Part I

Early April

Two red-tailed hawks flew together towards their favourite city. They were brothers. The smaller one with ruffled feathers was Emil, the younger brother of the darker, sleeker one, Lukas. There was still a small dusting of snow on the ground, and the air was biting cold but the brothers didn't mind as this was the city they were the most familiar with. They were both born and raised here after all.

They quickly found their home, an old nest on top of an electrical pole. No one's used it since they've been gone, but the winter has been harsh on it. Parts of it were missing and snow covered it, but it was home. Besides, they were both males and had no interest in chicks right now.

Emil ruffled his feathers while looking out on the city and turned to his brother who was inspecting the small nest (it was smaller than they originally thought).

"I'm hungry," Emil said looking at the river nearby. "I'm going to go get food. You want to come with?"

"No," replied Lukas. "I'll get some later, you enjoy yourself."

"Alright." Emil readied his wings and flew off towards the river.

As he neared the river, he scanned the murky water for prey. Emil's eyes caught the sight of a medium-sized fish near the top of the water. He swooped down, extending his talons, and nabbed his food out of the water. The fish barely struggled and Emil angled his wings to catch the drift upwards. Then,

"Hey there, beautiful."

Emil looked around for another bird talking to him, but the only thing near him was the fish. He glanced down in surprise at the fish in his talons.

The fish gave a smirk and said, "The name's Xiao, how about you, sexy?"

Emil, in shock, dropped the fish back into the river. Luckily, he wasn't very high up so the fish was still alive, probably. He shook his head. Fucking fish, man.

~.~.~.~.~

He returned back to the nest in record time, still hungry. Lukas looked up in surprise as Emil landed.

"You already ate?" he asked. His tone of voice held no ounce of curiosity, but Emil knew that was just how he was. Lukas wouldn't ask something if he wasn't curious after all.

"Lost my appetite," Emil simply replied. Lukas chuckled slightly.

"That's what you get for eating fish all the time. Come on, let's find some real food." Lukas said taking off towards the city.

"I don't always eat fish," Emil grumbled but followed anyway.

In the city, the two hawks sat upon a building looking for signs of life that wasn't human… or large dog. Emil made that mistake once, it wasn't pretty.

Lukas caught something small move in the corner of his eye. It was in the alley and looked to be a squirrel.

"Hey," Lukas said quietly to his brother. "I think I see something. Stay here."

"What? Why? Is it because of the dog-thing?" Emil asked annoyed.

"Yes," and Lukas took off to the alley before Emil could reply.

Lukas landed on a nearby perch and patiently waited for any movement. Then an overturned box moved. There it is.

Whatever it was though, it seemed unsteady. It doesn't matter of course, food is food.

Lukas got ready to take off and snatch the thing when he heard the most pitiful sound come from underneath the box. It was a meow.

Curious, Lukas got on to the ground and cautiously approached the box, keeping his wings ready just in case he needed to take off in a hurry. Another meow came from the box. It was weak and sounded like the cat was just a kitten.

Lukas quickly knocked the box away revealing a small, white kitten. It was shivering and meowing pitifully. At first, Lukas thought that it wouldn't make too much of an exciting hunt with it just lying there like that, but then he realized he couldn't hurt it. Wait, what?

Lukas stared at the thing. Why couldn't he hurt it? It was food right? Circle of life and all that shit… things die so other things can live. So why was he hesitating?

The hawk thought of the first time he saw his little brother. The weakest chick of the nest. Even when the others left, Lukas stayed behind to help him. He could never abandon his little brother. He could never abandon anyone in need.

Meow.

It was then he knew he had to help the kitten.

Lukas cautiously approached the small thing, only to jump back slightly when it cracked open its eyes. After a few worrying moments on whether the cat would attack him or not, Lukas realized how ridiculous he was being. It was a kitten for fuck's sake, and he looked sick. Of course, he won't attack.

The hawk approached it again and nudged the small body with his wing. The kitten meowed and looked up at the bird.

"Mama?" he asked faintly and then passed out.

Internally, Lukas was freaking out. What should he do? What did it need? Externally, though, his body knew exactly what needed to be done. Lukas gently grabbed the kitten in his talons and lifted him to where Emil was still sitting.

