#ahit forget forest

[milk-box-16]

thunder and fire

[forget-forest-ahit]

Is Blade familiar with a certain purple noodle?

And what was it like when everyone was alive?

I need da lore >:3

Blade was the only maid of the manor due to a contract she made with Vanessa's mother, which would to be the personal maid of the couple (Vanessa and the prince) There she meets the prince when he lost a book, she helped him and they both became friends (Also the maid forms a small crush on the prince-), Vanessa didn't like this at all so she made a new rule that the maid should not approach her prince, and that it only served for her and only her no more She also meets the Knights during her work hours, they helped her carry things and from there they also became friends and very close to her

And as for Blue, that would be another story :)

What a a cute family, I hope nothing bad happen to them-

[miasmaclockworks]

Inhale (killk me)

kinito pet au ideas (all mine now)

Pirate au, swap/opposite au, frenzy au, beach vally au, valentines au, broken computer virus (BCV) au, house care au, real virus au, mimic au, best friend au, candyland au, light's out au, time traveler au, steam punk au, ghost au, phasmophobia au, dragon barrier au, librarian au, magical forest au, fruit au, fruit au, furry au, sailor moon au, pride au, obsessed au, ice cream au, midnight starlight au, AHIT au, star collector au, broken heart au, rejected friend au, accepted friend au, Poppy Playtime au, Five Nights At Freddys au, Warrior cats au, Midnight driver, killer au, prince of the night au, pool swimmer, Magical boy au, Critical au, Escape room au, god au, AU god au, Au hunter AU, scream au, Mii au, plane crash au, pilot au, mc donalds worker au, driver au, smile tapes au, nightmare au, night gamer au, artist au, over eater au, roblox au, creator au, caseoh au, wii au, wand au, childhood friend au, possessed au, apple core au, string worm au, drunkie au, caretaker au, love maniac au, drier au, washing machine au, Im a pretty princess au, venting au, among us au, gentle man au, Youtuber au, Actual axolotl au, you are what you eat au, mince meat butcher au, butcher au, doxxed au, sally the witch au, autistic au, ADHD au, Autistic and ADHD au, Motherborn au, alien au, Mother Mother au, soul au, dragon born au, vampire au, vampire hunter au, it was all just a dream? au, sunshine au, digital circus au, clockwork au, gymnastics au, rainbow factory au, twisted and turned au, patchworks au, unseen au, joker au, minimum wage worker au, skinwalker au, kinito darling au, forever and ever, everlasting pain, story teller au, time teller au, zoo keeper au, smiling critter au, truth be told au, rizzler au, farmer au, anthro au, Digital pop up au, backfired au, chef au, cuphead au, BABQFTIM au, carnival au, internet explorer au, kidnapper au, robber au, parental figure au, parent au, father au, apple picker au, trans au, siren au, mermaid au, cloud critters, monster energy au, emo au, goth au, alt goth, prince au, princess au, priest au, reality au, Epic the musical au, bass voice au, prince of the sea au, stranger au, never used au, stranger things au, abandoned au, hazbin hotel au, lemon and lime au, softie au, grunge au, sugar crush au, rainbow friends au, block break friends au, sugar crush au, sweet tooth au, undertale au, heartless au, toxic au, waist au, epic au, error au, fresh au, reaper au, horror au, other sans aus, medical au, high school au, ruby and max au, little horrors au, planter au, plant au, crystal au, glass crystal au, rockstar au, ancient Greek au, mario au, shroomba au, sonic the hedgehog au, snowday au, cave monster au, dinosaur au, game show hoster au, lunar moon au, bloodmoon au, eclipse au, sundrop au, moondrop au, dignity au, angels gaurd au, demons gaurd au, king of hell, king of the sea au, mother nature au, king of the land, landlord au, your boyfriend au, planetary au, leopard gecko au, leopard au, train conductor au, mountain lion au, polar bear au, Mad Scientist au, don't die au, raindrops au, seraph au, always watching au, teacher au, birthday party au, husk au, royal au, gummy bear au, cannibal au, discord au, My little pony au, bumblebee au, cat au, animal au, sweet treat au, warzone au, warframe au, roblox au, unicorn au, factory worker au, you au, dihedra au, pee au, every au I forget, Deleted forever au (not really), sleep tight au, Fire borne, dragon au, mythical animals au, goodbye friend, rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles au, Replicate au, smartie pants au, femboy au, backrooms au, gurlie au, too silly au, silly au, TADC au, lovesick au, grand master au, crazy au, lab monster au, (insert every animal here) au, Monster under your bed au, sloozy au, nightmare monster au, aroace king au, your imagination au, salamander au, desktop pet au, ukagaka au, he knows what you are au, roller blades au, you can run but you can't hide au, poison rain au, dementia au, mr worldwide mr 305 au, anime au, welcome home au, Yume Nikki au, gacha life au, gacha club au, Battle blocks au,

[rhys-ravenfeather]

Mustache Girl, seeing Hat Kid for the first time: OMG, little kid? Cute little girl? Hey, she could be a good little sister sidekick!

Hat Kid: *Refuses to give Mustache Girl her Time Pieces*

Mustache Girl: Never mind, she’s a selfish little brat and I hate her.

[ratcandy]

Subcon Forest Analysis

Hi everyone I'm here to spill my aggressive overflowing thoughts on Subcon Forest and what it represents because it's been driving me insane since I finished the Sleepy Subcon time rift. Okay let's go. Obvious spoilers for AHIT ahead so proceed with caution.

This is also very, very long.

Disclaimer/warning: I will be discussing abusive/unhealthy relationships in this analysis. I mean. Vanessa. Come on. Also, there is a section on the nooses, and that delves, of course, into mentions of suicide. It will be sectioned off and easily skipped, but if you'd rather be safe and skip the entire post, that's completely understandable! Please stay safe. <3

Alright. Main point to be had here:

Subcon Forest is a giant extended metaphor for Snatcher's mind and character.

You all get to now listen to me spout nonsense about metaphors and symbolism because I'm a sucker for analysis and I'm given an opportunity to go ham. So perish.

The Ice

Let's start with the most obvious and most glaring thing in Subcon. The ice. It's everywhere. Not just outside Vanessa's manor, either; no, it's throughout the village, too. Shows up in the well and in random locations sprinkled about. When it comes to literal plot, we know that ice is just what lingers after Vanessa's wintery curse on Subcon. But going deeper and analyzing the meaning behind it?

Well, let's look at this from the perspective I've suggested. Subcon Forest being an extended metaphor for Snatcher's mind and character. A symbol for Vanessa then litters his mind, enough where it's certainly noticeable at first but blends in more easily once more of Subcon is unlocked to Hat Kid. This is clearly meant to be his lingering trauma, whether or not he wants to acknowledge it. Which he doesn't, as he never mentions it directly in his forest (that I can recall). Her influence plagues him, as to be expected with the traumatic experiences he went through with her. Breaking the ice is something Hat Kid must do in order to fulfill the wishes of the Fire Spirits (another subject I'll get into shortly), which, if self-indulgently playing with the found family idea, could mean that Hat Kid is helping him heal; if indirectly. Even if fulfilling the Fire Spirits' wish to die is... counterproductive, in that measure, which I'm now getting ahead of myself so hold on a sec!!

Vanessa. Ice. Everywhere. Traces of it all over his forest. That's the effects of an abusive relationship! Especially in a worst-case scenario where... yknow! One party in the relationship dies! So of course ice would be everywhere.

In and of itself, ice is a common symbol in literature and other forms of media. In this case, it's presented as an antagonistic force; emphasis is placed upon freezing and the harm that comes with it. The cold is unwelcoming, threatening, merciless. Snow can act as an insulating force, at least, but ice cannot. It can only make things colder.

A slight stretch: Seeing as this game deals a lot with time shenaniganry, I'm not sure if it'd be too out of left field to connect "freezing" with the theme of time. Yknow. Frozen in time. Both parties here, Snatcher and Vanessa, would be in this frozen state. One largely repressing it and never fully moving on, and the other doomed to her isolation ever since the event in question. They never moved past that moment after the Prince and florist's interaction.

The Fire Spirits (& the Portraits)

I'll put a slight warning here for suicidal ideation, if only because... it's the Fire Spirits we're talking about. It's not as grossly in-detail as the noose discussion will be, though, so make of that what you will.

To me, the Fire Spirits are a very interesting case. After all, they're fire. They're a direct contrast to the ice, thus being the only thing we're shown that could potentially melt it. The Fire Spirits, in my opinion, represent hope or a strength to continue. A strength to move on after troubles of the past.

...And that hope wants to die.

The Fire Spirits wish to burn out, to leave this mortal coil and abandon the forest to the cold. They make no effort to melt the ice, they simply dance, blissfully ignorant towards their surroundings. This being a metaphor for Snatcher's own hope for moving on is made all the more obvious by the fact he wants them gone. The first contract is to kill the Fire Spirits, to kill the hope. Perhaps he believes that sort of thing to be fruitless or naïve, so it only clutters his mind or has him foolishly optimistic at points. So, get rid of it. And the hope is happy to oblige.

(That, or their willingness to leave the forest to its own suffering and not aid in the ice's thaw angers him. Besides the whole "bark bark growl I can't get to parts of my forest because of them!!" which... also could represent a naïve hope clouding his judgement, not allowing him to see a bigger picture. But hope can't all be lost if one wants to move forward...)

A little side-tangent now on the portraits! And it's another slight stretch but the idea is in my head and I can't let it go. Portraits are another common symbol, usually being a physical representation of a memory or idea. For our purposes, let's say they're memories. I know in canon they appear to just hold souls captive or something but for now we're just Ignoring That(tm). The Fire Spirits have to burn the portraits to disappear. See where I'm going with this, maybe?

Instead of handling bad memories (or perhaps memories of the past in general) in any healthy manner, Snatcher chooses to forget/repress them, which just allows his hope to progressively die out.

I'm really hoping this is making sense because it makes a lot of sense to me but I might be insane rn

The Fact that this is a Forest

Forest symbolism breakdown! What's a forest usually mean in literature? "Traditionally, the forest has come to represent being lost, exploration and potential danger as well as mystery and 'other worldliness'." Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. That certainly works with the whole aesthetic we've got going on. Wood usually is life, growth and strength. But the trees of subcon are all dead. So what about that? It stands for death, big whoop, very spooky, we know Snatcher's dead and so are the children, yadda yadda wowie wowie. But. :) The trees in Subcon look a lot like trees that were scorched in a forest fire. Don't believe me?

(You could also argue they're just regular marsh/swamp trees bUT SSHHSUUHSH HANG ON HEAR ME OUT LOOK LOOK,)

What I believe to have happened was a controlled fire to rid the forest of the majority of its ice and snow. Likely done by Snatcher. It leaves behind a very desolate, depressing, barren scene... but. What else do dead/burnt trees symbolize? Rebirth. After all, controlled fires happen to make way for new trees to take the place of old ones. Some trees only drop seeds in fires/hot temperatures, so new ones take root and begin anew. Weird. It's almost like... I dunno. Snatcher was given some sorta second chance, given he's not just a corpse in Vanessa's cellar. So were the subconites. Another life given then by Snatcher. All connected I tell ya!!

