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#I need more Snatcher goes back in time stuff where he stays a noodle
witch-sweets · 7 months
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Yet another ahit au concept? Yup once again my brain is giving me ideas
This time the idea is that due to time rift shenanigans Hat Kid and Snatcher both end up in the past and Snatcher has to hide in Hat Kids shadow to avoid being seen they meet The Prince, Snatcher hates it, chaos ensues, etc I'll explain more details later but for now here's some doodles!
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abloomntime · 3 years
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A Bloom In Time Ch7 Discovery P1
The darkness of the cold building seemed to be finally getting to the fused together ghosts and the reality of being able to feel human things again began to settle in as the two suddenly realized how cold they were and began soon after shivering and rubbing their sides up and down with their still pretty jello feeling arms. It was a bit easier to move now but still not easy. I mean it's been over a thousand years after all, how were they supposed to get human movements down bout twenty to forty minutes after becoming alive again. Speaking of everyone being alive at the moment- With Thor and his pal's help, the two were able to dragged the very unconscious Vanessa into the bathroom and with the old but heavy duty lock Hattie had from a previously locked door, they were able to lock her in good, but JUST to be on the safe side(insistence from Moonjumper over and over. The guy was PETRIFIED of her which was well understandable) the giant pale red armchair from down the hall was moved and placed against the locked door as well to help keep it closed. It took Thor, Mr Timothy, and a mafia man to move the heavy wooden thing so there was little chance Vanessa in her current form would be able to get out easily. Not soon long after that the once-frozen-Subconite followed his bosses orders and with the giant group of men behind him, while still holding the none struggling Rough Patch, began leading the group away from them towards the second floor stairs. Snatcher re-yelling the rules behind them.
"Remember to follow his EVERY instruction! Stay OUT of the swamp because if you all die on the way there I CANT save you, and when you get to my home stay OUT of my things until I get there!! And you be careful with Rough Patch! Not a single leaf on his head hurt!! The long way isn't easy! And I DO NOT EVER want to see any of you in my forest again or else I'll let you freeze again!!" "OH!! Give our throat a rest already will you now?"
The still grumpy child sat on the floor away from the two who was still weakly rubbing their sides and examining each piece of glass carefully before putting it back down or attaching it back onto the shard. She decided to start with the biggest piece and carefully put the thing magically back together somehow, but paused and looked up at the retreating group...then up at them with a confused look. "There's a long way around to get here?"
"Well of course!", Snatcher's voice said annoyed, "You think everyone could've made that jump over the cold, slippery bridge like you did without falling to their doom? Some of those bumbling fools must've found the way around. How else did ya think my minions could get over here to remind you of the agreement you signed about not using hats? Float across?"
....She shrugged. "I dunno. You float all the time and they're dead like you."
"Ouch, Kid! That hurts!" "Uh! Beg pardon," Moonjumper politely asked before pointing to the still broken time piece, "But how long pretell do you think that'll take to fix, Dear?"
"It usually takes three hours if I hurry."
"THREE HOURS?! OH! YOU GOTTA BE PECKING ME?!" "SNATCHER SHUSH!!" Moonjumper turned their head to the baracated bathroom door where silence still rang through. "The VERY last thing we need you doing is waking her up! Won't that be fun you loud mouthed owl! And PLEASE stop using the P word in front of the child!" Snatcher grumbled but didn't say anything else as they continued to rub at their sides.
But Hattie noticed and pointed it out as she stuck a finger in their direction. "Why are you rubbing your sides like that?" She blinked. "Are you guys cold? I thought ghosts couldn't get cold?"
"Well, Sweetie. You're not wrong, but if you haven't noticed, your bumbling jack-o-lanturn friend and I aren't ghosts at the moment. So we can very much feel the cold right now. And quite frankly, I do not like it at all." They shivered. "T-T-Too many memories."
Hattie wordlessly didn't argue with that at all. She didn't like being cold and remembering Vanessa chase her throughout the house, but suddenly an idea came to her. One that made her put the slightly bigger down now and stand up, both ghosts looking at her confused as she tugged on their arm and pointed at a door close to them. "There's a bed in there! You can cover up in the blankets while you wait."
"A-A-And be where Vanessa SLEEPS?! Good heavens NO!!" "I think for once I agree with Moonshine over here. That is the VERY last thing I want to do right now. I think I'd rather take my chances with the cold again."
Hattie gave them a flat 'I'm too young for this stuff' look. "Oh come on! You really wanna freeze to death?....Again."
"Is laying on the cold floor an option?"
"No!" She marched on over to them and grabbed onto their arm, tugged them forward and them falling over onto their hands and knees with a yelp from Snatcher. "I'm doing all the hard work now! The least you can do is stay warm and do ONE thing for me! PLEASE!!"
....Snatcher sighed. "Kid. Even if I did, I doubt either of us can walk over there in this state."
"Then crawl!"
"Crawl? Like a drunken idiot? HA! I'd look ridiculous!"
"PLEASE!!" She made those puppy dog eyes at them and Snatcher knew immediately that Moonjumper already melted at the cute sight and gave in thanks to their currently shared brain, but he grumbled under his breath as he plainly stared at her sad eyes. "Pretty please, Dad." AH! Pulling his weakness.
"OH!....ALRIGHT!! But not a SINGLE word about this to anyone! You hear me? Or it's triple grounding time for you!...That goes for you too moonboy! Not a word about this to anyone ever!"
There was no complaints about that from Moonjumper so very clumsily and slowly, the two slowly started pace to the door on jello arms and knees. Wobbling so badly with every movement Snatcher was sure they would fall flat on their faces. ....And they did. Hattie had to use her foot and move away the glass shards carefully as they attempted to wobble-crawl around the pile and towards the bedroom do- THUMP!! Their left arm wobbly gave out which left the two smacking their face to the ground making the poor girl jump and have to grab her hat before it fell off. Before bounding over to them as Snatcher cursed more 'peck' under his breath and very weakly and wobbly pushed them back up into crawling position. HE. PECKING. HATED. THIS!! So, so much already. Gritting his teeth and muttering versions of 'peck' over and over under his breath, the two somehow managed to fall, wobbly crawl, and get a headache all the way to the door with Hattie beside them in case they fell over again. She opened the door for them into the bedroom and they froze...Well, Moonjumper froze upon seeing their old shared bedroom where they and Vanessa once inhabited. Memories flashed through their shared mind of her again and Snatcher growled and shook their head.
