Hi! Some of you will remember me better as Angel015, but that changed several months back.
So I'm back. And yes, I am re-doing 'Flying Home'. Why you may ask? Well, mostly for practice purposes, secondly I re-read the entire thing a few months ago and constantly kept coming across things I could change, or could write better, etc. And with a new film coming out very shortly I thought 'why not? could be fun' Now, just a notice, this isn't going to stick to the original. In the slightest. Things will be changed significantly (Not really in this chapter, but things will start in the next one) relationships will change, I'm cutting things out, adding things in, changing things around and, well, you get the idea.
I hope you'll still read this, both old readers and new, and hopefully enjoy it just as much (hopefully more) as the original.
Enjoy!
A bright full moon shone down on the city of Rio De Janeiro, illuminating the streets and alleys where even street lights could not and stars twinkled happily in the clear night sky. It was quiet, though unsurprisingly after the long week of partying that was Carnival, people and animals alike were finally winding down. There were a few people still out and about, some staggering home after a party, others simply out and enjoying the sounds of nature in the unusually quiet city.
Deep in the jungle, things were heading along a similar path, the only animals out were those finally heading to bed and the nocturnal. Among these were two small party birds attempting to reach their hollow after a long night singing, dancing and in one half's case, drinking.
"And this is why you shouldn't accept anything from those seagulls!" The smaller hissed, his tiny frame struggling to hold up his larger friend. Who apparently could aim while flying drunk, crash landing on the branch outside their hollow, rather than flying through the entrance. This left Nico to help him up and practically drag him the rest of the way.
How they had even managed to get all the way from the city with Pedro in such an intoxicated state was a mystery.
For once, Nico was thankful they wouldn't be going back to the club for a while. Most birds took some time after Carnival to simply kick back and relax. This of course meant that all the bird clubs in the city were closed for a few days. Not that either bird minded, both enjoyed the prospect of sleeping for a day, going to the beach, or simply hanging out and being lazy.
"But it tastes sooo *hic*good!" the cardinal slurred, swaying a little as he walked, causing Nico to cry out and pull of his strength into holding his friend up. Last thing he wanted was Pedro falling off the branch and starting the whole process again. Or falling on top of him.
The smaller bird scowled, silently cursing all types of alcohol as he steadied the cardinal and pushed on.
"Fair enough, but do you have to have so much?" Nico asked, already knowing he wasn't going to get a sensible answer out of his friend. If he got an answer at all.
"I want to go to Raffy's," Pedro suddenly stated, pulling at Nico's hold and trying to turn around. The canary quickly tugged him back on course.
"No you don't," he told him, wondering why the hollow suddenly seemed so far away.
"Oh come on, please," Pedro whined, still trying to pull away from Nico's surprisingly strong grip, "it'll be awesome."
Nico snorted, "yeah, if you like having your feathers plucked out one by one," he said, voice firm and unwavering as he pushed a little harder towards getting home.
Clearly, the message sunk in, as Pedro let himself be guided up to the entrance in silence, save the odd hiccup. He fell through the opening before attempting to walk in a straight line towards his nest, yawning wide. He collapsed within a few inches of the comfy bed, snoring loudly.
Nico watched the whole thing with a sigh and a fond smile. Rolling his eyes, he hopped back to the entrance, a small bowl in his beak. He quickly swooped down to the lake below and scooped some of the clear water, taking it back up and placing it gently down close by Pedro's nest. He knew the cardinal was going to wake up with a hangover, and as such will use it as an excuse to be even lazier than usual, and probably start whining for a drink. This was simply cutting out the middle man.
Fluttering over to his own nest, he settled down, taking off his cap and placing it close by. He yawned widely, curling up and drifting off into a blissful sleep.
"Ni-co."
Yup, there it was.
The canary twitched, rolling over and away from the annoying voice trying to drag him from dreamland.
"By the nest," he mumbled sleepily, curling up and trying to go back to sleep. He could hear Pedro push himself up and look around.
"Ah, thanks man," Pedro said, grabbing the bowl and downing it in one shot. Nico just grumbled, not particularly happy about being woken up before he wanted to be, and curled up tighter, burying his head in his wings. The small bird was almost always grumpy first thing after waking up, more so when he had to drag his best friend's drunk butt home the night before. It was an emotion that usually didn't linger for long; once he was awake he was his usual cheery self.
It didn't take long for Pedro to get over his surprisingly mild hangover, and before long he was up and bouncing off the walls, wanting to go down to the beach. Nico just patiently ignored him, not wanting to leave the comfort and security of his nest. Maybe if he ignored him long enough, he'll go away and the canary could get some more sleep.
"Come on," Pedro whined, poking the small ball of yellow feathers, "let's go to the beach."
Clearly he wasn't going to go away.
"You go down to the beach," Nico muttered, voice muffled by his wings, "and I'll see you there in say, six hours?"
"Hey guys!"
Nico groaned, curling up even tighter as the sound of Blu's far-too-loud voice assaulted his hearing. He could hear the kids chirps from outside, and their mother trying to shush them. There was a brief moment of blissful silence, while Blu clearly tried to work out what he was seeing.
"We're taking the kids to the beach, you want to come?" he tentatively asked, like if he said the wrong thing he might set off a bomb.
Pedro poked the yellow ball again. "See," he said, pouting, "they want to go to the beach."
"So go with them," Nico mumbled, yawning loudly.
"Won't you come too?" Pedro asked, continuing to poke him.
"Go on, give me another hours sleep and I'll meet you there, alright?" Nico told him, looking up at him from between his feathers.
"Promise?" Pedro asked, looking sceptical.
Nico nodded, "promise," he assured him.
The cardinal grinned, considerably brighter, turning to Blu, who had been watching the whole exchange patiently. "Alright, let's go," he cheered, "see you later!"
And with that, the pair flew off. Silence quickly fell over the hollow, and Nico let out a deep breath, trying to settle back down to sleep. But instead of comfort, he found the quiet too unsettling, too wrong.
After a while he rolled onto his back, uncurling his body and stared up at the ceiling, contemplating his options. There wasn't a chance in hell of going back to sleep now, that ship had sailed. Judging by the amount of sunlight pouring into the hollow, he would guess it was early afternoon. He could get up and follow Pedro, but he probably wouldn't hear the end of that for days. The last thing he wanted to see right now was that smug grin.
Pushing himself up, he looked around the bright hollow, yawning and rubbing his eye.
He could always stop by Rafael's, see the family, waste a bit of time and tell Pedro he had only just woken up when he got to the beach.
But the kids...
He stood up, stretching his limbs with a deep sigh. Ah screw it, Rafael's it was.
