Walking was a horrible experience. Snatcher had been human before, but he certainly didn't remember it being that hard. It should be easy, moving a foot after the other! At least it was when Snatcher possessed someone. Yet, being in control of his own body was considerably different and difficult. He couldn't tell exactly why, though he supposed that possession simply controlled one's will to move and talk, instead of really controlling a body.

This was getting ridiculous.

The old ghost had found a rather long branch and started to use it as a cane. While walking without anything to keep him steady was completely impossible for the moment, having a branch as a third leg did help him not to stumble too much. He still did, and walking was still painful, but at least no one was there to see it, especially that hat-wearing brat. He would never hear the end of it otherwise.

-"If only I could just float again..." He groaned, clenching his hands around his walking stick. He knew he couldn't fly anymore. His powers mostly came from stealing souls. As a human, the old ghost never had any real power and now that he was back in that fleshy form, he was left with nothing. He remembered how magic felt like inside of him, so he knew when he didn't have any. It made him feel quite vulnerable, though he hated to be seen that way.

He was in Subcon Forest, he was sure of it. Even though it didn't look like it at first, he could still recognize it. Admittedly, he hadn't spent too much time in it while he was alive, but after his death, it had become not only his home, but also his minions' one. Still, finding his way around was not smooth task. He did know every inch of his forest, but mainly after Vanessa's outburst. Before she froze the village though? That was another story. Branches and trees didn't look the same, foliages were different, and the most noticeable thing was the fact that this forest was inhabited by a lot of animals. In the one he became familiar with, everything was dead. And when something was not, it usually was to hurt other living beings. Here though? He could hear birds chirping, small cries of animals, there were movements in bushes... This forest was full of life.

It... Didn't feel like home to Snatcher. This was part of a past that he wanted to forget as much as possible and walking through it only made him terribly ill at ease. He stopped moving, as he started to think: where was he going? It wasn't like he could have stayed where he woke up, however, he didn't really know where to go, apart from reaching the doors of Subcon Village... What about his minions though? Did they remember too? Did... Vanessa remember? The world was still in an "unfrozen state", compared to the one he came from, so that was rather both a good and a bad sign. Good, because that could only mean Vanessa wasn't as lunatic as she had become before locking him up in the cellar. Bad, because if Vanessa didn't remember, there were chances that his minions didn't either. Though, maybe it wasn't that bad, as he had never told them about his true identity... After he died, he had denied all of his past and his name, choosing a new one before becoming the new king of Subcon Forest. He had become so furious about his old self that he had never wanted to be associated with him again. But now... His situation was pretty ironic in itself. If he did find any minion remembering things before the flash, then... Snatcher wasn't sure about what he would do. Would he tell them? Or would he play the role of the ignorant fool in love with a crazy ice queen?

Speaking about her... What was he going to do? If he couldn't find any way to reverse this situation quickly, he would not only need to find a place for this body to sleep, but also a place to prepare a plan. And since he only learnt how to breathe again the same day he woke up here... He was sure that his chances of survival in the wild were pretty low. He had to be careful now that he was stuck in a fleshy being. He had been used to immortality and powerfulness for so long that his position was utterly humiliating. If he died here and now, he wasn't sure about what would happen to his soul and he really didn't want to find out.

He shook his head: all of this was way off-topic. He needed to think about what he was going to do now. Going to the village surely was the worst idea of all, because of the unknown waiting for him there, and mostly because of Vanessa being there as well. However, there were much more problems about this idea. Subcon Village was full of people he had known all through his short life –people he had seen dead or frozen forever. The thought of going there and seeing all those persons, each one of those he used to know as a human... It made him so sick. Waves of nausea hit him hard the more he thought about it. It wasn't like hundreds of years into the afterlife could erase the trauma coming from being shackled in a cellar, dying from coldness and hunger...

He wanted to think about something else so much, but then his parents' faces came to his mind and he almost immediately threw up whatever was in his stomach. He had to lean on a nearby tree to not fall down. His body felt very weak at the sudden and he had trouble to breathe. The spirit didn't know what to do: he had seen most of his victims panic and having trouble to stay calm, yes, but what about him?

