"RAFFY!"

Birds, and some humans, scattered as the over-excited bulldog skidded around the corner and careened straight into a pile of empty boxes, sending them crashing to the ground. He righted himself, shaking his head as he looked around the quickly emptying square, people and birds alike backing away quickly. Some of the humans looked about ready to call the animal shelter, so Luiz calmed down, sitting as he looked around for his toucan friend, panting heavily.

"Luiz?" Rafael landed next to him, a curious expression on his face, "what's going on?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this."

The speed in which Rafael flew towards the macaws hollow was one of which Rio De Janeiro had never seen before, nor have they ever seen since. He almost didn't slow down in time and nearly overshot the branch outside the home and went crashing into the wood below. Of course, almost is the word Rafael used. Ask Blu or Pedro, unless they were in earshot of the toucan, would claim otherwise.

"Rafael?" Blu's voice came from the entrance, sticking his head out.

"I'm alright," the toucan gasped, breathing heavily and trying to smooth his ruffled feathers, "I'm fine, is Pedro here?"

Pedro's face popped out next to Blu's, smirking wide. Clearly he saw the 'crash'.

"And what could you possibly want with my amazing self?" he asked.

Rafael just grinned, "you'll never guess."

Two minutes later they had gathered Jewel and the kids, and were waiting for the 'incredibly exciting news' that Rafael was itching to give them.

"Alright Rafael, what's got you so excited?" Jewel asked, trying to get her children to sit still for more than ten seconds.

"I just had Luiz almost run me down, he got a message through from his brother," the toucan began, bouncing on his feet with excitement, "who lives in Paris, and guess who he met there?"

"Please tell me you're talking about who I think you're talking about," Jewel said with a growing smile.

Pedro looked between the two of them, a look of realisation growing on his face. "You mean Nico? He's alright?"

Rafael nodded, "he was in Paris at least 2 weeks ago, meaning he survived the snow storm, and he's on his way home."

At the confirmation of the news, Pedro simply lost the ability to speak. It was the first piece of news in two months, and much to his surprise and joy, it wasn't bad news. He was alive, and that was all that mattered right now.

He could hear talking and quickly zoned back into the conversation.

"How come it took so long for him to get to Paris?" Jewel was asking. She had a very good point, the distance between London and Paris wasn't exactly huge, and the snow shouldn't have slowed him down by two months.

"Apparently he had a bit of an accident when he hit Paris, fractured wing, couldn't fly for a few weeks," Rafael explained.

"I see, well, either way, that's brilliant news," Blu said, trying to calm his now over-excited children, "how about a celebratory dinner?"

"Sounds wonderful," Jewel agreed, "on the pier?"

"As usual," Rafael grinned, "I'll go get Eva."

Pedro took a shaky breath, "yeah, go on, I'll, um, I'll catch you up."

The macaws agreed, too caught up in their relief and their kids to notice the change in attitude from the small bird. They rounded up the kids and headed out into the evening sun.

Rafael however, very much did notice.

"Everything okay?"

"Uh-huh," Pedro said vaguely, avoiding the older bird's gaze.

"You sure?"

"Just a little relieved," Pedro said, voice shaking and tears forming in his eyes.

If he was being really honest, he was feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. Two months, two whole months of nothing, and then finally they get news that he was alive. Alive and on his way.

It wasn't the best news. That would be that he was standing on the pier waiting right now. But it was enough for the time being. Enough to get him through a couple of weeks at least. And hopefully by that point, he would be back and everything would be alright.

"Have you..." Rafael trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out the best words to use, "talked this out yet?"

"What?"

"You know, some birds have different ways of letting out different emotions, some by yelling, or crying or even just talking. Now I know you haven't talked to me, not properly, so have you? With anyone?"

"Not exactly," Pedro mumbled.

"Do you want to?"

Pedro was silent for a moment, staring at the ground with a solemn look. Eventually he nodded and began to talk.

About everything.

About how angry he was at the whole situation. At the poachers for taking him to begin with, at himself for not dragging the bird out of bed that morning, for not being there with him like he should have been. He talked about how much he missed him, how scared he was for him, off somewhere thousands of miles away, not having anyone to rely on, to lean on, that could protect him. He talked about how worried he was, that two months had gone by now, and all the other birds were back or accounted for, but almost nothing was heard about him until now, and who knows when that message was actually sent or what happened since. And finally he talked about how much he hated this helpless feeling, how much he despised not being able to do anything, having to sit here and just wait, not knowing if he was okay, or even alive, and that if something did happen, chances are they would never know.

