DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this fanfic.
A/N: gracias to hspartoi [holospartoi258-zyphyr01] for beta-reading this story!
Hello reader! Sooo... this all takes place in the movie, after Nigel kidnaps Jewel. Just a little oneshot about what happened next. :P
enjoy~!
Jewel flapped her wings as hard as she could, but to no avail- her tormentor was simply too strong. She turned to him, that jerk of a white cockatoo Nigel, who carried her firmly by her feet. She exhaled sharply, glaring at her captor. Adamant on escaping this, she used whatever remnant of energy she possessed as she leaned forward in an attempt to attack him, but her beak could barely touch on the cockatoo's abdominal feathers. It was no use; she was helpless. Exhausted, she turned to her initial position, with laboured breathing.
Nigel grinned on seeing Jewel's surrender. "You should conserve energy; it'll be a long journey."
The Macaw snarled. "Since when did you care?"She questioned, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"Since we need you whole when we get there" replied Nigel, his tone matter-of-fact.
Jewel sighed, still panting as she tried to catch her breath while dangling upside-down airborne. Her mind strayed; she wondered where Blu would be now.
Maybe he was going back to Linda? That meant that he… she would never see him again…
The Macaw felt a thin dagger penetrating in her heart, before shaking her head to expel the sensation of pain. After all, this was the deal, right? They were both free, each one following his way. Yes, this was it, then.
Jewel observed the brightness of the city, the wind gently licked her feathers. She began to think about her own situation now. It had been nearly twenty minutes they were both in the air, and she hadn't stopped struggling since being captured. Nigel must've been strong, carrying the both of them for such the duration of time. On what the cockatoo had said ... He was right on one part, she should conserve energy. For one last attack, maybe. She always saw herself as a strong bird, and that not give up so easily. It was time to teach this Nigel a lesson.
"Here we are." The cockatoo interrupted, cutting her thoughts.
Jewel lowered her head. What she saw was a view brighter and more colourful city than the one that they had watched minutes ago. They were quite far though; the large carnival floats seemed tiny at that distance. If not for the fact of being kidnapped, Jewel could almost smile at the landscape.
Suddenly, due to inertia, she was abruptly thrown back, as Nigel flew by the parade, decelerating in speed. The cockatoo flew through large flower petals, deviated from the sambistas, and opened his huge wings, getting an altitude good enough to look at the Carnival as a whole. He lowered his speed, looking for something, until his eyes settled on a float with a colourful macaw and a bright golden sun in the background.
It was a spectacular sight; 'too spectacular', he thought, closing his open beak. Surely the smugglers weren't as sophisticated as to build this magnificent structure… Nigel rolled his eyes when he realized the chicken float, with the well known smugglers dancing on it. "Well, that was to be expected," he said to himself.
Nigel went like a shot through the float, arriving inside. Jewel was thrown back again with the sudden change of speed, but not as strongly as the last time. She noticed her strength returning, ever faster. She didn't know if it was enough to face him, but she had no choice now. It would be the last chance, and Jewel was not willing to lose it.
It was a room engulfed in darkness, except for the hole that Nigel personally made, and filled with cages everywhere. One of them was open. He made a turn, turning toward the cage, and up the altitude, clearly about to throw her inside. It was the right time to act, Jewel decided.
Jewel hit hard against the bars of the cage as Nigel threw him in. The door closed but reopened with the impact, and Jewel quickly regained her posture. Before the cockatoo could lock it, she went through the gate and flew through the cages, advancing towards the single beam. Flying as fast as she could, she reached the exit, but he crossed the way and captured her again by the neck, pinning her to the ground as the first time he saw her. He laughed; this was going to be a fun game to play.
"Did you really think you could escape?"
"No..." she whispered, turning to look at him face to face. "... but I'm sure I will!"
Placing both of her wings on the ground; Jewel held firmly each of Nigel's wings using her feet and this propelled herself forward, and pushing him in a motion similar to sit. With the unexpected move, Nigel released her neck. This made both of their beaks knock against one another and both retreat to one respective side. Jewel looked at the output for a split second and then to Nigel. She snarled, trying to intimidate him with her look, but Nigel could clearly see through her bluff. The corners of his beak curved into a smirk. Freedom was so close. The fact was, however, she was so exhausted, and Nigel was right there…
There was no chance that she can get away. She had struggled for much of the time until they get there, and she certainly would be no match for him, even if she was in full force… but it would be fun to see her try.
