He told them he was stepping out for a breath of fresh air. He didn't take his guitar, which usually went everywhere with him. He'd be the first to admit he felt vulnerable without it.

But he made a deal. And with that glimmer of hope, he couldn't refuse.

At first he strolled nonchalantly away from the BattleTram, in case anyone inside would catch a glimpse of him. Some distance away, however, Eaglebones cast a glance back and began to expedite his pace until he was practically running across the dry desert landscape.

He didn't want to keep him waiting too long.

He approached a rock formation, divided down the middle and twisting down to lower ground and back up again. Easily weaving his thin frame through the crags, he glanced up from the ravine and spotted a figure framed by the large moon on the ledge above.

Eaglebones composed himself, trying not to seem out of breath for more reasons than one, and calmly stepped into view.

"Brother?" he ventured. "… I'm here."

When he didn't get a response right away, he added, "Unarmed, like you asked. No guitar, no glove, no team, no nothing."

The figure shifted a bit abruptly, turning halfway and finally acknowledging his presence, which shut him up quick. With a mastered grace, the shadow stepped off the ledge and landed in the ditch. As he slowly strolled forward into the moonlight, Eaglebones steeled himself, trying not to appear too happy to see him.

"Wowwww, Bonesy," Eagleclaw laughed to himself as he stood before his brother. "You actually went and did it."

Bones gave him a guarded glare. "What, you thought I wouldn't?"

"I didn't think you were dumb enough to show up period," Claw shrugged, meeting the scowl with a forced grin. "But! You sure proved me wrong!"

A wall of anger rose up in between them, and Bones was struggling to control his temper. His glare worsened very slightly. "What's this all about, Eagleclaw?" he demanded, gesturing to their environment. "What are we even doing out here in the middle of nowhere? If it's not to fight or to talk or whatever, then what is it!?"

He then looked down and noticed that his brother was holding something. "…and what's that?"

As if just remembering he had it, Claw lifted the old, leather-bound book clutched in his mighty talons. He gave it a look over, then darted his eyes back to Bones.

"…Oh! Well, y'know!" He began, feigning a casual stance and tone of voice. "I gave some serious thought to our last little… tiff."

Bones leered incredulously. "The 'tiff' where you almost took out me and my friends?"

"Technically I did! But then at the end…!" He scoffed, threw his free claw into the air and shook his head unbelievingly. "Whew! Kinda weird, wasn't it?"

A brow raised under a thick mask. "And?"

"So I looked into it. And—" Claw stopped, let out a chuckle, and glanced up to give the closest thing to a sincere look to Bones. "Heh, well. I know you always had that weird fascination with spirits and magic and all that…"

Bones' cold expression began to fade in realization as his brother went on. "'Course, I never believed in any of it, I thought you were always messing around… But after that battle, well…!"

He only shrugged. Pride kept him from outright admitting he'd been wrong, but the warm glow of hope blossoming on Bones' face told him that it registered through.

"You… r-really?" he spoke meekly, letting his guarded wall all but completely crumble away in awe. "I. W-ha-wow…!" He staggered back and laughed, honestly floored. "I can't believe—you? You of all people? Wow-!"

Claw rolled his eyes over his little brother's display. "Oh, don't go laying an egg, it's not a huge deal."

"No, I mean—you're like, the first to believe me, you know that?"

"…really."

"Yeah! My team—" Bones fell a bit crestfallen, but still resumed his restless pacing as he continued. "They don't get it, you know? Like, you'd think after everything we've seen and fought they'd believe me at some point, right? Ahaaaa…"

"Uh-huh." Claw reached out and grabbed his shoulder to get him to stand still, and was actually mindful of his claws. "Well, then it's their loss, right? 'Cause they don't get to do cool stuff like this-!"

He lifted his claw and held it before Bones' face as if ready to snap fingers, then spoke a quick one-or-two-word incantation. With a feathery pop and hiss, a tiny fireball leapt to life just above his scaly palm, casting bright oranges and pick across Bones' features, which were beaming all on their own.

"Whoa!" He grinned hugely, eyes wide with child-like fascination. The brightness in his face didn't even die down when the flame vanished and Claw drew back. "Eagleclaw, that's amazing! So, then…!" He tapped the spine of the book. "That's a spellbook, right?"

"Sure is! Scrounged up the thing somewhere… thought I'd pick up some tricks on my own, you know?"

