Revival of the Raven~Chap7: Cryptic Patricide
Revival of the Raven
Chap. 7~ Cryptic Patricide
(Dedicated to my sister, Altaria~ I love you and hope to see you in Africa soon)
Author: Alright, it took some time to think of a better chapter to replace my previous one, but here it is! I’m thankful to all who have added and review and favorite this story, that gives me so much joy! And I would like to congratulate my mentor for waking me up this morning to write again!
Drosselmeyer: Well if I hadn’t you would have missed tea time and I am in the mood for one of your fantastical re-writes of my masterpiece.
Author: I have to agree that it is a masterpiece, but I think my story will top you ending of the wonderful Ahiru-chan!
Anyway, I do not own or claim Princess Tutu or the rights given throughout its success; although, I have claim on Lede of Nevar and Dante Orez and the clothing choices worn by Ahiru and my characters.
Now, on with the show!
As Ahiru observed the happy circus performers, she felt the oddest sensation of being watched. Ahiru turned her head up and saw Fakir staring at her with a concerned look upon his face.
“What the world, why is he staring at me? And what’s with the pity look he’s giving me? The nerve!” Ahiru angrily thought while glaring at Fakir with her arms crossed. She swiftly turned away from him and moved down 5 rows until she was sitting faced to a large banner that held a red and black target on both sides. Ahiru watched the family dress into their outfits and measuring the contents of powder and durability of both the performer and the cannon’s power.
The tent began to fill back up as many people returned with food and drink or an empty bladder. Ahiru saw Pique and Lillie sharing a large purple cotton candy stick and when they walked toward their new seats, Lillie produced a blue cotton candy. “Because blue seems to be your color, I’d figure you’d want something sweet, you bottomless pit!” Lillie gaily joked and handed the blushing Ahiru the sweet delight and sat on the right side of Pique, who sat next to Ahiru.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, our final performance is about to begin! I shall hand over the reins to Mr. Ciel, who is going to tell you some instructions you all will need to follow! Good luck and enjoy the festivities brought to you by the 1Phénomènes Danciers Company!” declared the black moustached ring leader. He exited the stage with a large bang of smoke and light, and when it cleared only the performers were present!
“Wow, I didn’t know ring leaders knew magic!?” cried Pique while eating her half of the cotton candy. The audience gasped and applauded and awaited Mr. Ciel to take the ring leaders place.
Mr. Ciel was a man in his mid-30s, with black hair and stark blue eyes contrasting with his pale skin. With his charming smile and handsome build walked to the center of the ring and said, “Welcome to our performance of Cannon Girl! Where the laws of gravity and imagination are tested with a large war cannon and a child of no more than 8 years old! Please remember never to try this at home! Now, the show begins!” And with that last warning the man disappeared the same way the ring leader did and in his place stood a young girl of 8.
Her outfit looked like a diver’s wetsuit, only it wasn’t wet and black, but a light blue with red stripes on each shoulder. The girl’s hair was confined in a cap matching her costume and she wore small black boots. With a wink at the audience and the snug security of her goggles, the girl jumped into the cannon and gave a thumbs-up to a woman in her late 20s, who operated the cannon fire.
The woman lit the fuse and the girl snuggled further into the cannon, and then BOOM! The cannon fired the girl at a phenomenal speed and toward the bulls-eye; however that was the same target that Ahiru and her friends were sitting behind! The girl punched through the banner and with a flip she landed gracefully in front of Ahiru!
The crowd roared with amusement and energy toward the performance. The circus trio family came to the center of the ring and bowed respectfully toward the audience. Ahiru stood up to applaud with her friends, but stopped mid-clap when she saw the same boy who kissed her standing near the entrance/exit of the Big Top Tent!
Ahiru’s mind began to cloud with the returning image of the kiss, but the roar and animation of the crowd forced her back to reality. She started to clap for the cannon group, but her attention was on the same mysterious boy with the reddish-vert eyes. Then, the boy began to exit the tent and Ahiru didn’t want him to leave, so she snuck away from the crowd and her friends and followed the mysterious lad outside.
