Chapter Text
She sat next to the giant window in the hub of her spaceship. The lights were off and her only source of luminosity was a few electronic screens. She wore her signature yellow cape and one of her many purple shirts. Her favorite purple hat, with a yellow ribbon, sat beside her as she looked down onto the bright planet laid in front of her turquoise eyes called “Earth”. Her fingers ran through her hair repeatedly as she bit her lip.
She had such a fun journey on that strange planet, one she could almost call home. She wished it was truly her home instead, for the people she meant cared about her—or, almost all of them. She has gotten used to the planet’s language, but yet she couldn’t really write or read, only use it verbally. That was okay she realized, she had friends who almost tried to kill her, but now they care enough to teach her the native tongue.
She stopped messing around with her hair, and her fingers made contact with the cold glass. She could see her reflection in the glass. A little girl all alone traveling in her spaceship, and her turquoise eyes that were usually filled with cheer. Right now though…
She looked away, not wanting to see her own reflection. She’d rather rethink her journey of collecting the timepieces. From the Mafia to MU, she loved the journey of it all. A smile slowly appeared on her face, a tear going down her cheek from all the nostalgia. It’s so funny really, it wasn’t even that long ago. She sadly chuckled to herself, as her attention was brought to the sleeping Rumbi against the control panel.
How could she ever forget about her space-traveling companion? Rumbi was always there for her no matter what. Even before she got into this crazy journey, Rumbi was there to accompany her during her lonely space travels. She always appreciated everything Rumbi did— from cleaning to letting her stand on his back as she smug danced her heart out. Another tear left her eye, as she wiped it away with her sleeve.
She only had a few timepieces she needed to get back before her spaceship had all the fuel it originally had. Her journey was almost done. She’s been waiting to go home for years—
So why does she want to stay here instead of going where she belonged…?
The question lingered in her mind. She slowly got up, holding her hat tightly. She quickly and quietly went to her room, her small head facing to the left which housed her pool of pillows. She took a deep breath as she put on her top hat and flicked the brim of the hat as a dim light changed her hat from a top hat to her ice hat. She jumped to her pillow pool and activated her ice hat, turning her body frozen for a few seconds as she went down to her candle lit room. She unfroze, tapping the ice hat as it turned back into her signature purple top hat.
Her eyes adjusted to the lit room pretty quickly, her eyes landing on the open book laid on the little brown desk, accompanied by the timepiece statue. She waddled over to the book as her small hands gripped onto the sides of the hardcover of her diary, examining it.
She flipped through the pages, skimming through and recalling every single day of her adventure. She was only just a kid, and yet she made so much impact on the planet in less than a year. She formed a small, sad smile on her face, realizing her burning desire to stay here. It felt so good to be here, her soul yearned for the freedom that she had here.
Back at home through… she was treated just like her age. Stay at home… go to school… study... That was so boring for her! She couldn’t have lived there anymore like that. She wanted the taste of adventure. She would rather get her soul taken by Snatcher and still have freedom roaming around instead of staying home with her soul.
It’s why she stole this ship and some timepieces to explore the galaxy. At least she knew how to control the spaceship by the time she stole it thanks to her mentor. Everyone at home probably thought she was dead.
“I… I don’t wanna go back,” she told herself in a small, quiet voice. If she ever did… she was done for. She loved her life out here in the galaxy. If she had never left Earth, she would have probably lived in a city apartment she used to dream of all the time when she was done with school.
She lifted her head up to see the dimly lit light orange ceiling, realizing she loved everything here. Could she really stay here and never come back? It’d be a dream come true for her.
She dropped her diary onto her desk. She smiled to herself, walking into the tiny pillow pile as she jumped up and was back in her bedroom. She swam out of the pillow pile, brushing her outfit off if anything somehow landed on her outfit. She sighed, looking above to see her window, seeing the stars glowing brightly. For a second, she found herself looking at the glimmering stars that accompanied her through everything, acting as a witness to her wild ride through space. She couldn’t help but yawn, realizing her body adjusted to the planet’s day and night cycle. Her baggy turquoise eyes looked to her comfy bed, waiting for her. She ran towards her bed, quickly throwing her hat and umbrella at the drawer as she jumped into her bed, landing on her back. She slowly adjusted herself and wrapped herself in her blue blanket, finding a position comfortable enough to sleep in. As soon as she got comfy, she called it a night as her baggy eyes closed, and she wandered off into her dreams.
.—.—.—.
