"Hey," Douxie said softly, catching Carter by the wrist. He pulled him closer, out of the way of troll foot traffic. "Do we need to talk?"
Carter huffed, but didn't fight him when Douxie gently pulled him closer, arms around his waist. Douxie took that as a win. "I hate that you didn't tell me sooner," he said.
Douxie pursed his lips. "I... darling I couldn't. You were already in New York, and I didn't want to pull you away from what you were doing."
Carter frowned. "Douxie, it was completely inconsequential. I care more about you. You left me in the dark for a month. And I-" he stopped and sucked in a breath. "And now I know what all those... dreams were about."
Douxie stared at him. "Dreams?"
Carter bit his lip. "I guess they weren't really dreams. It was just... you." He let out a soft breath, not willing to meet Douxie’s eyes. "I kept seeing their faces, Douxie. I think it was through your eyes. Your memories of a future that hasn't happened yet. Or will happen, I guess."
Douxie slowly realized what Carter meant. He'd been seeing all of Douxie’s future memories as dreams. And that meant... "Oh gods," he murmured. Carter’s hands bunched in his shirt. He still wouldn't look at him, and there were tears welling in his eyes. "You saw me die."
Carter’s bottom lip trembled and he nodded. "I kept feeling it. Like... like the memory of it, I guess. And everytime I woke up and you weren't next to me I was just- I panicked everytime before I realized you were fine. You were still here in California."
Douxie hugged him tightly, letting Carter tuck his face into the crook of his neck. "I'm so sorry, love. I should have realized it would affect you too."
"It was torture," Carter whispered. "I couldn't call you... I didn't want you to worry. I wish I had."
Douxie kissed the top of his head. "We're trying to prevent that now, love. I think we can do it with you're help."
Carter didn't move, didn't say anything for a long time. After a while he squeezed Douxie against him and said, "Just don't die, please. I don't want to remember how it really felt in that other timeline. I couldn't- I don't think I could handle it."
Alright, I think I've had enough time to process...
But not enough time to get over it!
WELCOME TO SQUAB'S "HOW I THINK ROTT SHOULD HAVE GONE DOWN"
I will be breaking this down and organizing somewhat by character, then probably writing a whole new post to bring it all together as a plot.
Now, I won't be taking every single bad choice out. I'm going to try and justify a few "creative choices" they make by actually giving them weight.
Before we begin, I get a lot of what I'm putting in here will absolutely not fit in a 2 hour movie. But whatever. Someday, 4 hour movies with an intermission will come back in style...
Jim
As the hero with the most seasons, Jim is the one we know the most. We've seen a lot of highs and lows for this poor boy, but we have already seen him accept himself as the Trollhunter, with or without the amulet. Giving him an identity crisis is not the worst plotline, but it is just rehashing an old plotline we already got resolved if it's about being the Trollhunter.
Fix: Let his identity crisis be about being a leader.
For a lot of his biggest moments, he was alone. Against Bular on the bridge, looking for Enrique in the Darklands, and even his fight against Angor Rot and Gunmar. But more than that, he was in the action, fighting his heart out.
It would be good to see how he does OUTSIDE the battle. Let everyone be hesitant about him joining the fight, especially since he is human again and doesn't have any protection. Push him into being a commander rather than a warrior.
This doesn't mean that's where he'll stay. Jim tend to be a very self-sacrificing character. He'd rather get hurt or even give up his own life to protect others. So show how upset he is about it. Let him hate staying behind as his friends leave for battle with the possibility of never coming back. Let him make the mistake of getting antsy and rushing into battle when things start going wrong, only to make it worse.
Let Jim be the reason some of his friends die.
Then let him mourn for more than a millisecond on them. (*coughcough*Nomura and Strickler*coughcough*)
Give him a moment where he thinks his hero days are over. Where he has to retire because even if his heart is in the right place, his ability cannot keep up.
But he can't even entertain the idea of not helping with the world ending. Which is when he can be presented the finished amulet by Blinky, or his mom, or it comes to him as he runs to the battle. He can use it to summon Excalibur, and join his friends.
Okay and this is a side-note, but how cool would it have been if they utilized the fact that Jim had a shard of Excalibur in his heart. I don't care what for, but just use it as a reminder that he was controlled and corrupted by it for a while.
But then again, it might not have been a piece of Excalibur itself, and just some controlling doo-hickey that Arthur had.
Soooooo....let's talk about Excalibur.
It was interesting enough when we left Wizards with Jim not being able to pull the sword. It left tension and a bit of mystery.
But here's the problem...Why is Excalibur important? Because it's a legendary sword from 900 years ago? Because it was wielded by an angry king who tried to kill all magical creatures, then allied with them, then tried to destroy the world? We never get a reason why anyone should pull it, other than Douxie said someone needs to wield it.
Also, why is it that it can be pulled only when Jim's friends touch the dang rock? Not even the sword itself, mind you. The freaking rock it's stuck in. The rock wasn't magical. The sword was. Why? Why why why?
Also, if the stone was that easy to take out of the hilt, there's no reason they needed to take it out of the non-magical rock in the first place. THE HILT WAS NOT IN THE STUPID ROCK.
Fix: Make Excalibur the only thing strong enough to kill a member of the Arcane Order (besides another member). It might be a little cliche, but there are worse things (as we have experienced...). This would also give the goal of each battle with the titans a different directive. Instead of trying to stop, just try to slow down enough until they have Excalibur. You can be creative in different tactics of slowing something down rather than trying to destroy it altogether. Such as tripping it, tearing it apart even if it regenerates, trying to distract them and keep them away from Arcadia.
Next: take the dang gem from the sword before it gets pulled out of its NON-MAGICAL ROCK (no, I will not get over this...)
Then, they can try to build the amulet using the power of the stone.
Which leads me to the next part: the Amulet.
While I like the idea of the amulet not working a few times, I think they didn't have enough trial-and-error with it. They just kinda tossed it to Jim saying "it's done, if it don't work it's your fault."
But here's the thing. I LOVE the idea of Krel trying to build it. In 3Below he was always the one trying to fix Mother, and he designed the wormhole to Akiridion 5, he would definitely be the one volunteering to make an impossible amulet.
