((A/N: Oh my god! I am so sorry guys! I got so caught up in finals I seriously forgot to update! T.T! Gomen!
…I'm so sorry! I feel horrible, is there any way I can make it up to you guys? T.T
-Muse-chan out…))
Heartless
Yasashiku
Mukashi, mukashi…
There was once a little girl who loved to play in the pond by her house. Day after day she'd go there to get wet and chase frogs.
Her mother would scold her; tell her that one day she herself would turn into a frog if she continued.
One day she came home with a cold. Her parents fretted and worried, wishing they'd restrained her from going to the pond so often. As time went by her cold only got worse. The parents were left helpless and terrified.
They called for a doctor, but he could do nothing for the girl. She would die in a roughly a weeks time.
Her parents cried and so did she, for she wanted to return to the lake at least one more time. She was always happiest playing there. But her parents forbid it, they would not lose another moment with their precious daughter.
In her misery, she snuck out once when her mother was away, on her way to the lake she bumped into a man.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The man only smiled widely, showing his purely white grin in an almost cruel smile…
In a week's time, the girl died just as the doctor had predicted. Her parents wept and buried her body…
...
She was lost. She'd swear she could hear the cackling. She was confused.
Why?
Memories flooded her brain.
It made no sense.
Why?
How?
How did it come to be like this? It wasn't supposed to be like…
…to be like…
She could still hear the cackling.
...
Dirty.
She was in rags. Her clothes had long since been torn to bits and she was covered in dirt and cuts.
Her parents were dead.
It wasn't unnatural, nowadays, to see a child in her state. Nor was it odd for them to have no home or food.
People were dying left and right. The ravens were strategizing and attacking wherever they could. Dresdin was in ruins.
Five years old and the sole survivor of the attack on her home, she stared out of the alleyway. The ravens drove people out of their homes. Even if you managed to survive an attack, the ravens would lay in wait at the house for weeks, sometimes months, afterwards.
She didn't fear death.
It was just something that happened. Her parents had died. It happened. It was over.
The fact that she lived was just something that happened.
It didn't matter.
It had been two weeks since her parent's death.
She was cold; it was still spring and the mornings held a chill. Everyday held some inconvenience or another.
She knew the library was warm though. But they wouldn't let her in. She was dirty and she had no shoes.
She heard a feral growl and jumped a little.
It was all the dog needed as a sign to attack.
...
It had been a half hour and still no sign of Tutu, Elsie was beginning to worry more and more.
"Tutu-chan?" she called, hoping for a response.
She was not rewarded.
She frowned at the gate, if it would only open! Just for a moment! She could see if Tutu was alright or not!
She didn't hear the quill scratching against paper.
This part of the story was already written after all.
She lifted her fist to pound on the gate but found there was nothing solid to bash against. She over balanced and fell forward.
"Kya!" she slammed her eyes shut and hit the ground painfully.
She blinked and stood. It felt like she fell through water… She looked about and realized she was on the other side of the gate.
"Eh…?" one of her arms dropped to her side in surprise and she was startled by a softer fabric than her school uniform.
'A tutu…' she shook her head and didn't even bother to look over what she might be wearing, instead she began to run towards the lake.
How did she know where the lake was?
She glimpsed her clothes as she ran and was lightly surprised to find that she was still in her uniform.
'Odd… I could have sworn…' she shook it off, she needed to find Tutu!
What she saw when she reached the edge of it took her breath away.
It was downright magical looking. Elsie mentally reprimanded herself on thinking something so bland to explain the gorgeous sight in front of her.
Princess Tutu curtsied at her partner and not for the first time Elsie was struck with how truly beautiful the princess was.
Her partner, a red girl, smiled abashedly and attempted a clumsy curtsy with a blush.
'Ah, she must be Ahiru.'
"Will you help us find the other shards?" Princess Tutu asked softly.
Ahiru's shard nodded and Tutu danced over to where Elsie stood, still struck by the sight.
"Thank you." was all the shard said before she disappeared with a sprinkling red light that danced to where Elsie and Tutu's hands were joined.
The red jewel Elsie now peered at was breath-taking.
"I-it's warm." Elsie said with slight surprise.
