Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 6th May 2022
Douxie and Archie slunk into the living room significantly earlier than Jim expected. So early, in fact, that the sun hadn't set nor had he started making dinner yet.
"You're early," he said as Douxie more or less melted into the sofa.
"Armor's done," Douxie reported from behind closed eyes, his arm giving a wave. "I'm wiped. Wake me in two weeks."
"Do I need to shove a candy bar at you?" Jim wondered, setting down his notebook.
"Mm-mm." Douxie shook his head, not opening his eyes. "Ate on the way home."
"He had granola bars on the bus, and we grabbed real food at the taco truck," Archie reported from his position on the back of the sofa.
"Well, that's something, at least." Jim's phone pinged with a message. He picked it up off the coffee table to check. "Hey, since you're back early-"
Archie's tail lashed. "Quietly," he said in a soft voice.
"Huh?" Jim paused and looked at the dragon.
Who nodded down at his familiar. "He's asleep."
Jim blinked. What? No way.
But Archie was right, he saw as he studied Douxie some more. The wizard had come in, sat down, and fallen unconscious almost right away.
"He's been burning the candle at both ends for weeks now," Archie informed him.
"Huh." Jim hadn't thought it had been that bad. Sure, Douxie had been making first Claire's armor and then a more technically difficult set for himself, but that had mostly been pouring magic into it, right? Which burned off sugar and body fat like nobody's business, but still, he'd only been going out to Hiccup's ranch three days a week, right?
And dealing with managing his anxiety on top of that, Jim realized.
And weapons practice, when he could fit it in.
And forty-some-odd work hours a week.
And band practice.
"Douxie... really doesn't know how to slow down, does he?" Jim asked Archie quietly. "I mean, even when he thinks he's cutting back, he doesn't. He just subs in one thing for another."
"Very observant," the dragon said, nodding.
"Crud." Douxie's relationship with food was something Jim could work on. This... whatever it was... he wasn't sure about. Workaholicism? Was that even a word?
His phone pinged again and he looked at it reflexively. "Ugh." He stood. "Trollhunting calls."
"Do you need Douxie for it?"
"Uhh." Jim looked at his message. "Blinky says there's a trickster troll rampaging? Which might be up Douxie's alley, but I think we can handle it ourselves. Let him get some sleep."
"Very well. I shall hold down the fort."
"Keep it crispy," Jim said, throwing the dragon a salute.
Before he left, he went upstairs and got a blanket from the linen closet, coming back downstairs to drape it over Douxie, passed out on the sofa. Other than the steady rise and fall of his chest, the wizard didn't even stir.
Douxie was peacefully asleep in his own bed, facedown and hugging his pillow, with Archie sprawled warmly across his back, when the door to his room crashed open.
Jim shouted "Douxie!" Archie yowled, jumping in fright. Douxie shrieked as Archie's claws unintentionally caught his back, drawing blood.
"Shit," Jim said as Douxie's eyes blew wide and he gasped in pain. "I am so sorry, I did not mean for that to happen-"
"Bandages and Bactine, please," Douxie managed.
Several minutes later, positioned shirtless between a contrite dragon and a contrite Trollhunter who was almost done applying liberal bandaids to his back, Douxie finally managed to ask just what had prompted the rude awakening.
"I think I'm stuck in a time loop," Jim said.
Douxie stared at him. "You woke me for that? We're all stuck in a time loop, Jim. That's what being a year and half in the past is. If that's all, I'm going back to bed-"
"No, a different time loop," Jim protested. Douxie stiffened, eyes flying wide. "Seriously, I keep repeating today! I'm on round-"
"-Three," Douxie finished for him.
Jim stared.
"Lovely," Douxie said, meaning the exact opposite. "Thought I was the only one in it."
Jim's mouth opened and closed a few times like he was a goldfish. "What the... How can you be so... so blasé about being caught in a time loop?"
