A warm and welcoming home, full of the two people Ollie loved. His two parents. His two alive parents.

How could this be possible? His parents had died in a car crash, one that almost mutilated him in the process. He could still remember that day vividly.

Age ten, sitting in the backseat of the minivan his parents had owned. They were just driving on the freeway, heading home after a long trip to their extended family. It was late at night, and his parents didn't notice the wrong way driver without their headlights on, heading a direct course to their car.

It was too late when his dad saw the car. Two vehicles ramming into one another at over seventy miles an hour. The doctors said Ollie shouldn't have been able to survive the accident, as neither the drunk driver or his parents did.

Instead Ollie was left, with some very concerned doctors and some extended family. To this day, Ollie didn't know why the doctors didn't put him in some sort of science lab. Didn't they see the wings?

Shaking his head, Ollie managed to focus on his family. His father spoke up, his warm voice all too familiar.

"They never knew. Someone came in that day, a man in his young thirties, and told you that you would be safe. The doctors knew nothing about the wings, and the man was able to take you to your grandparents. I believe he said his name was Flyyn."

Ollie had sudden memories of the man visiting him and telling him he would be alright. He was gentle and had a certain voice that Ollie would never forget.

"Chris." He breathed. Chris had been there that day, making sure he would be safe. It all made sense now.

"What's that son?" His mother asked from where she was knitting next to the fireplace. "I don't remember a Chris."

Shaking his head, Ollie instead decided to talk about Flyyn, the name Chris took. "Tell me more about Flyyn."

His parents beckoned him over, and they all sat together by the fire.

"Flyyn was special, that was for sure." Ollie's father sighed. "He helped you learn how to use the wings properly, and even showed you how to hide them if you ever needed to."

Gasping, Ollie almost fell over. That was why his wings disappeared! Chris taught him a self defense mechanism in case he ever needed it.

"He was over often, but one day he disappeared, you hadn't seen him since. I reckon he had other things to do than take care of children." His father tilted his head thoughtfully. "He kind of treated you like his own son, willing to take care of you and guide you. But he also treated you like a friend, listening to you, and even opening up about a few things."

Ollie had no doubt now that this Flyyn was Chris. How had his parents come here? They must be memories, and them talking was his mind trying to figure things out. So why now? Why did it take so long to figure out?

A creaking of a door sounded deeper in the house.

"What?" Ollie blinked, looking at his parents again. They simply smiled and waved at him before he was yanked out of his sleep.

"Can you believe it? I think I might finally have the endurance thing down!" Nick's jolly voice roused Ollie from his unconsciousness.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Ryan teased back.

"Oh, hallo there Ollie. Did I wake you?" Nick seemed genuinely sorry.

"Nah," Ollie lied, not ready to talk about what he had just learned. "Just preparing for my early morning rising time.

"You should have Grace wake you up," Nick replied, grabbing his hoodie. "She is always up early and would gladly wake you up.

"Did I hear my name?" Grace popped her head in the room, quite a big risk if you ask Ollie. She looked like she was already ready for bed, wearing a bunny onesie. Ollie had learned not to question her outfit choices, as she was a spectacular designer and architect, better in the fine details.

"Yeah," Nick turned towards her. "Could you wake up Ollie before dawn?"

"Sure!" She twinkled. "But you have to promise not to be a grumpy man when you go to do your work with me tomorrow. Most likely all of you will be woken up by my alarm call."

Nick sighed and plonked down on the bed. "I promise not to be grumpy."

Ryan doubled over laughing at the sour look on Nick's face. Grace in the meantime whisked out of the door, making sure Nick would keep his word.

"You aren't a morning person, are you Nick?" Ollie snickered, trying to push his dream away. He would ask Chris about it in the morning.

"He has never been!" Ryan chuckled. "I usually get him up, and that is always quite the ordeal."

Ryan was the only morning person in the room, making him the most tired at night. Ollie was kind of an in-betweener, although he was pretty sure he was a night person. Ryan was also the only left-handed person, which made training against him different. Every time Ryan and Ollie faced off, Ollie got easily past the mustached man's guard, although he avoided actually making contact with the training sword, something that Ryan was appreciative of.

Simply yawning, Ollie communicated to the others that he wanted silence. The two engineers quickly quieted down as Ollie snuggled deeper into the covers, forgetting that his gloves were not enough to keep the Morphsickness at bay.

