I do not own Princess Tutu!
;_; Last chapter everyone! Er...well, last and then the epilogue. :P Thanks very much for your comments and reviews and uh...happy writings!? ^_^;
"Quack quack qua quack quack qua quack!!" Ahiru quacked urgently, waving her wings frantically to make a point. However, it seemed none of the townspeople were even slightly interested in the little yellow duck. Please! You have to listen to me! Please, come with me! I can find a way out!
No matter how much Ahiru persisted, none of them would even look at her. She pouted but then perked up. Oh I know! Maybe they might listen to Princess Tutu!
Ahiru folded her wing over the pendant at her neck and it began to glow. Her body grew and her feathers were replaced by skin and clothes. She now wore Princess Tutu's white and pink tutu and pink toe shoes. She stepped forward and rolled her hands over her head, performing the mime for, 'Dance with me.'
The people looked to her but did not move. "Who are you?" One of them asked.
"I am Princess Tutu. Will you follow me?"
The people shied away from her slightly. "Why should we follow you?"
Ahiru approached them en pointe and then lifted one of her legs in arabesque. She stretched out her arms to them, as if urging them to take her hands. "Simply because I want to help you. I may not know the way out of this dark place, but if we just work together, I'm sure we could find a way to leave this place."
"We've already tried searching for a way out! We tried many times already! But there's just no way out..." Pique stepped out of the crowd to face Ahiru directly. Lillie peeked her head out beside her.
"Yeah! To think, I wouldn't be so sad if only Ahiru was here to suffer with me." Lillie pressed her palms against her cheeks dramatically and sighed with a genuine frown.
Ahiru ignored Lillie's comment and began dancing around the crowd of people, reaching out to each person and trying to touch their hearts with her dance. "No matter how many times you fail, don't you think it's worth it to keep trying? If you just give up, you'll never be able to see the warming light of the sun, or feel the cool rush of the wind. If you just give up now, you'll never be able to return to the lives you once knew!"
"I think that that's quite all right." Ahiru looked towards the new voice. Autor stepped out with his arms crossed. Even Autor is here too...even though we saved him before...Ahiru thought sadly. "The world outside of this place is complicated and full of nothing but inevitable failures and untouchable dreams. Here, there is nothing. It's a quiet and calm world where we can simply be and not have to worry about such complications."
A low rumble of agreements came from the crowd of people behind him and Ahiru stopped dancing. They can't be that deep in despair, can they? What if I...
"We don't want to go with you, Miss." Ahiru looked up to see Charon and Raetsel standing in front of her now. "You can leave if you want but...for us-" Charon motioned to the crowd behind him. "I think this is a much better place for us."
No, they can't want to stay here, can they? But...if they're happy here...should I just let them...Ahiru fell down on her knees and looked over the crowd sorrowfully. What do I do!?
Ahiru felt tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks and reached her hands up to wipe them away when she felt them suddenly being pulled back behind her. "Ah!" Ahiru struggled against the skeletal fingers binding her arms behind her. However, the harder she struggled, the farther back her arms were pulled until it felt like they were going to be ripped out of their sockets. She gasped in pain and closed her eyes tightly once she saw the rest of her pursuers approaching. No! Am I...going to die? But...what about Rue and Mytho, and Fakir! I have to help them...!
"Ahiru!!!" Ahiru's head snapped up when she heard the familiar voice. Then, in the blink of an eye, her arms were set free and the skeletons around her were reduced to no more than piles of bones one by one.
"Fakir!" Fakir knelt down in front of Ahiru and grabbed her shoulder lightly.
"Are you okay?" Then, Ahiru remembered her dilemma and shook her head.
"They won't listen to me Fakir! They don't want to go back to Kinkan Town...they say that they're happy here. Does that mean I should just...leave them here? What do I do, Fakir?" She shook her head in despair.
"Shouldn't it be obvious? We're bringing them back."
"What? But they said-"
"They may have said that but look where we are and think about how long these souls have been here. They've been trapped in the darkness for so long and are completely consumed in despair. They're too consumed in it that they can't remember the happiness that comes with life. It's our job to help bring back those memories."
"But Fakir, I've already tried! I just can't-"
"Moron, just shut up and try again." Fakir said lightly. "I'll help you." Fakir stood up and grabbed Ahiru's hand. He pulled her up and then reached into the school bag that still hanged from his shoulder. He took out a few sheets of parchment, a quill, and a wooden board to write on. He positioned his pen over the paper and nodded to Ahiru. Ahiru returned the gesture hesitantly and then began dancing.
"Ahiru, who once again borrowed the power of Princess Tutu, began to dance. In her heart, she was unsure of herself, unsure of whether or not she had the power to help her beloved friends and family. However, when she looked over her shoulder to the boy writing her story, she could see in his eyes that he was there to lift the weight of her worries with the power that he was about to give her."
