A/N: Now beta-ed and revised. No significant changes though.

This, dear readers, is the end. It has been an enjoyable ride for me, and hopefully for you as well. Please let me know if that is the case or not.

I apologize for the delay, but issues in real life reared their ugly heads. I hope this wait doesn't make this last chapter feel too anticlimactic. I also know I'm terrible at writing fluff so it's probably worse than the rest of the story. Most likely, I should have ended at the restaurant scene. Unfortunately, this chapter is un-betaed (my beta won't be able to get back to me until mid-September and I just couldn't wait that long to post it). Please do let me know what you think.

Incidentally, a reviewer asked me about the ages of the characters in this. I find the anime interesting because ages are so nebulous. When Fakir the child discovers Mytho, Mytho looks to be about 20-something. Yet when the story actually takes place, Mytho and Fakir appear to be in their teens. Transformed Princess Tutu looks much older than Ahiru the girl. All we are certain of is that Ahiru, Pique, and Lillie are younger than Mytho, Fakir and perhaps Rue because they call them senpai.

Furthermore, is Kinkan Academy a high school or a college? Students wear uniforms, and yet the live in dorms. I kind of like the ambiguity of the anime. I like to think that the education system in Kinkan is not the same as in our world. Perhaps the Academy is some bizarre cross between a highschool and a college. So in my head, Ahiru is around 15, Fakir Mytho and Rue somewhere near 17. But dear readers, you may choose any age you wish. This fiction, after all, is nothing more than the wish of a fan.

Lastly, thank you for reading. Special thanks to those who put me on their favorites or alerts. Particular gratitude for my dedicated reviewers: Itsy-Evil-Spiders, doragon no mizu, anmbcuconnfan, Botan and Kurama lover, Akaina, Angel Inu, Manda-chan, Archangel Rhapsody, xuri

those anonymous reviewers I could not respond to individually: anon., TTF12, Inubaki, CheeseMonkey8, Carrie

and extra special thanks to Mangaka-chan for her in-depth critiques.

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Princess Tutu OVA: Chapter of the Girl

Their story is not quite finished yet: how Ahiru and Fakir move past the endings they find themselves in. All reviews welcome.

Disclaimer: I own neither Princess Tutu nor any of the quoted material.

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Out of his own selfishness, Fakir had failed Ahiru. He had been determined to find a way to harness his power to spin tales into reality. Damn it! That was the only reason he had even gone back to school. He had to find a way to write a story that would neither endanger nor control so that Ahiru could become human should she wish to be so. And yet, weary of carrying such a burden and scared of the monsters he might unleash with his quill, he had wished away his only means of accomplishing his goal. He knew, intrinsically that it was somehow his fault; that he had been too weak. The responsibility had been too heavy and he like a spineless idiot had buckled under its weight when neither his lessons nor the library had yielded an answer.

No matter how hard he tried, he could no longer feel the tingle of power in his arm. Ahiru was gone. She might never come back. All because he had failed to act. He sat morosely at the shore of the lake, unable to move.
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Ahiru journeyed for hours on end, refusing to stop even when her tired body wanted nothing more than to collapse. Nothing mattered more than getting back to Kinkan Town and Fakir to stave off the disaster that she was sure had occurred. As dawn colored the sky, she saw the walls of Kinkan Town rising before her. They had never seemed a more welcome sight.

She circled the town until she reached a gate and was grateful that some small measure of luck was with her—it was the gate closest to the most likely places she would find Fakir: the lake and to Charon's house. As she leaned against the massive gate to catch her breath, her gaze caught on a poster. It was the most hideous drawing of a bird she had ever seen—if in fact it was a bird. Ahhiru sweatdropped in disbelief as she realized on reading the description just who had made the poster and for whom. "Fakir really has a gentle heart for all he tries to deny it," she mused as she prepared to sprint the rest of the way to the lake, then Charon's place, and then the town square in her search.

There was a figure hunched by the lake shore, almost hidden by the mists. He was sitting in the same spot he always did. As if waiting for her. He was facing the water. He hadn't seen her yet. There were so many things to say, so many worries, so many apologizes running through her head, she could not speak. Finally, she walked up beside him and said with a quiet smile, "I'm home."

Fakir whirled around, almost falling into the lake in his shock. "Ahiru." That was all he managed before clutching onto her as if grasping hope, as if grasping something he imagined would vanish if he didn't hold on.

