4Title: Vergessen Sei
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Action/Adventure, Mystery
Rating: 15+ for mild violence and language... not mild language of course.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tutu, but the happy cameo character Adler is mine. ALL MINE! BWAHAHAH! ...yeah, it's kinda like that.
Author's Note: School is really, really hectic, and my carpal tunnel syndrome is acting up a lot, so I apologise for not having this chapter out sooner. I try to have each chapter at around a thousand words at least, so it takes a bit of time having to double check through everything. That and to get this chapter done, I had to slack on my writing assignments for tomorrow. If I don't get too much work this week, you can except at least one more chapter before I go on vacation.
Akt 2: Die Miniatur Des Falken
Once upon a time, there was a boy. The boy was not particularly special nor did anything in particular ail his mind. Oh wait, this is the wrong story...
A cool breeze teased his soft, feathery brown hair and tossed the ends of his cloak as he stood by the school fountain, the sound of its ebony swan raining water into the shallow pool causing him to unwind a bit. The sound of running water was one of the most beautiful and relaxing, especially compared to the grating cacophony of the school on a Friday. He leaned against the broom, glancing up at clouds rolling in, slowly blotting at the starlight. It would rain soon. That was good, saved him the trouble of watering the flowers. Not that he didn't like watering the flowers... it was just there were so many of them on the school grounds.
The boy glanced at the small pile of leaves and twigs other debris in the pile in front of him. He sighed and stooped down, picking up the dustpan and maneuvering the rubbish into it. It was part of his deal with Neko-sensei to weasel his way around any sort of curfew. In exchange for sweeping up here and there and trimming the greenery on occasion, he got to stay out as late as he wanted, which was good since it got counted as some sort of extracurricular activity. Standing back up, he walked over to the compost bin neatly hidden behind a tree and dumped the leafage inside, placing the broom and dustpan in the narrow wooden shed next to it.
He twitched a bit as something wet dripped on the top of his head. "Already..?" He glanced up at the sky as a low rumble rolled across. "Maybe if I run I can make it home before it-" As if someone had turned the faucet onto full blast, the sky fell down on his head with a loud roar... and a very wet one at that. With a bit of a sigh, he pulled up his hood... a lot of good it would do him anyway.
"Never mind..." With a bit of a shrug, he walked off, his boots sloshing in the slowly-forming puddles towards the gate as the water began to soak into his clothes. It was then that he heard something strange. A thump almost. He glanced around, then continued on until a screech caught his attention. He glanced up at a black bird on a tree branch above him, staring him down. It alighted from the branch and flew over, landing on the side of the fountain. The boy's eyes followed its movements, blurred by the heavy downpour, to the figure of a girl slumped on the ground next to the fountain.
He walked over to her and crouched down, putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking her gently. "Oi, wake up." Again. She didn't respond. "Damnit..." he muttered under his breath as he tried to prop her up, but stopped when something warm and sticky ran down his fingertips. He held her up as he squinted at the deep red substance being washed down his palm. He stooped down, hooking his arms under her and hefting her up, carefully standing to his feet, staggering slightly under the combined weight of the brown-haired girl and the water and blood that stained her white uniform. Shaking his head a bit to move his soaked bangs out of his eyes, he looked around frantically for anyone out as late as he was.
The cry of the black bird, still perched on the fountain where the girl had been found, captured his attention again. It looked at him and motioned with a shake of its feathers and flew off across the school grounds. Taking the hint, he stumbled after it. "I hope you know where you're going, bird."
Neko-sensei fingered... or in his case, clawed through a book as he sat in a warm place in front of the fire with a warm cup of tea. Nothing better on a cold, rainy night than a relaxing night in front of a warm fire.
The cat pulled open the door to see a rather drenched boy leaning against the doorway with a just-as-drenched girl in his arms. "Adler, would you care to explain why you are on my doorstep at this hour?" he hissed, his nice evening ruined by the beige-eyed boy who never seemed to know when to go home.
"I honestly don't know, Neko-sensei. Maybe it's because I found one of your students bleeding all over the fountain in the rain!" he barked, shifting the girl in his arms as she started to slip. "Now do you mind letting me in before I just drop her here?"
Neko-sensei's eyes widened. "Get her inside! Quickly!" Adler shuffled past the feline, looking around the living room of the teacher's quarters for a place to put her down. "The couch." Adler nodded and shuffled over to it and placed the unconscious girl onto a couch by the window, then glanced over to his teacher.
"She's got a wound on the back of her head, probably slipped and smashed her head into the side of the fountain. I can't tell how much blood there is because of all the water."
"I'll get some ice, go find the nurse, she's in the Infirmary!"
"Eh! But she's evil!"
"NOW MISTER FALKE!"
The boy turned and dashed out the door. "Yes, Master!"
"I HEARD THAT MISTER FALKE!"