"Moonboy. I am NOT in the mood for a trip down memory lane right now especially with HER! And I am certainly NOT gonna stay right here on the cold floor just to hit my head again!"
Moonjumper didn't say anything and Snatcher took full control of their shared body and forced them to wobbly crawl forward as Hattie followed behind once they made their way past the door giving her plenty of room to hop in watching as Snatcher crawled them over to the red bed a few feet from the door. Red musty wall paper lined the walls with the red color themed bed, and a lot of furniture to match. A wardrobe stood by the bed and past that was a vanity, writing desk, chest, small dresser with a candle holder on it, and a long table with a worn tablecloth on it. The floor was always creaky, and it creaked all the way when they crawled into the room and over to the bed. The only light offered in the room was the few candles by the bed and on the wall that lit up with magical fire, enough light to see at least, but also enough to see the various claw marks scratched into the old walls staining the wallpaper with it's creepy aura. Moonjumper was still not responding or communicating through their shared head but SNatcher could still feel the petrified fear coming off of him and he was starting to find it annoying. Forcing them back onto their knees, Snatcher reached over and grabbed onto the foot of the bed.....before forcibly trying to get onto their feet. If it weren't for the fact that the two ghosts were forced like this and had no experience being human for over a thousand years, it might've made her laugh trying to see an adult stand up like a bird with new legs, but right now she was more concerned about the two falling over. With their noodle legs Snatcher violently wobbled and gripped the sheets tightly messing them up, and forcing most of their body onto the bed minus their legs. Hattie had to walk over and help, it was too painful and awkward to watch after a while, and grabbed their legs, one by one pushing them up to lay on the beg with them. Eventually making it where they were laying on their stomach with their head at the foot of the bed on top of the disleved old, musty sheets. .......They sneezed from the dust and snatcher once again forced them up to their knees on the bed. Grumbling from the dust before forcing them around and wobble crawling up the bed until he carefully maneuvered themself around and forced their knees out from under them to sit properly with their legs over the side of the bed near the small drawer with the lit candles. Still cold but it was a five star hotel compared to laying onthe hard wood floor.
"There! All better?,'' Hattie asked walking around the bed and smiling back up at them.
"Yeah, Kiddo. Better than the dum floor at least. But I still think you should get back there and rebuild that thing as fast I can. I'd rather live out this punishment then get back to not living it out, if you get what I mean."
She pouted. "Hey! Don't forget it's your fault you purple dummy!"
"Trust me. I know!!....*sigh*" He reached up to rub their face and groaned. "Can you just...finish fixing it and reverse this please? I promise I'll make it up to you, just help me please, Kid!"
Hattie tilted her head at him, "Anything?"
"Yes. But could you at least grab me a book from the mini library downstairs?"..He looked thoughtful for a moment thinking. "....Grab me the one with the title called The Sparrow and The Knight if it's still there. I haven't read that in years."
The child sighed and turned around. "Ok. I'll be right back! But you still OWE me big time!!"
"Yes, yes." He waved her off after her, "Just go."
He sat their and watched as she ran out the doorway, her fast footsteps making the floor creak loudly as she ran away and he stared at the door until those fast and creaking footsteps faded away. He could hear Moonjumper hope she didn't wake Vanessa with her loud footsteps but the only noise now was the wind and occasional lightning strike outside. He usually liked the silence of his home so he could read on hours on end or think of new contracts or traps to be made. But his forest and swamp usually had the chirping of frogs or the chitter chatter of his ghostly subjects in the background for that, or the giggles of little children. But right now he would gladly rather have the kids bug him for eternity than sit here in this dead silence with wind and lightning. Maybe it was just the many worries Moonjumper was thinking right now, or the fact he was vulnerable in this form, or the fact Vanessa was literally a hallway and room away. Locked up and unconscious, but still a few yards away. Or maybe it was all three, but he was starting to get tired of it really quick waiting for the kid to come back with the book he requested. Snatcher huffed and turned their eyes around the old room drinking in the details of the room, guess things didn't change much. Except for the claw marks and the ruined painting on the wall over there. Eventually his eyes glazed over the furniture near him including the writing desk with old yellowed paper on it, the old chest, and the lit candles with a book right next to I-......Snatcher blinked their eyes at the small green book. It was a very dull green with light tears here and there and even tho it was VERY faded, the dull black word 'Diary' was engraved on the cover with very pretty cursive writing......A....Diary?? In Vanessa's room? Wow. It didn't take too long to figure out who it probably belonged too. ....But all of a sudden his mind got a curious idea-
"D-D-Don't do it." Snatcher jumped at the sudden voice of the fearful Moonjumper finally managing to force itself through and scowled. "Look Moonboy. There isn't anyone here to stop us from looking and after all we've been through you can't say we don't at least have the right to 'invade on her privacy' after all the 'invading' she did to YOU!!....I mean me!...Us? AH!! I MEAN we can't get any kind of revenge on her now so Im taking what I can get! And if ol' blondie gets upset and throws a tantrum over her 'pwecious diary' being read, them Im not going to give into that pecking tantrum and coddle her like she always guilted us into!" ......"I-I still don't know. I d-don't think I want to see any thoughts she had." "EVEN if it means we'll get some power over a situation she laid out for once and get the teeniest revenge on her? If she also never knows it'll be better cuz we'd get to get away with it! Not that we wouldn't anyways." Moonjumper remained silent thinking over what Snatcher said carefully before sighing. "Alright. B-But that doesn't mean Im going to like it." "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!"
Snatcher smiled evilly on their face and reached their wobbly arms out and grabbed the book......if it could even be called that!! The Book cover was obviously made for a thick book. A thousand pages at least, but it was barely filled with pages when he opened it, giving a confused frown and raised brow. What the-.... Only about two or three pages were in tact, very yellowed with chicken scratch writing like a dizzy blind person wrote the few faded words he saw. There was ends of many other pages where they were obviously ripped out and done away with, but that didn't stop his annoyance. Vanessa had a diary with three pages left minimum and ruined an entirely good book! Wasted potential and paper!! And just when he thought she couldn't get crazier!! Rolling their eyes, he latched onto the faded chicken scratch to see if he could make heads or tales of the horrible writing. He noticed on the bottom corner of the page was the very faded letter 13. Huh...So this must've been page 13 of the diary then. Alright. Let's see what nonsense Vanessa wrote.
