AN: I know I have a bunch of other stories to work on but I couldn't help but make something spooky for October!

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"Hello, is there anyone here?" Hat Kid called out as she walked through the spooky woods.

Of course some of her Time Pieces just had to land in one of the creepiest places on this planet! Everything was covered in shadows with massive, skinny trees erupting from the ground at random. Vines hung from the towering plants and long grass carpeted the dirt below her.

Everything was silent, the only noises coming from the occasional leaf that was crunched under her boot, and her shaky breathing. She had seen no one else since she entered the dark forest and it was almost as though nothing lived here...

The child shuddered as a chill breeze tore through the air, making the branches above her rustle ominously.

Needless to say Hat Kid was terrified.

"If anything spooky jumps at me I'm gonna smack you with my umbrella!" She warned, waving her makeshift weapon at the trees around her.

The forest creaked and groaned, but nothing rose to her challenge.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She muttered, putting the umbrella away before continuing to walk forward.

Unfortunately Hat Kid had no idea where any of her Time Pieces had actually landed, and she had no proper method to track them, so her current plan was simply to wander around and hope she ran into them at some point, preferably sooner rather than later.

She did not want to spend any more time in this forest than she had to. Some of the trees looked... weird.

On several occasions she had noticed glowing yellow lights that had appeared in the cracks of some of the tree trunks before swiftly disappearing not long after she saw them.

She had no idea what they actually were, but the hatted child had a feeling that whatever creatures resided in this spooky forest were more likely to be enemies rather than friends.

With that Hat Kid continued stomping ahead, knocking the occasional branch or bush out of her way as she continued her quest to search for her missing Time Pieces. What she was not aware of was the yellow lights that popped up in the trees not long after she passed by, keeping a curious eye on the intruder that had stumbled into the forest.

Several minutes later, or perhaps it was hours since Hat Kid had no idea how long she had actually spent in this creepy forest, she finally came across an opening in the woods ahead of her. With a smile she rushed forward, nearly tripping over a tree root in the process.

She burst out of the foliage with a massive smile on her face that quickly faded as she took in the new sight before her.

There was a somewhat large clearing filled the space before her, lit up by the full moon that was now fully visible above her. At the center was a giant tree covered in vines that had sprouted up from a small, swampy lake. It was crooked and almost seemed to twist over itself, sharp thorns poking out at random angles.

It was also a greyish, dark purple colour and almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. Very different from the other trees she had encountered so far.

Maybe one of her Time Pieces was here, or somewhere nearby?

She did not want to walk through the forest again, she was scared of getting lost or running into some sort of terrifying enemy.

"Hello?" The nervous Hat Kid called out once again, voice echoing in the clearing around her. "Is anyone here?"

Silence was her answer, but she did not feel any safer.

The air felt strange, almost as if it was charged with tension. She swallowed and reached a hand up to scratch at her cheek. The Mafia had been scary, the birds had been pretty scary too, but this place?

It reeked of menace and malice.

"I guess I'll check around here." She whispered to herself, wincing as the noise reverberated around her. The forest was so quiet, too quiet.

She wanted to leave.

"I'll go back to my ship after I check this place out." The hatted child promised herself, the fear on her face vanishing as it was replaced with determination. "Maybe I'll find a Time Piece too."

With that promise in mind she walked around the murky water, wincing as she realized that she could not see the bottom. Some part of her wondered what could live in such gross, filthy water.

A monster? A demon?

Hopefully nothing that would bother her.

Finally she reached the other side of the lake, grinning to herself in success. Like where she had first entered from this area was also mostly forest, but hidden within the darkness was a faint dirt path.

"Yes!" She shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

The tree behind her creaked but Hat Kid ignored it as she tried to figure out what to do next.

Maybe it would be best to follow the path and figure out where it went to? Then again the forest was also creeping her out a bunch, and she really did not want to be here for much longer...

But she might find a Time Piece if she followed the path!

The tree continued to creak and groan, but Hat Kid was too caught up in her thoughts to notice.

Finally, a particularly loud noise caught her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts. She jumped, top hat nearly falling off, and cringed, not wanting to imagine whatever was going on behind her.

