Rise of the Zealots
Rebels of the Darkness
Chapter 37: the aftermath of the battle
Hello ladies and gentlemen. We are back with chapter 37, but I have an important announcement before we begin. This will be my last story and I mean it this time. I'm getting married in a month's time and therefore, won't have as much time anymore. I'd only be able to write as half as much as I usually do in longer time and I wouldn't be happy with myself for that.
But that does not mean my story line is ending. Saga 3 will be continued by another author. When this story ends, two author's will be maintaining the rights to my stories.
Assassin's Creed Master will maintain the rights to the OC's and help with story ideas.
Blu Razgriz will be writing the stories from now on and they will be published to his profile.
I know that you may miss me, but I would rather my story line continue than come to an end and Blu Razgriz has said that he will try and write in the same writing style as I do. With that being said, here's chapter 37 ladies and gentlemen of FanFiction. Enjoy.
Shortly after the defeat of Lee, his army of dark macaws was easily apprehended and the battle was won by the heroes. While half of the dark macaws had perished in battle, the other half surrendered and was taken by to the World of Darkness to face the crimes against the true dark macaws.
There had unfortunately been casualties on the hero's side to. Members of all the clans had perished in battle, but their leaders had assured everyone that they would not be forgotten and their names would be remembered in honor of their sacrifice to save their home.
Now that the war was over, all that was left to do was tie up some loose ends. Outside of the rebel base, the dark macaw rebels were packing their things away and preparing to move out now that they no longer needed this hideout. With their victory, they could now go back home and start over.
While the dark macaws were preparing to leave, Blu and Jewel still had an important question that needed to be answered from Arvo, who promised to explain everything.
As a portal was opened for the dark macaws, Arvo and Nina stayed until everyone one else was through. With them were Blu, Jewel, their four children, Rafael, Eva, their children too, Nico, Pedro and Rico. It was time for them to say goodbye, but this did not mean it was the last time they would see one another.
"My friends, it has been an honor to be with you." Arvo said with a small smile. "I thank each and every one of you for your help. Without you, this war would have gone differently. But before I go, I believe I owe Jewel an explanation to her survival in the battle."
"Yes." Jewel nodded, eager to find out. "Please tell me."
Arvo was unsure where to begin and decided to keep it as short as possible. "When the real Rico was resurrected by Nexus, he was given a short power of his own. In the event he was injured, the power would save him, but to pass it onto someone else would kill him, and that is what he did. He gave his power to you, Jewel when you had died the first time. His power healed you."
Jewel appeared almost satisfied with the answer, but first, there was one more thing she needed to know. "But if the power healed me, why didn't it always take effect? I broke both of my talons and hurt my wing six months ago."
"It appears the power only works when you are near death." Arvo explained as he beckoned for one of his people to hand him something: a small orb. He moved towards Jewel and offered it to her. "If you wish to have this power removed, the orb will take it and return it to you if you please. It is up to you of course."
While Jewel was relieved that this power had saved her before, she would rather get rid of it. "I want to get rid of the power. I don't want to be able to cheat death while my family can't. Please, get rid of it."
Arvo nodded. "Very well. Hold onto the orb and I will begin the process. It will only take a few seconds."
Closing his eyes, Arvo began to concentrate and in a mere few seconds, the power passed through Jewel and transferred into the orb. Arvo smiled and gave the orb back to one of his fellow dark macaws. "There you go. Simple."
Jewel smiled in response. "Thank you."
Now that Jewel was rendered powerless, it was time for Blu to ask a question of his own.
"Arvo, how did I dream of Rico in the first place?" Blu inquired. "How did I have that dream?"
"All of our people possess an influence power within us and when you are around one of us for a while, that influence will begin to have an affect on you too. It will allow you to see visions of the past or present that may serve as a warning." Arvo explained the best he could, but even he did not fully understand how it worked.
With their questions answered, it was time for the dark macaws to leave soon.
"What will you do now?" Blu inquired to Arvo.
Arvo turned towards Nina first, who nodded towards him. He smiled and gave Blu the answer he requested. "Nina and I were speaking to our people, and we have agreed that I will be the new King of the World of Darkness. They trusted me to lead them into a new age. I admit that it's going to be difficult, but I promised my people that I will lead them to safety."
