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Chapter Text

The Cryptids were angry, although anger was too soft of a word to describe the fury echoing from the eldritch beings. No, Phįłžæ, WĮłbür, and Tęçhńœbłædę were seething; writhing, and gnashing their teeth in absolute vehemence. 

See, they had lost something very dear to them. Their sunspot was taken from them, their little nestling, only a chick. Gone. 

Someone had taken their flock, and to a Cryptid, that’s a sentence worse than death. 

If anyone were near those forest-draped mountains, they’d hear the inhuman shrieks and the sound of frantically beating wings. Maybe even the bellow of a wild boar. 

That was 10 years ago, the land has been cursed since then. Blood constantly stained the stones, always fresh. Crops wilted and died. The sky was tainted a nauseous green with clouds always on the edge of  Zues’fury. Those who stayed there for too long tended to lose their minds. 

There were the stubborn few who went out to live in the inhospitable landscape. They were never heard from again. However, some say if you paid close attention, you’d hear screams of the insane that were cut short without fail. No one ever listened.

There was a village just on the outskirts of the mountains, untouched by the constant wars thanks to their natural barriers and supernatural neighbors. No king was brave enough to send his troops to capture the hellish place and it offered no resources otherwise, so they left them to govern themselves. 

And govern themselves they did. It was a corrupt place, lawless and unjust. On the outside it looked perfect; a strong peacekeeping presence, a loving mayor, and happy villagers.

However, if you scratch the surface, it exposes the facade. The lawkeepers could be bought off easily and were cruel to the unfortunate. The Mayor was an abusive drunkard with no regard for the people under his care. The villagers were miserable, they were slaves to this tyrant and suffered daily at the hands of the ones who supposedly protected them.

It was hell on earth. But it’s where this story begins.

Tommy sat on the bench, arms crossed and teeth gritted. Not in anger, no. It was fear that drove the grinding of his teeth, subconsciously filing down the unusually pointed denticles to foolishly try and avoid punishment. 

Tommy had always been weird. Not the normal kind of weird either, like he chews too loud or talks to himself. No, his weird was weird . 

His eyes were an unnatural blue and he could see much farther than should be possible. His teeth were sharp as were his ears. His nails always grew quicker than others and curled into a fine point if they weren’t filed down. When he was angry he’d make a strange hiss-click sound. Something he learned to stop doing after a while.

And then there’s his back.

It always ached, he was too young for that. Sometimes it felt as if something was moving inside his skin . Straining to burst out of him like some kind of twisted parasite. 

But right now none of that mattered, his mind was focused on one thing. Survival.

He didn’t want to steal that apple, really! He was just so freaking hungry and the apple looked too perfect to waste away on the vendor’s shelf. So Tommy snatched it and took a bite. Apparently, he hadn’t been discreet enough. A lawkeeper saw him and snatched his arm with a vile curse, dragging him back to the station. Giving him a few good kicks along the way. 

Tommy only mourned the apple he dropped.

So there he was now, stuck in the station awaiting his “guardian” to show his face. He wasn’t his guardian, not legally anyway. But nothing in this godforsaken place was legal, so what did it matter?

The bell jingled and in stepped a man. Ordinary sandy blond hair, a few freckles, and some scars. Not uncommon around this place. His brown eyes locked onto Tommy and he gave a disappointed sigh. The boy wilted.

“Here’s your brat, Dream. Try and watch him better next time, yeah?” The lawkeeper chortled and slapped his guardian on the back. Dream was a well-respected lawkeeper, one of the only half-decent ones.

Dream winced at the good-natured slap and chuckled back. “Will do, Laurance, thanks for keeping my boy here until I could get away.”

“Anytime Dream, just let me know if he needs a good whipping, I’m your man.” Laurance chuckled again and lumbered his fat self out the door. Most likely to go chase some poor cat up a tree again. Bully.

The dirty blond grimaced at the crude words and watched the man until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, Dream looked back at Tommy and shook his head again. “Tommy-”

“I know, I’m sorry, Dream. I was just so-”

“Hungry, I know. We don’t have much food for a growing boy like you.” Dream looked remorseful as he knelt and put a heavy hand on his shoulder. “But stealing isn’t the answer, you know this.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Tommy whispered and hung his head.

