Everything.

Hurts.

Was a massive understatement as Snatcher slowly regained consciousness. He didn't recall being in pain before or being in this much pain in his afterlife. A groan of pain tore out from him as he slowly shifted his body, moving his arms under him and pushing himself upright. It could have gone better if his head didn't feel like bricks.

"peck… what happened?" He slowly opened his eyes, rubbing his head to ease away some of his pain. It was then that he realized how stiff he felt. He could feel his arms were slow and sluggish, even his back felt oddly stiff. This wasn't normal on the account that for one, he was a ghost, and two, he normally didn't feel pain. He inflicted pain on others, not the other way around.

He glanced at his arms and… whoa.

His whole arm was covered in injuries. In his experience over the years, not a lot of things could harm him. Not since he figured out that he could deny himself from turning blue. But the few things that could were rare items with magically properties and maybe another powerful ghost. He had at one time wondered what his insides looked, curiosity getting the better of him to know his new form back then.

So, maybe it was a bit alarming to see open wounds on his limbs. And since he was a ghost and didn't have normal standings like a living being, it only made sense that his wounds too were of unnatural standers. Tears of glowing blue shined out of his wounds, blood of neon green dripped out with tendrils of dark sparking ghostly matter, the edges of his open cuts emanated with purple wisps that were working hard to repairing the damage done to him.

He had a feeling that the rest of him didn't look so good. Which was true when he looked down at himself and found more open wounds, along with a major slash on his chest with multiple holes in his whole body.

"…Peck." He cursed, poking his major wound and winced in pain. That wound alone would take days to heal properly. Never mind his arms or the slamming headache he felt, this one was going to last the longest out of all of them! All his power was going to focus on healing him and that only left him with basically nothing. He couldn't do anything without his power and he relied it on everything to do, well, WHATEVER HE WANTED!

Snatcher growled. Whoever had done this to him was in for a world of pain.

"Can this day get any worse?" He bothered asking himself, flexing his fingers. Good news was that his fingers still worked, bad news was that this day could get worse if someone decided to show up in his forest right now when he was at his weakest. He could send his minions out to scare poor unsuspecting fools and chase them around till he managed to get a decent amount of his power back.

But then again the minions weren't all that scary. Not even a toddler would be afraid of them! He would just have to scare them out himself until he could make contracts again. Which was a big waste of free labor on his part.

He sighed heavily. This was going smoothly. Whoever had done this to him really knew how to mess with him. Though, some part of him felt like he was forgetting something. Something… important. It was a nagging feeling that was growing worse by the minute. Even more than his headache.

"Why does it feel like I forgot something?" He hissed, slowly easing his body to float, leaning against a tree for support as he did. He tried thinking to his earliest memories. It was a bit of a foggy haze. Anything he tried to remember was met by a blockade of deep mist and fog. "This is getting old real fast."

Back to his full height, he took a chance to look around. Everything seemed normal enough. Trees, night sky, dark foreboding woods. Though there weren't any spiders nearby. Shame. He would have loved to squish one of those buggers between his fingers and pretend they were screaming for mercy. Whatever.

First things first. He had to find out what happened first and then figure out what to do then. "Don't suppose I still have enough energy to fly or teleport around yet." He looked around, looking at the trees for anything. He wasn't going to float around and look like some sort of petty weakling. He was still the king and he had his dignity to maintain. Though… the trees did give him an idea.

In life he had a certain fondness for snakes. They were scaly, limbless, and had the most intriguing head shape. He had always pretended to slither about, hissing and tasting the air with his tongue. Poor maids were spooked out of their clothes when he showed them any snake he found in the garden, though they would always try to warn him that any snake he found could by deadly.

Too bad for them that he had studied up on snakes and knew that not all snakes had venom. Digging his claws into the tree, he slowly started to climb upwards, wrapping around the tree's thick trunk, and using his whole body to support himself and secure a tight hold so he wouldn't fall as he went higher up. It was lucky that this tree had plenty of limbs on top that could support him once he reached nearly the end. He had a prefect view up above, and the canopy of foliage provided cover for him.

Not that he would need it. He had nothing to fear of his own forest. Now, where was his small little village at? He started off in what he thought was the right direction, slithering against tree branches and going to the next tree. Branch after branch to get through the trees was an easier way to get around, but there were a few snags to his plan. One was being that not all trees were in close proximity of each other and their branches didn't always reach out.

"Still better than floating like a fool." Snatcher mussed to himself, looking for the next tree to get to. Before he could move any further, his senses picked up something. Something fast approaching. Coiling around the tree and making himself blend in with the foliage, he watched the ground far down below him.

