Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 25th June 2022

They'd gotten into the base. Into the building. Back out of the building.

"One more wall to get past," Jim said, peering around the corner of a building and hoping he was remembering the layout of 49-B correctly.

"I would... really... like to reiterate... my request for a truck!" Toby panted. He shifted Varvatos' dead sleeping weight on his back and looked up at Jim. "Or even like a wheelbarrow."

"As soon as we see one," Jim promised.

"Can you not just use your hammer?" Aja asked Toby. "You were able to move the entire Mothership with it."

Toby blinked. Then grinned large, warhammer materializing in his hand. He floated up for a second, before he managed to fine-tune his use of the hammer's gravity spell, toes returning to the ground. "Oh wow. That's so much better. Thanks, Aja!"

Jim also grinned as he peered around the next corner. The grin fell, his eyes widening as he ducked back, flattening himself to the wall and gestured for the others to do the same. A squad of Army men, bearing weapons, came trotting down the street. His heart pounded wild in his ears as he reached for Excalibur-

But the men went running past, not even looking right or left. Which was probably good, because Aja, Krel, and Toby's hammer all glowed.

"I wonder where they're going," Claire murmured.

Toby snorted. "We're missing two wizards and a dragon, and you have to ask?"

Jim stared after the soldiers. If Toby was right (and he probably was), if they were going where Douxie was...

Douxie had told him not to wait for them. That they'd find their own way home.

He'd asked for Jim to trust him.

And he did, really he did.

But there was a large part of him screaming that was his friend, that was his brother, that was one of his people...

"That was Kubritz," Aja said lowly, glaring at the soldiers.

Jim's brain screeched to a halt. "What?"

Aja's fingers were tight on Krel's barely conscious form; he made a protesting whimper. Aja clearly forced herself to relax. "Leading those soldiers," she said, nodding after them. "The woman in front. That was Colonel Kubritz."

Jim hadn't even noticed the woman leading the group. But then, he'd never been up against Colonel Kubritz until today, wouldn't even be able to pick her out of a lineup.

His gaze dropped to Krel. Who was the one who'd gotten hurt. Who had the best right to choose what path they were going to set on now. Out of the compound, or into the fire?

"Krel," Jim said. Cyan-black eyes cracked open. "Do you want us to go after Kubritz now, or leave it for later?" When Krel would be able to participate.

Krel blinked a couple times, like he was having trouble processing the question. "Is... is Douxie...?"

Jim nodded. "They're probably heading for him and Archie and Zoe. The question is, do we trust they can handle themselves... or do we go interfere?"

Krel's gaze went hazy again. "You humans have that book..." he said slowly.

"What, the Bible?" asked Toby.

Krel shook his head. "It had something about... all for one?"

"Oh, The Three Musketeers!" Illumination crossed Claire's face. "All for one, and one for all?"

Krel nodded. "Yes, that was it." His eyes fixed on Jim's. "I know you want to trust Douxie. But I also know no one gets left behind."

"Or forgotten," Aja murmured like a benediction.

Jim set his jaw and nodded. Douxie had asked for his trust. Jim gave it to him, implicitly. But he also had an obligation to his people.

"Come on," he said to the others. "The coast's clear. For now."

Behind the backs of the military, they scurried to the next building, following the soldiers into danger.


Douxie could wish for a sword. Or a... well, technically he had Aja and Krel's serrators, but unlike Jim, he'd never learned to use one. In hindsight, that seemed a mistake. And he'd left his new broom at the far end of the base. Not that he thought a simple broom would do anything against the might of the US military, particularly when armed with adapted alien technology. But having something in his hands to attempt defense might at least help him feel better.

"You're nervous," Archie murmured. Up ahead of them, another lamp exploded with a pop! as Zoe stomped on.

"We're only going up against all of 49-B, what's to be nervous about?" Douxie jested.

Archie's voice dropped, until Douxie could barely hear him. "Do you need one of your pills?"

Oddly enough... "No," Douxie answered. They were in the thick of it, and adrenaline was providing all the emotional stability he needed at the moment. He appreciated Archie's discretion, though. He didn't know how Zoe would react to finding out he was on head meds. Sometimes she could be unexpectedly kind and understanding about things.

Most of the time, though, Douxie irritated her. Which... well, he usually didn't mean to. Things just happened, and they generally happened in ways that underlined the general dumbassery that he'd never been able to shake.

