Author's Note: A little bit of violence during this one, but then again, the show itself shows two out of the three main kid characters die… twice… and hell, an entire moment of Hilda just realising what had happened during then, so, as long as I feel fine keeping it unknown. Also, a bit of angst.

I started having weird nightmares ever since last week. I was falling. Falling into my couch, as I end up falling into a weird, pink world with holes.

There, I noticed a strange figure under a cloak, around my age, as they went to other beings with cloaks to cover them.

"Who are you," I asked, as I raised my hand in an attempt to grab them.

However, when I did, a bright blue light launched at me, and wailed a horrifying and terrible screech.

It was at that moment that I woke up, falling out of my bed.

"Are you okay, Louise," Dad asked.

I shook my head as I realised it was just a dream.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm fine, Dad."

I went down to eat breakfast, and then went out to meet up with Hilda, Frida, and David.

Ever since the troll and vittra incident, we've been going on at least one adventure per day. We've been going into the sewers to meet the supposed rat king, to encounter another creature that Hilda is friends with (an invisible elf named Alfur, who's only invisible because we haven't signed the necessary paperwork), and visiting the vittra sometimes.

That is, when we're free from school.

Yeah, despite all the times we wished we could've gone on adventures, unfortunately, kids like us still have to go to school. Hilda would often have to wait till the end of the day for us.

That was until today.

Today being Hilda's first day of school.

Her mum enrolled her into the same school as us. She was introduced into our class, and then sat in front of me.

However, all throughout the day… Ok, I won't lie. But she was incredibly disruptive throughout the day. Throughout the day, she didn't raised her hand when she wanted to ask, disobeyed during a troll drill (but to be fair, after seeing a troll, I can understand her point on the fact it won't protect us), and also raised her voice and stood up on her table multiple times.

One thing I do know about our teacher, Ms. Hallgrim, is that she is not a patient person.

I decided to ask her if she was aware that she was annoying the teacher.

I found her during the end of day with Frida and David.

"Hey guys," I said, as I seemed to accidentally shock all of them.

"Louise," Frida said, "Wasn't expecting you here."

"Why, I go to the same school as you guys," I said.

"Really, for how long," David asked.

"For about ever since first grade," I replied.

"Huh… weird how we never noticed you until now," David replied.

"I just never talked with anyone at school," I replied, "Never really needed to. But I did want to ask you something, Hilda."

"What is it," Hilda asked.

"Are you aware that you're… kinda being a bit disruptive in class," I asked.

"What? What do you mean," Hilda replied.

"No offence Hilda," I started, "But you weren't exactly on Ms. Hallgrim's good side. You were quite disruptive all throughout."

"Really, how," Hilda asked.

I then proceeded to tell her everything she did. Hilda looked a bit ashamed, so I decided to reassure her of this.

"I'm not criticising you, we know how free-spirited you are," I said, "But a lot of people have seen some weird faces around you, and even think you're a bit rude."

Hilda looked more ashamed.

"Do you think she'll forget it tomorrow," Hilda asked.

Frida and David looked at each other timidly, knowing that, although she is kind, she is incredibly stern, especially towards troublemakers.

"I'm pretty sure this will all wash over tomorrow," David replied.

That was a week ago. Safe to say things weren't that better.

Yes, she did raise her hand to talk sometimes, but a lot of the things that were a problem before, she would often still do them, and even buckled down on them, though, one of them was spreading misinformation on creatures outside the walls, so I felt like that was acceptable.

Still, Ms. Hallgrim was getting more and more cross with Hilda. We went to her house that day (two days before I started writing this), and talked about with her.

"Ok, this is getting bad," Frida said, "Ms. Hallgrim can look behind a day of trouble, but a week."

"I heard from Ms. Hallgrim that she's actually considering putting you in the special needs class," I replied.

"Is it bad," Hilda asked.

"Uh… I don't really know, but it feels like it could be," Frida said.

Hilda started to look worried.

"What do you think can change her mind," she asked.

"The only thing that can make her feel better is if you do something worthy of praise," I started.

Then, something came across Frida's mind.

"There's a project coming up," she said, "One where we have to write about troll safety."

