A Quick One-Shot: Updated!

It's not a new concept of a story… just simply spun slightly different for my own amusement. Enjoy.

Note: I do not own "Princess Tutu."

There had been so much damage to address:

Buildings had been destroyed and landscapes had been altered.

There had been so much mutation:

People everywhere hadn't been their true selves, living out lives they were never meant to.

There had been just so many wrongs to right…

and wright he did!

Frayed Ends

The sun was warm and friendly as it began to shine down upon the lake and those beside it. Little Ahiru was peacefully drifting around the lakes dock without making as much as a ripple. Fakir sat above writing endlessly and had been doing so for hours. The sun had nearly reached high in the sky when Fakir's quill finally stopped.

He sighed. "I think that's everything," he mumbled to himself. It had been a lot to focus on. The strain of his mind and body now made its presence known causing Fakir to wince at how stiff he really was.

"I can't believe how unaccustomed to writing I am," Fakir smirked at his own expense, as he now looked over to Ahiru who remained nearby. However, his tired smile soon faltered as his gaze was transfixed on the tiny yellow duck floating below.

She hadn't looked up at him. She hadn't acknowledged him at all.

Slowly Fakir lowered his paper and quill and set them down on the dock next to his ink well as his eyes never left his female friend. 'What is wrong with her?' his mind asked. If her earlier actions would be considered her normal duck like behavior, she should be a bubbly type of duck just flapping for a chance to get his attention. Well that's what Fakir had come to expect anyways.

Ahiru was clueless. The last time Fakir had looked at her had been around dawn so she had long since fallen lost to her own thoughts.

It was within a painful heart beat that Fakir realized what was wrong.

Ahiru was not just looking down but rather was staring transfixed at her reflection upon the still water, that is, until her image was all of a sudden distorted by hundreds of ripples which snapped her back to reality with a startled "Quack!"

Flapping around a bit she spun around to see that Fakir had actually left the dock and was now in the lake with her of all imaginable places! Fakir had kicked off his shoes and had recklessly slipped into the water fully clothed and now lay on the water's surface looking aimlessly up at the passing clouds above.

With slow and cautious kicks, Ahiru made her way over to Fakir's head and watched his eyes fall from the sky to meet her own.

"Quack," she softly uttered. His eyes were so full of sorrow it pained her to see it. She wanted to know what was wrong. Jumping into the lake to drift around beside her was something she'd never think he would do. Yes, something had to be wrong.

"It's nothing," Fakir answered her questioning look. He had grown to know his little duck quite well these past few weeks. 'Wait,' he thought. 'When did she become MY little duck?'

"Quack, quack," she answered. 'You're not being honest with me!' was her internal gripe.

Fakir could only wonder why he let his guard down so much more with Ahiru as a duck rather than a person when they were the same girl. "I finished fixing all of Drosselmeyer's stories as well as our own reality," Fakir explained, side stepping what he had been truly thinking.

Ahiru nodded in understanding of that. Yet, somehow she could tell this conversation was going to be important. Seeing him floating beside her was somehow mesmerizing in itself.

Fakir returned his gaze to the sky. He couldn't keep looking into her eyes.

"I never truly saw before how messed up our town was until this past week," he admitted with regret. People had been walking around as iguanas and rhino's while even animals had turned into humans when they shouldn't be like their cat instructor who was never human to begin with. Yet as obvious as those crazy events were, he along with everyone else were unable to see the flaw in it and assumed all to be right in the world. It still unnerved him at how easily he had been fooled.

The cold water threatened to make him shiver from it, but Fakir focused his attention on the warmth the sun offered instead. 'So this is the life of a duck,' his mind wandered off briefly.

"As of now… everything has been corrected," he continued with a sigh. "The darkness and pain that has plagued this village has finally been broken."

Ahiru wanted to praise Fakir so badly for that. She wanted to shout out with joy from the top of her lungs that he was truly the savior he had fought so hard to be. So many battles had been fought and so much pain had been heaped down on both of them with each defeat. However, now Fakir could actually say that he saved not only the prince they both knew and loved but also an entire multitude of people.

In that moment she was overflowing with pride.

Fakir glanced his eyes to the side to see Ahiru's eyes shining brightly. He had to offer her a smile for it, all be it briefly. It still amazed him how much support, hope and love could come from such a duck… from such a remarkable woman.

