The Secret of Chaos

"Actually, you know what? I don't think I want to do this anymore."

Tony grabbed Nico by the wing with a stony expression, preventing the younger bird from escaping. "Yeah, I don't think so, this was your idea," he said, pulling him back so they were standing side by side, both looking down at the loose crowd nervously. The brothers had talked long into the night about what they were going to do, eventually coming to the decision that they would have to face them eventually, might as well get it over with. Despite the thousands of birds in the city and jungle, Nico was performing in the competition and they were bound to see.

"Are you sure it's them?" Nico asked anxiously. He did know, he'd had to relive his last moments with them so much as a child that even though he had repressed the memory for so many years now, he would know who they were the instant he saw them. But right now, he was willing to do just about anything to stall the inevitable. So far that morning he had slept in for as long as possible, gone to the bathroom twice, flew over to see his family, Pedro, the Macaws, and even said he needed to check in at the Alley first. Tony was just as nervous, but in the end hit him round the head with his cap and dragged him off.

"Absolutely," Tony said, steeling his expression and flying down to the ground, Nico close behind him. He automatically put a protective wing out to shield the younger bird. These were the birds who were meant to love and nurture them both, but they did the opposite. He would do whatever it take to protect his little brother, even from their own parents.

"Excuse me?" he asked politely, watching with bated breath at the couple turned around to face them. To any other bird, they looked like completely normal birds. One, a completely yellow female, seemed happy and content with her life, chatting happily away with her husband. She had clue blue eyes, a trait neither of the brothers had inherited, and the area around her eyes a darker, more orange colour, the rest of her feathers a pale yellow, not a single trace of brown. The other was a larger male, his eyes dark and serious. He was a darker yellow colour, with brown tipping the ends of his feathers, particularly on his wings.

The couple looked at them for a moment, expressions confused and, if they looked deep enough, almost hopeful.

Nico and Tony glanced at each other for a second, conveying a million things in that one glance, all the fear, worry, anxiousness and uneasiness. But one thing stood out among all the others. It was definitely them, without a shadow of a doubt.

"Antonio?" the female stepped forward, her tone questioning and wishful, "is that you?"

Tony winced at the use of his full name, having dropped it seven years previously. He nodded, a little apprehensive, resisting the urge to take a step backwards, instead standing his ground.

"Hello," he said, suddenly feeling slightly awkward, all the things he had planned to say to them flew from his mind, leaving nothing but 'oh crap'. Nico shuffled a little closer, his mind overcome with broken up flashbacks from his last moments with the two birds in front of him.

"Oh, Marco look!" she turned to her husband, who was looking at the two boys with a expression torn between happiness and horror, "he's alive! I told you!"

"Yes Alita, I can see that," Marco shook his head, smiling in amusement at his wife, "what I'm more amazed at is that the other one's alive too," he looked at Nico, eyebrows raised and distain clear in his expression. Nico just glared right back, giving him a look that just said 'you-think-I-care?'.

"On second thoughts, I don't think this was such a good idea," Tony murmured to his brother, looking very much like all he wanted to do was punch Marco in the face, then set the twins on him for good measure.

"No, but I need to know, we need to know," Nico stressed, "this may be the only chance we get to know why."

Tony sighed, then nodded. He was right, they needed to know.

The pair turned back to them, identical stony expressions fixed on their faces. Nico had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the look on Alita's face, the way she was staring at Tony with absolute awe and wonder.

"Why?" she asked. The brothers looked taken aback for a moment, about to ask the exact same question.

"Why what?" Tony questioned, looking rather confused.

"Why did you leave us son?" Marco stepped forward, wrapping a wing around his wife. Tony just stared at them, open-beaked and shocked at the sheer audacity of the question.

"Why did I leave you?" he repeated, "Why did I-" he noticed his voice getting higher and higher with every syllable, and stopped, clearing his throat, "what kind of a question is that? You abandoned Nico!" he hissed, trying not to draw too much attention to them, "you practically threw him out of the cage! He was three weeks old damnit! And you wonder why I wanted to leave you?"

Nico put a wing on his shoulder, effectively calming the seething bird a little.

"Deep breaths Tony," he muttered, taking a tentative step forward, frowning as he noticed the way the couple shrank back a little. "We just want to know why," he said calmly, looking right at them, even if they wouldn't look at him.

"Because you were about to destroy everything we knew," Alita muttered bitterly, staring at her feet.

"What?" Tony squawked, moving to take a step forward, the only thing stopping him was Nico's wing held out in front of him, "what the hell do you mean?"

"You didn't hear them!" Alita said, suddenly distraught, "usually when humans have pets, they sell the children, not the parents that they've looked after for years." She stopped, choking back angry tears.

"They were going to sell us all," Marco said, glaring at the younger, "except you."