Case in point: they were in the middle of Area 49-B, and instead of hightailing it for the hills like any sensible wizard might do, they were heading for the dead center of the compound.

Which...

Douxie stopped short. Turned around. Looked at the long darkness behind them, a direct trail of shattered light and broken surveillance equipment.

"...They know where we're going," he realized. "Fuzzbuckets." His head whipped around. "Zoe!" he yelled just as she stormed into the open area of the street where Johnny lay buried.

Green plasma met pink electricity even as Douxie lunged forward, too far away to reach her in time, too far to yank her back out of range-

Zoe dropped like a hot mike, her magic overwhelmed by alien-derived technology.

A roar sounded, shaking windows in their glass panels as Archie dropped Douxie's seeming and slipped into another. The great black dragon that had flown in over the walls leapt into the air and came down protectively over Zoe, sheltering her between all four great paws.

Douxie heard a woman's muffled yell, and then there were several thump sounds, and-

Nets came raining down on Archie, tangling and binding him.

Douxie stood frozen, his feet iced to the ground as a nightmare come to life, his best friend, his familiar, his other half caught and tangled, thrashing in the nets-

"Electrify!" the command came next, and that jolted Douxie out of his petrification.

A desperately flung hand levitated the nets even as Archie disappeared, doubtless shifting to a smaller size, a mouse perhaps. Hisirdoux could feel the crackling electricity surging through the nets. And it was a lot.

Bleeding balroths, what kind of voltage are they using?

He managed to keep the nets suspended, twitching like Archie was still full-sized inside them, until the electricity surge abated. Then he let them collapse in a gentle heap, praying that there wouldn't be a second surge. Zoe was unconscious; he didn't know how she could handle it. And Arch didn't have any affinity for lightning.

He hoped Zoe was unconscious. She had to be. If 49-B had killed her as well as Johnny...

Douxie edged closer to the corner, trying to hear what was going on.

"Is it dead?" the woman's voice came again. Douxie's blood chilled. He knew that voice, had heard it shouting orders and demands more than once, when she'd been after the Tarrons in another lifetime.

She'd caught them in this one.

"Today has been enough of a shit show," Colonel Kubritz said. "I don't care who or what that is. I do care that it's probably shut down our operations for months. Kill it."

"But ma'am-"

"Did I stutter, Costas?"

"No, ma'am."

Hisirdoux's blood turned to ice. And from that ice came cold resolve. Not even thinking, not needing to think, he bolted from his shadowed safety, already preparing the spell as weapons were raised again.

Placing himself firmly between Archie, Zoe, and the beings that would slaughter them.

"Tenebrius Exilium!"


Jim didn't even need to hear Douxie's voice to know exactly what was going on. The light show splashing over the tops of the buildings was clue enough: sky blue magic clashing against glowing green the exact color of neurometer blasts.

"Oh, that is so not good," Toby said from behind him.

"Jim, what do we do?" asked Claire.

Jim's jaw set. "What we came here to do. We save Douxie's ass, kick Kubritz's, and bail."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Aja inquired.

He had absolutely no idea. But he'd done some of his best work that way. "Wing it," Jim said with a shrug.

"Ugh." Aja rolled her eyes.

Still, even winging it, he needed a rough idea of what to do. "Step one," Jim muttered, "find out what's going on." He eyed the building that stood between them and the Kubritz-and-Douxie showdown. It had glass windows, but more importantly, a brick facade. "Aja," he said, turning to her. "If we leave Varvatos here with you, do you think you can defend him and Krel?" Because any of them were probably up to the job, but Aja was the most volatile, and he didn't want her to just barrel straight toward Kubritz in a firefight situation.

(Though given what Krel looked like, he definitely could not blame her if that was her automatic reaction.)

She looked thoughtful. "If I use Varvatos' serrator... yes," she decided with a nod.

"Great. Toby, put Varvatos down. You and Claire follow me." Taking a step back from the wall, Jim concentrated... and shifted from one form to another.

The half-troll shape was like his own second skin by now. He leapt higher, and his stone hands caught easily on the wall. Going up was easy. He almost wondered what Coach Lawrence would say if he could see Jim scaling this wall.

