Snatcher had had enough. He was sick of everything. This was way too much than what he signed up for -HA- and it had been the final straw. Not only did he almost die -again- but he had seen his parents, only to fight with them.

This had to stop: that was what he was thinking while dressing up. He chose a long blue tunic with a hood, and brown pants. He also found black boots in his wardrobe and put them on. Standing up was still painful, though anger managed to keep his mind focused on other things. He tried to remember the way to the village square, only succeeding in getting quick flashes full of colours in his mind, but nothing more. The shade supposed it would come back to him once he walked there. After all, that was what had happened when he had entered the village for the first time.

He came closer to the mirror in the room and looked at his reflection. His face was very pale and his eyes were swollen and red. His hair was a mess too. Well… On the bright side, no one would recognize him at first glance, which was exactly what he wanted. Plus, he looked more like a ghost than a human at that moment! At least, that was a more usual appearance to him.

He put the hood on and stared at himself: no one would be able to recognize him like this. He barely did.

He turned back to the bed and crouched beside it, wincing at the pain caused by the action. Very carefully, he lifted the mattress in order to take back the kid's poorly-made drawing. He didn't like the idea of leaving it behind. Not because he found it cute! Absolutely not! He only disliked the feeling of leaving proofs behind him, that was all. Nothing more.

He shook his head, determined to forget his last train of thoughts. He stood up once again before putting the drawing in the left pocket of his pants. Only because no one would find it there. Obviously.

He cast a last glance at the room: he was definitely not going to miss it. On the wall touching the headboard of his bed was hanged a painting which featured both him and Vanessa. He held back a shiver at the sight of it. He had noticed it before, of course, but he had a much better view now that he was further away from it. He wanted nothing more than just rip the prince's smile from the painting. What a fool.

He felt the anger coming back and walked to the door with heavy steps. He was so done with everything. He opened the door bluntly and stormed off. There was no one on the third floor to stop him, allowing him to go down the stairs without meeting any resistance. When arriving on the second floor, he could hear Vanessa's cries from where he was. The ghost rolled his eyes: she wanted to cry? Whatever. He didn't care. As long as she didn't freeze him and the village, that is.

He ignored her and kept going downstairs, meeting one of the servants on his way to the ground floor.

-"My Prince?" they called out to him, more than surprised to see him out of bed. Snatcher simply ignored them, dismissing them with a quick hand gesture. He had no time for that and, even if he did, he didn't want to stay there any second more than necessary.

His face must have shown those exact thoughts since the servant stepped back instantly, not insisting more. Good. The ghost passed them and quickened his pace. Now that someone had seen him, they would get help to try and reason with him. And Snatcher very much prefered to be outside before Vanessa found out about him running away.

The shade finally arrived at the ground floor and passed another servant. The latter didn't even get the time to try anything as Snatcher silenced them just like he did for the first one. The other fled, presumably only to get Simeon as fast as possible.

"I have to get out of here now." The butler would probably do anything to stop him, especially if it was an order from Vanessa. The ghost crossed the main hall, happy to see that no one was in the room other than him. The other servants were most likely trying to cheer Vanessa up or, at least, do something that wouldn't make her angrier.

The spirit walked to the huge door of the manor and pushed it open. A bright ray of sunlight blinded him for a brief second until his eyes adjusted. The wind caressed his face and the ghost took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh air. He hated to admit it, but that was something he would miss, after regaining his spectral body. Feeling things… That was nice, even if it hadn't lasted long.

He forced himself to stay focused: he couldn't lose more time. Without looking back, he passed the door quickly and closed it behind him. His eyes fell on the big area between the mansion and the first houses of Subcon Village. Why did he have to have legs?

He groaned and began walking again, clenching his teeth in frustration.

"It's only for a little while, it'll be over soon…" However, it did very little to energize him. This was going to be a very long day… But how hard could it be? It was just walking! The hat-wearing brat could run just fine, why wouldn't he be able to walk? This was nothing more than a mindset problem! If he wanted to, he could ignore the pain and walk just fine!

The ghost was, in fact, not fine.