Just as Fakir wrote it, Ahiru looked over her shoulder to Fakir and he looked her firmly in the eye. His eyes were full of courage and determination and as their eyes locked, Ahiru could feel those same feelings flowing through her as well.
"With her new-found courage, she began to dance with all her heart. However, this time, she knew that words would not be able to help her unless her dance could open their hearts."
Ahiru danced beautifully but silently, her actions saying all that needed to be said. At first, the people continued to ignore her, but then slowly, they began turning their attention towards her. As she danced, she saw Charon step out from the crowd once again.
"Miss, we've told you already that we want to stay here. So...why do you keep dancing? Why do you stay here?"
"Charon, I thought that the reason would have been easy for you to see." Both Ahiru and Charon looked to Fakir who still kept writing. "A long time ago, this same person helped you to leave behind your regrets; regrets that had held you back for quite some time. I thought that after that you would have learned not to let regrets stop you from living your life."
"Fakir? I didn't choose to stay here because of regrets from out there."
"Oh? It doesn't look that way to me. By staying here in this place, it seems to me like your here simply to run away from regrets and all your negative emotions." Then, Fakir looked up from his writing and addressed all the people. "You all say that you're happy here, but you only say that because the darkness of despair has blotted out the light in your hearts. It has made you forget about all of the good in your lives." Fakir's words were visibly beginning to sway some people. They began to look unsure of themselves but then, someone spoke out.
"Really, Fakir?" The crowd parted slightly to reveal Autor again. "Sure, there may have been those happy times, but don't forget, you of all people should know how much disappointment and sadness there is in this world. After all, much of it has fallen on you and those you care about."
"What?"
"Your parents were slain by ravens and from the very beginning, you were fated to be torn in two! Then, even when you had escaped your fate and took up writing, you still weren't able to truly match Drosselmeyer's power. You were able to defeat the raven but you couldn't give the story a true happy ending. Everyone here is proof that so many people were left unhappy. Even your friends suffered after the story. Your Prince suffered having the Raven nest in his heart and Rue...she had to watch him go through that. And you! You were so disappointed that your duck could never be your Ahiru. Instead, because you couldn't do anything about it, she had to live in such a state. Bird in body, human at heart."
"That's..." Fakir clenched his fists and stopped writing.
"That's true." Everyone turned to Ahiru who had stopped dancing but had her hands folded on her chest. "Everyone's lives are full of sadness and disappointment and despair. But as long as you have hope you can always keep looking on into the future and then perhaps one day, you will be able to overcome those things. Fakir escaped his horrible fate entirely and even though his power wasn't strong enough to give everyone a true happy ending, he still kept trying. He still kept hoping that one day, his powers would be strong enough to do so!" Ahiru closed her eyes thoughtfully. "As a duck, I watched Fakir hone his power everyday. He would write at the dock while he watched over me, and then late at night before he went to sleep."
"And as for Rue and Mytho...they suffered the most out of all of us. However, they endured much worst before the story ended and I have no doubt that they will be able to endured it again. As long as they have each other, they will never lose hope."
Autor crossed his arms and pushed up his glasses, clearly displeased with her defense. "All right then, but what about you then? Your power is simply borrowed once again. Once this story ends, it's highly likely that you'll simply go back to being a duck and live the rest of your life miserably!"
"That is not true either. Even if I were to revert back into a duck, I would still be happy. I missed all the things that I took for granted as a human, but as long as Fakir was with me...as long as he was by my side...that's what kept me going. That's what gave me hope." Autor stared in shock for a moment and then sighed.
"Fine then...I surrender."
"Miss," Ahiru turned back to Charon. "If you can find still find hope in the worst of situations, then I choose to follow you. Perhaps you can shed some light on both this world and ours." Charon smiled and walked over to stand beside Fakir. "And thank you too, Fakir." Fakir nodded and then looked to Ahiru.
"Thanks." Ahiru smiled gently at him.
"It's time to put an end to this story." Fakir nodded and began to write again.
"Now that she had opened the people's hearts, she continued her dancing. She circled them, the warmth and hope in her dance spreading out into the hearts once again. Then, the boy who wrote for her, urged her to follow him. He began to lead them back to where the Prince and his Princess were." Fakir began retracing his steps, back to where he had left Mytho and Rue, and Ahiru followed closely behind him, still dancing.
"The two kept heading towards their destination, but dared not look back, afraid that their efforts had gone to waste. They would simply hope that the people had chosen to follow them." Fakir and Ahiru both focused on getting back to their friends but behind them, all the people of Kinkan followed.
