A Dimension in Time

Follow the Red Strings

The fight continued with the same patterns as before, the harsh shock waves coming faster than the girls could predict but eventually they got a few hits on the creature. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, maybe longer, the trio FINALLY got a chance to deliver a final blow. Dawn batted the cherry bomb to Bow, and she threw it to Hat instantly, it was a dangerous game of hot potato. When she threw the explosive fruit at the creature, the satisfaction of beating it finally came to be with a KABOOM! "WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! Finally! In YOUR FACE!" Dawn jubilantly jumped in place, bouncing from the adrenaline rush she felt in her icy veins. Hat eventually noticed what made the possessed out house act up, a Time Piece. "Welp, I found what made that weird thing go all crazy." Hat Kid stated with a somewhat disgusted tone, Dawn wasn't sure if it was directed at the Time Pieces or the Outhouse they had to fight, more likely the outhouse, because that was weird and GROSS. But besides the nastiness of that fight, the magical hourglasses sure loved to be the root of many problems now, didn't they?

Bow Kid eventually went to the cages where the dwellers were kept in, but couldn't get the locks off. Dawn strolled over to the cages, using her ice on locks. "I think they're breakable now, watch." With a single tug, the lock broke in seconds! They repeated this with the rest of the cages until all the dwellers were freed, but... the dwellers looked fearful. "Hey, it's okay..." Bow Kid tried to reassure the silent ghosts. "That mean possessed outhouse is gone! You're free now." The dwellers didn't budge even when Hat Kid tried to tell them it was okay. It wasn't the outhouse they were scared of, it was Dawn. Not Dawn herself, but her powers, they must've triggered some pretty awful memories. "I don't think they're scared of the outhouse guys... I think... they're scared of me... my powers. It's just like the Subconites." Bow Kid looked at Dawn silently... "That- makes sense but... why?" Good question, it was something Dawn was still figuring out herself. "I... I don't know." Dawn admitted, saddened by the 'looks' upon the dwellers' masked faces. The snowflake clipped girl reached a tender hand out, placing it on top of one of the dwellers heads. "It's alright... I'm not gonna hurt you. You can trust me." Wordlessly, some of the dwellers perked up at the sign that there was no true danger. The dweller under Dawn's hand eventually nuzzled its way out of the cage and around her shoulders. A lot of the dwellers came to the trio, making them laugh and giggle. "Hahahaha! I guess they're thanking us for saving them!" Hat stated, giggling from 'hugs' the dwellers gave them. "Yeah! It's very sweet! Thanks for the hugs! I'm glad we could save you!" Bow Kid snickered in delight, smiling from the fact the dwellers were being so friendly.

Eventually the trio made their way back to Subcon Village with the dwellers, the dwellers that weren't captured lifted the girls up and cheered. "You saved the dwellers!" "Hooray!! The outhouse was gone!" "You girls did it! That's truly awesome!" Many Subconites cheered, their voices echoing on top of one another from excitement and relief. A familiar storm soon enveloped them, along with a specter that the trio knew VERY well at this point, Snatcher. "AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Well done, well done! You murdered that outhouse for disturbing me in my forest, right? You blew it up, didn't you? That's good! You should feel proud!" Snatcher cackled with a ghostly grin. Dawn harshly frowned, this jerk still needed to give her back her backpack. "HEY! You still need to grab my backpack!" Snatcher mouthed an 'oh' before menacingly grinning once more. "Ooohhhh~ so that's why you're so unhappy in seeing me thanking you right now? Alright kid, here! Take it." In a flash Snatcher summoned and tossed the oldest in the trio her backpack. Dawn took it with open arms and immediately swung it onto her back, sheathing in her umbrella soon after.

"Well... thank you- I guess..." Dawn grumbled the last part, still irritated at the fact she had her backpack stolen by a jerk she didn't even fully like. Sure; she could tolerate him, but that DIDN'T mean the snow queen liked being around the ghoul, not in the slightest. Dawn blew her tongue at Snatcher, still feeling salty from what happened before. Snatcher's smile faded from gleeful to annoyed, ungrateful brat. "Anyway! You're almost done with everything on your bucket list! Once you're done with all your contracts, I'll give you your souls back! Isn't that thrilling? Ta-ta! Smell ya later kiddos!" Snatcher swooped over them, the storm and the thunder going with him as he teleported away. "Well... I guess we're free to explore more." Hat Kid assumed with a shrug. Bow and Dawn nodded in unison, exploring more wouldn't be a horrible idea! And so, that's what they did. The trio left as they traversed throughout the parts of the forest that they haven't seen. Collecting a couple more balls of yarn here and there, finding the last possible batch of fire spirits that opened the last part of the forest that was sectioned off, the paths that could be explored were endless! Eventually the trio came across a path with bizarre statues, the same ones Dawn knew came to life if you stared at them. Hat always said those things were evil menaces that liked chasing them for no reason, while Bow didn't want anything to do with them. It was kinda funny to see Hat or Bow being chased unless Dawn was pulled into the chase or if she was the one being chased. Those things were just mindless creatures that did nothing but hunt.

