Steps of Memory

#42 sits down to give the prince advice “I know it’s hard but stay strong, my Highness, she’ll come.”

Snatcher side eyes #42 "I guess you sensed I needed an ear?"

#42 chuckles "Indeed. I figured you might need aid again with your strong feelings of impatience."

Snatcher schmunzelt "Thanks. ...My unofficial adviser."

#42 looks offended and bonks him "Do not call me that! You are not king and the kingdom is no more. Therefore I am no one's advisor!"

"I am just the oldest grandma in town that is happy to lend her wisdom and ear to young folks that need aid."

Snatcher rubs his head "And I appreciate you for that. Especially because I didn't tell you everything."

She replied jokingly "Well, duh, some things are secrets for a reason."

"I remember when she was here and you did your whole spiel of menacing ghost, only to be beaten to a bulb later."

Snatcher looks embarrassed with tiny eyes at her. #42 continues "And that you didn't tell a single soul that the small lady was tearing a hole in your heart with her letters each week, because you wanted to keep up your facade of our big reliable boss..."

"But I am happy that this is all in the past now, and you're showing how much the friendship with that little girl means to you."

Snatcher sighs "Yeah... I miss her so much, and I just wanna hug her tightly."

His fingers become sharp "The feeling is unbearable..."

Not even a moment after he said this, the spaceship of Hat Kid appears in the sky. Snatcher is so overwhelmed by this that he turns to a noodle.

She chuckles "Haha, speaking of the devil."

Hat Teen and Bow Teen appear in Subcon, and don’t look like how they did 7 years ago.

Hat Teen can’t even take a step before getting knocked over by a dashing noodle that hugs her so tightly. 

Snatcher cries loudly as Hat Teen returns the hug, chuckling “I missed you too, BBF.”

Snatcher replies “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, KIDDO!”

Bow Teen lifts an eyebrow at the scene.

Snatcher continues to cry and hug her for a while before he finally calms down enough.

HT even wipes one of his tears away.

BT in the meantime pinches her nose bridge while groaning quietly "I knew we shouldn't have taken this mission."

Snatcher looks confused "Mission?" 

"I thought you were on vacation right now...?"

HT starts to sweat while BT makes a face that screams 'excuse me!?'

HT chuckles and pats Snatcher softly "Yeah, we got a mission but that's later. Right now we're here to meet old friends."

Snatcher looks suspicious before grinning "And your first friend on your list was me?"

HT finger guns him "Exactly. Now how are the Subconites doing?"

BT makes a sound of disagreement and wanders off "Fine, do your thing, I'll do mine."

Snatcher wants to laugh but BT is making him suspicious "Wow, she's just as grumpy as you described her."

HT adjusts her collar "Yeah, she's always like this... Just ignore her."

Snatcher swings HT around "Alright, you wanna know how the Subconites are doing. I can *show* you."

< panel compilation of HT riding on Snatcher while they fly through Subcon >

HT leans forward "Looks almost like I remember it... But you did tell me about it in your letters."

"*About that~*" Snatcher chuckles as he flies to the manor and lands by the manor, in front of Vanessa. 

MJ is there with a scroll in his hand, and Vanessa with her friends is there. Hat Teen gets loaded off Snatcher while he disappears out of the frame.

HT looks curious at the two, and slowly approaches them.

"Are you two the infamous Queen Vanessa and Moonjumper that Snatcher told me so much about?" she held her hand out.

Vanessa looks stumbled "What did he tell you...?"

MJ however is excited, he grabs her hand and shakes it hard "And you must be Hat Kid! It's an honor to meet Phoenix's BBF!"

Hat Teen exclaims under distress "It's Hat Teen. And Phoenix who?"

The prince clears his throat "That's me, Kiddo." 

HT turns around and looks confused "Huh?!"

"Oh, wow."

HT chuckles "That's definitely a surprise." 

Vanessa butts in "So, Hat Teen..."

HT "In case you two worry about what happened in the manor, Snatcher explained it in his letters."

"I have no hard feelings."

Vanessa laughs it off awkwardly "I... just wanted to ask if I can offer you something, like tea."

MJ however adjusts his collar. 

HT laughs "Oh, sure. Just wanted to make things are clear between us before anything would become awkward. I wanna get to know you two."

MJ pushes his fingers together "Oh, so, did he tell you about that one time, when..."

< fade out >

HT and BT met up in a tree house. HT sitting on the edge with her feet hanging in the air while BT stands there and typing something on her Timelog.

BT "So, you got to meet Snatcher again. I hope this isn't interfering with our mission."

HT looks sad "It isn't. ...I am aware of the danger I bring to the table, but this is exactly why I wanted this mission assigned to us. So that I can say goodbye to him just in case..."