Douxie rolled his eyes and stood, going to his dresser to find a clean shirt now that he was all bandaged up. "Because I've been through a few before and I was trying to use this one to fix my sleep deficit."
"An unusually wise idea," Archie commented. Douxie threw a pair of socks at him.
"I was going to start poking about it in another couple loops," Douxie informed the both of them. "But since you're caught in it too, Jim, I suppose today's as good a time as any."
"All right," Claire said. "Let me get this straight. You guys are caught in a time loop?"
Jim looked at Douxie, then shrugged, looking back at her. "Yeah?"
"Apparently," Douxie corroborated, tucking his hands into his hoodie pockets and gingerly leaning back against the diner's booth seat. "I was trying to use it to catch up on sleep, but someone had other ideas." His heavy gaze resting on Jim gave away who.
"Ooh, catching up on sleep." Toby nodded sagely. "That sounds like one of the best uses of a time loop. That or, you know, learning to play the piano or ice sculpt or something. Or bringing up your Spanish grades!" he said to Jim.
Jim rolled his eyes. "Anyhow, we need to figure out what's causing the time loop and how to break it."
"Do you think it's related to Porgon?" Claire asked. It was the obvious conclusion. Which didn't mean it was the right one, but sometimes correlation did mean causation.
"Porgon...?" Douxie asked.
"Ah. There was a trickster troll that got away from us last night," Jim said. "You were conked out on the sofa and Archie said you needed the rest, so..."
"Much obliged," Douxie told him.
Jim paused. "You know, this feels kind of... familiar?" he asked. It sounded rhetorical.
Toby replied anyway. "Well, yeah, if you're already on day three, Jimbo."
But Jim shook his head. "Not like that. Like... I don't know," he said lamely. Frustration flashed across his face.
Claire laid her hand on his. "Hey. We'll figure it out," she promised.
Jim smiled, his frustration visibly dissolving. "I know we will."
"So what exactly happened last night?" Douxie asked.
"Um. We were out with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, chasing Porgon, who's this big red troll, through the woods," Toby recounted. "We got him cornered, then, poof!" He waggled his fingers. "The dude vanished."
"I figured it was some kind of magic," Claire said. "I mean, Blinky said trickster trolls dabble in magic, so maybe he teleported somewhere."
"Teleportation's rather difficult and rare," Douxie said, rubbing his fingers and thumb together as he thought. "Shadowmancy's one of the few reliable ways to do it."
"He picked up some kind of staff," Claire put in. "Maybe it boosted him?"
"Possible. Though I want to know why there was a wizard's staff lying around in the Arcadian woods when it was neither of ours."
"Was it a wizard's staff, though?" Jim's brow was furrowed. "It definitely didn't look like yours, Doux, or Merlin's. Not even like Morgana's."
"Well, what did it look like?" Douxie asked reasonably.
"It was smooth," Claire recalled. "It was a completely smooth cylinder, silver and glowing blue."
"Which would totally usually peg it as your magic, dude," Toby agreed. "Except I'm pretty sure you'd remember leaving a staff lying around."
Douxie chuckled. "Yeah, I'd definitely remember losing one of those." He interlaced his fingers and stretched his arms high over his head, pushing his palms toward the sky. "Well, then. First thing to do is track down this Porgon."
Toby's eyes lit up. "Ooh, magic?"
"Magic," Douxie confirmed. "Let's go back to where he vanished, and we'll see how Claire does at learning a tracking spell."
Archie sniffed at the air, before covering his nose with a paw. "Definitely a trickster troll," he reported.
"What, do they smell bad?" Toby asked as Douxie knelt down, fingers light on the dirt, like he was searching for something.
"Like burnt amber," Archie reported. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "The tang of ozone, however, is unusual."
"Hey, so what do I smell like?" Toby asked him.
"Like you need to wear less Old Spice."
"Oh!" Toby gaffed in offense. "That's a man's smell, you know!"
"That doesn't mean you need to drown in it."
Douxie chuckled. "Archie's just sensitive," he assured Toby. "You're fine."
