Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 18th August 2021

"Great Gronka-morka!" Blinky declared. "Those are goblin remains!"

"Question: goblins?" asked Toby.

"Vermin," Aaarrrgghh replied.

"Vermin indeed, my friend! They are ruthless tricksters and petty street pests who leave a wake of destruction. And where there is one, there are sure to be many." Blinky wiped a tear from one of his many eyes. "The very last sight I had of my own brother was as he was carried off by a horde of the foul creatures."

"Oh, gosh, that's horrible!"

"So what do we do about them?" asked Jim. Crap, should I tell Blinky about Dictatious? How can I? How can I not?

"For now, Master Jim, nothing. Master Toby, you must train. Aaarrrgghh, if you would be so generous as to augment Draal's regiment?"

"Of course." The Krubera turned. "We go to Forge now."

"Awesomesauce!"

"And you, Master Jim. I wish to ascertain your true facility with Trollish, so as to better supplement your education."

With a wave, Toby and Jim parted ways.

"I must admit, Master Jim, that Master Toby is exceeding my expectations for a member of your species in his unexpected circumstance," Blinky said, turning to shuffle some loose papers into a pile.

"Yeah, he's doing pretty good. He's definitely picking up some things faster than I did." Jim bit his lip. "Blinky, what you said about Dictatious..."

Blinky paused, stared at him, then relaxed. "Of course. I must have mentioned him to you in that other future."

"Not exactly," said Jim. His hand tightened to a fist. "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but... he's alive. In the Darklands."

"What?" demanded Blinky. "My brother, alive after nearly nine hundred years there? Oh, poor Dictatious!" he wailed. Then, "Or, no, to have survived so long in such a place, he must surely be serving Gunmar. That vile traitor!"

"I'm sorry," said Jim soothed. "I know there's nothing that can be done about it now, Blinky. But I just thought you should know."

"And indeed I should!" Blinky was indignant. "This will require much consideration on my part. I must plan how to deal with my brother, should I ever face him again."

"If you wanted..." Jim said slowly, "if it would help... I could give you the memories of that other future back."

Blinky froze. "You could... what?"

Jim breathed out. "In that other future, there were eight people who stood with me when I pulled Excalibur from the stone."

"Excalibur?!" Blinky demanded. "How under Earth-no, no, I must not let myself get distracted. Please continue, Jim."

I forgot to mention Excalibur when I told him earlier? Hoo boy. "Well, apparently," Jim said, "if any of the people who were there hold my amulet and read the words on it, they can remember."

Blinky was staring at him with all six eyes. "And to how many have you given their memory back, Master Jim?"

"Two so far," Jim admitted. "One, my wizard friend, was by accident. That's how we figured it out. And Claire... she's the love of my life, Blinky. She made me promise to keep trying until she loved me again in this timeline. I can't do this without her."

"Who are the others? Myself, I assume..."

Jim nodded. "You, and Aaarrrgghh, and Toby." He huffed a sigh out. "The last thing Toby remembers will be dying. I don't want him to live through that trauma again until he's ready for it. And I don't think I should give his memory back to him before he's a fully trained Trollhunter. I don't want to be a crutch for him. He has to believe in himself first."

"Yes, yes, that seems a wise decision," Blinky agreed. "And the others?"

Jim smiled. "Aja, Krel, and Varvatos. They're not on the planet yet."

"On the planet?" Blinky was staring again. "Oh my word."

"Yeah." Jim pulled his amulet out of his bag and set it on the table between them. "So. I'm giving this choice to you. And to Aaarrrgghh. If you say no now, that's fine. It's here when you're ready."

Blinky's hand reached out to the amulet, but stopped halfway. "I find myself... tempted, Jim," he confessed, looking back up to Jim's face. "But." He pursed his lips together. "No. I shall remain strong. You are correct; for now, my focus must be Master Toby's training, and I fear those memories might serve as a distraction. I shall, however, pass your offer on to Aaarrrgghh and allow him to decide for himself."

"All right. I do have a favor I need to ask, though." Jim tucked the amulet back into his bag and pulled something else out instead. "I need this to be kept in a secure location."

"Of course. You have but to ask." Blinky took the rock, turning it over in his hands. "May I inquire what it is?"

"It's a piece of Killahead Bridge."

The rock fell to the table.

Jim experienced the unique pleasure of watching Blinky splutter and denounce the very possibility even as he stared at the stone. "Killahead was broken into pieces centuries ago, and those pieces scattered across the globe, so that Gunmar could never return from the Darklands!"