"What's that? It doesn't look very healthy to eat," Emil stated studying the kitten.

"It's not food," Lukas replied. "C'mon we need to get him to the nest. I'll explain on the way."

~.~.~.~.~

"Um, Lukas?" Emil asked unsurely looking around at the telephone pole. "I don't think it's a good idea to bring that thing up here."

Lukas sighed as he continued his watch over the poor thing. "I know."

"I mean, it's got no wings and our nest is kind of shit," Emil watched as another side of their home fell onto the street below. It simply wasn't made for this many birds or, in this case, two fully-grown birds and a kitten.

"I know," Lukas repeated agitatedly. "But there was no other choice. He couldn't stay down there."

Emil rolled his eyes. His freaking brother and his big brother complex. He just had to be the big brother to everything, didn't he? Emil caught the expression of caring and worry in his brother's eyes and knew he couldn't say no though.

"Fine," Emil sighed. "I'll find us another nest, alright? Something big enough for someone with four legs, yeah?"

"Really?" Lukas asked.

"Yeah. I'll be back soon. Take care."

"I will."

~.~.~.~.~

The sun was starting to go down when Emil finally returned. Lukas had begun to worry that the kitten would have to stay up here and freeze to death, or fall to his doom. Lukas shuddered at either of those thoughts.

"Alright, I think I found a place," Emil said triumphantly. "But it's a bit of a flight. Think you can make it with him?"

"We're going to have to," Lukas replied, gently picking up the still-asleep kitten. The two hawks took off towards the other side of the city. Emil led them into an attic of an abandoned building.

Lukas carefully set the kitten down onto the wood floor and looked around.

"Good job brother. It's nice."

Emil didn't respond and instead walked over to a pile of old blankets.

"We can use these for a nest. Cats need to stay warm right? Would this be enough?"

Lukas went over and inspected it. "Yeah. Help me make a nest."

Together, Lukas and Emil moved the blankets to resemble a nest. It was hard work since the blankets were heavy and dusty, but finally it was finished. They moved the kitten into the middle and the hawks sat on each side of him. Eventually, the kitten stopped shivering and slept peacefully.

"Welcome to the family, brother."

June

Lukas woke up to an empty nest. His first thought was panic, but he saw no signs of struggle or Emil, so they were probably just outside. He stretched his wings and groomed the feathers back into place from when they were ruffled during the night. Then he took off through the large hole in the wall and circled around before he caught sight of his brothers on the ground.

He landed next to them and chuckled at the sight of Emil standing there rigidly as little Tino pranced around him excitedly. Tino had grown a lot in the past few months. He went from a shivering, sickly little kitten to a feisty hunter. He was slightly taller now and had two brown spots, one on his back and one that covered part of his head and right ear.

"Lukas!" Tino said when he saw the other hawk. He pounced over and nudged Lukas with his head playfully. "Are you ready? Do you remember what today is? I do! I'm so excited! I've been waiting for this my entire life! Do you think we'll catch something big? Maybe a dog! Or a bear! Wouldn't that be awesome!" Lukas had definitely remembered what today was (especially since Tino's been talking about it ever since he's learned of it). Today was the day that Lukas and Emil take Tino on his first hunt.

"About time you woke up," Emil said annoyed. "The brat's been bugging me all day!"

"Hey!" Tino said. "I'm not a brat!" He pounced on Emil, who wasn't watching, and the smaller hawk toppled over with a squawk. Lukas snorted as Emil quickly took off into the air and Tino cried "No fair!" after him.

"Alright, alright, calm down, Tino. Emil, come down here," Lukas said. Tino sat down, fidgeting impatiently, as Emil landed warily on the ground.

"First we need to lay down some ground rules," Lukas continued seriously. "Tino, when we're hunting, I need you to do exactly what we say alright? Yes, this is fun but it's also very dangerous, and we don't want you to get hurt. So when we say run, that means you run, no questions asked. Understood?"

"Yes, yes. You've told me all this before!" Tino cried.

"That's because it's serious, Tino," Lukas responded calmly. "I can't bear the thought of you hurt."

"I know."

"Good. Oh, and you also have to do whatever Emil says too."

"What!" cried Tino glancing at the smug hawk.

"Like I said," Lukas continued on, ignoring the kitten's protests. "This is serious. Emil knows how to hunt, you do not. For now, you do as he says."

