Chapter 101- the picking up of the pieces continues
Sometime later
All the bad toucans had finally been packed into the trucks and taken away, much to the relief and gladness of the Blu Bird Sanctuary residents and Blu and company, but everyone knew that they had a LOT of pieces to pick up and a LOT of damage caused by the marauding toucans to face, and it was not just Zebedee's stabbed feelings caused by the poisonous insults about his scarred face made by those two toucans which Iris, Phoebe, Augustus, Melissa and some of the other members of Blu's group were trying to patch up and reassure the offended and distressed hyacinth macaw that those remarks fired at him by those two toucans were not true at all. Heartbreak hung over everyone else like a very thick black cloud as they began to grieve those lost to the fire. It was now the beginning of night, the exact time the chaos started with Marco, Sofia and the others attacking and stealing the kids of Bia, Carla, Tiago and the others, leading to the chaos and inferno that was also established by the fiendish Dalek the chameleon in his attempt to destroy the sanctuary named after an individual of his most detested species.
Diantha and Murphy, another rosette spoonbill and the brother of Orton, were sat on the floor near Tulio's Aviary, tears falling from their eyes, their heads bowed, wings shaking and sobs and sniffles escaping their beaks as the deep gash left by the loss of their respective mates Tom and the female spoonbill continued to bleed like an open wound. They were now mourning the loss of their mates fully, that mourning having been delayed due to the unfinished business that had to be dealt with. Diantha and Murphy's friends and family had gathered to console the two over their loss. Among them were Porthos, Orquidea, Wilbur, Poinsettia, Carlos, Rita, Roberto and Brisa, and they offered the torn toco/keel-billed hybrid toucan their consolations, and Gladion and Lillie, who had been told of the harrowing news of their father's demise, were also weeping and were being comforted by their friends too. Tom had been a close friend to Carla, Bia, Tiago, Justin, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Kira and also the macaws in the Amazon such as Lavender and Felix, Finnick's same-brood sister and brother, and also Stella, Luna, Soren, Sebastian and Anabelle, as well as the rest of the gang, and Tom's death at the clutches of the murderous Dalek when he sacrificed himself to save Blu had left a gaping hole in the group. This heartbreak was also felt by Murphy and his relatives over the loss of Murphy's mate. Murphy's five chicks, his cousin Kipo, brother Orton, and the parents of the three spoonbills were saturated with extreme devastation, and now the five spoonbill chicks were going to have to grow up without a mother, while Gladion and Lillie will have to grow up without their father. It truly was a dark valley for Diantha and company, and also for the other birds and animals that had lost friends and relatives to the fire as well.
The devastation caused by loss was also gripping Tulio and his team. After losing both Aurum and Gylfie, the only pair of fruithawks known in existence, the former who died in the fire and the latter from extreme stress, trauma and a broken heart, the group of ornithologists were grieving the loss of a critically endangered species of bird and had their hopes set on the only thing Gylfie had managed to leave behind before passing; the clutch of five eggs which were now in a special incubator and kept a close and constant eye on. Tulio and the others had hoped that these eggs had been fertilised so that the golden fruithawk species would have hope in a new generation. However, two more eggs of an unknown species had also been discovered in the burned forest and had been brought here to Tulio's Aviary for incubation. The two eggs had been identified as being the eggs of an extremely rare species of owl, but the eggs' parents who had been living in the forest under the noses and beaks of the humans and the forest residents, had perished in the fire.
As the clutch of eight extremely precious eggs continued to be held in the two incubators, Levi sat nearby, his sad gaze on the clutch of five ultra-precious white orbs, the golden fruithawk eggs and the eggs of Aurum and Gylfie, a tear falling from his eye. As he continued to gaze at this clutch of eggs left behind by Gylfie, Lapis Lazuli came in.
"This is definitely a clear reminder of when you and I were the last known pair of glaucous macaws alive before we had Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie, and almost a fifth chick, dear," said she in a saddened voice. As she said this, she stole a glance at Tristan and Trixie, now adults along with Larimar and Quincy back in the Amazon, as they talked with Aiden, Neytiri and some of the other birds including Frodo and Ellie. Nearby, Arcturus, Canopus and Katniss, the two couples' chicks, played nearby with Sylvester and Bambi, Spyro and Marella's chick, and also Altair, Aldebaran, Steven and Kevin. Altair still wore bandages on his lower back and wing for his burns were still healing but then Lapis Lazuli's mind travelled to another certain macaw chick, a three-quarter scarlet one, that also had burns but on the bottom of her foot and on her forehead.