"Okay, so how do I do this?" asked Claire.
"Well, this should be easier for you than for me," Douxie told her, standing. "Despite the keenness of Archie's nose, there's not much aetheric resonance left. You actually saw Porgon, so you're one up on me."
As his familiar guided Claire through the tracking spell, Archie walked over to where Jim was leaning up against a tree. The Trollhunter's expression was stormy, troubled. "Penny for your thoughts?" Archie asked.
Jim sighed and sat down, so they were closer to the same level, which was rather polite of him. "I still feel like this is something I've done before," he complained. "But I absolutely don't remember it. We took care of Porgon last time, so maybe this isn't related to him at all?"
Archie sat down and watched Douxie guide Claire's magic with his own, one sorcerer teaching another. "It's possible that it isn't," he said. "Nonetheless, it is the most obvious answer, so it is a place to begin."
"Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth?" Jim asked.
"A misquote. But, essentially, yes."
Jim grinned. "Allow me to point out that we're kind of in the business of the impossible."
"Too true. Despite his fascination with spiritualism, Doyle never accounted for the existence of true magic. A minor flaw in his oeuvre."
A happy shout of triumph, as Claire got the spell to work. Douxie standing proud by his student, even as purple magic arrowed off to the east. Then the ring of a phone. Jim pulled it out of his pocket. "Hey, Krel-"
"Jim! We are at the planetarium for the science fair and one of your trolls is causing trouble here!"
"What?" Jim stood.
"Aja is going after him, and I know we agreed that Arcadia Oaks needs to know about them, but I don't think you meant like this-"
A wash of blue light, and the world reset.
The door eased quietly open and Jim walked into Douxie's room. Archie, sleeping on top of the wizard, cracked an eye then shut it again, making no comment. Jim knelt down by the bed and poked Douxie in the shoulder. "Hey."
Douxie blinked his way awake. "Jim."
"Time loop," Jim informed him. "Day four."
It took a few seconds for that to sink in, he saw, but then Douxie sighed. "Lovely." He rolled onto his side, Archie jumping from him, and sat up. "Thanks for a more subdued wakeup this time."
Jim winced. "Sorry about that."
"It never happened," said Douxie. "Literally."
"Yeah, except you and I remember it."
"What on Earth are you talking about?" asked Archie.
"We're on day four of a time loop," Douxie informed his familiar. He stared moodily at nothing for a minute, then stood and headed for his dresser. "Well, the sooner we break the loop, the sooner we get on with things."
"Krel called me while you were teaching Claire that spell," Jim told him, standing as Douxie rifled through his shirt drawer and selected one that was (inevitably) black. "Porgon was at the planetarium right before the time loop reset."
"Well, whether or not he's the cause, I suppose we need to deal with him."
"All right," Claire said. "Let me get this straight. You guys are caught in a time loop?"
"Day four, apparently," Archie informed her.
"So, uh, does this have to do with last night's little jaunt?" Toby asked.
Douxie shrugged. "Possibly? We didn't make any progress on that in yesterday's loop."
"Yeah, but Krel called right before the day reset, and said there was a troll rampaging at the planetarium." Jim's face was stormy. "So my money's going on the side of yes."
Claire's eyes widened. "The science fair!"
Aja and Krel had carried his project a full half a block away from the Mothership before they found themselves surrounded by friends.
"Hey, so what's this?" Jim asked, gesturing at the huge box.
"Krel's science fair project," Aja grunted, glaring at her little brother. "And it is heavy."
"Wait, you guys are planning to carry this all the way to the planetarium?" Toby gaped. "Don't you have a car or anything?"
Aja set down her side of the box, perforce causing her brother to do the same with his. He certainly could not drag it all the way himself. "Other than Krel's junker? No."
"Oh man. Let me call Nana, and see if she can give this thing a lift." Toby pulled out his phone and started dialing.
"Not that it is not always a pleasure to see you," Krel said to the other three, "but why are you here?"
