COPYRIGHT: I do not own Rio, related themes, and/or characters, as they are owned by Blue Sky Films and 20th Century Fox. I only own the plot and development of this story, as well as all original characters.

Week Three: I am SO sorry for delaying Ch. 3 for so long! *facedesk* *facedesk* *facedesk* I apologize to all my readers. I'll find some way to repay you guys. I promise. =)

My story has over 1,000 HITS in 3 weeks! Not too bad for my first story, huh? ;)

P.S: Happy Birthday to my baby brother! Thanks to you, I get to eat carrot cake! =D

December 23, 2011

Jewel:

This was it. Today was the day. Frantic thoughts ran back and forth my mind, destroying any hope to obtain any sleep.

We're going to Minnesota. We're leaving Brazil. I tried to force myself to sleep, to catch even a single glimpse of Utopia. But forcing yourself to sleep was impossible. Simply impossible.

Goodbye to the exotic jungle, goodbye to warm weather… My eyes turned to Blu as he savored the easing opiate of sleep. In a way, I felt jealous of him. But in my mind, I knew that was futile. Being jealous of sleep was like being jealous of breathing.

Goodbye to sunny beaches, goodbye to Christ the Redeemer… Ugh! I pulled back my wing off of Blu and stood up. Restless, I stepped out of the hallow, hoping that a little walk might calm my nerves.

I walked along the branch sat down upon it. I then noticed something that wasn't there a few weeks ago. A large window was installed in the wall, bestowing an amazing view of Rio. My eyes widened when I realized that this view was similar to the one my first night with Blu. The moon shone proudly above, illuminating the city in a tranquil glow.

In the wild, I often spent many nights like these; bathing in moonbeams on a spectacular night like this. I used to have a favorite tree, where I could see the entire city of Rio, the moon gleaming brightly above. I loved that tree. I often came there, simply to think.

"Jewel," I hear in a horse whisper.

I turned and saw Blu, standing on the same branch with me. He must have snuck out of the hallow. Sneaky bastard. Despite that though, I felt somewhat relieved that he was here. I suddenly didn't feel as lonely.

"Hey Blu…" I gave a weak smile.

He immediately felt like an annoyance to me. "Uh, if you want to be alone…"

"No, it's alright. If you want, stay." I insisted.

He stood there, reluctant on what to do. Finally, he approached me, and sat down on the branch next to me.

We sat there for some time, the last two Spix's Macaws in the world. Blu spoke up first. "Uh, W…Why are you still up?" He still felt uncomfortable around me.

"Couldn't sleep," was my answer.

"Me either." He confessed. A cold chill suddenly passed through the branch. I wrapped the sterling scarf tighter around my neck, sealing in a small amount of warmth.

Blu and I stared at the moon rising above us, admiring its precious glow. It's amazing how something so far away can seem so close.

Eva's voice echoed in my head. "Just tell him. He needs to know."I took a deep breath, trying to gather all of the courage simply to express what I felt.

Okay… Here we go… "Blu?" He turned his head in my direction. "I'm not entirely sure that I'll have fun in Minnesota…"

He looked confused. "Why not?"

I took another deep breath and looked down, breaking eye contact. "Correction… I don't want to go to Minnesota…" Salty tears started to form in my eyes, and my voice started to fade. "I don't want to leave Rio…"

Blu turned away from me. He didn't look disappointed, or upset. All I saw on his face was a blank expression.

His voice broke the silence. "I remember when I was first told that I had to come to Rio. I was so angry. I had so many doubts. Why did I have to go? Are they actually suggesting for me to leave Minnesota?"

My eyes widened. I realized that Blu felt the exact same way that I did.

"I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay right there, right where I was. I loved my small little town… I loved my home… and I loved Minnesota."

I suddenly felt guilty. I made Blu leave the place he loved. The place where he belonged.

"But there was only one thing that made me go. One thing that started all of this."

I looked up at him, my spirits downed.

"Linda."

I was again taken by surprise. Linda? What did she do? She's only a human!

"She believed that this was for the best. She believed that this was the right thing to do. And I trusted her. If she believed that this was right, then it was."

I realized that Blu's bond between him and Linda was much stronger that I thought. Much more powerful than I anticipated.

He then suddenly turned to me. "Jewel… Do you trust me?"

I was shocked. I looked away from him, searching my mind for the answer. I don't know… Did I trust him? But then again, I already knew the answer.

"I trust you…"

I moved closer and hugged him with my one good wing. He wrapped his wings around me, protecting me from the dangers of the world.

I was now content. I was now willing to go to Minnesota. Blu was right. If he believed that this was the right thing to do…

Then it was…

…

Blu and I stood on a table near the front door, waiting for the two scrambling humans to finally walk out the door.

"Did you get the passports?"

