"General!" Someone called.
Zedaph sighed and turned.
"Yes?" Zedaph asked his hands behind his back.
The blazeborn shakily held out a rolled-up piece of mushroom paper.

Zed opened the paper and scanned over it before slamming it closed.
"We don't attack when the kingdom has no defense," Zedaph growled.
"But sir-" the blazeborn began.

Zed's blazerods burned brighter. The blazeborn immediately shut up.
"Try and get more people on our side. But we do not attack while the king is away. That is immoral," Zedaph growled shoving the paper into the blazeborn's hands.

"That will be all," he declared and turned away.
He listened as the man scampered away before daring to look down the hole again.

Why hasn't your body molded with the SoulSand yet?

●●●●

"Hello?" The boy called, gripping his hand over his right eye.
"Hello!?" He called again.
"Tango? Zeddy?" The boy called.
"Brothers, please I'm scared!" The boy called.

'Hello!'
'Hello!'
'Hello.'
'Hello'
'Hi!'
'Hi!'
'Hello little one'
'Oh, hello!'
'Hi!'

The boy shrunk in on himself, trying his best to cover his ears from the loud echoing screams with only one hand available. He matched the hellos with a scream of his own and began sobbing. It burned as it exited his eyes. Or rather, eye and hole...

"Hello," a much softer voice greeted.
"I'm Aureylian," the voice greeted.
Carefully the boy looked up at the 20 or so woman in front of him. She sported large red wings with black tips that the boy has never seen before.
Shaking, the boy carefully reached out to touch her wings.
The red was a nice comfort from the neverending black all around them.

Her wing flicked out making him flinch.
"Do you like them? They're like Northern Cardinal wings! Or... What was it that Hypno called them... Pine Gross Beaks?" She chirped flapping them slightly.

She shook her head and turned to look back at the boy.
"You've been here a while, haven't you?" She hummed.
"Have I?" The boy asked.

Aureylian gently pulled his hand away from his missing eye and flinched.
"Yes, you certainly have. You're a long way away from the observatory," Aureylian noted standing back up, pulling the boy up with him.
"The what?" The boy asked.
He was ignored.

"What's your name?" Aureylian asked.
"Uh... Impulse?" The boy answered carefully, reaching up with his free hand and fiddling with his golden necklaces.
The round 'Tango' necklace clanked against the long rectangle 'Zedaph' necklace.

The red-haired red-winged woman nodded and turned around to lead him somewhere.

Now would probably be a good time to describe what she looked like.

She had long red hair that was tied into sections and pulled to her front, she wore a white, black, and red traditional hakama. She had large red wings with the tips of the flight feathers being black and a large section connecting to her back being brown. A large hole -much like Impulse's own- sat just below where her wings connected to her back, red dripped ominously from it staining her white garments in a large red streak down to her feet.

He felt like he walked through that void after that woman for centuries.
But finally, she stopped and held her hands out as if pushing open a door.

Sure enough, with enough force, the black broke and swung open just like a door would. They stepped into a very bright and colorful room. And not just reds and teals and pinks and oranges. No. A full-blown mirage of something sat before him. Around him.

In the room sat a man, older, decorated in pinks and yellows. Some kind of hood covered most of him, but the most prominent thing about him was the 2 large gaping holes in his chest and stomach. A similar red spilled from the holes.
Thank g*d! At least those were colors he could process.

"What the h*ll?" Impulse stammered.
"Welcome to the observatory!" Aureylian welcomed, her wings beating through the air.

"A Hermit?" The man asked.
The woman paused.
"Uh... A holder?" Aureylian offered.
The man sighed, almost as if he had been hopeful.

"But hey, he's been here longer than either of us?" Aureylian offered. 
That immediately caught the man's attention.
"How long has he been here?" The man asked.

"Uuuuh... At least 10 years?" Aureylian offered.
"Ten-" the man coughed, choking on his own saliva.
"Ahem, do either of you know Tango or Zedaph?" Impulse asked.
It was a long shot, a really long shot, but he could try?

They immediately shot around to look at him.
"Iiiis that a yes?" Impulse stammered.
"You know Tango?" The man asked standing up and rushing towards the poor teenager.

