First of all, I'd like to thank, Rapture At Sea for proofreading this and making a few changes here and there.

Alright, guys. I know you've all been waiting ever-so patiently for this long-awaited installment of "Life After the Jump". It's been four months, so I decided to make it up to you guys (hopefully) by making this update the largest update I've ever done.

Before you guys actually start reading, I need to explain something. This chapter frequently goes back and forth between the present and the past. A line break followed by an ellipsis means the story is transitioning into a flashback. An ellipsis followed by a line break means it's transitioning back into the present.

I hope you enjoy.

"Fine, Blu. I'll tell you everything..." Jewel said. She silently stared at the floor of the hollow, still debating whether or not this was a good idea.

Blu looked patiently at his mate. He was unsure if he really wanted to hear the full story if it was causing her this much pain just to remember it.

Blu began to speak. "Jewel. If you don't want to tell me, I—"

"No, Blu," she interrupted. "I... I can do it..." She paused again.

Jewel took a few deep breaths. Then, she began.

...

It was just another day in the beautiful rainforest of Rio de Janeiro. The sun shined through the canopy of the trees. The floor was damp, but not discomfortingly wet. Everything was perfect.

A three-year-old Jewel lay in the nest made by her parents while her brother, Santos, slept to the right of it. Their parents were out making their daily round for food, which consisted of a few nuts and some fruit, as was the typical macaw diet.

Jewel stirred a bit and opened her eyes. She took a second to rub the sleepiness out of them. "Santos?"

Her brother didn't answer. She tried again. "Santos? Santos, wake up. Santos! Saaaan-tos!"

This time, he noticeably clenched his eyes tighter, annoyed by his sibling's perseverance, which he had always had a very low tolerance for.

Santos groaned before reluctantly deciding to acknowledge her. "What?" He failed to hide the anger in his voice. Not that it really mattered, of course, Jewel being the naive chick she was.

"Mama and papa are out."

"Yeah? And?" This was actually a more frequent than ideal occurrence, but no matter how often she subjected him to this inconvenience. He knew what she wanted, but he prayed that he would be able to get out of it this time.

"I wanna go outside," Jewel told him.

He sighed. Why couldn't she ever get the hint? Why did she have to be so naive? He groaned again.

"Please?" she asked.

"No," Santos responded.

"Aaaw," Jewel whined. "Why not?"

Jewel had a very typical young chick's attitude. According to Santos, her favorite thing to do was annoy the heck out of him, and nothing else. To him, it was almost as if it was the only reason she was born. But he didn't necessarily hate her. He believed that this was all just something that all siblings went through: the younger sibling or siblings (thankfully not the latter) would take advantage of their invulnerability to punishment to drive the oldest sibling to the edge of insanity. So far, Santos had been able to fight off all urges to kill himself.

"Because. I'm tired," Santos answered in a low grumble.

"Pleeease, Santos? Just this one time?"

On the inside, Santos scoffed at that last statement. Just this one time... puh-lease. You do this all the time!

"I'm not taking you outside today. It's bad enough that I risk my tail for you every other day." Honestly, this was an exaggeration. The days Jewel would pick to wake him up were totally random. At least, Santos had yet to come up with a way to predict those days.

Actually, it didn't really matter much to him when it happened. All he was interested in was getting her to stop. Their parents, being the overprotective ones they were, didn't ever want them leaving the hollow unattended. And this habit of Jewel's (and unfortunately his) always put them at risk of getting in huge trouble. But Santos fell victim time and time again to his own irritability. But he wouldn't this time.

He enjoyed such a fantasy, anyway.

"But Mama and Papa always take forever, and we never get caught."

"There's a first time for everything, Jewel. And I'm still not doing it."

Jewel crossed her wings and pouted. "Yes, you are."

Santos cracked a smile. It was too amusing. I love how sure you are.

"No, I'm not," he said back.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

The next thing he did was a huge gamble. But if it worked, the payoff would be huge. "Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

Perfect. Just gotta keep it up a little more.

"Yes, Jewel, I am."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am."

"No! I don't want you to!"

"Alright, alright, Jewel, geez. Have it your way," Santos said, faking defeat. He returned to his sleeping position, hiding a rather large grin on his face.

There was a moment of silence.

"Wait... did I..." Jewel wondered. During the repetitive backlashes they had been throwing at each other, she had completely forgotten what they had been arguing about. "Hey! Santos, you tricked me!"

"Uh-huh."

"That's not fair!"

"Course it is. You're the one who wasn't being careful."

There was another moment of silence. Santos only had this moment to revel in his long-awaited victory over Jewel.

But he heard a sniffle from her.

"But... but Santos..."

Alright, all I gotta do is sit through this this one time. Hopefully, Mom and Dad get back soon... Santos looked over at Jewel again. Tears were building up in her eyes and starting to run down her cheeks. Her sniffling frequency increased too.

"Jewel. Don't be such a baby. It's your fault."

"But... I just want… to go outside! Why won't you take me!"

Santos cringed at the shriek of Jewel's voice. He pressed his wings against either side of his head to drown out her wailing, but to no avail. He squeezed even harder, but that had almost no effect.

Jewel continued to cry and repeatedly ask him why he wouldn't take her outside, and that it would just be real quick. Every now and again, she'd throw in a "hate" threat. Typical.

After only half a minute, Santos couldn't take it anymore. "Alright!" he yelled. "Let's go!"

Santos looked spitefully at Jewel, whose sobbing had already calmed down considerably. "You... you mean it Santos?" she asked him.

"If it'll get you to be quiet, yes."

Jewel didn't say a word. She merely sniffled and rubbed the fluid from her eyes.

Santos stood up and started stretching. "Alright," he grunted. "Come over here." He walked to the hollow's entrance.

Jewel got out of the nest and walked over to him. Santos stretched his wings some more and got behind her.

"Ready?" he asked. So much for not giving in. Here I am, once again, taking orders from my sister...

"Yeah," Jewel answered.