Me and David soon picked up what she was going to do.

"Yeah, if anyone knows anything about Troll's, it's probably you," David said, "How many trolls did you encounter in the wild?"

"Just a couple," Hilda replied, "Not too many as of recently."

"All you really need to do is write about the experience in the vittra tunnels, and you'll get top marks," Frida stated.

Hilda then seemed to think about it.

The next day, she did it.

Nothing really eventful happened that day, really. But from what I heard that day, I heard that she got top marks. My dad came in late that day, as I awaited dinner.

Dad came in eventually though, with some takeout.

"How was work today," I asked.

"Agh, you know, it was fine," he replied, "But, Ahlberg did call us all for some reason."

"What was that reason," I asked.

"Some girl won an essay contest just for writing about an experience she had with a troll ," he replied.

I almost swallowed some spit. I was not expecting that to be the result.

"Really," I asked.

"Yeah, though, I did read the essay, and it said you were with her," he asked.

I shuddered at the sudden tone shift.

"I'm not mad, I just… want to know why you didn't tell me," he said, "I would've gone down there to deal with the troll myself."

"It didn't seem that much of a problem," I said, "The troll left after it got its baby which fell down there."

"Ha," he laughed, "Classic. Can't tell how many trolls went near the walls just because their child was almost in it."

"Wait, this wasn't the first time something like this happened," I asked.

"Oh no," he said, "Some trolls ended up there for a lot of reasons. I will admit, the trolls outside the wall are building up more as it goes on, but still, nothing to worry about."

I decided to ask something else.

"Why was that something so big," I asked.

"Well, the girl is allowed to spend a day with safety patrol," my dad answered, "They're going to check up on the town defences, ever since Ahlberg was made head of the safety patrol."

"Huh… all because she won an essay," I laughed.

"You seem to know the kid," my dad said, "What's her name?"

I was hesitant, as (outside of the vittras), I never had friends. But I slowly said, "Hilda."

After that, we finished, and went to bed.

Which leads to today.

Today was the worst day ever.

The start of the day, it didn't seem too bad. But, then, safety patrol showed up on our front doorstep, with Hilda in tow. Well, more specifically, the bell tower next to our house.

Ahlberg, the new head, asked, "Now, who is in charge of this tower?"

My dad slowly approached them, and said coldly to Ahlberg, "That would be me."

He then looked at Ahlberg, sternly.

Something about the way he looked at Ahlberg told me that he had a bit of… animosity towards him. Before anything, Ahlberg spoke up.

"Tell me, were there any troll attacks," Ahlberg asked.

"Well, if you're talking about the increase of trolls as of recently," Dad started.

"Yes, did any trolls attack," Ahlberg interrupted.

Dad looked crossed at Ahlberg, but said sternly, "No. Not as far as I know. Though, there was one night, one where I was eating a sandwich, probably a cucumber, when I accidentally dropped it, and then, a troll just came in, and took it away."

"And you didn't ring the bell," he asked.

"Why would he," Hilda asked, "The troll had what it came for. Most trolls do. Like the one in the vittra tunnels."

I gasped, as Hilda soon tried to hold her mouth shut. But the words had already escaped.

"What did you say," Ahlberg asked.

"Nothing," I lied.

But, then, he took Hilda.

"Show me these… vittra tunnels," he said.

Hilda, unwillingly, showed him where the area of the vittra tunnels were.

"Deputy, keep note," Ahlberg replied, "These vittra tunnels are a sure fire way to let trolls in. We need to fill it up."

"WHAT, NO," I shouted. It was uncharacteristic of me to raise my voice then, with even my dad, and even myself being surprised of my sudden change of voice.

But I tried not to let that stop me from holding my ground.

"Where will the vittra live," I asked, lowering my voice a bit, but still trying to hold my ground, "They live underneath these roots, they have lives under there, and you're just going to force them out."

"Ahh, so naive," Ahlberg said, as he went down to my level, "You see, sometimes, when you want to protect something, you have to be willing to make sacrifices. I'm pretty sure the vittra can find a home easily."

I just stood there in shock, as Ahlberg said to the Deputy, "Tell the crew to fill out these tunnels tomorrow."

