(This is my personal headcanon to the backstory of DSMP Philza. Of course I will change a few things that are said to be canon, like the fact that his wife is supposed to be a Samsung smart fridge... but I will keep most of the canon things in... I think?)

(Another note. The phantoms that will be described later on were not fully my idea. The concept comes from Neytirix on YouTube! They talked about them while redesigning them in a speedpaint. Please go check it out, as they are an amazing artist!)

Now enjoy!

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Ranboo pulled the cloak around himself a little tighter when a cold wind rushed by. The hybrid was on his way to visit Techno and Philza to talk about Snowchester. After all... the Syndicate seems to think it could be a form of government. It clearly isn't, since it's mostly just him, Tubbo and Micheal. Phil helped him keep Micheal a secret during their first visit to Snowchester, but who knows for how long they can keep this up.

The Enderman soon reached the snowy home of his two friends. He was about to go into the fenced area and towards Phil's house when he noticed said blonde walking off into the forest with a bag over his shoulder. 'Where is he going? The village is in the other direction...' Out of curiosity, Ranboo decided to follow Phil. He could just talk about Snowchester on the walk to... wherever the blonde was planning to go.

It didn't take long for him to catch up to his winged friend, but he did not expect to find what he did. Phil was kneeling in front of a small lake, surrounded by a couple of lanterns to keep the monsters away. His trusty hat was laying on the ground while he searched through his bag. 'What is he doing here? Is he trying to fish?' He watched as Phil took out a candle and an old turtle shell. After lighting the candle, he put it inside the turtle shell together with some flowers and slowly let it drift out onto the lake. Suddenly Ranboo realized just what he was watching Phil do. 'Oh no...'

"Happy Anniversary Kristin...", the blonde whispered just loud enough for Ranboo to hear. "I miss you... I hope you are doing well... and Wilbur too... Tommy decided to move back in with us... I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. At least two of our boys are back home with me. You should see him. He's grown so much. A strong young man... just like how we hoped he'd be once he grows up. He misses you too... sometimes he asks me to tell stories about you... or he just wants to look at some of the old pictures I still have. He never got to really meet you after all... Techno misses you as well. I see him look through old pictures sometimes..." 

Ranboo knew this wasn't the time or place to talk about his problems... and he should not eavesdrop on something so personal. So the young hybrid turns around and tried to sneak away again without being discovered. "I know you are there Ranboo." Welp. So much for that. "Sorry... I... I didn't mean to... I was just leaving." Phil turned to face him and smiled. "No. It's alright. You can come over here." For a second the hybrid hesitated. He really shouldn't have followed Phil or disturbed him from his mourning, but he can't change that now. In the end, he decided to accept the invitation and sat down next to Phil.

"I'm really sorry..." "I already said it's alright. Don't worry about it." Ranboo stared at the candle for a while, watching as the small flame dances around. "She was your wife... right?" Phil nodded and played with a small branch. "She died almost 17 years ago... I miss her a lot. She was the only person I ever truly loved romantically in my whole immortal life." "How... did you two meet? If you are okay with telling me." The blonde laughed and stared up at the slowly darkening sky. "Wanna hear the whole story or the short version?" "Whichever is easier for you to talk about. I'll listen anyways."

"Alright then..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil had been traveling for days without resting much, revisiting old places and structures he found during his travels. It was always interesting to see how the places have changed over time. He just left an old temple he found near a jungle the other day when he spotted houses in the distance. "Huh... I don't remember a town being here..." He checked the position of the sun and noticed how he has about an hour left of sunlight. That should be just enough time to get to the ruined castle in the ice spike biome. But the town... it's been so long since he's actively talked to people. Maybe just for a night... get some good rest. In the end he decided to stay and used his wings to fly over to what looked like a very much alive and thriving small town.

Who knew that this decision would change his life forever.

Phil explored the town for a bit, buying little souvenirs from the shops that are scattered around. They will be added to his evergrowing collection of little trinkets he finds during his travels. Speaking of his collection, it was starting to outgrow their dedicated box. Maybe it was time to get his hands on another shulker box... they can hold much more than the wooden box he has his precious souveniers stored in.

Soon, he spotted something that reminded him of a little pub he had seen years ago in a different town. "I guess I could eat something... If they even sell food in there." He quickly checked how much gold and emeralds he has on him before entering the building. It was a cute little pub, with only a few small tables in the middle and larger ones with benches in the corners. Only a handful of people were there, huddled together in pairs of three or four and were just chilling and laughing the evening away.

