Once upon a time there was firebird. One day, the bird was caught by a prince. To save it's own life it begged the prince to let him free. For it could aid him and reveal secrets he wasn't aware of.

Akt 6: Der Feuervogel

" So...", Ella looked curiously at Ahiru. The girl hadn't spoken yet and the silence felt disturbing for Ella. They were on the way back from school. Ahiru had been daydreaming all day. She hardly spoke a word to Ella.

But Ahiru didn't react and kept on gazing into the distance with a dumb smile on her face. Ella grunted.

"Hey!", she yelled but it didn't work either. Ella lost her temper and pinched the daydreamer in the arm.

"Owowowow...that hurts!"

She was finally back in the present.

"I'm trying to talk to you here! You don't have any time to dream right now!"

Ahiru rubbed her arm.

"I know ..."

"Do you remember anything?"

Ahiru thought for a moment before she started to speak.

" Well, just vaguely... I do remember the music school more clearly now, but also that we practiced Ballet in private. Some more faces..."

"Really? Like who?", said Ella a little bit louder than she intended. She gave Ahiru an intense look.

Ahiru didn't see it, though. She was still looking into the sky.

"A boy and also-"

"A boy? Do you remember anything about him?"

Ahiru was surprised and turned around to Ella. The brunette blushed and looked the other way.

" Should I know him that much?"

"It's okay if you don't.", said Ella fast. "Anything else you remember?"

Ahiru looked at her for while and wondered about her reaction. Was she always that weird? But she realized that she didn't want to talk about it. So she moved to another topic. A smile appeared on Ahirus face,reminiscing.

" I remember your singing."

Ella's eyes grew big.

" You were a really great singer, I remember that many people admired you for your voice. It was far better than your dancing. But I haven't heard you sing since we met."

Ahiru gave her a curious look. Ella didn't turn.

"...I don't sing anymore. I've given up on music."

Ahiru was shocked.

"What? Why?"

"Because I want to be a ballerina."

Ahiru stopped, a little confused.

" Couldn't you do both? I understand if you have fun in dancing but-"

" It's not about fun!" Ellas voice became sharp. She also had stopped, just two steps ahead of Ahiru. She didn't turn around.

" You don't need to understand it. But it's really important to me." She looked up to the sky. "My singing won't let me reach out for the stars."

Ahiru tilted her head.

"...but Ballet will?"

"I hope so.", Ella muttered. After a moment, she turned around to Ahiru with a weary smile.

" You haven't really told me about yesterday. What did actually happen?"

Yesterday. Fakir. The kiss. Three sweet words. And Ahiru was back in her day dreaming routine.

Ella sighed. She moved closer to the other girl and pinched both of her cheeks with a annoyed look.

"Would you please stay focused when I'm talking to you!"

"Owowowowo", Ahiru whined. " That hurts!"

"... What are you doing?"

The girls turned around to face Fakir.

"M-morning", said Ahiru after Ella let go of her and touched her red-pinched cheeks.

Ella looked from one to the other. She finally turned to Fakir.

" So maybe you could tell me what happened yesterday?"

Fakir looked at her, blushed lightly and grunted while he turned his face away.

" It has got nothing to do with you."

" Is that so …?", Ella said with a meaningful look. But no one answered.

"I also would be interested in that."

They all turned around. A boy with a vicious smile.

" ….Jäger...", said Ella straightening her back, giving him a concerned look.

Fakir placed himself protectivly in front of Ahiru. This was the first time he met him. Ahiru didn't say a word. She got goose bumps as she saw him.

" So you're that Jäger? What do you want!", Fakir said.

" Oh so you already know me? Good, so I don't need to introduce myself again."

"Why are you here?", spit Fakir. He got furious just looking at his figure. Ella didn't say a word.

Jäger pulled something out of his pocket and looked now at Ahiru.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I was looking for a present for you..."

As Jäger opened his hand he spoke a few words, the others couldn't hear. The object, a red gem, flew up and straight to Ahiru. Fakir tried to protect her but it was too late. The little red gem melted with Ahirus Pendant and began glowing. An impulse ran through Ahirus body and everything turned dark before her eyes.

Fakir caught her before she met the ground. He kneel down and tried to speak to her.

" Hey Ahiru! What's wrong? Wake up! Ahiru!"

Ella just looked at her childhood friend in disbelief and then turned to Jäger.

