A birdhouse. What they find is a birdhouse, sealed up in reinforced deepslate. It had not been so much a trail as following Tubbo as he frantically searched various places and their surroundings, and a bit of good luck in that Pac had a spyglass on him. Tubbo leads, Fit guards, and Pac is here because he cannot let anyone suffer the Federation longer than they must.
That it took them this long to notice Philza was missing honestly makes him feel a little sick. A man who claims so many close friends, and still it took 3 days for any of them to notice. Pac wonders - if nobody had seen his own kidnappings, would it taken them as long?
It doesn't really matter. They are here now, and they can only do their best.
It is hard to get inside. Once they do, the place is… beautiful. Full of birds, and vines, and if it were not for something that Pac cannot quite place would look like one of Tallulah's builds.
Tubbo moved first of the three, not nearly as cautious, not scouring for traps as Fir does, or anxiously checking for danger like Pac.
The birdhouse is shaped like an L, part it hidden. As soon as Tubbo sees it, he screams "Phil!" and also vanishes behind the wall.
Pac and Fit do not hesitate. They launch themselves the few steps forwards to see.
Fit yells "shit" and follows Tubbo to the floor.
Pac… Pac takes the moment to look, heart in his throat. There are more birds - hummingbirds - all around, both sat on the floor and caged up above. In the centre is a plinth, and on it a book, an empty shelf on either side.
Philza is curled on the floor before the plinth, surrounded by bloody, torn feathers. Hus wings are even more a mess than before, and it is clear he curls around something.
More worrying - Tubbo is shaking him, yelling and sobbing his name, while Fit taps his cheek and asks for a response. Neither works.
Pac does not know Philza well, but he does know this is bad. It is not a build like any other Federation build, but he knows a torture room when he sees one.
Even one as pretty as this.
"Babygirl," Fit calls him, and Pac flinches. "Can you look at me? You love this shiny head, don't you? Wanna see it?"
Pac shakes himself. He pulls out a sharestone and sets it beside the group, checking over the list of who is online.
No doctors on the island, Philza's other friends offline, nobody like that - just…
Forever's communicator comes online.
Pac does not hesitate to private message him, givinf him the name of the sharestone, and to bring blankets, healing potions, and hot chocolate.
Done, he kneels between Tubbo and Fit, the former sobbing apologies and the other trying again.
"I asked Forever to come with blankets," Pac whispers.
Fit nods, flicking Philza's forehead and finally earning a response.
Philza sluggishly raises his head, empty, dead eyes blinking in Fit's direction. He reaches a hand out, and fails to reach; Pac takes it up, freezing cold.
"There you are," Fit's smile is tense. "Birdbrain got you good, huh?"
They all know it's not birdbrain but shock; the blood all around, the vacant expression… with Philza's arm uncurled, Pac can see what Philza was holding. A ducky floaty, and a red beanie.
He swears.
Fit looks, and swears as well.
Tubbo, seeing them, breaks into sobs.
Pac uses his free arm to pull Tubbo into a hug just as the sharestone whirs.
"Hey Pac, what sort if sleepover needs-" Forever freezes in his words for a moment, before yelling for Philza, and joining the group on the floor.
Forever throws a few splash potions at him, before grabbing the blankets. Pac is somewhat pushed aside but, with the sobbing Tubbo in his arms, maybe that is for the best.
Somehow, Fit and Forever get Philza sitting, while Pac manages to convince Tubbo to breathe. He watches as they convince him to drink a potion, then as he's given the mug of hot chocolate and grasps it in his hands. Philza leans heavily against Fit, but his eyes remain on Forever.
The ducky and the beanie remain firmly in his lap.
"What happened?" Fit speaks for all of them. "Do you remember?"
Philza nods, but it still takes him a while to speak, "I... Here."
Shaking hands draw a book from his inventory, and hand it to Forever.
Forever reads aloud the story of the old crow, and the room is grim.
"But wait," Tubbo finally calms himself enough to pipe up. "The ducky is still in the maze. How's it here too?"
"At least one is a very convincing fake," Fit says. "If not both."
Pac, who has been kidnapped more than anyone else in the room, and has seen another happen, can almost see it play out. His hands shake as he grips Tubbo a little tighter.
"The ducky in the maze," he whispers. "It wasn't about Chayanne; it was about Phil."
"It's so fucking stupid," Philza groans, taking a sip of hot chocolate and earning a little more life. "I should have seen it. Tallulah doesn't write like that, she knows I'm an idiot and has to spell it out. A bit too much sometimes. And Chayanne wouldn't write a book at all, just leave me a scrap with coordinates on, or maybe a trail of potato crates. I just-"
Forever leans over and pulls Philza from Fit's chest to his own, capturing him in a desperate hug, whispering reassurances Pac cannot hear he is sure.
"Fucking Feds." Fit sums up the room.
"It's not your fault," Pac says the words everyone always told him. "The Federation is... too good? at this."
"It's fucked up," Tubbo agrees. "And on Tallulah's birthday? They got you good, man. What if-"
Pac squeezes Tubbo's shoulder, "they are too good at this. It's not Philza's fault."
"Played us like fiddles," Fit agrees. "All of us. Nobody thought the ducky would be about you not Chayanne even after you vanished."
"Do you want to go home?" Forever ignores their conversation. "There's a sharestone; we can get easily back."
Philza shakes his head, his voice breaking as he says "I want my children."
They really should make a bunk room in the Order, Pac thinks, both for situations like this and for when Cellbit is up until the small hours struggling over puzzles.
He does not think of his own son, still missing, and the empty house he, too, must go back to.
With Missa so infrequently there... Does Philza feel the same?
He must do.
An empty house made for a family, haunted by their absence, the eternal knowing you were not enough... Pac built a whole new home on the island, and still cannot escape his family's ghosts. How they can Philza, when he sleeps in his children's bedroom?
"There are still houses in the Favela," Pac says, it the most central place he can think of. "You could go there? We used to stay there all the time; there's space for Tubbo and Fit too."
"You come as well," Fit butts in.
Pac would object, but Philza examines him, then gives an exhausted nod.
"Okay," he merely says.
"We could call Wilbur?" Fit suggests. "Once we're at the Favela. I know its not the eggs, but..."
But, if what he has been told is correct, the fabled Wilbur is one of Philza's children just the same.
Philza nods, and Forever scoops him up. Tubbo scuttles from Pac's grasp to grab the floaty, while Fit passes Pac Tallulah's beanie.
He clings to it, her hat.
Fit gives him a knowing smile and takes his hand. "Favela, then."
"We can invite people to come chill as they get online," Tubbo suggests.
It sounds like a solid enough plan; Philza is already half asleep, and surely someone has enough medical knowledge to check on him? Even if not, the expression of how many people care... It meant a lot to Pac, embarassing as it was. It surely would to Philza too.
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