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With heaving breath, she slowly climbs her way back to the cave. Her stomach is turning inside of itself, and she couldn’t bear to see the reactions of the Mafia if she stuck around in the daylight for too long. She didn’t need to hear anyone laughing at her after the greatest embarrassment of her life.
It took a while to reach her shelter for the night. The same old place, with scratches on the stony walls at every turn. The gathered sticks in the middle of her home await to be lit up once again, but she doesn’t find any energy in herself to start a fire and have the much needed warmth that she lacks. Only a huff could be let out as she leans against the furthest wall from the ocean, her knees finally giving in as she slumps onto the floor.
Her face feels so itchy, and her hands grab at her frayed moustache as she submits to the quietness of the world. She just wants to tear it off , frustration bubbling up as she blinks even harder. Yet, the sensation of wet hits against her callous palms, halting her any further from trying to tear off her own moustache.
All she can hear is the quiet flutter of the birds’ wings flapping away from the edges of the island, and the crickets that follow. There’s nothing like the crack of glass, or the whistle of the wind as she once floated from the ground in her mania.
“Knock knock,” a voice hums. Unexpectedly so.
But she doesn’t bother to even look at whoever is trespassing what little privacy she has left to herself. Maybe, this is what she deserved after subjecting everyone into her lava and judgement. It doesn’t even matter who is trying to poke fun at her– she has no allies left. She lost the ability to confide in everyone the moment she shattered the timepieces that didn’t even belong to her.
“Go away,” her voice finds the will to respond, anyway. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t want to be laughed at.”
“I’m not here to laugh,” the voice– it’s feminine? – replies, more quieter than expected. “I wanted to check up on you.”
She lifts her head to finally take a peak at just who exactly decided to mock her after everything– “Wait… Hat Kid?!”
The girl standing at the entrance just nods to that as she hesitantly waves. Still in the same outfit and trusty hat, yet still looking like it was just washed with abundant care. “Could I… come in?”
Her jaw hangs in the fresh open, her mind unraveling and becoming undone by just seeing the person she was fighting not even a day ago. Yet, upon seeing Hat Kid, her mind is just too weary at this point. There is nothing to lose anymore. There is no justice that she can try and uphold, not anymore after her little stunt with the timepieces. So why in the world would the owner of those timepieces come to visit her personally?
Curiosity wins in the end. “Fine. Just make it quick.”
Hat Kid’s face lights up, so stark against the sheer dark backdrop. The alien’s boots hit lightly against the scarred rocks, as if not wishing to disturb the rocks anymore than she already has. After all, she was trespassing onto her home. Yet, Hat Kid just takes a seat to her right side, her beady eyes looking all over at the home that she made.
“Should I start a fire?” Hat Kid starts off. “You look cold.”
“Whatever,” she responds. “I guess you can.”
The girl doesn’t say anything anymore, only acknowledging Mustache Girl’s comment as her hand digs around in her pockets before producing a timepiece. The glow of the artifact intrudes in the dark, as Hat Kid just lifts it up and whispers an unknown language before smashing it onto the middle of the pile of wood. The brilliant light fades instantly, replaced with the ember glow of fire and an untouched timepiece sitting right next to it.
If she just had a bit more energy, she would’ve questioned immediately what the heck just happened. It was similar to when the timepiece was dropped and time reverted all the way back from when Hat Kid challenged the Mafia Boss in their HQ that night. But at the same time, the scratches on the rock are still the same. The moon still hangs in the same place just before the timepiece was smashed onto the firewood.
But they both have access to the comfort of warmth, something that Mustache Girl didn’t know that she really yearned for in her turbulent mind.
“Thanks…” she lifts her head a little, looking as Hat Kid grasps the timepiece again. “But why?”
“Why?” Hat Kid echoes the question. “You looked cold, remember? So I got the fire going.”
“I mean– why the heck would you use the timepiece near me ?” She chokes out. “I mean, you shouldn’t be trusting me anywhere near those things. Look at what I did. I don’t even know why you even came back.”
“Oh,” The girl in question slumps just a bit against the rocky walls. “Well, it was the quickest way to start a fire. You can direct a timepiece to only revert just an object while everything else stays the same. You’re smart– I bet you noticed already.”
Mustache Girl blinks at the response, before shaking it off and tilting her head in expectation of an answer. “You didn’t completely answer my question.”
“I’m getting to that,” Hat Kid hums. “Well, it was kind of an impulse trip down to Mafia Town. Besides, look at you.”
The hatted girl gestures towards her, tilting her head in slight worry as she goes on.
“I wanted to check on you. And I don’t think you can do much with just one timepiece, anyway.”
