I thank Unnoticeable_Demon for helping.

Once upon a time, a witch laid a curse which cast a princess into an eternal slumber. One day a young man appeared, intending to awaken her. But then, a voice whispers "Awaken the princess from her sleep? What a cruel thing to do! For what if the princess wishes not to receive the kiss of awakening, but rather to continue to sleep forever?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The following morning Tiger found herself preoccupied as she was trying to get herself ready for the day. She was thinking about yesterday and the conversation she had with Fakir. It had not been her intention for him to find her as Princess Clara, but she wasn't bothered by it either. Duck was leaning against the low steps that led to their window, still in her nightshirt. She had the lamp at her side where it was still flickering feebly. Duck was muttering to herself and staring at the ceiling in a vague, sleepwalking kind of way. It seemed she hadn't really slept last night.

"There's no way Mytho doesn't need a heart!" She said suddenly loudly and she stood up to look out of their window, to Fakir and Mytho's window, a little way across from them. Tiger heard her gasp and then grumble something about 'plotting' and didn't need to hear anything else. She swung her bag over shoulder and left, determined not to look back. Duck had no idea who Fakir really was or who he used to be. She was just blinded by her crush!

Tiger stepped out in the crisp morning and felt a little better, just being away from the dorm where everyone had the same ideas about Fakir (except Piqué, but she didn't really know him either). She walked a little further down the street until she found a bench to sit down on. She took her sketchbook and, humming Sleeping Beauty's Waltz of the Flowers, started drawing. She was quite sure her dream had been about the story of Sleeping Beauty. She had seen a big veiled room behind three large arches, candles were lit in brackets on either side of the archway in the center and an horizontal oblong shadow that could have been a coffin or a bed could be seen behind the veil.

Then, suddenly, Tiger was taken out of her thoughts by the church bell. Already distracted, Tiger picked up some of what the crowd on the street were saying. Apparently, a traveling Ballet Company called the Eleki Troupe had just arrived in town and were scheduled to have a show every night this week at the Theatre. Curious, Tiger decided to follow the people to the theater where a big poster advertised the Eleki Troupe and their new show: Sleeping Beauty.

'This can't be a coincidence.' Tiger thought when she saw the poster.

A woman in full Ballet costume stood on the steps in front of the poster with flyers.

"We are a touring ballet company. Starting the day after tomorrow, we will be performing Sleeping Beauty at this theater. Please come and see us." She told the marveling crowd. The woman was very beautiful with dark hair and light eyes and many men were gogging at her as she spoke.

"Until then, Adieu!" She said joyfully and threw the flyers out to the crowd.

Tiger grabbed a flier and looked at the time of the performance, if she could, she would go and see this!

"Wow, Sleeping Beauty."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the Ballet Academy, there was only one topic that was discussed: The Eleki Troupe and their performance of Sleeping Beauty. Students from all years and levels mingled and asked each other whether they had seen the flyers that were handed out, what they expected from the performance and what they thought of the leading lady who had handed them out. The students were not the only ones interested and once Tiger and her classmates were seated in class, Mr Cat had a surprise for them.

"Ahem, today, we've received special permission for both the boys and girls to come to the Eleki Troupe's rehearsal for observation purposes. I hope you take this chance to get a taste of foreign ballet and help you to use that to help you get you off the ground." At these last words Mr Cat's eyes flashed dangerously as he looked down at his feet where Duck had just tried to crawl sneakily in line to avoid punishment for being late. "Don't you think so, Miss Duck?" He asked her in a snarling voice.

Tiger didn't hear the argument afterwards. It was always the same and she drifted off, thinking. 'This could be my chance.'

The class troupe went out towards the theater. Because they were in the same year and often had lessons with them, the class included the students from the special class as well. Tiger's classmates were all talking amongst themselves in cheerful excitement, but the members of the special class were silent and walked purposefully in Mr Cat's wake, this little excursion didn't seem to be very interesting to them.

"I'd love to play the role of Princess Aurora someday." Tiger said as she was half taking part in the conversation a group of her classmates were having. She was still not fully capable of shutting out the events from yesterday and now she had that dream that seemed to be connected to their destination as well. She dared a peak at Fakir, who was walking ahead of her. "If Fakir could ever be the Prince." she added quietly to herself.