All the while Rafael sat and listened patiently, nodding along encouragingly. As the small bird talked, it was like Rafael could visibly see the tension flow out of him. He looked much more relaxed. Not a hundred percent, not yet, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about him exploding in a mess of emotion in a few days or so.

"Better?"

Pedro smiled, looking a little bashful. "Yeah," he said, "still worried though."

"Dude, I'd be concerned if you weren't," Rafael laughed, "come on, you know him better than anyone, and he was raised well," Pedro snorted, "he's not the type to keep us waiting without good reason, so whatever it is holding him up must be important."

"I suppose," Pedro muttered.

"And anyway, for all we know, he's probably out there, seeing the world, surrounded by girls and having the time of his life."

Well, it certainly wasn't Rio.

Nico stood on a branch that hung under a balcony, sheltering him from the torrential downpour, staring out at a city that was so unlike Rio De Janeiro it was bordering on ridiculous. On one side was the ocean, dark, stormy, intimidating and stretching as far as he could see. Which in this storm, wasn't much. But his other side was a sprawling city, all skyscrapers and glass buildings that towered over him.

And like that wasn't bad enough, he had been so sick on that flight he was fairly sure there was absolutely nothing left in his stomach. He knew even if he tried to force down some food right now, the residing nausea would just bring it right back up. He never knew birds could even get airsick.

He pushed down the feeling of sickness and took off, in the hopes of finding out where the hell he had been sent.

He wanted to cry. Honestly and utterly wanted to just break down and cry.

Shanghai.

They had managed to put him on a plane that sent him to China. Not only was it the complete opposite direction he wanted to go in, he was now twice as far away from home than he was the day before.

He couldn't get another plane, he wouldn't even know where to start. For all he knew he could end up in Antarctica. All he could do now was just keep on flying, get a ship across the pacific. Hopefully he wouldn't get sea sick.

Whatever he chose to do, he was still halfway around the world from where he needed to be.

Rather than crumpling into a heap and sobbing, he found a dry place to stop, under a canopy in one of the large parks. Shaking of the water of his soaked feathers, he sat down on the driest spot he could find, fully intending on waiting out the storm before working out the best way home from there.

This was apparently not to be, the eleven hour flight of restlessness and sickness was catching up to him and he couldn't help but yawn as he got comfortable.

Moments later he was fast asleep.

As seemed to be the norm on this trip, when he woke up, he wasn't where he fell asleep.

With a groan he pushed himself up, looking around the strange room. Unlike London, this was a very simple room, a bed lining one wall, with a plain fireplace across from him, a small fire lit, lighting up the dark room. He briefly wondered what time it was, but the more pressing question of where he was over powered that one by a mile.

He could hear the rain still pattering on the rooftop, lighter now, the thunder and lightning long passed. Somehow, he felt worse than he did when he was on the plane, though the urge to throw up wasn't quite as strong. His head hurt, he couldn't breathe properly through his nose and he had next to no energy, despite having being asleep.

Then, without any physical warning, he sneezed. Loudly.

But what really made him jump was the sudden movement from the dark corner and he scrambled back, more out of instinct than real fear. His logical side of his mind told him that if anyone wanted to hurt him they would've done so already. He moved back a little too far and fell out of the temporary nest that had been made for him, hitting hard wood with a small 'thump'.

"Wǒ bù huì shānghài nǐ, lěngjìng xiàlái," came a soft voice, and Nico lifted his head, an action he quickly regretted when a sharp pain shot through, to see who had spoken. Emerging from the shadows was a tall bird, mostly white, with a black tail and neck and a red crown. The bird had long legs and an even longer neck, making him well over a metre tall. He had kind brown eyes and a worried smile on his long beak.

"Who-who-" Nico tried to ask, stuttering slightly, but was cut off by another sudden sneeze.

"American?" The tall bird asked.

"Brazilian actually," Nico said, sniffing.

"Ah, but you speak English?" the crane asked, his voice deep but gentle, and the way he had to think about the words made it sound as if his English wasn't very good.

"Yes."

"Good, good, my name Hong-Xian, you?" He asked, approaching the shelf Nico was sat on.

"Nico," the canary replied, smiling, "where am I?" he asked, looking around the small room.

"My home," Hong-Xian told him, "I find you in rain, shivering, so I bring you home before you catch a cold."

