I thank Unnoticeable_Demon for helping.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved flowers more than anyone. She prayed every day for the whole town to be filled with beautiful flowers. To make that happen, she pulled up all the town's ugly weeds. Eventually, the girl's prayers were answered and the town was blanketed in flowers. But they say the town that was filled with innumerable blossoms of every color imaginable somehow looked gray.
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Duck left their dorm room in the evening in a heavy downpour. Tiger didn't stop her, she only wanted to know where on earth she needed to be in this weather. Duck had looked at her grimly and simply answered that she just had to see if Rue was in her room, she wouldn't go outside. However, it was not long before she came quietly back into their room. Without a word Duck settled herself in the windowsill and stared out through the sheets of water cascading from the glass panels.
"No sign of her?" Tiger asked her, more out of concern for Duck's happiness.
"No. Rue came back looking like her usual self again. Not at all like Kraehe, but there's something different. Could she really be Kraehe after all?" Duck said absent-mindedly
"I wish she wasn't, but she is." Tiger murmured honestly.
"Is it Kraehe's fault Mytho tried to take Piqué's heart from her? Is something happening behind the scenes where I can't see it? I don't want to fight anymore."
"Me neither," Tiger said, leaning against the wall next to the window, "but doing nothing won't help. It will just make things worse."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning Piqué surprised Tiger by coming to see her alone, without Lillie.
"I'm really sorry for what happened between you and Lillie and I wanted to see how you were doing." She said. She seemed a bit nervous, but tried her best to keep eye contact to show Tiger that she really meant what she told her next.
"I know why Lillie's comments upset you and I really feel that she went too far for you the last time. Lillie wouldn't wish anyone serious harm, but she never really takes anything serious and you who are Fakir's friend can't do anything but take his situation seriously, I get that!"
"There's nothing left for me to say about her, Piqué." Tiger said to her.
Pique sighed. "Yes, I figured you would see it that way and that's what I told Lillie as well."
"By the way," Tiger said, softening her voice. She gave Piqué a concerned look. "Are you back to normal? After the Mytho thing?"
Pique shrugged. "I don't know what came over me, I'm completely honest. I never had an interest in him before, maybe because he changed just a tiny bit, but even about that I'm not sure. I certainly don't feel anything for him anymore. Anyway, I've always been a Fakir girl."
Tiger smirked. "You have competition with me on Fakir. We've been together since we were little." She told her cheekily.
Piqué blinked in surprise, but then smiled. "Bring it on!" She said joyfully.
Gasps and murmurs suddenly issued from the front entrance. Tiger and Piqué looked round and saw that Mytho was emerging from the school with Rue in his arms. It seemed that Rue had injured herself and was unable to walk on her own.
"I have divine news for all you ladies." Mr Cat said to all watchers. He held up a bright yellow and red poster featuring a dancing pair. The caption said: Cultural Festival.
"The Gold Crown Academy fine arts week starts tomorrow and Mr Mytho says whoever wins this ballet contest, he will make her his partner in the exhibition in place of Miss Rue, who is injured and unable to dance."
The girls, who were already not hiding their ambitions now that Rue was injured, began to cheer and chat with each other joyfully, as if something wonderful had happened.
"Don't rejoice yet, ladies. I haven't finished. The runner-up will have the incredibly desirable opportunity to be my partner. What's more, my life-partner. Yes, a marriage!"
That was everybody's que to leave and they did so in great speed. Mr. Cat had not even finished his ramblings about his happy future when he realized that there was no audience left to address.
"That idiot. This is going to be a disaster." Tiger sighed. She and Pique had run as well, only they made sure they would lose the crazy Mytho-fans as well. While everyone had scattered left and right, they had escaped through the front entrance of the school and were now emerging into the backyard.
"That Mr Cat is an idiot, he will pay the price for his idiocy some day." Lion said as he and Duck came up from behind them. Apparently they had been amongst the students as well and also had the idea to escape everyone by heading this way.