Buuuuuut...
The original Daylight Amulet was designed to be constructed by magic, something that is foreign to Krel. Let him have failed attempts, like how his prototype wormhole didn't work for a long time. Let him build his versions that may work somewhat, but fail in other aspects. Like maybe the armor won't deactivate. Or it just completely doesn't work. Or it burns to wear it. The possibilities for failure are endless.
Let Douxie be a part of the process too. He WAS one of the wizards to help make the original after all. He would have knowledge about it that others wouldn't.
The lastly, let Blinky be a part of the process too. He could be prideful on the fact that he trained Trollhunters including Jim, and he knows how it should work.
With an alien, a wizard, and a troll working on it together, then it finally comes together. Give it a sense of poetic synergy.
Also, this is very nitpicky, but change the Incantation to: "For the Good of All, Excalibur is mine to command."
Because...he never uses Daylight.
He uses Excalibur...
Daylight wasn't the amulet.
It was the sword manifested from the amulet.
But whatever. Again, this is a nitpick.
Let's move onto the Kronisphere.
Ho boy.
As soon as my husband and I heard the word "Kronisphere," we knew we were in for some time travel.
Now time travel is not new in this universe, it happened in 3Below and also was the main part of Wizards. (And technically in "Unbecoming" but I always saw that as more of a vision than actual time travel.)
But here's the problem. With every single time we had time travel, it was established that every action has consequences. In "Unbecoming," when Jim gave up the amulet the world ended. In "Daja Vu," every action they took changed a little bit to bring them more information to get out of the time loop. In 3/4 of Wizards, they royally screwed up the timeline and had to fix it.
So in what way does going back in time to the very beginning of this hero's journey help? Any of his actions, no matter how good-intentioned could lead to disaster. Also, he reset every single relationship he had besides his mom and Toby. And even then, his mom and Toby were not the same people at the end as they were in the beginning. People develop and change with every good and bad.
With that being said, I need to insert that I would also change Nari's prophecy a little bit. If she wants to be a cryptic leaf, instead of:
"Trollhunter make ninth configuration. Kronisphere will make right."
Change it to:
"Kronisphere is window. Trollhunter must see."
In this case, I cut the Ninth Configuration nonsense because I'm still bitter about the non-magical rock nonsense.
Okay, I'll explain more later, but now I'm going to try and justify the Kronisphere existing in the story.
Fix: Let the world burn.
Yep, you heard me. Let them fail.
Let the fire titan merge with the Heartstone, let Bellroc win, and let everyone die. (With some of the heroes maybe dying in the process of trying to stop Bellroc, and then the remaining are gone.) bottom line: everyone is dead, the world is being reset in flames.
All are gone.
Except for one person: Jim.
And you can justify it with the Excalibur amulet, being as powerful as it is, protected him. But now he is all alone. His pixie nightmare came true: everyone he ever cared about his gone. His friends and family crumbles to ash in his hands.
The Kronisphere shows the past, present, and future. Everyone would think Nari's prophecy would mean to look into it to see the future, but it doesn't show anything helpful. Maybe it shows the world burning, but not how to stop it.
But the part where she would say "Trollhunter must see." was not to look into the Kronisphere, but to see everything that leads to their failure, and then use the Kronisphere's time stone as a window to the past to jump back and save the world.
And no, not jump back to the very beginning of Trollhunters.
Just to the beginning of the dang movie so they can finish the fight.
Okay, I am not done with Jim, but I need to talk about other characters...
Toby
Now, the weird retcon at the end of the movie did a lot. But Toby being the Trollhunter at the beginning of everything not only contradicts the idea of the amulet "choosing" a champion, but also a lot of other events.
I'm not gonna get into all of that, I'm just going to say what I would change for his part of the story.
Toby is an interesting character in that he always seemed to go for the support role. He mentions how in his dreams he's a Duke, he shied away from the spotlight at first when they met the Wumpas. But he shined greatly in his role. He was always there to support Jim, even when the situation was dire. They stood together in their battles, even before he got his Warhammer.
For these reasons, I am going to eat my words and say that he should be the Trollhunter.
Now before you crucify me, gimme a sec.
Fix: Jim offers the new amulet to Toby. This is no longer Merlin's choice, as this is not his amulet.
Jim may have been chosen as the first human Trollhunter, but Toby was always the second.
Now, you could write it where Toby becomes the next Trollhunter after the final battle where they win, but I personally would put it before. Let him have his moment, and this time Jim actually chooses to stay behind to be a leader. As the one with all the knowledge of the future, his best position is to direct everyone else and make sure they're where they need to be.
Also I'll put this here since it's related to Toby the most, but I would get rid of the anti-magic gun. If you're going to have something that cancels out magic, why only attempt to use it twice? And why doesn't it work on Jim's armor? Even if it has Akiridion technology in it, it only worked because of Excalibur's (a MAGIC sword) gemstone. It really only served to set up Toby's death, which could be executed many different way, and the anti-magic gun just had too many plot holes.
Claire
They really didn't do much with her, which was kinda disappointing. She was mostly there to be plot device for getting Nari to Skrael.
That's...that's it.
She was no help in the Chinese Trollmarket (which, if you know the place wards against shadow magic, why take her there? Take someone else...). She'd say she was "tapped out" at inconvenient moments to build drama, and was a potted plant for the rest of it.
I would have liked to see her attempting more than just portals in her shadow magic, since she now has a teacher to guide her. Like, creating shadow beasts (like the birds she made on her date with Jim in Wizards), or shadow clones (like what Morgana did when she fought Arthur and then died), or make something new up. But honestly, it's not super important...I guess. I just would've been creative and show she had actually grown in her power.
The jlaire moments in this movie gave me life. They can stay.
With the fixes I've already done, she still probably wouldn't change much. She's a well-rounded character, I don't need to mess that up.
Steve
Alright, time to bite the bullet.
Some may have found it funny, but I was super uncomfortable with Steve's...
uh...
.....
...situation?
