"Ahiru, you're home." Elora beckoned her inside. "What do you think, sweetie?"

Ahiru looked around the small home. "It's nice." She rubbed her arms. It felt wrong, it wasn't her home, her home was in the house beside the lake.

The floors were made of wood and the windows looked out to the forest, to the lake; to the town, Fakir had his horse in a small stable, there were two stories and there wasn't that weird smell. What was that smell?

It felt awful being there, knowing that her home was with Fakir.

But, she had a mission, she would fix it all, she would make Fakir remember and they'd go back to Goldcrown together.

Side by side.

"Why don't we make some cookies together? Huh? You used to love making cookies in the kitchen."

"Yes, mama."

Elora left to place Ahiru's bag of clothes in her room and she was left to explore.

Ahiru moved through the house slowly, afraid to make a sound, but there was something soft under her feet that didn't allow it. Ahiru bent down and moved her hand over awfully colored, shaggy fabric that covered the floor, it was a bright orange and looked like someone had covered the entire floor with a rug. She wasn't sure how much she liked it.

Grandpa was sitting down in front of a small box that was brightly lit with flashing pictures.

"What is that, grandpa?"

"M*A*S*H*, the last good thing they play on television nowadays." He shook his head. "It'll rot your brains, I've been saying that since television replaced radio."

Ahiru sat down next to him, slowly sinking into her seat farther down than she expected, and watched the television. It was like a little play, with characters and a story.

Abruptly, the characters were gone and there was a bright flashing across the screen and something that sounded like music.

"Gah! Rotten commercials." He shook his head.

"Dad, stop yelling!" Elora scolded her father but came into the room. "Are you watching Mashed, Ahiru? You never liked it when you were younger."

"It's not mashed!"

"Come, Ahiru, I have just enough eggs to make your favorite cookies." Elora winked and dragged Ahiru away from the television.

"Mama, what kind of shows did I like?"

"Oh you loved the Brady Bunch, you would yell and scream every time it came on, like we were going to stop you from watching it." Elora chuckled, and shook her head.

In the kitchen everything they need to make cookies was already out and measured.

Elora moved to start the radio and played some of the newer music she showed Ahiru in the hospital. "Oh! This is Bowie and Queen! You'll like them, Ahiru, they're weird just like you." Elora bopped Ahiru's nose and started singing along.

It started slow, Ahiru almost didn't realize what was going on until it was too late.

When Elora started to sing, Grandpa turned the volume of his television up, and each time he did, Elora would sing louder and turn up the radio.

"Ahiru, hand me the vanilla?"

"Damnit, Elora, would you turn that racket down, I can't hear my show!"

"Maybe you should be considerate of other people, dad! Ahiru doesn't want to listen to your dumb show!"

Grandpa cursed vividly and wildly, he turned off the television before going to his room and slamming the door.

Elora sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Ahiru, I'm so sorry, I don't know what's come over him."

"It's okay, mama."

Elora put on a smile. "Now, let's finish these cookies."

It was the little things like that that made living at "home" nearly unbearable.

Every day, they argued over everything, over petty things, and over the small mistakes, but worst of all, was that they pushed Ahiru into the middle of every fight.

"Why do you always leave your cane everywhere? Ahiru will trip!"

"If you don't turn down that music Ahiru will go deaf!"

"Dad, why don't you get your lazy ass up and get Ahiru something to drink?"

"Elora, stop babying her! Ahiru can make her own decisions!"

The worst, however, was the fact that Elora hadn't called Mytho, and Mytho seemed to be the biggest argument they had.

Ahiru was supposed to be in bed, Elora had set up a very strict schedule for her, it felt like she was being treated like a child, it was sufficting, but Ahiru had escaped from her room to go down stairs for a glass of water.

She heard the yelling before she even stepped out of the room.

"Elora, you call him or by God I'll go get him myself."

"He abandoned this family! He left Ahiru to die! I waited everyday for her to wake up and he was the one to run away!"

"You're as stupid as your mother! You put an end to this pettiness or I'll-!"

"Or, what? You'll ground me! This is my house you live in! You're here by my kindness!"