"Mytho and Rue. I thought I saw them go this way." Duck said, who obviously had a more innocent reason for coming this way, she wanted to see if her former friends were alright.
They heard a rustling sound followed by a little thump of someone hitting the ground with their shoes. Tiger put a finger to her mouth and motioned for them all to hide behind the cluster of trees that stood close by.
"It's not so easy pretending to be injured." They heard Rue say and they followed the sound of her voice to the left side of the school building. Peering around the trees they could see Rue standing there, perfectly fine on two healthy legs, with Mytho behind her.
"So this is a plot." Tiger whispered.
"So do it right this time." Rue was saying to Mytho in an unfriendly and imperios tone.
"I know, Kraehe." Mytho told her in that same soft and dangerous whisper he had used on Piqué that time.
"Kraehe? He called her Kraehe." Duck gasped in horror.
"They're gone." Lion said, pointing to the spot where Rue and Mytho had been. He was right, they had vanished, leaving only a few crows' feathers behind.
"Mytho." Duck whispered miserably, but the others had stood up to leave.
"That was too weird, but I can't say I care what those two do. I have a very bad feeling about this so I'll go back to school." Piqué said. No one stopped her and no one really blamed her. Piqué was not meant to play a starring role in the story and she had already been in danger for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Duck, however, wandered to the place where the feathers had fallen and then began to search through the shrubbery close to the wall. Tiger and Lion followed her without commend. It was properly a good idea to stick together but Tiger doubted Rue and Mytho, or rather, Kraehe and the Raven's puppet, would not stick around.
They kept close to the wall as they walked around the building, eventually leaving the shadows of the shrubbery and entering the school's flower gardens. A sound of rushing water caught their attention and when they looked to their right they saw a girl watering the flowers. It was a bright sunny day and the water sparkled as it left the spout of the watering can and spread over the flowers. The girl had golden hair that sparkled just as bright while she danced around the flower beds to tend to them all.
"Bloom prettily. You too. And you too." She said to the flowers.
"Wow" Duck breathed as she stared at the girl.
The girl heard her and stopped dancing to see who had come. She seemed surprised to see them.
"Oh, I'm really sorry. We didn't mean to intrude." Duck said to her quickly, she looked a bit flustered.
"It's fine. This garden belongs to everybody." The girl said with a calm and friendly voice.
"Really?" Tiger asked. She had never known this. She had always assumed no one had been allowed to come too close to the flowers and she had taken this girl to be appointed to take care of them. After all, no one seemed to come here.
"So pretty." Duck sighed, her face was lit with wonder and admiration as she stared at the girl.
"Aren't they?" The girl said happily.
"Uh, I didn't mean that." Duck said awkwardly, then catching her own words, she approached the girl quickly and said: "Oh, I mean of course the flowers are pretty! But you know, that's not all Miss… um. Miss ah…"
"My name's Freya." The girl said.
"I'm Tiger." Tiger told her kindly as she and Lion came closer as well.
"I'm Lion." Lion said.
"Oh, my name is Duck. This is amazing. Did you grow all these flowers, Miss Freya?"
Freya laughed and continued to dance around the flower beds, spraying them with sparkling water. "Flowers bloom on their own. I simply pray. Bloom prettily. Bloom abundantly."
"Say, why aren't you practicing right now like everyone else?" Duck asked her.
"For the art festival competition?" Miss Freya asked.
"That's the one." Tiger replied.
"I like ballet just like you do. So I will practice later. First, I must care for these little ones." Miss Freya said.
"Wow, you really love flowers, don't ya?" Duck said, she had rosy cheeks and her eyes were still sparkling. It was clear that Duck had found someone who she would very much liked to be.
"Yes, well, it would be wonderful if the world would be full of flowers, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, it would give the world a brighter look." Lion said amiably, but then turned to leave and as he did so he gave a little tug on Tiger's sleeve.
