Side Effect

Taking a deep breath, Jim tried to ignore the already returning lightly throbbing pain in his head and walked determinedly toward his destination. It was so unusual to see his beloved having a blue streak instead of white again. At the same time, he felt his hands getting sweaty with excitement and hastily rubbed them dry on his pants.

"Come on, Jim, you can do it. Just don't say anything stupid... Or Spanish..." he whispered to himself for courage.

Then, he was standing next to her.

She was engaged in conversation with Darci and they must have been talking about something funny, because her beautiful brown eyes sparkled with laughter. And then she turned to him and he could have lost himself in her eyes, just like on their first date, and the second, and third, and all that had followed...

With a mental kick at himself, he called himself to order. After all, all those dates had only been in this dream. Granted, so far the key elements had occurred as he had experienced them in his dream, and that gave him hope that it would be the same with his longtime crush too, but they weren't together yet!

"Do you need anything?" her soft voice enveloped him, bringing him back down to earth.

"Uh... Te deseo una tarde," he stammered and would have loved to hit his forehead the next second! So much for wanting to leave out his half-cooked Spanish this time, he thought grimly while trying to make amends with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry," he then said quickly when she opened her mouth for a reply. "Whatever I just said is not what I meant to say! Uh, actually, I was going to ask if you had another one of those flyers for the play. Romeo and Juliet? So that I won't miss the audition," he rattled off his lines, ending with an earnest smile as she commented on his torrent of words with a giggle.

"Yeah I got some more flyers. I'm glad you reached out to me because, honestly, we always have trouble getting boys to audition," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear before setting down her backpack and pulling out a flyer from between her books. "Here," she handed the sheet to Jim, and did it just seem that way to him, or was she deliberately looking at him with a flirtatious twinkle in her eyes?

"Thank you, Claire," he breathed as their fingers touched for a moment. But when he noticed that his cheeks were getting warm, he quickly put the flyer in his bag and threw her a quick "Buenas noches" before literally fleeing to his bike.

He really would have loved to keep mentally berating himself, but he felt way too much on cloud nine for that as he slowly biked through town toward the dentist's office to pick up Toby. But he hadn't gotten far when the effects of the pill the school nurse had given him continued to rapidly wear off. His rapt expression soon morphed into a grimace and again Jim had to stifle a groan as he suddenly had Claire in his arms while dancing with her on a clearing during a break on their way to New Jersey.

He almost missed a car when reality and his memory-dream world overlapped so much that he didn't see the street in front of him anymore! Only the honking of the car driver made him turn his handlebars in time. But this caused him to lose his balance and he fell hard onto the sidewalk. With legs and a shoulder now also throbbing with pain, he remained sitting, breathing heavily, while a slightly older Claire stroked her hands through his wild mane and pulled him down for a kiss.

"Hey, mate, you okay? That stunt looked painful."

If he hadn't been distracted by Claire's velvety lips, which he could feel like a phantom touch on his, he probably would have recognized the voice immediately. But as it was, he shook his head in despair as he pressed both heels of his hands against his temples. But this only seemed to make the overlap more real, for now he heard her laugh as well...

Quietly and as if from far away, barely penetrating his new reality, his ears heard another familiar voice.

"Douxie, I'm afraid he's being plagued by a vision."

"I think you're right. But why? He's not a magical being, is he?"

"There's something slightly... Bring him inside!"

"Hey mate, I'll help you up, okay? You can rest from your fall at the bookstore for now."

Due to the fact that all his senses were giving him almost no feedback from the real world right then and there and he couldn't be sure how many changelings and thus potential sources of danger were around him, he wanted to decline the offer. But then the stranger touched his shoulder and a slight bright tingle of magic ran through him. Tearing his eyes open, he looked in the direction where he suspected his helper's face to be. But Jim was still not able to see him, as Claire continued to fill his field of vision while showing him a magic trick she had learned from her teacher.

Could this be a coincidence? Because he knew that Douxie had taught her that trick and also recognized his magical signature, which had revealed itself to him the moment he had activated the Amulet forged by his friend.

