A/N: Sorry for the really belated chapter! I so sorry! I got sidetracked by other projects and life decided to give me a break. Thank you Bitter Sweet n' Sadness and James Birdsong for reviewing! And now, onto the chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Princess Tutu. If I did, honestly, I'd have a different ending and I would be rich! Since I'm neither rich nor famous nor getting requests to get a third season, you can assume that I don't own Princess Tutu.

Princess Tutu

Hour of the Swan

Chapter 9: "Escapee" The Falling Love

Drosselmeyer tapped his foot impatiently. An entire day had past and the story wasn't progressing at all. He frowned. How long would it take for his dear descendent figure out where Ahiru was being held? How many princes were in town besides Mytho? Deciding that he needed to use a doll to his advantage, he began weaving a doll of his into being and sending it into the story in hopes that he would be of use.

~X~*~X~

Ahiru wandered the castle. She was dressed lavishly in a white gown made out of silk. Lamour had been a gentlemen but she wasn't sure how she could answer his request without hurting his feelings. What she needed to do was find a way out, but how? Where was Fakir? Ahiru couldn't help but worry about the boy. He had been left out in the rain. Then, she remembered what her teacher had said.

He'll be all right! I just have to believe. I have the Shard of Hope after all, Ahiru reminded herself but that didn't ease the worry that much. Her mind began to wander towards the prince. He had said that he was under a curse. What kind of curse? What was hurting his heart? Why her? Deciding to figure that out, Ahiru began trying to find him in the castle. After an hour of searching, she had found Lamour in a music room. He was playing a cello.

The music was sorrowful and full of pain. Raising and falling like a voice trying to express something that words couldn't. Ahiru thought it was so beautiful that she nearly wanted to dance to it. When she attempted to, she noticed that her dress wasn't meant for such a thing and she slipped on the skirt and fell forwards. The girl forced back a quack before looking up. Lamour had stopped his music and was looking at her in surprise.

He gave a smile and set down the cello. He made his way over to her and helped her up. For a second, Ahiru thought she saw a glint of purple in his eyes before she blinked. Glancing down at her pendant, she noticed that it was shinning brightly. She gasped quietly. A shard was nearby!

Lamour cleared his throat and Ahiru stood at attention. "So," he began. "Have you made up your mind?"

Ahiru shook her head. "I'm sorry but I can't…" she answered. How can I explain that I'm not really a girl and I turn into a duck? Besides, I don't love him as sweet as he is. "Actually, I've come here to ask you about your curse? Can you tell me about it?"

Lamour shrugged and looked down. He sat back down in his chair. "I'd rather not," he said, picking back up his cello and he started to play.

"Please?" insisted Ahiru. "If I knew, I could find another way to help."

Lamour kept playing and didn't answer. The music was once again mournful, like unrequited love. "You play wonderful music," Ahiru commented. "But why is it so sad? Do you play any other music?"

Lamour stopped playing suddenly and looked up at her with a sorrowful face. "I used to," he answered. "I use to play wonderful music for my fiancée. She and I would do duets with her lovely voice. I loved her dearly and she loved me in return. Oh, my poor Eurdicie. She died by an illness only a week before her fourteenth birthday." Lamour looked at his cello and started to play a soft tune. "I was left to mourn and for a long time, I felt the heavy burden of the loss of love.

I felt hollow on the inside, as if someone had removed my soul and all I was was a walking shell of what I once was. One day, when I was playing my cello out in the garden, a searing pain ran through my heart and before I knew it, I felt as if I could only love something that wasn't there. A voice had whispered to me that the only way to break my curse now was to find someone to love me and direct my love towards."

Ahiru felt bad for the prince. What it was like to permanently loose someone close to you was something the ballerina didn't know but she knew she'd be able to try to help him in anyway she could. "What if you just let that love go?" she asked, hopefully. "I'm sure Eurdicie wouldn't want you to be marrying someone who you didn't know."