He grumbled something, and then "You're smothering her, you'll kill her if you don't let her be her own person."

Ahiru had made her way down the stairs as quietly as possible, it helped that the carpet silenced her footfalls, and hid just around the corner from where they both stood.

"I am her mother! I am doing everything for her!"

"She is an adult woman and doesn't need to be coddled!"

"She's been in a coma for ten years! She hasn't even graduated middle school!"

"You call your son and tell him she's awake, and you stop acting like the woman sleeping up in that little girl's room is a child!"

Ahiru was so tired, so tired of the fighting and yelling, she couldn't take it. She stepped out into view.

"I'm going to move out."

"Ahiru!" Elora started.

"Did you hear us yelling, Ahiru?" Grandpa asked, his voice soft, softer than she had ever heard it before.

"No, I came down for a glass of water."

"I'll get it for you! Why don't you go back up-"

"No, mama." Ahiru cut her off. "I can't take being here any longer, I'm moving out."

"No, you can't! How- how will you get a job? You don't even have a high school diploma."

"I'll get help from Edel."

"Dr Edel?" Elora's lip curled. "No, Dr. Edel doesn't care about you anymore, you're not her problem anymore."

Ahiru pursed her lips. She didn't care where she was, if she was separated from everyone she had ever loved and known, she knew Edel cared about her, no matter what.

Ahiru pushed past them to the kitchen.

"Is this because I haven't called Mytho? I'll call him right now!"

"No, mama. I can't take-" Ahiru stopped and looked into Elora's eyes.

They were unlike any she had ever seen.

They were desperate, and sad, there was a loneliness there that she couldn't even begin to describe. However, Ahiru knew that those eyes lacked the love of a mother, and she realized, perhaps she should have from the start, but this woman was not her mother.

Did she have a mother?

Well, perhaps she did once upon a time ago, she hatched, she learned how to swim, and her mother left her.

It was nature, it was what all ducks and ducklings had to face one day.

So why did she want one so bad?

She walked past Elora, into the kitchen.

Tomorrow, she would go to the hospital after Elora left for work, and hopefully Edel could help her.

Ahiru stood in the kitchen making a sandwich as Elora ran around the house collecting everything she needed. Ahiru had gotten used to this, Elora would ask where something was this morning it was her-

"Have you seen my wallet, sweetie?"

And every morning, it was miraculously in front of Ahiru.

"Here, mama." Ahiru held it up for her to take.

"Thank you, dear." She leaned down to kiss Ahiru's temple.

"See you at five, mama."

Elora paused, smiling sweetly, "Ahiru, next week I'm going to start going full time again, so I'll be leaving at seven thirty in the morning instead, okay?"

"Okay."

Elora looked upset, like she wanted to say more, but she left, hurrying towards the garage instead.

Ahiru sat down at the table to eat when grandpa shuffled into the kitchen.

"Do you remember how to get to the hospital?" He asks, reaching for something in the cupboard.

Ahiru opened her mouth to respond, but in truth, she did not. "No, but I was going to call Edel, before I left she gave me this card and told me to call her if there was anything I needed."

He hummed and nodded. "The hospital is down the street on the third right. Elora moved as close to the hospital once we knew you'd be in there for a while."

"Thank you."

"Do you remember how to ride your bike?"

"My bike?"

In the garage there were two bicycles.

"I would drive you, but my license got revoked after the incident at the groceries. This one was yours, I reckon it's too small now." Grandpa showed her a bright blue bike that stopped just at her hip. "But this was Mytho's, he left it here after he moved."

Grandpa pulled out a bright yellow bike with a little basket on the front handle. "Bah, I told that boy it was too girly for a growing man like him."

Ahiru took the handles from him, and while she didn't know how to ride a bike, how hard could it be?

"Let me get those tires filled with more air." Grandpa pulled a pump down from one of the shelves. "Go inside and get a water from the fridge and make a snack."

Ahiru nodded before running inside to do as he commanded. She placed her items on the counter before going upstairs to grab a backpack, bright pink and covered in several butterflies. She turned to leave when something caught her eye. How long had she been in this house without seeing it?

On the zipper of the backpack was an old, dirty keychain, and on it's end was a, what was once probably a very bright yellow, duck.