Unknown to Tiger, she was not the only one who was engrossed in their own thoughts that day. Fakir had no interest in what was happening around him. He had ordered Mytho to stay home today in case Princess Tutu would appear, but in reality he did not think he could watch out for Mytho today. He was too preoccupied with a new mystery that had shown herself to him yesterday.

Fakir wanted to know who Princess Clara was and where she came from. He had already visited the library to see if she was in the Prince and the Raven. He was sure he knew the story back to front, but maybe her name was mentioned once or twice without leaving much of an impression, after all, Princess Tutu too was hardly mentioned. Of course she could be from a different tale, like so many little stories that were happening in Gold Crown Town. Stories and reality had always intermingled ever since Mytho showed up. But those minor stories had never interacted with other stories and Fakir, as the reincarnation of the knight, belonged to the tale of the Prince and the Raven.

'If Princess Clara isn't part of the story, why is she here?' Fakir kept wondering.

Meanwhile Tiger was thinking about her dream. It had come back to her, little by little and she could remember some of the words that a bodiless voice was saying, as a storyteller. What if the princess wishes not to receive the kiss of awakening, but rather to continue to sleep forever? It had asked.

'There can't be any way that Aurora would want to sleep forever. Would there?' She wondered. Unfortunately, her thoughts were then interrupted by someone screaming and Tiger was not at all surprised to find out that it was Duck who had freaked out. She was stuttering and backing away from Piqué and Lilie when an uneven stone in the road caught her at the heel and she tripped backwards, but instead of crashing painfully on her back, Duck was scooped up in bridal fashion by a young lady, the very leading lady of the Eleki Troupe.

"That's quite some energy." The woman said to her, smiling.

Duck blushed deeply and tried to speak, but couldn't. "So…"

"Man, she's one lucky duck!" Piqué joked.

"Great timing!" Agreed Lillie.

"I'm Paulamoni, the leading lady. Nice to meet you." The woman told them all as she sat Duck safely down on her feet.

At once Mr Cat jumped on the opportunity to introduce himself and appear as charming as possible (except, of course, that he was a cat). "Please accept our dearest thanks for sharing your time with us today, Miss-"

Paulamoni shook his hand with polite amusement. "Let's dispense with formality." She said.

"I agree." Breathed in awe and he looked down at his shaking hands, completely taken with the attention from a beautiful woman.

"Make yourselves at home. I'd like you to meet my husband, Paulo." Paulamoni continued and beckoned a young man forth.

"Nice to meet you." Paulo smiled at all of them, but Mr Cat took his appearance as his own doom.

"Now, come right on in." Paulamoni invited them all to follow her into the theater.

Once inside, the class enjoyed a full tour of the theater and were shown all the props and decor that were prepared for the coming show. The decor was obviously made within the theater, but the Eleki Troupe had quite some skilful members of its own and they had fashioned all sorts of things that varied in detail, from a real bed for baby Aurora and tailor-made tutus to simple arches of flowers for atmosphere.

'If I was Princess Aurora, what would my version be?' Tiger mused as she walked around the theater, stopping here and there to admire the craftsmanship that was shown. 'Asleep for a century, maybe a millennium with her entire kingdom. Then the Prince gets a vision to come and wake her, but would there really be a voice that tries to stop him?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the lights in the entire theater flickering and then going out. No one really screamed, but one girl called out that she was afraid in the dark. Paulamoni told them all to wait and seemingly went away to fix the problem, but instead of a tense moment while they waited for the lights to come back on, they were all startled by a series of loud bangs. The source of these loud bangs became clear after the lights came back on and the class could see Paulamoni standing next to a large water tank with a huge electric eel inside. On top of the eel's tank stood an electric box with a few meters showing the power status.

"Say hello to our troupe leader and electrical guy." Paulamoni said to them all casually.

"Troupe leader?" Duck repeated doubtfully as she and her friends watched the eels' eyes droop and the lights flicker again.

Paulamoni hit the tank again hard on the top and the eel jerked awake again.

