Guest Review Responses:
Fanfiction guy: Yeah, it was quite tragic. Paris wasn't really that fortunate with love. The story will be sticking to the original plot (more so than recently) as things start to wind down now. As usual, thanks for your review and happy reading!
The three birds stood there in shock, paralyzed in fear.
"Whatssss the matter? Ssssnake got your beak?" Anna hissed.
Paris was the first one with a comeback.
"What do you want snake?" Paris growled.
"Oh, I don't want much. I just need a blue macaw, thatssss all." She calmly replied while slithering a little closer.
"In your little snake dreams." Jewel said before spitting at the snake.
"Yeah." Blu said in agreement. He tried to copy Jewel, but the spit just ended up on his chest.
"Ewww." He whined while rubbing the saliva off with his wings.
A dark laugh was heard from within the shadows behind Anna.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice."
A red fronted macaw said deviously while walking out of the darkness.
Blu, Jewel, and Paris gasped when they saw what the macaw was gripping in his talon.
"Nico! Let him go you coward!" Paris exclaimed with outrage while pointing a wingtip at the red fronted macaw. Nico couldn't speak because the macaw had a firm grip around his throat.
"Hmmm, let me see, let me see. I have something of you want, and you have something I want." The macaw replied while tapping a wingtip to his chin.
"Oh, I know. How about a trade? One of your macaws for little tweety here." He offered and smiled evilly.
"Heh, how stupid do you think-"
"Deal" Blu said, interrupting Paris.
"DEAL!?" Paris and Jewel exclaimed in disbelief.
Blu turned to look at Jewel.
"Jewel, these past few days have been the best in my life. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change anything. Being with you is worth anything."
Jewel started tearing up. She couldn't help but hug Blu and cry into his chest.
Blu merely smiled and whispered to her.
"I'm sorry it has to be this way. I really wanted this evening to out with a bang. I had fireworks and everything. I have to admit though, they always scared me when Linda took me to see them when I was little. I was always afraid they would hit the house."
Jewel picked up on what Blu was eluding to. She looked up at him with eyes that were still a bit watery.
"I want you to be safe Jewel. Get away from here." Blu added while discretely signaling in a direction.
Paris just stood there in confusion.
"Wha- Blu you can't do this! There has to be another way!" The Cuban macaw argued.
"You know we are right here." Anna interjected. Blu and Paris just ignored her.
"No Paris, this is the only way." Blu replied and gave him a look which meant something.
Paris had no idea what was going on.
"Jewel, Paris. I want you guys to go. You don't need to see this."
Even though Jewel had confidence in Blu's plan, as he was the smartest bird she knew, she couldn't help but be sad.
"Oh Blu!" Jewel pushed her beak into his. The two lovebirds enjoyed a brief, yet meaningful kiss.
Blu then walked towards Anna and the red fronted macaw.
"Ok, a deals a deal. Let Nico go." Blu demanded.
"Enjoy." The macaw replied, and chucked the almost unconscious canary towards Jewel and Paris.
"Ohhhh." Nico moaned from the floor.
Anna quickly slithered around Blu and held him tight while coiling around him.
"You are sssuch a brave bird. Now I undersssstand what your girlfriend ssseessss in you." She hissed.
"To bad there won't be nothin' to see soon." The red fronted macaw chucked.
"Ugh…Paris….Jewel….get out….of here." Blu managed to cough out as Anna stated squeezing the life out of him.
"Hey! We don't want to kill him!" The red fronted macaw shouted at Anna.
"Hmph, fine. Vinny, you are ssssuch a killjoy." Anna conceded while loosening her grip on Blu a little.
"You three better get out of here before I start feelin' a little less nice." Vinny said, not irritated by the three birds' presence.
"Paris, we got to go." Jewel said sternly.
Paris stood there with his eyes closed.
"No." He simply stated.
"Oh no. He doesn't get it." Jewel thought to herself.
"You may be willing to abandon Blu, but I'm not."
"AHHHHHHH!" Paris screamed as he ran towards Vinny and Anna with his wings curled.
"Oh boy, a fighter." Vinny smiled evilly as he got into a fighting stance.
Jewel took this moment to grab Nico, and took off towards the shoreline by taking a conveniently placed staircase that was on the rooftop.
"So when did Luiz and Kipo say they would be back with da matches?" Pedro asked Rafael.
"I don't know amigo. They shouldn't be gone longer than-"
"Hey!" Rafael was cut off by a female voice.
