Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 16th December 2022

Nomura looked dubiously at the wizard. "And you," she said, "are going to carry the entire bridge outside? All by yourself?" Her gesture took in the next room, where the multiple tons of weight that was Killahead Bridge waited.

"Got to, don't I?" Hisirdoux Casperan sassed back. But underneath his cocky bluster, she could see that he was as worried as she was.

Outside, the sun was setting; on the other side of Killahead, in the Darklands, Gunmar was surely stirring up his troops for the battle to come, readying them for the bridge's location change. Luckily, they'd been able to sell their case to him that not having it open out into the bottleneck of the museum was a good thing. Gunmar was probably also getting restive.

Nomura was certain the fell lord could, and would, manage that particular set of multitasking.

She was equally sure that she and Strickler were likely to be among his prime targets, regardless of the fact that they were the ones freeing him.

Gunmar knew they were traitors.

An impure's life had never been worth anything to him.

But if she died, so did her familiar. Zel, Zel, Zel, her heart sang, an agonizing song. Nomura cared for so little, but the thought of that dark-eyed baby, laughing in her Darklands cradle, being snuffed out-

No, that was too much to bear.

So she'd kill Gunmar, or the Trollhunter would, and Zel would be safe.

There was no other acceptable path.


Douxie breathed out and leaned against the wall, flicking through the songs saved on his phone. He needed something with a strong beat, something that would let him lose himself in it.

Because screw what Yoda said, there was a difference between levitating a rock and levitating an entire spaceship, let alone something that weighed as much as Killahead did.

I could do it if I had my staff. He'd seen Merlin or Morgana levitate significantly heavier structures than one bridge.

But I haven't got my staff, now have I?

Another One Bites The Dust appealed. But thematically Stayin' Alive was much more appropriate. Or maybe Relax...

"That." Archie, on his shoulder, jabbed a paw at the screen.

Douxie looked at what his familiar was indicating. "Daft Punk? You sure?"

"Absolutely. It will put you in a zone, which will be more useful than whatever you're thinking."

"My thoughts are seldom of use," Douxie snarked, but obeyed his dragon familiar, putting his headphones in and starting the song. His eyes closed as he slid the phone into his pocket; the music started and his fingers twitched to the beat. He took another breath, let the sound settle into his bones. His eyes opened and he stepped into the gallery, ready to move a bridge.

He didn't need multiple points of focus for this, just one single focus that was really big and flat, to lift the whole structure at once from the bottom.

He could feel his pupils contract into pinpricks as he lost vision in favor of sensation, straining against the force of the Earth itself to lift the bridge even an inch. Wizardry versus gravity-

The hand held out before himself trembled as he fought. He needed to move this bridge. He was the only one with anywhere near the magic muscle to do so-

One of his earbuds was plucked out.

Zoe stepped up by his side, putting it in her own ear. She made an expression of distaste at his musical choice, but said nothing as she reached out her hand by his, the electric pink of her wizardry supplementing his, brightening the blue glow beneath the bridge that lifted just a micron, shifting.

"By yourself? Seriously?" On Douxie's other side, two more figures stepped into line, their own magics coming to join force. Jamie's deep earthy brown melded seamlessly with Jack's blue-white.

The bridge lifted higher, half an inch off the ground. Enough to move it, if only just.

"Oh, you're starting without me?" Another wizard stepped up to the task, lending a hand. Hiccup's gold-brown flames joined the fray.

When was the last time, Douxie wondered, that he'd seen so many mages lend their power to a singular task?

Never, he concluded.

"Ready, Teach!" That was Claire by the doorway, and beside her Mary. The latter firmed her jaw and added dark navy magic to the rainbow levitation mix. Claire cast her hands out before herself, opening a portal to the steps in front of the museum.

Archie leapt from Douxie's shoulder, transforming mid-air into a dragon. He hovered over the bridge. "And, pull," Archie directed from his aerial post.

Slowly, Killahead began to move.


"Totally awesome!" Toby squealed, filming for all he was worth as the team of seven wizards walked slowly out of Claire's portal, their mingled and mixed magics pulling Killahead Bridge after them.

"Holy crud," Eli whispered by his side, his eyes owl-wide behind his glasses.

