Work Text:
There's a numbness that clings to Wifies when he wakes up on the shore.
His wings are a mess.
For once, he can't bring himself to care.
Thoughts filter through slowly, through the haze. Yellow and white and blue skies that turn dark in a blink of his eyes. The image of Levi's domain is seared into his eyes.
Think back further.
A machine that was destroyed, a conversation had, being told to just believe in him.
Him.
Hummer.
Someone is talking to him, worried. Wifies breathes and it feels like he breathes properly for the first time in a while, air being drawn through lungs and exhaled through his mouth. It's like life itself is being poured into him.
He blinks, unseeing, wings a heavy weight on his back, drooping onto the floor where sand surely is sticking to downy feathers. It aches, pain and discomfort rolling from salted feathers.
Hummer isn't here. Hummer died and the Leviathan, Levi, saved him.
Hummer told him to believe but the whole point of this was that they'd both get to see Levi and they didn't. He didn't.
There are gills on his neck. Levi's blessing, the ability to breathe underwater, to see it's domain.
They should hurt, an entirely new system added to his body, made space and shifting.
Instead, the gills do nothing but ripple every once in a while as Wifies takes a breath.
Someone is still talking to him. He finds himself annoyed. He needs to go. Back… back to the world with Hummer.
He needs another shower. To maybe get preened. He believes now, but he's curious.
Wifies has met Levi, but he finds himself wanting to know more.
And really, who else would he do that with than Hummer?
The hub world is always edging on too cold for the normal human. For Wifies, it's usually a pleasant chill, and when it isn't, he can wrap his wings around himself and move on.
Today, the chill of the hub is bone deep, seeping into his still wet feathers. He fights through it, people parting for him as he walks forward.
Wifies knows he makes a sad sight, soaked wings dragging on the floor behind him. It leaves trails of water that follow him, trudging his way towards the wing of the hub that houses Hummer's private world.
The man would be there, surely, wanting to reconvene after the latest attempt. He'd probably be happy to hear that Wifies saw Levi.
Or maybe he'd be jealous.
This was Hummer's dream, after all.
He doesn't seem the type to get jealous, though. Maybe. Why would he have been so adamant that Wifies tag along? Certainly didn't need help, he thinks. Hummer had believed enough for the two of them.
And yet, Wifies was the one who was chosen.
There's the dull thrum of a headache that's been slowly building up since he woke on the beach. It makes the lights of the hub world feel infinitely brighter, digging into his eyes offensively.
The gills on his neck flutter on a deep inhale and he struggles to not cringe at the sensation.
Wifies idly thinks about what else has changed. His vision is somehow even better, as if someone threw a night vision potion on him. Which is saying something, since he already has better night vision than the average person. Owl eyes and all.
He hasn't found much else, though, which figures. Couldn't even help him out with the constantly soggy wings making it harder to find Levi.
Just… breathing underwater.
Would he even be able to find the Leviathan again? Wifies can't drown any more, not in any way that matters. Could he pinch his gills shut? Drown like that?
Wifies shakes his wings out a bit, apologizing with a gravelly voice as someone nearby gets flicked with a few droplets. They're an avian as well, emerald green parrot wings shining vividly under the bright light of sea lanterns.
He has to force his gaze away when he sees the instinctive flinch at the state of his wings, trudging on. Unfortunately, there's no way for him to miss the strangled, appalled squawk that the other avian doesn't managed to smother. Wifies bristles a bit, but moves on.
Exhausted, he runs through the list of things they'd need. Maybe Hummer would have an idea as to why he wasn't allowed to see Levi's realm as well.
It could be that there isn't more than one person allowed to visit Levi's realm. Or…
Wifies pales a bit, brain running over the events of the submarine again. Water breathing. Handing it off to Hummer, for Hummer to get rid of. Hummer getting excited that Wifies would try again, would believe in him.
He doesn't remember if Hummer threw the potion out or not.
Wifies has finally reached the gate for the single player worlds, legs moving faster as a slightly frantic energy consumes his previous numbness.
Glancing unseeingly over each portal that leads to some player's world, searching for Hummer's.
And then pausing, feet stumbling with the momentum and wings tilting him off balance. He fights to stand, but his eyes stay glued to the portal.
Well. Not a portal. But smooth stone where a portal used to stand. A single block's width of stone, nothing like the dark prismarine gates and sea pickles and spruce wood. Nothing standing between the two familiar gates that Wifies had walked by every time they made their way back to Hummer's home.
Not a single trace.
Wifies looks at the smooth stone gap between the gates of two other players and he thinks, finally, that he hates the sea.
