PLEASE READ THIS WARNING: I do not own, Rio, Blu, Jewel, or any other related character. I own the plot and OCs in this story, but all other characters and related themes are owned by Blue Sky Films and 20th Century Fox.

Well… I guess I have a lot of explaining to do, in more ways than one. One of which is, as you know, the ending of Love? I know I kicked a lot of you down when you were out but you'll realise the meaning of the ending. It's about the unfairness of life. I'm sorry, still. :(

Secondly, I know I should have updated this a LONG LONG time ago, but I'm caught up between my school projects and writer's block. I apologise, but my studies have to take priority over this. That's my decision, so expect real slow updates. Sorry.

Ghostofinu: Thank you. :)

Elyahu: I know. Music is supposed to be the language of the mind and all, but I won't digress. I know I write too much, which is why I cut it down a little. And thanks so much, I will. :D

jadensupremeking: How did you know it was National Day? :S Oh well. Thanks. =]

CJFANG: I know right. Infectious much. -_- Never mind, hopefully Lisa doesn't scheme or anything… though I don't think she's that kinda person. O_o

Zacarais: I'm sorry, but like I said, school is getting in the way. I just write as to whatever length I like, gah. :| I fixed that, thank you very much. And I so agree, old songs are better than new ones. And that was a pretty long filler, don't worry, though. xP

ARSET27: YES EUROPEANS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! xD Anyways thankies! :)

Corration: OH NO A GOD. O_O Um… yeah. It's a style that I prefer, to get into the minds of different characters and such. :/ And you suspect too much. Oh well. -.- Still, thanks on that one, I'll see how I can do. :P

BluJewel4ever: Thank you, but the fact is, I want to thank people who review this story. It's the way I roll. :/

Storylover Alpha 01 – Dux Ducis: That's STILL a pain to type. Ugh. Anyways thank you- I'm pretty sure that Ronaldo's very understanding of Blu's desires to be free. If it's through dancing, so be it. :P

Ok, enough, enough. Ugh. X(

~Jewel~

I have to completely frank. I'd never thought I'd be here, in love [again] with the one bird who knew everything I needed, everything I was and did everything he could to make me happy… the bird whom I wanted to be next to. I mean, he was only a stranger- a complete, utter stranger who was chained to my feet and pulled me down, restricting me from flying. But now… I wanted to be with him. He completed me, and without him it felt, rather ironically, like a burden on my back. Solidarity was a bane rather than a boon…

Life with Blu, needless to say, is filled with pleasure, contentment, and joy. My past with Ronaldo, though was filled with a strange happiness, sparkling champagne- an alcohol that wasn't strong enough, was also filled with that one misery of the thought of losing him forever… but I could move on. I could free myself from the grief and suffering and take to the sky… with Blu. He filled me with a type of energy to go on and prevail with life even though it was filled with heartbreak… simply because amongst the shattered glass you could step on and get cut, there was always one undamaged, pure heart you could treasure and take care of forever. And I was that heart, amongst the debris that Blu picked up, brushing off all the dirt of the past and said: 'You complete me'.

Life with Blu was complete. But there was only one thing else that I wanted so badly, like any other female in this world, the one thing to own and share with the bird you love, the one thing that would bond us together and we would treasure together and complete the rest of our lives. And this one thing would fix everything and put everything in place in the future, no matter what fate's design to be.

As cliché and predictable this may sound, this one thing was a family.

The moment I woke up the past night flooded me. Such intense love-making, I suppose, would be unforgettable, where passion and emotion shown by action was etched into your mind with a permanent marker, a tattoo.

I gazed at Blu- he was asleep, his eyes closed but his wings wrapped tight around me, an affirmation that he would never leave my side, that he would be my mate and only mine, that he would remain right next to me. His warmth spread over my body like a wildfire, and his breath titillated my olfactory senses. His expression was straight, but I knew that when he woke up he would pronounce for the umpteenth time his love for me. It didn't take copulation to prove that, of course, but nevertheless, lying in his wings as time passed slowly… it was a pleasant feeling. A feeling of completion, I figured. Two entities completing one another, as if filling the hole that had been drilled into the other's heart, two birds spending life together right next to each other and…. never letting go.