Ahiru rubbed it, possibly for luck, before rushing back down stashing her goods in the bag.

When she went back into the garage, Grandpa was muttering and cursing at something.

"Stupid pump."

"Grandpa?"

"Eh? Ah, I've got it all set to go." He patted the seat.

Ahiru put the bag in the front basket before swinging her leg over the bike. She started walking it towards the garage door, but something grated along the concrete floor.

"Ah! Ahiru, put up the kickstand!" Grandpa rushed over to point at the piece of metal connected to the body of the bike. "Kick it with your foot until it goes up."

She hit it with the back of her heel, the thing barely budging.

"Keep going, and once you get to the hospital, kick it down again and it'll be able to stand on it's on."

"Okay." Ahiru nodded, still kicking at it until it was all the way up.

Grandpa gave her an odd look. "Now just pick your feet off the floor and use the pedals to move."

Ahiru nodded again. "Right." She picked her feet off the floor and started rolling down the driveway. She let out a shriek before trying desperately to place her feet on the pedals. She shook horribly, trying to keep her balance, but once she got her feet on the bike, it all became easier.

"Remember, the third right!" Grandpa called, before shutting the garage door.

"Third right, third right." Ahiru said to herself.

She passed by the first street and went out of the residential area and onto the street.

"One." She counted.

She stayed on the sidewalk, not wanting to get close to the cars rushing past.

"Two."

She could see it now, tall compared to all the other buildings, reading HOSPITAL in large, bolded letters.

At the third right she turned and now was headed right for the hospital, except, she wasn't sure how to stop.

Ahiru lifted her feet off the pedals but found that all that did was make her lose balance and started to make the bike wobble. Trying to keep her feet still did nothing either.

Ahiru looked around her, trying to look for help but all that was around her were empty cars.

Looking ahead, all she saw was a brick wall.

Whelp, it wasn't like she never crashed landed before.

She moaned, not entirely sure how she ended up on the floor.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Ahiru opened her eyes, it was Rue again. "Rue?"

Rue knelt down next to her. "Oh hey, your that girl from before. Ahiru?"

Ahiru smiled, at least she remembered her name. "Yep." Ahiru closed her eyes.

"Oh no you don't, c'mon, let's get you inside." Rue pulled at Ahiru's arm and forced her to stand, also taking the bike in the other and letting it roll along with them. "What are you doing back? By yourself no less?"

"I was trying to see Edel again."

"Dr Nivale? She's the doctor for Author, too."

Ahiru's eyebrows furrowed. Didn't Rue say they were engaged? "Autor?"

"Yes, my fiance." She said, but there was no fondness there.

"Oh, you don't love him." Ahiru tried to show sympathy, but inside she was ecstatic. There was still hope that Rue and Mytho could fall in love.

"What? No! That's- That's not the case. I do love him."

Rue handed Ahiru her backpack as she stopped to kick the bike stand down and placed it to the side of the door before they walked inside, the doors opening on their own and Rue immediately went to the elevators.

Ahiru dug her heels. "Oh, why don't we take the stairs?"

"What? No, you shouldn't be exerting yourself." Rue pressed the button and it lit up again. "Scared of elevators?"

Ahiru nodded.

"Don't worry, most people are."

Ahiru smiled and they went inside together.

"So," Ahiru started, "He's in a coma, too?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I'm hoping it won't last."

Was this because of the story? Was he too helpful last time so this was his punishment? Perhaps it was, perhaps it was so she would have to solve everything by herself, but…

She was useless by herself.

"Here's our floor." Rue said. "Sit down here and I'll go find Edel."

Rue lead Ahiru to a chair and she obeyed, twiddling her thumbs until they returned.

"Ahiru? I didn't expect to see you back so soon." Edel smiled. "Rue tells me you had a nasty fall. Why don't you come into a room and I'll check you out?"

Ahiru smiled. "Yes, please."

"I'll see you around, Ahiru." Rue started walking away before she pulled something out of her purse. "Here, it's the number to my studio, the receptionist will pick up but just ask for me and I'll come, okay?"