The boy stumbled backward and carefully nodded, "he is- er, was, my baby brother," Impulse answered, "as was Zedaph."
"Dude!" Aureylian gasped jumping from foot to foot chirping weirdly.

"Is she ok?" Impulse asked.
"Yeah, just excited," The man sighed.
"Anyways- you said you were Tango's older brother? How old are- were you?" The man asked.

"16, I'm a year older than Tango," Impulse informed.
"Oh!" The man hummed, "so you've been here nearly 14 years then."

Oh jeez, he would have almost received 3 more blaze rods at this point.... Not quite, a year away, but close enough.

"Uh... Who are you again?" Impulse asked.
"Oh, right! I'm Biffa, it's a pleasure to meet you..." The man introduced.
"Impulse," the teen nodded.

●●●●

"He can't be here anymore!" The king announced.
"What?" Wels stammered.
Hel's grip tightened on his brother's hand.
"You can't do that!" Wels stammered grabbing his twin's arm so tightly it would likely leave bruises.
Not as bad as the ones to come.

Suddenly Wels was being held tightly by at least a dozen adult Avians while the king and a few of the guards pushed Hels closer and closer to the edge of the highest cliff in Aviary.

"Stop! You can't do this! Hels!" Wels screamed.
"It's ok, it's ok Wels," Heks assured glancing anxiously back as they shoved him closer and closer to the edge yelling at him to get out of Aviary.

"STOP THIS ISNT FAIR!" Wels screamed, sobbing.
"It'll be ok! I'll go back with the Hermits, I'll be ok!" Hels assured a rock slipped from under his foot and he fell off.

T h e  W r o n g  W a y.

Hels quickly tried correcting himself but Wels could see if he was able to or not.
"HELS!"

Wels' eye flew open, tears streaming down his face in waterfalls. Over him, holding his face steady, was Xb. He was illuminated in blue from Wels' gem and he held a soft concerned expression.

"Shhhh, breath Wels. Keep with me," Xb hummed softly.
"I couldn't help him, I couldn't help him!" Wels squeaked his voice cracking as if he was a child again.
D*mn did he feel like it.

Xb pulled him up and held him in a gentle hug.
Wels squeezed his eyes shut and tried focusing on Xb's breathing.

"You weren't high enough," Xb whispered after a long few moments.
"I know," Wels agreed opening his eyes again.
Xb pulled away and he studied the man carefully.

Finally, he sighed.
"You, Tango, and Beef all have dangerous for your origins habits," he groaned.
Wels couldn't help his soft chuckle.

The 2 stared at each other, both knowing the other wouldn't go to sleep.
They stayed like that for a minute. Maybe 2 or 3.
Until finally Xb huffed and advertised his eyes.
"Do you- uh-" he stammered.
"Do I...?" Wels hummed shifting in order to sit up properly.

"Nonevermindit'sstupid!" Xb blushed shuffling anxiously.
"I doubt that," Wels challenged.
Once more they lapsed into silence.

"Do you- ahem... Would you like to preen me?" Xb asked in a small quiet voice.
Wels smiled and let out a soft chitter.
"I'd love to," Wels answered, the younger's eyes lit up.

Xb shuffled so his back was facing the avian and he glanced back to make sure the blond was still there.
When Wels didn't immediately touch his wings Xb looked back again scared he had left him there like a blubbering idiot.
He was still there, shifting silently to get into a better position.

The 2 made eye contact and Xb quickly advertised his gaze. The damage was done though. Wels let out a quiet chuckle and silently bonked his forehead against Xb's back. Something he 100% took up from the Felines.

He carefully took Xb's right-wing and spread it open. He took his hands off it and Xb heard him shuffle a bit more. Instinctually his gaze shifted to watch him.
"I'm still here Xb," Wels jokingly assured.

Xb blew a raspberry at him and shot his head forward. Wels chuckled and carefully began grooming the Elytrian.

Xb relaxed into the feeling his other wing twitching excitedly as the blonde worked.
"When was the last time you preened?" Wels asked his tone almost disgusted as he scratched at a particularly bad clumped spot.
He might need to get the water for this one...

Xb hummed softly.
"A month?" He shrugged startling Wels.
Xb winced slightly as the blonde accidentally tugged too hard on a loose feather.
"Sorry," Wels hissed.

