Swapped
Ch 5/5
TW: Blood
Ao3
Or read under the cut
The question of how Douxie would know when Merlin had come back was answered very easily. His magical presence swept into town like a hurricane of arcane energy, old and powerful. Douxie dropped the books he was shelving. “He’s here. Archie—”
“I felt it, too,” Archie murmured, “Douxie—”
Douxie didn’t wait to hear whatever it was. He bolted, following the source of magic until he came to… Jim’s house. Of course. The trollhunter. Merlin’s champion. Why wouldn’t he be there?
Still, Douxie felt enraged on the real Hisirdoux’s behalf. Shouldn’t Merlin have come to his apprentice first?!
There was nothing for it. He couldn’t approach Merlin with Jim around. He trudged back to the bookstore, silently seething. The hell. He’d been waiting, waiting for CENTURIES, and Merlin couldn’t even bother to check in on his apprentice?! What kind of master was he?!
Douxie slammed the bookstore door shut. “He’s staying with the trollhunter,” he snarled, “What was the point of opening up this store if he wasn’t even going to—”
“I think you ought to call in for work at the café tonight,” Archie said mildly.
“What?!”
Archie nodded to a cuckoo clock on the wall. It was going nuts and bananas. “I think Merlin’s trying to get us a message.”
Night fell all too quickly, and suddenly, Douxie wasn’t too sure about this whole mission. He’d never studied how Hisirdoux had interacted with his master—he couldn’t have. What if he messed it up?
The bell to the shop tinkled.
An old man in armor strode through.
Douxie took a step forward to greet Merlin.
And a pulse of magic immediately sent him flying backwards and into a bookshelf.
Douxie lay there, stunned, wondering what had just hit him. Archie hissed and flapped down to stand next to him, his back arched. “Who are you?!” the familiar demanded, “Why do you look like Merlin?!”
The old man pushed through the room and towards Douxie. “Move aside, Archibald, this is not your familiar!”
Douxie struggled to push himself up, mind racing. He didn’t know—he couldn’t! This was a test, right?! “Master—”
Another blast of magic caught him, throwing him across the room again, this time so hard the books fell off of the shelf, burying him. “You are not my apprentice!”
Archie dive-bombed Merlin, clawing at his metal-plated head. “What is the matter with you?!”
Merlin pushed him aside. “Nothing is wrong with me, now move aside and let me handle this!”
Douxie blasted his way out of the books, burning with rage. Fine! Merlin wanted a fight?! He’d get a fight! He threw spell after spell at Merlin, but the wizard just kept approaching. Douxie threw up a hasty shield as Merlin sent another magic blast, but Merlin’s magic overcame his own, and he was pushed back again. He struggled back to his feet.
“If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get,” he yelled, pulling on the fire in the grate and hurling it towards Merlin with a scream.
Merlin caught the flames and dismissed them in a puff of smoke, his eyes blazing as chains shot from his hands and wrapped around Douxie. “Where is my apprentice?!” he shouted.
Archie pushed in-between them. “Both of you, stop it!” he yowled, “Merlin, it’s Douxie! Can’t you recognize your own apprentice?!”
“I think the better question is why you can’t recognize an imposter,” Merlin growled. He held up an iron horseshoe. “Let’s see who you really are, hm?”
“This is ridiculous!” Archie snarled, “Nine centuries napping addled your mind, Merlin!”
“Then it won’t hurt anything.”
Douxie struggled to get out of the magical chains. “Don’t you get near me! Leave me alone!”
Wrong move. Archie paused, looking back at him. “Douxie?”
“Arch—don’t let him get me, you know it’s me!”
Archie shook his head, “It… it can’t hurt, right?”
The door was pushed open, and Zoe gaped. “… Douxie?!” She ran towards them, but Archie flew up.
“Wait,” he said in a resigned voice, “Something’s… not right.”
Merlin brandished the horseshoe as Douxie thrashed desperately against his bonds. “Last chance,” he thundered, “Tell the truth now, creature!”