"Why? What have I done wrong? In his letters he talks about her. A 'tutor'. He says he loves me. But SHE sees him. I get letters, and SHE gets his time. He is MINE. Once his studies are finished I will have him back. "
.........Both ghosts stared blankly at the what was scratched down and processed it in their heads. Snatcher catching onto the real meaning behind it rather quickly and almost dropped the book onto the floor in shocked. .....L-Letters??...His studies??..A TUTOR?! HOLY PECK!!! THIS WAS WRITTEN WHILE HE LEFT FOR A FULL YEAR OF LAW STUDIES!! Moonjumper was somewhere between confused and panicked in their mind but Snatcher reread the page to make sure he was reading it right, and looked around the other half of the page and turned it over, but the entire page was black except for those few sentences. But just by looking at those few lines he came to the hard conclusion that.......Vanessa...Was JEALOUS!! Of his old tutor....A lady that was old enough to be his great grandmother( at the time he was alive) and who had taught his father before him....VANESSA WAS JEALOUS OF A LITTLE OLD LADY THAT HAD ZERO CHANCE WITH HIM. And her referring to him in 'He is MINE.' just added to the whole creepy vibe he always had with her, dead or alive. Moonjumper made them shudder in disgust while Snatcher growled and flipped it over to the next page. Like before the entire page was wasted and left unused except for a few random chicken scratches in the middle and this time the faded number was 48. Page 48.
" Dear Diary, Today my prince left to begin his studies. He will be so far away, and for so long. He has promised to write. He won't forget me, will he? His beloved princess."
........Wait. What?
This.....This wasn't even written in the right order of events!! He left for his studies BEFORE he sent her any letters!! Which he always regretted, and wished he HAD forgotten her, and KNEW she was NEVER his let alone a 'beloved princess'. Snatcher only continued to grow more irritated and snarled at the book in his hands before flipping to the last in tact page in seemed with the faded number 73.
"He is coming back. Just one weekend. A short holiday, from HER. I will convince him to stay. I CANNOT let my love leave Again. Sounds a little melodramatic. "
Yeah...He remembered that. One week holiday before going back to his studies, their anniversary week too. Spent all his pons on a bracelet he used to trade for flowers .....from.....Snatcher actually growled. Guess he was still able to use THAT ghostly ability. And once again the 'HER' was a woman who he always saw as his GRANDMOTHER in a way!! If she read his letters truly she would've known that!! And not letting him leave? HA!! Guess what?! He DID and was now king of everything in their kingdoms!! A LITTLE MELDRAMATIC!? REALLY?! SHE HAD ONE SMALL BIT OF SENSE FOR A SECOND AND SHE SAYS IT WAS A LITTLE DRAMATIC?! SHE WAS CRAZY!! ABSOLUTELU BONKERS!! MAD!! INSANE!! OFF HER ROCKER!! BANANAS!! WHAT EVER YOU CALL IT!! She didn't even write the events in order. Page 48's events came BEFORE page 13's. Was she just flipping to a random page and crazily writing these down in no order?? He wouldn't be surprised if she did! Still hard scowling, Snatcher tossed the book away from him, but because their arm was still pretty weak it only landed two or three feet away with a soft thump as he glared daggers at it.
"Snatcher?" He jumped and turned around to see the little girl standing there in the doorway as she came in. Holding a small red cover book in her hands. She came around the bed and stopped glancing at the book on the floor before blinking and looking back up at them. "Were you reading the crazy lady's diary?"
"Yeah...Crazy is an understatement. More like peckin' owlpoop insane!!" "Again.. LANGUAGE!!" "Be quiet Moonshine!" He glanced back down to her hands and the book. "That's not the book I asked. It has a yellow cover."
She held it up to them anyways. "I couldn't find it so I got this one instead cuz I liked the moon pictures in it!"
Snatcher reached over and grabbed it from her. Glancing over the cover and reading 'Moon Phases and Star Constellations by Star S. Hine'. "....I suppose this would work just to wait a few hours." And It might help Moonboy calm down, he loved talking about the moon and stars like poetry.
"Uh huh!" She once again looked down to the green book on the floor. ".....Were you really reading this?"
Snatcher opened the book to the first page but stopped and looked at her. "Yeah. But why does it matter?"
"Did you read the other pages yet?"
He blanked for a second. ".............There's MORE?!"
She nodded. "Ill go get them!'' Before either could protest she had already turned around and ran off. Through the door into the old nursery and after a moment they could hear the other door attached to the other side of nursery.............After a few more moments, the same door opened, and then the door attaching the nursery to Vanessa's bedroom reopened and Hattie ran back in but not to them. Instead she ran over to the writing desk and grabbed the two yellowed papers on it. Adding them randomly to her small pile of now five pieces of paper and running back up to them smiling before presenting them up to them. "Here! I made sure to grab them all! They were all over the place!"
They both just stared at her for a moment, before snatcher once again made them move and grabbed them from the small child. They all had the same chicken scratch writing like in the diary with random faded numbers near the bottom, and the sides were torn. So these must've been some of the random pages that were ripped from the diary, and like the rest, all had just a few sentences wasting the rest of the space the paper provided. Annoyed all over again he read what the first page said.
"Im sorry about your hair, My Prince. I just wanted our lengths to match! ....and color...and curl ...you look wonderful! "
His....HIS HAIR!? He remembered that! He was taking a nap when he awoken to the feeling of something wet on his head, like he had just taken a shower. But instead woke to the sight of a mildly panicked Vanessa above him and a painful sensation to his head so he rushed to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Only to discover his lovely brown hair had been very sloppily died yellow with obvious patches of his natural color here and there, and the painful sensation was a couple of curlers too tightly rolled into random spots on his head. He took them out and got into the shower immediately to wash it out to no avail. Of course Vanessa when asked about it cried and said she only wanted to practice doing hairstyles. Like the idiot he was, he forgave her not a few seconds after. And it turned out he couldn't wash it out. He was to wear it off which left him looking ridiculous!! Embarrassing him in front of everyone including....... Well...That didn't matter anymore. He did NOT look 'wonderful'. Snatcher's eyes narrowed and flipped to the next random page.
