Venturing into the tempestuous world of Princess Tutu fanfic with an AU story.

Alrighty, so an explanation of this AU: in the waking world (in other words, while they're awake), the four main PT characters are Ahiru, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir. Normal humans. But when they fall asleep, their minds are transported into a world called the Story - where they inhabit the bodies of characters; Ahiru becomes the swan princess Tutu, Mytho the heartless prince Siegfried, Fakir the prince's knight Lohengrin, and Rue the princess of the ravens, Kraehe.

And they've made up their place in the Story so far... until Siegfried's missing heart shards reappear without warning...

Once upon a time, there was a duck… but no, no, that's not right, this isn't about the duck.

Once upon a time, there was a raven… no, that's not it either.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived among ducks. And a prince who had a heart. And a knight who occasionally wrote. And a girl who loved to dance…

--

Akt 1

Loose Ends

Knock… knock… knock…

Ahiru rolled over, burying her face in her ducky pillow, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "evergreen frogmortons, go away." The garbled words seemed to work; for a minute everything was silent.

And then that persistent knocking started up again.

"Aghberrf," the redhead groaned, shoving herself upright and squinting down at the door with bleary blue eyes. "Pique, Lillie, you're being mean, it's way too early…"

When the knocker finally said something, though, it was neither the cheery pink-haired girl nor the sadistic blonde. And it made Ahiru tumble completely off the bed.

"Ahiru, you're going to be late if you don't get up," Rue began from behind the door, but the rest of her words were drowned out by a loud clunk. She winced. "… Are you okay?"

"Mmmfine!" The door opened, Ahiru standing on the other side in a nightgown and a rather embarrassed expression. "Sorry, Rue, I didn't know—"

"That's quite alright," Rue interrupted. "But you're going to be late if you don't hurry up, it's almost time for the class bell."

"What!? Aaaagh, why didn't Pique and Lillie wake me up earlier before they left!?"

Panicking, Ahiru slammed the door closed on Rue. The elder allowed herself a small smile and set off in the direction of the stairs. Knowing Ahiru, she'd have caught up with her by the time she—

"Rue! Wait up!"

And here came the ducklike girl, barreling along at some speed. Rue stepped aside smartly to avoid being trampled.

"What are you waiting for, Rue?! It's time to go, we're going to be late, Mr. Cat is going to make us marry him—"

Rue's protest was interrupted by Ahiru wrapping a surprisingly strong grip around her wrist. "He's not gonna let you off just 'cause you're dating Mytho—"

"I know—"

"Then what are you waiting for?!"

Not hearing any response, the redhead grinned in triumph and proceeded to drag Rue down the stairs.

Friday, Ahiru thought with no small amount of glee. In the past, the school of dance was in session all day, every day, with no hint of freedom on the weekends; but a recent petition signed by all of the ballet students (and those from the other divisions they'd bullied into their cause) had overturned that decree. Friday marked a time of great celebration among the dance students, because the day after they could sleep in as long as they wanted.

Or nearly as long as they wanted… Every weekend since that first taste of freedom, Ahiru had been woken by the loud banging of the door and Rue, looking wide-awake, ready to practice. Although with what she has to go through at night, I don't blame her for wanting to wake up early…

"Hey, what happened last night?" she asked suddenly, as the two emerged from beneath the pink rose arch. "I could hear you yelling all the way from my room."

"Went to bed early," Rue mumbled, grabbing hold of Ahiru's shoulder to prevent her from toppling into the fountain. "It was pretty dull at first, but then I think Fakir went to sleep and he showed up and started yelling at me. She couldn't let that go, so she started yelling back, and I guess I must have been talking in my sleep…"

"Oh… I didn't see you, though. I was mostly just trying to find Siegfried, 'cause I though she'd done something."

"He's stuck in her eyrie somewhere, I'm not exactly sure. Ask Mytho, and if Fakir stops being stubborn, maybe he knows too."

"I hope so. … It was fun at first, but now this whole thing is just getting really scary."

"I know what you mean." Rue smiled glumly.

With her eyes fixed on Rue's face, Ahiru didn't notice the stairs they were approaching until she was dangling a few inches away from them and horrible pain was ripping through the back of her scalp.

