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snowdice · 1 year

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Little Kestrel (Part 53) [Birds of Different Feathers Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Patton & Virgil (future Virgil/Patton but not in this story)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Patton, Virgil

Appear: Thomas

Mentioned: Janus

Summary:

It was supposed to be a quick job either way. Either Virgil would assassinate King Thomas of Prijaznia or he’d be caught and get executed. Yet, when Virgil gets the wrong bedroom and gets caught by Prince Logan and his future royal advisor, Patton, the job ends up getting way more complicated for the 14-year-old. He also ends up sleeping in a (actually pretty comfortable) closet for a few weeks…

Notes: Implied/referenced child abuse, assassination attempt, knives, torture mentioned, captivity, teenagers being really dumb, sexual coercion of minors implied, a minor offering sexual favors

This is a prequel to Kill Dear. I wrote it 100 words at a time on my blog, but this is the edited version. If you want to see how it was crafted (and possibly some future content), look at the tag proofread stories.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52

Virgil and Mr. Deknis took their time planting the orchids. Virgil had done everything Mr. Deknis had instructed him to do with the plot of land prior to planting. He’d had Mr. Deknis write it all down, so Logan could read him the instructions each morning, and had dutifully followed each step. The sheet of paper was in Virgil’s pocket even now. He knew the words so well at this point that he could have recited each list item even if it had words he still couldn’t read.

It had been hard work getting the soil just right for the flowers he wanted to plant, but it was fun hard work. Working hard was different when he didn’t have to do something but wanted to do something. He’d also noticed it was easier to do physical labor when he wasn’t hungry, something he hadn’t been all winter in the castle.

He’d thought since he hadn’t been training as much as usual over the winter months that he’d be weaker when Spring came, but he actually felt stronger and had much more energy.

He’d also grown taller without realizing it thanks to Logan’s nutrition potion. He’d noticed when he’d been in the shed earlier. When he’d first hid in the shed upon arriving at the castle the previous fall, he’d been able to walk under all of the hanging tools in the back. Today, he’d hit his head on some of the them.

His body had changed a lot in the past few months. It made planting with Mr. Deknis much easier.

Virgil had already helped Mr. Deknis with planting some vegetables this Spring, but he still was careful to pay attention as the gardener showed him how to plant the first few orchid bulbs.

Then, Virgil was handed the container of bulbs for himself to try planting. Mr. Deknis watched him plant the first few orchids and Virgil glanced up for approval before moving on each time. He always got a nod and small smile.

Eventually, Mr. Deknis took a few bulbs himself to the opposite end of the patch of soil and started planting some himself, trusting Virgil to plant his portion of the flowers right without supervision. Virgil couldn’t help but be happy about the show of trust given to him.

“Good job,” Mr. Deknis said after the two of them had planted two rows of orchids. “You’ve got an eye for planting things.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said bashfully.

“How old are you again?”

“I’m 14,” Virgil said, unsure why he was asking.

Mr. Deknis nodded. “Maybe in a few years you’ll want to get a job as one of the gardeners here,” he said. “I could always use one who knows how to respect plants like you and with how much you’ve been volunteering to help already, you’ll know a good amount by then.”

“Really?” Virgil asked.

Mr. Deknis nodded.

“Why not now?”

“You’re only 14,” Mr. Deknis said. “You don’t need to worry about working. I’m happy to let you tag along and watch or even help a bit with planting when you want, but you should just be a kid.”

That confused Virgil. He’d been considered out of training to be an assassin as soon as he’d turned 14-years-old last fall. Now he was being told he needed to wait a few years to help plant seeds?

“I could do it,” Virgil said.

“I know you could,” Mr. Deknis said, “but you don’t need to. Have a little fun this summer.”

“But I want to,” Virgil said.

Mr. Deknis huffed out a laugh. “I know,” he said, “and you can feel free to care for your orchids and help me out all you want, but no jobs until you’re at least 16.”

“It’s better than any other jobs I’ve had,” Virgil muttered, honestly annoyed he couldn’t become a gardener right now because of his age.

Mr. Deknis raised an eyebrow. “And what other jobs have you had?”

Virgil froze. That was not a good line of questioning. “Uh…” Virgil said and Mr. Deknis’s expression was changing in an alarming way. “Different things. I’ve carried things for people and, uh, cleaned.”

“Carried things and cleaned, huh?” Mr. Desknis said. It felt like he wasn’t only testing Virgil’s words for lies but observing his face and posture too.

Virgil should be good at lying. He should. That was a major part of being an assassin, but Virgil had started to slip after spending so long around people who were not a danger to him.