"Steady supply." She said as she hit the tank once more. "I have to hit it at just the right angle."

"Say, was our troupe leader really an eel?" Paulo asked Paulamoni as he came by, carrying some boxes.

"What? Come to think of it, before we came here…" Paulamoni thought for a moment. "No, that can't be right." She said and laughed at the idea.

"Well, it will save on the power bill. Ha ha." Paulo replied, laughing with her.

"That's true. Ha ha ha." Paulamoni agreed and they thought no longer of it.

"Hmm…" Tiger wondered at the strangeness of it all. How could the identity of a person suddenly change and why did no one wonder about it?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that afternoon Miss Paulamoni gave them all a sneak peek of her performance as Aurora. The music was playing the introduction and Mr Paulo was clapping his hands to help Miss Paulomoni with her rhythm. The beginner's class especially marveled at Miss Paulamoni's skill, but the special class had also their eyes fixed on the performance to learn from it. However, Fakir was not really watching.

'Is Rue Princess Tutu? But then who is Princess Clara?' He kept on wondering.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by Fakir, something strange happened with Miss Paulamoni as she was spinning across the stage. Something withheld her from finishing it and she staggered and bent over as she abruptly stopped dancing.

"What's wrong?" Paulo hurried to her in concern.

"Uh… it's nothing. I'm sorry." Paulamoni answered and she tried to sound casual.

"Really?" Paulo was not really put at ease by this, but didn't press the matter just then. "Then let's continue."

"Say, just watching is boring, isn't it? Let's see someone else." Paulamoni then suggested, still not completely sounding like her usual self.

"Paulamoni, this is too sudden." Paulo argued, but Paulamoni averted her eyes from him.

"What does it matter?" She said, "I want to see."

"But-" Paulo tried, but Mr Cat interrupted him.

"Certainly. I shall show you the results of my lessons. Now are there any volunteers?" He turned to the class.

"I volunteer, Mr Cat. Also Paulamoni, I'd like to talk to you about the story of Sleeping Beauty, if you don't mind." Tiger called, putting her hand up.

"Of course. What would you like to know?" Paulamoni answered and at last she sounded at ease.

"Well, it's about when Prince Desiré goes to wake Princess Aurora. What if he hears a voice telling him not to do it and that maybe she desires to sleep forever? Who would say such a thing?"

Paulamoni thought for a moment, intrigued by this unexpected question. "I guess that it has to be Carabosse, throughout the story she is depicted as the Fairy of Darkness, but originally she is the Fairy of Wisdom. It would be in her nature to ask such a question, even before she got denied from the kingdom."

"Ok, but do you really think Aurora would want to sleep forever?" Tiger pressed on.

Paulamoni shook her head and smiled indulgently. "I wouldn't think so, after all, her life was just beginning." Paulamoni thought for a moment, then looked at both Tiger and Duck who sat next to each other.

"What would you say to a joint performance? I would very much like to see how both of you perform."

"WHAT?!" Duck cried out in shock, just a minute ago she had been whispering in panic to Piqué that she could not possibly do it if asked.

Paulamoni was patient. "What do you say?" She asked again kindly.

"I can't do it! No way! No way! No way!" Duck shook her head and in panic she stood up and left the theater.

Mr. Cat quickly tried to save the situation. "Even she herself says she can't, so let's not force her." He cried out.

"I guess it was too sudden. I'm so sorry." Paulamoni apologized and tried to calm down Mr. Cat who was hissing and spitting again.

Tiger was trying to ignore Mr. Cat when it happened, a little blue flash in the corner of her eye. Immediately Tiger suspected what it could be and turned her head towards the door that led to backstage and sure enough, a memory was floating there.

"We'll have a run-through tomorrow, so please come watch." Tiger heard Paulamoni tell them and she nodded to herself. 'Perfect, tomorrow I will get that memory!'

"We will, gladly!" Mr. agreed in delight, for an obvious different reason.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the evening Tiger went for a walk, to take in some fresh early night-air. She had a lot to think about and she could feel her own emotions rising by this whole event. Tomorrow she would not only retrieve a new memory for Fakir, but dance as well, maybe with him.