"And yet I find there is one last story that remains… unfinished," he reviled solemnly.

Ahiru tilted her head in thought. The Raven was defeated. Fakir just finished fixing the town and its people. Myūto and Rū finally had their happy ending. What was left?

Sighing, Fakir turned over and began swimming back to the dock he had drifted away from.

Ahiru quickly followed behind him.

Reaching the dock, Fakir grabbed the wooden planks and hefted himself out of the lake. Water poured off of him like a spring rain storm as he turned to sit crossed legged next to the old abandoned fishing pole which had long since lost its hook.

Ahiru paddled up to float within Fakir's reflection as she looked up in concern. "Quack?" she asked.

"You want to know what's still wrong, hun." Fakir dully acknowledged, as he continued to stare down at his hands; those hands which were both stained with ink and callous from sword practice.

"Quack, Quack," Ahiru answered. 'Yes of course I want to know! We can't leave anything unfinished,' she said in her own way.

"Ahiru," Fakir suddenly spoke as his mouth went dry. "It's your story that's just not right."

Fakir watched as his little duck's eyes looked down in deep thought as she tried to figure out what he meant.

"Idiot," he mumbled. As if she'd ever understand on her own.

She perked her head back up and gave him her very best intimidating glare.

"You can't hide it from me," he began again, but still avoiding his thought outright.

Her eyes went soft once more.

"I should have noticed it sooner," he berated himself.

Why did things have to be this way?

"I'm sorry," he said at last.

'Why?' her mind raced.

Ahiru still didn't understand. Nothing he was saying was making any sense but what she did know was she didn't want to be bobbing up and down in the lake any more. She fluttered up out of the water and onto the dock. Fakir didn't bother moving nor did he look at her.

She pecked at his leg to get his attention.

"Quack!"

She had that determined look again Fakir acknowledged. Yet at the same time the image of her face bleakly staring at her reflection not ten minutes earlier was still burned into his mind.

A painful cord struck within Fakir's chest every time he looked into those big blue eyes. How was it that no matter the form she took, she was still able to get under his skin in so many ways?

"I should have figured it out immediately," he began to explain as she stood there waiting. "I worked to reset everything to as it once was so happiness could flourish once more, but Ahiru… for you that would mean to eliminate your memories all together."

His voice threatened to break but he forced his emotions to obey him. He would not show just how much that would bother him.

Ahiru's eyes went wide! She took a step back.

'That's right!' she thought. 'I wasn't originally a magical duck was I?' her mind worked to grasp the meaning of her own existence. 'A normal duck wouldn't know anything about being a human would it?' she realized. And of course the villagers' memories were altered so why should she be the only exception?

She nested down on the edge of the dock looking at the grains of wood in deep thought. To Fakir her serious appearance would be borderline comical had it not been for the dagger of loneliness which began twisting into his heart the moment he had told her.

'I'm missing something important,' Ahiru told herself as she stood back up and began pacing back and forth.

For Fakir, he felt as if his heart would wrench from his chest at the thought. When he had finished writing and had looked over at Ahiru's swimming form he hadn't been prepared to see the deep sadness in her fluffy little yellow face. She had such a sorrowful dead look as she mindlessly stared at her reflection that Fakir felt struck with another talon across his chest from it. Of course her pain hadn't just vanished upon their victory. Whether she understood why or not, that didn't matter. Fakir knew she was brave and had decided all on her own that returning to her original form of a duck would be okay. However, now that three days had past clearly the reality of it all was upon her.

While everyone else in the world forgot about the evil, the two of them remained pallbearers of the knowledge of what really happened.

Fakir forced his eyes shut. 'Leaving her with human memories is too painful a thing for her to live with,' he told himself. Somehow being the only one with those memories scared Fakir in a way he wouldn't have thought. He would truly be alone. Not even Aotoa remembered what was special about Fakir or his bloodline. For all Aotoa cared about was just being a music student.

Ahiru was ignoring Fakir at the moment. 'Either I was originally a plain old duck or no… that's not it,' she stopped her pacing and looked up in thought. 'What was it that Drosselmeyer had said?'

Memories began to flutter through her mind. She took herself back to the place where time did not exist. Back to when she was trapped within the mechanics of a never ending story surrounded by gears and puppets.

'He told me I was right about the five gates and the heart shards,' she recalled.

