Entangled Strings
by Contrail
Disclaimer: Princess Tutu belongs to Itoh Ikuko and HAL Films, and is being used with out permission. No profit is being made from this story.
When Edel dreams, she can take on any role she chooses to. The role she likes imagining for herself the most isn't one anyone would write a story about. In her dreams, she becomes a simple human woman with friends and family and all the feelings that come with being human, joy and sorrow, laughter and pain. It's quite the boring life she imagines for herself, full of ordinary triumphs and hardships. But this most common of stories is something she can only dream of.
A tugging on her strings wakes her from her slumber. Her creator has another task for her to perform, playing the role he gives her. Such is the fate of a puppet, and puppets aren't meant to have glory. Her creator says that marionettes are most free when someone is pulling their strings, and she supposes that has truth to it. They're free from having to make their own decisions, from having to choose their own path. But what if that isn't the kind of freedom she wants?
Usually there's a bit of slack in her strings. Her creator guides her in what he wants her to do, but she can choose how to go about it. So that is why when Ahiru hugs her, after she shows them the entrance, Edel can respond by touching her cheek gently. Watching them go, she thinks of the tragic fates her creator intends for them all. Fakir being torn in two by the Raven's claws. Ahiru vanishing in a speck of light after confessing her love. Rue never learning the truth of her past, never having her love returned. Mytho always sacrificing himself to save others. And she was to help lead them all to those fates, no matter how little they deserved it.
Could she, who guided them to these fates, change them and her own? Did she, a mere puppet, have that power? Could she defy the creator who pulled her strings? She knew what a human with a caring heart would do. Even if they couldn't succeed, they would at least try. And so could she. Maybe a puppet could find her own form of glory, after all.