Ahiru's True Form
Chapter Two
Ahiru was dancing on the lake's floor. Her orange hair swirled around her head as she ducked and spun around. A single beam of light illuminated a simple underwater stage for the amateur ballet dancer. Usually Ahiru's dance was pained and duck-like but now she moved just as gracefully as Princess Tutu. However, this dance was much different from the disciplined ballet of Princess Tutu. There was so much more of herself in Ahiru's dance. Ahiru the girl had never had any special grace or poise when it came to ballet. Her talent was expression. It was a gift that even Fakir envied. Every movement, every pose she struck doubled in significance because it was very expressly 'her'-self. Fakir never felt as touched by any other dancer's ballet as this one.
Not even Rue could compare to this, Fakir thought. No one can dance quite like Ahiru and no one ever will.
A glowing light began to build in Fakir's chest. As he watched he felt it get steadily stronger. It slowly warmed his heart, melting away the last of the remaining ice that he had foster there after so many years of domineering over Mythos. He had seen this light out his window during the final battle. He even knew he name of it, the emotion that had possessed Ahiru from the first moment he met her. That light saved them all from the despair of Monster Raven.
Ahiru slowed into a heartbreaking ralentir la danse. Her face was emotionless but her ballet betrayed her. Fakir could sense her emotions perfectly just then. Despite her blank expression, her movements showed him much sadness. There was so much pain behind that peaceful face.
The water surrounding them began to change. The scene in from of Fakir grew hazy and dark. The current picked up and Fakir soon found himself barely able to stand against the raging force of the water. He raised his hands to shield his face against the current but the water still blinded him. He raised his voice against the growing din of the rushing water, screaming for his friend.
"Ahiru! Come to me, Ahiru! We have to get out of here! It's not safe, we have to go," Fakir cried.
The last thing Fakir saw was Ahiru's face, eyes wide in surprise, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'. She apparently hadn't noticed he was there.
He reached his hand out towards her but she was already fall away from him fast. The current was pushing him upwards at a frightening speed. There was nothing Fakir could do to fight it. The dark water gave way to light as he shot towards the surface of the lake. He tried with all his might to struggle against the current but it was useless. Soon he was expelled from the water, drowning instead in dazzling white light.
"Ahiru!"
"…Fakir?"
Fakir bolted upright to find himself being forced back down. He fought against his restraints, desperate to get back to the lake with Ahiru.
"Fakir, open you eyes," Fakir heard a voice say.
"It's alright, you're with us now," said another voice, a girl this time.
Fakir ceased his struggles and opened his eyes. At first, he was blinded by the brilliant light shining unobstructed through the window. As his eyes adjusted, he could see the others in the room with him. Urza-chan's was looking at him with her signature look of innocent curiosity. She was tapping lightly on her drum, as always. Rue stood away from the bed by the window, as if she was afraid to come any closer to Fakir. She did seem concerned about him though. She was holding blood soiled bandages, which Fakir assumed was him own.
A kind face with silver hair stood out among them.
"Mythos?"
Mythos smiled at him and nodded. "Hello Fakir. I am glad that you are awake. We were beginning to worry about you."
"Mythos, where is Ahiru?" Fakir asked abruptly.
Mythos looked confused. He tilted his head to the side and said, "You mean the girl from the ballet school? Most of the students went back there after the battle, perhaps she was among them."
Rue placed her hand on Mythos's shoulder. "No, he means Princess Tutu. Ahiru was her alter ego."
Mythos stared at his princess in undisguised surprise. "Ahiru was Princess Tutu? Why didn't she tell me? I thought she was my friend."
Fakir glared at the couple and repeated his question, "Where is Ahiru? I couldn't find her after the battle. I thought she would be there with the rest of you in the end."
Mythos and Rue looked back at him and Mythos replied, "I don't know where she is. I remember a pillar of bright light and a great swan. The light grew till it absorbed the entire town. It was that light that broke the curse of the Monster Raven on the town. I can only assume that Princess Tutu disappeared with the light."
Rue gasped, and looked away from Fakir. Fakir knew that she blamed him for Ahiru's disappearance. Urza-chan looked from Fakir to Rue and back but said nothing.
Fakir's heart skipped a beat and his stomach plummeted to the floor under his bed. No, he thought. That isn't what I wrote. That wasn't how her story was supposed to end.
There was a brief silence filled with grief broken only by Urza-chan's steady tapping. Rue turned back to the two young men, looking thoughtful. She paused before speaking, "I'm not sure that she is gone. The swan she turned into was made out of a brilliant light that blinded us for awhile. It's possible that she turned into something else and ran off while we were regaining our sight."