Lamour stopped playing in from the girl's advice. He looked at her in urgency. "I can't," he said. "I don't want to be hollow again. I just can't! You have to marry me. There is no other way!"

"I'm sure there is," Ahiru continued in wavering confidence. "I'm sure I could find a–." Lamour stood up suddenly, knocking the cello over onto its side and marched past her with his head downcast to the ground.

"We're getting married this week," he stated. "There's nothing either of us can do. Fate has brought me you. Neither of us have a choice."

Ahiru watched as he past. Tears were streaming down his face and Ahiru couldn't help but feel bad about her pushing. She looked down at her pendant that had stopped glowing. The Mirror Shard… of Love? The Shards of Hate and Pride had warned her about this one. There had to be another way to get the shard out of him. As Princess Tutu!

In a glimmer of red, Ahiru tried turning into the prima donna but found herself just as herself. Befuddled, she glanced around. "W-why?" she asked. "Why won't I turn into Princess Tutu?"

From above, the shadowed eyes of Drosselmeyer glanced down at her. "Little Ahiru," he tut-tutted. "I won't allow you to ruin the story now. You won't be able to become Princess Tutu yet. It's too early."

Ahiru looked up at him with a determined look. "Mister Drosselmeyer," she said. "We won't go into your tragedy. We will get our happy ending."

Drosselmeyer let a toothy grin appear in the shadow. "I won't be so sure about that," he said, narrowing his eyes in glee. Drosselmeyer disappeared from the room.

Ahiru looked around with new determination. She had to find a way to stop the ending that Drosselmeyer had planned no matter what!

~X~*~X~

The next day, the three had been sure to scour the city. Much to Fakir's annoyance, Sylvie insisted on helping. "Why should you?" he snarled back at the girl. He had refused to forgive her for what she did.

After the short while, Sylvie had gotten used to his hostility. Sylvie kept her head down, though. "I can track her down with this," she answered, holding out her own necklace. "Your friend's necklace is from the same mirror as my own. They can track each other."

"Just like Heart Shards," Mytho stated.

Fakir relented but went with her to make sure that she didn't do anything.

After a terrible time searching, Fakir went to see Autor on his own. He had found him in the library, reading a book intently. A girl that was probably only thirteen sat next to him, bored out of her mind. The two looked up when Fakir walked over to their table.

Autor glanced up at the boy with an exasperated look on his face. "What do you want, Fakir?" he said in a low voice. "I'm busy. This girl won't leave me alone."

The girl next to him gave him a critical eye. "I have a name you know," she answered, annoyed. "It's Corina."

"Yeah, and I only gave you that name," Autor muttered before turning his gaze back to the boy. "What do you want?"

"Ahiru has gone missing," Fakir said hurriedly.

Autor sighed, pushing up his glasses. "You should be able to find her by the lake or pond," he explained. "She's a duck after all."

"Not anymore," Fakir exclaimed, slamming his fist into the table. "Ahiru's human again. Drosselmeyer is righting a story and he has kidnapped her! I need your help in finding her!"

Autor's eyes glinted and his anger vanished quickly. "Really?" he asked excitedly.

"Drosselmeyer?" asked Corina. "Who's that? Your father?" She looked between the two with a confused look on her face.

The two ignored her. "Yes. Autor, this isn't good. Remember you almost died in his story? We all almost died!"

Autor leaned back in his seat and relaxed. "Just write," the music student answered easily. "You should be able to find it that way, all mighty writer. Now go away while I try to figure out my own mystery."

Corina frowned. "I doubt we'll be able to find it in a book, van Kaufmann," she said, exasperatedly.

"You don't know this town," Fakir answered before walking away. The girl glanced after him before turning back to the musician with a quizzical look on her face.

With that, the small group left defeated. A boy with wildly colored red hair wearing a red coat that fell just above his knees with a white belt and black pants and boots. "Prince Lamour of the Kingdom of the United has announced that he shall be married in three days time at the castle," announced the boy in a monotone –as if he was just a puppet on strings.