And then he was at the top. Claire appeared out of a portal an instant later, and Toby dropped into a crouch on Jim's other side, warhammer slung over one shoulder and glowing. As one, they crossed the roof, avoiding air conditioning units, loose gravel, and the door to the stairwell with ease.

Peering down the other side of the roof, Jim's eyes widened at the firefight going on there.


His magic pushed. Their neurometers pushed back. There were at least a dozen of the weapons, and only one of him.

I was able to hold off two-thirds of the Arcane Order. I can do this.

Blue light shivered, gave an inch.

I was a master then. I'm not now.

Another inch lost. He needed to concentrate.

They can't have Arch. They can't have Zoe.

Thoughts tumbled around his brain, formless and disjointed. He couldn't save Merlin. Or Nari. He'd lost Archie, he couldn't survive that again. He wouldn't.

Another inch lost. And then three more.

Shut up, Douxie told his brain. Shut up shut up SHUT UP AND FIGHT!

Blue magic against green plasma bolts, and they outnumbered him...

He couldn't hold this spell and prepare another. All Kubritz needed to do was call in reinforcements, and he was sure she had them. He didn't. Archie was out cold. Zoe was unconscious. He'd told Jim to rescue the Tarrons and get going.

Douxie was on his own, and he was going to lose.

Thoughts of a Pyrrhic victory teased at him. It was more or less what he'd tried to do to the Order, on their castle. He could try it again. Detonate his magic, let it raze Kubritz and her precious compound of atrocities. Take out a threat to the well-being and survival of magic folk and extraterrestrials everywhere.

It might be worth it.

Jim would kill him.

And Douxie wanted to live, to see what Jim might become, to see the future he would build...

...But sometimes you didn't get the chance to do what you wanted.

His jaw set as he was pushed back another foot, his feet sliding on the pavement.

His mouth started to form the word "Goodbye."

Which was when salvation fell from the heavens, or at least the nearest building roof, in the form of a 6'3" half-troll wielding Excalibur.

The sword sliced through neurometer barrels like they were constructed of tissue paper, Jim spinning and slashing the blade with ease, like it was an extension of his arm.

King Arthur would have turned green with jealousy, Douxie thought, and then purple with apoplectic rage, to see his divine blade wielded so masterfully by another.

His magic sputtering out, drips of blue plasma falling from his fingertips to the ground, Douxie could only watch as, one after another, the neutered neurometers exploded in their wielders' faces.

Most of Kubritz's minions hit the ground. She herself stood, indomitable, having thrown her weapon away the instant it was compromised.

"Teach?" Claire's hand touched Douxie's shoulder. He whirled to look at her.

"What are you-" The words doing here died in his throat as Douxie saw, beyond her, the glowing shape of Toby's warhammer.

The way out of this, the way to win, was suddenly as bright and obvious as a summer day.

"Toby!" Douxie pushed past Claire. "Break the street."

"What?" Toby blinked at him.

"Break the street," Douxie told him, pointing at the middle of the road. "Just do it, I'll explain later."

"Oh-kay." The Trollhunter looked dubious, but nonetheless hefted his weapon. With a loud cry, he rushed past Douxie and Claire, jumped into the air, and hit the street, right in its dead center, with all the might his enchanted warhammer could bring to bear.

"NO!" yelled Kubritz.

The sheer energy Toby's hammer released made the ground ripple with impact tremors. Somewhere, a USGS employee was undoubtedly going nuts, trying to figure out if there'd been an earthquake on a previously unknown fault line, or if they'd just detected a bomb test.

The tarmac crumbled, and Toby went green as he saw what was revealed beneath. "Uh, Douxie..."

Steadying himself, Douxie walked up to Toby, put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to look," he told the younger teenager.

"You can't-" Kubritz's voice was cut off by a very Jim-sounding growl.

Douxie looked down into the pit, and saw what he'd expected: a corpse, curled into fetal position. The poor lighting caught on blond hair. Johnny's face was in shadow, for which Douxie was grateful.

Coming up on his other side, Claire swallowed. "Douxie..."

"His name was Johnny," he said quietly, calling hexfire to his hand. It came slowly, sluggishly. He needed rage to make it, but everything felt walled off right now, so it was slow going. "He was a friend. Zoe's ex, if you can believe it."

"What's... why's he here?" asked Toby.

Douxie breathed a laugh. There was no humor in it, only pain. "Someone lured him here. He always wanted to be a hero. Telling him he'd be protecting the planet? Must've seemed like catnip to him."

