Chapter Text
Taako still wasn’t pleased with his wings, but he was getting used to them if nothing else.
He hadn’t tried using them yet or anything, honestly he preferred not thinking about them at all if he could help it. He wasn’t locking himself in his room anymore though. After all it was dumb to hide because of something that most people couldn’t see anyway.
And maybe his talk with Kravitz helped more than he wanted to admit. Wasn’t anyone’s business why he was feeling better.
Whatever the reason, he was doing more shit. Which apparently meant Merle and Magnus figured they could drag him along to their dumb extra training now. He didn’t see the use in it, he wasn’t gonna be using his wings. He had other means of flying if it came down to it, but whatever. Merle figured out a way to turn them into shields, that might be useful. Pan knows his armor class sucked.
So Taako had been hanging back during the whole training regiment. He was only paying enough attention so that Magnus couldn’t try to do a sneak attack.
It was probably because he wasn’t paying much attention to the actual training that he noticed right away. His eyes shot up at the flash of movement above them.
Taako wasn’t sure how he even had the time to process what he was seeing before he was moving. He knew he wasn’t processing what he was doing, because if he was he would’ve cast a spell or some shit. Instead he was in the air, wings carrying him with surprising ease. It felt like muscle memory, like when he would go on autopilot while cooking certain meals. He more collided with Angus’s falling body than caught him, but it was enough to grab a hold. By the time he managed to get them both stumbling on the ground Angus had wrapped his arms tight around him.
It was silent for a moment as Taako realized what happened, still pretty confused about a lot of it.
And then it was very loud as everyone started shouting at once.
“Angus what the fuck?”
“Holy shit Taako!”
“I’m sorry sirs! I didn’t- I, uh-”
“Whoa, first time flying and you’re already better than Magnus.”
“Excuse me! That was gliding at most!”
“Wait sirs what are you talking about?”
“Can everyone shut up for ten seconds!” Taako shouted, pinching the bridge of his nose, his wings curled back up as far as they could go again. This was so stupid. Everyone was quiet though, but now they were all staring at him.
“Angus, what the fuck were you doing up there?” he asked, because maybe that would distract from everything he’d done.
“I wanted to know what the special secret training was for, I’m really sorry,” he apologized again. Taako could see Merle open his mouth to speak, and so he sighed loudly before he could. He needed to cut this all off before anyone said too much.
“Next magic lesson we’re doing feather fall because seriously,” he huffed, and Angus nodded quickly.
“Man, I can’t believe the first time you use your wings you’re able to do a sick air stunt and catch a whole kid. I’m still running into walls and junk,” Magnus grumbled, and Taako could see the fucking detective mode switch in Angus.
“Wings? What are you talking about?” he asked, and Taako was already glaring daggers at Magnus.
“Nothing! Shut the fuck up,” Taako said, smacking the back of Magnus’ head.
“Ouch! Wait shit, yeah no it’s nothing don’t worry about it,” Magnus said quickly, but it was too fucking late. He could see the gears working in the kid’s head. There was a flash of surprise across his face and Taako knew he could fucking see them now.
“Oh my gosh sir! You have wings!” he said, pointing to Taako and he could sink into the floor.
“Damn it, yeah. Thanks a lot Magnus,” he said, and at least the fighter looked sheepish about all this.
“Whoops, sorry! Uh, since the cat’s out of the bag, if it helps me and Merle have wings too,” Magnus explained, and rinse and repeat as Angus as able to see theirs as well. Taako didn’t see any point in hiding this from Angus now that he knew, so they explained everything they knew about this to him.
Taako still wasn’t sure what was going on after all, and if anyone could figure it out it was Angus.
“Wait, shit,” Magnus said once they finished explaining. “If this spreads to everyone we talk to about this, won’t Angus get wings too now?” he asked.
“Oh, I didn't think about that, maybe?” he said, sounding a little nervous about the prospect, which was fair. “That would be a good thing to look out for in the next few days to see if this curse theory is correct,” he added.
And so they waited.
After a week Angus still didn’t have any wings, and Taako was certain something wasn’t right.