"Come on, let's go."
"Um, what about..." Tiger looked hesitatingly towards Duck who was still watching Miss Freya tend to her flowers. Lion had followed her gaze but shook his head.
"I need to talk to you, privately."
Dumbstrikken, Tiger let herself be dragged away into the shrubbery once more, way out of earshot of anyone who might go for a stroll around the grounds. When Lion let go off her arm at last, she rounded on him, her arms crossed.
"Well? Let me hear it." She said to him, staring at him with one eyebrow raised.
Lion looked a bit uncertain, but cleared his throat and squared his shoulders.
"I want to tell you how and why you came to be here, in this world and why you arrived alone."
"Our parents said something about you making a mistake." Tiger said.
"Yes and I am still very sorry about that." Lion gave her a pleading look. "But I'll get to that, first you need to know where you came from."
Tiger nodded and waited for Lion to continue. The latter took a deep breath and began.
"In another realm there are many separate worlds and each of them is created by a different story. The story you and I come from is about a boy who dreamed off a different life, a life where everyone could be an animal of their own choosing. I know I am meant to be that boy, but the story was never fully realized. I discovered that I could create things by dreaming, but I can't seem to be able to think of a story for our world. It just exists and we are trapped there, because of me. Our parents can't even change their shape like we do." Lion paused, his breathing had become shallow and his eyes were wide. Tiger relaxed and forgot her annoyance with him. She came to him and put her hands on his shoulders.
"It's alright, Lion, you didn't do it on purpose and mom and dad didn't seem too bothered by their forms." She told him encouragingly and she gave him a smile when he finally looked at her. He had tears in his eyes.
"Take a breath, it's ok. I won't get mad, I promise." She told him gently.
Lion wiped away his tears and continued. "I'm still trying to see if I can create more or find somewhere better we can go to and in my search, I discovered the existence of other worlds, other stories. I was so excited when I found them that I showed them to you. I discovered that I could make portals to them if I closed my eyes and sort of started to day dream. Anyways, we found Gold Crown town and started to watch what kind of world it was. We wanted to know if it would be suitable to move there, but we discovered that this was the normal world, where we had come from originally, I mean. The only difference is that a story had taken hold over it, a tragedy had changed this little town into a fantastical world and cut it off from the normal world. We realized that everyone in it would be bound to live in a tragic tale that would loop around for all eternity and we wanted to help. I could make the doorway and you would go through to become a new character in the tale, a character that could make sure that the tragedy would have a happy ending and then could leave the town. After that was done, we could go back to a normal world."
"But Fakir. I can't leave him." Interrupted Tiger him with some panic.
"All I'm saying is that it was our first intention, you can always change your mind." Lion told her kindly.
"What will you do?" Tiger asked him softly. She had gotten quite used to having him around, to know that he was there gave her comfort and she would miss him if he were to go anywhere else.
"I haven't decided yet." He said. "But I will do what I can for our parents, that's my first wish."
"Of course, I want that too." Tiger nodded in agreement, then she said:
"Sorry, continue with your story."
"Thank you." Lion cleared his throat and took a moment to remember what he had wanted to say next.
"Oh yeah, I remember. So, you agreed to come to this world and we agreed on a plan to use a sketchbook to guide you through the different stories in this town. I knew you also had my ability to dream, but it's a bit difficult in your case."
"How come?" Tiger asked surprised, in the meantime she was busy getting her sketchbook out of her bag. The mention of it reminded her that she still had to make a sketch of her latest dream. It had been about flowers.
"Your dreams don't manifest immediately upon thinking of them, but become slowly reality. We knew this time had the power to enhance your power and so make it more difficult to focus on the main tragedy and that's why I urged you to draw the in this sketchbook. It drives them out of your head and prevents the story from lingering after you dealt with them."
