I thank Unnoticeable_Demon for helping.
Once upon a time, there was a child. For the child, the world was filled with wonder. "How? Why? How come?" When one mystery was solved, two new mysteries would arise. When two mysteries were solved, four new mysteries would arise. When four mysteries were solved, countless mysteries appeared. In time, the child came to be consumed by these mysteries.
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A powerful, loud and monstrous laughter filled the air. It made the ground shake as it was plunged in darkness by the monstrous Raven's shadow.
"You can't hide from me." it said sneering at the little girl below. "None of you can hide. I will swallow you all to sate my hunger!"
Tiger tried to keep her balance, to run, but the monster laughed again and the world around her moved too powerfully. She wanted to yell, to scream at it to spit out all the towns' folk it had swallowed whole, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. Fear had taken her ability to do anything. Stumbling, she tried again to get away, but the red eyes of the monster came nearer and nearer as it bowed its head towards her. It had singled her out as its next meal.
Tiger woke up with a start. Her heart was racing and she felt clammy with sweat. For a second she feared she had blacked out, fallen on her head in her haste to get away, but then she realized that she was lying safely in her bed in the girl's dorm of the Ballet Academy. Such powerful relief washed over Tiger that her eyes stung with tears, but then she became aware of something else. Duck was crying in the bunk above her.
"I didn't mean it to be like this." Duck whimpered.
Still dazed from her nightmare, Tiger stared up at the bottom of Duck's bed. She wanted to speak to her, but-
"Duck, Tiger, we're leaving!" Piqué's voice called from the landing outside their door.
"If you don't hurry, you will go back to be probationary-Duck!"
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Duck answered, subdued, but as normal as possible.
"We'll be right there." Tiger added.
"Oh, man. Mytho hasn't been to class since then." Duck said, half to Tiger, half to herself.
"Neither has Fakir." Tiger added, thinking back to the scene on the bridge just behind the theater. Neither Fakir nor Mytho had shooed her away, which she had feared they might do in their present state. Both boys had stared at her in surprise, but Mytho had not been scared of her. On the contrary, he seemed to calm down and even cheer up at the sight of her. It must have been Mytho's affection for animals, it was part of who he was and even though he knew now how to feel fear, it did not apply to things he had accepted and cared for from the beginning. Then Tiger had to return the horrible memory to Fakir. It caused him great distress and he left her and Mytho far a while to get a grip on himself. His eyes were wide and filled with terror and pain, Tiger wanted to sooth his pain, but her instinct told her to stay away, that Fakir might lash out, so she stayed with Mytho till he had calmed down enough to come back.
"It's all my fault. I should've listened to you, Tiger. I ignored your warnings and now Mytho is suffering." Duck said, sobbing again and it pulled Tiger out of her thoughts.
"Duck, it's time for school." She told her calmly.
At school they were plagued by the incident at the theater once more. The whole school seemed to have heard what had happened and everyone was talking about Mytho and Fakir who, it seemed, had not come today.
"I wonder if Mytho's alright." They heard a girl whisper to her group of friends in the hallway of the school.
"It's been a week since Mytho stopped coming to class." A chihuahua in a boys' uniform said.
"Fakir, too." Agreed a boy.
"What are they thinking?" Added another boy.
"Well, it's not like you can ever tell what Mytho's thinking anyway." Joked the chihuahua and his friends laughed with him.
Duck and Tiger walked quietly passed them without looking at them. Once seated in class, Mr. Cat spoke to them from behind his desk. They all had been instructed to write a report on the performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Eleki Troupe and Mr. Cat was giving them the results.
"Everyone did exceptionally well on the report on Sleeping Beauty by the Eleki Troupe the other day, especially Miss Rue. Brilliantly insightful. I expected no less." Mr. Cat was saying.
"Thank you very much." Rue thanked Mr. Cat politely, but she betrayed herself with a rather smug grin.
"And then there was the report concentrating on the story by Miss Tiger. Very well thought up."
"Thanks, Mr Cat." Tiger replied unenthusiastically, she still felt quite gloomy.
"And then we come to what seems to be Miss Duck's report." Mr. Cat began with an edge to his voice. "It was really great. The End." He said bluntly.
"Brilliantly sustent, I expected no less." Mr. Cat told them silkily.
"Thank you very much." Duck mumbled, missing Mr. Cat's meaning completely.
Mr Cat's ear twitched irritatedly "It's sarcasm." He growled.
"Yes, Mr Cat." Duck answered in the same subdued tone.
"At this rate, I'll have to drop you down to probation again or… HAVE YOU MARRY-"
"That's fine." Duck answered Mr Cat's threat without thinking, nor care.
Pique and Lilie gasped at either side of her. "No!"
Tiger, who had not been paying attention to all of this at all, stood up.
"Mr Cat, I'm really not myself today. I'm going back to the dorms. I'm sorry." She told him, firmly and without waiting for an answer, she left the school.