"I think you will be a good leader, Arvo." Jewel agreed with a smile of her own.
"Thank you." Arvo thanked before he turned his attention towards Rico. Now it was his turn to ask a question of his own. "What will you do, Rico? Will you stay here or come with us?"
Rico had been thinking about this after the war was over. He wanted to stay here with his friends, but he felt that he no longer belonged here. He still had to make amends for his people for his crimes as his past self. He sighed and turned towards the others with a direct answer. "I have decided to go back with Arvo. Their world needs rebuilding and as a fellow dark macaw myself, I have to go back and help them rebuild. I may be a clone, but that does not change anything."
Arvo nodded, but while the others respected Rico's decision, they were going to miss him. Too many times he kept appearing and reappearing throughout their lives, but now that they knew he was not the same Rico, they realized that life may not be the same without him. He may be a clone and a former apprentice of the evil dark lord, but to them, he was still the same Rico as before.
"We're going to miss you, Rico." Jewel admitted while she struggled to hold back tears.
"We will meet again, Jewel. I promise." Rico promised with a smile of reassurance.
The time to leave was approaching. Before Rico left, he bid each one of his friends goodbye with friendly gestures. He shared fist bumps with Nico and Pedro, a talon shake from Rafael and Eva, and a hug with Blu, Jewel and their four children.
After Rico was finished bidding them goodbye, Arvo walked forward towards Blu and offered him a talon shake to finish off their goodbyes and to thank them for their help. "Goodbye Blu. Know that you are a friend of the World of Darkness and we will always welcome you to our home."
"Thank you, Arvo." Blu thanked and accepted his talon shake.
With their goodbyes said, it was time for the dark macaws to leave. As the remaining dark macaws transported through the portal, Rico, Arvo and Nina proceeded to follow their people back to their own world. As they reached the portal, Rico turned around and winked towards his friend to remind them that this was not going to be the last time they would see him.
The trio entered the portal and a moment later, it was sealed off, leaving the group of friends on their own. There was a moment of awkward silence until Nico stepped forward.
"What now?" Nico inquired with a shrug.
Jewel had one thing on her mind that Blu had seemed to let slip from her mind. She placed her wing around Blu to get his attention. "Well, Blu and I need to find ourselves a new home unless we wanted to spend the night sleeping under a leaf."
"You guys and gals are always welcome to stay with us if you have trouble finding a home." Nico offered while tripping his bottle cap as a friendly gesture.
"Yeah! It'll be like a sleep over." Pedro agreed. "Besides, we ain't never there half the time anyway."
Blu and Jewel smiled in response.
"Thank you for the offer, guys." Jewel expressed her gratitude and knelt down to plant a small kiss on both of their heads. "That's really sweet."
Nico and Pedro blushed slightly in response.
"Well, Eva and I better get home." Rafael spoke up while he was holding Eva's wing in his good one. "We're feeling a little sore and not like I can exactly fly at the moment."
Blu nodded. "Get well soon, guys."
"We will." Eva assured while she held her free wing against her neck.
As the toucans began to walk home, the blue macaw family proceeded to leave the area to go and find themselves a new home with Nico and Pedro following them. There was not denying that they were going to miss their old home that they shared so many memories in, but who knows? They might like this new home better than the old one.
It was a lot more difficult than it seemed to find a nice home in the jungle. Not only were most of the tree hollows already occupied, they wanted to find a tree that was within the area of their old home, close to their friends and not too far from the city. Eventfully, they located a new home not too far from where Rafael and Eva lived. It was a nice tree with a good view and it even had a tree full with fruits right beside it.
Blu stepped inside of their new home first and spread out his wings while examine their home. "Well everyone, what do you think?"
"I love it." Jewel answered almost immediately. "It's not the same as our old home, but I think we can settle in here in time."
"We love it to, Dad." Crystal spoke up, speaking for all three of her siblings who all nodded in agreement.
"Excellent." Blu smiled and clasped his wings together. "Now all we need to do is make ourselves a nest and then we can settle in nicely."
"We can help with that." Nico offered and Pedro nodded. "We know the best places to find twigs."
"Thanks guys." Blu thanked.
