Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They could remember being out on a walk, just Snorkmaiden and Little My, walking together under the warm sun. They’d been mainly thinking about spending some time together but, in the back of their mind, they knew they wanted to search for something in particular at the same time.

It had been almost a week now, since Snufkin had disappeared. They’d all reassured Moomintroll by convincing him that Snufkin was probably just out and about all day, probably wanting to have more time for himself, and that he’d come back to them when he’d be ready. But, it had been a week already, and there had been no sign of him.

Little My had even gone out in the night, multiple times, to check his tent and see if he was there. At first, she was angry at him, angry that he’d go without a word or a letter, when he knew that the young troll would be hurt from it and worried. Now though, she’d been more worried than angry.

Her little brother was missing, and she’d never seen him, even in the night, at his camp or in his tent. More worrying, his bag and his fishing gears were still in his tent, no matter when she would go check, they’d always be at the same exact place as the last time she’d checked, they’d never moved an inch.

She knew that Snorkmaiden was worried too. She’d confessed to her about her observations in Snufkin’s tent. The young snork had agreed that it was very worrying and that she was also concerned about him. They both knew how much Snufkin loved Moomintroll, he’d never do anything that could hurt him such as leaving without a warning or without taking his things for a full week, even less without at least leaving a letter.

They’d agreed that day, as they walked out in the woods, to try and go farther than usual, to go look at the spots they knew Snufkin liked to go to when he needed to be alone or when he wanted to fish. They wanted to find something, anything, that would help them understand what Snufkin was doing.

The last thing Little My could remember as she slowly woke up, was that they’d been in one of the many meadows, one they knew Snufkin loved to go to just to be alone or play his harmonica for himself and the birds. They’d arrived to find that, near the little rock where Snufkin always sat, was a ribbon, the one that Snufkin always had tied on his tail. It was a green ribbon with small golden flowers embroidered on it. It was a gift from Moomin, and they’d never seen him without it ever since the troll had given it to him.

They’d only had time to gasp and look at each other as they picked it up, before everything went dark around them.

Little My groggily sat up, rubbing her temples. She had a massive headache. She slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the dim lighting of the room. After a moment, she realized that she didn’t know where she was.

She was suddenly fully awake. She looked around in panic, searching for her friend, only to find her, slowly waking up as well, next to her. With the reassurance that Snorkmaiden was with her and didn’t seem to be hurt, she looked around more carefully.

The room was quite dirty, lots of dust everywhere, a lot of junk all around the room and on the shelves. Everything was so much bigger than them, as if they’d fallen into a giant’s house.

She noticed with anger and an ounce of fear, that they were both locked up in some kind of cage, bigger than the typical birdcage kind, with what looked like some miniature of a small town.

As she tried to focus on scanning the room, her eyes fell on a bottle shaped form, covered with a dirty cloth. She couldn’t tell why, but she felt that it was something important. Whatever was under the cloth had to be something important. She wasn’t sure why, but that was what her instinct was telling her.

“What happened?” Snorkmaiden asked groggily. “What a horrible headache.” She complained as she held her head in her paws. Then, she looked up and around the room, her expression becoming worried and scared. “My? Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Little My replied, shaking her head. “I just woke up too.”

“What a horrible place.” Snorkmaiden shivered as she looked around. “And everything is so big. Where on earth are we?”

“Good question.” Little My simply replied, feeling anger boiling inside her as she looked at the cage they were in more carefully, trying to see if she could find any way to get out.

Before they could say anything else, they heard footsteps approaching the room, then a door being open. Light filled the room, making the girls cover their eyes as their eyes weren’t used to the light.

Little My grimaced as Snorkmaiden gasped at the sight of the creature that entered the room. A big, ugly, filthy, creature. An imp.

The Imp made his way towards the cage, leaning forward before smiling at them, showing his rotten teeth.

“Oh oh. I see that our new prizes are awake.” He cheered. “I hope you like your new home. I made sure to make it as cozy as possible, so you wouldn’t feel too caged.” He said, his tone seeming more sarcastic than what he seemed to want to convey.

“What do you want from us?!” Little My asked, seething.

“Nothing.” The Imp shrugged with a mischievous smile. “But, I’d advise you not to be so loud, little pet, or you might not like what will come your way.” Something in its eyes glimmered, something cold and cruel.

Little My wanted to scream at him to release them, to let all her anger out, but, somehow, she knew that she’d better not do that. She didn’t want to put Snorkmaiden in danger because of her own antics.

The Imp turned its back to them, walking towards the shelves in front of him. He reached out for the bottle that Little My had noticed before and lifted the cloth. What Little My and Snorkmaiden saw underneath almost made them choke, their breath catching in their throat.

Underneath the cloth, slowly lifted by the Imp, was Snufkin, sitting quietly and curled up on himself, inside a glass bottle, trapped. His clothes were a mess, more than usual, and they could tell, even from as far as they were, that he was shaking. His face was hidden under his hat as he sat, face down in his knees, pulled against his chest and wrapped by his arms.

“It’s time.” The Imp announced to him casually. “You can’t refuse now.” It smiled cruelly.

With that, the Imp took the bottle to a table next to the shelf and emptied it, not caring a second for the poor mumrik as he fell hard on the table.

“Up.” The Imp ordered coldly.

Snufkin, shaking and wincing, got up, still not showing his face. His paws were clutching at the fabric of his torn smock. They were covered in bruises.

“Now, play.” The Imp ordered again, a cruel and smug smile tracing on its ugly, dirty, face.

Snufkin slowly reached for his pocket and took out his harmonica. He put it to his mouth and started to play.

It was the worst tune he’d ever played, revealing in it how much he didn’t want to obey. It sounded forced and had no emotion to it. It was just empty and painful to anyone who’d ever heard Snufkin play before. It sounded so unlike anything he’d ever played.

Little My and Snorkmaiden watched helplessly as the scene occurred in front of their wide eyes.

Little My wanted to call out to her little brother, tell him to stop. She wanted to tear this horrible Imp apart. She wanted to make it pay for how he’d treated Snufkin, for how he was ordering her brother as if he was its puppet. She wanted to scold her brother for even obeying him so easily. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything. The scene and the implication of the Imp’s little words dawning on her, the weight of it hitting her as if an anvil had been dropped on her head.

Snufkin had been gone for a week. He’d been trapped here for a week. He’d resist that horrible Imp for a week, refusing to play for him and paying the price for it. Now that she’d been caught with Snorkmaiden, he had no choice but to play. The Imp was forcing him to play by having the threat of hurting the two helpless girls to make sure he would obey.

She didn’t know how long it’d been, how long they’d been standing there, in that cage, watching her little brother playing his harmonica for that horrible creature. It had to have been a long time, as the light from the door had dimmed down quite a bit. Until, finally, the Imp let Snufkin stop playing.

“Enough.” The Imp said with satisfaction. “It’s enough for today.”

Snufkin obeyed, stopping his music and pocketing his harmonica again. He didn’t move after that, waiting for what was to come silently, unmoving. The Imp reached out to grab Snufkin by his smock with its ugly, misshaped, fingers. It lifted the little mumrik and let him drop down in his bottle.

The poor Snufkin hit the bottom of the bottle with a hard thunk. Little My could have sworn she’d heard a small pained noise coming from him as he hit the bottom. He slowly sat up again, drawing his knees against his chest once again and wrapping his arms around them.

“Good pet.” The Imp praised with a smug smile, putting the bottle back on the shelf. “Now, don’t make any noises.” He warned as he turned to the girls. “Don’t make me come back in here. We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen, right?” It gave them a cruel smile before making its way out the door again, closing it and locking it behind him.

Little My and Snorkmaiden stayed silent for a moment, unmoving. It took a moment before the shock finally was over and Little My reached for the bars of the cage.

“Snufkin!” She called, loud enough for him to hear but not too loud to get into too much trouble. “Snufkin, look at me. Please.” She pleaded. “Let us see your face.”

Snufkin didn’t move. Only his tail showed that he had heard her, flicking slightly as she called for him.

“Snufkin.” Snorkmaiden joined in. “Please. We just want to make sure you’re alright.”

After a few more calls, Snufkin finally lifted his head slightly, just enough to be able to look at them, which meant they could see a little of his face.

His face was bruised and he looked exhausted. His eyes were full of pain and despair. They told the two girls how much he’d been through despite him not opening his mouth.

“Snufkin.” Little My called again, a little more softly, worry clear in her voice. “What did he do to you? How long have you been here?”

Snufkin looked at her for a moment before sighting and looking away sadly, shaking his head.

“What does that mean?” Little My asked.

“Please, Snufkin, we need to know.” Snorkmaiden tried to call out again when he just stayed silent, avoiding watching them.

Snufkin looked at them again, before silently moving one of his paws to his throat, making a cutting motion. They looked at him in confusion for a moment before Snorkmaiden finally realized what he was trying to say.

“Did you lose your voice?” She asked in disbelief.

Snufkin nodded, looking away again, a look of fear flashing in his eyes.

“How?” Little My asked in frustration. “What happened?”

“Did he do that to you?” Snorkmaiden asked slowly when Snufkin didn’t move.

Snufkin nodded, resting his chin on his knees and looking distantly in front of him, looking at nothing. He had a blank look on his face.

There was silence then, Snorkmaiden and Little My were at a loss for words. They looked at each other, frowning. Whatever did this horrible creature do to Snufkin for him to look so lifeless?
Little My could see Snorkmaiden's worry and terror in her eyes. She herself wasn't really at her best, the sight of her little brother like that, and the thoughts of what could have been done to him to make him this way, worrying her to the point where she felt lightheaded.

"We'll get you out of there." Little My suddenly blurted out, making both Snorkmaiden and Snufkin jump. “The others will come find us soon, and you’ll be free!”

Snufkin looked at her for a moment, eyes wide in surprise. Snorkmaiden looked at Little My much the same, before nodding in agreement.

“I’m sure they’ll find us soon.” She agreed.

Snufkin’s expression seemed to soften a little for a moment. Little My could swear she saw tears filling his eyes. But, before anything else could happen, they all heard footsteps, making them turn to look towards the door. Snufkin’s expression became fearful as the door swung open.

“I warned you!” The Imp shouted angrily as he came barging in, approaching the cage where Little My and Snorkmaiden were locked up. “I told you to not be noisy!”

“Leave us alone, you ugly monster!” Little My shouted back, shaking with fear but adrenaline rushing in her veins and making her more angry than scared. “You’ll regret even coming after us!”

“Little My...” Snorkmaiden mumbled, touching Little My’s shoulder to try to calm her down. Her own paws were shaking as well, fear loud in her voice. “Please…” She pleaded, glancing between Little My, the angry Imp, and Snufkin. She could see terror in Snufkin’s eyes.

Suddenly, as the Imp approached the cage and was about to grab it, Snorkmaiden saw Snufkin shoot up on his weak feet and launch towards the glass of the bottle. He pounded on the glass as much as he could, until the Imp’s head snapped towards him.

“You little pest!” The Imp screamed at him, rushing to grab the bottle. “You want some? You should have learned your place!”

Little My and Snorkmaiden watched in shocked silence as the Imp snatched the bottle and shook it angrily, making Snufkin fly inside against the walls of the bottle. They could hear every time his body hit the glass with force as if it was happening next to their ears.

Little My absently noted that Snorkmaiden’s paw left her shoulder, now resting on her mouth as she tried to contain any noises or tears that could come out of her. Little My couldn’t stop looking as Snufkin’s body was thrown all over in the bottle, her body was still shaking but now, she wasn’t really feeling anything in it anymore.

Finally, after a long, long moment, the Imp stopped and put the bottle back down on the shelf, huffing but seeming cruelly satisfied. When he turned to look at Snorkmaiden and Little My, he had a cruel, smug, smile on his ugly face.

“If you don’t want to suffer the same fate, you should obey me and stay. Quiet.” He said with a sick grin. “Don’t make me come back again.” He warned coldly as he turned his back to them and walked out, locking the door behind him.

Little My and Snorkmaiden stayed deathly silent, looking anxiously towards Snufkin, who was just laying down, his face pressed against the bottom of the bottle and his hat messily covering his face.

They waited for a long, agonizing, moment, waiting for him to get up, to move. They waited with bated breath for any movement from him.

It took so long they were starting to worry that he was dead, but, finally, Snufkin twitched. Slowly, shakily, he sat up, picking up his hat with a shaky paw and keeping it on his head as he sat up to hide his face.

“Sn-” Little My wanted to call out to him, but she remembered what the Imp had said. More quietly, she called out again. “Snufkin! Are you alright?”

Snufkin didn’t acknowledge her, sitting with his back against the glass and drawing his knees towards him slowly, very, slowly. He wrapped his arms around them and leaned his head on his knees.

Little My didn’t try to call again, knowing that if she was any louder they’d all get into more trouble, and she didn’t want her little brother getting hurt because of her again.

Snorkmaiden was behind her, still, with her paws on her mouth and shaking, still in shock. Little My didn’t know what to do, she wished she could reassure Snorkmaiden that Snufkin would be fine, but it would be lying, as she was, too, worried to death for her brother. She wanted to get to Snufkin, to make him look up at her and to hug him, to tell him she was sorry and that he was safe now, but she couldn’t.

She felt utterly helpless.

Chapter Text

Eventually they’d managed to sit down against each other, cuddling to try to comfort each other, even though Little My would always deny that she really needed it. They’d ended up falling asleep like that, leaning against each other. Snufkin hadn’t moved at all since he’d sat against the glass, so they’d assumed that he’d fallen asleep as well.

They were woken up the next morning, or what they assumed was the next morning, by the sound of the door opening and light filling the room. Snorkmaiden and Little My groaned as they hid their eyes from the blinding light.

They could hear the Imp coming in and walking towards them, but they kept their paws on their eyes, still not used to the light. They heard a noise and heard something being dropped next to them.

The time it took them to finally open their eyes with a minimum of pain was enough for the Imp to close the cage again. It looked at Snufkin for a moment before leaving.

Little My and Snorkmaiden looked beside them and gasped as they saw the Snork and Sniff laying and groaning groggily as they sat up, rubbing their eyes. They hurried to them, Snorkmaiden shaking her brother and urging him to tell her that he was fine and what had happened. Little My stood by Sniff and asked him, with a serious look that Sniff could never have ever thought of seeing, what had happened to them.

Sniff was, as always, of no use. He looked around them and started shaking and stuttering as he asked where they were, panic taking over. Little My didn’t try again, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to give her any information and would just freak out more if she tried to press him to talk. She sighed and went to the Snork and Snorkmaiden.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” The Snork reassured his sister as she fussed over him, making sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere.

“What happened?” Little My asked him.

“Huh?” He turned to look at her, a little surprised before finally looking around them. He hummed to himself, thinking. “I’m not quite sure. I think we were looking for you.” He said, trying to remember. “You were gone longer than usual, so I went to check on you and to get Sniff home because he was too scared to go by himself.” The Snork sighed, shaking his head and shrugging. “I think I heard something from the woods, but that’s all I can remember.”

“Weird…” Little My mumbled to herself. “How does it do that?”

“How does what do what?” The Snork asked curious and confused at the same time. “Do you know where we are? And why we’re here?”

“We don’t know much either.” Snorkmaiden said quietly, glancing at Snufkin who was still unmoving. “We were captured yesterday, I think. We don’t know where we are. In an Imp’s house is all we can guess.” She explained, voice low.

“An Imp?” Sniff swallowed hard, voice high-pitched and scared.

“Sh!” Little My scolded him immediately. “Don’t be so loud! You’ll make things worse!”

“Bu-”

They didn’t have time to talk more as the Imp came back in. It walked towards the cage and gave a satisfied smile. He didn’t say anything, just smiled, before turning back and taking the bottle where Snufkin was trapped in his crooked hands.

