Work Text:
Long after Erik Ahlberg's bell ceremony went awfully wrong, the bellkeeper was sitting in his little cabin, eating a cucumber sandwich that he had made for himself, almost like it was muscle memory from all those he made when he was taking care of Hilda.
It was time, he thought, that he would make a little trip back to the machine he had been building and researching for, so he packed his things, threw on some appropriate casual clothes and put on his jacket. He took his keys and his backpack but before he left, he looked at one of his keychains. It had his name on it, and he held it in his hands, thinking of what he connected with his name and the person that gave it to him so long ago.
Now he finally opened the door and exited the cabin, locking it before he left for the library.
On his way to the library, he walked past that one small house, knowing that the blue haired girl he had saved a long while ago was in there, plotting her next adventure. It was a nice thought now.
Soon, he arrived at the library. The bellkeeper spent a lot of time looking at books on his own, but soon, the librarian, Kaisa, noticed him standing there and approached him from behind “Johanna, is that you?” She asked, as she had not seen his beard and tired eyes from that angle and the library’s warm lights made his hair seem more warm brown than the greyish colour it really was.
He turned around, a bit startled, and looked her in the eye for a second.
“oh.”
Kaisa felt a bit embarassed at mistaking him.. “It’s you, Theo”
A moment of silence passed as Theodore looked at her, trying to think of what he should say in response.
“Can I help you find anything?”
“Oh,yes. Absolutely. This is…quite serious…”
In his hand was a book about pet care with a big picture of a cute kitten on the front, which had nothing to do with his goal of the day.
“Follow me.” The librarian said, squinting at him with a glint in her eyes.
She led the bellkeeper all through the library, and halted in front of a certain bookshelf. Demonstratively, she covered the mechanism with her cape, and then almost pushed him into the secret library. “look, I have been watching you, Theo. I’ve seen the books you’ve been picking out, all about time travel and the history of attempts and the cases of suspected time travel et cetera et cetera.I want to be nice…Show you something real, before you go crazy trying to find it by yourself…”
A slight smile formed on the bell keeper's face as he was handed the book he now fondly remembered.
He thanked the librarian, and they made sure he would exit the secret library-library unnoticed as Kaisa quickly made her way further down into the witch tower.
Now he set out on a journey, through the open gates of the Trolberg wall, along that familiar road and in between trees that reminded him of simpler times, when Hilda was running around with no worries on her mind, when they found twig and he became a part of the family.
Soon, he arrived at that now entirely shattered home. It still smelt that certain way that he really loved until he had to leave it all behind to go live somewhere else, away from it all.
After opening the hatch that was half-hidden behind some rubble, he jumped into the cellar, and before closing it he turned on a lamp.
The bellkeeper now stood in the large cellar, a somewhat dusty, very large machine in the corner.
And then he got to reading, or rather remembering through reading. He spent a few hours tearing through the pages, and he noted down what he found to be of importance.
After gratuitous amounts of research, he remembered that blue-haired girl again. Remembered the time he saved her from that bell falling.
He almost shed a tear, but held it back. He was going to return here, but for now, the bell keeper climbed back out of the cellar and sighed. The thoughts raced in his head, and then suddenly a small voice cut through all of them. "Bell keeper, what are you doing here?"
It was Hilda herself. She had a little bag in her hand and she looked up at him curiously with her big eyes.
"Oh, hello Hilda…" His tired eyes looked at her fondly. "What brings you here?"
"Well uhm. This is my house, you see. It's smashed, but I like to visit from time to time. It's full of memories…" She reminisced. "Oh and I also have to get something for a friend! Mind accompanying me for a bit?"
"Oh not at all…"
Hilda half-ran ahead on her small speedy legs while the bell keeper followed with large, heavy steps, keeping up with her. "So, where are we going?"
"Uhm well please don't tell my mum but I am going to the castle ruins to collect some dust! She thinks it's normal homework I am helping her with buut…" Hilda paused. The bell keeper felt a twinge of guilt at this. "I think if I told her the truth, that Frida is studying to become a witch and that I am her familiar, I fear maybe she would disapprove…You know…"
The bell keeper could only nod, staring into the distance while walking. He thought of his trips to the ruins. He knew he would have to return what he borrowed, whether or not he ended up using it. "It matters a lot to you, doesn't it?" He said, in a sadder tone than expected.
By now, watching Hilda run ahead and having the time of her life helping creatures and friends, it made him regret a lot of decisions and plans he had made as he threw them into the wind.
They arrived near the castle ruins. Now, Hilda looked at him with excitement written all over her face. "This is the best part!!" She squealed. As the bell keeper watched, always positioning himself to be able to catch her should she fall, Hilda scaled the castle ruins quickly like a squirrel and she collected the dust her friend the witch needed.
Upon climbing back down, the bell keeper could not contain how proud he was. "Good job Hilda! You are a skilled climber!"
A bit flustered from these words which sounded to her like "you are good the way you are." , Hilda smiled with rosy cheeks, and thanked him.
"Now uh, I have to get back home first! My mum is probably worried."
"Well, I can accompany you..some of the way."
And so they trotted back to trolberg, through the gate, and further along the streets.
To the bell keeper's dismay however, he saw that one yellow car. And he simply booked it, unnoticed by Hilda who simply was too distracted looking at the dust and petting Twig, telling him he is a very good boy.
