Chapter 8

Cody squirmed on the couch, since he was having a nightmare. He continued to speak in his sleep. "No...Lilian...no...run...NOOO!" He woke as he screamed the last word. He saw Logan stir, then murmur in his sleep. It was early morning. He admired the light from the window and the morning smell and silence, which was broken by a scream of pain. He ignored it, thinking it was his imagination. It then came again. Okay. Either I'm stiil in my dream... he pinched himself and made a small yelp. So not a dream, which means...LILIAN! As he thought the name, he screamed it as he darted out of the room. Logan's head popped up, while Boah fell out of his nest. Cody went at full speed to Lilian's room, and saw the cause of her scream.

10 minutes earlier

Lilian was waking from her sleep which was disturbed by sudden pain in her stomach. She clutched her stomach as she fell back into her nest. She knew it wasn't a cramp. She knew it was time. She grunted in pain, holding her stomach and struggling for breath. Someone must have heard her, because she heard running outside the door. It smashed open with Jewel flying through. "Bia sensed you in pain. What's...oh no. It's time, isn't it?" Lilian looked at her with anger. "Gee, ya think? Could use some help." She rushed to her side and helped her in anyway she could. "Just breath, okay? Sharp, quick breaths." Lilian breathed as instructed, and held out her wing. "Can I hold your wing?" Jewel offered hers to her. "Of course you-OWWW!" She withdrew from Lilian, who seemed to have held on a bit too tight. "Now I know how Blu felt." They heard someone yell, and Cody appeared in the doorway. "What's going on?" He looked to Lilian, and made a good guess. "Oh my god! It's time!" Jewel rolled her eyes, since he just stated the obvious. "I don't know what to do!"

"Do something! Just stop the pain!" Lilian groaned as if someone was ripping something from her. Cody, in panic, brought his beak to hers, and the pain just disappeared. "Just what Blu did." Jewel held the tears back as a gleaming white object came into view into the nest. Lilian and Cody broke the kiss, and looked down. "You did it." Lilian shook her head. "No. We did it." Jewel was so happy, she felt the need to visit someone. Someone close to her, and tell the news. She flew out the door, leaving the love couple together with their egg.

Jewel approached the gravesite of her mate. She flew gracefully down, but quickly landed on a nearby tree when she noticed a cloaked figure standing over it. She moved closer to hear what he was saying. "I am sorry I failed you. I failed you, and our family. Your family. I wish I could redeem myself, but I have done too much damage to you. Hopefully when it is time, they will forgive me for my sins. I am sorry. I failed you all." He was about to continue, but heard someone behind him. He suddenly took off, and Jewel tried to follow. "Wait, who are you?" The bird disappeared, but she could still hear his voice. "Someone you once knew. Someone who has hurt you. I am sorry." She couldn't believe who she thought it was. Could it be. It can't. It can't be...Kronos.

Zeel walked back and forth on the upper landing platform of the school and turned his head to the sound of flapping. He saw two birds he recognised, two who were enemies. "What do you want?" The smaller one, a black canary named Ghoul answered. "Where the help you ordered. Mister mystery sent us. Right, Sapphire?" The taller one, a blue macaw with scales named Sapphire nodded. "Yes. We have come to join. Perhaps you can forgive." He shook his head. "It's not me you should be worried about. It's the rest of the school that you will have to ask." They looked at each other, then back to Zeel. We'll try." Zeel smiled a little. "Of course, I can help. Come to the garden tomorrow at noon. I will introduce you to everyone and then they can decide." They agreed after some thought, thinking what might happen if they didn't forgive them.