“We’ll have guests today.” It sing-sang. “You’ll have to be a nice pet and play for everyone. We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to my new pets, would we?” It said cruelly.

Snufkin didn’t move. It almost looked as if he hadn’t heard it, but, Little My could tell he did, she could see his tail twitching ever so slightly.

The Imp set the bottle down onto the table before leaving again, but leaving the door open this time.

“Snufkin?” The Snork exclaimed in disbelief.

“Sh!” Little My and Snorkmaiden quickly shushed him. “Don’t make noise.” Snorkmaiden said quietly. “You’ll put everyone in danger if you’re too loud.”

“But, what is happening?” The Snork asked. “I don’t understand.”

“That horrible thing will eat us all!” Sniff whined in fear.

Little My kicked him lightly, shushing him again. “If you don’t want to get hurt you’d better shut up.” She said, her voice lacking its usual rudeness.

“We don’t know much more than you.” Snorkmaiden told her brother, glancing back and forth nervously between Snufkin and the open door. “We just know that the Imp wanted Snufkin to play for him yesterday and that he doesn’t want us to make any noises, or he’ll hurt us.” She explained as Little My nervously looked back to her brother as well.

“What do you mean?” The Snork asked, a little confused.

Before Snorkmaiden could say anything else, the Imp came back in with other Imps. They were all as ugly as the others and seemed vicious as they looked around the room.

“Oh! You’ve got quite the collection!” One cheered as he looked at the cage where they were all in.

“You weren’t kidding! You really got your hand on some interesting creatures!” Another said as well, examining them. “What a nice catch.” He mused.

“Those are just the baits.” The Imp laughed. “The real prize is this one.” He pointed at Snufkin.

They all assembled around him, letting out soft ohs and ahs as they looked at the poor mumrik stuck in his bottle.

“Can we hear it?” One asked with obvious interest.

“Of course!” The Imp replied proudly. “Let’s get into a better place. I’ll show you a very special private show.”

With that, he took the bottle up and carried it out of the room, followed by all the other Imps. He closed the door behind him and the remaining ones in the cage could hear him walk away while chatting.

“What is happening?” The Snork asked in pure confusion.

“They’re going to eat us.” Sniff mumbled as he curled up on himself, holding his ears in his paws in fear. “We’re going to die.”

“From what we’ve seen yesterday and what we heard, I think it wants Snufkin to play his harmonica for all of them.” Little My thought out loud as she looked at the now closed door.

She gripped the bars of the cage tightly, anger building up with the fear. Snufkin was out there, all alone, in the middle of all those horrible demons. They’d seen what the Imp was capable of doing to him if he did anything that it didn’t like, and now, he was all alone out there. She wished she could do something to get him out of there, to take his place, so he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.

“I hope he’ll be fine.” Snorkmaiden mumbled quietly, a fist over her chest and a frown on her face.

“What do we do now?” The Snork asked Little My.

“How should I know?” She replied bitterly. “If I knew I wouldn’t be here.”

“Alright.” The Snork sighed, before starting to look around the cage.

For a long moment they stayed like that, Snork looking around the cage to try and find something, Sniff curled up on the floor in fear, and Little My and Snorkmaiden looking at the door quietly, nervously waiting to see what would happen.

After a while, the door opened again and the Imp came back in with the bottle. It was covered with a cloth again, the Imp looking disgruntled as it made its way to the shelves. It angrily put the bottle down on the same shelf as before, before leaving again, not even glancing at the group in the cage.

Little My and Snorkmaiden looked at each other with worry plastered on their faces. They both gripped the bars of the cage and continued to look at the bottle covered with the cloth, trying to see if anything would happen, if they could hear anything coming from it.

“Snufkin?” Little My eventually called out tentatively.

“Can you tap once for a yes and twice for a no?” Snorkmaiden tried.

They, then, heard a small, weak, thump. Little My and Snorkmaiden looked at each other before speaking again.

“Are you alright?” Snorkmaiden asked worriedly.

A long silence before a hesitant thump.

“You can’t lie.” Little My scolded, worry clear in her voice. “Can you still not talk?” She asked.

Two small thumps.

“Did they force you to play music for them again?” Snorkmaiden asked nervously.

One thump.

“Did they hurt you?” Little My asked.

A long, stretched silence. Then, one weak, almost impossible to hear, thump.

“Have you been here for the whole week we didn’t see you?” The Snork chimed in and asked.

One, louder, thump.

The three in the cage looked at each other, the realization that Moomin had been right to worry from the beginning and that they should have been searching for him from the start dawning on them.

“Is he using us to force you to play?” He asked.

One, small, thump.

“I see…” The Snork said thoughtfully. “Did you obey him from the start?”

Silence, then, two thumps.

“Did you only play yesterday?” Snorkmaiden asked.

They all waited for an answer with bated breath for a moment, then, one thump.

Things were starting to fall into places. It was obvious that Snufkin had tried to resist as much as he could, not letting whatever that horrible monster had done to him break him, but with them all there, now, he had no choice. He wanted to protect them, he probably felt guilty for being the reason for their capture, and he was going to get hurt and play, so they wouldn’t get hurt.

“Does it hurt?” Little My asked hesitantly.

Two, hesitant, thumps.

She knew he was lying, she knew he was hurting, but she didn’t say anything. The hesitation was enough to tell her the truth behind the lie, and she didn’t need to know more. She couldn’t force him to talk if he didn’t want to, and he couldn’t answer by anything other than a yes and a no anyway.

“Do you know how we could get you out?” The Snork tried.

Two thumps.

“What did you think?” Little My huffed. “He wouldn’t still be here if he knew how to get out.”

“Not if he couldn’t get himself out and needed outside help.” The Snork pointed out. “And it’s always good to try. We never know.”

“Maybe… We’ll have to count on outside help, I suppose.” Little My sighed. “It’s not like we can do anything in this stupid cage anyway.”

“I’m sure Moomin will come find us.” Snorkmaiden tried to sound reassuring and confident. “He already knew that something was up with Snufkin’s disappearance. With all of us gone, he’ll surely go look for us and find a way to help us. He would never let all of us disappear without doing anything to find us.”

Two, weak, thumps, barely audible.

Chapter Text

Moomin paced restlessly in his room, thinking. He was so worried about his friend that he couldn’t even sleep much at night anymore. He needed to know what had happened to Snufkin, where he was and if he was fine.

Now, even Snorkmaiden and Little My had disappeared. They’d simply said they’d go on a walk in the woods, but they never came back, and it’d already been two days. Why did they disappear? Did they find anything? Did something happen to them? Where were they now? Why didn’t they come back?

There were so many unanswered questions. Even the Snork and Sniff seemed absent in this afternoon. Usually Sniff always came to the house to eat, but he’d been so scared when even Snorkmaiden and Little My hadn’t come back that he’d needed the Snork to take him back home. Everyone seemed to think that he was probably too scared to come out of his house and that they shouldn’t worry too much about him, but even so, the Snork still hadn’t come back. Surely, if he’d found anything, or anyone, he would have come back to inform them, and even if he hadn’t found anything, he would have come to say so to the MoominParents.

“What if they all got kidnapped?” Moomin wondered out loud to himself. “What if some horrible creature was around and ate them? Or hurt them?”

He was so lost in his worried thoughts that he didn’t hear MoominMamma knocking at his door. She opened it and came in, the smile on her face falsely reassuring.

“Don’t worry, dear.” MoominMamma said, making the troll jump as he hadn’t noticed her come in. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

“But, Mamma, what if something happened to them?” Moomin whined, worried tears filling his eyes. “What if they never come back?”

“Now, dear, they’ll come back.” MoominMamma tried to reassure him. “You’ll get yourself sick with worry if you continue to pace like that.”

“I should go look for them!” Moomin said, as if he’d just realized something.

“I’m not sure that it’s the best idea, dear.” MoominMamma said reluctantly. “Maybe you should just wait a little longer. Give them a chance to come back.”

“But I’ve already been waiting for a week! A week, Mamma!” Moomin cried. “If something happened to Snufkin he could be hurt somewhere and waiting for me to come find him! What if he doesn’t make it! And just because I preferred to sit here and wait!”

“Now, calm down.” MoominMamma tried to reassure. “I’m sure he’s not hurt. Snufkin knows how to take care of himself, you know. He’ll be back soon, I’m sure of it.” She lied.

“No!” Moomin cried again, shaking his head. “I need to go find them all! I need to find Snufkin! Something isn’t right! I can feel it! I can’t leave him out there, all alone! I need to go!”

“Fine.” MoominMamma sighed reluctantly. “But do be careful out there. And do come back before night falls. Alright?”

Moomin nodded before running past his mother and down the stairs.

“I sure hope you’re wrong…” MoominMamma mumbled to herself before going back to her activities.

The door opened again after a long moment, the Imp coming inside and making a b-line to the bottle where Snufkin was resting. The sudden movement made everyone jump, even Snufkin, from the small sound Little My heard as the door opened.

The Imp took the bottle angrily, throwing the cloth away, and dumped it on the table. Snufkin fell hard on the table, wincing as he came in contact with the old rotten and dusty wood.

“Up!” The Imp ordered sharply.

Snufkin, with a lot more difficulty than before, slowly got to his trembling feet.

“Now, play!”

Snufkin took out his harmonica, hesitation visible in his movements. He slowly put it to his lips and started to play. The sound that came out wasn’t the beautiful music he usually played. It sounded painful, scared and shaking. It was still music, but it was almost lifeless.

Then, Snufkin stopped. He coughed painfully in his elbow, his trembling legs ready to give up under him.

“Useless little shit!” The Imp cursed highly displeased. “Play!”

Snufkin tried to play again once his coughing fit passed, but, soon after he’d started again, he got into another coughing fit. The Imp groaned, frustrated, before snatching Snufkin up in his hand and throwing him back into the bottle violently.

“Useless pest!” The Imp muttered again. “Only one job to do and not even good enough to do it! If you don’t play for me tomorrow you’ll have to deal with the consequences!”

The Imp looked at the poor trembling Snufkin lying at the bottom of the glass bottle for a moment before snapping his head to the cage, where they had all been watching in shock and terror.

“I don’t suppose any of you stupid little pests know how to play anything.” He muttered, more for himself than for them to hear. “Useless! All useless!”

“He can’t play because you hurt him too much!” Snorkmaiden cried in a moment of courage, grabbing the bars of the cage.

“What did you just say?” The Imp said coldly. “How dare you talk to me!”

“If you let me tend to him, I’ll make sure he can play for you again!” She offered, trying her best to keep calm as her heart was beating so fast she could swear it was about to burst out of her chest. She could swear she heard two faint thumps, but she ignored it, looking at the Imp with determination.

The Imp seemed to be taken aback by her proposition. It kept quiet for a moment, clearly debating if he should take the offer or not. Then, it seemed to have decided.

“If he can’t play tomorrow you’ll both have to deal with the consequences!” The Imp said before approaching the cage and opening it. It quickly took Snorkmaiden out, everyone else too shocked to react, and closed the cage again. It took her to the bottle and let go of her, letting her fall inside.

She winced as she hit the bottom, thankfully missing the poor Snufkin in her fall. She quickly sat up and leaned forward over Snufkin. She couldn’t do much yet as the Imp took hold of the bottle again to put it back on the shelf. It then covered it again with the cloth, cutting most of the light from entering the bottle.

She vaguely acknowledged the sound of the Imp going away, closing the door behind him, as she tried to see if Snufkin was alright.

“Do you have any matches on you?” She whispered to Snufkin, hoping that he could still answer like before.

She watched as the faint outline of his tail twitched and thumped against the glass once.

“Can I search for them?”

One thump.

“Are they in your pockets?”

Another thump.

With that, She reached out to try and find the pockets. Thankfully, she found them rather quickly and was able to rummage through them, gasping as she cut herself slightly on his pocket knife that had, for some reason, been opened in his pocket. She quickly took the matches and lit one.

The light filled the bottle, the warmth of it comforting. She then put the other matches to her side before looking over at Snufkin again. He was still unmoving, lying down and trembling like a leaf. She could hear his faint and painful breathing.

“Snorkmaiden?” A voice called out. It was Little My’s worried voice. “Are two alright in there?”

“I’m fine.” She replied, continuing on her task.

She needed to remove Snufkin’s hat and help him sit up to see where he was hurt. She told him quietly what she was going to do before doing it. She went slow, making sure to not hurt Snufkin more than he already was. Even so, she could see Snufkin wincing in pain with every move.

As she removed his hat, she gasped at the sight of his face. His hat was hiding it before, but, now that it wasn’t hiding his face, she could see all the damages. His eyes were puffy and red, showing that he’d been crying, his left eye was swollen and bruised. He had many dark bruises on his cheeks and his forehead.

She could only imagine how much he was hurt underneath his clothes. She really hoped it wouldn’t be worse than this, but she knew that there were little to no chances that it would be the case with how violent the Imp had been with him.

“Oh, Snufkin.” She whispered sadly as she took his face gently between her paws. “It’s okay. I’m here.” She tried to reassure quietly as she noticed Snufkin’s bright eyes, ready to cry again. “I’m sorry, but I’ll need to get your clothes off to see where you’re hurt.” She warned quietly, waiting for Snufkin to nod before reaching out to unbutton his smock.

She managed to get him off his clothes, without moving him too much, rapidly. Once she was done with the clothes, she folded them and placed them next to her. She then finally took a better look at Snufkin after lighting up another match.

She felt sick as she took in the damages done to his poor body. He had giant bruises on his battered body, dark and painful. The poor Snufkin was more bruises than skin at that point. As she looked over him, she noticed that his right ankle and right wrist were dark and swollen, probably sprained or even fractured. His left leg and arm were so badly bruised that she was amazed that he could still move them, or stand on his feet, by himself.

She looked around her as she realized that she would need something to apply on the bruises. The light was slowly going, but, even in the dim lighting, she noticed a small roll of bandages and a small balm container not far behind her. She wasn’t sure why, but she assumed that the Imp must have put it there without her noticing, so she could help Snufkin better.

She took them, relighting another match. She wouldn’t have enough bandages and balm to cover all the bruises, but she would have to do with what she’d been given. She warned Snufkin gently before applying the balm to the worst of the bruises. He winced and gasped in pain as she put her paw, as lightly as possible, on his darkly bruised skin. She apologized quietly each time, knowing that she couldn’t do much about the pain.

“How are you doing up there?” She heard the Snork ask, just loud enough for her to hear it.

“Are you two alright?” Little My then asked again, a hint of worry in her voice as she tried to remain calm and collected in front of everyone.

“We’re fine.” Snorkmaiden replied as she bandaged Snufkin’s ankle tightly.

“Is Snufkin alright?” The Snork asked for Little My.

“He could be worse.” She said vaguely as Snufkin looked at her with pleading eyes.

There was silence again. She knew that her vague reply told them more than she’d said, even if Snufkin didn’t want them to worry about him.

She continued to bandage Snufkin, wrapping his right wrist tightly. She made sure both ankle and wrist were wrapped tight enough to keep them from getting much worse, but not too tight so as to not make the pain worse.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered to him once she was done, out of bandages and balm and helping him put his clothes back on. “I can’t do much more than this.” She shook her head sadly.

As if to reassure her, Snufkin reached out with a paw to place it on Snorkmaiden’s, giving her a shaky smile when she looked up at him. She knew he was trying to make her feel better, that he knew she couldn’t do much and that he didn’t expect her to do anything more.

“Can I sit next to you?” She asked politely when he was fully dressed again.

Snufkin nodded, watching her as she crawled to sit next to him. As she sat, she looked up at the opening of the bottle, thinking. She acknowledged Snufkin curling up on himself again, as he had done the previous day: knees pulled to his chest and wrapped by his arms, head resting on them.