"Finally. That's the last of them." Mytho panted as he relaxed out of his stance. All of the skeletons had finally been subdued, but Mytho was still worried. "Was Fakir able to find Ahiru on time?"
Rue joined Mytho at his side and grabbed his hand reassuringly. "I'm sure he did. Their bond is strong. Fakir would never let anything happen to her." Mytho nodded in agreement and stared off in the direction that Fakir had gone. They waited patiently until a blur of red appeared in the distance.
"Mytho! Rue!" Fakir called once they were within sight. Rue and Mytho breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Ahiru, or Princess Tutu, was trailing behind him.
"Ahiru! You're okay!" Rue hugged her but then stepped back, looking at all the glowing red lights around them. "But, what are all these...?"
"These are the hearts of all the people of Kinkan. I suppose their hearts were left in tact because they were taken out by the Prince's sword."
"These are the people of Kinkan?" To both Rue and Mytho, the lights were nothing more than lights, but when they looked closer, they could see the ghostly figures of the townspeople.
"Mytho, how do we get them out of here?"
"Ah, leave that to me." Mytho took a deep breath and began to pirouette. A cloud of flowers began to spread out beneath the people, but the crowd was much to big. Then, Ahiru joined Mytho and together, they created a cloud large enough to take everyone up towards the scar where Mytho, Rue and Fakir had entered. As they all looked out onto the town through the open scar, they could all still see the empty bodies of the townspeople walking aimlessly throughout the town. Ahiru turned to the hearts and gestured towards their bodies below.
"Now, please, return to yourselves." The ghostly images of the people faded back into nothing more than red lights and floated off, each returning to their own body. Once all the people's hearts had returned, Mytho turned to Ahiru, Rue and Fakir.
"All right. Now, it's time to end this." Mytho raised his sword, pointing it into the dark space above where the Raven's heart was sure to be.
"Go ahead, Prince..." They all gasped as the Raven's voice echoed throughout the air. "Thrust your sword through my heart once again. No matter what you do, I'll be able to revive myself countless times as long as you have my Raven's blood within you." The Raven laughed mockingly at them. Mytho gripped his sword tighter but Rue stopped him from raising it again.
"My Prince, he's right. Unless we can remove the Raven's blood from within you, the Raven will just keep coming back."
"But...then what can we do?"
"Simple." Fakir crossed his arms with a slight smirk. "All we can do, is combine our powers and smash the Raven's heart into pieces."
"But Fakir, he can just-"
"Even if it doesn't rid us of the Raven for good, we will always be there to stop the Raven from succeeding." Ahiru stood beside Fakir and nodded.
"Yes, as long as we all band together we can overcome the Raven. We will keep triumphing over the Raven until we find a way to rid the Prince of his raven's blood. For now, though..."
"...the only thing that we can do is all that we can do!" Fakir and Ahiru said together. Mytho and Rue stood stunned until Ahiru finished, saying, "So, why don't we all believe in our power?" They all nodded, and with determination written on their faces, Mytho's cloud began to ascend higher and higher. Mytho pointed his sword at the heart that was now in sight and Rue placed her hands over the Prince's. The sword began to glow with an eerie black aura and on the hilt, one of the pure white swans changed colors into a magnificent black swan. Then, Fakir began to write.
"The girl, Ahiru, in the form of Princess Tutu, began to dance. She danced just as she had back when she was a duck. She remembered the steps well, the image of that time was engraved in her mind after all. Although it was the same dance, it had the grace of Princess Tutu and the feelings of not only Ahiru the duck, girl and prima donna, but the feelings of the ones around her. Such feelings gave her dance power, it gave her energy and hope. The same overwhelming hope that had spread out from her body on that fateful day was once again rising up from within her."
Ahiru danced with all her might, and just as Fakir wrote it, she felt a familiar warmth rising from within her. It seemed to be starting at her heart, and slowly, the sensation worked its way outwards, and soon, she was engulfed in light. The light was so strong that it lit up the entire inside of the Raven. Even the skeletons down below had stopped their dances to stare in awe of it. As the light spread out towards Fakir, Rue and Mytho, the warmth gave them power as well.
"All right, it's time. We will end this once and for all!" The cloud was now upon the Raven's heart and Mytho raised his sword above his head. He brought it down on the heart and the Raven let out a loud cry of pain as he was once again torn apart. Suddenly, Mytho, Rue, Fakir and Ahiru all found themselves back on the ground and watched as the Raven's body vanished to reveal daylight.
"It's over."
Author's notes:
Oh gosh! That took a while to finish! Sorry to anyone who was waiting for it! I'm a bit too tired right now to write any other comments but I'll probably finish whatever I want to say in the epilogue. -.- so till then! Enjoy! And sorry if it seems a little half-assed. ^_^;