Chapter 1

Family History

It started the day Blu discovered something in the attic of Linda`s new book store in downtown Rio. The day started out like any other normal day. Blu`s eyes slowly opened as the light of the warm Brazilian sun crept into the hollow in which he and his mate Jewel lived.

"Man, I thought living in Minnesota was the good life but here in the wings of my love. Things couldn't get any better. I just wish I knew where I came from." He thought.

Sure, Blu didn't know where he came from, but he did know where he belonged. Here in the jungle, with Jewel and all the birds of his community. A place he and his neighbors called 'The Grove'.

He knew if I came down to it, he defend every inch of his new home to the death. He knew that his friends would help as well. But hopefully it would never come to such a thing.

At the thought of this he held a still sleeping Jewel tighter and pulled her closer to him, nuzzling her affectionately.

He heard her yawn and she wrapped her wings around his neck gently, kissing him on the check for a brief second before snuggling up to him even more.

"Good morning Blu." She said happily.

"Good morning Angel." He replied quietly, imaging his feathers turning red from blushing.

"Ready for another day in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro?" She asked after chuckling at Blu`s embarrassment.

"Eh well without you, it's just a city." He replied with a grin.

"You are SO sweet…and cheesy." She replied with another kiss, this time on the beak.

"Well…uh…I could try to be less cheesy….if that's what you want." He murmured standing up and turning away from his love in slight shame.

She stood up and threw her arms around him in a death hug.

"I was kidding sweetheart, I wish you had a little more confidence in yourself." She whispered.

"Well I happen to be more confident in myself now, then when I was in Minnesota." He assured her.

"I know I see you get stronger every day. But I still see that fear in your eyes when I tell you something that you can do to better yourself, why are you scared Blu?" She asked sincerely.

"Well, it's because I`m afraid that one of these days my flaws will drive you away and I don't want to lose you Jewel. I would never forgive myself." He explained.

"Blu, no matter what you do. I will always love you. I see something in you, and I know if it ever comes down to it you will fight for what you love. You`ll become the brave bird you became when you came to rescue me. That's why I fell in love with you." She told him, kissing him on the beak tenderly.

"You always know what to say to bolster my spirits." He told her after the kiss.

"Now come on, Linda is probably waiting for us down at her book shop." She told her mate.

Then the two macaws spread their wings and took to the Jungle sky, heading south towards the city of Rio.

When the duo arrived at the book store they found Nico, Pedro, Rafael and Eva waiting for them inside.

"Hey guys, Eva…where are the kids?" Jewel asked the Toucan.

"Oh, we had a nice young Scarlet Macaw babysit them for the day." She replied.

The two girls began a long girl talk, while Blu wondered over to the window and looked up at the passing clouds, still pondering his past. Rafael noticed this and wandered over to talk to the young macaw.

"What's wrong, mi amigo?" He asked.

"It`s just, I don't know anything about where I came from." He replied

"Well…um…when a mommy and daddy bird love each other very much they decide to-"He began to explain but Blu cut him off with an annoyed look.

"NO, I mean…I never knew my parents, my grandparents. I don't know anything about my heritage." He grumbled.

"Oh well I'm sorry, unfortunately I can't help you with that." The toucan said putting his arm around Blu in a fatherly fashion.

"No one really can, besides you're the only real father figure I`ve ever had. For that, I thank you." Blu said with an appreciative nod.

"You're welcome." The toucan replied, before flying off to the other side of the room. Knowing this was a problem Blu would have to face on his own.

Linda noticed Blu's pondering and she walked over to see what he was thinking about.

"Blu, what`s wrong?" She asked.

Blu grabbed the nearest scrap piece of paper and pen, then jotted down

'My family?'

Linda sighed; Blu immediately figured out that she had been hiding something from him all this time.

Then she offered her arm to Blu as a perch, he hopped on and looked at Linda as if to ask

"Where are we going?"

She simply opened up the hatch in the ceiling of the shop and a ladder extended down from the attic and she carefully began to climb up with Jewel, Rafael, Eva, Nico and Pedro in tow.

"It`s time I showed this to you." She said as they reached the top of the attic.

She made her way to the farthest corner of the attic, using her hand to keep the cobwebs out of her face and hair. Blu noticed there were dozens of boxes filled to the brim with books. Then he noticed a small chest, about the size of a computer key board and about 1 ½ feet tall. It was rusted, dusty and heavily dented. Linda flipped the latches so that Blu could open the chest.

Blu hopped of his former owners arm and noticed writing inscribed in the front of the chest, he brushed off the dust and cobwebs to reveal golden lettering that read:
Martin 'Mustang' Sartore

510th Fighter Group -Phoenix Squadron

Força Aérea Brasileira

Blu opened the chest with a shaky beak, and its contents were obviously very old but were stll in good conditon.

"Meu Deus." Blu murmmured.

Inside the chest, was an aviators cap, complete with googles. The googles right lense had a yellow crosshair painted on it. A scarf with the brazilian flag and colors. Several dozen pictures of various pepole and places, a disply case with over a dozen diffrent medals in it.

a journal with a brown leather covred in writing and on its cover the 510th`s squadron patch, which depiicted a flaming scarlet macaw swooping down from a thunderstorm, a bomb in its talons. Finally a strange metal contraption that looked like some sort of flight harness. But Blu was to afraid to pick it up, feaing he would mishold and break the device.

"Blu, when I first found you...you werent the only one in that crate. This chest belonged to your grandfather. He died before I found you, probably before you got tossed out of that Pet store truck. This chest belonged to him." Linda explained.

"I had no idea." He murmmured, turning to Jewel, tears welling up in his big brown eyes.

Jewel trotted over and wrapped her wings around him, allowing him to lightly cry into her shoulder.

"It`s ok, you can read your grandfathers journal later. But we promised to make an apperence at Kipos Klub, remember? Well that is if your still up for it." She said gently."

"No, its fine. I`m just relieved that now I can look back at where I came from. Where I`ve been." He explained.

Then he took the journal carefully out of the chest, before turning to Nico and Pedro. A faint smile began to appear on his beak.

"Come on, let`s go celebrate this amazing discoverey." He said.