TotT-1 To Tell the Truth

((Just as a note, this chapter is very much inspired by when she 'found out' in the series.))

Chapter Two

"Jim?"

"Right here, mom." Jim closed the basement door behind him, meeting his mom in the kitchen. She smiled at him, then nodded towards the basement.

"Everything okay down there?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." It was on the tip of his tongue to add something along the lines of how he was just putting some stuff up, or thought he heard a raccoon, but he bit back the lie. Today was about making a fresh start free of lies.

Barbara didn't notice his lack of elaboration, instead paused to lean against the wall by the door and push up her glasses to rub at her eyes.

"Long day?"

"Hectic. Multiple car accident and an emergency birth, on top of the usual assortment or illnesses and injuries. What I really could use is -"

" - a cup of tea?" Jim finished for her, gesturing towards the pot sitting on the stove, already streaming.

Hey, if he had to tell her something so brutally shocking, it would only be to his benefit to have her in a calm, relaxed mood first.

"Exactly!" Barbara went to get her favorite mug and preferred tea bag, then poured the streaming water over it and turned to look at Jim, leaning against the counter while she stirred the bag around to steep it. "Okay, kiddo. I know you love to cook but you wouldn't do this unless you had something to tell me." Jim couldn't help but give her a lopsided grin. Barbara smiled in return, though Jim could see in her expression that she was expecting more excuses and feeble lies in answer. "So, what class are you failing or which teacher do I have to conference with?" A shaky joke, but Jim was glad he could at least reply honestly.

"No. No, mom. I'm doing fine in school. Not failing anything and I'm good with my teachers." He took a breath. "But yeah, there's something I wanna talk to you about." He looked away for a moment, then looked her right in the eyes, drawing up every bit of courage he'd ever developed during his time as Trollhunter. "I - I'm ready to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"The truth." Barbara stopped stirring her tea, eyes widening as she realized what Jim meant even before he elaborated, "About where I keep going, and why I come home late and have bruises and cuts and got that concussion. All of it."

"Oh." A moment of silence. "Should I sit down?" Jim nodded.

"Yeah, probably. But first just so you don't worry -" Jim ticked the points off on his fingers. "I'm not on drugs or in a gang or anything illegal, and I'm not getting into fights or being bullied or anything at school. So you don't have to worry about that."

"Well, I suppose that's good." Jim opened the door between the dining area and the kitchen for her, then followed her out. They took their customary places across from each other at the table. There was a tenseness between them which stood in stark contrast to ask the casual meals they'd shared in the past. Jim took a moment to gather his thoughts, then took a deep breath.

"Before I start, I want you to promise that you won't interrupt or ask questions until I'm done, okay? Even if it sounds really out there or like I'm making stuff up. I promise I'm not, and I have with me four pieces of evidence to prove what I say." Barbara look a deep breath too, stirring her tea again but not really paying attention to it.

"Is this something bad?" Jim shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"I...I promise."

"Thanks. Okay, it started one morning when Tobes and I were running late for school, and we decided to take a shortcut through the canal..."

Over the next two hours Jim told his mom everything about him being the Trollhunter, about the society that existed beneath their streets, his friends and the battles he'd come through victorious. To her credit even though there were moments when Barbara took a breath as if about to speak she bit back her comments and questions, though her hands tightened frequently on her long-empty teacup. Jim noticed this because after he'd started he looked mostly at the table, each phase of the telling replaying in his mind line a movie reel. But at last he had caught up to the present and wrapped up the story with,

"And I finally decided that I wanted you to know everything, like I promised." He glanced at her, then away again. He couldn't read her face. "I've had a few close calls, and I don't want to worry you or scare you but I don't want for something to maybe happen to me and it be like I just vanished or ran off. I'd never do that to you." Jim took a deep breath, then finally looked up at his mom. Barbara was looking, to him, a bit pale and with a neutral expression on her face. Jim felt his heartbeat speed up; it was almost the same expression she'd worn when Nomura had put him in the hospital with a concussion. He swallowed heavily. "Mom?" Barbara closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"This - isn't like anything I was expecting to hear from you, Jim. But - I don't think you're lying."

