A Hat in Time Loops

———Loop 6.1———

Hat Kid squinted open her eyes and immediately recognized the deep purples of Subcon. Unawake Hat Kid has apparently decided to curl up on one of the mushrooms here and take a nap.

Unawake Hat Kid was apparently an idiot this Loop. Really? Taking a nap in Subcon of all places? Hattie loved this forest but it was the last place anyone should let their guard down. She was lucky she hadn't Awoken dead.

She brought her hands up to rub the sleep from her eyes, but paused when she saw them. They were Subcon-purple. Like her Shadow Puppet costume.

At this point she finally checked her Loop memories. And oh!

Oh this was rich!

Apparently she had Awoken dead, but that wasn't the fun part.

She was Snatcher's daughter in this Loop.

Oh, she hoped to the Admins he was Awake this Loop! This was going to be fun.

A mischievous grin crossed her face as she summoned her scooter and set off to find her dad.

"You have got to be kidding me," Snatcher groaned when she found him, "What sort of cruel prank is this, kiddo?"

"Welcome to the Loops, dad," She sneered and giggled. Him calling her 'kiddo' was suddenly hilarious. Snatcher just groaned again.

"I had you," he seethed, "with her."

Vanessa.

Vanessa.

Vanessa was her mom.

Hat Kid's smile slipped instantly, and she found herself retreating into her Loop memories. Bad idea. Because not only was she Snatcher and Vanessa's daughter...

So was Mu. Mustache Girl was her sister. Her sister who she hardly ever saw because...

Oh no.

Because...

Vanessa had custody of Mustache Girl. Snatcher and Vanessa were divorced (thank the stars) and Vanessa had custody of Mustache Girl.

What was it with Snatcher and amusing Loops suddenly becoming horror stories? Oh, Hat Kid dearly hoped, prayed, that at least Mu wasn't Awake, that she wouldn't have to remember this as possibly the first time she'd had a family in... Hat Kid wasn't sure she wanted to know how long.

Either way, they needed to get Mustache Girl out of there!

"Snatcher," Hat Kid blurted suddenly, drawing the specter's attention, "We need to kill your ex-wife."

Snatcher cracked a grin that threatened to split his face in two, "I thought you'd never ask," he purred.

Meanwhile, Mu was Awake.

Awake and terrified, hiding under her bed, because Queen Vanessa was her mom. And her Loop memories told her that her Unawake self trusted Vanessa completely, but horror still mounted, this trust was misplaced.

The memories were horrible, despite her Unawake self's fond nostalgia for them.

Mu remembered hardly being no allowed out of the manor. She remembered eating Vanessa's cookies as the queen watched her intently, asking, "Well... how are they?" The aggression in her mother's voice under a thin veil of kindness as ice spread from Vanessa's fingertips across the table. She remembered having her feet frozen to the floor of her bedroom as a punishment, only for Vanessa to come back only minutes later, crying out about how she could never allow harm to come to her sweet daughter. She remembered being denied the chance to see her sister Hat Kid—