He pointed at Nico, who's anger and annoyance had vanished, replaced with simple shock. They were going to sell them...and keep him. Suddenly he could understand. He still thought they were terrible parents for doing what they did, but they were doing it to protect themselves and their older son from possible bad owners.

But even so...

"So you were willing to possibly sacrifice my life," Nico started, voice low and quiet, eyes downcast, "to make sure you didn't get sold to another owner?"

Tony didn't know what to do, console his brother - who was obviously either bottling up his feelings or simply waiting for the right time to blow up at them - or yell at them himself, find out what the hell they were thinking.

"It was the only way to keep the family together," Alita said, trying very hard not to look guilty, but failing miserably, looking away from both boys, one angry, the other disappointed.

"And how well did that work out for you, huh?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow, "because last I checked, you lost both sons as a result."

The couple were silent for a few moments, glancing at each other, then at the brothers, before both looking away awkwardly, Alita pouting and Marco glaring a hole in the floor.

"Do you regret it?" Nico asked, still refusing to look at either of them.

Alita looked torn, "yes and no," she said, chewing on her lower beak, obviously hating the look she was getting from her oldest son, the son she loved and lost, "it would have worked, we could have stayed together, they were planning on keeping us after you disappeared. But when you left us," she looked at Tony, who glared right back, making her wince visibly, "I couldn't believe it, it broke my heart."

The group was silent for a moment. Marco rubbed his wife's back soothingly, both looking like they had done nothing wrong. Nico sighed deeply, closing his eyes.

"How do you think I felt?" Tony asked quietly, looking incredibly disappointed in them both. Anger was one thing, but you can only feel so bad when someone is shouting and screaming at you, but disappointment is something that cuts deep into your soul and will make you feel guilty whether you've done something wrong or not.

With a small sigh, Nico turned to Tony, chewing his lower beak a little. "I think I've heard enough," he murmured. Then, not even waiting for a reply, he took off, flying away.

Tony just stared after him with sad eyes, before turning to the other two canaries. Alita opened her beak to say something, but Tony cut her off with a glare.

"You know, I'm actually glad you did what you did," he said with a bittersweet smile, "he deserves so much more than you," Alita's face, which was beginning to show a small smile, fell, showing guilt through and through, "you know he now has parents who love him more than anything, even if he isn't their real son, and seventeen siblings, some of which have kids of their own. His family is bigger than any I've ever seen before, and despite the differences, they all love him. Which is more than you ever did."

Without another word, he took off after his brother, even though he was far out of sight.

"Hey, either of you two seen Nico?"

Pedro looked up at the voice of Ali, seeing her standing at the entrance to his and Tia's hollow.

"No," Tia said, from her perch on the other side of the room, "not since yesterday afternoon," she tilted her head, concerned, "what's wrong? You look..." she paused, trying to think of the right word, "flustered," she eventually said, "you never look flustered."

"I don't know, I'm just worried is all," Ali sighed, "he was out late last night, which is normal, but he looked awful when he got in, and was awake after only a few hours sleep and didn't try to bite my head off, which was weird in itself. Did anything happen last night at the club?"

The couple glanced worriedly at each other, then at Ali.

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Pedro asked, shock showing clear in his voice, eyes widening when she shook her head slowly, "not that I'm surprised, he almost keeled over in shock when he got the news."

"What news?" Ali asked, slightly insulted that he didn't confide in her, but then, maybe he just needed time to think.

"His and Tony's parents are in town," Tia told her, watching with some amusement as the canary's eyes widened, her body stiffening. They had both heard the stories about the parents, none of them good, but both knew the boys had to face them eventually, it was the only way of answering long unanswered questions and hopefully putting to rest years of bitterness.

"What's the deal with their parents anyway?" Pedro couldn't help but ask, "I haven't really heard much, all I know is that Nico used to be a pet and fell out the cage."

The two girls stared at him, eyebrows raised. "He didn't fall out the cage," Tia said, looking ever so slightly bitter and angry, "he was thrown out." Pedro turned to her, completely stunned and speechless.

"We don't know why," Ali continued, the cardinal turning to her, beak hanging open, which would have been funny had the situation been a little less serious, "I guess that's what they want to find out, if they find them."

"Ali?"

Their moment of seriousness was broken when the canary's name was called, and she turned, coming face to face with a red and black bird. She stared at him for a moment, his name on the tip of her tongue, but just out of reach.

"Francis?" she asked, looking very unsure.

"Franco," the bird corrected with a slightly strained smile.

"Oh right," Ali gave a fake laugh, inwardly rolling her eyes, "close enough, what do you want?"

"I was flying past, and I couldn't help but hear you were looking for Nico," Franco smiled, "I saw him not too long ago, sitting on his own, I can take you there if you want," he offered, holding out a wing. Ali just looked at the offered appendage sceptically, then up at Franco, one eyebrow raised and a deeply unimpressed look on her face. He pulled his wing back awkwardly, looking away.

