Title: Flying Home
Author: Angel015
Summary: Despite the new bird sanctuary, bird smuggling is still a ever present danger for the tropical birds of Rio. When the group's smallest gets taken and flown halfway around the world to London he finds he has to face the long and dangerous journey home alone. New friends and new enemies are met along the way, along with some really bad navigation, music, friendship and maybe even Romance, Nico is in for the biggest adventure of his life.
A/N: So, I rented out Rio the other night, watched it for the first time and instantly fell in love with it. Or more, with Nico and Pedro. They're brilliant. I love them both, though Nico is without a doubt my favourite. This idea hit me while watching it for the second time and I immediately began jotting down ideas and scenarios, researching the journey I want him to take, and typing up the first chapter in a day. This is my first time writing a proper epic journey-type story, so bear with me. There will be a fair few Original Characters, of course, so I've got a big project here, so if i don't update regularly, that's why, I have a job to maintain, so there will be times where I have a lot of overtime and no time to write, so just hang in there :) (Oh and those who are still reading my other stories, I'm afraid they'll be on hiatus for a while, hit a severe writer's block, and I have nothing more to go on for any more of them, I'm sorry and as soon as I get ideas for them I'll finish, I promise :))
The night was quiet, a rarity in Rio, party central and a hotspot for music and dancing night and day. But here we are, a quiet night in the centre of the city, the full glowing moon shining down, illuminating the streets where streetlamps couldn't, and stars twinkled happily in the sky. Few people were out, some staggering home after a party, some simply out and enjoying the quiet and the sounds of nature. The world famous carnival was over, after a week-long party, eventually trickling out, even the most hard-core party-goers settling down for a good long sleep after so much dancing.
Deep in the jungle, things were heading along similar path, only the nocturnal out and about.
With the exception of two.
Although, some birds were beginning to wonder if the pair were in fact becoming nocturnal, considering how late, or maybe early, they were often out on the town.
"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 as they stumbled along the large branch to their shared hollow. How they managed to fly all the way from the club was a mystery with Pedro in such a intoxicated state. For once Nico was thankful this was the last time they were going out partying for a while. Most birds took some time after the festival to just kick back and relax, and Nico and Pedro were no exception. Both enjoyed to just sleep for almost a whole day, before going down to the beach or just hanging out and being lazy.
"But it tasted *hic* so go-od" the cardinal slurred, swaying a little as he walked, causing Nico to cry out and put all his strength into holding his friend up to prevent him from falling on top of him. The small bird silently cursed all types of alcohol, scowling slightly as his pushed Pedro back into a standing position and attempted to continue their journey. While the slightly older bird rarely got himself drunk, when he tended to go a little insane, the dancing got even more crazy than usual, and the redheaded bird would not shut up.
"Yes, 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. He sighed, shaking his head and smiling ever so slightly. There was a very good reason he didn't drink himself. For starters his small size made him a bit of lightweight, but also because when there was alcohol around, and thankfully this was a rarity, Pedro was the first to attack it, and someone had to make sure he got home in one piece.
"I want to go to Ralfy's," Pedro stated, starting to turn. Nico quickly pushed him away, back towards the entrance of their hollow.
"No, you don't," the small bird told him, sighing, wondering why the hollow suddenly seemed so far away.
"Oh please?" Pedro whined, "it'll be awesome!"
"Only if you want to get your feathers plucked out one by one," Nico told him, his voice firm as he pushed a little harder in getting to their hollow. Pedro shut up quite quickly, staggering slightly, almost falling off the branch.
They finally reached the hole, Pedro practically falling through it and attempting to walk in a straight line towards his nest. He collapsed within a foot of the comfy bed, snoring loudly.
Nico sighed, crossing his arms with a small smile. He hopped back to the entrance, a bowl in his beak. He quickly swooped down to the lake below and scooped up some water, taking it back up and placing it gently close to his friend. He knew when the cardinal woke up he would be overly de-hydrated, and lazy, therefore whining for a drink. This just sped up the process and meant Nico didn't have to get out of his own comfy bed the next day.
Hopping over to his own nest, he settled down, taking his bottle cap off and placing it nearby. He yawned widely, curling up and drifting off to blissful sleep.
When he cracked his eyes open to glaring sunlight, the first thing Pedro thought, after turning away from the deadly light, was that his head hurt and he desperately needed a drink. He slowly and carefully pushed himself up and looked over to his friends nest, where the canary was sleeping on his back, one wing over his stomach, with the other stretched out over the edge of the bed.
"Ni-co," Pedro called, dragging out the name. The small bird's foot twitched, and he rolled onto his side, away from the cardinal.
"By the nest," he mumbled sleepily, curling up.
Pedro looked over to his messy pile of leaves and noticed the bowl of water. "Ah, thanks man," he grinned, grabbing the bowl and downing it in one shot. Nico just grumbled, not being 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 always grumpy in the mornings, more so when he had to drag his friends drunk butt home the night before.
It didn't take long before Pedro was up and bouncing off the walls, wanting to go down to the beach. Nico just patiently ignored it, not wanting to leave the comfort and security of his nest.