"I'm sure there's so many more memories to go. Maybe there's been a slight change in Fakir since then, but it's not enough." she whispered to himself, feeling a slight feeling of anxiety at the thought of Fakir's reply, given the choice to dance with her.

"Need someone to talk to?" A familiar voice asked her suddenly.

"Oh. Yes, I could use that." Tiger replied, smiling as she looked down at the little boy. "I've been thinking about how all this happened. Maybe it would have been better if Mytho never came here, Fakir wouldn't have become so overprotective and forget our times together."

The boy frowned at her. "Do you really believe it would be better? Duck wouldn't have become human then either."

"Duck?" Tiger asked him confused, but instead motioned to him to be quiet when she heard voices. Without making a sound, she gestured to him to hide with her behind a nearby bush. Once hidden they strained their ears to listen.

"You'll always wake from a dream. No, you must wake up." Paulamoni was saying as she and Paulo were sitting by a little fire outside their trailer. Without realizing it, Tiger had walked all the way back to the theater and had reached the Eleki Troupe's temporary camp.

"In that case, you shouldn't play Aurora." Paulo told her.

"That was rather blunt." Paulamoni sighed sadly.

"Well, the Aurora you've been aspiring to is the kind of girl who continues to dream even after she's woken up from her dream, correct?" Paulo asked knowingly. Paulamoni said nothing, only made a small gasp in confirmation.

"But you're afraid to even dream."

"Because I can't become that Princess Aurora." Paulamoni insisted dejectedly.

"Sure there are some dreams that won't come true, but there's no rule that says you can only have one dream." Paulo told her, his tone was kind, even if his words came across a bit blunt.

It even affected Tiger in the bushes even though Paulo had no idea she was there. As quiet as possible, she backed out of the bushes and stood up to leave.

"If I have other dreams, then what are they?" She asked herself in a whisper and started to walk away from the camp. Looking quite puzzled, the boy followed her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The class honored Miss Paulamoni's invitation to come and watch their run-through of their performance of Sleeping Beauty the next day.

"Please, do not worry. No matter how the wicked witch might curse me, I will surely never prick my finger on the spindle. For though I may dream and dance all my days, I will never lay a hand on the spinning wheel." Paulamoni recited while she moved on-point across the stage.

'Looks like she's calmed down.' Tiger thought as she watched Paulamoni. Then, to nobody's surprise by now, the lights flickered and dimmed.

Paulo looked up to the dark ceiling."Our leader's hopeless." He sighed in acceptance, then he called out to the room at large." Alright, everyone, let's take a break!"

As expected, the electric eel, in charge of the lights, was sleeping soundly in its tank.

"Mr Cat?" Paulamoni approached Mr Cat.

"Hm?" Mr Cat, who wasn't paying much attention to what was happening, gasped once he saw who had spoken to him. He sprang up and straightened his collar.

"Oh, can I help you?" He replied, silkily.

"I'd like to speak with you." Paulamoni said to him and as unusual she spoke calmly with no extra meaning to her words, but Mr Cat gasped again and began to sweat nonetheless.

"What?! You'd like to speak with me?!" He cried out.

"Yes."

Mr Cat then began to speak very fast, without real meaning to his words, like he was imagining Paulamoni's side of the conversation in his head, which he obviously was.

"Those girls from yesterday." Paulamoni began calmly, cutting through Mr Cat's rambling. " I was hoping you'd might allow me to watch them dance. I want to see if I can find out what it is that my performance is lacking." She said to him.

Mr Cat snapped out of his daze. "Are you sure?!" He asked in surprise.

"Are you sure?!" Duck second the question with shock of her own.

Nevertheless, both Tiger and Duck agreed to dance. This surprised Tiger, seeing that Duck had been terrified at the thought, but Duck told her in secret that she had seen one of Mytho's heart shards and that that was her only reason for agreeing to it. They both were asked to change in tutu's for the dance.

