This story takes place after Blu rescued Jewel from the plane. I apologize if this story is similar to the many others written about this stretch of time. I have read a lot of them and wanted to see if I could write one myself, so here goes.

Chapter one: overthinking

It was nighttime in the city of Rio de Janeiro. While the city slept under a blanket of stars, one bird remained awake.

He was sitting on the windowsill of a hotel room, overlooking the city. A slight breeze ruffled his feathers as he gazed across the vast landscape of lights below, which sat nestled between the tall, forested mountains and the ocean, which this display of lights now reflected of off. It would have been an incredible view had the bird not been distracted. He sighed as he sat there, letting his eyes close as he did so and taking in the feeing of the cool breeze against his cheek, which did little to calm him. He was deep in thought.

The bird's name was Blu, and he was no ordinary bird. He was a Spix macaw, the last of a species that was seemingly doomed for extinction. Or at least until a week ago, that was. His world had been turned upside down in a matter of days.

Blu had lived his entire life in captivity, owned by a woman named Linda, in Minnesota. She had found him on the side of the road 15 years ago, and ever since then Blu had enjoyed a very safe, secure, and sheltered life. He denied it often, but he was a pet, and nothing more. The side effects of being domesticated had never really mattered. Sure, he couldn't fly, rarely socialized with other birds, and had every last one of his many needs taken care of for him by his owner, but he had been content with that. Had it not been for the events of the last week, he would have been perfectly fine living out the rest of his life in the safety and security of Linda's bookstore, sipping hot chocolate and reading books all day without a care in the world.

Then one morning, news arrived that would awaken a part of him that he didn't even know existed, and it made him realize he had been missing something he didn't even know he needed. He didn't know it yet, but from the very moment that Tulio, a well known and respected ornithologist from Brazil, had walked into the bookstore one morning and announced the news, Blu's life would never be the same again

"Blu is the last male of his kind!" exclaimed Tulio, his obvious excitement slipping through as he spoke.

"Really?" Asked Linda in surprise.

"Yes, and recently we found a female, and our hope is to bring the two of them together to save their species!"

Now sitting on a windowsill in Brazil less than two weeks later, Blu was thinking about this female. Her name was Jewel, a fitting description of her incredible beauty, both inside and out. Blu smiled as he pictured her in his head, imagining her bluish-green eyes, her beautiful voice, the unique shade of blue that was found in her feathers. To put it simply, Blu was captivated by her. He viewed her so highly that he deemed himself unworthy of even being in the same room as her, much less become her mate like he was brought to Rio to do. He loved her, more than he could ever put words. And it was for this reason that he dreaded the events that would be sure to follow in the morning.

Blu had first met Jewel 4 days ago, in the aviary at the conservation center where Tulio had brought him and Linda. They didn't exactly hit it off at first, in fact what first went down was the exact opposite of that. Blu's awkwardness combined with his misinterpretation of Jewels question caused him to attempt to kiss jewel just mere minutes after they met, which Jewel was very justified in finding more than disrespectful. And when the pair was captured by smugglers and chained together, things only got worse. Blu was convinced he had ruined everything. But as the two spent the following day together, ironically trying to break the chain that held them together in order to enable them to go their separate ways, things began to change. Jewel began to see that Blu wasn't the disrespectful bird she thought he was, and that despite his many shortcomings (particularly lack of flight), he was a very smart and kindhearted bird. There was something special happening in their hearts that day, which made it all the more sad when their argument at Luis's garage caused them to part ways on a bad note. The fact that this separation was so sad for both of them reaffirmed the idea that there was something happening between them, even if they hadn't realized it yet. And when Blu heard that Nigel had recaptured Jewel, he courageously yet foolishly walked right back into the smuggler's grasp in a failed attempt to free her.

But nothing they had been through in their short time together was as important as what went down after Blu watched her slip out the back of the falling plane, hearing her cry for help as she plummeted to the sea below, her broken wing rendering her flightless. For the first time in his life, Blu followed his heart and not his brain. He would never forget that feeling when the ground beneath his feet disappeared as he leaned forward and jumped after her.

