The Black Swan and the Duck (Princess Tutu FanFic)

Chapter 10: In Too Deep

akir looked at the lake. The sun was barely up in the sky. He'd have at least an hour of light before the sun went completely down and the moon went up. He looked at it. According to Autor, his original house was burnt down...but Fakir had always found it strange how close his cabin was to the original spot. So...his great-great-great-grandfathers bones, who was probably somehow controlling this secondary plot they were becoming entrapped in, were likely at the bottom of this lake...with a notebook he'd hoped to find...if he was lucky enough.

He looked at it. Dark, blue...mystical. If the house was on the left...chances are the body would be towards the edge of the lake. He took a deep breath, took off his jacket and jumped in.

He felt the cool water around him, and to his surprise found the water quite clear. The bottom was more than 8 feet down easily, so he knew he'd have to take at least two trips. Maybe Ahiru would have been more fit for this job with likely better swimming abilities then him.

He held his breathe before getting about half way down, and started to let his breath out. Maybe he would see something. He landed at the bottom, and noticed a patch that was uneven...as if years of water had revealed a disturbed area underneath...it couldn't be that easy could it? He tried to move some of the dirt out of the way...after all these years maybe the sand had eroded down in the water and-

A bone. Fakir felt his breathe escape him, with surprise and with a frantic swim moved to the top of the water. He escaped with a huge gulp of air and treaded water. Something made the whole ordeal more...freaky...seeing the remains and a real skeleton bone.

Ahiru, who was still a swan, was inwardly debating whether she should tell him...or rather show him the curse. What would he react like? She only had about an hour or so of day before the sun completely set...and the moon would rise and she'd have to have her decision set. Her twin made it sound like she was only doing damage by showing him...but if he was aware couldn't he help her? He'd know it wasn't her acting strange in the day! That the girl he fought with today wasn't her! She paced around the lake when she saw a large splash as something emerged from the water...

Fakir! Fakir was swimming in the lake? But how? Why? What was he doing?! She'd rarely ever gone to the bottom...it was at least eight feet deep! She snuck behind a bush, not wanting to scare him, knowing the last time he saw her, she'd been honking at her fake-self and he'd shooed her away.

Fakir took a deep breath. Could it have been Drosselmeyer's bones? He'd never seen a real skeleton before, only in books, but he'd have to see if it was there. He took out the spade he'd brought and took a deep breathe before returning down again.

Ahiru waddled to the edge of the lake and stuck her head under the water to see if she could see what he was doing. He was deep, and digging for something...but what? She saw him rise again.

Fakir had uncovered a bit more, enough to know that some of the cloth of his clothing was still intact...meaning...maybe if he was lucky enough the notebook would be legible. Maybe Autor knew something about restoration. He had to try...one more go.

Fakir swam to the bottom and he'd had most of an arm and leg uncovered. Remnants of his attire were deteriorating, holy and dirty. He pushed more of the sandy dirt away, as the chest and face was revealed. Likely killed in the same clothes he'd seen him with during last time they'd encountered each other during Ahiru's fight with the Raven. He held his breath for just enough time to slip his hand in the inner pocket of the his jacket...of which could be barely called a jacket at this point. Fakir's fingers touched what seemed to be a hard leather encasing...a closed buttoned covering...a case... which likely held a book. He took it out of the skeletal remains, surprised by his own luck, when the book, as he put it in his own pocket, seemed to cause a jolt...a hard ripple through the waters that knocked his breath out of him,as if the book had awakened something or had disturbed the waters.