“They’ll come to find us.” She said quietly. “I know they will.”

Snufkin looked up at her in surprise. She couldn’t hear his voice, but, somehow, she knew what he wanted to ask.

“Moomin was already worried when you disappeared. Now that all of us have disappeared too, I’m sure they’ll all come searching for us.” She explained. “I know they will find us.”

Snufkin looked away again, resting his head between his knees, as if he wanted to hide his face. She could see him shaking more than before, his shoulders heaving and his breath picking up.

He was crying.

“They’ll find us, don’t worry.” She tried to reassure as she pulled him closer gently, wrapping her arms around him. “They’ll find a way to save us. You’ll see. Moomin would never leave you to disappear without coming to find you. He’ll come.”

She continued to hold him close as the match died, the bottle slowly being filled by darkness again. After a while of crying in her arms, Snufkin managed to cry himself to sleep. She cuddled him trying to soothe him still, and let herself be claimed by her own exhaustion.

Chapter Text

Joxter was on his way back to MoominValley. He had taken the habit of going south around the same time as Snufkin to meet him on his travel, then they would part ways again as Joxter went back to Mymble’s house, before he would come to the valley later in the year to spend time with his son, his daughters-in-law and their friends.

He was just on his way when he felt the need to rest. He didn’t mind being called lazy by others, he did like to nap most of the days away, so, when he was walking for so long, he often took breaks to take a quick nap in a tree or to play his guitar.

That time, he decided to play.

He took his guitar and untied it from his bag before sitting down against a rock in the middle of a nice looking meadow. He must have been really close, by now, from MoominValley, but he still wanted to take his time, knowing that no-one would blame him for doing so.

He started playing slowly, just letting his paws run over the strings for a moment, before it turned into a soft music. It talked about the joy and peace of traveling, the excitement of going back home and seeing his family, the peaceful feeling of laying down on the grass to take a nap and enjoy the birdsong under the warm sun.

He was enjoying his time, lost in his own music, when something made him stop dead in his tracks, the music ending abruptly. He looked around carefully, his tail fluffed in alarm.

Something was wrong.

Some would have called it instinct, others would have thought it was Joxter’s forebodings, but to him, it was just a feeling. It was the unnerving feeling of a presence nearby, watching him, studying him. It was the feeling of danger close by.

Now, it wasn’t the first time someone, or something, had tried to sneak up on him. After all, after a life of wandering, you had to have some experience in this kind of situation.

Joxter quickly tied his guitar back to his pack and shouldered his backpack. If he was being watched he’d better be prepared to run.

He started to walk slowly, looking around to search for any escape path. He noticed a slight buzzing sound from behind him, it was following him. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good. He continued to walk, trying to seem oblivious to their presence.

Then, a small crash echoed from behind him, followed by a weird fog. He knew that it was bad instantly. He quickly pulled his scarf over his nose as he tried to hold his breath.

He hurried down the path, hearing the buzzing following, before making a hard turn left into a bunch of bushes. He turned into another pack of bushes before leaping and climbing up in a tree. He made sure to climb high up, so he wouldn’t be noticed by whatever was after him.

He waited a long time in the tree, listening intently even as the buzzing sound subsided. When he was sure that he wouldn’t be found, he carefully climbed down and started running the other way.

Moomin had been out searching for a good few hours already, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. His friends needed him. He was sure of it. Something was oh so wrong.

He was running around in the woods, trying to find something, anything, that could help him find them. He was hoping he would find them close by, and that they would just apologize for worrying him and explain why they stayed there without telling anyone. But, inside, he knew it wouldn’t happen.

He made his way to another meadow, one he knew Snufkin loved. As he arrived at the meadow, his eyes immediately caught sight of something small on the grass. He quickly walked to it, hoping against all hopes that it wasn’t what he thought it was.

He bent over and picked up the small green fabric to examine it. He felt as if his breath had been taken away as he realized that it was indeed Snufkin’s ribbon, the one Moomin had offered him.

Moomin felt himself starting to shake, a wave of panic filling him. How could this be here? Snufkin never took it off. He always had it on his tail. Why was it here? Where could Snufkin be? What happened to him?

A noise, quick footsteps, nearby startled him out of his panicked mind. His head snapped towards where he’d heard the sound stop. There, he was met with the sight of a man standing in front of him. He looked so similar to Snufkin, but with darker hair, piercing blue eyes and a red hat.

It was the Joxter, Snufkin’s father.

They stood in silence, facing and staring at each other, for a long moment. Then, as if something had clicked in his mind, Joxter gave a fake, cheerful smile and finally spoke.

“Oh! If it isn’t our young Moomin!” Joxter said, trying to sound cheerful. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

“Ha- Have you seen Snufkin?” Moomin blurted out without even taking a second to think of what to say first. “Is he here? Is he around?”

“Snufkin?” Joxter asked, a little confused.

He could feel a lump forming in the back of his throat. Something was wrong. He just knew it. Moomin seemed so worried and panicked, and he was asking about Snufkin? Joxter dearly hoped that whatever got Moomin’s tail in a bush wasn’t what he was thinking.

“No. I haven’t seen him yet.” Joxter replied, still trying to keep his cheerful façade. “Shouldn’t he be with you? He’s always with you usually?”

“No…” Moomin’s ears dropped sadly. “I haven’t seen him in a week. No one has seen him actually… And now Snorkmaiden and Little My are gone as well…”

As he talked, Joxter noticed that Moomin was holding something in his paw. A green ribbon with small golden flowers embroidered on it. It was Snufkin’s ribbon. He felt like a rock had fallen into the pit of his stomach as his mind finally registered what the young troll had just told him.

Joxter and Moomin stayed silent for a long moment, neither of them knowing what to do, or say. But, suddenly, Joxter’s ears perked up. He was pretty sure he could hear a faint buzzing sound coming closer.

Without waiting another second, Joxter sprung into action. He walked to Moomin and grabbed his wrist before pulling him with him on the path to the valley quickly.

“A- You’re hurting my wrist.” Moomin mumbled behind him.

“We need to get you home.” Joxter stated sternly.

“But, I need to search for Snufkin!” Moomin protested.

“There is no time for that.” Joxter scolded. “You need to go home with me.”

“Bu-” Moomin tried to argue, but he was cut off by the Joxter again.

“No buts! I’m taking you home with me.” Joxter said firmly. “Beside, I think I might have an idea what could have happened to my son.”

“Wha- What?” Moomin asked in disbelief. “But I thought you didn’t know-”

“I don’t know for sure.” Joxter noted. “But that’s why I need you to be home and to talk with your parents. If I’m right you don’t want to be running around outside right now.”

“What do you mean?” Moomin asked, worries only increasing from the Joxter’s statements.

Joxter didn’t say anything, he only lessened his grip, so he wouldn’t be hurting the troll’s wrist. Moomin silently followed, looking around in curious worry.

They made their way back quickly, Joxter still listening carefully over the sound of their footsteps to hear the buzzing sound. Slowly, he relaxed as he finally couldn’t hear it anymore.

Soon, they were back at MoominHouse where MoominMamma welcomed them with a warm cup of tea. They all sat at the table, waiting for whatever Joxter wanted to talk about.

“The young Moomin told me my son was missing.” Joxter started. “And that his sister and Snorkmaiden were missing as well.”

“That’s exact. I’m afraid none of us has seen Snufkin for over a week or so. And Little My and Snorkmaiden went on a walk yesterday and didn’t come back.” MoominMamma confirmed.

“Did anything happen with him before that?” Joxter asked, looking mostly at Moomin.

“Not for what we know of.” MoominMamma said as she looked at MoominPappa who nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think anything happened…” Moomin said, thinking. “Unless… He did mention to me that he had a bad feeling and that he had the feeling he was being watched sometimes.”

“Hm. I see.” Joxter nodded thoughtfully. “Did he mention anything else?”

“I don’t think so.” Moomin shook his head.

“Do you happen to know something we don’t?” MoominMamma asked, as calm as ever.

“Maybe.” Joxter admitted. “Something happened to me when I was on my. Just before I crossed paths with young Moomin actually.”

“Oh?” MoominPappa perked up curiously. “And what was that?”

“I’m not sure what it was,” Joxter started, “But what I know is that it wasn’t good. Something came after me while I was resting my legs. I didn’t see it, but I heard it, and felt it.”

“You heard it?” MoominMamma asked.

“Yes.” Joxter nodded. “I heard a buzzing sound, but it wasn’t the kind that comes from simple flies or such bugs. It was different. I’m not sure how, but it was.” Joxter shook his head slightly. “Whatever it was, it had to have been some magical creature. I was lucky enough to notice its presence before it threw its potion at me. I don’t know what it was trying to do, but it couldn’t have been anything good. I had to run away from it and make sure not to breath in the potion’s fog. But it still followed me and tried to find me when I escaped. It actually came close to us when I was with young Moomin. That’s why I had to take you back home so quickly. I’m sorry if I was a little too brutal.”

“How dreadful!” MoominMamma gasped. “To think that something came after you and could have hurt Moomin.” She frowned, looking at her soon with clear worry.

“Are you really sure it wasn't just a bee or something?” MoominPappa questioned.

“I know the difference between a bug and something dangerous.” Joxter replied, sounding a little offended by MoominPappa’s question.

“We have to go find Snufkin and the others!” Moomin exclaimed in worry. “What if they got hurt by that thing? What if they need our help?”

“Calm down, dear.” MoominMamma put a gentle paw on Moomin’s shoulder. “I’m sure they’re fine.” She lied.

“I agree with the young Moomin.” Joxter intervened with a serious look on his face. “It doesn’t sound like any of them to disappear like that without a word and for so long.”

“Even if you’re right, my friend, I don’t think going out, if some dangerous creature is out there trying to hurt or capture you, is a good idea.” MoominPappa noted.

“But Snufkin needs our help!” Moomin cried.

“I hate that I’m about to say this but… I remember you mentioning a Witch living close by, and that helped you a few times. I think it would be best to ask her for help.” Joxter said reluctantly. “Maybe she could tell us what happened to Snufkin and the others and what that thing was.”

“Indeed, we do have a Witch living in the forest.” MoominPappa nodded. “But I’m not sure if she’ll want to help. She’s not the most cooperative person.”

“I’m sure she’ll help once she’ll know about the situation.” MoominMamma countered gently. “She always helped when we asked her before. There’s no reason she won’t help now.”

“It’s true that she always helped us… Well, after she put that nasty spell on us that first time…” Moomin mumbled. “And she isn’t really cooperative even if she does help in the end…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Joxter shook his head. “If you say she’s helped you before we should at least try to ask again.”

“But why would you need her help?” MoominPappa asked.

“Because whatever it was that was following me earlier couldn’t have been anything else than something magic. If someone can help us figure out what that was it would be a witch.” Joxter explained. “If anything happened to my son and the others because of that thing, the Witch should be able to help us find out how to find them.”

A loud noise startled Snufkin and Snorkmaiden awake. Snufkin instinctively clung to Snorkmaiden, unthinking and too scared to care. Snorkmaiden, worried and scared as well, pulled him close to try and comfort him as they waited in the dark to see what would happen.

“It’s okay.” She whispered in an attempt to reassure him. “You’re not alone anymore. We’re here.”

Snufkin’s grip on her tightened slightly. He buried his face in her shoulder as they continued to listen.

Noises continued, loud like doors being thrown open and closed, things being moved about in the other room. They could hear a faint and angry mumbling coming from the Imp and could feel the fear rising as they continued to listen, hoping that the Imp wouldn’t continue his rage with them next.

Thankfully, after a long moment, they heard him go away, closing another door being him violently, his voice slowly fading away. They sighed in relief, their body relaxing a little.

“Snufkin. Snorkmaiden.” Little My called. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah.” Snorkmaiden replied, rubbing Snufkin’s back to try to reassure him as he still had yet to let go of his tight grip on her.

“Is everything alright in there?” The Snork asked next.

“We’re fine.” She answered. “But I hope it won’t come back.” She squeezed Snufkin slightly.

“What do you think happened?” Little My wondered, not really asking anyone in particular. “He sounded like he wasn’t really happy.”

“Whatever it was, I just hope he won’t take his anger out on us.” Snorkmaiden said quietly.

“Yeah.” Little My sighed.

“What if he come back and hurt us?” Sniff whined, hiding behind the Snork.

“It has no reason to.” Little My noted, turning back to look at them. “Have you found anything yet?” She asked the Snork.

“The only way out is that latch up there, but it’s impossible to reach for any of us. We’d need someone on the outside to open it for us and a rope to climb out of this cage.” The Snork replied thoughtfully. “It would have been easy to pick the lock and get out if it hadn’t been so high, but like that…”

“So, our only option is to wait for someone to come huh?” She huffed in disappointment. “Well I sure hope Moomin won’t wait another week to come search for us.”

Two small thuds echoed next to Snorkmaiden, letting her know that Snufkin wanted to talk as well.

“Even if he comes to find us, it would be too dangerous.” Snorkmaiden said, speaking for Snufkin. “What if he was caught too?”

“Then MoominPappa and MoominMamma wouldn’t have any other choice but to come find us.” Little My countered. “Besides, they’d probably tell the Inspector too, with a little chance they’d be able to find a solution to get us out without getting caught.”

“It’s true that it would be the best way to get us out of here.” The Snork agreed. “They might not even wait for Moomin to get captured. I did say I’d be back to tell them if I found you. They’ll have to have noticed by now.”

“Even if they did, they probably won’t do much unless something happens to Moomin.” Little My huffed again. “They’d do anything to keep him from worrying. Even if they know something is wrong they won’t do anything, just to not worry him.”

Snorkmaiden could feel Snufkin’s grip tightening on her, letting her guess how he must be feeling about all those suppositions. Of course, for someone like him, it was hard to hear that people would rather keep quiet to not worry others rather than come out to help him. She would have to talk to them about it later, to make sure, if it was to happen again, which she sure hoped not, they would actually try to come find him, no matter if it worried Moomin or not.

“They’re still very worried about you.” She whispered to Snufkin who looked up at her in surprise. “I heard them talking before we went out to find you. They were very worried, but they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want to worry Moomin, and they weren’t sure how they should proceed to try and find you. They worried that you were just wanting some alone time and that you forgot to tell us. They didn’t want to intrude or make you feel bad for forgetting to tell us.” She explained. “In my opinion they should still try to search for you, but I can’t fault them for not knowing what to do and not wanting to worry Moomin.” She sighed. “I just wish they were right and that you just wanted to be alone.”

She could feel Snufkin rest his head against her shoulder again, a little more relax, something sad in the way he was clinging to her now. One thud and she knew he understood and agreed.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure she’ll really listen to us?” Moomin worried as they walked to the Witch’s cottage.

“Of course.” MoominMamma reassured. “And, in case she doesn’t want to, I’ve brought something to give to her in compensation, just in case.” She winked at her son, patting her handbag.

“I know you don’t like the police too much, but don’t you believe it’s a little too much to directly go to the Witch for a problem of missing person? We could just ask the Inspector to investigate.” MoominPappa noted to the Joxter as they walked.

“If it’s something magic that took my son and the others then I don’t see what your little Inspector could do about it.” Joxter huffed. “It would only waste a lot of precious time.”

“We need to do everything to find them quickly.” Moomin said with worry. “Snufkin’s already been gone for a full week! What if… What if…” He started to panic.

“Calm down, kit. If something had happened to my son, I’d know it.” Joxter tried to reassure. “Parents know this kind of things, you know.”

“Really?” Moomin asked quietly, sounding like he wasn’t believing it.

“Of course, dear.” MoominMamma agreed. “You’ll get it too when you’ll have children.” She chuckled.

“Ew.” Moomin mumbled.