Tutu nodded in agreement, "Wear this as a necklace. Both she and I will help in any way we can but in the end she is only a way of detection and I am only a ghost. You will have to do quite a bit on your own…"
Elsie smiled with determination, "I won't back out. Not when I can finally help someone." Her smile softened, "Besides… I really would like to see you smile."
Tutu was taken aback, "I have smiled, haven't I?"
Elsie shook her head, "You have… but anyone can see sadness etched in your soul. I want to make you truly, honestly and totally happy, if only for a moment."
Tutu looked down, a blush dusting her cheeks, "Thank you…"
...
It was getting late.
Mikhail sighed and glanced at Ahiru again, Fakir had left an hour ago to get her enrolled with the strict orders(and slight threat) to make sure Ahiru was absolutely safe.
'Yep… he's head over heels.' He stopped thinking for a moment and snickered at the mental image of Fakir in high heels, 'Now that would be the day.'
He would do more interesting things then sit with her silently, but after last times screw up he didn't want to risk her getting injured(he still blamed himself quite a bit for her losing her heart to begin with) and he'd already tried several times to start a conversation but she wasn't exactly inclined to say much more than 'probably'.
"Well… at least I don't have to worry about her flying bird kicks of rage…"
...
Kaethe bashed her head against the tree behind her.
She was losing it.
She was losing control.
She fisted some grass and pulled it straight out of the ground before ripping it ruthlessly to shreds with her nails. She repeated until her fingers bled.
Why was Drago here?
The others were as well, if what Drago said held any truth.
She curled up, the darkening forest she sat in only serving to cause her more pain.
It wasn't anything like Dresdin. Not where she lived at least.
She clenched her fist, ignoring the blood that began to slip past her fingers.
...
Food.
She was going to be eaten.
The dog dragged her out of the alleyway by her now shredded arm. She knew where it was taking her, to its pups. She'd seen the wolf prowling the area before, often, scrounging for food.
It was raining.
She didn't know when it started raining.
A cawing sound was heard and the wolf visibly panicked, increasing its pace.
She lost consciousness, for how long, she didn't know, but it felt like a few seconds.
When she woke up the wolf was gone but the stinging sensation in her arm wouldn't fade for quite some time.
'I'm alive again…'
Again, she'd survived certain death.
Why was she alive, when she didn't fear death in the least, and others like her parents who were clinging desperately to their lives were unable to survive?
She couldn't think of an answer so she didn't bother to.
She heard the sound of a crow and opened her eyes again, wondering when they had closed, in front of her, on a fence, four to five ravens were lined up.
Two, she managed to note through the blur in her senses, had flown down and were now picking at her mutilated arm.
Ah, so she would be food anyway.
Her eyes caught purple ones on the fence.
'What… pretty eyes…'
She couldn't help the thought. They truly were beautiful eyes.
Did anyone notice it but her? She had to wonder as her own eyes flickered to another pair of eyes. These were crimson.
They were also beautiful.
Did anyone notice, she wondered even further, how beautiful the ravens' eyes were?
Coal black eyes were another pair she noticed.
She didn't notice when the two stopped picking at her arm.
She was entranced by the beautiful eyes.
...
Heidi had a hard time smiling.
Plenty of people noticed this, but they merely thought of her as a reproachful person because of it.
It wasn't true.
But how were they supposed to know?
Heidi sighed as she stared out into the night, hours after she'd come back from classes…
…still no one would talk to her.
She heard the whispers. They claimed she was terrifying with her constantly serious face and intimidating red eyes.
She couldn't help her eyes. She was born with them.
She couldn't help her frown… she'd tried.
She could recall spending hours as a child standing in front of a mirror and attempting to grin.
Mikhail-niichan was always so happy when she smiled. He didn't look disappointed at all.
But she couldn't smile.
No matter how hard she tried it always ended up looking awkward. Some had said she looked scarier when she smiled.
She could smirk though. Those always came easily. But smirking wouldn't make her look more approachable.
She sighed and turned to go to bed. She had another day to face tomorrow.
...
Fakir growled and slammed the door behind him; Mikhail glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I hate the enrollment process." Fakir grunted, sitting on one of the chairs gruffly.
