Chapter Text
When another three sunrises have passed (although it's almost impossible to tell from within the family room with closed windows) Phil wakes up with the sun as usual for the first time since he was brought up here. He sits up, stretches, and flaps his wings gently. Still a bit sore from growing in the new feathers, but considerably healthier looking than when they came in. He pulls one wing around to look over the white feathers curiously--he really wasn't expecting the recolor to happen, lovely as it may be.
Dream sits on the armchair, looking over. "Your wings look much healthier now."
"Yeah..." Phil agrees softly, running a hand through a few of the more errant feathers just to press them closer into place. "Moulting is shit, but it's important."
Dream nods, and walks over. "We should preen them now, shouldn't we? It's not dissimilar to your first preen."
Phil looks up, feathers rustling as the wings move to stretch slightly. "Yeah, I mean--oh, it's gonna be a lot, huh. Shit. I mean, not bad, but--since it'll be all the feathers' first proper set at once..." He laughs softly. "How long has it been since you first dragged me up here?"
"Just barely a week," Dream replies. "It went a lot quicker since I helped."
Phil raises his eyebrows. "That is fast..." he murmurs, though he doesn't question Dream in the least.
Dream nods with a hum. "I have my ways."
"I'm sure," Phil replies with a small smile.
"What is this preen going to be like, Phil?" Dream asks. "I assume it's less important than the first."
Phil gives Dream an amused look--he's far too old to be having anything like a first preen. "Yeah," he replies simply, running a hand along the feathers idly. "This is less activating instincts, and more like... a deep massage? Like how you have to sharpen a sword after taking it to get Mended." He chuckles slightly. "I shouldn't need to pause or anything, but--don't expect me to be all that coherent."
Dream hums, and thinks to himself. He wonders... "This next preen will feel just like the first."
Phil's eyes widen as they flicker with red, accepting the change. "Uh--okay," he replies.
Dream smiles. "The first preen causes an imprint, won't that be nice?"
"Y-yeah," Phil replies quickly, folding his wings behind him nervously like a young Elytrian--he feels distinctly unbalanced now, waiting for a preen, for the first preen. Weird--weird. It's been such a long time...
Dream smiles, and sends out an order to just the family. "Only Technoblade and I are allowed to touch Phil's wings. The rest of you may sit in the room, but you may not be on the bed."
The rest of the family sleepily blinks awake, most of them just rolling off the bed and passing back out in a pile on the floor. Wilbur blinks at Phil for a few moments before ruffling his hair and sliding off. Techno shifts and looks up, frowning at being woken up so early.
Dream smiles, and motions to Phil. "I've set it up so this preen will be the same as his very first."
Techno yawns and sits up slowly. "'sn't that like... a big deal though...?"
"Phil?" Dream says, motioning for him to explain. "Why don't you tell Techno why this preen is important."
Phil blinks, curling in and brushing a bit of hair out of his face. It's incredible how shy the simple order seems to have made him. "Uh, yeah. Sure, mate... it's, basically... well, usually the first preen is something that sorta. Sets all our instincts and what we're expecting in the future. Mine was--well, that doesn't matter." He sighs. "Obviously, I already know how to listen to the winds and what a Nest feels like, and what preening is meant to be for me, so... it's a little different. What it's mostly going t' do is, uh... make you two really, really important. Obviously you already are, but--gah, it's hard to explain the difference, when you don't have a Nest... like family, but more. Way more."
Dream nods along, very pleased. "Yes. Good. Exactly as we should be. Won't it feel so nice?"
Phil scratches the back of his neck and looks aside. "Ah--yeah. It will, but it's also gonna be... a lot." And neither of them know how to handle a chick... it'll be fine.
"And y' decided to do this at the crack of dawn?" Techno mumbles.
"It's when Phil woke up." Dream states, simply.
"We can wait if you need, Techno..." Phil offers, pulling his knees to his chest with a little kind smile.
Dream raises a brow, looking at Techno expectantly.
Techno just shrugs. "Whatever. 'm just bein' dramatic."
Dream nods. "Good boy. Now lay down Phil, the sooner this is done the more time you'll have to rest and float around."
Phil trills quietly, nervously, but lays down obediently.
Once Phil is laid down, the vines pull off from the windows, and they are fully opened. Wind flutters through them and through Phil's wings.
Dream starts, and he starts right in the middle, motioning for Techno to start at the outermost feathers.
Phil tries to curl up and a surprised coo escapes him as the hands touch his feathers--still fairly new as they are, and especially because this is a "first preen"... He can hardly stand to think against the bright, buzzing, soft feeling. He melts into a little Phil-puddle, cooing and chirping unabashedly into the blankets.
Dream smiles, and works his way inward. He saved the most sensitive inner feathers for himself, after all.
