((A/N: Ya-ha! Told ya I'd update soon!!

Maaa, I'm worried about my other fics though -.-; I haven't updated those in forever . oh well, I'm going to try my best to concentrate on this one and 'Steal The Dead' for now =3 hopefully I'll get better at frequent updates!

Muse-chan out!))


Heartless

Yonde

Mukashi, mukashi…

There was once a kingdom full of hate and pain. Every day the people suffered, but worst of all, the castle was corrupt.

The king died of illness a year ago leaving the castle distraught without an heir. Violence broke out and trickery became all too common.

Among this chaos, one knight watched and waited, eyes glazed over with schemes and cruelty.

---

Drago stared blankly ahead as those around him argued. In the scheme of things, he really had no say in what happened or how it was handled; he was just the volunteer to do the job no one wanted to.

Become 'human'.

Many crows resented him for it even, not because he took the job but what it made him…

Physically he was human.

And one thing all the crows here could agree on was their hate for humans. Some even dared to curse the Raven Princess because of her hideous form.

Even some the 'outside' raven faction seemed to resent him for the choice; Ada in particular could not forgive him for taking such a horrible form.

The only ones that seemed to not care at all were Fruity, Harmon and Cubie, which in itself intimidated him.

Fruity, unlike him, was in power and had a sick sense of humor. Most everything Fruity did always seemed to root back to an ulterior motive.

Cubie was simply confusing on a regular basis. His actions were odd and unpredictable.

Harmon on the other hand made him wary, Harmon had never previously shown any particular hate for humans but he hated Kaethe and he was the most loyal to the deceased Raven among the 'outside' faction.

In the end he was either resented or accepted under questionable motives. It was nothing new or even odd, but it meant that any say he might have had previously in how things were dealt with was now nullified.

Not that it mattered; he wasn't one to care much for the method.

He had to fight a scoff though, 'Fruity', 'Harmon', 'Ada', 'Drago'… all names she gave them. They had no need for names, no necessity… yet, the names remained, perhaps more as a sardonic reminder of 'once upon a time' but they stayed none the less.

Caramel, who was perched nearby, twitched roughly bringing his attention back to the meeting.

Fruity and a few others(Ada was there as well) were arguing with the highest in command of the 'inside' faction. Drago hadn't the faintest idea what the argument was about this far in(the sentences were fractured, angry) but he could certainly tell that it was getting worse and potentially violent.

This left him with few choices, he could choose to help a side(likely Fruity's) when it got violent or he could remain apathetic and uninvolved. Knowing Fruity it would probably be best if he remained uninvolved; currently he was 'different', anything he did or said would have a huge impact on Fruity's campaign(negative or positive) and Fruity wouldn't want him to act without telling him prior.

'Manipulative…' Drago's thoughts trailed off as he realized something seemed odd.

It was quiet.

A quick assessment of the area showed him an unexpected result; Fruity had submitted. Drago's eyes immediately narrowed, now he knew Fruity had some sort of ulterior motive.

There was no way someone like Fruity would quit without a greater plot to undermine hidden beneath.

---

"Manipulative, prudent and twisted…" she trailed off staring into space, "…you really are something aren't you, Fruity?"

With a smile in his eyes, Fruity let out the smallest sound. It was quiet, decisive, and victorious.

If he could afford to give a further expression of satisfaction, he would.

'Check mate.'

---

Elsie found it hard to breathe. Unconsciously she thought of the precious gem still clutched in her trembling hand and lamented bringing it with her.

Behind her, her captor seemed to grow impatient, with a jerk of his arm she found it hard to breathe for a different reason.

"I hope you realize I could snap your tiny neck easily. Tell me where the shard is!"

Snickering, sneering, grinning… mocking.

Elsie blinked, for all she tried to concentrate on the problem at hand she couldn't help feeling that the voice was… or should be more joking. Maybe not harmless, but definitely humorous…

'How weird…'

"W-why…" she choked, "…why do you want it?"

A shiver ran down her spine and somewhere in the back of her mind she felt as if he must be smiling very coldly, "Do you really want to know?"

She didn't.

She really didn't.

Somehow she knew that it would be too horrifying for her. She wasn't meant to deal with something so…

…painful?

She jerked away and whirled to face him.

No one. The hallway was empty.

'Where…?'

Her hand was twisted behind her back and she was forced to move to accommodate for the sudden pain.

"It's in your hand…?" he was back to the painfully emotionless voice.

'…was it emotionless before?'

He twisted her fingers and retrieved the stone, pushing her down as he did so and grinni…

Elsie turned to look at him and froze.