"Those toucans certainly have destroyed everything for everyone, haven't they?" asked Levi as he continued gazing at the fruithawk eggs through a window in the incubator top, before flashing abrief glance to the two owl eggs in the other, smaller incubator, "Not only have most of their chicks died in the fire but the only two golden fruithawks in existence… Murphy's mate…" a small sob escaped his throat, "A-a-and almost all of our grandkids except those back in the Amazon…"
Lapis Lazuli put her wings around her mate as he began to weep and brought him into a comforting hug, before gazing at the eggs in the incubator. It was clear that the fruithawk chicks in these eggs, if any at all, are going to grow up without a mother or a father, along with the two ultra rare species of owl eggs which had been found orphaned in the forest.
While Levi and Lapis Lazuli continued gazing at the fruithawk eggs, Athos, Ruby, Spinel, Sheldon, Poinsettia and Wilbur sat outside the main recovery room with Rigel (her shoulder still in its bandage where the wood shard had been removed) and Antares in their wings. Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine were outside comforting Murphy, Diantha and the other birds that had lost mates to the fire (or in Tom's case, impaled by Dalek when the crazed chameleon was trying to kill Blu with a wood shard). The eight macaws were waiting for Betelgeuse as her foot, the one that had been badly burned, was being unbandaged, along with her forehead. Then Wilbur shuddered.
"I can't believe how much our kids had been through over the past few weeks," said he, "The poachers... that fraudulent Paradise Sanctuary place... the fire... our relatives back in the Amazon Sanctuary are gonna be utterly horrified to hear all this," he shuddered at the thought of telling his brother Azul and his mate Brooke this story when they returned to the Sanctuary de Amazon.
"Well, at least our relatives back on the Amazon hadn't been here when it all happened, Wilbur," Athos said, "Especially when those beyond-stupid toucan chicks went gallivanting about with those branches and sticks set alight with the orange flames that kindled just about every tree or shrub which lead to the massive fire last night," he said this with sarcastic outrage.
"Some of them, such as Brooke and Estelle, wouldn't have coped with this disaster very well, anyway, having been traumatised by the previous fire in the Amazon," said Ruby.
"What those toucans have done to everyone else, including their own reformed family members like Diantha, is totally unforgivable, I can tell you," said Spinel in a controlled voice of anger as she held Rigel, "I just hope that lot will live out the rest of their lives in their new homes with PURE SHAME!"
"And disgrace," put in Sheldon. The other adult red macaws nodded in agreement while Rigel and Antares only exchanged silent glances. Then movement was detected in the macaws' eyes.
"Here comes Amy with Betelgeuse," said Ruby when she saw one of the ladies walk through the door towards them. Athos, Spinel, Sheldon, Poinsettia, Wilbur, Antares and Rigel popped their heads up and saw Amy approach them and gently set Betelgeuse, wrapped in a small white fresh cloth, down beside them on the worktop. A look of sadness and sorrow was lacing the woman's face as she gazed at Athos and some of his family, igniting worry within the group, especially Sheldon, Spinel, Antares and Rigel. Then after placing Betelgeuse near the group, Amy turned round to leave to see to another task.
After she had gone, Athos and the others gazed at Betelgeuse as she stood up from the cloth but she kept her talons hidden. A serious look was on her face, the same look borne by the other severely heartbroken birds but it was not over the loss of a close individual to the fire for thankfully, none of Athos's immediate family had died in the disaster. Further, Betelgeuse had one wing clasped over the area above her left eye.
"Betelgeuse," said Athos. At first, no reply but then the severely devastated chick slowly looked up at her grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, sister, brother, aunt and blue-and-gold uncle.
"Betelgeuse," said Spinel and Sheldon together. Ruby, Athos, Rigel, Antares, Poinsettia and Wilbur looked on but when they saw the distraught look on Betelgeuse's face, the worry within them burned ever higher, especially at how she concealed her left talon and forehead, the areas that had been badly burned. Then shaking with distress, Betelgeuse seized the cloth hiding her left foot, yanked it away and threw it aside, before turning to some of her family members gathered and showed them her foot, as well as her forehead.
