Chapter Text
There weren't many places that the angel felt unsafe, for he was more of a threat to those who might try to hurt him than they actually were to him. This was not because he wanted to hurt them per se, it was simply that he would not hesitate to retaliate if something tried to harm him. This is why he often travelled through the Nether.
The Nether was a hot, dreadful place. Most refused to go there for longer than they had to, as just walking around in most areas was enough to make someone sweat. Not to mention the dangerous terrain, cliffs and lava all about, strange forests and massive fossils. The creatures there were not to be messed with either, ghasts who shot at anyone from another realm out in the few open spaces, enderman who had found themselves stuck in this realm and changed to stay, and more. Most notorious were the piglins.
Piglins could be helpful, if you knew how to talk to them, but unknowing travellers always made mistakes. Piglins respect those adorned in gold, as it means that the person may be willing to give some up. The easiest way to gain a piglins trust was to trade them their favorite things. It just so happened that Phil quite liked trading with the pig folk through his travels, and the piglins knew not to try to upset him.
Right now, Phil sat on a rock, fixing his bag. He'd been a bit caught off guard while flying and swerved a little too far to the side, tearing a hole into the bag using the wall. He wasn't sure if he had spilled anything, but it was better to fix the problem as soon as he could. No need to lose any of his new goods before he'd even gotten back to the overworld.
As he sewed the bag, a voice came from behind him, asking a simple question, "Can I have bread?"
Phil didn't look up as he kept working, he'd recognized that it was clearly a piglin, but didn't notice how...small the voice sounded. "Hm, what's in it for me?"
There was a long pause before the voice came again, "I will hurt you if you give none."
That caught his attention. He set the bag gently on his lap, "Is that so?"
"Mhm. So give it, or else!"
Phil spread his wings as he stood up, dropping his bag to the ground. "Perhaps you should learn some manners, do you know who I am?" He asked as he started to turn around, "I could easily gut you like a-" he stopped.
Before him stood a small piglin, clearly a child. His fur was blonde and fluffy, a very surprising sight. It was not common for piglins to be untrimmed, nor was it common for them to have different fur colors. For a moment, he could've convinced himself that the child would be treasured for their golden color, but from the messy and scraggly nature of their fur...there was no way that this kid was being taken care of well. Phil looked past the child, not another soul was in sight. It made sense, he had long since left the last piglin village he'd travelled through.
"Bread!"
Phil blinked in surprise before looking back down at the child, "Pardon?"
"I'll hurt you!"
"Where are your parents?" Phil asked cautiously, if the kid had any it would be bad. Surely they'd try to attack him for messing with their child, especially a golden child.
"Don't got any!"
"What?"
The piglin huffed and made himself look as big as he could, "All grown! Don't need parents anymore!"
That was clearly a lie.
"Right…" Phil reached for his bag and crouched in front of the child, holding out a loaf of bread, "Do you have a name?"
"I'm-"
"TOMMY!"
Just before the child, Tommy, just before Tommy could close his hands around the loaf of bread, he was suddenly no longer right in front of him. The boy had simply been lifted away like a bag of potatoes. Phil looked up to see two more piglins, they couldn’t be much older than Tommy either. One of them, a skinnier boy with brown, messy fur that more resembled a boar than anything else, held Tommy close, he had backed away and seemed to do his best to come off as intimidating. He seemed terrified. The other one, who was much more the typical pink shade of his species with longer tusks, probably was going to be trained to be a brute if he didn’t look just as scruffy as the other two, stood between them and Phil. He looked like he was trying to look big, like Tommy had before.
Phil smiled, “Hello, nice to meet you. Would you two like some bread as well?”
The pink one growled, “We don’t take food from strangers like you. You probably poisoned it.”
“Techno!” Tommy cried and pushed at the other’s face to look at Techno, “He’s got gold on him! He tried to be all big and scary, but he saw me and got scared!”
“Is that your name, little fella? You’re Techno? That’s such a nice name. And the little one, that’s Tommy.” Phil smiled and looked up at the third, “So who does that make you, my boy? Other than a strong big brother.”
“I-I...um. I’m Wilbur-” the boar started to speak, only to be cut off by Techno.
“Don’t tell him that!” Techno shouted, “He knows way too much about us now!”
“Sorry!”
Phil looked around a bit before looking down at Techno, keeping his gentle smile, “Where are you parents? Surely they’re somewhere nearby, yes? I wouldn’t want to make them worried about where their boys ran off to.”
Tommy piped up, “I told you, don’t got-” Wilbur covered Tommy’s mouth and shushed him.
Techno crossed his arms and glared, “They’ll be here the moment I start screaming, so you better hurry away before they tear you apart!”
“Of course, how silly of me.” Phil laughed, “Please make sure to give them this as an apology for causing so much trouble to the family, alright?” He handed Techno the loaf of bread, before pulling out a few apples and handing them over as well, “I best be off, before I become a roasted chicken!”
He chose to ignore how all three of the boys glanced at the food eagerly before locking their eyes back on him. He knew if he addressed it, they would deny it and shove the food back at him. That would defeat the point.
Phil spread his wings and smiled at Tommy’s excited eyes, “Goodbye boys! Have a safe walk home!” And with that, he was off. He flew until they weren’t within sight anymore, only to stop and think to himself.
There was no way he could leave them alone like that, but it was also just as unlikely that they would even let him take them away from wherever they decided their hiding place would be. So far now, he’d go back to the overworld. He’d come back later, try to show them he means well.
The Nether is no place for children, not without someone else to take care of them. He needed to help get them out of there.