FicWad

Chapter XII



Music: 1812 Overture



By this time, Pique, Lillie, Kelsey, Joe, and Uzzura were around the table, wondering where everyone was. They were an hour late, and no one wanted to offend the royal couple by eating before them, and then leave. However, Joe, as a bird, knew that on one would say anything if he got up and left, and he told the girls, "Look, I'm going to see what's going on. Hang tight!"

Joe took to the air, and flew to Rue's room. He was shocked to find black feathers everywhere. Something was terribly wrong. He then went to Ahiru's room. She was gone, and he noticed the diamond shard on the end table. This was really odd! She would have never left it on the table like that. He now flapped as hard as he could, tucking in, trying to be as fast and aerodynamic as he could. When he got to the prince's door, it was covered with black vines. "Your highness!" he shouted, "Are you in there?"

"Is that Joe," he answered, all muffled.

"Yes, its Joe!" he shouted, "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" the prince demanded.

"Your door is covered in black vines,"said Joe, "Rue, Freya, and Duck are nowhere to be seen!"

"Get the servants!" he shouted, "and someone get an axe. There is trouble afoot!"

Joe did as he was bidden. He got the girls, told them the problem, and immediately palace security was chopping their way into the room. In the meantime, Joe got Uzzura to fetch the shard. He said, "Hold onto it, and don't let it go until you can give it to Duck. Hopefully, if nothing bad has happened, we can give it to her, and we can stop all this madness."

By the time they came back, the prince was free, and calling for the royal sword. He then told everyone, "Okay, girls, start to search the third floor up to the towers. The rest of you, scour the first and second floors, and the grounds. Joe, Uzzura, come with me."

The first place they went was to Rue's room. When he saw the feathers, he was out of his mind. Somehow, someone or something caused her to become Kraehe again. He wondered if it was the one remaining warlock, and if so, how did he do this? He then took Joe and Uzzura down the hall. "Where are we going-zura," asked Uzzura, thinking that this was some delightful game. "We are trying to find Duck and Freya," said Siegfried.

"Oh!" she said, "Hide and seek-zura!"

Siegfried went with it, and said, "Yes, and they may be down here. I need you to help me find them."

"Okay-zura!" she exclaimed, but then said,"But all I see is a wall-zura!"

"Watch!" he said, and pulled on a torch holder. The wall opened up, and Uzzura said, "Ooh, a secret passage-zura-they know how to hide-zura!"

The three quickly made their way down.



Meanwhile, Kraehe was trying to evade detection. She was going to insure that nothing disturbed the process, but now she was going to have to try something else. She had wanted to force someone else to fetch the diamond shard, and then insure that it ended up at the bottom of the river, lake, or wherever she could dispose of it. Felix knew that she could not touch it, lest he join his friends. While all this was going on, Freya and Ahiru were just beginning to feel a bit of pressure as the barrels had gained enough water for the weight to be felt. They could not cry, they could not yell, all they could do was lay there and wait. Fakir was writing feverishly, and his arm was beginning to hurt. However, Drosselmyer was not going to have any mercy on him. He was going to get things finished, and then restore the tragedy that he had worked so hard to achieve. By this time, Kraehe came to the secret passage, and found it open. Now she knew she had to act fast. She slipped down without being noticed and made her way to the torture chamber. The girls heard the door open, and thought it was help, but Kraehe said, "So, how goes the stretching exercises?"

"You just couldn't resist coming to watch, could you?" spit out Freya.

Kraehe ignored this statement, and walked over to the two barrels that were attached to the arms of Ahiru. She saw the water, and she knew she had to be feeling it by now. "So, how's it going, Duck?" she said smilingly, and pushed on the barrels. Ahiru screamed in pain loud enough to make ears bleed. Kraehe stopped the swinging so that the water could continue to fill it. Ahiru was now bawling, and Kraehe came over to look her in the face. She stroked her hair, and said, almost in a loving fashion, "It's all for the best, you know. You know that, if you were going to be a duck again, you would never have a hope of being this way again. Its better you die than to be tortured for the rest of your life."

"Shut up!" she demanded, "You are not Kraehe! You're not even Rue! Neither was ever this cruel! The Kraehe that I know would have at least given us a fighting chance!"

"You deserve no chances!" thundered a male voice from Kraehe, "You will pay for what you did to my friends!"

Now she knew that Kraehe was not acting in her right mind. Yet, what would they do now? Kraehe went back to the lever, and decided to expedite things. She set it in such a fashion that, in a couple of hours, all would be over. With that, she left, and decided to find some"volunteer" to retrieve the diamond shard, and be rid of it forever.



Upstairs, Kraehe made her way to Ahiru's room, and tried to find the shard, but it was gone. Now she began to worry. She went to the prince's room, and found that he had been freed. Trouble loomed on the horizon. She only hoped that progress was being made. However, at this point, palace security spotted her, and said, "You, stop right where you are!"