-/-

Wasted land lay in front of Ollie, the sky a horrible shade of grey. He couldn't tell if it was daytime or not, there was just enough light to see the carnage in front of him. Dead grass, charred sticks of trees, it looked like a battle had been here.

Taking a step forward, Ollie's foot sank into the marshy soil, wet with either water, or blood. Sincerely hoping it was the former, Ollie started walking towards a hill in front of him. Maybe that would give him the vantage point he needed.

His foot hit something soft, and Ollie immediately regretted looking down. It was a body, but whose he couldn't tell, as the face was hidden in the ground, and the body was disfigured. What horrible place was this?

Stepping carefully now, Ollie rubbed his cold arms. There was a chill in the air, and the tiny bit of moisture clung to his skin like birds to seed. The air smelled dank and unfriendly, sending chills up his body whenever he heard a noise.

Ollie deduced that it was just the creaking of the skeletons of trees, and the wind. That was until he reached the top of the hill.

Plains stretched out before him, devoid of any life. Grass gone, sparse trees burnt, indistinguishable lumps littering what probably was once a beautiful landscape.

"Horrible, isn't it?"

Ollie spun around to see Rob standing behind him. "Rob?"

Rob nodded, his own outfit muddied and torn. "This was a horrible battle. Many shapeshifters died. Including your friends."

"Wait, shapeshifters?" Ollie took a step back from his old friend. "What happened here?"

"What you could have prevented." Rob had a glare in his eye now. "You should have joined Charles when you had the chance. All he wanted was for humans to get along with morphs."

Horrified, Ollie felt bile rise in his throat. "Charles tried to murder his brother! You call that getting along?"

"He had to do what must be done. Chris didn't understand and paid the price." Rob simply waited for Ollie's reaction.

"What did you do to Chris?" Ollie was seething now, certain that if Rob had hurt Chris, he would pay the price as he said.

"Me? Nothing. I cannot murder anyone." Rob turned to him, looking more remorseful than ever. "Please Ollie, I don't want to see you fall like everyone else. You're my friend, I want to keep you safe. Join me, and everyone can get along."

Shaking his head, Ollie backed up, ready to bolt if need be. "Even if you never raised a blade, you watched as innocent people were slaughtered. That is just as bad as killing them with your own hand. If you really cared about me, you would have tried to stop this massacre."

Rob's face hardened, and he grabbed Ollie's arm before he could get away. Ollie almost pleaded with Rob, until he saw the color of Rob's eyes. That wasn't Rob.

"You aren't Rob." Ollie hissed, pulling against the impossibly strong grip.

"You're right, I'm not." Rob's face melted away to reveal a face similar to Chris's but with a massive scar over the left eye. "I thought the illusion of your friend could bring you to my side."

"I will never join you! Never!" Ollie thrashed to no avail against the grip of Chris's evil twin.

"Never is a strong word. Perhaps you will change your mind." Charles started reaching for Ollie's head. He was inches away from contact when a loud boom sounded off in the distance. "What, no!" He cried out, letting go of Ollie.

Ollie fell to the ground with a thump and started scrambling away from his harasser.

"Get out of my head!" Charles clutched his head, thrashing a little before he vanished in a poof of smoke.

Ollie fell to the ground completely, his chest heaving as he slipped into unconsciousness, unaware that Chris had put the necklace on him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning! Good morning! The sun is shining bright today, can't miss a wonderful day!" Grace sang from the doorway, making Nick grab a pillow and bury his head into it. Ollie got out of bed, quite stiff at this point, and almost fell off of the ladder.

"Now Nick," Grace chided.

"What?" Came Nick's muffled reply.

"You promised you wouldn't be grumpy." Grace laughed as she saw that Ryan was already up.

"Burying my head in a pillow doesn't count as grumpy. I never agreed to getting up early as well." Nick gave a peek out of his miniature shelter.

"You might as well get up, Nick." Ryan slipped socks on. "It's not like we don't have a lot to do."

"Easy for you to say, morning Ryan." Nick retorted, begrudgingly getting out of his own bed.

Sighing, Grace left them to get their act together and wisked out the door.

"The sun isn't even up yet!" Nick complained as he put his clothes on for the day. "It's probably going to freezing out there right now."

"Best wear your thickest clothes then." Ryan replied, slipping on a jacket of his own. When Ryan left, Ollie actually did fall off the ladder, emitting a small groan. No harm had come from it, just a little wind knocked out of his lungs.