"Right," Tiger said, to let her brother know she was still listening to him while she was drawing. Lion didn't seem to mind, after all, he had just explained to her why she needed to do this. "but I still don't get how I lost my memory. What went wrong?"
Lion sighed. "I tried to alter your story too much. I wanted you to still be able to turn into a cat and I also gave you a new identity as Princess Clara. I thought it was better for you not to know about your abilities right away and I wished for them to stay secret from however you met, but I focused too much on the forgettable part, I guess. I'm still so sorry about that, Tiger, it was the first time I tried to create an identity like that."
Tiger looked up from her drawing and saw that he had gone pale again. He was such a worry-ward, she thought affectionately and she gave him an encouraging smile.
"Hey, cheer up, I'm finding my shared memories with Fakir. That was your way of fixing it, I assume."
"It was." Lion said.
"Well then, no need to worry about it." She told him cheerfully and she turned back to her drawing. It was indeed about flowers. The image she had seen in her dream was that of a dark room with a single window and in it stood a small flowerpot with flowers. The flowers looked nothing special, but the shadow they cast on the floor was big, black and thorny.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On the day of the contest a wooden stage was built for the contestants to perform on. It had a hand-crafted wall of thick cardboard on either side, with a picture of a long horned goat underneath an arch in white paint. At the base of both these walls was a curtained doorway to enter or exit the stage through.
"We will be opening the ballet competition momentarily. As announced previously, the winner will dance with Mr Mytho as his partner. The runner-up will of course have the privilege and pleasure of dancing eternally as my partner." Mr Cat announced with enthusiasm. There was a lot of cheering and murmuring for the first part of that announcement, but the second half only caused one of the girls to sob in hysterics. They were all deep in concentration, those who wanted to try at the contest and were all busy with stretching exercises backstage. If you were to come closer to see their face, you would only find desperation on the border of insanity on their faces. Only one contestant kept herself calm and could even be caught smiling serenely and that was Miss Freya.
"The participants must be feeling the nervousness such as they never felt before." Mr Cat said in a manner of commentary as the first girl began to dance.
Duck and Tiger were hiding near some bushes. Most of the spectators, Piqué and Lillie included, had seated themselves on the higher grounds to watch the event from a high point, but Tiger and Duck had chosen a spot much closer to the stage. If there would be trouble they could be there within seconds.
"Good thing we didn't enter, huh Duck?" Tiger said as she watched the first girl enter the stage with a face so screwed up in concentration she could just as well be trying to make the stage levitate. It was ridiculous. Duck remained silent and just watched.
"With that, let us now begin the competition. Everybody, try your best aiming for this runner-up bouquet!" Mr Cat explained, waving a bouquet in the air with a manic expression on his face.
The girl started her dance, but her expression didn't soften or relax, nor did the expression of any contestant after her. They all had skill and performed beautifully, but their dancing had no joy in it at all.
"This is a disgrace with those expressions." Tiger groaned.
"Mytho probably can't do anything funny during the contest." Duck said, a spark of hope in her voice.
"Lion's waiting for us at the gate." Tiger said suddenly and stood up to leave. "You're coming?" She added to Duck and reached down to pull her to her feet. Then the two girls left. After they met Lion at the gate the three of them headed for the blacksmith's. When they were near enough to see the house at the end of the street they halted.
"We're kinda just showing up. I hope Fakir will be home." Duck said, concerned. Before any of the others could react to this however a loud drumming noise startled them. Duck cried out and fell down on the pavement. Panting she looked behind her.
"Her again?" she sputtered as she spotted Uzura standing behind her, her drumsticks raised.
"Again? You've met her before?" Tiger asked in surprise and she stared from Duck to Uzura, who still had not lowered her threatening drumsticks while she stared at Duck.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" A familiar voice asked in mild surprise and Fakir came into view.
Duck sighed in relief at the sight of him. "Oh, Fakir."
"Fakir!" Uzura said happily and skipped over to stand beside him.