As if to prove a point, Nico sneezed again, loudly.

"Seems I too late," the crane chuckled. Nico simply groaned, crawling back into his nest made from material scraps, pulling one large bit over his body.

"It's okay, thank you for getting me out of the rain," Hong-Xian smiled in reply, "what time is it?"

"Eight o'clock in the evening."

"Really?" Nico said, looking a little shocked, "it doesn't feel like it."

"Well, you have been sleeping all day," Hong-Xian pointed out.

"And time difference," Nico realised, dropping his head into his wing, "great, as if my sleeping pattern wasn't messed up enough."

He let out a long sigh, pulling the makeshift blanket over his head. If there was a higher power up there, they were determined to make his journey home as difficult as possible.

But then again, whoever they were, they kept putting someone in his path to help. London, Paris, Rome, and now Shanghai.

It was like there were two being up there arguing. He just needed the second guy to win.

"So why you out in the rain?" Hong-Xian's voice drew him out of his inner monologue.

"I had nowhere else to go," Nico told him, sitting up, "I'm trying to get home to Rio, but I was put on the wrong plane."

"You want another plane?"

"NO!" Nico exclaimed, looking somewhat panicked. He took a deep breath, calming down at the crane's questioning gaze, "I got very sick last time, I want to avoid them if I can, keep flying East I suppose."

"Why were you away from home?"

"Bird Poachers, I was kidnapped, taken to London, and escaped there. Getting back hasn't been easy so far."

They spent the rest of the evening discussing each other's lives. Nico told him about his journey so far, and of his home, of his friends and family. And then they switched to the Crane's life, and he found out that the tall bird had been alone for most of his life, after a brief romance that was cut short with illness several years ago, leaving him lonely. He learned to live with it, and eventually found the room they were staying in, an old man, a widower himself living there at the time, willingly taking the crane in after he was injured after a bad fall. The old man had died not that long ago, but no one had been in to remove his possessions or move in so Hong-Xian had stayed, as it was a warm and dry place to sleep. He didn't have any friends to speak of, but was well liked in the neighbourhood.

Eventually, Hong-Xian fell asleep, living Nico to his thoughts as he tried to get to sleep as well.

Another week. At least. He had managed to catch the flu, and right now felt in no shape to do anything other than curl up and sleep for several days. How in the world did he manage to fall asleep out there he wondered, listening to the light patter of rain on the tiled roof. It was cold, and he was soaked. Now he was stuck here, with no form of contact to Rio to tell them what had happened. This is what you get for attempting to have a relaxing few days in Rome. He should of just taken the first plane back when the owls offered.

But there was nothing he could do about it now. He was here now, and despite feeling very sick, he might as well make the most of it. He had a few days, he could relax as he got better, maybe get out and see some sights, and during that time he could plan out a route home, hopefully without any more lengthy stops. If all goes well he could be home within a month, two at the latest.

With this reborn hope, Nico finally managed to get back to sleep.

The next week was a blur. Nico slept through most of the first half, having gotten worse, waking only long enough to either force food down or throw it back up. After several days of rest he was finally beginning to feel well enough to get out of the room for a bit, though not quite enough to fly for longer than around ten minutes. Hong-Xian, after much convincing, agreed to take the much smaller bird on a from-the-air tour of the city, the canary sitting on his head while the crane showed him all the main sights and told him about some of the history. He even learned a small amount of Chinese (Though if asked several hours later, he would have most likely forgotten it).

In between, Hong-Xian pulled out some old world maps and helped the yellow bird plan a route. From Shanghai, he planned to find a boat across to Japan, fly across, or land on a train if he was feeling lazy, to Tokyo. And then across the Pacific, probably stopping at Hawaii, to the west coast of South America, and then finally down and across to Rio De Janeiro.

By the end of the week, Nico was flying strong once more, despite still constantly sneezing, which was apparently a rather amusing sight when he was flying.

The weather had improved vastly from his first impression of China, and by the time the time came for him to move on just over a week later the temperature had reached a gorgeous 24 degrees and the skies were clear and blue.

"Don't go sleeping in rain again, okay?" Hong-Xian warned him, the smaller bird chuckling in response as he slipped on another pack made of scrap material, to replace his other one left in Rome.