Fakir shook his head sadly. "She would have been too tired to have run off anywhere. She was crushed by the army of raven during the battle. She fought hard, defying all the odds, but there is no way she could have walked away from that."
The darkness came back to Rue's eyes, "Yes, she was brutally beaten by the army of ravens. And I blame no one but you, Fakir. No one else had the power to make them stop and spared poor Ahiru. This is your fault, Fakir."
In his heart, Fakir knew that Rue was as scared and worried for Ahiru as he was. She considered herself as much a friend of Ahiru as he did, having been changed by Ahiru in the same manner as Fakir. They had both lived most of their lives in darkness, driven only by their obsessions with Mythos, searching to monopolize his love. Rue and Fakir had more in common than anyone could guess. Perhaps that was why Rue knew exactly the right thing to say to shatter Fakir's heart.
"How dare you accuse me of such a heinous crime," Fakir screamed, shredding his still delicate throat. "If I could have done anything for Ahiru, I would have done it. I fought the spell of Dosselmeyer with every fiber of my being to stop Ahiru's pain. I wrote the story the way it needed to be so we could all have a happy ending."
"A happy ending? You call this a happy ending? Where is Ahiru? Do you know what happened to Princess Tutu?" Mythos placed a hand on Rue's shoulder. It seemed to have a calming effect on her but her face soon dissolved into tears. She spun and burrowed her head into Mythos's shoulder. He held her against him, stroking her hair to help soother her.
Ahiru was dancing on the lake's floor. Her orange hair swirled around her head as she ducked and spun around.
"No," Fakir replied sadly. "I have no idea what happened to her."
Rue lifted her head to look at him. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "You must have so clue to what happened to her. What did you write in your story? You must have written something about her in the end." A shadow passed over her face and she stared at him in horror. "You didn't make her disappear in the end, did you? Like in the original story?" Mythos said nothing but his arm around Rue grew noticeably tighter. Urza-chan was still gazing at the scene with unmasked curiosity.
Despite her blank expression, her movements showed him much sadness. There was so much pain behind that peaceful face.
Fakir glared at her in annoyance. "Of course I didn't. She was my friend; I would never let anything like that happen to her if I could help it. I don't know what happened to her. She should have been with you in the end. I don't know why she wasn't."
Before anyone could say anything, the sound of a snare-drum erupted from the base of the bed.
"Ahiru-chan is gone-zura?" asked Urza-chan. Fakir turned to her and put his hand one her wooden head.
"Yes, Urza-chan," he said softly. Urza-chan had always been very attached to Ahiru. Fakir knew how painful it was to her to hear the news. He could barely stand the mystery of Ahiru's disappearance himself. His mind floated back to his dream. It was only just a dream, right? Fakir's thoughts clouded with images of Ahiru's underwater ballet. It had seemed so real to him. It was the same place that he and Ahiru had decided to give Mythos the last piece of his heart, and to accept whatever fate that befell them. That was at the bottom of the lake of despair. But that place couldn't possibly still exist could it? The story was over. There would be no more need for a place like that. Fakir was slipping deeper and deeper into his thoughts when Urza-chan surprised them all by saying, "But I just saw her! She was in woods-zura!"
Mythos, Rue, and Fakir immediately turned on Urza-chan.
"Where did you see her? Where in the woods?"
"Was she alright? Was she hurt…?"
"Why didn't you tell us before…?"
Urza-chan was overwhelmed by their questions. Her eyes stared up at them in bewilderment. When they refused to stop she began to wail on her drum until they all fell silent. Mythos placed his hand on her cheek and asked her again, "Where in the woods did you see Princess Tutu?"
Urza-chan smiled wide and banged on her drum in glee. "Follow me-zura! I'll show you the way-zura!"
She bounced off the bed and bolted out the door, crying 'Follow me-zura!' Fakir shot out of the bed, ignoring the painful protests of his body. Mythos moved as though he intended to encourage Fakir to stay behind but Fakir ran out of the room after Urza-chan before Mythos could stop him. Rue and Mythos were quick to rush after him.
Author's note: I would like to thank all of you beautiful people that reviewed the first chapter of this story. I hope this one is also to your liking. The third chapter is already under way and will hopefully be ready to post by the end of the week. If you happen to find any typos or grammatical errors in this chapter, please bring it to my attention. My normal proof reader is currently working on her own project and I feel bad disturbing her.