Chapter Seven: Gone

Jewel kept picking up Blu's feather and thinking about him. All night, she fought herself for some sleep, but her worry won. She couldn't stop thinking about Blu and if he was okay. What if I get Sapphire on my side? What if I say he'll kill Blu? I can't do that. Blu just crushed her dreams of ever being with her. She thought. She liked her last thought, though. What if I get help from Linda and Tulio? She thought. That could work. She could get some of those pain killers that tired you out in no time. That could give her some time to rescue her husband. But what if I fail? Blu's life would have been in vain. Jewel kept thinking. She thought all night.

Blu was dangling upside down. He was tied up in some vine. He looked down and saw a huge drop. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he woke. "What happened!?" He said to himself.

"A very good question, darling." Sapphire said.

"Why, hello, Miss Sapphire." Blu said. "How can I help you?" He said, sarcastically.

"Don't play games. I want you as my husband, but you won't accept. That leaves me with one of few options. One, I kill you so no one can have you, since you won't leave Jewel. Two, I kill Jewel, but you probably retaliate and strike me down afterwards, leaving our kind doomed. Or three, You come be with me, and I'll leave Jewel alone. What's it going to be?"

Juan came into view. "The trap is set."

"Excellent. Now, Jewel thinks you're going to die tomorrow if she doesn't turn herself in, Blu." Sapphire said. "Now I'll get you and Juan gets his love."

"Nice plan, escaping through the vent." Blu said.

"Thank you. Wait! How did you know!?" Juan said.

"You really think I'm blind? HA!" Blu said. "I didn't see you, Juan, until the end of my conversation with Sapphire. I'd think you would come earlier, seeing how angry you were at the moment you came to see me. Second, Sapphire didn't want to know if I was alone. She knew Jewel was with me and was trying to stall. I could tell by the anger she held back."

"Very smart, Brad." Juan said.

"Blu. My name is Blu. B-L-U. If you're going to threaten my life, then I suggest you get that name strait." Blu said.

"Alright, fair point. I'll see you tomorrow." Juan said, as he flew off into the distance.

Sapphire hovered where Blu's head was. "Good night, my love." She said, moving her head in for a kiss. Blu swayed himself out of the way. "Stubborn, I see. Well, that won't be the case soon." she said, flying in the opposite direction of Juan.

Blu just hung there, in his thoughts. He just waited. He couldn't really do anything. He just swayed himself back and forth, thinking of a way out of this. When he was swaying, his head went above the precipice. He saw flat land. If I could get enough momentum to get myself up there, maybe I could get out! He thought.

Jewel finally fell asleep, but she didn't stay like that for long. It was still nightfall, and she was afraid if she tried to rescue Blu that she would be met with his demise. If Blu and I make it out of this scenario, how will we ever get Juan and Sapphire to quit chasing us? She thought. What if Blu and I moved. Tiny soda may be good. But Sapphire knows where that is. Then, a great idea popped into her head. What if Blu and I took a vacation somewhere and had them follow us, then we would come back here! She thought. But once they realized it was a trick, they would come back. I guess the only way to avoid them is by moving ourselves away without their knowledge of our whereabouts. She concluded.

"Almost, there!" Blu said as he kept swaying himself back and forth. He gave himself one last thrust, and he landed on the cliff edge. "HA HA!" He shouted in triumph. He started to chew through the vines. Once he was free, the sun started to come up. He rushed back to his hollow.

Jewel watched the sun come up, still unsure of what to do. Let's try Rafael, Nico, and Pedro for help. She thought. She then flew out of the hollow.

"Jewel!" Blu shouted as he arrived. Where is she? He thought. He decided to wait for her at the hollow. If I go out, I'll have less of a chance to find her because she's moving around while I'm also looking for her.

"Hey Jewel! Do you need something?" Rafael asked.

"Yes. Blu is in danger because of the other spix macaws that showed up to our wedding. They are still trying to get us as their own mates. I can't stand them!" She said, tightening up in rage.