Techno also smiles, seeing how much this is clearly affecting Phil and how much he usually enjoys preening. He carefully, purposefully works his way through Phil's lower flight feathers.
And Phil is definitely responding--chirping and twitching at every little touch, but especially as Dream works his way into the most sensitive feathers. He pauses after a lot of the sounds, though, as if he's expecting a response of some sort, but... then he just gets swept away into another wave as they tug another set of feathers into place, smoothing the little pieces of the wings out into one long, sleek, beautiful mass of soft white.
Dream smiles, and a chirping sound echoes from the vines around them. Phil chirps back quickly, emphatically, though it doesn't look like he quite realizes what he's doing or hearing.
Dream nods at that, and the chirps from the vines grow louder and happen more often, whenever Phil chirps, there is a fabricated response. Dream presses the inner, sensitive, feathers into place. Phil gasps softly as Dream fixes that little patch of feathers, his side of the call and response pausing for a bit as he just tenses against but almost presses into Dream's touch. Dream chuckles, and presses down into the wing, giving more connection. The main patches are nearly done, now, just a few wayward feathers to finish up.
Phil whines as the fuzzy, soft mush builds up into so much, so much swirling energy in his heart, in his deeper-than-heart--first preens are always so much--and he reaches out blindly to try and grab onto Dream's hand and hold it tightly. It's like there's a violent storm building up beneath his wings, though the only outward change is that his wings have begun to shake slightly, too tense for too long to hold still.
Dream stops messing with Phil's wings, and presses his hand into Phil's. "It's alright, you can flap your wings."
Phil takes a tight grip of Dream’s hand, almost sobbing in relief as the wings begin to flap for a couple minutes, shaking out the built up energy and tension. His feathers have fluffed up again slightly, nothing that a quick brush can't fix.
"Dream..." Phil murmurs, voice distant as everything just fades into that soft fuzz. He clearly hardly even knows that he's saying anything. "Dream... Tech..."
Dream hums. "Yes, it's us."
Phil breathes heavily, distantly glad for the mattress to hide his face as old, old memories pop up. His grip on Dream tightens, somehow. "Don' leave, don' leave..."
Dream nods, humming, and the vines come up to wrap around Phil's wrist as well. "Shh, I'm here. You can feel me, can't you?" Dream soothes, tapping on Phil's thread.
"Don' leave..." he repeats, now a whisper.
Dream looks at Phil more carefully. This clearly isn't normal... but, he has nothing planned for today anyway. "I'll stay until you wake up."
Phil nods, curling in slightly as Techno moves to press a soothing hand to his back instead of the wings. "Don', don'..." he mutters in decreasing volume until passing out entirely. Dream keeps a tight grip on Phil's hand. That clearly was some sort of trauma. Something he needs to fix? He'll wait until Phil wakes up to find out more.
It takes four hours for Phil to meaningfully stir again, although he had made little twitches and whines periodically during the rest. When he finally opens his eyes it's accompanied by a soft flutter of his wings, and he looks to be hazy and not quite registering what happened before he passed out for a peaceful moment.
"Back with us Phil?" Dream asks. Techno had to leave, but Dream drops a strong order on their bond for Techno to return as soon as possible.
"Mm... Dream...?" Phil murmurs sleepily before things click into place and he sits up with wide eyes. He glances around quickly, grip on Dream's hand tightening before he visibly forces an instinctual panic back down his throat. "T-Techno?" He asks.
"He's on his way. He'll be here--"
Dream is cut off by the door slamming open, Techno standing there, red just starting to leave his eyes.
"As soon as you know it." Dream finishes.
"What do you need?" Techno demands quickly--with an order that strong, there must be something needed.
Phil just sighs and presses his hands to his face, tension sinking out of his shoulders as he lets out a long breath and tucks his white wings around him in a mock hug, curled into a loose ball.
"Comfort Phil." Dream says, tilting his head towards the little ball of feathers.
Techno quickly moves over and sinks onto the bed next to Phil, setting an arm around his shoulders. "Phil, hey... what wrong?"
"'m fine," Phil mutters into his hands. "Don' have to worry. Just... give me a minute."
Dream tsks, "Of course we're worried, we care about you."
"Don' have to. One minute," Phil repeats numbly.
"However long you need," Techno responds, wrapping Phil in a hug. Dream nods, and the vines carefully wrap over Phil as well, giving him warm pressure all over.
Phil takes his minute, then sighs and pushes Techno off gently. He gives the two of them a tight smile with carefully locked eyes. "There we go. No worries, it's alright." He clearly has just pushed something down and away very hard.
Dream glares at him. "Don't repress." He commands. "Do I need to alter your memories in any way?"
