(A/N: Got a short one-shot for you all. I loved the anime, but was somewhat dissatisfied with the ending. I wanted to know what would happen to Ahiru. Of course, we all know that Fakir would write something to make her human again, but ever wonder how it would turn out? Here's just one of the infinite possibilities.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"DANCE OF DESTINY"

…and when she looked in the mirror, she realized that it was not a dream. She truly had become human.

Fakir put down his quill and hurried over to the window, praying that it worked this time. His heart sank when he saw the little yellow duck swimming in the lake just outside.

"Again?" he growled. "Why isn't it working?" He picked up the papers he had been writing on and tore them to shreds before letting out a cry of rage. "What do I have to do?"

It just wasn't fair. He wanted to help Ahiru. She deserved her happy ending, but he couldn't make it happen. It just wasn't in his power.

No, that wasn't true. It was in his power. Had he not been able to give Mytho and Rue their happy ending? Regardless of what his deranged ancestor had intended to happen, he had managed to save the two of them from tragedy. Even now, they were living happily together in whatever world they were in now, safe from Drosselmeyer's cruel powers. The Prince and the Raven had a happy ending, even though it was meant to end in tragedy.

"But why can't I do it with this one?" Fakir whispered. "Drosselmeyer was able to do it. Why can't I?" He punched the wall in frustration, causing his knuckles to bleed. Swearing, he rubbed his aching hand, trying to reduce the pain. "What's the secret? How can I access these powers? What do I have to do? Tell me, Drosselmeyer! TELL ME!"

"You're too loud."

Fakir froze at the sound of the unexpected voice. He looked around, but saw no one, yet he was sure someone had spoken to him.

"Who's there? Where are you?"

"Calm down, boy." Came the voice again. "I'll be there in a second."

Fakir's eyes widened as a door appeared out of thin air. It didn't lead anywhere, for it was simply floating a few feet off the ground. Regardless of that, the door still opened to reveal a rip in time and space behind it.

"What?" Fakir muttered.

A chuckle came from beyond the door. "After all you've seen and faced, this surprises you?"

The speaker stepped out of the floating door, revealing him to be an old man dressed in clothes a magician would wear. A had a large smile on his face and a crazy look in his eye that made Fakir feel very uncomfortable.

Another figure followed the strange old man out from the door that seemed to lead to another dimension. This person Fakir did recognize, and he was surprised to see them again after so long.

"Uzura?"

The toy-like creature smiled. "Hello again-zura."

Fakir looked from the old man to Uzura. "What's going on?"

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Eh? You called me, didn't you?"

Fakir looked confused. "I called… what? Who are you?"

The old man grinned. "Silly boy, I'm the one, the only, Drosselmeyer!"

Fakir's eyes widened. "Drossel…" Suddenly things began coming together, and he became very, very angry. "You son of a-"

He aimed a punch at his ancestor, but went right through him as if the old man were a ghost.

"Hee, hee, sorry, boy. You can't touch me."

Fakir growled. "Why are you here?"

"I told you, you called me, so here I am. What can I do for you, my boy?"

Fakir's fists clenched. His anger at the old man would have to wait. If he wanted his psychotic ancestor to help him, he would need to get on his good side.

"Fine, as long as you're here, tell me how to work my ability to make what I write happen."

Drosselmeyer cut his eyes at him. "Why, so you can ruin another one of my stories?"

"I didn't ruin anything. I gave it a happy ending."

"It was supposed to be a tragedy!"

Fakir narrowed his eyes. "It doesn't matter now. Mytho and Rue are beyond your power and mine. But Ahiru's story isn't over yet. Now tell me how I can make her human again."

"Why?" Drosselmeyer asked. Then he grinned and batted his eyes. "Because you love her?"

Fakir didn't answer, but he blushed beet red. "Please just tell me."

Drosselmeyer tapped his chin. "Hmm… no. Happy endings are no fun. They're too boring. The story would be much better if you and Ahiru couldn't love each other because she was a duck."

Fakir growled, wanting very much to hit his ancestor. "You've got a really sadistic personality. You wanted Ahiru to play the role Princess Tutu and disappear once she confessed her love, you wanted Mytho to sacrifice his heart to stop The Raven, and you wanted me, yourdescendant, to play the role of a knight who was killed by The Raven. What is wrong with you?"

Drosselmeyer looked slightly offended. "Oh, come on now, I'm not that bad. It's not like I'm the only person that enjoys a good tragedy story. There are millions of people that enjoy tragedy."

"But what they write doesn't actually happen, you sick twisted freak!" Fakir shouted. "You hurting real people and making real lives miserable! What gives you the right to bring tragedy to others?"

Drosselmeyer smirked and wiggled his fingers. "Why, I believe it's these powers. They make me God to everyone in my story."