He was grinning…

…but it wasn't a human grin… it wasn't even a human face…!

Elsie backed away horrified.

The puppet continued to stare at his prize with his wide, emotionless grin before lifting it to his face.

Her eyes widened, 'He's going to eat it!'

Victory flashed in his ice blue eyes and she moved to stop him.

There were plenty of good reasons why she should try to stop him; it was Ahiru's heart shard; Tutu would cry; she didn't want to lose…

…but the only thing she could think of as she ran to stop him was 'poison'.

If he ate that she was sure that it would destroy him.

How did she know…?

…it was written.

"Stop!"

---

Ink dried on the page and she stared at it one last time.

She'd done all she could for now. Other than that, it was up to Elsie and Tutu.

This alone could attract Drosselmeyers very unwanted attention… but she didn't want to leave that dangling, she needed to give it something to work off of, to grow off of.

'Elsie is my character. I won't let Drosselmeyer use her.'

---

Autor stared at his journal, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

There were too many odd details.

He wasn't written about in the story; that alone was weird enough to send him for a loop… but that wasn't what concerned him the most.

'The Prince and The Raven' vanishing confused him, frustrated him but putting into consideration that he had the entire text practically memorized, it wasn't too distressing…

Drago from the drama school and Kaethe from the art… or ballet, he really wasn't sure…

Both were frequent visitors to the library. Drago he was grateful to have, it helped him keep a close eye on the boy... he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow like Rue.

…but Kaethe seemed to be like a bad luck charm. She had perfect manners when in the library but wherever she went chaos seemed to follow... worst of all she seemed to like it.

But that wasn't what concerned him the most.

Drago avoided Kaethe. He wouldn't do something quite as conspicuous as leave as soon as seeing her but he went through great pains to not be seen by her… and to not see her.

It disturbed him.

It was a crazy, unexplained, ridiculous theory, but if Drago really was what Autor thought he was…

…then who is Kaethe? How does she fit? She didn't give the same aura Drago did… but Drago was definitely concerned with her existence.

There, Autor blinked, that was what bothered him.

Crows weren't concerned about anything. They mindlessly listened to the orders of the Monster Raven.

That was how the story was written.

His brows furrowed, 'But the Monster Raven is dead… whose orders are they following?'

On that note, even ignoring whose orders they were following, why was the raven 'boss' concerned with Kaethe?

'…or is it just Drago that's concerned…?'

He didn't even want to think on that option, it opened up a whole new thought pattern and he was tired.

But he still had no idea what to write, no idea how to express himself.

Ahiru is still emotionless. Fakir doesn't want to admit it but he's tearing himself up about the whole thing and he can't stand to see her like this much longer.

Mikhail and I haven't talked about it but we're both thinking of leaving Ahiru with Fakir's guardian; with or without Fakir's permission.

Princess Tutu… I only saw her once before Ahiru became a duck again… she felt like, everything was going to be okay. She felt as if she could save the world if given the chance; she was 'hope' in a way. I wonder if she'll miraculously give us hope now. We need it.

This scares me.

Autor stared at the page with mild surprise, he hadn't been thinking about Fakir or Ahiru at all… it was odd that they would appear on his page. Though after a moment of shock he realized that it wasn't an appropriate entry; it was too emotional. He was keeping a log of what's happened, not a diary!

It dawned on him that that was why it was so hard to express his thoughts on Drago and Kaethe. For all he knew it was pure paranoia and beyond that, he didn't have any good facts to write on the matter, only half thought out speculations.

'To be proper theories, I need to think them out thoroughly.'

Actually satisfied with his conclusion, Autor left to get some tea, he wouldn't go to sleep until he'd figured out every possibility he could think of and written it out in a logical fashion.

---

The floor was cold. That was all she could think for a moment before remembering her situation. With reflexes she wasn't sure she owned previously, she reached for the shining red heart shard a few feet away.

The puppet, from his position underneath her groaned and caught his bearings. He'd hit his head on the ground when she tackled him.

She let out a sigh of relief when she retrieved the item before she scuttled to her feet and backed away from him…

…and blinked. He looked… familiar.

He was dressed like a clown, his orange hair had fallen out of its ponytail…

'…really familia—'

"Give me back the shard."

He was glaring at her. She took an involuntary step back and realized her only course of action.

With a deep breath she let out all the fear and confusion she had felt since the beginning of this encounter…

…in the form of a scream.

His eyes widened and she smiled weakly.

"You should go."

He glared one last time, "That was dirty."