The tutu that Tiger found, ready for her, was not quite traditional. Instead of the stiff normal tutu, the dress had a voluminous skirt, that was made up of layers of delicate fabrics, the bottom layer of which was the traditional pressed and stiffened tulle. The color of the dress was blue with lilac accents and the top had ruffles along the neckline that lead to off-shoulder sleeves. Tiger put it on quickly and entered the stage where, also dressed in a tutu, Duck was talking with Mr Cat. Duck's tutu was very traditional, it was white in color with soft yellow stripes and had a modest top without any extra details. Her tutu was stiff and thin. Tiger couldn't help, but feel a bit sorry for Duck, she never got to shine. But then she put Duck off her mind and focussed on the performance she was about to give Miss Paulamoni. The latter had said that she wanted to know what it was that she lacked in her performance, or rather her portrayal of Princess Aurora.

'What would I do as Aurora?' Tiger pondered.

"Say Mytho, why won't you partner with them for each of the Pas de Deux?" Rue suggested quite unexpectedly from her seat in the audience and Tiger thought she looked suspiciously amused about the idea.

"With Mytho?" Tiger blurred out in surprise and she did not hide her reluctance in the idea. It would just be awkward. Mytho had no emotions to convey and it would put off Duck, who was trying to save him without him knowing that. Not to mention the crush Duck had on him!

Fakir had eyed Rue with a scowl, it was obvious he agreed with Tiger (without realizing it) and did not trust Rue's smug grin. "No, Mytho will stay. I'll go."

Tiger couldn't stop the relieved sigh that escaped her lips, but she looked sideways to see that Duck was worried about this turn of events.

First up was Duck to dance with Fakir and she was clearly terrified. As the music began and Fakir stiffly took her hand and it high so Duck could enter her first ballet stance, the leg she was supposed to lift trembled so much, Tiger was surprised Duck didn't quit then and there, but then again, she was no quitter!

The spotlights above her and Fakir shone bright as the electric eel was right awake now and glowing excitingly in his tank, bringing the meters to the maximum power.

"Oo, our leader's approval gauge is maxed out." Paulo remarked, pleasantly surprised by the sudden amount of electricity.

Duck and Fakir continued their dance and it was quite stiff, due to Fakir's determination not to enjoy it and Duck's nerves. She did her best though and Fakir performed his part in supporting her in a professional way, but the tension on both sides was unmistakable.

Tiger was watching them with mixed feelings. She wished Fakir would give her friend some slack, because they both were actually fighting for the same thing, Mytho's wellbeing. However, at the same time she couldn't deny the relief she felt as she watched their less than friendly connection. She knew Duck was very emotional and romantic by nature, not to mention her friends being obsessed with Fakir. Duck's prejudice made it impossible for her to ever appreciate Fakir for who he really was, let alone fall for him.

Their Pas de Deux included a sort of dip, which Fakir used to intimate Duck fully and he seemed to whisper something to her, which made Duck scowl back at him.

Then, at the end of their dance Fakir gave her a short lift, which he was supposed to do, but let go of her abruptly just as the music stopped playing.

"You're an eyesore." He said to her while she was fighting to keep her balance on the stage and he wanted to walk away, not caring if she kept her footing or not. Duck managed by taking a few hasty steps that were all kinds of wrong and ended her part of the dance with an odd stance, her feet flat on the ground and her hands sticking out to the wrong directions. Then she lost her balance and fell down the stage.

"And where are you going?" Tiger asked Fakir loudly with her arms crossed. Miss Paulamoni had come over to check on Duck and Tiger was standing next to them.

"You're not done here. Just remember, you volunteered for both Duck and me."

Fakir sighed, annoyed. "Fine." he said and walked back up the stage where Tiger joined him.

"You know it's our first pas de deux in a while." Tiger said to him softly. She was trying to melt that icy exterior of his. It would be no good to dance with him when he was like this.

Fakir, however, said nothing and silently took his stance to begin. Tiger gave up and copied him, saying nothing more.

Just as it had done when Fakir and Duck had begun their dance, the Eel perked its head and worked over time to bring the lighting to its maximum brightness.

They began to dance. Rather than just giving Fakir the task to dance twice to the same piece, Paulo and Paulamoni had chosen two separate short pieces from Sleeping Beauty. First Duck and Fakir had danced the introduction and now Tiger and Fakir would dance the wedding.