"Mother had a bit of an accident last week, so today I got crowned as queen. Now the prince can't call me his princess! Life isn't fair!"
He remembered the old sick Queen very well. She was a stern and cranky old lady, but very nice and professional when you got to know her. She was a lot like Vanessa in ways but much MUCH better if you asked him. She loved discussing his interests with him and thought it was very responsible of him to want to study law. Even though he was never able to attend her funeral or really found out how she died, he really did miss the old coot sometimes. Sometimes he even wondered if she could've done anything to stop Vanessa if only he brought it up...Oh well. That past is past. But seriously!? Her only mother had passed and she was upset over the fact he couldn't call her 'princess' anymore?! The entitlement of this woman! If she just asked politely to be called that as a nickname he wouldn't have minded, but peck!! He missed his parents more than anything and she doesn't even write down anything expressing the same thing!! His annoyance grew as did the usually calm Moonjumper's as he turned to the next page.
"Oh, I wish I could just keep him always! Locked up and in chains in the cellar! But you can't chain a man...can you?"
This-....
This actually made the two freeze up and for a moment a blank face fell upon them. .....Locks...Chains.....Celler.......That was....how he....they.....They never saw her agai- WAIT!! SHE HAD THIS IDEA IN MIND FROM THE VERY START!? THAT PECKING NO GOOD WITCH!! He swore he was gonna tear the papers from hold tight their hold became. Had she planned this?! And was only pushed over the edge of crazy with one little misunderstanding?! OOOOOOHHHH!! He wasn't sure when the last time he got THIS angry but Moonjumper forced him to look over at Hattie who currently was for some reason looking up at the ceiling with a curious look and he reluctantly stood down. No point getting mad over it now Moonjumper's thoughts were saying as they bounced around and instead of confronting him, Snatcher turned to the next page.
"My prince enjoys his breakfast far too much. I'm jealous of that darn bacon! No more bacon in this house!"
WHO. BANES. BACON. AND. GETS. JEALOUS. OVER. FOOD?!
Snatcher had about had it with all this terrible chicken scratch trip down terrible memory lane and flipped to the last page, wondering which event she wrote about on the last one. One of her tantrums? Or maybe him being 'unprincely'? But when he saw the fancy curvy cursive, he paused. .......This paper was yellowed like the rest of the others, but there was definitely NO chicken scratch to these neat and proper letters. Was this a page written before she went crazy and started squibbling nonsense? But...It was torn and shorter than the rest. Instead of there being any evidence of it being torn from the side, there was a tear right down the middle. As if it was never a part of a book at all-.......Realization suddenly dawned on him making their eyes go wide.
"M-...My letter," Moonjumper whispered out as they read over it.
"My Dearest Vanessa, It has been many days since I saw you last, but it feels like months. My time at the Acadmey is hard, but I am progressing quickly. There is so much to study when it comes to law, but the library here is well-stocked. Our tutors are the finest in the land, and I am thankful for their help. I have been attending private study with one, an experienced practitioner of law by the name of Lady-"
.....The .....Their letter ended off with the tear. Not knowing what the world happened to the other half other than is had to have been torn by Vanessa. When he...When he began writing her letters, he wasn't very happy to be writing to her to be honest, but he was still loyal to her and put effort into being polite in them. Telling her all about his favorite law books, and the garden, and his old tutor he adored so much.....But did she just see the word lady and assume she was the new love of his life?! Not reading WHO she was and tearing the thing to shreads in pure jealousy and craziness!? They bothe scowled down at the remains of the letter they sent to her all those years ago, Hattie not paying attention. She had taken a few steps still staring at the ceiling curiously but turned around behind her when she heard tearing. They were tearing the letter......Well that's not true. Moonjumper was. But Snatcher made no move or thought to stop him. The other papers he just let float to the floor in random places as the letter was torn and shreaded into tiny little pieces before released to the floor in old yellowed paper snow. Hattie watched as it all fell to the floor before saying something.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Because my dear..." Moonjumper looked at her. "That might've been the only part of me left behind in this cursed place. The last part of me Vanessa had....I wouldn't want her to have a hold of any part of me. She doesn't deserve it."
"Oh." She stared at them and the destroyed letter by all the papers for a moment before resuming her odd behavior of looking up at the ceiling which caught Snatcher's attention and he looked up to the plain dusty ceiling for a couple seconds as well. ....Before raising a brow back to her.
"Kid. WHAT are you staring at? I know everything around her is pretty dead, but I think you could find another way to occupy your time. Like maybe gluing a magical hourglass back together. QUICKLY!"
She only continued to stare. "Don't you guys hear that?"
They looked up to the ceiling in silence. .....Nothing but the wind outside and occasional lightning- A small, weak creaking noise came from above them somewhere and Hattie pointed before looking at him like 'See! There it is!'. Making Snatcher roll his eyes and wave her off picking up their book again.
"It's just the old house settling or the wind. I should know. Im an expert on old haunted houses."
......She looked back up to the ceiling with a hum. "I don't know. I never heard that before when I was here.''
"Probably because you were a little busy running away from blondie."
"But...What if it's someone who got frozen? They might need help."
"Kid. You've been to the third floor before and so have I. I've never seen any frozen people up there did you?"
"No....But Im going to go look anyways." She bounded to the door with them following her.
"Up there? By yourself?!
"I can handle it!" She pulled her trusty umbrella out of no where and twirled it around. "I beat you didn't I?"
His eyes narrowed. "Kid. That's not the point. One being you NEED to reverse this as soon as possible. And second because you don't know what's up there and Im useless like this." "S-Sweetheart. I agree with the grape noodle on this. Y-You could get into trouble!"
"I'll be fine! Besides, there's no ice people statues up there. And it'll just be a quick check. Don't be such a peckneck!"
"Wha- HEY!! IM NOT A PECKNECK!!"
