Alfred scoured the mountain below him, searching frantically for his brother. Mattie was constantly sneaking out of the village and running over to the mountain. Al sighed. Mattie was convinced that there were other people like Alfred, but as far as Al was concerned, he was the only winged freak in existence.

Finally, he spotted Mattie dangling from a ledge, shouting for him. Al sighed. This mountain for some reason was covered in crevices, cliffs, and jutting ledges that covered the sides with only trees acting as foliage. Spreading his massive brown eagle-like wings, he dived down to Mattie and hovered next to him.

Mattie's face strained with effort to keep himself up. "A-Al...A little help here," he said, his face red. Al gave him an annoyed look. "You do realize that this is the third time this week, right? How many times have I told you to look before you step. You don't have wings to keep you from falling to your death. You're just lucky I've been able to help you each time," Al responded, crossing his arms and not moving to help him.

"I swore I saw something this time! I'm not making it up. There's someone up there! I promise this time Alfred that I didn't just see a bird!" he said. Alfred had to smile. Even if Mattie didn't have wings like he did, Mattie was always thinking of Alfred...to the point where he accidentally walks off a cliff doing something for him.

Alfred grabbed his brother's arm with both hands and flew him to safety. Due to misjudging the extra weight of his brother, instead of dropping his Matthew when it was safe for him to fall and landing nearby, Al accidentally let go and crashed into his brother.

"Omph. Sorry dude," he said. Mattie rolled his eyes and dusted himself off. He was used to Al's flying being a little shaky. But in Al's defence, he didn't have anyone to teach him how to fly and had to learn from trial and error, which basically amounted to Al climbing things and jumping off of them, hoping that this time he'll get it right. The village healer had a cot saved for him now.

Mattie looked around, blinking. "Al, you knocked my glasses off again. Help me find them," he said. Alfred grinned and started scanning the area around them. "What? No, 'Thanks for saving my life again'?" he said. Mattie sighed. "I'm sorry Al, but I swore I saw another bird-person like you," he said.

Al sighed. "Mattie...What do I have to do to convince you that I'm the only one? It's been 19 years. I'm sure if there were other people with wings flying around, I would have bumped into them. It's not like I can really hide these things," he said, gesturing to his massive wings, which measured up to a 17 ft wingspan.

Mattie sighed. He knew he sounded crazy to his twin. "There's your glasses. By that bush there," said Al, leading him to them. Mattie bent over and picked up the bushes. As he started to stand up he froze. "What's wrong dude?" Mattie held up a long white feather with a black tip. The only feather he's ever seen that long was Alfred's.

Alfred swallowed and glanced at the bush, which had mysteriously squeaked when they picked up the feather. Mattie shot forward and reached into the bush, pulling out a boy a bit older than they were with blond hair, brown eyes, a white buerret, and, oh, yeah, WINGS. Wings almost as big as Al's except they resembled those of a seagull instead that of an eagle.

Mattie looked at the man with shock before looking at Al triumphantly. "I told you I saw someone, bird-brain," he said to Alfred. Alfred didn't say anything. He was too busy staring at the man with his mouth wide open. After a few seconds, he finally managed to say, "Y-You have wings…"

The boy winced but nodded and tilted his head at Alfred. "So do you. But I haven't seen you on the mountain before...and what are you doing with a human?" said the boy, shying away from Matthew but staring in amazement. Al gave him a confused look, not knowing how to answer.

"We're from the village. I'm Matthew and this is my brother Alfred," offered Matthew softly, afraid to scare off the man. "Brothers? B-But you don't have wings," said the man, looking confused and a little less scared of Matthew. Alfred's wings sagged and Matthew looked confused. "Ah...No. Alfred is the only person we knew of having wings before we met you," said Mattie.

The boy's eyes widen. "What do you mean he's the only one? You two must have come from the mountain if you're brothers and he has wings," said Tino. Alfred's eyes widen as well as he finally realized what this all meant. "Y-You mean there's more of us? I-I'm not the only one with wings?!" he asked excitedly.

The man blinked before smiling and stretching his wings out a bit more. "Nope. There's tons of us. We all live up in the mountains. We just never let the humans see us because they try to hurt us." The boy glanced at Mattie and quickly smiled at him. "Though I'm sure you wouldn't hurt anyone. This is strange. I've never heard of a human and an avian being brothers...much less twins from the looks of it," said the boy.

Mattie gave Alfred an excited glance before someone shouted. A tall man with glasses and an intimidating look on his face came out of the forest, freezing when he saw Matthew. Without saying anything, the newcome jumped in front of the other avian and spread out huge dusty brown wings with darker brown tips, hiding the other man from view.

"G't aw'y from m' w'fe. Tino, g't 'elp," warned the new man in a low voice. Tino poked his head out from under one of the wings. "Berwald, they're brothers. They're not going to hurt us. They didn't know avians existed," he said. Berwald, the taller man, hummed and tucked his wings back behind his back.

Tino climbed out of the bush and rushed the brothers over to a fallen log. "So how could you not know there are others like us? Where are you from? Are you from another mountain perhaps?" asked Tino.

Alfred shook his head. "From the village in the valley. We're not allowed to go to the mountains. The elders say it's too dangerous, but Mattie kept sneaking out to see them because he was convinced that there were something up here the elders were hiding from us," he said.