She woke to a scream sounding familiar and the sound of a timepiece being broken. She started panicking, quickly jumping out of bed. She hastily grabbed her hat and her trusty umbrella and ran out of the room. She flicked the brim of her hat as a bright light turned her hat into her sprint hat. She abruptly stopped in the Main Hall, striking a pose as her hand was on the floor with one of her legs bent, and her umbrella out to scare the intruder.
There were timepiece shards on her carpet. Her favorite carpet, mind you. The remnants of the timepiece were shining brightly, and they looked like little specks of glitter. The wooden case was broken, as the beads were scattered around the carpet. But the timepiece shards weren’t the hatted alien’s concern right now. She dropped her umbrella abruptly, her hands raised to her mouth as her eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it, and how.
“Oh, peck…! H-how—“ She couldn’t believe what her eyes were showing her.
It was herself… but different.
Same height, same age. They looked exactly the same.
But she didn’t have a top hat like her, she didn’t have the same outfit as her, she didn’t even have a weapon, she didn’t have the same energetic spark she had when others told her when they looked into her eyes.
The girl had the same hairstyle but she had a ribbon where she tied her hair. It looked like a replica of the one Snatcher gave her when she completed her first rift collapse. She had a purple sweater with a teacup, steam coming out of it in the middle, with dark purple, and pink shorts. She had white stockings with green stripes and pink slippers.
“Why the hell do you look like me?!” Her… the other self screamed. She must have been part of another reality—or timeline. That’s the only thing she can think of and it made sense to her. So… what does she call her then? She didn’t want her other self to have the same name as her, for starters, she doesn’t even have an actual hat unless you counted that ribbon as one. She didn’t want to call her Bow Kid… there’s already a Bow Kid in this timeline. Bowie never came here to this planet though.
“Peck… how do I explain this… Uhm—“ The hatted child paused, thinking of what to say.
“Basically, I’m you! From another timeline. I dunno how you got into my timeline, but I have a few guesses.” She smiled, twirling and bowing while holding her sprint hat to introduce herself.
“There’s… Other timelines?!” Her doppelganger screamed, jumping at the realization. The girl took a quick glance at herself—her other self, terrified but curious.
“Yeah!! Well if you really want me to tell you kinda everything, I want to uh… give you a name so I can stop referencing you as ‘my other self’, y’ know?” She replied, looking at her mirror image for a response.
“A name? Aren’t we the same person technically? Shouldn’t you know my—I mean, our name?” Her other self crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently for an answer.
“Peck! Don’t do that! You’re going to make more of a mess, that I have to clean up!” Her other self stopped abruptly, looking down at the messy floor.
“Sorry…?” Her alter ego replied.
“Okay... Well, I don’t really want to call you our real name when I show you around the planet. They call me ‘Hat Kid’ around this part of space!” She grinned, flickering the brim of her sprint hat as she threw her hat up into the air. It brightly changed back into her signature purple top hat that matched with her outfit as it floated back onto her head. Her other self’s eyes widened, clapping with amazement.
“Oh, no wonder. Wait… why aren’t they calling you our real name? I’m sure they can pronounce it right—“ She cut off her other self’s sentence.
“We aren’t at home.” Was all she said. Her other-self’s eyes widen again, taking a look at her surroundings. She was in a large spaceship with Rumbi sweeping things up, and her large window showed off the planet “Earth”. Her other self gasped, looking back towards the hatted alien.
“Where are we?! And why are we in a spaceship?!”
“Oooh, long story. Here; I’ll give you the shortened version of this one. Basically back at home, I used my spare time to learn how to drive a spaceship. One day I got sick of the stuff, so I stole this spaceship and some… ‘fuel.’ I went to go explore other planets! But then I wanted to go back home. So I was getting there when suddenly all my fuel was gone and floated into this planet called ‘Earth’! Pretty cool, right? So I went on this peckin’ awesome journey to recover my ‘fuel’, and everyone almost tried to kill me! But I kicked all their asses and recovered most of my “fuel”! I still need to go to this place called the S.S Literally Can’t Sink and Nyakuza Metro. They got my fuel still. Oh, yeah! Forgot to say this, but I got hats that have abilities n’ stuff!”
“What…? That’s so different from my timeline?! My timeline is just about sleep, eat, school, study, sleep, repeat! Your timeline is so… Complex…? And why do you sound so calm when you said everyone almost tried to kill you?! I’d be terrified!!” Her doppelganger replied.
“Pfft, I’ve learned to look on the bright side! Besides, almost all those people are my friends now! I’m even BFF’s with one of them! It’s great, you should meet him! But on a serious note, what the peck am I gonna call you…?” She scratched her head with a curious look towards her clone.