"A God isn't supposed to behave as you do." Fakir accused. "Why do you think you had your hands cut off? Why do you think you're stuck in Purgatory?"

Drosselmeyer blinked. He looked around as if he had just realized something he hadn't been aware of. "Is that what this is?"

Fakir rolled his eyes. "Well, you are a ghost, aren't you?"

Drosselmeyer looked at his hands. "I suppose. I never really questioned it." He shook his head. "But we're getting off topic. My love for tragedies does not make me a bad person. And my powers are within my right to use how I want."

"Then I have the same privilege." Fakir pointed out. "So tell me how to make them work."

Drosselmeyer sighed. "Oh, but you'll just make things so boring. Tragedy is so much more fun and interesting. And that does not make me a bad person. Why, Uzura doesn't think badly of me, do you?"

The little toy-like creature blinked. "I think you're very mean-zura."

Drosselmeyer smirked and crossed his arms. "See… Wait, what?"

Uzura nodded. "Fakir and Ahiru are my friends-zura. I want to see them happy-zura."

"Boring, boring, boring!" Drosselmeyer chanted. "If you're going to write something, at least make it interesting."

Fakir went over to his desk and threw a bunch of papers on the floor. "I can't write at all! I'm supposed to have these powers, but when I right it's nothing but words. Nothing ever happens!"

Rolling his eyes, Drosselmeyer walked over and looked at the scattered papers. "That's because you're not truly writing."

"What?"

Drosselmeyer nodded. "Just look at these attempt. 'She realized that her wings were hands, human hands like the rest of her'. 'One day she woke to realize she had become human'. 'She walked through the curtain and when she came out she was a human'. 'The words she spoke were that of a human language, not the "quacks" she normally made'. What is this? They're just words strung together. There's no plot, no purpose. You can't simply write things down to bend to your will."

Fakir looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Drosselmeyer blew out an impatient puff of air. "The story needs to progress, not simply be jotted down. It must move further, have a reason for happening, not to be there just because." He looked at his descendant and saw that he was still confused. "Ok, let me give you an example. Do you remember the final battle with The Raven?"

Fakir glared at him. "The one you nearly killed us in."

Drosselmeyer ignored the remark. "At one point, little Ahiru was being attacked by the ravens. You were trying to stop it, but you couldn't. Writing Fate is not the same as writing an ordinary story. You couldn't just put 'the ravens stopped'. There has to be a reason and a purpose for everything to happen. A why and a how, and a reason that will progress the story, not to simple change things the way you want." He gave his descendant a serious look. "If you truly want to use your powers, then you're going to have to actually write the story and let it play out, not simple put down meaningless words on paper because you want it to be so."

Fakir thought about this a moment. What Drosselmeyer said made sense. All this time, he had been trying to make Ahiru human just because. There was never a reason or purpose. That was why it wasn't working. It was just like the example Drosselmeyer gave with the ravens when they were attacking Ahiru. He couldn't just make them stop. There was no reason or point to them just stopping. Just like there was no reason or point to Ahiru suddenly just becoming human.

Feeling more determine, Fakir picked up his quill and got a fresh piece of paper. It was time to really right the ending. His and Ahiru's ending.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"Quack!" Ahiru cried as she swam in the lake.

She looked at the sky, wondering what Mytho and Rue were doing now. She wondered if she would ever see them again. She really missed them. Then again, there were a lot of things she really missed. She missed being human. She missed dancing. She missed her two best friends Pike and Lilie. She even missed Mr. Cat and his constant threat of having to marry him.

Sighing, she looked to the small house that Fakir was in, no doubt trying desperately to turn her into a human again.

'Poor Fakir, he's trying so hard for my sake.' She thought. 'I wish there was something I could do to help, but I'm just a duck.'

But she had learned that even a character as simple as a duck could make a difference. Hadn't it been she that had lured away the ravens from Mytho while he rescued Rue?

'But what can I do now? Fakir's the one with the power. I can encourage him, but I can only do so much.'

She made her way towards dry land and flopped down on her back, watching the clouds fly by. She didn't know what her future held, but she knew that she wanted it to be with Fakir. She knew that one day he would find a way to make her human again. And from there… she didn't know. From there they would make their own happy ending.

Closing her eyes, she tried to take a nap, but the sun was shining so brightly that it shined right through her eyelids. Groaning, she decided to find a shadier spot to rest in. But when she opened her eyes, a light too bright to be coming from the sun alone filled her eyes.

'Quack! That's not the sun. What is that?'

She squinted and saw that the light was actually coming from a single speck. The speck seemed to be getting brighter as it got closer. Eventually Ahiru had to cover her eyes due to its intensity.

'What's happening? Fakir, help me!'

Then a soft voice spoke to her. "Don't be afraid, Ahiru. I'm your friend."

