Chapter16: The Prince is A Mouse, The Princess is A Knight, and the Knight is My Prince
"The same sword that killed my father now wouldn't that be fun!" Nesumir cackled.
"Even if Fakir was wood forever, I would still care for him forever. I will always care for this town. If you burn it down we will rebuild it."
"Your friends are mice! Your friends have empowered me with all the spiritual energy I need! Do not make me your enemy, for one Swan cannot win against A Prince of Mice!"
"But I'm not just one Swan, I am a Princess and I am my Knight."
Nesumir blinked, taken back by her words, and her confidence, dancing as if her partner was there.
"You are a girl."
"You stole from a mouse. You are not really here Nesumir. You belong to a Drosselmeyer's story. You cannot win against us. Rest, I do not want to make anyone suffer. Your scars show what became of you Nesumir, don't let it happen again." Her words sounded much stronger than normal. Was this Fakir? Or was it a part of her that existed that she never knew?
"LET IT?" His eyes grew mad with rage. "No, no if this is the Princess I coveted, then it was the image of the princess I wanted, not what was underneath her. You were so passive back then! What happened? If this is so I will pluck all of your feathers before I find myself in spirit again! Drosselmeyer loves tragedies so if this is a tragedy so be it!"
"Nesumir, will you not forgive your own rage?"
"My own rage? I was killed falsely! My father raised me up so I can live again!"
"Do not follow in your father's footsteps, then, find peace." She closed her eyes and went into arabesque.
"Peace? Peace for what? I don't want peace! I want the whole world to feel my wrath!" He spun faster, darkness looming around her, weighing down on her. The mice biting at her ankles, scratching at her. The heat of the fire causing her to struggle but she danced on.
"Then Nesumir, forgive me, but you have destroyed every building in the square but the Academy. There is no place for Drosselmeyer's story web to unfold." She stood for a moment before turning towards him, fouettes spinning closer. He too like a gear moving in the opposite direction came towards her.
All at once, she closed her eyes to give her heart to the Sword, when Nesumir's hand found her neck.
"To ring the neck of a petty swan, for stretching it outside it's boundaries, what a petty way to go."
She held her hands to her chest, the Knight's Sword nearly falling out.
He placed his hand on her chest, and like a heartbeat black energy vibrated through the town, sending her backwards.
The sword fell a foot from her grasp.
"I guess I will take your power too for my own. Find another person to become Princess by my side."
"Then I – I don't want to be a Princess." She stood shakily to her feet, grasping the sword in her hand. How much had her life changed, from being a duck, to wanting to be Princess Tutu, to now just wanting a normal life? She took her right hand and held it over her chest. She felt her own heart separating from her. She held her heart like a gem in her hands, and united it to the sword.
"If you kill me twice, a noble sword never kills the same man twice! It won't last against all the energy I have inside me! I will release it and that sword won't make it!" Nesumir was drawing every bit of power he could. His eyes glowing, there was little human left in him now. Not one mouse existed if not to supply his power.
"I'm so sorry." Ahiru said absently behind her blank eyes and she thrust the sword forward.
The power he sent at her scratched her, and burned her, but when the sword reached his heart again, his power imploded, first inwards then out across the town.
Fakir felt strange. His body going from hard and numb to skin and bone, all at once. He blinked. His heart felt heavy. Something was wrong.
He stood up shakily from the ground. He saw Autor on the ground. Many people were on the ground, seemingly asleep.
The world seemed dormant.
But where was Ahiru?
He got up and staggered over when he saw it. The handle of his sword. But the rest of it was silver dust, and shatters. He wondered know if that really meant they were now free from Drosselmeyer – his sword did not come back to him, and did not return as part of his identity. Maybe now they could live in peace. But-
He looked and saw Ahiru on the ground.
He felt something wet on his face.
It was raining now.
She did it again didn't she? Then where was her heart?! The shards! Any of it?
He looked for anything Red and glowing. If it were true nothing of his writing powers would work to bring her back, if his Knighthood and enchanted blood was lost with the fire.
She looked beaten and tired. It reminded him of the moments in which he'd almost lost her against the Sorcerer and now his son.
She'd become a Knight. She'd beaten all odds. Her heart was here, hopefully not in shards.
She was both a Princess and a Knight now, she couldn't possibly be so delicate as to break that easily.