((Inspired by a reader on AO3, with a little variation by me; thank you Coral_Hope, and I hope you enjoy this!

I also know everyone might be thinking 'but wait! Halloween was several days ago!' Well, I was merely keeping the timing lined up more or less, depending on your time zone. I'll go into that a bit more at the end.))

Chapter 18: Día de Muertos, Conclusion

Jim stretched as he entered the Hero's Forge, a bit stiff from the previous night's fun in the Haunted House. He'd had his doubts about playing the role of a vampire in a coffin, but it had actually been rather enjoyable. The younger kids had a blast, and if ever by some fluke of good fortune the Gumm-Gumms became weak to foam darts he'd know who to call! But now he was looking forward to a little training.

He was alone at the moment, Blinky, Aaarrrggghh, and Draal finishing up a meal at the pub and both Toby and Claire occupied with family for the day. Absently he wandered the arena, rubbing at one shoulder that was a little bit stiff from being in the coffin so long, then blinked as the Soothscryer suddenly activated and rose.

"Huh." Jim couldn't think of a reason why the Ghost Council would want to speak with him, unless it was just for an evaluation, but just shrugged to himself and approached. As usual he had to climb a bit to reach the opening but a moment after he stuck his hand in he was gone, vanished into the Void.

When the Trollhunter appeared in the starry realm he noticed a sense of...not emptiness, per say, but definitely that the souls of the past Trollhunters had withdrawn for lack of a better word, stepped back or were intentionally not paying attention to him whereas before he'd always keenly felt their eyes on him at all moments.

But at least one spirit was taking notice as an orb floated down and formed into Kanjigar.

"Thank you for coming, James Lake Junior."

"What's going on, Kanjigar?" asked Jim, looking around. "Is something wrong? Why's it feel so empty in here?"

"Patience. I will explain why you were called here. There is no threat; I have simply asked the others to...not observe our conversation." Jim blinked in surprise. That was certainly an odd action.

"Why?"

"Because I have a feeling this conversation might be difficult, more for me than for yourself, and I wished as few witnesses as possible." Kanjigar began to pace anxiously. "It is about Draal. I have observed him behaving strangely, and I cannot understand why."

"What's he been doing?" Jim thought back to all his interactions with his friend. "I haven't seen much out of the ordinary with him."

"Even I will admit it is minor things. Normally I would not think twice about them but when taken as a whole it is puzzling." As he paced Kanjigar ticked points off on his fingers. "Yesterday he cleaned the entire Forge, all of it, by himself. He also performed some routine maintenance on the combat training mechanics. He cleaned and tended to all the practice weapons stored there. At our house he did the same with my weapons collection, and spent several hours at Blinky's library reading books about our time before settling Trollmarket, specifically events to do with me."

"Okay, while I might've brushed off everything else I don't think I've ever seen Draal reading unless he had to!"

"And now he treated Blinkous and Aarghaumont to a meal, and my name has come up repeatedly. I believe he is asking for stories about me." Kanjigar stopped his pacing to face Jim straight on. "I know my son and I had a less-than-close relationship, but I still feel like he knows me enough to not need to do research on me or be told extensively. And that with his other actions has me concerned about him. Is he doubting again, or has something else happened?" Jim thought for a moment, then something said a couple days ago suddenly clicked on his mind.

...and we share stories about their lives, things that are passed down every year...

"Oh! I think I actually do know what's going on. A couple days ago we were explaining why we wouldn't be able to come train last night, and Claire ended up explaining about Día de Muertos."

"Día de Muertos?" echoed the Troll Ghost.

"Yeah. It's a cultural holiday honoring and celebrating family members who have passed away. Some of the customs are cleaning the person's grave site, sharing stories about them, and setting out some kind of alter for them with pictures and things they liked in life, because they're supposed to visit on the 31st, through today and tomorrow too." Jim shrugged. "The Forge is kinda like your grave, and you said he's been asking Blinky and Aaarrrggghh about you."

"So my son is trying to honor me..." Kanjigar looked thoughtful, then raised his head and smiled at Jim. "To borrow your phrase, I have an idea but I will require your help..."