Flashback

"What? So if I return those to him the prince will go back to normal and defeat the raven…"

"No, no," Drosselmeyer chided in disgust. "That would be hopelessly boring. You're a story character; you can do better than that!" He demanded with his pointless cup of tea.

"Character? But how can that be I'm really just a duck…"

End Flashback

'Why did he call me that?' Ahiru wondered.

"Quack!" Ahiru suddenly called out which startled Fakir from his agonizing thoughts.

"What is it Ahiru?" Fakir asked in distracted curiosity. Her sudden outburst was as if she were back to her old ridiculous self which confused the ex-knight.

"Quack, quack," Ahiru spoke more to herself as she waddled as fast as she could over to his stack of papers which were still next to his chair. She bent down and bit onto a clean sheet of paper and dragged it away from the stack doing her best to not get any of the other pieces of parchment wet. Backing up, Ahiru tripped in between one of the wooden plank gaps and quacked loudly in surprise which sent her single sheet of paper sailing into one of the puddles of her own making.

"Quack," she mumbled in frustration as she cradled her little leg in pain.

Fakir watched as the paper soaked up the water and shook his head.

"Idiot, what are you doing?" he asked as he stood up.

Ahiru then proceeded to offer a long string of "Quack, qu-quack, quack, quack, QUACKs!" which Fakir proceeded to ignore as he picked up all of his papers off the deck.

Crossing her wings, Ahiru fumed but her outburst of anger didn't last long as a single sheet of paper was set carefully down before her.

Looking back up, Fakir just nodded. He didn't want her upset but they really did have a strange relationship. Goodness knows Fakir was thankful no one ever came out to this lake. If anyone ever saw him speaking with a duck he'd surly have issues at their school.

Smiling, Ahiru waddled over to his inkwell and dipped the tip of her wing into it then set her sights on the paper.

Fakir wanted to knock himself in the head for being so dense. 'Of course she can write to me!' his mind kicked himself. 'She has a human mind for crying out loud!'

Watching her every move, Fakir could only call himself the true idiot and marveled once again at how resilient his little duck was.

Fakir then began to read her words out loud as she scribbled away.

"Drosselmeyer said something odd to me when I was his captive," he read. "He said I was a 'Story Character' and that I could do better."

Ahiru turned her gaze up to see that Fakir was giving her words serious thought.

"Ahiru, you mean to tell me that that sadistic writer said you were different from everyone else?"

Ahiru shook her head no then nodded yes in contradiction. So she wrote, "Not entirely but he did say something really odd about the gears of the story," she retold. "Drosselmeyer said quote: 'What's this? Tutu is here and yet the gears are moving?' when for the longest time none of the gears moved while I was there. It was just before you called out to me that things began to move."

Fakir read that sentence over and over. "You're right," Fakir said as he took a seat in his chair to lean in closer to Ahiru's page.

"That is odd. If you were the same as Myūto, being a true story character, or me, being real, then why would the gears of our messed up reality stop on account of you? Wait-"

Now Fakir was confusing himself.

'Finally,' Ahiru thought. 'Now he gets why I'm confused too.'

"Okay," Fakir said out loud. "In all reality you should have only two possibilities," he began to work out. "One is that you were originally in Myūto and Rū's story which means I should return you to that story with them, or you were originally an ordinary duck in the real world and I should write away your memories of all this…."

Ahiru didn't like either of those choices.

"But," he continued. "Why did the story's gears stop on the account of you?"

Neither had an answer.

Ahiru dipped her feather back into the ink.

"He did say I was a character," she reminded.

"Yes, but then why didn't you return with Myūto when I wrote 'And all the characters returned to their original stories?'" Fakir hadn't penned each character away from reality although he did add special care to his Prince's story. He had just generically written for them to return to their books and made any corrections as necessary.

"Unless," Fakir's eyes grew sharp. "Unless you don't truly have a book of your own!"

Ahiru wasn't so sure about that. "Don't I belong in Myūto's story?" she wrote.

"Perhaps not originally," he smiled. "For the past three days I have been fixing all of the lost and broken tails along with correcting reality. What we have been living in for so long has been a jumbled mess of it all and I wonder… I wonder."

Fakir sat up straight again and grabbed his notes from one of his piles. Ahiru sat down and watched as he scanned and flipped through dozens of sheets.