"Are you okay, Ahiru?"

"Yes yes yes ow ow ow let go let go let go!"

Rue, of course, had grabbed Ahiru's braid to prevent the unfortunate breaking of her nose.

--

"If you take a day off from practicing ballet, you will know it," the furry instructor was saying musingly, pacing in front of the class. "If you take a week off from practice, your companions will know it."

If you take three hundred and sixty-five days off from ballet, you'll have taken a year off from ballet, Mytho thought, tapping his fingers on the inside of his elbow. He scanned the crowd of students again; yes, the piece of orange idiot hair was sticking up from its usual spot. Yes, Fakir's green-black mane was a few spaces in front of him, currently unbound while its grower was retying the knot.

So where was Rue? He continued drumming his fingers, gold eyes anxious. The night before had been horrifying, to say the least, and he couldn't even wake up from it until he'd found his way into the cold night air. Could Kraehe have done something to—?

"And now we will have a demonstration from the advanced class!" Mr. Cat spat, jolting the white-haired boy out of his thoughts abruptly. "Miss Rue, will you—?"

"Of course, Mr. Cat," came the voice he'd been hoping to hear, and Rue stepped forward with a soft smile. In the crowd, Ahiru bounced up onto her knees, grinning at her friend. The girls sitting on either side of her pulled her down after an instant, but the damage was done; Rue grinned back at the crowd, then looked up at Mytho.

After a cautionary glance at Fakir – who was looking neutrally grumpy, as usual – he smiled back, relaxed, and waited for the first strains of music to be tortured out of the piano in the corner.

Instead of the piano, however, the twelve repetitions of the note D were emitted from a large, bell-shaped contraption just inside the door. Danse Macabre, Mytho thought absently. Interesting choice.

He leaned back against the wall, half-closing his eyes, thoughts returning to the events of the night before. Siegfried hadn't seen Tutu at all, although Kraehe was, of course, hovering around him like some sort of sickly butterfly; and the knight had appeared momentarily, shouting something incomprehensible at the raven that she'd returned in kind.

He regarded Rue, who was performing fouettés almost effortlessly, although only those who knew her well would see the furrow of concentration on her forehead. One, two, three… seven, eight, and she leaned into an elegant arabesque, her eyelids sliding down over her red irises…

She was happy when she danced, Mytho knew. And she was happy in the morning, when she woke. And sometimes, when she was with Ahiru or him, she was happy.

But as the night grew closer, he often began to wonder whether she was happy at all…

Sudden applause yanked him out of his thoughts, and he lifted his hands to clap as well, smiling at Rue. She grinned back, cheeks flushed with exertion and pride, and carefully righted herself from her precarious arabesque penchée.

Not bad, huh? Mytho thought, in Rue's voice, and snorted to himself. It probably was exactly what she would have said.

--

"Not bad, huh?" she said, looping her arm around Mytho's. Ahiru bobbed cheerily in her wake, drawing amused looks from them both.

"Not bad! Rue, that was amazing! You're such a great dancer!" The redhead made an impressive attempt at a fouetté, almost toppling headfirst into a puddle. She was saved from a watery fate by a pale hand flashing out to drag her away, and Mytho raised his eyebrows.

"Practice," he told her firmly, releasing his grip on her shoulder, and the ducklike girl blushed.

"I'm trying," she huffed, brushing some invisible dust off of her sleeves. "If I got enough sleep at night and wasn't so exhausted when I woke up at the crack of dawn… hey, what are we going to do for the rest of the day? Pique and Lillie're doing something with the drawing division and Fakir-"

She skidded to a halt, stopping the other two in their tracks as they turned to look at her. "Where is Fakir?"

"I was at the library, idiot," snapped a voice in a scathing tone, and said Fakir loomed up behind Mytho, causing him to yelp in surprise and jerk away from Rue's arm. "There was a book I needed to return; it's been under Mytho's bed for the past two weeks."

"It looked like a moldy old textbook, okay, I didn't think you needed—"

"And we have bigger issues to worry about than what we're going to do with the rest of the day," he announced, ignoring Ahiru's glare and Mytho's defensive protest. "We've still got to figure out where Kraehe's hidden S—MMFMGH!"

