Yeah, I know people probably hate me for waiting a year... Okay...
"Who- Who are you?" The girl backed away from the figure approaching her, nearly making her paintings topple over.
"Please don't be afraid." The figure said smoothly, gently stretching her hand out.
"Who are you?" The girl asked.
"Please, dance with me, Malen." The figure said quietly.
"Why? Who are you…" The girl Malen took the figure's hand carefully, letting herself be pulled into slow, graceful movements.
"What's troubling you?" The figure asked her gently.
"I don't know… But you do, don't you? I don't feel like myself anymore. Being in the Raven's city, it feels like it's ruining my true self."
"I can't draw with the same inspiration anymore. I feel terrible. It's like a burden has come over me since I became part of Raven city." Malen answered sadly.
"Yes, it's been so long since it has been Golden Crown." The figure said softly.
"Malen… Do you want me to take away your burdens?"
"Please." Malen said softly.
Slender hands placed themselves over her chest, and a small red light came.
Malen fainted, and the mysterious figure leapt away into the darkness.
It was simple really, once she understood the technology he'd given her.
Tutu fixed the wig she wore and sighed.
She was a dancer at heart, and never really wanted to be involved in things such as this, but she had no choice.
She loved the Prince more than anything.
She'd do anything for him, and this was one of those things.
She had loneliness, sorrow, fear, curiosity, thoughtfulness, and now devotion, among other things.
Tutu knew about this one thing that Ahiru never knew about. Ahiru didn't know who Mr. Drosselmeyer really was.
The younger part of her knew that he was important person who gave her something important, but Tutu knew exactly what and who he was.
He gave her the necklace in the first place, the one that tracked the 'emotions', which were really bits of nano-technology implanted in different people, hidden in truth.
All of them would unlock Mythos' true self. Drosselmeyer also gave her some things to help her retrieve those shards of Mythos' 'heart'.
One of those things was the costume he gave her.
It was like an enhancer, in the form of a mix of old-fashioned and modern clothing.
It was like a dress, but with a shortened skirt, and small wings at the back. She had silver pants and wore beautiful ballet shoes that had a special aspect.
They were enhancers as well, and they helped her jump higher than normal, as well as empower her movement.
The clothing covered her chest down, and she wore a small crown on her head.
It was a strange thing, but it had a single purpose:
To keep Ahiru safe while Tutu fulfilled her missions.
It kept her from shifting back to Ahiru while she was working and getting Mythos' heart back.
Tutu never understood Drosselmeyer, or why he gave Ahiru to her in the first place.
She remembered clearly when the strange man explained to her about Ahiru.
When she was two, she was orphaned, and Drosselmeyer took her in and experimented on her.
After quite a few experiments, Tutu was different.
She had another self, as she called it.
When she was six, Drosselmeyer told her that she had to take care of the 'little duck'.
That was when Tutu decided to name her other self 'Ahiru', meaning duck, because her other self didn't have a name.
Drosselmeyer made her go away soon. She was taken care of, but she never got to see the old man, that is, until she turned eighteen.
When that happened, the Raven assigned her to a task, and Drosselmeyer came to see her one more time.
He gave her the costume and the other things, and instructed her what to do.
And the necklace…
Tutu always had it, since she was two. She was never to take it off, and true to her promise, she never did.
It changed when she was herself, and changed when she was Ahiru.
When Ahiru was out, she felt like she was sitting in a dark room and looking out a window, seeing things happen out of her control.
Right now, Tutu had decided to give back some parts of Mythos' emotions, and she was making her way through the dark corridors of the Castle.
She found the single room in which she found him.
The Prince sat on a bed silently, looking out into nothing. Noticing nothing.
Tutu approached.
"Are you… Tutu?" Mythos stood up and Tutu curtsied elegantly.
"Your highness, I'm here to give something back to you." She said.
"I know." He replied, letting Tutu come nearer.
Tutu raised the beautiful necklace to Mythos' heart, and a small red laser transferred the data.
Mythos felt. He felt emotion come back to him, and they implanted themselves in him.
Then he looked into the eyes of the woman in front of him.
"Thank you, Princess…" He said.
"Princess? I am only here to serve you, your highness. I only wish to see you feel happiness." Tutu said.
"Please Tutu, get the rest of my heart back." He said.
"Of course. I promise you." Tutu smiled.
"Why are you doing this for me?" Mythos inquired.
Tutu just shook her head and said, "I must."
"I want to know, then. How do you feel? About me?" Mythos asked, taking her hand.
"I…" Tutu backed away and sighed. She left without a word, and the room sealed itself up again.
