Chapter Text
jdubbam Presents
In Association with Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd
Requiem for an Adventurer
"...the good thing about loved ones is they eventually die, too. Then everybody's together again. That's why the hardest thing about dying is leaving all your stuff behind."
- The Librarian
Once upon a time, in a world that was simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to ours', there lived a young, blue-haired girl with a knack for adventure named Hilda. Unlike most children around her age, Hilda had an upbringing that was as outlandish as it was incredible. For all of her life, she, her loving mother, Johanna, and her trusty deerfox, Twig, lived a mostly picturesque life in the wilderness, where she would often get entangled with creatures of all shapes and sizes.
But with all the good things in life, it was not to last forever.
Some time ago, a long-ongoing fued between her family and a community of tiny, invisible elves had set off a chain of events that ultimately culminated in the unintentional destruction of her house in the wilderness by the hands (or moreso foot) of a giant named Jorgen, forcing the family and their newfound friend, a knowledgeable elf named Alfur, to move into the city of Trolberg. There, Hilda made with two other children named Frida and David, joined the Sparrow Scouts, and, for the first time in her life, went to school in person. Despite initial reservations of whether or not she would be able to sustain her life as an adventurer in such a different environment, Hilda found herself in for a shock when they, if anything, became grander than they had ever been before. For the first time in her life, she felt as if everything in her life was truly and surely right, and that even in the most perilous of times, she would always come out with friends and family by her side.
But that was not to last forever, either.
One day, what at first seemed like a simple bout of rain had evolved into a fierce snowstorm - one which threatened to completely bury the city by morning if not stopped. With the help of David and an accomplice on one of her previous adventures, a goofy but loyal Thunderbird named Raven, Hilda made a daring travel to the Trolberg Weather Station to come to the aid of her favorite meteorologist, Victoria Van Gale, and potentially get to the bottom of an increasingly harrowing storm.
Prior to their arrival, it was all but clear where the source of the problem laid - an argument between a group of Weather Spirits, which Raven had voiced his suspicions about earlier. And although Hilda and Raven managed to settle the argument, they were faced with an even greater revelation when David's snooping led them to the true culprit of the storm: Victoria Van Gale herself, who had been keeping a baby Weather Spirit in a containment unit...
- Prologue: The Unthinkable -
Trolberg Weather Station
"No, don't! Please, you don't know what I had to do to catch it!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
Hilda made her way towards the containment unit where the baby Weather Spirit was being held, intent on freeing it despite the protests of her former idol, Victoria Van Gale.
She had turned the key and one push of the button marked its' freedom. But the containment unit had exploded with all the energy it used to keep it contained, sending Hilda flying back and knocking her out.
Victoria was able to escape to a cable car in time as the light show had finally ceased and both Weather Spirits were safe. But the explosions had ruptured the foundation, causing the whole place to collapse.
...and the Weather Spirits didn't take Hilda with them this time.
"NOOO!" Victoria screamed as the station broke apart.
Meanwhile within the station, Hilda was still unconscious. She seemed to float in the air for a moment as the debris fell to the bottom of the mountain. Then she was crushed underneath the rubble as it crashed down.
Back at the cable car, Victoria was distraught at the loss of her life's work until something startled her. It was Raven landing on the cable car. "What happened? WHERE'S HILDA?!" He demanded.
But then Raven realized that Hilda was still in the building when it collapsed.
"Oh... no..."
Back at the bottom of the mountain, Hilda woke up, excruciating pain radiating throughout her body. She could barely see anything or breathe, and she couldn't feel her legs.
When she mustered the energy and courage to take one look behind her, she immediately knew why.
Yet at the same time, she wished dearly that she hadn't.
A big piece of concrete had landed on both of her legs. The brunt of the impact had crushed them and pinned her down on the spot, rendering her immobile.
After taking a few seconds to process the grisly sight, Hilda began to let out several panicked breaths. And in the place of those breaths quickly came a series of shrill, bone-chilling screams.
