my little siblings” Michael looked back at Evan as he put a hand on his head “I would’ve kept it a secret from them but these two are nosy and don’t know about privacy ” Evan pulled his tongue out at him but quickly hid further when he remembered Blinky was there “Come on Evan, if they ate people I wouldn’t be here right now. They had the chance to a few days ago” but the boy shook his head “But I did try to tell Jeremy willingly. Um, is that a problem?”

“Master Michael, we trolls have gone to great lengths to keep our existence secret from your kind, lest there be panic” As Blinky said this Aaarrrgghh reached over the counter, picked both Jeremy and Elizabeth up, and placed them on the countertop.

“Don’t touch me!” Elizabeth shrieked as she slapped Aaarrrgghh multiple times and the troll tilted his head.

“Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.” Jeremy stood up and pointed a ladle at Blinky and Aaarrrgghh.

“Like that” Blinky gestured.

“It's all right, guys” Michael walked up to the other two, Evan following his brother close behind.

“They're like nine feet tall,” Jeremy said.

“And have sharp teeth,” Evan mumbled.

“And too many limbs!” Elizabeth added.

“This is my best friend, Jeremy F.” Michael motioned to his friend “And as I said before my siblings Elizabeth and Evan, they’re twins”

“Oh, my gosh. He has like 800 eyes” Jeremy pointed the ladle to Blinky “We're going to die”

Evan let out a yelp and Michael slapped Jeremy in the back of the head “You’re going to make Evan pass out”

“Hardly. Your friend is the Trollhunter” Blinky explained “His noble obligation is protective”

“Like ‘protecting’?” Evan let go of Michael as he watched the trolls with awe as Michael walked up to them.

“You mean like a superhero?” Elizabeth realized as she sat down at the counter.

“Oh, can I be his sidekick?” Jeremy caught his breath and sat down on the counter, slapping the ladle on Blinky’s cheek “With like a cool superhero name like Deathblade… or Snipersnake?”

“Just wait” Michael stopped them “Who would I be protecting?”

“Us” Aaarrrgghh answered.

“And mankind. From bad trolls” Blinky added “As well as goblins, gruesomes, and the occasional rogue gnome” as he spoke Jeremy tapped Blinky repeatedly with the metal ladle until Blinky turned to him “Do you mind?” Jeremy stared and dropped the ladle, Blinky turned back to Michael “The mantle of Trollhunter is a sacred responsibility, one which was never been passed to a human. This is a momentous occasion” Blinky got closer to Michael and smiled. 

They could hear a car getting close to their home from outside.

“It's Father!” Michael panicked “Lizzie and Ev, you two stay behind and distract Father” the twins nodded “The others! Upstairs, quick! To the bathroom”

“Father?” Aaarrrgghh asked.

The twins turned the light of the living room on before sitting down on the sofa and putting the tv on, meanwhile Michael, Jeremy, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh bolted upstairs. Aaarrrgghh broke off the end of the stair railing and peeked out to fix it just as Wiliam Afton walked through the door, he looked around, suspicious that something might have happened in his absence. The bathroom door slammed closed upstairs, William stopped and turned his head to the stairs before noticing the twins watching tv.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Just watching tv, Daddy” Elizabeth said with her sweetest voice and sparkling eyes.

“We already did our homework,” Evan added.

William raised an eyebrow at his children “And where is your brother?”

“In the bathroom” The two answered in unison.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Michael, Jeremy, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh looked at each other as they tried to listen to what the older man said.

Michael let out a groan as he leaned on the door “He’s not supposed to be home”

Aaarrrgghh inhaled deeply as he sniffed Jeremy, pulling him upwards. Jeremy wiped the top of his head with his hands “Mmm…” Aaarrrgghh smiled “You smell like cat”

“My Nana has a Siamese,” Jeremy explained.

“Tasty” Aaarrrgghh licked his lips.

“I forgot a few tools in my workshop” William could be heard saying alongside the stair steps “Michael are you really in there?”

“Yup. No sneaking out over here” Michael answered, he could swear he could feel Father’s presence on the other side “It’s just… my stomach’s a little, uh…”

He looked at the others for help, Aaarrrgghh, Blinky, and Jeremy silently panicked. Jeremy plunged the toilet with a toilet brush, making fart noises and water splashing sounds. Michael turned around and motions for him to stop, but ultimately decided to go along with it anyway.

“Uh, you know, I might have a food poisoning situation,” Michael said.

“Just make sure to clean up” William grumbled before leaving.

They heard the man walk downstairs, and go to the backyard, a minute later the man got back inside the house and left through the front door once he made sure he was far away enough Michael exhaled and the amulet on his breastplate glowed and hummed before the armor vanished and the amulet dropped into Michael’s hand “Okay, w-what's this going on here?”

Jeremy looked closely at the amulet, he turned the bathroom light off to see it glow bright blue.

“The amulet reacts to your emotional state” Blinky explained “You appear to be in some distress”

“You think?” Michael asked sarcastically.

“It’s not easy dealing with William” Jeremy grumbled “Also, I have another question”

Aaarrrgghh reached his arm over Jeremy and flicked the light switch on and off, just then there was a knock on the door they opened it to see the twins on the other side.

“Oooooh! It glows!” Evan’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the gem in the amulet.

“Can we keep talking about this whole trollhunter thing?” Elizabeth asked.

“Oh yeah, that too,” Evan added.

“Oh, yes” Blinky nodded and turned to look at Jeremy “Jordan had a question”

“It's Jeremy, actually. Or Jay, Jer, JJ or J-man” Jeremy corrected “If Michael's the first human Trollhunter, like you said, then who or what was the Trollhunter before him?” Jeremy pushed Aaarrrgghh’s hand away from the light switch.

“The glorious mantle has been passed from troll to troll for hundreds of years,” Blinky explained.

“So, the previous Trollhunter, what, retired?” Michael asked.

“Was felled” Aaarrrgghh looked down sadly.

“Felled?” The Aftons asked.

“Means killed,” Aaarrrgghh explained.

“Turned to stone and smashed” Blinky emphasized by closing his fist and slapping it “Kanjigar the Courageous was his name. Brutally slain by a ruthless troll named Bular”

The twins quickly got closer to Michael and held tightly onto his arm, Jeremy put his hand on Michael’s shoulder and turned the light back on “Don't worry, dude. This Bular guy probably just got lucky”

“The evidence does not suggest that” Blinky corrected “Bular is a formidable opponent”

“Then the other guy, he was just off his game or something, right?” Michael asked.

“Doubtful” Blinky shook his head “Kanjigar was perhaps the most alert and able of all the Trollhunters”

“But not the best , I'm betting” Michael chuckled awkwardly.

“Oh, the very best. Many songs and sagas have been written about him”

“I don’t wanna lose Mikey” Evan cried as his lip wobbled.

“Evan” Elizabeth hissed at her brother.

“Uh” Jeremy mumbled “I think what my friends here are a little worried about is, if this–”

“Bular” Aaarrrgghh reminded.

“Yeah, I got it” Jeremy nodded “If Bular could defeat Kanjigar–”

“Smash to pieces” Aaarrrgghh slurped the toilet brush in his mouth. 

Michael groaned, getting out of the bathroom and slid down to the ground near the stairs and hid his hands to his head.

“Then what's going to happen to Michael?” Jeremy asked as they all got out of the bathroom and went to the stairs.

“Is he going to be ok?” Elizabeth added. 

“A most appropriate, if troubling, query, Jerome” Blinky said as Jeremy glared at him “Jeremy. Of course we would never expect Master Michael to engage in battle without the proper training. Not at all”

Evan helped Michael up and Mike patted him on the back.

“See! Nothing to worry about” Jeremy assured him “Now, how long does the training normally take?”

“It’s some dumb training and Michael is really strong, it can’t be that long can it?” Elizabeth asked.

“Oh…” Blinky stuck out his tongue and counted fingers, starting with one hand, moving to another one before using all four, he went cross-eyed to look at all of them “Decades”

“And…” Michael started sweating, great if Father didn’t kill him then a rock monster would “How long do I have?”

“A day or two” Blinky put his hands together and smiled at Michael while Aaarrrgghh made a so-so gesture with his hand. 

Michael put his hand to his face and sighed “15 is a great age to die isn't it?”

“Don’t say that!” Evan shouted at his brother, almost crying.

The older Afton simply sighed before making his way downstairs to the living room, the others following Michael as they arrived at the living room. The humans sat down on the sofa as they took in the new information, but Aaarrrgghh stumbled through the living room, pushing a table and hitting his head on a chandelier as he let out a yelp. The troll knocked over various books and VHS tapes.

“Your cave, too small,” Aaarrrgghh complained.

“Father is going to kill me if he sees this mess” Michael, Evan, Elizabeth and Jeremy started picking books and VHS tapes off the ground.

“Father is a neat freak,” Evan explained.

“It’s very annoying” Elizabeth rolled her eyes and put the books away.

“So, Master Michael, are you ready?” Blinky walked towards the teen “We should begin your training immediately”

“Uh, it's a school night,” Michael excused.

“I assure you, the relevance escapes me” 

Jeremy picked up VHS tapes and Aaarrrgghh sniffed them, licked his lips, and opened his mouth. Jeremy tossed a VHS tape into Aaarrgghh’s mouth and he ate it, Evan watched this in shock and quickly snatched away the other tapes from Jeremy’s hands before he fed more of them to the troll. Jeremy and Aaarrrgghh watched in disappointment as Evan put the tapes away in their respective places.

“I'm 15. I have to stay home and, uh, study and stuff. Do homework?” Michael explained “I can’t be out, you know, trollhunting”

“Because?” Blinky asked.

“Well, the whole ‘getting killed by a vicious troll named Bular’ might be a dealbreaker”

“Dude, he eats VHS’s!” Jeremy pointed excitedly at the troll “Too bad your little brother won’t let him”

“Father, is definitely going to notice his VHS’s going missing” Evan defended.

“If he eats anything else you’ll pay for any damages” Elizabeth added.

“Dealbreaker?” Blinky asked.

There was still some cleaning up to do as Michael placed a stack of books on top of the TV, he quickly spun around to Blinky “I don't want to die”

Blinky’s eyes blinked and he stared blankly at Michael for a few seconds before laughing “Goodness gracious! Who does!”

Michael took out the amulet and looked at it, he held it out in front of Blinky “Maybe you should take this back”

“The amulet called to you, Master Michael” Blinky looked down at the amulet and then up at Michael, he pushed the amulet back towards Michael “It chose you. It is your–”

“Please don't say ‘destiny’ ” Michael groaned as he interrupted him “That’s some bullshit”

“…Sacred obligation” Blinky finished saying.

“Or that” Michael put his hand to his face.

“You cannot refuse it. You cannot give it back. It is yours until you die”

“And I would like to get a little further past puberty before that happens” Michael slammed the amulet into Blinky’s hands.