It was definitely strange for Phil to suddenly have so many people around him again. It's been that long, hasn't it? So long that he was questioning his communication skills with an actual human instead of just animals. Not to mention that he felt oddly out of place with his very obvious wings just trailing behind him. He settled down on one of the corner benches. Nobody seemed to really care about the newcomer, at least for now. That was definetly a relief. After checking the menu and seeing that they indeed sell food here, he took one of his many notebooks out and started working. It's something he started doing over time, keeping all kinds of information and little sketches of every mob and ancient structure he comes across. Helps with remembering everything. When you have been alive for as long as he has, time just blurrs together and memories start to fade away. So it became essential for Phil to keep absolutely everything in his notebooks. Even the tiniest things.

In the next few minutes, more and more people started to notice the ancient traveller. Whispers started to go around, speculations of who he might be or where he came from. He's certainly not from around here. Phil paid them no mind, as they didn't come over to him to talk. As long as they stay away and don't ask any questions, he'll be fine. His immortality is a secret that he never told anyone. Not even his parents knew... for multiple reasons. It's also the reason why he lives alone, away from towns and villages. He can't bear the thought of getting close to people, just to see them fade away with time. It was already bad enough when he watched his parents and little sister die.

But even with him trying to ignore the whispers, he couldn't help but listen in on a few of them. 'He looks like her...' 'You think they are related?' 'Must be... I've never seen or heard of another one like her.' Her? Who are they talking about? Someone that looks similar to him? Or maybe... no. That can't be.

"Good evening Sir. Can I take your order?" Phil was startled by the sudden voice right next to him. After regaining his composure, he grabbed the menu and nodded. "Yeah. I'll take the beef with sa-" He looked up at the waitress to try and appear friendly, but completely froze with his mouth open in shock. Before him stood a woman who physically appears to be the same age as he would be, if not considering his immortality. Probably even younger, he's bad at judging ages just by appearance. She looked normal, with dark brown hair and eyes, a friendly smile on her face. The thing that shocked Phil so much were the two large, golden wings on her back, that were neatly tucked in behind her. It can't be...

Snickers started to fill the room as the other customers watched Phil stare at the woman, just completely out of it. So much for staying undetected and to not embarress himself. "Sir? Are you okay?" The woman waved her hand in front of his face, trying to get him to responde. When he did come to his senses, his face started to heat up in embarrassment. "Y-Yes. I- I take the beef- beef and- and salad." With a chuckle, the woman scribbled his order down and nodded. "It'll be ready in a couple of minutes. Anything to drink?" "Just... water." With another nod, the woman left towards the kitchen behind the counter.

'What the fuck was that?! What is wrong with me?!' Phil burried his face in his hands to try and hide his embarrassment from the other people in the room, who were still giggeling about him. 'Good job Phil. Good job.' How did that just happen?

Even with his face still completely red, he slowly moved away his hands and tried to get another glance at the winged woman. She was happily working away and chatting with customers and fellow workers. 'I guess she's the person I look similar to...' Phil didn't notice he was staring at her until she made eyecontact with him. With another wave of heat rising in his cheeks, he immediately turned away and focused on his notebook. 'Come on Phil... you're better than this... Get it together.'

His first interaction with a human in years... and it has to be a woman. Not just any woman, but one that bears wings just like he does. And now he made a fool of himself in front of her and like 15 other people.

To distract himself, he got to work on the newest page in his notebook, a page about phantoms. Really facinating creatures if you approach them with an open mind, as most people just find them annoying and irritating. Footsteps approach his table, but he didn't look up, scared it could be someone he doesn't want to talk to.

"Here you go. One beef with salad." A plate with said food was placed next to his notebook, together with a cup of water. "Thank you..." He kept his eyes down, afraid of embarressing himself again. But the woman didn't leave. Instead, she looked at the notebook and read the few notes Phil managed to write down already. "Phantoms? Aren't those these winged creatures that come at you if you don't sleep?" Phil nodded. "Yep. They have a bad reputation, but in reality they are friendly and fascinating creatures. I spent the last month studying them up close."

