Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Tutu

AN: Hi there, so this is the beginning of the new volume of my Princess Tutu series, I think you can read this one separately, but it may cause you some confusion later on. I'll try to repeat some information from 'I will protect..' and 'Strings of love' though. I hope you like it :)

Drosselmeyer's Curse

The new writer

Fakir sat behind his writing desk late that night. He wasn't writing, nothing would come to him now anyway.

'What is this ill feeling I have?' he wondered. 'I should be happy, right?' But he wasn't. Suddenly he realised he no longer heard the ticking of the clock or Duck's steady breathing. It was as though time had stopped.

"My, my, isn't this unexpected." An unpleasant voice spoke and Fakir looked at the large shadow on the wall. In it a frame of an open door had appeared and through it a man watched him with an evil grin on his face.

"Drosselmeyer." Fakir growled as he felt the hate boil up inside him.

"The useless knight who couldn't even die and threw my beautiful tragedy into ruin, who would have thought you would bring me a window of opportunity after all." Drosselmeyer said delighted.

Fakir didn't speak, he knew this man did always as he pleased and seeing as he was a ghost, Fakir couldn't do anything against him. With horror he watched the man step into the room, beyond the borders of his shadowy realm and disappear.

"Ah yes, with this little girl here." Drosselmeyer's voice continued from the far corner in the room where Isa's little cradle stood.

With a shock Fakir came to his feet and ran to the cradle, in fear Drosselmeyer might do something to her, but the old story-teller only laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't harm her. After all, like I said, she is a new chance for me to see this town in a new tragedy. Or had you forgotten?" He now looked directly at Fakir and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You and Princess Tutu defied the roles I had set out for you in a desperate search for happiness." He said. "You found it in each other in the end, with a little help from me, I might add. Now it seems that my little generosity was not for nothing. By choosing you, my dear pathetic Tutu has spun a new tale for me." Drosselmeyer now appeared in the shadow at the side of the bed where Duck was sleeping peacefully.
"Do I have to spell it out for you?" he went on to Fakir. "You have my blood running through your veins. The ability to play with reality and by passing it on to this child you sealed her fate. She will become a new writer to finish my work and create an even greater tragedy. The story of the Prince and the Raven has long been lost, but maybe she will be able to create an even better story. My congratulations to you and my thanks!" Drosselmeyer grinned at Fakir's dismay and returned to the shadow from which he had come and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Fakir called and the man halted. "You are also going to tell Duck this, aren't you?" Fakir asked.

"But of course, I think Duck has been quite ignorant about this."

"Please, don't." Fakir said desperately.

"Why? After all this, she could use a little bit of suffering." Drosselmeyer said.

"You sadistic fossil!" Fakir spat at him.

"Do you intend to tell her yourself and hope to lessen her pain by making empty promises of protection?" Drosselmeyer said amused. "Your desire to protect others cost your parents their lives, you mustn't forget that. You are useless as a knight."

Fakir gritted his teeth. "That maybe so," he said slowly, "I will not deny that I can do nothing as a knight. Even so, for her I will always keep trying."

"Ha-ha, I'll leave it to you then and maybe it all will come to an end that pleases me!" Drosselmeyer said and he walked back to his shadowy realm. "Bye, bye!"

Fakir woke up with a start. Had that been a dream or did Drosselmeyer really appear? There was no real question about it. Fakir knew Drosselmeyer had come and what he had said was all too true. Fakir sat up and looked at the other side of the bed, but Duck wasn't there. Shocked Fakir stood up and looked at the little cradle. Isa was still safe and sound asleep, but where did Duck go? Did Drosselmeyer tell her after all? Without getting dressed he ran downstairs and burst into the kitchen.

"Duck!" he called while he feared that she might have gone to the lake of Despair again. But to his relieve he saw her standing there, still wearing her night gown and she looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Oh, good morning Fakir." She said. "I'm sorry, I was going to wake you up. I didn't mix up the time, did I?"

Fakir sighed in relieve and entered the kitchen.

"Is something wrong, Fakir?" Duck asked and she looked concerned.

Fakir walked towards her. He figured he might as well tell her now. She had already seen that something was bothering him and there was no point in denying it.
"Duck," he began carefully and he saw that she immediately understood that something was wrong. "I have to tell you something. Will you promise you won't take it too hard?"

"Eh, alright." Duck replied, a bit confused and she took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Drosselmeyer came." Fakir said and with that he almost had said everything. Duck looked shocked, but she remained silent and let Fakir speak. "I'm sorry, Duck." Fakir said and he hung his head in grieve. "Drosselmeyer told me something I have always known, but I was too afraid to look into it. You and I both know I have Drosselmeyer's blood running through my veins. The ability to mess with reality and putting lives at risk. I passed that on to Isa and Drosselmeyer will once again drag this town into pain and misery and he will use her to do it. I thought Drosselmeyer had come to you about this, even though I asked him not to. This is my responsibility and I don't want you nor Uzura nor Isa to get hurt. I know I'm not supposed to fight and that I can't protect anyone, this mark of the fallen knight from the story still shows that."

"No," Duck said softly and she spoke with warm words of hope. She stood up from her chair and laid a gentle hand on Fakir's chest where the mark ran over his body. "You mustn't listen to him." She said. "You did protect me and Uzura, remember? You are strong and will always try and protect the ones you love. You always did more for me than I did for you and this time I will protect you too."

Fakir looked into her beautiful warm eyes. She smiled at him and he looked back at her with care and devotion. "Idiot, you did protect me, remember?" he said softly. "If it was not for your care for me, I would still be inside that oak tree."

Duck blushed. It was true, she had shown him her deep feelings for him, even though she had been written to love someone else. Fakir and Duck looked each other in the eyes. After all those years their love had only grown stronger and they would do anything for each other. They slowly moved closer into a kiss and the whole world around them seemed to devolve into nothing, until someone spoke.

"Good morning-zura!" a voice chimed happily.

Duck broke free from Fakir and almost knocked him over. "Oh, Uzura, good morning!" she said flustered. As a married couple, she and Fakir had every right to kiss, but even so, Duck never got used to it when someone saw them.

"Why do you stop-zura?" Uzura asked and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She was now seven years old and normally children would be ashamed by their parents' behaviour, but Uzura knew her parents longer than that. She had been their friend when she was still a doll and she had always wished for them to get together. Even now, after she had become their daughter, she was still a bit obsessed with their romance.

"I'll go to Isa." Duck said, still a bit nervously and she quickly went upstairs. Fakir could handle Uzura's curiosity much better, since he had known her from the very beginning. And so he casually took a seat next to her at the table.

"Good morning, Uzura, did you sleep well?" he asked her.

"Yes, where's my sister?" she replied happily.

Fakir gave her a warm smile. He knew that Drosselmeyer's threat applied to her as well, but he would not tell her. He and Duck would figure it out before something could happen to her or Isa.
"Duck will soon come downstairs with her." He answered. Fakir truly believed that no one was more happy with Isa than Uzura, not even Duck or himself.

This story has Uzura as main character and the next chapter will begin with a time skip, this was really an introduction, since everyone knows Uzura as little girl and because Isa is very important.

Please review! :)