Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

DISCLAIMER: This is a remake of the story “Hilda and the Eversing Mirror”. The original story was created by JT, FusionBlueCore, and newgameplus_ld. For those seeking the original version of the story, a link to it will be provided by PM or by description. This version has some differences compared to the original version such as the Deerfox curse not being addressed/canon in this version of the story. Also, in later chapters starting with the second, I collaborated with Sunnymoon to make this story. I give big thanks to him for the help.

“It’s got to be here somewhere. Where can it be?” Hilda wondered as she peeked through the library. She was trying to find a certain book there. Her friends David and Frida were also with her trying to locate it. Even Twig was helping with the search.

“It’s been about a few minutes since we got here, Hilda. You sure you know this is where it would be?” Frida asked.

“Of course. The source lies in here.” Hilda opened one book only to put it back when it wasn’t what she was looking for.

“This is no ordinary topic you seem to seek,” David replied. “A book about mirrors opening to other worlds is crazy.”

Hilda pouted. “Have you seen our adventures?”

“Good point.”

“Does the Librarian have a lead on this sort of thing?” Frida wondered.

“Not really. This is something new I am hearing about.” Kaisa shrugged. “Check that Hidden Room. You might get a hint about it.”

Once the three children and the deerfox entered said location, there were barely any clues to help with their investigation. Twig did manage to find something strange near a desk. It was covered by a tarp.

“What is it, boy?” Hilda wondered when Twig started jumping and pointed to the tarp with his head. Upon pulling it, a mirror was discovered.

“A mirror?” David and Frida both said at the same time.

“This doesn’t look like it’s brand-new,” Hilda blew some dust away. “I don’t see any cracks, let alone a receipt on this thing.”

“Maybe we can keep it?” Frida suggested.

“I don’t think so,” David got shy. “The Librarian probably would not allow it.”

“It won’t hurt to ask. The worst she can say is no.” Hilda remained confident.

A few minutes later, Hilda walked out of the library in embarrassment. Kaisa was laughing her socks off.

“Well, you can claim that saying ‘no’ ISN’T the worst thing she can say.” David shrugged.

“We got to find a way to get that mirror,” Hilda was determined. “I got a feeling that it is no ordinary one we have seen.”

“But how will we do that?” David was doubtful. “We’ll get arrested for breaking and entering!”

“Who said anything about breaking and entering?” Hilda answered with a smug smile.

Soon, the kids got back to Hilda’s apartment. Johanna was busy doing jury duty. This gave the three kids the chance to sneak inside.

“So, where is this spare mirror of yours again?” David whispered.

“I think it’s near my bed. We have to be careful with it while carrying it. Kaisa won’t tell the difference if we are stealthy enough.” Hilda looked for the spare mirror.
She managed to locate it. Upon lifting it, it was quite heavy. Even with David and Frida assisting with the transportation, it was still a challenge to transport the thing to the library. Luckily, a wagon came in handy as well as a cloth. Sneaking the mirror wasn’t easy to do since silence had to be made to avoid detection from Kaisa or any other people visiting the library.

“Alright, guys. Let’s do the old switcheroo.” Hilda whispered.

Carefully, Hilda placed the library’s mirror on the ground. David and Frida placed the replica one in the place of the other mirror. The three kids lifted the library mirror into the wagon and quietly made their way back to the exit. Things were going smoothly until Kaisa called them over.

“HEY, YOU! YOU THREE!” Kaisa marched over to the kids.

“The plan’s not gonna work! It’s not gonna work!” David hissed.

“You think you can just come here and steal a non-library item in this place, do ya?!” Kaisa stared down at the three. “Well, you thought wrong! I’m calling the authorities to apprehend you for this!”

Hilda, David, and Frida gulped as the librarian started to dial the number. What they didn’t expect was that a top part of the library broke, causing the debris to fall on Kaisa, and making her unconscious. Frida poked her with a stick to check her condition. Thankfully, she is still alive, just knocked out.

“Well, that’s another incident in this place.” David rolled his eyes.

“She didn’t see anything,” Hilda stated before she and the others dashed out of the library. However, they have encountered another obstacle: Trevor.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the appealing airheads!” the boy taunted the three kids.

“Ugh,” David rolled his eyes. “What do you want, Trevor?”

“Well, not much,” Trevor chuckled. “Just going to pull my April Fools prank!”

Trevor dashed behind Frida and stole her sash.

“Hey! What’s the big deal?!” Frida was annoyed.

“I just told you,” Trevor had a lighter. “April Fools!” The sash ended up catching on fire.

Frida was furious. She charged at Trevor, but he managed to dodge her. “You better give me that back if you don’t want to end up in a hospital!”

“Funny coming from you, witch!” Trevor threw the burning sash at Frida’s chest. The girl yelped in pain as she tried to put out the fire.

David tried to interfere, but Trevor tripped him, causing him to get dirty. “Have a nice fall, brownie!”

Soon, Trevor got interrupted as a car hit him on the road. “Out of the road, bozo!” the driver yelled.

Hilda and David helped extinguish the fire on Frida with some water. Sadly, some of her sash became ash. “Damn, this was a very important thing in my life. And now thanks to that imbecile, it's gone.” Frida looked like she was about to cry.

Hilda placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry, Frida. We will get you a new sash. We can ask the Raven Leader to give you new copies of the badges to replace the ones you lost.”

Frida sighed before she got up. “I guess. Thanks.”

The kids resumed their journey back to Hilda’s apartment. As they entered the place, Johanna was there. And boy, was she not happy.

“Where have you been?” the woman crossed her arms.

“We were going around town.” Hilda whistled innocently.

“Really? Well, what’s that thing you got in the wagon? It’d better not be another animal.” Alfur shook his head.

“Oh, this is…” Frida started to explain but got interrupted when Tontu popped in behind them. “Hey!”

“This is one big mirror you’re carrying. That’s got to be the strangest normal thing you brought home.” Tontu smelled the mirror.

“Huh. Okay.” Johanna was confused about this. “What were you doing with it?”

“Thought I could…” Hilda started before David whispered some useful information. “Help clean it. That’s right. These things get dirty so we want them to be shiny and clean so we can see our reflections!”

Johanna at first didn’t seem to buy this, but eventually caved in. “All right. Just don’t get that thing broken.” She headed off to the kitchen to make dinner.

Once the situation was cleared, the three kids headed to Hilda’s room to place the mirror.

“So, how are you going to get this thing to work?” Alfur asked.

“Midnight plays a role in this, and so does midday,” Frida explained. “The opening occurs at midnight side, and one must place a hand to be pulled there. It is expected to take 12 hours to make the mirror work.”

David checked the clock. “It should work in about a few minutes. Might as well stand back to avoid collateral damage.”

The moon showed up just in time for the mirror to work. Hilda, David, and Frida braced themselves for what would happen next. The windows opened, the curtains flew, the ground rumbled, and even Twig got scared and hid behind his master. A white light flashed repeatedly.

“You sure this works?!” David yelled during the commotion.

“I don’t know!” Hilda replied.

Hilda went closer to the mirror to see anything for any possible figures in it. Eventually, she noticed a black dot getting bigger.

“Guys! Something is going to come out of this mirror!” Hilda announced before Frida and David joined her.

The dot eventually grew bigger and bigger until a figure was coming closer. It looked familiar to Hilda, but before a closer look could be made, the figure collided with the three. All of the kids were knocked out. Hilda could make a little blur of blue before she fell asleep.

A few minutes later, Hilda woke up. She looked to see David and Frida still unconscious. Hilda couldn’t believe what happened earlier. “What the hell was that about?” she whispered as she dusted herself. Eventually, some noises were heard in the kitchen.

Hilda gulped as she grabbed a flashlight and a tranquilizer gun from her desk. She tiptoed toward the source of the noises. She heard some muttering. “Didn’t work out the first time, but that’s ok. All you have to do is sneak back to the mirror without anyone looking, that way no questions can be asked. You’ll be back in Trolberg with your friends, and out of this wacko world. It’d be a relief to see my dad again. Alright. Here we go.”

Hilda stood up. She aimed her flashlight and tranquilizer gun around the apartment. “Stop right there! You’re not stealing anything here! We’re calling the cops on you!” Suddenly, Hilda stopped moving when her flashlight was pointed at someone. It was a boy who was standing around the living room in surprise. He had blue hair, denim shorts, a jacket, a beret, a scarf, and all. He looked very similar to Hilda.

The kids stared at each other not knowing what to do next. The blue-haired boy had the stupidest idea possible: “Uh, meow?”

Hilda screamed in terror. “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

The boy responded in the same manner. “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

Hilda fired the tranquilizer gun. The dart landed on one of the boy’s legs. “Oww…” His vision became blurry before he eventually fell on the floor, unconscious.
Hilda was weirded out. Hilda got closer to the boy and shined her flashlight at him. She grabbed a stick and started poking at the boy, who slept through all of this. The girl lightly gasped when she recognized the male intruder. “I’ve got to do something about this.” With no time to waste, Hilda went to gather some rope and find a chair. She needed to interrogate the boy when he woke up.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Note: I want to clarify some things to avoid confusion. The Sunnymoon person I mentioned before, his name is StarmanSlayer in fanfic.net. Also, some stuff like the Runestone might be addressed at a later chapter. I give credit to StarmanSlayer for writing several parts of this chapter.

The boy had just started to regain consciousness when he started to hear muffled voices.

"Don't you think you overreacted a little? I mean, you shot him with a gun!" said one of the voices.

"It was a tranquilizer gun!" another voice responded. "And besides, how am I supposed to react when I see a perfect copy of myself standing right in front of me?"

"Well, you didn't tranquilize yourself when we went back to the past." said a third, higher-pitched voice.

At this point, the boy was able to slowly raise his head and open his eyes. Though his vision was blurry at first, it became clearer and clearer with every second until his mind was able to process his surroundings. He was sitting in a strangely familiar room, and in front of him stood a group of strangely familiar faces.

"I'm really starting to think bringing him here was a bad idea... How do you think your mum will-" the girl was cut off by what seemed to be a female version of himself.

"Wait, he's waking up!" exclaimed Hilda before taking a few steps towards him, a cautious look on her face.

With his mouth still half asleep, the boy mumbled "Hmph... Where am I? Am I home?"

