Chapter 33
"Where were you both?!"
This was the first thing the two children heard when they returned on the spaceship after winning the fight against the Snatcher, getting their souls and the Time Pieces back, and earning their freedom. To the duo's annoyance – mostly Arthur's – it was none other than the Mafia Boss.
"Oh please, not him again..." Arthur muttered in exasperation.
"I've been stuck up here for two days because this annoying robot keeps chasing me around!" the jarred crime lord shouted angrily. Indeed, he was standing on top of the TV, and Rumbi was waiting in front of it, staring at him with an angry expression on its LED screen.
"Yeah, it knows when someone is being a nuisance here," Arthur snarked with a smug smirk.
The Mafia Boss growled and said, "Whatever! Can you get this robot away from me already?!".
"You forgot to say the magic word, jar-stache," Arthur said, crossing his arms. Hat Kid crossed her arms and nodded with an unamused look.
"The 'magic word'?! What kind of childish nonsense is that?!" the Mafia Boss asked, confused and irritated.
"The magic word. You know, the one that starts with a P, ends up with an E, contains six letters, writes itself P-L-E-A-S-E, and people use it as a polite form when asking for something," Arthur said mockingly, as if he was talking to a kindergarten child. The Mafia Boss stared at him in confusion, as his liquefied brain was comically doing maths as if trying to find an answer to an unsolvable problem.
The twelve-year-old boy sighed in annoyance and said, "The word 'please', dumbbell.".
"What?! No, I'm not using any forms of politeness with you two! You don't deserve it!" the Mafia Boss said stubbornly and angrily.
"Then stay perched on that TV like a stranded idiot," Arthur hissed. "Let's go, Hat Kid." He made a motion with his head to tell Hat Kid they should leave the Mafia Boss stranded on the TV. The duo began to walk away as the Mafia Boss began to panic.
"No wait – Ugh! FINE! Can you ask that robot to move along... please?" the jarred crime lord relucantly asked with an exasperated sigh, prompting the two children to turn around to face him again. Hat Kid smirked teasingly and nodded. She then made a gesture to Rumbi to tell it to get back to cleaning the main room. The vaccuum cleaner robot obeyed, making an happy face, and went back to its regular cleaning job.
"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmph! Whatever!" the Mafia Boss huffed angrily, hopping down from the TV and onto the ground. "So where have you two been?"
"Why do you ask?" Arthur asked as he crossed his arms.
"Out of simple curiosity, boy. You and your annoying friend didn't even come back for the night," the Mafia Boss explained, making a movement with his body jar to motion a shrug.
Arthur rolled his eyes and said, "To Subcon Forest to find more Time Pieces." The Mafia Boss gasped upon hearing this.
"Subcon Forest?! Some of my men went there and never came back! Did you see them?" the jarred crime lord asked worriedly, much to the children's surprise. Arthur and Hat Kid looked at each other uncomfortably. He must be asking about the ones they saw in Queen Vanessa's manor, and probably the one in Subcon Village that got sucked inside a painting and burned in the Fire Spirits' bonfire.
"Yeah... Actually, uhh... they're dead," Arthur awkwardly said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"...What?" the Mafia Boss asked, visibly shocked and almost in disbelief.
"They went inside a manor where a creepy, old lady with nasty powers lives. Most of them were changed into ice. We met one who was still alive when we arrived, but the lady got him eventually," the young boy explained. He made sure not to mention the Mafia man that ended up inside a painting, since this one was Hat Kid's fault.
The Mafia Boss sighed sadly and said, "I knew there was something very wrong about this forest the moment I set my eyes on it...". Arthur and Hat Kid were surprised to hear him sound so sad upon learning his men's fate. It was almost like he cared about them. ...Does he? The jarred crime lord then noticed the way the two children were looking at him and he angrily shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU TWO LOOKING AT?!", causing them to flinch.
"Uhh, nothing," Arthur lied, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Hat Kid put her hands behind her back and nodded with a nervous grin.
"Hmpf!" the Mafia Boss huffed, before hopping away to get some space. The duo watched him leave dumbfounded and puzzled. The way he reacted after learning his men's death... Is it possible that he cares about his men? It almost sounded hard to believe coming from the usually commanding and short-tempered Boss of the Mafia. Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye. Arthur and Hat Kid looked at each other curiously before shrugging, deciding to not dwell on it.
They proceeded to put all of the Time Pieces they found in Subcon Forest back in the vault. Overall, that was 25 Times Pieces out of 56 they had retrieved so far. With this amount, Hat Kid was able to bring power back to the lift leading up to the attic of her spaceship. And with the Dweller's Mask, she was able to go through the purple wall blocking the access to her laboratory and unlock the access to the storage room. Now almost everything in the spaceship was accessible and functional, except for the dryer that requires at least 35 Time Pieces to work.