Log 2: An opening that gives you the chills

Inside the spaceship, BT is putting on her lab coat as she walks into the hub room. Rumbi is greeting her.

"I am done with analyzing the environment. Subcon is... very fascinating." she says

"What about you?"

HT taps at the screen "I talked to almost everyone. Weren't able to get to all of them in time, but we don't need to. It's only a handful of people that are important."

BT smiles "Good, now we just need to wait for it to happen soon."

Then BT gets cold "Don't forget your position in this, though."

Hat Teen looks at the ground "I know."

And then suddenly the alarm goes off.

HT and BT rush to the window as they see what caused their sensors to go off. A giant rift (like an open zipper) above Subcon, that shows the Horizon.

BT chuckles "As always, to the minute."

HT chuckles rather nervously "Yep."

They immediately get down and arrive in Subcon. 

Panic among the Subconites, while Snatcher and Vanessa try to take care of the situation.

Moonjumper only floats there, frozen and staring at the rift.

The teens look analytical at the scene and BT asks one of the rushing Minions "What happened?"

The minion stops "I-I don't know. One moment the sky was normal and then suddenly there was this huge cracking sound and now it's snowing." 

HT swoops in "A cracking sound?"

But the minion was already gone. 

#76 sees them from a distance and approaches them "You, what do you know?"

HT replies "Nothing specific, but we're here to investigate it. What happened?" 

#76 squints and puts his stick down "...I suspect Vanessa has something to do with this. This is like the freezing."

BT starts typing into her Timelog "Hm... The freezing? That was an event that caused Subcon to become haunted. Hat, what do you know about Vanessa?"

HT crosses her arms and looks serious "She got ice magic, so there is a connection. Best to find her."

BT "Agreed."

#76 looks at them suspiciously, and then points his stick away "They should be by the gated community."

Not long after, they find Vanessa and Snatcher who fight in sync against the blizzard.

Vanessa looks exhaused "Phoenix, we cannot keep doing this forever."

Snatcher looks exhaused too "But we have to get it under control..."

Their thoughts are distrupted by HT screaming their names 

HT "Snatcher! Vanessa!"

A glimmer of suspicion in Snatcher's eyes as he glances at them "Kiddo, Bow!"

BT sees their struggles and let's out a sigh. There is nothing holding them back now. Their mission has started. She holds her hand out and the environment freezes around them. She also doesn't beat around the bush "I suspect Vanessa must know something. Tell us what caused this."

Snatcher and Vanessa look flabbergasted at the environment. 

They need a moment before they realize what BT just had asked them.

Snatcher looks worried away while remembering the Time Pieces and then whispers "Time magic..."

He looks serious at the teenagers while protecting Vanessa "...This is not Vanessa's fault."

Vanessa looks at Snatcher "Phoenix... You sound afraid."

Snatcher chuckles "Ahaha... Because I am."

Hat Teen gets nervous but stays calm "I guess I cannot deny it anymore that our mission has to do with Subcon... Snatcher, we just want to know what caused this."

Snatcher squints nervously "And then what, Kiddo?"

Vanessa thinks out loud "The portal... It looks to me that the portal cracked open..."

BT "What portal?"

Vanessa "Moonjumper's-- Oh god, Moonjumper! Phoenix, we have to check on Moonjumper."

Snatcher shrieks up "On it!"

< scene change >

Moonjumper sits surrounded by a few Subconites who rub his back and all.

The group finds him and Vanessa flies to him "Moonjumper!"

He starts crying "Vanessaaaa! It's the Horizon! The Horizon! Please, I don't wanna go back!"

A minion comments "We found him repeating this over and over again."

Hat Teen gets startled seeing this before she takes her courage and approaches them "So, something about the Horizon?"

Vanessa turns to her "Yes, Moonjumper was trapped in the Horizon and I freed him by shattering the portal with my ice magic."

She glances at Snatcher "...I think this is what you two wanted to know." 

BT whispers "How did I miss something like a portal!?"

Bow Teen looks slightly surprised before turning around and thinking "The Horizon? Hat, I have to start inspecting the environment. But I can tell already this is not an event that can stay."

"I know..." HT gets her Timelog out "Vanessa, you freed him over a year ago? Why did nothing happen until now?"

Moonjumper, a little bit crazy, whimpers while hiding behind Vanessa "What if it waited until I felt safe... And now it wants me back!"

HT stares at him before taking a strong position "Nonsense, the dream realm is not after you. All it keeps is the hopes and dreams of everyone."

Snatcher, unable to contribute anything to the conversation, sits down.

Moonjumper returns "It kept me! From leaving! I was stuck there!"

HT is stumbled "This... is the first time I am hearing about this."

