Chapter 5

The streets of Mafia Town looked really peaceful under the storm. That was mainly because most of the Mafia men were home to get out of the rain and it was also close to nightfall. Some Mafia goons were still outside to work and keep an eye around town, though they were surprisingly more calm than usual. Among the Mafia and the birds wandering around on the island, some raccoons in pajamas were already sleeping. A few of them were even strangely floating in the air because of the bubble that escaped their nose as they snored.

As they were making their way around town, Arthur and Hat Kid didn't speak a word nor looked at each other. All they wanted was to get in the Mafia's headquarters and deal with the Mafia Boss, so the two could go their separate way. But first, they had to wait for Mustache Girl to finish her work with the cannon so they could reach the HQ on top of the geyser. In the meantime, they were tasked with finding jars around town for Mustache Girl's 'jar and mush' plan.

However, none of the two children really wanted to go look around for jars. They were against the idea of the massacre that Mustache Girl had planned. At least it was one thing that Arthur and Hat Kid agreed on.

Instead of looking for jars, Hat Kid had decided to use the time she had to look for any Time Pieces that may be left in Mafia Town. She closed her eyes and used her top hat to focus. To her luck, she could feel the presence of a Time Piece nearby. As she opened her eyes again, she came to the conclusion that it was on top of the building who had a star-filled pillar with a golden ball on top of it, next to the construction site. Nodding firmly, she began to make her toward it.

Arthur didn't question where she was going and simply followed her. He honestly didn't care as long as they were killing time. Besides, as soon as they take down the Mafia Boss and retrieve whatever Hat Kid came for, he would get on a boat and leave this island for good. This town had only been a source of trouble for him ever since he arrived, he wanted away from it as soon as possible.

Hat Kid climbed the ladders to get on top of the buildings and try to reach the place where her Time Piece was, with Arthur following close behind. Eventually, the two stopped as there was a huge gap between the building they were on and the next one. Only a wireline seemed to provide way to the next building.

Without hesitation, Hat Kid jumped on the wireline and made her way across, easily able to keep her balance the whole time. Arthur watched her dumbfounded. She had just crossed a damn tightrope with such confidence and ease, like she had done that her whole life! There was something about this kid that he didn't know about... Once Hat Kid reached the other side, she turned around and motioned for Arthur to cross – although relucantly. However, as the twelve-year-old boy looked at the huge gap below him, he began to grow nervous. It was so high up... How was he gonna cross that without falling to his death, especially since he had never tried to cross a wireline before? Not to mention he had a fear of heights...

"Uhh... I'm not sure about that, kid... How about you go on ahead and... I'll go find another way," Arthur suggested nervously. Hat Kid huffed in frustration. She would have left him behind but she remembered they had promised Mustache Girl to try and work together, and Hat Kid always respected her promises. But she didn't want to wait for him to take an alternative route either, it would make her waste too much time. She tried to think of a way to get Arthur to cross, and then she had an idea that made her smirk mischeviously.

She gave the twelve-year-old boy a smug look and said, "Chicken!" out loud. Arthur could feel his eye twitch right after she said that.

"What did you just call me?!" Arthur shouted in an irritated tone. He hated when people called him a 'chicken'. It made him feel like a coward... and he did feel that way every time he couldn't bring himself to just end his pathetic excuse of a life every time he had the chance. He looked back at the wireline nervously, but he was determined nonetheless. Screw this! If she wanted to play that game with him, then he will as well!

"Can't believe I'm about to do this..." he muttered annoyed. He hesitantly placed a foot on the wireline, then the other one. He froze for a moment, his arms and body moving around a little as he tried to stabilize himself on the tightrope.

Eventually, he was able to find the right balance and his body stopped moving. He began to slowly move forward on the tightrope, making sure to remain balanced on it. So far so good, he was making progress. Slowly but surely... A bit too slowly to Hat Kid's opinion who tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.

Arthur was doing good so far. However, when he was halfway from making it to the other side, he made a wrong move and he suddenly felt himself losing balance quickly. He panicked as his arms moved around frantically. He tried his hardest to stabilize himself on the tightrope again but he failed to do so, and the following second... he lost his footing on the wireline.

"No NO! AAHHH!" Arthur screamed as he began to fall. Fortunately, by instinct, he was able to grab onto the wireline with one of his hand before he could fall to his death in the street below. His hat fell off his head but he quickly caught it with his other hand.

Upon seeing that, Hat Kid began to panic. Sure, she may not like him but that didn't mean she wanted him to fall to his death! She was about to go over and help him. However, before she could react, Arthur quickly put his hat back on his head and began to use his hands to move along the tightrope, like a monkey would move on a vine. Once he reached the other side, he quickly grabbed the edge of the rooftop and used all of his strength to pull himself up on the surface. Once he was safe, Arthur fell on his back and breathed heavily, facing the raining sky. Damn, that was close... It just comes to show that adrenaline can make you do crazy stuff and save your life sometimes.

