Disclaimer: I no own Princess Tutu mon...that just not cool mon...

Thank you Astale5, bree luv, Chrysanth Florence, FeelTheBeat, Ineterin, James Birdsong, MeraLee, Nanenna, and yayabrande for the lovely reviews! ^_^

Thing don't always turn out the way you expect them to..."Happily Ever After" just got put on hold...it's time to see who sinks and who can swim ;3 (Please don't hit me with fish...italian food is fine, but please no fish...)

...loosing...stamina...stupid...plotbunnies...heavy fluffies make...running...sooooo haaaaard~...lol.


Chapter 6: Questions

"Intended?" Roxanne asked, breaking the silence.

"Y-y-you're marrying Roxanne to THAT stupid prince?" Alphonse demanded.

'Stupid prince?' most of the room wondered.

"M-MARRY?" Roxanne jumped back in surprise, shock and embarrasement written all over her face.

Fakir just stared at Mytho, too shocked to say anything.

Queen Rue stood up with a sigh, "Excuse us gentlemen, but we'll have postpone these discussions until later."

"Eh?" one man made a face, "But this has-"

"George-san," Queen Rue looked at him, the icy tone to her voice sending chills down his spine, "Please be so kind as to allow us some privacy, please."

"Y-yes, your magesty," the man swallowed.

No one else wanted to incur her wrath, so they politely stood and left the room, quietly saying their farewells. When Rue gave the servents in the room the "leave now" look, they were also quick to file out. Before Alphonse could slip away with the crowd, she caught him with the "get over here now" look, which he reluctantly obeyed. They all knew better than to mess with her.

Just as everyone else had left, Autor happened to peer into the room.

"Ah, so everyone's here," Autor sighed, stepping in and closing the doors behind him.

"Care to explain what happened?" Rue asked, obviously more than displeased.

Autor cringed, "Well...somehow Prince Alphonse managed to take the key..."

Rue groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I knew we should have nailed those doors shut..."

"Why was I up there in the first place?" Fakir demanded, looking at each of the three adults in turn before looking at Roxanne, "Why am I the last to know anything about this?"

Autor looked at Rue, hessitant to say anything without her okay.

"It had to be done," Rue said, "Time was precious, so we had to do it without your consent...Ahiru made her choice."

"Ahiru?" Alphonse made a face, "Who's Ahiru?"

Rue looked to Mytho for support, at a loss for words.

Mytho sighed, "You were awakened earlier than we planned, Fakir. I'm sorry, everything's a mess because we weren't prepared..."

Rue suddenly realized something, and looked at her daughter, "Princess Roxanne!"

"Y-yes mama?" Roxanne was startled by the sudden attention.

"What on earth possessed you to go into the forbidden tower, and to kiss a stranger of all things?" Rue demanded.

Roxanne paled, "H-how..."

Veronica's jaw dropped, "YOU KISSED HIM?"

Roxanne went from white to bright red, "N-n-n-no! I...I only k-kissed him on the forehead...Alfy said it might wake him up...so..."

Now it was little Alphonse's turn to be white.

"I see..." Rue looked at her son, "So what do you have to tell me, Prince Alphonse?"

The boy gulped, "Um...well...!"

No one understood whatever he'd spouted.

"What?" Rue asked.

Alphonse swallowed again, "Um, you see...Roxi had a dream where she went to the tower and met this stupid prince...so..."

"EH?" Veronica and Roxanne both exclaimed.

"I told you not to tell anyone that!" Roxanne wailed, "How could you?"

"Snitchers get snitched," Alphonse answered.

Veronica made a mental note to make him suffer later, and to make Roxanne tell her when exactly she'd told the annoying boy after telling her to keep it a secret.

"E-explain this dream, Roxanne," Rue said, somewhat tense.

All eyes on her, the young girl nervously said, "Well...after I went back to sleep last night...I dreamed I went into the West Tower...and Fakir was there, waiting for me...th-that's it..."