"You won't BELIEVE what has BECOME OF MY FOOT and FACE after being forced to TRAMPLE THROUGH THAT FIRE after those HORRID TOUCANS have ABANDONED ME, RIGEL AND ANTARES in THAT FIRE!" screeched the little chick with distress. Her eyes spewed tears and her pineapple-stalk like crest was spiked out. Athos, Ruby, Spinel, Sheldon, Wilbur, Poinsettia, Rigel and Antares gazed at Betelgeuse's left foot, the one that had been burned, and then at her forehead, the area of it above her left eye. A featherless patch was visible above Betelgeuse's left eye, the area that was burned by a small cinder from the fire but what when Athos' group gazed at her left foot, they saw the lower leg but where were the toes? Rigel and Antares shuddered. 'No, no, no, please don't be true…' thought all the pair them but what they saw of their sister's left foot, or the remains of it, definitely wasn't a figment of their imagination. Betelgeuse then put her left foot, or rather the toeless stump of it, down into the cloth and began to tremble and weep.
"The toes were so badly burned that… that… the surgeons had to re-re-re…" she began but then the little chick began to break down and sob hard. Spinel, Sheldon, Rigel and Antares then walked over to her to comfort her, followed by Athos, Ruby, Poinsettia and Wilbur.
"Look, my granddaughter," said Athos as he gave Betelgeuse a one-winged hug due to his broken wing still being in its cast, "We'll get through this together."
"At least your LIFE hadn't have been the thing that was lost," said Ruby as Betelgeuse sobbed hard. Spinel, Sheldon, Poinsettia, Wilbur, Rigel and Antares also hugged the sobbing chick. Betelgeuse's sobbing had attracted the attention of some of the other birds and animals in the medical room, including Levi, Lapis Lazuli and Tristan and company, and they walked over to Athos and his little group.
"What's happened?" asked Frodo.
"Looks like Betelgeuse is severely devastated as well," said Ellie, "But the question is… why?"
Then Neytiri happened to get a glimpse of Betelgeuse's left leg, or the toeless stump of it, as she continued to sob in her family's wings. She drew in a sharp gasp and put her un-casted wing to her beak in horror.
"What's wrong, Neytiri?" asked Tristan. Aiden, Trixie, Frodo, Ellie and the others gazed at her as well but Neytiri only turned to them and said nothing, replying with a horrified look saturating her face. Nearby, Broccoli, who was talking with Daisy, Collette and some of the birds, also happened to get a glimpse of Betelgeuse's problem. However, the cat only shuddered and shook his heads in disbelief while nearby, Sandalwood, Stella and Soren, who had come in to check on Connie, Sardonyx, Greg, Steven and Kevin, also saw the devastating loss gripping Spinel and Sheldon's older daughter.
"What's going on?" asked Connie, her broken wing still in a cast.
"Betelgeuse looks like she's…" said Steven but he cut himself off, not wanting to mention the chick's loss of her toes.
As Betelgeuse continued sobbing in his and his group's wings, Athos spotted a sea of eyes gazing at him and his group.
"Mr Athos," said Sardonyx, walking towards Tristan's group, "Mr Athos, are you okay?"
No reply, except for a movement of a group of red macaws from the worktop, down the ladder set against it and into the doorway to the artificial jungle chamber to escape the unwanted attention. Sardonyx gazed worriedly at Tristan, Neytiri, Frodoand the others with them but they just shrugged. Looks like it will be a difficult time for Betelgeuse's family. Betelgeuse had lost the toes on her left foot due to them being so badly burned in the fire, and had suffered a scar on her forehead above the left eye, another consequence brought upon her because of the selfishness of that brat Sofia and her group abandoning her, Rigel and Antares to the fire to focus on their own kids. However, she, along with the other badly-behaved toucans, had already gone and hopefully, disgrace and shame will grip them for the rest of their lives after the destruction they and many of their kids have caused for everyone on the Blu Bird Sanctuary who are now left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and destroyed homes.
