"Ahiru!" A voice, the voice of a man, she knew that voice, she loved that voice, but it faded.

"Ahiru?" A voice, a woman's, one she didn't recognize.

She opened her eyes but shut them tight; bright, harsh light hung above her.

The last light she had seen…Water around her… A man stood on the dock, calling her name... There was soft light… like magic… She was calling his name…

What was his name? She couldn't remember… His name… She had to remember… She had to.. She had-

"Fakir!" She bolted up, there was loud sharp beeping, some kind of machine, loud and terrible in her ear. Something pricked her arm, her head ached, there was a stale taste in her mouth like a swamp, her fingers tingled…

Her fingers.

She brought her fingers up to her face. She was human, she was a girl again, and she wasn't a duck anymore. Did he write her a story? She looked around for him, but he wasn't there. Only a plump woman with cropped red hair, and a sleeping old man with a cane resting against his knee. She didn't know who they were.

"Shh, honey calm down, you're okay."

"Where's Fakir?"

"Who?" The woman shook her head, she was holding back tears. "Sweetie, take it slow, I'll call a nurse."

"Where am I? Where's Fakir?" if she was alone…

She had to find him, he would know where they were. He would fix it.

"Dad, go get a nurse." The woman went to the old man and tried to wake him up, but a woman walked in.

"Raetsel." Ahiru breathed out in relief. "Raetsel, where's Fakir?"

The woman looked startled, "How do you know my name, Ahiru?"

"You're Fakir's friend. We've met before."

Raetsel gazed at her for a second. "I don't know a Fakir. I'm sorry."

Drosselmeyer.

This had Drosselmeyer's name written all over it. She had to find Fakir, they could work together and everything would go back to normal, and she'd be…

A duck, again.

She wiggled her toes under the sheets. She could dance again, but this wasn't her true self, and being able to dance meant nothing to her if she didn't have Fakir by her side.

She'd find Fakir, and they'd fix it, together. Right now, she just had to figure out the story, what Drosselmeyer had written and why. The story would lead her to Fakir and even if it didn't she would rewrite the story herself to find him.

"Well, you're doing well, all of your vitals are great," Raetsel turned to the woman, "Why don't I get the doctor? In the meantime, Ahiru," She smiled down at Ahiru, patting her leg, "You can catch up with your family."

Ahiru watched Raetsel leave, she didn't know her, did that mean no one else would? If she found Pique or Lillie? Would they know her? If she found Fakir would he…?

So succumbed in her thoughts, she missed the last words Raetsel said to her.

Family. She called them her family.

"Mom?" She tried, uncertainly.

The plump lady smiled and nodded, wiping at tears.

"Why am I here?"

"Oh baby, you don't remember?"

Ahiru shook her head.

"The doctors said you might not." Mom bit her lip. "But you've been in a coma, dear, for the past ten years."

She froze, how was that…?

She looked into the eyes of the woman beside her disbelievingly. Her mother, she supposed.

It was disorienting, to hear that she had been in a coma, asleep for ten years, but she soon realized it was just a set up.

A story's birth is a sudden event.

This was all set up, she hadn't really been asleep for ten years, but she also knew she wasn't a thirteen year old girl anymore. She didn't count the days as a duck, but she knew that it had been a long time since Mytho had killed the Monster Raven, she had lost all of her yellow feathers, and Fakir…

She noticed Fakir how was no longer a boy, when he slowly turned into a man.

"How old am I?"

"You turned twenty three last weak." Mom sat down on the edge of the bed. "I didn't cut your hair." Mom brushed Ahiru's hair over her shoulder and for the first time in many years, she saw her long, ginger braid. "I know you always wanted to have princess hair, it may be too long, though." she leaned in then, like she had a secret to share. "Grandpa wanted to keep it the length it was before you-"

"No, thank you. I like it this way. Thank you, mama."

Mama looked startled. "Oh, Ahiru, I haven't heard you call me that in such a long time." She wrapped her arms around her. "Just wait until your brother hears."

"My brother?"

"Yes, he's been away in college, he's been away for a long time. He couldn't take looking at you in this state." Mama gave a sad smile, she pet Ahiru's hair, bangs hanging over her eyes. "I was going to cut them today, but. You always liked your bangs, I didn't want you to lose them."