I want to run away, I gotta hide, I'm scared-

She took a deep breath in and let it out. She could do this.

Pushing her fear to the side, Hat Kid turned around and found herself facing a monster.

The monster, which apparently had disguised itself as the tree she had seen in the middle of the lake, was absolutely massive! It long, sinuous form reached up to the sky and it was covered in thorns of various sizes. Some were about the size of her hand while others were bigger than her entire body!

Fur seemed to have grown on its neck at some point, which also had thorns poking out of it. The fluffy strands were extremely tangled and dirty, undoubtedly having never been brushed before. Two long arms broke free of the lake sending dirty water flying. The limbs were tipped with sharp talons, and the "hands" were far larger than she was.

Then a set of yellow eyes snapped open, the same shade of yellow that she had seen earlier in the forest, which focused on her trembling form.

The terrified Hat Kid did what any other sane person would do in this situation.

She screamed.

The child wailed and fell backwards, landing heavily on her butt as she stared at the beast before her in pure horror. Her hands scrambled at the dirt as she tried to drag herself away from the creature.

In response the monster recoiled, glowing yellow mouth twisted downwards into a frown as it hissed at the loud noise. It hands reached up to cover where its ears might have been if she could see them, and its sinuous form actually bent away from her in an attempt to lessen the noise.

At least she had scared it, now was her chance to escape and get the heck out of this spooky forest!

Hat Kid bolted, she sprinted off into the darkness of the woods, desperately searching for an area that she could use to get back to her ship. There was no way she would risk trying to get back near a monster so tall, it could pluck her out of the air long before she got close!

Meanwhile now that the painfully loud shriek had stopped echoing throughout the beast's clearing, he lowered his hands and curiously started at the fleeing, and still screaming, being. There had been something... familiar about the strange creature that had appeared in his domain.

Something that pulled at his tormented and fractured soul. Images danced before his eyes and words reverberated within his mind.

Cheering voices and warm smiles, children sitting atop their parent's shoulders as the crowd cheered for their newly crowned-

Child, the creature was a child, a human child.

Children were not supposed to be alone, especially in a place. Not that he would ever hurt anyone, but the Cold One would.

She would hurt the child, he had to keep the child safe.

His yellow eyes narrowed as he slammed his hands back down into the lake. The long limbs burrowed their way underground and reached out into the forest, searching for the lost child.

He would protect her.

He would not fail again.

Back with our scared protagonist, Hat Kid continued to run through the evil forest, occasionally stumbling over a root or getting smacked by some low hanging branches. She looked up to the sky, desperately searching for a break in the trees so she could get back to her ship, but all she could see were leaves and the rare bit of moonlight that broke through them.

Suddenly the ground underneath her shook and rumbled, making her stumble a bit as she fearfully looked around.

What the peck-

Hat Kid shrieked as a massive, shadowy hand burst out of the dirt not too far from where she had been standing. The digits, no longer as sharp as she remembered them first being, closed on nothing but air. She then watched with pure horror as the hand turned over and began grasping at the ground, skittering back and forth with some sort of goal in mind.

The monster was looking for her!

She yelped, spun around, and continued to run off to find somewhere to hide from the beast. Yellow eyes peered out from the cracks in the trees, noting her new route, and the hand plunged back into the soil to chase after her.

On and on the child ran, sprinting through the woods. Her heart pounded in her chest and each breath wheezed in and out of her lungs. Only one frantic thought filled her mind.

I have to get away, I have to get away!

In her fear filled flight, Hat Kid did not noticed the small rock or the drop that came after it, too focused on trying to flee from the monster that wanted to capture her.

A started cry escaped her as her boot hit the top of the rock and she tumbled forward. Her arms pin wheeled as she tried to stop herself from falling forward, but this was ultimately a pointless attempt as she still fell anyways.

To make matters worse during the fall her top hat fell off to the side, and the moment she hit the ground her umbrella also escaped from her grasp.

The now hatless, and weaponless, child yelped as she tumbled down the hill.