“Master Michael, you are now responsible for the protection of two worlds, human and troll alike” Blinky gave him back the amulet “If you do not keep the balance, evil trolls like Bular will come into yours and wreak havoc”

“You're saying this Bular could hurt people?” Michael asked.

“Like you” Aaarrrgghh pointed at Michael.

“Not helping!” Blinky hissed.

“What's he talking about?” Michael looked confused.

“With the amulet now in your possession, Bular will seek you out, and you will face him one way or another” Blinky explained.

“What?” Evan looked devastated by the new information.

“Maybe what Michael needs is a little time to process all of this” Jeremy explained “You know, you laid a lot of heavy stuff on him tonight”

The humans gazed at Blinky as the troll thought for a second “ Fine , fine. We shall return tomorrow then, to begin your training”

“Awesome-sauce” Jeremy gave them a thumbs up and opened the back door, looking around “All right big guy, time to go”

Unfortunately Aaarrrgghh was having some trouble getting out just like he did when getting in, Jeremy tried to help Aaarrrgghh squeeze through the back door. The twins quickly joined in as they gave a hand in trying to push Aaarrrgghh through, they were still having some trouble as the big troll grunted in pain. Blinky glanced at Michael, who stared at the amulet, he walked over to Michael.

“Master Michael, if I may… Destiny is a gift. Some go their entire lives living existences of quiet desperation, never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually a sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights” Blinky said as Michael turned to look at him “Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero. Don’t think, Master Michael. Become” Michael smiled and then put his head down “Would you at least consider?”

The teen fist bumps all four of Blinky’s hands, the four eyed troll smiled and nodded. Once they were able to push Aaarrrgghh through the door Blinky left next, in the backyard, Aaarrrgghh peeked out over the fence and jumped over it. Blinky turned around and waved goodbye to Michael as Aaarrrgghh grabbed Blinky by the head and pulled him over, the troll yelping in surprise as they left through the forest.

“They're pretty stealthy” Jeremy noted “How's that? I bought you a night”

“A night?” Michael asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

“That’s too short!” Evan complained.

“Yeah” Elizabeth nodded “Ev and I gave Michael 48 hours to explain himself”

“Dude…you’re the one who’s always talking about wanting a big change in your life and something more” Jeremy explained “Well, wish granted” Jeremy walked inside, the twins following behind with a roll of their eyes “Hmm. So, trolls are a thing. Who knew?”

Michael walked in and closed the door, he looked through the window as he locked the door. 

The next day at school, Michael and Jeremy walked through the school courtyard.

“So, what did you decide?” Jeremy bumped Michael’s arm with his elbow.

“That if anyone finds out what happened in my kitchen last night, you, me and my siblings will all be committed”

“I meant about kicking Steve’s butt” Jeremy suggested as he punched the air.

“Give up the dream, Jer” Michael rolled his eyes as the amulet dipped and glowed from inside Michael’s bag. 

“Does this thing run on batteries?” Jeremy peered at it, the school bell rang, Other students stared at Michael and Jeremy as they walked by. Jeremy whispered “What’s it doing?”

“How should I know?” Michael hissed as he whispered as well “It didn’t come with a manual” he put a hand over the pocket, to hide it.

“Does it feel like you’re going to, you know, change?”

“Oh, no!”

“We’ve got to get you someplace that’s not out here!” Jeremy quickly pushed Michael into the locker room. 

But unbeknownst to them Mr. Strickler had been watching them from behind a locker as they left, he clicked his pen in his hand and put it inside his suit jacket. Smiling as he was ready to go after the Trollhunter. Inside the locker room, a bright light engulfed Michael as he stumbled backwards from behind the lockers with the armor around him.

“So cool!” Jeremy said with awe.

“Okay” Michael looked down at the armour “Why did it do that?”

“Michael? Michael, are you in here?” Mr.Strickler’s voice could be heard nearby.

Both teenagers looked at each other in panic before directing their attention at the entrance to the locker room, they both took a peek outside to see Mr. Strickler. He looked behind a corner as Michael and Jeremy darted away, Michael kept himself close to the lockers as he slid far away from the teacher.

“Keep him out of here” Michael whispered.

“How?” Jeremy whispered back.

“Just go!”

“Fine!” Jeremy stepped out and approached Mr.Strickler, looking nervously at his teacher “Oh! Hey, Mr. Strickler!”

“Ah, Jeremy. Have you seen Michael?” Mr.Strickler asked “I believe he came in here?”

“Yeah, he, um… he’s having some issues, you know?” Jeremy tried to excuse, but Strickler ignored him as he walked forward and turned the corner “Taco Tuesday. Vicious. I think he could probably use some time alone”

The teacher turned the corner as he saw Michael in his Trollhunter armor with his knee up on a bench, Michael stood up and put his hands behind his back. Trying to give his best smile to his teacher, maybe he should tell him about all of this. But Blinky had also asked him not to. What should he do? Meanwhile Jeremy nervously groaned as he and Mr.Strickler walked toward Michael, the teacher looked quite displeased with his student’s attire or at least that’s what Michael thought.

“Michael, I don’t believe that’s appropriate school attire” Strickler reprimanded “Do you?”

“Oh, yeah. This. Huh– Funny story about this. It’s, uh…” Michael noticed the poster for the Romeo and Juliet play behind Mr.Strickler “…for Romeo and Juliet”

“Yeah!” Jeremy nodded from behind his teacher “It’s for the tryouts”

“Yes! The tryouts for Romeo and Juliet”

“Michael’s going to totally smoke those auditions” Jeremy walked to his friend’s side and rubbed Michael’s armor and knocked on it twice “I mean, look at his costume. It’s so realistic”

Strickler raised a brow “What happened to the chess club”

“Oh, uh…I-I’m-I’m doing that, too, apparently” Michael whispered the last part.

“Hmm, well, you’d better hurry, then” Strickler looked down at his pen.

“What?”

“I believe auditions end in five minutes”

After turning their heads around to look at the time both boys rushed out of the changing rooms as they made their way to the stage in the gymnasium, Charlie stood before a small group of students and Ms.Janeth, she’s a teacher with glasses and big, poofy pigtails. Eli Pepperjack held a cardboard sword and wore a box around his torso with knight armor drawn on it. Michael and Jeremy watched Charlie’s acting from backstage.

“Give me my Romeo” Charlie said, making big motions with her hands “And when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all of the world will be in love with night”

The audience applauded as Michael turned to Jeremy “It would have been easier to tell him that I’m a Trollhunter” he complained “I don’t even know the play”

Ms. Janeth could be seen writing on a clipboard “Thank you, Ms. Emily”

The students murmured between themselves as Charlie bowed her head and walked towards Michael and Jeremy backstage. The girl’s face brightened at the sight of her childhood friend “I’m so glad you made it! I know you aren't a big fan of Shakespeare, so thank you for trying out”

“Whaaaat?” Michael looked around a bit panicked, Jeremy watched his friend fumble around unimpressed “Oh, no, no, he’s my favorite. I totally love him”

“That costume is incredible” Charlie started inspecting it, tracing her fingers on the armor’s engravings “Did you make it?”

“No. He found a magical amulet that makes it” Jeremy explained smugly as Michael scowled at him.

Charlie chuckled and rolled her eyes, smiling “Whatever you say Jay”

“Yeah, you’re a real comedian, aren’t you?” Michael laughed along and stepped in front of Jeremy, glaring at him.

“Next!” Ms. Janeth’s voice could be heard calling.

“I think that’s your cue” Charlie motioned with her head towards the stage as Jeremy knocked on Michael’s armor twice “Break a leg”

With a sigh Michael turned and walked on to the stage, whispering “I’d prefer that”

The students murmured and coughed as Michael walked to the middle of the stage, everyone looked at Michael’s armor in awe except for Janeth who was still writing down on her clipboard. Ms.Janeth looked up and adjusted her glasses, her eyes widened as she saw Michael’s armor. The teenager nervously chuckled, it had been a long time since this many people had looked at him like that. It usually wasn’t a good thing, but it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve the discomfort.

“Who. Are. You?” The teacher asked blandly.

“Michael Afton?” And he was weirded out by his teacher asking this question when everyone and their mother knew who the Afton family was. Plus, he was the student in his class that she gave an A+ to, she had a thing of only giving it to one person.

“And what are you trying out for?” She sounded unenthusiastic, waving her pen around.

“Uh, Romeo”

“Well, we are all… ears” her voice was still unenthusiastic.

“Whoa” a girl whispered to the person by her side “What’s he wearing?”

Michael looked down at the ground and then glanced at Jeremy and Charlie, Jeremy gave him two thumbs-up and Charlie smiled at him. That big bright smile that she always gave him to make his day better, or when she had one of those crazy ideas of hers that people always thought Michael had put her up to. Michael smiled back at her, giving him his awkward smile, just like he always did when they tried to comfort each other and then looked at the audience.

“Uh… Destiny…” Michael took a deep breath “Destiny is… a gift” the amulet on his armor dipped and glowed “Some go their entire lives living an existence of quiet desperation, never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders…” Charlie sat down in one of the seats in front of the stage as Michael took a few paces to his side, he then pulled his sword from his back and pointed it at the audience. The students gasped “…Is actually the sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights. Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor”

Ms.Janeth smiled and adjusted her glasses, she leaned toward Charlie “He’s good”

Charlie looked up at Michael and smiled, he always found a way to surprise her, the boy kept talking.

“That to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero” Michael pointed his sword upwards “Don’t think” Michael swung his sword through the air, Janeth gasped and hid behind her clipboard, Michael put his sword behind his back “Become”

The students applauded, Ms. Janeth lowered her clipboard “Oh, my”

Michael looked at Charlie and smiled as Mary Wang and Shannon Longhannon stood up clapping “Wow”

From the entrance of the gymnasium, Strickler glared angrily through a door and then left.

“Um, thank you” Michael scratched the back of his head.

Between the audience Eli could be seen jumping out of his chair, groaning in protest, and throwing his fake sword to the ground. He really thought it was the year of Eli. Meanwhile Charlie stood up and walked towards Michael, she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Michael quickly noticed her and crouched down so the two could be at a similar eye level, he stared intently at her beautiful emerald eyes.

She smiled at him “Mike, that was remarkable”

“Really? I didn’t even think” Michael shrugged “I just sort of said it”

“That’s acting!” Charlie laughed as she put her hand on Michael’s shoulder. 

After the tryouts Michael was able to get rid of the armor and pocket the amulet, he and Jeremy quickly grabbed their bikes and left school. Later, at sunset, Michael and Jeremy were still on the road going through town to get home, Evan and Elizabeth must already be home by now doing their homework or watching tv. Who knew, as far as Michael could care or find out they could be running around in the backyard getting dirty and rolling in mud. The two kept cycling and came to a stop at a red light.