At least not a danger to him as long as he didn’t get caught in a lie.

He’d been sloppy with the way he’d frozen when asked a question and with the stuttering. He should have been prepared; he was prepared for the next question.

“You only had to carry things and clean some things up?” Mr. Deknis asked, his eyebrows still raised.

Virgil carefully smoothed out his face, forcing his shoulder to relax as he shrugged. “And some other things,” he said easily. Not a lie. He could feel his heart race anyway.

Mr. Deknis’s eyes bored into him for a long moment and then he titled his head to the side and squinted at him.

Virgil just shot him a small smile. “Can we finish planting the flowers, please?” he asked politely. “I was very excited about it and would like to finish it today.”

Mr. Deknis did not reply for a long moment, and Virgil was careful to keep his expression blank.

Finally, the gardener relented, breaking his stare. If this was because he believed Virgil or not was unclear.

“Yeah, kid,” he said slowly. “Let’s finish planting your flowers.”

Virgil nodded, and he didn’t have to lie as much now as cautious eagerness returned to him. He really did want to finish planting his flowers in addition to stopping Mr. Deknis from asking uncomfortable questions about where Virgil had come from.

Mr. Deknis nodded to the bag of bulbs. They went back to work planting the flowers, but Virgil could feel Mr. Deknis’s eyes on him almost constantly. He had a feeling that this time, he wasn’t watching for how well Virgil was planting the bulbs, but something else.

Virgil was careful to not let his mask slip at all the entire time.

When they were finished planting Virgil’s entire plot of land, they cleaned up the equipment and stored it back away in the garden shed.

Another day Virgil might have stayed and helped Mr. Deknis with other things. Today he was still trying to cover for his bad lying earlier, however, so, Virgil decided to just go back to the castle and shower.

To his surprise Mr. Deknis also started walking off in the direction of the castle.

“Don’t you have more planting to do?” Virgil asked when they got to the door. He knew the man was very busy and his workday was only a bit more than half over.

“I do,” Mr. Deknis confirmed, “but I needed to talk to the king about something first.”

“Oh,” Virgil said. “Okay. I’m going to go shower.”

Mr. Deknis nodded. “I’ll see you sometime later then,” he said.

“Thank you for helping me plant the orchids.”

Mr. Deknis smiled slightly at that. “Anytime, kid.”

Want to read more? Click below!

Birds of Different Feathers Master Post

My Masterpost

#sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #character thomas sanders #adriana writes #little kestrel #birds of different feathers #implied/referenced child abuse #assassination attempt #past torture #captivity

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ashs-random-writing · 2 years

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Change

~~~~~

A borrower's life is full of peril as it is, changing things just makes it worse. A fairy's life is much the same but for different reasons.

So maybe, they shouldn't live together.

~~~~~

Logan hated change. He was a borrower, of course he did; change was extremely dangerous.

If his humans were to change their schedule, for instance, he would have more chance of getting caught whilst borrowing. If he was to change houses, he would have to plan a whole new routine and a new human’s schedule, all the passageways and everything else.

He liked his routine as it was. His humans were loud, but they were predictable. Most of the time.

He had just finished a borrowing run when the loudest human came home, hands trapping something and running towards the bedrooms, where the second human was sat.

Logan cautiously followed from the walls, wary of what could possibly be a new pet or such he would have to avoid. He got there a few minutes after the human did and peered out of a vent. There was a cage on the bedside table and in it was a-

Well, he thought they were a borrower at first, but he had never seen a borrower with wings.

The humans were conversing, but he wasn’t listening, instead watching the fairy intently. They were stood up in the golden bird cage, glaring at the humans.

Logan felt a twang of sympathy in his chest. The prison was carried out to the living room, and set on a different table. Now, all Logan had to do was wait for the humans to sleep, and he would be able to help them.

It took longer than Logan would have wanted but, eventually the humans went to bed. Logan climbed the coffee table to where the fairy was attempting to pick the lock on the outside of the cage. From this close, he noticed some things about them, like the fact that their wings were crumpled and slightly teared, and that they had dark circles under their eyes. Logan couldn’t tell if they were painted on or not

“Salutations. I am Logan. Do you want assistance?” They nodded, before seemingly trying to speak. It sounded more like bells to him

“I apologise, I seem to be having trouble understanding you. You can understand me, correct?” They nodded “Fantastic, lets get you out of this cage and then we’ll figure out some means of communication after”

He brought out a paperclip and used that and a pin to pick the padlock. His father had taught him how to do so in case humans ever caged him or another, and it seemed to come in handy. The lock clicked open after about two and a half minutes of messing with it.

