"Ah!" Barbra let out a gasp of surprise at the sensation of something ramming into her back. She had barely righted herself before she cussed and winced at a sudden throbbing in her knees.

Right before the mysterious pains, she had been passing by a nurse's station and so she quickly sank behind the desk to sit down in the empty chair. She wanted to be seated in case there were anymore incoming magical surprises.

Had Walt fallen down? Was he in a fight?

Just as she picked up her phone with the intention to find answers, she dropped it in sudden pain. Her entire right arm felt as if lightning had stuck it, agony beginning at the elbow resonated up to her shoulder and down to every digit. Tears clouded her vision as she bit her lip.

"Shit!"

Brittney poked her head out of a nearby room, "Everything okay?"

Barbra attempted to turn her grimace into a smile, "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

The other woman's brown eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You sure?"

"Yup! J-just a cramp. Muscle spasm. No big."

Brittney looked over her shoulder to her patient before turning back, "Have you been getting enough potassium?"

Barbara shrugged as she tried to gingerly rub at the soreness, "Maybe not."

The nurse nodded then wagged an authoritative finger at the doctor, "If you're sure you're okay I need to get back to Mr. Gonzales. But you let me know if you need anything."

The pain was fading now and no new hurts had happened. She nodded to the woman and waved her off with a more genuine smile. When she was alone again she took a deep breath and picked her phone up off the floor and pulled up Walter's contact.

What was that?

She waited two full minutes before shooting the same message to Otto.

Apologies doctor. We ran into an former coworker but all is well now.

She frowned.

Then why hasn't Walter answered me?

She breathed a sigh of relief at his nearly instant reply.

It is his turn to drive. Also if he were any more hurt or dead, you would surely know it.

She slumped back and sighed. Of course. That made sense. She looked back down at her elbow and rubbed at newlyforming bruise. Former coworker, indeed.

"Doctor Lake?"

"Hm?" She looked up quickly at the new voice.

"Room seven is ready to see you."

She accepted the patient folder and shoved her phone back into her pocket. Whatever had happened, she would have to wait to find out the full story. She still had work to do. But first, ice and ibuprofen. Room seven would be fine for another few minutes; best to try and fight the swelling now as she suspected Walter wouldn't.

O-_-o-_-O

Jim walked down one of the many crowded streets of Heartstone Trollmarket and let his feet wander on autopilot while his mind drifted. He allowed himself to really look at the beauty of the world around him and took in the subtleties and richness that it had to offer. As nearly all his visit had been driven by a mission or his time allotted to another's schedule, he rarely had the chance to simply walk around and sightseeing.

The street was busy but most trolls had gotten used to him and now usually chose to ignore him unless they needed something. He found himself unbothered as he weaved between the stalls and stone bodies, a welcome change of pace from the usual hustle of tasks requested or training insisted upon. As he lost himself to the noise and sights of the underground city, he mulled over his current situation.

He had left Blinky in his basement, the troll still engrossed with Walter's personal book collection even after finding a cure, and Toby had been shanghaied into a shopping day with his Nana. Claire -taking the couch pillow with her- had gone home to do damage control and look for clues as to why NotEnrique had run off. He had offered to go with her but since her father still didn't like him, she insisted it would go smoother if he weren't there. That left his afternoon free and with nothing pressing immediately for his attention, but still feeling as if he needed to do something, he had decided for a walk.

After the third time of nearly getting stepped on, Jim turned off the main street to a side passage, heading towards the crystal embedded cavern wall. With the ease of practice and the dexterity of his youth, Jim scaled the wall, aiming for a small portion of ledge that sat back from and above the market. When he reached the small overhang, he turned to let his legs dangle over the side and leaned back into the rough stone. The sounds of haggling and gossip were duller from his newly claimed perch and he sighed.

