It had been over a month since the Prince had defeated a raven, and a knight had begun the end.
Fakir was almost finished, first he'd put all the people and buildings back to normal, than he released whatever had been keeping the town from the rest of the world, that had only taken him a week, so the rest of his time had been spent making sure people were read for normal life to start again. Though one thing he had yet to resolve was "her" it was unintentional but none the less every time he'd started writing he had remember something else he had to take care of first.
Fakir had a hard time thinking about anything else, though. It was hard for him because he missed her so much, and her loss had hit him hard because he wasn't expecting that he really cared this much about her.
"I mean it isn't as if I don't see her every day" he would tell himself, but it didn't change the fact that it felt like she was gone. Of course he'd kept his promise to her, she even slept, on his pillow sometimes, heck he kept his bath tube full of water for her, he HAD kept his promise. It just wasn't the same as having her around; he missed her unwavering ability to hope and her ever cheerful presence.
"I can't put it off anymore. There is now nothing left to write." The knight announced as he picked up his pen and lowered it the paper. Nothing happened. Every other time fakir had tried to write words had just flowed through him like a stream. Now, nothing.
Faking spent days like this writing nothing just sitting at his desk desperately hoping something would happen, knowing in his heart nothing would, on the fifth day he allowed his brain to think the thought he'd been dreading. "Maybe she isn't supposed to be human, maybe she's supposed to be … like this forever." Then it hit him like a tidal wave. He realized what had held back the flow of words; it was his own desire, his own selfish desire to make Ahiru a human again. He knew now that fate had decided against his wishes. A single tear rolled down his cheek.
"Ahiru, I want to talk to you. Would you come with me to the pond by the school?" The duck climbed obligingly into fakirs out stretched hand.
When they reached the pond fakir walked to the pier and put his bare feet in the cool water and Ahiru slipped gracefully into the water swimming around his feet. After a few minuets comfortable silence he began to talk because he had to say what he'd come here to say.
"I'm sorry" he said, tears already beginning to form in his eyes. "Despite what we agreed upon under the lake, I tried to change who you are I tried to write the story around what I wanted to happen. I tried to make you human again, but it doesn't matter because it failed and there's no chance to try again because the stories over now … so … so you'll be like this forever; I'm so sorry"
The little duck made her first human gesture in weeks and climbed out of the water so she could pat his hand comfortingly.
"Ahiru how can you be so calm about all this!" He suddenly screamed. "How … Why … it isn't fair, it isn't fair. I love you, Ahiru!" Fakir screamed hysterically. "I love you" he whispered after a few seconds.
Wordlessly he raised her up and kissed her gently on the head. Ahiru tried to speak, but stopped herself knowing it would only come out as a quack. She desperately wanted to speak and finally tried and to her great surprise she heard herself say "I love you to!" in her own voice.
Then a single feather floated softly down and became a swirl around her and then there were more and more feathers swirling faster and faster becoming a raging whirlwind of white. Fakir couldn't see anything but a bright flash of light than it was gone, everything was gone but a single feather. Ahiru had disappeared as the last act of Drosselmyer's story.
Than in the first act of fate a beautiful swan rose from the depths of the lake and transformed into a girl, her arms outstretched she ran to him.
The two embraced, relief and pure joy flooding his heart. He didn't know what he would have done without her. He pulled away a little from her tight embrace and leaned down to kiss her on the mouth.
After the two had separated he looked at her. She was different than she used to be, she wasn't tutu but she wasn't the same old Ahiru. Gone was the childish clumsiness that had always plagued her, replace with an easy grace. Then he realized what it must be that had changed, it hit him that she was no longer the duck that had longed for the beautiful heartless prince, no, not by any means.