“I have to know why he did what he did, for some reason I felt so alive! Even more than I did when I first met Lede!” Ahiru blushingly thought. She ran past the concession stands and little game stands and found him sitting on one of the benches in the town square. Ahiru felt her face redden and she did her best to breathe out the embarrassment. “I hope he won’t think I’m stalking him by following him out here…oh no, I do sound like a stalker!” she frantically thought while her back was turned from the benches.
Ahiru nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hard, yet warm hand on her delicate shoulders. She turned to find her baby blue eyes facing emerald eyes, stained with a speck of red.
“Quack! H-hi Orez-san! I-I was just walking out here and I s-s-saw you and I thought a-a-about saying something to you, but I didn’t want to intrude on your privacy! Ehm, heh!” Ahiru skittishly said while fiddling with a strand of her long orange hair. “What the hell was that!? Quack? When in the world did I start sounding like a duck? Oh man, I hope Orez-san won’t find me too weird!” Ahiru nervously thought while smiling at Dante.
“Hehe, do not worry little one. You did not intrude on my privacy; in fact I was hoping to see you again. After all, I’m new to this place and I need a guide to show me what it has to offer,” Dante soothed Ahiru, “are you willing to help a poor fellow out?”
Ahiru blushed at the sound of his voice and proposal, she nodded and soon Dante escorted her right side and let Ahiru lead him away from the circus, and away from civilian eyes.
While Fakir gazed upon Ahiru’s forlorn expression, he was caught off guard by her awareness. As she looked at him, he felt as if he was nothing but glass, and the hate Ahiru gave off in infinite waves. Suddenly she turned her head away and stomped down toward the edge of the bleachers and sat facing a large banner with a bulls-eye on both sides.
He wanted to go down and talk with Ahiru, but people were starting to fill up the stands and he couldn’t move so he sat down and waited for the show to begin. “Maybe when the show is over I can try to talk to her.” Fakir thought while one of the performers talked to the audience and then disappeared in a shroud of smoke.
Fakir watched as the girl, the little child he observed earlier with Ahiru, climbed into the cannon and the mother lit the starter string. When he heard the loud explosion and the crowd’s gasps and shouts, Fakir looked toward Ahiru to see her happy face once more like in the parade before; however, he noticed her attention was not on the act, but on this mysterious male.
Fakir frowned when his emerald eyes landed on the strange boy, who just leaned against the support beam near the entrance of the Big Top tent. Fakir’s eyes switched toward Ahiru whose face appeared to be blushing! “What, why is she blushing!? She couldn’t actually like this guy, could she?” Fakir anxiously thought, but then Ahiru began to move through the crowd and near the exit, “Where is she going? That guy disappeared, oh no don’t tell me she’s going to follow him!?”
Fakir swiftly moved through the audience and followed Ahiru out of the Big Top and toward the town’s fountain where the benches encircled the structure. He hid behind a circus stand that stood near fountain and watched as Ahiru began to walk toward the boy, who was sitting on the benches.
Fakir’s fisted his hands in anger over the mysterious guy,”What kind of hold does he have over you, my Ahiru.” He restrained himself when the same male touched Ahiru’s shoulder and moved closer to her. He couldn’t hear what the guy was whispering to his Ahiru, but he saw the guy take her arm and lead her away from everyone else; he felt a foreboding aura coming from the guy.
“Oh no, Ahiru’s in danger! This must be that guy Rue was talking about, I’ve got to find Mytho and Rue! Hold on Ahiru, we’ll rescue you from this spell that devil has put on you!” whispered Fakir as he ran around the circus to find Mytho and Rue.
Mytho walked toward the town’s fountain to wait for Fakir and Rue, but he saw Fakir running toward him. “Fakir, what is the matter? Did you find Ahiru?” he asked. Mytho watched as Fakir stopped to breathe deeply and then Fakir told him everything that happened.
Mytho’s heart tightened and his hands curled up after hearing about the same guy meeting up with Ahiru. “How dare he touch her! And now he has taken Ahiru some place away from me!” he angrily thought, but his face remained concerned in front of Fakir.
Fakir suddenly looked past Mytho to discover Rue jogging toward them. Mytho turned to see Rue walking toward his side and he felt his heart heavy with guilt and resignation. He knew he would have to talk to Rue about his feelings, but for now that would have to wait. “I’m going to have to resume my actions so as to not draw any negative feelings from Fakir…or Rue. Rue, I’m so sorry, but I’ve realized that loving you was nothing more than sheer duty and guilt I felt for you being raised by the Raven King.” Mytho regretfully thought.
