Chapter 40: Parental reunion

Back at the location of the spix macaw tribe, the red macaw tribes and de Azul clan, Blu was getting better both mentally and physically after overcoming Scarecrow's injected fear toxin. Still, he wasn't 100% ok, and Jewel was always by his side.

"Are you alright, honey?" Jewel asked.

"It's getting better, honey." Blu replied. "But I'm still recovering from what Scarecrow did to me."

"That's a line I heard a lot from birds who were injected by his vile toxin and survived it, back when I and my tribe lived in Peru." Mia said.

"Yeah, including myself." Sapphire said.

"You were injected by it too, mom?" Jewel asked.

"Yes, Jewel." Sapphire answered. "And I saw hallucinations of the forest burning and losing both you and my husband (looks at Eduardo)."

Andor stepped in and said: "We have to send a few scouts into some of the halls, just in case that the Emberwings might plan another attack."

"I agree." Eduardo said. "I'll send some of my finest men with your scouts in case they need some reinforcement."

"I'll send some of my finest men too." Felipe said.

And after about 10 minutes, some scout groups were made, made up of Azuls, spix macaws and some red macaws of Felipe's tribe.

The groups went into the two tunnels and there they would split up when they would find other entrances that would lead to other passages in the Underpassage.

One group consisted of the blue sentry (the spix macaw that told Eduardo over a year ago that they found Blu, his family and his friends too close to the humans), Mario and Björn.

The three were flying into a passage that led them deeper and deeper into the earth. Luckily their ways were lit by many fireflies, so that they wouldn't be lost in the darkness.

At one point, they reached a small entrance that led them to a dark chamber, only lit by a few torches and some fireflies.

"What is this place?" the blue sentry asked.

"Once this was a place where we stored parts of our collected food." Björn replied. "But ever since the Emberwings came, they made it into a prison for Azuls. I don't know if it is still being used, since they haven't got any enemies to fight."

"Wow." Mario said. "I can't and don't even want to imagine what horrors those Azuls locked up here must have endured."

"We only heard some rumors, but it contained indeed horrible stories." Björn replied.

The 3 macaws entered the room and as they did, they felt an uneasiness come over their spines.

As they went deeper into the room, a voice spoke up.

"Come to torment us again with your words, Terrin? Or is it just some food this time?" a male voice said from a dark place in the room.

The three macaws jumped at hearing the voice and looked to their left. There was a small prison made out of wooden sticks. There they saw the silhouettes of 2 birds.

"We've had enough of your talk after all these years, Terrin, just finish us already." said the stern voice of a female.

"We're not Terrin." Mario said.

"What are you then? Some of his lackies come to tease us?" said the male's voice.

"Wait a second… those voices…" Björn said. "Alejandro? Camila? Is that you?"

There was a moment of silence, before the silhouettes stood up and went to the wooden 'bars' of the prison. As they did, it revealed 2 elderly spix macaws, although it looked like they haven't eaten for a while.

Björn's eyes widened as he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Alejandro! Camila! It is you!" Björn said happily.

"Björn?" Alejandro said weakly. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it is me." Björn replied. "And we're gonna get you out of here."

Björn and the 2 other macaws grapped some sharp looking stones and began bashing against the wooden bars.

"Who are these two macaws, Björn? I see that one is a spix, but he doesn't have blue eyes like the Azuls have." Camila asked.

"These are macaws of allied tribes." Björn said. "One is a spix macaw tribe even larger than the Azul clan and two others are red macaw tribes, one of which has faced the Emberwings before in Peru, before they came here."

"And are you (looks at Mario) part of that tribe?" Alejandro asked.

"No, I'm a member of the leader called Felipe, it is the other red macaw tribe, led by one called Mia that faced the Emberwings back in Peru."

"Eh, Felipe…" Camila said. "As if we didn't hear that name enough from Deadshot."

"Don't worry, Camila and Alejandro, this Felipe isn't like Deadshot." Björn assured them.

After about 15 minutes of bashing against the wooden bars, it finally made a hole in it. This hole was big enough for both Alejandro and Camila to go through.

"Finally." Alejandro said with much relief. "I thought I was gonna die in that prison."

"Same here, honey." Camila said. "But it seems our prayers have worked out. We have been freed. And not just freed but apparently freed by the Azuls we had led for years, as well as new allies they have made."

"Are you able to fly?" Björn asked. "Because you might not have flown in years, I assume."

Both Camila and Alejandro opened their wings and ascended into the air, it was indeed difficult at first, due to being locked up for so long in that prison, but it only took a minute to adapt and then their flying did go well again.