"Come on!" Pedro whined, poking the small ball of yellow feathers. "Let's go down to the beach!"
"You go down to the beach," Nico muttered, muffled by his wings, "and I'll see you there in say, six hours?"
It was just then that Blu appeared at the entrance to their home.
"Hey guy's we're just taking the kids to the beach, want to join us?" he asked, smiling. The smile quickly slipped off his face to be replaced with one of confusion as he took in the sight of the tiny ball of yellow, which had shrunk even more as Nico curled in tighter, and a cardinal poking it.
"See, they want to go to the beach," Pedro whined at the ball of feathers.
"So go with them," Nico mumbled, and the other two birds heard a loud yawn from the depths of feathers.
"Aww, won't you come too?" Pedro asked, poking his friend again.
"You go, give me another hours sleep or so and I'll see you in a bit okay?" Nico told him, poking one tired eye out from between his feathers.
Pedro crossed his wings, sighing deeply. "Fine, I'll see you in a bit," he said, flying over to Blu, who was waiting patiently by the entrance, "let's go."
And with that the pair flew off, leaving Nico in silence to drift back off to sleep. However, it took a few moments for the small bird to realize that simply wasn't going to happen. He was too awake now, despite still feeling sleepy he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep again. Uncurling from his tight ball and sitting up, Nico looked around the now bright hollow, rubbing his right eye and yawning again, it was probably early afternoon judging by the amount of light being filtered into the small hollow. He pushed himself into a standing position, wings folded by his side.
Not the best start to the day.
Sighing, he spread his wings and headed to their usual spot on the beach, a feeling akin to dread settling in his stomach.
"I see Nico's not a morning person then," Blu commented as he, the rest of his family and Pedro flew towards the beach. The sun was shining down hot above them and the city was alive and bustling below.
"Nope," Pedro said, smirking somewhat, "never has been unless he gets a really good night's sleep, and don't try to wake him, that bottle cap of his hurts when it's smacked into your face," he snickered, thinking back to first time he attempted to wake the sleeping canary. It hadn't ended well.
Jewel chuckled from somewhere behind them, silently listening in.
They soon reached their favourite spot and settled down for the afternoon, the three kids high-tailing it for the water, Pedro following not long after, flying up above the water then dropping, curling into a ball.
"CANONBAAALLLL!"
The splash pushed the three mini macaws almost back to the shore, pushing them under the water for a few moments. Three heads popped back up, cheering.
"Woo! Do that again Uncle Pedro!" Alicia called out, her two brothers whooping behind her as the cardinal came up for air, grinning wide. He splashed the three chicks as hard as he could, and they attempted to splash him back, though against the mini tidal waves heading their way their little splashes weren't doing much damage.
They spent almost three hours playing before Pedro began to get a little twitchy at the lack of Nico.
"I should get back, make sure he's okay," he muttered, staring in the direction of home, rubbing his wings together nervously, "he always keeps to his promises, and he promised an hour, so where is he?" he muttered to himself, pacing a little.
Blu chuckled a little, "and you say I worry too much," he murmured to Jewel, who simply smiled, before fluttering over to the pacing bird and placing a wing on his shoulder.
"He's fine Pedro," she said, her voice taking on a motherly tone, "probably just slept longer than he expected, for all we know he could be on his way here now, kicking himself for missing all the fun," she smiled gently, "but if you're really worried we can all head back now, it's time to take the kids home anyway."
"Okay," Pedro said, nodding.
(three hours previously)
"Wasn't really thinking, wasn't looking, wasn't searching for an answer," a soft voice carried through the trees as the small canary attached to it sailed through, smiling a little at the rushing feeling he always got while flying, no matter how many times he'd done it, "in the moonlight, when I saw your face."
As he took a break from singing he started to notice how eerily quiet the whole forest seemed to be. While it was true most birds spent their days off down at the beach or downtown, it was never this quiet, there was always a few birds hanging around, singing, chatting, sleeping. But it was absolutely silent save the breeze moving the trees.
He landed on a branch to have a better look around, the feeling of dread once again settling like a rock at the bottom of his stomach.
What was going-
He squawked as a brown cloth bag was suddenly thrown over him, shrouding his world into darkness. He struggled, attempting to pull at the bag and rip it, but it was too thick for his small form and minimal strength.
"That's the last one Carlos," he heard a human voice from close by, most likely the one holding the bag, "he's certainly energetic," the man commented, referring to the small bird's struggles to get free.
Nico slumped, his energy leaving him, and he lay at the bottom of the bag, chest heaving and eyes wide, trying to search for a way out, failing miserably. There was no way out, he was stuck, bird-napped by smugglers. He had gotten out of this before, but it was Blu who got them out, and Nico had no ideas on how to get himself out of this one.
He could feel the bag moving as the human moved through the trees, and he could hear a car engine starting up somewhere nearby.
