Even while the storm died down, the battle carried on for hours. It took longer still for Snatcher and his more powerful minions to round up as many of Vanessa's soldiers as possible. Some fled not long after the queen. Others kept fighting until they lost so much energy that they couldn't maintain much of a physical form after their statue bodies were reduced to rubble. All were put away in the suspended cages that dangled in the phantom's lab.

Since the search lasted a couple days and the distorted weather made it hard to return to their ship, Hat and Bow Kid took some much needed and well-earned rest. Snatcher was too busy to complain when they took over his place and slept in his usual chair. The Dwellers and various spirits each had their own roles to finish up too, so they didn't mind the girls much themselves.

Sitting along the vine that stretched over the moat, Hat Kid watched as one of the fire spirit's barriers vanished in a flicker of flames. They'd kept them up longer than originally planned, as a way to pin down Vanessa's soldiers and in case the queen came back; however, the ice had cut its advance for some time. All of Subcon lay in a thick blanket of glistening snow. Now that the disaster had passed, it looked almost beautiful, the stark whites contrasting with the dark hues of the undergrowth.

She heard Bow Kid walk over to her from behind, the latter tapping the toe of her boot on the floor and adjusting the last button on her coat, "Ready to go?"

Hat Kid nodded. Together, they made their way down the winding trail toward the village.

It wasn't as if their side made it out of the battle unscathed: The forest itself suffered the most damage. Everywhere they looked, the land was covered in debris and several of its ancient trees had fallen. Huge formations of ice were still left standing in their place. Cleaning up would take a while.

Someone laughed and two doll-like figures riding a carved-out half of a log shot past them and down a hill to their left. Some of the minions had begun celebrating their victory early. Much of the fear that came with Vanessa's storm had passed with it as well. This time, their homes were safe and they were all alright. This time, they had won.

It helped too that there'd been no sign of Vanessa at all since the snow spirits took off with her. According to the minions Snatcher had sent to spy on the manor, she hadn't gone back there: The building stood empty, its windows blacked out for the first time in countless years. It worried Hat Kid a bit. She didn't think the snow women would've taken the queen to the Horizon: Not only had Moonjumper closed off Subcon's waypoint, but they hadn't been all that eager to let the two meet. They had nothing to gain from it.

There was still much of Subcon Forest though that Hat Kid hadn't seen, including a number of large estates. The only reason she even knew about them at all was from learning a bit of Subcon's history through the Dwellers. They were old, but impressive locations, most of them built at a time when the forest was more divided than when the previous generation of rulers took the throne. Vanessa inherited at least half of those estates, so it was possible for her to bunker down in any one of them, with the snow women protecting her in-place of her shrunken forces.

As the young aliens passed a corner of the swamp that stretched close to the main path, they were surprised to find Lily and Thane Fen sitting at the edge of it. Almost all of the spiders and swamp spirits that the fight had already returned to their own territories. She was binding his forearm in a strange, plant-based wrap, an annoyed expression on her face countered by his proud, amused grin.

"Did you have to provoke them like that?"

"I was merely reminding those foxes of their place. Nothing's changed—this brief alliance hasn't made them our equals."

Although the Thane had to have known the girls were coming by, he didn't give them so much as a glance until Lily spotted them and waved, "You two kids aren't going home yet?"

"We're saying our goodbyes," Hat Kid answered with a shrug, "We could ask you the same thing. What are you doing?"

The Thane waved his free arm over the swamp, "During the first storm, that witch froze over our waters and killed off our food supply. So far, the damages this time aren't as severe, but I'm monitoring the situation. My water lily here is also staying a while to help mind our crops."

Hat Kid tried not to tell her mixed feelings show in her smile. On one hand, she really wished that the florist could've rejoined the Dwellers and let go of her hatred of Snatcher. On the other, Lily looked comfortable as she was. Since they'd first met her, she rarely smiled as she did in her past; however, there was something unspoken about the way she and Thane Fen interacted. It didn't look exactly like a friendship, but they stayed too close for it him to perfectly treat her as his subordinate. There was a definite wall, but also a shared respect between them.

Thinking on the conversation she and Bow had overheard between Lily and Snatcher, it seemed back then like she was being held by the Thane against her will. Although Hat Kid wasn't sure enough to dismiss the idea outright—especially given the nature of most of the spirits she'd met—she could understand the florist's choice a little better seeing them now. While Lily unwittingly had Snatcher's pity, she had Thane Fen's confidence. He didn't label her as just another Dweller. Swamp spirit or not, he trusted her to be at his side.

"Is everything going to be ok?" asked Bow Kid.