“Well… Uhhh… Ribbon Kid…?” Her other self made a toothy grin as her eyebrows furrowed sadly, not knowing what else to call herself.
“Well… maybe I could come up with something! Uhmmm…” She thought real hard when something in her mind clicked. Maybe…
“We could go to Nyakuza Metro and get you some cosmetics there! Maybe the one your most interested in, we could call you that! Like uhmmm… “Flower Kid” or something like that!” The hatted alien bounced up excitedly, her face full of happiness. Her other self scratched her head while nodding slowly.
“O-okay…? You said you’ve never been there before though?” Ribbon Kid asked. Well, guess the hatted child will call her other self Ribbon Kid for now.
“Well yeah! It’s gonna be fun adventuring the metro though! But first, I needa show you to my best friend! I’m just gonna refer you right now as Ribbon Kid since you did say so.” The hatted alien giggled, hopping onto her captain’s chair and punching in coordinations to Subcon Forest. Her ship flew from Mafia Town to Subcon Forest, floating above.
“Yeah okay… Is this the right place?” Ribbon curiously and cautiously asked Hattie, as Hattie just nodded excitedly.
With a mischievous grin, Hattie told her plan, “Okay well, we’ll both go down there together but not at the same time. You will go first, to see him, then I’ll show up!” Hattie exclaimed, her ship zooming in on Subcon Forest. Hattie pointed to a circle that has dark purple outlining it.
“Step in there and wait for him. You’ll be safe, I promise! If you get attacked or something which I doubt, I’ll fight them off!” Hattie grinned while Ribbon cautiously nodded.
“H-how will I land without dying?!” Hattie looked towards her, winking at Ribbon.
“You’ll land without a scratch, I promise.” Hattie smiled as she jumped off her captain’s chair and opened her glass door. She guided Ribbon to the door, telling her the plan one more time. Ribbon nodded, not being very sure that this is safe but if her other self said it is, then I guess she’ll have to trust her other-self.
Ribbon poked her head out the door, seeing the forest in its entirety. She’ll land near the spot her alter ego wanted her to be, and walk towards that spot. Sounds simple, right? Hopefully.
“Good luck!” Hattie smiled, pushing Ribbon off the spaceship. Ribbon screamed for her life, closing her eyes and wavering her arms all over. Hattie just shrugged as this was also her first reaction after she saw all her timepieces fly off to different parts of the planet, but somehow she survived without her umbrella. She’s sure her clone can survive. And hopefully, she could get there before Snatcher took her soul.
.—.—.—.
Ribbon landed on her feet, striking a pose as if it was natural. Weird, she fell off from a spaceship AND survived. On top of that, she posed while landing? She’s never done that before but yet it felt natural.
She saw the outline of the circle, which was where her other self instructed her to be. She skipped along the forest, seemingly feeling scared of everything. She landed on the circle, waiting for something. Her eyes widened as dark purple vines surround her as everything around her turned into shades of purple and the middle of it all was a purple ghost looming over the short girl.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!” The ghost laughed, its yellow glowing eyes looking over the girl. Strange, this girl looked just like the kiddo with the hat. She even has her similar aura, but still different. Ah oh well, a new contractor with a soul so similar to the kiddo’s. She’s even shaking, terrified!
“YOU TOTALLY SCREWED YOURSELF! Nobody gets to go in and out of this forest alive!” Which was mostly true except that one little kiddo with a hat. It was embarrassing that he was beaten by a kid! In front of his minions too! Especially because she used his own attack against him! She’s a clever girl though, he’s got to give credit for her for that.
“Tell you what though? That’s right! YOU GET TO LIVE! My last contractor seemingly… disappeared from this part of this planet. Guess YOU get to replace her! AHAHAHAHAHA!” Snatcher laughed again, the girl shaking now more than ever, filled with fear. As the Soul Stealing ghost looked into her eyes… her eyes even looked almost the exact same as the kiddo’s. These eyes though… lacked the energetic spark. The kiddo was a shining star in such a dark place like this. Seems like his new contractor had those same eyes… but lacked the light. It wasn’t the same as her starry eyes.
“So tell you what, I’ve got a piece of paper here! Don’t worry about the details! I just need you to sign right here at the bottom.” The contract and the quill appeared, similar to the kid’s first contract. The terrified girl stepped forward yet still shaking, taking the quill when a certain someone interferes.
“Alright, that’s enough! Snatcher, I’m not letting you take her soul.” The kiddo appeared in this somehow, looking awfully similar to the other girl. In fact… they look almost the same.
