A Hat in Time: Healing the dead

Chapter 1: Old Friends

Deep in the cursed forest of Subcon, a solitary purple ghost longingly stares up into the night sky. The ghost, Snatcher, looks at the stars, hoping to see a ship among them. Months ago, a hatted alien, called Hat Kid, arrived in the forest, defeated Snatcher, and contractually made the ghost her best friend. Snatcher hadn't thought he would grow close to her, but found himself begging to her, trying to make her stay.

She left. Ever since that day, Snatcher has looked to the sky, hoping to see her again.

It's been fifteen minutes since he started searching, and there hasn't been any sign of her. They feel tears building up in his eyes, and shift their gaze to the floor, taking in a deap, shaky breath.

"Boss?"

Snatcher looks over to where the voice is coming from, and sees one of his minions approaching. "... Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the Other Boss is back-" they say, hesitantly.

Snatcher glances back at the sky, and gives a soft sigh. "It's about time Phantom got back," he says, slightly annoyed. "I'll head over and see him."

Snatcher teleports to the centre of the makeshift village of the minions, immediately eying around the area. He scowls, the familiar sights of the bustling village are without Phantom, as much as Snatcher can see. Without thinking, he closes his eyes to sense where his head minion is, but when he doesn't feel their presence show up, he grumbles. right, how could I forget, he scolds. Looks like I'll just have to look harder...

"At your service, your majesty," a cold voice, making Snatcher jump. He whirls around to the person he expected: his head minion, Phantom. The cloaked figure is bowing, with his large collar and tilted top hat obscuring his bone white mask. Yet, Snatcher knows that his glowing magenta eye is obviously fixed on them. "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Top hat. Snatcher snaps out of being reminded of the alien girl, and looks down at his Head Minion. "About time you showed up. When I allowed you to leave on 'personal business' I assumed it would've been two months at most, but it's been two years. Where have you been?" Snatcher growls.

" Missed me, then, your grace? It's flattering that you care about me," Phantom says, seemingly genuine.

Snatcher's eye twitches. He vividly remembers why he hated talking to Phantom. It's a familiar feeling, though.

"You're here, and that means I have jobs for you," Snatcher sighs, slightly calmer. With a flick of his wrist, Snatcher materialises a list of assignments, and hands them to Phantom. "There's a lot of work for you to do, on account of your extended absence. Nothing you aren't unfamiliar with, so I'm sure you can get through them quickly enough."

As Phantom takes a quick skim over the whole list, Snatcher continues, "A particular area you and I need to work on is the lab work. I haven't had enough time to produce anything beyond the basic potions, and thus, it is a problem that needs immediate correction."

Phantom is silent for a moment, before nodding. "Of course."

The two teleport away from the village and into Snatcher's lab, and Snatcher drags Phantom to a brewing set. "Get to it, Phantom. Begin making some healing elixirs. I'll get to developing the fire potions again."

Phantom does as he is told, while Snatcher cleans up a dusty brew station. He checks the contents within a glass, before heading to a close-by shelf, filled with different magical liquids. "... What happened in your 'personal business' that made it last for 2 years?" Snatcher asks, glancing over at Phantom.

He glances back, before saying, "... I was off getting some modern tech, before getting wrapped up in some old business."

"More?" Snatcher scoffs, putting down all the vials. "You've already gotten yourself enough bits and pieces to build yourself a computer, a generator and even made your own weird gizmo that's the size of your hand."

"I needed a way to get my computer connected with the world wide web, and I was just attempting to find the resources needed to do so," Phantom says, completing one healing elixir. "There's a lot you can get on the internet, from information, to entertainment to even shopping."