Sitting in the window with his eyes closed, Blu could still see crystal clear in his mind the look in Jewel's eyes as he caught her. Those eyes seemed to speak so many words that they didn't have time to say as the water below them grew ever nearer. And when she kissed him, he finally felt complete, like he had a purpose in this world. He was so moved and so filled with love that he did what he had convinced himself was impossible. The mental block now gone, he opened his eyes and found himself spreading his wings. Feeling the rush of the air beneath him, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He looked at Jewel one last time, who he was now holding in his talons, and let out a long breath. It was now or never. He flapped hard, pushing downward on the air below him, and suddenly found himself soaring upward. He had done it.

Blu opened his eyes again, before looking at the city which stretched out in front of him. He wondered if Jewel had been thinking about him in the past 2 days they had been apart. Jewel had been rushed to the aviary where she had undergone an emergency operation on her wing. Tulio had thought it best to wait another day just to watch how Jewel recovered from the operation. But tommorow, he had said, Blu would finally be able to see her again.

Blu's mind was a mess of jumbled thoughts as he sat there on the window. He was scared. Scared of the possibility that Jewel might not be alright. Scared to see how she would react to seeing him again. But mostly, he was scared to find out the truth about how jewel felt about him.

Blu was truly in love with her, and he knew that now he couldn't live without her. He was so afraid of hearing her say she didn't love him back, despite all the things pointing to the possibility that she did. In his heart, even if it was for just a second, he felt that she loved him. But Blu was too worried to even notice. He once again became lost in his endless parade of negative thoughts, playing out every possible scenario of disappointment that could occur the next day in his head. He had convinced himself that he wasn't enough for her. Blu let out one last long sigh before closing the window and going to sleep.

•••

Blu was riding with Linda and Tulio on the way to the aviary the next morning. Tulio had been talking nonstop about his plans for eventually reintroducing spix macaws into the wild.

"Are you excited to see your girlfriend again, Blu?" teased Linda, scratching him under his neck. Blu let out a halfhearted squawk in reply and tried his best to look happy. It had occurred to him that humans had no idea just how complicated it was for birds to fall in love. The way Tulio and Linda was talking suggested they thought it was simple as tossing two birds of the same species together and they would mate with each other just like that. Blu wished they knew about the battle that raged in his mind, but at the same time he thought that they would find him pathetic for it. He and Jewel were the last of their kind, and he was almost certain it wouldn't work out. He imagined the disappointment on Tulio's face when they failed to "save the species". The funny thing was that Blu didn't even want to mate with Jewel, at least not yet. Sure he was physically attracted to her, and he assumed his natural instincts were subconsciously playing a role in his obsession with her, but it was so much more than that. He loved Jewel for who she was, and the warm, fulfilling feeling he got when he was with her that made him think his life was worth something. He wondered if their misunderstanding when they first met sent the wrong message to Jewel about what his intentions were, and this thought was added to the long list of things that greatly tormented Blu's mind.

Blu snapped out of reality as the car stopped and Linda got out. Blu was perched on her arm as she and Tulio walked into the building. Tulio took Blu from Linda and they walked towards the artificial jungle where Jewel was kept.

"She should be awake by now, Blu" said Tulio as he prepared to put blu inside the enclosure. "Just so you are prepared, she has a cast on her wing and is in a lot of pain. Please be extremely careful with her."

Blu looked up at the two humans. Linda smiled at Blu and Tulio started to open the door. Blu gulped as he was slid inside, and the door closed behind him.

Blu's heart was pounding in his chest as he prepared to see Jewel again. He tried his hardest to suppress all his negative thoughts, but it was no use. He had never felt as nervous as he did now. As sad as it seemed to him, he found a part of himself wishing he and jewel had died the day they jumped out of the plane. If his life had ended right then and there, he could have died happy in her wings, believing that she loved him. Now he was left considering the possibility of living the rest of his life having experienced what love could be, and having to live without it. He looked down at the ground and closed his eyes, trying to collect himself

"Blu?" A soft voice called out to him, weak but full of hope.

Blu froze. There, standing in front of him, was Jewel. He slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. Their eyes met...

I'd appreciate it if you would leave a review, positive or negative, especially ideas on how to improve in the following chapters.