Work Text:
Grian is crying as he pulls you close to him, presses you up against his chest. He turns to Scar - why is Scar there? - repeating the same few phrases to him.
It worked. I have him. He's safe.
You don't quite understand what Grian has done, but you're small enough now for him to hold you. His jumper is soft and his wings taste like loneliness in a way you can't explain, but your father is holding you for the first time, and he is crying. You would cry too, if it were possible.
It is weird seeing the body that once housed you, now an empty shell.
Your father refuses to let go of you as he flies to the mainland shopping district.
Scar follows, you want to bite him. You do not have a mouth, you have a screen for a face. You feel like you have a mouth. You feel like you have many mouths. You feel like you have no mouths at all. You want to bite Scar. Your father lands next to your little brother. Scar does too. Your father grabs Scar's hand and squeezes.
Scar murmurs something. You replay it a few times, trying to understand, until your father, amused, asks you gently to stop.
There's something set up outside of Jrumbot. You think it might be the same thing your father put in front of you.
Something with the lonely magic you’re all too familiar with and the sharp ache of Scar's magic occurs, and then Jrumbot is in a tiny body himself. Smaller than your own. He stumbles on his first attempt to walk, but on his second, Jrum runs.
Your father takes a moment to put you down and hug Jrum, the same way he first hugged you. And then he's holding you both, wrapping you in his wings and pressing you both into himself. As if he's afraid you'll disappear if he lets you go.
Scar presses his face to your father's in a gesture you do not understand. You do not like how close he is to any of you.
But your father smiles and thanks him. You think Scar might have helped with making you small enough to hug and to move around, but you have no idea what he could gain from doing so.
The answer, you later learn, is unpleasant. Scar is your stepfather. Grian's missing surname in your databanks was Goodtimes. But it does explain his motivation.
Perhaps one day you will trust Scar, but for now, you will glare at him from your rightful place in your father's arms, and figure out how to use one of the many mouths you may or may not have to bite him.