She shrugged and watched him run off, waiting for her 'help' to arrive. She wouldn't be able to tell them what really happened so she would have to lie and say she was sleepwalking. She cringed at the thought of lying.

Tutu stood a few feet away, head hung and expression grim.

She couldn't do anything to help Elsie; all she could do was watch and hope for the best.

Tears prickled her eyes. She couldn't even distract the attacker! All she would do was distract Elsie and potentially make the situation worse.

With a sick feeling in her stomach, Tutu waited until Elsie was ready to head back to bed before going back herself.

---

Morning; bane of the many, love of the few.

At least, that's how it seemed on a school campus. Neko-sensei shook away those thoughts and brought his attention back to the very intimidated classroom. He'd caught a girl falling asleep only a few seconds prior and had proposed to her.

She said no. With a dejected sigh, Neko-sensei began instructing the class, noting that Freya seemed to be back to normal…

…but Elsie was worse than ever. She looked upset and confused. She couldn't concentrate.

'Could it be… love?'

Neko-sensei made note to have a talk with her about it later.

Fakir on the other hand, was relieved that Elsie seemed trapped in her thoughts; it meant she couldn't start bothering him and Ahiru again…

His brow furrowed, 'Bother? All she was trying to do was befriend Ahiru…' he sighed, he was being over-protective again… but what if she realized there was something weird about Ahiru? What then?

"Good morning, Fakir!"

Fakir jumped slightly, his attention brought to the figure in front of him.

Jaegar grinned sarcastically(Fakir wasn't sure how he managed it) , "Did you sleep well last night?"

Confusion hit Fakir, why was he even asking?

With a sneer and a roll of his eye, Fakir looked away. He'd slept fine but he was sure Jaegar was just trying to mess with him somehow.

Jaegar's expression grew sinister, "Then why do you look like you haven't slept in weeks?"

Fakir couldn't begin to explain why, but his body went cold.

Something about Jaegar's statement scared him.

He prepared to say something in return but Jaegar was already walking away.

---

She needed to find some time to return Ahiru's heart shard. Elsie knew it but she wasn't sure when or how she'd manage it, Fakir was as protective as ever.

…and…

The events of the night prior left everything feeling very odd. She was confused, scared and she couldn't figure out why she felt like she was forgetting something desperately important…

Class ended and she had a good ten minute break before her next one started.

She felt terribly, she knew she was worrying Tutu but she didn't know how to begin in explaining what happened or why she felt so apprehensive.

It was scary. Terrifying.

…and she was worried. About her attacker of all things!

The emotionless grin, the poison… she cringed slightly, feeling bad for thinking of Ahiru's heart like poison, but in all truth at the time…

…it felt like the puppet would suffer horribly if she let him eat it. Which didn't make much sense; it was really more of a gut feeling than anything else…

"Elsie…"

Elsie was pulled out of her revere and brought her attention to the worried spirit, "Hai?"

"About last night…-"

"Elsie-chan!"

Both Elsie and Tutu jumped at the approaching voice, Jaegar jogged up and smirked, "What are you doing talking to yourself?"

Snickering, mocking, sneering… humorous.

Elsie felt a jolt of familiarity as Jaegar's smirk drifted to a grin, "You aren't going insane, are you?"

Elsie's brows furrowed together and she tried hard to ignore the creepy feeling growing in her gut, he'd been mocking her since he called out to her(she could hear it in his voice), she had no time to spend pondering over nostalgic feelings.

"No, I'm not." She tried hard not to sound defensive, but she failed miserbly.

His grin only grew, "Ah, then are you by any chance…" he paused, looking her over with sick amusement, "…scared?"

Her gut clenched and she took a step back, "No. I'm not."

"That's good." His grin faded but the amusement remained in his eyes, "…it wouldn't be any fun to steal it from you if you weren't in your right mind."

"Give me the shard!"

Orange hair, ice blue eyes…

Elsie's eyes widened.

---

The raven princess would die.

Determined yellow eyes glared at the clueless girl walking through the forest; she paid no notice, she was following the call of her blood.

Entranced, confused, scared…

The knight shook his head; she wasn't human. She was a raven.

And she would die like one.

((Ending Notes: -.-;; sorta short, sorry. I wanted to updated to update soon because of all of your encouragement =3 (your reviews are all wonderful!)

I feel this ended up being a bit… arbitrary. Maybe I rushed it a bit much…

As for cutting up the action in the puppet vs Elsie thing, I'm not sure how well I did. It's the first time I've tried something like that -.-; tell me what you guys thought! :)

-Muse-chan eating curry.))