From a distance, a large bird watched from a distance. It analysed what was going on, then took off to report it's findings. It's metallic shell glinted in the sunlight. It continued to fly until it picked up a signal. It felt a scratch go across one wing, causing it to land. "Going somewhere?" It turned it's head all the way around to see a clokaed bird, extending long metallic claws. It turned the rest of it's body, ready to engage. "Bring it." It took step by step, slowly accelarating until it went into a full sprint. The cloaked bird copied it, jumping when in close enough proximity. The robot charged him and jumped as well. They contacted each other, the bird slicing it's wing. The bird turned and charged again, and again, the bird repeating what he did. Eventually the mechanical beast learned. The exhausted bird crouched, trying to regain his breath. He managed to glance at the robot to see a glow from it's beak. He rolled away before the laser contacted with him. It fired another, which was then dodged. The third was deflected by the birds claws into the robots head, causing it to destroy itself. "Nice try, but you can't beat me." The bird buried it's remains, then walked away from the battle site.

Lilian sat on the egg as she rested, becoming exhausted from laying it. Cody sat nearby, admiring the outside view. He didn't notice Jewel come in, and almost struck down her in surprise. He stopped when he saw her put her wings up in defense. "Oh, sorry. Got a bit scared." Jewel lowered her wings and rolled her eyes. "You'd be scared of your own shadow if you couldn't transform into it." Cody continued to admire the view, feeling at peace. "It's so peaceful. I can't wait till she wakes." He turned to Jewel, wanting to ask a favor. "Hey Jewel, could you get some food. She's gonna be real hungry after all that." Jewel smiled and left the room to collect some food. When she left, three figures came in. Jewel's children saw Lilian resting, and went over to Cody."Is it here, Uncle Cody?" Carla asked quietly. Cody nodded slowly. "I can't wait till it hatches. I hope it's a boy, so I have another friend to play with." Bia looked at her excited brother with annoyance in her eyes. "I think it's a girl. I will continue to guess from calculations and studying it, if that's alright with you, Uncle. Is it?" Cody looked up in hesitation, even though he knew the answer already. "Of course, but not now, and as long as it does not damage the egg. But she might not agree, so first I will discuss it with your aunt." Bia smiled and hopped away with Carla, while Tiago stayed behind. "What is it, T-Bird?" Tiago hopped onto Cody's lap with sadness in his eyes. "You are so much of a father to me ever since my father, well, you know." He started to cry, and Cody hugged him close. "I can't replace your father, and even if I could, which is impossible because no one is like him, I wouldn't, because he was like a brother to me." He looked down to Tiago. "How about you become my wingman." Tiago looked up with a huge smile. "Really?" Cody smiled back and held out his talon. "Yeah. I'll teach you everything I taught Blu, starting with our talon bump. Now hold your talon out like this." Tiago help up his talon to Cody. "And move it forward towards mine." They bumped talons together, just how Cody and Blu used to. "See, your a natural. Now go and play, my little wingman." Tiago hopped off of his uncle and left after waving goodbye. "Like father, like son." He walked to the nest to check on Lilian, who was keeping the egg warm when Jewel came back. "I'm back." Cody turned to see she held four mangoes on a large leaf. "Two for her, one for me and one for you. So, what happened while I was gone?"

"Had a visit from your three kids, and a wingman to wingman chat with the T-Bird. He is just like his father when he was young, except that his father was less of a troublemaker and more of a nerd. I was actually the troublemaker, so more of a combination of us both. Who knows, somewhere in the mind of his, he has his father's knowledge. It's just a matter of time before it's released. He really misses him, you know?" Jewel walked over to him and sat. "Don't we all. He looks up to you now. He loves you as more of a father than an uncle." Cody made a small chuckle. "That's what he said. So I told him that no one can replace him, because he was a one of a kind bird. Everyone misses him. Everyone looked up to him. He was always able to figure a way out, but everyone has there time. We just wish his came later." He started crying, and Jewel comforted him, crying a bit as well. She remembered something from a game Blu and Tiago played once.

Flashback

"So, what's this game dad?" They sat on the couch with modified controllers made for them. "It's called Halo. It's a game you'll like." They were watching a, as they called it, cinematic. The quote she remembered was from the female character. "Don't make a girl a promise that you can't keep."

End Of Flashback

As she remembered that quote, she remembered Blu's promise that he would never leave. So that's what he did. He made a promise. A promise he couldn't keep.