Fakir, Mytho, and Rue agreed to go after Ahiru and they all raced in the same direction Fakir last saw Ahiru and the strange boy.
Rue quietly left the balcony without Mytho noticing her. Her thoughts were in turmoil over the new developments between Mytho and Ahiru. She just couldn’t believe that Mytho had fallen back in love with Ahiru. She went around back of the café and stood with her back planted on the cold, stiff wall. Rue slid down to the cobbled ground and sat there.
“I just can’t believe this, I don’t understand! Why, Mytho? Why Ahiru and still not me!? Haven’t I proven my love for you before? If it wasn’t for the Raven King, you wouldn’t have even noticed Ahiru and she would still be in her animal form and away from you!” Rue bitterly cried.
“Gasp! No, I can’t believe this Ahiru is my friend! But how could he just forget about me…I don’t want to be alone again.” Rue sadly thought.
As she cried behind the café, Autor was strolling down the street when he heard Rue’s cries. He definitely remembered hearing those same cries before the incident with The Raven.
Autor went down the alley way and paused at the sight set before him. There she was, Rue, the same girl who captured his heart, crying on the grimy cobbled-stoned corner. Autor unconsciously shifted his glasses and strode forward to Rue. He bent down in front of her and told her, “Everything will be alright, I won’t leave you alone.”
Rue lifted her head, tears flowing down her face, and she surprisingly hugged Autor. Autor’s face bloomed with heat, but his arms embraced the girl to give her the comfort and love he so desperately wanted to give her.
Several minutes passed by until Rue’s tears dried and her mind cleared of the depressed fog that overcame her. She realized she was in another man’s arms and he was not her Mytho. Rue pushed against the man’s embrace and astonishment stilled her tongue.
“It’s that boy from before, Autor! Oh no, don’t tell me he saw me like this! Oh how embarrassing….wait a minute, why am I embarrassed and why do I feel so safe in his arms?” Rue thought while staring into Autor’s violet eyes. The two stayed like that for a few minutes until, BOOM!
“What was that!?” cried Rue as she gripped Autor’s arms. They stood up and walked out of the alley and toward the circus. After waiting for a few minutes for the commotion, Autor concluded,
“It was probably one of the circus acts being performed inside the Big Top. Don’t worry, nothing bad has happened, do you hear the cheers of the townspeople?”
Rue listened and Autor was right for the town square echoed with energetic cheering for “Cannon Girl”. Rue blushed at her previous actions and noticed that she still held on to Autor. She quickly retracted her hands from him and took a few steps back.
Autor noticed the lack of pressure on his arms and turned back to see Rue standing a few feet away from him with her head down. He gently smiled at her and walked toward her to reach out his hand and touch her cheek, “My lady I hope you are feeling better, a-and if you should ever need to talk to someone I’m always here. Just find me at the library or the music department and I’ll listen.” He whispered softly and with a quick kiss to Rue’s cheek, Autor walked away from her and the festivities occurring.
Rue was shocked and still stood in the middle of the street after Autor walked away. She lightly touched her cheek where he kissed her and her entire face turned as red as a fresh rose in spring. “He kissed me and comforted me…but I thought I only had eyes for Mytho; however, now it seems so different. It’s as if…” She didn’t get to finish her idea when she heard Fakir’s voice yelling over toward her.
She jogged up toward Fakir and almost froze in step when she saw Mytho. She noticed he looked concerned and worried about something. “Probably about Ahiru or maybe something happened.” She thought while listening to Fakir’s tale about seeing Ahiru while half of her attention diverted to Mytho’s expression, but when Fakir mentioned something about a strange boy with a dark aura her eyes swiftly looked toward Fakir.
Rue was horrified about what this stranger wanted with Ahiru and she had a sinking feeling that her worries were nothing compared to the fear for Ahiru against that monster Raven.
”We can’t waste time, we must leave immediately to find her!” she cried. The boys agreed with her notion and raced off into the direction of where Fakir last saw Ahiru.