MJ, pushing Vanessa forward as he lurks around her "But it's true! I couldn't get out until the portal was shattered! And then we sealed it off with Vanessa's ice!"

BT, that was already further away from them, stops in her tracks.

She returns to them, running "You did what!?" Then she mumbles "How did I miss something like that during my investigation!?"

She looks determined "Show me! Where you sealed it."

<Fade to them being in that same cave but now everything is icy.>

Speechbubbles and dots in them, indicating they are talking.

BT, very angry "So, you guys shattered the door between two dimensions, and then "closed" it by just. Freezing. It. Shut!!?!!?!?"

They nod, and BT starts screaming in frustration.

She pulls HT towards her, now suddenly calm "Okay, we have a lead. Now it's your turn."

HT scratches her head, and looks back to the group. 

Snatcher looks confused and scared "Your turn?"

HT takes a deep breath and approaches them "Yes.. So... We have to determine what exactly led to *this*"

she points at the shattered portal and continues.

"So that we can see what needs to be altered, so that this event never happens."

She sounds afraid "And... I don't have all the data yet, but right now it looks like the easiest way of preventing... Uh, let's call it the shattering... Is to have Moonjumper stay in the Horizon."

BT in the background "Don't give it a pecking name."

Moonjumper gets very scared and leaps at Vanessa, getting behind her and essentially getting another panic attack.

Vanessa and (to her surprise tbh) Snatcher become overprotective "No."

HT chuckles nervously "D-Don't worry, I get that. It's just the easiest solution right now, but I am here to see what other options we might have."

Both ghosts response in harmony "*Might?!*"

HT exclaims with a scared voice "I know! I am gonna do my best to find a different solution. Just... Please don't make this harder for me than it already is."

Snatcher sighs, while Vanessa takes MJ's hand. 

HT holds her Horologe up and looks at MJ "So... Because the shattering is tied to you being stuck in the Horizon, I have to take a look at your timeline." 

Suddenly a Purple Rift appears in front of them. Snatcher gets a flashback to the time when he was hit by a Time Piece.

They all look curious but also afraid.

MJ stutters "My ti-timeline?"

HT nods "I could also call it your memories if that makes more sense."

Log 3: An accidental discovery

There is a flash and the effects like when entering a purple rift in the game.

[Have to decide]

They all have or not have some effect to indicate that they are not part of the memories.

HT looks at her horologe and taps it "Where to go first..."

Vanessa takes Hat Teen's hand and looks at her "I want to understand this. What exactly is your goal here?" 

HT clears her throat "Okay, so... I want to find events in Moonjumper's life that could be altered, so that the shattering never happens. But for that I have to look at his life."

"Aka his memories aka his timeline."

Vanessa backs away "But... doesn't this mean, the presence will be different?"

HT chuckles "Yeah... Which is why I have to see what events can be considered."

Snatcher looks concerned.

Moonjumper, now curious "...So, it could be the event where I took control over Vanessa?"

Hat Teen looks at him, as well as Snatcher and Vanessa.

MJ looks at the horologe and reaches out to it "I mean, it would make the most sense..."

"Hey, don't touch it!" HT tries to take her horologe away but too late

MJ's hand managed to 'scroll' along his timeline and all the environment around them changed to that of the manor. Vanessa's room to be exactly. 

Moonjumper looks not so confused, but still wonders "Where are we?"

Snatcher, having taken a back seat to all of this, now says something "I think it's rather " When are we?"."

They all quickly get informed when rift!Vanessa runs into her room and a moon pond appears at the ceiling.

MJ starts to sweat "Oh no..."

Snatcher notices that.

And then they see rift!MJ comes out of the pond and the interactions between him and rift!Van.

[Copied from discord, lol]

Vanessa: "Promise not to do this? If anyone sees you, I don't know if we could keep our friendship a secret anymore. Just think what they could do! They could try getting you seperated from me! And then I cannot keep my promises to you!"

MJ: "Seperate us!? No, I don't want this!"

Vanessa: "Then don't do this. Glitching out as you call it. Be here, in the real world, with me. We can see each other in my dreams."

*gives MJ a tight hug as she keeps tears from falling, she doesn't want to imagine how bad it would be if anyone knew about Moonjumper. Knewing a magical being is connected with the princess of Subcon Forest. Anyone from the adults would think he wants some evil thing, and they would definitely try to seperate him somehow from her.*

======

If was just a few months now, but it was still a few months *too much* at this point. Vanessa had kept pushing Moonjumper out of her thoughts and dreams to be able to solely think and dream about her prince. She even interacted with a dream created prince in her own dreams.

There was no room for Moonjumper anymore.

And despite her promise, and his promise...