After what felt like an eternity of hitting rocks and nearly eating dirt, Hat Kid finally landed at the bottom of the hill with a painful oof!

"Ow!" She groaned, whimpering as she tried, and failed, to push herself up. Her arms felt like weak noodles, and every part of her body ached from the tumble she had just taken.

She whimpered once again as the earth rumbled beneath her, remembering what had happened earlier and what the noise undoubtedly meant.

Unlike before, the hand beneath her slowly emerged from the ground with her body held in the center of its thorn free palm. The fingers, each easily larger than any adult she had ever encountered, reached up to the sky around her, pointed tips glowing a dark purple in the moonlight.

Paralyzed by her fear, Hat Kid shook as the digits slowly began to close, trapping her within the monster's hold and sealing her fate.

"Please," She begged. "Please don't!"

Despite her pleas the hand closed, dooming her to whatever terrible fate the beast had planned. She yelped as she felt the hand start to sink back into the ground, pulling her along with it.

The next several minutes were absolutely nightmarish for Hat Kid as she listened to the earth moving around her as she was dragged back towards the monster. She shivered in fear, unconsciously pressing herself against the creature's palm in an attempt to feel some sort of comfort in what would most likely be a deadly situation.

How was she supposed to fight something so big, especially without her umbrella and hat?!

She was doomed.

Much too soon for her liking, the child felt gravity press her down into the creature's hand as it was lifted upwards. The talons opened, revealing the full moon floating above her once again. She was back in the clearing with the monster.

No, no, no, no!

She squeaked as the hand holding her suddenly moved, pulling her closer to the creature that had been pursuing her. Now that she was so close to it she could see some of the finer details of its body, like how ragged and worn it appeared to be.

And then there was the smell!

She gagged at the strength of the stench, wrinkling her nose in an attempt to protect herself from the offensive odor. The beast smelled like rain and rotting leaves.

It smelled like death.

Now held up in front of the monster's face with the, now noticeably small, yellow eyes staring into her soul, Hat Kid finally reached her breaking point.

She started crying.

The child collapsed to her knees and broke down in tears, her strangled breathing and shaky sobs being the only sounds one could hear within the clearing. Interestingly enough the monster seemed to recoil at the sudden movement and noise, yellow eyes dimming, not that she was aware of it.

She then noticed something moving out of the corner of her eyes and looked up just in time to see the beast lift its other hand up in the air. A single talon was pointed in her direction and she watched with horror as it was moved towards her.

Oh so slowly the monster reached towards her face with one of its talons. Hat Kid stared at the approaching talon and then looked to the menacing yellow eyes that were still staring at her.

"NO!" She screamed, shoving the pointed digit away from her face. "No, no, no!"

The shadowy beast paused, continuing to stare at the child as he tried to figure out what to do next. Her strange outburst had startled him, and he was both confused and concerned by the water escaping from her eyes.

It then dawned on him that the child was scared. He had ended up frightening her with his attempts to keep her safe!

Guilt rose within him as he stared at the crying child, internally cringing as her sobs continued to grow more frantic and strained. He did not want her to cry, nor did he want her to be scared of him.

But what could he do to make her feel better…

A warm embrace and a soft voice speaking gently to him. A lullaby that chased even the fiercest of nightmares away-

A song? Could he sing to her?

It had been ages since he had last spoken aloud, but he would try for her.

A low rumbled slid out of him, the sudden noise startling the child out of crying and making her look up at him with wide blue eyes. He could see the fear, the terror, the sorrow, and he did not like it one bit.

Children were supposed to be happy, from what he remembered.

The words to the song had escaped him, so he continued to softly hum, low rumbles continuing as he and the child looked at each other. She was still scared of him, but as time went on and he did nothing but hum, that fear slowly began to fade and was replaced by curiosity.

Hat Kid blinked, staring up at the creature who had kidnapped her. She had no idea what the heck it was doing, making all those weird rumbly noises, but she did not feel quite as afraid as she had before.

Certainly if it wanted to kill her it would have done so already, but she wondered what it wanted with her, even more so now that it kept making those noises.

Actually... it almost sounded like the monster was purring!