Once arrived at the Witch’s cottage, MoominMamma knocked on the door, standing in front of everyone and ready to greet the Witch and explain the situation to her. After a minute of waiting, the Witch finally opened the door. She looked surprised to see all of them, looking over the group, before taking a falsely unhappy expression.

“And what do we have here?” She huffed. “What are you all doing here? Don’t you know this is a Witch’s forest? We don’t want goodie-goodies like you here.”

“Hello. Sorry to come to bother you unattended, but we happen to need the help of such a powerful witch in some important matter.” MoominMamma said calmly, with a gentle smile.

“And why should I help the likes of you?” The Witch huffed again.

But, before anyone could say anything else, Alicia appeared behind her grandmother.

“Moomin? MoominMamma? MoominPappa?” She called, surprised. “What are you all doing here?”

“Snufkin’s missing, and we need the Witch’s help to find him.” Moomin blurted out to her.

“Missing?” The young girl gasped as the Witch’s expression slightly changed to something more intrigued. “Of course we’ll help! Right, grandma?”

“You’d rather focus on your studies, young girl. I won’t be there forever to teach you everything.” The old witch huffed.

“Grandma!” Alicia pouted, putting her hands on her hips in a scolding manner. “I won’t study unless I know my friends are safe.” She turned her head away stubbornly.

“Whatever.” The Witch sighed. “I’m not an expert in finding a missing person. Why would you even need me anyway?” She asked, a note of curiosity in her voice as she walked away from the door, turning her back to them to walk deeper inside, letting Alicia welcome them in.

“Actually, Joxter thinks whatever happened to Snufkin is related to some magical being that came after him earlier.” MoominPappa explained.

“Oh?” The Witch sounded strangely interested.

They all explained the situation to the Witch and Alicia, explaining how Snufkin had been missing for a week, and how Snorkmaiden, Little My, and even the Snork, and maybe Sniff, had gone missing has well.

To their surprise, the Witch looked rather worried as well after hearing all of them out, even though she was trying her best not to show it, and would never admit it. She seemed mostly concerned about what Joxter explained next, about his encounter with something unknown but possibly a magical creature.

“That sounds bad.” Alicia noted worriedly. “What could it be?” She turned to her grandmother to question, knowing that the older lady would have more chance to have an idea about the answer.

“Whatever it was you were right assuming it was a magical being.” The Witch hummed, thinking.

“You know what it was?” Moomin asked hopefully.

“There are multiple possibilities. I can’t be sure unless I see it for myself.” The old lady shrugged.

“Can you help us find Snufkin?” Joxter asked, a little impatient.

“I could try.” She shrugged again, trying to sound annoyed at the demand. “But I’ll need something from him, so I can trace him.” She warned.

“Something from him?” Moomin repeated, thinking.

“Hey, kit, you still have Snufkin’s ribbon don’t you?” Joxter asked after a moment.

“Oh! Right! I forgot about it.” Moomin said as he opened his paw, offering the green ribbon to the witch. “I hope it’s enough.” He mumbled nervously.

“It’ll do.” The Witch said as she took it from him, walking over to a shelf and taking a magic ball from it. “I need you to not watch, or it’ll make the spell weaker, and I might not find him.” She warned, trying to sound serious about it despite everyone knowing that she just doesn’t like to be watched when she uses her magic.

They all looked at each others, avoiding looking in the witch’s direction as she cast her spell. Joxter couldn’t help but cross in arms, starting to tap lightly with his foot, getting more and more impatient. Despite what he’d said about knowing that nothing bad had happened to Snufkin, it was obvious that he was still very worried about him and knew that he was in danger. Who knew what the thing was doing to him and the others after all.

“Hm.” The Witch hummed. “That’s not very convenient.”

“What do you mean?” Moomin asked nervously. “Did you find where he was?”

“No.” She said blankly.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Joxter pressed.

“He’s simply nowhere.” She shrugged.

“What?” Moomin asked, feeling the panic rising in him. “Does that mean…?”

“What it means is that he’s not in the dimension.” She explained as she turned to look at them, a serious look on her face. “Whatever took him, it took him to the dimension it came from.”

“Is that really possible?” Moomin asked in disbelief, putting his paw in front of his mouth when the Witch simply nodded.

“Oh, dear.” MoominMamma and MoominPappa looked at each others in worry.

“Is there a way to get to this dimension and get him back?” Joxter asked, trying to not let the news get to him.

“Well yes, of course.” She sighed, annoyed. “If it found a way to get here then it left a passage somewhere where we can open a portal to its dimension. The only problem is to find it.” She shrugged.

“How can we find it?” Moomin asked.

“Did you notice anything when you were walking around?” She asked, then turning to Joxter. “You said you’d been attacked by it, do you remember where? If it attacked you it must have been close to its portal. I doubt that it’d go too far from it, or someone might find it.” She explained.

“I remember.” Joxter confirmed.

“Good.” She nodded to herself. “Now, we’ll follow you then. Lead us where you were attacked.”

“You’re really going to help us?” Moomin asked, surprised.

“Hmpf.” She huffed, blushing faintly. “I’m only doing it, so Alicia won’t refuse to study.” She pretended.

“Thank you, Grandma!” Alicia hugged her. “Quick, let’s go find that portal!” She cheered.

With that, the group went out again, following the Joxter, to find the said portal, or any trace of it, in the forest.

It didn’t take too long before Joxter and the group arrived where he’d been attacked first. He simply stopped there, letting them know that they were there, and looked as the Witch looked around, frowning.

“You were right.” She hummed, something ominous in her voice. “It appears that something magic came around here. I can sense traces of magic around this area.”

“Do you think you can find where Snufkin and the others are if you follow the traces?” Moomin asked, hopeful.

“Hm…” The Witch hummed as she thought for a moment. “Yes. It looks like there is a clear trail of magic energy. Whatever it was clearly didn’t try to mask its trail for people like me.” She said proudly. “Follow me.” She announced, taking the lead and starting to walk deeper in the forest.

Chapter Text

It took a long time, much too long for Joxter’s liking, before the Witch finally stopped. They all watched as she looked around for a moment.

“Where do we go now?” Moomin asked, nervous, when she didn’t say anything.

“It appears that whatever it was made a sort of portal between our dimension and its own here.” She said thoughtfully.

“Can we find them?” Moomin asked, starting to lose hope, his ears flattening on his head.

“Of course, for a Witch as experienced as me, using the magic energy that gathered here from the creation of this portal to create our own to its dimension will be easy.” She huffed proudly.

“Can you really do that, Grandma?” Alicia asked in awe.

“Of course.” The old witch nodded in confirmation before turning around to face away from them all. “Now, let me work.” She said, making a sign for them to not look at her.

“Maybe we should have brought the Inspector…” MoominPappa thought quietly. “This is a case of kidnapping after all.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Joxter huffed. “Your Inspector couldn’t do anything, even if it wasn’t a creature from another dimension. How can you think that he could even do anything to arrest a creature from another dimension?”

MoominPappa huffed, reading to counter, but MoominMamma silently stopped him, looking at her soon who was looking at them with a very worried and annoyed expression. MoominPappa sighed but stayed silent.

“Don’t worry, Moomin, Grandma will find them.” Alicia tried to reassure, putting her hand on his shoulder.

“I hope we won’t be too late.” Moomin said, ears flattening ever more against his head.

“Don’t say that.” Joxter intervened, scolding but trying to sound gentle. “I told you, if something bad had happened to my son, I’d know it.”

A sudden flash of light made them all turn around in surprise. The Witch was standing there, as she was before, with a strange sort of mirror in front of her.

“So? Are you ready?” The Witch asked when nobody talked for a moment. “Oh. And I have to warn you. This portal won’t be able to hold on if too many people go through. You’ll have to decide who goes. Of course, I’ll have to come, so you won’t do anything stupid.” She huffed. “But, I’ll only take two of you through.” She warned.

“I- I’ll go!” Moomin quickly declared, something desperate in his voice.

“Now, now, Moomin, I know that you’re worried about your friends, but-” MoominPappa started to argue.

“I’ll go with the kit.” Joxter then said, successively cutting the older moomin off.

“I’m not sure that it’s a good idea.” MoominMamma mumbled, looking worriedly at Moomin.

“I’ll be fine!” Moomin argued. “I have to go! I can’t stay here while Snufkin and the others are in danger!”

“He’ll be fine.” Joxter sighed, seeing that the MoominParents were worried about their son. “I’ll protect him until we find my son and the others.” He tried to reassure, receiving a skeptical look from MoominPappa. “What? You don’t believe me?” Joxter huffed at his reaction.

“Of course, we trust you.” MoominMamma chimed in, smiling at him before turning to her husband. “They’ll be fine dear.” She reassured him.

“So? Are you decided yet?” The Witched urged, annoyed. “We don’t have all day long.”

Moomin nodded, taking a step toward her, followed closely by the Joxter. The Witched huffed again before telling Alicia to not wait for them and to go study, or stay with the Moomins to make sure they wouldn’t try to come after them, to which the Moomins obviously denied that they would do such thing.

With that, Moomin, Joxter and the Witch walked through the mirror, light blinding them as they did, as the others started to walk back to MoominHouse, after telling them to be careful and that they would come back to some delicious dinner for all of them, even the Witch.

“Wow!” Moomin gasped as the light died down, letting him see their surroundings. “Everything is so huge!” He mused, forgetting for a moment all his worried.

“You’d better not get lost.” The Witch warned as she mounted her broom and leading the way again.

Joxter pushed Moomin gently to make sure he would follow as well, as he himself walked after the Witch.

As they walked, they quickly arrived into a small town, the houses so much bigger than them. Moomin and Joxter were starting to worry about Snufkin and the others and what might be happening to them in this giant’s world.

The Witch instructed them to not get seen by anyone as they made their way through the town, looking around.

“Stay here.” The Witch said before heading off toward a big creature.

“What is that?” Moomin gasped quietly.

“An Imp.” Joxter hissed, knowing how bad it could be for any of them. “And the worst kind. From the looks of it, it’s probably an Inspector.”

“An Inspector Imp?” Moomin looked surprised. “I didn’t know there could be Inspector Imps. I thought they didn’t have laws.”

“They do.” Joxter shook his head, still staring at the Inspector Imp as the Witch accosted it and started to talk with it. “I heard of it before. They aren’t supposed to interact with any other species for more than small pranks.”

“Really?” Moomin turned to him, unconvinced.

“That’s what I heard.” Joxter shrugged.

Snorkmaiden couldn’t fall back asleep. It must still have been day outside, and she wasn’t feeling like sleeping for now, despite having really nothing else to do. She looked down at Snufkin who had dozed off against her a while ago. She smiled sadly at the dark figure leaning against her. The poor mumrik had been through so much, he really deserved the rest. She just wished she could get them all out of there.

The sudden sound of a door opening startled her, making the poor Snufkin jump in surprise from both her movement and the loud, sudden, noise. They both sat up against the glass as they heard the sound of footsteps coming closer, opening the door of the room before it approached them.

The Imp took the bottle and lifted the cloth as it moved to the table.

“You’d better play now if you don’t want to pay the consequences.” It said angrily to them before emptying the bottle on the table.

Snufkin and Snorkmaiden fell hard on the table, wincing as they quicky tried to get back up. However, they didn’t even have time to fully get back to their fit before the Imp took hold of Snorkmaiden, ignoring Snufkin as he painfully got to his own feet, to bring her back to the cage where the others were watching, and dumping her there.

As they all hurried to help her up, not that she really needed it, and to check up on her, the Imp went back to Snufkin, who was now standing shakily on the table, all alone.

“Now.” The Imp spoke again. “Play!” It ordered coldly.

Snufkin, glancing quickly at Snorkmaiden, took out his harmonica and started to play.

They all looked on, holding their breath as the music started to play. It was more lively than before, it told of the fear that Snufkin was feeling, the pain he was in, how desperate for an escape he really was.

“What is she doing?” Joxter grumbled to himself, watching as the Witch talked to the Inspector Imp, now accompanied by two other officers he’d called. “She better not screw us up.” He hissed under his breath.

“I hope we can get to Snufkin soon…” Moomin sighed sadly.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait much longer as the Witch made her way back to them, followed by the three Police Imps. Joxter stared them down as they approached, ready to defend his ground.

“Relax, big cat.” The Witch mocked as she came closer. “Like you know, there are laws, even between the Imps. Abducting people from another dimension is one of the forbidden things in this dimension. As are other things. These officers’ job is to prevent those things from happening and punishing the ones that commits them.” She explained.

“We cannot allow anyone to go across dimensions and abduct other species for their own amusement.” The Inspector Imp said. “I’m really sorry about what happened to your friends. I promise on my grade that we will save your friends and arrest that criminal.” He said solemnly.

“Thank you.” Moomin replied politely, an ounce of hope finally coming back to him.

One of the officer let them carefully climb on his shoulder, so that they could move faster, before following the Witch again as she tracked down Snufkin’s trace.

It didn’t take long before they arrived in front of an old house, a little away from the others and closer to the forest. The Witch signaled the Inspector Imp that it was there before leaving him the place to take care of the rest.

“Police! Open the door!” The Inspector Imp announced loudly, knowing hard on the door.

Chapter Text

They were all holding their breath as Snufkin played, scared of what would happen if he couldn’t keep it up until the Imp was pleased.

Suddenly, a loud noise startled them all, even the Imp.

“Police! Open the door!” Someone called through the front door.

Snorkmaiden, Little My, the Snork and Sniff all exchanged glances, an ounce of hope starting to appear in their eyes.

“Shit!” The Imp cursed. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” It quickly closed the door of the room, locking the door, as they listened to the front door being kicked down. “How did they know?!”

“We know you there! Come out and everything will be fine!” The voiced called again after the door finally gave away, letting them in.

“Fuck!” The Imp cursed again, panicking, as it fumbled around, trying to find something that could help him.

“Come out of here!” The Inspector started to bang on the door of the room. “Don’t make your case worst!”

“Get lost!” The Imp replied angrily before snatching Snufkin up in its ugly hand.

It quickly pushed a shelf over, making it fall near the cage, casing Sniff to cry out and everyone to gasp. The fallen shelf revealed a window that the Imp quickly opened before hurrying out of the house, successfully running away.

Soon, the door of the room was kicked down as well, letting the three officers in, looking around quickly in search of the Imp.

“Where is he?” The Inspector Imp asked when he noticed the cage. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here, but did you see where he went?”

“He ran out the window!” Little My quickly answered.

“It got Snufkin! You have to help him!” Snorkmaiden called out as well, her worry clear in her voice.

“Snorkmaiden! Little My!” Moomin called from one of the officers’ shoulder.

“Moomin! Joxter!” The ones in the cage all called as they noticed them, the officer letting them down in front of the cage before getting to try to open the cage.

“Don’t worry about your friend.” The Inspector Imp called as he started to go out to follow the Imp’s trace, helped by the Witch. “I’ll get him back to you.”

Joxter managed to jump on him before this one could leave, however, skillfully climbing his way up to his shoulder.

“I’m not leaving my son’s fate in your sole hands.” Joxter hissed.

“Alright, then let’s go.” The Inspector Imp nodded, understanding Joxter’s unwillingness to give up on going after his son.

With that, the three left, followed by the second officer, leaving the last other officer behind as he got the cage open and carefully got the prisoner’s out of it, putting them down in front of Moomin.

“Are you alright?” Moomin asked them in concern, hugging Snorkmaiden as this one was set in front of him.

“We’re fine.” She said, quickly trying to reassure him, before looking out the window worriedly. “But Snufkin’s still with this Imp...”

“I hope they’ll catch him…” Moomin nodded, looking out as well.

“I’ll never let them catch me.” The Imp grumbled as he ran away.

