Featherweight - Hermitcraft AU

4

Grian shot awake. His face and pillow were wet. Had he been crying? He took a deep, shaky breath and sat up, relieved that his hands were normal. He wiped his eyes, relieved that there wasn't a beak. It had just been a nightmare. The clock read 4:55 AM, its green numbers glowing in the darkness of the room.

His breathing was erratic, and it was making him dizzy.

Calm down , he thought to himself

"It's alright... C-calm down Grian" he said to himself

After sitting there for a minute or two, his breathing slowed and his heart rate came back to normal.

Why did it have to be about birds , he thought

Every time he thought about birds, the scar on his right arm hurt. Every time he thought about birds, this feeling of dread came over him.

He tried to shake that feeling, but it liked to stay. Especially now, since he himself might become one of those pesky creatures.

In that moment, he remembered his wings, and panic shot through his heart like a bullet. Were they bigger?

Grian jumped up and out of bed, getting his legs tangled in the comforter and sheets. He crashed onto the floor.

At least it was carpeted.

"Agh, that hurt-" He said, getting his legs out of the mess of blankets and sitting up. He rubbed his face where it had smashed into the ground.

A bit disoriented from his tumble, Grian stood up once more and walked to the bathroom in front of him. He flicked the light on and stepped onto the cold tile. It took his eyes a moment to adjust as he stepped towards the mirror.

"You can't be serious-" Grian groaned and rubbed his eye. Yup. They were bigger.

In fact, they had almost doubled in size from when they first appeared the previous night.

This was not a good sign.

They weren't going away. Well...what did he expect?

Grian stood in front of the sink, stretching out the wings and moving them. He doubted that they were strong enough to get him off of the ground yet, so he didn't try.

Outside his windows, he heard birds chirping and light slowly rising.

It was strange, his relationship with birds.

Chirping birds were fine. That didn't bother him. Birds flying around were fine. That didn't bother him either. Heck, his friends' pet birds were fine! They were sweet and that did not bother him in the slightest! He could even hold them and feed them!

He was more afraid of wild birds who got too close. Especially big ones.

He masked his fear of birds with a hate of birds [wild birds, at least].

Grian sighed and rubbed his scarred shoulder.

It was funny. He didn't hate his scars. Yes, he hid them from the others, but that was mostly because he didn't want to have to talk about them. He didn't find them ugly at all. He even saw them as cool.

He hated the wings though. Even though they were shimmery and pretty, he thought they were ugly and horrible.

With a chuckle, he thought about how this situation would be different if it were someone else with the wings instead of him.

If Mumbo had the wings, Grian would love them. They would look perfect if they were on him. They fit his style and his charm.

Grian didn't really have any of that.

What he did have, however, was terrible self-esteem.

And now that he was seemingly becoming a bird, that just added one more reason to hate himself.