As the numbness of his body dissipated, he realized he was bound to the chair he was sitting in. "W-What's going on? Why am I tied up?" he nervously asked Hilda.

He felt something move around his feet and looked down to see a small deerfox sniffing his left foot. "Leaf? Is that you?" Twig looked up at him and let out a short growl, before going back to sniffing him. It was clear this wasn't Leaf.

Hilda suddenly shoved her face a few inches away from his, making him recoil in surprise, she inspected each of his features carefully. The girl was carrying a frying pan. She stepped back and started to walk in a circle around him. Once she was back in front of him, she swiftly plucked a hair from his head. "Ouch!" exclaimed the boy.

"Yep, that's the same blue..." muttered Hilda to herself.

"Can you guys answer any of my questions?" abruptly asked the boy, whose nervousness was turning into annoyance.

"Not yet." answered Hilda "We have a few questions first."

"You're in an apartment. And no, you're not at home." quickly answered David. "I hope this helps!" he grinned awkwardly.

After a short silence, Hilda asked "So... What's your name?"

"It's Hilbert." He replied.

"Sounds familiar..." said David lost in thought.

"What's a troll's weakness?" Hilda sternly asked.

"Do you think I'm stupid? It's bells and sunlight!" he answered louder than before. It was obvious Hilbert was getting irritated by these questions, but Hilda pressed him to answer one more question.

"Criminal record?" David and Frida gave each other puzzled looks.

"Criminal re-WHAT?" Hilbert was flabbergasted, to the point where he started asking himself if he wasn't still under the tranquilizer's effect.

Frida placed a hand on Hilda's shoulder, pulling her away from the confused boy. She interjected "Hilda, that's enough! It's clear he isn't a criminal, he's just a kid like us!"

She quickly followed up "So you're from Trolberg, right?" to which Hilbert nodded.

"Now can you please untie me and tell me what's going on?" he asked, now clearly unamused by the situation.

"Right, he doesn't look dangerous. I think you can untie him now," said Frida to Hilda, who promptly untied Hilbert, allowing him to finally stand up.

After a long stretch, he asked "So, now can I ask you your names?"

"Oh right! I'm Hilda, this is Frida and David, my best friends!" said Hilda cheerfully trying to get Hilbert to lighten up.

"Ahem!" a high-pitched voice was heard coming from Hilda's head, which suddenly Alfur revealed himself. "I'm here too you know?" he stated with a pout.

"And this is Alfur!" added Hilda awkwardly.

"Not only do you guys look like my friends, but your names sound like theirs too!" His eyes widened at the realization. "So wait, did I get sucked into a parallel universe where I'm a girl or something?" he asked incredulously.

"It appears so, yes," replied Frida.

David suddenly snapped his finger and exclaimed "Hilda! THAT'S where I knew it from!" A proud smile was plastered across his face "I knew it sounded familiar!"

"O...kay well, how do I go back to my own world then?" he nervously asked.

"According to this book, the portal opens every 12 hours, when the two worlds naturally align." explained Frida "Also, the portal can only take people from the world where Midday strikes, to the world where midnight strikes, not the other way around." she specified.

"Neat! This means all I got to do is wait 12 hours for the worlds to realign, and then jump back through the portal," said Hilbert confidently.

His joy was short-lived, however, as Frida interjected once again. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. It's stated right here that someone needs to pull you out from the other side, otherwise the portal is as good as closed."

Hilbert sat back down to his chair, looking dejected. A concerned Hilda approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't look so down, your friends will probably be worried about you. They'll probably be waiting for you on the other end when the time comes!" reassured Hilda.

"I hope so..." responded Hilbert after a long sigh. He stood back up, trying to regain his composure. "But what now? Is there really nothing we can do from here?" he asked this. already knowing the answer.

David chuckled, which prompted everyone to look in his direction "Oh. sorry! It's just a really familiar feeling." Frida and Alfur both nodded in agreement.

"The best we can do right now is try to get your mind off of this for the next 12 hours," stated Hilda before letting out an unexpected yawn, Frida and David followed suit.

"And there's no better way to empty your mind than having a good night's rest!"

"Now that you mention it, we're nearing 1 A.M." confirmed Frida. "It would probably be best if David and I went back home before our parents notice that we stayed up past our curfew."

After waving goodbye to her friends, Hilda turned to Hilbert and gestured to him to follow her. "You can sleep here for the night, I'll give you a sleeping bag from my closet."

Hilbert quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait! I can't stay here! How is your mum gonna react if she sees me? I am NOT having a repeat of the tranquilizer incident!" he exclaims in panic.

"Don't worry, we can figure this out in the morning. I tend to wake up before her, anyway," assures Hilda, resuming her walk towards her room.

After a few seconds of hesitation, he decides to follow her in the corridor and subconsciously takes a left to open the door to his room. He stops dead in his tracks when he hears Hilda calling out to him. "Hey, where are you going? This is my Mum's room."

Hilbert just stood there for a few seconds, looking back and forth between Hilda and the door. He was completely turned around. After coming back to his senses, he turned around and entered the correct room.

Hilbert was surprised at seeing Hilda’s room. “Wow. You pretty much almost got the same amount of stuff as I do.”

“Well, I am your female counterpart after all.” Hilda cleaned up the floor so she could place the sleeping bag next to her bed. Twig leaped on the bed as Hilbert got dressed into spare pajamas Hilda gave him. The boy got in his sleeping bag while the girl went to her bed.

“This is going to take some time to get used to,” Hilbert said. “I look forward to see how your world is compared to mine.”

“You’ll enjoy it here,” Hilda patted her male counterpart on the head before turning off the lights. “Me, David, and Frida will show you around. Good night, Hilbert.”

The boy smiled before sleeping. “Good night, Hilda.”

Everyone proceeded to sleep for the night. They failed to notice some small glowing white light from the mirror during their nap.

The next morning, Hilbert woke up yawning. He noticed Hilda and Twig were still asleep. The boy felt his stomach rumble, so he had to go find breakfast. Thankfully, there were some waffles on the fridge, so he got to work on heating them up. Hilbert decided to make some breakfast for Hilda and (to a lesser extent) Johanna as well. Once he finished frying up some eggs, he poured some orange juice as the drinks. Hilda woke up to see her counterpart making breakfast. “Good morning, Hilbert. What are you doing?”

“Morning, Hilda. Just thought I’d make you some breakfast for the day. I might as well make myself a good guest here by providing for you,” Hilbert set up the table.

“Really?” Hilda got on her chair. “I must say, this is really impressive.”

The waffles were done just in time for the kids to eat. “Serves up!” Hilbert placed them on plates.

Hilda was pleased when she started dining on the food. “Amazing! I have never eaten such a delicious meal before. You’re quite the cook, Hilbert.”

“Heh,” Hilbert scratched his head. “Thanks. My dad taught me how to do this. You should have seen the look in his face when I made him pie for Father’s Day!”

Twig went to his bowl. Hilbert provided the necessary food for him to eat, which made the deerfox satisfied with the meal.

“You know,” Hilda finished her bacon. “I could use skills like that. Perhaps you can show me your ways?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Hilbert drank his orange juice.

“Great!” said Hilda. “I thought you’d still be holding a grudge after what happened yesterday.” she admitted, looking off to the side with a guilty expression on her face.

“Of course not! It was just a misunderstanding! Plus, I might’ve done the same if you were the one who came into my world. It’s water under the bridge now.” He said before taking a sip out of his glass. “But if something like this happens again, I will be mad!” he added half-jokingly.

This caused Hilda to laugh, almost choking on her mouthful of a waffle. “It shouldn’t happen again, I put the tranquilizer gun in one of the cupboards so we should have time to explain the situation before mum gets to use it.” she explained.

Hilbert’s mood visibly shifted a little at the mention of Hilda’s mother. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he spoke up “So weird, question I know but…” he hesitated “How is it like to have a mum?”

Hilbert tried to play it cool, avoiding eye contact while poking at the yolk of his egg with his fork.

Hilda was saddened by the question, she knew exactly how he felt, but she tried to play it cool as well, making her response as casual as she could “Oh well you know… It’s nice to have someone who always looks out for you, who’d do anything to make sure you’re safe. Even though sometimes she can be a little suffocating, I wouldn’t trade it for the world!” As she said that last part, she saw Hilbert nod in agreement. “My dad is pretty much the same.”

The duo fell into another awkward silence, before Hilbert gathered the courage to speak once again “So since our lives seem to be mirrored, I’m assuming your dad wasn’t really present?” This question came out way more bluntly than he thought.

Hilda looked down at her now empty plate “No he wasn’t… he visited once every few years, but it was usually not for long.” she responded dejectedly but perked back up and added “But it’s getting better! He moved into town recently and now I see him every week!”

“Same goes with my mum, but I don’t know… it still feels a little weird to have her around more you know?” he asked Hilda.

“I know…” she gave him a knowing smile, to which he responded with a smile of his own. The two felt a spark of kinship for one another, finally someone else knew their pain.

Hilbert opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, it was Johanna waking up! The pair looked at each other with panicked looks on their faces before clumsily sitting up from the table, as a loud yawn was heard coming from the corridor. Hilbert leaned to the side to whisper in Hilda’s ear. “So what’s the plan exactly? Do we just tell her about the world-warping mirror you brought into your room?” he asked in a panic.

Hilda quickly answered “I don’t know, I just thought I’d improvise. But now that we’re here, I’m starting to think I should’ve prepared something!” A mix of embarrassment and stress could be heard in her voice.

“Are you serious? You told me you’d handle it! And you had the whole night to think of a plan! No wonder you always get bad grades for class presentations if you always delay it until the last second.” he hissed, clearly annoyed.

Hilda nudged him and snapped back, still trying to keep her voice down. “I AM going to handle it! And you do the same with your assignments!”

Hilbert snapped his finger in defeat. “Damn, you’re right! It really doesn’t help that we have the same flaws. But what now?” he asked while pointing at Johanna’s shadow, which could now be seen at the edge of the corridor.

Needless to say, Johanna had never taken that much time to walk down the corridor. To Hilda, it felt like hours since she first heard her open the door, while it had only been a few seconds.

“Just stay here and be quiet, I’ll do the talking.” she ordered him. “And no sudden moves!”

Hilbert nodded just as Johanna arrived in the living room “Good morning, Hilda” she said still clearly drowsy.