Aside from that, Arthur was surprised to see a laboratory in Hat Kid's spaceship. When asking her why she would need a lab and about the safety of its usage, the purple-hatted girl told him it was to test the chemical reactions of materials and objects she finds on different planets she explores. When it comes to safety, she just crosses her fingers and hopes the reactions won't cause any damages to her ship. This caused the young boy to grimace and question his own safety on this spaceship. Hopefully, Hat Kid won't get the idea of mixing two chemicals that could potentially blow the whole ship up and end their lives.
After that, Hat Kid reconstituted the relic with the UFO and the three cow toys they found in Subcon Forest. When seeing the result, Hat Kid felt extremely offended and stomped her foot on the floor angrily. The relic was literally a small floating UFO sucking up cow toys. So stereotypical and insulting! She angrily named the relic 'Mockery Of Off-Planet Life' and wrote in the description: 'What the heck! Spaceships don't look like that! Where's the wood? Why is it sucking up cows? This is insulting! I'm gonna sue!'.
Arthur couldn't help but laugh after reading this, though he quickly stopped after seeing the nasty look that Hat Kid gave him. He made a mental note that the small girl didn't like stereotypes made on aliens, and therefore he should avoid talking about them. The last thing he wanted was a whack from Hat Kid's umbrella across the face.
Suddenly, both children yawned, exhausted by the two fights they had in the same day. Hat Kid went to her bedroom and Arthur to his pillow bed in the main room, and they both flopped on their respective beds, immediately falling asleep.
"Alert. Time Rifts detected."
Hat Kid yelped in surprise and fell off the bed after hearing the sudden alarm. She landed face first on the floor and groaned tiredly. She slowly got up and yawned, stretching her arms. Stupid alarm, she should really adjust it to make it less loud- She then gasped. Time Rifts again?! She quickly placed her hat back on her head and ran to the main room.
When she arrived, Arthur was already awake, standing next to the computer.
"I guess duty calls, Hat Kid. Come on, let's see where them time rifts are," he said with a blank expression. Hat Kid nodded and walked up to the computer. However, when she did, she noticed the bags under Arthur's eyes seemed bigger as if he barely slept at all, causing her to give the boy a concerned look.
"What?" the young boy asked in a somewhat annoyed tone, noticing the look she was giving him. Hat Kid tapped under her eyelid with her finger and pointed at him with her other hand to tell him what she meant. He sighed and said, "I'm fine. I just wasn't feeling sleepy enough, that's all."
It was a lie. The reason he looked tired and was up early was because he had another nightmare. This one was worse than the previous one. Not only Queen Vanessa was in it, but the Snatcher too. In his nightmare, the latter was very mad at him because he and Hat Kid defeated him in a fight and also humiliated in front of his minions. He was alongside Queen Vanessa, yelling various insults at the boy, before both of their faces morphed into his father's. Not only that but there were also shadow clones of all of the kids who made fun of him back in his home world, including one who was his arch-nemesis in school. The nightmare ended with everyone lunging at him to kill him, before Arthur woke up in a panting and sweating mess.
Though, he didn't want to tell Hat Kid about it because he didn't want to worry her. She had better things to deal with right now, especially with the time rifts that just appeared out of the blue.
However, Hat Kid frowned, clearly not believing him. Truth to be told, she was getting tired of him lying to her and saying he was 'fine'. She would have pushed the topic forward, but she had to deal with the time rifts first. Questions will have to wait for the time being.
"That's IT! I've had more than enough now!" the familiar angry voice of the Mafia Boss was suddenly heard in the room.
Arthur groaned in annoyance and asked, "What now?", turning to the jarred crime lord who came hopping from the machine room and glared up at the duo.
"I was in the middle of my peaceful slumber when this annoying alarm of yours woke me up!" the Mafia Boss complained angrily.
"Oh, boohoo to you, jar-stache," Arthur mocked, rolling his eyes.
"Hey! My sleep is sacred, boy!" the Mafia Boss retorted, hopping up and down in anger.
Arthur snorted and sarcastically asked, "What? You want a soundproof room with a fancy bed, royal sheets, and shiny gold surrounding it, maybe?".
"I want the peace and quiet! That's what I require!" the Mafia Boss said angrily. "But I'm done putting up with you both! I'm going back to Mafia Town! My men may not be the smartest, but at least they know when I need the quiet!"
"Fine then, get outta here! That'll do us a favor," Arthur said angrily, pointing his finger at the hatch.
"I will! I need a vacation anyway," the Mafia Boss said angrily. "But mark my words, the moment I find a new body, I'll come back to get my revenge on you two and that mustached pest. Then I'll- AHH!". His sentence was interrupted when Rumbi came and purposely bumped into him, causing him to fall on his side. The jarred crime lord yelled out various insults and demanded to be put back up as his body jar rolled around the place, while Arthur and Hat Kid both laughed.