Sudden, the macaw turned her back to him, taking flight, and plunged into darkness inside the forest of cages. Nigel pursued her, his eyes locked at the blue spot in the sea of grey. It was like a game of cat and mouse, and the cat was watching his prey without her being aware of him. However, in a sudden move, she just vanished from his sight. Nigel blinked in disbelief, and was now nervous. He landed on the floor, looking around the cages, but all he could see were monotonous spots of other birds confined. Nigel growled in frustration, now hovering above the cages, trying to look for her frenetically.
Meanwhile Jewel cautiously watched from inside a cage, in absolute silence. After seeing him leave, she smiled in victory. She then opened the cage, taking care not to make any noise, and walked to the wall.
On the outside, it was made up of several overlapping tissues. Inside, it was like a wall of cardboard, with no gap large enough to a macaw pass. 'If you cannot find a way out, create your own' she thought.
She opened a small hole with her beak, and expanded it using the head. Putting up the neck to the outside, she saw the parade and the colourful atmosphere. Her smile became wider as she looked around. She could feel the taste of freedom, almost sliding down her throat. Jewel took the neck to give a last look at her captor, but there was no sign of the cockatoo. She shrugged. "So long until never, Nigel," she muttered with disdain.
When she was about to leave, however, Jewel's auditory senses detected the sound of flapping wings. She didn't need to turn to know what it was, and flapped her wings rapidly to escape. But she was too slow- Nigel managed to grab her and pull her in. Crap! Jewel shouted in her thoughts.
With a forceful hurl, Jewel fell onto the ground, and Nigel now had his talons bound around Jewel's body and his wings pinning hers down. She tried to flap her wings and somehow propel him off… it was no use. This time she couldn't escape, and there was no way she could ever fly off into freedom. All her effort had gone to waste.
Jewel closed her eyes tightly, trying to endure the pain that now suddenly begun spread all over her body. She was angry with herself now. Why she had not taken the opportunity when she had the chance? Now, any attempt to escape would be useless. Jewel now cursed everything she could think of. Her luck, her body, the smugglers, the cages, Nigel ... damned it. She was so close. So damn, damn close…
Jewel opened her eyes slowly, only to see Nigel right in front of her, with a sadistic smile, their beaks almost touching, and it threw off guard.
"Game over." He said simply. Jewel gulped hard and fear began to pulse through her veins. Their beaks were in such proximity that it was simply disturbing…
Now she was really 'close'.
Nigel then, however, noticed this too. Jewel anticipated him to huff in a disgruntled manner and push Jewel into the cage. But he didn't budge- his smile only faded to a normal expression.
No, normal isn't the right word, especially for Nigel. His eyes widened in surprise, just like Jewel's. He kept looking at her. His look wasn't intimidating, or threatening, but more like the look of someone who admires something or someone.
For a few minutes, Nigel remained like this, lost in the macaw's sapphire blue eyes, a strange warm feeling growing inside him. He totally forgot his occupation as a captor and emotionally he began to loosen up, slowly and unconsciously, the pressure that he kept on Jewel's wing, without taking his eyes from hers. Jewel looked at him with blank expression, not understanding what was happening.
But somewhere in his brain, he was struggling to return to sane. Nigel swallowed hard and blinked a few times, snapping out of his state of trance. With a sudden yet with less force than he expected, Nigel flung Jewel into the cage.
"Oh, the sweet nightmares," he muttered. His speech, however, did not fare as scary as he wanted, sounding like a mix of vile and dreaminess. He locked the cage hastily, and then he flew to somewhere in the darkness, where Jewel's eyes could not follow.
She raised an eyebrow, half scared, half confused. That was weird; definitely weird. Shaking her head, Jewel decided not to try to understand what happened, as she had worse problems. She looked at the bars, seeing no possibility of getting out. The macaw hung her head in defeat.
What about Blu? The question arose within her. Jewel sighed, as she tried to depict what was going on with him right now- he should be on his way for Minnesota. He had his own life, and wished to live it. He would not come back, ever. And that's how the story ends.
