Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 29th October 2021

He woke in warmth and silence, curled around the form of his familiar. His fingers automatically sought the comforting texture of Archie's fur, stroking softly.

Archie purred and shifted closer, but didn't speak.

"Sometimes," Douxie said quietly, "I think about what it might have been like to grow up a modern kid, as Jim did. Just... get up, go to school, mess around, do some homework. Have a best friend named Archie, and a black cat I named after him. Be a normal human."

Archie was quiet.

"I can't imagine what that would be like," he confessed. "If I can't even imagine Jim's life, how can I possibly understand what I'll do that'll upset him?"

Archie sighed and shifted, draping himself across Douxie's chest. "You know mortals and their obsession with money."

"He doesn't understand that value and cost are only tangentially related," Douxie said, continuing to stroke his familiar's soft black fur. "And I don't know how to explain it to him."

"Or that the cost of the books was infinitesimal compared to his, Claire, and Toby's value to you?" asked Archie.

"That too," Douxie admitted.

There was silence for a moment. Then, "How are you doing today?" asked Archie.

"Better," Douxie said. "But I'm still not looking forward to that talk with Jim." The dread of that conversation, in fact, felt rather like a lump in his stomach.

"Please note he's let you sleep as long as you need."

"Mmm. Much as I'm not anticipating it, though, I'd better get on with it before Merlin can come back."

Archie tensed. Just a little, but given how he was laying on top of Hisirdoux, it was very noticeable. "You don't really think he'll seal you away, do you?"

"I don't know what to think." Douxie sighed. "You know as well as I that Merlin's always been hard to read."

"Especially when he's feeling prickly," Archie agreed.

"I shouldn't... talk back to him, in the future," Douxie said. "I'll only give him new, worse ideas."

The dragon snorted. "He's a master wizard. I'm fairly sure he can think them up on his own."

"Yeah, but if I don't say them, then he'll have to work that much harder to get to them," Douxie retorted. He sighed and let his head thump down onto his pillow. "If he does seal me, Arch-"

"He won't," Archie almost snarled.

"I hope not. But if he does, promise me you'll help Jim."

"Douxie..."

"This is important," Hisirdoux insisted. "Merlin wasn't there. He didn't defeat the Order. Jim did. I can always be unsealed later, Arch. But not if the world ends."

The dragon sniffed. "And who would unseal you? Certainly not the one who sealed you away."

"Claire." Douxie smiled. "I know you haven't seen it yet, but she's brilliant. You could train her. I know you can. You were there for every single step of my training. You know what it takes to make a master wizard."

"I can't very well give her a staff."

Douxie rubbed behind his familiar's ears. "If that's the only obstacle, then between you, her, and Blinky, I have complete faith that you'll come up with something, Arch."

The dragon was silent for a minute. "If it comes to pass, I'll do as you ask," he said. "But, mind, if Merlin is fool enough to seal you away, he will be dead by the time I get you out of it."

"I love you too, Archie."


He went down the stairs quietly, still not really wanting to have the conversation he knew lay before him, but at the same time knowing it needed to be done. Like ripping off a plaster, Douxie thought, resigned.

Jim and Barbara were both seated at the dining table with cups of tea. Their low discussion broke off as Douxie came into the room and sat at his usual chair.

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry for leaving," he said first, "and for not saying I was doing so. I just... needed some space. And I'm sorry for upsetting you, Jim, though I still don't understand why you're upset."

Silence reigned for a minute, until Barbara finally spoke. "If you need space, that's okay, Douxie. Just tell us next time, okay?"

"I thought you were just avoiding me," Jim said. "Not that you'd left."

"I'm sorry," Douxie repeated.

"Look, families fight sometimes," Barbara said. "That's just part of being close together and rubbing up against one another so much. It's normal."

It wasn't the first time she'd referred to him as a member of her family, and Hisirdoux still didn't know how to take it. Didn't know how Jim was taking it. "I really don't know much about being part of a family."

