((A/N: Alright! Goldy-chan has requested a fic from me and I have obliged XD lol. It's
not that good but meh, are any of my fics?
Ne! Listen! Listen! This is shameless advertising for my other Princess Tutu fics! Obey
the shameless advertising!
…this chapter needs editing desperately… T.T maybe I should get an editor?
X3 That's all the space I'll waste here, have a wonderful day!
Muse-chan out!))
Heartless
Yume
Mukashi, mukashi…
There was once a lonely lake, doomed to spend all of eternity without a creature treading on its waters. The lake itself was sad, for no avian, frog or fish would come to it, it was left with only the trees that guarded it from the sun, for the lake was sure that it was ugly and that was why no animal would live with it. The sun's rays would surely only accentuate its hideous nature.
"Listen to me," a voice said one day, "If you learn to sing, you may attract the birds."
'How?' the lake longed to ask, but she had no voice. No way of expressing how she felt.
'Surely the trees will know,' she thought, 'For the trees are old and wise and kind. They have always helped me in the past.'
But the trees would not answer her plea for help; they remained as silent as they would to any breathing creature.
'Have the trees lost their voices?' she wondered, hoping that it couldn't be true. The trees had been her only companion for so long…
How was she to learn to sing without a voice? How was she to get a voice without the trees?
"Listen to me," the voice came again, "If you learn to listen, you may attract the frogs."
'How?' she longed to cry out, but she had no voice.
How was she to listen? The trees would surely know, but they would not answer her calls!
Was she to always be so lonely?
"Listen to me," the voice came one last time, "If you learn to look, you may attract the fish."
'How?' she longed to question, to hear, to see, but she was a lake and she could not.
...
In some places the darkness can be so great that even seeing your own hand can be a tremendous task.
If being in such a place troubled Fakir, he didn't show it. Easily walking forward and keeping his eyes set straight ahead, he continued. There were no walls to lean on, nor were there furniture to trip over. All he had to rely on was his posture.
It was a good thing, then, that he had taken several years of dance. His graceful movements and controlled balance were the reward of so many years of studios work.
Where would the darkness end?
If such a question troubled him, he did not show that either.
To see his face at the moment though, would be a truly terrifying thing to some. But no one could see the unfamiliar expression on his face. It was far too dark for that.
Though, one could note if they were able to see him, Fakir should not have orange eyes.
...
The sun shown just over the horizon, bathing Kinken Academy of The Fine Arts in a misty morning light. At the boys' dormitories, in room with the biggest balcony, the curtains fluttered. If there had been an early riser on a walk, they might have spotted the shuffle of curtains or perhaps even noticed the bright orange beak that peeked out from behind the curtains.
Inside the dorm, two boys slept peacefully on separate beds, happily dreaming away until the time they must get up for their classes.
That is, until the beak gripped the bottom of the curtains and dragged it open. Light flooded the room and attacked the unsuspecting victims on the beds.
"Qua quack!" the small yellow duck cried as if to bid them good morning.
"Damnit…" groaned one boy, pulling the covers over his head.
"…Fakir… I'm going to kill your duck someday." The second threatened while he hid under the sheets as well.
Ahiru looked insulted. With a determined quack she flew to Fakir's bed and began pecking at his visible foot.
"Ow! Cut it out Ahiru!" he dragged his foot under the blanket but Ahiru followed, an annoyed look on her small face. Crawling to his face, she found his eyes clenched shut. With another disgruntled squawk she bit his nose.
"Aah! Damnit Ahiru! Let go of my nose!" the blankets had long since hit the floor as Fakir's struggled to pull the avian off his nose.
"…she bit your nose?" now curious, Fakir's roommate tugged the blanket away from his face to view what he believed would be a most humorous sight. Indeed, Fakir had his hands clamped over the ducks small body, attempting to tug her off, while Ahiru remained as determined as ever.
If he were anyone else, he might not have believed what he was seeing. But as the unfortunate roommate of the schools living, breathing, ice-cube; he had seen many similar and even more humorous sights.
He was one of the very few people in the school that knew Fakir had a pet duck.
When he had first come to this room, expecting his roommate to be as closed and cruel as he'd normally seen at school, he was very surprised to see him arguing with the duck. His expression was far from the guarded one that his classmates had become oh so familiar with. In fact, despite his obvious annoyance at the animal, he seemed to have a rather warm expression.
"Damnit! Mikhail! You could help!" a pause, "And stop snickering!"
He let out one more chuckle before getting up to help his roommate escape his unconventional pets wrath.
When it was finally over, Fakir needed a Band-Aid for his nose.
He glared at the duck disdainfully, a look that Ahiru had come to associate with 'we are not going to the lake today'.
Mikhail sighed at the staring contest, "I'm heading out Fakir, try not to piss Ahiru off again."
Fakir turned to yell at his roommate but found that Mikhail knew better than to stick around after such a comment.
