Ha, I actually kept my promise to update early °^°

Bah, I don't really like this chapter, except for the last part. But we need to get to the plot!

Yeah, I have written a FxF-One Shot called "Complementary Colors" and I have drawn some picture of the characters :D There'll be more but...I need to change some things about the way they look. Even though I hve three pictures of Flippy/ Evil, I'm still not happy with his haircut and his army uniform ._.

http : / deathnotebb . deviantart . com / gallery / 29007576 (Y'know how it works, just type this in without the spaces)

Thanks to the ones who have reviewed so far :3 It means a lot to me!

By the way, would you please read the note at the end of this chapter and answer the there given question? I didn't put here, so I don't spoil anything...

Queen, you are full fair,...

The happy chattering stops at an instant, a glass shatters as it is dropped on the ground, though no one except for Petunia possibly notices, seeing as she rushes forward and almost hastily picks up the glass shards.

Four people are gathered around a table on which the momentarily forgotten card game lies.

First there is another girl with bubble-gum pink colored hair that stops at her shoulder blades and a big red ribbon is placed in her hair. Her childish face is frozen, she blinks rabidly and her cards slip out of her grasp.

Opposite from her sits a young man with curly, purple hair. Freckles dust his cheeks and since his mouth is still hanging open, Flippy can see the buckteeth with the rather large gap in between.

Then there is a redheaded female, something that looks suspiciously like oversized dandruffs is entangled in her almost blood-red, spiky hair. She isn't wearing a dress, like the other two girls do, but sports a more boyish attire. She gapes slightly at him and she backs a little away.

And finally, there is the person Flippy recognizes the fastest, because he has barely changed in all those years and because they used to be good friends. Still the slightly curly blond hair, still the same face the girls back then would refer to as 'cute' and this strange blush that seems to cover his cheeks 24/7.

And all of a sudden he can name them all. Giggles, Toothy, Flaky and Cuddles.

It seems like Lumpy is really not the brightest or simply ignorant or oblivious to all kinds of changes in mood.

"This is Flippy!" he calls dumbly and his voice cuts through the silence like a knife.

Said man nervously glances at the occupants in the room who are still all sitting there, staring at him as if he is a ghost.

Finally, they rise from their seats and walk over to him, surprised, delighted even expression on their faces and that's when they attack him.

"Is that really you, Flippy?" "Wow, you sure have changed!" "So you returned?"

He is so taken a-back that he simply stays silent and lets them pester him with questions. When their first curiosity and their astonishment to see him again pass, they all take a step back and allow him to speak. "Nice to see you all again" the green-haired male eventually says and he feels a smile tugging at his lips.

He feels like laughing out loud, he feels like crying in joy, but something hinders him from doing so. He doesn't know what it is, and he is sure that it can't be Evil...

Evil.

He turns to look at his evil side, to see that he has withdrawn himself from the group and sneers at them from the shadows, his eyes following their movements and he seems to be debating over whether he should try to fight for dominance again and start a killing spree or...do something else, whatever that is.

His former friends observe him too and cringe slightly as Evil growls in disapproval. "W-Who's that?" Toothy speaks up, giving Flippy a questioning glance. He looks at Evil, who returns the stare and dares him to say something, with a mocking smirk that reveals his sharp teeth, which causes the others to recoil.

"It's...hard to explain. He's called Evil" Flippy whispers and tugs lightly at the chain. Most of the group (excluding Lumpy and Flippy himself) shudder at the obvious implication of the name. It is somewhat a tradition that parents give their children names that express their wishes for their child's personality or they refer to their looks. (Had it been his parents' wish that he'd turn into a nutcase? Flippy wonders.) So being named Evil...

Petunia, who suddenly appears between Cuddles and Giggles, informs them with doubt evident in her high-pitched voice "He said that this guy won't do a thing as long as he's around."

"Really?" the blonde asks, his face also reflecting his skepticism. "More or less, yes..." the man in question replies, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "But you shouldn't be careless around us. That could end very unfortunate for you guys..."

His threat has the obviously desired effect as Evil chuckles darkly at the sight of their horrified expressions.

"You have a lot of things to tell us, Flippy" Cuddles (who appears to be the leader) slowly says, his eyes trained on the second personality of his old friend. "But I think we should go first. You're probably already completely confused, aren't you?"