Not only was the pain becoming more and more unbearable after arriving at the village, but having a crowd around him was starting to make him feel quite dizzy. No one had seemed to recognize him yet, fortunately. However, the noise all around him was so loud, so unusual to him, that he couldn't help but feel nauseous. Furthermore, people kept touching him on accident. Sometimes it was almost unnoticeable, but other times it was more violent, with children running into him while they played. Being surrounded by people made it harder to find fresh air as well. The superposition of all those sensations… It was more than overwhelming. When he had woken up, it had felt nice to sense them again, after all those years being dead… Though, now, it was nothing more than pure torture to the shade. Everything was too much, too much, too much.

The spirit distanced himself from the rest of the crowd, to rest on a nearby bench. Sitting down was just what he needed. He kept his legs outstretched to ease the pain and rested for a while, watching the crowd moving before him. It was so… Surreal. All those people used to be ice statues two days ago… And now they were walking just in front of him, as if nothing had ever happened! Which, in a way, was the case because of that time travel problem? He wasn't an expert, that was more the kid's forte rather than his.

Speaking about the said kid, he looked at his surroundings. He had followed the crowd, hoping it would lead him somewhere he would recognize… But it only lead him where he was now. Was he close or far from the square? He had no idea. The place looked familiar, yes, but everything did. The spirit used to live there after all. However, his memories were fuzzy and with all the people walking and talking around him… Thinking was difficult. He could feel a migraine coming with just the loud noise of chattering.

"Oh no, not again." Feeling physical pain really was something he wouldn't miss, along with his stay in Subcon Manor. He shut his eyes, trying to ignore everything, in vain. All his senses were attentive, trying to catch any information they could get. His sense of touch could feel the draught of people passing right next to him, the heat produced by their fleshy body, the bench under him, the rays of sunshine on his face… His sense of smell caught many sents, not all of them enjoyable to him. He wrinkled his nose in displeasure, trying to focus on something else, anything. Finally, there was his sense of hearing: he could overhear people talking to each other, the sound of carts passing near him, rapid steps from children, their high laughter bothering him quite a lot… However, another noise caught his attention. It was… Water? Water being splashed not far from where he was?

He knew that sound. He had heard it before, he was sure of it. Snatcher stood up mindlessly, as vivid pictures appeared in his mind: memories he had done everything to forget, flashbacks of this village and of its various parts, even unimportant details… Now he knew where he was. His legs had subconsciously taken him exactly where he was supposed to go.

Snatcher made several steps towards the sound, pushing people out of his way as he passed the next building. His eyes fell on the one thing he was searching for: the village square. It was a place full of people, with several shops on the side. On the centre was a pond, from which came out a pole. The kingdom flag was attached to it and fluttered with the wind. The pond was surrounded by a wooden fence, opened on his side of the square. Kids were playing in the water, splashing each other while giggling stupidly. The shade looked at them, hoping to find the brat he was supposed to meet among them. However, even if he couldn't see their face because of their masks, he knew she wasn't among them.

That's when he realized something: how would she be able to recognize him? He was back in his old human body, in a time period where her grandmother wasn't even born yet!

With sudden fear, he took the drawing out of his pocket in order to look at it. His eyes widened when they fell on his representation: she had drawn him just like he used to look with his spectral form, not like his human one. She had no idea of what he looked like now. What if she was waiting for his ghost version to show up? If the kid was hiding, trying to find him first… Then she simply wouldn't. What should he do in that case? What if he never found her at all? Or what if-

However, before his mind could find any other possible worst-case scenario, he was hit by something in the head.

-"Ouch!" He brought his hand to his head to rub the painful spot. Something fell right next to him and he lowered his eyes to examine it. It was a pebble, next to his shoes. He rose his eyebrows: did someone just-

As he was about to look up in order to find whoever hit him, he felt another bump on his hood, missing his head by very little. Alright, that was it. Someone had just signed their death warrant. The ghost lifted his hands, ready to strike anyone in range with his powers, but quickly put them down. No powers left, how could he have forgotten… Still, his eyes inspected the crowd, searching for the stupid person who had tried to mess with him. He looked, and looked, and looked, before staring at a particular mask visible among the mass. This one looked different than the others… While the latter looked like foxes or pink rabbit masks, this one was dark green and had some sorts of long antlers on the top of it. It is only when Snatcher looked a little lower that he saw the yellow cape and purple dress that he was searching for so much.