"You okay Ollie?" Nick helped Ollie up from the floor.

"Bad dreams just left me disoriented I guess." Ollie brushed off his arm and started to take off his necklace. "Wait, I forgot to put this on, so how did it get here?"

Nick shrugged and left the room, presumably to grab some breakfast and caffeine. If he thought it was odd, he didn't say, although Nick was probably still half asleep.

Sighing, Ollie took off the necklace and tucked it underneath his pillow and got dressed for the day. Grabbing a quick bite to eat, Ollie scampered to the front porch, the sky just starting to lighten up.

"You're late." Hadix said from Ollie's right scaring him half to death. He hadn't even seen Hadix.

"Sorry!" Ollie stammered before he was stopped by Hadix.

"I'm just teasing." Hadix laughed, smiling a huge grin. "If anything, you're early. Grace is great at times."

"How'd you kno-"

"How did I know it was Grace?" Hadix interrupted. "I know her well." Ollie nodded, he wasn't surprised that the others were close with each other. Hadix continued however. "I also heard her singing."

Ollie chuckled a little and followed Hadix into the forest, ready for his training. Hadix led him deep into the brush, until Ollie was certain he would never find his way back unless he flew. Various times on the trek, Ollie lost temporary sight of his mentor, and had to do a double take to find him again. Hadix's green skin fit very well into the thick greenery of the forest.

"What is your morph?" Ollie asked curiously; Hadix was the only person whom he didn't know.

"Squirel, and lizard." Hadix turned his head back and flashed his white teeth. "Here is good."

"Lizard? As in a Dragon?" Ollie rubbed his sore neck. Dragon would be cool.

"No, Dragons fly, something I can't do. I mean the tiny reptiles that don't live here." Hadix beckoned Ollie to sit down with him. His terms reminded Ollie that English was Hadix's second language, although he was pretty fluent in English as well as the strange language humans couldn't speak.

"Now I know you can't morph yet, but that is fine. You need to know how to hide in any form." Hadix glanced at Ollie's choice of clothes. "Although you might have a harder time..."

Ollie smiled sheepishly, silently admitting that his choice wasn't the best. Long sleeve cheery red might look fine for building, but not for hiding.

"Nevertheless," Hadix cleared his throat. "I'll make you a master yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ollie saw the facepalm even before his eyes made physical contact. Hadix pulled at his eyelids as he instructed Ollie to try again.

"Your wings were showing that time. Gold stands out in the dense wood. Try again."

Shifting around and going to another place, Ollie tucked his wings as close to his back as possible, causing a twinge of pain. The poison was still spreading, and Ollie was trying his best feel accomplished. The problem with that was that you can't force the feeling of earned pride.

This time, Ollie found a deep bush and buried himself into it and was satisfied when Hadix took a solid ten seconds to find him.

"Not bad, Ollie. Maybe I was wrong." Hadix pulled open the leaves to let Ollie crawl out. "You used your size to your advantage."

Hand by hand, Ollie started inching out of the thick undergrowth. Halfway through, he felt a stab of pain in his wings, followed by a horrible throbbing. One of his wings must have gotten caught on a thorn.

Hadix's face had paled to a light green as he quickly pulled the bush away.

"Do your wings heal at all?" Hadix was shaking a little.

"Yeah, takes a little while, but any tears seal up." Ollie winced at the pain of a fresh wound.

"Also, is it normal for half your wings to be black?"

"Half!" Ollie could now easily see the poison that was slowly ebbing away at his life force. It had covered the tear in the membrane, making Ollie suspect that the tear had accelerated the spread. "I need to get to Stone Mountain, quickly."

"I suspect that it would be prudent that you can't fly, so I'll hire a transport." Hadix pressed a button on his arm and a red light started flashing. Soon enough, a familiar wolf slipped into the area.

"Ollie, hop on my back." Grace ordered, tensing all her muscles. "I'm the fastest ticket, and before you protest, wolves are very strong.

Ollie trusted Grace and knowing he was very light helped the situation. She didn't even grunt with the added weight, darting off into the forest with just as much speed and agility as before. Her long fur proved to be an advantage here, as it was the only thing Ollie could cling onto under the ever shifting muscles.

They reached the mountain faster than Ollie could have flown, and Grace trotted to a halt.

"I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here," She said remorsefully, preparing to dart back into the forest again. "If you need me again, just call. I will hear you."

