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

Huge thank you to my beta reader!!

---

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.

She stared at him, failing to hold back a smirk. "I'm sorry, are you concerned about me?" she asked.

"No," he replied, too quickly.

"Right." Hat Kid didn't want to keep interrogating Snatcher, so she just crossed her arms and kept talking. "So it turns out that when people die without a soul, some pretty crazy things happen."

"Really," Snatcher snarked. "Like what?"

"They turn into a corrupted shadowy ghost, first of all," she deadpanned, looking him right in the eye.

Snatcher frowned. "You're implying I died without a soul?" he asked.

"Bingo! You're so smart." Hat Kid applauded him with small, fast-paced claps.

Snatcher ignored her sarcasm and instead protested. "Wait, but how? I would've felt something, right?" He shifted on the pillows, his fingers grasping at the fabric over his heart. "I couldn't have just... lost my soul and felt nothing, right?" He looked to her for answers, but Hat Kid only shrugged. "You felt something when you lost your soul, right?" Snatcher pressed.

Hat Kid frowned at him. "Yeah, a whole lot of emptiness," she retorted. "And a whole lot of pain. You're telling me you didn't notice anything like that?"

Snatcher scowled. "My death was very painful- emotionally and physically," he replied. "I can't remember one specific pain out of many." He lowered his gaze. "Besides, I don't like remembering."

It was funny how Snatcher didn't see the solution that seemed so obvious to Hat Kid. "Then don't be the one who remembers."

He lifted his head and gave her a quizzical look. She explained. "Elliot formed from your rift, which formed from your mind, so he has at least some of your memories. The rift resurrected him from a specific point in his timeline, so it's possible he remembers some of the events that lead to his death. If that's so, I have some theories that might fix things."

Snatcher frowned and tucked his legs in. "Okay... but how would we know?" he asked.

"I could ask him." Hat Kid glanced at his crown.

Snatcher scowled, but complied, surprisingly. He slowly adjusted his wrist and rolled his eyes. "You better wake me up again right after this," he huffed.

Before Hat Kid could say yes or no, he slid the crown to his hand and put it on. A fog methodically slid over his expression and his hand lowered, resting gently in his lap. Another second later, he shook his head and looked up.

Hat Kid was starting to tell the difference between Snatcher and Elliot just by seeing their facial expressions. Snatcher constantly looked stressed. There always were clouds behind his eyes and tension on his face. But when Elliot's consciousness came to the forefront, she could see the stark differences in the direct transition. Elliot only became stressed in a worried, anxious way, but he smiled whenever he saw Hattie. He didn't look haunted or angry or sassy when he looked at her. He just... smiled.

And his nervous smile was what she faced right now.

"Wasn't I somewhere else?" he asked, sounding confused. "I thought you told me to go to a different room, and then take my crown off. I'm... not entirely sure how I'm back here."

"Don't worry about it," she told him.

"Oh. Alright." And just like that, he didn't ask anymore questions, or give her any dirty looks. He just accepted her answer and kept that warm, uneasy smile.

"Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?" she began. "They're kinda personal."

"That's okay." Again- no argument, no snarky comment. Just complete, easy compliance.

For some reason, his kindness got on her nerves. Reluctantly, she pushed her annoyance aside. "You remember being in the rift, right?" Hattie could recall him at least mentioning the rift.

"Yes." Already his smile started to fade, but he kept it up uneasily. "A lot of it is hazy, but I know I was there."

"What else do you remember, before that?" Hattie asked.

Elliot lowered his gaze. He was straining now to keep smiling. "Oh, are you sure you want to hear about that? It's... a little dark."

His hesitation and warning let Hat Kid know they were moving in the right direction. "I need to hear," she told him.

"Alright." He shifted uncomfortably, hunching forward and rubbing his thumbs together. Elliot's bangs fell over his eyes, making him suddenly inscrutable. "Let's see... I-I'd just bought flowers for my fiancée. I'd been gone for a long time studying law, and I wanted to surprise her with something nice."

Hat Kid knew the story. She'd seen it in the storybooks. The tale of Queen Vanessa and how she imprisoned her prince. And then that prince would become an evil soul-stealing ghost that would make her life a living nightmare.

Hearing it from the guy who'd experienced that, though, just felt different. She hadn't given the storybook a second thought after reading it. Elliot's quiet tone and averted gaze, however, made Hattie feel something for him. She didn't really feel bad for him, no. She just... pitied him a little.