Sometime later, in the streets of Rio lit by streetlights and other artificial lights
The night-time activities of Rio continued to flow by as many humans began their night-time activities such as nightshifts for some of them. The fire brigade crews also patrolled the destroyed forest for any signs of small fires that may require putting out while some of Tulio's team did the same but searching for any animal that had survived the fire, while the rest of the team looked after all the birds and other animals that had managed to evacuate the forest and treat the casualties back at the Aviary and at other animal hospitals in the city. In the alleys of another part of Rio not too far away from the vicinity and premises of Tulio's Aviary, a group of three stray cats were digging through some rubbish piles and overfull trash cans or bins on the search for some food. However, as they did that, movement startled the trio and sent them bolting and abandoning their search. The movement was caused by a cardboard box and it was shifting along by itself. However, it was not really moving by itself; something was hiding under it and pushing it along, and was using a hole in one of its side as a peephole to see where it was going and through though that peephole, a pair of brown eyes were examining the surroundings. However, those eyes were not laced with pure fury, but of extreme fear, genuine fear, and timidity.
The owner of the eyes was a certain bird but that bird was flooded with extreme fear. He was trembling with nervousness and because he was trembling, the box covering him shook with him as he pushed it along, but it was not just nervousness that was making him tremble, and his eyes were also occasionally closing tight shut as he winced with pain. Cautiously and painfully, the covered bird began to slowly make his way to the junction of the street at which the alley's entrance connected. As soon as he was at the junction, the boxed bird peered around the corner of the wall through the peephole of his cover. A flurry of legs flooded his range of view as people walked past, and the road ahead was partially full of passing vehicles such as cars. Then as soon as the boxed bird spotted a break in the legs of the passing humans as they continued walking along, he prepared to make his move. Cautiously and nervously, the boxed bird shifted his cover and began to enter the gasp. However, he did not spot an incoming passer-by heading his way and as the boxed bird moved further away from the alley, he did not notice that he had ended up right in the path of the incoming person. Then suddenly, the legs of the person made contact with the box and made her lose balance and stumble forward. The process knocked the boss from the bird and forced him to dive behind a nearby street bin. The lady, after regaining her balance from the stumble, shot an irritated glare back at what had tripped her up and hissed under her breath when she spotted a cardboard box. Seizing it and collapsing it into a flat piece of cardboard with her hands as she walked away, she continued to grumble. The bird, whimpers uttering from his dark grey beak, behind the waste bin watched on as the lady walked away with his precious cover. He then prepared to make his move back into the alleyway but again he did not notice something heading his way.
As the bird cautiously crept back towards the alleyway's entrance, making sure to avoid any pairs of legs of passers-by as they walked past, he suddenly bumped into something furry.
"Hey, watch where you're going, buddy!" said the furry thing, making the bird shoot a frightened gaze at the speaker. However, as the two's eyes met, their owners froze stiff. The furry thing was a tabby cat resembling the late Veggie and he stood there, all four of his feet rooted to the spot as he gazed at the plucked, featherless, clawed form standing before him. Then a few more forms appeared behind the first furry form and gazed at the creature.
"Isn't that-?" began one of them, a female white cat with a mix of calico patches and tabby stripes splotching her fur.
"He looks like a beaten chicken stripped of his feathers," said another female cat with a similar coat.
"What have you found, Broccoli, Daisy and Collette?" asked another voice, pulling the attention of the three furry forms, which were cats, towards the speaker. The plucked bird flinched harshly. He recognised those names. Timidly, he began to creep away towards the alley's entrance but then he saw a few more forms emerge from behind the three cats, this time feathered forms, and those feathered forms sent extreme fear boiling within the plucked bird. The first cat, the male tabby, then pointed his paw at the featherless creature and said to one of the forms, "I believe it's that cockatoo, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Justin, Matilda, Virgil, Kira and Finnick, but he's completely missing his feathers, including his crest."
"And he's totally covered in those horrible claw marks and bite wounds," put in one of the female calibies (calico/tabby mix). Then one of the feathered forms, all of which were blue macaws of various shades but were all the same species came forward and glared scornfully and mockingly at the plucked bird. She had green eyes and a chubby build.
"To be honest, I think Nigel now looks like a piece of rotting meat," she smugly said in a rancour-laced voice, "Mom and Dad certainly have done a good job in dealing with him after her had almost killed Aunt Ruby."