He glitched out.

Vanessa was just about to be dressed for a date with Phoenix, when she noticed something she hadn't seen in years. She sprints to the door out of practice to reassure nobody would come in, when Moonjumper manifested in her room.

"Vanessa?"

"Moonjumper, what are you doing?"

"I... I... wanted to..."

Vanessa looked at the clock, before pushing the door handle down "I don't have time for that. Moon, you promised to never glitch out. I am an adult soon, but not queen yet. *Please* go back."

As rushly as she said these words, as such was she gone and walking down the stairs. Moonjumper tried to grab after her, keeping her in the room, begging her as tears started to flow to stay. 

In the heat of the moment, he was out of the room, floating in the hallway.

The pixels around him becoming more and more as he started to lose the control.

Tears started to flow on his cheeks, Vanessa was gone. But the steps of someone coming up the stairs got his attention has the pixels became more stable around him.

But to his surprise, and to the surprise of the person coming up the stairs, it was not Vanessa.

It was her mother, Queen Elizabeth. Her face changed from a satisfied, as she knew where Vanessa was heading, to a shocked one as she spotted Moonjumper in the hallway, which looked back at her in shock.

Moonjumper backed away, he didn't mean to be seen, as so did Queen Elizabeth back away as she wasn't prepared of seeing a magical being *inside the manor right where her precious daughter was a few seconds ago.*

She made a step back, but her foot didn't find the ground on the level she expected it to be in such situation. No, the stairs were right behind her, and so she made a mistep, and fell backwards down the stairs.

It was just a matter of seconds as she overroll, hid the stairs with her head before hidding the wall and simply breaking her neck, leading to a quick death.

In the same way Elizabeth said goodbye to this world, so disappears Moonjumper in a cloud of pixels, not leaving a single hint of what happened to the Queen, except the ones who will find her simply saying it was an accident.

[Copied from discord end]

Vanessa stands there, looking at what lies at the bottom of the stairs.

She is silent.

Moonjumper looks terrified away.

Vanessa puts her hands on her hips: “That... was more anticlimactic than I anticipated.”

Snatcher looks confused as fuck, while Vanessa turns around and goes to Moonjumper to comfort him.

But Snatcher grabs Vanessa: “Vanessa, why are you so calm about this? We just witnessed in full detail your mother's death.”

Then he realized it “Wait... You knew that he was responsible for it?!”

Vanessa looks at him, realizing “...And you don’t.”

“Uhm... When...” She thinks for a moment “After her death, Moonjumper got weirdly distant and that made me suspicious, so I asked him about it around the time you were studying law, because only then did I actually have time.”

Snatcher recalls “Oh yeah... I recall that you were suddenly so busy because you had to become Queen. You had so much on your mind that you vented to me about it daily...”

Moonjumper mumbles “Every night, she would dream about it... And I was so scared....”

He starts bawling “You didn’t blame me for it!”

Vanessa gives him a small kiss on the forehead “Because it’s not your fault that the stairs happened to be behind her.”

MJ still bawls, but less worried.

Snatcher looks frustrated “Okay, but why have I never heard the full story after we rescued him?”

Vanessa and Moonjumper think. 

Vanessa “Uh... Because it never crossed my mind that you didn’t know that, what led to my mother falling down the stairs, was Moonjumper.”

Snatcher looks dumbfounded “I... Can’t argue against that.”

He looks over to MJ “Do you need a minute?”

MJ wipes the tears out of his face “I am fine.”

He mumbles “I am fine...”

Hat Teen awkwardly clears her throat "H-How about we move on to some other event."

She squints at MJ "And nobody besides me touches the horologe."

But then Snatcher grabs her hand harshly "Before you do so... How can I trust you that you won't show us another thing from his life that he regrets and doesn't want to come back to haunt him?"

HT looks scared at him.

She pulls on Snatcher's arm, but he won't let her go.

"I... can't..."

Then MJ swoops in suddenly "Snatcher, I will be fine."

He rubs his hands "But thanks for your concerns..."

Snatcher whispers "If you think so..."

HT tries to reassure Snatcher "Look... I'll only go to any memories that Moonjumper is okay with, if that helps. And also, this is why I said only I touch the horologe."

Snatcher grumpingly agrees "Fine. But just so you know. Moonjumper is one of the Subconites, which are my people. And I look out for them until they can find peace. And nothing won't shake up this peace, capeesh?"

HT nods nervously.

Log 4: A fate shaped by chaos

Snatcher and Vanessa hold MJ's hands. He looks distressed.

Snatcher leans into him "Hey, at least your cockiness of wanting to play cat and mouse with Vanessa led to us being friends."

MJ laughs distressfully "Don't remind me how stupid my idea was!"