He's back to being a baby bird, fresh out the nest. Freshly 18 and thinking his first world should be singleplayer, despite his mother's repeated warnings about how it would be better to find a server. How he needs a flock, how he hasn't lived without one just yet.
Wifies was young and naive and too proud for his own good.
His first time preening his wings on his own leaves him shedding tears five minutes in. Arms already aching from trying to reach his back and being unsure how to apply what he knows from preening his mom and dad's wings to his own. Reaching is a whole other issue entirely, and he leaves that first session (and the many after) with shaky arms and a heavy heart.
Most memorably, though, the whole session had Wifies chirping miserably, like a baby calling for their mother.
There was a visceral urge to cheep out for his flock, his family. The little voice in his hindbrain that was so prominent when he was younger, calling for comfort.
Finding himself walking through the portal to his own singleplayer world, night setting with muscles aching and wings itchy, Wifies wonders if he's really changed from that cocky 18 year old.
There's a quickly built starter home, at least. This place tending to be his base of operations in between mysteries. He does his best not to sneeze at the coating of dust over everything, instead endeavoring to warm up the house.
The fireplace sits in the middle of the back wall, flames catching quickly. Wifies leaves it to warm up the space as he goes to take a quick shower.
Soap and water and then soap in his wings as he scrubs at them without much thought. He forces himself to keep his brain blank, going through the motions as best as he can.
He also refuses to pay attention to how the gills on his neck flutter even more, the water moistening them. Wifies doesn't even need to hold his breath when he dunks his face into the spray.
He stays there a bit longer than normal, letting his cheeks turn pink under the warm water. There's the quiet urge to cry, hidden under the layers upon layers of numbness. With it lingers the annoying feeling of shock and the slight sting of betrayal.
For what, he doesn't even know yet.
Wifies stays in the shower until the hot water runs out, fingers pruney and gills fluttering with what he can only guess is delight. He guesses they prefer being wet than dry, which… makes sense for gills.
He's too tired and now wet to linger on that long, though.
A pair of shorts is scrounged up, and he elects to go shirtless. No need to soak a shirt, after all.
Unlike Hummer, he doesn't actually have a blow dryer. It's something he keeps meaning to get but gets caught up with other things in the process.
Which is why he has the fireplace, he thinks, settling into a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor. A shitty nest, but one nonetheless. Wifies sneezes as a plume of dust rises from the blankets, and sighs.
He doesn't make nests often, really. They tend to be made in moments of high emotions, where he needs to feel safe and secure. Since he hasn't had a proper flock in years now, all he needed was his own clothes and blankets. Maybe every once in a while, his parents would mail him something of theirs to add to his nest as well, and he was good with that.
Was.
As Wifies settles in his nest, wings splayed out to be warmed by the gentle heat of the fire, he finds himself missing something.
His cabin lives in the woods, in a taiga forest that snows only in winter time, but has a pleasant chill for the rest of the year. It's perfect for his owl self, with his thick wings that act as a great buffer from the cold air. And he loves gliding through the mountains and trees, air biting at his cheeks and lungs burning but feeling so, so alive.
And yet, now.
Now he's missing the salty tang of sea spray in the air, the quiet sound of waves, the squawks of gulls and hiss of sand being displaced. He's missing the sounds of the sea.
No, not the sea. Wifies is missing the things he's learned to equate with Hummer.
And, letting his hands subconsciously, restlessly, shift around blankets and pillows that barely even smell of Wifies, at this point. He finds that he specifically wants an item of Hummer's placed in his nest.
Like an avian would with a flock member.
Void below. Hummer had up and managed to worm his way so deeply into his brain that Wifies thinks of him as a member of his flock.
And now he's… gone. Somewhere. Left Wifies.
Maybe he was jealous. Maybe he already knew that the Leviathan chose Wifies and maybe that was enough in Hummer's mind for him to be done with his research partner. The very thought manages to dig its fingers in Wifies long gone dormant instincts, wheedling a mournful chirp out.
Nights having been spent making himself quiet down as he had chirped and cheeped and crowed for his flock, shoving away the bits of the instincts he had deemed bothersome while trying to learn how to be independent. Wifies had gotten good at expressing himself in a more human way.
He had thought, once, that he didn't have as bad of instincts as the average avian. Sitting there, feeling a bit ripped apart by the abandonment of the only flock member Wifies has had since his family, crooning and chirping and choking on the emotions he'd shoved away, he realizes that it was a miracle the floodgates hadn't opened sooner. Wings shudder behind him, now dry, and curl over himself in his body's attempt to self-soothe.
Wifies is forced to sit through it all, years of backed up instincts resurging. Fighting back against it would be like fighting the river for flowing down instead of up. You weather the current or tire and drown.
