This is inspired by a comic by necrosishead on tumblr in which Jim finds an infant version of himself in the Darklands nursery, as well as by comments made by ch4rl13sm1th. Also, I'm not going to get into exactly how Jim was able to hold a gaggletack and not get turned into his troll form in this, despite knowing that it would be a plot hole.

I don't own Trollhunters, or else I wouldn't be writing an AU fanfic based on a fancomic.

"You're the real Walter Strickler?" Jim said incredulously to the seven-hundred-year-old infant before shaking his head. He needed to find Enrique and get out of here. He didn't have a way to rescue everyone from here, at least not right now. A Trollhunter may answer every call, but he was just one person with no capacity to both fight and carry multiple infants all at the same time. He jumped to the next cradle and looked down. While the black hair indicated that this wasn't Enrique, it filled Jim with dread.

He looked down, and had to stifle a gasp since the goblins were so near.

The plaque indicated that the infant was James Lake Jr., born in the year 2000.

The plaque indicated that everything Jim had ever known was a well-constructed lie, now crumbling away like brittle stone.

"Did you always know you were a changeling?" Jim asked Nomura. Did he want to talk about it with anyone, especially her? No, but he couldn't escape if he exploded from the pressure building within his skull as he thought back to the infant whose place he had taken.

"Did you always know you were human, little Gynt?" she asked with a tone of voice that implied that she was trying to sleep and if he didn't shut up soon she would find a way break out of her prison cell and permanently do the job for him.

"Well, apparently I'm not," he admitted, because if the world already wanted him dead, then he may as well be true to himself.

The two cells were silent before Nomura let out an exasperated sigh. "Did I ever tell you how I first met Draal?"

"And then the council was, like, thinking that you were a changeling or something and let's face it, that's crazy, you've held a gaggletack and defeated Bular when he tried to open the bridge in the first place!" Toby said as he, Jim, and Claire walked home from the forest where Killahead Bridge had stood less than an hour ago. "Of course, that's when we got thrown out even though Vendel was making the argument that you're not a changeling because duh!"

Jim chuckled in a way that sounded like he was trying to get himself to cry and was too dehydrated to do so.

"You okay, Jimbo?" Toby asked as Claire put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'When I was in the Darklands," Jim started, and had to swallow the rising panic in his throat. "I saw someone that shouldn't exist. I saw an infant version of me."

Claire and Toby stopped walking, and Jim squeezed his eyes in anticipation. They would hate him, if not for being a changeling in the first place then for leaving the baby version of him - no, the real James Lake Jr., back in the Darklands.

"Are... are you sure?" Claire asked. Jim opened his eyes but didn't look directly at their faces. It would make him seem like a liar, but that was what he had always been.

"He looked just like I did in the baby photos my mom has of me. Well, I guess of him, unless they're from around the same time he was kidnapped." Claire took her hand off of his shoulder.

"Did... did you know?" Toby asked, sounding torn between wanting to comfort his best friend and wanting to fight the person who had apparently lied to him his entire life.

"Of course not!" He was hyperventilating now. "Tobes, I was just as surprised as you were when I found out that trolls exist!" He backed away from them. They hated him, they had to hate him, they didn't believe him, they wouldn't ever believe him, they would just kill him and give the amulet to someone who deserved it, they thought he was a failure and-

Two pairs of arms encircled Jim, and he tried not to scream because he couldn't let his will break and let them take him and-

"It's okay, we believe you," Claire said as Toby rubbed his back.

"I wouldn't tell Vendel if I were you, though," Toby said. "Team Trollhunters is already on thin ice with the tribunal."

NotEnrique started laughing when Jim finished his story.

"I'm telling you, I really saw him!" Jim told him.

"You real- you really think that you could be a changeling after you chased me around with a gaggletack? Yer mum's a doctor, right? Maybe instead of coming to me, you should go get yer head checked!"

"I know what I saw."

"You sure that wasn't some other kid with your name and year of birth?"

"If I had any doubt, I wouldn't have told anyone. Claire said you were able to use a mirror to show her Enrique. Show me how."

"For what?"

Jim reached into his backpack and took out a pair of stiff socks.

"Jeez, kid! Why didn't you lead with that instead of the sob story? Eh, whatever," NotEnrique said as he snatched the socks out of Jim's outstretched hand. "But seriously, why do you want to be able to see the baby so much?"

"I'm not going to just disappear on my - on Dr. Lake for no reason," Jim said, and NotEnrique rolled his eyes at the irony in the fact that Jim had technically done just that when he had gone traipsing into the Darklands. "And it's going to be shocking enough when she finds an infant and me in whatever I'm supposed to look like. After I defeat Gunmar, I'll need to show her proof before I go rescue the real Jim."

"Are you really planning on rescuing all those babies?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Well, there's a lot of people who would suddenly be revealed to the rest of the world. I mean, it was pretty fine for me, since Claire already knew and I didn't have time to get attached, but what about the changelings who aren't babies? Tons of people will be exposed as trolls, with nothing but infants in their place."

Jim looked away, not wanting to think about it. "I get what you're saying, but I can't just leave them in the Darklands, though."

"And where do you think you're going?" Barbara asked Jim as she caught him trying to sneak out the door. In actuality, he was going to go train at the Hero's Forge, but he couldn't tell her that. He had promised her once that he'd tell her everything that was going on, and one day he was going to keep his promise. He wasn't nearly ready for that particular day today, though. He didn't know if he'd ever be ready to face the Darklands again, but he'd have to.

"Um, I was going to help Claire with, um, homework!" Jim said as she grabbed his shoulders. He tried not to panic because as of now, she had no reason to want to hurt him. No reason at all. It wasn't like she knew that he had stolen her son and -

"You have a phone and a computer, you can contact her with those," Barbara said as she marched him up the stairs. "I know that things have been hard for you -" - and her holding him that way was making them harder - "- but this behavior has to stop." They neared the bathroom. "I want to trust you, but you need to tell me things. As your mother -"

"You're not," Jim blurted out; he immediately regretted it. It had been so nice, pretending that everything was fine.

Dr. Lake paused. "What did you say?" Her grip tightened on his shoulders.

Jim wrestled out of her grip and spat on the mirror. "I'm not your son. I've lived just about my entire life here, but I'm not your son." His familiar appeared in the mirror. "He is." As Dr. Lake stared at her real son, Jim pushed past her and ran down the stairs and out the door.

Jim didn't go to Trollmarket. He didn't go because the tribunal had been so close to the truth when they accused him of being a changeling working for Gunmar. He didn't go because they had been true for half of it, and in all honesty why would he even exist if it wasn't for the glory of Gunmar? It had been something he could ignore when he could still pretend to be human, pretend that everything was fine, but he had had to go and ruin it. He couldn't have just have gone along with being grounded and called for Claire to open a portal for him?

He was tired. He was tired of lying, tired of fighting, and definitely tired of walking for hours without any true purpose. He had turned his phone off after it had been going off every several seconds. He didn't want to see the texts from his friends, who were probably wondering where he was. He didn't want to see the texts from his - from Dr. Lake, who probably wanted to know where her real son was.

"Jim?" a voice called. "Jim!" And now she was here.

Jim backed away. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you like this, I didn't know that I replaced him until recently -"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. Jim doubted that being this close to hyperventilating was the intention of Rule Number One, but he was certainly afraid.

"I was able to rescue Claire's brother, just give me some time and I'll go back and get your real -"

She pressed him into a hug, stroking her fingers through his hair. "You're my real son. You're apparently adopted, but I raised you. You're my son. Let's go home, and talk about everything that's been going on for... for however long this has been going on."