Huh, suddenly talking wasn't that hard. Maybe because it's something he actually knows how to do? "Really? How would you even study them? Usually they don't go near humans unless they are attacking." "That's partially true. You see, I managed to find a well hidden phantom nest near an old temple in the jungle. I started watching it and to take notes of how the parents raise and protect their hatchlings. They obviously noticed me not even two days into my research, but that's the most amazing thing. Even with me being much larger and a potential threat to the nest, they didn't seem to be bothered by me."

At this point the woman had sit down next to Phil, listening to his rant about these winged creatures. She did seem to be genuinely interested into the topic. "They didn't try to chase you off?" "No! Not at all!" He was grinning at this point, his eyes sparkling with the curiosity and wonder of a little kid. "They noticed that I was just watching them. So over time, I got closer and closer to the nest. I even adjusted my sleep scheduel so that I would sleep during the day and stay awake with them in the night. They noticed that too, which is probably why they didn't attack me. Because that's why they 'attack'. If they notice that someone isn't sleeping for a long time, they grow worried for that creature and annoy it to the point where they tire it out and force it to go to sleep. So really, they are just trying to help, not to hurt us."

With an even wider grin, he showed her a different page where he had sketched out different types of phantoms to the best of his abilities. "I also learned that the appearance of a phantom is based on what kind of bugs they eat as hatchlings. If they mainly eat butterflies, they have butterfly-like wings. If they eat insects like beatles, their wings will look similar to them. And sometimes, they could have no wings at all, if they are only fed wingless bugs. But that is very rare, since the parents are aware of that. The phantoms I watched had blue butterly wings. They were really beautiful."

"What happened to the nest?" "Nothing. The babies grew up and learned how to fly. Once they can, they leave the nest together with their parents. Phantoms live in groups of multiple families. They only isolate themselves if they are expecting hatchlings of their own." He sighs and closes his notebook. "It was incredible... watching them grow up thise close. It even went as far to where the parents knew I would watch the nest for them, so they both left to hunt for food. So I ended up babysitting for them a lot the last two weeks before they left the nest."

"That must have been hard... saying goodbye after watching them for so long." Phil nodded. "A little bit, but I got over it pretty soon. I just went back to traveling and finding new things to explore and research." "So you are a full on traveller then?" "Yeah. Have been for as long as I can remember. I left my village as a teenager to go out into the world and explore. Guess it was always in my blood to never rest..." He stretched and smiled. "Sorry... I didn't mean to ramble on about all of this... I hope you wont get into any trouble for this?" The woman laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's a slow day and everyone is taken care of. Any distraction from wiping down the same counter for the twentieth time is welcomed."

"That's good. My name is Philza, by the way." The woman smiled and took his outstretched hand. "I'm Kristin. It's nice to meet you Philza." "Same to you. And please. Just call me Phil." Krisin nodded and looked at the clock on the wall. "My shift ends soon... we could meet up afterwards and chat some more? I would love to hear more about your adventures and all the creatures you studied." "Sure! I'd love to!" She smiles and stood up. "Alright. See you then, Phil."

When she turned and left to go back to her work, Phil could feel the heat in his cheeks rising. Did that really just happen? Did he just... impress a woman by rambeling on about his research? And not just any woman, but a breathtakingly beautiful WINGED woman! This has to be a dream... this can't be real. Yet here he is, eating his cold food while grinning like a teenager who just meet his first crush.

Kristin... what a beautiful name...

Phil stayed at his table, even long after he finished his food and paid for it. Since he doesn't know when Kristin's shift will end, he will just wait and leave together with her. Only about half an hour later said woman appeared at his table again. "Alright. We can leave now if you are ready?" "Of course. Just waiting on you." Together, they left the building and walked down the street, happily chatting about other things Phil has seen during his travels. And with every new structure or species that comes up, Kristin looked more and more amazed. There is no way someone could see and know so much in such a short life... right?

In the end, Phil stayed longer than just the night. He spent the next two days in the town, spending every free minute he could with Kristin. She allowed him to stay at her place as he seemed trustworthy enough. Something told her she wouldn't need to worry about him stealing or breaking anything. He had proven himself in her eyes.