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Tiger made her way back to the now deserted dorms and changed out of her school's uniform and put on regular clothes. She then left again to find a quiet place in town to draw. Tiger knew she had been lacking behind, the nightmare she had last night was not the only vivid dream she had during the week of Fakir's absence. A few days ago she also dreamt of a new story which was most likely happening right now in Gold Crown Town.
She found a bench at a quiet playground and began to draw. In this dream, she had seen children's toys lying on a table inside a house. In the vision, she had seen an open window and just in front of it, a chair drawn to the table, but no child nor anyone else.
Tiger sighed. "I know I can't go on like this, but what should I do?" She asked herself quietly. Feeling frustrated, she stood up and pushed the book back in bag. Tiger set off, where to, she had no idea. While strolling through the streets, she noticed Mr. Cat sitting at a cafe alone. School must have ended by now.
"Mr Cat?" Tiger called out to him as she approached his table. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I told Miss Duck to meet me here this afternoon, if she is still serious about accepting my proposal in marriage." Mr. Cat replied happily. He didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that Duck was yet to show herself.
Tiger couldn't help but scoff at this and she didn't mind if Mr. Cat noticed it.
"Tell me you didn't think she was serious. Both Duck and I are going through a lot of personal problems right now. I know for a fact that she wasn't even aware of agreeing to anything." Tiger sat herself down across from her teacher and stared at him.
"Since I left class without giving you a chance to answer, you deserve to get an explanation."
"Oh?" Mr. Cat's ears perked up in curiosity.
"The truth is, I've been plagued by a fear I thought I put behind me. Last night I dreamt about it, a monstrous Raven, the size of a mountain, glowering over town with glowing red eyes and a razor sharp beak full of sharp teeth. It was crushing corpses with its enormous feet and the thing is, I didn't dream it up because I remember Fakir was there. I remember the fear in his eyes when it was all over."
"Why don't you confide in Fakir? Seeing that you both have the same trauma?" Mr Cat wondered out loud and he truly looked surprised.
"Actually, I think that might be the reason he's shunning me." Tiger confessed and she averted her eyes for a moment, she never really spoke of this. It was painful and embarrassing at the same time. Tiger took a deep breath and pushed herself off her seat.
"I'm sorry, I have to go." She told her teacher and hurried away, without looking back. She knew it was a good thing she finally told someone, but it still gave her great anxiety. She felt so very vulnerable at that moment. Taking another turn, she entered a different street, one parallel to one she had come from. She suddenly could hear music coming from the other end of it. It sounded like a music box.
"Would anyone like some gems? Beautiful gems." A woman said in a soft sing-song voice. Tiger looked to where the music had come from and saw a woman across the road. The woman had a strange, unreal appearance once you got closer to her. Her hair was minty-green and had a sort of oval shape, framed by two large rolls of fixed curls that didn't seem possible. Her skin was almost completely white and she had long eyelashes which gave her face a haunting quality. She had a sort of trolley with her that seemed to be functioning as both an organ and jewelry stall.
"Hello, Tiger. I am Edel." She greeted Tiger smilingly as the latter crossed the street in curiosity.
"How did you know my name?" Tiger asked her in surprise.
"May those who accept fate be granted happiness; may those who defy it be granted glory." The woman said, not really answering her question.
Tiger raised an eyebrow. "Fate? What fate?" She asked the woman.
"The fate of everyone inside the story."
"If it's about the tale of The Prince and the Raven, I'm not part of that story." Tiger countered, wondering why this woman would speak to her about it.
"No, you are not, but your friend Fakir is." Edel replied.
"Fakir's part of the story, too?" Tiger asked and she involuntarily took a step backwards. She knew that everyone in that story did not end well.
Edel nodded solemnly. "Fakir is the reincarnation of the knight who fought beside the prince." She said.
Tiger shook her head. "No! I can't let that happen!" She cried out in alarm. The knight would be ripped in two by the Monstrous Raven.
Edel didn't reply, but instead pulled out a gem from one of the trolley's drawers. "The name of this gem is Courage." Edel told Tiger and she showed her the gem. It was actually a two-piece, two hearts overlapping each other, one translucent and the other deep red. "It is a single gem made of two." Edel explained.
"Oh, that's right. You said you sold gems." Tiger realized when she saw it.
"How much for this one?"
"I will give this to you, you will need it soon."
Tiger raised her eyebrows in surprise, but took the gem nonetheless.
"Thank you." Tiger looked down at the gem in her hand. What was she supposed to do with it? Wear it around her neck? Keep it close in her pocket at all times? Give it to someone else?
"Eh..?" Tiger began and she looked up, but the woman had vanished. Tiger stared at the spot where Edel had stood a minute ago. No one could walk or even run that fast. Where did she go and how had she managed it? Not getting any answers anyway, Tiger walked away. She walked on and ended up at a little bridge in the middle of town that was known as the Prodding Bridge. There was a legend or rather a tale about this bridge. If you went and stood in the middle of that bridge and looked down into the water, a voice would come to you and ask you about your troubles. The questions would be all open, like 'why', 'how' and so on until you could answer your own doubts. If you could not and took too long to answer, you'd get pulled into the water. It was worth a try, Tiger thought and so she crossed the bridge halfway and turned to look down into the water, leaning on the railing of the bridge.