"See you around, jar-stache," the twelve-year-old boy said with a snicker.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" the Mafia Boss shouted as he unintentionally and comically rolled towards the machine room. The door automatically opened and closed behind him after he rolled through it. Rumbi formed an expression on its LED face looking like it was blowing a raspberry, before going back to cleaning the room.
"Heh. Alright, let's get back to business," Arthur suggested.
Hat Kid nodded as she wiped a tear off her eye after she finished laughing. She then searched informations about the time rifts on the computer and got the results within a few seconds. The duo's eyes widened. There was three time rifts to deal with now.
"Three time rifts?! Oh hell, I hope they're all just blue ones," Arthur said with a worried look.
Rift Status: Purple.
Localization: Subcon Forest.
"Peck," he swore under his breath. He just jinxed it.
The picture showed the rift in front of a strange structure in the middle of a frozen water geyser with giant shards of ice, pieces of stone walls, and gears floating in the air.
Now, the second time rift.
Rift Status: Blue.
Localization: Subcon Forest.
This time rift appeared to be on top of a giant sewer pipe filled with the same purple water from the swamp, and a cut tree trunk serving as a bridge on the pipe.
And finally, the last one.
Rift Status: Blue.
Localization: Subcon Forest.
It appeared to be on top of the highest point of a wall made of stone and wooden planks.
"Well, at least there's only one purple rift to deal with," Arthur stated. He then looked at the localization of the rifts and he groaned in frustration. "Why did it have to be Subcon Forest of all places?" he muttered. Hat Kid, on the other hand, was excited to go back there, since she'll get to say hi to the Snatcher who contractually became their BFF.
Arthur sighed and said, "Well, let's go deal with these time rifts, I guess. The sooner the better."
With that said, the two children headed for the hatch, opening it, and jumped off to the planet. They landed in the clearing in front of the Snatcher's tree in Subcon Forest.
"Okay, let's try to find the time ri-" Arthur began to say, but he stopped when he noticed Hat Kid was no longer at his side. "Hat Kid?". He looked around and spotted her running up the vine towards the Snatcher's tree. "What the hell is she doing now?" he asked to himself, irritated, before running after her.
Hat Kid stopped at the entrance of the tree and smiled happily upon seeing the Snatcher sitting in his armchair and reading a book. Arthur soon joined her side.
"Hi, BFF!" she said cheerfully as she waved her hand at the soul-stealing shadow.
'Oh my god...' Arthur thought, putting his hand on his face in annoyance. Seriously, why does she insist on being the Snatcher's 'BFF'? He literally tried to kill them both and with no regrets, after forcing them to do his bidding! Plus, the shadow made it clear he didn't want them around and didn't want to be their 'friend'. The young boy really doen't understand her logic sometimes...
The Snatcher looked up from his book in surprise and his eyes landed on the two children, causing him to frown and sigh in annoyance.
"You two again?" he asked in an irritated tone.
"Good to see you too, Snatcher," Arthur grumbled sarcastically.
"I thought I made myself pretty clear last time, kiddos," the Snatcher said angrily. "We're done. Finished. Our working relationship is over. I'm not wasting any more clerical supplies on either of you!". He then leaned closer and shouted with an angry scowl, "Now get the heck out of my forest!".
"Calm down, Snatcher. We're just here to retrieve something we've lost. We don't plan on staying for long," Arthur said. "Well, at least I don't," he added, looking at Hat Kid with an unamused expression. The purple-hatted girl crossed her arms and pouted at him.
The Snatcher sighed and said, "Fine. Go get the thing you lost, then get. Out.". Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say, noodle- Ow!" the young boy's sentence was cut short when Hat Kid elbowed him in the arm, before she crossed her arms and gave him an annoyed glare, clearly not wanting him to insult the soul-stealing shadow. "What?" he asked her, confused and annoyed, as he rubbed his arm.
Hat Kid pulled out a pen and a paper, and wrote something on it, before showing it to Arthur and giving him a stern look. It said 'Remember the terms of the contract: you're supposed to 'Be Nice'!', followed by an angry face that the small girl drew.
"Well, I didn't know we became Care Bears in a world full of rainbows and butterflies. Besides, if the rule applies to us, then it should apply to him as well," Arthur said sarcastically, frowning and crossing his arms. The purple-hatted girl simply crossed her arms and glared at him, clearly upset with his behavior. He sighed and said, "Whatever, let's just go," before walking away.
Hat Kid watched the boy leave for a few seconds; then she glanced at the Snatcher and did a quick wave at him, earning a dismissive wave from the latter. And she went to catch up with Arthur. As she did, the young boy stopped and sighed, before looking at her with a serious look.