“Good morning mum!” Hilda replied nervously. Although it appeared Johanna hadn’t seen her daughter’s lookalike yet, she just kept going towards the bathroom door. But as she reached for the doorknob, her body stiffened “Wait! Did I just see…”

She slowly turned around to see Hilda smiling at her, while a boy that looked just like her was swinging back and forth, whistling.

Johanna started to scream before instinctively reaching for the nearest cupboard. After seeing her mother’s reaction, Hilda decided to intervene “Mum, wait! I know how this looks crazy but let me explain-”

She didn’t have time to finish her explanation as Johanna had already managed to dig out the tranquilizer gun.

“Uh-oh” muttered Hilbert, knowing exactly where this was headed. And sure enough, Johanna was already taking aim at him. He was now torn between running around the kitchen table to try to dodge the shots, or standing still like Hilda told him to not aggravate the situation. Against his better judgment, he decided to stay still and raise his hands.

At the same time, Hilda tried to resonate with her panicked mother “Wait, Mum! Don’t-” she shouted in vain as she saw the projectile shoot out of the cannon “Shoot…” and fly directly towards Hilbert’s right leg.

As the projectile hit its mark, Hilbert let out a loud “OUCH!”

Seconds later, his legs started to tremble as his whole body grew heavier. As he started to lose consciousness, he uttered the words “Come on! Not again!” before falling on the ground face first. Just as his body hit the ground, a small *ding* was heard coming from the toaster as two fresh waffles popped out of it. Of course, due to the recent events, no one picked up on its comedic timing.

Johanna breathed a sigh of relief and finally started to calm down. “Now, you can explain.” she said to her daughter, who looked at the boy with a worried look. “Well?” she looked at Hilda with an expecting look.

Hilda sighed and replied “Fine. I’ll explain everything. But can you help me drag him to the couch?”

After placing Hilbert on the couch, Hilda spent the next hour and a half explaining the situation to her worried mother, trying her best not to omit any detail. She mentioned the magic mirror she brought to her room, the plan she used to steal it, and the existence of a parallel dimension all the while Johanna silently wondered how her daughter managed to get involved in yet another dimensional travel.

Once her daughter had finally finished her explanation, Johanna took a deep breath and asked, “So you know how to fix this?” Hilda nodded.

Johanna was relieved that there seemed to be a straightforward solution to one of her daughter’s mishaps.

Minutes later, Hilbert had already started to wake up. “You’re up already?” exclaimed Hilda, both happy and surprised that her new friend was back to his senses so quickly after being tranquilized.

“Yeah well, I think I’m getting used to it.” Hilbert grumbled, clearly not happy about what happened.

Johanna, feeling guilty, approaches the boy and offers him her hand. “I’m sorry I freaked out; I just thought you were some sort of shape-shifter or… someone dangerous. Do we have a truce?”

Hilbert shook her hand in agreement “Truce!” he said. “But I really hope my luck goes up from here!”

Hilda grabs Hilbert’s hand. “Maybe I can show you around Trolberg. There’s plenty to check around.”

Hilbert smiles. “Let’s go for it.”

The two kids managed to exit the apartment and walk around the block. Hilda walked around and showed her friend the places she had been through from her past adventures. Eventually, some rustling was heard in an alley. Both blue-haired children got curious about the noises. They noticed two shadows run by. Hilda and Hilbert decided to follow them. They eventually got to a corner to see two figures growl and attack each other. It was Twig and another deerfox. Hilda didn’t recognize it at first, but her male counterpart did.

“Leaf!” The boy ran toward one of the deerfoxes.

The deerfox known as Leaf heard her master and leaped to his head. Hilbert hugged his pet and laughed in joy. Twig got confused as he walked back to Hilda.

“This is your deerfox?” Hilda asked in curiosity.

“Yeah, this is Leaf.” Hilbert answered while cleaning Leaf’s face. “The day I found her was a day I’ll never forget!”

“Let me guess, you met her in the wilderness when you were very little.”

“You got that right,” Hilbert said before getting up. “You ever encountered the White Wolf?”

“Well, in my place it is known as the Black Hound, but yeah. You won’t believe the face of the Marra when they saw it.”

Suddenly, the bells started to ring. Hilda noticed the clock being 10:30 pm.

“We are nearing our chance to get you home. Let’s go back to the mirror!” Hilda grabbed Hilbert’s hand.

But before the two kids could resume their adventure, they were cornered by an angry mob. Kids, adults, teens, and Safety Patrol officers were carrying pitchforks, torches, and maces.

“Hey! That’s the girl who made a fool out of me about the Raven!” Trevor shouted.

“She assaulted my husband!” one of the women cried.

“She ratted us out to the Rat King!” Kelly complained.

“She poisoned our water supply, burned our food, and delivered a sickness on our homes!” a Safety Patrol officer yelled.

“She did???” The crowd was shocked.

“No! But are we going to just sit around till she gets the chance?!” the Safety Patrol officer added.

“I’d say we tear her apart and her friend!” a little boy shouted before the crowd turned to assault Hilda and Hilbert, only to find out they weren’t there. “Hey, where the hell did those kids go?”

The crowd heard a crash. They turned around to see Hilda accidentally tip over a bicycle. “Whoops.” She chuckled nervously.

“GET THEM!” a kindergartener shouted.

The two kids screamed in panic as they got chased around Trolberg.

An hour later, the two kids arrived home, panting. Parts of their hair were burned, their arms had holes due to being poked by pitchforks, their shoulders were injured due to being kicked, and their faces had bruises from all the punches they suffered. David and Frida noticed and rushed to their aid.

“Good lord!” David applied some ice to Hilbert’s head. “What happened to you guys?”

“Angry mob…” Hilda panted. “Assaulted us…”

“That’s got to hurt,” Frida exclaimed as she put bandages on Hilda’s arms.

“So, we are going to get Hilbert back to his home world?” David asked.

“Yup. Dana and Freddie must be worried sick about me.” Hilbert winced as David applied alcohol on his bruises. “Ow!”

“Well, we have no time to waste! Let’s get to that mirror!”

Hilda and Hilbert tried to rush to their destination, but they both fell face flat on the floor. Twig and Leaf had to help push their masters toward the mirror along with the support of David and Frida. They got to their destination within a few minutes.

“Man, you guys had it rough,” Tontu commented.

“I’ll say,” Hilbert replied before spitting out a loose tooth.

“Come on, let’s get to the other side of this mirror before god-know-what happens next,” Hilda coughed up some blood before she got up.

Eventually, it became that time. Some voices familiar to Hilbert were heard. Once the proper guide was given, everyone held hands and prepared for the inevitable. Tontu stayed behind to help pull everyone out when they returned.

“Ready, guys?” Hilbert called out, as the others nodded.

Soon, all of them jumped to the mirror. Hilda, David, and Frida screamed during this journey. They saw many colors twist and turn. Some familiar memories that they had were all changing color. Eventually, the area became dark.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Credit goes to StarmanSlayer for his contribution to this chapter.

Hilbert gently shook Hilda, trying to wake her up. “Come on, Hilda! Wake up! I know we’ve had a rough day, but we can’t sleep in the library, the librarian won’t let us.” he whispered.

Soon enough, Hilda started to open her eyes, and noticed she was lying on the ground while both her friends looked down at her. Hilbert offered her a hand and she took it, pulling herself off the ground.

“OUCH!” cried both Hilda and Hilbert in unison, as their bodies were still painful from the beating they took earlier.

“Yeah, pitchforks will do that to you.” said David trying to brighten their mood.

After rubbing their limbs to soothe the pain, they took notice of the two other kids in the room. “Wow, they really look like David and Frida,” Hilda said out loud.

At the same time, David and Frida turned to their lookalikes. A lot of emotions could be read on their faces, but mainly surprise or confusion. The two kids were standing a few meters away from the newcomers, silently staring at them, dumbfounded. Finally, Hilbert took it upon himself to end the silence. “Hey, guys! Thank goodness you were here!” he exclaimed as he started limping towards his best friends, before hugging them both.

“I-it’s nice to see you too, Hilbert…” the girl responded meekly. “But uhm…” she hesitated before the boy spoke up to finish her sentence.

“What the heck happened to these guys?” he asked David and Frida bluntly.

“They got in trouble with some angry townsfolk.” David simply answered with a shrug.

“Okay guys, those are my friends Freddie and Dana. Dana and Freddie, those are your parallel selves, David and Frida!” Hilbert turned to Hilda and continued. “Oh, and this is my lookalike named Hilda. Makes sense?” He jokingly asked.

“Not really, no,” admitted Dana. “But it’s nice to meet you all!” she gave them a shy smile.

Freddie soon took the initiative to greet his counterpart with a handshake. Dana followed his example and shook hands with David.

“So, are you a witch too?” Frida asked.

“A wizard. But yes! I’m studying with Mathew Pilqvist.” he explained.

While this was happening, Dana started pointing at David’s head. “Uh… you have a-”

David deduced the end of her sentence. “Bug in my hair? I know, just let it be.” he confidently said.

Dana took a closer look, before realizing what it really was, she then promptly backed off a few feet away from David. “N-n-nevermind! Not a bug!” she mumbled with a terrified look on her face.

“Then, what is it?” asked David, who was starting to get worried.

“S-spider…” Dana replied faintly. But it was enough to send David into a panic, he started running around while screaming and flailing his arms up and down. He leaped into Dana’s arms. Both kids whimpered at the sight of the spider.

“So did you-” Frida’s conversation with Freddie was cut short by David and Dana’s screaming. “Uh-oh! Well, I think that’s our cue.” Freddie nodded and let out a small chuckle. The two then ran off to try to calm down the panicked duo.

Hilda laughed at their ordeal, until something caught her eye. It was the lighting from outside, it was slightly brighter than in her world. She got closer to one of the windows to take a good look at the differences. She noticed that the streetlamps here were more orange-tainted, and the moon warmer-colored. Everyone else joined her at the window, prompting Hilda to ask. “Is the moon usually that color? It looks weird.”

“Yes, it’s always been like that.” Freddie responded, before taking another look at the moon. “Although, now that you mention it… the color looks a little off.”

“Well, of course it looks off! The moon isn’t usually that orange!” Hilbert took notice of the obvious difference, which made him uncomfortable. “Why is it different though?” he wondered.

