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Tommy climbed up the side of the hill. He looked at Wilbur who was far in front of him, walking happily in the moonlight. Tommy had been naive and raced Wilbur half way up, but of course, he had gotten tired.
“Wilbur!” He called out but Wilbur didn’t stop “You still haven’t told me what we’re doing? Or why it had to be night time!” Tommy called again. He watched as Wilbur disappeared thin air for a few seconds, then reappeared in front of Tommy. “Geez Will, lay off on the invisible thing” Tommy grunted. “Well, it’s night time because if it was day time, I wouldn’t have been able to take you here” Wilbur started explaining, walking beside Tommy. “But ‘why’ is my question” Tommy asked again. “You’ll see if you hurry up!” Wilbur shoved Tommy and started running up the hill.
“Hey!” Tommy shouted after him and started sprinting, luckily it wasn’t day time, or Tommy wouldn’t have been able to gain speed and run past Wilbur who fell behind greatly. “Hah, look who’s slow now!” Tommy called as he finally reached the top. As he ran to the flat ground, he ran into someone.
“Oof- hey, what the?” Tommy rubbed his head and looked at who he ran into. It was Philza.
“Why are you here?” Tommy asked, more rude than he should have. “Your flying lesson, silly” Philza turned and smiled at Tommy, “my what?!” Tommy turned around to look for Wilbur who had never caught up. “FUCK YOU WILBUR” he yelled out into the distance.
“I’m guessing he didn’t tell you” Philza snorted, “no, he did not” Tommy grumbled. “Why do I even need flying lessons, we know my wings don’t work” Tommy said, folding his wings tighter, a little self conscious.
“Will said he’s getting annoyed by you complaining, so he asked me to at least teach you to glide, so that you would shut up about it” Philza said, spreading his large dark brown wings. Tommy felt like turning away and telling him no, but sighed and gave in. “Fine, Phil. Do what you can.”
Tommy had been listening to Philza’s every word. Tommy put on a face that showed he thought this was useless and boring, but deep down he was more excited than ever.
“Try the flapping motion again, you were getting quite good at it” Philza said from behind Tommy. Tommy flapped his small light gray and red wings in and out in the circular motion Philza had shown him. “Very good Tommy, you’ve got the hang of that!” Philza smiled and walked back around. Tommy puffed out his chest, proud of himself.
“So, when do we get to the actual ‘flying’?” Tommy fluttered his wings excitedly, showing off his childish side. He saw Philza smile warmly and frowned, he hated when people did that. “Stop that '' Tommy hissed, “please” he added watching Philza crack up laughing. “Just- when do we start flying, I’ve done the wing warming up thing and it's already almost dawn” Tommy crossed his arms and folded his wings.
“Oh, Tommy. You still need to practice, just because you can move your wings doesn’t mean you can fly. I’m not allowed to just throw you off the cliff” Philza explained. “Isn’t that what they did to teach you to fly?” Tommy said bluntly. Philza thought for a second, “Uh- times have changed, and plus, that’s my species. The Avian haven’t been able to fly for ages, you’re lucky you can float safely down.” Philza sighed. At Philza’s words Tommy’s heart dropped. He knew the Avian couldn’t fly, but Tommy always felt he was different. Tommy always dreamt of flying, like he had seen Phil doing.
Tommy gave Philza a disappointed look then turned away. “This is useless, you said so yourself, it won’t work!” Tommy grumbled, half yawned. “Tommy.. I didn’t mean it like that. You mightn’t be able to fly, but you’ll be able to glide, I’ve seen Avian do it before-“ Tommy cut Philza off, “But it’s not the same! I want to be able to fly!” Tommy sighed, still not looking at Philza.
Then, out of nowhere, Philza’s hands grabbed Tommy under his arms. “Phil- what are you doing?” Tommy lifted his arms confused. Philza didn’t answer, but lifted Tommy up then ran and jumped off the cliff.