Although she kept repeating it, in somewhere inside her, she knew she was lying.
Nigel landed in a kind of clearing in the middle of the cages, careful not to be seen by the blue macaw, and began to examine himself in circles, with the same abnormal expression still on his face. He had always hated pretty birds; their sophisticated looks were just a punch in Nigel's stomach. He loathed that.
But then why he felt so weird around her? He had been near her before, and nothing much happened. But why all this warmth in his chest that caused his feathers to stand on one end?
All questions had an answer, but he did not want the right answer this question.
'It's just a reaction at room temperature ... nothing more.' He reassured himself mentally. It was a satisfactory answer, and he sighed in relief.
He was there for quite a while until he realised he had not felt any reaction before. It was like a blow to his brain, which quickly searched for another answer.
'Maybe you're getting sick.'
But he had been feeling well all day; it would make no sense. Something in his skull growled in frustration.
'It's an allergic reaction. Feathers from that pretty bird!'
But Jewel? Impossible; if there was it would've happened from the very beginning. A different voice called in his head.
Silence followed. The heat that lingered in his body then reached a specific organ, which was beating swiftly. Nigel looked up at the ceiling, as if there was an announcer shouting down below.
Finally decided listen to me? That's good. I have an answer; probably the correct one, too. The voice said, pausing at each end of the sentence, a pause for the cockatoo to fully absorb every word.
It's because you did not look at ONLY a pretty bird. In fact, you just did not look at any bird.Nigel blinked.
At that moment, you stared at Jewel. Not at any bird, but Jewel. You looked at her, in her deep blue eyes. She ceased to be a common bird, and she became a REAL Jewel for you. This raises the heat that warms the soul.
Nigel swallowed in the absence of air. "You mean...?"
Yes.The sound was barely audible, but he could notice the tone of fun. The voice was silenced for a while.
He then resurfaced with a desperate tone. 'So?' he asked in his head. Silence followed.
Nigel made a spitting motion, but suppressed what was about to leave his mouth. "Ugh! ..." he unwittingly blurted out, before he remembered that Jewel was still there. When nothing happened, he looked to the ceiling again, disbelief marking his expression. 'You can't be serious!'
The voice had a monotonous tone when noticed his reaction. I was never more serious.
For some time he looked at his feet, remembering of what he felt at that moment. It was a fleeting moment, but it seemed to have lasted for centuries. He was reminded of how close he was from her. His feathers stood on end as the warmth grew wider, but he quickly shook his head, stopping the strange feeling.
He stared at the ceiling, now smiling mockingly. 'Oh, well, here's some news for you,' he said mentally. 'This all seems disgusting to me. She's just a pretty bird, nothing more.' He joined his two wings, his feathers touched up like fingers; his beak took a bitter format. 'And soon she will be ugly too.'
Nigel then waited for a response. It didn't come- not a sound emerged.
He smiled and spread his wings to take off, but then, the voice cut him off.
But you realize that at that time you were not jealous of her beauty, but fascinated with it?
Nigel wore a mask of no emotion. 'If you're doing what I think you're trying to do, go ahead, because it's not working.' He then took flight, leaving the voice silent once and for all.
But the thoughts did not stop bombarding him. Her azure feathers that ruffled lightly in the breeze, the way he carried her. And those beautiful cerulean eyes…oh, her eyes. They were like sapphire that glimmered in the light; simply beautiful, dazzling even. When he stared at them it was like being submerged in a large green-blue sea.
He then let out a dreamy sigh, slowly closing his eyes...
'Hey wait! What the hell?'
Nigel alighted in the middle of some cells, holding back some vomit in his throat. He could hear another sigh, that irritating voice in his head, but it was disappointed, exasperated even.
So… said the voice, fear in its tone. Nigel thought for a few seconds about what it wanted to hear, but his rational side absolutely crushed any chance of this kind of word coming out. A mocking 'humph' was all that came out of Nigel's beak. A familiar cold feeling filled his tactile senses.
The voice gradually became silent, until it fell into darkness as large as that filled the room of birds locked up.
He then observed her, hidden, with the same disgust with which to observe any other pretty bird.
Like any other.