Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once, there were several pleasant little towns in the Subcon forest. They were all so full of life, bright and well built. Each with their own cultures, accents, customs…

And in the center of the forest, there was a very large valley, and in that valley, lived the Queen and the Prince of all of Subcon.

They were in love. The kingdom prospered. All was good.

But… those days are gone now. That valley is now a crater of Ice. Ghouls and fiends roam the forest, and the few villages that are left live in fear, always ready to leave at a moment's notice. The land smells of death and sorrow, the sun never rises, the moon never sets…

And the Snatcher… The Snatcher is always watching.

•~•

Hat Kid wandered through the Subcon, reading a book she found in a time rift. She'd found many such works before, but this one… was much more interesting.

The book… gave a certain kind of context to those horrible notes she'd found in the Queen's manor. She stared down at the first, colorful page. The Queen, and a man who was presumably her prince, holding hands. Both of their eyes were obscured. Hat Kid was a bit disappointed at this stylization, as she would have loved to see their eyes.

crack.

She stopped in her tracks, and quickly stowed the book away in her hat. She looked behind her, seeing a pair of glowing, yellow eyes.

“Hello there, kiddo.” Snatcher approached “I thought I told you to scram-”

Hat kid stuck her tongue out.

“As if I'd expect you to listen.” He growled.

“Nah, not until I've got ALL the timepieces!” She spoke, which was a rarity, but unfortunately, dialogue was a necessity at times.

“Pretty sure you drained the place of them.” Snatcher circled her like a cat circles an injured bird, walking with his arms.

Hat Kid shrugged. “Guess there's some left.” Truth is, there weren't. But she was curious, and nothing, nothing at all, would get in the way of Hat Kid and her curiosity.

“You could easily avoid me, anyways.”

“I know that!” He snapped at her, “but your mere presence annoys me! I. Want. You. Out!”

“Tough luck. Best friends forever, remember?”

Snatcher sniffed the air. He smelled something… familiar. Like the smell of old, dry books… or of pleasant, polished wood… or of the wax candles he once used for late night reading. He followed the scent to… the kid?

But where could she have been… that… His old study… that's what it was… it had to be! But… It was frozen solid! In that little town where he used to go to college! Oh so far, far from here. How? She must have been somewhere else… somewhere similar…

“May I go now?” Hat kid slowly inched backwards

“... as long as you don't come back-”

“No promises!” She blew a raspberry, and scurried away.

Chapter Text

Empty eyes watched from far above. Staring down at the scene playing out below them.
It saw Hattie and Snatcher talking. It saw Snatcher circle her, it saw her bound away.
She was getting closer, it saw.
Closer to uncovering the truth.
And the closer the truth was to being uncovered, the closer it was to its freedom.

•~•

Hat kid dashed through the woods, until she found a spot where she got some signal from her ship. She took her teleporter out of her hat, waved it high in the air for the best connection, and pressed the button.
Hattie instantly rematerialized in her room. Ah, somewhere comfortable. At last.
Adventuring was fun, after all, but damp socks and leaves stuck in one's hair were not. She quickly changed boots, and got all the tangles out of her hair, before she rushed into the main area of the ship.
She sat down on her beanbag, and started to flip through that book again.
Pity it was just a simple, barebones story… no secrets… no…
Wait.
Hat Kid took a look at the binding… and realized…
Something wasn't right. The book… was mussing a page. The last page.
Hat Kid had no idea what could be on that page, or what clues it could hold… but she did know one thing. She was going to go back and find it.
She took one last look at the first page.
It was beautifully illustrated, a prince… a queen… Hat Kid's only trouble was their eyes. Why were there no eyes?
She stood up, and started to head back to her room, before she heard a voice.
“Hattie! You're home!” Cooking cat stuck her head over the ship's railing.
Hat kid nodded
“I'm glad ya are! I made soup, and it's gettin’ cold!”
Hat Kid's stomach rumbled. Some soup sounded good. She'd have time to investigate later, anyways.

•~•

Snatcher sank into his armchair. Finally, some peace and quiet! He didn't know why, but he felt as if he wouldn't be seeing Hat Kid again that day.

A comforting thought, it was. He always liked spending time alone, even back when he truly had people in his life. He thought back to those good old, happy days.
Back when Vanessa loved him.
Back when he looked like.. well, himself.
Well, one good thing about being dead is, you can control every part of your mind. Maybe it all wasn't as pleasant as he remembered it being.
He looked over to the side a little, and noticed that… the sky was light.
Not daylight light, just a faint glow… but he hadn't seen past the clouds in ages.
He examined the sky, the stars, the pretty, purple and pale grey-blue canopy…
The moon…
Of course, it only lasted an instant. The clouds soon covered the sky again.
But… It gave Snatcher a bit of hope. Perhaps this meant the forest was healing? That perhaps… Vanessa was dying?