For Whom The Bell Tolls (Trollhunters continuation/Evil Jim AU)

12: Mulder and Scully

Claire and Toby had tried going to Jim's house, only to find there was no clear sign of him or his mom. This only caused them to both grow more worried. They headed to Arcadia Oaks Municipal Library where the two of them attempted to study for the upcoming maths exam, only to find themselves both caught up in thought about Jim. Claire excused herself, leaving Toby alone. He figured she'd probably gone to use the bathroom. However, to his surprise, she came back over to their table carrying an armful of books.

"I grabbed all the books I could find on clones and shapeshifters-" She struggled.

Toby was flabbergasted, "Claire, most of these are just sci-fi novels like Animorphs."

She rolled her hazelnut eyes, "C'mon Mulder, use your thinking cap! Think about it, just as reality influences reality, it isn't too far a stretch to assume that fantasy could also somewhat influence reality. Yeah, it's a leap, but also we wanna cover all bases! Plus, K.A. Applegate is a legend!"

"Never thought you'd be into Animorphs...you know, it's only now I've realised that you're actually kinda strange Claire Nuñez. Or should I say, Scully?" Toby joked with her teasingly.

"You think I didn't already know that?" Nuñez clapped back with an excitable grin, "ALSO YES! I'm so happy the nicknames have caught on! I loved Animorphs as a kid and I'm very much an X-Files geek. Blame my dad for that one."

They laughed at each other and started leafing through piles of books. Topics varied from conspiracy theories, science and fiction. Toby was slowly growing bored. He began to tap his pencil on the table to the tune of a random song that was whirling around in his head. Zoning out led his attention to be drawn to a mysterious voice calling out from somewhere.

Tobias Domzalski.

Startled by this, Toby looked around the library for any sign of someone who could've said his name, but besides Claire and the librarian, there was nobody. The voice came again, gruff and ancient, dripping with the promise of a higher calling.

Tobias Domzalski.

"Hey, Toby?" Claire waved a hand in front of his face to catch his attention, "You okay?"

"Yeah? Claire...can you hear an old guy whispering my name?" He asked.

Her expression twisted from one of concern to one of amusement, tinted with frustration. She raised her eyebrow and stifled a chuckle.

"C'mon Mulder, now's not the time to mess around!"

"I'm not, I'm being serious Claire. There's a voice calling me, like it wants me to find it. I have a weird feeling of déja vu...and also a feeling this is connected to Jim somehow but I can pinpoint exactly how?" His face fell.

"Huh...is the voice external or internal? Maybe if we follow it, we can find what's causing it."

Toby got the sense from her voice that Claire was just trying to humour him, she sounded a little condescending. That being said, he still appreciated her listening to him. He indicated he wasn't sure. The voice seemed to be inside his head yet also all around him at the same time. It sounded utterly crazy to him, but honestly after the day he'd had, it wasn't overly surprised anymore. His main question was: why did this all feel so familiar?
Toby was certain he'd never heard the man's voice before, but the sound of this grizzled old man was also familiar to him. He couldn't exactly pinpoint it, but he felt a strong connection between the voice and what was happening with Jim. Again, he couldn't really explain it, but something about it felt like he'd been through this before, like this was all linked.

"We should go...I know this voice from somewhere and it feels nearby. Maybe if we find the source it could give us some answers?" Domzalski pondered, focusing his green eyes on Claire.