Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The future is bright my love. Just look at it.

This is a nightmare, Snatcher thinks. He stands on the edge of the path facing the broken bridge and the wall of snow across the river. Moonjumper hovers next to him, looking grim. Their glowing barrier of thread strains against the increasing accumulation so that the manor side of the forest is completely barricaded from sight. Snatcher edges closer to the cliff of the ravine that divides them. Claws of ice have snaked under the barrier and seem to reach out toward his side of the river. Several dozen feet below, frozen chunks impede the flow of the water, making it foam white as it eddies. A small whimper escapes his throat, and he backs away from the edge, pulling his coat so tight around him it’s hard to breathe.

“I can’t keep up this way much longer. Obviously,” Moonjumper says, gaze cast down. “Something has changed.” Some snow has managed to get across the shattered bridge too, clustering in the nooks of trees and brush. Moonjumper isn’t capable of true, physical exhaustion the way Snatcher is now. But fatigue still undercuts their composure. He reaches over and puts a hand on their shoulder. No well of magic is infinite, and there’s always some level of attention one has to devote to maintaining it, especially with a design as intricate as the one Moonjumper has made. They tip their head to him gratefully at his gesture of sympathy.

“How long do you think?” Snatcher asks.

“If this rate stays constant, maybe something like a week? If it doesn’t…” They trail off, brow furrowing in visible worry. “It could be short. It could be a few days.” They turn to him sharply. “You said the Time Piece was almost done not too long ago, didn’t you? How is it looking now?”

Snatcher gapes but fails to speak for several seconds. Moonjumper easily catches onto his stumbling and their eyes widen.

“Snatcher,” they say in a gentle voice, like they’re trying not to spook a feral animal. “I-”

Across the river, a shrieking howl splits the air and the wind whips through the trees, forcing Snatcher to dig his heels into the mulch. Stinging flakes of ice burn the bare skin of his face. He whips his head back up once the wind dies down. Off in the distance, beyond the wall of snow in front of them, shadows gather and darken. Snatcher’s hands clench into fists, balling up the fabric of his gloves and pressing indents into his palms. Moonjumper reaches out, grips his arm, and in a burst of white, they’re back in the spaceship.

The kids are blessedly not on the bridge when they return. Moonjumper had covertly informed him earlier that something was wrong in the forest, and they had agreed it was best not to let the kids know until they had the situation sorted. Moonjumper waits while Snatcher calms himself, willing the motion back into his seized-up limbs.

“Is she-” His voice cuts out on the first attempt. He waits a few more seconds to catch his breath again. “Is she trying to get across?”

“I don’t know. She might have realized something is off. The flames are nearly out by now,” Moonjumper says. They too seem to lose their words for several moments. “If she is, I need to go back down there.” He can see them grinding their teeth after they say this, hesitating. They’re afraid too. Of course they are.

“Moon, you-” Snatcher runs a hand through his hair and then rubs the back of his neck. “Just keep the Subconites and Dwellers safe first. Bring them here if you have to, th-the kids, they’ll understand. I think. She can’t touch you up here.” He swallows hard. “If she comes across... I have to stop her, not you.”

They turn to him with a pained expression. “Don’t do that. How many times have I told you, you are not alone. I am here!”

“I’m not making you face a past you didn’t ask for-”

“You’re not making me!” they shout, then turn hastily toward the bedroom door. “I told you, I would take care of the forest.” I would take care of you, they don’t say. (Words within words.)

Snatcher lets some of the tension fall out of his shoulders, pressing them out of himself like stubborn wrinkles from cloth. He scrubs his face with his hands, trying to get back into focus. “Just...gather the Subconites at the hollow. I’ll explain the situation to the kids.”

Moonjumper eyes him for a while, as if searching him for whether he’s just trying to sidestep the issue. I can’t think about it right now, he thinks at them. First things first. After an extended staredown, they give him a tight nod and blink away again in a moonlit flash. Snatcher exhales heavily, nearly dropping to his knees before staggering off to the bedroom.

“Snatcher!” Hat Kid cries when she sees him but the end of his name trails off into a mumble as he watches her register his posture and expression in real time. She jumps to her feet, and Bow follows, only a half beat delayed in making the same observations. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to finish the Time Piece. Now,” he tells her.

Hurt is the first thing that registers on her face, and he hates it. “But-what? You said-you said not to worry about it!”

“I-I’m sorry, kid. Things changed-”

“What do you mean things changed?” she shouts.

“The forest is freezing!” he shouts back, sharper than he intended. “Vanessa figured out it’s vulnerable and the ice is spreading across the river.”

“But what about Moonjumper’s magic?” Bow asks. She’s clasping her hands tight to each other and holding them close to her chest.

He shakes his head, starting to pace the floor in front of them. “They can’t hold it for much longer, and they definitely shouldn’t be fighting her off by themself if she breaks through.”

“We can help!” Hat Kid protests.

Snatcher whips his head in her direction. “Absolutely not!” he snarls, panicked by the very suggestion. “You could barely handle the manor. You’re not getting anywhere near her! Changing back is the only way to stop her.”

Hat Kid darts forward and cuts off his path. “You couldn’t even go to the manor at all! You made us do your dirty work the last time. What’s the difference?”

The reminder of his past failings shreds even more of his scant composure. He shakes his head furiously. “Everything! Everything’s different! You’re not coming, that’s final! Just-I need to change back now! How long will it take?”

“Final?” Hat Kid’s voice pitches up so violently it breaks. “Says who? You can’t tell us what to do!”

“Well I am! It’s too dangerous! For once in your life, just listen to me! I’m the only one who can stand up to her, but I need my powers back. How. Long. ”

She clenches her teeth and her fists. “I don’t know, ” she bites out.