"I-I-I-I came to see you Fakir, b-but this girl she.." Duck began, completely taken aback.
"She has a butt-zura." Uzura said suddenly, interrupting Duck's stutters.
"Wait, you didn't do what I think you did?" Tiger said to Uzura.
"Did you do something to her?" Fakir asked her as well and his tone suggested that he really hoped she didn't.
"I was looking for a tail and I found her a butt-zura!" Uzura cried out and she began to drum loudly.
"That was rude!" Lion said, crossing his arms and glaring big-brotherly at Uzura.
"You can't do that! It's wrong." Tiger also tried, but Fakir was not that patient or gentle.
"Now look, you..." He said and he firmly closed his hand over Uzura's head and turned it backwards. This startled Duck so much that she squawked loudly, resulting in turning into a duck.
"What the-" Tiger gasped, but Uzura seemed fine. She simply spun her head back to normal and continued to watch Duck who was still quacking and flapping her wings in shock.
"Oh!" Uzura said and she skipped away from them all, only to return with a small vase of water.
Fakir meanwhile had kneeled behind the freaked out Duck and tried to recall her back her sanity by tapping her lightly on her wing. "Hey." He called out to her in a gentle voice.
SPLASH! With a shock from both Fakir and Duck, a large quantity of water was poured over Duck. Fakir had jumped backwards to avoid the water, but that was now the least of his problems. Remembering what had happened to Duck the last time she had turned into a Duck and then to a girl again, he grabbed Lion by his arm and dragged him behind the neighboring house.
Duck emerged, fully naked, in the alley while she muttered to herself, in shock of what just had happened. "Her neck just twisted. He twisted her neck."
Uzura, who had realized Fakir had gone, looked around and spotted him and Lion crouching behind the wall of the next house.
"Why are you hiding-zura?" She asked them in surprise.
"Shut up." Fakir said to her in annoyance.
"Don't talk to us." Lion agreed. There was a big blush on his face and he looked close to fainting himself.
After Tiger had ventured into the alley where Duck lay, bringing her her clothes and finally getting her to calm down and dress herself again, the group entered the house next to the blacksmith's where Fakir made them all some tea.
"Now that I think about when we met, if I was wearing my uniform…" Tiger trailed off and shivered. "humiliated… I'd be totally humiliated!" she finished.
"We're going to have to talk to her." Lion agreed.
"Here." Fakir said to Duck, putting a cup of tea in front of her. "Alright now, have you at least calmed down a little bit?" He asked her, still sounding quite annoyed.
"Yes, thank you. Who is she?" Duck asked, looking across the table to where Uzura was peering just over the table top.
Fakir's face cleared into a smile as he looked down at the curious puppet. Apparently he couldn't stay mad at her for long. "Well her name is Uzura. Charon, he made her from the wood from Edel that didn't burn up." He explained.
"From Miss Edel?" Duck repeated, her voice shaking a bit with sadness. But then she cheered up a bit. "Oh, is that why she knew me already?" She asked.
"What? No, I told her about you. I told her about you and Mytho and things. And also about Tiger and Lion. But it looks like Edel's memories are gone." Fakir said and his voice became filled with sorrow as well. "She warmed my body and became a guiding flame for you and Mytho."
"Miss Edel. She really did save our lives that night. Even like this, I'm glad I get to see her again." Duck said and even though she was still clearly sad about the loss of her friend, she meant these words. "Now that you say it, she kind of reminds me of.."
KADANG! Uzura suddenly hopped onto the table and banged loudly on her drum.
"Quack!" Duck screamed and disappeared from view as she turned back into a duck once more and fell underneath the table. The shock of the event had caused everyone else to jump onto their feet and back away. Off hopped Uzura again to fetch water. Being prepared this time, Lion didn't need Fakir to help him find a place to avert his eyes. Fakir had jumped towards the back wall and had his face almost pressed against it, while Lion just turned away from the table and kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Splash!
