Fanfictionous Goodies - Together (Princess Tutu)

Day 25

He wasn’t nervous. No, it was just the cold of the South Pole that was causing his legs to shake, his dark eyes to flicker from the sea to the frozen ice under his feet and back again, his gloved hands to play with one another, and his heart to pound loudly in his chest. Yes, it was just the cold.

And the fact that Suki was due here at any moment.

After the war, he had thought that he and Suki would finally get to spend some time together, but it had been just the opposite. She had gone off with the Kyoshi Warriors to quell any uprisings that appeared, and he had headed back home, to help with the rebuilding of the Southern Water Tribe.

Now, years later, she was finally coming home.

Would she like it here? Would she still like him? There was no denying that he was an adult now, with his growth spurt and the deepening of his voice, and he knew that she had become a young woman—a beautiful young woman.

“Her ship,” he breathed at the appearance of a dark smudge on the horizon.

His hands moved faster and faster as the ship drew nearer, and his thoughts grew more frantic.

What if she got off the ship, saw him, and decided that she didn’t love him anymore? What if she hadn’t even gotten on the ship? What if she had found someone she liked better? What if, what if, what if?

The ship dropped its anchor, and suddenly he saw her, standing at the prow. They stared at one another for a moment, both frozen in time, and then she jumped. He watched her as she landed on the frozen ground, as she straightened up, and as she gave him a shy smile, which he returned.

They rushed into each other’s arms, and their lips met.

His heart pounded loudly in his chest. She still loved him.

And he had never stopped loving her.

Day 26

The only person Ty Lee told was Azula. Not even Mai received a note. It was just the one message to Azula, and then she was gone. She just could not stand her life, and had to get away from it all. The circus was calling.

She had expected the Fire Nation Princess to pay her a visit sooner or later, and so when Azula finally did arrive, it wasn’t any big surprise. And she was overjoyed to see her best friend again, after all those years.

When Azula asked Ty Lee if she would join her in her quest to capture a traitor, the acrobat was excited, but also torn. She had given up everything to join the circus.

However, at the end of the show for that night, she realized that the circus life didn’t matter as much to her as did Azula. Life was never more exciting than when she was with her friend. Part of that excitement was never knowing if the princess would do something to harm her, but the circus had its dangers as well.

She would not die for the circus.

But she was willing to throw her life away for her childhood friend.

After all, that’s what best friends did.

Day 27

“Finally, we’re alone.”

It was Mai who said it. She was lying across their giant bed, still dressed in her semi-formal outfit for the day. Zuko closed the door, and then turned to face his wife. He offered her a tired smile, and she gave him one in return.

“Yes, we are,” he said.

He moved over to her and sat down, putting his arm around her as he did so. She leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder. It felt good, to be holding her after such a long day, but…

“What are you thinking about?”

Zuko glanced down at his wife, to see that she was watching him. “Nothing,” he told her, but just a little too quickly.

She sat up and poked a finger in his chest. “What are you thinking about?”

He held up his hands at her fierce tone, as a sign of surrender. “Okay, you’ve got me.” His hands dropped back down, one into his lap and one back around Mai. His brow furrowed. What would she say to him, when he told her? He had seen the way she had acted around Ty Lee’s seven kids earlier.

“Well?”

“Mai… We’ve been together for years now, just the two of us. What…?” His gaze dropped, unable to look her in the eye. “What if… we had a kid of our own? We do need a heir and…”

Mai put a finger to his lips, stopping him before he could ramble on and on. He looked at her, and she was smiling—a real smile, not the usual fake or half-hearted ones she gave him.

“I thought that you would never ask.”

He smiled back, and they kissed.

Day 28

“Look, I know you had a rough childhood, but we should really focus on finding Aang.”

Toph bit her lip at that comment and awkwardly turned away. It hurt, for her to tell him all about her, and for him to shut her down like that, but she tried not to let it show. There was no reason that he should like someone like her. Sokka hadn’t returned her love, either.

“This is the worst field trip ever.”