There Tommy was.
Philza held him as they plummeted down to the ground. “AHH, PHILZA! WHAT THE FUCK?!” Tommy screamed, grabbing onto Philza’s hands like his life depended on it, because it did. “Language Tommy” Philza said calmly. “PHILZA! PLEASE FUCKIN- UHH FRICKIN GLIDE!” Tommy screamed again, then just before they reached the line of trees, Philza spread his large wings and they glided over the trees. Philza landed on a tree look out and let go of Tommy.
Tommy still gripped onto Philza’s hands, paralysed from shock.
“You can let go now,” Philza said, chuckling. Tommy realized what he was doing and threw Philza’s hands away.
“What the fuck was that!? You could have killed me?!” Tommy said, catching his breath. “You said you wanted to fly,” Philza smiled. “Ya- fly. Not fall to the ground” Tommy muttered. “If you would listen to me, I can teach you to do that, well, more gracefully. Wasn’t the gliding at the end cool?” Philza sighed, Tommy thought about it.
When Philza had finally started gliding, Tommy saw the sun on the horizon, it had been beautiful. Well, Tommy had still been scared to death, but it looked nice. “Fine… I guess I would appreciate your help” Tommy murmured barley loud enough for Philza to hear. “What was that?” Philza said, even though it was obvious he heard. “I said ‘Fine’” Tommy repeated. “And?” Philza smirked, “ugh- I would appreciate it if you taught me” Tommy grunted but then Philza smiled, happy with the answer. “Do you want me to fly you up or-“ Philza offered. “I’ll walk,” Tommy answered immediately.
By the time Tommy made it up the hill, the sunrise was over and the sun was resting in the sky. “Are you ready to listen now?” Philza smiled as Tommy fell down to the ground. “Yes Phil, i am”
Tommy watched and listened as Philza taught him the physics behind controlling flight.
“Don’t be afraid to move your whole body,” Philza explained, moving swiftly around Tommy. “You’re making me dizzy Phil!” Tommy muttered, placing a hand on his head. “Don’t try bending your wings, but lean with your body, come on, do what I’m doing” Phil kept explaining and grabbed Tommy’s arm.
Tommy felt awkward at first, doing the weird fluid dance thing. “Spread out your wings, let them glide over the air!” Philza said, getting into his own thing.
Tommy spread his small wings and walked around, feeling light and free. “Hah, this- this is actually cool!” Tommy smiled, getting into it finally. Tommy jumped from small ledges and glided down gently, but he had always been able to do that.
Tommy wanted to glide like he saw the birds and Philza do.
“Ok, ok. Sit down now” Philza said suddenly. “You don’t want to get too dizzy” Philza smiled. Tommy sat down in front of Philza. “We must have learnt all there is, are we gonna try gliding an actual distance now?” Tommy whined. “There is more to gliding and flying than spreading wings, like I said. You need to know what you’re doing, so I'm going to teach you some history on flying.” Philza spoke, obviously interested in the topic, but Tommy on the other hand sighed. “Must you?” Tommy grunted. “Yes Tommy. Now, Avian history-“
Philza went on about how the flighted species got flying abilities and what flying changed in their lives, and the meaning behind different flights.
For a minute, Tommy thought he was really interested, but just as Philza got into the topic of Avian being able to fly to this day, Tommy dozed off.
He hadn’t wanted to fall asleep, nor was he sleeping because it was boring.
He had learnt about the strength and power wings had, and how the Avian and Elytrian co-existed and worked together over time.
But of course, just as Philza started talking about the chances of Tommy ever flying, Tommy had fallen asleep. No one knew why, but whenever he was on mountains, or really high places, he got unnaturally tired.
Tommy was woken by the feeling of being grasped and then the feeling of ground leaving his feet.
Tommy opened his eyes and looked at where the ground was meant to be, but it was the blurry sight of tree tops. “Hang on a sec-“ Tommy muttered, then realized what was going on.
