Chapter Text
Chapter One
“Parrot! Parrot, help!”
“Wifies! Wifies, where are you?”
“I’m right in front of you, can’t you see? Parrot, help-!” Wifies’ small voice cuts off into a scream, and suddenly he appears, a spear protruding out of his stomach. He locks eyes with Parrot, mouthing ‘Help’ with a terrified expression on his face before he slowly falls.
“WIFIES! NO!” Parrot lunges forward, grabbing Wifies and cradling his head and neck and his small body, “WIFIES!”
“Par-Parrot…” Wifies stammers, his eyes glazing over, “you didn’t… save me… I needed you… and you-” he coughs up a little blood, “you weren’t there…”
“No. No. No, no, no, no, Wifies, I’m here, right here, it’ll be alright, okay, me and Theo will patch you up, and then we’ll feed you so much food, and…” Parrot kept rambling on and on, anything to keep his little brother. “Wifies… please…”
“‘Bye, Parrot.”
“Wifies! Wifies… Wifies…” Parrot doubled over, sobbing, over his little brother’s body. And then it started to fade, losing its weight slowly. “Wifies, don’t go yet…” he begged, tears falling like arrows down his face, leaving trails of blood and pain and winding scars that felt so natural. Like they were always meant to be there. Like he was always meant to lose his little brother.
And then the explosions started. Parrot didn’t care about the bombs being thrown around everywhere, destroying his district, his home. Not really his home. His brothers were his home. And right now, one was fading right before his eyes.
“WIFIES!” his little twelve-year-old brother, his baby, was just… vanishing. His weight decreased, his purple-gray hoodie that he liked so much lightened and paled and slowly disappeared along with his brother’s body. Leaving nothing to bury. Nothing to mourn. Just… nothing.
“PARROT! PARROT! PARROT!” Someone was shaking his shoulder. “PARROT! WAKE UP!” Someone was screaming. That was what bolted him into consciousness. It was Theo, his twin brother. Theo’s sunglasses that he loved so much were strewn on the floor, and his warm brown eyes were filled with concern. “…Parrot?”
“Was it a dream?” Parrot whipped his head around wildly, looking for Wifies. “Where is Wifies? Where? Is he dead? Was it real?”
“He’s right over there, Parrot,” Theo said, pointing to Wifies’ bed next to the fireplace, “but are you okay? I woke up and you were thrashing and screaming and… crying.” Parrot knew what Theo had left unsaid; Parrot never cried. Not at their parents’ funeral, or when he had broken his wing, or when he was made fun of at school. Never.
Parrot took a deep breath. In, out. It wasn’t real. “I’m fine, Theo.”
“No, you’re not.” Parrot didn’t object. “Oh, Parrot…” Theo approached him and threw his arms around him. Parrot stiffened. He wasn’t used to being comforted. But slowly, he relaxed into his brother’s touch. “Do you wanna talk about it?” At first, he shook his head. And then he froze. He nodded.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Theo pulled back slightly, so that he could look Parrot in the eyes. Warm brown met bright blue. “Okay. True or false? Or can you talk normally?”
“Normally is fine.”
“Okay.” Theo and Parrot took a deep breath at the same time, froze at the same time, and then laughed together. Parrot just let himself feel happy. One last time. Before the Games. “Tell me. So that I can exercise my amazing comfortment skills.”
“It’s actually ‘comforting’-”
“Shut it.” A brief moment of laughter. “Okay, ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Go.”
Parrot launched into his description of the dream, from the invisible yelling, to the firebombs rocking their house. Theo’s expression of neutrality grew more and more tense the longer he went on. At one point, (he didn’t know when), Parrot started crying. Weak. Weaklings. You’re all failures. Theo just sat there with him, offering quiet assurances and giving Parrot a shoulder to cry on. “And- and then he started disappearing- and I didn’t know what to do,” he sobbed, “I was so useless- so weak- a failure-”
“Woah, Parrot. Come here,” Theo said, opening his arms again, “you’re not useless. You’re not weak. And you’re definitely not a failure .”
Parrot just leaned into Theo, too tired to do anything else. Theo moved instead, moving his wings so that they were tented protectively around the two. “Too much?” He nodded. “Okay. Go back to sleep, okay? I’m right here.”
“…Wifies…”
“You want Wifies here too?”
“Yeah… is that too… sorry-”
“Stay here for a second.” Theo scooted off the bed onto the floor and walked the three steps over to Wifies’ bed.
“Crescent?” Wifies stirred. The dog ears on the top of his head twitched. Parrot sighed in relief. “Crescent, Parrot needs you, okay? Both of us.”
“Parrot?” Wifies murmured, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“Come on, Wifies.” Wifies, his Crescent Moon, wobbled unsteadily toward Parrot and Theo’s bed, his eyes still squeezed shut.
“Crescent, lemme see your eyes.” Parrot knew Wifies was insecure about his heterochromia, his one gray eye and one black eye. The nickname Crescent had helped a little bit, as Theo had explained that the moon in that stage was just like a smile. A gray and black smile, just like Wifies’ eyes.
“See, Crescent?” Theo had said, pointing at the moon, “Some gray, some black! Just like your pretty eyes!”
“But… Theo… why is there more black? If that’s like me, am I uneven? Are my eyes?” Theo had fumbled to respond, and that was when Parrot stepped in.
“See, Crescent? It’s like a smile! You’re always smiling, and your eyes reflect that, see? So does the moon!”
Wifies consented, letting Parrot fully see his little moon.
He climbed into Parrot and Theo’s bed, sandwiching himself between their twin embraces, tail curled around Parrot’s leg, and his wings, in turn, spread, covering both his brothers like a blanket. Theo did the same. And they let themselves sleep.
Their little family was a little perfect perfect solar system. Theo was the sun, his bright and happy demeanor shining light upon Earth and the Moon. Wifies, Crescent, was the Moon. Reflecting Theo’s light further onto the Earth, lighting up the darkest night. So what if Wifies needed a little help? He was perfect. Besides, even if he lost one of his brothers today, he couldn’t lose both. He wouldn’t lose his sun. Parrot was the Earth. Dark without his Sun and Moon. They didn’t really need him.
Without the Sun, Earth and the Moon had no light.
Without the Moon, Earth would be left in the darkest of nights.
Without the Earth… the Sun and Moon would continue in their ways.
The Earth was unnecessary.