"Who are you?" he asked, just to be sure, because obviously these overlaps of his present and past reality just wanted to drive him crazy, so he couldn't be sure of anything anymore!

"I'm Hisirdoux Casperan," his aide spoke seriously, and as if his body had just been waiting for confirmation, much of his tension fell away from Jim. "My friends call me Douxie and you're in front of the bookstore where I work. May I take you inside?"

"Thank you, Douxie. I-"

"Hey, is the kid okay? I can call an ambulance," a new voice then said, and the sheer thought of his mother seeing him like that sent an icy chill down Jim's spine.

He quickly braced himself on his feet and shook his head. He gratefully acknowledged that Douxie did not let go of his shoulder and supported him by also gently grabbing his arm.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be all right. I'll just rest a bit in the bookstore. Thanks for your concern," he nodded in the direction of the voice and then followed Douxie willingly as he pulled him into safe climes.

With a sigh, he dropped into one of the soft chairs Douxie led him to. That this was a mistake he realized immediately the moment the good memories jumped to him plummeting into the darkness as he thrust the shard into his chest to give the others a head start. With a deep groan, he closed his eyes and wondered if the headache that accompanied this overlap would eventually get better. With his luck that day, though, probably not...

"Is there someone you'd like me to call?"

A slight scraping in front of him told Jim that Douxie had probably pulled up an armchair of his own. So he was serious about helping, even though he didn't know him yet. Most likely. All at once Jim wondered why he had never asked Douxie when he had discovered that he was the Trollhunter. Sure, Merlin had forbidden him to interfere in the affairs of all the trollhunters to come, but his friend had made it clear several times that he would have been happy to help. Many things might have gone differently... And could he actually afford to keep it a secret from Douxie that he was in possession of the Amulet? How had Toby said it? Dream-Jim had been a jerk. Hadn't even asked how the magic of his armor and sword worked. Had felt far too superior far too quickly just because he had been able to defeat Bular in a narrow victory and escape from the Darklands. But he had managed to do so only with difficulty and the support of his friends.

No. He wouldn't repeat those mistakes.

But Jim also couldn't be sure that Douxie would really help him if he told him now that he was the new Trollhunter. After all, he had followed Merlin's instructions... But the little bit he had picked up between him and Archie earlier told him that they were obviously willing to help him with these visions. And that was a start, after all.

"You still with me, mate?"

"What?" Jim asked, wincing as a renewed pain jerked through his brain like a lightning bolt. "Sorry... I'm a little out of reality right now..." But then he realized how that sounded and tried a smile. "But don't worry, I didn't take any drugs or something like that. Thanks for letting me sit down here."

"Hmm. Maybe we should start with your name?"

Oh yes of course, Douxie didn't even know what his name was yet.

"My name's James Lake Jr., but please, call me Jim. That's what my friends call me."

"Jim."

And even though Jim still saw only darkness, which was beginning to give him an oppressive feeling of blindness, he could literally hear Douxie accepting this information with a nod.

"Do you want me to call someone for you, Jim?"

For a moment he was tempted to mention Blinky's name. But then he remembered that the trolls didn't even have their own cell phones yet. Damn! This overlap seemed to do his brain absolutely no good. Besides the obvious that it just left him completely helpless.

"No. My mom's a doctor, but she couldn't help me with that," he said instead. "Modern medicine doesn't have the right remedy for penetrating visions, I'm afraid."

"Penetrating visions?"

In a self-attempt to calm himself, Jim took several deep breaths in and out before continuing. 'It's now or never...'

"Well, the night before last I had a strange dream, as if I were in another universe, and lived in it for the next three years or so of my life. This morning my brain started reeling off snippets of memories of it to me, which came with a terrible headache. I have been given a pain pill at school which helped at first, but the effect has worn off now and these... snippets have come back stronger, longer lasting, and most importantly, more real! I hear you and can now also perceive the typical smell of the books around me. But right now all I see is darkness, even when I open my eyes."

As if to test it, he did just that and immediately regretted it when he saw Zombie-Arthus' sword pointed against his chest, before tightly squeezing his eyes shut again. And even though he knew it wasn't real, at least not anymore, he felt the very sharp tip carve into his stony skin. With a hiss, he raised his right hand and massaged the spot.