“It doesn’t make any sense, the director and Davenport got their wings only a few days later,” Magnus said, and they were all gathered up again.
“Maybe he’s just a freak,” Merle said, and Taako rolled his eyes.
“Well, I wouldn’t-” Angus cut in.
“Maybe it’s not some dumb curse,” Taako mumbled. It drew more attention that he would’ve liked, the three staring at him. Huffing, he shrugged, reluctantly continuing. “Just doesn’t make sense. It’s like, ugh,” he didn’t want to be talking about this. “I’m pretty sure I’ve had these for a while. Way longer than we’ve known the Red Robes at the least,” he said.
“What do you mean sir?” Angus asked, clearly intrigued.
“Just that I think I’ve had them for a while, before I met you fucks. There’s been feathers and shit. They were always a real problem during my cooking show,” he explained.
“Why didn’t you mention that before?” Angus asked, which was a valid question.
“Didn’t think it was important,” he muttered. That wasn’t entirely true, but it was as much as he wanted to say.
“It seems kinda important sir,” Angus said.
"Whatever, I mentioned it now," Taako said, huffing. Maybe it would've helped but they still needed to see if it would affect Angus, and now they knew it didn't.
"So, if it's not a curse, then what is it?" Magnus asked, and Angus was frowning intently at the question.
"I'm not sure sirs, but we're going to figure it out."
——
Merle walked through the park with Mavis and Mookie. It was one of his semi-weekly semi-monthly visits, and he knew that he should keep certain things hidden. There had been a buncha talks about how they needed to keep the wings a secret for this and that reason.
They still didn’t understand the specifics, but the spreading might not work like they thought. Merle was no expert in this sort of thing, but it seemed like keeping them a secret wasn't as big a priority in that case. So letting it slip to a few important people didn’t seem like the worst idea in the world.
“Hey, so you know something really cool’s happened to your old man recently,” Merle said.
“Whatcha mean? I want cool things!” Mookie asked, bouncing up and down in front of him. Mavis looked less excited but Merle was pretty sure she was just trying to seem cool.
“Well, it’s kinda like a magic trick. Look behind me and focus real hard, and you should be able to see some wings,” he told them, a huge smile on his face. Mookie and Mavis both stared behind him like he said, Mookie excited and Mavis skeptical. He saw the moment they were able to see the wings on their faces, and Mookie looked just as excited as he expected.
They didn’t look as surprised as he would’ve thought though.
“I get it from you!” Mookie shouted, jumping up and hanging off of his shoulders.
“He does get it from you,” Mavis said, sounding astonished.
“Uh, what do you mean by that kiddos?” Merle asked, pulling Mookie around from where he’d been trying to climb on his wings. He was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to hold up that much weight.
“I gots wings too! Look dad!” Mookie said, twisting around so that Merle was looking at his back. Sure enough when he took the backpack and jacket off of him there were these two little stubs of wings.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Merle said, placing Mookie back down. “Does uh, does your mother know about this?” he asked, and Mavis nodded.
“Oh yeah, she kinda figured it had something to do with you. She guessed it was aasimar blood or something like that?” she explained. Merle quickly nodded, going along with that guess.
“Right right, I have an uncle that’s like, 2/3rds aasimar, it’s definitely something like that,” he said. He guessed he was lucky that Mavis didn’t seem to know enough to argue with him over that. “Now fireball, you need to take good care of those wings ya here? And don’t go jumping off buildings until they get a little stronger,” he added, figuring it was a good time to offer some of his sagely advice.
“I jumped outta window! The wings don’t work yet!” Mookie excitedly told him.
“Mom wasn’t happy about that,” Mavis informed, and Merle chuckled a bit awkwardly.
“Yeah, I doubt she liked that,” he said. The rest of the visit with his kids went well, and Merle tried not to think too much about what that whole wing thing meant. He’d say he wasn’t exactly the brains of their operation, but they didn’t have much of one to begin with.
Whatever was going on with the things, Merle couldn’t get it in himself to think of them as a bad thing. So, he wasn’t worried.
He was sure it would be fine.