The panic from seconds ago now shatters through him, and suddenly he feels disconnected from his body. “What do you mean you don’t know? You said you were almost done!”

“Quit yelling at me!” she shrieks back. “You said we didn’t have to rush!”

“Yeah, ‘rush!’ Did you work on it at all?”

“The calibrator’s still broken,” Bow Kid sobs, yanking his attention in her direction.

“You said you fixed that,” he says quietly. Turning back to Hat Kid, he sees her wild stare. “Did you lie to me?”

She sets her shoulders in defiance. “It was almost there. You were the one always freaking out at us about it, so it’s not my fault! Why’s it even matter if the forest freezes anyway? Half of it’s covered in ice already!”

Snatcher’s mouth drops, and the distant part of him that has been screaming from the back of his mind that nothing about this conversation is going right is strangled into silence. “Are you serious?” he asks in a low voice. The incandescent fear burns through his nerves, and years of festering habit convert the feeling with practiced speed and send it boiling out of him instead as anger. “That forest is my home. I’ve protected it for three centuries. Maybe you’ve never been anywhere long enough to understand what it’s like to have a place like that, but this forest is the most important thing to me- ”

Shock flashes on both the kids’ faces, and the screaming voice of reason inside him claws its way back up to shut him up, but it’s too late. The words are out. And Snatcher watches in horror while the wave of hurt crashes over the two of them.

“I-Kid. No...I-” He grabs his head with his hand, squeezing his eyes shut. “I didn’t mean that, I-”

“Yeah, we never had a place like that because we were never important enough to anybody! ” Hat screams at him, every word sinking in like a knife. “Everybody always had something else they had to do! They always had something else in their life that was first! Not even Tim could take care of us all the time! Everyone had all their own families and their own important stuff, and that’s pecking fine! I told you, it’s just me and Bow, and that’s it! Nobody ever chooses us, so quit trying to tell us what to do because you’re just like everybody else! ” She shoves past him and sprints out the door.

He stumbles after her, reaching out. “Kid! Wait!” He turns back, looking at Bow who has tears streaming down her face. “Bow…” he whispers, pleading.

She turns to the door, and then back to him, for the first time ever, seeming torn between following her sibling and staying. “I have to go,” she says finally, and follows Hat’s path out of the bedroom, because didn’t Hat just say, the two of them are all each other has.

Where a few minutes ago, he was overflowing with emotion, now they bleed out of him until he’s left hollow. This time Snatcher does let himself drop to his knees. Why can’t he ever stop himself from saying these things? Hat Kid will never forgive him, and the Time Piece is still broken, and Subcon is still dying, and Moonjumper...He buries his face in his hands. He can’t even talk to Moonjumper. They’re fighting to protect his home for him, and now how is he supposed to tell them that not only is he not going to be able to back them up, he also managed to fuck up everything with the kids too?

The ship hums as it always does, and he wishes he could sink into the floor and melt into it. He curls up there for a while, willing himself to fade out, but the adrenaline crash leaves him shaking so violently it’s impossible to even do that. Wherever the kids have run off to, they aren’t coming back any time soon. He watches his thoughts bounce around like flotsam in a storm. Every so often, a few of them coalesce into coherence.

Time will keep moving, whether he does or not. It’s the relentless forward momentum that comes with being alive. Either he stands up now and figures out what to do, or life will come hauling in and force him up against his will soon enough. Tethered by that thought, limb by limb, he heaves himself upright again until he’s crouched on all fours, still shivering. He needs to make things right with the kids. Hat may hate him, but at the very least, they can maybe work together long enough to finish the Time Piece properly. After all, Moonjumper doesn’t deserve what’s going to happen, and neither do the Subconites. The only question is, what is he supposed to say? If he can’t talk to Moonjumper, who else is there?

A conversation from a couple weeks ago pops into mind.

If I wanted your input, I’d ask for it.

Without another thought, Snatcher totters to his feet, grabs his mail hat off the hook by the door, and staggers down the hall to the teleporter. He finds the coordinates he wants on the console and warps down to Dead Bird Studios.

He ignores the cries of alarm as he lands in the middle of the crowded sidewalk just outside and barges through the people and the doors. The receptionist owl at the front is the very same who guided them at the gala. She perks up in recognition. "Oh! Hello again, Mister…"

"Snatcher," he says breathlessly and doesn’t leave any room between that and his next statement. "Where is the Conductor? I need his help."

"I’m sorry, Mister Snatcher, he’s in a meeting with Director Grooves at the moment. I can take a message-"

"No time!" Snatcher shouts, charging past the reception desk to the door to the studio.

"Excuse me! Sir! You can’t go in there!"

"Watch me," he mutters, pulling out the umbrella and pointing it at the bolted door. He blasts the lock and sends the doors flying open.

"That’s property damage! I'm going to have to call security!"

"I’ll pay for it later!" He’s already sprinting through, hearing the gathering commotion outside.

The studio is a maze of obstacles, so he fires the gripshot, swinging himself over them, grateful for having practiced. He scans the massive warehouse filled with spotlights and scenery. Towards the back there seems to be a ramp where he can see the two directors conversing with animated gestures. Behind him, the security penguins shuffle along the walkway, so Snatcher fires another gripshot and launches himself toward the back of the studio.

He lands in a stumble, and the Conductor squawks, stopping whatever argument he was in the middle of. DJ Grooves peers at Snatcher through his shades, thick eyebrows pushing up into his afro.

"What do ye think yer doing here, laddie?" the Conductor shouts.

"I need help. I messed up with the kids, I messed up so badly, and I need to make it right because if I don’t, my ex is going to freeze over the forest and everyone in it and maybe more if I can’t stop her, but I need the kids’ help to do that, but-"

"Whoa, darling, slow your roll!" Grooves says, holding up his hands. He leans over and sees the approaching security detail. "Maybe we ought to take this somewhere quieter."

