A swan cursed to never see
The speck of light o'er her failing wings
As she fell
There was naught a hand to catch her.
Rue stared at the book that lay open upon Mytho's desk. He had moved away from it, searching for fresh parchment, and the bold black lettering gazed up at her unabashedly. She was bored, searching for entertainment, and she settled with examining what he had been reading. Half asleep and dreary, she looked upon it with bleary eyes.
At first, it meant nothing to her, the poem. Of course, it was a beautiful sentiment, but ultimately untouching to her. The ink of the words caught the early evening sunlight, and she stared at the page absently. As whenever she was bored, her mind began to drift and wonder. The swan… The words are of black ink; thus, perhaps it speaks of a black swan…
She sighed. The ink swan… Then what is the opposite of that? The erased swan? The paper swan? She amused herself with this. What is the opposite of ink black?
Then it came to her.
Clear white.
A swan cursed to never see…
Rue stared down at the page with awakened horror. The tale was that of a doomed white swan.
The speck of light o'er her failing wings…
The prince is mine, and mine alone.
As she fell…
But the clear white of the page screamed at Rue regardless.
The prince's hand did not…
Rue did a double take –
No, it was: There was naught a hand to catch her.
Her hands shaking, Rue picked up the book gingerly. This… This is like Tutu. Duck… Is this your story? How did it end up here, upon Mytho's desk…? She examined the cover of the book. A Thousand Tales of Grace, it was called. A whimsical, unassuming name.
There cannot be a story within a story, after all. Rue set the book back down, still open to the tale of the white swan. Of course this is not Princess Tutu's story…
But Rue could not shake the unease that had sunk into her heart, and finally, she let the words that hovered about her mind take form.
After all this time, Tutu is still on his mind?
Her hands began to shake once more.
But… But I'm here! I am the true Princess. And he chose me. We will love each other – we will be together – forever!
But the white swan upon the pages of the book did not move, was unperturbed by her frenzied rationalizings.
You expected pity, didn't you, Tutu? Rue's eyes were wide and crazed. You won't be shaken even now, will you? But I'll show you –
I and I alone will remain in Mytho's heart!
Her hand flew towards the nearby ink pot.
Erase this white swan and replace it with black!
As if the book itself was Mytho's heart…
With a piercing scream of rage, Rue smashed the ink pot, the ink splattering all over the poem. Immediately the black ink flooded and oozed over the book, erasing the accursed words and killing the white swan.
Rue straightened up, her hands dripping black ink, and smirked, all madness gone from her eyes. "Who's the final victor now, Tutu?" Her chest heaved with the wind of emotion that had led to the destruction of the swan.
Then she heard footsteps behind her, and whipped around.
It was Mytho, carrying a fresh stack of parchment, his eyes wide and round with shock. "Rue… What's wrong?"
It was then that Rue came back to herself, and all of the tension left her shoulders. "What… What do you mean?" Then she felt the ink dripping down her wrists, and she lifted her blackened hands up to the orange evening sunlight.
She gasped in horror, and clapped one inky hand over her mouth, her gaze flashing to the destroyed poem. "What… What have I done?!"
The ink continued to ooze over the page.