Trollmarket, no matter how many times he saw it, truly was breathtaking. As he gazed over the twinkling lights, he idly ran his hand over the lapels of his jacket. After a few minutes of gloom and worry, he took a deep breath and attempted to force himself to relax. With Angor Rot no longer hunting him and two high ranking former Janus Order operatives defecting and now living in his house, the overwhelming sense of danger and racing against an unseen clock had subsided slightly over the last week. But those were only two items marked off leaving a whole list of problems still to go.

He had recently been told (more than once) that he needed to remember that he didn't have to face every problem alone, and he was trying to apply that advice now. It was Strickler, of all people, who cornered him offering advice and trying to assuage his anxiety. Jim bit his lip as he considered his former teacher's counsel: that he should focus on the things he could control and to stop putting energy into worrying over things that weren't in his power to affect.

His first instinct had been to roll his eyes at the changeling but he could admit the man had a point. Even though he agreed, it was another matter altogether to abide by that philosophy. Still, he put thoughts of Aaarrrgghh and NotEnrique aside and tried to think of something he could do something about.

There was always the pile of homework that he needed to catch up on. But, try as he might, school continued to feel more and more trivial in the face of all the new responsibilities thrust upon him by trollkind.

So, no on the homework for now.

He reached for his amulet and rolled it over in his hands, its familiar blue glow an unexpected comfort. He frowned and flipped it over, tracing the lines that opened it. Three days ago he had added the Kill Stone into the amulet but the third Triumbric Stone was still out there, somewhere. He could focus on that.

Just as he had made up his mind, a distant horn sounded and all the lights throughout the city began to dim. Panic cut through his recently won sense of calm and he scrambled down from his perch to investigate. Of course something would happen the very moment he tried to relax.

O-_-o-_-O

Javier pulled a shopping cart from the corral and walked through the sliding doors of the department store. It had been a long time since he had had a day all to himself. It felt pretty nice, he decided. He would have to thank Claire for suggesting it.

She was such a good kid, no matter what those no-good boys from school were trying to do to corrupt her.

He smiled to himself as he passed the home-goods area, heading for the small appliances. Somehow, something had jammed their blender and he needed to get a new one. He could only hope that the machine broke naturally and not as a result of that stupid party the Lake kid and hosted in his kitchen.

He shook his head. No, no. He was having a relaxation day and nothing, least of all thoughts of Jim Lake, was going to take that from him.

He had almost made it to his destination when he stopped.

He did a double-take.

The blood drained from his face and he could feel the panic start to race through his entire body.

There, in a bin surrounded by pillows and blankets, was his baby boy.

O-_-o-_-O

Claire jumped as her ring-tone went off.

She had come home to find the house empty so she immediately marched into the nursery to begin looking for anything that her changeling brother might have left behind. Two texts was not enough to go on. When he came back -because he was most certainly, without question, going to come back- she was going to throttle him.

She nearly dropped her phone when she answered to her father's frantic yelling. A sense of déjà vu washed over her as she deciphered what he was saying.

"Claire! Tu hermanito! How could you!"

"Dad! What-?"

She could hear more yelling in the background, not just her father.

"Sir! You need to calm down!"

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Should someone call a doctor? I think he's having some sort of episode."

"Sir, can you put the pillow down?"

"Pillow?" Claire asked before her eyes widened and she smacked her head.

Oh no.

"Dad! Hey, dad!"

The call cut off. She tried calling back but it went to voicemail.

Forget throttling. She hadn't yet thought of a punishment severe enough for the little gremlin for causing all of this chaos.

Claire ran down the stairs and hopped onto her bike, praying that she would be able to act her way through some major damage control.

O-_-o-_-O

As he ran back towards the center of the Market, Jim summoned his armor and prepared for the worst. He was understandably surprised when he was immediately reprimanded.

"Put that sword away! Don't you know our guests are sensitive to light?"

Jim looked over his shoulder at Bagdwella as she shouldered past him, seemingly unconcerned about the current events.

"Guests?"