They lead him back to an office down the hall. The Conductor pours a glass of whisky. He tips the glass to Snatcher. "Want some?"

Grooves scrunches his beak up and hands Snatcher a plastic cup of water from the dispenser in the corner.

"Just kidding," the Conductor says. He props his feet up onto the table. "So want to run that by us again, lad? Maybe make it make sense this time?"

The plastic cup crinkles in Snatcher’s grip as he starts from the beginning, with the freezing and the Time Piece and the argument.

"Now," DJ Grooves says steadily, "don't get me wrong, it’s flattering you’d trust us for advice, but, why us?"

"I-Moonjumper can’t help me with this. They have too much going on." And somehow it’s easier to come clean about his failings to the directors. They’re not invested enough to be disappointed in him.

"Sure, but I’m still not seeing what part yer looking for us to fix," the Conductor says. "Ye said they wanted to help ye. Why not let them?"

Snatcher gives him a dumbfounded look. "Are you crazy? It’s way too dangerous!"

The Conductor shrugs, sipping his whisky. "Peck knows the wee lasses can handle themselves. Probably better than you."

Snatcher crushes the cup further, making a fountain of water spill over his hand. "I don’t care! I don’t want Vanessa anywhere near my kids!"

A long silence falls over the table. Even as he breathes hard, staring at the mess he’s just made, Snatcher plays the words over in his head. My kids.

The Conductor leans toward Grooves. "Ye owe me money," he mutters.

"Time and place, darling. Time and place," Grooves mutters back.

“It’s that you’re a parent, aren’t you?” Snatcher says, ignoring the exchange and looking up at the Conductor. “I need-I, yes, fine! I feel like their dad. I want to be! But…as if that’s ever going to happen.” He leans his face into his hands, propping up his elbows on the table. “It’s all my fault...If I hadn’t been pressuring her so much about the Time Piece, she never would have gotten so angry. It just hammers home that I’m not cut out for that sort of thing. Not anymore.” He sighs, releasing the misshapen cup. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I just need to know how to make it right.”

The Conductor and Grooves share a glance, then the Conductor snorts, making Snatcher jerk his head up to look at him. “Oh lad, if you think you’re not cut out for it now, just wait until they’re teenagers,” the Conductor says with a chuckle. “Ye shoulda seen me when I was younger. Real piece of work. My daughter’ll tell ye. Took me a long time and a lot of fights to learn and improve properly. Maybe a bit too long. We still have some baggage. It’s a good thing yer starting early!”

He sobers a bit. “Look, yer going tae mess up. Lots. Yer going tae say things ye don’t mean. And so will they. The fact that ye care so much about making things right with them is a good start.”

“I’m no parent myself, but it’s a good sign too that you’re paying enough attention to own up to your mistakes,” adds Grooves. “That’ll go a long way in any relationship.”

“Being a veteran arguer meself, I wonder...kids don’t always say what’s on their minds properly. Do ye think the real reason she got so mad was because she was ashamed about getting her hopes up?”

Snatcher frowns. “What? Why would she-Hopes about what?”

“She said no one chooses them,” DJ Grooves muses. “Seems to me she was expecting differently from you. Both of them were.”

His frown deepens for a moment, and then…

You’re different now too.

Can we still hang out like this? ...We didn’t used to.

Bow is my family…

Family’s supposed to be on your side.

Nobody ever chooses us!

Snatcher lurches to his feet. He’s an idiot. “Oh my God,” he whispers. It wasn’t that they were hoping to be family. In their minds, they already were. And he betrayed their trust. He rejected them. Like everybody else.

“I have to go!” He shoves back from the table, knocking the chair over, and fumbles with the controls of the hat. He finally finds the transporter signal and as he warps back to the ship, he hears the fading voice of the Conductor calling, “Good luck, laddie!”

He’s barely materialized out of the teleporter’s light when he shouts, “KIDS!” into the ship. A hundred glowing faces of Subconites all turn in his direction. “Wh-”

“Boss!” they shout, their voices echoing off the enclosed space.

Moonjumper bursts out of one of the bulkheads. “Snatcher! Where were you?” they shout. They look over his shoulder. “The little ones aren’t with you?”

“Moon, I’m sorry, I screwed up, I-” His brain catches up. “Wait, they’re not here?” he asks, dread already coiling in his stomach.

“No! I swear I looked everywhere. The Subconites looked everywhere. They aren’t here! I was hoping they were with you!” They seem to catch up too. “What do you mean you screwed up?”

Snatcher turns to the teleporter console and walks like a dead man towards it. “Show history,” he murmurs. The holo-screen lights up and displays a list of all the last warp coordinates. Down at the bottom should be his trip to the studio, but there’s now one below it. A pained moan wrenches itself from his chest. “No…”

The last coordinate: Subcon Manor.

“Run, Hattie!” Bow Kid’s scream tears across the snow-coated lawn in front of the mansion. Vanessa charges at Hat Kid who struggles to jump away, but her feet are frozen into the layer of snow. Vanessa looms over her, reaching for her throat with a shadowy claw. Hat shrieks in panic, tugging at her legs.

Snatcher hits the ground running. “Vanessa!” he bellows, his voice cutting through the frozen air. Everyone else goes still. The hunched shadow turns slowly, and he feels the radiative pressure of her glowing gaze settling on him. “It’s me!” he calls. “It’s Luka.”

“My Prince,” she croons, and his skin crawls at the sound. “You came back to me!” She turns, ignoring Hat Kid, just as Snatcher wanted, and charges toward him with alarming speed. “I won’t let you leave me ever again!”

