A/N: I did this for a Nutcracker Meme I did over at LiveJournal. This one was for LuckyLadyBug who requested some hurt/comfort with "Waltz of the Snowflakes" with Autor and Ahiru of course. And this is what I came up with. Slightly longer than drabble, if you ask me. Whoops. Anyways, since it was so long, I decided to post it here. I may post the other one- "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" later. But, here you are! Merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Tutu or the Nutcracker.

Warnings: Post-series in which Ahiru is turned back into a girl. Please excuse any typos- I had to do some quick editing.

Waltz of the Snowflakes
By: Nuit Songeur

"Don't tell me you've never ice skated!" Ahiru said exasperatedly, throwing her arms up in the air. Autor merely shrugged, shoving his hands into a pair of gloves.

"I tried once, when I was younger. It's been a while," he admitted. As soon as both of his hands were gloved, Ahiru reached and grabbed one, pulling him outside.

"Come on!" she said, excitedly. "I'll show you!" Autor was dubious.

"You'll show me how to ice skate?" For some reason, that had "bad idea" written all over it. Ahiru nodded eagerly, leaving Autor only to sigh in defeat as he allowed her to drag him outside. She took him to the lake outside of town. Autor got the sense that she was familiar with it or something.

"Please tell you didn't forget your scarf," he said, burrowing his face into his. Ahiru hunched her shoulders, hiding her neck from view.

"Uhh, no," she defended uncertainly. Autor sighed, shaking his head as he moved closer beside her.

"And, shall I expect to learn how to ice skate without ice skates?" he asked, gesturing toward his shoes. Ahiru looked at her own.

"Well I, uhm. Actually, that probably was something important to remember," she admitted, flushing at the evidence of her occasional mental absence. She looked around anxiously for a substitute. "Well, we can always enjoy the beautiful scenery!" she prompted with a broad grin. "It's always so pretty out here when it's snowed!" She stuck her tongue out into the sky, as if for emphasis, but Autor wasn't entirely sure what she was trying to emphasize. It puzzled him even more as she kept her tongue out.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not sure if he should worried or confused. She glanced at him.

"Cathing thnowflakth," was what he could discern. Autor glanced at the sky.

"For that to happen it needs to actually be snowing," he pointed out bluntly. Ahiru's tongue slowly returned inside her mouth.

"Oh," she continued looking around. Autor watched as an idea flashed through her bright blue eyes. He suppressed the urge to sigh with impatience as she plopped herself on the snow.

"We can make snow angels!" she exclaiming, flailing her arms and legs about. Autor only shook his head at the sight of her.

"You're looking for an excuse to drag me out into the snow. We should have just stayed at my house." Autor moved, turning back towards town when Ahiru jumped up and yelled out to him.

"No I'm not, no I'm not!" she defended quickly. "The snow is pretty! Better than staying in that dark cave of yours all the time. Enjoy yourself! Besides, Fakir said I couldn't—" Ahiru abruptly stopped mid-sentence, clamping a hand over her mouth as she would whenever she tried preventing herself from quacking. Autor raised an eyebrow, growing suspicious.

"What's this about Fakir?" he asked, easily detecting the secret she was hiding.

"Nothing!" she said quickly. She reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him to another section of the wooded area. "You know what we should do? Have a snowball fight! That would cheer you up!"

"Lunging spheres of frozen water at each sounds fun alright," Autor said, unconvinced. Soon, Ahiru stopped them and turned back around toward Autor.

"Now you stay here and try to hit me with as many snowballs as you can."

"Ahiru, I don't think—"

"Oh, it's easy. Like this." She bent down and gathered some snow to form a rudimentary sphere. "Now aim and FIRE!" She hurled the snowball squarely at Autor's chest, knocking him back and the wind out of him. Once he recovered, he situated his glasses properly and looked down severely at Ahiru.

"What was that for?" he demanded, flushing with indignation. Ahiru looked injured, instantly making him regret the stern tone in his voice.

"It's a snowball fight; we're supposed to hit each other," she said in a small voice. Autor sighed, becoming annoyed.

"Yeah, well, I never agreed to any fight of yours." Ahiru looked down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs.

"I just thought that maybe we could—" Suddenly, her features brightened up exponentially as she looked back up to Autor, her blue eyes sparkling. "We can go sledding!" Autor was horrified at that suggestion.

