"Mytho, don't go! Eat my heart instead!" Rue shrieked, lungs burning as she ran. "I've always loved you! Ever since I was a child!"
The Raven's mouth snapped shut around her-and then she woke up, tear-stained and gasping. Rue waited until her dream no longer caught her around the stomach, biting her pillow.
What could have been had always haunted her, ever since Prince Siegfried had defeated the Monster Raven with Princesss Tutu's confession and not her own. Duck's struggle had inspired her instead, and it was with Rue's help she had the ability to share her hope with the town.
The fight was over. The Raven was defeated, Siegfried was gone, and Rue was left behind.
Fakir and Duck would pick her up for tea occasionally, and Autor would linger when she allowed him in her presence. And so with nothing left to her, she danced, perfectly en pointe, with glazed eyes and a detached, foggy mind, uncaring of how her body moved without her.