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A person’s wings are not something they are born with. Wings are something that must be earned through heroic deeds.
For the Minecraft’s, wings were something that held the highest honor. Acts of true bravery were the only way to archive them.
Tommy constantly asked his brothers about how they got their wings, to tell him the stories of their adventures, the stories of their triumphs. Even if he was there for both of them, it never hurt to let a person brag about their wings.
Wilbur’s wings sprouted at the rise of freedom, of the start of a nation that the world could never bring down. He had cut the strings of a puppeteer that had control his citizens for a moment too long. Wilbur lead the revolution, lead the nation, and lead his people to a grander life. He had struck down the demon of green and promised a world in which they would be safe, safe within walls of obsidian. He built the walls with his own two hands and his family at his side. Tommy had been there for every moment, at his brother’s right hand, since he ran away with him at nine years old. Tommy had been a bold child, thinking that maybe if he helped win the war he would earn his wings. No such luck befell the youngest Minecraft. Instead Tommy watched as his brother screeched in pain as two brown wings spread from his back. The war was won, the walls were built, and twelve-year-old Tommy was nursing his brother in the hidden rooms of the whitehouse. The wings of a sparrow. How… fitting.
Tommy’s second attempt at earning his wings was helping his second brother Techno. Techno sought to destroy the very thing Wilbur had spent so long trying to preserve. When madness meets itself, all that is to come is more madness. Tommy doesn't remember much of that time. He remembers the screams and the sounds of explosions, but he tries to block out most of that memory. He does appreciate when Techno spares him of the gorey details as he tells the tale. When Techno’s wings sprouted it was the final fall of L’manburg. He raised a skull to the heavens and, with the devil on his shoulder, Techno raised hell. Techno caused the war to end all wars. The ending to a final chapter. The wings of a falcon. Granting him victory and the promise of a long life.
There were things Tommy had wish he had done differently. He wished he hadn’t supported Wilbur in the first place. Picking sides was always something he wasn't good at, even when it came to his family. He wished he hadn’t left Techno to his own devices for as long as he did. As the only brother to actually be raised by their father, Techno never got the chance to learn compassion the way Wilbur did, or joy the way Tommy did. He only knew war, anarchy, and pain. He knew how to cause it well. Tommy wished most of all that he stayed with his mother. If he had stayed with her maybe he would have his wings by now, instead of chasing after ‘heroic’ deeds that would never be his own.
Kristin Minecraft was gifted her wings when she took on the role as the goddess of death, Philza received his when he became her angel. Tommy looked up to them, they were supposed to teach him how to be a hero. Tommy was young and wanted more out of the world than what it could give him. There would always be something more out there, just beyond his reach. He was determined to find it someday.
He now sat on the shoreline of the beach where he served out his exile and thought silently. It was strange that he spent so much of his time in desperation for the approval of those around him. The people he looked up to, the people he called his friends. Well who needed them? He had himself now, that was what mattered. He was free of the chains that had kept him grounded for the many months he was banished. He cant help but smile. He chose to come here this time. He chose to come sit at these shores. There wasn't anyone telling him what to do or how to be. He had never felt such freedom in a long time. It almost made him want to cry.
He was crying.
The tears didnt stop. He didn't tell them to. Tommy realized that he needed to let himself cry, needed to let himself feel the emotions he wasnt allowed to for so long. There was something inside him that broke, that caused the numbness. That something was slowly starting to heal again. He could leave this all behind if he wanted to. Let it wash away with the waves. The baggage that he had held onto for so long could go floating out into the waves. It could be dragged down the bottoms of the sea where someone else could unpack it. He sighs softly, deciding to let himself pick through articles that were tucked safely inside. He gently unfolds each piece of clothing and lets the fabric shift through his hands. Soft cotton, scratchy wool, smooth silk, and rough velvet. He hated the texture of the cloth but he still felt it. He still let it brush over his fingers. He still embraced that it was something his once wore, and that it was something he could lett go of now. He smiles as he folds each one again, this time clean of the pain that each one carried. He gently sets them back into the small suitcase and when he picks it up he finds it to much lighter than before.
Bravery is a strange concept. It comes and many shapes and forms. One of the bravest things a person can do is face their trauma, and accept it for what it is.
When Tommy stands to return home with new eyes, something rests heavy on his back. The wings of an Eagle. The wings of courage, of power, and of rebirth.