Chapter Text
Wilbur shifted in the saddle as the horse swayed beneath him. At his back, his father held the reins, directing the horse through the snow covered field. Fat, soft snowflakes floated down, obscuring the land in a fog-like haze and settling in Wilbur’s curls. Crows drifted above them, their black wings gray through the snow. Wilbur stared up at them, his eyes an icy blue.
“How much longer?” Wilbur asked, squirming in his seat.
Phil sighed. “We’ll be riding for a while longer, Wil. Try to be patient please.”
Wilbur looked up at his father. “We’ve been riding for hours. Can I get down for a while?”
Phil frowned, his gaze sweeping the tundra. “Not sure letting you run around here is a great idea, Wil.”
“Pleeeease!”
Techno, who had been following behind on his own horse, raised his voice. “Let him. He’ll be insufferable for the rest of the trip if you don’t. Besides,” Techno glanced at the crow on his shoulder, “Kristen said the way is clear.”
Phil regarded the crows above before sighing. “Alright–but! You must stay close.”
“I will I will!” Wilbur said, shifting to jump from the saddle.
“Hold on! Don’t just–” Phil caught his son around his middle before he could hurl himself off the horse. With his other hand, Phil tugged the reins and brought the horse to a halt. A moment later Phil lowered Wilbur to the snow-covered ground.
With a whoop, Wilbur sprinted away from the horse, kicking up clumps of snow and tumbling through the drifts.
Techno dismounted, his armor clinking, and went to guide his horse beside Phil. The snow crunched beneath their boots and the occasional wingbeat of a crow broke the stillness around them.
“I can’t remember having that kind of energy,” Phil said, watching Wilbur spin into his fifth cartwheel.
“That’s cause you’re ancient, old man,” Techno said.
Phil’s indignant squawk drifted across the tundra and to Wilbur’s ears. He sat up from where he lay sprawled in the snow, swiping the clumps from his hair and glancing at his father.
One of his mother’s crows landed on Wilbur’s shoulder, nipping at his ear. Wilbur cringed away from it with a frown. “Quit it you.” He paused though, when he caught sight of something in the haze of the snowfall.
Far away, gray and hazy, a dark lump lay in the snow. Wilbur squinted, unable to make out any details in the winter flurry.
He stood and trod closer, the crunch of his footfalls too loud in the cold silence. He couldn’t hear his father or Techno anymore, but the warning to stay close had been forgotten in his curiosity.
Another, smaller form came into focus through the haze, hunched over the larger. A cry drifted between the snowflakes and to Wilbur.
Wilbur neared the mysterious shapes and realized it was the form of a dead human curled in the snow. It was on its side and half buried by the snowstorm. Beside it, a young child sobbed, shivering in the cold.
The child was much younger than Wilbur and hadn’t noticed him yet. It’s face was red from the cold and it’s cries wobbled as it shook.
Wilbur couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a human, let alone a child one.
“Hello,” Wilbur said.
The child’s cries cut off and it stared wide eyed at him.
“I’m Wilbur,” Wilbur said after a moment of silence. “What’s your name?” Dad had said humans weren’t as smart as them and that their emotions weren’t as strong either. They were mostly animals that could talk, but Wilbur thought that alone sounded fascinating.
The child wiped his eyes with fisted hands and then tugged at the dead human’s clothes. “Muma,” it muttered.
Oh that was its mother. That would explain its distress. It’s source of protection was gone.
“That is sad,” Wilbur said. He didn’t feel too bad though. Humans weren’t smart enough to really feel grief. “Why don’t you leave though?”
The child stared at him with an empty expression. It wore a thick fur wrap, but snow had started to collect in the hood and over the boy’s legs.
Wilbur wasn’t sure why he was still trying to talk to it, but he wanted to see what it would do–how it’s thoughts worked.
The child was sniffling again.
Wilbur wondered if he could cheer it up somehow. Wait!