Vanessa giggles "At least we know now why the string snapped in the first place."

HT schmunzelt while she navigates through MJ timeline.

"So, there are potential events in recent times, but I'm still wondering why you got stuck in the Horizon in the first place."

MJ replies sad "I don't remember..."

HT "I knooooow, but we can find out."

MJ "Well then" he gestures to her she can do her thing.

She scrolls the timeline very far back and they all land in a white empty space.

With red strings floating from the ground and something that looks very similar to Moonjumper. But it got a foggy tail.

And it cries, as it pushes itself against the ground, hammering against the floor.

Hat Teen gives him a curious glance.

MJ shakes as he squeezes Vanessa’s hand firmly. Snatcher steps besides them and puts his arm around MJ.

Hat Teen scratches her chin “I guess this must be one - if not the earliest - moment where you found out you were stuck. Okay, then let’s go back a bit more.”

Chaos appears out of nowhere in front of them, and HT stops to let the time flow. 

"Oh, hello. I didn't know someone lived here." Chaos says.

But the nightmare remains silent.

“You don’t speak, do you?” Chaos inspects the nightmare.  

“Oooh, how interesting~ I see what you are. You were just born recently, weren’t you?”

The nightmare remains silent again, but blinks and tilts its head.

Chaos gives him a smug "Don't be bothered by my presence."

He then goes away and explores the Horizon.

HT presses the fast forward button, but not before Chaos gives her a glance.

Later he rubs his hands "The Horizon definitely is a fun place to be, I'll definitely visit it again, but there is more of this new forming universe to explore..."

He tries to leave the place by going through the floor, but he hits the ground.

He looks up, confused. And he tries again.

And again.

Before he knows it, he looks nervous "I am stuck!?"

And then he turns slowly around, seeing the little nightmare in the distance, that leaves the Horizon and returns to it again.

He first squints at the nightmare, before looking over to the group and smiling menacingly.

Snatcher grabs Hat Teen by the shoulder “Can this thing see us!?”

HT looks at them “Uh... She is the embodiment of chaos, and any existence of her likes to mess with people for her amusement.”

Chaos giggles, as it approaches the little nightmare “So, you like to explore the world too?”

The nightmare looks at Chaos, before nodding.

Chaos comes closer and holds his hand out “I can show you something amazing. You just have to shake my hand!”

The nightmare blinks at the hand, before mimicking the gesture and shaking Chaos’s hand.

Chaos pulls the nightmare close to its face and laughs “Ahahahaha, It's very simple~ You just have to follow me!" 

Chaos dives out of the Horizon, and the little nightmare tries to follow, but hits a wall.

It looks confused, while Chaos comes back into Horizon, but only his head sticking out. He smiles "Ooh, can you not leave? How sad, that means I can't show you that amazing thing. Sorry. Well, I'll take *my leave* then."

And he was gone.

The little nightmare was left behind, it tried to get out again and again, but couldn't.

Eventually tears started to form and it opened a mouth, and started to cry.

Hat Teen blinks "...Wow. So... Shapeshifter got you stuck..."

Snatcher "Shapeshifter?"

HT chuckles nervously "Yeah, so, uh, let's just say there are forces in the universe that have a personification. Time has one for example, and that one we just saw was Chaos, or Shapeshifter as she goes by. She... definitely likes to cause chaos..."

Moonjumper looks at his past self “I don’t remember this at all...”

And then takes his mask off “I don’t remember anything beyond my first friend...”

“...” He looks determined

Then he leaps at Hat Teen, desperate “Please show me more! Show me why I am in the Horizon! Show me how I got here!”

Hat Teen is taken aback “Woah! Okay, okay! We can go earlier.”

MJ sounds demanding “Go to my birth. Please!”

Log 5: The biggest coincidence in the world

They are still in the Horizon after Hat Teen scrolled as far as possible on MJ’s timeline.

“There we are, we cannot go further.”

MJ looks confused “But, we’re still in the Horizon...”

Hat Teen scratches her head “Well... Aren’t you a dream being? So, the Horizon being your birth place makes sense.”

MJ clenches his fists and goes onto a rampage “Yeah, but I was always alone. How was I born? Do I have parents!? I could find the answers to all these questions but all I see is the fucking Horizon!”

And then suddenly a string in front of them starts to have a nightmare. To Moonjumper’s knowledge and surprise, it becomes more than just intense, and he takes a closer look.

“I’ve never seen someone have such a strong nightm--”

The nightmare plopped off the string, and floated in front of him, before the fog formed itself into a ball that soon opened two eyes.

Moonjumper lost his words and stares at hands. Then he looks up at the group.

And after a while he starts crying and laughing and slowly floats towards Vanessa to give her a hug.

