The Red Dreams of Silence and the Gift of Light
[ Snow-White and Rose-Red/Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot ]
[ 雪の白と赤のバラ ]
A dream. Darkness everywhere. Wandering around without a perspective or goal, seemingly carefree, but a solemn atmosphere wrapped and encased the air and was felt through every fiber of her being. There, in that darkness, she saw Mytho. He approached her with a red, glowing heart shard, that then morphed into a rose, petals unfolding. "Stay away from that light...and a gift will be given to you," he spoke to her. "A gift...?" Princess Tutu questioned, as Mytho was suddenly getting further and further from reach, backing or perhaps getting drawn into that darkness. She looked back into the palms of her hands, staring down at the rose bulb. "A light, huh..." she spoke as she was looking at it, and it faded into real life as she was staring down into her palms in the same position, only she was Ahiru now. Ahiru blinked, mostly surprised to find that she had woken up, and that it was all a dream. "It was...a dream?"
In mere seconds, she found herself surrounded by raining red rose petals. It was Lilie, dumping a basket of the petals all over her. Pique looked at her questionably with line eyes, before looking down at Ahiru. "Did you already forget? Today is the beginning of the Red Rose Festival week!" "A prosperous day full of joy and romance, and from that blossoms heartbreak and regret! The despair is such a pleasure!" Lilie beamed as Pique shook her head at her, and Ahiru stared at her.
"Not to mention that today is also the day that Neko-Sensei said that he was going to announce a new play for us to rehearse!" "I suppose we'll be backup as usual," Ahiru spoke gloomily as they went down the stairs. "That's the spirit!" Lilie responded to her without sarcasm, even going as far as to being elated. "Just ignore her," Pique spoke to Ahiru as they ran outside as to not be late for class. Mytho was seen staring at them from the window.
It was now time for class, as the trio amongst a mass of ballet students sat with their arms wrapped over their legs as they listened to Neko-Sensei discuss the new play. "In honor of the annual Rose Festival week, we are going to be basing our play on the fairytale classic, 'Snow-White and Rose-Red," he spoke. There were gasps and applause. "I bet Rue-senpai will get the lead role!" "Red is definitely her color, so Rose-Red is definitely her speed," the students continued back and forth, as Rue sat with her eyes closed. Ahiru stared blankly. Of course Rue would get the role. She's pretty, amazing and all-around talented. There's no hope for me, she thought to herself with a sad sigh, before being approached by a scooting over Pique. "There's two main parts, that's new!" she whispered to Ahiru, before Ahiru looked up, surprised. "We will have a formal audition to determine the roles of Snow-White and Rose-Red. One at a time, you will go through the steps of last week's practice to see if you are fit to be either Snow-White or Rose-Red. One by one, please!" he clapped as the ballerinas stood in a long, single file line, starting with the advanced students.
One of the advanced students danced off first. Ahiru sighed, as Lilie stared at her with beaming eyes. "Are you getting depressed?" she asked, with a hopeful attitude. Ahiru looked at her questionably, as Pique pointed over. "Look!" she spoke as the advanced student fell, having made a mistake. "Well, I think it's safe to say that she didn't get the role," Pique exerted a sigh. "She must be succumbing to defeat! How lovely!" Lilie spoke with a hand to her chin, lovingly. Next was Rue, who danced the steps without fail, just as always. It was pretty safe to say that she was aimed at one of the lead roles, but the others had to go next anyway. "I'll probably get a background role," "Miss Ahiru," "Or I might not be good enough to make it even as a background character," "MISS AHIRU!" Neko-Sensei yelled as she bolted upright. "Y-yes sir!" "I hope you've had a nice trip in the other world, now, GET TO THE CENTER OF THE ROOM IMMEOWDIATELY!" "YESSIR!" she yelled in fear as she scurried to the middle of the room. She gave out a few short breaths to get ready, as she did a pose. People actually began to look hopeful, thinking she might actually have something to offer this time around. She stood there for a few seconds, before a question mark flew over her head. "I forgot the steps..." she spoke as everyone fell backwards. "N-no, wait! I can do th-" "Thank you for wasting our time, Miss Ahiru. Now I'm sorry to say but you'll have to collect your things and wait after class for me, or else you'll h-have to...m-mar-" "I'M SO SORRY!" she yelped as she ran away, Neko-Sensei succumbing to licking his arm frantically.
While waiting in the hallway by the door for Neko-Sensei, Femio was seen coming out of the room, approaching him. "Neko-Sensei! I plead, with all of my soul, every fiber of my being ties me to the ever-gallant bearded dwarf of the play," "Mister Femio, auditions for the role of the Dwarf haven't even begun yet! And why, pray-tell would you want to portray such a dastardly character as that?!" "Dastardly?! Non non, he is simply a misunderstood being of beauty, such as myself. Such is life, that this boy and that dwarf must feel such uncultured love is beyond us, for we are beings of one and the same soul! To simply give this role to another who is not as deserving as myself, would be taboo, Neko-Sensei! . !" he pleaded as he was literally clinging onto Neko-Sensei, as he, for once, was being the scared one. "Mister Femio! Pull-yourself-together!" he spoke between 'meows'. Ahiru watched with a sweatdrop, as Fakir walked by. "Ah, Fakir!" "?" He looked at her. She dashed up to him. "What role did you get?" "The brother of the Prince," he responded matter-of-factly. "Huh, is that all? That doesn't seem to suit you," "Well I do protect Mytho like a brother. In what way does this not suit me?" he spoke, sort of snarky-like, sort of not. "Ah, Mytho-sempai got the lead role?! Ah, but I shouldn't be surprised. He's good at everything!" "Do I really need to partake in this discussion of your girlish praise? I'm headed to the Library," he spoke as he walked by. "You should probably head inside," "Huh? Why?" Ahiru questioned. "Because like me, you're annoying him," he spoke as Neko-Sensei was staring angrily at Ahiru, his tail flicking back and forth as the door was open for a while, and he was waiting for her to come in for about, 30 long seconds, which she wasted on talking to Fakir. "Ack!" she spoke as she saw his angry expression. "What a space case..." Fakir spoke as he walked away. "Ah-hey!" Ahiru retorted as she looked back at him angrily. "Miss Ahiru, if you don't mind, I'd like to get this lecture started today?" he spoke in a calm, yet angry tone. Ahiru turned to him, very nervous.
After heading in after Neko-Sensei and letting the door close, he faced her. "Miss Ahiru, after your TERRIBLE performance," he begun. "I got some...'elaborated commentary' from some of your peers,"
Flashback to 5 minutes earlier
"Please, Neko-Sensei?" "She did awful, just awful!" "But she can do a lot better! We know she can!" "Yes! And then she can crash and burn twice as hard!" "Lilie, if you don't mind, can you let me handle this?" Pique spoke as she pushed her aside. "Neko-Sensei, I'm sure that if Ahiru was given the correct opportunity, she won't disappoint!" "...Hmmmmm.." Neko-Sensei spoke as he looked up with line eyes, deep in thought. "The correct opportunity, huhhhh?..." They both awaited his response, with different hopeful outcomes. "Alright then," he spoke, as they got happy expressions on their faces.
End Flashback
"And I have decided, to give you a role,"