"And then..." Claire looked pale.

"And then they buried him alive," Douxie confirmed. "Right in the center of the sigil that the streets of this place make up. Meaning it would stand, and be protected, for as long as he lay here." The hexfire in his hand was too bright to look at, too hot to touch. It was ready. "Be at peace, Johnny Cooper," Douxie said, and dropped it into his grave.

White flame instantly roared, filling the pit, soaring high above their heads as the incinerant did its work.

Kubritz's scream of denial was almost lost to Douxie's ears as he closed his eyes and walked away.

A wave of his hand shifted the pile of nets off Archie and Zoe. Kneeling, Douxie touched fingers to her neck.

Pulse steady. Breathing even, he thought, relieved.

Next, Douxie picked up the black rat that lay beside her. He cradled his familiar in his arms, stroking over Archie's sleek fur. Golden light rippled, Archie shifting instinctively back to a cat, though he did not regain consciousness. But despite Kubritz's best efforts, Archie was still alive.

Around them, the magic was melting away off the buildings, the walls. It only fueled his anger, simmering rage bubbling higher with each step Douxie took.

She'd tried to kill Zoe.

She'd tried to kill Archie.

She'd murdered Johnny-

The Tarrons came around the corner, presumably drawn by Kubritz's cry. Aja carried an unconscious Varvatos, and a limping Krel was putting most of his weight on his sister's shoulder. The sight of what had been done to Krel-clearly injured and bloody, barely conscious-was finally one thing too much. The pot tipped over.


Jim stepped back quickly and warily as Douxie abruptly changed course and headed straight for him and Kubritz. The look on his face...

Jim had never been scared of Douxie before. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest as he tried to figure out what he'd done wrong-

Only for Douxie to ignore him entirely and stop before Kubritz. The wizard's fingers stilled on Archie's fur as he looked coldly at Kubritz. The military woman drew herself up, glaring balefully at the teenager. "You have no idea what you've done-" she spat.

A slash of Douxie's hand formed a muzzle on her face. Kubritz's eyes widened. She clawed at it, to no avail.

Douxie's pupils had contracted to mere pinpoints, Jim saw. Tiny dots in a sea of green-rimmed gold. But he turned to Jim. "My liege," Douxie said. "I beg of you a boon."

Douxie, very clearly, was not capable of seeing Jim as his brother right now. Only as his king.

Searching for that thread of righteousness, of authority, that /made/ him a king, and desperately trying to remember the lessons on Shakespearean improv Miss Janeth had put her cast members through, Jim drew himself up. Nodded. "Speak," he said.

"Allow me justice," Douxie said. "For my friends. For the fallen." His fingers tightened on Archie's fur. "For my familiar." He was entirely tense.

Jim's own idea of justice involved a gut wound for Kubritz. He wouldn't have let pass any troll who'd remorselessly done what she had; why should a human monster deserve greater mercy? Kubritz was as bad as Usurna, murdering and torturing without cause, without mercy.

She'd hurt his friends. His people.

Jim's hand tightened on Excalibur's blade. The green gem in his crown was glowing. He could feel it tight against his head, a check, a control, asking him do you really want to do this?

He did.

He didn't want Kubritz /dead/ (except for the part of him that really, really did). He wanted her sorry. He wanted her to understand that what she'd done was wrong, and why.

He couldn't get any of that. She was not his; he could not compel her, because she had no loyalty to him.

Douxie had a greater right to vengeance than Jim. It was his friend who'd been murdered to fuel the magic on this hellpit.

Jim swallowed, and hoped he wasn't about to make a mistake.

"For what she has done," he said, "I grant you vengeance."

Douxie sketched a bow. But though it was shallower than the ones he'd given to King Arthur once upon a time, it felt real.

Douxie turned back to Colonel Kubritz. "Fuck you," he said quietly.

Jim sucked in a breath, his eyes going wide. Douxie had told him he didn't curse, /why/ he didn't curse-

"You shall reap as you have sown." The sound of the wizard's words echoed through the universe like any of his spells did, somehow deeper and more meaningful than vocal acting tricks could account for. Like the universe /listened/ to him. Then he turned and walked away.

Holy crap. He cursed her. He actually cursed her...

