Once upon a time there was a woman. She was a normal woman, with a normal job and a normal life, until she married a man who she didn't love and who didn't love her. Her husband, bitter at being unable to marry the woman he really loved, took his anger out on the woman and abused her grievously. The woman knew that her husband had no right to do so, but she didn't know what to do. What is more tragic…the woman's situation or that she didn't attempt to find a way out?
Act 43: The Battle (Part 3)
(((Waltz of the Flowers)))
Ahiru watched the portal close behind her and Fakir, before facing forward once more to examine the place she and her writer friend had just entered.
The interior of Vulture's heart that they had landed in held the appearance of an elegant garden lit by blue-tinted lanterns: a garden filled with marble benches, rose bushes trimmed into different types of birds and a large diamond fountain with flowing water. Sadly the rest of the wizard's heart, like Fakir's had been under the raven's influence, was dark and cold, but the impact of the raven's darkness on Vulture was much more apparent and terrifying. The darkness around the garden rippled with red like it was a river made of oil and blood, slowly creeping further into the gentle blue light of the garden like a cautious, manipulative spider. The chill in the air was both cold and terrifying enough to freeze one where he stood. Like in Fakir's heart, shadows of people flickered throughout the garden, but the fear-filled and painful screams of the shadows almost seemed to diminish the shock of their appearance.
Fakir steadied his arm around Ahiru, his eyes flashing with distrust and gruff fear as they moved over the scenery.
"Stay close to me…I don't doubt the raven will stop controlling Vulture's body so it can go through his heart after us."
Abruptly a female scream rang out from one of the shadows in the blackness. Startled, Fakir tightened his grip around Ahiru, and the princess involuntarily felt herself flinch away from his touch at the pressure he unknowingly placed on her hurt wings.
Fakir looked at her in slight surprise at her moving away from him, before he noticed the blood over her. Likely it was the first time he'd really seen how wounded she was; his eyes widened in faint horror.
"I did this to you."
It was not a question. The writer's voice was very quiet and quite hoarse, as if his throat was tightening and he was having problems talking steadily.
Ahiru didn't know how to respond. All she could think of to do was to wrap her arms around Fakir and hold onto him tightly in a kind of reassurance. Fakir at first couldn't seem to move; then, after a moment, he returned the gesture, resting his head on top of hers.
"You didn't do it," Ahiru said at last. "It was the raven, not you…you didn't know what you were doing."
Fakir pulled away from her, his emerald orbs filled with pained regret. "I should have been stronger, I shouldn't have just-"
Ahiru placed a finger to his lips to quiet him. Fakir's face heated up with a blush and he couldn't seem to make himself argue anymore.
"Don't blame yourself," Ahiru told him quietly. "I mean…I've been weak plenty of times, and you've had to help me be strong. Everyone needs that sometimes."
Fakir closed his eyes and sighed before he opened them once more determinedly and returned to the business at hand, looking back up at the rippling darkness above them with his jaw clenched.
"We need to find Vulture's soul…but this place looks endless…who knows how long it would take-"
He abruptly stopped at a sudden, quiet cluster of sound. It took him and Ahiru a moment to realize it was a warm, lullaby-like stanza of music.
'The tune from my music box…' Ahiru realized, her eyes very wide.
Without another word, she ran off toward the source of the music. Fakir called at her to come back, before forgetting the tactic and running after her.
The two ran through the garden, passing peacock bushes and marble benches and following the quiet, haunting melody toward its source.
"On
the wind, cross the sea,
Hear
this song and remember…"
At last they reached a bush in the shape of a swan with its white-rose-decorated wings outstretched and a semi-large opening in its chest. Through the entrance was a small earthen hollow large enough for two people to hide in, and in the shadows of that hiding place was the shape of a person.
"Soon you'll be home with me,
Once
upon a December…"
Hesitantly Ahiru bent down beside the hollow in the swan bush, trying to see the figure better. It took her a few moments to make herself say something.
"Um…excuse me?"
The figure abruptly shifted as if turning around in alarm. Then, very slowly, the figure stuck his head out of the tiny cavern, before hesitantly climbing out.
The form was of a teenager no older than Ahiru and only a bit shorter than Fakir. He was slim, with shoulder-length blond-brown hair, warm hazel eyes and, oddly enough, a pair of light brown vulture wings sprouting out of his back. He was adorned in a set of dark scarlet wizard robes with had a gold, "C" initialed badge fastened to the chest.
It was a younger version of Vulture…or, as Ahiru remembered Baltazar had called him, Geier.
The teenage Geier had a very dull look in his eyes at first, as if he were expecting Ahiru and Fakir to immediately run away, screaming in terror. After a long moment of silence, however, neither of the two had made a movement and Geier's expression morphed into slight confusion.
His eyes moved from Ahiru to Fakir, and his eyes filled with furious shock before they narrowed sharply.
"Lohengrin!" he growled fiercely.
He lifted a hand, purple magic covering it like a menacing glove, and rose it in a threatening sort of way toward Fakir. Fakir in retaliation brought his sword up protectively in front of him, preparing to defend.
"No!"
