Chapter 20: (A Timely Reunion)

Hat Kid's ship warps out of space into the past and hovers over planet 10 dash 5 dash 2017. Hat Kid sees the giant glass-like barrier surrounding the planet. "I don't understand how a timepiece showed up on this planet again after I collected all of them here. Must be fate for once. That barrier doesn't look good, but nothing new. Ok, Hornet, put this earpiece in so that your words translate to the language these people speak. Hornet sticks the earpiece to the side of her head. "We can teleport down there but we can't come back up to the ship until we disable the timepiece that created this barrier, are you ready?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?!" Hornet says standing proud.

"Princess of Hallownest, yeah yeah; get on the teleporter." Hat Kid says nudging Hornet.

Hat Kid, Hornet, and Snappy teleport down to the planet. Hornet takes a step onto purple grass. "A dark and scary forest, nice... how do we find the timepiece?"

"Uhhhh... we ask around I guess... besides, I want to visit a friend."

The 3 continue through the spooky Subcon forest. "This is strange, where are all of Snatcher's minions?" Hat Kid says confused.

Hornet quickly puts her needle to the side, blocking Hat Kid in her tracks. Hornet looks around and Hat Kid feels the ground shake slightly. They see about a hundred masked cats running through the forest that don't notice them. They all pass by and a larger cat marches behind them yelling, "Fight! Fight for your paychecks!"

"Empress..." Hat Kid whispers, shaking a little.

"Oooo, what creature is that?" Hornet asks excitedly.

"I-It's a c-c-" Hat Kid stutters.

"Spit it out already."

Hat Kid stays silent in fear and Hornet sighs in frustration. "Hey! Tall creature, what are you!?" Hornet yells to the Empress.

Hat Kid flails at Hornet with anxiety. "Shut your mouth, spider!"

The Empress hears the 2 girls loud and clear as she turns her head to see the very distinctive looking Hat Kid. "Who are you? No wait, you look just like that brat that stole my investment a few days ago; but you're... a lot older. You've got that same smug look about you, kid, it's definitely you, I told you we'd met again!" The Empress lunges at Hat Kid who screams in fear.

Hornet quickly jumps into action and swiftly wraps up the Empress in midair with her needle's web.

The Empress growls in anger. "I knew there was more to those shiny hourglasses, what did you do? Age yourself up with them?"

Hornet webs the Empresses mouth shut.

"Far from it, feline." Hat Kid replies to the Empress.

Hat Kid gets close to the Empress's face and looks into her enraged eyes. "Hey, Hornet, you should let me try that weapon of yours sometime."

"Not likely." Hornet replies.

"Aww." Hat Kid says disappointed; standing back up. "Alright, I'll drag her." Hat Kid grabs the Empress by the leg and begins dragging her as the Empress struggles to break free. Hat Kid takes the lead through the weird and wild Subcon forest.

They creep up on a war in front of the Snatcher's tree home. They watch as the Empress's cat minions and Snatcher's minions go head to head in an all out fight. Hat Kid watches in satisfaction while Hornet watches in horror as cats are strung up by the talking nooses and both minions alike push each other into the soul eating purple lake. Snatcher stands his ground, blasting cats with lasers and throwing potions. "Get out of my forest you raggedy felines!" He yells. Other cats appear to be climbing the tree home only to fall back down to their deaths.

Hat Kid turns to Hornet. "I'm going to sneak around the battle and climb the tree to see what those cats want up there so badly. You stay with Snappy and keep the Empress in line."

Hornet nods in conformation.

Bow Kid and the vessel sit on top of the tree's giant mushroom; reading the diary of Queen Vanessa that Ghost brought back with them. Ghost holds onto the shiny gem it took from the Empress while listening to Bow read the diary. "My prince and I took a lovely walk out to pick apples. He gave me the best one he found, he's just the sweetest with his thoughts." Bow Kid says as the explosions and yelling echo far below them. "I don't know what went wrong with the queen and Snatcher, they seemed pretty happy as far as I can tell."

She continues reading. "But that apple wasn't the sweetest. How could he believe that apple was worthy of my tongue's taste! I took that apple and smashed it right in front of him then stormed off! He should know better than that!"

Bow looks over at the vessel. "I take back what I said. She's crazy!"

Bow Kid hands the diary to the vessel and picks up her purple parasol as she hears someone getting close to the top of the tree. Bow Kid hears the boinging of a mini mushroom and see's Hat Kid fly over the side and start to tumble over the edge as she lands.

Bow dives at Hat Kid and manages to take hold of her hand as she goes over.

Hat Kid looks up to see Bow Kid. "Bow!" She cries out in happiness as she's pulled up.