He spotted Aaarrgghh a few stalls down from him and, after dismissing his armor, shuffled his way through the growing crowd to stand by his friend. The massive troll bumped his nose against Jim's shoulder before encircling his good arm around the human to shield him from the bustle around them.

"What's going on?"

Another horn blast sounded and then Jim could see a procession of luminescent trolls walking up the Market street. Aaarrrgghh averted his gaze and whispered, "Krubera. My tribe. Live in deep caverns; rarely come up."

"Your tri-"

"Your visit is an unexpected honor, Userna." Vendel's greeting interrupted him, the troll's voice carring as he made his way through the gathered trolls to intercept the arriving party.

The female troll, carried on a pedestal by her entourage, inclined her head to the leader of Trollmarket.

"Vendel."

Jim turned with a small smile to mutter in his friend's ear, "Well, she's certainly as talkative as you."

Aaarrrgghh hummed in quiet acknowledgement but gently squeezed his shoulder to ask for silence and nodded his head back to the two leaders. At that moment, the queen turned her gaze over to them. She stepped down from the rock that had carried her and made her way over to where they stood.

"Aarghaumont, my kinstroll."

Aaarrrgghh carefully shifted Jim out of the way and bowed his head in deference to the royal, giving a soft grunt.

Userna closed the distance between them and pressed her horns to the other his, causing Aaarrrgghh's markings to flare brightly.

"The centuries pass but yet you remain forever in our hearts."

"My queen."

Formalities seen to, she turned to look down at Jim, mild curiosity gleaming in her purple eyes. She circled around to stand directly in front of him and Jim fought the urge to gulp nervously.

Vendel quickly stepped over to them and placed his large hand over the boy's back, "Allow me to introduce Kanjigar's successor, the new Trollhunter, Slayer of Gunmar's son."

"Um, James Lake Junior, your queen-ness."

"A human Trollhunter. I heard stories, but didn't believe." She cupped his face between her fingers and turned him back and forth as if inspecting livestock at an auction.

Jim did not break eye contact.

"Um, your highness, lady, why exactly have you come?"

"To celebrate this rare and momentous visit," Vendel quickly interrupted once more, "I propose a grand match of PyroBligst!"

The queen smiled, her eyes gleaming with self-assurance, "Then it is wise that I brought with me our tribe's two heartiest trolls."

"Aaarrrgghh will represent us! To be paired with our Trollhunter."

"Wait, what? What's PyroBligst? Some kind of game?"

Aaarrrgghh nodded, coming up to stand behind him again, "Tradition."

Userna smirked over her shoulder as she turned to leave, "I shall look forward to the game, later this evening."

Okay, so it was a game. One to which he didn't know the rules. As Vendel walked off and the crowd dispersed, Jim turned and asked, "Is he acting weird, do you think?"

Dawning realization lifted Aaarrrgghh's brows and he touched his arm, "Vendel knows… doesn't know you know."

"Uh, okay, but then what- I mean, I don't get it. Is she here because of you?"

The large troll shrugged and winced, "Maybe."

Jim still wasn't comprehending. He felt like he had somehow solved two sides of a Rubik's Cube but had no idea how to proceed to match up the remaining faces. So, Vendel knew about the poison but didn't know that Jim knew, which probably meant he thought no one else knew- Aaarrrgghh did try to hide it at the beginning. That made sense. But, if they updated Vendel to the current situation, that might necessitate telling him about Strickler and Otto. There was no way talking about changelings could end well. That also still left the question of how Userna tied into everything.

"Maybe we should go back and talk to Blinky," Jim suggested. "Think we have time? When is this game suppose to start?"

Aaarrrgghh nodded and lifted him up on his back to speed towards the staircase, "Have time. Need Blinky."

Oh-ho-ho! Two updates in one month! Whatever has come over me!
A good potion of the dialogue from the Krubera scene was lifted directly from the show, trying for a little canon among all the AU madness ;)
Hope you guys enjoy!
As always, I adore your feedback and I love hearing from you all~