Toby had started pacing around nervously ever since they left the Forge in favour of going to Blinky's Library where Jim was supposed to be in. A sinking feeling settling in his gut the moment he stepped inside and saw a Library devoid of life. Devoid of Jim. 

"Master Tobias," Blinky started "I implore you to please calm down. I'm sure your friend is safe." The blue troll said in an attempt to calm down a worried trollhunter. 

"Jim is smart, I'm sure he's alright, Toby" Claire added, more to try and convince herself that Jim was alright somewhere out there in trollmarket. 

"Oh… I knew I shouldn't have left Jimbo alone…" Toby voiced out, concern dripping out with every word he spoke "What if a passing troll squished him? Or worse, what if he was eaten?!" The teen started to panic, gripping onto his hair in an attempt to reduce his worry.

Just then, a certain and very familiar sound of a staff clinking against hard stone ground echoed throughout the library. Everyone froze. Vendel did not like it when things were out of order, so how was he to react when he finds out that they had lost a human in Trollmarket? 

"Blinkous Galadrigal." The elder's voice boomed, travelling into the library before he himself could arrive. Now it was Blinky's turn to panic, what was he to say to the old troll that wouldn't get him mad? Afterall, did very much respect Vendel, even if they often argued. 

The old troll walked in, and to everyone's surprise, Jim was easily being carried by the elder in one hand, much to his dismay. The teen had still been quite tired, the faint traces of a migraine still lingered like a stain. "I believe this is yours?" Vendel voiced, fully stepping inside the room. 

"Jim!" The two other teens in the room ran over, however slower than their trainer who had immediately taken Jim in his own hands. "Young Jim! Are you alright?" Blinky asked in worry for the humans safety, not wanting there to be any complications between the trolls and their new human trollhunter. 

"I-I'm fine, guys…" Jim managed to hoarsely say, despite the aching of his head. "I'm just a bit tired…" 

"I found him passed out on the way out of the forge." It was Vendel that spoke for Jim. "It seemed as though the adrenaline spike caused a hormonal crash in the boy." Jim simply looked thankful towards the older troll for his half lie, he really didn't want to worry his friends any more than he already had today. "A good night's rest and he should be fine. I'll take my leave now." And with that, Vendel walked out of the library, a hand behind his arched back, once again in his regular stance as if no mind breaking information was just laid down on him not more than an hour ago. 

---

The three teens were now walking down a street, hauling their bikes mostly in the quiet except for the occasional question of "are you okay, Jim" and "Trolls. Trolls exist. And according to Blinky, they do take and eat socks." 

Claire stopped at the crossroads before looking at the other two teens who had stopped to look at her as well. "This is my turn guys." She said with a small smile. "See you two tomorrow at school? And early morning rehearsal?" She asked rather hopeful. 

All Jim could do was smile at the mention of rehearsal. Nodding, Jim waved to Claire before he and Toby continued home. "We'll see you tomorrow, Claire!" Toby exclaimed, waving with more energy than his best friend as they continued to walk. 

The rest of their walk went on in silence, then all of a sudden, with a loud smack, Toby looked over to his best friend to find him facepalming rather hard. "I forgot" Jim said in a groan. 

"Forgot what, Jimbo?" Toby asked, concern written all over his face, to which Jim simply pointed towards his house where his mom's car sat outside the garage. 

"We're having Mister Strickler over for dinner today…" 

"Yikes, man…" Toby hissed in visible cringe. "You'd better hurry then, Jimbo." The taller teen simply nodded and rode his bike the rest of the way home. 

Dropping off his bike next to the garage, Jim walked over to the door before stopping for a second. At first Jim didn't really like the idea of Strickler dating his mother but after a while he realised that the man, changeling or not, had truly made his mother happy and eventually accepted it. It wasn't fair that they had just gotten engaged when Strickler sacrificed himself to save Jim, but it was a meaningless sacrifice. It devastated both him and his mom, so this time around he's going to make sure they're both happy together. 

Pushing away the painful memories, Jim shakily opened the door and walked in. Dropping his satchel bag on the railing of the stairs before putting on a smile and walking into the dining room where Strickler sat at the table with his mom drinking tea. "I'm home" He called out before walking over to his mom and giving her a hug. 

"Jim, you're late!" Barbra said, hugging her son and looking over him worriedly. 

