Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air was filled with the smell of cooked meat.

Chopped vegetables and meat (but no tomatoes) stir-fried in a savory base, exactly how their mother liked it. Ranboo wasn’t ready for such big dishes like that, their mother said, so they could not have any.

All the prep work was done and the soup was simmering atop the stove, the pork and vegetables (no tomatoes!) laid out on the cutting board. The noodles were being drained off to the side -those would be put in the soup last, once everything was done cooking.

Ranboo watched their mother cook this dish a lot, as it was one of her favorites,  and it made his mouth water each time.

They watched carefully from the doorway as their mother scraped the board into the heated pan with ease and quickly began to mix and flip the vegetables and meat around in the sizzling pan.

Their stomach rumbled and they regretfully remembered why they came to the kitchen in the first place.

“M-mother,” they started, fidgeting with the hem of their shirt.

Ranboo’s mother jolted, suddenly gripping her knife tighter, before she let out a long, heavy sigh. “What.”

“When can I get f-food? I'm so hungry!” Ranboo’s voice raised a lilt, but they quickly quieted down to just barely a whisper, Mother hated when they spoke too loud.

Her form stilled, as if she was suddenly frozen in time before she slammed her knife down onto the wooden cutting board loudly, Ranboo flinched at the noise but did nothing, not wanting to break the tense silence.

“Monsters only get food where they’re good, Ranboo.”

A whine built up in their throat as they tore holes into the hem of their shirt with their little claws.

“But I-!”

“I’m busy.” she didn't even say their name.

“But I’m hungry!” they cried indignantly, a warble rising in the back of their throat as their tails lashed around behind them.

“I won't have that talk in my house!” she turned around, eyes blazing with wild fury with wild fear, her knife raised threateningly in the air. “Go to your room!”

Ranboo flinched, ducking their head as they glanced longingly at the meat sat atop the counter, and then they looked at their mother. They stared into her angry purple eyes with a blank look.

“I said go!” she shrieked and turned away, shaking.

Ranboo whimpered and clamped their hands over their ears, they hated when she yelled, it hurt his ears.

Then, almost as an afterthought, “and cover those freakish eyes of yours. It’s horrid.”

ততততত

Ranboo awoke knowing only two things.

The first was that the blood that ran through their veins felt like fire, all consuming and painful.

And the second was that they were hungry, too hungry to compare.

They felt nauseous as their tiny cage swayed side to side, echoing the action of walking, as Ranboo could do nothing but press their tiny little body to the floor and use their claws to carve vague lines into the hard steel.

They let out a low, weak growl as the tarp draped over their cage was pulled away, they let a barely audible hiss as they tried to hide away in the shadows. While they knew the light would not hurt them, they couldn't help the instinctual need to not want to be seen.

They blinked rapidly to force away the dancing spots in their vision as the outside would came into view. Dream -their handler- and his crew as well as some others they didn't recognize were standing under a streetlight away from the darkness of the light.

Dream held their cage, both hands holding onto the sides of the cage, fingers well within biting range, Ranboo would have lunged to do just that if not for the thick metal muzzle laid tightly around their snout.

Dream spoke to the flaming person who was on his left, they didn't know the person's name and only called them Fireball in their head due to him being constantly on fire. He holds the cage out to Fireball, jolting the fox, causing them to scratch harder on the floor of the cage.

The many locks holding the cage door shut are clicked open, and the door opens with a whining screech that grates on Ranboo’s sensitive ears, Dream lets the door slide out of his way before reaching in and prying them out.

Ranboo didn't struggle, didn't make a peep as the rough leathery glove wrapped around them, it was much easier to just let Dream do what he wanted rather than fighting back and getting a nasty beating. They were pulled out of the tiny cage they called by a scratchy grip tight enough that they couldn't escape yet loose enough to not deny them air. Instead, they put on the front of limp and docile, letting him manhandle them however he wanted.

A rough hand from behind pressed down on their head, squishing down ears and fur, it felt not so much like petting but more like trying to rub the skin off their head, they turned their head to see one of Dream’s other friends (associate? Lovers? Crewmates? They didn't know, they were very confused) was the one petting them, Ranboo called them Mushroom because his power had something to do with a smoke that made people sleep, and because he always smelled like mushrooms.

Ranboo locked eyes with Mushroom, and he slowly came to a halt, slowly he took his hand off of their head and nervously backed away, before busying himself with whatever useless thing needed attending to.

Their attention was forced back to dream when he abruptly jostled them, a warning growl petered out of their throat as they locked eyes with the white mask.

“Listen up, we're going on a hunt for a dangerous criminal, if you're good you can get food.” Dream said as if he was dangling a prize right in front of them.

Wow. No words of encouragement? No background information? Not even a scent to go off of? Great leadership dream. If Ranboo weren't so focused on the one-sided staring contest they were having with Dream, they would have rolled their eyes, instead, they settled for giving the most unimpressed/hateful look a fox could give.

In the next minute they were shoved roughly back into their cage by dream who clipped the door shut, locking them in once more before turning to Fireball and Mushroom “make sure everyone's ready to move.”

Ranboo could feel the movement Fireball made when he nodded and shoved the cage under his arm. While they were grateful for the shade the arm provided, they weren't happy with being carried around like a football.

For the next hour Dream was barking out orders, they watched as the heroes shuffled around each other before they were placed on the hood of a car with their flimsy tarp draped over them.

Most of the time when they went on small raids like this, those who attended didn't seem so nervous, they could smell the palpable fear in the air and the clock ticked slowly, even Dream, the Number One Hero seemed to be on edge, waiting for something to jump out and ambush them.

Ranboo wished it was them.

They abruptly raised themself from their position on the floor of the cage, hackles suddenly raised to their highest and ears twitching to pick up on a distant sound they heard.

What exactly was that sound? It was loud yet distant, echoing into the night. The sound of rustling paper? No. feathers! It was the sound of wings!.

Lot of wings in fact! Ranboo could hear them, taking perch atop buildings and trees, crooning softly to themselves as their claws tap tap tapped against the metal framing of the streetlight before it all suddenly went dark.

The various hero’s let out sounds of alarm, anxiously yelling amongst themselves to ‘stand guard’ or ‘not let your fear overcome you’ and other things like that, all while Dream furiously shushed them all.

And then Ranboo heard it, the sound of multiple large swooping wings descending upon them, curled around a body pulsing with blood as the air whistled around the airborne figure.

And with the figures decent was action, loud and frantic and scared for their lives. Ranboo shot up with a yelp as their cage was knocked off the car by a bright, hot pulse of fire.

Ranboo whined as their head throbbed in pain, a loud explosion rang out to their left along with the mad caws of crows. They winced, burying their head under their paws and trying to force their ears harder into their skull, as if that would block out all the unbearable noise. They heard Dream shouting and yelling, Fireball answering back with a classic snarky remark under the sound of gunshots and raving crows.

Chapter Text

Osiris never considered herself to be prideful, she tried not to be vain, but she couldn't help but take pride in how well hidden her and her families base was, she and Zephyrus had spent a long time looking for the perfect one, far from the hero’s radar in the poorer areas of the city yet close enough that it would only take a few 20 to 30 minutes to get to the heart of the city by car.

