Chapter Text
The thing about Elytrians (and every other creature that lived in the end) is that they were heavily intertwined with the culture of others and the inner workings of the dimension. While Enderians were often scholars and Shulks were the ones to build the cities, Elytrians were the protectors. The one who flew above and watched with careful eyes. They were the ones that caught falling children who wander too close to the void, they were the ones to make sure nothing went wrong near construction sites and were the ones to make everyone feel the safety they themselves often felt when soaring over the inky black oceans. Perhaps it had something to do with the dragon—the ultimate protector of them all, or maybe that's just how they developed alongside everyone else.
Phil remembers back when he was in the end, before his city got overrun by hunters and he was left to flee into the nearest portal with a necklace that one of the Shulk kids made for him grasped tightly in his palm. He had never been able to do the proper mourning rites for the kid, let alone everyone he knew. It was too many people, and too much distance between him and the proper place. In the overworld, there wasn't a void to send the bodies off to in ships that burned down in the flame. There was no chorus fruit in the overworld to replace the heart with, nor were there any Voidlights to put on the altar.
So, he cut his losses after doing as much as he could have. After writing all the names he could remember a book, dunking it in water—and oh did that hurt, it hurt every time. just another thing that end creatures had in common—and he sets flame to it. It was the least he could do, that tiny part of the process that could be done in the overworld.
There's not many end creatures outside of the end. Yeah, there was Techno, who had Shulk blood in him, but the man had taken to his piglin side more—having grown up in the nether. There was Wilbur, who could count, but the boy was raised in the overworld, as Phil never found another portal. Even then, Wilbur fit more with the Avians who loved clouds and sky blue and the ability to touch down on dirt. He just wouldn't have worked well in the end, as the Ends beauty was in the people and not the outward, simple things that Wilbur would've liked.
So yeah. Phil is the only end creature that could really be considered an end creature.
Which was the truth for a long time. For a long time, no one would understand his weird squicks and needs and aversions to water. Everyone chalked it up to fear and just something quirky about him. Sucked, really. All because it was rare that people knew about the end further than where endermen came from.
And that was the case until Ranboo came along.
It's not hard to recognize the guy as a full Enderians if you knew your stuff. Paw hands, rough pads, prehensile tail and four twitchy ears. The white markings and fuzzy face, with hair that grew slow on the sides but fast in the back. The trademark shortness of someone who hadn't reached maturity yet—which was saying something, because the kid towered over everyone. But he's short. Shorter than average Enderians, actually.
Phil thinks the main reason why he invited Ranboo to live with him was the leftover instinct and habits of the End. Seeing him just… standing there over the crater was so reminiscent of a little Enderian kid peering over the edge of one of the islands, reaching a paw down to touch it, tipping over and losing his balance. Falling, only for Philza to swoop down from where he was patrolling and returning the kid back to his worried guardians—a Shulk and a fellow Elytrian. It had been Phil’s second day on the job, and the Enderian ran up to the Shulk with a smile on his face, tugging at the woman's sleeve and begging; "Momma! Momma! Can I be like that when I grow up?"
He thinks Ranboo knows it too, because he looked at Phil with something familiar in his gaze, eyes shifting to his unmistakable Elytrian wings. He stared at them for a while before accepting Phil’s offer with a smile.
Phil thinks he knows it too because while the kid had a poor memory, no one forgets the End. Not the most bedridden elders and certainly not a kid who was taken from the dimension for too early than he should've. (Because Enderian children aren't meant to grow up outside the end. And that's what Ranboo is: a child.)
A sort of bond is formed between them.
Because if there's one thing about the End and its creatures, it's that everyone is intertwined. From the tallest Enderian to the shortest Shulk and highest soaring Elytrian. (And Phil guesses that includes the most annoying endmite and dumbest enderman too.)