Tommyinnit Oneshots

Kuebiko

Part Three of Monachopsis and Hiraeth

Avian's eyes fluttered open despite his entire body feeling like he had smashed it underneath a huge rock. It wasn't like the low altitude sickness, but it was similar to the conditions he would fall asleep and wake up to. Everything felt entirely too heavy. His bones had been replaced with lead, his skin turned into concrete, and his blood had been transformed into mercury. He didn't know if he could get up even if he used up all his energy to perform that single action. He was content to lie there until the ground beneath him broke open under his weight to swallow him whole. He knew that kind of experience would be unbearably painful, but he didn't find it in himself to care. He wanted to disappear. He wished that he could force his soul out of his body. He didn't want to feel like the entire world had been chained to his body, dragging it down with every step he took.

"Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?" A voice broke through the comfortable silence. Avian blinked warily as he tried to find the speaker. It took a lot of his reserved energy to lean his head to the side. He squinted at the figure that was leaning over him with worried eyes. It took him a long moment to recognize the person as the Elytra, Phil. Avian wanted to groan, but he didn't have the strength to force the noise out of the steel gates that held his air inside his lungs. He was tired of this game. He wanted to know what these hybrids wanted from him. Did they want information about the Hunters, or did they just want to break him? They had gotten pretty close on the second part. He had fallen asleep in the warm embrace of the phantom, and he had made that instinctual bird noise when Phil stopped him from eating meat. Avian would admit that he was losing this fight, but he was a stubborn young man. He wasn't giving up. He wouldn't let these hybrids know they had broken him. Dream would find him eventually, and they would all see that he wasn't worth their manipulation.

"I'm sorry that I let that happen. I should have known the Hunters would have forced you to eat meat since they've made you turn your back on your Avian instincts. Hell, they didn't even name you properly," Phil continued. He reached towards Avian's mouth with a rag in his hand, and Avian felt something cold touch his skin. He was able to put two and two together to realize that Phil was cleaning him up, but he wasn't entirely sure why. What did it matter if he still had blood and vomit on his body? The Hunters didn't care what he looked like. They would complain about the smell, but they wouldn't do anything to fix it. Avian was only allowed to shower whenever the smell got horrible enough that it started to affect the Hunts, and he had to clean himself off all on his own. Did he smell that bad that Phil just couldn't help but clean him? Hybrids are known to have enhanced senses.

"You don't need to eat meat. I should have told you this at the beginning, but we aren't here to hurt you. We don't want to make you suffer. You are a hybrid that has been raised by Hunters. I promise we don't see you as a traitor. We just... I can only imagine what you've been through. Avians, like other hybrids, have certain weaknesses. Meat and low altitudes, for instance, can make you terribly sick. I know that the Hunters forced you to eat meat, and I can't imagine they would care enough to give you a nest in a tree," Phil continued as he pulled the rag away to wring out the water in a nearby bowl that was on the side table. Avian realized they were in the same room he had woken up in. It seemed way too nice to be a place that Avian got treated in. What if he got blood and vomit on the comforter or floor? Would he be forced to clean it up himself?

"Do you remember what you told me in the main room?" Phil asked, his entire body growing still with a faraway look in his eyes. He wasn't looking at Avian, and the young boy didn't have the strength to move his head that way he wasn't looking at Phil. He couldn't even nod to tell the man that he did remember. Avian was so tired of being confused that he demanded the hybrids just get their revenge already. He demanded they hit him or kill him or something. He didn't like turning his back on everything Dream had taught him. He didn't want them tricking him into making those weird noises or falling asleep in their comforting embraces. He absolutely hated himself for falling for those tricks, and he knew that Dream would punish him if he knew how quickly Avian gave in.