Disclaimer:I own none of the rights to the series and/or franchise of Princess Tutu.

Note: First Princess Tutu fanfiction, so if the characters are screwy, chalk it up to this being a parody. I love both Mythos/Ahiru and Fakir/Ahiru, but for all intensive purposes, this story's main pairing will be revealed at a later date. Have fun~. XP

Note 2: On the names- the ones I have a full name for will be listed English style, with family name last, since this story is essentially set in Europe and must thus represent its background.

Fairytale Soup

20FacesChizu

Chapter 1- The Little Mermaid

Long, long ago, a beautiful mermaid princess fell in love with a human prince. In order to see him again, the mermaid princess sold her voice, the most beautiful in the world, to a sea witch in exchange for legs and feet. But the witch warned her that if she did not receive the Prince's love, that the next dawn she would turn to sea foam and disappear. But even as the mermaid princess attempted to woo the prince, he instead fell for a princess from a neighboring kingdom, and they were wed. Her sisters brought a dagger on the Prince's wedding night, telling the mermaid princess that if only she would kill the Prince, she could live. But the Princess's love ran deep, and she could not kill the Prince.

Tell me, was this Fate? Was it truly meant to be?

The ocean was clear and wide, deep blue and stirring with life. Through the waves of water, pushing through gravity's pressure, only here at the bottom of the sea could this, the most miraculous voice in the world, be heard. Her soft, coral-red hair floating behind her as she lifted her voice towards her touchable sky, this was she- the Princess Ahiru Arima.

The sea-dwellers around her hovered quietly in the waters, and merchildren hushed their whispers to close their eyes and listen. Her soprano trilled through the waters, sweetly singing a love song.

Sweeter than sour,

Less bitter than death;

Raise the Blade this hour

Above my conquered breast.

Take this ribbon of blue

In tribute to your Brave Spirit.

The princess was probably only singing as words came into her head, some random melody pieced together from nothing but the notes on the tenor conch flute she played. Her golden scales flickered a little in the waning evening light as her song faded away. Her peers swooned, thinking of their lovers or crushes, and the kids giggled and laughed, returning to their normal, riotous selves and picking up wherever they'd left off, chasing each other with driftwood swords and coral sticks.

With a quick flick of her tail, she rose from the coral bed she'd used as a chair, smiling sweetly at the people and fish as they began to move off, each to his or her own destination.

"Ahiru! If you don't get back, you're going to be late for dinner, and Master Cat will make you swim backwards for a week again."

"Not that it wouldn't be wonderfully amusing to see you trying to keep it up~!"

Her sisters, Pique and Lillie, shouted at her from their perches near the bottom of the reef, taking to the passage through the cliffs before she could even catch a glimpse of them. The mermaid princess giggled a little, diving into the canyon and powering through the heavy waters, still cold in the late of mating season. Everywhere she looked, fish were still snuggled tightly to the warm coral, or hovered in their dark caves and crevices to avoid the open cold and protect their sleeping eggs.

Was there anything better than this?

Ahiru glanced upwards. She'd never seen what her stepmother said landlings called the "sky," so she couldn't imagine something being more beautiful than looking up through the waters and seeing a pod of whales go by. She'd never seen their "walking," either, but she couldn't imagine it being better than swimming. And really, those things they called "books" couldn't be nearly as interesting as playing with dolphin calves.

Even that thing her mother had called "the sun"… could it really be as beautiful as anything she'd seen before?

Shaking her head and thinking it couldn't be possible, she shot from the cavern, blue eyes never seeing what lie ahead. And within moments, she was caught.

A net.

It surrounded her, tangled in her hair and fins and hands, somehow managing to wrap around her neck and seal her gills shut. She gasped, finding herself quickly rising to the surface.

It was painful. She couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. The steadily and swiftly decreasing pressure was ringing in her ears, and shooting fireworks before her dimming eyes.

She didn't want this.

No… No… Let me go!

As if the world was suddenly frozen, she was lifted from the waters, a raging storm battering her lifeless form caught in the net. She heard… shouting. And a great deal of clamor and chaos. Unintelligible words lashed at her deafening ears, pounding like rocks upon her pulsating brain. She choked on her own tongue as the nets tightened again.

And then it was loose.

For a moment more Ahiru sunk into unconsciousness, then opened her eyes little by little as their blurring and light-shocked pupils allowed, before her back stung as she slapped against the surface of the water, falling into the abyss once more. But the further she fell, the more she realized that there was still something attached to her hand.

Consciousness won over the horrid light-headedness and vertigo that kept her balance suffering, and she looked down finally to see another hand holding to her wrist.