Rue Karasu

18000 Konigin Ave

Nordlining Dance Studio

"You're a ballet teacher."

Rue smiled. "Yes, how did you guess?"

Ahiru shrugged. "Got lucky." She waved and watched Rue walk off. Ahiru stuck the card in her backpack and followed Edel down the hall.

Edel lead her to a room and had her sit on the bed. "You caught me at a great time, I'm not supposed to be with another patient for ten more minutes." Edel began to check her, starting with a bright light in her eye.

"Edel, I actually came because I need help."

"Oh, with what?" She switched to her other eye. "Your pupils contract, you don't have a concussion, which is good."

"I wanted to get a job and move out. I can't live there anymore."

Edel looked Ahiru in the light. "What happened?"

Ahiru shook her head. "It's mom and grandpa. They always fight and they pull me into their fights, I'm just tired of it."

Edel smiled gently. "I think I know a friend who could help you. Let me make a call."

"So, Miss Ahiru, what do you think?" Charon asked, he had just finished showing her around his shop, an antique shop covered in wonderful things, all old and filled with life and meaning. "Think you'd like a job helping an old man run his store?"

"I would love to." Ahiru smiled.

"And you want to move out, right?"

Ahiru nodded. "I do."

He smiled. "Come this way." He opened a drawer behind the counter and pulled out an old key. "This building came with a little apartment nestled on top of it, but I already had my house when I got the place, so I just started using it for storage." Charon lead her up a flight of stairs, unlocked the door, and flicked on the lights.

Ahiru wandering around the tiny apartment. It had two rooms and possibly the smallest kitchen she had seen, but there wasn't a horrible orange carpet, but hardwood floors that creaked under her feet. She closed her eyes. She could imagine the scraping of pen on paper, Fakir whispering the words he was writing under his breath.

It was perfect.

"You'll have to let me clean it up, but it's yours if you'd like it." Charon said.

"Yes, yes this is wonderful! Thank you!" She wrapped her arms around him and he chuckled before patting her head.

"Just give me a week to clean it up and it's all yours."

After a week, she had all of her meager belongings packed and ready to go.

"Ahiru, wait! Please don't go! You can't!" Elora called after her, grabbing her arm. "Wait! I'll call Mytho, and he'll come home! You can be together again, would that be alright? Ahiru!"

"Mama, it isn't about Mytho, I need to be on my own."

There were tears in her eyes. "Sweetheart, dear, think this over. Please? You can't leave me!"

Ahiru's heart ached. She's not my mother, she's not my mother, she's not my mother. But, she couldn't help the pity that overwhelmed her heart.

Grandpa stood in the garage, her bike in his hand, she had gotten a lot better at riding it since it was her only mode of transportation to and from work.

He leaned in, "If only one of us gets to escape, I'm glad its you."

Ahiru smiled, "Thank you." She whispered.

"Come, Elora." He called her, and leads her away. "I believe the laundry is done."

Ahiru took a deep breath and pushed off.

She stepped into the apartment and turned on the light. "Oh, Charon!"

Charon chuckled.

He had furnished it with furniture from his antique store below. "These are all the ones I can never sell, I thought I might as well put them to good use."

"Why did you do this? It's not saving you anything?" She asked, it was innocent enough, but she was harboring hope that he remembered her, even just the slightest.

"Edel wanted me to help you out, and you're a girl worth helping out. I can tell."

She smiled, her hopes had fallen, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up hope. "I'll buy it all back, I promise."

He shook his head and patted her shoulder. "It's all yours, don't worry yourself sick with trying to pay me back." Ahiru smiled, she touched the back of a yellow chair, one that, just the other day, had a great tear down the front, and had been fixed; she knew it was Charon.

"Thank you."

Her job mainly consisted of dusting, sweeping and other general chores, but she didn't mind, she liked looking at the different artifacts and created stories for them.

The old radio belonged to a sweet old woman who made the most amazing and creamy mashed potatoes. She had twenty-three cats that swarm, and wrap around her feet as she moves to change the station, she wears pink fuzzy slippers and a large floral apron. Her children couldn't bear looking at their mother's most prized possession without feeling sorrow and gave it to Charon in hopes it would find a better home.