His guardian merely ruffled his hair and nudged the younger boy. “C’mon, you can’t sulk all day. I promised you we’d visit the mountains today, didn’t I?”

The young boy's eyes lit up as he looked at his guardian. “Really? I’m not being punished?” Tommy had always loved the mountains. It was the one place he felt a sense of belonging, away from the jeers and cruel words of the village people who despised him simply because he was different.

“I think being stuck with that pig was punishment enough, don’t you?” Dream whispered mischievously. 

Tommy giggled with a nod, Dream always knew how to make him feel better.

The man stood with a grin. “Good, go home and gather your things, we’ll set out in the evening.” Tommy bolted up and quickly gave the man a hug, his small arms almost able to fit around his torso. 

Some day.

“Okay! Bye, Dream! I’ll see you later!”

“Ah, wait a second. I didn’t get my hug too.” Dream growled playfully and scooped up the boy, giving him a gentle squeeze. Tommy squawked in a way that was definitely not human, but it was ignored by both. They were used to his odd tendencies by now.

“Okay, okay! Let me go! Dreaaaam .” Tommy wriggled and kicked until, with an overdramatic sigh, the man gently set him down.

“Alright, little bird. Go on then, I’ll see you when my shift is over.”

The boy ran with a skip in his step back to the meager building they called home. Ignoring the way people outright glared at him, even when a couple spat in his direction or tried to trip him. He was too happy to care about that today. It was Mountain Day!

He was packed within 30 minutes, a small backpack containing some snacks and water. As well as his only other shoes, just in case the ones he wore got torn. It had happened before.

Tommy waited impatiently for the last few hours to creep by, ready for Dream to return. Playing with his stuffie to kill some time. It was a well-loved cow named Henry, Dream had bought it for him when he was little. He remembered that moment so clearly, the first time something had been truly his and his alone.

Finally, after what seemed like days to the young boy, he heard boot steps on the grubby dirt floor. Tommy sprung upright, Henry clutched in his hand and his small bag thrown over his shoulders. He dashed over to Dream and barely caught himself before he slammed face first into the lawkeeper.

“Dream! Are you ready? Can we go now!?”

“Whoa there, let me get ready too. I just got back.” 

Tommy whined but sat obediently on a stool, watching his guardian busy himself with gathering his things from the one-room home. He even shared the last cookie they had with him! That made the boy begrudgingly forgive his guardian for taking so long.

“Alright, I’m ready. Are you- whoa!”

Tommy had leaped off the stool and began to drag the man out of the house before he’d even finished the sentence. Dream laughed and kept pace with the surprisingly quick 10-year-old.  

He smiled warmly. “Guess so, alright then. Let’s go on an adventure, little bird.”

Chapter Text

No one ever strayed too far up the mountain, not if they valued their lives. Dream and Tommy were not too different from them. Sure they ventured into the mountains, but never once dared to cross that border between their domain and the green-tinged bloodied hellscape of the Cryptids territory.

They were curious but only to an extent.

However, without fail, the closer they got to that unholy place, the more Tommy longed to step foot into it. Where Dream always seemed repulsed, the boy was drawn. He never told Dream about this, of course. There were already so many weird things about him, no need to add more. 

The journey had been going smoothly for the two, with no bumps or spills along the way. Currently, the two were taking a rest, laughing at each other's impressions of Laurance and his friends to pass the time. 

“Alright, we’ve been here long enough, Toms. I think it’s time we head back. It will be dark here soon. And you don’t want the monsters to get ye, do you?’ Dream said, “You’d be a tasty meal for them.”

Tommy puffed out his chest, suppressing another one of those odd sounds in his throat. “I’m so big, they wouldn’t dare try!”

He hummed, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. “Maybe so, but they would still like to scare you. They’d come up behind you with their big ‘ole claws and pointy teeth and go- RAWR!”

Dream lunged at Tommy and began tickling him. Tommy shrieked out a laugh and started squirming, that’s not fair! Dream knew all his tickle spots!

Tommy fought back, careful to keep his sharp nails away from Dream. Even with his age and small form, he nearly beat the adult. Dream always praised how strong Tommy was, always reminding him to use that strength if he was ever in a fight with the older kids. Just don’t kill them.

He never killed anyone, but he did break one of the lawkeepers’ kid’s nose once. It wasn’t his fault, though! The kid kept picking on him and pulling his hair, he had it coming. 