"You don't?" That was just about the last thing Jim had expected to hear!

"If you had wanted to keep lying to me, why would you tell me something so far-fetched that no one in their right mind would believe it? And bringing in Toby and Claire when I could go to them for verification?" She shook her head. "No, you aren't lying. Which means one of three things: You still don't want to tell me, and are playing some kind of very cruel game, you are suffering from some kind of delusion and I need to seriously consider getting you medical help, or... you're telling the complete truth about everything." Jim started to speak up to defend himself, or perhaps to explain further, but Barbara held up a hand to stop him. "No, Jim. I listened quietly, now it's your turn." Jim obediently closed his mouth.

"Now, I know you're not that cruel. You're just not, Jim, unless there's been some drastic change in your personality. But I haven't observed anything of that nature, so I can eliminate you're still trying to hide something and now just being heartless about it." Well, that was clearly a relief to Jim as his shoulders relaxed a bit more. "Now, a mental hallucination. This might be the most plausible. It would explain why you're out so late sometimes, and it can even explain why you would include Toby and Claire into the story; they're not actually involved, and your mind is seeing them when they're not there. But now I have to explain your injuries and the concussion. Those were very real." She leaned back in her chair. "Do you know how I knew from the start those weren't coyote scratches or bites?"

"Um, no?"

"Because I treat coyote bites – and raccoon, dog, cat, lizard, snake, and all manner of insect bites and stings – multiple times a month. I think I know just about all of them on sight by now. But those didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before. If anything I'd say whatever scratched you had fingers, not paws. The spacing and angle was just wrong for most animals, or even if you scratched yourself on a bush or tree. Thinking it through, I might consider that this is part of your delusion, and you made something to intentionally harm yourself. You might have even rammed your head into a tree or rock to give yourself the concussion. Even though no such self-harm device was found by paramedics – they would've told us – you might have staggered away from it.

"But there's just one thing, one little thing, that can't be explained as delusion."

"What?" Jim had to admit, he wasn't seeing it, and her theory was almost rock-solid.

"You know hospital policy when a patient is brought in unconscious, correct? We have to remove their clothing to examine them, by cutting them off."

"Yeah. It's in all the hospital shows, and that's why I woke up in one of those gowns and you had to bring me a new change of clothes before I was released."

"It's your clothes that can't be explained by delusion, Jim. From about here - " She put a hand mid-level on her chest. " - all the way down to your ankles were grass stains. There were even bits of grass and leaves in your socks and shoes! Your right arm was covered too... but not your left. There was just a little bit on the front of your shoulder, but otherwise your right sleeve was clean of stains." Jim blinked, confused, as his mom continued. "That's what I can't explain, Jim. If you go with the thought that you intentionally dragged yourself along the ground, even not using one arm to give the illusion you created, then the forearm of your left sleeve would've been at least a little bit dirty. But it wasn't! The only way that could happen would be if someone else dragged you, by one arm so it was held in the air."

Jim's eyes widened as he understood. He'd been unconscious at the time, bit Claire had told him that he'd been found a bit of a distance away from where she left him in the woods, fighting Nomura. As at the time the Changeling had been trying to capture him, it made sense that she'd drag him along.

But the evidence left behind - !

Barbara took a deep breath. "I don't think that either Toby or Claire could drag you by one arm if you were a dead weight. Perhaps together they might be able to, but Claire I know for a fact was with her father at the time you were found. So the only reasonable explanation is that someone else was there, someone who ran away when Clarie, her father, and Toby arrived. Someone who dragged you while you were unconscious. And that lines up with the story you just told me."

"Nomura."