"It's ok," Xb assured.
Wels pressed his forehead to Xb's back.
"Are you serious?" Wels asked.
Xb snickered.
"No! I kinda... You know... Genetic energy-ed myself..." Xb admitted.
There was a moment of silence only interrupted by a happy trill from Xb.

"I can't tell whether I'd prefer if you went a month without preening or not anymore," Wels admitted.
Xb chirped. Which was received and parrotted by Wels.

"It wasn't too bad of a fall," Xb assured before falling into a fit of laughter and chirps, "you should have seen Hypno! He slammed right into a window of one of those big shops!"
Wels let out a laugh of his own.
"He now has this large bruise on his forehead. Next time you see him you should ask where he got it from!" Xb snickered.

"Oh, 100%!" Wels laughed.
"What are you 2 doing?" Someone cut them off.
They both looked up to see a very tired Mumbo Jumbo.
"Hey Mumbo!" Xb greeted.
MJ teleported down by their side and eyed the position the 2 were in.

"Preening?" Mumbo asked cautiously.
Xb chittered and Wels nodded.
"Oh-oh! Do you want me to- uh-" Mumbo stumbled over his words pointing mindlessly away from the duo.

He took a step back and Xb let out the closest thing to a snarl that a bird could make. Mumbo held his hands up and Wels snickered.
"Get over here and help preen him, he'll pounce you if you leave," Wels advised.

Taking the advice, with a much purpler face than before, Mumbo sat beside Wels and began helping with his left-wing.

Xb went boneless in their arms and you could practically feel Mumbo's laughter as he fumbled to help preen.
If he wasn't so close to Grian he probably would be messing it up.

They sat in silence -other than the constant chitters, chirps, and tweets from Xb- for a couple minutes.
Until finally Mumbo broke it.
"So, which one of you had a nightmare?" He asked casually.

Out of everyone in the group, Mumbo seems to be the only one dumb enough to not realize when to and when not to step into a situation and yet also smart enough to realize why the situation was even taking place.

"Yes," Xb stated simply.
"Yes?" Mumbo asked.
"Yes," he repeated.
Mumbo hummed and didn't say anything about it again.

●●●●

"Dad," Wilbur hummed softly.
Phil kept walking.
"Dad," Wilbur repeated this time louder.
He kept walking.

Wilbur huffed and stepped out from the wall of the cave into the rest of it.
Immediately he tripped on the wet cave floor and slid down the surprisingly steep section.
Phil immediately turned around holding the torch a bit higher so he could see what happened.

"Wil! Are you ok?" Phil asked rushing to his son's side.
Wilbur groaned and clung to Phil like he was a lifeline.
"Yeah I think so, just wasn't looking where I was going," Wilbur assured leaning against the smaller's wing.

Phil sighed and took his child's hand while he led him further down.

●●●●

"Hello!" Etho greeted the Elytrian with a wide grin on his face.
Grian pulled the older into a hug before darting his eyes around the room.
"Where-?" Grian began.

"Hi!" Wilbur let out a loud laugh.
Grian snapped his attention upwards. Sitting idly, swinging his legs off the side, Wilbur was on some kind of wooden ledge. Behind him, leaning against the wall, was Techno biting lazily into a baby carrot.

Etho laughed from behind him. Grian turned when someone tugged on his sweater sleeve. Behind him was Tommy. Big blue eyes stared up at him, wind blew his hair into his face as he tugged him along.

They left the house and, as if he had been splashed with a speed pot, the 2 were running through a plain field of grass.

He stopped outside a large brick building.
"Tommy!" Phil greeted.
Grian spun around to watch as Phil hoisted Tommy onto his hip and chuckled as the boy played with his hair. The boy's red and white, too small wings fluttered happily behind him.

Grian stepped into the building, his attention being forced away from the totally natural father and son duo as his scenery changed.

The inside was made out of wood and books. He found himself having to look up as there were 3 stories of balconies to the library plus a large window even higher than the rest of the library in the back letting in the most light.

Grian roamed the library. A seemingly constant loop with different lighting surrounded him as he walked until he finally picked out a book to read.
Walking a few more steps he turned to find a lounge where Ren and a boy with too-large eyes curled up in some form of nest together seemingly trying to read a book.