"Oh, no…" Cried out Tiger and again she tried to get Duck back to her senses and give her her clothes back.
"What are you doing-zura?" Uzura asked the two boys.
"Just shut up. Anyway, Duck, Tiger, didn't you have some reason for coming?" Fakir spoke fast, which was evidence that his heartbeat was racing.
"Yes, it has to do with Mytho. A few days ago, he tried to take Piqué's heart out." Duck said, fully clothed and back to business. "It didn't work though, so now he is trying to do the same thing to Miss Freya."
"He is?!" Tiger asked in shock, this was news to her.
"When did this happen?" Lion asked.
"Just yesterday. So uh, what do you think happened to Mytho? Found out anything?" Duck said, still addressing Fakir.
Fakir looked at her for a second, but then averted his eyes. "No, nothing." He said softly.
This was fishy, Tiger thought and she kept her eyes on Fakir. He avoided everyone's gaze and his expression could be described as guilty.
"Well, alright, that's all." Duck said. "I just thought you might have found out anything, so I came to see if you had." It was clear she was disappointed.
"Right." Fakir muttered, looking guilty.
Lion glared at him reproachfully.
"I'm worried about Miss Freya, so I'm going to go back." Duck told Fakir, turning towards the door to leave.
"Wait! I think I'll go with you." Fakir said and he followed Duck to the door.
"Uzura, I'm leaving you the house." He added to the puppet, sitting on the table top again.
"Leave it to me-zura!" Uzura cried out happily, then she recalled some of their conversation and frowned. "Edel? I don't get it-zura!" She said, forgetting it all with a smile.
"Leave Mytho to me, you need to save Freya!" Fakir said while running towards the school.
"But if we just talk to Mytho…" Duck tried, a little plea in her voice.
"It's no use." Tiger told Duck flatly. "He won't listen."
Fakir nodded. "She's right. You need to do as I tell you." He said to Duck, finality in his voice.
"Oh, alright." Duck agreed, but she didn't look happy about it and looked to Lion for help.
Lion only showed Duck that he understood her feelings about the matter, but did not argue on her behalf. Instead he said: "We need to hurry, we don't want to be too late."
When they arrived at the school, Tiger and Duck went on ahead to check out the situation, after all, Fakir was not allowed on the premises. They could hear Mr Cat saying something, then hiss and spit incoherently. Apparently there would be no runner-up for him to marry.
"It's over." Fakir said when he ventured into the school grounds after Duck and Tiger had given him the all clear.
Duck looked pensively, then her head perked up. "Oh. That's right!" She said to herself and ran off.
"The garden!" Tiger also realized excitedly and she followed suit.
"Hey!" Fakir called after them, alarmed that they suddenly took off, but he and Lion had no other choice but to follow if they wanted to help.
Tiger had outrun Duck and reached the garden first, but it did not look like the beautiful cheerful garden Miss Freya had cared for. The blossoms were a dark shade of purple now and they looked demonic with sharp edges around their leaves.
"Something's wrong with those flowers." She said as she came to a sudden halt, not daring to come close yet.
"Miss Freya!" Duck called out to the dancing figure among the flowers, but Fakir just rushed on, straight to the looming figure of Mytho, standing on his plateau of large crows and watching Freya with a monstrous hunger.
"Fakir!" Duck called after him, but Fakir didn't slow down. Mytho didn't notice him, he was still watching the girl dance.
"Wait." The soft voice of Princess Tutu spoke and finally Freya stopped dancing to look round.
"Please come dance with us, Miss Freya." Princess Tutu said to her kindly, reaching out to her.
"Tu-" Mytho uttered and for a moment he seemed to have regained his old self, but then the Raven beat down that part of him and sneered in vindictive victory.
"Quit showing your face. Hurry and vanish!" He told the princess.