“...” Snufkin groaned as the Imp squeezed him in his hands, squeezing all of his battered body to the point where he was sure he would pass out soon from the amount of pain he was in.

“Shut up!” The Imp ordered, furious. “And stop moving!” He squeezed him more, earning him more painful noises from the poor mumrik. “Urg! I should’ve taken your stupid bottle!” He quickly rummaged through his pockets as he ran, making a victorious sound when he found another smaller bottle, full of a strange liquid. “Here! That’ll keep you quiet!” The Imp huffed as it shoved Snufkin inside, closing the bottle again before anything could spill out.

Snufkin, gasped as he was suddenly thrown into a cold liquid, one that he recognized immediately from both color and smell, the smell so strong now that he was in it that he could hardly breathe, granted that he was already having trouble breathing as he was tossed around, thrown under the liquid so fast that he could get enough time to really take any air in.

He couldn’t even tell what was happening anymore, everything was so loud around him, everything moved so fast. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move anymore, couldn’t fight it anymore. His body was so painful, so much of him hurt. He just couldn’t do anything anymore, his body having given up, too weak to fight anymore.

Everything was fading to black, the liquid quickly filling his lungs.

A sudden noise. The liquid quickly spilled all around him. Snufkin gasped as air finally reached his lungs, coughing up the liquid he’d breathed. He could hear loud voices around him, but he couldn’t process anything that they were saying, anything that was happening.

Suddenly he could feel paws on him, familiar ones. He couldn’t fight against them, letting them sit him up. He could himself leaning against someone, that someone rubbing his back.

When he had recovered enough to open his eyes and look up at the person holding him, he nearly choked as he was faced with his father, smiling gently down at him, still rubbing his back. Snufkin couldn’t help but break into tears at the view of his father next to him, he wasn’t sure what was happening, but his father’s presence was the sign of hope he’d been looking for all this time. He really hoped it meant it was over now.

“Shhh. It’s okay now.” Joxter shushed him, hugging him close. “It’s over now. You’re free. Nobody will hurt you anymore.” He promised into his wet hair.

It took a long moment before Snufkin was finally able to see through the tears and to look at whatever had happened. He couldn’t believe what he saw when he finally could.

The Imp was being hand-cuffed by an Inspector Imp and another officer, as this one cursed loudly, cursing the police and cursing all his little pests. The Witch was flying on her broom near the Inspector Imp, watching the scene with satisfaction.

“It’s all over now.” Joxter smiled gently at him, drawing his attention back to him. “Sorry, I couldn’t come home earlier.”

Snufkin, in response, hugged his father again, squeezing with the little strength he had left despite the pain shooting through his body at any slight move.

“We’ll take you home now.” Joxter sighed into his hair, hugging back, before looking behind them.

Snufkin followed his eyes, relieved pooling him as he saw all his friends running towards him as they were being let down by a third officer.

Quickly, he was surrounded by his friends. They all looked at him in horror, finally being able to see all the damages done to him. Moomin apologized to him for not coming sooner, explaining that he knew something was wrong and blaming himself for not having followed his instinct sooner, to which Snufkin only took his paw and shook his head, trying to give him a small smile to tell him that it wasn’t his fault.

Moomin wanted to ask some things to Snufkin, but, before he could, Snorkmaiden cut him off, asking if they could go home now. Moomin nodded, glancing back to Snufkin before going to where the Witch was to call her and ask her to go back home.

Meanwhile, Snorkmaiden gave Snufkin a soft smile before helping him up and onto his father’s back, so they could carry him back home without hurting him too much.

After thanking the officers, they all went back to where the portal was still open, thankfully they’d caught the Imp near it, so they could arrive quickly at their destination. The Witch quickly explained that, to make sure they could all go through without the portal closing on them, they should all hold hands and walk through it quickly.

The passage was stressful, but they all managed to get through, sighing a sigh of relief when they were met with the familiar forest of the Valley.

They were home.

The Witch gave back Snufkin’s ribbon to Moomin before declaring that she was done with all this and to not come cause any more trouble to her, starting to fly away on her broom, only to stop and ask them to tell Alicia to come home before night fell, before, this time, flying off.

They didn’t bother trying to invite her home with them, knowing that she wouldn’t want to, and instead immediately started on their way back to the MoominHouse.

As they walked, Moomin couldn’t help but continue to worry about Snufkin, glancing at him again and again, noticing that this one had already fallen asleep on his father’s back, finally feeling safe with them all around him and out of the bottle. He couldn’t imagine what Snufkin had been through all this time he was gone, and the way Little My and Snorkmaiden were looking at him wasn’t helping reassuring him.

They quickly made their way back home, arriving before night fell. They were exclaimed over as they arrived, and quickly ushered in by MoominMamma, already starting to instruct MoominPappa to go get the first aid kit.

Joxter carried his son to the guest room, under the watchful eyes of MoominMamma, only stopping for a moment to tell Alicia what her grandmother had asked them to say, and to thank her, although it was barely heard, before continuing on his way up the stairs.

He carefully let Snufkin down slowly, letting him the time to wake up as they sat him on the edge of the bed. This one winced and gasped at the pain shooting through him as he was moved, his paws gripping tightly Joxter’s smock when this one tried to step back to let MoominMamma work, instead sitting next to his son to reassure him.

“I’ll need to take your clothes off to see the damage.” She warned passing a gentle paw through the boy’s hair to reassure him.

She made quick work of the clothes, helped by Joxter, to make sure she wouldn’t be moving him too much, to not cause him too much pain. Once she was done, Joxter and her gasped at the sight, exchanging worried glances.

They didn’t say anything about it, MoominMamma starting to take care of him as Joxter stroke his son’s hair as this one rode the pain when she would touch his bruises. MoominMamma helped clean him and putting some ointment on his bruises, trying her best to keep her touch light as feather for him, and bandaging the worst of them.

Still, through it all, Snufkin gasped and cried at the pain. Even the soothing paw of his father in his hair and the light touch of MoominMamma couldn’t stop the pain from becoming unbearable.

“There.” MoominMamma sighed, after helping Snufkin put a some spare clothes on, smiling at him as she caressed his less damaged cheek. “All done.”

“...” Snufkin tried to say something to her, but his voice was still gone, somehow making even less sound than before.

“Shh.” She reassured. “It’s okay now. We’ll let you rest for now.”

Snufkin looked between her and his father with pleading eyes, a paw gripping Joxter’s smock again in fear.

“Don’t worry, kitten. I’ll stay with you.” Joxter reassured.

MoominMamma agreed silently, giving Snufkin a reassuring smile as they helped him lay down slowly. She pressed a gentle Moominkiss to his head before heading out, announcing that she would bring them some dinner in a while.

Joxter, in the meantime, laid next to his son, embracing him carefully, his tail going over him protectively, as Snufkin continued to cling to his father, burying his face in his father’s chest.

Chapter Text

“Mamma! How is he?” Moomin hurried to his mother as she came down the stairs.

“In time, he’ll be fine.” She simply said as she went to put the first aid kit away. “But, for now, he’ll need to rest, so we’d better leave him with his father for now.” She announced as she noticed Moomin hesitantly looking up the stairs.

“Did he say what happened?” Moomin asked, wanting to know more.

“No, Moomin, he couldn’t.” She sighed, stroking the fur between Moomin’s ear. “I’m afraid he won’t be able to say much for a while.”

“What do you mean?” Moomin asked, starting to fear the worse.

“Don’t worry. He just lost his voice, that’s all.” She quickly explained to reassure Moomin. “He won’t be able to talk for a while.”

“How?” Moomin asked, only more worried at this information.

“Who knows.” MoominMamma sighed. “It’s okay. Even if he can’t speak for now, we can still help him get better.”

Moomin nodded sadly, following her as she walked into the living room where everyone was.

There, they all listened as Little My and Snorkmaiden explained what they knew, what they saw, while they were in the cage, explaining what had been done to Snufkin in their presence.

Everyone was really shocked at what they heard. They could only imagine how much pain Snufkin had been in for more than a full week. A wave of shame silently washed over them all as they realized how wrong they had been to try to wait it out, how they should have seen the red flags from the start, and should have gone to find him, even if it was just to find him perfectly fine.

It took a long time of shocked silence before someone finally moved. It was MoominMamma, declaring that it was time for them all to relax, reassuring them all that it was over and announcing that she was going to make dinner for them all, to which Alicia quickly excused herself, declaring that she had to go home, and that she would try to come back the next day to get some news of Snufkin’s condition.

While MoominMamma was preparing dinner, Snorkmaiden declared that she was going to help her.

“Mamma?” Snorkmaiden asked quietly as she helped her cutting vegetables.

“Yes, dear?” MoominMamma replied gently.

“Is Snufkin really going to be alright?” The girl asked, looking over at MoominMamma with worry.

“Of course.” The mother reassured. “But, he’ll need some times and a lot of rest.”

“Do you really think he’ll heal from that?” Snorkmaiden asked quietly, setting the knife down as she looked at the cut vegetables sadly.

“He’ll need some time and a lot of support from everyone, but he will be fine.” MoominMamma nodded. She looked at Snorkmaiden for a moment before sighing. “Ah, yes. It must have been quite a sight.”

“He was so scared, Mamma.” Snorkmaiden mumbled. “I’ve never seen anyone so scared. And he was so hurt too. And he was trying his best to stay strong and to protect us all when we got captured.” She sniffed as MoominMamma brought her in a comforting hug. “He could barely stand, but he still obeyed that horrible Imp to protect us.”

“Shh. It’s okay now. He’s fine. He’ll be fine.” MoominMamma said gently as she rubbed her back. “Snufkin is very strong. He’s gone through a lot, but, with time and care he’ll make it through. And you’re here to help him.” She smiled at the girl, wiping away the tears from her eyes. “You’ve helped him in there, you just need to continue to be there for him. You’ll see, he’ll be fine sooner than you think.”

Snorkmaiden sniffed one last time, wiping away her tears, as she nodded, trying to recompose herself. MoominMamma rubbed her back gently until she was finally feeling better.

“Say, Mamma?” Snorkmaiden started hesitantly, taking the knife again in her hand and taking to cut some potatoes. She waited for MoominMamma to hum in response, looking at her encouragingly as she waited for her to talk. “Why did you wait so long before trying to search for Snufkin? You knew that something was wrong, right? Why did you wait?”

“Ah…” MoominMamma looked surprised at the question, sighing as she answered. “I guess I wanted to protect Moomin from the possibilities of what could have happened to him. I guess I also wanted to believe that he was just wanting some time alone as well.” She smiled sadly at Snorkmaiden. “Of course, in hindsight, I should have done something before, but it’s too late to change what happened.” She shook her head.

“If it happens again…” Snorkmaiden said quietly, not looking up from her work. “Can you promise that you won’t wait? That, even if he’s fine and just forgot to tell us that he wanted some time alone, you’ll still try to go find him?”

“Of course.” MoominMamma nodded sincerely. “I wouldn’t want this situation to happen again.” She sighed when the girl glanced at her. “I can’t erase what we did wrong, but I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.” She smiled at her softly.

“I think you should tell that to Snufkin too.” Snorkmaiden mumbled. “He really looked hurt when he realized that no one wanted to come find him because we wanted to protect Moomintroll.” She sighed sadly, guiltily.

“I can imagine. Rightfully so too.” MoominMamma sighed as well. “We’ll have to make up for it by proving him that we care about him and that it won’t happen again if it comes to it.”

“I hope he can forgive us…” Snorkmaiden mumbled to herself.

“Of course, he’ll forgive us.” MoominMamma reassured gently. “You know how he is. He’s too kind to really hold it against us for too long.”

“He’d be right to though.” Snorkmaiden countered. “We didn’t help him when he needed it after all.”

“You’re very right.” MoominMamma sighed again before smiling at her again. “He would have all the rights in the world to blame us for not coming sooner while he was getting hurt. But, I’m sure it won’t stop him from forgiving us. And we’ll make sure to prove him that he can count on us now.”

Snorkmaiden agreed silently, nodding.

With that talk finally over, they both went back to their task in a more comfortable silence.

Snufkin was sleeping when MoominMamma came back with some soup for him and some stew for his father, and some medicine for the pain. They weren’t going to wake him up, but the movement in the room seemed to wake him up quickly, leaving him looking around in fear for a moment before relaxing as he remembered where he was and with whom.

They helped him drink his medicine and the soup before instructing him to go back to sleep. He looked like he wanted to speak but, as he’d lost his voice, couldn’t, so he obeyed, curling back on himself as he laid back down, paws absently taking hold of his father’s smock, as if to reassure him that he was still with him.

MoominMamma talked quietly with Joxter as Snufkin went back to sleep, absentmindedly. She waited with Joxter as he ate, watching quietly over their poor boy. When this one was done eating, she left him alone, only asking him to come get her if anything was wrong and that she would come check on them in the morning.

A quiet noise broke Joxter out of the doze he’d fallen into, making him open one eye to look at whatever was happening in the room. He smiled softly as he watched a little figure sneak her way to the bed, hopping onto it and sitting next to Snufkin to get a closer look at him.

“He’s sleeping.” Joxter said matter-of-factly.

“I can see that.” Little My huffed, crossing her arms.

“Didn’t MoominMamma say that she told you all to let him rest for now?” He teased.

“It doesn’t apply to me.” Little My grinned mischievously. “No law apply to Little My.” She stated proudly.

“Sure.” Joxter chuckled. “No law apply to a little gremlin.” He grinned when she stuck her tongue out to him.

“How was he?” She asked, a little more serious. “How much is he hurt?”

“Not at his best.” Joxter said quietly.

“Come on. I didn’t get the chance to see how much he was hurt under his clothes, unlike Snorkmaiden.” The little mymble explained, a worried frown on her face. “She said he could have been better but didn’t say much. I can imagine it’s not pretty.”

“Indeed.” Joxter nodded. “I’m afraid he’s more bruises than skin at this point.” He looked sadly at his sleeping child, curled up against him, clinging to him in his sleep.

“He was hiding it under his hat.” Little My mumbled. “When we first saw him. He was doing everything he could to not show us his face.” She elaborated at Joxter’s confused glance. “Why does he always do that?” She sighed. “He always hides everything that’s wrong.”

“That just what he’s used to do.” Joxter said quietly. “When you’re a wanderer, there are some things you learn quickly. One of them is to hide everything that could make you look weak.”

“Still! He knows he can show us.” Little My argued, trying to keep her voice down.

“It’s just a habit. It’s hard to not do it, even with family.” Joxter explained.

“Still…” She mumbled, frustration slowly becoming sadness as she looked down at her brother. “We should have gone sooner.” She mumbled. “He wouldn’t have to be so hurt now.”

“Nobody can tell how it would have turned out if everyone had been searching for him sooner.” Joxter sighed. “There is no use in thinking about that now. We need to focus on helping him heal.”

“He better heal fast.” She huffed. “We have some park keepers to go prank.”

At that, Snufkin’s head groggily looked around, having been awoken by their conversation. He scanned the room for a moment before his eyes landed on Little My.

“You should be sleeping.” Little My scolded, trying to sound like her usual self.

Snufkin didn’t say anything, not like he really could, instead just letting go of his father’s smock to extend his arms towards her, a clear invitation to come rest with them.

“Looks like you’ll have to sleep here as well now.” Joxter teased lightly.

“You’re lucky you’re my little brother.” She huffed, trying to sound annoyed, as she made her way into his arms, trying her best to not put pression onto him as she knew how hurt he was. “Don’t count on me to stay here all the time.”

Joxter chuckled at her fake coldness, knowing very well that she was very worried about her brother as well and wanted to be here as much as Snufkin wanted her to be.

As soon as she was settled into his arms, Snufkin immediately went back to sleeping, hugging her and letting her hug him back as he did. Joxter, still wrapped protectively around his son, tightened his hold around them as he went to sleep.