"Don't worry, I won't be making that mistake again," he grinned up at the softly smiling crane, "It'll be five star hotels from now on, I promise," he joked, laughing at the blank expression on the birds face. "I promise I won't be sleeping in the rain, I will properly dry off before any form of sleep occurs," he said solemnly, his expression completely serious, though anyone could see the grin threatening to break through.

"Just be careful," the tall bird said, the serene smile once more appearing, "you have a long journey ahead, and it will be dangerous, especially for small bird."

Nico would usually argue this, despite being the smallest in his immediate group of friends, he didn't like to be reminded of his tiny size. But when stood next to a bird the size of Hong-Xian, he simply could not find the will to protest. Nearly every bird he knew would be small next to him.

"I will," Nico smiled, though this was quickly wiped off his face when the ship he was meant to be getting on blared it's horn so loudly he almost jumped out of his feathers. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself, turning back to Hong-Xian, who was chuckling into his wing.

Once the taller bird had calmed down and the smaller was breathing normally once more they both turned towards the boat.

"Thank you," Nico said softly, "for helping me."

"You are very welcome," Hong-Xian replied, looking down at the small bird.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye?" the canary said, suddenly feeling very awkward. He hated saying goodbye. It was alright when you knew you were going to see them again, but in situations like this he always felt incredibly uncomfortable and tongue-tied, never knowing exactly what to say.

"Not forever my friend," Hong-Xian murmured. Nico was so stunned at this answer his head snapped up, eyes wide. Not exactly the response he had expected. Sensing that no more was to be said on the matter, he shook it off, assuming it was some Chinese belief or something of the like.

He shook his head, and with one last smile and tip of the hat, he flew up to the roof of the small ferry, settling down on the railings.

He was on the move once more.

It took just under two weeks to get across the sea and fly the five hundred or so miles from Nagasaki to Tokyo. The weather had stayed pleasant, not too hot, and certainly not raining again. He grinned as the metropolis came into view over the horizon, and he allowed himself a few minutes to stop and catch his breath, enjoying the view. Hong Xian had told him Tokyo was the largest city in the world, and he could see what he was talking about.

The cityscape stretched on as far as he could see, further than the horizon, smaller buildings on the outside, getting bigger further away, all the way to the skyscrapers on the far horizon. Mount Fuji towered over it behind him, making for an impressive view.

It had been almost a month since sending the last message from Paris. If they received it at all, they would be expecting him home by now. Actually, now he thought about it, he could have been home within days of sending that email, and it was most likely because he got himself so distracted with the band that he had ended up where he was.

Not that there was a huge amount he could do about it now. With a deep sigh, he shook off the feeling of regret and prepared himself for the long flight into the centre of the city. With any luck, fate would be on his side and could once again find someone to help.

Or, you know, not.

It had been two days, and Nico was no closer to finding a ship out of there. The language barrier certainly didn't help. Japanese wasn't even close to English or Portuguese. Even the words that weren't written in symbols weren't even close to understandable.

The birds weren't exactly helpful either, the ones that were likely to be able to help didn't speak the language, and those that did speak a language he understood didn't know anything.

He stopped on a branch of a tree in the middle of a park with a piece of swiped apple from a bowl of fruit salad when the humans weren't looking. He leant against the trunk, chewing on his apple and watching the people down below.

He could never quite get over the variety of different people in this city. In Rio there tended to be a strong theme of shorts and t-shirts, in that heat there wasn't much else anyone could wear. Here though, there was every kind of fashion, from punk to Lolita, casual to formal, everything under the sun. It was all so different. The sounds though, they were the same, the people on the streets, the babble of voices, and the music. It was so different, but so the same.

He closed his eyes and pretended for a moment that he was home. That any minute now he would have Pedro poking him and telling him not to fall asleep, that there was a party going on that they just had to get to.

"Nico?"

The canary jumped at the voice, smooth and feminine, that broke him out of his thoughts.

By name.

"What?"

His voice was high pitched and squeaky, his eyes flying open, too shocked to even attempt acting cool.

"Yes?" the bird, not that much bigger than him, most of her feathers were a purple-y blue, with a red chest and streak down her back. The tips of her wing feathers and tail were a shiny blue-black. But what stuck out the most about her was the bright purple eyes and the collection of brightly coloured feathers strung with equally bright beads attached to several feathers on top of her head so they hung down one side of her face. "You are Nico? Right? Please tell me I'm not just embarrassing myself."

"Ye- uh-" he was speechless. Utterly speechless. He could only nod dumbly.