"Fine," Tino grumbled.

They decided to head to the river first, as it was fairly close to the nest. They got to the bank and Tino watched the water excitedly.

"Alright," Lukas started. "The first step when hunting is to acquire your target. To do this you stay perfectly still and watch. You wait for the movement of the prey, the sounds it makes as it moves, its breathing."

Tino nodded, soaking up the information.

"Once, you find your target, you push off of the ground with your feet and quickly dive to the prey. You extend your talons and grab them in a tight grip so they can't move and get away. This must all be done very quickly. Understand?"

"Yessir!" Tino exclaimed flexing his paws. Emil just gave his older brother a glance that said "are you stupid? Tino can't fly!" But Lukas wasn't paying attention.

"Alright, then. Emil will demonstrate."

"Wait, what?" Emil said.

"Go on," Lukas encouraged, and Emil just sighed. Why did he have to get roped into this?

Emil flew up to a nearby pole and watched the river for any signs of life. After a few short minutes he found one. He narrowed his eyes focusing solely on the prey and spread his wings for takeoff. When the perfect moment came, he swooped down and successfully snatched the fish out of the water. He plopped the fish down on the other side of the river from Lukas and a cheering Tino.

"You know, I like never did catch your name?" Emil recognized that voice as he looked down in shock at the very same stupid fish he let go the first day they returned to the city.

"You!?"

"Hey there," Xiao said with a wink.

"Oh hell no."

"Hell yes. Miss me? I missed you." Emil stared at the stupid fish in shock who continued on. "So, what should I, like, call you? Surely, you have a name right?"

"Why should I tell you?" Emil exclaimed.

"Hm, guess I'll just, like, keep calling you sexy."

Emil, fed up with the stupid fish, grabbed Xiao and threw him back into the river, yelling "Fuck off!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, Lukas and Tino just watched the spectacle not making out any of what's being said. Lukas turned to Tino.

"It's exactly like that… except for throwing the fish back into the water… I don't know why he did that. Anyway, you ready to give it a shot?"

"Yes!" Tino said practically jumping up and down from excitement.

"Alright, just remember the steps."

"Okei!" Tino ran to the highest point of the bank nearby and scanned the water. He didn't see anything for a while and was starting to get disappointed until he saw movement from the right. It was a fish. Yes!

Alright, push off of the ground and extend the talons while diving in and snatch the fish! Sounds easy enough!

Tino pushed off the ground and extended his claws, but he ungracefully landed in the water with a splash and sank to the bottom.

"Holy shit!" Lukas exclaimed, in a rare display of emotion and panic, and quickly took off to where Tino landed in the water. Emil flew over too.

"Emil, get in there!" Lukas cried.

"What! Me? Why do I have to?"

"Because you can swim!"

"No I can't! Since when!"

"Since now!"

As the two hawks circled around and bickered, Tino broke the surface and headed for the bank. Lukas and Emil landed next to him.

"Fuck. Tino, are you alright?" Lukas asked scanning his brother for injuries.

"I'm fine, but I didn't catch the fish," Tino panted disappointedly.

"That's alright."

Okay, maybe fishing was a bad idea…

Still June

Emil was hunting on his own this time. They decided that Tino wasn't suited for fishing, and they were going to wait a bit before they try again.

For once, Emil ate his fill of fish without being bothered. He was positive that he'd have to give up fish forever, but luckily that was not the case. The fish today were normal, non-talking ones whose only goal was trying to escape Emil's grasp.

The young hawk landed next to the river near the nest. He looked at his reflection through the water for a moment. At least his crazy brothers weren't giving him gray feathers yet. He rolled his eyes at the thought of them. Lukas has been in this crazy, over-protective brother mood ever since Tino's been living with them, and it doesn't help that Tino's so goddamned curious all the time.

In fact, one time, Lukas and Emil came back from food hunting to find Tino gone. They looked for hours in and around the building. Just as they thought that maybe Tino went to the river or on to one of the streets, they found him inside their home. He got stuck in a hole and couldn't get out.

Lukas nearly had a heart attack for his "baby brother," and yet he still calls Emil that too. Geez, that guy has a serious brother complex.