To his surprise, a pair of knights riding on horses came to a stop just below him. One of the pair was holding a torch, lighting up the small area and giving him a chance to see the pair in their bright shining armor. Their steeds were also covered in armor, from their heads down to their legs. They looked ready for battle, though he didn't understand why. Armor and horse riding knights died out years ago. Who would be stupid enough to get this dressed up in a dead era get up?

"Nothing around here sir. Is this the place that the villagers saw the light?" One of them spoke, though it was hard to tell which of them did. Helmets were a real bother.

"I'm not sure. That light could have come from somewhere deep inside the forest. Be on the lookout for anything out of place." Out of place? Snatcher frowned deeply. The only thing out of place in this forest were a pair of idiots dressed up as knights riding their dumb horses through his forest acting like they owned the pecking place!

They were acting like the—

The…

He blinked. The… what? What was he just thinking about?

"Do you think it might be an enemy attack sir?" Snatcher snapped out of his thoughts, gazing back on the knights.

"Maybe. Could be some sort of trick to lure the guards away from the mansion and set up a sneaky attack. Too bad for them that they probably don't expect that most of the guards are still back at the mansion. No one's going to be attacking our kingdom with our guard down. We've got all side secured."

Oh yeah? Have you tried looking up for attacks? Snatcher bitterly thought as the pair looked around down below. They were starting the get on his nerves. What village? What mansion? There was only one of each of those, and one of them was a death sentence to an icy grave.

"Still, we better make this a quick search. The queen won't be happy if anything messes with the ball."

"Certainly. The Princess Vanessa had planned this ball for some time and the guests have already started arriving at the mansion. Let's search around deeper. Don't want to stir up any panic for the village to worry about."

Snatcher glared as the pair rode off deeper into the woods. "Pfft. Pesky beings." He huffed once the light of the torch disappeared into the darkness. "Coming into my home. Acting like they own MY forest." He extended his body out, keeping the base of his body wrapped around the tree as he glared in the direction they went.

"And what was with the get up? No one dresses like tin cans anymore. That fashion line died out years ago." He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms against his chest. "Oh. Look at me! I'm a big brave knight on a might steed here to serve my kingdom and protect it from danger. GET A LIFE!" Snatcher growled, turning his back and looked to the direction the so called knights had come from.

"Now why were they talking about my village like it was some helpless settlement? Ghosts don't need protection from attackers. They're already dead!" He scratched his chin, thinking deeply. "And what's this about a ball and mansion? There's only one mansion and it's certainly not fit for a ball. Especially if it was planned by V—"

He froze. Slowly it started to dawn on him as his mind processed what he had heard not two minutes ago. "V… V… V-V-V-V-VANESSA?!" He screamed, clutching his head in fear as his eyes widened in impossible circumstances. Unfortunately, thanks to his sudden realization, he forgot about his grip on the tree. And how high up he was.

It was very painful to land face first on the ground, especially since it jolted his wounds. But at least no one was around to see it happen. He would never be able to deal with the humiliation.

"V-Vanessa?! Surely they-ow, they didn't mean th-that Vanessa?!" He was immensely panicking, picking himself off of the ground. He hadn't noticed before, but now that he was closer to the ground, he could see green grass covering the earth. Green and living grass. He looked up at the trees he was in just seconds ago and, yep, they too were alive and healthy. Living. Normal trees.

Not dead trees with bark as black as night. Not limbs of sharp branches that twisted and looked that could grab out from high above. Not dead old oaks that had nooses hanging from them waiting for an unfortunate soul to hang themselves with. Not the normal spooky Subcon Forest trees that he lived in for hundreds of years with. But living, growing, healthy green leaved tress that stretched to the sky high up in the air.

"W-wait, what happened to my trees?! What happened to my dead purple ground?! What happened to my night sky?!" Panic was over coming him as he took in the new surroundings carefully. "Where's the nooses?! The spiders?! The crows?! My—" He froze as a sudden deep feeling of dread came over him. "… My minions. My Dwellers." His hands slowly went up to his face, covering his mouth with one hands and gripping his mane with the other. "My subjects…"

Now that he was aware of the changes to his forest, he realized the lack of his ghostly subjects anywhere. He couldn't sense any of his subjects. No minions. No Dwellers. No Fire Spirits. All of them were gone.

