Chapter Text
When he wakes up, he immediately feels cold bars pressing in his back. They’re all around him surrounding him like he is in a… in a cage.
Phil panics, he can’t be in a cage, he needs to fly, needs to live, needs to be free!
He tries to brake the cage, tear the metal apart to be free, but he can’t. His hands are tied together, his feet are tied together. He can’t go anywhere.
The cage is too small, he can’t fit in it. He can’t move his wings- his eyes widen, those filthy fucks! They tied his wings, he can’t move them, can’t even stretch them anymore.
He is trapped.
“Father,” he suddenly hear, his head shoots up, but it isn’t Wilbur who he sees. There is a little boy standing in front of the cage, blond hair in curls and sparkling blue eyes, just like Phil had at that age.
“Tommy, father said that we couldn’t come to close to it,” a seemly older boy tells the smaller one. He has pink hair, braided into a braid that goes upon to his lower back. The boy has brown, almost crimson eyes.
“But Techno,” the smaller one argues, “father also said that it would be our pet, why can’t we come closer to it then?”
Phil only now hears that he is referred to as an ‘it’, like he isn’t more than just an animal.
He wants to tell the two boys that he is a person and that he isn’t their pet, but he can’t, for some reason, get his mouth open.
“Tommy, Techno! Step away from it, now.” A voice adds then, it’s a man, they have a crown and sunglasses on. Is he in a palace?
At the voice of the man, both the boys turn around to face them- their father? It must be their father, right. Why otherwise would a king have to little boys in his kingdom.
The smaller boy answers Phils question, “Father, is this our new pet?”
“Tommy, why otherwise would we have an avian in our ballroom?” the king asks the little boy sarcastically.
“Father?” the older boy- Techno begins, “doesn’t it need a bigger cage? It can’t move in there.”
“Do you want it to have a bigger cage?” the man asks in return.
“Yes, it doesn’t look like it is very comfortable in there.”
“I will get it a bigger cage and don’t worry about how it feels, it isn’t allowed to complain.” The king tells and shoots Phil a glare that says ‘listen carefully, I will cut your head off if you complain.’
The man walks closer to Phil, stopping right in front of the cage and sitting down in front of him.
“How is the birdy doing?” the king asks, a layer of mocking to find in their voice. Phil doesn’t answer, not caring about the consequences, because, it can’t become worse than it already is. “Bird, answer me. Are you alright? Is anything hurting? Are you cold, because we are really far from where we found you.”
“Fuck you.” He snaps, again, not caring about the consequences of his words.
“What did you say?”
“I said, Fuck you! You touched my wings, you even tied them down. No, I am not alright, you stole me from my home, from my son!”
“You have a kid?”
“None of your business.”
“I think it certainly is my business, pet.” Phil snarls at that, stupid name given by an even stupider king. “So tell me, what is his name?”
Phil keeps silent, not caring about if this will be a mistake, a mistake that would lead to a thousand of others.
“Pet-“
“I have a name,” Phil hisses.
“Okay, birdy. What is your name?”
“Phil, you can call me Phil.”
“Okay, Phil, what is your son’s name?”
He can’t let the man know what Wilbur’s name is, it will only be dangerous. He needs to come up with something… a flower? No, that would be stupid. He could tell him a normal name, but nothing fits Wilbur good enough. Something else? A myth! Orpheus! Wilbur always liked that guy, Phil never cared about Greek myths, but if Wilbur liked it, Phil remembered it.
“Orpheus,” He says hesitant, he hopes the king doesn’t spot the obvious lie.
“Orpheus!” the pink haired boy almost screams, “That’s a Greek myth! You named your son after a Greek myth?” Phil blinks at him, how can a kid be this enthusiastic about Greek mythology?
“Nerd!” the other boy yells out.
“Boys,” the king snaps, and both of the boys immediately quiet down. “We do not want to scare our guest, do we?”
“No,” the mumble in sink.
Guest, only now the words come through Phil’s brain. Guest, that means that he won’t be here forever.
“Dad?” the pinket ask, “Can we keep him?”
“Yes, of course we will. He is a bird, a bird belongs in a cage, not in the outside world.” Ohh, they are going to keep him.. is the only thing Phil can think, they are going to keep him and he will be their pet, nothing more, nothing less.
“I reckon that I do not have a say in this,” he mumbles to himself, seemingly not quiet enough, because the king gives him a glance that says ‘shut the fuck up and listen to me.’ and of course Phil listens to that, he isn’t planning on an early death, and certainly not by the kings hand.
“Boys,” the king interrupts the silence. They all kept their quiet, all doing their own thing, although the occupation of the royal family was just staring at Phil, what immediately took him into a fight or flight mode, but he couldn’t do either of them, so he just sat there, uncomfortably. “I forgot to introduce ourselves to our new pet. I am king Eret the third, although you may call me Eret. This is the heir, his name is Technoblade, although just don’t call him or if you have to call him Prince Technoblade.”
“Dad..” the pinket hisses, “just call me Techno,” the boy tells Phil and Phil gives him a little nod.
Eret seems really dissatisfied with Techno, but Techno doesn’t seem to care.
“This is Prince Thomas, he is our youngest, and I will kill you myself if you even plan to talk with him.”
“But dad..” the boy wines, “he is my and Techno’s pet, why can’t I talk to him?!” he says, stomping his foot on the ground.
“Because that is dangerous,” the king tries to explain, but Thomas isn’t having it.
“And it isn’t dangerous for Techno to talk to him? I am almost as big as him, I am able to talk to our pet!”
“But it is dangerous,” the king tries again, but if you ever had children, you would know that the boy isn’t going to change his mind.
“It is dangerous for me to even breath,” he almost yells, and he redirects his attention on Phil. “Hey, I am tommy, just call me Tommy.” The boy nods to himself, seeming proud about such a small thing.
“Nice to meet you, Tommy, Techno,” he says, a fake smile plastered on his face. The boys smile back at him, only their smiles do reach their eyes, unlike Phils.
“Boys..” the king says, seemingly angry about not being greeted by Phil. “Let’s leave, we need to go buy some things for our birdy.” He says, walking out of the door before waiting for his kids.
Both of the boys hurry to catch up to their dad, and both give a little wave when they leave the ballroom.
Phil slumps back into the cage, although that isn’t really comfortable, he’ll need to deal with it.
What a lovely time is this going to be, that was sarcasm, this is not going to be pleasant, for the royal family and him. He will do everything in his power to make this a choice they are going to regret.