Greetings, my fellow fanfiction writers, to the beginning of a new series of mine! I'm very grateful for all the reviews you guys have given my other story, Rio: Colors of the Rainbow. If you haven't read it yet, I definitely recommend you do. It is a wonderful, whether you're looking for some fun, some BluxJewel, some scenes with their kids (similar to the ones you'll see here), some entertaining OC's, or simply an interesting story. It's still a work in progress, so leave a review to show your support!
Now, to those who are already familiar with me and my writing, I thank you for your support. The reviews you guys gave Colors of the Rainbow helped cheer me up a bit, and while my life is still in bad shape, I now know that I can at least stand a chance. I'll post the full story of what's going on in my profile at some future point, so be on the lookout for that.
Yes, yes, long ramble, I know. This will be a new series of mine, a compilation of one-shots, some long (case in point), some short, each their own chapter, following Blu and Jewel's life in the Amazon after Rio 2. Think of it as a fun little mini series. I have longer stories and projects planned, but more on those later.
So, a few things:
Horribly unoriginal title, I know. I'm sorry, it's all I got.
Not significant, but Colors of the Rainbow in cannon here.
Sorry for the uber-long one-shot here. I hope the quality will make up for the tiresome length. Let's get going now, shall we?
-Prophet
"You can't go wrong with marshmallows!" cheered Carla as she retreated her stick away from the small campfire the Spix's Macaws had made (using a lighter, due to Blu's still somewhat shaky jungle survival skills).
The Spix's Macaw family, save for Mimi who had claimed to need her "beauty sleep", as well as Nico, Pedro, and Rafael had gathered for a night of fun and laughter around the campfire in one of the clearings near the tribe's home, using some old logs as seats. They had all been awake for quite a while now. Eduardo was busy recounting some stories from his past, with Roberto, Blu, and Jewel as his audience, while Carla, Bia, Tiago, and some of the other chicks sat on the other side of the campfire, having fun, telling jokes, listening to some of Nico and Pedro's songs, and devouring plenty of marshmallows (which like the lighter, Eduardo was less-than-pleased of).
"...and there he was, dark as the night, standing tall and fierce, but I wouldn't let him stop me!" Eduardo recounted with a proud voice, Jewel beaming at her father while Roberto eagerly listened to his mentor.. "He gathered up on his legs, ready to pounce on my wounded friend, but I quickly flew in to stop him! He reared up, and gave a mighty roar, which resonated like-!"
"ZZZZ!"
Eduardo's illusion was broken as he was cut off by the loud snoring. His expression quickly fell, as he, Roberto, and Jewel looked aside to see the source of the sound: One Blu, snoring away as he rested his head on Jewel's shoulder.
"AHEM!" Eduardo interjected. Blu's eyes flew open immediately.
"Huh?! Wha-?" he frantically stumbled awake. "Oh, uh, sorry sir..."
He tried to give an apologetic, shy grin, which only increased Eduardo's fury. Before things could go wrong, Jewel decided to intervene.
"Uh, you know, maybe it's time to go to sleep. It's getting a bit late," she tried to reason, giving her mate a quick kiss while trying to soothe her father's irritation.
"Yeah, I think that's enough for one night," Roberto agreed.
"Oh, fine, let's go," Eduardo sighed, still not happy at his son-in-law's... peculiar manners.
"Aw, come on!" Tiago protested, setting fire to his marshmallow once more. He didn't seem to worry about the flaming stick in his claws much though, and after so much time with him, not many of the others did either.
"Sorry kiddo, I think I've had my share for one night," Blu told him.
"But there's still plenty to do!" he complained.
"Like what?" Bia asked, giving him a questioning look.
"You know... stuff!" Tiago tried to cover.
"I don't know..." Jewel doubted.
"Please? Just a little while?" the Spix's Macaw chick tried begging.
Blu sighed. "Alright, alright, I guess. Can you guys make sure to get them to bed for me?" he asked Nico, Pedro, and Rafael.
"Of course! Relax buddy, we've got this!" Rafael assured him in that confident tone of his.
"Thanks," Blu nodded.
…
Nico, Pedro, and Rafael snored the rest of the night away as they all slept on a log a small distance away from the campfire, out cold. The Spix's Macaw chicks had taken advantage of the adult's absence to gather together in a more comfortable spot, making the circle around the campfire tighter.