"Sorry, mom. Toby just wanted to show me something." Jim said before turning towards Strickler. "Anyone hungry?" 

The rest of the night was spent happily chatting. He was used to having dinner with Strickler by now and knew exactly what he liked, so in an attempt to win him over to their side he tried to charm the changeling with his cooking. 

Walter looked at the time after noticing how tired the teen was becoming. Realising how late it was getting, he got up. "Again, it was such a delight having dinner with you. However, it is getting rather late and I'd hate for Young Atlas to miss classes because of me." 

Jim perked up from the kitchen, halting him from washing the dishes. He wiped the water and soap from his hands reaching into a cabinet where he had placed a food container. He wrapped it up well and walked over to the front door where his mom was greeting off his history teacher. 

"I am so glad Jim has teachers that look out for his well being like you, Strickler" Barbra commented. 

"Please, my friends call me Walt." The changeling said with a small smile before turning around to leave. 

Jim ran past his mom towards Strickler's retreating form carrying a small, towel wrapped container. "Mister Strickler! Wait!" The boy called out after the older man. 

With a raised brow, Walter looked over to the boy only to have his face met with the package the boy was carrying. "Young Atlas? Is everything alright?" He asked, surprising himself with his genuine worry for the boy. 

"I'm- I'm fine" Jim wheezed out, still catching his breath from his run, realising that he no longer had his stamina from the previous timeline. With a smile plastered onto his face he handed the older man the package. "Just a little something for the road" He said before walking back home with a wave of goodbye to his teacher. 

Walter smiled, his worry fading and instead being replaced by the warm tingle of happiness at how kind his prize pupil was before walking away. 

Barbra watched the exchange between teacher and student as she leaned against the frame of the front door with a smile on her face as Jim came back, a bright smile of his own. "What was that you gave him, kiddo?" She asked, walking back inside with her son. 

"Oh, just a little snack I made after I found out what he liked to eat" Jim simply said. It was a half truth, it really was a snack he made specifically for Strickler. It was a bit hard to find the ingredients he needed to make the dish but it was worth it, if it were to help bring him over to their side. He internally thanked blinky for lending him that troll cookbook back in the old timeline. 

After cleaning up and getting ready for bed, Jim sat on the end of his bed, lights closed as he pulled out a small crystal necklace from his bag that he brought upstairs to his room. The crystal's orange glow, his only source of light. Vendel had given him a small piece of Heartstone, "without the power of a Heartstone, the transformation could be more painful than it should. I am unable to stop or revert this process so best keep a piece of Heartstone with you, even if just a small piece can help." He had told Jim before they went back to his friends. 

With a sigh, Jim picked up the mask from his bag and laid the mask down on his nightstand so that he would remember to use it if he truly needed to tomorrow.

---

Jim woke up, body warm and cold at the same time. His joints and muscles hurt, yet it wasn't as bad as the first time. Then again , this time it wasn't instantaneous. He got out of bed and looked over himself to see if he could find any changes that had occurred during his sleep. Thankfully, it didn't seem like there were major changes that he could see. 

He got ready for the day, wearing his signature blue vest and red shirt underneath, before putting on a beanie in an attempt to hide his slowly growing horns. He was thankful that his clothes still fit, although maybe just a tad bit shorter. 

Sticking his head out of his room he looked around before taking note left on his mom's door. "Got called in early -mom" with a smile he walked out and prepared something simple for himself and Toby with an extra for Claire if she wanted. 

He had rehearsal today morning, he couldn't afford to be late so he would have to leave without Toby today- as if on cue, a knock echoed throughout the house. "Jimbo!" He heard Toby call, glad that he didn't have to ride alone to school. 

"We're going to be late for rehearsal!" He heard Claire’s voice call from outside as well. Claire was here? 

Opening the door, he walked out carrying packed lunches. One being given to Toby and the other he stuffed into his own bag. "Claire? What are you doing here?" He voiced out, still surprised that his crush had taken a detour on her bike to go to his house. 

Claire crossed her arms in front of her. "I wanted to make sure that I wasn't crazy and what happened last night really happened." She supplied which made Jim smile weakly. 

"It did." Jim and Toby both said in unison with a smile. And soon the trio were off to school, their trip being filled with small talk about what happened last night. 