"It won't be that easy, darling!" she snapped, as a rain of feathers flew at him. As he tried to dodge the storm, she did a jette past him, and headed to the dungeon once more. Her prince must have been going there, for only Rue, Siegfried, and a select few others knew about any of this. Upstairs, Pique and Lillie were making their way up to one of the towers, and they heard the sinister laughter. At this, Lillie reached out to turn the handle, and was thrown back by a hard electrical shock. She landed on Pique, and they both lay there, as Lillie said in a daze, "I don't want to go to school today, Mommy!"



Meanwhile, Joe and Uzzura were searching diligently when they stumbled across the torture room. Joe heard the moans of pain, and he knew that they were not some leftovers from days gone by. "Uzzura, come over here, would you?" he said, and she obeyed.

"Did talky-birdie find something?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "What do you hear?"

She put her ear to the door, and said,"Someone's crying-zura!"

"That's what I thought!" said Joe, and he said to her, "Open the door! We don't have a moment to lose!"

"Will I win the game-zura?" she asked, thinking they were still playing hide-and-seek.

Joe sighed, remembering that he was dealing with a childlike mind that may not quite understand the grave danger that they girls may be in, and he said, "Yes, you will be declared the big winner of the day! Now, open the door, please?"

However, Uzzura was so happy that she would be called the winner, that she just had to beat her drum, march around, and sing her, "I'm so happy, I won-zura!" song. Joe was now out of his head, as the moaning was beginning to get worse. What he did not know was that the drum was telling the girls that help lay just outside the door, and they started screaming for help. When Uzzura stopped for a moment, she heard the cries for help, and said, "Who needs help-zura?"

"Duck and Freya need help!" he said, all frustrated.

"Oh," she said, "I thought we were playing hide-and-seek-zura?"

"Argh!" Joe said, finally losing his patience, "JUST OPEN THE STUPID DOOR!"

Uzzura did not know what to think, and began to cry, thinking that she had done something bad. "Uzzura was naughty-zura!"

"Mamma Mia!" Joe exclaimed, and realized that, if he did not patronize her, the girls were as good as dead. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you, okay?" he said, in a quiet, soft voice.

"No, your not," cried Uzzura, "You're mad at Uzzura-zura."

He sighed, and said, playing the game, and stroking her head, "Look...sometimes grown-ups do stupid things, and sometimes we get so emotional we don't think like we should."

"You don't-zura?" she asked, drying away afew tears, now seeing that someone was being sympathetic and nice to her.

"That's right," he said.

"So, even grown-ups can be naughty sometimes-zura?"

"Yep, that's right too. I got mad, because, right now, behind that door, someone is doing some very naughty things to Freya and Duck, and I wanted to stop it, but I cannot open the door like this. So, I got mad, and yelled. I'm sorry, can you ever forgive me?"

At that, he put forth the pouting eyes, hoping to calm her down, and then get her to open the door if it was not too late by this point. However, when she heard that a naughty person was hurting her friends her childlike logic finally kicked in, she forgot the game, her sadness, and said, "They leave ducky-lucky alone-zura!"

She charged the door, snapped the handle down, and flung the door open. Joe was horrified by what he saw. It did not take him long to figure out what was happening, and he flew over to Freya, trying to bite open the knot. However, she said, "Forget that, there is a lever on the wall. Stop the water before it rips us apart. It hurts so bad, baby."

However, Joe was not sure about that, considering the rigmarole that he had to go though just to get Uzzura to open the door. He took a chance, going with the "naughty people" thing, and said, "Uzzura, the naughty people are hurting them with that lever on the wall. Shut off the water."

Uzzura went over, examined it for aminute, and said, "Is it this one-zura?"

Joe sighed, and said, "Now you see what took so long."

He then said, "That's very good, Uzzura, you found it the first time."

Now she was so happy, that she started to play her drum and sing, "I found it-zura, and I found it the first time-zura!"

Joe felt his lifeblood seeping through his talons at that moment, and said, "Ahem, Uzzura...remember the naughty people?"

"Oops, sorry-zura," she said, and cranked on the handle-the wrong way! Now it was flowing freely, and both girls arched their backs as they screamed in pain! Uzzura was now panicking, not sure what to do. Joe screamed, "The other way, Uzzura-TURN IT THE OTHER WAY!"

Uzzura regained herself, and tried to push it but it would not relent, as she screamed, "Its stuck-zura!"

At that precise moment, Siegfried entered, hearing the screams, and as quick as a wink, cut all the ropes holding the barrels. The girls now lay in pain on the beds, unable to move, crying their eyes out. "It hurts! It hurts!" was all they could cry. At that moment, Kraehe came in and saw what happened. Siegfried turned about to see her standing there, and said, "Rue, what happened?"

"My prince," she said, "Why did you do that? All I was trying to do was insure none would split us up."

Siegfried pointed his sword at her, and said, "What have you done with Rue?"

