A oneshot from which I got the idea for Courtship of a Phoenix. In retrospect, there were quite a few things that don't match up. I made several changes for compatibility... but in terms of story, CoaP is still the main timeline, with possible discrepancies in this minishot.

So, this is it! Everything I had posted on KuCa has been moved to FFN! :)

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

S-C-N-D

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Our king's standards have really fallen."

"Such a shameful act... even Visnu won't forgive him this time."

"I can't imagine what his wife must be feeling, to be left for such a disgusting woman."

Maruna left his father's side to face the rest of his clan's Nastikas, all of which were shaking their heads. One of them glanced down at him.

"Don't you think so too, son of Garuda?"

…

Chapter Twenty-Four and Half: Adrift
N0 - approx. 300 years

…

A young bird, Maruna never understood why his mother had to leave the mountains. He never understood why his father endured the constant badgering of the other Nastikas, and he couldn't for the life of him understand how he could just stand there and never say a peep to defend himself against the accusations. Because that only meant the rumours were true. And it was entirely his fault that one day Vinata became a man with huge orange-red wings, leaving into the endless horizon.

Garuda stared for a long time at that small spot of sky. Even after she was gone, he had remained stiff and unmoving. Even though Maruna asked him day after day if his mother would be back, Garuda said nothing. With a silver sword limply gripped in his father's hands, he had the look of a defeated king.

In the years after, Garuda cared little for Maruna, not that it was anything new. The Rakshasa was allowed to venture as far as he would like, as long as he didn't travel too deep into Ananta Clan territory. His favourite pastime was doing the figure eights in the sky that Vinata had taught him to do when she had been female and still present.

He beat the feathers out of any Suras that taunted him for being stuck in his second stage. He practiced his Transcendentals until he was starving, and hunted until he was full.

Still, Vinata had not returned.

Still, Maruna didn't know why.

He did, however, spot a pale white Sura with raven hair creeping about the base of the mountains one sudden day. The little boy looked hopeless and was swiveling his head back and forth, lost in the vastness of Garuda's land.

"What's a foreigner doing here?" Maruna mused to himself.

The boy took another step forward, only to land on a loose rock, causing several boulders in front of him to fall and destroy the path that he was trekking on. His hands flew to his mouth and he bit his nails nervously. But had he rounded the bend, he would have discovered the path cut off by a larger gap a little further up anyway.

Maruna swooped down to the Sura, landing on the other side of the chasm so that the little boy could not reach him, just in case. He remembered Vinata warning him over and over that the physical appearance of a Sura does not equate to their strength.

"You can't travel in these lands by walking," Maruna told him. "You have to fly."

The boy opened his mouth in protest, showcasing rows of teeth that indicated his Rakshasa prestige. A Yaksha? Gandharva? Maruna knew that all Suras in human form retained animalistic features. He couldn't see any ears and tails protruding so the boy had to have been hiding his race under his cloak.

"In any case, what are you doing here on Garuda's territory? You're lucky I found you first. Any other Sura would have torn you apart and eaten you for lunch."

"I-I am a Garuda."

Maruna squinted his eyes in disbelief. "You? You can't lie, can you? I know all the Rakshasas in the mountains. If you are a Garuda, why aren't you flying?"

"B-because…" The boy lowered his face until only the tip of his nose was poking out from underneath his cloak.

Maruna spread his wings and took a huge leap over the gap that separated them. The pale Sura took two steps back to avoid being crushed by his huge, red figure. He was still leaning back when Maruna leaned forward to examine his features.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You said you're a Garuda? Here, let me help you fly."

Like his mother had done to him, Maruna grabbed the boy's small figure by the waist and flung him off the mountain into the abyss below. Afterward, when he peered over the cliff to see his handiwork, all he saw was the tearing of grey eyes and the Sura biting his lip hard enough to draw lines of blood. Black blood.