"Ah, how much does that bridge weigh?" Krel asked. "And they are transporting it intact?"

"Dunno why you're surprised," Toby told him, slowly panning as the bridge drifted down the front steps, light as a feather, like a leaf drifting in a stream. There was a gaping, jabbering crowd growing on the sidewalk and in the park. "They're wizards."

"They are none of them master wizards," Krel pointed out.

"Yeah, but they've got Douxie leading them," Jim pointed out, joining them.

"So?" Toby asked through his camera lens.

Jim smiled. "Douxie might not think it, but he's actually pretty good at herding cats." A subtle gesture at the hovering Archie underlined his point.

"Psht. Pot, kettle," Toby rejoined.


At last the bridge was in place, spanning 3rd St., courtesy of traffic cones having blocked off the parking on either side earlier.

Douxie did feel bad about what was shortly to be unleashed on the vehicles remaining parked around the square, but… well, he had his priorities. And if it was protecting some cars versus taking out Gunmar and retrieving Claire's blood brother? He would come down on the side of the people. Always.

"You didn't park in the square, did you?" he asked Hiccup.

The other mage snorted. "No, I'm two blocks out. I did listen when you described what's going to be going on."

"Just wanted to check," Douxie glanced back and forth between Hiccup and Zoe. "Are you going to play nice if I wander over to make sure we're on track?"

"I feel that's more of a question for her," Hiccup drawled. "But sure. Tannlaus, sit."

The kelpie (currently shaped like a dog) looked up at him for a long minute, then very deliberately, and very ostentatiously, sat.

Hiccup gave Douxie a look as if to say "See what I have to put up with?"

"At least he doesn't fleece you at chess," Douxie murmured, causing Hiccup to grin. "'Scuse me."


"So, you ready for this, Jimbo?" Toby held out his fist, expecting a best friend fistbump back.

But Jim just looked at him before shaking his head, his mouth a line. "I'm really not."

"What? But…."

Jim drew a deep breath, as if screwing up his courage. He glanced over at Douxie, who had separated from his wizard friends and was coming their way. "I am… not happy about going back into the Darklands," he confessed in a low voice. "I thought I was over what happened there, but I'm not." He swallowed. "I'm really not."

"Oh, Jim." Claire put her arms around him while Toby stood there, feeling stupid. It hadn't even occurred to him that Jim might still be having issues. It had been literal years, after all!

Some best friend I am, he thought glumly.

"Master Jim," Blinky said softly, laying a hand on Jim's shoulder. "I had no idea you felt that way."

Jim laughed softly as Douxie finally joined them. The laugh almost wasn't bitter. "Look," Jim said, glancing around what was most of the Ninth Configuration, "I'm going to do it. That's not even a question. But I just wanted you all to know I feel this way."

Krel shrugged. "From what I understand of your species, an injury will leave a scar. Is this not expected?"

"Yeah," said Jim. "We just tend to be weird about scars in our heads. Psyches. Whatever."

"Eh." Aja shrugged. "A scar is a lesson learned."

Douxie snorted. "Remind me to introduce you to Hiccup's wife," he told the princess. He looked around the group. "Do we need to do the Hero's Speech?"

Krel's eyes lit up, but Jim laughed again, shaking his head. "Thanks for the offer," he told Douxie. "But let's consider it said, unsaid."

"Aww," Krel complained.

Toby drew a deep breath. "So," he said. "Are we ready?"

Considering glances went all around the circle. "I guess we are," Jim finally said for everyone. "Let's do this."


The sun had slipped fully beneath the horizon and the brilliant sunset was fading into the gloaming as Waltolomew and Nomura walked up to the bridge, their "prisoner" held between them. Glowing mist filled the bridge's arch. Gunmar was listening.

"No tricks, little human," Nomura growled, a sharp blade held to Tobias Domzalski's neck.

He swallowed, almost a little too theatrically. "No tricks!" he squeaked.

Before them, the bridge loomed. "My lord," Waltolomew said, bowing to the bridge, "the hour of your freedom and vengeance is here." To Toby, "Place the amulet in the bridge, Trollhunter."