The small girl giggled like a maniac before running out of the room where they couldn't follow even if they tried. Grumbling Snatcher turned them back to the book In their lap and picked it up, turning to the first page.
'Chapter One What are the Moon and Stars made Of?'
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abloomntime · 4 years
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A Bloom In Time Ch7
The darkness of the cold building seemed to be finally getting to the fused together ghosts and the reality of being able to feel human things again began to settle in as the two suddenly realized how cold they were and began soon after shivering and rubbing their sides up and down with their still pretty jello feeling arms. It was a bit easier to move now but still not easy. I mean it's been over a thousand years after all, how were they supposed to get human movements down bout twenty to forty minutes after becoming alive again. Speaking of everyone being alive at the moment- With Thor and his pal's help, the two were able to dragged the very unconscious Vanessa into the bathroom and with the old but heavy duty lock Hattie had from a previously locked door, they were able to lock her in good, but JUST to be on the safe side(insistence from Moonjumper over and over. The guy was PETRIFIED of her which was well understandable) the giant pale red armchair from down the hall was moved and placed against the locked door as well to help keep it closed. It took Thor, Mr Timothy, and a mafia man to move the heavy wooden thing so there was little chance Vanessa in her current form would be able to get out easily. Not soon long after that the once-frozen-Subconite followed his bosses orders and with the giant group of men behind him, while still holding the none struggling Rough Patch, began leading the group away from them towards the second floor stairs. Snatcher re-yelling the rules behind them. 
"Remember to follow his EVERY instruction! Stay OUT of the swamp because if you all die on the way there I CANT save you, and when you get to my home stay OUT of my things until I get there!! And you be careful with Rough Patch! Not a single leaf on his head hurt!! The long way isn't easy! And I DO NOT EVER want to see any of you in my forest again or else I'll let you freeze again!!" "OH!! Give our throat a rest already will you now?"
The still grumpy child sat on the floor away from the two who was still weakly rubbing their sides and examining each piece of glass carefully before putting it back down or attaching it back onto the shard. She decided to start with the biggest piece and carefully put the thing magically back together somehow, but paused and looked up at the retreating group...then up at them with a confused look. "There's a long way around to get here?"
"Well of course!", Snatcher's voice said annoyed, "You think everyone could've made that jump over the cold, slippery bridge like you did without falling to their doom? Some of those bumbling fools must've found the way around. How else did ya think my minions could get over here to remind you of the agreement you signed about not using hats? Float across?"
....She shrugged. "I dunno. You float all the time and they're dead like you."
"Ouch, Kid! That hurts!" "Uh! Beg pardon," Moonjumper politely asked before pointing to the still broken time piece, "But how long pretell do you think that'll take to fix, Dear?"
"It usually takes three hours if I hurry."
"THREE HOURS?! OH! YOU GOTTA BE PECKING ME?!" "SNATCHER SHUSH!!" Moonjumper turned their head to the baracated bathroom door where silence still rang through. "The VERY last thing we need you doing is waking her up! Won't that be fun you loud mouthed owl! And PLEASE stop using the P word in front of the child!" Snatcher grumbled but didn't say anything else as they continued to rub at their sides.
But Hattie noticed and pointed it out as she stuck a finger in their direction. "Why are you rubbing your sides like that?" She blinked. "Are you guys cold? I thought ghosts couldn't get cold?"
"Well, Sweetie. You're not wrong, but if you haven't noticed, your bumbling jack-o-lanturn friend and I aren't ghosts at the moment. So we can very much feel the cold right now. And quite frankly, I do not like it at all." They shivered. "T-T-Too many memories."
Hattie wordlessly didn't argue with that at all. She didn't like being cold and remembering Vanessa chase her throughout the house, but suddenly an idea came to her. One that made her put the slightly bigger down now and stand up, both ghosts looking at her confused as she tugged on their arm and pointed at a door close to them. "There's a bed in there! You can cover up in the blankets while you wait."
"A-A-And be where Vanessa SLEEPS?! Good heavens NO!!" "I think for once I agree with Moonshine over here. That is the VERY last thing I want to do right now. I think I'd rather take my chances with the cold again."
Hattie gave them a flat 'I'm too young for this stuff' look. "Oh come on! You really wanna freeze to death?....Again."
"Is laying on the cold floor an option?"
"No!" She marched on over to them and grabbed onto their arm, tugged them forward and them falling over onto their hands and knees with a yelp from Snatcher. "I'm doing all the hard work now! The least you can do is stay warm and do ONE thing for me! PLEASE!!"
....Snatcher sighed. "Kid. Even if I did, I doubt either of us can walk over there in this state."
"Then crawl!"
"Crawl? Like a drunken idiot? HA! I'd look ridiculous!"
"PLEASE!!" She made those puppy dog eyes at them and Snatcher knew immediately that Moonjumper already melted at the cute sight and gave in thanks to their currently shared brain, but he grumbled under his breath as he plainly stared at her sad eyes. "Pretty please, Dad." AH! Pulling his weakness.
"OH!....ALRIGHT!! But not a SINGLE word about this to anyone! You hear me? Or it's triple grounding time for you!...That goes for you too moonboy! Not a word about this to anyone ever!"
There was no complaints about that from Moonjumper so very clumsily and slowly, the two slowly started pace to the door on jello arms and knees. Wobbling so badly with every movement Snatcher was sure they would fall flat on their faces. ....And they did. Hattie had to use her foot and move away the glass shards carefully as they attempted to wobble-crawl around the pile and towards the bedroom do- THUMP!! Their left arm wobbly gave out which left the two smacking their face to the ground making the poor girl jump and have to grab her hat before it fell off. Before bounding over to them as  Snatcher cursed more 'peck' under his breath and very weakly and wobbly pushed them back up into crawling position. HE. PECKING. HATED. THIS!! So, so much already.  Gritting his teeth and muttering versions of 'peck' over and over under his breath, the two somehow managed to fall, wobbly crawl, and get a headache all the way to the door with Hattie beside them in case they fell over again. She opened the door for them into the bedroom and they froze...Well, Moonjumper froze upon seeing their old shared bedroom where they and Vanessa once inhabited. Memories flashed through their shared mind of her again and Snatcher growled and shook their head. 