It was almost laughable, when the heroes had found their base. Setting up a small raid in the depths of the night, stealth proficient hero’s patrolling every corner of the area as if they were being sneaky. It would have made her laugh aloud if not for the nervous anger slowly building in her.

Osiris had given them time to leave, until 12 O’clock exactly, knowing the heroes wouldn't set foot outside the little area they've claimed while knowing very clearly that this was her turf.

She softly stroked a crow on the head, it crooned happily under her touch as she ducked into the shadows when eyes peered nervously in her general direction, she narrowed her eyes as she leaned fully into her villain persona. She had given them enough time to leave, her mercy was now null and void.

She didn’t make herself known until all the streetlamps on the block had died out with the help of her companions, she launched herself into the air and quickly descended upon the heroes with a vengeance, the air whistled around her as she snapped open her wings, catching a draft and grabbing whatever unfortunate soul was in front of her.

Her hand closed around the unknown hero's neck, they struggled and lashed out fruitlessly throwing the rest of the group into chaos, all while her grip slowly got tighter and tighter until her talons pierced soft flesh and blood spilled over her hands. She couldn’t force down the cruel smile that tugged at her lips, finding the pure panic enjoyable.

Before the man in her grip even got to die she threw him like a sack of potatoes into another hero whose ability allowed him some level of flight, they both fell with a terrifying thump and wet crack, and they did not get back up again.

She landed softly upon the ground, and began to stalk forward to her next target, talons dripping with blood and ready to strike. A few of the heroes foolishly grabs their weapons, attacking wildly out of fear, she easily dodged their advances, attacks barely brushing against her skin. She shot out her wings, nailing a hero with a super speed ability right in the face with the large claw on one of her wings. He dropped with a gurgled groan before Osiris put him out of his misery.

Her hands wrapped around the barrel of a gun, bending and breaking the metal, making it utterly useless. Osiris snatched the weapon and proceeded to use it as a hammer to bash the hero in the head before slicing their throat with her wing claw as she turned around to face her new victim.

She had taken out most of the group and was currently fighting Pandas when Dream called the order to retreat. Osiris, in a last ditch effort to cause some pain, slashed at Pandas face, aiming to at least blind the hero before he disappeared into a puff of green smoke.

She sighed and flicked her hands around in attempts to get most of the blood off of them, she felt her feathers smooth down as the leftover adrenaline from the fight ran its course through her body, she shuffled over to the sidewalk and sat down, most of her crows coming to join her, chatting off to each other and to her about the fight and how cool it was.

Osiris winced when her hand grazed a rather nasty burn gifted to her by Pandas and groaned with annoyance. “Fucking hero, always a,” she paused when she looked over to a car that was flipped over in the first explosion, a small number of crows began to group around it curiously, chattering to themselves as more and more joined in curiosity. “Pain in the ass.” she muttered to herself, her curiosity now piqued when she saw her crows jump back in alarm when a high-pitched yelp and snarl sounded from the area where the crows were gathered.

Cautiously, Osiris began to walk over, keeping her footsteps silent during her approach. “What are you guys doing?” her question trailed off as she peered around the car, finding an overturned metal box with a small rectangular window on two sides with steel bars. Brian, a rather tenacious crow, hopped atop the crate and hooked his talons around the bars before attempting to fly towards her with it, he only succeeded in turning the thing upright before whatever creature that was in the cage lashed out with a snarl, nipping at Brian's toes through the bars with a fuzzy gray muzzle and spooking the others.

Brian squawked and jumped into the air, circling back to land on her shoulders “Mumther, I have found a creature, look.” he squawked and clicked in her ear.

“No, I found it first!” Elody screeched indignantly, this set out a chain reaction of the crows battling for who found the crate first as well as others speculating what species the creature was.

“Alright alright! That's enough you guys.” Osiris chuckles as she leisurely walks over, dropping her guard as she kneeled in front of the crate. She centered it in front of her and gazed at the mess of locks and bolts crammed onto one little door  “yeah, no, I'm not doing all that.” she mutters to herself and holds up her hand.

Slowly, from the palm of her hand fading outward her skin begins to turn white, not like how one would go pale from a lack of blood, but like her skin began to turn bone white until it enveloped her whole hand and crawled up her arm, turning her nails black before it stoped. Carefully, she pressed a finger to the mess of locks, and the steel began to crack and rust before falling away to dust.

Osiris pulled her hand back before the black rot could reach the crate door and she shook it out, watching as her nails faded back to normal and her hand regained color, she ignored the feeling of pins and needles and her hand as she opened the door, its hinges cried an ugly sound as she peered inside, meeting eyes with what appeared to be a small ugly fox with some sort of disease revolving around the fur or skin and a thick metal collar around its neck.

Osiris made slow, broadcasted movements, carefully using both hands to gently hold the fox as one was shaking from the use of her power, she cooed at just how adorable it was with its angry black beady eyes and little fuzzy tail. She frowned at the thick metal muzzle strapped tightly to its face and the intricate metal power suppressant collar digging into its neck, both were no doubt too heavy for the poor thing to lift its head.

“Oh, you poor thing, what did they do to you?” she cradled it closely as she undid the strap holding the metal contraption to the fox’s face. A victorious smile slid onto her face as the muzzle began to loosen up and soon fell from its head.

“There, much better right?” she addressed the fox with a fond softness, it looked up at her with wide unblinking eyes that, if she stared deeper, she could swear the fox was looking at her in disbelief. It licked its lips before letting out a pitiful whine as it squirmed to scratch at its neck, trying to dig its little craws under the brutal collar to get that itch.

Osiris cooed and brought the charm bracelet on her wrist up to the collar, picking through the charms she grabbed hold of a bright yellow bee charm and twisted it at its waist, it clicked and split in half, revealing an inner metal bead on the inside.

The bee charm was a gift to her from Hive, one of her son's friends. All power suppression gadgets had the same mechanism keeping them locked, meaning they all had the same key to unlock them, the key being a certain magnet only heroes and police had access to along with citizens if they had a license. She doesn't know how Hive managed to get so many keys, but it saved her and her crew more times than she could count on hand.

She brought the charm up to the lock holding the collar closed, and with a beep it hissed and opened, falling from the kit's neck with a clank. The fox only stared at her wide-eyed, she laughed and scratched it behind the ear, its head rolled as if wanting to push its head into her fingers but did not want to move.

Now that the collar and muzzle was off Osiris could get a better look at the fox under the streetlight, its fur was thin and fuzzy with discolored splotches, it felt like it didn't have an undercoat yet, but it looked like it was at that age where you didn't know if it was a baby or adult, sorta like an in between stage, the splotches littering its body appeared to be course juvenile fur in the process of growing in, black on one side and white on the other side, what a curious pattern.

Abruptly the fox began to wiggle, not like the wiggles what it was trying to scratch its neck, it began to twist and thrash in her hold, trying to escape with all its little might. Brian, who still stood on her shoulder, squawked in surprised, throwing the murder into chaos as the fox wiggled out of her shaking hands.

