Caged Wings

CHAPTER 5

Wilbur walked down to where he knew his father would be, opening the avian’s study door. His father was there, sitting at his desk with what looked to be a map. Wil shut the door, finally gaining the king's attention. “Wil.” He smiled, beckoning the other over to him. The brownette didn’t hesitate, walking over and around the desk to see what his father was staring at. His eyes widened when he realized what it was. “The crystals are not on this continent, they are on another.” The blond mumbles. “You need to hurry back, while we prepare a ship and supplies you need to go to your kingdom and get Fundy and Niki.” Wilbur nods. 
   
“I made plans to do a few more stops too, one evolving the Pride kingdom.” The other looked intrigued, facing his middle child. “They accepted our alliance, so me and general Punz will be making the journey out there to retrieve the king and whoever else he can spare. I have a feeling we’ll need all the help we can get.” Wilbur tells the other. Phil was quiet for a moment, but nodded a pit after. 
   
“Ok, that sounds like a good plan. Just, be safe.” Phil said, with a tired smile on his face. Wil smiled back, letting the other man ruffle his hair and bring him into a hug. “Please come back safe, I can’t bear to lose another son.” He whispers. 
   
“I promise, but if you want me to get back faster I might want to leave now.” The hug tightened, Wilbur smiling before moving away from the embrace. “I love you dad, I’ll be back in one piece in no time.” 
   
“You better be.” The father grumbled, going back to the map most likely trying to figure out the best route to get to this other continent. Wilbur left quietly not wanting to disturb his fathers focus. 

+ + +

Ponk was never one for attention, usually staying in the back when in meetings and only talking when asked to. He was shy, you could say. So when this obviously way more colorful person came up to talk to him one day when on guard duty, he didn’t know how to react. Usually others left him alone, but this one walked up to him without a care, smiling and trying to start an actual conversation with him. Sam, a creeper hybrid. Ponk awkwardly started talking back, mostly because the hybrid was asking him questions. It’s been a few days since that, and he must say it has gotten easier to talk to the other. Sam was interesting, telling a few stories of his time as a child to the other. 

Ponk had similar stories, telling the older one about them as well. He would admit, he was skittish of the other though. Sam was a general of the Dreamer kingdom, he didn’t know if he was a spy or not. Even Quackity, the avian, could be a spy. Any of the original Dreamer kingdom soldiers could be spies.  But, sitting on the roof of the snowy castle with the creeper hybrid, Ponk felt at peace. More at peace than he had since this long neverending war began. “What do you plan to do when the war is over?” Sam asks, eyes fixed on the setting sun. Ponk paused, looking over to the other before smiling. 

“I want to start a farm, maybe even retire early.” Sam’s eyes sparkled, looking over towards the other. 

“That sounds nice.” Ponk hums, nodding. 

“What about you?” The Egg general asks, brown eyes looking into Sam green ones. Sam looked puzzled, eyes going back to the sunset. 

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll try and rebuild the Dreamer kingdom once Dream is gone.” Ponk smiles. 

“Rebuild? By yourself?” Sam chuckled. 

“No, The other Dreamer soldiers would help.” He explains. As silence fell, the hybrids smile fell a bit. “None of us are happy about what Dream did, we all know it’s best to defeat him and dethrone him. It’s hard though. I’ve always served under Dream, and even his father briefly.” Ponk side hugged the other, sympathy plastered on his face. 

“I’m sure you’ll build Dreamer kingdom back up after it’s little stumble. I’ll even help.” Sam brightened a bit, nodding. 

“I’d like that.” 

+ + +

One Day Later. . . 
   
“Look, I understand you want to get this mission over with, but my feet are killing me Punz!” wilbur growls. 
   
“We’re almost to your kingdom, then we can rest.” The general spoke, eyes still forward as he walked. “Not too long though, we have two other places to go, then back to the Antarctic kingdom.” Wilbur sighed, hanging his head. He wasn’t going to convince the other to stop so he could rest his feet. They hadn’t even stopped to sleep since they started. It was good L’manburg was in sight, or Wilbur would have lost it on the other. L’manburg wasn’t anything too special yet, cozy little houses on brick streets, the national flag sprinkled in with the busy life of their day. Though, in town square sat a statue that had just recently been finished. When Wilbur and Punz were getting ready to pass it, Wil had to stop. Cloudy eyes staring at the statue. 

Punz himself stopped, face softening. The statue was a beautiful white and glossy, the overall shape was of a woman. It was Sally, head tilted as she smiled, fish gills on either side of her face on display, she was sitting down, legs draped over to one side, one hand lazily keeping her other side up, left hand on her heart. She was wearing a flowy dress, since she had always liked them. Flowers and candles sat all around the statue, even a few people sat below it, hands on the polished steps, eyes closed. Punz laid a comforting hand on the other's shoulder, making the brownette snap out of it. “I know, we all miss her.” He spoke softly. “Let's finish this mission and get your revenge.” A small smile pierced the princes lips, brown eyes filled with determination. 

“Ok.”