He lifted himself off the floor slightly and grabbed her with his feet. He carefully made his way out of the rather narrow hole. Once outside, he slowly descended to the leaf-covered ground. About three inches above the ground, he let go of her.

Jewel grunted as she landed awkwardly, since the drop was slightly too high for her.

"Oops! Sorry!" Santos said.

Jewel got up as Santos landed next to her.

"Santos, that was too high!" she whined.

"Well, excuse me for being tired."

"Hmph."

"And I think I deserve a 'thank you.' "

Jewel crossed her wings. "No. You were mean to me."

Santos sighed. "Whatever. Just do whatever you want. But don't take too long, okay?" he demanded.

"Okay!" Jewel agreed before running off.

Santos sat down and kept a close eye on her. Their home was located in a considerably open area of the forest. There were very few bushes and large plants around their tree. It wouldn't be too hard to watch her, he thought.

Jewel ran around the forest ground giddily, kicking up leaves every now and again. She is getting way too much excitement out of this mundane opportunity, Santos thought.

Was I like that a few years ago? he asked himself.

He watched Jewel mess around in the leaves for another minute. But then, his vision became blurred. His eyelids drooped a little. He quickly shot his head up and shook it hard.

He made sure Jewel was still where she should be. She was. "Hey, sis! Don't go running off now, okay?"

"Uh huh," Jewel said without looking at him. She was too busy throwing together a pile of leaves.

"There we go," Jewel said, admiring her work. "Hey, Santos," she said as she turned to her brother, "do you like it?"

Santos didn't say anything back.

"Santos!" she called again. Again, he didn't respond, so she walked closer.

"Santos? Are you dead?" she asked him.

He remained asleep.

Jewel looked around the forest. She was curious about what lied beyond the proximity of their home. She shifted her eyes to Santos. And then back to the open. She took another longer look at her brother. "Just really fast," whispered to herself. She then slowly and quietly walked away from Santos.

...

Santos slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them with his wings. "Ah... That's better."

But then he realized what he had been doing. He felt a sudden, very strong discomfort in his heart and quickly got up on his feet. He saw that she wasn't anywhere in his field of view, as she should have been.

He looked to his left. "Jewel?" he called.

He looked right and called for her again: "Jewel!"

His heart rate sped up to an all-time high. He tried to calm himself with deep breaths, but that didn't help.

He flew around the tree once, but still couldn't find her.

Shoot! She really isn't here! he thought, Darnitdarnitdarn! What am I gonna do? What are Mom and Dad gonna do when they see that she isn't here? That I brought her outside! Even if I do find her, what if they get home first? The last outcome was the best situation for him to be in, he figured.

He hovered above the area he and Jewel were and looked for some clue as to where she could have run off to. The higher he flew, the more conspicuous a path through the leaves became. Someone had clearly walked along and created that feature: Jewel.

He traced the path from the pile of leaves Jewel had made to where he had fallen asleep and then away from him, going a dangerous distance away from their home.

Oh no! Oh no! This is bad! This is really bad! he told himself. He quickly flew in the direction Jewel had gone, tracing the fairly straight furrow in the leaves. But the channel became obscured by bushes and the other plants of the rainforest. Just his luck. But he spent no time worrying about that. He chose a direction, flew as low as he could, and kept up the search for his sister.

Jewel kept walking to her leisure, getting as good a glimpse as she could – due to her size and inability to fly – at all the different plants around her. Some appeared to be merely large leaves suspended on stems, while others were flowers that came in all sorts of colors.

"Wow, this would be an awesome place for me and André to play hide-and-go-seek," Jewel said to herself.

She was so caught up in her little adventure, she had completely forgotten about being "really fast" and going home soon.

As she kept walking further and further away from home, something caught her eye. A pile of what appeared to be assorted seeds, nuts, and some fruit. Just out there in the open. Nothing was hiding or protecting them. She made nothing of that observation.

Instead, her stomach growled at the sight of them. She walked toward the small pile.

Who would leave all this food out here? Jewel wondered.

As she walked closer and closer, two poachers watched from a distance behind a bush. "Come on... just a little closer..." one muttered under his breath.

Jewel suddenly stopped, prompting one of the poachers to swear under his breath. "Oh! I gotta get back home before Mom and Dad do!" she said to herself. Her stomach growled again. "Oh, but I'm so hungry... I can just take a little." She started to walk again.

But suddenly, a voice, a feminine one, called her from above: "JEWEL!"

Jewel immediately recognized her own mother's voice, and she froze in place. Two larger blue bodies, those of her parents, landed in front of her. The distraught expressions on their faces frightened her.

"Jewel, what are you doing out here!" her mother asked forcefully.

"And where is Santos? He has a lot of explaining to do," her father added.

"Are they on the trap? Do I do it now?" one poacher asked the other.

"Hold on. If those two stupid adult ones see the food, they may all go for it, and we'll be sure to catch them."

"I… I…" Jewel started before being interrupted by her father.

"Come on, we're goi-" but he was also interrupted, this time by a fourth voice.

"Jewel, what are you doing all the way out here?" Santos yelled. "Now we're in big trouble, because of you!" he landed next to his sister, looking fearful of his parents.

But only for a split-second.

"NOW!" a voice in the distance commanded.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them quickly erupted into a small cloud of dirt. The four birds screamed, the parents screaming the loudest. Jewel and Santos fell backwards.

"Did we get 'em? Did we get 'em?" one poacher asked excitedly.

"I can't tell." The leader squinted his eyes in an attempt to better his vision.

The dust cleared. Jewel and Santos could see their parents in a net that dangled above them.

"Wha-?" Santos let out. He looked toward the sound of voices and rustling of leaves. His heart dropped when the situatuion finally caught up to him. He looked over at his sister. "Jewel, hide," he told her.

"But, Santos, what's-"

"Just go, sis!"

Jewel ran to a bush in the opposite direction the poachers were coming from. Santos flew up to his parents, who were already chewing at the net. He opened his beak and started chewing it himself.