Then he realized how quiet it was around him and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sure this sounds totally crazy to you... You wouldn't happen to have any books on magic sitting around here? Because honestly, I'm supposed to be picking up a friend right now, but like this," with a not even feigned annoyed gesture at his head, "I can't possibly get out of here again. And I can't think of anything other than a really cool counter spell to end this overlap. Because what else but magic can cause something like that?"

"Hmm..." Jim heard Douxie mutter. Then he was startled when suddenly a squeaking noise sounded in front of him. Apparently Douxie had jumped up and was going to the back of the store, if he interpreted the quieting footsteps correctly. From there, moments later, came a whispered murmur of definitely now two voices, and Jim assumed that he was consulting Archie again.

"Um, Douxie? Are you still here?" Jim asked, trying to keep up the appearance that he didn't know the two of them were whispering in the back room - and hopefully looking for a solution to his problem.

"Yeah, Jim. Just a minute. Just sit back and try to relax," came the shouted reply, and only with difficulty could Jim stifle the sarcastic response that relaxation wasn't exactly possible with a hellish and supernatural headache.

But he waited patiently and tried to steer the memory images back into at least a pleasant direction. At first, he mentally wanted to reassemble the Vespa with Blinky. But that went thoroughly wrong when instead he saw Merlin in front of him, how he had built the armor for Claire and Toby from his machine!

'Alright, something else then!' he thought in frustration and was about to imagine Draal showing him the exercises his father had shown him. But then he abruptly withdrew mentally for fear of instead seeing Draal slowly falling into the abyss while petrifying.

When he noticed his hands shaking, he quickly clenched them into fists and tried to empty his mind completely. He had never been good at meditation, but the way things were going, he should seriously think about starting. Because Toby and Strickler were one thing, but he would also in all likelihood see Draal again that afternoon. And no matter what had stood between them in the beginning, that troll had quickly become not only his protector but one of his dearest friends as well.

"Darn fuzz buckets!" Jim vented his displeasure at the overall situation, only to hear Douxie approach him right after.

"What did you just say?"

"What?" he retorted innocently, mentally slapping his forehead. But then he remembered something...

"You said fuzz buckets. That's an expression I use."

And no one else does hung unspoken in the air between them.

"Yeah... Sorry, I just think the expression is really good as a swearing phrase. I'm sure you don't remember it, but we've met before. Often, actually." Jim laughed briefly, trying to lighten the situation. "It came back to me while I was waiting. Your voice sounded familiar to me right away, and when you told me your name… You work at Benoits, too, right? That's where I heard you use it."

"Ah... well, in that case... Here," Douxie spoke and Jim's hand was closed around a cup a moment later. "Drink this. It'll do you good."

Still unable to see, Jim carefully lifted the cup to his lips. But before he drank it, he quickly smelled it. He trusted Douxie, no question. But the memory was still strong of another wizard who had put an elixir in front of him that, well, he hadn't had to drink, but had turned his entire world upside down.

"You okay, Jim? You're getting very pale right now."

His old friend sounded very concerned, and that was finally the deciding point for Jim to stop thinking about Merlin for the moment, but to be then and there with the wizard to whom he would trust his life without reservation.

"Well then…" he muttered, drinking the brew in one gulp.

Surprisingly, it merely tasted like water. But as he was about to ask Douxie about it, he felt something change. At first it was only like a breeze that settled on his skin. But then it spread, faster and faster, enveloping his legs and arms, and as it moved along his neck and covered his head in the next moment, Jim reflexively held his breath. Whatever Douxie had given him made him feel like he was underwater!

When the feeling began to bore into his skin as if with invisible claws, Jim panicked. With eyes wide open and his heart pounding rapidly, he noticed how reality seemed to move right in front of his eyes. Douxie, the real Douxie, who tried to sooth him with a soft voice, manifested in his field of vision with a concerned expression and clear worry in his gaze before the lack of oxygen became too much for Jim.

Unable to breath, everything went black again.