“Dude! That was amazing! You were amazing!” Jeremy complimented “I’m amazed at how amazing you were!”

“I cannot believe that that just happened,” Michael confessed.

The light turned green and Michael and Jeremy rode past a few roadblocks where construction work was being done.

“And did you see how Char was looking at you?” Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows, arms crossed “Your armor totally did you a favor!”

“Ehh– I’m still getting the hang of it” Michael shrugged “Plus, Charlie isn’t the kind of person to be impressed by that, she prefers actions over shiny things”

“The multi-eye guy said it reacts to your emotional state” Jeremy grunted as he rode and nearly tripped over a wooden plank on the ground, he swerved and regained control of his bike “The armor turns on when you’re in distress”

“But I wasn’t in distress back at school” Michael and Jeremy turned the corner of the empty street, there they saw Bular standing in a shady area and roared at them “But I am now”

The stone creature cracked his knuckles by closing them “Trollhunter. Merlin’s Creation” he crouched “Gunmar’s Bane”

“I think he’s talking to you” Jeremy whispered as he leaned over to Michael.

The two watched in horror as Bular roared, punching and then smashing the road before he started to pace back and forth in the shadows, he placed a fist in the sunlight, and pulled it away as it burned his fist.

“Look!” Michael pointed out “He’s afraid of the sun”

“Not for long!” Jeremy noted as the two looked at the sunset.

“The amulet!” Bular demanded as he slowly made his way forward “Surrender it… and I will give you a speedy death”

“Doesn’t know how to negotiate, this guy” Jeremy screamed as he and Michael sped away on their bikes.

“Go, go, go!”

Bular chased them but had quickly lost them, he glanced around at the cars and road blockers. Meanwhile Michael and Jeremy hid behind a large truck, Michael took his bag off as he took out the amulet, Jeremy looked at his friend with panic “Armor up, armor up, armor up! Please, now!” He pushed the amulet closer to him “Faster!”

In the meantime as Michael tried to concentrate, Bular punched cars and trucks out of the way to look for both teenagers.

Michael held up the amulet “Okay. For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command” he closed his eyes, the amulet humming in response “It’s not working!” They moved to the side of the truck just in time as Bular looked behind the truck and growled “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command. Seriously, it’s mine to command. I’m commanding here!”

Just then Bular lifted the entire truck over his head, staring down at the two terrified teens “Centuries of Trollhunters, and I will have killed two in almost as many days”

“He’s good at math!” Jeremy panicked.

“Go, go, go!” Michael instructed as he and Jeremy tried to pedal away, Bular tossed the truck at the boys who sped away on their bikes “Flying truck!”

“Incoming!” Jeremy shouted as the two turned corners just in time.

Behind them the truck smashed the ground,  Bular threw another car and galloped behind a row of tires beside Michael “I’ll flay the flesh from your bones!”

“I like my bones the way they are” Jeremy answered “Thanks!”

Jeremy in his panic popped a wheelie and sped up on his bike, Bular leapt into the middle of the street and swung his fists at Michael and Jeremy, the boys were able to duck underneath his arms and ride away. Michael looked around trying to find a way to run away from the crazy troll as quickly as possible, he recognized the way they were going and was able to make up a route that would help them get an advantage against Bular

“Head down Delancey!” They turned down a corner past a park. Bular continues chasing them, throwing another truck, Michael spotted a small alley opening between two store buildings “Behind Stuart Electronics!”

“Moment of truth!” Jeremy added “Let’s hope we fit!”

The Gumm-Gumm kept chasing after the teenagers as the two were able to squeeze through the small gap between the store buildings, Bular tried to reach for Jeremy as he was the one closest to him but lost him. In a fit of rage for losing his victims, Bular let out a roar from the other side of the alley. Afterwards, Michael and Jeremy were still pedaling for their lives as they rode over the bridge and skid to a stop on the other side. Both teenagers were trying to take deep breaths as they wheezed.

“Catch… my breath. Look at me, look at me” Jeremy nudged his friend “We’re not dead, right?”

“Master Michael! Ha-ha!” Both teenagers heard Blinky laugh, they turned to see the four-armed troll and Aaarrrgghh come out of the forest and approach the boys. Aaarrrgghh held up two bushes in front of his face, lowered them, and smiled.

“Bular’s trying to kill us!” Michael panted as he and Jeremy walked up to the trolls “He chased us all over town!”

“And you’re still alive” Blinky congratulated “I knew you had potential, Master Michael”

“You have a sweet voice, but you bring death with you!” Jeremy rasped.

“You guys can fight him, right?” Michael gave them a pleading look.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh both laughed, Blinky rolling his six eyes “I could not hope to possess the skill to defeat Bular”

“What about him?” Michael pointed at Aaarrrgghh “He’s big”

“Pacifist” Aaarrrgghh explained.

“Seriously?” Michael threw his arms out “Bloody hell”

“Man, such a waste of a hulking brute” Jeremy patted the troll's stony arm.

“Thank you”

“This is– This is why there is a Trollhunter, Master Michael” Blinky explained “Aaarrrgghh renounced the violent path ages ago”

Just then Bular ran down the corner of the street and glared at Michael, Jeremy, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh as he slid across the pavement, growling and roaring.

“Follow me!” Blinky motioned to the others “We’ll be safe in Heartstone Trollmarket!”

Aaarrrgghh, Blinky, Michael, and Jeremy ran away from Bular, who galloped towards them, meanwhile in Eli Pepperjack’s bedroom, he had been moping about losing the Romeo role for the play and looked out his window to see Aaarrrgghh and Bular run across the street. He ran up to his window with excitement, everything that he had been saying all along had been true and he couldn’t help but feel so validated.

“Yes!” Eli celebrated “I knew it!”

Bular jumped onto a street lamp and yanked it down, pulling many others down with it, blue electricity crackled from the street lamps. One of them caused Jeremy to trip off his bike and scream as Aaarrrgghh caught him, and placed him on his back as he ran. Bular then got his foot stuck in Jeremy’s bike, and kicked it away. Michael pedaled his bike beside Blinky as they went into the forest.

“Master Michael!” Blinky called “Don your armor!”

“I’ve been trying!” Michael shouted “Bloody amulet won’t listen to me!”

“Did you speak the incantation?”

“Oh! Why hadn’t I thought of that!” Michael said with sarcasm “What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?!” Michael retorted “I’ve been incanting the shit out of it, and it’s not working!”

Jeremy flailed in the air as he hang onto Aaarrrgghh “Just focus and incant, dude!”

The group kept running but Michael skidded his bike to a stop at the edge of the canal as Blinky leaped and rolled down to the bottom and Aaarrrgghh slid down. Michael pulled out the amulet from his bag and faced Bular, who was knocking over trees as he raced toward Michael. The teen looked down at the amulet, ready to try the incantation again. Hopefully it will work this time.

“Uh, For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command” but nothing happened as Bular galloped towards Michael “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command” he tried once again, suddenly Michael couldn’t feel the panic, everything seemingly going in slow-motion as Michael closed his eyes “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command”

As he spoke the words Bular leapt at Michael and punched him in the chest, blue mist exploded from the teen as his chest armor appeared just in time. The Trollhunter was thrown backwards as pieces of armor attached to his body. Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Jeremy watched in awe as Michael rocketed through the air and landed on the ground. Michael manifested his sword and grunted as he struggled to lift it up, holy hell how did that not hurt, even the ground beneath him was cracked! Bular glared at Michael and roared from the edge of the canal.

“Uh…nope” Michael ran away, dragging his sword behind him. 

The Gumm-Gumm followed along from the top of the canal until he jumped down in front of Michael and roared at him.

“Use your sword, Master Michael!” Blinky shouted.

“I’ll drink your blood out of a goblet made of your skull!”

“Cut him like a meatloaf, Michael!” Jeremy tried to help out.

Michael pointed his sword at Bular, who charged at him, his armor lit up as blue mist wrapped around the sword. Michael swung at Bular as the Gumm-Gumm tried to punch him, the two collided as they slid away from each other. Bular punched the ground, ready to jump after the human once again.

“We must work quickly. Open the portal!” Blinky opened a sachet on his belt and pulled out an orange crystal with a handle on it, tossing it to Aaarrrgghh “The Horngazel!”

Aaarrrgghh caught it and used the horngazel, pushing it against the canal wall underneath a bridge and carving a semi-circle shape. He punched the center of the archway as an entrance opened up, the outline of the previously drawn semi-circle lighting up. Jeremy watched this happen with widened eyes as light shone from the archway and he looked at the cracked stone in the archway as it glowed blue and disappeared into the wall, leaving a doorway.

“Whoa” Jeremy said, mouth agape.

“Master Michael!” Blinky called “Master Michael, come on!”

Bular and Michael walk in a circle around each other “I’m a little busy here”

Michael spun his sword in the air, caught it, spun around, and pointed his sword to Bular, who drew two knife-like swords from his back “You are not fit to wield the amulet. I’ll tear the armor off you! Along with your skin!”

With those words said Bular swung one of his swords at Michael, who dodged it, and slashed his sword at Bular. The attack didn’t seem to be very effective as Bular blocked the swing with his arm, and the Trollhunter’s sword got stuck, the troll growled at Michael as he lifted his arm up. Dangling him as the teen still held onto the sword. Michael let go just in time as Bular swung his arm, throwing the sword away as it got stuck on the ground. Now that he was disarmed, Michael opted to run away towards Aaarrrgghh, Blinky, and Jeremy, who walked into the doorway.

“Come on, come on! Let’s go, Mike!” Jeremy tried to cheer as the door closed.

Michael slammed against the concrete wall as the stones moved back in place, and the doorway closed “Oh, no!”

Just then the armor vanished, the amulet on his chest dropping to the ground. Michael picked up the amulet as Bular hurled both of his swords at Michael. The swords lodged into the concrete wall next to Michael and the boy yelped as he saw the first one when standing up and almost got hit by the second one, the wall quickly glowed blue and cracks opened behind Michael as Aaarrrgghh’s hand grabbed him and pulled him to the other side. Bular slammed into the hardened concrete wall. On the other side of the wall, in a large cavern, Michael and Jeremy pant and whimpered.

“He nearly… We nearly… He… almost…” Michael said as he tried to catch his breath.

“Almost what?” Blinky asked in concern “Speak, Master Michael”

“He almost killed us!”

“Al most! A very important word” Blinky turned and started walking away “A life of ‘almost’ is a life of never”

“Why’d the armor suddenly shut off?” Michael asked as they followed Blinky.

“Master Michael, you are the first human to possess an amulet crafted for trolls. It’s to be expected its behavior will be… unexpected” Blinky walked forward and stepped on a large, blue crystal, which illuminated dozens more crystals as they led down the cavern in a spiral “This way, Masters. This way”

“Whoa!” Jeremy looked around in awe as he, Aaarrrgghh and Michael, followed Blinky down the staircase “Are you sure we're safe in here?”