Hat Kid sighed in relief. However, as she watched the young boy recover, she felt a pang of guilt hit her. Perhaps she went a bit too far by taunting him into crossing the wireline. Arthur wasn't as strong and agile as she was, so of course he would have had a lot of trouble crossing the tightrope. But she hadn't considered that before. He almost died because of her... Before she could apologize, Arthur – who had managed to calm down – shot her a nasty look that reflected pure rage.

"There! You happy now?! I made it across! Barely!" he shouted angrily. Hat Kid flinched at his outburst. She had already seen him snap earlier when she had told him to never come back on her ship, but this time... it was way worse. It was needless to say he was really enraged. She didn't blame him though... Arthur eventually calmed down and got up to his feet.

"Let's just go already! And I don't want to hear anything from you," the twelve-year-old boy said angrily as he crossed his arms, waiting for her to start walking. Hat Kid sighed sadly and shook her head. Now she felt even worse after his outburst... but she didn't have time to dwell on that. She had a Time Piece to find. She began to head toward the building with the star-filled pillar again. Arthur followed her, though he kept his distances with her.

After climbing ladders and walking on some more rooftops, the two children finally reached the top of the building where Hat Kid had spotted the Time Piece. The purple-hatted girl looked around to see where it was and her eyes landed on a Mafia man who was dressed differently from the others. The goon had green goggles. His blue suit was open, revealing a green and red shirt under it. He was wearing a red bow tie instead of a regular tie, and he had yellow and white sneakers. He seemed extremely nervous as he examined a certain object in his hand.

Hat Kid gasped, realizing that it was her Time Piece he had in his hand. Arthur saw it as well and finally realized it was the reason why Hat Kid wanted to come up here in the first place. Although he didn't know the true name or purpose of this object, he immediately recognized it for a different reason.

'That hourglass... It looks exactly like the one I found in my bedroom!' the twelve-years-old thought with a shocked look on his face. That hourglass was what caused the portal that brought him here to appear after he accidentally broke it. So... perhaps if he broke one of those again, maybe another portal will appear and take him home? Arthur shook his head. No... he couldn't do that. For all he knew, it could create a portal that would take him to someplace else he didn't know about. Or it could create a catastrophe or something he didn't expect to happen. Plus, it looked like it belonged to Hat Kid and, even though he hated her, he still respected private property. No, he will figure out another way to go home.

Hat Kid took a step forward to ask the Mafia man to give her the Time Piece. However, she didn't notice the puddle of mud before her. She slipped and fell face first in the mud. She let out a frustrated groan and lifted herself up a little. Arthur saw that she was now entirely covered in mud and couldn't but snort upon seeing her in that state.

"You just took yourself a regular mud bath, kid," Arthur joked with a chuckle. Hat Kid glared at him and got up to her feet. She took a look at herself and saw that she was all covered in mud. Great... Now she was going to have to take a shower when going back to her spaceship.

"What the... HUH?!" a voice suddenly said.

Hearing the voice, Arthur and Hat Kid turned their head to see that the nervous Mafia man had spotted them. However, instead of attacking them the goon looked at Hat Kid frightened.

"It's... IT'S SLIMY SPACE ALIEN!" the nervous Mafia goon screamed in a panicked tone. Hat Kid looked at him confused. 'Slimy space alien'? Where? She looked around but saw no one else except Arthur and the Mafia man himself. Then looking back at herself, she realized that SHE was the alien in question.

"MAFIA SAW SPACESHIP! MAFIA KNEW ALL ALONG! MAFIA IS BEING INVADED BY ALIENS!" the Mafia man screamed in fear. Hat Kid smiled mischeviously as she had an idea. From this situation, not only she could convince the goon to hand over her Time Piece, but she could also have a bit of fun with him as well. She then put her arms up in a zombie-like manner and began making 'scary' moans, taking a step toward the frightened man.

"AHHH!" the Mafia man screamed as he suddenly took off. He jumped over a large gap and landed on a wooden platform to escape Hat Kid. The purple-hatted girl giggled and ran after the Mafia man, making a large jump to get across and successfully landing on the platform.

Arthur was watching the chase confused. What the heck just happened now? He wanted to go after them, but then saw the large gap before the wooden platform. After the little incident that occured on the wireline earlier, he didn't want to risk putting himself in danger again with a jump he probably couldn't make. This made him wonder how Hat Kid and the Mafia man were even able to jump that far. The twelve-year-old boy shrugged. It looked like he was gonna have to wait here for Hat Kid to return.