“Ah no! Don't let it get away!” Osiris yelled as she dived for the fox, it stumbled out of the way and snapped at a crow who got too close, it spit up black feathers and bared its teeth ferociously as the murder swarmed around them and screamed, swiping at the fox in attempts to pick it up as it fought back with every fiber in its little body.

“Stop! Stop swarming it!” Osiris yelled, and the crows dispersed in a flurry of feathers and blood. “Did you kill it?” her eyes searched on the ground through feathers and found nothing.

“No! It's gone!” chirped a crow, and others echoed its sentiment. Osiris frowned deeply, her thoughts racing. It's too dangerous for a fox like that to be out here, especially if it's superpowered, it needs to be found as soon as possible.

Osiris took out her phone and thumbed in the password “spread out and look for it, those who’ve been hurt head back home.” the crows cawed in reply before scattering. She pressed on Zephyrus’ contact before she picked up the discarded collar.

She took flight as the phone rung, waiting anxiously for her husband to pick up. Eventually it clicked. “Hello?”

“Phil!” she said, relived her husband picked up.

“Kristin? Is everything ok? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, but something urgent has happened.

Chapter Text

The bright, midnight light of the moon glints off a disheveled, dark crow as they navigate the shadowed maze of the city. Messy, bloodied feathers bat harshly at the air as they bank abruptly under the flat, overhanging blanket of what appeared to be a colorful stall. A bipedal silhouette passes ponderously overhead where the messy crow had been fumbling in the air just moments before. They hold their breath, staying as still as they could to not disturb the atmosphere, until the shadow continues on in her search.

Ranboo had no interest in tangling with the multi winged villainess that is double their size while they are lost in her and her pack's territory, thank you very much. Honestly they just wish they could find a way out and go someplace safe, away from all the colors and smells doused in the light of the night, as interesting as they were.

They take flight again, flapping as fast as their hungry little body could. The screeches of crows are still loud in their ears as they remember claws trying to grasp and grip at their fur, blood and feathers filling their mouth with each snap of their jaws, and the yell of the very woman that released them before the crows dispersed and they were in the air on new wings.

Ranboo blinks and it takes effort to open their eyes again, when they do, they are barrelling towards a window, they curl their wings around their body in a terrible attempt at protecting themself. They fly through glass and crash into the hard dusty floor, wheezing pathetically as they force themself to stand and back into the darkest corner.

They can feel their heartbeat in their throat as they pant wildly, trying to catch their breath. They can feel the cuts that litter their body burn everytime a feather or a speck of dust comes in contact with it, and in every move that they make their body screams for them to stop, to just rest their tired bones until they no longer ache.

But they cant, the sounds of the night life scuffle around them, the chitter of bugs trying to find their way, the distant caw of crows and the beating of wings in the air, stray cats searching endlessly through the maze of streets and dumpsters for foods while rats and mice hide away in their tiny little safe spaces. But nothing is safe for Ranboo, and never will be if Dream is still around.

The loud slam of a dumpster lid falling and the yeowl of cats in the alley next to the abandoned building they find themself in sends Ranboo reeling, they can feel their feathers ruffle and an unpleasant hiss leaves their beak as their heart pounds faster.

Ranboo’s vision fades in and out as their struggle to keep their eyes open, they shift into a position more comfortable yet easy to stand up and escape if need be. They can feel their eyes drooping close as the world fades around them.

And then their eyes snap open, body shooting up like a bullet. hunger panged heavy in their stomach and what felt like liquid fire coursed through their veins.

As they shake away sleep Ranboo finds that they feel too big for the little body they find themself in, they can feel now scarred wounds tug at their skin with every movement, dried blood giving an unpleasant itch to their skin, and their bones grind disconcertingly against one another, it was obvious that this body was not right for them.

Usually Ranboo would have to wait until Dream gave them the okay to change into a more comfortable form, but the lack of weight from their collar and muzzle reminded them that they were free now, free to do what they wanted, free to change how they wanted, but the question was, what did they want to do first?

Their stomach rumbled, seemingly to remind them of their vast hunger for food. ‘Well there is my answer.’

Ranboo sighed knowing that this body would made it difficult to find and catch food, but they used up all their energy changing into a crow and barely have enough left from the rest they had gotten, so changing back would just render them unconscious.

ততততত

After a while of searching, Ranboo finds themself sitting atop a ladder hidden in the shadows, they stalk their soon to be prey, watching it skuttle through fallen trash, looking for a meal. Ranboo’s vision tunnels as the rat stops and sniffs the air, its whiskers twitch nervously and it abandons the pile of trash it was sifting through.

The rat was now wary, eyes darting around as paranoia builds, Ranboo begins to salivate as the rat darts off, deeper into the alley way, and they follow in suit,

The rat knows its being Hunted now, paranoia bleeds into instinctual fear that rolls off the tiny thing in waves. Ranboo feels giddy when its heartbeat speeds up as well as its feet. This moment between Ranboo and the rat has now turned into a game of chase.

Ranboo liked this game much more than the game's dream made them play, only letting them out when he had already found his prey or making them find something but never letting them finish the hunt or even teasing them with scraps.

It wasn't fair.

But now they could hunt whenever they wanted without dream holding them back, and the unbridled joy they felt at that thought was unmatched.

A low croon left Ranboo’s beak as they dived from their spot in their air, aiming right for the rat when it tried to hide. It banked to the left with a screech as their sharpened talons grated against the concrete, their feathers puffed in the excitement as they darted after the rat eagerly.

But eventually their game had to end. The rat stopped at a chain link fence, quickly trying to crawl under it but failed as ranboo slammed it down harshly with their talons making it squeak in pain. The smell of blood filled their nose as the rat struggled frantically, its chest heaving and heart pounding.

Ranboo stares into beady black eyes, lacking of proper sentience but still pleading, and they doubt. They dont doubt if they want to take the life of this rat, but they doubt they want to end this game of Hunter and hunted so soon.

Their stomach growls -though not savagly as before- and their doubts are quickly whisked away.

Right they came to eat, not play.

Chapter Text

The day is beginning to bleed into night, the sky decorated with hues of yellow, orange, pink, and purple, with the fluffiest white clouds bouncing leisurely through the air. Birds sing as they swoop down into trees to feed their young, and a young girl whines, close to tears as she holds a small stack of papers within her arms, she struggles to hold the stack as she wipes a tear from her cheeks, flushed red and puffy showing that she had been crying for a while.

Next to her was an older boy, a deer hybrid, who looked far more composed. He took a paper from the stack and began to tape it to the side of the wall of a cafe. The paper was a missing poster with the picture of an american shorthair with the brightest green eyes and a red collar. Below the picture was the name of the pet, Amelia, and an email and phone number.

Once finished, the boy turned to his sniveling companion. “Calm down sis, we'll find her I’m sure of it.” He attempted to console her but she only sobbed harder.

“You’ve been sayin’ that for the last week!” She practically wailed, only quieting down when her brother put a hand on her shoulder.

