Chapter Text
All avians felt a connection to each other. It was a powerful instinct that was in every avian, born of the intrinsic need to form a flock. And while it happened most often between two avians, it was also common for one winged being to become fiercely attached to and protective of a self-made flock.
It was part of why Philza had almost immediately ‘adopted’ Tommy upon finding him, part of why he looked after Techno and Wilbur so fiercely. Tommy was an avian, like him. Techno and Wilbur were part of Philza’s ‘flock.’ He would protect them, with his life if he had to.
After a long time of being in the SMP, Philza had grown almost settled into his life there. He had Techno living with him still, he had their quiet peace in the arctic, and he didn’t expect his ‘flock’ to expand any time soon. Quite frankly, he was happy with things the way they were (it would be nice if Wilbur and Tommy visited more, but he wasn’t going to push it until they wanted to come). And the meantime, he still had Techno.
Speaking of Techno….
Philza glanced out the window into the snow arctic storm, searching for the smudge of red that would be his friend. Techno had said vaguely he had some business to take care of in the main SMP, and had left earlier that morning. But he still wasn’t —
The door banged open, and Philza jumped slightly, his wings flaring out. “Techno!” he said with relief. “How did I not see —?” He caught sight of Techno in the doorway, and his eyes widened. “Techno,” he said slowly. “What…?”
“I told you,” Techno said. “I had some stuff to take care of. Dream was stuff.” Techno nudged the door shut behind him, and hurried into the living room with a clearly unconscious Dream in his arms, bundled in Techno’s cape.
“Techno…,” Philza said again, trailing after him. “What… what is he…?”
“I broke him out of prison,” Techno said flatly. He was stained with blood, but Phil, looking him over swiftly, didn’t see any visible injuries, so it must have been someone else’s. “Favors owed, favors paid. I’m a man of my word, Phil, and he saved my life. So I saved his.”
“But — but surely his life wasn’t in danger,” Phil tried, staring down at the unmoving Dream as Techno gently set him on the couch. The man who had caused so much discord in there Server. The man he’d blown up a country with. (The man who’d brought his son back to life.) “He was just in prison, right? It was… better for the Server, wasn’t it? More… at peace? Wasn’t he… alright where he was?”
Techno gave him a cold, disbelieving look, and Phil drew back slightly. “Philza Minecraft,” Techno said shortly, “does this man look alright to you?” He drew back part of the cape still wrapped around Dream.
Philza hissed under his breath, eyes widening. Dream was absolutely covered in blood, numerous injuries still leaking it. His eyes were still shut, and scars littered his face, one of them coming disturbingly close to his eye. And those were just what Phil could see.
“Mate…,” Phil said slowly. “That’s… that’s….”
“Bad,” Techno agreed. “Yeah. I need you to fix him, Phil.”
Philza blinked. “I’m sorry — what?”
Techno turned to fully face Phil, gripping his shoulders. His voice was urgent. “Phil, I have to get back out there and lead the Server away, make sure no one else ends up here. Dream is going to die if we don’t do something to help him, and you’re the only one who can do that right now. Please, Phil. I — I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything to you or Tommy or anyone when I get back, I just —“ Techno inhaled sharply. “I can’t let him die, Phil. Please.”
“I — no, of course I’ll help, Techno,” Philza said, somewhat flustered by Techno’s intensity. “Just be careful out there, and come back safely, alright?”
Techno exhaled and released him, his relief written all over his face. “Thank you, Phil,” he said, already backing towards the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” The door slammed behind him, and he was gone, back into the swirling storm.
Philza let out a long breath, and slowly turned back to Dream, staring down at him. Then he started, and hurried over to the wall of chests, throwing one open. What was he doing? He couldn’t just stand there, Dream clearly needed help, and Techno wanted Phil to help him. Not like Phil would just let him die, anyway. He wasn’t like that.
Philza grabbed an armful of potions, cloths, and bandages, and dumped them on the table by the couch, dropping down beside Dream. He carefully edged back Techno’s scarlet cape, furrowing his brow with every new injury the motion uncovered.
There were too many injuries, and they looked far too deliberate, for this to have happened in some kind of fight. This was torture. And it was bad, too. Phil didn’t even know where to start.
He hovered uncertainly for a few seconds, before taking a breath and just diving in, trying to do what he could to help Dream. Potions could only go so far, and the wounds all had to be cleaned and bandaged as well.
Phil thought he was doing fairly well with his doctoring until he noticed the blood soaking into the couch from under Dream, coming from a previously unseen wound.
Slowly, trying not to aggravate any of his other injuries, Phil turned Dream onto his side so he could better see the damage on his back. Then he inhaled sharply, and drew back his hand.