Ahiru, not thinking at all about what Geier could do to her, shot between the two and seized hold of Geier's wrist.
Her gentle, yet firm grip took Geier by surprise; his magic faded from his hand and the young wizard stared at Ahiru in disbelief. Her blue eyes seemed to entrance him, for that's what seemed to hold his attention.
"Who…who are you?" Geier whispered.
"I'm Odette," the red-haired princess answered, "but you can call me Ahiru."
"Ahiru?" Geier repeated faintly. "That means 'duck'…"
He suddenly noticed her wings, and his eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.
"Duck wings…?" he realized.
Ahiru nodded. "I'm under the Curse of Wings."
Geier's shock cooled slightly. "I see…your avian form is a duck."
He glanced back at his own wings in a kind of disgust. "When day comes, you just become another bird and just fit right in…you're very lucky."
"Lucky?" Fakir repeated, his voice quaking with anger. "She's trapped at Musouka Lake as long as you keep under that curse!"
"Fakir!" Ahiru reproached worriedly.
Geier looked confused but also angry at Fakir's words. "How dare you! I've never cursed anyone in my life."
"Don't give me that crap!" Fakir retorted, his emerald eyes flashing. "You know full well what you've done, and you just sit here uselessly and do nothing while the raven hurts innocent people!"
"Stop it!" Ahiru shouted.
The writer and the wizard glowered at each other fiercely, but stopped arguing at Ahiru's words.
"You're not Lohengrin," Geier said at last as he glared at Fakir. "He's stupid, but he never makes random and unfounded accusations."
He then turned to Ahiru, spreading his vulture wings and clasping his hands out in front of him as if to gesture her to speak.
"What is your purpose here?" he asked her.
Ahiru, instead of speaking, glanced up at the red-rippling darkness above them as if to make sure the raven wasn't approaching, before raising her arms above her head, circling her hands and then extending a hand to Geier.
The movement surprised Geier, his hazel eyes bright like he was experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu. After a long moment, he slowly took her hand.
Fakir watched as the two danced, looking gruffly concerned for Ahiru. Ahiru's dance was kind and full of understanding; Geier's, however, although filled with honesty, still looked to the writer like a vulture swooping over his prey.
"Why are you here?" Geier's movements seemed to ask Ahiru. "No one has ever come here before…"
"There is a raven inside your heart," Ahiru gestured back to him. "It's controlling your body and making you do horrible things."
"How can it be controlling my body?" Geier inquired, looking slightly suspicious. "I'm right here…there's no raven."
"You're inside your heart right now," Ahiru answered through her dance, gesturing around at the garden. "All of this…this is the inside of your heart…the last part that's not being controlled by the raven."
Geier didn't seem to want to believe her. "How can this be true?"
He twirled away from her in a backward pirouette, arching one of his arms across his chest in an angrily noble kind of way.
"Just because I have vulture wings doesn't mean I'm bad! I'm not a bad person…I know I'm not a bad person! You don't know anything!"
His movements slashed at her abruptly like a sword, not out of hatred or raven spite, but still out of anger and pain.
"Ahiru!"
Fakir ran forward as if to aid her, but before he could, a figure suddenly came down from the rippling ebony and scarlet sky.
The figure resembled the older Vulture Ahiru and Fakir knew from outside the wizard's body at Musouka Lake, except his eyes shone a bright red and his normal vulture wings were replaced with black raven wings.
"You're more trouble than you're worth, story spinner!" the raven of Vulture's heart cawed angrily.
It slashed at Fakir with a deadly sharp set of claws; fortunately the writer was just barely able to dodge the blow.
Ahiru tried to help Fakir, but a blast of purple magic from one of Geier's flourishing hands shot at her and forced her to jump away both from the blast and her friend.
"I'm not telling you any of this because of your wings!" Ahiru tried to reason with Geier through his dance. "I'm only trying to help you!"
"Liar!" Geier's movements seemed to snap.
The teenage wizard stopped for a moment, his feet resting in third position and his hazel eyes blazing.
Ahiru couldn't understand why Geier was still fighting her. Didn't he see the raven-Vulture and Fakir battling behind her? They were in his clear line of sight!
Then she realized…
'He can't see the raven…he hasn't acknowledged its presence, so he can't see it!'
"Everyone, my entire life," Geier murmured, his hands rising up on either side of him like claws, "they all thought I was evil because I'm part vulture…what makes you any different?"
Ahiru looked back at Fakir in worry, wanting to help him, but knowing the only way she could help him at the moment was to reach out to Geier and have him see the raven himself. The raven's darkness around the garden crept steadily through it, surrounding them like a menacing flock of ravens around a dying animal. Soon, Ahiru knew, the darkness would cover the last part of Vulture's heart and kill Fakir, the wizard and her in one blow.
Ahiru faced Geier once more, her eyes determined.
"The difference is…I've met you before," she answered him. "I've met you, and I know you're not bad! The raven's made you do horrible things…but I've met you before, Geier-san!"
The princess calling him by name startled the dirty-blond-haired male.
'Geier-san…no one has ever called me that…except…'
A voice the wizard didn't even realize had been in his memory suddenly echoed through his mind.
