Author's Notes:
Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter. So with the possibility of Jewel being pregnant, we're at a scary time for our favorite macaws. How will they adapt to this new and very sudden change? Plus with the ghostly figure of Amber or at least someone pretending to be Amber on the loose, how can Jewel adapt to one of the darkest moments of her life? Can she protect the eggs she now carries? Or will she snap under the pressure? Find out as the story continues.
Chapter 9:
Jewel remained sequestered within the confinement of the treatment room for quite some time. With Tulio and his medical staff determined to run more tests which continued to grow in quantity with every passing moment, the ornithologist had decided to leave her alone to gather her thoughts. Her ears twisted as she listened to the humans talking in a small room just off of the far corridor –obviously discussing her latest test results and celebrating the first successful step to saving their species from the brink of extinction – she lowered her head and without a word seated herself upon the small countertop. Her head rested against one of the many windows. The summer sun seemed much stronger that day, heating up the glass which provided a pleasant and very comfortable warmth to the expecting mother. Shifting her attention, Jewel admired her wing as she placed it across a small piece of stained glass. The light which crept through the decorative window changed her cerulean feathers to a fiery majestic red. "I bet Blu would enjoy such a thing," she mused, staring in amazement. "He would probably go all nerdy and tell me how the light and glass could do such a thing even coming up with some weird scientific name for it."
At the very mention of the blue macaw, her wings instinctively fell to her stomach. She let out a sigh as she felt the sudden firmness of her flesh. She could not help but wonder if she truly was about to become a mother. How would Blu react once she told him? Would he take up the responsibility of a father? Would he panic? Would he still love her after she gained the weight from the eggs? Did he even love her at all? After all he could not bring himself to say those three words. Did he only care about saving the species? Or was there more to it and he actually did love her? "I'm sure he would be a little nervous." Jewel frowned, "I know I am. It's not every day that something like this happens." Jewel shook her head and stopped herself from thinking about the negative. She knew Blu better than she knew herself most of the time. Pieces of her own personality remained lost in the mist of her mind, hidden from everyone including herself as she tucked it all away behind a protective barrier of ice which emanated outwards as her cold and sarcastic personality. Blu on the other hand always had been a good, honest, and socially awkward character. He didn't always know what to do or what to say but he never failed to do the right thing. This would be no different. She lowered her head and formed a comfortable smile. "He'll do the right thing," she said, "He's the most responsible and dependable bird that I have ever met." She yawned and lowered herself onto the counter. Her beak clacked together noisily before lowering her head into her wings. She allowed herself to relax. Closing her eyes, she silently drifted off into a quiet slumber. In her dreams Jewel found herself in the innards of the breeding chamber. Rising up onto her talons, she eyed the artificial jungle for a couple of moment. Her wings folded together as she proceeded forward. "Blu?" she called out. "Where are you?"
Silence greeted her as the only reply. She shook her head and continued to move
forward. The room seemed unusually dark, despite the sunlight which filtered in through the sky light. "Blu?" she called out for the second time. "Come on quit playing around. Get your feathery butt out here. I have something to say to you." Again silence seemed to be the reply from the artificial jungle. Jewel's eyes widened a little more fearfully. She failed to hear the intruder sneak up behind her until it was too late.
"Hello, Jewel."
Jewel came alert, spinning around to find herself staring eye to eye with the strange white robed bird from the other night. She backed away stifling a startled shriek as she covered her beak with her wing. Her eyes narrowed and glistened with all the primal rage of a natural born predator. The veins in her eyes bulged and pumped blood through the vessels and passageways of her body even if that meant her eyes. They balls of her eyes vibrated as they kept the blood circulating through the damaged tissue which she could barely notice past the hood. "What do you want?" Jewel asked, backing away defensively from the intruder. "Why are you here? I have done nothing to you."
The robed bird held a wing to her face revealing the cerulean feathers beneath the white cloth. She hissed and sobbed, shedding tears which dampened the sleeves of her white robe. Her beak trembled as she spoke. "You left me to die," the female bird said simply pointing an accusing wing at her. "You didn't even attempt to help me! Why? I was your sister? I was your family? How could you leave me to die? Yes, you left me to die. You left me."
Jewel shuddered at the unbridled hatred hinted in the female's voice. Her natural predatory instincts abandoned her. For only the second time in her life, Jewel's courage deserted her. She turned away trying to run for her life, but stopped when she realized the robed creature surrounded her on all sides. There would be no escape from the nightmarish apparition.
"You left me," the bird repeated herself. "You didn't even attempt to help me."
Jewel fell to her knees, holding her wings over her head to block out the accusing voice. "I'm sorry!" she cried out, "I thought you were dead, I thought-"
The creature shook her head and held up a wing to her face. She lowered her hood to hide her injuries from sight. "Dead? No, I'm not dead or perhaps I was. I'm very much alive but no thanks to you. You left me to die, you never looked back to help me...Your own sister… Your own flesh and blood."