A few yards away, Douxie got stopped by Claire, who said something and gestured at Kubritz. The wizard flicked a hand without looking back; a blue spark flew through the air and landed on the muzzle, dissolving it.

"How dare you-" Kubritz immediately started shouting at Douxie's back. She reached inside her jacket, whipped out a pistol-

Excalibur slid along her throat, Jim growling.

Kubritz froze.

"Drop it," Jim said.

"You don't have the guts, freak," Kubritz spat.

Excalibur pressed closer into her throat. Dark red lined its edge, beaded up. Ran down the blade. A drop fell to the ground.

It was still a long moment before she obeyed, the weapon clattering to the ground. Never looking away from Kubritz, Jim toed the weapon, and kicked it into Douxie's inferno.

"You touch him," Jim promised lowly, "you touch any of them ever again, and that day will be your last."

Her eyes were wide, terrified. But he had to give her points for bravado. "You wouldn't dare."

"He cursed you. Don't think I'm as merciful." Jim's eyes drifted to Aja, who was looking at the sword he had to Kubritz's throat. He couldn't pretend that the Akiridion princess didn't look like she wanted his grasp to just slip. "You've made some bad enemies today, Colonel. Compounding your errors would be poor judgment."

And there had to be be something of the divine king in his voice, because the minute he pulled Excalibur away, Kubritz crumpled to her knees among the rubble and bodies of her minions.

Jim left her there. Taking a page from Douxie's book, he didn't look back.


They followed Douxie out of Area 49-B. The wizard had hovered by Zoe, looking torn. But his arms were taken up by Archie, and Claire had the feeling that Douxie was incapable of putting his unconscious familiar down right now. So Jim had scooped up Zoe instead and carried her to safety. Claire wasn't tall enough or strong enough to lift Krel in his human form, let alone his Akiridion one, and he was too tall to piggyback on Toby the way Varvatos had, but she and Toby collected his and Aja's backpacks and did their best to help him limp along. Aja carried Varvatos, with a lot less complaining than Toby.

Area 49-B looked like it had been through an earthquake. She guessed it kind of had. Toby's warhammer was impressive.

They didn't see anyone else.

It didn't take long for their group to get to the front gates. Which were shut.

She raised her hand to make a portal to outside, now that the wards were destroyed, but was forestalled by the gates shoving open, limned by blue magic.

Given the screeching/grating/crunching sounds they were making... Claire winced.

"Yeah, I don't think they'll be able to use those doors again," agreed Toby, nodding.

"Good," Krel muttered, surprisingly vicious for someone on the verge of passing out.

Outside, they were greeted by another surprise. Stuart's taco truck sat waiting, unblemished. Somewhere upward of forty military-uniformed bodies laid unconscious on the ground around it.

"Hey there, kiddos!" Lucy, wielding a frying pan, stuck her head out the concession window.

Several of them exchanged glances. "What... happened here?" Aja asked eventually.

"Oh, just a few rapscallions and scallywags!" Ricky reported cheerfully. "Nothing we couldn't handle."

"Oh my goodness!" Lucy dropped the pan with a clatter and vaulted out the window, beelining for Krel. "You look like you've gotten into a bit of a tiff, honey!"

He coughed. "Been better," he confessed to the robot.

"Well, we'll get you fixed up in a jiffy!" She hefted Krel in her arms, cradling the Akiridion prince like he weighed nothing, and headed back for the truck. "Sweetiepie, I need the first aid kit!"

"Anything for my honeybunch!" Ricky disappeared into the vehicle's depths.

"Well, that's nauseating," Toby observed.

"You should see them at home," Aja told him.


The drive back to Stuart's ship was quiet and crowded. Lucy fussed over Krel while Ricky drove. Zoe and Varvatos were out cold. Douxie had wedged himself into a corner of the truck, still wearing his armor, and was pretty much unresponsive, curled around the unconscious form of his familiar.

Sitting beside his besties, all three of them having shed their own magical armor, Toby wondered.

They'd left Area 49-B a smoking wreck behind them. Kubritz was out of commission, definitely for now, possibly forever.

They'd won.

So why didn't it feel like a victory?


Author's Note: In addition to The Three Musketeers, Aja and Krel's also reference my other favorite blue alien: Stitch, of Lilo and Stitch. One thing that I could just simply not make fit into this chapter/arc was a gloating reference by Kubritz to The Cask of Amontillado. Alas.