He opened the cage door and the fairy climbed out

“I noticed your wings seem injured, are you still able to fly?”

They gave the wings a small flutter and grimaced in what Logan assumed was pain, before shaking their head. Logan set up his hook and string, and looked up at the fairy

“Do you think you’d be able to climb? If not I could carry you” he offered and the fairy looked down before grabbing the string and lowering themselves to the ground. Logan followed and started leading them towards his closest entrance to the wall

They walked into the wall with minimal hesitation, their wings holding a dim glow in the dark space. Logan took them to his home, and turned on the lights he had borrowed, ironically known as fairy lights.

His home wasn’t the biggest, not by a long shot, but it was his. He had a blanket curled in the corner that he used as a sort of nest, and a group of outfits in a corner, and as well, a place to store all his tools.

The fairy looked around a little and Logan sat down for a moment

“You can stay here if you wish, but if not, I could lead you to the outside of this house. It is entirely your own decision, simply nod if you want to stay and shake your head if you’d prefer getting far away from here”

The fairy nodded, and sat down next to him, not making eye contact. Their wings looked in absolutely horrendous shape and Logan realised how bad that must be for them.

“Would you allow me to take a look at your wings, I have a few first aid supplies in my supply corner” The fairy nodded again and Logan gathered some bandages.

He started to smooth out their wings, murmuring soft encouragements to his new acquaintance as it evidently caused them pain. He bandaged them up as well as he could with scraps of humans bandages

They gave a strained smile once it was done and gave them a tentative flutter, wincing only slightly. Logan still didn’t think they could fly with them in that shape, but that was simply an observation. They said something to him and, though he did not understand the words themselves, he interpreted it as an expression of gratitude

“Ah, if you are thanking me, then you are welcome, if not, then we should probably find a better way to communicate. You know how to write, correct?”

They nodded and Logan brought out some scraps of paper and a piece of pencil led that he had borrowed a while before, and handed them to the fairy

“Would you mind giving me your name? I feel that should be the first course of action here” They wrote their name on one of the scraps and handed it to him

“Hm. Virgil... You have a very nice name, if I do say so myself. I believe to have already introduced myself, but in case I am mistaken, my name is Logan. Shall we get some sleep? I can set up somewhere for you if you wish”

They nodded to both and Logan widened his nest slightly, and they both crawled in. Neither of them were too disruptive whilst sleeping and the morning came quickly, as indicated by a loud shout from one of the humans, presumably Patton

“Janus! The little guy’s gone! It’s not in the cage, and I don’t know how, or-or where it went. Poor thing probably can’t survive on it’s own, not with those injured wings” Logan peeked out through a tiny hole in the wallpaper to see a distressed human looking at the cage

Janus walked in to inspect the prison.

“Were the door and windows closed when you came in?” After Patton gave a nod, he continued “Well, it has to be somewhere in here then” and they searched

Logan looked over to Virgil and saw a look of panic overtake their features as they looked at the humans. They started muttering to themselves, pacing around the walls. The gradually got louder, but Logan doubted they knew that.

The humans froze when they heard it, and Logan quickly put his hand over their mouth and motioned to the humans before removing his hand

“Did you hear that?” Everyone froze at that and Virgil backed away from the wall, holding his own hands to his face with wide eyes. Janus nodded at Patton’s question

“Yeah, it’s definitely still in the house at least... Let’s keep looking” The humans were getting closer to the wall and Virgil grabbed a piece of paper and the pencil again

‘How do I get outside???’

Logan motioned for them to follow him through a tunnel, grabbing pencil and paper on the way out. Logan knew the way well, as he paced it every day, stopping spiders and rats from nesting there, as he would never know when he would need to make a quick escape.

They followed, occasionally attempting to flutter their wings and hissing in pain. After a few minutes of walking, the only light coming from Virgil’s wings, they saw a small crack of light. Logan pushed it open and stepped to the side to let Virgil through

They walked closer and simply stared at the mass of identical houses surrounding them, and backed into the house again, shaking their head. Logan looked back at them

“Are you not going outside, after all?” Virgil shook their head, tears in their eyes

Logan handed them the pencil and paper and they scribbled down an answer

‘I don’t know where we are, I don’t know how to get home, especially without my wings’

Logan hummed in thought, reading over the note

“I do wish I could help, but I have only ever lived on this street, I don’t know anything beyond it. If you wish, however, my home is open to you for however long it takes you to completely heal and then some. You can stay in the walls if you want, and I shall be the one to get food and supplies to avoid you getting spotted. You can stay here as long as you see fit, and if that happens to be longer than it takes for your wings to heal, then so be it” He stated, holding his hand for them to take

The differences in the hands was noticeable immediately, with theirs being slightly smaller, matching their shorter stature, and softer, in contrast to his own large, callused hands formed from years of climbing and borrowing. He lead them back to his home, which was technically their home as well now.