Pedro looked at Rafael with a confused face.
"How long is HEY, Rafi?" Pedro asked.
Just then Jewel ran up to the two birds.
"Jewel?! You're not supposed to be here hot wing!" Pedro exclaimed. He and Rafael tried to cover up the box of fireworks with their wings, but to no avail.
"Wait! What happened to Nico!?" Rafael asked, surprised at the sight of the nearly unconscious canary.
"No time to explain. Blu is in trouble!" Jewel huffed, tired from carrying Nico.
Meanwhile, Paris and Vinny were engaged in a battle that would have only one champion.
The two macaws were circling around each other, looking for an opening to attack.
"You're in way over your head buddy." Vinny antagonized before cracking his neck to get the blood flowing.
"Wanna bet?" Paris chuckled.
"Well, let's see what you got then." Vinny replied, anxious to start the fight.
Paris grinned. He lunged towards the red fronted macaw with his wings stretched out.
Vinny just darted upwards and hovered a few feet over Paris.
"What's the matter? Too fast for you?" Vinny said cockily.
"Come down here and face me coward!" Paris yelled.
"I am NOT a coward!" Vinny retorted and swooped down towards the Cuban macaw with his talons extended.
"Ha!" Vinny yelled as he prepared to claw his foe.
"Idiot" Paris smugly thought to himself before ducking.
Vinny's eyes shot wide open.
The red fronted macaw had no time to change his trajectory, and face planted into the ground.
Paris took this opportunity to attack. He started running towards his rival.
Vinny turned around to see an enraged Paris just a few inches away.
Paris curled his fist and struck a blow directly under his opponent's beak. Vinny fell onto his back.
"You're not that tough." Paris arrogantly stated while crossing his wings.
"You will pay for that!" Vinny growled as he flipped back into his talons. He ran up to Paris and quickly threw multiple punches at the macaw. Paris was able to block most of them, but after a few moments his defense weakened and Vinny landed a blow directly on Paris's stomach.
Meanwhile Jewel, Pedro, Nico (who had recovered), and Rafael were carrying a large firework towards the building where the two macaws were brawling.
"Ugh, this is heavy." Pedro whined.
"Come on guys, do it for Blu." Jewel said, trying to encourage them.
After a few seconds, Rafael sighed in relief.
"Ok, this is it!" He said excitedly.
Nico and Pedro aligned the rocket in the sand so that it was at the perfect trajectory to hit the top of the building.
"Wait, how are gonna light this thing?" Pedro inquired.
Nico saw some word written on the side of the firework. He knew how to read a little due to the fact that he lived in such close proximity with humans for so long.
"Self-Activating Rocket! Chemically ignited fun!"
"Uh guys." Nico started.
"Go Vinny! Get him!" Anna cheered from the background.
Blu just watched in horror as Paris was losing his edge.
Vinny punched Paris on beak twice, and then hit him a couple of him on his left side.
Paris finally collapsed on the ground.
Vinny gripped the cuban red macaw by the throat with his left talon.
"I guess the best bird won. It looks like I can finally wipe out your stupid species." He chuckled evilly while tightening his grip.
"I don't… want to disappoint you…..but you didn't win." Paris coughed out.
"WHAT!? Are you blind!? It's over!" Vinny screamed in rage. No one would deny him the honor of winning.
"Heh, I'd turn around if I were you." Paris chuckled.
Vinny looked up and saw a huge firework arcing in the sky. Anyone could tell that it would land directly on the rooftop just by looking at its velocity and current trajectory.
Paris took this moment of distraction and used it to his advantage. He bit Vinny's talon with his beak, which caused the red fronted macaw to release his grip on Paris.
"Ouch! You little..." Paris didn't let Vinny finish as he hit his adversary directly in the face. This left Vinny dazed, and shortly after he fell onto his back.
Paris looked up to see Anna staring wide eyed at the oncoming rocket. She was paralyzed in fear, and had loosened her hold on Blu as her muscles relaxed.
Blu felt this and promptly pushed himself out of the snake's grasp. The firework was only a few seconds away from impact. Blu and Paris dived off the roof as an explosion erupted behind them.
The Blue and Cuban Red macaw were lying face down in the sand.
Paris lifted his head up and spit some sand out of his beak.
"I get it! Hey good plan Blu!" He yelled, quite satisfied with himself.
Blu lifted his head up and coughed up some sand.
"That's nice to hear." Blu replied sarcastically.
"At least Jewel got it. Wait, Jewel! Where is she!?" Blu thought aloud.