Later that night, he would try to pretend not to notice the two worried snouts he noticed peeking into the room, probably to check on the sleeping Snufkin, before leaving, probably reassured that he was still there, safe in his family’s paws.

Chapter Text

He was just enjoying some time alone, playing his harmonica for the birds, letting every of his problems in the back of his mind, just enjoying the moment.

Then, he noticed a shift in the air. Until now, everything had been peaceful, calm, now, it felt a little too calm, the birds having flown away. It seemed like every little noise of the forest had stopped, leaving Snufkin in a strangely eerie atmosphere.

Something was off.

Then, as he stopped playing, trying to listen, see if he could hear anything, a bottle flew past him, crashing next to where he was sitting on a rock. A strange mist started to expand in the air around him.

Soon, he started to cough. Realizing what was happening, he tried to put his scarf on his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in this strange mist. Sadly, it didn’t seem to do much as it appeared that he had already breathed enough of it, his vision becoming blurry. Everything started to spin around him, he could feel himself falling to the ground, vision going black.

All he heard, as he was enveloped in darkness, was a slight buzzing sound coming closer.

When he woke up again, feeling horrible and with a terrible headache, he found himself in a glass bottle, so much bigger than him. He looked around in panic, trying to understand where he was, what was happening. He tried to force himself to calm down as he heard footsteps coming closer, trying to brace himself for what was to come and to force himself to be strong.

Soon, an Imp came to him, it cruelly bragged about how Snufkin was now his price and explained that all he asked of him was to play his harmonica for him.

Of course, Snufkin, trying to be brave and stand up to his own freedom, refused. The Imp didn’t like it. It took hold of the bottle and started shaking and shaking and shaking.

Snufkin cried out as he hurt the walls of the bottle, again and again and again. It seemed like forever before it finally stopped.

The Imp asked again, laughing cruelly at his pained noises, but Snufkin refused again. In a wave of courage, he stood back up and insulted the Imp, declaring that it could never force him to play for him and that his friends would come to save him soon.

Of course, the Imp laughed coldly at that, before suddenly giving him a death stare. It took out a smaller bottle from its pocket, filled with a strange looking liquid, and opened it before taking the bottle Snufkin was in and dumping him in it.

It laughed harder as it looked at Snufkin trying to breathe and get back to the surface. As he watched Snufkin drowning, he then declared coldly that nobody would ever come for him, and that, even if they tried, they could never find him.

Snufkin was sure, then, that he was about to drown, the liquid was already filling his lungs and stomach, the strange taste of it making him feel even sicker.

He was starting to get weaker, started to see his vision turning black again as he choked on the liquid, when the Imp finally emptied the bottle into a bowl. It took Snufkin by his scarf as this one was coughing out the liquid, trying to get back his breathing, to drop him back down in the bottle.

It started to mock him again, declaring that he should learn his lesson and play for him now, but Snufkin still refused, still trying to breathe.

The Imp, getting angry, went back to throwing him around the bottle, breaking him more and more without letting him the time to breathe again. Snufkin noticed, as he continued to ride out the pain, that his voice was gone, only his tiny pained noises coming out of him now.

Then, in the corner of his vision, Snufkin could see a cage with Little My and Snorkmaiden, looking at him with terrified expressions.

“Now you don’t have the choice anymore.” The Imp grinned darkly, still throwing him around in the bottle.

Then, Sniff and the Snork appeared behind the girls, looking as terrified as they were.

“You can’t refuse now.” The Imp continued. “Up. Play.”

The liquid was pouring down on him again. It filled the whole bottle, even as the Imp continued to shake it. He was drowning again. He couldn’t feel his body anymore, didn’t have the strength to fight against it. He could barely hear the others calling his name in horror as they watched.

“Play. You can’t refuse now. Play.”

Even as he thought he would pass out, already feeling weak and unable to breathe, he wouldn’t.

“You don’t have the choice anymore. Play.”

Everything continued again and again. It was as if it was on repeat, the pain just coming back every time he thought he was going to pass out.

“Play.”

Snufkin woke up crying, shaking painfully as he clung to someone. He could hear someone’s voice whispering reassurances in his ears, could feel a hand stroking his hair gently.

“It’s okay. You’re fine.”

Snufkin looked up in fear, crying harder as he saw his father, trying to reassure him. He only now remembered that he’d been saved, that he was out of there, that he was back home.

“It’s over now.” Joxter continued to reassure. “There.”

Snufkin looked down as he realized that he wasn’t clinging to his father, finding that he was instead clinging to his big sister, who was clinging back in her sleep, seemingly having her own nightmare from the look on her face and how she was shaking against him.

He tightened his hold on her, curling more on himself, as he tried to calm himself. He tried to stop himself from crying.

“Let yourself cry.” Joxter said gently. “It’s not good to bottle up.”

Snufkin looked back up at his father, eyes still full of tears, but, this time, he obeyed, letting them flow down as he leaned more against his father, burying his face into his chest.

“Hm?” Little My stirred, wiping her own tears away from her eyes, not allowing them to fall. “What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly as she noticed Snufkin’s condition.

“Your brother just had a bad nightmare, just like you.” Joxter explained, holding tighter onto Snufkin.

“I didn’t have a nightmare.” Little My pouted weakly.

“Whatever you say.” Joxter smiled gently at her.

Little My and him stared at each other for a while before the little mymble finally rolled her eyes and hugged her brother to try to help him calm down as he cried in his father’s arms.

They stayed like that until Snufkin finally cried himself to sleep in their arms. They didn’t let go however, not wanting him to wake up again, instead falling asleep themselves as they hugged him.

The next morning, when MoominMamma came to check on Snufkin, she found them all curled up against each others, like a pile of cats, with Joxter wrapped around his two dear children.

She smiled fondly at them, something sad in her expression, preparing to turn around and leave them to sleep some more, when Joxter opened his eyes to look at her, Snufkin stirring up as well and waking his sister with his movements.

“Good morning, dears.” MoominMamma greeted as Snufkin glanced at her, first in fear before realizing that it was her and relaxing, and Little My groggily sat up and yawned a greeting to her. “How was your night?”

“It’s so early.” Little My complained groggily.

“It’s sure that you’re not used to waking up this early in the morning.” Joxter teased playfully, stroking Snufkin’s hair as he noticed that this one wanted to talk but couldn’t, instead clinging to him for comfort.

“How are you feeling Snufkin? Are you feeling better than yesterday?” MoominMamma asked gently, having noticed as well.

Snufkin nodded, giving her a small smile, showing how thankful and relieved he was to be back home with them all.

“Are you hurting anywhere in particular today?” She asked, silently giving a sign to Little My to let her see her brother.

Snufkin thought for a moment before making a circle motion with his hand pointing at himself.

“Everywhere?” MoominMamma asked, not sure if she’d gotten what he was trying to say until he nodded. “I see. It’s not really surprising with how much you’re hurt.” She sighed sadly. “I’ll put some ointment on your bruises again and give you some pain medicine, that should help ease the pain for a while.” She explained. “How about Little My and Joxter go make your medicine while I put the ointment on you?” She offered, glancing at both Little My and Joxter for their approval.

“Alright.” Little My huffed. “But I get to have more pancakes for breakfast!” She said as she hopped off the bed and ran out of the room.

“I’ll be right back then.” Joxter said after waiting for Snufkin to agree to it, ruffling his hair gently before getting up and following the little mymble out of the room, closing the door behind him.

MoominMamma carefully helped Snufkin take off his clothes and started working. She switched between taking care of the bruises and giving him gentle touches, a gentle paw in his hair, a caress of the cheek, a quick reassurance and apology when he winced, pained tears quickly pooling his eyes as she worked.

“I’m sorry.” She eventually said quietly, her tone making it obvious that she wasn’t talking about the pain caused by touching the bruises. “We should’ve come to find you so much earlier.” She sighed as Snufkin give her a questioning, worried look. “We wanted to. I know it doesn’t mean anything to say it, but, we really wanted to. We were so very worried about you.” She caressed his cheek, giving him a sad smile. “We really did. But, we weren’t sure what to do. I had the feeling something had happened to you, but I couldn’t help hoping that you were alright, that you just forgot to tell us that you wanted some time alone. I really wished Moomin was worrying over nothing, that you’d come back after a week, safe and sound. We shouldn’t have waited for things to get so much worse before doing anything. We shouldn’t have waited for Joxter to come back and get attacked to come after you.” She sat next to him as she’d just finished bandaging him up again and helped him put his clothes back on. “I know it’s a lot to ask for forgiveness, but I really hope you can find it in you to give us another chance. I promise you that we won’t let such thing happen again. I just hope, that you won’t hold it against Moomintroll for not having tried to come before. He wanted to. He was just afraid that you just needed time. He just didn’t want to bother you. And, we kept trying to reassure him that you just needed some time to yourself. That’s why he didn’t come before.”

Snufkin didn’t wait for her to continue, launching in her arms, despite the pain it caused him, and hugging her tight. He wished he could tell her that he forgave her, that he forgave them all. He wished he could tell her how much it meant to him that she even apologized for it. Sadly, he couldn’t. Still, he let it show to her in the way he clung to her, in the way he let her hold him and rub his back as he cried in her arms, shaking his head in an attempt to make his point.

She held him for a long moment, until he felt calmer, before she let go of him, giving him a moominkiss on his forehead and caressing his cheek. It was then that Little My and Joxter came back, as she let go of him completely.

“Tea is ready!” Little My announced proudly as she hurried to the bed with a cup of medicine in her hands. “I made it alone! This lazy cat wouldn’t do anything but mess with Pappa’s journal.” She huffed.

“Hey! I was the one telling you what to do.” Joxter defended himself, falsely offended, a smile lurking around the edge of his mouth as he talked.

“Now, now.” MoominMamma chuckled. “At least, you made the medicine.”

“Yeah.” Little My huffed before turning to Snufkin and handing him the cup, urging him to drink it. “Here! Come on, before it gets cold.”

Snufkin took the cup with a grateful nod before drinking it under all of their watchful eyes. He made a face at the taste, making all of them smile at him warmly.

“I know it doesn’t taste good, but it’ll help with the pain.” MoominMamma said gently as she took the empty cup from the boy’s paws. “We should leave you to rest now.” She declared.

Snufkin looked at him father with pleading eyes, letting him know that he didn’t want to really sleep again yet, even less be left alone. Joxter, obviously, approached his son to come sit next to him as MoominMamma left them, announcing that she would make breakfast and come bring it to them, followed by a very hungry Little My, reminding her that she earned more pancakes than the others.

“How about I tell you who I met this winter, in a town farther south?” Joxter said with a smirk, chuckling when Snufkin nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s get you back under the covers first, and then I’ll tell you all about it.”

Chapter Text

Moomin woke up groggily. He’d spent such a bad night, he only wanted to go back to bed and sleep for the day. Although, it was exactly what he wanted.

He sat up in bed, wiping at his eyes, and looked at his night table. He sighed as he took Snufkin’s ribbon, that he’d gotten back from the Witch and had kept with him, wanting to be the one to give it back to his friend.

He got up and went to wash his face, hoping it would help make him feel more awake, before heading down the stair, wondering if his friends were already awake.

He stopped in front of the guest room door, staring at it hesitantly. He really wanted to go in, to see how Snufkin was doing, but didn’t want to wake him up if he was sleeping, and wasn’t sure how to approach Snufkin after what had happened.

He was lost in his thoughts when the sound of a door opening nearby startled him. He turned around to find Snorkmaiden coming out of hers and Little My’s room. She looked tired as well. She looked at him and at the door in front of him, looking hesitant as well.

After thinking for a moment, however, she walked up to Moomin and knocked on the door, smiling a little at him as she stepped back, waiting to see if someone would answer.

“Come in.” Joxter called out. “I won’t eat you I promise.” He teased.

Moomin and Snorkmaiden looked at each other, the girl rolling her eyes, falsely annoyed, before entering the room carefully.

Moomin wasn’t sure what he was going to see in there, he was worried about what state Snufkin would be in, as, the last time he saw him, he was in an awful condition.

As they walked in, they found Snufkin laying in bed, with his father sitting next to him. Snufkin was looking better, with all the bandages MoominMamma had wrapped him up in to hide his bruises, but he still looked much too fragile and hurt.

“Look at what we’ve got here.” Joxter teased with a wide grin, obviously trying to remain cheerful and entertain his son the best he could. “I have to admit, I would have thought that you’d come sooner.”

“We didn’t want to stop Snufkin from resting.” Snorkmaiden said, shrugging, trying to play as if it was normal as well.

“How considerate of you.” Joxter nodded. “Do I smell the sweet smell of pancakes?” He said suddenly. “Now that you two are here, what about you keep an eye on him while I go get breakfast from MoominMamma.” He said with a knowing smile.

“Sure.” Snorkmaiden agreed. “We’ll keep an eye on him until you come back.”

As Joxter made his way off the bed, Snufkin reached out to tug at his smock, giving him a look as he pouted and crossed his arms when his father turned to look at him.

“Don’t worry, kitten. I won’t bother MoominPappa too much.” Joxter laughed, knowing instantly what his son wanted to say. “I won’t be long.” He ruffled his hair gently before leaving, winking at Snorkmaiden as he walked past her.

Once Joxter was gone, Moomin and Snorkmaiden stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, Snufkin staring at them, something shy in the way he was watching them, until Snorkmaiden finally broke the spell, stepping forward and making her way to the bed.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she came to stand next to the bed. “Are you feeling any better?”

Snufkin just shrugged, looking unsure of what to answer.

“Not much?” She tried again, to which Snufkin nodded. “Well, at least that’s a start.” She smiled at him gently.

Snufkin gave her a small smile in return before turning his attention to Moomin. He stared at him, a little afraid of what he would do, as this one stood there, still motionless.

“Moomin?” Snorkmaiden called out to the troll. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh! No! No!” Moomin finally came back to his senses, shaking his head in embarrassment. “Sorry, I was just lost in thoughts.” He quickly apologized, before making his way to the bed, still not sure of what to do. “I- Here.” He said, handing Snufkin his ribbon. “I found it in the forest when I was searching for you.” He said quietly.

Snufkin took back the ribbon, looking at it sadly before looking back up at Moomin and giving him a small, thankful, smile, putting the ribbon against his chest as if it was something that really meant a lot to him.

“We could help you put it back on your tail if you want.” Snorkmaiden said suddenly with a bright smile.

Snufkin looked surprised at the offer, taken aback a little for a moment, but he quickly smiled at her and nodded.

“I’ll help you sit up.” The girl announced as she started to reach out to him. “Moomin can tie it on your tail.” She shot a look at the troll who was surprised by how she was taking everything in paw for him.

“O- Of course.” Moomin nodded.

Snorkmaiden was very careful as she helped the mumrik sit up, pulling off the blanket, so they could see his tail, also bandaged as it was sprained as well, only twitching now and again.

Snufkin handed back the ribbon to Moomin as this one approached hesitantly. The troll took it back and set to tie it to the twitchy tail, exactly where he remembered the mumrik tying it before. He was very careful, afraid of hurting his friend.

Snufkin nodded in a way to thank his friend as this one stepped back, done with his work. The mumrik hesitated for a moment before timidly reaching out to Moomin, his other paw, tugging at Snorkmaiden’s arm to tell her to sit next to him.

Moomin took Snufkin’s paw and let him pull him towards him, sitting next to him as this one wanted. What both Moomin and Snorkmaiden didn’t expected was for Snufkin to pull them closer for a hug, leaning against them. They hugged back, although surprised, and relaxed into the hug as well, holding him tight in their paws.

“It’s okay, Snuf. It’s over now.” Snorkmaiden reassured after a while, pulling back and rubbing his back Snufkin wiped at his eyes. “Don’t worry. It’s normal to cry.” She said quickly as she noticed Snufkin shaking his head, trying his best to stop crying. “You’re safe now. And it won’t happen ever again. I promise.”