She couldn't breathe. Was Fakir trying to strangle her? "Fakir" she managed to croak at last "No. Air." When that produced no relief for her respiratory system, Ahiru tried "Can't breathe. Let go."

"You'll disappear in a flash of light if I let go," he mumbled into her hair although the suffocating pressure eased a little.

"Fakir, you aren't making any sense! What do you mean a flash of—oh no! It was your brain, wasn't it? Lede took your mind, didn't she! No wonder you're talking nonsense! Something you loved but hated! I'm so sorry, Fakir, you're stupid and it's all my fault!"

At that, Fakir did push her away, cutting short her wails. He held her at about arm's length, peering critically into her eyes. "If anyone's gone crazy, I think it's you. Just what are you babbling on about?"

"You're the one who's babbling! I—"

Ahiru was interrupted by the loud protests of her own stomach. While she scratched the back of her head with one hand and laughed sheepishly, Fakir without further ado, grabbed her other arm and began dragging her away from the lake.

"Hey! Wait—where are we going? There's so much I need to tell you! Something terrible's happened—"

Fakir looked back at her disdainfully. "Where do you think we're going? It's bad enough I'll have to put up with your nonsense, I don't want to argue with your stomach as well."

"But where are we going?"

"Home," he said at last, exasperated. Something in that word warmed Ahiru. Home. "To feed that bottomless pit you call a stomach." That warm feeling turned into a warmer feeling: anger.

"Well, no need to be a jerk about it. I don't know why you're in such a bad mood anyway. You haven't been this mean since we first met!"

Fakir had been pulled in too many contradictory emotional directions in a handful of minutes. From despair to hope to disbelief to unimaginable relief and happiness, all of which he had been trying to keep clamped down beneath a mask of irritation and indifference after his initial, unthinking indulgence in sentimentality when he had embraced Ahiru. And now she dared to speak as if she didn't understand at all the magnitude of what he had gone through. He glared at her in disbelieving anger. "You idiot!" he shouted incensed. "Of course I'm angry! How could you disappear for a month and a half like that? Didn't you think I'd worry? Didn't you think I'd miss you?"

Finally, he looked away. "Forget about it. Let's get some food," he muttered at last.

"Fakir." Her voice full of regret, wishing she could take back her hasty words. "Come on," she said taking her cue from him. "There's a really good restaurant out here in the woods."

Now it was her turn to drag him through the trees until a quaint little building with a placard reading "Ebine" appeared as if it had sprouted up along with the plants. A robust woman who looked a little too enthusiastic for Fakir's taste greeted them at the door. "Ah," she said. "Breakfast for two? Would you like a table outside on this lovely morning?" As the woman walked away, she hesitated, looking back at Ahiru. Something tugged at her memories. An image of a girl, but it was all so vague and far away in her memories. Nonetheless, Ebine decided to give them the best table.

As Ahiru worked through the mountain of food on the table (blueberry pancakes, orange juice, cinnamon rolls, milk, and fruit salad for her; eggs, toast and coffee for Fakir), she told him everything: from her lessons in sign language to her stint as matchmaker to her fateful encounter with Lede.

Fakir listened in silence, sitting up a little straighter when Ahiru told about Lede's forced bargain. When she finished, he sighed "Poetic justice. Well, she got that right." It was his turn to fill Ahiru in beginning with Drosselmeyer's journals to his fear in taking up writing once more to losing his powers. "It's fitting, isn't it?" he concluded. "That a woman who suffered under the power of someone who spun tales into truth should grant the wish of a girl in a similar situation by taking away that power? And somehow, for all her bitterness, I don't worry as much about her having that power than I do about Drosselmeyer."

"She seemed so sad. I don't think she'd use it to twist around reality either. But Fakir, is it really ok? That you can't spin tales anymore? After all, Lede said 'loved but hated.' You lost something you loved because of me."

"You don't understand at all, do you? I only wanted that power so I could help you. So that you could be human again. It doesn't matter anymore. You know, despite all your rambling, you didn't answer my question. Why did you leave in the first place?"

"I…I wanted to turn human again. I thought I'd find a way to do it out there in the world. So that…so that I could find a way to bring back your smile."

"I don't think any of that made sense. But that doesn't matter either." Fakir smiled softly. "I'm glad you're back."