Grace melted back into the forest, leaving Ollie at the bottom of a ladder. Quickly climbing it, Ollie looked at his mostly finished project. He turned away for a second, gathering supplies to finish it. Inside, his mental voice told him it wouldn't work, but he ignored it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last piece of wood was placed, and Ollie took a moment to look at his creation. He felt accomplished, but nothing special. And that was it. Nothing happened. A glance proved that and more. His wings were three quarters black and cracked, completely unusable and almost completely poisoned. As Ollie turned to the house to get Chris, his heart started to hurt. It was small at the moment, but Ollie was pretty sure that it would get worse and worse.

Taking the risk, Ollie jumped off of the mountain and used his broken wings to glide to the house. Pain shot through them the entire way, and Ollie almost fell once, but he barely made it. His wings were definitely in tatters now, and the poison was inching along the gold lacing.

"Ollie!" Scar yelped in surprise when Ollie half fell into the living room. "What's going on?"

"I need to see Chris." Ollie leaned heavily on the wall, supporting his failing body. Scar's face fell, and he looked at Ollie with ultimate sympathy.

"Chris left this morning," Scar said softly, as if his words could break Ollie. At this point, they probably could. "Right before you got up. He told no one but me, and I don't even know where he went."

"But the communications!" Ollie stammered, not ready to give up, although he wasn't sure that even Chris would be able to fix this.

Scar looked even more sorry for Ollie at this point. "Not even those will work." Taking his hat off, Scar tucked it to his chest. "Ollie..."

Ollie didn't wait for the rest of it. With the remaining energy, he locked himself into his room falling onto his bed. His whole body was shaking, he was too young to die!

"Ollie?" Scar knocked on the door gently. Ignoring it, Ollie rested his head on his pillow, hearing a crunch of paper. Pulling it out, Ollie started to read the neat handwriting.

Ollie,

You and I have known each other longer than this short time here. I am going on a mission that I may not come back from, do not search for me.

You may know me better as Flyyn, your mentor friend when you were young. I must apologize for the temporary loss of your wings, I wanted you to have a life of acceptance, something I never had.

Everyday you came back bitter and broken. It only got worse from there. Gone was the happy boy I had come to know and expect. I tried to reach out to you, tried to help and listen to you. But you pushed me away saying, "I wish I never had these cursed wings!"

The next day you came back crying and more broken than I ever wanted to see. That is when I decided it was time to step in. I could not bear to see you like that.

You never noticed me that day, the day I took your wings away. It was a simple trick of simply making them still apart of you, but not usable unless absolutely necessary.

I hope you can forgive me for that decision I made that day. I stopped my visits, as to keep you safe. If my brother saw me with you he would have put two and two together and tried to do whatever he could to keep you from coming to The Sancutary.

You already know that war is coming to us, and we are far from prepared for it. This is not the only bit though. In case I don't come back, you need to know this. You, Ryan, Hadix, and I all have dual morphs. But only you and I have legendary morphs. Thomas is a rare case of morph, but not quite like ours. How do I know this? Because we are more alike than you think. I had wings too, until I lost them when my brother tried to kill me. I morphed and stayed in it so long, I could not become human again. This is one of the dangers of morphing. I was so drowned in my sorrows and the eagle that I lost myself.

I finally came back, and I had the wings that I previously lost. You wonder why I don't have them now? I hid them, because they are from my legendary form, much like yours. But just like you, I was cursed. When I found and saved Nick, that was when I was set free.

What does this all lead up to? The use of a legendary form, and how to get to it. I am under the belief that if you save someone like I did, you can be saved from the poison. The form takes huge amounts of energy, but you have it.

Do not give up Ollie. You might feel small and insignificant, but you are more valuable than you know, and not just because of your powers. You have something in you, kindness, gentleness, and an exceptional sense of right and wrong. Even if it costs you, you will do the right thing. When Hope and I saw you, we didn't see your legendary form as potential, we saw your potential as a person.

Only you can make a difference.

-Chris

That note explained so much. Falling back onto the pillow, Ollie re-read the note over and over, until he heard the jingle of keys in a lock.

"Ollie," Nick sighed as he opened the door. Walking up to Ollie he waited for his attention. He continued when Ollie turned his head. "I understand that you are feeling hopeless-"

"Not anymore." Ollie hugged the note to his chest. "I know what I have to do, and it doesn't involve building. I need you to teleport me to my college, where you found me."

"You sure?" Nick asked, looking worried for sure.