It was played like a gag, but I wasn't laughing. It also brought into question how Akiridions reproduce, and it's already weird that an energy-based life form could even reproduce with a biological one. But say it was possible. Fine. Why wouldn't Aja tell him about the 7th kiss long before they shared it? She may have been carefree at times in 3Below, but she was never that irresponsible.
But I'll get to Aja later. We're talking about Steve.
Fix: Steve is the last knight of Camelot.
In the Battle of Killahead Bridge, Lancelot told him to carry on under his banner before dying. I think Steve would take that to heart and take pride in being a knight (even if never really was one.) He'd want to show Aja his cool new armor and maybe even pledge himself to the Akiridion throne.
These moments can still be played as jokes, but without mpreg.
Another headcanon I have is that Steve would see that Jim is no longer a troll, is therefore weaker, and wants to train him up himself. He'd announce himself as Jim's new trainer (despite Blinky being right there and Jim not really needing it). But whenever Jim got hurt, he'd say things like "This is why we needed to do pull-ups!" or something. He can still be comedic relief, just tasteful comedic relief.
Also let him have Toothache. That was like, his one weapon that was uniquely his.
Aja
Take away the pregnancy sub-plot, Aja was a decent character in this movie. She held herself well as a queen, and you can see how she's matured.
And her idea to evacuate Earth was not a bad one. But they really should have built more on that.
If anyone could understand how hard it is to leave your home when it's under attack, it's Aja and Krel. Krel might be more hesitant to leave since he wanted to stay on Earth before, but I think even he would understand how they can make new homes elsewhere.
I was half-expecting her to attempt to evacuate Earth without anyone else's permission. Defy anyone else's plan to save the Earth, and just bring ships to get the people away. I mean, she's a queen, she shouldn't need to wait for orders from anyone. Especially Jim, who she would only know through Toby, as they don't remember meeting in "Daja Vu."
And let her and Krel butt heads on whether to stay and fight, or leave with the evacuation party. They can reflect on their parents' choices, how they left Voltar to be destroyed and how it affected Tronos Madu. Or how Varvatos felt when no one would help him avenge his family.
With the siblings reunited, there's a lot of opportunity for them to talk about what it means to rule, and who they should prioritize.
Eli
Some people like Eli's glow-up, some people don't. I am in the category of those that do, because it honestly fits.
When we saw him in 3Below his voice was changing, and you could hear the puberty squeaks. It makes sense that he would finish going through puberty in the time he was gone.
Something I would change though, is give him more involvement in the fights. Yes, he designed the Gun Robot mecha (which again, some people didn't like but I loved it and I loved how Varvatos was the one controlling it) but afterwards he could have played bigger role than potted plant.
A great way he could have contributed was expanding on the parking drone/video game trick they did in season 2 of 3Below. Eli could control a small fleet of drones to attack or impair the titans. Or even use that technology for Aja's evacuation plan.
Barbara and Strickler
Their engagement was...there.
I think it was used as a device to make Barbara seem more sad about his death, but then she got into talking about Jim's dad for some reason?
crookedlymassivecrown on Instagram had probably the best idea I've seen. Which was to make Jim upset about their engagement.
Now, I wouldn't say he'd be mad, but maybe a little confused and possibly conflicted. Let him still be a bit wary of Strickler, because even if he's no longer trying to take over the world, that doesn't mean he's good enough for his mom.
But as they reconnect, and after Strickler's...less stupid death...Jim trusts him and grows into being okay with Strickler as his stepdad. On the second chance after time-travel, he gives them his blessing and even promises to make their cake.
Other Random Things I Would Change
Blinky's stuck page was ill-timed and didn't really change the course of the movie. Just let them have that info about only one of them making it from the beginning. I mean if they truly believed only taking out one would fix everything, why spread out? Why not just have everyone focus on one of them to ensure it goes down?
Let Zadra be there as a commander for the Akiridion fleet. If Aja and Krel are risking their lives to save Earth, I think they'd want to use as many resources as they can.
Have someone go find the trolls that were headed toward New Jersey and recruit some of them to battle a titan.
How I personally would've had Rise of the Titans go
Spoilers under the cut
Alright so, first of all, Douxie wouldn't have lost the seals at the end of Wizards to begin with
After having Charlie read the ancient draconic, Douxie would've kept Merlin's staff intact and decided to break it ONLY when they needed it as a bargaining chip or something
When Douxie returns to see that all his friends sans Krel have been taken, he works with Krel to build the time loop machine thing and maybe we get some extra scenes of them being cute together
He lures the order to the shop again, but instead of ACTUALLY GIVING THEM THE SEALS he creates an illusion of some sort, maybe something made in conjunction with Akiridion tech so the enchantment lasts longer and the Order doesn't find out what's up, and he tosses that into the time loop instead
The rest of Wizards basically goes as planned with Douxie and Nari going on the run, Claire keeps Merlin's staff as the only other one that can do magic and as a failsafe in case the Order ever realizes they don't have the real seals
ROTT starts fairly similar, the team has divised a trap to stop the order once and for all, the team fails and Nari and Douxie swap again, because Douxie is a self sacrificing bitch that would rather be in danger himself than see his friends get hurt
They all regroup, James panics, Striklake engagement reveal, maybe Barbara asks Claire to be her maid of honor? 👀 And they try to figure out a way to get Douxie back
Aja shows up and like I've seen a bunch of other people saying, the seven kisses thing is an engagement ceremony rather than a baby making thing, Steve and Aja both panic, especially when Steve realizes this makes him king(? Prince consort?) Of Akiridion-5, cue line from Krel about how their planet would be doomed if the blonde oaf ended up ruling alongside his sister
Krel and Aja actually get a moment to catch up since it's been a long time since they've seen each other
They go to save Nari and of course Claire and Douxie are there because neither one of them is going to sit behind and they don't trust leaving the staff on Camelot because they're paranoid and somehow, in their attempt to free Nari, the staff breaks
The real Genesis Seals are revealed for the first time and they escape with Nari and one of the seals (because there's like three seals right? I had no idea why all three were in the same place it would've made more sense to separate them don't you think?)
