The hat-wearing kid was something else entirely, and Snatcher had taken embarrassingly long to figure that out.
Really, he should have sussed things out from the get-go. A little kid running around his forest all alone and completely confident in her abilities wasn't exactly a common occurrence, and should have been his first sign. Surviving the Subcon Well, the possessed toilet, and Vanessa one after another? He should have realized there was something else to that competence. Losing to the kid in battle hadn't clued him in on it either. He really should have wondered why it seemed like the kiddo knew what his attacks were going to be even before he'd thrown his first rainbow blast of energy at them. It took until Time's End for Snatcher to realize just what kind of Big Fish the little Hat Kid was, and to start cursing his oversight.
The kid had power over time itself.
Now, time was a powerful force, but souls were eternal. A soul was a force that was unaffected by the passing of days. That's why the Snatcher laughed at beings like Empress and the Mafia boss. Such short sighted people, who only wanted wealth or fame! All of those things would fade in the end. Ah, but the strength from a soul, now THERE was a long-lasting power, and the Hat Kid's soul was a step above even that. A soul so everlasting that not even death could hold sway over it.
The moment he'd realized what was going on, he'd pulled out all the stops. He'd scrambled and gathered every one of the kid's oddball friends and associates that he could (minus that meddlesome Mustache Girl of course) and helped them up to the ship, offering her another contract and hoping that the sight of her friends would convince her to stay. He needed her to stay! But his methods had not worked. If she hadn't needed to come back for the rest of the time pieces for her ship, he might have lost out on her soul forever. To think, he'd even tried to banish her from his un-life completely at one point! What a fool he'd been! Snatcher had let the kid's soul slip away once, but he wouldn't lose sight of it again. Even if keeping a hold on it was going to be a bit more, er, tricky, than usual. Especially now that he had that "BFF" contract to honour in the meantime. Blasted thing. Oh well. He was a lawyer for a reason. Perhaps that unorthodox contract could actually be of use! That, and her tendency to leap before she looked.
"Hey Kid! Have you got a death wish? Because I've got plenty!"
He sees her enter her room, a little snow on her shoulders from a trip to the Alpine Skyline, and her eyes light up brighter than one of those pesky fire spirits. She was a go-getter gal who laughed in the face of danger. His new ploy, the Death Wish contracts, each of which was a life threatening endeavour of skill and timing, would be nothing more than a game to her. After all, when you could simply reverse time if you died, what was death but a little bump in the road? His idea was brilliant. These new contracts, his latest master plan, would ensure his success...
The Snatcher watched as she gazed down at the map with all the contracts' locations, and grinned behind her back. The Hat Kid wasn't the only one having fun with these. Sure, maybe his sense of entertainment was rather sadistic, but the little brat was a bit of a sado-masochist herself. He knew there was more than a little evil glee in her eyes every time she kicked some poor Mafia man off a ledge, to say nothing of the painful endeavours she ran headfirst into regularly! What a fun little monster of a girl he'd found! She'd throw herself into death-defying stunts with aplomb, and Snatcher couldn't deny the joy he derived from figuring out ever more new and innovative ways of killing her. Sure, it was hard work to wipe her off the census, so to speak, but it really paid off.
The contracts were called the Death Wishes for a reason. It didn't take long for her first fatality, yet it didn't seem to bother her that much all things considered. Thanks to the contracts and his own warping of reality, Snatcher was fully aware of the mortal fall she took into a sea of lava. He was also aware of how she just reversed time, dusted herself off, and tried the contract again.
Oh, if only she knew. Time had reverted, true, but it was far, far too late; her soul belonged to Snatcher.
This is when Snatcher did his most clever trick yet. He owned her soul… but didn't take it. No, he let her keep it, keep going, keep trying his contracts while having her twisted version of fun. Really, who let this kid out into the cosmos unsupervised? The little brat was really rather messed up if you took a closer look at things. For peck's sakes, she'd asked a soul-stealing, murderous demon to be her BFF! That was all sorts of wrong right there. Was she really that desperate for a friend that she'd try and entrap the first being she could to an eternal friendship? (He couldn't even be mad at her over that, since he's the one who signed the contract like a dumb teenage noble with a blank cheque). Not that he minded though; it made his job a lot easier.