“Indeed” Blinky nodded “The incantation forbids entry to Heartstone Trollmarket by Gumm-Gumms such as Bular, for they are the most fearsome of trolls”

“Gumm-Gumms?” Michael asked.

“Scary ones,” Aaarrrgghh explained.

“Okay, wait, wait” Michael ran up to Blinky “So, Bular can’t get in here, right? Into Heartstone Trollmarket?”

“No, Master Michael” at the bottom of the staircase, Blinky grabbed Michael’s shoulders and turned him around to face Heartstone Trollmarket. Michael and Jeremy’s eyes widened in awe “This is the world you are bound to protect”

Both teenagers gazed at an underground city inside the gigantic cavern with multicolored crystals jutting out of the cave walls and stone buildings and dwellings built into the cavern; some places had neon signs with a picture in it to reference what sort of store it was. Various bridges crossed canyons which glowed a bright yellow from underneath. An enormous orange crystal jutted upwards from the canyon.

“This… is Heartstone Trollmarket!”

Chapter Text

Michael and Jeremy looked around at Trollmarket in awe, watching as the trolls went on with their day to day business. Gigantic multicolored gems illuminated the area with a soft glow, as if it were the sun itself but not as bright as the real thing. The homes of Trollmarket were all made from the same stone, it seemed as if they had been carved inside the cave to make the structures. There were still some hand made places, stalls and doors made out of wood, and deckers all made with different varying fabrics.

“This is…” Jeremy was able to finally say.

“Yeah…” Michael nodded.

“Woah!”

“Pretty much” Michael agreed before turning his attention to Blinky as he walked down the stairs “This is your home?”

“Trollmarket is home, and heart, and sanctuary for all good trolls” Blinky explained as they made their way out of the stairs “This way my friends, there's much to see”

“Dang! And here I thought the only thing underneath our town was dirt and plumbing” Jeremy added as he pulled out his phone.

“Stay close” Blinky warned “Human feet have never graced the ground of Trollmarket before”

“Human?” A troll asked as she saw the two teenagers.

“Friends” Aaarrrgghh corrected.

“This is crazy! Crazier than Father’s animatronics” Michael put his hands on his head “Are you getting this Jer?”

“Oh yeah, on it!” Jeremy assured his friend as he started taking photos of Trollmarket “Check it out!” He pointed at crystals “Peridot, Topaz, Cassiterite! Corneroupi–” before he could finish his sentence, he realized the rock he was admiring was actually a troll “Uh, hi”

“Your knowledge of minerals is almost troll-like, Jeremy” Blinky complimented.

“So, your kind. You all live here?” Michael asked.

“Trolls travel from afar to our market to find comfort and remedies” Blinky explained “You'll find most anything you need and sometimes you'll find what you never knew you needed”

As they walked, a big blue troll covered in crystals watched them from the shadows, he growled at the sight of both humans. While walking, gnomes scuttled around their feet, one of them stopped to look at Michael.

“Oh hey! Look at this small guy, with a tiny hat!” Michael pointed out, almost laughing, the gnome hissed as he bared his sharp teeth at the teen “And pointy teeth!”

After hearing Michael’s yelp, Blinky ran back to him and tried to stomp on them “Look out! Get away! Get out of here! Vile vermin! Begone!”

The gnome blew a raspberry and ran off, Michael looked at the small creature with shock “What is that?”

“Gnomes are vermin. Pickpockets, scum of the Earth!” Blinky complained “We only tolerate them for their grooming services”

“Grooming?”

“They eat the parasites on the larger trolls” Blinky pointed to Aaarrrgghh who had a few on his back, the big troll flicked one of them off.

“Michael! Michael! Check it out!” Jeremy called as he pointed to the Heartstone, both teens walking up to the balcony “Maximum coolosity there!”

“Look at that, It's amazing!”

“Heartstone” Aaarrrgghh said.

“The lifeforce of trollkind!” Blinky explained “The means that keeps us from crumbling to stone, and the source of light and sustenance!”

“Okay, that's totally the bomb!” Jeremy added.

“What are humans doing here?” A troll questioned, interrupting the moment of awe.

“Fleshbags!” A troll insulted.

“Puny!” Another added.

“I think we've attracted the paparazzi,” Jeremy murmured.

“Friends, there is no need to be afraid, he is the Trollhunte–” Blinky was saying, motioning towards Michael as he walked towards the crowd.

“What is this!?” The same blue spiked troll as the one that had been in the shadows interrupted as he barged in.

“I was just getting to that, Draal” Blinky backed away, keeping his calm.

“Human feet have never sullied the ground of Trollmarket before” Draal walked towards Michael, the teen backing away as the troll peered over him “Who are these fleshbags?”

“Believe it or not, he is... um. How do I put this?” Blinky fiddled with his hands as Jeremy looked at Draal from behind his back “Our new Trollhunter!”

The trolls all gasped in horror, taking a few steps back in shock, the gnomes running away and hiding behind the trolls legs.

“He can't be the Trollhunter!” Draal pounded the ground with his fists, causing Michael to walk backwards in fear to Aaarrrgghh “He's not a troll!”

“Amulet chose” Aaarrrgghh calmly defended the teen.

“Try to remain calm! Destiny is just–”

“Show him Mike!” Jeremy interrupted Blinky.

Michael took the amulet out “For the power of Merli–”

“Glory!” Blinky corrected.

“Right, sorry. For the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command!” The amulet glowed, and magically equipped his armour.

“A human protecting us?” A troll questioned as the one by her side fainted and the gnomes ran away.

“Bushagal!” Draal put a hand to his chest “I am Draal, son of Kanjigar, and the amulet’s rightful heir!”

“Uh– You're his son?” Michael turned to look at the others with shock, bloody hell he was going to die “He's his son!?”

“Yeah, I can see how this could be a problem” Jeremy squinted, two fingers tapping his chin nervously.

“When my father fell, the honor should've passed to me!” Draal attempted to remove the amulet from Michael, only for it to blast the two backwards as Draal fell to the ground.

Meanwhile Aaarrrgghh was able to catch Michael as he held him gently “Amulet chose!”

“We'll see what Vendel has to say about this,” Draal threatened.

“Feel free to fetch him” Blinky said as he started to walk away, the others following him “In the meanwhile, lots of Trollhunter business to be done! Draal, wonderful to see you as always”

The sentiment went both ways as Draal growled at the six eyed troll, the group walked off to the Heroes Forge. The entrance had a light sign in the shape of the Trollhunter’s sword hanging on it. As they made their way through Jeremy could be seen admiring a very polished stone wall, his reflection and that of the others could be seen through it. The teen couldn’t help but run his hand through it, chuckling with excitement, meanwhile Michael's armour deactivated as the amulet fell onto his hand.

“Um, what just happened?”

“The amulet responded to your unconscious command, Master Michael” Blinky explained as he stopped to talk to Michael “You are at ease, are you not?”

The teen nodded, eyes widening in realization “I am, actually”

“It senses that!” Blinky smiled as the two started to walk again “You are beginning to master it!”

“Holy trolls! Is this a palace?” Michael looked at the arena in awe.

A bridge-like footpath made of the same stone as the arena took to the arena where there was a different entrance, it had pillars in the shape of opened trolls mouths, something inside of them that couldn’t be seen as it was shadowed. On top of the pillars there seemed to be statues of armored trolls, all of them had a different pose and looked different from the other one. At the top there was space left behind for anyone to watch any future matches.

“This is the Heroes Forge!” Blinky’s voice echoed.

“Ooh” Jeremy peered over the edge to see how deep it was and took a picture, behind him Michael chuckled as he pretended to push Jeremy off, the teen screamed and then hit Michael on the shoulder as revenge “Don't do that again!”

“C'mon” Michael said as he kept giggling, they reached the center as Michael looked around in awe “Magnifico” he then noticed that the armor on the statues upon the pillars looked like his “Wait, are these–?”

“Trollhunters” Aaarrrgghh answered.

“Your predecessors, Master Michael. A line of heroism that reaches back to the ages of Merlin! This is the place of the final repose, Kanjigar the Courageous” Blinky motioned to an empty spot “One day, there will be a statue of you here, Master Michael” the troll then noticed Michael’s face sour “One day very far off into the future, of course”

“Yeah about that, there's just one thing I'm not getting?” Jeremy asked.

Michael raised a brow “Just one?”

“You guys are trolls, so ‘Trollhunter’ sounds a little like you hunt yourselves, you know?”

“Hunt bad trolls” Aaarrrgghh explained as he placed his big hand on Michael, hurting the teen without meaning as the boy almost fell down with a scream “Gumm-Gumms”

“Not exactly the most terrifying name” Michael rubbed the spot where Aaarrrgghh hit him.

“In troll-speak, Gumm-Gumm means ‘bringer of horrible, slow, painful, and thoroughly-calculated death’ ” Blinky explained.

“Oh” Michael said and screamed again as Aaarrrgghh did the same thing as before.

“But do not be too concerned, Master Michael. The Gumm-Gumms were exiled to the Darklands centuries ago” Blinky explained, walking in circles and holding one finger up and then walked off “Only one roams free”

“And wants to kill you” Aaarrrgghh added.

“Wait, Bular is one of the unspeakably evil trolls?” Jeremy looked at the others in shock, Michael sighed and placed a hand on his face, he wasn’t going to survive.

“Indeed. His father and the rest of their number remain exiled to the Darklands, but they have been trying to escape for centuries. I sense ill times are upon us” Blinky explained as he stood beside a strange sphere-like button made out of rock “Hence the need for us to begin Master Michael’s training now. Step back, please” they all took few steps back “A little further, Jeremy” the teen took another step back, Blinky shrugged “Oh, very well”

The four eyed troll then placed his two right hands onto a sphere in the wall and pressed it inwards, this activated a large amount of traps as they all came down onto the other three. Everyone scattered as they tried to avoid getting killed, Aaarrrgghh seemed to be taking it better as he easily made his way out. Meanwhile Jeremy and Michael barely avoided a blade as it had come down on them, since both teens had been running in the same direction.

“There’s a big blade!” Jeremy yelped.

“Oh no” Michael rolled on the ground and dodged another incoming blade, he started to stand up but noticed a hole in the ground and the noise of mechanisms and quickly jumped back as he avoided another blade.

Meanwhile Jeremy had been able to find a good spot to avoid the blades, his back against the wall, it was pretty good, that was until he saw the blade swinging back and forward barely missing him. Michael decided to follow his best friend’s action as he also ran to one of the pillars and placed his back on the wall, catching his breath and looking at the horrifying blades in fear.

“Excellent reflexes, Master Michael” Blinky complimented.

