"So, I suppose I speak for us all when I say welcome to the family."

Nico grinned as Tia landed on the sand in front of them, barely visible in the light of the dying fire. Most birds had already gone home and gone to bed, Tia had let the three canaries be for a hour or so, until the crowd began to thin out.

"Thanks Ti."

"Just a warning though," Tia smirked, "we're a little crazy."

"Can't be any worse than what I've been living with the past eight years," Nico laughed, leaning back on his wings and glancing at the birds either side of him. Tony had barely taken his eyes off him all night, and Ali was watching Tia with a small smile.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Tony said, throwing a wing around his brothers shoulder, "you've only known us a few hours."

Tia grinned, sitting down on the soft sand in front of them, back to the waves. "He's right you know, don't go thinking we're sane just yet."

"In comparison to the twins you are," Nico mumbled, shuddering at the memory of living with the two owls for a whole week. He couldn't imagine spending any more time stuck with them. Hopefully he would never have to. "Besides," he continued, louder, "there's only three of you, try 21."

"What?" He was met by three confused looks.

"Rafael's kids," he explained, laughing, "my brothers and sisters back in Rio."

"Oh yeah, I remember you saying you had a lot," Tia said, "seriously though? That many?"

Nico nodded, "one of the biggest families in Rio, and that's not mentioning various cousins, in-laws, nieces, nephews, etcetera. You should see it at Christmas," he trailed off, a terrified look passing over his face for a brief moment. "Either way, I think I can handle whatever you three decide to throw at me."

"If you wake them up in the morning, that would be anything within reach," Tia grimaced, narrowing her eyes at the older canaries. They just avoided her eyes, trying not to grin.

"Oh, it's a genetic thing?" he said, smiling wide as Tia's expression went slack, beak dropping open in horror.

With a groan, she fell back onto the sand, glaring at the twinkling stars above like they had personally wronged her. "Wonderful," she murmured, "another one."

"Tia is very much a morning bird," Tony explained quietly, "I don't know how she does it, but she can run quite happily on four hours sleep."

There was a moment of stunned silence from Nico, then he laughed, a sound that was quickly echoed by the birds surrounding him.

They stayed on that beach for the rest of the night, trading stories and telling jokes. Eventually Nico drifted off to sleep, the other three following suit, one by one.

"Tia?" Tony exclaimed, rushing to help her up as she crash landed in their shared hollow not one day later. "What happened to you?"

The colourful bird looked rather grim as she landed, causing even Nico to look over in concern. She was soaking wet, which wasn't exactly strange, since it was pouring with rain, but the way she held her wing to her head indicated some sort of pain.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked, looking worried.

"Headache," Tia mumbled dragging her feet slightly as she made her way to her nest, falling on it in a undignified heap, "Ali's sick, don't even think about going near that place for at least another day, and after that be cautious, she gets ratty when she's ill. And she hates it when someone tries to help her, that girl has waaay too much pride."

"What's wrong with her?" Nico asked, sitting up properly.

"Nothing too bad, cold, sore throat, temperature, and apparently one hell of a migraine," Tia explained, pulling her blanket over her shoulders as she shuddered, "tried to come back, but can't fly without having a coughing fit and dropping from the sky, so I had to leave her there. Tried to kick me out for doting on her. Gave me an earful instead." She groaned, pulling the blanket right over her head.

"Well, she can't be left alone, not if she can't even get up," Tony said, looking concerned.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," Tia mumbled from under the blanket. Tony still looked concerned, but at the same time rather reluctant. He clearly know more about a sick Ali than any of them.

Nico however, stayed silent, mulling it over. True, he wanted to get home, and being killed by a sick bird wasn't really in his to-do list, but he really should do something. Not being able to get up sucked, he knew that better than anyone, having spent most of the last four months bed-bound. He should do something, even if it's just bringing her something to eat. Eva had showed him how to make a hot fruit stew that she often made when the kids were sick. He used it to shut Pedro up when he got ill. That bird loved it so much he promised anything, even to stop whining. As it turns out he was pretty good cook.

He also knew the birds had a pretty sweet set up in their hollow, including somewhere to cook should they want something a bit hotter when the weather was bad (Ali had set up a chimney leading outside apparently).

"I know something that might make her feel better, Eva used to make it all the time when we were ill," Nico smiled, "you feel better almost instantly, that woman is a miracle worker sometimes," he stood up as the pair looked over curiously. Well, Tony looked over, Tia simply stuck out her wing from underneath the blanket and gave him the thumbs up.

"Great, so long as it stops her whining," she paused, then, "and I can have some too."