Emil bent down to take a drink of water while wondering who he could ask to give Lukas some therapy. Surely, there must be someone who knows how to give him a talk, right?

Just as he was about to come up, a fish came up and bonked Emil on the beak. He shot up saying, "What the hell!?"

"Hm, for a first kiss, I was, like, expecting more." Emil recognized that infuriating voice. Does that fish ever leave him alone!?

Emil glared at the fish who was just smirking right back.

"What do you want?" Emil gritted out.

"I already got what I wanted," Xiao said. "But a more responsive kiss would be, like, nice."

Emil tried to count slowly to ten before he lost his temper, but his counting was interrupted by Xiao.

"So, what do you say?" The fish chuckled cockily. Emil lost it.

The hawk quickly snatched the fish roughly out of the water and flew as fast as he could through the windy skies towards the other side of the city.

"Whoa, where are we going? A little early for a shotgun wedding isn't it?" Xiao commented from Emil's talons, pissing the predator off even more.

"Y'know, I can just eat you right?" Emil asked annoyed, slightly tightening his grip around the pesky fish in warning.

"No, you wouldn't eat this beautiful face," Xiao answered with another trademark smirk.

". . . You're right. You're probably diseased."

"Well, you didn't deny my beauty."

"God, you're so full of it!" Emil cried still flying over the city at full speed.

"Of you, anytime," came the reply of the snarky fish.

"That's it," Emil said flying towards the ground.

"Huh? Wait, what are you, like, doing?" asked Xiao as Emil hovered a foot away from the sidewalk.

"Putting you where you can't bother me again – the sewers."

"No wait! Don't let go of me!" And Emil let go of the fish into the grate that led to the dark sewers.

"Good luck getting out of that."

July

The next time the brothers went hunting after that first failed attempt with Tino was a month later. This time, Lukas and Emil planned a bit better before the hunt. They took into consideration the fact the Tino wasn't a bird and didn't have wings. So, they decided to do some mice hunting. Not as tasty as fish, but it still worked. Besides, for some reason Emil refused to go fishing.

Emil and Lukas were flying slowly overhead as Tino ran on the ground beside them.

"What are we hunting this time?" the kitten asked his brothers excitedly.

"Mice," replied Lukas.

"Mice? Cool! Where are we going for that?"

"Emil and I saw an abandoned warehouse the oth-"

"Like our nest?" Tino interrupted.

"Yes," came the calm reply of the eldest brother. "Except this place has a lot of mice we can hunt."

"Right," agreed Emil. "And I'm going to teach you this time."

"Right, wait what?" Lukas asked staring at the other hawk. "Since when? I thought I was teaching him?"

"No, I am. Since you did a piss-poor job at teaching him last time."

"No, I didn't," said Lukas. "And you're not teaching him."

"Why not? Is it because of the dog thing?"

"Dog? What dog? I wanna know!" said Tino from below, but the two hawks ignored him.

"Yes it is," simply replied Lukas.

"That was a simple mistake!" Emil argued.

"Wait! I wanna know what happened with the dog!" cried Tino.

"I'm going to teach him!" Emil continued. He then flew down and perched on the Tino's back.

Tino groaned when Emil landed on him. "Ugh! Emil you're fat! Get off!" A fully-grown hawk on a not-so fully grown cat… Emil was heavy.

"No, I'm not," pouted Emil at Tino, then he turned to Lukas who was still flying above them. "Besides, Tino wants me to teach him, don't you?"

"Get off me and I'll say 'sure'," Tino muttered.

"Fine." Emil flew back up to Lukas, who wasn't looking very happy. Then again, he rarely looks happy anyways.

"Alright," Lukas said giving in. "You teach him." Then he took off ahead into the warehouse and Emil smirked triumphantly. One for Emil, zero for over-protective, controlling big brother.

Emil led Tino into the warehouse quietly and motioned him over to a high ledge that the kitten could still easily get up on. Lukas watched his younger brothers from the rafters above, pretending not to be very interested.

"Alright, Tino," started Emil quietly once Tino made it up. "I'm going to teach you how a real hawk hunts."

"Are you implying that I'm not a real hawk?" Lukas asked curtly but was ignored by the younger.