He looked at his nest in thought. Perhaps Virgil would want a separate nest? For borrowers, it was common to share nests, as it took up less supplies, but perhaps that wasn’t a thing with fairies.

He knew that, with humans, sharing a sleeping space was mainly a thing only if the humans were romantically or sexually involved, and that was certainly not a message he would wish to convey to Virgil, as he had only met them the previous night

He elected to keep it as it was unless Virgil brought up a problem themselves, and instead looked at his food supplies, trying to determine when next he would have to borrow. It seemed he was set for the next few days or so, with the addition of Virgil.

He started getting out some portions of food for them both; giving Virgil a few berries he had borrowed, and himself half of a cracker. They ate in relative silence, the only noise coming from the outside of the walls.

The humans were still looking for the fairy, though they seemed to be giving up, quite luckily for the fairy themselves.

They lived together for a month before any problems arose. The humans had heard Virgil’s voice a few times, but they had stopped actively trying to look for him. They always glanced in the direction, however.

Logan was on his routine borrowing run whilst the humans were working outside of the house, as he was every three days

He knew Virgil was watching him from their shared home, as that is what he always did, to make sure Logan stayed safe. Logan didn’t mind, as long as he stayed out of sight

As it was, the humans believed that Virgil escaped by himself, so if he was caught once again, the humans might put him in something more secure, that Logan wouldn’t be able to help with.

He had just got half of the supplies, when he heard the front door open. Realising that he was on a table in the middle of the room, with no chance of having enough time to climb down, he ran to the edge of the table and looked down

It wasn’t too high, there was a chance to jump without injury; a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. He couldn’t spend any more time thinking on that as the human started opening the door to the kitchen

Logan jumped and he landed with a sickening crack of the arm and a scream, before everything went black.

Virgil was flying in the forest. He was doing his morning patrols, and he got distracted: by the time he had seen the human, it was too late. He was grabbed and his wings had gotten caught in the fingers

He cussed to himself as the human put their other hand over top of him, effectively trapping him in between their hands. Their hand jostled as they started walking and he felt his wing tear with white hot, searing pain.

He cried out and the human stopped, tentatively opening their hands to worriedly peer at him

“Oh no, little guy... I didn’t hurt you did I?” The hand he wasn’t sitting on came closer to him and he tried to hit it away, vaguely aware of the tears streaming down his face

“Oh my- Your wing... I’m sorry, little guy” They reached out to touch the wing and Virgil flinched, instinctively trying to fly away, only to feel some of the worst pain he had felt in his lifetime

He tried to scramble back from the hand, trying to stop the large appendage getting closer to his injury. He attempted to beg with the giant

“Please, stop... It hurts- it hurts so much” He mumbled, looking up at the human, who’s hand was now hanging in mid air, just inches from his body. They brought him closer with metaphorical stars in their eyes

“Aww, the little noises you make are so adorable! Don’t worry lil’ guy, I’ll take good care of you” This was how he figured out that humans couldn’t understand him. Their hand went back to covering him, this time without trapping his wings.

He guessed they were running, based on how much he was thrown around. He cried out in pain a few times, but he didn’t know if the human heard him.

Now with one teared wing, and both of them crumpled, there was no way he’d be able to get away from his captor

He wondered if that was their plan from the beginning, hurting him to lower the chances of him getting away. Before they entered the beast’s home, they opened their hands and noticed how bad his wings were looking

“Oh, kiddo... I’ll just straighten these out okay, I don’t think that would be too comfortable to have them all crumpled like that” They reached out, and Virgil didn’t verbally respond, only trying to hit the hand away. Talking wouldn’t do anything anyway

“Shh, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you, you’re okay, you’re okay”

They touched his untorn wing, gently pinching it between forefinger and thumb and starting to smooth it out. It was slightly painful, but they were surprisingly gentle with it. Virgil was too scared to move, knowing that what happened to his first wing could happen to this one

Until a dog barked across the street. Virgil flinched and immediately cried out in pain once again as his wing tore

“Oh my stars, I am so so sorry, little guy... I’ll just- uh- Oh stars, this is- I am so sorry” They stammered, before unlocking their door and going inside, hand not completely over him, but still covering him.

