Eh, delays. Been busy, sick, excuses, excuses...

(~Annabelle~)

The next day I awoke with tears in my eyes. It was strange though, as I was well-rested and clear-headed too.

The tears weren't sad ones, but rather borne from a strange mix of happiness and reassurance, as if everything was going to work out in the end.

Yet, I couldn't really wrap my head around what was being reassured exactly.

The dream I had the night before remained at the forefront of my mind. I found peace and completeness.

In a way, it felt like such a thing had actually happened, or would possibly happen, but the sad fact of reality was that it wouldn't. Still, I entertained the thought of seeing Blu happy again with Jewel, though such a thing would never come into fruition in actuality.

Throughout the morning, I refreshed and relieved myself as well as snacked on a light breakfast. With plenty of time to kill, I sat snugly in my hollow, my mind racing.

Aley came to my attention, and I had failed thus far to fully wrap my head around her situation. It had only been a few days since she and Sam had met, and here they were, hooking up and deciding to take things to the ultimate level.

No matter how much they might like – or even love – each other, was such an act even smart in any regard? What if, down the line, things didn't work out and my dear old friend ended up pregnant or something terrible?

Being a single parent in the jungle was no easy task and I just couldn't see the wild, party girl that Aley was filling that role. She didn't even know the first thing about raising chicks. I don't think she'd survive if such a horrible future was wrought upon her.

And what of Sam? The few times I've seen him he was a smooth talker, a leader of sorts. Yet something about him was unnerving to me.

He just seems like the sort of bird that would do anything to get what he wants… and if he wanted Aley, he sure as heck got her. She was putty in his wings, and he didn't even have to try.

It's really easy to sit back and think about other people's problems critically, especially when they don't directly affect you or you disagree with their decisions.

You can see the flaws and risks people take, and see the consequences of their choices if you observe everything from a different angle. However, the same can't be said about things regarding yourself…

My mind wandered from Aley and Sam to me. What did I need to do to find that perfect someone? I was still young, but should I really wait until I'm older? If so, what age?

Not only that, but there are so few males out there that are genuinely kind-hearted and nice. Sam is obviously part of the morally-screwed-up club.

Finding that perfect someone comes at the expense of time wasted on trial and error and the risk of never achieving your goal… so should I simply disregard the boundaries I've set for myself in pursuit of finding a decent match?

Again I have to pause and ask, "Am I the one whose looking at this wrong? Are Aley and Sam approaching the situation correctly and finding love early, no matter what possibilities the future might hold?"

I don't know the answer.

The selfish, unjust males comprise the majority of the macaws in this jungle… but Blu is one of the rare exceptions. He seems pretty nice and well-meaning. I just feel so sorry for him and his loss.

I have to admit though, Jewel was one lucky bird. Blu is just so soft-hearted and sweet. Makes me wonder why the worst of things happen to the most deserving of people? What kind of cruel world would place such a tumultuous fate on someone who had it all?

I guess I will never truly understand how fate works.

But what of the possibility of Blu and I as a couple? No… it would never work. How selfish am I to even think that?

Blu needs support and a shoulder to lean on in this troubling time; that's the only purpose I could possibly serve. I owe it to him as the only other surviving member of his species. I could never fill the void left behind as a result of Jewel's… passing.

Maybe birds like me are meant to be alone.

Maybe the good die in silence, unwanted and cold, while the corrupted ones sinfully plunder whatever they can from others in a constant circle of lust and retribution. Perhaps everything comes with a cost, and if you don't pay your share, you don't achieve anything either. Maybe it's best that way though.

My mind floated off again, and before I knew it, I was on my way to see Blu for lunch. The sun was exceptionally strong today, but I didn't mind.

It added an eccentric vibe to the jungle and made flying through the air all the more rewarding as the wind skimmed through my feathers, cooling me down and carrying me to my destination.

It wasn't long before the dull roar of the waterfall could be heard off in the distance, and within the minute I could make it out.

Upon reaching it, the spray of the water added to the already intense humidity, which spawned a thin coat of water on my feathers. Deftly I landed on a branch of the tree we sat in on the previous day, waiting for Blu to show up.

I didn't idle long before I heard Blu call my name. He landed in his almost clumsy way next to me and gave me a warm greeting.

"Afternoon, Annabelle," Blu said with a bright smile on his face. I just smiled at him in a silly way, sort of a "nice to see you too" mixed with a "you don't have to be so friendly" look.