"Thank you." She paused, and then, "Mama?"

"Yes?"

"What, what happened?"

"Oh, baby." Mama pet her face. "It was all my fault."

"Good morning." Raetsel walked back in with a pale woman, her hair blonde, but Ahiru recognized her in a second.

Edel.

"Good morning." Ahiru said instead.

"How are you doing?" Edel smiled, she had pale pink lips, her makeup looking less like a clown's and more like her own work. Her hair was in a low ponytail, sleek and pretty, but blonde, not the mint green it should have been. "You're sitting up, that's good."

Edel shined a light in her eyes.

"I feel okay. I don't feel like I've been asleep for ten years."

"Most people don't." She pocketed the light. "Can you wiggle your toes?"

She could.

"Do you want to try standing?" She held out her hand to Ahiru, and Ahiru went to grab it.

"Oh, Dr. Nivale, don't you think it's too soon?" Mama interrupted. "When we were talking about her physical therapy when she woke up, you said she needed to start with simple exercises she could perform in bed."

Edel smiled and nodded. "Yes, I did, but she's in a lot better shape than we thought. What do you think, Ahiru, would you like to try standing up?"

Suddenly, she was nervous, Mama, Grandpa, Raetsel, and Edel all looked at her with supportive, grinning faces. "I think we should go slow."

"Don't worry about it, you'll get strength back sooner than you think."

Edel and Raetsel began talking with each other before leaving and Mama sat on the edge of the bed again, telling Ahiru she was going to go home and get her some photos to look at, everything she had missed, and the room was empty except for her.

With everyone gone, Ahiru was brave enough to slip the covers off her legs and swing them over the bed. Her feet pressed on to cold floor and slowly, she stood. She didn't feel weak, she didn't feel like she was about to fall, but she would pretend she did, no one could know that she knew she was in a story, did Drosselmeyer realize his mistake?

Or was this on purpose? A self aware protagonist in a world where everyone else were set in their very specific roles.

Maybe, and perhaps worst of all, it was all a dream, she had gotten into a coma and dreamed that she was Princess Tutu, and none of it was real, none of it had happened.

No, she recognized Raetsel and Edel, and those were their real names, it couldn't be a dream, it had to be real.

"Drosselmeyer." she whispered, wondering if he was watching her now. "Drosselmeyer, is this you?"

She heard talking at the door and was quick to sit back down.

"Ahiru, I brought you something to eat." Edel smiled, holding a tray of food in her hand. "Some fruit, yogurt and bread. It's not much but you really shouldn't be eating solids anyway."

I had bread yesterday, I've been eating solids for a very long time. She wanted to say, she so badly wanted to say, but she kept her mouth shut. In this world, this story, she had been in a coma, she had to act like it, too.

"Thank you."

Edel pulled out a little table to place the tray on and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. "So, what did you dream about?"

"What?"

"When coma patients wake up, either they woke up like nothing happened and only shut their eyes for a moment, and some times, they have the most vivid and wild dreams." She smiled dreamily.

"I was a duck." She blurted out, not intending to tell Edel anything. Oops. "But, I could turn into a girl with a magic pendant, and then, Princess Tutu."

"Who's Princess Tutu?"

And Ahiru told Edel everything, Princess Tutu, Drosselmeyer, the Monster Raven, the prince without a heart and collecting his heart shards, Rue and Kraehe, her Cat teacher, the friends she had, the ones she made, the knight who became a writer.

"The writer didn't have a name?"

Ahiru had elected to leave out Fakir's name, it was an odd name and once she found him she didn't want people to think it was just from a dream. "I can't remember what it was."

"And I was apart of your dream?"

"Well, just your name, the puppet Edel had green hair."

Edel hid a laugh behind her hand. "Yes, that is a strange choice for hair. But I have been your doctor since you fell asleep; I've heard of cases where patients will hear things and incorporate them into their dreams, I think that's why you knew who Raetsel was."

"But, Raetsel looked like the Raetsel in my dreams."

"Hmm." She tapped her finger against her chin in thought. "Perhaps, you woke up a few times and saw her face before drifting back to sleep. I have to say, your dream may be the most interesting one I've heard. The most congruent by far."

Ahiru nodded and the door opened as Mama walked back in, a cardboard box filled with photos and albums.

