The scent of sweet apple pie was overpowering, and it made Lovino start to question the flower garden. Why was there a smell of pie when this was all green plants? Were one of the flowers baking?
The brunette shook his head, astonished at himself. This crazy place had made him start thinking some weird things, and he didn't like it. Better than being at home and arguing, he thought, continuing on his way. And why had the voice told him to turn right, if this caterpillar person was on the left? Was this place backwards or something? He sighed and shook his head once more, looking around at the forest of plant life surrounding him. Just this morning, he had been walking to school with his perfectly ordinary brother in a perfectly normal world… well, it was far from perfect, but you get the point… and now, here he was, walking on grass made of plastic and talking to flowers with nothing but his underwear on. Ridiculous.
Staring at his feet, he felt like he was missing something, something big, but he couldn't place his finger on what, so he kept walking, the light breeze brushing through his dark brown hair. He soon came to a clearing in the dark green stems and stopped, looking around. In the middle of the clearing was a large blue mushroom, which was dominated by a tall, broad-shouldered man sitting cross-legged, wearing a white and blue scarf and smoking a pipe. Next to the mushroom stood the white rabbit girl, smiling at Lovino and waving, a slight movement of her tiny hands, which were actually about the same size as Lovino's, now that he had shrunk.
"Who are you?" he demanded, glaring at the two of them.
"Depends," the tall guy grunted, "Who are you?"
"I don't have to tell you that." he answered, adding a curse at the end for good measure.
The tall guy raised an eyebrow, a small scar above it moving as well. The white rabbit just shook her head in exasperation and walked up to the Italian, holding out her hand as if to shake his.
"I'm Emma." she said, smiling. "That's my brother, Lars, The Caterpillar."
He nodded, staring warily at the man. There was a look in his eyes that made Lovino think he wanted to kill him violently. Maybe he did.
"I asked… who are you?" Lars repeated, blowing a ring of smoke into the air above him. Lovino wrinkled his nose, disgusted by the smell. The man was pulling out each vowel, giving his speech a slow kind of pattern, and it was starting to annoy Lovino.
"Why do you care, damn caterpillar bastard?" he asked angrily, covering his lower face as the other blew another ring of smoke.
"Not who you think I am." he answered. "Now, who are you?"
"Stop saying that!"
"I will say it until I know who you are."
"I said, stop!"
Emma just watched the exchange in concern, biting her lip and trying to intervene. I knew this would happen, what with their personalities… she thought, checking her watch. Her eyes widened as she realized what time it was, and she turned to hop off. "I'm going to be late! Lovino, you have to hurry!" she cried over her shoulder as she hopped off, her white dress flowing out behind her.
The brunette had no idea what she meant. Why did he have to hurry? He shrugged and looked back at the Caterpillar.
"I'm Lovino. There, happy?" he huffed, narrowing his eyes.
"Not in the slightest." Lars responded, not even bothering to look at the other. "I don't think you know who you are."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're an idiot."
Still seated upon his mushroom, still smoking that weird pipe, still not even glancing at him. Lovino growled and walked out of the clearing, into the area beyond. Instead of flowers, there were trees, lots of them, and Lovino was only as tall as the roots. He clung to the waistband of his boxers, trying not to let the smallness get to him. The grass eventually became softer as he continued on, and he almost smiled as it tickled the soles of his feet. But he didn't, because smiling was for idiots.
The sky looked darker from his viewpoint underneath the canopy of trees, but he couldn't be sure. If it rained, well, he could take shelter under a leaf or something…
He felt suddenly depressed. Just the fact that he was having thoughts like this meant he was going crazy already. What was he, a fucking fairy?
Maybe, maybe not.
The farther he walked from the mushroom caterpillar guy, the darker it got, and soon, he could barely see his own bare feet. His had rammed into a tree, and upon closer inspection, he realized that it was dead and slightly burnt, as were the other trees that now surrounded him. When had he wandered into this part of the woods? It gave off a creepy atmosphere, one that made the hairs on the back of Lovino's neck stand straight up. Although reluctant, he decided to sleep here for the night because, even though he didn't want to admit it, he was dead tired and needed somewhere to crash. A soft patch of moss did the trick, and he was soon sound asleep, unaware of the creatures roaming the night, staring at him with large yellow eyes and hissing mouths.
Except one creature, whose eyes were bright blue, and whose smile was as clear as the crescent moon.