"No no no no no no no this CAN'T be happening!" Snatcher clutched his head tightly, his entire form shaking in despair as the reality of it all started setting in on him. How could have this happened?! There was no way all his subjects had vanished! It was impossible!

"O-okay. Calm down old b-boy. Take it easy." He tried calming himself down, feeling himself riling up wasn't going to help him. "Okay. Think. Think think think. You woke up wounded. You're in your forest yet… not in your forest." He looked around, having a slight hope that something in the trees would give him an answer. "You know this is Subcon because it's the largest forest on the planet. You don't know how this happened and you can't remember how you got here. Apparently, Princess Vanessa followed you here and… wait." He paused, thinking back to the knights' conversation with each other.

"Princess. They said princess. Not queen." Gears started turning in his head. He knew for a fact that Vanessa was crowned queen after her mother's accident, a week before he was off to Law school to study practices of law. Before all that, she was just the Queen's daughter, a princess to the throne. But, that was years ago when he was still alive. Surly this was just a bad dream right? Just a bad coincidence of names mixed around right?

"But if that's the case." He looked into the direction the knights came from. "What's this ball got to do with anything?" He hummed, climbing back up the tree and headed off with a new purpose to deal with.

He arrived much faster than he had anticipated. What he arrived to was not what he had been expecting. A small village, with buildings, shops, and completely intact! There wasn't even a single abandoned building in this place!

"How on earth can this place be so dull?" Snatcher asked himself, jumping rooftop to rooftop since there were no trees to climb. "There's no broken holes, or toppled buildings, or even a house fire!" Huffing, he came to the last building on the outer line of the small village, just close enough to a familiar normal looking mansion just beyond a tall brick wall.

"Well this is certainly something new." He mused, climbing down the building and slinking up and over the wall. "Or more accurately, something old." He gazed at this familiar ground, feeling a nauseating déjà vu at the mansion laid out before him. "This feels like a bad trip down memory lane." He muttered darkly to himself, slinking up the building as he kept to the darkness.

He didn't want to be seen and stir up a panic. That would be bad in a lot of cases. Besides, he didn't know what would happen if someone caught sight of him. Would they hurt him? Scream? Run away? Send out a panic? Maybe. Probably. But he wasn't going to risk it. Not yet. He needed intel first. And without his minions, he had to do it himself.

Laughter reached his ears, and he looked up at the windows he was crawling under. He could hear fancy music, happy voices, giggles of mirth and laughter coming from within the mansion. It was sickening how this place once was back in his kingdom. It was so sickening that it was getting on his nerves a whole lot and making his insides turn with disgust. Finding a gap between the windows, he climbed up onto the rooftop where the noise was less droning on his eardrums.

"Oooiiii. This has to be a bad dream." He rubbed his eyes, laying on roof like a cat. "I don't even have a clue what's going on." He looked at his arm, flexing his fingers. "Or who did this to me." He sighed, dropping the appendage. "I better get something that clears up this mess soon."

He started climbing to the back of the mansion where most balls were held. How did he know this? Because the front area of the mansion was too small to hold a ball and the back area of this place was bigger.

Peering down and finding a window, he gazed inside. The ball was in full swing. Guests were dancing away to the music, people were mingling with each other, fine wine was being served, the refreshment table was stocked with the best food, and the ball room was in perfect style and condition.

It was sickeningly, disgustingly, over the top, no question about it, TERRIBLE!

It all looked so familiar yet he couldn't be sure if what he was seeing was real! And the way those people acted so happy! Ugh! He just wanted to go in there and pop their little heads off after the last guy—

"Stop it!" Snatcher hissed, holding his head and giving it a good shake. That nagging feeling was back. Stronger than before. "I'll deal with it later! I need to focus right now." He looked back into the ball room. There was something here that he was missing. Something that could help him figure out what was going on.

"May we have your attention please!" He blinked, gazing towards the grand staircase at the back of the ballroom. An old butler stood at the base that Snatcher could help but feel like he knew him somewhere. "It's with great honor to announce the lady and lord of honor of tonight's hosts! Presenting Lady Vanessa! The queen's daughter and heir to the throne!"

The room erupted into applauds, though Snatcher was horrified as a young blond wearing a strikingly similar green dress walked down the stairs and it can't be her it can't be her it can't be her it can't be her it can't be her it can't be her IT CAN'T BE HER IT CAN'T BE HER—

"I would like to personally thank you all for attending tonight's ball this fine evening." It felt like a punch to the face when HER voice rang out, and oh NIGHTMARES! IT WAS HER! Wait, if that was her then that meant—

"And introducing the young mistresses lover!" Snatcher pressed his face to the window, hoping that this was some sick game. "I present the young Prince, heir to the village Silverflower, Prince—"

Everything went in slow motion as everyone looked to the top of the staircase. If Snatcher had a heart, it would have missed a lot of beats as a young man. "… no…" Tall. "no." Regal dressing. "no." Coconut hair. "No." Red familiar coat. "No." Strikingly handsome features. "No!" And a crown worn on top of his head. "NO!"