There were two long, identical gashes down Dream’s back, just at his shoulder blades, fairly recent and still leaking blood. The sight made his heart just about stop. Philza had seen injuries like that. Not on this Server, and not for a long time.
But he still knew what it looked like when an avian lost their wings.
Dream… was an avian?
But how?
Phil had never seen wings on him before, and these injuries were clearly recent.
Unless….
Dream had never been seen without his mask. It was beyond bizarre to see him without it now, to be able to see his actual face (why did he look so much younger than Phil had expected?). Phil knew the mask had been enchanted, he had seen the runes glowing along the sides of it when they had destroyed L’Manburg together. He hadn’t given it much thought before. But could the enchanting on the mask have hidden the wings?
Phil shook himself; now wasn't the time for speculation. Major arteries went through an avian’s wings, and with those wings gone, it was a miracle Dream hadn’t bled to death already.
Swiftly but carefully, Phil got to work trying to do what he could for the deep gashes. He cleaned them, applied healing potions, and bandaged them, anger drumming through him when he wondered who could have dared do this.
After Dream’s injuries were dealt with, Phil slowly fell back, dropping down beside the couch. He didn’t know what to think. Dream was an avian. He was an avian. He supposed that explained the inexplicable protectiveness he’d felt towards Dream during the destruction of L’manburg. He’d put it down to the fact that Dream was a friend of Techno’s, that they needed all three of them to complete the plan. After they had parted ways, he’d brushed the feelings off as nothing.
But it had really been his avian instincts sensing that Dream was one of them.
(Had Tommy ever felt that about Dream, too? Had Dream ever felt it about Tommy?)
“Prime,” Phil muttered. “Prime.” This was all too much. He didn’t know what to think, what to feel. He just felt numb. Except for the undeniable, barely restrained rage that came with seeing that Dream’s wings had been so heartlessly removed. Wings were an avian’s pride and joy, oftentimes more important to them than life itself. To take someone’s wings like this… it was indescribably awful.
As soon as Techno came back, Philza was going to find out who had done this, and tear them apart.
You didn’t touch an avian’s wings. Ever. That was a line that you just didn’t cross. Even during the battle of L’Manburg, no one had tried to fight Philza by hurting his wings. Even during all that had happened between Dream and Tommy, the former had never tried to touch Tommy’s wings.
But someone had done that to Dream. Someone had had the audacity to cut off Dream’s wings, and then leave the injuries untreated and bleeding out.
Even if it had been a complete stranger who was injured, Phil would have sought vengeance for them. Something like this was unforgivable. And Phil was going to murder them for it.
On the couch, Dream sucked in a breath, and Phil jumped, coming back sharply to the present. “Dream?” he said hesitantly, his hand hovering over Dream’s arm, before he thought better of touching him, and drew back. “You… alright, mate?”
Dream didn’t respond, instead tightly curling up in on himself. He drew his heavily bandaged arms around himself, pressing them protectively around himself (like that would do anything to protect him). His breaths were short and quick, stuttering in his chest. The sight caused a pang in Phil.
“Dream, you’re alright,” he said, softly, so as not to startle him. “You're at mine and Techno’s house, in the arctic. You’re safe, I promise.”
He kept repeating the words, trying to help Dream see that he was fine, that he was safe.
It seemed to take ages, but finally, slowly, Dream shifted positions, pulling his arm away from his face. He opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, and his fearful gaze immediately landed on Phil. He didn’t relax, his body still unbearably tense.
“Dream, I’m not going to hurt you,” Philza promised, holding up his hands in a calming gesture. “You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I promise.”
Dream’s gaze flicked quickly around the room, before going back to Philza. He didn’t seem to want to take his eyes off him, like he was afraid Phil would attack him the second he let his guard down.
Painfully aware of this, Phil slowly reached towards the side table, and slowly took down a potion, making sure that Dream could follow all of his movements. “You should drink this, mate,” Phil said, uncorking the bottle. “It’ll help.” He moved the potion towards Dream, but stopped when the man flinched and drew back.
Slowly, after a long pause, Phil extended the healing potion again until it was within Dream’s reach, careful not to make any sudden movements. Dream stared at it for a long time, but didn’t move.
“Dream, you need to drink it,” Phil said. “It’s going to help you get better. It’s just a healing potion, I promise.”
Dream’s eyes flicked around the room again, and his brow furrowed slightly.
“Techno will be back soon,” Phil said, hoping he was correctly interpreting Dream’s concern. “He’s just making sure no one followed him here.”