Hat Kid chased the Mafia man for a while, going on top of crates, avoiding a sleeping raccoon, jumping to other wooden platforms, onto a large Mafia banner, more platforms and eventually the last one where the Mafia man reached a dead end. The latter turned around to face the 'slimy space alien'. Cornered and out of breathe, he got on his knees and started begging for his life.

"Leave Mafia alone, you monster!" the scared Mafia goon begged. Hat Kid only smirked and took a step closer to him. Sweat started dripping from the Mafia man's forehead. Thinking of a way to get the alien to leave him alone, the goon looked at the glowing hourglass in his hand.

"H-Here, if Mafia give you this, will you go away?" he asked nervously, handing out the Time Piece to her. Hat Kid smiled and took it.

"Thank you!" the purple-hatted girl said happily. She then took off, giggling like mad. That was really fun! The Mafia goon was confused by this, but he didn't question it. At least, he was able to get the alien off his case.

Climbing down the platforms, Hat Kid – with the Time Piece in her hands – made her way back to the top of the building where Arthur was waiting for her. He was leaning against the pillar and he had his hands resting on his belt.

"You know, I've never heard a man squeal so much before," he stated jokingly, causing Hat Kid to giggle. Arthur's smile dropped and he asked, "So you got that hourglass of yours?". Hat Kid nodded.

"What are those anyway? I know for a fact they're no ordinary hourglasses. So what are they?" Arthur asked curiously. He wanted to learn about these magical hourglasses. One of them had brought him here, so if he learned more about them, perhaps he could figure out a way to summon a portal to take him back home without having to break one of the hourglasses.

Hat Kid was suprised to hear him ask this question. She had figured he would know what they were, considering she believed he had snuck on her ship to steal the Time Pieces when they first met. Had she guessed wrong about his intentions? Did he really have no clue about what Time Pieces were? And if not, why was he on her spaceship in the first place? She shook her head. No... it was a trick! He was trying to trick her into trusting him so he could steal her Time Pieces when she least expected it. Besides, she knew about the side effect that occured if someone other than herself and her people learned about the true power of the Time Pieces. She wasn't going to take that risk! She pulled her Time Piece back protectively and glared at him. Arthur noticed the sudden hostile behavior of his enemy and frowned at her.

"Fine then! Keep your stupid hourglass! I don't care! They've been nothing but trouble for me so far anyway! It's because of one of those things that I'm stuck here now! Away from home!" he spat angrily, making Hat Kid flinch. Arthur then formed a glum look on his face and turned away from the purple-hatted child.

"It doesn't matter anyway. For all I know, I'll be stuck in this hellhole forever with no way to return home... So you just go back to your spaceship with your thing if you want. Me? I need some peace and quiet..." Arthur said in a depressed tone. Hat Kid stared at him, shocked by what he just said. She really didn't expect that kind of answer... The twelve-year-old boy noticed she still wasn't budging, so he turned around to look her dead in the eye.

"Are you deaf?! I said I wanted some space! So leave. Me. ALONE!" he shouted angrily. Hat Kid was once again taken aback by his outburst. Not wanting to anger the young boy any further, she held her Time Piece up toward the sky. It glowed brighter and Hat Kid flew up toward the sky, vanishing behind the stormy clouds.

Arthur huffed in frustration. This kid was really starting to get on his nerves... He sighed and climbed down the building. Once he made it back to the streets, he began to walk around aimlessly, his hands in the pockets of his soaked jeans. He was lost in thoughts and in a depressed mood. He was thinking about his plan on getting on a boat. Sure, it would get him away from Mafia Town and probably Hat Kid at the same time but... would it get him any closer from finding a way back home? Probably not... Back when he first appeared on Hat Kid's spaceship, he saw that the planet looked... different from the Earth he knew and lived on. Perhaps there was no way of returning home... Maybe he was going to be stuck on this unknown planet until he dies.

Arthur felt tears starting to build up in his eyes. He felt lost and hopeless. It was no new feeling for him though, he had been feeling that way for years and he doesn't see it getting any better anytime soon. He then shook his head and quickly wiped the tears off his eyes. He didn't want to break down now... If someone saw him do that, they would just make fun of him, like people always did in his world. He had to remain strong to avoid this kind of humiliation again.

"Hi there, Arthur!" a familiar voice suddenly said. Startled, the twelve-year-old boy looked around frantically but saw no one in the street. "Up here, you dummy!" the voice said again from above. Arthur looked up and saw Mustache Girl sitting at the edge of the roof of a small house, her legs dangling in the air.

"Mustache Girl," Arthur greeted blankly. Said girl hopped down and landed on her feet right in front of Arthur.

"You know, I always see you walking around with that sour face of yours. You ever considered adding a smile to your face dictionary?" Mustache Girl said teasingly with a smirk, putting her hands on her hips.

