Meant to take place after "Simply A Backstory," but technically takes place even before "Princess Tutu" begins. So you can read it even without having read "Simply A Backstory," although it alludes to a few things that happened therein.

Disclaimer: "Princess Tutu" does not belong to me, and neither to the characters. I only claim some responsibility for the interpretation. The rest is up to the story.

The sword had pierced his heart. She could feel it; the splintering of all her beloved Prince's emotions, the scattering of the shards. She clung tightly to Hope, waiting for the turmoil to settle. What the swan spirit had told her was coming to pass: the Prince's heart shards would imprison the vile Raven and the swan spirit's power would strengthen that hold. But the Raven could never be defeated in that state. Even though Princess Tutu had lost almost all sense of herself when she had confessed her love and become a part of the Prince's heart, she still remembered that truth. Because she was the one who could help mend her Prince, who could find his heart shards and make him whole again. And only with his heart whole would the Prince ever be able to protect the people, and defeat the monstrous Raven.

The Prince had been battling the fowl creature for a long time. How long, she knew not, for time was not important to her in the Prince's heart. She only felt that he should defeat the beast soon, for that was his wish. To be done with the battles and relieve the great burdens on the people; to keep them safe. Princess Tutu shared this wish, and so fully supported his hope that the next battle would be the last, that the next fight would end in victory against the Raven. She danced in his heart whenever his knights encouraged one another, every time a battle was won, or even simply when the people saw him and smiled. But on and on, the war continued. And though she tried to keep his hopes strong and firm, he was tiring.

Now, the time had come for her to draw on the power of the swan spirit herself and help the Prince regain his heart. His heart was shattered, pieces were everywhere, and only she could bring them together again. Princes Tutu could feel the power of the swan spirit giving her form again, solidifying her thoughts. She still remembered nothing of her previous life except that she had cared deeply for the people and her Prince, and her Prince was the only one who could protect them. And she remembered that she could help him in that mission, that she alone could-

"What's this?" an eccentric voice interrupted, "A heart shard with a mind of its own?"

She felt the shard she was part of be taken up, restrained. She felt that she would not be able to fulfil her mission being held in such a manner, so she struggled to break free.

"Now, now; no need to fret. There's no rush, no rush at all."

Of course there was a rush! She had to help the Prince! And if she could not find the other shards, then she would never accomplish her goal!

"But what emotion are you? Ah, yes, Hope. Hope always does try its hardest against all odds, doesn't it? Despite the fact that you don't have anything to hope for anymore, you still try to reach for something. Ah, such sweet tragedy."

No! She had hope for her Prince! She would never lose hope in him! But she had to help him regain his heart, or he would never be able to fulfil that! She held his Hope, and she had to return it to him, and-

"Now where would be a good place for you to reside, hm? Oh; what's this?" he asked, his voice closer, as if he were inspecting the shard; "Do you already have a taint within you?"

Finally, as if he had opened a window to let her rush through, Princess Tutu felt his grip loosen and her energy burst forth. She materialized from the heart shard in front of a strange old man, who held the shard in his open palm. Hesitating for only a moment in her new form, she gave a demi-plié curtsy. "Please sir, I must find the Prince's other heart shards;" she immediately implored; "I am Princess Tutu, and I must make the Prince's heart whole again."

"Princess Tutu? Well well well, this is a surprise!" he chuckled joyfully, "Tell me, why must you do this?"

"If his heart is not whole, then he cannot defeat the Raven;" she stated.

"But the Raven cannot defeat him, either;" the old man intoned, "Do you not wish your Prince to live?"

"And what about the people?" Princess Tutu returned; she knew her Prince better than this man. Even if he meant well by the statement, he did not understand. "The Prince has given his life to protecting the people from the Raven, and he cannot fulfil that until he defeats the creature."

"But if the Raven cannot do anything behind his prison bars, can he not be considered 'defeated'?" the man asked slyly.

The Princess vaguely remembered encountering this argument before. And decidedly finding otherwise. "No;" she said resolutely; "the Raven must be destroyed if he is to be defeated."

"Fine, fine, have it your way," the man said, waving his free hand dismissively; "But if you're set on that, I'm afraid I can't just let you just go about and fix him up right away! What would be the fun in that?" The man grinned and closed his fingers around the heart shard again, and Princess Tutu disappeared.

"No, I'll hold on to you for a while, Princess Tutu," Drosselmeyer said to the shard; "You'll be of more use to me when I have somewhere to put you." He paused a moment, then uttered, "I wonder… if you still love the Prince?"

The heart shard glowed brightly through his closed fingers, and he could feel it struggling even harder to free itself from his grasp. He grinned.

"Yes, yes, I thought so! I thought so! That is good. Very good. You will certainly be of later use to me, then, to be sure." He frowned slightly at his fist; "But not like that, you won't. Let's see what can be done about that, eh?" He waved his free hand, and the struggling stopped. Opening his fingers, he now held a delicate pendant formed around the heart shard, in the shape of spreading wings. He grinned at the irony. "Quite beautiful, and fitting, for such a shard, for such a Princess. But that won't do for every day, now, will it?" Waving again, the pendant morphed into a singular red oval. "Much better, much plainer. So much easier to slip in unnoticed somewhere. Now, where will that somewhere be, I wonder?" He chuckled darkly to himself in anticipation as he stashed the shard-turned-jewel away in his cape, and walked off among the stilled gears.

"Where indeed?"