Frida pondered the question for a few moments before speaking up. “I’m willing to bet this has something to do with us traveling back and forth between worlds.” she confidently affirmed.

David gulped before adding “That would make sense unfortunately. Do you think it’s like the time you messed with time travel and woke up the Time Worm? Maybe there are consequences for messing with space too!”

Hilbert went to comfort the boy. “Calm down, David. Calm down,” he said, patting him on the head. “Just like with the Time Worm, there has to be a way to fix the problem.” he affirmed trying to remain calm himself.

Hilda had an idea. “We should try to find the book that talked about the mirror! I’m sure it should have some information on potential consequences.”

“Right! The book that started the rumors!” Hilbert slapped his forehead. “We were looking for it, but we found the mirror instead. And then I got sucked into your world. How did I forget about that?” Then it dawned on him. “Oh right… I got tranquilized twice and beaten up for three.” he remembered.

“TRANQUILIZED?” shouted Dana “You didn’t say anything about that!”

“Must’ve forgotten.” Hilbert shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter!” intervened Freddie, bringing everyone back on topic. “While you were in Hilda’s world getting your ass handed to you, Dana and I spent the whole day here at the library looking for that book in hope it would give us a way to bring you back. But we never found it, it’s a miracle we were close to the mirror at just the right time to pull you in!” he explained.

“I think it might’ve been lost in nowhere space at this point…” suggested Dana, looking down in disappointment.

“Great, and Tontu won’t be awake at this hour!” said Hilbert with a grunt. “I guess we’ll just have to wait until morning.” He turned towards Hilda gesturing her to follow him. “I’ll return the favor by letting you sleep at my place this time.”

After the duo wave goodbye to the others, they start walking away from the library and towards Hilbert’s apartment.

“Wait, what about us?” asked David.

“Oh, I know! We could spend the night with our respective clones, this will probably make all our parents very confused but what choice do we have? We can’t let them sleep on the streets!” Dana proposed.

“Or we could take the one that doesn’t look like us to avoid that confusion.” said Freddie with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, which made Frida chuckle.

“That works too! I’ll take Frida then,” replied Dana obliviously.

The group then split up in duos, each one heading to its assigned apartment. Once they enter the flat, they hear a high-pitched voice calling out to them from the kitchen, which to Hilda’s dismay is on the left rather than the right. She followed Hilbert and noticed an elf waving at them from the table. “Hilbert! You’re finally back! Dad was starting to worry about-” The elf lost track of her sentence when she noticed Hilda standing next to Hilbert.

“What?” Hilbert asked.

She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, then spoke up. “Who is this girl who looks just like-” once again her sentence was cut short once she realized what state the two kids were in. “Good grief, what the hell happened to you two? Did you get hit by a car?” she asked, both worried and confused.

“Good day to you too, Alice.” he said in a frustrated voice. “I’ll explain later, okay? Just tell me what you wanted to say!”

Alice was still clearly confused but decided to oblige. “Well, actually I wanted to show you something.” she pointed towards Hilbert’s old runestone, it was now placed on the table.
“So, you have a runestone too!” Hilda went to inspect the other side of the rune, only to find out that the runes were glowing a bright blue and emitting a fume-like substance. She could feel heat coming from it too.

Hilbert joined her side to assess the situation. “Yeah, that looks bad.”

“Indeed,” replied Alice. “But that’s not all, Dad wrote this note just before going to bed.” she said pointing at the small piece of paper she was standing on.
Hilbert picked it up, making the elf fall over in the process, and started reading it.

Dear Hilbert
I don’t know when you plan on coming home, I mean you could’ve told me you were going to spend the night at Dana’s again, I wouldn’t have stopped you. But that’s not the point. I noticed a strange light coming from behind your bedroom door, so I went to investigate, and I noticed your old runestone was glowing and was also getting warm. I decided to put it where it was less likely to start a fire, I don’t know what that’s all about, but I hope you know what’s happening (because I don’t).
Dad

“So, what did it say?” asked Hilda.

“Basically, he doesn’t know what’s causing this, and I guess we don’t either.” Hilbert responded.

“That’s not entirely true,” objected Hilda “I’m pretty sure it has something to do with our travels between worlds too!”

“We’ll just have to wait until we find that book to know for sure,” he said before letting out a yawn. “Oh boy, I need some rest.”

Hilda yawned as well. “Today was too eventful, even for us” she said with a chuckle.

The pair headed down the corridor and into Hilbert’s bedroom so they could finally get the rest they deserved. After cleaning the floor, Hilbert provided the sleeping bag for his female counterpart. Both Twig and Leaf went up to their respective masters to sleep with them.

“Good night, Hilda.” Hilbert yawned.

“Good night, Hilbert,” Hilda responded.

The next morning turned out to be something sudden. Both kids were disturbed by the noise of a window getting banged. Hilbert went up to the window to see it was Teressa, the female version of Trevor, who was throwing pebbles at the window.

“Oh, boy,” Hilda said sarcastically. “Just what we need: a version of Trevor in this world.”

“Hey, Hilbert!” Teressa shouted. “Come out here so we can have a fight!”

“Man, this kid is a huge bother,” Hilbert grumbled. “I just wish she just minded her own business.”

“Come to think of it, I think I might know how to help you out there.” Hilda had an idea as she grabbed her beret. “Let’s pay her a little visit.”

Meanwhile with David, Frida, and their doubles, they were walking around Trolberg. They were seeing the many locations that were similar but quite different in this world.

“So, you guys made a fourth friend during a Sparrow Scout adventure?” Dana asked.

“Yeah, her name is Louise,” David nods. “She’s a nice girl. We were worried she wouldn’t want to be with us due to our reputation, but she ended up enjoying the day with us. She even planned to turn out normal day into an adventure!”

“Louise is very encouraging,” Frida agreed. “She helped me with my magic!”

“We got someone like that,” Freddie commented. “His name is Louis. He is curious of the world around him.”

“Of course,” David smiled.

“Man, you got a Rat King too?” Frida asked.

“Well, it’s a Rat Queen around here,” Freddie answered. “And she once ate up a kid.”

David was disturbed by this. “That is oddly specific.”

“You think that’s bad? Teressa once gave me a swirlie!” Dana freaked out.

“She even made an entire school kick me thanks to a sign taped on my back.” Freddie complained.

“Hold up, hold up. Who is this Teressa kid?” David wondered.

Suddenly, the four kids heard screaming. They turned to see a girl being dragged by a car by her shirt. David and Frida’s eyes widened when they recognized the kid.

“Is that Trevor?!” David was flabbergasted.

“Looks like him, but as a girl!” Frida cried.

“For the love of God, help me out of this car!” Teressa cried as she kept being hit by mailboxes, streetlights, signs, and other cars.

Eventually, in a meat market store, a man is standing in front of the food. He looked around for customers, but none were around. Angered, he hit the table with a knife and groaned. His melodrama was interrupted when that same car crashed through the store and ran him over.

“Out of the way, bozo!” the driver yelled.

Hilda and Hilbert soon caught up with their friends. “What did we miss?”

“Did you guys do that?” Frida pointed at the girl being damaged by the car she was attached to.

“Nah, we did something that guaranteed made her insane. Each time Teressa saw one of us, she screamed and panicked around Trolberg,” Hilbert explained.

“We were going to reveal ourselves as doubles, but before Teressa can say anything, she got hit by a couple of cars, even an ice cream truck!” Hilda exclaimed.

“Damn,” Frida commented. “I don’t think Erik Alhberg can survive from that.”

“Moving on. How are we going to deal with this Runestone jazz?” Freddie asked.

“I did recall it depends on its color. Things could go from bad to worse if certain actions aren’t done,” Hilda pondered.

“We should probably get you guys back to your dimension so you would be able to help deal with your Runestone. We can’t let Trolberg go into a crisis.” Hilbert remembered.

Before the kids started to head to their next destination, rain poured from the sky. Everyone was soon drenched by the rainy weather.

“Ugh. At least things can’t get any worse.” Hilda mumbled.

In a flash, thunder struck, and all six children were shocked by lighting. They screamed while being electrocuted.

A few hours later, everyone limped to the library. Most of their hair and clothes were torn apart due to the lighting. David also had tire marks on his chest because a car hit him while drifting. Frida lost some teeth due to colliding with a motorcycle.

“So, let me get this straight,” Hilda spat out a couple of teeth. “The more we go to each other’s worlds, the more changes our worlds go through?”

“Well, it’s more likely your Trolberg and ours will merge together,” Freddie dusted his clothes. “We have to prevent that from happening.”

“How can we stop our homes from crashing into each other?” David wondered before he noticed a wasp on Dana’s hair, causing both kids to scream in panic.

“We need to switch the runestones from each other’s worlds. That way, we won’t have to kiss our homes goodbye.” Hilda concluded.

Before anyone else can do anything, a man was walking around close to the kids. Hilda didn’t seem to recognize him at first, but Hilbert did. “Oh, crap.”

“What’s wrong?” Frida wondered.

“It’s my dad.”

“Damn! What do we do?” Dana asked.

“Might be too late to do something.” Freddie muttered.

Jon, known as the male Johanna of this version of Trolberg, walked up to the kids. He greeted everyone normally, but when he came to his son, he was surprised to see there was a female version of him. The man screamed in panic as he started to pull out a bat and started attacking Hilda with it. “Get back, alien! Don’t harm my child!”

“AUGH!” Hilda screamed as the male counterpart of her parent chased after her. Hilbert went after Jon to stop him from hurting Hilda as the other four children followed.

“Dad, stop it! Don’t hurt her! She is my friend!” Hilbert cried.

“I’m not letting that alien snatch bodies from anyone I care about!”

“Hilbert’s dad! She is no threat!” Dana added.

“Yeah! She’s a friend!” Frida exclaimed.

Soon, Hilda got cornered by some shelves in the library. She panted as he heard Jon approaching. “Your time has come, alien!”

The girl tried to look for a way out, but she had no luck. Accepting her fate, she squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the blow. Surprisingly, it never did. She opened her eyes to see Hilbert struggling to hold the bat.

“Don’t hurt her!” Hilbert clenched his teeth.

Jon was surprised to see his son holding the bat. “What are you doing, son? Can’t you see I’m trying to save your life?”

“By endangering someone else’s?!” Hilbert was in disbelief.