"Is your mustache a part of your face dictionary?" Arthur retorted in an unamused tone. Mustache Girl huffed in response.

"Of course it is! That's my signature in case you didn't know! Pretty much like your hat, cowboy!" the red-hooded girl said proudly, twirling her mustache a little. Arthur rolled his eyes at her.

"If you say so. So I reckon you got the cannon working then?" Arthur asked.

"Yup! I just came to fetch you and the other kid and see how you were doing with the jar task," Mustache Girl said with a grin. Arthur's eyes widened. That's right, he and Hat Kid were tasked with finding jars for the mustached girl's plan, but they got sidetracked in the process and didn't find any jars. Not that they wanted to find those jars anyway... He would have to come up with an excuse for it. However, before he could speak up, Mustache Girl noticed Hat Kid wasn't around and looked at Arthur questionally.

"Hey, where's the other kid?" she asked.

"Oh uh... We decided to split up and, uhh, search for jars on each side of town to be more... efficient," Arthur lied. He knew he wasn't very good when it came to lying, but something told him it was best to not tell her the truth about the magical hourglasses that Hat Kid was collecting or how he ended up in this world.

Mustache Girl frowned, not because she was suspicious. She actually bought the lie, but the real reason was she had asked him and Hat Kid to work together. And yet they went against her order and decided to split up instead of staying together. The red-hooded girl sighed. They really needed to learn to get along, otherwise their rivalry was going to jeopardize her plan as they would get in each other's way and get themselves killed. That would throw away her possibly only chance to get rid of the Mafia once and for all. It looked like she was going to have to get that through their freaking skulls somehow.

Mustache Girl knew a way, but that would mean revealing something more... personal to them. Arthur seemed like an okay guy though, despite acting sour all the time. She was certain he would understand, so she might as well start with him since he was here.

"I want to show you something. Come with me," she said seriously, motioning for Arthur to follow her as she walked away.

Arthur looked at her puzzled, but he didn't question her and followed the red-hooded girl anyway. What did she want to show him?

A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! So... I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but with all the stuff I was writing, I figured it would be too long. And while I didn't mind that, the problem came about the re-reading part. It's the part I dislike the most, it's long and boring, and it's just about me making corrections, adding/replacing words, eventually add/reformulate a sentence, etc. It's the kind of thing that would sap my motivation away if I were to make chapters too long. Which is why I make sure to write chapters long enough, but not too long either. Works for me so far, so I'm gonna continue like that. Good news is I've already started writing the two next scenes, so the next chapter should be coming quicker than usual! ...If nothing goes wrong in the meantime of course.

Anyway, time to answer reviews. So some of them got deleted somehow. Just know that it wasn't my doing. I've turned on the option to always accept reviews, so hopefully that should fix it. I hope... However, fear not! I've got all of your reviews in my email box, so I'll still be able to answer them. Alright, let's do it!

To Katoptris12: Yup, I've been feeling motivated to write that story and I still am. That's why I've been updating so quickly. Anyway, Arthur does prefer climbing stairs than flying up using a cannon. Remember that he has anxiety and fear of heights, combined with the fact that he would have to go to the Mafia HQ by using a cannon. I mean, a FRICKING cannon! Not really the safest way to go up... Personally I'd prefer using an elevator for that matter. But yeah, that's why Arthur prefers stairs.

To Linkone1: Indeed, I've written Mustache Girl to be more 'nice'. But that's because she feels like the rivalry between Arthur and Hat Kid would get them in trouble and it would cause her plan to fall apart, as revealed in this chapter. More will be told in the next one as well. Also another reason is I think Mustache Girl is not as bad as people think she is. I mean, if you remember the purple Time Rift in the attic of Hat Kid's spaceship, she lost her home to the Mafia. When going through some tough stuff, even the nicest people can become harsh. Take Arthur as an example, in the prologue, it was mentioned that he used to be nice and cheerful, but he went through some rough stuff and now he acts cold, aggressive and snarky. So I think Mustache Girl deserves a second chance. Plus, I like her (not in a romantic way, I'd like to be precise. I mean, I'm way too old for her anyway. Ahem, jokes aside. ^^;).

To Maoshin: Glad you're excited for that story, mon ami. ^^ (Yeah, big revelation... I'm French. Though I prefer writing my stories in english for a larger audience. Plus, I like this language better than mine.)

To Shadow Necro: I'm... not really sure to understand what you mean. Could you possibly reformulate, please?

To Mr. Mega1423: You'll soon find out. Anyway, I've never watched the Avengers before, but I understand the joke nonetheless. ;) I'm really glad you're enjoying this fanfiction. Your stories on A Hat in Time are one of main reasons I'm writing this, they really inspired me to do this. So I'm gonna make sure to make it worth of your time. :)

That's all for today, folks! See you all in the next chapter!