Chapter 15: The Heart of a Knight
Princess Tutu felt herself being thrown about in a duet. She felt much like a doll herself next to Nesumir.
If this was the story of the nutcracker how could she fix it? How could she defeat the Mouse King and bring her Nutcracker back to life?
"Ah, my dear Princess, just to think my father would have had you killed for my own soul. Now, I think this boy was much better of a sacrifice, wouldn't you say? Now that we are together? And all the same…"
He droned on as she desperately tried to direct her mind to Fakir.
"…Fakir was nothing but a puppet for the plot. If we are all to stay in our roles that Drosselmeyer wrote for us, then in the Swan Princess you would have succumb to your dear twin. But instead we are rewritten into another dark tale, and at least now even the darkest and most denied of characters may have a happy ending."
"I would never be happy beside you." She said. If the Nutcracker had a happy ending she would make one for herself.
She ran to Fakir's wooden body.
"Fakir I know you're in there! Fakir please, just lend me enough strength to help you waken up… I don't know how to fight like a Knight!" She took his body limp in hers. He was in there. She stared hard at his eyes. There was still a glimmer of something beneath.
"You want time with him that's fine, but in the mean time, I really would love to remake this town my own."
"Then burn it." She said. "Burn it all down, but let me have my last minutes with Fakir."
"How beautifully evil of you my dear Princess Tutu! Burn down this stupid town and build my own kingdom! However, I don't mind the Academy? It might make a nice palace."
"Fakir." She turned to him, ignoring Nesumir's ramblings. She felt her tears spill, and she couldn't help but want to kiss Fakir.
That's when she saw it. The pages of the Nutcracker story, folded in his shirt pocket. She looked at them secretively.
It was the sword. And she gave it all away.
She looked at him. If this was the end, then she would at least have this moment.
She closed her eyes and kissed him.
"Princess Tutu?"
She heard it in her mind. His voice.
"Use your heart, and take back the sword. I can't be a knight like this."
"But Fakir, your my Knight…"
"Save the town."
"Let it burn... nothing is left now." She felt her heart sink, forlorn without her friends.
"No, don't let go of the hope. Do not play in a false duet with him, but dance a duet with me, even if I cannot escape this wooden prison."
"Fakir I-"
"Use my sword for me."
"How can I?"
"How can you be kissing a doll?" Nesumir called out.
When she opened her eyes, she saw fire around her. Destruction just as he'd said to have done. But she felt warmth in her chest now.
Fakir was still here.
"Fakir, please give it to me. I will use all my heart, and yours. We will dance our duet always." She said out loud to her wooden knight.
Suddenly Nesumir noticed that the Knight's sword seemed to disappear from his hands and reappeared in Princess Tutu's palms.
"But how did you-" His eyes were wide.
"Fakir. He gave it to me. You can steal a sword, but you can never steal a Knight's heart and courage." She stood up and let it sit in her hands as it would Fakir's.
"Ah, and a Princess Tutu, will destroy me with the sword of a knight? A Princess cannot be a knight!" He circuled around her, fouette-ing around her with a dominant arrogance, as the fire and mice circled around her in a vortex.
"A mouse cannot be a Prince either." She said calmly. She then began to dance the pas-de-deux from the Nutcracker, by herself.
Fakir is not here with me, but I will give him my heart to save him one last time.