Once upon a time, a Princess was all alone. She had no friends, and no help from anyone. But when her time of need grew near, a hero arrives where it was least expected...
Dumbfounded by the incident a few days ago, Ahiru wears a blank expression as she goes about her routine warm-ups before class. Her wounds had not been all that serious, and she is in good condition once more.
"Mademoiselle, are you all right?" Femio, who was doing his own stretches across from her, stops to ask, sounding rather concerned.
"Huh? Oh, Femio... Yes, I'm quite fine. Sorry about that."
While she tried to reassure Femio that she was indeed alright, in truth, she was anything but. Ever since she turned back into a human girl, nothing really seems to have been going well. Fakir is still nowhere to be found; Lilie as well has not been seen in a while; She had failed to save Pike; and truthfully, she wasn't the one who saved Femio either. Femio had gotten out of that situation by himself, using his own feelings and will power.
She wonders now... What was the reason of letting her become human again; Of letting her become Tutu again? If she could not even help anyone... Then what was the point?
"Ok, class. Gather round, we'll be having something different today from our usual routine." Ms. Cat announces, shortly catching Ahiru's attention away from her thoughts.
"Since the annual recital will be held in a few months, where you all know already that we'll be doing Swan Lake; We have to start auditioning for roles and start practicing. I have arranged for one of the music students to come and play the piano for us as we get started." Ms. Cat, beckons to the door. "Please, come in and introduce yourself."
As the students turn their heads to see who it is that is coming in, the door opens, and in walks a certain bespectacled boy. Glancing over the ballet students, he greets them.
"Good morning. Nice to meet you all. My name is-"
"Autor!" bellows Ahiru who had not been paying attention until he had actually stepped into the room. Autor, looking quite annoyed at having been interrupted, readies himself to retort but is stopped.
"Ahiru! Would you please not interrupt. Or do you wish to be punished?" Ms. Cat says with a low growl as her aura changes tone.
Ahiru, looking terrified, squeaks: "No, ma'm!"
"Good. Now, shall we begin?" She turns a happy mood again, and Autor can't help but sweatdrop at the bi-polar tendencies of the feline instructor.
"Well, that's all for today and you may all leave now-"
"Ah, Mademoiselle Ahiru! Would you like-"
"Except Ahiru."
Ms. Cat interrupts Femio in turn as she looks at Ahiru. Said girl looks up and dons a confused expression.
"You've been totally out of it and haven't been paying any attention at all today. For that, I want you to stay behind and clean the room." And with that said, Ms. Cat leaves with the other students, while Ahiru and Femio watch them go.
Ahiru, feeling a slight sense of nostalgia, looks down at the floor.
"And what is it that is bothering you now?"
Ahiru and Femio look up to see Autor fixing his music sheets over by the piano.
"Ah! Ehe... I'm sorry about a while ago." Ahiru gives a weak laugh, scratching her head a little. "Oh! But, your playing today was amazing! I think this is the first time I heard you play! You are quite the talented musicia-"
"Stop it, Ahiru." Autor interrupts her. "Always trying to seem happy-go-lucky. Enough with the charades already." He looks at her through his spectacles, almost glaringly. Ahiru is taken aback.
Femio, who had been quiet up to now, looks between the two, and decides to try and lighten the mood.
"Hey now! What's all this? Can't you see you are making the Mademoiselle uncomfortable? Besides, this isn't how friends talk to each other, right-"
"We are NOT friends!" Autor suddenly exclaims.
Ahiru, now changes her expression to a more annoyed one. "Why do you always have to be like that! Femio was only voicing his concern for me! Don't raise your voice at him!"
"Oh, and you aren't raising your voice?"
"Well-You started it! You keep going on and on about how we're not friends, or that none of the recent happenings concern you, but aren't YOU the one who first approached me about these events! Weren't you the one these past weeks who had always been there with me when something happens? I thought when you came, that day Femio was attacked, that you had come to your senses, and that I may finally have found a friend in you, but-"
"It's because I'm involved in this!"
Ahiru stops and looks at Autor. Femio seemingly shrinks into the background.
"You think I WANT to keep hanging around you! You think I WANT to be there whenever something happens! I am never there because I want to be, or because we're friends, or want to be friends, or whatever! I am there because, whether I want to or not; I am a PART of this story!"
Ahiru, tears welling up in her eyes, starts to go very red in the face, and she can't help but scream:
"I HATE YOU!"
And the tears start to fall.
Not daring to look up again, Ahiru runs out the door and leaves.
"Mademoiselle! Mademoiselle Ahiru, please wait!"
Ahiru reluctantly stops running and turns around to meet Femio. "What do you want?" She manages to choke out, rubbing her eyes of tears.
"Fear not, Mademoiselle. Do not listen to that foolish boy. Even if he doesn't wish to be there at your aid, I will be there. For I am-"
"...Also part of the story."
"M-Mademoiselle...?"