“Cus’ it's true, we’re gonna’ find your cat, promise.” He smiled down at the girl softly. Her tears came to a stop as her shoulders hiked up to her ears and she wiped her tears.

“Okay…”

Behind them, a boy with blond hair glanced at them before walking into the cafe, the bell above the door chimed signaling his entry and he walked to the cash register, a lady with pastel pink hair and pale skin stood quietly at the register, she seemed lost in thought as something under the white beret she wore twitch and the black sunglasses she wore tilted on her face.

Tommy knocked twice on the counter and she blinked into focus. “Oh hello Tommy.” her voice was heavy with exhaustion and she looked dead on her feet. Must have been a rough night.

“Hey Nikki, is Tubbo here?” Tommy kept his voice low, usually he could be a little louder but he didn't want to bother her too much today.

“Yeah he's” she yawns, bringing up a fuzzy clawed hand to cover her mouth, Tommy could see her hand faded back to her normal skin around the joint of her elbow as well as the same clunky metal power suppressor strapped to her wrist. “Sorry- he’s in the back.” she finishes, lowering her hand and shrugging her white poncho back over her arms.

“Your tha’ best Niachu! Get some rest” with a cheery smile and pointed finger-guns Tommy is off, behind him Nikki waved after him tiredly but with a pleasant smile before turning to her next customer. 

The door to the break room slams open and hits the wall with a bang, Tommy jolts, looking behind his back to see if Nikki notices but sighed with relief when the blond found she wouldn't make the effort to scold him.

Tommy quickly hurls around with a chaotic grin on his face “Tubbo ma’ man!” he struts in, kicking the door closed as his friend groans, pinning him with a half hearted glare before he lets his head fall into his hands, massaging the base of his still growing horns as he stares blankly into a screen filled with shit Tommy knows he won't understand.

“How have you been?” Tommy falls into an empty seat across from Tubbo, immediately kicking his feet up.

“You know the answer to that.” Tubbo groans out miserably, his voice rough and scratchy as if he had been screaming too much.

“Jesus dude, sounds like something went to town on your throat” Tommy chuckles sympathetically, He’d offer the poor guy some aspirin if he had any on him.

“Feels that way too. Fucking powers” Tubbo mutters miserably, and the power suppressor on his horn blinks red and beeps incessantly showing its failure to keep his growing powers in check, making Tubbos ear flick in annoyance. He’ll be getting it replaced soon anyway.

“Right, onto the topic at hand, anything from the hero’s?” At that question the once casual atmosphere turned cold and serious, Tubbo sighed and clicked around in his computer before meeting Tommy’s gaze.

“So far nothing big. Shlatts been nervous though, the whole organizations been nervous since the night of the raid, heard they lost something important but I don't know what.” Tubbo takes a sip of tea, queuing the end of his talk.

Tommy nods “heroes have been patrolling around these parts since then, a lot of small-timers have been volunteering at animal shelters, rescue sites, and more. We think it's because of that fox mum found, the one with the power collar. You find anything on it Tubs?”

Tubbo frowns, the kind of frown that tells Tommy tubbo is having more trouble with this than he lets on. “None, nothing at all. There is nothing about it in the database for animals with registered abilities, the closest thing I could get was a fox with a minor float ability but it died five years ago. And my bots have found nothing except for disturbed cats and terrified rats.” Tubbo pauses, taking a few big gulps of his tea and massaging his eyes.

“On an even worse note, it looks like Dream’s in on this too, I saw more of his workers patrolling the area of the raid, they’ve been targeting strays of all kind, even went after steve one time when the poor thing was out roaming” Tubbos voice gets high at the end, finding great offense that Dream was now going after innocent cats.

“If Dream’s looking for that fox it must be a huge deal” Tommy runs a hand nervously through his hair and takes in a breath. “Alright, I’ll tell the others, widen the search a bit. Oh and here.” Tommy begins to dig through his satchel, eventually taking out the power suppression collar given to him by Kristin.

Tommy handed it over to Tubbo who had a curious but confused look in his eyes “Kristin said the fox was wearing this, maybe you can do your -I dont know- tech stuff on it.”

Tubbo nods as Tommy stands up to stretch, “sure thing.” Tubbo carefully shoves the collar into his bag as Tommy begins to walk to the door. “Be Careful out there, I’ll have some bee’s accompany you!” Tommy waves a hand as he closes the door behind him.

ততততত

So far, Tommy’s night has been going slow. He hopped over a roof, wings flapping to keep him airborne after taking a rather long jump. He lands on the roof with a barely audible thump before glancing at his watch.

 9:24, It Flashes rhythmically, almost mocking.

Fucking Fantastic

Beside him, a floating bee bot the size of his fist beeps “there's a woman being robbed a few blocks down. Hurry up, the guy looks antsy” Tubbo’s voice comes from the small bot, overlaid with static before it beeps again and tommy is off, pulling his mask over his face and taking flight.

He flies down the block quickly, finding a woman being threatened for her car by a large imposing figure, his tail lashes behind him anxiously and he continuously switches which foot he is standing on.

“Listen bitch just give me the car!” he snarls as he attempts to wrestle her away from the door, Tommy’s feathered ears twitch when he hears crying from inside of the car, children.

“Hive, i'll take care of the mugger, you help the woman.” A chirping beep came from the bot before Tommy dived down, kicking the man right in the cranium, making him stumble away from the woman disoriented.

Her scream was cut off when Tubbo’s bee bot flew over to her and said “please take your children and leave.” His voice is heavily distorted and toned down, making it almost impossible to recognize him by voice.

Soon enough, the woman is leaping into her car and speeding off as the man, now shown to be a wolf hybrid, glares at Tommy. “You got this bud!” Tubbo chirps before zipping off to who knows where.

“Oh for fucks sake.” Tommy gives a cut of groan that merges into a shriek as the wolf man goes to tackle him, he sails right past as Tommy rolls away and right into a street lamp head first, Tommy groans at the blooming headache, his fault for not being more aware of his surroundings.

Tommy hears claws scraping the ground first before he sees the wolf hybrid running back at him again, this time he throws a sloppy punch which tommy easily evades before the world is spinning on its axis and he's on the ground, the wolf hybrid grins above him and Tommy sees his tail lash victoriously under his legs.

The fucker tripped him!

Tommy barely manages to roll out of the way as the mugger aims to bring his fist down on his head, the street cracks where the punch landed and the wolffish grin on his face falters as he goes to kick Tommy in the stomach only to be swept off his feet into the air by a cloud billowing out from a vent in Tommy’s mask.

He flails mid-air as the cloud wraps around his torso, spinning with the force of his wild flailing. He doesn't see Tommy get up, instead focusing on trying to tear the cloud apart with much difficulty, eventually the cloud disperses though not by his own effort.

Before the wolf hybrid could react Tommy throws a solid punch to his jaw, he cries out in pain as his head swivels to the side from the force of the punch, Tommy can see now that the mugger is beginning to panic, eyes darting around to look for his escape until he found it. The mugger breaks out in a sprint, darting for a nearby alley way before Tommy could stop him. The vigilante scowls before taking to the air and following.