"Okay, okay. Calm down, Jewel. Nico and Pedro are on their way here to help me and Eva babysit. But I think this calls my attention a little more. Eva!"

"What my juicy papaya?" Eva replied.

"Blu is in danger. Life threatening by those other two macaws at their wedding. I need to help. I'm sorry about our date."

"That's fine. Jewel and Blu will babysit for us as a favor in return once this is all done." Eva said.

Great. Jewel thought, remembering the last time she had interacted with the seventeen toucan chicks.

"Okay, Jewel, I'll meet you at your hollow with Nico and Pedro. We'll be there in a little bit."

"Thanks Rafael." Jewel said. She started heading back to her hollow.

Blu went out and got two mangos, just in case if Jewel hasn't eaten anything this morning. Not bad. These are perfectly ripened for eating. Blu thought as he bit into one. When he arrived, he saw Jewel in the hollow.

Jewel heard the wingbeats behind her. "Oh, hey Rafael. Yeah, I'm ready… BLU!" she shouted as she ran into his wings. Blu dropped the mangos and was tackled to the forest floor.

"Hello."

"I thought Juan had you trapped! What happened?" She said, squeezing her hug tighter.

"Breath." Blu managed to say. Jewel let up on her hug.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." She said. She started kissing him. Blu withdrew.

"Jewel, nice to see you too, ow, and I escaped." Blu said.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to crash into you and land on you when we fell from the hollow." Jewel said.

"Hey, Jewel. Oh, Blu's here." Rafael said.

"Yeah, he escaped." Jewel said, hugging her husband tighter.

"Well, it looks like we'll see you two later." Rafael said, returning to his hollow for his date with Eva.

"I'm glad you found each other and all," Pedro started to say, "but now we have seventeen daredevils to take care of. Thanks a lot!" Pedro said as he flew away.

"Sorry you two!" Blu shouted as they flew away.

"Blu, what happened?" Jewel asked.

"We don't have much time. We need to hide, now." Blu said. Jewel was then dragged by foot to the aviary. The only difference was that he took Jewel under the building and into the foundation instead of inside of the aviary.

"What are we doing down here?" Jewel said in a whisper.

"We're staying here for today until nightfall. We're going to move away for a while." Blu said.

"Oh." Jewel said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't really think there is another choice. Tulio won't throw them out because of the whole 'save the species thing." Blu whispered, rolling his eyes at those last words. Jewel understood. They just sat there in quiet for a while.

"Blu, what happened?"

"Oh, right!" Blu said. He started to explain the night to Jewel. He was very lucky to escape at the crack of dawn. Jewel kept telling herself that, seeing how if he'd gotten out any later, he probably wouldn't have been freed or seen her before she, Rafael, Nico, and Pedro flew off with a rescue attempt.

"HOW COULD HE ESCAPE!?" Sapphire yelled as she was holding the vine that tied Blu up. "This complicates things. He and Jewel are probably back together right now, planning against us. We need to strike, now Juan. I'll take Blu, you take Jewel."

"And how is your weaker strength going to match up against Blu's?" Juan asked.

"It's not. That's why I'm calling on some old friends." Sapphire said. Ever since she heard about the wedding, Dante, Brat, and Rojo were scouting areas where Blu and Jewel were. This time, she needed them for a kidnapping. She flew to the market, and she waited. Every day, they were supposed to meet here at ten sharp for updates and planning. It was nine fifty eight. Nine fifty nine. The clock struck ten a.m. When she saw three red figures approaching, she decided she needed to teach a lesson about time management. "You are late." She said to the three.

"We know, but we were looking for Blu. We saw his vines empty at dawn and we searched the whole area, their hollow, the city, and the aviary. They weren't anywhere. No other birds have seen them either." Dante said.

"Well, we better find them." Sapphire said.

"Why? You have a new boyfriend." Brat said.

SLAP!

"OW!" Brat yelled in pain.