The group stopped dead. A marriage? To a prince? "It has to be Ahiru," said Rue, looking up at the boy. She frowned with Mytho. There was no way that this boy announcing this would be coincidence.

Fakir didn't think about that. His mind just went into action and relief and fear flew over him. Ahiru might have been nearby… but she was getting married. Was it her wish to? His heart began to ache slightly but he shoved it out of his mind. Jumping up towards the stand and the boy. "What is the bride's name?" he demanded, roughly grabbing him by the collar.

"The bride's name is Ahiru," the boy said simply, not even flinching from the teen's outburst. "You can't be thinking of raiding the castle to save her, can you?"

Fakir froze, mind processing what he had just heard. "DAMN YOU, DROSSELMEYER!" he roared, shoving the boy away and running back towards Rue, Mytho, and Sylvie. The writer didn't care about the looks he had gotten from the crowd or the shouts that followed him. He ran past Rue, Mytho, and Sylvie and they followed him right away.

"What's wrong?" asked Sylvie.

"Drosselmeyer," Fakir growled. "He wants us to know where she is. I have to go and get her."

"Alone?" Rue challenged. "You'll only be playing into his trap. You can't go alone."

"I have to do this on my own," he growled back at the Raven Princess. "This is my problem."

Mytho grabbed his arm roughly, making Fakir stop in his tracks and glance back at the silver haired prince. "You can't go alone. If you do, you will be overpowered by Drosselmeyer's writing. We'll go so you can write against him. Ahiru will be fine," Mytho said sternly, staring him in the eye. "Besides, didn't you give up the sword?"

Fakir met his gaze. "That was back when I couldn't do anything but know I'm fighting for something that means something more to me than anything," he answered and froze in astonishment at what he had said. The shock wore off quickly. "This is my problem," he repeated.

"If this is Drosselmeyer's ending, we all play a part in it," Sylvie stated, walking up to the two.

"She's right," Rue added. "Back when we went to defeat the Raven, we all played a part. Ahiru and you kept fighting, she giving us hope and you making sure that we wouldn't loose. If you want to be stupid and rush in, then we're coming with."

Sylvie nodded, glancing down at her pendant. I need to make up for what I've done, she added to herself.

"Oh, now, I don't think you really mean that, my dear Sylvie," said the voice within her head. The girl froze rigidly. "I want to be whole again and free! I just need the final pieces." The voice faded from her mind and gave them a look.

"I'm coming as well," she said. "I have to stop something and I think it's within that castle. I maybe able to lead you there. There's only one castle a half day's journey from here. That was where my Master… the demon found me. That exact castle. Where I foolishly let him out."

The three seemed to understand. Fakir relented grudgingly. It had been decided: they were to head towards the castle from here. They headed towards Charon's to get weapons for the boys and traveling cloaks. Fakir went to fish his own sword from his closet in his room. From the blacksmith's shop, they could all hear a startled cry and a crash followed by a series of swearing. Rue tried her best to not look guilty but Mytho managed to notice it. "What is it?" he asked but Rue told him that it wasn't anything to worry about.

It was a good hour before they were ready and by now. Borrowing horses from a nearby stable to cut their travel time in half, they ran through the streets. Once they made it towards the west gate, Sylvie lead them towards the west for several hours. It was dusk when they were within a mile of the castle gardens. Sylvie lead them around the castle after a good hour until they came to a brook. She dismounted her horse and tied the reins to a nearby tree. Fakir, Rue, and Mytho did the same with their own.

"From here, we walk," she said. "There's a back door that leads to the kitchen. We'll be able to slip past them in an hour or two."

Fakir was all too eager to just head in now but he reasoned that would have been foolish. They had to bide their time until the cooks were done.

"How do you know about all that?" asked Rue.

"My Mas– I mean the demon had me track a Shard out here. I had to spy on the entire castle and study their routine, even if I didn't like it," Sylvie answered before muttering to herself, "I have to stop calling him that. That thing was only playing off my fears."