He fluttered to the entrance, realisation slowly dawning as he glanced around that maybe it was a little too quiet, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He hopped out onto the branch, looking around in confusion. Save the breeze blowing through the leaves, there was no sound. It was completely dead.
It was only when darkness filled his vision and he found himself at the bottom of a dusty cloth bag did he know why.
"Nico's not a morning bird then?" Blu couldn't help but comment as the family and Pedro flew to the beach, the sun shining hot above them and the city was alive and bustling below.
Pedro just laughed, "never has been," he said, " and if you try to wake him you'll get a bottle cap to the face," he chuckled at the memory of the first time he tried to wake the sleeping canary. Despite the risks, he still woke the bird up, sometim*es in rather creative ways. However he quickly learnt to move the cap far away before trying anything.
They quickly reached their favourite spot, secluded and inaccessible by humans, and settled down for the afternoon. The three kids high-tailed it for the water, Pedro in close pursuit. The Cardinal flew up high above the water, before curling into a ball and dropping.
"CANONBAAALLLL!"
The kids squealed as the water splashed over them, almost pulling them under for a moment. Three heads popped back up out of the clear water, cheering.
"Woo! Do that again Uncle Pedro!" Tiago called out, his two sisters whooping behind him as Pedro came up for air, grinning wide. He splashed them as hard as he could, and they fought back, a action that very quickly turned into a war, the three mini-macaws against Pedro. Unsurprisingly, Pedro lost, eventually surrendering and climbing out of the water, laughing all the while.
It was only once he was sat on the hot sand, absentmindedly listening to Blu and Jewel's conversation and watching the kids swim and play, did he start to feel that something was wrong. It wasn't a feeling he could put a specific name to. It was just a feeling, a sense that somewhere, something had just gone very, very wrong.
He fought with himself for a few moments, debating whether he should check Nico was alright. On the one hand, he didn't want to seem too overbearing and protective, it hadn't even been an hour since he left, and Nico would definitely laugh. Then again, better safe than sorry right? And if Nico was still asleep, he would never have to know the Cardinal had been there.
"Hey guys," he called over to the two macaws, getting their attention, "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Jewel asked, concern seeping through in her voice at the worried expression on his face.
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Just gotta check on somethin' is all."
He took off, the last thing he heard from the family was the kids asking where he was going. He felt sort of bad leaving them so suddenly, but the feeling gnawing at his stomach didn't seem to want to go away. He wasn't going to be satisfied until he could tell himself that Nico was safe.
However when he reached the worryingly empty hollow, the feeling only intensified. There was barely a soul around and Nico was most certainly not there. It was possible they had missed each other, Nico flying to the beach, Pedro flying away from it.
But there was something eerily quiet about the whole area that put the usually laid-back bird on edge.
A sudden movement made him jump, and he spun around, seeing a small Honeycreeper creep out from a thick bush of leaves, look around and move to take off.
"Oi!"
The tiny bird jumped and squealed at the loud voice yelling from across the forest, almost darting away until he saw who had called. He was still trembling as the cardinal approached, but he didn't try to fly away.
"What the hell happened?" Pedro asked, probably a little too aggressive, but he was past the point of caring, "where is everyone?"
"Gone," the small bird whimpered, "people came, with traps," he shivered at some memory, "they're all gone."
Silence fell for a moment, Pedro staring in shock and horror, the honeycreeper glancing around nervously, like he expected another human to come crashing in and get him.
"When?" Pedro choked out.
"A-about half an h-hour ago," the bird stuttered, "I didn't see much."
"Did you see Nico?"
"Who?"
Pedro wanted to scream in frustration, with every minute that passed his best friend could be moving further and further away. "Never mind, go on." The tiny bird nodded and hurriedly flew off, not once looking back. Pedro just stood for a moment, swaying lightly on his feet, trying to wrap his mind around the news he just got. There was a 50/50 chance Nico was currently in the hands of smugglers right this second, maybe even already on a plane and leaving the country. However, there was also the chance he had hidden, escaped and was hiding out at his go to place when something happens and Pedro wasn't around, Rafael's. That was their agreement. If something happened and they ever got split up, meet at Rafael's.
But if he had been caught, the humans probably would've headed straight for the runway rather than hanging around. If he went to Rafael's first, they might not make it in time. Hell, if he went straight there, he might not make it on time.
There was only one thing to do.
Nico cried out as he was rather unceremoniously dumped into a small cage. He groaned, pushing himself up in time to see the lid dropped and padlocked before he had a chance to move, let alone escape.
He gripped the thick wire mesh that separated him from freedom, praying to whatever higher power was up there that Pedro or someone would notice he was missing before they had a chance to get him on the plane. He looked around, immediately realising where he was. The old runway.
If someone was going to notice he was missing, they better hurry up with it.
He looked around at the other cages, making sure no one else he knew had been captured. From what he could see, Rafael and family were safe, as were the macaws, and he would certainly know if Pedro was here, he'd be shouting and squawking the place down by this point. At least they were safe.
He watched, resigning himself to his fate as they began to stack the cages in the plane, which appeared to be a lot better quality than the last one they ended up on. Chances of escape seemed to be dimming with every minute.
"Nico!"
The small bird jumped at the familiar voice, heart leaping to his throat, spinning around to see Pedro on the other side of the bars.
"Pedro!" He exclaimed, darting over and gripping the wire, "dude, what are you doing here?" he hissed, looking around to see if any of the others were with him.
"I had a feeling," Pedro said, shrugging, "I'm gonna get you outta here."
Nico stared at him for a moment, "you had a feeling?" he asked eventually, raising an eyebrow, "what are ya, psychic?"
"Does it matter?" Pedro looked scared, more scared than Nico had ever seen him, "I gotta get you out!"
"I don't think there is a way out, unless you're any good at picking tiny locks," Nico sighed, looking up at the rather small padlock. He knew how to pick locks, Pedro never bothered learning. He was screwed, but there wasn't a chance in hell he was taking Pedro down with him. "You need to go."
"No!" Pedro cried, slamming a wing against the wire mesh, "no, you can't, I can't...you're gonna get out..." he trailed off, choking up as he gripped the metal separating him from his best friend.
"Yeah," Nico said with a small smile, placing his wing over his friend's on the wire, trying to comfort him despite the barrier between them. He was suddenly very conscious of the cages being loaded and how close they were getting. "And then we'll go to the beach, we'll soak Blu, play with the kids, bury someone in the sand and get ice-cream," he gave a slightly watery chuckle, holding back tears, "then we'll rock out at the Alley and party all night long, alright? Just as soon as I get back, I won't be long."
"Promise?"
"Promise," Nico grinned at the small smile appearing on Pedro's face.
A jolt knocked him off his feet as the cage suddenly lifted, knocking Pedro backwards. Nico quickly stood up and ran to the edge, watching in mute horror as something clearly snapped, and the cardinal shot off the ground and straight at the guy holding his cage, biting him hard on the shoulder.
