Chapter Text
“I got something for you,” Teo said, nails digging into the palm of one of his hands as he held out the small box to Aurelio. His wings were puffed out and no matter how hard he tried to will them to, the feathers would not sit back down nicely.
“You did?” The Gold seemed surprised, taking the box and opening it so carefully it was like he was handling a bomb.
A golden necklace sat inside the box on top of soft cushioning, a pendant in the shape of a crescent moon the only thing strung on it, a smaller moon engraved in the middle.
Teo bit the inside of his cheek when Aurelio didn't say anything right away, “You don't have to keep it if you don't like it, but I have a matching one that's a sun and I'm pretty sure they're like friendship necklaces-”
“I like it, thank you,” Aurelio said, cutting Teo's nervous ramblings short.
Teo blinked and his wings rustled behind him before a grin broke out on his face.
“We've got matching necklaces now.”
Aurelio smiled and something victorious rose up in his chest.
“We do.”
Teo ran his fingers along the grooves of the sun carved into the pendant. The area around him was dark and every footstep he took echoed throughout it. He could make out hills surrounding the stone pathway he walked along.
Traveler had still not come back yet, so he continued on. He wasn't sure where he was meant to be going but he supposed it didn't matter.
Silhouettes of trees began popping up until he was once again in a forest, the canopy overhead blocking out the rest of the little light that had illuminated his surroundings. Still, he kept going.
In one hand he held onto Origin, periodically squeezing the lion stuffy to feel the little beads that stuffed its limbs crunch. The other hand continued to run along the carving on his pendant.
Teo looked around, seeing nothing and yet not running into anything. How could it be so dark?
It wasn't dark for much longer, the roots and trunks and branches and everything else suddenly became visible, the browns and greens swirling with new colours. Pinks, oranges, yellows, reds and greens and blues. Every colour imaginable stained the flora, flowers he'd never seen sprouted out of the ground, just as vibrant as the things around it.
He breathed, it was more colourful than anything he'd seen before.
“Squonk!”
Teo froze.
“Squonk!”
That was a familiar noise.
“Squonk!”
He turned around and was met with the bright blue-and-green toucanet alebrije he had ‘captured’ during the trials. It bounced up and down happily, flapping its wings as its snake tail tripped it up several times. The alebrije’s chameleon eyes were facing opposite directions until it managed to finally train them on Teo.
“Well hello there,” Teo greeted it, voice soft as he crouched down, “Where's your mother?”
The toucanet honked again and hopped its way over to Teo, rubbing its head against his outstretched palm. He scooped it up and held it in his arms, looking around only to be met with the colourful flora- and now fauna he supposed. He hummed and continued walking, now with his arms occupied with the alebrije, the small thing curled up around Origin, almost like a snake constricting its prey.
He was unsure how long exactly he walked for before something changed. The colours began shifting, still just as bright, but twisting and writhing like it was living. Teo's feathers ruffled behind him and he furrowed his brows, the toucanet looked around like it was also confused about what's going on. Then, the world stopped, everything shifted in a way that pointed directly to one spot.
Teo held the alebrije closer to him, cautiously approaching the figure that stood there, they were small, smaller than Traveler, and turned to face him when he stepped forward. And oh, they were adorable-
“Oh! Hello,” they tilted their head, resembling a finch, just as colourful as the forest surrounding them, “Is Traveler with you?”
Teo blinked, “Uh- no, no he's not.”
“Gosh, where are my manners? I'm Wanderer! I would shake your hand but it looks like you've got them full,” Wanderer giggled, “You said Traveler wasn't with you? Hm.”
They tapped a bird-like foot on the ground, adjusting a headband with small antlers on their head to fit more comfortably.
“Do you know the way?” Before Teo could respond they shook their head, “No, nevermind, you probably don't- no matter! I'll just have to accompany you myself! Technically I'm not a guide like Traveler is, but that's okay, I know practically just as much as him now- oh I shouldn't be sharing this-”
Teo snorted before he began to laugh and Wanderer looked at him with a happy expression- as happy as a blank face with only a beak that didn't open and eyes that had no pupils could look anyway.
The toucanet squealed and scrambled out of Teo's arms to jump onto Wanderer's shoulders, startling them and causing them to squawk. Teo only laughed harder, his wings puffing up.
“Your friend is awfully rude,” Wanderer huffed light-heartedly, grabbing the alebrije to hold it properly and hand it back to Teo, “Anyways! Let's go!”
They didn't wait even a second before starting off down the path, humming happily. Teo scrambled to continue after him, nearly dropping the toucanet as it squirmed around, trying to get comfortable again. The path beneath them continued to shift, every colour twisting until they were back to normal, if not more vibrant.
They walked for a while, until the trees dispersed and a temple came into view ahead of them. It was giant, with elaborate carvings giving it its shape in the polished stone. They made their way up the steps- when Teo looked back, the forest was gone, replaced with mountains- then inside. In the middle of the main room was the pedestal that held up the Sol Stone, shining bright.
He walked along the wall, running his hand over the carvings depicting the story of Sol and Tierra. When he turned his head to examine them, however, he paused. Instead of anything he was expecting, like the story, there was a carving of him. Wings spread wide and hands cradling a skull, a sunburst crown atop his head.
Teo stared at it for so long he began seeing sparks fly across his vision. He blinked rapidly and shook his head- they should continue on. He turned to face Wanderer again and frowned when they were nowhere to be seen. They were probably just somewhere further in.
With that thought in mind, Teo began walking to one of the hallways.
“They're probably dead, you know?”
He froze. Then he turned around to face the Sol Stone.
“The whole point of the trials was to keep everyone safe and here you went off and caused the apocalypse,” Aurelio was standing right in front of the pedestal, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as he glared at Teo.
“I-”
“If you had just-” Aurelio's face screwed up in pain, “Just killed Auristela- none of this would've happened.”
“‘Relio-”
The Gold stalked closer, creating a spark with his flint tipped gloves and immediately growing it into a flame in his hands.
“Hey- wait- we can-”
Aurelio brought the flame right up to Teo, the heat washing over his face.
“I hate you.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, wings flaring out as he braced to be burned.
“-eo? Teo!”
His eyes flew open, Wanderer was standing right in front of him, holding onto his arms and lightly shaking him.
“Oh thank the gods,” Wanderer let go of him and backed away, “You zoned out for a second there, just froze, are you okay?”
Teo was silent for a few seconds before nodding.
“Yeah…I’m- yeah I'm okay.”
They sighed in relief, “That's good, come on let's continue. Traveler should be back with us soon.”
Wanderer led Teo out of the temple, their surroundings shifting back to a forest again before it began snowing. Small snowflakes fell at first, slow and calm until it suddenly shifted to a flurry, the wind picking up and becoming cold and sharp. There was a small figure in the distance, nearly hidden by the snow.
“Traveler!” Wanderer shouted out, waving a hand as Traveler turned around to face them.
He was wearing a large tan scarf and holding two more in different colours, one pink and one gray. Wanderer ran up to him and immediately took the pink scarf, wasting no time in wrapping it around their head, shoving the other scarf into Teo's arms.
“Sorry about that you two,” Traveler said, “It's good to see that you've managed to stick to the route even with me gone.”
“Yeah well he's got me! And I'm pretty good at guiding,” Wanderer boasted, puffing out their chest jokingly before giggling.
Traveler sighed and placed a hand on their head, “Yes…yes you are.”