Gee, maybe with my soul, I'd feel more.

"She..." Elliot drew in a sharp breath. "There was some sort of miscommunication. I... I'm not entirely sure what she thought. But before I could give her my gift, she ordered the guards to lock me in the dungeon." A shiver ran through him, almost as if he were reliving the experience. "It was so cold... I tried yelling for her, but she never heard me. That, or she never listened."

Something in his voice tightened. "I'm not sure how long I spent down there... or when I became aware the world around me wasn't real anymore..." He shook his head and lifted his face.

Elliot was smiling again. "That's when you came. And... I know I pulled myself out with you and intruded, b-but it was like you saved me." He lifted one hand, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I burdened you, but thank you for letting me come with you."

Hat Kid couldn't find words. She couldn't understand how Elliot could still muster a smile. His fiancée had thrown him into a dungeon and killed him. As far as he was aware, he'd spent eternity rotting in there.

And yet here he was, smiling at her like she'd done nothing wrong. Like she was the best person in the world. Like she was good.

"Could you take your crown off real quick?" she blurted. And he did. It was too easy. Something about his compliance and his blind trust annoyed her.

When Snatcher came to, the first thing he did was wipe something away from his eyes. His brow furrowed. Hat Kid pretended not to notice. "What's it like, switching back and forth like that?" she asked softly.

Snatcher shook his hand as if flinging away something dreadful. "It's... like falling asleep," he said. "But the 'waking up' part is more abrupt- you're immediately thrust back into the world. I'm not aware of anything that happens when my- the crown is on, nor do I know how much time passes."

Snatcher pressed his lips into a thin line. "I hope you got answers for me, kiddo," he said, raising his voice.

"Don't worry," she said. "He does remember being..." she saw Snatcher tense. "Um, he remembers the dungeon, but he doesn't seem aware that he died."

"Right." Snatcher nodded, then frowned. "And, um, how does that help?"

"It gives me an idea of where to start," she explained. "Even if he isn't aware, that doesn't mean he didn't die."

She paused. "It's likely that the time anomaly will naturally try to fix itself, so that means, no matter who is in control, your body will revert back to a ghost's."

Snatcher scowled and crossed his arms. "Kid, it sounds like you're sugarcoating things. You're saying I'm going to die? And become a ghost? Again?" He scoffed.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, actually." Hat Kid looked at him grimly.

Snatcher's eyes shot wide. "What?"

"You're a time anomaly," she told him. "I told you time magic naturally tries to repair itself if it's broken. One way or another, your internal clock will try to go back to what it needs to be- when you're a ghost."

Snatcher sat up, lifting an eyebrow. "Wait, then what happens to Elliot?"

Hat Kid shrugged. "That's exactly what I was wondering. I think there are two possibilities." She listed them off on her fingers. "One, Elliot's mind gets erased from your body, and you're fully in control again. Or two, your minds just...merge."

"Merge?" Snatcher looked concerned.

She shrugged again. "I dunno. Doesn't matter. All that matters is that we don't have time." Hat Kid dug her watch out of her pocket and showed him its face. 2:13:02:32. "I have to fix things before the time runs out."

"That's not a lot of time..." Snatcher glanced at her. "Why? What happens when the clock strikes zero?"

"Oh, you know." Hat Kid shrugged. "I die."

"What?!" Snatcher almost shot right to his feet in his shock, before settling down again and shaking his head. "No, no, you almost got me. You can't trick me. If you die, you just come back."

So he does know. Hat Kid would have to find out how later.

"People can't survive without a soul, Snatcher," she told him. "And what revived me after dying was a timepiece. In my soul." She turned her watch back to her, hearing the gentle click of her time draining. "There's...a little piece of my soul left in here. That's how I keep track of time, and that's how I can still revive as long as I have time. But that takes five minutes away from me."

Snatcher fell silent, contemplating things.

Hattie silently prayed he wasn't putting two and two together.

Don't think about what I told you earlier, please.

Don't realize that people become monsters when they die soulless.

Don't think of me any differently.

Snatcher's decisive answer surprised her. "Then...I guess we shouldn't waste anymore time." He stood. "What sort of ideas do you have, kiddo?"

Hat Kid squashed a grateful smile. "Right. You're not going to like this first one."

"Oh no." But he didn't back down.

Was he really willing to go through with what she suggested? Time to find out.

She took a steadying breath. "It involves going to a certain manor."