“You’re a kid!” Wilbur exclaimed, startling it. “We could play! Mom and Dad and Techno never have time to play but we could! I bet if I asked dad really nice I could keep you!”
The child just blinked at him, it’s head drooping before jerking back up.
“Come on,” Wilbur reached out to take the kid’s hands. “I’ll show you to dad.”
As soon as Wilbur’s hands touched the child’s, the child snatched them back with a cry and burst into tears once again, clutching their hands to their chest.
“What’s wrong?” Wilbur asked. He sat in the snow beside the kid and peered into his face. “Are you hurt?”
“Wilbur!” His father’s voice drifted through the snow. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” Wilbur shouted back. “I found a human.”
Wind whipped across the tundra, kicking the gentle snowfall into a blizzard. Wind tore at Wilbur’s hair and the child cried out.
Two figures came sprinting out of the haze. Techno had his sword drawn, it’s blade flashing in the dim light. His father wasn’t far behind, blade of his own in hand. Both of their eyes shone blue.
Techno caught sight of him and slowed once his eyes had swept the scene. “It’s only a kid. The adult is dead.”
Phil stopped beside him and deflated. The raging storm died away and the gentle snowfall returned. “By your mother Wilbur, you scared me.” Wilbur checked on the child. He sat starting up at Techno and his dad with wide eyes.
“That’s my dad,” Wilbur said and pointed. “And that’s Techno.”
Wilbur gave his dad a puzzled look. “He started crying when I touched him. Why? Is it hurt?”
“No its just cold, and you feel very cold to it,” Phil said. “Now, Wilbur come here.” Phil reached down to scooped Wilbur up. “Techno will take care of it.” Techno hadn’t sheathed his sword.
Wilbur frowned and pushed his father’s hands away. He didn’t like how that sounded. “Dad can I keep him? Please?”
“Wilbur,” Phil sighed. “He’s a human. Humans aren’t pets, their pests.”
“But he’s a kid too!” Wilbur said. “And you and Techno and mom don’t ever have time to play and I get so bored. If I had him as a pet I wouldn’t bug you so much. Please, dad! Don’t hurt him.”
Phil sat back and sighed, his blue gaze flicking between Wilbur and the kid. The kid’s shivering had set his teeth rattling.
Techno’s eyes narrowed on his friend’s back. “Phil…”
Phil sighed. “He has a point, Techno.”
“Phil it’s like, two, it’s gonna be such a pain.”
“But it’s lasted this long in the cold. He’d be a strong one.” Phil grinned. “Wilbur, how do you feel about a little brother?”
Techno’s gaze rose to the sky in exasperation. “You’ll have to explain this to Kristen.”
“She’ll love him,” Phil waved away Techno’s comment.
Wilbur looked at the human boy. “Brother? He could be my brother?”
“Yeah mate,” Phil smiled. “You were human once too. And so was I and so was Techno.”
Wilbur squinted at his dad. “I don’t remember that.”
Phil laughed. “You were very little. Littler than this guy even. Techno, take Wilbur for me.”
Techno sheathed his sword and sighed. “Great, another decade of terror.” He scooped up Wilbur and smirked. “Let’s hope he grows out of it faster than you.”
“Hey,” Wilbur snapped. Phil knelt by the human boy, drawing Wilbur’s attention.
“Hello little one,” Phil said. “Let’s get you up, yeah?” Slowly Phil reached out and pulled the boy away from the body. The boy reached for it but Phil fully pulled the boy in his arms and rose.
The boy buried his face in Phil’s robe, but pulled away a moment later with an unhappy noise.
“I know that feels cold, but you’ll be okay in a minute.” Phil turned and started back the way they’d come. Techno following behind.
Wilbur sat higher on Techno’s hip, craning his neck to see the boy. “He’s gonna be like us?” Wilbur asked.
Techno hummed. “Probably. The change doesn’t always take, so don’t get your hopes too high.”
Wilur wrinkled his nose. “Can we keep him if he doesn’t change?”
