Mytho…

Duck lets out a soft sigh as she lowers her paintbrush away from the canvas. Her sigh echoes throughout the cavernous art room, voice bouncing back to remind her once again that she was very much alone. Her big, blue babydoll eyes drift across the painting, looking for any errors in her work.

There was a gorgeous young man in the painting, a small, mischievous smirk spread across his sensual lips. He had big, fluffy white hair that looked as if swan feathers were growing from his head. The chin length strands curved around his strong, manly jawline. He had a breathtaking face, but his bright, entrancing red eyes were what screamed for the most attention in the white and black painting.

Duck lets out another sigh, this time with frustration. Why hadn't she been able to get this guy out of her head? Everytime she zoned out, it was because of him. In fact, she had gotten so fed up with him being on permanent display on the lobby television of her brain that she decided to let him out on the canvas.

Looking at her work now, she was starting to feel embarrassed. She had just painted a picture of one of her classmates! What in the world was wrong with her?

Sure, the Ravenwing family stood out from the others and Duck had made friends with Mytho, but… There was something so fascinating about Mytho, just Mytho. Even though she herself couldn't figure out exactly what it was, she was still put under a spell from it.

It was at times like this that Duck saw her talent as a curse. She always painted such dark, vivid and realistic images, things that scared her. She'd mix bright, beautiful colors and plan to paint something cute like a bunny playing with a puppy, but by the time she stepped back to look at her painting, it was black, red, and white and hopelessly eerie. She'd never been able to understand it, but she did learn to accept that it just seemed to be something she had to get out creatively.

Looking into the eyes of the painting, Duck felt her heartbeat quicken. Mytho had such endearing, mysterious and sad eyes. She'd never seen anything like them before, and they held her whenever they locked gazes. She was surprised she had gotten the color right on the painting. Somehow, these eyes looked more real than anything she and her brush had ever created together.

"Eugh," Duck sighed again and set her paint palette down, reaching up to wipe her face where she felt she had accidentally spread paint on her cheek earlier. "I still don't know why I even painted him in the first place!"

It felt like her head and heart split in two whenever she thought this hard about Mytho. Like there was some kind of fight between her heart and brain that she wasn't consciously apart of. Oh, how badly she wished she could understand the two and what they were trying to tell her and why they wouldn't agree…

Assuming that she should get home and eat something, Duck decides to stop there for today. It was nearly sunset. She liked having the art room to herself and stayed after school hours to let her creative juices flow. By the time she finished and was ready to head home, there wasn't any traffic heading back. There were consequences to that, too, though. Pike and Lillie worried about her and often scolded her when she came back too late. Duck couldn't blame them, really - once, she had gotten so caught up in her work that she had almost gotten locked inside the school at nightfall.

Ramen sounds good...She decides, not surprisingly, on her favorite convenient food that she would grab on the way home almost every day. She would often use food as a motivator to get through tough situations, like she had during her first battle with the raven monster the other day.

Princess Tutu, huh…? Duck remembers how she'd named herself after her transformation. The words had come to her mind like she'd known it all her life. It was so strange to think of herself being referred to that by her enemies...All of her favorite superheroes needed a name to hide their true identities, of course, so it was only natural she had one as well. To Duck, though, it seemed that whenever she thought of the name, or whispered it aloud, it made the situation all the more real. She'd look down at the gorgeous ring on her finger and remember the responsibility and power she'd been granted by fate.

Ahhhh, there was so much to think about! Not only Mytho, but now she had people to save! Enemies who wanted to kill her..a secret identity!

I'm too sleepy to save the world!

Duck lifts her arms over her head and starts to stretch, poking her backside out slightly. Her body quakes as she opens her mouth for a long, drawn out yawn she felt had been trapped inside her for ages. Forcing herself to get a move on, she bends down to pick up brushes and paper towels when she feels the hairs at the back of her neck stand up on end. Gasping, she whirls around the moment she hears the door to the art room swing open to let an unwelcome and unannounced guest in.

"DUUUUUUCK!"

"Ah!" She screams from a mixture of annoyance, frustration, and surprise. It was one thing to barge in, but to scream your head off, too? Her heart felt like it would beat out of her chest. Thinking about how the ravens could attack at any moment, whenever her back was turned kept her pretty tense all day long. Loud noises made it so much worse!

"The girls from the drama club said you'd be in here!"