He gave a long sigh of both irritation and exhaustion before standing up with a grumble, "You never woke up early when you were human… geez…"
Ahiru pecked his foot, declaring in her quack-ish language that she did wake up early when she was human, but somehow she still managed to be late regardless.
Fakir retreated to take a shower though, not bothering to wait for the rest of her argument… whatever it was.
It was irritating at times, not being able to understand one another, in the first month after becoming a duck she forgot all the time that he could not understand. She'd gotten better with time, learning to instead to express most of her sentences with actions.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder how biting his nose translated into 'wake up'.
...
Ahiru was a duck with a mission.
Fakir had long since left for class leaving her alone with the strict orders to stay in the room.
That was all fine and dandy but she was of the opinion that fresh air and a good walk around the school would do her a lot of good. The window would not open(Fakir made sure of that) and she had no way to open the door.
But she did happen to know that Mikhail finished his first period in a few minutes. He always left his fencing gear in the room until his first period was over. She used to be able to sneak passed him easily when he opened the door but he'd learnt over the month he'd been living with Fakir and her how to block her path.
If she looked really cute, she could sometimes convince him to let her out but after get yelled at by Fakir he stopped that as well. She also used to be able to scare him into letting her out, threatening to peck him and the like but he had long since lost his fear of her flying bird kicks.
So, the question now, was how to get past Mikhail?
If she could, she would have smiled deviously. She would extra sneaky today.
...
"Ahiru?" Mikhail entered the dorm with an apprehensive expression, the memory of her flying off a bookshelf to attack him still fresh in his mind.
There was no reply and Mikhail hurriedly shut the door behind him. It was an in and out job, all he needed to do was grab his duffel bag and hightail it out of there.
'Is she asleep?' it was a possibility; there were several times he was able to escape without trouble because of her sleeping habits.
Not bothering to find out he picked up his duffel in a hurry and rushed from the room.
Inside his duffel bag, Ahiru celebrated.
It was only a few seconds after he was out of the boys' dorm that he heard the zipper of his duffel bag start opening. When it finally occurred to him the trick that had been pulled, Ahiru was already waddling away.
"Fakir's going to kill me…" he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he'd have better luck if he attempted to fit his duffel into his locker instead of leaving it in the dorm room.
Ahiru waddled happily around campus; the familiar scenery always brought her a nostalgic feeling of joy. Despite it only being three months since she attended classes there it felt as if it had been much longer since she donned the grey and white uniform.
People used to stare at her as she waddled around but many had gotten used to the yellow duck on campus. It was a great mystery who it belonged to though.
'Let's see,' Ahiru thought mildly, 'Pique and Lillie should be in the classroom; they have a lecture for second period. Fakir's probably stretching, his second period is dance… Freya-chan's in his class so she'll be there too. Malon-chan has a free period so she's probably sketching either by the fountain or the ballet room. Hermia-san… oh, I've forgotten what she has for second period… Autor is probably in the library, he has a free period too. Charon-san's probably busy with the shop… perhaps I could visit Ebine-san?'
Despite her friends forgetting about her time as a human, she kept track of them anyway. Even in duck form, it was always fun to hang out with Pique and Lillie(though one day they were going to crush her poor hallow bird bones, she was sure of it) and Freya usually let her help with the flowers(not that she could do much) and Malon-chan drew her once. Charon remembered her, but he was always very busy(he has a job after all). Autor also remembered her, but he still didn't care for her much(though he could be nice at times).
Ebine-san was always very sweet to her in duck form, her exuberant attitude hadn't changed much and she was always happy to feed her visitors(even if they were a duck).
Now determined to get some of Ebine-san's fresh made bread, she trotted along with new vigor…
…until she got crushed underneath someone's foot.
"Quack!"
"Kyaa!"
There was a small crashing noise as the surprised pedestrian tripped over the duck and fell to the hard cobble-stone path.
The student groaned, "What the did I step on…?"
Ahiru, still feeling rather abused and quite dizzy with pain remained silent as her attacker turned.
"A duck…?" sitting straighter now with a confused expression, the poor girl puzzled over the presence of a duck.
"Qua…" Ahiru muttered weakly.
"H-hey… are you okay?"
Immediately reacting to the question Ahiru looked at her.
"Quack!" Elsie-san!
The short blond girl let out a relieved sigh, "I'm really sorry, duckling… oh no! I'm even later than I was before!" she scrambled to her feet and ran to the class.
Ahiru stared after her a moment, she'd never talked to Elsie before, she was in the special class with Rue-chan but Ahiru never really had the chance to talk to anyone from the special class much.
'She seemed nice… I wish we could have been friends…' it was one of the many disappointments Ahiru found after becoming a duck, not the friends she left behind, but the friends she could have had. Many times she'd find herself meeting someone she knew only by name, or even less than that at times.
It was fun, yes, to become friends with them even as a duck, but… it was far different from sitting next to Hermia-san and talking about love, or commenting on Malon-chan's paintings or complimenting Ebine-san on a delicious meal…
'But,' Ahiru stood as straight as she could, 'That won't stop me from trying!'