Nico couldn't help but laugh before his cage was dropped, clattering to the ground. He sat up in a daze, all the breath knocked out of him as his cage was once again lifted and the human jogged to the plane, placing the cage down not so gently.
Shaking his head to clear the stars that had appeared in his vision, looking around wildly for any sign of Pedro as the heavy door began to lift up.
"Leave it," one of the humans said, catching his attention, "we have no use for violent ones."
The hatch closed, but not before he caught one last glimpse of his long time friend, who barely missed the opening before the door close in his face.
Darkness closed in around him, and he suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Short of a miracle, there was no way he was getting out of this one.
"No..."
Pedro couldn't move, regardless of how much he wanted to. He could only stand and watch as the plane the held his best friend took off, leaving him behind, completely helpless. There was no way he could catch up with the plane, and he would only exhaust himself trying.
He buried his face in his wings, breathing hard and trying not to cry with frustration and fear. He couldn't remember the last time they had been separated, not properly, and if he was honest with himself, just the thought terrified him. But the reality that was staring him in the face? That was a fear he couldn't even begin to describe.
If only he had dragged the bird out of bed earlier, if only he had stayed with him rather than going with the macaws.
If only...
What could he do?
When he finally looked up, breathing just about under control, the plane was gone, disappeared over the horizon.
Rafael.
He would know what to do.
Nico shivered, curling up in the corner of the tiny cage, finding it incredibly difficult to get comfortable on the solid wood. He closed his eyes tight, like if he could drown out this nightmare completely he would open his eyes and everything would be back to the way it was. Pedro would be poking him awake, whining about going to the beach and everything would be okay.
He knew if he had the chance to do it over, he would've dragged himself from that nest and gone with them. At least if something happened then they would still be together.
Just anything but this.
His mind kept repeating his last moments in Rio, over and over, the images seared onto his mind. He'd get back there. He had to. He remembered the last expression on Pedro's face before the door slammed shut, separating them completely. It was one of sheer hopelessness and despair and one he never ever wanted to see again.
But every time he closed his eyes it was all he could see.
He would make it back.
Just as soon as he got free.
Rafael growled in annoyance, grabbing the foot of the first kid to fly by, not taking his dark glare off the panting Cardinal who had just crash landed in his hollow. He had just managed to get all the kids to stand still for long enough to feed them all, when the red and grey blur crashed in and scattered them all.
"What?" He ground out, ducking as another one tried to tackle his head.
Pedro pushed himself up, expression panicked, still trying to catch his breath. Rafael looked around, expecting the other half of the duo to appear and explain, calmly, what was going on.
But Nico was nowhere to be seen.
Which might just explain Pedro's panicked demeanour.
His stomach dropped at the realisation.
"Pedro, breathe," he said, letting go of the squirming child in his grasp in favour of helping the bird stand up, "tell me what's going on."
"He- he's gone," Pedro choked out, "there were p-people, smugglers, they- they..." he trailed off, burying his face in a wing.
Rafael didn't need to hear any more to know exactly what had happened.
"Come on," he said, starting to lead the younger bird outside, "it's quieter out there," he turned to his wife, who had just appeared by the entrance, "can you look after the kids?" he asked, quickly justifying himself as she began to raise a sceptical eyebrow, "I think something's happened to Nico."
Eva immediately understood, nodding and stepping aside to let them out. Rafael pecked her lightly on the cheek as they passed, leaving the chaos behind.
The pair flew down to a quiet, shady spot away from prying eyes and listening ears.
"Give me details Pedro, what happened?" Rafael asked once Pedro was calm enough to give him the full story.
Taking a deep breath, Pedro began filling in the gaps, starting from when he woke up right up to crash landing in the toucan's hollow. Rafael listened intently, nodding every now and again, encouraging his distraught friend when he found it too difficult to continue. When the story was done, Rafael placed a comforting wing around his shoulder.
"And now, I-I-I don't know what to do," Pedro finished, voice cracking and looking very much like all he wanted to do was burst into tears.
Rafael sighed, thinking hard about how to word the next sentence. He didn't want to hurt the already suffering bird further by telling him it was a hopeless case, they didn't have a chance of finding Nico, not without any clues as to where he was taken. However, at the same time, he didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, least of all Pedro's, only for them to be cruelly crushed.
After a moment of debating with himself, he bent down so he could look into his eyes, put both wings on his shoulders and fought to keep his face and voice as neutral as possible.
"Look, here's what we're gonna do," He said, speaking slowly and clearly, not once breaking eye contact, "I'm going to ask around, see what we can dig up, we may be able to find out where that plane was headed," he inwardly grimaced at the sudden look of hope in Pedro's eyes. "But I don't want you to get your hopes up about that okay? The chances of finding anything are minimal, they could be anywhere, and the world is a big place."
Pedro's expression dropped once again, and Rafael mentally kicked himself. He had to find a balance.
"Now, not to toot my own horn or anything, but Nico had a good upbringing," even Pedro had to give a small, if slightly a wobbly chuckle at that. Nico was adopted into Rafael's family when he was barely a week old, having been abandoned by his own. He was essentially the first in a long, long line of kids. "He's smart," Rafael continued, glad to see even a tiny smile on the cardinal's face, "he's brave and above all he's stubborn, and if I know him, he'll be figuring out a way home right this second, and will be on his way the moment he can make a break for it."
"I know, I just..."
Rafael sighed, pulling the smaller bird in for a hug. It honestly hurt him to see how much this was affecting his old friend, and despite the fact he wanted to break down and scream at the unfairness of it all as well, he had to be strong at least for now.
He pulled away, looking down with a smile.
"I wish I could promise it will all be okay Pedro," Rafael told him, "I really do, at the moment nothing's for certain and as frustrating as it is, we can't really do anything but sit and wait. But there is one thing I know for certain," this caught Pedro's attention, causing Rafael to smile a little wider, "and that is that Nico will never give up on us, and he most certainly won't give up on you, and he'll keep fighting to get home no matter what. And you know it too."
Pedro looked up, eyes still wet with unshed tears and body still slumped, but there was a tiny smile on his face and a glimmer of hope and belief in his eyes. Not belief in Rafael, or that everything would definitely be okay, but belief in Nico. Belief that the small canary would face all odds and make his way back to them soon.
When Nico started to regain consciousness after a short, fitful and downright uncomfortable nap, the first thing he heard was muttering from around the aircraft. After almost complete silence for the first hour or so of their journey, due to fear and nerves, birds were beginning to come to life once more.
But the voices that filled the air were ones of hopelessness, of fear and of desperation. They talked of never getting out, being sold into captivity for the rest of their lives, being killed.