I closed my eyes, my mind flashing back all those memories I shared with Blu. I remembered feeling so lost in that cage, that puny wire prison that contained me and walled me from the rest of the world… I felt so alone, afraid, frightful of my destiny ahead. When I saw Blu… everything changed. Everything felt brighter, as if the sun had risen, and happiness filled me. Even when Blu got hurled into cage with me, where any chance of being saved completely disappeared… all the darkness, all the fear and anxiety in me; they all vanished with the wind. And it was because of Blu's presence.

Suddenly, though, the most unexplainable thing occurred- my mind then steered in the opposite, a complete U-Turn in the other direction. I started to imagine a world without Blu… the possibility if Blu was gone from this world, or if he didn't exist. And suddenly that hole appeared again, tearing into my soul and making me incomplete, insecure and totally melancholy… It was unbearable, almost as if removing a shield that had been protecting you from a sword that speared right through your heart… it was excruciating mentally, and ripped me apart. I couldn't help it; all the joy in me suddenly darkened and was replaced by an agonising melancholy and sadness… the tears started to flow down my cheeks, and I sobbed. The sheer thought of such a possibility was terrifying.

I felt the body underneath me awaken and spring into life. "Jewel!' I heard, and I felt myself drawing closer to my mate, the familiar warmth surrounding my whole body. "Jewel, are you okay? Jewel…"

I felt Blu's wing gently brush over my face, wiping the moisture off it, as if taking the burden to hold. When my vision cleared, and that invisible force that made me whimper and sob had dissipated, or at least lightened a little, I could see Blu's face hovering above mine, inches away but his eyes overflowing with concern. He pressed on, though marked with full worry, for the state I was in. Of which honestly, I didn't know myself.

So I sniffled, trying to calm myself down and regain inner contentment and completion. "It's alright, Blu." I stated. "I… I was just thinking… what my life…" –and at this point, in all stupidity and absurdity- "would be without you." And I burst into tears again- sorrow was a force to be reckoned with, I figured, and as much as joy is powerful and eternal, sorrow could come in and break in the whole system for no good reason.

I felt myself pulled in again as twin streams of tears . "Don't worry," he said. "I won't leave you. Ever; I promise."

"I know that…" I muttered. Such a truth evaded me, to lead up to the ludicrous notion that I would one day wake up and find that Blu would not be next to me, and never would. It was a possibility, but it was so far away it could be disregarded anyways. Yet I had to pinpoint it and sob over it; it made me feel like such a sop.

I heard Blu exhale in a snort, and felt my mate's beak press on my forehead a mark of assurance. "There, there…" he said. "Silly girl."

I had no idea why, but suddenly the word 'silly' ignited a spark in me, setting off a flame of rage. I pulled away [in the more blunt sense, I shoved him away] and my tears almost immediately evaporated away, an accusing look imprinted on my face. "Silly?" I repeated incredulously. "You think I'm stupid and gullible and ridiculous? Is that what you meant?"

His face twisted in confusion, and he squinted. "I didn't mean that Jewel, it was just-"

Rather idiotically, I pressed on: "It was just an insult thrown at me. I thought I knew you better, Blu. I really did."

I had no idea how much that statement had affected Blu until I saw his eyes glisten with moisture and his face- one that was a mix of immense sorrow, crashing guilt, painstaking concern and utter bewilderment- and his eyes, they stared at me as if I was a monster, someone that was completely not me. It was as if his heart had been shattered. "Jewel, I… I didn't mean to insult you I… I was only joking…" His chocolate irises were stained with salt water and pleading for forgiveness, forgiveness for something he didn't do. "Jewel, please… I… I'm sorry…"

Common sense slapped my upside the head and brought the storm of my emotions down to control, and I came to my senses. Why had I blown up and over-exaggerated something that was so superficial and trivial? It completely baffled me. Why did I let my emotions take such control over me… I knew that love made me complete, the joy that I experienced and the freedom I had when I was next to him, but the fact was, any external emotion would waver me and totally throw me off guard, controlling me and making me do the worst of stuff… it was completely absurd. The last time I let my emotions get control of me… it had serious repercussions. And I wasn't going there again.

