Once upon a time there was a young knight who loved sleep. The knight loved sleep so much that he once fell asleep and never woke up again, instead sleepwalking to his normal life. He would dream unrealistic dreams of vanquishing magical foes and slaying dragons. As he dreamed, however, the knight would inwardly sigh in relief he never actually committed the horrible deaths he dreamed himself doing. Because the knight never woke up, he never saw the masses of bloody bodies around him.


Act 32: Raven Feathers

(((Carol of the Bells)))

Fakir stared down at the story his hand was involuntarily writing on the parchment in front of him.

'Damn it…it's just like the Prince and the Raven. Ahiru all alone, stuck as a duck, trying to help a prince fighting an animal bent on destroying the prince…except this time Ahiru's helping Helios fight the Mouse Queen, not Mytho and the Monster Raven.'

The green-haired writer's eyes narrowed as he thought of something

'This story has barely influenced Kinkan Town at all…yes, human-like animals have returned...but no one's aware of anything besides the characters in the story. What's the meaning of this? Drosslemeyer has no more control on the story…but like the oak tree said, all stories are one. All of the stories impact each other, and the end of one story starts a new beginning. What is the importance of this story? Is it merely Helios breaking his curse…or is there more in store for this story? What kind of story will start when this one is completed?'


Helios moved in a violent jeté toward Nezumi, thrusting his sword at her, but as quickly as he had moved, Nezumi had twirled away from his sword's assault in a swift pirouette. As soon as Helios made that first move, the mice soldiers swarmed around Demi and Ahiru, attacking them with swords and torches.

Demi felt herself jumping away from the mice in swift precision as Fakir controlled her movements, breathing inwardly in relief as the mice's lit torches were more dangerous to her than to others since she was made of wood.

"Quack! Qua-quack!"

Demi suddenly caught sight of Ahiru, who, unlike her, was forced to fight off the mice's assault without the assistance of Fakir and was being trampled and slashed by the vicious mice. The puppet tried moving toward the duck so she could force the mice away, but her movements just weren't hers to control.

"Ahiru-chan!" she cried.


"Ahiru!" whispered Fakir, his eyes narrowed as he tried to write something to help her. "'The duck jumped…jump…j…!'"

But no matter how hard he struggled to control his words, his hand forced himself to write something else entirely.

"'…Just kept being hit from all sides…the puppet's movements faltered…as the writer's concentration was split between the duck and her…'"

'Fakir-sama?' Demi's voice rang through his head in worry. 'I almost fell over…'

Angry tears came to Fakir's slit-like eyes as his hand continued writing of the mice's assaults on Ahiru.

"Damn it! I can't control the story and move Demi at the same time!"

"You can't stop moving Demi-chan!" Madame Ruza reminded him sharply. "She'll be a sitting duck if you just let her collapse!"

"Ahiru is the sitting duck right now!" Fakir shouted back at her.


Demi heard Fakir as his control yanked her farther away from Ahiru as well as from the mice soldiers' threatening fire. Her eyes were filled with conflict as she was forced to watch the bruised Ahiru get slammed into the floor continuously and the ballet-inept Helios being slashed by Nezumi's sword-sharp claws.

The puppet tried moving her hand, but no movement she tried was fulfilled.

'Ahiru-chan…Prince Helios!' she thought to herself in anguish. 'Why? Why of all times do I have to be a puppet? Why can't I do anything?'


"Poor, poor Demi-chan," scorned Drosslemeyer, sipping from a full cup of tea. "A character in the story that can't influence it…a tragic figure you are! The knight is stuck controlling you, unable to rescue his precious Ahiru-chan…what a beautiful angst-filled tragedy you're helping to create, Demi-chan! Brava!"
'If only I were human again just…once!' Demi thought. 'As a puppet I'm useless…'

Almost involuntarily Fakir's words came to her.

"I'm controlling your movements; if I don't, you'll be useless…"

Then Helios's voice resurfaced in her mind.

"If you were really a puppet, you would not show emotions such as uncertainty…"

Fakir's still seemed to ring louder.

"You're a puppet…as long as your will doesn't fight against my will, I can make you do whatever you need to do…"

Finally one of Helios's statements reached the hopeless puppet over her despair.

"One with will should always have the chance to fulfill their will…"

'My…will…?'

Demi shut her eyes tightly in determination as she made up her mind.

'Fakir-sama…write your story.'


As soon as Demi's voice rang through his head, Fakir suddenly felt his hand beginning to shake, not because the writer was afraid or angry, but because Demi was yanking his control of her story and movements out of his grip.

"W-what the-" Fakir stammered, eyes wide. "Demi, what the hell are you doing?"

Madame Ruza also looked alarmed as she read Fakir's words over his shoulder. "Demi-chan's…fighting back?"


"What?"

Drosslemeyer almost dropped his cup of tea.

"A puppet trying to take control of her own movements? Unthinkable!"


Demi felt herself falling, her arms dropping limp to her sides…and then she straightened up, arching her arms into third position in inward triumph.

She opened her eyes and, without a second thought, shoved past the crowd of rodent soldiers with a grand jeté over to Ahiru.