"Darling," she said, "What's wrong? I stand right here-you're beloved Kraehe."

"You should have been gone!" said Siegfried, cursing the raven's blood still in her. Knowing the charade was up, Felix finally uttered through everything,"You will not spoil this, and you shall all pay!"

"And this is where you malevolence ends!"said a gentle but firm voice.

Everyone looked over and saw Tutu standing ready. Uzzura saw Ahiru crying and hurting, and thought that, if she gave her the pretty rock, it might make her feel better. "Here's your pretty rock,"she said, "I hope it make's you happy-zura."

Ahiru smiled and said, "You have no idea!"

Now Tutu stood ready to put this tale to an end. First, she went over and eased Freya's pain, saying, "Rest now, dear friend: when you awaken, you will no longer be in pain, and all will be healed."

She then turned her attention to Kraehe, and said, "Now, you will release my friend."

Kraehe stepped back, and Felix said, "You shall never catch me!"

Tutu fixed a set of angry eyes on her and said, "That was not a request!"

However, she/he was so affixed on Tutu, that neither saw the prince slip behind and put her in an arm bar. "I'm sorry, my love, but it is for your own good."

"No!" Felix cried as he cursed, knowing what might be coming. Tutu began to make her way over, but vines shot up everywhere. However, after having combated her before, she was countering it with her own, and dancing around the obstacles. "There has been too much pain and suffering, because of you and your friends. Now, it ceases."

She took off the amulet, and began to reach for Kraehe. She was cursing and struggling under the influence of Felix, but the prince then put a restraining hold around her other arm, and wrapped a leg around her legs. "And now, we not only extract your trouble, but the Raven's blood as well."

With that, she touched Kraehe, and the red light went straight up and headed for the diamond in the rough. Along with it came out the raven's blood, and her freedom entered with it. She had not changed back, but still appeared as Kraehe. Yet, the peace returned to her, and all was well. "Rue," asked Tutu, "Are you there?"

Rue finally came to, and saw Tutu standing there. She said, "Thank you, and please forgive me..."

"There is nothing to forgive, dearest Rue," she said, "I know that you did not do this."

She then noticed how she was dressed, and said, "I never thought I would look like this again!"

She smiled, and spun around, looking at her beau, saying, "You know, I might get used to this," bobbing her eyebrows up and down. He just gave her that look, as they went and helped Freya to her feet. She was all right enough, but it would be something that she would not soon forget. Then Rue remembered, "I forgot! Fakir-he's trapped up in the east tower with Drosselmyer! He's trying to get Fakir to finish the story! We have to hurry before all this changes!"

With that, the all rushed to the east tower.



Inside, Fakir was near unconsciousness, is arm exhausted and in pain. However, Drosselmyer was writing through him. He knew that Fakir was only three-quarters of the way along, and did all he could to hurry things along. Outside, Lillie was recovering as they saw the prince coming up the stairs with Tutu and Rue. Of course, they were amazed by how Rue was dressed, but figured that that was not the best time to say anything about it. Rue went for the door, but they quickly warned her away. Tutu thought for a moment, and then spun her hand about, and a vine from the outside came in and grabbed the handle. It sizzled a bit, but she had it open it up slowly and discreetly. Meanwhile, Drosselmyer was reveling over things. He thought that the tragedy would go on and on. His grandson would either keep writing, allowing him in to meddle, or just stop, and allow him to go on. No matter what, it was a win-win situation. Drosselmyer said, "Silly boy: when are you going to realize that happy endings are expected and boring? Everyone expects those kinds of things. Tragedy is much more fun! You really see people as they are, and it can teach so much. You must admit, tragedy is how real life works! I mean, look at your situation. No matter what, you think that you and Duck will be together forever. Yet, you know that the only way that would happen is if you write a story for her, and that was a line you said that you would never cross! Silly boy, why would you torture both you and her like that? No matter, it makes the tragedy that much sweeter! Once you learn that happy endings are afarce, life will be so much better for you!"

"Endings are only sad if we choose them to be," said the prince as he entered the room.

"WHAT!" he said, "How did you get out?"

"We write our own stories," said Rue, "No one controls our destinies."

"You think so?" he said, "When will you realize that you cannot win? I hold all the cards."

With that, he started to head for the clock, saying, "There will be another day."

However, Siegfried intercepted him, and with one mighty swing of his sword, smashed the clock.

"Wrong!" he thundered, "Your last chapter is here and now."

Drosselmyer screamed in anger and agony. He wheeled around to run right into Tutu who was holding out the amulet, as she said, "Your time in the story of life has ended, and it is time to turn the page forever."

She touched his chest, and he screamed,"No! This cannot be! The author is supposed to write the tragedy, not be the tragedy!"

He began to sparkle, and then turn into ared beam of light that arched its way to the diamond in the rough, and everyone wondered what his distress was for, considering that he got exactly what he desired-a tragic conclusion. He never figured that it would be for him!



However, one more chapter had to be written.