"He's a new recruit, not a relationship partner towards me." she said.

"Yeah, I'm in this for Jewel."

"Hey! We had dibs on Jewel first!" Rojo said. The four birds started to argue.

I'm never going to get Blu with these lunatics. Sapphire thought. "QUIET!" She shouted, slowly. Everyone ceased their fighting.

"We'll settle this later." Juan said. "We first have to find them to argue over her, won't we?"

"Agreed. This is the only time we work with you though, Juan." Dante said.

"Great, everyone is in a better mood. Brat, search their hollow, I'll search the town. Dante, search the skies and follow them if you see them. Rojo, look by the aviary. Juan, search around the city area." Sapphire said.

"I thought you were looking in the town." Juan said.

"I am. You're searching the city." Sapphire said.

"What's the difference?" Juan asked.

I can see why Jewel hates Juan. Sapphire thought. "Town is the small area. City has the big buildings. Do I need to repeat myself?"

"No." Juan said.

"Good. We meet back here in one hour. We report our findings unless we've found them. If one of us don't show, we'll start looking for you because it means you've spotted them. Keep calling us until we arrive." Sapphire said. The five birds flew into opposite directions, in search of two blue macaws. How hard could it be?

"Blu, I'm bored."

"I know, but we have to stay hidden. They'll search everywhere for us, but not here."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because, the entrance is hidden. Plus they don't think we would hide down here under the aviary. They would think we would hide in the aviary."

"Okay, but do you have something to pass the time?"

"I had a few ideas."

"Tell me, please." Jewel begged.

An hour passed and everyone showed back up at Sapphire's stronghold. "No one found a sight of blue?" Sapphire asked, annoyed.

"Sorry, ma'am. There wasn't anyone in their hollow and some birds nearby said they saw the girl go to Rafael, the toucan. I went there and he said she came by and they haven't seen either of them since this morning." Brat said.

"Sorry Sapphire. The city had no blue in it and no animal has seen them around. They said I was the only blue thing they've seen all day." Juan said.

"The aviary was empty. I asked the human if they knew where the two were, but he started squawking and said to his employee that he hasn't seen any blue macaws all day." Rojo said.

"Dante, anything?" Sapphire asked, hoping they had some sort of lead.

"Nope. The only blue I saw was the sky above." Dante said.

"We'll search again. Same spots and same routines. Meet here in an hour. We'll eat lunch then." Sapphire said.

"Blu, I'm hungry."

"I know, I'll get us some food." Blu said. He walked out, carefully. "Start counting to five hundred seconds. If I'm not here, I'm in trouble. Go!" he whispered.

"One, two, three." Jewel counted. Blu rushed to the aviary and went inside. He went into the food room, snatched two mangos, and rushed out. The only problem was that when he came out, he saw Rojo.

Crap. I'm out in the open without camouflage. How could I be so careless? Blu thought. He went out the back door instead. When he circled around, Rojo was flying out. Blu dove back down behind the aviary. Please don't find me. Please don't find me. He thought. He started to tiptoe towards the front of the aviary. He watched Rojo fly away. Whew. He flew to the entrance of the foundation hiding spot, and found Jewel still counting.

"Four hundred fifty eight, four hundred fifty nine."

"Lunch!" Blu shouted in a whisper. Jewel jumped, but was relieved that Blu was okay. She took her mango and started to snack on it.

"That was delicious. Thanks Blu."

"No problem. I'm going to go a few more times for later. Rojo was there and he just flew away. I need to stash now while we have a chance." Blu said. He flew back out of the entrance, and Jewel started to count again. This occurred for the next hour, until Blu had brought back twelve mangos and a book. "That should last us a few days." Blu said. Jewel was relieved that Blu had brought a book. She finally could stop playing hide and seek in the dark. It was kind of lonely.

But apart from the day being boring, she was still with her husband. Then a thought came to her. "Hey, Blu?"

"Yes, Jewel?"

"Have you ever wanted to start a family?"