The turn of the month came peacefully, and Draal entered the Lake basement through his tunnel, rather grateful no one had said anything about his requested absence the past two nights. How in Merlin's name would he ever explain what he'd been up to night before last without sounding like a fool. He believed this night, the 4th, was a scheduled movie night with Barbara having it off, so the warrior was surprised to see Jim sitting at the laptop he'd given Draal, face illuminated by the screen and moving the mouse around.

"Is it broken, Fleshbag?" he asked, coming to stand nearby as Jim unplugged a small thing from the side and stood, pocketing it.

"Nope! Just a little gift. Enjoy!" Without further explanation the Trollhunter gave Draal a grin and left, heading up the stairs with a cheery expression.

"These Fleshbags can be very strange at times..." muttered Draal to himself before he moved around to look at the computer. There was a new icon on the desktop, another video file titled "For Draal 2." Draal smirked, but he had no issues with settling himself down and opening the file. After all, the other 'For Draal' file had proven to be an incredible gift. As before the video player opened and one started to play.

It began with of all things Chompsky somewhere in Trollmarket, though the gnome was obscuring the location behind him. He was setting whatever was being used to make the video down – it had to be something small for the Gnome to carry it – then waved and stepped away to reveal...

Draal's House!

Draal jerked back a bit in surprise. There was no doubt that what he was seeing was into the main room of his house. He could even picture in his mind which shelf this had to be viewed from, among some mementos of his father's life and his own accomplishments. He could see his father's chair and the table where they used to share meals with Kanjigar was home, his father's weapon collection and other furniture.

"What in Merlin's name is he doing in my house?" Draal muttered to himself. There was a time counter in the lower right-hand corner, and Draal saw it jump several hours ahead.

Then Draal saw himself enter the scene from the outside, carrying a jug of something and a plate, both of which he set down on the table closely followed by one of his father's favorite daggers that he pulled from his belt.

Instantly the warrior knew when this was taking place: the previous night when he'd set out the items to honor his father!

Draal didn't know whether to be embarrassed at having been caught at such a thing – how had the Fleshbag, for he had no question about who was behind it all, even known?! - and furious at being spied upon at it. This had been a private thing, something he hadn't wanted anyone to know about! How dare the Trollhunter – even he didn't have the right!

Then Draal saw himself walk, far faster than normal and faster than had actually happened, out of the camera's sight and the light in the room was extinguished, leaving just the light coming in from the windows to illuminate things. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that things were fast-forwarding rapidly until just shy past midnight when they settled back to normal speed. For about ten seconds nothing happened or changed...

Then a softly glowing, spectral figure came into view, moving towards the table where he paused. Draal felt his heart just about stop.

"Father!" Draal could see Kanjigar, just as he'd seen him in the Forge before, pause by the table and smile at the offerings. After he moved further into the house and vanished. The Troll warrior couldn't believe it – somehow, his father's spirit had left the Void and visited! Remembering the feeling he'd had upon awakening, the sensation that his father was just in the next room, Draal wondered if this was something to do with it.

Again the time sped ahead until nearly dawn when Kanjigar appeared once more, walking past the camera's path...and stopping. He turned to look right at it and his mouth moved, though there was no sound. A subtitle appeared in white along the bottom of the screen:

I shall never forget you, either, my son.

Then Kanjigar vanished.

Draal continued to watch the screen even as it went black, the video completed, then slowly he smiled. How Jim had known, suspected that he might do something of the sort or that Kanjigar would visit, he couldn't begin to imagine, but he was very glad the human had done it. Just this once he wouldn't mind the invasion into his home. After all, it had given him a great gift.

((Here's my timeline: On Halloween is when Draal cleans the Forge since it was the way before that he found out about Día de Muertos, and it's over the next day (the 1st) that he hears the stories from Blinky and Aaarrrggghh and watches the video again. The night of Nov. 1st, technically the 2nd, is when he sets out the food and Kanjigar visits. So on the 1st is when Kanjigar speaks with Jim, and Jim set up the video on the 3rd, giving it on the 4th.))