"I'll leave you be." Edel stood to leave, taking the tray with her. "Ms. Armia."

"Doctor." Mama gave a curt nod before flopping down next to Ahiru. "Once I knew you would wake up, I decided to record everything you missed."

And so, Ahiru learned about her family.

She had a grandmother, but she passed away a few years into Ahiru's coma.

Her father died, Mama didn't have any photos of him nor did she say how he had died. His family, what little he had, passed away a long time ago and all she had left was Mama, Grandpa, and her brother.

"Oh, here it is." Mama had been looking for his graduation picture, digging through a stack of photos after Ahiru asked to see it.

Mama stood to his left, Grandpa to his right and a stranger took the photo, but her brother was-

"Mytho." She pet the photo, it had been so long since she had seen him. He smiled, he smiled the way she always wanted him to smile, but the more she looked at it, the more she realized his eyes were hollow, empty. Heartless.

"He looks sad."

"Myho-" Mama cut herself off. "After a while he gave up on you, but I didn't, I never would. We had a lot of fights about it. Eventually he decided to go to college in Berlin."

"Will he come back?"

"Elora, you best call that son of yours as soon as we get back home." Grandpa said, startling Ahiru, because he never talked before now.

"Dad, please, not in front of Ahiru."

"Your petty fighting shouldn't mean he doesn't get to know Ahiru is awake."

Elora pursed her lips, "Dad, I'll call him once we get home, but he shouldn't come until he's finished with college, he almost has his masters."

"Elora, he's been finished with school for four years now, he's been avoiding you and Ahiru." Grandpa said with a final nod meant to signify that that the argument was over.

"I'm- I'm sorry." Ahiru started. "I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, Ahiru, it's not your fault. It never was."

Ahiru nodded, she hadn't meant to cause so much pain and conflict, but she had only been in this story for at most an hour, it was hardly her fault.

But, still…

She looked down at the photo, studying it and all its features, in the bottom corner there was a random series of numbers and slashes. 26/06/1974.

Elora and Grandpa stayed for a bit longer but the air was stifled. There was still about a hundred photos left in the box but Elora promised she'd come back tomorrow.

Edel came back in the afternoon and started with one pound weights and a stretching band. They talked about her dream; in their time apart Edel had come up with some questions.

Soon, that was what became of her days.

She'd wake up and eat breakfast, the nurses shocked she was handling solid foods so well.

Mama would come in, but soon she learned that Elora had work at noon and had to leave before then. They would talk about the photos - on some photos there were more numbers and slashes at the bottom of them, always different, but Ahiru didn't want to ask what they meant - and anything Ahiru felt like.

"Oh, Ahiru, music has changed so much since you were little, you wouldn't believe it." Mama told her. When she was little, they would listen to something called Elvis on records, it was soft and soothing and she liked it. Apparently, the music got "heavier" more rock, and less roll, songs with weird names like Tainted Love and Who's Crying Now. They were all in English, but Mama said it was hard to find good German bands. Ahiru liked them, she couldn't imagine dancing to them, but she liked them.

"I don't like it so much," Mama shook her head. "I decided to stick with my Elvis and Beatles."

Ahiru had some hope when Elora mentioned a band named the Beatles, but apparently they were not real beetles, like she had hoped.

She'd have lunch and then her afternoons were spent in physical therapy with Edel.

And every day she came with questions.

"Why do you think some of the characters in your dream were animals instead of people?"

"For a while I thought it was to torture me. There were animal students capable of speech, walking on two legs and being treated like a human, while I was stuck just quaking at people."

"Hmm, that would be insufferable. I couldn't imagine."

"I thought it was just a tool for him, so he could make things harder on me, more secrets to keep, I couldn't communicate with others what was wrong or what I needed without the pendant."

"Perhaps it was to represent the helplessness you felt since you were in a coma."

Talking about what happened was a relief, it was a way to remember what happened, it was amazing to hear her own voice again, not just her thoughts or the awkward quacks, she had lips and teeth and while Fakir had gotten used to what her expressions and mannerisms meant, she knew it was hard on him still.

But, Edel telling her it was all a dream… and what was worse was the way she explained it all in a way that made sense.

It made her worry. She had no way to prove it wasn't all a dream, at least not until she found Fakir.