“Snatcher! No!” Hat cries. She throws a brewing potion down at her feet, blasting the ice that trapped her, and struggles free.

All he wanted was to get her away from Hat Kid, but now he can’t move. There’s no ice trapping him, but the sight of her horrific form bearing down on him seizes every muscle. He can’t even breathe, she’s getting so close. Move, move, move!

Just before she reaches him, something wraps around his waist and yanks him out of her grasp. He screams, hurtling through the air. Moonjumper catches him, steadying him on his feet as they release him from their threads. “Are you alright?” they demand, gripping him by the shoulders. Snatcher nods, finally able to straighten himself and regain control of his body. He struggles to catch his breath. No more freezing. He has to protect his family.

Foiled, Vanessa turns, fixing her attention on them both. “You won’t steal my Prince from me!” she snarls, and Moonjumper backs away a few inches, a low whine of fear escaping them. Vanessa shifts, and a sheet of ice streaks along the ground at him, no doubt aiming to trap him like she did Hat.

In a flash, Moonjumper teleports them to the opposite side of the field, and simultaneously, Hat Kid lobs another explosive potion at Vanessa. A knife of ice jabs up from the ground, punching the flask into the air and bursting it a few feet away. In the distraction, Bow Kid fires a laser pulse at her from a perch up in a nearby tree. The beam slams into Vanessa’s shoulder, and she staggers a few steps before whipping her head in Bow Kid’s direction.

“Little brats…” Vanessa reaches a hand out, and Snatcher sees the base of the tree that Bow is sitting in flash blue, watches a lightning bolt of rime shoot up the trunk.

“Kid!”

Just in time, Bow leaps out of the tree before an explosion of ice spikes blast from where she sat seconds ago. She points her umbrella at a rock pillar across the manor and gripshots her way to safety.

“Snatcher, get out of here!” Hat Kid shouts as she swings past him, trapezing through the air to get another shot at Vanessa.

“Not without you!” he shouts back.

Glowing threads shoot out from next to him. They wrap around Vanessa, holding her in place, giving Hat Kid a moment to land an combustive shot. Vanessa shudders and screeches in fury and pain, thrashing against Moonjumper’s restraints. She jerks, and Moonjumper lurches forward several feet in the air, gasping as they fight against her supernatural strength. Their threads start to freeze, the ice skittering along the lines toward them. With a yelp, they disperse the threads, releasing Vanessa at once.

She turns her attention to Snatcher once again, that sickening hum of saccharine joy filling the air as she reaches for him. Another laser slams into her shoulder, and the joy flips into hissing rage with a speed all too familiar to him.

“Leave him alone!” Bow Kid yells.

Vanessa’s gaze follows the kids buzzing around her like flies. They try a few more attacks, but Vanessa blocks or dodges them easily, now that she’s watching. At one point, she anticipates Hat Kid’s gripshot into the trees, and freezes the hook on the spot. Hat shrieks, forced to disengage the hook from her umbrella, and that’s enough for Snatcher. He activates his own gripshot, launching himself through the air on Vanessa’s other side.

“Ven! Eyes on me!”

That gets her attention long enough for Hat to safely parachute down to the ground without getting skewered.

A pillar of ice shoots out toward him from the side of the manor as he swings past it. He flails midair, firing another hookshot to change his trajectory and escape the grasping hand of snow.

“Why won’t you hold still, love?” With a similar trick, she disrupts the grip of his hook, sending him into free fall.

Shit! Snatcher holds the umbrella above him, letting the breakfall mechanism engage, stopping the rapid descent. But he’s vulnerable now, practically hovering in plain sight before her. Vanessa seems to realize it too because she sends another pillar of snow arcing up to trap him. Instantly, instinctively, Snatcher snaps the umbrella shut, resuming free fall and dropping the last fifteen feet.

The snow cushions most of his impact, but it’s still a hefty drop, and when he lands, he feels a small pop in his left ankle. He cries out in pain, leg buckling as he limps through the slush. Overhead, the snow swipes through the air where he almost was, sloshing over him like a foamy wave. Once it clears, Vanessa stalks toward him.

“No, no, no!” Hat shouts, and she and Bow concurrently fire their umbrella beams at Vanessa. The twin blasts rock her back and forth, and she staggers again, but straightens up, determination to get him keeping her moving. She screeches and claws at Hat and Bow, while Moonjumper appears suddenly at his side, giving him a shoulder to lean on.

Snatcher grits his teeth, holding his leg. This fight can’t keep going much longer. They need to end it now, end it so explosively it overwhelms her. Vanessa blocks another round of beam blasts with a cocoon of snow pulled up around her.

“Moon,” he pants. “I have an idea. But I need the girls away. And I need an opening.”

They let out a small noise of uncertainty, but then clamp their mouth shut and nod firmly. Straightening up, they pull away from him and send their threads out to snag Bow while Snatcher fires his own tether at Hat, catching her by the scruff of her shirt and reeling her in, same as he practiced with the Subconites out in the forest. Pain lances up his leg when he catches her, and he clenches his teeth to hide the pain.

“What are you-” she asks, but he tosses her into the snow behind him, and hobbles forward to put some distance between them.

“Stay put!” he orders, putting every ounce of authority he can summon within himself into it. As if on cue, Moonjumper sends a new set of threads out, restraining Vanessa again before she can start charging him in earnest.

Snatcher reaches into his pocket dimension. In a burst of energy, the stasis sealant manifests in his hand. He looks down at it briefly, and in the heat of the moment, when time seems to slow down, he notes the sparkling fragments flickering in the liquid, lighting up like a disco ball on a gala dance floor. A pair of laughing kids, dressed to the nines, hold his hands, and they dance--a carefree night, when no one else mattered, and he was exactly where he was meant to be. Time is memory, memory is time. This is the gift they gave him.

