A/n Okay, here's the next chapter! I got inspired by this really awesome AMV with a song called Hold Me Now (or Hall Om Mig Nu, with a little circle thingy over the A) and I really liked it. Though there are a few scenes in there that I have never seen in episodes 1-26. If anyone who has seen the AMV knows anything about those scenes, please let me know for the sake of Princess Tutu fandom; just send me a message. Much appreciated!
Disclaimer: Never will own it, not even in my dreams. As far as I know, Fakir and Ahiru still haven't kissed. Darn.
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Chapter 1: A Story Never Ending.
Kinkan was unusually quiet this morning, even though the usual crowd of birds crowded a certain boy's window. Easily annoyed, the boy scowled, even though he set out a pan of birdseed, which caused all bird contact to leave him in an instant.
"Do I really have to feed them like this every morning?" The 17 year-old inquired, seemingly to no one. On the deep hardwood floor, however, stood a small yellow duck, frowning at his pessimism. He frowned back in response; though he was used to this reaction, because both boy and duck have been doing this for the past 2 years.
"Quack, quack, quack, quack!" The duck answered, which caused the young man to scowl even more, his intense emerald glare facing her. The duck glared back, unfazed by the young man's actions, and flew up to the window ledge to join her fellow avians in their feast.
Fakir looked on, secretly aghast at how Ahiru could simply forget an argument just like that even though she had lived with him for a while since the story ended. Inwardly he smiled as he watched her quack to a canary, who chirped happily with a group of smaller canaries behind it.
He looked past the birds out towards the scenery beyond the window, observing the quiet air that hung over the town. Ever since Drosselmyer's hold over the town disappeared, everything seemed much more alive, and Fakir and Ahiru watched the town, invisible sometimes as it seemed.
It's not like they were needed anymore.
Fakir sighed at his negative thought, causing the yellow duck to stare at him, blinking her big aqua orbs at him.
"Quack?" Ahiru inquired, causing him to look down at her. He turned his head away quickly, not allowing her to see the light blush on his usually stern face.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." He answered abruptly, lightly patting her head. Her kind concern for anyone usually surprised Fakir, and even shocked him more when it was more or less directed at him.
It wasn't that Fakir didn't appreciate her worry for him; it's just that...okay, he was bashful of any sort of care or of the sort directed towards him in general.
Yeah, let's go with that.
Fakir ceased his mental ramblings and fought down the heat that threatened to engulf his entire face. Ahiru raised a feathered brow in question, but resumed 'chatting' with her avian friends.
"Ahiru, can they leave now?" Fakir asked suddenly, causing every bird to turn towards him, looking rather...menacing. Ahiru gave a duck-like sigh, and nodded her head in mock-disappointment.
After the birds left, Ahiru flapped to the floor and strode out the door, leaving Fakir confused at her suddenly strange behavior.
"What's with her...?" Fakir sat down in his desk, slightly disgusted that the birds left a bunch of molting feathers behind. He swept them off, and then proceeded to take out his writing, a pensive look slipping into his eyes.
How should it start...?
Fakir held his head in his hands, rubbing his temples, irritable that he couldn't find the right words to start the story.
The particular story he had been wanting to write for a long time, though he could never exactly figure out how to start it.
He stared once again at the paper, as if expecting the sheet to magically give him the words he wanted to write. The paper just sat there mockingly, adding more to his growing frustration.
"Damn it!" He pounded his fist on the table, then growling in anger when he realized he put another dent in the wood...again.
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Ahiru listened intently to the sounds coming from Fakir's room, jumping at every sudden movement that made her think he was very, very, VERY, angry.
Can't imagine what he's getting so worked up about...oh well, I'll take this as a sign he's being his usual grumpy, irritable self. Ahiru stepped quietly away from the door, and headed down the stairs to find Charon in the kitchen fixing breakfast.
"Hello Ahiru. Visiting Fakir today?" The old man smiled, and Ahiru quacked happily in response. Charon scooped her up and put her on top of the table, setting a roll before her, which she happily pecked at.
Seriously, what's up with Fakir today? Ahiru thought as she continued to eat, not even noticing that the said boy just arrived for breakfast. He ran a tired hand through his forest-green hair.
"Anything wrong Fakir?" Charon asked, setting a plate of food in front of Fakir.