"No problem-lame-o." Pedro assured. After all, Blu and Jewel had taken a huge part in saving their home and they deserved to rest.
With a job to do, Nico and Pedro flew away to go and fetch some twigs for the blue macaws to help them build a nest. Until they returned, the family of blue macaws sat beside each other and embraced close, enjoying their time together as a family. It had been a while now since they got to enjoy time like this, but with the four villains defeated, their worries were over and now they could live in peace.
When nighttime had arrived, the family of blue macaws were exhausted that they had fallen asleep almost immediately. Well, the kids did at least, but as for their parents, they were awake for a little longer. Fortunately, Nico and Pedro had managed to find enough twigs for them to build their own nest to sleep in the same day they moved into their new home.
While Jewel sat the center of their nest, she had both of her wings placed around her four children and watched as they quietly slept within her embrace. Blu was sitting behind Jewel and had both of his wings rested around her as he allowed Jewel to rest her head against his chest. The lovebirds sighed as they watched the beautiful sky from within their home while enjoying each other's company. It was quiet until Blu spoke first.
"Jewel?" Blu whispered, careful not to wake up the kids.
"Hmm?" Jewel hummed with a small smile while she continued focusing her eyes outside.
"We did it." Blu smiled. "We beat the four villains. Our home is safe."
While Jewel was relieved that they won, she did not appear to share her mate's enthusiasm. She sighed in response. "Blu, I'm glad that it's over now, but for how long?"
"What do you mean?" Blu questioned, obvious as to what she was referring to.
"We beat these bad guys ever time, and for what? We beat one of them, and then another one just rises." Jewel explained before she sighed yet again. "I'm getting tired of all this. Why do we always have to be the victims of all this? Why can't they just leave us alone?"
Jewel went quiet when Blu placed his wing over her beak, reminding her that their four children were still sleeping.
"Jewel, I know it's hard and don't like it either, but we won." Blu reminded in an attempt to cheer her up. "We've won each time. Even birds with powers that aren't impossible in this world can't beat us. Butch was triple my size, Lee had an army, and we still beat them. Look, I can't promise that everything will be peaceful, but I can promise that I'll protect you and the kids no matter what and if another bad guy tries to stop us, then he better watch out because we'll stop them."
Jewel's expression changed slightly and she raised a small smile after hearing Blu's words of encouragement to lighten the mood. "You're right, Blu. They can't stop us, can they? But what about the person who's been leaving you those notes?"
"If he arrives, then we'll take him together." Blu reassured, confident that they were unbeatable as long as they were together.
"Together." Jewel agreed and moved her head back down against Blu's chest.
Now that Blu had lightened the mood, the two continued to gaze upon the outside. It was going to take some time getting use to their new home, but in time, they would settle in nicely and enjoy this new home. The silence was broken yet again, this time by Jewel.
"Blu. I miss Rico." Jewel admitted. "I miss him so much. Even if he was a dark macaw, he's still my brother and I miss him so much."
"I miss him too, Jewel." Blu agreed and moved one of his wings to stroke the top of her head. "But we can be happy knowing that he's alive and he's with his people. It's not the end, Jewel; we'll see him again in the future."
"I know, Blu, but I just wished things could have been different." Jewel replied, but she accepted that this time, Rico was not gone forever. She had the feeling they would be reunited very soon. "You know, I'm surprised that Rico was a great warrior long ago, especially with his disability."
Blu raised an eyebrow when the term 'disability' was used. "Disability?"
"Yeah. Don't you remember?" Jewel inquired, but Blu shook his head in response. "Rico's half-blind."
"He is?" Blu questioned, slightly surprised at this sudden struck of news.
"That's right. He can't see out of his right eye." Jewel replied with a small smile. "I thought you knew."
"It's news to me, Jewel." Blu replied and moved his free wing back around his beloved.
For a little while longer, Blu and Jewel continued to gaze upon the stars until they got some rest for the night. With the threat over, they could finally get some much needed rest for everything that had happened. Little did they know however that a mysterious cloaked figure was standing on a tree opposite of their own.
That concludes this chapter, ladies and gentlemen. The four villains have been defeated and now only the mysterious mastermind remains, and now we have learned a new little fact about our favorite hawk: he's half-blind. Stay tuned for chapter 38.