Got a secret, can you keep it?

It was near sunset, Jonah was pacing across his bedroom, near panicking by now. Ebony hadn't come back from his 'nighttime fly' for an hour over his normal time, and naturally, as his best (and probably only) friend, sun was worried sick. Maybe he'd go out after it, the raven never flew far, after all.

He'd told Jonah that he was only going out for about an hour -- maybe less -- to fly around. He promised he'd come back safe and sound. Bullshit, they were doubting it heavily now. Maybe Ebony was... no, don't think about it. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead.

The sparrow hawk sighed heavily, slipping on his jacket and gloves. He probably wouldn't come back on his own, that was for certain. They headed toward the door, but hesitated. What if he was going after a dead person? Or worse.... nevermind.

Sun flew around for what seemed like ages, until spotting a tall, winged shadow. Ebony! He swooped down and landed (with a bit of a tumble), shaking off the dirt and shouting out to the figure. "Ebs!" Jonah stepped forward for a closer look.... and he wished he didn't.

Ebony didn't look like himself. Towering over a dead, wingless body, and holy shit he was holding the wings ew-- He nearly gagged on the spot. Suns eyes flickered to its wings, when did he have two pairs? One pair was a lot smaller then his normal ones, and... beige? It was pretty hard to see in the dark, but illuminated by a distant street light, he saw that one of his "best friends" wings had begun falling off.

Seemingly aware of the sparrow hawks presence, 'Ebony' turned around, eyes widing in horror. They swallowed whatever was in their mouth, jolting when he felt two bloody hands on his shoulders. Jonah tried to look past and see what he could of the body, but the raven held his face in place and forced eye contact. Not fun.

"Hey, look at me. Everythings fine. This never happened, I don't have two pairs of wings, everything is going to be okay."

Sun barely held back his tears, just nodding along to what his 'friend' said. They spoke with a shaky voice. "I- *why?*" Ebony sighed, looking toward the ground while thinking. "I just... its complicated. Promise me you won't tell a soul, okay?" They nodded, relieved when he let go.

"..."

"..Do you wanna go home?"

"....yeah."

The duo reached their apartment, Jonah helped him replace the bandages, as a bribe for a god damn explanation.

"Aaand... there. Now, i'd love to hear why you were standing over a dead body."

"...Its not easy to explain. God, where do I even start-"

"I don't give a *fuck* where you start, just tell me." Sun had tears glossing his eyes, desperate for answers.

"Well... me and Ces are alternates. I don't know the first thing on explaining it, ohgodiknowthatfacedontyoudarescreamjonah-"

"..." The boy was too stunned to speak. (haha ref) Tears fogged his eyes, their breath picked up and turned into panicked hyperventilating. Oh. Ebony was never the best at dealing with panic attacks, especially Jo's, but since he literally just killed a person, he couldn't do much else.

The raven (albeit hesitantly) pulled the others hands down and away from suns hair, opening his arms and wings. The sparrow hawk mindlessly latched onto its body, sobbing into his chest. He simply rubbed the boys back in a comforting manner, softly reassuring him. "Its okay, Jo. I'm here."

It felt fake, but it also felt so nice.