"I thought you got them!"

"Great… I'll check the office."

I tapped my foot, my patience wearing thin. How many things do they possibly need?

"It's not in- never mind! Found them!"

They both neared the door, when Linda suddenly turned to Tulio. "Wait, what about the cage for them two?" She motioned toward us.

"Oh right…" Tulio struck himself in the face with his palm. He then ran off again as another sigh escaped my mouth. I plopped down on the table, defeated.

When he finally returned, a yellow cage was in his hands. I noticed a strange lock on the grated door, soon realizing I wouldn't be able to unlock it once inside.

Tulio laid the cage on the table and opened the gate with a squeak. Without hesitation, Blu hopped right in.

I, however, wasn't as open to the idea. My hatred for cages still existed, and it's not something I can easily shrug off. But, eventually, I stepped inside.

The gate clicked as it locked shut, sealing my fate. I looked over at Blu, hoping to get reassured.

"Don't worry. I learned how to unlock airport cages before I left for Rio." He winked.

If there was one thing I learned, it was that Blu never fails to disappoint.

Well… at least most of the time.

"We have everything?" Linda nervously asked Tulio.

He put a hand to his chin, thinking hard. "Hmm… Yes. I think that's it. Minnesota, here we come!

…

After a painful 11 hour trip, we finally arrived at Minnesota. However, Blu and I were loaded in what he called the "cargo" area, so no windows. Once we passed screening, Linda, Tulio, and Fernando all greeted us at the Minnesota airport.

Linda picked up the cage as Tulio called for a taxi. I tried to take my first peek of America, but failed. Too many cars in the way.

Once the taxi drove up, Fernando hopped in the driver passenger seat. Tulio sat directly behind him, and Linda sat in the middle, which gave Blu and I the left window seat.

Linda opened the cage and let us out with a warning. "Don't distract the driver you two." The second I was free, I immediately hopped to the window, eager for my first look at America.

I saw… white. The hills, the roads… They were all the same bleached hue. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating this.

The landscape wasn't dynamic and bursting with color. The air wasn't electrifying and filled with music and laugher. It was simply empty and lonely.

Blu hopped beside me on the window and chuckled. "Not anything like Rio, isn't it?"

I responded with a light laugh. "No kidding…"

The road dipped slightly downward as a strange sign passed. The head of a large beast with antlers stood over poorly scribbled writing. Asking Blu to read the sign, he translated "Welcome to Moose Lake, Minnesota."

The taxi pulled into town, where I got a first look at Blu's home. The buildings, at first glance, seemed clean and well-maintained. However, they were all painted with dull colors, such as red, green, and orange.

Every once in a while, we would pass large wooden poles with strange thick black strings connecting them. I made myself a mental note to ask Blu about those someday.

Trees could be seen all around town. Some were colored with an eerie ebony and only contained the skeleton of branches left. Others were shaped like cones, and held spiky leaves. Blankets of snow were draped over them, but green could still be seen under the white covering.

Strangely enough, some of these cone trees were decorated in an array of lights and colors. Bizarre items were hung on the branches, like blonde spheres and small crimson boxes tied with string. Its festive nature seemed to naturally catch my eye, and I liked them immediately.

Blu hopped up beside me as I asked him a question. "Does Minnesota always have these weird trees?"

"Colorful trees? Oh, you mean the Christmas trees! People only decorate them around this time of the year. It's a tradition with the holiday."

I screwed up my face in thought, pondering about this holiday.

"Don't worry Jewel." He continued. "You'll see for yourself when we set up our own Christmas tree."

The taxi suddenly made an abrupt stop, yanking me out of my thoughts and nearly off the window. When I regained my precious balance, I looked out the opposite window.

A pine green building stood on the opposite side of the taxi. Linda opened her door and stepped outside. I hopped off the window and onto the seat with Blu.

Blu offered to help me down, but I denied it. I appreciate his generosity, but I'm still an independent bird. I prefer to do things myself, instead of constantly relying on others.

The snow crunched under my talons as I landed on the icy clumps.

Linda unlocked and opened the door. Fernando and Tulio followed, as Tulio mumbled something along the lines of "I'm not used to this weather". A cool breeze passed through as I drew my scarf closer. I then heard the flap of wings and turned to see Blu and two grey Canadian geese landing on a park bench.

"Well, well, well…If it isn't the nerd bird again..." One goose spoke.

"Hey, why haven't I seen you in so long huh?" The other joked. "Got caught up reading the dictionary again?" They both cracked up at the joke, laughing so much more than necessary.

Blu started to walk away, but stood near the doorway of the building.

The first goose turned to the other. "No! I heard he went on a trip! To Brazil…" They both oohed and cracked up again.

The other goose joked a second time. "What'd you do there? Buy some more books?"