A faint giggle escaped her at the thought, catching the creature's attention. The rumbling stopped, making worry rise up in her once again. Had she upset the monster? Was it angry with her?

She was lifted even closer to its face, and she watched as its massive, yellow maw opened up. She yelped and fell backwards. Okay, maybe it was mad because it thought she had laughed at it?!

She threw her hands in front of her face, not wanting to see what her death would look like. However, instead of being eaten the beast only continued to make more noises. Curiosity overcoming her fear, her hands returned to her sides and she watched, waiting to see what it would do next.

A deep rumble echoed out of the monster, followed by another and another. Hat Kid watched as the mouth in front of her twisted down into a frown, and then she was lifted higher once more.

Now in front of the glowing yellow eyes, practically tiny compared to the rest of its facial features but still larger than she was, she could see that they were narrowed in concentration.

Just what the heck was the monster doing?!

Words, words, why was speaking so hard? He frowned, attempting to clear his throat once again to try and talk to the child he held in front of his eyes. He could see the worry building on her face, the fear returning.

A faint growl escaped him, frustration mounting as he tried to figure out how to communicate with her.

He had so many questions he wanted to ask! Where had she come from? Why was she all alone? Was she all alone, just like him? Why had she decided to come to his forest in the first place?

Finally he had enough. He lifted his free hand up, made a fist, and slammed it against his chest.

Hat Kid yelped as she watched the monster hit its chest with wide eyes. It repeated this action several times, each one punctuated with another growl. Her eyes only grew wider when she realized she could make out specific sounds that reminded her of words!

"Ch-" A harsh cough broke off the rest of the world and he felt like howling.

He had been so close! So close to finally speaking to someone other than himself in this lonely, cursed place. So close to making a friend…

No, focus! Think about the way the word sounds, the way you remember it sounding, and try to say it!

He took a deep breath in and let it out. He then closed his eyes and did his best to remember not just the word, but what the word meant.

Child, small, protect, happy. Take care of those who were too young to take care of themselves, or who had no one else to help them. Protect them from the dangers of the world. Keep them happy and safe.

A warm face smiling down at him. Hands picking him up to give him a hug. A masculine voice joining in, another set of arms wrapping around himself and the one holding him.

Had he been a child at some point?

"... Child." He finally uttered, sounding very pleased with himself.

Hat Kid's jaw dropped.

The monster could talk! And the monster was a guy!

… Why the peck didn't he talk to her before?!

Then again his voice sounded super deep and gruff, as though he had not used it in a long time. She had no idea how long he had been in this forest for, or how old he actually was, even though he sounded like an adult.

Maybe he was lonely…

"I guess you can understand me then." Hat Kid said, catching his attention. The monster nodded, a large smile covering his spooky face.

Well, it was time for introductions then, and now she had a chance to ask if he had seen any Time Pieces around!

"I'm Hat Kid!" She introduced, waving at the monster.

A low, curious rumble escaped him. Hat Kid, well that was certainly an odd name for a child. It took him a moment to gather his words to speak, but eventually he was able to repeat her name aloud.

"Hat Kid."

The child grinned and nodded. "Yup, that's my name! But I lost my hat earlier…"

Her smile was replaced with a frown as she recalled the events that had happened earlier, her running away from him when in the end it looked there was no need for that. The monster was actually pretty nice!

Or he was nicer than the Mafia at least.

His eyes narrowed. He had not noticed that her hat was missing, but he had a feeling she had lost it while trying to escape from him. That horrible guilt rose up in him once again, however he had a plan to make her feel better.

He closed his eyes and focused on gathering as much energy within him. Once that step was complete he then imagined the energy spreading out, covering the entire forest. He could feel the magic seeping into the trees, activating him and allowing him to use them to see beyond the clearing he had always been trapped in.

A sea of trees and bushes spanning his vision, a large ravine that separated his forest from the wrath of the Cold One but that was too far.

Closer, she had been at the bottom of a hill when he found her.

More trees but this time there were a bit spread out. Dirt and exposed rocks lay on the forest floor. He was getting close, now all he had to do was-

There! A smear of bright blue on the ground. An umbrella and a hat resting at the top of the incline.

