Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 13th September 2021
Jim felt like he was going to be sick.
He stared at his clock. 6:05am. Less than fifteen hours until they were supposed to get the drop on Bular. Less than fifteen hours until Toby killed the Gumm-Gumm prince.
Less than fifteen hours until Toby might die.
If he did, it would be Jim's fault. Again.
I can't let him die warred with He has to become the Trollhunter. Neither won; they went around and around like a dog chasing its own tail.
Jim couldn't breathe. He closed his eyes and curled around the sickness in his gut like it was a worry stone, like it was something he could keep tight and never let loose into the world, because if he kept it here with him, the worst would never come to pass-
"Jim? Oh." And it was Douxie, but he couldn't look up, couldn't move-
Footsteps crossed the room and his mattress dipped as the wizard sat down on it. His hand rested on Jim's shoulder. "Second thoughts?" Douxie asked quietly. "Doubts?"
Jim couldn't speak, couldn't open his eyes, but he nodded.
Douxie sighed. "Here," he said. Jim heard a crinkle, then there was a light touch just below his mouth. "Open."
Jim obeyed, and Douxie slipped a peppermint into his mouth. "Just suck on it," the wizard advised. "Don't know why, if it's the mint or the sugar, but they usually help me when I get tied up in knots."
Jim obeyed, and breathed, and sucked on the mint. Douxie didn't chatter, didn't fill up the space with unnecessary words. He just waited, patient.
Eventually the mint dissolved away, grew holes, felt fragile against his tongue and teeth.
Eventually, he felt like he could open his eyes.
Douxie noticed, of course. "Better?" he asked quietly.
Jim opened his mouth, breathed in. The air tasted cold, like mint. "Getting there."
Douxie nodded and looked away again. "'They also serve who only stand and wait'," he murmured. "Milton. The thing the poem doesn't cover, however, is how bloody hard it is being the one who stands and waits."
"Milton?" Jim asked.
"Seventeenth century writer. Not sure if he's covered in high school or if you have to wait 'til university. I don't always get on with him, but I will admit he knew how to turn a phrase or two."
Jim huffed a laugh. "You being nineteen and having legit beef with people who died centuries ago will never not be funny."
Douxie smiled. "Just wait until we wake up Master Merlin and I can get him going on about some of the ancient Greeks. He has /opinions/ on Plato." His smile faded, though, as he looked at Jim. "This is about tonight?"
Jim nodded, uncurled a little. Douxie shifted to give him room. "I just... what if it all goes wrong?" Jim asked. "What if Toby dies tonight?"
"He won't," said Douxie.
"You can't know that. What if-"
"Jim." Douxie's hand was on his, his hazel eyes serious. "Toby will not die. He has Aaarrrgghh and Draal by his side. He has Blinky as strategician. Not sure whether or not Claire will be able to make it, but Gabe's covering for me at work, so Toby has me on perimeter. Your mother is on alert in case of injuries. And he has you as backup. Toby will not die tonight."
"Claire, huh?" Jim managed a weak smile. "I was wondering why Aaarrrgghh picked up two polearms."
Douxie gave a half-shrug. "I hate to say they're a wizard's weapon, but given she and I both trained with staves..."
Jim's gaze caught his clock again. He groaned. Where had forty-five minutes gone?
"Come on," Douxie said. "You get dressed, I'll make breakfast while you do lunches, all right?"
"Right," Jim said, pushing upright. "Hey, Doux?" he called as the wizard left the room.
Douxie paused. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"I can do this," Toby chanted to himself under his breath for what might have been the millionth time that day.
Claire gave him a concerned look. "Is he okay?" she asked Jim.
"Yeah, just... that thing going on tonight," Jim replied.
"Oh." Her eyes went wide. "But he's the... the Trollhunter," she whispered after a quick glance around. "He's got this, right?"
"Douxie thinks so," Jim replied.
"Domzalski!" Coach Lawrence barked. "You're up!"
Toby sucked in a deep breath, then practically bolted for the climbing rope. He swarmed up it, hand over hand, in a smooth and easy motion.
"Wow," said Claire, blinking. "He's really gotten good at that."
Toby reached the top of the rope in record time and rang the bell, then dropped back down to the ground.
Coach Lawrence was staring at his stopwatch in shock.
"Everything okay, Coach?" asked Jim.
"Domzalski!" Coach Lawrence snapped.
"Yessir?"
"You deserve a medal for most improved this semester."
Toby blinked, then broke out into a huge grin. "Awesomesauce!" he cheered with a fist pump.
"All that sword work's been doing you good," Jim said to Toby.
"Lake! Your turn! Hit the rope!"
"You're sure you don't want me to wait in the car?" Barbara worried.