"Listen, Hat Kid. You like making friends, I get it. But that ghost?" Arthur said, pointing at the Snatcher. "That's crazy. He tried to kill us, remember?". Hat Kid rolled her eyes in annoyance. Of course she didn't forget, she wasn't stupid.
"The Conductor did too," the small girl retorted as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"That's different. Mustache Girl tricked him and he wasn't in his right mind at the time. He also apologized after I left the hospital; so I gave him the benefit of the doubt," Arthur explained. He counted with his fingers as he said, "The Snatcher, on the other hand. He took our souls away, forced us to do his dirty work, then when we were no longer of any use to him he tried to kill us of his own free will; all of that without an apology. And the things he said during the battle...". He shut his eyes, forming a pained expression as he remembered the hurtful words of the soul-stealing shadow as Arthur and Hat Kid's clones. He shook his head and said, "You know what, forget it. Let's just go deal with them rifts," before walking away.
Hat Kid stood there as she watched Arthur leave and sighed sadly. The young boy had a point: the Snatcher did force them to temporarily give up their souls, forced them to do thankless and dangerous tasks under contracts, threatened and made fun of them at every turn, and tried to kill them to take back all of the Time Pieces they earned after completing all of their contractual obligations. Not to mention that the Snatcher's words during the fight clearly hit a nerve to him. Therefore, she understood Arthur's resentment towards the Snatcher.
Nonetheless, the small girl still believed there was a slight ounce of good in the soul-stealing shadow. He is acting all evil and commanding, but she is certain he is just a soon-deh-ray who pretends to not care about anyone. With a little time and patience, he will probably start opening up to her; and hopefully, she can convince him and Arthur to make peace too.
However, right now the priority was to deal with the time rifts in Subcon Forest. The rest will have to wait. Hat Kid ran after Arthur to catch up with him.
Unknown to the children, the Snatcher had been listening to their conversation and he had a blank expression on his face as he gave it some thought. Normally he didn't care what others think of him, and he didn't know why but Arthur's words were bothering him. Somehow, it made the shadow feel... bad for his actions? He shook his head. Why would he care about what some brat thought about him? Arthur and Hat Kid were just some annoying kids who became a pain in his butt the moment they set foot in his forest. Just because he was now contractually obligated to be their 'BFF' doesn't mean he has to care about their feelings or even be nice to them.
Dismissing the thought, the Snatcher continued reading his book. Hopefully, these two kids will leave him alone after they retrieve whatever they came for.
As they began to search for the time rifts, the two children noticed that another area of the forest was still blocked off by the fire barrier. That would be problematic if one or two or all rifts were inside that area, especially the purple one. So the duo looked around for the last Fire Spirits in the forest.
And they found two of them dancing around a bonfire near a courtyard, after the part of the forest that was on fire. Knowing what they had to do, they explored the area to find paintings to throw into the fire. They found five paintings up in the trees and on top of stone towers, which they brought back to the bonfire and burned them. As expected, the Fire Spirits thanked the children for their help before they vanished alongside their bonfire. Finally, the last fire barrier disappeared, giving access to the final area of Subcon Forest.
Since they lost a bit of time with the Fire Spirits, Arthur suggested they split up: he will deal with the blue time rifts, while Hat Kid goes to seal the purple one. The small girl agreed and went to the newly accessible area, while Arthur headed for the blue time rift that he spotted earlier on top of the stone wall inside the courtyard.
Hat Kid walked through the new area in search of the purple time rift, taking out a few spiders that came on her way. Eventually, she spotted some old ruins with a frozen geyser in the middle and giant shards of glass floating around it. She instantly recognized the structure on the picture and ran towards it. Sure enough, she spotted the purple rift floating mid-air in front of the geyser. Using the flying stones and gears, she made her way up to the sparkling orb and touched it, disappearing into the rift.
After her vision cleared, the young alien found herself on a very small ice-coated island, making her shiver and wrap her arms around herself because of the cold temperature. A few raccoons in pajamas were sleeping on the snowy ground. Somehow, they didn't seem to mind the cold. The hatch was at the top of the icy rocks before her, and it was already open. She grabbed a picture behind the rocks before she entered the hatch.
In the second level, she was in the forest, high up in the trees, that appeared to be on fire. There was a wrecking ball swinging back and forth between two of the treehouses that sat in the trees, and a few sleeping raccoons. While avoiding the wrecking ball and the raccoons that were floating in the air, she collected the rift pons and four pictures, before she jumped into the hatch to the next level.
The third level included large stone towers, and wooden platforms spinning around. Hat Kid made her way across the tops of the towers, grabbing the rift pons and two pictures, and avoiding more sleeping raccoons, then she jumped into the unlocked hatch.