A massive hand emerged from the soil, collected the two items, and then it went back underground.

Mission now accomplished, he opened his eyes and sighed. His other hand soon broke free of the dirt and he lifted it up towards the child. Sharp talons uncurled, revealing the umbrella and hat resting in his grasp.

"Wow, you found them!" Hat Kid cried, running to the edge of his hand so she could pick up her items. In seconds her trusty umbrella was back in her hands and her top had rested on her head once more.

"Tada!" She shouted, facing the monster and striking a pose. A deep chuckle escaped him and he playfully poked the child, laughing more when she fell over and stuck her tongue out at him.

He felt lighter than he had in decades. It was so freeing being able to finally talk to someone!

"So what's your name?" Hat Kid asked, curiously staring up at her new friend.

His name? He thought about the question, joy quickly fading as it was replaced by sorrow. He could not recall having a name before. All he knew was the time he had spent in this spot, everything before that was a blur with only the occasional memory getting through.

"You don't have one?" The child hedged after getting no response, frowning when he sadly nodded. "Well that's not good. I guess I'll just have to give you a name then!"

He nearly dropped Hat Kid in shock. Give him a name, she was willing to give him a name!

He would have a name to call himself after so long! A proper identity! He cooed happily and lifted her up to his face so he could nuzzle her as a way of showing his thanks.

She giggled at the happy noises, reaching her hands out to pet his face. "Aw, you're so cute!"

After a couple moments passed, Hat Kid continuing to coo over how cute the monster was while petting his face, she finally backed away. He whined, sad the child had stopped, which made her laugh.

"I'll pet you again but I have to think of a name for you." The monster smiled, that massive yellow maw stretching once again, and the hatted child wondered why she had been scared of him in the first place.

Sure, he looked scary, but he acted like a giant puppy!

The child paced back and forth, muttering to herself about possible names for the massive monster. Of course she wanted to think of something creative, a name like "Steve" or "Bob" would never work, but she was having trouble coming up with a good one.

The thorned monster was so sweet, so maybe his name could reflect that?

Wait, he had thorns...

"I'll call you Thorn!" Hat Kid announced, a beaming smile on her face.

Thorn?

The newly named Thorn tilted his head to the side and glanced at the child. He could understand her reasoning with his new name, he was absolutely covered with thorns, but the name itself was a bit strange.

Just like hers.

Thorn smiled once again and reached down with one of his talons to playfully mess with the child's hat, a rumbling chuckle escaping him when she squired and tried to push him away.

"Thorn!" She whined, the smile on her own face growing when she heard his laughter.

Now that the name issue had been dealt with, maybe she could ask him if he had seen any Time Pieces. She opened her mouth to speak and voice her question aloud, but paused when she caught sight of some sort of muffled glow underneath the fluff at the base of his neck.

Wait, was that…

"A Time Piece!" Hat Kid shouted, knowing that only a Time Piece could cause the sort of glow she was seeing.

Thorn let out a faint rumble, twisting and turning as he tried to see what she was pointing to. Unfortunately for him he could not properly look down at the hourglass since it was hidden near the base of his neck.

"Can't see." He whined softly, making Hat Kid laugh.

"Don't worry I'll get it! Watch!" And with that she jumped out of his hand.

The massive creature immediately started panicking, worried she might fall to her death because of how high up she was. He tried to catch her with his other hand, but the child easily dodged his attempt, extremely agile even in the open air.

Thorn froze as he felt the child land on his shoulder, not willing to move in the slightest in case he accidentally hurt her.

"Wow, you're really big aren't you?" Hat Kid wondered aloud as she stood on the monster's shoulder.

His skin was tough and the texture kind of reminded her of tree back. Interestingly enough there were some areas where the skin had broken, revealing dark purple flesh. Curious, she reached a hand down and gently pressed against it, blinking when she felt how soft it was compared to the outer skin.

"And you've got armor too, cool!" An embarrassed rumble escaped Thorn, and if Hat Kid had been looking at his face she would have seen the dark purple blush that momentarily appeared.