It only took a few minutes of this kind of talk before Nico simply couldn't take it anymore.
"HEY!" He yelled out suddenly, leaping up against the wire, feet gripping it expertly. Despite his small body, he had a powerful voice, trained up from years of singing over noisy crowds. The whole hanger instantly went quiet, looking in the canary's general direction. "What are you lot going on about? This isn't hopeless!" he told them, his voice cutting through the thick tension that filled the air. "This is a difficult situation, but we'll all be okay, we can get out of this." Instead of the reaction he was hoping for, which was a little more hope, he was met by silence. It was almost enough to kick his already wavering confidence to the ground.
"It's not impossible, there's always a way out," he said, a little quieter, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.
Silence once again met his speech, a few birds breaking it with noises of disagreement. Nico opened his mouth to try again, but found no words would come out. These smugglers had obviously managed to kidnap the pessimistic lot. He sighed, dropping off the bars and settling back into his corner, feeling slightly dejected, but, somehow, not disheartened. He'll show them, he'd get himself out, and them too, because, despite the disbelief and pessimism, Rio birds stuck together and helped each other out in times of need. It was sort of an unwritten rule.
He may have also just wanted to show them he was right.
"Hey," a voice hissed from behind him. He turned around, coming beak to beak with a large green and yellow parrot through the bars of their respective cages. The bird looked expectantly at him, "so you really think we can get out of this mess?" He asked, voice low.
"Yes," Nico replied confidently, "I'll admit, I'm still not sure how, but I promised I would get back to Rio somehow, and I'm sure as hell gonna do it."
The parrot nodded, smiling, "well, if you need any help, I'll lend a wing. I have a family to get back to, I've got my first two kids on the way. It would be nice if I could see them hatch," the parrot smiled dreamily, clearly thinking of his mate and his home.
Nico smiled gratefully, "Thanks, if I think of anything, I'll let you know," he said, hopping to the edge to the cage to have a good look around, seeing what he could use to get this cage open. Or at least make a hole big enough to get himself through. From there opening all the other cages would be easy as pie.
"I'll help too," a female voice sounded from the cage above him, and he looked up to see a young golden Parakeet hanging from the bars at the top of her cage, smiling down at him, "I told my mama I'd be home for dinner. It'll be few weeks late but I can still make it," she told him, winking playfully.
"Liking the logic there," Nico grinned back, winking back with a mini salute with his wing feathers. Going back to the task at hand Nico began to examine the workmanship of the cage he was in, searching for anywhere he could maybe pull back the wire and squeeze through. Thankfully he was small, making the job a lot easier.
If he could find a weak spot that is.
"Damn these humans are getting good at making these things," he muttered to himself, hopping closer to where the metal met the wood, noticing the tiny rings that looped over the main wire embedded in the wood. If he could get a few of those out in a corner he may be able to bend the metal back enough to push himself out. Question was, how to get them out of the wood?
"Blu! Jewel!"
The two Macaws turned at the sound of their names, seeing Rafael land in the sand behind them.
"Hey," Blu smiled, an expression that slowly slipped off his face when he saw the serious expression on the toucan's, "what's wrong?"
Rafael held up a wing, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"We've had a..." he trailed off, struggling to think of the right word to describe the absolute disaster that had just occurred, "bit of a problem."
"What happened?" Jewel asked, concern clear in her eyes.
Rafael took a deep breath, bracing himself to give the bad news. "There's been another smuggling incident, it seems you guys missed it by minutes, but others weren't quite so lucky."
The couple took a quick glance at their kids, who were building a sandcastle some ways off, completely oblivious to it all. Turning back to the toucan, they looked at him expectantly, urging him to continue.
"Unfortunately, it would appear that Nico was among those caught."
Both birds gasped, Jewel bringing a wing up to cover her beak.
"Oh my god," she breathed, Blu placing a comforting wing around her shoulder, "is there nothing we can do?"
Rafael shook his head sadly, "they're already gone, it's too late, but we thought you should know, and to ask you one thing."
"Anything," Blu said.
"Pedro's gonna need a lot of support, those two are rather... co-dependent, it's not going to be easy for either of them to live without the other, and while there's nothing we can do for Nico, we need to do everything we can for Pedro. If..." he paused, swallowing the lump in his throat, "if the worst does happen, it's going to take him a long, long time to get his life back on track, and he's really going to need us."
"Of course, of course," Jewel said, nodding understandingly. She couldn't even imagine how Pedro must be feeling. She sighed, "we need to tell the kids," she said, looking back over to her children, still so happy.
"I know," Rafael said, his tone understanding, "you don't want to burden them, but it'll be better than waiting and keeping it from them, they'll find out eventually."
"Tiago, Bia, Carla!" Blu called out, catching their attention, "could you come here please?"
The three children looked a little put out about being told to abandon their admittedly impressive sandcastle, but came anyway.
"What is it daddy?" Bia asked once they had fluttered over, looking up at their parents with wide, innocent eyes and big smiles. It almost made Blu and Jewel not want to tell them.
"We have some rather bad news honey," Jewel said, opening her wing and drawing them in closer, "we're afraid..." she paused, looking up at her mate for support. He nodded encouragingly, giving a tiny smile. "We're afraid you won't be seeing your uncle Nico for a while."
The smiles immediately dropped off their faces, and Jewel almost lost the will to continue.
"Why not?" Carla asked, looking quite distraught at the news, even if she didn't quite understand. Jewel faltered, the expressions of despair on her children's faces enough to make her lose her voice. She had hoped to save this talk for when they were older, and she certainly didn't want this to be the reason for it.
"Some bad people came," Blu continued for her, noticing her distress, "they took a lot of birds, and unfortunately Nico was one of them."
"Why?" Bia asked at the same time as Tiago asked, "where?"
The three adults looked at each other.
"We don't know," Rafael said, giving an encouraging smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "but don't you worry, he'll make it back soon enough."
He was beginning to wonder just how long he had been in there for, his short nap earlier had made him completely lose track of time.
"Hey Rita?" He asked the parakeet above him, and the young bird hopped into his sight through the bars.
"What is it?"
"I don't suppose you can find something to help me pry these metal rings out of the wood?" he watched as she looked around, "something really small if you can, and won't bend," he smiled encouragingly, turning to the parrot, "You too, Felix, anything you can find." The parrot nodded and immediately began searching.
Meanwhile, Nico had a go at forcing them out with his feet, then his beak, but with no avail.
"Hey Nico, will this do?" Rita asked from above, holding out a pin she had somehow managed to get out of the pin board hanging just above her cage, and Nico noticed, with some amusement, the piece of paper now hanging loose off it was the escape plan for the humans should they need to get off the plane.
How ironic.