In the next level, she found herself on top of a well filled with frozen water. She noticed some pillars coated in ice around her, as well as a Mafia man standing on a frozen leafy branch. The goon seemed quite nervous and unsure of himself as he was getting ready to jump onto one of the pillars to try and reach the hatch at the end of the parkour.
As Hat Kid observed him from her position, he leaped onto the pillar, tripping and landing face first on top of it. Suddenly, the pillar he was on trembled and moved down to the large icy spikes below. A scream was heard; and when the pillar came back up seconds later, the Mafia man was no longer on it. Hat Kid grimaced, having a pretty good guess of what happened to the goon judging by the floor coated with ice spikes below. She will have to be quick if she had to stand on those unstable pillars and make it to the hatch in one piece.
With a nod, she jumped from pillar to pillar, making sure to be fast enough as each pillar fell under her feet. She grabbed the rift pons as well as a picture, avoiding the sleeping raccoons and whacking a spider on the way. Eventually, she managed to make it to the hatch. She caught her breath and let out a relieved sigh, before she jumped into it.
In the next level, she stood on top of large tower in a green-foggy area. There were three big glass containers with strange purple carnivorous plants locked up inside them, as well as a few books and bone cages laying around. Some sleeping raccoons were around, along with some weird black squids creating electric shockwaves from time to time. Using her umbrella and her homing attacks, Hat Kid took out the squids and the raccoons to prevent unwanted injuries.
The hatch to the next level was nearby. However, Hat Kid wanted to see if there were any pictures left before she moved on. Sure enough, she found some wooden platforms at the side of the tower leading down to a lower level. She made her way down and found herself inside a library dimly lit by a single lantern. She spotted a picture on the left and picked it up. After making sure there were no more pictures around, she went back up and jumped into the hatch.
And finally, she landed on a raft in the middle of the purple swamp water from Subcon Forest. In the middle of the raft was the heart of the time rift. With a few whacks of Hat Kid's umbrella and a homing attack, the heart was destroyed and replaced with a Time Piece. The purple-hatted girl smiled and grabbed it, before being teleported back to the real world.
When her vision cleared, she found herself back in Subcon Forest, in front of the frozen geyser. As she expected, she had the Time Piece and a storybook in her hands.
"Hey, Hat Kid."
The young alien looked to the side and saw Arthur walking towards her with two Time Pieces in hand.
"I managed to seal off both blue time rifts. I reckon you were able to deal with yours," he said, noticing the Time Piece and the storybook in Hat Kid's hands. The small girl nodded.
Arthur walked up to Hat Kid's side and read the title of the book.
"'The Tale of Queen Vanessa'? Yikes. Just the mere mention of that monster's name gives me the chills," he said with a grimace, shuddering at the memory of the shadowy queen.
"Brr..." Hat Kid shivered as a chill went down her spine, agreeing with the boy.
"Well, at least we'll learn more about her. Let's read the book," Arthur suggested, giving his Time Pieces to the small girl.
Hat Kid put the three hourglasses in her pockets and opened the book to the first page. It showed a prince on the left and a princess on the right. The princess had beautiful long blond hair, a tiara, an elegant green dress, blue gloves, and dark brown shoes. Needless to say it was how Queen Vanessa looked like before she became... the monstrosity she is now. The prince had short toffee-brown flowing hair that curled up a bit at the ends. He was wearing a small crown, a red and purple prince coat, beige pants, and purple boots. The two children did recall a prince being mentioned in the diaries and notes they read back when they were sneaking inside Queen Vanessa's manor.
The prince and the princess were happily holding hands and hearts were drawn in the background, showing that the both of them were in love.
The second page showed Queen Vanessa walking happily around a village. Some children greeted her with bright smiles, and one of them was even offering her a flower crown. Seems like the queen was very appreciated by the villagers. Arthur and Hat Kid then recognized some of the houses from the village they saw after they crossed the bridge when they were on their way to the manor; without the snow on the ground and the icicles in the houses of course. What surprised them the most were the masks that the children were wearing in the picture: they were similar to the ones that the Dwellers had on their faces. Does that mean... that the Dwellers were the ghosts or the souls of the children that once lived in the village? That makes sense. The minions did say that the Dwellers were here even before they were summoned in the forest.
The third page showed Queen Vanessa who was staring at two people standing near a flower cart in shock. One of them was the prince, and the other was a maiden with red hair in a braid, freckles on her face, a blue dress with a brown apron, and black shoes. The two of them were seemingly seen holding hands. Was the prince cheating on Queen Vanessa?
The fourth page showed the queen with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her appearance darkened a little and a heart snapped in half was displayed in front of her. She was heartbroken.