Flaky quickly leaves the room to retrieve another two chairs, while the others sit down on their respective seats again and Flippy hesitatingly takes red-haired girl's one.

"No one actually knows why this place here exists, nor does anyone know how our worlds are connected. There are three entries to this place: the rabbit hole, the river and the cave."

The former soldier nods at that, having already been given this piece of information.

"The first people who arrived here and founded this town called it Happy Tree Town, after our home, since there are a lot of similarities between this world and the 'real' one. For example the environment, y'know, with the forest next to Happy Tree Town and not far from here is the coast.

There are quite a few shops here, we have a small hospital, but there are no cars except for the ambulance and we don't have cell phones or...well, telephones at all."

"Do you have a police station?" Evil chimes in, startling Cuddles, before he resumes his explanation, but he seems oddly nervous.

"N-Not...really, we don't have an actual police station."

"Then what do you have?" inquires the obnoxious other side of Flippy, and although he sounded genuinely curious, Flippy tells him to stop interrupting the blond male. When said blonde remains silent, Flippy instead asks "Are there any things we should know about? Certain risks? Dangers?"

"You shouldn't go into the forest alone and not even in a group at night, but I think that is kinda obvious. Then...let me see...You are new here, so you and Evil have to register. It should happen not later than tomorrow evening. You see, the government is very strict about that. Giggles?"

The pink-haired girl who has been sipping at her drink looks up. "Could you go with them tomorrow? I have to work." Upon hearing this, her gaze settles on Flippy and she is clearly not ecstatic, but she accepts and she even smiles a little.

"As for the other rules...You should watch out for the HTTP." "HTTP? What the hell's that?" Flippy knits his brows together in confusion and Cuddles sighs. "HTTP stands for 'Happy Tree Town Patrol'. They are there to make sure that nothing bad happens and that no one strays at night. They like to arrest random people they meet on the street when they look like they could cause trouble. And no offense, but..."

He gives Evil and their uniforms a pointed look. "It's fine, really" Flippy reassures him.

"Well, that's about it...now, enough about this. Your turn to tell us what was going on in the last few years. Why are you wearing those cloths, for example?"

At this, his other half raises his head and is suddenly on high alert. His glare that he sends the man is unmistakable one that says "Say something and you're dead".

But Flippy is not scared of him, not really, and he feels all those stares directed at him and he's always had a trouble thinking when he was put under pressure, so he opens his mouth and starts with the time after he'd moved away, with random, insignificant things.

When he reaches the time when he entered the army, his story gets less detailed, with big, gaping holes in the timeline. The others notice, guessing from their slightly furrowed eyebrows, yet no one says something about it. Do they already have an idea why? He just wants to finish with that part of his life, to keep the memories from flooding back and feels this damn tugging again.

When he finishes, he is a little exhausted. He hasn't talked that much in quite a long time.

It is Toothy who (probably unconsciously) asks the dreaded question. "Hm? You still haven't told us just exactly where Evil comes from and what happened back then. And why should we be more careful with those sounds and keep you away from the things you listed? Care to explain?"

The nut-case inhales sharply and lets his hair fall into his eyes.

"You...don't want to talk about it?" the boy guesses.

Evil laughs cruelly at that. "Yes, I wonder why!"

Cuddles yawns and stretches as he watches Lumpy with Flippy and this... Evil reluctantly trailing behind him.

It had taken some time to find a place for the new arrivers to stay, with most of his friends complaining about Evil (though Petunia had voiced her dislike of their grass and dirt stained cloths), until the oldest of the group finally volunteered to let them live at his house till they have their own one.

He is no doubt happy to see Flippy again, it had been about 14 years since they last met after all, but he can sense that there is something very wrong with him and that he is hiding a secret that is probably connected to Evil.

The war has been exceptionally gruesome, the young man had heard, shortly before he had went to explore the cave with his closest friends Toothy and Giggles, and he is slightly worried for the green-haired fellow's psyche.

He is definitely keeping information from them.

At this, his smile turns bitter. Well, Flippy is not the only who hasn't told the whole story. Cuddles can be a little selfish from time to time, but he is mostly a nice guy and cares for his friends, that's why he didn't say it, at least that's what he justifies it with.