"Let's have a go," he said, catching the pin with ease as she dropped it through the gaps in the wire. He rammed it into one of the metal rings down in the corner, wiggling the pin a little to get it further in. Then, as hard as he could, pushed against it. His heart leapt and he almost danced when the ring began to slowly ease out of the wood. He pushed harder, the ring suddenly leaping out of the wood and the canary slammed headfirst into the bars of the cage.
"Ow," he groaned, rubbing his head.
"Woo! You did it!" Rita cheered, turning a few heads in their direction.
"Yeah, one down," he looked at how many he would have to do in order to squeeze himself out, slumping slightly when he saw, "like, ten to go."
Once some of the birds began to see that the little canary was actually making progress, mutterings quickly shot round the hangar, a slightly more positive atmosphere taking over the miserable one beforehand, although a few were still sceptical that he would manage it in time, or that he would even help them if he does.
It took quite some time to get all the little rings out, Rita chatting above him, seemingly unable to not talk, though Nico welcomed the distraction, it stopped him from thinking too much of home, of his friends, his family, of Pedro. A few of the rings were exceptionally difficult to get out, some were deeper in the wood, and some had been bent as they went in, making them awkward to get out. One took around half an hour of pushing, repositioning and more pushing to get out. Several hours later, and he had just about gotten about eight more out, with only two to go before he would be able to fit his small body through when the plane began to descend, sending a wave of panic around the hangar.
Nico's eyes widened and his stomach sank with dread. He might be able to get himself out at this point, but how he was going to get everyone else out was a completely different question.
Slamming the pin into the next ring, he pushed as hard as possible. He would do this!
But, typically, this one choose to be difficult.
Growling low in frustration, he gave up, moving to see if he could force himself through the small gap he had already made, after bending the wire back. He could almost make it, just one more ring would do it, when the plane touched down, jolting the cages so much he was thrown back from the small hole and hit the other side of the cage.
"You alright?" Felix asked, watching as Nico pushed himself up, rubbing his head. The small bird nodded, glaring at the metal bars like he could burn a hole through if he tried hard enough. Just as he was about to try again, there was a loud bang, like someone hitting the metal of the plane from the outside, and seconds later the hatch began to open, spilling early morning sun directly into the aircraft. Nico used his bottle cap to block out the light, a very real fear settling in his stomach.
"N-Nico," he heard Rita whimper above him, pressed as close to the back of the cage as she could, and he quickly flew to the top of his cage, hanging off the bars as she did earlier, and pushed a wing through the gaps in an attempt to comfort her.
"It's okay," Nico told her, trying not to let the panic in his voice show through, "we'll get through this, it's okay," he said soothingly as she reached out to touch his wing. That simple contact calmed her down a little, her breathing slowing, her eyes focusing on the touch.
Every bird went silent as a human in a smart suit walked up and into the aircraft. He walked around, looking into every cage and examining each bird with calculating eyes. When he got to the canary's cage, Nico, instead of shrinking away, met the gaze with one of equal intensity.
The man stood, walking back out to the group of smugglers.
"I'll take them all," he told them, and Nico noted the thick British accent, as they walked off, "Take them to..."
The voice faded out as the hatch once again closed, and Nico almost growled in frustration, stopping himself only because of the trembling parakeet above him. The engine started up again, and the birds could feel the small plane shudder as it began to move, picking up speed and taking off.
"You okay girl?" he asked gently, and she nodded in response, obviously not trusting her voice. "Alright, I'm going to go get us out, you just need to hold on for a little longer, okay?" She nodded again, releasing her grip in his wing, allowing for him to flutter back down and resume his work on the cage.
It took him another half an hour to get enough rings out of the wood for him to fit through.
"Yes!" Cheered Rita, looking down at him through her bars, grinning wide. A lot of the other birds looked over at her exclamation, and upon seeing the canary out of his cage and fixing his bottle cap, murmurs of excitement filled the cabin.
"Alright, can anyone see a switch to open the hatch on this thing?" he asked the multitude of birds as he hopped over to Felix's cage and began to work on picking the padlock, a handy trick he had picked up from years of raiding food from the kitchens of cafes and restaurants. Blu had also taught him a thing or two, a few techniques to speed up the process, which had been rather slow and complicated beforehand.
"There's nothing in here," one of the birds, a red, yellow and blue parrot, called down from his high vantage point.
"It must be in the cockpit," Nico murmured to himself, quickly flying up to the door of the cabin as the cage door swung open, Felix hopping out and stretching out his wings. Peeking through, Nico immediately saw the 'Open Hatch' button, right in the middle of the dashboard. Definitely not in place for him to be able to sneak in and push it.
There was only one thing to do.
Wait.
"Alright, everyone listen up. I have a plan!" he called out, flying out to land on top of Rita's cage, where she looked up expectantly. "But I'm going to need everyone's co-operation in order to pull it off." Everyone nodded, now realising that this little canary wasn't insane, and he could, in fact, get them all out. Far from home, but free.
"I'm going to open all the cages, but I what I need you to do is stay in them," there were a few disapproving mutters at this, "the humans will probably be checking on us at least once during the flight, and from here, we physically can't open the hatch to get us out. So the only thing we can do is wait until the humans land this thing and open it, then make a break for it. From there it's all up to you." He finished to silence, a few of the birds nodding. "I'm going to need everyone's agreement on this, if those humans catch us outside our cages before we get to wherever we're going, they're just going to lock us back in and we'll have to start all over again, do you understand?" a few murmurs filled the cabin, "I said, do you understand?!" he repeated, eliciting a louder and more reassuring response. He smiled, moving to work on the padlock of Rita's cage.
It took about an hour for him to get all the cages unlocked, and surprisingly, all the birds kept to their promise and stayed in their cages, and not a single human looked back to check on them.
Once he finished, he went back to the top of Rita's cage.
"Right, is everyone done?" He asked, everyone nodding in response, "Good, now, I know it's going to be tempting to get out of the cage, but you just need to hang in there, and the moment that hatch opens, everyone go, and don't look back."
Excited murmurs filled the cabin, and Nico smiled, pulling open the door to Rita's cage and sat in with her, much to the Parakeet's surprise.
"I can't get in and out of my cage easily," he explained, "and I'm far too tired to bother with the lock," he told her, settling in the corner of the cage, his eyelids suddenly becoming heavy with sleepiness.
"You better get some sleep," she told him, smiling softly as he pulled his cap down over his eyes.
"Wake me up when we start to go down," he told her, curling up in the corner, uncomfortable, but far too tired to care.
"Rafael!"
The toucan in question jumped at his hissed name, despite the fact that he had fully expected it as he landed softly on the threshold to his hollow. At least it wasn't yelled.