'I couldn't do it,' she thought to herself. 'I could never leave him alone,' she firmly decided. 'I never knew things would turn out this way, but I understand now that my only wish is to stay by Fakir's side no matter what!' she told herself with determination.

Just the thought of leaving him either into a story or into a migratory flock of birds was unacceptable in her opinion.

"Why isn't it here," Fakir mumbled to himself. "It must be back on my desk." Sighing once more he leaned back and let his papers fall to the wayside. He didn't care if they got wet or not. The words he had written on them had already come to pass.

Ahiru jumped up and fluttered up onto his knee and sat down. The two of them stared at each other for quite some time.

"I wonder," Fakir said softly. "Perhaps you are unique from us all," he pondered.

Ahiru tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe amidst the chaos of reality and fiction you were… created as a byproduct to save not only Prince Myūto and the other stories characters but save reality as well."

'I was created by the magic of storytelling?' Ahiru wondered.

"It might explain things," Fakir reasoned. "Tell me… can you remember your days as a duckling before meeting Prince Myūto?"

Ahiru thought about that then shook her head no in self surprise.

"Then that must be it," Fakir reasoned. "You didn't return to the story and you have no memories of being a duckling which means you didn't exist before hand. Drosselmeyer's shadow of an existence must have created you to enrich Myūto plight never having imagined that creating you into this warped reality would give you ultimate power over it… which is why it all came to a stop on account of you."

Ahiru's eyes went wide! 'That has to be it!' her mind cried. 'But then what happens to me?' she worried.

"Don't fret my little duck," Fakir smirked. "I would never erase a life. No matter how you came into existence you were born and I have no right to delete you."

"Quack," Ahiru agreed.

Somehow they both sat there a little happier than before. It was odd really. It wasn't as if mountains would move on account of their realization but to them something significant had changed in their hearts.

Fakir then scooped her up and stood suddenly. She quacked startled but he held on to her gently and raised her up close to his face.

"Please Ahiru," he whispered. "Give me time."

She blinked and for some reason blushed at his proximity.

"I need to work some things out but by tomorrow night I should be able to explain."

Ahiru didn't know what he was thinking but gulped and nodded in reply.

Fakir felt so strange holding her in his hands. It wasn't the first time he had held her but he was a different man now. They were both different now. Breaking free from his spinning thoughts, Fakir gently set her back down onto the dock and collected his things. It was growing late and they were both well over due for a meal.

"Come Ahiru," he called.

He had a lot of work ahead of him and until he had things figured out he would remain absent from his classes.

The next day was dark and stormy; quite unlike the day before. It seemed the world was once again experiencing what it was like to have natural changing weather rather than pre-determined weather which sets the mood for its characters because right now Fakir was filled with the light of hope not despair.

Far on the other side of the lake sat a small one room cottage that was now abandoned. It had been made by a story character that had used real materials. Fakir now used the secluded building as his secret oasis for writing. All the original story books lined its shelves and Fakir had made sure to supply the building with plenty of paper, ink, quills, candles as well as a little food. It was the perfect get away and even had a small bed in the corner if he ever felt the need to use it.

Ahiru sat curled up in a blanket on a chair beside Fakir's desk as the wind and rain pelted the window above him. She loved watching him scribble away. Granted she had always been bothered in the past by doing nothing but watch from the sidelines but in this case she wasn't just watching but was actively waiting. Waiting in itself was an activity. He had asked her to wait so quietly wait she would.

Lighting struck out over the lake and Ahiru couldn't help but "Quack!" and throw her wings up in distress at the resounding thunder that immediately followed. However just as sudden warm hands picked her up and sat her down in a comfortable lap.

Ahiru froze. She wasn't supposed to disturb him, but as she slowly tilted her head up she saw not a scowl but a faint smile on his lips as Fakir continued his work unhindered.

'That's just like him,' Ahiru acknowledge. 'He can be rough around the edges but he really can be sweet on the inside.' Her duck bill turned upwards into a smile and she proceeded to nestle into his shirt; allowing his musky sent to cradle her to sleep. She was no longer aware of the storm.

It was late in the evening when Fakir's sudden movement to lean back in his chair caused Ahiru to awaken from her deep sleep.

When was the last time she had a good night's sleep free from stressful dreams?

"I think I've got it all worked out," Fakir's thick voice spoke gruffly from lack of use.

The candle light flickered as it seemed the rain was still coming down outside through the darkness of night.

