Xelqua picked at the red fuzzy sweater he was forced into an indiscernible amount of time ago as he stood in front of the mirror for normal reasons. He smiled to himself as he basked in the feeling of being wrapped in a cloud.
His wings fluttered- Or, ...he fluttered his wings? Xelqua didn't fully know what it was, but it felt good to move his wings in a giddy motion when something soft and warm was against his skin.
In general, Xelqua thought it felt nice to feel the new bones and muscles stretching in his wings.
Xelqua looked at his darkening wing and stretched it out to its full distance, the wing reached just slightly past his hand.
The new weight on his back already felt so familiar, and the ungodly way the new bones shifted against his back and skin made him want to flutter them more.
Twisting his wing in front of him, Xelqua ran his fingers over the needle-like feathers, which kind of just looked like thin bones, that had grown a lot bigger.
He moved his fingers up and under the softer circular feathers that had started to grow in last night. By all accounts, his wings resembled those of a nestings.
'Would that make me a nesting?' Xelqua smiled at the thought, it was absurd, but it made him wonder what kind of bird he would be, or was, for that matter.
What would his wings look like full-grown, if they ever did stop growing. Would they get much bigger than this? How long are they going to be growing for? And most importantly, can he fly with them?
'Would it even matter?'
Xelqua frowned at that thought.
Looking over his wings, Xelqua noticed how shabby and crooked the feathers were. The others hadn't even grown their wings yet, Xelqua was the first to sprout, two weeks before the others at that.
Then, the realization that no one even knew that he already had his wings hit Xelqua at full force.
He hadn't even seen anyone for the past few weeks because of how sensitive his wings were, and he had only been eating in his room.
He looked over his long and unbalanced wing. He hadn't fully gotten used to controlling them, especially when they keep growing. Every day It was always something new for him to get used to.
Xelqua looked back into the mirror and stretched his wings out to their full three and a half feet. The red sweater matched them nicely, and it kept him warm in his magic for now.
Looking over at his sleeping boy, whose long hair dripped over the bed, Xelqua began to calculate. In two days, give or take, Zera's wings would come. Xelqua's stomach dropped a bit at that, but all he could do was shake off the thought and sit down next to the sleeping teen, fiddling with the sweater.
Running his fingers over the bottom rim of the red sweater brought Xelqua a strange calm. The texture felt nice, but when he felt something bumpy in it he stopped. It felt like a thin sheet of something.
Xelqua frowned and turned the seem over, there was a slit in it that was tied shut with string. It kind of looked like a pocket.
'That's... definitely strange.'
Xelqua fiddled with the string, he knew that he probably shouldn't open it. It was Zezy's secret to tell, not his. And no matter what, Xelqua was not going to betray his trust by opening it without Zera's knowing consent.
Zezy made a noise. Xelqua dropped the seeming and looked over at the boy as Sitrust rolled over in bed, facing Xelqua.
Xelqua snorted as Sitrust made his waking noises, and reached over and brushed Zera's short hair out of his eyes. His eyes cracked open as he looked at Xelqua, still half asleep. Xelqua's wings stretched out and his feathers prickled as he saw Sitruat's blessed smile.
It was him.
Xelqua smiled back and without even thinking, leaned over and kissed Sitruat's forehead, only to be startled by how blisteringly feverishly hot it was.
"How are you feeling?" Xelqua asked, still a bit shocked, as he stroked back Sitruat's short hair.
Sitruat's eyes slid closed, "Awful," he responded, still wearing that butterfly-inducing smile.
Xelqua's wings fell to his sides as he sighed to himself. Xelqua's body blistered at the memories of agony.
'Was he sick, too?'
He kissed Sitruat once again. "Do you want a bottle of water or something?" Xelqua asked, his wing sweeping over Sitruat like a blanket.
Sitruat hummed, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. Sitruat weakly touched Xelqua's hand, his skin was so hot it almost burned. Then Sitruat smiled at Xelqua like he was in some fever dream.
"Can I have you?" he breathed.
Xelqua laughed and cocked an eyebrow, "I'm a bit too much for you to handle, especially right now." he brushed back Sitruat's sweaty hair and kissed his burning forehead.
Xelqua grabbed a bottle of cold water. "Here, drink this," he said, handing Sitruat the bottle.
Sitruat downed half of the bottle before setting it on the side table and promptly falling back asleep.
Xelqua looked at the clock, it was time, he thought to himself bitterly.
Throwing open his wardrobe Xelqua grabbed one of his tight-fitting black shirts, the one he put a hole in the back of. and stripped off his clothes. Xelqua was slightly sad to take off the red sweater, but he knew it was for the better.
He changed into his running outfit and took the normal precautions of hiding his face, voice (using the "cursed" voice), and masking his magic.
It may have been overkill for a five-minute task, but you could never be too safe.
Finally, he was ready to leave. Taking the box and papers instructing how to use them and what to expect when your wings emerge, Xelqua gave Zezy one more glance over, before heading outside.