"What happened?" Eva appeared, looking a mix between angry and worried, "what happened to Nico? Tell me he's okay."
Rafael sighed, wishing this whole thing was just a horrible nightmare and he would just wake up. He took his mate into his wings, closing his eyes and holding her tightly, the beginnings of tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and tickling the back of this throat.
"Smugglers," he bit out, hating the sound of the word on this tongue, hating the reality that was staring him in the face. Last time they had been lucky. He knew that wouldn't always be the case. But he never thought it would actually happen. And he certainly wouldn't have expected for Nico and Pedro to be separated by it. Those two were never apart, not once. What were the chances of something happening the one time they were? At least if they were together, yes he would most likely me worrying about both of them right now, but at least he would have the security of knowing that they both had someone to lean on, someone to support them constantly through thick and thin. The thought of Nico being out there on his own? It was almost too much to bear.
"Is he going to be okay?" Eva's choked voice sounded, sounding like she didn't quite believe it, maybe just not wanting to believe it,
"I wish I knew."
Several hours later, and with certainly nowhere near enough sleep, Nico awoke to a gentle shaking. He cracked an eye open, grumbling about being woken up, and completely forgetting where he was.
"What?" he muttered, burying his head under his wing.
"We're descending now," a high pitched female voice told him, "you might want to get up."
Everything hit him at once, and he shot up, looking around. Birds were beginning to get excited, murmurs and mutterings filling the hangar. The odd sensation in his stomach told him that yes, they were in fact descending. Scrambling to his feet, fixing his cap on his head, he looked around, seeing that every bird was still in their respective cages, and the locks were still off. Nothing had happened.
He felt something akin to excitement and adrenaline course through his body as he felt the plane touchdown, not quite as violently as the last time, meaning he could keep his footing.
"Everyone okay?" he called out. Positive mutterings echoed around the cabin and he smiled, waiting for that hatch to open so he could feel freedom once more.
After a few creaks and groans from the aircraft, the movement halted, and after a few moments, the hatch began to slowly creak open.
"Wait for it," Nico told them, readying himself by the door of the cage, Rita standing next to him, grinning as sunlight and cold air began to pour in. As soon as the main hatch was open enough, Nico yelled out, "Alright! Go, go, go!"
Doors slammed open all around and the birds streamed out, a mass of bright colours and feathers. Nico flew out, hovering at the edge to make sure they were all out, laughing at the humans confusion and panic, as the birds spread out into the air, cheering and laughing. He could easily pick out Rita's bright yellow feathers as she soared through the sky, twisting and turning through the air in her excitement.
He was about to follow, when a weak voice called from below.
In the confusion, some of the cages had fallen and had trapped a small blue honeycreeper under one of the doors of the cages, the poor bird to frightened and weak to move it.
Nico quickly glanced at freedom, the cloudy skies and crisp cold air, and then back down to the struggling bird. Then, with absolute horror, he noticed the hatch door begin to move back up. He only had moments to get out himself out.
He looked back at the trapped bird, mentally kicking himself.
'Damn conscience,' he thought to himself, swooping down and grabbing the metal with his feet, pulling up as hard as he could, flapping furiously. The cage door only lifted a little, but it was enough. The Honeycreeper shot out from underneath, shouting a thank you behind him as he dove for the exit, barely making it out.
Despite being hot on his heels, Nico managed to missed it, his heart leaping to his throat in horror as the hatch shut fully in his face, when he was only milliseconds away from freedom, and darkness closed around him once more.
In. Out. In. Out.
Deep and slow. Don't panic. Don't. Panic.
Just breathe.
He jumped as a large and slightly chubby hand slammed down very close to where he was hiding and started to feel around on the high shelf.
Reminding himself once again to breathe, Nico pressed himself further into his hiding space, hoping against all odds he wouldn't be found and caught. Again.
The hand came a little too close several times, and each time Nico's heart leapt into his throat, stomach twisting painfully with anxiety. But eventually the man gave up, hearing a panicked call from one of his... colleagues, and went running off, tripping over one of the fallen cages.
If his nervousness wasn't so overwhelming, he would have laughed at the man's failed attempt to get out without any injuries. But the most he seemed able to do was let out a deep breath of relief and slump to the ground, leaning against the wall. He was suddenly breathing like he had been holding it for the past half an hour.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked around the empty hangar, searching for any way out, any open doors, windows, anything that might grant him the freedom he was so desperate for.
While there was nothing in the hangar, there was daylight pouring in through the open door to the cockpit. If there was any chance of escape, it would be there.
He waited a moment, just in case any of the humans came back, but there was nothing but silence. Complete silence.
With a hard swallow, he steeled himself and fluttered over to the open door and through into the cockpit.
His beak dropped open at the sight.
White flakes floated to the ground, quickly laying and forming a glittering white sheet over everything. It was like nothing he had ever seen, and nothing like what Blu had described.
However where they had landed didn't seem like a runway, it looked more like a park, there were trees everywhere and what looked like a park bench not too far away. The looming snow must have made them make an emergency landing. Though even he, with a limited knowledge of these things, had to wonder how they had landed as smoothly as they did.
It would also explain their sudden disappearance. Whatever this whole operation had been for, chances are it wasn't legal, and if they landed in the middle of a public park with a planeload of illegally imported tropical birds, well, it wouldn't look good.
Which brought his train of thought around to his own escape plan, and lack thereof.
There were no open windows, doors locked and bolted, completely sealed. He was trapped. Until someone found the plane at any rate.
He looked around the pit, looking for anything that might help. Realising it was a lost case, he had no idea where to even start with the various buttons and switches on the dashboard, and frankly he was too scared to even try. So instead he found a comfy spot in amongst a left scarf, wrapped himself up against the cold and settled down.
As soon as someone opened those doors he would be out, but until then there was nothing he could do but wait.
His eyes closed, and despite himself, he drifted off into a well-earned sleep.
There was nothing Jewel hated more than the waiting game. And she knew it was worse when no one even knew if they were going to get what they were waiting for.
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
They had finally received some news after two days, and the fact that two days seemed forever wasn't promising for the rest of the wait, but she shook it off. It was a small story, and while the timings worked, she had no idea if it anything at all to do with Nico and the other birds. It could be exactly what they were hoping for, or nothing to do with them at all.
But as agreed, they needed to tell Pedro, and in what seemed to her as an unfair and biased vote, she was the one to break the news. Blu and Rafael's reasoning had something to do with motherly instincts and a more comforting demeanour. She just went along with it, rolling her eyes at them both. They were right in their own way, in her opinion men always seemed to be useless with emotions, but they could have just come out and admitted it rather than hiding behind weak excuses.
Smiling at their antics, she stepped into the seemingly empty hollow, looking around cautiously.
"Pedro?"