Knowing this, I knew what I had to do.

That night, I decided to talk to Buck.

"Buck," I said.

"Louise," Buck replied, as he jumped out of his hole.

"Man, what are you doing out so late," he asked, "You above grounders are supposed to be asleep at this point."

"Listen, Safety Patrol heard about the troll in the vittra tunnels," I explained, "They're going to fill up the tunnels tonight."

"WHAT," Buck replied.

"We need to evacuate everyone," I replied.

"Oh no," Buck replied, "We're not giving up our home without a fight."

"Buck, you don't understand," I said, "These guys won't hesitate to shoot on site. There's no way to change their minds."

"No way," Buck replied, "We ain't leaving our homes."

"What was that?"

Someone had spoken. It wasn't me, nor was it Buck, or any of the vittra.

Safety Patrol was coming.

"Quick, get the others," I said, "We need to leave."

Buck just sighed.

"No, wake up all of them," Buck said, "I'll hold them off."

"But," I started.

"Listen, this our home, and some of us are willing to go out and protect it," Buck said, "Just get some of them to safety please."

I wanted to refuse, but Buck only brought up some more friends to help. I rushed into the tunnels and shouted.

"HEY! YOU GUYS NEED TO GO!"

I managed to wake up most, if not all the vittra, as well as catch the attention of them.

"Bad men are going to take your homes away," I said, "You need to get out of here. You're going to lose your homes."

Just then, we heard voices on the outside.

"Hurry, Ahlberg wants these holes filled by tomorrow," they said.

"Come on, get out of here," I said, as the vittra listened, and they all attempted to leave. That's when the dirt came in. Piles of dirt started falling from the holes, as they filled up. Realising my way out was blocked, I ran through the tunnels, as I got blocked more and more times.

That's when I noticed one vittra still in here.

One of Bucks friends, Little Georgie.

I quickly attempted to wake him up, only for him to be pulled up. I crawled out after him, and found myself back on the surface, and greeted by a familiar face.

"Hilda," I asked.

"Shh, not so loud," she said.

"Sorry," I replied, lowering my voice, "What were you doing here?"

"Well, I couldn't just leave them be while their home was destroyed," Hilda said, with a slight look of sadness in her eyes, "I was trying to pull as much as I can."

She then showed all the vittra that were pulled out.

"Thanks," I said.

"My mum's definitely going to be wondering why I smelled so bad in only two weeks," she said.

"Yeah, I can imagine," I said.

Eventually, after the holes were filled up, we decided to go home, having done all we could do. I looked at all the vittra, all still snug up tight, as I returned home.

I knocked on the door, and my dad answered.

"Louise," Dad said.

"Dad, can you please check on them," I said.

Dad checked them up. Thankfully, they weren't injured, just asleep. That's when Buck came in, badly bruised.

"Buck," I said.

"Hey kid," he gasped, "What'd I miss?"

Thankfully, Dad confirmed he will be able to recover. That's when he asked questions.

"What were you doing out there," Dad asked, "You could've been seriously hurt."

"They were going to destroy their homes," I replied, "Would you know what it's like to watch your home get destroyed."

Dad looked at me, but then hugged me.

"I know, but just… please, don't scare me like that again," Dad said, "You've been having these life threatening adventures, and it's… it's kind of worrying, ya know."

I smiled, and just hugged him back.

"Well, I need to go," Buck replied.

"Where," I asked.

"To find everyone else," he replied, "They're probably all over the place, panicked and confused. I'll need to find them, then find a home, one that preferably doesn't get us bothered all the time."

"Wait," I said, as he was about to leave, "Sorry… about your home."

"Eh, it's okay," he said, "We were kinda waiting for this day anyway. Those safety patrol guards just do anything for glory, we aren't really that surprised. See ya around kid."

He then left the house.

After that, I went to bed.

But I couldn't sleep.

Cause then, I would have that same nightmare again.

Author's Note: So, yes, the Mountain king plot will be coming sooner, but again, I have my own plans. I'm not just doing the entire series, but with Louise, cause that will be boring. Also, expect some ties from Nowhere Space in the future.

Happy Late New Year, and here's to 2024.