Suddenly, David and Frida stood next to Hilbert to protect their friend.

“That’s enough!” Frida commanded.

“You have to stop this at once!” David demanded.

Jon eventually lost his grip on the bat. He was confused on the appearance of the other kids in front of the girl, but just before he was about to ask what was going on, he got whacked in the face by a crowbar. He fell to the ground.

“Did I get him?” Dana asked.

Everyone facepalmed in response to this action. A few minutes later, Jon woke up on the floor. He opened his eyes to see six children looking at him. He recognized Hilbert and his friends, but Hilda and her friends were a different story. “Son, who is that girl?”

Hilbert sighed as he helped his dad get up. “Dad, this is Hilda. Before you ask, she isn’t an alien, she is my friend.”

Dana and Freddie nodded in agreement before dusting off Hilbert’s dad. Hilda was still covering her head since there were some bruises all over her while David and Frida were trying to heal her. Jon gasped in shock, realizing his mistake. “Oh, sorry about that, kid!”

Hilda stood up as she cracked some bones. “Don’t worry, sir. I handled worse,” Hilbert helped her up.

“You know, he is not bad looking for a male version of your mother,” David commented.

“I’d say,” Frida added. “He looks like an average guy.”

“Hey!” Jon was offended.

“Dad. I heard about your note,” Hilbert cleared his throat. “Me, Hilda, and the others are going to deal with this runestone fiasco.”

“Do you happen to know what its status is as of now?”

“All I can say is that me and Hilda must commit some actions before terrible things happen. And we might have a time limit as well.” Hilbert explained.

Jon raised an eyebrow. “I assume you have a runestone of your own as well, Hilda?”

“Yes, sir,” Hilda said sheepishly.

“Alright then,” Jon dusted his hands. “I hope all of you children know what you are doing. Won’t be surprised if it brings another animal to live with us.”

“Dad!” Hilbert cried in embarrassment.

“Hey, don’t pin this on me, Mr. Adventure Guy,” Jon teased. “Just do your thing. And make sure there is no destruction involved!”

The kids ushered to the mirror. Their plan was set in motion. Head to each other’s world to swap the runestones so this entire ordeal can be settled with. Everyone had to grab the mirror to bring it to Hilbert’s apartment. But as they were carrying the mirror, they ended up running to a group of citizens.

“Agh! Bastards!” a girl shouted in the group. “Those blokes broke our statue the other day!”

“Oy!” a teenage boy raised his glasses. “There’s more of them!”

“Let’s rip them a new one!” a woman yelled as she and the other people pulled out pitchforks, torches, and fire.

The kids all gulped at the sight of that, especially the blue haired kids.

“Hey, I got an idea on what to do about this,” Hilbert chuckled.

“What?” David asked.

“RUN!”

The group ran screaming as the angry mob chased down this alternate Trolberg. This lasted for a few hours until midnight. Soon, the kids got back to their destination. Although the mirror was unscathed, the same cannot be said for the group. It was bad enough for Hilda and Hilbert to be beaten up yet again, but now they feel guilty getting their friends involved. Frida has some fire on her hair, Freddie has a bear trap on his head, David has black eyes, and Dana has some teeth missing. Not to mention that everyone has bruises and some blood dripping.

“Holy crap!” Alice cried as he examined the group. “That’s an even worse beating than last time!”

“Don’t remind us,” Hilbert grumbled.

“Oy, this is worse than the beating Teressa gave us!” Dana cried.

“Come on, we got to get to my world to swap the runestones!” Hilda exclaimed as they all limped to place the mirror in the living room. The kids groaned as they all gathered.

“I really hope this pain gets healed…” Frida muttered.

“Let’s grab the runestone!” Hilbert exclaimed.

Some of the children grabbed a suitcase and stuffed the runestone in it. They had to be careful with it since it is a crucial element to complete their adventure. Once they had been packed, they made their trek to the mirror.

“You guys ready to enter Hilda’s Trolberg?” Hilbert spat out a tooth.

“You betcha!” Freddie let out a thumbs up.

“Let’s get going before anything else happens!” Dana trembled.

Right on cue, some thunder crashed outside. The crazy thing was that the sky was clear. Everyone heard that a child got struck by lightning.

“Damn!” Frida cried. We gotta hurry up and swap the runestones before all hell breaks loose!”

“I’m coming as well!” Alice hopped into Hilbert’s hair. “It would be interesting to see what Trolberg is like in the other side.”

“Fine by me,” Hilbert coughed. “Let’s move!”

With no time to spare, the group ushered to the mirror. It was a tedious way back, but they got back home.

“Whoa!” Alfur was surprised by the amount of people that showed up. “Looks like we got the party here!”

“I’ll say,” Alice popped up and jumped on the ground. “You ain’t too bad yourself.”

Alfur rubbed his eyes. “Ah, a handsome devil you are!”

“I hate to interrupt this meeting,” Hilbert winced in pain. “But we have something to settle!”

“Yeah,” Hilda panted. “We have to swap the runestones immediately!”

As the group ushered to the table, they were flabbergasted to see Hilda’s runestone nowhere in sight.

“What the hell?!” Both blue haired kids cried in disbelief.

“Where did it go?!” Frida asked.

“Some kids must have stolen it!” Alfur explained. “They broke in earlier to loot people of their houses!”

Hilda facepalmed. “Great. Another problem we need to worry about.”

“How could they steal that thing?” David wondered. “It would be hot like hell by now!”

“Well, they got their way. But we must hurry up! Trolberg’s going through some strange frequencies!”

“What do you mean?” Dana asked.

“The sky becoming purple is one of them,” Alfur noted. “Not to mention the vitra going around town and assaulting people! Even the trolls are acting weird.”

Hilda was concerned. “Do you know where mum is?”

“Last I heard, she ended up being attacked by some angry birds,”

Hilbert deadpanned. “I assume the Raven had nothing to do with that?”

Alfur inhaled sharply. “He is being pelted with eggs from an angry mob.”

Hilda knew there was a lot of conflict to settle. There was no one way she could handle all of it, so she figured out a plan. “We have to split into groups again. David and Freddie will handle the vitra. Frida and Dana will deal with the rancid kids. Me and Hilbert will be able to calm down the trolls.”

“I look forward to tackling some vitra,” David sneered. “They won’t know what will hit them.”

“Should be a piece of cake to handle the kids since we can use magic,” Frida smirked.

Suddenly, a flaming bottle broke the window. Everyone looked to see that Trolberg was in total chaos.

“We got to act fast! Trolberg is counting on us!” Hilbert cried as he led the others outside the apartment.

Several minutes later, Hilda and Hilbert reached the exterior of Trolberg. They checked around to see if there were any trolls causing mayhem. Just their luck, some of the trolls were rolling around the grass, making grass angels, while others were beatboxing. Both children were flabbergasted.

“What the hell is this?” Hilda asked.

“They look like they are drunk,” Hilbert commented.

“We really got to swap the runestones,” Hilda shook her head. “Even seeing the trolls like this is too embarrassing.”

Just then, Hilbert felt something nudge on his leg. It was a baby troll hugging him. It spoke gibberish.

“He looks familiar…” Hilbert raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, that’s Baba!” Hilda kneeled. “You haven’t changed a bit!”

Eventually, the two kids heard heavy footsteps. It was a big troll. Hilda smiled as she recognized who it was.
“Mama!” Baba cheered as he ran up to her.

Trylla grinned as she looked up to Hilda. “It’s so good to see you again, kid,” She also noticed Hilbert. “And I see you managed to have a sibling.”

“Actually, I’m her male counterpart. The name’s Hilbert,” the boy shook the troll’s hand as a greeting.

However, their meeting was cut short when they felt the ground rumble. Everyone looked to see another troll approach. However, this was a different one, since it had red eyes.

“What the hell?” Hilbert was confused.

“Uh oh,” Hilda felt her stomach drop.

Before anything else happened, the big troll grabbed a car and tossed it at some pedestrians, killing them. The giant trolled pounded its chest as it roared. Hilda and Hilbert can already tell that this guy is bad news. Trylla growled and told Baba to hide in the cave while she grabbed the others. The red eye troll took notice of the two blue haired children and did a slitting noise across its neck, meaning he is planning to kill them.

“We’re dead,” Hilda felt her shoulders drop.

Trylla started to make a run for it while carrying Hilda and Hilbert. The red-eyed troll roared and started going after them. And so, the chase was on.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Credit goes to StarmanSlayer for his contribution to this chapter. Credit goes to FusionBlueCore, JT, and Newgame +LD for the parts of the original story being used here.

The Troll ran as fast as she could without damaging the terrified kids latching onto her back. She was so focused on evading incoming trees and rocks that she didn’t even have time to think about looking back. Though she didn’t need to check, as she could still hear the rapid footsteps of their assailant.

Still, the cries of her passengers confirmed her worries “Could you go a little faster? This isn’t looking great” pleaded Hilbert.

“It’s gaining on us!” warned Hilda. Trylla knew this chase was lost in advance, so she went against what her reason told her to do and started to head straight for the city walls, hoping the bells would be enough to deter their pursuer from continuing.

As they reached the outskirts of the forest and the great walls came into view, the troll let out a loud roar and the two kids started calling out to the closest bell tower, hoping to get the bellkeeper’s attention. “Hey, we are over here! Ring the bell!”

Soon enough he snapped out of his nap, startled by the sudden commotion. He took notice of the two trolls running towards the wall and instinctively started reaching for the bell’s rope, ready to pull as hard as he could, but he hesitated as soon as he saw the two kids one of the trolls was carrying.

“Ring it! Ring the bell!” shouted both Hilda and Hilbert, mimicking the pulling of a rope. Finally, the bellkeeper pulled the rope, and the troll braced itself for incoming sound.

As the first loud “Ding” rung out, the troll was knocked backwards, as if hit by an invisible force. Hilda and Hilbert fell off from the troll mother, as it started wobbling blindly, before falling into a nearby ditch.

“Well… There goes our ride,” said Hilda after getting back up. She offered her hand to Hilbert, pulling him off the ground, when she suddenly took notice of the red eyed troll. It had slowed down, now walking towards them, and seemed rather unfazed by the bell’s continuous ringing.

“Uh, why aren’t the bells working?” asked Hilbert who was starting to panic “What do we do now?”