She stared at the back of Zuko, as he walked off without her.

Had he recognized why she had wanted to go with him so badly? Did he not feel the same way, and that was why he had turned her away so roughly? Or was he just clueless, like Sokka?

Zuko paused then, and turned to face her. “Are you coming?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she muttered and started forward.

They walked in silence, side-by-side, for the next few minutes. Toph dejectedly stared at the ground, while Zuko fidgeted. Finally, he spoke.

“Toph?”

“Yes?”

“You like me, don’t you?”

For a response, her cheeks turned red and she turned her head away.

“It’s okay, because… I like you too.”

Her eyes widened in shock, as she realized that he was speaking the truth. His heart was beating harder in his chest as well. She reached up a hand and placed it on his warm cheek. He was blushing!

Toph threw her arms around him then, her heart exploding with joy. He put his arms around her and held her close. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad field trip after all.

Day 29

“Aang!”

Katara rushed into the Avatar’s room, a hand on her stomach.

“Aang!”

She paused when she spotted her husband, breathless. He was sitting there, cross-legged on the floor and a calm expression on his face. An eye peeked open at her shouts, and he turned his head.

“Is something wrong?” he asked and, with a slight gust of air underneath him, he was on his feet.

She gave a shake of her head. Tears glistened in her brown eyes. “No, everything is right.”

He gave her a puzzled look before his eyes followed her hand down to her stomach. His eyes widened and he hurried over to her, putting his own hand on the stomach. “We have a…”

She gave a nod of her head. “Yes. After all these years…”

They embraced, and he gave her a gentle kiss on her lips before they pulled appeared.

“What shall we call him?”

“Him?” Aang tilted his head as he stared at her stomach. There seemed to be a slight bulge, but he wasn’t sure if it was actually there, or if he was simply imagining it. In a few months, however, there would be no doubt that there was a child there.

“Toph told me.”

Aang placed a hand back onto Katara’s stomach.

“Tenzin.”

Day 30

“I’m begging you, Ozai.” The gray-haired man stared at the back of his younger brother. “Please.”

The Fire Lord did not turn, but simply stared into the flames before him. A frown was on his lips, as it often was when dealing with Iroh. “Haven’t you already wasted enough of your time, brother?”

Iroh bowed his head and clasped his hands over his slightly bulging belly. “It is not your place to criticize me for past events. You may wear the crown, but I am still your older brother.”

There was no response from the Fire Lord.

Iroh continued his original plea. “He has already lost everything. I know that you are just sending him on this hunt to get rid of him, but please… Let me go with him.”

“I don’t care what you do, older brother.”

That was the end of the conversation.

The next day, it was not just the young banished prince, Zuko, who set sail, but also the disgraced older brother of the Fire Lord.

The world had given up on Zuko; Iroh was ready to give up the world for his nephew.

Day 31

“Sokka.”

He turned at the sound of his little sister’s voice, to see her standing uncertainly in the doorway of their tent. Instantly he was on his feet, with his boomerang in one hand and his club in the other.

“What is it?” he asked, expecting the worst. Had the Fire Nation come back? Had the enemy heard that he was the only warrior in the whole Water Tribe?

She took a step closer to him, and now he could see the tears swimming in her wide brown eyes. “I’m scared.”

His weapons lowered, and he dropped them to the ground. He wanted so badly to tell her that he was scared as well. This was his first night being the protector of the tribe, after all. But he couldn’t say that. He had to be strong, for her.

The young warrior moved over to his sister and threw his arms around her. “Don’t worry, Katara,” he whispered into her ear. “I’ll protect you. I promise.”

After all, she was his younger sister.

I've been meaning to write this piece for awhile, of my character Kami being in Lupin's class, when Snape is substituting. Many lines were taken or modified from pages 170 to 173 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I don't normally borrow so many direct lines from the source, but I wanted to insert Kami into this exact class, so I kept all of the dialogue, as well as many of the descriptions. This has a lame title, but I couldn't think of anything else off of the top of my head.