"We're caught in a time loop," Jim explained. "Douxie and I are on day four, and trying to break it. Yesterday you called us right before the day reset, and said there was a troll wreaking havoc at the science fair."
"It's the best lead we have right now," Douxie said with a shrug.
Krel stared at the both of them. "An autochronic cycle? Are you serious?"
"Krel," Aja told him, "we are two years in the past. What is a little bit more time mess-up?"
"Yeah, yeah," he agreed, waving her off. "Still. What could cause a time loop?"
Claire shrugged. "Magic?"
"Magic and science combined?" Douxie added, causing Krel to grin. He nudged the box with the tip of his high-top. "Speaking of, what's in this?"
"Nothing that could cause a time loop!" Krel said. He paused and added, "I think."
"It is a volcano," Aja told them.
"Yes!" Krel clenched his fist, scientific passion lighting up his face. "The first time around, all the science experiments were volcanoes! So I thought, there is clearly a passion here for the internal workings of your planet, so I started to research, and then I made my experiment."
"A... baking soda volcano?" asked Claire.
"No! A real volcano! With molten magma and shifting tectonic pressure-"
"It is all very fascinating," Aja said politely, well used to Krel's enthusiasms of the moment. "Also, quite unlike Akiridion-5."
"Wait, you mean real magma?" Jim asked, alarm crossing his face. "Like molten rock?"
"Yes!"
"Krel has been so busy integrating the daxial array that he did not have time to make anything more involved," Aja told Claire. "So this is simple, but hopefully effective."
She did not miss, but also did not understand, the expression that Claire exchanged with Jim and Douxie. Well, she was sure it would be all right. There was no need for them to be concerned. Krel was, after all, a genius.
"Okay," Toby said, hanging up his phone, "Nana should be here in five to give us a lift. There's room for four plus the box, if it can go in the trunk. Apologies in advance for the smell of cats."
Douxie had peeled off with Claire, wanting to re-teach her the tracking spell. The pair of them had promised to meet up with the rest of the non-mages at the planetarium in half an hour, long before Porgon was supposed to show. Jim shared in the back seat of Missus Domzalski's car with Aja and Krel, frowning.
"Why are you making that face?" Krel asked.
"I don't know." Jim shook his head. "I... keep feeling like I've been through this before. And not just today, I mean. I feel like we've been stuck in a time loop before, but I can't remember it."
"Well," Krel said reasonably, "maybe we have been. I mean, if we are no longer stuck in it, why would you remember it? As I understand the theory, autochronic cycles close themselves out of existence."
"Wait, so you mean we might have been stuck in this time loop before?" Jim demanded.
On Krel's other side, Aja splayed her hands in the air. "Why not? It is reasonable. We are repeating the rest of the two years."
"Whaaa," Toby breathed from where he was halfway twisted around from the front seat. "Wait, why's Jimbo remember it, then?"
"Well, he does have the time stone in his amulet," Krel pointed out.
Jim's eyes flashed wide and he yanked the amulet out of his pocket, staring at it. "That's it," he said. "That's why I'm feeling like we did this before. We did."
"Awesomesauce!" Toby said. "So, uh, any memory flashes on how to get us out of this, Jimbo?"
Jim bit his bottom lip, then shook his head and tucked the amulet back away. "Not yet. Sorry, Tobes."
**what happened to nana? Did she drop the car with them and then walk home? Or, if she's here, does she have an opinion on this conversation?**
"It'll come," his bestie said confidently.
"So any theories on why Douxie's stuck in the time loop with me, when you guys aren't?" Jim asked, turning back to Krel. "He doesn't have a time stone."
"Eh." Krel spread his hands wide. "He is a wizard. Things are different for them."
"Yeah, plus he's Merlin's apprentice," Toby pointed out. "And Merlin may be all kinds of a dick-"
"Language, Toby-Pie!" his grandmother scolded.
"Sorry, Nana! But he's also heavy on the time magic," Toby continued. "I bet Douxie's got all kinds of time spells he doesn't even know about on him."