“RUUUUUUN!” yelled Hilda. Hilbert followed her advice and started running in turn, and so did the troll.

They started dashing between trees, jumping over rocks and taking sharp turns, all in an attempt to slow down their pursuer in vain. The troll never let up, and their short human legs could only take them so far before the red eyed troll caught up to them.

The duo was exhausted by the chase panting and gasping for air. Hilbert’s eyes darted in all directions, desperately trying to think of something that could get them out of this ordeal. Finally, he saw it: a berry bush, only a few meters away from him. He gathered the last of his forces and lunged towards it, prompting the troll to stare at him, confused.
“Hilbert, what the heck are you doing?” asked Hilda, who was just as confused as the troll.

“I’m saving our lives!” he proudly declared, after grabbing a handful of berries. He started to throw them at the troll as hard as he could. The berries went flying at astounding speeds, before splattering onto the target’s hard skin one after the other. “Oh, yeah!”

Hilda facepalmed hard, leaving a red mark on her forehead. Though this assault was lacking in power, it did a fairly good job gaining time since their assailant was too unamused to do anything but stare at the boy. After a few seconds however, the troll snapped out of his trance and resumed walking closer to the kids until they were in range. At which point he wound up his arm and swatted the pair, sending them flying between trees. They landed against a thick log lying next to river and had no time to recover from the last impact since a woff, probably disturbed by the storm, was clumsily flying towards them.

“Holy shit!”

Hilda and Hilbert squealed and quickly climbed onto the log right before the woff slammed into its side, almost crushing them in the process.

Unfortunately, the impact made the log roll into the river where it started floating downstream. This series of unfortunate events made Hilda snap. “Great idea back there, Hilbert! Throwing small berries at a troll, truly brilliant!” she said sarcastically.

Hilbert snapped back. “Well, I’m sorry it didn’t go as planned, but at least I tried SOMETHING! You just stood there, accepting your fate!”

The duo’s bickering prevented them from realizing that their log was picking up speed as they were now going down rapids.

“Didn’t go as planned? What were you expecting those berries to do? Explode?” She berated him.

Hilbert was about to retort, when he finally noticed what was lying ahead of them. “Uhhh, Hilda?”

“What? What are you bitching about?” she asked angrily, before looking around herself and understanding the situation.

“There’s a-” Hilbert started.

“Let me guess, a waterfall?” She asked. Hilbert simply nodded with a tense expression on his face. Hilda sighed, she was completely over it and just accepted her fate. “Alright, all this misery might as well happen in one day.” she said calmly before the log tipped over, sending the kids down the waterfall.

Their distressed screams were drowned out by the sound of the crashing water. The tumble felt endless despite the waterfall not being that tall. Finally, their bodies hit the water with force, sending them sinking to the bottom of the small pond.

Hilda quickly swam back to the surface, gasping to regain the air she used up to scream. “That was quite the fall! Right, Hilbert?” she said, still half stunned from the fall. But as nobody answered, she got worried. “Hilbert?” she called out.

She started frantically looking around for her friend, spotting him floating on his back. He seemed to have been knocked unconscious by the landing, either that or he fainted during the fall itself.

“Oh, crap!” Hilda quickly scrambled towards him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him towards the shore. Once on land, she kept dragging him for a few more steps to make sure he’d be lying on a dry surface before setting him down. Hilda was scared her friend might’ve drowned, but she forced herself to stay focused since now was not the time to give in to panic. Doing her best to remember what her mother taught her about first aid, she recalled one of the last resort options: mouth to mouth. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to resort to this, but as another minute passed with no movement from the boy, she knew she had no other choice. With a deep sigh, she pinched Hilbert’s nose, and looked up at the sky “Ugh! Why do I have to do this?” she asked with both desperation and disgust in her voice.

She took a deep breath, clenched her eyes shut and leaned in… But as she was halfway from Hilbert’s face, she heard a loud gasp coming from him, which caused her to open her eyes in surprise.

Hilbert had finally woken up, sending a wave of relief through Hilda’s head. But that relief turned into nervousness when she saw his eyes widening, she suddenly remembered what situation she was in. She had her face inches away from his, with her lips faintly parted.

The realization hit the two kids like a truck, and they both jumped and scrambled away from each other. “Ewww! What the heck were you trying to do?” shouted Hilbert as he backed off.

“Oh please, you know this wasn’t anything weird!” Hilda responded, both embarrassed and annoyed. “I was just trying to help.”

“By smooching me in my sleep?” he asked incredulously.

“I was gonna give you mouth to mouth! Why would I just kiss you in a moment like this? Ugh!” she frowned.

“Oh, right…” he finally understood. “Well why didn’t you try to slap me awake first? That would’ve avoided this misunderstanding!”

“Because you would’ve complained anyway?” she answered.

“I see your point. I… Uh… I-is it me or is it getting cold suddenly?” He wrapped his arms around himself while his teeth chattered.

“That must be the adrenaline dropping down after you got knocked out.” Hilda stated, a hint of worry creeping back in her voice.

After a few moments of silence, she walked towards him and took off her jacket. “W-what are you d-d-doing?” he mumbled between the clacks of his jaw.

Without a word, Hilda put her jacket around his shoulders. “W-won’t you get c-cold?” Hilbert asked in response.

“I’m not cold right now, so it’s okay.” she softly replied. “It’s to make up for being rude to you earlier, I know you were just trying to help. Even though your plan made you look like an ass!” she admitted with a smile.

“W-well I guess I was being an asshole too, j-just n-n-now. Sorry about that, I just g-got startled!”

“That’s fine,” said Hilda, before turning on her heels. “Now come on, we lost that weird troll so let’s head back towards Trolberg before he finds us again!” she exclaimed, full of determination.

“What about the trolls? We still go to calm them down.”

“At this point, it might be no use since the runestone is changing them more often. Only thing we can really do now is to catch up with the others.” Hilda sneezed.
Hilbert chuckled before sprinting to follow her.

In another part of Trolberg, David and Freddie were going through the grounds to confront the vitra. It was trickier said than done since it was night, so finding the vitra was not an easy task.

“Where they hell are they?” Freddie kept plucking the ground.

David inspected the ground, yet he kept finding crab grass. “I did recall they try to be near the surface to get some sunlight. They got pissed off when we pulled their friends from the ground.”

“Well, we can’t just hope for a miracle, let’s pull these suckers out.”

Freddie and David started doing their tasks. Eventually, the same vitra from years ago popped up, looking cranky. “Ugh, here we go again. What they hell are you doing here?”
“Look, we have to talk,” Freddie crossed his arms with a frown. “You got to stop hurting the residents of Trolberg. One family got killed since some of you used a barbeque on them.”

“Well, that’s what you get for throwing parties all night long,” the vitra complained before burping. “Boy, that beer is really effective.”

“Have you been drinking?” David asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah, it isn’t really entertaining just lying around here,”

“That does not mean you can just harm innocent lives here!” Freddie argued. “You got to stop that!”

“Oh, we will stop harassing them,” the vitra rolled his eyes. “If they can cut their music crap out!”

Freddie groaned while David shrugged. Back with Frida and Dana, they were trying to locate the runestone. It should have been simple enough to figure out who would have stolen in the first place. They got to their destination, but they were denied entry.

“Crap! There must be a way to get inside!” Frida snapped her fingers in frustration.

“Will the back door help?”

Frida rolled her eyes. “Of course, that will help. It’s not like it is locked or anything,”

The two went up to the back door, and Frida was flabbergasted when Dana simply opened the door.

“Uh…”

“Don’t. Just don’t.”

While entering, they had to keep hiding from gangster children since outsiders weren’t allowed in here. There were some close calls, but their objective is nearby. Trevor was seen hitting his club on the runestone. “What the hell is this?”

“Seems like a magic stone, boss.” Kelly replied.

“And based on it’s looks; it could be trouble.” Another one of Trevor’s goons checked the item.

“Perhaps we should keep it inside something like a chest so we can harm that blue haired idiot for making a fool out of me,” Trevor finished his root beer. “Come on, we can’t let anyone steal this!”

The two girls carefully viewed where the runestone would be placed. They eventually snuck inside to inspect the area. Kelly was guarding the runestone, so a distraction was needed.

“You got your magic with you?” Dana asked.

Frida raised her wand with a smug. “Does this answer your question?” She managed to make a sleeping spell on her target.

“Huh? Who’s there?” Kelly asked her as she felt her eyelids start to droop. The girl tried to stay awake, but it was no use as she ended up falling to the floor. In no time at all, she managed to be knocked unconscious.

“Epic!” Dana fist bumped Frida. “Let’s get what we came for!”

Frida noticed a red wagon on the side, so she grabbed it to help carry the runestone. Dana found a sheet so she could hide it away from Trevor and his goons. But this didn’t matter as Trevor and his minions were in front of them.

“Well, well, well, look what the cats dragged in,” Trevor puffed out smoke from his cigar. “A couple of lasses stealing a valuable treasure of mine.”

“We should teach these punks a lesson, boss,” Bagsy cracked his knuckles.

“I can’t wait to burn them at stake!” Anders grinned as he held up a lighter.

Their plan was interrupted when Frida sprayed them with a water spell. “You know, you psychos are going off the deep end!” The girl hoped on the wagon while Dana pushed it.

“So long, suckers!”

Trevor positioned himself to stop the wagon, but it didn’t matter, as he was run over by it anyway. “Damn!”

Soon, the wagon exited the thug club, and it went down a hill. Dana hopped on the wagon to ride with Frida.

“Hold on tight, Dana! This is gonna be one hell of a ride!”

At a wall near the school, Johanna was eating a cucumber sandwich. She was wondering where Hilda and her friends were. She didn’t have to be concerned for long since she noticed her kid and doppleganger reaching the block. “There you are, Hilda. Where have you been?”

“Trying to fix this mess. And it seems that it is getting bigger!” Hilda gasped when she noticed the sky turning green and orange. Some parts of Trolberg were flying, including Miss Hallgrim driving her car.

“I regret drinking that beer!” her voice can be heard.

“We are in a time limit, Hilda!” Hilbert cried. “The Trolls are gonna cause mayhem as we speak!”

“I know that! We just haven’t figured out how to calm them down!”

“How about bells?” a first grader suggested.

Hilda and Hilbert glared at the child. “NO!”