Alejandro and Camila smiled at each other whilst being in the air, happy that they are finally free.

"Come on!" Björn said. "The Azuls are going to be surprised and amazed by this news!"

And with that, the 5 birds flew out of the prison chamber towards the locations of where the Azul clan and the other tribes were.

Back at the location where the tribes and the Azul clan were, everyone was talking to each other or some were sleeping to regain their strenght, with Blu still recovering a bit from Scarecrow's fear toxin.

"Do you think they will be able to help my men if necessary?" Andor asked both Eduardo and Felipe.

"Of course they will." Eduardo said.

"Yeah." Felipe said. "You saw how they fought against those orange demons earlier on the plaza. And you haven't seen how we both fought back humans over a year ago."

"I just hope that all of them make it back safely. We can't risk losing more members of our clan anymore. And I also don't want any of your tribe members losing their lives." Andor stated.

"They'll be back, honey, don't doubt your men and allies." Amalia said assuring to her husband.

After about 10 more minutes, the first few groups came back. They all said they had no sign of the Emberwings, followed by a few others, who shared the same news.

Afterwards, Andor, Amalia, Willfried, Eduardo, Sapphire, Mia and Felipe flew to the point where Blu was still recovering from his ordeal with Scarecrow.

They landed before Blu, who was sitting on the ground, with his back against the wall of the hall. Jewel was sitting beside him, whilst Thomas and Jasmine were standing next to him, talking to each other.

"How are you holding up, Blu?" Amalia asked a bit concerned.

"I'm fine, Amalia, thanks. But still… I have had nightmares before, but this felt like a living nightmare that was about to kill me." Blu said a bit weak.

"Understandable." Andor said. "Not many birds survive such an ordeal from Scarecrow. This also shows that your soul isn't weak at all, Blu. You're truly strong-willed."

"Oh, yes he is." Jewel said proudly. "If you've seen how he saved me, even when he couldn't fly or how he saved our home last year, even almost sacrificing himself in the process."

"Yes, and I can't say I'm prouder of my son-in-law after everything he's achieved." Eduardo said.

Blu smiled weakly by these positive comments.

Then, however, they all heard some commotion from the Azuls that are closer to the entrance of the 2 hallways at the end of the tunnel.

"What's going on there?" Felipe asked.

"I don't know." Willfried said. "Maybe they are mobilizing because one of the scout groups says the Emberwings are coming."

Then, they saw Carla, Bia, Tiago, Renaldo, Miguel, Skye, Henrik, Astrid and Bruno fly towards them.

"Dad, Björn and his two scout mates have returned, and it appears they have brought in 2 prisoners." Henrik said.

"Prisoners?" Andor said a bit confused. "What kind of birds?"

"Well, from what we could hear, it were two spix macaws." Miguel said.

"Spix macaws?" Jewel asked confused. "Like 2 members of the Azul clan?"

"I dunno, mom." Tiago said.

As Thomas and Jasmine stepped a bit forward to look to the crowd of Azuls that were gathered together and murmured loudly, they saw 2 familiar figures coming out of the crowd, being greeted like rockstars.

"Mom?" Thomas said shocked.

"Dad?" Jasmine said right after Thomas.

The eyes of all the macaws that stood behind Thomas and Jasmine widened, especially Blu's.

"Brother, sister… Are you sure you aren't seeing things?" Blu asked.

Thomas and Jasmine narrowed their eyes to look even closer, but they weren't imagining things. They truly saw their parents.

"It's not possible…" Jasmine said on the brink of tears.

Suddenly, Thomas and Jasmine dashed towards the direction of their parents.

At the crowd, Alejandro and Camila were getting praise from the Azuls that surrounded them.

"We all missed you so much!" said one Azul.

"We thought we'd never see you again!" said another Azul.

"Thank you, thank you all." Alejandro said.

"We'll explain everything once we-" Camila said but was cut off when she and her husband heard an all too familiar voice.

Thomas (distant voice): "MOM!"

Jasmine (distant voice): "DAD!"

Both Alejandro and Camila looked forward and saw two blue specs flying towards their direction.

Both Camila and Alejandro narrowed their eyes and looked closely on who was coming at them at full speed.

"Are those…" Camila gasped.

"MOM! DAD!" both Thomas and Jasmine yelled happily from the distance.

"Thomas?! Jasmine?!" Alejandro yelled, his eyes wide open with joy.

"Father!" Thomas yelled.