Her smile was warm. "You left your clothes. I knew you were going to come back once you were ready."

He would rather be run through by all the knights of Camelot, one after another, than ever tell Barbara that clothing was not something he'd come back for.

His gaze shifted to Jim, who was watching him. "You can't just leave without saying anything, Douxie," the Trollhunter said. "And you can't give people books worth twenty thousand dollars and not mention the price tag."

"You and I clearly have very different ideas of what a gift is," Douxie couldn't help retorting before he clapped his mouth shut, eyes wide as panic suddenly tightened his chest.

Don't argue. Don't fight. You'll only make it worse-

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized, before Jim could say anything. "I'm sorry, you're right, I don't know why you're right, but I'm sure you are-"

"Douxie-" Barbara's eyes were wide.

"Regardless." Douxie drew a deep breath, willing the cold starburst of fear to go away. He didn't know where it had come from, and he didn't like it. "There's something important I need to tell Jim, before Merlin can get back. I think you can have your other forms back without using his potion. And, perhaps more importantly, have the ability to shift between them as you choose."

"What?" Surprise overwrote the worry that had been on Jim's face.

Douxie swallowed, even as Archie jumped up onto his lap. His hand automatically sought out his familiar's warm fur. Comforting. Calming. "If I'm right, this won't work for Toby, but... when I looked at your aura the other day, Jim? As much as you've got time magic splashed all over you, you've also got troll magic. Everything you experienced the first time around came back with you."

"And there are certain stones associated with transformation magic," Archie said. "Opal and tiger's eye seem the likeliest matches for your situation."

"Wait, so you're saying..."

"Maybe," Douxie emphasized, "if you put a properly cut bit of fire opal and tiger's eye, and possibly a bit of stone from a living troll-I'd suggest asking Blinky-in your amulet, you might get access to both your troll forms."

Jim blinked. "Both...?" His eyes widened. "No. No way. Nuh-uh."

"Decouple that one from Arthur and the Order," Douxie advised him, "and you might be able to view your full-troll form in a better light."

"It's not that easy, Douxie!"

"These things never are," he replied, stroking Archie's fur.

"Excuse me, but... troll forms?" Barbara asked.

Douxie used magic to paint an image of what Jim's half-troll form had looked like, armor and blade and all, rotating it slowly in the air in front of Barbara. "I know we mentioned this when we told you about the future."

"You did," she said, reaching out wide-eyed to the illusion, "but seeing it's a little different." Her gaze flicked back and forth between Jim and troll-Jim. Finally she managed a smile. "You look good that way, kiddo."

"He's a bit taller, too," Douxie added. "About my height."

Jim sighed. "Yeah, getting used to being shorter again was weird."

"And the other form?" Barbara asked. Glancing at Jim, who nodded, Douxie shifted the image to show Jim's full-troll form.

"That... would take a bit more getting used to," she admitted.

"And Jim doesn't have any good connections to it," Douxie agreed, and let the image disperse. "So that one might be harder. But," he said to Jim, "if I'm right, and that still remains a big if, this is an untested theory, you shouldn't experience any dysphoria this time, because you're already used to being both troll and human. They're both you."

Jim nodded. "All right. It's worth a try."

"Douxie." Barbara put a hand on his arm. "What was that bit about you needing to tell Jim this before Merlin gets back?"

He gave her a wan smile. "If I should happen to disappear, without taking anything with me, feel free to ask Merlin what he did with me."

Her eyes went wide. Douxie didn't dare look at Jim to see what his reaction was. Instead he focused on petting Archie. "If he seals me away, Archie's agreed to help you as best he can, Jim. And also to help train Claire to mastery."

"Mastery...?"

"Well, I won't be around," Hisirdoux reasoned. "I doubt Merlin would ever take on another apprentice gifted in shadow magic after Morgana. And... that's it. There's literally no one else who could train her."

