Somewhere on a different mountain.
Francis and Arthur were standing in a creek, fishing, when Mr. Puffin flew down and landed on Arthur's shoulder. The sudden appearance of the bid startled Francis and caused him to drop the fish he just caught. "Oh crap my fish!" said Francis. "It's from Lukas and his flock," said Arthur, recognizing the bird.
"Does he need your help with another spell?" asked Francis, his brown, white, and blue feathers trailing in the water. "If you would be quiet for a half second I could hear what he's trying to say!" said Arthur, ignoring Francis. Francis rolled his eyes and went back to his fishing.
Arthur's eyes widened as he listened to the bird and fluttered his wings, splashing Francis. "Sacre bleu! Would you watch your feathers? I'm all wet!" said Francis, flapping his wings to get the moisture off of them. "T-The boys," stuttered Arthur. Francis looked at him, slightly confused. "What boys? The nordics? Nothing happened to them, right?"
Arthur shook his head, still for the most part frozen in place. "T-Two fledglings that went missing fiftty years ago returned. T-They're looking for their old flock," Arthur somehow managed to say in his shock. Francis turned to face his friend. "What?!"
Mr. Puffin rolled his eyes and squaked at Francis. His eyes widened and he put a hand to his mouth. "Y-You think it's our boys?" he asked. Arthur numbly nodded, his light grey wings dragging in the creek. "I-I can't believe it. I tried so hard to find them. I thought they were dead. After all those years…" trailed Arthur. Francis put a hand on his shoulder.
"Mon cher, you're getting too ahead of yourself. They might not even be our boys. I don't want you to get your hopes up and be disappointed," he said. Arthur nodded. "I suppose you're right...but I still want to go see these fledglings. I-I don't want to risk losing them again if they really are ours," he said. Francis nodded.
"Do you think they aged at all all these years?" asked Arthur. Francis gave him a sad smile. "I hope not. They were so cute before they left. But if they are our boys and they did age, we'll love them despite it, oui?" said Francis.
Arthur nodded and sighed. "We better finish fishing and prepare for the trip. I want to get there in the morning. I'll bring the feather with us. Maybe my tracking spell will finally work if we're closer," he said. Francis smiled and nodded, stretching out his wings. "Race you back to the nest?" he asked. Arthur rolled his eyes but stretched his own wings and raced him back.
The next day
Matthew woke up the next day to a mouthful of feathers. Wrinking his nose, he spat them out, aware that his brother has let him use his wings as a blanket. Alfred mumbled something in his sleep, shifting the wing that was over Matthew. Mattie sighed and did his best to wiggle out from other the wing without waking up his twin.
Berwald, Emil, and Mathias were already up. "Morning Matthew! How'd you sleep?" whispered Mathias. "Good, thank you," he said, noticing that they were eating some fruits he's never seen before. They passed him some. "These only grow on the mountains," explained Mathias when he asked.
Matthew noticed that they kept glancing at Tino and Lukas. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. "Tino and Lukas aren't really morning people," said Mathias. "What do you mean? I'm sure it's not too bad," said Matthew. "One time Mathias forgot to make the coffee for them before they woke up. They nearly mauled him so it's pretty bad," said Emil, taking a sip of said coffee.
"We 've to wake 'em up soon," said Berwald. Mathias and Emil froze. "Can't we let them sleep in?" asked Mathias. Berwald shook his head. "Gilbert will be 'ere soon," he said. Mathias pointed at Emil. "Have him do it. Lukas can never hit his little bror," said Mathias. Emil glared at him. "No." Mathias gave him a puppy-dog look. "Please Emil." Emil sighed.
"I'll do it but you owe me," he said, standing up and walking over to his brother. They all turned to watch, Emil glared at them once more before shaking Lukas's shoulder. "B-Big Brother? Bror, it's time to wake up," he said, his face turning a bit red. Lukas groaned. "Go away," he growled.
"Please Big Brother?" said Emil, purposely not looking at the grinning Mathias. Lukas mumbled something and slowly sat up, stretching his wings. "Fine. Where's my coffee?" asked Lukas. Emil immediately handed him a cup and backed away quickly, turning to Tino. He made a face and ruffled some of his feathers.
Tino swatted Emil's hand away with a growl. Lukas scowled. "Tino, you know better than to hit Emil," he said in a low voice. Tino stirred and sat up. "He knows better than to mess with my feathers," he growled. Matthew blinked. Tino was usually so cheerful but this body-snatcher seemed rearing for a fight.
Berwald silently handed Tino some coffee. Tino sipped it and sat next to Lukas, both of them sitting in the darkest part of the cave glaring at everyone. Matthew got up and walked over to Alfred. "Alfred, time to get up," he said. Alfred swatted him away with a wing. Matthew rolled his eyes and stuck a cold hand on his back between his wings.