"Gah... it's too thick!" his father grunted with the rope in his mouth.

"I don't think we can get out!" Santos's mother said with desperation in her voice.

"No! Keep trying! I'm not leaving without you guys!" Santos yelled while still biting the rope.

"Santos! Stop!" his father ordered.

Santos complied. He had tears in his eyes. But his stare harbored nothing but rage. He faced in Jewel's direction and yelled, "You see what you did, Jewel?"

"Santos," his mother said.

But Santos continued his rant. "Now do you know why I never want to bring you out here?"

"Santos!" both parents yelled.

"Now do you see what happens when you don't… fucking… listen to me?" he cursed.

"SANTOS!" they yelled again at the top of their lungs.

Santos finally gave them his attention. He could see the humans coming now. They were having trouble getting through the thick plants.

His father spoke quickly: "Now, Santos, I want you to listen to me. I need you to take Jewel with you, and go somewhere far away from here."

"But all she's made of is pure trouble!"

His mother spoke up: "But she's still your sister. You need to escort her to a safer place and take care of her, okay?"

Santos looked both his parents in the eye. "I don't have much of a choice, now do I? Fine, I'll leave."

"We're going to keep trying to get out of this. Now go!"

Santos flew into the fluffy bush Jewel chose.

"We have to, sis!"

But what about Mama and Papa?"

"They told me to take care of you. Now come on!" He picked her up with his feet and streaked off. As he flew away from the scene, all he could think about was their parents. How would they get out? Would they get out?

Then his thoughts turned to Jewel. You stupid, troublesome, selfish... Why should he have been stuck with the task of raising her? Someone his age, now loaded with such responsibility! He wasn't even capable of mating yet, so what made his parents think he would be capable of raising Jewel?

But he had to obey them. It was partially his fault, he thought, that this was happening at the moment.

He slowly came to a stop when he spotted a tree bearing a comfy hollow. He flew into it for cover.

He put his sister down on the floor and plunked down against the wall, his heart racing as a result of the draining escape.

"Santos?" Jewel called.

Santos looked at her.

"What's gonna happen to Mama and Papa?" she asked.

"I... I don't know, sis."

"Is... is it my fault?" Jewel strained her voice to ask.

Santos sighed and gave the question some thought. Was it Jewel's for always wanting to go outside? Or his for listening to her and falling asleep this one time?

He decided to take the blame for this, just to spare her the guilt later on. "No, it's my fault. I should've listened to myself and not taken you outside. I should've just stayed put until Mom and Dad got home." He exhaled again.

"What do we do now, Santos?"

"I don't really know. All they told me was to protect you." He thought for a bit and remembered something. "Hey, what about your friend?"

"André?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can go to his... oh, but I'd hate to bother them..."

"What?" Jewel asked.

But Santos paid her no mind. He stood up. "Alright, Jewel. We're gonna go to his home, okay? Maybe his parents can take care of us." It disgusted him to feel so needy and reliant at the same time.

"Alright..." Jewel said back.

...

"So we went to André, my best friend's, tree. But... he wasn't there. And neither were his parents. We waited there for a day… but no one came home. So we did what our parents told Santos and went somewhere far away from there."

So that was the full story, Blu thought. He didn't know what to say. He didn't even know who he could say was at fault for the incident. But he thought it best not to think about that.

"Jewel..." he sighed, "Why didn't you tell me this before? Why did you lie?"

"Because I didn't want to bring him up."

"Because of what happened to your parents?"

"No, because of what happened that caused us to split apart. Santos mentioned... him... earlier."

Blu was reluctant to ask, but he finally did: "Jewel, could... could you explain that too?"

Jewel sighed. "Sure..."

Celia spat water on Santos's chest. He grunted a little from the stinging, but it wasn't anything he couldn't take.

"Santos," Celia said. She scooped up some more river water into her beak.

"Hm?" he hummed dryly.

Celia spat the water on him, prompting him to grunt again, though a bit lighter this time. "I'm really disappointed in you."

Don't talk to me like our parents do... Santos thought sharply.

"Really, Santos, why did you do that? He seemed like a nice guy. He was her mate!"

Santos sighed and looked directly at the sky as he said, "Kindness can only be trusted so much."

"What are you talking about?"

He sighed again. "Celia, back there, I mentioned someone, right? Just not by name."

"Yeah. What did you mean by that, anyway?"

"I've told you about how Jewel and I got separated from our parents, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well... there's also a part I always claimed to have 'forgotten.' "

"Really?"

"Well... here's what happened. This is why I don't trust anyone with Jewel..." Let's get this over with quickly...

...

The rain came down hard on everything in sight. Whatever rain the leaves managed to catch fell immediately on whatever was below them, whether it was just more plants or a bird who was frantically making his or her way back home.

Another rain drop hit Santos's head. "Hey, Jewel! Could you hurry it up?" he yelled over the rain.

"Yeah, hold on! I almost got it!" Jewel yelled with a papaya stem in her beak. It was the only good papaya they had come across on any tree in a while. But it just happened to have an unusually thick stem, so Jewel was having trouble clipping it.

Santos had offered to get them their dinner so they could get out of the rain as soon as possible. But Jewel insisted on doing it herself. So there they were, taking much longer than necessary.

Another couple of raindrops hit Santos. "Alright sis, you're taking too-"

"No, wait! I think I got it!" she yelled back. The stem was just about clipped.

Santos fell quiet for a second. But he realized that she wasn't even holding on to their dinner. "Jewel! Hey, Jewel, you gotta-"

But he warned her too late. Before he or Jewel could do anything about it, their dinner plummeted toward the ground and struck a rock, the once-pristine fruit splattering in all directions.

Santos stared wide-eyed at their ruined source of food as the rain washed the rock clean of the papaya's contents.

Jewel landed next to him and heaved a sigh. " Sorry, Santos," she said quietly.

Santos's stomach grumbled. He hoped Jewel hadn't heard. "It's... it's okay. I'm not that hungry, anyway." His stomach growled again.

