Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hilda and the others were in high school. Basically all of the students ware watching the clock, counting down the seconds. Semester break was just a few minutes away. All the bags were packed and even the teachers were counting down, but mostly miss Hulgram who was somehow assigned Hilda’s homeroom teacher again. As the final bell rang, everyone either sighed, or cheered for the end of the schoolyear. At least half of the class was already trying to exit as fast as possible, Hilda being one of them. Frida and David gave in their work. Hilda waited outside for them as people passed by, basically running from how fast they were walking out. Hilda, Frida, and David were basically the last ones leaving the school building.

As the group walked out of the building, they immediately start discussing about what there going to be doing when summer break actually starts. They walk over to Louise’s high school and start waiting Infront of it, obviously waiting for Louise.

“What do you think there doing… I mean obviously school but do you think they have like a tradition they do?” Hilda asked, trying to peek in through windows. “I think they just might be doing classes, like we were.” Frida stated just before the school doors opened and books and papers flowed out as students ran out. “Something tells me they have their own tradition.” David said watching the students go by. Louise eventually came up to the group after waves of students came out the building like tsunamis. Louise brushed it off with a “shall we get going?”

Hilda looked flabbergasted and stated “so you’re just not gonna talk about that?” Louise just brushed it off “What’s there to talk about? Just graduates celebrating.” “but why get rid of the books?” David asked as they started walking toward the general area where they separate to go home “Because they don’t want the memory. Do you guys want to keep your schoolbooks when you graduate?” Louise asked before getting cut off by Hilda “we still need to talk about what were gonna do during the holiday.” The group went quiet again before Frida spoke up, “what if we do something outside the city. Like camping?” “but we always go camping” David retorted.

The group reached a crossroads where David and Louise separated “well, see you at the park later.” David said to Frida and Hilda before separating with Louise. The two walked in silence for a bit before Hilda stated “I wouldn’t mind camping with you. Like if it was just us.” Frida flushed just a little bit, enough to fell herself blushing but not noticeable. “I would love to go camping with you… but maybe we should follow the group” Frida interjected before being cut off “that’s why you’re a sheep” Hilda joked, just a little bit, a faint flush appearing on her face Aswell.

The two eventually got to the separation point, and said their ‘see you later’s. Hilda started walking to her apartment with a smile on her face. She climbed the stairs, for the elevator was closed temporarily. As she reached the top floor, she could hear twig scratching the door, which at the current moment looked more like a modern art piece with how often it was getting scratched. Hilda unlocked and entered the flat, only to be immediately tackled by twig, whom at the current moment was already bigger than her on his hind legs. Hilda started petting him “Hey boy, you’re getting big” she laughed as he licked her face. Hildas mum was drawing at her desk “hey Hilda” her mum greeted, absentmindedly, as she drew a competition she entered. Hilda knew this and just went to her room, both to change and give her mother the peace and focus she needed.

After a quick change of attire, Hilda left her room and subsequently the flat with twig following her. She walked quickly to the park the friends arranged to meet at. She was the first one, and due to it being a pet friendly, Hilda started playing fetch with twig. After about thirty minutes David and Frida arrived, talking with Each other, before sitting down and watching Hilda. Most of the time they got to the park when Hilda was there, they watched her play with twig while waiting. Eventually Louise came, and watched Hilda with the other two for a bit, before getting Hildas attention. Hilda joined the group, and started the conversation “ladies and gentleman. We need something to do during the holiday. Any ideas?” “Bug ca- “David was cut off by all the girls in unison saying “never!” “I know it’s a no, but camping?” the group gave mixed responses before Hilda got an idea
“What if we hike on the mountain. There are rest stops that we can use, sure it would just be camping on the mountain, but think about it.” The group initially gave mixed reactions before committing to it. In an unknown amount of time, they would climb the mountain