He put his hand on his heart: it was beating fast, an undeniable sign of his state. Was he scared? Him? The terrifying Snatcher? How ironic! He would almost laugh out loud if he didn't have a risk of choking while doing so.

A few minutes passed. All he could do was waiting in silence, as he started to feel better as time flew. It probably didn't last very long, but it had seemed like an hour to him. He didn't want to experience that ever again.

-"Being trapped in a human body is the worst !" he mumbled, wanting nothing more to kill something out of frustration. If only he still had his laser beams! At least, that would have helped him to feel a little better about what was happening. Though, it surely wasn't the most discreet way of relieving stress, so the ghost supposed it wasn't all bad... But he was still disappointed.

So, no more thinking about his dead-but-now-alive family. There was another huge problem about coming back to the village: he knew where he was, sure, but when? He knew he had been brought back before Vanessa's outburst, but how long before? Was it days, months? Years...? He threw a look at himself: he didn't look much younger than the day he died... So perhaps no more than a few months. He winced: at that time, he was studying law abroad. If he did come to the village when he was supposed to be miles away, how would he ever explain it? He could invent an excuse for the villagers, but for Vanessa and his parents? They would never believe him, especially Vanessa. Plus, he hadn't talked to his parents for hundreds of years! How was he supposed to know how to talk to them now? Maybe they used to be close before, but after everything that had happened... It certainly wasn't the same anymore. Over the years, Snatcher had become quite cold-hearted-

He felt the feeling of nausea coming back, so he quickly decided to put those thoughts and bad puns away once again. So, going to Subcon Village was a bad idea. What was next? He wasn't limited to the forest anymore as he used to as a ghost. He could go somewhere else if he wanted to. However, there weren't many towns near Subcon Village... It would take him days to find one, if he didn't run into an inn first. But what would the people at the inn say if they ever saw him? If they recognized him as the Prince and if it came to Vanessa's ears... Knowing her, she would imagine he was there for a woman, and it would lead to a new outburst. Did he even have the money to pay for an inn? He rolled his eyes at himself: he didn't even think to check! He started to look in the pockets of his red coat, finding a few coins, then checked the ones on his pants. Nothing.

Well, so much for being a prince. Didn't wealth go with royalty? He scoffed at his old self. If only that fool had thought about having more money in his pockets before leaving-

Snatcher frowned: why did he wake up in the middle of the forest in the first place, if he was supposed to be abroad? It didn't make any sense! His old self didn't even visit the forest that much. So why? The more he thought about it, the less he could understand. Time travel was the kid's forte, not his. He could feel a migraine coming. Oh, that was so unpleasant... He put his fingers on the sides of his head, pressing hard on his temples.

Going to the village was a bad idea because of Vanessa. But not going there was also a bad idea because of Vanessa.

Relationships were so difficult... He let out a long annoyed groan. He knew where he was going to go, eventually; he just didn't want to accept it. Ironically, the most safe solution was still to go to Subcon Village and pretend to be the dumb prince, at least until he learned what or who broke the timepiece.

-"This is going to be awful..." Still, he straightened and dusted his coat, sighing.

He didn't have much of a choice. He never really had any, in the end. He just hoped that if someone had to remember other than him, that it wouldn't be Vanessa of all people. He put weight on his walking stick and glowered at it: what about that? How was he going to justify this, on top of the fact that he came back home way earlier? He had no idea about that.

-"I guess I'll have to improvise. Luckily, I'm good at it." He said first with confidence. Though, thinking about where he was going made him more than anxious: "... Hopefully." He added, while rubbing his wrists nervously.

There was no way this could end well.

Just as he was about to start walking again, he heard a noise behind him, something he couldn't recognize. He turned over, afraid of having been discovered by someone. He wasn't ready yet ! He needed to know what to say before engaging in any conversation: if he made the slightest mistake, it would all be for nothing. But instead of seeing a person or an animal like he thought he would, he spotted something very different. It looked like a crack, but floating in mid-air, without being attached to anything. It emitted a bluish light, almost dazzling, so much that Snatcher had to squint.

Well. This was certainly new.

