No, I didn't forget to post the chapter, I just wanted to wait a little later in the day! :)

Sorry about the longer wait for this chapter! I wanted to finish off an art trade with my friend so I could direct my full attention to the art for the next few chapters.

And, of course, thank you to my beta reader!!

---

Time rifts were pretty peaceful, sometimes. Especially the blue ones. Hat Kid had never before taken the time to stop and enjoy the scenery for a moment. Or for several moments.

Or for several hours.

What had been serenely nice at first quickly gave way to boredom. No matter how pretty the underwater scenery, colored marble steps, and relaxing the atmosphere were, spending hours and hours doing only one thing was always boring.

Hattie had been sitting at the final platform of the last Subcon rift, where the glowing timepiece hung over her head. It'd been hard not reflexively swiping at it the moment she got there, but she had to wait.

All rifts collapsed eventually. They were more stable when they were undisturbed- when no one tried to fix them. Untouched, rifts would collapse in a few weeks. Unfortunately, not fixing them meant a higher likelihood of them causing permanent damage to the timeline.

But if someone were to interfere and enter a rift, they'd become more unstable. Hat Kid could fix them easily by collecting the timepiece at the end of it, but she just needed to wait until the rift would start collapsing. In comparison, with someone inside a rift it took only a few hours for the collapse to start. With all the time rifts that Hattie had cleaned up, she'd saved about twelve or thirteen hours.

Following that train of thought, she checked her watch.

1:22:15:39. And it'd been that way for a few hours. Just about the only time she'd lost was from getting from place to place.

In Alpine, she'd taken a few detours to avoid Karmin and to purposefully stomp on any purple flowers she'd seen. But in Subcon, she'd only paused to talk to Elliot, and the only real annoyances were the swamp and the fire spirits.

Speaking of Elliot... Hat Kid let her thoughts wander, as they did so often after several hours. He seemed pretty melancholy when she chatted with him. Or was that his usual amount of sad? She really couldn't tell with him sometimes.

Hattie thought she'd noticed a bit of hesitation with him when she talked about him dying. Either that, or she'd imagined it.

Well, if he was sad, she couldn't blame him. Approaching death was a scary thing to think about. That's why she was doing all she could to prevent her own death.

But he'd died before. He'd be alright! Mostly. Maybe.

Her biggest concern was if Snatcher refused to give her soul back. The thought was frustrating. Would he even listen to her? Would she have to fight him again? She'd lost so much time to him already, and she didn't know if she could afford any more frustrating battles, even with spare time to rely on.

Why would he want to fight me, though? She wondered bitterly. After all we went through?

She wasn't given another moment to dwell on the thought. With a start, she noticed the wavering, bubbly sky darken. There we go. The rift was finally collapsing. Took it long enough.

With measured calm, Hat Kid stood, stretched, dusted herself off, yawned, took one last look around the rift, then reached up and grabbed the timepiece.

The rift closed with a bright flash of light. Hat Kid found herself back in Subcon, clutching the timepiece. She let it go, sending it back to her ship.

And that was it. She checked her watch, a sigh escaping her when she saw it ticking again. 1:22:15:34... 33...

Hattie shoved her watch back into her pocket and started her way back toward Subcon Village. She knew the way by now, thanks to various landmarks and her previous searches for the time rifts.

When Hat Kid entered the village, the minions waved. She'd seen them having fun earlier, passing a ball around. But she hadn't paid much attention to them. Maybe she could play with them when she had her soul back.

To her surprise, Elliot was still in the same spot. She squinted, noticing the glimmer of gold on top of his head. He was still in control, too. How odd.

As she approached, she called out his name in greeting. He looked up and smiled, though he didn't look super happy. It seemed to be a forced grin rather than a genuine smile.

"I'm finished with all the time rifts," Hattie told him, coming to a stop in front of him.

"So, what comes next?" he asked.

"We wait."

"Until...?" Concern creased his face.

He probably knew the answer already. Hattie said it anyway. "You die."

"Right." His face fell. "Of course. No big deal," he repeated.

Hat Kid frowned. He said that like it was a bad thing. Elliot dying would set things back to normal. Snatcher would be back in control of Subcon, and the time anomaly would disappear. Best yet, Hattie would get her soul back. Just like how it was supposed to be.