For the past few years, Santos had been trying to keep every shred of irritation he felt towards Jewel under control. He figured that if he was to watch her until she was old enough to live on her own, he'd try his best not to emotionally wound her in some way. After all, they'd been through enough by having their parents torn from them. Even after three years of living together without anyone to look after them, the siblings still bickered every now and again. There was no one to break them up if they were to get into a big fight with each other. There was no one to safeguard them. That's why Santos tried his best to fill the role his parents placed upon him. That's why he took it upon himself to be the adult and support not only himself, but his frustrating, always loveable sister as well.

"C'mon, sis, we gotta head home," Santos suggested. "If we don't head out now, we'll be too wet to fly anywhere."

"Are you sure you know where to go? I don't think we've ever been here. And I think it's kinda far from home..." Jewel didn't mention that everything around them was quite obscured by the torrents of cascading rain. The cloud cover turned the sky a murky gray hue, which certainly didn't make things any better.

Santos pondered for a second. "Yeeeeah," he started nervously, "I know where to go. Here, just follow me."

So Jewel followed him. For a while. A long while. She suspected it quickly, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. But after several wrong turns and mistakes, Jewel called him out on his lie.

"You have no clue where to go, do you?" she asked, sure that she was right.

"Pffft! Of course I know where we are!" Santos bluffed. "We're… sort of far from our tree, and it's hard to see with all this rain." He stared at his sister, who caught his gaze and rolled her eyes.

"Uh huh. Right," Jewel said sarcastically.

"You're right. I don't know where we are," he admitted.

"That's great, Santos!" Jewel said sarcastically. "Not only were we lost before, but we're even more lost now!"

"Well, excuse me for trying to get us home. I'm sorry, alright?"

"Better be."

Santos scowled at his sister. Geez, you sound like you're pregnant or something.

He spoke up. "Well, staying out here sure isn't gonna benefit us in any way. We'll just have to find an empty hollow nearby and hope that no one lives there." He looked around, half-hoping to see one near them. "And there doesn't seem to be any..." Santos grumbled disappointedly.

"So… does that mean we have to fly around again?"

Santos stated flatly, "Yep."

"And we still have no idea where we are?"

"Yes, Jewel, and we're only gonna get more wet out here. Let's go." Santos jumped off the branch and flew through the sheets of liquid again.

Santos and Jewel stuck together, not wanting to get separated from each other. It took them no more than five minutes to find an empty hollow. They hoped that it didn't already belong to somebody else.

"Alright... finally... shelter..." Santos said as he walked into the hollow.

"I wish we found it sooner. I'm all wet now."

"Hey, you're not the only one," Santos retorted.

Jewel ran her beak through her tail, trying to get as much water out of her plumage as possible.

"Hmph," she said as she preened.

Santos got to preening himself as well, starting with his own tail. When finished with that, he shook himself, spraying the water in all directions. Jewel didn't take too kindly to this, so he moved away from her and continued. Jewel also shook herself dry—somewhat.

Jewel's stomach growled. "Ugh... I'm hungry."

"Well, so am I," Santos said before muttering to himself, "Not like it's my fault or anything."

"What was that?" Jewel asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Santos answered as he continued to preen himself.

"Are you saying that it's my fault?"

Santos looked over at Jewel. His expression said, "Are you serious? Do you even feel a need to ask that?"

"Well, it's definitely not my fault," he said.

"Oh, so it's my fault we have nothing to eat?"

"Well, not entirely. Humans have been taking some of the fruit. But yes, I suppose it is partially your fault."

"My fault? You think it's my fault?"

"Well, it kind of is."

"Well, you... you should have told me to hold on to it!" Jewel yelled.

"You're the one who wanted to get it yourself!" Santos retorted.

"Well, you could have reminded me!"

"Do you not know what gravity is?"

"HEY!" a third voice bellowed over their yelling.

Jewel and Santos looked toward the entrance of the hollow to see a Hyacinth Hacaw, soaked from head to tail.

Ignoring the fact that he was taller than they were, since Hyacinths were known to be the largest species of the macaws, they assumed he was their age, maybe a year or two older.

Santos and Jewel stared endlessly at him. They'd chosen the wrong home to invade, even if it had been an accident.

"I just left-" The Hyacinth Macaw shook himself off. "-to get some food. It starts raining. And then I come home to see two blue macaws here arguing their heads off. Guess what? I want you out." He shifted his eyes back and forth between Santos and Jewel as he said this.

Initially, Santos wanted to correct his terminology, but thought it best not to madden him any further. To Santos, the Hyacinth Macaw looked rather benign. His tone, which seemed stuck in between calm and displeased, was what frayed his nerves. That, and his size.

Santos gulped before saying, "Oh... oh, this is your home? We're sorry, we were just... we were just trying to, uh... get out of the rain. But if you want us to leave, we can."

"Santos!" the sole female screeched.

Santos glanced at his sister. "We came in here uninvited," he said.

Santos looked back at the Hyacinth Macaw and saw that he was facing the tempest outside. He turned back to them. His gaze lingered on Santos briefly, but lingered on Jewel for a bit longer. The briefest of twinkles flashed behind the Hyacinth's jade eyes, unnoticed by either intruder.

"You know what? It's fine. You two can stay here for a while, at least until the storm blows over," he said. He took a few small steps toward them and put out one wing to Santos. Santos took a step back. The Hyacinth Macaw didn't seem put off. "Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Marcelo."

Santos was surprised by his sudden change in tone. Santos put out his own wing and intertwined it with Marcelo's. As they shook, Santos introduced himself nervously. "H-hi. My n-name is Santos."

Marcelo drew back his wing. "Like I said, nice to meet you, Santos." Marcelo looked at Jewel. "And who's this? Your mate?"

"No!" Santos and Jewel both yelled.

"She's my sister!" Santos hollered at the same time as Jewel shrieked, "He's my brother!"