Dream hadn’t punished him then either. Instead, he said he was proud Tommy was able to defend himself when his guardian wasn’t around. Which was a funny thing to say, since Dream would always be around.

Despite his best efforts, Tommy slipped up and Dream pinned him to his chest. No amount of wiggling would get him out of this bear hold. 

“I yield! You win, meany.”

Dream laughed and set him on the ground with a fond ruffle. “Now, come on, we really do need to get back before dark. Monsters or not, bears do exist and are very real.”

Tommy only grumbled a little bit before standing. He picked up his bag and slung it across his shoulders. The blond yawned, the trip up and their impromptu wrestling match turned him into a very drowsy boy. 

Dream took notice and shook his head with a chuckle. “C’mere, kid.” He knelt and held open an arm. Tommy was quick to run underneath it like a chick to its mother’s wing. The man carefully picked up the sleepy kid and placed him on his hip. 

If Tommy was more awake, he would’ve complained that he was too old for this babying. Even if he was unnaturally light for his age, he was 10! Not a kid anymore. It was too late to protest, though. His eyes were drooping, the jostling lulling him into a sleepy haze. 

Tommy doesn’t know how long he drifted like that, somewhere between awake and asleep. However, when he was awakened, it wasn’t the usual gentle nudge he’d get from his brother- guardian. His guardian. Instead, Dream abruptly stopped, causing his head to jerk.

Tommy slowly blinked open his eyes, looking around grumpily. “Wh-

“Shh, don’t say a word.”

Now he was more awake. Dream sounded scared, really scared. Tommy didn’t think he’d ever heard him sound like that before. The boy looked around again, more focused this time. There. Now he knew why Dream had stopped so quickly.

A huge grizzly bear stood in the middle of the path, staring them down. Its fur was spiked with water, which dripped down in sparkling rivulets to the muddy earth. 

Dream slowly lowered himself to the ground, the bear didn’t react, merely eyeing the two with its pitch-black eyes. The man, just as carefully, set Tommy on the ground. 

“When I say run,” He whispered, “Run. Don’t look back, don’t wait for me. Just. Run.”

“Dream? What-”

“Don’t- just… please. Do as I say, kid.” His brother wouldn’t meet his eyes, he sure was blinking a lot. “I need you to stay safe. Whatever you do, though. Don’t go back to the village, okay, Toms?”

He nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t quite grasp what Dream was saying, but he knew that it was bad. Really, really, really bad.

The bear growled, it was a hollow-sounding thing. More of an empty, deep rattle than a traditional growl. It stood with hunched shoulders, teeth flashing yellow, and bellowed. Its massive paws splayed beside it as they slammed back into the earth with a snarl.

“RUN!”

Tommy hesitated, he didn’t want to leave his brother. Dream saw his hesitation and shoved him harshly, eyes flashing with determination. “GO! RUN! ”

The boy bolted, he couldn’t ignore a direct order from his guardian. Tommy only hoped he’d meet up with Dream later. They could have all the apples in the world, and cookies. Tommy would steal them all for his brother as a thank you for saving him. Dream said not to go back to the village, but surely it would be alright once he was back. Right?

Dream’s eyes stayed on his younger brother's retreating form, tears falling freely now that Tommy wouldn’t be able to see. “Fly high, my little bird.” The brother whispered. 

He looked over to the monster before them, only to be met with a sweeping paw. Dream closed his eyes with a beautiful smile. 

He’d made the right choice.

Chapter Text

Tommy kept running long after the sounds of the bear faded and the rushing of water from the nearby river died away. He jumped over fallen trees and thorn thickets, wildlife sprayed out around him to avoid the boy’s path. 

He didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t care. He would keep running until he forgot. 

Tommy had heard it. He didn’t mean to, he didn’t mean to hear it. He hadn’t wanted to! He couldn’t help what his sensitive ears picked up, sometimes the boy wished he could just cut them off.

He’d heard Dream die.

Well, he’d heard the scream that only comes with a very violent death. It was the same scream Tommy heard when the executions that everyone was required to attend happened. When innocent people were hanged, burned, stabbed, beheaded, split open. All of them had that same blood-curdling cry just before the life left their eyes and their mouths hung agape.