"HEEEEELP! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP ME, PLEASE!"
Hilda tearfully pleaded and yelled as loud as she could, her voice already hoarse from her torrent of anguished and frightened screams. But it was muffled by all the debris on top of her. Nobody - if they were even around - would be able to hear her.
She tried to move around, but couldn't. Then she felt something stick into her, which dug deeper as she tried to get up. She had been stabbed by a broken pipe, median streams of crimson flowing from the area in excess.
Desperate to get out, she tried to move her arms in the unbelievably cramped space, a feat not made any easier by the grueling pain. It didn't get her anywhere, as she was only managed to obtain an awkward grip on the pipe. As expected, it wouldn't budge. That did not deter Hilda, who pushed through her misery to try and pull it out.
With each failed attempt to remove the pipe, Hilda's struggles grew more and more resolute. Through many choked sobs and groans of agony, she tugged on it with what might she had in her.
After a few more minutes, Hilda looked to see that the pipe still hadn't moved an inch from where it entered. Knowing full well that she would only bring more pain onto herself by doing so, Hilda shakily laid her blood-stained palm over it.
By now, she had grown so weak that she wasn't as able to pull on it as strongly. The blue-haired girl could only watched as it slid off due to the blood that caked it.
And then...it hit her.
At this point in her life, Hilda knew that she was no stranger when it came to harrowing or even life-threatening experiences, whether it be risking nearly being ground into pieces to rescue the Vittra, challenging the Marra to see if they had what it took to frighten her, or when she accidentally endangered the souls of her Mum and David.
Despite it all, she would always find herself being able to shake them off, as it was her own philosophy that such happenings were common for an adventurer such as herself.
But this wasn't one of those times.
Her cries would never reach the outside world. She had never felt more alone. And every time she tried to instill confidence in herself, it was getting less and less helpful, as the excruciating pain kept shutting it down.
"No…not like this…" She sobbed.
At what first seemed like a miracle, she had managed to get the pipe out of her. But the miracle quickly wore off as the stab wound bled profusely. She couldn't keep one arm on the wound while using her last free limb to try to get herself free.
It was the perfect death trap.
With her resolve dissipated and the reality of her situation taking full mental hold, Hilda broke down completely. She wailed and sobbed with guttural, haunting crescendo over the hopelessness and futility of it all.
"No, no, please no... please... no please..." She said in a erratic, despaired mantra.
Eventually, Hilda resigned herself to her fate as her vision began to tunnel out.
"Mum... I... I want my... muh..." were her last words right before she passed out.
Back in Trolberg, word of the station's collapse had spread like a raging fire. Johanna had gotten home in the evening, greeted by a worried Twig.
"Oh, Twig. None of the neighbors have seen her. Where could she be?" She said. But this time, Alfur wasn't constantly trying to pass an elf mail to her. She had began stress eating some Jorts.
Soon after, she made a phone call to David and Frida's parents.
A few minutes later...
Unfortunately, they hadn't seen her either.
"No? Well, thanks for checking. Please keep an eye out, and let me know if you see her."
"Of course. I know adequate supervision can be so hard for a single parent."
As she took a second to take in that statement, Johanna hung up out of frustration and then sighed.
"Twig... what if she's...what if she's…" She trailed off soon before turning on the TV to see if the news had anything. The channel opened to a live feed of the debris of the station. Workers had been digging through the rubble to see what they could find. Then they came across a person buried within it.
It was a twelve year old girl with blue hair that was extremely wounded.
The instant Johanna saw her, her eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"...Oh my god." She muttered internally. "No…it can't be true. No..."
She got up quickly and darted out of the house with Twig following behind.
"It can't be true, it can't be true, it can't be true!" Johanna thought to herself along the way. Her thoughts nearly clouded her judgement as she soon realized that her car was veering onto the wrong side of the road and nearly crashed into someone.