His grip tightens around the glass, and his eyes narrow with grim determination. Maybe he’s fragile, but he’s not powerless. He lobs the flask into the air at Vanessa. He snags it with the gripshot, but instead of retracting it, he keeps the cable loose and instead swings the umbrella down so that the grappled flask yanks down, straight at Vanessa and shatters open on her crown, dousing her in the concoction.

“No!” Hat screams behind him.

Focused, Snatcher points the umbrella at Vanessa, who shakes herself off from the impact of the flask and fights with Moonjumper’s threads. The umbrella charges, humming to life, and Snatcher holds it, lets it build.

If you let the charge build up longer, the beam comes out stronger, Bow’s voice echoes in his head. 

The strings start to freeze again, popping and shattering at every seam. Moonjumper sends more to replace them, but the ice is already crawling toward them. They’ll have to let go soon. Still, Snatcher holds.

The threads snap, and Vanessa lunges forward. His heartbeat pounds in his ears as every footfall crashes like thunder, every moment closing in. She’s within several steps of him when the umbrella shudders, reaching its critical point, and he fires. The force of the beam makes him step back, bracing with his right leg as it strikes Vanessa square in the chest.

(Remember: The sealant is designed to harmonize with materials like itself when the right amount of energy is applied. Too much energy, and it overactivates, bursting apart by the molecule.)

The colossal amount of energy that slams into Vanessa lights up the sealant. In an instant, her entire form flashes white hot, as every particle that coats her energizes, resonant. The radiance glares off the sheets of snow, bleaching everything until, like a dying star, it novas. The concussive, superheated force throws Snatcher back several feet, sending him tumbling over himself multiple times before he finally crashes face-first into the snow. With everything he has left, he pushes himself back up, desperately hoping that it was enough.

Standing in a blackened crater of melted snow is Vanessa, but in place of her looming shadowy form is a figure strangely human. Plumes of steam rise from her until the last remnants of poisonous cold melt out. Her disheveled hair is faded blond, almost gray now after years of wasting. Her eyes, wide with shock and undercut by dark circles, no longer glow, the light of red rage vanishing away into washed out green that matches her old dress. She topples like an ancient tree.

Snatcher scrambles to his feet, limping toward her and picking up his umbrella for good measure. As he stands over her, she looks up at him, eyes dazed and soft like they’ve just gotten out of bed for the thousandth time. Like she loves him. She smiles in recognition. Despite the ringing in his ears, when she mouths the soft “Oh, hello,” he hears it like she whispered it directly into them, hears every one she ever said overlaid on top of each other at once from a lifetime ago. She closes her eyes. Slowly, the blizzard dies, and there is nothing but silence.

He clenches his teeth, but it’s not enough to hold back the sob that breaks free as he collapses. He clutches his heart, curling into himself as he cries. The pressure splitting out from his ribs releases--whatever had been gripping him all these years has set him free, and the sudden vacancy in his being registers as pain. There were precious years in that space, moments still rooted down in his core, and though they had long rotted, tearing them out still shreds the parts of him they had latched onto. Even in liberation, the shape of him will forever bear the contours and scars of what she left behind. She is gone. Everyone is safe. That’s good. And it hurts.

Hat Kid wraps her arms around him, and he pulls her in tight, suffocatingly close, presses his face into her hair.

“The sealant,” she sobs. “You can’t change back.”

“It’s alright, kiddo,” he murmurs. “I made a choice.”

Two other sets of arms surround him, Bow wriggling up under his arms to plant herself in his embrace, while Moonjumper shields him from the remainder of the cold. For the second time today, the adrenaline drains out of his body at once, and no longer muted, the pain in his leg, the burns on his face, the ache in his ribs all come clamoring up at him. When Snatcher tries to lift himself, his whole body rebukes him, and he lets out a sharp gasp. Everything goes fuzzy.

Chapter Text

Snatcher awakens in a bed, looking up at a familiar curtained canopy, washed with purple tones from the low golden light of the ship’s nightlights. He tries to shift, but finds himself encumbered. His left hand is being held hostage by Bow Kid who’s clutching it in her sleep, head pillowed against it. Curled up into a tight ball and tucked into the crook of his right arm is Hat. Both kids are wearing their sleep clothes, and Snatcher blearily realizes so is he. Moonjumper must have changed him out at some point. Embarrassing.

Gauzy bandages cover his cheeks and a cool pack has been attached to his head. Under the blanket, he feels the restraint of a cast on his left ankle, and right now, breathing really kind of sucks. As if to reinforce that, he coughs, and echoes of pain shoot through his ribcage. The spasming disturbs the kids, and they stir.

For a moment, they rub their eyes in drowsy confusion, but realization quickly sinks in, and they scramble upright.

“Snatcher! You’re awake!” Hat says in the barely-restrained shout of someone struggling to be quiet but having very loud feelings.

“Shh,” Bow chides gently. “You have a concussion, like me,” she explains to him in a whisper.

“You have a concussion?” he asks, frowning.

“No, you do.”

It takes him longer than he’d like to sort out that she was referring to her past injury. Guess that proves he’s still a bit concussed.

His dazed thoughts screech to a halt at the sound of Hat Kid crying. “I’m sorry,” she wails. “I know I should have told you about the Time Piece, but I wanted you to stay with us longer.” She pauses to take gasping breaths. “And I made Bow not tell you either, and then Vanessa was gonna kill the forest, and it was all my fault, and I just wanted to stop her so you wouldn’t be mad, and now the sealant’s gone and you can’t change back-”

Snatcher reaches out and cups her cheek. “Kid, kid, hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

She leans into his hand but continues sobbing. “No! It’s not! You’re hurt so bad! What if you died, and it was all my fault?”

