Wow, that was a fantastic piece! Good job!

This is so lovely I don't know where to begin. I love this exploration of Rue's sexuality (the darkness in it-the kiss as magic spell and trap is so brilliant and so *perfect*) and her attempt to express it. She loves him the only way she has been loved, with the only definition of love she has been taught by the Monster Raven.

I love love how you write Mythos, and this might be my favorite description of him ever: "Even broken and heartless, he gives of himself without even understanding." It captures exactly who he is in this state, puts into words what I could never quite place my finger on about how he is unintentionally cruel when heartless and yet still somehow so full of love.

The whole fic is really elegantly written, but there are some lines that leave me stunned with their heartbreaking beauty:

"This time, he's looking at her and nothing else, but he can only look without ever seeing. "

"As long as their tale remains this way, she can never be sad."

Girl, before we get started, let me first congratulate you on your personal, fanfic author achievement. You reached the symbolic number of 100 stories, which is nothing short of amazing. Just thinking about all the time you put in all of them makes me dizzy, and very happy to be your fan ! 100 little jewels of stories, and honestly, this Tutu fic crowns them well.

The beginning is strong, but I found it really soared at « Kraehe's never been taught to seek… ». That’s where it stops being sweet but weird to be the angsty, troubled, twisted, desperate love of Rue. « Forage all day for proof of affection », « converging the child's vulnerability and the young woman's longing », the «calm and taught faithfulness » of Mytho…they culminate in « It hurts to hear, even when the words and affirmations are so precious and longed-for » and (my favourite !) « continues to believe it even as it grows ever more dark and demanding ». Mytho is all hers, like a puppet would be, but it’s hurtful and not enough for Rue who wants the love he claims to have for her to be genuine ; and yet she’s so afraid of what he could say or do if he did have feelings that she doesn’t want him to be able to be genuine. It’s a monstruous cycle of a snake eating its own tail.

The rest of the fic beautifully depicts this spiral of auto-destruction. This beautiful love(here I’ll add that thanks to your conch-shell paragraph, I finally grasped why Mytho can create so much devotion in Rue, Fakir and Duck…the ideal he represents) she has for Mytho is destroying her, and although she senses it, she can’t stop. (Oh, how I loved how you put it : Just because he accepts her embraces and affections, it doesn't mean that he likes or wants them, and yet she can't let go. […]the hope won't leave her be. ») The « can't possibly shatter the dream now – not when it has her wrapped so tightly, and holds her so close » part also perfectly described this idea that she knows it’s all false but can’t escape all the same. It’s all a dream but she can almost touch it (« He'll never seek out her love for himself, but he never refuses it either…As long as their tale remains this way, she can never be sad ») and it drives her mad with need. His selflessness is what both delights and terrifies her, and let the raven in her festers and grows, until it ultimately destroys him too.

But that’s for later. For now, this was a perfect picture of why she loves him so much, under the summer tree, before Drosselmayer began shattering her so fragile stability. And perhaps it’s because it’s so fragile, like the petals falling on them, that makes her love even more beautiful. Bravo.

Beautiful

This was beautifully written. You have Rue perfectly in character. It was almost scary how in character she was.

You have such a way with words... It's nice to see such a good story about this couple. I hope you write many more Princess Tutu fanfics!

absolutely beautiful fic. There needs to be more MythoxRue fics like this