"I know," said Jim, leaning forward, hands on the table. "There's a group of changelings called the Janus Order who are working toward Gunmar's return, and reassembling the bridge. If it was just up to me, I'd drop that piece in the deepest ocean trench, so that it could never be reopened. But," he emphasized, "there are innocent human babies being held hostage to their changeling counterparts on the other side, and I won't doom them to that if I can help it."

"The bridge... was opened in that other future, wasn't it?" Blinky asked sadly.

Jim nodded.

"Tell me, then, Jim," Blinky demanded, "why I should not just pulverize this piece into scattered dust, or toss it into the Deep, where it would never be seen again by troll or human eyes?"

"Because there are babies on the other side," Jim repeated. "And we can beat Gunmar. Not just lock him away, but /kill/ him, and his army, so that they'll never be a threat to anyone ever again. We can win. We've already done it once."

Blinky's mouth was a line. "You swear it?"

"I will never lie to you," Jim swore, "and especially not about this. You have my word."

A small sigh. "I suppose I can ask no more of anyone than that," Blinky admitted. "Very well, then. I shall shelve this trophy of uncertain provenance until such time as it is needed."

Tension fell off Jim's shoulders. "Thank you, Blinky."

"No thanks," Blinky said, "are needed between comrades in the fight against great evils."

"But manners require them to be given nonetheless," Jim replied, with a smile.

Douxie was not expecting to see Claire Nuñez show up at Benoit's during the middle of his Saturday night shift. Not that she didn't have a right to, but in the evening the clientele was more couples on dates and people getting dinner after work. The high school students tended to come in earlier in the day.

"Good evening," he greeted as he approached her. "What can I get you tonight?"

Her smile was mischief as she looked up at him. "I dunno. Any recommendations, Teach?"

Douxie nearly dropped his guest check pad. "You remember?" he breathed.

"Yeah, since yesterday. Jim didn't tell you?"

"We haven't crossed paths today." Douxie had worked closing the night before, getting home after Jim was already asleep. And this morning, Jim had been gone before Douxie woke up. There had been plates of scrambled eggs and sausage waiting in the warming oven, along with a basket of muffins on the counter, and a note that he was going to be spending the day with Toby. A few doodled designs in the margin would probably have been overlooked by Barbara, but to Douxie's eyes the Trollish characters had read "in Trollmarket."

Exasperation crossed Claire's face. "He needs to remember how to text." Douxie chuckled. "Speaking of which, I need your number." She lowered her voice. "I need help. I tried making a portal, and my magic's... it's like it's just not there."

She'd lost her magic? Douxie could think of any number of reasons why it might have happened, and none of them were good. "We'll troubleshoot it," he said, keeping his voice light, not wanting to worry her further. He quickly scribbled his phone number onto the top sheet of his pad and handed it to her. They'd all had each other's numbers before, in the future, but who bothered to remember the digits after they got put into phones? "In the meantime, I happen to know that strawberry milkshakes are the perfect solution to distressing news."

He smile was wan, but hopeful. How exactly had he managed to inspire enough confidence as a teacher that she trusted him so implicitly? "Sounds good, Teach."

Jim was still laying awake in bed when Douxie and Archie got in. He'd been texting with Toby for a while, but the messages had stopped an hour back, so he figured the newly minted Trollhunter had fallen asleep, and Jim couldn't blame him. The training was brutal, even before Jim had put his foot down and reminded everyone present that humans needed to stretch before exercise. Coach Lawrence might be terrible at teaching health class, but even Jim had to admit that he knew what athletes needed. And after Jim had figured out that Trollhunting was something akin to extreme athletics, he'd started paying attention in gym.

"Hey," Jim said softly as Douxie and Archie passed by his open door.

The shadows in the hallway paused. "You're still awake?"

"Yeah." Jim sat up. "I think I see less of you guys now that we're living in the same house."

"The hazards of packed schedules," Archie opined, padding over and leaping up on Jim's bed.

His wizard familiar, never far away, followed. "Claire said to remind you that texting is a thing," Douxie said, sitting down on the foot of the bed.

Jim laughed. "Yeah, I know. She sent me like five messages about it. Sorry."

"Blindsiding your enemies is good; your allies, less so," Archie reminded him.

"Enough, Arch. He knows."

The dragon sniffed, but subsided.

"So how are things going down in Trollmarket? Toby coming along nicely?"

Jim grinned in the darkness. "He's picking up stuff so fast. He's going to be a kick-ass Trollhunter."

"Rather like someone else I know," Douxie said.

Archie sighed. "You're all idiots," he stated. "You'll burn the world to save someone, then turn right around and sacrifice yourself to do the same."