Toby looked up at the bridge, which was significantly taller than he was. "Uh. Got a ladder?"

Nomura snorted. "Boost him, Stricklander."

"So kind, Nomura," he rejoined. Waltolomew let his human seeming drop, in favor of his troll form's wiry strength.

The human onlookers, who probably thought this was some form of street theater or performance art, gasped. Well, hopefully they would have the sense to clear the field soon enough.

Ignoring them, Waltolomew grasped Toby by the waist and lifted him up. The boy surprised him; Toby was definitely as heavy as his form suggested, but beneath the fat, Waltolomew could feel muscle. The past several months of Trollhunting had done him good.

He just hoped those months of experience and exercise served well enough today.

Gulping, Toby pushed the amulet into the bridge.

The bridge's mist changed, glowing brighter even as deep blue magic limned all the stones and cracks of the bridge. From within, a deep, approving chuckle could be heard; Gunmar was pleased.

Toby pulled himself up, scrambling atop the bridge as Stricklander stepped back and away.

And off to the side, James Lake, Jr., pressed the first of the three glowing green stones on the sides of the kairosect.


Time stopped. Nothing moved. Not the people watching, not Archie's wings beating in the air.

For all he'd done this once before, it was still deeply weird to see.

Jim drew a deep breath and pressed the countdown timer on his watch. He stuffed the kairosect into his messenger bag. Stepping forward, he grabbed Aja's hoverboard from her motionless hands and walked toward the glowing bridge.

Allowing himself one more look around at his friends, his family, (but only one, because otherwise he'd lose his nerve), Jim swallowed, and walked into the bridge underneath the bridge.

Reality swam around him for a second, turning upside down and backwards, until he stood in the one place he'd wished to never see again.

Looking up, Jim paled. He bolted backwards out of instinct, his shoulder slamming into the stone of the bridge. He glanced off, spinning, and came face to face with Dictatious' frozen form.

Dictatious looked way too pleased about what was about to happen. How much of it had he helped plan?

If it wasn't for the fact that Blinky wanted his brother alive, Jim would have happily run Dictatious through with Excalibur, then and there.

Jim drew a shuddering breath. "Fuck you," he told Dictatious, and forced himself to turn away.

He wasn't here to decimate Gunmar's army. And they were pretty sure that Excalibur couldn't kill Gunmar.

"I am here," Jim told himself, the only voice in the silence, "to rescue Enrique."

Turning away from the amassed army, he surveyed his surroundings.

And managed ten steps before the world swam around him and he fell to his knees, tears hot on his cold cheeks.


He lay there, hyperventilating on the unforgiving cold stone of the Darklands, surrounded by Gumm-Gumm statues, until something intruded on his consciousness, nudging him out of it.

A beeping.

It was…

It was…

It was his countdown timer, Jim realized.

It meant he had three minutes until the first time freeze ran out.

He had wasted forty minutes having a breakdown.

Cold ran through Jim, presaging another breakdown, one he didn't have time for now–

The gem on his circlet began to shine, a soft, gentle green.

Nimue's magic. Her regard for him.

He couldn't let her down. Couldn't let everyone down.

Jim shoved to his feet. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. He grabbed Aja's hoverboard and took off running. He needed to get as far clear as he could before the kairosect's first charge ran out.

Fortunately the thick cleared out rapidly, Gumm-Gumms becoming spaced out a short distance from the bridge, letting Jim set down the hoverboard and clamber up onto it.

Leaning forward, the board began to move just as the kairosect's magic wore off.

Jim pulled the magic artifact out of his bag and pressed the second crystal. It darkened.

He had eighty-six minutes and eighteen seconds to find Enrique and get back through the bridge. Less than an hour and a half.


Aja's board was fantastic, Jim discovered, and he could use it to soar over canyon openings, given enough momentum. But what it could not do was go up vertical cliffs.

He stood at the bottom and glared, growling at the obstacle. He'd need to free-climb the fucking thing, and that was going to take time. Time that was rapidly running out. And unlike with his bag, he didn't have a way to hold onto the hoverboard and climb at the same time. So he was going to lose it for the rest of the first half of this run.