In the fifth page, the prince and the maiden were shown again. However, it turned out that the prince was simply buying flowers from the lady, as she was seen holding a coin in her hand and handing out a bouquet made of purple and white flowers. So when they were seen 'holding hands', in reality the prince was just giving the coin to the florist; but Queen Vanessa clearly misunderstood the situation and thought her prince was cheating on her. In the picture, she is seen running away in tears, as the prince spotted her, seeming confused and concerned.
In the sixth page, the prince and Queen Vanessa were inside a room. A painting of the both of them was on the wall, and the prince's face on it was torn. The prince had the bouquet he bought in hand and appeared to be trying to explain the situation to Queen Vanessa, but the latter didn't seem to listen or believe him. She looked angry and tears were streaming down her face. Her appearance became darker, her teeth were becoming sharp, her fingers grew claws, and a dark aura formed around her.
In the seventh page, the prince is shown being taken away by two guards wearing armors by order of the queen, dropping the bouquet and pleading Vanessa to hear him out, without success. Queen Vanessa's appearance continued to change drastically. She was now dark and hunched over. Her tears froze as they fell, turning into ice, and thick ice spikes formed at her feet.
In the eighth page- Arthur and Hat Kid's eyes widened in shock.
"Holy hell..." the twelve-year-old boy muttered in shock, wondering if his eyes weren't fooling him as he stared at the picture.
Chained up by the wrists against the wall in a dark basement was the prince. However, his appearance was different... familiar even... His whole body was now shadowy, and tears were falling from his golden glowing eyes. The two children immediately recognized the form... it was...
"The Snatcher... The Snatcher is the prince!" Arthur said in realization. "No wonder he hates that monster." Hat Kid nodded with her jaw dropped.
It explained why the Snatcher was so afraid of Queen Vanessa. The fact that he wanted to avoid the manor, the fear showing on his face at the mention of Queen Vanessa's name, him saying that he wished he never met her... It all made sense. The two children couldn't help but feel bad for him; even Arthur, despite his resentment towards the shadow.
And finally, the last page showed Queen Vanessa in her final appearance that the two children knew and came to fear. Shadowy, eyes glowing red, and a dark aura surrounding her.
The story ended here, so Hat Kid closed the book.
"Well, I guess we know how Queen Vanessa became the monstrosity she is now... And the Snatcher too for that matter," Arthur remarked. He glanced around the place and said, "I'm pretty sure she's responsible for the state Subcon Forest is in too." Hat Kid nodded in agreement.
Indeed, judging by the storybook, Subcon Forest probably used to be a wonderful place at the time. A whole kingdom was established and people were happily living there. However, because of a misunderstanding regarding the prince, Queen Vanessa destroyed it all and became a monster that turned people into ice from this very day. All of the snow past the bridge and near her manor, the deaths of the inhabitants of this former kingdom – including the prince's death – and them rising into spirits... She caused all of this out of jealousy.
Arthur walked a few steps away from Hat Kid, his back turned on her, as he said, "You know... I've been quite pissed at the Snatcher for putting us through hell. I still am." He paused as he stopped walking and looked down in thought. "But I guess he had it pretty rough with that crazy and love-obsessed queen."
He then remembered the way he acted earlier, especially with Hat Kid when she told him to be nice with the Snatcher. The young boy sighed sadly and turned around to look at Hat Kid guiltily.
"I'm really sorry for everything I said before. I just... I have a lot on my mind right now, and our misadventures in this forest have really tired me out," he apologized. Hat Kid gave him a smile and a thumbs up to tell him it was okay. "Still, I'm not sure if trying to befriend the Snatcher is a good idea. You can see he ain't really excited about having to make friends with a couple of kids who came waltzing out in his forest, gave him the beating of his afterlife, and contractually forced him to let us come back here and be his 'BFFs'," he added, emphasizing the word 'BFF' by moving the index and middle fingers of both of his hands up and down in a quoting gesture.
The small girl simply shrugged with a smile. Even though she knew it wasn't going to be easy, her childlike hope that it was possible to befriend the Snatcher still remained. Besides, if she managed to befriend Arthur before, she could do the same with the soul-stealing shadow, surely.
The twelve-year-old boy sighed in defeat and said with a shrug, "You do your thing I guess." He knew that when Hat Kid had something in mind it was impossible to change it. Even if he finds that foolish, he kinda admired it in a way. "Anyway, let's go back to the spaceship. I'm starving."
A growl coming from Arthur's stomach could be heard. Hat Kid giggled, as the young boy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. She then used one of the Time Pieces they retrieved to bring the both of them back to the spaceship.
"Brr... This place is creepy!"
Mustache Girl was making her way through Subcon Forest. She walked slowly and cautiously as she scanned her surroundings for anything that might come out from behind the trees and jump her at anytime.
