Alfred froze while his brother frowned. "Listen, he doesn't like talking about it. Just drop it okay?" he said, feeling bad at the look of shock and hurt that was apparent in Francis's face. "What happened mon chou? Please tell me," he said. Allistair swore. "What was it?" he asked. Alfred's feathers bristled. "It's none of your business. Just drop it," he said angrily.
Allistair opened his mouth but stopped when he heard the rustle of feathers behind him. "What's wrong?" asked Arthur, landing next to them. "Nothing. We're just chatting," said Francis quickly. Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Then was is Alfred so aggitated?" he asked.
"Because I said something to upset him. Blimey Arthur, you somehow managed to make the kid as sensitive as you are," said Allistair, rolling his eyes and leaning back to take another drink. Alfred and Mattie's eyes widen. Allistair was lying for them. Francis too?
Arthur scowled at his brother. "Really Allistiar? Should I even be surprised?" he asked. "Nope," said Allistair, finishing his glass and refilling it. Arthur rolled his eyes and handed the feather to Matthew gently. Matthew fingered the feather carefully. "T-This is mine?" he asked. "Oui mon ami. Je suis désolé (I'm sorry)," said Francis sadly.
Matthew teared up, his hand shaking a little as he stroke the long light brown feather. Alfred got up and hugged his brother, whispering something into his ear. Matthew nodded in response, starting to cry and hug his brother back. Reiley teared up, putting his Guiness on the rock next to him before hugging Rhys. Rhys made a face and pushed his brother off.
Francis teared up a little at the boys. Arthur excused himself to go 'make some tea.' Allistair bumped Francis with a wing. "Oi, what do we do about this? Arthur will be upset when he finds out about it like the wee tit he is," said Allistair.
Francis frowned. "I don't even know what 'it' is. What do you think happened to them?" he asked. Allistair sighed, running a hand through his hair, before glancing at Rhys. Rhys looked up from where he was holding the tipsy, blubbering Irishman back. "We don't know for sure what happened…One of the boys would have to tell us. It's not a good idea to jump to conclusions," he said.
"Yeah, save that job for Arthur," joked Reiley, squirming to try to plant a slobbery kiss on his brother's cheek. "Will you knock it off ye git?" said Allistair to Reiley. On the other side of the fire, Alfred was cracking jokes in an attempt to get his brother to stop crying. Francis smiled weakly when he glanced at the twins.
"Those poor boys have been through hell and back. I don't know what I'd do if I was in their shoes. They're lucky that they have each other," he said. Allistair nodded. "It does seem like that's keeping them calm so far…." he trailed. Francis sighed. "Is what you're thinking that happened to Alfred that bad?" he asked. Allistair sighed. "The boy seems up in arms against letting anyone know about it...I don't think it's something plesant," he said.
The older avians stood up and walked over to the caves to give the brothers their moment. And to talk about them behind their back. "We haven't seen any proof of anything being wrong...It could be that the hunter just scared him or tramatized him when he hurt Mattie," said Rhys.
Allistair started to scowl when Arthur came out. "There's tea in the kitchen if you'd like to help yourselves," he said to his brother before walking over to the twins. Arthur furrowed his brows, watching as Arthur speak to the twins, before gesturing that they should continue their conversation in the caves.
Alfred looked up from where he was stroking his brother's back to see Arthur approach them. Arthur put a hand on Mattie's shoulder. "Lad, I'm so sorry. I'll do some research to see if it's possible for us to get your wings back...but I can't make any promisies. We're all here for you if you need it," he said softly.
Matthew nodded, hugging Arthur. Arthur softened and hugged him back. "Now why don't you get some tea and get some rest? My ruddy brothers will probably still be here when you get back, okay love? I'll heal your brother so you don't have to worry about him," he said. Mattie tensed up and Alfred went a little pale.
Pulling away, Mattie stuttered, "I-I can heal him. I promised him that I would," he said. Arthur frowned. "Poppet, you're upset. It's best that you are in a good state of mind when healing someone. Besides, I said I would heal him as well. Go get some tea," he said. "I-I rather Mattie do it...I-I can wait until tomorrow if I need to. It doesn't hurt that much," lied Alfred.
Arthur furrowed his brows. "What are you two hiding? Neither of you seem to want me to go near Alfred's back. We're all bonded. I've already touched his wings. I don't see why you won't let me heal him," he said. The twins squirmed a little, not sure what to say in response. Arthur sighed. "That's it Alfred. Lay down."