Blu just chuckled lightly.

"How are you?" he asked as he reached for a mango dangling right above him.

"I'm good, how about yourself?" I asked as I watched him struggle.

He almost fell forwards, but before he lost his balance, he managed to snag the fruit.

"Better," he admitted as he fixed his talons on the branch below us, reaffirming his stance. "Thank you for that by the way, I needed your encouragement."

"Yeah, no problem," I said, stretching my wings back. A slight breeze swept passed me as I stared off in the distance. My mind left me again as I began thinking of how Jewel might have been as a living bird and how much she must have meant to Blu.

My melancholy daydream was stifled abruptly by Blu who cleared his throat.

"Ehm, Annabelle?" he asked innocently as he motioned towards his fruit. "Are you going to eat too?"

"Oh sorry, you go right ahead," I said with a shrug, "I'll grab one here in a little bit."

Blu frowned, but he shrugged it off too.

"Suit yourself," he said as he dug his beak into the mango.

A peaceful silence materialized between us again, and my eyes drifted to the sky above, studying the beautiful baby blue color that I shared with it. My coat itself was lighter though, softer than that of most birds, anyways.

Yet something else occupied my mind other than the sky as I pictured two blue birds flying through the air like in my dream. I must have zoned out, because before I knew it, I was staring at Blu in a daze, who just shot me a goofily nervous smile.

I shook my head quickly to regain control over myself, I deciding not to put off my meal any longer. I quickly scanned my surroundings and selected a mango behind me, just barely within reach.

"Alright," I started, "guess I'm going to eat too," I remarked as I reached out slowly to the fruit, extending my whole body outwards in front of me.

Blu watched as my wings met the precariously placed mango, and I began to pull back towards the branch. I must have looked silly because Blu giggled a bit as I yanked on the fruit, but it wouldn't come free.

"Need help?" he said in a playful tone.

"No, I got it."

I pulled again, this time with my full body weight, leaning back. With a small snap, I did manage to break the fruit free of the branch above. The only problem was that the sudden recoil sent me backwards.

My feet left the branch, and as expected, gravity took over. The last thing I saw was Blu's eyes open wide, and then I fell.

The ground raced upwards to meet me, an unforgiving plane of dirt that comprised the earth and spawned vegetation. There was nothing in between me and that very ground but my feathers, which would provide no cushion due to how fast I was dropping. I flailed my wings trying to regain control in the air, but to no avail.

A split second before I hit the ground I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the inevitable impact… only I never did impact the unyielding surface.

Weirdly enough, I felt a force tug at my right talon, jarring me and causing pain to shoot up my leg, but also saving me from the fall.

Three seconds I counted off mentally, and I still could feel myself breathing and hear my thoughts. Slowly, I opened my eyes only to see Blu staring down at me, flapping his wings strongly to keep us airborne.

Blu lifted me back up the branch that we were perched on before and set me down carefully. I took me a full minute to catch my breath and understand my predicament, but after I understood the full picture, I began laughing almost hysterically.

"Wow… Blu," I said shaking my head. "You saved me/"

Blu, himself, was worked up too, and he simply shrugged as he settled himself down.

"I had to, you would have gotten hurt."

"Thanks, Blu. I owe you one," I said. "I'm glad you reacted as fast as you did!"

"Don't mention it," he said, now laughing with me. "It was instinctive, I guess."

"Wow," I repeated breathlessly as I looked to the ground below. That would have been a nasty fall, and I was sure I wouldn't have gotten away without some not-too-pretty injuries. Thankfully I could rely on him to save my life in such situations.

That didn't mean I wanted to be involved in anymore in the near future.

We continued with our lunch, this time Blu picking a fruit for me, and I plopped my beak into a juicy mango. While we ate, Blu shared with me the story of how he and Jewel met.

He surprisingly remained in control of his emotions, but every now and again he stopped short to fight off tears. I listened intently through it all and got a good picture of who Jewel was, as well as the things the couple shared. On the parts Blu had trouble telling, I patted him on the back comfortingly, trying to help him along.

"So you jumped out of the plane and you couldn't fly?" I asked, awestruck. "What could have possessed you to do that?"

"Love," he simply replied. "I loved her, and I couldn't let go of her… we were so close, I guess, that I decided that if she was going to die in that moment, I'd die with her." Blu stopped again, valiantly holding back the tears that started to swell up in his eyes.

"What happened then?" I asked as I patted his back, softly urging him to continue his story.