"Is anyone there?" She asked hesitatingly. To her great surprise, a soft low voice answered immediately.
"Who's there?"
"I am." Tiger replied, raising her voice a bit with confidence.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Tiger."
"Why have you come?" The voice asked and it sounded intrigued.
"I am trying to get things off my mind." Tiger told it truthfully.
"What things?" The voice wanted to know.
"Things causing me grief." Tiger confessed and she could feel a coldness gripping her heart.
"You're sad? How strange." The voice said.
"What about you? Who are you?" Tiger countered. She was actually very curious to know. What made such a thing as this exist?
"I don't know." The voice replied flatly.
"Why don't you know?" Tiger wanted to know and she actually felt sorry for the voice.
"It's been so long, I can't remember."
Tiger thought back to the dream she had, the one that had shown her the children's toys. A voice had narrated the story and she tried hard to remember what it had said.
"Maybe you were a child who kept asking questions and became consumed by those questions." Tiger told it.
"Am I?" The voice asked and it sounded blanc.
Tiger shrugged. "That's my opinion."
Then, suddenly, something made of light floated up from the water, a memory. Quickly, Tiger spun on her heel to check if no one was around, then she transformed. The sphere kept close to the surface of the water, so Princess Clara let herself soar down from the railing of the bridge.
"Who are you?" The voice asked anew.
"I am Princess Clara. Please, come dance with me." Princess Clara said to it gently.
The surface of the water broke. First it showed something similar to a face, smiling up at her, then it took shape of a small boy, a bit shorter than the boy who met Tiger from time to time. Princess Clara took his tiny hands in hers and swirled with him on the spot. The watery shape skipping along.
Princess Clara smiled down at it. "It must be hard not knowing every answer."
"They're mysteries and I want to know them all!" The shape cried out in earnest.
"Not every mystery can be solved and some questions are better left unanswered." Princess Clara told him.
"Why?"
"Because some answers can hurt." Princess Clara replied sadly. She turned to the glowing sphere and opened the memory.
The boy smiled at her, glad that she liked the name he had given her. He was about to say something else, but then he heard the church bell chime 4 times.
"Uh-Oh." He turned back to the newly named Koneko. "I have to go home now or my parents will get worried." He looked at her for a second. "Do you have a home to go back to? Where did the door go?"
Koneko looked back in sudden alarm and saw that Fakir was right. She put her head in her hands and shook it hopelessly.
"I, I don't remember anything. What's wrong with me?" She said in dismay.
Fakir looked at her with great concern. "I don't know, I'm sorry." He mumbled to her.
He then brightened. "Hey, I know, how about you come home with me. I'm sure my parents could help you with your memory stuff." 'Well, hopefully.' He thought to himself. "Please don't be sad anymore."
Koneko looked up at him with almost distrust. "Why are you being so nice to me? You don't even know me." she asked him curiously.
He blushed, "Well, um, I know we just met but..." He looked away slightly, "because I'd like to be your friend and friends are supposed to be nice to each other, aren't they? Besides I like it when you're happy, it makes me happy." He mumbled, embarrassed.
Somehow the girl knew Fakir had a pure heart, and it made her smile. "Sure, I'm happy to be your friend." She said, beaming.
He beamed back at her. "Yay! Well, do you want to come home with me?"
"Ok." Koneko nodded.
"Great." He grabbed her hand and led her in the direction of his house.
Princess Clara sighed deeply as the memory faded and settled itself in her cupped hands. "I want him to be my friend again." She whispered and lifted the tiny sphere up in the air. "May this memory reach his heart."
The sphere soared away, till it reached the little watermill where, without anyone knowing, Fakir had hidden Mytho after the feeling of fear had returned to him. At the time the memory had found them, it was late in the evening and Fakir had just found Mytho on the floor after he had disappeared from the abandoned building. Fakir knelt down to see if his friend was alright and found him sound asleep. Then he spotted something else, lying next to Mytho. He picked it up and turned it in his thumb and forefinger. It was a jet black feather. 'I see, so you finally made an appearance.' He thought bitterly. Then the memory entered Fakir's mind and completely overtook his train of thought.
"Friends, we used to be such good friends." Fakir mumbled to himself and he felt a sudden lump in his throat. This night he had been so worried, so determined to find his friend, to keep him safe and yet he had forgotten another so easily. He had found Tiger, lost and without memories or a home, just like Mytho and yet he had forsaken her! Why?
Tiger walked home, feeling tired and alone when she spotted Mr Cat still sitting at the café. He was just staring ahead of him and seemed completely lost in thought. Feeling a bit sorry for him, Tiger crossed the street and approached his table.
"Mr. Cat, go home." She said to him gently when she got his attention.
Mr Cat's ear twitched, he looked around and moaned in disappointment. Apparently he had not realized how late it was. He jumped off his chair on all fours, scurried under the table and began to scratch himself ferociously.