"Nothing." Came the short reply, the usual answer from the young man. Charon raised an eyebrow, knowing better but not bothering to press any further. Being the wise old smith he was, he knew better than to try to dig into the young man's mind, and even though he wasn't aware of what Fakir has been through, he still felt the need not to try to worm anything out of his adoptive son.
"Quack, quack, quack!" You're acting very rude today Fakir. Duck said as she continued to peck her bread.
"Leave me alone." Fakir curtly responded as he ate. His tone was exhausted and stressed, and his eyebrows were furrowed in thought. Ahiru shrugged and continued eating her bread, but kept a watchful eye on her older companion.
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Fakir sat on the edge of Ahiru's lake, watching Duck skim across its crystalline surface. It surprised him sometimes how she could be so content as to just to swim in the lake, day after day after day...
She's just a simple little duck...
His face turned into a frown as he remembered Drosselmyer's statement about Ahiru. He would never, NEVER forgive the old man for that.
Ahiru, while at first glance, was a normal, clumsy girl at Kinkan Academy, who vainly tried to learn ballet. While she failed (she had been sent to the probationary classes so often...), she just kept on trying.
And her undying hope leaked into her abilities as Princess Tutu.
In Fakir's own personal (very personal) opinion, that's what made Ahiru more than simple. So much more than simple.
And that's what made everything so much more complicated.
I can't deny it...Fakir thought as he impatiently tapped his fingertips against his notepad, ink dripping from his pen as he held it firmly between his fingers.
I miss her.
Fakir sighed, putting down his writing (or lack thereof) and holding his head in his head with the beginnings of a migraine.
I really do miss her...but it's hard enough trying to keep an eye on her as a duck! If I made her a girl again...
Fakir couldn't say that he didn't feel close to Ahiru. He'd be lying to himself if he did, but every time he looked at her face as a duck, he saw her face as a human girl, and his heart would begin to ache with nostalgia that he would rather...
Not have...?
Why can't I just grit my teeth and do it?
Probably because, my dear knight, you are afraid that your princess will reject your feelings...
Fakir's head snapped up to the unknown voice and found no one there. He calmed down, his heart racing (whether it was that he was hallucinating or the truth in the voice's words), looking towards Ahiru...
...frozen.
Startled and on guard, he leapt to his feet, wondering and waiting...
"My my, you are such a brash young man..." A familiar old man in strange attire strode through the morning mist, looking at Fakir with a face of sick amusement. "Unlike yourself, I tend just to be...more eloquent?"
"I don't need to learn manners from a demented old fossil like you, Drosselmeyer! And aren't you supposed to be gone?" Fakir yelled as he held his guard, though weakly wishing he still had his sword with him.
"Temper, temper." Drosselmeyer wagged a finger in Fakir's face, chuckling. "I just went to look for more tragic stories...and what do I find when I return? It's no wonder why you can't write."
"Why—what? How do you know—"
"The failed-knight promised to stay by his princess, even though she sacrificed her form as she fell from the heavens." The old man interrupted, his aging voice trembling with dramatic vibrato. "Beyond her innocence, he continued to watch her even when the dangerous storm had passed, and with each passing day...he wished for more."
"What the Hell are you talking about?"
"He wished to see her heart's form dance across the lake of his heart...he wished for her to view him with her eyes and him alone...he wanted to hear her sweet voice in his ear...catch her when she fell over her graceless feet..."
"Just what are you implying?"
"Why my dear knight, are you that denying of your feelings?" Drosselmeyer delightfully clapped his hands together. "You have fallen in love with your charge, who is nothing than a mere duck!"
Fakir, up to the senior's last statement, froze. He looked at the frozen Ahiru with a faraway distant look in his eyes, his emotions written all over his face rather than on the paper he so desperately wanted to write upon.
Did I...
No, of course not...
But I...
I don't consider her anything like that, except maybe...
Someone I care about deeply and want to protect?
NO! ...Wait, what?
Do 1 love her?
Love...?
Do I love Ahiru...?
"NO!" Fakir yelled out suddenly, and Drosselmeyer looked pleased.
"Still resisting, I see? No matter, it will make an excellent story..." The deceased writer raised his hands to an invisible audience, as though introducing a story. "Once upon a time, there was a knight who couldn't protect anyone...and he always failed everyone in battle..."
"Until one day, he vowed to protect a beautiful princess..."
Fakir tried to run towards the man, but found his legs making their way back towards his writing pad. He tried to restrain himself, but to no avail, for his hands picked up the pad with a flick of Drosselmeyer's finger.