The human wasn’t exactly running this time, he didn’t think so anyway, but they were still fast

He barely had time to comprehend as he was all but shoved in front of another human’s face, who leant closer to him

Virgil couldn’t help but stare at the scars on their left side, but got over that quickly as they looked up to the other human

“What happened to its wings, Patton?” They asked, eyes flickering down to him for a moment

“It was an accident, its wing got caught in my fingers and then when I was trying to smooth out the other, it moved and-” The first human, Patton, sounded upset at the retelling of what had happened

Virgil didn’t like that they were calling him an ‘it’, nor the fact that Patton was claiming his injuries an accident. Virgil wasn’t too convinced of that.

The second human sighed “Of course. You find a mythical creature and you injure it almost immediately. Where are we even gonna keep it?”

“Well, I was wondering if you still had that decorative cage?” Patton asked and Virgil mentally connected the dots- decorative, not practical. He could probably escape from that

“I know it doesn’t have a lock, but I have a padlock that we could use” Patton continued, shattering Virgil’s hopes as quickly as they were built up.

He was put into the cage very soon, and he stood at the far side, glaring at the humans as they fastened the lock onto the bars. He eventually sat down, trying to ignore the burning pain in his wings and started humming to himself

The humans barely left him out of their sight, except for when they needed to do something. He was given food, but he didn’t eat. It could be poisoned for all he knew. He was still awake when the humans went to bed and he lamented his situation in silence

After about an hour of (rightfully) sulking and trying to pick the lock, he saw a borrower climbing up to him

He had met a few borrowers in his life, many of them people who were moving house, or those who were perpetually moving and never settled down. Most were nice, but there were a few who were more distrustful. He couldn’t blame them, he didn’t trust very many people either

This borrower introduced themselves as Logan, and helped get him out of the cage and into the walls, letting him stay the night and gently fixing up his wings with medical supplies.

They shared their food supplies, and Virgil didn’t miss that he got given the bigger portion of three blueberries, while they got half of a cracker. He hummed, not bringing it up.

When it was time to sleep, Logan pointed him to his side of the nest, in which Virgil had to sleep on his stomach to avoid further injury to his wings

Due to... complications with his ability to get back to the forest, he stayed with Logan longer than originally planned. Neither minded too much at the arrangement

He could almost confidently say that he trusted Logan. Logan would go out to get supplies every few days, and Virgil would watch, out of both worry and interest. The humans were out of the house, and, if all went according to plan, would be for another few hours.

Logan was on the table in the kitchen, counting supplies as he always did during a supply collecting. Virgil leant against the wall and fluttered his wings, glad that at least now it didn’t hurt as much as it used to.

Both of the people in the house froze at the sound of the front door, and Virgil could practically feel the fear radiating off of the borrower. He could see Logan’s thought process as he ran to the edge of the table, looked over the edge, up to the kitchen door, and back to the floor again

Virgil could hardly watch as he jumped. He knew that Logan wanted to escape as quickly as possible, and he knew that jumping was much quicker than climbing, and he knew that Logan wouldn’t jump if he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t die, but at the sound of the agonizing scream as the kitchen door opened, he couldn’t help but fear the worst.

The human (now identified as Janus) stared down at the floor that Logan fell onto, and Virgil wished he could see that far down

“Oh... oh dear” The human leant down to see his best friend and Virgil could barely keep from hyperventilating. What had caused the ‘oh dear’ reaction?

What was wrong with Logan?! Was he okay?! Was- was Logan... he couldn’t even finish the thought. The human stood back up holding a limp form whose arm was covered in blood. Virgil’s heart stopped.

He looked at Logan, maybe he was just unconscious? Hopefully, just unconscious. Virgil no longer cared that the human was right there and started shouting, trying to wake his friend up

“Logan! Logan please! Wake up...” He banged his fist on the wall in desperation. Logan, unfortunately, didn’t respond. However, the human looked towards the wall, scrutinising it as if he would be able to see Virgil if he was suspicious enough

He soon turned his attention onto the unconscious borrower, placing his thumb down on Logan’s chest, one of his vulnerable points. Virgil didn’t like that. He knew first-hand how easy it was for a human to ‘mess up’

“Still alive at least...” Janus mumbled “Now about that arm” Logan was set on the table and Virgil wasted no time in collecting the first-aid bag and running out into the open

He couldn’t let the humans hurt Logan more. The human had spotted him, but Virgil ignored that, blood rushing in his ears and making it hard to focus on anything but Logan.