Suddenly, the bag was tipped upside down, and he was unceremoniously dumped into a cage, the door slammed shut and locked before he could even think about making a break for it. He gripped the bars, praying to whatever higher power was up there that Pedro or one of the others would notice he was missing before the smugglers got him too far away. He looked around, noticing a few familiar faces, but no one he knew too well. Rafael and his family had escaped, as had Blu, Jewel and their kids, and he would've known if Pedro were here, he'd be shouting and squawking the place down by this point. Nico couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at this. At least they were safe.
He didn't know how long they drove for, it could have been several hours, or a few minutes, the small canary wasn't really paying attention, he was too busy concentrating on how to get out. The lock wasn't a simple pull-across bar, it was a padlock, and facing away from him, thus ruining his chances at picking it. The bars were criss-crossed and the gaps too small for him to squeeze through, he could barely fit a few feathers through. After a while, he sat back in the corner, slumped in defeat. He was well and truly screwed unless someone came for him.
Eventually the van stopped, and the back was thrown open, sunlight streaming in. Nico's cage was picked up and roughly thrown to the ground, slamming against the concrete with such a force Nico was thrown halfway across it. Pushing himself up and looking around, he noticed where he was. The old airport runway. He groaned, knowing exactly what was about to happen. He looked up, soaking in what he knew was going to be his last memory of Rio de Janeiro, before being thrown onto a plane and flown off to goodness knows where.
He blinked, second guessing himself as a familiar bird flew overhead.
"Pedro!" The name was out of his beak before he could stop himself, and he saw the bird stop, hovering in the air, look around, then down, eyes widening in horror.
Pedro, still ever so slightly worried for his friend, though not as much as before, decided to take the shortcut home, over the old runway and through the forest that way round. It was unconventional, not many birds lived round there, and the ones that did were shady. But he convinced himself that so long as he stayed above the trees until he got to the more populated areas it would be okay.
It was when he was above the runway that he heard someone call his name. He hovered, looking around, not seeing anything. He almost shook it off as his imagination, but something caused him to look down. And what he saw filled him with horror.
Nico was staring up at him, expression terrified through the bars of a cage, more and more cages being stacked around him.
Smugglers.
As fast as he could, he shot down to his friend, landing next to the cage and gripping the bars tightly, shaking them hard. They wouldn't budge.
"Nico!" he cried, looking into the canary's large brown eyes. "Don't worry buddy, I'm gonna get you outta here!" he said, looking for a way to open the cage.
"You think I haven't already tried that?" Nico asked, rolling his eyes and trying to hide his fear, "it's hopeless Pedro, they've made these things more sturdy since last time, there's no way out."
"No!" Pedro shouted, looking even more scared than Nico, who was beginning to accept what was happening to him. "No, you're going to get out of there, and...and..." he broke off, choking up ever so slightly.
"And we'll go to the beach," Nico finished for him, his voice soft and wavering slightly, "we'll soak Blu, play with the kids, bury someone in the sand and go get some ice-cream, okay?" he smiled gently, lower beak trembling slightly, they were beginning to load the cages onto the plane, "then we'll rock out at the Alley and party all night long." He grinned, shaking his tail feathers some, trying to get his friend to crack a smile, "As soon as I get back okay? I won't be long, I promise." He pushed his wing feathers through the bars, touching his friends wing gently.
It started to work, Pedro couldn't help but smile a little at what the smaller was saying, but it didn't last for long, Nico's small cage was snatched up.
"Go!" Nico hissed to Pedro, who was knocked over in shock.
Seeing his best friend and long-time partner locked up and being taken away made something snap inside the Cardinal, and his face steeled, shooting up and back down, directly at the guy holding Nico. He bit him clear on the shoulder, causing him to lose grip on the cage, clattering to the ground. Pedro quickly made sure Nico was okay before aiming again, pecking at the man again and again, before someone suddenly grabbed him from behind, clamping down on his wings. Large chubby fingers were closed around his body, which he quickly bit, even drawing blood, but with no reaction. It was like the man couldn't feel anything. The redhead cried in frustration as Nico's cage was once again picked up and taken into the plane, the last glimpse of his best friend, his brother, before the hatch shut.
"Let that one go, we have no need for the aggressive ones," one human said, and just as the plane started to move he was thrown violently in the opposite direction, barely catching himself before he hit the ground. He twisted in mid-air seeing the large man running to the open door and climbing in as the plane began to speed up, pulling up and away only moments later. With a sudden burst of adrenaline Pedro flew as fast as he could after it, not knowing what he could possibly do, but knowing it was all he could do. He prayed a repeat of last time would happen, that one bird would get out, release the others and open the hatch, freeing them all.
But it was not to be. He followed the plane for about ten minutes before his energy began to run out of him, his adrenaline rush fading quickly and his three hours playing with the chicks hitting him fast. He slowed, realising it was hopeless. His brother was gone, flown goodness knows where around the world, all alone. Nico was strong, he knew that, but he was still a tiny canary, facing the big wide world on his own. Tears began to prick at his eyes, and he struggled to keep himself up.
With one last longing look at the plane flying away towards the horizon, Pedro turned and headed back towards the jungle. Rafael would know what to do.
A/N: So? What did you think? Any good? Never want to see it again? Any and all opinions are welcomed. I hope you enjoyed :)