“I’m sorry.” Moomin said, making both of them turn to him, surprised at his uncalled apology.

“What are you apologizing for?” Snorkmaiden asked for Snufkin.

“I should’ve come searching for you sooner.” The troll sighed sadly, avoiding their eyes. “I knew something was wrong from the start, but I still waited stupidly until you were all missing.”

“It’s not your fault, Moomin.” Snorkmaiden tried to reassure. “We’re the ones that kept saying that you were worrying over nothing after all.”

“Still!” Moomin shook his head, tears filling his eyes. “I should’ve tried to search for you, even if I couldn’t have found you, at least I wouldn’t have been waiting while you were getting hurt. Maybe, if I’d been searching earlier, I could have… You wouldn’t have to have been hurt so much.” He sighed sadly, wiping at his face to stop himself from crying.

“Moomin…” Snorkmaiden mumbled, not sure how to reassure him for a moment.

“I’m such a bad friend.” He continued, looking away from them. “I shouldn’t even be forgiven. I’ll just disappoint you all again. I’m sorry. I should-”

He was about to get up to leave, feeling like he didn’t deserve to be there anymore, when Snufkin launched in his arms, forcing him to sit back down on the bed. Snufkin hold him tight, shaking. He only pulled back for a moment to look at Moomin in the eyes, his own filling up with tears again, tears that spilled onto his bruised cheeks. He shook his head, giving Moomin a very strong look, something meaningful, before pulling the troll back for another hug.

“You know, Moomin,” Snorkmaiden sighed from behind Snufkin. “You couldn’t have done anything before. You saw it yourself. We were in another dimension, we were so small in there. There really was nothing you could have done without knowing what you were up against. And, if you’d come sooner, you’d have been caught as well.”

“Maybe, but at least, Mamma and Pappa would have come to find us before. They didn’t just because they didn’t want to worry me. It’s my-” Moomin tried to speak.

“They’d have been caught as well.” Snorkmaiden argued. “And, then, what would we have done? Nobody would have known that we were all missing. I guess Joxter would have noticed immediately, but how could he have found a way to find us in another dimension? We would all have been doomed. It would have been so much worse for all of us, and mostly for Snufkin.” She pointed out. “And, it doesn’t matter that you didn’t come sooner, it’s all already done. It’s all in the past. What matters now is that we’re back home. We’re safe now. And Snufkin will heal with time and rest.”

Snufkin nodded against Moomin, not willing to let go of him quite yet. Moomin was at a loss for words. He didn’t have anything to say to counter what she’d pointed out, and he didn’t want to hurt Snufkin more, nor to keep bringing up those horrible moments he’d lived.

“I guess so…” He sighed after a moment, relaxing a little into the hug, tightening slightly his hold onto the mumrik. “I just wish that I could’ve saved you all before it got worse.”

“It can’t be changed.” Snorkmaiden shook her head, leaning in to hug both of them.

They stayed like that, Snufkin hugging Moomin while Snorkmaiden hugged both of them, for a while, until Snufkin felt better enough to pull back, although they could sense that he didn’t really wanted to let go.

“We should get you back under the blanket now.” Snorkmaiden said gently, a paw on his shoulder.

“Yeah, we should let you rest.” Moomin agreed. “Mr Joxter will come back soon. He won’t be happy if he saw you sitting like that and all messed up because of me.” He chuckled, a little embarrassed.

Snufkin wiped his eyes, looking unhappy with the idea of resting, but nodded, letting them help him back under the cover.

Just as they had finished tucking him in, Joxter came back in the room with a tray of pancakes and cups of tea. He looked at them for a short second before approaching the bed. If he saw their red eyes, he didn’t say anything about it.

“I got our breakfast.” He announced happily. “MoominMamma said to tell you to go eat yours while they’re still warm, and before Little My and Sniff eat them all.” He said as he set down the tray onto the nightstand. “Thank you for taking care of my son.” He smirked at them, a knowing look in his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep a good watch on him now.”

“Thank you.” Snorkmaiden replied politely. “I guess we should hurry down if we want to have something to eat.” She smiled, turning to look at Moomin.

“Yeah.” Moomin nodded. “Rest well, Snuf.” He said as they turned around to leave.

“By the way,” Joxter called them again before they could go out. “Feel free to come visit Snufkin, and help me distract him. An old man like me only has so many stories to tell to such a young and adventurous boy.” He said in a dramatic tone, making Snufkin pout behind him.

“We’ll come back later then.” Snorkmaiden beamed at him before opening the door and leaving.

“See you later.” Moomin waved as he left as well, closing the door behind him.

Joxter, meanwhile, set up everything for his son to eat without having to move too much. They both started to eat MoominMamma’s delicious pancakes in silence.

“So, you all talked it out?” Joxter eventually asked, stuffing a big pancake entirely in his mouth. “They apologized for not coming to find you I assume?” He asked when Snufkin nodded, not looking up from his plate as he ate quietly. This one looked up at his father at his second question, surprised that his father knew about it. “I know how they all are.” Joxter chuckled at his reaction. “Of course, they would blame themselves for that and apologize to you. And, of course, you forgave them.” Joxter smiled as his son nodded, looking back down at his plate. “I’m glad you could sort it out, although I’m sure there were many things you wanted to say to them. Don’t worry about it, though, you’ll recover your voice soon enough.” He quickly reassured, pulling Snufkin’s head against him and kissing his hair as he noticed his sad expression.

With that, they went back to eating in silence for a while, until, Snufkin noticed something strange sticking out from under his father’s plate. He silently pointed it out to this one with a questioning look. He was already suspecting what it was but wanted his father to explain.

“Oh! That!” Joxter laughed, taking the pieces of paper in his paws. “I stole them from Pappa’s newspaper” He smirked. “I thought it could be entertaining for you.” He said innocently. Snufkin, knowing that there was more to it than what he was saying gave him a suspicious look, staring at him until his father finally laughed and explained. “Alright, alright. I really can’t hide anything from you, can I? I might have messed around with Pappa’s newspaper a bit, and written some stuff on the interesting texts. And, I might have put it in the water. And, maybe I put it in his hat before he woke up.” He smiled brightly, looking very please about his antics. “Do you want to know how it turned out?” He said tentatively.

Snufkin looked at him for a moment, debating what was the best option. A part of him really wanted to know, his father’s pranks were always funny stories to listen to, but another part of him was telling him that he’d be better not knowing. Of course, as he was already bored at being cooped up inside, he easily listened to the curious part of him.

And so, his father started to tell him all about his prank, everything he’d planned for it and how it worked out on his old friend, describing everything in detail, showing of how pleased he was with himself.

The rest of the day, Joxter tried his best to entertain his son with stories of past adventures and pranks. Moomin and Snorkmaiden went back to see their friend and help Joxter entertain him, Moomin trying his best to live up to his father’s legacy, trying to make up stories of his own, like his father even if this one will always deny that they are made up, helped with Snorkmaiden, and even Joxter, who quickly caught on and played along. Little My came to distract her brother as well, adding a note of mischief to Moomin’s stories, along with Joxter. Even Sniff and the Snork came by to see how Snufkin was doing, not staying too long as to not bother him too much, and to let him rest. Snufkin himself, despite his reluctance at sleeping the day away, still couldn’t fight against the sleepiness that he had accumulated and that came with being hurt, and with the relief of finally being home, safe, with his families watching over him.

Chapter Text

For the next few days, Snufkin stayed inside, trying his best to cope with the trapped feeling, to rest and let his body heal.

His father stayed with him all along, only leaving his side when Moomin or Snorkmaiden would come around, pretending to have to do something, so he could leave them alone for a little, taking these occasions to go mess with the poor MoominPappa, coming back when he was done with fun stories of new pranks he just used on this one.

Moomin would often come, mostly to distract his friend and see how he’s doing, although they all knew he wanted to make sure Snufkin was still there and was alright. He’d try his best to make up new stories for his friend, happy to see that this one was loving them, often helped by Joxter and Snorkmaiden, and Little My when she would come by.

Snorkmaiden came back often as well, mostly to take up MoominMamma’s role in checking Snufkin’s bruises, asking him how he felt to make sure he was getting better, she then reported her observations to MoominMamma, asking her worriedly why Snufkin wasn’t recovering his voice yet. The rest of the time, she’d just help Moomin and Joxter distracting him, sometimes even making her own stories, based on the books she’d read.

Little My, on her side, would come and go as she pleased, pretending to not care much about her brother being stuck inside and hurt, still with no voice, even though nobody knew that she worried a lot about him, always sneaking around to listen when MoominMamma would talk about his condition to others and going to see him often, even if she didn’t stay with him for too long.

As for Sniff and the Snork, well, Sniff, as always, would come at Moominhouse to eat and spend time with his friends, quickly going to see Snufkin but not staying too long, as he was still scared of the Joxter. And, for the Snork, he would come to see the mumrik for a short time, asking how he’s doing and talking with the other for a little before leaving, deciding that he wouldn’t bother them for longer and willing to go back to his flying ship now that he was reassured on the boy’s condition.

It would take more than a week for Snufkin to be able to get out of bed, granted MoominMamma wouldn’t allow him to walk too much, as his leg was still hurt.
To remedy to that, Joxter would often carry Snufkin around on his back, even taking him out and going to walk around close to the edge of the forest, so his son could be outside for a bit, even if it wasn’t by himself.

Moomin and Snorkmaiden would help him walk to the porch and sit on the steps, spending as much time as they could with him, even if it was mostly spent in silence.

That day, Snufkin had woken up with a jump, again, as he’d had yet another nightmare, as he did every night ever since he was rescued. His father was, as always, hugging him and whispering reassurances to him, trying to calm him down.

“It’s okay. It’s all over now. You’re safe.” He whispered in his hair.

Snufkin took some time to calm himself down, clinging to his father until the tears finally stopped. He sniffed against his father, not ready to let go yet.

“Is something wrong?” Joxter caught on quickly.

Snufkin stayed still for a long moment, unwilling to move quite yet. He was surprised that his father had noticed so easily that there wasn’t just the nightmare bothering him now.

“Come on. You know you can tell me anything.” Joxter said gently, nuzzling his hair.

Snufkin finally sighed and let go to try to tell his father what was wrong with his paws. He motioned for his throat, a simple move that his father immediately understood.

“It’ll come back soon, don’t worry too much about it.” Joxter reassured, ruffling his hair. “It just takes more time because it was a potion of an Imp. But, it’ll come back soon. I’m sure of it.”

Snufkin sighed sadly again before hugging his father again. Joxter hugged back, waiting for a moment before starting to sing a quiet lullaby. Snufkin was soon rocked back to sleep by his father’s soft singing.

Later, when he woke up again, Joxter helped him down the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting him at the table where the boy watched as MoominMamma worked, his father walking around in the kitchen, curiously and hungrily watching as well, making MoominMamma laugh when she would notice him trying to steal the food she was cooking.

“What are your plans for the day?” MoominMamma asked as she handed out a freshly baked pancake to Joxter who greatly took it. “Another walk in the forest?”

“I was thinking about going fishing today.” Joxter said as he munched on his pancake, turning around to see what his son would say about it.

“Yum- jm- sm- k- rn wa-...” Snufkin sighed, shrugging and shaking his head, not even noticing the muffled sound that actually came out of his mouth.

Joxter and MoominMamma stopped dead in their tracks, looking at Snufkin in surprised before looking at each other. Snufkin, who still hadn’t realized what had just happened looked between the two of them in confusion.

“Wh-?” He said, confused, starting to worry.

“Your voice is finally coming back, it seems.” MoominMamma beamed at him, walking up to him to stroke his hair.

“Mm- Vs-?” Snufkin was shocked, he couldn’t believe it, but, now that she’d mentioned it, he realized that a sound really was coming out of his mouth when he tried to talk.

“See?” Joxter smiled at him. “I told you it’d come back soon.”

“If it’s coming back now, it shouldn’t be long before you can speak again.” MoominMamma noted thoughtfully. “It might only be a whispered gibberish now, but it’ll become better soon. Don’t worry too much about it.” She kissed Snufkin’s hair before getting back to her pancakes before they could burn.

“In the meantime,” Joxter started, grinning. “You’ll have to go fishing with me.”

Snufkin pouted at that, crossing his arms. He knew that, despite the fact that his voice was still so quiet it was impossible to understand what he was saying, his father had understood what he’d meant from his simple reaction, and that he was enjoying this a lot. Still, even though he wouldn’t admit it, even if he had the voice to say it, he was actually looking forward to fishing with his father. He actually enjoyed it a lot, even if his father only managed to make all the fish go away.

“Well, how about you two get breakfast first.” MoominMamma chuckled, happy to see them this close to each others after so many ups and downs in their relationship at the beginning. “I’m almost done. Joxter, would you mind going to wake up the children and telling Pappa that breakfast will be ready soon? Don’t bother him too much though.” She winked at him, knowing Joxter too well to not know that he would take the occasion to annoy his old friend.

“I would never do such thing!” Joxter exclaimed dramatically, trying to look offended.

MoominMamma just gave him a smile before he walked out of the kitchen, not without kissing his son’s hair first. Meanwhile, this one just huffed, slightly annoyed that his father would always make such a mess in MoominHouse, although he had to admit that he did enjoy hearing about his mischiefs around the poor MoominPappa.

“Don’t worry about your father’s antics, Snufkin. It’s not a bother at all.” MoominMamma chuckled again, knowing what Snufkin was thinking just by looking at his reaction. “You know how Pappa is. He loves the attention, even when it’s just his old friend bothering him to get on his nerves.” She outright laughed this time, looking very pleased with how her husband and their friend showed their attention to each other.

Snufkin smiled a little at that, he knew how they were, indeed, but still, he couldn’t help but wonder how they really could like it this way. Why couldn’t they just talk to each other like civilized persons? Well, he couldn’t really say anything about it though, as, as he thought, his relation with Little My was quite similar, the girl always acted brash around everyone, not really showing her affection any differently from the old mumrik. He really was starting to wonder if Joxter wasn’t her father as well, with all the similarities she had with the old mumrik, and he knew that MoominPappa was wondering the same as well.

“Do you want coffee with your pancakes?” MoominMamma broke him out of his thoughts. “Or would you prefer some tea? It might help your voice heal faster too.” She continued as he shook his head no.

Snufkin agreed for the tea, really hoping that it would help his poor voice come back faster, and followed her to the table where he helped her, despite her telling him that he didn’t need to, to set the table.

After another delicious breakfast, Joxter carried Snufkin to the bridge where he sat him down before going to retrieve his son’s fishing gears from his tent. They both spent most of the day fishing, Joxter trying his best to stop himself from jumping into the water to fish by paw, to not annoy his child, but eventually failing and doing it anyway. Snufkin tried to look annoyed and to take a scolding expression, but he couldn’t help the smile that tug at his lips.

Moomin and Snorkmaiden came by as well, spending some time with them for a while before deciding to leave them alone together. Little My came by as well, mocking them before running away again.

At the end of the day, Snufkin had recovered a little more of his voice, just enough that they could finally understand what he was saying, as long as they kept quiet while he talked and listened very intently, as his voice was so low they could still only barely hear it. He was very happy to finally be able to talk, even as low as his voice was. Everything was finally getting back to normal.

Still, even with his renewed voice, he was still plagued with his nightmares. He still had yet to talk about what had happened to him while he was in captivity, alone, and he didn’t really want to talk about it. All he wanted was to forget everything. But, as always, he would be reminded of it in his nightmares, making it impossible for him to forget, to move on. He didn’t like to admit it, but he was still really scared at the idea of being alone, and he had yet to play his harmonica again, too afraid of it after all that.

