Chapter 1: A New Beginning and A New Magic

Fakir sat at his desk. Ahiru wouldn't return, and persisted she stay at the pond. He had a feeling it had to do with Mytho and Rue returning...and Mytho's mention of his hope for Princess Tutu to return should the feather cause problems. He knew that it was Ahiru's natural form to be a duck...but even he saw the way she wished to be human again.

On the other hand, what could his grandfather hope to achieve by starting a new story? How could he control it if he had no way to write it? He had broke the clock mechanism. And yet something was stirring. Even so...it seemed the magic hadn't reached this world yet. He wondered if it was best that it didn't.

He sat in his chair and closed his book. He didn't want to stare at the words any longer. He could will it for all of his might and yet still the words had not came true. If he could even make this one sentence come true...even if he could never write again, this would be it. He wondered why he'd longed for such an event to happen...was it his own selfish want for his own happiness...though he'd neglect to admit it. Or...was it he just couldn't the fact that everything was as it should be. His thoughts were dangerous.

Meddling with fate...it was dangerous. Had his grandfather...had Drosselmeyer really returned? And for what reason? ...even so they assumed too much. If every feather that landed on the ground from a bird scared them into thinking the Raven had returned or something else had begun they'd be frantic all their lives. Still he'd felt the darkness, the way it spread onto the table like a parasite. The way it had felt in his hand. Still what kind of bird produced such a long feather? No raven or crow for certain.

He looked out the window. The sun had already set and the dark sky was blue and starry- but then. He went closer to the window as a looming shadow like a dark cloud, covered the sky as if to make the town black from right to left, as if it was passing above. He looked saw nothing but a simple black cloud...but the darkness...was uncanny.

He waited until it passed...he questioned his ability to see outside, and felt an urge to go find Ahiru...but waited. The dark cloud passed, and so did his reluctance to leave the house.

He opened the door and felt an urge to look down, as if he felt hesitant that the ground was even there when he saw...a feather. A long black feather. Like the one Mytho and Rue had shown him from their kingdom. Was it in fact magic? He looked down the street as each door had one on its doorstep...like a warning...like you couldn't leave your house without facing the darkness waiting at your doorstep. He felt a cool breeze brush past and noticed that the feather didn't even flutter with the wind...yet when he took it in his hand was as light as a...well feather.

"Ahhhhhh!"

He heard a shrill scream from the woods. Was something going on in there? Wasn't Duck still there from her departure earlier? He rushed out of his house, still holding the feather, and ran for the woods. He found the lake Ahiru swam at but...she wasnt there.

"Ahiru! Duck! Where are you?" He said looking around frantically.

Did the dark cloud get her? Did something happen? Had she not returned here earlier today?

He heard a ruffle in the bushes and turned towards them. Something was in them! An animal? The dark bird that had left the black feathers? He took two hesitant steps towards it and brushed the leaves aside.

He looked down to see Ahiru in human form, covering herself naked, with wide stunned eyes, and a beat red face. He returned her stunned stare as his face blushed, before jumping back as she let out an embarrassed squeal and let the bushes close.

"Ahiru?"

"Why would you do that?!" She said, sounding desperate and scared.

"How was I supposed to know...what happened?"

"Ill tell you when I have some clothes..." She said nervously.

"I don't have any of your clothes...ahem." He said to the talking bush. "But...I'll go get you something."

He ran back to his room and looked around. He took the blanket from his bed. But he had an urge to look at his book. He opened it to the page and stared at it for a moment, before it dawned on him that Ahiru was in a forrest, which any person or animal could enter...he'd figured his return should be quick of he'd never hear the end of it. He set the feather down and left in a rush.

Ahiru waited. She wondered why...why did she suddenly become human again? She loved it but she had no necklace from Princess Tutu...she had no powers...no story. She felt a shiver as she prayed Fakir would return soon. She played in her mind his face when he saw most of her naked...she blushed. What was he thinking?

"Ahiru?"

"...uhm...yes?"

"Here i got you a blanket...its the best I had in such short notice." He tossed it over the bush to her side. She looked at it. Now how could she wrap herself up? She stood up. She'd aged two years...her hair wasn't in her braid and it was loose. Her body...well Fakir swallowed...had changed...but she still sounded like Ahiru. She was struggling to keep her blanket on as she walked as it parted when she strode, and was constricting as it wrapped around her.

"Do you need help?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Uhm...I'm fine I just..." She said trying to keep it closed, stumbling as she walked.

"Here." He wrapped the blanket tighter around her and lifted her up into his arms as he walked back to his small cabin-house.

Ahiru looked up at him and blushed. She was naked in a blanket in Fakir's arms...she'd wanted to help Mytho and Rue...not turn into a helpless girl. Still she wiggled her toes and breathed a sigh of freedom. He opened the door and set her on the bed.

"Now I don't have any- ahem- girl clothes...so I'll see what I can find at the Academy but you'll have to wait here. Then you can tell me how...it happened." He left the cabin, as he felt the need to pinch his arm. Two years of normal. Two years of Ahiru as her duck-self. Two years since the last bird-nemesis struck their town in his grandfather's story. Now...now Ahiru was back and another dark magic had entered their town and the kingdom. He entered the Acadamy...now where did he see those spare uniforms the other day...

Ahiru looked around. Not much had changed. She noticed lately that Fakir had been writing...but he seemed to throw most out. She noticed the book on his desk. She walked over and saw a black feather on it...like Rue and Mytho's! Did that mean he'd got one too!? Oh no! And what if something happened? She took it in her fingers carefully and as she lifted it off the sheet of paper, when she noticed one line of writing on the book. She read it and held her breath. She read it twice just to be sure.

And then, the young duck emerged from the water, and as graceful as a swan returned to her former self, the human girl she once was, the girl that saved the town from its previous unhappy ending...so she could be happy. Just once more.

Ahiru shut the book. Did Fakir cause her transformation back? Why...he said he'd care for her...but never like this? And how could his powers work if the...the magic had returned. Drosselmeyer had let Fakir's powers reawaken...and black feathers of dark magic to invade? She worried another story was starting...she just hoped this time...she handle it on her own...without Princess Tutu's powers.