Chapter 15: The Definition of Evil

We were right back into Subcon after sausage rolls for lunch. Nothing much happened, save for CC staring at me again, I have no doubt she could tell something was up with me, but I kept my mouth shut the entire time. The idea that I was something like Vanessa was just another bad thought festering with the rest now, though it didn't make it any less bearable. I was almost thankful we were right back in this Halloween-esque forest so quickly.

"I have a feeling we've only got a few more Time Pieces to go!" Hat nodded confidently.

"Thank goodness!" Bow exclaimed.

"That doesn't solve the lost soul problem..." I spoke, whilst I glanced around. There was no sign of Knit.

"Aw, is that your way of acknowledging me?" Snatcher appeared before us. I just realised people on this planet have a habit of popping up everywhere.

"Snatcher!" I yelled. "You sent us into Vanessa's manor to get-"

"But you didn't, did you?" Snatcher interrupted me too casually. "And you got a Time Piece out of it just like promised, right? Then I don't see what the trouble is."

"How about the trauma?" I muttered.

"Par for the course here, brat. Your fault for setting foot in this neck of the woods." He cackled. "Now then, if you're done complaining about MY employment, I've got an easier job this time. For the kids here. Delivering letters."

"What?" I gasped.

"Sign here please, kid." He offered.

"As long as I get a Time Piece out of it." Hat agreed as she signed.

"Excellent." Snatcher smirked. "As for you, brat, you'll stay here with me."

Ohhhh that did not bode well.

"We'll be back soon, Tie!" Hat told me, as she and Bow set off.

"Take care, kids!" Snatcher waved them off. "Adorable, aren't they?"

"What's this about, Snatcher?"

"Just wanted a little chat with you." He grinned as he snaked his long body around me, blocking off any escape.

"...Why letters?"

"Pardon?"

"Why are you using letters?"

"THAT'S what you're trying to get from me?" He gained a disappointed look. "Wow, you're dull."

"Letters hold a special power where I come from." I explained.

"That so? Well here, we don't have any other forms of long distance communication." Snatcher huffed. "But, why don't you tell me that little power?"

"No thanks." I decided against elaborating.

"Shame. Real shame. But actually importantly, onto my matter. My spies told me that Vanessa had you by the throat, and then just left you alone." He went on.

'So she could sense us, but not Snatcher's little goons? Gee, thanks, Vanessa.' I thought bitterly.

"How did you do it?" He got right up in my face. "How did you get that witch to let you all walk free?"

"So you admit you sent us in there to kill us!"

"Hmph. Would have been nice." He admitted. "But all's fair in contracts. You got through it."

'This pecker!' I cursed in my head.

"Enough stalling! Tell me how you did it!" He growled.

"I didn't do anything." I said. "She let me go, mumbling something about how we were..."

"Go on." He snarled.

"...The same."

"The same?" He echoed. "Well, you're both a pain in my neck, but other then that? I don't see it. Still though, I can tell that something happened between you two."

He then produced a dark pink wisp-like thing with my hair and clothes. It was covered in red scars across its body, and had tear lines running down its cheeks from its hollow eyes.

"Your soul gained another scar from that little encounter. You're connected after all." He whispered darkly, dangling my own soul in front of me like it was a pair of car keys. "I must admit, I've had fun with this thing. Picking to see what keeps you ticking. But it seems this contract you little tykes have will end soon, I'm running out of Time Pieces, and that look in your eyes against me keeps getting uglier."

I frowned. No way was he just going to let us go, he wasn't that type at all. He had something bad brewing in that head of his, I could feel it.

"You better watch your back, brat." He warned. "Very soon, this will all be over. Until then, never forget, I OWN you." He then vanished.

I'm pretty sure I pulled a disgusted face. I was getting a very bad feeling.

"Not very pleasant, is he?" I spoke to seemingly nobody.

"Quite." Badge Seller responded from behind me, and I spun around to face them. "Are you used to me?"

"Just a sense." I told them.

"I get the sense you are struggling." Seller said. "Your mentality is beginning to be crushed, in no small part to Snatcher's influence, as well as the other problems weighing on your mind."