Fakir began, turning in circles and reaching out a hand for Tiger to enter into the dance. She did, putting her weight on his steady grip as she arched her free arm above her hand and lifted her left leg as gracefully as she could. She, as an intermediate student, could not stand on point of course, but she did her best to make up for it. Fakir turned her on the spot, slowly.

"Fakir, have you been tormenting Duck during her performance?" Tiger asked him sternly as she revolved on the spot.

Fakir scoffed at her concern. "She is pathetic and I told her as much." He answered bluntly. "I told her to stay away from Mytho."

The next few steps of the dance drove them apart, but when she danced towards him again and spun her around yet again, she affronted him again.

"How can you say that? You don't even know her enough to give her such hate."

Fakir scoffed again as they moved together a few paces: "I don't need to know her. She is just as mindless as the rest of this town, especially the ones fawning over Mytho."

The dance proceeded now to a few complicated lifts in which neither could speak. Fakir needed all his concentration and strength to be able to repeatedly lift Tiger up and the latter had to move up and down with her upper body so much that it would exhaust her too much to talk at the same time. The original dance had then some advanced moves they both were not skilled enough to perform, so they repeated the first half instead, bringing them close again to talk as Tiger was again spun around by Fakir.

"You're unbelievable! Ever since Mytho came, you've become cold to everyone, even me, your childhood friend. It feels like I'm a stranger to you." She hissed to him and she hoped he could hear the frustration in her voice.

The dance was drawing to a close and taking one last grasp at the opportunity to speak to him while they finished the dance, Tiger said to him: "You've changed, Fakir, and not for the better. But I've made changes for you. Think about that." And without waiting for Fakir to come up with a response, she left to change back into her school uniform.

"Mr Fakir, what did you do? Do you not fear that you may lose Miss Tiger forever? Is that what you want?" Mr Cat was saying to Fakir and Tiger quickened her step, her chest was aching and she didn't want to hear Fakir's blunt response.

"It is none of your business, Mr. Cat." Fakir retorted, shutting up his teacher immediately. He too went away to change, but instead of heading straight for his own changing room, made a detour to Tiger's. He had a nagging feeling in his gut ever since they had parted and instinctively he leaned against her door to listen. As his conscience had been telling him, he heard Tiger crying softly inside the room.

Fakir sighed, went inside his own changing room and leaned back against the door, until it was time to go, not feeling up to doing anything else.

Inside the changing room, Tiger dried her eyes and was about to change, when she heard someone running outside her door. Opening it, she saw Duck running after something.

"Duck? What are you doing?" She asked her, noticing that Duck had not changed her clothes either and she had been back for a while now.

"There's a shard that's running away from me." She panted in response and ran out of sight, around a corner.

"It's what?" Tiger cried after her in surprise. This was strange, normally the shards wanted to return to Mytho. Why would it run and why was it not part of someone else's heart, causing them to act strange? Tiger shook her head. It was no use wondering about it, she had to see if she could help and see whether there was a memory around as well. She threw open her door and transformed into Princess Clara. She headed for the stairs where she indeed saw a ball of light, a memory.

"Please, wait!" Princess Tutu cried out to the fleeing red shape of Mytho and with her dancing, she magiced up vines to block his way. However, the heart shard ran past them and out the door.

"Why do you run away?" Princess Tutu asked as she pursued it.

"Something's wrong here." Princess Clara told her as she landed beside her.

Determined to catch it, Princess Tutu leapt over the shard to cut it off and grew more vines to block the way out. The chase brought them onto the roof of the theater.

"Now, let me bring you back to where you belong." Princess Tutu said kindly to the heart shard as she approached it.

"I won't. I'm scared." The shard replied and it held its arms around itself protectively.

"No… this is the feeling of fear." Princess Clara realized as she watched the shard's behavior.

"No, you have to." Princess Tutu had not listened and continued to corner the scared shard.

"But why?" The shard wanted to know.

"You just do." Princess Tutu persisted.

"That is not a good explanation." Princess Clara called out to Princess Tutu, but still the latter was not listening, she was too fixated on her mission.

"What for?" The shard asked on.

"So Mytho can smile."

"Tutu, I don't think you should give this shard to Mytho right away. Fear cannot be trusted." Princess Clara told Princess Tutu and at last she got her attention.