"Please," Jewel begged, "Forgive me, Amber. I am your sister. You must know that I never wanted any of this to happen."
The robed creature shook her head and raised her sleeved limb up to her face. She doubled over as if feeling a sharp stabbing sensation pulsating through her brain. Her one good eye filled to the brim with tears. She trembled and convulsed as she struggled to remain strong. "You left me! You didn't even attempt to help me! You left me to die! You never looked back! I was nothing to you, NOTHING!"
"Why did you never come to find me?" Jewel asked curiously, holding out her wings. "You don't know how often I hoped and wished that someone besides me had survived. You don't know how hard it was for me to move on after that day had robbed me of every member of our family. I wanted to be able to see my sister, my mother, my father, Aunt Mimi, or even Roberto, how I wish I could talk to any of you one more time." The robed creature remained silent as if considering the thought. Jewel spread her wings and continued. "We could have helped each other. We could have been together as sisters. We could have built a brighter future together."
"We could have helped each other? Who needs your help? You left me!" The creature sobbed, "You left me… you left me…"
The strange bird shifted directions, turning her attention back towards Jewel. She laughed insanely before stabbing her wing straight through Jewel's abdomen. Jewel cringed as she felt the robed bird's wing reach through her body. Blood sprayed from the open wound and began soaking the ground beneath her talons. Without wasting a moment, the evil bird ripped three eggs from her stomach. With a wicked grin, she waved the eggs inches from Jewel's face. "Are these yours?" she asked, pulling them away before Jewel could grab them from her. "Awww what's the matter, Jewel? You know what I'm going to do with these, don't you?"
Jewel noted the cruel demeanor which swept over her sister almost instantly, she no longer resembled the shaking or insane creature she had been just a few moments ago. Instead she stood confident, cold, calculating and extremely dangerous. A whole new personality took hold within her sister's soul. Jewel nodded her head. Her eyes focused solely upon the three eggs in the wings of the apparition. "Please, give me back my eggs," Jewel begged, struggling to hold back her tears. "Please don't hurt my babies."
The robed creature laughed insanely once more and studied the eggs for a moment. Jewel watched in horror as the creature smashed them upon the ground one after another. The thick yellow yolks oozed and bubbled from the destroyed shells before turning red like blood. The sound of children crying echoed through Jewel's ears followed by the intense screaming as they died. A horrible pit of despair flooded through Jewel's soul, it drowned her and made her sick to her stomach. "No," Jewel screamed, collapsing to the dirt ground. She scrambled up the broke eggs shells in a futile effort. The thick yolk kept the pieces of the shell glued to the ground, a now eternal reminder of her failure to protect her children.
"Hahahahaha!" The robed creature laughed, "No more eggs, no more children. You left them and you failed them too, you left me and now you know my pain!"
Through her tears which flooded from her face, clouding her vision, Jewel stared with a renewed hatred for her sister. Her eyes glistened over, as a red haze covered her line of sight. Rising up onto her talons, she spread her wings, and screeched as loud as she possibly could. "They were innocent children!"
"Innocent?" The robed creature echoed, eyeing the eggs. "You mean like how mom, dad, Roberto, Aunt Mimi, and everyone else you betrayed was? Don't you think they wanted to live? Don't you think they deserved a chance at life? They were all innocent. Now you will know my pain… now you know… now you know my pain."
Jewel would have lurched forward to attack the robed creature but found herself unable to do so, some invisible force held her in place. As hard as she struggled she could not break free. Her talons seemed glued to the dirt. She watched the creature disappear from sight, leaving her in an empty world of black. A cold cruel laugh rang through her ears as all sensation of sight vanished from her eyes.
"Jewel, it's okay."
Jewel's eyes shot open as she awakened to find Tulio and Linda standing over her. He held her down with his hands. His eyes filled with concern. "Jewel, calm down, you were only having a nightmare."
Jewel cocked her head to one side and studied her surroundings. She was back in the treatment room. Several blue feathers which had been ripped out during her struggle with the apparition now rested upon the counter top. "Just a nightmare?" her mind echoed a little uneasily, she placed a wing on her stomach, thankful to still feel the same firmness which could only come from the eggs she carried. She let out an exasperated sigh of relief. It had seemed so real.
"What's wrong with her, Tulio?" Linda asked, "I've never seen her act so afraid before."
Yeah. Jewel thought to herself. But then again I've never had a ghost come after me before.
Tulio shook his head and examined the information written upon a small clipboard at his side. He frowned before speaking. "She's running a high fever. It's brought on by the change of hormones. Her body needs time to adjust to the added nutrients which are needed to support the eggs inside of her. We aren't fully capable of understanding the brain functions of animals quite yet, especially when the animals are as rare as the Spix Macaws are, it is very possible that Jewel is seeing some sort of hallucinations brought on by the fever. They may even seem completely real to her but really they are nothing more than figments of her imagination. By God, if we could prove this theory beyond a shadow of a doubt, it would revolutionize animal science as we know it. We can prove that animals are capable of producing intelligent thought just like us humans."
