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Toby found Merlin sitting on the couch in the Lake residence, not even an hour after the Battle of Eternal Night. He looked tired, face tight and eyes shut as his head rested against the back of the couch. His armor didn't make a noise, but it moved with deep breaths of sleep. However, Toby could tell that he wasn't actually asleep.
He just stared at the man for several minutes, lost in thought, until Merlin finally spoke, "What is on your mind, child? Or do you simply like watching old men sleep?"
"You weren't asleep." He answered flatly, almost harshly. Well...he was tired from the battle.
Merlin opened an eye. "No, I've done enough of that for a few centuries. Now, unless you have a pressing problem, I'd like to be left alone."
Toby snorted and crossed his arms. "Okay, I do have a pressing problem then."
Merlin lifted his head, not really believing him. "What is it then? Your cat stuck up in a tree? I'll have you know I'm not Percival."
Toby rolled his eyes and glared at the very old man. "No. I want to know why. Why did you turn Jimbo into a troll when we were doing fine, great even, with him being human? We defeated everyone that came against us. Bular, Angor Rot, numerous changelings…What is your problem?"
Hurt flashed through Merlin's eyes and he looked away, head falling back tiredly. Though this exhaustion not from the battle. "You could hardly begin to understand."
Toby sat down heavily on the adjoining couch. "Then explain it to me, 'cause I sure as heck would like to know."
He sighed loudly, sitting up to rest an elbow on his knee. "Very well then…
"When I woke and saw him standing over me—well, I must say he startled me greatly. Enough for me to inhale air to scream but ended up choking on those blasted cobwebs; really, where did those come from? Pests, those arachnids are. But back to him. After I finished startling the both of us, I took his appearance in. I could feel my magic on him, he was the Trollhunter, that was plainly obvious—I didn't need eyes for that! But, what my eyes did see, was a human. In reality, this should have been impossible. I myself had essentially cursed the thing to live underground with the trolls. It was never supposed to be wielded by a human again-"
"Again? What do you mean again?" Toby interrupted, leaning forward. Blinky had never mentioned there being another human Trollhunter—quite the opposite, in fact.
Merlin frowned. "This isn't something I care to dwell on, boy. If you wish to interrupt, I have no need to tell you why."
Shadows shifted from the hallway to the living room as Barbara entered and glared at the wizard, grabbing a chair from the dining room. "Oh no, you're going to tell us why. Tell me why you'd turn my precious boy into a troll and practically ruined his life. It wasn't like it was hard enough being human and a Trollhunter already."
Merlin turned his head, an ashamed blush flushed in his cheeks before he covered it up. "Wonderful to see you, Doctor Lake."
"The feeling isn't so mutual." She said sharply.
The Changeling stood behind her, not quite glaring at him but certainly watching him closely. "Please, continue. I too would like to know why you would torment young Atlas like that."
Merlin felt a growl begin to rise but stuffed it. It would not do well to anger his mother's lover and, ugh, mentor. But he didn't stop himself from making his reply curt, "Well then, if you're through with the interruptions?"
No one spoke again, merely looked at him expectantly.
Merlin glared at nothing, though it often landed on the Changeling. "There is something that none of you realized, something that died with Deya and with Gunmar and Morgan's banishment. When I made the Amulet, I didn't make it for trolls. No, they were an idea of Morgana's to attack Camelot with. Or, at least, the ones known as Gum-Gums were. Ha! I never imagined then what would become of the Amulet. I had made it a human, the first Trollhunter—Arthur Pendragon. I made it to be the strongest weapon—maybe even by today's standards. Arthur worked alongside Deya to battle the Gum-Gums but," his fists clenched at the memory, "he fell in the Killahead Battle.
"I couldn't accept his death. He was like a son to me." His voice dropped to near a whisper. "He was my closest friend. I cursed the Amulet then, stripped it of most of its power and left Daylight for the trolls; until it found its rightful Hunter again, Arthur.