Mikhail's eyebrow lifted higher, "Was it really that miserable?"
Fakir glared at him, "I spent most of my time in the line to get in line. Yes. It was that miserable."
Mikhail shrugged indifferently, "But she's enrolled, right? With her own dorm room and everything?"
"Why would she need her own dorm?"
Mikhail wanted to murder Fakir.
"She's a girl Fakir; she's going to need her space… for girly things or whatever!" Fakir remained unconvinced, "I've lived with a girl before Fakir! It's miserable! Miserable! I never want to do it again!"
It took a moment for Fakir to recall that Mikhail had a little sister, "She's not going to live alone though, she's too clumsy," Fakir almost expected her to hit him for the remark but she didn't react, "And besides, even if she had a roommate, don't you think they'd get suspicious?"
Mikhail's eyebrow twitched, "Don't you think it would be suspicious for her to be leaving the boys dorm every morning?"
This argument seemed to almost reach Fakir but he shook it off, "Where else is she supposed to stay?"
'I dunno… a girls dorm room?' Mikhail sighed; he wasn't going to win by pushing for Ahiru to get her own dorm…
"Ah! What about your foster father?"
"Charon?" Fakir seemed to actually think this option over but he still seemed hesitant.
Mikhail knew why.
"You just want to keep an eye on her yourself, right?"
Fakir was silent.
Mikhail groaned, mentally hoping he never fell in love. He didn't quite like the idea of becoming this much of a moron.
"Listen, Fakir, it's not like she's going to be in mortal danger every single time she's out of sight."
Fakir let out a disgruntled noise and looked away, obviously unable to think of a comeback. It was here that Ahiru piped up.
Well… it was here that she made a small quacking noise.
Both boys turned with a slight start. Ahiru was sitting on the floor looking ever so slightly disgruntled.
She'd fallen off the bed.
Mikhail restrained from laughing as Fakir rushed to his feet and helped her up, giving her a small but stern lecture to be careful.
'Maybe she would be in mortal danger the second he turns around… for a heartless ballerina she certainly lacks quite a bit in the grace department.' Mikhail let out a little amused laugh at the thought.
Fakir sent him a glare because of it, "What's so funny?"
'Oh… I dunno… You're completely and utterly in love with a heartless duck gone girl and refuse to admit it even to yourself?' Mikhail shook the thought away, "Nothing, just thinking."
It was Fakir's turn to raise an eyebrow but he didn't enquire further. Something told him he didn't even want to know.
Ahiru remained silent on the bed, watching emotionlessly as the two continued to converse.
It was odd.
They had been talking about getting her a different room, which she had been fine with. It didn't particularly matter.
But Mikhail said that she would be away from Fakir.
Which was fine…
…but…
…but what?
Fakir was warm, she decided. She didn't pursue the question.
But she had fallen off the bed. Fakir wouldn't leave if she was in danger, at least, if what Mikhail said was true, he wouldn't.
...
Freya twisted and turned on her bed, she couldn't sleep. Not while there were still questions to be answered. Puzzles to be…
Freya didn't rest that evening.
((Ending Notes: -.-' Don't hurt me! I really meant to update sooner! And I swear the next chapter wont be as crappy! T.T
Anywho, Burbs-chan and I drew a MythoxLillie pic the other day X3 I really like how it turned out, it's super cute!
…but no one seems to like it much T.T mou! I know MythoxLillie isn't very popular(or heard of at all) but I really wish more people would like it! –pouts-
…okay… maybe I'm just upset because I spent two hours on the BG(I know, I suck at bg's regardless… but I really tried with this one!) Mou!
-sigh- Anyway, I've had a 'Heartless' group pic in the works for quite some time now and I'm almost down… but Burbs-chan won't help me! Waaah! I'm horrible at linearting and CGing! And I really want this to look cool so I asked her for help and she always says 'later'! WAAAAH! T.T –sniff-
But at least it's mostly done! And for those of you who have checked out my devaintART account(there's a link on my profile) you could find the sketch in my scraps! :3
Well, that's enough chatter for now I guess… I have Math class now X.x I'm doomed! T.T!
-Muse-chan sorta hyper and hoping for forgiveness.))