Ahiru risked a peek and gasped at what she saw. Standing before her, engulfed in light, was a very familiar person. She couldn't believe it, but standing before her was none other than Princess Tutu.

'But how is that possible?' Ahiru thought. 'I'm supposed to be Princess Tutu. How can there be two Princess Tutus?'

The magical ballet dancer bent down and Ahiru got a better look at her. Although it was indeed Princess Tutu, the girl had a different face than Ahiru did when she played the part of Princess Tutu.

Ahiru's eyes widened. 'Does than mean that this is the real…'

The girl smiled. "You are correct, Ahiru. I am the real Princess Tutu. I am the one who disappeared after confessing her love to the prince." Her ghostly hands reached for Ahiru and picked up the small duck. "Thank you for taking over my role and restoring Mytho's heart to him. I know it must have been hard for you. It was cruel for Drosselmeyer to try and force my fate on you."

"Quack!" Ahiru flapped her wings. 'I'm just glad I was able to help.'

Tutu smiled and taped the end of Ahiru's beak. "Now it's my turn to help you. Or should I say that we can help each other."

Ahiru cocked her head to the side. 'Help each other how?'

The smile on Tutu's face seemed to become sadder. "My fate has already been decided. I was to disappear when I confessed my love to Mytho. And that's what happened. Afterwards, you took on my role, giving me enough power to come back. I will disappear again no matter what I do. But there is still a way for me to go on. I can live on, Ahiru, in you."

"Quack?" Ahiru blinked. 'In me.'

"When you took on my role, part of me became part of you. You inherited my powers and became human."

'It was the pendant that allowed me to turn into a human, and become you. Without it, I'm just a duck.'

"I can give you human form again." Tutu told her. "Let us unite. I will once again disappear, just like I'm supposed to, but I will not vanish completely. Part of me will live on in you. We'll always be together. You will allow me to continue to exist, and I will provide you with human form. You'll be able to live like a normal girl, to be with the one you love."

'But what about you?'

Tutu sighed. "I will be fine. Knowing that Mytho is happy with the one he loves and that you're happy with the one you love will be good enough for me. You're happiness will be my happiness."

Ahiru's eyes were shining with tears. Poor Tutu. She could either disappear forever or become part of Ahiru and live within her. It seemed as if Drosselmeyer's fate for Tutu would always be tragedy.

'No, it won't be tragedy!' Ahiru decided. 'If my happiness will be Tutu's happiness, then I'll be sure to get enough happiness out of life for the both of us.'

Tutu smiled and rested her forehead against Ahiru's as the two were engulfed in light.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Fakir put down his quill, his eyes running over what he wrote. He certainly saw the difference in this attempt at making Ahiru human from his other failures. But now the question was, did it work.

A bright flash of light flowed in through the window and Fakir was momentarily blinded. Once the light faded, he got up so fast that he knocked his chair over as ran to the door. Bursting outside, he saw the remainder of light slowly dim away until it was gone. And standing in the spot where a small duck once stood was a young girl.

Fakir rubbed his eyes, hoping he wasn't seeing things. "A-Ahiru?"

The pink-haired girl turned to him and smiled. "Fakir."

Her speaking his name was all it took to break the spell. Fakir broke into a run. He pulled Ahiru into a tight embrace, which she returned.

"You're really… you." he whispered, holding back tears.

Ahiru wasn't quite as successful at holding back tears of her own. "I knew you could do it. And you brought back the real Princess Tutu too. I feel her within me."

What Tutu to said was true, she had disappeared, but she was not gone completely. She was still alive within Ahiru, experiencing the same joy and love the former duck was feeling.

Fakir nodded. "Once I found the key to unlocking my powers, it just came naturally. I'm just so glad it worked. I wanted to give you the happy ending you deserved."

"Fakir…" Ahiru whispered, and spoke the words she was unable to say to Mytho.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

From his own little world, Drosselmeyer watched the scene between Ahiru and Fakir unfold.

"Eh? That's it? That's the ending he wrote? That's so boring!"

Uzura didn't agree. "No, it's sweet-zura."

Drosselmeyer crossed his arms. "I knew he would mess up the story like this. Why did I help him?" His eyes snapped open. "Wait, I know why. It's because whoever is writing this story made me do it. Hey, Writer, come on, couldn't you have made it more interesting? Do something tragic, will you?"

"Yelling's not going to change anything-zura."

Drosselmeyer sighed. "What a disappointment. Oh well, the beauty of fanfiction is that there is more than one possible ending. Come, Uzura, let's go find a more interesting one."

THE END

(A/N: A happy ending, just like the two of them deserved. I couldn't resist the humorous end with Drosselmeyer. I decided to add a twist of some sorts about how this was a fanfiction and he knew it was. So, you know what goes with fanfiction? Reviews! So let me know how you enjoyed my story.)