Shadow Over Trolberg
A Hilda/Persona 4 AU
By Daring D.D. Danger
The True Self
"Congratulations on awakening your power." Margaret said.
"Please take this with you on your journey." Igor gestured to a blue key floating across the train car.
"From this night forward, you will be a guest in our Velvet Room." Margaret flashed a smile at Randall.
"You have a very special power, the Wildcard. Like the number zero, it is full of infinite possibilities." She continued.
"I am very curious to see what you'll do with your new power. We shall travel the path of your destiny alongside you." Igor smiled his toothy smile. The Velvet room faded once again.
4/14
After barely surviving the battle, the trio and Twig the Deerfox limped back to the stage where they had entered the TV. Once there they were greeted by a stack of old TV's which Randall was able to pull his friends back through, leaving more questions than answers.
"So what did you call that? A Persona?" David asked.
"And I didn't even get to see it!" Hilda added.
"Did you know you could do that?" David asked.
"I just suddenly… knew I could." Randall answered.
"Can you do it in this world?" Hilda asked. Everyone looked at Randall for an answer.
"Persona!" Randall took a pose which belonged in a Japanese anime as his voice echoed throughout Junes. But he just stood there looking foolish, no response to the call for his Persona.
"I think we should leave now." Randall said, still holding his fist in front of him.
"Yep." Hilda and David agreed in unison.
4/15
"We went through hell yesterday" David said to his friend Frida as she joined her friends on the walk to school.
"You won't even believe it! This guy-"Hilda was caught off when an unfamiliar boy cut them off.
"Aren't you Frida?" He asked.
"Who are you?" Frida asked.
"Why don't you come on a date with me?"
"But I have school..." Frida was visibly nervous.
"Are you going or not!?" He was agitated, Hilda was balling her fists together.
"No." Frida said.
"Screw you bitch!" The boy stomped off.
"He must not know Frida's never said yes to a date with anyone." David tried to lighten the mood. The four continued into school as rain began to fall.
"Have you ever asked Frida out David?" Randall asked as the four sat down at their seats.
"Not a chance." Frida answered for him.
"I've got my eyes on someone else anyway." Said David.
"Oh you mean that Nessa girl." Randall teased.
"Yeah, but I haven't heard from her since the other day at Junes."
"All students please report to the auditorium." The announcement cut the conversation off.
"Where'd Frida go? Randall asked as his remaining friends stood in the auditorium.
"She had to go home. She has to help her parents sometimes, they are both very sick." Hilda said, looking at the ground.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Randall looked to his side.
"Hey! Shut up you brats!" Mr. Cory was stamping on the stage.
"The principle has something to say." The man walking up to take Mr. Cory's spot looked incredibly sad.
"I'm afraid I'm here with bad news. This morning, one of our students was found dead. You kids called her Nessa." The auditorium filled with gasps. David looked up in horror and ran out of the auditorium, Hilda shortly after. Randall followed passing some students.
"I heard she was found the same way as the scout leader, impaled on a TV antenna." he heard in the gossip. Randall found his friends outside the school by a statue of a man killing a Troll. David was starring out into the rainy streets.
"Did you guys watch the Midnight Channel again last night?" He asked, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"Why are you asking about that at a time like this?" Hilda asked in shock.
"Last night I think I saw Nessa on it, and she looked scared." He said.
"You know, when I first heard the rumor, someone told me they saw Raven Leader on it." Everyone gasped at Hilda's revelation.
"Why didn't you mention that!?" David was furious.
"It didn't seem important at the time, and besides if I told you Trevor told me about it, you wouldn't have done it!" Hilda wasn't going to have David yell at her.
"Guys. There's something else." Randall stopped the yelling.
"Remember the photos in the weird room in the TV, with the heads cut out?" David and Hilda were looking at him now.
"I think they were of that Raven leader woman. I've been thinking about it all day," Silence fell upon the three.
"And I just heard some gossip that her body was left the same way as Nessa's. That can't be a coincidence." Randall said grimly.
"So you think that people who appear on the Midnight Channel… die?" Hilda asked.
"What if we aren't the only people who can go into the TV world?" Randall asked. David immediately pulled them from the school yard all the way to the TV section of Junes.
"We're not going in there again!" Hilda's arguments seemed to be bouncing off of David's ears.
"Fine, you can stay!" David produced a rope.
