It was harder for them to find their way back to the rest of Subcon than it was to make the journey to the manor. When Hat and Bow Kid explored the woods—momentarily following the bottlenecked trail set to corner Vanessa if she managed to advance too far in—they came to a spot where the trees were damaged far worse than others hit badly during the storm. Here, there were some that the ice had devoured whole and some that looked like they'd been blasted to splitters with an ion cannon. Crystal fragments were enveloped by thorny briars. More notably, splatters of blue potion painted the environment.

Considering that the snow hadn't yet covered the scorch marks raked into the earth, whatever happened here couldn't have been all that long ago. Nevertheless, there was no sign of either of Subcon's rulers. They had already clashed, but apparently taken the fight somewhere else…

Hat Kid didn't know how to use the burner or if it could even help with their immediate situation: She just thought it was best to get it to Snatcher as soon and as safely as possible. If anyone had an inkling of how it worked, it'd be him. However, it also wasn't wise to risk showing off the burner in front of ice queen either…

That was why, as soon as they ran into a minion charging through the woods—carrying a small bundle of sticks on one of his runs for the fire spirits—Hat Kid passed off the device to him, "Take this and get somewhere safe! Don't let anyone but Snatcher have it!"

Confused, the minion could only fumble with the object as it was shoved into his grasp, saying nothing as the girls ran away once more. Bow Kid looked between them, brows furrowed and her voice dripped with warning, "Hat… What are we doing now? We should go somewhere safe!"

"Not until I make sure Snatcher's ok!" The damages they'd seen and the fact that they hadn't seen any sign of the phantom yet had her concerned. He was strong enough that, even though Hat had beaten him once before, she knew how intense he could be in battle. Snatcher wouldn't lose any fight easily. The trouble was neither would Vanessa. They were an unmovable object and an unstoppable force, and that stalemate gave her enough doubt to worry for her contractual BFF.

Bow Kid suddenly grabbed her by the arm and she lurched to a halt. As she spun around, she found amethyst eyes staring at her hard. "Haven't we done enough already? There's nothing more we can do, so let's trust that the ghosts can handle it!"

"I can't!"

The storm hadn't let up in the least! At the rate things were going, how many of the spirits or Dwellers would get caught in the ice? What would happen to the village? What if Vanessa and her army managed to win through attrition? She knew how strong everyone was that they had gathered, but she didn't want to leave their fates to chance.

"Listen to yourself!" Bow Kid shouted over the wind, keeping her rooted in place, "What happened to the clever kid in my class—who was supposed become one of the best clocksmiths with me?! You ran into that ice queen before; you told me how dangerous she was!"

"I don't care!"

"Hat!"

At last, the warning in Bow's tone made her pause. Hat Kid looked at Bow again: There was sympathy on her face, but not so much for the disaster around them. It was for her, for the full realization that she was close to breaking one of the hardest rules drilled into every clocksmith from the start of their training. Again, that rule against attachment. She cared too much—not just to the point of actively stepping into the lives of these people when she shouldn't, but now to the point of risking her own life for them.

This wasn't just about her lost Time Pieces or the danger of them falling into the wrong hands anymore. It wasn't just about tying up loose ends or offering a bit of help because someone asked. She loved this planet, and she didn't want anything to happen to the friends she'd made on it.

In their line of work, that was dangerous. How could a person who reacted on those kinds of emotions be trusted with temporal magic, when a single change in a timeline could affect countless others? Those kind of well-meaning, but misguided decisions had caused just as much damage as selfish ones. They were what led the Clockwork Fellowship—no, her entire people—to the state they were in now…

On top of her friend rushing off into danger, that was what also worried Bow. Bow Kid had a very open heart, but she hadn't spent the same length of time on Earth as Hat had. Her main reason for being there was to help Hat Kid, but this was going a step too far. She wouldn't let her charge full-steam into an impossible situation.

"I know you want to save them, but even the Badge Seller warned us to stay away from the queen," Bow sighed, "The best thing we can do is keep ourselves safe. For all we know, we would just be in the way if we ran into her and Snatcher now."

Hat Kid didn't like it, but as she calmed down, the more Bow's words made sense. Their Toasty Badges had protected them perfectly so far and they still had plenty of blue potions to use if they needed them, but Hat Kid didn't have any experience fighting Vanessa to know if it was even possible. When she'd first encountered the queen at the manor, she did everything possible to avoid her because her very aura screamed 'death.' A single touch could've turned her into an ice sculpture! They were better off now, but who knew by how much.

In which case, it probably was for the best to listen to the collective warnings of their elders for a change. For Hat Kid, this felt like retreating, but she eventually nodded. Besides her own safety, it wasn't fair to drag Bow down with her either after she'd done so much without complaint this whole adventure.

"Let's… see if we can find our way back toward the Firelands," Hat mumbled. It was likely still the most secure area in Subcon Forest. The trouble was that they were far off from any of the regular trails. The combined whiteout and ruined landscape didn't help them navigate their way around the woods any easier.

It took them several minutes before they found any kind of marker—the remains of an old shack that Hat Kid had once stopped by to rest for a while as she worked on one of Snatcher's contracts—and they changed direction to try to get themselves back on the right track. Toasty Badge or no, Hat Kid's teeth chattered violently and she felt dizzy from the blinding snowfall that whipped through the trees. The young aliens had to stick close together to keep from losing one another.