"Here," he pointed. "Take a look."

Ahiru stood up then fell off his lap but harshly flapped her wings to get up onto his desk.

Fakir rolled his eyes at her lack of grace in duck form but didn't say a word. He let her read the outline he had created and hoped she'd accept it. If not he'd let her decide what to do. He would never force her to do anything she didn't want to do. She had sacrificed so much of herself already to be denied her hearts wishes.

Ahiru stood on the desk in shock. She read and reread his outline over and over within the flickering candle light just to make sure she was reading it right. Slowly she finally turned to look up at the man sitting beside her.

"Quack," she softly uttered. 'I don't believe it.'

"I know it's not what you first might have expected… especially coming from me," Fakir stammered. "But you know, well I just figured, since you, that time," he was getting flustered.

Ahiru couldn't believe he was not only falling over his own words but blushing on top of it.

"Quack, quack," she stopped his downward spiral.

He met her gaze once more and did his best to see her feelings behind those crystal blue eyes.

She was overflowing with happiness and was at that moment sick of being unable to speak. His words had made so much sense. She was a duck but she was a person as well. Just as Fakir was unique in the world blessed, or cursed depending on your view, with magical powers then why not a magical girl as well whose just as unique as he is?

Fakir had it all written out. All she had to do was give him her answer. He would leave the choice up to her.

Fakir couldn't move his tongue to speak but reached out and scribbled on a scrap piece of paper: Yes or No.

Ahiru didn't need to hesitate and just as she was about to stand on the word yes she froze. Turning her sights back to his outline she carefully read it again.

Fakir was both thankful and saddened by her hesitation but was honestly thankful that Ahiru was giving this decision careful consideration rather than acting impulsively. He shivered from the cold; he should have started a fire long ago, but remained still as Ahiru began to pen a question of her own. The tip of her feather was still stained black from yesterday and would most likely be that way for some time.

"Will you be okay?" she wrote.

"You're joking right," Fakir scoffed. "Quit worrying about others for once. This is your one and only true moment to be completely and utterly selfish. Is this what you want? If not I can write a different option for you… whatever you desire," he harshly scolded.

Ahiru looked lovingly into Fakir's eyes only to see him glace away. He couldn't fool her anymore with being abrasive towards her. She knew better than anyone how noble Fakir truly was.

"Or," he resigned himself to say. "If you didn't want me I'm sure I could find another way to do it," he offered with bitterness rising up within him just at the mere thought alone. Damn why did he care so much about this anyways!

Ahiru couldn't handle the thought of rejecting his feelings. Pain squeezed around her heart just from seeing her Fakir in pain. When had she begun caring so much for him she didn't know. All she knew now was that she was going to get her wish after all.

Both of them felt strongly for the other and both felt pain from resisting, yet neither of them realized their emotions mirrored the others so beautifully.

Fakir finally glanced back down at his desk only to see Ahiru patiently standing on the word yes with a smug look on her face.

"You sure?" Fakir had to ask. He didn't want to mess with the world more than he had to.

"Quack," she nodded yes.

A genuine smile spread across his face and she melted inside from it. He was truly handsome when he smiled.

"Okay then," he stood scooting his chair back. The storm had picked back up again and strikes of lightning returned. Fakir just smiled and decided to use the weather as his catalyst.

Ahiru watched as he first moved to build a fire. The cabin was freezing now so Ahiru didn't mind waiting.

As the wood began to crack and pop from the growing flames, Fakir moved to grab his sword. Removing his blade and leaving the sheath behind, Fakir opened the cabin door only to be assaulted with roaring winds but he just pushed through and closed the door behind him.

Ahiru leapt up onto the window sill to watch what she could. She wasn't entirely sure how he was going to go about things but she had faith in him none the less.

Fakir pushed through the wind and rain and after moving away from the cabin and trees he stabbed his sword into the ground within a small clearing and left it there as he returned to the shelter of his forgotten cabin. Dripping wet he tossed his blue coat to the corner of the room and sat back down in his chair. He couldn't wait to grab his pen. There had been so many times when he didn't know what to write however this was not one of those moments.

"Fakir the fallen knight who had become the writer and author of stories and life alike," he wrote and spoke at the same time. "…was filled with an emptiness that remained even after the defeat of all his standing enemies. He heart was not filled with joy as it should have been but rather cried out in longing for the one companion he had lost. And from his pain his sword, whom had served his master faithfully ever since the very beginning, felt that pain as well and decided to take on new life one last time to defeat his masters finally enemy… loneliness."