"Well, I caught her in free-fall. We locked wings and I guess she was surprised at the fact that I jumped after her," Blu started again as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"She yelled at me."

He grinned a bit as he mimicked her voice.

" 'Blu you are crazy what are you doing?' she said. I just… I just let her know how much she meant to me, and in that moment she kissed me. Falling to our deaths, locked in each other's wings, we kissed for the first time…"

Blu closed his eyes, drinking in the memory of his near-death experience when he found his true love.

"And… something was sparked inside of me."

"What did you feel?" I asked curiously.

"I felt something in here," he said, pointing to his chest where his heart was.

"There was warmth all inside me, an energy I can vividly remember. It felt so familiar, like belonging and comfort, but also wild and. Maybe that was what I was supposed to feel, for the very first time in my life. It felt so right… and before I knew it, my wings were wide open, and I was soaring through the air."

I just shook my head slightly trying to full grasp what that feeling might have felt like.

"It sounds magical, but I can't relate," I admitted with a wide smile. "What happened then?"

"Well," Blu said with a silly grin on his face, "I flew for the first time with the love of my life in my talons below me. It felt natural, and so very good. I had everything in that moment, the ability to fly independently and the love my life I could depend on. After that, we fell in love."

Blu's face had a dreamy expression on it, as if he was envisioning it all over again, but he broke his trance and smiled back at me.

"But enough about me, what about you?" he asked.

"Me?" I asked, to which Blu responded with a nod. "Oh there's not much to know really, but I'll tell you, to be fair," I said, looking back on my past.

"I don't remember my true parents, the earliest memory I have is the first time I met Aley. Her parents found me and brought me to their hollow where I met her. She's a Hyacinth Macaw, and she's like a sister to me. We've been through it all while growing up."

"Aley and her parents took me in as one of their own, seeing as no other Spix Macaws were in the area at that time. Me and Aley, oh man, we were inseparable. We used to go on little adventures back when we were developing our flight skills. We took small tree-to-tree flights, exploring and having fun all day long. Life couldn't be simpler, but we grew up, matured, and moved on, I guess," I said, finishing on a pitiful note.

"What do you mean 'moved on?' " Blu asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, Aley and I haven't really been on even terms lately. She recently met this other male and they're supposedly in love, but it all happened so fast that I'm a bit skeptical. I guess I'm happy for her if she actually loves him, I just don't want to see her get hurt if she rushes this relationship," I said as I stared at my talons.

It felt weird, but surprisingly relieving to voice my concerns to someone, and I was thankful for Blu's company.

"Well…" Blu started hesitantly, "it's not impossible for them to love each other, after all me and Jewel met on short notice and fell in love just like that. It does seem unlikely, but it could happen. To me it has."

Blu shook his head.

"I don't know how much my opinion means to you, but I think as long as you're there for your friend, and as long as she has your support, things will always work out in the end."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll take your advice, because it's all I have. I just fear she's growing distant from me, and even though I don't understand her relationship, I don't want to lose her as a friend. I mean, she was with me from the very beginning."

He declared reassuringly, "I understand. Time will tell, and you'll have to wait and see. She'll need you more than ever if she's going to be serious about this relationship. Just be there for her.

"Thanks Blu," I said again. "I'll do that."

After our little exchange, we both reluctantly bid each other farewell. Blu joked about watching my step on branches, and we both shared one last good laugh.

It was something else talking to someone openly, even though we were more like strangers than anything else. I could definitely grow to like Blu a lot; he's a good friend, that's for sure.

I took off from our little meeting spot, but not before Blu told me where I could find his hollow. "Maybe we could meet up again sometime, talk a bit," he said shyly, to which I agreed and waved good bye.

The sun beat down furiously overhead as I flew back to my hollow. I wanted a quick nap before I would check in with Aley again. Maybe it was time for me to open my mind and accept her fully.

Mmaybe it was time I actually faced the troubling music that was Sam.

(-Blu-)

I'll tell you what, it's been quite some time since I've felt as refreshed as I was after talking with Annabelle. We really opened up to each other, and I actually felt better about myself for telling someone else my past.

It was relieving, that's a good word for it.

My only hope as I flew back to my hollow was to have more talks with her in the future. Maybe we'd grow into a pair of strong, close friends and help each other with our problems, or maybe we'd just occasionally meet for lunch every now and again.

Either way, I just wanted to hang around with her. She was comforting in a way, almost like a sisterly character that actually cared about me and listened to what I had to say.