“Shh, no, no, no, it’s not. I told you, I made a choice. It’s not your fault.” He brushes his thumb along her face, willing her to settle. He glances over at Bow Kid to see how she’s faring, since the two of them usually set each other off, and sure enough, she’s crying too. He rubs her hand to soothe her too. “Hey, I’m still alive. I feel alright, how bad could it be?”

“You were sleeping for so long,” Bow says in a wobbly voice. She wipes her eyes, to little avail. “The bioscan listed so many things wrong.”

“Eh, it was probably overdramatic,” he says, keeping his voice light, despite how raspy it is. Snatcher shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. I’m here, alright? I’m not going anywhere.” 

Hat Kid reaches out and with a feathery touch, alights her fingers on the gauze on his cheek. “So you...you’re really staying like this?”

“Yeah, kid.” He offers her a tired smile, hoping it reads as reassuring. “Hope that’s alright.”

She glances over at Bow. “Yeah. I guess that’s alright,” she says, keeping her gaze averted and fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve as she loosely holds his hand in her lap.

Snatcher gives them a moment to process things for a bit before gathering his courage, and then looks them both in the eyes. “I’m the one who should be sorry. It’s my fault, after all. I-” His own voice shakes, and he takes a moment to ride it out. “I never should have said those terrible things to you. I never should have blamed you. It was wrong. I was wrong. You are the most important things to me in the world, and I never should have made you think otherwise.” He lets out a weak laugh, out of nervousness rather than humor. “I was supposed to protect you,” he says softly. “Family’s not supposed to hurt you.”

They stare at him with wide eyes. “You mean…” Hat says.

He smiles gently at her. “I...you know, it took me a while to figure it out, ‘cause I’m an idiot, but I’ve been thinking...well people keep mistakenly calling me your dad, but I was-” he exhales, “I was wondering if you, well, wanted that to be real?”

All attempts at keeping their voices down are forgotten as both of them start wailing. Attempts at gentleness are forgotten too because they both through their arms around him, and he has to hold his breath to stop from yelping in pain and ruining the moment.

“I wanted this to be real so bad,” Bow Kid says, nuzzling against his cheek.

Hat Kid says nothing, just buries her face into his shoulder, clinging to him with bruising force.

He holds them both, staring up at the canopy and feeling the pieces of himself finally click into place. This is right. This is who he is. “I’ll take care of you. I promise,” he murmurs. “I’ll always choose you. You never have to be alone again.”

They both nod, and even though he’s just promised to never leave them, they still hold onto him like he’ll disappear at any moment.

“When I’m better, I’ll have to make sure to draw up a contract for it,” Snatcher says.

“A contract?” Hat scoffs, wrinkling her nose at him.

He grins at her. “Of course, kiddo! A contract makes it official!”

She subsides, suddenly looking bashful. “Well, I guess I can make an exception.”

The doors to the bedroom slide open. Moonjumper perks up at the sight of them, and then immediately clicks their tongue. “My dears, gently, I told you!”

With contrite expressions, the two of them back off, regaining their deliberate, ginger movements from earlier.

Moonjumper sighs, giving them all a fond look as they float over to the bed. “I heard the commotion. I’m glad you’re awake,” they say, and Snatcher hears the deep undercurrents of relief. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive,” he says, then flaps a hand at their concern. “Really, I’m fine. No big deal.”

They huff and roll their eyes. “Well, you’re under a lot of painkillers, so don’t act so tough just yet.”

Ah. That does explain the somewhat hazy, distant sensation of the pain right now.

“I’ll have the doctor check in on you in a little bit,” they continue.

“Doctor?”

“Our director friends kindly offered the one they have on call at the studio. As a matter of fact, they’re all lounging about around the ship. I summoned Cooking Cat as well, since you’re the only one of us who has completed culinary training.”

“Sheesh, did you invite the rest of Mafia Town too?”

“I thought about it, but little Mu wouldn’t have taken kindly to it,” Moonjumper replies smoothly. They seat themself at the edge of the bed, idly rubbing Hat Kid’s back as they do. “It was helpful to have everyone’s support. We were all worried.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Snatcher says again. Moonjumper gives him a weary smile and nods.

“Moonjumper,” Bow Kid says, going back to the former stage whispers. She’s taken a more comfortable position leaning against Snatcher’s waist, carefully away from his ribcage.

“Hm?”

“Snatcher is writing a contract so he can be our dad.”

Their eyes dart over to meet his, stunned questions bubbling under the surface. “Oh?”

Snatcher smirks at Bow, though she can’t see his face from her angle. He gives her shoulder a little shake. “You hinting at something, kiddo?”

She cranes her head up to give him a shiny grin. “Yes!”

He gives her shoulder another encouraging jostle. “Come on, out with it.”

Bow addresses Moonjumper again. “Do...you wanna be too?” she asks, in a smaller voice, the grin quickly turning back into shyness. Hat Kid shuffles herself around to see Moonjumper’s reaction.

They keep glancing at each of the three in turn like a startled bird. Snatcher keeps smirking, waiting. There’s no way they’re going to say no. Sure enough, a brilliant, toothy smile blooms across their face, their cheeks lifting so high it almost squeezes their eyes shut.

“You want me to be?” they ask.

“Yeah!” Hat says, bouncing herself in place. “We can be a family! A contract makes it official!”

Snatcher chuckles at her parroting. “Well, Moon? Do I add you as a co-signer or not?”

They give him a wry look. “Obviously. I can’t let you hog all the attention.”

“YEAH!” Hat Kid whoops before slapping her hands over her mouth when everyone else flinches. “Official family,” she says, lowering her voice.