A muffled groan came from the nest to her left. She purposely ignored the empty one to her right. She may not be exceptionally close to either of them, but it still hurt to see. It made the whole situation more real in her head.
"Sweetie, I don't mean to wake you, but there's something I have to tell you."
Another groan sounded, and Pedro pushed himself up, looking groggy and half-asleep, but at least he was awake. Assuming he had slept at all.
"What?" he muttered, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"We agreed to let you know if we hear anything," Jewel said, smiling a little as her words clearly had an impact, the smaller bird perking up a little more, looking up with wide, expectant eyes, "Blu caught it, miracle really, tiny news story, but a plane landed illegally in London yesterday afternoon, a large group of tropical birds escaping as soon as the hatch opened."
Pedro certainly brightened at the news, quickly catching the link.
"The timings work, and while we don't know for definite, there is a good chance Nico was among them."
"That's... that's..." the poor bird couldn't even find words to describe what he was feeling at the information. It was the only news they had received so far, Rafael having failed to dig anything up just yet. And right now any news was brilliant.
"I know," Jewel smiled, wording the next sentence in her head before anything came out of her beak, "but before you get carried away, the plane had to land due to unforeseen weather, a massive snowstorm is currently hitting northern Europe, England and surrounding countries taking the worst of it. Chances of survival..." she trailed off, the unsaid conclusion hanging in the air, both birds smart enough to know what that news meant.
Survival chances were low for birds who had never been anywhere so cold before. Especially the smaller ones.
"He'll be okay," Pedro said, sounding a lot surer than Jewel felt.
Rafael had explained everything once they got the news. Yes Nico was smart, and he would know he had to get somewhere warm, and fast. But he carried on to explain how the tiny bird had gotten sick easily growing up, how susceptible he was to illness, especially in the cold, and while he had gotten much better over the years, weather like that could only spell bad news. She could see how much it hurt for him to say it out loud, and the logical side of her brain told her how low Nico's chances were, regardless of how much she didn't want to believe it. They just had to hope he had gotten out and found somewhere safe and warm to wait out the storm.
"Yeah," she said, her tone reassuring, though she wasn't entirely sure who she was reassuring, "he will be, just don't-"
"Get my hopes up?" Pedro asked, his voice suddenly cold and biting.
"I just don't want you to be disappointed," Jewel said, regretting her words the moment they left her beak.
Pedro just snorted, "I think I'm gonna be a bit more than disappointed if my best friend ends up... ends up..." he choked up, unable to finish the sentence, but Jewel understood what he was trying to say. She didn't say anything, instead taking the few steps closer and drawing him in for a hug, which he thankfully didn't reject.
"I know, I didn't mean that," she murmured, "I'm sorry."
"Hope's all I got," came the muffled reply, "I might just go crazy without it." He paused, pulling away with a wry smile, "well," he said, "crazier."
Jewel smiled, "alright, promise we won't say it again."
Pedro gave her a real smile at that, sitting down on the edge of his nest, staring somewhat absentmindedly at the empty one opposite him, smile slipping the more he stared. Jewel noticed the glazed over look he suddenly got, making a split-second decision that she knew Blu would berate her for later, but had to be done. At least for now.
"Do you want to come and live with us for a while?"
Pedro snapped out of the daze, shaking his head comically and staring at her, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously," Jewel said, "Blu won't mind, we have the space and the kids love you. I just can't stand seeing you on your own like this."
Pedro smiled, "thank you."
"You're welcome," Jewel said, enveloping him in another hug, "just hurry and get back to your old self, we miss him too."
When he cracked his eyes open sometime later, the first thing he noticed was that it was no longer cold.
In fact, it was rather warm.
And comfortable.
And quite dark.
In other words, the perfect setting for sleep. Smiling, he closed his eyes once again, relishing in the warmth that reminded him so much of home.
Hold on.
He opened his eyes once again, frowning at the rather embellished ceiling, fairly sure that when he went to sleep it was cold, and he was in a plane quickly being covered by a thick layer of snow. Sitting up, rather stiffly, he looked around the room he was in with astonished eyes. The space was large, even by human standards, and heavily furnished with vintage furniture and decor, a vast chandelier in the centre of the room. There was a large fireplace close by, flames burning bright, casting a yellow-orange glow on the room, which was dimly lit with a few lamps on the walls. He was still laying in the scarf, which had been placed on a yellow floral patterned sofa. To the simple, party-loving canary who lived in a tree, it was hideous. Apart from the fireplace, though that may have a lot to do with the fact that it had a flickering fire warming the whole room.
"Good to see you're awake," a male voice from nearby startled Nico out of his stupor, his eyes darting to a dark blue and white swallow perched on the armrest of the sofa looking down at him with small brown eyes. Nico wanted to make some witty reply, but found he had no voice, nothing to say. He was still trying to get over the fact that he was alive and in a place like this. His mouth opened and closed a few times before the bird chuckled, fluttering down closer.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the bird said, and Nico quickly picked up the British accent, "my name is Alistair," he told the canary with a warm smile, "I was flying home when I saw that a plane had landed in the middle of the park, completely illegally, though it was probably because of the snow mind you, and I thought I would have a look since the snowstorm had dropped some. And what did I find but a sleeping canary on his own and shivering in the cold. So I brought you home." He finished his story with a nod and a self-satisfied smile.
"R-right," Nico finally got out, finding his voice at last, "Well, my name's Nico, and I kinda need to get back to my home," he told the bird, who cocked his head, a small frown replacing the smile, "thank you for gettin' me out of the plane, but where am I?"
"You mean you don't know?" Alistair asked, shocked, "why, you're in Kensington," he said, spreading his wings with a wide smile as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His wings dropped at Nico's blank look. "Y-you don't know where that is?"
Nico shook his head slowly, bewilderment clear in his large brown eyes.
Alistair sighed, dropping his head into his wings. "You're in London, England."
"Ya what?" Nico choked out, eyes impossibly wide with shock, "Oh no, no, no, no," he gasped out, suddenly breathing hard, sitting back and putting a wing to his head, "I had no idea we had gone that far," he muttered, more to himself than to Alistair, "I need to get home."
"Where do you live? Perhaps we can take you there?"
"Rio," Nico said simply, his face completely neutral as he took in the expression on Alistair's face, "as in, Brazil."
"Well, in that case," Alistair started, his expression going from stunned to thoughtful, "there's not a huge amount we can do I'm afraid."
Nico's face dropped into one of despair.
"I'm sorry, but until the snow clears no plane is going anywhere."
"I'm not going on a plane then," Nico stated, absolute certainty in his voice, "I really don't want to sit around and wait," he told the shocked bird, "I'll just have to fly myself."
"But that's impossible!" Alistair exclaimed, "it's way too far, you'll never make it."