Generally, aside from that, forests have many connotations. Mystery, isolation, claustrophobia; a place to dwell on regrets, or the past; to worry over one's future; to seek escape from or escape inside of... hmgmrnmm!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T / W -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Nooses

The t/w is given at the top and another cut-off point will follow the bottom of this, for those that would like to skip. This will delve into talk of suicide and abusive tactics used by abusers. Please don't read if it will upset you or make you feel unsafe!!!

Personally, I cannot stand the nooses, but that's just due to my own triggers. Were there a way to hide those from the game or replace the damned talking ones with anything else. I would take it. In a heartbeat. But I can still appreciate the potential analysis to be had with them. So now i'm gonna talk about it despite how uncomfortable it will make me to do so. yEa

So, what about 'em? There are three types of nooses seen in Subcon. At least that I remember but I didn't really go looking for them. Empty ones, ones containing empty subconites, and the talking ones.

Nooses in general obviously can hint towards suicidal thoughts or behaviors of the characters that interact with them. If saying Subcon is Snatcher's mind, it could suggest that he suffered from some sort of suicidal thoughts in life (or currently, if second death is possible... or if he never truly died... or maybe he's trying to figure that out...which has given me... a separate idea...uh oh). But. And hear me out. Different perspective.

A talking noose. I hate them with a fiery passion that is unmatched. But think of the packed symbolism of a noose that talks. And think more about what it says. "I wouldn't mind being strapped around a cute neck like yours." "Be careful now, I don't want to see you meet a miserable end anywhere, but with me." Oddly, a lot of what the noose says seems almost... endearing? One could argue it's a way of luring someone to put it around their necks, which in and of itself is a whole lot to unpack when it comes to suicidal thoughts beckoning one forward; painting itself as something romantic, almost. But. Here's a wild idea, now. What if the nooses, at least the talking ones, are another symbol for Vanessa?

They're tinted blue, after all. While Vanessa's scheme is more red, one could argue two things: One, ice. Blue. Ice. yeah. Or two, the fact that Snatcher's scheme is more purple. Blue and red... make... purple. So, for all we know, Snatcher's current state was a compound effort between suicidal thoughts and Vanessa's treatment of him. Perhaps he even found a way to put himself out of his misery before freezing/starving to death. (I know he has dialogue that argues against that, but... are we certain Snatcher would be the kind to admit suicide over freezing to death?... I don't think so.)

At any rate, a common threat by those in "control" of an abusive relationship is that of killing themselves should the other person not do as they desire. It's a cruel form of emotional manipulation to get their way, worse off if the other party is an empathetic individual. As a person who has been the empathetic individual in relationships like this... I would know. I've been here, unfortunately So, it's not completely out of the question to say Vanessa could've used some tactic like that, even before the whole... cellar ordeal. Did she? I dunno. I'm tossing ideas around. But if she did, the threats of such would sit around in the Prince's mind easily. Even if she has a reputation of not going through with it. It doesn't matter. That shit sticks with you forever, that scare, the potential of it ever being true, is horrifying and it ruins you. I'm projecting, Squirtle.

Still. A noose cannot hang itself. It has to have a victim.

...yea.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T / W PASSED -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Misc. Ideas

- The spiders: Aside from the usual things spiders can be chalked up to symbolizing - toxicity, alluring danger, just... general pain - I like the potential wordplay that can happen here. Yknow. A black widow. Say the Prince and Vanessa were married when one died. What would that leave Vanessa? A widow. ...She's red and black, too. Yknow. Like a black widow. HA wordplay is fun isn't it?

- Snatcher's tree: Love this place, love sitting in here. But not the point! The inside of Snatcher's tree is such a harsh juxtaposition to the rest of Subcon that it kinda throws ya off guard. After all, the dark, purples and blues then contrasted with the bright warm colors of the inside. Even the music switches over. The thorns outside aren't present indoors. Ohh yeah this is gonna be on the nose as hell but the Tree(tm) is 100% representing Snatcher's appearance/put-on personality vs. his truer nature. Spooky outside with thorns, foreboding, unwelcoming. Then the more comfortable interior. VULnerable. Have I even mentioned that the tree is HOLLOW I mean COME ON. The sturdiness of that tree? Nonexistent. He's not a sturdy guy at all no matter how he fronts

- Intrusions are unwelcome: Snatcher does not like the fact that Hat Kid sticks around in his forest. His personal space. His mind. In fact he tries desperately to get rid of her after their fight, not wanting her presence in his forest at all. He has no problem providing more contracts later on with the Death Wish thing, and he finds great entertainment in messing around with Hat Kid, so it's not just a weird sudden hatred he has for her; it's the fact that. After she's finished being useful, he no longer wants her around, lest she find some things she shouldn't find. Now he's just uncomfortable with her in his personal boundaries. Could just be a denial that she's helped him heal (breaking ice, stealing from Vanessa, being something interesting for his kids to interact with) or just not really wanting a child to get wrapped up in. All that. Most likely the former. Considering the amount of joke-hints he drops regarding his background during his Death Wish dialogue. I see you funny man, making jokes out of your trauma as a coping mechanism. Punts him

Annnd I think that's all I got, for now! I'll make an update post if I get any more sporadic ideas. If you read this whole thing, thank you!! and also!! Wow that was a lot!! Hell world. Please feel free to elaborate on any of my points or debate with me on em!! I'm always open to other ideas, just be aware that if I disagree I am not shy when it comes to debate hehehe, tho I won't be aggressive to any extent I prommy!!

Alrighty. goes to sleep goodnight

[erekiosuncreativeideas]

Being Human - Chapter 24 (END)

<= Chapter 23

Summary : Snatcher meets familiar people again Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826561/chapters/75085263

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(TW injury)

New chapter today, and it's actually the 24th and the 25th combined. It's 15 pages long, now.

I could only draw a picture for them both, so I supposed it was useless to keep you waiting for nothing. So, yeah, here's the ending of "Being Human". I hope you'll like it !

The “Oh The Humanity” AU belongs to @doodledrawsthings​​ !

Uh if you’re interested, I post my progress on my chapters on Hatty Fan Time (the AHIT Discord server I’m moderating with two friends), so if you wanna join, go ahead !

Happy reading !

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Chapter 24 : “ Is… Is it over? ”

Snatcher was doing his best to walk down the hallways as quietly as he could. His ankle, while not broken anymore, was still giving him quite a lot of pain, so much that he was wincing at each new step. But he knew this was just temporary and that he needed to ignore the suffering for now: Vanessa was busy, sure, but for how long? She had said she would be baking cookies for him, and he knew very well that this wouldn’t last forever. This was his first and last chance of escaping: if she spotted him trying to leave, the child had no doubt she would lock him up again, perhaps in the cellar once more…- The young Prince shook his head and gulped down with difficulty. This definitely wasn’t something he wanted to think about.

Snatcher could feel and hear the floor creaking under his feet, forcing him to stop several times and listen closely. But thankfully, there was no sound indicating the Queen had heard him. Thank God. The child stopped in front of the door leading to the first floor- oh, he was not reassured, not in the slightest, he had the feeling this would not go well… As he was going to open the door, however, a light sound caught his attention, making him look at the window. A look of confusion crossed the young man’s features: there was nothing there, so what could have made such a nois- but then, his eyes spotted something: a little rock had been thrown onto the glass, making a small sound because of the impact. Detaching himself from the door, Snatcher made a few silent steps to the window… And his face lightened up with shock and surprise as he noticed a form floating above the window- no, two forms, actually.

Moonjumper and the hatted brat !

A feeling of hope grew inside of him, just as a wave of relief washed over him: they were alive! He had saved them! He really had managed to help them!

The child stepped closer to the window and reached for it, trying to open it- but in vain. The frame was deeply frozen, preventing anyone to open it, especially not a kid like him. He quickly stopped, as his attempts at opening it were quite… Noisy. It was getting really dangerous, and if he kept on trying, he was eventually going to alert Vanessa, which was definitely not what he wanted.

Moonjumper and the kid floated closer, a clear look of worry and confusion on their faces. The hatted girl gestured to the lock on the window, but Snatcher replied by shaking his head. It wasn’t locked, just… Frozen. He gave a concerned shrug, indicating he didn’t really know how to help them enter the manor. And, of course, they couldn’t really communicate vocally through the glass, as it was sure to be noticed by his ex. So that wasn’t a solution- until one hit him, making his eyes widen.

The attic.

Driven by a new motivation, the child pointed up, trying to make them understand his idea. The hatted brat seemed rather confused and frowned in reaction, trying to look up without understanding. However, the corpse seemed to get it and explained it to her- or so Snatcher believed. He couldn’t really hear them, so all he could do was to guess. In any case, his counterpart nodded to him, as a way to show him they had understood what he had meant to them. Not long after that, they started to float higher, indeed reaching the attic.

There was his escape plan !

Fueled by a new motivation, especially now that he knew his friends were alive, the former ghost turned away from the window, a new objective in mind. Still doing his best to remain discreet, Snatcher walked the other way, making his way to the attic rather than to the first floor. He was particularly on edge, especially when it came to his own footsteps on the floor, and to the creaking of the parquet floor under his weight. When he reached the door leading upstairs, he kept praying for it to be unlocked, oh, he prayed so much- and when the doorknob actually let itself be lowered, thus opening the door… A huge feeling of relief hit the young Prince one more time.

Oh, thank God…

Looking behind him, just to make sure the Queen hadn’t come upstairs to see if he was still in the nursery… He eventually climbed up the stairs, not forgetting to close the door slowly in his back. This was it, there was no turning back now.

Snatcher soon reached the attic door and opened it, his vision greeted by the sight of an old, forgotten room. But the former ghost didn’t lose any time in looking around- there was no time for that. All he needed to do now, was to find a way to let the other two-

Speaking of the devil, Snatcher spotted their floating silhouette right  in front of the central window. However, it was safe to assume than opening any of the window here would be complicated. After all, none of them had locks to begin with, so even if they weren’t as frozen, they couldn’t be opened either way.

That… He hadn’t thought of that, exactly. All he had thought about was to get farther away from Vanessa, which worked in that case. But he still couldn’t leave like this… As for Moonjumper and the hatted brat, the two were inspecting each window, trying to find one that could be opened easily, in vain. Snatcher stepped closer to the central window, the gears in his mind turning to find a solution. This was… Not going the way he wanted to, he had to admit that much. His eyes met the others’, and they both came to the same conclusion.

Leaving the manor this way wouldn’t-

Snatcher’s thoughts were instantly interrupted as a tremor shook him and the room, making him stumble to the wooden floor. He cried in pain as it only hurt his already injured ankle, but before he was even able to realize what was going on, a loud, piercing scream echoed in the whole manor. Immediately, the young Prince’s expression fell, only to be replaced with panic.

Vanessa.

As on cue, the former ghost heard her muffling yelling in the floor below- oh God, she had heard him!

-“Where are you?!” shouted the Queen, her tone clearly showing how livid she was, and the sound of her voice making the house shake even more. Oh no, no, no, no, no! Behind the window, Moonjumper and the brat’s face paled up just like his did, and it was obvious they had heard her too. Oh, crap, no, he needed to be out of here!