The rich purple fluff was even more tangled up close, with some branches and leaves sticking out here and there. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Don't you ever brush this stuff?"

"Brush?" Thorn rumbled, reaching up to poke at the tangles. "Don't have."

Talking was still a challenge but he was slowly starting to remember how. Proper sentences were a bit more than he could manage at this point, his voice felt like breaking after more than a few words, but he was certain he would be able to fully speak.

Eventually.

The hatted child sighed. "I guess that makes sense, you'd need a super huge brush for all of this fluff!"

Oddly enough though as she slowly made her way to the trapped Time Piece she realized that the fluff was actually extremely soft in areas where it was the least tangled. Several times she stopped to pet the fluff, to the confusion of Thorn who had no idea what she was doing.

The fact that he would not see her was a bit annoying, but at least he could somewhat feel where she was. She was so small and so light

Finally the child reached the Time Piece, now able to hear its song even if it was muffled by the layers of fluff it was hidden under.

She reached down and began pulling the fluff aside, wincing as her hand brushed the occasional rotting leaf. Ugh, this is so gross!

Finally the Time Piece was fully exposed, even if there were several strands of fluff wrapped around it. The child grabbed at the wooden handles and tried to pull it out, wincing when the item barely moved from her attempts.

Man, it was stuck!

"Come on!" Hat Kid huffed, struggling to free the Time Piece that had been caught up in the tangled fluff. She planted her boots and heaved with all of her might!

The hourglass popped free and the hatted child began to fall.

Luckily Thorn was still paying close attention to her progress, so the moment he noticed her start to fall he immediately scooped her up. He sighed in relief when he saw that the child was unharmed, but he nearly had a fit when she jumped out of his hand.

Hat Kid snapped open her umbrella as she fell, floating down to the ground in front of the monster. She landed and looked up at her new friend with an accomplished smile on her face.

He was mad.

The child winced, smiling disappearing, and nervously scratched at her cheek. "Uh, sorry. I forgot you didn't know I could do that."

Thorn growled.

"Okay, okay! I won't do it again!"

The angry look on his face faded, but he still seemed a bit worried. She sighed in relief and looked down at the Time Piece. It was whole and there were no signs of damage, granted its landing had been cushioned by Thorn's fluff.

Anyways, her mission was complete!

"Alright, now I've gotta drop this back off at my ship!"

There were some words he did not fully understand, he had no idea what a "ship" was, but Thorn could easily recognize the intent behind her statement. She was going to go somewhere outside of his forest.

She was going to leave.

No.

"I'll come back to visit tomorrow." Hat Kid added, still looking over the Time Piece held in her hands.

But Thorn was no longer listening to her words, too caught up on the fact that she was going to leave him all alone. He would not be able to follow her, he had been stuck in this spot for as long as he could remember and he had never been able to see outside of him forest.

No, I don't want to be alone again.

"Oh, and maybe I'll bring you some cookies too!" She then turned around, flashing a smile at Thorn which quickly faded once she noticed the dark look on his face.

Please don't leave me all alone!

She could not leave.

"Thorn, are you okay?" Hat Kid asked, worry covering her features as she took a step closer to the towering being, unaware of his mental state.

He would not let her leave!

Thorn snapped.

One of his hands shot towards the child, who just barely managed to dodge getting captured once again. Unfortunately she was not so successful when his other hand swiftly moved in from the side, easily scooping her up.

"Hey wait!" Hat Kid yelped, squirming in the monster's grip, but he was done listening to her.

Yellow eyes flashed as thorn covered vines erupted from the ground. The plants twisted and tangled together, forming a large sphere that was very high off of the ground, about chest height on him.

He shoved her into the makeshift cage and the moment his hand was out he summoned several vines to cover up the entrance, locking the child inside. She ran to the "bars" of her cage and grabbed them, looking out of the small gaps towards him.

"Thorn, let me out of here!" She shouted, trying to pull the vines apart so she could escape.

He growled in response, lowering himself a bit so he could stare at her. That fear was back in her eyes once again, and even though it made his heart ache he refused to let her go.