“Oh, it’s you. Can’t you see I’m trying to take a contractor and a soul here, kiddo?” The hatted alien nodded and stared at Snatcher with a frown.
“Disable the trap or I won’t hesitate to show her what I did to you a couple of weeks ago! I will beat your ass again if I have to!” The kiddo crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. Snatcher groaned, not getting himself embarrassed again. He set down his trap as the threesome returned to Subcon Forest.
“What’s the big deal, kid?! I’m already disappointed in seeing you here around these parts. Also, why does this girl look so similar to you?!” Snatcher stared at the kiddo, expecting an answer. The hatted child raised her finger, opening her mouth.
“I’ll explain all of that! Just… don’t take her soul. I can explain if we go to my spaceship. She doesn’t seem very comfortable here. Oh well, I find it fascinating here!” Hattie smiled as Snatcher groaned and snapped his hands as he teleported the threesome into the kid’s spaceship, especially the bedroom part. Ribbon meanwhile was still shocked by what just happened. Did her other self just boss around a powerful ghost?!
“You better have a damn good reason for why you’ve pulled me out of my forest.” Snatcher floated and sat in his corner as the two sat beside him in the pillows, getting themselves comfortable.
“I will be honest Ribbon, I kinda set you up there with Snatcher. I wanted to see your reaction. Of course, I didn’t want your soul taken as mine did!” Hattie laughed, while Ribbon stared right back at Hattie.
“WHAT THE HELL?! I trusted you! I thought I was done for!” Ribbon yelled as Hattie laughed even more. Snatcher even joined in on the laugh.
“I loved your reaction! I loved it all when you were TERRIFIED of me!” Snatcher laughed as Hattie nodded and laughed along in unison.
Snatcher stopped laughing a few seconds later, addressing the elephant in the room, “Seriously kiddo, why does she look so similar to you?! I kinda thought I was taking your soul again until I saw that she was terrified. I knew you wouldn’t be terrified because you have stepped into my traps plentiful of times. You would’ve gotten used to it.”
“Okay… Well, I do have explaining to do. She’s me from another timeline. I don’t know how , but I saw timepiece shards around her when I first saw her. Peck, I was also surprised when I saw her! But, I do know a timepiece was involved in this, but I don’t understand how. How could she have gotten here?! She doesn’t even know time stuff and spaceships which I find absurd!” There was silence in the room for a minute until Snatcher cleared his throat.
”You. Don’t. Know. How. She. GOT. HERE?! You’re literally an expert on Time Stuff, especially with Timepieces!” Snatcher pointed to Ribbon, his face frustrated. Ribbon seemed confused and frustrated—how was she going to get home in her timeline?
“Snatcher, I’m an expert on Time Travel, not Time Stuff first of all,” Hattie said with her famous smug look at Snatcher. Snatcher groaned with a tired look towards her while Ribbon giggled.
“So guys… I’m still here. What does my other self—err… ‘Hat Kid’ mean when her soul was taken?” Ribbon questioned, mainly focusing on Hattie. Hattie smiled and laughed while Snatcher groaned and look away with his arms crossed.
“Well, Ribbon… Snatcher basically took my soul! It was pretty weird. I did his pecking contracts though, which I don’t want to go into detail—“ Hattie paused, looking down and silently going through flashbacks of Queen Vanessa’s Manor.
“Well, then we uhmm… fought. In the end, I’ve gotten my soul back and my timepiece from him.” Hattie said triumphantly, pride in her. Ribbon looked back and forth between Snatcher and Hattie, not believing a single thing but just went with it,
”At least you didn’t go to detail…” Snatcher spoke, still looking away frustrated by the two children.
“Ohoho, I can go into detail if you want me to, BFF!” Hattie smiled mischievously at Snatcher, her turquoise eyes staring right into his yellow glowing eyes.
”Heck no.” Snatcher huffed out, turning back to the two children with a frown. Hat Kid snickered as she hugged tightly her pillow. Ribbon meanwhile looked around the room. She was in a bedroom, sitting in a large pile of colorful pillows. Her eyes glimpsed at the starry window, then as her eyes looked to the other direction of the room, she saw a blue bed that looked so comfy to sleep in. There was also a closet and a toy chest that matched the blue bed. A desk sat near the toy chest with markers, crayons, and a red box laid on top of the desk. Few colored pictures were hung onto the yellow wall, as her eyes then stopped at the purple door that glowed brightly, a tree with a face in the middle of it all, blinking a bright blue in the midst of the purple door. This bedroom was like her dream bedroom! As Ribbon looked around the room, voices echoed in her ear as her eyes went back to Hattie’s—starry eyes with a spark of happiness and hope.