Douxie flinched away from the iron held inches from his skin. “Fine!” he howled, “Fine, I—I’m—I’m not—” He couldn’t finish.
Merlin set down the horseshoe. “Where. Is my. Apprentice.”
Archie fell to the ground, like his wings couldn’t support him anymore. “Douxie—no, you’re not—”
“I’m sorry, Archie,” Douxie pleaded, “I never meant—I know I…”
“I’m going to ask you one more time,” Merlin growled, “Where. Is. The real. Hisirdoux.”
“I don’t know.”
Merlin grabbed him by the shirt collar. “Yes you do! You’re lying! Where have you stashed him?!”
“He’s not lying,” Zoe interjected, “He doesn’t know. He tips his head and widens his eyes when he lies.” She wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “How long?”
Douxie stared at the ground. He couldn’t look any of them in the eye either. Every dream of rescuing his parents and then continuing with Zoe and Archie was crashing down around his ears, seeming to mock him for thinking he could EVER have gotten away with it. “Eight centuries.”
Archie’s claws went in and out. “Eight centuries. I didn’t notice you were an imposter for eight centuries.”
“It was a clever enchantment,” Merlin said softly, “It bonded him to Hisirdoux as a familiar, giving you and he the same attachment—there was no way for you to tell through your familiar’s bond. The same holds true for my apprenticeship bond. I only knew because I am familiar with Morgana’s magic on a much deeper level, and he reeks of her enchantment.”
“I still should have noticed.”
Merlin tilted Douxie’s face up. “What dark purpose were you sent for, creature?”
“I was supposed to spy on you,” Douxie muttered, tearing his face away, “I was supposed to report your plans to Gunmar.”
Archie shook his head. “How could you?!” he hissed, his ears flattened, “Why—”
All of the rage and confusion that had been building up over the last few months—at Merlin, at the Order, at Morgana, at himself, finally broke loose. “It’s not like I ASKED to be a changeling,” he shouted, “It’s not like I ASKED for every single thing about me to be ripped to shreds and pieced back together! I didn’t ASK to be born in the Darklands, and I didn’t ASK to be a wizard troll, and I didn’t ASK to get torn away from my family and be told I couldn’t see them or even think about them ever again, and I didn’t ASK to be a replacement for some wizard who’s somehow oh-so-better than me in every way!” Tears dripped down his face, and he HATED it, and he hated them all looking at him. “I didn’t ask for any of this! But when the Pale Lady says she’s picked you, and you’re living in the darklands where everything is a living nightmare and Gunmar has control over everything you don’t exactly get to say ‘no thank you! I’d rather not be a changeling if it’s all the same to you!’ No one ever ASKED me if I wanted to do it, but you all act like I had any CHOICE in ANY OF THIS!”
The chains disappeared, and he thumped to the floor, wiping at his eyes, “I don’t know where Hisirdoux is,” he said in a small, broken voice, “I don’t know what Morgana is planning.”
“Do you know anything?” Archie begged, “Even the slightest hint of how he is? Is he safe?”
Douxie felt like his heart was being ripped into shreds. He sounded so worried, and Douxie knew he wouldn’t ever sound like that for him again. It didn’t matter how much time they’d spent together, how many centuries he’d been away from the real Hisirdoux. He still preferred the company of someone he’d lost long ago.
Zoe had asked why he wanted to go back to Merlin so bad when the time he’d had with her and Archie was more real.
Now he could ask her the same question.
He sniffed, looking up at Merlin. “You know how changelings’ bonds with their familiars work?” he croaked. At a nod from the old wizard, he peeled his jacket off, revealing the blue lines of stone in his flesh. He took off his shirt, too, and stared bleakly at his skin, which almost seemed more blue than pink. Archie hissed in, and Douxie shivered. “I can’t help you find him. I’m sorry.”
“Get out,” Merlin growled, “Get out of my shop.”
Douxie wriggled back into his shirt, clutching his jacket like a lifeline. “Where am I going to go?”
