Hey guys!

If you read my latest update, you would know I'm a bit sick. But I'm feeling better now, enough that I can write the next chapter for you guys!

So, enough talking and lets read!

Chapter 5: Enemies turned Lovers

After about an hour of riding on Sally, Blu and Alex reached a little village, just as the sun was going down. The visible candlelights glowing in the windows as the two macaws rode on, Blu looking for a certain house. When he spotted it, he stopped Sally and when the horse came to a complete stop, Blu and Alex got off. As the two macaws got off the horse, a Blue macaw boy, looking out from an upstairs window gave a big smile as he recognized the adult Blue macaw.

"Daddy's house!" The boy shouted and he ran downstairs to greet his father, joined by his two sisters.

As the three children ran outside, an adult female Blue macaw could only stare out the window as her children ran to Blu. She eventually came out slowly as well to greet Blu.

"Daddy, daddy!" The three children named Bia, Carla, and Tiago yelled as they ran to their father. "You're home!"

"There are my precious little children!" Blu shouted happily as he opened his wings to catch them all up in a hug.

Bia, Carla, and Tiago ran straight into Blu's open wings and embraced their father as tightly as they could. Blu could only smile as there was nothing he liked better than to hug his kids. One of his kids, a light blue feathered girl, Bia, poked her head out from the hug to answer Blu something.

"Daddy, are you home for good now?" Bia asked, with a hopeful voice.

Blu sighed. He hated to tell his kids he was only home for the night.

"I'm sorry kids, the war is far from over, I'm just here for the night." Blu said to the sadness of his children. "But don't worry, we're going to win this war and I'm going to be home for good when that happens, I promise."

Blu hugged his children again and as he was hugging them, he saw an adult female Blue macaw looking at him with happiness written all over her face. Blu put down his children and walked up to the female, who started to cry, with her head down. Blu lifted her head up and gave a kiss on the beak.

"I missed you so much Jewel." Blu said happily to the female known as Jewel.

"And I missed you too, every night I prayed you are alright." Jewel cried.

The two then hugged it out, feeling each other's warmth that they did not have for so long. However, as they were hugging, Jewel saw Alex standing a few yards away and put on a stern face as she laid cold eyes on the Scarlet.

"Blu, who is this?" Jewel asked, coldness in her voice.

"Oh." Blu said as he let go of the hug. "This is Alex, don't worry, he's a deserter and he's a very nice guy, I wanted to bring him here to meet you and the kids."

"Are you sure you can trust him?" Jewel asked, still not trusting Alex.

"Relax Jewel, you sound like the time when we first met." Blu chuckled a little.

As Alex nervously said his "hellos", out of the corner of his eye, he saw another female Blue macaw looking at them from the window of her house. This female looked sad, but also there was a mixed expression of anger. Alex felt it was directed at him for some reason.

"Who is that Blu?" Alex asked, while looking at the female.

"Oh…" Blu began, sounding sad. "That's Lily, our neighbor, her husband, Roberto, was killed in battle early in the war, under my command, he was one of the bravest men I have ever seen and he saved several of us, but died doing so."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Alex apologized.

"It's okay, you didn't know Alex and besides, there is no such thing as war if there are no deaths in it." Blu said sadly as he turned to Jewel. "Why don't you invite Lily over for dinner."

"Sure, she could use the company." Jewel replied, trying to sound cheerful.

So Jewel went over to Lily's house, while Alex, Blu and his kids went inside their own house, Blu catching on his kids while Alex just sat down, not knowing what to do. The minutes went by and eventually Jewel came back home, with Lily as well, the later looking down in the dumps.

"Okay, who's ready for some dinner?" Jewel asked to everyone and Bia, Carla, and Tiago were all excited, Blu as well.

However Alex could only find himself staring at Lily, feeling very sad for her, but also scared about talking to her. And as everyone sat down to eat, while Blu, Jewel, and the kids were very talkative, Blu needing to catch up on a lot, Alex and Lily stayed quiet, with their heads down, trying to avoid looking at each other. Jewel noticed this and in her head, she felt like she should treat Alex better, he seemed like a nice guy and Lily was her friend.

As everyone finished up eating and Lily went back home by herself, Blu settled his children to sleep, having some last minute fun with them. And while Blu was doing this, Jewel wanted to talk with Alex.