Not thinking anymore, the child ran to the window, pounding on it as hard he could, feeling dread spreading inside of him as he could hear Vanessa’s furious steps coming closer and closer.

-“Get me out of here!” he yelled through the glass, to his friends on the other side, fear more and more audible in his voice than ever: “Help me!” Tears started to fill his eyes, and he couldn’t tell if it was because he was in a child’s body or if it was because he was genuinely terrified.

Behind the glass, Moonjumper seemed to be just as scared as him, and was scratching at the glass, even pounding on it all while still holding the hatted kid. The latter seemed to be more than nervous, looking for a solution too, until… Her face lit up, as if she just had had an epiphany. The young Prince saw her shouting something at the corpse, pointing at the window at the same time. What was she suggesting? But as he was asking himself that question, Snatcher saw the two of them floating away from the window- no, no, no! They weren’t leaving him here, weren’t they ?! They couldn’t do that, they couldn’t abandon him!

-“Come back!!” he yelled, and now tears were rolling down his cheeks, sobs cutting his breathing short: “Don’t leave me here!” He pounded on the glass harder, despair filling him whole. No, this couldn’t be happening, this couldn’t be happening!

His cries intensified as Vanessa’s steps could be heard just behind the door, and suddenly, he froze. The footsteps had stopped. He looked back at the door in utter terror and saw the door slowly opening, a claw being the first thing he saw coming out of it.

-“I told you…” her tone was low and threatening, and the child span around, horrified. Oh no, no, no- : “… That there would be consequences…” And little by little, the old Queen’s body appeared in the room, her dark aura even more visible than ever, her claws sharper, and her eyes murderous.

Oh no, he was going to die, he was so going to die, he-

-“Snatcher!” The former ghost’s terrified inner-rambling was put to an end as he heard his name being called out behind him, and he glanced back, recognizing the brat’s voice- didn’t they leave, though…? However, his eyes widened as he saw the hat-wearing child being carried by Moonjumper on his shoulders, both at a distance from the window, and what caught his attention was… That she was not wearing her usual hat.

She was wearing another one, one that was familiar because he had seen her wearing in his forest, when she was ransacking the tombs in Subcon For- and before his mind had the time to finish that sentence, a glowing potion materialized in the kid’s hand, and she shook it while urging him to move with the other.

The young Prince didn’t waste any more time and ran to the side, hiding behind a nearby crate not to feel the explosion, and he covered his ears. But just before he was able to, the Queen’s voice echoed in the room, giving him chills.

-“I saw you!” she yelled at him, as if she hadn’t noticed the two outside- but it was most likely the case, as her mind seemed to be only focused on him, and only him… Which was not reassuring in the slightest, obviously.

-“Come here this instan-” And then, her shout was cut short by an explosion, and Snatcher just curled up more, crying out in fear as the whole floor shook again and as he heard the loud and deafening sound of the detonation. Glass and wood flew everywhere, shattering and breaking at their impact to the floor. Panicked, the former ghost glanced back at the window that had just been exploded- and his eyes widened as he saw his two friends entering the room through the large hole caused by the explosion.

Another wave of relief hit him once more, contrasting greatly with the spike of fear he had felt earlier- Snatcher felt like his heart was riding a very, very intense roller-coaster. As soon as the hatted child spot him, hidden behind the crate, her expression instantly turned into worry, and she dashed to him, soon placing herself in a position to defend him should Vanessa decide to attack them first. She had taken out her umbrella, ready to fight with all of her might, determination visible on her face. As for Moonjumper, the corpse was summoning countless strings, preparing himself for an imminent fight. His face looked nothing like what Snatcher had seen before, it was full of anger, of bravery, of courage… But also full of fear. His hands were trembling, his eyes were fixed on the Queen, while many memories of Snatcher’s past life seemed to be blinding him, forcing him to relive past moments that weren’t even his in the first place.

And yet Moonjumper was still ready to fight despite this.

-“You…” The Queen’s voice was full of hatred as she recognized the duo she had frozen earlier. Her intonation definitely had an impact on them, as they both faltered for a few moments- and he couldn’t blame them for it.

He knew what it was like to be frozen to death.

-“You… You will not hurt anyone else,” Moonjumper trembling voice echoed in the room, and it was now clear that he was scared to no end, though he was still trying to appear brave. Whether it was bluff or not, Snatcher couldn’t tell… But he really hoped it wasn’t.

-“Yeah, back off!” added the brat, lifting her umbrella as a way to show she was not kidding. Then again, the former spirit couldn’t help but wonder if they really had a chance against someone who had already frozen them all at least once.

Vanessa glared at them, her eyes glancing to each other, as if she were trying to determine who, out of the trio, was the biggest threat to her. And, unsurprisingly… Her survival instincts told her to attack Moonjumper first. Screaming in absolute anger, she stomped her feet on the wooden floor, summoning ice all around her and, more precisely, a series of ice stalagmites which she quickly sent to her enemy’s direction.

-“Moonjumper!” yelled Snatcher, extending his hand to the corpse, only to be held back by the hatted brat, preventing him from getting himself hurt. Fortunately, the body-stealing spirit had been expecting her to target him first, and dodged her attack, though one of the stalagmites nearly touched him. Thank God it hadn’t. The corpse was quick to react though and counter-attacked, throwing all of the strings he had prepared to her. Taken aback by his sudden retaliation, the Queen was too slow to move before the strings actually caught her, Moonjumper quickly tightening the grip around them.

But this couldn’t be so simple.

Another scream left Vanessa’s mouth and soon enough, she turned the strings into ice, her magic rapidly going up the corpse’s strings and thus soon reaching him- until the hat-wearing brat intervened, hitting the strings with her umbrella, deflecting the spell to her umbrella instead, which she immediately let go of with a surprised cry.

Now that the trio was distracted with the current turn of event, the Queen broke free of the strings holding her, the ice having made them easy to break. No, this was not good, they had to find a solution… But Moonjumper’s strings were their best bet! Fighting hand-to-hand was not possible, all they could do was fighting her from afar, if they didn’t want to end up frozen to death. His eyes looked around, trying to find an idea, something they would be able to use to gain an advantage against that monster. The crates, no, the chandelier, no, too heavy to make it fall down and too large to be useful… And his eyes fell onto the huge gap in the floor and the wall, caused by the previous explosion. His eyes widened, an idea growing in his mind.

Maybe… Maybe they could be able to use that!

In the meantime, the fight had continued, and the corpse was still trying to immobilize her with his strings- but this wasn’t the right option, this wouldn’t work like this! The woman was always managing to break free. And so, as soon as Vanessa’s attention was at the lowest, the young Prince took this as an opportunity to call out to Moonjumper without putting him too much at risk:

-“The- the hole, lead her to the hole!” he shouted, using both of his hands as a way to make his voice louder. The corpse gave him a quick and confused glance, as if he were trying to understand what Snatcher had in mind- until his eyes widened, realization crossing his features. He had gotten the message.

Not wasting any more time, the corpse changed his tactic and instead of trying to keep her trapped and motionless… He tried to pull her closer to the window, floating back more and more. Of course, the Queen was always managing to get free with her powers, but she was still being slowly led to the huge gap in the floor. The corpse was immensely focused on the fight, doing everything he could to avoid her stalagmites- but his focus and his unbelievable calm was winning over Vanessa’s screaming and aggressive attitude- her attacks were having the same patterns, she was not thinking strategically when trying to hit Moonjumper… On the contrary, Snatcher had to admit she was being predictable, and while she couldn’t be kept trapped in the other’s strings for too long, Snatcher’s strategy was working little by little.

When she reached the gap, her eyes had widened, as if she was only understanding now what the trio had in mind. With another deafening scream, Vanessa created an ice path under her feet, like a bridge above everything, above… Nothing, above the void under her feet. No matter how hard Moonjumper was pulling on her, she was not loosing her balance and she kept on creating ice under her feet, although… Now she was looking to escape much more than actually attacking any of them. Her expression was not just livid anymore- no, there were some worry and fear in it too, now.

They had to take the matter in their own hand, now! Moonjumper had already done much more than Snatcher would have asked of him considering his same fear of her- and now it was his time to help.

Ignoring the pain in his ankle, the child dashed to the frozen umbrella the hatted brat had abandoned on the floor, and picked it up, not caring about the ice partially trapping it- no, this didn’t matter. What he was about to do, however… Mattered much, much more.

-“Snatcher!” he heard the little girl calling him out- but he didn’t stop.

No, this had to stop. Now.

Fueled by a new energy and by adrenaline, the former ghost ran onto the ice platform Vanessa had created… And he charged at his ex-lover, holding the umbrella before him and using him as a spear. He felt his borrowed weapon hit something, and he knew it was her- and almost instantly, a cry of fear and surprise left the Queen’s mouth… And the impact made her lose her balance, her body falling backward as she tried to turn back… But it was too late.

He had done it, he had managed to-

But things never, ever were that easy, were they?

-“Snatcher !!” His friends’ voice echoed behind him, panic clearly audible as the woman made a last movement as an attempt to save herself from her fall- she had grabbed Snatcher’s arm and was now taking him with her, bringing him with her for what was going to be her death… And the young Prince’s.

And now, they were both falling.

Snatcher had thought about dying again, multiple times, actually. Being stuck in his this human body definitely had him wonder a lot of things such as “if I die, would I become a ghost again? Would I just go to wherever souls go when no one eats them?” There had been no way to know, and still wasn’t. The doubt actually prevented him from trying to put an end to his human life and see what happened afterwards. However, now… It wasn’t doubt that was making Snatcher fear death. No…

That was the fear of actually dying, mixed with the fear of losing all the sensations he had become accustomed to, even though it took him so long. Sure, there were plenty of unwanted senses he disliked, but… Was it really worth losing all of it? Even the good ones? Like the feeling of a warm shower, the feeling of lying down on a pile of soft pillows, the feeling of tasting things, even bad things…

Did he really want to just not feel anything at all? It had felt so overwhelming when he had recovered all of his senses, but now, the thought of losing everything was… Just as crushing.

And so… That was why Snatcher was terrified, terrified as his body was falling to his demise, taken with Vanessa. Her claws were gripping at his arm tightly, freezing his clothes and skin, making him cry out in pain. His breath quickened while he felt the cold air outside scratching his cheeks from how fast they were falling.

He didn’t want to die…!

The young Prince started to kick her, trying everything he could to do get away from her- but what was the point if they were both going to die by crashing themselves to the ground?

-“Let me go!” he shouted, his voice hysterical and his expression both panicked and livid: “Let-let go of me!”

-“N-no!” retorted the Queen, and the child could see frozen tears leaving her eyes as well as a despaired expression on her face: “I don’t want to!!”

She tried to hold him tighter in her arms, bringing him for a hug- No, no, no, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want this! The kid kept trying to hit her, his fear growing more and more as they both got closer and closer to the ground- he didn’t want to die! Not like this, not anymore!

Snatcher shut his eyes hard, readying himself for the impact, for the death he had wanted so much and yet didn’t want anymore, for the confirmation of whether he’d come back as a ghost or not, this was not fair, this was not fair…!

