The Black Swan and the Duck (Princess Tutu FanFic)

Chapter 18: What is A Trade, Without A Sacrifice

He felt no pain.

Instead a gust of wind pushed him over.

A white wind.

A white bird.

A swan.

"God dammit Ahiru." He grumbled and pushed himself over to him, his shoulder aching from the hard fall.

He spotted her and swallowed hard.

She was injured.

She was still a bird.

"No, I got read of the Yin. She's supposed to be normal again." He thought, as he pushed himself closer to her. She'd been hit, but where? Why was she so intent on making sure he wasn't hurt!

The sorcerer just recoiled away from the scene, angry he'd once again missed his target.

"The Swan Princess loves the the Prince, not the Knight! Why does she still sacrifice herself?"

Fakir stared in anger at the sorcerer. He was too mad, to powerful. He had sacrificed a whole town into darkness, and now he was willing to kill anyone else. He wasn't angry because he'd injured Ahiru, only that he didn't miss.

Suddenly Fakir saw a light behind him.

He turned and saw that they were extremely close to the lake, and on the ground instead of a white swan he finally saw Ahiru. Normal. Human. It must be her right?

"Ahiru?" He pulled himself over closer. He inhaled sharply.

She'd been fortunate enough to have not been hit once again, in any way that could cause her permanent damage, a deep scratch on her arm where it had hit her wing. But for god sakes her leg had a black hole in it, as if the dagger had magically disappeared and left only a black mark. What had it done? Was she alive? Had she knocked her head on the fall?

Was this Drosselmeyer's plan? Causing his own heir grief for ruining his last tragedy? For allowing a happy ending instead of the tragic pain he'd planned?

"Ahir-" He looked down at her.

Her eyes fluttered as she gasped air in.

"Is it you?"

She looked up to see Fakir. She nodded. She had her body back! She actually had her body back! She was human again! But was Fakir okay? Did she-

Suddenly she felt the pain in her leg.

"Can you stop trying to save me? You're never going to be able to stay human if you kill yourself."

She focused her eyes, to see Fakir's hand in front of her.

She took it and gingerly lifted herself up, leaning against his back. Her leg was shaky. She felt the way it burned, as if the dagger had cursed her, a tingling pain.

Fakir's grip hardened on the sword.

"So what do you plan to you? You have no magic sword? Your Princess Tutu isn't anything but a normal human as you'd wished! You can't defeat me, and soon my son will live." Sorcerer Kuro's eyes flared red, his sharp gaze at them, his dark magic flourishing around him as the story was coming alive again.

"Your son won't live. You didn't kill me. Your plan failed." Fakir stepped in front of Ahiru. She wasn't playing hero this time. He was the Knight. He would stop this.

"Ah, but my dagger did hit someone...and it seems the dark magic has already invaded her body. The loss of the Yin was a small price to pay...I used to think revenge on you, young Knight, would be to give your life for killing my son, but now it seems the real revenge lies in watching you suffer as your Princess Tutu of the Lake succumbs to my spell. You're heart is too kind Princess, you could have survived longer than this."

Fakir turned to see Ahiru's blue eyes widen, larger then they'd ever had. She looked at her leg, the black magic, like poison, now taking her away through his evil spell. Drosselmeyer's prologue was becoming a tragedy...and Fakir felt helpless. A life for a life. All so the Sorcerer's son could be revived from the dead.

"Of course if you'd been hit in the heart, where the soul really lies it would not take so long...so your white swan will Suffer! You may not have chosen the Odile over the Odette...but interfering is a choice you will soon regret! So...young Knight...how can you save your Prince now? My son will soon return and this world and the next will be mine!"

His silver hair, almost matched the white of his evil smile. His lean body, engulfed in his power, full of rage.

"Why can't you just bring your son back? Are you not powerful enough?"

"So you want to try to by her freedom by tricking me into a power trip? Ha, young Knight, you do not know of magic as you once did! You have to trade one for the other! How did the Raven become a Raven? He sold his soul to darkness, and doomed himself to an evil bird form for power! How did I become so powerful? My hair turned silver grey, for I am years beyond what my true age should be! You must trade, for power, for magic!"

"Then I will change the story! I can...I'm-"

"Drosselmeyer's last living relative? I know! Did you think I came here, without knowledge of the last story? I am aware of it all. The Raven made that mistake! You cannot re-write what has been written! Just like an author cannot change a story about a dog into a story about a cat half way through! You cannot do much with your pen and ink young man! You cannot rewrite the rules of magic halfway through the plot!"

Fakir felt his grip harden so hard his fingers reached his own palms and dug into his palm. There must be a way...there had to be...a way. But His words were terribly true.

"If I could become Princess Tutu again...I could help..." Ahiru said in a small voice.

"I don't know how...you were Tutu before because of the heart shard. I see now that it was a trade; Myhto's heart shard piece for your ability to become Princess Tutu and not be a duck. I can't take a shard from Prince Mytho and -"

"But I can't just sit here and- and-" Ahiru had tears in her eyes. She felt the wave of helplessness that was taking over Fakir as well. Fakir swallowed hard, knowing the word she couldn't bring herself to say, was in fact 'die'.

He couldn't write with the Sorcerer around, with them cornered, in the mist of the dancing black swans. Even then, he'd have to trade something...something that was important to him...to even have a chance to have any kind of way of winning...if thats how magic worked.

But Ahiru couldn't become Princess Tutu without her heart shard necklace and his sword was a hunk of metal...so he too could not become the true Knight he had been intended to be.