"Edel?" Ahiru asked one day. At this point, she was walking again and they were taking a stroll around the room, all that she was allotted. "I didn't want to upset mama, but I don't remember anything from before the dream. I don't remember her or grandpa, or my brother."

"I figured as much, I'm sure it'll come back after you go home, being in a familiar place will ignite some memories."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Call me and I'll have you tested."

Ahiru nodded. She hoped she didn't remember anything, she didn't want Princess Tutu to be a dream, she didn't want the majority of her life to have been a lie.

Edel would leave and dinner was served, some nurses came in and out, making sure she was okay, checking her vitals, and then would leave for the night.

The nights were her favorite.

The lights would go off and she knew she wouldn't be checked on until morning.

She would rise from her bed and she'd dance.

For the first few nights, she struggled to recall the right steps, but soon she remembered each position, the different warm ups and stretches, how to perform a pirouette, the feel of it all.

Fakir danced with her as a duck, but mostly she slipped over her webbed feet, her wings never rounding out, and she didn't feel like she was supposed to. She felt like a duck mimicking a girl

In the night, she felt like Princess Tutu, graceful and beautiful, all by her own doing.

One night, she didn't dance. She sat at the window and looked at the sky, covered with stars and the moon hung bright. Ahiru knew that she would go back to her true self once she and Fakir figured out what the story was and how to end it, but she had grown tired of being a duck, it didn't feel right, it felt like she had put on someone else's ballet pointe shoes, ill fitting, not meant for her foot, too small and cramped.

Being a human, able to dance and chat whenever she pleased, it was something she longed for every day as a duck.

She didn't know what it would mean for her to go back to being a duck.

There was a bright light down below her, red and flashing, an ambulance, a car followed close behind it, but they zipped around the corner.

At the end of the story, it would have been selfish to keep Mytho's last heart shard for it wasn't hers to keep.

This story, there was no pendant, there was nothing that would transform her into a duck nor girl, she just was. Would it be so wrong if the story never found an ending?

Sitting at the window, she saw a glimpse of her face, but turned away, she didn't want to see what she looked like as a human, a person and not a duck, she didn't want to get addicted to what she couldn't have.

But that night, sitting at the window, tempted to stay in this land, where she was a gir l- no, a woman - she wanted to know. As a young girl, she looked like a duck that had all of it's feathers plucked out, but how did she look now?

Ahiru let her feet hit the floor and pushed herself away from the window. There was a mirror in the cabinet, the one that held her clothes, some Elora had gotten her so she didn't have to wear a hospital gown. She touched the handle, and pulled it open, in the pale moonlight, she hardly got a reflection, but she saw.

Ahiru looked at a face that had aged, one she would even call pretty.

She touched her lips, so long had they been a hard yellow bill, but they were soft to her touch. Freckles still covered her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

She no longer looked like a child, her face, still round, had lost so much of it's baby fat, it was slimmer, she had cheekbones and a sharp chin.

She shut the door. Already, she was becoming enamored with her features. She couldn't be thinking like that.

There was a movement by the door and she saw nurses rushing past, possibly the person in the ambulance needed more help than originally thought.

Abruptly she grew curious, she wanted to know who was in that ambulance.

The nurses helped her change into pajamas, but her clothes were in the cupboard. Without looking at the mirror, she quickly changed

Ahiru stepped outside of her room, careful to make sure that no one saw her, and she followed where the nurses rushed to.

The ER would be on the first floor, she would just have to take the stairs down.

"Going down?"

Ahiru looked over at a nurse who was in a small cupboard. "I'm going to the first floor. I'm trying to find the stairs." She smiled and made to leave.

"Just take the elevator, it'll be quicker."

"Oh. Sure." Elevator?

Ahiru stepped into the tiny room, the nurse only an arm's length away from her. She pressed a button and it light up. The doors closed on their own and there was a ding. Then the room moved.

Ahiru pressed herself against the wall.

"Woah calm down, don't worry, it's just an elevator." The nurse chuckled nervously.

"Sorry," Ahiru pulled herself from the wall. "I don't think I've ever been in one."

"How'd you get up here then? Fly?"

"I was in a coma." She said calmly.

"Oh. For how long?"