Nico laughed, shaking his head, "of course you can, I can assure you it's one of the best things you will ever taste."

"Modest," Tony muttered, smirking as he stuck his tongue out.

"What can I say?" Nico grinned, fluttering over to their kitchen area, where he hoped there were some pieces of fruit still stored from breakfast, "I learnt from the best."

"Boy, you have every freaking right to be cocky," Tia exclaimed half an hour later after she had practically inhaled the hot bowl of fruit stew, "That was the nicest thing I have ever tasted." She smiled happily, falling back on her nest, completely full.

"Agreed," Tony said, "seems you got all that talent," he chuckled, putting his bowl down, "I can't cook worth a damn."

"Of course, you've now got to go to the sick room and feed Ali," Tia grinned, "though she may stop yelling once you shove a spoonful of that in her beak."

"And hey," Tony cut in, "maybe you'll be lucky and she's lost her voice completely."

Twenty minutes later, with a lidded bowl of stew that Tia had fashioned a handle for out of twigs and a bit of cellotape, Nico stood at the entrance to Ali's workshop with such a wide smirk on his beak it might as well have split in two.

Sure, the girl looked absolutely miserable, mussed up feathers, curled up in a makeshift nest close to the furnace (which had a few burning embers keeping the room warm) with a blanket up to her chin and surrounded by countless tissues, but the way she was yelling insults and for him to get out with absolutely no sound meant that she had indeed lost her voice. And suddenly his job was a lot easier.

"Oh shut your beak for a moment, I know you don't like getting help when you're ill," Nico said, holding up the bowl. Ali, still with a deep scowl, cocked her head, managing to look curious as well as annoyed. "Now come on, I can guarantee you this will make you feel at least start to feel better, then you can do the rest from there," he took off the lid, marvelling at the fact that the heat had been retained, "and it's still hot, so eat up."

Ali avoided eye contact, sitting up but refusing to look at him as she crossed her wings over her chest as he, slightly cautiously, approached.

"Don't look so worried," he laughed as she eyed the spoon held out to her warily, "I'm not going to poison you." She looked up at him with one raised eyebrow, which he matched with both eyebrows raised and a soft smile.

Still trying to glare a hole through his skull, she reluctantly opened her beak, leaning forward to close it around the offered spoon.

The wide eyed look that appeared on her face was almost enough to make Nico laugh out loud, but since he wanted to keep his head, he kept it inside, simply smiling instead.

"Nice?"

Ali looked at him, her face going through a variety of expressions, confusion, wonder, an almost-smile, before it settled into the usual annoyed scowl she wore around him, though there was a hint of thankfulness in her eyes as she reached forward and took the bowl and spoon off of him with the barest of nods and began eating.

"That's what I thought," Nico murmured, standing up and moving to tidy up a little, throwing all the tissues (which he realised must have been stolen from the old man she lived with) into a metal bin in one corner, which was obviously what she was aiming for when she threw them across the room. However, very few made it to their intended target.

"What are you-" a cough, "doing?" Her voice was low and raspy, barely even there, and it was clear she had a cold and her nose was blocked up.

"Cleaning up," Nico said, chuckling a little, "or you'll be drowning in tissues by the time you're better." When he looked back at the sick bird, his expression morphed into one of concern at the way she was looking at him. There was definite conflict in her eyes, and she was looking a little, and only a little, guilty. "You alright?"

She snapped out it almost instantly, turning away with a haughty expression and her beak in the air. "Of course," she said quickly, but her voice obviously had enough as a coughing fit quickly evolved. Nico rushed over, rubbing soothing circles on her back, amazed when she didn't immediately try to take his wing off.

"I think you need to rest," he murmured, taking the empty bowl off of her and gently pushing her back down and tucking the blanket around her shoulders as the coughs died out. She kept her eyes closed, curling into a tight ball.

Before he left he quickly finished tidying up, leaving the place tidy, although the bin was slightly overflowing. Just as he was about to leave, a quiet, still slightly raspy voice made him stop and turn around.

"You know, I may have to keep you around."

Ali had gotten over her cold rather quickly once the rain had stopped and the weather warmed up, though she was still looking a little groggy and kept sneezing. Tony was doing his best to stay as far away from her as possible, just as she was doing her best to keep as close to him as she could, just to spite him. Tia just rolled her eyes at their antics and kept Tony at home and Ali in her workshop before world war three broke out.

Ali sighed, closing her eyes, not knowing whether to laugh or scream.

"Do you actually ever stop talking?" she said eventually, putting down her hammer and turning to Nico, who was sat against the wall of her workshop, looking properly chastised. He gave a nervous grin, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding her gaze.