Mattie grinned. "I told you so," he said. Alfred smiled and elbowed his brother. "Yeah Yeah. You're right. I'm never gonna hear the end of it, am I?" I asked. Mattie grinned and turned to Tino and Berwald. "We were found at the edges of the village near the forest that's between the village and this mountain. We're not sure what happened…" Mattie stopped when he saw Alfred's wings sag.

Tino noticed the twin trail off. "What's wrong?" Berwald shook his head at his companion and nodded it toward a few jagged, but faded, scars on the underside of Al's left wing. Tino's eyes widened. Noticing their gazes, Alfred shifted uncomfortably, some of his feathers raising due to irritation.

Tino held a hand to his mouth and jumped up to look at the scars more closely, keeping a distance from Al's wings. Without touching the wings, he looked up at Alfred. "How did this happen? These scars look old," he said. Alfred quickly tucked his wings behind his back where Tino couldn't look them over.

"N-None of your business," said Alfred defensively. Mattie rubbed the wing closest to him. Al relaxed a little at the comforting motion. "We don't know...When the villagers found us we were both beaten and cut up. We're not sure how we even got to the village. It's far away from any other villages," said Matthew, answering for his brother.

"I-I'm sorry I snapped...I don't like people inspecting my wings, much less touching them," mumbled Alfred. "'Course n't. W'ngs are 'pecial," said Berwald. Both Mattie and Alfred looked at them.

"Only family or people really close to you can touch your wings. It's a very intimate and personal thing to us. I've never dreamt that a human would be caught touching an avian's wings. We're always afraid that another person might harm our wings. In fact Berwald and my flock are the only ones who can touch my wings," said Tino.

Mattie shifted uncomfortably. "Why would you never dream of a human doing that?" he said. Al stretched his wings a little. "You guys got something against humans?" he asked defensively, not liking that they were outing Mattie. Tino held his hands up. "I've never met one before but we're warned of them from the time we're fledglings. "

"Why is that?" asked Matthew quietly. Tino and Berwald exchanged looks. "Well...sometimes human hunters come up the mountain and try to hurt us or worse. A lot of times they try to cut off our wings. They also like to steal fledglings from our nests…." Tino's eyes widened and he stared at the twins. The twins blinked. "Um...What's up?" asked Alfred.

"The hunters must have gone after you two! Even if Mattie was born without wings, they would have taken him just to say he was avian offspring! T-They probably were going to sell you in the village but got scared off by something," said Tino. "Scared off by something?" Alfred asked.

"Your parents perhaps." Tino spun around to Berwald. "Can we take them to the flock? They're obviously in the dark about their heritage. Maybe we can find away to return them to their flock!" said Tino. Berwald gave a short nod. "Lukas knows the other flocks well. He can spread the word that a couple of fledglings have returned!" said Tino.

Alfred raised a hand, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Whoa. Wait a minute. What do you mean return us to our flock? We have the village. Besides, if you two were hesitant about Mattie do we have any guarantee that the other..avians won't try to hurt him thinking he's a hunter?" he said.

Mattie rolled his eyes and tugged at Al's elbow. "I can take care of myself. I think we should do it. If we don't like our flock or find them, at least you can find out a bit more than yourself. Maybe they can even reach you how to fly!" said Mattie. Tino looked confused. "I thought he flew you over here." "I know how to fly! I-I just get distracted when I'm landing," said Al.

"'ow'd you learn ta fly?" asked Berwald. "Falling and crashing a lot." "Trial and error," said Mattie and Alfred respectively. Mattie gave Alfred a grin as Alfred scowled at him. "I watched how the birds flew and jumped off of stuff until I got a hang of it. I'm not bad at flying," said Alfred. "Al, you broke your ankles, one of your legs, and your wrist," said Mattie.

"Still better at flying than you!" shot back Alfred. "Are you sure cuz you have a tendency to fall out of the sky," said Mattie. They started arguing and Tino cut in, looking slightly amused.

"We'll be happy to give you some tips Alfred. And if you want to return to your village or work something out with your flock, that's up to you. We're not going to force you to do anything. It's not even guaranteed we'll find your flock if the hunters that were after you got to them," said Tino gently.

Alfred's eyes widened at that and Mattie's face fell slightly. "But we'll try our best! That is if you want us to look," reassured Tino. The twins nodded at the same time. Tino smiled and he and Berwald stood up. "We'll take you back to our flock. Let us fly in first though. Most flocks are testy around newcomers. Can you carry Matthew?" asked Tino.

Alfred glanced at his brother. "Your arms too sore?" he asked. Mattie quietly shook his head. "I can carry him," said Al backing up toward the ledge. Matthew sighed. "Al, no tricks please. Remember last time?"

Alfred gave him a grinned before falling backwards off the cliff. "You're brother's a bit of a show boat huh?" asked Tino. Mattie let out another sigh and nodded. Berwald nodded. "Just like Mathias," he said before following Tino off the ledge.

Alfred shot up over the ledge. Matthew sighed and raised up his arm. Alfred dived toward him and quickly grabbed Matthew's wrist with both his hands, hauling him up in the air with him. "Wow! You're strong. Not many avians can carrying another person with them when they fly. Especially someone their own size!" said Tino. Alfred grinned and trailed after him and Berwald, the three of them forming a 'v' with Berwald up front.

Mattie looked at the ground rushing below him, acres of forest covering the side of the mountain. He wasn't the least bit worried about the height. Alfred has been flying him around ever since Al was able to build up the strength in his wings to do so. The only downside was that his armpits started to ache after a while.