It was cold, so cold that Xelqua could even see his breath in front of him. Now, more than ever, Xelqua was thankful for the thick cloke and his magic to be burning at full force.
Xelqua stepped out into the hall and began his tedious task of placing the small red-filled vials, in pairs of two with a note, at every door. It was oddly quiet that night, not even the sobbing that always came from the triplets' door could be heard.
They must have cried themselves to sleep again. Xelqua didn't really know whether or not that was a good thing. But nevertheless, the silents was deafening, and it hummed in his ears in a way it never had before.
It made Xelqua uneasy, and the uneasiness only grew as he made it a quarter of the way through his task. Xelqua was desperate for any noise, any sign of life outside of his silent self. Maybe that was why he felt the slightest bit of relief when he heard the click of a door, that was until his, admittedly fucking terrible, common sense kicked in.
'And this is why you can never be too safe.'
Qakel stepped outside of her room, closing the door and leaning against it only a few doors away from Xelqua. Her breath froze in the winter air and rose in puffs of white.
Qakel's breathing was raspy as she shivered and rubbed her arms. She wasn't even wearing a cloak, only a tank top and pajama bottoms.
Xelqua's insides twisted as he watched her shiver in the cold.
""You'll catch your death if you stay like that, Qakel."
She jumped, her lavender-blue eyes flying open as she whipped around to face Xelqua. Qakel bared her teeth, ready to spit venom before her eyes softened and she stopped.
Qakel sucked in a breath, a smile growing on her lips as she seemed to remember him. Or, at least, the him that they thought was a kind stranger.
He smiled back at her.
It was nice to see her sad eyes light up with that familiar joy. And it felt incredible to be the reason why she got to feel that happiness, even if it was only for a moment.
"It's you," Qakel breathed, looking at Xelqua like he was a miracle back from the dead.
Well, he supposed, he was.
"It's me," Xelqua responded in a well-practiced, slightly cursed, neutral voice. "Now, do you mind telling me what you're doing out here in nothing but your sleeping clothes? In the middle of winter?" Xelqua raised an eyebrow, even though Qakel couldn't see it.
Qakel's smile fell as her eyes turned back into the same soft sorrow. She looked down as she shivered violently, rubbing her arms harder as she did.
Xelqua sighed, unconsciously casting a spell on the ground underneath them, making his footsteps silent as he walked over to his old friend and lover.
"May I?" He asked, holding out his hand to her. Qakel looked up at Xelqua as he did, a silent question in her eyes as he tried to give her a reassuring smile.
After a moment, Qakel nodded and took Xelqua's hand.
Xelqua focused on his warmth, the way his blood burned with it. Then he willed it to flow through his skin and into Qakel's own blood.
He knew he succeeded when he heard her gasp and looked over to see the vein in her wrist beginning to glow with a golden light.
Qakel made a sound that was somewhere between a shriek and a giggle as her heartbeat carried the gold all over her body, making her arteries and cheeks glow a slight golden tint.
"Better?" Xelqua asked, pulling his hand away as he retrieved the box from the air.
Qakel looked down at her hands, a bright expression painting itself onto her face. She looked back up at him, "What did you just do?" she asked, a gigantic smile forming on her gold-tinted lips.
He chuckled and shifted his feet on the frosted-over grass-
Somewhere in the fog of his mind, he realized that they should have not been in a field, with fresh snow raining over them like shooting, falling, dying stars.
"A simple heating spell," The golden-haired boy lied, or at least he thought it was a lie. He didn't really know why his magic kept his body warm, or if transferring a bit of that to someone else was considered a spell.
"Now, why are you out here?" he hummed as he moved to catch one of the snowflakes with his fingertip, quietly waiting for her to speak as she watched him with wary eyes.
"...What are you doing?" The knight in sleeping clothes asked, avoiding his question once again. The golden-haired boy sighed silently and glanced over at her.
"The snow, it's been years since I've last seen it," He answered simply, holding out his hand to emphasize his point.
"Oh," she looked down, turning away from him slightly. The golden-haired boy watched as a frown twisted on her face. "But it snows every year in the kingdom?" she breathed after a moment.
"Yes, but I'm not from here." He answered.
The knight in sleeping clothes was quiet for a moment, "Then, why did you come to this hell...?"
"To find a home." was all that The mage dressed in black and gold said.
She looked at him, her pale eyes dancing with his golden fire. "Have you found one yet?" she asked.
Unexpected rage at Sam and the Watchers' silents surged through his blood like his burning fire. The mage dressed in black and gold wanted to scream and curse them out, but he knew he couldn't, so instead he bit his tongue and stayed silent.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the fire down as he turned his gaze to the gray heavens. He thought about what he would say next carefully, "I've long since given up on settling down. What about you?" The mage dressed in black and gold asked The knight in sleeping clothes calmly.
"I..." she began, "Not yet, but I wouldn't mind settling down in a nice warm home, and live off of a farm of my own. Somewhere far from that damned kingdom," she said after a moment.