" What did you do? Why did you hurt her? I thought you-...I thought you loved her!"

Jäger chuckled.

" I didn't do anything to harm her. It's just that I tried to wake up the sleeping beauty. You should give her to me now."

When Fakir heard these words he turned around to face Jäger.

" And why do you think we should do that?"

" Because there's nothing you can do about her now anyway. She won't wake up."

Ella sat besides Ahiru as Fakir rose and fully turned to the boy. He had the eyes of a spinner.

" You better leave."

" Oh really. You want to fight me?"

" You think you can win against my powers?"

The atmosphere changed, the wind blew stronger. Jäger made a step back but still smiling.

" Hmm, that's okay. It's not like I'm in a hurry. Not anymore. Sooner or later she will come to me anyway." And then he disappeared.

Fakir cooled down, clenching his fists. He closed his eyes, breathed in and opened them again. They were the normal green eyes again. He turned to Ella who held Ahiru in her arms.

" Ahiru! Hey... Fakir! I think she's waking up!"

Fakir came closer to her face. "Ahiru can you hear me?"

The girl slowly opened her eyes looking at her surrounding. When she saw Fakir and Ella her eyes grew big in surprise and she backed of a little, almost scarred. She looked at herself in disbelief and concern.

The other two wondered about that. Fakir came a little closer. " Ahiru are you alright? Are you hurt?"

She didn't react.

"Ahiru!"

She stopped and looked at the face before her. Her voice was shaking and in her eyes one could see the shock.

"I-I'm not... I'm not Ahiru."

"Very interesting indeed...", Autor eyed the person in front of him.

Ella looked through the books of Autors collection and sighed.

" Not really. They just seemed to have changed positions. It's not like Ahiru disappeared.", she tried to calm herself with these words rather than explaining it to Autor.

Fakir was sitting at the desk, looking through various books on Drosselmeyer.

When they found out that there was Princess Tutu instead of Ahiru they thought to see first if it might have anything to do with Drosselmeyer or the spinners. Nothing like this happened in the story of "the prince and the raven". Autors place was the obvious choice.

Autor moved his glasses, turning to Fakir.

"This won't do. Why do you want to make it so complicated?"

" Shut up.", muttered Fakir turning the next page of the book.

Autor sighed.

" First you make me look through your stories because you got worried you messed up with that girl somewhere and now this."

"I thought you did it out of free will."

" Of course. Because I expected something more than there actually was."

Fakir gave him a quick glare before turning back to his book.

Autor turned around to leave.

" I'll go look at the library and the bookshop. It's better if we use more books than only these." He just didn't want to admit that he knew the books almost by heart, and couldn't think of anything useful in them.

Ella turned around.

" Ah, I guess I'll go with you, if that's alright?"

Autor glared at her displeased but shrugged.

" Why not."

They left.

Fakir and Tutu stayed back. They didn't say a word. The girl sat down on the other site of the room. Fakir looked through various books and sighed every now and then in annoyance. Tutu moved nervously.

" You sure I shouldn't help you?"

" Don't worry about it", he said while he took the next book out of the shelve. Tutu watched him.

"You really don't need to worry. It's really just like Ella said. Ahiru is ...asleep right now. Just like I was before. She didn't disappear."

" Well, that's at least something. I don't get why this even happened..."

"The prince's heart. A part of me was in his heart. It happened when I confessed..."

She touched the Pendant. Fakir looked at her curious.

"What do you mean?"

The girl smiled mildly. It was so weird. Even though this was Ahirus normal human form, it was still Tutu's mind. Nothing showed that she was supposed to be the clumsy little girl he knew. Nothing at all. But it was still her face.

" My role in the story was to love and help everyone who needed me. My heart wasn't meant to belong to only one person but... I fell in love with the prince. And as I confessed I broke my oath to be in everyone's heart and became a part of the prince's. That's why Ahiru could transform into me with the heart shard."

"I see." Fakir scratched his cheek. It was kind of weird to see her like that.

" But why could she transform without a heart shard? That doesn't make sense."

" We spent so much time together that a part of me became a part of her, just like she became a part of me. It's just now that my heart is complete ...Jäger was able to awaken me."

Fakir grunted acknowledging and turned to his book again. Tutu averted her eyes. Although he wasn't looking at her she felt really uncomfortable.

"...I'm sorry."