"Sorry, you don't talk much," he said, "and I don't like silence."

She stared at him for a moment, clearly not expecting something like that. Yes, he was her brother (she had accepted that now, once she was able to get her head around the idea) but she still had no idea how to act around him. Something Tia had very quickly picked up on, and decided that both Ali and Tony needed to spend some quality time with their newfound baby brother. Tony got the morning (or more, early afternoon by the time they woke up) and the two birds clicked almost immediately.

Ali on the other hand, was finding it a little harder to adjust.

"I shouldn't have snapped," she said, " and for yesterday, I'm sorry, I'm just having a bit of trouble getting used to this... whole... you know," she waved her wing in the air for a moment, "thing." She moved to sit down next to him. "I don't usually warm up to others very fast, after what happened to you, I don't really trust all that quickly," she explained quietly, "and if I'm honest, I'm still waiting for you to just turn around and tell us this was one big joke."

"I wouldn't-"

"I know you wouldn't," she cut him off, "but it's just a little too good to be true right now. I'm just waiting for the other boot to drop, you know?"

Nico gave a small laugh, "yeah I know, I didn't even know you existed, at least, not outside the odd dream I used to have, until yesterday. I wasn't exactly expecting this," he looked at her, still absolutely blown away by the similarities. Personality wise though, they couldn't be more different.

That is, at least on the surface. She seemed very quiet and withdrawn, most definitely the opposite of his loud and confident personality. That may just be because of the situation; at this point, it was still hard to tell. Who knows, he thought, she may show a completely different side once she starts to open up to him.

"How're we going to make this work?" she asked, "I'm not good with this sort of thing, and we've only got a few days before you go home."

"Well," Nico started, shuffling a little closer, "I suppose we could, you know, start by getting to know each other? Then just see where things go."

Ali gave a small smile, nodding minutely.

"I think I've heard a lot about you in the past half an hour," she said with a tiny chuckle as he snorted, "shall we start with me?"

That was how they were found three hours later, sat against the wall of her workshop, talking about everything and anything, and laughing like old friends.

And as it turned out, they had far more in common than they thought.

Sat on the end of the pier close to the hollow, Nico couldn't seem to shake the feeling that everything was going a little too smoothly. He couldn't concentrate on the conversation going on close by, instead trying to push down the gnawing feeling in his stomach that something was about to go wrong.

He wasn't entirely sure on when though, or even how anything could possibly happen, not all the way out here. His biggest worry hopefully had no idea he was even in Hawaii.

It was probably just after everything that had happened, after all the things that had gone wrong over the past few months, having more than a week where his whole trip was going nothing but right was more than a little weird.

And now it was the day before he was due to catch a ship home, and the group was spending their last evening just hanging on the pier.

"Hey cariño," Tia called out to him, breaking him out of his thoughts, "you alright?"

"Yeah," he gave her a half-hearted smile, "just thinking."

"What you thinking 'bout?" Tony asked, Ali looking expectant from his other side. He debated for a second as to whether he should tell them.

"Have I told you about Liana yet?" he said, looking a little nervous. He didn't know why he felt so anxious about telling them. Hopefully they wouldn't worry quite as much as he knew the guys back in Rio would if he told had them. Three blank faces stared back at him. "She's Pedro's ex, long story short, when they broke up, she got very pissed off, and has pretty much been harbouring that anger for years and somehow it was all my fault and she now wants my head on a platter, and she's got an eagle friend to help" he sighed, staring down at the water, "and I really wish I wasn't exaggerating."

Silence followed his short tale, and he dared a glance at the three birds.

They were staring at him like he had grown another head.

"She has no idea I'm in Hawaii, but I've getting that feeling of being watched recently, and it's a little worrying."

The three looked at each other, and Nico got the sense that they were communicating telepathically. Tia nodded and turned back to Nico.

"Decision made," she said, a hint of finality in her voice, "we're coming with you tomorrow."

"What?" he stared blankly at them, beak hanging open.

"Yeah, we talked about it earlier," Tony explained, "no guarantees we'll stay forever, but we've just found you," he slung a wing over Nico's shoulders, "three days just hasn't been enough."

"You're stuck with us now," Ali put in with a grin.

"Are you serious? You want to..." he trailed off, losing his voice in shock.

"Besides, if there's a crazy psycho after your head, we can always set Ali on her," Tia said. Ali tried to glare, punching her lightly on the shoulder.

Still unable to find the words, Nico just nodded dumbly, a small smile growing on his beak.

