CHAPTER 2

"Was that him?" A white canary asked. He was fairly big for a canary, but with muscle and height rather than weight. He was perched on a branch in a big tree that was practically on the borderline into the city. Next to him a equally big canary with yellow feathers shifted a bit.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, the little freak managed to live after all. Damn pipsqueak. But we'll worry about that later. Right now we need to think of a plan." He turned his gaze from his white companion to the city, which was going dark as the people turned off lights for sleep.

"I think I have one." Said the white bird. He started mumbling his plan to his yellow friend whose grin grew bigger and eviler.

"That should work just fine." The two birds started to laugh, much like the evil villains from the movies.

Nico woke up to find the three Mini Macaws asleep along with Pedro. The sun was starting to shine and the birds of the forest were starting to wake up. He flew down to where Blu and Jewel shared their home. When he looked inside, he saw the two birds still sound asleep. Must of tired themselves out last night. Least I know Blu had fun last night. Or he worried till he fainted. Either is possible I suppose. Nico chuckled quietly to himself as he thought about it.

Apparently, Jewel wasn't as tired as Blu because she woke up to the sound of Nico laughing. "What's so funny?" She asked, drowsiness dripping from her voice.

"Huh? Oh, you woke up. Sorry. Nothin's funny, just wondering if Blu had fun or worried himself to death." Jewel started waking up as Nico talked and responded to the question after a moment of silence.

"A bit of both, actually. How were the kids? Were they any trouble?" She had a motherly and worried tone to her voice as she spoke. Nico laughed at this and shook his head.

"Relax, chica. They were fine. Pedro tired 'em out and I sung 'em to sleep. No prob. See?" He pointed his wing up towards the hollow he shared with Pedro, where you could just barely see a heap of blue feathers that moved with every breath.

"Great. Of course, I knew Jane wouldn't be a problem for you." She had a mocking tone to her voice and a smirk on her face. Nico rolled his eyes and the two birds flew up to his hollow to gather the mini's.

"Hey, kids wake up. It's time to come home now." Jewel said in a hushed tone. The three kids groggily opened their eyes while Pedro flopped onto his stomach and started talking in his sleep.

"No, mommy, just a little more dancey time. Pweeeeaasse?" The other birds in the room all stared blankly at him for a moment before bursting with laughter at their sleeping friend.

Jewel decided to humor the sleeping cardinal by walking over to him and rubbing his back while saying, "Okay, but only for a few more minutes. Then it's off to home for a bath and dinner." The three kids and Nico could barely suppress their laughs, Nico had to cover his beak with his wings to keep it closed. It became a harder task when Pedro mumbled a response and started sucking his thumb.

When Jewel and the kids flew off after a minute of laughter, Nico decided he should probably wake up his friend. He walked up to him and started poking him with his foot. When the only response he got was Pedro rolling over onto his side again, Nico started kicking him. Instead of waking up his friend, though, he was grabbed by the leg and flopped onto the ground.

"OOF" Nico whacked the ground hard and decided he'd had enough and struggled back onto his feet. When he did finally stand up his leg was still being held captive. He leaned over and started trying to talk his friend into waking up.

"Pedro...Pedro. Pedro! YO, PEDRO! WAKE THE HECK UP AND GIVE ME MY LEG BACK ALREADY!" Nico yelled at the top of his lungs, right into Pedro's ear. Which, in turn, made his friend yell and roll onto the floor and out of his nest.

"Ouch...Man what was that for? I was having a good dream." The cardinal sat up rubbing the back of his head with his wing.

"I bet you were. Lemme guess: your mommy let you have some more dancey time?" Nico replied in a baby like mocking term. Pedro sat with his mouth open stuttering incoherent words. "Sorry for waking you up like that. But you had taken my leg captive." Nico picked up his cap, which had fallen off his head when he was flopped, and was dusting it off.

"Eh? Oh, well sorry then. Hey where'd the kids go?" Pedro said noticing for the first time that they were gone.

"Jewel, or Mommy as you called her," Nico smirked evilly at Pedro's look of utter shock and continued, "came by and got them this morning. We had a fun time before they left." He finished by laughing a little to himself at the memory.

"Really? You shoulda woken me up! You know I love a good laugh." He started to pout and crossed his wings across his chest, like a kid having a tantrum.

"Woulda, but we were laughing at you. Sorry, but the way you were talking, it was just too good to pass up." Nico put his cap back on and fixed it up. He was about to ask if Pedro wanted to go get something to eat when a major chill ran down his spine.

He turned around, only to face the most horrifying thing he'd ever seen. And started to wish at that moment that he could die.

"Hello, little brother." Two big canaries, one white and one yellow, said in unison.