It was her! It was the kid! She was staring at him behind the wooden fence and waved at him.

The ghost remained motionless. Did she know it was him? But how? She did throw pebbles at him to draw his attention, though the spirit had no idea how she had guessed it was him, from all the people walking around them.

Before he was able to think more, the masked child walked backwards and gestured him to follow her, while maintaining eye contact. Or, well, Snatcher supposed she did, as the mask prevented him from seeing her face. The shade moved towards her, not wanting to lose her among all those people. He did wince from the pain, but it was nothing new at that point. He forced himself to focus on what was important rather than that and tried to follow her through the crowd. He had to push several persons aside, lowering his head not to be seen as he walked close to others. Keeping up with the little girl from the corner of his vision, he quickened his pace. Where was she taking him? Wouldn't it be easier to take him with her onto her spaceship, by teleporting them away or whatever method she used? Why was she trying to take him somewhere else?

They finally stepped out of the mass of people and Snatcher saw the kid entering a dark alley, far from the main square. She wanted discretion? He could do that, though, was it necessary since everything was to be erased in the end? Well, time travel wasn't his strong point, maybe he got it all wrong.

He entered the alley a few seconds after her. He could see her a few steps away from him, having finally stopped walking away. Just as he was about to call out to her, she took off her mask and replaced it with her usual top-hat, before giving him a bright and happy smile:

-"Snatcher!" The ghost didn't get the time to reply, as the hat-wearing child pounced on him, hugging him tight in her little arms. The sudden contact made Snatcher's body freeze instantly, as sensations submerged him. The impact caused the pain in his legs and hand to intensify and he bit his lower lip not to make any sound. A few seconds passed before he was able to push the brat away, purposely ignoring her pout, as he tried to regain his composure.

-"Yeah, yeah, kiddo, hello to you too, I got that." He dusted his tunic with brief gestures and looked back at the child, whose eyes were still fixed on him. God, it felt so good to finally act like himself and not like that dumb prince he used to be!

-"Next time you want to call me, just come instead of throwing rocks at me, or something." he groaned, still feeling the throbbing ache on his head from the previous hit. The kid simply giggled at him, with that awfully annoying laughter of hers.

-"Sorry, I wanted to be discreet. But it worked, didn't it?" The mischievous expression painted on her face was enough to tell the shade she didn't regret it in the least.

-"You're lucky I don't have my powers anymore, kid, you're playing with fire here." He stopped, thinking about what had been on his mind since the moment he arrived at the village square: "By the way, how did you know it was me?" He asked in a wary tone before adding: "You drew me in my spectral form in your meetup message, so how did you recognize me?"

His questions seemed to put the child ill-at-ease immediately, as her smile fell the instant she heard his words. Her posture shifted in clear awkwardness, as she hunched her shoulders, looking at everything but the shade:

-"Hum… Well I was waiting for you and… I saw you from afar looking at my drawing, so I supposed it was you?" Her tone was unsure, clear signal that she was either lying or, at the very least, hiding something from him. And the ghost really didn't like being lied to, especially after all he had to endure to come here: there were limits to his patience.

-"Oh yeah, so you just threw a rock at someone you didn't know, just in case it would be me? Because I was looking at something you couldn't see from where you stood? Even if I could have been looking at any other paper?" He stared at her, unimpressed. He had dealt with many liars through his life as a ghost, with most of his contractors and everything, so he just knew when someone wasn't telling him the truth.

-"Yes? Well, it was you, so why-"

The ghost cut her short, making her cower even more:

-"You're lying to me." He came closer and stoop menacingly upon her, using his lowest voice: "I don't like that. So let's try again: how. Did you know. It was me."