Alfred yelped and sat up, his wings shooting out and pushing Mattie away. "Again dude? That's the third time this week!" he said. Matthew crossed his arms. "Gilbert should be coming any minute. Hurry up and get some breakfast before he gets here," he said. Alfred made a face at his twin but did as he asked.
When everyone was a little bit more awake and less ready to kill each other, ahem, Tino and Lukas, Lukas stretched his wings. "Matthew, don't leave the cave without one of us near you. There'll be a lot of avians coming who don't know you're not a human. Make sure one of us is with you so we can intervene before something happens. Alfred, you shouldn't stray too far away either. You're still a stranger to them as well." Both twins nodded.
After everyone was finished with breakfast, Berwald and Emil left to do some hunting to prepare for the amount of guests the flock was expecting. Alfred sat down next to Matthew, stretching out his wings.
"What you up to?" asked his twin, trying to stay out of the way of the others. Alfred looked over his wings. "Preening my wings...I don't want anyone thinking I don't take care of them," he said. Matthew smiled a little, feeling a bit better that his brother seemed nervous about all of this too.
Alfred's fingers fluttered among the feathers on his wings, expertly readjusting the feathers. "Need some help?" asked Matthew. Alfred nodded and stretched out his other wing so his brother could help. Matthew smiled sadly as he fixed his brother's feathers. He didn't mind helping his brother preen, it's something he has always loved doing as a kid since he didn't have his own feathers. He just wished he hadn't lost his wings.
Alfred gave his brother a hesitant smile. "I'm sorry you had to tell them...You're not holding me back or what ever it is you're thinking. I don't want to be in a flock if you're not in it bro," he said, reading his twin's mind. Matthew smiled, careful with the feathers near the small scars on Al's wings. "I just don't want to always be dragging you down," he said quietly.
Alfred put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, you don't drag me down. If anything, you keep me from being any stupider than I already am, and that's saying something," he said, grinning. Mattie grinned back. "That's for sure," he said, ducking as a wing attempted to hit him.
Alfred grinned and went back to preening. Matthew finished up the wing and took a step back as Alfred quickly shook out his wings. "Thanks Mattie," he said. Matthew nodded and turned as he heard chirping. The yellow canary, Gilbird, flew in with an albino with shockingly white wings and red eyes fly in.
"The awesome me is here! Mathias, I brought more of the mead my brother makes with me. Where are the fledglings?" he asked. He looked around and saw Matthew, freezing. Then his wings shot out. Gilbird, sensing his owner's sudden tension, flew around Matthew's head, pecking him.
Matthew tried to gently push the bird away, not wanting to hurt it. Alfred frowned and quickly jumped in front of Gilbert from the small perch he and Mattie were on. Gilbert blinked and looked back and forth between the twins. "You two are brothers?" he asked. Alfred nodded. "Mind calling off your bird dude?" asked Alfred.
Gilbert whistled and the bird came back. "Sorry about that. Gilbird is quick to defend his awesome owner," he said. Lukas rolled his eyes, not moving to greet Gilbert. Mathias jumped down. "You have mead?" he asked excitedly. Gilbert held up a skin sack. "Yep! Who are these two losers?" he asked.
"This is Alfred and Mattie. They're the two looking for their flock," said Tino happily. Mattie carefully climbed down from the perch before jumping down when it was safe. Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Is he a loser human or did he just lose his wings?" he asked. Mattie froze while Alfred tensed up.
"He lost his wings Gilbert. Be nice," said Mathias before Alfred could start a fight. Gilbert snorted. "That sucks. So what? Your brother just lugs you everywhere? How did you even lose them?" asked Gilbert. Matthew shifted uncomfortably, looking down."Gilbert, you're not being very nice. You should apologize," said Tino.
"For what?" asked Gilbert, genuinely confused. "I'm too awesome to apologize to these losers. The wingless-wonder should be happy that I called off Gilbird," he said. Alfred grabbed Gilbert by the shirt, his wings stretched out with all the feathers standing on edge.
"Take that back and apologize!" he growled to the albino. Gilbert slightly flapped his wings a couple of times, glaring at the American. "Why should I? I was only asking a question," he said. Alfred glared at the other avian, about to pull his arm back when Tino jumped in.
"Gilbert, that was uncalled for," said Tino, frowning as he got between the two. There was a shuffling sound and they all turned to see a flash of Mattie as he left the cave. Alfred frowned. "Mattie. Mattie!" he called, tucking his wings in. Gilbert frowned at a faint line about five inches long at the edge of Alfred's wings.
"What happened to your wings?" he asked as Alfred started to walk after his brother. Alfred stopped and turned, giving Gilbert a look of disgust. "Hunters. I'm just lucky I got to keep my wings. I guess this flock business was just a stupid idea," he said before turning around and running after Matthew.
Sorry I kinda made Gil out to be a jerk in this chapter but *shrugs* it is what it is. Just wait for when Artie and Francis find out about it.