Disclaimer

I do not own "Rio" or any of the related characters. "Rio" is an animated movie produced by Blue Sky Studios, directed by Carlos Saldanha, and owned by The Walt Disney Company.

This story is fanfiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. I am not making any profit from this story. All rights of "Rio" belong to The Walt Disney Company.

Content warning

This story will contain talk and thoughts about mating, the biology of breeding, and death, but there won't be explicit sex or violence.

About this story

This fanfiction is based on the animated movie "Rio," and the story may not make sense without watching it. The story contains some things conflicting with the sequel movie "Rio 2".

The film contained an intriguing time skip where Tulio first picked up injured Jewel, and next she was in his hands, already healed. This story tells my idea of what could have happened during the time skip.

After seeing the movie, I wondered why Tulio would release Blu and Jewel in the wild instead of keeping them in a captive breeding program and how hard it was for Blu to adjust to changes in his life. Those questions inspired this story.

In the movie, Jewel talked Portuguese briefly and then switched to English. Everyone spoke English after that. Other birds could also tell that Blu wasn't local. My explanation is that all birds had a common language with some regional peculiarities and the movie included a loose translation to English that was easy to understand and funny.

Blu and Jewel were called "blue macaws" in the movie, even though they were based on Spix's macaws. The book adaptation and many translations call them Spix's macaws, and so does my story.

In the movie, Blu and Jewel were the last of their species known to be alive. In reality, a small group of Spix's macaws was in captivity when the last known pair in the wild was illegally captured in 1987. Since then, their numbers have increased considerably, and the first eight were reintroduced into the wild 11th of June 2022.

"It is now or never," Blu thought as the sea's surface approached fast. Jewel's surprising kiss had swept away his anxiety about flying, and his body didn't feel tight as a knot anymore. He could see a tiny chance to save them from high-speed impact to water or drowning. His left foot gripped the shoulder of Jewel's injured wing, and the other hooked around the leading edge of the other wing. He hoped his grip wouldn't slip or hurt Jewel and her position wouldn't cause excessive drag.

Blu adjusted his long tail to increase lift and spread his wings wide. Jewel felt very heavy, and his chest muscles tensed like never before, but his grip held. The trajectory of the two medium-sized blue parrots started to curve away from vertical. Would it be enough, Blu wondered. The sea got closer and closer, but their course was already almost horizontal. Then they swept the surface briefly and started to gain altitude. Blu noticed they had lost most of their airspeed and were getting close to a stall. He began flapping his wings, managed to avoid stalling, to his surprise, and even gained altitude slowly.

"Blu, you're flying!" Jewel said.

"Yeah!" he answered. "Woohoo! I'm flying! I'm really flying! You're right! I'm not an ostrich! I'm not an ostrich!"

Blu was still full of adrenaline from fighting against Nigel. That evil cockatoo had aided the group of smugglers who tried to sell Blu, Jewel, and dozens of other birds. He felt stronger than usual but was still worried because he would get tired in time, and the shore was quite far.

After a moment of silence, Jewel spoke: "Listen, Blu: we have a good tailwind. You must fly only about half the distance to the shore through the air because the wind takes care of the rest." She paused before continuing. "The wind will move upwards in front of the cliffs. Near them, you can glide and still gain elevation. That mountain near the shore will work similarly and allow you to get lots of altitude without too much effort."

There was a pause before Jewel continued with hesitation in her voice, "Do you believe you can do it?"

"I... I think I can," Blu answered, feeling they had a chance. He kept flapping, trying to keep a regular rhythm and enough power to keep his elevation.

"Where will we go from there," Blu wondered. As far as scientists knew, he and jewel were the last Spix's macaws alive. Two days ago, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to meet her because conservationists hoped they would breed and save their species from extinction. She was a wild bird; he had lived with humans since he was a chick, and they didn't get along at first.

The same evening, a gang of bird smugglers stole Blu and Jewel from the Conservation Center. The macaws managed to escape from the smugglers and made a deal: when they would get rid of the chain that the leader of the smugglers had attached between their feet, Blu would return to his human, Linda, while Jewel would return to the wild. During their adventure, the parrots gradually started to like each other, and by the time they got free from the chain, Jewel hoped Blu would come with her. He declined because his inability to fly made the idea seem crazy.