The other two seals are with the Order and things are not looking good, the gang is panicking and they realize that running from the Order forever isn't going to work and that maybe they're not the best at setting up traps
Instead they outfit Nari with some magical/Akiridion mind-control resistance just to be safe and try their hand at setting up another trap with the anti-magic ray thing
The trap once again fails and this time the Order kinda knows what to expect so they end up with Nari and the remaining seal and are able to unleash the Titans, except this time Nari isn't completely brainwashed and they're able to help her break from the orders control quickly
Varvatos arrives with the Gun Robot and teams up with Nari to defeat Skrael's Titan, leaving just Bellroc to defeat
James realizes what's wrong with the amulet but instead of needing some cryptic message from Nari to tell him how to get the sword out of the stone, he remembers the whole "WE are the Trollhunter" speech he gave back in like S2, and that's how he figures out how to get it free
Everyone gives it their all to help Nari's Titan fight Bellroc's and through sheer force they're successful, but at the cost of Nari herself
However they did hear about the kronosphere or whatever it's called from Nari before she died so they hunt down that to try and figure out what the heck she was talking about
It takes a while but they're able to figure out how to combine Merlin's staff with Akiridion tech and part of the Heartstone because they realized how powerful it was (also symbolism for the characters from the three shows coming together) with the kronosphere and manage to make a device that lets them travel through time
This also triggers the memories of the Trollhunter gang and the 3 Below gang from the Porgon incident and they're all like "Hey! Would you look at that"
Anyways, with the rigged up Kronosphere they're able to go back in time and save people (Draal, Vendel, Nari, Merlin, Morgana,etc) just before it's too late so it doesn't have an effect on the timestream (think like the Lost series from Margaret Peterson Haddix where they pull people from the timestream like right before they're about to die so nothing bad happens to time)
The movie ends with the Stricklake wedding, and Jim and Claire are both like "that's gonna be us one day" and everyone lives happily together as one giant found family
What if, instead of That Subplot, we had this: Eli sharing his fondness for Akiridion-5 to Steve while Steve is afraid that Eli may never want to come back to Earth (stay on A-5 forever). Or vice versa but with Aja and Krel; yk those fanfics where Aja attempts to get Krel to go back to Akiridion-5? Despite Krel not wanting to and getting frustrated? Yeah.
This could add a bit more development to the characters! Krel growing more fond with Earth whilst Aja is doing her job as queen and as a sister and we get to see more of their flaws. And the Creepslayerz's relationship will be more in-depth and we can truly see how much they really care for each other!
So I know we got given a free day considered ROTT was...what it was but I decided to still go with the prompt and it turned into more of a small rewrite than just a ‘Let’s slip Zoe into this scene’. Zoe is everyone’s braincell and we know it.
Also I tried writing a fight scene....I donno how well it turned out lol
AO3
~*~*~*~*~*~
“He WHAT?!”
Zoe stared at the assembled guardians, the kids, that had gone up against the demigods bent on restarting the world with that crazy plan to strip them of their powers, only for it to fail. Yes, they were alive. Yes, they had Nari, in spirit, but the Arcane Order had her body, had Douxie, and that was not okay for her! That stupid, self-sacrificing idiot! Of course he'd do something like that! But all it would do would buy them time and just what was going to happen when those power hungry beings found out?! It wasn't going to be good, that was for sure and now Zoe had to hatch a plan to try and save her idiot before something bad happened.
Ignoring the overlapping explanations and assurances they'd come up with a plan, Zoe marched her way out of the ex-throne room and down to what was becoming her studio. Shuffling around the various tomes and grimoires, she searched for the one she was certain had the spell she needed to find him, growling to herself when she couldn't. This is what she got for not sorting through all these yet. Finally, just when she'd been about to say 'fuck it' and do it without the book, she dug up the dusty purple codex of scrying and grinned in victory. Oh, she was finding that idiot of hers and then she was going to give him a piece of her mind once he was safe.
Coming back upstairs, the pinked haired witch flipped through the book, looking for the magic circle that would allow her to find Douxie. Ignoring everyone's voices, she quickly read through the directions, reminding herself how it worked and set to etching runes in the air with her wand. The symbols of power fell to the floor in sparking pink power, forming the necessary element for her spell. “Nari.” She called, “I'm gonna need Archie for a moment.”
The little nature spirit, inhabiting her partners body, let his familiar go from her hold as she finished the magic circle, sending the tomb to rest on the floor outside it. Sitting in the center, Archie crawled into her lap in dragon form, already having a feeling on what she was going to try to do. Normally she could sense Douxie's power, they'd known each other for so after all it was easy, but between distance and most likely being blocked, she couldn't without help. It would be easier if their magic was bonded, tied together for the rest of eternity and the ultimate sign of trust and love between magic users but...they weren't. Not for lack of wanting to but their lives had been pretty hectic and dangerous and bonding their magic came with lots of consequences as well as benefits. If one of them died...it would be the worse kind of hell on the other. And as much as they loved each other they hadn't wanted to have the other suffer so. But maybe, after all this, they'd change that.
“Uh..what are you gonna do?” Toby asked, standing near as he watched the pulsing pink runes.
“I'm going to track Douxie using the bond between him and Archie.” She explained, holding the dragon-cat gently, one hand scratching between his ears, “It should, in theory, help me find where the Order is holding him.” Then they would retrieve him and she was going to kick his ass for putting himself in danger, again.
Everyone took that as the queue to be quiet, to let her work, and Zoe breathed in deeply, letting her magic seep out and take shape. The circle glowed as she let herself fall into a trance, focusing on Archie, who was relaxed in her lap, his own magic open to letting hers in. She found the bond, a shining string of magic that was warm, comforting, powerful, reaching out beyond their little space in search of their missing wizard. She followed it as it swirled, twisting and turning through the space between, searching, searching, searching until-There! It sung brightly, tightening like a perfectly tuned guitar string and humming with life and she knew in that moment just where to find him.
Opening her eyes, a pink glow encompassing them, she grinned sharply. The Order didn't know what was coming to them.