" It's not your fault, don't worry about it." Fakir turned the next page.

" No, that's not what I meant." Tutu looked to the ground. Fakir turned towards her, curious about her words. He waited until she spoke again.

" When Ahiru first saw the prince, she wanted to help him. Maybe she liked him."

Fakir frowned and wanted to focus on the book again. He didn't want to hear that now. Tutu continued.

"When she transformed she used my powers to help him, while I was in a deep slumber. But it's not just that. She also took my personality and it merged with her own."

"So?", asked Fakir clearly annoyed. Tutu grabbed the Pendant.

" That's why... my feelings... were also adopted by her."

Fakir stopped his movement. Tutu looked for another reaction but then decided to speak again.

"She might not have really been in love with the prince. It were just my feelings that were expressed through her."

Fakir turned around fast, a frown on his face.

"... Why are you apologizing to me then? You should apologize to her, for messing up her whole life."

Tutu flinched a little at his sharp voice.

"Because, as I was asleep, I could still see and feel everything through her. It was just like a dream. I know that, if it weren't for my feelings, Ahiru might had fallen for you sooner..."

Fakir sighed in annoyance but didn't say anything.

"...I don't even know how to tell her I'm sorry. It's not like we could see each other face to face. But maybe she can also hear our conversation."

" Whatever." Fakir turned to his books again. Tutu gave him a weary look.

" If you're mad than say so."

"I'm not!"

Tutu shook her head.

" Of course you are."

They didn't say anything for a while. Tutu couldn't find the courage to speak again. The pendant seemed to have gotten colder, now that it was complete. Had the Queens magic gotten stronger again?

"...Why?", Fakir broke the silence in a soft voice. Tutu looked up, his head was still turned away from her.

" Why do you think that anything would have changed if it weren't for your feelings?"

"... It's not so hard to believe when you think about it. She was able to go on because you were there. She didn't confess because you told her she had to bring back all of the prince's heart shards. You were the one to free her from Drosselmeyer's realm. And also...she was alright to give up in being human, because you said that you would never leave her side.

Maybe she didn't realize it herself, but she really liked you for a long time. I could feel that."

Tutu blushed lightly and smiled.

" I think, that right now, it's that her feelings changed me".

Fakir didn't know how to feel about it. Should he be mad?Furious? Or maybe happy?

He just shook of the feeling and seemed to not have realized Tutus little confession of some sorts and tried to focus again.

He couldn't think of anything to say. Tutu waited for him to say anything, but he didn't. She leaned back and let the silence fill the room.

"Where to start...", wondered Autor. He had at least read most of the books once in the bookshop but right now he didn't know what to actually look for. Ella, on the other hand, grabbed one of the books off the shelf and started to turn the pages.

"...So what should we look for anyway?"

"I'm not sure. Something that give us some clue on Jäger maybe, or the spinners. Though I already know all about the spinners that is written in the books."

" Hmm. I just hope this is alright..."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, nothing, absolutely nothing!", Ella could feel his gaze on her. She moved uncomfortably from one leg to the other.

" You know more than you actually admit, don't you? "

Ella didn't say anything. Autor shrugged.

" Well as long as it doesn't help us in this situation you can keep it for yourself. Ahiru might remember it soon anyway."

Ella frowned. She tried to change the subject.

"Say, why doesn't Fakir just write a story about Ahiru? Wouldn't it be the easiest way?"

Autor sighed as he grabbed the first book out of the dusty shelves.

" He won't do it."

" Huh? Why not?"

" Because he still feels responsible for turning back Ahiru."

Ella blinked irritated.

" I don't understand..."

" Me neither. But he's just scared that he might mess up and hurt her in the end."

Ella lowered the book she held.

" He really cares about her, right? And so she does about him.."

Autor nodded.

Ella sighed. She did the right thing, didn't she? It's not like she was only thinking about herself...

She lost herself in her memories. Anger, happiness, tears … everything the spinner told her..

"...Oh!", shouted Ella in a loud voice.

" Would you please stop!", said autor in a sharp voice, his usual tone.

Ella put a hand to her mouth and blushed. Then she lowered her hand to speak clearly.

" I know what we can do! This will be the best way!"

Autor listened to her curiously.

"... you really think this is going to work?", asked Fakir.

Ella nodded." The Queen and Jäger are her characters after all."

" That's not what I meant. Do you really think that she will help us?"