Dawn soon noticed something at the corner of her vision, a familiar figure following a familiar red string tied to a tree. "Wha-! HEY! Wait!" Dawn bolted off, the figure that she could make out to the The Badge Seller, why was he here? Where was he going. Dawn kept running before she realized that she had left Hat Kid and Bow Kid fully behind. She could hear them calling out for her but Dawn kept running. The snowflake-clipped girl wasn't thinking straight as she kept running until she stopped at... a tower? The Badge Seller disappeared as if he had never been there, he was gone. Dawn looked up at an old looking tower, it looked like it came from the 18th century based on the artitecture alone. It was laced in strings Dawn always saw Moonjumper use, there were even more in the inside along with a spiraling staircase of stairs. On the top it looked like the tower had been broken into the shape of a crescent moon, just like the shape of the moon spirit's head. Was THIS the entrance to The Horizon Moonjumper had always spoken of?

Dawn waltzed into the tower, staring up into where the Tower led. "Okay, this shouldn't be too hard- right?" Dawn chuckled as she started to run up the stairs. Unfortunately; the snow queen couldn't have been more wrong. Dawn kept trying more than once but the stairs kept breaking when she felt like she was getting somewhere. "DDFAAUUGGGHHH! Stupid stairs! Why can't I get anywhere!?" Dawn shouted with an echo, her boot kicking some of the loose strings that recreated from the movement. "Huh-? What the!?" Dawn knelt down, picking up some of the red strings on the ground before subconsciously tugging on them. This caused a chain reaction for the strings to retract and yank Dawn into the air! "OH FRRRIIIICCCKKKKK!!!!" Dawn shouted as she flew up, never letting go of the strings.

Location: The Horizon, Tower Entrance

Dawn kept soaring up in the tower before coming to a halt. The girl opened her emerald eyes to find a ledge she could stand on and a door laced with dream catchers. Dawn stepped on the stone edge, feeling relief as she started to walk across it. "Okay... no more stuff breaking. I hope ot doenst-!" Cracks started to form, right now was certainly not her day. "DAWN. YOU FOOL." The platform soon started to break more, giving the girl little time to run across. "OH SHI- SHOOT! AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Dawn bolted across, barely making it as half of the platform was left by the time she was on the other side. She could've been a meat pancake back there. Dawn brushed the dirt off her shorts, soon stepping into the light of The Horizon. The cryokinesis prodigy knew the path from here, to Moonjumper's gazebo, to the lake and the garden that was planted around the gazebo. Dawn knew the path from the back of her hand as she traversed through the familiar reflective floors and brushed her hands on the hazelnut oak trees.

The honey sunset skies with clouds, the lavish pink grass that is lined with the dirt path, the coral leafed trees, and the bright red strings. All of this was familiar to the snowflake-clipped girl, far too familiar. Furthermore, Dawn continued to traverse throughout The Horizon. The clatter of the Badge Seller's staff was heard not too far in the direction to Moonjumper's Gazebo. So the Badge Seller and Moonjumper DID know each other! The Badge Seller walked across the quartz bridge and through the meadow of flowers, but... Moonjumper was nowhere to be seen. The Badge Seller halts at the steps of the gazebo, pausing as he collects himself and eventually saying: "I know you're there, dearie." Dawn froze in place, did she hear that right? The nickname the badge seller usually used was "young one." But this one was different... he used "dearie." Not "young one", but "dearie." That was Moonjumper's nickname for her, the main nickname besides "sweet child" "dear child" "dear" and "sweetie." Come to think of it- Moonjumper used a nickname the Badge Seller used the last time they met up, calling her "young one" a couple of times instead of "dearie."

The Badge Seller turns to face Dawn, eventually pulling at his mask to reveal a face that was supernatural in nature. His right eye was green while his left one was the same eye as the moon spirit. His chestnut to light blue colored locks that encased his face looked similar to a crescent moon. The Badge Seller closed his eyes as his figure shifted into a figure Dawn knew very well; the prince uniform, the yellow ghostly tail, the blue skin and red eyes... It was The moon spirit himself, Moonjumper. The Badge Seller and Moonjumper were one in the same, one she'd seen since the beginning and the other she met not too long after her journey began. "Hello Dawn, welcome to The Horizon."