"Blu!" A familiar female voice called out.
Blu saw in the distance that it was indeed Jewel, and she was running up to him. Blu was relieved and elated. He picked himself up and ran over to his precious Jewel.
"Ahhh, young love." Rafael exhaled as he walked up to Paris with Pedro and Nico by his side.
"Hmp." Paris grunted while crossing his wings as he sat in the sand.
"Looks like somebody owes somebody an apology." Nico sang while smiling.
"Little vague Nico." Paris said unenthused.
"You need to tell hot wing you're sorry. If it wasn't for her, you would be D-E-A-D dead!" Pedro clarified.
Paris sighed. He knew they were right.
The Cuban red macaw walked up to the hugging blue couple.
"Hey, um, guys?" He said, causing Blu and Jewel to break their hug. They turned to face Paris.
"Listen, I-I'm sorry about earlier. *sigh* I let my past get the best of me. I shouldn't have assumed that Jewel was going to be like Helen. I just didn't want Blu to go through what I did. I can see now that things are different with you two." Paris apologized while sheepishly rubbing his right wing with his left wing.
"Can you guys forgive me?" He asked and looked up at the two birds with a genuine expression.
Blu and Jewel exchanged glances quickly. Then they looked back at Paris.
"Of course we do." The lovebirds said in unison.
"Just don't pin me down again, or you WILL be sorry." Jewel said antagonistically while pointing a wingtip at Paris.
"Don't worry guys, this is the new Paris. All I want is to start over. Maybe we can all be friends now?" Paris asked.
"Paris, we will always be there for you. And if you ever are having a hard time, come to us. We just want to help you. That's what friends do." Blu warmly replied.
Paris was really touched.
"Oh thanks Blu Buddy!" He yelled as he pulled Blu and Jewel into a full hug.
The two Blue macaws were caught a little of guard by this, but soon accepted the friendly gesture.
Rafael, Pedro, and Nico walked up to the hugging macaws.
"I would hate to end this great moment amigos, but if I don't get home soon Eva will have my head." Rafael insisted with a serious expression.
Pedro took his left wing and slit it across his throat while making a ripping sound with his beak.
Paris released Blu and Jewel from the hug and turned around to face the three samba birds.
"Yeah, let's go drop these two lovebirds off." Paris said while friendly elbowing Blu.
Blu lost his footing a little and leaned onto Jewel. Jewel helped Blu regain his balance.
"Hehe" Blu chuckled while rubbing where Paris elbowed him with his wing.
After Paris and the samba birds said their goodbyes, Blu and Jewel made their way back into the aviary through the air vents. Jewel noticed that her lovehawk was a little melancholy. She decided to find out what was the matter.
"Blu? Are you feeling ok? You look, upset."
There was a moment of silence. The only sound heard was that of the two macaw's talons clicking on the metal vent. Blu finally replied.
"Jewel, I'm sorry. I-I wanted this evening to be perfect, but it just ended up being a disaster." He said despondently.
"Oh Blu, it wasn't that bad. You gave me a wonderful ride, a beautiful dinner, and an amazing fire-show. AND you showed me how smart and brave you are. Blu, you were willing to put yourself in danger just to protect me. I couldn't have asked for a better evening." Jewel said comfortingly.
"R-really?" Blu asked as the two macaws made it to the entrance of the breeding room.
Jewel looked at Blu.
"Really." She said and pecked him on the cheek.
Blu blushed under his feathers.
"Thanks Jew-aahhh!" The blue macaw yelled as he fell out of the vent, and onto the artificial jungle floor.
"What happened to my ramp?" Jewel heard her lovehawk whine from the floor. She giggled thinking Blu's clumsiness was comical.
"Yeah, I couldn't have asked for a better evening." She said to herself in contentment.
Back at the beach, Kipo and Luiz came flying, as the spoonbill was carrying the bulldog, in to where the box of fireworks was located.
"Hey guys! We got the matches! You'll never…guys?" Kipo said curiously as he noticed that all his friends were gone.
"Hey Kipo! I think they left without us! That's messed up…" Luiz complained before licking the drool from his face with his tongue.
And that's all folks! Everyone is safe and sound, and Luiz was left behind…again. In case you are wondering, Vinny is the same macaw the helped Rafael and Pedro sneak into the aviary. Things are going to mellow out now, and the focus will be on fitting into a new lifestyle and making important decisions. A special thanks to everyone who read/reviewed my story so far! See you soon! :)