Ahiru was in awe of how fast Fakir's hand moved across the page. So many emotions were swelling up within her all she could do was stare at him in fascination.

"Having been left in an open clearing, the sword stood tall and from out of nowhere lightning struck it with a force that singed all the surrounding trees."

Ahiru jumped as the loudest crack of thunder she had ever hear in her life shook the cabin with great force and the darkness outside the rain pelted window was for a moment filled with a blinding white light.

"Yet despite it destructive force, Fakir's sword remain unharmed. It instead glowed with a new power it did not have before…"

Fakir dipped his pen in the ink once more.

"His sword now could pierce the heart of a man without killing him."

Fakir set his quill down and stood. He didn't even look at Ahiru because he would not be swayed to stop what he had started. Going back out into the rain Fakir went to retrieve his sword. Reaching the clearing he was taken aback at how much destruction was actually there. The ground, albeit soaking wet, had burn marks along with the surrounding trees. The whole area was one big charred circle, yet just as he had written, his sword remained undamaged. Its glow faded away the moment his hand grasped its hilt.

"Thank you old friend," he mumbled. With a graceful half spin, he turned to make his way back to Ahiru.

The cabin's door seemed to have a more ominous sound this time to Ahiru as Fakir closed it behind him and slid the deadbolt closed. He hadn't bothered putting his coat back on the second time so he was truly soaked to the bone. The fire he had started was finally growing but it would be an hour before he'd be able to feel its true warmth.

Shaking as much water from his head as he could and leaving his sword firmly in his left hand, Fakir leaned over his desk to scribble his final words.

"The sword was thankful to be within his master's grasp once more. Its final act was upon it. Fakir would use its new power and succeed in his desires. All his plans and dreams would come true just as he speaks them."

With that Fakir took a deep breath and returned the quill to its holder.

Ahiru was so nervous she was trembling from both fear and excitement. She never moved from the window sill to ensure she wouldn't have a classic clumsy mishap and ruin his efforts.

Fakir took a deep breath and looked into Ahiru's shining eyes. Even as a duck her eyes were truly gorgeous but oh how he missed her human form.

Resigning himself to his actions, Fakir moved to the center of the room. He knew what he was about to do was incredibly dangerous and might not even work but he had made his decision and refused to be a coward about it. Without so much as a hesitation he stabbed himself straight through his heart just as he once had mimicked on a stage an eternity ago. The pain that pierced through him was far greater than he had imagined it would be. He fell to his knees as he yelled out in agony.

'NO!'

"Quack!" Ahiru panicked, fluttering to his side but she couldn't do anything for him. All she could do was watch as pain etched across his face. He coughed and gasped but with the strength he still had he began to retract his sword. Ahiru's tears couldn't be stopped as she watched him remove the spirit of his heart from within his chest.

'Why?' she cried inside. 'Why must you be in pain because of me?' Ahiru really hated her existence now. All her fancy feelings and words she had ever said faded to black as she watched yet another person dear to her suffer on her account.

With his sword and crystal heart now removed, Fakir's gasping breath began to find some sort of rhythm as he cracked open an eye. His hand trembled as he reached out and grabbed his heart which hovered in front of him.

"It worked," he barely choked. "It's okay," he gasped looking down at his little yellow duck who was hugging his knee in desperation. He weakly smiled. "That was the hard part," he tried to make light of things. He fought to stay conscious for her sake. 'Anything for your sake.'

Focusing on his heart now, Fakir took a few quick breaths then spoke. "And from a swing of his sword Fakir cut the part of him which could love in half."

All at once Fakir swung his sword down and across the corner top of his heart, perfectly slicing a shard off it which fell to the floor. Fakir's sword fell to the ground as well with a loud clank because his strength was fleeting. How Myūto was able to withstand the pain of it all was beyond Fakir's ability to think right now. With his eyes painfully shut once more, Fakir returned what remained of his heart back into his chest.

A red light flashed across him then it was gone. His remaining feelings had returned.

Ahiru stood at his side frozen in fear as Fakir winced then slumped to the ground.

"Quack, quack, qu-quack!" she futilely called out. 'Fakir say something please! This is all my fault. Fakir!'