Alfred's eyes widen. "B-But-" Arthur shook his head. "No, now. I know that your back is bothering you. It's ridiculous to suffer when you don't have to. On your stomach," he said. Alfred glanced at Matthew, who shared his mirrored look of fear and hesitation. Arthur's face softened. "Alfred, I'll not judge. Please let me help you," he said.
Alfred swallowed and laid down, pale and shaking a little. Mattie sat by him and gave his hand a squeeze. Arthur gave them an approving nod before proceeding to pull up Alfred's shirt. Alfred froze and Mattie's hand started shaking as he pet his brother's head. "What the bloody hell is this?" whispered Arthur.
"I don't know. It could be that-" Reiley froze as the three brothers could feel Arthur suddenly become incredibly upset. Francis frowned, eyes widening as it registered that the twins were terrified. He sprang up, running out of the kitchen with the three brits trailing him.
Arthur started shaking when he looked at Alfred's back, finally getting a clear, close, look at it for the first time. Thick and heavy scars laced the edges of his shoulder blade where the wings met his back. Someone had tried to cut his wings off. Someone had been almost successful in doing so.
"What's wrong? What happened?" asked Francis, freezing when he followed Arthur's gaze to the scars on Alfred's back. "Non. Non. Oh mon petit Alfred," he said, tearing up and squatting next to Matthew, brushing the hair away from Alfred's face. Alfred bit his lip, trying not to cry or look at the avian's horrified faces.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Arthur, a fist balling up. Alfred clenched his eyes shut, a tear leaking out. "Because I don't like thinking about it. I don't like remembering it all," he said. "I-I thought you said neither of you remembered…" said Arthur. Both twins looked away. "I don't remember it...I passed out half way through….Alfie saw it all though...He remembers," whispered Mattie.
Allistair put an arm around Matthew, face red from anger. "What happened to your wings…?" asked Rhys. "There's scars on the edges...did they try to clip your wings?" he added, noting the white scars that lined his wings. Alfred started sobbing, nodding. Reiley pulled a crying Arthur away from Alfred.
"C'mon Arthur. You're too upset," he said. "B-But who will-" choked out Arthur. Allistair moved away from Mattie. "I will...if Alfred is alright with it," he said. Alfred nodded, crying as well. Francis hugged Matthew and pat Alfred's head his other hand. Allistiar nodded and got into position, gently placing his hand on the sore back.
He frowned. "It looks like you got a torn muscle. This might sting a little Alfie," he said, closing his eyes and concentrated. Alfred hiccuped as he suddenly felt the bond form between the two of them and started to relax. "That's right lad. Get some rest. We can get down to the bottom of this tomorrow, alright?" he said.
Alfred nodded, closing his eyes. Allistair concentrated on soothing him enough that he could fall asleep without problem. When the back was mostly healed, he pulled back. "There. The boy should feel better in the morning. We should all get some rest. No uses in interrogating them now," he said with a tired sigh.
Francis and Arthur nodded, Francis rubbing Matthew's back. "I suppose we might as well stay out here. I'll go fetch the blankets," sniffed Arthur before leaving. "Should we go after him?" asked Matthew. Rhys shook his head. "He's likely to get into the rum and you don't want to see the git like that," he said.
Allistair snorted. "Lad can't hold his liquor, that's for sure," he said, reaching for his abandoned glass and finishing his drink. Mattie nodded, crawling over to his brother and squirming under his wing. Francis smiled a little and watched as Matthew fell asleep. "This is all my fault...I should have gotten home quicker. I shouldn't have left," he said.
"Mate, it isn't your fault. It's the fault of the arseholes who decided to go after a couple of kids," said Reiley, taking a swing from the bottle. "I know...but I could have stopped it if I was there," sighed Francis. Allistair pat his back. "Get some rest, alright? I have a feeling Arthur's going to have his knickers in a twist come morning and we could use one of you two having a clear head," he said.
Francis nodded and laid down next to the twins. "Let's go make sure Arthur doesn't get too close to the ledge if he's drunk. Wings or not he's bound to get himself killed," said Rhys. "Aye. Let's go see if we can help him take his mind off of things," said Allistair, leading his two other brothers back to where Arthur was wandering the caves with a captain's hat and a bottle of rum.
Matthew woke up to find Francis nuzzling him in his sleep and Alfred whimpering in his sleep. He sighed and curled up closer to his brother. "Alfred it's just a nightmare. I'm fine. Nothing bad is happening," he whispered into his brother's ear. Alfred relaxed slightly putting an arm around his twin. Matthew wrinkled his nose, wedged between the two of avians.