He rose his eyebrows, sceptic. He knew what magic looked like and he could tell very well that this was not. Plus, magic had been around Subcon for a lot of time and both in his life and afterlife, he had never seen something like that. This was different, in a way that wasn't very reassuring. What was it? Why was it here? Why did it appear near him? And especially... Was it dangerous? There were so much questions, but no answers. All he could do was staying motionless and waiting for anything to come. However, he waited a few minutes, wary, but nothing happened. The crack remained the same no matter how long he examined it. After a while, the old shade decided it probably wouldn't represent a threat to him and he came closer. He went around it to see if the crack would move or follow his stare, but it didn't. It just floated, completely still.

-"Just what are you ?" he spoke to himself rather to the abnormal breach. Without thinking about it, he raised his hand and moved it towards the crack. The reaction was immediate and before he could touch it, it disappeared in a flash, without leaving any trace behind. Snatcher remained unmoving for a few seconds, not knowing what to do, staring into empty space where the crack used to be.

First, waking up in a human body and now this? It couldn't be a coincidence. Both were linked, the ghost was sure of it. He frowned again, not liking where things were going. He hated not knowing what was going on around him. It gave him the impression of being someone's fool, someone's little toy. He was the one playing with people, not the other way around. Yet, he could feel there was more to this story than just a broken timepiece and he was going to find out what or who chose to play with him and make them deeply regret it.

He waited a few minutes, wondering if something else would happen once again. Though, nothing seemed to appear out of nowhere again, so he decided to leave for the place he didn't want to see the most. Each time he made a step, a flash of memory would blind him very briefly: he would see the place of the village, the market full of life, the flower shop, the front of his ex's castle, or the cellar... His face grew pale and he felt the nausea coming back full force at the sudden image. Could he even do this? If he felt so ill just thinking about it... How was he going to go there, or even walk through it? This was going to be so much more difficult to handle and he knew it very well. But what other choice did he have? He took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together: he had survived worse things than that, he could handle it! In the best-case scenario, he would be back in his own version of his forest, in his ghostly form and all would be well. Or, in the worst-case scenario... He would either be frozen to death or shackled back in the cellar.

His body started to shiver from the thought of that last possibility and Snatcher hated himself for being so weak. He had no other choice, so he had to go, and that was final. Though, that did little to stop him from shaking.

Being a human really was the worst.

He continued walking for a while, trying to remember where was the village despite the forest looking very different to what he used to know. His legs hurt the more he walked and soon it became hard to move at all. Who knew that it would be so difficult? He was about to lean against a nearby tree to rest but then he saw something through the trees in front of him. He squinted, not sure about what it was, but then it hit him.

What he was seeing... Was one of the ramparts of the village.

There he was. So close from the village and only hidden by several trees from the guards' sight. A wave of panic hit him as he realized what he had to do next :

-"I can't do it..." He murmured in a rushed tone, as he grabbed his head with both hands: "I can't do it, I can't do it !"

There was no way Snatcher could walk in there and pretend everything was fine and normal. All those people were dead and all the kids that his ex murdered became his minions! There was absolutely nothing normal and fine about all this! This entire town was part of a past that he wanted nothing more than forgetting about it. How was he supposed to enter and be the dumb prince he used to be? He couldn't, because that fool had long been dead and buried.

His breathing sped up considerably and soon it became hard for him to calm down. The old ghost couldn't help but letting himself slide against the tree he was leaning on, to sit on the ground. His heart was beating very fast, too fast, and he felt his eyesight becoming cloudy. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, he didn't know what was happening to him and he was going to die alone without having learnt anything-

He curled up, trying to inhale as much air as possible but coughed, too panicked for that. His whole body seemed to turn against him and he had no idea how to deal with it. His mind had become hazy and nothing made sense to him anymore. Why was he here? What happened to him? Why, why, why, why? His hands moved on their own and rubbed his wrists again and again and again and again-

The ghost didn't know how long he stayed like this. Minutes, hours? Who could tell? After a while, Snatcher managed to calm himself, feeling the fear settling down inside of him. He looked all around himself, afraid of having been spotted by any of the guards. But no one was coming to him and the shade let out a huge sigh of relief. If a guard had come and seen him like this, he had no idea what he would have said or done. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention on himself, especially Vanessa's attention...

-"Okay." He said, breathing in deeply. He used his cane to get up, ignoring the feeling of dread in his stomach. He could do this.

He had to do this.