Moving with almost painful slowness, Dream reached out a slightly shaking hand, and took the potion bottle from Phil, careful not to touch his hand. He pulled himself slightly more upright, and took a small drink from the potion. His eyes didn’t leave Phil, who suddenly had to fight the urge to wrap his wings around him until he was all better.
Philza waited patiently while Dream drank the potion, not saying anything. It took almost ten minutes, but finally, the entire potion was inside Dream, for which Phil was thankful for. The man needed all the help he could get. Dream held the now-empty bottle awkwardly in his bandaged, shaking hands, until Phil reached out a hand for it.
Dream flinched, his fingers tightening reflexively around the bottle. Phil didn’t move, keeping his hand extended palm-up. Slowly, Dream reached out, and set the bottle in Phil’s hand, immediately drawing his hand back up against himself.
Phil set the bottle back on the table, still moving slowly to avoid making Dream any more nervous than he already was.
Dream shifted positions on the couch, and flinched, his hand flying to his shoulder, to the bandages there. Then he froze, and slowly lowered his hands again, staring down at the bandages covering them. He flexed his fingers, wincing.
“I bandaged your injuries,” Philza said. “I don’t… did I miss anything? I — I’ve never bandaged… injuries… like yours before.”
Dream’s eyes went back to Phil, flicking between his face and his wings.
“I… I know you’re an avian,” Philza said softly.
Dream flinched, dropping his gaze. His shoulders hunched forward, and Philza felt a pang when he realized that, had Dream still had wings, they would be wrapped around him.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Dream,” Philza said, knowing it was horribly inadequate. “I didn’t… if I had known this was happening… I… I would have gotten you out of there a long time ago.”
Dream didn’t answer. His hands were still shaking, and his breaths were speeding up. His shoulders tensed, and his hand went back to the bandages there. A small, choked sound escaped him.
Unable to resist the impulse any longer, Phil moved forward, and wrapped his wings around Dream, enveloping them both in soft black feathers.
Dream inhaled sharply, and Philza almost drew back, but then Dream fell forward against him, latching onto the front of his shirt, and dissolving into tears.
Phil held Dream gently while the wingless avian cried and cried. He made soft, soothing noises, and kept his wings wrapped around them both.
Dream eventuality cried himself out, and at some point dropped back into unconsciousness, still leaning up against him. Phil didn’t move away, instead just shifting into a more comfortable position so he could keep his wing draped around Dream. He kept making soft, calming noises in his throat, running his fingers through Dream’s tangled, blood-stained hair.
It must have been hours later when the door finally banged open, signaling Techno’s return. “Phil —“
“Shh,” Philza said sternly, as soon as Techno entered the room. His friend was still stained with Dream’s blood, but he looked uninjured.
“Is he —“ Techno started, dropping his voice.
“He’ll be alright,” Philza assured him in a low voice. “He woke up earlier, and I got some potion in him. He’ll live.”
Techno let out a slow breath. “Thank Prime,” he muttered. “I had to kill Ant, he wouldn’t leave me alone. Don’t think it was a permanent death, but still annoying. No one should know Dream’s here, though.”
Philza nodded. “That’s good; Dream’ll need time.” He hesitated, then asked, “Techno… did you… did you know Dream was an avian?”
Techno blinked. “He’s — what?”
“An avian. Dream.”
“Don't avians have like… wings?”
“He did.”
Techno was silent for a moment, before he realized what that meant, and his eyes widened. “Wait — no — then someone… someone cut them off? Is that… that’s… Prime. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t… I didn’t realize they went that — that far.”
“It happened recently,” Philza said quietly. “Like the rest of his injuries. During prison. He must have had enchantments to hide them before that.”
Techno let out a slow, carefully controlled breath. “I’m going to burn the prison to the ground,” he said darkly. “Along with everyone inside.”
“Do you know who did this?” Philza asked urgently.
Techno shook his head. “It must’ve been someone who had access to the prison. I never pegged Sam as the type of person to… to clip an avian’s wings… but he must have at least allowed it. Soon as Dream gets at all better, I’m going back to the prison to find out.” His tone promised that it would not be pretty.
“I’m coming with you,” Philza said firmly.
“Phil —“ Techno started.
“Techno, this is not something that can be overlooked,” Phil said sharply. “This is one line that you never cross, and whoever dared do this, I am going to rip them apart and make them wish I would kill them.”
“I’ll help you,” Techno said firmly. “Whenever Dream is stable, we go back to the prison.”
Philza’s eyes went back to Dream, to the avian he’d never known should be a part of his flock. “As soon as he’s better,” Phil promised. “Then… we get vengeance.”