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Title: A Guide to taking care of a Celestial Phoenix
Dream grunts loudly for what felt like the hundredth time today, and it was wearing on Shadow's patience. He kept catching out of the corner of his eye, watching as Dream scratches at his wings, grumbling insults at them. Shadow slowly turns towards Nightmare, glaring, but he just whistles, turning away.
Hmph. Great. No help from him, then.
Sonic, who had just come back from a run, frowns in Dream's direction, tilting his head when he catches Shadows' attention. Slowly shaking his head, Shadow went back to cleaning the pistol pieces in front of him on the table, feeling the weight of Sonic settle beside him, mumbling quietly.
"I think Dream's wings are full of dirt after our last mission. Nightmare is refusing to help."
" Hm." Shadow answers back softly, "Nightmare's still angry, huh?"
Shadow grimaces at that, beginning to reassemble his pistol.
"Dream saved him, Sonic. No matter how right or wrong his decision was- Dream saved Nightmare instead."
Shadow looks over at Sonic, his brows drawing together at the blue blur's haunted expression.
"... Sonic. Not everyone can be saved. As much as you wanted to, that woman was quite literally hanging by a thread. We couldn't save her, Sonic. You held on as long as you could."
Sonic draws his arms around himself, opening his mouth to reply, when a curse shattered the silence.
Dream storms into the boys' views, and towers over them with an unreadable expression.
The Phoenix brandishes an axe, and both boys grab onto each other in a panic.
"My wings. Chop them, both of them! Who cares! I can't take it anymore! Nightmare won't speak to me, Ink is busy with a mission of her own, and- and-"
" Okay, okay! Wait, let's talk about this!" Sonic yelps as the axe was pushed towards him.
"We are not chopping off your wings!"
Shadow snaps irritably, pushing Dream away from Sonic.
Dream took great pride and care into every part of his wings so much so, he never really let anyone help him. Except for the hard to reach places. So for the oversized turkey to ask for help... Well, the itching must be driving him mad. Shadow slowly takes the axe from his whimpering elder brother and sets it to the side, and stands.
"Let's go, come on, I have an idea."
Both look at him with a frown as they stand, following along. The entire purpose of the shielded outdoor pool was for, all intents and purpose, to help the ones with wings. It just didn't have any sort of chlorine, maintained by Shadow and Ink both, and it wasn't exactly deep. They had the idea because Dream was a special case for the amount of water to wash his wings, so a 'pool' it was.
Dream scratches the back of his neck.
"Sorry, Shads, I really should have thought of this first."
Shadow rolls his eyes and shakes his head, pulling his locker open to grab a pair of swimtrunks. The three boys pile into the nearby changing room, shuffling around silently until Sonic cracked a bird joke, which entailed Dream whacking him in the head lightly with a grooming brush. Sonic did not miss the small smirk that formed on Dream's face. Shadow snorts softly, shaking his head. These two idiots.
After the changing room escapade and grabbing all the items needed, they spread everything out; from grooming brushes to tweezers, then to a large garbage bag. The boys check to make sure nobody added chlorine to the pool, happy to note that Nightmare had not pulled a prank out of anger, and step back as Dream lowers himself into the water.
The water bubbles and boils, steam rising and curling silently in the air, up to the bright blue sky above. Dream's wings, ears and tail all fade from their fiery orange and red color to a pure, beautiful dove white. Sonic and Shadow watch in awe at the display, then automatically stand guard, walking around the edges of the pool while Dream groomed and rinsed out what he could reach in his wings and tail.
By the time he was done, the water had settled and cooled, prompting Shadow to hop in. He notes the water was still somewhat warm; but that didn't bother him from hopping and swishing around the pool collecting the feathers, and handing them to Sonic, who was just lounging at the pool edge. Shadow would have laughed at his counterpart for this, had he not been engrossed into his task. After collecting the feathers he could, Shadow nods to Sonic, both grabbing brushes and tweezers, then set to work.
Dream coos softly at the feeling of those hard to reach places being brushed and cleaned. He picks at his feathered ears, giving them the same treatment with his own grooming brush while Sonic and Shadow worked. Comfortable silence fell between all of them, the only words being muttered was when Sonic and Shadow switched wings when needing Dream to turn a different way.
Sonic decided to break the silence first, "Hey, you good there, turkey roast?"
Dream shoots a playful glare at Sonic for the nickname, then nods.
"Despite the circumstances, yes. Quite."
Shadow hums, "Especially after today."
They fall back into silence, with Dream keeping his head down as he spoke softly.
"I had a choice. I chose my brother, and that's it. I just... I don't understand why he can't..."
Dream huffs as he trails off and crosses his arms, staring up at the sky. Sonic slows his grooming, grimacing.
"He should be angry with me, too."
Shadow and Dream look at him abruptly with frowns.
"No." Sonic's voice was thick, heavy, unlike his normal, boisterous tone.
"No, I could have held on just a bit tighter for a little longer."
Shadow closes his eyes, turning his head away. Dream rubs his temples.
"Speeds, you are mortal, you were beaten and in pain."
"No!" Sonic snaps, throwing his brush to the side, standing straight and storming back towards the dressing room. He yells behind his shoulder.
"Don't tell me I couldn't have held on, don't tell me anything! I could have done something- anything! I could have- I don't know! Just...!"
He stops at the changing room door, running a hand through his already pulled back style. With a sudden shout of anger, his fist connects to the wall beside him, making a hole. Sonic stares down at his slowly bruising knuckles, the sting of tears threatening to spill over. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he turns back around to face Dream and Shadow, who were slowly moving towards him. His hand drops back down to his side, the tears finally spilling down his cheeks.
"I could have saved her."
Without a second thought, Dream catches Sonic into a hug, holding his brother close to his chest. Shadow shifts close and leans his cheek against Sonic's shoulder, a hand settling on Dream's arm, the other on top of Sonic's head.
Silence except for Sonic's soft, hiccuping sobs settled like a harsh blanket over them, and they all stay that way for a long while.
Nightmare watches the scene from the shadows in a corner, his own face wet with silent tears. He vanishes back into his shadowy void after the three eventually dissapate, much like his anger now.
That night, Nightmare made extra sure Sonic's dreams would not be riddled with nightmares.
He made sure he had no dreams at all, just a void of peaceful sleep.
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