Chapter Text
A long sigh mixed into the tranquil sounds of the surrounding woods and footsteps on dry, crinkled leaves. “Hey Greg, how about we sit down for a minute?” A brunet teenager finally spoke up after a long time of silence.
“Okay, Wirt.” A young boy plopped down on a nearby fallen log with his frog friend, his next name was yet to be decided. Wirt sat next to him and stretched out his legs.
“Hey! You guys shouldn’t be resting. We need to keep moving!” a small bluebird huffed and perched on the teapot resting on Greg’s head. “Beatrice, my legs are killing me!” Wirt groaned in defense of his choice. “We can wait, I’m pretty sure Adelaide isn’t going anywhere.” Beatrice huffed again and reluctantly stopped complaining.
Wirt glanced around the peaceful environment surrounding the step brothers. Brightly colored leaves floated down from the trees onto the sunlight speckled dirt. The faint sounds of a flowing stream was just in earshot. A chilly gust of wind passed over them and Wirt shivered, pulling the ends of his cloak closer to help conceal his body heat.
“Hey Wirt, look at this!” Greg broke the tranquil silence and picked something up off the ground. Wirt raised an eyebrow as Greg pulled a bouquet of flowers into his line of sight. “Aren’t they pretty?” Greg smiled.
Well Wirt couldn’t argue with that. The bouquet was a beautiful pattern of blood red roses and deep blue irises. The flowers were held together by an artistically woven pattern of smooth, thin, tree branches. By the color it looked like the branches were from those edelwood trees scattered throughout the woods.
Wirt examined the delicate craftsmanship of the bouquet. “Why would someone just leave this here?” Beatrice questioned. “Dunno…” Wirt replied, staring vacantly into the swirling kaleidoscope pattern of the arranged flowers. Should these flowers even be in season?
“Wirt? Wirt!” Beatrice smacked his hand with her wing, causing his hand to hit a small thorn on one of the roses. Wirt let out a small yelp and pulled his hand away from the flowers. A small orb of blood seeped out of his ring finger before dripping down to his nail. Wirt then slipped the finger into his mouth and sucked the blood out to soothe the stinging pain until the skin healed enough to stop the bleeding. “S-sorry…” Wirt muttered, despite Beatrice being at fault for pricking him.
“So what should we do with it?” Greg asked. “Do you wanna take it home and give it to Sarah?” “W-what?! No, no let’s not do that.” Wirt stuttered. “We’ll just leave it here. Someone’s probably planning to give this to someone already. Let’s not ruin it.” Wirt stood up and placed the bouquet of flowers in the exact place it was before. “It is very beautiful though…” Wirt thought to himself. “Whoever that’s meant for, I hope they love it…”
“What was that?” Beatrice asked. Wirt stood up straight. “Nothing!” The blue bird gave him a smirk and sat on Wirt’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s keep moving towards Adelaide’s.” Wirt nodded as his brother slipped off the log and back onto his feet. A chill passed through Wirt again as they left. He shuddered, yet Greg and Beatrice seemed unaffected by it.
“So, at least in my eyes, sneakers aren’t actually the ideal shoes for sneaking around.” Greg walked in front of the group as he finished his analysis. “I…guess you have a point.” Wirt muttered before Beatrice shushed him. “Look over there.” she pointed her wing towards a gap in the brush surrounding them. Wirt obediently walked over and peeked through the bushes, Greg doing the same.
A short, hunched over man was shoveling hay onto a large wooden cart, attached to it was a white horse with a chocolate colored mane. “Okay, I see a guy…” Wirt muttered. “Why are we watching him?”
“Not the guy you idiot, the horse!” Beatrice huffed. “What about the horse?” Beatrice smacked her wing against her forehead, this guy was just beyond help.
“We steal the horse and use it to get to Adelaide’s faster!” “Yeah! A daring horse heist!” Greg cheered. “Greg, no! We are not stealing a horse.” Wirt corrected.
“Well walking is going to take forever. Especially with you stopping for breaks so much.” Beatrice huffed. “Well…what if we just hitch a ride on the cart? Who knows, he might be going the right way.” Wirt shrugged. “And how are we supposed to know he’s going the right way?” Beatrice huffed. “He’s going the right way.” Greg spoke up, the other two raising an eyebrow, temporarily distracted from their bickering.
Greg held up a small slip of paper and Wirt crouched down a bit to read it. “In a carriage, lined with hay, this old soul will lead your way.” Wirt read it over a few times, this was not Greg’s handwriting.
“Greg, where did you find this?” he asked. “In that tree.” Greg replied with a blunt smile, pointing to a tree a few meters away. “Okay that’s…creepy, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to try.” Wirt shrugged. “You’re just going to trust a random note?!” Beatrice yelped in protest.
Wirt looked up at the dark clouds beginning to blot out the sun and coat the sky like gray watercolor paint. “It’s out best choice right now. C’mon.” Wirt squirmed past the bushes and walked up to the cart after the man left, by this point the cart was piled high with hay. Greg walked up as Wirt climbed in and set his frog friend on the cart before crawling on himself. Beatrice sighed and reluctantly followed the boys as they crawled deep into the haystack as drops of rain began to hit the ground.
“Quack!” The group yelped at the sound, unable to see much in the darkness. Greg felt around in the hay until his hand brushed against feathers. “There’s a duck in here!” Greg cheered, picking up the bird with a grin. Wirt sighed. “Should I question anything at this point?” he muttered, speaking to no one in particular. Greg set the duck down beside him. “Isn’t that technically a question?” he asked. Wirt sighed again and face-palmed as the cart began to move, making the group bounce and shift along the uneven dirt path.
