Sky watched the clouds as they moved quietly across the blue mass above. His instincts told him that he should be up there with Ty, but he knew he should wait. The dreams may not leave, but the fear may fade. His hand reached out and ran down Songbird's back. He had found the bird still in Ty's room. The bird would leave every night and come back drained in the morning. Sky had gotten into a habit of being there to hold the bird as soon as he came through the window. It had been almost a year and a half since Ty had left the world, and Sky still felt a heavy pain every time he was in Ty's room. But, he had learned to get past some of the pain. He would look through photo albums every time he was in Ty's room, which had now become more of a shrine in a way. Ty's room, which had originally only held Ty's things, now held other things that had some link to Ty. Such as photos that the others had in their rooms. They still had some photos out of all of them together, but most of the pairs or photos that didn't contain all of them had been put into Ty's room. Ty's bookshelf now was filled with photos, photo albums, and small trinkets. Sky would often wander in and just look through the photos, thinking about the good times. Right now he had come in to give Songbird something to eat. It was no surprise that the bird looked as thin as it did, Sky suspected that it didn't eat at all, it was a wonder it was still alive.

"I miss him", a voice said.

Sky whirled around, looking for the owner.

"I miss them both", the voice said again.

"Who's there?", Sky asked.

"I miss Ty and Alkiz so much", the voice said.

"Alkiz?", Sky asked.

"Oh Alkiz", the voice cried out in pain.

"Where are you?", Sky asked.

"Alkiz, Alkiz, Alkiz…", the voice whispered.

Sky stayed quiet and got up from his position, moving quickly around Ty's room as the voice repeated 'Alkiz' over and over again. Sky eventually came back to the bird to find a dark mass surrounding it.

"So it was you…", Sky whispered, "what are you?"

Songbird just continued to say 'Alkiz'.

"Who is Alkiz?", Sky asked in his most commanding tone.

"Alkiz…Alkiz is…is…", Songbird murmured.

"Who is Alkiz?", Sky asked, softer now.

"Alkiz is my Estrid…Alkiz is dead…Alkiz hates me…I'll never see him again", Songbird wailed.

"Hey now, I'm sure it isn't that bad", Sky said, trying to comfort the dark mass.

"I k- killed his elder", Songbird said.

"Oh…uh, alright…", Sky said, sitting next to the mass on Ty's bed, "why?"

"B- because, he- he was going to kill Alkiz", Songbird said.

Sky looked at the mass, puzzled by this.

"Why would he hate you for protecting him?", Sky asked.

Songbird stopped crying.

"I mean, if it was Ty and I had to kill someone to protect him, I'm sure he wouldn't 'hate' me, he might be upset, but that's about all", Sky said.

"Y- you don't know A- Alkiz, like I- I do", Songbird said.

"Well, if you think that this is that bad, why don't you go talk to him?", Sky suggested.

"Can't", Songbird replied.

"Why? I'm sure he'd like a visit", Sky said.

"Can't get there. Not allowed", Songbird said.

"Oh, um…well can you write to him or communicate to him in any way?"

"No", Songbird cried.

"Oh…well, maybe I could go see him for you", Sky suggested.

"No…unless you want to die", Songbird said.

"Wait, what?!", Sky yelled, falling off the bed in the process.

"Calm down", Songbird said.

"Easy for you to say", Sky said.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea", Songbird said.

"Well I mean- what?!", Sky screamed.

"I can take your place, though. Switch at the last second. Like I was meant to do with Ty", Songbird said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…hold up. You were meant to switch with Ty?", Sky asked.

"Yeah, but I really messed up, now he's dead, and you're upset, and Alkiz might be dead, and I'm in so much trouble", Songbird said, beginning to cry again.

"So, if I help you. Then what?", Sky asked.

"You're a lot less angry then I thought you'd be", Songbird said.

"Well, I've had time to get it out of my system", Sky said, "Anyway, what happens if I help you?"

"Well, I could give you a super painless death and you could see Ty again."

"You had me at 'super painless death', when do we start?"

"Well, we could do it right now if you want?"

"Okay so do I just- ", Sky was cut off as the dark mass pushed him out the window.

Sky had barely registered what was happening until he felt the ground come in contact with his body and his vision went black.

Songbird looked down and waited for the Estrid to come down to get Sky. When the Estrid did appear though Songbird flew down and stood on top of sky's broken body.

"Move bird", a gruff voice came.

"Not likely", Songbird hissed back.

"You want me to take you?"

"Yes."