"Alright, alright, just calm down," Marcelo said, a twang of energy in his voice. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. Anyways, where are you two from?"

Santos answered on behalf of himself and Jewel. "Um, we're not really sure ourselves. We flew way out here to get some food. But then it started raining, so we're kinda lost. And that's why we ended up in your home."

"Yeah," Jewel added.

"Oh, alright. But why are you two alone? You both look barely old enough to live by yourselves." Marcelo turned to Jewel. "Especially you."

Jewel looked down at the floor sadly.

Marcelo seemed to open his eyes a little wider for a second. "What's wrong?" he asked.

To get his attention, Santos coughed. Marcelo looked at him. "We, uh... actually don't have parents," Santos said quietly.

"That's unfortunate, Santos. What happened?"

"They were taken from us three years ago by humans. Poachers, to be exact," Santos answered.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry..." Marcelo said.

"Nah, it's fine. You didn't know." Santos looked at his sister. Seeing how hurt she was, though it was a simple mistake on Marcelo's part, he tried to get off the subject. "You wouldn't happen to know if there are any trees around here that have some food, would you?"

"Well, there's some in that direction," Marcelo said as he pointed to his right. "I could get some food for you guys right now, actually," he suggested.

Santos refused his generous offer: "No, you don't need to do that. It's pouring right now," he said to Marcelo.

"No, it's no problem. You two are guests. Is there anything specific you'd like?"

"Anything is fine." Santos turned to Jewel. "That okay, sis?"

Jewel nodded her head.

"Alright then, I'll be right back," Marcelo said as he turned and walked toward the outside to leave. He spread his wings to take off into the heavy rain. But just before he could leave, he grunted and drew back his left wing.

"Hey, are you okay?" Santos asked as he ran up to him, inspecting Marcelo's appendage.

"Yeah, but my wing's been giving me problems lately. I can't leave lift off without it cramping," Marcelo informed him.

"I see. Here, how about I get the food instead?" Santos suggested.

"No, I can get there faster. I know exa-"

"Hey, we're your guests, remember? It's the least I can do for you letting us stay here. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll be back before you know it."

"Well, if you insist." Marcelo shot his pointy primaries in one particular direction.

"Alright," Santos said, "I'll be right back. Just watch my sister for me, alright?"

Marcelo nodded.

Santos leapt from the rim of the hollow and vanished into the heavenly wash of tears.

...

"And I got the food. No problem there. But when I got back... he... he was doing an... unspeakable thing to her..." A tear escaped Santos's eye.

"Jewel, are you okay?" Blu asked loudly.

Jewel had stopped telling the story a minute ago, after reaching the point when Santos had left to get their dinner.

"And then, Blu... after Santos left..."

...

Jewel, with her head still hanging as she looked in the direction of Marcelo, saw him smirk as he looked outside. He straightened his expression quickly though.

Marcelo walked over to Jewel. "I'm sorry for bringing that up earlier," he said demurely.

"It's okay, I guess," Jewel replied..

"No, it's not okay. I should have thought that it was a little strange that you two would be out on your own."

Jewel chuckled a little. "Yeah..." She looked up at him. "You should have."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Something that could make you forget I forced you to call up your troubled past?" Marcelo asked sincerely.

"No, you don't have to."

"But I want to. Wait, I do know one thing." He put his good wing to his chin, swiveling his eyes around to survey her from all angles. "But I don't know if we should do it..." he said thoughtfully.

"What is it?"

"It's like nothing else in the world. It drives you crazy. But it could get a bit loud. Honestly, I don't know if your brother would enjoy watching us do it."

"Can you show me?"

Marcelo stuck a persistent smirk on his navy face. "I'd be glad to. Lay on your back."

By this point, Jewel was sobbing profusely. Amidst her grief, she persisted to recount the story through her own hiccups and tears. Blu was stunned by her will to give him a full account of what had happened. He had no doubt in his mind that she was telling him the truth this time. He did his best to understand her as she continued.

Jewel flopped onto her back and relaxed, partially unfurling her wings. Marcelo balanced himself on top of her, keeping himself up with his wings.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Jewel asked him.

He gave her a look that was strange to her and said, "You told me to show you what I meant. I'm gonna thrust all your sadness away."

Literally, you scrumptious piece of female pie… he mused sinisterly.

"Um... okay," Jewel said nervously. "It still seems kind of weird, since you're kind of smushing my stomach. How is this going to make me feel better?"

"It's not just this. You'll see." He kissed her softly on the cheek. Jewel was surprised by this action, but she slowly kissed him back. Her heart fluttered speedily, and she realized her mood had already improved slightly.

Marcelo disconnected his beak from hers. "Is that better?" he asked her in a soft whisper.

Jewel blushed. "A little."

Marcelo chuckled. "There's more to come, because we're barely getting started."

...

Santos, after temporarily battling disorientation,could see Marcelo's tree coming into view. Hmm... I wonder what they've been doing while I've been gone. I just have to wonder. I hope Jewel's not upset... he thought as he approached it.

But he would have preferred that a thousand times over what he witnessed as he arrived at the tree. Two blue bodies, one on top of the other. The one on top slid back and forth as the one on the bottom moaned in pleasure.

Santos dropped the fruit he was carrying and let it plummet to the ground. Every part of his body, with the exception of his wings, was instantly paralyzed. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They barely knew Marcelo. He had seemed so kind. Why on Earth was he doing this?

"Hey!" Santos yelled.

Marcelo slowed his pace and looked at Santos. He was too caught up in his own pleasure to spoil it by stopping

"What are you doing?" Santos bellowed.

"What," Marcelo panted, "does it look like… I'm doing? I'm screwing… your sister."

Santos darted at him and tackled him off of Jewel.

"S-Santos? What are you doing?" Jewel asked brokenly.

"Get out of here, Jewel! Now!" Santos said as he got up.

"Why?" she asked.

"Becau-" Santos's reply was sheared off as Marcelo barreled into him and pinned him to the damp floor.