"Now, what shall commence with the story? Oh! I know..." With another wave of his hand, Fakir's hand picked up his quill and began writing.
"Once upon a time, there was a knight who was hopefully in love with a princess who had eyes only for another. Each day, he held his secret desire within him, even though he protected her now only as a duck..."
"He cared deeply for her, and his heart continued to ache for her, and even more for himself, because he could never honestly speak of his love for a pitiful little duck..."
"STOP IT!" Fakir tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn't stop writing.
"It's not polite to interrupt...plus, you're the only one who can make it stop..." Drosselmeyer wagged his finger in Fakir's face once more, chuckling as Fakir vainly tried to bite it off.
"Anyway...the knight had the power...the power to turn his beloved back into a girl, but he resisted, fearing the power of his own heart. Then one day, he began to write..."
"NO!" Fakir tried to bite his hand, but he only succeeded in making his hand bleed. "I WILL NOT BE YOUR PUPPET FOR ONE OF YOUR SICK TRAGEDIES!"
"He wrote of his secret desire to have his princess back...and in a blinding flash of light, she grew from a little duck to a girl, the form reflective of her innocent heart. But the knight forgot one little detail..."
"THAT THE GREAT DROSSELMEYER...had a say in the story! Now I wonder...what if the knight was cursed to take the form of his beloved companion? He would never be able to reveal his love for the princess, and if he did not find out a way to break free of his curse, he would die of a broken heart..."
"Just what are you trying to do? You just wrote yourself into your own story!" Fakir yelled, still trying to stop his hand from writing Drosselmeyer's every word.
"Yet again with that temper...and it's not my story, my descendent...it's yours!" The old man cackled as he faded into the mist, Fakir's hand finally falling limp; slacken against the paper, the words slightly damp and smeared from contact.
"And only you can finish it..."
Time resumed, leaving Fakir stunned, kneeling on the ground breathing heavily as though he had just run a marathon. He stared down at his own writing, the words beginning to dry, reminding Fakir how very real and dangerous the situation had just become.
He stood up, shaking from his ordeal, suddenly remembering that Ahiru was frozen. He looked towards the lake, only the find the lake undisturbed. For a second he felt relieved, until he noticed bubbles popping near the surface. Panicking, he waded into the lake, plunging his form under the water.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he caught sight of Ahiru, her unconscious form floating deeper and deeper into the dark. He kicked his feet harder, determined to reach her.
Please don't die...
Eventually he caught up to her body, grasping her body tightly and began to kick back up towards the surface. His body was heavy, and with Ahiru's added weight, he was getting even more tired...
He paced himself, trying to save as much oxygen in his body as possible.
He broke the surface, swallowing mouthfuls of air as he waded towards the shore of the lake, dragging Ahiru's body along with him. He fell against the solid ground, breathing heavily, until he looked towards Ahiru...
She was exactly how Fakir remembered her. Her face looked serene, her hair, even though wet, was still in the same braid, hair splayed against her neckline and collarbone, her body...
Fakir's eyes quickly snapped back up to her face, an embarrassed red flush seeping onto his face. He averted his eyes, slowly peeling off his shirt to cover the girl. Thankfully she was breathing, and so Fakir held his head in his hands, trying to figure out what just happened.
Suddenly, he was attacked by a ferocious pain, burning all through his bones, even boiling his blood. He grit his teeth, growling as the pain held him in a vice-like grip and kept squeezing tighter and tighter...
He fell against the ground, finally releasing his will and screamed as his body continued to burn. Fakir looked towards Ahiru, who was still unconscious. He vainly tried to reach towards her, but the pain was too great.
The last thing he saw before he fell into the darkness was his hand, shrinking and sprouting grayish-green feathers...
Ahiru...
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A/n Here is the second chapter to Collection of Smiles. It was originally supposed to be humorous, but I ended up making this more dramatic than I wanted it to be...but that is the kind of anime that Princess Tutu is, and this fic will have a bit of everything.
Also, from the note in the beginning, yet again, please let me know if you have any info on those scenes in the video. An example of one would be like the one where Rue as Kraehe is dancing with Ahiru as herself in some sort of dark corridor, and another would be where it Fakir is running his finger over Ahiru's lips...hmmmm...that makes me wonder. Especially since Fakir is so very close to Ahiru's face...
Anyway, please review, because I'm really encouraged by your reviews. Please review! Do it for Fakir and Ahiru!