Toby and Jim helped Aja and Krel unload the box from Nana's car, and to carry it inside the planetarium. Many hands made light work and all that.
"Oops, sorry!" Toby called to Shannon as he accidentally bumped into her; she stumbled and fell, her volcano breaking in two. "It looked really good, though, Shan!"
Once they were inside: "What do you mean you didn't make me a science project too?" Steve asked Eli.
"You know," Krel said to Jim, nodding toward the Creepslayerz, "maybe it is not just you. I feel like they have this discussion every day."
Jim snorted.
Toby laughed. "Yeah, can't argue with you there, Krelito."
Together, they heaved the box onto a vacant table. Krel's hands were lightning fast as he unboxed his project and got it set up.
"Whoa," Toby breathed, leaning in close to take a good look. "You even got the stratification right! Nice job, Krel."
"Thank you," the Akiridion said with a nod. "Now watch this." He pressed a button on the back of the display, and it started to hum. Toby took a step back as it heated up with a flash and suddenly the gray magma inside the translucent containment field (it had to be some kind of Akiridion compound; glass or plastic would have melted from the heat he could feel) liquefied. A sensor display board that at least looked like it was on an LCD screen lit up, with numbers Toby didn't fully understand but could at least appreciate.
"Wow," Jim breathed, his eyes wide in appreciation.
Krel looked smug.
"Now we just... wait," Jim said with a shrug.
"And this time, this time," Krel said with a clenched fist, "I will not lose to that blond oaf!"
Claire and Douxie rejoined the rest of them while Coach Lawrence and Miss Janeth were walking around the tables, making notes on their clipboards. Jim was on the upper level of the planetarium as they stopped at Krel's table. Miss Janeth looked impressed, he thought; Coach Lawrence... less so.
Frowning, Jim wondered how much of Steve's win in the first timeline was due to Coach dating Mrs. Palchuk. And if that would repeat or not.
Then... Porgon showed up, jumping down and crashing onto Mary and Darci's table. They both shrieked in surprise.
"Aw, man! When I don't have a weapon on me?!" Darci demanded, standing, irate.
"Ooh, this is definitely going up on social for the movie," Mary said, already filming on her phone.
"Girl, are you kidding me?" Darci demanded. Mary waved her off, never looking up from her screen.
The two of them were about the only ones who didn't run screaming. Them... and the Creepslayerz. Who apparently, unlike Darci, had come armed. And bearing their helmets.
"Take this, Creeper!" Steve yelled, charging with a baseball bat while Eli hedged farther back and tried his luck with some shuriken. Steve screamed as Porgon batted him away.
"No," Krel said, drawing his serrator as Porgon stalked toward him. "Not my project. Wait, is that a dekyon charger?" he asked, craning his neck to look at the glowing silver and blue rod Porgon held.
"Forget your project, little brother!" Aja told him, attacking. "This is a battle now!"
With a cry, Toby fell through a shadow portal above Porgon's head, armored and wielding his warhammer.
"Look out!" Douxie cried as magic began to cycle around the apparently Akiridion rod Porgon held.
Jim stared.
And something clicked in his brain. He'd raised his shield when Porgon had first blipped out of time-
"Aja! Krel! Shield everyone!" he yelled, jumping down from the mezzanine.
A wash of blue light, and the world reset.
Douxie woke to a poke on his shoulder. "Mmm," he said, raising his head from pillow. "Day five?"
"Apparently," Jim told him.
"Lovely." Douxie reintroduced his face to the pillow.
"On the bright side," Jim said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "it looks like Aja and Krel got their shields up in time." He held the device up to Douxie, who looked at the Ninth Configuration group chat. It was already filling with comments from Toby, Claire, and the Tarrons... as well as questions from Varvatos, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh. "Come on, breakfast at the Tarrons'."
"What is going on?" Archie asked as Douxie made his way to the dresser.