Ella blinked and frowned in thoughts. Autor sighed.

"We don't really know anything about that spinner. But this might be worth a try."

Fakir glared at him." You're just thinking about yourself! You just want to know more about the spinners!"

Autor shrugged." So sue me. It's the best option right now anyway. Who knows, she might be cooperative."

Tutu had listened and finally spoke." We should try it. I want to meet her myself." She turned to the young writer, holding her hands close to her chest, almost like praying." Please, Fakir. "

Fakir looked at Tutus begging face. No, it was her face. Damn it.

He closed his eyes and scratched his head, but he couldn't shake of this feeling.

"All right", he finally spoke. " I'll try to write a story so we can find her." He looked at Ella.

" Is there anything you can tell me about that spinner? It might help.."

Ella thought for a moment.

" Not that much... She seemed to know Drosselmeyer quite well and she loves to tell stories, some of her own but also from others. She's … rather moody. I think she let me remember because she was bored of her stories. She called herself Miss Sand."

"...Do you know where she is? Or how the place looks like?"

Ella shook her head."It's kind of blurry. I only remember her sitting in a... rocking chair."

Fakir breathed out, clearly annoyed. He turned to leave Autors place.

" The best will be when we go to the oak tree."

Autor chuckled a little and walked behind Fakir. Tutu took the irritated Ella by the hand and told her about the tree.

"So you say that it won't take long any more?", the Queen asked. Jäger couldn't tell her figure in the mirror. The cold air burned in his throat.

"Yes."

The Queen made a acknowledging sound. " Very good, Jäger. She seems to be really important to you."

Although he didn't see it, Jäger could feel her sharp look. A cold hand reached out of the mirror. The Queen spoke in a soft voice.

"Do never forget who's the most important. "

Jäger smiled and put his head into her palm. It was freezing.

" I won't."

As the Queen disappeared, so did Jägers smile. He took one of the freezing mice from the floor and warmed it in his hands.

No he couldn't forget. There was always just that one person for him. From the day he was created. And she was the one who formed his whole world. Or at least she was supposed to do so...

Fakir already sat for a while, talking to the oak tree. Autor leaned against the wall and watched, with a little jealousy in his eyes, but more excitement about what was about to happen. Ella and Tutu stood farther away to talk in private.

Ella nodded." I see ...so that's why. The tree might even know something about her."

Tutu nodded with a mild smile. Her eyes were weary. " Hopefully this will work..."

Ella looked at the familiar face in concern.

" ...It's weird to look at you like that, you're...just too calm."

Tutu didn't take off her gaze from Fakir. " I guess so. Ahiru... is really different from me isn't she."

Ella wondered and spoke in a low voice. " You almost sound jealous..."

"...maybe I am, a little bit."

She looked at her feet, closing her eyes a little. " She found happiness in love. It's something I could never dream of."

She raised her head again, now looking at Ella.

" And what about you?"

" Huh?"

" You already knew before that Ahiru is the person you're looking for, and you knew she could turn into me. Why did you hesitate?"

Ella turned away and bit her lip. Because I didn't know if I really want her to come back, she thought. But she didn't say anything. And Tutu understood the silence.

" You don't need to talk about it, it's not really concerning me. But... shouldn't you tell Ahiru?"

Ella thought for a moment. What should she do right now?

" I can't..."

"Why not?"

" Because she might remember when I tell her. And I still don't know how she feels about it for certain."

Tutu blinked. What could she mean?

She was interrupted by an appearing door, decorated in beautiful flowers and feathers.

Fakir raised himself.

" So I guess that's our way", said Autor and stepped next to Fakir, adjusting his glasses while looking at the door with curious eyes. Fakir turned to Ella and Tutu. His face was serious, with the eyes of a spinner.

" Let's go."

I should have posted this earlier but I was just to busy with christmas XD I hope everybody had some great days :)

Name of this chapter is the firebird, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky. It's one of the last chapters I named XD

With this, we reached the middle of the story. And I'm excited and scared of writing the next chapter _ I just don't know if I can do it.

Don't know what to say about the chapter. The thing with the heart shard and Tutu is kind of canon in my head. For me, it's the only possible way. But you are free to disagree with me.

Lol I think it's funny that after the last chapter 7 more people subscribed to this story XD I still don't think my writing is any good

Happy holidays!^^