So why was it that with Blu, these emotions could get the upper hand again?

I felt so terribly and heavily guilty that I had blown up over trivialities again. "I'm sorry, Blu," I said meekly, exhaling sharply. "I just… I didn't know what came over me. I'm so, so sorry I-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I was cut off by Blu's beak, kissing me and making me lose my senses again. But this time… I felt like I was part of it, not just a victim, but part of the equation, the relationship and love I shared with my mate. The taste of him was enough to make me throw away all my doubts and concerns… no matter what happened around me, no matter what had gone wrong, no matter how sorrowful the world is, as long as I had Blu right next to me, I was complete. I am complete. And it took me a beak-lock with him to realise it.

When he pulled away to catch his breath, he pulled me in his wings, like a guardian angel who promised he'd never leave his mate. "You know, Jewel," he said, the touch of his body soothing my nerves, as if a bell was ringing softly in me, a heal bell that scared away the darkness that engulfed and consumed my heart. "There's this one quote from Love Story, a romantic comedy. And honestly it made a lot of sense to me. You know what it was? 'Love means never having to say sorry'."

He looked into my eyes, an assuring smile on his face. "I don't want to hear you say sorry. I want to hear you say that you love me, and that no matter what you and I do, no matter how much we both screw up and make mistakes, that in spite of everything we've done, you'll still love me the same way you loved me yesterday. I love you, Jewel, more than anything on Earth, and I promise I would never do anything to hurt you. I promise."

"I love you too, Blu," I answered. "I always will." My mind wrapped around what he had said- love… it made sense to me. I didn't want to hear Blu saying he was sorry too- it told me that he was offering an apology, an obligatory word that he had regret, but I wanted to hear him pronounce his love for me. I wanted him to assure me that he would never go back again and always be by my side. You could offer an apology and leave completely, but you couldn't desert the one who loved you. That was not obligatory. That was done because your heart reached out to her, that you would stay by her side forever and love her. I wasn't 'silly' enough to not know this.

He pressed his beak on mine for a second, though filled and saturated with love and passion. "I will too," he assured, and I believed him. And for that moment I was just in his wings, with nothing that could come in between us or break us apart… even as I left his wings, I would know that in my heart, in that monstrous abyss that swallowed up my heart, there he was, filling me up and completing me.

At that moment, a grumble, one that almost resembled a frog's croaking, emitted. I begun to search for the source, upset that it had ruined the moment, before I realised it was my stomach. I saw my mate chuckle lightly, in a way that I half-conjectured it was out to insult me again, though my more clam side said otherwise.

"Hunger knows no bounds, my love," he assured. "You need to eat."

I smiled back at him, as he firmly grasped me in his wings before taking flight to the kitchen, not knowing what lay ahead of us, but knowing nothing could separate us as two complete beings.

One of the greatest things that I learned today was that the next day I would be able to fly for good. I was so jubilant I almost jumped off the tabletop just to see if my wing was functional, but I had to be physically handled by my mate, with some help from Ronaldo [besides, where in the world did he and Lisa come from anyway?], and I had launched into a barrage of angry words as to the restricting of freedom and what I loved to do. It took a minute for Blu to settle me down- even Ronaldo shied away- and I almost immediately regretted. On a mutual consensus, we decided to carry on the day without any intervention.

I took a glimpse of Lisa's expression- it was lost, as if she were staring into space and was very distracted, thinking about something constantly. I could easily guess what happened the other night, and I just secretly wished that my slight giggle wouldn't be noticed by anybody else. But I probably knew that the relief had flooded her face when I saw the bunch of bird feed placed in front of us. I didn't care, though- I was so ravenous that I easily ate through the whole bowl.

And that was exactly what occurred- I had practically charged for it [my companions patiently waiting for me to finish] until I realised a few minutes later I had consumed practically the whole thing. Linda had taken a peek at that point of time, and honestly I couldn't blame the utter shock and stupefaction that streaked across her face- assuming that birds would be only able to eat, at the maximum, 20% of their body weight, then I had easily surpassed it by three times.

