After about thirty minutes, I peeked out of the hollow. Hesitantly, I flew out of it and landed softly. I held my stomach when it growled. Great; how am I gonna find food in a place like this?

A chuckle was heard. I looked to my left and down to see a black and white mouse. "Ah, yes, the girl Nico has here. Judging by the sound, you are hungry, right?"

I blinked. "Nico? That's the "Master's" name?" I asked, speaking my thoughts out loud.

The mouse shook his head and sighed. "Technically, he's not a "Master"," he said, making quotation marks with his paws. "He just says that to intimidate any trespassers, such as you and your brothers."

He certainly got us good. With his size, he could be ruler of the cats if he wanted. "Well, follow me. I'll get you something to eat—by the way, I'm Rafael."

"Okay…Rafael. Um, I'm Belle." Looks like I'm gonna start using my nickname from now on. He led me to a different tree with a hollow and hopped onto the trunk before scurrying up to the hollow. I flapped my wings and landed at the edge of the hollow.

Once he jumped inside, I turned and hopped in as well. My beak was gaped open at what I saw. In the center of the hollow was a long, thick, flat rock and on top of it were various mouth-watering berries—some of which I don't even know. I immediately ran/hopped towards the berries, ready to shove then down my throat when I saw one of them move. I flinched in fear when I realized that something awful could happen. A sigh of relief escaped my beak when I recognized the familiar youthful hazel eyes.

Samuel pouted when he saw me. "Awww, you came? I was gonna eat these berries," he whined, looking at the goods with longing eyes.

"Samuel!" two voices scolded.

A few seconds later, both Jewel and Blu ran towards their kid. Jewel looked up at me and chuckled nervously. "Err, sorry about that, Belle," she apologized while Blu was scolding Sam with a, "Samuel, that's no way to talk! She's a guest, so she can eat first."

I smiled when I saw the family. "Blu, Jewel, it's okay—really! Kids will be kids, right?" I bent down a bit, my wings on my knees as I made eye contact with the kid. "Now, since we're both hungry, how about we split the food? Does that sound good, Sam?"

Sam yelped a 'yeah' before eating his food quickly. A humorous laughed left my throat before I nibbled on the berry.

"Dang, don't you ever feed that kid, Jewel," I heard Rafael tease.

"I do, about ten times a day," she replied with the same amount of humor back at Rafael. Everyone laughing at the joke—except Samuel, who pouted with his arms crossed.

I decided to split the meal with Jewel, Blu, and Rafael too. To tell the truth, I was actually comfortable. It's just like the family meals my bothers, Genevieve, and I used to have back in VA. We all laughed, exchanged stories, shared jokes, and a bunch of other junk. All too soon, dinner ended.

"Do you need help going back to your hollow?" Blu asked when I was about to fly off to my new hollow.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure I can find it on my own," I said before taking off.

"Okay, that was dumb of me," I thought out loud after flying for what seemed like an hour. Why didn't I take up Blu's offer in the first place? I barely know this place but I just had to be stubborn and independent, didn't I? Sometimes, I curse those traits. That's it, I'm walking now. I landed on the ground and started hopping around; looking for the only tree that had a light color to it. Suddenly, I felt like I crushed into someone.

"Ow! Watch where you're going, you fat pig! Lose some weight while you're at it!" I yelled from my place on the ground. Usually, I would just yell "watch you're going", but I was so frustrated that I couldn't find my temporary home that I was cranky.

"What did you sssssay, rat?" a voice literally hissed with something like a baby rattle rattling.

I froze and slowly looked up. "Ep," I yelped shrilly.

In front of me was a very large rattle snake, baring it's fangs at me and shaking its tail angrily (1). He smirked at the sight of me cowering. "Hmm…it'sssss been awhile since I had canary. Maybe now'sssss the time to reminisce the taste."

The more he slithered towards me, the more I backed away. Unfortunately, my back hit against a tree. My knees were shaking and I was too paralyzed in fear to fly. Soon enough, he was in front of me, his silhouette towering over me as his sharp golden eyes stared at me hungrily.

He smirked, his pointed teeth showing and reflecting against the moon. He was about to attack when an ear-piercing caw was heard (2). The snake was tackled to the ground and I looked to the side to see a familiar figure. Nico and the snake circled each other before the latter hissed, lunging towards Nico. He didn't move and allowed my predator to tackle him. They both rumbled on the ground. Soon enough, Nico got bitten. He let out another loud caw of pain before furiously scratching his opponent with razor sharp talons. The snake attempted to bite him but Nico would just simply dodge. Tired and banged up, his opponent hissed angrily before leaving.

Nico panted heavily before crouching, holding onto his chest with a wing. Feeling slightly guilty, I ran towards him and put his free wing around my shoulders and my wing on his waist. We trudged towards a small lake nearby.

"Stay here," I said firmly as he sat on a rock. I flapped my wings and picked off a leaf, making my way towards the lake. I put the leaf in the water and wringed it a bit. I hopped back towards Nico, who still had a wing to his chest and was grimacing. I gently tried to pry his wing away, but it never budged.

I sighed in exasperation. "Let go or you'll get infected." He made a noise in detest, but slowly relaxed and allowed me to pull his wing away.

"Now, this may sting a little," I warned before pressing the damp leaf on his chest. He cawed loudly, and I shut my eyes at the sound. When he was done yelling in pain, I opened my eyes and started blinking rapidly (3). I think I'm deaf. I looked up at him through my long eyelashes before turning my attention to his wound. My face contorted into negation and I grunted before spitting out my words. "By the way, thank you…for saving my life."

Nico looked down at me and smirked. "Heh, anytime, toots."

A/N: AAAAAAH! I am so sorry for the long update. Man, high school takes a lot out of you. Don't worry; I'm not abandoning this and A New World. Just don't be mad if it comes a bit late. I had writers block with A New World, but inspiration just hit me for the next chapter.

1.) Thanks a lot, EmmerzK, for helping me plan this out :D And yes, rattle snakes a native in South American jungles.

2.) You know how the beast roars? Well, since Nico's a beast bird, I changed it to a very loud caw.

3.) Yeah, no argument here because, really, Nico didn't do anything wrong—besides trapping Natalie. It's just our little protagonist's stubbornness and irritability got her in trouble.