She wraps her arms around her friend and hugs her tight. "Is it really you? You're not some weird mimic spider creature or exploding in and out of existence, right?"

"What the heck are you talking about you, crazy girl, haha."

"I've been through a lot recently, Bow..." She hugs her friend tighter.

"You can tell me all about it later, ok?"

"Yeah, okay, Bow."

"That was some tumble; are you yourself alright at the moment?"

"Yeah, I just don't parkour like I used to." Hat Kid grunts. She looks over at the vessel who's just chillin. "Who's uhh, who's this?"

"Oh that thing! Snatcher says that's a vessel and that they don't talk. That's pretty much all the info I got."

"A v-vessel!? Nah, no way. That vessel can't be one from Hallownest. Oh! By the way, we caught the Empress."

"That's good to hear... who's we?"

"Right right, you haven't met Hornet and Snappy yet. I think the war below is almost over, we should head down. Wh- hey-!" The vessel takes the rusty nail weapon off of Hat Kid's side. "I gUeSs you can keep that, I don't need it."

Hat Kid picks up the vessel in one arm and jumps off the giant mushroom into the air. After a moment of free falling, she pops open her parasol and lands in the middle of the battle down below. "Not like I haven't killed some of these cats before."

The vessel gets straight to slaughtering cats with it's newly acquired nail. "Born killer; I take it?" Hat Kid says. She stabs a cat with her weapon.

Bow comes floating from above with her parasol and kicks a metro cat in the head on the way down and lands next to Snatcher. The cats begin to retreat as they are out-skilled by the vessel and time travelers.

As the cats retreat, Bow Kid gestures at Snatcher to look over at Hat Kid sitting tired in the dirt next to the vessel.

"Who's that?" Snatcher asks.

"Isn't it obvious?" Bow whispers.

Snatcher takes a good look at the back of Hat Kid. "You're lying!"

"I'm not, go look-" Snatcher zooms straight to Hat Kid and picks her up in his arms. "Kiddo!"

"Woah! Wait a sec Snatcher!" Hat Kid yells in a daze.

"I couldn't tell it was you with that really dark hat of yours." Snatcher say's hugging her even tighter before putting her down. "Wow, you got a lot older, same as Bow, and you talk now... did I miss something?"

"Well, Snatcher, many years have gone by since we were here looking like children. We have come back in time to avert; that." She points to the glass-like barrier in the sky.

"How have you been, Snatcher? It seems like forever" Hat Kid asks.

"I saw you just a few days ago as a child; so not much."

"Oh that's right..." She looks down and then back up at Snatcher. "Come here, BBF!" She says grabbing and hugging him as tight as she can.

Bow Kid stands next to the vessel and whispers to them. "I've not seen Hat Kid this happy in a long time." The vessel looks over to see the happy Hat Kid in the arms of the Snatcher.

Hat Kid lets go and is approached by the vessel. The Knight reaches its arms out to Hat Kid. "Oh, do you want a hug too?" Hat Kid picks the Knight up in her arms and hugs them. The knight stares in a daze into the void that radiates off her hat. Hat Kid puts Ghost down and it stays by her side.

Hornet comes walking out of the trees with the Empress dragging right behind her. "Will someone give me a break from this restless cat!"

Snatcher prepares a laser to fire. "No, Snatcher, wait!" Hat Kid cries out. Snatcher calms down with some confusion.

Hat Kid runs over to Hornet with the Knight following close behind her. "Can we get some minions to take the Empress away?!" Hat Kid shouts out.

Snatcher begins summoning minions to aid. "You heard the kiddo; now get to it! Everyone else come with me to dump bodies in the soul lake." The minions grab and drag the Empress away as she gives up struggling and sighs in tired frustration.

Hornet spots the vessel next to Hat Kid. "A v-vessel?! Here?! How?!" She quickly wraps the vessel up in web. "You're coming with us, little vessel! I'm not taking any chances on you running away."

Hat Kid gives a look of ease. "That solves that problem; hope it's a strong one. Bow Kid... this is Hornet, she's princess of Hallownest."

"Greetings, friend of Hat Kid." Hornet says with a royal bow.

"Hallownest? Isn't that a place we're not supposed to visit?" Bow says.

Hat Kid turns to her. "Yes, yes it is. That's where I've been for a while. I was stranded, out of enough timepiece fuel to get back to the TTA so I had to go in search of some around Hallownest."

"You know your ship has an SOS button, right?" Bow Kid says. Hat Kid stares at her for a few moments in disbelief.

"Hailey... it's that big red button you have in your basement."

"I thought that was self-destruct or something!"

