Chapter Text
The moment Spoke had his fourth birthday, Parrot didn't know he had to bury his own mother. He was just ten years old boy, already taking care of his brothers early since his mother was always sick, and their fathers? Usually either dead or deadbeat. It didn't matter; it always ended up the same way. Parrot has to take the charges; he is the oldest after all.
He was tracing the dead body's skin, wondering why his mother was so bedridden in the first place. There were some signs of cracks on her skin, as if her skin were a porcelain statue.
The next five years. When Minute brought out his uncle Phil, well supposed half-uncle, it was awkward at first, especially since this was the first time Parrot and his brothers met his mother's side of the family relative, and since Parrot could barely can't do self-defense, Flame, being overprotective he is for Parrot, decided to take on Phil, and as common sense dictates, the elder won, and the inexperienced youngster lost.
Minute turned serious for once, "Parrot, this is Philza, your uncle… we need a talk"
"…Alright, Minute"
Both of them went inside to Parrot's bedroom, and Parrot locked it. Parrot was confused. Why Minute, his uncle and father figure bring Phil out of the blue, and turned out, he was given a talk, a cautionary talk about his health, and this is where he found out his mother's mysterious and deadly disease.
His mother had a hereditary disease, or rather a curse passed down through generations, and only targets the avian offspring that are connected to the goddess of death. Called the withering curse. This so-called curse slowly kills the person with the disease by physical deterioration, slowly decaying them. These disease symptoms were very deadly. At first, it was a painful headache, but it slowly turned to coughing blood, chest pain, and then leg pains to the point of a paralyzed state. This disease has no cure whatsoever and will happen to any offspring connected to the death goddess who turns 18.
His uncle, Philza, explained that a long time ago, this curse was bestowed upon our predecessors by a jealous god, as they were always loyal and worshipped the goddess of death, Mumza. The End god- the Ender King, didn't like that, so he put a curse upon our ancestors so every avian lineage will only live till their 30s.
Some live beyond that if they have a god's miracle, like Phil, as the Angel of Death or selected as a Watcher or Listener. Like Uncle Grian as a Watcher and Aunt Pearl as a Listener— which is extremely rare. And Parrot's mother's side of the family, unfortunately, was not in the main branch of the family like Phil, Grian, and Pearl are, since the branch family didn't have anything spectacular to offer; they were lower class, after all, so he didn't have anything to help himself. He simply has no future.
His eyes were tearing up, his hand shaking, gripping his pants. He didn't even know he was shaking.
Minute, looking at Parrot with sympathy but also regret in his eyes, couldn't help with anything since.
"Mate, I am sorry that the first time we met is such an unpleasant news… but you need to know what will happen to you if you feel sudden sickness, I am truly sorry if I can't help you more than just giving health pots" apologized Phil as he putting multiple shulkers full of health pots, it probably could be used for 4-5 years or so which wasn't enough either way but he was entirely grateful.
"It's fine, thank you for all this. I'm sorry that I can't offer you hospitality because of the sudden visit," Parrot politely said, clenching one of his fists to hide his sadness.
He could not believe that he was going to die early.
He was barely thinking about his dream for the future, but was already shot down by this so-called curse.
"No need to do that, you need your break after all. You're a kid. Particularly, a kid dealing with three different hybrid brothers." Phil chuckled and then softly patted Parrot's hair for a while, then stopped.
"Thank you..." He sniffled and abruptly hugged Phil tightly. Must be his young avian instinct to see Phil as a trusted avian elder. Phil just chirped softly to slowly calm Parrot down.
These three didn't know that their conversation was being eavesdropped on all this time by a nether tiger demon, an end demon, and a voidling. All Parrot's younger brothers.
They were horrified, to put it simply. But… what they were feeling was beyond that word. They couldn't believe Parrot would die early, and the younger brothers would outlive him?
That's unfair…
How could the world be this cruel to them and their big brother?
Flame stunned, didn't know how to breathe steadily
Wemmbu, completely still, "This must be a joke, right?" He muttered uselessly, thinking it was a cruel joke by his brother and the two adults, but deep down, he knew how bad the sickness of his late mother was. The curse was quite deadly, and the fact that there was no cure for it twisted their hearts.
Spoke sniffled, covering his mouth with his palm. He was not supposed to be hearing this; he was 9 for crying out loud. He shouldn't have been hearing this, but here he is. Finding out his big brother that always playing with him, doing his whims, will slowly die.
After Phil and Minute left the house, Parrot wiped his tears. He needs to be strong. For his brothers. For himself. He needs to turn this pitiful hope into real hope, so it can be the key to living a little longer. After all, false hope only drives one to much more despair.
"Parrot!!" Spoke jumped and hugged him. Parrot was surprised for a second before hugging back. He knew that Spoke was a bit more affectionate than his other two younger brothers, but it was still weird that he suddenly hugged Parrot like that.
He realized his other two brothers, Flame and Wemmbu, were there aside Spoke. They look quite serious but also sad. Parrot shouldn't make his babies sad.
"Okay, what's happening?" Parrot was quite puzzled.
"So, we were wondering if we could help you by protecting you!" Wemmbu declared.
"I will become the greatest PVP master in the entire server."
"And I will become the coolest trapper!"
Parrot slightly scrunched his face, cringing.
Ah, they must be heard then… no wonder they were sad.
Although he did hurt his brothers unintentionally, he was touched that they did this for him. They were the best brothers ever. But Parrot would never let his brothers sacrifice themselves for him. So he played into it instead to make them a bit better for themselves and lighten the mood.
"Alright-Alright... so high five promise?" Parrot held his hand up. The three of them did and then high-fived together, "High five promise!"
Little did Parrot know, Flame knew Parrot was lying to himself, and would sacrifice himself for them no matter what.
And Flame didn't know what to do.
The world would never be the same without Parrot.