Notes & Disclaimers:

• Rio is Blue Sky Studios property.

This is now my last new chapter before I take a break and eventually come back with more chapters than ever before! Hope you find it sweet. And sorry if your comments for the last chapter didn't get through. That was because I deleted the chapter with the "Author's Note." From now I'm just using author's notes in the official chapters to the story.

Either way before you start reading this, I'll say "see ya next time" in advance.

(Please leave a comment and enjoy.)

Chapter Twenty Five: Running Away From This Boring Day

"…Blu, we love you and we want to adopt you as our son." Said Mikka. She just spilt out the biggest words she could say to her and Leo's best friend Blu. When Blu just heard her, it became nothing but a large grenade of shock. The two scarlet macaws that he has been best friends with and only knew him for a month want to make him their son? Blu waited so long for his real parents to return home but now he felt like he was about to replace them without any choice. So when he showed his frozen reaction to Mikka and Leo, they were waiting for an answer. So she then asked him, "So…what do you say, Blu? Do you wanna be a part of our family?" Then she gave her wing, the ripped wing, and as Blu took a good look at it and them…he began to cry.

His eyes were tearing up and felt like whimpering and said, "I-I-I'm sorry. But I c-c-can't." So he turned and just ran away. Mikka and Leo stood up and ran after him.

"Blu, wait!" Leo said.

"Blu, don't run away! We just wanna talk!" Mikka cried.

"No, please leave me alone!"

Blu ran faster than they did, wanting so much to get away from this idea of theirs. He didn't want to be someone else's son, he wanted to be with his real parents, so he didn't feel like he had already forgotten them. So he ran up to the bookcase that led to his entrance. He quickly made it to the top and before Mikka and Leo could reach the structure, he grabbed onto the corners of the air vent opening and used his strength to push the entire bookcase down, and it worked. Mikka and Leo were shocked by that action and saw that they had no way up so Blu ran in the air vent, hoping to get away from them.

"Oh no. Oh gosh, what have I done?" Mikka looked like giving up and felt sorry to surprise Blu like that. But then Leo said, "Hey, hey, it's okay, this is nothing to worry about, we'll get him."

"But why did he run?"

"He's just surprised, maybe he couldn't take it. And remember he has been waiting for his real parents to come for over a year."

"I know but I didn't think he would be this scared about it and now I'm worried."

"Me too. But that doesn't mean we can't catch him." Leo tried to look and see if there was another way out, and he found it. "Mikka, help me stack up these books." He told her, and Mikka helped him, quickly getting the idea. It took a while but they were able to stack every book they could and created a pile big and stable enough for them to climb on. So they used it and made it to the air vent.

"Oh no, he's gone." Mikka noticed.

"Maybe he went back to his nest."

"I hope you're right. Let's go."

So they ran through the air vent and used the same directions they used to get from the bookstore to home. But Blu was way ahead of them. He made it home but knew they would try to find him there, so he hid behind another tree not too far from his nest. He just kept standing behind and repeatedly bumped his head into the tree. "What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?" He told himself. "Mikka and Leo? My new parents? I just don't know how to respond to that. I like them but not that much…and I don't wanna replace my parents. Heck, I can't remember their names or their faces. I can't even remember how much they loved me. I keep waiting for them for so long, and…I j-just d-d-don't know if I can let this go." So then he silently sobbed

He felt like he just did something terrible and he couldn't atone for it so he continued crying until he sat down. He sniffled up a bit and maybe felt like running away more. Until he felt someone touching him. He quickly turned and saw that it was just Jewel.

"Oh." He settled down. "It's only you. Hi, Jewel."

"Hi, Blu. Are you feeling okay? I was just flying by until I heard you crying." She sat down and put a wing around him.

"I'm fine. I just got back from a trip with Mikka and Leo."

"How was it?"

"It was…it was great. We just went on a trolley ride and I taught them how to read at the bookstore. It was fun. Up until later, where…(sigh)…Mikka and Leo said they want to adopt me."

Jewel gasped, "Really?"

"Yeah. But you can already tell my reaction to that. I ran away and I'm here now crying my eyes out because I don't wanna replace my real parents."

Jewel felt bad for him. But she kind of knew exactly how he felt so she held him tighter.

"What are you doing, Jewel?"

"Holding you. Whenever I cried you were always there to comfort me so it's my time. Come here." Jewel hugged Blu lovingly then brought his head to her shoulder, and she rubbed his head. He enjoyed the massage and just let her do it.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Now…is this really a problem to worry about?"

"Oh? I don't know. We've only known them for a month and I just think it's a little weird. Not to mention hurtful."

"How would it be hurtful?"

"If I said yes to them then it's like I forgot about my real parents and replaced them."

Jewel stopped massaging him and rested herself next to him. "Have you forgotten that I also got separated from my family?"