"You fool, didn't you read the ship's manual?"

"That thing is so dense I can't be bothered."

"You're one of the smartest people I know, Hailey, but also one of the dumbest."

"That's... fair. It's not like the TTA cares enough to come and find me in such a place."

"But I care about you. I would have come for you had I known the trouble you were in."

Hornet chimes in, "I'd also like to add that you can be clueless at times, Hat Kid."

Hat Kid snaps at Hornet, "Who asked you to speak, spider?!"

The void in Hat Kid's head also gets loud again. "̴̜͍͌S̸͙̜̉̑́͌h̸͉̝̼̗̚͝a̷̹̤͚̋̌͘d̶̬̣͚̦e̶̛̻̠͂̔̕.̸̢̣͎̤̄͑.̷̣͕̘̆̈̓.̸͎̜̩͊̌ ̷̰̃̒̓͜L̴͎͖̲̿̌̊ͅǒ̸͈̩̎r̷̳̙̺̒̅͠d̶̰̦͕̍́̎ͅ!̷̹̿̚"̴̬̎̐ͅ

The vessel starts squirming more frantically in its web prison.

"Agh! There's too many voices in my head!" Hat Kid says curling into a ball.

Bow Kid kneels beside her. "Get a hold of yourself, Hat Kid!"

Hornet speaks up, "She's been through a lot Bow... she still is... we should be patient with her."

Bow takes the spider's words with care and rubs her disturbed friend's arm with comforting intent. The Knight manages to roll in its web over next to Hat Kid where it rests beside her.

After a while, Hat Kid sits up and Snatcher comes back.

Hat Kid talks with bow about her adventures in Hallownest. "At one point I had to chop the head off of a spider hybrid that looked like you, it was disgusting... the spider part... not you, just to be clear." Hat Kid says with a small laugh.

"This is so thrilling to hear! So what happened to your eye then if not from the spider?"

"That... I don't want to talk about it."

"Your hands look really bruised, why don't you have some kind of protective gloves like me."

"Stop calling me out on all my mistakes, Beatrice! I don't like to hear it."

"Fine, keep getting hurt then I guess. I'm not your mom."

Hat Kid frowns at Bow with more sadness than hatred. "That was really uncool..."

"Yeah... sorry about that, it was impulsiveness."

"It's ok, Bow." The two have a nice comforting hug.

While the two time travelers talk, Hornet takes an interest in the Snatcher. "So you're dead but you're not exactly a phantom in the dream world."

"Uhh, sure... something like that." Snatcher replies.

"So you're dead but alive?" Hornet asks.

"Yes... I died but I lived, any more illogical questions!?"

"I am princess of Hallownst, you can't talk to me like that!"

"And I'm... or was prince of Subcon; so were both royalty, what of it?"

"Where is your royal home; ghost?!" Hornet asks the Snatcher, making the vessel respond by perking its head up the best it can.

"Hahahaha! It's the manor down that way. You're more than welcome to go inside, please; I insist."

Hornet storms off to the manor but Hat Kid swiftly grips her leg. "No, Hornet, don't listen to him!"

"Why? What's so bad?" Hornet asks.

Hat Kid looks towards the manor and shutters. "Everything..." She looks over to Snatcher who's got his usual happy smile. "You're a real jerk for that one, Snatcher. I still have nightmares!"

"Hey, you got a timepiece from it didn't you, don't complain." Snatcher tells her.

"Enough nonsense, we need to get rid of that time barrier. Do you have leads as to who or what might have control of a timepiece? The hourglasses that glow and float, you remember what a timepiece is, right, Snatcher ?" Hat Kid says.

The Knight manages to cut itself free with it's rusty nail. It quickly tugs at Hat Kid's coat flap. "Oh, can I help you, little vessel?" Hat Kid asks.

The Knight starts walking away and looking back to see if Hat Kid is following. Hornet ready's her needle to wrap the vessel up again but Hat Kid stops her. "Look, it's not running... It's waiting for us... I think. Maybe it knows something. Hold on a moment, little vessel!"

Hat Kid directs her words to Hornet. "The vessel seems to be very clingy to me, do you happen to know why that might be me."

"I'm willing to guess it's the void in your hat. Vessels are made of that substance."

"Hm, alright. Can you and Snappy stay here with Snatcher for a bit while me, Bow, and the vessel go find the timepiece. I don't want anything to go wrong with the timepiece and you two end up being wiped from existence."

"I was hoping to get in on some action but sure, I'll do this for you since you've done so much for my kingdom."

Hat Kid says a quick goodbye to everyone with the reassurance that she'll return, and set's off with Bow Kid, following the little vessel wherever it may take them.