The next morning, Mattheau slowly opened his eyes to see the hustle and bustle of Paris. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, and suddenly he was wide awake. Eventually he remembered that he had fallen asleep on the roof last night, which was why he was so high up right now. He took a deep breath and shielded his face from the bright rays of the Sun. He sensed movement next to him and saw Fèlicie waking up, rubbing her eyes as well.
"Well good morning p-" His joke was halted by Fèlicie putting her finger to his lips to shush him. "Good morning to you too, wise guy." she teased. A little surprised, Mattheau slowly stood up and looked at the street below, which had people moving up and down it like ants in a farm. Fortunately, today was Saturday, so at least he and Fèlicie could do whatever they wanted and spend more time together. "So..." Mattheau turned back to Fèlicie, "What do you want to do today?"
Fèlicie thought about it for a moment, then smiled widely. "I know!" she exclaimed, "We can go visit my friend Victor! He's an aspiring inventor you know." Mattheau raised an eyebrow and pondered the situation, feeling like he had heard of the boy before. "What if he...? Nah, I doubt it." He thought to himself. "Come on," Fèlicie said, "It'll be fun. I'm sure you guys will get along just fine!" Mattheau shrugged and started climbing down from the roof. "Yup, we'll get along juuuust fine," he muttered.
Fifteen minutes later they were standing on the front steps of the workshop where Victor was an apprentice at. They went inside, and Mattheau felt a sense of familiarity as le looked around. "I could probably build these," he thought. "Little elbow grease and a combination wrench and I'm all set." They opened the door to Victor's workstation, and Mattheau realized something terrible: He had seen Victor before. No, he knew Victor before.
Victor turned around and was surprised to see Fèlicie standing there. However, he was even more surprised to see someone else standing beside her. Someone...vaguely familiar. Regardless, he dismissed the idea and turned his attention back to Fèlicie. "W-what are you doing here?" he asked incredulously. "Well, I was just hanging out with Mattheau and we decided to come visit you!" Fèlicie eagerly replied. "We?" Mattheau sarcastically thought to himself.
"Hey, um...can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" Victor said to Fèlicie, while casting a glance towards Mattheau. "S-sure..." Fèlicie said, and she followed him out into the hallway. Now Mattheau never liked to be kept in the dark about things, especially when it involves someone as special to him as Fèlicie was. Even though he didn't want to, he found himself pressing an ear against the closed hallway door. "Come on, I know you can do it," Fèlicie said. "You're a great inventor, Victor. Your "Pigeon Wings" will work for sure!" Mattheau frowned. What were "Pigeon Wings?" He turned around and saw a large glider with a pair of wings hanging on the wall. "Oh, so that's what she meant by pigeon wings." He murmured.
Mattheau walked over to the contraption and examined it. The inner workings of the wings were in top notch condition and the mechanics were all properly set. "This kid really knows his stuff." Mattheau thought. He looked down and saw that Victor's notebook was open to the page with all the schematics for the glider in front of him. "I think I'll just take a few notes here," he thought to himself as he scribbled down the basic plans on a spare piece of paper. "I'm sure I can improve on these 'wings' a lot more than Victor could." He finished writing the plans down, folded up the piece of paper, and tucked it in his coat pocket.
Just then, the workshop doors opened up and Fèlicie and Victor walked back inside. "I see you've found my 'Pigeon Wings,'" Victor said. "They used to be called 'Chicken Wings' back when Fèlicie and I escaped from the orphanage." At this, Fèlicie nodded and laughed. "I remember that silly cap you wore too, Chicken-Boy." she teased. "Well I think it's about time for us to go," Mattheau interrupted. "You're a busy man and we wouldn't want to distract you from your work." He and Fèlicie walked towards the door, and she waved back at Victor before leaving.
While walking back to his house, Mattheau looked at Fèlicie with a raised eyebrow. "So uh...what did you guys talk about?" He asked casually. "Well, we made a bet," Fèlicie replied. "We bet on who could achieve their dreams first: Me as a dancer or Victor as an inventor." Mattheau frowned. "What's there to debate?" He scoffed. "Inventing is a long process full of trial and error. You'll have already achieved your dream long before he achieves his." As they were talking, they rounded the corner onto Mattheau's street. "Besides, I already told you that you've got tons of passion for dancing. I know you'll be able to achieve your dream in a heartbeat." With that said, they walked up to Mattheau's front door, and Mattheau opened it. "Would you like to come in?" He asked politely. "Why yes, I'd love to." Fèlicie responded