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Parrot and a Wifies,
Wifies and a Parrot,
You used to not see one without the other.
Parrot was in Paragon again,sat on his bed in the cherry grove base with Wifies, his former best friend, trying to avoid eye contact with him.
“Parrot,” Wifies said softly.
Parrot ignored him and keeps on staring at a random floorboard.
“Parrot,”
“What.”
“Your wings are disheveled.”
“So?” Parrot scoffs, “I’ll preen them later.”
Of course, he was lying, he was neglecting his wings and he knew Wifies knew that.
“Let me do them for you,” Wifies insisted,“They cannot be comfortable for you.”
And he was right.
His wings were bugging him, he could feel the dirt and stones in between his feathers every time he moved them.
Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to have them preened, and he needed to gain Wifies’ trust so he could try to escape.
“Alright then.”
He shifted so his back was faced towards Wifies and spread his wings out so he could access his wings better.
Wifies sat behind him and gently started to straighten feather shafts and pull out loose bits of dirt and rock that had bothered the avian.
Of course he knew how to preen Parrot’s wings so well; he used to do it all the time when they were friends.
For a moment, Parrot could almost imagine that he wasn’t in Paragon, and that it was Wifies who was carefully brushing through his feathers, not the Director, and that they were back to times where their only goal was to find a secret from Spoke, and that-
Snip
Parrot froze.
“Wifies.”
“I’m sorry Parrot it had to be done.”
He glanced behind him.
On the floorboards are orange, green and blue primary flight feathers scattered around him, with Wifies The Director holding a pair of scissors.
“Wifies!” Parrot could feel the panic beginning to rise “Wifies what did you do?!”
“I’m sorry Parrot but I’m doing this for your own safety. ”
The avian stood up abruptly and backed away towards the door, his steps unbalanced from his clipped wings and his eyes widened with panic.
“Come on, smile Parrot, you’re safe.” Wifies gave a small smile in an attempt to calm him down.
The avian’s wings felt lighter, and when he reached to smooth a feather, his hand passed through empty air.
A wave a nausea washes over him, making him stumble into a cherry wood wall. The Director stood upright.
“Please, Parrot please, you don’t understand. You would’ve tried to escape and gotten hurt.”
The flightless avian could feel tears beginning to form and a sob build up.
His feathers.
His wings.
He wouldn’t be able to fly for years.
“Parrot I’m only trying to help you! I’m keeping you safe!” The Director insisted.
He couldn’t do this anymore.
The Director had just-
His feathers wouldn’t grow back for years.
He-
Parrot wakes up gasping.
He can’t breathe.
He can’t breathe.
He tries to take a breath, only to choke on it again.
His heartbeat races almost as fast as he tries to get air.
His wings burned with pain.
The room around him blurs and he can barely register someone saying his name.
“Parrot?”
He can’t-
“Parrot!”
Calloused hands hold onto his.
“Breathe with me Parrot, ok?”
Wide eyes lift to look at Theo.
His best friend Theo.
He could breathe like him, breathing was easy, he did it all the time.
“In, one two three four”
Parrot mimics Theo and breathes in.
“Out, one two three four”
He releases the air in his lungs.
“In, one two three four”
He can feel his heartbeat calming down and Theo’s blurry image comes back into focus.
“Out, one two three four”
He breathes out.
“You good now?”
Parrot nods, then turns his head around to check his wings, which were still clipped like how they had been for the past year.
“Sorry for waking you up”
“It’s fine,” Theo pauses, as if contemplating something.
Then-
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Parrot stiffens
“I-“
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” the cockatiel inputs.
“It was just a nightmare,” Parrot says.
Theo obviously knows that it wasn’t “just a nightmare”, but didn’t push any further.
Parrot was pulled into a hug with Theo’s wings wrapped around him.
Parrot didn’t deserve a friend like him. Parrot doomed everyone he became friends with to die. Theo would die like Luigi, like Dean, like Wifies, like all the people he failed to protect because he was cursed.
He was being selfish for caring about Theo, for being his friend and for letting Theo comfort him. Theo would die and it would be all his fault. Parrot didn’t think he would be able to handle another one of his friends’ deaths.
He should’ve left when he had the chance. He should push him away right now and leave.
But he didn’t. The cockatiel accepted that Parrot didn’t want to talk about Wifies, and never tried to pry more information from him.
But Parrot wanted to tell him everything so badly it almost hurt, not just because he deserved to know, but because he wanted someone to talk to and could hug him and tell him that everything is okay.
“When people ask me about who Wifies was, I’m gonna remember you as the Wifies I used to know, the Wifies that cared about other people and was kind to everyone. The Wifies that gave me this spyglass.”
He misses Wifies before he became the Director.
Sunlight filtered through the window, casting a warm glow onto the pair of avians and glinted off the yin yang pendant on Parrots neck.
Maybe one day he would tell Theo everything.
One day.
“You feel better now?” Parrot nods.
“I’ll always be here if you need to talk. ”
”Thanks.”
”Because I’m the biggest bird.”
Parrot exhaled an amused sigh and rolled his eyes.
“Ok bro.”