~*~*~*~
The group entered the abandoned train tunnel, sans one Trollhunter, looking for any sign of the Order or Douxie. Zoe knew she had been harsh when she told Jim he needed to stay behind but she was not going to take back what she said. He was injured and therefore a liability and she wasn't going to let him kill himself or any of his friends if things were to go pear shaped. But hopefully they wouldn't and they'd be able to rescue Douxie with minimal trouble.
Her blue eyes roamed over the various crates and scaffolding, sensing him near but unable to see him. But she just knew he was here. Even as the group spread out and looked around old, crumbling crates and rusty metal drums, confused as to why they couldn't find anyone, Zoe was reaching out with her magic, searching for her wayward husband. Frowning down at the tracks, something just wasn't sitting right with her, she tried her best to see and think like Douxie would. There had to be something here she was missing...
She blinked, a thought coming suddenly and could it really be that easy?
Trotting up a staircase to get higher ground, she looked down at the tracks, shaking her head lightly because for some eon's old beings, Skrael and Bellroc really couldn't be original? “Their hiding in plain sight!” She shouted to assembled guardians, flicking her wand out and rearranging the train tracks, “They've made a giant sigil with the tracks!” The tracks moved, soon lighting up and dispelling the room around them, revealing a much darker room and three beings in the center.
She wasn't sure if they were aware they weren't alone anymore but it looked as if the demigods of ice and fire were taunting who they thought were Nari. She, or rather Douxie, was hovering in the air, held aloft by his hands in glowing magic and maybe, possibly keeping quiet as to continuing fooling the gods. But then, as they were staring confusedly as the Genius Seals, wondering why they weren't opening, he opened his big fat mouth.
“Abracadabra, Buttsnacks.”
Zoe groaned, because why had he said that?! But before the Order could do more than threaten him, she raised her wand high and cried, “Hey! Hands off!” She then sent a bolt of pink lighting down, just barely hitting Skreal, and then it was on!
Everyone jumped into action, firing and fighting the two remaining members of the Order. Zoe jumped down, joining the fray, firing spells and shields as she made way to Nari's body. She was put to a stop though as the icy wizard floated in front of her, brandishing his staff. Oh, if he wanted a fight, he was getting a fight. Ignoring Douxie's strained call of her name, the hedge-witch ducked a swing of the staff, dodging to the right and not giving in to Skreal's taunting. Hedge-witch or not, didn't mean she wasn't powerful and she wasn't about to let these bastards win.
Zoe fired spell after spell, wildly missing the floating god as he chuckled darkly at her. But that was okay, all part of the plan because when he least expect it she smirked and performed a round-house kick, planting her foot below his belt with a cry of “Rule Number Three!!”
As Skrael crumpled, she turned back to Douxie in Nari's body, running closer and hoping she could break the spell keeping him in the air. Fire had started to burn everywhere, the old wood catching easily to the spells Bellroc fired off but she ignored all that as she examined the magic around Douxie's wrists. She shushed him as he tried to talk to her, needing to concentrate on what she was doing, hopefully she wouldn't need Claire's help. Then a dark chuckle came from behind her.
“You won't break him free.” She turned to glare at Bellroc, their ever fluctuating voice grating on her nerves, “That magic is too powerful for even a full fledged wizard, let alone a little hedge-witch.” She growled as they laughed at her. And maybe she wouldn't be able to break it herself but if she could break this beings concentration... A wicked grin came to her face, feral as she remembered the chaos she'd wrecked at Killahead, and she began drawing runes behind her back.
“You're right...Guess I'll just have to make you break it.”
And with a flash of pink, twenty more Zoe's surrounded the demigod.
Crying out, Bellroc began to blast away her clones, easily poofing them from existence, which was fine as it was only meant as a distraction. The real Zoe dodged behind him, thankful for the rest of the crew keeping Skrael busy as she charged her magic. She'd only have one shot at this and she hoped it worked. It had been a while since she last did this. Bringing her now brightly flashing hands together, she drew them apart, a glowing, sparking, pink arrow held between them.
“Foolish girl! This won't defeat me!!” Bellroc cried with rage, dispelling the last of her clones.
“It's not meant to!” She yelled back before firing the arrow, sending a million volts through the wizard and causing them to spasm. And it was enough, for the spell holding Douxie up sputtered and died, dropping him to the floor. Zoe dived for his staggering form as Bellroc cried out again, pushing him out of the way of a blast of fire. Of course now she needed a plan to get them out of there...
Just as the fire god was approaching, already up from her attack and ready to end her life, a black portal formed beneath her and Douxie and they dropped away.
~*~*~*~
Zoe groaned as she was dropped onto the floor of Camelot, rolling onto her back. That had been...something. She really needed to practice that attack again, it took far too much out of her but at least now Douxie was safe. And Nari. She heard the rest of the guardians tumble in, shouts from their assembled allies rising and still she laid there, catching her breath.
“Zoe! Zoe, are you alright?!” She looked up at Douxie's voice, finding Nari's face above her looking at her with concern and they were needed to change back because this was just getting too weird. She watched him sag with relief, most likely due to her opening her eyes and he sighed, “You were nuclear, Love.”
“You better switch back before you kiss me, Casperan.” Was her only response.
Chuckling breathlessly, he nodded and she watched him hold out his hand for Nari to take, the goddess now crouching on her other side. A flash of magic and she was then being pulled into Douxie's lap, the wizard now back in his body. She let him nuzzle his face into her neck, still recovering from the adrenaline and almost overuse of her magic as they sat there, friends and allies all around.
“Thank you, Zoe.” Nari said softly, sitting primly in front of her, “You risked so much.”
“It's fine, Nari,” Zoe said, smiling at the forest child, “There was no way I was letting them keep your body and Douxie's mind.” Let alone risk the possibility of them forcing the two back into their proper bodies. Then they really would have been in trouble.
“So what do you do now?” She heard Claire ask because now they were back at square one. Keep Nari out of the grasp.
“I donno,” Zoe sighed, “But the important thing is the Order doesn't have Nari anymore.”
“That's not all they don't have..” The nature goddess smirked shyly before holding up the Genius Seals.
