AN: I KEEP WRITING ONESHOTS FOR THIS GAME AND I'M SORRY I KEEP DOING THIS BUT MY MUSE DEMANDS I WRITE!
My idea for a possible plot twist for the Death Wish DLC is that Moonjumper is actually controlling Snatcher because he wants Hat Kid's soul for some reason, and then this story was born.
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"Leave me alone you blue skinned freak!"
"Oh hush my little puppet, it will all be over soon."
The masculine voice that cooed those words softly into the shadow's mind sounded warm and comforting when it reality it was the total opposite. In seconds that calm voice could become enraged and verbally lash out at him just like it had done before.
"Shut it!" He snarled, hands clutching the sides of his head as he thrashed about in his home.
The interior of the tree had changed quite a bit since he had first started hearing the intruding voice. The walls were now coated in grooves, marks from his talons when he had lashed out to try and regain control in his mind, and all of the furniture had been destroyed. A powerful purple barrier completely obscured the outside world from view, sealing everything within the tree inside with no escape.
He had spent the past several days here, trapped in his home as he tried to get rid of the entity that was trying to take over his mind.
A demon trying to possess a demon, how redundant.
A smiling blue face appeared in front of his own, deadly fangs poking out of its mouth as it grinned mercilessly at him. Its mismatched red eyes, one filled with diamonds, innocently looked at him, as if it had not been tormenting him for several days without end.
In all actuality the creature did not appear to be that menacing with its torn red coat and gangly arms, but he soon learned that the naive appearance was merely a front to get him to lower his defenses.
It, he, was malicious, and wanted something from the hat brat, something that needed his cooperation in order to be gained.
Not that he would ever help the annoying bastard.
"Come now Snatcher, surely we can work together on this." The figure cooed once again, that damned smile still stretched across his face.
"I ain't interested in your plans Moonboy!" The shadow spat.
The figure floating in front of him frowned. "It is Moonjumper, and besides, I know you want to see her again."
"The kiddo's gone and she's not coming back!" The words stung but Snatcher knew they were the truth.
The hatted child had no reason to return to this planet. Just about everyone she had met had tried to kill her at some point, and even if she did try to come back he had no idea how far away her home was, how many years or decades it would take to travel between the two locations.
Moonjumper sighed and floated off to the side, chains on his wrists rattling as he brought his hands up to his chest. "Oh poor Snatcher, so alone once again, abandoned by the one he grew to care about-"
"SHUT IT!" The shadow roared, dragging his talons through the laughing incorporeal form in front of him.
"She gave you a taste of what it was like to be treated like you used to be, and now you want that back." The figure teased, smirking at the tormented shadow.
The words were toxic, poisonous, and oh so sweet as they floated through his mind. Another growl escaped him, but this one was not as loud as the others. Moonjumper had caught his attention and he was curious as to what his point was.
"What're you talking about, Moonboy?" Moonjumper twitched at the name but refused to rise to the bait.
"Snatcher you have always been treated differently due to your status, even in death, but that child reminded you of what your life used to be like before you met her, and you miss that. A void has opened up in you, and now you want nothing more than for those friendly interactions to happen once again, but that is alright."
Moonjumper paused and shifted so he was floating in front of Snatcher once again. His glowing red eyes caught the shadow's, and held his gaze as he spoke.
"I can make her return."
That certainly caught his attention.
"What?" Snatcher wheezed, eyes wide as he took in the growing smile on Moonjumper's face.
Instead of speaking the grinning figure held a hand out and he watched as glowing red magic gathered in it. The energy clustered together and began to take on a very familiar shape. In almost no time at all a glowing Time Piece was held in Moonjumper's hand.
But this Time Piece was far different from the ones the shadow had previously seen. The glass was a dark, murky red instead of the gentle blue, and the light it was emitting was a strange shade of grey. The wooden pieces were also worn and appeared to be somewhat rotten.
Overall it looked like a cheap replica, but there was something about the energy he could sense coming off of it that made him nervous.
It felt... wrong.
"With this you can go back to before she left, and offer her some extra challenges on her travels. You will enter several contracts with her in order to complete these challenges, but the risk of death will be very high, and if she fails..."
Moonjumper chuckled, cheerful tone gone and replaced with one that was coated with malice. "You can take her soul."
The shadow's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, stunned by the floating figure's plan.
"All we have to do is work together, and she'll be here for all eternity, and you'll never have to be alone again."
Snatcher paused and thought about his options. While it would certainly be nice to see the kiddo again, everything about Moonjumper's plan felt wrong and he had a feeling that the hatted child would not be happy about his decision in the slightest.
In the end the choice the shadow made was an obvious one.
"No."
Moonjumper's face twitched and his hands clenched at his sides in aggravation. He opened his mouth to speak but the shadow interrupted him, more than happy to explain his reasoning.
"Yes, it would be great to have the kiddo around again and it was nice to be treated like an actual person and not a boss or a demon, but she wouldn't be happy."
The only thing worse than having the hat brat tease him for all eternity would be watching her mope and be sad. That was a torturous fate Snatcher was certain he would not be able to handle.
"So Moonboy, I think it's time for you to get the heck out of my forest before I do something unsightly!"
With that Snatcher folded his arms and glared at his tormentor and dared him to do something else.
Suddenly a laugh escaped the floating figure, and then another and another until his maddening cackles rang through the air. The shadow did his best to back up from the clearly insane Moonjumper, but quickly found himself pinned against the wall of his home, red strings holding him in place.