Tommy couldn’t see where he was going through his tears. His lungs stung with each ragged inhale, spewing fiery pain with the release. 

His muscles spasmed and he fell. Tommy rolled a bit, getting banged up on the rocks and shallow cliffs until he finally came to a rest. The boy couldn’t bring himself to get up, not when his lungs quaked and his legs felt like molten jelly. And so, he did the only thing left to do.

He curled up on his side, pulled his hands to his chest, and cried.

The boy wailed and screamed. The gravity of all that had happened, what will happen, hitting him all at once. There would be no Dream to protect him from the villagers now, no one to bring him food. Tommy was young but he wasn’t stupid, he could see just how much they hated him. If not for Dream, he would most likely have been killed.

He cried for what seemed like hours, it must’ve been. The only reason he stopped was because there were no more tears left to shed. He was empty.

Maybe also because of the soft thumps just a bit off to his left. 

Wary of another bear, Tommy quickly rolled to his knees and scurried back away from the approaching padded steps. They paused. He looked up… and screamed.

The creature leaped back in surprise at the sound, an alarmed squawk leaving it. That shut the boy up, the cry sounded eerily similar to his own.

Now that he wasn’t actively freaking out and could study the creature, because it certainly wasn’t human, he was more confused than afraid. It almost looked like him, but not quite.

Long elf-like ears, sharp blue eyes, curled nails, sandy blond hair that was lighter than his own, and very pointy teeth. The things that stood out, that Tommy didn’t have, were the feathers all over its body. Behind his ears, around his eyes and upturned nose, along his neck and shoulders. And the wings. They were magnificent.

Tommy’s back ached just looking at them.

The kid was pulled out of his musings by another sound, a caw. The perfect imitation of the smaller crow’s call. The thing tilted its head and cawed again, and somehow Tommy understood it.

“A human? Here?”

“I didn’t mean to stumble in your territory, Mr. Crytid, sir.” He replied in English, hoping it would understand him. The green sky almost glaring at him. “I was just running-”

“The little human speaks so well for its age, though it's not a human at all, is it? Hm.”

“What do you mean I’m not a human, of course I am!”

The thing jumped again and stared at the boy in amazement. At once, its haughty look faded and it knelt before Tommy, keen eyes wide with wonder. It trilled a wordless coo and tilted its head.

“You can understand me, little one? You know what I’m saying?”

“Of course I understand you, you’re speaking to me, are you not?” Tommy’s posture matched the creatures, with the added hunched shoulders.

“See! See! No human would know what I say.” It twittered, “And your features betray your status. You are no human.”

“Well… then what am I?” He wasn’t surprised by this revelation, at all. Honestly, he’d been toying with this notion for some time now. He just hadn't wanted to scare Dream... Dream. Who was- Tommy shook his head of the abrasive memory.

“Tell me, small thing, do you chirp and tweet when you sing? Do you look at the skies and know they can be yours? Or do the stars shine bright just to light it up for you? Can you see so far and fight so well that they fear you? Small thing, is it this way?”

“Stop calling me small! I’m big for my age!” Tommy snapped, an unwise thing to do at a literal being of horror. Thankfully the creature merely cackled unnaturally and fluffed up its plumage.

“I mean no disrespect, what shall I call you?”

Tommy really shouldn’t tell this creature his name, but he just lost his brother and could no longer go back from where he came. He had nothing to lose.

“My name is Tommy, Tommy… Tommy Dream!” He just made the last name up, wanting to keep a piece of his brother with him.

“Well then, Tommy Dream, my name is Phįłžæ, though to you that translates to Philza. I am a Crowfolk, otherwise known as an Elytrian. What are you?”

“Elytrian? So you’re not a scary monster?” 

Philza cawed again, amused this time. “No, little one, I am not a scary monster. I am simply a misunderstood old bird.”

“Well, if you’re not a scary monster, then why is this mountain cursed?”

“Ah, yes. That. Well, a long time ago something precious to me was stolen. My beautiful son, taken by those wretched humans. Now I may not be scary, but my wife is. She didn’t take kindly to her fledgling being kidnapped.” He churred in something that was almost like a chuckle. “Her wrath turned the mountains this way, nothing may calm her down. You see, she isn’t like you and me. She is- for lack of better words- a goddess. A being of purity and magic.” 

