Songbird waited. Watching the skies for any sign of Alkiz. Now he was alone he began to replay the conversation in his head. His eyes widened as one specific phrase reverberated around his head.

'You could take out all of them in one fell swoop!'

He had yelled that at Alkiz. Now it struck him. While Alkiz could indeed battle the head of the Estrids, he would need more than one person to back him up. It made Songbird recall an old memory, a story for hundreds of years ago about an Estrid who did indeed challenge his elders. There had been many fights before so this was not an uncommon occurrence unless you took in the circumstances. One lone Estrid could not overpower another, greater, older Estrid. If it would happen the challenger would be cut down, put to rest, killed. Like the Estrid in the story. Gone forever.

Songbird's eyes widened at this thought. Alkiz would surely not get any other Estrids help since the mission was indisputably suicidal. No one, not even himself would lay down his life for anyone who was not his closest friends. And from the way Alkiz talked about his work, all his co-workers were merely that, co-workers. He didn't have any other friends; Songbird was probably the only one who ever took enough time to really get to know Alkiz. Maybe Alkiz had some other Estrids who were nice to him, but they were merely co-workers, not friends and certainly not best friends. It occurred to Songbird that he had just sent one of his best, and only, friends on a suicide mission in which if the head of the Estrids didn't kill him, he would be publically shamed and executed. He had sent his friend on a one-way trip that resulted in a death sentence. And now he really felt guilty.

Ty awoke the next morning with a sore back and an urge to cry. For some reason, he felt as if a part of his life had gone missing overnight. He sat up and heard a small grunt beneath him, he smiled down at Sky and watched as the other turned around and away from Ty. Ty looked around his room and came to the realization that Songbird and Alkiz had gone missing during the night. He sighed and opened the window slightly, at least now they had a way to get in. The feeling that something was missing continued as he walked down the stairs, his heart aching. He listed things off in his head trying to figure it out, he came to the conclusion that it must be something to do with the two angel-Estrid-bird creatures that had been rooming with Sky and him last night. Their disappearance and this feeling seemed to link up pretty well. As Ty entered the kitchen Seto turned and looked at the other, Ty moved around on 'auto-pilot', as he called it, making himself two pieces of toast smeared with butter. Seto sighed silently, he had felt something missing when he got up this morning, maybe Ty had felt the same thing. He was about to ask Ty when Husky came in tears streaming down his face, followed closely by a sad looking Mitch, Jerome, and Ian.

"What's wrong with you lot then?", Seto asked, his voice husky, cracking slightly from disuse.

"I- I feel so sad, like something's…missing", Ian said softly as he sat down.

At his words, everyone seemed to perk up.

"You too then", Mitch said.

"So are we all feeling like this", Jason yawned as he walked into the kitchen, snagging a piece of toast from Ty.

"Hey, get your own", Ty yelped.

Jason shrugged and moved closer to Tyler, looking as upset as the rest, walked into the kitchen.

"Wanna a bite?", Jason asked, his voice muffled by the toast.

Tyler giggled at this and took a bite out of the tip of the toast.

"Mmm, delicious", Tyler giggled.

"Oh, will you two knock it off", Mitch teased.

"Yeah, if you want to make out, you have two rooms you can do it in", Sky said as he moved into the kitchen.

"I think I just lost my appetite", Sky said as the blushing duo shuffled out of the kitchen, toast still in Jason's mouth.

"Here", Ty said, holding a piece of toast in front of Sky's face.

Sky smirked and grabbed the tip of the toast with his mouth.

"How 'bout you? You wanna bite?", Sky asked Ty through the toast.

Ty laughed and sighed.

"No. You can have that all to yourself, I don't think I want any anymore", Ty said as he walked out of the kitchen, swaying his hips slightly.

A quiet shout of 'Rejected!', courtesy of Mitch was quickly followed by everyone left in the kitchen bursting out laughing, Sky excluded. Sky took the toast out of his mouth and looked after Ty thoughtfully.

"Hey, Seto. You got any spells that make things irresistible?", Sky asked.

Seto let his laughter die out a little bit.

"Y-yeah, why?"

Sky smirked and looked at Seto evilly.

Ty wandered around his room. Smiling at the tidiness he had achieved. He looked at the door as a gentle knock came from the other side.

"Can I come in?", the muffled voice of Sky asked.

"Yeah", Ty affirmed.

Sky opened the door and stood in front of Ty, hands behind his back. Ty sniffed the air as something mouth-watering hit his nose.

"What, uh, what can I help you with?", Ty asked.

"Well, I felt kind of bad for making you loose your appetite. So I got you something I was sure you'd like", Sky said slowly taking the plate out from behind his back.

To him, it looked like an ordinary piece of toast covered in butter. But Seto had assured him that to Ty it looked like his favorite food.

"How…how did you get your hands on this?", Ty asked he saw before him a plate of food that continually changed. He knew there was no food anywhere that did such a thing, so his mind instantly went to it being enchanted. Very well, if that's how Sky wanted to play, he'd play along.

Sky smiled as Ty's eyes widened. He kept his mouth shut, he knew if he asked Ty if he liked it then his plan would come undone and he'd be found.

"Do you want some?", he opted for instead.

Ty looked up at Sky and smiled. Sky certainly had no idea what was on the plate.

"Yes please, would you like some as well?", Ty offered politely.

"I'd love to share with you, but first, you have to do something for me", Sky said, moving the plate into the air out of Ty's reach.

"Wait, I thought you said that you did this because of you making me loose my appetite. But I guess if you're a liar now…"

"What? No, no…you'll get it, I mean I got so much that I think I deserve something for my efforts."

'Oh, you deserve something alright', Ty thought.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?", Ty asked, feigning ignorance.

"I want you to sit on the bed with me and…you know."

"No, I don't know."

"How about this. You figure out how many bites you'll need to completely finish this off and then you give me that number of kisses, a fair trade if I say so myself."

Ty hid a smirk at this.

"Okay, let's go sit on the bed and I'll work it out."

Sky smiled and sat down next to Ty, his hand coming down with the plate to rest on the bed spread. Ty thought for a moment, before deciding to just pick a number. His mind instantly going to sixty-four. A well-rounded number, not too many kisses but not too little.

"Sixty-four", Ty said looking at Sky.

"Make it sixty-five and you have yourself a deal", Sky said trying to bargain.

"Fine, sixty-five it is."

Songbird looked between the sky and the way back to the group house. What should he do now? He could either go back to the house and check on Ty, make sure he hadn't died in the night, or, he could fly back to the aether and try to save Alkiz perhaps dying in the end and not being able to keep Ty safe, have Ty die because Songbird wouldn't be there to protect him. What should he do now?

-0/0/0-

Hello again, just a quick ask from me.

I'm not sure where I want this story to head so I'm letting my readers decide what Songbird will do next. The first three people to tell me either in reviews or via private messaging will decide the fate of this story.

I'm not sure if this will work, so if three people don't vote then it'll be the first person to contact me. Then we'll see where it goes from there. I know that this sort of thing is looked down on, but it will help me write a better story if I know what Songbird is going to be doing in the next chapter. This 'offer' will only be available for one month. I will be counting the days.

I've thought about the way the story can go and either way Songbird goes there will be a conclusion/story to go with it.

Once the month is over I will continue writing with the occasional update because we all know how good I am at keeping the story up to date.

Anyway, have a good morning, afternoon, evening or other.

Chaos xoxo