The Black Swan and the Duck (Princess Tutu FanFic)

Chapter 19: I'll Give My Heart For You

"Admit it. I win. In a matter of minutes, your dear Ahiru will become inflicted with my dark magic; the black swan may not have fooled the knight, but soon the white swan will become black! I will have a spirit, and you will die by the hand of my son and I, young knight! I will find a way to the Kingdom of Mytho, and they will soon be nothing but birds...everyone will honor my power!" Kuro raged, singing out his proud victory.

Fakir looked to Ahiru who was leaning on him. Even if he could find a way to bring Princess Tutu back, Ahiru was too injured. Her leg was becoming black...the darkness slithering around her, seeping into her...taking her from him.

He swallowed. Ahiru didn't deserve this. But what could he sacrifice to give himself an advantage? To give himself the power he needed to make his sword powerful against the Sorcerer?

"Fakir. If I have another heart shard...can I become Princess Tutu? Can I at least save the others from being swans?"

Fakir looked down at her, leaning on his shoulder, her face inches from his. Her blue eyes were so caring, she was willing to use the rest of her energy to save the towns people; the same people who didn't even know the true her, and only knew the cruel fake Ahira.

"How can I give you a shard? I can't take Mytho's again...I can't interfere...their story doesn't need to be intertwined and torn apart again." Fakir knew it was the truth. She needed a heart shard to become Tutu...at least until Kuro was dead...maybe then they could become their true forms...

He felt Drosselmeyer's notebook in his chest pocket. He had nothing to sacrifice to give himself the power of his sword; he would not trade Ahiru for that power, his foster-father was likely already a black swan...and he could not trade this book...for the book was the only way he could write in any trade for power into the story. But Ahiru...

Could he let Ahiru sacrifice herself...and live with that decision?

He nodded to her and swiftly took her behind a tree as she stared with curious eyes.

"You think you can hide? Play games all you want but you cannot hide from my dark magic!" Kuro outstretched his hand, and suddenly as the black swans spun, their feathers like daggers began to fly off them at every angle.

Under the protection of the tree, Fakir looked to her. "If this is what you want Ahiru, I'll help you do it. I promise I will try to find a way to bring back power to my sword...but in the mean time...my sword is going to have to be my pen."

"Fakir, what could you possibly do?" She was scared of what Fakir meant.

"Save the others, and I will find a way to save you!" He said his eyes tearing from hers to the book. He didn't want to do this. He wasn't even sure he could find a way to stop Kuro...but he couldn't deny Ahiru the ability to save others when he had an answer. He took the ink pen he'd kept tucked away in the book and wrote.

Ahiru waited. His furious writing in the red sun of the morning, and the black feathers darting around them made her stomach turn under their bleak circumstances.

Suddenly she heard him moan.

"Umhhph."

She looked up and saw his chest was rippling.

"Oh Fakir what did you-"

"Take this...take my heart shard...become Princess Tutu...I wrote it into this story...just fight...and then I will find a way to stop your ...pain..." He grunted as a red shard, escaped his chest and he panted. He'd always wondered what it had felt for Mytho to have your heart separated.

Ahiru took it in her hands, a small red gem. "Fakir I can't- I-"

"It's my heart shard of strength...you'll need it. You can return it when you are finished with it. In the mean time I'll find my strength somewhere else...I need to find a way to help you...I'll figure out something I can trade for my sword." He looked at her and smiled weakly. "Take it and turn into Tutu. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Fakir..." Her eyes teared up and she hugged him. He groaned as his chest was still surprisingly sore, however...he appreciated feeling her hug more than she'd know.

She looked down at the heart shard of strength and it now looked like her necklace. Just like Fakir had wrote.

"I am Princess Tutu!"

Suddenly a bright light appeared from behind the tree. Kuro wondered what possibly the two had been up to to produce such light...but he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Show yourself? Stop hiding young fools! Nothing you could have done could stop me!"

"I will stop you! I will stop you from making these people into your puppets! I will let Fakir find his power and I will use his strength to the best of my ability! I am Princess Tutu! My feathered friends dance with me..."

Suddenly she danced the dance of the swan princess, with more grace and strength than one should have with an injured leg.

"How could you become the Princess if you had no shard to escape my curse? You are supposed to be a duck but your Knight wrote you as a human; which fit my purposes so well! Thank you Knight...but now... a Princess? How did you attain a shard if-"

"Ah, so the Knight decided to brush up on hi penmanship and sacrificed a shard so you could fight his battle...really that is so noble of you..." Kuro cackled, teasing him.

Fakir was not scared. He was angered by Kuro's tease...but he worried that, now that he felt his strength gone...the stregnth of his heart...could he be strong enough to push past Kuro's barriers and find a cure for the Princess AND find a way to give himself the true power he needed to destroy Kuro before it was too late...

He looked at Ahiru. She had his shard...she was using it well...the swans were dancing to her tune now...she was filling her hope and love up against Kuro's dark power, like she once did against the Raven.

He swallowed hard every time he saw her leg faulter...the blackness did not grow as fast on Princess Tutu as it did Ahiru...maybe his strength did do more for her then he had assumed it would.

He looked to his book. What could create power in his sword to defeat dark magic? Could he even think of anything to trade? If Ahiru's power came from his heart shard...could a heart shard of something else power his sword? Could a feeling alone do such a thing? Did he know of a feeling much stronger than evil? Did his sword ever really have magic...did he need to trade something...or could you just give it the power through your own feeling to do so?

He shook his head. Too much questioning himself. But I guess thats what happens when you don't feel so confident or strong. He found it strange that he could recognize his own lack of strength because he knew he was missing it. It was a terrible feeling...he didn't envy Mytho.

Princess Tutu began to feel the pain. The darkness creeping up her leg. But she'd just have to keep going. No matter how many tears. The swans had stopped spinning their feathers like daggers. She'd fight the dark aura that Kuro was spreading until she couldn't dance anymore. She had faith that Fakir would find a way. Fakir had to. He just had to.