I do not own Princess Tutu!
"No!!" Rue cried. "You despicable Raven!!!"
"Rue, it's all right. We'll save her. We'll get her back somehow."
"But Prince! He...he ate her...how will we...?"
"This is what the Raven wants. He wants to drive us into hopelessness. But we can't let that happen."
"But Mytho, how are we going to get her back?"
"We'll go in and get her."
From above, the Raven chuckled. "Yes, come in and get her. Then I can have all of your hearts!"
"We'll see about that." Mytho looked back at Rue and Fakir and nodded to them. They stood closer to Mytho as a cloud of flowers began to appear underneath him. Then, slowly, they were lifted off the ground. They kept climbing higher and higher until suddenly a cloud of ravens and crows flew down to meet them. Fakir gripped the sword in his hand tighter and readied himself to meet them. When Mytho's cloud of flowers and the flock of birds clashed with each other, both him and Mytho swung their swords. With each swipe they sliced through one raven after another until suddenly, a new flock appeared behind them. The dived at the two swordsmen and caught them off guard. The cloud of flowers underneath Rue, Mytho and Fakir disappeared and they all began plummeting to the ground.
As they fell, Rue jumped towards Fakir and grabbed his free hand, all the while leading him into a few simple dance moves. Their fall became a gentle descent and Rue turned to Mytho who was below them now. "Prince!"
Mytho nodded and threw himself into a pirouette. His cloud reappeared and he flew towards Rue and Fakir. Once he was underneath them, Fakir and Rue gently landed on the cloud and turned to the Monster Raven.
"I would like to have your hearts as soon as possible, but do not think that I am so ignorant. I have not forgotten my defeat in the past. I will not let you enter my body so easily."
Ahiru awoke with a groan. She sat up slowly and looked around her. Everything that seemed to be the sky was pitch black and the ground underneath her was a dull, lifeless gray. Spread out across the desolate place were skeletons, some that danced despairingly, and some that simply lay dead on the ground. "This is...inside the Raven?"
Ahiru got up and walked around aimlessly with the intent of exploring the endless plain. As she passed more and more skeletons, she began to wonder, These can't be...the townspeople...will I end up like this? Ahiru shook her head violently. "No no no!!! I can't give in to despair! I have to keep hoping!"
Then, as if hearing her outburst, all the skeletons as far as she could see stopped abruptly in their dance and turned their heads to her. Ahiru froze. "Uhhhh..."
"There..." The Raven's voice echoed out through the air. "That girl has the pure heart that I have searched for...perhaps if you offered it to me I just might set you all free..."
"Qu-!?" Ahiru quickly covered her mouth before she quacked and backed away as the skeletons turned their bodies to her and now began to approach. Ahiru ran to escape, but a skeleton closed in on her from every side. She backed away until she was right in the middle of them and began to panic. Oh no...what do I do!!! Ahiru closed her eyes as the skeletons around her jumped in a grand jeté towards her. "Quack!!!"
Ahiru transformed into a duck just as the skeletons piled on top of her. With a great effort, Ahiru managed to squeeze through the pile of bones and hurry away before any of them could notice. Once the skeletons were finally out of sight, Ahiru slowed down and sighed. Transforming into a duck might have saved me back there...but how am I going to turn back into a girl? I don't see any water here...and not only that, I left my clothes back with those skeletons! Ahiru sighed again. For now, she decided to push back those concerns. They weren't her biggest problems at the moment. Right now, she had to either find a way out, or find the townspeople.
Ahiru picked up her pace again, eager to find what she was looking for and to also not let the skeleton's catch up to her. "Quack?" What is that? Not too far away, Ahiru spotted a rather large group of sparkling red lights. She picked up her pace and once she got closer, she noticed that in the middle of each glowing light, was a red crystal that looked very much like Mytho's heart shards. However, these red crystals seemed more complete and full, and took on the shape of a heart. Hearts?
Ahiru stopped just in front of the numerous lights and gasped. Suddenly she could see the translucent images of the people whom the hearts belonged to. She recognized each and every one of them. "Quack quack quack!!!" It's the people of Kinkan!!
"Prince, what are we going to do?"
