A/N: This is the sequel to my first Rio fic, 'The Only One'. People seemed to like the hot chocolate scene, and someone urged me to write a fic about Jewel and hot chocolate. I thought it would be interesting, so here it is. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: High
The setting sun left an orange hue across the Brazilian sky. Blu sat alone in a small clearing, dreaming lazily. He was alone. Jewel had told him that she was going off to do something, and had left early in the afternoon. She had specifically told him not to follow her. Blu wondered where everyone was. Rafael was gone…somewhere, Nico and Pedro were nowhere to be seen…in fact, it seemed like the entire forest had gone quiet.
"Blu! Blu!" a voice yelled frantically from above. Blu looked up, startled. Nico flapped rapidly, his face clearly in a state of panic.
"Nico? What is it?"
"It's Linda! She's…she's…!"
"What? Linda? What happened?" he demanded, straightening himself instantly.
"Oh man…it's…just come with me, okay?" he took off. All other thoughts vanished from his mind other than Linda. In his 15 years with her, he'd only seen her sick a handful of times. From the way Nico was shaking, he knew it couldn't be good. He took off after him immediately.
They raced through the still forest and into the sleeping city. With every passing moment, Blu's heart pounded faster. All he could focus on was the store, but he couldn't see inside; the interior was shrouded in darkness.
Nico squeezed through a slight gap in the front door. Blu struggled for a while, but he managed to squeeze through. He wondered why it wasn't able to move at all. It was as if someone had jammed it in that position deliberately.
"Nico?" Blu called out. He suddenly realised his yellow canary friend was gone. As if coordinated for some cheap horror film, the door to the store shut by itself.
"H-hello?" He said, his voice filled with trepidation. There was no answer.
He inched forward slowly, looking around. Shadows seemed to dance about around him, and he recoiled instinctively.
"Linda?"
"Blu…" a throaty voice whispered. It sounded like someone was calling out while being strangled.
"Is anyone there?" he said, raising his voice a notch. Still, there was no reply. Something rustled in the next room, and he turned towards the open door, his feathers standing on end. The longer he didn't move, the more he felt scared. He sucked it up and flew up onto the table, hoping to get a better view of his surroundings. Then, something tapped him on his shoulder. He wheeled.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
"Aaah!" Blu screamed. He wobbled, then passed out.
The lights came on. Everybody in the room—Tulio, Linda, Nico, Pedro, and Jewel—looked at Blu, who was out cold. Nico flew over to Pedro and slapped him over his head.
"I told you to congratulate him after we turn on the lights!"
"Oops."
When Blu finally came to, he saw Jewel standing over him, smiling.
"Hey, it's not nice to pass out on your birthday, Blu."
"My…birthday?" he stammered. Glancing up, he could see everybody looking back at him warmly.
"Yes, your birthday, genius."
"You planned all this?" he asked.
"Actually, it's more of collaboration between all of us. We thought we'd surprise you today. It is today, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Today…" he trailed off for a second. "Today was the day that Linda saved me, 15 years ago."
"16, Blu." Jewel corrected, smiling.
Blu smiled back, thoroughly impressed. It seemed Jewel's attitude towards Tulio and Linda was improving.
"Why isn't Rafael here?" Blu asked, looking around.
"He's got his children to take care of. He said he'll be here later anyway," Nico replied.
"Speaking of children…" Pedro said, glancing at Jewel.
"Relax, hotshot." Jewel playfully pushed him onto the floor. "They'll come, sooner or later."
"So Blu," Nico started, "how'd you spend all your birthdays before this?"
"Well…"
Jewel rolled her eyes and looked for something else to do. She'd already heard this story before. She considered going to Tulio and Linda, but they were busy moving bowls of food onto the table. She hopped off into the kitchen, looking for something to drink.
What greeted her in the kitchen made her eyes light up—there were six cups of hot chocolate sitting on the stove. Wisps of steam rose from the cups, and they seemed to call out to her. She flew up and inhaled the sweet, tantalizing smell, her eyes closing in bliss as she did so.
Wow…it smells so nice…
Her stomach rumbled a little, and she remembered not really eating a lot since lunch.
Well, I don't think it'll hurt if I take my share first.
She took a cup and brought it to her beak, letting the warm liquid flow down her throat and into her stomach. It was pure joy. She felt like she was floating above the clouds with every drop of sweetness.
But all good things have to end sooner or later.
Before she knew it, the cup was empty, drink and marshmallows. It wasn't enough. She wanted more, but she knew there wasn't enough for her to take another. Still, the feeling was burning inside her, and staring at the remaining cups didn't help either.