“What I don’t understand is… How I can go home?” Ribbon smiled sadly, looking down as her fingers carefully brushed through her sideburns repeatedly, biting her lip. Snatcher and Hattie noticed her behavior as Hattie frowned while Snatcher looked at the kiddo. The kid was sad, but also thinking deeply hard on Ribbon’s situation.
“I was thinking… You could come along with me collecting the rest of the timepieces so… I could go home…” Hattie lied on the last part—she was stuttering and hesitant on saying it which Snatcher looked at her in confusion. Fortunately, at least Snatcher knew when she was lying. Ribbon did not know of Hattie’s lie.
“I’m not gonna go h-home though until I find you a way back to your timeline!” Hattie smiled sadly, feeling like she didn’t know how to help her other-self. On the bright side, she could show Ribbon the beautiful yet deadly planet. Hopefully, her other self is a platforming master, otherwise, Hattie’s gonna go to S.S Literally Can’t Sink and Nyakuza Metro on her own. She promised though to buy Ribbon new cosmetics though. After all, these pons she didn’t spend needed to go somewhere other than her small pocket dimension.
“T-thank you…” Ribbon replied a small sweet smile appeared on her lips. It looked so similar to Hattie’s smile… It’s just she’s missing something. Snatcher couldn’t place his claw on it. The kiddo meanwhile just had an aura that brightened everything around her, even the darkest parts of Earth, like Subcon. Snatcher didn’t think she glowed in Vanessa’s Manor—he saw her reaction when she walked out of that manor with the timepiece. Her eyes seemed dull, looking for anything other than that manor. Least that was temporary… Her spark was back.
Snatcher got bored with the subject and reminded himself to give the kiddo a private talk. For now, he changed the subject. ”Kiddo… don’t you have a mess to clean up? Those timepiece shards aren’t gonna clean themselves up. Maybe then you could try to bring it back or something. Oh well!” Snatcher paused, feeling a chill. He ever only gets those when Subcon needed his attention right away.
”Well kid, it seems like Subcon needs me. Smell you later!” Snatcher laughed, diving straight into the floor. His presence was gone, and now it was just the two girls again. Though, Snatcher’s hand appeared straight up from the floor and gave a quick wave. Hattie squealed and happily said bye and waved. Ribbon looked straight to her doppelganger.
“... You’re friends with a GHOST?! Nevermind that, YOU’RE BEST FRIENDS WITH A POWERFUL GHOST LIKE HIM?!” Ribbon stared at Hat Kid in disbelief, but Hattie happily nodded. Hattie double jumped off the pillow pool and dived towards the floor before catching herself and landing back on her feet. She turned around to Ribbon, gesturing for her to come down.
Ribbon gulped as she swam down the pillow pool to meet up with Hattie. Hattie hugged her tight catching Ribbon off guard as Hattie squeezed her. Ribbon stood there, shocked by her other self’s actions. She never received hugs or affection back home, and this was certainly the first time in a long time that she did. Nevermind that she, her other self gave her that affection, but she sent it right back and squeezed Hattie tight. Hattie laughed, being the first to let go of the hug which kept Ribbon warmth. She looked directly into Ribbon’s eyes, smiling.
“You needed that. I haven’t received affection either back at home. It’s why… I ran away from home and landed here. I received more affection here— whether that be something trying to kill me or getting hugs.” Hattie explained, letting Ribbon process that affection. When was the last time she ever received that? Probably when she was a lot younger than she is now. She missed that greatly and wanted more.
“Consider that as an apology for uhm… leading you into Snatcher’s Traps. I couldn’t help it though!” Hattie scratched her head, feeling embarrassed and guilt for doing that. Her reaction though was priceless, which made up for some of her emotions. Ribbon crossed her arms while snickering, while Hattie smiled and saw that Ribbon had indeed forgiven her for her mischievous deed. One thing off Hattie’s chest now.
“So…’Hattie’, I guess I know the shortened version of your life. Yet, you don’t even know mine,” Ribbon bit her lip and looked at Hattie as she calmed down and stared at Ribbon, curious of her life story. Hattie led her to her bed as she sat down and pat down the empty spot next to her. Ribbon jumped and sat next to Hattie, taking a deep breath.
“Uh, where do I even start…?” Ribbon nervously laughed while Hat Kid sat, confused.