Tia snorted at the look on his face, "come on," she said, "let's go get some food, maybe by the time we've eaten you'd have found your voice again." There were murmurs off agreement, and three of the four birds took to the air

"You really want to come with me?" Nico finally got out, turning to look at the hovering birds.

"Could be fun," Ali said, at the same time as Tony said, "yeah, definitely."

"It's something like a four thousand mile flight once we hit the mainland, are you sure?"

"Please," Tia drawled with a roll of her eyes, "it should hopefully keep you out of trouble."

Nico chuckled, "or get you into it," he said, grinning as he took off with a flap of his wings, the feeling of worry completely forgotten.

"Oh, we're counting on it," Ali laughed, "now come on, I'm starving."

But they never made it to the hollow.

Nico heard the flap of wings before he saw anything. Even then he only got a glance of the huge eagle far closer than anyone would be comfortable with before he could see nothing but a small slit of land and sky though a gap in the birds talons. Panicked shouts and cries could be heard from behind him, fading away all too quickly. He stomach lurched with every flap of wings as panic tried to take over his mind.

That was when he realised, with probably more terror than it honestly deserved in this situation, that somewhere along the lines, he had lost his hat.

When he was finally released, or more, dropped with a mumbled 'sorry', he was in a dimly lit and very empty room.

Well, empty apart from the bird smirking down at him from two feet away. Nico's beak dropped open in both shock and horror. A million and one different things ran through his head, from some rather choice insults to questions about life itself, but the only thing that came out of his beak was:

"How the hell did you know I was here?"

His voice echoed off the stone walls, and he flinched a little.

Liana let out a short laugh, her grin verging on manic. "Quite simple, I went back to Rio after losing you in Rome, and I overheard a little birdie."

There was a pause as Nico tried to work out what she meant. Once it clicked, he let out an annoyed sigh. "Pedro and his big mouth," he muttered, pushing himself up off the ground and dusting himself off. He really shouldn't have been that annoyed, he thought to himself, glaring at the smirking parakeet, he hadn't given them any reason not to mention it to other birds. Of course it was going to get around and Liana was bound to hear about it one way or another.

But annoyed was sort of a default emotion in this situation.

That and pure, unadulterated terror.

He couldn't help but notice the only way out of the room was blocked by the eagle.

"This is Frank by the way," Liana said nonchalantly, gesturing to the large bird but not taking her eyes off him. Nico also couldn't help noticing the guilty expression on Frank's face.

However, there was no time to contemplate further on this, as his attention was once again pulled to the parakeet.

"I hope you like this room, it's going to be your final resting place."

"Oh good, it looks like my assumptions have been right, you are psychotic," Nico deadpanned, giving her a dry look, "what the hell is wrong with you?"

Liana grinned, a look that absolutely chilled him to the bone. Crazy didn't even begin to cover it.

Wonderful. He was locked up in a dark, windowless room god knows where, no one knew where he was, and even if someone did, Frank was guarding the only entrance. And just as the icing on an already ridiculous day, his best friend's ex girlfriend wanted him dead.

He sighed, dropping his head into his wing and wishing he hadn't lost his hat in the struggle. At least then he would have something to throw at her.

"We've discussed this," she said, taking a few deliberate steps towards him.

Instinctively, he took a few steps back.

"Elaborate," he said.

On a more positive note, he couldn't see any potential weapons lying around. Not that this gave him any more confidence.

"Why?" she asked, her voice smug, "it's not like you can do anything with the information."

Nico growled low in frustration. "Just tell me why you're doing this to me," he snapped, "think of it as a last request." Maybe he could buy himself some more time by letting her monologue for a while.

"It's very simple, you were the one who got in the way."

"What?"

She laughed, cold and bitter.

"Do you seriously not get it yet? He loves you!"

If it were possible, his eyebrows would be floating somewhere above his head and his lower beak would have hit the floor.

"I mean, not in the romantic sense," she continued, and his brows dropped a little, "though what do I know," she muttered bitterly, "but either way, enough to put you above anything, or anyone else," she bit out, and she had to pause to take a deep breath and compose herself. "you got sick, and he completely blew me off, for a whole week, to look after you. Like no one else could possibly do that. So I confronted him, made him choose, me or you. And of course he picked you. Said he would always pick you, given any choice."

Nico was stunned into silence.

The information itself was nothing new. Except for the reason for the break up, all he had heard previously about that was they had a difference of opinion and that was the end of it. He had no idea he was the reason. In a way.

The fact that Pedro would always pick him though? That was something he did know. It was an unspoken agreement, they would always pick each other, and he'd honestly, and naively, thought that neither of them would ever be in a position where they would even have to choose.

And he could never have predicted a situation where that choice would land anyone in a life or death situation.