"What else can we do? There's no other way to get inside the Raven except by force."
"It seems that way, but it can't be! With all those ravens at his disposal we can hardly hope to get past them."
"Then we need to find a way to get rid of them." Fakir mumbled to himself thoughtfully. Mytho and Rue turned to him.
"Fakir, do you have an idea?"
"Well, Rue, you once had power over the ravens and crows as Princess Kraehe. Perhaps you can divide their numbers and turn them to our side..."
"That's true but...I'm no longer their Princess. I betrayed them, remember? I doubt they'd listen to me..."
"But if you still have the power to transform into Princess Kraehe then that means you definitely still have Raven's blood in you. I don't see why at least some of them wouldn't rebel."
Rue considered this for a moment and then nodded hesitantly. "Okay...I'll try." Fakir nodded and Mytho began to bring them back up to the cloud of birds above. Stopping just before them, Rue stepped forward and began dancing. "Oh mischievous, cunning birds...I, your former Princess beckons you." Rue slid down on one knee and reached out her hands to the birds. "I betrayed you once before, but please, I ask that you aid me in this battle. After all, what do you have to gain from serving a monster like that. I may seem like the traitor here, but in truth, he's the one who has betrayed you!" Rue got up and performed the 32 fouettes en tournant. "The noble blood that he claims to have is simply a ruse; an excuse to use you and then simply throw you away. Help me overthrow him and I promise I'll lead you all into peace!"
Once Rue had completed her series of fouettes, a large portion of the ravens split off and flew to Rue's side. She smiled in amazement. "They listened!"
"Good job Rue. Now we might be able to break through!" Mytho exclaimed. Rue nodded and jumped into the air in a grand jete. The ravens followed her and began fighting off the rest of the birds. Mytho and Fakir few past the fray on the cloud of flowers and followed Rue towards the Raven's belly. Mid-jump, Rue noticed a gaping scar in the middle of the Raven's chest. Ah, that would probably be the easiest way for us to get in.
Rue raised her hand and a black feather appeared. It transformed into a sharp dagger and Rue waited before she was in front of the scar before tracing it with her blade. The Raven winced in pain as part of his scar opened, allowing Mytho, Rue and Fakir passage into his belly.
Mytho gently landed them all on the gray ground beneath them. "What is this place?" Fakir wondered.
"This is simply what's inside the Raven. A hopeless, never ending pit of despair. However, I still can't refuse the fact that it has its own peaceful and calming essence." Rue whispered.
"Rue..." Suddenly, then, Mytho heard a rattling behind him. He gripped his blade and swiftly cut through the enemy behind him. The skeleton fell apart and its bones lay lifeless on the ground.
"Watch out, there's more." Rue warned. Indeed many more came from behind and approached quickly.
"Fakir, go ahead and search for Ahiru! You have to find her quickly before the Raven completely takes her heart!"
"I'm not leaving. I can fight."
"No Fakir!" Mytho shoved back a group of skeletons with the flat side of his blade and then slashed through them. "We'll be fine here, right Rue?"
"That's right. Ahiru's safety is what matters right now. I can't help but feel that if the Raven has her heart then there really is no hope in defeating him."
Fakir stepped forward stubbornly to help, but then thought better of it. With a grunt he turned around and ran to search for Ahiru.
Well, that's all for now! The last two chapters will be up by Sunday...(hopefully.) :D I'm actually getting quite excited myself so I'm going to try and hurry along. But anyways...
Thanks very much to all reviewers especially BlueForestAngelCat, Diabolical Kitsutora, -Rhiannon-Onyx Moon, Insomniatic95, and Moon Shadow Magic. :D Please do keep reviewing!
Side Note: For some reason, I just couldn't stop listening to Camille Saint-Saens' music while writing this! I just love his Carnival of the Animals musical suite! Each is so unique and wonderful! Also, probably my favorite by him, (not part of the Carnival of the Animals) is Danse Macabre. If you'd like to hear it, youtube it or you can even hear it in Princess Tutu! It's the main theme for episode 24. I might name this chapter or the next after it because of the Raven controlling the skeletons to attack Ahiru. If you knew the story or poem behind the piece then you'd get it. :P