"Isn't your job to sell badges and not give me more difficulties to worry about?" I sighed.

"Don't get the wrong idea. Letting one of my only customers collapse is simply bad for my business." They explained. "Such a shame really. I bet there are many others out there who would buy from me."

"What do you mean?"

"Alternate dimensions, alternate timelines. This forest is one of the strongest connecting points."

"You always struck me as the type who could hop between them.

"Stuck, unfortunately." They elaborated. "Only able to exist in the space between and this reality, never able to travel to any others. That takes a tremendous amount of power, like the one that girl used when she passed through here...where you-"

"Can you not mention that?" I was a bit more forceful saying that then I wanted to be.

"Ah, of course. You only wish to buy, correct? Then, for the moment, I recommend this one." He presented a trap that had a cartoony Venus flytrap on it.

"How much?"

"150 Pons."

"...You're lucky we're collectathoners." I handed over the Pons and swapped my Cannonball Badge for it.

"Do you require an explanation?" Seller offered.

"I think I've got the hang of how these work now." I told him as I tossed my yo-yo up and down before throwing it forward.

The two halves of the yo-yo instantly split open and grew teeth, turning into a mouth that snapped at the air viciously before I retracted it and it returned to normal. "Venus flytrap powerup. Nice."

"Quite the quick learner." Seller nodded. "But not a good talker."

"You gonna kick me in the balls, too?" I sighed.

"Mmm. Perhaps in time." They mumbled. "Now, I'd best be on my way...what is that?"

"Huh?" I turned around. "There's nothi-oh you jerk." The old vanish-when-you-turn-around trick.

"Tiiiiiie!" Seller knew what they were doing with that vanishing act, Hat and Bow approached me. "Time Piece get!" She held it proudly.

"Good job as always, Hat." I nodded. "Let's head back and deposit it."

"Yep!" She beamed as we all teleported back. "Hey, we also picked up a Relic Piece as well!" She went over and threw the hourglass in the vault. "Think we've got enough for something new?"

"Let's put them all together and see." I got out my Relic Pieces and put them together with Hat's on a new pedestal and...what was this?

"Is this supposed to be a spaceship?" Hat mumbled at the silver disk sucking up cows. "Where's the wood?"

"I find this incredibly offensive." I commented.

"But it worked." Hat pointed at the Time Portal above us. "Onwards, team!"

This Time Portal seemed to take us up into the treetops of Subcon, as an orange sunset made everything glow orange.

"This is actually...pretty, for Subcon." I admitted.

"Let's go exploring!" Hat cheered.

The process was basically jumping from treetop to treetop. We couldn't see any ground in the darkness below us, so we figured it best to avoid falling. I was using my yo-yo's new form to have it bite into the trees so that I could pull myself over safely if the jump was too far to make, and if there was a giant gap, I simply used the Bat Bow. I actually had a brief moment where I appreciated how vast my movepool had grown since first landing on this planet...but that was thanks to Knit's yarn and Seller's badges. I myself, hadn't grown at all. I was still the same...

'Stop that! You're letting your mind wander again!' I thought desperately. 'This is getting real bad...but I don't know how to fix it. I'm completely worthless on my own...I've never been...'

"Tie..."

I jumped. "Who's there!?"

Nobody. Nobody could be here, this was a crack inbetween time and space, and that voice, if it existed at all, came from nowhere.

'Holy crumpets, am I really losing it?' I clutched my head. 'I need to get out of here.' I followed after Hat and Bow, who were now further on ahead.


We completed the portal and returned with the Time Piece.

"Hold these whilst I put the Time Piece in the vault." Hat gave me the photos as she sprinted off.

'I wonder what they will show this time.' I thought, as I fanned them out, and as the pictures faded in, I took a sharp intake of breath. 'What the-!?'

The beginning photos were something straight out of a fairy tale. A prince and a princess. But as the pictures progressed...the princess mistook the prince for cheating on her, and this bitterness turned them into...