"Ye alright there Matthew?" slurred an Allistair, Arthur passed out on his shoulder. Matthew looked up and gave him a slight nod. "Is he going to be alright?" he asked, nooding toward Arthur who mumbled something about a guy name Henry in his sleep. Allistair rolled his eyes. "He'll be find. He never could hold his alcohol," he said, taking a swing from a bottle of scotch.
Matthew sighed. "It's alright boy. He needed to get this out of his system. He'll be right as rain tomorrow, perhaps a bit more crotchety than normal but fine. Go back to sleep alright? I'll keep a good eye on the git," said Allistair. Mattie nodded. "Night Allistair," he said, laying back down. Allistair's face soften. "Night Matthew."
The next morning, Alfred found himself underneath what was practically a dog pile. He spat someone's feathers out of his mouth. Mattie rolled over under his wing with Francis sprawled out next to him. Arthur was passed out on Alfred's other side, Allistair covering him with a wing as they slept. Reiley was passed out on the other side of Allistair. Rhys was already up making tea.
Alfred frowned as he pulled his wings in and did his best to wiggle out from under all the wings and arms that were sprawled over him. Matthew frowned in his sleep before Francis covered with a wing. "Morning Rhys," said Alfred, standing up and stretching his wings out. Rhys nodded. "Morning. Tea?" he asked.
"Thanks," said Alfred, taking the cup. Rhys nodded, sitting down. "So all three of you are older than Arthur?" asked Alfred. Rhys nodded again. "Yup. Allistair is the oldest. I'm second oldest. Reiley is third oldest, though the idiot acts like a ten year old sometimes. You two would be the youngests but were under Arthur's care the majority of your time with our kind," said Rhys.
Alfred nodded, taking a sip of tea. "Last night, Artie said he was going to see if there was some way to get Mattie his wings back. Do you think that's really possible?" he asked, a bit hopeful. Rhys shrugged. "It could be. There are some old legends and stories where people grow wings. Usually it's a human who becomes bonded with an avian out of love. But those are just stories. We'd have to ask some of the ancients if we want to be a hundred percent sure," said Rhys.
"Ancients?" asked Alfred. "The older avians. Ones like our mum. The ones who had kids before disappearing. But that is close to impossible. They rarely come to visit or communicate. Soem believe that after they had kids, they faded away or retreated to a different plane of existance somewhere in the clouds," said Rhys.
Alfred frowned. "So there's no way to find out?" Rhys shook his head. "Now I didn't say that did I? The four of us are well versed in magic and we inherited our mother's old collection of magic books. I'm sure that with some digging, we can find something that could tell us for certain whether or not it's possible," said Rhys.
Alfred nodded. "There's breakfast in the kitchen if you want some. I managed to beat Arthur to making it. Francis has warned you of his cooking right?" asked Rhys. Alfred made a face. "Yeah. I don't think it's cooking though if all he does is turn things to stone or start them on fire," he said.
Alfred chuckled. Rhys smiled at him. "He really was worried about you boys. Never gave up on looking for you. I'm surprised we never thought of the village….We were sure that if any humans got their hands on you, you two would be dead for sure," he said. Alfred nodded, rubbing a shoulder.
"We got lucky...If Francis came any second later I'd have no wings and Mattie would be dead," said Alfred. Rhys furrowed his brows. "That close? Really?" he asked. Alfred nodded, scratching the back of his neck as his wings ruffled uncomfortably. Rhys sighed, putting a hand on his knee. "It's fine. None of it was your fault," he said.
Alfred gave him a small smile and Rhys nodded. "Alfred...You already share a bond with Alistair and Arthur. May I create one with you as well?" he asked. Alfred gave him a confused look. "Don't you have to heal me to do that?" he asked. Rhys shook his head and held up a hand.
"We just touch our hands together and concentrate on the other person. If we don't have any negative emotions between us, it should work," he said. Alfred nodded and hesitantly put his hand against Rhys's. Rhys nodded and closed his eyes so Alfred did the same thing, concentrating on the Welshman.
After a few seconds, electricity surged through their hands and Alfred suddenly felt a wave of memories, Rhys's memories wash over him. Most of them were of him running around a forest with a redheaded duo, Reiley and Allistair. Then there were images of an upset Arthur begging them for help.