“Chuffed, but maybe we could start off easy?” Michael asked as Jeremy could be heard screaming in the background “Like you know, with less... grindy things?”

“Blinkous Galadrigal!” An old voice could be heard calling, Blinky quickly deactivated the room as a tall, pale, elderly troll walked in “Blinkous Galadrigal”

“That's your name?” Michael asked as the group was now in the same place, both teens looking at Blinky with curiosity.

“Horrible, I know” Blinky looked away ashamed.

“I wish to meet the fleshbag supposedly chosen by the amulet” the elder troll looked over to Jeremy “I am Vendel, son of Rundle, son of Kilfred”

“Uh…Jeremy” the teen pointed at himself proudly “Son of Ralph. I live with my Nana”

Vendel started examining Jeremy's body, flicking the boy’s dyed hair curiously and inspecting his piercings “Produce the amulet, Trollhunter” he then found Jeremy's phone, and accidentally broke it “Oh”

“My phone!” Jeremy cried out.

“I think I'm the fleshbag that you're looking for” Michael said, voice a little bit irritated as he took out the amulet.

“Amulet chose!” Aaarrrgghh happily pointed at the teen.

“Hmmm, so Draal tells me, ridiculous! However the amulet has been known to make ill-fated choices” Vendel turned his attention over to Blinky who looked away in shame “As you know better than most”

Michael turned to Aaarrrgghh “What's that mean?”

“Blinky trained Trollhunter before” Aaarrrgghh pointed at the statue of a troll, screaming in horror, one hand over his eyes and the other lifted up in a miserable way to shield himself, the troll seemed to be trying to stand up “Unkar, the Unfortunate”

“Why is he unfortunate?”

“First night out. Torn”

“Like, conflicted?” Michael hoped.

“No. Limb from limb” Aaarrrgghh emphasized by doing motions with his hands.

The arm of Unkar's statue fell off, almost crushing Jeremy, ok so, Michael had a teacher with a really bad history. That’s fine! It’s all fine! He’ll survive!

“If the amulet chose true, the Soothscryer will reveal it” Vendel motioned to his side.

“Please!” Blinky begged, taking a few steps forward “Master Michael hasn't had even an hour’s training!”

Vendel made a gesture for Michael to come over, the teen knowing better than to disobey an adult, followed orders. He walked over, and put his feet into two troll feet-shaped indents in the ground, making Michael’s feet look comically small. The indents glowed red as it spread across the markings on the ground and lit up. A large platform in front of him rose, revealing the Soothscryer, it looked like a troll with a mouth. It opened up revealing a plentitude of spikes that imitated teeth.

“Behold, the Soothscryer!” Vendel announced “It will judge your true spirit! Insert your right hand, Trollhunter”

“Um, I'm gonna get it back, right?” Michael asked, unsure if it was the right option to put his hand in it.

“That is part of the test”

“Hunky-dory” Michael grumbled under his breath “Jer, Jer! Come give me a lift!”

“Okay, Mike, but I am not sticking my hand in there!” Jeremy ran up to his friend and got an all fours so that Michael could reach.

The teen climbed onto his friend's back in order to reach the Soothscryer, the inside of the machine started turning and running as the mechanisms made noises. It looked as if it were closing and opening multiple times, Michael looked unsure about putting his hand inside the machine. He was definitely going to lose his hand, what sort of hero almost got his younger brother killed? Leaving him in the hospital for days and with a scar over his face, that definitely made him unworthy. Michael took a deep breath as he placed his hand in, the Soothscryer shut its mouth as his hand got stuck and the teen screamed. Yup! He was going to lose his bloody hand! The Soothscryer then spit him back out as Michael landed on Jeremy.

“I'm okay!” Michael sighed in relief as he relaxed, still on top of Jeremy.

“Oh, everything hurts!” Jeremy complained from under Michael, he then looked up to Vendel “Well? What is it?”

“Hmm” Vendel looked at the Soothscryer as it hummed and its red eyes shut off “Inconclusive”

“Inconclusive? Pfft, not doing that again” Jeremy shook his head.

“Wait, wait, wait” Michael reached out to the elder “What does ‘inconclusive’ mean? I almost lost my bloody arm!”

“It means, Trollhunter, that there's never been a human to bear the mantle before. The Soothscryer needs more time to render its judgement” Vendel started walking away once again “Let us all hope you live long enough to see”

Later, Michael and Jeremy were taken out of Trollmarket, they picked up their bikes and walked back to their houses since Jeremy’s had gotten messed up by Bular when the Gumm-Gumm got it stuck on his foot.

“Ugh, what have I gotten myself into?” Michael threw his head back.

“Um, trolls, cool underground city, indigenous gemforms, Heartstone?” Jeremy nudged Michael with his shoulder “What you've gotten yourself into is total awesome-mania, man!”

“If I survive”

“Come on! You're gonna get trained by the best! Blinky is–”

“His last guy got torn limb from limb…” Michael reminded “On his first night!”

A beat of silence passed. 

“So, there's nowhere to go but up! Oh no! Looks like your dad's home” Jeremy grumbled the last past “Okay, quick! I was bike-jacked by three–no, make it seven–members of the Bratva. That’s-that’s the Russian mob” he quickly translated “And then you broke into their hideout to try to save me and–”

“Or, I could tell him your bike got hit by a car, but you're totally fine” Michael interrupted “No way in hell Father would believe that, I’m too knackered to have to put up with him”

“We could kill him,” Jeremy suggested.

“Night, Jer” Michael rolled his eyes with a smile before leaving his bike hidden in a few bushes outside and sneaking inside the house and trying to quietly go upstairs.

“Michael, I'm in the kitchen” William called.

It was clearly an order for him to go there, probably to talk about missing his shift, but well– He had gone to the audition! They had come to an agreement, unless the night guard told Father about him passing out behind Freddy’s. And instead of telling Michael the deal was off he just waited for him to mess up. But there was something different about the way Father had talked to him, his tone was too friendly for how he talked when he was home, which meant that there had to be someone else here (probably Henry). Someone to give him a reason to keep up the façade, Michael would have to play along for now.

“Father!” Michael made the cheeriest voice that he could muster “You would not believe what happened to me on the way home from–”

As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Mr.Strickler sitting in there, ok so not Henry.

“Look who stopped by” the older Afton put two cups of tea on the table.

“Hello, Michael,” the teacher greeted.

“...Mr.Strickler” Michael chuckled, this had to be one of the worst things to possibly happen to him, and he almost died.

“Mr. Strickler came by to congratulate you” William smiled, it was the sort of smug smile he always made when he knew something that Michael didn’t.

“Oh, that’s really... nice”

“It's a great honor that you have been chosen to wield this mantle” Strickler congratulated “I’ve no doubt you'll prove equal to the task”

“Uuuuhhhh…” Michael mumbled.

“The play Michael” William tutted, shaking his head with a smile, as if his eldest son was a 5 year old child. He served some tea to Strickler “Weren’t you and Charlotte trying out for Romeo and Juliet?”

“Maybe we could back up a few steps?” Michael asked as he watched Father offer his teacher some milk.

“Michael, surely you knew you'd won the part of Romeo after your breathtaking audition yesterday” Mr. Strickler informed.

Fuck he hadn’t realized he had spent that much time in Trollmarket, but with Bular right outside the entrance waiting for him, he and Jeremy had to wait a few hours to be able to get out. Although it's still dark outside, it was already Saturday. Now that he thought about it, why was Mr.Strickler here so early? Why was Father home? He also had to remember to take the twins to visit mom today, the poor woman was probably bored out of her mind.

“Yeah, after the audition I had to run, but– wait a minute, I got the part?”

“I was just remarking to your father that I'm a touch concerned about your being spread so thin, particularly in light of your new commitment to the chess club” Strickler looked at him with worry, unlike his father.

“And I didn't even think you knew how to play chess” William chuckled, Michael bit his lip, trying to avoid causing any trouble as he knew full well that he was mocking him and not joking “Chess, acting…it's like you have this entire secret life I know nothing about. Guess we’ll have to reduce your work schedule since you seem so busy”

“Maybe just one hour a week would suffice” Michael shrugged, if he could he would avoid working there at all.

“We’ll see how it goes,” William answered.

“Atlas, too, carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I’m concerned, like him, that you're overextending yourself,” Strickler added.

“I can handle it,” Michael leaned on the table.

“A few days ago, you were falling asleep in class”

“Really?” William turned his gaze to Michael, the teen could feel his father’s rage, his stomach dropping at the realization of what was coming after his teacher left.

“Yeah, but-bu-but-but now I am recharged and ready to go!” Michael tried to fix the situation, cursing internally as he knew that Father hated stuttering “To be or not to be. Right? Right?” the teen let out an awkward chuckle “Am I…am I right?”

“Michael, that's Hamlet” William reprimanded, tone barely suppressing his rage.

“Thanks. I don't want to overstay my welcome. My phone. Mr.Afton” he handed William a piece of paper with his phone number on it and stood up “It was nice to meet you”

“The pleasure was all mine” William said as he opened the door of the house as the teacher left, William’s polite smile dropped as he turned to look at Michael “That teacher really seems to like you, if I’m correct it's one of the only three classes in which you get an A+ from”

“Yeah, well, Mr.Strickler makes classes really interesting,” Michael shrugged.

“I've never seen a teacher take such an interest before” William ignored his son, circling around him like a vulture “And he has a point. There are only so many hours in the day, Michael. If your grades slip, even a little, well… Maybe these clubs you’ve been so excited about aren’t worth it”

“Maybe if you did something around the house or stopped making me work at your shitty pizzeria you wouldn’t have to worry about my dumb grades” Michael retorted, not even bothering to hide his rage “I’m going to be 16 and I barely go out”

“Language Michael. I’m the one who pays for the roof over your head and brings the food to the table” William pointed at Michael as he shoved his finger onto the teens chest “The least you could do is follow a few simple tasks”

“Simple?! Shove off with that!” Michael snapped, slapping Father’s hand away “I basically do everything in the house! I’m the one who cleans, does the laundry and makes the food! I’ve had to start asking Ev and Lizzie to help out with the cleaning! You don’t even show your face around the house working on your little projects in that shack of yours” he pointed a the direction to the backyard “You only show your face to make things worse and–”

The sound of a slap could be heard around the house, interrupting what Michael had been saying as there was a ring in his ears. He didn’t even try to put a hand on his cheek, he simply glared at Father, still defiant to the man. He was then grabbed by his shirt as William pulled him closer, the two glared at each other as the adult’s eyes seemed to flash as his fury became even more obvious. Suddenly it felt like someone had pulled the plug, all the anger towards Father that Michael used to feel dissipating. Instead something else was shoved inside to replace it, worry and fear, two things that didn’t belong there as they came from nowhere.