Later, the smugglers re-captured the Spix's macaws and transported them on their plane with other birds. Blu and Jewel managed to free all the birds from their cages and opened the cargo hatch during the flight to allow them to escape. However, as a flightless bird, Blu couldn't leave the plane safely. Jewel stayed with him and defended him when Nigel attacked. The fight ended with Nigel apparently getting sucked into a turbine, the plane rapidly losing altitude over the sea with only one working engine, Jewel falling with a wing injury, and Blu jumping after her.

Now Blu was flying, but Jewel couldn't. Blu feared that her injury was severe and wouldn't heal without treatment. However, they had met in the Conservation Center where humans treated injured birds, and he roughly knew its direction and distance. Jewel was against returning yesterday, but did they have a choice anymore? "Jewel, do you know how bad your wing is?" Blu asked.

"Let's talk about that when we don't fly above the sea, please?" Jewel answered in a tense voice, and Blu felt even more worried. He feared Jewel would hate him if he brought her back to get treatment, and she was held captive afterward. He didn't want her to hate him but saving her life felt more important.

Blu wondered what he would do if Jewel could heal without human help. Leaving Linda, and everything else behind, as Jewel had suggested, would be hard for him. He also doubted his ability to survive in the wild.

Getting a happy ending started to seem unlikely for Blu. Then he reminded himself, "while there is life, there is hope." He concentrated on flying, trying to be as economical as possible, every wing beat bringing him a little closer to the shore.

The shore was getting nearer, and Blu was confident he would reach it. He felt tired but believed gliding in the upward flow would be less taxing. Soon they needed to decide where to go.

The Conservation Center was the likeliest destination, but the wind blew in the wrong direction. Blu would need to fight the wind instead of being helped by it. He was sure he couldn't fly long enough while carrying Jewel. He would need to rest at some point, and he doubted he could take off again if he tried to lift Jewel.

He wasn't eager to leave Jewel behind and find help alone, but he couldn't think of a better plan. Then he remembered something from the previous night that might help them.

Eventually, Blu reached the rising air currents and started gliding. "Jewel, please tell me how bad your wing is," he asked worriedly. "We aren't over water anymore."

"Blu, you have surprised me many times," Jewel said. "Do you have any tricks to fix broken bones?" she asked.

"Unfortunately not, but humans have their ways," Blu said. "Do you think you have a fracture in your wing?"

"Blu, my humerus is in two pieces or worse," Jewel revealed. "I hope humans have a way to heal it because there isn't any other hope for me."

"I am sorry, Jewel," Blu said. "We need to get back to the Conservation Center where we met so you will be healed."

"I guess so," Jewel answered in a sad voice.

"I saw Linda in the parade," Blu revealed. "She was probably tracking the smugglers. There was also commotion during the take-off. There is a chance that we will find her and maybe other helpful humans at the airport. Even if she isn't there, I need to land somewhere and rest. I think I can reach the airport but not the Conservation Center if I carry you."

"It seems worth a shot," Jewel answered.

While gliding, Blu had time to think about what would happen if they managed to get to the Conservation Center. Blu remembered how Linda had told him they would return before he knew it. He was sure he would miss Jewel after returning home, but what could he do? If he let Linda know that he wanted to stay with Jewel, he would lose Linda and everything he was accustomed to.

Blu also remembered that Tulio and Linda expected him to "save their species" with Jewel before returning. He didn't want to disappoint them, and saving their species seemed like a good cause. However, he suspected that Jewel's injury might prevent procreation for a while.

Even if the fracture didn't stop them, he had no idea if Jewel would be willing to mate with him. Their first meeting went badly, but she seemed to like him now. It didn't guarantee that she wanted to have chicks with him, though. He could ask her thoughts at some point, but now was the wrong time for it. Besides, he hadn't felt an urge to mount her yet, although he expected it to come in time.

Blu decided to distract Jewel from the dire situation. "Pedro and Nico were quite impressive musicians. Weren't they?" he asked.

"They surely were," Jewel agreed.

"I really liked dancing with you yesterday," he added.

"I liked dancing with you too, Blu," she answered.

They didn't talk much during the rest of the flight because saving energy seemed more essential than small talk.

The airport was too far to reach by pure gliding, but Blu managed to get there by flapping his wings occasionally. Near the runway, he could see three humans sitting on a wing of a derelict plane. He was still too far to be sure, but one of them looked like Linda with the costume she had on several hours earlier. Landing close to her seemed like an obvious solution.

Getting closer, he saw that it was indeed Linda, and she was with Tulio and the boy that had first stolen them from the Conservation Center but, in the end, tried to save them from smugglers.