It turns into a sobbing and Snatcher comes in and gives him pats on the back.

Once he calmed down, he frees himself from the hug and looks at them, before turning to Hat Teen. 

“I think... I think I’ve seen enough.” Hat Teen scratches her chin “Really? You’re not curious about the dream string you came from? Do you not wanna know who it belongs to?”

He looks scared at the string “I... I am not sure. I have my answer and that’s enough.” She pushes back “But a moment ago you aggressively demanded to find answers to your birth, and now you’re too scared to find out the last question because it turns out you’re not just some “dream being”, but a sentient turned nightmare?”

Moonjumper is shocked.

She walks towards Moonjumper and takes him towards the string “You will probably never get another chance at finding out who your “parent” is. I would take it if I were you.”

Moonjumper looks at her, slowly turning that frown into a determined face "Okay!"

He grabs the string and finds himself inside that person's mind.

It's under the ocean, white bricks floating around with a city in the distance.

And there is an old man standing, facing away from him. But the man noticed something and speaks up.

"Ah, this is why I felt funny. I am inside a Purple Rift."

Moonjumper looks stunned and confused, but then waves "Uhm, hello?"

The man turns around "Oh, hello."

He then scratches his chin and exclaims laughing "Heh, I cannot see your timeline. I have no idea who you are."

He points at MJ "But this is understandable. As a purple rift creation, I don't possess the powers my real me has."

Moonjumper puts his hands together and moves them down "Wh...? *Who* you are?!?"

The old man continues to laugh "What if I don't wanna?"

"The only reason you approach me must be, because the event you're looking into has to do with me. And I don't want my real me to be bothered with it."

He tilts his head "Although, if I am involved it must be something very terrific."

He turns to MJ "Okay, I'll answer the question you seek."

"I am Tim, the CEO of Time."

Moonjumper's jaw drops, and the he gets yeeted out.

MJ awakens in panic to a curious Hat Teen "Who's your "parent"?"

MJ looks unsure and hesitates "Erm... He said his name was Tim."

HT raises an eyebrow confused. MJ continues "And he has the title of CEO of Time."

Hat Teen's jaw drops, and she scream "WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!!!??!!?"

All of the sudden, they all burst back into reality.

Bow Teen notices that and runs to them. HT looks scared, as she starts to shake while giving a glare at BT.

Log 6: The paradox of the decision

Screams and arguments from HT and BT are halling through the forest.

Bow Teen argues "We have to get him involved. There is no way around it, if it's true what you said about Moonjumper." 

HT cries and pleads "Please don't!"

BT gives HT a cold stare while she flips out a flip phone.

Tim and Shapeshifter are playing cards, when suddenly the phone rings.

Tim picks it up, while sipping on some wine and after a while he spits it out.

He looks in disbelief at Shapeshifter "Time damnit, Chaos!"

Shape smiles menacingly.

A time reverse effect happens, and suddenly Tim and Shapeshifter stand in front of the whole group.

Bow wants to speak, but Tim holds his hand up "There is no need for what you just wanted to do."

Bow is taken aback. Tim just closes his two eyes and seems to stare into the distance with his third eye, when he opens his eyes again.

"I see."

"This is indeed bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. I’ve never seen so many *major* individuals being involved with one single event."

"It is..." He chuckles "almost comical!" 

He points at shapeshifter "When he's involved, it's always a doozie, but I am also involved for once! Ahahaha!"

And then he points at Hat Teen and Snatcher and becomes awfully quiet.

"And then there is you and him."

He crosses his arms "You have an attachment to this event and that..."

"Hat Teen, what were you thinking?"

HT begins to shake and doesn't know what to answer.

Tim sighs "I don't like having to do this, but you have to make a choice here. Stay a time repairer or keep your friendship with Snatcher."

Snatcher, getting his suspicion confirmed, cut in "Woah, hold on a minute!"

"Tim. ...Mr CEO of Time?"

Tim: "Tim is fine."

Snatcher: "I have been suspicious ever since Kiddo returned, but do I understand this right that time repairers aren't allowed to have friendships? Because it can increase the difficulty of changing the timeline? Because... the change could mean Kiddo and I... never meet?"

Tim raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Indeed, but with that change would also come altered memories. You two wouldn't even know the other existed." 

Snatcher gets scared, and looks over to HT. He asks her "Is this the reason why you were so nervous during the last couple of days?"

HT cries now "I am sorry. I wanted this mission so that I can say goodbye but I just...

I just...

Waaah" She fully cries and sinks to the ground, holding her face.

Snatcher cross legs besides her while looking concerned over to Tim.

"...Hey, would it make it easier if we undo the BBF contract? It binds us to being friends, even if maybe one doesn't want it."