"Oh good, I thought it might be you, you look like the description I got, and I'm pretty sure I saw you yesterday, but I wasn't sure, but I'm so glad it's you, and, and, and I'm rambling aren't I?"

"A little," Nico said, pushing himself up, "wait, how do you know who I am?"

"I'm part of a network of clubs around the world, top secret of course, called rumours, linked with a series of webcams and stuff," she explained, "we all got a message a few months ago to keep an eye out for you. And here you are!" She explained with a flourish of her wings.

"Here... I am," Nico repeated sceptically, crossing his wings, "and you are?"

"Oh, oh right, I'm Miyoko," she said, holding out a wing, which he tentatively shook, "come on, you want to see a bit of home?"

She led him through the city north, until they reached The University of Tokyo. They flew round the back of one of the buildings; the auditorium according to Miyoko, and through a metal door that led to a flight of stairs leading down. At the bottom was what appeared to be a locked door. They landed and pushed through a flap at the bottom of the door. Inside was what looked like a recording studio, but one that hadn't been in use for what seemed to be years. Nico could see lights and several birds flying inside the recording room, but could hear no sound.

"The humans haven't been down here in years," Miyoko explained, "and that room is big enough and completely soundproof, all that stuff you may have heard about us moving around? Yeah, total lies," she grinned, leading him not towards the party but to a small laptop on a table at the back of the room. Once landed, she turned to face him.

"Okay, so here's the thing," she started, and Nico turned his full attention on her, "I can get a connection with the club in Rio, but I have a few conditions."

"What? Oh, come on," Nico cut her off, sounding exasperated.

"Hang on, it's not much," Miyoko laughed, holding up her wings, "I've heard a lot about you little Nico," she smirked at the confused expression on her face, "and one of those things is that you are a damn good singer, so one of my conditions is that you sing with me, tomorrow night, and the other is you tell me your story."

"What?"

"Since you were taken," she explained, "I'm curious as to what you've been through. I mean, last I heard you were in Paris, isn't Tokyo the complete opposite direction?"

"Hold on, hold on," Nico held up a wing, shaking his head in confusion, "how do you know all this?"

"Do you accept?"

Nico opened his beak to argue, but the words stopped in his throat at the look on her face. "Alright, I accept." It was the only way to get a message home. And the conditions weren't exactly steep.

"Great," Miyoko grinned, opening the laptop in front of her with a tinkering laugh, "I've already connected, let's just hope- ah Martin, Kon'nichiwa."

"Yo Miyo, how're- holy crap, Nico?"

"Martin, you- you're..." once again, Nico was struck speechless at the sight of the red-masked parakeet. Martin was an old friend of Rafael's, a frequenter at the club and pretty popular with almost everyone.

"Yeah, I know, I run Rumours, and no, Rafael doesn't know," the parakeet chuckled, "just like he doesn't know that as soon as we heard you were still missing, I sent out a message to keep an eye out. Can't be losing one of Rio's biggest stars now can we?" his expression turned sombre, "you going missing has had more of an effect than you probably realise."

"What?"

"Never mind, do you wanna talk to them?"

"Who?"

"Real articulate today aren't ya kid? Your family of course!" he laughed, "I'll go grab them, you just sit tight."

It was beach day.

Pedro couldn't help but love beach days. He spent all day either sunbathing (*read: sleeping*), or playing with the kids. Both ways, he was able to spend the day decidedly not thinking about everything that had happened in the past few months.

In this particular case, he was out in the water, getting massacred in a water fight with the macaw kids.

"HEY!"

Another voice interrupted their fight.

Well, it distracted Pedro, the kids paid no heed to the sudden intrusion of the green parakeet that crashed into the sand near Rafael. Next thing he knew he was under water, the macaws laughing hysterically when he resurfaced.

Chuckling, the cardinal surrendered, backing off towards the shore and turning to the interesting looking conversation. Both Macaws were looking on in curiosity as Martin and Rafael talked. The toucan listening with a growing smile as Martin explained something to him with very exaggerated wing movements. They were silent for a moment, and Pedro couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about, Rafael had the biggest grin the cardinal had seen in months.

"Hey Pedro!" the toucan called, turning towards the cardinal, looking overwhelmingly happy, "come on, there's someone who wants to talk to you."

Here you go, another chapter. Sorry this one's been late, I've been a bit uninspired recently. But it's here, and hopefully up to standard. Let me know by reviewing :) you know you want to :) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you're all wonderful people 3