I Remain (Trollhunters)

2

Draal panted heavily and paused, his metallic arm reaching out and leaning on the tunnel wall, the dirt crumbling a bit under his pressure. His other hand pressed against his head as he shook it a little, trying to wave the sense of dizziness away. The pain didn't only bring him dizziness, either. The troll swallowed and did his best to push the nausea away as well, not willing to give into the pain just yet. He had to find the Trollhunter. Find his brother. Then, he could relax and let the pain stop him.

He growled and gave his head one final big shake before putting his arms back to his side. Taking a few more deep breaths, he lifted his nose and sniffed a few times. He could still find the scent of both his troll brothers and sisters, Blinkous, that of the human girl Claire, and another human, one that smelled of magic. That was only one of the unfamiliar scents he could faintly pick up from these tunnels.

But for some reason, he couldn't find the Trollhunter's. At least, not exactly. The scent was different. He grunted with frustration, narrowing his orange eyes. So far, the only luck he was having was that he knew that the rest of the trolls were heading this way.

Imagine his surprise when he had returned to Troll Market. The heartstone was dead, and havoc had spread across his former home. Draal had been devastated, but it hadn't taken long for him to figure out that this was the aftermath of the battle. It also hadn't taken him long to find out which tunnels his kind where using. A simple few moments of thought had concluded that his people were searching for a new heartstone, the Trollhunter with them.

Another surprise had come to him when he saw that the humans of Arcadia knew of troll kind. In an effort to catch up with the others as fast as he could, Draal had taken to continuing his journey, even in the day. As long as he stayed out of the sunlight, he was safe for now. However, the city of Arcadia had taken heavy damage during the fight, and some former hiding places he had known were now... no longer hiding places. An alley had turned more into a shady roadway, one that two teenagers had been occupying, much to his surprise. However, the two boys hadn't been afraid of him, merely startled to see him there. They had even started conversation with him, to which Draal had had no idea how to reply. The smallest of them looked concerned of his wounds as well.

"What happened to you?" he had said as he approached with hands hovering upwards, his voice squeaky like a young child's. "A-Are you okay?"

The other one, larger and older, had rolled his eyes and crossed his arms with a smirk. "He sure doesn't look 'okay'," he had scoffed.

The younger boy gulped and pushed up his glasses, still approaching. "W-Why haven't you left with the other trolls?" he asked, reaching out a little too close with his small hand.

Draal had snorted through his nose and retreated a few steps quickly, though it caused him pain. "You.. you know of trolls know, humans?" he had said quietly, blinking a few times. He had been really unsure how to go about it.

The bigger one uncrossed his arms and nodded with a triumphant grin. "Well, we figured out before most of Arcadia," he boasted, puffing out his chest.

"B-But everyone in Arcadia knew after the big fight a few days ago," the other one finished, taking his hand back after seeing that the big blue troll was wary.

"Yeah, but Lake had to go take them to find a new... lungstone or something," said the blonde, waving his hand a little.

To this Draal had perked up slightly. "Lake? As in the Trollhunter?" he had asked, his voice rising a little in hopefulness.

The two teens shared a look, both of them turning their heads back to him and nodding. "A-And it was a heartstone," the younger one mumbled.

Draal smiled in relief, sighing. "Thank you for that," he had said quietly, and before either of them could reply, he hurried away, sniffing for the tunnel his friends had taken.