"Ren! Keralis!" Grian greeted the duo taking his place beside Keralis who almost immediately draped an arm around his shoulder.
"Hey, Grian!" Keralis hummed pressing his face into Grian's shoulder.

Grian opened his book and began reading himself. Or at least trying. G*d why was reading so hard.
"Ugh, I wish-" Grian groaned and looked up to be met with his old bedroom and Kristin sitting in the nest beside him.
"-reading wasn't so hard!" Grian complained.
Kristin laughed and a soft kiss was pressed to Grian's temple.

"Yeah, that's what happens!" Kristie laughed from the doorway.
Grian snapped his attention to the blond in the largest gown he's personally ever seen before. What, was she from the 18th century? Gurl!

Behind her Beef was in the kitchen. He was a surprisingly good chef, he always claims Kristie was better.
Grian snapped his attention back to Kristin who was still sitting there, though this time with her husband beside her.

Ah, Kristin and Husband Co!
Kristin inception! Kristinception!

Kristin gently bopped him on the head with the book.
"Focus!" She teased.
Grian shook his head in surprise and once more found himself in the library.
This time with Kristin bent over him with a paperback book in hand and Beef squatting down in front of Ren who was gladly taking the chocolate chip cookies from the tray, fluffy brown tail wagging a million miles per hour.

"Get lost in the story G-man?" Keralis joked biting into his cookie.
Grain flushed and took the cookie Keralis offered to him.
"Was I being talked to? Sorry," Grian chuckled nervously.
Keralis squeezed the younger closer with a grin.
"Naw man, you were just murmuring like a weirdo," Keralis teased.

Ren let out a choked sound of realization.
"Oh Wels wanted-" Ren began.
"Hey! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Beef scolded.
Ren scrunched his nose and finished swallowing before continuing.

"Wels wanted to talk to you!" Ren finished.
"Really?" Grian asked.
"Yeah! He's up in his window, you should go see him!" Ren nodded his sunglasses slipped from his eyes.
Were his eyes always completely blue like that?

Uuuhh.... Yeah! I think so!
"Ok!" Grian agreed and got up.
Beef handed him a bag of the cookies he made.
"Share these with him, will ya!" Beef chirped.
Wait... Isn't Beef a- nope! Pretty sure he's just human!

"Will do!" Grian agreed and began walking back out of the sitting area.
"Oh, and hey!" Beef quickly called for him.
Grian turned to look at him.
"Don't feed it to any of the Pesky Birds, parrots can't have cocoa!" Beef reminded.

Grian nodded and left.
This time, the walk back to the center of the library was longer and much more interesting because at least 4 or 5 parrots would be sitting on the bookshelves trying to get to the cookies.

Finally, he made it out to the large main area. He climbed a set of spiral stairs to get to the second story. Then another to get to the third. Then another to get to the fourth. He walked along the fourth floor to the balcony. Then he walked to a large wall of books with a ladder.

Grian shoved a side of the bag into his mouth and climbed the set-in-place ladder.

This ladder brought him to a large arched window with a red cushioned window seat below it.
The sides were lined with pillows and plushies.

Most notably one of those uncomfortable tube pillows, an average white pillow, a pink blob with a face that Grian's pretty sure is supposed to be an axolotl, and a cylinder, lime green cup plush with whipped cream on the top, a brown straw, brown circles at the bottom as if to represent boba, and fake leaves in the whipped cream.

Sitting against the purple tube pillow- wait purple? Wasn't it just red? No wait- now it's blue?
Jeez! Pick a color and stick with it!
...
Thank you.
Sitting against the red tube pillow and the normal white pillow was Wels.

He wore a light gray sweater underneath a blue sweater-vest and tan dress pants. His shoes were kicked off in favor of socked feet. White dove wings curled around him as he read a purple-coated brown book, a pink string with a golden medallion was held between his pointer and middle finger.

His reflection didn't match up. Instead, his reflection had brown hair, a black undershirt, a red sweater-vest, and black dress pants.
Also, was it raining outside? When did that happen?

Grian hoisted himself up onto the hard-to-reach window and plopped down between the blob and the boba. He grabbed the bag and opened it.
He pulled out a cookie for himself and gave a second to Wels who smiled softly at him.

Wels' mouth moved but that's not what he heard. Instead, he heard a loud beeping noise.

