Please read this warning: I do not own Rio, Jewel, or any character or theme used in the Rio film. They belong solely to Blue Sky Films and 20th Century Fox.

Okay, I know what you are thinking. I'm copying the idea of changing in that train scene from Rio from another author, Cotty1996. [By the way, if you haven't read it yet, please check out his story; it's great!] Let me say that I've personally consulted him for the permission to use his idea, and now that he has granted me permission to borrow the idea of transforming the train scene, I have written this story. I assure readers that it will completely different from his; I swear it. But I'm afraid I might not get most of the facts correct. I'll have the gist, but the scenes from the movie would be altered.

Anyways I want to thank all of you for the reception of my story Next to You [-insert lame attempt to publicise a story here-] and I hope to get back to it soon; I'm having a writing block. :( But don't worry; I'll get back to it soon.

This story, unlike the first, is K+, because I see no reason for it to be unsuitable for younger audience. I really have nothing that is unsuitable… but I'm not sure. It could change in the future.

So I shall carry on:

I've never believed in the prospect of love at first sight- a sensation of attraction to one on first impression if any would only surface deep and over time this 'love' realizes that is has no foundation, no logic, and no reason for existence, thus collapsing in a cloud of dust never to go up again. In short, adolescent love was never built to last.

This is why I anticipated the point, sparked by a significant event or not, where eventually the feelings sparked on meeting Jewel, another Macaw like me, would subside, where my adolescent crush I held for her would be upturned. This was because the cause for this was solely for her external divine appearance, with a face so beautiful that… that was surreal. After realizing that her ulterior motive was to 'escape' and not to 'save the species' [to put it delicately], because after all her response to my unsophisticated and plain looks was definitely not reciprocal, I closeted my 'love' before it became out of control, and decided to maintain a cautious friendship with her.

Of course what I didn't anticipate was this premature infatuation seeping into the control panel of everything I did, and I began to involuntarily exhibit this feeling for her [and thank the stars she was totally oblivious]. I began to ponder over this, and I had these facts: one- it was our fate to be eventual mates anyway; two- Rafael, Nico and Pedro had been egging me on regarding capturing Jewel's crystal heart, so obviously we were a match-made in heaven from a third point of view. The result was that combining these facts together created an anarchical war between sheer logic and fate's adamant design plus Rafael attempting to overcome magnetic repulsion between me and Jewel, and I was totally unsure.

However I discovered that this surface-deep 'love' began to blossom from a closeted seed into something substantial, developing slowly but surely into genuine love for her. I figured the reason was more experience with her character and us going through thick and thin together as chained-together birds… and this went so far as to have the mentality that Jewel possessed the same feelings for me, ascending from a turned-off impression to love. I gathered my evidence- she has been more and more tolerant to me, she had begun to appreciate my intellect of city life, and more importantly the magnetic attraction that rooted from the samba in the club, the complete harmonisation of our waltzing bodies… I then decided that I had to release it from the closet of my chest, because it was our fate to be together…

I could sense the procession that Rafael, Nico and Pedro were trying to create in the atmosphere- the romantic sunset as opportunity to accompany a soothing canary whistle and the drizzle of flower petals. All these signalled a romance heightening, but in all truth I was shaking in my feathers… my hypothesis could only be just a conjecture and I had not fired any darts at the bulls-eye. Besides I was awkward and clumsy and the odds of me having a heart attack of either the tension in me or the rejection of Jewel were astonishingly high. Rafael could sense my total incapability of acting appropriately to the situation, and he prompted me to tell her "you have beautiful eyes". Of which I interpreted incorrectly and omitting the quotation marks to say: "I have beautiful eyes." Jewel gave me a bewildered response, of which I panicked and sought Rafael's golden advice. Although he was still astounded by my sheer stupidity, he told me to 'just go for it'.

"Jewel, I have something to tell you," I declared barely audibly, internally mustering the courage to reveal my innermost feelings for her. She curiously scooted over, anticipating my supposedly-shocking revelation. "What is it Blu?" she asked without looking into my eyes. This is it, Blu, I told myself. No turning back.

"I… We've been exploring Rio for some time already… and I… I've had some thoughts going through me. I… I don't know but I think… I've had unplatonic feelings for you. I… I like you. I like like you."

Her sapphire eyes met mine in a jerk, and she gazed into my eyes as if saying, really? I could picture Rafael, Nico and Pedro in victory, and internally I felt stronger.

I continued undaunted: "To be honest, I've liked you from the very beginning, because… you're gorgeous, Jewel, a glinting diamond, and I… I thought I'd want to tell you, hoping for your response to it, to feel the same way…" My voice trailed off as I awaited Jewel's words, the reassurance that she had reciprocal feelings, and I shut my eyes in anticipation…

…

…

…"I don't."

My eyes jolted open. I stared at Jewel's nonchalant face in disbelief. "W…What was that Jewel?"

"I don't feel the same way for you, Blu. I'm sorry. You didn't have to tell me that anyway; it was painfully obvious you liked me for my looks. I don't… feel that way for you."

I stole a glimpse behind me- all three beaks were wide open in shock, having not anticipated this response from Jewel. "Well…" My mind struggled to find words. "I don't like you just by your looks Jewel. I like you because you've been so nice to me and we've gone through so much…. Besides I never said you should like me back; I was only hoping for it-"

"Blu, you're confused of your feelings." I wanted to declare to her that no, I'm not confused, and I was as sure of my love as the existence of Earth, but I kept quiet. "I've only known you for a day. You can't expect me to fall in love with you instantaneously, do you? Although I like you as a friend, I don't have anything more…"

Every word she spoke was a stab on my crushed soul, shattering my heart into millions of pieces. I could not predict the magnitude of which rejection would shake me- it struck me with much force than expected, and I couldn't hold my ground. However I placed all effort it took to retain a mask of neutral emotions. "Oh," I muttered. It was a dumb answer, but if I decided to pester her… whatever platonic friendship we had would be broken into two.

"But we're still friends, right?" she said brightly, with a smile so beautiful it melted the bits and pieces of my heart.

I tried to smile back, but it was so painful and crooked it was worse than a frown. "Yeah… We're still friends." For the whole journey, I could see Nico and Pedro in tears and sorrowfully lamenting out of Jewel's earshot of her lack of sensibility towards my fragile heart, but in my opinion… she handled it well. She didn't blow up over the matter like any other vixen, even if internally I was being stabbed to death… Rafael looked on sadly and helplessly, wondering why Jewel didn't reciprocate my feelings… and I did too. It was so hard to accept that Jewel doesn't like me anymore than a friend... it added another stomp on my heart.

Rafael tried to console me over this matter, saying it's not the end of the world. I knew that; yet I also knew what Jewel was thinking. She was confident, strong and adamant of her feelings for me. They were platonic. And my gut told me that that wouldn't change for a long time... and here I am. It was as if my occupation now was to win her love... even though fate had designed me to be away from her.

And as Jewel stared at the sun's orangey light dissipate in the distance, I looked away as streams of tears flowed gently from my eyes. It was so stupid- Jewel didn't deserve me. She was a divine beauty… and I should've known… that I wasn't made for her… I should've known… that I was meant to be alone forever... I should've known...

…that love wasn't built to last.

I know you guys are angry at me for a lot of reasons, but please. No flaming; otherwise I'd mete out proper action.

Yet I know I've crossed the line… sigh. You guys hate me dontcha? This isn't a one-shot, clearly, but if I say I have writer's block for Next to You… I can always turn to this. Anyways I'm in the midst of exams, so expect little from me… sigh.

And please review! I want third-person views to see how good this is… clearly this is a developing idea, but who knows… sigh.

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