The pair of salt and pepper shakers shaped like swans belonged to a happily married couple, it was their first wedding present and they used them at every meal.

The singer sewing machine was owned by a woman who sewed clothes for the king. She was so good and quick with the needle that he made her duchess of the land and gave her her own holiday. When her fingers and knuckles got stiff with age, she let the singer collect dust in the corner, unwilling to let it go.

The old sword belonged to Fakir, he used it to defend her, he gave it up once he learned that his true strength came from within him, growing from his ability to write than to fight.

Ahiru bent down to pull it out of its sheath, it still shined. She gazed at the handle, she wondered how many swords looked like this, with its black leather handle and purple gemstone on the top of its hilt.

"That's called the Lohengrin sword." Charon told her, making her jump.

"The lohen-" She gasped. It was Fakir's sword. "How did you get this?"

He shrugged. "I'll be honest, I don't remember how most of these things started gathering dust on my shelves. Here." He grunted as he knelt down next to her. "Read the imprint in the leather. Lohengrin."

It was his sword, but the sword he abandoned when he realized his role wasn't to be a knight. If he saw this, what if he remembered her, but what if he only remembered their fight, his desire to protect Mytho from her efforts.

What if he only remembered what he failed to become, but not what he was meant to be?

Her hands shook as she held it, she hadn't seen Fakir since that day in the hospital, when he didn't remember her at all. Was it worth the risk? To recover some of his memories, even if they were the bad ones?

But, she made her decision. "How much is that?"

Charon scratched his chin. "Probably fifty, a hundred bucks, why?"

"I need it." She stood, hugging it to her chest.

He chuckled, "What for? Got a rat problem upstairs?"

"I- My brother! My brother likes swords, I want to get this for him."

Charon let his smile fall, the look in her eyes was so desperate, so wild and begging. "Alright, why don't I hold it at the counter so no one else buys it?"

Ahiru nodded before letting the sword pass through her fingers. She swallowed, hard.

It was Fakir's sword, if she gave it to him, if he just held it, he would remember it, he would remember her.

Now she just needed to find him. She could ask Rue, but that would be too strange, as far as Rue was concerned, Ahiru was only a girl she had met twice.

Where would he be?

"After all, he's at the library. . . .He's always shut up in there! . . Maybe he's looking for something. . ."

The library.

Perhaps he was in the library.

Ahiru looked around for Charon, but he was with a customer so she waited for him to finish.

"Thank you! I'm glad I found this!" The woman scurried out the door and Ahiru rushed to gain Charon's attention.

"Charon!"

He jumped, startled. "Yes, Ahiru?"

"Is there a library in town?"

"Hmm, I don't think so, but we do have a small bookstore."

A bookstore, he'd have to go there, he'd have to. "Could you give me the address?"

Charon considered her. "Sure, let me right it down for you. I'll give you the directions from here as well."

Ahiru smiled, relieved. "Thank you."

He shook his head, but smiled. "Don't worry about it."

Ahiru sat in the yellow chair and stared down at the book store's address, but more importantly, it's name.

The Bookmen.

She hoped it wasn't the same group that tried to cut of Fakir's hands with their axes.

Another thought came to her mind: what if The Prince and the Raven wasn't a book here? What if Drosselmeyer wasn't the same infamous story writer he was in Goldcrown?

Perhaps going to a bookstore could do her one better than just waiting for Fakir to show up, and she hoped he'd be there.

She would look for the Prince and the Raven, she would look for other and all works by H.H. Drosselmeyer, purchase them, and try to find a pattern, there had to be a pattern in all the stories he wrote, something she could use to find her way out of this story.

What was the word Autor used?

Motif? Perhaps a motif would appear, a constant one he used in every story, like an artist's signature that would allow her to pick at the loose thread and start unraveling it all.

She was alone, but she could do it, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she wasn't a duck, and she wasn't Princess Tutu.

She was Ahiru and she would save herself, no matter what she had to sacrifice.

*Karasu is Japanese for crow, one slight headcanon I have for Rue is that she's half Japanese. That one is overshadowed by the headcanon that she and Fakir are siblings (Unless half siblings, but no).