—
Taako was pretty surprised about how things were going. Despite every warning telling him to take a step back, hold up, Taako’s good out here, things actually seemed okay. At least in certain aspects of his life.
Or one. One specific aspect of his life.
Things with Kravitz were pretty damn good. Better than they had any right to be honestly. Sure, Taako didn’t know what the fuck was up with his wings, the director was pushing their training harder and harder, and things had been kinda shitty in general lately. With this one thing though, it was alright. More than alright. He’d go so far as to say he was kinda happy.
And so maybe he was letting Kravitz get a bit closer to him than he normally would with most people. It wasn’t important if he didn’t make a big deal about it. They were dating, some casual contact was pretty normal.
If Kravitz happened to be the only person he really let touch his wings, he didn’t have to mention it.
“So, your body is like a construct right? I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you couldn’t melt your face off when you were alive,” Taako asked. It was a rare moment where he had some actual peace and quiet, and he and Kravitz were chilling in his bed. Kravitz was running his hands lazily through his wings. They seemed like the only things Kravitz was super comfortable touching with his bare hands, since Taako assured him all the fluff made the cold thing not an issue.
“No, I was not a living skeleton man, how come?” Kravitz asked. Taako still kept his wings pretty close to his frame, but he let them relax somewhat as he worked his fingers into them.
“Was just wondering how much you can change yourself up. You did that crystal golem thing, you got any other tricks up your sleeves?” he asked.
“The crystals was more of a possession thing. I can change my form though, but this is what I actually look like so I prefer to keep that face when I’m not on the job,” he explained. Taako nodded, it made sense.
“So, how much of a change are we talking here?”
“I can turn into a raven? That’s probably the most extreme one that I do regularly,” Kravitz said, and Taako snorted in amusement.
“Of course you do, dramatic motherfucker,” he laughed. “So uh, do you gotta go full bird or can you do just parts, or what’s the story there?” he asked.
“Is this a furry thing?” Kravitz asked, and his voice was serious but when Taako turned back to look at him it was obvious he was trying to bite down a laugh. Instead of twisting around all the way to smack him Taako unfolded one of his wings and let it swat him in the face.
“No you dork, it’s not a furry thing,” Taako insisted. He was pretty damn sure Kravitz was still smiling despite the wing to the face. “I was wondering if you could give yourself wings kemosabe. We could be one of those obnoxious matching couples,” he said, and Kravitz chuckled some at that.
“I never tried to before, I can fly without wings. I doubt it would be a problem though,” he said. As he spoke Taako felt Kravitz take the wing he’d smacked him with and start to run his fingers up and along it, massaging gently into the feathers. Taako sighed and leaned back into the touch some more.
“Well if whatever’s keeping these things a secret wears off you should try it,” he said, relaxing a bit more as Kravitz pulled loose feathers out for him.
“That sounds fun,” he said, and Taako nodded, letting himself enjoy the sensation of someone taking care of his wings. He was kind of shit at it himself, because he tried to get it over with as soon as possible. Barely unfurling them enough to do some quick brushing and shit. Kravitz was taking his time and running his fingers though the feathers and the whole thing was relaxing as fuck. He hadn’t felt something so calming since he last got a massage. It’d been a while since he got one too, since he couldn’t go back after the wings appeared.
Wait. This felt a lot like the massage from that lady at the spa. A lot like that. Way too much like it to be a coincidence.
“Is everything alright?” Kravitz asked. He stopped running his hands through Taako’s wings, and he sounded worried. Taako hadn’t realized how much he’d frozen up then.
“Yeah, no we’re good dog. I thought of something is all,” he said, trying to get himself to relax again. “Not important though, I’ll deal with it later. Let’s just keep hanging out, alright?” he asked, and Kravitz cautiously starting to work at his wings again.
“Of course, if that’s what you want,” he said, and Taako nodded emphatically at that.
“For sure,” he said. He’d have to talk to someone about this later. Things weren’t fucking adding up, and he was going to figure this out.
——
Angus was trying his best to sleuth out the answer to this mystery, but there seemed to be something off with every explanation he had. He was the world’s greatest detective though, so it was only a matter of time before he cracked this case too.
Still, it was giving him more difficulty than he would have liked.
