Shadow Rift (A Hat in Time)

Epilogue

Why helloooooo there! Sorry for not updating on Wednesday like usual, but this chapter was late, so I wanted to get it out sooner rather than later. After all, it's been- (checks watch)

-t. ten months.

WHAT. How did that happen.

Jokes aside, I don't wanna delay y'all any further! I know you've been very patient, so here's the final chapter of Shadow Rift :)

EDIT: As per usual, I've forgotten to credit my beta reader.... THANK YOU SO MUCH TO XEM!!!

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With Hattie gone, things had gone back to... normal.

Well... Snatcher was reluctant to think of the shift back to his old routines as "normal." Could anything ever be "normal" again after everything that had happened? He'd once thought he'd be happiest going back to his repetitive afterlife, but now? It was lacking. It felt like filler. He gained little to no satisfaction from something that had kept him placated for centuries.

And with all this time to think, Snatcher discovered a heavy melancholy over the forest. Or maybe it was only over him, and all his minions were just worried. He'd have plenty of time to speculate on that, too.

He'd sat and reflected on the events of the past couple of days. Curiously, he had a complete picture of every event, being able to witness all of Elliot's memories now. It was odd seeing things from that point of view; what he said, what he did, and what he felt were all Snatcher's to experience now.

Having someone else's memories felt like they were yours. Logically, Snatcher knew he'd never said anything Elliot had said in the past few days. But, funnily enough, he remembered saying them.

There were some memories he wished he hadn't examined and relived, though. Elliot's memories of being cursed stuck out in his mind like a sore thumb. Compared to all the others, those memories felt cold and sharp. They were hostile, heavy, and freezing- indeed, the opposite of every word Snatcher could think of to describe Elliot.

It seemed like Vanessa never learned- and never was going to learn- her lesson. If there was one good thing to come out of that ordeal, it was the fact that Snatcher's worries about her could rest now, more or less.

How long had it been since that incident? A week or so? He'd never before noticed how time seemed to blur together in Subcon. With Hattie, it was easy to keep track of the days. Perhaps it was thanks to that constantly ticking watch of hers... though he was grateful that it was no longer ticking.

Speaking of the kid...

Snatcher had thought about what she might be doing now that she no longer had timepieces to gather in Subcon. Just yesterday, lava had quite rudely flooded Subcon and forced him into an annoyingly familiar scene in an annoyingly familiar castle. It admittedly took him a stunned minute to realize what had happened. With time rewound, the kid probably had to gather the timepieces in Alpine again. And, as it seemed, the mustached girl seemed simply fated to screw up the world and turn it into a melted nightmare.

Hat Kid had come to talk to him at the volcano palace, and Snatcher had been forcefully reminded that she didn't remember their experiences. He'd spat out something about her soul rattling around, verbally trying to shoo her off as quickly as possible. The sooner she walked away, the better; he wanted her to beat Mustache Girl as quickly as possible, and then he could get back to "normal".

Not to mention... it was hard to bear remembering something she didn't.

When the fight kicked up, Snatcher watched helplessly as he was stuck behind the magical barrier again. His claws ached with anticipation, his eyes darting between every blow the girls traded. When Mustache Girl protected herself with the magical sphere again, Snatcher braced himself, ready to leap into the ring and fight with Hattie again.