A/N: Hey! Would you look at that, I updated only a day later! I'm on a roll. Let's hope it stays like this. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Princess Tutu but I stole Fakir and I keep him in my closet. SHHH! Don't tell anyone!

Fakir trudged into his room, dropped all his stuff on his desk and flopped facedown on the bed. He screwed up royally. He never meant for Ahiru to see the drawing he made. He knew it would upset her. She liked being a girl and for her to have a reminder that she would never be one again must have been painful. No wonder she was crying.

But he had to draw it. He had to remember. Everyone else in Kinkan Town had forgotten her. He had already forgotten the sound of her voice, the tinkle of her laugh. He just couldn't forget her face. So he drew it. For the past few weeks he spent non-stop time perfecting the drawing, scrapping the mistakes and starting over until he got it just right. He isn't much of an artist but he just had to try. And today it was almost perfect so he spent the entire day focusing only on the picture in his head and transferring it onto the page. And just when he was putting the finishing touches on the shading, Ahiru startled him with her stunt and sent the drawing into the water, or so he thought. He was so angry that he lost the picture he had worked so hard to perfect that he yelled at her. But it wasn't ruined as he had thought. She saw it and cried.

He sighed and rolled over to look at his desk. There, on top of everything, was the drawing of Ahiru. There was only a slight amount of water damage so it was completely intact except for some ink streaking toward the edges of the page. He got up, walked over and picked it up. The drawing was perfect. Every line was where it was supposed to be to depict the girl smiling out at him from the page. But at what cost? This same girl, who is now a duck, is not here and he couldn't find her even after hours of searching. Sighing again, he stuffed the crinkled paper into a drawer and shut it.

A knock sounded on his door and his adoptive father entered. "Dinner's ready, Fakir."

"Okay,"

Charon surveyed the room. "Where's Ahiru?" Charon, like everyone else in Kinkan Town, had forgotten about everything that had happened concerning Mytho's heart shards and the raven. When the magic of the story vanished, so did everyone's memory of it. Only Fakir, who possessed the same power as Drosselmeyer, remembered. Charon only knew Ahiru as his son's pet duck.

"Gone."

"What do you mean, gone?"

"She ran off and I couldn't find her."

The tone of his son's voice finally registered. He sounded depressed. "Don't worry, Fakir. You'll find her. Or she'll come back. You want me to help you look for her?" Fakir shook his head. "Alright. Let's go eat dinner and after, you can go look for her some more before bed."

Fakir nodded miserably and followed his father downstairs.

Ahiru was sitting in the shallow waters of a small lake just outside Kinkan Town on the opposite end of where Fakir lived, surrounded by all sorts of waterfowl. There were ducks, geese, a few magnificent swans, and a couple cranes. She felt so out of place. She'd been living with humans so long she forgot how it felt to be a wild duck. She paddled around, dunking her head and munching on the grass-like plants that grew beneath her webbed feet. They tasted all right, but they were by no means as tasty as the feed Charon buys for her. I miss home she thought, sighing. But she couldn't go back not when the memory of her would cause Fakir pain. So she would endure so Fakir could be happy.

"Ahiru!" She heard someone call her name. All the birds around her flew to the opposite side of the lake, away from the sound. "Ahiru! Where are you?"

As the voice grew nearer, she recognized it as Fakir's. She drifted into deeper waters but stayed close to shore to wait for him to appear.

"Come on, moron! Just come home already! All right? Ahiru!" As he called this, he crashed through the underbrush and nearly toppled into the lake. It was kind of funny to watch him be clumsy for a change. He looked up and spotted her floating in the middle of the water, bathed in moonlight. Relief swept over him. "Ahiru! Thank God! I finally found you!" He splashed into the water and waded towards her, ignoring the fact that he was getting soaked. "Come on, let's go home."

Ahiru drifted further away from him and shook her head.

"Don't be stupid, moron. Let's go!" He waded further until the water nearly reached his waist.

"Quack! (No!)" And she flew across to where the rest of the birds were sitting.

Among her own kind, Fakir couldn't tell which duck was Ahiru. "Fine! Stay out here and freeze!" he yelled across to her. Turning away, he left for home. At least I know where she is. I'll convince her to come home tomorrow, when I've had a chance to sleep on it, he thought gloomily.

When he was gone and she turned back around, she noticed that all the rest of the birds seemed to be turning in for the night. She was one of the last still in the water. So she climbed out but there was nowhere for her to sleep. All the good places were already claimed by other birds. So after searching for a place for a long while, she found a very uncomfortable clump of old, dead leaves and climbed in. The leaves were damp and they didn't provide much protection from the wind. She shivered. It was cold. She missed her little bed at home. A little wooden box, lined with fluffy blankets that Fakir placed on the hearth in the kitchen to keep her warm. She sighed. It really was no use for her to think about these things, she was never going back. She looked up at the sky and thought, why must life be so hard? …And painful? Suddenly, a brilliant falling star flashed across the sky. Ahiru gasped, closed her eyes tight and wished, if it would make Fakir happy, I wish I could be a girl again.

The falling star suddenly veered off course and came flying straight toward her!

Fakir entered his room and walked to the window. He can just barely make out the little lake in the distance as it reflected the moon's light. I haven't forgotten my promise to you, Ahiru. He thought. Why won't you just come home?

He looked up just in time to see the falling star streak through the night. He placed a hand on the windowpane and fervently made a wish. If it would make Ahiru happy, I wish she could be a girl again.

And as soon as the thought entered his head, the star swerved off track and crashed straight into the lake. Eyes wide, he cried, "AHIRU!" and rushed back out into the night.

A/N: Okay, so this one is a little longer but not as long as I like to make my chapters. But I had to cut it off here. I'm starting on chapter three right away so hopefully it won't take too long before the next update. So what'd you think? Please read and review and let me know!

kaerfemina