“I don’t care. Hopefully you’ll wander into a patch of sunlight as a troll and get turned to stone. I’m getting my apprentice back one way or another.” He leaned in, yanking Douxie up by the shirt front and pushing him out the door. “And you tell Morgana that it doesn’t matter what she is planning. After what she did to my apprentice, I will kill her myself.”
He released Douxie, pushing him away, and slamming the door in his face. Douxie felt the sun start to burn on the exposed stone lines and he slipped back into his jacket, tears running down his face. Archie hated him. Zoe didn’t even want to look at him. His mission was in shambles. He’d somehow managed to lose everyone.
Well. He could still get his parents—maybe he couldn’t live happily ever after with Zoe and Archie anymore. But he still could at least have his family. He just had to get into trollmarket. And he knew just the person.
Douxie jogged to the Nunez house, throwing rocks at the window he knew was Claire’s. Morgana wasn’t there anymore—that was good. He didn’t need her slithering around in his mind right now.
Claire opened the window, her mouth open wide. “Douxie?!” she hissed.
“I know everything,” he said in a rush, “Claire, I know you’re a shadow magician. I know about Gunmar and Morgana and Merlin and Jim. And I need you to get me into trollmarket. Please.”
Claire slid out the window. “How long…?”
“The whole time,” he confessed, “I’m a wizard, Claire. And…” she didn’t need to know about the changeling thing. “I just need one favor. One portal in. I’ll find my own way out.”
“It’s going to be crazy dangerous in there, Douxie!”
“I’ll be careful,” he promised, “Claire, please. And. Uh. Don’t tell Jim.”
She drew back. “Why?”
Douxie shifted from one foot to another. “Mmmmm Merlin wouldn’t be too pleased if he found out. Just… keep this one secret. Please?”
She hesitated, then summoned her staff to her. “Okay. Be careful, alright? I’m counting on crushing you in Battle of the Bands.”
“Heh. Okay.” Not something he’d be doing anymore, but he appreciated the sentiment.
Claire opened the portal. “Good luck.”
“Thank you, fair Claire.”
Douxie slipped through the portal and into troll market, snatching up a key that he saw. There. Way out, taken care of. He was pretty sure Dictatious would let him go if he told him the mission was going well, but just in case…
He made his way to the Hero’s Forge, where Gunmar was making Gum-Gums. In a cage in the corner was… the real Hisirdoux. Douxie’s familiar was limp on the floor of his cage, still bleeding from several recent wounds. Douxie traced the blue lines on his skin he knew matched up with the injuries. This wasn’t right. They should have known better than to harm a familiar, and besides, how could they… was this the fate in store for Zoe? “Where’s Dictatious?” he blurted.
Gunmar whirled around. “Dictatious is a traitor and a worm,” he snarled, “Tell me who you are before I rip your head off!”
Douxie held his hands up. “I’m a changeling! I was the Pale Lady’s special assignment?”
Gunmar regarded him for a moment, then growled. “I remember. Speak.”
“Dictatious promised that—that my parents would be taken care of,” Douxie stammered, “I—I wanted to see—”
“They’re dead,” Gunmar said dismissively, “Died a few years after you were sent out. Couldn’t survive in the Darklands. They were weak.”
A surge of rage swept over Douxie, and his magic responded, sending out a pulse that sent Gunmar flying backwards, and blasted open the cage in the corner. Douxie ran across the room, ripping the door of the cage off of its hinges. He picked up his unconscious familiar and slung him over one shoulder. Archie might hate him now. But he could still do this for him.
“TRAITOR!” Gunmar howled.
“You go back on your word, I go back on mine!” Douxie hissed, and he ran. Hisirdoux was heavy, but not unbearably so, and he made it to the gyre station, using the key he’d picked up earlier to escape into the sewers. Heavy stone feet pounded after him, but he had one advantage they didn’t, and the first chance he got, he surged into sunlight. Enraged howls echoed behind him, but he ignored them, charging through the streets of Arcadia.
He hesitated outside of the bookshop. They’d made it quite clear that they’d never wanted to see him again. Even if he brought back their lost friend, would they even start to forgive him?
