I have committed fic again.
This is for bookelfe, because it's all her fault.
This is also SPOILER-TASTIC for the ending of Princess Tutu; seriously, do not read this unless you've seen the whole thing. (If you haven't seen any Princess Tutu at all, I'm afraid it'll make no sense whatsoever. Also you should totally remedy that ASAP, as it's a fabulous anime.)
From The Ashes
When I'm with Drosselmeyer, the only sounds are the gears going clicka clicka clicka and my drum. Sometimes Drosselmeyer laughs, in time with the gears. Ha-clicka-ha-clicka-ha-clicka-ha. His teeth are big and white and shiny. I stare at them.
I bang my drum in rhythm. Zura zura, zura zura. It sounds like a beating heart. Zu-ra, zu-ra, zu-ra.
Very good, little Uzura! Drosselmeyer laughs, and we watch somebody through the gears and windows. The story goes everywhere.
But I remember how to step outside it. When he's not looking, I go back to the places that used to be story. I go back and I talk to my other friends.
-----
I see Fakir. I see Charon. I bang my drum for Mytho: zura zura for his heart, zura zura for the way everybody else watched him. Zura zura zura. Sometimes I see Mytho and Rue. Their hearts beat in their chests, but I bang my drum anyway. They smile at me. Mytho smiles more.
I see Duck.
I miss girl-Duck. Duck ran around on long tall legs and bounced off of walls and smiled at me. Girl-Duck talked with her heart in every word: zura zura zura zura.
Now Duck has big blue Duck-eyes and a yellow duck-tail and skinny paddling legs. She hugs my ankle with soft feathers. She says, quack quack quack.
She puts wings to her heart and stretches them out to me. She puts a wing to her head, feathers spread like fingers. Fakir looks grumpy and says, she says she's still your friend, moron.
It's not the same.
-----
I tell Fakir to change Duck back. Let her be both. Fakir writes, scritcha scritcha scritcha, and the world changes. Fakir wants her back too, zura.
Fakir shouts at me. Fakir says no.
I hug Duck and she catches my tears with her feathers, plip-plop-zura. But she doesn't turn into a girl again.
-----
I don't know what to do.
-----
I will grow up, clicka clicka. I will grow up like big-me, tall and pretty. But I don't want to be sad, like big-me. I want to keep my friends.
Big-me says to myself: this is the gem called maturity.
I listen to myself, wide-eyed. Ohhhhhhhh, I say. When I'm grown up, I'll know lots.
Big-me says to myself: this is the gem called being off-screen.
This is the gem called free will.
In my hands, the air sparkles.
Big-me smiles at little-me, and I look up up up at her.
-----
The first gem is green and the second gem is white. I take them out of the gears, clicka clicka clicka, to the lake outside the story. I plop down under a tree and put down my drum. They fit into each other and turn, clicka clicka clicka STOP and then they don't turn any more and they don't come apart and I know they're stuck forever. I smile at them big and wide.
The third gem I keep. I put it inside my drum so I'll always have it and it rattles around, zu-ra-ra u-zu-ra zu-ra-ra.
Somebody is laughing, somewhere.
I take my drum with my gem inside, and the double gem that isn't mine anymore, and I go to find Duck.
Happiness will be ours, says big-me, and she sounds sad but she's smiling. I bang my drum: u-zu-ra u-zu-ra u-zu-ra, like a heart. Fakir will yell and Duck will hug me and I will never grow up big, clicka clicka clicka, but I'll always have my friends.
This is also SPOILER-TASTIC for the ending of Princess Tutu; seriously, do not read this unless you've seen the whole thing. (If you haven't seen any Princess Tutu at all, I'm afraid it'll make no sense whatsoever. Also you should totally remedy that ASAP, as it's a fabulous anime.)
From The Ashes
When I'm with Drosselmeyer, the only sounds are the gears going clicka clicka clicka and my drum. Sometimes Drosselmeyer laughs, in time with the gears. Ha-clicka-ha-clicka-ha-clicka-ha. His teeth are big and white and shiny. I stare at them.
I bang my drum in rhythm. Zura zura, zura zura. It sounds like a beating heart. Zu-ra, zu-ra, zu-ra.
Very good, little Uzura! Drosselmeyer laughs, and we watch somebody through the gears and windows. The story goes everywhere.
But I remember how to step outside it. When he's not looking, I go back to the places that used to be story. I go back and I talk to my other friends.
-----
I see Fakir. I see Charon. I bang my drum for Mytho: zura zura for his heart, zura zura for the way everybody else watched him. Zura zura zura. Sometimes I see Mytho and Rue. Their hearts beat in their chests, but I bang my drum anyway. They smile at me. Mytho smiles more.
I see Duck.
I miss girl-Duck. Duck ran around on long tall legs and bounced off of walls and smiled at me. Girl-Duck talked with her heart in every word: zura zura zura zura.
Now Duck has big blue Duck-eyes and a yellow duck-tail and skinny paddling legs. She hugs my ankle with soft feathers. She says, quack quack quack.
She puts wings to her heart and stretches them out to me. She puts a wing to her head, feathers spread like fingers. Fakir looks grumpy and says, she says she's still your friend, moron.
It's not the same.
-----
I tell Fakir to change Duck back. Let her be both. Fakir writes, scritcha scritcha scritcha, and the world changes. Fakir wants her back too, zura.
Fakir shouts at me. Fakir says no.
I hug Duck and she catches my tears with her feathers, plip-plop-zura. But she doesn't turn into a girl again.
-----
I don't know what to do.
-----
I will grow up, clicka clicka. I will grow up like big-me, tall and pretty. But I don't want to be sad, like big-me. I want to keep my friends.
Big-me says to myself: this is the gem called maturity.
I listen to myself, wide-eyed. Ohhhhhhhh, I say. When I'm grown up, I'll know lots.
Big-me says to myself: this is the gem called being off-screen.
This is the gem called free will.
In my hands, the air sparkles.
Big-me smiles at little-me, and I look up up up at her.
-----
The first gem is green and the second gem is white. I take them out of the gears, clicka clicka clicka, to the lake outside the story. I plop down under a tree and put down my drum. They fit into each other and turn, clicka clicka clicka STOP and then they don't turn any more and they don't come apart and I know they're stuck forever. I smile at them big and wide.
The third gem I keep. I put it inside my drum so I'll always have it and it rattles around, zu-ra-ra u-zu-ra zu-ra-ra.
Somebody is laughing, somewhere.
I take my drum with my gem inside, and the double gem that isn't mine anymore, and I go to find Duck.
Happiness will be ours, says big-me, and she sounds sad but she's smiling. I bang my drum: u-zu-ra u-zu-ra u-zu-ra, like a heart. Fakir will yell and Duck will hug me and I will never grow up big, clicka clicka clicka, but I'll always have my friends.