“God– you don’t make any sense at all, you know that?” She chides. “Who just goes and checks up on the person they beat up a few hours ago? And also brings the thing that person wielded and used to try and hurt you?”
“I’m not human,” Hat Kid shrugs. “So I don’t make sense to anyone. And I don’t think you’re gonna try and hurt me again.”
They both stare at each other for a few seconds, the cackle of fire interrupting the silence as she throws her hands up in the air in frustration. Because she just doesn’t get this girl, at all . There must’ve been a real reason why she came down here. Probably to mock her while she’s caught off guard, or maybe to laugh at her face just a bit more after the fight. Even entertaining this conversation she’s having right now with her is humiliating in its own right.
But instead of a wide smile or a haughty laugh, Hat Kid chooses to slump even further onto the wall. It doesn’t look like a comfortable position as the alien’s face breaks out into discomfort, her blue eyes being shielded by the fluttering of her eyelashes lowering.
“Maybe I am stupid,” the girl confesses. “I’m not human. So I couldn’t understand you correctly at the time. I just knew at the time that I wanted to go and get off this planet.”
As Hat Kid wilts in spirit right in front of her, her mind clicks into place of what is just unfolding right in front of her. She almost laughs at the revelation, if not for the fact that her mind is just so tired right now. “Are you jealous of me ?”
It was almost a silent admission, but the alien nodded very slowly to that question. Almost as if she’s gonna be the laughing stock of the whole planet instead of Mustache Girl, the girl that tried to rule the world with an iron first and being her own judge, jury, and executioner. But how could this be?
“You have a very admirable sense of justice, you know?” Hat Kid admits. “Driven by a goal. Having the ability to actually attempt to back up your beliefs and morals. Maybe you hate yourself right now– but in my eyes, you’re just so amazing.”
“That’s stupid,” she pushes out of her mouth in disbelief. The fire continues to dance in front of them, the warmth becoming more comforting by the minute. “How could I be admirable? Being human sucks. You realize that you’re just a little ant in the grand scheme of things. To be human– you just keep bringing yourself down.”
“Deny it all you want,” the girl warmly smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes that reflect the whole galaxy. “But at least you can empathize with things. Or live in the moment. Or actually be driven by a goal that’s praiseworthy to a fault.”
“What?” Her voice croaks as she responds. “I don’t get it. There’s nothing admirable about being human.”
“There is everything admirable,” Hat Kid chuckles, yet pauses in her movement. “Maybe you haven’t realized it, but you have the power to grow in time. I don’t.”
“What the heck are you talking about?” Mustache Girl bites back. “Grow?”
But the hatted alien stands up, her gaze being guided to the ocean of stars that lurk above them. Above her hands sits a floating timepiece that resonates with a bright star off in the distance– the location of where Hat Kid’s spaceship has been parked ever since she arrived on this planet. The glow of the artifact shines against the orange glow of the fire that’s slowly starting to be put out with time.
She doesn’t get the privilege of looking at Hat Kid’s face as she continues to stare off into the distant, breathless sky that adorns the world. “I’m just a snapshot in time– or to be more clear, I will never grow up. I’ll always be the same thing, with the same perspective, same age, same feelings. I’ll always be this kid that’s gonna wander the galaxy, and nothing else.”
Before she could even get a question or a word in, the alien turns her face to finally see Mustache Girl. Brunette locks frame the girl perfectly, her blue eyes that are utterly magical and ordinary at the same time. There’s no smile added onto that girl’s face. “And in time, I’ll forget that I even came here. And I would come back someday, unknowing of everyone and anything. Maybe even reliving the same adventure and going through the same motions as I did for the last few months I’ve been here.”
“You’re…” She tries to start again.
“You’re going to grow up into a wonderful person. You won’t have to relive anything like this again. And, well, you have something waiting for you at the end at least. Everyone that I’ve come across has always been scared of it because it’s final . But even when I die, whether accidentally falling in lava when I was fixing Mafia Town’s faucets or even to your hands during our fight earlier, it wasn’t final. I just get to get back up, and try it all again.”
“Oh my god,” she whispers, in disbelief. This was the most she’s ever seen Hat Kid even talk, let alone the most information she’s ever found out about the alien. It was a bombshell of a never ending cycle for her, and here was Mustache Girl, mind too wounded from the fight earlier and thinking that life will never get better. “Is that why you decided to check up on me? This is just so much information, it’s so much to even begin to process–”
Hat Kid just shakes her head with a hearty smile. “I mean, I wasn’t planning on telling you all that! I did really come for something else. You don’t have to remember or respond to everything I just told you.”
“Then what are you here for? I thought you were just gonna mock me,” she points at the alien. “But then this all happened.”