"Snatcher and Vanessa..." I breathed shakily as I stared at the last two pictures depicting their unforgettable features. "Those two...this is what happened to them!? Snatcher was...and Vanessa...!?" I couldn't believe this. How could something like that escalate into...what those two were today!?

'So when Vanessa said she and I were the same...' I looked up at Hat and Bow together. 'She meant in this story...that I was her, Hat was Snatcher, and Bow was this florist?'

I tried to let out a chuckle. 'That's ridiculous! Vanessa was jealous! It was a huge misunderstanding! It was her fault! That's not our situation at all! That's not gonna happen! I should be relieved! I should laugh about this! C'mon, moron, laugh!'

But I couldn't. My throat felt blocked. 'All this time...it's just been me and Hat...it's just been the two of us for so long I was almost sick of it...but the moment just ONE member of our species is reintroduced...and I'm completely breaking down! A-Am I feeling the same hurt-no, the same jealousy that she felt!? Even if it's not as drastic, is that what I'm like on the inside!?'

I stared at that final picture, Vanessa fully distorted into that horrible thing she was now. 'Does that mean I'm really like her, deep down? Is this horrible thing what I am!? What I'm going to become!? Is this my inescapable fate!? Has everything I've tried to do to be good been pointless, because in the end, this is what I am!?'

I was breathing erratically, my whole body was shaking. 'So...it's true. These feelings I've developed from everything I've learnt and tried to understand, it's all correct. All of it! I'm really, truly...!'

"Tie?" Hat was standing right behind me! "You okay?"

'Tell her!' My head told me. 'You have to tell her! What you are! How you feel, about everything! If nothing else!' I calmed myself...calm...calm...

"A-Okay." I told her as I spun around. "Especially now that we're almost done with Subcon and Snatcher."

"You really think so?" Hat beamed.

"Straight from the shadow socks jack-o-lantern mouth." I nodded.

"In that case, let's head right back down and get it done! Let's go, Bow!" Hat smiled as the two of them headed for the Bedroom.

'You pecking coward.' I berated myself.


We touched down in Subcon once again. But I was alert. Snatcher was up to something. Or rather...I should have been alert, but this revelation was eating me up inside.

"Knowing Snatcher, he'll pop up in a couple of seconds." Hat said as she bounced on her heels.

"This should be the end of it." Bow nodded.

'I have to say it.' I kept thinking. 'I have to say how I feel about myself! I need to know if she-!...Oh, I can't tell her something like that! How will she respond!? Will she even be able to understand what I'm trying to tell her? I don't want to hurt her, that's the last thing I want! I should just-! I should...what should I do!?'

"Tie, what's wrong?" I looked up at Hat, as she stared at me with something new; concern.

'Oh no, she noticed!' How could she not? I was completely tense, shivering, squeezing my hands into fists, biting my lip, I was a nervous wreck.

"What are you doing?" Bow questioned, more sceptically.

"...Captain..." I choked out. "I need to tell you something!"

"What is it?" She asked, tilting her head curiously.

"The thing is..." I shook my head. "You're not gonna like it..."

"Then don't say it." Bow interrupted. "If you're gonna upset her, then don't say anything at all."

"Huh? What?" Hat looked between the two of us. "Tie, are you hurt?"

"I need to say it...!" I breathed. "Something that's..." I couldn't do this!

"You're just going to say something upsetting." Bow accused me. "Are you going to hurt her?"

"No! No!" I clutched my face in desperation. "I don't want to hurt her! Forget it! Forget I said anything! I'm just being stupid!"

"If you want to tell me something, Tie, I want to hear it! Even if it's painful!" Hat called. "Please...!"

"It's nothing! Nothing!" I shook my head desperately.

"Tie!" Hat shouted.

Suddenly, everything went black.

"Oops. Am I interrupting something?" Snatcher hissed as he emerged slowly from the ground.

"Snatcher!?" Hat gasped.

"Sorry to spoil your big moment, brat. But I'm here to discuss the end of your employments." He cackled as he rose up to his full height. "And that is...there is no discussion!"

A giant black cage suddenly surrounded Hat and lifted her up.

"Hat!" "Captain!" Bow and Me called.

