Horizon-Bound

--Bird's Eye--

Let's see, could he even remember how to view Subcon from up here? Moonjumper coughed into his sleeve a little, regretting the horrid screeching he had done earlier. It wasn't very...smart of him, he supposed. Not that he really felt he did many things with much thought.

...It was difficult to even tell where he was in this place. White clouds, grey platforms spanning into nothing. Just like he had remembered. Empty. Almost like he had been tossed in some sort of dimensional trash can to be forgotten about. Which, by all means the first time, he was.

That didn't matter. What mattered to the phantom at the moment was re-figuring out how to spy on the world below from his prison. Perhaps, if anything, revisiting the lovely spots he had been shown would at least distract him enough from...everything else.  Though spying...spying didn't seem very prince-like, did it?

'Not very prince-like'.

Ah, that was a sentence he used to hear often. Very often. Back then he had loved to pull pranks, goof off, generally just enjoy life. Wasn't it better to find joy and make someone laugh, than to be serious all the time? Entertaining the village children was especially fun. They loved tag. He loved to pretend to be slower than them to make them feel strong for winning against the prince.

Like clockwork, however, she would always swoop in from the sidelines. With the same quirk in her tone, the same one to always show she was unhappy with his actions. In public, it was an iron-like grip on his shoulder and an overly sugar sweet voice. In private, it would soon turn into an entire chastising act.

"Dear, this isn't very prince-like, don't you agree?"

Chewing on his lip with his long fangs, the phantom hesitated, fingers twitching in the familiar nervous tick he had developed. He shouldn't pry into the forest. It wasn't his business.

...

But, what if you were out there?...

Just a peek. Just a peek. It'd be alright.

Moonjumper thought for a moment, picking idly at the cloud flooring. How had he---

A slight sparkle underneath the clouds caught the ghost's attention abruptly. Ah! Of course, how could he have forgotten. This had been how he discovered this the last time as well. Attempting to dig through the cloud flooring had been his very first attempt at escaping The Horizon. With shaky hands, the specter pushed away the strangely dense fluff, spotting the familiar blue and purple hues of the forest below. His nerves tightened as he touched the glass-like force-field with an almost feather-light touch.

One could see everything from up here, almost like an omniscient eye able to peer upon everything in Subcon. Moonjumper had nearly forgotten the view. ...It would've been a lovely sight, if he were able to choose to see it, instead of being forced high up and away. Now, it just made him feel smaller, much more trapped.

Shaking away the thought, the specter began crawling across the glass-like field, pushing cloud fluff out of his way as he frantically glanced about Subcon. Were you out there? Were you talking about him? Were you alright? He felt ill thinking about that last question, quickly pushing it down as his mismatched eyes continued their panicked search.

Where, where, where--

The phantom froze in place, staring down at the all too known and familiar mansion. Moonjumper shook a little, looking over every icy detail with fear, disdain, guilt...No matter how many times he had accidentally gazed upon it, without fail it always got to him. 

Sighing and relaxing his jitters, he kept up looking around until he heard a sound. It sounded distant, like a small conversation between two. His breath caught in his throat. That was your voice, certainly. 

---0---

"Do you ever slow down?" Chester chastised in annoyance, faking a limp in an attempt to gain your sympathy, "The second we woke up you had us going again! If your friend is out here, I doubt he's going anywhere fast!"

Ignoring the subconite's chatter, you continued moving forwards through the thicket of the forest, shoving a few branches of a bush out of the way as you went. The doll-like creature had been whining all morning about having to move again,  but you really hadn't the time  to worry about it. He'd be fine. Clearly.

"I have to keep moving, Chester," You mumbled back, "I don't want to get caught again, you know."

"What, not planning on herding a bunch of us like sheep?" You heard the oddly friendly chuckle from your unwilling traveling companion, "Wouldn't that be something."

A smile graced your face momentarily, "No, I don't think I'd make a good Shepard."

"Hahah, yeah considering how you drag me around."

Rolling your eyes, you glanced into the thick foliage ahead, taking extra care to look for any odd looking vines. Perhaps your little 'friend' could help out here.

"Hey, Chester," You motioned ahead as you spoke, "Look like there's any traps here?"

"Huh?" The subconite in question bounded up, jumping up to glance around, "Nah, I don't think so. Boss doesn't come way out here on his own anymore."

"Why's that?"

"It's just not worth his time, y'know? We already have the only entrance to the forest that matters all covered, anyone out here will just get picked off anyways! You're the most clever of 'em all. But that's not saying much, considering you're still out here."

You sighed a little at the backhanded compliment, but nodded with a quick 'thanks' for the help, grateful that you'd be safe from Snatcher's grasp at least. Even though now the overgrown sections were going to require just a bit more effort to get through.

"What makes you even think someone would be way out here anyways?"

"I...I don't know," You frowned, "It's just the last place I can think of."

Frustration bubbled up in you. It had been days with no sign of the ghost. You were tired, heartbroken.

It didn't feel right.

"It'd be kinda dumb to come way out here," Chester quipped.

You growled slightly, slamming a fist painfully against a tree, causing the subconite to jump back when you yelled slightly.

"This is hopeless!" You cried out, "This is just--- hopeless! This is- this-  It's stupid! What am I doing? He's gone."

---0---

You were angry. You were angry. He was right to have assumed such.

This was his fault, wasn't it?

That was enough. He had peeked enough. That was enough that was enough--

Moonjumper's shaky hands recovered the force-field in a hurry, scrambling away from the spot with a nervous breath.

What were you going to say when you found him? Would you find him? Was that it? Was it over now?

He shouldn't have pried.

Stupid. Stupid stupid.

-----

(Me when I have a lot of writing energy: Oh yeah baby. Time to write at 4 am.

Anyways ✌️✌️ I am sorry Moonjumper. I love you.

Next time uhhh...CC enacts her plan. We love a cat who cares for her friends.)