-Seto's POV-
I'd been sitting in the living room when a brown blur- which I assumed was Jerome- rushed past and into the hallway. But it made me nervous, because he'd been growling. He was growling primordially- his natural self was returning. The cub burst through, and thank god she tripped on Brice's shoe. He snatched her up, and held her as she squirmed to get away.
She gnashed her baby teeth at Brice, and he took off his half mask to stop her. I cringed at the sight. His face looked burned and gored, and his eye was gone. She froze at the sight, and I cringed harder, looking away. The missing eye suddenly reminded me of my friends from Earth over two decades ago. Sub, and Ethan. Sub had no eyes, or mouth. He was blind and mute. He could hear, touch, and smell, but he physically would never see or taste. And Ethan was selectively mute.
As Brice readjusted his mask and put the cub in a small playpen made of pure energy, I thought grievously of my friends. They no longer existed. Same as Tyler. He was gone. All my old friends were just... Gone.
Brice sat next to me, breaking me from my depressing thoughts. "What're you thinking about?" "My years on Earth, and all my friends who no longer exist." "That's sad. Don't think about it." "Well, you taking off your mask reminded me of one of them." "Who? Why?" "Um... His name was Sub, Sub Zero Extabyte- he was born without eyes or a mouth. He was physically unable to ever see or speak, but he could hear and touch and smell."
"And?" "And that led to me remembering Ethan- his boyfriend. Because Sub couldn't speak or see him, Ethan became selectively mute for him. Ethan was nearly like that already, so he didn't see a point to keep speaking if it only hurt him more." "Hold up. His boyfriend?" "Yeah why." "Nothing. I thought I heard you wrong... Wait what." "What's wrong with what I said?"
"You did mean his friend, right?" "No. They were legit boyfriends. Is that an issue?" "No! I was just kinda surprised." Our conversation was cut short by shrieking and growling in the hallway. I sat bolt upright, and got up. I glanced into he hallway to see Sky trying to wrestle Jerome to the ground, and a terrified chocobo was trembling in the corner of the hallway.
Jerome resisted, and I quickly mustered a spell. I enchanted Jerome with it, and he fell down, unconscious. Sky heaved and leaned over to regain air and strength. I checked on the chocobo to see if Jerome had hurt him. He was already wrapped heavily in bandages, but the bandages were ripped and blood seeped through in thick streams down his side.
His neck was a bit bloodied, and a few small cuts ranged from his neck to his face. Brice somehow dragged Jerome outside, and Sky came over to help me with the chocobo. He sat down and asked quietly, "Are you okay, Choco?" The chocobo shook his head. Blood dripped from a cut on his face, and landed on Sky's hand.
Then tears fell with the blood. Sky picked him up carefully, and took him to the bathroom to clean the cuts. "Choco, stay still. I'd much rather do this without you struggling. Struggling only makes it hurt more." "Your name is Choco?" He nodded. "Well, what happened?" His quiet voice quivered as he cried a little.
"The... scary bacca attacked me. He... He scratched my face." "Yes, we know Choco. I meant why you already had bandages on. What happened before?" Sky answered instead. "Poachers. They took him family and since he was too small they cut him up and left him to die. The cuts were infected terribly yesterday when we found him." "Oh. I think some of the cuts opened up. It looked like some were bleeding through."
"I saw that. I'm trying to figure out which ones actually opened and which I can keep wrapped." "Well, you can do that- or- you can break Brice from whatever he's doing and we can do our best to heal him." Sky left without a word. Brice took his place in mere seconds, and I stroked Choco's beak to calm him down. An hour or two, and the baby bird was hopping and bounding about, completely healed and very happy.
His baby blue eyes settled on Ty, who, for some reason, was still awake. Choco slowed his happy pace, and approached Ty slowly and cautiously. Ty noticed, and kneeled down to make the problem of height irrelevant. Choco slowly walked over, and rubbed Ty's hand with his small head. Ty looked at me, confused. I sighed and mouthed, 'Pet him.' Ty shrugged, still confused.
'What is petting?' He mouthed back. I groaned and walked over. "Choco come here." He came, and sat against my legs. I stroked his feathers and he purred. "Ty, this is petting." "Stroking? That's it?" "Yes, Ty. Petting and stroking are the same thing. Caressing is also in that category."
Ty looked amazed, and Choco feel asleep with his head in my lap, and his body leaning heavily on my legs. Thank Notch the bird isn't heavy, so I lifted him while not disturbing his nap, and put him in Sky's bed. Sky came into the living room to everyone sitting there, because Sky had a small announcement, which was odd. I sat down on the arm of the couch next to Brice, and waited for whatever was to come from Sky's speech.
Sky kept a slightly low voice as to avoid waking Choco, and said the following. "Jerome... He isn't allowed in the house until Choco heals. The bird is too small and young to be outside alone. Jason and Ian, they sent me a letter this morning from the Star Kingdom. Ian s sick with a fever, and Jason is getting worse. We'll have to go and help. Pack a few things to go. I don't want an army.