"Only a master level wizard can undo a sealing spell," Archie said, his tail flicking.

"If he tries doing that to you, I'll kill him myself," Jim growled, surprising Douxie into looking up.

"You," said Archie, "will have to get in line. Douxie's mine, he's been mine since well before we ever met that distasteful old man, and if anyone's going to kill Merlin for abuses of apprentice, it's me."

"Yes, but he knows that, he'll see it coming from you," Douxie said, trying to stand in the middle and play peacemaker, as always. "Work with Jim, Arch. It gives you a higher chance of success."

The dragon sniffed, but did not gainsay him, which Douxie counted as a victory.


"Why are you afraid?"

Hisirdoux looked up; the question came from Jim, who was standing in the doorframe.

"I'm not afr-"

"Don't lie to me," Jim said. "You barely ate anything today, or last night, and I will lay good money that if I asked Archie, he'd tell me that's true for the last few days too. I know your tells, Doux, and disordered eating is a big one."

Douxie sighed and looked back down at the book in his lap. At the book he couldn't read, but that had somehow worried Merlin into taking a gimlet eye to everything Hisirdoux hadn't bothered to think would be a problem over the last nine hundred years. "Do you know what being sealed away is?"

Jim shrugged. "I have a rough guess?"

"You're conscious, Jim. The entire time. There's not even the mercy of sleep. It's a living imprisonment. Your body remains hale, but your mind?" Douxie shook his head. "The body will cannibalize itself in the absence of food. The mind, in the absence of stimulation, does much the same thing. Suffer that long enough and, well, there's a reason there's all those stories about what happens to the fool who opens a genie's bottle." Hisirdoux grimaced. "Disney's whitewashed the horrors and atrocities committed by beings of power who had gone quite mad during the centuries. Morgana keeping her mind, believe me, is a testament to her strength of will."

"I'm not sure she did. Or that she was quite sane to begin with."

Hisirdoux granted that point with a nod. "Fair. Still, my imprisonment wouldn't even have the cracks in it that hers does. Merlin won't make that same mistake twice. So, yes, I'm terrified at the prospect of being sealed away."

"And I think that if Merlin even tries to seal you away, I'll be handing him his head," Jim replied, which Douxie hadn't expected.

"Don't," he said. "We need him, Jim."

"We need you more," Jim replied, walking in and sitting on the bed next to Douxie. "And, to be honest, I know he's your father figure and all, but he's pulled too much 'for the sake of the world' and 'I alone know best' crap for me to cut him any more slack."

"You can't keep your eyes on me twenty-four/seven," Douxie pointed out. "I have work, you have school."

Jim smiled grimly, fishing his crystal pendant out from under his shirt. "Isn't that what these are for?"

The thought of using the panic buttons against Merlin felt wrong, but- "I suppose they have to be," Hisirdoux admitted.

"He tries anything, you break yours," said Jim. "Promise me, Douxie."

"We're getting rather heavy on the promises in this house," Douxie pointed out.

"Doux."

"Fine," he said with a sigh. "I promise."

Just then, both their phones chimed. He and Jim blinked in unison, then each reached for their devices.

Do not come to Trollmarket, Blinky's text read. Queen Usurna is here.

Jim went pale.

"Usurna?" Douxie asked. He'd heard the name, knew it was important, but just at the moment couldn't remember entirely why.

"That-" The look on Jim's face indicated he was biting down hard on some nasty language. "She killed Vendel. She tried to take Aaarrrgghh. She's the one who gave him to Gunmar in the first place."

Now Douxie remembered what he'd been told about her. "Is this when she came to Trollmarket before?" he asked.

Jim shook his head. "No, I don't think so. This is too early."

"Then," Douxie had to ask, "why's she here?"

"I don't know." Jim bit his lip, then tapped at his phone and held it up to his ear. It rang twice, then was picked up. "Tobes. Where are you?"