“Doesn’t work that way kid. Just wait and see for now. If we’re quiet and let your dad concentrate the chances will be higher.”
Wilbur nodded and sealed his mouth shut.
Phil reached his horse and pulled himself up onto the saddle with one hand, the other still wrapped around the boy’s back. “Up we go, there. Look how high up we are.”
The boy didn’t say anything, but Phil doubted he was old enough to speak well anyway. The boy sat leaning away from Phil, his gaze on the ground.
Once Techno and Wilbur were on their horse, Phil nudged his into motion. The boy clutched tighter to his robe at the lurch of motion. “It’s okay,” Phil murmured, “I’ve got you.”
After several minutes of travel, the child’s blinks began to slow. Phil pressed a hand to the boy’s back, encouraging him to lean into Phil, and rubbed a hand in circles. The boy shivered against him, sniffling. “Shh, you’re okay. You just need to sleep and when you wake up you’ll be warm.”
Over the next few minutes Techno and Wilbur fell behind a ways, and the child’s eyes started fluttering shut. His shivering slowed and stopped. Phil hummed a simple tune and carded a hand through the boy’s hair, tugging stray pieces of straw and dirt from the strands.
The boy uncurled slightly with a sigh, his eyes falling shut. “There we go,” Phil said softly. The heat that had been radiating from the boy had nearly vanished now, and Phil listened carefully to the child’s breath. This was the tricky part.
When the child had completely drifted off and his breath came slow and steady, Phil set his palm against his back right between the shoulder blades. Phil closed his eyes and looked inward, reached for his heart and teased a strand of power from it. When he had a small strand separated from the rest, he slowly, carefully, let it bleed from his palm.
The boy shifted and made a soft whimper. Phil ran his free hand through the boy’s hair again. “Shh it’s okay. You’re safe.” The child drifted off again. Phil started the delicate process of weaving his power into the boy.
Phil monitored the power he gave the boy. If he went too fast he’d overload the kid’s system, but if he went too slow he’d freeze. The slow seep of power seemed to last years as he nudged the threads into just the right places. Phil caught his shoulders up by his ears several times, he was so tense.
When the boy shifted closer to Phil, and that last bit of warmth vanished, he knew it had worked. Phil beamed, letting the final stands of power weave into place and set before withdrawing his hand.
Phil bundled the boy closer, pressed a kiss into his hair and raised a hand to wave Techo forward.
Techno’s horse huffed as it drew alongside them. Wilbur leaned as close to Phil as he could get, his eyes locked on his new brother. The only thing keeping him from falling from the saddle was Techno’s grip on Wilbur’s belt.
“Did it work?” Wilbur asked.
Phil grinned. “Meet your baby brother.”
A beaming smile broke across Wilbur’s face. “I have a brother! What are we going to name him? Why’s he still sleeping?”
“Shh,” Phil hushed. “Let him sleep for now. He’s going to be tired for a while. And we can talk about names. Did you have one in mind?”
“Tiny!” Wilbur grinned.
Techno snorted. “Here we go.”
Phil chuckled. “We’re not naming him Tiny.” Phil smiled down at his new son. “What about… Thomas? That way you could call him Tommy for short?”
Wilbur considered the boy and nodded. “Thomas is okay.”
“Glad you approve,” Phil said, flashing Tehno a grin.
Thomas stirred, inhaling as he woke and rubbing at his eyes.
“Oh, you can keep sleeping, Thomas,” Phil said. Thomas looked up at him with newly bright blue eyes. Thomas blinked and pressed closer, resting his head on Phil’s shoulder. Phil’s heart melted and he wrapped his arms around the boy. “I’ll never get you back from your mother,” he sighed.
A crow fluttered down and landed on Techno’s shoulder. It cocked its head at the child and clicked its beak.
Techno chuckled. “You’re gonna have some explaining to do.”
“She’ll forgive me the moment she sees him,” Phil said.
They continued on through the tundra, Tommy sleeping soundly surrounded by his new family.