"A few weeks. I've been up a couple days." Lies, both horrible lies, but the nurse couldn't know, if she did she'd escort Ahiru right back to bed, she was barely making laps around her room, they'd never just let her wander the halls. "I just wanted to visit the cafeteria, see if I could steal a snack."

"Yeah, the food they give you guys is awful. It's locked, but the code is 2456. It'll get you in without a problem."

Ahiru smiled. "Thank you."

Then the doors opened and they were on the bottom floor.

"See you around." The nurse smiled and waved before rushing down the hallway. Ahiru waited before following, it was obvious that the nurse was summoned for the person in the ambulance. She followed after the nurse at a slower pace, watching where she went but lagging behind, and even though it was the middle of the night, the hospital was filled with people, especially a room labeled ER.

The ER, Ahiru found, was never empty. Patients sat in chairs waiting to be called, and someone was always walking in through the doors as soon as someone else was summoned. She watched as the new patient was pulled into the ER on a gurney, one of the horrible hospital beds she spent most of her days in.

A thousand nurses and doctors surrounded him, several pushing the bed he was on and the others milling around the bed itself, going over a clipboard that seemed to be very important. But, many of the nurses were given the task of holding back the person who had followed the ambulance.

"Let me by!" Her voice…

"Ma'am, please calm down, we'll have him out by morning, go home and get some rest-"

"Don't you tell me what to do!" It had been so long.

Ahiru walked slowly towards them, just wanting a glimpse of her face.

"Ma'am, please, you're scaring other patients."

"Let them be scared! Let me see my fiance!"

Fiance? No, that was wrong, Elora told her Mytho was in Berlin, why was she engaged to someone else?

Ahiru finally got around them and got a look at her face, angry and red from yelling. But it was Rue, wholly and truly Rue.

When Mytho and Rue had left, she made it of the most importance to come back and see Fakir and Ahiru, but soon duties as king and queen caught up with them, and their visits diminished into nothing, she wrote letters, letters that Fakir would read aloud to her. She had a son and a daughter, Dawid and Aria, where were they if she wasn't with Mytho?

Ahiru looked over to the bed, tempted to follow, but if they wouldn't let Rue by, then they wouldn't let her either.

She went back to her room; not taking the elevator.

"So, what happened after? You gave me such a wonderful story, but you said that was only a small portion of your dream, what happened after?"

Edel had decided Ahiru was well past walking around her room and they started to walk the halls of the hospital, but Edel kept Ahiru's hand hooked around her elbow so as to hold unto her if she stumbled.

"I was with the writer. I stayed at his house as a duck, we did many things, but mostly it was calm, and I was okay with that."

"It is strange, so much drama in the first few months but after that, nothing."

Ahiru shrugged. "I didn't mind, I preferred it, I think. I didn't like the idea of being a character in a story, used for someone else's enjoyment."

"That's understandable."

"It was hard though, not being able to speak to him, I couldn't tell him what I needed, or what I wanted, he had to guess."

Edel nodded. "This young man you were with. What did he look like?"

"Handsome." Ahiru blushed. "I mean!"

Edel smiled, "Don't be embarrassed, I think we all dream about handsome men from time to time." She winked and Ahiru relaxed.

"He had darker skin, darker than mine, he spent a lot of time in the sun, sitting with me on the dock." Ahiru got lost in thought, picturing Fakir. He had green eyes, like sunlight illuminating through tree leaves, he rarely smiled, but when he did it was always filled with love and happiness, he let her sit on his shoulder and her face would rub against his, his skin was soft and warm, and when he didn't shave there was a touch of stubble, she didn't know which one she preferred. He wrote her stories, and he'd read them to her every night, most of them written about the people in town, giving them good fortune, a better tomorrow; hope. He let her share his bed and he would lay flat on his back, she'd stay on his chest and fell asleep to his heartbeat.

How was she supposed to convey all of that to Edel?

"He had a good voice, it was strong. I miss his voice."

"I would imagine. Some days I wake up after dreaming about someone and miss them terribly, even if I haven't spoken to them in years. It'll fade, don't worry."

She didn't want it to fade, the longing she felt, it would push her forward until she found him.

"You didn't have to come with me."

Ahiru's head snapped over to the person who muttered those words. It was Rue, she was back, and on Ahiru's floor.

"Will you be alright by yourself?" Edel asked.

"Huh?"

"I have to go use the restroom, will you be alright?"

