Chapter 10

Angel sat in silence looking out of the window towards her son's grave. It was empty around it. It looked dark since it was in the shadow of the school. Kyle had stayed back to speak with the newcomer called Ghoul about their other son, Kronos, who had caused his own brother's death. She hoped he didn't go over the top with Ghoul by injuring him, or worse. She heard a knock at the door and stood up from the chair she sat in. She walked to the door cautiously. She had no idea who it could be. As she was about to grab the handle, she asked who the visitor was. "Who is it?"

"It's Jewel. I need to ask you something." Angel opened the door to her daughter-in-law. She could see that it was urgent, or at least to her. As soon as she entered, she immediately asked the question. "What is the story behind Kronos?" The question was like a blow to her. She staggered back, trying to make sense of what she asked. I knew she would ask soon. "Please, sit." They sat at the table in the middle of the room. "Now, first is his name. His name was originally Marco. As soon as he was born, we saw that he would grow into a strong, responsible bird. But we were wrong. Even though he was strong, he was also sly. He used his strength for the wrong things. He would steal from others, and we were eventually forced to punish him. He had begun to stop and take responsible actions. We thought he had changed. But once again, we were wrong. He abandoned his own brother, then lied about what he was doing. Before he told the truth, which he never did, we banished him from the surrounding area. He was sent away. We were forced to send our only son away. We had nothing. We continued to search for Azure, or, as he is now known, Blu, but with no success. All we ever had, was one feather." She saw Jewel looking at a feather. She knew who it belonged to. But what Jewel said next was very surprising. "Is it possible for him to change, if he returned?" Angel was confused by this question. "Why do you ask?" Jewel told Angel what happened when she went to visit Blu's grave. "So you are saying that he has returned?" Jewel nodded yes. "Then we must tell Zeel. It is urgent." She went to leave, but Jewel stopped her. "I would rather not. I mean, what if he has changed. If he has, then we should at least try to forgive him. Or at least ask if he really killed Blu, or if he is still alive. I suggest that we seek him out with Zeel's help, but not warn him so that once he is seen he is to be killed. What do you say?" Angel was surprised by what Jewel had said. Should we forgive him? What if he has changed? After some thinking, she nodded, then they left to meet with Zeel.

Zeel sat in the office, still speaking with Logan. He heard a knock at the door, and Logan got slightly annoyed. "Come on! Who is it this time?" Logan got up and opened the door enough to only show his face. "What is your excuse for interrupting our important discussion, Jewel?" Jewel pushed the door open, squishing Logan between it and the wall. He yelped in pain as he it slammed against him. Jewel and Angel walked in, eyeing Zeel. "We need your help, Zeel. We believe Kronos is alive." She explained about what she saw the day before. At this, he was not surprised. "I believe it's time to tell you. A bird, who I do not know, has been helping me. With his help, we have been preparing for a war that is nearing. I do not when, but he told me that the war will cause mass extinction. We must prevent this. He sent me Ghoul and Sapphire, and has given lots of information of the enemy. There is no more I can tell you. But you must not try to seek him out. You will only make things worse. So out you go now, please." They looked at him as if he had lied to them, which he did. But they obeyed and left. Logan closed the door and sat once more. "Why did you not tell them everything?" Zeel looked to him. "I had to. It is not their time to learn of him yet." Logan let out a sigh. "Well, I should take my leave now. I think my class is waiting for me. I will see you later, friend." Logan opened the door and left in a blur. Zeel stood from his chair and began walking out as well. Before he did, he quickly turned inside. "You have to be more careful with these things. She almost found who you were." He exited and closed the door behind him, and the cloaked bird appeared from the shadows. "I will, my friend." He opened the window and flew out, closing it behind him, leaving a dark blue feather behind.

Later that night

Cody sat in the nest next to Lilian. They were discussing what name to give their child. "I have an idea. if it's a boy, we call him Azure, in Blu's honor." Lilian liked the idea, but thought what they would call it if it was a girl. "What if it is a girl?" He put a claw to his beak, thinking. "How about...Caitlin? It was the name of my human owner, and she cared for me. We could do it in her honor." She gave a nod, saying yes. "Of course. It does sound like a nice name." They went to sleep, dreaming of what their chick would look like.

However, not all the birds who having good dreams. Jewel rolled around in her nest, looking as if she was struggling.

Jewel's Dream

She was running down a hall in fear. She looked back to see a large bird-shaped figure following her. She tripped on something. She looked at the ground behind her to see a pair of eyes staring at her. They did not move. She saw it was Lilian. Dead. Jewel panicked and running again. It continued to follow her. She spotted other friends she knew, laying motionless. She reached her room and dived in, then closed and locked the door. She blocked it with other things, then went over to her kids nests. She saw them laying there, alive, but scared. She hugged them close as the robot tried to breach the door. The only thing between her and the robot. After a few thuds, it stopped. Jewel relaxed, but then saw the door blast open. She braced as she saw something glowing from it's beak. She heard it fire, but felt nothing. She turned to see it was not there, but there was a hole past her in the wall, smoke rising from it. She turned when she heard something like metal going against metal. Then she saw something blue go through the wall, the robot following it. It fired, but the laser was deflected by the other birds claws. THe other bird continued to deflect until the laser hit the robot in it's face, disintegrating it's head. The bird turned to Jewel, who was staring in fear at who it was. When she realised who it was, she ran at Blu and hugged him. "I miss you so much." But then he broke the hug. "I do not have much time. What you have seen is the possible future. That is a Sentinel. They will hunt mutants, bringing us to extinction." They turned to see three others enter. "I am sorry. You must go now." Jewel felt a quick pain as they blasted her, then darkness, before waking up into reality.

End Of Jewel's Dream

She looked around after she woke, seeing that her family was safe, sleeping peacefully. She sat, fearing of going to sleep again. She grabbed the last reminder of Blu she had and hugged the feather to her chest.Why did you have to leave. She began crying for her loss. She then did something she never thought of doing. She opened the window, then let the wind take the feather. She finally let go. She hoped it was the right thing to do.

From a distance, the cloaked bird watched from a distance. He watched her as she finally let go of the feather. "Forgive me." He went into the hollow he rested in, and went to sleep in the lonely darkness. Goodnight Jewel.