"No, no. He probably went to learn Portuguese!"

"No, no, no! He went to get a mate…." And cracked up again. Right away I disliked these two birds and their redundancy. But I thought this was the perfect time to make my introduction.

"Hey Blu!" I shouted, catching the geese's attention. I turned my beak slightly and kissed him on the cheek, taking special care that the geese were watching. Even though Blu's cheeks turned crimson, my plan worked.

The two grey birds earlier laughing at Blu now held a blank expression on their faces. Their mouths were ajar, shocked about the recent turn of events. I then wrapped my wing around Blu's shoulder and lead him inside, with a very pleased look on my face.

...

Blu:

"Ah… This is the life." I sipped my hot chocolate, savoring the wonderful taste. I turned and saw Jewel, planted in a chair, uninterested in her surroundings.

I hopped from the window sill to the cage door and then to the disorganized desk, almost tripping over the globe like an idiot. After I regained my balance, I walked over to Jewel.

"Want to try some hot cocoa, Jewel? It's quite delicious."

I could tell that she felt doubtful, but she agreed anyways. I then made a shaky takeoff off the desk and picked Jewel up, flying her to the window sill.

Once we landed, she took a peek inside the mug. "This is hot cocoa? Ugh… It looks disgusting."

"Aww, come on… At least try it?" I moaned.

She thought for a second. "Ugh… fine."

Cautiously, she tipped the cup to her beak and tried it. Her eyes widened in amazement.

I smirked. "Like it?"

She scoffed, although it was obvious that she liked it. "What, this? Ehh… It's alright."

Although the beverage was only "alright", she took the pleasure to finish the rest of the cup. When she finished, she let out a quiet satisfactory sigh, and the tip of her beak was colored amber.

"Uh, Jewel? You got a little something there."

"Where?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"There…" Almost instinctively, I took my wing and wiped the residue off her beak. I immediately drew it back and blushed, worried if that was a mistake.

Her only response was a smile though. Phew!

Linda stepped down the stairs and saw that we were finished with the hot chocolate.

"Oh, you two are finished? Just leave the cup there. I'll get to it." She turned to me. "And Blu, go out and play with Jewel! You're going to bore her with all your book reading."

I moaned in protest, but Linda didn't take no for an answer. She did make a compromise though.

"How about this. If you go out and play today, we'll all head up to Snow Hill in the morning. Good with you?

Next minute, Linda closed the door behind us as we stood outside.

Jewel turned to me. "Great. Is this 'Snow Hill' really that fantastic?

"You have no idea" was my reply.

She scoffed again. "So now what?"

I put my talon to my chin, thinking. "Hmm… I have a couple ideas up my sleeve…"

Jewel, however, didn't understand the phrase. "You don't have sleeves…"

"Just follow me."

…

We walked to a park surrounded with a metal chain-link fence. Essentially, it was simply a large grassy lawn covered in snow. But it'll work.

After we entered the park, I turned to Jewel.

"Do you know what a snowball is?"

She cocked her head. "A ball of snow?"

"Precisely. I'll show you how to make one."

I bent down and grabbed a clump of snow in my wing, packing it to form a ball. When it retained its sphere-like shape, I saw that Jewel also made one.

"Not bad." I complimented. She's a quick learner.

She stared at the icy orb in her hand. "So… what do you do with it?"

"Well, you have snowball fights. You throw the snowball at other birds or people."

I offered to show her the proper technique to throwing the snowball. "Okay. When you throw the snowball, you fir- oof!"

A snowball flew through the air and slapped me in the face, causing me to splat on the snow. Shaking the snow off my head, I realized that Jewel was the one that threw it.

For only one wing, she packed a lot of punch in that throw.

"That good enough?" She had a smug smile on her face, gathering more snow for another shot.

"I guess that'll do." I dragged my wing back, gathering snow in my wing. I rolled on my belly to the left, narrowly dodging another shot. I hopped on my feet and fired one at Jewel, nailing the shoulder of her throwing wing.

She shrugged off the hit and smirked. "Oh, it's on…"

Taking a large scoopful of snow, she blazed a snowball at me. I dived in the snow in a small trench, missing the snowball by an inch. I clenched my wing and tossed the snow up in the air. Jewel yelped, as it almost hit her.

"You're going to pay for that!"

I responded with a hearty laugh. I popped my head out just as a snowball slapped my face, slamming my face in the snow.

She hopped over to the trench and chuckled. "What did I say?"

I turned over and sat on the snow and chuckled as well. "Well look who's having fun…"

She responded with a smile. "We better get back to your house."

I agreed with her. "Alright then. Let's go."

I took off and picked Jewel up with my talons, soaring off in the deep cerulean sky.

Version History

12-04-11: 1.0: First Release