Sacred Souls - A Snatcher x Reader [COMPLETED]

4: Contractual Obligations

| hewo! Sorry I didn't update yesterday. this was meant to be published yesterday
... but it was a busy day for me. So I'm gonna try and make this one longer to make up for it haha..... rip me |

(POV: Y/N)

After that embarrassing experience with the tree, you're finally on top with some help from this little dweller friend. After that whole ordeal you've actually forgotten why you were climbing the tree in the first place. The dweller jabs its tail at the painting, and you remember. You grab the painting, and try to yeet it into the fire - surprisingly, you get it first try. The spirits say

"More! More!"

so you look around for more paintings. There's one right next to the fire - you wish you'd gone for that one first. Anyway, you jump off the tree, wincing on impact, and make your way over. You pick up the painting and chuck it in the fire. Once again the Spirits say

"More! More!"

again so you check your surroundings again. You now see faint purple trails leading away from the fire and, at the ends of them, more paintings. It seems there are only two left so you make your way over to the easier one to get, only to find it's encased in ice. There's a giant plum nearby, and as you pick it up, wondering why it's just lying there, the dweller is sucked into it! The plum starts to glow red, but you still hold it, in shock from what just happened. Suddenly the plum explodes, and you're thrown back with the blast - but the ice is shattered. You pick up the painting, sad that your friend is gone so soon, but suddenly you feel a strong grip around your shoulder. It's the dweller! "Wait, what?!" you say, surprised. "How are you back?!" One of the kids says "Dwellers don't die from the plums, newbie. They just get sucked in, and released after it explodes."
"Oh..." you say, feeling kinda dumb, but then you think 'I couldn't have known that. I shouldn't feel bad!'
You throw the painting in the fire and face the task of the last painting, on a much taller tree than the first one. There are a couple glowshrooms and quite few sturdy-looking branches. You can probably climb the tree pretty good, you just need to get up there....

Noodle time!!

This girl...
So mysterious...
So talented.
Snatcher had never seen a single contractor connect with a dweller this way.
The dwellers kept to themselves, and while Snatcher had heard stories of snakes connecting with humans, he never expected his dwellers to have the same...ability, if you could call it that. And yet this girl had an air about her...
Snatcher had sensed it, from the moment he laid eyes on her. This girl was...
Amazing, to put it simply.

Snatcher had been watching her do collect the paintings, and saw her be thrown back by the force of the exploding plum. He'd had to try hard not to rush out of the trees and help her up. Instead, he'd focused all his efforts on repressing that feeling. Why was this particular contractor so alluring?

• Timeskip because I'm lazy, also now I know why most people skip the whole painting collection haha •

As the girl threw the last painting into the fire, she sat down on a nearby bench while the fire spirits disappeared with a

"Thank you~~~!"

Her eyes drooped and she fell asleep fairly quickly, the dweller wrapped around her shoulders.

Aww, she's cute when she slee-
NO. SHE'S NOT. SHE'S JUST ANOTHER CONTRACTOR!

Snatcher turned and floated away quickly.
He did not want to be in the girls vicinity for too long.

(POV: Y/N)

You wake up, and see a bunch of kids clustered around you.
"Hey, newbie, you better get on with your contract before Boss gets mad."
Contract....?
Boss...?
Everything that happened before your little power nap comes flooding back to you.
You look at your contract - "Murder the Fire Spirits" is crossed off. Next you have to chop fire wood.

• Timeskip, I'm lazy haha •

You finally finish chopping the large pile of wood, and sit down on the bench again. The dweller floats over to you and tilts its head, as if it's asking a question. You suddenly realize you don't know your friend's name; so you ask "What's your name, bud?" The dweller seems more confused than before.
"Don't you have one?" It shakes its head.
"Oh. Well then, I'll call you... Buddy?" It shakes its head again.
"Are you a girl?" This time it hesitates before nodding vigorously.
"Ah. All right, how about... Kiwi?" You honestly have no idea how you thought of that, but Kiwi is turning somersaults. "You like it?" you ask, and Kiwi nods again. "All right Kiwi, do you know where I go now?" Kiwi nods and starts floating out of the village. She takes you to a hollowed out mushroom. To your surprise it's a house, with a large bookshelf, a rug, a record player and a chest of drawers. All the furniture is in homely shades of yellow and orange which makes the mushroom more cozy than the outside forest.
Snatcher is sitting in the hug orange armchair, reading a book.
"Um, hello?" you say nervously.
"Oh hello." says Snatcher calmly. "What brings you here?"
"I, uh, finished my contract." you explain, holding it out to the noodle.
"Great! Let me get you another one." he says enthusiastically.
"A-another one?" You had expected to get your soul back now!
"Yes, another one. There's more work to he done, you know. Look forward to my next *ahem* victim so you can share the work."
He produces a new contract and quill. Reading through, it looks like you need to deliver mail. Weird, first he wants you to murder some foxes and now deliver mail?
"The minions love mail day. It's been a while since the last one."
"Minions?" Your thoughts are immediately on the yellow, banana-loving creatures from Despicable Me.
"You've seen them, they're all in the village!"
"Oh the purple ones with the glowing eye?" you ask, slightly confused.
"Who else would they be? The dwellers? Anyway, take this sack, it's got all the mail."
You take the sack and leave the mushroom.

Quickly head to Snatcher's POV

As the kid leaves his house, Snatcher feels a faint blush and smile creep across his face. He shakes his head abruptly and suddenly realizes he doesn't know her name.
Psshh. It's not like he cares.

.....Right?

~Next time~
You go back to the village to deliver mail, and find out more about the snowy area across the broken bridge.
Meanwhile, Snatcher starts researching white souls - what will he find?
A person comes to the Forest, which allows Snatcher to eat a soul... but not the soul you're probably thinking of.

•hehe. I'm proud of that. This part did turn out to not be as long as I hoped, though. Shame. Hope you enjoyed it though~~! Bai•