At first glance, Sniff's parents looked nothing like her. They had wings like Phil—different feather shapes, heights, and widths, but they were nothing like their daughter. Her father had a dark forest green wing color that reminded Tommy of the evergreen trees and her mother a pale snow.
At a second glance, he could see the similarities. Not in the way they held themselves or the redness around their eyes that Tommy knew he shared—but in their eyes. Sniff's Elytrian mother had her blue eyes, and her father the dimples around his lips, though he wasn't smiling now.
"You must be Tommy," Sniff's mother said eventually. "And you are..." she frowned as she took in Phil. "His adoptive father?"
"Nah, I'm just his guardian," Phil said quickly. "Captain Philza of the L'manburg. Nice to meet you...?" He trailed off, giving the go-ahead for introductions.
"I am Ch'lse'ae," the mother said, crossing her legs, her white wings shifting as she blinked. "This is my husband, H'kaly'pi."
Tommy wondered if Phil, or even Philza, was Phil's real name. Probably not. Speaking of that, the other Elytrian on the ship—Hannah. That probably wasn't her real name either.
"We have heard a lot about you, Captain Philza," H'kaly'pi mentioned. "You do a great service representing our people in the Galactic Rebellion."
"I'm glad that I can," Philza said, though Tommy detected a hint of dryness in his tone. "However, this is not why we decided to chat today."
"No," Ch'lse'ae sighed. "We came to speak about our daughter." Her hands shake slightly before H'kaly'pi grabbed them in a moment of affection and promise.
She seemed unable to utter the following words, so Tommy spoke up. "Sni'yfyer'ich."
He supposed she really was a fallen angel, now.
Ch'lse'ae's lips part slightly in surprise, her dark eyebrows disappearing under her bangs as she raises them involuntarily. "You said her name right."
"Of course I did," Tommy said, slightly affronted. Phil's wing moved, brushing against his back and calming him down slightly. "She's uh—she was—is—um...yeah. She was my friend." He hated the way he stuttered, but Sniff's parents—and Phil—didn't seem to mind.
"Just because she was your friend doesn't mean you know how to say it right," H'kaly'pi said lightly. "I didn't know Humans had the capacity for our language." The way he said it made it seem like an insult, but Phil's lips twitched, and Tommy realized that it was just an observation.
"I am...not human," he said. "I'm an Avian."
"Ah," Ch'lse'ae murmured, her blue eyes—achingly reminding him of Sniff—parting in surprise. "So you are Thomas Innes, the son of Sam Innes?"
"Yes," he said, frowning. "Though I'm surprised you've heard of me."
"I would be surprised if every Galactic Rebellion planet has not heard of you," Ch'lse'ae said. "Your father and aunt were quite famous during their time."
"Oh," he said.
H'kaly'pi sighed. "Usually, we would wait for you to arrive on Elytra, Tommy, but this matter surpasses this." Tommy frowned. "Sni'yfyer'ich has a feather for you."
Phil inhaled sharply, but Tommy was just confused. "What?"
"Sniff was our biological daughter," Ch'lse'ae explained gently.
"I—I know," he said, and both parents blinked in surprise. "She told me."
"That is surprising," H'kaly'pi said. "Her last in-person words were screaming at us that she would never tell anyone what she was." A flash of sadness crossed his brown eyes. "That she would not garner pity from any other source."
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The Childrens Rebellion
قصص الهواةthis fanfic is not mine it belongs to @Aria_Cinbun on Ao3 His name was Tommy Innes, and he was born to touch the stars. Of course, touching the stars was going to have to wait, because he'd lost that dream the moment his parents had died when he was...
