#please relbog

He groaned softly as the turned on his side and pressed on a bruise. His last venture to the arena had not gone well. Gunmar had been clearly playing with him. He was getting as much enjoyment from Jim’s pain as he could. He was pretty sure at least one rib was broken, each breath was accompanied by a stabbing pain. 

Normally his amulet healed him in a matter of hours, when Bular had almost squeezed him to death, he was completely healed by the end of intermission. Now the amulet seemed to be running on empty just like it’s owner. It had stopped healing him a long time ago. His next venture into the arena would go very badly for him. 

Jim was sure that was where Nomura had just been dragged. Gunmar had been torturing her since the Battle of Two Bridges and he didn’t seem to be interested in stopping even though there he now had two subjects to “fight.” Jim just hoped that Nomura wouldn’t be too hurt, she was his only companion in this place. The first voice that had spoken kindly to him in so long. He was completely ready to call her his friend, even if he couldn’t protect her any more than he could his other friends. 

It was all he had wanted. To protect them. How was he supposed to protect them when he’s going to be trapped here for the rest of his days, no matter how few of them remain? Watching Aaarrrgghh die had changed the stakes. Before even in his battles to the death he had been the one with the biggest target on his back. Which he was ok with. He was the shield that protected his friends. 

That was until Strickler threatened his mother. Until Angor attacked his home, putting his mom in the hospital. Jim had fought the golems as well as he could, trying to hold Angor’s attention on him, to spare the others. But he had watched Claire and Toby fight. He was proud of them, but he feared for them. There were too many close calls. Too many threats he couldn’t stop. And his inability to protect his friends cost them. Aaarrrgghh had thrown himself in front of Toby. It should have been Jim there to shield Toby. So Jim left, left them behind, so he was the only who would face the threats of the Darklands. 

Oh Toby. Claire. Jim would give anything to hold them again. During his long and often fruitless search for Enrique the thought of them had kept him going. He missed them more than he thought it would be possible to miss someone. He thought about dancing with Claire at the bluff. He thought about playing video games with Toby. He thought about the way Claire smiled, the way Toby laughed. They were on his mind during every waking moment. 

The memory of holding Claire’s hand pushed him to rise when he woke and keep moving. His arm thrown of Toby’s shoulder kept his will strong enough to resist Gunmar. The look in Claire’s brown eyes as he sang Eres Tu to her. The feel of Toby’s lips pressed against his. 

He had never told anyone about that. Not even Claire. It had been his birthday. His least favorite day. Toby had done everything he could to try and make it better. And in the end they kissed. For just a moment and never mentioned by either of them again. But it was Jim’s first kiss. 

Jim knew now that he loved them. There was so question in his mind. He had entered the Darklands to protect them and would move heaven and earth to keep them safe. He loved them, both of them, unwaveringly. Sometimes he felt like he could almost hear their voices as he waited alone, beaten and bruised, starving, dehydrated, fighting for each breath. 

In that moment as Jim desperately wanted to cry, but didn’t have enough water in his body for tears the sound of skittering footsteps brought his head up. He tensed, there were all kind of strange parasites and vermin around, he wasn’t going to let one get the jump on him. 

However rather than a disturbingly large rat or a twisted insect the figure of a small gnome appeared from around the corner. Jim hissed in pain as he rose to his feet. 

“Chompsky? What are you doing here?” Jim’s voice sound hoarse even to his own ears. 

“Jim!” “Jim!!”

The two voices brought Jim’s head whipping up. The two voices who had sustained him for so long, their owners running up toward the crystals of his cage. Toby and Claire. 

He pressed himself against the bars, reaching for them, hoping against hope that somehow, this time they were real. He felt them grab his hands. Toby put his other hand on his shoulder. Claire put hers on his face. He wanted to cry, to scream with joy, to throw himself at the bars between them. But all he could do was hold them, while his whole body shook. 

“What…? How…?” Jim desperately whispered, unable to form even the most basic of sentences. 

“There’s no time for that.” Claire said. “We’re here. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh too! We’re going to get you out of here.”

Jim looked at her face. And at Toby’s. He could see their worry and concern clearly. No doubt he looked like a mess, covered in bruises, dirt and slime, but he didn’t care. He was so happy to have them here with him again. 

The sudden sound of tromping feet caught their attention. The Gumm-Gumms were returning. Claire and Toby ducked into another cell just in time. The trolls came for him, dragging him cruelly from the cell. Jim tried to fight them, tried to resist. Toby and Claire were here! They were really here! Whatever Gunmar had planned, Jim would live to be with his friends again. He was going to survive for them.