"Can I see?" Bones faltered when his brother recoiled a bit aggressively. He backed up a moment, raising his hands defensively. "Oh-oh, right, sorry. Hah, guess I wouldn't be able to use any of them anyway, Magic Code with spellbooks and all that."

"Uhhh—yeah!" Claw huffed. "Geez, Bonsey, I thought you knew better…!"

"I'm sorry, man! I got carried away, alright!?"

"Anyway…" He derailed a potential brotherly quarrel by opening the book. Thumbing through it was difficult, and he refused any help offered. "There was this one spell I wanted to try out. One that I need your help with."

"Oh… yeah?" Bones nodded eagerly. "Right, okay. Just tell me what I need to do!"

"Just stand still-!" Claw grabbed him again to position him properly. "Right here in the light; had to wait for a full moon for this, y'know."

"Uh-huh?" His gaze wondered up to the large moon high in the sky above.

His elder brother looked him once over, and Bones never caught the wicked grin that spread across his face. "Perfect, brother… perfect."

Eagleclaw began a much longer series of incantations, olden words that started quiet and subdued, at first. As spiritual energies began to billow around him, the younger brother turned his gaze back to him, and as his words crept up in volume and power, so too did his façade begin to fade. As Bones' excited and almost happy grin began to drop, he realized his dire mistake a moment too late, as the last syllable was belted out past a maniacal open-teeth smirk.

A wave of heat surged through him, and his body gave out a unnatural, violent lurch before he collapsed to his knees. He began to tremble intensely, hunched over and clutching all over himself, uncertain of what part of his body hurt more.

Eyes clenched tight to block out a red haze in his vision, he moaned out, "Eeeeag! –Le-LecllllLLLLAW—unh-HUH! What'ssSSSS hah-happennNNIING-?"

When the cacophony tearing through his skull took a moment to simmer down and he was able to hear anything, he found his brother to be laughing hysterically.

"Hoo, WOW! Oh man! I cannot believe-!" he whooped and hollered and pranced about above him. "—that you actually fell for it!"

"HhhHH-! A-aaaAAAAAA-" Pain crashed into him in white-hot flashes, causing a primal scream to tear through his throat. He crumpled further to the ground, and his body folded up and he choked out guttural spasms and retched at each snap and crackle as a forceful and violent change took over. "Gnggn, hunh, uhhnnggh…!"

"Ahaha, I mean, I knew magic was your thing and all but man! Did you end up using a spell that made you super gullible?!"

White knuckles grabbed and pulled at long hair in response to the utter madness that was running through him and making his blood steam. His skin began to itch until it felt like his pores were on fire; already, tighter areas of his clothing began to swell, dark feathers curling out between tearing seams.

"Heh, you know…" Eagleclaw towered above him, covered in shadow. "You only brought this on yourself."

"Hhhn-! U-URGH! Huuuunhnnnh…!"

He snapped the book closed. "Maybe if you had been a better brother, it wouldn't have had to come to this."

"—rrrRGHRK! Aaa-a…a-awk! AWK-!"

He smirked as a violently trembling hand reached up from him. "But it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?"

Sn-NAP-CRACK!

"AAAAWWWRRKKKK—"

"Ooh!" Eagleclaw cringed as the hand twisted and snapped into place, vicious claws shredding out from under the nailbeds. "That sounded like it hurt."

He glanced down again to find that his brother had finally gathered up some strength to look up at him. A cruel irony that came to light made a sadistically sympathetic grin spread across his face. "Aww… look…"

He reached out a claw to caress the tufts of feathers that had grown from Eaglebones' cheeks. They had already spread across his forehead, peeking out from under the helmet and mask, crowding around his huge eyes and hardening nose.

"Your plume's finally growing in," he cooed in mockery. "Mom would be so proud."

Nothing more registered after that. The red-hot burn of betrayal clouded all of his senses, barely numbing the pain of his skull practically breaking down and rearranging, of his rashguard splitting as the rest of his plume of auburn feathers sprouted and formed into deformed wings across his arms, of another pair of fierce talons piercing clean through his shoes, of his knees snapping backwards into place and breaking the braces.

His body went through the last thralls of agony before it began to course with raw power and blistering rage. He heard a final whisper:

"Heheh… you actually wear the Falconhawk look well, brother. Have fun."

A primeval screech crowed through the midnight air.