It was pale, the nails smooth and undirtied, and as her eyes followed the hand to its adjoining wrist, and further up the long, pale arm, she soon found herself looking into a pair of blank, tawny eyes, surrounded by a flowing shock of silvery hair. And in the moment their eyes met, his hand released hers.

The violent, stormy sea-sky thrashed him away from her quickly, tides paying no mind that their mistress was in danger from their raging and beating. Further off now, with Ahiru's consciousness returning steadily, she felt herself panic a little.

His eyes are closed. Landlings can't breathe in water.

If she thought about it twice, she doubted later. All she could remember was that she had felt that ice-laced sea piercing her arms and striking past her cheeks, stinging her wide eyes and cutting at her fins as she sped towards that sinking, drifting form.

Her hands had caught his. Her mouth had met his. And she breathed.

It hurt. It stung.

The sand nibbled into Ahiru's palms and fingers, biting the flesh from her arms and shoulders as she slipped and dropped into the soaked and clumping muck. The boy's body drifted up lightly with the tide, and she used the opportunity to push him further up the shore, her scales aching from the scrubbing, and her fins from the long swim and heavy burden.

But he was safe.

She collapsed onto the sand again, gasping in the light atmosphere and air, her gills working frantically and yet still unable to well provide for her. She would have to leave soon. She couldn't stand it here. In the lightening darkness, she looked upon his face again. That beautiful, pale face, framed by such striking hair; she wished him safety. Would he recover? Live a long life? Well, suddenly her thoughts were abstract like that, wondering if she'd been able to save someone with future hope of children and a loving wife, and good fortune- a story with a happy ending. She absentmindedly stroked a finger across his bottom lip, feeling a slight puff of breath issue from the pliant flesh.

For an instant, her heart was squeezed unbearably tight.

Cup the conch to your ear

And listen for the fading hymn-

Can you hear my voice still singing

From the ages past and sealed within?

This is our lullaby,

Spanning time to reach your ears

From these disappearing lips of mine.

She managed to stretch her throat and chest to sing the melody, resigning herself and lifting up on shaking arms, balancing herself on a scoured tail. With a push, she flipped over, splashing into the shallows. It would be a long journey home-

Blue eyes widened as they gazed towards the east.

From where she was suspended lightly, she could see the great glowing lamp raising above the end of the earth, dyed bloody red and spicy orange, mingling with vivacious pinks and saucy yellows, a symphony of stunning colors that turned the sky into an orchestra they could conduct as they pleased.

Is that… the Sun…?

Awed by such stunning lights, Ahiru startled when she heard a moan from behind her, and she sat up and turned to see the boy awakening, his golden eyes opened only a little, but steadily turning towards her form. The moment his gaze met hers, the sunlight cast upon them both, illuminating and creating silhouette together upon that scene. His emotionless face stunned her.

She was gone.

Beneath the waters, she disappeared, using her fingers to shimmy away beneath the surface when the passage became too thin, taking care that her fins or hair did not breach the sea-sky again. Fear encroached upon the back of her heart, though why she didn't know. He'd saved her from the net despite the storm, so obviously she'd already been spotted. And it wasn't as though he seemed suspicious at all. But…

It was frightening, just a little… but more than anything, pitiable, that his eyes should look so beautiful, yet stark.

The floor began to drop away, and she followed it, the tips of her fins lightly tapping the bottom as she moved towards the open sea, her pace only as fast as her exhausted body could manage, her arms streaming listlessly against her sides, carried by momentum and the ever-present tide.

Strangely, though, even when she managed to return to the palace, ragged and worn and half-asleep, that boy's face was still the only thing on her mind.

"Edel-san, have you ever met a landling with white hair and golden eyes?"

The elder mermaid glanced up from where she perched next to the plush bed; her hands still busy playing a little stringed instrument that warbled a soothing melody. Her gentle azure eyes gazed upon the little mermaid princess.

"I did, once upon a time, many years ago. He was a prince." Ahiru seemed to contemplate this, and she continued. "He was of evil character, and captured me as a pet. Every day he would make me sing and play before his courts, and would show me to his friends so proudly. And he taunted me at night with promises of freedom that he never kept."

"How did you get away then?"

"His son. A very gentle boy, with love towards all creatures. If I recall… his name was Siegfried. He was often referred to as Mythos by another boy whom was always with him."

The girl was silent, listening to the story without so much as a wavering gaze, blue eyes trailed upon the netting of seaweed studded with jewels that rippled soothingly with the currents that flowed through the open windows. Her step-mother smiled, sweetly pink lips quirking upwards on her pale face gently before she pushed herself up, lightly-violet scales glinting a little in the light of the glow-moss, her languid waves brining her easily to the door across the room, and she disappeared beyond the frame without another word.