“See Beatrice? We can just relax for a bit and still end up closer to Adelaide’s house.” Wirt leaned against the walls of their small hay hut. “Plus we’re safe from the rain now too.” Beatrice sighed and nestled into the hay. “Fine, but I still don’t trust this…” Wirt smiled softly, Greg and his frog were already asleep.
Not feeling that tired, Wirt kept his eyes open, listening to calm and almost rhythmic sound of the rain pattering against the straw shelter as the cart moved at a calm pace. Time almost seemed to stop, as if also wanted to slow down to take in the peace. Wirt was eventually brought back to reality as something landed in his lap.
Wirt lightly brushed his hand against the object before grasping it gently, it had a wooden texture but he couldn’t see what it was. “Greg, did you throw this?” Wirt asked. He was given silence, Wirt could barely make it out, but Greg’s sleeping figure was still across from him so he was still there but he didn’t seem to be the culprit.
“Beatrice?” Wirt turned his head to look at her. No, she was still sleeping too. Was it just stuck in the top part of the hay before? What was this thing anyway?
Wirt shifted onto his knees and dug himself out of the haystack in the hopes there’d be some sort of light to let him see the unidentified object in his hand. The rain that hit his face was refreshing, though extremely cold, as he managed to push his head and arm out of the hay. A strike of lightning lit up the otherwise black forest, allowing Wirt to see what he was holding, just for a second.
It was a small humanoid figure with a crude face delicately carved into its head. A torn piece of black cloth was wrapped around its shoulders like a cloak and large cone hat, made if minuscule twigs and thread, was stuck to its head. “Is this…a little me..?” Wirt muttered, mystified at the wooden figures mere existence.
A scream came from the front of the cart and it suddenly lurched forward as the horse sped up with a frightened neigh. Wirt squeaked and lost his balance a bit, falling forward and nearly losing grip on the figure. He managed to hold on without damaging it and crawl back into the haystack as Greg and Beatrice were waking up from the sudden shakiness of the cart.
“What’s going on out there?” Beatrice asked, slightly annoyed. “I don’t know. The guy driving just started freaking out!” Wirt shrugged. “The Beast is upon me!!” the man yelled from outside, clearly in a panic.
“The Beast? But I didn’t see anything out there.” Wirt said. “Well then clearly this guy is crazy and now he’s taking us way off course!” Beatrice glared slightly as she poked her head out of the haystack to get a sense of where they were.
“I knew we shouldn’t have listened to that weird note Wirt! Wirt…?” Beatrice looked back over at the boy she was attempting to scold only to find him staring at a tiny figure in his pocket. She huffed and decided to wait until he was less distracted.
Wirt had heard her talking but that wasn’t going to gain any of his attention in comparison to the tiny wood Wirt he held in his hands. The flowers, the note, and now this figure. Wirt knew that these items had some kind of connection. If only he knew what.
He decided to dwell on it later and gently placed the figure in his pants pocket before the cart tipped onto its right wheels during a sharp turn, the contents of the cart falling out effortlessly.
As the cart drove out of sight a looming figure watched as the boys and bird stood up from the damp hay and made their way into a nearby tavern in search of food. It huffed and sunk back into the darkness of the forest, it’s pitch black figure camouflaging it well.
“Well, well, well! Isn’t this an interesting development!” a sinisterly chipper voice echoed through the rain. The creature’s glowing white eyes gave a deadpan expression as a large singular eye appeared in front of it. Glowing gold bricks floated around the eye and with a flash the source of the comment made himself known.
“I thought you had been wiped from existence…” the black creature muttered, sounding disappointed and annoyed. “Nice to see you too Beasty!” he remarked, ignoring the question on his humiliating defeat not long ago.
“It’s just ‘Beast’ Bill. How much longer are you going to call me by that pet name?” “Until I get a better one of course!” Bill twirled his cane around in his tiny black hand. He let go of it but it just kept spinning in place.
“Now, back to the topic of that meat sack you’ve been eyeing all day.” Bill “smirked” and floated around his companions head. “A boy who wandered into The Unknown last week, what of it?” Beast glared. “You don’t normally play with your food. What makes him so special?” Bill causally sat down on Beast’s twisted antlers.
“You’re one to talk Cipher. Rumors are spreading that you’ve gained a crush of your own.”
“Oh! So you’ve heard of my new favorite puppet, huh? He’s just the most precious thing. Like a paranoid baby deer!” Bill laughed. “I’m sure that paranoia has nothing to do with what you’ve done to him.” Beast muttered, his deep voice laced with sarcasm.
“Hey, at least he knows what I look like! You’re never going to get that lawn gnome’s attention if you keep staying in the shadows like this!” Bill poked his cheek teasingly. “I don’t need advice from you. Showing kind gestures from a distance is the best option I have.” Beast sighed softly.
“Ooh, you have it bad Beasty. It’s a shame you won’t listen to me though. I guess I won’t be sending you a plus one to me and Pinetree’s wedding.” Beast scoffed slightly. “You honestly think that your disturbed personality will have a child swooning over you? You’ll drive him to insanity or suicide before that ever happens.”
“Is that a bet?” Bill sounded intrigued. “I suppose it is…” Beast crossed his arms. “Well then I’ll bite! We’ll see who can get their human crush to like them back first.” Beast nodded in reluctant agreement to this silly bet.
“Then it’s settled. See you soon Beasty!” Beast huffed as Bill disappeared in a fit of laughter, the cane still there, spinning infinitely. Beast tried to forget the yellow annoyance and continued on his way. Damn triangle.