She'd never let him out, just because they were her orders from the Raven.
But Fakir wondered why he even considered listening to her. He could have just escaped anyway, better than just sitting around.
He was sitting at the table, which was near the window. It was so late that Fakir could only guess what she was doing out there.
He didn't have to soon, because after about two hours, the security systems shut off temporarily as the redhead entered the gate, and soon the door.
Fakir's eyes widened when he saw that she was wearing a strange costume, and a wig with white tips and a lock of hair up.
"Hey, what's with that?" He asked pointedly.
"I've been busy. You're still awake? I thought Ahiru told you to sleep. Well, you wouldn't have listened anyway. I'm surprised you're still here." She said quickly.
She sat down on the chair next to him and sighed.
"Tutu. Why the heck does Ahiru trust me anyway?" Fakir demanded, getting up from the table.
"I don't know, I'm not her. Don't look at me like that; of course I'm not. Even if we share the same bodies, I won't always know Ahiru as well as I should." Tutu said, removing her wig.
"You said you don't trust us, and I don't trust you, but you're right; Ahiru trusts you. She sees something I don't understand at all." She sighed.
"Well, I guess you'll see Ahiru in the morning, so ask her then. Right now, you should get some sleep." She finished, crossing the room to the hall.
She disappeared from Fakir's sight.
"Smooth move, Pike." Lillie said with a smirk. Only after a few seconds did Pike realize that she had spilled red raspberry juice all over her light blue dress.
"Oh, wait. Darn." Pike lifted herself up and made her way out of their assembly room where people would eat on most days.
"What happened to you?" Pike looked up at the inquirer and sighed.
"Like you care, Autor. All you should be focusing on right now is finding a way to get Fakir back." She said haughtily.
"Not so, my dear. You remember that Fakir himself ordered us not to go against the Prince's wishes, and the Prince wishes for nobody to get hurt unnecessarily." The man said with the same cool demeanor.
"So saving Fakir is unnecessary?" Pike didn't even bother to raise her voice, but didn't hide her scathing resentment.
"He would think so. But I will say what I've said before: He can take care of himself." At that, Pike turned away and then remembered the stain on her clothes.
"Good morning." The redhead said uncertainly.
Fakir didn't respond. Ahiru stepped closer and said, "I… I have something for you."
Fakir looked up, no emotion on his face. Ahiru walked over to the hallway and took up a package of sorts, wrapped in brown paper.
"Why… Where did you get this?" Fakir barely got the words out as her opened the package.
"I wanted you to have it, since… Well, it is yours, isn't it? Even if the ravens took it from you, I could tell that it was important." Ahiru said, fiddling with her braid.
It was the sword that Fakir had lost to the enemy, and she was giving it back to him. Surely she couldn't be an enemy herself.
But Fakir couldn't trust anyone that easily anymore. It would take more than that to gain his trust.
"Why are you giving it back to me? I could kill you right here and now, and you're the one who supplied me with the weapon. Are you really that stupid?" Fakir said coldly.
"I'm not-! I already told you why. I just didn't see you as the type of person to kill people, that's all." Ahiru said with rising dread.
Right then, she put her hand to her head and swayed dangerously to the side. Just as she fell, her body landed with a thud, but Fakir had managed to save her by the shoulders, preventing her from injuring her head.
"It seems like you're not the only one mad at me." She said with a weak grin.
"You put yourself in too much risk." Fakir said, almost sounding worried.
"I know. But as long as the people I care for are safe, I'm okay with that." She got up carefully and smiled again.
Why does her smile… make me feel so weak? Fakir watched her until she was out of his sight.
When he was little, his parents told him about his distant great-uncle, the one who rarely ever came to visit, the one they called, 'eccentric'.
They told Fakir that he had no other living relatives but him, although the little boy never found out how to find this great-uncle of his.
Instead, it was the old friend of his parents who took care of him, but…
It was simple, really. The laser transferred the program where Mythos' 'emotions' were stored, and Tutu simply had to collect them.
Tutu loved Mythos more than anything, but she knew Kraehe shared the same view of the Prince as she did.
Inside, Tutu truly didn't want to hurt Kraehe, but her way of thinking was too dark and uncaring. Kraehe didn't want the Prince to get his heart back all because she wanted him for herself.
On the other hand, Tutu wanted to do what was best for the Prince, and what he wanted. Surely that made her better than the raven princess. But still…
"Hello again, Tutu. It's good to see you again." The Prince's gentle voice made Tutu smile.
It was the third time she had come to return what was his, and even without that emotion, Tutu could see that he would've been happy to get more of his heart back.