He couldn’t pinpoint how long they had wings for, so there was no way to put a time frame on the curse. If it even was a curse. It hadn’t spread to him, which cast some heavy doubt on that theory. Even still, they couldn't rule out the possibility of it spreading under other factors.
He knew they couldn’t risk someone else being dragged into this curse if there were ways it could. Angus wanted to try to test the threshold of how many hints were enough before someone realized. Just what were the parameters that caused someone to be able to see the wings? He didn’t know, and he wasn’t even sure if it would help in his case, but he didn’t have a whole lot of leads to go off of.
They hadn’t spread to him though, so it wasn’t universal.
Angus knew one person that definitely wouldn’t have to worry about growing wings though. You can't grow something if you don't have a body, after all.
“Good afternoon Noelle!” he said happily, bounding up to the regulator.
“Well hey there Ango. What can I do for ya?” Noelle asked. Angus didn’t want to give away his whole thing right off the bat. Still, it was a good idea to give her some clue of what he was doing.
“I’m actually looking into a theory for a mystery right now, and I was wondering if you could help me test something,” he said. Noelle didn’t have much of a head to nod, but she bobbed some where she was hovering.
“Well that sounds like fun, what kinda theory?” she asked.
“I was just wondering if you noticed anything strange about the reclaimers lately,” he said.
“Hmm, I mean, they’re a pretty strange bunch on the regular, not sure what you mean,” she said, and that was fair. They were indeed very strange.
“Just anything about them, for as long as you’ve known them honestly. Um, physically, I guess to be precise,” he said, hoping he wouldn’t have to get anymore specific than that.
“Anything strange physically,” she said, seeming to think over the question for a bit. “Well, I mean, I try not to judge, specially on physical things considering I’m a robot now and all,” she added and Angus nodded.
“Of course! Maybe strange is the wrong word. Um, unique?” he tried instead.
“Well, they’re the only people I’ve ever seen with wings I guess, but other than that they seem like normal folks to me,” Noelle said, and Angus was stunned silent for a moment.
He… didn’t think she’d just say that.
“Wait, you can see the wings? You’ve been able to see them the whole time?” he asked, whipping out his notepad.
“Uh, yeah?” Noelle said, sounding pretty confused.
“And you never mentioned them to anyone? Or asked them about it?” he pressed.
“Well geeze, I figured it’d be rude of me. Like, I’m not gonna go up to Carey like ‘so those scales am I right?' No one ever said anything about em so I figured it wasn’t a big deal,” she said, and Angus was still a bit flabbergasted, but that made sense.
“Um, okay that’s fair,” he said. This wasn’t how he expected this talk to go at all.
“Did this help with your experiment?” Noelle asked.
“Oh! Yes, it did a lot, thanks a bunch,” Angus said, giving her a quick nod before dashing off. He could’ve stayed and asked her more questions, but knowing that she was able to see the wings with no issues at all was enough for now. It was a much bigger clue than he expected to get.
He’d been heading to his room to do research, but as he rounded a corner he slammed into someone. Taking a moment to orient himself, he a flustered Taako in front of him.
“Sorry sir! I had a break in the case and I wanted to start working on it right away,” he said, and Taako nodded. He looked pretty distracted though.
“Which case?”
“Uh, the wings one?” Angus said, and he guessed it was a fair question. This was the most pressing one at the moment, but that didn’t mean he never had others.
“Oh, well what a coincidence. I actually wanted to talk to you about that,” Taako told him, which was a surprise. Taako seemed more than willing to pretend the whole thing didn’t exist most of the time.
“Really?” he asked. Taako nodded, glancing around the empty hallway they were in before speaking again.
“Yeah, I… have you ever been to the spa on base?”
Several hours of discussion and investigation later, Angus didn’t know what to think. There was something going on here, something deeper than a simple curse. He wasn’t sure where this mystery was going, but he knew two things for sure.
The living dead could see the wings without an issue, just like they’re able to work past the voidfish’s static.
The woman who worked at the spa and tended to their wings did not exist.