"And you really never left your town? Not even just for a few days?" Phil looked shocked when she mentioned her experiences with traveling while they were eating dinner together. "No. I was too afraid I guess." "Afraid? Of what?" "The monsters... getting lost... being on my own. Even with my wings to protect me and keep me out of danger, it was always something scary to think about. I never learned how to properly use weapons to defend myself." The blonde nodded a bit and played with his food. Even with that fear, it was still odd that she just never even visited a neighboring town or village. "But you can fly, right?" "Of course I can. I use my wings a lot, even if it's just to fly to the fields just outside of the town." "Alright then..." It became oddly quiet after that as they both continued to eat their food.

"Phil... can I ask you something?" "Sure." "Can I come traveling with you?" Now that made him drop his fork. "You... you really want to?" "Yes... hearing all these stories about these gigantic, magical places... it makes me want to see them for myself. And with you around, I'm not as scared about going out there into the wild..." He had to think about that one. It's true, he can easily protect them both if it came down to it. But somehow he still felt like she was forcing herself to do this.

"Kristin... I don't want you to do something you don't want to. It's okay if you want to stay here. I can just come visit you." "No. I really do want this. If I don't take the opportunity now and go with you, I might never get another chance. I don't want to spend my whole life doing nothing special..." Phil sighed, then smiled and nodded. "Alright. If this is really something you want to do, then I'll take you with me. But I warn you now, there is no guarantee for a shelter or bed every night. We'll be mostly on the move, living off food we either buy in small villages or catch ourselves." "I'm okay with that."

Then it was decided. The same night both of them went through Kristin's things and packed a bag of what she should and can bring along. If you are constantly moving you shouldn't carry around a heavy bag with useless things that you don't need. The next day they informed her work about her decision and allowed one of her work friends to move into her house, since she had been looking for a new one anyways. And then it was time to leave.

With final hugs and goodbye wishes, she left the town together with Phil, ready to start their new life.
~~~~~~~~~

"That's so adorable. You got her by talking about your passion." "I sure did... she was amazing." Ranboo smiled as he watched his friend play with the ring around his finger. "How long did it take you to admit your feelings?" "Four months... I planned on telling her earlier, but I was too scared about ruining what we had if she didn't feel the same way. And a year after that I proposed to her." Phil's smile only grew when thinking back to that moment. It was one of the things he will never forget. The way she looked when he pulled out the ring, her eyes reflecting the aurora lights they had been watching. That's when he knew that she was the one.

"You really did love her..." "Yes... with all my heart. I will never find a woman as amazing as her again. Not that I want to anyways." It made Ranboo feel guilty when he saw the way his eyes darkened when thinking about his dead lover. It must hurt so much to know he will never see her again. "2 years after we married we had Wilbur... the biggest miracle of our life. The moment we knew she was pregnant we finally decided to settle down and build a house. It was weird to actually live in a set location after traveling for so long, but it was nice. When Wilbur was a bit over a year old I found Techno and took him in. Kristin was a bit worried at first, scared that he would hurt Wil. But obviously that never happened. It was the exact opposite. The moment we introduce Techno to him, they were attached to the hip. It was adorable. Techno was about 3 at the time and so incredibly protective over his new little brother."

Phil laughed, thinking about the time where he chased off a wild sheep that had been peacefully eating grass near the house, just because it got a little too close to his brother. "When Wilbur was a bit over six years old, we had Tommy. He came a little too early, but was still a strong baby and pulled through. We were so worried the first few weeks, thinking we might lose him. But instead of losing him... we lost her." Tears started to well up when recalling the memory. "It was in the middle of the night, the boys all asleep. Kristin said she was feeling weird. I helped her to the bed when she started coughing and shaking. To this day I have no idea what happened. But in a matter of three hours... she was gone. I tried everything I could, every healing potion or medicine that would help her symptoms. It wasn't enough."

He took a shaky breath, trying to calm down. Ranboo rubbed small circles on his back, trying to be as comforting as he could. He had these moments himself, but never witnessed them on other people. "It's okay... you don't have to keep going." Phil wiped his tears away in an attempt to stop them from coming, but it was to no use. "Sorry... It just all came back at once." "Hey... it's okay. I can understand... it must be so painful to remember." The blonde only nodded as he stared at the candle. "I still see her in my dreams... playing with our boys..."

The two men sat in silence, watching the flame slowly die down over time. "Thank you... for listening. It did help... somewhat." "No problem. You do the same for me all the time." The hybrid smiled before looking up at the sky. "We should go home." "Right." Both got up after Phil made sure he had everything he needed. Then they walked back to their snowy home, leaving the shell with flowers and the candle drifting in the lake.