The young Prince let out a startled scream when he felt something slipped under his arms, pulling him up and abruptly stopping his fall. Snatcher reopened his eyes instantly- Moonjumper! The corpse had hurled himself towards his small counterpart, barely saving him from his death and quickly trying to float back up again or, at the very least, slow down his dangerous fall.

Vanessa, on the other hand, was not being held by anyone and, thus, her claws severely scratching the child’s arms as she attempted to save herself, but her own weight dragged her down. A loud, painful scream left Snatcher lips as he felt his skin being torn open by her long, sharp claws… But soon enough, his eyes saw her falling down, falling to her death, while Moonjumper was now holding him still in the air, floating. And soon enough… A muffled sound echoed up to them, with the Queen crashed into the snow, creating a flurry of snow around her.

-“Are… Are you okay ?!” the corpse managed to say, panic clearly audible in his tone of voice, his eyes inspecting the young prince, and widening when he noticed the gaping wound on the other’s arm: “O-oh, Goodness, we better… Oh, my God…”

Snatcher only replied by a long hiss, feeling the snowflakes falling onto his injury- oh, that hurt so much…! Tears came back in his eyes, stinging the skin in the corners from how cold it was. Blood was leaking from his arm, falling down near where Vanessa’s body lied down. With a very concerned expression, Moonjumper quickly floated lower and lower, in order to bring them back to the ground. A movement in Snatcher’s vision caught the latter’s attention, and he glanced in that direction, his mind clearly in a state of shock, ready to react to the littlest threat- but what he saw was the hat-wearing brat, watching them from the attic. It was a bit hard to see her clearly because of the distance and the blizzard, but the former ghost was almost sure he saw her putting her hand where her heart was, seemingly sighing in relief.

Yeah… Yeah, he could definitely relate to that…

The young Prince jumped when he finally felt the ground under his feet, letting out a startled cry from how shocked he was. Slowly, ever so slowly, Moonjumper loosened his grip on him, only for Snatcher to fall to his knees, unable to stand up in his state. Around him, the snow was starting to get a reddish hue due to the blood falling and leaking on it, staining it.

-“H-hey…!” The corpse tried to help him get back to his feet, in vain. He had just experienced a near-death experience, how could he stand up again so easily?! His eyes looked around and… Noticed a dark spot in the snow.

Vanessa.

The child stared at her, afraid she’d get up again, ready to attack them again, ready to kill them all- But she wasn’t moving.

-“Is… Is it over?” he breathed out, unable to look away from the old Queen, his fear preventing from doing so.

-“I… I think so, yes,” Moonjumper floated lower, down to his level, his voice calmer and yet his nervousness was still very much there.

A loud noise suddenly caught the duo’s attention, making them lift their head to see what it was- and as much as Snatcher had expected quite a lot of things… Seeing the spaceship flying above their head was not one of these things. That… That was where the bow-wearing kid was! She hadn’t been there in the group’s rescue mission, and it made sense that at least someone had to stay in the ship in case things turned sour.

Not so long after that, the front door of the manor opened abruptly, revealing the hatted brat, soon dashing in their direction.

-“Snatcher!” she called out to him, stopping in front of him and almost slipping from how fast she was running. Her eyes noticed his injury and instant worry appeared on her features: “Oh, peck, are you okay?!”

The child took a moment to pull himself together- this was a lot to take in after all.

-“I… I don’t know,” he gasped, and now that the adrenaline was slowly dying down, the pain was getting much, much stronger. Wincing, Snatcher tried to move his arm, only to whine at the sensation. Yeah, that was not happening… And he was bleeding quite a lot too- oh, no, no, this was not good, was it…?

Another weird, high pitched sound caught their attention, this time behind them. The former ghost turned his head back, not knowing what it was- until he saw a beam of light coming from the spaceship to the ground, a silhouette quickly appearing where the light was touching the snow. The other kid! Even though he knew she had to be safe, considering Vanessa had forgotten about her when she brought the young Prince home, he was… Really happy to see her safe, now. However, something else caught his attention.

She was holding the Time Piece again.

Not wasting any more time, the other joined the trio, reacting the exact same way as the rest of the group did at the sight of Snatcher’s injury. Then again… He had no idea how bad it was, but from the look of everyone else, he could guess that it was… Not good.

-“Is… Is she…?” the bow-wearing child pointed to the Queen’s body, still not moving, except for her shadows, carried away by the wind.

-“I… I’m not sure,” Snatcher confessed, still very much afraid to see her getting up- but she wasn’t.

The group remained silent for a moment, staring at what now seemed to be a corpse- And Snatcher couldn’t help but stand up, his stance unstable and his legs trembling both from the blood loss and from how shaken he still was.

-“W-wait, what are you doing?” called out the hatted brat behind him. Moonjumper also tried to get his attention, his tone much more nervous than the little girl’s. The bow-wearing kid, however, remained silent, paralyzed by the fear of what he was trying to do.

Not listening to the group’s advice to sit back down, not to approach Vanessa, as they didn’t know if she was still alive yet- but he didn’t care. And so, silently if not for the sound of his boots in the snow, the young Prince stopped in front of his ex, looking at her with a deep expression of regret on his face. So this was the end of the story, then? The end of a tale that had lasted for many centuries, of a horrifying nightmare that had caused the death of so many people?

Was that it?

The young Prince jumped a bit when the Queen slowly opened her eyes, afraid she would be ready to fight again- but she didn’t move. Instead… She merely smiled at him, that same smile he had loved for years, that same smile from the person he wanted to marry so many years ago- and before he could realize it, his heart started to ache, his mind filled with bitterness.

-“Oh… Hello,” she greeted him, with a tone that was so familiar, much too familiar- and Snatcher’s face hardened, countless of memories blinding him as they came back to him, almost hitting him like a wave.

This was… Not a good ending for him- a good ending would have been to solve their problems before she caused the freezing, would have been to prevent the deaths of everyone- but this? This was a bittersweet ending.

This wasn’t the ending Snatcher wanted, but in the end… This was the only one he could get.

The light in Vanessa’s eyes became dimmer and dimmer as seconds passed and, soon, the former ghost just knew she had passed away, taking with her the threat she had always represented to Subcon Forest. Now… Now, the forest would be safe again.

-“Sna… Snatcher?” the bow wearing child called out to him again, and when he turned back to her… His cheeks started to sting- he was crying now. Tears, countless of them, were rolling down his cheeks and he couldn’t stop, the emotions flooding his mind, so much that it needed to get out somehow- Sobs started to leave his mouth… Before his legs gave up from the blood loss. Before anyone was able to react, the young Prince fell into the snow, mentally and physically exhausted. The group gathered around him, worry and fear visible on their features. Oh.

Was… Was this going to be it? Was this… The end? His end?

His thoughts were cut short when the bow-wearing kid lifted his hand, putting inside it a cold yet familiar object- the Time Piece.

-“Qu-quick!” she urged him, her face deadly pale: “I… I fixed it while you were fighting her! It’ll save you, but you need to break it and wish to become a ghost again!”

-“Hurry!” the hatted brat insisted, trying to hide her worry behind a mask of determination.

Was… Was it really what he wanted? To come back as a ghost, unable to feel a single thing, good or bad? To remain here for eternity and see the world change without him? To take care of a Forest that no longer needed protection? Was this really what he truly, truly wanted? To live in the past forever?

Snatcher winced at the thought.

He… Wasn’t so sure about becoming a ghost again. He had wanted this so much before, but now… Now, something didn’t feel right about this. Was Vanessa’s death the reason for that? Or had he thought this way for a while, just… Being in denial about all of this?

How could he know? What should he do?

-“Wh-what are you waiting for!” urged Moonjumper, and soon, the kids started to shake him lightly, fearing he would lose consciousness from his injuries, if not worse.

All he wanted… All he wanted was…

Slowly, much too slowly for the taste of the group… The former shade lifted the hand holding the Time Piece, ready to smash it to the ground.

-“I wish to be happy,” he murmured, before finally smashing the hourglass down.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-______________________________-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

-“And then, add a bit of salt- yes, just like that!”

The voice of Cooking Cat could be heard in the kitchen of the spaceship, alongside sounds of something cooking in the background, sizzling on a frying pan. Next to her, a young man was standing up, his right hand holding the tool and the left one putting down a cup of salt. Once done, he grabbed the spatula on the nearby counter and started to move the ingredients around inside of the pan, intensifying all the crackling caused by their cooking.

-“Am… Am I doing fine?” he asked, wincing as he was receiving a few splashes, to the point he was tempted to step back- but he knew better than to do that. Cooking Cat seemed to notice his discomfort and came to her friend’s rescue, covering the frying pan with its lid and then lowering the temperature of the gas stove.

The young man couldn’t help but give an awkward and frustrated smile- well, at least, the food wasn’t burnt -yet-, so there was that!

-“You’re improving day after day,” assured the bipedal cat with a warm expression: “You’ll see, someday you won’t even need me anymore to cook for the girls!” she gave him a friendly tap on the back, though perhaps a bit too strong for the thin man, who stumbled a bit.

-“I doubt that,” he answered, before using an familiar sarcastic tone: “I mean, unless you all want me to burn the ship down, of course. That, I can do!”

The Cat snorted and shook her head, though not out of disapproval.

-“You’re underestimating yourself, you know?” she retorted, a bit amused by his previous words: “It’s only been a few months and you’ve made quite a lot of progress. You might not be the best cook in the world right now, but credit where it’s due, now you can make things that are edible!”

-“Oh man, what an improvement! ‘Poisonous’ to ‘barely digestible’! When do I open a restaurant?” he mocked her, but there wasn’t any real animosity, just friendly teasing… To which he received a light punch on the arm:

-“Oh, hush, you,” she snickered: “You know what I mean!”

The two laughed for a bit, and eventually washed their hands, waiting for the food to finish cooking. They kept doing some small talk as they tidied the kitchen a little bit, cleaning and putting back in cupboards all the tools they had needed to prepare the next meal, which smell was slowly invading the room.

Yeah, he had to admit that at least… Well, the smell was good enough to make him hungry, something that hadn’t been possible a few months back.

The duo’s attention was caught by the door opening, revealing the hatted brat, the bow-wearing kid, and Moonjumper, who had started to wear new clothes, clothes that fitted him and his personality much better.

-“Hey, the food’s not ready yet,” the young man taunted them, giving them a shooing gesture: “Come on, away with you!”

-“Can’t we have at a least a bit?” tried to bargain the bow-wearing girl, putting her hands on her stomach as if she hadn’t eaten anything for the past two weeks- and of course, she was imitated by her older friend: “We’re starving!”

-“Yeah, Snatcher, don’t be such a peck-ne-”

-“Language!” the word came from both Cooking Cat and Moonjumper, who floated closer to Snatcher- although it was clear that from the two of them, the bipedal Cat was the one having the more authority. Perhaps she was kind of like a mother-figure, or at least, that’s what the young man couldn’t help but think of her and what her aura seemed like.