"Sssshhhhh!" hissed Ahiru, who was currently muffling him with her hand and hanging off his shoulder like an infant monkey. "You know we can't talk about that in public—"

"Get off of him, Ahiru, you're making a fool of yourself," Rue said sharply, yanking the redhead off by the shoulder. "She has a point, Fakir. Let's try the drama room, I know for a fact that division isn't doing anything in there until next month—"

"That's the one with all the armchairs and the really big elephant head, isn't it?" Without waiting for an answer, the ducklike girl victory-punched the air and grabbed a hold of Fakir's and Rue's respective wrists. She charged off, leaving Mytho standing with a lost expression.

One of the students closer to their age, a blonde girl carrying a watering can, paused on her way towards the flower gardens and inquired, "What was that?"

Mytho sighed. "I have no idea."

And with that, off he trudged after the trio, who were quickly becoming a colorful triangle of dots in the distance.

--

Several hours later, the four emerged from the drama room, looking nervous, determined, resigned, and neutrally grumpy, respectively.

Ahiru, the nervous one, giggled suddenly for no reason and pointed at the clock tower. "Guys, I think we missed dinner. That took a long time, huh?"

The neutrally grumpy Fakir folded his arms and made a small derisive sound. "Idiot. We can always go to Ebine's. She'll take customers day or night, no matter how late we wake her up."

"I hardly think we'd wake her up," Rue the resigned noted. "It's barely nine."

And that left Mytho to be determined. "Maybe we should all just go to sleep, get this over with. I mean, we have extra time to work this out if we need to, but a little more time isn't a bad thing. And with the plan Fakir's worked out, then we should have me out of there in no time."

"He's not you," Rue said sharply. "He's someone who shares your features."

"Technically he's a product of my mind, Rue, but I see what you mean."

The dark-haired girl sighed, shoving her hands in the pocket of her skirt, as the group began the long trek back to the dorms. "I'm sorry, I know, it's just… Do you think it would be better if I just stayed up a little longer? The Story selves are completely comatose when we're awake, you guys know that."

Fakir shook his head. "No. Kraehe needs to be there to let us into the castle. You can keep our plan from her long enough for Tutu and I to sneak in?"

"Oh, thanks, jerk, like Tutu's a completely different person than I am—"

"Shut up, idiot, she's nothing like you—"

"Are you trying to say something about me, Fakir? 'Cause if she was nothing like me than how could I be her in the Story—"

"You made her up, moron, of course you'd be her—"

"Well, I think you two have made excellent progress in the 'We do not have sexual tension no not at all' department," Rue interrupted loudly, "but I think it's time we wind down now."

"We are not sexually tense!"

"I'm sure."

They had arrived at the dorms. Without even a hint of a smile, even though Mytho's wide grin was impossible to miss (as were the tomato-faces on both Fakir and Ahiru), she tapped Ahiru on the shoulder and led her off towards the pink rose arch.

"Isn't it weird," the redhead chattered as they ascended the stairs, "I was so nervous about it this morning and I really didn't want to go back because it was really scary but now that we're going back I'm really excited? And I know it's really dumb to be saying this because of Kraehe and all but aren't you excited too?"

"Excited?" Rue whirled around, red eyes flashing. "Why would I be excited about turning into the princess of ravens with a possessiveness problem? Why would I be excited about turning into someone who wants to kick my friends out of the Story forever? Would you be—"

She stopped. Ahiru had a rather stricken expression on her face, and with a pang of regret, the elder realized she had scared the redhead.

"… Sorry," she mumbled, and the ducklike girl tentatively patted her on the shoulder.

"Nah, it was my fault. I should have known." Ahiru sighed lengthily. "Let's go get this thing over with."

Minutes later, hair washed, teeth cleaned, and dark red nightgown donned, Rue slid into bed. She threw a towel over her pillow to avoid getting it wet and closed her eyes…

And immediately opened them again, rolling over and staring at the window. What was she going to do tonight? Kidnap Mytho's other self and lock him in the dungeon of her shadowy castle—no, she'd done that the night before. Throw her worst warriors at Lohengrin—already done on numerous occasions, so perhaps again. Bind Princess Tutu in chains made of black iron—done, and probably going to happen again in the future.

