Chapter Text
Subcon Forest wants for nothing...
Or so it seems
The Forest, for the most part, is only concerned with what you can offer it, and how you can service it through its most loyal charge, the being known as The Snatcher.
But recently… something has changed.
Something new has entered its winding paths and crooked trees. Changed up the status quo, challenged the beings of the forest.
And for the first time in what seemed to be centuries.. The Forest wanted
And what did it want?
The little hatted girl.
At first, it thought not much of her, like it does to most of the beings that cross into it’s paths. They found her amusing, as they do most trespassers.
But then she kept coming back
And her power, and her tenacity, and her ability to look their most powerful servant in the eye with a smirk and a cheeky giggle.
Oh, she was perfect.
Convincing The Snatcher to keep her around was quite easy, pushing their agenda by communicating with him through simple dreams. He claimed that he didn’t like the girl, but a simple dream with the fear of her leaving instilled… and so the “Death Wishes” were born.
And oh, how much fun they were having!
The Forest had not felt this lively in centuries! Since before it’s queen froze it over and its first contract formed with her prince! The vines carried her, the leaves parted so that the eternal night showed down to assist her sight.
She was The Forest's new favorite, and Snatcher only just realized when he saw a mushroom move ever so slightly to catch her when she fell from a tree.
Something uncomfortable settled in his nonexistent stomach
The Forest wanted the hatted girl, he realized.
And what The Forest desires.. It gets. And if it does not get… it takes
The Forest is many things, but above all it is selfish. Dangerously, and irredeemably selfish.
Perhaps before, he would not have cared. The Forest had wanted before, and he’d watched it take what it desired with not a care in the world.
But he couldn’t pretend like he didn’t have any affection for the child. Going through the Death Wishes and watching her fight like hell for the teased rewards, trading banter, a rapport had started.
The Forest was very aware of this… it was using this, as it always used him. He was used to it.
But he knew that the Death Wishes would only keep the child here for so long… and when The Forest realized that...
Well, he wasn’t really sure what it would try. There was a wild amount of ways The Forest could try to keep her, if it wanted her. Ranging from relatively benign to … not so benign.
And so, a few days after his revelation, while she was up in her ship, he floated himself out of the shadows
“Heya, kiddo! Takin a break from dyin?” He teased, trying to ease into the conversation.
She giggled at him, looking up from her book reading in the pillow pile. She didn’t even have her hat on, she was dressed in space-themed pajamas and her hair was being held up by the bow he’d gifted her after a death wish challenge. She had a cheeky, relaxed grin on her face, not a hint of fear in her features.
“Gotta stay healthy” She responded, curled up in a dark blanket, putting her book on her lap “Got another contract?” She asked, her head tilted.
“Not currently” he admitted “I came here to spook ya!”
She giggled again “You can’t spook me! I don’t even find you scary anymore”
The ghost rolled his eyes “This time it ain’t me you should be spooked by kiddo”
Hattie furrowed her brow “What then?”
Snatcher mentally prepped himself, wondering if his explanation would cut it.
“Sooo you know how The Forest is… alive, right kiddo? It's got personality, flair, a soul, almost!”
She nodded. Good, good start.
“Well, The Forest sometimes wants things, and like a bratty child, it’ll want things and will push its various residents to get it. Sometimes its a particular type of flower, sometimes it's an old artefact that had been stolen by some doofus… sometimes it's a person”
Her eyebrows furrowed “Person?”
“Yeah. Sometimes someone's aura is so alluring, or their vibrancy calls out to The Forest, and The Forest wants to keep ‘em” He curled up all snake-like near her, leaning casually out of his coil “Getting what I’m telling you?”
“Uh, I think so. Why’re you tellin’ me?” She tilted her head.
“Well, why do ya think? You’re smart!” He partially teased.
“... Does it… want me?” She blinked.
“Ding! So maybe you might wanna… avoid The Forest from now on” He shrugged “You know, unless you want the forest to swallow you up” he leaned over her, his fanged grin right in her face, staring at her widened eyes.
But then she frowned “But I don’t wanna. I like the forest!” she argued.
“So you’re okay with The Forest deciding that it might wanna take you?” he glowered. Why wasn’t she getting it?
“So what?”
“What do you mean so what?!”
“I can escape!” She argued “I like Subcon! I’m not gonna stop goin’ just cause you say it's dangerous”
She wasn’t getting it!
He growled “Kiddo, you wanna know why I’m called the “Snatcher”?”
Her brow furrowed.
“Cause you snatch souls?” She reasoned.
“Hah! If only” he started “The Forest is the one that does the snatching, kid. I get all the blame for it”
Her fingers fiddled with the book in her hands, looking frustrated at his explanation
“The forest gets what it wants” he recited the old warning, whispered from parents to children back in Subcon’s old days “And when it doesn’t get it, it takes it, and it will never be seen again”
“.. But-”
She still wasn’t getting it
“No BUTS!” He hissed, raising his voice and getting into her face. He watched her eyes widen with fear - an expression he hadn’t seen on her in quite some time.
“Let me put this in simpler words. I’m KICKING YOU OUT!” He announced “SUBCON’S OFF LIMITS TO YOU, BRAT!”
Her eyes were misty, she looked so confused, so scared.
.. Good.
“.... Go away” She tried to demand, though it came out with a childish whimper
He backed off from her, still glaring, trying to keep the danger in his gaze.
“ Go! Away!!” She screamed, her misty eyes finally turning to actual tears, throwing her book at him. He quickly dodged, falling into the shadows and away from her ship. When he came back up, he was back in his hollow, and took a deep breath he didn’t need.
That hurt more than he was expecting, but it needed to be done.
Subcon may be his home, and The Forest his master… but it didn’t deserve Hat Kid.
And after making her cry like that, despite his previous desire to do so… well, he didn’t deserve her either.
But she was safe
And if she had a lick of sense, she’d never come back to Subcon again.