Wings - Day Nineteen
Crows are a rare sight in Amity Park. You would think they wouldn’t be, considering the town is one of the most haunted places, and crows are considered a sign of death within the city.
So when people see a crow perched upon Phantom’s shoulder — well that’s a very strange occasion, but it also isn’t. After all, Phantom is a ghost, the harbinger of death.
Just after a ghost fight, Phantom lands in the middle of the road, thermos attached to his belt, and the crow clings to his shoulder, almost protectively.
“Dude, that thing adores you.” Dash tentatively approaches his hero, watching as the crow pecks at Phantom’s white hair, wings ruffling.
“Yeah, yeah she does.” Phantom laughs at the crows actions, and pats her affectionately.
Dash and his friends — who are behind him staring with wariness, find this scene different from what Phantom usually is. Normally, Phantom is a brave, and fearless hero, but this shows another side to Phantom.
“Oh my goodness, she’s gorgeous!” All of a sudden, Paulina breaks out of her shell, stepping beside Dash. Her hand reaches out, “Can I pat her?”
“Um, sure.” Phantom shrugs, and shifts his stance so he’s closer to Paulina, the bird facing her.
She stretches her hand out to reach to the crow, when the bird's needle sharp eyes pierced with menace at the A Listers, and she lets out a mighty squawk, wings flapping furiously.
The message is clear. Get back.
Paulina rushes back, and so does Dash, both giving each other worried eyes. That is one protective crow.
“I didn’t expect her to do that.. she’s not normally like this.” The ghost boy admits, running a hand through his hair, “You don’t snap at people, Morrigan. Bad crow!”
Although Dash swears he hears the ghost boy mutter “Good crow!” as he turns away from them for a split second. So did Paulina, by the look on her face. What does Phantom mean by that? Surely the ghost boy can’t hate them — right? They’re his biggest supporters!
Morrigan, as they now discover the bird's name, caws furiously as Phantom gently lifts her off the perch in his shoulder, he winces as he does so. “Watch the talons, you bird brain!” He swats the crow’s feathers gently, “Those things hurt, y’know.”
Dash, Paulina, Star and Kwan simply watch the scene with dropped jaws. How are they supposed to react to a crow that almost bit Paulina’s hand off?
“We’ll be going now.” Star gestures awkwardly in the direction of the Nasty Burger, the rest of the group nodding slowly as Phantom fusses over Morrigan. The bird caws again, like a warning signal telling them to back off, so they scram.
Once a safe distance away from the menacing devil and its heroic owner, the four contemplate what’s just happened.
“Dude, Phantom has a pet crow!” Kwan, who has an unspoken adoration for animals, exclaims. He wonders how the ghost even got the crow to be that close with him, compared to how Morrigan acted with them, it seemed like it’d be difficult to train her.
“How do you even get a pet crow?” Star wonders.
“Why should I care? That thing almost bit me!” cries Paulina, still rubbing her hand that was almost bitten. “How can the ghost boy love such a monster?”
“By the sounds of it, I don’t think he likes us.” Dash, who has been strangely quiet, proclaims. His eyes are directed at the floor, dull and blurry.
“What, the crow?” questions Star.
“No, Phantom.”
“That can’t be true — you know Phantom is head over heels for me. We’re also the A Listers, who wouldn’t like being popular?” Incredulously, Paulina almost collapses on the path, the idea of Phantom having a dislike for them sounding sheer ridiculous.
“It’s true. When he apologised, I swear the guy told the crow it was good that it struck out.”
Confusion filled the group — the same thing they were all unsure of — why did Phantom seemingly not like them?
—
The crow hangs around the school, the A Listers soon begin to realise, perching on rooftops and watching with beady eyes, sometimes flying to the ground and pecking at crumbs and leftovers people throw at it. It’s creepy, they can’t lie.
Those crows piercing green eyes stare at them at every angle, but the bird seems to have a particular hatred for Dash.
It’s another normal day, he’s got Fenton by the collar against the school wall, berating him for another bad grade on the homework he was supposed to do. Dash didn’t get it. Fenturd was the best at physics — so a failed grade was downright unheard of.
“You better get me a good score on that physics test, you hear me?!” Dash shouts, and shakes the boy by his collar. Science had never been his strong point.
Suddenly, the strong beat of wings and a furious caw echo in the sky — Dash doesn’t notice until the little wretch has her talons matted into his hair, furiously pecking at his head. Worst of all, Fenturd is laughing.
“I think you can let him go now. That could count as human abuse.” Fenturd remarks, who the heck is he talking to?
And then, the bird lets go of his hair and flutters in front of him, just floating, with vibrant green eyes piercing into his. A warning. Definitely something ghostly about her.
“How does she listen to you?!” Dash accuses angrily, gesturing at Fenton and then the bird, who gives off a warning caw, “She almost bit Paulina’s hand off yesterday, yet she listens to a loser like you?”
“Maybe because I’m not a bully.” Uncharacteristically, Fenton’s blue eyes steel over, and he takes a more confident stance. “And I respect her. Morrigan is not a monster.”
He’s too dazed to watch Fenton’s complete personality change to wonder how Fenton knows the crow, her name, and how he’d somehow overheard their conversation.
Is it really because he’s a bully? He eyes the crow and clenches a fist tightly, as if miming to punch Fenton, who surprisingly, holds his hands in front of himself with quick reflexes.
Hell breaks loose.
Screeching, cawing, flapping, pecking, Morrigan strikes for him, and his vision is nothing but black and white feathers as the jock stumbles back, trying to wave away the frenzied animal.
“What the hell was that for?!” Fenton — Danny yells, his blue eyes filled with concern when he finally pulls away the bird.
It’s true, isn’t it? Theory confirmed, Dash looks at his hands, then back up at Fen—Danny.
“I— I just needed to see if something was true. I got my answer.”
—
The next time Morrigan showed up, it was unexpected. The four of them were studying when the crow phased through Kwan’s bedroom wall, cawing viciously.
“What’s she doing here? She best not be back to attack me again!” Paulina springs back, watching the crows every movement as it flaps around the room frantically, squawking and landing on Kwan’s desk chair.
“Maybe she’s hurt?” Kwan asks, and approaches the bird slowly. Apart from a new addition of a little green harness with a crow-sized thermos (he wonders if it works), Morrigan wasn’t injured.
Dash can’t think of why the bird is back. He stopped bullying Danny and all the other nerds at least four weeks ago. Does she still think he needs to learn? But unlike the last two times, her eyes aren’t filled with malevolence, but a pleading and protective stare.
Just like the time she protected Fenton! Dash’s eyes go wide, and he runs towards the bird.
“Dash, are you crazy?!” Star yells, and his other two friends must also think he’s an idiot. But something is clearly wrong here.
“You want something. Something’s wrong.”
Morrigan yawps in response.
“Fenton?”
Somehow, an expression he’d never thought to see on a bird, the crow gives the equivalent of an apprehensive grimace.
“Phantom?”
She raises her head.
Dash feels a strike of worry through him. Phantom is in trouble. Conflicted, he turns back to his friends, who look confused.
“Phantom’s in trouble.”
—
Left in a cliffhanger bc I’m too lazy to write a whole new scene and this is like a week late or smth oops. Morrigan is a very protective ghost birb, you don’t want to get on her bad side (as the A Listers have provided a very good example)
Murphy
