Chapter Text
Philza pounded on the door with a closed fist. He didn’t care how aggressive it sounded, he needed to speak with BadBoyHalo. Urgently. He was on a very tight schedule and didn’t have time for–
He was shocked out of his thoughts when the door swung open. Phil opened his mouth to greet Bad, but found empty space instead. Puzzled, he looked down and saw who it was that had opened the door. The little boy who stood at around the same height as the doorknob stared up at him in wonder. His silky black hair was tied away from his face with a white bandana and his stormy gray eyes were wide with excitement. “Philza?”
“Hello, Sapnap,” Phil greeted warmly with a smile. “Is your dad home? I need to speak with him. The seven-year-old nodded frantically, turning from the entryway and sprinting back into the house, screaming all the way.
“Bad! Bad, Philza Minecraft is here! Bad! He’s fucking awesome!”
“Language!” Came the answering shout as BadBoyHalo came into view, rushing to the door that his adopted son had left wide open in his excitement. Phil chuckled in amusement as Sapnap came tearing into view once more, nearly tripping the tall demon as he ran straight through his legs.
Bad had a fond smile on his face as he went to greet Phil at the door, but it soon faded into a look of concern upon seeing the now serious look on Philza’s face. “We need to talk,” Phil said, shaking out his wings - “Coooool,” Sapnap whispered from behind Bad’s legs - “Right away.”
Bad bit his lip and nodded, glowing white eyes searching the avian’s face for any clues. “Hey, Sappy, why don’t you see what George is doing? I have to go talk with Phil in my office for a bit. Why don’t you two–”
“I am NOT playing with Snapmap!” came George's voice from somewhere else in the house. Bad only sighed and shooed Sapnap off regardless, where he ran shrieking to his older brother yelling, “Oh yes you are!”
As soon as Sapnap was gone from the room and shrieks and giggles could be heard from the living room, Bad’s expression sobered up. “My office is this way,” he said solemnly, leading Phil down the hall. Walking past the living room, Phil caught a glimpse of George wrestling with Sapnap, trying to pin him to the ground to grab his book that Sapnap had supposedly taken from the twelve-year-old. “Give it back!” He screamed while Sapnap giggled hysterically, squirming to get away from the hands that tickled him.
Once in the office, Bad closed the door behind them. A solemn air filled the room, heavy and thick on their tongues. Phil went to take a seat across from Bad, tucking his wings close to his body to avoid knocking the various knick knacks off the desk.
“Syndicate business?” Bad guessed in a whisper. Mouth set in a straight line, Phil nodded in answer. The Syndicate is an organization that Phil founded many years ago. Its purpose is to protect admins across all of the worlds and servers from hunters that may be out to harm them. They were a fairly small group, only a handful of friends (Phil himself being the only admin among them). They had discovered a compound on a private world several weeks ago that had admins in captivity. Phil and Sam were the primary investigators on that front and had been working to find more information on the admins that were being held as well as the hunters that kept them there. The two had been working long hours the past few days trying to track down the world, find a way to get into the world and then the compound, and the logistics required to break them out.
Bad knew of this mission and sat forward in his chair, eager to hear about any breakthroughs.
“Sam was finally able to hack into their database and access the admin files,” Phil said at last, trying to organize his thoughts. How could he say everything they had discovered? And more importantly, how on Earth was he going to ask something so huge of Bad?
“Really? What did he find? Do you know how many there are? Or how to break in?”
“There are seventeen admins at the compound,” Phil said in answer. “Sam and Puffy are working on tracking them back to their servers right now so they have a place to go once we break them out.”
Bad looked relieved at this news. “That’s good,” he said. “I hope you’re able to find everyone’s home. I’m sure their families really miss them. I can’t believe that people would do that kinda stuff to admins. It’s terrible,” Bad sounded awfully close to tears at the end and Phil felt terrible about what he had to say next.
“Bad… there’s something else.”
“Hm?” he said, looking up.
“All of the admins are adults, according to the files. Except one.”
Shock filled Bad’s face. He was right to assume that the imprisoned admins would be adults. Hunters were able to track admins by their auras, which they generally didn’t start to emit until puberty or adulthood as their powers emerged and strengthened. But, according to the files, they had gotten their hands on a child.
“He’s nine years old, Bad. He’s got nowhere to go. We tried to track him back to his home world, to his parents, but they were killed when he was taken. I wouldn’t ask this of you if I had any other options, but–”
“I’ll take him,” Bad interrupted.
“--I’ve already got four of my own, and I know you’ve got two kids already and you’re busy, but you’ve already been through adopting traumatized kids and helping them, and I just think you are the best option he’d have.”
BadBoyHalo’s face swam in shadows and it was impossible to pin down any distinct features, but somehow he still always managed to be so expressive. With steely determination and a dose of sorrow, he repeated himself. “I’ll take him in, Phil.”
“Are you sure?” Phil asked, to which Bad nodded firmly. “His file says that, uh, that he’s been in captivity for six years,” Phil whispered. He physically couldn’t bring himself to speak any louder when he said. “He’s been there since he was three years old, Bad. Are you positive you’re ready for that?”
Phil could see Bad’s heart break right in front of him. “Six years?” he whispered in a broken voice. Phil only nodded dejectedly. If anything, this only fueled BadBoyHalo’s determination. “When will he be here?”
“Tomorrow, if all goes well,” Phil said in answer, thanking the gods above for Bad’s kind heart. “I’ll be on the mission personally, but I can’t disclose the other members until the mission is concluded. I’ll bring him here as soon as everything is settled. Bad, I can’t thank you enough–”
“You don’t have to thank me, you muffin head,” Bad chuckled, a sad smile on his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Phil nodded in answer, going to stand.
“Wait!” Bad said quickly as a thought occurred to him. “What’s his name?” The question was spoken quietly, almost timid. Phil ruffled his feathers, watching as a single black crow feather fluttered to the ground.
“Dream.”