Philza trilled quietly in a way that Tommy just knew was remorse. He felt bad for the bird-man and let the noise in his throat loose just a little, a quiet little chirp of empathy for him.

The man turned to him again, that same look of surprise as when he’d realized Tommy could understand him. Philza whistled a calling tune, it was oddly alluring. Tommy responded with another chirp, blinking slowly. It felt nice to finally get those noises out of him.

The plumage along the man's neck puffed up and he leaned forward. The next whistle held a note of suppressed excitement, maybe a tinge of hope. Tommy trilled in return.

With each noise that was dislodged from his throat, the pain along his spine built up. He could’ve sworn something was pressing at his skin, wanting out.

“Oh, now this is something interesting.”

“What?”

Without answering, Philza considered him for a moment. He looked like he was contemplating something deeply, a curious glint in his eye. Chin in hand, he made an odd clicking sound, it ended in a sharp double-chirp that was turned up at the end. This noise didn’t sound like the others, it was a bit longer and it was it made Tommy feel very odd. He wanted to say something back but didn’t know how.

Click-click-chirrup?

Tommy puffed out his cheeks and attempted to use one of his odd sounds, but nothing came up as right . 

Click-click-chirrup.

Again, nothing. Well, not quite nothing, there was something there.

Click-click-chirrup!

Aha! 

Chirp-click-caw-click!

This seemed like the correct response as the man leaped up with a cry, Philza lunged at him with his talons outstretched. At first, Tommy was terrified he was about to be attacked by the elytrian, that was until Philza scooped up the boy in an all-encompassing hug. The talons that he thought were about to slice his face off, instead gently carded through his curly hair.

He was muttering something under his breath so rapidly that even with Tommy’s enhanced hearing he couldn’t understand. Though there were some words he snatched, they didn’t make much sense.

“What’s going on? What did I do? What were those noises?”

Philza hummed deep in his chest and held out the boy in front of him as if he weighed no more than a house cat. With a wide smile that crinkled his eyes nearly shut and a jovial tone, Philza responded.

“Why, my dear child, my precious one. You’ve returned! My son! My darling chick is home!”

“Wait- I’m your son!?”

Chapter Text

Tommy scrambled away from the man, his chest heaving with panicked breaths. “No! Stay away, I’m not like you!”

Philza crooned and stooped down, his plumage fluffing up as his eyes dilated. “Silly child, you can’t see the truth? You look just like me, my fledgling.” His eyes drooped. “Where are your wings, little one? They should be there by now.”

“For the last time, I’m not like you. And I’m not your son! I won’t get any- any wings, ‘cause that’s weird!” Tommy’s breath was coming in short bursts, he was panicking. “You're weird!”

Click-click-chirp.

The sound almost instantly forced Tommy to relax, beating off his impending anxiety attack. He took a deep breath and let out a wheezy whoosh. 

“Better, little one?”

“I’m not-” He sighed and rubbed his eyes, not caring as his nails slightly pinched at his skin. “Yes, I’m better. What is that sound?”

Tommy flinched when he saw large, clawed hands reaching towards his face. They merely pulled his hands away from where they’d begun to pierce his own skin. He let out another, shaky breath.

“That is a chick-call. Each hatchling is assigned a chick-call at birth. It is given by the parent or guardian of the roost. It calms down the chick.”

Tommy decided he was just going to ignore the “chick” part of that explanation. “Can you speak Common or are you just stuck with these weird clicking noises?”

His so-called-father tilted his head, fluffy black feathers lining his ears wavered as he pondered Tommy’s question. “I can speak ‘Common’ but I prefer to speak my species language. Does it make you more comfortable when I speak this way?”

The man’s voice now spoke evenly with an accent a bit similar to Tommy’s, if a little rougher. It was comforting, in a way.

“Yes,”

“Alright then, mate. Now, we need to get you home. Your brothers want to see you again I’m sure.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait- hold on.” Tommy waved his hands out in front of him. “Home? Brothers? Pardon?”

“Right, of course. You don’t know about them, yes.” Philza chuckled awkwardly. “You have two brothers, my sons, Wilbur and Techno. Uh, your mother will meet you soon as well.”

Tommy’s head spun and he opted to sit back down. He had two brothers who were most likely not human, a father who definitely wasn’t, and a mother who was a literal goddess. 