"Someone needs to hold this rope so we can for sure get back anyway!" David yelled. Hilda sat on the ground and took the rope. David put his hand out to the TV, where it was met with glass.
"What?" He yelled. Randall put his hand out, and it went through.
"Huh, so I guess only I can go freely in and out." Randall said. He took David's hand and they fell in.
"So, what are we going to do now David."
"Remember how Twig lead us around here?" David produced the terrified Deerfox from his sweater.
"Hilda is going to be pissed." Randall said. David Produced something from his pocket.
"What's that?"
"Nessa gave me this guitar pick after one of her shows. I carry it around with me but, maybe it smells a little like her?" He held the object up to the Deerfox. Twig suddenly put his nose down and took off into the fog. David grabbed Randall's hand and pulled him to a sprint to catch up to the animal.
They caught up with him at what appeared to be a house.
"I think this is Nessa's house." David said.
"That Nessa girl is nothing but trouble." The boys were suddenly surrounded by voices.
"I hear she does drugs in the Huldrawood with her friends".
"She'll never amount to anything."
"Who's saying this nonsense?" David sprinted into the house. When Randall followed David appeared to have suddenly stopped.
"I could never go out with David." A girl's voice filled the air now.
"I don't want to hurt him, but he's just so annoying."
"N-Nessa?" David was shuddering.
"Honestly David is just a loser." Nessa's voice took him to his knees.
"Hey!" A new voice filled the air. It was sinister, but sounded a little like David. A figure stepped into the light.
"Why are you upset? You know she's right. You mess up everything you do, and you only have Hilda and Frida. That Nessa girl felt so bad she pretended to like you!"
"Who the hell are you!" David was up and angry now.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm you!" The figure stepped into full view. He looked exactly like David!
"Look at you now, dragging poor Twig into this, Hilda will probably hate you too now!" Other David stood over David.
"I am a shadow, the true self! The true you!" Shadow David said. David came to his feet.
"No! You're not me!" In that instant Shadow David burst into a red aura and grew. He transformed into a towering woman with evil eyes, wielding two swords. Shadow David swung down, Randall pushing David clear of the blow, but knocking him out in the process. Randall met eyes with the Shadow.
"Persona!" Orpheus erupted from Randall taking shots at the Shadow.
"What do you see in him as a friend?" The shadow asked Randall.
"He's nothing without Hilda and Frida!" Orpheus landed a blow on the Shadow's face. Randall walked over to David, now conscious and crying on the ground.
"David you were the one who was brave enough to come here, not Hilda, doesn't that prove he's wrong about you? Randall stuck out a hand as Orpheus pinned down the Shadow.
"I suppose I knew Nessa didn't like me that way… and I'm trying to be my best me. Maybe he's right, I do need Hilda and Frida, but they are and will always be my friends. So I guess deep down, he is me." David gestured at the towering Shadow. Suddenly it froze and began to look like static was running through it's body.
"Orpheus Now!" Randall yelled. Strings pierced the shadow and it exploded into static particles, leaving only the image of David once again. David went up to his Shadow.
"You are a part of me, and I'm a part of you." As David spoke a blue aura surrounded him, and a blue card floated up to him, dissolving in front of him.
"What is this?" David asked.
"I think it's your… Persona." Randall said kneeling next to his friend.
The pair climber out of the large TV, Twig in tow, who sprinted over to Hilda who was crying on the floor, holding a broken rope. After everything the pair didn't notice their ropes were broken.
"How could you do this!" Hilda was sobbing.
"I though you were dead! And you stole Twig!" She had her fists balled up now. She grabbed the Deerfox and ran.
"It might be a while before we can make this up to her." Randall put his hand on David's shoulder.
"You know if Nessa was in there, she could have been attacked by her own Shadow like I just was." The boys were now walking home through the rain, David still coming to terms with what happened.
"But we know you can't go in unless you have a Persona, or someone with a Persona takes you." Randall added.
"She would've been able to fight her shadow if she had that power… so that means..."
"There's another Persona user, using their power to force people into TVs." Randall completed David's grim sentence.
"I can't just ignore that. I know we just met but, will you help me find out who's doing this Randall?" David looked Randall in the eyes.
"Of course." Randall responded.
"With you and me. I think we have a chance to figure this out." David shook randall's hand, and went his separate way from Randall.
Randall looked up in time to finally see the sun peek through the rain clouds.
To Be Continued