"So, first of all, ours eyes are very good. We can see something as little as a mouse from great distances. Our eyesight is much better than that of a measly human's. So we rely on it. When we find a mouse, like that one over there, we fly up above it and dive down when they are least expecting it."

"Wait," started Tino. "Isn't this all what Lukas said last time?" Lukas smirked from his perch.

"Yes, but do you see a major flaw with that technique?"

"No?"

"Don't you notice that you're missing a crucial piece, or two, to the hunt?" Emil asked while obviously spreading out his wings.

"Not really," replied Tino with a slight head tilt. Emil suddenly had the strongest urge to fly into a clear window pane. How are both of his brothers so dense?

"Wings, Tino. Wings," Emil deadpanned. Tino looked down at his paws.

"Oh."

"Yeah, so because you don't have wings we have to improvise," said Emil looking around the large, dark room. "Okay Tino. What do you see?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you see any mice? Like that one over there?"

"Over where?" asked Tino looking around. "I don't see anything."

Emil hummed disappointedly and looked up at Lukas who was now watching them curiously. He flew up and perched next to the older hawk.

"Lukas, what should we do? We know nothing about how cats hunt," he said quietly so Tino wouldn't hear.

"I don't know," Lukas said looking away.

"Do you know anyone who can help?"

"No, of course I don't know any cats. The only ones I've ever met I've eaten!" he practically hissed at Emil. Emil sighed.

"Great. Now what do we do? Y'know, chicks are supposed to have left the nest by two months, and we can't even teach Tino to fend for himself!"

"Tino's not a hawk though. He's still growing," Lukas supplied back.

"True, but still I think he shoul- hey… where'd he go?" Lukas quickly turned his head to where they left Tino and found nothing.

"What! He couldn't have gone that far! You're the one who said we had such 'great eyesight', so where the hell is he?!" Lukas took off flying around the building with Emil following after him.

"Can't leave the guy alone for a minute," grumbled Emil when something caught his eye. "Lukas! There!"

The two hawks flew to the ground, landing in front of Tino.

"Tino," started Lukas shocked. "Is that a… a mouse…?"

In front of Lukas and Emil, was a very proud kitten with a mouse in his jaws.

Late August

After a long, unsuccessful day of hunting, Emil was hungry, irritated, and tired. The three brothers tried to hunt together earlier, but sometimes Tino gets too excited and gets too loud. Thus, the hunt was a big, fat failure. Lukas, sensing the younger hawk's irritation, gave Emil permission to hunt on his own for a while without them.

However, Emil was feeling lazy. He didn't want to struggle with something difficult or wait a long time for his prey to reveal itself. He wanted something easy and delicious. Fish-delicious.

Emil flew low over the water looking for easy prey. Ahead of him were humans in a boat doing the same. They had nets and had loads of fish in a bucket. Surely they wouldn't mind one missing right?

Emil quickly flew over to the boat and snatched the top fish off the bucket. He snickered to himself when he heard their shocked cries, and took off to the other side of the lake.

"My hero!"

Fuck.

"You have got to be kidding me," Emil gritted out.

"You, like, saved me!" Xiao said excitedly, well as excitedly as he could sound.

"Just… just shut up for a while!" Emil cried, tightening his grip around the fish and trying not to cry out in frustration. Seriously, of all the fish in the lake, why the hell this one?

Emil chucked the stupid fish into the lake and perched on a nearby bank upset.

"You gotta be, like, more careful with me," said Xiao swimming in circles, making sure everything was okay. He hit the water pretty hard.

"How the fuck did you get out of the sewers!" demanded Emil.

"I swam." Xiao shrugged. "So what should I, like, call you? Hero? Batman?... Hawk-eye?"

"God, you're so stupid."

"Well, I never did get that name."

"And you never will," grumbled Emil.

"You're in a bad mood," Xiao stated.

"No shit. You were supposed to be my food."

Xiao smirked slightly. If Emil couldn't eat him then that meant he liked him!

"Stealing from the humans? That's pretty lazy don't you think?" Xiao teased.

"I wasn't steal- well, I mean- I was hungry! And who needs that much fish anyway?"

"Lazy."

"I am not!"

"Are too~"

"Am not!"

"Are too~!"

"Am no- y'know what? S-shut up Xiao!" And he took off, leaving Xiao staring up at the disappearing hawk sighing lovingly. He called him by his real name!