He was about to just set Hisirdoux down, ring the doorbell, and run away, when the door was pulled open, and Zoe’s shocking blue eyes met his. “Douxie?” she asked, her voice faltering slightly.
“Hey,” he responded. He tried for his usual bravado, but his voice cracked, and he looked away. “I, uh. I found him. Gunmar brought him back from the Darklands, and… can we come in?”
She wordlessly stepped aside, and he walked in, gently putting his familiar down on a desk. Merlin was glaring at him, but moved towards his unconscious apprentice.
“DOUXIE!” Archie yowled, diving down and nudging his face.
Douxie stepped back as they crowded around the real Hisirdoux, shrinking into a corner. Why did doing the right thing feel so awful?!
When Zoe saw the injuries Hisirdoux had sustained, her hands clenched into fists, and thunder boomed outside. Rain came not long after.
“About your mission…” she started.
Hisirdoux woke up, quailing away from the hands trying to bandage his wounds. Zoe turned back to him. He flinched at the light, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Douxie?” Archie asked quietly, his voice cracking.
Hisirdoux reached a trembling hand out and clumsily pat the cat, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut. Merlin got the hint and dimmed the lights.
Slowly, carefully, Hisirdoux opened his eyes. They fell on Douxie.
And he started to scream.
“What is it?” Archie asked frantically, “What’s wrong?”
To everyone’s surprise, especially Merlin’s, Hisirdoux launched himself at the wizard, burying his face in Merlin’s armor, babbling about “his face but not his face and he got me.” Merlin patted his back, picked him up, and took him into a back room, presumably where he wouldn’t have to look at his changeling self anymore.
The sick, horrible feeling in Douxie’s stomach got worse as Archie gave him a tortured look and fled to the back room after Hisirdoux. Merlin emerged a few moments later, glaring. “I’m removing the bond between you and my apprentice,” he said stiffly, “After which you will leave and never come back. I… appreciate your rescuing of him, but you cannot stay around. It would cause him far too much distress, and recovery from his ordeal will be difficult enough as is without a visual reminder of the one who put him there in the first place.”
“I—”
Merlin waved a hand, and something seemed to go snap inside of Douxie, like a line being broken.
And fire broke out inside his veins.
When he’d been turned into a changeling, it had felt like he was being ripped apart and thrown back together. This transformation, it was different. Everything was stretching and elongating. His shoes fell off as his feet shrank, and the rest of his clothes got tight and uncomfortable as he got taller. The skin on his head split and dripped blood down his face as his horns erupted back. Douxie curled in a ball on the ground, blind with pain as his bones shifted and popped and moved in ways that human bones weren’t supposed to move. His canines popped out of his mouth of their own accord, heavy, sharp teeth meant for biting and tearing forcing their way out. He gagged on the blood, spitting it out with a whine. His feet felt like they were compressing and shrinking, like they were being shoved in too-tight shoes if those shoes were ten sizes too small and hardening all the time.
He hadn’t thought he’d miss crying, but the pain made him want to, and he just couldn’t, because his body didn’t work that way anymore and it hurt!
And then it was over, just leaving him sore and achy and clumsy and too heavy and with his body all rearranged and strange. The rain was pouring down even harder now, like Zoe had completely lost control of all her magic. She looked horrified, and he had to stop looking at her, because it hurt too much in a way that the transformation hadn’t.
Merlin waved a hand, and the door opened. “Leave. The rain will keep you from being burned by the sun.”
Douxie struggled to his feet—no, hooves, and they slipped and slid under him. He fell, and he knew if his troll body was capable of it, tears would have pricked his eyes as he tried and failed again to walk.
“GO!” Merlin yelled, and Douxie scrambled away, pulling his hood up to hide his face. He slipped and slid in the rain, half crawling and stumbling along the ground.
Where was he supposed to go?
Xxx
Merlin reentered the back room, dusting off his hands. “I’ve taken care of the changeling. How’s Hisirdoux?”