"Time loop," Douxie and Jim answered in unison.
"Ahh. I see."
"Okay, so we know where Porgon's going to be, and when." Claire had her hand on her hip as she considered. "We just need to figure out what to do."
"Obviously, we must extract this 'dekyon charger' from his grasp," Blinky pointed out.
"Yes, but how?" Aja, in her natural form, threw her upper hands in the air, stalking around her living room. "I doubt we can simply ask him for it."
"Jim, do you have any ideas?" Krel asked. "How did we solve this last time?"
"I don't know!" Jim said. "This," he said, taking his amulet out of his pocket and shaking it, "is not being helpful."
"What about you, Doux?" Toby asked.
The wizard shrugged from where he sat on the sofa. "Haven't the faintest. I remember this happening last time, but it resolved itself before I got involved."
"Dude, how can you be so casual about getting stuck in a freaking time loop?!"
Douxie shrugged again. "Happens to me about once a century."
"Sometimes more often," Archie put in.
Douxie nodded. "There's plenty of Brigadoons and Punxsutawneys and other localized curses out there. Helping them out's kind of part of my job."
"Not the point!" Varvatos bellowed. "If the Queen-in-Waiting and King-in-Waiting are stuck in this time loop, they must be extracted, and the rest of us must figure out how."
"Ay ay ay." Krel rolled his eyes. "It is not just us, it is everyone! Though I do agree with you."
"Anyway!" Blinky raised his voice. "As I was saying, the only way to break you all out of this time loop will be for us to remove the item which is causing it! Specifically, the Akiridion artifact from Porgon's grasp."
Aaarrrgghh rumbled softly. "Distract him?"
Glances were exchanged. "I think we can be distracting," Aja said, gesturing to herself, her brother, and Varvatos. "He will not have seen Akiridions before."
"If his grasp loosens, I can certainly grab the staff from him," Douxie said, magic flickering briefly at his fingertips.
"And then we take him out," Jim said, with a nod at Toby.
"Uh, guys? One question." Claire captured all their attention. "People are going to see this. Is that really what we want?"
Douxie breathed in and out at Claire's question, trying to still the tentacles of doubt and anxiety threatening to snare his thoughts. "I think we have to," he said quietly, drawing all attention to himself.
"Explain," Varvatos commanded.
Douxie swallowed, and made himself speak. "It's part and parcel of taking on the Arcane Order," he said, glancing up to meet Varvatos' gaze. "Their problem with humanity is how it's stamped out magic. But how can humans accept magic if they've never seen it used in their defense?"
"You think the planetarium will be a good test run?" Krel asked.
Douxie didn't want to answer. Fear was curdling low and paralyzing in his stomach. He wanted to run, to be anywhere but here. Anywhere but ground zero.
But he wasn't running anymore. He'd promised Nari. Promised Jim. Promised Barbara.
Promised himself.
"I've no idea," he said honestly. "But what else are we working toward? We want Arcadia to accept trolls, and Akiridions, and... well, anything else that may come up. How can we do that, if we don't do this?"
His hands, he noticed, were trembling. He balled them up, holding them against his jeans to hide it. He felt cold, despite the warmth of his hoodie.
Jim, he knew, saw it, saw his weakness. He wondered if any of the others did.
Archie jumped down from the back of the sofa, wending his way onto Douxie's lap. Douxie buried his hands in his familiar's fur, grateful for the warmth, the support.
It was almost enough.
"He's right," Jim said, looking away, at the others. "We have to do this. We have to start showing everyone that they don't need to be afraid of us."
"Well spoken, Master Jim," Blinky agreed.
Around the room, heads were nodding, one after another, as they each came, however reluctantly, to the same conclusion.
"All right," Jim said. "Let's do this, team."
Author's Note: Douxie references the movies Brigadoon and Groundhog Day. Toby also references Groundhog Day, though slightly more obliquely, when he lists the things Jim could do with endless time loop repeats. (Though he subs in learning Spanish for learning French.)