Alfred gasped and pulled away, swaying a little. Rhys quickly steadied him. "Steady there. You need to let the bond work through you before you pull away like that. It has a sort of whiplash effect if you stop contact immediately after it's made," he said. Alfred nodded. "S-Sorry. I'm okay. I wasn't expecting that," he said.
"What did you see?" asked Rhys. Alfred sighed. "Arthur telling you that we went missing," he said. Rhys looked guilty for a split second. "Oh. I'm sorry you had to see that. Have some more tea," he said, quicky pouring some for Alfred. Alfred nodded. "What did you see?" he asked.
Rhys sighed. "The bond shows you whatever the other person was thinking or had on their mind at the time of the bond's forging. You were thinking about the attack...all I saw was a glimps of bloody feathers," he said. Alfred stared at his feet. "Sorry...I didn't mean to make you see that," he said.
"See what?" asked a voice from behind them. They turned to see a grumpy Allistair walking over to them, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Nothing Alistair. I just created a bond with Alfred here. Arthur and Reiley still passed out?" he asked. Alistair rolled his eyes. "Those two gits. Yeah. They're still asleep. They're both a handful," he growled, sitting down next to Alfred.
Rhys handed Alistair a cup of tea, which Alistiar promptly poured an amber liquid into from a flask he had hidden in his jacket. "So today is going to be a fiasco. You better ready yourself for that Alfred. A sober Arthur is troublesome as it is but a hungover Arthur is worse," he said.
Alfred frowned. "Do we really need to talk about it then if he's gonna be as bad as you say he will be?" he asked, dreading the conversation he and Mattie are going to have to have with the older avians. Alistair smirked. "Don't worry lad. Rhys and I know how to keep Arthur in check when he's this way," he said.
Rhys smiled. "Aye. And you don't have to worry abou the conversation either. No one blames you for what happened. You were only a babe," said Rhys. "Did someone say babe?" said French accent. Alfred snorted as Francis sat down next to him. "Morning Francis," he said. "Morning mon petite," said Francis, grooming his wings before taking a cup of tea from Rhys.
"Did we wake ye?" asked Alistair, leaning back to have a smoke. Francis shook his head. "Non. Mathieu had a cold nose and curled up next to me," he said. Alfred nodded. "Alfred, does Mathieu still get nightmares?" he asked. Alfred shook his head. "Sometimes but he doesn't very often," he answered.
"Bloody Hell, do you all have to be so loud?" asked Arthur, sitting up and rubbing his head as he did. Alistair snorted. "I was wondering which of ye two would end up being today's sleeping beauty," he said. "Bugger off," snarled Arthur. Rhys handed him a cup of tea. "I already put herbs in it to get rid of your headache," he said.
Arthur grumbled a little and accepted the cup, drinking from it. Francis sighed and got up. "I'll get you something to eat. That'll help," he said before disappearing into the caves. Arthur groaned and blinked when a wing brushed against Alfred's arm. "You and Rhys bonded?" he asked. Alfred nodded.
Arthur sighed. "I suppose it's a good idea. As soon as I get rid of my bloody headache, you're going to tell me everything you know and remember. I don't want you or Matthew hiding anything about that night from me any longer. I have a right to know. That night's been haunting me for almost fifty years. I want to finally come to terms with it," he said, pratically growling toward the end.
Mattie saved Alfred from having to answer by plopping down between them, rubbing his eyes. "Hey guys. Morning," he muttered. Alfred rolled his eyes and pulled Matthew's glasses out of his hands, cleaned them, and handed them back. Matthew grinned. Arthur sighed. "In an hour we're going to sit down and talk about all of this...By then I should have a potion to help me think straight ready," he muttered.
"That also gives us enough time to come up with a way to wake the Irish beauty over there," said Rhys, pointing a thumb over to Reiley. Alistair grinned deviously. "Don't worry mate. I have an idea," he said, getting up and walking over to Reiley. Reiley didn't stir as Alistair started walking over to the creek. "Are you going to dunk him in the creek?" asked Arthur, getting up to follow.
Alistair nodded. "He needs a bath. He reeks," he said. The twins smiled and followed, watching as Allistair flew over to the creek and dropped Reiley. Reiley spluttered and shot up into the air, tackling Alistair who fell into the creek. Alistair chuckled and started wrestling with his brother in the creek. Arthur pinched his nose while the twins laughed and watched.
An hour later, Arthur had forced his brothers to change into dry clothing and was a little less hungover. Francis fidgeted, making sure that he was sitting next to the Arthur so he could try to calm him down if anything...let's face it. He's going to have to keep Arthur from trying to kill someone….again.