"Mother!" Jasmine yelled.

Suddenly, both Alejandro and Camila dashed towards their two children with joy and tears in their eyes.

After a few seconds, they collided and hugged each other in mid-air (Thomas hugged Camila, whilst Jasmine hugged Alejandro) and they whirled towards the ground.

Both Alejandro and Camila exchanged hugs b-with both her eldest son and daughter, with tears of joy streaming down their faces.

"Oh, I simply can't believe you two survived the flood from years ago!" Camila exclaimed joyfully.

"My son and daughter are alive and well!" Alejandro said in a joyful tone.

"We can't believe it either, mom and dad! We that the two of us were the only survivors from the flood years ago." Thomas said.

"But it seems that all of us were wrong in the same way." said the voice of Andor, who now stood next to Alejandro.

Alejandro gasped at the sight of seeing his adoptive son and covered his beak with his wings, so did Camila.

"A-Andor?" Alajandro said on the brink of tears.

Andor smiled, opened his wings and happily said: "Mother, father."

Both Alejandro and Camila lunched themselves at their adoptive son, who they thought was long dead, and hugged him tightly.

"It's" so good to see you too, Andor." Camila said softly as they loosened their hug.

"Yes, mom and dad, and me, Thomas, Jasmine and most of the Azul clan isn't the only thing that have returned from the dead." Andor said.

"Oh, you have another surprise for us?" Alejandro asked.

Andor looked with his right eye towards his right and saw has adoptive brother landing about 0.25 meters away from him, followed by Jewel and her parents.

"Mom, dad…" Andor began and then pointed his wings towards his right. "Surprise!"

Both Alejandro and Camila looked to their left and then they saw a dark blue spix macaw that looked almost exactly like Thomas, with the only difference that he was less muscular, had 3 small feathers on the back of his head and had hazel eyes, just like Camila.

At first both Camila and Alejandro raised their eyebrows, whilst Blu gave Alejandro and Camila a weak awkward smile.

Suddenly, it hit both Camila and Alejandro and they both gasped in pure disbelief.

"I- I can't believe it…" Camila said on the brink of tears.

"How? How is it actually…" Alejandro was about to say.

Camila: "We, your brother and sister were searching for food, and we heard happiness and singing from the distance…"

Alejandro: "But then it turned into screaming and when we returned to our hollow you were…"

Blu: "Gone…"

"We looked so long for you." Camila said.

"I- I'm here at last…" Blu said on the brink of tears.

Suddenly, Blu couldn't take it anymore, ran to his parents and hugged them.

"Mom! Dad!" Blu cried with tears in his eyes as he hugged his parents.

Both Camila and Alejandro let a small sigh of joy and both said: "Oh, Blu…"

The birds around them who were watching all spread a smile of joy, with some even letting out a tear. Nico and Pedro also became as emotional as the moment when they saw Jewel reunite with Eduardo.

"You don't know how much we have missed you, son." Camila said.

"I missed the both of you too." Blu said, still hugging his parents.

Then, they let go of the hug and Camila said: "Look at you. It's our youngest child, all grown up. You look almost like your father and Thomas."

Alejandro: "Except your eyes, of course. They are the ones of your mother."

"I'm so sorry that we couldn't be there when we lost you." Camila said in a saddening tone. "The four of us thought that you died that day and even if you lived, we couldn't imagine you being alone… all this time…"

"Don't worry, mom and dad, I wasn't alone for like 15 years, and then, I found Jewel." Blu said whilst pointing at his wife.

Jewel stepped towards Camila and Alejandro with a smile, ready to meet her parents-in-law, whom she thought they were long gone.

Alejandro and Camila couldn't help but feel excited about meeting their daughter-in-law, who was now standing right in front of them.

"It's nice to meet you both, sir and ma'am." Jewel said.

And just like with Jasmine and Thomas, Camila and Alejandro instantly hugged Jewel tightly, catching her by surprise.

"Thank you so much for making sure our youngest son wasn't alone." Alejandro said with some tears in his eyes.

"Yes, we don't know how to thank you for this, Jewel."

Jewel chuckled at this, they let go of their hug and then Eduardo stepped up.

"Greetings. My name is Eduardo and I'm the leader of the spix macaw tribe your son is part of and he's also my son-in-law." Eduardo said.

Alejandro's and Camila's eyes widened.

"Son-in-law?" Alejandro asked. "So that means that…"

"Yes." Sapphire said. "Jewel is our daughter and if my husband would pass away, your son will become the next leader of the tribe."

