The Black Swan and the Duck (Princess Tutu FanFic)

Chapter 6: Swan Lake

Fakir looked at Ahiru who looked even more nerve racked to perform in front of her class.

"Lets just do this so he won't pick on us again Ahiru." Fakir whispered in her ear. "Plus it'll be good for you to make a good impression on the others."

"But I'm not Princess Tutu how am I supposed to be able to do that twice." She said clenching her legs close to her chest, sitting on the floor with the others, as they waited. Fakir got up and looked down at her. She looked up and saw a hand in front of her face.

"I won't let you fall." He whispered as she took his hand as he helped her up. They went into the middle of the class as Director Kagamaii put on the music once more.

Ahiru let herself dance. She closed her eyes. She could do this. She had to. Mytho was happy now...now she had to help herself. I wont let you fall. She trusted Fakir as well.

This time, she trusted Fakir. No hesitance. No worries. She let herself fall into his arms, be guided by his strength, and let her worrisome thoughts about her peer's stares leave her mind. She remembered the few times they had danced before, how he'd help her come to terms with letting go of her want to stay human and accept her as a duck... how at ease she'd felt being around him. She let her leg botmon high above her head, and her arabasque flow into a dip, and her jete in the air fly like she was princess tutu.

When they stopped just as the Director abruptly ended the music. The class clapped. Ahiru felt her face redden. Fakir had too noticed her gracefulness since their dancing...different from the Ahiru who'd never been that sure of her abilities.

"Very good. Better than last time I'd say Ahiru. Fakir you too, but I really do need to feel you taking a role of a prince and princess. That goes for the rest of the class, if you are a Swan Princess you cannot dance like a the lesser, like...like...left-footed duckling, and if you are a Prince, you cannot dance like a peasant or a feeble Knight...we all know how fairy tales go, the Prince gets the Princess." Director Kagamaii announced.

Fakir looked over to Kagamaii at the sound of a Knight. He was a Knight pretending to be a Prince in this situation...or at least he had been a Knight...and Amu was a duck, not a swan.

"But this one sir, does not." Autor spoke up with his hand up. "The Swan Lake is actually a tragedy and only renditions of the storyline by other authors ever reveal a non-tragic ending."

"Ah, so we do have one in this class who know's their Swan Lake." Kugamaii looked over to Autor. "It is true...the Prince chooses another, and the Princess falls to her death in despair, him following. But I always liked to think there was more to this story than what the original author perceived it to be...if I knew my placement was here longer, I'd recommend we perform such a ballet. All the same, the second combination will be a snippet from the pas-de-deux of the Socerer and the Swan Princess, presented in few renditions of the ballet. Ahiru you seem to know well the roll of Odette?" Kugamaii presented his hand, and Ahiru hesitantly took it.

Ahiru wondered if she could pull off the role without Fakir. She hesitantly let Kugamaii lead her in the dance. She'd never done it and yet, his movement was so darting and vicious as if his roll of the Sorcerer engulfed him. Ahiru finished her last movement, when she stumbled a bit.

"You shouldn't let me scare you, for stumbling is a form of unsure weakness...all the same, for the next week you will practice the Prince and Princess pas-de-deux with your partners, and following...well following we shall decide if the Sorcerer and Princess' duet is well enough to follow practices." He then paced himself through the room as they practiced. His eyes always went back to Fakir and Ahiru...he'd see tonight if he was right in choosing those two...it was too much of a coincidence for him to ignore any longer.

"Don't worry Ahiru, you did just fine dancing with him." Fakir could see the conflict in her eyes. Ahiru nodded.

"You shouldn't worry so much about what other people think. They may not know it but, you've saved everyone in this town on your own. You dance just fine when your confident enough to depend on someone else, so just learn to be a little more dependent on yourself...be more sure of it." Fakir said as they danced. Ahiru nodded again, but this time with more meaning.

"Fakir," Ahiru said as they walked outside after class. "I think I'm going to practice on my own by the lake today...I think I understand what you were saying and..."

"That works out then, considering I'm going to continue to look for clues to the feather and notebook...I'd rather be ahead of Drosselmeyer this time." Fakir added.

"Good Job today in class new girl!"

"Fakir, you'd totally make a super cool prince!"

People passed by they giving compliments.

Fakir wondered why it had bugged him so much now that he was given the role of Prince... he'd never felt a prince...a Knight was more his thing.

"Well I'm going to go now, I'll meet you at the edge of the forrest after!" Ahiru ran off trying to avoid the fact that she'd actually hadn't stopped thinking about the dance with Fakir in front of the class, now that everyone was talking about it. It must be how Rue felt when she was the top of the class...before she left. She continued walking to the forrest as she put her shoes on and looked for an open spot to practice.

Fakir went back to the house. He really wondered if Ahiru...if she'd come back because of him. His writing...his own hope to have Ahiru back as a human so she wouldn't suffer...and so he could dance with her again. Even he could admit his own wants...his own feelings had influenced his decision...but where they stemmed from at times he wasn't sure. Fakir walked over to the desk. He looked at the books, and decided to open Ahiru's book on birds. He'd been sick of studying his deranged grandfather...and- What? He didn't remember putting the bird feather in the encyclopedia as a book mark last night... he opened the book to a page closer to the back of it. He looked at it.

Sooty Owl

A larger owl that is known for its white-silver face, large eyes, and soot and black colored wings and bodice. Is seen as more common in Australia and like most Owls are night hunters, and have been attributed to mystery and magic.

Fakir wondered if a Sooty Owl could be the bird...yet somehow it didn't seem as big. Still the picture of the Owl...its large silver eyes in particular of this one were somewhat piercing. He then noticed that the feather was covering another bird in the book.

The Black Swan

A less common cousin of the white swan, has long black feathers and a red-orange bill. It is more rare and is very less common to even rural areas of the Australian region. It's black feathers give it an association with the supernatural prowess of an already beautiful bird.

Fakir looked to the feather dimensions of the black swan and the feather he had. Fit. The color fit. The sheen fit. Fakir wondered why...why suddenly the whole world was now interested in Swans...and what this had to do with their problems to come...

But Fakir, wasn't the only one in close contact with a swan. Ahiru was practicing at the lake and hoped that if she tried enough, she could do the pas-de-deux on her own so that she wouldn't have to depend on Fakir all the time...thats when she saw it. A lone black swan sitting on the water, so peaceful, and yet...it seemed to be swimming closer to her...looking at her...she stopped her dancing in her tracks as she waited for the bird to approach...the only other bird she'd ever seen on the lake.