——
Lucretia sighed as the door to her office closed and she was left in silence once again. She’d prepared them as much as she possibly could. She’d stalled as much as she could as well, there wasn’t any choices left to make.
She just had to believe that they would be able to make it through Wonderland. That she’d done enough to help them. That even though they weren’t as strong as she knew they could be, not like they were when she’d wiped their memories away, together they could do it.
She hoped that Wonderland wouldn’t take anything too irreparable from them. That they wouldn’t give away things they didn’t realize the significance of due to the memories she’d stolen.
She’d been trying not to ruminate on her own experience through Wonderland too much. Thinking about it would only make her worry more. Despite her best efforts, the memories were at the front of her mind as she counted the hours they had for them to reclaim the relic and return before the end of the world.
Wonderland had broken her down, more than she could’ve imagined. She couldn’t tell if it was the power of the animus bell, or if it was the liches’ own twisted magic. Whatever it was, it left her with aches and pains she wasn’t used to after her rapid change in age.
The companion she’d brought in with her wasn’t any better off. He was missing an arm and was forced to sacrifice some of his living essence as he spun the wheel this round.
“Hey, if I land on hand again and you take my other arm I don’t have to spin anymore, right?” he joked, and there was something painfully familiar about the way he tried to keep the situation light despite how horrible everything was.
Lucretia didn’t say anything, stepping forward and spinning the wheel.
“Body,” she said as it landed, and she heard the two voices humming in thought.
“Let’s see, how about we mix it up this time, shall we? After all, you have such a unique body,” the female voice said.
“Yes, it’s quite unlike any we’ve had wander through here before. I wonder if you would be willing to change that, to make yourself like everyone else on this little planet of ours,” the other voice said.
“Lucretia, what are they talking about?” Cam asked, and she felt bad ignoring him but they didn’t have the time to explain. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to explain.
“For this sacrifice Lucretia, we’ll be taking your wings,” the male voice said. Lucretia stared down at the wheel, her wings pressed up against her back and her grip deathly tight on her staff.
She hadn’t used her wings more than absolutely necessary since they came to this planet. Not at all since she started her quest for the relics. This was their home now, and no one else had wings here.
No one else, except for her family. The wings were the one thing she had that still connected her to them, besides her memories.
“No,” she said simply, and she could see Cam’s head whip towards her.
“Lucretia, what are you doing? We can’t afford another penalty. I don’t- what do they even mean by wings? What’s going on here?” he pressed, and she could understand why he was questioning her on this. From an outside perspective it made no sense.
“Are you sure? You might want to listen to your friend, after all, teamwork is so important, isn’t it Lucretia?” the female voice taunted.
“I said no, I’ll take the penalty,” she said, and she could see Cam deflating some besides her. Across the room, another red mark appeared on top of the door.
“Now, don’t fret, you’re doing so good! You’re almost to the bonus round,” the male voice said.
Ignoring everyone else around her, Lucretia spun again.
——
Magnus hated wonderland. He was pretty sure that was a rather universal feeling though.
They destroyed it though, and now they were out. Of course, his body was also destroyed, which sucked.
There was something else wrong though. Something big and jumbled that he couldn’t make sense of. If he could feel in this damn mannequin body would be clawing at the inside of his skull.
He kept remembering things. Small bits of past flickering across his mind, and it felt like the tiny edges of some huge incoming storm. Instead of focusing on the feeling of looming dread, he focused on the bits and pieces of things coming back to him. Small things, innocuous ones.
There was a planet with a purple sky and two suns. It was where he was from, and he didn’t try to think about how he’d gotten from there to here. This planet wasn’t his home though, and there was something as clear as the mismatched sky that signified that.
When he was a kid he defended a dog from some bullies. He could remember those kids, all older and bigger than he was. Their wings had been much larger than his own, one of them was even able to fly already, but he was still land bound.
The other kids had wings, and so had he.
Everyone had, on that planet he was from. He could remember his parents with wings now, both strong and broad and showing clear signs of use. He could remember his dad telling him his wings would probably be even larger than his own someday.
It hadn’t been some kind of curse. He’d always had those wings.
Except not anymore, because his body had been destroyed.
