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He needed a break.
He couldn’t deal with it anymore.
The city was destroyed after the Arcane Order summoned the Titans.
They had lost too much, and Jim… Jim hadn’t had enough time to properly mourn the losses.
So he ran.
He knew that "everyone needs to help rebuild the city", and that "it’s a group effort!", but he just needed a little quiet.
He didn’t know where he was running, but he kept going, until he saw a half-destroyed building. The roof was still intact.
This could work
The stairs remained, even though the entire front wall and the right wall were completely destroyed. There was no door, and you could see the stairs without even entering the building itself. The roof was at risk of collapsing, and yet…
It was a perfect hiding spot. High enough so no one could see you from below, and low enough not to pose any real danger, at least if he summoned his armor in time.
Life or death
He took the risk, and climbed.
Some of the lower steps were missing, and he wondered how the structure hadn’t collapsed. He used to know all of Arcadia, but he couldn’t remember what shop this had been. The record store, maybe? He really didn’t know.
He climbed, finally reaching the roof.
He panted and sat down. Finally, some quiet.
"I see you’re here too?"
He pulled Excalibur out of nowhere.
"Whoa! Is that how you greet people?"
He rolled his eyes and dismissed his sword. "Hey, Doux." the boy mocked.
"Should I ask why you’re here?" the wizard asked.
"Should I ask the same question?" Jim replied, in a poor attempt to imitate the other guy’s accent.
He sighed a sad sigh. "Same as you, I suppose. To… escape everything. A bit of silence."
He looked at Doux, for the first time, really looked.
He didn’t like what he saw. He saw traces of dried tears on his face, hastily wiped away, messy hair, and a tired look, so tired. With dark circles under his eyes, the whole package.
He didn’t really know the man, aside from the fact that they had been stuck together in the 12th century, but a strange sense of duty washed over him. He felt like he had to help him somehow.
"When was the last time… you slept? Really?"
It seemed that of all things, that was what caught the master wizard off guard. He laughed and looked at Jim with genuine amusement.
"And when was the last time you slept, Your Majesty?"
The younger one rolled his eyes for the second time. "You answer first-"
But he was cut off. "Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, what do you mean ‘Your Majesty’?" The previous topic was immediately forgotten from his mind.
The wizard smiled a bastard smile.
"You drew Excalibur. That title is yours by right."
"But I’m not the king of anything-" he sighed. "You know what? I came here for quiet, so quiet is what I’ll get."
"If those are my king’s orders…"
Jim sighed.
"Do I need to remind you I was here first?" he smirked smugly.
"Are we really doing this right now?" he rolled his eyes for the third time that day. "We’re not kids."
"You are." the wizard crossed his arms, still with that smug smile plastered across his face.
"I’m 18!" he burst out.
"Oh come on, Doux," another eye roll. This guy was going to make him roll his eyes better than Mary.
"It’s because you’re old." he declared, while crossing his arms, a mirror image of Doux’s stance.
Doux made an exaggerated shocked face and put his hands over his mouth. "Me?! Old?!"
Jim rolled his eyes with a smile. His arms still crossed.
He turned his gaze slightly to the side, and there, resting on the roof, was Doux’s guitar.
"Dude, you brought your guitar here?!" Jim called out, completely forgetting what they were talking about.
"You cook, I play, that’s what I’m good at." he replied, as he levitated his guitar toward him in blue magic that wrapped around it from all sides.
"Fair." the Trollhunter shrugged.
"But don’t you have, uh… your staff?" he asked cautiously.
"Of course, it can turn into a guitar," said the wizard, dragging out the word ‘can’ a bit too much. "But nothing beats the classic." he finished with a smile as he sat down, tuning the guitar.
"So what’s different?" Jim asked, showing genuine interest.
"Honestly, not much. I just love this guitar. We’ve been through a lot." he replied, looking at the guitar with love.
"This guitar is older than you." he added, as if in passing.
"Wha-hey!" he burst out.
"No, really!" he laughed.
The two of them laughed there on the roof, as if nothing could disturb them.
"You know, we never really talked until now, you know?" the younger one asked.
"Well, it’s not like we had that whole saving the world thing over our heads…" the master wizard muttered.
Jim rolled his eyes, and ignored the comment. "It’s just that you’re actually a really nice guy."
"Yeah, you too."
And they lay there for the rest of the day, just two brothers, without obligation or responsibility.
Just two brothers, taking a day off from their duties.