-“Fiiine,” grunted the hatted brat, sighing with exaggeration, before giving the cook the look of a nice and innocent kid in dire need of something: “We’re super hungry though,” she repeated and, as on cue, a gurgling sound echoed in the room, causing everyone to stop talking. Eventually, the bow-wearing child giggled with embarrassment and looked away.

-“Y-yeah, we are,” she confirmed, and Cooking Cat just snorted in response. She moved to one of the cupboards and grabbed three plates and silverware, soon handing them to the little, impatient girls.

-“Listen, let’s set the table, and then we’ll eat, alright?” she told them, and it barely took the kids a couple of seconds to grab all of it and running away with it to the living room.

-“Hey, no running with the knifes!” Snatcher called them out, but all he heard were carefree giggles. Ugh. Kids. And yet, he was smiling.

Cooking Cat snorted again, shaking her head with a warm grin, before glancing at the other two :

-“I better go and help them,” she told Snatcher and Moonjumper: “I mean, not that they’re unable to set the table, but. You know.”

-“Yeah, we don’t want any injury, I got it. I’ll take care of the food in the meantime,” he assured, returning her smile with his own, and leaning against one of the kitchen counters. The Cat thanked him and left the room, leaving the young man and the corpse alone. Snatcher soon got back to work and prepared a few crudités for the first course. Somehow, there was some kind of tension in the room, and that was probably due to the fact that Moonjumper hadn’t followed their friend to help the kids. The silence went on for a few more seconds, and… Yeah, there was definitely something.

-“Anything on your mind?” asked the young man casually, glancing at him briefly while he was cutting the vegetables, doing his best to remain focused on the task at hand- not wanting any injury also applied to him. There were quite a few scars on the former Prince’s fingers, due to him not being careful enough while cutting food. After all, not only had he never cooked for a few centuries as a ghost, but he had never really cooked anything while being alive either… Being part of a royal family had its pros and cons after all.

The corpse seemed to be lost in thought, only to jump slightly at Snatcher’s voice, coming back to reality. Moonjumper looked away, scratching his arm in embarrassment:

-“Am I that obvious?” he asked, an awkward smile on his face.

-“Frankly?” the man raised his eyebrow, before giving the other a smug grin: “You have no idea.”

The two snorted, and it did indeed make the tension go away, if only a little. Snatcher knew something was up, and he waited for his friend to make the first step, not wanting to rush anything. If there was anything being human taught him again, it was being patient. Well… Among a lot of other things, of course. And soon enough… This proved to be the right choice, as Moonjumper spoke once more, giving the former Prince a more serious look:

-“Are you… Are you okay?” was his question, and Snatcher was quite taken aback by it, not really expecting something like this. To be fair, he had thought this would be about Subcon, who was now primarily handled by the corpse, though Snatcher did visit quite a lot. This could have also been about the girls or anything like that, really… But him?

Now that was something he hadn’t seen coming.

The young man’s face showed his surprise and confusion, and he quickly put his attention back on his cutting work. No need to cut a finger because he wasn’t attentive enough… Still:

-“Wh- Yeah, I am?” he replied, puzzled by this sudden question: “Why?”

Moonjumper remained silent for a moment, to the point Snatcher thought this conversation would end here- but the other proved him wrong:

-“It’s just that… You wanted to become a ghost again so much, a few months back,” admitted his counterpart with a wince: “And yet, while you had the opportunity to make this happen, you… Didn’t.”

He paused for a few seconds, as if he were looking for the right words, as if he were walking on eggshells- well, it was a figure of speech, given his lack of legs. In any case…

-“I guess, I just… I just wanted to know if you were fine with it.”

Snatcher stopped his cutting work, his stare lost into space. Yeah, he could see where that was coming from… To be fair, his old self would have probably screamed at him, not understanding why he was still a human despite getting the opportunity to change that, despite getting the chance he had waited for since the moment he woke up in that body.

In that body which reminded him of so many things, some good and some… Bad, very bad. And so, he wasn’t really surprised to see this question coming, especially from Moonjumper, who, well… Shared quite a lot of memories with him, even if they still weren’t the same person. If there was anyone in the world knowing him the best, it was the corpse, no doubt about that.

… Which meant quite a lot, being asked this question by his counterpart.

-“You know… If I had gotten the possibility to turn back into what I used to be when it happened…” started Snatcher, referring to the moment he had been turned into a human, months ago: “… Then I’m pretty sure I’d have taken that opportunity without hesitation.”

-“… So what changed?” retorted the other, though there was no judgment in his tone of voice- just pure curiosity and a lot of concerns.

-“I guess…” the man stopped to think, sighing again, before continuing, his face full of regret: “You know, back there, when I… When I almost died,” he managed to say, his body starting to shake from the emotion and from the memories. Snatcher was… Still trying to ignore them, but despite this, he remained haunted by them, haunted by what had happened, by what could have happened to him and to his friends.

The corpse nodded, silently and gently nudging him into talking once more.

-“I… I realized that I… Didn’t really want to die?” he wondered to himself, having done his best not to think about that whole thing until now, and he shrugged, though it was visible that this was clearly upsetting him: “I just… Understood that if I were to die again, even if I came back as a ghost I would just… Not be able to feel anything at all, you know?”

He glanced back to Moonjumper, and he mindlessly started to rub the counter with his hands, as if he were enjoying the sense of touch for the last time, contemplating what could have been if he had indeed died again that day.

-“That kinda scared me,” he admitted, this time with a frown, because being afraid was still something he didn’t like saying: “And after Vanessa’s death, I guess that I felt… Guilty, but also better? As if, there wasn’t that weight on my shoulder anymore, right? And so… So when Bow gave me the Time Piece, I… Hesitated.”

He couldn’t help but scoff at the idea, now.

-“That’s stupid, right?”

Moonjumper seemed surprised by his words, and he titled his head to the side, confused and a little worried:

-“What do you mean?” asked the other, frowning too.

-“That… That I basically let that hourglass decide.”

-“Oh.”

Realization crossed the corpse’s features and he looked away, maybe feeling foolish for that dumb question. But to Snatcher, it wasn’t one, really. A few minutes passed in pure silence, and Snatcher got back to his cutting work. It took a little while before Moonjumper gathered the courage to speak again, visibly concerned for his friend:

-“And so… Are you happy?” he asked, making a reference to the wish Snatcher had made back then, when he was dying. The memory made the young man wince, and he couldn’t help but clench his fists, doing his best not to let his mind getting overwhelmed at the traumatizing recollection.

But this was a good question. Was he happy? Was he, really? It was quite hard to answer… How could he know? His old lives, as a Prince and as a soul-stealing ghost, were so different than this one that it was barely comparable. However… However, he couldn’t deny how miserable he had felt sometimes, as a spirit guarding Subcon Forest. But now…? While he still had nightmares, and while sensations were still a bit strong… Vanessa wasn’t a threat to Subcon and its inhabitants anymore, he felt free for the first time in centuries, not shackled to a place in order to protect it, no- he was really, truly free. Furthermore…

Snatcher had two people to care about now.

-“You know, it’s not so bad,” he eventually replied, a smile starting to appear on the corner of his lips.

-“What is?”

The young man turned his head to his friend, his smile widening, even though his expression still showed some regrets:

-“Being Human.”

The corpse fell silent, but eventually returned his smile, visibly satisfied with the answer. The duo’s attention were brought back to reality as a smell of something burning started to float in the room-

-“Oh fu- peck!” the former prince cursed as he turned off the gas stove, quickly removing the frying pan and putting it on the kitchen counter. His face fell when he noticed the meal had burnt- again. Next to him, Moonjumper was trying his best not to laugh, leading the young man to glare at him. Instantly, the corpse looked away innocently, whistling- ugh, that guy.

Snatcher looked at the burnt meal with frustration, and he rubbed his eyes- Yeah, he was getting tired of himself quite a lot, when it came to cooking. Nonetheless, he took a deep breath, and picked the frying pan again, while Moonjumper, still giggling, grabbed the plates of crudités. Both left the kitchen, and Snatcher lifted the pan for everyone to see, announcing loudly and comically:

-“Soooo, who wants some burnt food?”

A loud series of boo welcomes him, as well as some “again??”s, making him snicker in reaction… But yeah.

Being Human wasn’t so bad.

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Thank you for following me this far, I hope you liked this story ! My next fanfiction, still on AHIT, is a WIP for now. I hope you'll like it too. See you soon !

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favorite things in the AHIT fandom right now

dadtcher

Hat Kid being made of sugar and spite but mostly spite

everyone took one look at DJ Grooves and the Conductor and went ‘ah. gay.���

speaking of which: knife grandpas

knife grandpas specifically because Hat Kid wormed their way into their hearts and they were like ‘okay guess she’s my granddaughter now

everyone decided Hat Kid and Bow Kid are sisters, by blood or otherwise

fuck you Vanessa

DADTCHER

everyone? just collectively decided?? that Moonjumper wasn’t cut from the game, actually?

that thing where people draw DJ Grooves’s sunglasses slightly transparent so they can show his eyes underneath them

variation of the above but one lens is opaque and the other’s transparent

everyone decided DJ Grooves has cute lil button eyes

let’s maybe RESOLVE the Subcon Forest chapter’s bigger story, huh folks?

the minions are gremlins; adorable, adorable gremlins

that Snatcher has the ability to be soft and is in fact some level of soft for Hat Kid eventually, despite his “AHAHAHAHAHAA FOOOOOOOOOOOOL” shtick

Snatcher is bitter about being outsmarted with the bff contract but he warms up to it eventually

Hat Kid made the bff contract out of sheer spite and also warmed up to it eventually

that neck ruff of his is absolutely as soft as it looks

he has literally always had that laugh even in life; it’s just scarier now that he’s a ghost

every time you turn around you realize a new heartbreaking thing about his past like jfc

fuck you Vanessa

Cooking Cat is just… Mom

like she just IS there is no question about it she is The Mom Friend among peers and just straight up adopted two space kids out of nowhere?

everyone who decided ‘hm, fuck this actually’ when we got no answer about Hat Kid’s past, so they worked with what they had to create one

Snatcher’s a dramatic ho

Mu is a good kid but she has Issues and she needs help with that

additionally, she and Hat Kid eventually become friends after the finale

if you accept Hat Kid left the planet at all she didn’t leave the planet forever; she just left to get Bow

the crew has zero idea, to this day, about why they fucking crashed during the Arctic Cruise chapter

also Hat Kid is embarrassed af about the entire ordeal

let’s see how these characters would translate into a modern au

let’s dick around with just the characters of your favorite chapter; I see u all and u are valid

Snatcher was a fucking real life disney prince before his death and slow stew of bitterness so he had a whole multitude of hobbies, some of which are actively pointed out in-game (his love of law and reading; the fact that he canonically does chemistry and/or alchemy)

building from that: the decision to add in some hobbies whose canonical proof ended up being cut from the beta or changed entirely, like painting and astronomy

the prince was a really sweet man and everyone liked him, but nobody in the kingdom really knew him so nobody knew what was happening to him

the different takes on his relationship with Vanessa but my personal, personal favorite is childhood friends and the relationship was always kinda toxic from the start but he didn’t see that because every time things became overtly awful he just thought ‘well if I see this through the good times will come back; this is just a rough patch’

am I projecting? maybe a little, but if he’s also your favorite character then so are you

everyone really did just up and decide that the storybook page about the prince locked up in the basement wasn’t his body being transformed after death by magic, and that shortly after that moment depicted in the storybook page the man fell out of his own body and landed on the floor as a ghost and had to turn around and look at his own corpse to figure out what happened because I guess he wasn’t traumatized enough, or something

fuck you Vanessa

the Conductor has some kind of tragic life story based on the fact that we see him as the caretaker for his five grandchildren but hear not a whisper of his child