"Ahiru," he mumbled on the ground gasping for breath. The pain in his chest was overwhelming. His emotions were all over the page as tears spilled out of his eyes involuntarily.

"Here," he offered.

Ahiru brushed the tears from her eyes with her feathers as she watched her knight nudge the broken shard towards her. "This is yours now," he weakly explained. "It's half of my ability to love… so without you… I never can fully love," he whispered as his eyes sank closed.

"Quack!" she cried, 'Fakir!'

Unable to help him as a duck, Ahiru nearly dove for the heart shard and the moment it was within her feathers she transformed into a human girl. Not even thinking for herself, she turned Fakir over so he could lay straight on his back and rested his head in her lap. His breathing was ragged but a smile crept onto his face.

"Fakir," she spoke in a human voice for the first time in days. "Please say something Fakir!"

Ahiru didn't know what she'd do if any harm ever befell the person closest to her. She never felt so scared as she did right now.

"I'll be fine," he mumbled. "I'm just exhausted," he whispered to calm her fears. He could feel her fingers brush his black hair carefully out of his face.

Despite his better judgment, Fakir forced his eyes open to see the face he had missed. The light of the fire illuminated her clearly for him once his eyes could focus. He blushed despite his fatigue, she had no cloths on, but he didn't bother looking away. Her face was etched with worry but adorable just the same. She looked fairly much the same; a young woman who seemed to be a mix of both Ahiru and Princess Tutu which seemed fitting. She didn't need to change into a heroin any more. She could just be herself.

"Fakir?" she softly spoke, oblivious to her appearance.

"Are you happy with this?" he had the remaining strength to ask.

"Of course!" she quickly answered without thought. "Nothing could be more special to me than to be here with you. Not to mention you infused your feelings for me into this shard to allow me to change in and out of a duck only when I feel like it is pretty special of you to do for me. Now I won't have to worry about quacking or finding water." She had read all of that in his outline. "But Fakir, I don't care what happens to me. I just want you to be happy and to be by your side! Nothing else-"

Fakir silenced her with a touch of his hand to the side of her arm. No need for her to ramble further. He had heard enough.

"Good," he said as his eyes sank closed again. This time Ahiru watched his breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.

"Oh Fakir," Ahiru mumbled. "When did you become my rescuer… my knight in shining armor?" looking down at herself now she squeaked as she realized he had been looking up not only at her face but her bare chest as well and turned bright red. However rather than just dropping his head on the ground she carefully laid his head down.

'I have a feeling I'm never going to live this one down,' she scolded herself; still as dense as a duck sometimes.

Getting up back on two human feet, Ahiru happily grabbed one of Fakir's shirts from a little bedside dresser to put on. It was really late now and the rain still fell but at least the fire was finally warming the place up. Ahiru added more wood to the fire and put Fakir's sword away. The blade would mean a lot to her now as well. She had no idea that he was going to stab himself. She told herself that she should have known better but as Fakir had indicated the worst was over.

Looking back at the man who had become her love, Ahiru knew she'd live on from this day forward with no regrets. She'd become a ballerina and dance a duet with the man she loved like she had always dreamed she would. Graceful on stage and a little ditsy everywhere else, Ahiru would live on being whole rather than being split in two. She was still partially a duck as well, but now she had the power to choose when she'd like to return to webbed feet.

For now she comically grabbed Fakir by the shoulders and dragged his damp body over to the bed. Arousing him just enough to get his body to mindlessly pull himself up into bed, Ahiru pulled the covers over him and smiled as she tucked him in. Just as she moved away a hand reached out and snagged her by the wrist and to her surprise she didn't quack. Fakir was still unconscious, yet he pulled her towards him with his stained and scared hand. Smiling a little nervously she crawled under the covers with him as his arm moved to hold her possessively to himself.

'Figures he'd want his heart close to him,' she mused. It was a new sensation for her to be held so close but it couldn't feel more right. With her shard held firmly in her fist she too fell succumbed to the call of sleep.

Tomorrow would begin a new chapter of her tale, but for now Ahiru and Fakir drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep knowing that the last bit of frayed ends of Drosselmeyer's chaotic and tragic story had finally been spun to its...

...End

I wrote this fairly quickly. I will most likely go back someday to re-read it and edit it, but until then I hope you liked it!

And like so many other writers... I crave a REVIEW! Thanks again!