"They told me I wouldn't be able to escape that cage, yet I did, and got everyone else out too," Nico told him, determination clear in his voice, his expression steeled to this new plan, "nothing is impossible if you put your heart into it. I promised I would get back to Brazil, and I am going to do it. And if that means doing it myself and not relying on planes, fine. Besides, after my last two experiences I'm not a huge fan of 'em."
"But you, I mean, you're such a small bird, how do you expect to fly all the way there?"
"Probably with a bit of trouble," he shrugged, giving a small grimace at the thought of flying all those thousands of miles, "but it'll be damn worth it," he grinned, "I'm going to need help with directions and such though."
Alistair sighed at the seemingly suicidal task, flying over to a cabinet on the other side of the room and dropping the lid with practiced ease. He motioned for the canary to follow. Nico fluttered over, pushing his cap further back on his head to get a better look at whatever it was the swallow wanted to show him.
A large world map covered the wood he had landed on, incredibly detailed with beautiful calligraphy.
"This," Alistair pointed to a point on the map, somewhere in the south east of England, "is where you are right now, and this," he hopped further down, "is where you want to go," he pointed at a point near the south of Brazil, "to go directly in a straight line is around six thousand miles, it'll take weeks just to do that, and there's no resting spots on the direct route."
"So I'll just have to take the indirect route," Nico said simply, examining the map. Alistair sighed once again, shaking his head.
"Alright, alright, alright, I can see you are not going to be deterred by this," he said, a small smile appearing on his beak, "from what I've heard, this snowstorm has hit, or at the very least will hit most of northern Europe, you'll have to travel down quite far south in order to find an airport still in operation. To find anything still in operation for that matter."
"Okay, well that shouldn't be too bad right?"
Alistair looked at him like he was insane. "If the weather wasn't like this I would say yes, but it's below zero out there," the dejected look on Nico's face made the swallow second guess himself, this bird really was dead-set on getting home as soon as he could, "but if you are this determined, I suppose I can help you," he told him, and he couldn't help but smile a little at the joyful expression that materialised on the little canary's face.
"Really?" Nico exclaimed, grinning wide as he grabbed the swallow's wing, bouncing up and down slightly in excitement, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Chuckling a little at his reaction, Alistair gently pried his wing away, moving up to northern Europe on the map. "Alright, so if you are here," he pointed to London, "what I would suggest is flying down to Dover," he moved the feather he was pointing down to the South-East of England, "that is the point closest to France, it should only take an hour or two to cross the English channel," he tracked the route with his feathers, Nico nodding at everything he said, "from Calais, heading for Paris is the best bet for you, depending on the weather, you can see what you can do about getting a plan from there, or you can continue down as long as it takes to find somewhere not covered in snow. I have some friends in Paris who can guide you from there should the need arise. I can send a message ahead."
Nico grinned, overjoyed.
"It'll probably take several weeks just to find a operational airport, ferry-port, or anything to get you across the Atlantic, despite it being so late in the year, they've been talking about this snow lasting for some time, are you sure you want to do this?"
Nico nodded eagerly, his cap bouncing slightly.
"Just show which direction to go, and I'll be on my way," He told him, eager to get going, wanting to be home as soon as he could.
"Now, now," Alistair said, laughing, "I know you're excited to be going, but it's the middle of the night, and it's still snowing pretty heavily out there. Wait until it's stopped, get some rest, and I'll sort out a small pack with a few extra provisions for you to take," he looked the canary up and down, suddenly realising he wouldn't be used to this sort of weather if he was from Brazil, "and perhaps a scarf."
Standing on the windowsill, pack on his back, and freezing cold air blowing in through the open window, Nico was suddenly second-guessing himself. The thought of leaving the warmth and comfort of the large house, especially after having spent two days in it waiting for the storm to blow over, was sounding more and more terrible by the minute.
"You can still change your mind," Alistair pointed out as he fixed the smaller bird's scarf, ensuring it was snug and not likely to fly away once the bird took to the air. The cold breeze ruffled feathers as they stood there, Nico looking more and more worried with every second.
"I can do this," Nico said, "it'll be fine."
Alistair raised an eyebrow, "who're you trying to convince here, you or me?"
Nico just gave a half-hearted glare, inwardly bracing himself for the cold. 'I'm fine,' he told himself, 'I can do this, I just need to keep moving, keep flying and I'll be fine.'
"Thank you," he said, turning to the swallow, a grateful smile on his beak, "for saving me."
"You're welcome," Alistair said, "stay safe and don't do anything stupid," he gave the canary a very pointed look.
"Stupid? Me?" the canary grinned, "don't worry, I'll be fine. This isn't that bad."
"Don't worry?" Alistair raised an eyebrow, "I'm British, I'm used to awful weather but this..." he trailed off, gesturing to the snow covered street. The white flakes covered everything, several feet deep.
"What?"
"Britain's notorious for having terrible weather, but this is the worst I've seen, so really, be careful, and if you find Cosette in Paris tell her to let me know you made it or I'll be kept up worrying about you."
"What kind of weather do you usually get?"
"It's mostly miserable, with the odd sunny day if we're lucky, now stop stalling, you're just going to make it worse."
"I know!" Nico groaned, "alright, let's do this!" He straightened his hat, steeling his expression before taking off into the air. He hovered for a moment, turning back to the Swallow with a grin, "thanks again!" he called, tipping his hat with a wink. With one last glance, he turned and flew into the open air, feeling the cold air biting at his face. He'll never get used to the cold, he just couldn't wait until he was back in the tropical weather of Rio.
"Good luck!" Alistair called after him, chuckling.
Nico laughed, twisting in the air.
He was finally on his way home.
So... yeah, not a huge amount changed here. In fact, I was incredibly lazy in some spots and simply copied and pasted. Mostly because I actually like those parts just as they were, they still fit and I didn't want to just re-type the whole thing out. Paris is where the story really begins to change. The physical journey will stay more or less the same, but things are changing, new characters, new relationship dynamics. I'm even thinking of changing the villain, though maybe not. (I have ideas for another one, but they're not quite fully formed).
And I'll definitely be delving a little deeper into Nico and Pedro's relationship. I didn't do that enough last time and it's something that's really interesting that will probably never get fully explored in the films. (I love the minor characters, which sucks sometimes (other times it's a godsend, means you can make up most details about them and no one will bat an eyelid about it :))
I wasn't going to publish this, it's more of a personal writing practice piece especially since I haven't written anything this long in forever and I'm about to start writing a original novel. Need to get myself psyched up :P But I kinda just went screw it, it'll be interesting to see what people think. And since the sequel is coming out really soon, it'll be like a mini celebration.
As always, reviews would be greatly appreciated :)