"Yes." Ollie prepared to go, tucking the note into safety again under the pillow. Having no doubts, Ollie was sure that Chris was at his old school.

Nick held out his hand, and Ollie took it, wincing at the feeling of nausea that followed. When the world came to a spinning halt, Ollie opened his eyes to see the familiar walls of his college.

It was deserted, and there were faint scuffling sounds coming from one of the rooms. A young man was hiding in the corner, looking very scared.

"Who are you?" He called out trying to sound strong, but his voice crack said otherwise.

"We are friends." Ollie assured.

"But you have black wings!" The young man got up and pressed his back to the wall.

"That is a long story." Ollie admitted. "Do you know a Flyyn?"

Nick looked at him with curiosity. "Who's Flyyn?"

The young man walked up to them and studied them. "I do. He helped me through some things. My name is Nathan, what's yours?"

"Ollie, and this is Nick." Ollie pointed at the rather intimating form of Nick. "You must be a morph too then. Flyyn looked after me too, and I think he's in danger."

Nathan nodded and pointed at the room. "He's in there fighting someone called Evil. He told me to run, but I couldn't leave him."

"What's your morph, Nathan?" Nick beckoned him to follow Ollie.

"Fox," Nathan grinned, and slicked back his silver hair. By the looks of it, it was a personal choice, as it poofed up into a spike in the front.

"Nice." Ollie snuck into the room, a large auditorium. Chris and Evil were currently staring off, each with blood and bruises.

"You won't get him, brother." Chris glared at his twin.

Nick looked at both Nathan and Ollie with confusion. "I don't see a Flyyn. Just Chris."

Ollie simply nodded as they continued to sneak down, trying to get Chris out. "Chris went under the name Flyyn to protect his identity."

The standoff was still happening, and the three morphs thought they were going unnoticed until they heard Charles' snarl.

"If it isn't the coward who ran." Charles had something on his wrist that glowed and hummed. Ollie realized that it was a weapon too late.

A red beam of light shot out of it, straight for Nathan. Chris saw it and tackled his brother, only to find him evaporate away. There was only one thing Ollie could do now. Leaping forwards, Ollie took the beam to his chest and fell to the floor, feeling as if all his life had just been sucked out of him.

His vision pulsed, and voices ebbed in and out of hearing.

"Must- wings."

"Black-"

"All."

Slowly, Ollie closed his eyes, heaving painful breaths. It felt like every single cell in his body was screaming out in pain. In the midst of all of it, Ollie saw a white light. It called and beckoned to him, offering painless oblivion.

He floated slowly towards it, letting it sink into his body. All feeling was gone now, he could just faintly hear noises. There were no problems here, so he chose not to move, simply drifting in the white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris could only look on with horror as Ollie went limp right in front of him. His wings crumbled completely, leaving black powder on the floor with a slight gold glint. His chest stopped moving, and Chris checked his pulse to find not even a flutter.

"No...." Nick whispered, a single teardrop falling from his eye. Nathan simply hung his head and stepped back, knowing the sacrifice Ollie had just made for a stranger.

"Is he-" Nathan choked out, clasping his hands together when Chris nodded.

"I thought he would make it." Chris said quietly. "Just like I did."

Everyone was too wrapped up in grief to register what Chris just said. They were just about to pay their respects when golden light started circling the body of the fallen hero.

Looking up with watery eyes, they watched as Ollie's body was lifted up from the midsection, letting his limbs fall a little to the sides. It pulled him up into a standing position, keeping his feet well away from the floor.

What happened next can only be described as a miracle. The golden light spiraled up Ollie's entire body, lifting up his hair as if he was in space. It then proceeded to fly to where his wings used to be and trace the pattern of them in the shimmering light. Dimming, the light left the wings and traced up to his face, leaving solid, poison free wings.

With a little spark, the light spiraled up into the ceiling and disappeared, letting Ollie drop gently to the floor.

Slowly, Ollie opened his eyes, revealing something truly amazing had happened. They glowed gold for a second, before dimming to their green color.

"What happened?" Ollie rubbed his head and lifting his wings up out of habit.

"You did it." Chris looked ready to burst from joy. "You accessed your form and got your wings back!"

"My wings?!?" Ollie leaped up and flew around the room. "They're back!" He did a little backflip easily, something he struggled with before.

When he landed, everyone pilled into a group hug, even Nathan. Ollie had never felt so alive before. He had done it.