It was back! Fakir was smiling again! A smile that reached even his eyes until the iciness in their green depths became as gentle as leaves. And she had no idea what had brought it back. "Don't you?" a small part of her asked. "I think you do know. He brought back your smile and you brought back his."

"I'm glad to be back too."

The rest of the morning was spent in re-enrolling Ahiru into Kinkan Academy. Well more like enrolling as no one seemed to remember her. Tuition, of course, was a problem as Ahiru had no money or credit history at all since she used to be a duck, but she was able to enter under a teaching scholarship (she was too bad at ballet to get a dance scholarship). She was assigned her old attic room as none of the paying students would want it. When Ahiru saw it, she felt tears in her eyes. She could once again have all that she had missed of her old life, all that had become a part of her. It was furnished exactly as before, with a red old-fashioned lamp that gave off rosy light on the desk. Pique and Lillie lived on the floor below.

Fakir cross-registered in the Kinkan Academy for ballet so he could join her dance classes. She was still the same clumsy Ahiru, never quite as good as him but because he wasn't majoring in dance, he could choose whatever partner he wanted. Even someone from the apprentice class.

After taking care of the administrative details, Ahiru and Fakir walked to Charon's house. As they came closer to the house, Fakir became more and more uncomfortable. He was unsure how to explain Ahiru's existence to Charon; he was even more unsure as to how he would explain his relationship to her. As Charon greeted them both, looking curiously at Ahiru, Fakir tried to stumble through an introduction. "Charon, this is…she's—I mean I—"

A wide smile covered Charon's face as his stuttering son slowly turned red before him. It looked like Fakir had finally found the hope to lift the despair that had descended upon him. "I think I understand." In his relief, Charon was unable to resist teasing. "I knew my parental instincts had it right from the start. It was all over a girl."

Ahiru, seemingly immune to embarrassment, either that or entirely ignorant to the undercurrents in the conversation, smiled brightly at Charon and said, "Hello, Fakir's dad. Nice to meet you!" She and Charon got on really well because after all, he had nothing but gratitude and love for the girl who had brought hope to his son's life.
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As the semester progressed, Ahiru felt she had never been happier. She could dance again, even if she wasn't that good at it. She could chat with Pique and Lillie, even if they still seemed to inhabit a different dimension than she did. And best of all, she could spend time with Fakir—and that statement didn't need any qualifier at all. Even when he was jerk, Ahiru was happy to be in his company. They were frequently seen together and it became natural for her to have dinner at Charon's as if she were part of the family.

Fakir would cook and Ahiru would help until she bungled enough that she was relegated to setting the table and doing the dishes. Charon would join them as they sat down to a good meal and conversation that was often peppered with arguments between Ahiru and Fakir.

"The term's drawing to close, isn't it?" Charon asked.

"Yeah. Graduation's still a few years away but they want us to start thinking about what we want to do in the future—jobs and such," Ahiru answered as she passed the potatoes.

"Oh? Have you two made any future plans yet?"

"I kind of have a rough idea, but…" Ahiru became absorbed in her meal.

"Have you considered getting married?" Charon continued innocently.

"M-m-married?" Ahiru and Fakir both stuttered in a surprisingly accurate, albeit unintentional, impression of a certain instructor.

"I—I think I'm going to become a teacher!" Ahiru announced to prevent Charon asking any more awkward questions, all the while pounding furiously at her chest to dislodge the food that seemed to have gotten stuck their in her surprise. "I've been taking introductory classes in the art and music schools for that teaching scholarship requirement. I love ballet but I'll probably never be good enough at any one thing to teach at Kinkan Academy, but maybe younger kids? I think we'd get along really well."

"Grade school?" Fakir mused. "It could work. You even think at their level sometimes. Anyway, teaching will suit you."

"Hey, I'd watch what I say if I were you!" Ahiru shot back. "At least I'll be making an income, Mr. Penniless Artiste. You'll have to respect me since I'll be the breadwinner."

"Still fond of bread so much. Can't expect a duck to change all her feathers though, I suppose," Fakir taunted in response.

"Hmph. Anyway, what did you mean teaching would suit me?"

"Isn't that what you did all the time as Princess Tutu? Teaching people to see the truth? With all that practice, you must have developed a knack for it by now."

She looked at him blankly for a few minutes, before finally venturing uncertainly, "Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Only you'd be confused about such a thing…"

"Jerk."

It seemed that they would continue bickering happily ever after. And you know what? They did.

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Finis