"So you're absolutely sure she is pregnant?" Linda asked. "There's no doubt in your mind at all that?"
"Yes," Tulio nodded, "We have run urine tests, blood tests, blood pressure tests, ultrasounds, and even x-rays, there is no doubt in my mind that our Spix Macaws are going to have triplets. By my calculations and given by the growth rate of the eggs themselves, I would bet a whole year salary that she will lay her eggs within the next week or so, and we'll have three new macaws to take care of."
"Triplets?" Linda gasped holding her hands over her mouth. "Blu is going to have three kids?"
Tulio nodded. "Speaking of Blu, we should probably return Jewel to him. We don't want him feeling all depressed. They've got a long ride ahead of them."
"But what can we do about the hormones and high fever?" Linda asked.
Tulio pulled out a small needle and placed it within a small brown bottle. Without a word he jabbed it into Jewel's side and injected a clear liquid into her blood stream.
"I've administered the pain killer called Eurotherapo. It should help fight the fever and keep her a little sedated and relaxed at the same time. Nice thing is, Eurotherapo is completely non-harmful to the babies."
Jewel let out a sigh of relief as the pain killers began to take effect. The world seemed to spin as she felt her body go numb.
#
Blu bent over and drank some of the clear stream water which flowed throughout the breeding chamber. Despite the obvious differences of not having it in a container, he seemed quiet content with it. He moaned, as he tongue continued to slurp up the crystal clear liquid. "Not bad," he smiled, "Not bad at all." Blu lowered himself onto the ground and peered at the camera surrounding the room. His thoughts fell on Jewel. "She's been gone for a while. I wonder what they're doing with her."
Nico and Pedro smiled reassuringly and eyed the macaw with all the innocence they could muster. "They're probably running some tests," Nico replied.
"Stop… rewind…" Pedro grinned. He floated over to Blu's side and rested a wing on his shoulder. "Didn't you say you wanted to tell Jewel, you loved her?"
Blu nodded sheepishly. "Yeah I did say that."
"Good," Pedro said, landing besides Nico. He whispered in the canary's ear for a moment. Nico nodded his agreement.
"Bird, we found ourselves a way." Nico smiled, "Sure you may not be able to tell her in English, but what if we taught you how to say it in Portuguese."
Blu thought about it for a moment. "But I don't speak Portuguese, I can't even speak French."
"That's why we said we'd teach you home-bird." Pedro squawked, "It's easy Eu Amo Voce."
Blu tried to repeat the words the red crested cardinal said, but found himself slipping on the accent. "U amo voke?"
"No, no, no," Nico shook his head, "Eu Amo Voce."
"Oh okay," Blu nodded his head, "Eu Amo voce, gotcha."
Nico and Pedro slapped their wings together and smiled at one another. The canary hovered by Blu's ear. "Can you remember that? Remember just have confidence and make those words the most realistic thing she's ever heard. It'll make it special."
Blu nodded. "Right guys, I understand, thank you."
Nico and Pedro bowed respectfully and fluttered off back through the ventilation system, moments before the lock flickered green.
#
Jewel seemed to be in a rather drugged, yet cheerful state. The second she slipped into the breeding chamber she stared at her reflection in the water. "Wow," she grinned dumbly, "It's so sparkly…"
She splashed the water with her wing, giggling as she admired the droplets of water which hit Blu who stumbled out of the forest. "Hey, good looking," Jewel grinned wobbling unsteadily as she tried to keep herself standing still. "What are you doing here, Blu?"
Blu stared rather taken aback by the female's antics. He ruffled his wings together, speaking uneasily. "Are you okay, Jewel?" he asked, "You don't seem to be acting like yourself."
"Oh yeah," Jewel nodded, "I'm fine, especially when you're one of the most attractive birds I've ever met."
Jewel smiled and let herself lay back only to be in mid air. Blu turned away as he heard the sickening crash as she fell backwards. "Hey, Blu…" she called out, "I think someone moved the nest."
She chuckled one final time and fell asleep. Blu rolled her over onto her side and noticed the small pin hole.
"They must have drugged her," he thought, "but why would they go and do such a thing?"
Jewel's only reply the dripping of her saliva on the dirt. Blu shook his head and admired her peaceful state.
"Well, isn't she a dainty little flower."
Author's Notes:
And here we are with the infamous scene of Jewel's Nightmare, the egg smashing scene is one of the many scenes that had to be toned down in the original due to the violence involved within it. After people threatened to stop reading, I decided to cut back the scene entirely showing minimal details involving what was going on. But I'm glad I could finally write all of this intact.