Something in his growling tickled the back of his brain. There was an idea there–

Jim blinked as it came to fruition.

He gritted his teeth and, hating it, closed his eyes, shifting in a flash of blue to his full troll form. Monstrous and powerful, destructive…

But also strong, and able to scale this wall in seconds.

His messenger bag was now wrapped around his forearm like it was a lady's handbag. Jim flexed his claws, considering, looked at the sheer almost-obsidian of the wall, and grabbed Aja's board, biting into it with his teeth, just to hold the thing, as he backed up two steps and leapt, his claws sinking into the wall.

Jim climbed.


The kairosect's second charge ran out before he got to the Nursery. Jim didn't allow himself to curse. He'd lost too much time already. He just used the third charge and reset his watch.

Forty-three minutes left.


Twenty minutes later, he finally got the the Nursery. Back in human form, it was easy to leap from cradle to cradle without worrying about the goblins. Jim even remembered which one Enrique was in, so he didn't have to spend his time searching.

"Hey, there," Jim whispered, his own voice the only thing in the silence. He reached into his bag and pulled out the other item he'd been keeping in it: a baby carrier. He strapped it on, as he'd practiced in the Nuñez home. He picked up Enrique, who might as well have been a doll for how still he was, and snugged him in, fastening the latches. The material of the carrier, and Enrique's chips-salsa-and-guacamole pattern onesie, should be enough to protect him from the edges of Jim's armor plates.

Jim took a deep breath, and dropped back to the ground, where the hoverboard waited.

Twenty-three minutes left.


Eighty-nine minus twenty-three left sixty-six minutes.

How do I make up sixty-six minutes? Jim thought. They're either going to have to close the bridge, and I'm going to have to hold out against the goblins, or….

Or Toby wasn't going to have armor. Against Gunmar. For an entire hour.

The only reason Gunmar hadn't killed Jim was because he couldn't.

The thought of him anywhere near an armorless Toby made Jim sick to his stomach.

He glanced at his wrist as the hoverboard coasted down a gentle hill covered with razor-sharp rock spikes. Fifteen minutes.

I can fight the goblins. Probably. But Enrique's outside the armor. They'll find a way to cut the straps and take him back.

The hoverboard soared across a chasm. Something glowed murky red in its depths.

I don't know how many goblins there are. Hundreds, maybe thousands. And some of them would be Blood Goblins, which were even worse than the normal kind.

Ten minutes.

I can't fail, Jim knew. But how can I win?


He pressed on, flying as fast as he could. Like leaning farther forward could somehow magically increase the hoverboard's top speed. He even risked using it off that cliff, praying it wouldn't shatter on impact.

The rear of the hoverboard bounced and scraped on the ground, nearly sending Jim and his precious cargo flying, but he managed to recover and keep going.

His watch sounded, and they were nowhere near the bridge.

Jim gritted his teeth and tried to think. That damning sixty-six minutes.

The time freeze ended.

Enrique gurgled and looked up at him, his big dark eyes looking so much like Claire's. "Hey," Jim said softly despite the panic curdling in his stomach. "I know you don't remember me, but I'm your sister's boyfriend."

A spit bubble. "Yeah." Jim laughed lowly. "James Lake, Junior. Pleased to meet you, Enrique. Your family's waiting to get you back."

A coo. Then a hand patting at Jim's armor. At the blue glow of the amulet embedded in his armor. "That's my magic amulet," Jim told the infant.

Enrique whacked at it insistently.

"I'm afraid it's a little too big for you," Jim started, then stopped. His eyes widened. "I have the Time Stone in it," he whispered.

The idea he was starting to have was big. Scary.

"I could use the Time Stone," he said slowly, sounding it out, "to recharge the kairosect. Maybe."

He wished he had Douxie here to tell him if it was something that could even work, because Jim knew shit about magic. And what Douxie had said about experimental magic being combustible made him nervous.

He swallowed.

It was either try to recharge the kairosect, or stay here and fight off a horde of goblins.

In the distance behind them, a blood-curdling howl sounded.

Jim couldn't help looking nervously over his shoulder, though he knew they were well out of visual range. "I think they've noticed you're missing," he told Enrique. Who just patted his face.