It's their first day, he says to himself. It's not like they won't find out, nah, that's impossible. But he shouldn't destroy his hope to return home so soon. Now, that'd be really mean.

He continues strolling down the lane to his own small house alone, since his girlfriend decided to stay at Petunia's, and as he registers the sound of a person following behind him, he increases his pace and almost runs to shelter.

God, the HTTP can't possibly know already?

Because if they do, he does too and that can turn into one hell of a big problem. Flippy and Evil, as former soldiers, pose a threat, if a minimal one (because Evil was obviously only exaggerating when he said he was so very dangerous), and if they don't keep an eye on them and keep them away from trouble, they would get imprisoned and once again, a friend would be lost.

Only days ago, they have arrested the one they only call The Mole when he was trying to oppose the governor (and he was actually the third one of their small organization). The word 'governor' is a joke, used for that, that monster.

Alone the thought of the blind makes Cuddles feel a little depressed, so he tries to salve his pained conscience.

'He had it coming. He did it because he wanted to. I have nothing to do with it, nothing at all. I shouldn't be worrying so much. He had it coming...' he reasons and apparently, his conscience is satisfied with that, and it feels like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

Flippy can't sleep.

Nope. No chance. It just won't work.

Usually, he doesn't have any trouble falling asleep, and damn, he is one heavy sleeper. Yet every time he drifts off to sleep, something will startle him and he's once again wide awake.

This time, he knows that this strange behavior is actually triggered by his evil 'brother'.

They are sleeping in the same room, seeing at the chain attached to their wrists doesn't allow anything else.

The other man sits on the bed Lumpy has provided and doesn't even think about resting. He is simply sitting there, back straight and all senses on high alert.

Finally no longer able to just lie there, trying and failing to sleep, the original calls out "What are you trying to do?"

With a last stare at the door, under which a little bit of light seeps through, just enough to make out the faces of one another, Evil shifts his intense glare to his creator and hisses "Isn't that obvious? I'm keeping watch. We can't trust this guy. Or any of your friends" he spits out the last word "for that matter."

Flippy lets out an exasperated sigh. Evil is practically calling his new-slash-old friends enemies. "That's ridiculous. We know them, they're my friends. Why should they try to harm us?"

"Oh, do we? How would you know? You haven't seen them in years! Look at yourself, you have changed quite a lot, now haven't you?"

That is true, but...

"How can you know that they won't try to kill us? Have you forgotten? Friends are not forever, no matter what they might say! They are a bunch of traitors! The only ones we can trust are ourselves! That's why I'm keeping watch. Moron. You are too careless, like always."

Evil, with an extremely serious look on his face, twitches again, a habit he has apparently developed over the course of being in possession of his own body. It is barely there, but every once in a while, he would twitch slightly. It is a quite unnerving sight.

Well, he has a point. What does he know about those people? Can it be that they have changed for the worse?

It isn't as ridiculous to stay awake and watch out anymore to him.

Evil is almost always right, he's saved his life so many times before. Evil wouldn't lie to him. No, he wouldn't do that.

But...it could be Evil only being paranoid just as well.

Now, which story should he believe?

Whut? Evil being a little bit nice (arguably) to Flippy? I have my own thoughts about his personality and they will be an important part of the story and the plot. I personally don't think that Flippy and Evil necessarily hate each other, it's more like a strange 'I don't really like you, but you're not THAT bad, so you better don't die' sort of relationship (if that makes ANY sense). Yes, I've seen Double Whammy and Autopsy Turvy, but I think this 'fight' was the typical 'only the strongest survive' type of fight, seeing as Flippy won and thus didn't flip out anymore, indicating that Evil was gone.
I put serious thoughts into fictional characters personalities. You may call me Miss Nerd now.

Then...why Cuddles?, you may ask. I chose him because he seems like someone who makes friends easily and from the characters he seems like one of the best suited for the position. Lumpy is the oldest and thus has more experience and knowledge, but he's too dumb. The others are either struggling with personal problems (like Petunia's OCD) or it simply doesn't suit their personality (for example Flaky, who is a little too paranoid and timid, she is more a character that follows, not leads)

Now, important question: The 'governor'...the Tiger General? An OC? Someone else from the HTF-universe, and when yes, who? Please tell me, because that is really important and I can't really decide.