During the approach, Blu had made a plan for landing. He started a turn that brought him flying against the wind. His speed relative to the ground dropped close to zero, while his airspeed was still above the stall speed. His fast sink rate still worried him. At the last moment, his instinct kicked in. He flapped his wings and hovered, setting Jewel on the ground without impact and landing beside her.

Not long before Blu landed on the runway, Tulio was sitting on a wing of a derelict plane with Linda. It felt like a cruel joke. It was carnival time in Rio and the morning was beautiful. His arm was on a shoulder of a pretty woman, and they had even dressed appropriately for the carnival. However, he had failed her and failed in his mission to save Spix's macaws from extinction.

Linda had taken care of Blu for fifteen years. Two days ago, she brought Blu from Minnesota to Rio as Tulio had asked. He knew that she had been dedicated to her companion bird, and now he and the last known female had been taken away by smugglers.

Police detectives wouldn't yet be at their offices, so he still had some time before he would need to end his brooding. At least he had a lead. Fernando, the boy also in the airport, had stolen the birds from the Conservation Center for the smuggler group. Later he decided to help Linda and Tulio get the birds back. Fernando should know the names and faces of the smugglers and where they had their base.

However, the chance to get both birds back healthy enough to breed didn't look good. First, more than half of smuggled parrots died during transportation, and many of those who lived got permanent health problems. A pair of Spix's macaws would be valuable, so hopefully, the smugglers would be careful with them, but it wasn't sure.

Even if the birds got to their buyer healthy, it wasn't sure that a criminal ready to purchase critically endangered birds would take good care of them.

In addition, the smugglers may not return to Rio any time soon or at all. They might live a long time in some more affordable place with the money they would get. Even if the police found the smugglers, they may not know enough to catch the buyer. There would likely be a middleman who had been careful to be hard to track. Even if they did find the buyer, the local authorities might be corrupt and fail to confiscate the birds.

The birds getting stolen wasn't his choice, but he felt he should have done more to prevent it. He also felt bad that he hadn't been candid with Linda. He hadn't exactly lied to her, but he had omitted information that might have affected her choices. He had a good cause not to tell everything, but now it seems his efforts were in vain, and his lack of honesty would be a block between them.

Linda was pretty and seemed quite bright, and he felt attracted to her. They also had something rare in common. He was very dedicated to birds, while she had been very dedicated to her bird. He got along with most people, and it seemed that Linda did too. However, their priorities might seem alien to most people and make them misfits to some degree.

"Linda!" Fernando suddenly cried and pointed to the sky. Tulio looked and saw a bird descending towards them. Because the bird was coming from a direction close to the sun, he couldn't see it clearly, but the proportions matched Spix's macaw, and it seemed to carry something big.

Linda stood up and watched the sky. "It's Blu!" she cried out. "Look, Tulio, it's Blu! And he's flying. My Blu is flying! He's flying." Tulio didn't know what to think, but when the bird made a turn before landing, he could see that it was indeed Blu, and he was carrying Jewel.

Blu managed to land softly not far from them. Linda started to approach him, and Tulio followed. Linda lowered herself to her hands and knees before getting close, and then they noticed that Jewel didn't look alright. She was lying on her stomach, and her left wing was drooping. Even worse was an extra bend on the leading edge of that wing.

Tulio lowered himself and approached the parrots trying to look calm and unthreatening. He could see fear in Jewel's eyes.

"Here, let me see," Tulio said softly and moved his hands slowly closer. Blu touched Jewel with his wing, calming her a little. Carefully Tulio picked her up. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

Now that he had a closer look, it seemed to Tulio that Jewel's humerus had broken. It was a severe injury, but there was still a good chance for full recovery unless she had other serious injuries. Fortunately, Jewel looked alert, and he couldn't see any blood on her. He glanced at Blu, and he also seemed attentive and without any wounds. He felt a mix of hope and worry.

Carefully Tulio moved from a forward-leaning position to sitting while keeping Jewel gently in his hand. Then he lowered her on his lap, held his right hand on her side, and reached for his mobile phone with the left one. He selected the number of the secretary of the Conservation Center and started a call.

Tulio explained that he had reacquired both Spix's macaws, a long story to be told later. He informed the secretary about Jewel's injury and asked her to collect a treatment team and tell them about the situation. He emphasized the need for their surgeon and the most experienced veterinarian. The second call Tulio made was to get a taxi.

