Drake in Wonderland - Haunted AU

✧ Chapter 2 ✧

   The cat-like eyes staring down at Drake widened, the creature jumping from the branch it was perched on. Before he could move, Drake was pinned down. He closed his eyes.

   There was a hysterical giggle in the air. "Scared ya didn't I?"

   Drake opened his eyes, a human-like face staring back at him. His grin was inhumanly wide, curly dark hair acting as curtains over the aqua cat-like eyes. "Armen?"

   Armen sat back, laughing and snickering. Drake sat straight, expecting the one who was supposed to be his younger brother to be entirely human. He was surprised when he found gray fur with shining blue stripes on his hands, two cat-like ears on his head and a tail that were never there before. "Ya know," Armen started. "I should've known you'd know my name."

   "What do you mean?"

   "You're Drake, right? Or are you some type of demonic creature taking on a form that looks similar to a Drake I know?" The humanoid cat asked, leaning forward on his hands... er, paws.

   Drake nodded, his mismatched eyes never leaving the long, sharp claws he saw sticking out of the fingers of Armen's paws. "Yeah, I'm Drake... or at least, I'm sure of it."

   Armen rose from his sitting position, standing on his furry feet. Stretching out one fuzzy hand, he offered to help Drake up. Reluctantly, the hybrid took the fuzzy hand, feeling the soft pink padding in Armen's palm. Drake brushed off the dirt on his jeans, looking up at Armen again. Even Armen's attire had changed. He was still wearing the same brown pants, white overshirt and gray undershirt, but there was an added two straps across his abdomen and one on each arm. It took Drake only a second longer to find the silver tag on the dark gray collar wrapping around the humanoid cat's throat.

   "Are... you okay?" Armen inquired, giving Drake a sideways glance.

   "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... not used to seeing Armen as a cat."

   Armen patted Drake's shoulder as he passed. "Well, you're gonna have to get used to it, bud." Drake turned to follow Armen, finding him gone.

   He searched the trees above, not finding the human cat in the branches. Looking back down, he spun on his heels and screeched. Armen had appeared directly behind Drake while he was distracted. As Drake fell backwards, the Armen-noid cat cackled, his perpetual grin never leaving his face.

   "Would you cut that out?" Drake scolded, having to stand up and brush his jeans off again.

   Armen nodded in reply, still chuckling. "Heh, sorry. It's a habit." Drake huffed. He was frustrated and confused yet this strange version of Armen was acting like it was all fun and games. "Come on, I've gotta show you something." He took a deep breath, exhaling off his joyous mood. This time, Drake kept his eye on Armen, suspecting the moment he turns around, he'll find the humanoid cat in his face again.

   He led Drake through the forest. A question appear in Drake's head, the one none of the flowers had answered. "Hey Armen," he began. "I tried asking this to a bunch of flowers before but they didn't answer: Where am I?"

   The humanoid cat stopped. "Oh, you don't know?"

   "No. I just fell down a hole and got here. There weren't any signs or anything to tell me."

   Armen sighed. "I should have expected that, too. We're in a place called Wonderland, other-Drake. In the Forest of the Duchess, if you will."

   "Wait... what do you mean by 'other-Drake'? What are you talking about?"

   "Tsk, tsk. So many questions. I'll answer those later, but first--" Armen led Drake to a decline in the ground, making a few quick turns, coming across a curtain of vines hanging over a wall of stone. Pulling back a set of vines, a passageway was revealed. Armen took Drake's hand, guiding him through the passageway. It came to an opening, trees and bushes lining the stone walls. "This is a little place I like to hang out at," he said. "Wait here a moment."