Zoe's eyes widen as cries went up around her, Douxie laughing in surprise, before she grinned wide and shark like. Oh, things were about to get interesting.
~*~*~*~*~*~
How the rest of the movie would play out from here I have no idea but there’s some choice Zouxie protecting each other/Nari/Archie so...there’s that. I hope you all enjoyed!
A/N: Well. Remember the other Wumptober fic I wrote? Remember how it was like 8 million pages and took up half my homescreen? I'm fixing that. It's split up into two parts now. You're welcome. Find the first half . . . here.
Summary: Douxie's protected Nari from the Arcane Order for three years, and hidden from his friends, who think he's dead. Now he's confronted the Arcane Order to put an end to the hiding, and everyone's favorite demigod decides to avenge their sibling's death.
Word Count: 3571
Warnings: um, blood; stabbing; death; mourning the death; graphic descriptions of pain and death and battle and other cheerful stuff like that; fighting; uh, other bad stuff probably; descriptions of a corpse; depression.
“Ha-ha! Take that!” Douxie called. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. Skrael was dead. Bellroc was nowhere to be seen. Nari was safe, for now. He considered this a victory, even if his advantage was gone.
He turned around to face the Guardians and found himself face-to-face with Claire. She might’ve been a whole foot shorter than him, but she was livid. Douxie gulped and took a step back.
“Where were you? Why didn’t you come back?” Claire snarled. Her eyes flickered from brown to purple and back again. “We thought you were dead. We-we mourned for you. We had a funeral for you! And all this time, you were still alive? Did you even care that we were upset? That-that we would even care that you died?” Douxie sighed.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking.
How was it possible that he was more afraid of facing a bunch of kids he lied to than he was of facing two demigods that he blasted out of their own castle? Nari looked up at him. She smiled and gave him a nod. He looked up at Claire and met her eyes. “I’m so, so sorry,” he repeated.
“Why?” Claire asked. A single tear dripped down her cheek.
“Merlin died.” He told her. “It was my fault. My stupid plan got him killed. When I was fighting the Arcane Order, I realised that Nari needed to be protected. But even more than that, I realised that they would never stop coming after us.” He was quiet for a minute. “The best option I could come up with was to make them think I died. If I didn’t make it out of that fight alive, they wouldn’t even think to look for me. I had to hide Nari someplace they would never even think to look. I did what Merlin would’ve. The lives of everyone on earth, preventing the Order from finding Nari, was more important than the peace of mind of you.” He said the last part quietly.
“You didn’t regret it?” Claire asked. Her eyes were brown again, but her tone was still crisp.
“I did, trust me.” Douxie said. “I watched you, you know. I regretted my decision so, so much. But a wise man once said,” he glanced at Jim, “‘What kind of hero would I be if I sacrificed everyone else?’” He sighed. “I made a choice. It was a bad one. But it kept Nari alive and safe long enough to come up with a plan to defeat the Order.”
Claire stared at him for a second. Her expression was hard to read. Angry. But hopeful. Sad. But relieved. Betrayed. But forgiving. Then Claire wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
“I’m not saying I completely forgive you,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re not dead, Teach.” Douxie smiled and hugged her back.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that nickname,” he said. Claire pulled back with a grin. She reached up to ruffle his hair.
“Get used to it, Teach.” he laughed. It was nice to be with his friends again. So nice that he wouldn’t have noticed what was happening behind him if it weren’t for Nari.
“DOUXIE!” He looked over his shoulder quickly, but not quick enough.
Oh, fuzzbucket-
He turned just in time to watch Bellroc plunge their staff through his stomach.
Douxie heard Claire scream his name, but he couldn’t think through the pain. The world went fuzzy, flickering in and out of focus, tilting to the side. His stomach was on fire, the pain burning through his senses and setting every nerve alight. Something was dripping from his stomach. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t -
Then the red blur in front of him that was Bellroc ripped the staff out, and Douxie learned the real meaning of pain. No, not pain, agony. Bloodcurdling, endless agony.
He felt his legs collapse beneath him and he fell to the ground on all fours. He tried to focus on the surface in front of his foggy vision, but his arms felt weak and his stomach still hurt and-
Then there was a foot to his side, lighting up his stomach with pain again like a burst of scalding water being spilled.
He was falling. The wind rustled his hair, and he almost enjoyed it before -
WAHM. His shoulder slammed into a solid wall. Then his knees, then his head. By the time he stopped moving, his entire body was burning with pain.
And as he lay there on the pavement, blood slowly seeping through his shirt and making a puddle of red around him, he could see flashes of blue and purple light coming from on top of the subway. That was right, he had been on the subway.
And he had been protecting someone - Nari.
I hope they’ll protect her, Douxie thought. He felt his breaths becoming weaker and weaker, until it became a conscious movement just to take in a gulp of air.
Well, at least this time it’s real.
That was the last thing he thought before the world went dark.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claire watched Douxie get stabbed with a detached sense of horror. It was like watching a car crash - she didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t look away. The worst part was the Bellroc, that evil, cunning little snake looked to actually be enjoying it. God, they were, weren't they? They were enjoying their pain.
“The boy wizard was useless, besides.” Bellroc said, as calmly as if they were commenting on that day's newspaper, or the menu of a cafe. They pushed Douxie’s body off of the staff. He fell, crumpled in a heap on the ground. Claire could see the hole in his hoodie, could see the blood pooling around the wound.
Then Bellroc kicked him, and he went over the side of the train car, leaving a trail of blood on the surface.
“You’ll pay for that,” Claire snarled. There was purple on the edges of her vision, but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was the demigod in front of her that just murdered her teacher.
She charged forward, throwing blast after blast of purple magic at the demigod. Behind her, she heard Jim draw his sword and charge into battle after her.
Suddenly, Bellroc was fending off attacks from all directions. First they would deflect a ball of purple magic from Claire, then they would need to blast back an attack from Aja, then a swipe from Jim.
“You are not leaving this place alive!” Claire screamed as her blasts gained speed and precision. Rage clouded her thoughts. She might’ve imagined it, but she could’ve sworn she saw fear in the centuries-old god’s eyes.
With one last blast, Claire pushed the demigod one step further, then stopped. The god smirked.