"I'm Odette! It was nice meeting you, Geier-san!"
Geier's hazel eyes widened as he stared at Ahiru.
"You…you were that little girl…at the ball…"
Ahiru smiled, nodding. "That's right. I'm Princess Odette of Cygnus."
"Cygnus…"
Geier looked speechless.
"But…why am I only now just remembering you?" he demanded. "Any of this?"
"Because until now you haven't attempted to face it," Ahiru answered. "That's why you can't see the raven, even though it's right in front of you! As long as you stay in this part of your heart and run away from it, the raven will live on and more people will suffer! That's why Fakir and I are here…we can't defeat the raven alone…we need your help!"
Geier stared at her for a very long moment, until at last he closed his eyes. His forehead scrunched up in concentration, and after a long moment, his body began to glow with purple magic.
The raven-Vulture and Fakir both whirled around at the sudden bright light, the raven's eyes filled with alarm and Fakir's eyes full of amazement.
The young wizard rapidly began to age; his hair grew longer and rougher, his robes grew ripped and stained, his frame grew taller and his face became fuller and gained middle-age-worthy wrinkles and age spots.
When the light at last vanished and Geier opened his eyes once more, they were filled with sorrow and pain. Despite that, however, Ahiru could see a depth and wisdom there that had been absent from the younger Geier's eyes. He had accepted the memories of the atrocities he'd committed and gained wisdom from doing so.
The older wizard smiled at Ahiru. "Thank you, little princess."
He then raised a hand into the air, ignoring the raven's blackness creeping closer around him and Ahiru from all sides. With a flourish of his raised hand, light spiraled from his palm into a thin rod until it became a white magic staff with the icon of a swan adorning the head.
The wizard pointed the swan-garnished staff at his raven lookalike, making the doppelganger take a fearful step back.
"You made me destroy the kingdom I called 'home!'" Geier stated in a deadly whisper. "You made me destroy the man that Tutu loved! I will not allow you to harm her loved ones, or anyone, ever again!"
His wings spread, Geier leapt in a great jeté toward the raven-Vulture. The raven slashed at him desperately with its deadly claws, but the wizard dodged them with apparent ease. It was obvious, though, that the ease was due to his determination to destroy the raven once and for all.
Fakir hurried to Ahiru, jumping in front of her protectively as the raven's blackness began to move over them. The knight-turned-writer wrapped his arms tightly and protectively around Ahiru, and the duck-turned-princess gripped onto his shirt tightly, staring at the darkness creeping up their legs in terror.
"Ahiru…" Fakir murmured suddenly.
Struggling not to look at the darkness creeping up her waist and Fakir's arms, Ahiru looked into his eyes, to find immense seriousness and dolor there.
"If we die here…" he whispered, struggling to continue talking as the darkness almost strangled his neck, "just know that…I love you."
Geier raised his staff, crying a battle cry loud enough to echo through his raven-rotted heart, before thrusting the purple-shining weapon at the raven with enough force to slice in half.
The raven's black and Geier's purple magic blasted together in brilliant battle, before becoming a bright, conflicting white that blinded the onlookers as well as Drosslemeyer watching the scene in his gears.
I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?
Music Notes:
"Prologue": The tune of "Once Upon a December." Starts when Fakir stops at the appearance of a sound at 1:47, with Geier singing when Marie and Anastasia do on the track, with the music ending right after the song.
"Waltz of the Flowers": Known as Ahiru's theme. Starts when Geier asks Ahiru who she is, with Geier's "When day comes…" chain of speech at 0:20, Ahiru's "Stop it!" at 0:36 and Geier spreading his wings at 0:46. He asks, "What is your purpose here?" at 0:50, and Ahiru glances around at the raven's darkness before circling her hands above her head at 0:56 and reaching her hand out to Geier at 0:59. The music then skips ahead to 2:10 for Geier taking Ahiru's hand, and Geier pirouettes away from Ahiru at 2:33. Fakir cries, "Ahiru!" at 2:45, the raven-Vulture first enters at 2:49, and Geier rests for a moment with his feet in third position at 3:12. Ahiru thinks her "he can't see it" chain of thoughts right before Geier starts his "Everyone, my entire life," chain of speech at 3:27. The music then skips from 3:42 to 4:25 for when Ahiru looks back at Fakir fighting and the raven darkness creeping into the garden, and Ahiru faces Geier once more at 4:31. Geier hears little Odette's voice in his head at 4:53 and breathes "Cygnus…" at 5:03. Geier closes his eyes at 5:29, glows purple at 5:35 and starts to age at 5:43. Geier opens his eyes again at 5:58, thanking Ahiru at 6:04 and his magic staff completely coming together in his hand at 6:09. Geier lands beside the raven at 6:21 and Fakir jumps over to Ahiru at 6:24, finishing his love confession at 6:36. Geier thrusts the staff at the raven at 6:43 and the raven and Geier's magic combine into white as the music ends at 6:45.
The piece "Prologue" and the song "Once Upon a December" is from the "Anastasia" soundtrack.
The piece "Waltz of the Flowers" is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet "The Nutcracker."