Rather than assist her brother, she heeded his order and abandoned him.

"What the hell? Why were you… doing that to her?" Santos asked in the loudest voice he could muster, despite the fact that Marcelo's talons constricted his throat.

"Santos, you're her brother, so you probably wouldn't understand this the way I do." He moved his face closer to Santos's and looked him menacingly in the eye. "Your sister is one of the hottest macaws out there. I'm not one to let some fresh tail like hers slip by. Ask any other male macaw, and he'll back me up. It's nature. You take what you want, so I decided to take her. Get it?"

You bastard! Santos thought. His blood boiling, he managed to move his head into a position that allowed him to bite Marcelo's leg, which was left in a vulnerable position. He felt the bones crack and splinter as his beak halves met. Marcelo squawked in agony and trembled. This bought him just enough time to throw the large bird off of him. Santos swiftly got up and ran to Marcelo's side. He picked up one of Marcelo's wings with one foot and put it in his beak. Santos concentrated all of his disgust and hatred and unleashed it in the form of a crushing bite. Marcelo screamed and attempted multiple times to push Santos away with his good wing.

"Ahhh! Stop! Let go! LET GO!"

Santos didn't release his grip immediately. He decided to take advantage of the fact that Marcelo was practically giving him a free shot at his other one. As Marcelo moved his wing again toward Santo's face, Santos let go of the now-injured wing and caught the offending wing in his beak.

Santos glared spitefully at Marcelo, who was clearly struggling to move the injured wing and was too afraid to move the one that was about to be bitten too.

"No..." Marcelo pleaded.

Santos brought down the full force of his beak on the wing, disabling Marcelo. Just what he wanted.

Santos, unable to stand the taste of Marcelo's blood, dropped the wing. He continued to stare at him maliciously. No one, not even Jewel had ever angered him to such a degree.

"Looks like being bigger didn't matter," Santos said to him. Then he noticed that Marcelo was crying. The vile, heartless hell-spawn was actually crying. "Please," Santos scoffed, "Don't start crying. You brought this upon yourself! Man up!"

While the tears stained his face, Marcelo asked, "What are you going to do to me?"

Santos didn't answer. Instead, he took Marcelo by his right leg.

"NO!" Marcelo shrieked, dreading a repeat of the attack that had ruined his left leg. However, Santos simply hauled him over to the rim.

When close enough, Santos turned him, so that Marcelo's head was hanging out of the entrance.

"Don't do this! Don't kill me! This isn't right!" Marcelo asked.

"Earlier, you said that, in nature, you take what you want. Well, I want your life!" Santos yelled as he shoved him out of the hollow. With his wings crippled and in pain, Marcelo couldn't fly. There was no way he could survive this fall.

But he never hit the ground.

Santos heard Marcelo scream as he plummeted. Shortly after, the scream was cut off, and turned into a sickly gurgle. When Santos leaned out and peered down, he saw why. Marcelo had landed on a lower branch belly up. A jagged spear of wood protruded from his chest, drenched in scarlet. Marcelo's wings hung downwards at his sides, the blood oozing from his chest running of his wingtips. Marcelo's stare was blank, his voice mute. He was dead.

Santos didn't waste time revelling in his victory over his enemy. He had to find Jewel. He zoomed out of the hollow.

"JEWEL!" he called. "JEWEL!"

"Santos! Over here!" he heard her call.

She was standing on the branch of a distant tree. He flew over to her.

As he landed, Jewel noticed the blood that was running off of his beak.

"Santos! You're covered in blood! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Jewel," he said dryly. "Now, te—"

Jewel cut him off. "Are you sure? You might be hurt!"

"JEWEL!"

Jewel fell silent.

"Shut up and listen! Tell me... do you have any idea what you were doing in there?"

"Yeah, he was making me feel better!"

"But do you know exactly what he was doing! He wasn't just doing what you think he was doing!"

"Then what was he doing!"

"He was raping you! Taking advantage of you! He was using you!"

"Then why would it feel good, huh?"

"Because that's what sex is! It feels really good, but it should only be done with one bird! A bird that you actually know! A bird that cares for you! A bird that loves you! The bird you're going to be with forever! You don't know him at all! He only wanted you for his own pleasure! He doesn't care about how you feel! To him, you were just a piece of meat to be taken advantage of!"

Santos breathed slowly and deeply after his onslaught of an explanation.

"And what bad could come from it?"

Santos was about to lose it by this point.

"You could have gotten pregnant! And he's another species! The eggs may have just been a burden! Especially at your age! And do you think even for a second that he would help you take care of them? No! Because he doesn't care about you! Heck, the chicks may have even had health problems or something! Even if they were to turn out perfectly fine, you definitely aren't ready for a family of your own!"

"So? It made me feel better! And I can take care of my own chicks!"

Santos snapped. He unleashed all of his pent up anger from the past few years on her with every insult he had been keeping back.

"UGH! Why are you so fucking stupid? Ever since I can remember, you've been nothing but a little nuisance to me! Every morning, you used to wake me up early to take you outside. And when I said no, you go and start whining and bitching. And I took you outside. Why are you so selfish? You always try to blame me whenever something is clearly your fault! And you know what? It's not even my fault that our parents got taken away. It was your fault! You're the one who wanted to go outside, as always. It was you who wandered off! It was you who got them caught in that trap! And now, you're acting just as stupid as always! You had no clue that he was trying to take advantage of you! And now, you won't even listen to me!"

He took several steps toward Jewel as he yelled all this. She took several steps backward in response.

"So what do you have to say now, Jewel? Huh? Are you gonna get Mom or Dad to stop me? Oh, that's right! They're not with us right now, because of you! And are you going to try to say it's all somehow my fault? I'm not gonna hear it! It's all. Your. Fault!

Jewel was in tears. This was the first time her brother had lashed out at her in such a way.

She mumbled something.

"What?" Santos yelled.

"I hate you, Santos..." Jewel said quietly, but much more audibly than before.

She jumped off the branch and flew away from him.