"Aah!" But she steered back to the right side just before anything nasty could've happened. "I'M SO SORRY! I JUST...I HAVE SOMEWHERE I REALLY NEED TO BE RIGHT NOW!" Johanna apologized, though she didn't pay any mind to the obscenities the pedestrian was shouting at her.
She eventually made it to the site where Hilda was. There was a camera crew and a crowd of people. "I hope I'm not too late…" She thought. Johanna advanced towards the crowd, and soon found herself pushing through the multiple people in it, still lost in her thoughts until she caught a glimpse of her daughter.
"Hey. Back up." A cop told her.
"But that's my daughter!" She pushed past the last person until she reached the clearing where Hilda lay.
It was worse than she could have ever imagined. The innumerable bandages on her were flooded and leaking with blood.
Johanna put her hands over her mouth as she breathed heavily, utterly horrified by her daughter's battered and broken state.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Johanna cried.
"We found her under the rubble. She's hurt bad." The cop told her. "Paramedics did all they could, but they said she may not pull through."
Johanna rushed over to Hilda's side and took her hand. "Hilda… please…wake up…"
After what felt like an eternity, Hilda's eyes slowly came open.
"Hilda... it's me..."
Hilda's eyes looked into her mother's, both filled with tears. Twig was nudging Hilda as well.
"...M-muuhhh…Mum?"
"I'm here, Hilda…everything's...everything's going to be alright, just stay with me!"
"M…Mum…" Hilda struggled to say. She was on the verge of fading again. "It…hurts…"
Their vision still locked on one another, Johanna took the time to observe her daughter's injuries.
"I'm…through,…Mum…" Hilda muttered.
"No… No, you aren't! Don't you dare utter those words! We'll get you somewhere - a place with the best doctors in the entire city! It can't be far away!"
The sound of ambulances approaching could be heard. "See, Hilda? You're gonna be alright." Johanna said in frantic reassurance.
But then she saw that Hilda's eyes were closed.
"Hilda? … HILDA?!"
Her daughter's hand had lost its strength on hers. Hilda's head fell back onto the ground as she breathed her last. Twig tried tapping on Hilda, getting more and more panicked and letting out multiple whimpers.
"HILDA!" Johanna shrieked.
She got up close to listen for any sign of a heartbeat.
All was silent.
Hilda's little heart beat no more, her suffering at long last having reached a merciful end.
"…Hilda…" Johanna blubbered as tears began to fill her eyes. In one last resort of desperation, she tried to give her daughter CPR, but it was no use.
Hilda...her little adventurer, her pride and joy, her only child, her baby, was gone forever.
There would never be another game of Dragon Panic. Never another day where she would be greeted by her after a long and exhausting day of work. No more searching through her hair to get the Nittens out. No more listening to recollections of her latest escapade. No more tucking her to bed and kissing her good night.
And then the ambulance pulled up. The doctors came out with health monitor devices. It was flatlined across the board.
"We have no vitals." One of the doctors said. "We are so sorry."
Autopsy Report
An autopsy was performed on the body of
Hilda [DATA EXPUNGED]
Age at Death: 12
at the MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF TROLBERG
Trolberg on October 28th, [DATA EXPUNGED] 1741 HOURS
Causes of Death:
• Internal Bleeding
• Severe Stab Wound of Chest
• Possible Heart Attack
• Blunt Force Head Trauma
• Possible Oxygen Deprivation
• Legs Crushed by Heavy Object
• Broken Rib
• Severe Blood Loss
Anatomical Summary
1. Stab wound #1 to chest, potentially fatal
A. Entry: Abdomen
B. Direction: [Inconclusive: The foreign object seemed to have been removed but a bloodstained pipe found on the scene may likely be the cause.]
C. Path: [Inconclusive: See B]
D. Estimated depth of penetration: No greater than 8 cm
...
To Be Continued in Chapter 1: Requiem for an Adventurer
Story Concept by jdubbam
Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd
Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore
Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger