tutufans | OMG - a fic! (Reply)

Right, so this is my first, and probably only Princess Tutu fic. It's short and sweet. And un-beta'd. ^_^;;; It's not very good, but my roommate and I finished the show and were quite upset. So I endeavored to write a happy ending for the both of us. So here it is, Meg-kun. Enjoy, and keep in mind that it hasn't seen the light of editing. And yes, it's totally G.

A New Beginning by zinjadu

Fakir sat on the dock, like he did everyday, trying to write. Well, not just write. He could write anything he wanted to really, and did so for profit. Words flowed out of his mind and onto the page with ease. The problem was that he couldn't write the one thing he wanted.

There was a splash. Fakir looked up from his pad of paper. With Ahiru one could never be too careful. She had a knack for getting herself into trouble, even as a duck.

He scanned the surface of the lake for her small form. He spotted her, not too far away, in the reeds. It looked like she was having fun just playing in the shallow water among the tadpoles. And Ahiru, with more intelligence than a duck had any right to have, looked at him and Fakir thought she would have smiled had she been human.

The day wore on. They went home. He carried her and people stopped him along the way exclaiming, "How cute!" and, "So darling!" or the worst sort of all, "Nice dinner you're going to be having!" The last one made him want to punch whoever said it right in the face. Many times. With something pointy. But Ahiru, still able to understand humans (Fakir thought it was unfair really, that she could understand him but that he was unable to understand her), just quacked and smiled duckishly at him.

Once home he filled the tub with water and gently placed Ahiru in it, like he did everyday. Following routine he made dinner for himself and grabbed some already torn up bread for Ahiru. He took both meals into the bathroom and started to munch on his sandwich, throwing some bread in the tub whenever Ahiru quacked.

After dinner he cleaned out the tub and sat down at his desk. He tried to write again, tried to write a story for Ahiru with a happy ending. An ending with for him too. When it was time for bed, Ahiru quacked sleepily.

Fakir turned down the lamp and put his writing away. He grabbed his nightshirt, his loose pants, and a towel and disappeared into the bathroom. Even though Ahiru was just a duck, he never completely disrobed in front of her. It didn't seem right, somehow. Hence changing in the bathroom behind a nice solid door.

Once cleaned and changed for bed, Fakir emerged from the bathroom. He scooped Ahiru up into the bed and held her. "Good night, Ahiru," he whispered to her. "Quack," she replied. They soon fell asleep.

Days passed, each one not much different from the last. They were both getting older. Fakir was starting to get a lot of attention from the local population of young women (and some young men). One time, just to try to be a normal boy, he accepted an offer to go out on a date with a young woman who had been after him for a while.

He was rummaging around the house, looking for any bit of clothing that might be considered acceptable for a night out to a good restaurant. He had just finished getting dressed, from behind the bathroom door as always, he saw Ahiru sitting on the bed, her head tilted to one side. "Quack?" she said. He understood that to mean, "Why are you getting so dressed up?" At least, that's what would make the most sense.

"I have a date, Ahiru." She only quacked once more and went to sleep, and somehow that made him feel guilty. But this was getting ridiculous, he would not have guilty feelings over leaving a duck, a duck! to go on a date with a girl.

He still made as little noise as possible while leaving the house, but once outside he started stomping down the street, arguing with himself. This is stupid, I shouldn't feel guilty about leaving a duck home alone, the rational part of his mind said.

But she isn't just a duck, is she? a nasty voice said.

Shut up!

You remember her as that girl, and think about the young woman she could be and you just can't let go can you?

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" Fakir said out loud, which earned him a few odd stares. He hunched down a little bit and continued stomping away.

However, the nasty, needling voice wouldn't let up. And now you're going out on a date, with another girl. One you don't even know or care about. Fore shame, Fakir.

Shut up! And I do care about this girl… or maybe I will. That's the whole point isn’t it?

The voice laughed dryly in his head. Suuuure... I bet you can't even tell me one thing about this girl.

I can too!

What's her name?

…

That's what I thought. And what's the point of dating when you already have the love of your life at home? All you have to do is admit that.

What are you talking about? Admit what?! But the voice was gone. Fakir looked around and found himself at the girl's dormitory for the school. A girl was already waiting down at the front door, all dressed up and ready to go. He wondered if he could get through the whole night without saying her name and heard an echo of dry laughter.