"So I am! And what do you want?" Duck struggles to catch her breath and slow her heart rate down as her hand flies to her chest. Perfect. Just the guy she did not particularly want to see. Of course he'd show up at the worst possible time!

"Well, damn, Duck, you've been so rude to me all day! What's going on with you?"

Duck hears footsteps as Mytho starts to cross the room to make his way toward her. She rolls her eyes, but upon realization that her painting was still very much on display and just a few feet away from being noticed by its human inspiration, she nearly breaks her neck to find something to toss over it. She can't find anything, however, and ends up snatching the canvas off of the easel to turn it into her chest and run to a corner of the room far away from Mytho. She almost trips on the way, and her ruby eyed companion looks even more interested in getting on her nerves than before.

Why is it this guy can bother me in person and while he's not even here?

Mytho stops walking when he's standing a few feet away from Duck, who's flattened her back against the wall with her eyes narrowed at him and noticeable droplets of sweat rolling down the sides of her face. The charismatic teenager slides his hands into the pockets of his trousers, lids lowering slightly to complete his usual smirk. He gives Duck a quick once over and lets out a long, drawn out sigh.

"You can't hide anything from me, , I can assure you. What's that you're painting and how come you don't want me to see it?"

"B-Because it's private!" Duck stammers, and Mytho takes another step forward. He lifts his heavily wrapped and bandaged wrist to show her how the nurse had taken care of it and makes a quick look of mock sadness.

"C'mon, Duck, you hurt my wrist today..Now you're gonna hurt my feelings? I thought we were friends!"

Damn, I still feel guilty about that…

"I...I'm not hiding it to be mean, it's just…" she blushes, and Mytho lowers his hand, smirk fading slightly as he watches her in surprise, "..I'm shy.."

"What do you have to be shy about? I told you your artwork was exquisite when we first met, did I not? What have you got there? I'd really like to see."

"Mytho, don't make me show you...it's embarrassing…"

"Duck...I'm growing impatient with you.."

"You didn't have to walk in here, you know!"

"But I came looking for you! I love your paintings, let me see!"

"Mytho, get-let go! DON'T LOOK!"

Mytho grunts with effort as he and Duck start a game of tug of war with the canvas Duck is holding. He actually finds himself breaking a sweat to try and get the painting from her and grunts with effort. There was that strange, abnormal strength of hers again.

The game ends when Mytho reaches over and catches Duck off guard by tickling her waist. She loosens her grip and he snatches the painting from her hands, turning the canvas around to face him and whirling around with it so his back is toward the squealing redhead. Duck tries to jump around him and grab the painting, but it's too late. Mytho puckers his lips in a whistle and views the painting quietly.

Duck's pretty eyes dart back and forth between the painting and the back of Mytho's head. She can't see his expression to tell how he would react. She immediately began playing out different scenarios in her head to prepare herself for what was to come. He could hate it. Really hate it. Tell her she sucked at art and he changed his mind. Or he could hate it and be really creeped out and walk away to complain to people about her. Or he could really love it, and…

"You're incredible!" he finally says, and Duck stands there silently, unblinkingly. She hadn't had time to play this scenario out. Mytho turns the painting so that he could compare it to himself, facing Duck again. His eyes are brighter than the painting, and Duck starts to wonder if she used enough red. She'd thought she'd gotten the color right, but next to the real deal, it looked quite off. She was slowly starting to hate the painting.

"What? Don't make that face." Mytho lowers the painting and puts it back on the easel, turning to face Duck with his brows furrowed, "Why do you look so upset? I love it, you did such a great job."

"You're invading my privacy!" Duck folds her arms across her chest. "I didn't paint that for you!"

The corners of the boy's mouth twitch slightly, "Then who did you make it for? You? Are you gonna hang it on your wall in your bedroom because you're sure you'll miss seeing my face?"

"NO! That's not...why were you looking for me, anyway?"

Mytho outstretched his arms and smiled brightly like he was going to tell Duck the greatest news she'd was going to hear today.

"I'm officially a member of the drama club now. We're putting on Sleeping Beauty and I'm cast as the prince."

"You came all the way here to tell me that? Um, congrats, I suppose?"

"That's not all! Here, come with me!"

Before Duck can react, Mytho grabs her hand, sliding his into hers. He then proceeds to gently pull her out of the art room. She asks where they're going while they walk toward the school theater, but Mytho only laughs in response.