The child remained silent for a few seconds, definitely tensed and uncomfortable. In any other situation, the kid would have laughed at him, not taking his threats seriously. But now, she was trying to avoid his stare as much as possible. She was hiding something, the ghost was sure of it. The girl shifted a little, as if she didn't know what to do with herself. Eventually, she opened her mouth again, speaking with an anxious tone:

-"Okay, uh… Do you know what Time Rifts are?"

The spirit looked at the kid, as confusion slowly replaced anger on his face:

-"No? You're the Mrs Know-it-all regarding time travel stuff here, not me.

-Well…" She paused for a moment, looking for words: "So, they are caused by broken Time Pieces. They're like… Tears in reality, leading to alternate dimensions, where you can interact with things, mostly and…

-Get to the point, kiddo!

-I'm trying to!" She protested, not liking to be interrupted: "The thing is… While most of them are pretty standard, some are… Different." She answered, her eyes avoiding his once again.

-"What do you mean, 'different'?"

The question made the child cower more, as she muttered her answer hastily:

-"They're linked to people's memories."

The shade stared at her, not knowing what she meant at first. However, his mind quickly connected the dots, between her explanations and the way she was behaving in front of him… She knew. His eyes widened at the realization and he felt a weight settling on his shoulders.

-"How long did you know?" The question left his lips as his mind was trying to process what he had just been told. In front of him, the child was rubbing her hands together in nervousness.

-"A while…?" She finally found the courage to look at him after replying. The shade didn't know what to think. He had never told his past to anyone and the only person knowing about it was Vanessa herself. The thought of anyone other than himself knowing about it made him… Terribly ill at ease. It was as if a dark part of him had been revealed, for everyone to see. This past was something he had tried to hide for so long… And now someone knew and had even known about it for a while.

The ghost really didn't know what to think.

-"Snatcher?" The girl's quiet voice brought him back to reality. Her face was full of something akin to sadness and pity. The spirit didn't like that. He clenched his teeth and, for once, was the one to look away this time.

-"I don't need your pity." He said with a low voice. Why did someone have to know? And why the kid of all people? Why did it bother him that much? The ghost eventually shook his head. Well, it was too late to do anything about it, now that she knew. His face softened as he looked at her once again:

-"Sorry you got to see that." Just having flashes of his last moments made him feel terrible. The child probably hadn't known how to bring the subject, no wonder she felt bad about telling him now. Silence settled between them, as no one dared to speak after that for a few seconds.

Snatcher was the one to break the silence, as he realized something else:

-"Wait, those Time Rifts… I think I saw two of them!" He remembered the one in the forest, just like the one which had appeared in his room. The kid's message had actually come through it apparently. Did she know about them?

The child seemed to guess his thoughts, as she replied, visibly relieved to change the subject of the conversation:

-"Actually, those were because of me." She explained, before continuing: "I was trying to find time anomalies and that's how I learnt you were here too. But it kind of messed up some things in the process… That's why they appeared. They didn't lead anywhere though, they were only minor. I also used the last one to send you my message since, like I said, I managed to find your location thanks to the information I got from the time anomalies.

-'Time anomalies'?" He repeated.

-"Well…" She paused, as if she was trying to find simple words to explain something very complex. Which was most likely the case: "I was trying to understand what was happening. It's very… Unique. It's something I have never seen before and I only know this kind of situation through some theories I heard about.

-So… Are you telling me you can't reverse it?" Dread settled over the ghost, as his biggest fear was starting to come true. This couldn't be happening, this simply couldn't be happening… His body was tensing up and his breathing was getting faster, just like his heartbeat. He couldn't help but pray for the kid to tell him she was able to reverse everything, as if nothing had ever happened. Though, when he saw the hat-wearing child wince, his heart sank in his chest.

She couldn't reverse it. Her stance was enough of an answer to the ghost.

-"It's not that I can't…" She started, hesitant, before being interrupted by Snatcher's angry tone:

-"Then what? What's the problem?" He lifted his arms, frustrated: "I've been stuck in this place, meeting people who are supposed to be dead, and you're telling me you can't bring us back?"

The kid put her hands on her face and took a deep breath, now frustrated as well:

-"Stop interrupting me!" She groaned in her palms in exasperation: "I can take us back! But it's complicated!