"In Trollmarket," Toby's panicked whisper replied. "Jimbo, she's here. She hasn't seen me yet, but c'mon, I can't hide from her and the Krubera forever. What do I do?"

"Okay. Okay." Jim was clearly trying not to panic himself. "We need to get you out of there."

"There's two doors to Trollmarket," Douxie said. "Can he get to them?"

"Can you get to either of the exits?" Jim asked.

"No! The main one's too exposed, and they came in by gyre. They're right by the back exit!"

Jim clearly bit back another curse. "And we can't get to you, either." His eyes were wide, expression frantic.

Douxie's gaze caught on Jim's panic button, swinging free.

"He needs to stay hidden," Douxie murmured. His eyes snapped to Jim's. "Are Blinky or Aaarrrggh with him?"

Jim relayed the question, then nodded. "Aaarrrgghh," he reported.

"All right. Let me try something." Hisirdoux pulled out his own pendant, cupped it in his palms. Closing his eyes helped him tease apart the separate spells, and he silently blessed his past self for making each connected pendant operate on its own wavelength. It made this easier.

The orange light, a play on both Toby's hair and the copper-colored armor that he'd worn in the other timeline, guided him to Toby's pendant. Taking a breath and letting it out, Douxie said lowly, "Have him tell Aaarrrgghh not to let him go." And then he began murmuring, crafting a spell, building it around Toby's pendant, pushing it along the distance between them on the thread of his own magic that connected the pendants.

Let him go unseen, he whispered layers of obfuscation around the Trollhunter, wrapping misdirection around Toby like swathing him in gossamer-fine silk veils. Let no eyes discern him. Invisibility could be terrifying, but he couldn't spare a thought to that now. Toby would just have to cope. Let him escape the notice of all those who would harm him. Three incantations was the right number to lock an on-the-fly spell into place. Three was stable. Three would keep Toby safe until Aaarrrgghh could get him out of Trollmarket.

After that... they'd have to see how the chips fell.

So mote it be. Hisirdoux tied off the spell, and activated it.

"What the-?!" Toby's yelp came over the phone.

"He should be invisible," Douxie told Jim. "He needs to stay with Blinky or Aaarrrgghh until they can smuggle him out. I'll break the spell once he's safe."

"What? Invisible? This is so cool!" Toby said after Jim passed on Douxie's words. "Hey, like, I could spy on Usurna."

"Toby, don't take the risk," Jim pleaded. "Remember, she killed Vendel. Just get out of there as fast as you can."

Toby sobered. "Oh yeah. All right, I'll call you back once we're clear. Warhammer out."

The phone went silent. Jim lowered it slowly to his lap. His mouth was a grim line. "By the way," he said, "that list of people I will happily kill?"

"Usurna's on it?"

"Usurna is on the short end of the list. She's higher priority than Merlin, even."

"Well," Douxie felt the need to point out, "Merlin hasn't actually done anything yet. Usurna, by any way you measure it, already has."

"Yeah." Jim glowered at his phone.

Douxie considered the web of connections between all the players they knew were on the board, and had a thought. "Does Strickler know about her? Any chance some disgruntled member of the Janus Order might be behind this sudden appearance?"

Surprise marched across Jim's face. "I... don't know," he admitted.

"Well, then," Douxie said, "since there's nothing we can do until Toby's out safe, and we can't really do anything further to help with that, perhaps we should ask him a few questions?"

Jim nodded. "Sounds like a plan."


Author's Note: I was not planning on Usurna showing up in this chapter. She just did, strolling in like a boss. And as to the discrepancy between Archie's "only a master level wizard can undo a sealing spell" and Douxie's cautionary tale about genies in bottles... (1) like our knowledge of science, magic changes, grows and develops over time, and (2) there's a slight difference between a spell stoppering someone away in an object that can't be opened for X hundred years, and what we saw Merlin and Douxie do to Morgana.