Chapter 3

AN: Sorry for the delay. Life ran me over for the last few months and chapter six didn't want to get finished and I didn't want to start chapter seven until then. But they've both finally moved, so that means chapter three is ready for your reading pleasure! Or displeasure. ...I like being ahead.

Disclaimer: I only own the Princess Tutu DVDs. Which, if you don't have, you should totally purchase.

"Going back to school, huh?" Ahiru said as she and Fakir walked through Kinkan Town. "I wonder what it'll be like now."

"It's not like you're taking classes again," Fakir commented.

"I-I know!" she retorted a bit sadly. "It's just been a long time, you know? I kinda miss it."

"Yeah..." he said, seeming to trail off into his own thoughts.

"Anyway, why do we need to go there? Do you think Drosslemeyer hid a machine there too or something?"

"No," he answered, suddenly seeming focused. "There was nothing in the clock tower, so I think it's safe to assume he has nothing to do with this. But there's someone else that is a possibility."

"Who?"

"You'll find out," Fakir said, reaching the gates to the campus and opening them.

"I hope we don't get in trouble," Ahiru commented, looking around. "Aren't we sorta trespassing?"

"Er, well," Fakir began a bit awkwardly, "regardless, we still have to check every possible source, and one of them is here."

"Why won't you tell me what it is, Fakir?"

"Come on," he said, beginning to wander the grounds. Given the time of day, most of the students were currently in class. However, Fakir began making his way toward one of the buildings as though he was certain this was the correct place to go, followed closely by Ahiru.

"The library?" she asked as they walked inside. "What do we need to look up here?"

Fakir walked a few more steps until he had a clear view of the study tables. "Not what. Who," he replied, pointing at a young man with glasses who sat there reading quietly.

"W-wait!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Autor?! B-but I thought he couldn't do stuff like that!"

"Well, theoretically he does have the potential. Besides, if it's not him, he might have an idea about what happened."

"But how?!" Ahiru replied, looking at Fakir. "The story's over, right? Didn't everyone forget about...?"

"Would you mind being...!" Autor suddenly shouted, adjusting his glasses and standing up to look at them. However, he stopped mid-complaint and stared at them in surprise. "Fakir? I never thought I'd see you again. What are you doing here? And why is that girl with you?"

Ahiru turned her gaze back to Autor and stared at him in complete confusion with a small "Huh?" Fakir, however, took a few steps forward and replied, "That's what I need to talk to you about."

A few minutes later they found themselves in the privacy of one of the upstairs rooms. Fakir seemed very serious, while Autor smiled smugly at the two of them. Ahiru still looked completely lost. "So, what's your problem this time?" Autor finally asked.

"Well, as you can see..." Fakir began.

"Wait just a minute!" Ahiru interrupted.

"What are you doing?" Fakir asked, looking at her curiously.

"Wh-wh...why does he remember what happened?! No one else in town does! But he's acting like he knows everything!"

"Because he does," Fakir replied.

"Huh?"

"Have you forgotten that I've been studying Drosslemeyer my whole life?" Autor said, grinning. "I know all about his stories and his powers. It's only natural that one of his descendants would remember being in one of his works."

"Yeah," Fakir said a bit darkly, glaring at him a bit. Autor suddenly winced as though he were a bit embarrassed. Ahiru was even more confused.

"Anyway," Fakir continued, "as I'm sure you've noticed by now, Ahiru is not a duck anymore. Neither of us know what happened, so I want to know if you know anything about this."

"You want to know if I wrote this?" Autor replied, his grin returning.

Fakir looked at him a bit warily. "Did you?" he finally asked.

Autor was silent for a moment. "Of course not," he replied. "If I had managed to hone my powers to that level, do you think that would be the first thing I would write?"

"Anything's possible," Fakir said, once again giving him a look that Ahiru found odd. "If that's the case, then, do you know what could have done this to her?"

"I'm surprised it wasn't you, Fakir," Autor commented, adjusting his glasses. "If I recall, weren't all your stories before about...?"

"I've been writing more since then," Fakir quickly interrupted. "I finished The Prince and the Raven, didn't I? I didn't write this. At least, I'm fairly certain I didn't. So what else could have happened?"

Autor thought for a few moments. "I'm afraid I can't help you until I know more about the situation," he finally said. Fakir frowned, grumbling a bit.

"For one," Autor continued, "there's nothing that makes me think this is a story of Drosslemeyer's. Out of all his descendants, you seem to be the only one with the gift, and you're saying you didn't do this."

"But what else is there?" Ahiru asked.

"Well, that's the problem, isn't it?" Autor replied. "The only way I see for this to be possible is if someone wrote a story about it. But it's not Herr Drosslemeyer, it's not Fakir, and it's certainly not me."

"Then..." Fakir began, very worried, "who else could it be?"

"I'd have to look into things a bit more to see if anyone else that was involved in his last story could accomplish something like this," Autor said. "I could do some research if you'd like, but I won't do it for free."

Fakir grinned a little. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about that if you look into this for me."

Autor quickly looked away. "That's not what I was going to say, but fine," he answered. "You should really watch how you treat me, though. You owe me a lot of thanks."

"Oh, I know," Fakir replied, beginning to walk out of the room. "Just let me know if you find something."

Autor frowned as he watched Fakir leave, followed shortly by Ahiru. "So another story is surrounding that girl, huh?" he commented after a few seconds.

Ahiru walked a bit quickly to keep up with Fakir. "What did you mean by 'You won't tell anyone about that,' Fakir?"

"If I told you, that would defeat the purpose."

"Yeah, but I wanna know..."

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Fakir replied, beginning to head downstairs. "Besides, we have a lot of work ahead of us now."