"You don't treat me like a sister, you treat me like trash! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" she bellowed.

"Fine! Leave! I'm better off without you, anyway! Good luck surviving out there on your own. You won't last a day without me!"

Santos took off in the other direction.

...

Santos sat up next to Celia and wept heavily over his past loss. "That's what caused us to split up." He hiccuped. "I said all those horrible things to her... I don't know if it was my fault, or Jewel's fault, or his fault. I still don't even know if I meant all of those things. I just wish I could take it all back." He gently brushed his wing over his scar.

Celia also shed tears. She hadn't known he'd been through this ordeal. Santos had never told her about his anger toward his sister. Or about how she was raped.

Celia brought Santos into a tight embrace. Though it disturbed his scar a little, Santos hugged his sister back, crying harder than before.

"Oh, Celia... What do I do? I've already lost her before... And now I've lost her again... After what I did to her mate, how can I ask her to forgive me? How can tell her I'm sorry for what I said to her and for attacking her mate?"

Celia let go of him and looked him in the eye. "Santos," she whispered, "there's only one thing you can do. And that's just to go to her and ask her for forgiveness. You need to show here that you're truly sorry.

Santos wiped a tear from his eye. "But what if she doesn't forgive me?"

"I can't guarantee that she will. But even if doesn't, Santos, she's still your sister, so you need to love her whether or not she still loves you."

Santos shed more tears at the thought of Jewel rejecting his apology.

"I... I need to think, Celia," he told her.

Jewel sobbed more and more in the nest. Blu knew there was nothing he could do at the moment to stop her. She had gotten out of the nest, so she wouldn't put the eggs at risk with the heaving of her stomach and chest.

"He said those horrible things to me, Blu... But you know what? He's right. All I am is trouble. It's my fault that we lost our parents. And I was too stupid to realize what was going on when Marcelo... When he did that too me."

Blu wasn't thinking about the fact that he wasn't truly her first, but rather how he could possibly help to fix the problem between Santos and Jewel. Needless to say, he was at a loss.

But he still put forth some effort to comfort her. "No, Jewel, don't say that. You're not trouble."

"Yes, I am, Blu. Don't lie to me."

Blu tried to think of some way to convince her otherwise. Admittedly, Jewel actually did seem like a lot of trouble as chick. (For a moment, this made him worry that their chicks would be just as troublesome.) But technically, he figured, this meant she had been trouble. She couldn't possibly still be like that.

"But, Jewel, that was more than ten years ago."

"And more than ten years ago, I got my parents taken away."

"But, Jewel, they're fine."

"That doesn't change what I did..."

"Alright listen, Jewel!" Blu snapped. "Be glad that you have parents. You're lucky to have parents right now. As far as we know, we, they, and your siblings are the only Spix's macaws on the entire planet. Aside from you, I don't have any close family members. I never knew my parents. For all I know, they could be dead right now. But yours are still here. I know what happened hurts. I understand. But that's all in the past. You need to forget what happened and forgive yourself."

Jewel looked at Blu. Blu stared back deep into her eyes that were glossed with tears.

Jewel kissed Blu on the beak. She realized he was right. For the past ten years, she had been hiding her inner pain from everyone she met, even her own mate. She'd been beating herself up over her past mistakes all this time. But she had to let go of all that. She had to move on. Her life wasn't the living hell she had thought it was. She had her family back. She had a mate who cared for and loved her with all his heart. She couldn't do anything about what Marcelo had done, but she could forget that. The current positives far outweighed the past negatives.

They parted. Jewel sighed and Blu smiled at her. "You're right, Blu. I shouldn't let that hold me back from being happy."

"That's right, Jewel," Blu said.

"But..."

"But what?"

"What about Santos?" Jewel asked. "And my sister? Would they forgive me for scratching him like I did?"

"Jewel. They're your siblings. They love you, and they always will, just as I will. If you'd like, I could try to find them."

They heard a loud sniffle and looked toward the opening of their hollow.

Jewel spoke up. "S... Santos?"

They saw Celia fly in first, though. Blu and Jewel stood up. "Oh, uh... Hi." Blu greeted.

"Hello to you too," Celia said back nervously.

"W-Where's Santos?" Jewel asked her.

Celia smiled at her. She turned around and looked at something outside of the hollow. Something that was out of Blu and Jewel's vision. "See, Santos? She does want to see you. Come on in."

Celia stepped to the side as Santos flew in. Jewel didn't notice the scar on his chest or the water that soaked it. She just looked at his face. She could see that he had been crying and was currently holding back his tears.

Santos spoke first. He skipped the greetings.

"Jewel, I want to say I'm sorry." More tears ran down his face. "I'm sorry. For all the things I said to you back then. I wish I could take it all back, I really do. I don't know why I said those things to you, my own sister. I should have done a better job protecting you, like Mom and Dad wanted me to." Santos hiccupped. "When I found them and told them that we separated, I'd never seen them so mad before. But they could never be more mad than I was at myself. I know can never undo the wrong I committed. But all I can say is I'm sorry. I truly, truly am." Santos then turned to Blu and said, "And, Blu. I also want to apologize for attacking you. It was horrible for me to assume that you had taken advantage of my sister. I shouldn't have jumped to such a conclusion. I hope that you can also forgive me." Santos shut his eyes tightly and hung his head.

Jewel walked up to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, much to his surprise. "Santos, I forgave you a long time ago. But I don't know if I'm right to forgive you." She felt Santos freeze at this statement. "What I mean is, I don't blame you for what happened. I realized a long time ago that it was my fault."

Santos wrapped his wings lightly around her. "Don't say that," he told her.

Jewel loosened her grip on him and took a step back to look at him. "But we—I mean, I need to put that behind me. My mate taught me that."

Santos looked at Blu. Blu gave a friendly smile. Santos could see that he didn't hold a grudge against him.

Jewel continued. "It's in the past. And everything's fine now." She looked at his wet chest and saw the cut she had left on it. She looked back up at him with a frown and said, "Well. Almost. I owe you an apology myself, Santos."