"Moonboy. I am NOT in the mood for a trip down memory lane right now especially with HER! And I am certainly NOT gonna stay right here on the cold floor just to hit my head again!"
Moonjumper didn't say anything and Snatcher took full control of their shared body and forced them to wobbly crawl forward as Hattie followed behind once they made their way past the door giving her plenty of room to hop in watching as Snatcher crawled them over to the red bed a few feet from the door. Red musty wall paper lined the walls with the red color themed bed, and a lot of furniture to match. A wardrobe stood by the bed and past that was a vanity, writing desk, chest, small dresser with a candle holder on it, and a long table with a worn tablecloth on it. The floor was always creaky, and it creaked all the way when they crawled into the room and over to the bed. The only light offered in the room was the few candles by the bed and on the wall that lit up with magical fire, enough light to see at least, but also enough to see the various claw marks scratched into the old walls staining the wallpaper with it's creepy aura. Moonjumper was still not responding or communicating through their shared head but SNatcher could still feel the petrified fear coming off of him and he was starting to find it annoying. Forcing them back onto their knees, Snatcher reached over and grabbed onto the foot of the bed.....before forcibly trying to get onto their feet. If it weren't for the fact that the two ghosts were forced like this and had no experience being human for over a thousand years, it might've made her laugh trying to see an adult stand up like a bird with new legs, but right now she was more concerned about the two falling over. With their noodle legs Snatcher violently wobbled and gripped the sheets tightly messing them up, and forcing most of their body onto the bed minus their legs. Hattie had to walk over  and help, it was too painful and awkward to watch after a while, and grabbed their legs, one by one pushing them up to lay on the beg with them. Eventually making it where they were laying on their stomach with their head at the foot of the bed on top of the disleved old, musty sheets. .......They sneezed from the dust and snatcher once again forced them up to their knees on the bed. Grumbling from the dust before forcing them around and wobble crawling up the bed until he carefully maneuvered themself around and forced their knees out from under them to sit properly with their legs over the side of the bed near the small drawer with the lit candles. Still cold but it was a five star hotel compared to laying onthe hard wood floor.
"There! All better?,'' Hattie asked walking around the bed and smiling back up at them.
"Yeah, Kiddo. Better than the dum floor at least. But I still think you should get back there and rebuild that thing as fast I can. I'd rather live out this punishment then get back to not living it out, if you get what I mean."
She pouted. "Hey! Don't forget it's your fault you purple dummy!"
"Trust me. I know!!....*sigh*" He reached up to rub their face and groaned. "Can you just...finish fixing it and reverse this please? I promise I'll make it up to you, just help me please, Kid!"
Hattie tilted her head at him, "Anything?"
"Yes. But could you at least grab me a book from the mini library downstairs?"..He looked thoughtful for a moment thinking. "....Grab me the one with the title called The Sparrow and The Knight if it's still there. I haven't read that in years."
The child sighed and turned around. "Ok. I'll be right back! But you still OWE me big time!!"
"Yes, yes." He waved her off after her, "Just go."
He sat their and watched as she ran out the doorway, her fast footsteps making the floor creak loudly as she ran away and he stared at the door until those fast and creaking footsteps faded away. He could hear Moonjumper hope she didn't wake Vanessa with her loud footsteps but the only noise now was the wind and occasional lightning strike outside. He usually liked the silence of his home so he could read on hours on end or think of new contracts or traps to be made. But his forest and swamp usually had the chirping of frogs or the chitter chatter of his ghostly subjects in the background for that, or the giggles of little children. But right now he would gladly rather have the kids bug him for eternity than sit here in this dead silence with wind and lightning. Maybe it was just the many worries Moonjumper was thinking right now, or the fact he was vulnerable in this form, or the fact Vanessa was literally a hallway and room away. Locked up and unconscious, but still a few yards away. Or maybe it was all three, but he was starting to get tired of it really quick waiting for the kid to come back with the book he requested. Snatcher huffed and turned their eyes around the old room drinking in the details of the room, guess things didn't change much. Except for the claw marks and the ruined painting on the wall over there. Eventually his eyes glazed over the furniture near him including the writing desk with old yellowed paper on it, the old chest, and the lit candles with a book right next to I-......Snatcher blinked their eyes at the small green book. It was a very dull green with light tears here and there and even tho it was VERY faded, the dull black word 'Diary' was engraved on the cover with very pretty cursive writing......A....Diary?? In Vanessa's room? Wow. It didn't take too long to figure out who it probably belonged too. ....But all of a sudden his mind got a curious idea-
"D-D-Don't do it." Snatcher jumped at the sudden voice of the fearful Moonjumper finally managing to force itself through and scowled. "Look Moonboy. There isn't anyone here to stop us from looking and after all we've been through you can't say we don't at least have the right to 'invade on her privacy' after all the 'invading' she did to YOU!!....I mean me!...Us? AH!! I MEAN we can't get any kind of revenge on her now so Im taking what I can get! And if ol' blondie gets upset and throws a tantrum over her 'pwecious diary' being read, them Im not going to give into that pecking tantrum and coddle her like she always guilted us into!" ......"I-I still don't know. I d-don't think I want to see any thoughts she had."  "EVEN if it means we'll get some power over a situation she laid out for once and get the teeniest revenge on her? If she also never knows it'll be better cuz we'd get to get away with it! Not that we wouldn't anyways." Moonjumper remained silent thinking over what Snatcher said carefully before sighing. "Alright. B-But that doesn't mean Im going to like it." "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!"
 Snatcher smiled evilly on their face and reached their wobbly arms out and grabbed the book......if it could even be called that!! The Book cover was obviously made for a thick book. A thousand pages at least, but it was barely filled with pages when he opened it, giving a confused frown and raised brow. What the-.... Only about two or three pages were in tact, very yellowed with chicken scratch writing like a dizzy blind person wrote the few faded words he saw. There was ends of many other pages where they were obviously ripped out and done away with, but that didn't stop his annoyance. Vanessa had a diary with three pages left minimum and ruined an entirely good book! Wasted potential and paper!! And just when he thought she couldn't get crazier!! Rolling their eyes, he latched onto the faded chicken scratch to see if he could make heads or tales of the horrible writing. He noticed on the bottom corner of the page was the very faded letter 13. Huh...So this must've been page 13 of the diary then. Alright. Let's see what nonsense Vanessa wrote.