-And what exactly is complicated, here? Can't you just take us into your spaceship and reverse it by whatever means you've got there? I thought you were an expert on time travel stuff!

-I am, ugh!" she retorted, still grunting for a few seconds: "But it's not a time travel problem! That's why it's complicated!"

The shade looked at her, bewildered. "Not a time travel problem"? What did the kid mean by that? How could this not be a time travel problem? His confusion must have shown in his features, as the child slowly lowered her hands to meet his stare. She sighed and continued her explication, conscious of the ghost's wish to understand what she meant:

-"At first, I thought someone had broken a Time Piece. But the thing is… No one actually broke one."

No one had broken a Time Piece? What was she saying?

-"Then why are we here? Didn't we travel back in time or something?

-We didn't. That's the problem. We're not in the past: we're only in an imitation of the past.

-An… Imitation?"

The spirit couldn't be more confused at the kid's explanation. And, deep inside him, a new fear was starting to appear: the fear of being in a situation much stranger and harder to solve than what he first anticipated.

The kid nodded:

-"We're in a Time Rift. And it's not an ordinary one, it's artificial. Someone made it from scratch using one of my Time Pieces."

Snatcher's body froze, as his mind was slowly starting to understand what the kid was trying to say.

-"You mean… Someone has recreated this?" He gestured to their surroundings in bewilderment.

-"Yeah. They didn't break a Time Piece to get back in time, they used it to create a replica of the past, for some reason I don't understand. I'm not even sure how it's possible in the first place…" She crossed her arms, clearly dissatisfied by her own ignorance.

Snatcher's confusion had reached his height. What? Why would anyone create an artificial past when they had the opportunity to actually go back in time? It didn't make any sense! But what bothered him the most was that he knew who the person responsible was: Vanessa. It could only be her! She remembered things just like he did! There was no way she was innocent in this. But then again… Why would she create an alternate dimension when she could have gone back in time to erase everything bad from their past? Not only was it extremely illogical but it was strange, considering all the possible powers held by one single Time Piece.

None of this made sense to the spirit.

The child must have sensed his distress, as she extended her small hand to him:

-"I'll be able to explain more back on my ship. I'll show you what I've discovered until now."

The ghost looked at the little hand that was offered to him. The situation had really changed for the worst, hadn't it? He sighed and slowly gave his hand to her. When his left one touched hers, the child's eyes drifted to his other hand, still painful from the frostbite:

-"Wait, what happened to your hand?" She asked, frowning. She let go of his left hand to grab his right one, not thinking about the pain it would cause to the shade.

-"Ouch, ouch, ouch, hands off, kiddo!" He tried to take it back, but the brat kept a tight grip on his skin, forcing him to give up his resistance. She examined it, inspecting it very carefully. Suddenly, a horrified look appeared on her face as she seemed to understand what, or more precisely who, was the cause of that injury.

-"It's her, isn't it?" She asked, with a knowing expression painted on her features. The shade only stared at his wound with a conflicted look, both sad and dismissive at the same time.

-"Yeah. She knows what's happening too."

The kid winced again. The situation was probably worse than what she had thought as well. She eventually let go of his hand and extended her arm instead for him to take.

-"Let's go on my ship. I know how to cure this.

-You do?" He retorted, quite wary. He had seen what her spaceship looked like and it certainly didn't belong to someone who knew how to take care of themselves. The brat guessed his thoughts and replied with an offended voice:

-"Hey, you were the one who forced me to go to Subcon Manor! I had to cure my own frostbites. Though, they looked better than yours does."

He scoffed: oh yeah, he had forgotten about this contract. Well, at least it was a good thing for him now, as she knew how to cure that. Or he hoped she really did, as the pain was starting to become more than just unpleasant, at this point.

He finally extended his own arm, standing next to her, arm in arm.

-"Okay. Now what?"

She simply smiled at him and clicked her fingers. A beam of light appeared instantly and surrounded them very briefly. Snatcher then felt his body being transported in a way he absolutely hated, as if it was moving fast, too fast.

He was so going to kill this kid. But not before she got them back in their own time period.