The date was a disaster. He didn't have quite enough money to pay for dinner so she had to help out with the bill. The conversation, granted it was the longest one he’d had in a while with someone who didn’t quack, was abysmal. She kept complementing him on his skill in ballet, his nice clothes, his hair, even his skin! But he nearly lost himself when she mentioned how wonderful a writer he was. He couldn't very well yell at her that he was a terrible writer because the only thing he’d ever wanted to write had failed. He settled for tightly smiling at her, and stuffing food into his mouth.

Once the date was thankfully over, he did the gentlemanly thing and walked her back to the dorms. She tried to kiss him, but he pulled away. She looked back at him, a little sad. He still didn't know her name.

Fakir walked back to the house he shared with Ahiru. Noiselessly, he slipped in. He got ready for bed without even turning on a light. Getting into bed, he reached out for Ahiru to find her where she was when he left. "Good night, Ahiru," he whispered.

"Quack," softly came back to him in the darkness and he realized this was where he belonged. He wouldn’t leave again. Tomorrow, he resolved, I’ll start writing her happy ending tomorrow.

Tomorrow dawned bright and clear. Although neither of them would have known that as they were both sound asleep for fully half of the morning. Once Fakir awoke, he went about the morning routine of feeding Ahiru, but with a new spring in his step.

This did not go unnoticed by Ahiru. She quacked inquisitively at him. He sat down at his writing table and smiled back at her. "Today, you get your happy ending."

"Quack," she said inquisitively; her head tilted.

"You know, I’ll write you back into a girl." Fakir grinned widely once more before turning the paper before him. Let's see… He tried a few openings: Once upon a time there was a duck who was once a girl. No that won't work. She was really a duck to begin with, wasn't she? There was once a town that was controlled by a writer from long ago. Hrm… not quite right. I don't want to lay the whole back story either, it would just take too long. A knight and his princess had fought evil, and won, but the princess had turned back into a duck. This was going somewhere. The only thing the knight wanted was –

He was cut off mid-sentence by Ahiru knocking over his ink pot. Fakir had been so absorbed with writing that he had failed to notice her sneak up on him and get ready to ruin his work.

The ink spread over the paper, smearing the opening that he knew would have worked, really worked this time. "Why would you do that!" he yelled. "It was going to work this time!" Ahiru, however, remained unfazed and jumped down from the writing desk to waddle away leaving Fakir to clean up the mess.

He sopped up the ink and saved as much paper as possible, but had to throw away the ruined pages. As he threw away the start of a story that could turn Ahiru back, he felt all the anger and resentment that he had built up bubble out. His writing table was the victim of his rage. He started by bringing his heel down on the surface, hard enough to split it in to. Then he really started to let go and begun to tare the unoffending furniture apart.

His rage was soon spent and he had to face the damage he had done. All that was left were bits of wood not big enough to be called kindling and a tired young man emotionally spent. Fakir bent over in front of the ruins of his table, shoulders hunched and his head in his hands.

Ahiru reappeared once he had calmed down a little. She waddled over to him. "Quack," she said softly, her beak nudging him.

"Not now, Ahiru. Go away," he said quietly.

But she didn't leave. She just stood there, looking at him. He picked her up and held her close, letting the last dregs of years of frustration out. He cried. "I'm sorry, Ahiru, I just wanted a happy ending for you. I wish… I wish I could help you, but I can't. I'm useless. What’s the point of a knight that can't help his princess?" Fakir sat for a few moments longer, thinking. He thought about everything that they’d been through together. How they had helped defeat the Raven and saved Mute and Claire. They had gotten their happy ending, why couldn’t the girl he loved get hers?

"Fakir," a voice said. It was high and sweet, but he didn't know why someone would call for him. Then he noticed where it came from. He looked down and saw Ahiru, the real Ahiru, looking back up at him. Then he quickly closed his eyes, dropped her on the floor and turned around. She was naked too, and older. He blushed.

He heard her go into their bedroom, no it would be hers now. He would get a new one. She came back out soon, and he turned around to see her in one of his shirts. "It was the only thing I could wear," she said softly. The looked at each other for a few moments. This was more awkward than he’d hoped this situation would be.

Ahiru smiled and almost tackled him with her hug. "Thank you, Fakir. Thank you for loving me." Her voice was a little lower than he remembered, but it was still her voice.

He wrapped his arms around her in return. "No, Ahiru, thank you for loving me." There, that morning, was a new beginning to a new story. They would have the rest of their lives to craft their new ending.

The End

--thus I have fulfilled