“This isn't a really smart choice, I have wings y’know” Tommy mocks loudly, and the mugger glares behind his shoulder and darts to the left when Tommy tries to use his feet to pick him up.

When he misses Tommy swoops back up before diving back down, kicking the mugger in the back and sending him crashing to the ground, Tommy kicks off and the mugger scrambles on all fours, wanting to get as far as possible from the vigilante, the mugger panickedly searches his overcoat for something, anything to get him out of this mess.

Shaking fingers close around the handle of a dagger and he jumps to his feet and taks a wild swing at Tommy. Grabbing onto the mugger's arm, Tommy swiftly twists it as the mugger screams in pain, the sudden noise rings painfully in Tommy’s ears, his face scrunching under his mask.

His grip loosens on the mugger's arm, as he jerks it from his grasp, the limb whipping around to strike the vigilante at lightning speed. The dagger slashes at Tommys shoulder and down his chest, and suddenly his back is slamming into the wall as his feet are once again swept out from under him and he loses his balance.

Grinding his teeth as his nerves alight with an agonizing pain, stars bursting behind his eyes. Cracking them open he rolls off to the side of the wall to avoid another swipe of the dagger, the blade catches on the ground and is retracted with a curse.

The mugger throws back his arm once more with a sneer twisting his face, and Tommy needs to dodge. But his vision is blackening around the edges, his head feels as though it's been stuffed full of cotton, and his senses are assaulted with the smell and taste of blood in his mouth and nose. Raising his head sends the world into ripples as it spins around.

There is a crashing thump and a sickening crunch of bone crushing, a shrilling scream that shoots through the air that causes Tommy’s eyes to fly open, not even noticing that he had closed them in the first place.

Trashing in place on the ground was the mugger, screaming and grabbing at the maw of some small creature that placed its jaws on his jugular. Patchy black and white fur cover its small canid body, narrowed slitted eyes train themselves on the man's agonized face, one green as toxic waste and the other redder than rubies. A tiny muzzle that held far too many sharp pointed teeth that dug just a little bit farther into the man it's holding onto as he jerks in its surprisingly strong hold, ripping a new scream in an even high pitch from said wolf hybrid.

It was the fox, the very same fox Kristin described to them.

The fox drops the now limp body of the mugger with a nauseating splat. It looks down at the man’s prone form and nudges the head with one of its paws. Getting no response, it huffs almost irritability as if it was not expecting its prey to give up so easily.

It shifts slightly, closing its maw, and somehow those large, sharp teeth fit in that tiny little mouth. The fox focuses its very bright, very dangerous eyes onto its other guest.

Tommy doesn't dare look away. Doesn't dare to move. To breathe.

He doesnt think he can even if he wanted to.

Through his rapidly spotting vision he can see red, red blood dripping down the fox’s muzzle and chest.

Its ears swivel forward, and it hops dismissively over the limp body slowly bleeding out. It stops in front of Tommy and raises its head to look deeper into Tommy’s eyes, it sniffs at him, exhaling hot putrid air into his face and pauses.

Its head swivels around to where they can both hear a soft buzzing at the opening of the alleyway. “Tommy!” Tubbo’s staticky voice echoes and the fox flinches violently, Tommy goes to grab it but his mind reels and swims, he misses and the fox jumps away from him, in a flash of black smoke, gone is the fox and in its place is a crow. The once fox now crow hisses and jumps off into the air, flying off as quickly as it could.

Both Tommy and Tubbo stare at where the crow once was in shock, Tubbo is the first to move, buzzing forward to check on him “shit! You ok big man?” Tubbo’s voice comes through much more distorted than before, and a light on the bot showing its connection to tubbo blinks on and off, showing that it was struggling to stay alive.

“I’m so sorry man, somethings messing with my connection, I was having trouble getting to you in time.” Tommy can only offer a weak groan in reply as the bot sprays antiseptic on his wounds.

“I’ve called Zephyrus, he's coming to get you, just hang on.”

Tommy nods, trying to stay lucid even though his vision faded in and out, eventually he could see a black mass beginning to grow outward in front of him, when he saw a familiar figure step through he let his eyes fall shut and the world faded out.

Chapter Text

There is a ringing in his ears, an insistent beeping off to the side that grates on Tommy’s nerves, and a melodic strumming on his other side.

Cracking open an eye he is met with sterile, white walls and an annoying wannabe musician casually strumming his guitar by his bedside.

Tommy groans.

The brunette snaps to attention with a jump but quickly hides his surprise with an annoying grin. “Afternoon Toms.”

“Fuck you Wilbur.” Tommy rasps out but doesn't bother to hide the upturn of his lips, happy to see his brother.

“Mhm, yeah. Glad to see you too, I’ll go get Phil.” and with that Wilbur and his guitar are gone from the room, leaving Tommy to the annoying beeping of the heart monitor.

Tommy wasn't alone for long though, as Phil came crashing through the door in a whirlwind of motion. “Holy shit mate!” He all but ran to his bedside, being careful of any stray cords and such on the floor.

“You gave us all quite a scare, anything hurt?” Tommy doesn't mind when Phil pokes and prods for answers, fumbling around like a worried doctor/mother whenever one of them gets hurt.

“I'm fine phil, my head hurts a little and my ribs hurts but that's it.” Tommy shoves him away, wincing when the bandages around his chest tighten uncomfortably with the movement.

Phil calms down now, pulling up the chair Wilbur was in. “Well that's to be expected, you had a pretty bad concussion, a few cracked ribs, and some blood loss,” Phil shrugs. “Any longer and you wouldn't have made it.”

Tommy grunts and rubs at his head, fingers brushing against the bandages that wrap around. Narrowing his eyes, he realizes he doesn’t really remember just what the hell happened.

He says as much to Phil.

The blond sombers briefly, “Well, Tubbo told me that when he found you after helping the victim he saw a fox tearing into the mugger, and then it turned onto you. When tubbo startled the fox it turned into a crow and flew off before I got there, we got you two back at the base and now here we are.” Phil crosses his arms and leans back in his seat when he’s finished with his tale,

Tommy frowns, disbelieving. “The fox turned into a fucking crow?”

“I didn't believe it at first either.” Phil hums, “but after going through the footage from both your mask and tubbo’s bot it's undeniable that that fox has some shapeshifting ability among others.”

Tommy blinks, looking down in his lap as his mind races.

“Hey Phil?”

“Yeah mate?”

“Where's my bandana?”

ততততত

They nudge the soft material trapped between their paws, frowning.

They’re not sure what its purpose is. The teen cladded in red and white carried the item around his neck.

Why?

They examine it closer.

Forest green in color with many washed-out stains and sewn tears litter its surface, it bunched up on the edges where the knot was tied.

Ranboo thinks back to the teen, their frown stretching into a soundless snarl as they think of the recent events.