After leaving Dead Bird Studio with the Time Piece that the Conductor gave her, she spent days looking through every nook and cranny of the desert area to see if there were any Time Pieces left that the birds from the movie studio missed when they fell from the sky. She didn't find any though, much to her frustration. Eventually, she remembered a conversation between some Mafia men she eavesdropped back in Mafia Town a while ago, mentioning a forest south of the desert. Apparently, people don't come back from it, but maybe some of the Time Pieces landed there. The red-hooded girl was determined to find the Time Pieces and decided to take the risk to go there anyway.
And now, here she was. Walking anxiously through this dark and creepy forest, worried that anything might attack her; like a ghost for example. She shook her head. Come on now, that's just ridiculous! Ghosts don't exist. They're just entities made up by people and written in stories just to scare children. Surely, there's nothing scary in this forest. Right?
Mustache Girl stopped when she spotted a clearing with an hollow tree in the middle of it a bit further ahead. To her surprise, she could see light coming out of said tree. Was someone living in there?
Out of curiosity, she took a step forward as she began to head towards the clearing. She suddenly yelped when she felt something wrap tightly around her ankle and lift her up upside down in the air. In her surprise, she fidgeted a little before looking up at her ankle to find it ensnared in a rope that was keeping her hung upside down above the ground.
"Ugh, who the hell put that here?" Mustache Girl growled in an irritated tone.
She tried to lift herself up to untie the rope around the ankle. However, she stopped when she saw a black, clawed hand appear above her and cut the rope with a swing. The red-hooded girl yelled as she fell on the ground, landing roughly on her back.
When she got up, the sky became purple and dark clouds surrounded her. Suddenly, a tall shadow emerged from the ground and stared menacingly at the young girl with his golden grin. It was the Snatcher. Mustache Girl's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Seems like ghosts were real after all.
"AHHHHAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOoooo..." the Snatcher began to yell, but he trailed off after taking a better look at the red-hooded girl. "Hang on a minute. A KID?!". He growled in annoyance, and the dark clouds surrounding the both of them disappeared. "Oh great. Of all the next victims that could fall into my traps it had to be another kid! Just my luck! And with a mustache too..." he complained. He sighed, before crossing his arms and forming an irritated look on his face. "Whatever. What are you doing in my forest, kid?"
Mustache Girl stared at the soul-stealing shadow for a moment with fear clearly visible on her face. She then placed her fist in front of her mouth and cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. She won't let herself get intimidated by some big shadow that caught her into one of his traps. No doubt he was a bad guy, and she certainly won't show her fear in front of bad guys. Even if they're scary...
"Ahem. Listen to me, you... you bad guy!" the red-hooded girl said, pointing her finger at the Snatcher in a judgemental manner. The latter was clearly not impressed. "I'm Mustache Girl, the future hero of this planet! I'm here to find the Time Pieces and purge the world from evil! And I'm warning you; if I have to beat you to get them, I- I will!" she said as she nervously twirled her mustache, trying to sound as confident as possible.
The Snatcher stared at her blankly for a moment. And then, he bursted out laughing.
"Hahahahahahaha! Haha! Ha! Ohhh... that's the best I've heard in years!" the soul-stealing shadow said, his arms wrapped around himself as he laughed uncontrollably. Mustache Girl huffed and stomped her foot on the ground, before crossing her arms and pouting angrily. She was clearly upset that this ghost was mocking her for standing her ground. The Snatcher eventually stopped laughing and wiped off a tear from his eye, before looking at Mustache Girl with his usual menacing grin.
"Well, news flash, kiddo: you're bit late for that. There are no more Time Pieces left in this forest. Two hat brats came before and took them all. Soooo needless to say, you came all this way for nothing," the Snatcher informed her with his arms crossed.
"Wait. 'Two hat brats'?" Mustache Girl asked with a shocked look, hoping it wasn't the ones she was thinking.
"Yup. An insolent boy with a cowboy hat, and an annoying girl with a top hat," the Snatcher said, frowning bitterly as he remembered the two kids that beat him in front of his minions and humiliated him further more by forcing him to become their BFF.
Mustache Girl cursed under her breath and tightened her fists with an angry look on her face. It was indeed those damn traitors: Arthur and Hat Kid. If they were still alive and came here before, that means her scheme regarding the Conductor failed. And to top it all, they were one step ahead of her and managed to get all of the Time Pieces in this forest before she could get her hands on any of them. Dammit!
The mustached girl yelped in surprise when she felt the Snatcher pick her up by her hood with his clawed hand and bring her up in front of his face.