The child felt nervous as he backed away slowly until he fell down a sewer hole. He yelled in pain as an alligator ate him up.

“We should probably get back to the apartment,” Johanna covered herself with the umbrella. “It’s gonna pour a lot here.”

“We still have to take care of the trolls; they have been going bananas!” Hilbert cried.

“Well, we can’t have you two shocked by lighting. We can worry about that later,” Johanna insisted as she ushered the kids on the way back home.

Hilda felt worried about her friends as well as their doubles. Stay safe, guys. We might have to sit out on this one.

David and Freddie were currently grabbing the vitra to smack them out of their mischief. But this isn’t getting easy since they came equipped with weapons such as maces, spears, and knives.

“I don’t remember them being this brutal!” David cried as he felt his shoulder getting bitten. “Ouch!”

“We can’t take any chances!” Freddie summoned a shield spell, though it did not last long as more vitra kept throwing turnips at them.

But what took the cake was that there was some roaring heard from the distance. Everyone looked to see that there were some trolls running by. David and Freddie only witnessed the intruders since the vitra panicked. Ignoring the two boys, the trolls, including Trylla and Baba were chasing the vitra so they can no longer be hungry.

“Gah! Don’t eat us! We taste like crap!” the leader vitra shouted.

It wasn’t before a runaway wagon was rolling by. It turned out to be Frida and Dana, who felt burned since they passed by some fires on burning homes.

“Whoa,” David was shocked. “You guys got burned.”

Frida and Dana narrowed at them with an annoyed manner and flipped him off.

“Let’s just meet up back with Hilda and Hilbert before anyone of us gets killed.” Freddie coughed.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Credit goes to FusionBlueCore, JT, and Newgame LD for the parts of the original story being used here.

Everyone arrived back at the apartment. The power was off, so Hilda had to use a flashlight. But then something blocks off the blue light coming from whatever was up there. It was a shock when she noticed was at the window.

"Aah!" The girl screamed. It was apparently a lost Woff that got tossed around by the progressively worsening winds, and it was flying headlong towards the window. She opened it up, hoping it would go right in instead of crashing through it and making a mess.

As soon as it flew in, she caught it to make sure it didn't hit a wall and make a mess of the room. She slid back quite a way toward the back wall until the Woff finally lost its momentum. She then ran to the window to close it.

"Are you okay, big guy?" Hilbert asked. The Woff was shivering.

"Don't worry, buddy. I have something that should help." Hilda continued before grabbing a nearby blanket.

Placing it onto the Woff, and giving it a pat, it let out a purr of comfort.

"Just try to relax, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can." Hilda instructed as she grabbed the flashlight and went to leave the room. But Johanna came in noticing the Woff.

"Eek! There's a Woff in the house!" Johanna cried.

"Mum! Don't scare it." Hilda replied. "It's really bad out there so it can't leave now."

Johanna sighed. "That's fine. It can stay here."

Hilda came outside her bedroom with the flashlight while being followed by Hilbert. David, Frida, and their doubles were on the couch.

"Alright. We have a situation here." Hilda informed everyone. "There has to be something done for our problem regarding the runestone."

"Where should we go?" Dana asked.

"How about the library?" David asked.

"That can be our chance," Frida agreed. "Let's just hope Kaisa won't freak out when she sees the six of us."

"Kevin would react the same way," Freddie murmured. "He would have slammed us with his sledgehammer!"

"We got no time to waste," Johanna ushered everyone out when the weather calmed down. "You have to swap the runestone before it's too late!"

Once everyone arrived to their destination, Hilbert pushed open the bookcase, but fumes blasted out of the room. Airborne dust emitted from the runestone filled the room. Everyone coughed for a moment. "Everyone, watch your step." Hilda instructed. Everyone got down the steps carefully. Hilda turned to her right to notice that the Runestone was already glowing red. Alfur and Alice popped out of Hilbert's hair.

"But that's not possible! It's red already?!" Alfur cried.

"Wait... I think I get it. When there's multiple people from the wrong dimension, the runestones must work extra hard. That way, they use more power. Ergo, they'll wear out faster." Alice explained her new theory.

"At this rate, we'll never be able transfer the runestones before the next lapse..." Hilbert groaned.

The ground started to rumble again. Hilda had to evacuate the gang to check what was going on. It was just as bad as they imagined it. The sky was purple, lighting was frequent, and casualties were everywhere. The group gazed upon the upside-down Trolberg that was slowly descending from the sky.

"Wait a minute. Isn't that OUR Trolberg?" Hilbert asked his friends.

"Looks like it." Freddie answered.

"Watch out! It's gonna crash!" Dana cried. "AAHHH!"

"We need Raven to get up there. But there's no telling if he's doing well..." Hilda suggested.

"Tilda!" A voice called out.

"Ugh... it's.. Do'h! Forget it!" Alfur was annoyed.

"Raven?"

The bird landed on the ground. "I saw what was happening out the window. It's only a matter of time before that upside down Trolberg crashes into us."

"You sure you are fine enough to fly us?" Hilbert asked.

"Look, we're in a time crunch, so hop on." Raven changed to his great form. But he zapped a little bit. Hilda gave her beret to Johanna and followed Hilbert on climbing onto Raven's back and took off.

As they launched into the sky, Raven noticed some strange apparitions appearing. He did his best to avoid them. But this didn't last long, as Raven's flight suddenly began getting weird. "Whoa! What the hell?" He wondered.

"What's going on?" Hilda asked.

"This is the WEIRDEST turbulence I've ever gone through! Hang on tight!" Raven explained. Suddenly, Hilda and Hilbert were suddenly pulled upward. "Whoa! Gravity is going all over the place!"

Raven was steering around wildly, narrowly avoiding dangerous apparitions and lightning bolts.

"Aah! It feels like we're upside down!" Hilda screamed.

"Pull up!" Hilbert shouted.

Raven continued flying upwards, but now it seemed like he was flying downward. They saw the city streets careening towards them. Hilda and Hilbert shut their eyes while Raven tried catching air in his wings to stop himself. In no time at all, they all crash landed outside the library.

Hilda leaped off Raven to check his condition. "It's no use! He can't do this on his own!"

"Will the Woff help?" David suggested.

"Unlikely," Frida sighed. "None of them can fly high as the Raven."

"I think I have an idea, but I have to get my runestone first," Hilbert explained. "Freddie, Dana, help the Raven recover. "David, Frida, come with me!"

"Good luck with the bird, Hilda!" Frida called out as she and David followed the boy.

Before Hilda did anything else, she felt something burning. She turned around to see that her hair was caught on fire. "AAAAHHHH!"

"Hilda!" Dana and Freddie cried.

The girl looked around for a huge source of water to deal with her situation. She was lucky enough that a fountain was nearby. Just then, some laughter was heard. Hilda rose out of the fountain with a glare. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"

"Don't look at me, I didn't laugh," Freddie raised his arms in defense.

"I wouldn't find this funny," Dana felt the same way.

The kids turned to the source of the laughter, which turned out to be Trevor. The boy was chewing on rock candy. "Can't believe you fell for it again!"

After cleaning herself, Hilda was pissed. "Have you no shame?! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!"

"That's the idea, brat!"

Hilda has had it at this point. "That's it! You messed with me too many times! Prepare for a smackdown!"

Soon, the girl charged at her target. It wasn't before she tripped and landed on a trash can. She tried to get up, but a gardening tool hit her on the head.

"HAW-HAW! Hilda's a dirty hoe!" Trevor slapped his knee while laughing. However, his laughing was cut short as Hilda got up.

"What the hell…"

"This brat's going to have a flying lesson!" a voice boomed.

Everyone looked up to see that the voice came from Raven—or at least another Raven. Hilbert, David, and Frida were on her as well.

"Whoa," Dana felt her jaw drop. "That's gotta be another serving of fried chicken!"

"What was that, punk?!" The Everse Raven demanded.

"Nothing…" the girl hid behind Frida's male counterpart.

"Are you the Raven?" Hilda couldn't believe her eyes.

"Well, yeah. Hilbert's anyway. What made you ask, genius?" The Everse Raven rolled her eyes.

"Whoa!" Raven exclaimed. "Pluck my life. Time to flock some feathers!"

The Everse Raven rolled her eyes as Hilbert jumped off from her head. "Alright, we got both of our birds. We need to make sure this is a foolproof plan."

The citizens were confused about seeing two Ravens next to each other. It was a matter of time before people from both universes of Trolberg met up together. Even Hilbert's father showed up.

"Hilbert!" Jon cried. "What are you doing, son?!"

"I'm trying to solve this whole crisis, Dad!" the boy struggled to stay on The Everse Raven. "Just don't worry, I handled dangerous stuff like this before!"

"Hilda!" Johanna exclaimed. "Watch out!"

Hilda ending up dodging a flaming bottle. "Damn, not another one!"

"Is everyone ready to save Trolberg from destruction?" Hilbert asked while he carried his runestone.

"Almost," Raven started to speak with his counterpart. "We need to carry each of our blue haired brats while they switch each other's runestones."

"Hey!" Hilda and Hilbert were offended.

"Also, it would be best if we bring the brat's friends as well so they can get back to their dimension,"

"Agreed," Everse Raven complied before she told everyone to bid their farewells.

Soon, it was time. Hilbert got off his Raven to say goodbye to the gang. "Well, it's been fun hanging out with you guys. But I got to head back home and stop the destruction. I look forward to seeing you guys again once this whole mess is straightened out."

"I agree!" Alfur popped out of Hilda's hair. "Don't think of this as sayonara, think of it as seeing you later!"

"Yeah, that's a relief!" Alice shook Alfur's hand to wish him goodbye. "Hope you make your move with Adeline. You and her should kiss."

Alfur blushes. "My word! We haven't even made that kind of progress yet!"

"Eh, you're gonna, anyway. I already did with my boyfriend."

This made the elf felt his jaw drop. "Ok, now I'm jealous!"

Twig nuzzled with his counterpart. I'm gonna miss you a lot, Leaf. I wish we had more time to go on adventures with our friends, but this has to be done. I hope we can see each other again. But be a good girl to your owner.

Leaf nodded, understanding what was said to her. Hopefully, that can be a chance. But we have to save our home. And even if we won't see each other much again, I will always remember you. Take good care of Hilda.