So he sits, shakes, and croons. There's salt on his tongue and he realizes that there's tears on his cheeks and it feels like there's a hole ripped open in his chest. He sits and he aches.
Eventually, the tide slows of emotion slows, lapping at his feet rather than swelling up around his head and pulling him down. Wifies can breathe and wipe away tears. Pull his wings away from where they've wrapped tightly around himself, a mimicry of a hug.
His throat is sore from the noises he was making nonstop, not used to so much noise. Water will have to come later, though, as Wifies spares a glance at messy wings.
Heart aching at the thought of preening on his own, but knowing he'll have to do it anyway.
It's as hellish as he remembers it being, at least. Wings being stretched at uncomfortable angles so he can reach. Wifies won't be as sore by the end of it, of course, years of experience don't just go away in a week or twos time. But he can still feel muscles smart from being misused.
He's probably going to need a break after this.
Because flock or no flock, Hummer or no Hummer, Wifies is getting to the bottom of this.
He's quick to remember that preening by himself isn't as pleasurable of an experience. His brain is able to predict where his own fingers are going to land, so there's none of that relaxing fog and just a tired focus as Wifies goes about straightening feathers.
Arms stretching over his head or under his wing to glide over oil glands, gathering up what he can and brushing them over downy feathers that are soft with being cleaned. It takes a few swipes and applications before Wifies frowns slightly, rubbing oil slick fingers against each other.
"Uh," he mumbles to himself, brow furrowing, letting his fingers slide against each other. "That's not… right."
The oil, which is usually, well. An oil like consistency. Feels different. He's almost equate it to soapy, but there's no suds being made. It's just… slippery. More so than usual.
Another "blessing" from Levi?
It would definitely help make his wings a bit more resistant to water, he thinks, rubbing it over alula and primaries. But Wifies still wouldn't be safe from a thorough soaking, unless Levi found a way to make his feathers like a duck or a seagull.
Wifies shudders at the thought. No, he's already unsettled enough by the gills. Plus, he likes being an owl.
Sure, it doesn't help with the ocean, but before Hummer, he's never cared about that.
Hell, even now he doesn't care about that. Wifies is only missing the sea because he's missing Hummer. He's still enjoying the too crisp air as the sun spills into the house, morning finally approaching. There's been a pang of longing that's been soothed slightly now that he's back in his home.
Of course, it's overshadowed by the hole in his chest left by Hummer, but still. It helps a bit.
Wifies has always liked being an owl, is the point. Silently gliding in the air and sharp sight and quick thinking. He loves it.
A jolt of pain pulls him from his thoughts, drawing a hiss out from clenched teeth. He looks at the wing, trying to figure out what he managed to pull at and finding a feather barely emerged from his skin, the sheath still faintly pink.
Oh. Wifies is going to start molting soon.
It shouldn't be for another month, really, but he knows stress can sometimes cause early molts. And dying multiple times via drowning certainly feels like it'd be stressful enough for his body to go into panic mode.
Molting is usually unbearable, being constantly itchy as sheaths are shed and feathers are grown. It's not his favorite season, that's for sure.
And, like right now, as Wifies makes sure to avoid the newly growing pin feather, it can end up with him being in pain if he tweaks a still forming sheath wrong. Worse still, breaking a sheath earlier than it's ready leaves the feather a bloody mess and takes forever for the bleeding to stop.
He's gonna hope that the worst of the molt will wait till after he finds Levi again.
Hands glide over feathers, lamenting over how much more annoying this is to deal with now that he's gotten somewhat used to help. His shoulders are already aching from lugging around soaked wings and he groans quietly as he has to deal with his scapulars, stretching to reach.
Feathers are discarded and plucked free, broken ones, old ones, all dropped into a tiny pile. There isn't too many, at least, since he hadn't died.
It's not perfect by the time Wifies is done, far from it. Some feathers are still itching at him, still not perfectly in line. Preening oil is spread unevenly, fingers unable to reach correctly to add it smoothly.
It's the worst his wings have felt after his preening in a while. He's too used to Hummer's help, the neat, careful way he would place each feather. Quiet static and fingers smoothing oil evenly, care steeped in the action despite him not really… knowing too much about Wifies.
Though, Wifies guesses he doesn't know too much about Hummer, either.
Still, curling up in his nest, letting the fire warm him and a wing cover his face from the sunlight, he knows a few things. That a server can't just disappear like that, not in the amount of time Wifies was gone.
And that Hummer told him to believe in him. Wifies does.
So, with resolve hardening in his chest, feathers puffing to keep him warm, he decides that it's because of that belief that he's going to find Hummer.
Find Hummer and then find Levi again. This time with the both of them.
Wifies may hate the sea, but he thinks he'll brave it again for Hummer.