"They force every involved party to fulfill what was agreed upon."

Hat Teen looks up, looking very bad "Are you telling me we aren't actually friends?"

Snatcher chuckles "Nah, I genuinely like you, or do you think someone like me would have sent you a letter after 6 years? Which, once again, wasn't easy."

Hat Teen wipes her tears away "That letter really was surprising. And made me so nervous, because..."

She looks at Tim and then sighs. "Staying friends means we cannot make a change before our meeting. Subcon has to freeze in order for us to meet, Snatcher."

Snatcher laughs "That's okay. I don't think any of us want it any other way at this point."

HT is only slightly confused "Yeah... I've seen it. It is my job after all to analyze how people are affected by events. And you guys turned something as bad as the freezing into something good. Subcon wouldn't be more alive just because the people never died."

Meanwhile Bow Teen asks Tim "What can I expect? I'm pretty sure Hat chooses her friendship with Snatcher."

Tim turns towards her "You would get a new partner. I think you would work very well with Timmy."

Bow "Timmy!? He's alive!? I thought he died in an electrical fire!"

Tim: "Oh no, that was just one of the outcomes when he tried to change some really nasty event."

Bow "Oh."

Meanwhile (meanwhile) Vanessa and Moonjumper have to deal with an annoying Shapeshifter "We haven't met in ages! Soooo, you go by Moonjumper now, little nightmare?"

Vanessa however reacts with her ice magic and MJ looks very angry at Shapeshifter.

Shapeshifter smiles: "Is that how you greet an old friend?"

MJ gets very angry "Old friend!? Because of you I was stuck in the Horizon for centuries!!!"

Shapeshifter laughs. 

Moonjumper screams and cries in rage and throws his strings out.

Shapeshifter appears behind him "What'y're trying is useless. Doesn't bother with revenge."

Ice emerges around Shapeshifter, and tries to encapsulate them, but she just appears jumps out of the panel and into the next. 

Shape giggles "Useless~"

Vanessa and MJ quickly look discouraged. With crossed arms and her eyes not visible, Vanessa walks towards Shapeshifter.

She then pulls Shapeshifter to her "Fine, but I have just one question. What exactly did you do to Moonjumper in the Horizon?"

Shapeshifter is a bit confused on how Vanessa was able to grab them (very small speechbubble) "How did you grab me!?"

Then Shape shrugs “Weeeeell, what'did? I swooped around our magical properties of being able to leave the Horizon.”

Vanessa lets go of Shape. She mumbles "Switching magical properties...?"

Shapeshifter and Moonjumper tilt their heads in confusion, before MJ looks angry at Shapeshifter and punches them.

But of course he misses.

He cries in frustration.

And then a pause effect gets applied on Shapeshifter, and they look confused.

"What!?"

Tim's friend appears menacingly over them, while Tim walks towards them with Bow. 

"Time thinks it's time you get some of your own medicine. Because causing such a catastrophic butterfly event is... It's too chaotic, even for your standards, Chaos."

Shapeshifter squints all his eyes "Weird coming from the person who created him in the first place."

Tim looks serious "Yes, but my actions didn't cause him to lose it over time."

"..."

"Oh."

He turns to Moonjumper "I guess you deserve an apology for splitting you from me. I got told by the previous CEO of Time that I cannot have a meltdown under any circumstance. So, desperate to avoid any cause, I got rid of my nightmares. But because you are almost only negativity, you're more prone to having negative thoughts."

Shapeshifter complains "Urgh, why you're explaining this? Exposition is boring!"

Moonjumper blinks at both of them. He is dumbfounded, before punching Shapeshifter "Oh peck off!"

"I can finally get answers to some of my biggest questions and I am not gonna let you ruin this for me like you ruined my life!"

MJ pulls his out, but before he punches again, he gets an idea and grabs Shapeshifter's dream string.

He looks angry while he lets a nightmare aura appear on the string.

Shapeshifter screams "Nooo, harmony!?!?"

Not long after Hat Teen and Snatcher return to the group.

MJ lets go of Shape and looks satisfied "That felt good."

Tim looks at HT "So, what is your decision?"

He leans forward "I didn't peek, so you have to tell me."

HT looks flushed before looking at the ground "Tim... I..."

She takes her Horologe off "I want to stay with Snatcher in Subcon."

Tim nods "I see."

"Now with that decided, what do we do about the event? What change can we make?"

Hat looks sheepishly to the side "It can only be something after Bow and I left the planet 7 years ago."

Bow thinks "This limits our options drastically. I can say that no change will affect the environment in a bad way. If the freezing returns or not, the damage is already done. Though, it's actually recovering slowly. We can see this by looking at the flora and fauna. Native species are making a return as well as new species appear."