Naturally, it'd been a few weeks. She couldn't remember the way exactly, but at least she could tell the general direction. After all, she'd taken a long time to build up her resistance to the lack of water pressure, and her body hadn't been in the greatest shape upon her return, either.

So currently, all she knew was head southwest.

Ahiru felt herself laugh ironically, as she moved through the water at a leisurely pace. Well, there was a current up ahead that the sea turtles used on their way to a southern beach, so she supposed it would make her journey a little faster. She made her way up to the stream, just beyond the pull of the water, and before long, she could see them speeding down the little sea-way. It didn't take much effort; as long as she reached in with the right timing, she could grab the back of one of their enormous shells, and she'd be safe and sound for the rest of the ride. And with her ride hitched, she began a friendly conversation with her new temporary host. Hatchlings that'd made it back, who was coming this year, what the tropical fish were up to in the southern islands, since a new prince had come to the throne there, and such. Ahiru laughed a little as the young tortoise's sweetheart made a joke about his tendency to talk too much.

"Princess, weren't you aiming for little bit more north of our nesting grounds? I think a buddy of mine is heading that way if you want to go with him."

The brown eyes of the tortoise glanced up at her over the rim of his shell, and she nodded a little sadly.

"I believe I'll do that. Thank you ever so much for your assistance!"

"Oh, think nothing of it! I'll stop by and give tribute on our way home and let you know about the trip!" he replied happily as she reached over for the other young male's shell, her fingers grasping the edge firmly and pulling her body away from her previous host's back. She waved briefly, before the current split in two, carrying them on a roller-coaster ride in a slightly more westerly direction, the curves and pipes weaving them swiftly through the vast spaces between where they were and where they desired to be.

The trip was still every bit as pleasant as it had already been, with laugher and easy conversation, and the occasional shrieks of pleasure as they rode the rapid-like currents, and before long, they were very near the shore, and she braced herself against the wide shell as he thrust them out of the rolling pipe. They drifted for a moment, rolling over and over slowly, before he righted them again, and glanced around to be sure that everyone had gotten off safely.

"I think I'll get off here, but can I ask you a question?" The young tortoise nodded softly, eyes watching her earnestly. "Do you know of a place where a white-haired prince dwells?"

He looked thrown off, but a smaller turtle raced up to her side, a friend hot on her tail as they were frisking about in the still-brisk waters, and as the little female heard the query, she perked up.

"I know that person! I don't know if he's a prince, but I've seen a white-haired landling with golden eyes before!"

"Where was he?"

"Further north from here. You could probably reach it by sundown, though." She gave that turtlish smile, something that was oddly adorable and soothing, and Ahiru scratched her gently on the neck as thanks. With a swift bow of her head (they were all embarrassed at such a humbling action, and bowed their own heads even lower), she took off towards the north, purposing to meet that boy again.

True to the child's word, Ahiru's head breached the surface of the sea-sky just as the horizon was fading to indigo and the great expanse of nothingness above was being drained of its spiced pink tide. The beach was faded with shadows, the juttings-out and recedings-in of the rocks on the cliffs around the cove scrawled thickly with the deep ink of the night-painters. But upon reaching the mouth of that open cove, lined with a few small boats for fishing and excursions, Ahiru reached out…

In a flicker of pain, she flinched, withdrawing her hand to peer down in the eventide upon unexpectedly bloody fingers. She'd felt the crackle of electricity and a sharp bite, but hand not expected something such as this. Blue eyes trailed up to the castle atop the cliffs, which was painted a deep, foreboding gray beneath the evensky. The lights and the windows shone out dimly, and shadows moved across them, but nothing could be heard, save the hush, hush-hushing of the waves and an eastern wind that carried the scent of salt and sea.

And then a footstep.

Her eyes tore away from the castle, and cast themselves upon the cove again, where she noticed the flicker of a lamp beginning to shine from around a corner of the stone wall that bolstered the crags round about the space. Slow paces crunched in the sand in a deafening way. She hoped he hadn't heard the brief splash she made in taking cover, but continued to glance around the edge of the large rock that protruded upwards from the inlet.

"Is someone there?"

He did hear me… But the thought disappeared as soon as she noticed that 'he' was actually him. The man she'd come to see.

She swallowed, and tried to get her stomach to stay in its preordained place, without jumping to the midst of her throat. The boy was staring directly at where she was hiding, and there was a distinct feeling of terror at the notion, but it should never be said that a mermaid would receive help without returning the favor. Ahiru pressed against the rock, preparing to perch atop it again, but hesitated when hurried footsteps snapped sharply against the stone stairs.

"Mythos! Mythos!" The boy turned to look behind him as a boy with jet-black hair appeared from the inky darkness.