Just as quickly as the feelings were substituted so were the new rush of thoughts. What was he thinking? Was he stupid? This was just getting him into more trouble! What if his siblings got punished? What if he decided to get him off the play and chess club?

Michael’s glare wavered, turning into a look of worry of what might happen to him, he looked away from shame. This seemed to satisfy Father as he smiled –it wasn’t the one he used for a business deal, or the one for mom and Henry, or the one he had for people outside of the family– it was his real smile. One that terrified the Afton children. The man placed a hand on his face and rubbed his thumb on his cheek in circles, a chill ran up Michael’s spine, Father was always so confusing it made his head hurt as if it couldn’t take more of what was being forced to learn. He didn’t understand why Father did this, the two knew the little ‘care’ he showed was bullshit.

“That’s better” William said as Michael’s posture dropped.

The adult took his hand off and switched his hold from the shirt to Michael’s arm as he dragged the teenager, the boy hissed in pain at the strength of the hold as he knew it would leave bruising as it did many times before. The two walked up the stairs and to Michael’s room, William threw his son in before locking the door.

Suddenly all the fear disappeared and the anger that Michael had been feeling before returned, but it didn’t last long as Michael realized in horror what had happened. Father’s footsteps could already have been heard leaving after he had locked the door.

“Fuck!” Michael shouted as he banged on the door, kicking it as he tried to open it, even though he knew from experience that it wasn’t possible “Let me out you bastard!”

But there wasn’t no answer like always, Michael sighed as he leaned his head on the door, great now he was going to miss visiting mom at the hospital.

A few minutes before the talk between Michael and William, to the moment that Mr. Strickler had left the Afton’s home. The teacher could be seen heading to his car, his keys jingling but before he entered his car, his eyes caught Bular watching through the window. To the normal human eye the windows were made so that it would be difficult to spy from the outside, this of course wasn’t the case for the troll who was studying his adversary. The Gumm-Gumm’s face scrunching as he growled and watched Michael, the teenager not noticing his presence.

“You shouldn't be here” he reprimanded the troll.

“Why aren't I feeling his neck snap in my hands right now?” Bular watched the Trollhunter, even in his own hut the whelp was prey “Burning his hut to the ground?”

Strickler rolled his eyes and scoffed “That certainly wouldn't draw any attention” he said dryly.

“I could take the amulet and be done with it”

“Your attempt to do so earlier was not only unsuccessful, it risked exposing our agenda to both humans and trolls” Strickler informed, ignoring the muffled screaming that came from Michael, the two watched as the boy tried to stand his ground “First human Trollhunter. This will require finesse, patience”

“I resent your weak, devious ways, Impure. I only respect force” As Bular said that the soft sound of a slap shut down the shouting, Bular didn’t seem to notice the impure looking away from the scene.

“And I respect your father” Strickler reminded “If you want any chance of ever seeing him again, adapt”

Bular grumbled as he turned his attention back to the window, frowning as William blocked his view of the whelp, the only thing visible was that the man was grabbing his son by the shirt and then changing his hold as he spoke. Just as William changed his grip to the whelp’s arm and was taking him away, sirens could be heard in the background. Strickler quickly pushed Bular away in case they got caught as the Gumm-Gumm sighed.

Michael had been lying in bed for what had to be a few hours, he had only been able to sleep up until he heard Father’s car leave. Which meant that now he could sneak out of the house to go visit mom, but he had promised the twins that he would go with them. Currently the teenager was waiting for one of the twins to wake up so that he could talk to them, tell them about what happened and fix the problem. He only had to wait for a little while before he heard a door open and footsteps leaving, the teen got out of bed and rushed to the door as he started knocking.

“Mike?” Evan’s voice could be heard from the other side “I see the lock, did you get Father mad?”

“Basically”

“What about Mom? Are you gonna have to stay behind?” Evan asked “Do you want me to open the door?”

“Nah” Michael chuckled “I’ll just sneak out I just need you to make sure that you and Lizzie are out in your bicycles”

“Ok” Evan’s footsteps could be heard as the boy walked away.

Now that he was done with that Michael grabbed the bag he had prepared to visit his mom and walked over to the window, luckily for him Father still hadn’t gotten in here and decided to permanently have the windows of his bedroom locked. Either because he didn’t think about it or because he wanted to enjoy the moment that Michael fell off, having an actual real excuse about getting his windows changed. The teen opened the window and closed it behind as he stepped out onto the roof, with proficient practice he walked over the roof and jumped onto the tree, climbing it down and going to grab his bike.

He tapped his foot as he waited for the twins to arrive, the door to the garage opened as Elizabeth and Evan stepped out with their own bikes. The two looked a bit disheveled, hair poorly brushed, clothes barely well put on and the two of them clearly hadn’t fully woken up. Evan had a plastic bag on his hand which he gave to Michael, the teen looked confused and opened the bag to see a few pieces of toast and a juice box inside.

“We made you some breakfast” Evan explained “Since Father isn’t going to let you eat for a long time”

“Of course we couldn’t really make much since we don’t know where the tappearwear and other stuff for food is,” Elizabeth added.

“Thanks…” Michael grabbed the toast and ate it “I’ll show you later were stuff is in case you need to make food for school yourselves”

“I hate when Father locks any of us,” Elizabeth pouted, crossing her arms.

“I hate the banging,” Evan confessed.

“We’ll just have to deal with it until Mom gets better” Michael shrugged as he finished the last piece of toast “After that he’ll have to act like a normal person, just like he did before”

“What if…” Elizabeth fiddled with her hands “What if Mom doesn’t get any better?”

“Don’t say that!” Evan protested “The doctors said she’ll be back home soon!”

“That’s what they said all the time” Elizabeth rolled her eyes “Then she would come home, get worse and return to the hospital”

“This time they’re being more careful” Michael assured her “They could’ve dispatched her a few times but kept her just to make sure, once we see Mom you’ll see how much better she’s doing, ok?”

“Ok…”

“Then let’s not waste anymore time” Michael got into his bike “Off we go”

The ride to the hospital had been quick, they went through their usual route and arrived with plenty of time to spend with their mom, they parked their bikes and put the locks in them alongside their helmets. But before they could go inside Michael couldn’t help but stop the twins.

“You two look like a mess” Michael started fixing Evan’s hair.

“You look even worse,” Evan protested.

“I look perfectly fine!” Michael defended as he straightened the wrinkles and fixed the cuffs and collars of their shirts.

“I’m pretty sure I saw you wearing the same outfit yesterday,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Whatever” Michael chuckled “Do you have a bow or something Lizzie?”

Elizabeth took one out of her pocket “Always”

“Come here” Michael took the bow and started brushing her hair with his hands before making a neat bow on her head “Next time you do it yourself”

“I didn’t have any bloody time!” Elizabeth complained, but the two knew they were both lying as the two secretly enjoyed when Michael did her bow. 

“Also, weren't you the one who did it without Lizzie asking?” Evan added.

“Yeah! I could’ve done it by myself”

“Then next time be faster” Michael shrugged, smiling smugly at her “Alright let's go in”

Once inside they asked for directions and went to their mom’s room, the teen knocked on the door first before the three of them all barged in. Inside the room the Clara Afton could be found enjoying her time, she was sitting up in her bed, book in her hands as she diverted her attention from it to look at them. Strawberry blonde hair with a length a little bit over the shoulders, her emerald eyes brightened at the sight of her children.

“Hi Mom” Michael greeted first, grabbing a few chairs for the three of them.

“Mommy!” Evan and Elizabeth hugged their mom.

“Hi kids! My little tots!” Clara Afton kissed the twins on the forehead and hugged them tightly “Oh, how I missed you!”

“We saw you last week Mom” Michael smiled as he rolled his eyes.

“And every week you get bigger, come here” Clara pulled Michael into the hug “How has your week been?” She asked as she let her children go and they sat down “Did anything special happen?”

Evan opened his mouth to talk about the trolls but was interrupted by Michael.

“You could say that” the teen shrugged calmly “I’ve joined a chess club” when he said that he looked at the twins who nodded, getting the message “And Charlie somehow convinced me to join the Romeo & Juliet play, I’ve got the part for Romeo”

Clara’s face brightened “Really? That’s wonderful honey, l hope I’m already dispatched by the time it takes place”

“You didn’t tell us you were doing the play” Elizabeth complained.

“I forgot, sorry not sorry”

“You will pay for your crimes!” The girl pointed at him.

“What?!” Michael looked at his sister with bewilderment “Come on! It was just one thing!”

“What is the verdict Ev?”

Evan cleared his throat “Frog in the room”

“Yes!” Elizabeth cheered.

“You don’t even know where to find a frog!” Michael complained.

“We’ll manage” the twins shrugged.

Clara couldn’t help but laugh at her children's antics, causing the trio to decide to change the subject out of embarrassment.

“I’ve got an A+ on a work in creative writing at english class” Evan said “And I was thinking about joining a photography club”

“An A+! I’m so proud of you, Peanut” Clara cheered “And photography club sounds great! You always had a good eye”

“Thanks mom” Evan smiled “I’ve already been practicing a bit”

“That’s good, that’s good” Clara nodded and turned her attention to Elizabeth “What about you Sunshine?”

“My notes are very good like always, we’re doing pretty good in debate club and…” Elizabeth started listing with her finger, sticking her tongue out in thought before realizing “Oh! Mike’s been teaching us cooking!”

“Really?” Clara looked at Michael.

“Yeah, well Father is sometimes busy with work and– y’know misses a day those times” Michael lied “And pizza for dinner or lunch gets boring pretty fast, so I’ve picked up some stuff” he scratched the back of his head “And while you are getting better I just wanted to make sure that they knew a thing or two in case I was away”

“You’re such a good brother” Clara sighed “I wish I could be the one teaching you three”

“Maybe after you get out of the hospital?” Evan asked.

“That’s a good idea, Evan!” Clara clapped her hands together.

“How are you feeling Mom?” Michael asked.

“Today is a good day” she smiled at her children reassuringly “I feel so much better today, but I’ll have to stay here for a little bit longer, the good news is that the doctors think that they’ll finally be able to get rid of this little buggy that’s been bothering us”

“That’s good,” Michael smiled while the twins nodded in excitement.

“Talking about good news!” Elizabeth piped up “I’m getting good doing the acro series without anyone! I was able to do it once without help after Jennie said I wouldn’t be able to, I was all like ‘Oh yeah? Well, watch this!’ And showed her off!”

“You’re getting so good at gymnastics” Clara chuckled at her daughter’s story “I still remember when you showed off you could walk doing handstands. I almost thought you would break something”

“But I didn’t!” Elizabeth puffed her chest proudly “Also, Ev and I won our last dodgeball match”

Evan pointed a finger at himself proudly “I’m the best dodger, nothing gets past me”

“He’s gotten pretty observant, it’s kind of difficult to scare him now” Michael said, not like he tried to do it anymore, but ever since the incident Evan has become even more alert.