"Although a bit more ghostly." Bow mumbles.

Hat Teen gulps and puts her Horologe back on "S-So, uhm, even with the options being limited, there are still plenty that I gathered."

She pulls all of them into a purple rift to show the events. (Or a purple rift to look into like some glass ball?)

"From the start, we could do the obvious and have Moonjumper stay trapped in the Horizon."

Snatcher and Vanessa get angry "NO!", Moonjumper is shaking.

HT continues "J-Just let me finish, okay?"

"The next option I can see is that Moonjumper keeps controlling Vanessa. So, uh, that would mean, returning to what the "status quo" was for Subcon for the last 300 years."

"Another idea would be that Vanessa stays with Moonjumper in the Horizon. Snatcher had accepted that Moonjumper was more important to Vanessa, which is why he nullified his contract with her. And she accepted the risk of her ice potentially not breaking the portal open..."

They all look very distraught.

Snatcher squeezes Vanessa's hand really tightly.

Moonjumper looks to the side.

HT "But of course, it's important to find a solution that gives us the best outcome. And that should be one that would still bring us to where they all are today. The best option should be one which has another way for Moonjumper to escape the Horizon. But I couldn't see anything."

Tim becomes nachdenklich. "Hmm."

HT continues "I looked at the time Vanessa and Snatcher researched for a way. But however I changed it, have them spend more time on research and thinking of other solutions, none of it seems as effective as breaking the portal."

"Snatcher, why did you shut down the contract idea?"

Snatcher is caught off guard "Oh, uh, that's because my contracts force people to uphold their part but they cannot bend time and space. As a failsafe, they kill the party if it really, really is physically impossible."

"Also they don't last forever, because I will not last forever. And then what? Moonjumper would have been back in the Horizon."

HT looks suddenly distressed "You... What...?"

Snatcher looks to the side "I am a ghost, I want to find my peace eventually."

HT looks sad.

Snatcher continues "Well, what other option do we have, if you said nothing of your alterations has worked?"

HT finds herself in distress "Ah, yes! So, uh"

Vanessa butts in "I know maybe something..."

HT looks at her surprised "...You do?"

Vanessa continues "It's just an idea but the portal only allows for stuff to go through it one way. What if the direction gets switched around?"

She side eyes Shapeshifter "Like, there should be a way of altering the *magical properties* of something, right?"

They all look at Shapeshifter, who's still in pause mode.

"..."

They smile "It sounds fun, magic always is chaotic, my tea of cup. But telling y'how to accomplish such feed sounds boredom."

Snatcher summons his mug and drinks from it "Probably very easy. Just requires some research of the portal and I would figure something out."

Shapeshifter boos in the background "Boooooring!"

MJ gets nervous "But you could accidently get trapped in the Horizon, if you study it."

Snatcher "That would just give me motivation to figure out the solution."

Vanessa joins him "*We* would figure out the solution."

"Because if you get trapped, I would follow you immediately."

Snatcher chuckles flirtingly "Oh, if you get trapped there with me, I would be sooo motivated to bust us out."

"Although, I accepted potentially losing you at that time..."

Tim butts in "Hey! Stop speculation about it. I can tell you guys what happens."

[Images of what is told]

"First of all, Snatcher doesn't get trapped. He, Vanessa and Moonjumper carefully research for a solution, with Moonjumper being the one who performs anything on the portal."

"Eventually he figures it out."

"Now with the portal not broken and the portal being changeable, Moonjumper finds himself first afraid and later welcoming of the Horizon. It's his home after all."

"Now everything that happened originally still happens, just when they happen is a bit shifted on the timeline. Everything still ends up like it is now."

He looks at HT "Well, except Hat returning for a visit because no frozen portal means no event that has to be altered." 

"Buuut, we still need Hat Teen to return to Snatcher, because she decided to not be a time repairer anymore."

He looks at Moonjumper "And I think you deserve to remember the answers you got today."

MJ looks surprised.

They all do.

Tim "This is a special exception I am making today, but you all will remember this here. Except the other Subconites. They will just remember Hat Teen returning and never leaving."

"Any questions?"

Bow holds her hand up "So I am still tied to this?"

Tim "Hmm... No, Hat Teen returns alone to the planet."

Tim: “So, if there is nothing else, I’ll go ahead with changing the timeline.”

Everyone: “Nope” “All good”

Shapy: “Boooo! Happy endings are boredom!”

Log 7: Epilogue

Potential names for this chapter:

(B)BF means friends forever

The meaning of Forever

??? (I never wrote anything that wasn't cringe. So that was my last edit to the script. I tossed the epilogue into the bin)

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