"The only way this whole thing could still be a delusion is if this other person was also involved in the delusion, either going along with it or whole-heartedly believing it. That's my last hurdle to get over before I fully believe all of this." She finally raised her gaze again to look at Jim. "You said... you had proof?" Jim blinked a bit blankly at her for a moment, then nodded briskly.

"Yeah. This is the first one." He reached into his back pocket and set the Amulet of Merlin on the table between them. Barbara stared at it for a moment, then hesitantly reached out to touch it, pausing before she actually did so. Jim smiled. "It's alright. Go ahead." His mom finished the paused action, picking up the disc and looking it over, examining its glow and the ticking gears and pocket watch-like hands. After a moment Jim stood, letting her continue her examination, and stepped a few paces away from the table to where it was a little bit dimmer. Then he turned and held out a hand. Barbara started to stand, thinking he was requesting her to bring it to him, but right before her eyes the Amulet vanished from her grip to reappear back in Jim's, obeying its owner's silent call to return.

"What?" Barbara's eyes darted to her son, wide with surprise. Jim smiled and cleared his mind, finding that now that he'd reached this phase of telling the truth he felt considerably lighter of spirit than he had starting out.

"For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is Mine to Command!"

After all this time of being Trollhunter, Jim had slowly developed the thought that the Amulet's – sentience, for lack of a better word understood whether he was calling upon its power for a battle or in a hurry or whether he was transforming for demonstration purposes. With the former it would appear on him in a quick flash, or if he was running lift him very briefly from his feet before setting him back down fully armed. But for the latter, just as now, it lifted him gently and slowly, arms stretching out and the silvery armor appearing floating around him for a brief heartbeat before, piece at a time, snapping into place then setting him back down with only a small, couple-inch high drop.

If Barbara's eyes were wide before, now they were positively huge!

"What – you're glowing!" She stood and moved towards him, and Jim couldn't help but smile as she unknowingly repeated herself. "How are you glowing!?"

"Perk of the armor," he answered with a small chuckle and she touched the chestpiece, as if verifying it was real. He stood still as she circled him, knowing her gaze was probably lingering on the very deadly and very real sword magically affixed to his back, before she came back to the front. Her expression was a bit shocked, and more than a bit pale. "Mom? Do you need to sit down, or have some water?"

"I... I think I'm okay." She returned to her chair anyways, though Jim stayed standing. Barbara rubbed a hand over her forehead, clearly trying to wrap her head around this undeniable evidence. Not liking seeing her this distressed, Jim put an armored hand on her shoulder.

"I know this is a lot. Believe me, when I first found out I didn't want to believe it at all!" A bit dimly the doctor nodded, then looked up at her son, standing there like something out of an Arthurian legend.

"You said... you had four pieces of proof?" Jim nodded.

"In the basement, by the names of Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Draal."

"You brought some of your – Troll friends."

"Yeah. Though to be fair you've actually met Blinky and Draal before. Well, kinda met Draal." Jim grinned.

"Yeah, you mentioned something about you and Walter setting a trap for some kind of monster." Abruptly she looked worried. "I pepper sprayed him?"

"Yeah, but don't worry! He's not upset about it or anything."

"Ah. Okay." Finally Jim sat down to put them more on equal eye level, since when she was sitting down he was taller.

"Look, mom, if you're not ready, if this is too much right now, we can save the introductions for another time. They'll understand. All they want is to help you understand what I'm doing and make this as easy on the both of us as possible."

"No. I think – I think if I wait and do this some other time, I'll either lose my nerve or somehow convince myself that I dreamed all of this. Maybe – I could use that water though." Jim got her a glass, and after she downed it she stood. "Alright, I'm ready... I think." Jim smiled encouragingly and led the way to the basement door, opening it and calling down,

"Okay, we're coming down."

"And we are ready as well, Master Jim," came Blinky's reply. Barbara gulped and paled a bit at hearing a strange voice calling back, but followed her son downstairs.