He found an alcove. Not as good as the cave he'd called home once upon a time, but it would have to do. "All right," he told Enrique, setting him down on the relatively smooth ground, "you need to stay there."

Dark eyes looked up at him uncomprehendingly.

"Here." Jim finished unbuckling the carrier and laid it on the ground next to Enrique. "Chew on a strap or something."

Enrique held uncomprehendingly onto the one Jim pressed into his plump little grasp. His eyes grew wide as Jim released his armor, the amulet floating into his hand.

"Okay," Jim said, turning it over. "Let's see if this works."

The back of the amulet unfolded like a flower, revealing the five stones within. Three for transformation, one for daylight immunity, one for time.

"Please work," Jim begged. "Please work." With shaking fingers, he took the green Time Stone out of the amulet. Wisps of emerald light ghosted off it. With his other hand, Jim fished the defunct kairosect out of his bag. All three of its gemstones were dark, cracked.

Jim swallowed.

And touched the Time Stone to the kairosect.


The explosion of green light filled the Darklands, momentarily making a lie of their name.

Goblins, who had been sniffing the ground, following the faint scent trail of their stolen baby, winced, shading their eyes from the brightness.

As it faded, they looked up. Glowing yellow eyes narrowed.

"Waka chaka!" they howled as one, and took off running in pursuit of the dying light.


"Okay," Jim said, once he'd finished seeing spots. "That's one." He looked at the baby. "Ready for two?"

Enrique clapped his hands and reached for the source of the light show.

"Two it is," Jim decided.


Two flashes of light later, the kairosect was fully recharged. "Time for us to get going," Jim decided.

A low growling from the rocks made him pause. "That… is not good," he said, backing up toward Enrique, his amulet held in one hand. His fingers fumbled, pressing the Time Stone back into the amulet. Finally it snapped into place and the back of the amulet shut. "ForthegoodofallExcaliburisminetocommand!"

Mid-armoring, the goblins finally arrived. The first, fangs and claws bared in inhuman fury, leapt for Jim's throat.

He grabbed for the first thing handy, which turned out to be Aja's hoverboard.

The goblin smashed into goo, but there were a thousand others to take its place.

Enrique screamed.

Jim whirled, to see a team of three goblins picking up Claire's brother.

His eyes narrowed. "Over my dead body," he told the goblins.

The one holding Enrique narrowed its eyes and spat something. Jim could not speak goblin, but he understood perfectly what it meant: That can be arranged.

Jim smirked, and dodged to the side. His fingers landed on the kairosect.

He pressed the green crystal.

The goblins, and Enrique, froze in time.

Jim let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. His shoulders relaxed. "It worked," he said to himself.

He allowed himself just a minute to feel relief, then he got to work, stowing the kairosect back into his bag. Putting the carrier back on. Plucking Enrique from the goblins' grasp and tucking him securely back into the carrier. Resetting his timer. And finally, mounting Aja's hoverboard again, planting his feet gingerly free of the goblin slime, and leaning forward.

He had a bridge to get to.


He had to use another charge of the kairosect to get to the bridge. "One charge left," Jim said. "One charge, and twenty-two minutes to spare." Time enough for Jim to get through Killahead, get Enrique to his mother, and figure out where he should best position himself in battle the second time resumed. And maybe to stab a few Gumm-Gumms and goblins in the meantime.

The crowd around the portal was significantly thinner now. He couldn't see Dictatious anywhere. Or Gunmar either. But the bridge was still open.

Jim swallowed. "Please be okay, Toby," he whispered, and stepped off the hoverboard.

One last look around the Darklands, and he turned to go. He had Aja's hoverboard to return to her, and he had the precious cargo snugged to his chest. It niggled at him, rescuing only one familiar from the Nursery and leaving all the others behind, but….

The changelings wanted their familiars to remain here, safe and tended, and Jim was treating them as their own people. He could not destroy their lives with another grand rescue mission, and he didn't have a cradlestone anyway.

If there was anything further for him in the Darklands, he couldn't think of it.

He walked through the bridge, and out of the Darklands, hoping he never had to come here again in his life.

And hoping his friends, and Arcadia, hadn't suffered or died for his lapse.