Plus she is cute, attractive, I would say, and a real charm to be in the presence of, which is always a plus. Although that doesn't mean we'd ever be a couple, because such a thing was impossible for me. I couldn't ever see Annabelle in the same light I saw Jewel, so the only relationship we'd ever share is a strictly platonic one.

Still, I enjoy her friendship, as the few times we've talked were really moving to me. I felt normal again, no matter how much my internal wounds leaked the blood of remorse and longing.

By the time I reached my hollow I, was exhausted from the heat and sought a long nap. It was still mid-day, but I had nothing else to really do. My belly was full from being nourished with a delicious mango, and to get some rest was my only objective.

My hollow was empty, but I embraced it this time. I was optimistic that I'd try to make the most of the life that I had left without Jewel. Annabelle and Alex and Jewel convinced me that I could, and that it was possible. If anything, I'd kick back and live carefree until the end of my days. Such a thing was harder to accomplish than I originally thought, but I'll leave finding a purpose for my life a task for a later date.

I took a few steps into my hollow and climbed into my nest, sitting down and closing my eyes as I did so. Thoughts filtered through my head for a few brief minutes, but after a time a small buzz crept to the edge of my consciousness.

I felt a small tingle materialize at the edge of my wing tips, growing strong as it moved down my back. An eerie feeling followed it, and before long, I knew exactly who was coming to pay me a visit.

Alex made his presence known the second I opened my eyes to look for him. He landed down and folded his wings, eyes locked on my constantly.

"Well I'll be. Never expected to find you here," Alex said with mock ignorance as he walked into my hollow. "How are you feeling, Blu?"

"Good, I feel good," I said with a plain expression. "So, what's the lesson gonna be today, chief Mystic feathers?" I asked, trying to pry information from Alex's expression, but such a feat was useless.

"I'm just checking in on you Blu. How's Annabelle?" he asked, his eerie red eyes piercing through my soul.

"Fine. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," Alex replied as deftly picked at his right wing. "Curious to see how the new couple is getting along."

"Couple?" I shot back skeptically. "You think we're a couple? Are you crazy, Alex? I don't want a mate, I only want a friend."

Alex lowered his beak and glared at me with those evil eyes of his. Hard to tell if he truly was or not. "Blu, you can't ignore the fact that you like Annabelle, I sense it within you."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's anything more than a platonic friendship," I responded defensively.

"You can't deny it Blu. The wheels of life have been set in motion. You can't stop them, nor can Anna. And neither can I, for that matter. My gift allows me to see it clear as day, so why can't you?"

I just shook my head in disagreement before Alex continued, "Do you think her falling out of the tree was a coincidence? She's building her dependence on you, a need for you. And you need her too, no matter what you say. Your tongue obeys your mind, but your heart is where true feelings reside."

"You're wrong," I said boldly. "I could never hope to replicate a commitment with her like the one I did with Jewel."

"And you're still holding on to the past, Blu. You need to move on from that," Alex said as he stamped his talon down on the floor of the hollow. "How many times will I have to ask you to let it go? It's the only way you can live happily from now on."

I just shook my head again.

"I disagree with you. It can never be more than friendship. My heart just won't allow that."

"One of these days, Blu, you will experience the future that I have witnessed in the present. One of these days…"

With that, Alex went to the rim of the hollow, spread his wings, and took off.

The feeling that Alex left behind in me, however, never went away. The uneasiness lingered in my stomach and barred me from engaging in the sleep I so desired. Instead, I drank in his words and reflected on what Alex meant.

He hasn't been wrong yet, but I just don't see me and Annabelle ever becoming a couple. I could never simply cast Jewel aside and insert Annabelle in her place. Even if I did, there'd always be that obstacle, the pain and memories that Jewel left in my heart.

No matter how much time goes by, though the scars may heal, the marks of what once was never fade. Every previous person you hold your heart leaves their unforgettable impression, a signature of who they were and why they loved you. I could never overcome that and forget Jewel, even if it meant I could move on and live a better life.

It was impossible.

Still, I couldn't shake his ominous words from my head: "One of these days, Blu, you will experience the future that I have witnessed in the present. One of these days…" If there was even the slimmest chance that his proclamation was true, when would it be carried out?

How long did I have before I ended up caught in the web of love alongside Anna?

At this time, would everyone thank Rapture At Sea for his efforts and devotion, betaing these chapters and really making them shine.

As always - Leave a review! :D