Chapter Text
The wind picks up, carrying a chill that seeps into Hatterene’s bones.
She tightens her grip on the warm porcelain cup in her hands, the only comfort she has left.
It’s strange, she thinks, how something so small could hold such weight. Once, her voice had been like that — a delicate thing, but powerful, steady, hers.
Now, it feels like it belongs to someone else.
Gengar had always been louder, brighter, taking up the space Hatterene didn’t mind leaving empty.
At first, it had been a comfort, like a soft song filling the silence. Somewhere along the way, the song became a storm.
Hatterene hadn’t even noticed when her voice disappeared beneath it, drowned out by the chaos.
Maybe Gengar had taken it, piece by piece, without even realizing.
Hatterene’s words had once been warm and inviting, a steady fire that could light up the darkest corners.
Now, they were gone, replaced by an echo that didn’t feel like hers at all.
When she reached for comfort — her own kind of quiet, soothing magic — it wasn’t there.
Gengar had taken that too, like a magpie hoarding treasures she didn’t even know she wanted.
The carnival spins on around her, bright and unrelenting; Hatterene can’t help but wonder if Gengar even noticed the weight she carried now, the pieces missing from her.
Did she see what she had taken?
Did she know the cost?