Masked (A Hat In Time)

A Moment to Rest

THE NEW TRAILER. NORMALLY I DON'T SWEAR ON CHAPTERS BUT. HOLY ASS I'M SCREAMING.

OH LORD HAVE I BEEN WRITING VANESSA'S ATTACKS ALL WRONG?!

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Moon gently laid the prince down on Snatcher's chair. He was still unconscious, shivering, and looking distressed even in his sleep. Hat Kid watched, distraught.

Jaide was right- there were cuts and bruises all over his body. Blood stained his clothes around a set of scratch marks on his chest. Hat Kid wasn't able to look at his various wounds without cringing, so she just watched Moonjumper anxiously.

He caught her eye and half-smiled. "He's alive," he whispered. "We can heal him. He-" Moon's voice hitched in his throat. "He's going to be okay."

Moon raised his hands, and strings gently curled forth from his fingertips. They gently wrapped around the prince and glowed with a warm light. "My strings can heal him," Moon said. Hat Kid wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure her or himself. "I-it's not as powerful as Jaide's magic, though, so they'll take longer." He broke the parts of the strings connected to his fingers and the loose ends wrapped around the prince too.

Then Moon turned away. It seems like he wasn't able to stand looking at how hurt the prince was too. He sighed and lowered his head into his hands. "It's all my fault," he groaned.

Hattie frowned at him. "It is not your fault!" she protested, nudging his side. "No one knew that he was going to leave or that Vanessa was going to hurt him so badly!"

"I should've stopped him," Moonjumper mumbled.

"Come on." Hat Kid whacked him a few more times. "You. Didn't. Know."

"I should've!" Moon argued, raising his head and inching away from her so her next whack fell short. He frowned indignantly at Hattie. "When I was using him as my puppet, I could see directly into his mind. At all times, I knew what he was thinking, what he was seeing, and what he was experiencing. It took me a while to know that the same was true vice versa." Moon turned his gaze to the ground as if he was ashamed. "He knows me so well because of that, yet I barely know him. And...I feel bad for that."

Hattie frowned, trying to come up with a way to respond. The whole Moonjumper-controlling-the-prince subject was pretty touchy, even though they forgave each other.

Moon sighed. "There's just...let's focus on some positive things right now. The prince is safe. He's going to live. And everyone else..." A pained expression came across his face.

"Everyone else is going to be okay, too!" Hattie quickly said. She firmly believed it with all her heart, and there was no way Moon's sad thoughts were going to change her mind!

"Well, Snatcher, yes, he'll be okay," Moon mumbled. "Bow, her too. But Jaide...?" A shadow passed between his eyes. "I'm not so sure."

Hat Kid frowned. She remembered how Jaide was acting outside of the dungeon. Now that she thought about it, Jaide was acting a little...odd.

"She's normally not that quiet," Moon thought aloud, confirming Hat Kid's suspicions. "Of course, I'm not sure how she'd react in a situation like that, but there was this weird look in her eye. Jaide wasn't acting like herself." He tilted his head back, considering things. "Her eyes were green, right...?"

Hattie was only half-listening. She was stuck in thoughts of her own. She hoped that Bow was okay. Well, what the peck? Of course she'd be okay. Plus, she'd be able to tell whatever was going on with Jaide later.

That tiny bit of positivity made Hat Kid lift her head with hope. It always helped her remember that no matter what, she and her best friend were always going to be okay, no matter how hard it was to be apart.

Moon was muttering something about yellow. Hat Kid turned back to the prince to check the progress of the strings. Thankfully, the worst of the cut was healing, and the prince looked a little less distressed.

The moment I see him again, I want to give him a big hug and apologize.

She leaned forward and did her best to wrap her arms around the prince. She didn't want to move him too much and cause any more pain for him. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him.

Hat Kid couldn't feel or hear him breathing. For a moment, her heart stopped. He's a doll, she reminded herself. He doesn't breathe. Or have a heart. But he can bleed. And cry. And sleep.

She pulled away. Was she imagining things, or was there a ghost of a smile on the prince's face?

When she turned back to Moon, she noticed that he was watching over the prince too. He looked more anxious than usual. "...it's strange, isn't it?" Moon asked softly. "Once upon a time, I wanted nothing more than to rule this forest, and I did not care if the prince got hurt in my conquest."

He looked away, unable to meet anyone's eyes as he spoke. "But now...now it's tearing me apart inside when I see him like this. I don't want to rule this forest anymore. I just want a quiet life where everyone I love is safe."

"It's called character development," Hattie blurted.

Moon gave her a weird look. "What?"

She stared back at him. "What?"

They held each other's gazes, silent for a long moment.

"Alright then." Moon turned away.

They continued to sit in silence. Every now and then, they both shot glances at the prince.

"Hey, you wanna go see what's happening to Jaide?" Hat Kid asked.

"Oh, thank goodness you said something!" Moon said, his eyes widening. "Yes, I want to go, but I didn't want to say anything!"

"Then let's go!" Hattie exclaimed, pulling out her umbrella.

She and Moonjumper left the prince behind in Snatcher's chair. A part of Hat Kid worried about him, but she shrugged it off. He would be safe in Subcon. Nothing could hurt him here.

Besides, anything that did hurt him would get the peck beaten out of it by everyone. He'd be perfectly fine!