See, Lukey? I can pull my own weight.


Antonio sat around for a few minutes after a Lovino had left. He was getting bored. Horribly bored. He didn't want to sit and wait for Lovino to get back.

After trying, and failing, to entertain himself with that had been left (mainly rubble that was once a statue and pieces of a now-ruined table), he decided to find some better entertainment.

He opened the shack's wooden door and he disappeared into the night, leaving it wide open behind him. He wandered through all of the buildings, jumping anytime an animal happened to wander by.

He followed a small, fuzzy creature with big ears all of the way through a nearby forest. It was fast, and Antonio struggled to keep up. Eventually, his foot caught on a tree root and his face fell onto a hole, which was apparently home to hundreds of little tiny things with six legs. He nearly screamed as he brushed them off of his face, hurrying back the way he came.

Antonio wandered the nearby area, picking at the small red bumps that had appeared all over his face. They were starting to burn. Badly. He began to whimper, as this feeling was new to him.

He began to make his way back, deciding that this was all a very bad idea.

Antonio went a little past the shack and eventually found a house. It was fairly large compared the other houses and was in good shape. He slipped inside, looking around at all of the expensive and very fragile items in the house.

Having learned his lesson at the shack, Antonio didn't touch anything as he made his way to the bedroom of a young couple who were sleeping peacefully beside each other. He came closer to investigate when the man opened his eyes and spotted him. He quickly got up.

Antonio, not knowing any better, just stood there. It wasn't until the man started throwing punches that he realized his mistake.

Antonio cried as bruises started to appear quickly, covering his arms and chest in various shades of black and blue. A particularly harsh strike to the side of his face made his start to run out of the house. The left side of his face bore a dark purple bruise by the time he reached the shack again.

The door was still open and a few birds had taken residence. After scaring them out with his rambunctious footsteps, Antonio shut himself in the small building.

He rubbed his jaw, whimpering at the pain when he touched the bruise. There were already tears running down his face. And he hadn't even been alive for half a week!

Antonio decided that maybe living wasn't all it was cracked up to be... Hell, he had been beaten not even 48 hours into his life. He faintly remembered life as a statue; Lovino would always send him admirable glances, no matter what his attention was supposed to be on. Lovino had even talked to him at times, though he couldn't recall much of what had been said.

Lovino had even called him his guardian angel on several occasions. Antonio wasn't 100% sure what that meant, but it sounded sweet and was nice to hear. Come to think of it, the Italian said quite a few sweet things when he was in the mood. Behind that cold exterior, he was caring and gentle. Antonio knew enough to know something had made him add that extra layer to himself. Something had forced this sweet person to hide who he really was, as if he were a crab hiding in its shell. He just wished he knew what would do such a thing.

Antonio looked around at the marble scraps and rubble around him, as well as pieces of ruined table. It looked exactly the same as it had when he left.

Bending down, Antonio started to clean the small shards. After a little while, all that remained was a debris pile in the corner and the white powder that wouldn't be easy to get rid of. He had taken the liberty of separating the fragments of table from the marble, remembering what Lovino had said about being able to 'do something with them.'

Antonio curled up in the corner, shivering a little. It was cold in the shack. He hadn't noticed it much before, but it was colder in there than it was outside. He noticed a twig laying on the ground, and he picked it up. Not having anything better to do, he shook it.

Immediately, the room heated up. Antonio started to sweat as he threw it back onto the ground, where a small flame erupted. The stick vibrated softly and the flame was extinguished.

Antonio backed further into the corner, not wanting to cause anything worse to happen. He noticed a small twinkle. His lovely little fairy friend had returned. With the damn wand.

Lantana giggled mischievously as she circled the small shack, lifting the stolen wand. Arthur would be furious when he found out, but it was worth it with what she had been up to.

With Antonio's trembling and whimpering, obviously afraid of the wand's power, she felt pity for him. With one wave, all of the rubble started to levitate. It floated back into the original form. The table returned, good as new. The statues were restored to their former glory. The only different thing from a few days ago was the very alive Antonio staring, wide-eyed in amazement.

Lantana left him with a grin and flirty wave. Antonio just admired the newly-restored statues. The detail was amazing... He couldn't believe he had been created the same way.

Antonio's eyelids had been starting to droop shut for a while. He didn't know this new feeling, but he knew to lie down. He tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable on the hard floor. Despite the discomfort, he was out in less than twenty minutes.