Masked (A Hat In Time)

Important Things to Talk About

Y'all wanna know an important thing to talk about? Well, let my tell you about our sponsor, Raid Shad *gets hit with a vent cover and dies*

Seriously, though. The next chapter is the last one. I still don't understand how I've gotten to this point. It's crazy. I never thought I'd see the day.

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The kids settled back into the pillow pile, where it was most comfortable, but they didn't talk just yet. They sat in silence and contemplated issues of their own.

"So," Bow Kid started, breaking the silence. "Home, huh?"

Hat Kid nodded. "I haven't thought about that in a while."

"Me too." Few things had sparked thoughts of home over the past few events, but she never actually had time to think about it. Let alone discuss it with Hattie.

They had the fuel they needed and more. The ship was repaired, and everything was good to go. Their route was planned out (it had been planned out ever since they got most of their timepieces back from Mu, but other things distracted them then). Nothing was stopping them from flying away now and going right home.

After all, there was their family waiting for them. Bow Kid shivered at the thought. She hadn't thought about them in so long...now they felt distant and unreal. Had she just dreamed them up? Were they just a fantasy? It was a silly thought, but one she couldn't help but think.

"We have to go home," Hat Kid said. The statement sounded weak on its own.

Bow Kid was surprised she had a counter. "Do we?"

Hat Kid furrowed her brow. "Well, yeah," she said. "We have the route and the fuel, the ship is fixed, and we have no other business on this planet! Everything is cleared 100% and more. We don't have to worry about any other Time Rifts opening up since we have all the timepieces. Besides, our family is waiting for us back home."

Those were all valid, reasonable points. Bow Kid nodded along. "There's going to be a lot of problems back home, though," she murmured.

"Like what?" Hat Kid asked.

It wasn't surprising that she hadn't thought of these. Hat Kid didn't worry as much about the future. Bow Kid was always worrying about the consequences of her actions, so she was more cautious than Hat Kid.

"They might be angry at us for taking so long to get back," Bow Kid said. "We could tell them we crashed, but they might be able to tell from our signal logs that we spent more time than necessary here."

Hat Kid frowned. "You're right."

"Plus," Bow Kid added. "I illegally used a timepiece. You know how people feel about that."

Hat Kid was silent.

Timepieces were highly magical and dangerous items. They were created to contain the overflow of Time itself, meaning the magic inside the pieces was highly volatile. A breach in timepieces could cause a wide range of effects resulting in a rift. A few seconds could rewind in a small space, or years could rewind in a large area. No matter how much they were studied and examined, no one could figure out how to control time magic. It was like the magic acted on whims of its own.

The safest use of timepieces was for energy. The time magic was a great source of power that would never fail until it drained away. It was a great way to lessen the overflow of Time. This meant there were tight laws and restrictions on the use of timepieces. Owning them for other purposes than for fuel was not illegal, but it was certainly taboo. Using them for any purpose other than for power was illegal for normal people.