Chapter Text

The group had decided to go climbing up the mountain. Sure, it would basically just be glorified camping, but there was also the mountain aspect. Which most of the group (Louise and Frida) realised didn’t really add much, but Hilda was already dead set on it, and if she sets her mind to something, it most likely is going to happen. Louise was still relatively new to the group and she knew this.
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Currently they were in a camp shop, getting snacks and materials. Hilda had the shopping cart and was talking with David at the moment, while Frida and Louise were stuck a bit behind discussing. They were just out of earshot of David and Hilda. Frida got close to Louise and spoke in a quiet tone. “What do you think their up to?” Frida asked Louise, who responded with an obviously fabricated tone “what do you mean? They never do anything bad” which was followed by a faux laugh from Frida “but, no seriously. They never talk that in depth about something unless it’s a plan.” Frida laughed a bit nervously before noticing she couldn’t see Hilda nor David. “where did they go?” Louise seemed to also just notice the two missing, “they couldn’t have gone that far. We were speaking for like 2 minutes” the two started looking for the two.

Just as Frida was about to turn a corner, Hilda came out at Mach 10, her blue hair flowing behind her as she laughed. the wheels squeaked and tried to keep up with the speed. It took Frida quickly turning the corner before noticing David doing the exact same thing toward Hilda, just as fast. Store workers running to even attempt to stop the two. It was close but Frida managed to cast a spell to try and slow the two (or at least Hilda). It worked, yes, but it didn’t slow her nearly as much as was needed to stop the impact from taking place, the carts had a brutal impact, just slow enough to stop too much damage to the carts, but defiantly fast enough to cause David and Hilda from flinging and impacting in the air. The two were laughing as they fell onto the floor. Frida and Louise promptly helped them up. “That was incredibly stupid” Frida commented helping David up who was still laughing like a horse, while Louise helped Hilda up who seemed to have gotten luckier because her bruises looked way better then Davids. “Honestly, would do that again” Hilda managed to say between laughs and giggles. After the group got up, they were promptly banned from the camp shop and started looking for another shop. Once again Frida and Louise were behind the two, still talking. “do you see what I mean?” Frida asked Louise. “I knew what you were talking about before, I was being sarcastic.” “I don’t think that’s how you do it.” Frida retorted. The two stopped talking for a bit, Frida making sure to keep an eye on the two in front.

“I see why you two are together.” Louise stated, smiling a bit at Frida who didn’t even know she was blushing “I'm sorry?” Frida blushed a bit more “I see why you and Hilda… are you not together?” Louise's smirk turned into a slight frown from embarrassment. “No, Hilda and I are just friends” Frida stated to Louise's doubt. “Really? You do not make that obvious at all” Louise retorted “were just friends… nothing more, nothing less…” “we found another camp shop” Frida turned to see Hilda smirking mere inches away, blushing. Frida promptly moved away from Hilda and started entering the shop. Frida grabbed a cart this time as they started collecting gear for the trip. Mainly snacks. A lot of snacks. As they conversed about different things, eventually Frida forgot about being called out. They paid and carried the bags to the base of operations, also known as the apartment Hilda lived in.
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Hilda and the others walked in, and placed all the bags on the dining room table. Hildas mum and twig were out walking with most probably Alfur tagging along with them. As they spread out the snacks, they start discussing what there going to do when they get up the mountain. “They made a zipline park… wait, I think it actually might be a skate park. One of the two” Hilda said, going up the mountain frequently. “it *was* for ziplining, but that closed down and became a skate park” Louise interjected “it was on the news after the line snapped, thankfully nobody was hurt.” The group then added the skate park to their list of to do’s, and added it on their map. “there’s also a public campground. Raven leader was supposed to take us there, but the badge tally was too low, so we didn’t end up going.” Frida had pointed to the general area where the camp was. After circling that general aria, before starting to brainstorm for a bit

After brainstorming for the better half of an hour they had made a general list as follows
1. Cutting down a tree
2. Skate park things
3. Photography
4. Smores (no elaboration)
5. Magic stuff
6. Tell scary stories.
and for a while, this is how it stayed. Maybe about an hour passed before Hilda came up with an ultimate idea (her words). “okay, what if, when were climbing up the mountain, at one point… we go INTO the mountain?” Frida and David gave each other a glance, considering the option. Hilda *was* a changling, she could theoretically protect them. Louise just went along with the group, not being told the story of Hilda’s nature with trolls yet. So then, it was decided what they would do