“You just gotta keep track of where each ball is,” the boy shrugged.

“And I’m the best thrower of course,” Elizabeth added.

“My little champions,” Clara smiled.

“Not little” the twins rolled their eyes.

“We’re already in our first year middle school Mom” Evan crossed his arms.

“Not as grown as high school” Michael teased.

“We are definitely more grown up than you!” Elizabeth added.

“Whatever makes you happy” Michael smiled, he then reached for his bag and rummaged through it “We brought you some stuff”

“It’s gifts,” Evan said.

“So you don’t get bored!” Elizabeth added.

Clara cooed “You didn’t have to”

“But we wanted to,” Michael insisted, taking out a wooden puzzle in the shape of a sphere.

“We shared our money to get you that one!” Elizabeth grabbed her brother by her side.

“You can undo it and redo it!” Evan explained.

“Thank you” Clara looked over the puzzle before putting it on the table by her side “I’ll try to give it a try later”

“And I got you the sequel to the book you said you liked so much” Michael handed her the book “I hope it's as good as the first one”

“I hope so too,” Clara chuckled.

Michael checked the time “We should get going, don’t wanna worry Father and all that”

“Oh, yeah, Will” Clara looked saddened “Haven’t seen him in a long time”

More like never, Michael thought, the man probably hadn’t visited for basically an entire year and barely ever saw her for months before this big gap. He wasn’t sure if Father loved Mom anymore. But that didn’t matter to Michael what mattered to him was that it was clearly affecting the poor woman.

“He’s probably busy with the new openings happening on the other side of America” Michael tried to help her out.

“I guess” she sighed before giving her children a reassuring smile “I’m so happy I got to see you”

“Bye Mom” the kids said before heading out, Michael opening the door for his siblings.

“Wait, Mike can you stay here for a second?” Clara requested. 

The teen nodded as he let the twins out and closed the door “Did something happen?”

“I’m just worried” she confessed “You look tired, seem to be handling a lot, your teacher Mr.Strickler visited yesterday”

“He did?” Michael couldn’t help but be weirded out.

“Yeah he was really worried and wanted to see if my condition had anything to do with it. He was really nice, worried about your well being, brought some stuff and we talked about some other things” she explained before looking at her son with worry “You shouldn’t be doing so much, you’re even trying to take care of me!”

“I like taking care of you,” Michael assured her.

“Except that it's my job to take care of you” Clara insisted, shaking her head and giving him a peck on the forehead “Just try not to worry so much, alright?”

“Yeah, ok” with the Trollhunter stuff? No way.

Clara smiled “Cheerio”

Michael chuckled “Cheerio”

Once Michael left the room he was ambushed by his siblings, bombarded with a few questions as they made their way out of the hospital.

“What did Mom wanna talk about?” Evan asked

“Was she mad about something?” Elizabeth added.

“Nah, just worried is all” Michael shrugged.

“Well, that’s boring” Elizabeth crossed her arms.

They stayed in silence for a while, reaching the entrance to the hospital as they started leaving. They were grabbing their bikes when Evan finally asked the question that’s been on his mind for a while.

“So how is the Trollhunter stuff going?”

“Yeah, can we go with you?” Elizabeth asked as well, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“No way!” Michael shook his head “I almost died yesterday by this Bular bloke! He wanted to eat me! I barely made it out with Jeremy, I don’t wanna know what would happen to you two!”

“No fair!” Elizabeth pouted “I wanna help out”

“Bular was much bigger than Aaarrrgghh and had two swords! He could gobble you up in one bite! I’m not gonna put you in danger like that!” Michael insisted “You two are smaller, slower and have no means to defend yourselves, I can’t risk getting you hurt again because I was careless”

“But–”

“I think Mike has a point Liz, we can’t do much” Evan interrupted her and then whispered to her “Maybe if we learn something that could help him and prove ourselves he will let us”

“Fine” she sighed “What about visiting those trolls? They must have a hideout or something”

“I would but…” Michael’s face scrunched up “Trolls don’t seem to be very happy with having humans in their place, even less one as a Trollhunter. Bringing two smaller humans into Trollmarket would make them very mad. Also, I’m pretty sure this bloke Draal wants to get me killed, turns out his dad was Kanjigar” the twins hissed in unison, their faces showing discomfort “Yeah…”

“What’s the point of keeping a secret if you can't even take part in it” Elizabeth complained as the three grabbed their bicycles.

“I do like being safe though…” Evan added as they biked through the road.

“Look if I ever need help with any Trollhunter related business and I know you two will be safe I’ll get you to do it” Michael told them as they started pedalling away “Ok?”

“Got it,” Elizabeth nodded.

“Understood,” Evan added.

After their trip to the hospital the three returned home and Michael climbed up the tree to get inside his room, the teen had to talk to Jeremy through their walkie-talkie to let him know he couldn’t leave the house for too long at the moment. It wasn’t until the next day that Father would finally unlock the door of his room, the man didn’t say anything, simply stared down at his son before the teen left the house and called Jeremy as the two went to Trollmarket for his training. The two could now be found in Hero's forge, Blinky circling around Michael who stood straight up in his armor, sword raised while Aaarrrgghh and Jeremy were sitting on one side.

“Wider stance. Keep your frame. No, that's good, that's good. Yes, all right, fine. That's better” Blinky corrected as Michael followed every order “All right. Raise your sword, Master Michael” Blinky pushed the sword to a higher height as Michael stayed in the position that Blinky had guided him to reach “Mm-hmm. Head up, chin out, stomach in”

Watching from the sidelines were Aaarrrgghh and Jeremy, Aaarrrgghh had dumped the contents of a paper bag into his mouth, burping as he swallowed “Mmm. What's this?”

“Dander from my Nana's Persian and a couple of hairballs” Jeremy explained as Aaarrrgghh dropped the whole bag into his mouth and pointed with a smile to Jeremy.

“Mm, tasty” Aaarrrgghh burped again.

“The Trollhunter lives and dies by three rules” Blinky explained as Michael who had been focusing on his positions turned his attention to him “Rule number one: always be afraid”

“Afraid?”

“Be afraid,” Aaarrrgghh explained.

“Yeah, I don't think that'll be a problem. Whoa!” Michael quickly ducked as a rock was thrown to his head, missing it easily. 

He turned his head to see Aaarrrgghh with a closed fist, obviously, he had caught the rock. With one gulp, Aaarrrgghh swallowed it as Blinky continued, Michael's face full of shock.

“See? Fear is good. Keeps us alert. Keeps us on guard. Makes us vigilant” Blinky tossed a rock on his hand “A hero is not he who is fearless, but he who is not stopped by it”

Blinky threw more rocks at Michael, the boy quickly avoiding all the stones and slowly turned his attention towards his teacher as Blinky still walked on circles “Got it”

“Two: always finish the fight. An opponent must be given no mercy” Blinky laughed as he threw more rocks, Michael, using his sword as a shield. 

“Okay, enough with the rocks, already” Michael complained as he took a few steps backwards, once he stopped he sucked in a breath “Always finish the fight?”

From behind Michael was suddenly taken down by a rock, a groan escaping him as the one who had done it appeared Aaarrrgghh, his hand still reached out after throwing the stone while Jeremy pointed at him so that it was clear that he hadn’t done anything.

“Kill” Aaarrrgghh clarified.

The teen stood up, his hand rubbing the sore spot forming on his head before facing Aaarrrgghh and Jeremy, muttering the words: ‘What the hell’ while rubbing the spot in which he was hit as Blinky finished speaking.

“Indeed” Blinky nodded, Michael’s face showing discomfort at the thought of causing death “The Trollhunter must always vanquish his opponent through death”

“Dude, that's harsh,” Jeremy said.

“Ours is an unforgiving world, Jeremy F.” Blinky circled around Michael as the boy held the sword up “Hence, the third rule: when in doubt, always kick them in the Gronk-nuks”

“Gronk-nuks? Michael repeated. On cue after a few steps of Blinky's foot, a large blade fell near the space in between Michael's legs. 

He screamed and backed away as Aaarrrgghh let out a shiver “The horror”

“So, basically, you're saying that one-third of being a Trollhunter is kicking someone in the bollocks.

A voice cut through their conversation like a sharp knife through butter, Draal entered the arena with a mocking grin “Ah! So, the Trollhunter's training begins” the blue spiky troll walked up to the Trollhunter and his teacher “I thought the great Trollhunter might accept my services as a sparring partner. Part of your training regiment, isn't it?”

“In due time, perhaps” Blinky denied.

“Why wait?” Vendel stated as he appeared above them all, overlooking a ledge “I am eager to see your charge demonstrate his mettle”

Michael looked at his sword, misunderstanding the words of the elder “Actually, the sword's more made of, like, daylight”

“He means your mettle, your ability to cope in the face of adversity” Blinky whispered.

“Oh. Yeah, I'm still working on the whole ‘mettle’ part” Michael excused “Plus, you know, S.A.T. words”

“Let them spar” Vendel chuckled as he watched, Draal grinning evilly.

“No harm in it” Draal opened his arms in mockery as if he were shrugging.

The Trollhunter glanced with shock at Draal before catching up to Blinky “Wait, what do I do?”

“Hit him as hard as you can”

“No, duh!” Michael rolled his eyes “But what do I do against a troll? I haven’t gotten in a fight in years”

“How long?”

“For like 4 years. The idea of getting in a fight is just…” Michael shook his head, he’d rather not throw his problem at someone else “But throwing a punch isn’t the same as fighting a giant rock creature!”

“That’s quite some time” Blinky looked surprised “And to lose the motivation well…”

“Yeah, yeah” Michael rolled her eyes “I got issues”

“You fought Bular, however briefly, and you were glorious” the teacher complimented “Your blade-work was impressive”

“Those were just from playing stupid games when I was little and with my siblings, and from having to cook at home!”

“Exactly! The fight is within you, Master Michael” Blinky placed his hands on the teen’s shoulders “Trust yourself. One hit!” He had raised all four of his arms and lowered three of them “One hit and you will be changed forever” with confidence, Blinky turned Michael and pushed him to Draal, Michael clearly worried.

“Begin,” Vendel said with a booming voice. 

The Trollhunter got into the stance he was recently taught, Draal growled and slammed his fists into the rocky surface, roaring as Michael lifted his sword. Draal ran at the boy as he rolled. The teen braced himself for battle, how was he supposed to fight against this thing?! He had just gotten started with his training! How was he supposed to face this bloody bloke who wanted him dead because he was jealous!

“One hit” Michael muttered, one hit and he would get his groove back, he would go back to being that kid who didn’t allow any wanker outside his family to hurt him.