"You really should watch out with that thing," Carla advised as her younger brother munched off the not-as-damaged parts of his burned marshmallow.
"So, Jorge, are you gonna finish telling us that story of the jaguar you saw that day?" one of the other chicks called out to her dark-blue feathered friend sitting across from her. Not interested, Bia momentarily considered picking up her Amazonia book that lay beside her.
"We could do that, or..." Tiago interjected before her companion could speak up.
"Or what?" One of the younger chicks, a boy with cerulean feathers asked.
"Oh, nothing, I was just wondering if you guys knew the story... of the Night Watcher," Tiago gave a mischievous, dark grin. A group of loose storm clouds begun to gather above.
Bia sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "Really? Not this..."
"What wrong, sis? You afraid?" Tiago mocked, dragging out the last word.
"Of course not! I just think stories like this are silly," his sister told him. The smartest of the chicks, she was proud of her knowledge, and didn't like to seem clueless, or doubtful.
"Well then, I don't see a problem," Tiago drew out his grin again, causing all the chicks to lean in for the story, except for Bia, who refused to give him the satisfaction, and Carla, who, unlike her usual self, seemed slightly hesitant for once.
"What... Night Watcher?" she cautiously asked.
"You don't know the story? Well, let me fill you in..." Tiago began, and he used his wings and the fire to form shadows reflected in the trees around them to illustrate his story.
"Not too long ago, deep in the rainforest... there was a proud macaw, very strong, very skilled, who was a prodigy among his tribe. They all thought he would grow to be their greatest chieftain ever. However, one rainy night, in the middle of the search for a fellow tribe member who had gotten lost, the macaw and his friends gathered at the edge of a cliff to rescue their comrade, who had gotten tangled in a mess of vines. His friends didn't want to help. They were too scared that if they flew near their comrade, they would get tangled in the vines too, or instead fall off them and to their demise in the dark-colored earth below."
The chicks were all listening in awe now as Tiago told the story, even Carla, while Bia glanced occasionally. She lad lost her proud look, instead simply feeling uncomfortable, with her feathers standing up all over her neck.
"The macaw, proud and powerful, decided that he would help. He wanted to save the other macaw, who had been a childhood friend of his, and take advantage of the situation to show off. As he hovered around the vines, however, he found that there were too many to rip through. His friend was in a panic, desperately screaming for his life. The macaw began to untangle the vines, until he fixed his way through and reached his friend. The rain was fierce, and the vines twisting and slippery. Between the desperate shouts of his friend, the macaw untangled the vines right as his friend was about to slip. In a frantic dash, his friend rammed his way past his friend and to safety with the other two rescuers. By pushing his friend, though, he caused him to get thrown into and tangled in the vines. Squirming to escape, the macaw simply tangled himself more, and nobody was brave enough to help him. In one last-ditch attempt, the macaw sliced off a group of vines, but unknowingly, also cut off the last vines connecting him to the source tree. His body free, but wings still tangled, the macaw gave one last, desperate shout as he plummeted to the earth below, while his friends simply watched, too afraid to move or speak."
Now, the chicks were all looking scared, not daring to breathe, and Carla gulped as she pictured the terrifying scene in her mind. Bia's hazel eyes were wide open, glancing around frantically, while her head drooped meekly.
"What happened to him?" one of the chicks, a short, chubby little male macaw, asked the mischievous storyteller. Tiago smile grew and his eyes narrowed slightly as he fed a few extra branches to the fire, feeding the flames to help compose his story with the dancing shadows.
"Oh, it wasn't over for him. When he awoke, he discovered that he was still alive, as his fall had been cushioned by a layer of strange, black-colored mud. The mud was powerful, rooting itself deep within his feathers, and thus he rose, dripping, with feathers as black as night. He was confused, disorientated, and so he tried to call for help. When none came, he decided that he had to travel back home alone. He wasn't in such a good shape however, and he constantly kept bumping into trees, rocks, branches, even bitten by a rat once! When he finally got home the next day, everybody was shocked. He was a mess, completely unrecognizable, with his feathers all ragged, and his eyes red from lack of sleep and a tiresome trip back. He expected help, but his hopes were shattered when one of the females in the tribe shrieked, calling him a freak and yelling at him to go away. One by one, other macaw members, unable or unwilling to recognize him, chased him out, and forced him into exile. He was distraught to see his world and dreams crumble, and that grief quickly became fury. The macaw wasn't about to let them make a fool of him, not after they had left him for dead like that, seemingly without a care. In a maniacal state of mind, he flew to the tribe's territory at night, determined to get revenge. He kept close to it's inhabitants, following them, but never revealing himself. Some of the tribe members became worried, when one night, out of nowhere, there was a horrible scream! The members gathered at the grove of trees where the shouts came from, only to find the occupants, the two other rescuers from that night and the macaw that was trapped in the vines, gone..."