She let out a frustrated groan and rolled over again, burying her face in the pillow until she couldn't breathe. Princess Tutu… the name made part of her grind her teeth and want to punch something. That was Kraehe, of course, coming closer as sleep drew near…

Don't think about the plan, don't think about the plan…

Her thoughts drifted to the Story; when she wasn't locked in a plot to kidnap or retrieve the prince, Kraehe had traveled the land many times before, from the edge of the western sea to the eastern swamps, the northern black forest where she kept home in her castle, and the southern fields where she had pursued the heartless prince and his knight.

And then the hills, which hid a lake, where the swan princess made her home…

Her eyes drifted closed.

--

A castle, all sharp towers and onyx stone, loomed over him, as if daring him not to be afraid. He had to admit, for a moment, his heart jumped at the sight—but not from fear. No, no, his momentary lapse of heart rate was from joy.

His prince was in there, and gods damn him if he didn't get him back.

Gods damn that idiot who was Tutu's waking self, too. Didn't the moron ever sleep?

Lohengrin huffed angrily and drew his sword. It was a good thing that Rue girl hadn't slept, either, or he would be fighting a lot of crows right now, and for Tutu to show up in the middle of that—

"Sir knight."

As lightly as a feather, a pair of pink pointe shoes landed on the ground behind him, and Princess Tutu stepped forward, the starlight glistening off of her white hair. "Kraehe hasn't appeared yet?"

"No." The knight glanced back up at the castle. His eyes, shades brighter green than that of his waking double, narrowed. "As far as I know, Mytho hasn't slept, either. Siegfried is probably still unconscious in the dungeon."

The swan princess inclined her head in acknowledgement and followed his gaze. "Fakir shared the plan, I trust?"

"Yes. As long as Rue does her part to keep it from the crow, we should have Siegfried out in no time at all."

"Kraehe must notice us, first, and then let us in."

As if on cue, the portcullis before them shuddered, made a creaking sound, and slowly began to slide upwards. The spikes on the bottom were stylized raven heads, and one of them cawed harshly as it passed. With a metallic shudder, the portcullis grew still.

"Here we go," Lohengrin muttered, and stepped forward.

The plan, in theory, was simple, he reflected, glancing back momentarily to make sure that Tutu wasn't lagging behind. Get in, get the prince out while Tutu distracted the crow, keep the prince busy while Lohengrin disabled Kraehe, get out.

"I wasn't expecting visitors."

Yeah, right. Simple.

With a long sigh, Lohengrin turned around, fingers tightening around his sword.

Kraehe stood at the end of the corridor, a pair of ravens on her shoulders. She smiled, a sickly smile that made the knight wonder if she could be the princess of ferrets instead of ravens, and advanced.

"You're on, idiot," he hissed at Tutu, and as the swan gulped and stepped forward, Lohengrin readied his sword.

"Kraehe," Tutu said softly. "Why do we have to fight like this? Don't you love the prince?"

"Of course I do." Kraehe's eyes burned scarlet, and she tossed her head proudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. The ravens on her shoulders cawed for emphasis. "The prince needs me. Without me, what would he do? Be happy? He's just as happy with me as he is with you."

"Why do you hurt him?" The swan moved closer to the raven, expression sad. "If you love him, why do you spirit him away from his home and keep him in your castle?"

"We've had this conversation at least umpteen times before, and for the umpteenth time, it's for his own good." Her eyes narrowed. "When he isn't loving me, what is he doing? What is he doing in his home that he doesn't do here?"

"He dances with his knight, and with me." Looking determined, Tutu lifted her arms and twirled her hands, then stepped forward and held one out. "He reads books that Lohengrin brings him, and when Mytho awakens, he sleeps in his own bed, not a cold stone floor."

"He—"

The swan flipped her hand up, palm facing Kraehe. "No. Here, he sleeps bound in chains, on damp stone, and when he wakes he is forced to parrot endless words of love to you. He is not free here."

"As if he's free anywhere else? He's bound by your commands, Tutu. Yours and Lohengrin's. He doesn't understand how to want; the two of you are so blinded by your misguided infatuation that you believe it's what he would want if he had his heart."