"And getting rid of me," he said slowly, once he'd found his voice again, "what exactly will that achieve?"

"You mean other than personal satisfaction?" she asked, the smile back on her face. He just looked at her dryly. "Well, I suppose there's the obvious, once they realise you're never coming back, I'll get to enjoy Pedro being just as miserable as I was."

"I think it'll be a little worse than that," Nico murmured, rolling his eyes.

"Good," she said, practically beaming at the thought. "But also, with you out the way, there's absolutely nothing to stop me from getting him back."

Nico stared at her, his expression a mix of confused and indignant.

"You. Are. Kidding," he said, "that's what you're trying to do?"

"Getting you out of the picture is the only way," she said with a shrug, "it's a fairly simple plan."

Nico was lost for words, there was no way of talking himself out of this one. She honestly believed she was doing the right thing to get what she wanted and there was no way of talking her down.

"What are you planning on doing? To me?"

"You mean how I plan on killing you?" she asked, "well I-"

"HEY!"

Three heads snapped to the door, one confused, one horrified and the last with a growing grin.

"Nico! You in there?!"

"Ali!"

"See? I told you."

"Shut up Tony!" Two voices chorused.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out!" Tia called through the thick wood of the door.

Nico let out a relieved laugh, heart beating wildly in his chest. Now all they had to do was get through Frank.

And the door.

"Frank," Liana's quiet voice was surprisingly, and worryingly, calm, "would you let our friends in? I'm sure they're just dying to save their little friend."

"Who're you calling lit..." he trailed off, the rest of her words slowly sinking in. The old lock made a loud clanking sound, and the door swung open. Tony was the first one in, immediately tackling him to the ground, Ali and Tia landing close by, rolling their eyes.

"Don't you dare do that again," the older bird ordered, letting go and clambering to his feet, helping the younger bird up.

"What, get kidnapped by a crazy psychopath and her eagle friend?"

"Yeah, that," Tony replied, "just don't, I think I died of a heart attack."

"I'll make sure to give you advance warning next time," Nico deadpanned, "did you find my hat?"

"It's in the hollow."

"Oh thank god," he breathed a sigh of relief, before suddenly remembering where they were and the situation at hand. "Shi- Liana! Don't-"

But the door slammed shut, the light disappearing along with Liana and Frank. Plunged into absolute darkness, not a single occupant knew what had just happened, nor what was going to happen next.

"Well crap," Ali spoke after a few seconds of horrified silence.

"Please tell me you know what she's planning," Tia asked, groping in the darkness for at least one of them. Eventually she found Ali. Mostly by poking her in the eye. Surprisingly, the canary didn't comment, instead she simply took the other birds wing and held on tight.

"Not a clue," Nico said, "you guys burst in before she had a chance to reveal her evil plans. She's a bit of a drama queen though, so it's going to be something flashy."

There was another moment of silence, before Tony spoke up, his voice quiet and terrified.

"She's going to blow the building."

"What?" three voices cried at once.

He started to explain, "This building, it's an old army base, literally in the middle of nowhere. It was evacuated years ago after a possible threat of something or other. Either way, it was never cleared out. I can almost guarantee there's a butt load of explosives somewhere on the site that she could use. It could very easily be passed off as a freak accident."

Nico couldn't say anything, verging on a full blown panic attack, or at the very least, breaking down and crying. He didn't know which way to go. They had no escape plan, they couldn't even see each other, and they were going to die right here in that room and no one would ever know.

He would never see his family again, never see his home. And they would be left forever wondering what had happened to him.

And to make matters worse, he had managed to drag the family he never knew he had down with him.

"I'm sorry," he choked out, "I didn't mean for you guys to get involved."

"What? Like we were gonna just leave you out here?" Ali said, her voice climbing in pitch, "like hell! I'd rather die knowing we at least tried than just leave you in the hands of... of..." she trailed off, to furious to finish.

"Besides, at least you're not alone," Tia put in, "can you imagine what this would be like if we weren't here?"

To be honest, he didn't want to.

"Like we said," Tony put in, "you're stuck with us."

There was a pause as Nico tried to find them in the dark, reaching out a wing in the general direction of their voices. Ali found him first, guiding Tia's wing to them. Tony eventually fumbled his way to them. Tia started it, pulling them all in, and before they knew it they were huddled together in a group hug, waiting for something, anything to happen.

"Love you guys," Nico murmured.

Before anyone could utter a reply, there was a echoing rumble from below, the sounds of cracking stones and then everything went white.

Then... nothing.

Somewhere in Rio, a bird woke up screaming.

A/N: ...

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