After making those calls, Tulio looked toward the boy. "Fernando, thank you for helping us in the end," he said. "I think we could help each other further. With you as a witness, the police might be able to catch those smugglers, and I would do my best to make sure you don't need to steal anymore. Right now, I need to take care of these birds. I also need some sleep soon."

Tulio then handed some money to Fernando. "Please take this money, lay low, and come to the Conservation Center tomorrow afternoon. When you come, ask me, Doctor Monteiro," he instructed.

Tulio noted that Blu and Jewel were making parrot sounds to each other. He wondered what kind of things they were able to communicate. At least it seemed to calm Jewel a little, which was promising. The macaws had fought in their first meeting, but Blu had helped Jewel this morning and seemed to affect her positively. Tulio started to feel they would bond and become mates in the future.

Tulio was still worried about all uncertainties. If either bird died or became too unhealthy to breed, the captive breeding program would fail. He estimated that Jewel was young enough to breed safely but couldn't be sure. He didn't know if both of them were even fertile. He also knew that macaws couldn't be forced to become mates. He had an alternative plan if they didn't, but it was even more uncertain. Even if Blu and Jewel would get lots of chicks, the long-term success wasn't sure.

Soon their taxi arrived. During the wait, Fernando had assured them that he could take care of himself if they just left him at any tram stop in a way. Tulio agreed because he didn't want to lose time before getting the birds to the Conservation Center.

After the taxi ride, Tulio and Linda walked into the treatment room. Tulio held Jewel with both hands while Blu perched on Linda's hand. A group of people seemed to be waiting for them. Their expressions showed amusement, puzzlement, and even admiration when they saw Linda's and Tulio's costumes.

A middle-aged woman stood nearest to them. Blu read from her nametag that she was called Alice.

"Henrique and Nicolas are getting ready in the surgery room," Alice said. "Laura will arrive soon. Others who could come early are here," she continued.

"Thank you to everyone who could come early at short notice. We have work to do," Tulio began. "Jewel has at least a wing injury. Broken humerus, I'm afraid," he continued. "Blu has no apparent injuries and seems to be strong and alert. I would like both of them to be inspected, and at least Jewel needs treatment."

"There are some additional tasks," Tulio continued. "The five-meter cage in a private room should be set up so that moving around inside it is easy with or without the ability to fly. Linda also needs to get her suitcase which is fortunately still in my office."

Tulio walked to a man Blu had seen earlier with scratch marks done by Jewel. "Alan, Jewel seems to tolerate me now, but she is still scared and in pain," Tulio said. "We should probably give her anesthesia immediately."

"I agree," Alan answered.

"I am worried that Blu may be exhausted and running on adrenaline," Tulio continued. "I'd like him to get some glucose and electrolytes with water."

alan thought for a moment before answering. "OK, but only a little at a time," he said. "We don't want to fill his crop before we are sure he is uninjured." There was a short pause. "Would somebody mix the solution and start giving it?" he asked without addressing anyone in particular.

Tulio put Jewel carefully upon a table, and Allan came beside him. Blu tried to take off from Linda's hand behind them, but Linda had her thumb over Blu's toes and didn't let go. Instead, she quickly moved to the end of the table so that the parrots could see each other, but Blu wouldn't be able to interfere.

One assistant brought Linda a cup of clear liquid, and she let Blu drink some of it. The men gave Jewel some gas that put her to sleep. Blu had seen anesthesia for birds on television and wasn't too worried.

Tulio turned to Linda. "We will inspect Blu when we are ready with Jewel," he said. "You could sleep now. Somebody will monitor Blu in the meanwhile. There is a sofa and a blanket in my office."

"I will wait until Blu has been inspected," Linda declined.

Alice approached Linda with a bird carrier. "Please put Blu here," she suggested. "Let's go to Tulio's office and get you some change of clothes. I will then show you where you can rest and wait. I can watch Blu while you change your clothes."

There was a low perch inside the carrier. Blu fell asleep almost immediately after stepping on it. The women carried him carefully out of the room.

Afterward, Blu remembered that he woke up a couple of times to drink the liquid that tasted sweet and salty simultaneously. Later, he was inspected by Alan. During these times, he felt like he was only half awake. He thought they said to Linda that Jewel would likely be fine in time, but he wasn't sure if it happened or was a dream. After inspection, he fell asleep again and didn't wake until a couple of hours later.