He threw the hook and string that Logan had lent to him and climbed to Logan. The borrower didn’t look too good, but Virgil knew how to fix broken arms. He had been paranoid a few summers previously and had studied medical advice up until his own wings were broken

He hadn’t studied everything yet, but he knew how to fix this at least. He could see the human approaching in his peripheral vision and he hissed, holding Logan’s limp body closer as Janus hesitantly stepped backwards.

The good news with being a fairy, wings or no, meant that he had some magic. Not in the same way as witches, definitely not. No, the fairy type of magic meant he was much more valuable in a witches potion than anything like a witch themselves

No, Virgil’s magic was the type that he couldn’t channel or control, the type that meant he, specifically, was magic. His blood had some healing properties in it to every creature but fairies themselves, and was a common ingredient in healing potions. His tears could be used in any number of potions and concoctions

This wasn’t the most fun of facts, given it lead to the capture and illegal selling of fairies in the magical world, but in this instance, him being literally made of magic came useful

He sliced open his palm on the edge of his hook and let a few drops drip into the wound, before bandaging his own hand. The bones were setting together again, and the wound closed slightly. Virgil had to do the rest the normal way; fairy blood was dangerous in concentrated amounts, and he didn’t want to hurt his best (and only) friend

The human was watching him, definitely, but he was focused on the fact that Logan was waking up

“Virgil...?” He mumbled trying to reach up to where the fairy was kneeling next to him, only to quickly lower that arm and raise the uninjured one.

Virgil nodded and brushed the hair out of Logan’s eyes. He was still... out of sorts and not very coherent, so it was almost a miracle that he even recognised Virgil. The human eventually left the room as Logan sat up, became more aware and realised what had happened

“Virgil... did- did the human see me?” Virgil had never heard Logan sound so worried, so scared. He nodded and Logan sharply inhaled

“Did he see you?” Logan asked, eyes desperate to see a no.

Virgil nodded again.

Janus... Janus was having an alright life, until his roommate brought home an injured fairy

It couldn’t speak, and Janus wasn’t sure it could understand them, or if it was even sapient, but he kept it. It disappeared that night, but he didn’t think it had found a way outside, he had been hearing it a lot for the past month

He and Patton had looked for hours, only to come up fruitless, so he didn’t know exactly where it was, but he knew it hadn’t left completely

He had walked into his house after his work had closed early due to a problem with the machines, only to hear a blood-curdling scream when he went to walk into the kitchen

He looked to the floor where a small pool of blood was around a tiny person’s limp body

“Oh... oh dear” He said, too shocked to say much else. He leant down to look at it.

He wasn’t too sure whether it was still living or not but he picked it up and looked it over. He was ninety percent certain that the source of the bleeding was a nasty break on their arm, but he still wanted to check the entire body to be sure

Before he could do anything, a loud ruckus from the other side of the room drew his attention. It was obviously the fairy, but he still couldn’t figure out where it was. On the topic of fairies, he looked down at the tiny being in his hand, placing his thumb on its chest

He could feel a shallow heartbeat and some laboured breathing. He placed them on the table and heaved a sigh of relief, muttering to himself as he looked around for medical supplies. Before he was able to find them however, some movement caught his eye. There was *his* fairy, sprinting across the floor like its life depended on it.

He wondered, at first, why it wasn’t flying, and was instead climbing up to the table, but then he noticed the fact that its wings were in bandages and were still slightly crumpled. He couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty for that

It wasn’t really his fault, but it was his roommates fault. It pulled the unconscious body closer and Janus stepped forward, not sure what it was doing.

It hissed at him, and Janus backed away. It sliced open its hand, revealing black blood, which then dripped into the other one’s wound, before it bandaged itself up. The Maybe-Fairy’s wound started closing, not all the way, but it was healing. Janus couldn’t help but stare

The Possibly-A-Fairy started waking up, and Janus stared still. It looked up at the fairy at its side and blinked

“Virgil...?” It said and Janus left the room. It could speak

Well, the Probably-Not-A-Fairy was definitely sapient and so was the fairy, it seemed. He wondered if the fairy’s (Virgil’s?) wings were being taken care of by the Not-Fairy or not. They appeared to be friends or something of the sort. And Virgil seemed to want to help their injury

He dialled Patton and waited for him to pick up

“Hello?”

“Patton, I have a problem. The fairy’s back”

Patton gasped and stayed silent for a few moments before speaking

“But... that’s great news, what’s wrong? Janus, what’s going on?”