That night, as he was plagued with yet another nightmare, he woke up crying into his father’s arms, as per usual. He’d dreamed of it again. Everything was just the same every time he got his nightmares.

He would be alone in the meadow, playing for the birds and small animals of the forest, then he would be attacked by the Imp, waking up in this horrible bottle. He’d refuse to play for him, the Imp would then almost drown him in this horrible liquid before taking him out. He’d continue to refuse, to fight against him, only resulting in him getting thrown around in the bottle. Then, he would notice Little My and Snorkmaiden in a cage, watching him being tortured, calling his name in horror, soon followed by the Snork, Sniff at their side, looking at him in pure terror. He’d then be thrown back into the liquid, still thrown around. He’d feel himself drowning, losing consciousness, until he would finally be awoken by his father’s voice.

He let his father calm him down, tried to relax in his arms. At least, in his father’s arms, he felt safe, he could be alright, he could just cry it out and his father wouldn’t judge him for it, wouldn’t force him to do things he didn’t want to, he could be safe.

After he’d finally calmed down, reduced to only small sniffs, still unwilling to let go of his father as he clung to him. He really was hoping that they could both go back to sleep without having to talk about it, as they always did until now, when a sudden small knock at the door startled him.

Joxter looked down at Snufkin, this one only burying his face into his father’s chest more, before he called out to whoever it was to come in.

Of course, it was Moomintroll. He’d gotten used to coming to check up on Snufkin at night, mostly while he was sleeping, as he was, too, plagued with nightmares, although less violent than Snufkin’s. This time, it appeared that he had come at a very unlucky timing for the poor Snufkin, who wanted nothing more than to hide away, not wanting to worry his friend.

“Hey, kit.” Joxter greeted quietly as Moomin hesitantly approached. “Not the best timing, huh?” He chuckled awkwardly, knowing that Snufkin didn’t like this situation, and already seeing Moomin’s worried frown as he looked at Snufkin, still shaking and sniffing, hiding his face in his father’s smock.

“Is something wrong?” Moomin asked, hesitantly reaching out towards Snufkin before deciding against it.

“Just another nightmare.” Joxter tried to wave it off casually, not saying anything about the small groan coming from his coat.

“Oh. Can I help?” Moomin asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed when Joxter nodded. “Mamma always said that the best cure for nightmare was talking about it.” He explained, looking a bit unsure as he looked worriedly at his friend.

“Hmm.” Snufkin groaned as he looked up from his father’s smock to glance at the troll next to them.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Moomin quickly assured.

“But, if you do want to, you can talk to us about it.” Joxter continued for the troll, stroking his son’s hair as this one pouted at him. “I think Mamma is right, too. From what I’ve experienced, I’ve always heard and seen that, when people talk about it, they stop having them, or at least, it seems to help them slowly get rid of them.” He shrugged.

“Hmmmmmm.” Snufkin groaned again, still pouting, before sighing. “Fine.” He said, already quiet voice muffled by his father’s smock. “It was about that.” He mumbled, making it almost impossible for them to understand.

“About what happened, huh?” Joxter asked for confirmation, getting a nod against him, as his son had yet to stop clinging to him. “Can you tell us what happened to you?” He offered carefully, knowing that Snufkin might not want to talk about it yet.

“You don’t have to, but it might help you sleep better.” Moomin offered as well, hesitant.

“There’s no escaping it anyway.” Snufkin grumbled.

With that, he went on to explain, trying to talk as loud as he could, what had happened to him. Just like what his dreams were about. He explained everything, from the abduction when he was resting and playing his harmonica peacefully, to the part where the Imp plunged him into another bottle of a weird liquid, which happened to be just before he lost his voice, making him suppose that it was the reason for that, and to how he got beat up every day for not wanting to play, all that until the Imp captured Little My and Snorkmaiden, threatening to hurt them if he didn’t obey.

He didn’t want to, but, after talking about what had happened, he couldn’t stop his feelings from tumbling out of his mouth. He mentioned how he was feeling more and more hopeless as the days passed, how he was sure he would die there, how he was feeling horribly guilty for putting his friends in danger and how he was sorry for having worried all of them.

He ended up crying some more into his father, Moomin hesitantly patting his back, trying to comfort him. They both tried to reassure him, to tell him that it was alright, that it wasn’t his fault, and that he shouldn’t feel guilty for something he couldn’t have predicted and couldn’t have changed anyway.

It took a while, but he calmed down again, accepting their reassurances and, ultimately, feeling better after talking it all out.

Eventually, he finally let go of his father, only to request a silent hug from his best friend, in a way to thank him as well for everything he did to help him, whether it be for before, when he was worrying over him and wanted to go find him, for when he came out to search for him, or just for now as he was trying to help him get better.

“You can always come talk to me if you need to, you know? You can even wake me up too.” Moomin said before leaving the room, to let them rest and return to his own bed.

“I wouldn’t want to both-” Snufkin was trying to say.

“Of course, he knows. Don’t worry, he’ll come to you if he needs someone to talk to.” Joxter cut his son off, answering for him, winking at Snufkin as he did so.

“Well… Good night then.” Moomin said hesitantly as he opened the door to leave.

“Good night, kit.” Joxter called back.

“Good night, Moomee.” Snufkin whispered back at the same time.

With that, the Moomin left them alone, closing the door behind him. Snufkin looked up at his father, pouting, before curling up against him again, like a cat. Joxter did the same, smiling down at his son fondly before curling up around him, wrapping him in his arms with his tail coming to rest atop his in protection.

Chapter Text

It seemed like forever for Snufkin, but, eventually, after days, even weeks, he finally recovered his full voice, his body having healed before it came back. He’d had to talk with all of them, to tell them all what had happened, to fill them in on what they didn’t know, as they wanted to hear about it.

After all that, he was more than happy to let it all behind, returning to his tent, although he gladly came back to MoominHouse to sleep a few times a week, and still asked his father to stay by his side at night.

“How are you feeling today?” MoominMamma asked as Snufkin came into the kitchen this morning.

“I’m fine, thank you, Mamma.” Snufkin smiled at her as he came in, accepting the cup of coffee she offered to him as he sat at the table.

“I don’t suppose your father is up yet?” She asked with a knowing smile.

“He’s just being lazy.” Snufkin shook his head. “He’ll get up when there’ll be food.” He sighed as MoominMamma chuckled.

“Did you sleep any better?” She questioned as she cooked.

“A little.” Snufkin nodded, drinking his tea slowly.

“How are the nightmares?” She glanced at him over her shoulder.

“They’re less frequent.” Snufkin shrugged, staying silently drinking his coffee for a moment before finally sighing and elaborating under MoominMamma’s knowing eyes. “They’re less violent, I guess. I can sleep a full night even with them.”

“Well, that’s good, very good.” MoominMamma beamed at him. “It should get even better now. I’m sure you won’t have them as much soon.” She reassured.

“I sure hope so.” Snufkin mumbled to himself, trying to ignore the moomin’s smile as she glanced at him, knowing that she’d heard it.

“Mamma! Mamma! Is breakfast ready yet?” Little My came running in before any of them could say anything else.

“It’s almost ready, Little My.” MoominMamma smiled at her.

She was happy to see her acting as usually, as she’d been acting a bit more calm after the event with Snufkin. She’d tried her best to act naturally after they’d been rescued, but she wasn’t as loud as usual. They’d often catch her looking worriedly towards the guestroom, obviously wanting to be in there with Snufkin and his father. It was obvious that she was very worried about her brother, and that she wanted to stay by his side, but, also, that she wanted to act as she always did for him, so he wouldn’t feel so bad anymore, so he’d feel like he was really back home and that everything would come back to normal quickly enough. She didn’t want to make him feel bad by looking so worried about him all the time, she already knew that he knew that she was faking it all, and it already hurt enough to do it like that. At least, ever since Snufkin went back to his tent, she wasn’t faking it anymore.

“How about you go wake up the others while I finish baking them?” MoominMamma offered to the small mymble.

“I better get one more pancake for that!” Little My declared before running off.

“I’ll always wonder how she can be so full of energy when she wakes up.” Yawned Joxter as he came in behind his son, coming to rest his head atop his son’s, ready to fall back asleep. “Morning.”

“Good morning, dad.” Snufkin sighed.

“Good Morning, Joxter.” MoominMamma chuckled. “So, what are your plans for the day?” She asked the both of them as she put the last pancake on the plate.

“We could go walking near the mountain.” Joxter hummed. “What do you think, kitten?”

“I don’t see why not.” Snufkin just shrugged.

“We could take the young Moomin kit too.” Joxter thought out loud.

“If he comes, I’m sure, Little My and Snorkmaiden will follow as well.” Snufkin noted, not sounding particularly happy with the idea of all of them following them.

“Not if we pretend to go fishing.” Joxter looked down at Snufkin, from atop his head, and winked at him.

“I don’t think it’ll work on Little My.” Snufkin huffed.

“Meh, if it’s just her it should be fine, right?” Joxter smiled at him, ruffling his hair when this one pouted and looked away. “We’ll see if we can sneak away without her noticing.”

“Sneaking where? Who noticing?” Little My called out as she came back in, looking at Joxter and Snufkin suspiciously. “What are you two planing now?” She squinted at them, putting her hands on her hips in a scolding manner.

“Nothing, Little My.” Snufkin sighed, annoyed at them both.

“Whatever you say.” She snuck her tongue out at him. “You can’t hide anything from me. I’ll find out by myself.” She announced before following MoominMamma into the dining room.

Later that day, Joxter and Snufkin managed to sneak out to walk to the mountain, even managing to get Moomin to follow them. Snufkin was happy to have Moomin with them, but he couldn’t help but notice something behind them.

“You don’t need to hide, My. I know you’re following us.” He sighed.

“I wouldn’t have followed you if you hadn’t been so sneaking like that.” Little My huffed as she came out of the bushes.

“We’re just walking in the forest.” Joxter noted.

“Well, we were.” Moomin sighed as well, knowing that this situation was annoying Snufkin.

He could see how nervous he was the whole way until he finally stopped to call her out. Of course, Snufkin would feel horribly uncomfortable and paranoid when knowing that he was being followed after what had happened a while ago. He really wanted to scold Little My about it, but he couldn’t do it in front of his friend. He didn’t want him to feel weak and like he was giving away too easily how he felt now.

“Well, now that I’m here.” The little mymble shrugged. “What are you waiting for? Just walk!”

Snufkin and Moomin rolled their eyes at that, ignoring the way Joxter just laughed at her antics, as she took the lead, walking in front of them. They all followed her, not really sure of why she was even leading, as she didn’t know where they were going anyway.

After some more time, they all found a nice meadow at the bottom of the mountain to rest in. They gathered in the center, sitting on the grass to rest their legs. Snufkin was glad to be able to sit down, even though he’d never admit it to the others, as he had yet to recover fully his strength from before.

While Little My just rolled around on the dirt, already looking bored, as expected of her, Moomin started picking up some flowers to mend them into a flower crown for Snufkin. Joxter, on his side, took out his guitar, that he’d taken with them, and started to play something for them all, something, familiar to Snufkin.

Snufkin turned to look at him, confused as to what his father was doing. He never played his songs before, always saying that he preferred when Snufkin played them on his harmonica better than on his own guitar. Joxter just smiled at him, something mischievous in his eyes, as he continued to play.

It went on for a while, just Joxter playing Snufkin’s tunes on his guitar as they busied themselves, only Snufkin just watching his father.

Eventually, Snufkin finally caught on to what his father was doing. He sighed, searching through his pocket and retrieving his harmonica. He stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to do. He couldn’t help but associate it with the event of that week, which only made him want to hide it away and never play it again. But, inside him, he knew he wanted to play it again. He’d grown up with it, play it days and nights. He’d always had it with him and never stopped playing, no matter that some people were trying to force him to play for them before. Why should this event change any of that?

He glanced up hesitantly at his father, receiving an encouraging smile and nod. Joxter, as to encourage him further, started another song again, his usual spring tune. They both knew how much he loved to play that one, how much it meant to him.

After another moment of reflection over it, Snufkin finally gave in, slowly lifting his harmonica up to his lips. He took in a breath before he softly started to blow in it.

He played his spring tune, in tune with his father.

It was a little forced at first, but, it slowly became more relaxed. Snufkin let go of his last tension to finally let himself sing with his music.

He didn’t even noticed as Joxter’s music slowed to a stop, letting Snufkin master of his own music.

Snufkin let himself talk through his music, letting go of all of his worries, of all the pain and fear he’d been through, expressing it all through his harmonica. His music had become a sad one, letting all of them feel how much pain and how much despair he’d been through, but, as he continued to play, it slowly drifted away from the sadness, becoming more relaxed and more hopeful. It talked about how much relief he’d felt when he’d finally been rescued, about how good it had felt to let his families take care of him, fuss over him, how he’d felt so good to return to his freedom. There was still a slight hint of fear in his song, but, it was overpowered by everything else.

As he finally closed his song, he finally noticed that his father hadn’t been playing with him for a while, that Moomin had stopped his work, as he was done with the crown, to listen to him.

Snufkin felt a little too exposed then, suddenly feeling very embarrassed as he realized what he’d just done. But, as he looked shyly at Moomin, he found this one to be looking at him with teary eyes full of emotions.

“Oh, Snufkin!” Moomin cried, wiping at his eyes to get the tears away. “It was so beautiful!”

Moomin couldn’t help but launch onto Snufkin, hugging him tight with emotion. Snufkin, although taken aback, slowly hugged him back, feeling overwhelmed as well. He soon felt his father’s arms wrap around him as well. Little My huffed before joining as well, jumping onto them to make the group fall to the ground, which didn’t work as she was much too light.

After a moment, they all let go of each others, Snufkin wiping his eyes quickly to hide his tears. Moomin beamed at him, putting his freshly made flower crown on his friend’s hat.

With that, they all decided it was time to head back. They all got up and started walking the long way back. Joxter taking the front after ruffling his son’s hair and kissing it, Little My following close behind him, while Moomin stayed by Snufkin’s side, taking his paw gently as they walked.

They could all feel it. Everything was going to be better now.

The next few days, Snufkin would be happy to notice that he wasn’t having the nightmares as much anymore. He was also feeling much better now, finally feeling like he was getting back into his old way, and feeling like he could try staying alone again. Of course, he still asked his father to stay not too far away from him, but just enough for him to be alone.

Moomin took him out a few times as well, just the two of them, as long as they could go out before the others, and mostly Little My, would wake up. He swore again and again to Snufkin that he would always follow his instinct and come find him if he was to disappear again, even if it meant he could find him to be alright and just wanting to be alone for a while. They both agreed that he could do that, that Snufkin wouldn’t mind as long as, if he really was in this scenario, he would leave him to have some space once he was reassured he was fine.

MoominMamma and Joxter continued to help him as well, MoominMamma talking with him often when they could be alone, just the two of them in the kitchen or on the porch while everyone else was out playing. They both continued to show their support to him and encourage him to continue on like he was, praising him for how much he’d healed since the event.

At the end of the year, come winter time, Snufkin decided that he could go on his way, as per usual, only asking for his father to come with him for most of the trip. He needed the reassurance at first, but was planning on spending some time alone after a while, before meeting back with his father again to come back together.

Moomin and Snorkmaiden hugged him goodbye, wishing him to be safe, as did MoominMamma. MoominPappa just ruffled his hair, playfully telling him to keep an eye on his father to keep him out of troubles, while Little My just mocked them, noting that Snufkin would probably just follow his father in whatever trouble he was getting into.

When they came back the next spring, Snufkin looked and felt much better, much more like himself. He was greeted by all of them, getting a welcomed hug from all of them before they both were gently pushed inside and questioned about their trip around some delicious tea and pancakes.