"Fakir…"

"Mythos, I told you before, right? Don't leave the palace at night. I know your barrier will keep the Queen away, but that doesn't mean she won't try and tempt you or something!"

The boy Fakir grabbed the Prince's wrist, dragging him back towards the palace, reprimanding him.

Somehow, she was sure that he turned to look at her before disappearing.

Master Cat was very displeased. Very displeased indeed.

Or so, at least, he said.

"Ahiru-san, I believe I have instructed you before to not go near the Western land, have I not?"

"You have."

"Then why… pray tell, did you… Go?" He kept having to paws- oops- pause, and scratch violently at a nearby post. Well, he was a merman, but that catfish heritage of his would appear most strongly when he was irritated. She bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"I had a little business I wanted to take care of. Is Edel-san busy?"

"Her Majesty should be in her chambers. Is there-?"

"Thanks, Master Cat!"

Her voice reached him from around the corner, as she was already barreling swiftly down the hall.

Ahiru sipped quietly on her tea, observing her stepmother for her reaction. The whole story, which included a few more details of her initial meeting with the human Prince, had left the elder mermaid silent.

"So that… is what happened…"

"Mm."

She was silent again for a few minutes, before she floated upwards, suspended straight and tall above the stone floors that were riveted by years of gentle currents. Her deep, blue eyes were staring rather vaguely into space.

"Would you like to hear the story, Ahiru?"

A small hesitation, before the princess gave a firm nod of her head. She set her small cup on the table, and looked up again at her mentor. The elder lady did not sigh, or make any movement to indicate her thoughts on the matter, but her eyes continued to stare at an indefinable place across the room.

"Two years ago, just before I met your father, I was still in captivity at that castle. The White Hand Castle was founded centuries ago by a man named Hohenheim. He was a very strong and courageous man, and also very kind. The kingdom was full of people who would easily welcome the fair folk and other great creatures into their midst, and the king was no less welcoming than they. His kindness and honor let him win the heart of the Fury Queen, a maiden known for her features black as sin, and her smile as kind as an angel. But King Hohenheim fell in love with a Lorelei, and gave her the name Szélrósza the day he married her. In her jealousy, the Fury Queen attempted to kill Szélrósza, but she was instead killed by her attendants for falling to such a sin.

"With the great injustice of this, their Princess, the Fury Daughter, became incredibly angry, and swore revenge on the kings of Hohenheim's lineage. One of her attacks upon their kingdom occurred two years ago, when the Prince helped me to escape." She floated over to where she had been staring, her fingers reaching down to pick up a jeweled box from her vanity. The lid tinkled a little, as the chained dropped against the sides before straitening gently to hold the top aright, and from within, her delicate white hand removed a single red stone, set upon a chain of silver. "This pendant did the Prince give to me, once the attack was over. His eyes at that time were dead and dull; such a look as I had never seen before. He told me to take it, and that should I ever require his help again, this pendant would allow me to pass into his kingdom."

She dangled the string in front of the child princess' eyes, and they both watched as it swirled lightly in the currents of the room, reflecting the light of the glow-moss onto the walls in pure, white diamonds.

"Ahiru, the pendant itself is a spell. If I give this to you, you must return all pieces like it to the Prince, for they are his soul." A helix of shivers twisted its way along her back as she stared into the jewel. A man without a soul… like a shell. How could he live that way? Her eyes lifted and met her stepmother's again.

"Still, I will do this. I want to do this for him."

Two pairs of eyes, twisting shades of blue cast in gold from the soft light, stared at each other with equal sincerity. Ahiru reached out and took the pendant, turning to prepare for one last journey. From behind her, she heard the elder woman'd voice murmur quietly:

"Remember, Ahiru. Wear this pendant, and you will have legs and no voice; receive his Soul, and you will have wings and no hands. But should you not receive the first kiss of True Love, you will become a conch shell and disappear into the sands, to sing your sorrows silently forever…"

The Sun was rising.

Princess Ahiru perched upon that rock, from which she had observed the Prince only a week before, and she gazed out over the wide ocean towards the disappearing horizon. Pink tainted the clouds, and the beautiful, interwoven tones of orange and yellow slowly seeped outwards from their cradle to color the sky. She blinked, and after a final moment, turned towards the shore, slipping the pendant over her head.

Today, she took her first step.

AN: Yes, you may skewer me now for starting yet ANOTHER new story! But I'm having sooo much FUN! XP I hope all of you will, too. This story will be based off the originals of many fairytales, instead of Disney/otherwise-twisted versions. Obviously, the primary plot-base will be "The Little Mermaid," but I hope all of you will enjoy this!

Please review, and tell me what you think!

Next Time: Cinderella