"My Prince, I have here with me happiness. Maybe then, you can feel the delight of it." She said softly but clearly, and in her necklace shot out the laser that returned the data.
Data, yes. Not real emotions. But still, it was the closest thing for Mythos to having true feelings. And Tutu was happy to give it back.
"Tell me, Princess." Mythos started. Tutu shyly responded to what the Prince had been accustomed to calling her the past few weeks.
"Are you with the Raven? You don't seem like such a person." The Prince asked.
"I… I have different intentions. It's hard to explain. Sorry."
"It's alright." The Prince gave a warm smile, one Tutu had been hoping for, for so long now.
"I brought something from the store, if you're hungry. I hope you like it." Ahiru said almost cheerfully, if Fakir didn't intimidate her so.
He was still sitting at the table like he always had, and she sat down beside him.
"Tutu was successful again. As far as I understand. She knows what goes on when I'm out, but I can only understand so much of what she does." The redhead explained, though not getting any response from the man beside her.
"Fakir, tell me… Do you hate me? Just tell me." She said quietly. Fakir looked at her.
If it had been even a day ago, he would've answered quickly and ruthlessly, but he lately began to realize that he had no right to hate this girl. Maybe he could hate her other, but not her.
She was nibbling on a piece of sweet bread, and though she was thinking of something else, Fakir could tell that she was waiting for an answer.
"No." He said bluntly.
Ahiru didn't speak anymore, but the look on her face when Fakir responded was… indescribable. He couldn't tell whether it was happy or sad. Or maybe it was simply relieved.
"Ahiru…" He started after a long period of silence. "Don't you have a family?" He wondered what possessed him to ask, but Ahiru seemed happy that he'd started a conversation.
"No. I don't believe I do. I don't have any parents, and Tutu's taken care of me ever since we started sharing bodies. And I don't mean my parents are dead." She said.
Fakir looked bewildered. "I mean I don't have any. I may seem like it, but I'm not really human. Tutu is. I'm just… well, how do I explain it? It's like Mythos' emotions. I'm just data memory or something like that." She didn't seem bothered, but Fakir was.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow at Fakir's expression. "You're wondering why I'm telling you this?" She guessed. He nodded.
"Because I want you to trust me. The thing is, if you don't trust me, I'll still be intimidated by you. I don't want to be afraid of you, Fakir." She said the last sentence with alarming sincerity, to which Fakir automatically moved his hand to touch her head, but stopped and took it back without her even noticing.
Somehow, Ahiru had brought out his soft side without knowing it.
"There was a raven raid in the smaller part of their town a few hours ago. They caught some of our troops." Pike said darkly.
Autor was still staring out the window, looking at what he could see in their part of the city.
"I notice you've got nothing to say." She said coldly.
"We were able to kill dozens of our enemies in the struggle before the troops were captured." Autor said stoically, making it obvious that he knew all about the situation.
"We? You mean they. They killed dozens of our enemies while you just stood here staring at the streets and roofs." Pike said.
"You really do hate me, don't you?" Autor said, startling Pike because of the truth in the statement.
Thoughts ran through her head.
Yes, because you aren't doing your job as a leader. Yes, since you're doing nothing when you're supposed to be saving Fakir. Yes, because you're a fucking coward!
"No." She replied. Autor shook his head. "You're a bad liar." He said.
"I know." She said, taking her leave.
She was sleeping. Ahiru, when she slept, just sat in an abyss, and Tutu would be beside her. At times, they were both completely silent. They just sat there.
At other times, such as this once, they would speak.
'Ahiru.'
'What is it?'
'Why can't I see what you do during your time of being outside?'
'Don't you? You could always see what I did before.'
'Before, Ahiru. It's like I'm looking at a screen with wavering signal. At times, I can't see outside at all.'
'I don't know.'
'Well, I know Ahiru.'
'What?'
'You're restraining me without knowing it. You don't want me around.'
'That's not true!'
'Ahiru, I'm not blaming you. I'm just telling you the truth. That's what you should be telling me.'
'I'm sorry. I didn't know…'
'I know it's not your fault, Ahiru. Don't worry.'
In that non-being, Tutu embraced Ahiru solemnly, letting the younger girl cry her apologies. But in all that, Tutu knew that change was coming much faster than she'd anticipated. She just hoped that it wasn't THAT time yet.
I had a helluva lot of writer's block, and if that sucked, that's also writer's block. Also, I was lazy, so there. But I AM seriously sorry, though on my life, I will never stop liking Princess Tutu!!!!! Though I've been busy with high school and all...