Seto and Brice, we need to talk after this- just us three. Mitch, I need to speak with you separately as well. The cub has to stay out with Jerome. Too much risk to let one in and not the other. I've also felt an invading energy around here. It's not a native, a fantasy, or a hybrid. It's an energy we know nothing about."
Ty raised his hand tiredly. Why is he still up? "Where'd Anthony go?" Sky pointed behind me, and when I spun, I found Anthony passed out on the wood floor in the corner. He had had enough of the sunlight. Ty nodded and found another warm corner, which he promptly fell asleep in. He and Anthony both normally spread their wings over their bodies for heat, but with the leather torn out of Ty's, it looked creepy and skeletal.
Most of the group led the room to do other things, while four of us stayed behind. Me, Brice, Mitch, and Sky were left in the living room. Sky addressed Mitch first. "Mitch, where are your dog tags?" "In my bedside table drawer. Why?" "Go get them quick. I have an idea to conceal the blaze rods for when we're in a city."
Mitch ran off down the hallway. He returned with the tags and the knotted ball chain they were strung on, and handed the whole knotted mess to Sky. Sky then made an energy field, a tiny one, barely 5 feet in diameter. Everything in that 5 feet began to float. Sky threw the chain and tags to the floor, and the chain stuck like glue.
I knew what he was doing. It was a very expendable enchantment to fit your needs and will. It can change itself to fit any description. So in this case, keep Mitch grounded, and conceal the blaze rods. The heat of Mitch's skin will remain, but no one in their right mind would intentionally pick a fight with him or anything. He's intimidating enough as it is. A fight is useless.
The enchantment stuck to the tags, and everything ended. Sky's feet touched the ground again, and he leaned down to pick up the dog tags. He handed them to Mitch, who put the chain around his neck, and immediately, his feet touched solid ground. He always hovered slightly off the ground after he figured out he actually was a hybrid. Mitch looked down, surprised to touch the ground after so long of hovering just above.
"Now, we need to go into the nearest city to pick up supplies. Food is running a bit low, and we need more blankets. Ty, Anthony, the cub, and Jerome have wrecked the ones we have." I collected the boys while Sky went to fetch Choco, who had woken only a few minutes before. I got the boys in the living room once again, and group teleported with the help of Brice and Sky. Choco shifted, and Sky looked down at him. Sky had put him carefully in a messenger bag, which he carried over his shoulder. He seemed comfortable there.
"Okay guys, you remember what you get?" A group full of nods and smiles. Everyone ran off in their own directions to get what they'd been assigned to get.

-Sky's POV-
Choco seemed content to stay in the messenger bag, but after a few minutes and several angry stares aimed at Choco, I grabbed Seto and hid. "We need to give him a disguise. He's too noticeable and way too out of line here." I set Choco on the ground. Seto waved his hand, and Choco looked like your average 12 year old boy. He had a chocobo bandana, a yellow sweatshirt, and neat orange sweatpants. He had black, curlyish hair and his natural baby blue eyes. He was kinda short too, but his bandages showed, so I held his hand, and made sure he was okay very frequently.
He stumbled along, not used to the new weight distribution of his body. He shivered from not having his warm feathers in the cool breeze, so he snuggled up in his sweatshirt. We got what we needed, and left before my crazy-ass family decided to show up and try to shoot me again. Seto transformed Choco back, and he was more comfortable once again. Pete, Preston, and Jerome were having a rough-housing session, so I took Choco inside to rest. He needed it for his wounds.
Outside, Preston and Pete were bouncing off trees to get above one another, so they could pounce down on each other. It was entertaining, because they both kept climbing until they reached the top of the trees. Then they fought over who comes down to the ground first. Pete yelled, "Last one down is a rotten egg!" And leaped, seconds before Preston did. But somehow, Preston landed sooner than Pete did. Preston cheered loudly.
"I won! Oh my goodness I won something! YEEESSSSSSS!!!" "Preston calm down. Choco's trying to sleep inside. Don't wake him. Take a deep breath, and relax." He followed my order, and was instantly calm. "Sorry Sky. Didn't mean to." "It's okay Preston. That's just what I call overboard." He giggled a little. "Okay. I still won though. That was awesome. I never win."
"Yes, I saw that. Guys, we gotta get going. Vikk's expecting us either today or tomorrow. Ian's just getting worse, and so is Jason. Boys, grab everyone and bring them outside. I'll get Choco." I grabbed him, put him in the messenger bag, and he fell asleep in the bag as I walked back out to the group. We had a funny way of getting there too.
1. I will be on horseback with Rob and Preston (Choco comes with me)
2. Jerome and the cub are straight shot running
3. Seto and Brice are summoning spirit horses to carry everyone else.
4. Seto and Brice are teleporting.

Cool, huh?