Shadow Over Trolberg

A Hilda/Persona 4 AU

By Daring D.D. Danger

9: Can A Marra Have A True Self?

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room." Igor smiled.

"You've made yet another new bond. You have quite a large number of bonds now." Margaret pulled out the book, which showed a picture of Woodman. "The Hanged man. Soon your bonds will begin to deepen, and your strength will continue to grow."

"I can't wait to see what you accomplish." Igor said as the train car began to fade.

6/20

"Big bro! Come look at this!" Randall ran down the stairs and saw the news on TV.

"Last night, this footage of some sort of UFO was caught over Trolberg. Officials are baffled as to what it could be." The video appeared to show a green wisp shooting through the air. Randall called David. "David, do you think a Marra could be thrown into the TV?" He asked.

"No way dude, there's no way the killer could catch a Marra." David responded.

6/21

"You think the killer would go after a random Marra?" Hilda said. "We don't even know which one slipped up and got caught on camera."

"Well I do know a Marra." Randall said. "We have an 'arrangement'."

"Dude, don't make deals with Marras!" David exclaimed.

"I just don't see how the killer would track down one of these Marra things, at least based on what you guys have told me about them. What would happen to one if they got thrown in anyway?" Trevor added.

The Midnight Channel flashed to life for only a second, showing an image of a little girl in the fetal position.

"Hey dork." Euryale had appeared behind Randall.

"Euryale, do you know which Marra got caught on camera the other night?"

"Kelly. That moron. Now come on, Nightmare time."

"I want to talk to Kelly." Randall said.

"I'll take you to her tomorrow, but you'll owe me."

"Owe you what?"

"You'll see!" She smiled.

6/22

"Dude, how did you find out where a Marra lives?" David asks.

"Apparently all 13 of them live together." Randall said "And there it is." Randall pointed at an abandoned building.

"Didn't that used to be a hotel?" Frida said.

"An abandoned hotel? That's something right out of a young adult fiction story." Hilda said. Randall knocked on the door.

"What!" Twin Tail opened the door. "Hilda why are you here, and who told you about this place?"

"We're here to talk to Kelly and-"

"Randall!" Euryale came floating down the stairs. "Let me show you around!" Euryale dragged him into the hotel, leaving the others behind.

"So first stop, my bedroom!" Euryale said.

"Your what." Randall said nervously. Euryale threw him on a bed.

"You know Randall, I've decided how you can pay me back. Be my boyfriend." Randall was starring at the ceiling in fear.

"You know that's kinda weird since I'm a teenager and you're a conditionally immortal creature." Randall forced the words out.

"Not if we, turn you into a Marra." She said.

"Wait wait, can a boy be a Marra?" Randall said.

"Well you'd be a Mar, or an Alp depending on who you ask, but it's like the same thing." Suddenly a series of bangs and knocks echoed through the abandoned building.

"Maybe you should check on that-" Randall finally looked over only to see that Euryale had taken her shirt off. He let out a small scream and looked away.

"I thought you weren't afraid of Marra's!" She laughed.

"This, is very different." Randall said, closing his eyes. The Marra had climbed on top of him and then suddenly Randall heard a smack, and she was gone. He opened his eyes and saw Twin Tail, rubbing her hand.

"Idiot." She said, looking at the other girl, knocked out on the floor. "Please, just get your idiot friends out of our house, and I'll try to get her off your back, deal?" Twin Tail stuck out her hand, and Randall happily shook it. He walked out into the hallway only to be greeted by his friends running from multiple Marras.

"Guys let's go!" He yelled, and soon they were outside. "What happened in there?"

"Well we broke in to find Kelly." David said.

"Was that Hilda's idea?" Randall asked and she nodded in agreement. "Did you learn anything?"

"No, she just chased us out." David said.

"Well at least your dumb plan helped me out." Randall said. "I almost lost something important in there."

6/23

"So we're trying this stakeout thing again?" David asked.

"Yes, it's all we can do really." Hilda said.

"Who are you guys watching?" a new voice suddenly said. Everyone turned and jumped.

"Hey… Detective Leif… what are you doing here?" Randall asked.

"Some legwork for Arren." He responds.

"What are you doing here?" the detective asks.

"Uhhhh-" Hilda is cut off by Randall.

"We're checking out the abandoned hotel." He lies.