Frida managed to bid farewell to Freddie. "You know, this adventure was fun. It felt like old times when we met Hilda for the first time. I really enjoyed the thrill of it."

Freddie chuckled. "You're telling me. Between you and me, I enjoyed the time we tried to hide the troll rock from the school. It felt like a stealth mission. And the other time riding the woffs, I never felt so alive!"

"Yeah… Not to mention that it was cool to see David being less afraid since he was a kid."

"You're telling me," Freddie had to agree. "Along with Dana, they have evolved like we are. Can't wait to see what's in store for us when we become adults."

"Keep on practicing your magic, Freddie. I know you will become the best warlock you can be. Your parents are proud to raise one."

Freddie smiled. "You'll be the best witch in Trolberg. I can count on that."

David ruffled Dana's hair. "You know, you pretty much remind me of my younger days. Back then, fear kept taking over."

Dana shuddered when she recalled the memories of their past adventures. "Yeah. The vitra, the ghosts, the nightmare spirits, trolls, you get it,"

"And to be honest with you, Dana, my big fear now is what is in store for us in the future. I'm not really eager to get older at this rate. We might even get into more conflict than ever."

"Yup. But as we grew up, while it is important to have it, we must stop being afraid of everything. If we don't stand up to our problems, nothing will." Dana smiled.

David nodded as he looked toward the blue-haired children. "And we know who to thank."

Hilda grabbed Twig as Hilbert did with Leaf. "So, it's been fun. I really enjoyed exploring your Trolberg."

"I can say the same for your Trolberg. Who knew it would be an adventure worth telling for others?"

"I can be sure of it," Hilda nodded. "You know what they say; such is the life of an adventurer."

"This will be an unforgettable one for us."

Hilda started to giggle. "You know, it was pretty stupid when you threw those berries at that troll."

Hilbert stifled his laughter. "Not as stupid as you time traveling with a magazine avoiding a worm of death,"

"Don't get cocky, you did it too."

"I'm gonna dedicate myself to forgetting it for as long as I live," Hilbert muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Anyway, looks like we have a home to save. Let's climb on our Ravens." Hilbert proceeded to hold Leaf as he made his way to the big bird. The boy waved to everyone. "Goodbye, Trolberg. See you soon!"

"Wish me luck, Mum!" The girl climbed on her Raven with her deerfox.

"Be careful, everyone!" Johanna called as she witnessed Trolberg about to collide with the other Trolberg. "And please hurry!"

"Hilda! It's now or never!" Raven called out.

"Got it. Let's go save Trolberg!"

And with that, everyone took off.

To be concluded…

Chapter Text

Yeah… This remake doesn't hold a candle to the original. Plus this finale seemed rushed. Staring it back in the end of 2023 when Season 3 aired had potential, but 2024 was a wild clusterjack of things happening. Not to mention my co-writer left in the middle of the year, so I was on my own in this. So yeah, I'm pretty much not proud of this remake. I've written better remakes than this. The remake of Hilda and Hilbert by the original author is something I should have focused on only for my Hilda fanfic. And regarding the sequel to Eversing Mirror, it's unlikely I will remake it. Credit goes to FusionBlueCore, JT, and Newgame LD for the parts of the original story being used here.

One other thing: Happy New Year, Hilda fans and everyone. May the year 2025 bring you joy.

Raven was shooting upward as fast as he could. But something caught Hilda's eye. "The mountains are starting to collide!" She cried.

"We must hurry!" Raven yelled.

Everse Raven struggled to keep up due to her carrying more people.

"You know, carrying two passengers was hard enough. But three?" Everse Raven complained.

"Well, at least you didn't get lanced by a deadly lightning bolt." Hilbert retorted.

"Oh. Helga's Raven did?" Everse Raven wondered.

"It's Hilda," Alice corrected.

"Fair enough."

A deadly projectile suddenly was aimed toward the gang.

"Look out!" Hilbert screamed. The projectile struck the runestone, knocking it out of Hilbert's grip.

They all reached for it, but Dana barely caught it. "Crap!"

"Give it here!" Hilbert noticed a dark force going for Hilda and Raven. "Hilda, look out!"

Raven continued to shoot up. But Hilda saw a purple flash incoming. A projectile launched from it struck Hilda directly. It didn't hurt much, but it launched her off Raven. "HILDA!" Raven screamed. Hilda barely grabbed onto his tail feathers, but she lost her grip on the runestone.

"Oh no! I lost it!" Hilda screamed. Raven swung back so Hilda was back on his back and dove down to try and get it again.

It was a long struggle for the kids and ravens. Eventually, the two clashed with their runestones together. A bright white flash enveloped the group and soon both Trolbergs. All that could be heard was Johanna screaming her daughter's name.

Hilda slowly woke up, floating in an area like the void between her and Hilbert's worlds. The two Ravens in their small forms, Dana, Freddie, Hilbert, Leaf, and Alice were there too.

The girl saw that the Runestones' runes were glowing brilliant gold and silver and sparkling with power. Hilda tried speaking, but she couldn't hear herself. She began to panic because she thought she had gone deaf. But a hand landed on her shoulder. It was Hilbert. He extended his hand toward Hilda, who then took it with her own. Then Hilbert's Runestone floated into Hilda's hands, and vice versa. Then the spherical environment around them stretched vertically into a cylinder shape.

Hilbert and his friends suddenly began turning upside down and getting dragged upward while Hilda and Raven were being pulled down. After a moment of surprise, Hilda and her friends waved goodbye to their doubles as they disappeared into their own colors.

Moments earlier, clouds quickly gathered after the explosion, obscuring the upside-down city. Every problem caused by the runestone faded away. All that was visible was a bright white ball in the sky directly above. Seconds later, it extended a ray downward to the sidewalk in front of the library.

"What's happening?" David's father asked.

"I don't know!" Frida's mother stammered.

After a while, the clouds began to part, and the ray began fading away. From inside, they could finally see a figure descending from the heavens. It was none other than Hilda and Raven. She slowly descending toward the ground like the angel that she was. She clutched the Runestone tightly until her feet touched the ground. Twig ran up to her and began licking her.

"Hilda!" Johanna cried, relieved, and went to embrace her. "Thank goodness you're alright."

The clouds had parted completely, finally revealing the dreamy beige sky once more.

Several months later, Trolberg was getting cleaned up. The citizens were getting healed, the trolls were friendly again, and buildings were getting repaired. David was cleaning his room to prepare for the day Dana would visit him. Frida was using new spells that Freddie encouraged him to make.

Back at the alternate Trolberg, Hilbert just finished explaining what happened to his dad. Leaf licked her master's face while Alice danced. Jon was very bewildered by what his son had been through. Thankfully, he won't need to worry about it since the adventure ended.

"Well, what matters now is that we're all safe and you're alright. Let's go home and get some rest, son."

"Yes, dad." Hilbert agreed as they got back into his car and drove into the night. Thanks for helping me save our homes, Hilda.

Later in Sparrow Scout HQ in Hilda's Trolberg, Johanna and the other adults attended the badge ceremony. Raven Leader distributed the badges among the other scouts for their duties. When it was Hilda's turn...

"Hilda!" A familiar voice rang out. It was Tontu, emerging from a wall like he did in The Black Hound.

"Tontu?"

"I found this. A botany badge." Tontu answered.

"Oh!" Raven Leader was mortified. "I can't believe I forgot to give you the botany badge you rightfully earned long ago."

Hilda put the badge on her sash. "There should be a badge for saving the world from getting destroyed by its parallel world."

"There's no such-" Frida began.

"I know, I was just being an ass." Hilda replied.

Everyone started laughing.

Back home, Hilda came back into her room. The Woff was still there and was asleep. Hilda gave it a pat to wake it up.

"Alright buddy. You're free to go." Hilda comforted.

The Woff stirred before slowly waking up. Hilda opened the window to let it out. But then, the Woff somehow got Hilda on its back and took off. Hilda still had her backpack on, which contained the Runestone.

I probably should've put the runestone down before doing this. She thought.

The Woff seemed happy that Hilda let it stay during the bad weather and was just giving her a ride as a way of thanks. It landed outside the library. As the Woff flew away, Hilda remembered something.

"Hopefully the Runestone didn't break."

She removed the Runestone from her backpack. Luckily, it was completely intact. She remembered she had to visit an old friend. The Mirror began rippling as Hilbert flew through, crashing into Hilda again. "Oh, hello, Hilbert!" Hilda greeted him when she recovered.

"Hi, Hilda. They're still trying to get the power back on in my world, so it's going to be a while before things go back to normal."

Hilda shrugged. "Tell me about it. But what are you going to do?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I suppose I could take it easy. Perhaps with you. Also, Dana and Freddie will come by some point later. They had to do stuff with their families since they were in your universe for a few days."

"Although, if we don't want the runestones to-" Hilda got interrupted.

"It's alright. You got your Runestone handy by any chance?" Hilbert asked.

Hilda pulled out her Runestone. To her surprise, it was dimly pulsing a dark blue color rather than steadily glowing a bright color and emitting fumes. And it was still cool.

"That's a good sign, is it?" Alice popped out of Hilbert's hair.

"Hopefully."

Hilda grabbed out the book. The pages turned to the right appendix.

"Ah! It says it here; after a Runestone handshake is completed, if a Runestone begins lightly pulsing a dark blue color, that means that a remembered Runestone is contesting with it, and they stop clashing against one another."

"So, is it alright for me to come back?"

"If you want." Hilda answered.

"That'll work," Alfur and Alice commented.

Hilda just stared into space, concerning her friend. "Are you ok?"

"I just don't understand what was with that red eyed troll. I thought that Trundle was the only one that was that type of problem. But with that new troll we got ambushed by, we might be facing a bigger threat. I fear Trolberg will put in great danger again, and we might not be able to stop it," Hilda was crestfallen and unsure as to what they should do. But then she felt Hilbert's hand grab hers in comfort.

"We'll be alright, Hilda." He spoke. "We have gone through many adventures on our own, and we find the solution even when things are down. Even our friends and families lend a hand to us. Now that we have met, there's nothing that we can't handle."

"I hope so. But what should we do now?"

"We'll think of something." Hilbert replied. "We always do."

In the Wilderness, a crimson eye can be seen in the darkness. The figure with the red eye roared. The darkness in the woods began to fill up with more red glows. A hell of a lot more…

The End?