"Never! We won't do it, Raven!" Princess Clara cried out as she entered the fray, her eyes blazing with fury.
"Raven?" Princess repeated in confusion, but as she looked into the red-tinged eyes of the one she once knew and admired, her breath got caught in her throat and pure despair crossed over her face.
"Again, you are trying to come between Mytho and me? I won't have it!" Freya called out in distress and she let the crows take her to the beast ahead of her.
"Miss Freya!" Princess Tutu called after her, but the girl did not listen.
"You have it all wrong!" Princess Clara called after her, but to little effect.
"Yes, that's it, my little flower. Come into my arms, Freya." The Raven whispered through Mytho's lips.
Fakir suddenly appeared before his former friend, stepping roughly on a crow's head to reach him and he began to shake him urgently by the shoulders.
"Pull yourself together Mytho!" He called to him.
"Release your hold on him, demon!" Lion called, but could do no more than that.
"Miss Freya, is that love real? Weren't flowers your hope, your prayer, your wish?" Princess said to the girl while she danced around her.
"You're right, that is what I desire. What I prayed for. Now look around, see how many have bloomed?" Freya said and with joy she spread her arms while she was still being carried by the crows.
"Is this really what you wanted them to look like? Listen closely to the flowers you love." Princess Tutu told her.
"What are they saying to you?" Princess Clara asked the girl, also dancing around her and trying to block Mytho from Freya's view.
"The flowers, voices? I can't, I can't hear them!" Freya said, suddenly realizing the change in her life. Her eyes opened wide and fear took her.
"Watch, watch Tutu's dance." Fakir urged Mytho, he had seen how it had momentarily brought back his old self.
"And you watch Princess Clara's dance, Miss Freya. Keep your eyes away from that Raven, he is corrupting your heart!" Lion called to Freya.
"I can't hear the flowers' voices!" Freya called in panic and in desperation she did as Lion said and looked to Princess Clara for help.
"Don't give up, remember. Remember your prayer." Princess Tutu said to Freya.
"It was right here in this garden, Miss Freya, where you found your hope and your dream. They are not lost to you!" Princess Clara told her encouragingly.
"My prayer?" Freya repeated and she started to wake up more and more.
"Yes, your prayer for everyone to be happy. That was what you wished for, wasn't it, Miss Freya?" Princess Tutu said and as Freya remembered her prayer, a light shone down upon her and the garden, bringing the flowers back to their colorful state.
"Ah, I hear them. The flowers' voices." Freya said joyfully and she closed her eyes as the crows began to vanish, bringing her down to the ground.
A memory sphere shot past Princess Clara and she followed it, turning her back to Princess Tutu, catching Freya in her lap as she fell into a peaceful sleep.
"Mytho… Remember!" Fakir said to his former friend, shaking him still urgently, but Mytho threw him off with a cry of despair.
"Why won't you love me?! Why?!" He called out.
"No one can love you when you're like this!" Lion told Mytho.
"Mytho! Remember your real self!" Fakir tried once more and finally something seemed to come through to his old friend.
"My real… self…" Mytho whispered with difficulty, trying hard to focus.
"Don't let your ears be poisoned by some knight, too selfish to die!" Kraehe suddenly said from above where she gently rained down feathers over Mytho.
"Kraehe." Princess Tutu gasped in shock.
"You are the selfish one." Princess Clara spat back, glaring at the dark princess.
"The way you are now is the real Mytho." Kraehe said, ignoring Princess Clara and landing next to Mytho where she let him lean in on her.
"Kraehe, what have you done to Mytho?" Princess Tutu called to Kraehe, making the latter smile in amusement.
"The one who made the prince like this is you, Tutu." She said to her.
"Stop it!" Fakir cried out, but Kraehe was only enjoying seeing his despair.
"After all, you returned the feeling of love to the prince, ignorant of the fact that it was dyed in the Raven's blood. You didn't tell her, Fakir?" She laughed.