Well geez, no wonder he’s always felt different.  

The only family, only “brother” he’s ever had was Dream. Now, Dream wasn’t here. He would never be again. He sniffled again but refused to cry, better not think too much about that.

“You okay, mate?” Philza sat beside his youngest, wing naturally creating a tent around him.

Tommy wiped at his tearing eyes, where was this hydration even coming from?

“Who has been taking care of you, my child?”

Tommy shook his head, he didn’t want to think about it. Please, please don’t make him think about it.

“...It was that man you were with, yes? I- I came across his… uh, him.”

At that confirmation that his brother was, indeed, dead, what little hope Tommy still held died as well. The boy began to cry again, burying his face in his father's side.

Philza clicked reassuringly and scooped him up as if he weighed nothing. His wings wrapped around him and cloaked him in a comforting fluffy darkness. He stood and swayed, holding him close to his chest.

“Ah, I see I was a little too correct. My poor fledgling.”

Tommy couldn’t speak through the cries and only shivered. Though oddly enough, strange warbles and chirps were coming through his wails. 

It only seemed to spur Philza more as he began to walk, continuing to rock the boy.

Tommy was feeling weird, he was sleepy from dehydration and his back was on fire. He kept shifting around uncomfortably as his sniffling finally died down.

“Shhh, my son. Sleep, you’ll be home soon. For now, rest.” 

Tommy thought that sounded like a good idea. He was too tired from the day to really fight it. He shifted as best he could to get comfortable and yawned. He stretched out, oddly top heavy as he suddenly leaned back, he grumbled.

“Rest now, I’ll get you home. I’ve got you, mate.”

Tommy chirped in agreement and then was no more.

Chapter Text

“That’s him? Little Theseus?”

“Yes, he’s home. Had a hell of a time getting him here-”

“Shhh! Thesus is waking up.”

“His name is Tommy now-”

“Shh!”

Tommy’s brow furrowed slightly, the darkness around him vanishing into a soft light beyond his eyelids. Who is “Theseus?” Tommy yawned and rubbed at his eyes, slowly opening them. He immediately yelped and scooted back, promptly falling off the edge of a sofa.

The man in yellow, who had been standing far too close to his face, quickly twitched forward to help. There was a sheepish grin on his unnatural face. His teeth were too sharp and his skin too filmy for a human. Oh, gills, he had gills. How odd.

“Sorry there, Thes- Tommy. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
The man offered a hand to the boy, his finned ears flared just the slightest amount. “My name is Wilbur. That’s my brother- our brother- Techno. Obviously, you met Dadza.”

Wilbur and Technoblade, the two blokes that Philza claimed were his brothers. Tommy merely looked at the two, confused.

“You two look nothing like Philza, or me for that matter.”

Technoblade, a hulking brute of a man-pig, snorted. His half-lidded golden eyes trained themselves on his newfound brother. “Well, that’s because we’re adopted. We can’t all be weird bird people.”

Philza smacked the brute with a wing, not hard enough for it to really hurt but enough to get his point across.

“Bruhhh,”

Tommy held up a clawed hand, eyeing the man. “No, no. He’s right. You are rather weird.”

Techno snorted in amusement and turned to his father. “I like him, he isn’t all stuck up. Like some people.”

“ Hey-! ”

“Shut up, Wil.”

Philza dragged a delicate hand across his face, letting out a very weary groan at the two. “Can we please just focus on the fact that we have your brother home, not your usual antics?”

The boy sat up, a surprisingly difficult ordeal. It felt like he had something tied to his back that kept dragging him back down. Tommy growled, literally, and tried to reach behind him to yank whatever was hindering him off.

His maybe-father darted forward and gently pried his grasping hands away. His face was kind, if a bit amused. “Whoa there, mate. Those just came in; I wouldn’t be so rough with them.”

They? What are they? Tommy, determined now, craned his neck to look behind him. He didn’t have to look too far.

“WHAT the F- ”

There were two small wings attached to his back. WINGS! Feathers and all! He could move them too, they weren’t just cosmetic. Tommy stretched out one of them, admiring how the golden-white fluffey feathers ruffled. It was weird having new limbs, he had to super-focus just to move one. Also- HE HAD NEW LIMBS?!