"I'll just see him when he gets back," Ali said, "he's going through a hard time right now, I'll go and look for him if he's not back by this evening, but he probably just needs time alone to think."

"Alright then," Franco mumbled, "just thought I'd offer, guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah yeah sure," Ali half-heartedly agreed, waving as she turned back to Tia and Pedro, both of whom were wearing identical smirks. There was silence for a few moments as Franco took off, obviously feeling rather uncomfortable, something Ali was an expert at making people feel. Then Tia spoke up, her voice smug.

"He so likes you!" she said, trying hard not to laugh.

"What?" Ali seemed confused by the concept, "please, he's an idiot."

"You're acting as if it's not possible for anyone to fall in love with you," Tia said, crossing her wings as she walked up to her best friend, who just furrowed her brow and pouted, still looking rather confused.

"Honestly, he's just nervous around me cause the last time I saw him I scared the living daylights out of him," she scoffed, shaking her head.

"While that may be true," Pedro said, "he's definitely trying to get you girl! I mean, it's obviously not possible and you are doing a brilliant job at scaring him away, but he definitely likes you."

"Never going to happen," Ali said, shrugging, though a hint of smug smile was beginning to show through, "besides, he's an obnoxious twat who seems to think he's from the eighteen-hundreds, honestly I want nothing to do with him."

"That's what we want to hear," Tia grinned, clapping her wings, "now, who's up for a late lunch, I haven't had anything yet and I'm starving."

Pedro looked away for a moment, listening to the two girls chat about good places to go for lunch. He couldn't stop thinking about Nico, he should probably find him, talk to him, or just distract him from the situation at hand. He knew Ali said he probably needed time to think, but Pedro knew how he ticked, and he probably just wants to let out some steam, otherwise he'll end up bottling it up ready to explode later.

"Actually I need to find Rafael," He said, quickly thinking up an excuse, "so you ladies can cut me out of your plans, I'll see you later?"

"Alright," Tia said, fluttering over and kissing him lightly, "say hi for me," she whispered, "and cheer him up, they're not worth it." Pedro raised his eyebrows at her, amazed at how she could see right through him.

"Will do."

It took an hour and a half for Pedro to finally find Nico, and about an hour in, he was really beginning to worry about his best friend. He had checked all their usual places, all the places he knew the canary usually went when he needed to calm down or just clear his head. But nothing.

He stopped near the end of Ipanema beach in a slightly less populated area, staring out towards the ocean, deep in thought. He'd been everywhere, the Alley, the statue, Ralfy's, even the macaw's place. There were a few nooks and crannies that Nico liked to think were secret, but Pedro knew about them anyway. They were next on the list of places to look.

But it turns out he didn't need to as a tiny, tiny flash of yellow caught his eye. If he wasn't looking for it, he was sure to have missed it. There, sat right on the edge of a rock further out to sea, was Nico.

With a small smile, Pedro took off towards him.

He was still finding it hard to get his head around.

They didn't care about him. His own flesh and blood parents genuinely didn't want him. They were willing to throw him out, a child who couldn't yet look after himself, to die, just to make sure they didn't get sold. And Tony, well, Tony was the golden child apparently. Not that he was bitter or anything. How could he be? He's had a dream life since being found by Rafael all those years ago.

But then, he always used to dream about his parents. At first it was the nightmares, back when he could still remember clearly what happened. Then, after a year or two, he managed to block out the memories, and by the time four years had passed, it was like it had never happened, he'd completely forgotten. The only hint they had even existed was in snippets of dreams, there in the background, details blurred, but now he thought about it, very much there.

And now they blamed him for almost being sold, for losing Tony. The memories he had long, long since repressed had been haunting him ever since finding his brother, and while he would trade the discovery for the world, it physically hurt to know that they didn't love him, that they cared so little about him they were willing to sacrifice his life in order to stay 'together'.

They never cared about him, and chances are they never would.

"Nico?"

His head snapped up when a voice broke through his thoughts and he whirled around, looking up at Pedro, who was standing behind him with a sympathetic smile. Nico sighed, putting on a smile for his friend.

"Hey buddy, what's up?"

Pedro raised his eyebrows, "you sure you should be the one asking that?" he asked, watching how Nico's smile fell for a moment, and he saw all the pain flicker in his dark brown eyes. With a sigh he sat next to the canary, "I feel like we haven't had any proper 'bro' time in ages, it's been insane since you got back, we've both got the girls, and the competition to practice for. Seriously, when was the last time we got to hang out, just us, that wasn't practice?"

Nico couldn't help but laugh a little, "who knows? You're right though, it's been a while."