"Mom, no. We'll be fine."
Her gaze shifted to Douxie. "You're sure you'll both be okay?"
"No guarantees," he offered her. "But we've a team, and a clear shot. We'll all be watching one another's backs. And Archie will be watching yours."
"I'm not terribly keen on being left behind either," said the familiar.
"If worse comes to worst, we have these," Jim reminded both of them, pulling his crystal panic button out of his shirt.
"What if the cops catch you with weapons?" she asked, looking at the sword strapped to Jim's back and the spear-or-whatever Douxie carried.
"If they can catch us, I'm not doing my job," the wizard promised her with a smirk.
"All right." She accepted it because she had to, not because she wanted to. But they were right and her presence would only be a liability. Walter was going to lead them to this monster, and hopefully help fight against him. Jim said Zelda was going to stay out of the way. They had Blinky and Aaarrrgghh and Draal, and while the first of the three trolls didn't strike Barbara with confidence in his fighting skills, the other two were big enough and strong enough to give a moose pause. "You come home safe," she said, pulling Jim into a hug, and Douxie too, which clearly surprised the older boy until he submitted and relaxed. "All of you," she told them.
"We'll try," Jim promised.
"My word on it," the wizard promised.
And then they were out the door, and all Barbara could do was sit and wait for their call. Archie sat beside her, a warm comforting weight even if he couldn't bring himself to purr.
A few minutes later, Nancy knocked on her door, bearing a plate of cookies. "May I join you, dear?"
"Please, come in," Barbara said. "At least we can sit and wait together."
"It was like this during the war, too." Nancy patted her hand. "Sometimes all you can do is wait to hear whether the mission's been successful, or if everyone's been captured and killed."
Barbara managed a wan smile. "I just never thought my boy would be in a war."
"Me either, dear. Me either."
"Where is he?" Bular demanded. "Where is Stricklander?"
"He is not late," Otto soothed the prince. "Not yet," he added, taking little trouble to hide his glee at the thought of Stricklander being in trouble with their boss.
Nomura stifled a sigh. "He is not late yet," she confirmed. It was still three minutes until nine o'clock. "I will go see if his car has arrived, and bring him here." Heels clicking on the tiled floors of her museum, she strode forth to do just that.
At one minute to the promised time, the front door of the museum opened, and Stricklander walked in. His hands were empty but his face resolute. It was not the expression of a man who was worried about his failure to deliver.
The door didn't even swing shut before it was caught by a huge hand, and others filed quietly inside after Stricklander. A troll she didn't know, and one she did and glared at. Three human teenagers - the Trollhunter, the boy who'd asked her to stay out of this battle, and one she didn't recognize who nonetheless carried a hooked glaive. The last of their party, the huge Krubera troll who had caught the door, squeezed in behind them.
"If you want to, leave now," the human Nomura didn't know said. "Otherwise I'm sealing this building and nothing gets in or out until this is done, or I'm dead."
"Doux-"
"I've got the power for it," one black-haired teenager assured the other. "So, you in or out, Nomura?"
"I'll stay," she told him. "I want to see if you lot have what it takes to make a difference or not."
That got her a nod, and the boy turned to the doors, placing both hands against them. Glowing blue circles spun on the glass, centered on his palms, pulsing with runes she didn't know. Nomura's eyes widened. Where had this group dug up an actual wizard? "Sigillum Aedificationem!" the teenager said, eyes blazing the color of his magic. The sigils flared, then echoed through the outer shell of the building, faintest blue rippling up the walls and across the ceiling until it vanished from sight.
"Aaand, cellphone service is dead," the Trollhunter said, before pocketing his phone.
It was silent. Amazing how quiet the building got when there was no external sounds of cars passing or people talking or even the hum of air conditioners.
Then the lights snapped out.
"Fuzzbuckets," the wizard swore. "Didn't realize that would cut the electric as well." Light formed around his hand, letting them all at least see one another.
"Goody, fighting in pitch blackness." The Trollhunter pulled a face.
"I've fought in worse conditions," Draal said.
Nomura ignored him. "A moment. If the generators are inside your spell-"
As if on cue, they whined to a start and the lights flickered back on. "Let's just hope no one left their computer on," she said acidly, and turned to lead Stricklander to Bular, ignoring the Trollhunter's whispered incantation behind her.
The clicking of Nomura's footwear preceded her return. Behind her, as promised, was Stricklander.
"Well?" asked Bular. "I see no stone. Have you failed, Stricklander?"
The changeling spread his hands. "Failure is such a mundane metric," he said. "Let us talk of other measures, Bular."
Bular laughed. "You failed," he confirmed. "My father and I do not tolerate failure, especially from impures such as yourself."
