Work Text:
My wings were clipped, but yours were not.
It was early in the morning, as usual. Sixie woke up before her big demon friend. His arm was placed over her, but she carefully crawled out, making sure to leave Will asleep for now. He did move a little from the sudden absence of Sixie’s warm little body against his chest, but didn’t wake up. The kitten gave a soft purr before silently jumping off the bed, onto the couch underneath the window and then finally in the windowsill. The window was open, but they were on the first floor, so Will didn’t think there would be any harm in leaving the window open at night. It brought in some fresh air, and a cool breeze that helped to ease his dreams. He couldn’t know that in theory, Sixie could use the bushes that grew underneath the window to climb in and out of the room whenever she pleased. She was a smart kitten, and made sure to never do it in front of her demon friend, to not upset him. He already got tired enough in the evenings; he didn’t need the additional stress of seeing his beloved little kitten just leap out the first floor window.
Today she just sat in the window and looked at the garden, sweeping her little tail at the birds that landed to feast on the bugs and worms that crawled over the paths. She was still a cat after all, with all the same instincts and most habits as any other of her species. But she was also a lot smarter than most cats, and understood how upset her friend got when she killed something. And besides, he fed her well. She wasn’t hungry, and didn’t need to hunt for food. So she didn’t make an attempt to run after the birds. All Sixie did was sweep her tail a little. The birds had noticed there was a cat watching them right away, they weren’t scared, but did raise their feathery heads to look at her every few seconds. The birds watched the cats as much as the cat watched them. It was only natural behaviour. William turned, but didn’t wake up yet; it was still too early. Sixie purred shortly and returned her attention to the world outside.
A feather floated down, right in front of her. She stretched her little paw and swiped the thing out of the air. It was only small, and bright blue. The kitten let out the softest meow, to not alert her friend and played with the feather a bit. It fell off the windowsill and landed on the floor of William’s bedroom. Sixie wanted to dart after it, but got distracted by something outside. It was the same colour blue as the feather, and seemed to fall out of the sky in the same way. Sixie tilted her head, stretching a little in an attempt to sniff the air, find out what it was. But it was too far, and all she smelled was the garden. The blue thing landed as a small pile of fluff between the other birds. They hopped out of the way, and one even pecked at the new thing. Sixie let out a short hiss, her instincts were suddenly triggered by this scene. The blueish white kitten leaped out the window and ran up to the display. The birds scattered and flew away, leaving the blue thing alone. Sixie approached it cautiously, ready to run or claw at it if it would attack her.
But it wouldn’t. The pile of blue fluff turned out to be a small bird. Something was wrong with its wing. Any other cat would have taken the opportunity, but Sixie was different. She just tilted her head once she realized what it was, and let out a soft meow. The bird raised its head a little, which clearly took some effort, and chirped softly. It tried to get up, but the left wing was bent at a terrible angle. It was a miracle the bird even made it this far. Sixie meowed again; sounding sad. This was a fun little thing, but it was hurt, and she couldn’t help it. Her tail swept shortly and she looked at the window she had just leaped out of. It had to be quick; the other birds would come back to attack the little blue one. But if she was fast, maybe she could get her friend before anything bad would happen? Sixie circled the tree where the bird who had pecked at the wounded one was sitting. She looked up at said bird and hissed shortly, causing it to fly away. After that, the kitten turned and climbed up the bushed, back to the window. She had to wake up her friend, get him to help her and the blue bird outside.
Will proved to be deep asleep. Sixie’s meows didn’t help at all, so she jumped on the nightstand and then on his bed, nudging his hand with her nose. The demon slave simply moved his hand a little and remained asleep. Sixie patted his cheek with her paw, but all that did was cause him to move a little. Eventually the kitten just started licking his nose and immediately, Will shot up, as if he had been stung or something. Sixie meowed and the demon wiped the hair out of his eye. “You little devil, you scared me.” He mumbled, reaching out to pet her and got back to sleep, after seeing the time on the clock. He still had a bit of time before he had to get up, and he wanted to sleep in for once. But Sixie meowed again and jumped off the bed. Will groaned. “Of all the days you could have decided to be up early, you chose today.” He mumbled, noticing the feather on the floor. “What is this? Sixie, where did the feather come from?” He asked, confused. The kitten meowed again and walked over to the window. The demon slave followed her, yawning. “If you want to go outside, you will have to wait a bit longer.” He started, looking out the window to see what his furry little friend was so agitated about. Then he saw the blue pile of feathers.