It was a good hour before they were able to slip into the back door and over the low wall. They used the cover of the night to slip past kitchen servants that were on their way to their own dinners in their quarters. They stole into the kitchen and into the door connected to the hallway. Just when they thought that it was empty, they glanced down the hall and saw that the dinning room was beginning to empty. Nobles and other aristocrats were emptying into the hall and were walking away from them.

Ahiru was the last one to file out. She was dressed in a royal purple silk dress that she looked so odd in. Fakir wanted to run out towards her and grasp her hand to pull her out but stopped when a golden haired teen came out behind her. He rested a hand on her shoulder and Fakir couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"Oh, she has to notice us," muttered Sylvie, noticing that her necklace was glowing brightly. "Come on, see it!"

~X~*~X~

The dinner had been amazing for Ahiru but she felt hopeless. She couldn't help Lamour if she couldn't turn into Princess Tutu and he refused to listen to her. She gave out a long sigh as she filed out of the dinning room. "Wasn't that an exquisite feast?" asked Lamour, walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.

The redhead glanced up at him and answered, "Yeah, it was pretty good."

Lamour didn't seem to notice that she was upset. He was just too caught up in the marriage. It had gotten to his head and blinded him.

Ahiru glanced down at her necklace as soon as she noticed that it had began glowing. She stopped and gave it a quizzical look. It couldn't have been Lamour. The prince stopped and looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked politely.

"I-I just need some air," Ahiru lied. Lamour nodded and left her alone.

Ahiru turned her back towards him quickly and glanced down at her amulet. Why is it acting so…?

"Ahiru!" hissed a voice around the corner. The redhead gasped as she glanced at where the voice was coming from.

"Rue! Fakir! Mytho!" she exclaimed, trying to hold back a quack. "Wh-what are you doing here? And what's Sylvie doing here?"

"I don't agree with my Master anymore," answered Sylvie. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. I was being stupid–." She stopped suddenly when she saw that the girl didn't look upset at all.

"Thank goodness," she said simply with a smile. Sylvie blinked, speechlessly. "I'm glad you are with us."

Ahiru turned her attention towards Fakir. "How did you manage to get in? I'm so glad your here! I want to know if you can help me. The prince– Lamour– he has a Mirror Shard inside of him and I can't get it out. I can't become Princess Tutu."

Fakir just shook his head. "Moron, we can't stay here," he said. "We have to get out of here. Drosselmeyer is hoping to start his ending."

"But–!" argued Ahiru. "We can't just leave him! He needs help! Lamour's hurting because of the Shard of Love!"

"Ahiru, don't argue with me!"

"I won't go!"

"Ahiru-!"

"What the hell is going on?" cried someone from down the corridor. They all spun around to see a middle aged servant point an angry finger at them. "Intruders! GUARDS!! GUARDS!" the servant shrieked.

"Let's get out of here, now!" shouted Mytho. Fakir grabbed Ahiru by the wrist before she could argue and the five flew back into the kitchen. They all kept running until they made it out of the castle and into the grounds but the guards had already blocked their only escape route through the back.

"Now where do we go?" shouted Rue towards Sylvie. Sylvie ran through possible ways but the only way she could think of was through a series of tunnels under the castle and the only way towards there was through the basement… She shivered at the thought.

One of the guards lunged at them but Mytho had already drawn his sword and blocked the attack gracefully. Fakir directed Ahiru to get behind him and he pulled out his sword protectively. Sylvie turned into Silence in a flash of crimson and pulled out her own sword. Rue transformed into Kraehe, much to the redhead's surprise.

"We have to clear a path back towards the castle," shouted Silence. Then she explained about the underground system after Fakir had called her crazy.

"Fakir, I have to get that Shard!" cried Ahiru, grabbing his shoulder. "I have to stay and find a way to get it from him."

"Moron! He's going to marry you and you have no way to get it from him! There's nothing you can do about it right now!" he said, shaking it off. And I can't loose you like I almost did, he added.