"You don't need to," Santos told her. "I attacked your mate, and you were just trying to help him. I understand that." He fell silent for a few seconds.

"So," he finally said, "you really forgive me?"

Jewel smiled. "Even though there's no need," she said, "yes. But do you forgive me?"

"Yes," Santos said simply.

Santos and Jewel hugged each other again happily.

Celia walked over to Blu and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you, Blu," she said.

"M-me? For what?" Blu asked.

"Jewel said you taught her to let go and move on. I've been trying to teach Santos the same thing for years. And I guess all it took was Jewel to get him to understand."

"Your welcome," Blu said simply.

...

Blu, Jewel, Santos, and Celia spent the rest of the day reintroducing and properly acquanting each other, filling each other in on their life stories, and just enjoying long conversations with each other. As a family.

Blu had taken Santos to Tulio to get fixed up. Naturally, Tulio practically squealed like a fangirl at a Justin Bieber concert at the discovery of another Spix's macaw. Tulio even scheduled an exploration of the jungle for the following week to look for possibly even more Spix's macaws. Santos told Blu that it was highly unlikely he would find any, since he hadn't seen any others aside from his own family in the past decade.

When Santos and Jewel said their goodbyes to each other, they both cried and reminded each other over and over again that they loved each other and didn't hold anything against the other. Blu and Celia, on the other hand, shared a tearless goodbye. They just gave each other a short hug and acknowledged each other as siblings. Both couples promised to see each other again very soon, but next time with Jewel's parents.

...

Santos and Celia landed inside their own home.

"Man, what a day, huh, Santos?" Celia said.

"Yeah, I know. I can't believe that I actually got to see her again. If I was to die, I could die without any regrets," Santos sincerely.

"No regrets? Really? Isn't there one thing left for you to do?"

"I think I know what you're getting at, Celia, but we've already done that."

"No, I mean the result of that. What's supposed to be the result, anyway. The eggs. A family."

"I've already told you, I don't feel that either of us is ready for that level of commitment. I was already put through the awkwardness of being mates with my sister. Not that I regret it, of course." Santos put his wings up defensively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, Santos."

"Heh heh... So, uh... What did you think of our sister? And her mate?"

"I think they're a great couple. Jewel got really lucky. Her mate can read and write the human language!"

"Yeah, that's amazing. I'd heard that some pe—, uh... Some companions could do that, but I never thought I'd get to actually meet someone who could."

"Me neither." She looked outside. "It's getting kinda late. You wanna hit the hay?"

"Do what now?" Santos asked.

"Oh, Blu said that earlier. I think it means go to sleep, or something..."

"Oh. Well, in that case, sure." Santos walked to the back of the hollow and lied down. Celia followed suit and lied down next to him, snuggling him. "We gotta go look for mom and dad tomorrow, so we can introduce them to Blu," Santos said.

"Yeah, I know," Celia said.

"Good night," they both said to each other before sharing a quick kiss. They closed their eyes, resting themselves up for the next day.

Jewel got out of the nest to give herself a break and to let Blu have another chance at caring for the eggs. Blu sat on them carefully as he had done earlier that day.

"So, Blu, how was my brother?" Jewel asked.

"He seems nice," Blu said. "Ignoring the fact that we got off on the wrong foot, of course." He chuckled.

Jewel sighed. "I'm glad to have him back. I've missed him so much." Pretty soon, the excitement in her voice ramped up. "And pretty soon, I'll get to see my parents!"

"Uh-huh," Blu replied. Blu dropped the smile he'd been wearing before.

"Blu, what's wrong?" Jewel then realized the insensitivity of her mentioning of parents. "Oh, Blu, I'm sorry! I shouldn't've brought that up! I forgot that you... That you don't know yours..." Jewel's voice trailed away.

"Huh? Oh, you think I'm upset about that? Nah, it's not that, Jewel. I'm perfectly content with you and them as my family. It's just that... Do you think they'll accept me? As their son in law and you mate?"

"Oh. Well, I can't believe you're even worried about that, Blu. You have a wonderful personality, and you're the smartest bird I've ever known. You have nothing to worry about."

Blu shrugged. "Eh. I guess you're right." He looked at her. "I can't wait to meet them then."

"I can't wait for them to meet you too."

With nothing else left to say, they kissed each other.

"Good night," they both said before going closing their eyes and entering a deep, peaceful sleep.

And so Blu and Jewel would continue their lives together. They were eternally bonded by the love between them. Blu had changed so much since arriving in Rio de Janeiro. Within the past month, he had learned to fly, he had found a mate, he had started a family, and even met some new family members. He was no longer that "pathetic", flightless, socially awkward bird (for the most part). Every day, to him, seemed to be something new, challenge or not. But he was no longer afraid of what the next day had planned for him. Rather, he looked forward to it.

So there you have it. The last chapter of this story. Yes, you read that right. Not only is this the longest chapter, surpassing the previous longest chapter by several thousand words, but it's also the chapter that ends it. It took me seven months, but I've finally done it. I've completed my first fanfiction. And, boy, does it feel great to say so.

Over this story's lifespan, it has gained over 200 reviews, making this (as of me typing this) the second most reviewed Rio fanfic. I guess that makes this a huge success! I'm glad you've all enjoyed it as much as you guys have said you did.

But you're probably wondering about the sequel. I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you. I'm not entirely sure about doing the sequel. I'm sorry, but my inspiration tap has just run dry. But I'll be writing for another archive. If you know what a brohoof is, head on over to FiMfiction and you'll find me on there as well. I don't know when I'll start writing again, but it should be soon. It just depends on how I'm feeling.

And I hate to do this but: Now that I've finished, you should totally leave a review of this chapter or this story as a whole. But before you do that, hear me out. Since I took the time and effort to make this chapter for all of you, how about you all return the favor by writing a nice, long review for me?

Alright, I'll let you guys do that. Until whenever I start writing again. Later!