But Elliot looked... so upset.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He flinched. "Well, yeah, sure," he murmured. "I just, well, um..." He forced a laugh, clasping his hands tightly together. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

It didn't sound believable at all. It sounded like he was lying and hiding his true feelings. She stared at him a moment longer, but he didn't meet her gaze.

"Alright." Hat Kid took out her watch and checked it again. She could hardly help it now. After all she'd done over the past few days, it was starting to become a habit.

1:22:08:26 and counting. She could only hope that what remained would be enough time for Elliot to die before her. Surely she'd stalled enough in those rifts? Surely she'd bought enough time for herself?

She glanced at Elliot again, who was looking exceedingly uncomfortable. "Are you sure you okay?" she repeated.

His smile faltered. "Well, uh, I'm not really... I'm not really super excited about the idea of dying," he murmured. "I-I will! I mean, if it's the only way to help you get your soul back, then..." he hesitated. "Then I would die for you."

Hat Kid nodded. That was fair. "It's okay to be afraid of death," she told him gently. "Especially when you're staring it right in the face. Believe me, I know how it feels."

"That's not all," Elliot continued, looking ashamed. "I... also... well..." he squeezed his eyes shut and blurted, "What if there's another way?"

Hat Kid lifted an eyebrow. "What if there was some way for both of us to survive?" Elliot asked, opening his eyes again once the big question was out. "I don't know as much about time magic as you do, but... wouldn't there be another way?"

"I don't know," Hat Kid admitted. She watched Elliot's face fall. "I don't want to come up with another plan that only maybe will work, not after what happened in the manor. It's safer to go with this plan, which has a high chance of success."

"Right." Something heavy passed in Elliot's expression. "Okay. Then... I guess my fate is sealed." His voice sounded dull and despairing.

Hat Kid weakly smiled at him, and he returned one, just as weak. "One thing, though, before I die?" he asked.

"Yeah...?" Annoyance briefly flashed through Hattie; she wouldn't know how to respond to another objection or excuse.

Elliot hesitated, then, looking embarrassed, spread his arms. "Before I go, could I have a hug?"

Hat Kid sighed, partially in relief. "Alright," she said, shrugging. That wasn't so bad. Maybe it was the least she could do- a little goodbye hug before they never saw each other again.

Elliot stood from the log, and she wrapped his arms around him. He did the same, one around her shoulders, another lower on her waist. Hat Kid noticed a slight tremor in his body.

"You meant what you said?" Hat Kid said, looking up at him. "That you'd die for me?"

Elliot's smile was uneasy. "Of course," he said. Teasingly, he ruffled Hattie's hair and shoved the brim of her hat down over her eyes.

"Hey!" Hat Kid shoved him, and Elliot pulled away. Both of them were laughing. Hat Kid raised her hat again, sticking her tongue out at Elliot. He grinned back at her, folding his hands behind his back. "You're a meanie!"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Hat Kid shook her head, though she was grinning. "So, do you just want to wait here, or do you want to do something while we wait?"

"I'm not... I'm not really sure," Elliot admitted, his face falling again.

"I think we should do something," Hattie said, reaching for her pocket. "You know, just to take your mind off it?"

Elliot's eyes grew wide. Hat Kid's hand slid into her pocket, and her fingers closed around nothing.

Her heart froze in her chest. "Wait." Hat Kid dug her free hand into her other pocket but felt nothing but fabric there either. "Wait." Elliot stood stiffly as she took off her top hat and turned it upside down, digging through it. Nothing but candy and crumpled-up paper was stored there, as per usual.

Panic shot through Hattie. So where is-?!

The realization hit her a second later. Furiously, Hat Kid shoved her hat back on her head, a hard look on her face. She glared at Elliot, who shrank under her scowl.

With his scared expression and arms behind his back, it was obvious that he'd taken her watch.

"Elliot." Hat Kid's voice came out sharper than she intended, making Elliot take a step back. She held out her hand expectantly. "Give it back."

His expression softened. He lowered his arms to his sides again, and Hat Kid glimpsed the golden glimmer in his right hand. He didn't even try to play dumb. He stole it.

"Why do you think I said sorry?" he asked quietly, apologetically. "I... I won't give it back yet."