Chapter Text

the group had an idea of what they were going to do. But nothing was final. Maybe they wouldn’t chop a tree. The general idea was there and wasn’t going to change much. Most probably… either way, the group would be going on this trip, it was the first proper trip they’d taken since tofoten. After hanging out for a while, Louise went home, due to time restrictions. David went out with her to ‘protect her’. This was complete bull, and all of them knew it. The safety patrol, still annoying at times but definitely doing a good job since Gerder took over. keeping the citizens safe, especially children, was now priority #1, because apparently it wasn’t before. Either way, Frida and Hilda were alone, in her room. It was quiet for a while.

“SOOO… What were you and Louise talking about earlier to- “Hilda was teasing, a faint reddening appeared on her face before getting cut off by Frida. “Oh, just shush you.” As soon as Hilda started speaking, like magic, Frida’s face became visibly red. There was no heat behind Frida’s remarks, the two of them laughing, just a little bit. It became silent. Quiet. Another synonym. Peaceful. Before Hilda spoke again, now laying down on the couch. “But no, seriously, you want to talk about it? If it’s too unconfutable I can stop bringing it up.” The blue haired girl stated, feeling bad about bringing it up earlier “no, no. it’s just… weird. You're my best friend, and familiar and its- “she cut herself off, realising Hilda was looking at her, a major tint was on her face. “Even if we did, I don’t know how David and Louise would act. We are a group, and if two of us were together then broke up, wouldn’t that just make things complicated?” the witch overthought as her familiar got closer, sitting next to her again. “that’s even if, we break up. If not, we’ll just be together.” The two were now making perfect eye contact. Which, particularly from Hilda was rare. The two girls started moving forward, tensions built up for years about to pop.

Then Hilda’s mum walked in and the two girls retorted heavily.

Twig ran over to greet Hilda and Frida, lying on his stomach as he got to them. “Hey girls, I saw David and Louise giggling outside our apartment. What’s that about?” Frida and Hilda had massive blushes. They spoke over each other; Hilda’s mum raised an eyebrow. “It’s getting late, Frida, I think you should go home.” Frida gladly stood up and walked out, with her bag on her. Hildas mum faced Hilda, “do you want to tell me what I walked in on?” Hilda shook her head. “You know, I’m fine” Hilda smiled widely, Hilda’s mum laughed a bit “alright, whatever you say. I’m not going to pry” she said taking the overly large harness off twig before Hilda walked into her room, with twig following suit. She walked over to her bed and laid down, still wearing her coat and bag. She had not taken it off from previous expedition to the shops. Obviously, she took off her boots (there uncomfortable on the bed). Hilda started a bad habit of going to bed after her friends left, sometimes skipping dinner and such. It was barley 6, short by about 3 minutes, and dinner wasn’t even close to done, but Hilda was already planning on getting ready for bed.
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Like clockwork Hilda was already partially asleep. Twig was resting by her feet, on her bed. It must have been some form of non-Euclidian geometry or that sort, because the amount of space between Hilda and twig was mere nanometres. Or that’s what it felt like. Hilda was still very short, the shortest one in the group, and twig wasn’t that big yet. There was still enough space for maybe 2 more years. Hilda kept thinking to herself about the space between them, and how twig needed his own bed, or at least start sleeping on her mum’s king-sized bed. Eventually she drifted off, her breathing slowed and her eyes fluttered closed.

It felt as if minutes had passed, Hilda kept somehow thinking about the space. She opened her eyes, getting ready to kick twig off her bed. But twig was gone. Sunlight shone through her windows. Hilda sighed to herself before putting her clothes in the hanger and getting dressed for a new day. As she left her room, she heard at least 2 gasps, one smaller than the other. Then a voice the volume of what could only be described as ‘a crumb’ “can you believe it? Hilda up before noon?” Hilda mock laughed “very funny, I can get up early” she said, not even believing it herself “it’s very unlike you to wake up this early.” A tiny voice, getting closer, spoke, before Hilda's mum spoke “it is very unlike you, breakfast is still out. And I expect you to eat it.” She said that last part more like a threat then anything. Hilda sat down to eat.