"I dunno... Autor is right. It feels... like none of us would even be hanging around each other if it weren't for the story." Ahiru glances to the side, avoiding Femio's confused gaze. "We're... not friends. And we don't even really know each other well. Not you. Not Autor. We're all just caught up in this story- And I don't even know why!" And her thoughts drift back to her questions on what her role even is in the story.
"Oh, Mademoiselle..." He tries to approach her, to which she promptly took a step back.
"I- I'm sorry for saying all these things... And I'm sorry again, but... I want to be left alone for now."
And with that, she turns around again and starts to walk away. Femio watches her retreating form with a hint of sorrow.
Just as Ahiru leaves around the corner, Femio suddenly feels a dark aura behind him.
"You know. I didn't see Ahiru back in the classroom... She was supposed to be cleaning up there..."
Femio, frightened turns around slowly to meet Ms. Cat.
"If you don't wish for both of you to be punished-You better go and clean up the practice room yourself!"
"Y-Yes, Madame!"
Ahiru walks through the town quietly. She had visited Charon's house only to find he was not there. She asked some of his neighbors if perhaps they knew of his whereabouts, and they responded that he has been out on a business trip for a while now and hasn't returned yet.
She remembers Fakir talking about that during his visits to the pond, saying how ever since the previous stories' barrier was lifted, Charon had been frequently visiting other towns to do business there.
Ahiru however, can't help but wonder if maybe Charon was now stuck outside of town now that a new story has begun.
Feeling like she has no one else to turn to, Ahiru sits on a bench by the side walk. She truly does miss her friends... Pike, Lilie... Rue... Mytho... Fakir. At the last she couldn't help but bring the feather out. Holding them between her fingers, she strokes it a little as tears start to well up in her eyes once more.
"I wish you guys were here... I don't know what to do anymore... Why is all this happening...? Why did I turn back into a human...? Why did I become... Tutu again?"
She clutched onto the feather, holding it close to her as she now lets her tears fall freely.
However, unseen above the rooftops, Ahiru doesn't notice a raven watching her. Spying her a little more, it flies up and leaves.
Sitting in the ballet practice room, Autor leans over the piano, his head in his hands.
"Why did I say all those things? I didn't mean to upset her so much." Her rubs his face with one hand as his other holds his glasses.
"It's not really that I don't want any of this... It's just... I do not know my own role in this story." He looks up. "I was always there... Whenever something happens... But I've never really done anything! Even that annoying Femio was able to find his role in the story..."
And as if on cue, Femio bursts into the room, "Ah! Autor! You are still here!"
Standing up annoyed, Autor can't help but raise his voice again, "What are you doing back here!"
Femio, not at all bothered by Autor's temper, stares at him blankly. "I was sent here to clean in place of Mademoiselle Ahiru." He says simply as he raises the mop he had been holding.
"Ugh... of course." Autor turns around to gather his things. Suddenly, he is pulled by his shoulders and he is met with Femio once more.
"You must apologize to her!"
"What!"
Holding Autor firmly by the shoulders, he looks him straight in the eye. "Even before you had said those things, Mademoiselle Ahiru had already been feeling rather down! And with you saying all those things after, she must be really depressed now!"
Moving away from Femio's grasp, Autor stumbles backwards and into some of the other instruments in the corner, knocking over a trombone and tripping over a violin case. "You-!"
"No!"
Pulling Autor up, and picking up his music sheets and the violin case, Femio pushes Autor out the door.
"You will go and apologize to the Mademoiselle whether you want to or not!" Femio says as he shoves the music sheets and the violin case in Autor's hands and promptly slams the door in his face.
Fumbling a little, Autor screams after Femio: "This isn't even my violi-"
However, spying something out the window, Autor stops. Outside, on top of one of the school buildings, he could see the blonde girl in black, seemingly communicating with a raven.
Alarmed, he turns around and knocks hard on the door, "Femio! Femio, come out quick!"
"No, no! Not until you have apologized to the Mademoiselle! Besides, I have to finish cleaning the room."
"Ugh! You don't understand! The gir-" But Autor finds it useless to continue calling out. Femio had locked the door and started to sing loudly to himself... Quite horribly too, Autor might add.
"Fine!" And he picks up his music sheets and the violin case, and runs to go out of the building. "I'll just have to go look into this myself!"
Ahiru, still rather depressed, decides to head back to the dorm. Suddenly rounding a corner she didn't realize was there, she was suddenly in a small square among small and cramped buildings. Feeling the aura change, she turns around abruptly, now realizing she is surrounded by ravens.
"W-Where did you all come from!" She panics.
"Aw, poor little Ahiru. How cute."
Turning around, Ahiru finds herself face to face with the blonde girl in the black dress.
"H-How do you know my name...? What do you want!"
And extending a hand out to her, the girl in black speaks once more.
"Your loneliness is eating away at you. It is making you suffer, isn't it? Let me help you."
Autor, finally catching up and finding the girl in black, finds himself surprised at the spectacle before him. It was the same scene as every other victim, but what shocked him was that atop the pillar, it was none other than Ahiru who was lying there.