Tutu tilted her chin up. "Until we find some way to return it, it is the best we can do, because we know what is best for him."

The raven smiled thinly.

"What if I told you I knew how to return it?"

--

The last thing Lohengrin had heard was "Why do you hurt him?" and then he had taken off, slinking into the shadows and running as swiftly as a deer towards the stairs he knew would take him to the belowground cells. They were stone, as was everything else in the castle, and there were sixteen of them, as he had memorized after countless visits.

One two three four five six seven, he thought absently, clattering down almost faster than he could count. Eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen. His boots slapped down on flat stone, and he ran on. I must have missed a few.

A flash of white caught his eye, and he skidded to a halt.

A boy with puffy white hair and blank, golden eyes was sitting in a doorless cell, wrists bound with chains. At the sound of the knight's boots, he looked up.

"Lohengrin…"

"We're here, Siegfried," the knight said swiftly, approaching the chains. He began to hack at them with his blade; though thick, the chains parted as easily as butter under his sword. "Tutu's upstairs, and we've got horses waiting."

"The other me said you would be coming…"

"Mytho? Yes, Fakir planned the whole escapade with him."

"Un…" Siegfried nodded slightly. "He said that."

The last chain dropped to the ground, and Lohengrin reached out a hand to pull the prince up. As he did so, a sparkle of red caught his eye, and he whipped around just in time to see a translucent form eerily similar to Siegfried dart away.

"What the hell was that?"

Behind him, Siegfried blinked. "Kraehe called it a shard. She said it was me."

"A shard…?"

Could it be…? No, that was impossible. Lohengrin shook his head violently and pulled the prince towards the stairs. They had a princess to hitch a ride from.

--

"W-why are you telling me this?" Tutu said, voice trembling slightly. Kraehe's eyes slid into slits.

"It will be amusing to see you try to rescue them," she said cruelly, and the swan stepped back as if slapped. The white-haired princess was about to make a retort when a shout from behind her made her whirl.

"Tutu! Get us out of here, I got the prince!" Lohengrin lunged for the princess, one arm around Siegfried, the other reaching out for Tutu—

"What?!" Kraehe leaped forward, snarling, but the knight and the princess had grasped hands—

And disappeared in a flash of white, reappearing hundreds of miles away in a shower of pale feathers.

Mist surrounded and whirled from them as Lohengrin sagged to the ground, breathing heavily. Siegfried, still in his grip, followed, and settled to his knees. Tutu, on the other hand, looked up, expression peaceful.

The fog cleared from around them, revealing a large blue lake surrounded by deep green hills. A pair of swans drifting near shore called to the princess, and she made an informal curtsy in their direction. Lohengrin squinted up at her, still panting.

"When you're done fraternizing with your subjects," he snapped pointedly, and the princess's smile dissipated into a worried frown. She kneeled down, glancing anxiously at Siegfried, and back at the knight.

"Do you know how Siegfried lost his heart?"

He did. "Of course. The whole kingdom knows it. Shattered it killing the father of that bitch. Gods know why she still loves him."

Tutu's blue eyes were dark and troubled. "Do you know of how it can be returned?"

"It's said that only the fifteenth princess of the swans can do so. He's not going to get it back until you have a daughter." The knight sighed, sitting back on his heels and pressing two fingers to his forehead. Dammit, this chaos was giving him a headache. "The shards disappeared, anyway. Even if you had a daughter, they wouldn't be able to return them."

"… I'm not the fourteenth."

"What?"

Tutu looked guiltily at her hands. "I looked over the family tree… I'm the fifteenth, not the fourteenth."

Well. That was a surprise.

"… Well. That's a surprise." Lohengrin's eyes narrowed until they resembled shards of emerald. "Why the sudden interest in his missing heart?"

"Kraehe told me…"

The princess sat back. A stray cygnet waddled up to her, and she picked it up absently, cradling it in her arms. Tutu stared reflectively out at the lake, and then back at the knight.

"She says she has the shards. All of them."

AN: Possibly moving just a little bit fast.

Next chapter: Hermia is so Ebine's daughter, Tutu does some wtfery at her family tree, and Kraehe is a creeper with a spiderweb.