She was a duck, she knew, she would never stop being a duck, this was a fact she had always acknowledged, but that wouldn't stop her from making the best of her time!
Now! Off to Ebine's!
"Where do you think you're going?"
Ahiru's blood ran cold and she turned around nervously to look at the very annoyed ballet dancer.
"Quack!" F-Fakir!
It only took a moment before she turned to run.
It took even less time for Fakir to get a firm grasp on the single feather protruding from her head.
Ahiru squawked at the sharp pain that ripped through her skull and immediately stopped her mad dash.
"Ahiru, would you care to tell me what you are doing outside the room?"
'Oh no…' Ahiru gulped and went for her last resort.
Full blue eyes gazed into Fakir's pleadingly, her cutest 'innocent ducky' expression on.
Fakir glared darkly at her cute look and she was reminded that he had grown more or less immune to her ducky charms.
Time to get cuter…
"Q-qua…?" the defenseless duck tone! Works in even the bleakest of situations!
Fakir sighed; she was pulling all the stops, wasn't she…?
He groaned, "Fine… just don't wonder far… and stay out of trouble."
Happy that she wouldn't be dragged back to the dorm after all she quacked joyfully in response.
'I'm way too nice to her…' with narrowed eyes he put her down and patted her head, "Be careful, okay?"
As much as his overprotective nature annoyed her at times, she couldn't help but feel special at that moment. A bright flush crossed her feathered cheeks and she nodded bashfully.
Fakir got up and began towards the ballet building.
Ahiru blinked in confusion, 'Wasn't he in class…? He was in his leotard and everything…' Ahiru's eyes widened and her gaze shot to the window protruding from the building. How could she have not thought of that? Next time she snuck out, she'd be sure not to be right in sight of the window. Fakir would be able to spot her easily.
Now where was she… oh yes! Ebine's! Excited once more at the prospect of fresh bread she trotted along the familiar path, this time avoiding being trampled by the students.
...
For those who looked, they would note that the gates to town opened nowadays like any other gate. There was no mysterious appearances through the gate.
Autor was someone who looked.
The boy was too strong willed for his own good really, even when Drosselmyer had all the villagers under his spell, to not be able to notice obviously odd occurrences, Autor had always made a point to know what went on around him, even when his brain refused to acknowledge the information.
It was why he kept journals. Day after day he would write the events of the previous day, day after day he would read his journals in hopes of being able to know what he knew was wrong. He'd watched day after day and still, still, he was only able to tell what was wrong after the story was over.
It was why he remembered the story everyone had forgotten. He refused to forget. He'd spent too much time training to never forget.
Even that which had escaped his mind; he was able to find in his journals. He'd learned to trust his journals above all logic.
The story was over though, and though all his training had paid off in many ways, he couldn't help but feel as if he was soldier that was no longer necessary. Like all his training had been useless in the end.
His logical side told him that this was untrue, and pointed out quite pompously all he had done; everywhere his training had paid off. But still…
It was possibly this feeling of uselessness that was making him uneasy, making him watch the east gate with a calculating and cautious eye. The voice in his head, the one he had determined had saved him from Drosselmyer's rule, or perhaps it was simply paranoia, whispered that it wasn't over. That Drosselmyer still held one more trick… that the gates would welcome more trouble… that something was stirring.
He tried to reason that perhaps he was over-reacting. That he was being foolish. That he simply didn't want the story to come to an end. But…
…even so, even with such thoughts, he continued to watch the gate. Even if he was just paranoid and insane, in his mind, it was far better to be paranoid and insane than right.
Because if he was right…
A sound came from on the other side of the gate and his heart stopped, was he right all along? Or would some normal person simply pass through the gate like any other day?
He heard the bell ring signaling third period but he paid no mind. His eyes locked on the gate, waiting for them to open and welcome whatever trouble or trivialities that lurked behind it.
The gate did not open.
As Autor stared soundlessly at the figure walking, paying him no mind, from the gate he felt a cold and horrible feeling grow in his gut.
He was right.
((Ending Note: It's not even fourth period and the plots already arrived! X3 lol, I hope you have all enjoyed this thus far; it's been more fun than I expected to write.
Oh yes!
Elsie is NOT an OC!
XD XD XD lol, she's the blond haired girl with the pigtails! She's in the special class, you see her everywhere when there's class pics. She was there when Rue is first introduced(dancing), she was part of the gaping audience that watched Ahiru and Rue dance, I don't know if she was in the walking to the Eleki troupe pic, but I'd bet she was! She is also sitting next to Pique in the audience I believe while Fakir and Ahiru danced.
Anyone else find it funny? No? Well fine then…
Mikhail is an OC, but I wanted Fakir to have a roommate and stuff(it's all the funnier that way!)… its a German name, and if babynames . com is correct, it means 'who is like god'.
Anywho, like? Don't like? Getting out your flamethrower? :3
-Muse-chan going to bed with happy thoughts!))