Grian groaned and pressed his hand to his head.
One of you pecked at his arm and he waved you away in anger.
You squawked at him, offended, and he stuck his tongue out at you.

Jerks. He was liking that dream.

●●●●

"Dad? What is this?" Wilbur asked cautiously.
Phil took his hat off and handed it to Wilbur.
"What are we doing here?" Wilbur asked cautiously watching the large, natural gap in the bedrock.

Wilbur snapped his attention to Phil at the sound of beads clinking together. Sure enough, Phil was tugging them all out of his hair.
"What are you doing?!" Wilbur asked frantically.
He dropped the beads carefully into the head of his hat and stepped to the broken bedrock.

"Dad?!" Wilbur started to freak out.
Phil smiled at the younger and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Wait here, mate," Phil instructed and then, he was gone.

"Phil!" Wilbur shrieked.
Frantically he placed the hat and beads to the side, away from the gap, and rushed to the gap to see if he could see his father.

Phil dropped from the world. He let the below take him for a few seconds. A few precious seconds.
Then, his wings opened and he flapped.

The air was thicker down here. He heard his son and his crows scream out in dismay at his drop. A few flew down with him, willing to risk everything.

He twisted so his belly was facing the void. His wings beat against the thick air, it took more out of him down here. He let himself glide as best he could until he got too close to the void below.

It was beautiful. Who would have thought it would be so gorgeous in the in-between? The down below.

He felt like he was on a dollar coaster.
Up, down, up, down. A sense of danger each time he went down.
The green fabric of his hakama touched the void a moment before he flapped his wings again and burst up.
He watched as it sent ripples through the entire void, like a body of water.

So cool.

He was getting tired now. His wings were getting sore and he was running out of energy.

Aiming for one of the open holes in the bedrock, Phil flew up.

He glanced down one last time. Only to be met with soft brown hair, wide dark eyes, and soft tan skin.

Kristin?!

He almost found himself falling back down before a hand snagged his nagagi and tried helping him up. Probably having figured he was aiming for the opening.
Which, he wasn't wrong.

Phil scrambled to climb back up and over the edge where his son resided.
Heh, he aimed for the right hole!

Phil shook that off and scrambled to look back down at the void.
She was gone.

What was that?! A ruse to try and get him into the void? Is that what it does to get more people down there?

"Uh, dad?" Wilbur stammered.
Phil turned his attention to his oldest son. Well, kinda his oldest.
Wilbur stared down at his hand blankly. Long black and blue vines were crawling up his arm.

Phil scrambled closer and tore the vines off his chick.
Oh, g*d, when did these get here?!
The vines were all over the bedrock floor.
He picked his son up with far too much ease, the broke and crumbled easily enough off his foot and leg but they had to leave his boot behind.

Phil grabbed his hat and tore it up from the vines, not willing to lose his connection to his babies and a gift from his long-gone wife. At the time, fiance.

He clenched his fist around the rim of the hat, closing off the head of it where the beads were taking refuge.

He grabbed his son's arm and ran as fast as he could through the damp half manmade cave.

●●●●

They burst through the cave entrance gasping for air. Phil's wings twitched uncomfortably, happy to be out of there.

"Dad?" Wilbur tried yanking his arm away from his father.
Phil kept walking, his hand was unnaturally tight on his son's arm.
"Dad!" Wilbur cried out.

His skin was burning. The sun was out, it hadn't been when they left...
It hurts! A million times over, it hurts!
His father wouldn't listen, his eyes blank, his grip on his hat and his son so tight his knuckles were white.

Wil could feel his skin start to peel, he could smell it too.
The trees gave a bit of needed cover but they weren't around for long.
Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!

Wilbur was pulled backwards into a chest, suddenly in a cacoon of darkness.
He could still feel the skin on his leg and foot where the boot used to reside and his hand still latched tight onto his father, burning.

"Phil, you're hurting him," Techno's blank voice growled.
There was a moment of contemplation before the grip disappeared. Wil darted his hand back in under his twin's cloak.

"Ok, Wilbur," Techno whispered, "I'm going to pick you up, ok?"
"Mhm," Wilbur agreed.
Techno's arms hooked under him, one at his knees one at his waist, and he hoisted him up, his feet now under the cover of the cloak.