“You’ll die today,” They said, raising their staff high above Claire’s head.
“Wrong.” A voice called out. “You’re the only one who’s dying.”
Then the tip of a sword poked out of Bellroc’s chest. They just stared at it for a second. Claire materialized a second shadow knife and leveled it at Bellroc’s face.
“This is for Douxie.” she growled, then sliced them across the face, through the blindfold, and carving a bright orange line through their white skin.
Everything was still. No one moved.
“Feel the wrath of the hammer!” Toby screamed suddenly. He swung the warhammer at Bellroc, and the moment it collided-
-Bellroc exploded with a flash of orange and blue light, and all that was left was a puddle of lava.
For a moment, the group was silent, just watching the lava melt through the side of the train car. It was Toby who finally broke the silence.
“We did it,” he gasped, unbelieving. Then he grinned. “We did it!” He elbowed Claire and Jim. “You two defeated the most powerful demigod in the world!” Claire smiled, but it vanished just as quickly as she remembered the predicament of the most important member of their group.
“Oh no,” Jim gasped, having come to the same conclusion.
Archie remembered the pain of having the familiar spell broken, all those years ago in the woods. He remembered vividly watching the rune on his chest flake off and blow away.
But all that was miniscule compared to the pain he was in now.
He had been minding his own business, reading with his dad by the fire, when it started. The pain started in his stomach, before stretching across his chest and paws and wings - then it returned to his chest. It burned, circling around in a motion Archie hadn’t felt since . . . since . . .
“The bond,” Archie had gasped. He hadn’t felt the bond active in years. And the last time he had felt pain like this was . . . was right before Douxie had died. “Father, I have to go!” He yelled out.
He flew out of the den without waiting for an answer, bound for Arcadia Oaks and his familiar.
When the group of teens found Douxie, he was still and unmoving, laying facedown on the pavement, surrounded by a puddle of red. For a moment, Claire was back in that clearing, with Archie’s claws digging into her shoulder, finding her teacher in the woods. But then she blinked, and she was back in the city. And it was real this time.
“Douxie!” She cried out. She fell to her knees with a clank. She knew she was getting blood on herself, but she shoved that disturbing fact away. She couldn’t lose Douxie. Not so soon after getting him back. She turned him over, so that his still face was facing the sky. “Douxie?”
“Ma’am!” A woman’s voice called out. She looked up. The police. “Ma’am, please, step away from the body,” Claire pulled Douxie close as Jim, Toby, and the others caught up.
“Ma’am! Sir!” Another voice called out, male this time. A reporter.
“Stay back!” Claire shouted. “Stay away from him!” The reporters hesitated a second, but then continued forward.
“Claire, you have to get us out of here.” Jim whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Hands in the air!”
“Where?” Claire hissed back, raising her hands.
“Not in Arcadia. We can’t show up with a body and not expect questions to be asked,” Jim said. “The woods. Around Arcadia.”
“On it,” Claire said, obeying. She put her hands together then stretched out, and the purple orb expanded.
“Hey, what is tha-'' the police officer was cut off as the group vanished with a flash of purple light.
It was the same clearing that Claire had sat in before, Douxie’s head in her lap, hoping against hope he would live.
“Douxie?” She said. “Doux, can you hear me?” He didn’t respond. Some part of her knew he wouldn’t. Blood was still flowing freely from the wound, staining the grass and the knees of Claire’s armour. “Can’t we do anything?” Claire asked, looking around, specifically at Blinky. “Anything at all?” The group was silent. Claire sighed.
“What about you, Nari?” Claire asked. “You resurrected Morgana. Can you . . . ?” The tiny goddess’s eyes lit up with hope.
Douxie was laying on something hard. And flat. But it was warm, and somehow he could tell it was safe.
He opened his eyes with a groan
The ceiling above was eerily familiar. The chandelier above was unlit, yet the entire place seemed ablaze with light.
He sat up. He was in Merlin’s study. From Camelot. It looked just as he had last seen it, which was years in the past. The books were still stacked neatly on the worktable. The amulet pieces were still strewn across the blueprints. Even the time map was right where he had seen it last.
Then the memories came rushing back. Bellroc. A sharp stabbing pain through his stomach. The iron taste of blood.
He patted his chest, his stomach, to find- it was whole. He examined his hands. No blood. He was fine. There was no stab.
Yet a wound like that would’ve killed him. Douxie sighed, and leaned back as the truth dawned on him.
“Modrax’s miracles. Well, if this is the afterlife, then I must surely be in he-” “Hello there, boy.” Douxie’s eyes flashed open as his Master’s voice filled the room
“What?” Douxie gasped, bolting upright. “Master! You’re not - you’re not dead!?” Merlin laughed, and put down the book he had been holding.
“Magic may be mastery over life, but I am most certainly deceased. You saw me vaporize into soot, remember?” Douxie did remember. How could he forget some of the worst few minutes of his life? He hopped off the table and watched as Merlin picked up the time map and examined it.
“The question really is why are you here, hm?” Douxie frowned out the window. If he looked closely, he could almost imagine the shadows were Camelot’s towers.
“The plan failed,” he said. “I failed.” Merlin turned his gaze on him. It was a look of disappointment, a gaze that was very familiar to Douxie.
“I’m dead, Bellroc’s still alive, and Nari’s in danger. That’s the exact opposi-”
“Bellroc’s dead.” Merlin said flatly. “Skrael’s dead. Nari’s with the Guardians of Arcadia. I’d say your plan worked out excellently.” Douxie turned to look at Merlin. He didn’t want to say he needed his master’s validation, but it still lit a spark of pride in his chest to know that Merlin was happy.
“I see you translated my grimoire,” Merlin said, changing the subject. Douxie spun to face him.
“You wrote it in DRACONIC!!”
“Ancient Draconic. You figured it out, didn’t you?” Merlin pointed out. “Though you somehow managed to do the exact opposite of my extremely specific instructions.”
Douxie leveled a finger at the old man, familiar anger rising up in spite of his grief.
Then he laughed. It felt good to laugh.