“We can work out the details later,” Moonjumper says. “You’ve been out for hours.” They turn to the kids. “Why don’t you two get Cooking Cat to help you make Snatcher some food?”

Given an important mission, the kids perk up, sliding off the bed and pattering toward the door in their pajamas. “Good idea!” Hat Kid salutes as they leave.

As the doors shut, Snatcher’s expression sobers as he watches Moonjumper expectantly. By now he recognizes their classic maneuver to speak with him privately. Sure enough, they shuffle closer along the edge of the bed, looking as serious as him.

“The directors filled me in some, but I wanted to hear the story from you,” they say.

Snatcher’s fingers curl against the hem of the blanket. He stares down at his hands, feeling the faint touch of their steady gaze on him. “Where do you want me to start?”

“The argument. That’s all I really want to know, honestly. That,” they sigh, “and why you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Snatcher leans deeper into the pillows behind him, still unable to make eye contact. They reach forward and rest their hand on his, startling him enough to look up. Instead of the disappointment he expected, Moonjumper mostly looks worried. There’s something in their expression that makes the words spill out, and he tells the story again, and somehow the second time, spoken in the quiet, low light, feels more raw.

“I thought I was better,” he says, when he finishes. “Thought I was done lashing out. I didn’t mean it, I really didn’t. Why did I still say it?”

“It’s going to take a lot longer for old habits to break,” Moonjumper says. “You had a lot to lose.” The two of them contemplate in silence for a bit. Moonjumper rubs their wrists as a precursor to what they say next. “I don’t have a problem with you confiding in people who aren’t me about things. It’s not like that. I would never want to tell you ‘only me.’ I just...I don’t want shame to be the only reason you don’t talk to me. Especially now, if we’re going to...to be parents.”

“Yeah...I know. I-I’m sorry.”

“I can’t blame you, though. I’ve been...hard on you before. That was my own baggage, but...please. Don’t hold back next time. I want you to know that.”

Snatcher huffs a sardonic laugh. “I really don’t want there to be a next time for this.”

They laugh quietly too. “I have to agree with that. But the point still stands.”

“Yeah…” A thought occurs to him. “What about you?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, you were going through it too. How,” he pauses awkwardly, “uh, how are you feeling?”

“Oh.” They rub their shoulder, frowning as if they hadn’t actually taken the time to think about that. Snatcher sighs to himself. Typical. “It was all a bit of a blur to be honest. Right now I just feel relieved.” They scan his various injuries. “Admittedly you weren’t at death’s door, but it was still...a lot. Everyone was frantic, including me, but until I sent for help, everyone was looking to me. I couldn’t let them see.” They twine their fingers together in their lap. The day has clearly taken a toll on them too--it shows in the slump of their posture, their drooping eyes, the breathiness in their voice.

“You should take a break too,” Snatcher says. “Let those other guys handle things. Since they’re already loitering around.”

Moonjumper snorts. “Those loiterers have helped us beyond expression. You would be in a lot more pain without that doctor, for one.”

“I’m kidding,” Snatcher groans. “Good grief. Just saying you should rest.”

They snicker, covering their mouth. “I know.”Their expression softens. “I’m glad you’re awake,” they say again.

“Thanks,” Snatcher says, and he doesn’t just mean for their words. Their small smile tells him they know that too.

“We got the goods!” Hat Kid announces as she sweeps into the room, holding a tray above her head.

“Shh!” Bow Kid says dutifully, trotting in behind with another tray carried much more delicately.

Cooking Cat, the genius that she is, packed that soothing tea he favors and drinks for the kids in covered thermoses so they can all gather freely on the bed without risk of spillage. All of them pack themselves in around Snatcher, passing bowls of snacks around. Despite the hours he spent sleeping, Snatcher doesn’t have much of an appetite, only nibbling at the small tea sandwiches Cooking Cat made and letting Bow feed him gummy bears. He mumbles about dizziness after a while, and Moonjumper gives him another dose of medicine after leaving to consult the doctor.

While Moonjumper clears the dishes, the kids resume their slumber positions, arranged on either side of Snatcher, but the tension they carried when he first awoke has eased out of them, and soon they’re both snoring softly. The elusive doctor, a tall, prim-looking owl enters, asks him a few questions and does a quick check of his vitals before clearing him to go back to sleep.

Once Moonjumper returns, they situate themself against the post at the foot of the bed. “Get some more rest. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

Surrounded by warmth and safety and comfortable behind the medicated haze, Snatcher drifts off into the easiest sleep of his life, and for once, the nightmares do not follow.

“Are you sure you’re up for it?” Moonjumper asks as they hover in front of Snatcher, arms held out on either side in case he falls. Snatcher fusses with the position of the crutches so that they don’t press into his bruised ribs--the official diagnosis.

“Yeah,” he pants. “The doc said I shouldn’t be bedridden.”

Moonjumper purses their lips as he hobbles on one leg. “One extra day of rest won’t give you pneumonia. Besides, you’re recovering from multiple injuries at once.”

“It’s fine, Moon! I’m not a princess in a tower.” He laughs to himself at the mild irony.

“Ugh, fine, but you’d better not fall, or I’ll never hear the end of it from the little ones.”

Snatcher finally finds a rhythm with the crutches and heads out to the bridge. The hardest part isn’t so much staying upright as it is catching his breath. It’s tiring work, turns out, moving like this, especially when inhaling too hard causes his chest to spasm. Still, he completes the journey out and is greeted almost immediately by a deafening chorus of excitement. Dozens of minions scurry toward him, some at alarming speeds.

“NO! No jumping!” Moonjumper shouts, darting in front of him. The Subconites screech to a halt, toppling over each other in a pile.