“Well, well, it seems that Father has taken it upon himself to taint my ward for me,” Lede maliciously thought whilst looking through her silver mirror inscribed with German scripture, “fool, he will not steal my conquest or ruin my plan. Oh Father dear, did you actually think I was to be your obedient servant forever!? No, I have better things to do than babysit a fallen royal pain in the ass.”
She stood up from her seating and went over to the same mirror she used to transport her to the Raven King. With a sharp cutting knife, she cut her middle finger and speckled the mirror with her blood. The glass began to glow a violet shade and soon Lede stepped through the portal and into a world filled with clocks and lifeless marionette dolls.
“Oh Drosselmeyer, come out come out wherever you are!” she viciously laughed. Lede used her powers to locate the old meizer of tales and she unfolded her grayish-black wings to fly toward his hiding place.
When she landed near a long table set out for a tea party, Lede found Drosselmeyer calmly sitting in a plush recliner with a tea cup in hand. Lede cautiously strolled toward the old man until she was at least 4 feet in front of him.
“Well, it seems as though one of my creations’ offspring has come to pay me a visit. Pray tell, what it is that you require from me, child.” Drosselmeyer spoke with an emanating, yet aging baritone.
“I have come to offer you two choices, Drosselmeyer. As you can see, I have restarted your story and revised it in a degree in which you can appreciate; although, I am not of your blood like your fallen knight is, it took little to no difficulty in acquiring the tools needed to take over. But enough of my vanity, I’m here to tell you this: 1. You agree to leave this story alone and not incur my wrath and I will let you enjoy the show that I have created; or 2. You help me kill my Father and put me as the villain and continue with the same story you tried to end.” Lede communicated while standing before the storyteller with her wings fanned out behind her.
Drosselmeyer contemplated her offers as he looked upon her visage. “Evil in the guise of Beauty, what a story this creature has made! And her offers are not at all compromising. Sigh, it’s a shame you don’t find talent like this in the real world and my wretched descendant sure isn’t trying to write anything of entertaining quality. Hmm, I think I’ve decided.”
“Well child, I have decided to choose the offer prior to the later choice. I do, however, find it surprising that you noticed I interceded within the tale. You have much more power than you reveal, so much I’m surprised you asked me to kill your own parent. Is there a reason for such discourse?”
Lede thought long and hard about the answer she would give to the old man, after all he wasn’t known as The Philosopher, for no reason. She knew about his cunning and sadistic affairs and Lede would make sure she would never be a part of them.
“My Father had his time to rule, and since his defeat he has let his power diminish. Even with the falsetto heart I gave to him, his power is still not at his peak.”
“Falsetto? You mean you didn’t give him the pendant, oh ho ho! What a naughty little thing you are!” laughed Drosselmeyer.
Lede’s wings seem to grow larger at the joke of being called “little”, for she was anything but that. Drosselmeyer sensed her tension and briefly apologized for the taunt. He arose from his chair and held out his hand. Lede plucked a feather from her wing and swiftly cut his hand and hers, then she grasped her bleeding hand with his to complete the sanguine contract. The blood flowed from both parties hand and mingled together within the other’s wound and dripped upon the marble floor. The clocks’ hands began to move forward and with it the story as the two released their grips.
Lede looked at her right hand and the wound already healed and only dried blood remained; the dried blood being Drosselmeyer’s. Lede looked away from her hand to see Drosselmeyer already turned toward the story reflected in the glass of a giant grandfather clock.
“This clock will lead you back through your own clock inside the house you and Ahiru reside in. The pact has been made and under chronic law, we cannot undo what we committed to. I hope you will remember that.” The storyteller wisely remarked.
Lede walked toward the grandfather clock and placed a foot within the portal, while re-folding her large wings she said, “I will not forget the promise made. Until next time, grandfather.” And with that she disappeared into the light and back within the fantastical reality produced by her family.
Author: That’s a wrap everybody! And thank you for your hard work!
Drosselmeyer: *sniff* You certainly have a knack for the dramatics, and the dialogue between Lede and myself….just astounding.
Author: Yeah, I try to instill the lessons you give me, Sensei. However, it’s now up to my readers to see if it meets their standards! So what do you all think? Remember to review for without you all (and Drosselmeyer-sensei) I struggle to update.
With love from the black chica,
Black_Diamond07