"We'll find out sooner than later how much we'll have to salvage," the florist explained as she finished tying his bandage, "Don't worry about us: Just clear out of these woods before that monster forces you kids to do more of his dirty work."

"Yes, and please don't come again," the Thane gave them a dismissive look, his tone edged with a mild threat. Lily tapped him lightly with the back of her hand as if to scold him and he chuckled.

After that, it wasn't long before Hat and Bow reached the village. A sigh escaped the former as she took in the scene. Here, the minions gave the recovery efforts their full focus. Wood that'd been torn down in the storm was brought in from other parts of Subcon to repair collapsed homes and bridges. Any excess was thrown into the scattered fires set on the outskirts of the village.

At first glance, it was easy to think that the wide blaze was some out-of-control forest fire. However, the fire spirits themselves were sprawled in them. They eagerly munched on the added fuel tossed their way, or made nests out of the crumbling, cooked bark in the center of the flames. The foxes that overheated had returned to normal, but their fur didn't shine as brightly as it did before the battle. They needed to build back their strength. Rather than greet the children with their usual, hyper warble of cries, they continued to sleep and stretch.

The girls had checked, but they hadn't seen Kit yet since the battled ended. Thanks to others who saw her, they knew that she was alright, but the woman never revealed herself. They looked around the village for a good fifteen minutes before Bow noticed a unique, hot pink core in the heart of one of the bigger fires. They approached it carefully.

"Kit…?"

There wasn't a response.

"Is that you? We're going to have to leave soon…"

A few more seconds of silence passed before half of the flames began to take a familiar, humanoid shape. A pair of tired, white eyes opened to meet theirs.

Hat Kid recalled how the woman had struggled to maintain her appearance during their own fight. If the Kit had the energy to restore her usual form, she would've done it already. Instead, she kept herself partially hidden in the fire as if she were ashamed. Her voice was small, "Hi there, little ones… I-I'm glad you're alright."

While Hat and Bow didn't really care how she looked, neither of them commented on it since it was clearly a sore spot. Kit was still Kit, but to her, this might've been a constant reminder of painful memories. At least in appearance, it was a literal shedding of the last of her humanity.

That pink core… Was that the real color of her soul? It didn't look like a separate part of herself, completely merged with the flames that made-up her being.

"I'm sorry that I can't see you off properly," she murmured, "I'm just so tired right now… Be careful going home!"

Hat Kid called out to her before the woman could disappear into the fire once again, "Wait! What are you going to do? You're not in the Firelands anymore, you know." Despite how she knew it was a long shot for Kit's unhealthy attachment to the fire spirits to be cured so easily, she held out some hope that her time away from their domain could open her eyes a bit. "Since you helped, I don't think Snatcher would mind if you explored the forest some more."

Actually, he'd probably mind quite a bit, but she'd tell him to leave her alone.

The situation was worse than she realized. The elder shook her head furiously, "N-no, no! I think I've had enough adventure! Now that this is all over, I just want to go back and work on my paintings again! That's where I belong!"

The child frowned, hurt on the woman's behalf. When Kit first came to Subcon Forest, she was kidnapped, shut inside a dark den, and slowly burned alive. The second time, she had to fight in a battle she didn't understand. She was pushed to her limit and all nerves. For the one step forward she took thanks to her time out of the Firelands and with other people, her fears and broken affection pushed her five steps back. "Still… I thought you were starting to like the minions, at least."

Noticing Hat Kid's crestfallen face, Kit sat up a bit taller to reach out from the fire and cup her cheek. Her touch was even hotter than usual, but it didn't burn. It was soft, like a warm towel just taken from the dryer or a sunbeam in a cool breeze.

"They were nicer than I thought," the vixen admitted, "and there were other good things too, but I can't. I love the fire spirits: They love me. My home is with them.

"It was nice to see you again—and to meet your friend here," she nodded toward Bow as she withdrew herself, "You're both such lovely girls… Be safe…"

With that, Kit emersed into the flames once more. Both Hat and Bow stepped back, forced to let the matter go.

They visited Snatcher last, who been staying in his lab since the burner was brought to him. There were more souls locked away there than Hat Kid had ever seen during her other visits to Subcon, most sharing the same, dull grey color that all of Vanessa's soldiers appeared to have. When they'd first been dragged there, they'd struggled. Now, they curled along the floors of their hanging prisons like limp dolls.

They didn't even react much as Bow approached one of the cages, "Before coming here, I thought most ghosts looked pale and spooky—more like them."