Phil's expression flickers as the order goes through, but he manages to keep himself put together even if clearly a little more unsteady than before. "I--no. Please don't..." he whispers. "I've--I've been fine for the past long while. It won't hinder me. I'll be fine."
Dream squints. "Go under. Stop thinking."
Phil easily slips under, eyes glazing over with red.
"What happened to shake you up like this?" Dream asks. "Simple words. You aren't allowed to think too much about it."
"My first preen," Phil explains bluntly. "My mum died during it. I woke up and she was dead. This brought those memories back up."
Dream purses his lips, thinking. "Sleep, Techno. I'm dealing with this alone. He wouldn't want you to know." Techno lays down and passes out obediently.
Good. All problems were out of the way.
"Why didn't you want me to alter your memories, Phil?" Dream demands.
"I only have the one of her. I don't want her to disappear entirely."
"You have a new memory, now. Your first preen was amazing. It was wonderful, and nice, and your mother was there the whole time. You don't know what happened to her after that. You don't care." Dream alters.
Phil blinks slowly, eyes going fully red as the adjustment takes hold. His wings rustle softly in response to the change.
"Much better. Phil, Techno, wake up." Dream orders, finished with just adjustments.
They both blink together, Techno sitting up with a yawn as the red drains from Phil's eyes.
"What...?" Phil murmurs softly.
"There, just had a few little things I needed to change. No worries," Dream says, moving to gently pet Phil's wing.
Phil blinks and shivers slightly at the touch, leaning over and into Dream's chest. He--wants to be close. Close to his important ones.
Dream blinks. Phil is rarely that forward. "Hugging me?"
"I... you're important..." Phil murmurs. He's not actually hugging, per se, just leaning into Dream's chest. Safe.
"Techno, hold him." Dream gently commands.
Techno moves over and gently pulls Phil off of Dream and into his own lap. Phil whines softly but doesn't resist, curling into Techno's chest and vaguely setting a wing around his shoulder.
Dream stays close, though, setting a hand on Phil's wing. "You're very clingy."
"You're important..." he repeats softly. "I... I told you. A first preen's... important."
"When are you going to snap out of it?" Dream asks bluntly. "It's important that I'm here until you do."
"I--I don't know..." he murmurs. Admits. "It depends on a lot of things..."
Dream pets Phil's hair. "Will us staying close make it go faster?"
Phil nods, pressing into the touch happily. "Think so."
"Then we will stay. For today, you're allowed to touch me, and hug me, as you please. Only for today. Only to wake you up." Dream offers.
Phil nods quietly. "Okay. Thank you," he replies, hesitantly reaching out and wrapping his arms around Dream's chest, still sitting in Techno's lap.
Dream looks down at him. Affection is... abnormal. But if it will ensure permanent loyalty down to his instincts, Philza Minecraft is powerful enough to make it worth it.
He pats Phil's hair. "That's it. Just stay with the two most important people."
Phil nods gladly into Dream's chest. He puts a white wing around both of them. Techno smiles and strokes the wing softly before looping his arms around Phil gently, supportively.
Dream hums. He'll just let Philza do whatever his instincts demand for now. The vines around them let out quiet coos.
Phil coos back at them softly, letting himself relax fully into the two of their grip.
Dream pats his head. "You can sleep. We will be here when you wake."
Phil tightens his grip on Dream slightly and lets out a soft trill before falling back asleep in his arms.
Dream smiles, and turns towards Techno. "How nice."
Techno chuckles back. "Yeah. You calmed him down while I was out, looks like?"
"Somewhat. He had some bad memories, but nothing I couldn't tweak just a bit."
"Well, if it all turned out well," Techno replies easily. "His new wings are very pretty, aren't they?"
"They are." Dream agrees. "Just another sign that he's mine. I'd never dislike that."
Techno smiles. "I'm surprised they're white, not red."
"I take the red out of things when I pull color. I don't put it in." Dream explains. "Watch." He says, tapping a spot of Techno's red silk cape, a small patch of white blooming at his touch.
Techno's eyes widen. "...well. That's definitely not what I would've expected." He pauses. "Did you mean for it to happen to Phil?"
"Not particularly, no. Not consciously at least, but occasionally these things happen through the will of the Egg." Dream shrugs.
"Well, it suits him nicely. Really makes him fit the whole 'Angel of Death' nickname he's got," Techno approves, nodding. "He should be back up to normal tomorrow, right?"
Dream hums. "About that name... he needs a better one."
Techno raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Mmhm. He's mine, and that name doesn't imply it. I want a title for him, something... striking."
He hums. "Well, I'd still keep the 'Angel' part. Fits the aesthetic, like I said."
Dream nods. "Perhaps the Angel of Red will do..."
Techno considers it for a moment. "Yeah. That's... that's really good, actually. Very impressive soundin'."