The timepiece continues to twirl and float around in Hat Kid’s hands, being the shooting star that glows against the night sky. Sands trapped in the hourglass continue to drop one by one, an everlasting cycle of time endlessly being shuffled about in just one artifact. Despite all that, Hat Kid begins to move her hand over in front of Mustache Girl.
“Well, I came here to actually drop this off for you,” the hatted girl finally admits with a toothy smile, chuckling to herself in the process. “You heard that right, by the way. It’s for you.”
“Sorry, did you miss the fact that I mishandled like, all of your timepieces?” Her eyebrow raises against this questionable offer right in front of her. What could have possibly possessed Hat Kid’s mind to just straight up and give a timepiece to her? Something that she uses as fuel to travel around the stars, no less?
“Oh! I didn’t,” the girl cheekily replies. “No, but seriously, it’s for you. I know what I said earlier about not remembering anything I just said, but um, remember what I said about you and your humanity? You’re a being of change. I think I can part with one so I could give you a helping hand to speed up change around here. This place desperately needs it.”
“You got that last part right,” She finds herself laughing alongside that statement actually. Despite everything that’s happened within the last few months, that statement still rings desperately true. Mafia Town definitely needs a change. “But… a timepiece? What makes you think I won’t mishandle it again like I did last time? What makes you think I won’t try to rule the world again with an iron fist?”
“Psshh, you’re gonna need at least forty of these to try that stunt again,” Hat Kid giggles, but she leans the timepiece closer to Mustache Girl’s empty hands. “And besides, you regret it, don’t you? It’s written all over your face! I think I can trust you with one.”
“So fast?” She questions. “But why?”
“And that’s another question! But you deserve the answer out of everyone. There’s no point in hiding the truth,” the alien continues. “But, I’m actually leaving this planet really soon. I got all my fuel again, and it means I can continue going around the galaxy in hopes of reaching my destination one day. So I guess this is also my goodbye to you.”
Staring at the timepiece, she hesitantly grabs it from the other girl’s hand. It floats in her presence, the thrum of power becoming familiar yet still very far away. “But that’s not fair! You just got here and talked to me!”
“Some things really aren’t fair,” Hat Kid agrees, looking over her now empty hands as she stands up fully again. “But there’s no timepieces here anymore to collect, so… I gotta continue what I was doing before this unexpected detour. Maybe sometime, I’ll come back to visit.”
Silence somehow is their third friend in this conversation. It feels awkward now, having all of this dropped on her lap just to be confronted with the fact that she’ll never see this girl again one day. Or maybe that Hat Kid will still be just the same small girl, while she gets to grow taller and look older with everyone else.
The next words feel foreign to her tongue, as her mouth starts swelling up at the truth. “So this is it?”
“Yes, it is,” Hat Kid nods slowly, stepping out of the cave. The dark comes to embrace her figure as the alien looks back up to the sky again before looking at Mustache Girl again. “It’s actually kind of hard saying goodbye. I don’t know what to say next other than bye.”
“Does it look like goodbyes are easy?” She rolls her eyes. “No one does goodbyes as a daily thing to do, after all.”
“Oh, you’re right!” The alien laughs alongside her, the joke settling in the last efforts of comfort between them. “It would be easy otherwise, huh?”
“Yeah, it would be easy otherwise. But it’s not,” Mustache Girl sighs. She finally gets the courage to stand up slowly, her knees finally not buckling as she walks towards the girl. With her remaining energy, she wraps her arms around her and embraces the friend she made out of someone from beyond the stars.
Hat Kid’s body is stiff, frozen, but somehow she also finds it within herself to reciprocate the hug. That’s cool. That’s good. That’s all they need for the moment. The alien actually hugs rather tight, squeezing the everlasting limb and soul out of her as she croaks at how squished she feels. “Um. Well. Despite everything, I’m glad I got to meet you.”
“Same,” She confesses more quietly than she intended, but the weight of the message is all the same. Finally, Hat Kid finally lets go from the long embrace, fixing and tidying up her purple dress. “Well, this is it.”
“Yeah,” the alien replies, stepping backwards and towards the brightest star in the planet’s galaxy. “Goodbye, and thank you for letting me talk to you for one last time.”
“... Thanks for stopping by,” is all she gets out of her tightly shut mouth. “See ya.”
But Hat Kid’s head turns to her direction for the very last time, throwing up a peace sign and a wink as she smiles and laughs, “See ya!”
And after Mustache Girl blinks for just even a second, the girl’s figure is gone and replaced by a brilliant blue beam of light that heads directly towards that bright star. There’s no one accompanying her little cave abode anymore but herself, and the timepiece that Hat Kid left behind in trust.
Sometime during the night, the brightest star in their galaxy fades away. She watches that star disappear as her eyes forcefully lull her to sleep with the soothing glow of the timepiece.