He struggled and thrashed, curses escaping him as he found that his bindings only grew stronger the more he moved. In seconds the shadow was trapped and at the demonic creature's mercy.
Moonjumper looked at him, red eyes shining with an unearthly energy, and smiled.
"You fool."
And with that he lunged.
Thin hands pressed into the shadow's arms, further pinning him in place as Moonjumper's eyes stared deeply into his panicked yellow ones. Suddenly it seemed as those the glow spread to the red markings that covered the figure's face, and Snatcher found himself hypnotized by the strange phenomenon.
It looked... so pretty...
This distraction proved to be the shadow's downfall as, without his notice, the strings that had been holding his body still shifted until they were in the position Moonjumper wanted them to be in, and then they struck!
The red strings seared themselves into Snatcher's ghostly flesh, sinking into his soul and filling his mind with agony. He wailed and squirmed but nothing could relieve the crippling pain that had taken over his body.
This torture seemed to last for an eternity to the shadow when only several seconds had passed before it was complete. The strings were now imperceptible to all but their creator and served as the perfect method to control some of Moonjumper's more, unruly puppets.
The floating figure backed away and watched as Snatcher collapsed to the floor. It would take a couple moments for the paralyzing effect of his hypnosis to wear off, so he waited.
On top of imposing his mental will upon his newest puppet, he had also granted the shadow some of his powers in order to help make the challenges a bit more difficult for the hatted child.
Finally Snatcher groaned and pushed himself off of the floor. He floated upwards and his hazy yellow eyes met Moonjumper's glowing red ones.
"You know what you must do, my puppet, and I trust that you shall not fail."
The hypnotized Snatcher nodded, making the figure smirk.
Moonjumper chuckled once more, already see though body fading even more as he looked over his newest servant. His goal had been completed and now all he had to do was wait for Snatcher to take the child's soul.
Just before he faded from view a final, whispered command danced through the air.
"Now, my puppet, let the games begin."
And with that he was gone, and Snatcher was all alone.
The shadow flexed his talons and watched as string of glowing blue energy appeared. He reached out and the strips of light lashed out at his surroundings, further damaging the walls and even tearing apart one of his books, not that the controlled being cared about that at this moment.
No, he had a goal to accomplish and a soul to snatch.
No, I don't want her soul anymore!
The corrupted Time Piece appeared in his hand, the murky glow lighting up his face. He smirked and watched as the world around him rewound, the stars and moon moving in reverse about him. After the barriers created by the Fire Spirits fully reappeared he stopped and looked up to the sky, waiting to see the telltale sign that the alien had arrived.
Don't do this you idiot! You're being controlled!
I'm being controlled!
Snatcher easily noticed the several Time Pieces that fell from the heavens, landing in various parts of the forest and planet. He chuckled and sent out a message to his minions, ordering them to collect the hourglasses and place them in certain locations, focused on setting up as many of the challenges as he could for Hat Kid.
Hey, those are MY minions! They belong to ME! Stop bossing them around Moonbrat!
He knew the kiddo would spend some time in Mafia Town so he had to get to her spaceship quickly so she could sign his newest contract and seal her fate.
I don't want this, someone stop me!
Faint red strings appeared around the shadow once more, encircling his frame. They faded from view as he floated up towards where he could recall Hat Kid's ship being, contract in hand and a menacing smirk on his face.
Please...
Meanwhile back on the forest floor Moonjumper peered out from behind one of the trees, looking up at where his newest puppet was. He was more than happy to see that Snatcher was entirely focused on completing his task and not rebelling against his control like he originally thought the shadow would.
Indeed, it had been oddly simple to bend the shadow's soul to his will, and something Moonjumper hoped would not work against him later.
"Did I perform well, Master?"
The sudden voice was laced with an artificial overtone that made the speaker sound unnaturally calm, but there was a certain eagerness to it, something that made the speaker sound like he was begging for approval.
Moonjumper spun around and smiled once he caught sight of one of his most faithful puppets, the Badge Seller. The mysterious creature had worked for him for decades, spying on new worlds and helping him gain more power across the universe. Unfortunately this has caused the decay of his physical form, but it was a sacrifice his puppet happily made in order to serve his Master.
Moonjumper purred and floated over to the glitching figure, reaching out to place a hand atop his head in a soothing manner.
"You did very good, my puppet." He cooed. "Once more you astonish me with your commitment to my cause."
The Badge Seller twitched, leaning into the touch as fragments of his body spun out of control. He could not remember a time where he had not been controlled by the floating figure, for all of his life he had worked to help his Master, and he could continue to help him until his body gave out.
"Now all we have to do is wait for the child to fail, and then the Time Pieces will be mine."
Moonjumper smirked, watching as strands of blue energy rained down from the sky and connected with every living being in the forest, controlling them much in the same way that his own red strings of magic did. It seemed as though Hat Kid signed the contract already, most likely understanding what was going on right away, and excitement raced through the gleeful creature.
Soon his plans would come to fruition and he would finally get his revenge on those who had wronged him centuries ago.
"And I will control reality."
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AN: I highly doubt Moonjumper will show up in this DLC, but I thought this would be an interesting take on what we've seen so far, so yeah! Also I made him really menacing like holy heck me...
Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed!
- ImmortalCoelacanth