Princess Clara rounded on Fakir at these words, disbelief edged on her face.
"You knew, and you hid it from us?" She asked him, outraged. Fakir only hung his head in despair and the memory sphere, Princess Clara had caught, disappeared.
"I'm forever in your debt, Tutu." Kraehe said, delighted.
"I am not finished talking to you, Kraehe." Princess Clara called to Kraehe, suspecting that the dark Princess wanted to disappear again.
"You say Tutu's the one who did this when it was you who bathed the shard in Raven's blood. Have you no shame for what you did? He won't be the Prince you fell in love with anymore."
"I don't see it that way. The Prince didn't have a heart when I met him, the change you speak of is only growth to me and now he and I are on the same side. We will be together without any differences. He will love only me."
"You say he'll love only you? You have it all wrong. This thing won't love you, that's not what he'll feel. He'll stop loving you when he becomes selfish, cruel and possessive! In fact, I bet he already is!"
Kraehe scowled, insulted by Princess Clara's words. "How can you possibly know anything about true love? These little side-effects you speak of are nothing compared to it!"
Princess Tutu turned to Princess Clara, shocked by her friend's indifference towards Mytho's fate.
"Mytho. Clara, how could you call him a thing?" She asked her in a hurt voice.
"You still don't get it?" Princess Clara retorted.
"Tiger, stop! Don't take this out on her, can't you see that she has been through enough?" Lion said and true enough, Princess Tutu lost the strength in her legs and sank to the floor, staring at the spot where Kraehe and Mytho had stood, numbly whispering Mytho's name. They all let her be for a moment. Tiger changed back and so did Duck in the end. Lion silently gave her a hand to help her stand and they all left the school.
"Hey, are you angry with me, because I kept it from you?" Fakir asked Duck in the end.
"A little." Duck muttered grumpily.
"I am, a lot. I thought we talked about this when I gave you the gem of Trust." Tiger said angrily.
"I'm sorry, Duck. I'm sorry, Tiger." Fakir said to them. He glanced at Tiger, for she was the most offended. She noticed him looking at him and turned pointedly away, while Duck just walked on in silence.
"Mytho is Mytho, right?" She said suddenly, stopping and her voice grew in strength. "Even with ravens' blood in him, Mytho is Mytho. He will go back to his old self, right?" Duck turned to face the others and there was a hopeful smile on her face.
Fakir looked at her in surprise, but then returned her smile. "Of course." He replied.
"For how much longer is Mytho going to be Mytho?" Tiger asked, her voice challenging. "Soon, the Raven's blood will corrupt him more until there's nothing left of the old him."
"How can you say that?" Duck cried out, a bit of her newly regained spark leaving her.
"Because it is a reality we have to face. you heard Kraehe, she will continue to manipulate him." Tiger said, desperate to get through to her, but Fakir stepped in.
"Don't you think I know that? Even before Kraehe told me what she had done, I was trying to find a way to return Mytho to his own story so he would be saved from this corruption. But Duck can try her best to bring out the real Mytho whenever she can as Princess Tutu. It's a good sign that she can bring him to resurface."
"You must have hope, Tiger." Duck said to her friend, taking her hands into her hers.
Tiger looked into Duck's eyes, but shook her head. "Why?" She asked and her voice shook.
"Why do you keep believing and ignoring what you see? You also believe that Kraehe will return to be Rue someday, but it's obvious that that won't happen either! Shall we just blunder on without a plan or communication?" She looked at Fakir.
"Why didn't you tell us you were trying to find a way to get Mytho back to his story, Lion and I are from another world, we could help you! Don't you trust us? Let me see that gem I gave you."
Fakir said nothing, but obeyed. When he showed her the gem of Trust it had indeed changed.
"It's no longer see-through." Lion said, looking at it closely. He was right. The deep blue had given the illusion of a bottomless depth before, but now it looked shallow. Trust on both sides had been damaged.