After a moment of silence they sigh, kicking away the piece of cloth as if it offended them before turning away. Currently their residence was in a hollowed tree located in a forest near a park. At first Ranboo thought the forest was a good place to lay low but as it turns out the place is popular with families and their children who like to play at the park everyday and even play in the forest. Too many times they’ve had to move away from comfortable places because a child decided to shove a stick in their den out of curiosity.

Paws softly pad towards them and they side-eye the black cat that invites itself into their temporary den, sticking its head through the entrance and nosing the air.

"Found a toy?" the maine coon, that insists Ranboo call her Enderchest, meows. "You reek of blood, by the way. A bad hunt?"

This was true. They had not visited the river to wash off the now flaking bits of blood their paint their back, face, and neck. "Ill clean up later." they shrug. "Its not my fault if you come unannounced."

"You say that, but you love it when I do. You like my company!" came a smug reply.

Ranboo will not admit that they have grown rather fond of the cat. Enderchest was a part of a colony of cats that lived in the forest, west of the park. Ranboo didn't have a territory yet as they had been moving around alot, never staying long enough to mark their area as their own.

He only met the colony of cats once, they all immediately became hostile and tried to run him out of the forest. Ranboo would have gladly put up more of a fight if they had more energy but they settled for running away.

Later when they asked one of them about about it, the cat looked somewhat shameful as they answered, "you smell like an enemy that makes my hair stand on end. But at the same time, you smell as though you were my own kin. I want to run from you, attack you, and stand by you all at once. I'm sorry."

Most couldn't stand it.

But a few didn’t seem to mind.

Enderchest eyes her black furred friend. "So, are you gonna go get clean or what."

Ranboo swishes their tail irritably, flicking an ear as they stood up, shaking of a bit of dust and dried blood. Enderchest moves out of the way as they climb out of the tree. “Sure, sure.”

The pair walk through the forest at a leisurely pace, ducking under branches, through bushes, and stepping over fallen sticks, Ranboo’s mind wanders, clouded with anxiety as they think about last night.

Bright blue eyes behind a transparent red visor stared directly at them, eyes wide with fear and face twisted with mortification as they stalked closer and closer.

“Hello? Are you ignoring me?” An irritable meow rang out. “I asked if you were up for some hunting, did you eat yet?”

Grimacing, Ranboo forces themself to look straight ahead, ears beginning to pick up the faint sound of moving water. “Ah, no.” They admit. “I’ve been rather… busy.” They recall the taste of blood flooding their mouth, the sound of shrill screams and gurgling filling them with vicious satisfaction as they shook the large man violently and he thrashed and wailed in their hold, and the alarm and shock that filled them when they met those scared blue eyes. “I’d rather clean myself and sleep, I think.”

Enderchest hops atop a rock and waves her tail. “Suit yourself. I’ll just go on my own then” She sniffs “Go on then, leave me for the company of some fish instead of myself. Give yourself a good scrub while your at it.” With that said, the feline walks off, nose high in the air in mock offense.

A snort escapes their fanged maw.

How dramatic

ততততত

Waddling against the weak water current, the fox slowly makes their way deeper. The water turned a murky brown as the dried blood fell away and dissolved from their fur into the water, along with shed fur stuck in their coat.

Ducking under, they stay there for a few moments. Eyeing the small fish that follow the rivers path, scanning the river bed as they hook their claws into the perfectly smooth and slimy stones.

They liked the sensation.

Head breaking the water’s surface, Ranboo takes a gulp of air and slightly shakes their ears, getting rid of the extra droplets.

They use their paw to splash some water on their face and scrub, the last traced of stubborn blood melting away. Ranboo shallowly dips their head under once again and quickly yanks it back up, spitting out the excess liquid.

For a while the fox just sits still, floating softly along the river. Listening to the forest as night creeps into its leafy terrain.

Ranboo thinks of the teenager, dressed in red and white with clouded eyes so wide and scared.

Truthfully, They hadn't planned to let the boy go. In fact, they didn't even know he was there until it was too late.

They had only wanted to go after the wolfman, he had been stalking around the area they were in for too long, trying to find them when he knew they were watching, waiting to strike when he wasn't threatening women and their kids. So Ranboo planned to take care of him, they couldn't have people knowing about their existence just yet.

They weren't ready for that.

Ranboo frowns.

They fled after the metal contraption spoke; they perched themself on the roof, watching as a black and green tinted portal opened up in front of the teen and one figure stepped out just as he fell unconscious, then another.

The first to step out of the portal was a man dressed in green with only one pair of black wings on his back, unlike the woman who set Ranboo free. The next was a man with a scarlet red cape and a crown.

As the man with the wings talked with the speaking metal thing (they think it was called Hive?) and dragged the boy through the portal the one dressed in red looked around, staring intently at the body of the wolf man, poking and prodding at the deep messy bite marks left by them on his neck.

And then, without warning, the man- no the thing turned to look straight at them, on its face was the skull of a canid like creature and in those empty black eye sockets was a single glowing pinprick of light.

A sick feeling settles in their stomach when they think back on the event. Then they remember one simple, and terrifying fact.

The teen got away.

Traumatized and wounded he may be but... going off of just how quick help arrived for the teen he might still be alive.

And with the assumption that he is alive, he will most definitely spread the word that he got attacked by a man who was then killed by a very suspicious looking fox right in front of him.

People will start looking for Ranboo.

Resolve hardens like a stone in the chest, pressing a heavy weight on their soul. And with it the unflinching urge to hunt that blond down and kill him before he tells people about his encounter.

The fox blinks.

Nighttime was in full bloom now, the moon light shone down on them and the stars twinkled in the sky. When they look into the water of the river they notice that the river had turned red again, not the muddy brown red of dried blood that was already washed from their fur, but a vibrant and warm red that came from newly opened wounds.

Ranboo twitches slightly in the water, their body shakes with the weakness that you get after having not eaten for days. But that's impossible, they were not that hungry before. They stand up in the river (taking note that they weren't able to above the river when they first got in.) and shuffle out of the water and onto the sand.

The flesh along their spine and their paws ache in a dull manor-like growing pains- as they collapse under the weight of their water filled coat, they roll onto their side as Their body throbs with hunger.

Their ears swivel to point up stream when they pick up soft pawsteps quickly heading towards them, they weakly raise their head to see Enderchest sprinting downstream with a dead squirrel and a decent sized bird in her mouth.

She stops in front of them, dropping the dead prey out of her mouth and directly in front of Ranboo’s face, she begins to sniff them, her feline face twisted with worry. “Are you alright? Did you collapse?”

Ranboo eats the squirrel first, swallowing it whole with ease. “Dunno” they say weakly, forcing themself to roll onto their stomach and raise their head so they can properly eat their food. “Got all weak all of a sudden.” They quickly move onto the bird, tearing off a wing and chewing on it.

Once their hunger was mostly satiated they stood up, immediately noticing that they were now bigger than the maine coon cat. “When did you get so big?” Enderchest pouts.

“Not sure, its new.” Ranboo replies. They bring a paw up to their face and flex it slightly, ignoring the soreness of it. Their claws were bigger now and much more prominent, and running up their front arms and curling in a stylized spiral at their shoulders were markings, the left arm being green and the right arm red.