Just as Maruna was sure he would fall splat and be devoured by scavenging Garuda Suras below, huge wings sprung from the boy's back. One was beautifully adorned with dark grey feathers. The other was ragged and horned, sharp and bat-like.

"Oh my god. Is that—"

"Chaos Can. Look at him, fumbling in flight. There is truly no grace in their ways."

"His wings are so ugly."

"So he's the reason Vinata-nim left. He dares to show his face to Maruna-nim! He dares to return to Garuda-nim's sacred grounds, that bastard!"

Maruna was shaken by the impact of an earthquake as more and more Suras amassed to laugh and jeer at the spectacle. Every word about him, about his mother and father became a bigger weight that fell on his shoulders. Before long, he felt like he was suffocating and sinking into the very ground he stood on.

Still, the child in front of him was in an invariably worse situation. Every two flaps, he faltered and fell on the side of his heavier, uglier wing. Maruna could see the strained muscles of his left arm from trying to hold himself afloat. He could see the spot of landing the strange Sura headed for and how his line of flight would just fall a little short of it.

In a split second, one of Garuda's sons made an irrevocable decision to spread his wings and lend a hand to the other. Following his mother's example, Maruna caught his nervous half brother by the waist and lifted him up into the sky.

"Like this," Maruna told him. "You're doing it wrong. You need to flap your wings like you're aiming for the sky, like you're unafraid because you're a proud Rakshasa of the noble Garuda clan."

Open jawed, Maruna's little brother peered up at him in wonder. Messy black bangs covered his eyes. Maruna smiled back at him before abruptly letting go.

The moment his arms left the boy's body, the younger brother panicked and flapped his wings wildly in the air, reverting to his lopsided state. Maruna remained flying above him, but did not attempt to help.

"Remember what I told you. Remember that feeling of air whistling through your feathers. If you make it to that cliff—" Maruna pointed at an edge three mountains away "—then I will acknowledge you as my brother and an equal."

He gave a single nod and began to flap his wings. The young Sura was unrefined, unsteady and gradually descending. Every time he dipped a little lower into the ravines below, he would strain his muscles to take two hefty flaps and bring himself level with Maruna once more.

Three quarters through the journey, he heaved and panted with unrivaled tiredness. Maruna stayed a constant space of two wing spans in front of him, flying backward as he encouraged the small Sura to persevere. Just as it looked like he was going to halt and drop dead midair, the red bird hit his head hard and his brother stepped onto solid rock, grasping heavily for air.

"Ow," groaned Maruna, both hands clutching the injury. "You did it, congratulations."

Then, just because he felt like it, he reached out a hand to ruffle the boy's dark hair fondly. The boy didn't appear to dislike it. In fact, he smiled under Maruna's touch. It was a bright smile that made him seem a thousand times more Garuda than he was Chaos.

"Thank you, hyung-nim," he squeaked nervously. "When I came, I was afraid that the Garuda Suras wouldn't accept me because of my other half. I thought you would hate me more than anyone else because it's my fault that your mother's gone."

Maruna lifted his hand off of the boy's head, noting that he had again been reduced to a nervous wreck. The pale Sura was so small and helpless. He couldn't understand how anyone could hate him just because he was mothered by someone completely despicable.

"My mother's going to come back one day," he assured his brother, smiling. "She always does. And she'll like you. She just hasn't met you yet. The more important thing we have to worry about is my father. Does Garuda-nim know that you're here yet?"

"Ah!" exclaimed the boy, as if he'd just thought of it now."Uh, no… not yet."

Maruna grinned mischievously. "Do you know where Garuda-nim's nest is?"

"N-no?"

"It's over there," he announced with a grin, pointing at the tallest mountain, towering considerably above all others despite the fact that it's way off in the direction of the western horizon. "I'll race you."

"W-what? No! Hyung-nim!"

S-C-N-D

So, that's it, really. Chapter twenty-five will come when I feel an overwhelming urge to finish this story.

Also, there's an off chance that CoaP will exceed thirty chapters. Let's just keep the count at thirty for now. :D

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND