Wilfre leaned up against the door to the Twilite Woods. Currently, he was in his Salem disguise. He had found that just waltzing up to the villagers in his shadowy form caused more than a lot of panic. And he certainly did not need any more negative energy attached to him at this point in time. I mean, this was the second time he almost ended the world, for Creator's sake! Sometimes, he began to wonder if there was any way out of this miserable pit he had dug himself into. Although the raposas had gotten more relaxed around him, there was still the unspoken tension between them. Nobody had to say it, for he simply knew.
This internal monologue was interrupted by his former rival walking up next to him. That mannequin he formerly detested, by which he had twice been bested, the Creator's little puppet that had been named Drew. No matter how new you were to the village, it was impossible to not recognize Drew. The first thing that drew your attention was his yellow spiky hair that stood up, reminiscent of a lightning bolt. As your brain was processing it, you saw his red t-shirt with a simple, cartoony lighting bolt on it, his denim pants, and his white sneakers. However, his most distinguishing feature was his eyes. Although he had the ability to change their color at will, he preferred to have them set at either a green or a black. No matter what color they were, one could always see the fierce, unyielding determination and intelligence in those multichromatic depths. Oh wait, he started talking.
"Oh, there you are, Wilfre. What are you doing all the way out here?" Wilfre tilted his head at Drew as he let an unimpressed gaze drift onto his features. "I could ask you the very same question, mannequin. Isn't there a party of some sort to celebrate you taking down, and I quote, 'One of the greatest evils we have ever seen?'" To Wilfre's surprise, Drew began to look uncomfortable at what he had just said. "Yeah, that's actually one of the reasons I came over this way: to get away from it. They think I'm running back to my house to grab some more snacks." Wilfre's ears perked up in surprise upon hearing Drew confess this. He had always perceived Drew as loving the spotlight, albeit humbly. Drew took a rather shaky breath before continuing to speak. "You know, Wilfre, this is something I've never told anybody before, not even Mari and Jowee. But...I've never liked crowds. Even if I'm in the back, I've always felt all...trembly."
This confession seemed to take a lot out of Drew, for he broke eye contact with Wilfre and settled for running his now shaking hand through his hair. Wilfre was half tempted to ask him why he felt compelled to share one of his sources of anxiety with him, of all raposas, but something told him that this would simply push him away more. Come to think of it, Drew almost never talked about his emotions, positive or negative. But, there was one question Wilfre did want to ask.
"Now, when you say that you want to get away, do you mean you just want to get away from the party, or do you want to get away from everybody?"
Drew stopped moving as he contemplated Wilfre's question, eventually crossing his arms and propping his back up against the Twilite Woods door as he crossed his legs. "You know, Wilfre, sometimes its a little bit of both. I mean, I love the raposas, but they can get on my nerves sometimes. That, and they make me feel either incredibly sad or incredibly anxious. Sometimes its both!" Wilfre cocked his head to the side, honestly not expecting Drew to even answer his question. "What makes you say that?" Drew shrugged, and gestured towards the town hall. "Well, take Jowee and Mari, for instance. Those kids are some of the most inquisitive and brave raposas that I have ever known in my life. I remember when we were initially fighting against your darkness, and I was constantly traveling and finding the pages for the Book of Life. Jowee would always ask me if he could come with. But, I just couldn't bring myself to let him go...I just couldn't stop thinking about everything that could happen to him, and how awful I would feel if something bad were to happen to him. Is...is that selfish?" Drew asked, while looking at Wilfre, barely contained anxiety written all over his face and eyes, which were now a shimmering violet.
Wilfre looked at him, honestly shocked that Drew was continuing to open up to him. "What do you mean, is that selfish? You were genuinely concerned about the safety of one of your first friends! Of course that isn't selfish! Why, if that's selfish, I shudder to think of what that makes me! I mean, just look at me! My reign as a villain was essentially me throwing a hissy fit because I wasn't the Creator! That is selfish!" Wilfre stopped his impromptu rant to take a quick breath, only to realize that he had just spilled one of his biggest insecurities to Drew, who currently did not need any more problems to worry about. But, to his surprise, Drew merely chuckled. "There's the Wilfre I remember. I was wondering where he went." Wilfre gave Drew a mock glare. "Oi, I resent that! I can have my sensitive moments!"
The two glared at each other, then burst into genuine laughter, the first amount that they had ever laughed in quite a long time. When they were more relaxed, Wilfre raised an eyebrow. "You know what we could do? We could just walk right out of this door into the Twilite Woods, and just disappear." Both of Drew's eyebrows flew up in shock. "Seriously? You really wanna do that?" Wilfre rolled his eyes at the scandalized tone Drew took. "Well, yes. You want to get away, and I am not exactly a welcome stigma in this community. Surely, you realize that I have a point?" Wilfre stretched a hand out towards Drew invitingly. After a moment of consideration, Drew nodded decisively, and grabbed Wilfre's hand. Wilfre then grinned, and melted out of his Salem disguise as he opened the door to the Twilite Woods and pulled Drew through, ready to start a new adventure.