“Did you do this?!” He snapped his head toward the other bird-hybrid thing in the room, who startled at the sudden attention. “With your- your weird noises? ”

Philza chuckled. “Yes and no, mate. Yes, I played a part in activating those. No, I didn’t directly cause it. They would have come in eventually, no stopping that.”

“Activating? Whad’ya mean by that?”

“Well,” Philza placed a finger against his chin and gave a few taps. The two brothers had settled down, one on the couch and the other beside their father. “You were going to have wings, whether it be now or a few years. Honestly, if you had stayed with us, like you were supposed to, you’d have had them in by six. I just tapped into your instincts, which had been suppressed because of that damned village I presume you lived in.”

“Do those weird noises I- we make a part of my ‘instincts?’” Tommy shuffled to sit fully upright, manually pulling the new appendages to fold over his chest like a shawl. 

“Yup!” Philza chirped cheerily. 

The boy plucked at the feathers, noticing how soft they looked compared to his “fathers” sleek ones. They were curled and puffy, not at all ready to fly.

“Why are my wings so… I dunno, ruffled? And small?”

Philza claimed the empty spot beside Tommy. He reached out a hand and gave the boy a questioning chirr. Tommy gave him a nod and, with a little trouble, found the muscles to extend the wing to Philza. 

The man ran a hand along the feathers and picked out a few stray ones. It felt good. “That’s because your wings are covered in down, my son. I’m assuming you know what down is on baby birds?” Tommy, choosing to, once again, ignore the “baby” part of that sentence, hummed in agreement. “As for the size, your wings will always be small.”

He frowned. “Why? Is it because I just grew them?”

Philza smiled. “Not exactly, you’ve always had them. They developed beneath the skin- Yes, I know, a little creepy- so they grew there. They’re so small because they presented so late. It was probably getting cramped back there, not a lot of room to grow.”

Tommy, fascinated, stared at the wing. He smoothed out the fluff that Philza had ruffled. “Will I be able to fly? Can I even fly? Can you?”

“All in due time.” Philza held up a hand to staunch the flow of questions. “Yes, I can fly. You will be able to, as well. Your wings may be small but they are not crippled.”

“I like the colors, it matches my hair.” Tommy gently tugged a lock of his curly, blond hair down to eye level and frowned. “The white’s weird, though.”

“You got lucky, having matching colors is rare.” Philza smiled. “But yes, the colors are very nice, vibrant, even. They remind me of gold… oh. It seems that statement was maybe a bit too true.”

Confused, Tommy followed the man’s gaze and landed on Techno. He looked… weird. His pupils were all big and the floppy ears were straight forward. His keratin-tipped fingers twitched toward him. He was also staring, really hard, at his wings.

“Uh…”

Philza sighed and turned to Wilbur, the one sitting on Tommy’s other side. “Would you mind handling your brothers? I have a small thing to take care of.”

Wilbur, with a heavy sigh and a barely-contained look of glee, stood. He prodded Tommy up and herded the two of them out of sight, disappearing in the backside of the house.

Satisfied that the, currently, more competent of the three was taking care of his brothers instincts, Philza exited the house. The man walked into the surrounding forest and fluttered onto a fat, low-hanging tree branch. He didn’t have to wait long.

Heavy thumps and snuffling heralded the arrival of a large form, sillhouted against the darkened greenery.

“Ah, so you’ve returned.” Philza’s face was soft, a wicked gleam sparked from his grinning teeth. All the fatherly warmth of before was lacking now. “You did so well today, my pet.”

The large grizzly shuffled into the moonlit clearing, a happy huff escaped the beast at the presence of its master. It poked its dribbling snout against Philza’s face, rumbling little noises.

Philza laughed. “You want a treat? Yes, I suppose you deserve one after your performance today.” 

The elytrian shuffled through the bag he had brought with him and withdrew a sizable hunk of dried meat. 

“Here you are, my sweet. For a job well done.” He chuckled, running his deadly nails through the bristled fur of the beast as it ate. “Now my son will stay with me. Without that pesky human to tie him down there.”

Philza smiled, though smile was a generous term for the ghastly grin splitting his face.

“Now we can finally, finally , be a family again.”

---oOo---

Deep in the forest, miles down the mountain by a trickling brook, green eyes snapped open. One word was on his bloodied lips. 

“Tommy?”