"I can be creative when I want to," Dream chuckles. "He'll like it."
Techno smiles. "Oh, for sure. I think he'll also be glad to have a bit of an... official title."
"Like you, my Chosen, my Crimson King?" Dream teases.
Techno laughs softly as warmth comes fluttering up in his chest at the mention. "Yeah. Like that," he agrees.
Dream gently pats Techno on the head. "All of this is for you, Chosen. Every last bit."
Techno grins and presses into the pats eagerly. "And I thank you for it."
Dream huffs out a fond laugh. "You're the most entertaining thing I've ever seen, Chosen."
Techno tilts his head. "Really?"
"Of course. Everyone else gets boring after a while, even Billiam. I always end up needing to poke my toys with a stick, but you always find new ways to impress." Dream explains.
"Well, I'm glad to please you," Techno replies simply. "It would suck if you didn't like what I'd been doing, after all of this."
Dream gives a little smirk. "Techno, you're so loyal to me a mere twitch of my lips in displeasure would send you into despair."
"As you wish it," Techno responds. "Anything for you."
"Good boy," Dream says, patting Techno's head.
Techno closes his eyes and lets out a happy sigh at the affection.
"Why don't you rest with Phil, alright? Just sleep right beside him."
"If you wish it," Techno repeats. "Though I could be working through paperwork while waiting with him, if you'd rather I be useful?"
"No, you're off duty for tonight. Your job is to watch over him, I know how much you care about him. Almost more than you care about me." Dream semi-jokes.
"Almost bein' the key word," Techno warns. "But alright. Just for now."
Dream nods. Always nice to be reminded of his place in his Chosen's heart. "Just rest, that's how you can be useful to me."
"Alright," Techno responds, laying down beside Phil and shutting his eyes obediently. Phil shifts to cover him in a soft, fluffy wing.
Dream smiles, and pats Techno's head. He'll wait.
Dream vanishes into the vines around them, watching over the Angel of Red and the Crimson King until they wake.
Phil wakes quietly, curled into Techno's chest and smiling, still slightly unfamiliar white wings haphazardly looped around them like a protective blanket. One thing that can't be overstated enough is how much worse moulting season makes Phil feel than usual, and he is so glad to be past it.
Dream reforms into his human form and pats Phil on the head. "Back with us?"
Phil looks up at the pat. "I believe so... Thank you for your assistance throughout all of this. I may not be entirely back to normal yet, but I should be significantly more functional, it feels like."
"Of course. While you were asleep, we decided on something for you." Dream states.
Phil tilts his head, a questioning chirp bubbling out of his throat before he can catch it. He covers his mouth with a hand, expression wide and embarrassed--he's usually much better at controlling those. "Ah--and what would that be...?"
Dream chuckles. "Chirp all you like for now. And Techno and I decided on an official title for you."
"A title?" Phil repeats, eyes sharpening in curiosity.
"You will be my Angel of Red." Dream declares.
"Your Angel of Red..." Philza echoes, sitting up with white wings that rustle as they fold behind him easily. He smiles privately. "I... that's wonderful."
"A mirror to your Crimson King." Dream adds, pleased.
"A mirror to my King," Phil agrees thoughtfully. He nods. "I will do my utmost."
Dream gives a hum in agreement. "I assume you're going to act differently now that you've imprinted on the two of us."
"I--" Phil stutters, looking away in shame. "I will do my best not to...? I know I was terribly out of line with my actions yesterday, and I apologize."
"I allowed it. And I'm not telling you to suppress these urges, I am simply asking what they will be." Dream clarifies.
"Ah... well..." he chuckles softly. "I mean, the main one will probably be trying to be close to you two, following you around... it's a bit difficult to tell what exactly will translate, since you both aren't... Elytrian. It's not exactly a traditional Nest."
"True. Well, it's quite impossible for me to not be around you so long as you remain in the castle grounds. You can find solace in the vines." Dream directs. "Just tap them a few times, they'll embrace you. They're the same as I am, after all."
Phil nods hesitantly. "Thank you."
"Of course. The father of my Chosen deserves some luxuries." Dream smiles.
Phil smiles. "Still. Thank you." He glances aside. "I know I was... difficult during my moult. And I apologize. But here you are, helping me anyway..."
"I can be generous when it is deserved." Dream smiles.
"You truely are kind," Phil murmurs with a hint of reverence.
Dream gently places his palm on Phil's cheek. "As long as you remain good."
Phil looks up to meet Dream's face. "Always."
"You'll stay nice and obedient forever. Because I'm one of your most important people."
"Yeah. Of course," he replies. "I... want to help you. I want you happy and safe. Both of you."
"And that's exactly what you should want." Dream affirms.
Phil smiles and nods. "I'm glad..."
"That, my Angel of Red, is what it means to be mine."