"Aiyah! Are you chasing after that bird again?" cried Xiao's older brother, Yao, while swimming up to him.

"Yeah…" Xiao said dreamily.

"You know he eats fish, right aru?"

"Yeah…"

"I worry for you sometimes… Knew there was something wrong when I saw that crack in your egg…" said Yao more to himself, while shaking his head.

"Yeah… wait, what?"

September

"Lukas, it's almost October," said Emil to his elder brother one day, as they were watching Tino play in the leaves below.

"I know," Lukas reluctantly replied after a few long moments.

"What are we going to do? He can't come with us."

Lukas didn't reply. He just watched the kitten jump on the fallen leaves, laughing when they made a noise.

"We will have to leave him, won't we?" Emil continued slowly after a while. It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

"…yes," came the heart-broken response.

Mid-October

"What do you mean you're leaving!?" cried Tino jumping up from the nest that he was sharing with his two brothers.

"I'm sorry Tino, I know we should have told you earlier but… but we have to go," said Lukas choosing to look down at their nest of dirty blankets rather than the pained expression on his youngest brother's face.

"Lukas is right, we have to go," Emil said. "We always go south for the winter months. It gets too cold for us to remain here. We'll be back soon though."

"Wait, so… you're leaving me?" Tino backed up a few steps in disbelief. "Y-you're abandoning me…?"

"No! Never!" cried Lukas coming forward a few steps but stopping when Tino only backed away some more. "Please believe me, we'd never ever abandon you! But we have to go… we've held it off long enough…"

"What am I going to do here? By myself?"

"We taught you everything we know," Lukas tried. "I have faith you'll do just fine."

"But… can't I just come with you?"

"No," said Emil. "I'm sorry, but there's a storm coming and you'd only slow us down."

Lukas turned sharply towards the younger hawk. "Emil!"

"It's true Lukas! That storm will be here soon! We need to go now. I'm sorry Tino."

The young cat tried to hold in his tears and not let his brothers see the pain that was coursing through his body, but it was futile. So, he ran. He ran away and hid on the other side of the building in a spot where he knew his brothers wouldn't find him.

Of course Tino knew that birds fly south for the winter. He'd been seeing it happen for the past month. He just hoped that it excluded his brothers, but apparently not. Now, he was left with the sudden panic of loneliness.

After what seemed like hours of silent crying, Tino realized that he hasn't heard from his brothers the entire time. Panic coursed through him as he realized they left.

They left.

They left without saying goodbye.

That was even worse he realized. They always say that goodbyes are the worst part, and Tino agreed. But to part with them on such a bad note? Tino never wanted that.

He sadly went back to the nest. The tears blurring his vision but no longer falling.

However, when he got there, his brothers were still at the nest. Lukas pacing next to it as Emil glared at the wall.

"You're still here?" Tino whispered to himself blinking the tears away. Lukas and Emil snapped their heads in Tino's direction and flew over.

"Tino! Of course we are!" Lukas said. "We didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"I'm glad," said Tino. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mea-"

"Tino," interrupted Emil. "It's alright. And I just want you to know that… um… you'll be great," Emil finished with a blush and awkwardly patted Tino on the head with his wing.

"Thanks, Emil." Tino nuzzled the embarrassed hawk affectionately.

"Tino," started Lukas. "I meant what I said earlier. We'd never abandon you. We'll be back, no matter what."

"Thanks, Lukas," Tino said, tears threatening to spill over again. He nuzzled Lukas too before Emil clearing his throat and motioned to the large hole in the wall. Lukas nodded and took one more look at Tino before taking off to the skies.

"You'll do good little bro," said Emil and took off after Lukas.

Tino bounded to the hole and watched them with a small smile until he couldn't see them anymore, but that's okei.

After all, he'll see them again.

A/N

So! I've been working on this fic for three weeks! It was originally meant to be a stupid little drabble-y crack fic, but it ended up long and serious-ish xD

Because this was originally intended to be stupid, please ignore all mistakes regarding animal biology! XD I looked up some things but others I didn't bother on. Also, ignore Xiao because he's probably so incorrect it's not funny xD

Anyway! Part 2 will be up soon! (It is finished... just needs to be edited)

Thanks for reading! Tell me what ya think! :D