#Go psst psst and he'll bound right over

[iexistapparantly]

[litfeathers]

Show Me the World Outside: A drabble based on an animatic created by @rileyclaw.

Rating: T Content warnings: Implied/referenced child abuse. Credits and other links will be at the end notes.

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“Page two hundred five…paragraph twelve…rule number four…Oh! That’s…YES!” 

A gloved hand poked at a sleeping palisman, waking it from its slumber on a caped shoulder.

“Psst! Flapjack! Look!”

Hunter grinned excitedly, holding up a thick, leather-bound book for the sleepy cardinal to inspect.

“Look, this is perfect! And the information we’re looking for is buried in other topics, so no one should be able to figure out what we’re doing!” 

Hunter jumped out of his seat, shoved the book into his bag, and opened the study room’s door, glancing furtively back and forth before casually stepping off, whistling as he ambled across the library with his hands in his pockets. 

When he entered the hallway, he dared to allow another grin to brighten his face. 

“If this is it…and I can manage to save my uncle…can you imagine how proud he'll be?” he whispered to Flapjack. “I can see it now!”

He made an excited fist with one hand, and gestured in a wide arc with the other. 

“GOLDEN GUARD SAVES EMPEROR BELOS! RIGHT HAND MAN SAVES THE GUY TO HIS LEFT! EMPEROR CURED OF MALADY, CREDITS STALWART NEPHEW FOR HIS MIRACULOUS RECOVERY…nah, that’s a little clunky. Let’s workshop the headlines later...” 

Flapjack chirped from his hiding spot under Hunter’s armpit.  

“Were you even listening? And YES, I remembered deodorant this morning!” Hunter groused, making a disgusted face at his palisman as they made their way down empty halls. “I’m not a slob!” 

“Chhhirpp!” 

“Well, I’ve been running around in full armor all day! It doesn’t last forever!” He said, taking a surreptitious sniff of his free underarm. “Okay, I don’t even smell. You’re full of it.” 

Flapjack chittered and teasingly squeezed his eye shut at the offended teenager. 

“Very funny. You’re a riot,” Hunter said, rolling his eyes as he purposefully power-walked to his room. “Oh…by the way. Wanna practice more aerial tricks tonight? Out in the fields? It’s a full moon, and no patrols are scheduled. It should be safe.” 

Flapjack chipped happily. 

His eye suddenly glinted with mischief. 

“I can’t wait!” Hunter said with a grin. “When we get to play flyer derby again, we will be the most impressive-“

Flapjack shot out from under his cape. 

“Wah! Oh, this again!? HEY, GET BACK HERE!” 

The bird chirped, and took off down the empty hallway. 

“I hate it when he does this!” Hunter groaned to himself, tearing after the crimson streak.

Flapjack shot down abandoned hallways, and up quiet stairs, and through grand entryways, all while a white and gold blur sprinted after him, barely keeping up. 

“I’m going to start carrying my artificial staff everywhere so this can actually be fair!” Hunter hissed through heavy breaths. “Is that what you want? For me to replace you with an insulting simulacrum? When I can use my teleportation spell, you’ll be singing a different tune, BIRD!” 

Hunter bolted into a larger hallway, finally gaining on the bright red fugitive. 

He started to laugh, his cheeks red, his cape billowing behind him as he lengthened his stride and put on a burst of speed.

He teasingly reached out to make a grab for Flapjack. 

His head slowly turned, and his blood turned to ice. 

A tall, caped figure was standing with its back to him, at the end of the massive hallway.

Flapjack froze, having seen the exact same scene. 

The bird allowed himself to be grabbed, and shoved back under the cape. 

Hunter’s heart raced. He hunched over, his breath coming out in panicked huffs. 

He turned…

…right into a looming figure, and an icy blue gaze that bored into his face. 

All the air left his lungs. 

“Why, hello, Hunter. Having a busy day?” Belos murmured, leaning down to peer into his nephew's pale face. 

“Yes, Uncle. Very productive. I was just on my way to my room to retire for the evening,” Hunter said, his voice only betraying the slightest tremble of breathlessness. 

“Indeed! And what were you able to accomplish to make your time so…constructive?” 

“I…progress has been made on retrieving more palismen.” 

Belos reached out to clasp a hand on Hunter’s shoulder.

“Why, that IS excellent news! And when can we expect to have them?” 

“I…” 

“Now, Hunter. Are you exaggerating or lying to me?”

Belos’s grip tightened. 

“I require palismen to fight this affliction, and to keep up my strength. They are akin to medicine.” 

He leaned in. 

“…and they are wicked. Made of the most fetid of wild magic. Destroying them not only restores my good health, it rids the isles of their evil. So…”

He leaned in even closer, to murmur in Hunter’s ear.  

“If I find that you have been hiding something from me. If I find that my beloved nephew has been heartlessly and selfishly keeping a life-saving remedy from me, his ailing uncle, who has done so much for him…”

With a sickening pop, dark green sludge leaked out of Belos’s creaky knuckle joints, and oozed onto the pure white fabric covering Hunter’s shoulder.  

“…I will know exactly where your allegiances lie. And I will react accordingly. Am I understood?” 

Hunter’s heart was in his throat.

He could only nod weakly. 

“Good. Now run along.” 

Hunter bolted to his room, as fast as his feet could take him. 

He slammed the door shut and slid to the ground, his sweaty tunic sticking to his back as his hip hit the floor. He leaned against the door to catch his breath.

He silently opened his cape to let Flapjack out, not looking the bird in the eye. 

“Don’t worry,” he said, quietly and shakily as Flapjack landed on his knee. “Don’t worry. I won’t. I’ll never allow that to happen to you. I’ll change his mind and come up with a solution. I promise. As long as I’m useful, Uncle Belos is kind and fair. He loves me.” 

Flapjack didn’t respond. Instead, he silently fluttered to Hunter’s shoulder, and leaned against his neck. 

Hunter gave him a scratch on the crest, his eyes half-lidded with a sudden exhaustion. 

His fingers subconsciously brushed along his cheek scar, tracing the indent with the rough fabric of his glove.

“He loves me…right?”

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So I was rewatching Rileyclaw’s Fish in a Birdcage animatic (as one does), when I got the inspiration for a quick drabble. I love the scene when Belos almost catches Flapjack, so I decided to write something based on it. Thank you for making Fish in a Birdcage, Riley. It inspired me to be creative and write again, and I'm super grateful for that. You can find the animatic here. The link to the AO3 version of this drabble can be found here.

Thanks for reading!