The muffled sounds of fiery eruptions and splintered wood still reached them this far away from the worst of the battle. Occasionally, the two caught a glimpse of the fire spirits' barriers still holding firm against the surges of ice that came their way. In any other circumstance, it might've been beautiful—like an aurora that touched down to the earth. However, knowing it was one of their only defenses, it was frightening.

They followed it as far as they could, hoping it would lead to safety. Instead, it led them to a place that not even the spiders had bothered guarding: An empty clearing with only scattered stone to litter it. The way some of them were piled in a heap, they looked like fallen, makeshift Jenga towers that the minions might've played with. Barren trees loomed ominously over them. The grass was frozen black.

Where are we…? Hat Kid looked around, but could see nothing. As confusing as it was sometimes to find one's way around Subcon, one trick she'd learned early was to search for any lights through the trees—be it lanterns to guide her way back to the main paths or the orange glow of the eternally-burning section of woods. Here, it was just cold and dark. The storm continued to obscure everything but their immediate surroundings from view.

Just when she'd thought to turn around and head back to the barrier—to let it guide them the opposite way—a shudder ran down her spine. Not from the cold, but from pure instinct telling her to run. Hat Kid could barely process the feeling before something soared past her head and collided with a wide trunk of an old oak nearby: A large snowball that burst with sharp crystals of ice on impact. A shrill vibration of laughter followed.

"You're still here! My shy, little guest from that day!"

Her heart leaping to her throat, both Hat and Bow looked behind them. A tall, dark figure glowing red sauntered out from behind out of trees on the opposite side of the clearing. The wide, unhinged smile on her face was anything but friendly.

"My shy, dirty, little thief…"

They never had to chase after the queen: Like it or not, she had found them. Vanessa had never looked good, not since before her transformation into the monster she was now. Still, even with the shroud of darkness that always cover her and her hunched figure, she was in rough shape. Her dark dress was torn in various places—revealing a boney, frost-covered leg—and splatters of blue potion clung to the fabric. Her hair was disheveled and it was a wonder that she managed to keep her crown upright all the same. Long, dagger-like fingers twitched at her side, as if eager to wrap around the neck of the person who broke into her home and stole away the Time Piece she'd collected.

Kicking up snow, the girls sped away only for a wall of ice spires to cut them off before either of them had set foot outside of the clearing.

"Didn't I already tell you?" chiding the voice behind them like the twinkling of bells before dipping into an angry roar, "You come when a queen calls you!"

With a wave of her hand, the ground erupted with cold, crystalline spikes. Both young aliens quickly dodged, and Hat Kid made sure to make as much distance between herself and Bow as possible. Vanessa had nothing personal against Bow, but Hat doubted that would keep her friend safe! Nevertheless, she was clearly the ice queen's target!

As Hat Kid rolled behind a large vine to avoid an icicle manifested and thrown her way next, her mind scrambled with questions. Why was Vanessa here?! Did she and Bow get so lost that they met they on her way to find the Horizon's waypoint? More importantly, where was Snatcher?! Was he ok?!

She never got the chance to imagine the worst: She was too busy trying to stay one step ahead of the barrage of attacks that rushed toward her. For a woman who never even bothered to leave her house until then, Vanessa was insanely fast—both on her feet and when summoning her magic. There was hardly any room for the child to catch her breath between one move and the next.

Worse, the environment was on the queen's side. At her command, the already harsh winds whipped even more fiercely, slowing Hat Kid down. Darting around the wall of spires, the child tripped on a stone hidden under the snow and fell.

She tried to scramble away on her back, but that small mistake was all the Vanessa needed to close the gap and pull Hat Kid up by the front of her coat. Her feet dangled helplessly, the length of the queen's arm too far for Hat to kick herself away. She wrestled against the woman's unyielding grasp, the latter's touch as cold as the ice itself. All the while, Vanessa looked at her with a leering grin, the shadows that enveloped her momentarily giving way to a cloud of frost as she tried to freeze the girl just as she had countless others.

However, this time, it didn't work. The more she pressed her magic—so much that her own hand became coated in a layer of ice—the more heat Hat Kid could feel pouring from her Toasty Badge and into her body until it seemed that her head would catch fire. Vanessa's sickening smile morphed into a confused, angry frown.

Unbeknownst to either, the badge also subtly began to glow brighter. It was as if the fire spirit's ability to overheat had passed on to the very fibers of their fur. Vanessa was so distracted with Hat Kid and her powers not working that she failed to notice Bow Kid switching on her Brewing Hat behind her. Before the queen could notice the badge's effects, Bow chucked a potion that hit her right in the back of her skull.

Thrown forward with an enraged cry, she dropped the other girl. Hat Kid landed in a crouch, practically clawing the ground in an effort to vault herself out of the queen's reach. She changed out her own hat to match Bow's, a fresh vial ready at her side.

"Impudent brats!" Vanessa shrieked, glaring at her sticky, soaked hand as she pulled it away from her head. As she spun to face them one more, the full force of the storm seemed to shift with her in her ever-growing rage, "You break into my home, you steal my things, and now you dare raise your hand against me?! I am the queen of this forest!"

Ice crystals followed her with every step forward. She motioned for them to rise around her, shifting their direction at Hat and Bow.

"And one way or another, you two will decorate my halls like every other trespasser!"