As the puppet brushed past the mice, however, one of the lit torches the mice were holding got a good lash at her.

Demi's whole body crumpled as she collapsed by Ahiru, crying out in pain. Her worry overtaking her body's aches, Ahiru flapped her wings rapidly around her friend's burns to deaden the flames; although the duck succeeded in putting it out, the fire still left a thick line of charcoal burns along her neck and her arm.

"Quack-quack?" Ahiru asked in weak worry.

Demi forced a smile through her pain as she stood up once more to face the mice. "Controlling yourself means making a few mistakes sometimes."

Ahiru, thinking of Helios still in trouble, forced herself to stand once more so that her back was to Demi.

"Qua-quack," she said determinedly.

Demi nodded. "We'll fight them together…you, me, and Fakir-sama."


Fakir smiled as he read Demi's statement. "Yes, we will."

He dipped her quill into ink quickly before returning to his writing.


The mice once again drew toward the two, but this time they were not fighting a group of mice off alone, and could help save each other. When the puppet would almost get slashed by one of mice's swords, the duck would bite the mouse's arm so that he dropped his sword. When the duck would almost be shoved aside by one of the mice, the puppet would kick her leg up gracefully to hit the mouse in the head. The puppet and the duck fought the rodent soldiers with a pas de deux of friendship that gave their enemies something to worry about.

The duck looked over to the Nutcracker prince still deep in battle with the Mouse Queen, and suddenly caught sight of something black hovering over Queen Nezumi she hadn't noticed before.


'What is that?' Ahiru thought to herself in surprise.

Her blue eyes squinted, trying to make the strange thing out. At first it had looked like a faint black cloud, but as the duck stared at it more, she realized that it didn't look misty or fluffy like a cloud should. If anything, it looked…feathery.

'They're…wings!' Ahiru realized.

The black wings shifted slightly, and the yellow duck could make out a black head with two red eyes, a black-feathered body and sharp claws that were currently digging sharply into Nezumi's heart as she continued to dance her ballet of combat with Helios, unaware of the bird's presence.

'Fakir!' Ahiru thought frantically toward the writer. 'The Mouse Queen is being controlled by a raven!'


"A raven?" Fakir repeated in shock. "But the Monster Raven-"

"Was not the source of the ravens," Madame Ruza finished for him. "Even if you light up a dark room, shadows still remain."

Fakir's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes…the Monster Raven is gone, but the ravens are still alive and searching for hearts to eat. That raven won't let go of the Nezumi's heart until her heart fights or her heart dies…but we don't have Tutu."


"I have thrust pain on you, Nezumi," Helios proclaimed firmly, his words unknowingly agreeing with Fakir's and his eyes determined. "The only way I can free you from that pain now is to stab the heart that pain is feeding on!"

Ahiru's eyes widened in horror. 'No! It…it can't end like that!'

Without a second thought, the duck jumped past the mice in a grand jeté, flapping her wings so that she landed between Helios and Nezumi.

"Ahiru, what are you doing?" Fakir's voice echoed through her head.

Helios rushed to pull her away from Nezumi, but Reepicheep pushed him away, brandishing his sword at the Nutcracker threateningly. Demi tried to assist her duck friend, but the soldiers were too closely knit around her for her to find an opening over to Ahiru.

Ahiru faced Nezumi, circling her wings over her head and then reaching out to the Queen in the gesture for "Will you dance with me?"

Nezumi, however, had little interest in a polite pas de deux. Her eyes flashing red as those of the raven controlling her heart, the black mouse leapt at the duck fiercely, baring her teeth viciously.

Ahiru jumped back away from her in just barely enough time, but still continued to dance, trying to convey her questions to the Mouse Queen.

'What are you doing, Nezumi-san? Why are you hurting everyone?'

'That Nutcracker should hurt just as much as I have!' Nezumi's dance answered her. 'He made me suffer, and he made Anatole suffer…I want him to suffer!'

'Why?' Ahiru's dance asked back. 'Is Helios-kun's pain really worth it? Would your husband have wanted you to make others suffer in his memory?'

'Anatole was the most good-hearted and just king that has ever lived…and the Nutcracker killed him! His death cannot be left in vain! The Nutcracker must die!'

'I understand your grief…if someone killed my friends, I would feel angry and sad…but why kill for your husband when you can live for him?'

'Live…for him…?'

'That's right,' Ahiru's gestures assented. 'Live, and laugh, and be happy for him, just as he would've wanted you to. Helios-kun never meant to hurt you, or King Anatole…he has shown remorse for your husband's death, just as you have. End this now, Nezumi-san…you are hurting more than just Helios-kun. Can't you see the pain your citizens are going through?'

'My…citizens…?'

Nezumi's eyes flickered, becoming brown, then red, and then brown again as she stared at the mice burned and bleeding from accidentally being slashed by their comrades' weapons and fighting Demi and Helios. Her eyes then widened as she caught sight of Reepicheep crying out when Helios cut his paw in self-defense.

'R…Reepicheep…o…otouto…'

"No…" Nezumi whispered, her voice weak and her movements faltering. She clenched her heart, her head bent in toward her chest in pain. "I…don't want this…I don't want this!"