"Why didn't you go Ghost?" Techno asked, Wil could feel him walking.
"Bird brain," Wilbur answered.
Techno grunted.
"Where's your parasol?" Techno asked.
"We left during the night..." Wilbur reasoned.

Techno huffed.
"I know, but it didn't seem important at the time! We were going underground!" Wilbur reasoned.
Techno blew out air from between his closed lips. Reminiscent of an angry bull.

"You're lucky I was here," Techno commented.
"I know," Wilbur replied.
"'Else he would have dragged you to his nest. Which is, not covered, by the way," Techno grumbled.
"I know," Wilbur replied.

"I mean, how many times do you have to go through this to get it through your head-?!" At this point, Techno was just rambling.
That was ok.
"I swear, you and Mari are- were too similar!" Techno huffed.

He tugged the cloak off Wilbur and settled him on a coach. Techno had built a house within the cave.
Called it his Burrow.

He had certainly done it justice. The fire was made into a fancy fire pit in the center of the room. The stone floor and ceiling were replaced with wood, pillars along the walls gave the area a sturdier feel, though it wasn't just for show.

They had gotten help from Grian.
Not physically, but they asked Phil to send him drawings of the cave and explain the idea of what they wanted.
Grian had been absolutely eager to help. Apparently, Ely was not as happy with the constant flying back and forth.

Peck peck!

Ope! Speak of the devil.

Techno opened the door and returned to whatever he had been doing. Wilbur hadn't really been paying attention. Clearly, though, Techno wasn't either because instead of a bird coming in, it was their little brother Tommy.

Ok, so not the bird they were thinking of but- ok, nevermind....

Tommy stepped inside and stepped out of the way, holding an arm out for their guests.
Ely, Fading, and Wolfie.

2 of which were Grian's and not their dad's. Tommy closed the door and plopped himself down beside Wil.

"Ely is here!" Tommy announced, "dunno who the other guys are but this one-" he explained with a smile, pointing at the brown parrot with an array of green and blue spots over its small body, "keeps waddling to my finger and flipping upside down and yelling 'Faded!', she's weird!"

"They," Wil printed softly.
Tommy cocked his head, much like the 3 birds on his arm.
"That's Birb, and they go by They/Them," Wilbur explained.
A blush overtook Tommy's cheeks.
"WELL, HOW THE H*LL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!" Tommy shrieked, scared he offended the bird who found a lovely home between Tommy's legs on his patagium, using their beak to pull and push the skin like a fabric.

"You weren't, which is why I told you!" Wilbur replied grabbing Tommy's jaw.
Tommy flinched and Wil let go with a raised eyebrow.
"You ok?" Will asked as he held his left cheek.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine- Hey! I'm supposed to be here to worry about you!" Tommy whined and pulled out burn cream from his bag.

Wilbur found himself chuckling.
"Tommy," Techno greeted placing down 2 bowls on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"Do you want some stew? I can get you some without any meat in it," Techno offered.
Tommy grinned, "yes please!"

Techno nodded and left for the stew.
The bowls contained potatoes, carrots(and a lot of them), broth, and very soft meat.

Techno returned with a third bowl, sat it down, before taking his place beside his twin.
"Tell us if it hurts," Techno instructed and they began.
Though Wilbur didn't seem to mind, it felt wonderful on his still aching skin.

----
Notes:

When a Blazeborn dies their soul becomes soulsand and their body deteriorates into Wither skeletons. At least, they usually do...

However, for some reason, people aren't deteriorating the way they should.
Especially the ones who used to own gems. Perhaps, they have the worst fate.

Wels is just the embodiment of my fear of being alone... I'm too scared to be alone and forgotten so I do the most obvious thing... I isolate myself!
Whoo! I'm soooo smart!

You saw Shikuu, now please welcome Gizzy!

I have a lot of pets....

Also, those of you who wanted Kristin and Kristin content... Dreams are about the best I can do for you. Mostly because one is from the sky and is currently in a neverending blackness and the other is from the ocean and is a Tailed Merling which means they can't exactly go anywhere if they go above water. Though since she is an octopus, she can go farther than others.
Also though, literally no one knows both of them. They either know 1, know 1 and know of the other, or know the other.