"Trading one For Three"
Chapter 1
"Okay, I'm ready," Jewel chirped cheerily. Blu smiled and nodded and lifted her into the sunny sky through the leaf covering the hollow. The rain had cleared and it was a beautiful day, the jungle was moist and dripping in the gracious rains the heavens had offered. A male azure macaw was flying through the forest, carrying below him the envy of Rio; a precious Jewel. The wind calmly blew through her curled head feathers, a bright smile emanating on her face. The duo flew through an open metal vent and the two were soon landing on the floor of an artificial jungle inside the aviary, in front of a wooden hut spacious enough to fit the two of them within.
Blu landed next to Jewel, and gazed into the sapphire orbs that were her eyes, and naturally, became finicky. His eyes darted left and right and he cleared his throat, Jewel smiling at him as he thought. [Okay, no tree pedals flying around this time…] "Jewel," he began shakily, "I've been wanting to tell you that I-" He choked a little, yet attempted to regain the strength to continue. [No! No come on!] He coaxed himself. With each word, Jewel's eyes widened, waiting for his confession in anticipation; She wanted to hear what he had to say that day on the trolley. "That I- that I love you, and- and… and I want to spend every… I mean every day of my life by- by your side, and-" Jewel forced her beak upon his, she'd heard all she needed to. She pulled her beak off his and said overjoyed, "I couldn't have described how I feel any better." For once, Blu believed he'd accomplished something.
Suddenly, Jewel doubled over, clutching her abdomen and pushing Blu to the side, cawing in pain. "Jewel!" Blu called, rushing over to her for comfort. He held on to her tightly as she quietly coughed up the remnants of her last meal into the artificial plants. 'Jewel, are you- are you alright?" She turned and weakly responded, "Yeah… I'm fine." The door creaked open and Blu watched as Tulio walked up to tend to Jewel, and knowing she was in good hands, Blu called, "I'll get you something to eat." Jewel shakily looked over Tulio's shoulder, ears ringing as Blu darted into the vent, out to the forest.
Blu flew about, searching for something delectable to start the morning. He spotted the mango tree from afar and pondered a moment, deciding that over the course of their adventures, mangoes had become too common. Aloud to himself, Blu stated, "I should go deeper into the Jungle to find something a little more… rare," he decided, eyes lighting up. He flew in an unfamiliar direction, being cautious to take note of landmarks along his path. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind lit up that he couldn't shake, almost as if he'd been here before. It was an abandoned area with no birds to be seen with an eerie fog filling the immediate area. Putting two and two together, he decided that where birds weren't, food was, as the limited population would allow for greater fruit output. He perched in an empty hollow in a tree, overlooking a small pond, when in the distance; he thought he saw green and yellow eggplant shaped things growing on a tree. Curious, he flew over and looked them over, and they were nibbled on. He smiled, and applied his banana science to these foreign fruit, yellow was ripe and green was not. Satisfied with the one he was holding, he picked it and flew back towards the aviary, eager with anticipation of witnessing Jewel's face when she saw his new treasure.
The jungle watched a lone Spix Macaw pick out a succulent papaya and fly away, keeping from him a downed plane behind a thicket of trees. Surrounding the plane were numerous rigged cages, all unlocked, open and strewn about. A litter of white feathers were in a pile nearby, and the forest watched angrily as he stole fruit, and it's gaze could only be matched by those of a white cockatoo, looking on with a bitter hatred at his latest, and only failed catch. He solemnly muttered under his breath, "I will make you ugly too…"
Jewel looked quizzically at Tulio, who was examining her wing intently; Busily lifting it up, tugging on it and squeezing certain areas to get a reaction from his patient. He pulled backwards slightly and she cooed bitterly, thus concluding the ornithologist's checkup. He smiled at her, and chimed, "If you're lucky, maybe we can take the cast off tomorrow to see how you feel." Jewel looked at him in wonderment as he reached out for her to perch on his arm, an alien gesture to her. She stared on, skeptical and indifferent, but thought of Blu, and courageously hopped up onto his forearm. Tulio was proud to have bridged the animosity with Jewel's trust in humans, and set her gently in the artificial jungle. She walked on through the silver gate to see Blu staring questioningly at a ripe papaya.
Blu saw her enter and chirped, "Hiya Jewel!" she smiled back, looking at the fruit, mouth watering. Blu walked over and pulled her by the wing to the fruit and asked, "So what did he say?" She smiled and gratefully chirped, "He said I can take it off tomorrow to check it out." Blu smiled brightly, eager to fly for the first time, side by side with his love. She looked back at the fruit in wonderment and finally asked, "Where did you get this? I haven't had papaya since I was little..." Blu shrugged sheepishly and grinned, "I was just, out and about in the jungle and, and I don't know, went out on a whim..." Jewel looked back, puzzled, "What do you mean?" He looked up at her, and said nonchalantly, "Oh, well I- I just don't, uhh... I don't know what this is." Jewel laughed, and said, "Here, I'll show you how to eat it." The two ate the papaya together in peace, knowing they could never be ripped apart.
A.N. I am back, with the first story of the new year. I hope you enjoyed, and please review! I have been inspired to continue do to theessayed of my readers like WordSPark, and you should check out his stories as well. Happy New year, and have a nice day!
-Kakela