By now, everyone was completely terrified. Tiago seemed to enjoy the attention, watching his friends cower.
"W-w-what happened to them?" Carla stuttered.
"Nobody knows," Tiago informed her ominously. "Some say they died, others say they are done, but some... some say that the macaw, the Night Watcher, is still out there, to this day, waiting for his next victim. It's said that he rewards those creatures who respect and cower before him by sparing their life, but those who betray, those who doubt of him? Those are the special ones, the ones that he follows, the ones he watches, the ones he drives to insanity, trailing them, waiting until they are alone, until he has the opportunity... TO STRIKE!"
Tiago's voice boomed as a large shadow formed behind him with white spaces for eyes, causing all the chicks to scream in fear as they all nearly fell backwards. When they were all shrunk together, Tiago laughed, lowering his wings to decrease the carefully angled shadow effect behind him.
"That was great!" Tiago laughed , nearly choking at his own joke. "Oh man, I got you all good!"
The macaws slowly gathered themselves, some, like Carla and others, rolling their eyes, some joining in on the laughter slightly, while others still looked in fear. When they were done, Tiago remembered his main victim, turning to look at his sister.
Bia was cowering in her seat at the edge of the group, shivers racketing her body. She held her shoulders with her wings, paranoid eyes scanning the area.
"What's wrong, sis? Nothing to fear, right?" Tiago triumphantly stated.
Bia tried to compose herself, decreasing the shivers and trying to steady her eyes and voice as she spoke.
"Nope, nuh-uh, not at all. I just... it's... cold out here."
"Yeah, right! Look at you shaking over there!" Tiago snickered, resuming his laughter. Bia narrowed her eyes in anger as she stood up.
"I'm going home," she growled, quickly flying off before the chicks could see more of her in her nervous state. No way ever was she going to let Tiago win. The clouds above had thickened, with a light drizzle beginning to fall.
"Come on, admit it! You're scared! You better watch out, you don't want to upset the Night Watcher!" Tiago called as she flew back to their home, concealing her frightened expression.
…
Needless to say, sleep didn't come easy for Bia that night. She was fidgeting in her sleep, making uncomfortable moans as she tossed and turned. By now, Tiago, Carla and the other chicks had already put out the campfire and gone home. As much as she tried not to think of it though, the story she had heard refused to exit her mind.
In her dream, she was flying in the middle of the forest, admiring the beauty and splendor around her. She dipped and soared over the jungle canopy, settling down near an interesting-looking beetle.
"Fascinating!" she awed, observing it's species and distinct markings. She was interrupted, however, when she heard a faint rustling behind her.
She turned, but saw nobody. Shrugging, she quickly went back to her observations. Another rustle came from nearby, and she tried to turn as quickly as possible to spot it, but all she managed to catch was a faint movement in the trees behind her. Frustrated, she turned once more to her study, but was interrupted as a small group of leaves slowly floated down in front of her. She froze, eyeing the leaves as they fell, then slowly turning up to see the source. Nothing.
"I'm getting edgy," she said to herself faintly. She turned around, and gave a scream as she saw a pair of eyes looking at her. When she stared at it for a moment, however, she realized that it was not at all a real pair of eyes, but instead simply a strange carving on the tree. She gulped.
"Probably just some bug that ate the bark," she told herself. Then she heard it one more time. The rusting.
Turning to view the source, she caught another quick glimpse of the cause, some black figure disappearing among the leaves. Her voice failed her for a moment.
"Probably... j-j-just a lizard... or something," she said, scolding herself. "Get it together, Bia!" Deciding that she had had enough, she began to fly back to her home.