Enderchest presses a paw to their back and it lights up with pain, they flinch and jump up in alarm, the skin of their back felt tender like they rubbed their back raw. “Sorry!” Enderchest meows with alarm as Ranboo cranes their neck to look at their back.

Their fur appears to be thicker now, with those same green and red markings running up their back thighs, but the most surprising new feature were the inky black quills that had grown along their spine, starting at the base of their tail and ending at the their neck, some quills even grew along their thighs and shoulders, following the direction their fur grew.

Ranboo inches away from Enderchest as she attempted to bat at their new quills with curiosity “don’t touch them.” they muttered, turning away from the cat to shuffle off to find a place to dry off.

“Ah, do they hurt? Want me to groom you?” She offers, following them to a patch of light atop a rock, Ranboo shakes again, flinging water onto Enderchest who meows with displeasure.

“No, I just want to rest. I’m going back to my den.” They turn and head back into the woods, tail gently swaying behind them.

ততততত

Ranboo’s den starts off as a small tunnel that allows their once tiny, slim form to slide right on down it, but they are bigger now and the entrance is narrow. They shift into crow form and slide inside before attempting to shift back to their normal fox form without the quills but found no such luck.

It seems they’ll have to get used to this form. Their back scapes loose dirt from the ceiling, their clawed paws touching much firmer dirt as they shuffled through the short tunnel, eventually opening up to a massive room. It was large enough to fit this current form three times over.

The shapeshifter is rather proud of their den. Days spend digging, dumping, and packing dirt,  laboring away on a nice dry place to sleep at night.

An appropriate place to hide too.

They look at the green bandanna thrown to the corner of their den and walk over, curling around it, a massive yawn splits their face, showing sharp, jagged teeth. They lower their head into the fabric and take a long, deep breath. Determined to memorize the scent as best they can before it fades.

With their resolve clear in their mind Ranboo begins to drift off to sleep. Dreaming of chasing blue eyed birds.

Chapter Text

Ranboo ran through the streets of the run-down city, staying in the shadows as they ran down the sidewalk and darted into an alleyway.

They carefully took in their surroundings. They recognized their own scent, remembering that they had been hunting in this alleyway when they heard the wolf man and the teen fighting.

They took deep sniffs of the air, attempting to catch the old scent of dried blood or maybe cleaning supplies but found nothing, like the blood had just disappeared. Ranboo scowled and began to retrace their steps, sniffing around the dirty place before they went deeper into the maze.

Ranboo wandered for a while, turning down random corners in hopes that they would find the correct place only to be met with dead ends more than half the time, using a chain fence as their marker they've come to the conclusion that they’ve passed the same alleyway three times. On their fourth round they decided to hug the wall and keep going left, that always works right?

They froze in place when they heard the sounds of a scuffle. A pained grunt echoed out in the night as well as the sounds off struggle.

“This guy Hive?” it was a man's voice, he sounded like an adult and he attempted to be quiet, though his voice was still easy to hear against the silence of the night and Ranboos outstanding hearing.

“Yep, that's him” a familiar mechanical voice spoke, the static layer over the things voice grating on their ears. Immediately Ranboo perked up, peaking around the corner.

They were met with the sight of a man dressed in black and old smelly jeans being pinned against the wall by another man effortlessly. He was tall, with fluffy brown hair with a white streak, tousled by his previous encounter.

His skin was a sickly pale color with blue scales climbing up his cheeks and the side of his head, his ears were like a fish's fins, folded downward casually and glinting a dark blue against the light of the night.

He wore a yellow sweater over a white wrinkled dress shirt, a black coat with various patches and random logos sewn with vibrant blue string over previous rips and tears, as well as black cargo pants with the same sewn patches and combat boots, he smelled like the sea and cigarettes.

The fish man turned the thug dressed in black who had begun to shake in fear, the fish mans eyes began to glow a haunting blue, under his left eye and going down to his chin was thin, barely visible blue thread, sewn into the soft flesh of his skin in a barbed wire design.

He brought up a hand to his face and snagged the end of the thread with his nail and pulled, connected to his face and nail was a bright, glowing blue string that he attached to the temple of the thug.

He went slack in the tallers hold, eyes turning a foggy blue as a delirious smile made its way onto his face. The thug dropped the briefcase in his hands and the fish man pulled away leaving the former swaying in place.

Ranboo watched him pick up the briefcase, that bee bot peeking over his shoulder. “Well?” he said, showing the contents to the bot. Ranboo attempted to inch closer to see the contents but jumped back when the metal thing spoke again.

“That's not it.” Hive said, sounding disappointed.

The fish man tsked and turned back to the thug, his eyes glinted in the dark and the thread connecting them pulled taut. “Kill yourself.” he said coldly.

Ranboo watched wide-eyed as the thug, who had began crying despite the serene smile on his face, searched his pockets and pulled out a knife.

The man's hand was steady as he flipped the blade and brought it to his neck. His tears flowed faster as fear and resignation rolled off him in waves as he pressed the blade to his neck, he knew he was going to die here and he accepted it.

The fish man narrowed his eyes and sneered, shifting his weight to his other foot. The thug let out a strangled scream as he dragged the knife across his neck and fell the ground, blood spraying from his neck before it slowed to a gush, the cloudy look in his eyes faded (but the string, no longer glowing, remained) as he brought his hands up to his neck in attempts to stop the bleeding, writing on the ground as he choked on his own blood.

The fish man huffed and turned to the mouth of the alleyway, he raised his hand to tap something on his ear. “I'm finished,” he said into something. Hive hovered soundlessly by his side as a familiar black and green hued portal opened up in front of them.

Ranboo tensed, shifting into a small rat they began to creep closer as the fish man began to walk into the portal “oh Siren!” Hive chirped, swaying in the air.

Teles turned around to look at the bot as Ranboo quickly scurried past and into the portal without either of them noticing “tell Vast I said hi.”

Fish man smiled, “Sure thing, why don't you come by some time, I'm sure Zeph wouldn't mind.” and with that he turned around and entered the portal.

ততততত

When Ranboo emerges from the portal they find themself in an unfamiliar forest. The forest itself was eerie, shrouded in darkness with tall, dark trees surrounding them on every side. The canopy of leaves was so thick that it blocked the moonlight from hitting the forest floor, the only thing that wasn't shrouded in dark was a weirdly twisted dirt path heading in one direction.

They decide that they like it here.

Quickly, they dash into the forest just as Siren steps through the portal, he presses a button on the device on his wrist and the portal closes soundlessly.

Ranboo watches as he takes a moment to stretch his limbs, relaxing immediately despite the fact that he doesn’t even know he’s been followed. And then he begins to leisurely walk down the winding path with ease, typing and scrolling through his phone as he goes.

Ranboo followed quietly, still in rat form and running through bushes and around trees, as they walked they noticed that although the path appeared straight Siren kept making odd turns as the path contorted and adjusted to Siren, and after another turn down the path they noticed a light at the end of the path, so naturally they went slowed to a crawl, staying closer to to the shadows and shrubbery and behind siren.