"And I already gave him some leadership lessons last year and I think he'll make a great leader." Eduardo said.

"Yeah." Felipe stepped in. "And considering how he united both of our tribes against those loggers last year, I too believe that Blu would make a great leader."

"Oh, come on, guys." Blu said a bit embarrassed. "You know that that was only a dire situation and that I can't just turn it on or off at will."

Then Carla stepped in and said: "One day you will be able to, dad, I truly believe that."

"Me too." Bia said.

"And don't forget me." Tiago said.

"D-dad?" Camila said dumbfounded, whilst Alejandro had his eyes wide open.

"I-, I'm a grandpa?" Alejandro said.

"And I am a grandmother?" Camila said.

"How can this actually be? We're grandparents!" Alejandro exclaimed whilst raising his wings into the air.

Blu chuckled and said: "Mom, dad, these are Carla, Bia and Tiago."

"Nice to meet you sir and ma'am."

"I ain't no ma'am to you, children. I'm just your Granny Cammie." Camila said.

"And I'm you Grandpa Al." Alejandro said.

"Well, now we have 7 birds with a nickname. First our Pop-Pop, then Uncle Beto, then Granny Sapphie, then Auntie Jassie and Uncle Tommy, and now we have Grandpa Al and Granny Cammie." Tiago said laughing a bit.

Both Bia and Carla nodded happily in agreement, and they all hugged their other grandparents, with Alejandro and Camila shedding tears of joy.

As Andor and Amalia watched happily to the reunion of the family, Henrik, Astrid and Bruno, who were watching the scene from another place came towards their parents and Astrid innocently asked: "So are these our adoptive grandparents, mom and dad?"

"Yes dear, just give them a moment and then we'll present you to them." Amalia said.

After Camila and Alejandro let their grandkids go, Andor and Amalia stepped up with their children.

"Mom, dad." Andor began, with Alejandro and Camila looking towards their adoptive son and adoptive daughter-in-law. "Meet our children."

Alejandro and Camila gasped at those words and seeing Henrik, Astrid and Bruno and smiled afterwards.

"What's your names, dears?" Camila asked politely.

Henrik: "I'm Henrik, the oldest."

Bruno: "I'm Bruno."

Astrid: "And I'm Astrid."

"Henrik, Bruno and Astrid." Alejandro said. "I like those names."

"Can we call you Grandpa Al and Grannie Cammie too?" Astrid asked.

"But of course you can, my dears!"

In all of a sudden, the 3 chicks flew towards their adoptive grandparents and hugged them tightly, with more tears rolling down Alejandro's and Camila's faces.

After about half a minute of hugging, they let go and Willfried asked: "But how did the two of you survive the flood years ago?"

Camila: "Well, the flood didn't take the two of us too far and we even made it back to Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks, but upon entering one of the halls, we saw that the Emberwings had survived the flood as well."

Alejandro: "We tried to flee and even agreed to rally as many birds as possible to bring the fight to them, but just as we were about to exit the place, we were knocked out by an unknown force and when we woke up, we found ourselves in that godforsaken prison."

Camila: "We don't know how much time we had spent there, since we couldn't tell if it was day or night at all and then there was Terrin or one of his inner circle members tormenting us mentally. They did give us some food in order to stay alive and continue to mentally torment us, each… day…"

Bia everyone listened with widened eyes and Bia said: "That's horrible…"

"And that horror kept going for years, until now that we are freed." Alejandro said.

"And not only freed but freed by our own Azul Clan and the tribes they've allied themselves with." Camila said joyfully.

Suddenly, flapping was heard from the left side of Camila and Alejandro, it was 2 scouts from the Azul Clan who came back, panting.

"Andor, sir, we have news." one of the Azuls said.

"What is it?" Andor asked.

Then, the two Azuls spotted Alejandro and Camila.

"Alejandro?! Camila?!" one Azul said dumbfounded. "How are you standing here?"

Alejandro: "It's a long story, but now's not the time to tell that by the looks on your faces. What's going on?"

"The Emberwings are making their move! They are going to attack us from the central western passage!"

Everyone (especially the Azuls) gasped at this.

Thomas: "That passage is not far from here."

Willfried: "Indeed. And remember, we can block it off with the movable stone door, remember?"

Blu (confused): "How's that gonna work out?"

"You'll see soon enough, little brother." Jasmine said.

And after some orders amongst the Azul clan and the other tribes were given, they all followed Andor and Amalia towards the central western passage, deep underground.

To be continued…