"We do?" she asked.

"We've ruled out every possibility," he replied quietly as they made their way through the library and toward the campus. "Basically we're left with no leads. We're going to have to investigate on our own."

"Oh," she said, frowning. They walked for several minutes in silence, eventually getting to the exit to the grounds. "Hey, Fakir?" she suddenly asked.

"What is it?"

"Do you think that if we can't find out what's going on that I could come back here and dance again?" she said quietly, looking back at the school.

Fakir blinked at her in surprise. Then his expression softened. "I guess it's possible. We can't worry about things like that now, though."

"Yeah..." Ahiru said, looking at the school for a second longer and turning back to Fakir and smiling at him a bit.

There was one of those feelings again. And something still felt strange about it.

"Oh, right! Fakir?"

"What now?"

"Since we've checked everywhere, can you tell me why you're in a bad mood now?"

Fakir was taken aback by this and looked a bit uncomfortable. "You're back on that again?" he finally said.

"You said you'd tell me when we were finished!"

"I said we shouldn't worry about things like that until we knew what was going on," he replied with annoyance.

"Yeah, but who knows how long that'll be?" she said sadly. "You're acting really weird, like you don't like me anymore or something."

Fakir sighed and put one hand on his head. "Can we at least wait until we get back home to talk about this?" he finally said with exasperation, beginning to walk in that direction. Ahiru watched him for a moment before following.

They made the walk back to the smith's shop quietly. Ahiru periodically glanced up at Fakir, although he did not seem to be looking at her. Something seemed to be on his mind and he didn't look very happy about it. She wondered what was bothering him so much.

Eventually they returned and went inside. Fakir muttered something about getting them some tea, so Ahiru sat at the table and waited silently for him. "He really does seem to be avoiding my question," she thought, watching him sadly. "Did I do something wrong?"

Fakir suddenly noticed her expression and, as though in a bit of a panic, said, "What's that look for?"

"Nothing."

Fakir frowned.

"You just seem to be avoiding me."

"I'm making tea," he replied, his expression not changing. "Are you really that worried about it?"

"Why do you think I keep asking you?! I just..."

Fakir walked to the table and sat down across from her, leaving the water heating. Ahiru stared at him in surprise. "Okay, what did you want know?" he asked. From the look on his face, Ahiru wasn't quite sure how he felt about this.

"I...I just wanted to know why you aren't happy that I'm not a duck anymore."

Fakir put his arms on the table, his hands clasped in front of his mouth. He thought for several moments, the silence growing more and more awkward as it passed. Ahiru felt herself being to fidget nervously as she waited for him to answer.

"I don't know," he finally said quietly, closing his eyes.

Ahiru nearly fell out of her chair in shock. "What?! It took you that long to tell me that?!"

"What I mean," he continued, looking at her again, "is that I've been feeling a lot of different things today. I can't explain all of them."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," he said, his eyebrows lowering a bit. "I'm sorry if my worrying has been, well, worrying you, but I'm more concerned about why this happened than what happened. I'd rather not see you get hurt again."

Ahiru blushed a tiny bit before asking, "So then, how do you feel about it now?"

Fakir seemed a bit surprised at this question. "Well, at the moment," he began, choosing his words carefully, "for the most part, I am glad to see you like this again."

"Really?" she exclaimed, smiling broadly and jumping to her feet. "That's great!"

"Why is it great?" he asked, giving her an odd look.

"Oh, well, you know, I'm happy to be a girl again, too," she replied, laughing nervously. "In a weird sort of way. I mean, now I can actually talk to you again, and..." Ahiru trailed off, smiling a tiny bit.

Fakir kept watching her curiously. "Now you're acting strangely," he finally said. "Although for you I suppose this isn't odd."

"Hey, I was just saying I'm happy..."

"Right," he replied, standing up. "If that's everything we should..."

"Wait," Ahiru suddenly said, taking a few steps toward him.

"What is it now?"

She looked at him nervously for a few moments, seeming to be thinking very carefully about something. "So you're really glad?" she finally asked.

Fakir was a bit surprised by this, an almost unnoticeable bit of red coming to his cheeks. "Y-yeah," he answered nervously. "Why?"

"Uh, nothing," she answered, laughing a little. "It's just that makes me feel happy, too..." She smiled at him.

Fakir stared at her for a moment, seeming completely shocked by her response. Then, he somewhat tentatively walked toward her, closing the gap between them. He stopped just in front of her and looked down into her eyes. Ahiru gasped a bit and flushed. They gazed at each other for what seemed like ages, all the while an awkward tension growing.

"Ahiru..."

Just then, they heard a loud sizzling. They jumped a bit and turned to notice that the water Fakir had left warming was now boiling over. "I... I'll get it," he mumbled.

Ahiru watched him as he tried to move the hot container, an inquisitive expression on her face all the while. "What just...?" she thought.

Fakir finished cleaning the mess and went back to making the tea, unusually focused on the task. He finally finished and he and Ahiru sat back down to drink it. After a few minutes of very noticeable silence, he suddenly looked confused and began looking around.

"What's wrong?" Ahiru asked.

"Have you seen Charon?" he said, trying to gaze into other rooms from his chair.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't noticed him all day," she replied, thinking.

"That's odd. He normally doesn't go out like this without saying something or leaving a note." Fakir frowned.

"Well, we'll just have to wait for him to come back," she said. "You'll probably have to explain me to him anyway," she added with a laugh. "I wonder if he'll let me stay here...?"

"We do have work to do, you know."

"Yeah," she replied, sighing. "Finding out about the story. But can't we just relax for a while? At least until Charon gets back?"

Fakir still frowned, thinking for a bit. "Alright," he answered, sipping his tea.