Reaching the front of the school the group stopped to wait for the passing traffic to stop. Jim took that time to look around, trying to take in the peace of everything around him. That's when his blue eyes met a familiar pair of hazel ones. The boy's breath hitched and stopped in his throat, accidentally dropping his bike which gained the attention of his companions when the person called Jim's name.  

"Jim…?" A fairly tall looking teen said his light hazel eyes shining with hope as he took a step forward. Jim knew that at this current time the two of them have never met, so how was it that he knew who he was?

Jim couldn't help but allow the hope of someone else remembering the events that transpired take hold of him as his eyes welled up with tears. No, no. He didn't remember. Douxie didn't remember. Nari said so, didn't she? Only trollhunter knows

The younger teen, emotions overflowing like it had with Vendel, tried his best to restrain a sob. Causing his friends to worry about him. Without warning, the younger teen was tackled down by the wizard. "You did it, Jim! You did it!" 

Unable to hold it in anymore, the younger teen cringed onto the wizard and sobbed quietly into the other's shoulder. "D-Douxie…?" He sobbed. The wizard shedding a few tears of his own, gently petting the younger boy on the head as they both fell to their knees. "I'm here, Jim." 

Toby and Claire watched the two interact. Concerned for their friend who was just tackled by a random stranger and started to cry. Allowing for the two to have their moment for a few minutes, Jim soon moved away from the older teen before looking to his friends with a small smile on his face. "S-sorry, guys." He said quietly. "This is Douxie, he… uh…" Jim trailed off, finding it a bit difficult to explain Douxie to the other two. 

"I was the one who taught Jim here how to act!" Douxie provided, after getting over his urge to hug both Claire and Toby when he realised that they, unlike him and Jim, don't remember. 

"Okay…" Claire said with an awkward smile. 

"Uh, not to be that guy, but why were the two of you crying?" Toby asked genuinely concerned for his best friend. Truthfully, Toby was just a bit hurt that Jim never introduced him to douxie before. 

"Uh... well…" This time it was douxie was at a loss for words. 

"Douxie had been training me and I told him I got the part of Romeo in the play!" Jim said, smiling. 

"I guess we were just really happy that our hard work had paid off!" Douxie said, pulling together their little lie. "I was just so happy for Jim that I couldn't wait!" He said, wiping off any remaining tears from his eyes. 

"This is cool and all, but we do have a school to get to and they," Toby pointed towards Claire and Jim. "Have a rehearsal to finish!" Toby said as the first bell rang. 

"Right," Douxie said, gently scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Then I won't keep you any longer, I'll talk to you later, Jim!" The wizard said, smiling and waving off the group as they headed into the school building.

Once out of anyone's earshot, a black cat perched on one of Douxie's shoulders. "I've never once seen you with that boy, Douxie." It spoke, which only brought a chuckle out of his wizard. 

"It's a rather long story, Archie." Douxie said, walking off as he headed for work at the café, wanting a calm day. 

The rest of the day went by as it should any regular day, at least it would have been if Toby hadn't been cold towards Jim. Jim and Claire attended their rehearsals while Toby left early without the other two to train at the Hero's Forge without a word to either of his friends, still just a bit mad about his best friend hiding a new friend from him. During afternoon rehearsal, Claire walked over to her play partner who was sitting on one of the chairs laid out in the auditorium. "Jim?" She called out as she neared the boy who was rather far off mentally. 

Jim looked up from his script still having a far away and tired look. "You okay?" She said, sitting down next to the other teen. 

"I'm fine." Jim said rather quickly, before looking back at his script with an exasperated sigh. "It's just… I think Toby is mad that I haven't introduced him to Douxie…" he continued, shoulders slumping slightly with a sigh. 

Claire looked over Jim, noting how easily his mood could be affected by his best friend's cold treatment. "I would have told him! But…" He trailed off, a flash of what seemed like sorrow in his eyes as he buried his head in his hands.

Realising that he couldn't find the words, Claire continued for him, only guessing what he wanted to say. "Douxie didn't want you telling?" 

His eyes looked up from his palms. "...something like that." He said quietly. "He's from our rival school Claire… I was afraid that Toby might not get along with him because of it. Toby has always been very competitive when it came to our rival school." He tried to come up with a viable reason as to why he "didn't want to tell" instead of truthfully explaining, making him sound just a tad bit crazy. It was true though, Toby had always been competitive with the rival school but in a good hearted way. 

