Consumed
A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura
He sits in the dark of night, alone except for the swan guilty of parting him from his Elsa. The Knight's voice trembles in his whispered song of lament.
It's been months since all was undone and Sir Lohengrin returned to Prince Siegfried. Months since he and Elsa married and her curiosity was piqued by that accursed Witch working for the Raven. Months since Elsa asked that forbidden question, "Who are you?" Months since he saw her fall lifeless to the ground, his sword falling loose from her limp hands. And months since he began this nightly ritual of seeking comfort from that same swan in the Prince's courtyard, the only creature in which Lohengrin had confided the whole of the matter. Not even Siegfried, the friend the Knight held closest, knew everything of what happened.
He scoffs into the bird's feathers. How could he tell the Prince everything when this was the Prince's doing? Even now he couldn't see the purpose of his taboo. In the end, it only brought Elsa greater suffering.
"If you keep this up, you'll mourn her longer than you actually knew her," says a voice, intruding on the quiet of the yard.
Lohengrin turns sharp green eyes at the sickeningly familiar voice. "You have no business with me, Witch," he growls.
"Is that so?" she coos, folding an arm across her breast. "You wound me, Knight of the Swan."
The Knight spits out, "That name has no more meaning."
"Very well, Sir Lohengrin."
He lets go of the swan and rises to his feet, looming in the blackness. "Leave me. Now. That is all the mercy you will receive at my hand."
"Is this how you treat old friends? No hospitality at all?"
"You are no friend, foul creature of the Raven."
"I could be if you only gave me a chance," she suggests, red eyes coolly examining her nails. "Here you are mired in suffering, but does the Prince know anything about such pain caused by his own hand? What hardship has he faced?"
Lohengrin levels a silent glare at her.
"Think about that, won't you?" she asks.
And in a flurry of crow's feathers, she's gone once more.
Author's Notes: This story came up as a result of a prompt regarding character alignment. I couldn't get the drabble I had written for the Knight out of my head, so I decided to expand on it. The Knight in this story is very heavily based on the opera Lohengrin.