"Why? What have I done wrong? In his letters he talks about her. A 'tutor'. He says he loves me. But SHE sees him. I get letters, and SHE gets his time. He is MINE. Once his studies are finished I will have him back. "
.........Both ghosts stared blankly at the what was scratched down and processed it in their heads. Snatcher catching onto the real meaning behind it rather quickly and almost dropped the book onto the floor in shocked. .....L-Letters??...His studies??..A TUTOR?! HOLY PECK!!! THIS WAS WRITTEN WHILE HE LEFT FOR A FULL YEAR OF LAW STUDIES!! Moonjumper was somewhere between confused and panicked in their mind but Snatcher reread the page to make sure he was reading it right, and looked around the other half of the page and turned it over, but the entire page was black except for those few sentences. But just by looking at those few lines he came to the hard conclusion that.......Vanessa...Was JEALOUS!! Of his old tutor....A lady that was old enough to be his great grandmother( at the time he was alive) and who had taught his father before him....VANESSA WAS JEALOUS OF A LITTLE OLD LADY THAT HAD ZERO CHANCE WITH HIM. And her referring to him in 'He is MINE.' just added to the whole creepy vibe he always had with her, dead or alive. Moonjumper made them shudder in disgust while Snatcher growled and flipped it over to the next page. Like before the entire page was wasted and left unused except for a few random chicken scratches in the middle and this time the faded number was 48. Page 48.
" Dear Diary, Today my prince left to begin his studies. He will be so far away, and for so long. He has promised to write. He won't forget me, will he? His beloved princess."
........Wait. What?
This.....This wasn't even written in the right order of events!! He left for his studies BEFORE he sent her any letters!! Which he always regretted, and wished he HAD forgotten her, and KNEW she was NEVER his let alone a 'beloved princess'. Snatcher only continued to grow more irritated and snarled at the book in his hands before flipping to the last in tact page in seemed with the faded number 73. 
"He is coming back. Just one weekend. A short holiday, from HER. I will convince him to stay. I CANNOT let my love leave Again. Sounds a little melodramatic. "
Yeah...He remembered that. One week holiday before going back to his studies, their anniversary week too. Spent all his pons on a bracelet he used to trade for flowers .....from.....Snatcher actually growled. Guess he was still able to use THAT ghostly ability. And once again the 'HER' was a woman who he always saw as his GRANDMOTHER in a way!! If she read his letters truly she would've known that!! And not letting him leave? HA!! Guess what?! He DID and was now king of everything in their kingdoms!!  A LITTLE MELDRAMATIC!? REALLY?! SHE HAD ONE SMALL BIT OF SENSE FOR A SECOND AND SHE SAYS IT WAS A LITTLE DRAMATIC?! SHE WAS CRAZY!! ABSOLUTELU BONKERS!! MAD!! INSANE!! OFF HER ROCKER!! BANANAS!! WHAT EVER YOU CALL IT!!  She didn't even write the events in order. Page 48's events came BEFORE page 13's. Was she just flipping to a random page and crazily writing these down in no order?? He wouldn't be surprised if she did! Still hard scowling, Snatcher tossed the book away from him, but because their arm was still pretty weak it only landed two or three feet away with a soft thump as he glared daggers at it.
"Snatcher?" He jumped and turned around to see the little girl standing there in the doorway as she came in. Holding a small red cover book in her hands. She came around the bed and stopped glancing at the book on the floor before blinking and looking back up at them. "Were you reading the crazy lady's diary?"
"Yeah...Crazy is an understatement. More like peckin' owlpoop insane!!" "Again.. LANGUAGE!!" "Be quiet Moonshine!" He glanced back down to her hands and the book. "That's not the book I asked. It has a yellow cover."
She held it up to them anyways. "I couldn't find it so I got this one instead cuz I liked the moon pictures in it!"
Snatcher reached over and grabbed it from her. Glancing over the cover and reading 'Moon Phases and Star Constellations by Star S. Hine'. "....I suppose this would work just to wait a few hours." And It might help Moonboy calm down, he loved talking about the moon and stars like poetry. 
"Uh huh!" She once again looked down to the green book on the floor. ".....Were you really reading this?"
Snatcher opened the book to the first page but stopped and looked at her. "Yeah. But why does it matter?"
"Did you read the other pages yet?"
He blanked for a second. ".............There's MORE?!"
She nodded. "Ill go get them!'' Before either could protest she had already turned around and ran off. Through the door into the old nursery and after a moment they could hear the other door attached to the other side of nursery.............After a few more moments, the same door opened, and then the door attaching the nursery to Vanessa's bedroom reopened and Hattie ran back in but not to them. Instead she ran over to the writing desk and grabbed the two yellowed papers on it. Adding them randomly to her small pile of now five pieces of paper and running back up to them smiling before presenting them up to them. "Here! I made sure to grab them all! They were all over the place!"
They both just stared at her for a moment, before snatcher once again made them move and grabbed them from the small child. They all had the same chicken scratch writing like in the diary with random faded numbers near the bottom, and the sides were torn. So these must've been some of the random pages that were ripped from the diary, and like the rest, all had just a few sentences wasting the rest of the space the paper provided. Annoyed all over again he read what the first page said. 
"Im sorry about your hair, My Prince. I just wanted our lengths to match! ....and color...and curl ...you look wonderful! "
His....HIS HAIR!? He remembered that! He was taking a nap when he awoken to the feeling of something wet on his head, like he had just taken a shower. But instead woke to the sight of a mildly panicked Vanessa above him and a painful sensation to his head so he rushed to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Only to discover his lovely brown hair had been very sloppily died yellow with obvious patches of his natural color here and there, and the painful sensation was a couple of curlers too tightly rolled into random spots on his head. He took them out and got into the shower immediately to wash it out to no avail. Of course Vanessa when asked about it cried and said she only wanted to practice doing hairstyles. Like the idiot he was, he forgave her not a few seconds after. And it turned out he couldn't wash it out. He was to wear it off which left him looking ridiculous!! Embarrassing him in front of everyone including....... Well...That didn't matter anymore. He did NOT look 'wonderful'. Snatcher's eyes narrowed and flipped to the next random page.
