Shadow Rift (A Hat in Time)

Wrapping Things Up

Tee hee! I'm applying the dread to my characters! I'm just so silly like that :)

Huge thank you to my beta reader!!

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Hat Kid stared at Snatcher as he trembled on the ground. With his head bowed, she couldn't grasp his expression, but she wouldn't be surprised if he were hiding tears from her.

She waited for him to calm down. She still had more to tell, and they would get nowhere if Snatcher was still freaking out. Hattie managed to still herself from fidgeting or tapping her foot on the floor. Impatience would only aggravate him further.

He lifted his gaze finally. His eyes tracked to the crown before him. Snatcher's face tensed. A million emotions flashed through his eyes. With a noise that was somewhere between a choked sob and a grunt, he kicked the crown away.

Hat Kid watched it skitter across the ground and bump against the wall. She rolled her eyes at Snatcher's immature behavior and went to grab it.

"Get away from that thing!" Snatcher yelled as she bent and picked it up. She ignored him.

The metal was cold in her hands, but she could feel it warming already at her touch. She turned and headed back to Snatcher. His poisonous gaze latched onto the crown.

"Is that what you want?" he said accusingly. "Are you going to force me to wear that?" He turned his glare to Hattie. "You've done it before."

Hat Kid shook her head, ignoring the slight hint of guilt that came with his accusation. "I'm not, but we have to hang on to this," she told him.

"What?!" Snatcher scowled."No- we need to get rid of it!"

She shook her head again. "You want to be 'fixed', right?"

Snatcher raised an eyebrow and glanced at the crown. "Yeah, but how could that possibly-"

Hat Kid raised the crown, and Snatcher shut up, his eyes widening. She hesitated. Woah. Is he really afraid of the crown? Just because it leads to Elliot? "I'm not going to force you to wear it," she assured him. "Unless I need to. Not right now.

"I will try to help you, but having Elliot around will affect what I need to do," Hat Kid explained. "Just in case something doesn't work when you're in control, it'll be useful to test if it works with Elliot."

Snatcher sighed, still looking wary. "Fine," he relented. "But I'm not going to wear it unless it's absolutely necessary!" He drew his legs in and stood with a grumble.

"Fine with me," she responded, holding out the crown.

Snatcher visibly tensed before taking it. He looked away as he slid it on his wrist. "I hope you've found a solution to fix things," he muttered.

"I have some ideas," she answered. Unfortunately, they weren't anything more than vague guesses on how to bring Snatcher back. But it was something. "There's more I need to tell you."

Snatcher huffed, "Fine," and trudged past Hattie out of the room.

She followed. Out the Engine Room, into the main room, and back into her bedroom. She immediately made her way to her whiteboard and erased all the drawings she made with her sleeve. Snatcher settled back on the cushions behind her.

She turned toward him. "I've done some reading up on souls and death whatnot, and I might have a few ideas how to fix things."

Snatcher lifted his gaze. "Those are some heavy things to 'read up on', kiddo," he said, brow furrowing.