"Hey Alex, can I talk to you?" Jewel asked nicely.

"Sure, what is it?" Alex replied slowly.

"Can you come with me to Lily's?" Jewel answered and asked.

"Okay…" Alex gulped.

The two walked over to Lily's and Jewel knocked, a minute later Lily opening up the door and surprised to see Jewel, but a bit upset at Alex.

"What can I do for you Jewel?" Lily asked, trying to hold her feelings.

"Is it okay if Alex sleeps in your house tonight, we have no room where we are and I thought you could use the company." Jewel said happily.

Lily wanted to say no to her friend, but she couldn't, instead she decided to say yes.

"Alright, he can stay here tonight." Lily answered.

"Great, you two will get along." Jewel smiled and left the two alone.

Alex and Lily didn't say anything and Lily just let Alex into her home. Lily directed Alex to a comfortable chair where he could sleep for the night, she also gave him a blanket to use as well. After giving the blanket, she finally said something to the Scarlet.

"Are you comfortable with this?" Lily asked.

"Yes, this is fine." Alex answered, surprised that Lily finally said something to him, a few seconds passed and Lily went to sleep in her own bed, Alex saying something else as Lily was behind him. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Lily replied.

Alex settled down for sleep and was soon enough dozing peacefully, in a nice dream for once, maybe since he was in a real house and not on the streets of England or in a cold tent with a bunch of others. However, something would shatter that peaceful moment, not an unexpected attack from Redcoats, but the sound of loud sobbing coming from Lily. Alex opened his eyes as he listened to the constant crying of Lily, knowing what she was crying about.

"Oh Alex, you might be crazy for doing this." Alex said to himself and got up to go to Lily.

He found her laying on the side, her back turned to him, as well as he legs curled up against her belly. Alex sighed and sat down besides her on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked softly.

"Why do you care?" Lily replied, still with that cold voice.

"I mean… I know why you're sad… It's because your husband…" Alex began, only for Lily to angrily turn around and shout in Alex's face.

"Don't you dare say anything about my husband, he died because of soldiers like you!" Lily shouted with fury. "You Brits are nothing but cold blooded killers to me, you took away the one bird who made me happy!"

Alex just stayed there, stunned and unable to speak, that is until Lily again turned around and went back to her crying. Alex wanted to leave, but something told him to stay and he did the unthinkable, he put a comforting wing on Lily's side.

"Look, you can blame me all you want, I don't blame you. But, you should hear this. I'm not like all the other British soldiers." Alex sighed as he revealed the terrible act he witnessed that made him want to desert the British army. "Me and my company came upon a little village, we were ordered to search for firearms and any rebel presence, we only found the few hunting rifles the men had. The officers didn't care, they ordered for us to burn down the village and kill all the men, but I couldn't do any of that, I couldn't even shoot an unarmed man…" Alex explained what he went through.

This time it was Lily who was sorry for Alex and she controlled her crying and turned around yet again to see Alex, feeling haunted by the atrocity he witnessed.

"Maybe he and I aren't that different." Lily thought in her head and now she decided to comfort Alex. "Hey, I'm sorry for yelling at you, it's just I miss my husband a lot, it gets lonely without him."

"It's okay, I understand, but at least you had a husband, I don't even know who my family is, I lived on the streets of England until I joined the army just to live." Alex told Lily, the female feeling more sorry for Alex.

"Alex, by any chance, do you like me?" Lily asked nervously, her cheeks going red.

Alex couldn't answer and his face also started turning red. He didn't know what to say, but his heart was racing and his mind told him to do one thing… Kiss her. Which is exactly what Alex did. Alex locked beaks with Lily and Lily was quite surprised, but she enjoyed it and kissed back. The two continued kissing as they laid down on the bed, enjoying the moment.

Alex's dream, that he would start a new life, as well as a new family became a reality by sharing that kiss with Lily. And as the two stopped kissing and settled down to sleep, they slept together, holding onto each other, feeling nothing but love for each other now.

And Alex really did need this relief, for when he would go back, in the morning, to the American army camp with Blu, it was nothing but preparing for the battle as the Blue Americans and Scarlet British would clash in a chaotic battle.

And so it begins…

And as always Lily belongs to Skyler the Elf Owl