He was in a bit of a daze as they made their way with the red robe. He wasn’t sure if he could trust him. He knew he probably shouldn’t trust him, but there was something there that made him want to.
He had wings too. Maybe he was also from that two sunned planet.
Magnus was pretty sure he was prepared for anything at that point, but somehow he was still surprised when Barry Bluejeans came stumbling out of the weird body pod.
He had wings too. Not broken and skeletal like they’d been when he was the Red Robe. Covered in goop from the pod and kinda ruffled, but otherwise perfectly fine. Of course, Barry didn’t realize he had them until the coin the lich version of himself had left explained them. Taako and Merle only noticed them at that moment as well.
“More like Barry Bluejay, am I right?” Merle joked, and it lightened the mood somewhat. They still didn’t want to trust him though, and Magnus couldn’t blame them too much for that. They needed to see this through though, and Magnus felt like Barry was the way they could do it.
“Guys, listen. I’ve been remembering things. I remember knowing Barry before now, I remember being somewhere with ——— ————,” he explained, but that last part got blocked. Sighing (not that he needed to breathe, as a mannequin) he tried again. “I remember, being somewhere, where everyone had wings. Like us and like Barry. I don’t think it’s a curse,” he tried, and that seemed to get their attention.
“This shit is just too weird for me, but if you’re all going along with it then I’ll have your back,” Merle relented after a bit. Magnus turned to Taako, who seemed to be deep in thought during most of this.
“Taako?” he asked, because he knew he’d been bothered by the wings the most.
“I’m convinced of nothing,” he said, and Magnus’ wooden form slumped some. “But,” Taako continued, not looking at any of them, “something’s clearly wack here. If lich Barry thinks he’s got a way to find the truth then fuck it, I’m in.”
“Thanks guys,” Magnus said, and with that they tried to finalize the rest of the plan.
He had no idea if this was going to work, but they couldn’t stop now. They needed to get the truth.
——
Taako had just wanted some answers about what was going on with the bureau. He just wanted to know the truth about why he had wings.
He never wanted all of this.
Lup was gone. Lup was gone and he forgot about her and he looted her body and watched it crumble to dust with a smile on his face.
“Ten…” he hated the way his voice cracked as he spoke. His hand was shaking as he held the umbrastaff out in front of him, pointed straight at Lucretia. There was a part of him that knew it wouldn’t matter if he attacked her. She had a shield conjured by a grand relic up around her, anything he tossed at her wouldn’t do shit.
He was too fucking pissed to give a damn.
“Nine…” he kept counting down. Eight. Seven. His voice didn’t even sound like himself anymore. Or no, he finally sounded like himself again, not the cheap hallow shell he’d been parading around as for ten years.
His heart felt fucking destroyed, ripped to shreds and broken as he realized the fucking truth of everything.
He fucking had a heart again though, so while he wasn’t sure if it was better it was something.
It was enough to be himself again.
His wings weren’t as beautiful and well kept as they used to be. They were broken and beaten from the ten years of neglect, just like the rest of him.
But they weren’t bound up behind him anymore, hidden as much as possible. Instead he had them splayed out around him, feathers ruffled up in his rage. He wasn’t trying to hide them in the slightest anymore.
Sure, they weren’t the beautiful, meticulously kept wings they used to be, the wings he’d always been so proud of. He’d chosen to give up his beauty anyway, so this was no different. Damaged as they were, they were still one of the only connections he had to Lup.
Lup, who was fucking gone.
He didn’t give a shit who saw him anymore.
“You fucking took everything from me!”
—
After the day of story and song, things were different. That wasn’t surprising, of course shit was different. They weren’t trapped in an endless cycle running from a world ending terror, and they didn’t have their most important memories and family wiped from their minds either.
Which was good. Both of those things sucked, and shit was much better with them not happening.
Except now Taako had to figure out himself for the third fucking time in his life, and it was kind of exhausting.
The others seemed to fall back into themselves pretty easily. Or not even that, something more. They were better now, because shit was good and they could be.
And Taako should be too, and he guessed he was. He had Lup back, he wasn’t as fucked up as he’d been when she was gone. He wasn’t trying to hide his wings anymore.