Along the way, however, she saw several things that unnerved her. A mess of feathers lay underneath her at one point, ragged, black feathers. A pair of red flowers bloomed brightly amongst a vine that seemed twisted in a wide, mouth-like shape.
"Just c-c-coincidences, coincidences. I'm sure those feathers are some molting bird's, y-yeah, and the flowers are in season, most likely."
Before she could make any more speculation, however, she suddenly arrived at the edge of a cliff.
"What? I'm pretty sure I was going the right direction..." she said, unsure. The sun was rapidly setting, and she wasn't even quite sure where she was. Nervous, she turned back the way she had come.
Things grew worse as she began her flight back, beating as fast as she could. She kept thinking she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but nothing ever revealed itself. The howling of wolves tore through the night, accompanied with the occasional hiss of a snake, which caused her to nearly stumble mid-flight. Her breathing became rapid as she frantically tried to find her home. She heard what sounded like the soft tones of a music box, but slowed down to an eerie, unsettling speed. The music grew louder and louder as her breaths became more and more shallow.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a coincidence, it's just a coincidence," she tried to repeat to herself, but she didn't know what to think anymore. The cry of bats could be heard, along with a faint growling as she began to crash and tear her way through the thickening foliage of the jungle all around her.
Just when the sounds and music were maddening, and the foliage seemed to thick to fly through, she tore through a final group of leaves and crashed her way into a small clearing. She skid across the ground for a minute, groaning, before she shook herself and got up. All the music and sounds she had been fearing were gone, leaving an absolute, dead silence. She looked around for a moment. It was the same clearing she and the other chicks had been sitting around that night, but with a cold pile of dead branches, unlit.
"H-h-hello?" she faintly called, shaking as she stood. Nothing could be seen for a few moments, before she caught a glimpse of something. She quickly turned, but missed it. Her beak began to tremble. Another blurry movement occurred, and she missed it once more.
"W-w-what are you?" she asked weakly. Then, finally, she heard it. A faint growl, with the sound of heavy breathing, and her heart nearly stopped as she felt something standing behind her. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned, and her eyes widened at what she saw, causing her to give an ear-piercing yell.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
Bia gasped as she threw herself straight up in her nest. Her eyes maddeningly scanned the area. Slowly, her breathing calmed and her mind relaxed as she remembered that she wasn't out in the middle of nowhere, she was safe at home, in her nest.
"Tiago," she gave a low huff, shaking her head. Him and his stupid scary stories...
"No, just stories," she reminded herself. She didn't believe in these weird, superstitious stories. She prided herself on her knowledge of the sciences, and her swift learning skills.
"Probably just the marshmallows we ate," she told herself, sighing as she got up. Maybe a few quick little hops around the nest would do her some good.
And so she went, taking a few small flights around the enormous hollow and taking in the views around her as she did (the family had sorted out their accommodations in the nest after their first night in the Amazon). Her mother and father were still sound asleep in their nest, and she had to be careful not to disturb them. Carla was also sound asleep, not as bothered by the story as she was. She liked such stories and myths, and claimed to enjoy the thrills and scares they gave her.
And Tiago. Her brother was fully plopped down on his nest, in that weird, ungraceful way of his. He was fully asleep, snoring as he probably relished his victory in scaring the others with his story, something Bia knew her mom and dad wouldn't approve of. Still, she couldn't bring herself to call him out on it. Annoying as he was, he was still her brother, and they both liked to have fun, simply in different ways. She would sometimes help him with his pranks and schemes, so she really couldn't say she found them unenjoyable. And it wasn't his fault that Uncles Nico, Pedro, and Rafael had fallen asleep leaving them unsupervised.
She went towards their hollow's exit, looking out when she arrived. The rain was virtually pouring now, a blinding sheet of water from the sky. The faint rumble of thunder and flash of lighting resonated in the distance. She scanned the jungle area, about to return inside, when she spotted something at the very edge of her vision. She squinted, trying to see what it was, but couldn't make out any figure. Whatever it was, it was simply stood there, staring... in her direction. Bia peeked further out of the nest, about to take off when a call came from her right.
"Help! Help! Guys!" the cry called. Bia turned to see Roberto flying towards her and the nest quickly, one of the scarlet macaws from the red macaw tribe alongside him. Close behind were Nico, Pedro, and Rafael, all soaked in rain. Maybe leaving them behind near the campfire wasn't such a good idea...