"When she and Uncle Athos were having a romantic moment," said another female macaw, a slender, cerulean one with brown eyes. The plucked bird then began to tremble like jelly and lose control of his breathing. Then one of the darker blue males, the one with brown eyes, then glared menacingly at the bird.
"Whassup, vulture face?" he crooned mockingly and began to saunter towards him, "Our presence frightening you?"
The plucked bird continued to tremble and whimper and then back away as the blue macaw sauntered towards him. Then some of the other blue macaws gathered around him, mocking glares also piercing the terrified plucked bird.
"I think we should jump on that featherless cockatoo and do what your parents did eh, Tiago?" said the dark blue female that resembled her uncle Blu. The other four blue macaws, one an electric blue female with pigtails like Aurora and another, a male resembling Roberto but with lighter blue feathers, then began to saunter towards the petrified plucked bird.
"Good idea," hissed the pigtailed female, "Especially if he's gonna become a threat to our families and friends again."
"His presence still sickens us!" hissed one of the caliby cats to which the macaws nodded in agreement. Then the tabby cat came in and flared his claws while the Roberto-like male macaw crouched and glared at the plucked bird, a menacing scowl on his face and crest spiked out to intimidate the plucked bird.
"Let's get 'im, shall we?" asked he to the others and the three cats. That did it. The volcano of fear finally erupted within the plucked bird, which was Nigel who was featherless covered in many, many half-healed cuts and bruises including a large black bloom around his right eye, the result of Blu and Jewel's savage attack on him for threatening Athos and Ruby earlier. His wings were completely featherless and resembled a plucked chicken's wings and his crest was completely gone. His pink, scarred skin was absolutely crisscrossed with claw marks and bite injuries, indicating that Blu and Jewel had slashed their claws over his skin and painfully tore out his feathers, especially from his wings, tail and crest and rendering him like this. Then with an extremely PIERCING scream exploding through his beak, causing the group consisting of Broccoli, Daisy, Collette and Carla, Bia, Tiago, Justin, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick and Kira who had gone for a walk and happened to bump into the featherless, battered Nigel, to flinch and throw their wings and front paws over their ears to block out the sword-tipped noise. Then the featherless and injury-covered cockatoo, the screech continuously erupting from his beak, whirled round, scrabbled on the floor and tried to make a break for it. However, he was so consumed with so much fear that he had veered away from the alley's entrance and right into the road.
Broccoli, his sisters, and Carla, Bia, Tiago and the other Spix macaws present watched with surprise as the featherless, battered Nigel then entered the road, narrowly avoiding getting flattened by the tyres of one of the passing cars, and then suddenly disappear, another passing car concealing his vanishing, but Broccoli and the others heard screaming, followed by a splash. Broccoli and the others flinched when they heard this and then slowly looked at the spot where Nigel was last seen. To their surprise, they saw an open hole in the road surrounded by black and yellow barriers and bright orange and silver cones, and a group of four workmen gazing with surprise and uttering surprised and horrified Brazilian Portuguese comments about something, and then began to set to work on rescuing whatever had fallen down the hole. This implied only one thing.
"Something's fallen into the sewers!" said Collette as she translated the words for the others. Then Finnick came forward, a scornful look on his face.
"Maybe it was that Nigel bird?" he asked the others. Broccoli just breathed a sigh and said, "Let's just return to Tulio's Aviary, gang. We've had enough horrors for one month."
The Spix macaws, Collette and Daisy nodded and with that, they continued down the street. Bia then flashed a scornful gaze at the workmen as they climbed into the hole as she walked along with Virgil.
"I've always seen the sewers as a home for that rancid cockatoo, anyway," she said, "I think those workmen should leave him in there."
"I think they should," said Tiago and Carla together as Justin and Matilda walked with them. Some of the others nodded in agreement but Virgil wasn't sure on what to feel or think. However, he disagreed with Carla, Bia and Tiago's statement completely, thinking it to be too overly spiteful and scornful of the now-sorry cockatoo and hoped that he will be rescued, washed and cared for and to never bother the birds and their friends again for the rest of his life. Then as the group disappeared down the street with some humans, the workmen continued to descend into the sewer system to rescue Nigel who had veered into the hole while trying to escape Broccoli and the others.