"No." It was more than a response; it was a conviction.

"Oh, come on, Autor," she pleaded. "You never want to have any fun."

"My idea of fun and your idea of fun are two totally different perceptions on the word 'fun.'" They slowly trudged back toward the lake, the whole way Ahiru complaining how Autor was too proper to try anything and how her face was getting colder. Autor reminded her how she should have brought her scarf, which quieted her for a minute. When they reached the bank of the lake, Ahiru paused in her incessant ramblings, blinking.

"What? What is it?" Autor asked her. She pointed across the lake to the other side.

"Look! It's a bunny! And it's hurt. We need to help it." Before Autor could protest and talk some sense into her, Ahiru darter to the end of the frozen water and began hesitantly stepping out on the ice.

"Wait, Ahiru!" he said, coming closer to her. "I don't think that's a good idea. The ice looks too thin in the middle. You should just go around." Ahiru looked up at him.

"But the lake's too big. We wouldn't get to it in time." She scooted another two feet further out on the lake. For a moment, she wobbled dangerously, her arms flailing around for balance. It made Autor nervous to the point where his heart skipped a beat.

"Do you think you could be a little more careful?" he criticized, angry that she had frightened him like that. He thought for a moment. "Come back. You don't have the equilibrium to cross the lake." She looked offended, although Autor knew she had no idea what the word meant.

"I do too! You just watch!"

"Ahiru, I'm being serious. Come back and I'll go get the rabbit." Ahiru deliberated, knowing it was the best course of action.

"Fine," she huffed, crawling back toward land. On she was safely off the ice, Autor took a deep breath and stepped on the frozen water. He never much liked ice skating when he was younger. He was always afraid the ice would break and he would fall into the freezing cold waters. But this, he was doing for Ahiru. He was careful to avoid a circular patch of suspicious-looking ice, edging past the darker part vigilantly as he reached closer to the shivering animal. When he reached it, Autor kneeled down, noticing a bleeding leg was ensnared between two malleable twigs. He carefully freed it and took it into palm, its damp fur reeking of animal stench. Autor was never one that cared for animals much; they always smelled. But at least this wasn't a bird, otherwise his allergies would act up.

As Autor stood up, the rabbit gratefully shrank into Autor's hand for warmth, understand that he was its savior. He turned around and began to slowly side-step his way back to the other side of the lake. The smile on Ahiru's face was unmistakable.

"Way to go Autor!" Despite the smelly creature he was carrying, Autor couldn't help but feel the sense of pride that came along with it. But, in that one moment he was distracted and didn't pay attention where his feet were going. As a result, his right foot landed roughly on a darker patch of ice. There was a minuscule sound of cracking, and suddenly, Autor's foot gave way to through the thin ice below him. His leg sank into what he could only describe as cold. Wet, but cold. Freezing cold.

The shock of the fall made him close his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw the rabbit that previously been in his hand, hop away with an awkward limp to its injured foot. His glasses had skidded across the ice so he saw more than brown fuzz for the rabbit's figure. Further away, he saw the fiery orange hair of Ahiru bouncing on the bank.

"Autor!" she cried, terrified. He felt a small bruise forming on his chin and maybe a small scratch on his elbow. Otherwise, he felt fine, aside from the freezing water soaking the right half of his body. He tried using his left knee as leverage to pull himself out of the water, but he was weaker than he imagined he would be. His left leg trembled and shook with exertion before it collapsed, smacking down on the ice. He lost his grip and felt the rest of his body slowly slipping back into the water. He heard more anxious exclamations from Ahiru as she helplessly paced on the bank. Autor could only grab the sheet of ice he was currently clinging onto, but after a moment, he heard that cracking as well. What was worse was when half his body started to become numb from the cold. He knew that couldn't be a good sign.

Autor dug his elongated fingers into the ice to use as hooks as he slowly shifted himself to the thicker part of the ice. As he moved, he felt the water swirling around him, weighing down his clothes. The extra weight made him sink further into the watery depths below, his fingers not having enough grip to pull himself up.

"Autor! What do I do?" Ahiru pleaded, her tears easily detectable in her voice. Autor grit his teeth, not sure of what she should do exactly. She could try to help pull him out of the water, but Autor wasn't sure how well that would work. She might just fall into water herself. Knowing her, it was a large possibility. So, what then? Go get help? Would she be able to make it back in time?