"Uncle Beto?" she wondered. She heard rustling, and turned to see her mother and father climbing out of the nest, their eyes still blinking open.
"What's going on?" Jewel asked. "Bia? Why are you up so late?"
"I..." Bia hesitated, but was saved when Roberto and the scarlet macaw arrived.
"Roberto?" Jewel asked.
"Huhzzat? What's this about romero? I'm not that hungry..." Blu groggily said as he moved over to join them.
"It's pouring cats and dogs out here, man!" Nico whined as he and Pedro shivered, while Rafael covered them with a leaf to fend off the rain.
"Why do you two look like you've been sleeping in the rain?" Jewel asked the three, blinking. Bia's uncles looked at each other nervously.
"Uh, not important," Pedro waved her off.
"Listen man, we got a problem. The rain's starting to flood some of the older, more wore-down hollows! Eduardo's trying to get everyone fixed, but we need some more people over here!" Roberto told her desperately.
"Please, you've got to help us too! Some of the tribe members are gone, probably went to seek shelter elsewhere, but we're not sure who made it and who might be trapped in the collapsing or flooding hollows," the scarlet macaw told the Spix's Macaws.
"Don't worry, we're on the way," Jewel assured him. "Blu, come on. Bia, stay here with your brother and sister. We'll be back in a bit, don't worry."
"Okay..." Bia said, a bit unsure.
Her parents, uncles, and the scarlet macaw quickly flew off, amidst Blu's half-asleep cries of "what's wrong with Hallos's pudding?"
Bia turned and made her way back into the hollow. By now, her brother and sister had gotten up.
"What's going on?" Carla yawned.
"I don't know, something's wrong with the hollows. Mom and Dad went to help, we're on our own for a bit," Bia explained.
"You look pretty tired, sis. What's wrong? Afraid of the Night Watcher?" Tiago teased. There was no hiding the sleepless expression on Bia's face from him.
"Quiet, this isn't the time, and I already told you that I'm not afraid! It's just some myth," Bia replied.
"You better watch what you say, or he'll come for you," Tiago countered in a sing-song voice.
"I already said, I-!"
"Cut it out, you two!" Carla scorned. She was at the edge of the nest, looking out. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Tiago asked.
"The sound, just now! Sounded like leaves rustling," Carla told them, scanning the area once more.
"What, you too now?" Tiago asked. Carla gasped.
"What?" Bia asked.
"Look!"
They all looked, and their hearts missed a beat when they saw the same black figure, now closer to them. It still stood on the branch, still facing them, still unmoving.
"W-w-who is that?" Bia wondered.
"It's the Night Watcher!" Tiago cried. "You see what happens when you don't listen to me?!"
"No, it's not! And you're the one who told that dumb scary story!"
"So you admit it's scary!"
"No I don't!"
"Just because you refuse to believe in him, doesn't mean he isn't real! And now he's gonna get you for that!"
"Stop joking about that!"
"Enough!" Carla stopped the two from continuing their bickering. She turned back to look at the figure, but realized...
"He's gone!"
"What?! Where'd he go?!" Tiago asked.
"I don't know, I only turned around for a moment!" Carla told them. There was another flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder.
"Oh man, we're done for, we're so done for," Tiago worried.
"Again, it was your dumb story!" Bia reminded him.
"Guys! We need to get some help! I don't think it's a good idea to go outside, whoever that is may catch us, but we need to do something!" Carla urged them.
"She's right. Rain's too thick to do anything. What about if we try to stay here?" Tiago suggested.
"And let him get us?" his oldest sibling reminded him.
"No, of course not! Traps!" Tiago said, a new look of excitement on his face.
"Traps?" Bia asked.
"Yeah, we can try to use something to catch him! If we can stop him long enough, it'll give mom, dad, or pop-pop enough time to find us and help!" Tiago explained.
"He's right!" Bia realized, the wheels turning in her head. She looked out, viewing the immense, intimidating vastness of the jungle before her. "And I think I know just the right way to do so..."
…
"Good thing Dad had these stored for us to use as a curtain for the hollow!" Tiago commented as he raised a vine, looping it around a small branch atop the hollow entrance, from where the rock that the three had flown down from a small nook in the upper areas of the hollow would hang. They had tied a vine around it, and altogether, prepared to raise it. The rock was big and wide, not big to the point that it could crush someone, but enough to immobilize anybody under it.