Conductor is part fire spirit and so are his grandkids? Zero evidence in-game but have I adopted this so hard I forget it’s not canon sometimes? You betcha

Conductor has no mention of a significant other but had at least one kid so again something sad is afoot let’s explore that, mmmm?

also Grooves is totally down for being their other grandpapa he gives zero fucks about the Conductor coming as a package deal with toddlers, actually

Conductor has a mild alcohol problem

Conductor is a secret softy but this really comes out when he’s drunk… or overwhelmed with emotion for other reasons

Grooves is really lonely; someone please hug him

Snatcher draws up an adoption contract for Hat Kid when he adopts her despite being a dead man who lives in the woods with nobody to give a fuck about documentation because he’s a dweeb

literally bottle every bit of content anyone has ever made about Snatcher being poofed human again because he + time piece = disaster, and inject it into my veins

huge shoutout to @doodledrawsthings for coming up with the idea because I believe they’re the first ones to pose that amazing revelation of ‘he’d totally be an idiot with a time piece and smash himself back to being alive and instantly have Regrets about it’

Moonjumper is Moonjumper but like also the prince but kind of not?? He is an order of sweet with a huge helping side dish of existential crisis

Snatcher get over yourself 2k21

let Hat Kid beat Vanessa to death with her umbrella 2k21

honestly everyone could benefit from some therapy

except Vanessa she just kinda needs to die

DADTCHER

[ahatintimepieces]

what are your favorite ahit aus? you can answer for as many as you'd like idm-

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh so many and im scared ima forget one hmmmm also hope it’s okay i tag everyone im terribly sorry to trouble you incredible people but ur aus are cherished in my heart forever and always

Okay in no particular order and under a readmore because I realize this is going to get long because I refuse to not ramble about why I love them I can’t just make a list like a normal person so HERE WE GOOOOO

- @doodledrawsthings both “Oh The Humanity!” and “““““Coffeeshop au”“““ mean so much to me and I love Snatcher being thrust into a situation where he’s forced to grapple with his past self and then I can’t get enough of Luka and those good old baleful polymorph tropes anD WHAT A DAD THO. Truly a soft au that I am soft for.

- @toxic-lavender gijinka/Dadtcher au and Stitched au and Vamp prince au are all so delightful. Vamp prince has so much thought and attention to detail in the curse and world, and then Stitched au hits me in the gut with feels aND THE GIJINKA/DADTCHER AU I really enjoy seeing more modern takes with these characters and there’s something about Snatcher (cursed and magical as a result) trying to take care of Hat and hold a job while needing to eat souls that is just so engaging narrative-wise.

- @fedoraspooky weresnoodle au. I love it. Very much. Lukas is a sweet bean and Hattie is so clever and strong and I have a weakness for any were-creature story in which the were-creature is constantly anxious about their monstrous form hurting or hindering others and strive to keep everyone else save by secluding themselves only to realize that no matter what at their core, they are good BECAUSE they constantly choose to be kind and that carries over no matter their form. I just <33333333

- @berryfartsart What To Expect When You’re On the Run (single dad Snatcher au) I’ve mentioned it before for EXCELLENT Dadtcher content and cannot recommend it enough for how it seamlessly blends A Hat in Time with a modern twist. The world building is clever and delightful AND Snatcher is incredible as a poor dad trying to take care of Hattie and I love it.

- @doodleimprovement victorian au and Beware the Frozen Heart (frozen au). The Victorian au has SUCH amazing worldbuilding and the magic of the forest and having to give something to it is such a cool idea and i am a humble Jane Austen loving girl at heart so you KNOW im gonna love it. And then Beware the Frozen Heart IS TOO SWEET and the Dadtcher is strong and delightful and I love it dearly. (Also one of the earlier ones I read and thus extra special <3)

- @levshany A Glitch in Time au iS GORGEOUS and incredible and I love Beta kid and Moonjumper and love Levshany’s take on the Horizon and how lovely it looks and getting to see how the beta content is used is incredible and it’s lovely. The art and story are captivating and I can’t say lovely enough when talking about this comic.

- @xxfaylinnxx Time Traveling Hat Kid au is absolutely a delight and warms my heart. The Prince is a sweetheart as an adopted dad and Hat is wonderful and determined and there’s so much hope in this one and I cannot stress enough how warm the story and it’s characters are. And THE ART!!!!!!! is so faithful to the core of A Hat in Time that I instantly smile the moment I see it.

- @cheesytrishy The Owl House au and the Hobo Snatcher au (The link is to probably one of my favorite animations) are really delightful. The Owl House works SO well and how her art and concepts capture the fun of the owl house is just splendid and the Hobo Snatcher au is more fantastic Dad content I LOVE this concept so much.

OKAY IM VERY TIRED SO IMA STOP THERE. There are of course many lovely aus and these artists and more have other incredible stories/ocs/content but I think these cover the aus that really... helped me this year. Not to be cheesy but I mean it when I say I cherish these aus. They got me through some really rough moments and still help me to smile when I’m feeling low. So, thank you! To you lovely creators. AND thank you Anon, for asking!

[ahatintimestorybook]

Finding the Princess

Hello! I don’t know if anyone forgot about this AU, or not. I did for quite some time, but thanks to my friend @madeasubstitute who during our conversations of AHIT AU’s made me remember this AU and got me motivated to work on it again. Give her a big thank you and check out her fanfics because they deserve love!

Sorry for forgetting this AU for a while, been focused on my other big AU’s and well my mind is set to; make AU’s at any given time even at work (Which now I have a ton of AU’s)

Still, here is the next story of the AU!

Hope you enjoy it!!

A year has passed since Vanessa had disappeared, and since then Lucas has been searching everywhere for her. No matter where he went, no one had seen Vanessa; it was like the Queen had taken her somewhere never to be seen again. Lucas didn't want to give up and continued to look for Vanessa despite protest from Snatcher.

After another long day of searching, Lucas was just sitting on his couch staring at a photo of him and Vanessa at the park smiling and having fun on a date. He gave a sigh and held the photo close to his chest. “Where are you Vanessa?” Lucas whispered.

Snatcher peeked through the other room and sighed seeing Lucas still feeling down and went over to him. “So no luck finding your princess?” He asked. Lucas didn’t reply, which made Snatcher just roll his eyes. “Listen Luke, I know you want to find her, but you have to give up at some point.”

Lucas sighed and faced the ghost. “I can’t.” He replied. “I need to find her.”

Snatcher floated close to Lucas’s face, “And when you find her, what are you going to do next?” He asked. “The Queen has her wrapped under her finger, and your only option is to kill her!”

Those words made Lucas growl as she sat up and faced his ghostly partner. “How could you say that?! I don’t want to kill Vanessa!” He shouted.

“You only have one option Lucas, it's to let her roam free and kill as many people or have her dead so the Queen would find another host so you can kill them again!” Snatcher shouted back.

Lucas glared and got up from the couch. “That’s how it is?! I’m just going to keep killing people the Queen touches, so you can eat their souls?!” He asked. “Isn’t there another way to do this?!”

Snatcher sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry Luke. I wish there was a way, but there isn’t.” He told him. Lucas stared at Snatcher in disbelief, was there no way to stop the Queen without killing any innocent humans.

“Please.” Lucas begged, surprising Snatcher. “Please don’t let me kill Vanessa! I love her.” He admitted, which surprised his ghost. “Let me find a way to stop the Queen and save her!”

The ghost stared at his partner’s eyes and saw hope and love in them. Throughout his existence, Snatcher never heard of someone wanting to stop the Queen by not killing her partner. Lucas cried and begged Snatcher for another way to save Vanessa, something he has done for quite some time now.

With a sigh, Snatcher looked up at Lucas. “You're not going to let this go, are you?” He asked. Lucas shook his head in reply. “I never had a partner like you before, Luke. If you do want to try saving Vanessa, then I guess let’s do it.”

Lucas blinked in surprise and then gave a wide smile. Snatcher saw the big smile on his human partner’s face, and had to remind his partner one last thing.

“However, if it doesn’t work. Your only option is to kill her.” Snatcher reminded him.

“Don’t worry Snatcher. I’m going to bring Vanessa back!” Lucas told him, ignoring the whole killing part. Snatcher sighed, but was glad to see Lucas was happy and no longer a mope.

He then gave the same proud smile and agreed with his human partner. “Then let’s do this!” He and Lucas gave each other a high five. Starting tomorrow, the two were going to hunt for Vanessa together!

The following day, Snatcher kept his promise with Lucas and decided to help him look for Vanessa. They decided to not look in town, but in the park where Lucas and Vanessa had their last fight. “Alright, this is the one place we hadn’t looked yet. She could be hiding here.” Snatcher explained.

“You sure?” Lucas asked.

“Well, you’ve been looking for her town after town, city after city. The park and forest areas are the only places we haven’t looked.” Snatcher explained.

With a sigh, Lucas held on to his bag that contained his cellphone and flashlight in case they decided to look up till midnight. “Then, let’s go.” He said, ready to go. “We’ll split up and cover more-”

“Woah! Woah! Woah there Lukey-boy!” Snatcher cut him off. “Split up? Really?” He asked. “You know that’s the quickest way to die?!”

Lucas chuckled. “Come on, you know that’s only in movies.”

Snatcher crossed his arms. “I’d lost six people, hunting for the Queen that way.”

Lucas chuckled again, this time nervously. “Well, I know this forest like the back of my hand I’m sure I’ll be-” Snatcher then cut him off again.

“One of them had their head popped off.”

This made Lucas give a sheepish smile and listen to his ghost partner. “Got it, we stick together.”

“Good.” Snatcher replied giving a smile, with that the two went through the forest to look for Vanessa. Behind them was two kids, Hailey and Timmy who were secretly following Lucas and Snatcher.

“Do we have to follow them?” Hailey asked.

“We have too.” Timmy replied. “We need to see what’s up with that man and his ghost.” He then kept walking, following where Snatcher and Lucas were going. Hailey rolled her eyes and gave a sigh before following her older brother into the woods.

Deep into the forest, Snatcher and Lucas looked all over for Vanessa, calling her name though Snatcher was calling the Queen’s name hoping to pick a fight with her. “Vanessa! Vanessa!” Lucas shouted. “Where are you Vanessa?”

“Hey queeny! You hurt my human, why don’t you show yourself you coward!” Snatcher shouted. However, the Queen was nowhere in sight. Snatcher sighed till he heard rustling in the bushes, he floated over to the bush and was ready to look who was there. As he got closer Lucas saw Snatcher looking into the bushes and followed his friend.

“Find anything?” Lucas asked.