"Go get help!" he tried shouting. "Go get Fakir; he'll know what to do." His voice was shaking, uncharacteristically. And it took a moment for Autor to understand why: because he was shivering, quiet violently.

"Okay!" she shouted back. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Just, hang on!" And then she was gone. Hang on? There wasn't much else he could do, was there? Unless he wanted to drown or freeze to death. But he felt his awareness flickering. The water was just too cold, making the numbness spread from just the right side of his body to the left. He tried lifting himself up again, only to have his arms tremble from the lack of strength and fall back on his face, making that bruise on his larger. He had no energy, it seemed, left in him; the frigid temperature seemed to drain him completely.

Autor blinked and waited for what was to come.

The first thing he became aware of a small feeling of warmth creeping up his toes. The feeling slowly spread throughout the rest of his body until he could feel his fingers twitch occasionally. He sniffed, a painful sting in his nostrils as feeling slowly returned to him. His sniff had been heard by someone nearby.

"Autor!" exclaimed someone, unmistakably Ahiru, as she threw her arms around his neck before he could even sit up. He opened his eyes to see the fuzzy features of her face. Too fuzzy, too blind. Instinctively, his hand shot out form under a blanket a anxiously patted around himself.

"Where are my glasses?" he asked impatiently. A strong hand caught his searching one and stuffed the thin frames into his palms.

"Here," Fakir responded gruffly. Autor placed them on his face and looked around the room, blinking as he tried to remember everything that happened.

"How did I end up here?" he asked. Here was back at his own house. But he had no recollection of how he got there. The last thing he remembered was that Ahiru had ran off to get some help as he tried not to fall into the water.

"Ahiru came and got me. Said you fell through the ice. Though, why you were standing out there is beyond me," Fakir said, crossing his arms. Before Autor had chance to open his mouth and defend himself, Ahiru stood up to do the job.

"I told you, Fakir," she said huffily. "He was doing something for me—"

"So you've told me. He saved a rabbit, didn't he?" Autor blushed at Fakir's smirk.

"If I didn't get it, Ahiru would have. Can you imagine if she fell into the ice instead?" Autor pointed out. It didn't do much to wipe Fakir's smirk off his face. So, Autor tried changing subjects. "What were you doing here anyway? Ahiru wouldn't let me return home." Fakir's gaze transferred onto Ahiru who chewed on her lip with a guilty expression on her face.

"I didn't tell him anything. It just sort of… slipped out." She chuckled nervously. Fakir sighed and turned back to Autor.

"We were wrapping your Christmas gifts. Although we had to open one of them early. Raetsel sewed you a new set of pajamas and since they were wool, I decided to change you into them." At Fakir's words, Autor suddenly became fully aware of how he wasn't wearing his clothes from earlier. That would make sense since the clothes were probably soaking wet but the idea of someone else dressing him while he was unconscious made him extremely uncomfortable.

"And, pray tell, how did I end up wearing these pajamas?" Autor asked, his face turning tomato red. Fakir leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Don't worry, I changed you when Ahiru was out of the room." It didn't help Autor's embarrassment; he was still mortified. But Ahiru could be counted on to distract him as she stuffed something onto his lap.

"What's this?" he asked, still shell-shocked.

"It's your Christmas present from me!" Ahiru exclaimed gleefully. "Open it!"

"But Ahiru, it isn't Christmas yet," Fakir said.

"Well, I want him to open it. It might make him feel better." She turned back toward Autor. "Open it! I wrapped it myself!" Autor could tell. The gift wrap was uneven, bunched up in some places with scotch tape sticking out in others. He carefully removed the wrapping paper.

"It's a nutcracker," he said, brushing the wrapping paper to one side. The nutcracker was about three feet tall, hand crafted, and made entirely out of wood. The bright red paint that made up his uniform smelled fresh.

Ahiru nodded eagerly.

"It's nice. But I don't understand how this is supposed to cheer me up."

"You're so silly, Autor. You kiss it, and it turns into a prince!" Autor's blush deepened.

"I think you're confusing it with a different fairy tale, Ahiru," he said.

There you are! I hope you enjoyed! Merry Christmas and please review!

-NuitSongeur