"Seems you forgot to read the fine print." Snatcher laughed. "The very first contracts I had you both sign. In the oh-so important last line, it says that you two will become completely forfeit to me! And you're locked up for good measure!" In the cage, Hat was passed out. "Do you get it? You were mine the moment you landed in this forest! Completely helpless! Dancing in my palm! Mine, and mine alone!"

"How dare you...!" I seethed.

"Tut, tut, brat. Don't forget, you signed too! Which means you, too, can't do anything against me! I'll trap you as well!" He extended a hand in the air, as if to command something.

But nothing happened.

"Wha-?" Snatcher gaped.

"You basketcase!" I roared as I flew up with the Bat Bow and grabbed onto Hat's cage. "Give her back! Right now!"

"Back off, brat!" He swatted me off the cage like a fly, and I crashed to the ground. "How!? I should be able to manipulate you however I want! You signed my contract!"

"Oh, please..." I spat as I picked myself up. "You actually think I'd sign that stupid thing properly!?"

"Huh!? But I should have been able to tell if you were forging a signature!" Snatcher growled.

I latched onto Hat's cage with my yo-yo in its flytrap form, and tugged hard, as he pulled it back, locking us in conflict. "The signature I signed with...Hat used her real name, but I used the name given to me here; Tie! It's not my real name!"

"You...tricked me!?" He howled.

"Boo-pecking-hoo! Give Hat back!" I screamed as I dug in my heels and pulled.

"You...darn brat!" He suddenly pulled with a huge deal of force, making my yo-yo let go as I fell onto my back. "You made a fool out of me? ME!?"

"Yaaaaaaah!" Bow tried to jump up towards the cage, but Snatcher easily pinned her down with his other arm.

"I'm genuinely angry!" He snarled. "Think you're clever, brat!? You haven't gotten away with anything! I've still got the thing you hold dearest!" He tossed Bow to the ground as the cage containing Hat sunk into the shadows.

"Hat!" I screamed as I ran towards it, but I fell to my knees as it disappeared.

"If you ever want to see your Captain again, you'll come to my arena in the middle of the forest. Alone!" Snatcher declared as he pointed at me. "If not, she's as good as dead! Got it!?" He then vanished into the ground.

"Get back here! You coward!" I shouted as I transformed my yo-yo into its hammer form and smashed it into the ground where he was. "Show yourself! Give her back!" I smashed the ground all over until it was completely cracked.

It was too late, he was gone.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed in frustration as I smashed my hammer down and fell to my hands and knees before it reverted back into a yo-yo.

How could I have let this happen!? I had one job! Protect Hat! But no! I couldn't even do THAT right! I'd had a bad feeling from the first time I landed here, but I was a stupid idiot and put it off! I should have done something! I could have done something! Why didn't I do anything!? Why was I so useless!? Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!

"Where did she go!?" Bow cried out, before turning her attention to me. "Where are they!? Don't you know!?"

"Shut up!" I shouted in grief. "I'm trying to think!" I wasn't. I was berating myself.

"You really are awful!" Bow gasped. "You're rude and angry, everything they said you were! You really are Misery!"

"Don't call me that!" I directed my angry gaze at her. "Don't you dare call me that!" I stood up and stomped towards her, red in the face. "That's the name YOU all gave me! The curse that haunted me for as long as I was on our homeplanet! Something you all BRANDED me with! A name that never went away!" This was it, it was all coming out. In my moment of weakness, I couldn't hold it back anymore.

"You all avoided me, and called me that, and spread it to keep other people away! Because of that name, I never had even ONE friend!" Bow stood her ground as I faced her, even if she was scared. "And do you know what my crime was!? The reason everybody called me that!? Why I deserved to be outcasted and made into a horror story!? Because I was UNHAPPY and CAREFUL! Those were my unacceptable curses! From the moment I was BORN, I just wasn't as happy as the rest of you! And to you all, that wasn't good enough!"

"I tried to be happy like the rest of you! I TRIED! But I couldn't! I couldn't keep a smile on my face constantly like you all could! Because it didn't feel right! And I WANTED to be blissful and carefree like everybody else, but I WASN'T! I was different! I don't know if space screwed me over or if god hated me, but ever since I can remember, I've been asking myself why wasn't I like everybody else! Why was I BROKEN!?"