The offspring of the previous Trollhunter rolled into a sharp ball, Michael yelped as he jumped from the path of destruction. How was he supposed to fight this bloke! However, as Michael looked above, he noticed Draal rolling up to the ceiling before falling from his ball, fists ready. Once Draal collided with the ground, dust covered the area in a grimy blanket, the impact threw Michael into the denser part of the fog. Not being able to see anything, Michael was suddenly tackled, the blue mist of his armor brightening over the fog as the dust cleared. He used his sword as a crutch, still not being able to stand well enough.

“All right, all right” Michael groaned, trying to use the sword to stand up “Now, just give me a second here”

Of course, instead of listening, Draal threw repeated punches at Michael, his groans mixing with the sounds of his metal armor being pounded by a rocky hand. Draal pulled the weakened Michael up and punched him closer near the cliff. Michael's strength was declining rapidly, his sword vanishing too. Draal lifted the Trollhunter over the edge, his terrified screams were enough to get Jeremy mad.

“Let him go!” Jeremy shouted as Aaarrrgghh had to hold him back from getting into battle

“I've waited my entire life to inherit the amulet. I can wait until you fall in battle” Draal squeezed Michael, the boy letting out another agonizing scream before dropping him on the ground “I suspect I won't have to wait very long. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay down and live, worm” he laughed as he walked away “Trollhunter”

The teenager looked up at the other troll, glaring at him, face flushed red with humiliation. He didn’t know what was worse, allowing Father to humiliate and beat him or not even getting the chance to get a hit on Draal as he beat the living lights out of him. He had never lost a fight nor had it been this badly. From the seats at the audience Vendel sighed as he walked away and disappeared. With remorse, Blinky watched Vendel leave and turned his attention back at Michael who couldn't look at his trainer.

In the staircase that led out of Trollmarket was the defeated Trollhunter, Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Jeremy following behind, leaving the home for trolls.

“He might be right. What in bloody hell was I thinking?” Michael had his hands on his head as they reached the crystal stairs “An amulet can't choose anyone. It's an amulet”

“Michael?” Aaarrrgghh called worryingly.

“I understand you're upset, Master Michael, but you've had not a moment's training” Blinky tried to help as Michael started walking up the stairs “There's no shame in what just transpired”

“Okay. Well, then you were definitely not paying attention back there” Michael stopped in his steps and turned to look at the other “Shame was about the only thing that transpired. Shame…” he sighed, taking the amulet out “And realization. I don't know if Draal should be the Trollhunter or not, and I don't care. I just know that I am not”

He tossed it to Blinky's feet, the troll held it close as Michael continued to the exit “Master Michael, despite whatever doubts you may have about the amulet's choice, it is now bonded to you” the amulet left Blinky's hands and right to Michael's “This is a mantle you cannot refuse”

The boy caught it with wide eyes as his trainer had spoken. Gathering himself together, a frown thinned Michael's lips as he dropped it back by Blinky, and continued onward, Jeremy catching up to his friend.

“Watch me”

After leaving Trollmarket Michael immediately went to his bedroom, too mad about what had transpired before to bother to interact with anyone. How could he have thought that there was anything good about him? He was just a mistake that constantly made things worse. When he entered his room, a defeated look on his face, he saw the amulet in his nightstand, his bluebell eyes had landed on the item he had tried to get rid of. The amulet glowed like a heartbeat as Michael balled his fists with a groan before tossing it in the trash. He threw himself onto his bed and looked at the ceiling, he turned, slipping an arm beneath his head. The amulet glowing as it laid beside him. 

Michael's eyebrows fell in anger “Oh, shut up”

With another toss in the trash, Michael decided to pile a bunch of books and other pieces of garbage that piled around his room. After stacking the pile, the teen sat beside the can with an exhale, yet when his eyes opened, they grew as he found the amulet once in front of him. Michael slapped his forehead and fell backward into the trash can, books falling on his defeat pose. If he just ignored it it would have to leave him alone, it would see that he wasn’t worth the trouble… Why was he thinking of the amulet as if it was a living being?

After a while the sun had come down and Michael had decided to watch tv, he didn’t wanna miss La Última Pasión, things were getting very interesting. The teen was in the living room, sitting on his couch, popcorn rapidly falling into his mouth as the screen lit his features on his face. Not paying attention to the bowl, Michael didn't realize he had grabbed the amulet until he bit down, a groan leaving his lips. In the bathroom, he scrubbed his teeth clean before spitting and pulling open the mirror cabinet, the haunting presence of the amulet causing him to scream. He slammed the door shut, his face reappearing in the mirror with a disturbed look. 

Another attempt that he made was to give it to Elizabeth, if there was anyone that knew how to get an object never found was her. The girl let out a giddy giggle, happy to help out her brother, just for the thing to be found a few minutes later on his bed. Now the boy stood outside the amulet, thrown into the air a few times before it landed in the palm of Michael's hand, a bat in his other hand as he was ready to get rid of the damned thing.

“¡Buenas noches!” With one more toss, the amulet smacked against the bat, the magical device was pulled from view, leaving Michael “Home run” As he headed to the back door, the amulet was thrown back, bouncing off Michael's head. Moving his bat to find what had hit him, he found the amulet laying at his feet “Really?”

The next day had been Monday and with the play still on Michael went to practice, he and Charlie were on the stage clipboards in their hands as the teacher passed in front of them. While Charlie had a smile and kept her eyes on the teacher, Michael had a frown, his head hung as his eyes looked at nothing but his clipboard. He was a failure of a Trollhunter and couldn’t even abandon the job, who was going to take care of his siblings and mom if he died? Meanwhile Ms. Janeth was quoting parts of the play.

“ ‘Deny and refuse’. But he can't deny it. But Romeo can't not be a Montague, which means that Juliet…”

“And I'll no longer be a Capulet” Charlie said happily, hand on her heart. 

“Exactly!” The teacher sat with a laugh before looking at Michael, all eyes upon him “Michael?”

“Huh?”

“Or, if thou wilt not, be sworn my love…” she reminded,

“Right. No, I-I got it. Love, deny, refuse” Michael mumbled, tossing his head around “I'm on it”

“Okay, then” she nodded “Let's take it from ‘Wherefore art…’ ”

“You okay?” Charlie wondered.

“Yeah, I'm fine” Michael chuckled, if by fine he meant a dead man, he gave her an ‘ok’ sign “Totally fine”

“You're going to need to be a bit more convincing if you're going to play Romeo”

“I've just got some stuff going on in my head”

“If you need help with homework or your siblings…” Charlie bit her lip, tapping her fingers on the clipboard “I… wouldn’t mind helping out, I could go over at your house or something”

She then started to move closer to Michael, her fingers tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as the two smiled at each other. The teacher quickly stood as Ms. Janeth grabbed their attention.

“All right, all right! Act two, scene two, line 33”

“Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Charlie started.

Michael smiled, finally feeling the spark of happiness. The smile was still up even after the play, Michael had gone to his locker, gathered his things and was ready to leave. But his smile was quickly lost when he saw Steve approach him.

“Where have you been? I scheduled your butt-whooping for Friday, jerk face” Steve reminded “And you didn't show. Tick-tock, remember?”

“He was busy getting his butt whooped by someone else” Jeremy added from the side “Take a number”

“Back off, dweeb!” Steve threatened, Jeremy just rolled his eyes.

Michael sighed “Steve, I am really not in the mood to do this right now”

“Duh! Nobody's ever in the mood to get their face bashed in, but that's what's going to happen unless you want to back down”

Students watched with worried glances, Charlie and Darci appearing behind Jeremy, Charlie's face morphed into a worried expression.

“Shove off Steve” Michael groaned “I’m not in the mood for your rubbish”

“You just have to crawl away from me, on your knees, bowing in front of everybody” Steve chuckled as he motioned to the people around them "That's a choice”

God. Michael was already getting tired of this, first a beating from Draal and now Steve wanted to try to get what little pride Michael had gotten back. School was the only place where he didn’t have to deal with bullshit and this arsehole had to ruin it. The teen's eyes moved over to Jeremy and Charlie's. With another glance, Michael stood tall, reaching his full height. Steve chuckled before shoving Michael into a locker. The teen let out a groan as his back collided with the metal. Michael ducked as Steve punched where he last stood, dodging each blow.

“Keep still so I can punch your face!”

Michael managed to duck from each fist sent to him but one, his body dropped as Steve stood proudly over him, Michael's eyes were not at Steve but the glowing amulet inside his bag. With a firm look, Michael remembered yesterday before standing. The words: ‘Your life will change forever with one hit’ replayed in Michael's mind.

“Stay down and live, worm”

Michael’s hand was about to reach for his amulet before realizing he didn't need it, he passed his fist over his mouth as he stood up a smirk on his face “Is that all you got? I barely felt a thing!”

As Steve advanced, Charlie appeared in front of Michael, using her arms as a shield “Leave him alone, Steve!”

“Butt out!” Steve shoved Charlie to the side, her body flying towards Darci and Jeremy.

“Char!” Michael called out, turning his focus back on Steve as he glared at him.

“Good thing your daddy has the money for the hospital bill”

“One hit,” he mumbled. 

Michael formed his hand into a fist tightly as the confidence grew within him, the spark for fighting returning as it burned like the inferno. He threw a punch underneath Steve's chin, the blonde boy flew from Michael's reckless path. His bones cracking as a tooth landed beside Steve's pained face.

“Good luck with the dentist”

Jeremy ran to his friend's side, Charlie smiling at Michael but stayed by Darci “Dude, you did it!” His friend cheered “And without even kicking him in the Gronk-nuks!”

Everyone started to gather around, someone stepped on Steve's arm as they surrounded Michael as he looked shocked at what had occurred before smiling happily. It had been a long time since people even looked at him like that. And he finally felt proud of himself for something.

In Trollmarket, the bar was filled as some trolls left or joined, waiters and waitresses delivered drinks as Draal sat at the bar, speaking his mind.

“It was an epic pummeling! Draal laughed as he explained “I was going to kill him, but I just couldn't make up my mind as to how. Trollhunter” he scoffed “I mean, troll hunted is more like it”

Draal looked back at Blinky and Aaarrrgghh as they sipped on their drinks angrily.

“If only Master Michael had landed a single hit,” Blinky lamented.

“Single hit”

“And he would have been changed forever!”

“Over and over and over” Draal hit the table with each word, his cup bouncing “It was incredible! All I want is the chance to wail on that fleshbag again”

As Draal lifted the cup to his rock lips, a human hand quickly pushed it down, the liquid inside spilled onto the table beneath them, revealing Michael standing beside him.

“Wish granted, loudmouth. Rematch. You. Me. Name the time, name the place, and I'll be there”

“We both will,”Jeremy added. 

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh looked shocked as they watched Michael confront Draal, Aaarrrgghh wipped off the drink from his chin as he spoke “Changed Forever”

Draal stood with a growl, everyone surrounding them as the two glared at one another, Michael's face showing nothing but pure confidence.