Maybe, just a little bit more…
Looking around to ensure no one was watching, she took another cup to her beak and started drinking.
"What are you doing, Tulio?" Linda asked, looking over his shoulder. His fingers were rapidly moving about, typing a message on his phone. He answered, without looking up or stopping.
"Sending some instructions to my colleagues. We're testing something new." He looked up now. "You know how some birds are injured, as in paralyzed?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, we've developed an effective medicine to restore limb movement." His eyes started to glimmer. "It's much more effective than the one we've been using so far. Unfortunately, there's a problem; we just can't seem to—"
"Whoo-hoo!"
They both paused and looked up at the sudden high-pitched squawking. Jewel had burst from the kitchen at an incredible speed, and she seemed to be in hysterics. An effusive grin was plastered across her face, and she did multiple cartwheels and flips in the air consecutively.
"Jewel!" Blu said, alarmed. "What's wrong?"
"What? Nothing's wrong!" she replied gleefully. "This is so fun! Isn't this great, Blu? I feel like I'm flying!"
"Um…you are flying." Nico commented.
"It's great!" she squealed, not hearing his words. She did another cartwheel, before diving down towards the table. Nico yelped and tried to run for cover, but at the last moment, she pulled up, laughing uncontrollably.
"This is amazing! I…I feel amazing!"
"Jewel!" Blu called, worriedly. Calm down! You're going to hurt yourself!"
"Are you kidding? This is great! I'm never coming down!"
The two humans in the room did not understand the exchange of words, but they definitely had a reason to be alarmed when Jewel almost flew straight into a pointed-down knife sticking in a cheesecake. They scrambled to their feet and tried to grab her, but she slipped right through their fingers every time.
"Jewel!" Blu gasped as he just barely missed her again. "What happened? Why are you acting like this?"
"Why not?" Brilliant answer. She laughed once more as Tulio jumped…and missed her by a good few inches.
"Guys, we have to corner her!" Blu yelled. Pedro and Nico nodded and flew up, surrounding her. Below them, Linda and Tulio unknowingly were blocking off any chance of her going for a low dive. Her space to fly was diminishing, and although she was still flying quite randomly, she was unconsciously being backed against the wall.
Glancing about, she noticed the window in the room was half-open. The others followed her gaze, and they immediately knew what she was thinking. Blu and Linda lunged at the same time, but she was already flying towards the window, and they only ended up colliding into each other.
Pedro was closer to the window, and he flew right in front of the opening, spreading his wings.
"Hold it!"
Right as he said that, Jewel bashed straight into him, sending him flying across the room and into the kitchen, hitting the wall, hard. Seemingly unfazed by the obstruction, she flew out into the evening sky.
"Jewel!" Blu yelled, pulling himself free from under Linda, who was straightening her glasses.
"What was that, man? 'Hold it'?" Nico berated, flying down to Pedro, who was on his back, part of him splayed across the wall.
"Well, what did you want me to say? 'You shall not pass'?" Pedro retorted.
"Guys, stop it! We've got to find Jewel, now!"
"What happened to her, anyway? She just suddenly went loco," Pedro said, pulling himself to his feet.
"Um…guys? I think I know," Nico called out. Blu and Pedro flew up to the kitchen counter.
"What is it?"
"I think Jewel did this." he pointed at the two empty cups on the counter.
"She drank two cups of hot chocolate," Blu said flatly. "How does that explain why she's so happy?" Then, it struck him.
"A sugar rush?" he asked in disbelief. "But how?"
"Maybe she can't handle her sugar well," Pedro offered.
"It's two small cups of chocolate."
"I don't get it either," Nico said. "I didn't think sugar rushes could make you act like that. Never seemed to affect Pedro that way, and he eats way too much sugar-filled food."
"Hey, it's not that much! It's just…a little more than normal."
"Whatever it is, we need to find her, and fast."
"Blu!" Linda ran into the kitchen. Just like she always did, she knew what he was thinking.
"Let's go, guys!" The three of them took off, just as Tulio walked into the kitchen.
"Oh boy…" he saw the table. "Jewel, she—" he halted midsentence. He walked over and examined one of the cups, his brow creasing worriedly. He set the cup down, suddenly staring into space.
"What's wrong, Tulio?"
"…I have to hurry." He turned to Linda. "This is bad. Linda, I have to go."
"Okay, I'm coming with—"
"No, please. I need you to stay here in case she comes back." He chewed his lip. "Call me if anything happens."
"Tulio?"