He squinted his one blue eye and frowned. “What is that?” He mumbled, moving to grab his clothes. Pants and shirt was enough for now, suit jacket would come later. Most important were his shoes; the ground could be muddy in the morning. Once dressed, he rushed outside, followed directly by his little kitten. With one eye, it took Will a while before he recognized what it was. He let out a soft gasp and came to a halt near the little blue bird. The demon crouched down and carefully picked it up. “Oh no, you broke your wing.” He spoke soothingly, studying the feathery creature in his hands. Sixie circled them, hissing at the other birds that came closer as soon as Will had appeared. “Sixie, don’t be mean.” The demon muttered; he was used to the animals coming to him. The kitten meowed at him, but stopped either way. “Thank you, sweety.” He spoke up, trying to decide how to fix this little one’s wing. Best way to do that was taking it back to his room, so he could take a good look at the injured bird.
A minute later, he was sitting at the dressing table, the bird on the table in front of him. Will had the injured wing between his tender fingers, trying to figure out what was wrong. The bird chirped, clearly in pain, but it didn’t try to get away while Will carefully stretched the wing. “Hold on tight, little one. It will be over soon.” He said eventually, glancing at the bedroom door for a second. He wasn’t supposed to do this; his healing powers were reserved in the highly unlikely case master Stanford would get injured, but this counted as an emergency. At least, in the demon’s head it did. His fingers glowed softly, with a blue/green hue, while William let his finger slide over the broken wing. The bird chirped louder now; it was probably in pain. It only lasted a second or two though, then the glow dimmed again. The bird chirped again, and Will picked up Sixie’s water bowl from the ground. He set it next to the bird, and watched it drink. His kitten didn’t mind, she was purring loudly. “Looks like you found yourself a friend, Sixie. Should we give him a name?” Will asked his cat, and she purred even louder. “Alright, how about we call him Blueberry?” He then asked, and the bird looked up at him.
Blueberry hopped over the dressing table a few times, and Will looked at the clock. Time to make breakfast. “Keep eachother company while I go get some food for everyone.” He spoke up, put on his suit jacket and left to start a day of work. He brought breakfast to his master and then returned to his room, to eat with his cat and her bird friend. He had collected some grain for Blueberry, as he wasn’t quite sure what he ate yet. The bird didn’t seem to care for it, and instead picked out bits of meat from Sixie’s breakfast bowl. “Insect eating bird, noted.” He muttered, then looked up when the door opened. Stanford came to collect him for some reason. His master did that sometimes. Immediately the man’s brown eyes were drawn to Sixie. When he spotted the bird, he pinched the bridge of his nose, right under his glasses. “For the love of me, William. Just because I gave you permission to keep the cat, doesn’t mean you have a free ticket to turn my house into your pet sanctuary.” He spoke up. Will hung his head. “I don’t mean to do that, master. Sixie found him in the garden this morning with a broken wing. I wasn’t planning to keep him.” He said softly. Stanford sighed. “Good. My house is not a place for a mountain bluebird. Although I have to admit, it reminds me of you. Finish your breakfast and join me in my office, darling. Make sure the bird is gone before you leave.”
Will made a face, but nodded. Stanford left the room and the demon turned to the two animals. “Sixie, Blueberry is healed now. He doesn’t belong inside a house. But you can play with him if we see him again, alright?” He said softly. The kitten meowed sadly, but didn’t protest when Will carefully picked the bird up and carried him to the window. “Your wing is all better, little one. Come, let’s see if you can fly again.” He set Blueberry down on the windowsill and watched as the bird hopped around before stretching his wings. Then the bird flew out the window. Sixie jumped on the couch and then on the windowsill, settling down to watch. Blueberry circled above the garden for a bit, then landed in a tree and started pecking at insects. Will scratched Sixie between her ears before leaving the room to get to work.
When he returned in the evening, Sixie greeted him with happy meows. The demon was glad she wasn’t upset with him because Stanford wouldn’t let him keep Blueberry too. His master was right; the house was not a pet sanctuary, and Will had more than enough to do without animals needing his care. Yet he did regret the fact he couldn’t give Sixie a permanent friend. He felt guilty for leaving her alone all the time. Luckily his kitten forgave him, and cuddled up to him in bed without hesitating at all. Will fell asleep to the sound of her purring, as he usually did. It put him at ease.
When he woke up though, things weren’t as they usually were. He heard birds singing, much louder than usual. William yawned and turned around, seeing Blueberry on the windowsill. Mountain bluebirds were songbirds, the demon remembered and he smiled. Sixie meowed happily. The bird had even brought a gift: a shiny silver button from Axolotl knows where. Sixie immediately claimed it as her new toy. “Seems like you got a friend after all then.” Will yawned and stretched. At least he knew his kitten wouldn’t be alone all day anymore. It looked like Blueberry was perfectly capable of finding food himself, meaning Will didn’t actually provide care. Technically this did not go against Stanford’s orders.