"I didn't WANT to do anything the rest of you did! I didn't have fun doing it! Excuse ME for being afraid of GETTING HURT! Excuse ME for saying what I thought! And because I did, you all said that I was UNHEALTHY! That I was, some kind of DISEASE! Everybody abandoned me! My PARENTS abandoned me! For being unhappy! And that unhappiness turned into PAIN, and ANGER, that I wasn't GOOD ENOUGH!"

"I had feelings that I couldn't understand because nobody in our species had ever felt like me before! But instead of trying to understand me and help me, you all LEFT me! Alone! Afraid! Wondering what the heck I was! You didn't WANT to understand my feelings because YOU didn't want to feel sad! So all of those negative feelings just kept festering within me! HURT me! And nobody would help me! I had nobody to turn to! I was alone, and scared and wondering WHY I WAS WRONG!?"

"And then...finally...someone helped me! And I left our world! A BLESSING for you all! And I travelled across space! For so long, I got sick of it! I saw so many things, so much WORSE then me! Wondering WHY I was hated so much when so much more was more evil then I was! And I learnt so much, experienced so much, that I was ready to go back to our world, and explain what I had learned! WELL YOU KNOW WHAT I LEARNED!?"

Everything was silent. Even the ghosts seemed to have ceased. It was deathly quiet. I was going to say it. I was finally going to say...how I truly felt.

"You were right. I was wrong." I hung my head in shame. "I have always been wrong. From the moment I came into this world."

I looked up at her, and she stared at me with firm eyes. "Our species was nothing but bright, happy, wonderful people who made great strides in so many things, got along with each other perfectly, and were truly peaceful. Until I arrived. I really am an infection; of sadness, and anger. Everybody who came into contact with me was hurt emotionally, that was all my fault."

I looked down. "There may be more horrible things out there in the universe, but for us, as a species...I am the definition of evil. Something horrible, that corrupts others, hurts them, makes them cry. I am a disgrace to everybody who knew me, a stain on our history, and a mistake of a being. I was destined to be venom. That was the universes plan for me."

"You were all correct to avoid me. I'm a monster for all of you, and I have only myself to blame for becoming worse and worse. For poisoning a rare, pure species like ours, I'm unforgivable. Running away was the right thing to do, I truly am pathetic, worth less then nothing. Trying to bury who I am? Trying to hide my negative traits? Pointless. I am what I am, what will never change; a horrible, angry, Misery. And I wanted to come back, just for a moment, so I could tell you all..."

I lifted my head, and gave her the best smile I could muster, whilst tears streamed down my face. "I'm so sorry I was born."

I had finally said everything...and I didn't feel any better.

Bow stared at me with something I couldn't discern in her eyes.

So it was pointless after all...

"Um..." Knit meekly revealed herself from behind a tree. "Tie...I...know where Snatcher put Hat."

"What!?" Both me and Bow gasped.

"I..." She looked awkward. "Know this forest as well as he does...he's keeping her elsewhere...but somewhere we can reach."

"Knit..." I wiped the tears out of my eyes. "Thank you! But...Snatcher is waiting for me...he'll suspect something soon..."

I looked at Bow. "Bow..." I bowed. "Please...save Hat! I'm begging you!"

"...I will." She nodded.

I nodded, then made to run.

"Tie!" I stopped as Knit called out to me, and she stared at me. "Be...careful."

I said nothing, then continued running.


Venus Flytoy: Turns Tie's yo-yo into a chomping plant that can bite, grab onto, carry, and drag various things.


This is a chapter I've been wanting to write for a while.

Tie is the most evil of his species, purely for the fact that he is unhappy, and has been burdened by this all this time. And he has come to the conclusion that he is a mistake. He hid it beneath cynicism and frustration, but this is how he really feels; that he is wrong.

Thank you to Konan720 and Mr. Mega1423 for reviewing, it really helps and I thank you for doing so.

Next chapter...everything culminates for Tie.