Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 31: Patton's the Best Brother

CW: Unhealthy coping mechanisms (Virgil pulls at some of his feathers)

Virgil sat on the porch, staring at the forest as he absent mindedly tugged at some feathers. Never hard enough to pull them out, that hurts too much, but it was still a nervous habit of his. When it starts to sting too much he's snapped back to reality to stop himself. He remembered hearing somewhere that birds peck at their own feathers when stressed, guess fairies did the same thing.

And, well, he was definitely stressed. It had been a few days since the fight with the hunters, and the worst of his hand had healed, but it still hurt when closing it into a fist.

After the first night, Roman went home back into the forest. He said something about putting up wards, but didn't expand. He promised he would be safe, and said that if anything were to happen Darrell would be by his side to protect him. Virgil hadn't seen him since, but that was probably because he hadn't gone to the forest.

He heard the door open behind him, but didn't have to turn around to know it was Patton. The squeaky wheels, and the fact that no one else was at the house, gave it away.

"We don't have anything to do today," Patton reminded him. "Do you want to...?"

Virgil rested his chin on his knee. "No... not really."

The human sighed as he pushed his chair next to his brother. "You love the forest, and I can see you're stressed out."

"The forest isn't safe anymore. It used to be safe, but not anymore."

"We haven't seen any sign of hunters, from Randsted or other. I'm sure it'll be okay."

Virgil bit his thumbnail, humming the I-don't-know noise.

Patton looked out to the forest, before looking over his little brother. He spotted an area in his feathers that looked thin, frowning. "You're pulling at your feathers again."

"I-I didn't mean- I didn't pull them out!" Virgil defended, moving his wing to hide the thin spot.

"They still fell out, they become loose whenever you pull at them. Guess that's why I found a feather on the couch earlier."

Virgil looked away in shame. "I don't mean to. I-I just... I don't know."

"I'm not... I'm not mad. I'm just really worried. I can see how this is all affecting you, and it worries me. And now you won't go to the forest, and it's stressing you out."

"I can't go back to the forest." Virgil's voice broke. "I-I just... What if they're there! What if they're in the forest right now, and if I go back, they'll attack me. And then Roman could be there and he'll try to help me again and get killed! Or worse they could... They... I don't want to be locked in a cage."

Patton carefully got out of his wheelchair and sat down, pushing the chair back before putting his hand carefully over Virgil's wing. "We won't let that happen to you. No one is going to put you in a cage, or kill you or Roman. You're both safe here, I'll make sure of that."

"You're only one person. They have guns, you can't even travel into the forest, and I don't want you to get hurt too. It's bad enough that Roman was shot because of me."

"That wasn't your fault. He chose to help you, he could have just gone home the moment he heard the gunshot, but he didn't."

Virgil hugged himself tighter, his wings closing around himself. "I can't go back into the forest alone. It's too dangerous."

"Then I'll go with you."

Patton smoothed out some feathers on his wing as Virgil looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "Did you forget that you can't? There's too many roots and trees, there's no path to Roman's house!"