"What? No, I would never do anything disrespectful like that."

"Then do you remember Carlos and Sophia?"

"Of course I…oh."

"'Oh' is right. I let them adopt me because they cared. They felt sorry and wanted to help me. And because of that, I live with another caring family, and I get to stay with a boyfriend who gave me the hope that I can return to my birth family one day. So now my question is…don't you still wanna be happy?"

"Yes…"

"Then you do whatever makes you feel comfortable." She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too. And thanks."

They smiled together and Jewel flew off. Blu just stayed behind and thought about what she said. She was already adopted and hadn't forgotten about her family before or even thought about it as replacing. They were still a family and Jewel was happy about it, so Blu thought, why else couldn't it go for him? He wanted to see his parents again but he didn't want to be lonely and wait forever, so…why not?

So Blu just sat in front of his nest and thought over it more until he heard talon steps. Steps that belonged to Mikka and Leo, who were walking towards him. He saw them and looked sorry, and so did they. He stood up and began to say it. "Guys, I am so sorry about my reaction, that wasn't-" He was interrupted by a big warm hug that Mikka gave him. She teared up a bit, so did Blu, and Leo joined in.

Mikka began to apologize. "No, Blu. I'm sorry. I know that you did that because you're still waiting for your real parents. I didn't think that I would make you imagine that you would be replacing them and how much that would hurt you. I'm so sorry."

"Me too." Leo said. "But next time, if you're upset you can just talk about it with us…instead of trapping us in a bookstore." Blu got out of the hug and wing palmed himself. "Aw man! That was stu-"

"Hey it's okay. Me and Leo will let that go and you were upset, so we understand. Right now, I want us all to just forgive each other and calm down." Mikka sat and held Blu's cheek.

"Okay?" Blu nodded and hugged her. "Thank you. And…on the point that you guys wanna adopt me, is that something you really wanna do?"

"Yes. But if you don't want to then we'll-" Then she was interrupted by Blu's hugging becoming sweet and tighter. "No, no. If you guys want to be my new parents then I'm okay with it. I don't want things between us to change too much but I do want to be part of a real family again. Please?" Mikka gave a wide smile and hugged back, and so did Leo. With that matter settled, the three enjoyed their time more. They went back around the town, eating and reading more, going all over to see some more new stuff, and with every minute that passed, Blu felt much better and even felt like he was with his real parents again. Mikka was being a loving mother and Leo was being a responsible father. It was a big step for them too but they were doing pretty well as new parents. They loved Blu and took care of him all day (without babying him). Then it was almost sunset.

Blu said, "Oh no. Guys, I think we should be getting back home. Jewel's expecting me."

Mikka chuckled, "I don't think so. I wanna see more stuff, and Leo and I have something planned for you."

"What? But guys-"

"Listen to your new mom, young man. We have plenty of time." Leo joked.

Blu saw that they didn't have the strength to win this argument. So he fussed a little and followed them. Mikka and Leo chuckled, and the three just continued walking around the city. The places were big and were getting darker. Then they made it to a building to climb on. The scarlet pair climbed on the fire-escape, Blu did it too but with curiosity. "What are two doing?" He mumbled. "Oh Jewel, please don't kill me." Soon, they made it to the top of the building, and there wasn't anything there that interested Blu.

"Uh...why are we here?" He said. "I don't see anything fun up here."

"Then why don't you turn around, Mr. Picky?" Blu heard Jewel's voice and turned to her.

"Oh gosh, sorry. But what are you doing here?" He laughed.

"You're about to find out. Look up." He did it, and then after a few seconds...the sky was full of fireworks. From the many different spots of the city, there were colorful rockets launching and exploding. "Whoa! What the heck is going on?" Blu asked in amazement and Jewel answered, "Since we saw the movie, Mikka suggested putting on a show for it. So she talked to me about it and I was able to convince the gang and every bird in town to go around and set up fireworks. And here we are now."

"Wow. Oh, and as fate would have it, today is the 4th of July. So Jewel, guys, you're awesome." Mikka said.

"Thanks." Jewel replied.

So after that, the two pairs just sat on the roof of the building to see the illegal launching of the many fireworks being blasted into the sky all over Rio.

It was a too cool event, and as for Blu, now he just smiled at his friends, knowing that things were still gonna turn out great.

More Notes & Disclaimers:

• "illegal": Technically, if they were human and never filed a permit then it would be illegal to launch fireworks. But since they're birds, they won't be in that much trouble. Just keep in mind (to all younger viewers), never attempt what they did.

See ya, and I know it's pretty late but I still say I'm happy for my independence, and I am proud to be an American. Also, I know that Blu and the gang are in Brazil, but they did love the Independence Day movie so much they wanted to do something with it.

Now after all of this, I say goodbye to me publishing new chapters in a while and I hope you'll love the new releases when they do come.