Ahiru was still stubborn. "Can't you guys fight later?" shouted Kraehe as she jumped out of the way of a sword directed towards her. She spun around in the air, sending black razor feathers directed towards the guards' hands and legs. Mytho was sending guards away and the red knight had thrown herself into the fray. The four warriors made a clear path towards the castle and darted for it again. Silence went in last and blocked the door with crates of food before joining them as they ran out of the kitchen.

They all raced down the hall with Silence in the lead by a yard. They raced through corridors, using anything along the walls to their advantage.

~X~*~X~

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Lamour turned to face the guard that was approaching him as he readied for bed. "Yes?" he asked, noticing the urgency on the man's face.

"It's the girl! Intruders have infiltrated the castle and are trying to get out of the castle! By the looks of it, they're heading towards the underground tunnels," the soldier informed him quickly.

The prince clenched his teeth and hurriedly put on a tunic and pants before grabbing his sword from its resting place on the armoire. "Have guards block their path at all hallways near the entrance! We need to stop them!" he ordered, running towards the entrance.

~X~*~X~

The knights, prince, prima donna, and the redhead had kept running but found that the closer that they got to their destination, the more guards they ran into. "Just around this corner!" Silence called to them. They were all panting but determined to get out. Even Ahiru had stopped fighting, giddy that she was going to escape. She gripped Fakir's hand tightly. He glanced back at her to make sure she was okay.

They tore off around the corner but came to a sudden stop. A mass amount of guards had made a wall between them and their destination. Behind them, more guards had blocked their escape route and they were trapped on all sides. Silence, Kraehe, Mytho, and Fakir were about to go into battle but a voice stopped them.

"Why do you wish to cause me more pain?" asked a stern voice. They all looked behind them to see a fifteen year-old with blond hair and blue eyes approach them with a sword in hand and an angered look on his face. "Why does fate insist on making me suffer so? Let her go!" Lamour jabbed his sword in Fakir's direction.

"I refuse to," Fakir stated simply, clenching his sword and glaring daggers at Lamour.

"Get Miss Ahiru back," he commanded his guards. "Kill the others if you have to." The guards and the four intruders were about to but Ahiru screamed for them to stop.

"WAIT!" she cried, trying to force her way towards Lamour. Tears were in her eyes when she finally made her way past the protective circle of her friends. "Please, don't kill them," she pleaded. "Just take me and leave them alone, please."

"Ahiru!" everyone shouted.

"Why should I?" he asked. "They wished to take you away. I can't let that happen."

"They…" Ahiru tried to find a way to put the reason into words but it fell short. "They just wanted me back," was all she said. "I disappeared so suddenly…"

Lamour noticed that she had her face down. His look softened a little before it retained it's serious look. The prince suddenly grabbed Ahiru by the wrist and began dragging her away as he shouted orders over his shoulder. "Guards, bring them to the throne room for execution! They wish to harm my happiness and keep the curse on me!"

The guards leapt. As much of a fight they put up, the four intruders were unable to fight off the guards and were forced to go in cuffs.

~X~*~X~

In the throne room, the sentence was given. "Death!" declared the prince. Fear swept through them all. Sylvie let out a cry while Rue shivered. Fakir didn't seem bothered while Mytho kept an even look on his face. Ahiru was trying her best to find a way to think of a way to get her friends out this alive. She jumped to her feet and pulled on Lamour's sleeve, begging him to change his mind.

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" she sniffed through tears. "Please, just let them go! Please… They're my dear friends."

Lamour wasn't even looking at her. He would have folded but there was something wrong with him. A glimmer of purple in his eyes indicated that something was wrong.

~X~*~X~

Drosselmeyer grinned at what was going on. This was what he wanted. This, just this. This would be his ending. It would be better than he ever wanted. The emotion was high and it was sweet to him like honey. His eyes flashed excitedly, but he didn't seem to couldn't on something like what was going to happen next to happen.

Act 9: End.

Whoops, cliff hanger. Well, hope you enjoyed it. :) Only a few more chapters left, only two or three maybe?