When they turned another corner on the weird path and came face to face with the fanciest manor Ranboo has ever seen with an absurd amount of crows on the roof and in the tree line. Wilbur walks up to the gate and it opens automatically, shutting behind him when he crosses through.

Ranboo stares in awe at the manor and cautiously slips through the bars. The ground does not immediately open to swallow them up when they plant their feet on the gravel, so they consider that their second win of the night.

Their first being lucky enough to find Siren and Hive.

Nobody emerges out of nowhere hurling curses and powers at them or threatening them with pain when they crawl through the gate, they shake themself down and consider this their third win of the night.

The crows above them suddenly cry out in an uproar, taking flight and diving toDurwards wilbur in a chaotic frenzy, Wilbur shields his face from the crows who dive too close in attempts to take purchase on his shoulders as he screams out to someone called phil as he hiked up the porch steps and entered the manor.

During the frenzy of flying crows Ranboo takes the chance to shift into crow form, immediately taking flight to join the flock who had now started to navigate to the roof and trees.

ততততত

“Phil! Kristin! Get your fucking crows!” Willbur shouts as he rushes up the front steps and slams open the door, the crows croon in delight as they swarm him, some managing to land on his raised arms for a moment to nip at his fingers and hair before they take off again when Willbur shook his arms.

Once inside he shuts the door with his foot as the few crows that made it inside land on the floor and hop and peck at his feet as he shrugs his jacket off and folds it in his arms. A shrill whistle echoes throughout the halls and the crows reply in their own gravely calls before they take off, fluttering down the hallway with Wilbur on their tails.

Willbur finds their family in the living room, Tommy was in his pajamas on the couch watching a show on the tv wrapped in bandages and Technoblade was at his side, reading a different book than the one he had this morning. Philza was in the kitchen cleaning with the help of Kristin.

Wilbur strode to the couch, dropping his jacket on Tommy and sitting down next to Technoblade, close enough to annoy him without provoking him to hit Wilbur. Tommy lets out a mix between a groan and a whine while Technoblade just scrunches his nose and inches away from Wilbur.

“Augh you reek man!” Tommy whines, throwing his jacket back at him, wings ruffling behind his back. The siren smiles and leans onto technoblade more.

“Wow Tommy, is that anyway to treat your older brother?” His grin goes lopsided as Techno tries to push him away but is too focussed on his book to actually shove him away, instead giving him a muttered curse.

“Fuck you will.” Tommy crosses his arms and glares at Wilbur, kicking him in the shin. 

Willbur winces but his grin doesn't falter. “uh huh sure. Talk to me when you don't get a concussion after a night out.” He cackles when Tommy kicks him again with more force. Technoblade grunts and decides that he has had enough, he kicks Wilbur in the back and sends him tumbling off the couch with a screech.

Tommy screeches with laughter while Wilbur groans, turning around to face Technoblade. “You fuck! I hit my face!” The scales on his face have turned a dark blue, showing his displeasure.

“You had it coming.” Technoblade offers a non committal shit eating grin before turning back to his book.

Wilbur stares for a moment, in an act of oncoming annoyance he raises his arm and balls his face, Tommy abruptly stops laughing and is quiet for a moment, before a drawn out ‘ouuuuu’ flows from his lips in that tone only an annoying little sibling can have, like Wilbur did something bad or is about to do something bad and get in trouble for it.

“Wilbur, stop bothering your brothers.” Both Tommy and Wilbur turn around immediately, while techno glances up from his for a moment before going back to reading. Standing under the arch where the living room connects to the kitchen is phil, with a frown on his face and a rag he's using to wipe his hands.

Tommy immediately turns his head back to the TV to fake paying attention to his show and Wilbur throws his hand down to his side and sits down on the couch, not getting in the personal space of the other two occupants “sorry Phil.” he says immediately, beginning to fiddle with the strings on his face, Tommy snickers.

“How was patrol mate?”

Wilbur sits back, eyes scanning the show Tommy was watching before throwing his head back and staring at the ceiling rafters where multiple bird products and hanging nests for the crows. “It was fine, found the guy but he didn't have what I was looking for so I killed him. Nothin’ new.”

“Thats why you smell like blood??” Tommy sneers.

“Sick. how’d you do it?” Phil rolls his eyes at technos comment while Tommy makes a noise of disgust.

“Threatened him a little then made him slit his own throat.” Techno hums and goes back to his while Tommy’s face curls exaggeratedly in disgust.

“Thats fucking nasty.” The blond grumbled before turning to Phil who ruffled his hair as he passed “ Alright you three, that's enough. Time to go to bed” Tommys expression dropped and Wilbur’s head shot up.

“But-” Tommy started but was interrupted by Philza.

“No buts, head to bed. All of you. I let you stay up until Willbur got home but now it time to sleep, we have another job tomorrow and I can't have you dozing off on the clock” he said as he moved to a window, knocking on the glass twice some crows who were peaking into the house shuffled to the side while some others flew to the trees.

“What?! But I’m too old for that!” Wilbur scowls and Techno looks up from his book at Phil with a raised eyebrow.

“I think its perfect, considering how you act.” Techno comments, Wilbur resists the urge to hit him as they watch phil hold his hand up and open the window, as he moves from in front of the window more and more crows begin to join each other on the window sill, chattering and shoving for space.

When Phil lowers his hand the murder of corvids burst through the window in a flood of black feathers and clacking beaks, pushing and nipping at each other to get through the window.

“Enough, head to bed now.” Phil says sternly, fed up with the bickering and leaving no room for argument. With that Techno shuts his book and Tommy shuts off the TV and scurries off to bed, techno following behind.

Willbur watches as the flood of crows entering the living room and taking place in the rafters of the house slowed to a trickle, hopping through the window casually before going to mingle with the others as they settled down to sleep for the night.

Huffed and picked up his jacket, watching Phil usher a shy crow into the house before shutting the window behind it. It glanced out the window for a moment before being scooped up by phil. It squawked in alarm and struggled momentarily before freezing when Phil began petting its head.

Wilbur turned around to see Kristin smiling warmly, she pet his hair and chuckled “You look tired honey, get some sleep and we can talk more in the morning.” Immediately, Wilbur relaxes in her presence and sighs.

“Yeah, night mom, dad, see ya tomorrow.” he offers a tired smile as he shuffles off to his room, while he was on the move, his eye caught the crow that phil was holding. It had managed to free itself from Phil’s hold and was now on the kitchen counter, instead of tilting its head or flying towards him like the crows would usually do it just stared at him, staring deep into his eyes and never looking away. Uncomfortable, Wilbur turned away and started down the hall to his room.

Willbur throws off his sweater and dress shirt and shimmies out of his pants, changing into more comfortable clothes before flopping into his bed and running a hand through his hair, he reaches to his lamp to turns out the lamp before letting out a slow, calming breath as his eyes droop shut. Wilbur drifts to sleep quickly, finding himself more tired than he previously thought, as his mind settles to silence quickly.

The shrill, terrified scream of his brother from the room across assaults his ears and makes him lurch out of bed.