Archie shuddered. Douxie—the real Douxie—had fallen asleep, thank goodness. “Taken care of? Did you…”
“He’s alive. I’ve permanently returned him to his troll form, and he’s gone. He’ll survive.”
Archie told himself that he shouldn’t feel bad for the changeling. He’d kidnapped Douxie. He’d impersonated him for years. He’d tricked them all.
But he still felt… something. It was complicated. And hearing him scream and whimper from the other room…
No. He had his Hisirdoux back, the real one. That was what mattered.
Archie kneaded the ground with his claws anxiously. “Merlin… I’ve changed, over the last eight-hundred years since he was replaced. I’m sure he’s changed, too. What if… what if we’ve changed in different directions? And I didn’t even realize it wasn’t him with us. What if…”
“I expect getting back to some semblance of normal will take work,” Merlin responded gruffly, “You will both have to adapt to get used to this new reality. I expect I haven’t changed much at all, being asleep.”
“I think that will help. To have some kind of constant. I’m just worried…”
“Archibald. You are his familiar, and he is yours. You are linked in a way that is unexplainable, and your bond with him goes deeper than a superficial friendship. It may take some doing, but I think the two of you will be just fine. Can’t say the same for that other wizard. She’s long gone—took off after the changeling.”
Archie’s ears pricked up. “Zoe?”
“Is that her name? Yes, she left not long after, calling for him.”
Some part of Archie felt… relieved. His place was here, with the real Douxie. But the changeling… Archie had grown to love him, too, even if it had been a lie.
At least he won’t be alone.
Xxx
Douxie pulled his hoodie drawstrings tighter. He was hiding under a street, in a ditch tunnel. It was wet, and cold, and miserable.
Perfect for how he already felt.
He couldn’t even walk properly—how was he supposed to live the rest of his life in this form?
A shadow approached in the rain, and Zoe ducked under the concrete tunnel entrance, soaking wet. “Hey. You picked a hell of a place to camp out.”
Douxie hugged his knees to his chest. “I can’t go back.”
“Yeah, I got that.” Zoe shifted from one foot to the other. “Hey, uh. What I was trying to ask earlier, about your mission… was I a part of it? Was that first date on the belltower part of some plan? Was our relationship…”
“No,” Douxie replied immediately, “It wasn’t part of the plan, it was… it was the one thing I DID ask for. The one part of this stupid situation that I chose.”
“Okay. Good. I was hoping you’d say that. So… I’m thinking small-town Arcadia kind of blows. Where’s our next adventure?”
Douxie lifted his head. “What?”
“Where do you want to go next? I’ve heard Yellowstone is nice. Or the redwoods—those are even pretty close!”
Douxie’s brain short-circuited. “Wait. You… you don’t want to stay with the real Hisirdoux?”
She snorted. “I only knew him for like. Two weeks before you swapped with him. I don’t know the real Hisirdoux. I know you. I spent eight centuries with you. I fell in love with you. I’m not in love with the real Hisirdoux—I’m in love with you.”
“But I thought—all the rain—you’re not mad at me?”
“What? No! I—I was scared. I came in, and Merlin was attacking you, and Archie was taking his side, and—I was mad. I was mad because Merlin hurt you, and I was scared because you were hurting so bad and there wasn’t anything I could DO, and… I wasn’t mad at you. You can be… frustrating, sometimes, but this time… I was just scared for you.”
“So…”
She sat down next to him, lacing her hand in his much larger one. “So… what’s your real name?”
He shrugged helplessly. “I… I don’t remember. I’ve been Douxie for so long, I don’t know who I started out as.”
“K. I’ll just keep calling you Douxie, then. Where to next?”
“Isn’t it… I mean, I can’t travel in daylight now. We’d have to travel at night, or in the rain, or—”
Zoe shut him up by pulling him down by his collar and kissing him. “Good thing I like the rain.”
Douxie blinked, relatively certain that if he’d had his human form, he would be bright scarlet. “Uh. Heh.”
Zoe grinned. “So. Where to next?”
(Yay, ending! Thanks for reading, it was fun!)