"I sure hope this works," Carla sighed. "On the count of three. One... two... three!"
All three of them began to pull on the vine as if in a game of tug-of-war as they pulled the rock up. After a few moments of strain, they managed to raise the rock high enough above the hollow entrance. Carla pulled their end of the vine and tied it around another branch close to them, securing the rock and allowing them to drop it when they pleased.
"Alright, good to go!" she said, relieved.
"Now what?" Tiago asked.
"Now we wait," Bia told him, looking out the hollow entrance once more.
The three waited in dead silence for a few moments, too afraid to speak up. Bia was beginning to doze off when a sudden growling noise scared her awake.
"Ah! He's here!" she warned them. Carla snapped awake, quickly grabbing the rope, but nothing came. Eventually, another growling noise was heard, but this one was louder, not to mention closer.
"What the-?" Bia wondered, turning. Tiago sat there next to the hollow wall, that goofy grin on his face.
"Whoops, that might have been my stomach," he chuckled. How he could think of food at a time like this was amazing to Bia.
"You can't be serious. What about those marshmallows?!"
"Hey, when a bird's gotta eat, a bird's gotta eat!" Tiago replied, happy as can be. "Don't worry, I'm just going to go up to the storage hollow, I'll be back in a sec."
Bia rolled her eyes as he went off. Carla simply shrugged, returning to her guard position. It wasn't easy for them to stay attentive though, as none had slept very long, or very well.
Bia began to doze off after a few moments, too tired to focus on the task at hand. She really shouldn't have.
In her mind, a gallery of terrible visions began to flash by as she flew through a dark void in a panic. She reached a forest, thinking it was safe, only to have it erupt into flame before her eyes. Gasping, she turned around, only to find that the fire was all around her, and a dark figure watched from a nearby tree. She tried to fly low to avoid the fire, but along her flight path, various snakes and venomous creatures began to pop up, biting and jabbing at her, and she gave a small cry every time she avoided one (although barely). Swooping and swerving she went, her wings heavy, her breathing ragged. The dark figure kept flashing by everywhere she went. She couldn't avoid it.
Finally, her flight was stopped short when she hit a tree, and tumbled down to the ground. She rolled upon hitting a log, and then landed on the surface. Shaking herself straight, she looked up, and saw the dark figure on the tree branch right above her. She gasped, and covered her wings with her eyes as she felt a shadow pass over her...
With a last whimper, Bia felt herself awake. She sighed in relief, and nearly had a heart attack, falling backwards in fear when she opened her eyes and saw the figure in front of her.
"MUAHAHAHAH!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
Bia blinked as she looked up.
"Tiago!" she angrily told him.
Her brother fell backwards in laughter, his voice resonating through the room. He barely managed to speak in between laughs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was just too perfect!"
"What is wrong with you! Don't you see we're in serious danger here!" Bia yelled at him, her patience at an end.
"Guys!" Carla tried to calm them.
"It's just a joke, sis, relax!" Tiago tried to calm her down, but failed.
"Can't you see this is serious! Here we are in danger, and you're wasting your time with useless pranks!"
"Hey, calm down, he'll hear us!" Tiago reminded her as she advanced on him, causing him to back away into the hollow slowly.
"I don't care! I'm sick of you and these ridiculous stories!"
"Sis," Tiago said, his expression now changing. He drooped his head as his back finally hit the hollow wall. "I'm sorry, okay? I... I didn't think you'd be that scared about it... I thought we were just having fun..."
"I'M NOT SCA-" Bia suddenly stopped, the words dying in her mouth. She couldn't, no, she couldn't be, she was too smart for that, she wasn't a coward.
"Bia," Carla said, as she joined them in the corner. She had an expression of worry in her eyes.
"I..." Bia simply stated, unable to find the words.
BOOM!
There was a deafening and the crash of thunder, followed by a momentarily blinding light as lighting flashed just outside their hollow. They all jumped in surprise, but the real fear came when the flash subsided and the three chicks looked to the edge of the hollow to see the dark figure standing there, the moon shadowing him from behind. His red eyes seemed to tear into them.
"AGGGHHH!" Carla, Bia, and Tiago all screeched as they huddled together in fear in their corner. The dark figure crept towards them slowly, it's wings raised.