Arthur sighed as he looked at the two boys. Matthew was shaking slightly and not looking anyone in the eyes. Alfred was glancing at everyone defensively but was slightly pale, despite the balled up fists. Arthur felt something inside of him flutter. Someone had hurt his flock, his brothers, horribly. Enough that both boys were terrified of talking about it.
He balled up his fists, relaxing only when Francis felt his anger and pat his back. Allistair sighed. The sooner they got this talk over with, the better. The boys needed to let it out and Arthur needed to be given the chance to help them. Alistair shook his head. This was going to be quite the mess to work out.
Rhys sighed. "Where should we start?" he asked. Arthur sighed. "We've already told the boys what we remember happening. I want to know what they remember," he said. Alistair nodded. "That's where we'll start then. Boys?" asked Alistair, deciding to take the position of moderator in hopes of keeping things from spiraling out of control.
The twins glanced at each other, having a mental fight. Matthew put a hand on his brother's shoulder before turning to the others. "I-I'll go first. We both remember the beginning part about the same. He can jump in if he remembers anything else," said Matthew quietly. Alfred didn't say anything, just shuffled closer to his brother.
"It's fine Mathieu….We can stop if you feel too uncomfortable. In fact, it might be a good idea if we take breaks in between. That way we can all have time to relieve any tension that may form," said Francis helpfully. The others grumbled in agreement. Francis nodded. "That settles it. Mathieu, you may proceed."
Matthew shifted awkwardly. "I remember following Alfred because I thought he was going to get in trouble….I don't remember why. I don't remember why I snuck after him instead of telling him to come back after we got past a creek. He got really angry at me, told me that I was a tattletale. I told him I was it and he said to come with me to prove I wasn't," said Matthew. Arthur huffed.
"B-But it's not his fault. I convinced him to come back..but we were lost. Neither of us had paid attention to where we were going...Alfred had ran most of the way to where we were too. He was really upset and was crying when I found him," he said. Francis put a hand on Arthur's shoulder when he tensed up.
"We wandered around, neither of us being able to get far enough off the ground to get above the trees to find our way back. We got even more lost as we walked. I don't know how long it was after until someone dropped a net ontop of us," said Matthew, his voice starting to shake. Francis leaned forward to put a hand on his knee. "It's fine mon ami."
"T-They grabbed me first because Alfred was putting up too much of a fight. The other hunter had to hold down Alfred while the took a knife out," he said, swallowing. Alistair swore, wishing he could give the lad a drink to get that look of pain out of his eyes. No kid should have to be that scared.
"T-They started with my left wing first...It hurt alot. I kept squirming and I remember one of the hunters saying that I was losing too much blood. T-The other said they didn't care. I-I think I passed out before they were a quarter of the way through the first wing," said Matthew, his face white. Alfred was shaking as his brother started tearing up.
Francis jumped up and hugged Matthew, stroaking his back. "Ce sera peu un beau. Big Brother ne les laissera pas vous blesser à nouveau. (It'll be fine little one. Big Brother won't let them hurt you again.)" he said. Arthur jumped up. "I'll go fetch us some tea," he offered rushing over to the caves. "I'd offer you something stronger, but I'm sure Arthur would kill me," muttered Alistair.
Matthew let Francis hug him for a few seconds before he pulled back and wiped his eyes. "I-I'm sorry," he muttered. Francis shook his head. "You have every right to be upset. I'm sure it was very tramatic," he said. Matthew took the cup of tea that was offered to him. "I don't remember much of it...I'm used to not having wings," he said. The other avian's face fell.
They gave Matthew a few minutes to calm down a little, during which Alfred had starting balling his fists so tight that they started turning white. Francis kept a weary eye on that one. He was sure Alfred was one wrong look in his direction away from springing up and getting as far as he could from the nest.
Arthur put a hand on Alfred's knee, which kept bouncing up and down. He too had also gotten the sense that Alfred just wanted to take off. "Poppet, don't get so worked up. No one blames you for what happened. We just want to know what you remember," he said gently. Alfred's lip wobbled, but he leveled an angry gaze at Arthur.
"You want to know what I remember? I remember being terrified as I watched them cut Mattie's wings off. I was awake when they took the knife to my wings...not that the hunter really felt the need to use a knife. She rather just tear them off apparently," said Alfred angrily. All the avians blinked.
This looks like a good place to stop. I mean, I do have like twenty pages written up after this point, but what's the fun if I don't torture the characters annnnddd mess with my audience? Until next time mis amigos.