The raven above her turned its head toward her as if startled, and its claws tightened around her heart. Nezumi screamed in pain, her head shooting up and her eyes shut, but as she fell to her knees, she began to glow with red light that forced the raven's claws out of her heart and blasting the bird away from her.

"Quack!" Ahiru quacked at Helios as a kind of signal.

"Yes!" Helios replied as a shout.

He leapt back over and propelled Komadori in an abrupt downward movement to cut the raven in half, making it disappear in a bunch of light particles.

Reepicheep and his army immediately stopped at Nezumi's weakness. Several little mice, who had hidden with their mothers as the battle, began rushed outside and over to their Queen, crying her name in worry.

For a moment Helios and Reepicheep looked afraid she would make an angry movement toward them, but instead the Queen smiled and wrapped her arms around the young mice reassuringly.

Reepicheep hesitantly also moved to Nezumi, holding his paw out to her. Nezumi stared at him for a long moment. Then she took his hand and let him help her up and the two mice shared a tight embrace.

"Otouto…little brother," Nezumi whispered. "How can you ever forgive me?"

"I would always forgive you, onee-san," Reepicheep responded loyally.

Nezumi turned to Helios, deep regret in her once-again-brown eyes. "Nutcracker...I am deeply sorry for what I've done-"

"There is nothing to apologize for, Queen Nezumi," Helios interrupted her gently. "Your feelings were manipulated by a raven desperate to feed on grief. You were not yourself."

Nezumi smiled, before looking to Ahiru. "Thank you, little duck, for your help. I don't know how you were able to reach me…but you did, and for that, I thank you."

The Mouse Queen turned to her citizens and proclaimed, "And today, in my husband's memory, I extend a hand of friendship to Prince Helios and all the friends he possesses."

The mice cheered. Helios, Demi and Ahiru all smiled, but Reepicheep's smile was even wider than theirs were


Fakir dropped his quill as he finished writing and ran outside to the sewer entrance Ahiru and Demi had first gone through, to find Helios lifting up the lid so that the Ahiru-carrying Demi could climb out.

At once the writer took Ahiru from Demi and brought her gently into his arms. Ahiru snuggled into Fakir's chest, likely so tired she thought his warmth was that of a comfy pillow.

Fakir stroked the little duck's head soothingly, a slight, fond smile on his face, before he turned to the Nutcracker.

"Come on, Helios…we should go back."

"Y-yes," Helios answered, stammering for the first time in Fakir's memory.

He turned to Demi, looking oddly nervous. "D-Demi-san…I…I wish to express my gratitude to you for taking the tumultuous risk of coming to my aid."

Demi smiled shyly. "It was nothing, Prince Helios."

"No, it was not!" Helios dissented loudly, before quieting down to continue, "You were courageous and strong…you got burnt trying to defend Ahiru-san-"

"Mistakes happen," interrupted Demi, feeling the part of her burn that slashed across her neck self-consciously.

"What I mean to convey..." Helios said, his gray eyes focused on hers, "...w-what I mean to say is that I-"

His voice cut off abruptly, his eyes going blank, and both Fakir and Demi realized in sorrowful dismay that Madame Ruza's magic on Helios had worn off.

Demi touched Helios's cheek and gave him a sad smile as she murmured, "You're welcome, Your Highness," before sprinting back to Ruza's caravan.

"…I love you," Helios whispered so quietly his voice sounded like the wind.

"I'm sorry, Helios," Fakir apologized softly, before sighing sadly, picking Helios up and starting to head back to Charon's.

The tears falling from the wooden, blank eyes of the Nutcracker did not go unnoticed by Fakir.


"What, you thought you were going to get a happy ending?" Drosslemeyer asked Helios scornfully. "Not a chance, Helios-baka, not a chance…"


I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?


Music Notes:

"Carol of the Bells": starts as Fakir thinks his "Drosslemeyer may have no more control on the story," chain of thoughts, and the first movement into rock (or 0:32) starts after Fakir's thoughts, with Helios jumping at Nezumi immediately and the mice swarming at 0:40. Fakir whispers, "Ahiru!" at the movement back into classical at 1:30. Pauses at 1:56 when the scene shifts back to Demi after Fakir shouts at Ruza, and starts again as Demi starts to resist Fakir's control. Demi straightens up at 2:20, and is slashed by the torch at 2:29. Ahiru and Demi dance together against the mice at 2:47. Ahiru notices "something black" over Nezumi at 3:05 as the music moves into classical for the third time, and Fakir repeats, "A raven?" at 3:29 as the rock music returns. Ahiru says that the story can't end with Nezumi dying at 3:52 and lands in front of Nezumi at 4:00. The music pauses at 4:11 as Ahiru starts dancing with Nezumi, and then returns as Nezumi sees her citizens' pain. Nezumi breaks free at 4:38, and Helios kills the raven at 4:42.

"Knighting Peter": starts at 2:27 as Ahiru starts to question Nezumi through her dance, and ends as Nezumi asks, "My…citizens…?"

This arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" is by Metallica and the Transiberian Orchestra.

The piece "Knighting Peter" is from "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" soundtrack.