"I'm not going to let Jewel go, Linda. I'm not going to let anything happen to her." The resolve in his eyes left no room for argument. Grabbing his coat, Tulio ran through the doorway out onto the pavement, where his slightly beat up motorcycle—the one Fernando traded his jeep for—stood. He revved up the engine and gunned it down the street.
He still looked extremely awkward driving a motorbike, but he managed to steady himself as it bounced about the asphalt, heading towards his destination.
I need to get to the treatment room.
He knew exactly what was wrong with Jewel, and he hoped he could get to her in time before it was too late.
"Where did she go?" Blu said out loud, as if expecting her to suddenly whisk past after saying it. They were flying high above the Rio buildings, searching for her. So far, they hadn't seen anything yet.
"I don't know. Rio is big."
"Thanks, Pedro," Blu sarcastically snapped. He immediately regretted the outburst. He was just concerned about her.
"Look, she's probably all excited and happy right now, which means she should still be flying about somewhere. We should keep our heads up." Nico suggested.
"You're right." Blu took a deep breath. "Let's go."
They flew for a few minutes in silence, scanning the expanse of land that was the city. Inwardly, Blu was grateful that he could fly. He couldn't imagine looking for her on foot. That would have been too crazy, even for him.
Nico suddenly cut the silence.
"What are you looking down for, Pedro? I thought we said to look up."
"Yeah, but I can see her right down there on the road."
"Look, you can't just—what!" Blu snapped his neck downwards so fast he thought it would dislocate. True enough, Jewel was flying somewhat erratically above the road, barely avoiding incoming cars and trucks. At times, her twists and turns came just within a hair's length of the motorized vehicles.
"Jewel!" Blu called out, diving at his fastest speed down towards her.
She didn't seem to hear his frantic screams, as she continued weaving through the congested roads. Some drivers were honking their horns, others just cursed in Portuguese or English.
The female blue macaw didn't feel fear in the slightest. She somewhat had complete focus, and yet she felt like a million tiny dots were flashing inside her brain, distracting her. She decided that she was probably focusing, owing to the fact that she was still alive.
The cars suddenly seemed to stop coming. The road in front of her was empty. She wondered what had happened. But before she could ponder over it, someone on the sidewalk let out a terrified scream.
Blu, Nico, and Pedro realized that they weren't getting closer to Jewel in any way. She was flying much faster than them. Blu, because of his inexperience, Nico, because of his size, and Pedro, also because of his size, were unable to get closer to her.
Then, they saw it.
Before she knew it, out of the corner of the road came two black sports cars. That didn't faze them in the slightest. What did faze them was the object they were towing. It was attached by a length of what appeared to be rope. It was a huge metal box, easily weighing a ton. A horrible grinding sound emanated from the friction between the block and the road.
"Ah! Pull up, pull up!" Blu willed himself. Unfortunately, when he panicked, everything he'd learnt about flying escaped his mind. He started spiralling helplessly towards the incoming metal face, which was only a few feet away, and racing towards him menacingly.
"Blu!" Nico and Pedro yelled. They had already flown to safety, but after seeing Blu's predicament, they flew back to him at full speed. But the box was approaching fast. It grew bigger in Blu's eyes at an incredible rate. He couldn't move his limbs. He was just sailing…straight into death.
"No!"
Nico and Pedro crashed haphazardly into him, sending the three tumbling to the side of the road. The metal box just grazed Blu's back as it screeched by.
For a moment, it was all silent, the only sound being their heavy breathing. Pedro was on his back, a little shell-shocked from their narrow escape. Nico didn't look much better. He looked pale, his body shuddering.
"Are…are you okay, Blu?" He stammered.
"I'm…I'm fine."
"What in the world was a huge metal box doing in the middle of the road?" Nico exclaimed. Just then, about a dozen police cars screamed by, their sirens blaring.
"Does this happen often?" Pedro asked.
"Of course it does! Can't you see the hundreds of thousands of metal boxes running through the streets?" Nico said.
Pedro looked at the road, then looked back.
"No." Nico collapsed in exasperation.
Blu felt surprisingly lucid. He glanced about the empty road, and then looked up into the empty sky.
Jewel was gone.
"Jewel!" he cried out. He flew up, looking about frantically. She was nowhere to be seen. An empty, hollow feeling manifested inside of him, and it was killing him. Jewel. The first, and only bird he'd ever fallen for. She had disappeared, and he couldn't stop her.
"What should we do?" Pedro asked.
"We need some help. We'll never be able to do this on our own."
They exchanged glances for a moment.
"Rafael! RAFAEL!"
A/N: As always, comments are appreciated.