“Someone is following us.” Snatcher replied. Lucas looked into the bushes and walked closer to it, he went to look through but saw there was nothing there.

He shrugged and kept on looking for Vanessa. “It was probably a bunny or some wild animal.” He told him. Snatcher turned back at the bush and shrugged following Lucas again.

The two didn’t look deep enough as Hailey and Timmy were hiding in another bush, or in Hailey’s case behind a tree. The siblings sighed seeing Lucas and his ghost friend leaving the scene. “That was a close one.” Hailey sighed.

“I’ll say.” Timmy replied. “Come on, we’ll lose them!” Timmy then came out of his hiding spot with Hailey following right behind him.

Hours had passed and Lucas nor Snatcher found no signs of Vanessa, leading to another dead end. It started to get late as the sun started to set. Lucas sighed seeing the two would have to give up for the night and head home. “Well, we checked and no sign of Vanessa anywhere.”

“I know. You tried.” Snatcher sighed as well. It was a quiet walk back home between the two of them. The only sounds were birds chirping and the rustling of bushes coming from Timmy and Hailey.

Lucas stopped and turned back, getting a sense that there was someone following them all day. “Alright, I know someone is following me. Show yourself! I won’t hurt you.” Lucas spoke up.

“He’d probably will!” Snatcher shouted. Lucas glared at his ghost partner. “What, no one can hear me.”

“Actually, we can.” Timmy revealed as he and his sister came up to Lucas and Snatcher, causing the two to scream.

“T-That’s not possible!” Snatcher shouted. “N-No one can see obligated ghosts unless they have one of their own!”

Hailey and Timmy looked at each other and back at Snatcher. “Well, we can.” Hailey replied.

Snatcher was panicking over this. He didn’t sense a single ghost from the two, so how come they can see him? He shook it off and glared at the two brats. “Don’t matter, Lucas!” Snatcher shouted. “Get your Poltergem and get those brats!”

Lucas stared at Snatcher in disbelief. “A-Are you crazy?!” He asked. “I’m not killing children for their souls!”

“Well I’m not being discovered by brats who don’t have ghosts themselves!” Snatcher shouted back.

“Ahem.” Hailey cleared her throat. “You try and kill us, and we’ll post this all over the internet.” She threatened holding up her cellphone, which was playing the video of the fight Snatcher, possessing Lucas’s body and the Queen possessing Vanessa’s body fighting each other. Lucas and Snatcher gasped seeing the entire fight caught on camera. This in turn brought back sad memories for Lucas, and how this fight was the last time he saw Vanessa.

Seeing his friend upset, Snatcher growled at the little girl. “You little brat.” He growled. “How could you hurt my buddy like this.” He turned towards Lucas, who was just watching the video and the memories of him and Vanessa played in his head. “Lucas, transform now!”

“Transform, and I’ll send!” Hailey threatened once again.

Lucas let out a yell and punched a tree shushing everyone. Hailey and Snatcher looked in shock and silence and Timmy quickly went to her sister and held her close to protect her before Lucas did anything to her. Lucas breathed heavily, calming down a bit. He looked up at Snatcher and Hailey silently staring at them.

Letting out a huge sigh, Lucas decided to speak to Snatcher first. “I’m not going to kill children over finding us out.” He told his ghost friend. Snatcher didn’t have time to react when Lucas faced the two kids and spoke up. “Who are you two, and why are you following us?”

Hailey put her phone down seeing Lucas wasn’t going to kill them and replied. “My name is Hailey and this is my older brother Timmy.” She answered. “We’d known about you when we saw your fight and caught it on video.”

“Why catch it on video?”

“We think you got possessed and we had to catch it on tape.” Timmy answered. “I love catching ghosts on camera and looking into the paranormal.”

Hailey then added on. “Which is para-not-normal to everyone, but to us it's para-so-normal.”

“Great ghost hunter kiddos.” Snatcher groaned rolling his eyes. Then the soul stealing ghost had a question for them. “So how can you see me?”

“Like we said, we just can.” Hailey repeated what she said earlier. “I don’t know either, but at least we know this man here,” she commented pointing at Lucas, “isn’t a crazy man.” Lucas took offense to that and gave a glare to the girl. Hailey replied, giving a cute little giggle.

However, Lucas couldn’t get mad at two kids and decided to take them home. “Well, since it’s getting late do you need help getting home?” He asked.

Timmy and Hailey went silent and turned away from Lucas and frowned. This made Lucas and Snatcher realize something happened to their parents. “Um we have no place to stay.” Hailey admitted.

“What happened to your parents?” Lucas asked.

“Murdered.” Timmy answered, turning away from the older man. “Someone murdered them.”

Lucas sighed and walked over to the kids and put a hand on their shoulder. “I’m terribly sorry.” He told them. Hailey and Timmy didn’t reply, they’ve replied to too many I’m sorrys already. “Do you at least have a place to stay? Or someone watching you?”

Timmy shook his head. “We still live in our house, just no one watches us.” He revealed.

“Well in case you need a place to stay. You two can stay with me.” Lucas offered.

“WHAT?!” Snatcher yelled as his eyes snapped open. He pulled Lucas from the kids and went up to his face. “Are you CRAZY?! You can’t just adopt these kids?!”

“Come on Snatcher, they have no parents and they live alone. If someone finds out they could be taken away and separated.” Lucas explained. Snatcher crossed his arms and turned away from his human partner and glared at the kids. Lucas sighed, and realized now he had to resort to bribery. “If you can agree with me on this, you can have half of my bacon sandwiches for a month!”

Snatcher’s eyes widened hearing the word bacon sandwich. “Make it two months!” He offered.

“Deal!” Lucas finalized.

“So you’ll allow us to stay with you?” Hailey asked. Lucas nodded.

Hailey then looked at her brother who didn’t seem to be bothered by it. “Fine by me.” Timmy replied. Hailey cheered excitedly that she’s going to be in a new home. However, Timmy pulled on her shirt, reminding her not to get too excited. “However, we are not going to move in tonight. Just give us time to think about it.”

Lucas gave a slow nod. “Understandable. Take all the time you need.” He told them.

“We will.” Hailey replied. “Now we will show you where our house is!”

Lucas giggled. “Alright, alright.” He and Snatcher then took the siblings home to their house with Hailey leading the way. Once the siblings made it home safely, Snatcher and Lucas got home themselves and passed out on the couch.

Far away in an abandoned manor, the Queen was looking out the window before turning to Vanessa who was sitting on her bed staring at a photo of her and Lucas. She floated over to her human and snarled at the photo of Lucas.

“When can I see him again?” Vanessa asked. The Queen’s eyes widen before giving a sigh and putting her hand on the young girl’s shoulder.

“Now, now Vanessa.” The Queen reassured her. “You know better, he’s with the enemy, you can’t see him, only killing him.”

Vanessa sighed, and moved away from her ghost partner. “I don’t want to kill him. I love him.” She admitted.

This ticked off the Queen, as she grabbed Vanessa’s shirt and pulled her close to her. “Listen here!” She shouted. “He doesn’t love you! He'll never love you! He’s Snatcher’s pet meaning he’ll kill you! Understand that!”

Vanessa whimpered and didn’t want to face the Queen’s icy glare. She didn’t want to believe any of it, Lucas loved her, and she loved him back. “What if he doesn’t?” She growled.

The Queen glared and pulled Vanessa closer to her. “You’ll see.” The Queen growled back. “And soon you’ll be in pain just like how it was with your mother.” Vanessa’s eyes widened as she let out a gasp.

Outside of Vanessa’s room a figure of a woman, as well as a floating pair of eyes listened in on the conversation. The duo’s main goal: To protect and serve Vanessa as well as the Queen from anyone who decides to harm them. Even Lucas and Snatcher.

[banyanas]

(anon who asked) Oooh those are good. You might like the series by schrodingers__cat on Archive of our own called "and the forest entwines their once-souls" it is written in a cool-weird-vibe way and a perspective I forget the word for but the forest is alive-but-dead in a way. It starts with "there’s a little girl in the forest" and looks back after it

FUCK I KNEW THERE WAS ONE I WAS FORGETTING

I didn’t start reading ahit fic until I finished my own main stuff (soul-stricken/thrice-cursed) but i cam across these and basically lost my fucking MIND theyre so good. the prose is crunchy the environment is so tangible and real and the descriptions are visceral. It is 100% a writing style i vibe with, super hard- so many shared tropes, mmmm.

Go read it, if you haven’t! Comment!

[milk-box-16]

I finally finished this thing that I had for a month- So, yes it is an AU where it would be the other part of the Subcon Kingdom also putting a bit of my Oc's lore in this case :D

This Au is going to be called "Forget Forest" on the recommendation of a friend

Edit: I just noticed that there are a lot of spelling errors in the description of Blade, but it's fixed now :D

[forget-forest-ahit]

Nice place ya got here

The first ask let's goooo

Fun fact: The forest itself is like the backrooms-

[the-slushie-monster]

Okay, It’s AHIT OC time!!

Name: Bush Boy (alter: Thornsbane)

Species: Tree/bush spirit

Height: 8ft 6in (but varies when emotion takes over him)

Weight: 337 lbs

Personality: A kind, gentle giant and gentleman with mysterious properties that make him. He has a child-like sense of wonder and the curiosity to go along with it, A very emotional creature that acts on emotion and reflex most of the time. (oh how can I forget that he is so CUTE AHHHH!)

Likes: nature, friends, dancing, singing, meeting new people, playing inside the forest, games

Dislikes: Pollution, People who hate, fighting, talking too much, using his power to hurt people, forest fires, people who hurt the forest

Bio: Before he died, he was teen training to become a royal knight when the Prince(snatcher) and Princesses Venesa were only small children. He had a loving family (that was poor, unfortunately) with a little sister he loved with all his heart, a girlfriend who loved him, and a part-time job working in an orphanage. On top of wanting to protect a king, he knew that the only way to provide for his family was to become a night since the orphanage lowered their pay during the years. His family supported his decision and he trained every night to become a knight material until the king started recruiting men to be a knight. After years of training, the king started to recruit men and he was the first in line to show his bravery, loyalty, and strength to the king. After hours of interviewing, fighting royal guards, and showing complete respect to the king, he got the job. He was astonished that he made through the hundreds of men who applied.

After months of learning how to be a knight, he was already making the money his family needed. Happy for them and proud of himself that he was a knight in training, he trained even harder to be one of the best until he passed out from exhaustion (when I say exhaustion, I MEAN exhaustion, he didn’t sleep at all). He was nursed back to health by the royal nurses, but while he was in a stage of discouragement and weakness, he met the young Prince who for some reason wandered into the room where he was being healed. The Prince and he started to know each other after some time of healing and became friends. The young Prince would watch him train and get stronger as he watched the Prince find his true calling, to work in the law, and become a lawyer. They both grew up, Prince almost ready to go to law school and alive Bush (not his name when he was alive I promise XD) Becoming the knight he always wanted.