When Linda relayed this to Tulio [though exact content was not coherent enough for me to decipher], I saw Blu's eyes widened, Ronaldo's quizzical expression, and Lisa's indifference [save the slight anger at the fact that I had been quite the glutton]. I shot them a glare, and Blu relaxed his expression, though I could sense some uneasiness in him. Part of me couldn't blame him, but still.

When the waft of food arrived again, I forgot everything and hogged the sole bowl of bird feed again, but before I could reach a quarter of it, I found a sensation in my oesophagus, a jet of liquid rushing up to be expelled by my mouth. Gagging, I turned my face away and threw up on the counter-top. Internally I shook my fist at the food's manufacturer, but then again I had no idea what was going on.

"Jewel!" I heard my mate shriek, but barely. I started to choke and I clamped my eyes shut, vomiting almost everything I had eaten the past 10 minutes. A silent banging reverberated in my ears, pounding like a samba drum as I spilled out the contents of my stomach. It was the most horrible feeling, the aftermath was, to be hungry and your stomach incomplete again yet the aftertaste of the puke lingering in your mouth. I felt my mate's wings on my shoulders, rubbing and massaging me, but the mess in my head and the agony wouldn't go away, no matter how much I attempted to calm myself.

"Something's wrong with Jewel," I heard an unfamiliar male voice say. Tulio, probably, but I couldn't care less.

"Gee you think?" Linda's voice dripped with sarcasm, and I felt the sandpaper human touch on my body. I reacted rather hostilely, but I lacked the energy to retaliate against her. I finally understood why Lisa bit Tulio's hand the other time- when your energy is being sapped from you like a root you want to be left alone, disregarding all the people around you to help you- except for Blu. All I needed was his touch and suddenly the world didn't seem to fall apart. I had no idea why or how it worked, but I didn't care as long as I would feel better in his wings.

"She's pretty hot," I heard Linda's unemotional voice call. Blu attempted to make light of this [by commenting with a smirk, "She's right, in more ways than one,"] but rather unsuccessfully. The dizziness in my head clung like a crazed talon- if Blu wasn't rubbing my shoulders and head I would probably be yelling in agony.

"I think I'd better check on her," Tulio said in an affirmative, doctor-like voice, and I felt another cold, rough hand touch me. This time I couldn't bear this any longer- I pecked the hand, which was ensued by another yelp- however at this point I wasn't very concerned about anything else.

"Jewel." Blu said, tightening his grip around me. His tone was almost like a father to his child, telling her off about her manners.

A father.

"For the love of Pete, that's the second time in three days! Yeesh!" Tulio cried, and I heard the clumsy clump clump of Tulio's shoes, hopping away into the distance before dissipating. Linda opened her mouth to say something- she heaved a heavy sigh, no words emerging. "What's wrong with Jewel," she stated rather inaudibly, which was unfortunately detected by my keen sense of hearing. But at that point I finally realised what was going on- the enlightenment struck me like a lightning bolt. The mood swings. The ravenous hunger. All that throwing up. It all made sense.

One time I remember when I was little [Six? Eight?] Ronaldo told me he had found something quite intriguing, and I decided to follow him. What I hadn't expected was to see a jigsaw puzzle. Back then I was totally ignorant, impatient and had no idea as to what to do, let alone how to do it.

I could probably say that I hadn't changed at all.

But still, I remember fiddling around with the pieces ["You're supposed to fix them together to get a complete puzzle," he calmly told me] and fixing two random pieces as and when it felt right. But I remember never piecing them together like I should have. Ronaldo was the one right there, instructing me how the jigsaw worked and what to do in order to attain a perfect picture. And once you realised how everything put together nicely you would know how everything fit and joined to make one complete puzzle.

When you're enlightened and you finally piece everything together, you feel refreshed and you have the confidence to move forward. Now that everything makes sense, you know your way around and you know what to do. But the thing is, life has a funny way of operating- no matter how much you anticipate something would happen or know something will arrive, when it does, you feel helpless and suddenly you don't know what to do anymore.

And that is why I pass out.

Yeah, cliffie. Anyways you'll see what happens next, though knowing myself I think I know where I'm going with this. Sigh…

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