Chapter Ten: The Swan and the Raven
The group survived. But just barely. Fakir had found an odd looking gap in the rock in the middle of the lake, and as the others followed, they discovered an underwater grotto. They surfaced, all gasping like fish, throwing their dry arms on the rock and sucking in the sweet air… even though the smell of the grotto was fowl.
Once they regained the air in their lungs they helped each other out of the water and went deeper into the cavern, Tutu as their sole light.
"Nice of you to join us," Kraehe's voice said as they approached a rather dim area in the cavern. There was what looked like a dead tree in the middle of the cave, and a pale light shone above it, the shadows of the water through the natural glass window above making the figure in the tree look eerie and pale. Ernst was in the tree, in what looked like a glass egg. From where they were standing, the group believed he was just sleeping, because of the peaceful contours on his face.
The glass egg was small, so Ernst was curled up, slightly limp in the joints, and there was a small film of water at his feet. It was slowly, painfully, rising up, though.
"When you surfaced, the water appeared," Kraehe told them proudly.
Fakir wanted to spit in her face, but Tutu had already walked forward, guided by the egg. She touched it, but it elicited no response from Ernst, nor did the egg open for her.
As she walked back, her head hung, the Dove appeared above her. He didn't do anything, just stared at Kraehe, waiting for his friend's orders. She looked over at Mytho, who was still shell-shocked at Ernst's state of being at the moment. Her heart went out to him, and the Dove finally flitted over to Mytho and turned into his sword.
"Oh no you don't…" Kraehe told them sweetly. "You cannot kill me or the Prince will never be saved. Nor will his precious Peasant ever live to see his wedding day…"
"He will see his wedding day," Mytho growled, lunging not toward the raven lady, but toward the egg. He tried to crack it open, but with every stroke, more water poured in from some unknown source.
Tutu had moved on to Kraehe. Kraehe simply smirked, "Your Dove friend seems to be preoccupied, Tutu," she commented lazily.
Tutu went up on her toes and touched her chest lightly where the necklace was, making a motion like she was releasing something. When she did, a dome of light encircled the two princesses. Spotlights hit them both, and Tutu began to dance. She danced a version of the Dance of the Swans from Swan Lake. Kraehe saw this is a challenge and soon began her own dance, the same moves, but the idea was to be more graceful than the other. The boys watched first the two birds, as they came to look like through the dome of light, and then at Mytho, who was blindly beating the glass egg that would not break.
Fakir suddenly turned on Hanschen, "Stop him. Every time he beats the egg more water comes in. At this rate, the egg will fill up and Ernst will die," he said to the blond.
Hanschen seemed frozen to the ground. Somehow, the spirits in the cavern knew that Ernst was Hanschen's best friend, and that he would somehow stop Mytho if he could. "I can't move, Fakir…" Hanschen whispered, "Believe me, I would go and stop Mytho if I could…"
Autor watched the two contemplatively. Finally, he said, "Snow White was under a spell when her prince kissed her. It helped Sleeping Beauty, too. True Love would have saved the Swan Princess, as well…"
Fakir and Hanschen looked at Autor, and he simply smiled in reply, turning his back on the two smugly. Fakir then turned to Hanschen, who blushed before he turned his head back to meet Fakir's eyes. They stood for a long time. The water was to the middle of Ernst's chest, and it was rising still.
Fakir finally sighed loudly before taking the front of Hanschen's uniform jacket and pushing their lips together firmly. There was a slight bell sound, and white light popped around Hanschen's feet, signaling the breaking of magical chains or something. Wordlessly, Hanschen pressed his lips against Fakir when they broke apart before running to Mytho to stop him from blindly hacking away and endangering Ernst further.
Autor had seen something when he turned around. As well as to give Fakir and Hanschen some space to do their thing, Autor had seen a strange gleam further into the cave, on the other side of their current activities. As he stared into the dark beyond everything, he saw it was a strange machine made of wood and bits of scrap metal. There was a feather on the table part of the machine, being guided by who-knows-what, writing feverishly. When Fakir got over his shock of being kissed back, Autor grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him in front of him toward the machine.
The dome around Princess Tutu and Princess Kraehe was deteriorating as both girls became exhausted and sore. Finally, the dome broke, making a loud shattering noise, like glass. Both girls had paused, panting slightly. But neither would back down.
The sword was deteriorating as well in Mytho's hands. Even before Hanschen grabbed his shoulder, the sword was deteriorating into little bits of light, reforming into the dove above them. Mytho stopped beating the egg to watch as the little dove made of light went to Tutu and pecked at the necklace around her neck. Wordlessly, Princess Tutu removed the jewel from the necklace, and it disappeared quickly in a burst of light, the dust flowing into Mytho. Mytho straightened himself to receive it, and a gentle song flowed into the group's ears, calling forth Kraehe's powers from her. A dark grey stream of dust flowed from Kraehe's heart and into Mytho's chest. Mytho simply blinked and touched his chest, looking down.
Tutu smiled at him as she slowly reverted back into Duck. Kraehe was slowly turning back into Rue, but once again she was so exhausted that she was weak kneed. But Duck went to her quickly, catching the older girl before she could fall and injure herself.
Mytho turned to the white egg and touched it. The egg mechanically wasted away into nothing, setting both Ernst and the water free. Ernst fell forward, but Mytho caught him. "Come on Ernst. It's all over. You're free."
But nothing happened. Mytho shook the smaller boy, and Hanschen finally checked his pulse through his wrist. Sadly, he looked at Mytho and shook his head.
Mytho put his head against Ernst's chest and began to cry. "No…" he said softly. "Oh no, no, Ernst," he moaned into the smaller boy's still chest. "I promised you you would see your wedding… I promised you…"