"Mother had a bit of an accident last week, so today I got crowned as queen. Now the prince can't call me his princess! Life isn't fair!"
He remembered the old sick Queen very well. She was a stern and cranky old lady, but very nice and professional when you got to know her. She was a lot like Vanessa in ways but much MUCH better if you asked him. She loved discussing his interests with him and thought it was very responsible of him to want to study law. Even though he was never able to attend her funeral or really found out how she died, he really did miss the old coot sometimes. Sometimes he even wondered if she could've done anything to stop Vanessa if only he brought it up...Oh well. That past is past. But seriously!? Her only mother had passed and she was upset over the fact he couldn't call her 'princess' anymore?! The entitlement of this woman! If she just asked politely to be called that as a nickname he wouldn't have minded, but peck!! He missed his parents more than anything and she doesn't even write down anything expressing the same thing!! His annoyance grew as did the usually calm Moonjumper's as he turned to the next page. 
"Oh, I wish I could just keep him always! Locked up and in chains in the cellar! But you can't chain a man...can you?"
This-....
This actually made the two freeze up and for a moment a blank face fell upon them. .....Locks...Chains.....Celler.......That was....how he....they.....They never saw her agai- WAIT!! SHE HAD THIS IDEA IN MIND FROM THE VERY START!? THAT PECKING NO GOOD WITCH!! He swore he was gonna tear the papers from hold tight their hold became. Had she planned this?! And was only pushed over the edge of crazy with one little misunderstanding?! OOOOOOHHHH!! He wasn't sure when the last time he got THIS angry but Moonjumper forced him to look over at Hattie who currently was for some reason looking up at the ceiling with a curious look and he reluctantly stood down. No point getting mad over it now Moonjumper's thoughts were saying as they bounced around and instead of confronting him, Snatcher turned to the next page.
"My prince enjoys his breakfast far too much. I'm jealous of that darn bacon! No more bacon in this house!"
WHO. BANES. BACON. AND. GETS. JEALOUS. OVER. FOOD?!
Snatcher had about had it with all this terrible chicken scratch trip down terrible memory lane and flipped to the last page, wondering which event she wrote about on the last one. One of her tantrums? Or maybe him being 'unprincely'? But when he saw the fancy curvy cursive, he paused. .......This paper was yellowed like the rest of the others, but there was definitely NO chicken scratch to these neat and proper letters. Was this a page written before she went crazy and started squibbling nonsense? But...It was torn and shorter than the rest. Instead of there being any evidence of it being torn from the side, there was a tear right down the middle. As if it was never a part of a book at all-.......Realization suddenly dawned on him making their eyes go wide.
"M-...My letter," Moonjumper whispered out as they read over it.
"My Dearest Vanessa,  It has been many days since I saw you last, but it feels like months. My time at the Acadmey is hard, but I am progressing quickly. There is so much to study when it comes to law, but the library here is well-stocked. Our tutors are the finest in the land, and I am thankful for their help. I have been attending private study with one, an experienced practitioner of law by the name of Lady-"
.....The .....Their letter ended off with the tear. Not knowing what the world happened to the other half other than is had to have been torn by Vanessa. When he...When he began writing her letters, he wasn't very happy to be writing to her to be honest, but he was still loyal to her and put effort into being polite in them. Telling her all about his favorite law books, and the garden, and his old tutor he adored so much.....But did she just see the word lady and assume she was the new love of his life?! Not reading WHO she was and tearing the thing to shreads in pure jealousy and craziness!? They bothe scowled down at the remains of the letter they sent to her all those years ago, Hattie not paying attention. She had taken a few steps still staring at the ceiling curiously but turned around behind her when she heard tearing. They were tearing the letter......Well that's not true. Moonjumper was. But Snatcher made no move or thought to stop him. The other papers he just let float to the floor in random places as the letter was torn and shreaded into tiny little pieces before released to the floor in old yellowed paper snow. Hattie watched as it all fell to the floor before saying something.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Because my dear..." Moonjumper looked at her. "That might've been the only part of me left behind in this cursed place. The last part of me Vanessa had....I wouldn't want her to have a hold of any part of me. She doesn't deserve it."
"Oh." She stared at them and the destroyed letter by all the papers for a moment before resuming her odd behavior of looking up at the ceiling which caught Snatcher's attention and he looked up to the plain dusty ceiling for a couple seconds as well. ....Before raising a brow back to her. 
"Kid. WHAT are you staring at? I know everything around her is pretty dead, but I think you could find another way to occupy your time. Like maybe gluing a magical hourglass back together. QUICKLY!"
She only continued to stare. "Don't you guys hear that?"
They looked up to the ceiling in silence. .....Nothing but the wind outside and occasional lightning- A small, weak creaking noise came from above them somewhere and Hattie pointed before looking at him like 'See! There it is!'. Making Snatcher roll his eyes and wave her off picking up their book again. 
"It's just the old house settling or the wind. I should know. Im an expert on old haunted houses."
......She looked back up to the ceiling with a hum. "I don't know. I never heard that before when I was here.''
"Probably because you were a little busy running away from blondie."
"But...What if it's someone who got frozen? They might need help."
"Kid. You've been to the third floor before and so have I. I've never seen any frozen people up there did you?"
"No....But Im going to go look anyways." She bounded to the door with them following her.
"Up there? By yourself?!
"I can handle it!" She pulled her trusty umbrella out of no where and twirled it around. "I beat you didn't I?"
His eyes narrowed. "Kid. That's not the point. One being you NEED to reverse this as soon as possible. And second because you don't know what's up there and Im useless like this." "S-Sweetheart. I agree with the grape noodle on this. Y-You could get into trouble!"
"I'll be fine! Besides, there's no ice people statues up there. And it'll just be a quick check. Don't be such a peckneck!"
"Wha- HEY!! IM NOT A PECKNECK!!"
The small girl giggled like a maniac before running out of the room where they couldn't follow even if they tried. Grumbling Snatcher turned them back to the book In their lap and picked it up, turning to the first page.
'Chapter One What are the Moon and Stars made Of?'
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