Douxie went very still. "We are not talking about that, Archie," he said very quietly.

"Who said it's about you?" The dragon sniffed. "I know the type. And you all fit it. Which is why I forbid you from ever becoming the Trollhunter, Douxie. I simply couldn't abide it if that armor amplified your worst habits."

There was awkward silence for a long moment. "Well," said Jim when he finally couldn't stand it anymore, "this is depressing."

"Agreed," agreed Douxie. "To sort of change the subject... Jim, you might want to find a way to let Toby know he's going to be burning a lot more calories, and to not worry about it."

"From all the exercise?" asked Jim. "Yeah, I kind of figured."

"Not just that." Douxie huffed out a breath. "I don't know if Blinky ever told you-heck, I don't even know if it works for trolls the same way, they're magic in and of themselves-"

"It doesn't," Archie put in.

"Thank you. Regardless, my point is, human magic users use a lot more energy than non-magic users."

"The Trollhunter's not a wizard, though," Jim objected.

"The amulet is magic. And while you're wearing it, functionally so are you."

Jim processed that for a minute. "Wait, what?!" he demanded.

Douxie sighed. "I know it's hard to think of something nine hundred years old as experimental tech," he said, "but the amulet very much is. It was cutting-edge magic back then, and with all the master wizards I know of locked away or sleeping, it probably still is. And I don't know if Merlin ever foresaw a human wearing it. So it may be an effect of the amulet that the trolls don't even know about. But, Jim, I can see magic even when it's not in the blatant spectrum. And when you or Toby are wearing your armors? Magic's running through you like water."

"Right," said Jim eventually.

"When Merlin wakes up, remind me to have words with him," said Archie.

Douxie breathed something that might have been a laugh. "He's still alive here."

"You okay?" Jim asked. He respected Merlin, but didn't especially like him. Douxie's relationship with his master, though, was significantly more complex. And Jim had seen Douxie lose, and lose, and lose too many people. He didn't know how he was even possibly qualified to help support a nine-hundred-and-something-year-old, but sometimes Jim thought that he should be a little worried about Douxie's mental health.

Of course, after Jim's insistence on resetting time after one death too many, he thought Douxie might have the same concern about him.

But Douxie waved off his concern. "I'll be fine. It's just been a long few days. The bookshop's shut tomorrow, so I'm supposed to meet up with Claire in the morning, help her figure out why her magic's on the fritz."

Jim nodded. "Toby's got more training in Trollmarket. I was going to go with him, but Vendel keeps giving me the eye. He knows something's up with me, but I can't exactly tell him the truth."

Douxie shrugged. "If you need me to, I can vouch for you. He probably remembers me from Dwoza."

"Do you think Draal mentioned you being here to him?"

"Who knows?"

Jim sighed. "At some point, they're going to figure out that my 'wizard friend' is you, and Toby's going to figure out you're not just into stage magic. Or only nineteen."

"And there's no way that's not going to blow up."

Archie sat up. "If I may, I might have a solution."

"Oh?"

"Like what, Archie?"

"Toby's house has cat flaps. And a talking cat might be of interest to him. Plus I want to see what that wretched little gnome who's taken up residence there is up to."

"Aww, leave Chompsky alone," Jim said. "He's fine. He's helped us out in the past. Future. Whatever."

"I think Archie's got a point, though," Douxie said. "If we let him do the hard work of breaking the ice for us, maybe the novelty will help the news go across easier."

"Maybe," said Jim doubtfully. "Anyway, is it okay if I tag along with you and Claire tomorrow? Oh, and Strickler's coming to dinner again tomorrow."

"Tagging along: fine by me," said Douxie. "And I'll be sorry to miss meeting Strickler, but unfortunately I've got closing shift Sunday nights."

When Barbara got home, it was just past a quarter after three in the morning and she was exhausted. She turned off the kitchen nightlight and yawned hugely as she plodded up the stairs. Habitually, she checked in on Jim, only to stop in surprise as she saw Douxie and Archie also asleep atop Jim's bed, both boys and the cat crammed onto the single. In the dim light, with Douxie's fair skin and black hair, he and Jim looked almost like a pair of brothers who'd been caught up talking long past their bedtimes.

She wanted to turn on the light and take a picture, but more than that she wanted to leave them to their rest.

"Good night, boys," she said softly, and turned to seek her own slumber, never noticing the pair of gold feline eyes watching her from the bed. A minute later, the eyes closed as their owner went back to sleep.

Author's Note: In which I give up any pretense at subtlety in the Jim-and-Douxie-as-brothers theme.