"I'm sorry, sis..." Tiago whimpered as they huddled together.
Bia was about to reply, when the story he had told them came flashing back to her.
"...he rewards those creatures who respect and cower before him by sparing their life..."
All of the events of that night, all of her nightmares came flooding into Bia's mind as her brain clicked.
"NO!" she cried with the last of her strength, walking towards the creature and raising her wings around her to shield her siblings. Tears came streaming down her eyes.
"I'm the one who was too afraid to admit you were real! Leave them, and take me!" she yelled at the bird, closing her eyes as she saw it open it's beak...
Ptoo!
She awaited her end, but nothing happened. Opening her eyes once more, she saw the figure... spitting?
"Yuk! Bleah! This pesky rain and mud's ruinin' all my feathers!" it complained.
There was something familiar about that voice. "Huh?" Bia wondered.
The figure shook it's wings, sighing as it's red, sleepless, tired eyes drooped. Despite the apparently thick and dark layer of mud on him, Bia could still make out who it was.
"Felipe?" she asked, completely dumbstruck.
"What are you lookin' at me like that for? Sheesh, you three look like you've seen a ghost!" Felipe noted, seemingly not realizing he had almost scared them all to death.
"What are you doing here?" Carla asked.
Felipe frowned. "What kind of a 'thank you' is that? I just waded my way through mud and a sleet of rain to bring you this!"
He turned around, picked something up with his beak, and then dumped it in front of them. Bia gasped in surprise when she realized what it was.
"My Amazonia book?"
"Yeah! I was out, trying to find where my nephew had gone after his family's hollow had collapsed, and I saw this on the ground! I figured you didn't want it ruined, I'd seen you with that thing far too much, so I thought I might as well help rescue it. Just my luck that your guys' campfire was by then flooded with mud," he complained, closing his eyes from exhaustion.
Bia was still trying to process the fact that she wasn't about to die. It took her a minute or so to get the question out of her beak.
"Wh-why were you-" she began, then realized that Felipe was asleep.
"Hey!" she told him. No luck. She ended up having to shake him awake.
"Whaddaya want?" he grumbled.
"Uh... why are you sleeping? Don't tell me that when you were out there, you were..." Bia began cautiously as she realized the truth.
"Hey, looking for that kid is exhausting. I barely found him a minute ago, hiding in that bush that he loves so much. I'm not exactly energized, I couldn't sleep at all with the rain, and just my luck that I had had so much work yesterday..." Felipe said, yawning as he fell asleep once more, snoring away in a corner of the hollow. The rain outside had softened now. She decided it was best to leave him be for the rest of the night.
Bia turned to look at her brother and sister. Her sister gave her a weak smile, glad to see they were okay. The two quickly hugged, before Bia shifted her attention back to her brother. He still sat in the corner, looking down in shame.
"Hey, come on," Bia said, offering her wing. He hesitated, before taking it.
"Sorry about that...," the still sad Tiago apologized.
"Aw, it isn't so bad. A scary story or two in a while doesn't hurt, just don't overplay it too much."
He smiled at her, and the three siblings laughed as they waited for their parents too arrive.
"So, you do admit you're afraid?" Tiago bluntly questioned. Bia felt her anger flare up again, frowning, before stopping, and chuckling slightly as her expression softened.
"Well maybe just a little bit," she chuckled. Who knew? A little fear wasn't a bad thing, it didn't prove she was a dumb and a coward, it proved she was smart enough to know her flaws. She could take pride in that.
Whoa, that was um... long. Very long.
Still, that was a pretty successful first chapter, I daresay. I'm not too sure how often I'll update, I want to make these one-shots as high quality as possible, but I also need to keep my mind fresh with ideas for Colors of the Rainbow. Again, be sure to check that story out if you haven't read it yet!
I feel like there's more for me to say, but I'm running out of time, so it'll have to wait. Again, a big thank you to all of those who have supported me in my tough times.
Again, I DO NOT OWN RIO OR ANY UNORIGINAL CHARACTERS. They are all the rightful property of Blue Sky Studios and their affiliates.
However, all ORIGINAL ideas, plot concepts, characters, locations, etc. are COPYRIGHT TO ME, 2014.
Anyways, you know how this goes. Read and Review for more!
-Prophet