That was sad. I read too many sad things today, though. This was more bittersweet, like the chocolate that tastes good after it goes down.
Have a follow.

I cannot believe this happened.
I had to read this after I saw the title (and I freaking swear my pen name was not an intentional pun), having gone over the play in English class. All I can say is, fantastic.

So heartbreakingly beautiful.

Instead of devising a twist for the happier, you fully exploited the canon ending, with its forced facade of free choice without regrets, and artfully alluded to the alternative between happiness and glory present throughout the series. And your portrayal of Fakir feels very deep and true. The fragments where he wishes he had not wasted his time with Ahiru, his dance with her, have a tragic and desperate note to them.

The telepatic conversations run smoothly and melt with the narration and thoughts, which gives an elegant flow to the story.

The Romeo and Juliet allusions... The tragedy, yes, and pretty quotes, but the parallel doesn't really fit. Romeo and Juliet "fell in love" not even knowing each other, while Fakir and Ahiru grew closer in time, precisely by getting to know each other better. But I think another reviewer has already pointed that out, so I'll only add that I completely agree with them on that point.

Still, I simply love this story.

I could have sworn I meant to review this sooner; I need to get back into the habit. But all's well anyway, I suppose, as this won't take very long.

Whining first.

I, for one, am very tired of R&J being even mentioned in love stories; I simply can't think it anything other than a parody of teenage lust. I mean c'mon: Romeo only meets Juliet because he was trying to sleep with her cousin; he 'falls in love' with Juliet at first glance, and vice versa; all that's ever mentioned as evidence of their 'chemistry' is physical attraction; they marry and then kill themselves over people they haven't known for a collective twenty-four hours.

You are right in calling it a tragedy—but not a glorious one, I wouldn't say. An eye-roll inducer, certainly. But a glorious one for me would need to include main characters who's tragic flaws aren't idiocy. Fakir and Ahiru have gone through hell and back together, so the mere presence of these parallels feels like comparing a piece of gravel to a pearl.

And yet your heading quotes are well-plucked, the dialogue flowing into your story with the ease of a knife through butter, and honestly, are there really many better options out there in the 'play about star-crossed lovers turned into a ballet' genre? I don't think so.

TL;DNR: I don't like R&J. But you use it well.

/whining over.

The good stuff: Everything else, in short.

The feelings described are gravely real, from the Fakir wanting to dance again with her despite only apathy for dance itself, to Ahiru telling herself she's completely happy with her ending. The mental link between them managed to be completely adorable:

/"She waddles forward, climbing into his lap. He wraps his arms around her, gentle and warm, and holds her close. Of course you weren't useless, she tells him. Her heart still soars when she thinks about it. I could only keep going because you made me feel strong.

No, Fakir tells her. He rubs her head, fingers running through her feathers. You are already strong. You were always strong. You don't need me for that."/

I'm an absolute sucker for this style of writing, right along with slam poetry. Though, gotta say, I'm not the greatest fan of leaving out quotations marks. It didn't cause any confusion about the speaker, but I find it generally a pointless style-device.

Then again, they -are- using telepathy.

Oh well.

Some favorite quotes:

/"Sometimes, in his dreams, it goes differently. He throws open the window and sings his love to the heavens. He shouts out, It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! like a doomed character in a tragedy. Why not? "/

/'She is a duck with the heart of a princess, and her soul sings with hope.'/

/'How strange! the outsiders say. A woman named Riddle and a boy named Author and a duck named Duck. A girl with an uncommonly long tongue called Anteaterina. And even now, the people inside the town are part of a story, and they have never thought that their names were strange.'/

/"She calls it happy. He calls it happy too, sometimes, when he is talking with her. But there is happiness in accepting your fate, and they had none of that. This is the glorious ending. The (barely, just a little bit, almost imperceptibly) unhappy ending."/

Oh, I so eagerly wait to see more from you.

A beautifully constructed piece.
I like the clean cut sentences you have. I look forward to more stories from you in the future.

This is excellent. I love how you wrote it and how you weave Romeo and Juliet throughout the entire story. It's just the right touch without being heavy-handed with the references. Well done.