Hunting through the piles of books he'd dragged out for research, the phantom didn't turn around when he replied, "Normally, a soul's personality determines its color. They're all basically empty of any personality." He tapped the burner propped alongside him, "You can thank this little trinket here for that…"

He hadn't stopped fiddling with it since he'd got it. While he hadn't managed to fully sever Vanessa's influence over them, he was able to use the object late in the battle to effectively send many of her servants a mixed signal. It confused them enough to make capturing them easier, but it was nowhere near a permanent solution. Hat Kid walked over to him, "Can you help them?"

Snatcher raised a hand to his mouth in thought, answering that more to himself than her, "It's not like I'm fighting Vanessa for control over them: They didn't fight it. It's a kind of curse that works more like my contracts, and that means it's a lot harder to break."

It didn't make complete sense to Hat or Bow, since they weren't as knowledgeable on magic, but they guessed it was like when if a stranger forced them to do something vs. if one of their teachers at Clockwork did. By nature, they'd be more inclined to obey one than the other. The knights were already dedicated to Vanessa and her family, so the spell used in their ceremony only had to heighten that sense of loyalty as opposed to building it from nothing. They wouldn't fight Vanessa, but they would fight Snatcher's attempts to remove her power over them.

Since the queen already had that much authority thanks to the burner, Hat Kid wondered what she could've been studying. Maybe she was looking for a way to increase that power, to learn how to gain control over even more people whether she had their loyalty or not. Since she was looking for her prince, it would only make sense for her to also find a way to ensure he never left her again. A shudder coursed down the child's spine at the thought.

She hugged Snatcher around the tail from behind. At last, he turned around, brows furrowed, "What are you doing?"

"This is because I might not see you again," she mumbled against him.

To her annoyance, he brightened up a bit when she said that, "Finally learned your lesson then, huh? There's no place here for a brat like you!"

"I mean we're gonna go home soon!" she released him with a pout, stamping her foot on the ground in indignation, "We found some more Time Pieces here, but we stopped looking for them to help you, you jerk! We've only got a few more to find and then it's back to our own planet!"

"That's the best news I've heard in a while!" Snatcher cackled before returning to his work, "Don't bother sending me a postcard when you get there!"

Hat Kid glared daggers into his back. Of course, she wasn't expecting to get a hug herself. It's just that a little gratitude wouldn't have hurt either. There were times when she had fun with him and times when he did seem to care—as recent as their fight with the ice queen. Still… he always made it very clear that he preferred not having her around if he couldn't a soul out of it.

Her anger didn't last long though. She just shook her head and took Bow Kid by the hand to lead her friend back toward the village. Hat Kid just wanted one night to sleep in her own bed again and eat some of Cooking Cat's food before they returned to their mission.

Well after they'd left, for whatever reason, Snatcher couldn't get the kid's stupid face out of his mind.

Finally, finally, she was out of his hair! Maybe he didn't get her soul, but now he didn't have to worry about her and her powers falling into the hands of any of the spirits that already pestered him. He knew for a fact he didn't care if she died—the feeling came after years of being dead himself—so what about her goodbye managed to irritate him this much…?

It was distracting him from his work, so much that when one of the more nervous minions intruded on him next that he actually welcomed it. "Boss? There's still no sign of where the queen went, but we found this," in his arms was a shimmering, distinct hourglass, "The newb—I mean, old contractor and her friend, left already, right? Do you want us to chase them down to give this back?"

Snatcher plucked it from his minion's grasp, "Give me that."

He'd never been thrilled over the loss of his Time Pieces. He returned some to Hat Kid, sure, but that was when he thought he'd steal them back after finishing her off. It didn't hurt to have that kind of ace up his sleeve if he ever needed it, and he'd studied enough about temporal magic and the hourglasses' history to know to use them wisely. Their course of cause-and-effect is why he never simply changed the fate of Subcon Forest even when he knew what they were capable of.

In the end, he'd lost every single one to that girl. To top it off, she even snuck off with a few he'd never managed to collect himself. It was better than seeing another idiot turn the world into a giant inferno a second time, but it didn't make the fact any less frustrating. Chances were, when she realized she was one Time Piece short, she'd race right back to Subcon and cause trouble again. He only had a short period to decide what to do with the hourglass before that happened.

A few minutes later, his mouth turned upward in a conniving smile. That kid always did have a death wish… And he was more than willing to give it to her.

((Author's Note: Thank you all so much for reading this! I know I was a little slower finishing up this entry to the series compared to the previous two, so I'm really grateful for everyone's patience as well. I'll be taking a little break, but please look forward to the next entry in the future. :) ))