"Autor?" Rue looked at the bespectacled man, "Does this make any sense to you?"

Autor seemed just as bewildered as her, "Well, I thought she was begining to recover...memories...but this seems to be a different matter altogether...I don't know how she could have known he was up there...unless..."

"What?" Rue asked, her eyes wide, "Hold on...what was that first thing you said?"

"Ah...oh...she said Fakir's name without ever having heard it before," Autor said, pushing his glasses up with a slight hint of nervousness, "Isn't that right? Fakir-kun?"

"Th-that's right..." Fakir said, feeling a bit lost with the current conversation.

"...I see," Rue looked down, "...well, I suppose I should have expected this to happen..."

"Rue?" Mytho went to his wife's side, and whispered, "Are you alright?"

Rue looked up at him, but only looked back down again, "I thought we had more time...I'm such a selfish woman..."

Mytho kissed her on the cheek, "It will be alright. It might not be like we originally planned, but it will be alright. Trust me."

Rue's expression softened a bit, "Alright..."

Then her brow furrowed, "...but why did you have to go and announce their betrothal so soon?"

This part was spoken aloud, and so everyone-except Autor who hadn't been there, and was shocked by the information-was now reminded of what Mytho had said earlier.

Mytho blinked, then thought about it, "Oh...perhaps I spoke too soon..."

Rue sighed, "Yes, it was too soon. The girls are only 7. People are going to get the wrong idea."

Normal people just wouldn't understand that Fakir had "woken up" too early.

"Sorry...," Mytho looked down, somewhat embarrased, "I was just so surprised to see Fakir, I forgot it wasn't time yet...and I always think of them as betrothed, so it just sort of came out..."

"What the h*** are you talking about?" Fakir demanded, feeling a bit dizzy, "What betrothal?"

Rue raised an eyebrow at him, "You were the one who said, "I will always be by your side", and she accepted, didn't she? And weren't you the first to suggest you wanted more? For her to be a girl who would forever be by your side? I believe she agreed to that as well...am I wrong?"

Fakir turned a new shade of red, "Y-you...how did you...how does that have anything to do with you?"

"How I know that is another matter. Roxanne is still the one you made that promise to," Rue said, "And since Roxanne is my daughter, it is only right that I know who she'll marry...are you saying you've changed your mind? Ten years is a large gap, I'll be honest...but really, I never thought you to be the type to care what other people thought...of course, I don't plan on letting you have her until she's at least 20...and I had better not catch you kissing her until she's at least 18."

Fakir was left very speechless, and very red. Mytho and Autor couldn't say anything either.

"I'm...confused..." Roxanne said, looking around the faces in the room, as if looking for the answers in their expressions, "...I don't understand. Can someone tell me?"

"Roxanne...come here," Rue said, sitting down in a nearby seat, "Sit with me."

Roxanne did as she said, her blue eyes wide with wonder. Rue lifted her into her lap, and held her.

"Everyone, please sit," Rue said.

Veronica took the seat to their left, Mytho to their right. Alphonse took the seat next to Mytho, and Fakir and Autor took the seats across from them. The atmosphere was still tense, but at least now they were all sitting together instead of standing around.

Rue held her daughter to her chest as she spoke, "Roxanne...what do you think when you hear the name Ahiru?"

Roxanne seemed surprised, "Um...well...it sounds familiar, I think...Fakir said it when he woke up, and then you mentioned it just now..."

Rue took a moment to look into the eyes of her children, and then locked her eyes with her husband's before continuing, "Ahiru was a dear friend of mine and your father's, and was the closest person to Fakir. She was important to all of us, but she didn't have long to live, because in the end she was only a duck. She had been a girl once, with a magic spell, and we all missed that girl very much. So before she died, I used a magic spell to form a contract with her. She would be reborn as my daughter, a daughter with blue eyes and a cheerful smile...you are Ahiru, Roxanne."

Till The Next Chapter...


...Rue knows all...lol, okay maybe not, but she does know how to find things out...it will make sense later, lol.