"Ahiru!"
"Hm?" And the girl in black turns to the newest entrant of the stage. "Well, if it isn't Princess Tutu's little four-eyed friend. Where is she? Or are you here just to watch as I take poor little Ahiru's heart?"
"I will not let you do that!" And dropping his things, Autor tries to make a run for Ahiru, only to be knocked back by a strong gust of wind and black feathers. "A-Ahiru!"
Ahiru, slowly opens her eyes, but remains lying down. "Au... tor..."
Trying to make another charge, Autor runs towards her again, only to be knocked back once more. The girl in black watches in delight.
"Ahiru! Listen to me! You have to snap out of it! You of all people cannot give in to their own emotions!" He runs, but gets knocked back all the same.
Closing her eyes, tears start to fall again... "But... There is nothing I could do... I could not save Pike... or Femio. I could not even save myself. I- I wish Fakir were here..." And she starts to cry.
"But he isn't here!" And Autor is knocked back once more and falls against the violin case and it pops open.
Ahiru opens her eyes quickly, only to close them again and cry once more.
"Fakir isn't here... And I don't know when he will be coming back..." and Autor, picking up the violin and its bow, slowly rises again. "But until he comes back... I will be here."
And then, taking position, Autor starts to play the violin. The melody resonates in the square, and all seems still.
Ahiru, hearing the tune, slowly opens her eyes... Sitting up, she recognizes the piece. "This is..."
"What! What is going on?" The girl in black demands as she realizes the change in atmosphere. She tries to barrage Autor with more attacks, and even sends some ravens in.
Autor, however, stands firm. Even as more attacks come at him, he keeps playing the song.
Ahiru, snapping out of it, looks over at Autor immediately and worried. "Autor! Look out!"
He manages to dodge, just barely and continues to play with much difficulty.
"Autor... Why are you doing this?" She looks over at his injured form that refuses to stop playing. "It's useless-"
"It's true. I am useless." Autor speaks lowly, trying to concentrate on playing. "But I'm not going to give up. If this story indeed does not have an author, then it is up to us, the characters, who will decide our roles! We cannot always hope to be successful, but we will manage. We will continue on, and end this story-Together!"
And as he finishes his sentence, Ahiru's eyes grow wide, and she turns once again into Princess Tutu.
"W-What! Princess Tutu!" The girl in black exclaims, taken aback.
Gently descending from the black pillar, Tutu steps forward towards Autor. And almost as if Tutu's aura and the melody from the violin starts to mix, the ravens and the winds seem to dissipate and move away from Autor as he continues to play.
Tutu looks at Autor dearly. "I think I understand. This piece... It is 'Pas de Deux' from Swan Lake." Taking a pose, and twirling her hands over each other above her head, and bringing one down in an inviting manner, she continues; "I... accept to dance with you." She says softly.
And with that, she starts to dance, following every stroke of Autor's bow; And moves accordingly to every tune that is emitted from the violin.
It wasn't really what could be called a Pas de Deux, but the harmony between her dance and his song, is something that could match any real duet between two dancers.
"This-Cannot-" And with that, the girl in black retreats back into the shadows, glaring at Princess Tutu.
After a while... Autor, who was at his limit, stops playing and falls to his knees.
"Autor!" Tutu runs over to him.
"It's alright... I'm fine."
"No. You're hurt!" She moves over him, holding his hand that still held the bow. She looks at the injuries he's sustained and wonders how he was able to still play so beautifully despite his wounds. Looking at him softly, she couldn't help but utter, "Thank you."
She takes his hand in both her own, the bow now left on the ground, and holds it close to her. "If you hadn't come, I would surely not be here now." However, she looks down again sadly. "I, on the other hand still wasn't able to do anything... I'm so sorry, Autor..."
"Don't say that."
Surprised by his gentle tone, Tutu looks up to meet Autor's face. He was tired, but still held that seriousness behind his bespectacled eyes.
"We were able to get out of that... together. I may have saved you from having your heart taken... But if you hadn't turned into Princess Tutu again, and dancing for me, I'm sure the ravens would've eventually bested me, and I wouldn't have gotten out with only these injuries." Taking his hand from hers, he moves it to her face, to wipe a tear she did not realize she shed.
Tutu, who had been staring at him widely, now couldn't help closing her eyes as she begins to laugh. And as she chuckled, she reverted back into being Ahiru again.
Autor, taking his hand back, and feeling somewhat embarrassed, stands up abruptly and fixes his glasses.
"W-We should be getting back now!" He says a little unconvincingly as he straightens himself. "Femio's probably worried about y-" And as he tries to take a step forward, he is reminded of his injuries.
Almost falling, he is surprised to see Ahiru catching him. She takes one of his arms over her shoulders, offers a smile, and helps him walk forward.
Glancing sideways, Autor tries to hide his blush, while Ahiru can't help but utter another laugh.
Chapter 4 : A Friend Indeed