Janus explained, starting from the tiny person falling from the table, and ending with that they started speaking. Patton inhaled

“Okay, I’m coming home from work soon, just hang on and check on the little guys whilst I’m on my way?” Janus nodded, and hung up, going to peak into the kitchen

The tiny people had not noticed his presence just yet, and the fairy seemed to be comforting the other, rubbing their back and muttering things. Janus wondered if the second tiny person understood Virgil or not

He pushed the door open all the way and walked in, causing both of them to stare at him. It seemed that whilst he was talking to Patton, the injured arm had been bandaged and put in a makeshift splint

The unnamed tiny started scrambling away as he got closer and Janus frowned down at them

“Well, is that any way to treat your host, who, might I add, so graciously helped you?” They stared at him, but looked down, and Virgil crossed their arms and glared, saying something up at him

Janus may not have been able to understand but he could figure out the main point; it was something like ‘what do you mean you helped? I did all the work’ Janus rolled his eyes

The unnamed tiny still didn’t look at him

“I doubt you actually helped. I don’t think you would help me without a catch”

Okay, ouch. It wasn’t the words that stung the most, it was the way it was said, as if it was a proven fact. He didn’t even think it was personal, he had a feeling that they just mistrusted humans in general

“Um, rude. I wouldn’t hurt you, why would you think I would?”

Both tinies looked at the broken wings and Janus understood a little more. The one with the injured arm took a shaky breath

“Virgil has informed me how his wings got injured, and how it was claimed accidental. Neither of us really believe that, of course, perhaps it was a ploy to weaken him to lower chances of an escape attempt, but nonetheless, accident or not, you could so easily hurt us, I don’t logically see a reason to trust you” Virgil nodded in agreement

Janus stared a moment, thinking over what was said. Did they really believe that he and Patton purposely hurt Virgil in order to trap him? That was ridiculous... except, it wasn’t.

He thought about it from Virgil’s point of view and realised how terrifying that would be, to be grabbed by a giant that couldn’t understand you and earning large injuries from the whole ordeal, then being thrown into a cage as well. He could kind of see why he thought it was intentional, regardless of how much Patton had apologised about the wings

Janus looked away

“Just- just do what you’re doing. And, not that you’d believe us, but we are really sorry about the wings, by the way. I hope they heal soon” He left the room and went to his own, thinking about how things had been going

He took a sharp breath when he heard something outside, and ran to the window. Once he was sure that it was just Patton getting out of his car, he went downstairs to greet the other human

“Good evening, my dear friend. Our, um, guests are in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t recommend going in. They don’t really trust us” He blocked Patton from entering, much to his displeasure

“Why can’t we talk it out with them?”

“Pat, you don’t understand, they think it was on purpose. They think you injured his wings on purpose to hurt him and trap him easier, they won’t be open to talking, they’ll just be terrified”

“...fine. But why do they think it’s on purpose?” he asked, looking concerned for their wellbeing. Janus looked

Logan realised that he had forgotten to add injuries to his list of dangerous changes.

He really hated change. He groaned in pain, as he sat up. Virgil was next to him with a bandage on his own hand. Hm... Wait. He was on top of the table.

Virgil couldn’t lift him up there, he certainly couldn’t climb whilst knocked out and with a broken arm. That meant... He felt a sudden overwhelmed sense of fear build up in him

“Virgil... did- did the human see me?” He asked, desperate to be answered with a no. Virgil seemed reluctant to answer, but still did, and Logan breathed in.

“Did he see you?” He asked quietly, trying not to hyperventilate. Virgil nodded.

The human walked in after a few minutes, they said a few words to each other but Logan struggled to remember what happened. Janus left after some time, and Logan looked at Virgil, who was shaking almost more than Logan

“We will have to move, it appears” He offered weakly. Virgil shot him a look as if to say ‘no, duh’

Whilst the humans were otherwise preoccupied, they both climbed down. It was slow and shaky, and Logan kept having to bite his cheek to keep from screaming at the pain in his arm, but they got down with no problems for the most part.

They got into the walls and started packing for the trek to the next house, only the essentials: food and water storage, tools, climbing materials, bandages, medicine, and such others

Once they were done packing, Logan gave one last look at what had been his home for five years past, and turned the light off with a sigh. Both the people in the walls slowly walked towards where they walked every day, to the exit.

It was sunny outside, if a little cold, but it was ideal weather for moving house.