"Now, for trespassing in my forest and defying me, I should kill you, eat your soul, and toss your lifeless body away," he said in a threatening tone, causing Mustache Girl to gulp nervously. "But I'm clearly not in the mood to deal with you right now. Those two brats have caused enough trouble already. I am DONE with kids!". He then brought her closer to his face so he could stare deeply into her frightened tawny eyes. "NOW GET THE HECK OUT OF MY FOREST AND NEVER COME BACK!".
And with that, the Snatcher threw the red-hooded girl as far away from his forest as possible. Her scream could be heard becoming fainter and fainter with the distance until it grew silent.
"Kids..." the soul-stealing shadow muttered, shaking his head. He then floated back to his tree to continue reading his book.
Meanwhile, Mustache Girl landed outside of Subcon Forest, face first in the sand. The red-hooded girl pushed herself up a little and spat out the sand that got into her mouth. She looked back at the forest that was separated from the desert by a small river, and glared at it. What a mean ghost! No matter; once she finds enough Time Pieces, she'll make him, the Mafia, and every other bad guys pay for their deeds.
She got up and patted the sand off of her. She then walked around in circle with her hands behind her back, deep in thoughts. Subcon Forest was a bust. She had to find another place to look for Time Pieces and quick. She didn't know how many of them Arthur and Hat Kid got already, but they surely have more than she does. She only got one and it isn't enough to proceed with her ultimate plan to rid the planet of evil.
She then stopped and put her hand on her chin, before grinning. She remembered that there were a few mountains north of the desert area. Perhaps more Time Pieces landed there. She would have to cross the whole desert again though, but if she is quick enough she can reach those mountains in two or three days at best. Hopefully, Arthur and Hat Kid will be busy looking somewhere else before they get the idea of going there too.
Without wasting any more time, Mustache Girl began her journey to reach the mountains and find more Time Pieces before her two enemies do first.
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you all liked this chapter! This one took some time to come out, I apologize for that. I had an issue with my computer. The graphic card became defective and it caused constant flickerings in the textures in game as a result. I had to send my PC back to Megaport (the industry that made my PC), and thankfully, they replaced the graphic card and fixed the issue. And after I got my PC back, the chapter was delayed even further because we had friends coming to the house and staying for a few days. Therefore, I was unable to write the chapter before. But finally, here it is!
Speaking of which, this marks the end of the Subcon Forest chapter section! Next up is Alpine Skyline. However, before we jump into this part, Arthur will reveal his past in the next chapter. That's right! You guys will finally get to know what happened to him before the events of this story, and what pushed him to become the cold, aggressive and snarky boy he is. Get ready for a lot of dark stuff and an incoming emotional rollercoaster!
Alright, it's time to answer some reviews!
To Mad King C: Oh okay, it's alright, you didn't waste my time. That was quite the prank your friend pulled on you. ^^; Anyway, thank you! I'm glad I managed to write the two boss fights well! Now, like I said above, I'm gonna do Alpine Skyline next. Also, in my story, the amount of Time Pieces doesn't really affect the order or the access to each chapters. It simply brings back power to more parts of Hat Kid's spaceship. Regardless of the amount of Time Pieces, I'm gonna write every chapters of the game, including the DLC chapters.
To Nothosaurus: Can't expect less from our favorite, mischievous hat-wearing alien. XD And I agree with you on the relationship between Arthur and the Snatcher, and that's how it's gonna be until the end of the story. XD
To pokemonsora01: Well, he's only gonna tell Hat Kid for now. The others will eventually find out, but maybe not during the events of this story. We'll see.
To HexoSpikeZ: Heh, sorry. Not sorry. :3 Haha! More seriously, thank you so much!
To Mr. Mega1423: Thank you very much! I agree with you on Alpine Skyline, it isn't the most fun part to write or read about, but I'll find a way to make it interesting in some way. ;)
To Konan720:
(Chapter 6) Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Indeed, they do have the same fear of heights. ^^ Anyway, glad you're excited for the rest of the story! Take your time to read it and enjoy it. ^^
(Chapter 21) Thanks! Yeah, I found jar-stache to be a fitting insult for the Mafia Boss, and I figured Arthur could use it as well. Again, thank you, I'm glad I managed to describe the painting of Arthur well enough. I'm also sure the young boy would be good friends with Julia. I mean, he would be extremely distrustful of her at first – like he was with Hat Kid when he first met her – but eventually, he would open up more to her too.
To PatoMayo: Hehe, glad I managed to make this part funny. ;)
To UnusedCheese358: I don't know much about the cut content from A Hat in Time. Besides, I'm only writing about the chapters that are officially part of the game, including the DLCs. Unfortunately, I'm not gonna write about Sand N' Sails.
To Pmoneygreen: I answered a similar question in the past. Unfortunately, I don't plan to add her in this story. However, if I end up writing a sequel, I'll include her in this one.
Anyway, that's all for today, folks! See you all in the next chapter!