"I knew he had a child, but fate isn't always kind. I didn't leave anything to chance. Good thing too, his blood-line died in your last global war. But imagine my surprise when I wake up to see a boy leaning over me with his Amulet!"
Barbara stopped him, hands waving in disbelief. "Hold on. I've heard a lot of crazy things about Jim in the past three months alone, but…are you saying my son is King Arthur?!"
Merlin raised an amused brow. "Not in blood, but his spirit is his manifestation."
Strickler raised an unbelieving eyebrow. "There are billions of humans on this planet, wizard; I'm sure more than one of them has his same characteristics."
Merlin smirked and reclined once again with an amused arch of his brows. "And yet James is the one the Amulet called to when the Bridge was nearly complete. James was the one who was able to call forth the Eclipse Blade again. Pity he didn't learn of the Dawn Blade before Eternal Night arrived—far too late now, but…"
Barbara put up her hands again. "Hold on, so my son is your supposed king, by spirit…so why in Deya's name did you turn him into a TROLL!?"
Merlin lowered his eyes. "Because his humanness was his greatest weakness."
Strickler glared, eyes glowing slightly. "It was his greatest strength."
Merlin smirked slightly. "Why do you think I left him half human?
"You have no idea the memories, the events that replayed over and over in my mind after I awoke. I knew I couldn't let history repeat itself…I wouldn't be able to provide a second out again if he failed. You have no idea how the idea tormented me, still torments me. Even if he is but now a boy living in an unimpressive town…he is my king, and I will follow him to the grave. But I couldn't watch him die again because of my lack of ability to change something.
"I know now what went wrong at the Battle of Killahead—Arthur was human and too prone—even in the armor. Nothing I could do to it would stop the Decimar blade. But if he wasn't human, he could have survived the battle. That's why I did it…I couldn't watch him die again."
Merlin stared up at the ceiling, seeing something other than the white roof. "When I woke up and saw him standing there, his spirit looking at me silently—I couldn't let that go unguarded again. Giving him the body of a troll, even with its weakness to light, was worth it to keep him alive."
"Harsh man." Toby said quietly and with an edge, but not with as much venom as before.
Merlin didn't look at Toby. "I don't expect forgiveness or anything of the sort. You can hate me for the rest of your life if you so choose, but I'd do it again in less than a heartbeat. In fact, if I could, I would go back in time to change it then."
The doorframe creaked as Blinky lifted himself from its edge, announcing his and Aaarrrggh!'s presence to the room. "I suppose that could explain its affinity to Master Jim."
"Affinity?" Merlin blinked.
Blinky waved two dismissive hands while another gripped his chin. "Yes, yes. Trivial things, some of them. It has just always acted differently around him. I always thought that it was because it knew he was a human, so protected him differently, but now…I'm not so sure."
Merlin smirked knowingly. "No doubt some of those 'oddities' were many of the things that would only have reacted to Arthur. Such as Eclipse, even if he hardly used its power. That would've proven vastly helpful had I had the time to learn what he knew beforehand and teach him the rest."
The conversation carried on, sometimes going up and sometimes going down into snarls from the trolls. Jim laid his horned head softly against the back wall, listening to everything happening in the living room. He drew in a shaky breath before rushing out of the house, needing air. The cool night air outside didn't affect him in the slightest as he ran, eventually ending up in a clearing.
He opened his hand and looked at Eclipse as it formed, staring at the blade that was once Arthur's, another human Trollhunter's. He clenched his fist, it disappearing as he let out a heavy sigh. Now he was not only a Trollhunter, one of the leaders of New Trollmarket and a boyfriend; but now he was also some kind of reincarnated king. He laughed dryly as he thought about those old legends.
Clair was definitely Guinevere, he couldn't imagine ever loving someone else, and Toby was probably Leon—always having been by his side. Aaarrrgghh! would be Percival and he could see Drawl as Gawain, loyal as ever but a real pain. But, he couldn't see Merlin as Merlin. No, that position was for someone who guided and counseled. He could only see Blinky in that position. The thought made him smile.