He turned his gaze from the clouds and instead looked at her. "Well," The mage dressed in black and gold began, before carefully wrapping a few snowflakes in his magic and settling them on her autumn hair.
The snowflakes looked like the fallen stars on her fire-like hair, and they matched perfectly with the dried daisies she kept as a flower crown and the freckles on her cheeks and nose.
"I hope one day you can do just that," The mage dressed in black and gold said, trying to give her a soft smile, knowing full well that it came with too many sharp teeth.
She lifted her hand to his slowly, her warm fingers wrapping around his wrist as her face twisted with confusion. "Do you not want that life with me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The mage dressed in black and gold blinked, and could almost feel something akin to his heart breaking as he took in her sky-gray eyes.
Almost.
"I think you know the answer," He tried to keep his voice soft for the sake of the woman that made him feel something almost like warmth, even as her grip tightened on him.
The knight in sleeping clothes closed her eyes as she pulled The mage dressed in black and gold's hand to her chest protectively. "I wish I could say I understand," she said quietly, her sad eyes turned to the earth.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Guarden."
Guarden's eyes darkened as tears began to flood them once again. The wind blew and turned her hair to fire as it once again left him untouched.
Her eyes opened, and she looked at him then.
"Why did you leave us, my King?" It felt like a punch to the gut as Guarden's hand slipped from his.
And for this moment, he remembered.
He carefully moved closer to her.
She looked at him and bit her trembling lip. Tears fell down her freckled cheeks, "Oh, Guarden," The King tried to soothe as Guarden began to aggressively rub at her eyes.
He gently grasped Guarden's wrists and pulled them down to try and stop her from hurting herself as Guarden's shoulders began to shake,
"You-" she gasped, as a sob broke through her, "Why won't you wake up?" his Guarden sobbed.
The King sighed, and pulled her into a soft hug.
"What are-" a hiccup broke her voice. "What are you doing?" she finished after a moment.
He hummed, wondering whether or not He had made a mistake. "I'm hugging you," The King responded, trying his best to hold back his overly sarcastic swearing tendencies.
"...Why?" Guarden asked after a moment, though she didn't attempt to move or pull away. He hummed, running his fingers through her hair like she did when he was having a breakdown.
"Because I think you need one," He answered simply, keeping his voice as soft as possible, before adding, "I can stop, if you want me to."
Guarden was still, but after a moment she sniffled and wrapped her arms back around him, accepting his deathly hug. The "King" smiled and held her close as the cold air nipped at his magic.
"I'm sorry," she whispered after a long moment. Then she pulled away from him and rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. The boy sighed, then leaned forward and brushed away the tears that still loosely fell down her cheeks.
"It's alright dear, you have been carrying so much all by yourself, haven't you?" He soothed as she sniffled again.
She looked up at him as he smiled at her.
"But still, I shouldn't be crying like that, not when Omay and Qokul are already dealing with so much," she said, looking down.
And once again, he was standing in the hallway. No snow falling, no memories of the long away. No known time other than this.
Xelqua sighed, "You know," he reached out and tilted her chin up, "Sometimes it's good to just cry to someone, and I don't mind being there to lend a shoulder for someone to cry on, especially someone as strong as you." he hummed, cupping Qakel's face and putting a little extra magic in her blood as the memories faded and new ones replaced them.
She frowned, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Thank you," she breathed after a moment.
Xelqua smiled, "Anytime kid," and pulled them both to their feet, "Now, are you up to helping me put these out?" he asked, brushing back Qakel's ivory red hair.
She nodded, "As long as your offer is still up," she said, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Well, I'm not the best teacher," Xelqua chuckled, "But, I suppose I could try" he smiled at her before beckoning the box over to him and directing her on what to do with them.
Xelqua explained to Qakel what was going to happen when their wings came, and what to expect after as they worked. His five-minute task turned out to be more than thirty minutes as they talked.
In the end, he was standing at the door with her, telling her what happened that day, after they got back.
She frowned, "That explains the blood," Qakel mused as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Yeahp,-" 'and it hurt like a bitch,' "-But it's late, and you shouldn't even be out here." he laughed, nudging her to her room.
She grumbled, but relented and opened the door.
He hesitated for a moment, bit his lip, then opened his mouth. "Hey," Xelqua began. She stopped and looked at him, raising a sleepy eyebrow.
He smiled at her, "If you ever need someone to talk to, or even just a shoulder to cry on, I will always be here"
And maybe it was just enough to atone for the past.
Qakel hummed, then smiled back at him, her eyes lighting up like his magic did in the dark. "How would I even find you?" she laughed, cocking an eyebrow.
Xelqua laughed softly in return, "Every Thursday night you can find me at the library. Just follow the smell of blood, coffey, and broken hopes and dreams to the oldest magical section, and I'll be there." he said, before pushing her into her room and closing the door in front of her.
Smiling to himself, Xelqua turned on his heel and returned to his room before promptly collapsing onto his bed with Zezy and passing out.
Memories washed away like the tide, though the foot of his bed felt even more empty without Ray's unwanted company.