Chapter Text

The group was ready. There they stood, at the foot of the mountain. Hilda's mum just dropped them off. A few days had passed (like 2 or 3) and they had set up for the event. They had their paths planned and they had their gear. “Remember, if you need anything, call me IMMEDENTLY.” Hilda's mum instructed. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve told us.” Hilda said shuffling uncomfortably due to the axe she was trying to hide in her jumper.
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The group said bye before starting to climb the mountain, the deerfox staying close to Hilda's side. As they looked back, they saw the car leave the parking lot. “…so now were practically free to do our own thing.” Frida said after a bit of a pause, getting a return from David. “It’s not like you would let us do the fun stuff though” which was met by a few snickers “You wanted to start a forest fire.” The witch pointed out “I say let him, its not like he has the balls to do it!” Louise stated before hearing a small gasp “wait…” Hilda quieted the group. “Check your bags, I think Alfur came with us” everyone started checking their bags, seeing nothing. “Huh. I could’ve sworn I heard a small gasp.” Frida stated to everyone`s agreement “it was just after the comment about a forest fire.” “maybe Louise upset the forest spirits” Frida said before getting cut off by Louise “No, it was after I said balls” the group went silent, trying to hear anything. The only thing they could hear was twig scratching his ears.

The freaky four put their bags back on, after the hassle. Hilda went closer to twig, scratching his ear, before starting a new discussion “though I think Frida is onto something, I mean about us having ‘free will’ at the current moment.” she was walking the fastest, seemingly excited about something up ahead. David started teasing “though, if I did cause a forest fire, I’d probably be the one to save all of you again- “all the girls groaned in unison before Louise stated “David. Every time you say that, we end up nearly dying, fifty-fold.” The blue haired girl then spoke up “And LAST TIME, I Physically PICKED YOU UP TO GET YOU OUT OF THE WAY OF THAT TROLL. I SAVED YOU” her outburst caused a set of laughter within the group“Calm down you two, we just started this trip.” Frida laughed out, Hilda glaring at the only boy in the group “If I tackle him, nobody stops me. Got it?” she growled out, a bit of her trollish side showing. “I’m pretty sure if you tackled David, at least HALF of his bones would break” Louise stated, David’s pride shattering, just a bit. “HEY, I’m not *THAT* weak!” he said as Hilda kept on glaring. “its not that your bones are weak, well, partially, but it’s the fact that Hilda is part trollish, and believe me, when she’s even on top of you, it hurts” Frida tried stating before being cut off by Louise “how do you know that, Frida~” she teased, before Hilda blurted out “We had that dog pile, that I tried starting… Frida was the only one under me.” David and Louise gave each other a look before continuing on.

About an hour had passed, the group semi-remembering the earlier interaction before Hilda took off her jumper, revealing an axe and a t-shirt. “ Okay, from here on out it’s a public park, that allows the chopping of trees. I’m pretty sure we all want to do this, but sadly, its my axe.” She said rolling up her short sleeves and taking off her waist mounted sheath. The group surrounded Hilda, as she got close to a tree, before hearing a small sneeze from Twig’s saddle bag. She dropped the axe before walking to the deerfox, opening the saddlebag “I KNEW-oop, wrong one.” She walked over to the other side, “I KNEW YOU WERE HERE.” She said picking up the elf who responded with a worried “Johana told me to come with you, she wanted a report and-” Frida cut him off “A report? So, you have your journal?” she questioned as Hilda started digging through the saddle bag before pulling up a small book “this is going to go in my lock box” she said, putting it into her pant pocket and zipping up one of the zips. As she did this a tiny “noooo” could be heard. Hilda put the elf back in the saddle bag and put her jumper and sheath back on, holding the axe on her shoulder “guess we won’t see a tree fall today.” Hilda said sighing softly.