He could protect her, he could keep her safe and happy.

And he would never have to be alone again.

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Hat Kid was moping, but then again anyone who had been captured by a giant, shadow tree monster thing and stuck in a cage dozens of feet off of the ground would be too.

She had tried everything to break out of this dumb prison, but nothing had worked so far! The vines were too strong for her to move and her umbrella did nothing to damage them. She did not want to risk using her hats in case one of them actually worked since she would probably get captured again the moment she broke free, so she was saving them for the perfect moment.

Ugh, if only she had left the clearing earlier, then she could have gotten away, but now she was stuck!

She sighed and curled up even more, pressing her face into her knees as she tried to figure out what she should do next. Suddenly groans and cracking noises filled the air, the sounds Thorn made whenever he moved.

"Hat Kid." The monster cooed, a smile stretched across his face as he peered into the cage. The yellow light radiating from his eyes and mouth lit up the interior of the structure, shining on the trapped child.

She huffed and turned herself away, refusing to acknowledge his presence.

Thorn's smile faded as the child curled up more. Was she feeling sick? He poked the cage, making it shake a little. "You okay kid?"

"Of course I'm not!" Hat Kid exploded, whirling around to face the monster with angry tears in her eyes. "You're being a dummy and keeping me trapped here for no reason!"

He recoiled, heart clenching as he caught sight of the tears on her face. For a moment he wanted to reach out, take her from the cage she was in and coo over her like he had before, but he did not dare risk letting her out.

She was fast, much faster than he was, and he knew the moment she got out she would run.

So instead he held firm, refusing to allow the tears in her eyes to sway him.

"Safe here!" He barked, yellow eyes flashing with anger.

Why did she refuse to accept the fact that he could keep her safe from all the dangerous creatures in this forest? She had to stay with him so she could be safe, she had to!

Voices screaming as the village was engulfed by ice. Someone pulling him along, he was too weak to stand.

Falling.

Warm brown eyes looking into his own, soft red hair with flowers.

"Not with you!" Hat Kid retorted, sticking her tongue out at him.

Thorn snarled, purple and yellow energy starting to leak out of his body as he brought his face directly in front of the cage. He watched as the child quickly backed away from him, eyes wide with fear, but this time he felt no guilt.

No, she was safe with him and she would have to accept that. He would protect her.

He would not fail this time.

He backed up, standing tall as he looked out over his forest. It had been ages since he had last been concerned with who entered his domain, but now that he had someone to protect he was going to be very watchful.

He would not let the Cold One take this child away from him.

Hat Kid wiped the tears from her eyes after Thorn backed away, sniffling softly to herself. How he acted was terrifying, and his furious appearance did not help her feel any safer. She was trapped with this monster, unable to escape on her own.

But maybe she could trick him into letting her go!

The child smirked, mischief dancing in her eyes as she started to plan. Naturally only Thorn could open her cage, so she had to do something that would convince him to get rid of the vines blocking her exit and from there all she would have to do would be to find a safe place to use her Time Piece escape.

He was oddly concerned with her safety, so maybe if he thought she needed his help he would open the cage?

It was worth a shot. All she needed was for the vines to disappear and she would be out of there!

Plan now firmly in mind, Hat Kid lay down on her side facing away from the entrance of her cage. She closed her eyes, did her best to remain absolutely still, and waited.

In almost no time at all that familiar creaking filled the air as the monster crouched down once again to check on his prisoner. She could feel his eyes staring into her back and it took all of her strength to remain still.

"Kid?" Thorn rumbled, poking at the cage with one of his talons. When the child did not respond the monster felt like panicking.

He had only looked away for a couple of minutes, what could have happened in that time?! Was she hungry? Thirsty? Had she somehow fallen ill?!

Had the Cold One cursed her?

"Hat Kid?" He whimpered, vines disappearing as he reached his hand towards the too still child.

Now!

Hat Kid lunged out of the entrance, now wearing her Sprint hat. Of course Thorn immediately noticed her escape attempt and reached forward to grab her, the fear on his face transforming into pure rage, but the second she dodged and landed on his arm she made her move.

