Fanfic, music drabble: Turn loose the heaven within

[poetoffire.livejournal.com]

This is the first fic in a series of ten Princess Tutu oneshots based around random songs I went to when I shuffled my music. The series is called Blood like sunlight, and is heavy with dark themes, religious and classical literary imagery, and just plain creepiness and weirdness. This is because I listen to weird music.

All fics have different character/pairing focuses, and take place on different timelines.  I tried to be as varied as possible in that regard, but there's a definite trend toward post-series stuff, and explorations of the darker parts of the series.
 

Title: Turn loose the heaven within

Song: Ever Dream (Youtube of song with lyrics in description)

Artist: Nightwish

Album: End of an Era

Focus: Lohengrin/Tutu, Siegfried/Tutu

Scenario: in the Prince and the Raven storyline

Rating: PG (K)

Warnings: None

Go here for the fanfiction.net posting of it, or follow the cut.

Turn loose the heaven within

The fire played and danced with the shadows on her collarbone. She wore a plain brown smock, and her hair was dirty and tangled, but still the light clung around her skin, as if it longed to get closer to her.

That was the thing about princesses—no matter what they wore, they were still so much better than this earth.

The knight watched her put her hands to the fire, let the warmth linger, and then touch her shoulders, her neck. She turned to him. "It's cold."'

He blew air out from his lips and watched it twirl away. What a nuisance she was. "If you want to go back to your own lands, please do, majesty."

"No, I'm coming with you," she said, then put her hands to the fire again. "But it's cold."

Lord, why? He thought that travel and camping, fighting against harsh woods and even harsher rations, would break her. Tomorrow night, he was planning on having some contacts of his in a village escort her home.

But she just had to be stubborn.

"Look, your majesty, you shouldn't be here." He stood up. "We're going up against that thing, and I've no doubt my lord needs you, but you can tend to him when we bring him back."

"I will journey with you and wait in camp while you rescue him," she said. Her eyes belonged to the fire now.

"It's your own life," he said, then added, "majesty."

The princess nodded.

One of his men strode out of the woods, one hand tightly clasped around something small. "Sir!" he called.

The knight ran to him.

"This was on a tree," the man said, and dumped something into his hands.

A red and black feather, with golden thread tied around it.

"It's the witch's sign," the knight said. "She must be leaving a trail for us to follow. Go wake the camp and inform them of this. I'll have a talk with her majesty."

Then he went straight to the princess and gave it to her.

She stared down at the mark, eyes wide.

"Your majesty, I will have you taken home tomorrow," he said.

Her fingers curled around the feather. "No."

He forgot all politeness and simply sputtered out, "What?"

"No." she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The witch wants me to meet her there. She told me…when she was pretending to be that wet nurse…that the prince would never have me. That if I told him…" she trailed away.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Your majesty, with all due respect, I would have liked to be informed of this sooner."

"With all due respect, sir knight, I have to see her. To get the curse erased."

A curse. Of all things, a curse! Why did everything have to be more complicated when she was around? Why couldn't she have stayed put in her castle, a benevolent maiden to take the prince in when he was sick or wounded, requiring nothing from him? Why did she have to go and—

And suddenly he realized.

"So if you say you…"

She nodded. "I want to know if there's a way to get rid of it. I have to be there for the prince."

"Then let me ask her when we see her. Go back, you can't fight."

She bit her lip. It was eerily un-princesslike. "But I…I'm afraid that if I'm away from him for too long, I'll miss him so much I'll say it."

"Just don't say it, it should be easy."

"He has to know."

The knight rolled his eyes. "I'll say it for you."

"I command you not to," she said. She gave him back the mark. "Go talk to your men. I'll go on this quest, and I'll try to help him, and if he has to know, then I'll vanish into light."

He nodded, turned away. The firelight slipped from and grabbed at his tents and men. They stood, waiting for him to tell them what to do.

He cleared his throat. "Her majesty has spoken. We ride tomorrow and she will accompany us."

That morning, he knew they would talk, ask why he let her stay. He knew he wouldn't have an answer for them. She was stupid, foolish, deeply in love. Dangerous. And in danger, if she didn't keep her mouth shut.

Still, if she failed, at least he would be rid of her. At least Siegfried would realize that his quest wasn't aided by faceless masses of loyal men, but real people with real feelings trying in vain to keep him from destroying himself.

The knight went into his tent to sleep.

He would not dream tonight.

Not with her light on the walls.