Frida pulled out a tent bag, “you know, it was either this or the axe was dull.” She joked as the others pulled out their own tent bags. They kept on walking, stopping for shenanigans every now and then before reaching the first exciting thing in their journey. A fence blocking off a skate park.
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The skate park didn’t seem to be open. Hilda had seen the gate on her quick journeys up, but never got the chance to check it out. There was greenery everywhere, trees in unstable places, a few abandoned boards and one spot of land, untouched by mother nature. It was a sizeable platform. But also, a sizeable climb. There were ladders to get to the lifted platform. “Pretty big.” Frida stated, Frida and Hilda then glared at a confused David. “What?” as the two girls glared at David, Louise coughed out a “that’s what she said.” All three of the original freaky friends slowly turned their heads, 2 in disappointment, 1 with pure bliss. “Why?” Frida asked, as David and Louise laughed out “It’s funny? Why else?” then Hilda groaned “David used to make those jokes so much, it was sooo annoying!” then a small voice came through the saddlebag “it was funny at first, Honest. Then it was just overused” the group (– David and Louise) groaned, remembering the pain, misery, and anguish they experienced, as years of bad jokes came flooding back in their minds.

Hilda, trying to forget the bad joke, grabbed an abandoned skate board. “Do you think that this ramp is still good?” she asked the group “it’s not the ramp you should be worried about” Frida stated. The group stood around Hilda expecting her to take the dive. They stood there for a good 5 minutes before David asked “aren’t you goanna… you know, get on the ramp?” Hilda got on the board “yes…” she said just before getting off the board with a “no…” the group laughed “this was *your* idea” Louise pointed out. Hilda hyped herself up, as she spoke “I know, I know, but I don’t even know if I can even Start to ride it” David and Frida gave each other a look, before Frida grabbed an abandoned board of her own. “okay, so what you're goanna do is, when you're standing on the board, tilt side to side and the-“ Frida was cut off short by the part of the ramp that Hilda was on, collapsing, causing Hilda to fall to the bottom.

At the bottom of the ramp, Hilda sat, contemplating mentioning the skate park. Frida had grabbed her bag and was shifting through it, trying to find disinfectant “Are you okay? Do we need to go home?” she asked in a panicked voice “no, its just a scraped knee.” Hilda had stated. “and I don’t need that spray.” She shifted away from Frida holding the spray. “Hilda. We need to excessively use our legs. You need disinfectant” she said, getting closer to Hilda “no, its fine, ill walk it off.” Hilda tried shifting away again, before Frida chanted something and a pair of hands grabbed her leg “Hilda. You need medicine” Frida said, finally getting close enough to spray her scrape, Hilda kicking and thrashing to the best of her abilities. After Frida sprayed on the medicinal spray, Hilda teared up, sucking in air though her teeth. “that never EVER gets easier.” She said, looking around. David was already at the top of the platform with Louise following suit. “guess we should follow them up there?” Frida asked as Hilda stood up. “Cant. I have to set up tent here, because twig can’t get up there” she said trying to climb up the ramp, seemingly doing better than Frida. “doesn’t he have those platforms? Like, the ones made of light???” the two stood at the top of the ramp, staring at each other. Hilda then called twig over, realising that twig wasn’t on the ground with them

The two looked up at the platform. During the commotion, could twig have possibly made and climbed a light bridge without the two knowing? Hilda started climbing “stay down here, in case twig is in the forest or something.” She commanded Frida who nodded and stood at the base of the platform. After a bit of climbing, Hilda reached the top of the platform. twig, laying on his back, was enjoying the sun. Hilda called Frida up before walking over to twig, and rubbing his belly. “you're really something else. How did I not notice you, and more importantly, when did you get the time to practice?” she asked, petting his belly softly as Frida climbed. David and Louise were setting up their separate tents, Frida finally making it to the top, and setting up her and Hilda’s tent. “why aren’t you setting up?” Louise asked Hilda, David answering “her and Frida share a tent.” Louise shot a smug look at Frida, groaning, Frida answered “Hilda was going to make a tent out of the tree she was GOING to cut down, but since Alfur is here, she couldn’t cut down the tree. She needs to share a tent with me” Frida said, finishing the tent in record time. “either way, its getting dark, we need to head to bed soon.” Hilda said, getting in the tent, twig going to the pile of rubble David called a tent.

The platform the group was on was quiet, and cold. As the night went on the more peaceful it became, the occasional joke, thrown around.