“Boss! You’re alive!” the pile of Subconites clamors. “What happened to you? Is the queen gone? Is the forest still frozen? Are you coming back?”

“H-hang on, one at a time,” Snatcher says faintly. He looks over the crowd, catches sight of Hat and Bow, chattering to Mu with animated gestures. At the commotion of the Subconites, though, they turn, grins breaking across their faces, and they barrel through the crowd to him.

“Dad! Papa!” they call to him and Moonjumper.

It’s not a joke or an accident this time, and Snatcher wonders if the warmth that blooms inside him at the sound of it will ever get old.

“Mr. Snatcher, it’s good to see you up and about,” Cooking Cat says with a kind smile. Mu clings to her side, staring up at him.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t die, ‘cause then I woulda had to beat you up for making my friends cry,” Mu says.

“Hey I was pretty strong when I was dead, I think I could have taken you,” Snatcher says with a smirk. Mu pouts and shuffles out from her shelter behind Cooking Cat and gives him a quick one-armed hug before darting back into hiding.

Snatcher raises a bemused eyebrow at Cookie who chuckles. “She has a lot of fun here,” Cookie explains, patting Mu’s hood over her shoulder. “She was in quite a tizzy to hear you were hurt.”

“Cookie!” Mu whines from the shadows, and everyone laughs.

The Subconites resume their rapidfire questions, parting around him as he walks through their midst and tries to answer everything as he hears them.

“Uh, well, I’m going to be human again from now on. Hope that’s, uh, alright. Yes, the queen is gone. Yes for good this time. I...don’t know what’s happening to the forest now, but the snow stopped I think?”

“So will you live in space now?” the one called Kevin asks.

“I-” Snatcher pauses and looks at the kids. Will they?

The two stop and ponder, frowning in concentration. “Well, Earth is our home now, isn’t it?” Bow muses. “So it doesn’t really make sense to be all the way up here anymore.”

Snatcher turns to Moonjumper. “We’re going to have to do some renovating,” he says.

They chuckle. “Sounds like a fun family project.”

“Well laddie, ye really had us going for a moment,” the Conductor says when Snatcher makes his way over.

“I’ve heard of explosive arguments between exes,” DJ Grooves says. “But I’ve never heard of one taken quite so literally.” He sighs. “I can’t believe it took a life-or-death scenario for you to finally fess up to your feelings.”

“Hah! Speaking of which, pay up, ya peckneck!” the Conductor shouts, clapping his wings together and holding one out expectantly. “It’s the time and place now!”

Grooves shakes his head and reaches into his pockets and pulls out a bag of pons, slapping it down into Conductor’s hand. “You owe me one, darling,” he tells Snatcher.

“And ye owe us a door,” the Conductor adds cheerfully.

“ Don’t look at me,” Moonjumper says, turning their chin up. “You’re paying that one off on your own.”

“Aw, Moon, come on! It was an emergency!”

“And it’s no longer an emergency now, so you can sort it out in your own time.”

“I’m writing you out of the adoption contract.”

“I’ll sue you if you do.”

Behind them, Hat and Bow topple onto each other laughing.

In spite of the bantering, the warmth in his chest only grows. The bridge is packed with people and echoes with dozens of separate conversations overlapping. Even in his previous lives, as prince, as phantom, he had been an island. He carried Vanessa by his own strength, believing that was his duty as her partner. In death, he stewarded the forest and its ghosts, always, always on his own. It’s different now. Somehow, in shattering a Time Piece, he’s found himself a place where, when he falls, suddenly many hands reach out and catch him. He’s found the life he wished for.

A week later, the spaceship descends into Subcon, merging his two worlds in an instant. Instead of the glowing planet, the viewport shows the misty branches of Subcon’s trees. The fires have long since died down now that his power no longer sustains them, so only the faint glow of the mushrooms and fire spirits color the shadows. The haze that bathed the forest in continuous night breaks occasionally, and the sky light filters in, sending beams down to the forest floor. Snatcher presses his hand up to the glass. He’s home.

Moonjumper appears behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Ready?”

Snatcher nods, and follows them to the teleporter. Not long after, the kids come out from the corridor leading from the workshop, both decked out in protective gear as Hat Kid carries the broken Time Piece out, contained in the still-operational stasis shield. Bow hands off goggles to Snatcher and Moonjumper, and once they’re all equipped, they gather on the teleporter and beam down to the mushroom on top of the hollow.

The evening sky is clear, and the brightest stars have started twinkling their way through the blue of dusk. Snatcher takes a moment to take in the view, seeing it through human eyes for the first time. It’s a little hard to balance on the springy mushroom with crutches. He didn’t realize how bouncy they were. Moonjumper lingers just behind him, and even though he steps carefully, Snatcher doesn’t fear a fall. He’s not alone.

“Okay, we’re ready,” Hat whispers, placing the shielded Time Piece hovering in the center of the mushroom. She gives him a questioning look. There is, after all, still an infinitesimal chance for him to back out. If he asks them, they would fly across galaxies on the dangerous mission to harvest another stasis core.

“So am I,” Snatcher says. He made his choice. He wants to live by their side, grow and change along with them. He wants to face the unknown with them, wants to make new beginnings.

Hat nods at Bow, and steps back a few paces, while Bow takes out a device, presses a few buttons on it, and in a distorted whistle, the shimmer of the stasis field flutters and dissipates. The shattered Time Piece trembles and warps, spiraling inward in a self-contained vortex of light. Its image glitches a few times before it settles into a soft swirling sphere with a purple core, sealing the timelines in place forever.

(And now it is done. The rest of the story, I cannot tell, for this is where the memories end and bright future begins. What happens next, you ask? Why, he lives happily ever after, of course. After all, that is how storybooks end.)