Panting in a dark alleyway, Theodore knew now what he wanted to really do. He knew he wanted to be the father to Hilda that he never could have been all those years ago, but he could not look Johanna in the eye. It brought upon him so many regrets and feelings he was not yet able to deal with to even see that car.
Hilda later arrived at Frida's house, it went all according to plan, if the plan was to make a miniature clothing line. Quite frankly, it was not at all what they had envisioned. But it was okay.
Another day came, and after Theodore got up from his bed, had another cucumber sandwich and stuffed a second one in his lunchbox he also made for himself, an egg sandwich. He had recently taken a liking to it, after a chicken walked into his cabin one time he left the door open. The chicken loved to peck the seeds out of his bread and to loudly scream him awake at roughly 3-5am on wednesdays.
Today was thursday. And he realized that out there, someone must be missing their chicken. So, he set out on a journey once more, this time just the chicken in one hand, the lunchbox in his bag along with several mysterious artefacts that he had made a mental note to return to their origins as soon as he possibly could.
And half the egg sandwich in his other hand, or rather in his mouth now.
A morning walk was always such a nice breath of fresh air, birds chirping and a soft round chicken in your hand.
He paid the local farmer outside of the wall a visit, who stepped half outside in his morning gown, very sleepy. "Is this your chicken?" Theo asked. All he got was a shaken head.
He did wonder for a second if he would see Hilda soon today. He was unsure if she had school holidays or just school, as working 24/7 had made him almost a bit time-blind. Maybe it was one of the reasons he still failed to figure out the woffs' migration patterns.
As it turned out, upon searching the city for chicken owners, there was no school for the day as children were running around everywhere, free of responsibility.
He soon spotted hilda, having some ice cream with her friends and he contemplated approaching them, but then his heart dropped as he once more saw Johanna, of course! She had bought them the ice cream just to make use of that free day.
Soon, she would have to go and run errands, while Hilda spent most of the rest of the day with Frida and David. The three occasionally spotted the Bell keeper as he asked around for who might be missing a chicken until the group and the man absentmindedly almost ran into each other, Frida being the first one to notice and tap the others on their shoulders. "Is this not that one bell keeper?"
David looked up from his ice cream. "Isn't that a chicken?"
The bellkeeper froze in his step, as he and Hilda had a staring contest of exactly 3 seconds before her eyes fell onto the chicken and accordingly she exclaimed “Chicken!”
“Yes, I feel I have gotten a lot of requests to pet it, but nobody has ever shown any indication that it is their chicken. Very strange.”
“maybe we can make and hang out posters?” Frida suggested, and everyone else seemed to silently agree, except for Theodore who was somewhat unsure but ended up agreeing as well, he did not know how to bring this chicken back to its owner without any help.
So they hatched a plan. The bellkeeper went to buy sheets of paper, Hilda would go get plans from home and David…Well, he would eat his ice cream and Frida would continue research for her witch homework for now, and later help fill all the papers.
When Hilda arrived at home, Johanna was there to greet her. “What brings you here?”
“I need some pens for a project, we are helping this older man find the owner of a chicken he found!”
“Oh, that sounds fun. somehow more of a normal activity than usual, I guess you really are getting settled into trolberg a bit.”
Hilda just awkwardly laughed. “I guess…”
soon, she would zoom back out of that tiny house, and run back to her friends and the bell keeper
So they started their little project, and at the end of the day, when it was already getting dark, they finished hanging up the last poster with the bell keepers phone number.
They all smiled at each other with pride of their work, and looked at the chicken.
“I hope the owner finds their chicken soon.”
Theodore nodded, and sighed. “I sure hope so too. You kids are very nice and helpful, especially you, Hilda. You’ll grow up to do great things, I am sure of it.”
Suddenly, Hilda fell into the bellkeepers arms, hugging him tightly. Just as he could even take in what was happening, he saw Johanna round a corner, concerned and looking for her child as the sun had already started to set and she wanted Hilda back home in time.
It broke his heart but to avoid contact, he pushed Hilda off himself and ran away as quickly as he could.Frida and David just watched but Hilda was confused and upset. “Wait!!!” She shouted, and ran after him.
Eventually she did find him in another shut-off alleyway. “Why did you run away like that? Do you not like being hugged or something? I am s-”
“no, Hilda, it’s okay…” He sighed, ashamed. “But I suppose I should explain this to you now. I can’t…Come into contact with Johanna.”
“Oh…..Hilda started to understand in some way,but then she thought deeper into it, and asked another question that forced more out of him. “
Why do you know my mum’s name?”
“That is…”
He paused.
“Because I AM her…I came here by timetravel long after you moved out to be on your own, and I thought hey, I should try to be the dad she always deserved and I never could be..I also know I wasn’t always the best mum you know. I know I have to leave again at some point. It’s just, that for now, I can’t and I don’t know how.”
Hilda looked at him with tears in her eyes, now finally it clicked. He has that same kind face, just older and more tired..and more hairy. She just listened to him for a while, until he stopped himself. “Well, you should be going home in time, and rest well. We will see each other some other day, I promise.”
Then he walked away, his hood up over his head so nobody would recognize him well enough.
Hilda returned to her friends and mum, who were conversing concernedly.
The rest of the evening went by fairly normally for Hilda, soon halfway forgetting about the fact while she had a pretty nice time with her mum, though it always stayed in the back of her mind.
The bellkeeper did not sleep that night.