Kami wasn’t paying much attention, as Professor Severus Snape droned on before the class. Well, maybe drone wasn’t the right word. There was a sense of gloating, as the man stood up front, teaching the class that he had always wanted. But she didn’t really care, as she fought to keep her body upright, and fought to keep the pain at bay.

She just wanted to collapse into a miserable little ball and moan and cry. The day before was always this way, and the potion she was on just made it worse, but it would be too risky, to play sick every month.

Then a distraction from the pain came, in the form of footsteps and the famous boy’s voice. “Sorry I’m late, Professor Lupin, I –”

Snape turned his dark gaze to the newcomer. “This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we’ll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down.”

But Harry didn’t move.

“Where’s Professor Lupin?” he said.

“He says he is feeling too ill to teach today,” said Snape with a twisted smile. “I believe I told you to sit down?”

But Harry stayed where he was.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Snape’s black eyes glittered.

“Nothing life-threatening,” he said, looking as though he wished it were. “Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty.”

Harry walked slowly to his seat and sat down. Snape looked around at the class.

“As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far –”

“Please, sir, we’ve done boggarts, Red Caps, kappas, and grindylows,” said Hermione quickly, “and we’re just about to start –” Of course it was Hermione to interrupt, to prove that she knew more than anyone else. But Kami didn’t care for once, about her classmate showing off.

“Be quiet,” said Snape coldly. “I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin’s lack of organization.”

“He’s the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had,” said Dean Thomas boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class, including a slight nod from Kami. He really had been great. Much better than Quirrel, who had been afraid of his own shadow (and had been in league with some guy that everybody knew); then there was Lockhart, who had been so full of himself, but was just a pretender. These reasons didn’t stop Snape from looking more menacing than ever.

“You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you – I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and gindylows. Today we shall discuss—”

Kami’s silver eyes tracked Snape’s movements, as the professor flipped through the textbook, to the very back, which he just had to know they had not covered.

“—werewolves,” said Snape.

Kami’s blood ran cold.

“But, sir,” said Hermione, seemingly unable to restrain herself, “we’re not supposed to do werewolves yet, we’re due to start hinkypunks –”

“Miss Granger,” said Snape in a voice of deadly calm, “I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394.” He glanced around again. “All of you! Now!”

With many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books. But still Kami was frozen in place, staring forward, just past Snape, with wide eyes. He turned his cold gaze on her, but still she didn’t move, not until one of her classmates elbowed her. Then she started, and hurriedly flipped to the correct page.

“Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?” said Snape.

Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air. Kami sunk low in her seat, the churning of her stomach no longer coming just from what was going to happen that night.

“Anyone?” Snape said, ignoring Hermione. His twisted smile was back, and his eyes kept landing on Kami, as if he suspected. “Are you telling me that the Professor Lupin hasn’t even taught you the basic distinction between –”

“We told you,” said Parvati suddenly, “we haven’t got as far as werewolves yet, we’re still on—”

“Silence!” snarled Snape. “Well, well, well, I never thought I’d meet a third-year class who wouldn’t recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are…”

Kami sunk down even lower.

“Please, sir,” said Hermione, whose hand was still in the air, “the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf –”

“That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger,” said Snape coolly. “Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”

Hermione went very red, put down her hand, and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears. It was a mark of how much the class loathed Snape that they were all glaring at him, even Kami, because every one of them had called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, and Ron, who told Hermione she was a know-it-all at least twice a week, said loudly, “You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don’t want to be told?”

The class knew instantly he’d gone too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly, and the room held its breath. Even Kami had straightened up, to watch what was about to happen.

“Detention, Weasley,” Snape said silkily, his face very close to Ron’s. “And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed.”

No one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. They sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin. Kami worked slowly, evenly, and white-faced. When she felt Snape’s hot breath on the back of her neck, her hand slipped, and ink spilled all over her notes.

“Five points from Gryffindor,” he said. “And maybe next time you’ll be a little more careful with your work.” He walked away from her as she closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath to calm her nerves.