"I rather thought you didn't tolerate failure from anyone," Stricklander said mildly. He knelt. "But I have brought you a gift, mighty Bular."
"Oh? What gift do you think could possibly save your miserable hide?" Bular demanded.
Stricklander looked up. His eyes were fierce. "This one."
The curtains shielding the room were ripped aside and a huge form that Bular knew snarled at him.
"General Aaarrrgghh?" Bular was taken aback.
"And friends," the former Gumm-Gumm replied.
"Stricklander, you have betrayed Bular?" Scaarbach demanded. His expression shifted to full glee. "For this, you shall die!"
"Oh, murderer of my father," said another troll, coming into view. "Allow me to avenge him."
Nomura rolled her eyes.
Bular snorted. "Kanjigar's whelp," he dismissed the blue troll. "It will be a pleasure sending you to join your father."
"Not on our watch!" another troll declared. How many of them were there? This one, at least, looked pathetic.
"Yeah," said a figure in silver armor. "You're going down, pal."
Bular's eyes narrowed. "The Trollhunter. At last!"
Rule Number One: Always Be Afraid.
Check, check, triple and quadruple check. Toby was totally rocking rule number one. Especially as Bular roared and charged at him on all fours. Toby stifled a scream and dodged to the side. Rolling, he was good at rolling and ending up on his feet. The Gumm-Gumm somehow spun in his headlong charge and, what the frick, redirected his momentum?
"To the bridge, Master Toby!" Blinky yelled from behind a pillar, and Toby was good with that. He turned and ran, noting only peripherally the guy in a trench coat turning into something big and yellow and spiky.
"Up!" Draal said, and Toby's foot landed in the troll's outstretched hand. Draal boosted him into the air and he was flying-
-even as Draal's fist smashed into Bular's face.
But Bular grabbed Draal and threw him aside like he was nothing. Toby could hear the crash, but he was more concerned with the troll swarming up the bridge to kill him-
"Daylight is mine to command," Toby whispered to himself, finding a heartbeat of calm amid the panic, and using it to swing Daylight, /his named weapon/ and how cool was that, down at Bular's face as he crested the side of the bridge. The sword scored a line down Bular's horn and dug into his left eye, becoming lodged there before Bular roared and threw Toby off.
He went tumbling down the bridge, sword vanishing as Bular clawed at his face.
"Oh, well done, Master Toby!" he heard Blinky distantly cheer.
But all Toby could think was, I did that.
I have a chance.
Black blood dripped down Bular's face as he lowered his hand, revealing that one ember-like eye... no longer burned.
I blinded him?
Which didn't matter, Toby realized as Bular snarled and charged at him again.
Oh crap. Run!
Scaarbach's giggly laughter, never reassuring at the best of times, seemed oddly ill-suited to his current form, a willowy yellow troll nearly nine feet tall, with spikes down his back and blades along his arms.
Where does he get these ideas? Waltolomew wondered, staying still behind a pillar as Scaarbach scented the air. Anything to get himself, and Scaarbach, out of the hall where Bular crashed and roared.
One opponent at a time.
"Looking for someone?" Merlin's apprentice calmly asked, stepping to the middle of the entrance hall.
Scaarbach snarled and spat venom at the wizard. It splattered off a magic shield the teenager whipped out before himself, and smoked acid where it dripped on the floor.
"Not seen that in a troll before," the wizard said, wide-eyed. "Right, watch out for the dilophosaurus."
"Two on one hardly seems fair," Scaarbach complained. "Still, better odds than the four on one you've set up for Bular."
Casperan smirked. "Aaarrrgghh's a pacifist and Blinky's not a fighter. So, really, it's two on one in either room."
"So much for your side pretending to play fair."
"Like your side ever did," said Casperan. His eyes were on Scaarbach's face, so he didn't see the long, thin, barbed tail rising up behind himself.
"Look out!" Waltolomew yelled, giving away his position.
The wizard ducked and rolled even as Scaarbach whipped around, baleful eyes finding his fellow changeling. "There you are, Stricklander. Really, bringing outsiders into a family dispute?"
"You're no family of mine," Waltolomew replied, shedding his human guise. He shook his head and stretched out his wings, knives in either hand. "And I choose not to live beneath Gunmar's boot."
"Then you will die in his name!" the polymorph shrieked, and dove at him.
Author's Note: Yes, Bular got blinded parallel to his father. And since Otto's troll shape was never seen in series, I decided to make a polymorph's form... whatever they want. I also rather have the feeling that Otto would like to watch scary films. Douxie calls him as a dilophosaurus as a reference to the one in the very first Jurassic Park film. (Though as I understand it, the "spitting venom" thing was entirely a Hollywood invention.)