Silence fell for a few moments as Pedro examined his friend's expression, his vacant eyes staring out to the horizon. He obviously wasn't focusing on the conversation.

"You wanna talk about what happened today?"

Nico turned to him, expression completely fallen, "not really," he muttered, looking down at the water gently hitting the rocks below, "it's all I've been thinking about since last night, I just need..." he trailed off, searching for the word that was on the tip of his tongue.

"A distraction?"

Nico nodded slowly, closing his eyes. "Yeah, just anything to-"

"You should have seen the twins this morning," Pedro cut him off, and Nico looked up at him, shock written clear over his face, though the hints of a thankful smile were beginning to show through, "seriously, they did the funniest thing."

"Oh really?" Nico said, smiling fully now as he listened to the story, wondering how he had managed to get such a good friend, someone who cared about him and how he was feeling, who had so much faith in him.

That's when it hit him. If he had stayed with his parents, yes he would have Tony, but everyone else, Pedro, Rafael and the toucans, the Macaws, Tia, Cosette, Ali, everyone, he wouldn't know them, he never would have met any of them. He tried to think about how different things would have been if his real parents loved him the way they loved Tony, before realising that he couldn't. He simply could not imagine how life would be without the amazing; if slightly crazy and dysfunctional family he had around him.

The two birds chatted and laughed, talking about anything and everything, carefully avoiding the subject of parents, right up until the sun began to set.

"I should head back," Nico said finally, wiping the tears from his eyes, trying to calm his laughter, "I haven't talked to Ali about all this yet, and she's probably wondering where I am."

"I wouldn't worry too much," Pedro smiled, "we kinda had to tell her when she came looking for you earlier, but she was fairly understanding, I think she's out with Tia right now."

"Oh," Nico looked a little scared, she would probably be mad at him for not telling her, but 'fairly understanding' was good enough for him, "alright then, either way, I really want to go to bed, so let's just hope she's not mad because I didn't tell her."

"Here's to hoping," Pedro grinned, "oh, before we go," he waited until Nico had turned to look at him before pulling the smaller bird into a tight hug, "don't listen to a thing they say, you're worth so much more than that, and besides, you have us," he pulled away, grinning down at the stunned canary, "all of us."

Nico stared at him for a moment, shocked speechless. Then he smiled, a small laugh escaping.

"Thank you."

"How's the plan coming along?"

The director growled, slamming his wing against the wall in frustration.

"I think it's time to take a different route," he said in a low voice, staring bitterly at the floor, "she's not an easy one to break, she'll never betray him."

"I don't think he'll betray her either, it's a mutual thing," the other said, wincing and drawing back when the director turned his dark glare on him, "s-so, what are you going to do?"

The smaller stayed silent for a moment, staring out to the busy workforce putting up the huge stage. It was manic, hundreds of birds working to get it done in time. With only a week to go, things were beginning to come together, but at the same time, panic that it wasn't going to be finished was beginning to set in, making them work even harder. Always something the Director liked to see.

"We make her think he's cheating," he said with a dark smile, "at the very least flirting, I have a feeling it'll be easier to break her trust than the other way round."

"You wanted to see me sir?" another voice, soft, melodic and sensual, came from the doorway and the two birds turned to see a female bird leaning against the door frame, a wicked smirk on her beak.

The director turned to the large bird, an amused smile playing on his mouth, "get your tongue back in your beak, she's way out of your league," he smirked, walking over to the girl, who was slight bit smaller than him, "Angelique, my darling," he said, and she laughed, allowing him to softly kiss her held out wing, "I hope you had a pleasant journey."

"Of course I did," she giggled, "you know I will accept nothing but the best in travel, I got a cruise ship from Calais."

"Perfect, now, I believe you have a job to do."

"I want half my payment now," Angelique said, her smile dropping and her face adopting a business-like expression, "and the other half after, as we agreed."

"Of course my angel," the director smiled, taking a few steps and pulling a tiny ring on the floor, which lifted a floorboard, revealing a small hole. He reached in and pulled out a small object, wrapped in brown cloth. He handed it to Angelique, who quickly lifted a corner to check the contents, smiling with satisfaction.

"Thank you," she said, nodding in approval, "I can guarantee the job will be done by the end of tomorrow night," she smirked, giving a little wave as she sashayed out the room.

"Perfect."

A/N: That was hard to write O.o I had originally planned to put the whole 'meet the parents' scene in Flying Home, but there was already enough going on, so this scene was out of context from my original plan. Actually, now I think about it, the sequel seems to made up mostly of things I wanted to put in FH but had to cut out :P

So they finally meet the parents, Nico and Pedro finally get a scene together and the Director gets a new plan, and a new accomplice :) What will happen now ...

I hope you all enjoyed :) Please drop a review and tell me what you think, it's always lovely to hear what you think :) Have a wonderful week and I'll be back soon :D