The kid completed her current contract and went right on to play at another one. She died a few more times, of course. That was the point. Snatcher owned her soul already, and thanks to a little written manipulation here and there, had her life in his grabby little hands as well. Literally. So really, why bother taking her soul out of her body? Might as well keep the package deal! He wouldn't let one or two measly little deaths on her end free her from her contracts either, oh no, that's what the fine print was for. If she was determined to be 'Best Friends Forever' with a demon, then she was going to find out that forever was a long time indeed.
Besides… He had to confess that she was a bit more fun like this. So what if the main point of the contracts was to get her soul and practice his own reality manipulation? Nothing said he couldn't have a little entertainment as well in the meantime, all the while training his powers. Even the kiddo seemed to agree. The little smirk or giggle she got on her face every time he antagonized her attested to that. (He refused to admit how cute it was. Because it wasn't).
For now, Snatcher watches as she comes back from her latest adventure. She takes a look around her bedroom, waves goodnight to him, and flops down in her bed. Snatcher settles in for the night as well. He curls his tail into the mountain of bedding beneath him, tries to avoid knocking it into the little fort hidden under the pile, and can't help but respect her appreciation of comfort. Perhaps her version of 'comfy' was a bit more boisterously colourful and covered in pillows than his own hollow tree back home, but still. Snatcher reads his book, staring out at space on occasion. It's never as quiet up here as one might think it ought to be. Occasionally there are the whisps of the little girl's parents, their long-passed spirits trying their darndest to watch over their little girl. They're faded and weak, which is the main reason he didn't try to eat their wayward souls the moment he first spotted them. That, and it's fun watching them squirm over the demon that's made itself more than snug at her side. There's also the occasional deep, eldritch moan or far-off, yet all too close roar. Maybe every twenty minutes or so, if he had to count (he had, once, out of sheer boredom and more than a little curiosity). It's honestly not that different from those whale noises that echo out from the time rifts the Hat Kid occasionally dives into (and he definitely needs to practice more with opening up his own rifts. His tended to be a bit…. unstable as of yet). Snatcher isn't worried. The kiddo sure isn't, so why should he be?
Speaking of the kiddo, he looks down at her now. Curled up tight, she's softly breathing in slumber with her nose wrinkled and her blanket clutched close. (It's not cute. It's not. But he could be stuck with a worse contractually obligated BFF, he grudgingly admits). The Hat Kid is tired right now, true, but otherwise hale, healthy, and whole. In short, alive, well, with her soul still in her body. His old self would be ashamed that he'd let a victim keep their soul so long. But it's fine, since she belongs to him in more ways than one. Best Friends FOREVER right? Everything that entered his forest belongs to him. Any item, soul, or other oddity in the woods was his. Alien time-controlling kiddos he'd met bumbling down a well-worn path were no exception.
Anyways. Now that she was asleep, he had some time to work out the kinks in his next series of challenges; mainly, the little gifts he gives her to keep her motivated. He's a bit short on them right now. He'll have to come up with some new things to give her, provided that she manages to beat a few more enemies that he's powered up. He thinks he can give her that much at least. Happy minions were more productive minions, right? A prize here or there was warranted, and kept her more than determined to complete the contracts which, in turn, would bind her to him even more. A game for him, to entrap her will and soul, and for her, to earn ever more tempting toys, clothing, and other trinkets. Still, a game was a game. He couldn't make it too easy, even for himself! (He refuses to acknowledge that he's already given her a lot more than he really needed to. Absolutely DENIES that seeing her squeal in glee and twirl around, wearing the new ribbon or hat or badge he'd made her, made him happy too.)
Snatcher's eyes roam once more, landing on the headgear the Hat Kid has lovingly placed at her bedside. It's at that point that Snatcher, musing about Hat Kid's purple hat, suddenly wonders what she'd look like in his own glowing purple colours. Would she look just like the rest of his minions? Ooh. Yes. Yes yes yesss, now there was an idea! Perfect! A fun little costume, and, if he uses his powers right, the final nail in the coffin for binding her to his whims just like the rest of his minions. Maybe he'll magic something up in the morning. Definitely. But not a moment earlier, he thinks wisely, as the young kid's sleepy breaths echo through the room. There was no sense waking up the little monster right now.
Heaven knows he didn't want to deal with a tired, grumpy alien child denied her well-earned snooze. That umbrella hurt.