“Very poorly explained… That is incorrect, the kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia… Professor Lupin gave this eight out of ten? I wouldn’t have given it three…”

She couldn’t do this. Surely everyone must know, with her sitting here, and the information right before them, being copied down. She was so sure that they all kept looking at her, when they thought that she wouldn’t notice, and it was all she could do to do to lift up her wand and siphon the ink back out of the parchment.

When the bell rang at last, Snape held them back.

“You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention.”

He knew; Professor Snape knew. Why else would he give such an assignment? Her shaking hands gathered up her things; and her soft whimper of panic was lost in the shuffle of the Gryffindor class fleeing Snape’s presence. Kami tried to hurry after them, but she was shaking so badly that she tripped over her own two feet with the first step she took. Her bag spilled open as she hit the ground, and a vial half full of potion went spinning across the floor.

She scrambled towards it, but it had already stopped at Snape’s feet. The professor reached down, his hand grasping the vial before she could reach it. She stared up at him with whirling silver eyes, and knew in that moment that, if he had not known before, he did now.

“I expect your essay to be quite… in-depth, Miss Niberton.” His dark gaze remained on her for a moment longer, and then he offered her the potion. Quickly, she took the vial and then fled from the room as Snape turned his attention to Ron.

The tears spilled out; her life at Hogwarts was over.






Still not sure if I like that ending line...

Wow. That's....really cruel of Snape, that last ending line of his. But of course, Kami wouldn't know the lesson was more about Lupin than her herself. Still, Snape gets no excuse at all.

Anyway, great oneshot, Casey! I rather liked this. Makes me feel even more sorry for Kami.

Yeah, it was pretty cruel. I love Snape and I love writing about his childhood, but yet, at the same time, it's so much fun to write him cruel. And I think his cruel remark to Kami is because of Lupin. Lupin hung out with James, and Kami is a werewolf like Lupin. So some of his hatred leaked over.

And I don't think that he would have known before, that Kami was a werewolf. I would think that Dumbledore would have just told Snape there was a werewolf student, and it would have been Dumbledore who gave Kami the potion. That way, less people know. So, having just found out about Kami, and having spent an entire class period teaching about werewolves in the aim of getting Lupin in trouble... Snape's words to Kami are a little harsher than it otherwise would have been, I think.

MAJOR SPOILERS for the anime Princess Tutu. The anime is a little weird at first, but everything fits together so well in the end. Though, I wasn't satisfied with how things were left for the main character, Duck, so I wrote this up! This is a reflection on my two favorite characters of the show, and how much they were meant for each other. XD


She was destined to turn into a speck of light and vanish the instant she spoke of her love. But it was another who confessed her love and saved the prince.

He was destined to fight and be torn in two without saving the one he was fighting for. But he lived on, and became the writer of the story.

Neither could fill the role they had been given, but instead drew closer to each other, as they struggled to find their purpose. He tried to push her away, insisting that her way was not his, and that he had to figure out everything for himself, but yet he was her rock, and so she kept coming back.

But it was her determination, in the end, that kept him going when he was lost. Through her, he could do anything. He felt her, and knew her, in a way no one else could, and in a way he could not feel and know anyone else. He knew her dreams, her love, her feelings, her everything. Her pain was his pain; her hope was his hope.

His voice was what brought her back, when she was lost. His words fueled her, giving her the strength to go on. The pain meant nothing; she could endure it all. But it wasn’t for the prince alone, not any longer. This was for everyone—her classmates, the townspeople, the girl who loved the prince, and for the knight who had thought he had lost everything.

He was her strength, and she was his hope.

And when it was all over, he never left her side.

Cursed to turn into a speck of light with the confession of love as a princess, neither could she speak her love as a duck; cursed to die protecting the ones he loved in vain, neither could he transform her back into a human with his pen.

But as she swam around the dock he was sitting at, watching him with her big blue eyes, and as he looked over at her and gave her a gentle smile, both of them knew everything was alright.

Together, they were love.