Claire gave him a soft smile, a hand on his shoulder lightly. "I'm sure you two can make up, Jim. Maybe just talk it out and explain to him?" She said before being called on stage by Miss Janeth for a screen she had to practice. 

Jim let out a sigh and looked at his hands. He would need to talk with Douxie about this, he knew that it was best not to tell the whole truth but maybe they could come up with a half lie that won't sound completely crazy. 

Soon, rehearsals were over for the day and the students were allowed to leave. Jim and Claire walked in silence over to their bikes where they were met with two of Claire’s friends -Darcy and Mary, if he wasn't mistaken.

They came at Claire giggling and squealing just a small amount "Girl, have you seen that hot dude waiting in front of the school gates?" Mary squealed, grabbing hold of Claire’s arm, completely overlooking Jim who just stood there confused. 

"Oh, hey Jim!" Darcy said waving slightly in greeting, which Jim replied with a wave of his own. Mary looked over to the boy that was standing not too far away from her best friend, with a mock gasp, Mary gently shook Claire by the shoulders. 

"Girl, spill!" Mary asked, eyes wide with surprise. "Are you and Jim a thing?!" She enquired which made both Jim and Claire blush. 

Stammering, Claire was unable to speak up so instead Jim spoke up for her. "Actually, we're just friends." He said, internally slapping himself. Did Claire even consider him a friend right now? He looked over to the girl in question, a quick flash of emotions washing over her face. Relief, and what seemed to be a hint of disappointment in her eyes. 

"Phew…" Mary exhaled, her posture relaxing as she dramatically wiped her brows from the nonexistent sweat. "Here I thought you started dating without consulting us!" 

"Mary, Claire can date whoever she wants." Darcy said in response to the Asian girl. 

"What? I'm just looking out for my bestie!" Mary defended, earning a small chuckle from Claire. 

"There you are, Jim!" A familiar voice called out, making the group turn their heads towards the source. 

Douxie had walked into the school, worry eating away at his mind from how long Jim had taken. He knew the younger teen had play practice but he had watched the last students just leave with no trace of Jim. "I was starting to worry, you know." He said standing next to the other boy. 

"Sorry, Douxie." Jim started by adjusting the strap of his bag. "Got a bit held back-" He continued only to be interrupted by a soft squealing from Mary. 

"Oh, my god" Mary voiced out. "He's so cool up close!" She said, shaking Darcy by the shoulder, earning the attention of the older boy who blushed slightly at the compliment. 

"Um, thank you?" Douxie said, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. A bit uncomfortable with the attention he was getting, it wasn't something he was unused to, but it still felt uncomfortable suddenly being put under a spotlight. 

Jim had wanted to talk with douxie alone- they needed to, if they wanted to make a more solid plan of action. Thinking quickly, Jim got his bike before turning his attention to the group. "Um, sorry to cut this meeting short but Douxie promised to treat me to Benoit's if I landed the role of Romeo." 

Catching on, the wizard simply smiled and dipped his head towards the girls. "Truly is a shame we couldn't talk much, however I did promise Jim and I'd hate to go back on my word." He said before getting on the bike with Jim. "Hope to see you around, ladies." The wizard said, falling into his flirtatious act to keep the girls -mostly Mary- distracted as the two boys made their retreat, Archie perching on top of Douxie's shoulders. 

Once out of the school gates, Jim couldn't help but let a laugh escape. "Did you really just flirt? With three girls? And one being my past/alternate future girlfriend?" He asked in between gasps. 

"What? That Mary girl would have been a distraction I'd I didn't distract her first!" Douxie countered a laugh of his own escaping him, as the duo rode off to Jim's home where the younger boy knew his mom would be taking a night shift that day. 

Together they knew that they had each other in a world that doesn't remember. And for them, that was enough for now. 

===

A/N: Hey everyone! Douxie is finally here! let's see where this revelation leads our Heros!

Honestly, to me, Jim and Douxie are like Merlin and Arthur. Except better and more brotherly, which is why they hugged it out when they saw each other. I have it as a headcanon that Douxie isn't much of a hugger, only ever hugging people close to him like family. So if you're hugged by Douxie, know that you're part of his family now.

I also drew the hugging scene if anyone is interested! it's on Instagram! I go by Fosermi18 on there.