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Through the dense crowd, Flame pushed through players in attempt to locate a certain purple brother of his.
There.
Wemmbu glances his direction, and Flame takes the opportunity to signal to him to move out of the crowd and into a more quiet area to talk.
“What, Flame? Can’t believe you of all people betrayed Cindercrest.”
He sighs.
“I had my reasons. Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you’ve seen Parrot.”
Wemmbu pauses for a moment.
“I saw him get shredded by Saparata. Then he ran and I don’t know where he went,” he shrugged apathetically.
“I’ve got just about a million things to yell at you about right now, but whatever side you’re taking, he’s still your little brother, y’know.”
Wemmbu’s tail twitched, the comment stinging.
“I know.”
“Stop being an idiot and help me find him then.”
Flame didn’t give him time to respond before walking away to the city.
As much as he would like to say he didn’t care, Wemmbu found himself trailing after Flame. Sulking still, but he was following.
They checked house after house, but to no avail. Then, Flame spotted a smaller house that looked like no one was residing inside, let alone an avian hybrid. They both looked at each other, not needing words to know what to do next.
Wemmbu hesitantly pushed open the door.
No sound, just like every other house.
Except this one was dark.
Maybe it was the lack of windows, or the time of day, but there was a shimmer—a distinct shine in the light that reflected cool blues and warm yellows. Flame could recognize those wings anywhere.
The question he asked though was,
“What the fuck is he doing under a staircase in some random bum’s house?” He whispered.
Wemmbu, again, just shrugged, although there was now a little apprehension in his eyes.
“Parrot?”
The floor creaked as they walked across it.
Flame called out this time, the name echoing in the empty home.
They reached the staircase. There was a small gap directly between the wall and the stairs, which is where Parrot sat, unmoving, wings curled around his body.
Wemmbu took a step back. He was never really good at emotions, and from what he could tell, this was going to be… messy.
“Parrot,” Flame’s voice rang through the silence, “Dude. Stop being pathetic. Get up.”
Parrot winced, a wet gasp escaping his lips.
Flame blinked in surprise. Despite his initial reaction, he crouched down closer to his younger brother.
“Parrot.”
He tried to move his wings out of the way, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Hey, it’s just me.”
—
His thoughts were racing a million miles a minute, everything blurring into a haze of nothingness. Parrot felt incredibly numb. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint when his body gave up, but after finding a hiding spot in a random house, he collapsed. His entire body felt so heavy. He was nearly out of food as well. Funny, he thought, considering that half of the reason he was even in this situation was because he couldn’t feed his people enough, and now ironically, he had taken their place.
Parrot couldn’t recall when he started crying. All he knew is that it didn’t stop. It felt like hours had passed, yet he did not move, save for him shaking with sobs when the downpour of tears first began.
—
“Parrot!”
A voice brought him back the present, overtaking the ringing in his ears. Still, he did not move.
Wemmbu smiled grimly.
“He finally broke, huh?”
“Shut up,” Flame hissed, “Not the time.”
“Come on, Parrot,” Wemmbu poked his wings, watching cautiously as they contracted away from his touch.
Flame was finally able to pull Parrot’s wings away from his face at least, revealing a trembling, beat-up mess. He attempted to cover his face with his arm, but it wasn’t that effective. Both of his older brothers could clearly see that he was, and had been crying.
He sniffled.
Immediately, Wemmbu noticed the small yin-yang necklace that dangled from the smaller’s neck. Yeesh. Must’ve hit him hard. I haven’t seen him with Wifies’ necklace in ages.
Flame must’ve noticed too, because Wemmbu could see that he visibly softened at the sight.
He extended his arms outward, towards Parrot, the silent question hanging heavy in the air. Although it wasn’t for long. Flame blinked and suddenly Parrot was in his arms, sobbing loudly into his shoulder.
He cradled his brother gently, rocking back and forth lightly as if they were kids again and Parrot had gotten hurt on the playground.
His heart ached. Those times were long gone. Flame hadn’t had a lot of time recently to think about his family, but Spoke was nowhere to be found, Wemmbu was slipping back into his old habits for whatever reasons he didn’t want to tell Flame, and Parrot was… he was…
He was shaking in his embrace.
His little brother.
Flame pulled him in tighter.
Wemmbu hesitated once more, but he carefully draped his own arms around both of his brothers.
“It’ll be okay,”
Wemmbu was shocked to hear his own voice coming out as comforting.
“He can’t take your crown, bro. You’ve gotta fight back.”
“I don’t—I can’t do it anymore—“
“Sure you can. What happened to the Parrot who never gave up, no matter how stupid his motives were?”
Parrot hiccuped.
“They’re never stupid,” he muttered through choked sobs.
Wemmbu laughed lightly at him.
“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”
“Parrot.”
A beat.
“…Yeah, Flame?”
“No matter what happens out there, we’re still your brothers. I don’t know about this chud,” he pauses to flick Wemmbu’s forehead, who swears at him angrily, “but I’ll be here for you.”
The avian sighed shakily.
“Yeah.”
There were a million things he wanted to scream and cry about; his friends, how lost he felt. Yet, for that moment, his rapid heartbeat slowed, just enough for the comfort of his brothers to seep into his shattered heart. 𑣲