"But he needs all his feelings, Clara." Princess Tutu insisted, turning her back to the shard to frown at Princess Clara.

"Yes, but this is too soon. He's too fragile for an emotion this strong and it can cause misunderstandings." Princess Clara explained to her calmly, she just didn't want Duck to do anything that she might come to regret. But it was no use, Princess Tutu returned her attention to the frightened Heart Shard and walked slowly towards it.

"I can take you back. Now, come here." She told it, still kindly. But the shard didn't move.

"Come here!" Princess Tutu repeated, more pressing this time. That had been the wrong move. Panicked, the shard conjured up a red sword and charged.

"No!"

Princess Tutu was still moving forward, her face a mixture of shock and disbelief. The shard tackled her and put the sword to her throat as Princess Tutu, instinctively, held out her hands, palms up, to catch the shard. The shard and the sword dissolved into a diamond shaped shard in Tutu's hands. Tutu's eyes were still wide with shock.

"Duck, I beg of you, reconsider." Princess Clara said to her pressingly.

"It is fine." Princess Tutu insisted stubbornly as she stood up and lifted the shard in the air. "Now, go back. Return to Mytho."

Princess Clara glared at her friend. Duck was going to regret this, she just knew it.

'Well, I've tried to stop you.' She thought and turned her attention to the sphere that had floated in front of her. She took it without another word and left Princess Tutu alone on the rooftop.

"Clara? Why are you mad?" Princess Tutu asked, turning as she heard her friend leave, but she didn't get an answer.

Back in the changing room, Tiger released the memory. It was not at all like the memories she had collected thus far.

A young Tiger and Fakir were standing alone in the shadow of a monstrous beast. A jet black raven that seemed to block out the whole sky. It snarled at them with a sharp beak that was full of pointed teeth. Its eyes were glowing red and at it's enormous feet lay a few corpses.

"No…" Princess Clara breathed in shock. "this wasn't supposed to come back to me!" She backed away as the memory faded and the sphere glided towards her. She felt stunned and she could imagine Fakir having a similar reaction to it, but unlike Mytho's Heart Shard, the sphere seemed to be begging Clara to return it to where it belonged. So, taking a deep breath to steel herself, Clara cupped her hands to catch the little ball of light and held it high. "May this memory reach his heart!" She said and let it float through the wall, towards Fakir. Then she returned to being Tiger and put on her school uniform at last.

When Tiger returned to the main stage of the theater, a great commotion was going on. Mytho was screaming at the top of his lungs, clutching his chest. Fakir grabbed Mytho and carried him out of the building while Mytho was still screaming. Fakir's eyes were wide with shock at his friend's behavior.

"Huh?" Duck had just rounded the corner and appeared next to Tiger.

"Hang on, Mytho. Damn it, Princess Tutu." Fakir scawled as he ran as fast as he could.

"QUACK!" Duck screamed in shock and disappeared from sight. She had returned into a duck and had fled out of the building, after Fakir and Mytho. Tiger followed, turning into a cat as she ran. A little away from the theater, at the edge of the park, Fakir had let Mytho down. They were sitting in the middle of a small bridge and Fakir was holding Mytho's head close to his chest in an effort to calm him.

"I'm scared… I'm scared…" Mytho whimpered.

Unknown to both of them, a cat and a duck were listening to their conversation from behind a tree.

"What's happened to Mytho?" Duck asked in a frightened and sad whisper.

"Calm down." Fakir was meanwhile saying to Mytho. "I'm the only one here. What's wrong? What scares you? Tell me."

"Tutu." Mytho whispered and he gripped Fakir's shirt more tightly.

Fakir let out a gasp in shock, so did the duck and the cat behind the tree.

"I'm afraid… of Princess Tutu. I'm afraid of Princess Tutu." Mytho repeated miserably.

"What? That can't be…" Duck whispered faintly and she ran off.

Tiger looked back to the spot where Duck had vanished, but then returned her attention to the two in front of her. After all, she had tried to warn Duck something like this might happen. She leapt onto the bridge and tried to get the boys' attention.

"Meow?" She said to them, approaching them cautiously.