(Okay, alive Bush has met the princess since he worked at her kingdom but he didn’t socialize with her that much since the king wouldn’t allow her to befriend a knight. But he did talk to her time to time, but he was much closer with the Prince)

Once the Prince was ready to leave, the knights were set out to defeat a wizard who was seen creeping in a forest not too far from the kingdom so alive bush and a handful of knights were to fight off the wizard and kill him. As they set out, alive Bush was unable to say goodbye to the Prince before he went out into the forest with no chance of making it out alive. Bush and the knights found the wizard and fought him off. The knights were no match though, the wizard was very powerful and killed many of them. When the knights were dead and alive Bush was the wizard’s only obstacle, they fought till the end. Fighting for what seemed to be hours, alive Bush became half exhausted and the wizard killed him and left his body as well as the others for the wolves. That same night, the forest was powered by the wizard that always came to the forest for magic. The forest saw what happened to the knights and Bush so it took the knights and made them part of it, as for Bush, he was given something more than the others, he was given a new life as a creature that protected the forest from people like the wizard and others who would hurt the forest. Scared and confused, he didn’t know what was going on. In the pale shine of the moon, he saw what he had become something that was strange, tall, bushy, and wooden. Right when he was freaking out calling for the other knights, the forest told him he must go in deeper and forget his life of being human. He couldn’t help but think of his family and the Prince. He acted on his emotion and tried to run out of the forest, but the forest kept from escaping and making it seem the forest went on forever. After many attempts of trying to get out of the forest, he stopped and finally did what the forest wanted. As he walked deeper into the forest, he grew taller and shrubs grew with the lower limbs of his arms and legs. He stayed awake all night walking into the forest wishing to see his life again the deeper he went inside. Dawn came peeking over the horizon of trees and leaves, making him feel something he never felt before about the forest, a feeling of love and respect for the forest. He grew a small flower that wrapped around his chest as the sun rose and touched him. He slowly forgot his grief about his family and the Prince, and opened his eyes to the forest as the forest revealed itself to him. Bush now saw what the forest wanted, it wanted him to help it survive just as it helps everything inside of it survive. He started to know the forest as his mother and his new name. He started to be one with the forest and what she offered him. The love, protection, and beauty of the forest kept him going as the days went by of him grew accustomed to protecting her and the creatures from dangers the entered with harmful intentions. Years have gone by since Bush has seen anyone from the kingdom he once knew, until two girls walked along a forest trail, talking about the prince’s death. Bush overheard and felt something come over him, almost like a fog of sadness and sorrow, but he didn’t know what it meant since he forgot about his past life. He spent weeks trying to piece together why he had these feelings even though the forest didn’t want him to remember. As months go by of feeling this way, his heart ached and became shriveled and he formed into something from these feelings and shattered memories, Bush became Thornsbane.

Hoowee! this is TO long! If you guys want a part two to tell what Bush does as the alleged Thornsbane then just give me at least five likes and i’ll be happy to do it!!

[multiversal-pudding]

@swirledstarz You wamt peccking AHiT Fic Reccomemdations?

@shadowthrone-ammanas‘s fic requests

There’s a lot of them, and they’re good.

there’s a little girl in the forest and lovely little glass roses [shrodingers_cat]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23127991 and https://archiveofourown.org/works/23182336

“But now there’s a little girl in the forest, and she’s going to live. No one asks her name, and she doesn’t give it out. She seems to prefer the anonymity anyway, and it’s not like she asked any of their names either. (As if they had them. As if anything in this forest, living or dead, could have a name. Only she had the audacity.)“

“Her fingertips trail glittering snowflakes across her curtains. Delighted, she taps the windowpane, and watches the fragments trace lovely little patterns as they spread. She doesn’t see how the crystalline ice frosts over the rosebushes outside her window. She doesn’t see them wither, and fall, perfectly preserved in shimmering glass.”

Have I ever mentioned how much I love when almost poetic fics like these turn out right? Pecking fantastic.

Written by... [BlueberryYogurt]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692469

“A month-long vacation can put a lot of stress on a movie director. The Express Owls decided to help out.”

Aww, the Express Owls like angry bird grandpa

When You’re “Evil” [NotSoMetalKnightmare]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22855354

“Sometimes Snatcher sings.”

YEAH HE DOES

la loi, c’est moi [MiniNephthys]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19749316

“For her trial, the Empress pays off every prosecutor alive.  Somehow, this isn't enough.”

You know how Snatcher used to be a lawyer? Well, that’s come back to haunt Empress.

My Sweet Prince [MiniNepthys]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19279843

“Her prince is so beautiful now, encased in ice.”

You want the ANGST? You want the figurative(/literal) chill down your spine?

the definition of soulmates [MiniNephthys]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19274773

“There is not much the Snatcher fears.”

A bitter old shadow reflects on mostly forgotten memories, and the one he could never forget.

The Red Prince and the Hatted Princess [Agent3Novi] https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458804/chapters/43731755

"'There’s better ways to get my attention than that, Hattie,'

The princess in purple just stuck her tongue out at him."

An AU where Hattie is the Prince’s little sister. It seems to be dead, so fortunately we can pretend Vanessa doesn’t exist (gee, I sure hope it doesn’t suddenly start updating again making me eat my words)

A Crown in Time [imthepunchlord] https://archiveofourown.org/works/19825558/chapters/46943875

“In an effort to get a leg up on this annoying kid, Snatcher delves into hidden secrets, and makes a big discovery that changes everything.”

Boogie-woogie-woogie.

How to Become a Loving Grandfather [DemonKingUwU] https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566553/chapters/53926555

“The kid came back after a looong time, this time with something that will shake Snatcher's world”

Granddadcher. Need I say more?

The Great Plan [mothedpiles]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21017843/chapters/49987565

“Mu decides to make a plan to wreck the Mafia's fun, and thinks a certain soul stealing ghost might be able to help her out with it.”

Panic! In the Mafia Town

Great Evil King babysits his grandkids but real evilly he's very evil and not nice at all [mothedpiles]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22866019

“Snatcher's got to be somewhere and needs someone to take care of Hat Kid and Bow Kid, so they get in touch with their dad to babysit the two kids for them.”

Crossover with Okage: Shadow King- Pool Noodle 2: Electric Boogaloo (well, technically Snatcher’s the sequel. but.)

What if Snatcher Made it onto the Cruise Ship? [Mothedpiles]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259608

“Ghosts just wanmahave fun”

Correction: What if Snatcher and their 187 disaster ghost children invaded made it onto the cruise ship?

SNATCHER AND RUMBI'S FORBIDDEN LOVE: OVERCOMING THE ODDS IN A LIFELESS LOVE, FULFILLING THEIR HEARTS' DESTINIES [MOTHEDPILES] 10/10BESTSHIP

Cupidity [dogblog]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054639

“She's a hardy one. Hardy and clever and with a spirit that can't seem to keep quiet. The forest is a place of death, but she traverses it like she's lived there her whole life, the only thing breathing in a sea of ghosts. It's so rare he sees anything as fascinating to watch.

And he so enjoys collecting fascinating things.“

A fic about beta Snatcher! Neat!

[mothpile]

AHiT Minecraft AU where everyone plays on a server

Hat Kid: Mostly goes out exploring for villages, mansions, temples, e.t.c. will take part in occasionally griefing other peoples house’s for the fun of it. doesnt really make anything special as she’ll tend to forget where she made her house while she’s busy running around.

Bow Kid: Has like. two hundred pets. While she keeps most of them at her home to keep them safe, whichever ones she takes out with her while exploring become the only thing she cares about keeping safe. Many times she’s taken an arrow for her pets, and in fact she’s really good at keeping them safe. None of them have died. Everyone suspected she had hacks or something on to keep them from dying but she’s just extremely dedicated to the safety of them. 

Mu: Will destroy everything and anything. Griefing pro. She will destroy everything you know and love. it’s impossible to get back at her because she doesn’t make any sort of home that isnt temporary; dirt houses that are made in under a minute are her go to. If you ever run in to her and try and make her pay, she’ll just best you in pvp. how she’s so good despite never really going out of her way to look for items? no one knows. 

Mafia Boss: Mu immediately killed him the moment he spawned in, causing him to rage quit and then he never joined the server again.

Cooking Cat: Rarely on the server, only joins if something big happens and moderation is needed. Her motherly disappointment in people is often enough to stop anyone with anything theyre doing. Despite not being very active, she does have a big community farm for everyone to use while she’s not there. It becomes considered a safe zone because no one would dare upset cc by tarnishing the sacred grounds with clownery.

Conductor: Knows a little about the game because of his grandkids. Only cares about making a functioning railway system. A conductor in real life, a conductor in game. Mu regularly causes havoc to his attempts of constructing his dream build and he hates her for it. Doesn’t know how to change his default skin so he’s just a steve.

DJ Grooves: The only adult who’s familiar with the game! He makes actual homes that look nice, and is willing to help anyone (other than the Conductor) with anything. He’s also the only one who’s got a good grasp on how making banners works, and is known for making any design for anyone who wants them (mostly pride banners. because gay rights.)

Snatcher: Old man knows nothing about the game. He’s doing his best to make a tree house similar to the one he has in a forest but he’s awful. Never goes mining for better resources because he went into a cave once, heard the scary sound, and got scared. Refuses to admit that though. His case with griefing is more interesting: Mu destroyed his attempts at making his treehouse once, and Snatcher’s outburst was kind of funny so now all the kids on the server take turns being mean to him. He will never be able to get back at any of them because he doesn’t know what a TnT is or how it works. A subconite gave him one once, but after he placed it and it didn’t explode, he gave up. Only has a skin (which is just him) because one of his minions made it for him in hopes it’d get him to keep playing the game. it worked. 

Subconites: They’re the ones who set up the server! How’d they do that in a forest? No one knows; they work in mysterious ways. The kinds of houses they make range from dirt to simple wood, mostly because they find more fun in running around and taking part in whatever action is going on. They’ll gather resources (mostly for Snatcher who doesn’t know how to do anything but is too proud to admit that), take part in the occasional prank (theyve helped with many of Mu’s endeavors), etc, etc.

[theoryfan205]

Hat in time au

I thought of I think an au for a hat in time, I'm calling it the adoptive ahit family au because in it in every new area hat kid goes to she gets adopted by the residents, in mafia town the mafia adopts her and wishes her a heartbreaking farewell as she goes onto the next area. In dead bird studio DJ grooves is the one to adopt her, this is mainly because he's nicer to her in the stages of that act and on the cover art type thing for the first mission type thing he's the one who has the hearts when looking at her while the conductor's just really angry, the conductor doesn't really like hat kid and in this au he wins the movie thing so when she fights him halfway through the fight DJ grooves shows up like "that is my child you are hurting!" Which the conductor responses with "she ain't even a bird ya peck neck!" So grooves says "HOW DARE-" and then those two start fighting giving hat kid enough time to grab the time piece. In the subcon forest chapter snatchers little minions are the ones who adopt hat kid as their sibling, snatcher doesn't care for her at first but by the time the boss fight for that chapter happens he's grown attached and doesn't really want to hurt her, he gives up halfway through the fight and ends up giving her the time piece and her soul back. The farewell for dead bird studio is a big party that does become a film because who doesn't love a sad movie? The farewell for subcon forest is something more small, the little minions get her gifts and snatcher gives her a storybook so she won't forget him. that's all I've got so far but feel free to add on to this au!