“Ah, I knew you wouldn’t approve,” Douxie told him with a smirk. “But I came up with my own plan. No regrets.”
“And no regrets about tricking your friends, either, I presume?” Merlin asked. Douxie opened his mouth to agree before his mind caught up with what Merlin had said. He stayed silent. A grin played across the corners of Merlin’s mouth.
“Remember when I told you that magic is mastery over life? Nine hundred years you've guarded this realm. You've disrupted time, freed ancient beasts, fought to save one life at the risk of countless others because you believed every life was precious. And still... despite such relentless hardships you managed to protect those dearest to you.” Merlin put a hand on his shoulder. “Do you know why I gave you a staff, all those years ago?”
Douxie was quiet.
“I saw a glimmer of greatness in a boy I took in off the streets. And in your lifetime you’ve grown that spark into an inferno. The reason I gave you a staff was because I saw something in you I never had. You treasured all life on this planet. I was blinded by my desire to save the greater good.” Merlin stepped down, in front of the portrait of him, Douxie, and Morgana. “I didn’t take on an apprentice to become a copy of myself, you know, Hisirdoux.” He turned to look at Douxie. “The world doesn’t need another Merlin Ambrosious. It needs more people like you. I gave you a staff, not because you were like me, but because you treasured every life on this planet. That was the greatness I saw in you, Hisirdoux.” Douxie could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he fought them back. “Oh, what a life you’ve lived, Hisirdoux. What a wizard you’ve become.” A tear slipped out from under his eyelid. He opened his eyes and found Merlin, his dad, standing there looking at him with a gaze full of all the love and kindness Douxie had ever wanted from him. The floodgates opened, and soon Douxie’s cheeks were wet. He wrapped his arms around Merlin.
After a moment, Merlin returned the hug.
“Time to be off, then,” a woman’s voice rang out around the study. Douxie looked over Merlin’s shoulder.
“Morgana?” She turned around with a playful smile and a glint in her eye.
“You were a foolish old man,” she said. “But you had good taste in apprentices.” Douxie glanced around the study. It would likely be the last time he ever saw it, the closest place he had ever had to a home.
Family isn’t only who you have. It’s also who you’re with.
Douxie stepped down and joined the other spellcasters in front of the door as it swung open, revealing a glowing white place beyond. Morgana and Merlin stepped forward with smiles, as if greeting an old friend.
But something held Douxie back.
“Your time is not yet done,”
The words echoed around the space. Merlin smiled and put a hand on Douxie’s shoulder, even though as he watched the entire space was getting fuzzy and fading. First around the edges of his vision, but creeping inward.
“I’d say you had to join us, but it seems as if someone has other plans.” Douxie let out a small noise of protest, but Merlin didn’t listen.
“Alas, I fear the age of wizardry ends with us,” Morgana said sadly.
“But you,” Merlin told Douxie, pointing a finger at him, “You will carry on in the world of man. You must protect Nari no matter what. Protect the hearthstone. Protect the Heart of Avalon, or what remains of it, at least. Promise me that, and don’t -”
“But, Master!”
“‘But, Master’ me.” Douxie chuckled at that. “Good luck, Master Wizard.” Merlin turned away, but before he faded into the light, Douxie saw him flash the sign of the horns. He smiled.
He wasn't in the study anymore, that was for sure. He was laying on the ground, in the grass if the tickling in his ear was anything to go by.
When Douxie opened his eyes, the sky was darker, twilight, lit only by one or two stars. But the sky was blocked out by a canopy of trees.
And those were blocked out by the faces of Claire, Jim, and Nari.
“It worked!” Jim said.
“Douxie!” Claire exclaimed. Although her tone was relieved, he didn't miss the tears that she hastily smeared away. “A-are you okay? How do you feel?"
"Oh, everything hurts," he gasped, sitting up with Jim's help. But although his whole body ached and would probably be covered in bruises if he looked, one pain was noticeably absent.
He looked down at his stomach with a gasp. Although his shirt was torn and bloody and dancing with greenish magic if you looked closely (which he wasn't), his stomach was whole. There was no jagged stab wound.
"Wha- how?" Claire smiled.
"Nari." She said as way of answer. He remembered that same goddess bringing back another witch, years before, and he smiled at her, an actual, genuine smile, one he hadn't felt in years. Three of them, to be exact.
"Thank you."
"I can't believe it actually worked! I can't believe you're okay!" Claire told him.
"As Archie would say, I'm the one with nine lives." Douxie told her. She grinned. She offered him a hand to pull him up.
"Well, we're happy you're alive."
"Yes, does anyone care to explain why?" A voice asked. Douxie froze, eyes darting up to the black figure that had just landed on Nari's shoulder. She smiled.
"You made a promise, and you haven't fulfilled it yet." Douxie swallowed.
“Alright, so let me get this straight.” Archie said. He was sitting on Douxie’s shoulder again, which was slightly reassuring, even if his claws were digging in harder than normal. “You faked your own death to trick the Arcane Order, but then you actually died?” There were nods all around.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Douxie agreed, The claws dug in deeper, and Douxie winced. The pressure didn’t lessen, if anything, it got harder.
“What I don’t understand is why you had to sever the bond.” Douxie sighed.
“Arch, the Arcane Order had to think I was dead. You couldn’t come with me, and if the bond stayed they could track it and everyone would know I was still alive.” Claire had stayed quiet watching Douxie reason with Archie, but now she spoke.
“It was a bad decision, Archie.” she said. “I think Douxie realizes that now.” Archie huffed, but the pressure he was putting on Douxie’s shoulder lessened.
“I’m really, really sorry, Arch,” Douxie told him. “But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t really sever the bond, I just blocked it for a bit. If you look, the bond’s still there.” Archie was quiet, then he sighed.
“Stop sending me all your mushy feelings through the bond,” Archie muttered. “You’re making it hard to be mad at you.” Douxie chuckled, and reached up to scratch his familiar between the shoulder blades.
“Love you too, Arch,” Archie tried not to enjoy it but Douxie still heard the purr. He grinned.
Nari was safe. The Arcane Order was dead. His friends were alive and happy. They were back together.