“PHILZA!?”
Tommy shouted and gripped Philza’s arms once again. “I'VE TOLD YOU I DON’T LIKE THIS!” Tommy whined. “Calm down you big baby, we’re not falling, but flying!” Philza shook his head smiling.
Tommy looked forward, he could see mountains and buildings just under his eye line. “Try the flapping motion we worked on, and spread your body out, so that you glide over the air!” Philza smiled and flapped his wings.
Tommy gulped and stretched out his legs, grateful for having the core strength.
He unfolded his small gray and red wings, and flapped them in the way he had been taught.
Tommy’s wings flapped much faster and in smaller motions than Philza’s, but it made sense, considering the size difference.
Tommy looked up at Philza who was smiling and looking forward, Then he looked down at Tommy and gave him a warm smile.
“Stop looking so nervous, you’re doing great!” Philza nodded to Tommy.
So Tommy looked forward, and flapped his wings, feeling them glide over the air. “PHIL! THIS IS AWESOME!” Tommy laughed, smiling now. “You don’t need to shout, I can hear you, but that’s very good” Philza smirked.
“So, if I were to drop you, could you glide down?”
Philza asked, in a much calmer than normal tone.
“What? WAIT NO, DON’T DROP ME!” Tommy squealed and tucked his wings in.
“Keep flapping Tommy! I want you to glide to one of the tree look outs, ok? Or if you think you have it in you, go through the trees” Philza explained. Tommy flapped his wings and looked at the trees, “are you sure about this Phil?” He muttered, but before he got an answer Philza’s hands left from around him.
Tommy had tucked his wings in subconsciously, and he was now falling.
“TOMMY, SPREAD YOUR WINGS, AND GLIDE!” Philza called.
Tommy took a deep breath, he leaned forward and spread his wings, immediately catching the wind and making him glide forward.
“WAIT! PHIL! I'M DOING IT!” Tommy called out excitedly, as he glided just above the treetops.
He flapped his wings every now and then, Tommy felt free.
“GO INTO THE TREES!” Philza called to him.
Tommy was too high on adrenaline to respond, he just leaned further forward and dived down below the tree tops.
He thought back to the weird dance thing he had done with Philza “don’t be afraid to move your whole body” Tommy muttered.
The first tree came up and he leaned his body to the side to glide around it.
Tommy smirked and started gliding around all the trees, dodging branches that hung out, and even pushing off of some to give him more speed.
Tommy had never felt so in control, he had the ability to move and twist his body at a seconds notice.
Tommy felt himself losing speed, he tried flapping his wings, but then reality snapped back in. He couldn’t fly, he would never be able to create his own force, his wings just couldn’t.
Tommy landed safely at the edge of the forest, and what should have been joy, was sadness flooding over him.
Philza landed in front of him, “oh good, I realized I never taught you how to land” Philza smirked then noticed Tommy’s disappointed face.
“Hey Tom… what’s wrong? You just did amazing! You glided so far, and the way you went through the trees-“ Philza stopped as Tommy turned away. “At the end, I knew I was losing speed and height, I flapped my wings, but it did nothing… I can’t fly” Tommy sighed.
“I’m just like every other Avian, I’m not special, I don’t have a secret ability to fly like I’ve dreamed of, I-“
Philza cut Tommy off. “Tommy- what on earth are you talking about? I’ve never seen an Avian as good as you are at gliding like that! You made it look like you could fly, and I bet it felt like it!” Tommy looked up at Philza and sighed.
“Thank you Phil, really, I guess this whole gliding thing is pretty cool.” Philza smiled at Tommy.
“You know what, I think Wilbur would be sort of jealous if he were to find out you could do that, maybe you should tell him?” Phil smirked.
Tommy was filled with the childish need to make his friend jealous.
“You know what, I think you’re right.”
Tommy smirked back at Phil and ran off.