"Oh, well I'd be careful, it's supposed to be haunted, also it's private property." Detective Leif says. After the Detective left, the group stayed until after dark, eventually heading home to watch the Midnight Channel. To Randall's disdain, a video of a small girl running from dark figures appeared on the screen.

6/24

"Maybe the Midnight Channel is just a message from the person's Shadow?" Frida suggested.

"What about the silent images, in the days before?" Randall asked.

"Maybe that's a message from the killer." David says.

"What if it's the killer thought's?" Alfur suggested.

"So we still have nothing. I guess we'll have to just watch the Midnight Channel again, and hope the killer can't catch a Marra." Trevor said.

6/25

"So will you help me? Will you, be my friend?" The little girl on the Midnight Channel almost looked like Kelly, however she was gone too quickly to really say for sure.

"Hey guys are these trees?" David remarked as the usual layout of the TV World turned into a forest.

"It's the Huldrawood David." Hilda said. "We should just head to the Marra fire pit."

Instead of the usual fire pit, the little girl sat in the opening.

"Will you be my friends?" She asked, crying.

"We'll be your friends!" The voices did not belong to the investigation team, instead they were the voices of some of the other Marras.

"Look!" David pointed to the real Kelly, slumped against a tree. He tried to move over to her, but shadows began pouring into the room. Calls of 'Persona' quickly filled the area, and combat soon followed. Kelly had woken up and began heading for her shadow.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Kelly asked.

"I'm you silly!" She said.

"No you aren't, I'm not a little girl." Kelly said in a threatening tone.

"You're not scary, in fact you're scared!"

"I'm not scared of anything!" Kelly said. Suddenly a single Persona broke through the Shadows, a confusingly dressed figure, shooting ice.

"Nice job Goemon!" Trevor burst through after his Persona.

"You don't even want to be a Marra! You want to be able to go home and see your mom!" The little girl yelled.

"No! Shut up! You're not me!" Kelly screamed and her Shadow exploded with power, pushing her back. Kelly's shadow transformed into a shadowy feminine figure, with glowing green eyes. The shadow jumped into the air fighting the Persona's hand to hand. Slowly but surly the others realized she was winning.

"Guys, I don't think it has a weakness!" Alfur yelled as Astria took a large hit and vanished. She then jumped and slammed Goemon and Valkyrie together, destroying them. She took a leap and pinned Orpheus down, crushing it's head. Randall fell to his knees. Take-Mikazuchi tackled the Shadow, but it quickly began pushing back. Frida was clearly losing energy.

"Hilda! You need to take Kelly and go!"

"What do you mean go?" Hilda yelled.

"I mean we're going to lose, I can't hold this much longer!" No sooner was Take-Mikazuchi defeated.

"Guys, it's been fun." David groaned out as the Shadow raised it's fist to crush the Persona users.

"Hey! You stop that!" Hilda yelled. The Shadow stopped and turned to Hilda.

"You're just annoying." The Shadow swung down at Hilda at a speed she couldn't outrun, but at the last second something pushed her and the fist missed. She turned around to see Twig, limp on the ground. Hilda ran over to the Deerfox, antlers broken, and legs to match. Hilda began crying over her Deerfox.

"Please stop! Stop hurting people, stop hurting animals!" Kelly yelled over tears.

"What will you do about it?" The shadow said.

"I'm going to accept you! I am afraid! I do want to go home! I want to stop being a Marra!" Kelly voice echoed and the Shadow destabilized. Suddenly Twig let out a screeching howl. The Deer fox was surrounded in light as a large dog like creature spawned from it. The Persona jumpedforward and bit the damaged shadow, destroying it.

"Twig… do you have a Persona?" Hilda asked. Kelly walked forward to her other self.

"I'm sorry I let this happen. You're right. I'm you, and you're me." The Shadow turned into a floating card, which was absorbed into Kelly.

"I'm sorry the others couldn't walk you home." Randall said, walking with Kelly from Junes.

"Well I do want to go the rest of the way alone from here." She said. "Can I tell you something first?" Randall nodded. "In that world. I couldn't use my Marra powers, and… I had a pulse again." Randall gasped.

"You mean to say you were alive in the TV World?" Randall asked.

"I'm not sure. Either way, I'm going to help you find the jerk that did this to me!" Kelly said confidently.

"Glad to have your help." Randall said.

To Be Continued