After recovering his senses (damn Deneve had a wicked right hook), Raki proceeded through the forest. He had no idea where he was or where he could find the Rabbit, so he hoped someone would help him. Soon he came upon a pair of figures.

"Hello, huh, misses." he greeted them.

Indeed they were women, identical twins to boot, tall with long blond hair and silver eyes, clad in form-fitting black suits. They gave him a blank stare, no emotion appearing on their beautiful impassive faces.

"I'm sorry to bother you…"

No reply.

"But could you help me, please?" he asked politely.

They blinked. He took that for a yes.

"I'm looking for the White Rabbit. Do you know…"

Before he could finish, they both raised their right arm and pointed. In opposite directions.

"What the…"

One of the twins pointed up, while the other pointed down.

"Never mind." he sighed before resuming his trek.

Behind him, the twins shared a look and a made the same sign : left thumb and index forming a circle, and poking their right index through it repeatedly.

At least they agreed on something.

()()()()

"So, you didn't experience any side-effects from that potion you drank earlier?" the strange caterpillar-like creature asked with a creepy tone. Then again, everything about it was creepy, especially the fact that half its face was missing its skin, leaving the muscle underneath bare. He was also the creator of the potion and the cake Raki had swallowed earlier.

"No. Look, could you just tell me…"

"No increased abilities? No physical mutation? No increased aggressiveness?" Dae the Caterpillar listed.

"No."

"No hallucinations?"

"I'm starting to wonder…"

"And no strange cravings? For, say, human guts?"

Raki's eyebrow twitched.

"It's not something as corny as 'willpower' I hope." he mumbled before a new theory struck him. "Did a strange woman shove her arm through your back? Or maybe you derive power from your hatred and self-loathing?"

Both of Raki's eyebrows twitched.

"Damn! I thought I had gotten it right this time." Dae scowled, which made it look like the rest of his face was about to fall off. "Oh, sorry, it's just been a while I had a male test subject."

"Test… subject?"

"Yes, usually I experiment on little girls and women's corpses. Plenty of fun. Well, the corpses don't scream, so it's not quite as fun, but more quiet."

Three seconds later, Dae's head was separated from his body. Raki hoped the Rabbit wouldn't be mad at him for getting her sword dirty, but the sicko just had to die.

"Geez, honestly, what's wrong with this place? What's next? A guy complimenting me on my musculature?" Raki grumbled as he hacked the rest of the body to pieces.

()()()()

Somewhere, a man with a scruffy beard sneezed violently.

"Hey Chronos, you all right?"

"Yeah Lars. By the way, have you been working out lately?"

"Sometimes I really think you're gay."