They traversed hours to the next street over, and found an extremely old entrance to an ageing, red house. The walls had been lived in before, certainly, if the nail stairs and small section that seemed to once be a home were any indication. He and Virgil set up their own home and looked around the walls

Virgil froze, staring into one of the human’s rooms, wings twitching anxiously. He turned around to Logan with a look of pure panic. Logan rushed forward and looked into the room

“Oh, oh no” He whispered, slightly horrified at the sight. On the shelves were dozens of potion ingredients, including fairy blood, fairy wings and fairy tears. Virgil ran back to where they had set up, hurriedly starting to pack again

Logan grabbed his wrist. As much as he knew it was dangerous to stay, it was also dangerous to leave for that night; it was getting dark and it was starting to rain. He explained his point to his friend in a hushed tone, weary of the witch in the next room. Virgil turned to face him, face red and tears streaming freely.

He shouted something back at Logan in a moment of defensive anger, before slapping his hands onto his mouth and his face drained of all colour.

The human was walking towards the wall now, and both inhabitants started backing away. The wall in front of them disappeared, and instead, they saw a human’s face, grinning from ear to ear

“Well, how convenient.. I was looking for somewhere to find more fresh ingredients and a fairy just wanders in,” They turned their attention onto Logan with an excited glint in their eyes “And you! I’ve never seen anything like you, you’re not a fairy, are you?”

Instead of waiting for an answer, they grabbed Logan and a wave of cold flooded over the borrower, except for a red hot burning in his arm.

“You don’t have any magic in you at all, except for a little fairy blood in that tiny arm of yours. How very interesting...” They all but stuffed him in the pocket of their red robe as they looked at Virgil.

Everything was a bit muffled, but he could make out the witch looking over Virgil’s body

They tutted “Oh dear, the last person to have handled you obviously didn’t know how to keep your wings in one piece, or maybe it was a punishment for something you did wrong?”

Logan wriggled, trying to escape from the pocket desperately. The human started walking and Logan was thrown around, crying out in pain when he hit his arm. He was taken out a minute later, and saw Virgil in a cage, like those meant for hamsters. He squirmed to try to get to him, but the witch gave a warning squeeze to his torso.

“I have a special job for you, little one. I think you’d make a fine familiar, don’t you?” Logan didn’t justify the question with a response, he knew that a witch's familiar was basically a glorified pet

“Hm, no matter, I don’t need your approval to do the spell, anyway” They started chanting and Logan could feel his insides warming up. He must’ve passed out, because the next thing he knew, he was laying on the table, with the witch staring down at him

“Now, let’s test if it worked. Tell me your name little guy~” They reached down to poke him

Logan couldn’t disobey, the name slipped out of his mouth as if he was not in control of his body. Their grin got even wider

“Well, Logan, I’m Roman. Y’know, I think this form is a little too... not subtle, even for me. How about I make you look more like an animal to avoid suspicion?” They didn’t wait for an answer before casting their spell

Logan changed and grew and his arms turned into something new. When the transformation was done, Logan showed no trace of ever being anything but a raven. His injury had translated into a broken wing, and his glasses had translated into slightly darker feathers around the eyes

Roman whistled condescendingly, like one would do to a pet bird “Come here, Logan” Logan hopped over unwillingly, trying not to look at his friend, who was shaking at the bars of the cage

“Good boy, Logan” Roman praised.

After a few weeks as a familiar, Logan still hated it.

Roman was condescending, and would always tell him how pointless complaining would be, as the only person to understand a witch’s familiar is the witch themselves. Virgil’s wings had healed, and both captives of the witch knew what that meant.

Logan had not yet drank a healing potion for his wing, nor did he want to. He knew what the key ingredient was, and he wouldn’t use that potion.

Roman woke up early in the morning on a Monday, and said good morning to the bird, before doing his weekly checks on Virgil’s wings. This time, instead of a disappointing hum, he lit up and scooped the fairy into a fist, careful of the wings and started walking into the potions room

Logan watched helplessly

“Please! Don’t hurt him, I don’t want you to hurt him!” He pleaded as his friend struggled. Roman stopped for a moment to look back at him

“Don’t worry, bird-brain, it’ll be quick and painless for him. Isn’t that great? You’ll get healed, and your friend won’t suffer!” Roman was stubborn, he refused to see the error of his ways, only seeing how it would benefit. Roman refused to see that he didn’t need to kill anyone, that Logan’s wing was healing fine on its own; slow, but fine.

Roman got into his potion-making robes, and left with Virgil in hand.

He came back a few hours later with a vial of something dark, not exactly the colour of Virgil’s blood, but close, with a purple shimmer around it. The witch presented it to him proudly

Logan did not want to drink the product of his friend’s demise, but if he didn’t, would Virgil’s death be in vain? He had no time to contemplate as Roman whistled and commanded him to drink up, and Logan couldn't disobey

Now that he was healed and could think without pain, the only thought he had was how Virgil was gone

Logan hated change

~~~~~

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper

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