The child jumped from one of his arms to the next, ran up it and with one final leap she landed on his shoulder, darting out of sight before he realized what had happened. A panicked cry escaped the monster when he realized his "friend" had disappeared. He twisted and turned in a desperate effort to find her, nearly knocking Hat Kid off of his shoulder.

She yelped, the noise catching his attention. Thorn glanced down and growl when he spotted the tiny child standing on him.

"Uh oh." Hat Kid whimpered, just barely dodging the hand that reached out to grab her once again.

She scampered across the fluff around his neck, nearly tripping on the occasional knot or thorn that poked up from the fluffy mess. The monster growled and continued to try and catch her, but unfortunately for him she was just a bit too agile, and thanks to the awkward angle he could not see where she was going.

She yelped once again as he twisted to grab her, nearly falling off of his back in the process. Instinctively she reached out and grabbed onto one of the large thorns nearby, clinging to it as the monster continued to roar and search for her.

As time went on and she realized Thorn had made no move to snatch her up once again, she realized he had no idea where she was, or that she was so close to him.

But how, how had he not noticed the fact that she was essentially clinging to his back?!

Suddenly it dawned on her that he might not be able to feel anything touching one of his thorns and that he did not know where she was because she was holding on to one of them!

So Hat Kid did her best to continue to cling to the thorn and not get knocked off when the monster turned around in an attempt to figure out where she was. Several times she nearly lost her umbrella or her hat thanks to his sudden movements, but she was able to catch them in the nick of time.

Eventually Thorn stopped searching for her, realizing that the child had gotten away from him. He had no idea where she had disappeared to, no idea where to start looking to find her again.

She was gone, and he was all alone once again.

"Don't want to be alone." The monster wheezed, the deep rumbling that he usually made when speaking vanishing for a moment, making him sound so much younger. "Come back kid!"

Hat Kid winced at the obvious fear and sorrow in his voice, but she did not allow herself to be swayed. For all she knew this could be another trick to get her captured again.

Sorry Thorn...

She activated the magic of the Time Piece, grinning when it sharply lit up. The glowing aura expanded, encompassing her, and then she was off.

Of course this spectacle caught Thorn's attention, even if it was happening behind him, but by the time he noticed it was too late. She was already soaring up into the atmosphere, finally free from the spooky forest she had gotten trapped in.

Hat Kid heard the monster roaring below her and glanced downwards. The child shrieked when she noticed his hands reaching up towards her, slowly gaining as she continued to fly up into the sky.

"Go, go, go!" She shouted, terrified her ascent would not be fast enough to escape Thorn's wrath.

"COME BACK!" Thorn roared once more, desperation and anger in his voice.

Massive hands closed on empty air right behind her, and the child let out a cheer. She had done it, she had escaped the monster!

However her celebration was cut off when a pained wail rang out from her captor, the broken noise easily destroying any joy she had momentarily felt.

Hat Kid winced but she did not dare look down again, not wanting to see whatever expression he currently had on his face. It was funny how hurt she was by his sudden change in attitude, she should be used to people on this planet betraying her between Mustache Girl and the Conductor, but with Thorn something was different.

He had seemed so... broken, so alone that it had viciously tugged at her heartstrings. Even now as he howled at her, she could hear the sorrow in his voice and it hurt.

But she had a Time Pieces to collect and a world to get back to. She could not risk getting delayed any further.

Back on her spaceship, Hat Kid had collapsed on the soft carpet, completely exhausted by what she had just experienced in the forest. Her legs felt like jelly and her head was pounding from the stressful situation, but now she was safe and she would never have to go back to that forest again-

Suddenly it dawned on her that she did not know if there were any more Time Pieces in that forest, which meant she would have to go back.

"Nooooooooooo!"

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AN: An extremely long first chapter, and to think I originally planned for this to be a massive oneshot. I had such a blast writing this mess XD

So in place of Snatcher and Subcon we have Thorn and an unnamed forest, and poor Hat Kid who still needs to find her Time Pieces. Goodness why do I like making these characters suffer so much?

Please leave a review telling me what you think and I'll see you in the next chapter!