He wasn’t going out of his way to show them off either though. Taako was pretty sure the liches had included them when taking away his beauty. They were a bit duller than Lup’s, and feathers not sitting quite as smoothly as they used to. Of course, some of that was from leaving them on their own for so long. There were small scars and burns that had never been treated or healed properly. Magnus had a whole lot more than him, but he didn’t care. He took that shit in stride, as long as they still flew he was good.
Merle had almost never fallen out of step with his wings. The dude embraced them as soon as he realized he had them again.
It shouldn’t matter, but it still bothered Taako. Of course it did, he’d had everything taken from him, and even when he got it back it wasn’t the same. It didn’t erase the time he’d had to go without. Part of him wanted to go back to using his glamour spell. Sometimes he did, when he was out making appearances and shit, but his family had been encouraging him to try to go without it more. Which he got, but that didn’t make it suck any less.
He only noticed Lup coming into the room because she was still getting used to being in a body again. It would take a bit before she worked her stealth back up when she wasn’t in her new reaper mode.
When she sat down next to him he realized how curled up his wings were compared to hers, relaxed loosely against her back. He tried to unfurl them some without her noticing, but of course she did.
“How’s it hanging bro-bro?” she asked, casual as anything. Too casual. Even after missing her for ten years he was able to tell when she was trying to angle in for a serious feelings conversation.
“Oh you know, basking in a rare moment where I’m not busting my ass trying to build a school from the ground up,” he said.
“Yeah, you’re busy as shit nowadays,” she agreed. Taako wondered how long before she got to her point. “Sooo…” Not long.
“Did Barold get in trouble for necromantic crimes again? Need me to smooth things over with the boy?” he asked, hoping that he could distract. It wasn’t that he minded talking to Lup about stuff, he was just… rusty at it, after so long.
“No, Barry’s been a good reaper boy,” Lup assured him. “I was just thinking, I don’t see you flying much anymore,” she said, and that was about where Taako figured this would go. He was kind of surprised she'd waited so long to try and talk about it. Maybe she was waiting to get her body back and everything first.
“Guess my muscles atrophied too much with disuse,” he said, a casual tone to his voice as he shrugged. He was trying not to sound too bitter. He still was, and he wasn’t going to just get over this shit and pretend like it never happened, but he was trying.
“All the more reason for you to get out there and start putting them to use again,” Lup said.
“But that’s so much woooork,” Taako groaned, being as dramatic as possible. He could see Lup rolling her eyes at his complaining, but she was smiling the slightest bit as well.
“Don’t be fucking lazy you dork,” she said. To protest Taako flopped straight onto his back, making sure to have his wings spread out to his sides so he didn’t mess them up. There wasn’t any thought to it, he could move the wings as easily as breathing. At least that hadn’t been permanently taken from him as well.
“Okay, get up, we’re going for a fly,” Lup commanded, standing back up. Taako didn’t listen, staying where he was lying down.
“Lup, you know how rare it is for me to get a break nowadays? You’re really going to steal this away from me?” he asked. There was a part of him that did want to go flying with his sister, of course there was. Sure he was lazy but they didn’t hang out enough lately. They were both too busy setting up their new lives.
Taako didn’t think there could ever be enough to make up for going ten years thinking she’d never even existed, anyway.
Despite all of that though, there was still a part of him that wanted to hang back. That despite the fact that the wings no longer felt foreign and that everyone in existence knew he had them, wanted to keep them out of the way. Out of sight.
“Kravitz was telling me you were wondering if he could give himself wings. We could call him up and make him come with us. Barry too. We’ll make a day out of it,” Lup said, and damn it. That actually sounded nice.
“Ugh, fine, but only because I wanna see if Kravitz actually tries to use wings or if he’s gonna cheat,” Taako relented, pushing himself up. Lup grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet, a stone of farspeech in her hand as she started calling their boys.
This wasn’t a big deal, but Taako couldn’t help but be excited about it anyway. He didn’t get to hang out with his family enough, now that he had them all back. He needed to more, it helped him remember that things were better.
Slowly but surely, things were getting better