"Hafez!" The crowd once again erupted into applauds as the prince, Prince Hafez, Prince once himself but now not only now he was but still wasn't and what WAS GOING ON?!, descended the stairs next to No! Nightmares no! Not her! It really can't be her! Vanessa. The Prince himself but not himself smiled, bowing to the crowd before turning to Vanessa, extending one hand. She smiled and placed her own hand in his own and he placed a gentle kiss on it—

"GAK!" Snatcher clutched his chest, falling backwards to the ground again. Once his senses were somewhat stable, he quickly took off to the woods, jumping up into a tree and went as fast as he could to get away from what he just saw.

"WHAT THE PECK IS GOING ON?!" He roared, his mind going overboard with the sudden new information and scene he just saw. Seeing himself, but not himself. Seeing Vanessa but not Vanessa Vanessa. Seeing the town that was supposed to be frozen in ice in mint condition.

The trees ran out and Snatcher fell to the ground again, but he got up and climbed a new tree. This didn't make any sense! All of this! The trees! The ground! The sky! The village! The mansion! Vanessa! Himself! They shouldn't even be here! What was going on?!

The trees ran out again and this time when he fell to the ground, he didn't bother getting up.

He couldn't.

Not after seeing that and running away.

His energy just seemed to vanish, just like his minions.

No, they didn't vanish.

They weren't his minions yet.

They were still alive, frolicking in their little homes, enjoying the warmth of family and a warm bed.

"what is going on?" Snatcher moaned, laying on the ground like a broken manikin. If he could cry, which he wouldn't mind you he still had some dignity left, there would be puddles under his crippled pathetic form. His life, no, his KINGDOM was gone! All of it! His spooky forest. His minions. All of it was gone.

Now there was Vanessa and him not him back at the mansion and oh he could see it in their eyes and tell that they were in LOVE! The same emotion that ruined him and turned him into THIS! How?! Their little 'thing' ended when she put him in chains and left him to rot in the dungeon. But they were still clearly in LOVE! But it wasn't possible! He didn't love her! His old self did once, but not now!

"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED TO ME?!" Snatcher wailed, dragging himself over to a tree and started to dig his claws into the bark. "Has the universe betrayed me?! Does the world find my pain funny?! What did I ever do—besides taking a few hundred souls in my time—to ever deserve this?! What did I ever do?!" He pounded his fists at the tree, openly yelling like a small kid he once was when he didn't understand why mother was lowered to the ground six feet under.

Snatcher turned his gaze to the stars on the clear night sky. "What happened to my forest?" He sighed deeply, hanging his head low and hitting it against the tree. He looked up and… wait.

He backed up a bit, looking at the claw marks he left in the wood. They were only just that, claw marks, but there was a certain placement with a couple of them that looked… oddly familiar to him. It wasn't special, it was just an X shape with lines at the top and bottom. It oddly looked just like an hourgl—

It hit him.

Snatcher gasped as memories flashed before his eyes. The fight. The battle. The kid in danger of dying. That stupid blue corpse. A Timepiece. Going into an uncontrollable rage. Winning. Saving the kid. The Timepiece smashing beside them and—

Oh PECK!

Snatcher shot up, climbing up the tree with great speed that he never knew he had before without his teleportation, reaching the top and looked around. He wasn't in a nightmare. He went back in time! Back before Subcon was his ghostly domain. Back before he was dead! Back before Vanessa was crowned queen and the whole misunderstanding of the flowers had went down and he was chained up forever in that dark cold dungeon never to see the light ever again.

But that wasn't what set him into a panic as he looked about wildly, his eyes scanning the forest for something far more important than what he could ever know. The Timepiece smashed near him, but it didn't just take him with it. There was one more passenger who was missing when he woke up in his forest of the past. A passenger who he had forgotten up to this point now that his mind was clear and the clues were left about. The one person who probably knew time traveling better than he ever would in five lifetimes.

The same person he promised to bring back alive when he went to check up on them and found a hanged minion against the wall with a doll wrapped around their neck and a note pinned to their body.

"KIDDO!"