"Yes." Ahiru nodded. "Yes, I'll be alright."

Edel smiled before walking away briskly.

Rue scoffed and Ahiru looked for her. "You never cared about him before."

"What, and you do?"

Her heart pounded. He was here, he was here.

"He's my fiance!"

"Oh, like you ever loved him."

Rue huffed.

Why were there so many people? It was never this busy given any other day.

"I love him with all my heart, you're just jealous that no one could ever love you. Go home, I don't think he'd be happy to see you after you nearly got him killed."

"Oh please, it was all his fault."

Ahiru elbowed past two people and saw them. Saw him.

"Fakir."

He was so tall, he was so handsome, he was standing there, did he come here to find her?

"Rue, he's the last of my family, do you really think I wouldn't check up on him?"

"Yes, I do."

Ahiru lost control of herself, she moved towards them, after weeks of being separated from him, she couldn't believe that he had come to find her.

"Fakir?" She called, loud enough that he heard and looked over.

No.

"Yes, can I help you?"

There wasn't a light in his eyes, the way his eyes always lit up when he saw her.

"Are you one of Autor's nurses?"

What did he do? What did that rotten man do?

"No, I'm sorry." Ahiru blinked away tears, she couldn't let him see, he would think her mad. "I'm sorry."

"See what you do when you come out? You make people cry!" Rue smacked his shoulder and came up to Ahiru. "Are you alright?"

Ahiru shook her head and wiped at her face. "Yes, I'm sorry, I thought-" She looked to Fakir. I thought you would recognize me.

"Hey, I know you. You were in the ER when Autor was brought in." Rue tilted her head. "Why did you go down there?"

"I saw the ambulance from my window, I- I just wanted to see if they were okay."

Rue smiled sweetly. "Thank you, that means a lot."

He doesn't know me.

"Why don't I walk you back to your room?" Rue looked back at Fakir. "Tell Autor I'll be right there, unless you would like to walk her back."

Ahiru stiffened, she wasn't sure if she could handle talking to him when he didn't know her name.

He had forgotten just like everyone else.

"It's fine, I'll go make sure Autor isn't terrorizing the nurses."

She heard him turn and walk off.

"C'mon, I'll take you back." Rue placed her hand on Ahiru's elbow. "What are you in the hospital for?"

"I was asleep for ten years." Ahiru told her.

He's gone. He's gone. I'm alone.

"My goodness, that's a long time."

"It didn't feel like it."

"My name is Rue, by the way, what's yours?"

"Ahiru."

Fakir. You can't leave me. We're supposed to do this together.

"That's a pretty name."

"Thank you."

"Are you alright? You seem a little out of it?" Rue stopped them, stepping in front of Ahiru to look her in the eyes and Ahiru was startled by the fact that her eyes were a deep brown rather than the burgedny she knew them to be.

"I'm sorry, I'm tired, I've been doing physical therapy, I don't normally walk so far."

"Is your room much farther?"

"No, it's-"

"Ahiru." Edel came up beside them.

"Edel."

"Is this your doctor?" Rue asked, letting go.

"Yes, thank you for helping me."

Rue stepped away and waved before turning back down the hall to where she had been.

"Sorry, I wandered too far."

"You're perfectly alright."

"When we get back, I think I'll take a nap, is that alright?"

Edel nodded, resuming the walk back. "Perfectly alright."

"Thank you."

She remained silent until she was back in her room, the door shut tightly behind her, she sunk to the floor and let sobs consume her.

"Fakir." She whispered. "Fakir, you were supposed to remember."

She was alone, she was so alone.

No one knew who she was, no one.

She was alone, all alone in this story.

"Fakir."

What was she supposed to do now?

*Dawid is pronounced Dav-Vid, not Dawid :3c you animals. And Nivale is the scientific name for Edelweiss.

*This is my fix-it fic primarily based on three headcanons I have, the first being that Ahiru was never actually a duck in the first place, that the show takes place in the 70's-80s, if Drosselmeyer was in the prime of his life in the mid to late 1800s and is Fakir's great-great grandfather, and the last one I will not disclose at this time because that would spoil the ending.

*most of these chapters take place over the course of the entire month, so some parts get a little jumpy, since I'm not too concerned about this being a masterpiece… suffer.