The Estrid sighed.

"I made a deal with the ruling Estrid. You have to take me."

"Very well then. Come on."

Sky woke up in pain. He was cold and his body hurt, on top of that a horrid smell was coming from something on his chest. He sat up and a golden bird carcass dropped onto the ground from his chest. Sky scrambled back and tried to breathe. Looks like Songbird had done it. Now he just had to wait for the bird to fulfil his end of the bargain.

Ty walked beside Jastir into the village. It was deserted as usual, but it seemed colder than before. Ty shivered and looked around.

"What's going on?", Jastir murmured.

"Something wrong?", Ty asked.

Jastir ignored him in favour of walking ahead of him towards the Hall of Estrid. Jastir got to the doors and knocked on the heavy metal. The doors swung open and the two entered Jastir leading the way, his steps full of purpose. Ty wandered behind taking the sights of the Hall of Estrid. The walls were lined with paintings of elder Estrids, who had either retired, been killed or had died of natural causes. Ty glimpsed the Estrid that Songbird had made his contract with. His skin was a light chocolate brown, his eyes neon purple and two long whiskers ran down past the sides of his face, passing his jaw and chin. The name plaque underneath read 'Garenth: 200 years, Died of: MIA, Third Great War of the Estrid'. Ty swallowed and quickly followed Jastir. Jastir finally stopped at two large doors that mirrored the two engraved golden E's. Ty recognised the doors as the ones that lead to the grand hall. The part of the building where the ruling Estrid would govern from. Jastir put a hand against the split of the doors and pushed lightly. The two doors swung open quickly, almost smashing into the walls. Jastir walked forward and stopped as his gaze landed on the corpse of Camen. Jastir covered his mouth and swallowed heavily.

"Jastir, what is it?", Ty asked.

"Don't look", Jastir warned.

Jastir stripped his cloak off of himself and walked towards the corpse, using his cloak to cover Camen's body.

"You can look now", Jastir said as he stepped back from the body.

"What is that?", Ty asked, "who is it?"

"Camen, our latest elder. Now, we must find the culprit and crown a new elder", Jastir said as he whisked past Ty.

Ty looked over the covered corpse once more and turned, running after Jastir.

Alkiz watched them go. He felt terrible for not saying anything, but they scared him. He wouldn't go after them, but he would bury and mourn Camen. Alkiz got up, falling onto the wall as he felt his leg begin to heal up. He looked over to Camen's body and let the tears fall down his face. Why had Songbird been there. It was like he had suddenly appeared, made of clouds or smoke. Semi-transparent or something like that. Alkiz took a step towards Camen and felt his leg give way. His knees hit the cold stone floor hard. He could feel his body shaking, trembling like a leaf in a cold winters wind. He crawled over to Camen's body and reached out to touch it.

"So you are here", a voice came from behind him.

Alkiz turned his head and his eyes met the neon blue of Jastir's.

"Alkiz! You're alive", Ty said, moving quickly to the Estrid's side.

"Did you kill Camen?", Jastir asked.

"No! N- no…", Alkiz yelped.

"Then who did?", Jastir asked quietly, walking slowly towards Alkiz.

Alkiz was quiet.

"Alkiz, please don't make this harder than it already is", Jastir pleaded.

Alkiz said nothing.

Ty looked between the two and slowly backed away. His back came into contact with the cold stone walls. He looked around the room and saw a dark patch on a wall across from him. Ty slowly walked towards it, hand out to catch himself on the wall. He tripped a little on a loose stone. Despite it being very bright outside, this room was dark, shadowed and cold. Ty shivered when his hand met a cold substance on the wall. His hand came to his face as he tried to get a better look at the dark liquid. He sniffed lightly and reeled back at the horrific smell the liquid emitted. His mind supplied a name for the liquid. 'Estrid blood. This is Estrid blood', Ty thought.

Jastir and Alkiz turned to look at Ty when he had stumbled back. Jastir's eyes landed on the Estrid blood stains that painted the wall where Ty stood.

"Is that Camen's blood?", Jastir asked, his voice trembling as he dreaded the answer.

"…No", Alkiz finally answered.

Jastir felt his stomach turn.

Sky looked up at the clouds and waited. Songbird had left him there. Though Sky trusted Songbird enough to know that Songbird would come back. Sky sighed and turned his head to look back at the house. Could he really leave them? Could he really leave them for Ty? Sky smiled. Yes, he could. He'd be selfish, but he wouldn't care. So long as Ty was with him.